Chương 107: Wisp Reborn

Miriam shouted "Eoin!" and instantly wrapped Solas in a firm Entangle, binding the Wisp in Sol's body to the mountainside.

"Oof!" Solas said, cackling.

"I'm disappointed! I thought you'd be surprised to see me! I must be losing my touch."

"Like you lost your body," Miriam said.

"You know, when I killed you. But no, not surprised in the least. What, you think after Sol told me about you and Ultán being awake in his head, the idea that Sol wouldn't wake up as Sol wouldn't have occurred to us?"

"You always did have a poor opinion of others," Eoin said coolly, walking up to the bound man.

"So sure you were the smartest man in the room."

"Well, whenever you and I were together I was!" Solas spat.

"I suppose you're right - you would have been fools not to expect that I would be the winner."

"The winner?"

"Of the game the Great King Cianán set before us! Solas, Ultán and this fascinating hodgepodge of ship and gem you call your friend, all vying for who gets to run the body!" Solas grinned again, his purple irises dancing every which way, as if he were too excited to stay still, even bound as he was by vines.

"So. You're the winner then?" Miriam said, forcing her voice to be even.

"What about Sol and Ultán?"

"Who could ever think otherwise? I am the greatest Mind fórsa specialist in the entire First Ring, am I not? In a battle taking place entirely in the realm of Mind, who could even come close to my abilities?" Solas laughed again. Miriam exchanged a glance with Eoin.

"Best in the First Ring means nothing here," she said dismissively.

"It's sad that you hold on so tightly the idea of your greatness. You're not even a big fish in a little pond. You're… a minnow in a puddle. Only great because the water is too dirty to see how small you are."

"I held you captive, didn't I?" Solas said angrily, his casual glee wiped away in an instant.

"You needed the help of the great Eoin Daithi to escape from me!" Miriam scoffed.

"Hardly. I killed you with pure instinct, filling your body so full of blight you were barely even a corpse when I was done. And look now - I've only been in the Tír, what? Four months? Already a Second, when you worked all your years to achieve even that modest achievement. And failed to do so, I might add!" Solas strained at her vines, and Miriam was alarmed to see some of them break. Sol's body had gotten stronger since Teilgcheárta. But she just poured more power in and bound him tighter.

"Gahhh!" Solas struggled against the vines, spittle dripping from his mouth.

"It's not fair! I was born what I am. No god to claim me, no shape made to bear fórsa for the journey inward! While you were given all the gifts of Sailleach, just for crossing the vent I pulled you through!"

"Sounds like excuses to me," Miriam taunted.

"You didn't like how you were born so you lured in and murdered little children to make you think you were onto something. You weren't. I kept your Reel for quite a while and used it. You know what I found?" She leaned in.

"It was a real piece of shit. Could barely hold fórsa longer than a day. You were fooling yourself if you thought something so shoddy was ever going to get you to the Second Ring." Solas screeched loudly at her, his hands clawing upwards until - his eyes went blank. Sol's face sank from mania to weary resignation.

"Thank you. Thought that little arse would never shut up."

"Ultán?" Miriam asked.

"That you?"

"Aye, yeah it's me. That loathsome little pest hasn't won the game yet. But I have to warn you - he is winning." Ultán rested Sol's head back against the ground.

"Not the afterlife I'd dreamed of, I can tell you that."

"Is Sol still alive in there?" Miriam looked at Eoin again, who had three lenses in front of one eye, frowning. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Ultant grunted.

"Maybe. It's like he's sleeping, but he's also… not. He's doing something, but it doesn't seem like he's conscious while he's doing it. Could be the Mind that was Sol is gone, but the underlying functions remain. I couldn't tell you."

"Are you also playing Cianán's game?" Miriam asked. Ultán shot her an evil look.

"You mean, am I trying to get back the body that was stolen from me? Of course I am. Just because I'm willing to help you against Solas doesn't mean I'm on Sol's side. That monster ate me. It's just that Solas is well at home in here. He doesn't have any power - none of us can do a damn thing with fórsa, which is a real kick in the ass - but he knows how it all works. I can only talk to you now because you made him lose control. I'm sorry to say he'll be back in a moment."

Miriam looked again at Eoin who nodded and dismissed his lenses.

"Well," Eoin said.

"I agree that it's very unfair what happened to you… even if perhaps I might have had a hand in nudging the whole thing along."

"You mean when you shoved me into that Sea Dragon's mouth?" Ultán grumbled.

"Just so! But… we're pretty tired right now, and don't particularly want to talk to Solas again. Let's pick it up in the morning!" Eoin gestured and mist gathered around Ultán's head. The spirit borrowing Sol's body gasped a few times, then Sol's eyes closed.

"Well?" Miriam asked. Eoin sighed.

"It's fascinating. Very complex structures that look like they grew naturally rather than through any gemcraft I know. I admit to giving Sol a once-over when I first met him and what I saw then was pretty recognizable as the Líadan's core gem, with fragments of Solas's Reel grafted onto it. When he was asleep after Teilgcheárta, I could see the organic structure I just mentioned, but without an active Mind in it I couldn't really see how it functioned."

"And now that you've seen two active Minds?"

"Chaos," Eoin said with frustration.

"The primary structure is still there, but the Minds are no longer contained to it. They're moving all over his body - I presume that's how they're controlling Sol, making use of these new silver pathways. My analysis says they're iron, but it doesn't behave like any iron I've ever seen. Sol should be like Ferris was, a smoking ruin. I don't get any toxic sense from it at all. I have to wonder if this network of structures in Sol's body might be Solas's work." Miriam nodded.

"He didn't stop Sol from grabbing the Heart of Iron, though he must have known what Sol was going to do. He wanted it to happen."

"I think perhaps he was laying groundwork for this. To take over Sol's body more actively. Which… if we can get Sol back to himself may mean that he has done our friend a great favor. This new structure has strengthened his composition significantly. It's impossible to rate him accurately with no fórsa weave, but I would estimate he might be at Third. Possibly Fourth, but we won't know that until Sol is actually in there driving this thing." Eoin looked impressed and annoyed at the same time.

"It's an incredible evolution, but the unique nature of his entire being makes it extremely difficult to think of how I might one day replicate it."

"So Sol increases his 'fórsa density,' so to speak, by absorbing other gems," Miriam said.

"Seems too easy."

"Well, if you know where there's another gem like the Heart of Iron, sure," Eoin said.

"What about Sol himself? Was Ultán telling the truth? Is he still in there?" Miriam did not elaborate on what they would do if the answer was no. They had already agreed on that course of action - one they were certain Sol would have wanted.

"I think so," Eoin said.

"And it's good news. I could map the areas controlled by each mind as it took over, like functions owned by different hemispheres of the brain. Solas 'owns' the Reel shards and most of the extended iron network. Ultán also has some of that network, but he's more diffused through the physical body too - more like a web than concentrated solely to the gem. I assume that's because his body is primarily what Sol is made of.

But that leaves about 50% of the old gem and 80% of the new growth dark when each Mind was taking over. I'm guessing that's Sol." Miriam brightened.

"That is good news. We just have to figure out how to wake Sol up." Eoin nodded.

"I'll warn you that might be harder than it seems. I have no idea what's happening in there. But, I do have some thoughts on how to extricate Solas and Ultán - and it dovetails nicely with the training I have in mind for you."

"Really?" Miriam asked.

"I don't know that a crash course in gemcraft is going to be that productive here, though I admit to being a little curious about it."

"No - well, there may be a little. But I was speaking about your last Adept class. I think you're well on your way to one I wasn't expecting, and if you hone it well and combine it with my gemcraft, we can use it to help Sol."

"What Adept class? Cian kept telling me that I was likely to end up a Vine Adept, given how much I use them." Eoin nodded.

"A reasonable assumption, but overlooking what I think is happening. I think the power you're leaning on when you create vines isn't actually one that would get you to a Vine Adept."

"What do you think it is?"

"According to my analysis, I think it's Growth. A class well suited to your Dryad species. It's often one adopted by farmers and gardeners." Miriam raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get me wrong, back in my old life I would have killed for that power, but I don't see how it would help us with Sol." Eoin smiled and doffed his wide hat with a flourish.

"My knowledge is vast! Just know when the time comes we might have a path forward."