Chapter 1804 - 1804: The Soul's Cadence

"The Soul's Cadence," answered Fortus at once and with grace.

"Not the name I would have imagined, but alright," said Skullius, nodding.

"It's not one I agreed with for the longest time, but I grew to accept it." Fortus drew closer. "The Soul's Cadence is a kind of language woven together using intent as a base and Amras as a dispenser. For Grand General Navvexr, foregoing the need to speak in a practiced, collective tongue defeated the point of a mouth. Per her words, it is uncouth and insensitive."

"Navvexr propos—"

"My lord, please address her as—"

"Fine," said Skullius with an exasperated sigh. He could have sworn he'd heard Subossais omit the 'Grand' in Gylliard's title earlier in the Quadrosphere to no consequence. "Grand General Navvexr was the one who proposed this… Soul's Cadence?"

"Indeed. It was the first thing she introduced when she became Sovereign General Momem Thyrgga's Left Hand, as a matter of fact. In her words, The soul is more unique when it cries than when it mumbles – so why not give it an actual pattern of speech?"

Skullius shrugged. "Lucrative."

"As you say. But I would argue it's not complicated or sophisticated at all, and neither is it entirely different from reading the soul's intention. After all, the Soul's Cadence is simply a combination of dispersing intent along with a set pattern of Amras in speech. That is, of course, why we understand each other right now despite you being unfamiliar with the Soul's Cadence. You understand the broad strokes of my intention, but a lot of the minute details are going untranslated."

To this, Skullius frowned.

'So that's the reason why I only hear bits and pieces of conversation instead of whole phrases,' he thought, sinking into the few thousand consciousnesses that remained outside the Sanguine Suite for an instant and surging back. 'I'm only picking up words – or perhaps slivers of intent – that I'm familiar with, and it's very crude.'

Seeing the disgruntled look on Skullius' face, Fortus mistook it for dissatisfaction.

"I would be open to teaching you the Soul's Cadence, of course. It would be a shame for you to have an audience with the Sovereign General without the proper manner of speech. A great disgrace to both of you."

Skullius agreed, but…

"The Sovereign General," he began. "What's he like? Every time I hear his name, something weighty follows with the next sentence. I have no doubt that he is a great man, given how… orderly things are here, but I could do with some more description."

Fortus chortled a little.

"That depends on what exactly you'd want to know first and in what depth. His personality, his likes, his goals, his achievements? His astounding history as one of the Radicals, perhaps?"

Skullius hid it exceptionally well, but he tensed at the mention of that term – that title.

The Radicals.

The short stroke of history Gylliard had recounted during their traversal from the Quadrosphere to the Monosphere had bled into his very soul.

The secrets that ABON-RIGGIE, SVEERCUSK, and DRADPAS mentioned, the knowledge that the Aspire to Divine somehow leveraged from the Primeval Deities in order to become a genuine problem for them, had been retrieved by the trump cards known as the Radicals.

'The Reaping of the Zephyr…' thought Skullius.

Such was that monumental event titled, but Skullius was unsure what a Zephyr was. He didn't deign to ask Fortus either. It was wiser to keep some aspects of how much he knew hidden, and he got the sneaking feeling that expressing ignorance as to what a Zephyr was, at least to Fortus, wouldn't reflect well.

'They don't know why I'm here. I should keep them guessing for now and steer their suspicions about me elsewhere.'

And that was why Skullius said:

"I was curious as to why they call him Sovereign General Momem Thyrgga the Sheathed. It seemed to me that he might have gone limp when compared to his glory days."

"Perhaps. The Radicals are mysteries to lowly servants like me. The only thing I am sure of is that the Sovereign General still commands impossible strength and wisdom; otherwise, he would not have been able to claim half this Breaking Chasm."

"I see," Skullius smiled modestly and closed his eyes, sinking back into many consciousnesses. "Then, it's based on that wisdom that he has invited the Stellars here, right? For what purpose, I wonder?"

"The same could be asked of you. What are your intentions, my lord?"

"I asked first."

"Such a thing is not for me to disclose. Perhaps the Sovereign General, in all his immense wisdom, will share it with you when you meet. I advise that you learn the Soul's Cadence promptly."

"…I'll see to it then."

The Hybrid nodded, his smile growing ever so slightly.

'Well, it was worth a try,' he thought. 'Though I already suspected he wouldn't tell.'

Driving his consciousness into anyone working for the Aspire to Divine was unwise. There was no doubt some measure to detect something like that the instant it happened was in place.

'Gylliard warned against killing in the Breaking Chasm, but that's probably not the only taboo here. I'm sure there are triggers that would alert someone even if I did hijack someone's mind successfully.'

…And that was why Skullius had elected to use the Vacuum Fiends.

Only about 700 remained now, but because they were so few, it was much easier for him to bear riding their consciousnesses and use their senses to pick up conversations around the Monosphere. And with Fortus' explanation on the Soul's Cadence in tow, Skullius changed his approach for maximum efficiency.

He filtered through every ounce of conversation he heard as the Vacuum Fiends got obliterated one by one.

Insults. Small talk. Laughter. Silence. Order. Darkness.

He saw it all.

He heard it all.

…And then he struck gold.

It wasn't much. No. It was plenty.

Some unfinished building static in the sky, hundreds of worlds glowing as a foundation below it.

Thousands hard at work, constructing its walls, its partitions, its ceiling.

Two figures, short, stout but important, given how they stood on the unfinished floor, overseeing the construction.

There…. angle wrong…dunce!

Uniform…heat. Careful… expansion.

One of the two shook his head.

Skullius inched closer, pushing against the barrier around the whole building even though it didn't budge.

Why… do this? All…this stupid auction?

Thyrgga…lavish. The other figure shrugged. …make…impression… Stellars.

A grunt of annoyance. …shove… up his…

…And that was the last thing Skullius heard.

Becoming back to himself, he sank into deep thought.

'Auction?'