Ar'Kendrithyst - Chapter 269, 2/2

The Blue Corps headquarters was actually inside Ar’Kendrithyst, in the upper layers. It was located at what used to be the Armory.

Quilatalap’s former Trials of the Dark had been thoroughly abandoned when the Shades had abandoned the city. When Anhelia began retaking the land, the Armory had become a point of contention between a whole bunch of various forces, but mostly Stratagold and all the other Geodes which all wanted prime representation in the new land.

This was because Erick had put a small Gate Network inside Ar’Kendrithyst, at the Armory, which led to many different Geodes. Erick had done this mini-Network for the Geodes because the Geodes had asked for it, and he had built it at the Armory because the Armory had a nice ‘Central Avenue’ leading directly north from the place, and that central avenue was home to many people and businesses which all moved in under Queen Anhelia’s new reign. Most everything important was near the Armory, in every direction. Brightwater had been the heart of Ar’Kendrithyst (though the new heart was certainly where the Forward Base of Spur used to be, in the north) but The Armory was practically the lungs; not a lot of the outside world got to see the heart, but it certainly saw the lungs.

And so, the Armory was a point of contention.

Who got to build here? Who got to do anything there at all?

And then the Day of Genesis happened and the Blue Corps came into being and they needed some central space for a bunch of powers to gather, so they kinda smashed through all the points of contention and built right in the center of Ar’Kendrithyst.

The Trials of the Dark did not look how they used to look. No longer was the land mostly open, with a giant mushroom-like black dome in the center, with four side-mushrooms acting as side-Trials.

The Blue Corps grew here.

The buildings were skyscrapers and bridges of imported Bluite crystal from Geode Bluite. What had once been black and solemn, and then had been a series of craters after Last Shadow’s Feast drew all sorts of grave robbers out of hiding, and which then became a land of contention in Anhelia’s New Kendrithyst, was now a shimmery blue brilliance. It was about the most-accessible, brilliant-blue part of the world, and it reminded people a lot of the Core. Blueite was just as insular as Stratagold and all the other Geodes, after all. This show of blue was as rare and beautiful as it was a mark of concerted effort against the Red.

The Blue Corps had offices from every major power in the world.

Erick was interested in the map rooms right now.

Erick opened a lightning portal and stepped into one of the many different map rooms he had made and then installed within an [Infinite Imaging] and a bunch of tech from Margleknot over the last few days. The people in those different rooms went through many different imaging scenarios, all under the watchful gaze of Illustrious Moon, from House Fae of Ar’Cosmos, and Inquisitor Kromolok of Stratagold and Rozeta’s Church, and a few other larger powers, taking control over other individual maps.

Everyone was cooperating with everyone else these days, except for the Angels and Demons, which Erick would get to eventually. Ar’Cosmos, in particular, was working overtime on cooperation. They had gained a lot of new allies in light of the Red Sparks, because the Fae Realm was one of the ways in which the people of this world managed to evacuate from Red attacks now and then.

Inquisitor Kromolok noticed Erick first. He turned, his full-white body and incani-countenance going from concerned over whatever it was they were scanning for right now, to a little relieved. He was full of questions upon seeing Erick, but he realized rather fast that he’d get a few of those questions answered if he simply allowed others to go first.

Illustrious Moon, with her giant amethyst horns and bright purple eyes, took Erick’s arrival with a bright squeal of absolute delight. It looked adorable on the large woman. “ERICK! You’re back! And we’re going to be distant cousins!”

Erick smiled at that. “I can only chat a little, so pardon me for being fast. How is the mapping going? That is what I came here for.”

“Wonderfully.” Illustrious Moon got right down to business, saying, “We’re going through the lists of missing persons and finding tracks, at least. Sometimes we find actual people. The auto-cleansers you have set up at the map and elsewhere haven’t activated at all, so no Malevolence has seeped through the Infinity of this new Scanning Magic, but we’re activating our new [Benevolent Cleanse]s anyway every time we put in a new target. We haven’t spotted any dissolving Red, so we’re pretty sure that there hasn’t been any attacks.” She added, “We’re also very careful to only limit our Scans to Veird-space after that incident in the beginning. That hasn’t happened again.”

Some guy had input a scanning target for someone and not limited the scan to Veird space in the beginning. That target ended up pinging on Fenrir’s shell, and Red invaded the entire map room. No one was injured because they shut it down fast, but that guy was not in the map room anymore. Erick had recast all the magics here after that, just to make sure there weren’t any hidden tricks, or whatever.

Erick didn’t think the guy had meant any harm by it, and accidents happen, but it was too large of an accident for the people here to let go. There had been talk that the guy had been a Nothanganathor sympathizer. That talk hadn’t borne out any fruit, though.

A sympathizer was a specific kind of person, and that guy hadn’t been one of them.

They weren’t face stealers; not exactly.

But they kinda were. Maybe. Sympathizers were suspected copies of people from other side realities that were predisposed to thinking Nothanganathor was right to kill Melemizargo. The first sympathizers had been noticed last year, but they were among the hardest of enemies to find, because they were just normal people who hated Melemizargo and wanted him gone.

And yet, the ‘Nothanganathor Sympathizer’ might not even be a real thing.

It might just be a phenomenon of paranoia.

“Have you found any real Nothanganathor sympathizers?” Erick asked, hating that he needed to even ask that. “Real ones.”

Kromolok spoke up, “It’s still an unproven theory that Red Repros even exist, for even the gods cannot tell them apart from normal people. But all the evidence on the ground supports that Red Repros do exist. And if not them, then mundane sympathizers very much do exist, Erick. A lot of people would rather have Melemizargo gone.”

Erick cast his gaze to the other maps, in the other rooms of the Blue Corps Map Compound. “Looks like no real confirmation of Red Repros, though, based on what I’m seeing?”

Illustrious Moon said, “Sympathizers surely do exist. The Erased One has power more than from Malevolence, and he has gifted that power to the people of this world to sow destruction when he calls for it.”

“Confirmation is the most difficult part,” Kromolok said. “We’re not judging people for taking his power; only for using it.”

“All we’ve really found are petty criminals,” Illustrious Moon said. “The Day of Clouds got rid of the actual face stealers. Also: I heard you were going to make Sininindi responsible for that.”

Erick raised an eyebrow. Illustrious Moon had spoken her words like she was making an accusation of a misappropriation of power. Well. Hmm. Erick decided to simply say, “It’s the truth. Sininindi helped a lot, long ago, and that help continues on until today. It’s not my fault you guys haven’t met all of her fractal selves in other slices of reality.”

Illustrious Moon decided to move past that, and said, “Very well. Where are you off to next?”

“I need to speak to the minotaur nations and the Angels and Demons.” Erick said, “But before that: What can I do for you? For either of you. Individually or together or however it comes.”

Illustrious Moon was suddenly without words. She looked like Erick had gifted her a ‘white elephant’, though that phrase hardly really applied when it came to dragons. How would you pay for the upkeep? The grounds that it would live upon? A dragon would simply eat it.

Kromolok answered first, simply stating, “Talk to Ascendant Prime about the Mark of the Fractal.”

“Already on the list. Does it need to happen now?”

“Within the hour.”

“Then it’s at the top of the list.” Erick asked Illustrious Moon, “Any requests?”

Illustrious Moon decided, “We want to pair up some people with Quilatalap and the Inquisitors and all the rest as you delve into what makes the Awakening Machine work. I know it’s a big ask, considering the history between us and your lover, but… I am still asking for that.”

Erick was a little bit stunned by such a request for a few different reasons. He had thought that Quilatalap’s hatred of the fae had gone to the wayside in light of all the much larger problems out there, and how everyone was cooperating with each other right now. Weren’t Quilatalap and the fae getting along right now? Erick had thought so. Maybe he was wrong. And so, Erick treated Illustrious Moon’s request with the seriousness it deserved; she wouldn’t be asking such a thing in such a way unless there was an actual problem.

Erick said, “Quilatalap is heading up that project along with a few Shades, for Melemizargo is involved there because the whole thing kinda infuriates and baffles him; calls it an ‘affront to divinity’. Ask Quilatalap, and see what happens. I will also ask. You truly would be better served by learning how computers work at all, Illustrious Moon. That needs to come first. The magic in the Awakening Machine is incredibly esoteric.” Erick added, “Either way, that technology is going out to the entire world.”

Illustrious Moon had assumed a deflection and a denial-in-parts, and she was not disappointed in that way. She did a little curtsy, and said, “Our requests are already on file. It’s been a day of no-answer.”

“Ah… That is more easily handled. Be right back.”

Erick departed.

– –

Erick reappeared at the House Benevolence Awakening Machine Research Center, the AMRC.

The place was perhaps the most secure and least secure building on the planet right now. Located north of the Gate District, the AMRC was a collaborative effort of about 135 different peoples to tear apart and understand everything there was to understand about the Awakening Machine. Erick had several of those machines, each working overtime with people stepping in and Awakening their auras, base mana production, and also a low-level Elemental Body, because here on Veird that’s what the Script made of the person who stepped into a machine.

Being inundated by an Awakening was like a person had put on a piece of Elemental Body armor and then absorbed that Elemental essence into their souls, except the machine didn’t use essence at all. It only used elemental-charged metal plates that Erick had set up with a node network and some magical imbues to keep those elemental plates charged up all the way; it was the better solution to replacing the metal plates every 10 Awakenings. Erick had said that he could find a more permanent solution to [Duplicate]ing elemental metals, and he had.

People from all walks of life were currently deciphering everything about the machines that they could, because how they were giving people Elemental Bodies was just one small part of their mysteries. The biggest mystery was how it empowered the Dark Mark in a person.

Erick looked around the center. There were a bunch of different forces in meeting rooms, poking around at some disassembled Awakening Machines and mostly arguing with the tech guys about how stuff worked. The tech guys were kinda furious when the mages just went around touching stuff, but also kinda miraculously happy with the powers the Script had granted them. The tech guys could poke at some broken thing with [Mend] and repair it easily, for tech was not magic, and [Mend], when stressed to perfection, easily repaired broken, highly complicated, small things.

It was only day-4 since this whole thing had started, so most people were still in the organizational stage.

The Shades, Quilatalap, and House Benevolence’s Office of the Overseer of Magic, were the only people really understanding what was going on with the magic and soul-influencing of the machines at all, but then again, not really. Yggdrasil was the only one who really understood it all, and he was having trouble getting the rest of them to understand the machines because there was a lot of base knowledge that simply wasn’t there.

And the Script obscured souls.

Erick zipped through the air and landed in a giant hangar with a bunch of disassembled machine parts, diagrams in lightwards everywhere on every wall and in the air, and Quilatalap coming to terms with whatever Yggdrasil said about— What was it? Oh. Souls—

Oh.

Yeah. He could see why Quilatalap was having problems. While Shade Fallopolis and Goldie looked on, and Queen poked around at diagrams at the walls, and Al was nowhere to be found because he made himself scarce whenever Erick showed up—

Quilatalap shook his hands at the diagram in front of him, saying, “But if there is no universal Fractal Mark, how do people cultivate resons? Where is the foundation for a growth when there is no foundation to be had?”

Yggdrasil said, “That’s the thing. Most people don’t cultivate resons. Either way, the foundation comes second.” He looked over to Erick, raised an eyebrow as he probably sussed out everything that Erick wanted to talk about, and probably through some rapid, full-world mana sensing, and then said, “We’ve got all those papers for requests to join the AMRC on hold. Everyone wants to send their best people here but we need people on the front lines still, and the researchers on Malevolence are actually making progress now that they can contain the Malevolence to a small area and not be swimming inside invisible Malevolence, and fucking up everything they’re trying to study. Ar’Cosmos was doing a lot of good research in that direction. They truly should get back to that.”

Erick nodded. “That answers that question. Illustrious Moon will simply have to wait until we’ve secured Veird from annihilation.”

Quilatalap hadn’t even flinched at the mention of Illustrious Moon, and by extension all the other fae, which was good. Erick didn’t expect him to have a reaction against any fae right now, not years past the last incident with one of them, and when they were all in a war for the very survival of Veird. Quilatalap had flinched a lot when Erick spoke of Shadow and had all those necessary conversations, but he seemed fine with the Fae… as much as he could be, anyway.

It seemed that Illustrious Moon’s request had hit a blanket stop, not a personal denial, though Yggdrasil was giving her a personal denial now, if she really wanted a proper answer.

Yggdrasil said, “We’re getting closer to the security of Veird, We’re not there yet, and we won’t be until Nothanganathor is gone, but we’re closing the window on him. He will act soon.”

Quilatalap said, “Just tell House Fae to send whoever they want, Erick, and tell her I’m offended that she even needed to go through you to begin with. I understand what is at stake right now. Tell her I helped them set up all those Malevolence research centers, too. I had thought her battlefield was already full.”

Erick smiled a little. “Sure.”

Quilatalap went back to his diagrams.

Shadows curled around the edges of the space, the Shades watching current events with bright white eyes. Quilatalap was frustrated with a great many things right now, but the look on his face was the one he got when he was truly interested in a project. Erick hadn’t seen that look on that man since he decided to become the world’s premier dungeon master.

Erick said, “I’ll catch you all later, then. I’ve got work.” He did a little nod to Fallopolis, Goldie, and Queen. “Ladies.”

And then Erick left.

– –

Erick stepped into the Blue Corps Map Center again and gave Illustrious Moon the news. He could have done that with a letter, like the one that the AMRC had already sent to her, but it was important to appear everywhere he needed to appear, and to coordinate everything he needed to coordinate, and erase all the friction that he could possibly erase.

Illustrious Moon took the ‘not available right now’ better from him than she had from the letter, saying, “It’s good that there are no diplomatic issues. We were afraid of that.”

“Don’t you already have all your best people on some Malevolence research areas, anyway?”

“We did,” Illustrious Moon said. “Some people went back to that, but after the Day of Clouds ended all projects and forced everyone to start over, some people just could not go back to that, not after a good 19 of them turned out to have been replaced by Malevolent face stealers who had been sabotaging all projects. I do not blame them for their desire to move on.”

Erick’s eyebrows went up. He decided, “End the Malevolence research. Send the people to the Awakening center, and explain these things to Quilatalap or whoever is there. We don’t really need much Malevolent research anyway. Seems almost too dangerous to touch.”

“I agree,” Illustrious Moon said, smiling a little. “Smashing it apart is a much better demonstration of what it’s good for.”

Kromolok spoke up, “Ascendant Prime, please, Erick.”

“Right right!” Erick opened up a portal. “Later!”

And then he was off again.

– – – –

Erick stepped off a part of the ‘Second Layer’ above the ‘Former Surface’ onto a land of Mind Magery and a whole bunch of people living out in the open for the first times in their lives, with all of their mind tendrils getting everywhere. Cerebrum was the name of this place. It was the Mind Mage city; the first of its kind in living memory. Usually these things ended rather horribly with the Mind Mages getting persecuted by this people or that people, with the Mind Mages unwilling to fight back through Mind Magic and prove themselves an enemy.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding this place because Mind Mages were still incredibly powerful; to a normal person this land was full of ‘archmage-level’ people. But controversy was everywhere these days, and the Mind Mages were taking the chance with a singular city, because a lot of Angels and Demons were former Mind Mages, newly risen in Genesis, and they wanted a true neutral ground. This was their neutral ground.

And now, just the other day, Erick had exposed that Mind Mages had proven both uniquely susceptible to Malevolence, and also uniquely resilient, and then there was the information about the Fractal Mark. The current Knowledge Mage reports were filled with rumors that Nothanganathor was leaving the Mind Mages alone because of some Mind Mage bomb that he was waiting to trigger at the exact right moment. Before all that, though, Cerebrum had been a city of peace and prosperity.

Despite all that, Cerebrum was still a lively, nice city, that had everything anyone could ever want, and was probably the place that Erick would be hosting some Angel/Demon peace talks later.

And yet, people were leaving fast. It was an unfortunate thing to happen, but they kinda were threats, without meaning to be. Erick hoped that he could solve that whole gordian knot today, or soon, before Nothanganathor did something weird with the people here.

Erick walked down a wide road that still had people going about their business. Cerebrum was still populated, but it was emptying fast. That’s what people did in this day and age of random, impossibly dangerous monster attacks. Some people had probably left through the Dungeon Gate Network.

It wasn’t a ghost town, though. People still went to the bakeries and to the schools and lawyers offices.

A few people on the street looked at Erick like they didn’t understand what they were seeing. That was mostly because Erick looked like the Apparent King, and yet that would be crazy, right? What was he doing here?

Erick was going about his business, that’s what.

The local Mind Mages stopped trying to poke at Erick with their tendrils and instead decided to leave well enough alone. The street started to empty; not quickly, not in a rush. But it did empty.

And then subtle little mind tendrils wove through the air, directing Erick into a nice little bakery to the left.

Rizala, Poi’s sister, owned the place. She also worked here. After her maternity leave was over and the Day of Genesis created a whole bunch of new lands and this whole city of Cerebrum came into being, Rizala ended up going back and forth from this place a lot. Rizala, her husband Variol, and their child Kenni, still technically lived at the cloud castle at Candlepoint, but this place had their people, and she wanted to be here. She was still technically on maternity leave right now, but she couldn’t sit that still.

Rizala looked almost the same as her brother, Poi, with the same sapphire scales and semi-strict sort of face, but she moved with an easier grace than stiff-backed Poi as she took some bread out of the ovens in the back of the shop, and set it down on a cooling rack. Erick was the only one in the store right now. Variol and Kenni were at school, down the road, at a parent-teacher-faculty meeting about the current state of affairs and what they were doing going forward. Variol wasn’t a Mind Mage, and not everyone was, so they did these sorts of things in public spaces like normal people; because that’s what Mind Mages wanted to be, just normal people.

But the fact remained that they were not normal people, and that they needed special considerations long before this Malevolence-specific-weakness came about. Thus, Ascendant Prime was everywhere here in Cerebrum, along with an assortment of other Ascendants who picked up or discarded names however they saw fit. It was because of those Ascendants that Cerebrum had been completely safe from Malevolent actors these past two years… Theoretically.

The Mind Mages were pretty safe from the war games of the Angels and Demons, though, and that safety was still true.

Rizala saw Erick, startled, and then grinned and turned normal and relaxed for a moment, and then her eyes glinted divine gold.

Poi had only ever been a ‘right place, right time, will-you-let-me’ sort of solution for Erick to talk to the Ascendant Minds, and Ascendant Prime in particular. Rizala had specifically chosen to become the go-between of Ascendant Prime and much of the world a while ago, while Erick had been gone. It was still kinda weird for Erick to speak to Rizala like this. Erick was used to Poi talking with Ascendant Prime’s voice.

Things had changed.

Ascendant Prime spoke with Rizala’s voice and body, saying, “I wondered if those visions on the streets were true. Give me a moment and I’ll be ready.” Her eyes glinted a bit more gold as her hands flexed the air and the ovens turned off and were instantly cool, as though they had not been on at all. Rizala and Ascendant Prime grinned. “I learned some Wizardry! Or resonwork, if you prefer. It’s probably closer to resonwork. It’s rather difficult to do, but I have been able to use reson donations from the entire network in order to create and alter things. Once you notice these things then even the obfuscation of the Script is easily observed.”

“Not to be hasty,” Erick said, “But I heard there was something of an emergency.”

Ascendant Prime paused. And then she made an ‘ah’ face. “Kromolok is correct that this is important and that I wished to speak with you as soon as possible, but it just came up in the last few hours. I would have found time later tonight to speak with you at the cloud castle if you had not shown up sooner.”

Erick focused.

Several things could have happened. Chief among them, though…

Erick guessed, “You finally made contact with Margleknot.”

“We did,” Ascendant Prime said. “We put the Crossing back up enough to cross some sort of invisible threshold and whatever sorts of Fractal Marks we have inside of ourselves were rapidly connected to the Greater Universe. The Fractal Fairy, as you call Them, spoke to me.”

Erick was suddenly worried and thrilled, and then he focused on the worry. Rizala looked okay… “Are you okay?”

Ascendant Prime’s eyes glinted gold as she made a little tilting, unsure-motion with a hand. “We’ll be fine. No mortals were harmed in the contact. A few Ascendants are still pulling themselves together but it’s really hard to kill an Ascendant. Which makes sense. Apparently, we’re technically fae.”

Erick paused.

Fae?

And then Erick laughed. “Fae?! What!”

“Moving right along—”

“Waitwaitwaitwait.” Erick asked, “Back up there?”

They would not be backing up, though, because—

Shadow and Fairy Moon stepped into the conversation. Or rather, they sat down into the conversation, at the table to the side where a bunch of pastries had turned from a display-for-sale into a display-for-eating. Coffee and tea were served as well, and the table was big enough for all four of them to sit around.

Shadow softly smiled, saying, “Hello, Erick. I wanted to wait on this, but we can’t wait anymore.”

Fairy Moon said to all of them, “We are going to win this war but Erick does not need to know how to kill fae yet.” She repeated, “Yet.”

“And I disagree,” Shadow said, “There is no way that Nothanganathor hasn’t attained some level of Eternity, even if it is in single-use form. Probably larger than single-use, what with his Sign of Power. The Ascendant Minds are only half there and they’re already rather unkillable via all traditional methods. This whole conversation is connected.”

“These Mind Mages don’t need to know either, Shadow,” Fairy Moon said.

Shadow said, “The Mind Mages already know.” She looked to Ascendant Prime. “Or they’re able to put it all together easily enough.”

Ascendant Prime said, “We ended up contacting the Fae Enclave directly, and a few different halfway-houses of Mind Mages out there in the rest of the universe.” She sat down at the table, saying, “It was enlightening.”

Erick supposed he should sit down, too, so he did. “There are a lot of things I haven’t even touched upon yet, because there is too much to be done right now.” He wrapped them in a [Hasted Shelter]. Ascendant Prime had a moment of slowness because most of her was outside of the Shelter, but she adjusted fast enough. When she was fully present, Erick continued, “Like the Fractal Mark at the center of Mind Mage magics, and how I want to open and use that power, and how to use that power, and also how to negate Nothanganathor’s Sign of Power, which is apparently this thing called ‘Eternity’?”

“It’s all tied together,” Shadow said. “To the thing called Life.”

Fairy Moon relegated herself to the fact that this was happening. She sighed. And then she asked, “Do you know why most fae start life small?”

“Firstly, I haven’t really seen any small fae, and all the small fae I’ve seen are purposefully small and I doubt that is what you meant.” Erick said, “But I can make an educated guess to this brand new information you’re telling me.”

Shadow and Fairy Moon both raised eyebrows at that. Ascendant Prime just watched through Rizala.

Shadow asked, “You never saw a baby fae before?”

“Nope.”

Fairy Moon frowned. “But we have a baby fae in Ar’Cosmos. You saw him. He’s Grub. He’s still a baby, too; barely ten thousand years old.”

“This is literally new information for me.”

Fairy Moon said, “Big eyes, grey scales, kinda lizard-like— You have seen him!”

Erick did recall something that stood out to him, now that he was thinking about it. It was a lizard-like grey thing that haunted every windowsill of Fairy Moon’s mansion in Ar’Cosmos. Erick hadn’t seen that thing since then, and he certainly hadn’t thought about it. “That was a fae? I thought that was a guardian to keep me from escaping from the windows.”

“That’s Grub!” Fairy Moon said. “He’s a baby so he escaped being confined to the Elemental Fae Bands of Intent, mostly because I kept him intact. He doesn’t do diddly but guard great places of power and pretend to be powerful by way of appearing innocent in incongruent scenarios, and yes, he might have munched on you, but he wouldn’t have killed you. Just kept you still for a second or several.”

Shadow countered Fairy moon, “Grub would have taken his legs to keep him still. Arms too, maybe.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Erick suddenly remembered— “Oh! Tasar once told me about a second fae in Ar’Cosmos… Why is this the first time I’ve heard of his name?”

“Because when people pursued him I killed them most cruelly,” Fairy Moon said, solidly. “But he is a baby fae, so yes, you have met a baby fae.”

“I guess I have.” Erick moved on, making a guess regarding Fairy Moon’s question on the nature of small fae and how they grew, saying, “Baby fae are small and unformed because their ‘Simple As’ purpose has yet to rise to the level of self-reflection and multiplicity that is required for them to be a person who walk streets and buys bread from bakeries and pays taxes. That takes thousands of years. Small fae are vulnerable in this time frame more than most, either from soul magics or from a corruption of purpose, like taking a waterborn fae and trying to raise them in the desert. They wouldn’t necessarily die, but they would become something they were not.”

Shadow smiled, saying, “Paying taxes is something we almost never do.”

Fairy Moon paused. She went, “That’s the mostly-true truth there; you sussed that out rather succinctly.”

Shadow chuckled. And then she added, “It’s not a bad thing to take the water fae and put them in a sandy environment. It might kill them, yes, but it might spur their growth.”

Fairy Moon said to Shadow, “I hope you would never do such a switching, Shadow. That sand pit might have grown its own growth, but such an action would have purloined the purpose of both locations and only originated one life instead of two. Sure, the two people take more time, but we have a terrific amount of time.”

Erick left that particular conversation alone and extrapolated what another part of this conversation was about, saying, “Ascendant Prime has come to this ‘Simple As’ existence from the other direction; through multiplicity they are remade every time pieces fall apart—” Erick had a moment.

A completely different idea suddenly came to him.

About creating an environment and then filling that environment.

He looked at Shadow, Fairy Moon, and Ascendant Prime, and asked a question he felt like he already knew the answer to, “If we create a gap in the world that is where an Erased person is supposed to be, will that gap be filled with the person that got Erased? Or is this ‘from something: a fae’ phenomenon only usable to make more fae? And can we use the Fractal Mark to do this? To implant memories in people about those who should exist, and thus make those people who have been Erased once again whole?”

The idea had just sort of plopped out there and it wasn’t fully formed at all, but…

It was there.

Most of the pieces.

Ascendant Prime was suddenly having a moment, too.

Rizala’s gold eyes dimmed as Ascendant Prime went Elsewhere for now. He was still there, in the background, but he wasn’t currently inhabiting Rizala, and now Rizala was sitting with arguably the 3 most powerful people on the planet. She was used to 1 powerful person; not 3, and certainly not the Creator of the Painted Cosmology.

Rizala tried to keep her calm as she asked, “Anyone care for some tea— Ah. The tea is already here.” She added, “But I have special blends.”

Shadow smirked, saying to Rizala, “I saw the special blends, but I wasn’t about to take them without being offered. I would love some special blends of tea. Perhaps that darkly floral one you have back there?”

“At once.” Rizala got up and went to the space behind the glass displays, to the tea and coffee prep area. She got out some packets, offering, “I have ‘Dark Garden’?”

“I’ll take it,” Shadow said.

Fairy Moon was having a moment, too, which is why she had been quiet. And then she huffed a little, chuckled once, and said, “I suppose we can push past all the carefully constructed cause and creation speeches and soliloquies I had prepared previously and arrive at the simple start of an answer to Erasure just like that.” Fairy Moon said, “Be forewarned, father of futures: It is not easy to make a miracle like the one that you have sighted on the most distant of horizons. You likely won’t be able to actualize it at all. You must find another to grab this gain.”

“Solomon can do it, now that we have a battle plan.” Erick said, “I would like to hear your speeches on the nature of Life and Eternity, though, if you would say them.”

Fairy Moon shook her head a little. “You have a small solution. The powerful prayers I have sorted can be saved for Solomon. We also felt it best for him to behold these truths, but we wished to approach you for your acumen first. Now that we have it, we will begin plans to plot for Solomon’s security of power.”

Erick nodded. “Great! Moving on, then:” He said, “I would like to know your opinion on the nature of the divinity of Ascendant Prime. Is he a Fractal God, or a Painted God? Beholden to the masses, or a person unto himself, unburdened by the Curse of Power?”

Rizala glanced Erick’s way as she made tea, and then Ascendant Prime was back, saying, “I’m many people?”

A curious thing to say, when said in that way. She didn’t know what she was herself.

Fairy Moon looked to Shadow, to see if she had an answer; this was Shadow’s realm of power, after all.

Shadow said to Ascendant Prime, “You’re a Painted demigod. You have a nascent mantle made from Darkness and you are not actually Ascendant at all. You’re more of a fae made of a whole lot of Life, and your golden coloring comes from the resons you contain and the belief that you should be gold, rather than anything else.” She waved a hand, saying, “But that’s like describing me by the color of my hair or my height; it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just hair color. The Painted God versus Fractal God does mean something though; that’s the difference between a person and an idea. Continue to develop your Dark Mantle and await for Melemizargo to bestow upon you a Spark. Do not seek out more Fractal Power, or else you will truly lose your individuality.”

“… I will keep that in mind,” Ascendant Prime said. And then she set a four-person tea preparation down on the table. “Tea?”

Shadow took a cup, saying, “Smells wonderful. Now let’s talk about how to kill a fae.”

Fairy Moon had objections. She kept them mostly to herself, as she said, “If there were another way to go about this then I would have preferred that, but since Nothanganathor has some sort of Fractal Mark of Life, then you are going to need to learn how to kill fae, even if the Erased One isn’t technically ‘Ascended’.”

Ascendant Prime said, “This is rather adjacent to our desire to speak with you, Erick, for we also imagined that Nothanganathor was somewhat fae, because he has that Sign of Power.” She looked to Shadow and Fairy Moon, adding, “That’s what the Fractal Fairy told us.”

Shadow sat back in her chair, saying, “Let’s talk about that first, actually.”

“Bah,” Fairy Moon said, lightly. “That Fractal came all the way to talk to you and They didn’t pop in to the party we’ve been having? Sometimes I don’t know why I even bother with the Old Fae.”

That comment merited discussion.

“Okay. First:” Erick said, “Is the Fractal Fairy a fae, or the Universe Itself?”

Fairy Moon and Shadow both looked at Erick.

Shadow said to Fairy Moon, “There’s not much difference?”

“Well not now,” Fairy Moon said to Shadow. “But maybe in distant dynasties? More distant than I, by far far afield.” Fairy Moon said to Erick, “They’re the Fractal Universe, Erick. Don’t ask that weird question again.”

Shadow shrugged.

Seemed inconclusive.

Erick moved on.

Erick asked Ascendant Prime, “They really came here? To tell you you’re fae?”

“Among other things. They granted us contact into the Mind Mage collectives out there.” Ascendant Prime said, “They told us that even if Veird perishes, that we would be saved. Apparently, They’re only giving Melemizargo and you and Veird a chance because the Fractal Fairy appreciates what Melemizargo has done to make us; the Mind Mage collective here on Veird. That Fairy is still an absolute bastard, though. We asked for Them to censure Nothanganathor, and They said to do that ourselves, but They didn’t give us any hints as to how to do that, only that we need to truly ‘Become Ourselves’… Which is not something we wish to do, if ‘Becoming Ourselves’ means what we think it means.”

When Ascendant Prime finished, Erick had a long thought.

The others remained silent, sipping their tea and eating little mini-cakes.

Eventually, Erick guessed, “The ‘Becoming Yourselves’ you speak of is turning all the minds you’re connected to back into a single Fractal Mark and a single person. This kills every connected Mind Mage.”

Ascendant Prime sighed a little, for Erick had hit the nail exactly on the head. She asked, “Why would you think that?”

“Because baby fae start off at the bottom. I thought that you started off at the top, as a collective that became self aware through the joining of people into a gestalt. But you’re really an ‘environment’, like a pond, or a desert. You’re growing. You’re a demigod. The final step of growth is actualization, to ‘simply be’, and become a real fae.” Erick said, “And that involves the complete gathering of the environment you were raised within. This gathering kills the environment, because why else would everyone suddenly be here, talking about all this big stuff, all at once, if it wasn’t a big deal of death or other such destruction.”

Shadow said, “And that’s how you kill the Life of a fae, Erick; you kill the environment that they are.”

Erick had a moment.

Ascendant Mind was silent in a whole bunch of thoughts; thick tendrils of power glinted gold around her head as she thought along ten thousand lines of thought, and probably a lot more than that.

Erick looked to Fairy Moon and said, “And that’s why Fairy Moon was left over when the Sundering happened; she became herself inside Elemental Fae, being the only one left while the Bands of Intent were closed off down to 1. That’s her indelible environment. Shadow, however, was simply kicked out of the Darkness because there was nothing to grasp onto, and she simply couldn’t die, but she can’t make it back there, either, because there is nothing there to go back to until it all exists again.” Erick said, “Or maybe Nothanganathor arranged things so it happened like that.”

Shadow said, “Your second guess is likely more correct.”

Erick nodded, then he looked at them all, and said, “To kill Nothanganathor, we have to close off all of him from the outside in, and then change what is at the base into something else. That way, even if he does have a ‘Trick of Eternity’ —which he has to, because of Eldraki— then we can still win. If he has no home base to return to, then he will simply perish.”

Meanwhile, Erick might need to think about actually becoming Simply Himself, and One with Benevolence, so that he wouldn’t die when he was killed, either. That was a thought for another day, though.

Shadow said, “You’re going to need to get Nothanganathor into a place like what you did with Captain Shackle and then rip him apart in that same sort of way.”

Erick said, “That’s going to be difficult.”

Shadow said, “And yet, it will need to be done.”

Ascendant Prime spoke up, saying, “We’re not pulling the trigger on our own Ascension, Erick. Most Mind Mage collectives don’t pull that trigger, because it is so destructive and… and wrong.”

Erick stared into Ascendant Prime’s golden eyes and softly declared, “You’re going to pull that trigger if we look to lose, Ascendant Prime, and then when you’re safe you’re going to recreate all of Veird and everything we’ve lost through Elemental Genesis, and all the other magics that make up this world. That simply is what you’re going to do. Call it Plan Overmind, if you want to give it a name. I already have Escape Plan Omega for all the other people of Veird. You’ll be Backup #2.”

Ascendant Prime instantly said, “40% of people have a [Telepathy] spell or other Fractal Mark portion within them. We would be taking 40% of Veird with us if we had to do that. You would be exempt, but…” She left the rest unsaid.

Everyone else would be consumed into a vast overmind. That overmind would likely rise right through Ascended all the way to Fae and be so far out of touch with its roots that it might never reconnect with the people that had made it. But maybe it would connect. No way to really know.

All of this talk was largely theoretical, but it was based on established precedent.

And if everyone with a [Telepathy] in them got taken, that meant Jane and the rest.

Erick said to Ascendant Prime, “I know what I asked. Any sort of free life is better than the oblivion of Nothanganathor’s Erasure.” He said, “Moving on: If you come up with any ways to negate Nothanganathor’s Sign of Power, I would hear them. I need to do something with my own Fractal Mark to make me immune to Nothanganathor’s non-Malevolence-based powers… I likely need a bigger goal than that for myself, though. ‘Don’t simply aim at the enemy in front of you; aim at all the ones from now until forever’, and all that. I assume that Solomon’s ultimate goal might be to make his Mark into something that gathers Erased or even Sundered people back into people.” Erick said, “Maybe he can start there; trying to bring Sundered people back, and work his way up to Erased people.”

Shadow nodded.

Fairy Moon said, “That would be our starter situation to repair, and then we move mountains from there.”

Ascendant Prime suggested to Erick, “An intact Fractal Mark is already about communication with the self across realities in order to cultivate resons and self-actualization. The fragment of the Mark inside [Telepathy] is mostly about communication with the current realm. Therefore, perhaps you can open your Mark to communication with Benevolence Itself, to move forward and backward through time, to make your own Lightning Path truly useful with regard to finding the best possible future. Maybe share that power with others to make the Benevolent Sky easier to read for all, and especially for yourself; make it overcome all interference, such as that from Nothanganathor, or whoever else might come along after him.”

Erick paused. He thought. And then he smiled. “That’s a great suggestion. I will think on that.”

“Good,” Ascendant Mind said, relaxing a fraction. She had been getting nervous about a lot, and now she wasn’t that worried. “We don’t want to pull the trigger on Plan Overmind, Erick. That is something we do not want to do. Make it so we don’t have to resort to that option.”

Erick softly nodded, saying, “That’s the plan.” Erick turned to Shadow and Fairy Moon. “How would we best go about killing Nothanganthor’s Everything?”

“Shore up the walls of Veird and then expand them until we swallow him right back,” Fairy Moon said, shrugging, like that was all that needed to be said. “Start there.”

Shadow eyed her Father/mom, then said to Erick, “In a more Stone-solid way: Let us start with Rozeta extending the Script out as far as she can make it go, so we don’t have to counter danger happening right on the top sphere of this world. I, for one, would prefer to fight outside of our house. From there…”

The conversation lasted for a few hours.

Rozeta began expanding the Edge of the Script an hour later, while Erick ran another Cleansing Weave to target the thousands upon thousands of kilometers of solid Red just beyond the former Edge of the Script.

Red poured into Veird.

Rozeta had to implement a third Day of Clouds, but that event mainly happened far, far above where people lived, in the absolute black of the sky over the outermost silver layer of Veird, where the Script’s Authority pressed against an invisible Red Ocean.

What most people saw, from the city of the Mind Mages to the lakeside of Candlepoint to the skies of Ar’Kendrithyst, and in the caverns of the Underworld, were tsunamis of thick, white air that flowed across the skies, forming whitewater rivers, ever downward, into the Core.

Golden lightning flickered among those clouds.

Not many people noticed what that lightning did, for they had just heard that Sininindi had helped to make the Day of Clouds possible, and so of course she was here, as well. She and Rozeta and Koyabez and all the gods of the Pantheon were working together with The Wizard to take the power of the Red and smash it into free mana for Veird, consuming Nothanganathor right back.

That Golden Lightning had not been there before.

But people believed in it now, and so that Golden Lightning was here.

Erick saw exactly what Sininindi was doing. Her golden power started above the lands that worshiped her, and then spread like prayers, all the way up the rivers of white clouds, into the spheres above, into the New Edge of the Script, where it struck the Red and empowered Erick’s [Benevolent Cleanse] Weavers. Each empowered Weaver blossomed with white lightning, ending the struggle between the Edge expansion and the Red Ocean firmly on the side of the Script.

Resources poured into Veird.

The Edge of the Script advanced.

– – – –

Erick stepped out under the real sky, past the Silver Surface, onto a prominence of silver metal, to view the new heavens of Veird. All was starlight. The Red had retreated, for now. The new Edge of the Script was a good 20,000 kilometers straight up from Erick’s current location; the current radius of Veird had been doubled in one action. That was all that Rozeta was willing to do right now. They had gained a lot of mana from the second Day of Clouds and so the new Edge was pretty easily made and contained, but the Red Ocean had pulled back, and so this was as far as Rozeta could actually push the Script given current mana constraints. The atmosphere was still only a good 20 kilometers above Erick’s location, though. Beyond that was empty space, kept that way because while the mana to fill that space was easy enough to come by, she’d need to activate some [Duplicate] copy magics to fill that atmosphere, and there was no need to do that right now.

Filling the sky with air would make it impossible to see beyond that much air. Everyone preferred the clear sky. It was all the better to see the enemy. There was no enemy to be seen right now, but the point still stood.

Nothanganathor had retreated, like an army burning fields behind them as they escaped so that those fields could not be used to feed advancing enemies.

A cold wind blew, ruffling Erick’s black glowthread clothes, as he turned his gaze upon the preferred field of battle; Erick also didn’t want to fight on Veird. Fighting up there, though? That was fine.

Stars twinkled like cold, white dots on a field of a blue so dark it was almost black.

The other half of the sky was actually black, with a few world-sized [Terraforming] storms prowling the surface, like crawling stars.

“Fenrir looks okay from this angle,” Erick said.

Rozeta stepped beside him. “The barest glance into a side reality and you’d see it’s full of holes. In some places it’s completely gone.”

Erick asked, “How far into those side realities can you see? Are we protected, yet?”

“The God Pact world is safe and contained, but it is not that difficult to see worlds where some gods have fallen, and from there it gets worse. I cannot see the worlds where I have fallen, but others can; we have talked about it. All of us can only really act here, though. Whatever happens out there doesn’t matter. To me, standing here, those other worlds only exist when I am looking. This is the world that leads the way into the future.” Rozeta said, “And things are looking good.” She added, “It’s hard to put measurements of distance to how far those side realities go before I cannot see. Millions? More? Used to be a lot less. I think we’re safe to implement the [Hasted Shelter].”

Erick nodded, taking in that deep proclamation. “Okay.” Erick asked the air, “Koyabez? I want to turn this entire Silver Surface into an eternal stonewood dungeon forest in your honor. Do you mind?”

Koyabez stepped to Erick’s and Rozeta’s side, looking ragged.

For as long as Erick knew him, the God of Peace and the original god of Veird had always resembled a lithe, pale purple demi man who wore a simple loincloth and nothing else. He had not fared well these last years. The Quiet War had erupted into the Forever War once the armies of Angels and Demons came to Veird, for Koyabez simply could not stop armies of billions fighting on land that was not truly his anymore; the Angelic and Demonic gods had ascended to real power in that action. This war with Nothanganathor was also changing him, bringing out his darker side.

Physically, Koyabez was looking rather anemic. His muscles were wasting and his bones were visible. His hair was limp. One of his small horns was broken, and he had scars on his pale-violet skin.

But his sunken eyes were filled with purpose and his voice was the harsh thing of a beaten man who could take no more.

Koyabez said, “Do it, Wizard of Benevolence, and dedicate the forest to the Eternal Peace of buried enemies that cannot harm us anymore.”

Erick felt a chill that had nothing to do with the frozen wind blowing across the Silver Surface.

“It will be done,” Erick said.

Koyabez breathed a small sigh of relief. He didn’t gain any strength, but that would happen later.

Erick asked, “Got any requests for the Angel/Demon problem?”

Koyabez laughed darkly. He almost said something, but then he paused. He decided to say, “Not right now. When we’re not in danger of being destroyed, take a walk around some places. Those talks in Cerebrum won’t help, but they might get you in contact with the real powers. Try to bring lasting peace however you can… But probably not the peace of the grave.” He added, “They’re the most populous people on my planet right now…” Softly, he said, “It doesn’t feel like home anymore.”

Erick said, “I’ll try to fix that, Koyabez.”

Koyabez smiled a little. And then he stepped away.

It was just Rozeta and Erick, now.

Rozeta softly said to Erick, “Let me help with the Eternal Forest.”

Erick handed her a copy of the [Eternal Stonewood] spell, wrought in Benevolent crystal, saying, “I’ll gladly take your help.”

Rozeta disappeared the spell into Elsewhere and changed the subject, “Have you gotten a chance to try out Elemental Genesis?”

“I have not stopped to do anything but talk to people, Rozeta, and set up some repairs where I can. That’s doing a lot more good for us than me playing around with magic, though I do want to get around to that soon.” He extended his aura and began planting trees. Soon, massive white trees began to grow from nothing. Usually Erick needed some starter seeds to make this spell work, but Erick had imbued this spell with resons, thus making the spell provide its own starter seeds. At the mention of Genesis, though… “Could I do this without spending any resons at all to make starter seeds, if I used Genesis?”

Rozeta gestured to the side, off in the distance. White trees grew fast and in a long line in that direction. “That’s what I’m doing.”

Erick scoffed, “Rozeta! You can’t just put all the trees in a solid line!”

Rozeta smiled. “Sure I can. Unless you want me to make dirt and rivers instead?”

Erick teased, “What? You can’t do it all at the same time?” He added, “Be sure to make the trees have silver leaves— Ah. Yggdrasil will probably want to put a tree up here, too. That one can be the only green one. All others have to be silver and reflective of peace— and also home to Benevolence slimes and stuff like that.”

Rozeta chuckled as Erick added caveats and direction. And then she said, “Yggdrasil is already growing on the 6 corners of the Silver Surface. He started growing when Koyabez gave permission.”

Yggrasil stepped to the side, smiling, saying, “I’m growing eternal stonewood trees, too. Try to keep up, father.”

Erick turned into a dragon and started rapidly moving, his voice carrying on the half-frozen air, “I can keep up just fine!”

Laughter followed.

Erick added, “And make them hollow and able to have lots of life and slimes and stuff!”

Yggrasil said, “You already said that!”

– – – –

Three days later, amid more crises here and there, while spending all his free time on the Silver Surface to plant more multi-kilometer tall trees, the new Silver Surface was finally done.

As a dragon, Erick flew across a fully populated land of silver-leaved trees, their canopies illusionary and hiding everything below, except where the trees didn’t touch tops. In those silver chasms, light shone through, radiant and warm and in the shape of [Kaleidoscopic Radiance]s down below. Some parts of the new Silver Surface were instead oceans hundreds of kilometers across, dark as black and yet with shining surfaces reflecting silver starlight. Some parts of the new Silver Surface were mountains, but not much; just enough to get the water flowing properly from place to place.

Benevolence slimes were already out and thriving under the waters of [Terraforming] and the storms of Sininindi that crawled across the land. The mana was pouring in. Rozeta had gotten the [Worldwide Cleanse] system back up and running, too, and every instance of Malevolence the world over was instantly struck by an appropriate-sized [Benevolent Cleanse].

For the first time in years, people were able to visit the real surface without danger of being Erased by the Red, for the Red didn’t attack the surface anymore.

Erick flew for a while, a giant black void against the starlit sky to anyone who might be looking up from below, and there were a lot of people down there. A lot of people didn’t like living underground; they were moving up top and making new homes. A lot of people simply wanted to see the stars once, and then go back down to true safety, down below.

Someone had brought a boat up from somewhere and was sailing it on the ocean, under the stars, having a grand time. Erick smiled when he recognized that Slip, the Captain of the Guard of Candlepoint, was the one sailing that boat, along with a few other shadelings from the city. They were drinking Silver Wine, of Koyabez’s holy stock, which Erick had made billions of copies of and which were being handed out to every single party that came to the Silver Surface for whatever reason. The wine was a celebration that they had made it; they were alive, and here, and ready for more. Slip and his friends were just one small group having a good time. They looked happy.

Slip noticed Erick flying overhead. He waved. His party asked him what he was waving at, and he laughed.

Erick waved back, blinking at them in acknowledgment, showing the bright whites of his eyes as he flew overhead.

The people on the boat had various pratfall reactions.

Erick chuckled, glinting the sky with bright white sparks, as he moved on.

He flew for a while, checking things, seeing things. Watching the people. He was headed toward a destination, but he was taking his time getting there.

Eventually, Erick landed on a jut of silver a good 50 kilometers across that lay exposed under the starry sky. It was real silver; not the illusionary silver and grey rock of the original Silver Surface. It deformed a little bit under Erick’s weight, but then he shrunk down and was just a person again. He stepped to the top of the prominence of silver.

To the left of the sky lay the black of Fenrir, with tiny white storms crawling on its surface in orderly lines. It was like a horizon dividing the universe; it was so large.

To the right of the sky lay the sparkling universe. It was much larger.

To be here, though, was to hang above an abyss of black Fenrir, like all of Veird was floating just above a dark ocean, while the sky was glittering, saying hello.

Yggdrasil, Koyabez, Rozeta, Phagar, and Melemizargo, soon joined Erick, though Melemizargo was more off-to-the-side, since he was still a 50 meter tall dragon. Rozeta was looking good in her white pantsuit; she hadn’t changed at all in the tumult of the new world. Phagar looked like Erick, so that was the same.

Koyabez looked better. More solid. Less anemic.

Erick smiled when he saw that. “You’re looking better, Koyabez.”

Koyabez said, “The truce you brokered with the Angels and Demons was helpful.”

“All I did was say a few words,” Erick said, “I’m surprised it had this much of an effect before the actual peace talks will begin.”

“It was still a temporary truce, and people saw that,” Koyabez said. “They also saw all of this new Silver Surface.”

Erick smiled. “It does look good, doesn’t it!”

Sininindi stepped down onto the silver ground. She looked good, too. Her adamantium dress-like sailcloth was less jagged and angry; more solidly broken. It was hard to tell the difference, but to Erick’s eyes her dress had gone from chaotic-on-accident to chaotic-on-purpose. Her gaze felt stronger, too. She said, “Erick does good work.”

“Thank you,” Erick said, “But everyone else was paving the way long before I arrived. Hopefully, after today, we can slow down and truly take care with our forward-plans.”

Yggdrasil said, “The [Hasted Shelter] won’t last forever, but it will last for a few months, at least.”

“That will have to be enough.” Erick looked up to Melemiargo, “I need to cure Kirginatharp’s Dragon Curse after this.”

Rozeta looked unsure, but quietly happy.

Melemizargo said, “It will be done.” And then he looked up to the starry night sky. He intoned, “As endless as Darkness: It is time.”

Rozeta said, “A shield of a careful age.”

Koyabez said, “A place of profound peace.”

Sininindi said, “A protection from unkind storms.”

Yggdrasil said, “A land of well-laid plans.”

Phagar said, “A time made safe from Malevolence.”

Erick finished, “A [Hasted Shelter] of Benevolence.”

The world shifted.

A thin white haze glowed in the sky, far, far away.

And then the haze vanished.

The void of Fenrir was a black horizon to the left that became stable, for Veird no longer turned. No more stars would be exposed or swallowed by those black edges. Veird hung half suspended over an unmoving darkness that was only lit by tracks of planet-sized storms. The sky of stars on the other side of Veird would remain the same for as long as the [Hasted Shelter] held.

And life would continue on Veird, in a much more relaxed manner.

Hopefully.

Erick checked a few things through a few portals. Everything looked good, but he still asked, “Any signs of any other timezones? My weavers aren’t reporting any. The Map Center looks clear.”

Yggdrasil said, “No signs of Malevolence or other magical actions inside Veird’s space that I can detect.”

Phagar said, “Everything seems good for the future. This time this might work.”

Rozeta was smiling wide, saying, “I think it will.”

Sininindi declared, “It will. It has to. I am finally starting to feel like myself again, though still different.”

Koyabez breathed deep, seeming joyful, as he said, “Me too, Sininindi.”

Erick almost said something about getting back to work, but then he felt another twitch in his soul as another startling growth took place in his Dark Mark—

Melemizargo looked at him, a casual look that was more or less what the other gods and Yggdrasil were doing. Sininindi was staring up at the sky, though. She was looking at the storms on Fenrir, and thinking. She kept her thoughts to herself, though.

Erick continued with his interrupted thought, “And now, the reward for doing good work: More work!”

Rozeta chuckled. The others grinned. Rozeta said, “I’ve got all those great new scanning magics to keep a better eye on Veird, and so, that is what I’m doing.”

She stepped away.

Koyabez, Phagar, and Sininindi left as well.

Yggdrasil said, “See you later, father.”

Yggdrasil departed.

Erick was as alone with Melemizargo as anyone could be, here on this silver hill under the open black and star-filled sky.

Melemizargo said, “You’ve grown enough to be a fine god, if you desired, but Yggdrasil is stealing all your divinity.”

“Don’t you go making plans for dying, Melemizargo.” Erick said strongly, “This trap won’t be trapping any of us soon enough.”

Melemizargo’s countenance softened as he gave a small laugh that rumbled the world. “I didn’t mean to replace me. You’re way too small to be my Second.” He stared a little. “You could have been, if Shadow hadn’t arrived.”

“I’m fine with just being me,” Erick said.

Melemizargo grunted in acknowledgment, or in an aborted laugh; it was hard to say. And then the God of Magic turned to shadows and vanished into the background.

Erick stared at the black and starry sky for a moment longer, wondering when the real attack would begin, and what shape it would take. There was too much to do, though; Erick could not be worried about black-swan events or lateral attacks. The walls were defended, and the time was now to make those defenses last. Whatever came next probably wouldn’t be through Malevolence.

Erick departed through a ring of white lightning.

Soon the silver hill was empty. The only mark that anyone had ever been there were dragon claw prints tens of meters wide and a faint golden glow in the air that faded soon enough.

– – – –

Erick Flatt, [60-ish] [Current Year: 1455 (Veird, layer 789), [CURRENT REALITY=Layer 789, Veird]

Mana split; Soul, Body, Mind: 31%, 30%, 30%

Reson allocation rate: 9%

Soul: 419.46m per day / 4,854.86 per second , [Darkness Level = 28.6x Ascension baseline]

Body: 987

Mind: 1234

Overall Stability: ↑↑ [+4,417.92, -9] Basic upkeep

Mp: 5.8b/∞, ↑ [+1,505, -3] Basic upkeep

Hp: 5.7b/∞, ↑ [+1,456.45, -3] Basic upkeep

Pp: 5.7b/∞, ↑ [+1,456.45, -3] Basic upkeep

Resons: 2.9b [+436.93 = +48.54]