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‘It’s easier to see at night, anyway,’ Ramizi sent.

Erick had left the Courthouse and arrived at home half an hour ago. The Mage Trio showed up at his house ten minutes after that. They had found the Toxic Hydra. The four of them repositioned to an empty room in Erick’s house, where chairs were conjured and Poi stood in attendance, providing a telepathic network so that they could communicate while they were riding their [Familiar]s. Erick transitioned his senses to Ophiel, and they did the same for their own [Familiar]s.

Eduard sent, ‘You’ll have three seconds once it notices your Ophiel.’

‘Likely less,’ sent Maia.

- - - -

Ophiel flew high in the sky, racing across the dark vault of the empty heavens. Twinkling stars and the slim crescents of three moons were the only light up here, though Ophiel himself gave off a tiny, almost imperceptible glow. His companion was similarly dark. A blue streak of a fox flew next to Ophiel, completely at ease flying this high up, his icicle fangs glittering in the dim, cold light.

A tiny blip of red bloomed beside the pair of [Familiar]s, scattering yellow and orange light into the dark; Maia’s firebird, [Teleport]ing in for duty. She was two meters from wingtip to wingtip; still smaller than Ophiel, but more than large enough to carry another [Familiar] in her claws. Ramizi’s slick weasel, clear with a touch of white, flopped between both of the bird’s eagle-like claws, but the weasel gave no complaints as he stared forward, at the clouds ahead. The only clouds in the sky.  

The fluffy upper reaches of that singular cloud were pristine white, but down below, the cloud was green, and glowing, and touching the ground. An arcane sickness laid heavy in that strange air.

Erick sent, ‘It’s a cloud in the desert. Just like in the reports.’

Ramizi sent, ‘It noticed our scouting and sent up that cloud, but it should still be in there.’

‘It monsterified, so it can’t [Teleport],’ sent Eduard.  

Maia sent, ‘Your magic will be greatly diminished. You’re going to want to start off strong.’

Erick sent, ‘I read the report, but I want to see what that actually means.’

‘Fair enough,’ Eduard sent.

The ice fox and the firebird slowed to a hover. The weasel in the bird’s claws slinked onto a suddenly materialized [Force Platform]; now they they weren’t moving so fast, he could fly around on his own. The Trio’s [Familiar]’s remained where they were, as Ophiel flew forward; this was his show, now.

Seven Ophiel blipped into existence in the sky around the hovering group. They turned small, and silent. Three of them stayed behind, while the other four spread out, up and down, left and right, as they flew closer to the cloud. Four kilometers away, then three. Then two. The wind was calm tonight; the grounded cloud was wispy at the edges, but mostly solid. As the three Ophiel neared, the cloud’s green glow turned brighter. A putrid light illuminated the cloud from the inside. Brighter, and brighter still.

Ophiel dodged, rapidly, each a different direction, each of them [Blink]ing again and again.

Seven beams of green brilliance carved out of the cloud, like searchlights, trailing each of Opheil’s four bodies. The beams did not hit; Ophiel was fast and quick with the [Blink]s. But the beams didn’t have to hit. The very air around each beam, for dozens of meters in every direction, was laced with green. This secondary effect was practically invisible to the Ophiel trying, and failing, to evade completely. Four Ophiel disintegrated under the onslaught of barely-there danger, while three Ophiel watched.  

The beams had laced a kilometer or two out into the air, before they lost cohesion, turning into so much green liquid. That liquid fell to the ground, where it started to smoke, and gather in puddles.  

There were no agave down there. There were no mimics, either. The Toxic Hydra had killed everything for dozens of kilometers around. That was okay. The hydra was an ecological disaster, but not an impossible one to fix, apparently. If no one attacked the hydra, the crystal mimics of the Crystal Forest could heal all this damage over the course of a day, or at least that’s what Mog’s report said.  

But seeing the beast in action, and seeing what surrounded it, Erick’s wasn’t sure if Mog’s assessment was entirely true.  

Two more Ophiel [Teleport]ed in, bringing the count back up to five. One of the five split from the pack, going right, as a white orb materialized around his body, spilling thick air into the night, down to the ground. The sands below crawled with rushing, charging pseudopods made of thick air that raced to the green cloud, crashing against the windwall like so much splattering gel. But some of it snaked below the cloud; some of it got through, and probed deep.

A brilliant shock of green light tore through the cloud, shredding it from the inside out, cascading green fog across the dark Crystal Forest. A roar shook the land. A monster stood among the mist; revealed to the night.  

Erick felt his heart beat hard, even though he was nowhere near his body.

The front halves of seven wyrms had been artfully attached to the body of a massively oversized Tyrannosaurus Rex, but there was nothing rotten about this beast. Pristine black scales covered the entire monster, while brilliant green eyes drank in the night. Pristine black spikes jutted all along the back of its seven heads and necks, trailing down to a thick tail, large enough to counterbalance the whole heavy front of the monster. But where the dinosaur would have had tiny front arms, this Toxic Hydra had dragonkin arms, each as large as one of the wyrm bodies on top. Its legs were similarly huge; the Toxic Hydra looked like it could stand, and race, and move, if it wanted, but right now, it laid in a sea of green light, flicking its tail back and forth in the green glow, looking around with seven heads, screaming from each one, searching for its attacker.

Its head pitched back, opening wide, green light pouring from every mouth to slice the fog in every direction, spilling more green liquid everywhere, spilling more clouds into the sky.

Ophiel’s Domain snaked through that green sea, thick air breaking apart atop the glowing waters, but there was more than enough of the spell to reach the hydra. Withering wrapped tight around the monster, and the beast howled. Green fissures appeared between the perfect, black scales. Dark green blood poured to join the glowing sea already under the hydra.

Thick air pulled poison out of the monster, as dark green eyes searched for its attacker, and found nothing, because its attacker was seven kilometers away, and hidden. Ophiel had moved into divot in the sands Erick had made with [Stoneshape].

The monster dipped two heads into the sea at its feet, drinking down the poison. It bled, a lot. It kept bleeding, as it kept drinking. Dark blood flowed, forming dim swirls in the glowing sea. The hydra drank it all down, in a visceral, bloody cycle.

The hydra stopped howling. And it drank.

A minute passed. Five minutes. Eight. The hydra had long since stopped roaring green magic into the sky; now it just guzzled poison with two heads, as the other five scanned the sky to see what was hurting it. It either didn’t recognize that the thick air around it was a danger, or it couldn’t track the visual distortion to its source, or the very clouds of its own toxic sea served to disguise Erick’s attack.

But it wasn’t enough.

Erick sent, ‘So… I guess I have to try this, then.’

The other three mages just watched, silently agreeing with him that another tactic was required.

An Ophiel rapidly blipped right above the hydra, his body already disintegrating, but not fast enough. He released a glow of blue that crashed down onto the hydra, and blipped away.  

The hydra groaned as the blue glow crawled over its body, eliciting green icicles from the seeping green blood here and there. The hydra didn’t seem to care much. After thirty seconds, the blue glow was half of what it had been before. After a minute, it was gone.  

- - - -

Erick sat up, saying, “Huh.”  

Poi stood to the side of the room, looking on, while Rats stood at the archway, eating from a bowl of potato chips. Jane sat on a couch, also eating from her own bowl of potato chips. Maia, Eduard, and Ramizi, gradually came to; sitting up in their chairs.

Jane saw Erick come back to himself, and munched on another chip.

“Is that a [Dispel] Aura?” Erick asked the mages.

Ramizi said, “No. Spells just don’t last long against him. A lot of toxic monsters are like that.”

Jane frowned, but kept eating chips.  

Eduard said, “You can tell which monsters are strong against constant effects based on the glow. A strong green glow like that usually means spells do a lot less damage.”

“Your [Withering] seems to do well, though. Or at least it’s powerful enough to make it to him.” Maia said, “He actually had to start drinking his own poison.”

“A ten-kilometer area of effect can do that,” Ramizi said, smirking.

“It was still breaking apart, though,” Eduard said.

“[Cleansing Fire] on the pool?” Erick asked, “Ever tried that?”

Ramizi laughed. “If you can set water on fire, please tell me how.”

Erick said, “Let me guess. This is one of those monsters that you have to approach with a full-time [Cleanse Aura] active, but unlike other aura spells, like say [Force Shrapnel Aura], [Cleanse Aura] doesn’t suffer from this weakening effect, whereas [Force Shrapnel Aura] does.”

Maia said, “Yup. Common knowledge— Wait.” Her eyes went wide. “You didn’t know that, did you?”

Eduard went deep in thought.  

Erick thought, while everyone else went quiet; they were likely thinking their own thoughts on the subject, either regarding the hydra, or Erick.

Ramizi blurted out, “Do not create a way to set water on fire, please.”

Maia glared at Ramizi, saying, “Why in Celes not!”

“I wouldn’t be setting the water on fire, anyway.” Erick said, “Just the radiation.”

“Radiation?” Eduard asked, using the English word Erick had just used.

Erick said, “I don’t think you have a word for it. What do you call a… an energy in the air that harms living things, and that sticks around.”

Eduard said, “Decay.”

“I think we’re talking about different things.” Erick offered, “What about the [Familiar]s, then? Why do they Decay when exposed to the hydra’s glow? They’re not organic. Right?”

Eduard frowned, slightly. Maia thought.

Ramizi said, “[Familiar]s are Force constructs, so you’re right that they’re not subject to Decay.” Ramizi added, “But there are different types of Decay. This hydra’s Decay is also Natural Decay, and everything is subject to that, even Force.”

Maia elaborated, “Decay is Decay. Natural Decay is a form of Fire… Uh. Wait.” She frowned. She said, “Fire... is not actually an element. According to Particle magic. So maybe Natural Decay isn’t Fire at all?”

Jane asked, “Where does Decay fall on the elemental spectrum? That always confused me about Mana Altering.”

Eduard answered, “The pieces to Mana Altering were decided in the early years of the Script, to add back several things that the Script blocked. In particular, fire and lightning magic.” Eduard elaborated, “A lot of ancient history is being dredged up around the world, because of the invention of new magics and Rozeta taking no steps to hide that she is banning several of them and taking away others. Like [Gold Grab]. This tidbit about Mana Altering is one of those facts that a lot of people just forgot about from the early days of the Script, but it was right there in the older books.”

Erick pulled out Mana Altering because he suddenly saw the skill in a new light, and this Toxic Hydra’s Natural Decay seemed very similar to another lesson from Jane’s High School physics background. Or maybe Erick had heard about radiation from somewhere else. The fact was, was that Natural Decay, or radiation, as Erick thought of it, ate away at magic, and that was really weird.  

-- 

Mana Altering X

Bludgeon, Slash, of Piercing Damage

Force to Light, Blinding, Variable Cost

Invisible Force, Variable Cost

Force to Thunder, Disorient, Variable Cost

Force to Fire, Burn, Variable Cost

Force to Ice, Slow, Variable Cost

Force to Lightning, Paralyze, Variable Cost

Force to Decay, organic damage, Variable Cost x1.5

Chain, Variable Cost x2

Combine Effects, Variable Cost x3

Generate new effects. Variable Cost

Requirements: 10 Willpower

--

Nothing stood out in particular, at least not right now. That ‘Generate New Effects’ was highly suspect, but Erick would have to play around with that later.

“But… Natural Decay?” Jane asked.  

Eduard said, “Ah. Right. In the Early Script, it used to be called ‘Extreme Light’, but it got shortened to ‘Natural Decay’, and then, since the part that got put in the Script wasn’t natural at all, it became just ‘Decay’.”

Maia asked, “Is light not a variation of fire and wind?” Maia added, “It has long been suspected that shadow is actually the joining of stone and water...” She frowned, saying to herself, “But that’s not true at all, is it.”

Erick put on his best bewildered face, and shrugged like he wasn’t suddenly tiptoeing around another very dangerous part of the natural world.

Jane ate a chip, saying, “I wouldn’t know.”

Eduard, Maia, and Ramizi, each glanced from Erick to Jane, and then at each other.  

Rats ate a potato chip, crunching it with all the enthusiasm of a man watching a drama.

“Back to killing the Hydra!” Erick said, eagerly, hoping to deflect the topic of the nature of light and radiation to another day. “Just so I’m understanding this correctly, these types of glowing Decay monsters feed off of their own Decay. Yes?”

Eduard remained silent; thinking. Maia mimicked her brother, but with a frown.

Ramizi said, “Yes. Broadly.”

So that meant some creatures used radiation as a form of magical healing, but radiation also disrupted magic. Lead also completely disrupted magic, but none of the heavier metals disrupted magic, when they all blocked radiation just as well as lead, if not better.

Well wasn’t all of that mightily interesting.

- - - -

The [Familiar]s had moved little while Erick and everyone talked.  

Four Ophiel still flew by the firebird, the weasel on his platform, and the floating blue fox. The fifth Ophiel, the one anchoring the Withering Slime to the world, was several kilometers away from the others, to the far right of the Toxic Hydra, still layering thick, desiccating air, over the monster; still hiding against the ground.

That Ophiel stayed there, continuing to provide an anchor for Erick’s [Domain of the Withering Slime].

One of the Ophiel in the group of four, peeled off, casting a [Personal Special Ward], masking out all light except cyan. The Ophiel turned from white, to a bright Focus-Cyan, and with a blip of cyan light, appeared far behind the Toxic Hydra, but close enough to hover over the Hydra’s glowing green sea.  

Ophiel did not disintegrate, at all. The maskward had successfully blocked out the most damaging parts wavelengths of the Toxic Hydra’s radiation. Ophiel trilled in happiness, mirroring Erick’s.

And then a hydra head turned around and blasted Ophiel with its radiation breath. The [Familiar] survived long enough to blip away, back to the group, but Decay glows clung to gaps in his [Personal Special Ward], like pockets of poison. The other [Familiar]s screeched, flying away from the toxic Ophiel.  

- - - -

Erick dismissed that one, as soon as he realized what had happened, saying, “Ah. So it clings.”

Eduard frowned a little.

Maia said, “Yes, it clings! But our [Familiar]s always die before it even gets a chance to cling. Your [Familiar] lasted through a blast.” She demanded, “What was that weird cyan [Ward]?”

Eduard watched Erick, but said nothing.

Ramizi said, “Just blast it with lightning.”

Erick looked away from Maia, saying, “No more experimenting. Kill the monster. Right.”

- - - -

Cyan [Ward] masks covered each of four hovering Ophiel. In the distance, glowed a sea of green, under a dark monster. The monster roared out into the sky with five heads. It was racing back and forth in its own glowing filth, while thick air clawed into its body, pulling out green blood. Two heads greedily drank from the pool as it searched, futility, for its attacker.

Erick felt a profound stab of sadness for the creature. The Toxic Hydra had been a person, placed into a beast’s body by a necromancer of the highest order, but then left to its own devices. This former person fell to the magic, to insanity, to becoming a monster, for whatever reason. Maybe it was made improperly, and it couldn’t expel the naturally condensing rads in its body. Maybe Messalina made it this way, desiring a true monster, to hunt down the monsters that had killed her village. Erick didn’t know, and he didn’t want to ask the Life Binder about her choices; he just needed this monster dead.

The Flare Couatl had it right; the Toxic Hydra was a Scion of Destruction, irradiating the land, killing everything in sight. It needed to die.

The actual process of killing took little more than Erick deciding to end its life. After Erick made peace with himself for needing to put down a person, four Cyan maskwarded Ophiel blipped around the green sea, each approaching the hydra from a different direction. [Call Lightning] went up, blanketing the sky in actual, non-poisonous clouds. The radiation of the green sea heavily damaged the spell; crackling clouds were more like crackling wisps. But it was enough, for a start.  

Lightning ripped across a green sea, tearing through bleeding black scales. The hydra retaliated, roaring beams of green light across the offending lightning clouds, disintegrating the spell.  

The Ophiel simply recast the magic, multiple times, evading blasts from the hydra as needed; with their cyan maskwards, collateral radiation was not enough to harm them. Soon, rain fell, heavy and wet, pushing down poisonous green mist, dimming the green sea, diluting whatever power laid there.  

Lightning blasted through and across the roaring hydra. One head and neck laid limp, half gone, while five heads tried to drink from the sea. The seventh head, still standing up, still roaring out green light, was the tallest object in the area. Lighting struck that tower of flesh, exploding the head and crashing through the body, killing three more heads and buckling the hydra’s legs. The monster crashed to the green sea, twitching.  

Each Ophiel surrounded itself with a white orb, pulling thick air from the sky and the land, as they moved in, closer.  

In bloody, quiet moments, under the power of four domains, the Toxic Hydra dried out, among a sea of its own making, gently roaring a plaintive gasp. The murmurs went quiet. The beast lay still. And then every single remaining head looked to the sky, all at once, and spoke a string of foreign words.

A forty meter [Cleanse] pulsed from the creature, ripping across the dim green sea. Turning green light into thick air, and the night back to dark.

- - - -

Erick came back to himself. His face was wet. He sniffled, asking, “It spoke?”

Maia’s voice was a heavy thing, “It… He. He said, he was sorry.”

Erick sighed a stuttering breath.  

Ramizi spoke up, “They do that, sometimes. At the end. The last flare of a soul, clawing to the surface as the body and rads that trapped it are dying.” He added, “It happens a lot when you’re purifying the demonic taint from undead.”

Erick wiped his face, and put on a stronger persona. He said, “Thank you for coming over, and assisting in the location and destruction of the Hydra. Feel free to scour the body for whatever clues you need.” He added, “But while the Toxic Hydra has killed people and destroyed the land, the Flare Couatl has killed killers, and saved adventurers. Now that the balance is toward the Couatl, I cannot participate in hunting down Messalina.”

Ramizi just nodded, while Maia frowned, but quickly wiped away her visible displeasure.  

Eduard kept his voice level, as he said, “If this is the extent of her actions here… If she doesn’t start assaulting towns and cities herself… I can see why you would choose this stance. I’m not happy about it, and I think you are being shortsighted. But...” He spoke without rancor, “But we have a duty toward the dead, and to the greater good. The last time the Life Binder left her jungle she left for smaller reasons, and ended up destroying twelve arcanaeums and two nations before the Headmaster pushed her back to her jungle. We cannot allow this pattern to repeat in any shape or form.”

“Thank you for putting the hydra to rest, Archmage.” Ramizi stood, saying, “We have clues to gather, as you say.”

Eduard said, “Quite true.”

Everyone stood up from their chairs.

Erick said, “Before you go...” He said, “The thing is, I was thinking of taking the Headmaster up on his offer of schooling, or whatever it was he offered.”

The three mages each switched from cold acceptance of the facts of the day, to sudden interest.  

Erick continued, “I’m not sure what he offered, or the terms of any of it, but I have been informed that, as an archmage, I should have seen those hunters well before they attacked, and I should have been able to… I don’t want to say ‘kill’, but I would have preferred to subdue them, somehow, before they could have attacked.” Erick turned to Ramizi, and said, “And I would like to know, from someone who is in the know, if this is good. Perhaps you and I can trade for something, like how I traded with Eduard and Maia.”  

Erick took out the box for [Pure Force Beam Bolt], and handed it over to the suddenly interested Force Mage. Ramizi’s eyebrows went up as he read the box. Maia peeked over his shoulders, while Eduard looked on from outside of the pair. The Ice Mage was obviously happy, but he was unwilling to show it beyond a tiny smile, for whatever reason.  

Ramizi said, “Thi—” His voice cracked. He soldiered on, “This is a very good base! Uh.” He asked, “How? Uh. How did you? Uh. So?”

Erick said, “Take your mana and push it through your spell, like this. This is [Force Bolt].” An even, tiny hum of energy and white light surrounded Erick’s right hand. “And this is [Force Beam].” A similar hum, but brighter and sharper, focused into the air in front of his fingers. “Find the harmony between the two, and push that harmony high as you combine them.”

Ramizi’s face went blank, looking at the blue box for [Pure Force Beam Bolt]. Maia and Eduard each frowned, in their own unique way. Eduard was vastly more disbelieving, while Maia seemed more self-reflective in her expression.  

Erick said, “I wanted to show you this, because Maia and Eduard got their spells and it felt rude to leave you out.” Erick decided, right then, to go contrary to what he had planned, “Actually. I changed my mind. I don’t want anything in exchange, but I want things to be balanced.” He nodded. “Yes. This is better. Balance.”

Ramizi instantly shook his head, saying, “Nonsense! Uh! Archmage, sir. Uh.” He said, “What sort of high tier force magic are you interested in? I can. Uh. Trade?”

The man seemed to stumble over himself, trying to find an answer that wasn’t there.

“I have no idea what any Force Magic leads to.” Erick added, “Or what it is, really.”

Ramizi smiled wide, saying, “Force is the basis of all magic! It is the canvas upon which everything is painted. The ground below the ground. The sky above the sky. The medium through with all intent touches all else.” Ramizi said, “You know what? If you’re going to Oceanside, I have contacts— I was already thinking of pointing you toward them, but some of them are right assholes who wouldn’t give Rozeta the time of day. But if you come at them with this, and demand a trade from them, they will open their libraries to you.” He amended, “Well. Some of their libraries.” He added, “They’ll still be assholes, though. So. You know.”

Erick almost begged Ramizi off, to ask him to forget the whole thing. But this was better. Erick smiled. “I can guess.”

Eduard said, “You’re going to need to have certain spells and Stats and Skills before you go to Oceanside. Uh. You probably already have most of them.” He looked to the air, and then back, saying, “I forget the whole list.”

Erick said, “I’m not going right now, anyway.” He added, “Still a lot to get done here, and then we all have to prepare. And I still need to know exactly what the Headmaster wants from me for such an opportunity.”

Eduard smiled, saying, “I’ll get you the requirements list and talk to the Headmaster about what he is expecting; he’s indisposed right now but he should be able to talk soon enough.”

Maia asked, “Are you actually wanting to take classes? If not, then the enrollment requirements aren’t that important.”

“I’d like to take a few classes. Yes. Depending on how this plays out.”

Ramizi said, “You’ll definitely want to fulfill those requirements, either way. Some of the professors would love to call on an archmage in their midst. If not for an answer to a question, then to make you look foolish and them better.” He took one final look at the blue box for [Pure Force Beam Bolt], then dismissed it, saying, “But we have to harvest that corpse before it rots too much. I’ll get that list of contacts for you by tomorrow. Thank you, Archmage.”  

Erick saw them out of the house, revoking their entrance permission as soon as they passed through the [Crystalline Air] across the front of the front door.

- - - -

An hour later, Maia showed up at Erick’s front door with eight green grand-rads floating on a [Force Platform], seven of them a foot across, while the eighth was almost a meter wide.

Erick looked at the rads, then turned on his [Cleanse Aura], saying, “You should keep the rads.”

Maia laughed as thick air spilled around her, and over the rads, doing nothing. “Nope.” She said, “You’re going to need them where you’re going. The main currency of Oceanside is grand-rads. You’re also going to need these.” She pulled out two envelopes, one thick, one thin, and handed them to Erick.

Erick took the envelopes and opened the thinner one, first. He pulled out a single sheet of Script-blue paper, with immaculate writing in white ink.

--

Dear Archmage Erick Flatt, Planar Human of Earth, Resident of Spur, of the Crystal Forest of continental Glaquin,

Thank you for your interest in Oceanside.  

You have been approved for provisional enrollment of this Summer of 1436, meaning that you will not be allowed to attend classes for graduation credit, but you may audit classes at your leisure.  

For the duration of your residency, the Guest House of Windy Manor has been opened for you. This premier location has room for 10 people, and will be completely yours for the duration of your stay. Windy Manor is the primary location for visiting heads of state, and other such dignitaries.  

For these allowances, it is hoped that you will give 1 lecture shortly after you arrive, regarding your Particle Magic, to 10 our our interested professors. These professors will be coming from around the world, whenever you decide to give this lecture.

In exchange for this boon, these 10 professors have each promised favors for you, to be determined then, or later, or however you wish to enact such a process.

- Headmaster Kirginatharp of Oceanside Arcanaeum, Overseer of the Arcanaeum Consortium, Second to Rozeta

--

“Favors from professors, for a lecture. Okay.” Erick said, “That seems ominous.”

Maia’s eyes went a little wide. “That’s what that says?” She added, “Good luck. Those people are ruthless. Usually not violent, but I wouldn’t discount the possibility.”

Erick chuckled as he opened the second, thicker letter. He pulled out five sheets of folded up paper, and read the first one. He flipped through the other four. He lost his good humor.  

… It was a good thing he saved up 17 points. It wouldn’t be enough, though.

But the fifth page detailed a way to make at least a dozen extra points, by throwing trash spells together to unlock the accomplishments, and the accompanying points, for breaking into the higher tiers of magic. There was also a heavy warning to not do this with any spell he thought he would want to use later. Recommendations included [Force Bolt] and Mana Alterings, or [Force Wall] and alterings. Erick didn’t want to do any of that, but there were points just sitting there, waiting for him to take, as soon as he actually created higher tier magic. Erick had yet to break into tier 4 or above. Which meant… 3, 4, 5… 12 extra points, just waiting for—

Maia cleared her throat.  

Erick looked up from the paper. She had set down her [Force Platform] and dismissed it, depositing the Toxic Hydra’s grand-rads on the ground…  

The ground outside of Erick’s front door. In the dark of the night. With only the lights outside of the house to see by. Where she stood, outside of the [Solid Ward] of [Crystalline Air] layered over the doorway, separating her from coming inside. Erick suddenly felt very rude.

Erick immediately said, “Sorry!” He moved aside, granting Maia permission to enter through the [Crystalline Air]. “Would you like to come inside? I think I have some lemon cake left, unless Jane has eaten it all. You guys got away without getting any.”

Maia smiled softly, remaining where she was, as she said, “It’s getting late. Thank you, though. I just need to know your answer.”

“Yes. Soon. The answer is yes, I want to attend.” Erick read the first paper again, looking for a date. “When am I expected?”

Maia smiled. “Whenever you decide to arrive.”

Erick laughed. “Okay. That works for me.”

“Good night, archmage.”

“Good night, Maia.”

Maia walked away, back into the night, then turned right to walk across the flat land of the Human District, to her house. She waved. Erick waved back. She continued. Erick revoked her [Crystalline Air] permission again, then Handy Aura’d the Toxic Hydra’s grand-rads into the house.

Now that the plan was approved from the Headmaster’s side, it was time to really discuss a trip to Oceanside with everyone else.

- - - -

The air bit at Erick’s exposed fingers; cold one moment, freezing the next. White layered the ground. Flakes of snow drifted across the path, gently swirling on the chill wind.  

Erick crunched forward, one heavy footfall, then the next—

He paused. He looked around. The trees were there, but also not. Snow layered the ground, but also… not. He had arms and legs, but they were wispy, insubstantial, dreamy things.  

This was a dream. This was not a Rozeta dream. But it was something similar.  

“Hello!” He called out, to the pale white land. “Who’s there?”

No response. The wind did not change. Snow continued to fall, uninterrupted, from an unseen sky.  

Erick mumbled, “How the hell did I get here?” He looked around. “This is a dream, isn’t it?”

With nothing better to do, and nothing behind him except for trees and snow, Erick walked forward, down the path. He didn’t walk far. Five more steps took him to a different part of the forest, and a split in the path.

To the left, was a land of green. To the right, the forest became golden, with sparks and lights among the trees.  

Erick said sarcastically, “This is a difficult decision.”

He looked left. The forest was vibrant and wild. Eyes hid among the trees, but they weren’t watching him; they were watching each other. Savagery and death prowled through the darker places, and in the light. A snake ate a bird. A badger ate a spider. A wolf ate a lion.  

Erick looked right. The forest was gold and bright, with a rainbow fractured and scattered among the canopy. At this second look, Erick realized that this gold forest was perfectly ordered. Trees laid on lines. Leaves grew in patterns.  

And none of it made any sense.

Erick spoke to whoever was doing this, “I feel that we are at a cultural misunderstanding. I have the vaguest idea of what options you’re giving me, but we lack a common language, here.” Erick sat down on the path, between where he came from, and where he could go. He said, “Obviously, I could hack down the forest between the paths, and create my own way through this world.” Snow flurried around him, piling up against his legs, against his back. “Or I could stay here and let the snow bury me.”

He grabbed a wooden ladder next to him, saying, “Or I could seek a different path, all together.” He looked up, and saw a platform above the ladder; a space to look out over the whole of creation, and see what lay ahead of all his possible choices. He let go of the ladder, and the platform; it vanished as soon as his hand left the hidden structure. “But that’s just a variation of path number 3.”

Erick sighed. He stood. Snow dusted from his insubstantial body.  

He said, “So you want me to make this [Scan] spell, right, Messalina?” He added, “Or is this some deity? If you’re some deity, you’re not one that I know.” He postulated, “Or maybe this is the Headmaster? It’s all very peculiar.” He slapped his hands together, saying, “Ah! Either way. This is a trap. Well then—”

[Telepathy].

Several wrong things happened, all at once. Erick felt an emptiness where his mana lay. The Script was gone. Meditation revealed no manasphere. Status brought up no blue boxes.  

“Huh.” Erick said, “Well that’s... ominous.”

Snow tickled his left ear, as cold bit his face and his extremities. Erick stared out at the falling white snow, and at the two paths in front of him; Green, or Gold.  

He looked to where the ladder had been. It reappeared out of the corner of his eye, then turned solid as he looked directly at the wooden rungs, leading up. He turned away from the ladder, and considered his path.  

Then he opened the door at his feet, and stepped out of the dream.

Laughter followed him out.

- - - -

Rats yelled, “He’s fine!” Rats amended, “Physically. The parasite is gone, but the connection was made, Poi. This is on you. Not me.”

Poi said, “Gods damn it! We have to take him to—”

Jane interrupted, “He’s back.”

“Oh thank the gods!” said Poi.

As Rats gutted out, “Fucking shit. Thank the gods.”

Erick opened his eyes and groaned out, “Hello?”  

He was on the couch, in the sunroom. Sweat drenched his body. Everything felt sticky. He looked around. Poi and Rats stood where the coffee table had been, while Jane sat at the other end of the couch, sitting on the armrest. Erick sat up, and almost collapsed back down, but Jane slid off the armrest, to sit beside him. She held him upright, holding his arm, blinking out moisture. Not tears; not yet. But it had been close.

Everything felt blurry, indistinct, but as Erick returned to himself, in the moment, he realized: something bad had happened.

Jane held his hand, her fingers firm against his own, saying, “Hey, Dad.”  

Erick blinked hard, asking, “What happened?”

Jane said, “You were parasitized.”

“We caught it, though,” Rats said.

“The corruption has been purged, too,” Poi added.

“Oh? Okay?” Erick felt woozy at that, but Jane’s hand glowed, and he felt better. “Okay?”

Rats said, “A Dream Worm. We’re still trying to figure out how, and who.” He asked, “What did you see? It’s very important to know what you saw, because you’re going to forget it all very fast.”

Jane pulled Erick’s hand into her own, asking, “What happened? In your dream? Don’t think too hard; it’ll go away as soon as you focus on it.”

Erick brought up his Status, to see if he was connected to the Script again. The blue box came up, and all the numbers were correct. The Toxic Hydra and all of those wyrms had barely put a dent in that level.  

--    

Erick Flatt

Human, age 48

Level 63, Class: Particle Mage

Exp: 461,871,911,414,091/1,061,020,985,772,300  

Class: 6/6

Points: 17

HP 

51/1020

1020 per day

MP 

4440/4440

17,760 per day

Strength 20 / +14 / [34]

Vitality 20 / +14 / [34]

Willpower 60 / +14 / [74]

Focus 60 / +14 / [74]

Favored Spell waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

--

Ah? That HP was rather low. Very low, in fact.

Jane pulled him back to the moment, squeezing his hand and his shoulder, saying, “Dad.”

Erick looked away from his Status, dismissing the box, saying, “I was in the woods. Snow. One path led to green where animals hunted and ate each other. The other path led to a forest of gold and rainbow lights. I think I made a ladder appear… And...” He frowned. “I did not take the ladder. I exited… some other way.”

Erick felt his memories of the dream fade into waking, like rain disappearing on an ocean’s surface.

“I’m not sure how I got out.” Erick looked to the darkened window; to the darkened garden just outside. He asked, “What happened?”

Rats frowned.

Poi said, “A Dream Worm. We’re not sure how it got to you, but we’ll find out.”

Erick said, “I didn’t do whatever they wanted. It seemed… Like a test?”

Poi said, “Dream Worms are meant to screw with you. They’re a… a vector for easy mental magic.” He quickly added, “It got implanted just today— I’m sure I would have found the worm if it had been implanted sooner. It must have happened in the last—” He asked, “What was the last thing you remember?”

Erick thought back. He said, “I got the acceptance letters from the Headmaster, from Maia.” He smiled, changing the subject by asking, “By the way: do you all want to go to Oceanside?”

Jane’s face dropped. She said, “You already asked us. Before you turned in early.”

Erick froze. He thawed, saying, “Oh. Okay. So I lost some time there… Fun.” He felt some kind of nervousness, but he forced a smile anyway, and asked, “What were the answers?”

Jane said, “You really should be more upset at this invasion, Dad.”

Erick said, “I am. But Poi is already freaking out enough for all of us, I think.” Erick looked to the man, whose face had been sky-blue this whole time; he was usually sapphire. “What’s your verdict?”

Poi breathed deep. He paused. He stood straight, and said, “My verdict is that I have failed you.” He looked straight ahead, standing at attention, saying, “I am sorry. I am unqualifi—”

“You stop that right now.” Erick said, “We are attacked. We defend. This is how it works, right?” He added, “This is what life is, isn’t it?” He stated, “I am not going to become a hermit. Neither are you. No one failed. We were tricked… or something.”  

Poi frowned, staunch in his stature, color returning to his face. Rats grumbled, while Jane… Jane just held Erick’s hand, and his shoulder, her eyes downcast.

Erick asked, “Right?”

Poi kept frowning, silently.

Erick said, “Someone say something.” He looked to Poi, asking, “You’re not leaving, okay?” Halfway begging, “Please?”

Poi blinked slow, then breathed out, saying, “I apologize for missing this Dream Worm.” He added, “And for my outburst just now. I will not abandon my post.”

Erick smiled wide, saying, “Good! Don’t worry about it. Where was the worm anyway? How was it… Placed?” He winced, and because he didn’t really want to know whatever operations he had to go through, he changed the subject. “Where’s Kiri and Teressa? Are they okay?”

Rats said, “They’re out getting help.”

Poi said, “They’re back.”

Erick listened, trying out [Perfect Hearing]. Equilibrium vanished. He could have crashed left, if Jane hadn’t been holding him. Sound vanished from his left ear, while his right ear heard the telltale ‘blip’ of someone [Teleport]ing in, just outside of the sunroom.

“We’re back! With a surprise!” Kiri called out, from outside the room. Footsteps came down the hallway. Kiri appeared in the doorway. She instantly saw that Erick was awake. “Ah! Good! You got him back.”

Kiri walked into the room, along with Teressa, and an old silverscale woman; the High Priestess of the Interfaith Church, Darenka. The old woman followed the other two into the room, her white dress swishing around her legs. She eyed Erick, as Erick’s own eyes went wide. Erick almost asked what she was doing here, but that answer was pretty damn obvious; he was obviously not at a hundred percent. Darenka started off looking at him with a frown on her face, but she quickly turned that into a smile.

Rats stared at Darenka, but whispered to Kiri, “You got Darenka?”

Darenka said, “I got myself, young man. Atunir and a few others yelled at me. You know how it goes.” She strode over to Erick, her eyes suddenly squinting, as she half bent over and stared him straight in the eyes. Her own silvery eyes glowed with a faint divine fire. She stopped a meter from him, still staring. “Hmm.”

“Hello. Uh. Darenka.” Erick, still seated, and getting a bit nervous at her stare, said, “I think we have some lemon cake, if you’d like some.”

Darenka stopped squinting, and returned to a casual smile. “Yes; but later.” She stood up straight. “He’s fine!” She looked up at the ceiling, saying, “He’s fine.”

Erick looked to the ceiling, too.  

She spoke to the ceiling, “Well of course he did!”

Rats, pointedly, did not look up. But Jane, Kiri, and Teressa, did. Erick did, too. The ceiling was orange stone, exactly the same as before. Poi glanced up, but did not stare like most of the rest of them.

Darenka dropped her gaze back to Erick, saying, “Someone would like you to know that it was Messalina who did this to you.”

Poi gritted his teeth, anger briefly showing.

Erick frowned. “As if I didn’t have enough reasons to get away from Spur for a little while.”

Darenka nodded. “Make me one of those lemon cakes before you go to Oceanside.” She held her hand out to Kiri. “Back to the Church, please. [Teleport], go go.”

Kiri instantly took her hand, then looked to Erick, full of relief, saying, “Be right back.” With a blip of green, both of them left.

Rats said, “I can’t believe Darenka— Whatever.” He clapped his hands together, saying, “Well! So we’re all off to Oceanside, then?”

“You changed your mind, Rats?” Jane asked.

“Changed his mind?” Erick asked.

Teressa looked down at him, asking, “You don’t remember, eh?”

“Of course he doesn’t.” Poi said, “It wasn’t really him that said any of those things.”

“Uh!” Erick asked, “What happened? While I was out?”

Teressa, Jane, Rats, and Poi, simultaneously said, “Nothing.”

Erick frowned, deeper. And then he looked around. “Where’s Ophiel?” Erick sent a tendril of thought out, and found Ophiel nowhere. “I dismissed him? What the fuck!”

Erick instantly summoned a tiny Ophiel. The little guy popped into the air, a hundred small eyes open all across his tiny, tiny body. Cellos and flutes filled the air, along with something darker, deeper, and stranger. And then, he shifted. The deeper song stopped. A quiet violin played.  

Erick smiled at his feathered [Familiar], saying, “Hey there, little guy.”

Ophiel leapt at Erick, his small wings folding around Erick’s chest, hugging him, tickling his nose and his neck. Erick hugged back, giggling.  

Erick looked up from the mess of feathers and eyes, asking, “Did I give a reason for dismissing him?”

Jane’s eyes were slightly narrowed. Rats scrunched his face.  

Poi said, “You said he was bothering you.”

“Well that’s obviously some mind control there, Poi.” Erick asked, “So? What happened while I wasn’t me?”

A silence descended.

In a flash of green, Kiri blipped back into the room. She almost said something, but she saw the silence all around her, and joined in.

Erick asked, “Kiri? What did I do? Earlier?”

Kiri looked around at downcast faces, and said, “A whole lot of angry words. Small things became huge things. Stupid things were turned into serious things. In retrospect, obviously you were not you. And if we could all pretend it never happened, then that would be for the best.” She added, “I don’t even know what Messalina was going for with all of this, but I bet it was to get you to stay away from Oceanside.”

Ophiel trilled while he pushed against Erick’s petting hands. Erick scritched him harder. That seemed to be what Ophiel wanted because he curled up on Erick’s lap, turning even smaller; perfect lap-dog size.

Poi spoke out, “I think you need some extra mental resistance training, sir.”

Erick said, “Add it to the list!” Erick picked up trilling Ophiel, and moved him to his shoulder. Ophiel held on as Erick stood. Erick instantly fell back to the couch. His head spun. “Whoa.”

Jane held him with a dark blue, glowing hand, asking, “We had to… to remove your left ear to remove the worm. It’ll take some time for your equilibrium to come back to full working order.”

Erick ignored the sudden surge of body horror coursing through his body. He said, “Help me back up.” With his daughter’s help, Erick slowly got to his feet, steadier this time. He smiled, saying, “From the ear? Like an earworm that keeps you awake at night with a… dream? Hmm. No. That joke doesn’t fly.”  

Jane smiled.

Erick said, “I’ll have to work on that one.” He stepped toward the door, and grasped Poi’s shoulder on the way, saying, “If it wasn’t for you, we all would have died today. You do really good work, Poi. I’m sorry I didn’t understand how you fight.” Erick patted his shoulder, saying, “Don’t worry too much about this.” He looked around to everyone, and said, “This is just how life is, now.” He paused. He asked, “So. Uh. Are we all going to Oceanside?”

Rats said, “Yes.”

Poi breathed in, then said, “Yes.”

Teressa said, “Of course!”

Kiri’s eyes sparkled. “Yes.”

Jane said, “No.”

Everyone winced, except Erick, who just looked at his daughter, holding his hand, helping him keep steady as the world seemed to slip this way and that.  

Erick said, “I understand. You got your own ways, and your own necessities.” He looked around, adding, “I take it, that this is not now the original conversation went?”

Jane’s eyes brightened as she looked down and away. She smiled softly, and said, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Then—” Erick pointed onward, and upward, saying, “Back to bed, please!” But he stopped stepping forward. He turned and glanced at the darkened window of the sunroom, asking, “This [Solid Ward] does nothing against people teleporting in, does it?”

Rats said, “Nope. But. Like you said. We get attacked, and we defend.”

Kiri asked, “Do you want me to look into anti-teleportation arrays?”  

Erick shook his head, saying, “Yes. But that’s a solution with problems all its own. So yes, but just to know what it would cost and require. We won’t put it up. Probably.”

Kiri nodded, saying, “Yes, sir.”

Erick left the sunroom and walked upstairs, with Jane to help him and Ophiel a tiny weight on his shoulders. He considered all the myriad of conundrums popping up all around him. If there was a teleport lock, Darenka would have been locked outside until they got the barrier down. Erick had no doubt that someone could break the [Solid Ward], if the need arose, but the reality of a [Solid Ward] was the same as a lock on the door; a deterrent, and nothing more. Shadowspiders shadowalked. Mind control and assorted magics could make Erick just walk outside, or take down the spell himself. Or worse, turn him against his people; which, from the sounds of it, was almost what had happened.

If someone wanted him harmed, they could do it, even with whatever measures of protection Guardmaster Merit had going on out there, and whatever protections Erick came up with, on his own.

Erick was weak, and he needed to be stronger.

He asked Jane, as they neared his room, “What sort of spells would they use in those games you played, to stop all of these horrific events?”

Jane helped him into his room, saying, “I’m thinking [Dispel] and [Ward] and whatever spell you want to stop. It’d be temporary, but it might work.” She added, “No fricken’ clue how to deal with parasites, though.”

Erick crawled back into bed, saying, “Yeah… The parasites… Me either. No idea.”

Jane leaned down and kissed Erick on the forehead, while Ophiel purred in violins as he turned around atop his own pillow, then plopped down, his wings curled up around his body.

Jane stood back up, saying, “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, too, Jane.”

- - - -

Jane put her father back to bed.

She walked downstairs.  

She got to the bottom of the stairs before she collapsed onto her ass on the final step, and broke down in quiet, sobbing tears. The next thing she knew, Kiri was there, sitting beside her on the staircase. The tears rolled down Jane’s face, but Kiri remained seated, silent, waiting.

Eventually, Jane controlled herself. She said, “Someone is going to kill him, Kiri, and I can’t do shit to stop it. I don’t think anyone can.”

Kiri slowly breathed out, nodding. She said, “This is why archmages tend to hide. But I’m thinking he will learn a lot about how to stay alive from Oceanside, and from the Headmaster.” She added, “We need to get gone from this vulnerable location. The sooner, the better.”

Jane sniffled. She said, “I know.”

“Life is going to be extremely difficult for him because of what he has already done.” Kiri added, “It will also make your life more difficult.”

Jane waved her off. “I’m fine. Or at least I will be. Soon enough.”

“… I’m sorry I came at your father like some child itching to steal knowledge.” Kiri said, “I realize now, that he’s… a really good person.” She joked, “Barring when mind control is involved.”

Jane laughed, a sad sound. A pulse of sadness threatened to force another cry, but she locked that down. When she was ready to speak, she joked, “I’m not sorry how I came at you.”

Kiri laughed. “Here I was, trying to be nice. Serves me right.”

Jane agreed, “Serves you right.”

- - - -

Erick stared at the dark ceiling, listening to Kiri and Jane talk. He didn’t mean to listen in, but he heard Jane cry, and that meant he had to use [Perfect Hearing]. Somewhere in the middle of listening, but only being able to hear with his right ear, his left ear cleared. Full hearing returned.

Eventually, after Jane and Kiri stopped talking, and after another twenty minutes of worry, Erick’s eyes finally closed. When he turned off [Perfect Hearing], his left ear remained healed.

This time, there was no dream.

- - - -

Erick woke up late, covered in sweat. The sun had risen and brought light to the world from the eastern sky, on the other side of the house. Erick’s room was still dark, but it was certainly past morning. Ophiel faintly whined in flutes, as Erick threw off his covers, revealing that all of him and his bed was soaked through. His shirt clung to him; a thin white fabric that made him look like the fifth place runner up at a wet t-shirt contest. He sat up, and everything swam left and right, but he didn’t fall back down. He clutched the edge of his bed, remaining upright, still seated. He flashed a [Cleanse Aura] through the room. After the thick air passed, his shirt was still soaked, but it was just water, now.

‘Jane?’

Jane sent back, ‘You okay?’

‘Woozy.’

The air blipped dark blue. Jane stepped into the room, frowning slightly. “Good morning.”  

She touched him with a deep blue glowing hand. The air seemed to clear, his eyes focused again, as the world calmed, stabilizing under his feet. Ophiel rubbed against his side. Erick pet him, a little, then blinked out sleep, and breathed in the morning.

“Thank you.” Erick said, “That’s a lot better.”

She frowned. “Healed sense organs take a while to rejoin the rest of the body, but one night should have been more than enough.”

Erick joked, “I’m slow to integrate.”

Jane smiled. She said, “We got a message from Messalina. Two of them, actually.”

Erick listened.  

“The first letter was full of warnings regarding the Headmaster. Poi read it, but… It could be propaganda. So I did not. You can make that choice for yourself.” Jane said, “Poi said it was all rather standard warnings for dealing with known dragons, as well as a few specific dangers regarding the Headmaster himself. The second letter was thanks for killing the Toxic Hydra, and an apology for dosing you with the Dream Worm, as well as a claim that the worm would have vanished on its own if you would have played along.” Jane frowned. “But that’s me being generous with her words. I read the second letter. I don’t like this woman.”

Erick decided, saying, “I don’t want contact with her, so I’m not reading them. This was enough. Thank you, Jane.”

“More than past time for you to get up, though. It’s time to rain on the farms.”

A twinge of panic passed through Erick. He summoned another Ophiel and instantly sent him out to the farms. Jane was right; people were standing around in the fields. Erick began flowing mana through Ophiel, into silver clouds. He set Ophiel into the center of the Harvest Temple, as the platinum rains began to fall.

Erick came back to himself, saying, “You could have woken me.”

Jane smiled as she held out her hand. “I was just about to. You’re only a few minutes late.”

Erick took her hand, and she pulled him to his feet. He said, “Valok was probably pissed.”

“Yeah. Well.” Jane held Erick upright, saying, “He can be pissed, Dad.”

Erick tested his sense of balance, moving his head back and forth. No wooziness. Not right now, anyway. He asked, “Anyone show up to figure out what happened? Merit, maybe?”

“Merit and Felair came over this morning. They left hours ago.” Jane added, “No answers. Merit was pissed.”

Erick nodded, and he felt stable. He let go of Jane’s hand, and said, “I’d like to do some brainstorming with some magic and some defenses. You and Kiri free for a bit?”

“Yes.” Jane added, “We can find Kiri.”

- - - -

Erick stood in front of a blank blackboard. Kiri stood in front of her own blackboard, while Jane leaned against the wall, near her own similar setup. [Distortion Ward]s covered the windows. Poi stood in attendance, but less for mental cover and more because he had heard what Erick wanted to discuss, and he wanted to be a part of it. He also stood beside his own chalkboard, but he refused to pick up the chalk. Teressa and Rats were woken up, at Poi’s insistence; those two sat sleepily in their own corners. They did not care to really participate.  

But Ophiel was all happy to be surrounded by all these people. He sat on a perch next to Erick’s blackboard, humming in violins, eyes open all across his body.

“Thank you all for participating in this.” Erick said, “This is just the brainstorming session, anyway.”

Kiri smiled as she spoke, “This is all highly unorthodox and I love it.” She added, “I must repeat, for the sake of thoroughness, that I have the recipes for some really good spells.”

“I know, Kiri.” Erick said, “And I’ll probably go that route, anyway. But before we get to the proper schooling, I want to see if there is a way to do this stuff without all the ‘proper’ recipes. I would also just like to know about some of the larger spells, and how to defend myself in this world.” Erick looked to Poi, adding, “Which is why I didn’t want to involve Merit or any of the others in this discussion. At least not yet.”

“Of course!” Kiri bubbled. “Don’t want to taint your thinking with overly orthodox measures. I can appreciate that.”

Poi watched, waiting.

Erick began, “Let’s start with the big one.” He started writing on his blackboard, as he said, “[Teleport Lock]. In my mind, it’s [Teleport], [Dispel], and Aurify. But there are problems with this. According to my own maths, this would require so, so much mana, every second. This is likely not what Shades do.”

Jane added, “It would also cover a thousand kilometers in every direction if this is what they did.”

Kiri’s face dropped to concern.  

Erick nodded, saying, “Maybe they drop the cost by considerably dropping the range. Not sure how to do that, though.” He wrote on the board ‘less range for cheaper costs’, and said, “But it’s an obvious avenue to success. If it works.”

Kiri shook her head, saying, “This does not work. You can’t really… decrease the cost of something.”

Erick said, “My [Crystalline Air] would disagree.”

Kiri added, “And that right there is crazy, you know?” She shrugged, saying, “But maybe this is exactly how a Lock works, but I doubt it. Someone would have gotten it by now if this was all it took. [Teleport], [Dispel], and Aurify together, make tier 2, meaning you can try again every single day.”

Erick nodded. “This is true. But do you know of any spells that are like [Crystalline Air]? With the costs reduced by having a smaller area?”

Kiri said, “Anything with [Find Target], of course. Scanning magic in general is cheaper with smaller areas. Though none that I know of are adjustable in the completed spell like your [Crystalline Air].”

“Are there cheaper forms of [Teleport] than [Teleport]?” Jane asked. “Perhaps this lock is just an application of [Shadowalk]? But what is [Teleport], exactly?”

Erick channeled mana through [Teleport] producing a white double glow from his hands. He moved his hand through the air, and the double glow split, leaving one behind and the other in his hand. He said, “I have no idea how to describe this.”

Jane said, “It’s not dimensional magic. That’s blocked. Is it speed magic?”

“Is there speed magic?” Erick asked.  

Kiri frowned, saying, “It’s not speed magic. All of that old magic has been lost to time.”  

“No [Haste] or [Slow], Dad.”

Erick said, “I don’t even know what those are.”

Jane sighed, saying, “I know you don’t.”

Teressa joined the conversation with, “No speed magic. No slow magic either.” She turned to Rats and Poi, asking, “Right?”

Rats yawned, saying, “Right.”

Kiri said, “We’re getting off topic, anyway.”

“Well. No.” Erick asked, “What is [Teleport], anyway?”

Kiri said, “Spacial magic. You put yourself into a different, known, part of the manasphere.” She explained, “Historically, the spell used to be vastly more complicated. The Old Wizards had to have perfect control, or they’d end up inside rocks or splatted against a wall. When the Script codified all magic, it streamlined the spell and removed much of the danger; if your [Teleport] isn’t perfect, it still works well enough.”  

“Regarding a Block:” Kiri continued, “[Teleport] doesn’t work inside a [Teleport] blocked location, until you throw enough [Teleport]s around to break the block.” She said, “A Block, constructed of [Teleport] and [Dispel] runes, and charged with rad dust, is valued based on the amount of mana it takes to break it. For every 250 mana of rad dust spent to charge a blocked space, a properly made [Teleport] blocked room will block 1 [Teleport]. Like most things, this is just a deterrent from most attackers.” She clarified, “A space usually has a dozen Blocking runes, each holding at least 500 mana. When the block activates, it pulls 250 mana evenly from the network.”

Jane asked, “So does it… Block the [Teleport]? I mean. The [Teleport] goes off, but then it fails to work?”

“Yes,” Kiri said.

Poi said, “Yes.”

Kiri said, “This is yet another difference from a Shades’ Lock, versus a Block. In the Lock, you lose access to the spell. You can’t even spend mana on it. But in a Block, you can; it just fails to work.”

Jane said, “On my first day, I entered the edge of Fallopolis’ Lock and was able to [Teleport]. But I ended up to the side instead of going forward. Though once I was inside the city, and actually inside the Lock, I couldn’t even spend mana on the spell.”

Kiri nodded. “Yup.”

Erick held out his hand to Ophiel, as he strummed mana through [Teleport], creating a double of his white glow, saying, “Ophiel? Can you copy this sound?”

Ophiel stared at the white glow, and began to hum a sound. It was a pure sound, and Erick finally understood what he was hearing. Travel and exploration. The journey and the destination.  

Erick said, “I’m thinking a Lock is just destructive interference, somehow.” He wrote down ‘destructive interference’ on the blackboard, then patted Ophiel, saying, “That’s enough. Thank you.”

Ophiel hummed the [Teleport] sound, but at a much lower intensity.  

Jane asked, “But how?”

Kiri, wide eyed, asked, “What is ‘Destructive Interference’?”

Poi said, “Undoubtedly a very large topic that does not need to be discussed right now.”  

“Fine,” Kiri said.

Erick said, “Quite right. This is further than we’ve gotten with a Lock, anyway. What comes next is testing.” He said, “Next topic. How to defend against parasites.”

“Deal with them as they happen,” Rats said, yawning. “Hard to be preventive with those.”

“Rats is right.” Poi said, “Mostly, we try to fix the damage before it gets too catastrophic.”  

“There’s a [Bug Ward].” Jane asked, “But no [Parasite Ward]?”

“None.” Rats said, “The problem is that parasites make themselves a part of your natural biome, and then they wreck havoc. You can’t clear them out without hurting yourself in the process.”

Jane asked, “How about some way to make your biome hostile to parasites?”

“It already is,” Rats said. He amended, “Well. It isn’t. Actually. It is in the beginning, but then it’s not.”

Erick saw something in that statement. He asked, “How are these parasites made?”

Rats said, “They create them out of lumps of flesh and corruption spells.” He yawned. “It’s more complicated. But that’s the gist of it.”

“Corruption spell? Elaborate, if you can?” Erick asked, writing in another section of his chalkboard ‘parasites and corruption’.

Rats said, “[Blind]. [Deaf]. [Dumb]. [Weak]. They’re all Health abilities. Like [Strike]. Range of touch.” He yawned. “Dunno how you actually make the parasites themselves, but like you take a lump of human flesh and imbue it with one of those spells, and then that flesh somehow comes to life, and then you put that parasite in a person. Or a dragonkin lump of flesh to infect a dragonkin. Orcol for orcol. Very disgusting. Very disgusting.”

Erick touched the left side of his face, and tried not to think about some person’s flesh crawling around inside his ear. He shivered.

Poi added, “Accomplished parasitiers can also put mind magic into the parasites.”  

Erick declared, “Table that, for now! No more parasites!”  

Jane giggled.

Erick asked, “Is there a way to solve this shadowspider prowling, thing?”

Poi smiled, saying, “Yes.”

Erick felt a rush of small joy, saying, “Oh thank gods. How?”

Rats frowned. “Ugh. Really?”

Kiri winced. “I can’t sleep anyway. Might as well make it all the way terrible.”

“This means I can’t do a lot of stuff, too, Dad,” Jane said.

Erick looked around the room at all the unhappy faces. “What is this reaction!” Erick said, “Just tell me.”

Poi answered, “[Lightshape] and [Ward]. Banish all shadows in an area.”

Everyone except Erick and Poi groaned.

Erick said, “I can see how that would be hard to live in.”

Kiri said, “No shadows anywhere. Including under your covers. Behind your eyelids. Etcetera. The base version of the spell is [Banish Shadows], and it’s one of the few magics that is already combined well.”

Erick went ahead and spent 3 points, for all the other shaping spells.  

--

Lightshape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of light around you for 1 minute per level of Lightshape.

Exp: 0/100

--

Fireshape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of fire around you for 1 minute per level of Fireshape.

Exp: 0/100

--

Shadowshape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of shadow around you for 1 minute per level of Shadowshape.

Exp: 0/100

--

He said, “I needed the other shaping spells, anyway. I’ll look into [Banish Shadows] later.”

Kiri offered, “You could also work on your mana sense? You likely already have a high affinity for this skill, but I do not, so I cannot help you with this. A high mana sense would allow you to see the world sort of how Jane sees it, as a spider.” She looked to Jane, adding, “If I’m correctly understanding what you said you could see?”

“You are—” Jane paused. Her face flushed red. She said, “If I had transformed… If I had been a spider at any point in time during that entire Feeding Frenzy, I probably would have seen those hunters.”

Erick instantly said, “It’s okay, Jane.”  

“It’s not okay, Dad.” Jane said, “It’s… It’s not okay.”

Kiri did not look to Jane, but she went quiet.

Erick frowned, as he wrote ‘Mana Sense’ on the board. Ramizi had told him about Mana Sense before, but he had just not pursued that option. Now, he would.

Poi spoke up with, “There’s also…” He hesitated. Then he said, “There’s also a mind sense you could work on. Increasing your mental capacities should increase your ability to resist things like a Dream Worm, or other mind control in the future. A good enough mind sense and you could have seen those guys, too.” Poi admitted, “I should have seen those hunters, as well, but I was too focused on the wyrms. I apologize, sir.”

Erick just smiled small, and said, “Don’t worry about it, Poi. It’s okay.”  

Jane shared a silent look with Poi, as Erick wrote ‘Mind Sense’ on the board, and then a large question mark.

Jane asked, “[Telepathy] transformed into some sort of detecting spell, and Aurify, for a [Mind Sense]?”

Poi said, “It’s not a spell you can buy or achieve. This is also a topic for another time. I merely brought up the possibility.”

“Okay.” Erick said, “Let’s talk about that [Ward] wyrm, then. I felt useless. It was sheer dumb luck that lightning struck that monster at all.”

“I could teach you about more fire magic.” Kiri said, “[Death Spiral Fire] really is a ‘one spell, one kill’ kind of magic, and now that you have [Fireshape], you likely have all of the necessary pieces. It would have worked through all of those [Ward]s, though the [Cold Ward]s would have smothered the spell as long as the monster was inside one.”

Erick wrote on the board, ‘[Death Spiral Fire]’ and ‘Fire Magic’.

He turned to the group, and asked, “Here’s another topic: What am I actually expected to defend against? What necessary spells and such do you think I need for the good of Spur?”

Poi instantly said, “The murder of monsters such as the Toxic Wyrm. The deployment of [Stillness], in the event of a sonic attack, such as [Pulse Wave], which is the most common form of attack from the Shades. The defense of yourself, firstly, and Spur, secondly. Everything else beyond this is welcome, but not expected. Though with as much as you are doing for the farms, if you fail to keep up this responsibility you have assumed, you would likely be punished by thousands, and not just Silverite.”

Erick laughed. He could already imagine Valok punching him out if he ever stopped raining.

Rats said, “You’re already doing a great job, sir.”

Jane smiled, softly, as Kiri and Poi looked on, at Erick.

“I need better goals than this.” Erick said, “I’ve already been told, in very explicit terms, that there will be no more overt plotting to kill Shades, even if a Kill and Exterminate Quest is involved.”

Erick was still totally plotting to kill Shades, though.

Kiri gave him a sideways glance, then said, “Well...”

“Learn [Comet Swarm], Dad.”

Rats laughed. “Yes! [Comet Swarm]. What is it? A lot of [Stoneshape] and [Force Crash]. Or maybe [Force Bomb]?”

Teressa chuckled, a sleepy sound, saying, “No no. Just need to learn [Reflection], and pump it up high enough to reflect every enemy spell.”

Poi said, “Do you want the most chaotic battlefield ever? Because this is how you make everything into a crater.”

“A spell to nullify all enemy magic!” Rats offered.

Erick laughed. “I already did that. It got taken away.”

“Oh right.” Rats smiled. “I knew that, already.”

Kiri blanched. “Fuck! You did?”

Erick said, “Super long range, too. [Zone of Peace]. It’s Koyabez’s spell, now.”

“We need to get ourselves a priest of Koyabez, then,” Rats said.

Erick acted all affronted. “Am I not good enough for you?”

Rats smirked, saying, “Not if you can’t nullify every hostile magic ever. What kinda bargain bin archmage shit is this?”

Erick laughed. Jane smiled, while Teressa and Poi grinned, and the color returned to Kiri’s face.  

Erick said, “New goal, then. This [Prismatic Ward]. I’m going to get that— What does it do, anyway?”

Kiri practically bubbled, saying, “Not just an empty shell of a [Solid Ward], but an absolutely solid area of [Solid Ward]. No movement for anyone who is not approved. Six times defense for every single point of mana you spend. You have to dispel it six times for it to go away.” She added, reverent, “And holy shit, if you can get that variable cost for variable area, too? Unprecedented defense.”

Erick’s eyes went wide. “That’s amazing.”

Jane said, “That’s some good shit.”

“Oh my, yes.” Kiri said, “There are so many top tier spells that… that you might be able to make, sir. A [Gate] network. A [Prismatic Ward]. [Death Spiral Fire]. You don’t really need to make [Iceberg], because you already have [Call Lightning] and enough Ophiel to drop a tsunami onto a city and then ice it over with [Wintry Sea], but— There’s just something interesting about flash-freezing that much space without the wind up.” She added, “[Grand Telekinesis]. It’s some form of [Telekinesis] along with every shaping spell, I think. I could be wrong about that, but that’s the theory on how a Shade’s [Grand Telekinesis] works.”

Erick wrote Kiri’s spells onto the chalkboard, glad again for his decision to go for all the shaping spells.

Poi said, “There are some very good high tier spells that don’t require combining to get. But they do require an extra twenty points to buy up to them.”

Kiri frowned, saying, “Like what!”

“Like [City Shape].” Poi said, “Create a city out of a prepared area, rerouting water from the Underworld and the surface to support what would come next. It’s what made Spur, so long ago.”  

Kiri frowned, then said, “That barely qualifies as a good use of magic, and only because it can reroute the Underworld, though any good Stone Mage can do the same.”

Poi continued, “[Cleanse The Land]. It’s just [Cleanse] on a massive scale, but a hundred kilometers is still a hundred kilometers, and without this spell, the Wasteland Kingdoms would fall to Toxic monsters over the course of a month. [Scan] is great, despite its detractors. You can search for a lot, but not everything. And don’t forget [Weaken Monsters]. Every monster in a hundred kilometers suffers from reduced levels.”

Erick almost asked after that last one, but—

“That last one is poison.” Kiri said, “Surely you can’t actually recommend these spells?”

Poi countered, “They are options. [Weaken Monsters] is actually a good way to become recognized as an archmage—”

“A shitty pretend archmage that does more harm than good!” Kiri looked to Erick. “Every spell he just mentioned costs at least a dozen points, at least. You also have to buy every single previous spell for the higher one to appear, and that leaves you with practically nothing left.” She looked to Poi. “[Weaken Monsters] is especially heinous. It makes people think that monsters are easy to kill, and when the spell ends, the monsters go berserk!”

Poi said, “That’s why they don’t ever let it lapse in the Greensoil Republic.”

Kiri gritted her teeth, saying, “Now, that, is untrue.”

“What?” Erick asked.

Kiri clarified, “[Weaken Monsters] lasts a month. But monsters roam. So the edges of the Greensoil Republic are always under attack by berserk monsters with almost double their usual level.”

Poi frowned. He added, “High tier damaging spells are useless. But the high tier utility spells do have their uses. Some of them, anyway.”

Rats added, “Casting [Weaken Monsters] in the Crystal Forest is a crime.”

Poi relented. “It’s also a crime in the Wasteland Kingdoms. But the point still stands.”

While Kiri glared at Poi, Erick wrote the spells on the board behind him. [City Shape] got a star by it; Erick was interested in that one. When he was through scratching chalk on the blackboard, he turned back to the group. A tension still held the air. Everyone but Teressa looked affected; her eyes were half lidded. A bit of drool hung at the corners of her mouth. She must have dozed off in the last few seconds.

Kiri tried to vanish the tension, by saying, “There’s also whatever spell Tenebrae used to float that mountain. That’d be a good one to have.”

Poi’s frown vanished.

Jane asked, “You want to make a floating castle? We could hunt down a cloud giant’s cloud castle. They’re invisible, but they’re up there, out there in the Crystal Forest.”

Erick turned to Jane. “Tenebrae didn’t make that stone fortress himself?”

Kiri said, “Now hold on. He might have.” Kiri’s eyes sparkled. “We could research floating castles.”

Rats said, “It was just a matter of time.” He added, “I knew you would get a floating castle! I knew it.”

Erick laughed.  

Kiri ignored Rats, saying, “[Force Platform] as a base spell, for sure.”

“Oh right. Where was that second letter from the Headmaster?” Erick asked, “The one with the list of required spells for enrollment?”

Teressa stood up, yawning, saying, “I’ll go get it.”

Erick looked to the tall orcol, smiling, saying, “Thank you.”

Teressa walked out of the room.

“As another topic:” Erick said, “I want something that will renew my spells, so that I don’t have to re-cast them all the time. Does such a thing exist?”

Kiri practically squeaked with anticipation, as she asked, “You want to make an artifact?”

Jane countered, “There has to be some word misuse or mistranslation here. Artifact? Doesn’t that mean some special item that won’t decay, like normal magical items decay? I thought those didn’t exist.”

“Uh. Technically, artifacts don’t exist. But they do. It’s like you told me that one time. Purple exists, but it also doesn’t.” Kiri paused. She said, “When it comes down to it: The thing that makes an artifact an artifact is that it requires zero upkeep. You start off with a large enough grand rad in the center of the item, and it continually casts whatever magic you want it to cast, using the array you’ve set up, without eating away at the grand-rad in the center faster than the grand-rad can renew itself from the manasphere.” She elaborated, “Like… the easiest ‘artifacts’ to make —and probably not what you’re going for— are Grand [Prestidigitation] stoves. Go to any noble’s house in the Greensoil Republic, and you’ll find kitchens with specialized grand-rad stoves that never need to be refilled with 10 mana rads, like the ones you have downstairs in this house.”

“Ah.” Jane said, “They’re artifacts, but like… Not really. They decay constantly. But they’re also constantly renewing.”

“People still call them artifacts, though,” Kiri said.

Erick said, “That’s not exactly… I want something that will renew the spells I have active without needing me to constantly recast them.” Erick clarified, “Preferably a spell itself, so that I only need to cast it once and everything else renews.” He added, “I guess I could try to make it myself. I’d call it [Renew].”

“Doesn’t exist,” Rats said.

Poi agreed, “Doesn’t exist; at least not like you’re thinking.”

Kiri said, “Maybe… some other application of grand-rads could do this? I’m not sure.”

Erick turned around and put it on the board: ‘Learn how to make artifacts work for active spells’ and ‘[Renew]’

Erick said, “You use rads to make magical items. I bet someone else has already figured out how to make this process work for active spells.”

Kiri said, “Maybe.” She added, “But, I believe, the process of anointing runes to create or deny spell effects in an area is the solution to this problem you are trying to solve.”

Erick hummed and shook his head. “Nope?”

Rats said, “Invent this [Renew] spell.”

Teressa walked back into the room carrying the Headmaster’s second letter packet, saying, “I caught about half of that.” She handed the packet to Erick, asking, “Why do you want this spell anyway?”

Erick took the pages, saying, “So I can cast one spell and renew everything around me. Durations, damage absorptions, all that stuff. Or. Rather. Cast one aura, and gradually renew all the ongoing magic around me. And not just me.” He looked around the room. “A [Renew] spell would allow Spur to get some archmage defenses, and then have normal people [Renew] them as needed. No need for the vulnerable archmage to stick around. This would also lead to a lot fewer points of weakness in a potential defense.”

Poi stood straighter, uttering, “Oh.”

Kiri said, “Ambitious.”

Teressa said, “I like it.”

Rats nodded.

Jane said, “Maybe… find out how grand-rads renew items, and see about duplicating that process with your own spell?”

Kiri said, “There’s an idea, but I highly doubt that would work.”

“It’s an avenue of research, though,” Erick concluded, as he wrote Jane’s suggestion on the board.

No one else spoke; they were all deep in thought, looking over Erick’s blackboard. So, Erick read from the packet, and immediately felt that same rush of inadequacy from last night, when he first read the first parts of this very same packet. He needed a lot more spells in order to begin to be a proper mage, to protect this place he called home and himself, and to break into the higher tiers of normal magic.

As Erick read the list a few times, he realized, that he loved this. Making magic. Protecting people. Guarding himself from the threats of the world, as well as guarding others. Poi’s instant description of Erick’s duties and responsibilities was spot on. These spells, and a trip to Oceanside, would help Erick to remain faithful in the duties he had chosen to accept as part of the Social Contract of living on Veird.  

Erick took his chalk and began writing down every Script spell the packet recommended, that he did not already have:

[Force Crash], [Force Wave], [Force Wall], [Force Bomb], [Force Platform], [Prestidigitation], [Adjust Scent], [Husbandry], [Detect Magic], [Identify], [Alter Size], [Alter Friction], [Fabricate], [Envelop Item], [Control Item], [Find Target], [Rebound], [Interception], and [Polymorph].  

Jane asked him, at the end, “That’s a lot of spells.”

“Yup.” Erick said, “I don’t have enough points.”

Kiri looked at the list, saying, “You really don’t have any of those?” She instantly added, “You lied to me about that tracking decay force beam, when we were first sparring!”

Erick snickered. “Yup.”

Jane smiled wide, as she said, “[Polymorph] doesn’t require points.”

“It’s the only one!” Erick said, as he looked over the list. “Oh, hey. I’ve been meaning to ask. How do those little truthstones work?”

Poi read the blackboard, as he said, “[Truthsense]. It’s mind magic; it’s not in the normal Script. Most mind magic isn’t.”

“Ah. Not gonna get that one, then.” Erick nodded, then turned and added more words to the list.

‘One of the [Body] spells. [Air body]?’

‘Savral’s [Interception Bolts].’

‘More particle magic. A [Solid Ward] of particle magic? A particle magic [Renew]?’

Erick asked, “Anyone else have any goals they’d like to accomplish while we’re at Oceanside?”

Poi smiled, while Teressa yawned happily and Rats just grinned.

Kiri said, “I would like to accompany you throughout your whole Oceanside trip, sir.”

“You don’t have to follow me around.” Erick said, “I’m sure they’ll let you go to whatever classes you want.”

“I would prefer to be by your side.”

“… Pick out some classes, then, and I’ll go to them, too.”

Kiri smiled softly, saying, “Very well.”

Jane said, “I’m going back to the Firemaw Mountain. But I’ll message you whenever.”

Erick said, “I expect you to get Polymage soon, Jane.”

“Just gotta kill some monsters, first!” Jane flashed her teeth, adding, “And then eat them.”

Erick exaggerated a shiver. Jane smiled.

Poi said, “I’ll be accompanying you wherever you go, too, of course.”

Erick nodded. “Thank you, Poi.”

Rats said, “I’ll find something to do when I’m not watching you. They have to have a hospital there, so I might look into that. Make some progress on my [Greater Treat Wounds] quest.”

“Sounds good,” Erick said, then, “Teressa?”

Teressa said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll find something. That island is supposed to be really peaceful, but I doubt it.”

“Okay then.” Erick asked, “Ah. That reminds me. How are everyone’s rings holding up?” A flash of tiny panic came and went. “I haven’t made the rest of the rings for Liquid.”

Teressa smiled, saying, “My rings are still at 25 each. More than good enough.”

Rats said, “Mine too. They’re fine.”

Poi said, “Killzone is thrilled with the rings. Liquid is actually slightly scared, according to the captain.”

Everyone in the room turned toward Poi.

Poi continued, “Your rings should have failed by now. They’ve been worked hard. But they’re not failing. The vast majority of them have stabilized around plus 20 of a Stat.” He smirked. “You speaking of learning how to create artifacts and this [Renew] spell, while you’ve already made something worthy of being called an artifact.” He stressed, “A real artifact, too. Not a kitchen stove artifact.”

Jane laughed, while Kiri paled again.

Erick simply said, “Huh.” He looked at his own All Stat rings. They hadn’t changed, either. He dropped his hands to his side, ignoring the world-altering repercussions on his fingers, and said, “So. Anyone want new rings? Kiri? Do you have any, yet?”

Kiri looked to the rings on Erick’s fingers, and then on Poi’s and Teressa’s. She said, “Willpower and Focus would be great.” She tentatively added, “If they don’t break, might as well go big with the good Stats?”

Erick said, “I’ll get them to you by tonight. I’ll also finish Liquid’s final order of 50 in a few days.” He thought for a second. He added, “And I’ll send 50 to Cyril and Yetta, too. See if that will get them to talk to me about that rain they asked for.”

Poi nodded. “Very good, sir.”

And with that, the meeting wound down. Teressa and Rats scampered off back to their own beds, while Jane went to buy and gather supplies for her trips, and Kiri went off to gather resources for her stay at Oceanside. Poi and Erick were soon alone in the classroom.

Erick’s blackboard was full of writing, while all the others stood completely empty.

Erick wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this meeting, when he started, but looking over his board and reading what he had written down… The brainstorming helped him, at least. There was still something else that needed to be done, though. Now that Erick was alone with Poi, this was as good a time as any.

Erick looked to Poi, and said, “So! If Silverite hasn’t filled you in already: Here’s a possible problem you might have with me and what I want to do with my life here in Spur.”

Poi stood a bit straighter, his eyes darting to meet Erick’s, but quickly moving back to stare at the blackboard.

Erick casually said, “I want to kill all the Shades. It’s going to happen. They’re going to die. Not sure how. Not sure when. But I’ll figure it out, and then I’ll do it. When I decide to kill them all, they won’t be able to do a damn thing to stop it, either. So don’t worry about me going off half-cocked.”  

He added, “And then I’ll kill every wyrm, or stop them from spawning. I’ll murder the Cinnabar Hand, too, and any organization like them. Melemizargo is an unsolvable problem, but I’m not really looking to solve that one. These are my long term greater goals. They won’t happen until I’m absolutely sure I can pull them off, without a retaliation.”  

He continued, just as matter-of-fact as he had started, “Whatever horrors there are in your world, that need to die, they will die. These are just the ones I know about, right now. These are the ones I am preparing for.” Looking at Poi, Erick asked, “I also hope to live a nice, quiet life here in Spur, probably working on the farm and killing whatever threats Mog deems necessary. How do you feel about this?”

Poi stared at the blackboard, his eyes unmoving, his breath steady. His face was unreadable, but his eyes glistened in the distorted light from the windows. And then he smiled; tiny, almost not there at all. He said, “Every day, I feel even more assured that I made the correct choice to volunteer to be your bodyguard.”  

This moment was, perhaps, the only time Erick had ever seen the man without tendrils of thought radiating from his bluescaled head.  

Poi almost said something, but he stopped himself. A moment passed.  

Poi said, “This is what I want, too. Thank you for sharing this with me. This means… This means a lot.”

Erick looked at the man, and said, “Whenever you feel comfortable enough to tell me who your enemies are, we can see about bringing them to justice, too.”

Poi glanced from the blackboard to Erick. After a short moment of looking at each other, Poi gave a tiny, silent nod.  

Erick left it at that.