So many memories.
He crossed the bridge. The ruined building on its far side was silent, abandoned. Scorio felt a pang of loss, then made his way up to the huge steps that climbed to the Academy’s colonnaded front and there sat, chin on the base of his palm, knee on his elbow, to gaze out over the darksome ruins.
What did he want? What drove him on?
Time stretched by. The sun-wire would be lighting up soon into First Clay.
Scorio closed his eyes. It felt so strange to be back in the ruins, amidst the Coal mana that felt familiar and heavy. It felt almost like being home.
With a wry smile curving his lips, Scorio Ignited his Heart with only Coal. Drank deep of the thick black mana that hovered all around, and fed it into the flames.
Coal.
His first taste of power. The mana that had warped his Heart, weakened it, suffused his body and made him a mockery at the Academy.
But it had been there for him when he needed it, had pushed him to Cinder and then Emberling with the aid of his Black Star plants.
Scorio focused on burning as much as he could, the flames roaring up, his Heart venting as much if not more as it incinerated the mana.
He sensed movement to his left. Glancing over, he saw Nox emerging from the shadows.
The size of a cart, blind, and with peaked protrusions rising about his empty eyes, the coal-black toad waddled closer, great mouth working, its feet exuding condensed Coal mana that it left behind it in puddled gloops. Its back and legs were black as the densest shadows, its stomach and the soft underside of its jaw however were a lighter gray, the skin dusty and textured like that of an old man.
Scorio allowed his Heart to gutter and beamed. “Nox! You’re still here.”
“Favorite friend Scorio. You are returned. I smell power on you. Felt your burning Heart.”
“I made Tomb Spark not too long ago.” Scorio smiled as the toad settled at the base of the steps. “And you can sense my Heart?”
“Scorio has bathed in Nox’s Imperial Gel. After Scorio left, Nox immersed, and now I can sense Scorio’s Heart when it burns Coal.”
“Oh,” said Scorio. “Wait. Does that mean we’re… connected somehow?”
Nox laughed, his whole body heaving. At least, Scorio thought it was laughter. “Not connected. Nox have favorite friend’s mana signature. Can scent you from afar. Is all.”
Scorio tried to understand but then shrugged it off. “How have you fared?”
“Soon Nox shall quit Bastion. My study of Quantics is superb. Many females in Hell possessed by strange yearning they do not understand. That yearning is for my Superb Mating Technique.”
Scorio snorted. “I believe it. I almost feel bad for the other Imperial Ghost Toad males.”
“Do not pity them. Tadpoles must choose to shed tail if they are to grow another.”
Scorio tried to process that. “Wise. Right.”
Nox quirked his head to one side. “Scorio smell of Gold mana. Very nice.”
“Had some drinks earlier. With a girl. An old friend. Well, not a friend. An acquaintance.”
“A female?” It was less a question than a suggestive leer. “But Scorio not singing triumphal song of Imperial Exaltation.”
“Ah… it didn’t work out.” Scorio grimaced. “I think I need to study more Quantics.”
Nox’s throat worked and it bobbed his head. “First perfect technique. Then dominate the spawning pool.”
“It’s what Leonis always said.” Scorio chuckled softly, but the humor died in his chest and he gazed wistfully out over the ruins.
“Do not fret. There are more spawning pools in your future.”
“Thanks. It’s not that.” He glanced at Nox who adjusted his stance in a querying manner. “I’ve… I don’t know.” He sighed. “I used to know what I wanted. I was… hungry. For power, for victory, for… validation? Maybe. And since we last spoke I’ve achieved a good amount. Now… I’m not certain. I don’t feel that same drive. Or I might? I guess I’m confused.”
“Nox lives for gorging on mana. But after good meal, Nox not desire maximum gorging for a few sun-wire cycles. Nox find quiet corner, take nap. Then, when Nox wake up, desire maximum gorging once more.”
Scorio studied the toad. “You’re saying I’ve just had a good meal and, ah, need to digest it?”
“Spiritual stomach is full. Must digest. Soon hungry again. When day arrives, you no longer hunger, then time to rampage into spawning pools. Time for Quantics.”
Scorio snorted. “Right. Not sure that’ll be my approach, but…” He trailed off. Maybe this was natural. To have a period of satiation after achieving goals. Maybe Jova didn’t feel it because she’d not come first in the Gauntlet, not cared about the people of Bastion. So her hunger remained unsatiated. Maybe it was the same for Naomi. Maybe they didn’t understand—or couldn’t understand—the momentary reprieve from ceaseless ambition.
Comforted, he looked back to Nox. “When do you think you’ll be leaving? And for that matter, how would you get out of Bastion?”
“Soon. My hunger has grown low. Soon I will be ready. Then I take tunnels out of city.”
“Tunnels? Wait, not the staircases we use?”
“No. Hidden tunnels. Secret ways.”
Scorio straightened. “You can come and go as you wish?”
Nox just stared at him.
“And other fiends can do the same?”
“Few denizens of Acherzua wish to enter Bastion. Dangerous. Small. Only Coal mana.”
This gave Scorio pause. “Fiends… don’t wish to enter? I thought—we were told that Bastion was always under siege at first. That we had to fight the fiends off, and only in the past few centuries have achieved peace on the Rascor Plains.”
Nox quirked his broad head to one side. “Why would denizens wish to enter Bastion? Small. Dangerous. Only Coal mana.”
“Well, why did you come here?”
“Coal mana delicious.” Nox’s broad mouth curved into a subtle smile. “Few other Imperial Ghost Toads. Nox smart. Hide and thrive.”
“I don’t… I mean, I thought fiends wanted to kill Great Souls. That we fought… that…” He trailed off.
Nox watched him inquisitively.
“So you’re saying that the denizens of… Acherzua? What is that?”
“Acherzua. What you call ‘Hell.’”
“Oh.” Scorio blinked. “All right. So the denizens of Acherzua don’t want… but then why are we fighting?”
“Scorio and Nox not fighting. Best friends.”
“Sorry, I mean Great Souls and… denizens in general.”
Nox quirked his head to the other side. “We are not fighting. Nox is Imperial Ghost Toad. We only engorge and then seek to practice Quantics.”
Scorio nodded, mystified. “Do you know of the Viridian Heart? The Javalynx? The Dying Dreamer?”
Nox shifted his stance. “No.”
“Oh. I guess you wouldn’t have run into them back here.” Scorio rubbed his chin pensively. Was the Blood Ox a fiend like Nox? Were there categorical differences between them? The floating nautiluses were fiends, but hardly a threat. Ixithilions were infinitely more lethal, but could they be spoken with? Had they attacked Scorio and his friends at the Golden Circuit out of a hatred for Great Souls, or had that been simple hunting instincts?
And why had none of this been teased apart in the Academy? Admittedly he’d not paid much attention to the Fiends class Instructor Rex had taught, but the focus there had been on the dangers of the Rascor Plains. Scorio grimaced. He’d have to ask Lianshi.