Reaper(Cradle #10)(27)
“He was enlightened when he visited the birthplace of the Path of the Stellar Spear,” Jai Long said. He didn’t know how else to respond.
Lindon rubbed his chin. “I wonder why this isn’t common knowledge. The Underlord advancement is caused by an understanding of what started you on your Path in the first place. Why did you start practicing the sacred arts?”
“Because I was one of the most gifted in my clan,” Jai Long said immediately.
Of course, no transformation began. He hadn’t expected otherwise.
“It’s easier to sense in an environment with stronger vital aura. I’ll give you some treasures. You’ll want to open yourself to the resonance of aura while you try and discover what your original motivation was.”
Lindon’s gaze grew distant. “It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
It sounded pointless, but Jai Long had attempted less likely things when he was first trying to reach Underlord. He could give this a shot, especially if it came with free natural treasures.
“I’ll try it.”
He was being sincere, but Lindon seemed to sense some skepticism.
“This is the way it works.”
“I believe you.”
“You have to give this your full attention.”
“I will.”
Lindon still seemed doubtful.
A crash echoed as Kelsa slammed into the ceiling, and then another as she fell back to the ground, groaning.
Little Blue warbled a question, pointing at her, and Jai Long somehow understood it perfectly. She was asking Are you sure this is okay?
“…maybe take it easy on her,” Lindon allowed.
6
On Windfall, Lindon had finally finished construction of a new building. It was a large, wooden, one-roomed structure that resembled a barn, and he had carved an intricate set of protective scripts into the foundation.
This was his Soulsmith foundry, and for the most part it stayed empty. He kept his tools and materials in his void key.
But now he and his mother were together in the center as he very delicately pulled Dross apart.
While Dross hadn’t responded for weeks, he was still alive in Lindon’s spirit. Just…faded. Lindon had cycled plenty of madra to him, and still Dross hadn’t recovered.
Now, Lindon had manifested him as a spinning purple ball almost as big as Lindon’s head. With great care, Lindon controlled the madra that made up Dross’ form in order to view his insides.
This wouldn’t harm him, though Dross would have been disturbed to see it. Spirits generally didn’t rely on a specific physical structure to remain alive. If all their parts existed, they should be fine.
Though that didn’t mean that Lindon couldn’t cause problems by accident. He was reluctant to mess with Dross’ internal configuration, but he needed a better look.
Dross expanded, his external layer of “skin” vanishing. Now he looked like a mass of organic rings, all spinning in time with one another. Between these interlocking circles was a recognizable system of madra channels, the hazy dream madra moving in gradual loops.
Seisha’s brush froze in her hands as she was about to take notes. Her drudge gave a whistle that Lindon thought sounded hopeless.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she breathed. “It’s like a Remnant with another unique, independent spirit of its own. I can’t even begin…”
Lindon’s one hand was occupied with directing Dross’ madra—his right arm still in its sling—so he split his attention to summon a brief spark of fire aura to point out a specific part of Dross’ soul. One of the major rings at the top was faded in a particular spot, as though it had broken and begun to return. “This is one of the connections that broke when he exhausted himself. I was thinking if I could reinforce it—”
She cut him off with a look of wide-eyed horror. “What? You want to splice another spirit inside him?”
“Oh, apologies, that’s not what I meant. I’ll graft purified dream madra into him and let his own spirit rebuild itself.”
“It’s doing that already.”
“Yes, but if I let it continue, it will be like he’s being born all over again. There’s no telling who he’ll become.”
At his core, Dross was a compilation of many minds and spirits that had been pieced together and then developed into an individual over time. But on some level, he was still a memory spirit. Just remembering who he had been might be enough to make him that person again.
Or it could start him over from the beginning.
Seisha looked completely overwhelmed. “Okay…let’s say you can do that. What happens next?”
“Well, improving the connection in that ring would hook over to this one, which would accelerate its regeneration. That’s my biggest concern. If I could make all the repairs at one time, I’d get Dross back as he was. But fixing one link in the chain starts a cascade I can’t predict.”
Lindon could tell his mother was only following him on the most theoretical level. He had hoped her years of experience would make up for her faulty education, but then again, this was a unique spirit. Perhaps the only expert in the world was Northstrider.
And the Monarch had never responded, no matter how many times Lindon called his name.