Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Valok and Apogough walked Erick around the farming area. Hera trailed behind.

They said some words and they sounded nice, but Erick was too entranced by the green all around to really listen. The problem with living inside Spur, is that the city was fundamentally a desert city. There’s green here and there, cultivated specifically to alleviate the browns and tans and greys of the stone buildings, to give a bit of life to the desert. But out here, among the farms? Green as far as he could see. Well. Maybe not that far.

The green extended for maybe a mile or two or three all around. Past that were the tans and browns and occasional crystal agaves of the Crystal Forest. In the distance to the south were the dominant walls of Ar’Kendrithyst, rising from the desert dirt like a mountain range.

Spur was north of Ar’Kendrithyst. Somewhere on the other side of the Dead City, laid Frontier, the human city that the human kingdoms founded after the Great Purge of Spur. Somewhere far to the west of Spur was Kal’Duresh, the incani city that was created in response to Frontier.

Somewhere far, far, far to the south, was the nearest bit of water, an ocean.

And the sky stretched above, an endless vault of blue, lit by a brilliant yellow-white sun.

Cluck Cluck CLUCK.

A chicken raced across Erick’s feet, wildly clucking. A 40 pound cat crashed through exactly where the chicken had come from, but the cat saw Erick, Valok, Apogough, and Hera, and dashed back through some underbrush.

“Damn cats!” Valok said, “They’re supposed to eat the rats. Only the rats!”

“There aren’t enough rats, Valok,” Apogough said, “Another gift from Bulgan for allowing those monsters in our city.”

Erick was almost stunned by that casual revelation of ‘Bulgan’. “You all know about that?”

Valok spit on the ground. “How could we not? All the wives are gossiping.”

Hera chimed in, “And all the men aren’t gossiping enough. Some of you knew how bad he was but never came forward until after the damage had been done. We might could have stopped this.”

“Bah!” Valok glared at Hera. “The Quiet War is a blight and there’s nothing we can do except weather the storm and hope that these two humans being planar is enough.”

Apogough said, “It is not Erick or Jane’s fault that Bulgan went too far. Erick even has a Silver Star, for Rozeta’s sake!” He turned toward the orchards they were walking through. “The apples here will need more [Grow] when we start adding more water to what we pull from the ground.”

“We can afford more mages.” Valok said, “We might be doubling the size of the farm if Erick’s magic can reach that far.” He stopped. He looked around. “This is a good spot. Do it, Erick.”

Erick looked around. They were... Probably in the very middle of the farms. But something didn’t seem right. Valok wasn’t this much of a brusque asshole at the party. What had changed? Was it the alcohol? Maybe Erick not showing up when he was expected... That was probably a good guess.

Erick said, “Hey, Valok. I want to work with you, but I’m going to need some better treatment than this.”

Apogough frowned. Hera smirked, but only the slightest bit.

Valok’s red scales turned redder. He grit his teeth, and said, “A farm is a living, breathing, growing entity. We work on a tight schedule to keep everything here in order. Chaos is the enemy. Everything is timed. From [Grow], to Krakina releasing the water, to the planting and the harvesting. You not showing up on the day you promised to show up fucked over a lot of planning, and today? We are not ready for you. So pardon me if your feelings are hurt. You’ll get treated right when you act right, and not a moment before.”

“... Fair enough.” Erick looked up. “Right here?”

“Right here,” Valok confirmed.

[Ward]. [Call Lightning]. Meditation.

A spark of white light spread around then settled into a [Ward 2: Weather], with a glittering white edge. The sky twisted as clouds sprang into existence. Fluffy white at first, they grew, darkening, blocking out the sun up above, then spreading outward, wide. In the depths of that cloud, Erick’s Meditation made him see shadowy monsters, but he knew they were fake.

And as soon as he realized they were fake, they vanished. Did Focus help with that aspect of Meditation, too? Al had said that he could go days without seeing Meditation hallucinations, and Al had a high Focus. Erick hadn't actually seen Al's Status, but Al's Focus had to be above 50.

A minute passed. The crackling thunderhead had filled out, then stopped. The clouds covered a space maybe two miles in diameter. It didn’t cover all of the farm, but it covered most of it.

Apogough had sat down to stare at the cloud overhead. He asked, “Why the weather [Ward]?”

Erick said, “Rozeta changed the spell. She said many relevant entities liked the rain part of it, but the lightning was too strong. It won’t strike through a weather [Ward] now, and I wanted everyone to feel safe.”

Hera said, “But you can take down your [Ward] at any time and leave us vulnerable, while you [Blink] or such away.”

Erick frowned at her.

“What?” she said, innocently. “You need to be aware of what you’re doing, and while Valok and Apogough would never say or act like what you just said could be construed as a threat, other people would. Incani certainly would.”

Erick reluctantly said, “Right. You’re right.” He turned to the farmers. “Sorry.”

Apogough said, “I have a personal [Ward] on. I’m not worried. Why don’t you have a [Ward] on, though?” He pointed from Hera to Erick. “Seems like you’re in some trouble, and mages usually wear [Ward]s when they’re out and about in Spur. The wolves have been gutted from the city, but there are always more hiding in the dark shadows.”

Valok just stared at the sky, waiting for the rain.

Erick said, “I didn’t think to do it. I’m honestly not used to violence and would prefer all of that as far away from me as possible.”

Apogough said, “This isn’t an orcol town. The people in adventuring towns have a tendency toward violence, and Spur is not much different than the rest.”

Erick sighed. “I believe that.”

“Why are you still here, anyway?” Apogough asked. “Why not journey down to Frontier?”

Erick smiled. He had an answer to that question. “Because I heard that all humans on Veird are required to serve in their military. I’ve known enough cultures like that back where I’m from, to know I want no part of any army, or any culture where the army is such a basic part of life.”

Apogough nodded. “Yeah. I can see that.”

“My daughter doesn’t want to be involved in a war, either. She’s pretty set on killing monsters, though.”

Apogough laughed. Valok looked to Erick for a moment, before returning his gaze to the sky.

Valok sighed, smiling, as the first drops of rain pattered against the roof of Erick’s [Ward]. The first iteration of [Call Lightning] was almost over.

[Call Lightning].

The spell was one level higher for the second casting, level 7 now, and the cloud that sprang forth above filled the space of the previous one and went a bit further. Rain fell gently across the green farms of Spur.

It wasn’t much rain, but it was rain, and Erick had caused it.

The sky rumbled with tiny thunder. Flashes of inner light rimmed the deeper parts of the thunderhead. Valok, Apogough, Hera, and Erick, all stared upward as water rolled around the ward. Eventually, the sky rained itself out.

Before Erick cast another one, Valok said, “That’s enough for today, Erick. We need to check on yields and growth rates and quality of product. Can you come back at the same time tomorrow?”

Apogough added, “A bit later would be better for us. Late afternoon.”

Valok nodded. “Late afternoon, then.”

“Sure. This spot tomorrow, late afternoon.” Erick said, “I’ll be here, on time.”

The farmers nodded and went their separate ways, leaving Erick and Hera to find their own way back.

- - - -

Erick walked into the Mage Guild and Anhelia immediately went to him, saying, “Thank the Script you’re back.” She quickly spoke around him, “Hello, Hera.” She stared at Erick. “They’re in the bigger room, just past the one you used. You need to get up there right now.”

“Okay!” Erick said, with more than enough enthusiasm to cover a sudden growing dread. “On my way.”

An orangescale dragonkin was stationed outside of Erick’s original lecture room. Tamarim. The door had been shut and it looked as though Tamarim was meant to keep people out.

Erick said, “Hello, Tamarim.”

“Mage Flatt! There you are.” Tamarim pointed up. “They’re two floors up. Main Lecture Hall.” He thumbed at the door behind him. “Can’t use this room anymore. Too many people showed up. Some of those people got too enthusiastic and now we have to [Mend] this room back together without destroying the notes you wrote on the board.”

“... I can write them again.”

Tamarim shook his head. “There’s more important things to be doing upstairs than going over old notes. Zago is protecting you with all of her might, but religion made itself involved. Head Priest Darenka is assisting you, too, but she’s mostly making fun of the interlopers.”

Erick looked up the stairs. He cast a personal absorption [Ward], full strength, using 500 mana out of his 600 limit, and kept Meditation running afterward. He said, “I’m going to wait here for a few minutes.”

Tamarim and Hera both nodded.

After a moment, Tamarim asked, “What other spells are you going to invent with electricity?”

Hera intercepted the question, “If he’s smart, none at all. Or, he could gift an idea to someone like Headmaster Kirginatharp at Oceanside Academy. That would be the second smartest option, and could potentially earn him some powerful friends.”

Erick thought about possible new spells. Two ideas popped into his head. One of them extendable to wildly useful, the other maybe more a toy but much flashier. Erick had really no idea which was which without actually seeing them in action, though.

Erick asked, “Would Kirginatharp prefer a flashier one, or a useful one? Granted I don’t know which is which until they’re created.”

Tamarim slowly exhaled. He looked to say something, but then didn’t.

Hera had no problems correcting Erick, “Don’t ever say Headmaster Kirginatharp’s name without using ‘Headmaster’. He hates that. If you wish to speak in shorthand, ‘Headmaster’ is acceptable. And I think he’d prefer the potentially flashier one. You could grant him both, but then he would think you were holding out on him and that would not go well for you. If you truly have two new spells in mind, you must hold one for yourself, yet be prepared to lose both before going into any confrontation with the Headmaster.”

Tamarim hummed noncommittally.

Erick said, “Maybe I have a third one, but it’s so non-useful that I doubt anyone but me would want it.”

Hera frowned. Tamarim hummed noncommittally, again.

“It would be a toy, like [Prestidigitation].”

“Ah.” Tamarim said, “Keep that one. The Headmaster would want something his students could use against monsters.”

Erick stared at the stairs, still meditating. He tried to spend 510 mana on his personal [Ward], for a 500 point barrier, but that is not what actually left his body. Clarity dropped mana costs by 45%, but a personal [Ward] doubled the costs. So what he actually spent was 561 mana, and he felt drained. The [Ward] shimmered white against his skin. It was rather visible; everyone would know he had it on. But Apogough’s words about every mage having a [Ward] on at all times were true; Tamarim had a personal [Ward] active. His was orange, visible on the edges of his scales.

At 600 max mana, with Clarity X for 50% mana costs, he could get close to an effective 600 HP with a personal [Ward], almost as good as a rookie warrior, but that extra ‘health’ could not be healed by healing magic. Since personal absorption [Ward]s did not stack —you could only have one at a time— he would need more Willpower to make a better personal [Ward]. Al had warned Erick about this. Smaller [Ward]s were one downside to forgoing Scion of Willpower.

There were some grumbles, but more than a few ‘Yes, good idea’s and ‘Yes, thank you’s.

Erick paused in thought.

He looked across the room. All eyes were on him. He nodded to Zago, and made a few decisions about the future, right there. He threw a [Cleanse] across the chalkboards, then started drawing.

“So, this is an atom...”

Erick gave the lecture again. He didn’t leave much out. He talked about dissolved solids, and other easy experiments with water. He redrew various things as he went, to make them more legible. A few clarifications were asked for, and Erick gave them, but larger questions were asked to wait till the end. He struggled to give the most complete, well drawn lecture he could have possibly given, considering that he didn’t really know much about anything at all.

Hera sat in the back of the room the whole time, listening. Glaring. Judging.

- - - -

The lecture came to a close. Erick put down his chalk; he had gone through several of them this time. Eight chalkboards were full of information about atoms, and bonds, and electrical charges. There were some heavy disclaimers about molecular bonds; Erick knew he didn’t remember much about how those worked. But he did remember more about water, from the electron structure, to the polarity, to the degree of bend —104.5 degrees!— and all of that was up there. Water was one of the most important molecules to fleshy lifeforms, though he wasn’t sure if wrought cared about water or not.

He did not mention any specific atomic forms except for hydrogen and oxygen, or that the proper way to differentiate atoms from one another was by looking at their proton count. That would be for other people to figure out.

He turned to the audience. Some of them were writing on papers, others were studying the blackboards with intense stares. Others looked lost. Most looked excited. Darenka had stuck around for the lecture; she looked quietly happy.

Erick went to the lecturer’s podium. He put his hand on the sides of the wooden pedestal.

“So that was all of that. And there’s more. I could tell you a lot about a lot. But I have been enlightened about a few things recently that terrify me. Firstly, war. I don’t like war, or want war at my door. Two, I have no door of my own, but I’m hoping to live here in Spur, and Silverite, the Mayor, has said she wants humans back in town. She also does not want the Quiet War anywhere near Spur, so keep that in mind while I say my little piece, here. I’d like to use this opportunity to speak to the rest of the world to help her fill out a bit more of the town, and I’d like to foster an attitude of giving and accepting and what have you. But I don’t have any authority here, and I might have just pissed off Silverite by suggesting any of this.

“And this is me rambling on, trying to get to a point about how life would be great if everyone could be good with each other. All I want is my daughter safe, a nice life in a decent part of the world, and to help the people around me. Spur seems like this sort of place. I hope I haven’t screwed up my chances, here.

“When I created [Call Lightning] and started these lectures, I thought that learning about the physical world might help those around me... I don’t know? Have some more options in life? Learn a bit more and solve a few systemic problems? Like how to make it rain in a desert town. The rain was a very good outcome to a random experiment. I thought more good outcomes like that would come from others having the same experience as I did.

“I thought all this new magic would be good. Now that some time has passed, I have had some time to reflect on my actions. People have told me how the next eruption of the Quiet War is going to be all my fault; how I’m going to be murdered in under a year; how I’m taking people’s jobs and ruining everything. This is not what I wanted. Obviously, I have made some mistakes in the dissemination of knowledge, but to forestall any potential assassins, be aware that lectures like this will never happen again.

Erick closed, saying, “I know I asked some of you to wait for the end of the lecture to ask your questions, but I’m sorry. I won’t be answering any questions. Let’s see what happens with what I’ve already shared, before we move on to anything else.”

Before Erick could take a single step across the lecture stage, or the voices of the crowd could turn loud and demanding, Krigea stood up. She spoke and her voice was not her own. It was a deep, sonorous male voice, full of fire and quakes.

“Greetings, Mage Erick Flatt. I am Headmaster Kirginatharp, speaking to you with the assistance of my lovely graduate student, Krigea. Your words today have a great weight, especially those last ones. I agree with the slow dissemination of knowledge, and much more that you have said besides.” Krigea turned to the humans in the audience, who were staring at her in awe. “Children. Become valued citizens of Spur.”

Several things happened all at once, after that.

Krigea collapsed into her seat. The blond girl rushed over and cast a healing spell. Warm orange light flickered across Krigea’s body, settling into her seagreen skin. Gradually, Krigea woke up. She laughed, whispering ‘that was not pleasant’. The blond human agreed, smiling.

Several people said variations of ‘Fucking hell!’ and ‘But where is the fire, water, air, and stone!’ and ‘I see! I see! Yes! I understand!’.

Some people just slammed their books in outrage.

Some smiled. Happy that this would be the end. Darenka was one of those people.

Hera was standing in the back of the room by this point in time. She was smiling wide, too, but she was also holding a small green stone in her hand. She mouthed the words, ‘green the whole time, eh?’

Action slowed as everyone realized Erick was really done talking. There would be no questions answered today.

And then Zago stood. She moved to the center of the room, and said, “Thank you, Mage Flatt. Upon reflecting, you are probably right. This is more than enough new magic in the world for now. Everyone! We are done here. The classroom will be [Cleanse]d in one hour. Take your final notes now, or never.” She bowed to Erick. She walked up through the amphitheater seating, then out the classroom door.

Sizzi followed Zago out of the room. Two other incani and a few of the rest trailed out, after that.

The rest of the people in the classroom were either stunned, still lost by the science of the lecture, or grumbling. Except for the humans. They had packed up their stuff by now and were all looking at Erick. Krigea was looking at him, too.

Krigea stood up, then said, “Thank you, Mage Flatt, for this opportunity.” She turned to the humans, “Maia, Eduard, Ramizi. The Headmaster wishes you well, and to inform you that Ar’Kendrithyst is not to be taken lightly. Even you three could die in there. He also wishes to tell you that if you are lawfully exiled from Spur by Silverite, you are not welcome in Oceanside.”

Maia, the woman, said, “Well duh. I saw the writing on the wall before I [Teleport]ed here.” She nodded to Erick. “See you around.” She grabbed her book and papers. “Come on. Let’s go find some accommodations. Any place you’d recommend, Mage Flatt?”

“Please, call me Erick.”

Maia smiled. “Erick, then. I’m Maia, then. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too.”

Ramizi said, “Goddesses, it’s going to be so damn hot living here. I’m already sweating.”

“Let’s just go to the Adventurer’s Guildhouse.” Eduard picked up his books and papers. “We can figure out the rest later.” He nodded to Erick, then said, “Erick, then?”

“Yes.” Erick smiled. “Eduard, Maia, and Ramizi?”

“That’s the name!” Ramizi said, “And that was all rather interesting, but holy hell you actually spoke to Rozeta and you asked her to change your spell to be stopped by a weather [Ward]? I don’t know if that was genius, or stupid. You need to test it out with some Mana Alterations and see if you crippled yourself, or not.”

Erick grinned. “I’m not big on killing things so I don’t think it matters much.”

“That’s weird.” Ramizi frowned at him. “You’re weird. See you around.”

The three of them left. So did many others.

Soon, the only ones remaining in the classroom were Erick and Hera, and a few other stragglers, struggling to make sense of the chalkboards, going back and forth over the notes they had taken from the lecture.

Erick asked Hera, “Is Silverite going to hate me for this?”

“What?” Hera laughed. “What?”

“... Fuck. It’s that bad, huh?”

“No way! This is good! She already thinks you and Jane are some of the best things to ever happen to her city.” Hera stressed, “Getting more reasonable humans to join Spur is something she thought might take years, but it only took you a few ten-days to go from a complete unknown, to getting Headmaster-approved adventuring humans pledged to become citizens of Spur. If she isn’t in the middle of a bottle of her finest quicksilver, I’ll be flabbergasted.”

Erick spat out, “I thought she hated me!”

“What?” Hera looked stunned. “‘Hated’? What the fuck? Why?”

“Oh! I don’t know! Casually mentioning murder!”

“... Oh. Oh? Is this...? Hmm... I think this is a misunderstanding. Most likely a cultural difference.” Hera frowned. “Silverite likes both of you. Quite a bit. Sorry. Uh. How... How did you come to that conclusion, anyway? Uh. I... I don’t know what’s going on here.”

Erick frowned. Reluctantly, he admitted that his recent interpretation of events might have been due to cultural misinterpretation. He waved off that concern and asked a different question, “How would she know right now, anyway?”

“... Oh.” Hera frowned. “You don’t know that either! Of course you don’t? I can fix that problem! Okay. So. When you’re meditating, you sometimes see hallucinations, yes? Sometimes, they aren’t hallucinations. Like. Go ahead and meditate right now.”

A sudden chill crept across Erick’s skin. Suddenly, he really, really, did not want to meditate.

Hera put her hands on her hips. “Just do it. I’ll show you. It’s not scary.”

Reluctantly, Erick began Meditation. Now that it was active, he could see maybe a thousand thousand eyes floating all around in the ebbs and swirls of the lecture hall’s ambient mana. Usually, he considered those hallucinations. But maybe they weren’t. Almost all of the eyes were not looking at him, but instead looking at the chalkboards.

A ghostly yellow eye appeared in front of him, between him and Hera, looking almost exactly like Hera’s own open eyes, but bigger. Yellow, slitted like a cat's, and glowing, Hera’s third eye moved around her.

Erick vacillated between terror that the eyes he had seen were real, and the casual conversation that Hera was trying to have with him. He could have either pissed himself or laughed at the whole thing. It was a tossup as to which was going to actually happen.

She said, “This is one of the primary applications of [Scry]. If you know what to look for, you can see these eyes through the other hallucinations.”

Erick laughed. “So that’s what those are!”

“Yeah.” She tilted her head. “You’ve probably had a few of these on you, haven’t you.”

“Oh? Yeah. Not often, but sometimes.”

Erick tried to ‘see through the hallucinations’ right now. Almost all of the eyes in the room vanished, except for maybe a hundred. They were all looking at the chalkboard. A few were looking at him and Hera. One of those eyes was bright silver. Hera pointed to that one.

“We’ll get to the eye problem later. But that’s Silverite. We’re communicating with [Telepathy], right now, but she can see you with this.” Hera said, “She wants you to know that she is very happy with what you have done today, and she apologizes for any miscommunications and offense she might have given.” Hera added, “But you do want to have a war spell active in town, so, like, come on, Erick. No one is comfortable with that hanging over their heads, and she has to think about everyone. And yes, she knows about the weather [Ward] thing. But like Zago and the new human mage said, a bit of Mana Altering and you could do some damage on a whim. Maybe even accidentally.”

“Right. Right.” Erick stared at the silver eye floating in the mana in front of him. “Right. Right.”

But all he could see was the giant shadow in the background, sticking to the edges of his vision.

Watching him.

He asked, “Is there a way to prevent people from spying on me?”

“Right. The eyes you have seen.” Hera said, “There’s an easy solution, there. Just throw your Willpower or Focus at them and they usually pop, but it would be impolite to do such a thing in a place like this. Go ahead, and try to pop mine.”

At that, a lot of Erick's paranoia vanished. He felt better. He focused on the yellow eye, trying to bat it away with his mind.

“For a Focus attack you need to pierce the eye; pop it like a bubble. For a Willpower attack, you smash it. Try again.”

Erick imagined a needle, popping the eye. Hera’s yellow [Scry] eye burst into fragments of magic that drifted away to join the sea of ambient mana.

Hera’s eyes dimmed back to normal yellow. “Good job. So? About the eyes you have seen?”

“I don’t want to talk about that right now. I can figure that out myself, and there usually aren’t eyes by the Sewerhouse. Al probably pops them all and he didn’t want me to freak out. I need to lie down.”

“Then I’ll escort you to the Sewerhouse, and leave you when we get there. Someone else will be there in the morning to bodyguard you in this trial period.” Hera added, “If this keeps up like I think it will, I doubt you’ll have a bodyguard for more than a month.”

Erick nodded, then led the way out of the lecture hall, and out of the Mage’s Guildhouse.

The giant shadow did not follow.