Though the attack cost them time, requiring their group to retrace their steps to find a safe path back into the chasm, the true cost was peace of mind. Theo had hoped, despite the odds, that they had stayed ahead of similar efforts to reach the vault. Perhaps if he'd sprinted directly down the river...

Once again, he reminded himself that a trap from Vistgil might be waiting at the end. Gathering rare sublime materials was more important than arriving first.

When they finally located a path down that didn't risk disturbing the Chasm in some way, he hesitated by the edge to look back toward the battle one more time. It had essentially entrenched itself around the most powerful soulcrafters, with at least three Strongholds creating fortifications that couldn't be broken by anyone other than their peers. Considering that they weren't willing to risk themselves for the rewards of the Chasm, that produced a deadlock.

None of them were attempting to push further north yet, presumably because they knew that the House of the Lost had bound them all inside for longer. Instead they primarily fought over the sublime materials located on the broad plain, and he thought he saw signs of quarrying in each base. Some of the resources there were powerful, but he'd already given up those sublime materials for lost. No amount of knowledge or trickery would let him enter a battle of that intensity.

Yet the end of the river and the Scepter of Separation... if the stories were true, that artifact could allow any soulcrafter to harm a Dominion, even if it only worked once. He refused to believe that every force entrenched on the plain didn't also have a strategy to try to seize it, if not the entire vault. The Asplundat movement had sent Homez and probably others to sneak into the river, and there were presumably more attempts that he hadn't encountered.

"Theo?" Nauda stood beside the path down, staring back at him. "Is something wrong?"

"Just distracted." He turned back and joined them, creeping down the slope before they shifted to climbing. Though he knew that he could stop their fall with gravitational fields if necessary, it had taken a lot out of him the previous time, so he wasn't eager to test himself again.

"I was actually wondering about this new barrier." Nauda spoke casually as they climbed, moving more easily over the rock than either of them. "What happens if the House of the Lost stops their technique? Could they evacuate their soulcrafters, halt it, and trap everyone else here abruptly?"

"Oh dear." Fiyu glanced up at them from below. "I hope that is not possible."

"It's not," Theo said quickly. "They're freezing the boundaries of the Chasm, increasing the amount of time they'll stay open. When they release their technique, the rest will take a while to fade. The most they could do is set off a panic as everyone would have about one day to escape."

"Huh." Nauda frowned skyward at the uneven line where the darkness met the original sky. "You could probably get to a boundary in a day even if you were in the very center, if you hurried. But do you suppose they could use that to try to prevent anyone from reaching the vault? Let the boundary begin collapsing so that everyone needs to rush out, I mean."

"That wouldn't make sense if they want to acquire it themselves, but I suppose it could be a last ditch effort if they feel things aren't going their way." He actually hadn't considered that, given the slow nature of such boundaries. Though not an overwhelmingly powerful maneuver, they could certainly alter the entire state of the battlefield.

Their trio reached the rocky shore without any accidents or attacks, indeed without running into a single other person. Until they met Senka, sitting on a rock and quietly chewing on what appeared to be a strand of seaweed. She said nothing for once and simply fell in behind them.

Unfortunately, the flooding river had destroyed many of the sublime materials that had been growing on the bank, in addition to carving large sections from the stone. He noted that there weren't any puddles left behind, as if the river had withdrawn back to its territory. The losses might benefit them slightly, but he wished that they had been able to harvest more plants before so many were lost.

As they carefully made their way down the river, Theo found himself increasingly annoyed at the Asplundat Movement. The cavern and ruins he remembered still existed, but many of their contents had been destroyed or washed away. Then again, they might have been looted in the century since the previous time he had visited, since the ruins were one of the most obvious places to search.

If any truly valuable artifacts remained, they would no doubt be in the locked ruins toward the end of the river. Based on the rumors about the Scepter of Separation, the final area was still not thoroughly explored, but soulcrafters had reached it. The vaults would contain the most valuable rewards, yet given the rumors of the opened one, they could easily be a trap...

"What's our exit strategy?" Nauda finally asked as they left another mostly empty building. "Let's not be coy: you'd take this scepter armament if you could, right?"

"If possible, but that really depends on what awaits us at the end." Theo couldn't help but stare northward, even though he could see nothing but the chasm walls as they twisted. "If the Strongholds finish their battle and make it to the last ruins, they'll lock them down. But the scepter supposedly fell in the battle closer to the exits than the vault, so it might be more hidden than guarded."

"Say we happen to run into it, then. Do we take it and run for the boundary?"

"That depends on how many people we encounter. If we can slip away, of course we do. If others realize that we have it, then we'd have a major target on our backs. I think if we play it safe, we can survive long enough to leave. Once we're out of the Chasm of Lamentations, it will be in House Blacksilver's interest to protect us, and in turn Norro Yorthin and the Ruling Cities. They might pressure us, but I don't think they'd entirely turn on us for it."

Nauda frowned like she wasn't so confident, but Fiyu increased her pace to walk beside them and spoke before she could. "Do you still believe this could be a trap laid by your great enemy?"

"I... I'm not sure, but I can't get the idea out of my head. Just think of it as another way we should be cautious." Their path had been relatively easy so far, so he couldn't help but imagine the rumored vault containing nothing but another world-consuming trap. Vistgil's work had been quite effective, because it sowed both traps for his foes and doubts about any action that might benefit them.

"Then we continue moving forward. What is the next location that might help us? Would it be the island with the locked building?"

"With the ruins mostly empty... yeah, the island should probably be our next goal."

Though Theo considered spending more time scavenging the ruins for anything remaining, he suspected they had been picked clean. Their group made better time moving forward, passing the soulcrafters that Fiyu could sense trying to fight their way alongside the eastern side of the chasm. Unfortunately, as the bank of the river thinned, they needed to return to climbing, which slowed them down as they rounded the large turn.

Once they finally reached the next straight section, however, his objective was in sight. The white river had become truly wide at this point, rushing with terrible force, yet a dark island sat in the center of it. That island, more than anything else he remembered, appeared utterly unchanged. Whatever sublime material the dark rock was, it split the water without showing the slightest sign of damage.

Most importantly, the triangular building still sat atop it, unchanged by time. He saw a few scorch marks on one side, but it didn't seem that anyone had succeeded in breaking through. The entire Chasm was resistant to weaker cantae, but the construction materials for that building had been able to shrug off even an Authority's cantae.

Whatever lay inside likely still remained. Unfortunately, the lock was one mystery that Theo had no easy answer for. He wasn't sure if they would be able to determine any solution, but they couldn't afford to ignore the possibility.

There was no path leading to the island, and it was too far from either cliff to drop onto it, so they had no choice but to jump. Their current path was too lined by rocky protrusions, so they searched for a better angle. As they did so, Theo felt a small hand tug on his pant leg.

"Senka doesn't want to go." She had been nearly invisible for most of the trip, but now stared up at him somberly. For a moment, she seemed so unlike her ordinary self that he wasn't sure what to say.

"Why not? Do you know something about it? Can you smell something?"

"Senka... just doesn't think it's safe." Her frown looked decidedly different from her usual pout and he considered taking it seriously, but...

"What alternative are you proposing, then? We can't just give up and leave."

"This place... Senka doesn't want!" Without warning, she hurled herself over the edge, falling into the river, where she promptly began thrashing wildly. "Senka is drowning! Blub blub blub!"

"Did she just say 'blub blub blub'?" Nauda asked. Theo sighed and turned away as soon as it was clear Senka wasn't going to drown.

"If she wants to play in the water, she can. Let's be extra cautious on our approach, but I don't see what else we can do. We couldn't even retreat safely, having come this far. Fiyu, can you feel anything within the building?"

She knelt on one knee for a long time, then slowly shook her head. "It was built to resist powerful cantae, even more than the island stone. I cannot feel anything within, and the island itself is quite hazy to me."

None of that left them exactly optimistic, but the cliff walls became even more sheer around the island, so even if they wanted to pass, they really only had one choice. Nauda went first, since she was the best defended, a clean jump landing her safely on the island. When she indicated for them to follow, they both leapt somewhat more carefully.

The front tip of the island was showered by dangerous spray from the river, but the rest was somewhat shielded from it, perhaps the safest place this deep in the chasm. In the exact center of the island, the triangular white building sat quietly. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the moaning voices of the Chasm seemed quieter on the island, and silent when he walked closer.

Just as he remembered, a large stone door was embedded in the side facing the center of the island, covered in inscriptions but without any mechanism that could be manipulated. Unfortunately, even with more experience than his first visit, none of the inscriptions meant anything to him. Theo walked closer to see if he could determine anything else about the entrance.

"Well, it looks like I got lucky." The voice came from above the doorway, and though Theo leapt back instinctively, he realized that it wouldn't matter. If the Authority had wanted to kill them, he could have done so.

Worse, it was the Authority he had seen representing the House of Burning Leaves, half his face nothing but scar tissue. He wore dark green armor with the sigil of his house inlaid in crimson, no doubt an old and powerful armament. Even if he wasn't the most powerful Authority in the Chasm, their situation had just become far worse.

"You see, this door is very cleverly made, impossible for Authorities to open." The man extended a leg over the side, tapping the building with one heel. "Now, I'm going to need you to open it for me. Based on how well you cooperate, I'll consider leaving some of you alive. But the boy... he definitely needs to die for humiliating the House of Burning Leaves."

"Your name is Mattan, right?" Nauda stepped forward as if to speak to him, but Theo noted that she and Fiyu both stayed at his back. "We all represent Houses of Norro Yorthin. Surely any quarrels we have can be settled within our city."

"You're not House members. You're leeches on Fithe itself. If you won't cooperate, I can kill all of you and find allies to open the door. But if y-"

At that moment, Fiyu's stealth technique rippled out past him and Nauda tapped his side. If he hadn't been so familiar with both of them, Theo might have hesitated, but instead he intuited what they wanted. The instant the stealth covered them, he leapt in the direction Nauda had pushed him.

Even taken off guard, Mattan had an Authority's reflexes. Raw cantae slammed down on the space where they had stood a moment earlier, their jump having just barely cleared it. Fiyu poked them both from behind, and though Theo wasn't entirely sure about her reasoning, he timed his next jump along with both of them, moving around the right side of the building before creeping further.

"That is really quite a remarkable technique." Mattan began stalking around the roof, examining the entire island. His eyes passed directly over them, but didn't pause any more than normal. "Hmph, you're lucky that this place helps hide you. But do you really think you can run?"

His first attempt was to drop his power over the entire island. Ordinary soulcrafters might have been flattened, but given their treatment by Authorities and their careful soulcrafting, they could still move. The air felt more like liquid, but they could make their way out. If their opponent had been a weaker Authority, it might have worked.

Walls of green cantae lit up around the island, then Mattan gestured toward one end. A column of light slammed down over it, vanishing just before another flashed a pace further inland. More and more of the columns began battering the island, as if he planned to find them by brute force.

Given their opponent, they didn't dare speak, but their thoughts were clear enough. Fiyu focused solely on keeping them hidden while Nauda glanced skyward. Theo wasn't sure if the barrier had a ceiling, or if he could lift them without being noticed. He eyed the advancing columns of light, wondering if they could dodge through the search, but he was still just an Archcrafter and the columns were moving remarkably fast.

"Hey, pay attention!" Out of nowhere, a fish slapped Mattan in the face. He was so stunned that he stopped his light columns and spun to look for the source.

Theo had half-expected Senka to be trying to rescue them, though it would have been a suicidal effort even for her. Yet the voice had been male... and to his surprise, Theo saw Tythes standing on the other side of the island, rooting around in the pockets of his long jacket.

"There it is!" He pulled out another fish and hurled it at Mattan, who snatched it out of the air.

"What is this? This... this fish isn't even a sublime beast! How could it survive in this river?"

"Oh, it's not. I heard this river didn't have any fish, so I brought some from home. But I ate the third one, so you really should have had the decency to let the second hit you in the face too. I put real effort into this, and you're ruining it. Can you just slap yourself for me?"

"You..." Mattan stared at him in shock, then let out a cry of rage and unleashed a lance of cantae. This one wasn't aiming to bind anyone in place, but a full-fledged attack designed to kill an equal.

Tythes dodged by falling over onto his side. From that position he tipped backward and struck the ground hard, sending him flipping into the air at unnatural speed, his body a whistling blur. Mattan hurled another lance of cantae at him, but the spin somehow deflected it and a moment later he drove his head directly into the other Authority's stomach.

As they struggled atop the building, Theo realized part of what was wrong with Tythes's soulhome. Though he had a flawless barrier wall that suggested his blueprint was strong, he fought like someone who hadn't soulcrafted a single chamber. Nothing but spending lots of cantae reinforcing his body and moving himself around. Such techniques were only used by incompetent soulcrafters... or those who wanted to avoid letting anyone see their techniques.

Whichever one of them won the fight, Theo didn't like their odds. Despite the risk, he began generating a singularity between his hands. It wouldn't be lethal to an Authority, but if it could draw in enough of their cantae, it might be their only chance at harming either of them.

Unfortunately, the fight ended as Tythes flipped backward, his feet connecting with the other Authority's jaw. The man hurtled upward, bashing against one of the chasm walls before flying out of sight. Tythes ended the maneuver standing on his head on the edge of the building... and then slowly rotated to look at them.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." Tythes extended his cantae, much more subtly than Mattan had, and snuffed out Theo's cantae before it could form a singularity. "I just saved your lives, after all. And please drop that stealth technique. I promise you that I won't search so stupidly, and that will just waste all our time."

After a long pause, Fiyu let the bubble fade around them. Nauda moved to the head of their trio, raising her staff for all the good it would do. "And just why are you here?"

"To altruistically help my fellow citizens, of course." Tythes tipped over the edge and flipped once to land on his feet, grinning at them. "Now, out of sheer gratitude, all of you are going to work for me."