Homestead Survival

<20 September 2024, MIRROR DEEP RETREAT, ????>
[Theo and Julia]
Laurel stepped back from her spot between the two groups, "One. Begin."

Theo suddenly felt a connection similar to what he always felt with Julia, but against a conglomeration. The conglomeration was composed of three forces. One that felt of pride, one of assurance, and one of boredom. All three rushed at Theo and Julia, so Theo did what he always did, and put himself between the danger and Julia.

Julia felt the deep Ocean of willpower that was Theo's soul, something that she had grown to take comfort in feeling every day, wrap around her like a delicate cocoon. Outside the Ocean that now encased her, she felt three other forces slam into the wall that was Theo. Julia knew this routine; she was safe, and now she needed to figure out how to strike back.

Julia felt her own soul, and wondered if it were something that had a normal shape or if it was fluid and could be used. She truly examined her soul for a moment and then smiled, seeing the shape of a hearth with flames flickering. She decided that pushing her soul to do something outside of how it was shaped would be foolish. So instead she encouraged it, urging it to burn with the heat that she associated with her Warmth of the Hearth skill, healing friends and harming foes. She envisioned a great bellows and drew in a breath, blowing out, stoking the flames higher and higher.

[Varess, Wynez, and Purdan]
"How in the hell are they doing this?!" Demanded Wynez, who had been so completely assured of their victory a moment ago.

"I have no idea." Varess said quietly. He had expected that, if Laurel would let them in the room, let alone participate. But when he had first felt the massive Ocean of self-assured willpower that was Theo, he had wondered if he had made a mistake. The Ocean had flowed to wrap almost lovingly around the smaller hearth of pure determination. Varess had moved as he had practiced with Wynez and Purdan, striking hard and fast in an attempt to force one of them to submit. But it had not worked.

"Why do I feel hot?" The always bored voice of Purdan asked, a note of alarm in his telepathic voice.

Varess snapped his focus back to the soul that was Julia. He began to feel waves of pure heat, something that should not be possible, wash through Theo and strike at them. He slammed his soul into Theo, trying to get to her and stop her. "Get to her and stop her!"

They all lashed out, and struck as hard as they could but the blows were like hitting well trod earth. Purdan was no longer bored. "Who the hell are these two really? And how is she managing to burn Dragons!"

All three of them had been feeling the rising temperature of Julia's soul-fueled hearth.

[Theo and Julia]

"Oh! We can talk here!" Theo exclaimed. He felt the Bond burning strongly between them.

It took a moment, but Julia responded. "That's useful. I was just trying to figure out how to channel a Message through my soul to ask you something."

"What's up?" Theo asked, mildly distracted as the three dragons renewed their attacks.

"I can feel my soul wanting to pull on yours, but I don't know if it will hurt you somehow." Julia said, "But I would like to see what happens."

"Sure, go for it." Theo said, not sure what she meant by pulling on his.

Julia did something, and suddenly, Theo felt his soul start to completely envelop Julia rather than enveloping a safe space for her. Julia was not alarmed, so he let it happen. As his soul pressed in, it began to flow through the hearth that represented Julia. Theo felt that this was not right.

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"Why am I an ocean?" Theo thought of Julia.

A feeling of confusion emanated from her, "I am not sure what you mean."

"Mean that the hearth seems to be a very good representation of you, so why am I an ocean?" Theo clarified.

"I... I don't know, this shape just felt right. It was almost like something wanted me to be this shape." Julia said.

Theo thought for a moment, and then a pulse of happiness emanated from him. "I have an idea that might cause us to lose, but I also really want to try. Can I?"

Julia gave the soul equivalent of a shrug, "Do it."

So Theo focused on home. Reshaping the image of his soul to be home. The Overlook, the Ward array, the dug-out basement. The cabin, now slowly falling apart. As soon as he started the shift in, though, his soul seemed to snap into shape. Now Julia's hearth sat in the middle of the Ward array and pulsed brightly, seeming to pull strength from Theo's newly formed Overlook.

With a flare of power, the flames of the hearth pulsed and wrapped around the three dragons, making it so that Theo and Julia could hear them.

"What is this?!" Wynez demanded as the flames began to constrict.

"Please submit if you would." Julia said nicely. "I don't want to force you to do anything. But I also feel that you will not be able to best us."

"Don't have the willpower to finish the fight then! Pathetic Human!" Purdan cried out.

Julia let out a sigh in her mental voice. "I am not a violent person, Purdan. It was never my place. I have always supported. You should ask Varess and Sylvi about it later. But for now, Theo, if you would."

Theo reached out, and his soul in the shape of the Overlook formed three massive stone hands. Each hand grabbed the soul of one of the dragons. Then Theo slammed his will into each dragon with a simple message. "Bow."

It only took a few moments before the link severed, and Theo and Julia were no longer in the strange state of being focused in their souls. Laurel's voice rang out, "The winners are Lord and Lady Sorrin."

A Tremendous roar of approval washed over them, and Laurel continued. "Without further ado, we will begin the final matches! Next up..."

Theo and Julia stepped back and let things proceed. Theo looked at Julia, "Was that the kind of competition you were looking for?"

Julia smiled up at him, "It was fun, I feel like... Like the bond is growing between us."

Theo nodded, "I agree, it's like we accepted something, and now that is changing how the bond connects us."

They chatted for a while, then Varess walked up to them. He bowed his head slightly, "I must admit that I was shocked. I did not think that you were worthy of performing in this group. But you shocked me. Well done."

"I'm glad that we could perform at an appropriate level," Theo said.

"You and your siblings should come visit with Sylvi sometime," Julia said with a smile. "You would still be roughing it, but it's getting better."

"I appreciate the invitation," Varess said, then looked awkward, "I also wanted to say thank you for helping the facts about Sylvi's parentage get out. I feel bad for how I treated her, but we are working on fixing our relationship."

"That is good to hear," Julia said, and was about to say something else, when a roar of disapproval cut through the crowd as a Spider-legged man with pitch black eyes and alabaster white skin stepped over the unconscious forms of another team.

Varess flinched. "A word of caution, we are withdrawing, we did not know that Xi'Sys would be here, and he is a perverted monster. I would highly recommend that you withdraw. If he gets into your mind, he will not hesitate to make you do something demeaning and insulting. And that does not include the strange hallucinations that he can make people see."

Theo and Julia looked at each other, then back at Varess, where Theo spoke, "Thanks for the heads up. Thanks for the good fight as well."

Varess nodded and walked away. Theo and Julia watched another match take place, realizing how quick the matches actually were and that they were just two groups facing each other, with a glowing blue and purple rope of energy thrumming between them. After a group of three crystalline women bowed, trembling to a pair of strange furry creatures, Laurel spoke up once again. "Well done, the Marfillarn Brothers move on to the semi-finals! Next, we would have the young dragons of Karzun-Morrakai, but they have withdrawn and given their recommendation to the Sorrin Family to take their place. So next up is lord and Lady Sorrin, versus the Arthintry!"

Cheers rushed out from many directions. Theo and Julia stepped forward and were greeted by yet another familiar face. Julia smiled, "Lamalla, it is good to see you."