Chapter 122, Start of Book 5!

Chapter 122, Start of Book 5!

Erick stepped back from his summoned chalkboard and considered his new list.

Things To Do, in no particular order:

1) [Renew], non-lethal way to subdue someone, new magics to make me look like a different person

2) Make sure Yggdrasil is comfortable, invent some defensive spells for him

3) Make sure Candlepoint is comfortable, set up trade routes from them to the Wasteland? They’re only one blip away!

4) Find + kill Converter Angel

5) Check up on Shades? Maybe not.

6) Uncover other existent threats to the world, and then end them! (hopefully not)

7) Have some fun during vacation!

He smiled. This was a good list. Six items was a good number of necessities. They were, of course, six very large entries, but that was fine. He smiled wider. Then he banished the chalkboard and gave a final once-over to his tower...

... Okay!

Done! There was nothing else he needed here! Erick had packed his bags, but now it was time to break the real news to everyone else, except for Poi, of course; the resident Mind Mage already knew everything Erick was planning to do. And what a plan it was!

It was time for a Worldly Path! Or something to that effect. Erick still wasn’t sure, exactly, what all of the [Gate] Quest entailed, but he’d find out. If the last three days were any indication of what was going to happen to him if he stayed in Spur, well then... he just wasn’t going to stay here.

Oohh~

He’d be back. Spur was still home, of course. But he needed to be away for a while, or at least until events stopped coming at him like Script Second cooldowns. The problems hadn’t started with hero worship, or threats of murder for that matter. Far from it. But the current problems had headed in those directions rather fast.

- - - -

The first real action of the first day of the ten-day end-of-the-year Festival known as Triumph of Light, was a telepathic conversation with an antagonistic young woman.

‘Hello, Caizoa,’ Erick sent.

An immediate flare of ‘No’, something that was surely more instinctual than real, severed Erick’s attempted communication, slapping him with a good thousand points of False Damage. He weathered that minor storm without blinking an eye.

And then he went about his day, wondering if Caizoa would call him back, or if he’d be forced to go looking for her.

He started with breakfast. Potatoes went on the grill, eggs became omelettes and went out first, flour and various supplies became pancakes, while coffee dripped down into a glass pot. Erick made most of the food, alongside Kiri, while simultaneously fielding questions from his young apprentice. Justine was in a different room, telepathically talking to people, but Teressa was deep in thought, sitting at the kitchen table, staring off into space, her half-eaten omelette sitting before her like a forgotten foe.

Kiri’s enthusiasm for Erick’s trip through Ar’Kendrithyst had been tempered by Poi, but only after the sapphire-scaled man had given her a hard look, after she asked about the people in Brightwater. From there, her questions changed into the topic of high-level archmage battles, or more accurately, the act of fighting a Shade, and all of what that entailed.

Erick continued, “... I’m glad I never got to see ‘Dorofiend’s second form’, or whatever that was. [Domain of Light] shut that down rather fast, or, more realistically, it just gave me a moment to catch him off-guard with a [Fulmination Aura] from Ophiel. That moment of lightning, empowered by the [Domain of Light] for some interesting reason, was enough to zap him into death. And that was all it took.”

“Ah. Yes. [Fulmination Aura].” Kiri scrunched her face as she flipped sausages on the stove. “I’ve seen your [Fulmination Aura]. Isn’t it only 25 plus Willpower damage per target, per second? Used through Ophiel, that means only 25 damage per second.” She postulated, “Perhaps it is your specific definition of a ‘target’, that makes it so effective?”

“It’s 26 mana per second.” Erick said, “If it wasn’t able to target every individual cell of a person, then it would be a pretty useless magic.”

Kiri’s spatula stilled above the flattop grill, as her eyes went wide. “Every cell?”

Erick hummed, then said, “Maybe it’s not that precise. But there’s certainly more than one ‘target’ per person.” He added, “And I’m pretty sure Shades don’t have cells like you or I. Maybe they’re magic cells? They’re all vulnerable to [Luminous Trap]. I think they’re actually made of Elemental Shadow, which is partially Light-based, so this makes some sort of sense.” He spoke up for Teressa’s benefit, “That was how I killed the Witch.”

Teressa startled. She glanced to Erick, then down to her food. She stuck her fork back in the omelette, but her heart just wasn’t in the meal.

Erick saw the orcol woman’s reaction, and then continued, “She tried to pose as Fallopolis to do something and to catch me off guard with a curse, or something, but I wasn’t falling for that. Mana sense helped to show that she wasn’t who she pretended to be, which I was very happy to learn, but the most ‘off’ thing about that fake Fallopolis was that she didn’t smell right.”

Teressa glared down at her omelette.

Erick said, “So I sucked her up into a black void. But by this time, the Shades had seen this trick with the fight with Hollowsaur. To counter a trap, the Witch had prepared an automatic [Dispel] magic in the air some ways away. This triggered and released the Witch. When she came out of that black void, the torture of being in that super-lighted space had broken her illusions. She was no longer Fallopolis, but instead a grey-skinned orcol with grey eyes.”

Teressa’s eyes suddenly flicked toward Erick. She demanded, “How can you know that was her? No one has ever seen her.”

“I can’t, since the Kill Notification did not list ‘the Witch’. But there are a great many circumstantial evidences that lead me to believe that she was the Witch.” Erick said, “Primarily among them: she used illusions, and when she died, River Tower Gloom in the Swamp erupted in green and grey light, spreading mushrooms and Extreme Light in a heavy grey mist that rushed out into Ar’Kendrithyst. There was also the message that played in the air above River Tower Gloom congratulating those who finally managed to kill her. It went like this:” Erick thought for a moment, then recounted, “To those who finally managed to take my life: Congratulations. Have some poison, some mutative monsters, and my undying curse. Rot on this damned cursed world for the rest of your miserable, short life.” He continued, “I really do think she was the Witch, Teressa.”

Silently, Teressa returned to her omelette.

Kiri ensured the silence didn’t last long, asking, “What about her curse?”

“Ah.” Erick refilled his coffee, then said, “The second time I encountered the Witch, I trapped her in a much better [Luminous Trap]. That second time, I also threw a [Perfect Mirror] around that void, as well as a sunform Ophiel that was equipped with a [Pure Reflection Ward]. Several [Dispel] attempts struck that reflective orby Ophiel and bounced away. Before much else happened, though, I had an Ophiel turn real and then poke a feather into Perri’s prison. Ophiel filled that prison with a [Luminous Beam].” When Teressa just blinked at him, he added, “It’s that one that is all light and power. It bounced around in there and probably killed her ten times over, just by virtue of exposure to the beam.” Teressa slowly nodded. Erick continued, “I think I got really lucky, there. Any number of things could have gone wrong. Her [Dispel]s could have been larger. Her soul could have been split before she encountered me, and likely has been, but if that second version of herself still exists, she’s no longer a Shade.”

Teressa frowned.

Erick continued, “She tried to curse me before that second encounter, back when she pretended to be Fallopolis for the first time, but I stripped that off of myself, while she taunted, ‘This could have gone easier if you would have let that into you’, or something like that.” Erick recalled Perri’s exact words, but he saw that Teressa wasn’t taking this as well as she could have, so he went rather informal in his retelling, “And then, you know, the second time she came before me, she also pretended to be Fallopolis. But then I sucked both of them into their own black voids and then canceled them and Fallopolis came out of one and Perri came out of the other, and then I wrapped Perri in all those previous spells and then killed her with the [Luminous Beam].”

Teressa nodded.

Kiri asked, “But what about the undying curse?”

“Oh? Eh. I think the bouncing [Luminous Beam] killed it. That thing is partially Extreme Light.” Erick said, “I canceled Perri’s prison and nothing came out of it; no flex in the manasphere, no intent in the world, nothing. She’s dead, and all her plans are dead.” He added, “But some of those new monsters still live.” He waved a hand, saying, “And the Swamp is now the Mushroom Swamp, or whatever. Not sure what’s going on there.”

Teressa nodded, again. This time, she spoke, mumbling, “There’s plans to slash and burn the whole place.”

“Do you want to be a part of that?” And then Erick asked the better question, “Or would you rather take a trip to Treehome?”

Teressa looked up at Erick with hope in her sparkling emerald eyes.

Erick added, “I said I’d like to go there for the Triumph of Light, or for some sort of vacation, and last I recalled you wanted that. Plans have only slightly changed since the Shades have died.”

Teressa allowed herself a small smile. She said, “Making definite plans for the Triumph before the Triumph is bad luck.”

Kiri spoke up, “Which is why all the hotels are booking up right now.”

“Not all of them.” Teressa pulled a fake-scowl at Kiri, saying, “I can find some good places.” She looked to Erick with hope in her eyes. “If you want to go?”

“Yes, I want to go.” Erick said, “So best start making some plans. I’m counting on you for our itinerary.”

Teressa laughed, faint, and then it was gone. She nodded, then said, “Yes. Of course, boss—” She froze. Over a moment of thought, she thawed, asking, “I’m going to need some private time to see my... to see my old home, though. If that’s okay with you?”

Erick had hoped that she would want to see her old home. He easily said, “Whatever you need, Teressa.”

To the side, Kiri kept her smile to herself. Erick didn’t openly show his joy at Teressa’s words, either; he knew better than most how fragile someone in Teressa’s emotional state could be, and she wasn’t the only one recovering from a great tragedy in this household. Erick knew he would be ‘walking on dragon eggs’ for a while, but that was fine. As Erick set out the second serving of breakfast, and everyone came to the table, and he saw the burgeoning light in Teressa’s emerald eyes, and a similar, if more nuanced light glimmering in Justine’s red eyes.

After breakfast, Poi spoke privately to Erick, sending, ‘Caizoa is trying to contact you.’

Half a second later, before Erick had a chance to respond to that, came the voice of the woman in question.

‘Hello, Archmage Flatt.’ Caizoa asked, ‘Why did you call?’

‘To coordinate.’

‘I don’t have time to go on the offensive right now for the Angel has infected my homeland. We are clearing that up and then we will move on to the Angel itself. It will be several days.’

‘How long do you expect that to take? What are the problems? Can I help?’

‘These problems are our own. The Angel’s soul infection is nefarious but easy to spot now that I have the Black Star. The best thing you can do is stay home and out of danger.’

Erick smiled. ‘Can’t do that. You know more than most what has happened and I need to be a part of this, Caizoa.’

There was a deep, angry inhale on the other side of the line. Caizoa sent, ‘Fine. Let us coordinate. What is your itinerary? Where can I meet you without any guards nearby?’

Erick teased, ‘So that you can know where I am and kill me?’

‘I don’t feel like killing innocents, but I will make an exception for you.’

‘Ha! I didn’t expect such honesty from you.’ Erick said, ‘Anyway. If we can’t agree with me helping you, then Candlepoint needs trade routes, and the Wasteland is the closest to them. Can you secure some of those for me?’

‘... What is with this sudden change in topic— No. I will do no such thing.’ Caizoa’s voice raised, as she sent, ‘Of all the stupid things to ask for! I am not a merchant! Don’t talk to me about that! Why would you even ask me about that?’

‘The topics on my mind are many and few, in that there are many different ways to secure safety and prosperity for the people who need such assistance.’ Erick added, ‘And besides, I’m just giving you the opportunity to help me, here. There are many others that I can personally go to with this desire, and many who have been working on this for a while who I have yet to check in with. But you’re there and we’re going to work with each other for a while, so I figured ‘why not?’ and gave you a call to lay out some of my concerns and questions.’

Erick knew that asking Caizoa for trade routes would be useless. But with that Black Star affixed to her young self, she was now a power that would be written about in the history books. Who knew what kind of doors were opening up all around her?

But besides that, Erick wanted to curb the woman’s tendency toward violence with regard toward himself, at least. Asking for trade routes seemed like a good way to show that he was not just some human archmage, on the ‘other side’ of the Quiet War.

Caizoa went silent, but the connection remained open. Erick got the impression she was thinking.

Erick decided to get back to the main topic. He said, ‘I’d also like to know what a ‘converted’ looks like, so that I can identify them myself.’

‘That is easily done.’ Caizoa said, ‘Everyone is to know what the enemy looks like, and it is thus:’

An image came down the line of a normal-enough incani man, except for the binding chains that locked him down upon a heavy iron chair. He was bloody and unwell, as though he had been beaten and starved and made sick, somehow. But they couldn’t have had the man in custody for more than a few hours, could they?

Erick fought down his urge to decry the inhumane conditions, and sent, ‘I could use a location so that I can view the man myself. What you’ve given me is nothing but sadness at the man’s treatment. No soul image. No blood image. No mana sense. And... Caizoa... Don’t you have better ways to fix him than whatever this is?’ He tried to be diplomatic with his words, at least.

After a moment, Caizoa sent a location, along with the words, ‘He’s just the latest in a line of people captured and contained, and the tenth to be cured today. He won’t look like this for long.’ She warned, ‘They’re going to try to fight you off when Ophiel shows.’

‘I would like your help to ensure that a fight does not occur. It will make working with you in the future easier for me.’

‘Look to others if you need more help than this, Erick. I’m already at the end of my patience with any of these fuckers, and would love it if you brushed past their meager defenses with overwhelming power. All too often these nobles around me forget that they are but mice in the face of the true dangers of this world.’ She repeated Erick’s own words back to him, ‘It would make working with you in the future much easier for me.’

She cut the connection.

Erick sighed.

And then he looked to Poi. “Can you contact the Baroness Xelxex for me, please?”

Poi nodded, and then did so.

Three minutes later, while Erick sat in his library reading a copy of a copy of a book that he probably shouldn’t own or display in the open at all, the voice of a certain magenta incani came to Erick.

The Baroness spoke, ‘Archmage Flatt. I have heard some interesting stories and seen some interesting reports come across my desk this Triumph of Light. If you could, tell me what happened?’

Erick considered not telling her for a brief moment, but he quickly discarded that idea. Having the Baroness know what happened, from him, was better than the alternative. He sent, ‘Melemizargo has withdrawn his legitimization of his Clergy, and because of that, all but seven Shades are dead and the rest have mostly been Blessed into submission by the divine force of Koyabez, with myself as a conduit for that force. But that is not why I called.’

‘And why have you called?’

‘Your people in the Wasteland have captured some victims of the Converter Angel. I need to see them so that I can identify the symptoms myself, for when I go hunting for the monster myself.’

‘I’m sure we have, but I cannot give you leave to do as you wish with those victims. You are not a member of my people, Erick. If you’d like to change that, we can certainly talk about that process, if you wish.’

‘Ah. Sorry. A misunderstanding.’ Erick said, ‘I am asking for forgiveness for I am going to check up on the man, myself. Right now.’

Keeping her tone even, but not able to keep her sudden anger completely hidden, Xelxex asked, ‘Is this truly how you wish to play this engagement?’

‘We have had a good working relationship so far, and I wish to continue this into the future, but I will not let anyone get in the way of my obligation to keep the Angels and the Demons out of Veird. Everything would be much nicer if both sides would lay down their arms, but until then, a bit of force is necessary.’ He added, ‘If it makes you feel better, I am going to approach Helix and demand he find a way to send the Angel back to Celes so we can avoid this—’

‘Ha!’ Xelxex laughed; a hurtful sound that became real as the laugh continued for ten seconds. She said, ‘Good luck, Archmage Flatt! I’ll smooth over some waves for you, but try not to make a tsunami.’

‘Thank you.’ Erick added, ‘And one more thing: I am looking to open trade routes for Candlepoint—’

She cut him off, saying, ‘What do those shadelings produce besides worry for the rest of us, Erick? This is my problem with that shadeling city. Nothing but a problem! Just look at them, so close to the Wall! Unless they can give us a reason to appreciate their proximity then there is no reason to have any ‘trade routes’, as you call them, with that city.’

Erick offered, ‘Food? I can make the farms there rather large.’

‘No one is going to eat anything that comes out of Candlepoint and the Wasteland is much more self sufficient than the nonsense farming that you tried with Spur. No. We’re not accepting any foodstuffs from Candlepoint, for a hundred different reasons. Try again.’ She cut off further communication, saying, ‘Understand, Erick: I am very busy. I only answered your call because I needed to, but if you want to talk trade, then come up with something better or— I’ll send an envoy to Candlepoint. That is the best I can do. They’ll arrive in a few days, or something. One of my people will contact one of your people. Farewell, Archmage Flatt. Thank you for killing the Shades.’

She cut the communication.

Erick turned his attention back to the Wasteland.

His Ophiels had already slipped through a dozen [Ward]s, circumvented a dozen more, and tripped the last several because people were already spotting them and time was more important than subterfuge. Deep below the surface of Veird, Ophiel reached the captured agents of the Angel. Erick took a good long look at the five men and four women locked up behind heavy doors and under heavy chains. He saw their weird souls, their shifted blood, and a strange, bright mana that they held in the center of their being.

If Erick had to guess, he would have called that bright spot ‘Holy Mana’, but he wasn’t quite sure.

With several concentrated thoughts, Erick extricated his Ophiel from that darkened hole in the ground while dozens of mages and warriors tried to blast or cleave those sunform blobs of Ophiel apart. Some people just stood to the side on the surface, watching the whole thing, making no effort to be involved.

Caizoa was one of those who stood to the side of the exit, hovering in the air, waiting for his Ophiel to emerge. She waved her giant blue sword; a greeting, perhaps. Ophiel waved back, mostly ignoring the spells flying at all of his [Pure Reflection Ward] protected selves; he did try to angle the reflections away from the casters, though. No need to accidentally hurt someone with a bounced [Fireball].

With several quick lightsteps, each Ophiel vacated the field of battle. They headed for Candlepoint, and took up their usual patrols across the skies of that darkened city.

Then the calls started coming in.

Erick answered most of them, since they were all from people who were able to demand his attention.

There was Silverite, who mostly just asked him if he had really done what people were saying he had done. Erick told her he hadn’t hurt anyone, but yes, he had invaded a secured compound inside the Wasteland. Silverite didn’t seem to really care past that.

Then there was Sirocco, then the Baroness, again, Caizoa, that magister Iordex with his purple and gold robes, and then Mephistopheles, actually. That last one was an odd one. Erick had never telepathically communicated with the man in charge of Candlepoint before, but it was nice to do so. Mephistopheles just wanted to know about this envoy from the Baroness who was supposed to show up in a few days.

Erick took some time to speak to the nominal ‘mayor’ of Candlepoint, since this was an important discussion. He said, ‘I am glad you asked. So. What kind of products can Candlepoint make? I’m trying to get some trade routes for you guys and the Baroness seems to think that you can’t offer anything.’

Mephistopheles sent, ‘We’re not very stable right now, Erick. Those minotaurs just showed up and everyone is on edge from the news we’ve received about Ar’Kendrithyst.’

‘... You know what? I think it’s time I came to Candlepoint in person. See you soon!’ Erick cut off that communication before the man started speaking too loudly and questioningly. He said to Poi, “Time to go to Candlepoint. Want to come?”

“I’m ready.” Poi asked, “But what about your mana?”

“Eh. I have a high enough base pool, and Intelligence drops almost everything to negligible costs.” Erick said, “But you’re just saying that to make me aware of my limits more than I already am. Don’t worry, Poi. I’m fine.”

“Very well, sir.”

- - - -

Candlepoint looked more or less the same through his own eyes as it did though Ophiel’s, but this was still Erick’s first time in the shadeling city, in person. It was Poi’s first time in Candlepoint, too. Erick looked to his right-hand man, and the scattered city around them, and wondered at how different things might be now that the Shades were gone.

Erick had landed the pair of them in a rather central location, where the landscape all around them was dotted with singular buildings surrounded by greenery, with nice roads connecting everything. There weren’t many people, though. It was near noon, and most shadelings were crepuscular. This was good; Erick decided he didn’t need to meet more locals right at that particular moment.

He did, however, need to get some of the city’s defenses up and running while he was here. In the interest of being proactive, he hopped on that task as soon as he saw that task looming above him.

The Black Crystal was fifty meters tall, and just as black as Erick remembered it being. However, being here in person conveyed something that Erick didn’t really recognize as a problem before now.

Waves of the lake lapped against the coastline not two hundred meters to the west. This proximity to the lake seemed to be asking for trouble, but that could be fixed with a bit of lakeside construction. But besides that, the Black Crystal was already fully exposed to the world. Unlike the few Crystals he had seen in the Brightwater during his short time there, this one was vulnerable. A concentrated blast of firepower could probably snipe the thing to shards from kilometers away.

That was probably by design.

Either to keep Candlepoint from looking like too much of a danger, or to leave its primary defenders vulnerable to whatever plots Melemizargo demanded, the Crystal was not very well defended at all.

Erick could change a little bit of that, but that base vulnerability would require...

A giant dome put over the thing? Some unknown defensive magic already inside the artifact? A self-repair function that Erick didn’t know about? Having some shadelings constantly monitoring the Crystal and protecting it from attackers?

Any of those solutions would likely keep the Crystal intact.

Erick turned away from the Crystal, to take in the rest of the Crystal Courtyard, and to watch as shadelings appeared. He and Poi were no longer alone. A pair of people had popped out of the shadows near a general store to the south. The store was closed, but it was not unoccupied. Erick briefly nodded at those new shadelings. One tentatively waved. The other bowed.

Ah. Good. They knew who he was.

To the north, other shadelings had appeared next to Melemizargo’s Church. Those people were now frantically either moving away, or cautiously coming closer. Those people knew who Erick was, too. Erick briefly wondered why some of them would run, before he put those worries out of his mind, and re-considered the Crystal.

The new arrivals in the Crystal Courtyard were in for a show, or a failing; Erick wasn’t sure which it would be. But first, he would have to switch this artifact from Darkness, to Light, if possible.

With a Shaped cast, Erick began to slowly conjure a [Domain of Light] down into the black Crystal. The spell did not take hold instantly, instead, Erick had a pillar of light gently fall through the center of the shadowed Crystal, from top to bottom, and then expand outward in all directions, pushing out all the shadows and darkness within. The slow start to his investigation of the Crystal turned out to be a smart move, for it had lost its [Prismatic Ward] protections while Erick had been inside Ar’Kendrithyst, and some people had decided to move into those deep shadows.

Or something.

Erick wasn’t quite sure what people were doing inside the Crystal, but whatever the case, they were kicked out, now.

Three shadelings fell out of the shadows in the Crystal into the waiting arms of a few Ophiel, who set them down outside of the Crystal’s space. Two of those shadelings looked rather pissed, but they quickly got over that emotion when they saw who had evicted them. The third just screamed a little while he fell from thirty meters up, screamed some more when Ophiel caught him, and then he ran, as soon as Ophiel set him down on the ground. Erick paid the runner no mind.

Soon enough, the [Domain of Light] brushed through the entire black Crystal. All the shadows inside became little more than Gloom that sprung from the solid surface of the artifact like steam from a kettle, to filter away on the morning wind. Soon, the shadows were gone. The Crystal was a bright white and yellow-gold structure of quartz or maybe some kendrithyst derivative. Maybe it had been mined from the Brightwater District? Whatever the case, the Crystal looked a lot better like this, Erick thought.

His next thought was that he would never openly call what he had done a ‘[Cleanse]’, for that would have implied that shadows were an evil that needed to be cleansed, and that would simply not be right; Candlepoint was full of shadows that deserved life and liberty and all that, after all. But Erick had certainly shifted the Element of the Crystal.

Back in that first day of the Shadow’s Feast, Fallopolis had said a curious thing to him, asking him why he hadn’t played around with this Crystal yet. As of right now, with the Crystal realigned to Light, Erick realized why Fallopolis had asked him that. He had seen the other Summoning Crystals in Brightwater, but this one was much different than those other, mass-produced artifacts. It was much larger, for one. For another, it had a much greater inner magical signature than the other Summoning Crystals he had seen.

Maybe it had more self-defense options than simple summoned guardians?

There was another option, though.

Since this whole ‘reintegration of Shadows into the Script’ plan of Melemizargo’s pivoted around Erick taking control of Candlepoint, that Dark Dragon had probably either made this thing able to explode, at the worst case, or to accept all sorts of variable inputs, at the best case. Since, according to what had happened since then, Melemizargo’s plot didn’t seem like an initially destructive one, Erick was betting that this thing couldn’t explode at all.

Or at least not without a great deal of overrides.

... Erick was rather confident that he could mitigate any explosions of the Summoning Crystal’s size.

The three people had barely fallen out of the Crystal when Erick reached for the interior of the artifact with a tendril of light, with his mana sense, and the senses of several Ophiel.

The woman had done nothing but watch, until Erick started touching the Summoning Crystal with light tendrils. She yelled, “What are you doing?!”

“Being proactive.” Erick found the enchantment in the Summoning Crystal. He offhandedly answered the woman, “It probably won’t explode, but be prepared to run.”

The woman said, “Don’t touch it! I almost had it figured out!”

She almost figured it out, eh? All the more reason that Erick was here, now, working on this as soon as he could. He ignored the woman, and continued to poke at the Summoning Crystal’s interior.

The interior was not just a single enchantment. It was a complicated spiral of enchantments, actually. Several dozen artifacts lined up together, in complementary structure, with each of those artifacts powered and maintained by soulstuff. Erick’s eyes widened. These were real artifacts. Greater Artifacts.

... And this woman here had almost figured them out?

Hmm.

Erick looked to the two people who had fallen out of the Crystal. A human man and an incani woman. The man stood as still as stone, not wanting to draw attention to himself, while the woman glared hatred at Erick, her grey eyes swirling with shadows. She had very quickly gone from disturbed to disbelieving to angry, all in the span of the last few seconds. She wasn’t hurt, though, and neither was her partner. The third one had run away upon being ousted from the Summoning Crystal, but he peeked out from behind the edge of a far-away building. He noticed Erick noticing him. He quickly returned to the shadow.

Erick told the woman, “I didn’t break it.”

“Yes you did!” She continued, “I was just about to solve it all! And then you flooded out the miasma! How’s it supposed to make suits of armor for us now! SHIT!”

The man at her side touched her shoulder. The woman barely calmed at all; in fact, she probably got more mad, but she did regain a small level of self control.

She said, “Archmage Flatt, sir. I heard you were a support. Please allow us to support ourselves first, sir.”

“I am not going to stop you from supporting yourselves, but I need to know what this artifact does. People are going to ask me about the giant artifact in the center of this town, and I’m not going to lie to people when they do.”

The woman seemed to lose much of her anger.

Erick added, “And I really didn’t break it.” Erick said, “These things are pretty damn sturdy, and this one, I think, was made especially for me to play around with.” He tripped a few obvious switches inside the Crystal. “See?”

Three armored summons appeared a few short steps away from the four of them, each of the conjured armors made of matte white light and glows. The first was the warrior summon that Erick was already familiar with, and that had been set all around Candlepoint back when Bulgan was in charge. It was two and a half meters of thick armor, with a sword to match magically locked to its back. The second summon was a robe of similar size to the warrior, but this one came equipped with a staff. Erick suspected it had [Force Beam] spells, or something similarly powerful and cheap. The third summon was a meter-tall munchkin made of floating knives.

None of the summons did anything but stand upon the open ground next to Erick.

The woman almost spoke again.

But a person Erick had wanted to talk to appeared just down the street. Mephistopheles was already hurrying their way. As Erick’s eyes turned toward the new arrival, the woman followed Erick’s gaze, and also saw who was coming.

She whipped back around to Erick, gleefully smiling.

Ah. She probably thought she was getting her toy back, didn’t she?

... Maybe she would? She certainly seemed to be here on someone’s orders, otherwise she would have run away as soon as Mephistopheles appeared, but instead, she turned happy.

It looked like it was time for politics.

Mephistopheles was exactly as Erick remembered, but without the over-the-top flamboyance of his previous position as Master of the Garrison. His lacquered red horns and fancy clothes, which were just a touch nicer than everyone else’s, still set him apart from the rest of the shadelings within sight, while his grey eyes wholly marked him as a part of the people here. He wasn’t alone, though. He had brought another.

Ava stood a woman apart. A shimmering stripe of green makeup had been slashed across her eyes and face like someone had taken a pearlescent green paint brush to her visage, while her bright green dress billowed in the morning breeze. She looked at Erick with hungry green eyes, and aside from Poi, she was the only other person here who was not a shadeling. While Mephistopheles rushed toward Erick with the stride of a man in charge, Ava lightly walked forward, her bare feet helping her along her chosen path as though the very ground wanted her to be where she wanted to be.

With the appearance of those two, others came out of hiding. All around the Crystal Courtyard, people stepped out of the shadows, into the light. Almost all of them looked upon Erick, and the bluescaled dragonkin behind him, with questioning looks upon their faces. Only a few spoke in hushed tones, ‘That’s Archmage Flatt’, as though the presence of the Ophiels above weren’t already indication enough.

Mephistopheles approached, and said, “—”

“Hello, Mephistopheles!” Erick spoke before the other man could, “I hope you’re ready for a new world order.” He announced for the crowd, too, saying, “In case you haven’t heard, almost all of the Shades are dead. That includes Bulgan and Tania.” The crowd, while not gathered close at all, heard what Erick had said. Some gasped. Others exclaimed, ‘It’s true!’. Mephistopheles and Ava did not flinch; they must have already known. Erick said, “I can set up some defenses for Candlepoint with this Summoning Crystal by appointing certain people as users of the Crystal, but I’d also like to talk to you about the minotaurs and whatever is going on there. But first: Are they doing okay? Are you doing okay? The city looks great, by the way.”

Mephistopheles frowned a little, then said, “—”

Ava spoke first, “The minotaurs are like young shifters; barely able to control their form. They will learn, or likely seek out the Lifebinder. Rumor has it that she was active in the region not several months ago.”

“She was; that rumor is true.” Erick almost frowned. Would some of the minotaurs actually do that?

... Of course they would.

Duh.

Ava’s composure solidified.

Mephistopheles frowned at Ava, then pointed at the less-angry shadeling woman who Erick had kicked out of the Crystal. “I already had someone on figuring out the Summoning Stone. You did not need to do this Archmage Flatt.”

Erick acknowledged the woman, then said to Mephistopheles, “I know I did not have to. But I’m being proactive while everything is in turmoil and I needed to see how this worked, myself. Other people are going to ask me about the giant artifact in the middle of Candlepoint. Everything is going to go weird, and fast. Even if the Shades were evil, the Shades were the most stable, powerful force in this world. I have no idea what is coming, but I must act upon the world before it acts upon me, and that includes certain things like this Crystal, here.” Erick returned his eyes toward the Crystal, then asked, “In that regard, there’s options here to appoint people who can then control the various summons. You’d be one of the appointed, of course. As well as Ava here, and then Slip, and Zaraanka, and maybe Valok. We can appoint whoever you wish, later, after we talk.” He added, “I’m not too sure how the Summoning Crystal works in practice, but you could use them, yes?”

Mephistopheles said, “Of course, Archmage.” He gestured to the unknown woman, and said, “When we get around to it, I wish to also appoint Willow. She’s quickly become my second-in-command.”

Erick looked to the not-so-angry incani woman. “Oh?” He narrowed his eyes. “You were not near Mephistopheles until today.”

Willow weathered Erick’s gaze with her own strong visage. “Correct! I only came out of the fugue yesterday. I’m not sure why, but I used to work under Shade Lapis five years ago, and now I’m here.”

Erick withheld judgment, but silently vowed to check up on Willow every now and then. He turned his attention back to Mephistopheles and said, “So why do you trust her?” He rapidly added, “No. Nevermind. I’ll not pry into your business.”

Mephistopheles said, “Thank you for your consideration.”

Erick got back on track, saying, “A lot of things are going to be happening very fast— Ah. I sound like a broken record. Anyway. Stuff is happening. I want you all to be safe. I don’t think it’s a good idea to throw around too many shadow magics, if possible, which is why I turned the Crystal to Light magics.”

“I can appreciate the sights we’re sending with such an artifact, as well as the timing. This is fine. Thank you, archmage Flatt.” Mephistopheles bowed, then said, “I’m also glad to finally welcome you to Candlepoint, in person. We have been informed of your accomplishments—”

“I really don’t mean to interrupt you, but I was only barely involved. I have to clear that up, right now.” Erick said, “Melemizargo denounced his Clergy. That was why the Shades died.”

More murmurs went through the crowd.

With unbridled and quiet rage, Willow whispered, “Good riddance.”

The force of her conviction almost caused Erick to derail the conversation again, but he did not.

Mephistopheles nodded, then said, “It is how you have said, then, Archmage Flatt. But I digress: While we are happy to welcome you here, finally, why are you here, in person?”

Ah.

Erick might have made a mistake in coming here so fast. Not only was it rude, but it had caused a misunderstanding.

Mephistopheles wasn’t asking that question with regard to current problems or solutions. He was asking that question because he was scared of losing his current level of power over Candlepoint. Eh. He didn’t need to worry about that. Erick could see that the town was doing fine, and no one seemed to be too angry at Mephistopheles. The guy was doing great, and Erick wanted nothing to do with managing a town.

Though, with Justine waiting in the wing, Mephistopheles had probably been wondering at his expiration date for a while.

Erick waved off the need for such a concern, saying, “I’m not here for anything drastic, and nothing is changing with regard to how you want to run things. I had originally planned for Justine to take a role as the non-shadeling face of Candlepoint, but she’s—” There was no need to spill Justine’s fragile emotional state all over the Crystal Courtyard. Justine was still picking up the pieces of her life and her self from the tragedy that had been her life as a shadeling, and Erick wanted to let that happen. He said, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about with Justine. She might be going on a lot of missions for Candlepoint, though. I just came here so quickly because I needed to get a very fast jump on everything, before other people started making decisions for me and about me and about what all of this might mean, going forward. I am here to stabilize anything that needs stabilizing, to fix up this Crystal to see what it can do since I will likely be traveling for a while, and to check out to see if any Shades are hiding in this town.” Before anyone’s visible emotions spiked too high, Erick told the truth, “I already put an Imaging out over the waters of the lake. I can’t find any Shades in this town. So that’s good news, right?”

Mephistopheles’ politician-face barely cracked. But it did crack.

Oh? Was he expecting a Shade to be in Candlepoint? Who?

Erick had expected Slip to be a Shade, but that was not to be! The Guardmaster of Candlepoint really was telling the truth this whole time; he wasn’t a Shade. The man in question stood to the side of the Crystal Courtyard, almost out of sight. According to all the sights and scanning Erick had, the man was just a normal shadeling with a normal rad inside his chest, atop his heart.

Erick added, “I do want to know if you guys like the name of the town, though. We can certainly change it from ‘Candlepoint’ to something else now that there’s no Shades to care about. Also, I’m going to try and open some talks with the Wasteland, to see about getting trade routes. Gotta strike while the iron is hot, after all! Maybe I can throw Justine at that? Eh. Her choice.” He spoke up again, “Also! Do you guys want another party? I hear that’s what we’re supposed to do on the Triumph of Light.”

By now, there were a good forty people standing a good distance from Erick, Mephistopheles, Ava, Poi, and Willow. With Erick’s final words, almost everyone’s eyes brightened.

Ava said, “We still have all of those other beds and blankets and food that you gave to us just yesterday.”

Erick smiled. “Yeah, but you can always use more, right?” He gestured to the rest of the city, saying, “Where are those minotaurs? Let’s go meet them. And whoever else you want me to meet. We can walk and talk and then come back and assign users for the Summoning Crystal.” He added, “I already talked to Baroness Pirazel Xelxex, and she said that no one was willing to do food trades with Candlepoint, and I sort of agree with that. I don’t like it, but I can see the point of not disturbing established markets too much.”

Mephistopheles nodded, then gestured toward the north, saying, “Then let us walk this way, and speak of possible products.”

Erick walked north, and others followed. Willow stayed behind, her eyes firmly locked on the Summoning Crystal. Erick turned away from her to focus on the people around him.

Ava began with, “Textiles is always a profitable business. With the controlled weather, we could easily raise silk spiders or cotton fruit.”

Erick asked, “People would be comfortable working with spiders?”

“It’s actually quite easy for a shadeling to work with monsters like silk spiders.” Mephistopheles said, “I’ve done a lot of work with those types myself. If Tania is dead, we could even rush in and grab some from the Weaver’s Quarters. She had some specialty spiders that she never let anyone have.”

Erick winced. “That place was on fire, last I saw.”

“That just makes them mad.” Mephistopheles smirked.

“If you guys want to do that?” Erick said, “Sure. I don’t care. Like I said when Bulgan went away: I’m just your support. Everything that this town is and could be is up to you.” He added, “But if all goes well, then in a hundred years when my World Tree has grown to be an actual World Tree, or maybe before, then Candlepoint could be a stepping stone to the stars, with [Gate] travel happening right here in this city.”

If he figured out [Gate]s before then, then maybe Candlepoint could become a hub-town; Erick did not voice this idea, though.

Mephistopheles’s eyes went wide as he stopped in his tracks.

Ava recovered faster than him. She laughed, loud and happy, then asked, “Truly?”

“It’s the truth. Yggdrasil is growing out in the lake right now, and I expect him to be the size of two stacked mountains in a hundred years.” Erick pointed to the air above, at a particular [Scry] orb. “That’s him. Hello, Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] orb bounced in recognition.

Mephistopheles and Ava stared at the hovering ball of invisible intent.

Ava waved, and happily rolled with the situation, saying, “Hello, Yggdrasil. I’m the Sewermaster of Candlepoint, and I like pretty things. Can you use [Telepathy] yet?”

Erick was taken aback at Ava’s casual attitude. It was kinda nice. It would also be nice to see what Yggdrasil would do.

But... apparently what he would do was ‘nothing’.

Ava looked to the air, waiting. After a moment, she said, “Ah. Shy?”

“Maybe.” Erick said, “I know arbors advanced at a very fast rate, and Yggdrasil is more than that. Ah. He hasn’t talked to me yet, either.”

Mephistopheles asked, “Do you wish for us to protect your... He’s still a [Familiar], then? He hasn’t split from your soul yet?”

“No need for any of those concerns. Thank you, though.” Erick said, “It’s all very new to me, but I’m a hundred percent confident that Yggdrasil can protect himself, and he’ll eventually protect you all, too. All I can ask is that you be polite, but don’t coddle him. I heard that was really bad for arbors, and I bet that goes double for World Trees.”

“Usually...” Mephistopheles said, “Usually, they have to become real beings before people consider them arbors, and no one considers their still-[Familiar] tree [Familiar] as a World Tree... How sure are you of this fact?”

“Fully and completely sure.” Erick said, “It’s just a matter of 100 years.”

“And this time table? You seem sure of that, too?”

“Yes.”

Mephistopheles scrunched his face in thought, as he looked away.

They walked in silence, toward the north. They passed houses and apartment buildings, where large trees lined the roads providing shade to all, but very few people were out and about. It was a nice walk.

Ava changed topics. “Back to trade, then? I am interested in all the finer things in life, so I want theaters and music halls and the international connections to make those happen, but the basics come first. I’ll help with whatever is necessary, but where do we start? I was hoping for some sort of food trade, but if that is off the table, then I really do think that textiles would be a good primary market.”

Mephistopheles said, “Food is sorted, thanks to Valok, so we can accept Xelxex’s warning away from the food trade. But not everyone is happy with the options of this city, for we still have a ways to go with the normal necessities, like bakers, clothiers, cooks, cleaners, meat farmers— Now there’s an odd problem. We needed cattle and otherwise, and I understand that you promised Valok’s man, Mister Ooragh, to procure such goods. But now we have the minotaurs.” He looked to Erick, saying, “They just... showed up! I’ve spoken to them all, and they seem perfectly nice, but... People want beef and goat and some even want spider, but when the first minotaur overheard the farmers talking about some of our plans for the future and the inclusion of cows in those plans, there was an altercation.”

Erick frowned.

Mephistopheles said, “It’s sorted, for now, but the problem is here.”

Erick decided, “I’m not having a conversation with them about how they feel over nearby cattle farms. Let us avoid the issue for now and stick to chickens and fish.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Mephistopheles said.

Ava said, “Everyone is learning to live differently. The problem with the minotaurs is that they’re still in the middle of their war response, so we’re walking on dragon eggs. Some fool boy got up in their face when they first got here— the boy is fine, but these people are all high level adventurers.” She added, “Luckily, shadelings are high level, too.”

Mephistopheles pointed forward, saying, “We put the minotaurs in their own compound, across the street from the orchard. Most of them crashed out once they were out of danger, but we should be able to find a few still awake.”

- - - -

Erick glanced ahead, and all around, with the help of his Ophiel, his [Greater Lightwalk], and several senses beyond the norm. Mostly, he liked what he saw.

13,878 per day

MP

17,460/17,460

13,878 per day

Strength

20

+211

[231]

Vitality

20

+211

[231]

Dexterity

7

+211

[218]

Constitution

20

+211

[231]

Perception

19

+211

[230]

Willpower

80

+211

[291]

Focus

80

+211

[291]

Intelligence

20

+211

[231]

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

Right away, he noticed that did not like having uneven Stats, and that he was likely going to be putting his belt somewhere safe and out of the way. Perhaps. Or maybe not. He could work out something better than the clunky silver thing he had gone to bed wearing around his waist.

To a proper mana sense, his belt was practically a firework strapped around his waist. It screamed ‘steal me’. His rings were like minor lights compared to the belt, but he figured he could get away with the rings. If he were forced to abandon everything, though, it would be better if he weren’t the clumsy oaf he had been before Dexterity came along. Eh. He was likely still a clumsy fighter, even if he evened out his Dexterity, but... Whatever.

... He put 3 points in Dexterity and 1 in Perception.

Nothing really changed for Erick, lying in bed, and that was fine. Things would likely change a whole lot if he decided to abandon his rings and belt, and go incognito on his ‘forced’ vacation.

Five points went into each Willpower and Focus. That dropped him to 11 points left over, and that was as far as Erick was willing to go. He would probably find a much better use for those points outside of his inflated Stats. New health cost skills, perhaps? New ‘forbidden spells’ like [Duplicate] that stripped points from you if you managed to make them? New basic spells he had never heard of before? All of those were possibilities.

He briefly considered more Intelligence, but he rapidly decided against putting more points there.

Oh!

An idea!

As Erick looked over his Class Ability, Blood Mana, which allowed him to spend Health in addition to Mana to cast a spell, he thought to cast a Healing Spell on himself using Blood Mana. Using this methodology, he could theoretically cast massive heals on himself for a fraction of the mana cost.

Erick’s mana costs were already fractioned, but this was new magic! It had to be explored! So Erick did just that.

Erick triggered [Healing Word] for the cost of 1 Health and 1 Mana, and almost launched out of his bed at the surprising pain. A series of phantom bee-stings tap-tap-tap’ed across his chest and arms. The pain passed as fast as it had come. Okay. That was strange. That hadn’t happened when Erick had experimented with Blood Mana before. As another experiment, Erick cast a [Cleanse] with Blood Mana, again spending 1 Health and 1 Mana for the spell.

No bee stings that time.

Ah. Well.

Pain for Blood Healing, or whatever, was either sadism on the part of the Script, or some weird interaction between healing magic and Blood Mana. Maybe both. Erick filed away that question for another day, and cast [Healing Word] on himself, normally.

He flickered with white light, and then it was gone.

... He cast [Healing Word] again, instantly. And then five more times in super-fast rapid succession.

A wide grin plastered itself to Erick’s face. With all his bonuses, [Healing Word] only cost 1 mana. It had actually cost more to cast the spell with Blood Mana. Ha!

Erick rapidly transformed a thousand mana into a thousand casts of [Healing Word]. He watched as a white glow suffused his skin, like a life magnified. He continued to smile, as he fell back in bed, and relaxed, feeling a lot better. [Healing Word] was great. Was there some ‘feel good’ component to it? Or was this just the niceness of being hale and clean? Ah! A question for the healers. Not a question for the mages.

Oh! But this rapid-cast function! How amazing!

Oh. This rapid-cast function... How... Troubling.

Rozeta had been right; being allowed to ignore the Script Second was a slippery slope. Erick had tasted freedom, and he wanted more. But he also recognized that no one should have this much power.

Ah. Whatever. Erick ignored philosophy for the moment as he rapidly cast enough [Healing Word]s to level the spell to [Healing Word X]. When that single second passed, Erick discovered that the spell did not change from level 1 to level X. But that was fine. It was already powerful enough.

He held one hand out, and channeled mana through [Healing Word].

— And was suddenly entranced by the complexity and joy of ethereal words without meaning, and yet full of meaning. Like a sudden orchestra in his bedroom, [Healing Word] played in the white light of his hand; a voice echoing upon itself to reinforce the way, to enable more of the song to come again, faster and faster. A staccato song that only stopped beating when Erick desired it.

Erick cut the channel.

“Ah.” He said to himself, “Healing magics are complicated, and that one is much more than it appears to be.”

Knowing he would likely have to try multiple times, and thus take multiple days, to pull the magic he wanted out of [Healing Word], Erick threw away his first attempt with an offhanded, experimental cast.

[Healing Word]’s staccato beat came away from the orchestral music and a blue box appeared.

Quick Spell, instant, self, 10 mana

Cast Quick Spell as soon as you desire.

Erick balked.

Was that a success? Had he done it on his first try?!

Maybe... Maybe it was? Erick wasn’t quite sure what ‘success’ looked like, in this particular case. [Quick Spell] might have been the best possible outcome? He cast a few hundred [Quick Spells], just to see if it worked, and it did. A hundred no-effect spells splashed out of Erick like so many puffs of white light.

Ah. Well. Maybe this worked? Whatever the case, there was no time like the present to try for something else. What other spells did Erick have that he didn’t mind experimenting with? How about... [Force Wall]? Yes. That sounded decent. Suddenly erecting a dozen walls across a battlefield wouldn’t stop Spatial magics, or whatnot, but a dozen sudden walls would be great for controlling minor monsters.

And now that he thought about it for more than half a second, there were actually a lot of ways that instantly casting a dozen [Force Wall]s could be useful.

With a happy smile, and an almost childish joy, Erick channeled a song of delineation in one hand and a staccato of rapid beats in the other. Combined, they formed something new. Erick cast a different kind of [Force Wall] against the side of his room. As a mostly transparent wall of white force appeared, so did a blue box.

Quick Wall, instant, medium range, 65 mana

Create a stable, stationary wall of hardened mana. Absorbs 50 damage before breaking. Lasts 1 minute.

You may cast Quick Wall again as soon as you desire.

... Okay. That looked very wrong. [Force Wall X] was much, much better than... than whatever [Quick Wall] was supposed to be.

Force Wall X, instant, medium range, 50 MP

Create a stable, stationary wall of hardened mana. Absorbs 500 damage before breaking. Lasts 10 minutes per level.

Yeah. Erick had screwed up somewhere. Perhaps [Quick Spell] was the problem? He channeled mana through [Quick Spell], listening intently to the staccato beat. Hmm. There might have been a problem, there. He held out his hand toward the Ophiel currently roosting on his headboard.

“What do you make of this, Ophiel?”

Ophiel, who had been quietly watching, now took up the staccato song, amplifying everything about it, filling Erick’s bedroom with a beep-shh-beep-shh-beep-shh.

Oh. Drat.

“Ohhhh.” Erick said, “Now I hear it. That ‘shh’ shouldn’t be in there.” Then he looked at the belt around his waist, and wondered why 200+ Perception couldn’t help him out with the sound, here. He took off the belt.

... Nothing really changed.

He looked to the belt, asking himself, “So why couldn’t I hear the magic?” He thought for a moment. He looked to Ophiel on his headboard, and asked, “I know my soul is damaged... Could that be the problem?”

Ophiel shrugged his little eye-filled wings.

Erick certainly heard as someone stepped down the hallway, outside of his room, though.

Jane asked, “Dad? Are you awake?” as she fully opened his bedroom door. “Ah. You are awake. Are you feeling okay?”

Erick briefly considered putting the belt back on, but he decided against that. Instead, he held it out, considered his daughter, and decided now was as good a time as any. “I’m doing fine, but since you’re here, I want to talk to you about this.” He set the belt on the nearby dresser. Jane’s eyes turned toward the silver, cable-like construction. “This belt allows the user to unlock all of the New Stats. It also shifted my Status to ‘human’ with a question mark. Unlocking all of the New Stats also made me rather odd for a good while. Maybe five to ten hours; I was inside a liminal space at the time so I don’t quite know how long that lasted. And that’s another warning against the New Stats. There’s also a horrific reaction if someone has a New Stat outside of the other New Stats. Like if you already have Charisma and then you gain Perception; it rips your soul and body apart. But anyway: There don’t seem to be any downsides right now to my human-question-mark Status, or to the Stats themselves, but who knows what will happen later. Melemizargo is trying to get his Stats into the Script, but that might not happen. So here. Take this belt. Don’t wear it right now, and maybe not ever. And especially not if you already have one of the New Stats.” He said, “But the choice is yours. You’re already smart enough, and strong enough, but maybe you’ll need something more one day, and this could be it.”

Jane thoroughly ignored the belt and pulled over a short reading chair to Erick’s bedside. She sat down. She looked her father in the eyes, and said, “I’m worried about you.”

Erick sarcastically said, “Me too.”

Jane continued, “And though you’ve always done what you could to support my choices, this belt and an offer of the New Stats is a bit much, even for you. I’m not going to wear that belt. I’m not going to risk myself like that, but I will take it, if it makes you feel better. I’m sorry you risked yourself like that, too.”

Emotions swelled behind Erick’s eyes, and came out as tiny tears rolling down his face.

Jane put a hand on her father’s hand, and said, “You want to talk about it?”

Erick sobbed, once. After a while, he said, “I want to talk about it.”

“I’m here. Let’s talk.”

And so they did.

“So many people died, Jane. So many... So many awful things happened...”

- - - -

Hours later, and over tea and chocolate chip cookies, Erick finally got through much of his story, told from a much less tactical perspective, and a much more emotional one. Somewhere along the way, Erick asked Jane of her night, and she shared her own experiences of the last few days.

The first day of the Triumph of Light had been more than hectic for Jane. It had been a killer. Monsters inhabited Forward Base. Adventurers flooded the Dead City. The people of the Brightwater showed themselves to the world. Adventurers flooded the Brightwater, and the Brightwater fought back, easily turning away every single person that tried to invade.

“They failed to stop the Headmaster, though,” Jane said, bringing the horrific recounting down to a personal level by naming a specific person.

Erick’s eyes went wide. “He went in there? Personally?”

“Oh yeah. Him and about five hundred of his Elites. They hit three places over the course of one hour early this morning. The Library is now gone, in its entirety. Where once were towers full of books, there’s now a scoop carved out of the horizon.” Jane said, “Then the same thing happened to the Palace District, and a part of that Truedark Arcanaeum. He entered the city as a dragon, dad. Nearly a kilometer long! Bright gold the whole way down from nose to tail, with a halo of light twice as large as that.”

Erick whispered, “Wow.”

“Oh yeah.”

Erick suddenly said, “You need to work on your magic, Jane. You need a Domain. You will die if you don’t have a Domain. The Headmaster’s halo was likely his Domain; I think I have close enough to the same one.” He rapidly said, “I’m going to teach you how— I need to teach Kiri, too. Holy shit. You don’t even know how bad it could be— If you don’t have a Domain then you’re less than a bug to—”

“Dad. Dad.” Jane set down her drink and stared into her father’s eyes. “Dad. Relax. Please.”

Erick breathed in, then out. “It’s not over yet, Jane. Shadow’s Feast was just the start. Something is going to sweep in to fill in the gap left by Melemizargo’s Clergy. And now that Converter Angel is here, too!”

“And that’s not okay, but we don’t have to worry about the power vacuum or the Angel right this second.” Jane said, “Right now, we’re just talking. There’s no need to worry about magic or the future right now.”

Erick tried to sum up his fears, trying to keep his words from turning into a rant, as he said, “Okay. Fine. But let me say this: You need a Domain. It’s the only thing that will stop someone from fucking you over at their whim.” He added, “And maybe you should put on that belt, but I’ll never forgive myself if it does something bad to you. But I think I’m fine, and I gained a mana sense due to those New Stats, as well as a lot of the Sight spells. They were the only things that allowed me to see through the various illusions inside Shadow’s Feast. Also, [Healing Word] is a spell that the user can cast as fast as they want, skipping over the Script Second, but I think I screwed up my first attempt at extracting that ability from that spell. I managed to make [Quick Spell]—” He pushed the box for that toward Jane, along with [Quick Wall], saying, “But [Quick Wall] is nowhere near as good as [Force Wall]. Just before we started talking, Ophiel showed me that I messed up extracting [Quick Spell] out of [Healing Word]. I think I failed on the first try because my soul has been damaged by what I had to do to win that final fight with the Shades and I can’t hear the magic so well...” Erick said, “And I’m worried about you. I know I try to let you do whatever you want. But I’m worried about what comes next... And I’m rambling.”

Moments passed in silence.

Jane said, “Hello Rambling, I’m Jane.”

Erick just blinked. And then he laughed. And then he cried. Jane got out of her chair and grabbed her father into a hug.

Erick mumbled against Jane’s shoulder, “I should be the one supporting you. I’m the parent here. I’m sorry I can’t be stronger for you.”

“I’m only strong because I have the best dad of two worlds.”

Erick laughed again, and this time Jane joined him. Time passed, as father and daughter embraced. After a short while, Erick pulled away from Jane. He sniffled. He threw a [Cleanse] into the room, ridding himself of the mess he had made of his face and of Jane’s shirt.

He breathed, and then he glanced to the side, to a window. “When did that start?”

Jane did not need to look out the window to answer. “Last night.”

On the street, and on the nearby empty lots, just past a short wall that was not there the last time Erick looked, there were guards. They wore the silver armor of Spur’s Guard, and stood outside of the new wall, to keep the people beyond from coming too close.

People of every race and sex and type of dress had been coming by all day long, and though only a few of them stayed longer than five minutes, all of them brought something with them. Something special to lay upon that wall, or upon the land just beyond. There were tiny painted portraits of those who had died because of Ar’Kendrithyst, and the Shades. Mementos of broken swords. Broken staves. Tiny rings. Flowers and candles. Some people came with small stacks of stone books and left those relics of Rozeta amongst the other mementos. Some came with tiny carved-stone slimes, or little Silver Stars, in honor of Phagar, or Koyabez.

Incense spilled into the air from dozens of small bowls of rice, scattered among the display.

Erick had avoided looking at most of the memorial, or thinking about it all too deeply, until now, until he had disgorged some of his worries. Until he was able to take on more. He sat down again, and gauged himself. He was ready to take on more.

Jane sat back down in her own chair, and continued, “It started about three hours after you departed the celebration. Good speech, by the way. Was that your idea?”

Erick shook his head, then sat back down in his own chair. “Silverite had that whole thing planned out. A lot of political talk is happening around me and I’m mostly just going with the flow. I met the minotaurs yesterday, you know? Ah. Wait. I already said that.”

“You did. But go ahead.”

“Danarin, their ‘spokesperson’, for lack of a better word, got that title because he spoke up when everyone else was silent. I think he’s a good guy, but he definitely saw an opportunity for power and took it.” Erick glanced at the air, briefly checking Candlepoint like he had since he woke up, and said, “I’ve been checking on Candlepoint since I woke, and that guy is already throwing people into groups and organizing with Mephistopheles— That’s another guy that stood up and took control when he could, and everyone else let him... I let him. But he seems to be alright, too.” Erick paused. He asked, “So where is everyone else? Except Poi.” Erick looked through the light, to see Poi sitting in the Library, reading to himself.

Poi looked up, and waved.

Erick smiled.

Jane said, “I asked them all to give me and you some space when you woke up. Kiri, Teressa, and Justine are all at Forward Base. Kiri’s helping with Sunny to clear up some of the larger problems while Teressa has already explored the Swamp twice now. Justine is just there to help Killzone find targets of opportunity. I was helping with that for a while, too. But then you woke up and Poi alerted me, so I came here.”

Erick sat back in his chair and looked to the chocolate chip cookies and the cooling coffee. He asked Jane, “What do you want for dinner?” He added, “And do you want to come on my vacation to Treehome? Has Teressa figured that out? I thought she would have been on that. She still wants to go, right?”

“I want burgers and fries for dinner, and I do believe that Teressa does still want to go to Treehome. She’s already organized all that, as far as I know. I heard you’ve got some very fancy reservations at a very fancy hotel, too. So I’m looking forward to the full spa treatment.”

Erick giggled.

Jane smiled, adding, “You know: If they do that sort of thing on Veird.”

“Ha! Oh. Wait! We could provide luxury spa treatments at Candlepoint!” Erick said, “That’s an idea.”

Jane continued to smile, as she said, “Yes. It’s an idea, for sure.”

Erick got up from his chair, saying, “So smash burgers and fries?”

“Good choice. I love it already, dad.” Jane got up from her chair, and hugged her father again, saying, “I love you.”

With a smile, Erick said, “I love you more.”

- - - -

The next day, Erick set an appointment with Spur’s Registrar, Irogh, and then attended that appointment, using Poi to dodge the very-full Courthouse hallways. Even still, some people in the hallways had recognized Poi, though they did not approach until Erick lightstepped into the room and slid past the woman coming out of Irogh’s office. He disappeared beyond Rozeta’s Script-blue doors and shut those doors, just as the people in the hallways had started to call out for ‘just a moment of his time!’ or some other desire.

As blessed silence filled the room, Erick felt a sudden tension drain from his shoulders. He said, “Hello, Irogh.”

Irogh was the same man he remembered; orcol, very handsome, with short salt-and-pepper hair. The man smiled, showing off his large lower fangs, as he said, “Welcome, Erick. How can I help you?”

“Hi! Yes. Sorry for trying to be quick and rude about this: How long till these New Stats are real? Did I fuck up [Quick Spell], or is that the good version? You probably won’t answer that, but I’m trying, anyway. And with my Intelligence dropping most spell costs down to nothing, which Class Ability would be better to replace for Quest Board: 10% Spell Cost Reduction, or Force Savant?”

Irogh let out a small laugh, then said, “I’m not sure about any of that.”

Erick paused. “Uh. What?” He narrowed his eyes, questioningly, saying, “I expected some denials of answers, but to not know any of them?”

“I know that my memory got blanked the last time you were here, and I’d prefer for that to not happen again. To that end:” Irogh announced, “You’ve been approved as a Minor Entity of the Script. Congratulations! That designation means this:”

As Erick was still trying to process the sudden event unfolding before him, a blue box appeared.

Welcome, Erick Flatt, to the roster for Minor Entities of the Script.

What this means, is that you now have the ability to act as a Registrar for yourself. Questions you would normally pose to a Registrar will now be directly answered by Rozeta, if such answers are possible. Please note that due to operational security, Rozeta WILL NEVER answer questions about how the Script works, but she will always explain your newfound magics or abilities to you.

You have NOT been granted power.

You have NOT been granted legitimacy.

You have NOT been granted a vote.

You will be denounced as a Minor Entity if you abuse the access you have been given.

Thank you for understanding.

Irogh said, “All you have to do is send a small prayer and Rozeta will answer you, directly, allowing you to work your Status however you wish. You still need to provide grand rads if you wish for large alterations, though. That part hasn’t changed.”

It seemed like a whirlwind of events was happening all around him, and all Erick could do was hold on and weather the storm. It had only been three days since the Shadow’s Feast, and now this was happening, too? Whatever ‘this’ was, anyway. Erick had heard of ‘Minor Entities of the Script’ before; one of the authors of one of the Headmaster’s large tomes had been a Minor Entity.

But what did that actually mean? Was it just a self-Registrar ability? Really?

And yet, Erick only had one problem with what was happening right now. He said, “I feel like I’m going to miss our interactions.”

Irogh smiled again, saying, “I will too, but I won’t miss the mind wipes. Don’t go abusing what you’ve been given. I suggest you only use this new ability when you’re in a secured and private location. Operational security is real, Erick.”

“... Okay.” Erick deflected that problem to another hour. He focused on Irogh, saying, “There’s going to be more parties, and I might have one in a few months. Silverite has asked me to leave Spur for a little while, so I’ll probably do that, but do you want to come to that eventual party?”

“Maybe I will.” Irogh smiled, and said, “Thank you for the invite.”

Erick nodded, then turned back toward the blue door to the room. “There’s people waiting out there for me, isn’t there?”

“I’m sure you’ll survive the attention.”

Steeling himself, Erick said, “I’ll see you when I see you, Irogh! Thanks for everything.”

Irogh said, “Thanks for coming to Spur almost a full year ago.”

“Thanks for the welcome reception almost a full year ago!” Erick braved the door, opening it wide. A dozen voices called out to him, but guards had pushed the crowd back while Erick was meeting Irogh, leaving him with a clear path to Poi. “See you!”

Irogh waved from his office as Erick touched Poi with a light tendril, and the two of them lightstepped away, back home.

The crowd voiced their disappointment with ‘Aww!’s and ‘Dammit, I wanted to talk to him!’s and various other annoyed words.

- - - -

It was time to get gone.

Erick set down his two packed bags onto the floor of the foyer, then called out, “Where is everyone! Aren’t we ready yet?”

Kiri shouted back, “Check in isn’t till noon!” She rambled into view atop the grand staircase, carrying two bags with her. “What’s the rush?”

Erick smiled. “I have an announcement!”

Teressa stepped out of the kitchen, saying, “Ah? Boss?”

“Nothing to do with you— Well. Maybe slightly to do with everyone. But this is personal.”

Poi walked out from behind Teressa, asking, “Do you really feel it necessary to spill this secret, too?”

“What secret?” Jane stepped out of the shadows under the staircase. “What’s going on?”

Kiri plopped her bags onto the ground next to Erick’s as she eyed him.

Justine stepped into view atop the staircase, then took several steps down. She did not join the group gathered around Erick, though; she held back.

With everyone more or less there, Erick announced, “I know how to get [Gate], and— Yes, yes, Kiri. I see you all excited. You know the Quest? Yes, you do. I already showed you.” Erick handed out the box to all of them, just so they could see again.

Special Quest!

The Worldly Path 0/1

OR

10 Points

Reward: The ability to cast Gate

He said, “It involves a trip around the world, done without Spatial Magics to make the trip shorter, for there is no actual destination, because the journey is the destination. Which means this small vacation to Treehome is just the start, for me. Everyone else can make their own decision about if they want to come all the way with me around the world, or not, but there will be no hard feelings if you just want to get on with your own life, or plans. I honestly have no idea how long this is going to take.”

Silence filled the room.

Erick added, “I’m keeping the house in Spur, and will be turning the weather nice around here whenever necessary. If you chose to only come part way, you’re still part of this household. This is just an extended vacation, for me. And maybe for you, too, if you want? Planned locations include the Songli Highlands, the Orrery of Rozeta, and the Core.”

Kiri’s eyes went wide again. “Holy— The Core?!”

Jane smiled wide.

Poi frowned.

Teressa looked pensive,

Justine looked... Hmm.

Erick said, “Nothing will change in the long run. I’ll be back to Spur eventually. But this is my plan going forward. I also picked up this Class Ability called the Quest Board, though I’m still debating how to use it. I’ll probably get some Quests from some Relevant Entities and knock those out as I’m traveling, but hopefully they’re not too arduous.” When no one spoke, and Jane just smiled wider, Erick added, “It’s just something for everyone here to think about.”

Justine said, “I won’t be going.”

Everyone turned toward her.

Justine added, “You said I could stay here as long as I wished, but, I think this is a good spot to break this temporary arrangement. I wasn’t even coming with you to Treehome.” She stood tall. She said, “I’m level 57 again. I snuck off into Ar’Kendrithyst to kill some known monsters. I’m ready to go back to Candlepoint, and I will be doing this, today. Now is a good time.”

Erick said, “I’m happy to have helped you when I could, Justine. You’re welcome to come back whenever you wish. Are you packed up, too?”

“It would take but a moment to do so.” Justine bowed at the foot of the grand staircase. She rose, saying, “Thank you for everything. Could you please remove my prismatic permissions in a few hours? I should be gone by then.”

“I’ll do you better than that. I’ll keep your permissions active for a day, okay? If you have to come back for the night, I’ll know with Ophiel, and I’ll keep your permissions active even longer.” Erick said, “You don’t have to run off because I’m running off for a while. I mean that.”

Justine smiled, faintly. She sniffled, held back her tears, and said, “I am eternally grateful for everything you have done for me, Archmage Flatt. If I can ever repay even a portion of your goodwill, please do not hesitate to ask.” She bowed again. She rose again, saying, “I’m... I’m going to hurry up with that packing. Goodbye, Archmage Flatt.”

His heart broke a little to hear her call him something besides Erick. He said, “Please. Call me Erick.”

“I cannot. That would be too informal.” She bowed again. “If you will excuse me, I must prepare. You have been extraordinarily kind in ways I did not deserve. Thank you, for everything.” She blipped away; just upstairs, not wanting to wait for Erick to say another word.

He could tell that leaving was hard on her, but also that it was something she had to do. Erick wished her the best. She wouldn’t be in the house when they got back from Treehome, and that was an emotional blow, but Erick could visit her in Candlepoint, anyway. She’d be fine.

This was okay.

Jane glanced at the spot where Justine had been, then looked to her dad. With a smirk, she said, “This ‘Worldly Path’ sounds pretty darn awesome to me.”

Erick felt a rush of warm joy flush through his body. He said, “I’m glad to hear you say that.”

“Well shit yeah, dad!” Jane said, “Let’s see the entire world! Fuck yea I want to see the Core!”

Kiri said, “You have no idea what that means, Jane.”

“It means I get to kill a level 90 monster, Kiri!” Jane playfully demanded, “Where’s your sense of adventure!”

“Dead and buried so that I can stay alive, thank you very much.”

Jane laughed.

Teressa brought them back down to the moment, saying, “Let’s see Treehome first, please.” She added, “And I need to get my bags.”

Jane rushed off, saying, “Me too!”

Poi silently went to his own room, to grab what he needed.

Five minutes later, they were all gathered back in the foyer.

“Okay!” Erick held out tendrils of light, touching Teressa, Kiri, Poi, and Jane, as he said, “Getting around Ar’Kendrithyst without blipping was kinda difficult, at first, but then it got really easy toward the end. Poi, Teressa: We should probably go by that Light Dungeon I made and get you [Greater Lightwalk]. It’s very, very useful.” He deployed his [Lodestar], turning the light around all of them all up to eleven, as he said, “This first step is gonna be big, but it won’t be bad—”

- - - -

Erick stepped once, and moved a hundred kilometers to the north of Spur, and a good twenty meters off of the ground. Light glowed like a platform underneath everyone, easily supporting their weight in the afternoon sky.

Teressa exclaimed, “That wasn’t a [Teleport]!”

Poi smiled.

Kiri said, “Holy crap you can do that? How much mana was that?”

“Negligible.” Erick said, “Maybe 3? Without the Intelligence cutting spell costs it would only be 10, anyway.”

Jane stared at her father. “How did you do that?”

He smiled. “Domains are important, Jane. You need one.”

She frowned at him.

Erick admitted, “It’s called [Lightwalk] for a reason. Just walk on the light! And then use the light to help you walk faster, and a Domain to walk even faster than that! Simple.” Before anyone could interrupt again, Erick said, “But we’re delaying the trip. Hold on! Here we go again. A lot of steps this time, each one faster than the Script Second!”

Erick stepped once, and moved his whole party another hundred kilometers. And then again, and again. Before long, Erick stepped the five of them to the edge of the Crystal Forest. A few more steps brought them over the Wyrmridge Mountains, into the airspace of the Forest, and within sight of Treehome.

Teressa looked down upon the vast green world ahead, and smiled.

Erick looked down upon the vast green world ahead, and wondered if he could talk to the particularly large trees that dotted the sprawling community of Treehome. They were Arbor trees, after all. Giant, massive, former [Familiar]s, each one reaching a thousand meters into the sky. Some, even higher than that.

And then another thought occurred: Maybe the whirlwind would calm down a little bit.

This was supposed to be a vacation, after all.