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

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

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

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

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

[Vivid Gloom] had messed Erick up something awful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“… What are those?”

“… Have you not looked up Candlepoint’s full item list?”

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

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

Erick sat down on the couch, next to Ophiel.  

Jane moved into the kitchen, saying, “Hey, Dad?”

“Yeah?”

Jane grabbed a large glass jar of prepared coftea leaves from the kitchen. She popped the lid, saying, “I’m glad you came.”

He grinned, saying, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here yesterday!”

“I meant… To Veird. Well. Honestly. I meant on the car ride to what was supposed to be my future. And then everything else that came after. In a few more months, we’ll have been here for a whole year.” She added, “And I know I’ve said it before, but I had to say it again.”

“I’m glad I came with you, too.” Erick smiled softly. “Magic is really neat. Oh! I heard just the other day that Particle Magic’s integration to the Script has been decided.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Rozeta took my advice, but did her own thing. [Condense Particle] is the new Basic Tier. Spells that condense a specific element, like [Condense Hydrogen], have to be made from [Condense Particle]. Everything else comes after that.”

Jane was heating up water in a pot, as she said, “Huh. That’s… That’s pretty easy— Oh! That means that there’ll be a long recovery time for a failed spell.”

“Yeah.” Erick jokingly mocked, “But the Script was created to stop the abuses of the Old Wizards!”

Jane smiled. “Honestly, if it was created for that reason, then there wouldn’t be any magic at all.” She shrugged, adding, “But it probably was, and then Melemizargo said ‘nope!’ and broke it a bit.”

“Uh? Hmm.” Erick thought, while Jane poured hot water through coftea and a filter. Eventually, he said, “Maybe. He’s added all these new Stats, right? So that tracks. And I guess they’ve just never been able to fix the initial crack in the system? Huh.” Erick almost could consider Jane’s idea as correct, but then, unsure, he said, “That’s probably what happened? Hmm…” He decided, “No. Nope. It doesn’t track with everything I’ve seen.”

Jane laughed. “And what have you seen?”

“They created the Script to hold together the last remnants of their world, and the mana therein, and Melemizargo tried to destroy it all to get back to his destroyed universe, right?” He thought. He said, “Yes. That’s right.” He said, “Mana came along for the ride because— Now I’m not certain here— but I think gods and spirits and angels and demons and all matter of life just would not exist without mana. And Veird is much too large to support itself without magic. I think, if the Script was destroyed, that mana would fly away on solar winds, but before that even happened, the entire planet would crash together as the Underworld collapsed and people died under their own gravitational weight.”

“That’s a fun thought.” Jane said, “Have you told any of that to Kiri?”

“Heck no. I’ve given her a lot of frights. To say that the entire planet is untenable under normal physics? No thank you.”

“Yeah… Now that you mention it, that’s probably what would happen if the Script vanished.” Jane smiled, as the coftea finished brewing. “So you’re sure you haven’t told that theory to anyone else?”

Erick saw the glints in Jane’s eyes. He said, “Don’t you go telling Kiri that, either! I’ve given her more than enough upsets to last a lifetime.”

She laughed. “I won’t.” She added, “I hadn’t even considered the planetary weight angle, though. That’s a scary sort of armageddon.” She asked, “But that just brings up the thought that if the Script is keeping the Underworld and the Surface supported, then the gods and Melemizargo would know of that issue. Would they really make a world so geologically unstable? Seems like asking for trouble down the line. How would you even prepare for such an— Ah.” A lightbulb must have gone off in Jane’s mind. She asked, “You saw the quest to make a vehicle capable of leaving Veird, didn’t you?”

Erick smiled. “Yeah. I did. That was the first thought that came to my mind, too, when I saw that quest. But then I got distracted by other affairs.” Erick said, “I don’t think there’s much of a worry, as long as that quest remains incomplete and Melemizargo has yet to kill the wrought off.”  

Jane poured coftea for both of them and added milk to Erick’s. She brought them over, saying, “Have you ever read any of the literature of the Cult of the Dark Dragon?”

“No. I’ve purposefully stayed away.” Erick sipped his coftea, and it was good. Jane always brewed it best. He asked, “Why? Have you?”

Jane sipped her coftea, then said, “Yes. All of the bigger works. Gotta understand the enemy, after all.” She added, “And you actually have. ‘The Foreigner Mage’.”

“… What?”

“That little green book. You told me about it before. That’s one of the Shade recruitment tools out there. But it’s also a very truthful book.”

“… What.” Erick said, “No. Wait. Nooo. That’s written and published—”

“By shadow publishing houses across the world. Ha. Pun not intended.” She added, “That little green book is also considered widely true, so people use it, but are still punished for having it in their possession.”

Erick had no idea. He asked, “Really?”

“Yes.” Jane joked, “But what self-respecting archmage would call themselves that without a few banned tomes in their possession?”

Erick sat silent, in contemplation. He had been using a Shade-written book? That book had been given to him by Hocnihai. Hocnihai had a quest involving his final tomes posted in Candlepoint. What was going on there? He asked, “A series of coincidences? Or something else?”

Jane asked, “Thinking about how you and I fit into this mess?”

“… I wasn’t. But now I am. I was thinking about Hocnihai’s final tomes. I have a full copy of each one, and a few more besides. He’s the one who gave me ‘The Foreigner Mage’, too.”  

Jane nodded, then said, “So let’s have a talk about Candlepoint. I heard that you said you want to flatten the place during a major public meeting of the minds in Spur’s War Room.”

Erick had said that, and he did want to flatten the place. Ar’Kendrithyst, too. Erick said, “It’s the right choice.”

“It’s the right choice for me to say something like that.” Jane said, “But… A lot must have happened while I was sleeping or away… A lot more than what you’ve said. Because the Erick Flatt I know would never had jumped at the responsibility to murder anyone or anything; monsters included. Especially since the people in Candlepoint might be actual people.”

Erick smiled a little to cover the break happening inside. He said, “I’ve learned a lot since coming to Veird, and shadelings have backstabbed the world before.”

“I heard that part of history, too. And don’t get me wrong. I appreciate that sort of attitude. But it’s not who you are.” She said, “And I fear I may have done you a very, very wrong turn, in pressuring you to ‘get with the program’. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about that. You were right. This was a necessary change.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“Sure I do,” Erick said, believing and disbelieving his own words at the same time.

“… Okay.” Jane added, “But if you want to run away and ignore Candlepoint and all of that… You can. You can disappear and plant a garden. Maybe a smaller city in a less dangerous part of the world. See nicer sights than battlefields. Maybe take in a concerts or plays in the bigger cities. Or even come to Oceanside and give a class and never step foot on a battlefield again. This place is a good place to be, Dad. I’ll support you in whatever you do.”

Erick sighed, a tiny fraction of a breath. He said, “But you’re going to go to war.”

“Yes. Because that’s my decision. You don’t have to decide to be a warrior.”  

Erick laughed, at that. “I already have, though. Have you ever seen what the Crystal Mimics are capable of when they reach green land?”

Jane rolled over Erick’s objection, saying, “I’m not pressuring you either way. I just want you to be… I want you to be okay. Okay?”

“I’m pretty far from okay, but I’ll live, and tomorrow I might be better.” He needed to change the subject, so he spent 10 points to complete a quest, and showed Jane the blue box as he said, “So I’m going for Particulate Force, next. Gotta have weapons in the war.”

--

Ability Slot Increase Quest Complete!

10/10 points spent.

Return to a Registrar to increase your Ability Slots by 1.

--

Jane’s face flickered from disbelief, to wonder, to reserved and thoughtful, then right back to ‘concerned daughter’, all in the space of a second.

Erick asked, “And when was the last time you were at the Registrar? You should go and see what sort of stranger Classes you qualify for. I’m apparently qualified to be a Blood Mage because of [Cascade Imaging].”

Jane instantly said, “That spell is bullshit, and you know it. Radiowaves are meters long! How the hell can that image DNA?!”

“That’s your objection?” Erick laughed. “It’s magic!”

Jane countered with, “Whatever.” She added, “And that’s still a ‘NO’ on Particulate Force. You’re gonna kill yourself with that Ability, Dad.”

“Not if the Shades kill me first.”

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

“I’m sure Rats had some—”

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

“… Yeah. Maybe.”  

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

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

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

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

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

Erick frowned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“… What?”

“And probably my laptop, too.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“… But what does this mean?”

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

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

“I thought so, too.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Like a grind.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--

Mirage Slime, instant, close range, 750 MP

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

--

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

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

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

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

He’d call her up in the morning.  

- - - -

Jane angrily sent, ‘Fuck her! I can’t believe you promised to give her world class schooling and— No.’ There was a long pause. Jane’s voice came back softer, ‘Ugh. I was such a little shit when I was her age, but… I don’t know, Dad. Maybe her response is the proper one? You did renege on your deal and she is technically an adult, but she’s so young still and I’m wholly against child soldiers but… I don’t know. That’s a mess. There was probably no right way to handle that. Ask Kiri. She’s closer to that age.’

Erick went to ask Kiri, inside her ‘office’ on the third floor, next to the large classroom-type room. He had barely ever been in this room, but Kiri certainly had. The sunroom-sized space was full of shelves and books and doodaads and trinkets and chalkboards and notes and magic circles and piles of metal ingots. There was even a whole crate of rough diamonds. It was like Erick’s Mage tower, but better organized and much more lived in.  

Kiri was currently working on mastering her lightmasks, to be able to enchant her own diamonds. But what Erick saw, was not Kiri hunched over a ball of blue or red or purple air, but over a green lightmask. A good twenty other lightmasks hung in the air over her work bench, each a slightly different shade of green. There was no ‘green’ to Strength, Vitality, Willpower, or Focus, so she had to be working on deciphering the new Stats.

She saw him come in, so she turned and asked, “Have you tried to make new Stat gems?”

“No. I haven’t, actually.” He said, “You can’t make something that is already— Huh. Well. I was going to say that ‘Already having what you want is necessary to being able to work with what you want’. But. I’m making new basic spells all the time and the Remake Quests exist.”

“The Law of Equivalent Magic is barely a law according to everything I’ve seen these days.” Kiri said, “You should try figuring out the new Stats. We can compare notes.”

 He walked closer to her desk. “How do you even know green is the color of a new Stat? What are you pouring into that lightmask? Undifferentiated mana?”

“Green is already my color, so yeah.” Kiri said, “Your color is white. You could try to make a true All-Stat gem.”

Erick smiled. “Maybe I will.” He said, “But I came in here to ask you something.”

“What can I help you with?”

“You know Delia and that whole situation, right?”

Kiri frowned. “Yeah?”

“What’s your honest opinion?”

Kiri breathed deeply, then said, “You offered her a fantastic opportunity with Oceanside enrollment, but she is too young and far too hurt to understand what she’s doing right now. I didn’t think she was that stupid, but with how I saw her act after you offered her that opportunity, I know that she’s going to get herself killed. If you would have given her gear, that gear would likely be in the hands of others by now. But now? Now, she’s probably off crying somewhere, working up the courage to do something stupid, or smart, and only time will tell which option she picks. Or, she could have already done her stupid or smart thing. I don’t know.

“But… What she wants is not wrong. Hunters are just as monstrous as monsters, but Hunters live among us, and they take the bodies of friends and loved ones in order to strike when our guards are down. There’s loads of stories out there about strong adventurers who come home to see their mothers or fathers and instead get a knife to the neck and everything stolen from them.” She added, “You’ve been the target of hunters at least twice, now, right? Or is it three times? I heard from Jane that you were targeted well before I came along. People assaulted the Sewerhouse, or something.

“If Delia comes back and she doesn’t bring a whirlwind down on us… Give her a second chance, along with heavy demands. Demand she go to Oceanside and train to become an Elite, because finding and killing Hunters is not an easy profession. Every single organization that builds itself up to stand as a group against them usually ends up infiltrated and torn apart, or they end up killing someone they shouldn’t have and are thus torn apart by whatever nearby government or power they offended. But at Oceanside, if she doesn’t wash out, she might make something of herself in five years.” She quickly added, “But just her! You don’t know her friends. Promising anything to people you don’t know, when the link between you is a 16 year old kid? That was too much.”

Erick said, “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you.”

“A little.” Kiri said, “My problems before I ran away from them and came to Spur were nobles and threats. If they would have actually done something... I would have done something stupid, too, and promptly gotten killed for my actions. What Delia pulled in this house? Stealing your rings? In the Republic, she would have had a bounty on her head, at the least.” She added, “Probably more.”

After a moment of thought, Erick decided, “… Then that’ll be the plan. If she shows, I’ll help her to get into Oceanside.” Erick added, “And that reminds me: I have to deliver another thousand of the lower ranked rings to Liquid, but I can do that part with Ophiel. What I want to do in person, is to go see Mog, to see how her rings and such are working out. Want to come? And Oh! You got your clearance to kill the bigger monsters, right? I haven’t gotten any of those requests in a while, now that I think of it.”

Kiri dismissed her green orbs, and said, “I got my clearance a while ago, actually.” She added, “I’ve been busy, too.” She smirked, as she patted Sunny on her shoulder. “I’m technically a 9-star Adventurer, but it feels like I’m cheating.”

Erick smiled. “It does, doesn’t it!”

- - - -

Ophiel delivered stone boxes filled with rings to Thom in the Quartermaster’s Offices. 2500 rings, to be precise. The weaker ones did not need so much precision, so Erick was able to carve them rather quickly and enchant dozens of them at a time.  

Thom received them well, telling Ophiel, “Thank you, Archmage Flatt.”

“Just trying to help!”

- - - -

Mog sat at her table near the railing of the fourth floor of the main room of the Adventurer’s Guildhouse. This was her new ‘office’, and it oversaw a great deal of the original three floors. She welcomed Erick with a smile and an invitation to sit, then answered his question, “They’re pretty damn amazing, Erick.” She put down her beer and tapped the silver torus on a finger. “Plus 30 to All Stats. If I wasn’t wearing it, I wouldn’t believe it.” She added, “You know, you can [Teleport] here if you want. You have clearance from me. I’ve said that before, haven’t I?”

The day was nearing noon by the time Erick got through the crowds to reach the Guildhouse. The place was packed. But it had also been expanded. The three-floor room of the main building had been expanded into another floor, while the bottom floor had been transformed completely into a bar and restaurant area. Actual questing and turn ins had been moved to the second floor, to a much larger and much more active counter. The third floor had become an extension of the first floor, while the fourth floor had been added to house an elite-level restaurant and a higher ranked quest board, along with a trio of busy receptionists wearing nice uniforms behind busy counters. This fourth floor wasn’t that busy, but there were certainly people all around.

Mogarithag Moggargal, or just ‘Mog’ for short, even wore better clothes than normal; pale brown leathers with blue trim, like normal, but with a shaper cut. It was an eye-catching fashion statement, if anything. She noticed Erick noticing her clothes, too, and gave him a smirk. She was a truly beautiful woman, who happened to be very muscular, with pale green skin and short black hair. Erick even liked her height.

Erick sat across the table from her, feeling better that he wasn’t such an old man, anymore. He asked, “Where should I blip in?”

“Heh. ‘Blip’.” Mog teased, “I could show you where my quarters are?”

Erick smiled wide, and decided to keep it professional, for now. “Maybe maybe.”  

Mog chuckled. “Maybe maybe.” She offered, “You could blip on to this floor. Just [Scry] over there, first, to find a space.” She lifted her head towards the side of the room, where alcoves had been made out of wood and walls, separate from the rest of the open floor design. “Make sure you’re not blipping into someone else.”

“I like walking, but after that crowd, maybe I’ll do less of that.”

Mog nodded. “Anyway: The rings. We could use more. I already handed out all of yours to people I trust with my life and who I know would do good for Spur.”

“Oh? Anyone I know?” Erick said, “But yeah. I got more rings that I can give you right now, if you want.”

“We’ll take them. Just deliver them to any of the people behind the counter over there. But… Hmm.” Mog looked around at the people on the fourth floor as she spoke. “I can introduce... Hmm.” She lifted her head. A few tendrils of thought snaked out, into the manasphere. After a moment, she turned to Erick, and said, “Want to meet a pair of mages? One Waterglow, the other a Riftcaster.”

Erick smiled. “I have only the vaguest idea of what those are! So: Absolutely. Yes, I want to meet them. But I wanted to ask you after Delia Greentalon, too.”

Mog looked to the air for a moment, as a tendril of thought flickered. She turned to Erick, asking, “I heard there was some sort of altercation. She ran around for an hour or something, after seeing you, burning every part of her life to the ground. You want to put out a quest for her?”

“… I can do that?” Erick quickly added, “I just want to make sure she’s okay. I promised her help that I should never have promised her, and she went a bit… rough, there, before she took off.”

Mog nodded. “Best not involve adventurers, then. People tend to get a bit rowdy for that sort of thing, and if you’re not mad, then we’re not mad.” She added, “I’ll let her know she’s not in trouble if she should ever show again.”

Erick deftly ignored the implication that he could order a hit on someone who wronged him. Hopefully he had read that wrong.

“That’s fine. Thank you.” He asked, “So what’s a riftcaster?”

Mog looked to the left, and Erick followed her gaze to the alcoves from before. A pair of pale green orcol men walked toward Erick and Mog from that direction, navigating the tables and other people nearby. The one on the left had blue eyes and blond hair, while the one on the right was of a slightly darker countenance. They both wore the same sort of light brown hunting leathers. They could have been brothers.  

And they looked amazing.  

Damn orcols always looked amazing.  

Erick barely noticed the rings on their fingers, but he did notice them. They were Erick’s rings, alright, and the full silver tori versions, too. The two men stopped a step away from the table.

Mog gestured as she said, “Archmage Erick Flatt, these are the brothers Uluthar and Dargogh Leanbough. Waterglow and Riftcaster.”

Uluthar and Dargogh bowed, briefly. They had small smiles on their faces, and tiny glints in their eyes.  

Mog continued, “They’re responsible for over a hundred five star and above kills, with their highest being a seven star Cloud Giant rager a few years back.”

Erick honestly said, “Pardon my ignorance, but I have the barest idea of what that all represents.”

Uluthar’s smile brightened, as Dargogh chuckled; maybe nervously, maybe not. Erick couldn’t truly tell.  

Mog said, “Suffice it to say, but they’re powerful adventurers.” She said to the guys, “Want to show Archmage Flatt a little of what you can do?”

Uluthar immediately held his hand forward, palm up, and spoke, “Water like light, banish all fright.”  

A ball of glowing water shifted out of the air and into Uluthar’s hand. It hovered there, glittering and glowing, like looking up from the depths at the surface of a pool. Watching the shifting light, Erick felt warmer and yet cooler at the same time. It was a good feeling. Uluthar closed his fist, popping the water globe like it was a simple soap bubble.  

Erick was slightly confused. What was that supposed to be?

Seeing Erick’s confusion, Uluthar turned a little obviously confused, too, and Dargogh smiled wider as he silently chuckled. Oh yeah. That was a nervous chuckle. Erick could definitely tell, this time.  

Mog explained, “If you were a Scion of Strength, you might have felt more from that, but for most people in our profession, that little globe of water heals everyone nearby for over 25,000 Health while also curing all minor physical injuries.”  

“Oh!” Erick said, “That’s pretty good then! Pardon my ignorance.”

Uluthar brightened.  

Poi spoke up, “There’s also a minor bolstering effect.” He had hard eyes for Uluthar, as he added, “Which I prevented.”

Mog said, “It’s a good effect, Poi.”

Poi just hummed in disapproval, and said nothing more.  

Erick didn’t really care about the healing, though it did seem massive. He asked, “Was that an incantation?”

“Ye—!” Uluthar’s voice cracked, but he recovered, “Yes, sir, archmage, sir. The spell does quite a lot, but an incantation helps to focus it in one direction or the other. I could use the same spell as a damaging beacon against all fire and shadow aligned monsters, too.”

Erick had no idea that was possible. “I heard a bit about incantations at Oceanside, but mostly they were kept to the Esoteric Magic classroom, and not many people put much stock in them.” He asked, “Where did you learn your methods?”

“Learned it from the Songstresses of the Songli Highlands, all the way over in Nelboor.” He added, “They use incantations for everything they do, though the larger effects are only possible when you align yourself with an element.” He said, “I got my [Orb of Waterlight] from a complicated combination of [Healing Beacon], [Treat Wounds], and [Greater Inflict Wounds]. On the battlefield, I use [Water Body] as a conduit to mold spell one way or the other.”

“Huh.” Erick said, “That’s… pretty interesting. I should try that sometime.” On a whim, he added, “I hope you’re enjoying the rings. I’m working on more, all the time, but those stronger versions will remain for those who prove themselves against the darkness.”

Uluthar smiled, and then took a small step back, clearing the way for his brother to speak.

Dargogh stayed where he was. After a moment of Erick looking at him, the man spoke, “All my demonstrations are destructive, but I can tell you what they do.”

“I have no idea what a Riftcaster is, so this is all very enlightening to me.”

“I basically summon pure elemental rifts and supercharge the battlefield for my magic-infused weapons and armors.” He added, “And my magic, too, but not much. [Flare Bolt], and stuff. I prefer getting into melee and, uh, slicing and crushing. So your rings have been really, really, good for me. Thank you, sir.”

Supercharging the battlefield, eh? Erick was intrigued, but he needed to know more.

“They’ve been great for me too,” Uluthar said. “We usually have to step down to the lower level threats to buy the supplies necessary to fight the bigger stuff.”

Dargogh held up his hand. The silver band shone dully in the ambient light of the Guildhouse. He said, “These solve a lot of problems. We can fight the really dangerous monsters every week, instead of every month.”

Erick asked, “Are you a Scion of Balance?”

Uluthar looked a bit concerned.

But Dargogh instantly said, “Yes.”

“My daughter is a Scion of Balance, too. It’s pretty good. I bet those rings are rather good for you.” Erick asked, “So rifts? Are they just [Prime Area] attuned to… What?”

Dargogh said, “[Prime Area] done up with a mutated [Force Platform] and the various Mana Alters. It creates a helper that follows you around and constantly soaks the area with elemental influence, or, your influence. You know. You can make version that won’t follow you around if you use [Force Wall], instead. And then you just… do what you do. But at twice the power, or more. For me, that involves strength of arms. Uh. [Conjure Weapon]… And stuff.”

Erick felt like someone showed him the sunrise for the first time. He said, “I’m going to have to share that with my daughter. I hope you don’t mind. It sounds amazing.”

Dargogh smiled wide, chuckling for a moment. And then he shut down his face and his laughter. He bowed a little, then said, “I will be glad if my technique could help you and yours as much as your rings have helped us. Thank you, sir.”

Uluthar bowed a little, too, as he said, “Thank you, sir.”

“Thanks for coming. It’s nice to meet those who I’m helping, and who are helping others.”

Mog nodded. The two men turned and walked away. Erick briefly watched them go, then turned his attention back to Mog, who was smirking.

Erick said, “Thank you, Mog. That was very nice.” He glanced over, across the mostly empty fourth floor, to see the two men blip away; one blue, the other cyan. He turned back to Mog, keeping his voice a quiet as he leaned in to ask, “But what the heck does 5 star actually mean? Old wyrms, right? I think I’ve killed a few of those, haven’t I? I’ve lost track of that star system.”

Mog just laughed. “Don’t worry about it. You’re ten-star, and that’s as high as it gets.” She glanced over to Kiri, standing behind Erick, next to Poi, and said, “I’ve given all of your monster killing experience to your apprentice, these days.”

“That’s fine.” Erick turned to Kiri. “I didn’t know about rifts.”

Kiri claimed, “I didn’t either!” She added, “Seems useful, though.”

Mog said, “There’s lots of useful magic in here. If you came in and got to know some people, maybe there could be some exchanging of ideas.”

Erick turned back to Mog. “I like that idea. Do you know anyone that knows about [Treeshape] and such?”

“One of the best.” Mog looked out the window, toward the city.  

The Adventurer’s Guildhouse was situated in a [Ward] like space, where the inside felt like a comfortable forest glade and the outside was exposed to the vagaries of the desert environment. The anchor for this effect were four corner trees, each of them with trunks a hundred meters tall and ten meters wide. The canopies of those four trees joined together high above the Guildhouse, in a mesh of housing and pathways and branches, for those who liked to live in that sort of environment. That ‘tree district’, as Erick had heard it called, fully covered the entirety of the Guildhouse and its many smaller buildings, while extending shadows out into much of the rest of the Adventuring District. Erick had thought that those shadows would have been a problem, but residents and wardlights kept those boughs bright and occupied at all times.

Mog thumbed toward the tree outside the window. “I can put you in touch with my Druid?”

Erick said, “Of course! Yes. Perfect.”

- - - -

Mog brought Erick to a decently sized greenhouse made of glass and wood at the northern edge of Guild property, to the side of one of the massive trees. The glass structure occupied a space maybe an acre wide, and the doors were open, but there were no obvious plants inside. There was a nearly naked green-feathered harpy though, toiling at the ground, at piles of dirt. Mog stopped just outside of the building, and so did Erick. Poi and Kiri hung back.  

There was a [Ward] across the greenhouse, and from the gently layered yellow gasses that coiled and sifted through the air, Erick guessed it was either a [Scent Ward], or some other sort of noxious fume [Ward]. The harpy inside didn’t seem to care about the gasses, or maybe she had some sort of [Personal Ward] on that blocked out the yellow. Whatever the case, Erick was glad Mog had stopped outside of the greenhouse.

Mog called to the person inside, “Hey! Caerilda!”

The harpy inside turned, lifting her face. Her feathers covered her whole body, but as she moved, Erick saw that they weren’t just green. She was almost a green macaw, but with rainbows for the undersides and tips of her feathers; drab and well suited for hiding in a forest, until she wanted to be seen. When she saw Mog, she held her expression neutral, but when she saw Erick, she frowned, heavily.

Caerilda snarled, “I’m working!”

“I brought a visitor,” Mog said.

“I see who you brought!” Caerilda said, “I don’t truck with no worldshapers.”

Erick had been briefed on how this meeting would go, and who Caerilda was, as a person. So if he wanted anything out of this meeting, he would have to get pushy. Erick had almost backed out when that was explained to him, but Mog insisted he try, especially after she heard what Erick wanted to talk to Caerilda about.

Erick said, “I’m making a tree [Familiar]. I want to raise her right.”

Caerilda’s rainbow eyes went wide, seeming to bore into Erick’s own.

Erick patted Ophiel on the head, on his shoulder, eliciting a bright violin whistle, as he said, “I’ve done alright with Ophiel, but making a second one will be much harder.” He had no idea how much more difficult a second [Familiar] would be, but Erick felt like it was a safe set of words to spout.  

Caerilda frowned. She huffed. She stomped toward Erick, scattering heavy yellow fog with her chicken-like legs, as she said, “We’re doing this rapid fire, and then I’m getting back to work. My trees require the best fertilizer possible, and your glowing rain don’t do nearly enough.” She got to the edge of the warded space, just inside of the doors of her greenhouse, and said, “But it does a lot, and that’s the only reason I’m doing this, too. Consider that debt paid.”

“Do you want some personalized platinum rain?” Erick offered, “I had no idea these trees liked it.”

Caerilda stood a bit taller. “Yes!” She said, “I do!”

Mog said, “No.” She looked down at Caerilda, saying, “No bargains. No more rain. This is not an opportunity for you to gouge him, Caerilda. You’re paid to take care of the barrier trees, but if you want to foist that job off to Erick, I could pay him, instead.”

“Bah! Mog! Fine.” Caerilda said, “We’re not doing that, then. I’ll continue to take my rain from the tunnels like everyone else.” She turned to Erick, “Tell me what you want, archmage.”

“Spell combinations. What to watch out for. What to expect. I want a defensive position [Familiar]; is that a good idea? How common are tree-based [Familiar]s? Also, I noticed a spell called [Tree of Light]. Is that a good one?”

Caerilda listened, then began rattling off, “[Watershape] and [Grow] for [Treeshape]. Nothing else is good enough. You must focus on the full life of a tree and ignore the end, unless you want [Life Cycle]. That one’s not a good spell to use to make a [Familiar], unless you like your [Familiar] dying all the time.

“Tree [Familiar]s start small and need time to live, but they get big and powerful, and almost always condense a soul after a few years, thereafter becoming not-your-[Familiar]. This happens very fast if you make one at tier 4. So raise ‘em right, or don’t even try. You will be creating a being with a soul, accept it, and move on. Trees don’t really care about us though, so don’t go giving them your morals; you’ll fuck it all up.

“Trees are better than most people though, so as long as you do right by your tree, your tree will do right by you, even after it achieves sentience.  

“A defensive position is the best option for a good tree [Familiar]. Find a good spot and protect it, and don’t ever move your tree. They hate that. And if you accidentally imbue the idea of movement into your [Familiar], you’ll create an Ent, instantly. They’re thinking creatures that will kill most people on sight, though they are not monsters, and a goodly known Druid might even find shelter with such beings.

“Tree [Familiar]s are extremely common in the forests north of the Wyrmridge or anywhere else there’s natural forests. A properly made arbor is only considered a true arbor when a goodly raised and well treated [Familiar] thrives long enough to become its own existence, and freely gives its protection to those around it.

“And [Tree of Light] is a decent spell to have around here, but it makes your unmoving [Familiar] a target for Shades and such, but you’re already an archmage, so go ahead and do it that way if you want. But if you use it to make your [Familiar], you’re gonna make a tier 4 spell. Guaranteed to make a sapient lifeform, for sure. So unless you want that, make something smaller.” Caerilda fluffed her green wings out a bit, revealing a riot of color as she disturbed the yellow air. She asked, “That good enough for you?”

It was a lot more than Erick had known, but still not a full telling. It was good enough for experimenting, though. He asked, “What if I wanted to make it all at tier 2. Combining [Watershape], [Grow], [Lightshape], [Conjure Force Elemental], [Telepathy], and [Scry], all at once?”

Caerilda got a stern expression, then said, “If you weren’t an archmage, I’d laugh at you for chasing a dream, but you are the archmage that brings the rains, and that just pisses me off because you figured out what no one else had before. If you manage to create this tier 2 tree [Familiar], you will have created a [Familiar] that would take twenty years to become a real being, giving you time to raise them right, without worry, and if you manage to do that, you’ll have created an arbor worthy to build a true city around. One the size of Spur! Or maybe one that can defend Spur long after you’re gone.” She declared, “And that’s enough free answers! I’ve given you more than I should ever give a non-Druid. I demand a set of those rings you’ve been making in recompense for my assistance.”

Before Mog’s grumble could turn into a hearty ‘No,’ Erick said, “If Mog thinks it’s a good idea, then I see no problems.”

Caerilda said, “Good! I demand them by this time tomorrow—”

Mog said, “I already gave her a pair, Erick. Twice. One set of bands, and then one set of jewels. She ruined both sets. Melted them.”

“Huh?” Erick asked, “What? Melting! How?!”

Caerilda said, “I experiment with a lot of toxic stuff. Trees love it. Your rings and clothes and such, not so much. Doesn’t matter. I made a mistake. Give me another set and I’ll take care of them this time. I know what I did wrong.”

Erick paused for a second, then said, “Sure. That’s fine? Whatever? I’ll get you some rings. I have to deliver a new lot for Mog soon, too. Thanks for the assistance, Caerilda.”

“Yeah yeah. Whatever. You can probably handle your own experiments going out of control, and that includes an unruly tree.” She added, “Just don’t come crying to me if it thinks you treated it wrong and starts to disobey. Just kill it, tear apart the spell, and try again. Ain’t nothing to be done for an unruly plant besides start over.”

“That seems… cruel.”

“That’s true. It’s cruel. No doubt about it.” Caerilda shrugged. “Forests are cruel places. Survival is hard out there.” She said, “Most you can hope to do is make a [Familiar] strong enough to stand up to the cruelty to protect what needs protecting, without becoming a horror for those who follow.”

- - - -

Poi, Kiri, and Erick blipped into the front foyer of the house.

Kiri instantly said, “Rifts sound useful. Tree [Familiar]s seem problematic.”

“I was thinking the exact same thing. I’ll think more on the tree. But the rifts..” Erick said, “Instead of mutated platform and wall spells, how about using [Conjure Force Elemental] and [Force Wave].” He instantly added, “But that would make them tier 3 creatures...” He reconsidered, “Maybe… I won’t be doing that.”

“That’s probably why that guy doesn’t do them with [Conjure Force Elemental].” Kiri said, “The platform and wall way seems much more difficult because you have to tear at the spells a little— Ah. He just takes the spells understanding that they’re meant to block off an area, and turns that into a disintegrating and expanding… ‘rift’, I guess?”

“Sounds promising. And likely.”

“Layered, helpful magic is one way to fight,” Kiri said, almost dismissively. “I guess he managed to make it work for him, though?”

Erick gave her a questioning look.

Kiri said, “It clogs up the battlefield. I bet when he fights it is very, very flashy.” She added, “The first guy’s idea about using an Elemental Body to affect an outcome in a spell seems like the best thing I learned today.”

Erick smiled. “I have just the way to test that out, too!”

- - - -

In an unimportant part of the Crystal Forest, where the sun beat down hard on orange sands, and the northern winds blew to the south, causing agave and mimics to tinkle and chime, Erick, Poi, and Kiri, blipped into the air, on a hovering stone platform. Erick stepped to the edge, while the other two stood back.

Erick began by lifting up [Stoneshape] spires and arches and towers from the ground. It was not a large construction, it was not meant to last, but to provide shadows from the everpresent sun, to test what would come next. He certainly wasn’t going to make this spell like how Anhelia suggested with [Radiant Wisp], though. He was not comfortable with creating life through magic.

Erick readied himself; he turned on [Lightwalk], becoming an ethereal creature edged in white light. In this bright space, he felt the wind and mana flow through him, and the sun’s brightness above, like he was a part of the ocean. A gentle rushing filled his ears; the sound of magic. He spoke, smiling, his words vibrating from all of him, touching creation with a small joke,

“There once was a wisp from nearfar

“That glowed with sights quite bizarre  

“It sparkled with light

“as it shot up the night

“and they called it a bright [Shooting Star].”

Erick chained his magic through his words, capping his spell with [Conjure Force Elemental] on both sides, while the Altering for Light and the [Lightshape] were there to provide power, and [Shadowshape] was for guidance through even the toughest of enemies. As his words finished, a spark flashed into air in front of him, casting daylight under the shadowed arches and across the stone spires.  

That tiny light blossomed into a brilliant radiant mess of every color, but mostly white.  

And then, Poi shouted, “Watch oooooo—!”

As a blue box appeared to the edge of Erick’s vision, well out of the way of whatever Poi warned against, time seemed to slow, again. Just like the other day. Only this time it was less ‘seemed’, and more ‘actually slowed down’. Poi’s warning came too late, and was drawn out over much too long of a moment.  

As Erick looked upon his sparking creation, wondering just how deep in the shit he was, the wind and flow of mana was a thing of molasses, or the Pitch Drop experiment. Erick had no idea why that thought popped into his mind, but it was probably because the shadows surrounding Erick’s own experiment began to solidify under the stone archways and around the darkened edges of spires and towers like crude oil.

The radiance in front of Erick remained, bright and glittering and sparking in every direction. But at the show of the liquid shadows, it took off with a casual air of violence finally allowed release. The wisp curved lazily in the air, and then began zipping this way and that, barreling through shadows and stone and darkness like it was an actual shooting star, moving thousands of kilometers an hour, but without a care for momentum. It twisted and tore through stone faster than the stone could fall to the ground. The spark laughed as it destroyed; it was tiny and free and happy to hurt. And then the [Shooting Star] sighed, slowing down, almost sad that it hadn’t gotten to kill all the shadows. The star hovered about where it had been born, amid the hovering stone and shrapnel, and then it turned to Erick, and was happy. It blinked out of existence with a final, tiny laugh, as though the joke was over. Shadows, thick and cloying on the underside of every broken spire and arch, remained strong and vibrantly dark.

A much fuller laugh came from everywhere, all at once, from a being much larger than a tiny [Shooting Star]. And then that was gone, too, taking the thick shadows with it.

Time resumed. Shrapnel from broken stone splashed across the experimental space, but Erick was ready. He reacted with a [Stoneshape], catching the rock before it crashed through his [Lightwalk] body to strike Kiri or Poi.

Poi continued, “—out!” He paused. “What?! Uh.”

“It’s already over, Poi,” Erick said, as he let go of shrapnel rock. “Melemizargo came and went.” He turned off [Lightwalk] and stepped down onto the floating platform. “You two okay?”

Kiri looked pale; her green scales more seafoam than emerald at the moment.  

Poi collected himself, and said, “I’m fine. That was… Him, then? I thought it was about twenty shadowcats, or something.” He breathed deep. “I guess… that’s… almost better?” He decided, “No. No it isn’t. Uh.” He went silent, in thought.  

Erick offered, “It might have been shadowcats.” He looked at his recent notifications. “Oh. Yes. It was shadowcats. Looks like I got five of them. Huh.” Erick glanced back toward the destroyed experiment. “The rest seem to have vanished.”

Poi sighed, while Kiri’s eyes stayed wide.  

Erick sifted a bit through blue boxes until he found his spell.

--

Shooting Star, instant, super long range, 250 MP  

Conjure a super quick fragment of starlight to crash through your enemies. Lasts 5 seconds.

--

Kiri found her words, “I will begin with: [Shooting Star] is a seventh to eighth tier spell. It’s a variation on [Comet Swarm].”

Erick smiled, saying, “That may be true, but it’s obviously not the whole truth,” as he handed her the blue box.

Kiri floundered as she read. Eventually, she muttered, “I guess not.” She asked, “A spell by the same name? Maybe?” She decided, “… Probably.”