Chapter 87, 1/2

Chapter 87, 1/2

Erick got home and collapsed in his bed. It was not even noon.

Nightmares came, gentle at first, but long lasting as their unknowable significance. When he awoke, he felt as though years had passed, but all he could recall were dark clouds and bulbous growths crawling under his skin. He shivered under sweat soaked covers. And then he got up.

The sun was well risen in the east, but had yet to cross the sky. Erick had slept like the dead for almost a full day. Stress had gotten to him, bad, and he had dealt with it poorly, but at least he hadn’t let the rainmaking slide... Wait. He didn’t miss another day, did he? Shit. Ah, but it was only one of the small rains. Oh well.

And with those thoughts, Erick was truly up, and slightly flushed with both worry and adrenaline, again. He was not taking care of himself. Aside from the need for the bathroom, he smelled himself, and he smelled awful. A [Cleanse] took care of the immediate smelly problem, while evaporation would take care of the dampness left behind. A trip to the bathroom took care of his morning needs, but just to feel better about everything, he indulged in a [Watershape] shower using the scented soaps from Oceanside. Warm water and soft soap washed away some of his stress, but not a lot.

Ophiel sang on the bathroom sink counter, happy to finally be let in the bathroom. Erick wasn’t sure why he gave into Ophiel’s demand today, but Ophiel’s song was nice, right now; him being outside would have been way too many unhappy screeches.

[Vivid Gloom] had messed Erick up something awful.

Or it could be that his normalcy was shot to shit and he had no routine and everything was up in the air and a war was coming and... There were a lot of problems. He glanced out of the small window of the bathroom, at the thin strip of green surrounding the Human District and orange buildings beyond, and nightmares took over. He imagined fire and darkness and bones and death and tumorous people pulling their bloody bodies across the ground, and—

And he washed it all away, clearing his mind as best he could, discarding his worries down the drain.

With his routine done and smelling of a cross between pine trees and jasmine and drying terror, Erick went downstairs, to the kitchen. No one else seemed to be here, right now, or maybe they were busy in another part of the house. It was a big house, after all. Whatever the case, Erick entered the empty kitchen and set about making his favorite comfort food: pizza. He had started to get heartburn every time he ordered it back on Earth, so he stopped ordering it every Friday night years ago. But now, on Veird, he could handle the decadence that was cheese and tomatoes and everything else. And if not, oh well!

He started with the dough. As he grabbed flour and eggs and everything else he needed from the cupboards and the cold box, he decided to give Jane a ring. Maybe talking to her would be a good idea, if she was up. Maybe she was nearing the end of her physical therapy? He summoned some Ophiel and sent them blipping—

A nice thought crossed his mind: he could deliver Jane’s care package, too. Ophiel hadn’t gotten far, so he blipped the closest [Familiar] back to his mage tower. He had put together Jane’s present... How long ago? Oh. Two days ago. A whole two days ago! Wow. Hmm. Not good.

Yup. He needed to talk to his daughter. Not to burden her with his worries, but... just to talk, about nice things, like magic and... well... probably about plans. She had heard about Candlepoint, right? Of course she had.

Ophiels baton-passed an orange stone box and each other over 13 [Teleport]s to Oceanside, leaving some behind as they went, to form a mental link to Oceanside. The final Ophiel blipped into the blue sky outside of Jane’s hospital room.

There was someone else in her room. They were sleeping in Jane’s bed! Under a powered [Sleep] rune!

Erick did not let worry claw at his heart. He just sent, ‘Jane?’

A reply came quick enough, ‘Hey, Dad! I’m eating dinner at Windy Manor. This place is nice.’

Relief buoyed Erick’s entire body. He sent Ophiel blipping to the manor, as he sent, ‘It’s a pretty great place. Did you move in today, or what?’

‘I got discharged yesterday. I called, but Poi said you were sleeping.’

Ophiel blipped onto the green lawn outside of Windy Manor. Ocean winds tousled through the lemon trees and the potato gardens, combing through the grasses of the land, to brush against the massive picture windows of the log cabin mansion. The lights were on inside. Jane was sitting at the table, eating something. A sandwich? It was almost gone, though. She spotted Ophiel. She waved.

‘You got discharged, then!’ Erick said, ‘I should have been there!’

‘Don’t worry about that,’ she said, smiling.

Ophiel blipped into the house, and took his perch on the couch, while holding the small orange box in his Handy Aura. Erick sent, ‘I made you a present.’

Jane teased, ‘I don’t smell chocolate chip cookies!’

‘... That completely slipped my mind. Chocolate. Wow.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Jane stood up from her chair, and rounded the table to come closer to Ophiel, saying, “Come on then! What’s in the box?”

For a brief moment, Erick paused, and utter terror seized his mind. He thought of body snatchers and Hunters and Caradogh. Was this ‘Jane’, actually Jane? Erick caught himself. He stopped worrying. Of course Jane was Jane; she even mentioned ‘chocolate’, and Erick had not mentioned that word to many people, at all. The only people on Veird who even knew about chocolate chip cookies were Jane and the Goddess of Field and Fertility, Atunir. And probably Poi and such.

“What’s wrong?” Jane frowned, as Erick went silent. “You could have come yourself, you know. Get away from your guards and the worries of the world for a little while. If it would make you feel better, you could even put up a [Prismatic Ward] around here. Or. Actually— Just around my room up there would be good.” She pointed to the room that had been Rats’. “That’s my room.”

Erick split his attention from Jane, to himself, back in his own kitchen, back in Spur. He was still alone, except for Ophiel on his shoulder. He turned his attention back to Oceanside, back to Jane, and said, “I’m not even there in person, and you can tell something is wrong, can’t you.”

Jane calmly sat down across the living room table, on the couch opposite of Ophiel’s, saying, “I did talk to Poi. I heard about your new spells and a few other things. I already knew about Candlepoint. I went to a crash course day-long overview on Shade History, two days ago, and then there was a lecture about what we knew about Candlepoint yesterday. I’ve even had a talk with the Headmaster, himself, too.” She stared at Ophiel, and said, “And then I talked to Kiri, and heard it all again from a much more concerning angle. What’s wrong, Dad?”

Erick put on a happy face, or as much of a happy face as Ophiel could convey with eyes and feathers. He certainly turned his voice into something more jubilant, though. “Nothing, Jane. Absolutely nothing is wrong.” He pushed forward the orange stone box, across the table between them, saying, “Here!”

Jane stared at Ophiel, and ignored the orange box. “This isn’t a matter of keeping parental worries from your child. This is a strategic worry. I need to know if I need to worry about you, because what I learned about Shades in the last two days is very concerning.”

Erick came back to himself, briefly. He sent out to Poi, ‘I’ll be right back. Going to see Jane for a bit.’

‘Good. Thank you for the warning. See you later. Please put up a [Prismatic Ward] around yourself while you are there. I will alert the Headmaster.’

Erick smiled. ‘That’s fine.’ And then he said to Jane, “I’d rather have this conversation in person. Be right there.”

Jane smiled, and it was full of warmth. “Good. Me too.”

Erick had the Ophiel on site, who was at something like 6000 mana, spend all of that mana on filling Windy Manor with a [Prismatic Ward]. Dense air washed across Jane, as Erick began blipping to Oceanside. He briefly paused over the ocean, feeling the nice salty air as he hovered with his Handy Aura, and then he continued. It did not take long for him to reach the manor.

He stood in the living room, a few meters from Jane, and said, “Hey, honey. How’ve you been?”

Jane stood up, her smile seeming to fill the room with joy. She rushed into Erick’s arms. Erick laughed a little as he hugged his daughter. Jane just sighed out in relief.

Eventually, Jane pulled away, and said, “They weren’t lying. You do look twenty years younger.”

“Hah!” Erick asked, “Did I not tell you?”

She half-joked, half-admonished, “I think there’s quite a lot that you didn’t tell me.” She asked, “Did you eat that unicorn horn?”

“Yes.” Erick briefly flashed his entire body into ethereal light, with [Lightwalk], saying, “I have a lot to talk to you about.”

Jane sighed a little, still smiling. “Good. I’m glad you ate it.” She joked, “But where’re my chocolate chip cookies! Did that fall to the wayside, too?”

Erick laughed. “Oh, yes. Very, very far to the wayside.” And then he paused, then exclaimed, “You never said anything about chocolate chip cookies before! Where’s this coming from?”

“I’m trying to distract you from your problems for a moment or whatever.” She shrugged. “But I like chocolate, anyway, so yeah. I want chocolate now. Is that such a big surprise? Your care package reminded me that I like chocolate, sometimes. It’s not my favorite flavor, but it’s pretty high up there.”

Erick pointed to the garden, outside the window. “There’s tarip trees out there you can try to [Grow] into chocolate, too, you know. I got them planted and grown, but not much beyond that.”

Jane smirked. “You’re the archmage, Dad.”

Erick laughed. “You’re half a mage! Balance is magic enough, isn’t it?” He pointed at her fingers, saying, “And open that box. It’s got much better ones than those spherical things you’re wearing now.”

Jane clapped a little and hopped over to the stone box, smiling wide. She slipped open the cover, revealing two silver tori, perfectly sized for her fingers. She slipped off her old rings and put the new ones on. She glanced at the air, saying, “Plus 52 to every Stat! Holy shit, Dad.” She said, “I really need those Polymage abilities now. Or, you know what?” Her eyes glinted dark blue, as she said, “You should figure out those soulbound stones coming out of Candlepoint.”

“... What are those?”

“... Have you not looked up Candlepoint’s full item list?”The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

“Of course I have! But you know they’re all tricks, right?”

“Obviously, but they’re really interesting tricks. Sit down, Dad.” She said, “I’ll put on a pot of coftea.”

Erick sat down on the couch, next to Ophiel.

Jane closed her eyes tightly as she crossed her arms and sighed. After a long moment, she opened her eyes. “... Fair.” Jane took another long moment to say, “Then... Fine. Go ahead.” She stressed, “But don’t do that sort of magic without someone with [Greater Treat Wounds] and [Regeneration] and [Blood Renewal]! You should get a good Healer this time. Someone with actual healing skills.”

“I’m sure Rats had some—”

“He was useless when you almost died making [Zone of Peace]. He used you to get his [Greater Treat Wounds] Spell Quest done. All he had was basic healing. [Healing Word]. [Rejuvenation].” Jane said, “I asked. He had almost nothing except a disastrous need to get out of the active Army. He was fucking up everywhere on the front line, so he got kicked to you. The only competent person under you is Poi.” She added, “Teressa needed a break, too, but at least she managed to keep it together and pull herself together.”

“... Yeah. Maybe.”

She said, “You have a hard time being mad at who you should be mad at, and that’s great when everything is going great, but that’s bad when everything goes sideways and people turn out to be far less good than you expect of them. Very few people are like you.”

Erick shook his head, and said, “That’s more than enough of the bad stuff that’s happened! Tell me something good? Have you gone and gotten your Terminator slime yet?”

“Terminator slime? You never even saw those movies!”

“I knew about them! That one guy had a liquid metal body, right? Almost like a wrought~” Erick sing-songed.

Jane smiled, then said, “Yeah. It’s pretty neat. I’m probably two weeks away from [Stone Body], too, but I’m probably going to have to cut that promise short, if war begins.”

Erick frowned.

“We have to talk about this stuff, a little.” She offered, “For a little while longer.”

“Fine... I get it. So what was that ‘soulbound’ thing you mentioned, earlier?”

Jane said, “The Headmaster has gotten samples of every single item from Candlepoint. One of them is known as a ‘soulbound stone’. What you do, is use it on a real item, of any sort, and that item becomes a soul-mantle item. Technically: it attaches to your soul, and it can never be taken away from you, because as soon as it is, it turns to mana, and dissipates. You can reform the item by spending mana. Effectively: it becomes a Script skill, almost. It gets its own blue box, and then you pump mana into that box, and the item appears on your person, and is usable once again.

“The Headmaster bought several of those stones, after the first one proved what it could do.

“The stone breaks when the item breaks, and almost all magical items break. But he did use a stone on one of your rings, and that ring remains with the person who used the stone. They can take it out and put the ring directly on their finger with 50 mana. It was only an 11 Strength ring, though; one of the earlier, weaker ones you made.”

Erick listened, and that was all very interesting. It was also concerning. He said, “Seems dangerous. I don’t know much about soul magic, but... I can’t believe that— No. Wait. I’m sure the Headmaster has access to the best necromancers on Veird. He probably knows what every single item does, or is, or how dangerous they are.”

“The Headmaster’s necromantic tests were conclusive: the creation of a soulbound item does not affect the soul of the person wearing it.” Jane’s eyes sparkled, as she said, “But you don’t know why the existence of this sort of item is so truly interesting, do you?”

“... No?” He said, “It’s just more crazy magic, right?”

Jane chuckled, and said, “Melemizargo has my car!”

“... What?”

“And probably my laptop, too.”

What followed was a whirlwind story of Dungeons and Dragons and a laptop in the trunk and how Jane and all of Savral’s group had journeyed across the Crystal Forest, trying to retrace Jane’s steps. They had succeeded, but when they got to the car, it was gone.

Erick had heard this story before. He even knew about Jane’s laptop and such in the trunk. And then she reminded him of the D&D book that she slapped onto Irogh’s desk, and the extra Stats of that ‘game system’. She had even gone to Irogh later, without Erick, and asked if the Registrar over in Kal’Duresh would have interfered with her car. Irogh, and even Kal’Duresh’s Registrar, both told her that he had done nothing with their vehicle.

She had never been able to find it, but she had kept looking. And then Candlepoint popped up.

“I don’t know where they’re keeping it, but there were a lot of things on that laptop. If all it took was a [Mend] to make it work again, then who knows what they could have seen. Of course, I could just be imagining it all.” Jane said, “But most telling are the extra Stats they’ve added to the Script, as well as the quest for a spaceship. And then there’s all the weirdly named items. You’ve got the soulbound stuff and Immovable Rods, the Instant Fortress and the Bag of Holding. Don’t forget the Flame Tongue enchanted items, either.

“[Flaming] is the skill they use to enchant fire magic onto weapons, Dad. Not ‘Flame Tongue’. That’s a whole new thing for Veird.” She excitedly said, “And! And! I’ve been looking for a Bag of Holding since I got to Veird, but they just don’t exist! True Bags of Holding require dimensional fuckery or at least [Gate] magic, so they don’t exist, but Bags of Tiny Size do, though they’re more novelties than anything real. They use [Alter Size]. They don’t last very long, at all, and retrieving something from them is a chore. But apparently Candlepoint has ‘Bags of Holding’!” She added, “They’re still just novelties made with [Alter Size], though. Apparently even Shades can’t get that one right.”

Erick stared off into space, then looked down at his daughter. She was smiling. He was not smiling. “So what does this mean?”

“I don’t know!” She added, “But if you’re worried about physics textbooks being on there, or whatever: Don’t. It was literally just a reference laptop. I stored all my gaming books there in one convenient package. If anything, all it had was overviews of ideas of horrific monsters and magics, but there was absolutely no physics or real-world stuff on there.”

“Okay... That’s... better than I thought it would be.”

“There were literally dozens of tabletop gaming systems in there, though. So. There you go.”

“... But what does this mean?”

“Short term, it means I’ve been spilling every bit of gaming knowledge I have to the Headmaster and in return I’m getting my Stone, Air, and Water Elemental Body skills for free. I’ll be back in Spur soon enough, without needing to kill monsters for him like one of his Elites.” She pointed back to the kitchen table, where an empty plate sat. “I was actually just sitting down for a snack to get the taste of stone out of my mouth, when you showed up. And then it was back to grinding [Stone Body].”

Erick was very happy for that change of plans. “That’s amazing, Jane.”

“I thought so, too.”

He smiled wide. “Speaking of the Elemental Body skills: [Lightwalk] is pretty interesting. When you got the skill, did it feel like completing a puzzle to you, too? Oh! And have you managed to remake any spells? There are ‘Remake Spell Quests’ or whatever they’re called, in the Script, open for every single Basic Spell out there. I’ve remade [Blink] and [Teleport] so far, but I think I want to eventually try for every single spell.” He spoke seriously, “But don’t do Spatial spell remakes until you get a [Familiar]. The only way I survived remaking [Blink] and [Teleport] was because I used Ophiel. I talked to the guildmaster of the Wayfarer Guild in Spur, and he lost an arm when he went and remade [Teleport].”

Jane sat, slack jawed. “You can do that?! Get extra points? Just like that?!”

“I know, right? I was surprised, too.” He joked, “It’s pretty dangerous, but what self-respecting archmage would get to that position without risking death by their own magic?”

Jane faked a long laugh, “Haaa.” She stared off into nothing. After a moment. She asked, “[Lightwalk] felt like completing a puzzle, to you?”

“Well yeah.” Erick asked, “What did it feel like for you?”

“Like a grind.”

They talked for a while, about magic and gaming, about Candlepoint and Shades, and everything else. The sun began to set outside, while they drank coftea and talked. It was a good talk. By the time Erick left, he felt a lot better.

When he got back to Spur, Kiri greeted him with an assortment of pizzas she had rolled out and topped herself, then placed under [Cold Ward]s, to wait for Erick’s return.

Later that evening, as the sun set outside his windows, and Erick read about Mana Altering in a comfy chair, he sent Ophiel out to the place where he had cast [Vivid Gloom]. Staying up in the air, high above the ground, Ophiel did okay. But as soon as he hovered down to get a closer look at the remains scattered across the land, he began to decay. Erick quickly wrapped Ophiel in a [Lightmask], stopping that decay. He continued his investigation.

There were no living mimics but there were lots of slumped and dead ones, with limbs full of milky white clouds and dried blue and brown babies nestled in the crevices near the center. No worms popped up from the ground, either. Even the crystal agave looked strangely ‘dead’. Ophiel flew closer to the standing agave. They were clear as crystal, but Ophiel touched one of the limbs, and that limb cracked and broke from the central stalk, causing a cascade of structural failure. The entire crystal agave broke to the ground, tinkling like shattering glass as it fell.

Erick felt a profound need to clean up his mess. He didn’t prepare, he didn’t harmonize his magic, he just cast, taking his primal need and mushing it into a body. [Cleanse] and [Conjure Force Elemental] mixed together, along with a 500 mana Mana Shaping, as Erick hoped for something along the lines of his Withering Slime.

Thick air tumbled out of the clear air, forming the mirage of an animated breeze around a sphere of clear, glass-like nothing. And then it moved. That core slipped through the wind, navigating the energetic breeze, the whole monster acting like a kid in a candy store that had been told to get whatever they wanted. It slipped across a dead agave and left behind crystal. It carved across the sands, turning brown bits underneath to thick air. It settled over a mimic, briefly, and left behind nothing.

Erick watched the mirage slime for a while, barely seeing the central summon through its secondary cloud of thick air, feeling better as it cleaned up his mess. Eventually, he came back to himself, and saw a blue box.

Mirage Slime, instant, close range, 750 MP

Summon a semi-sentient mass of [Cleanse] to clean up all messes. Lasts 1 hour.

He smiled. He had guessed the name right, too!

He went back to his books, but this time, he stopped when it was time to sleep—

He had forgotten to ask Jane about Delia. Eh. She’d probably say something along the lines of ‘I can’t believe that little shit stole from you!’ And then Erick would explain how he had promised and blah blah blah and then Jane would say ‘No. Screw her,’ as she promised to ‘teach the brat a lesson’ should she ever see her. And then Erick would say—

But. Maybe Erick wasn’t giving his daughter enough credit.

He’d call her up in the morning.