130 (Patreon)

--

Particle Magic is now a part of the Script

Details to follow for concerned parties...

--

Erick bolted upright, launching himself out of bed. More boxes came through.

--

You have been granted the ability to purchase Condense Particle.

You have been granted 1 extra point.

One point has been automatically deducted in order to purchase Condense Particle.

Here is your new spell:

--

Condense Particle 1, instant, close range, 25 mana

Collect loose particles of a chosen type into a small area. Lasts 1 minute.

--

--

In most cases, Particle Magic now has a variant of the Physical Damage descriptor, instead of <damage>.

In most cases, Particle Spells have been finalized, based on what they were already capable of doing.

For almost all cases, and just how the same is true for all other magic, there is a [Ward] spell that will negate a Particle Spell, but it will not be as easy to negate Particle Magic as it has been. This was always a temporary solution. A more permanent solution has been found. Standard Absorption Wards will now work against Particle Magic with the Physical Damage descriptor exactly how they would work against all other physically substantive magic.

Particle Magic will now combine with other magics. Errors will no longer occur in such cases, but the resulting magics might not manifest in expected ways.

In most cases, the necessary language required to facilitate a true understanding of various Particle Spells inside of their blue box is woefully inadequate. Thus, prolific vagueness will continue to exist in all Particle Magic boxes.

Many texts have been updated.

You may, and are encouraged to, continue to invent more Particle Spells that lie outside of the Condense Particle spell line, but any such spells will be similar to Teleport Familiar or Duplicate, and will lie outside of the Open Script.

All currently invented Particle Spells also lay somewhere in the Condense Particle spell line. Experiment to find out where they lay!

In most cases, the spells under Condense Particle’s Open Access are minuscule versions of what is possible to make through one’s own power; as it has always been.

There will be no delay for many of your spells entering the Script. You still had some months for many of them, but that was an untenable solution. All of your spells are now a part of the Script. Yes, even your latest one, Control Weather. It was easier to work them all into the Script right now, instead of waiting a year. All of your major spells are still Particle Mage Only.

Many Class Abilities of Particle Mage that influence the Particle Spells of others have been eliminated. It is only through the practical, physical knowledge of particles that two Particle Mages, or other types of mages, will be able to influence the particle spells of another.

A few Class Abilities have been added to base Particle Mage. It is possible for mortals to add more Abilities to this Class. Seek out the Orrery if you wish to learn more.

All words stated here are for your benefit. Others will not receive the same notification.

Thanks for all your hard work, Erick.

~Rozeta

--

Erick read, reread, then checked his Status, looking over every single one of his Particle Spells. He saw the changes right away. Almost every single angle bracket was gone; his spells were now finalized.

And then he put all of those away and strode out into the living room, thinking.

It was time to start the day. To make breakfast, and such.

But…

What was going to happen? Erick sat down in the living room, waiting for something to happen. As the sun rose higher and dawn turned to early day, he was still waiting, and still thinking.

Poi spoke up behind him, “Sir?”

Erick turned, and smiled. “Sorry. Did I wake you with my thinking?”

“Yes.” Poi frowned a little. “That’s some announcement.”

Erick got up and went to the kitchen, saying, “Yup! So what do you want for breakfast?”

“I’ll make breakfast, today, sir. I’m sure something big is going to happen any minute now.”

“Eh! You do enough. I’m making breakfast.” He was on his way to making breakfast before he stopped to think while he was alone, but now Poi was up and about, too. Erick went to the cold box and started pulling out the good stuff that he hadn’t been able to make, but that he still wanted to eat. Candied and spicy sausage. The really good milk; 5%! The semi-magical flour, that was perfect for pancakes but cost way too much. “I feel like making a feast.” He sent out a light tendril to tap Kiri, all the way in her room, making sure to wake her as he yelled out, “Everyone up and awake!”

- - - -

Kiri jerked awake. “Wha—”

And then her eyes went wide.

A distant part of Kiri listened to Erick talk to Jane, telling her that there was no emergency, not yet, while Jane barked back that he shouldn’t have yelled out like that for no good reason. Erick had a good reason, though. The world wasn’t on fire, but something almost as shattering had happened.

Particle Magic had just become part of the Script.

She knew this well before the arguments started outside, for a notification hovered in front of her.

--

Particle Magic is now a part of the Script

Details to follow for concerned parties...

--

Notifications poured in.

Getting to sleep last night had taken way too much alcohol. Today was way too big of a day. But it was here! Finally, it was here! Kiri laughed as she got out of bed, reading as she moved. She listened to Erick and Jane and then Poi speak just beyond her door, but she didn’t listen very close. She was busy. She did not have time to go into the living room ‘for a nice spot of breakfast while they waited for something to blow up somewhere’, as Erick put it.

Because after the notifications for changes to Particle Magic, none of which were very surprising, there came another.

“Oh my gods.” Kiri’s eyes went wide. “I don’t have to go to a Registrar first?”

--

Class Quest! (Retroactive, Special Exception)

Create a perfectly constructed Particle Spell of tier 7 or higher. 0 / 1

Or

Create a Basic Tier Particle Spell. 3/1

Reward: Particle Mage

Reward: 1 Class Ability; Ability to Create Particle Spells Greatly Increased

Accept Reward? Yes / No

--

“Accept!” She laughed, feeling something expand in her core, in her very sense of self, setting her all aflutter like when she had gone flying for the very first time. Sudden, happy tears rolled down her face, then she wiped them away. Erick had warned her that she might not get [Particle Mage], even with all the work she had put in. He didn’t even tell her the qualifications; only that he would help if she didn’t qualify. And yet! She did! And retroactive!? Ha ha! She laughed again, whispering, shouting to the world, “Oh my gods!”

--

Kiri Flamecrash

Dragonkin, age 20

Level 82, Class: Particle Mage

Exp: 3.81 e18 / 9.19 e18

Class: 1/6

Points: 53

HP - 2,460/2,460 - 2,460per day

MP - 3,360/3,360 - 13,440 per day

Strength / 20 / +62 / [82]

Vitality / 20 / +62 / [82]

Willpower / 50 / +62 / [112]

Focus / 50 / +62 / [112]

--

With a few quick casts, Kiri dressed herself for the day, [Cleanse]d the ick of sleep from her scales and her body, picked up Sunny to put around her neck, and then burst out of her room.

She called out, “I just got Particle Mage!”

“That’s great, Kiri!” Erick called back, “Come on down; I’m making breakfast.”

She laughed again as she hopped down the stairs, smiling. “What sort of notification did you get this morning? I got a wall of text that [Distill]ed into a bunch of changes that everyone knew was happening.”

Erick was already cracking eggs into a bowl, while Jane made coffee behind him. Poi sat at the window with tendrils of thought coming off his head, while Teressa grumbled as she came out of her room. Sizzi was still sleeping, which came as no surprise. That girl could party. Or at least drink.

Erick smiled, joking back, “You’ve [Condense]d all those notifications down to just that?”

“No bad puns yet, please.” Jane complained, “Too early.”

“It’s never too early for puns!” Kiri shouted just for Jane, “Aren’t you excited?!”

“No.” Jane gave Kiri a flat look —or perhaps a ‘Flatt’ look. Ha!— saying, “I am not excited.”

“Killjoy.” Kiri asked, “I’ve got to see a Registrar for all the rest of these Class Quests. Mind if I take off for an hour?”

Erick smirked. “If you don’t want breakfast, go ahead. We’ll be here. We’ve all got to get checked out for soul infections once more, then I’ve got to meet with Syllea… First, I need to ask for a meeting with her. She’s been avoiding me, I think. After that, I’m thinking of following the [Gate] quest into the Forest, looking for one of the Old Dragonkin Gates. I have yet to decide how I want to tackle that particular journey, but I’ll figure it out soon enough. Probably have to get hold of Tenebrae. Somehow.”

Kiri paused her current joy as an old focus came upon her. “I would greatly like to explore the Old Dragonkin ruins.”

Erick smiled. “I thought you might. Exploring sounds nice to me, too.”

Teressa perked up. “Exploring the Forest? We’re actually going?”

“Heck yeah! Proper exploring, too, down on the ground and into those mountain-sized lost-cityscapes out there,” Erick said, pouring batter onto a hot, buttered skillet. “Wherever they are. I didn’t really see any.”

Kiri said, “The ODEC keeps those locations as a loosely guarded secret. We could probably talk to a Knowledge Mage if Tenebrae doesn’t help, but then again, Archmage Syllea would know a location, for sure.” She added, “Probably.”

Jane asked, “Anyone have any leads on one of those ancient Gates?”

“No leads, yet.” Erick said, “I saw a lot of interesting places out there, but mostly from the air, and from way too far.” He looked to Teressa, adding, “We still need to visit your tribe’s land, too, Teressa. Say the word and we’re there.”

Teressa smiled as she looked away. “Yeah. I know. I just haven’t wanted to. Maybe soon.”

“You’ve been visiting your aunt, right? Arathani?”

“Yeah. It’s been nice.” She added, “Also, trying. But that’s family for you.”

Jane burst out with a little laugh. Teressa lost her smile.

Kiri would have commiserated with Teressa at any other time, but right now, she was too hyped up to talk about family problems. And besides, the only family she had ever lost over the years was a brother, and a few uncles and aunts. Teressa had lost her entire tribe because she had run afoul of the Witch.

“Jane’s certainly a handful some of the time,” Erick said, sagely.

Jane laughed louder. “Me?! I’m not the one who killed all the Shades, old man!”

“Hey now! I could pass for 30.”

Teressa smiled, but said nothing.

Erick looked to Kiri. “So you’re not staying for breakfast?”

Kiri said, “On any other day, I would.”

“I understand, perfectly.” Erick motioned away with his hand. “So what are you waiting for? See you later! I want a full report!”

Kiri turned to Poi, asking, “Irogh still has those morning slots for soldiers in the Army, right?”

“He does.” Poi said, “You’ll have to wait in line, but you’re cleared for [Teleport]ing into the Courthouse. They got a new system set up. You’re aware of this?”

“Yes. I am. Thanks!” Kiri smiled wide. “I’ll be right back!”

She couldn’t help but laugh as she flickered away, into the sky, and then further, to the south, to where the sun was a little bit higher in the sky than it was in Treehome. Back to Spur! Directly into a small hallway in the Courthouse that was used as a [Teleport] destination for soldiers and otherwise.

Kiri stepped down onto white marble, right into the middle of a [Ward]ed space that had not been this protected the last time she had been here. Runes glowed on the walls. Soldiers up ahead, stationed beside protective runes, eyed Kiri. But Kiri hadn’t tripped any of the runes in the area, so they didn’t do much besides perk up for a moment, then settle back down. And then they looked at her, and perked up again. One of them stood at attention.

They recognized Kiri, and wasn’t that a trip! To be recognized! Of course, they only recognized her because she was attached to Erick, but one day, they would recognize her for her, for sure.

“Badge?” the unknown soldier asked, unsure.

“Hello.” Kiri turned the edge of her collar back, revealing her Army badge. It glowed with the exact same light as the runes all around; it was a resonance enchantment. If it didn’t glow, Kiri would have been on the receiving end of some powerful suppressive magics. This place certainly was a bit higher-security than it had been the last time Kiri had taken this path. “Just here for the Registrar, boys!”

The one that stood at attention, relaxed, then stepped back, saying, “Sure thing, Miss Flamecrash.”

Beyond those soldiers, was the door to the main Courthouse hallway. They opened that door for her, and Kiri happily went through. They closed the door behind her with a click as Kiri continued on, almost skipping across the white stone floor, toward the blue door down the way.

The Courthouse was barely busy at this early hour, but four other people were already waiting in line for Irogh; soldiers, every last one of them. She did not know them, for though she was technically part of Spur’s Army, she had not done much of anything routine or ‘soldier-like’ with any other soldiers, at all, except for that first month all those months ago. She was apprenticed to Archmage Flatt, after all, and his whims dictated her life.

And it was such a good life.

But one day, she’d be on her own. She almost wished that day was today, but as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she banished it. Be careful what you wish for!

The door opened. An older woman came out while a young man went right in.

Kiri had learned so much while apprenticed to Erick. Sure, he didn’t know much standardized magic at all, but that never stopped him from controlling the weather or killing every monster in millions upon millions of kilometers. Holy shit. Kiri took a moment to realize that that would be her, soon enough.

[Withering]! [Control Weather]! [Cascade Imaging]!

[Call Lightning], the base of Erick’s power! And what a basic tier spell!

Holy gods, holy gods, it’s actually happening.

Kiri searched for those spells in the Script, and she didn’t find them, but that didn’t matter. She didn’t think she would find them, anyway. They were too good. Too powerful. She would have to make them herself.

She thought for a second and came to the conclusion that [Call Lightning] probably existed outside of the Open Script. It had to be like [Duplicate], or [Teleport Familiar]. Accessible, if you knew how.

And then another thought occurred.

Oh.

Gods.

Could she get that Class Ability that let Erick effortlessly GAIN ALL PARTICLE MAGIC HE WITNESSED?!

Could she do that? Could she get [Control Weather], just like that?

TODAY?!

A tiny, maybe-crazed giggle leapt out of Kiri. She pulled it back in, stuffing that emotion down, down, down. Silencing that small, too-overjoyed part of herself back into something more proper for one of her station. She had a station, yeah? Yeah, she did. Erick could get away with being crazed, but she certainly could not; at least NOT YET!

Bwahahaha!

The other soldiers were looking at her.

She controlled herself. Mostly. That laugh had been inside her head, hadn’t it? Yes. It had. Mostly.

At least one being had been looking at her without judgment, though. Sunny curled up around Kiri’s neck, flickering happy greens, her little wings fluttering with rainbows. She was happy that Kiri was happy.

Kiri whispered to no one in particular, “Sorry.”

But she wasn’t really sorry. She was jubilant. Exuberant. Magnificently elated!

Another person shuffled into Irogh’s office as the person from before stepped out, and then away.

Soon, another person shifted through the registrar’s office.

Kiri was next!

The main hallway of the Courthouse was beginning to come alive with the normal business of the day. People from off the streets were beginning to step across the white stone, or talk to their clients in the hallway, or to argue in small voices with other lawyers standing just outside of the various courtrooms of the Courthouse.

Kiri didn’t care about any of that. Because she was next in line, and the door to Irogh’s office opened—

A voice came from the side; not from the open door.

“Miss Flamecrash.”

“Nooooo…” Kiri whisper-whined, as she turned to the person who had been approaching her for the last twenty seconds. Of course, Kiri had noticed Silverite, the sundress-clothed silver wrought Mayor of Spur. Or, actually, Sunny had noticed, and then poked at Kiri to get her to notice the silver woman walking through the crowd of not-wrought. She breathed, turned to Silverite, asking, “Can I please go inside and then come out and talk with you, Mayor Silverite? It’s a very, very big day for me. I promise I won’t take long.”

Silverite gestured away from the line, saying, “I promise I won’t take long, Miss Flamecrash. Come along now.”

Kiri reluctantly gave up her place in line. She tried to be professional about following along like a good little soldier, but that [Teleporting Platform] had already left the Guildhouse. She was most decidedly unhappy. She tried not to let it show and was mostly successful, in her own opinion. Silverite probably saw right through her. Immortals were like that.

… Erick was sort of like that. It was that Perception of his, for sure. But then again, he had always been fast on the social clues. Kiri had needed to take up [Sense Emotion] from a helpful Mind Mage to be able to do the same thing Erick could do without magic.

Silverite took Kiri down a hallway, then into one of the empty meeting rooms that any lawyer or judge could use for their purposes. She closed the door behind them.

They were alone.

Silverite began, “I need you to come back to Spur, today. Erick needs to stay away longer.”

Kiri almost shouted ‘no!’, but then she controlled herself. Erick had just spoken of journeying into the Forest, into the Old Dragonkin lands! The only reason she hadn’t gotten radically more excited when he suggested that, was because she was already at peak-joy. Today, she had become a Particle Mage!

Silverite narrowed her eyes. She waited.

“Can I ask why I need to return right now?” Kiri said, “We were planning on going to the Forest to hunt for Gates in the Old Dragonkin lands and I would dearly like to be part of that.”

“I need another person I can call upon at a moment’s notice in order to defend the city from over-sized assailants.” Silverite said, “There has been a monster attack every other night, and Archmage Wave, Obsidian, and Opal, are complaining to me over their massively increased obligations. Now that the Culling is done up there, I need you and Sizzi both to come back. Ask for something and let me give it to you, but in exchange, I need you here, and on-call.”

Kiri felt a flush of emotion. Silverite was asking for her help? And offering an exchange?

… This… This was also everything Kiri ever wanted!

Kiri rapidly said, “Of course, Mayor. I was not aware that the city was actually in danger. I will—”

But… Kiri really, truly did want to visit the Old Dragonkin lands. But, she didn’t need to visit those gravesites, did she? No; she did not. What she needed was a secure place of her own in the world. Until this very moment, Spur was not exactly that spot. Sure, there were far-off plans that were vague enough to include such a possibility. Part of her harbored the hope to someday return to Tower Town as some sort of archmage, or conqueror, but those were the dreams of a vengeful child.

A much better dream was staring her in the face, right now.

A place of power in Spur. Leverage for the future. Ever since she became Erick’s apprentice, those needs had always been nebulous stars to reach for but never quite catch.

But now?

Kiri saw her paths, and picked one.

Kiri said, “A promotion. Tax exemption—”

She almost added that she wanted to talk to the other Archmages of Spur, too, but that would have been asking for way too much. She had gotten exceedingly lucky with Erick, and that was only because of his own unique circumstances, and the fact that she was able to approach him in the training ring of Spur’s Adventurer’s Guild. You did not approach Archmages without due cause, nor did you ask of them anything that they were not already willing to give, unless you liked being set on fire or your world turned upside down. Such stories were common to people like the Headmaster.

Erick might not set many people on fire, but he certainly took the second option whenever he could.

Kiri added, “And a path to being a power in Spur, Mayor Silverite.”

Silverite said, “You are now a Specialist. It’s outside of the normal command structure. The only ones you will have to take orders from are me, Killzone, or Liquid. If you choose to stay with Erick, then you will still have to listen to Poi; he is much more trusted than you, though you are getting there. I offer you 50,000 gold in tax credit. If you stick around in Spur, then you will be a Power. That all depends on you.” She asked, “Is this sufficient?”

“Fifty tho—!” Kiri returned her wide-eyes to their normal measures of openness as she stood tall and readily agreed, “Yes.” She added, “I am going to stay with Erick. But I’ll be in Spur. I have to go back and tell them that I have to return. We truly did have plans for exploring the Forest, Mayor Silverite. Erick wants to plunder the Gate network if we can find any left.”

“You have the day. I need you and your Sunny here before night falls. Let Erick know that I don’t believe he will find any Gates; they’ve all been plundered centuries ago.” Silverite added, “When you come back, you’ll be on a night-time schedule, so be ready for that.”

“Heard and understood, Mayor.” Kiri said, “I must get back to Irogh, then back to Erick. I will be back before nightfall.”

“Good.” Silverite walked to the door and opened it, saying, “Glad to have you here.”

“Glad to be here, Mayor.”

- - - -

Kiri sat down across from Irogh, the Registrar of Spur.

The greying orcol smirked, saying, “You look like you’ve gotten some good news.”

“It’s like everything is coming together, Mister Registrar. A hundred moving pieces, all at once, converging into something wonderful. I’m less than thrilled some parts seem to be happening out of order, but that’s life.”

“I’m happy for you.” Irogh asked, “Now what can I do for you, today?”

“Class Abilities!” Kiri said, “Please and thank you.”

Irogh nodded.

Blue boxes appeared.

--

All Spell Cost Reduction. 10%

--

More Mana. 2x

--

All Particle Spell Cost Reduction. max 20%

--

More HP. 2x

--

All Ability Cost Reduction. 5%

--

More Mana Regeneration. 2x

--

More Spell Damage Done, General. 1.25x

--

More Spell Damage Done, Particle. 2x

--

Less Spell Damage Taken, General. .75x

--

Less Spell Damage Taken, Particle. .25x

--

General Spell Duration. 1.25x

--

Particle Spell Duration. 2x

--

Particle Reinforcement. All Particle Spells deal in the physical, and you’ve imbued this power into yourself. Double your Health. Casting Particle Spells restores your Health.

--

Particle Power. All Particle Spells deal physical damage, and you’ve imbued this ability into all of your magic. Effect varies.

--

Particle Spell Creation. Your ability to create Particle Spells is greatly increased.

--

Mana Shield. Damage taken is split between MP and HP

--

Hero of Veird. 3x damage done to any monster.

--

Mental Defenses. Increases your ability to withstand mental attacks and to understand if you have been targeted by a mental attack.

--

Sculpt Spell. All Spells are always affected by Major Mana Shaping, for free. Greatly reduced cost to alter ongoing Auras.

--

Lesser Summoner Savant. Your summons gain minor access to your Skills and Abilities. 5% efficiency.

--

Light Dedication. Take much less damage from Light Sources. Do much more damage with Light Sources.

--

Light Efficiency. Greatly reduce the costs of all Light attacks and spells.

--

Force Savant. Your Force Spells do more and cost less.

--

Fire Savant. Your Fire spells do more and cost less.

--

Draconic Heritage. A glimpse of High Magic. Your magic is much more effective, and you are more vulnerable to all magic. Unchangeable once selected.

--

Draconic Denial. A denial of High Magic. Your magic is much less effective, and you are resistant to all magic. Unchangeable once selected.

--

Kiri had… Several questions. Some of them were much larger than the others.

She started with the smallest question, which until this moment, she had considered the largest, asking, “I don’t get the ‘see a particle spell and get that particle spell’, Ability?”

“No.”

Simple answer. No elaboration? No elaboration.

Maybe… Maybe she didn’t understand Particle Magic as well as Erick? Or maybe that Class Ability was Erick’s alone, and it would never be anyone else’s? Well… Whatever! Kiri had years upon years to gain more spells and power and Abilities. So what if she didn’t get what she was hoping for right away?

Kiri rushed forward, asking, “Why do I have Mental Defenses? I should not qualify for that one. They very clearly told me that if anything should show that it would mean something bad had happened.”

A shadow seemed to pass across Irogh’s face, as he said, “I can’t tell you why someone outside of this office would have told you to do something with regard to what you might see inside this office. That’s outside of my jurisdiction.”

“Okay… Okay.” She resolved to speak to someone else about that when she got back to Erick. Poi would Scan her if she asked. That’s what she would do. She would ask Poi for a Scan. Kiri moved on. She eyed the Draconic pair of Abilities, then ignored them, and asked, “How does Fire Savant work with Light Dedication and Particle Power, when it comes to infrared light?”

Irogh paused, briefly seemed as though he had never been asked that question before, which, fair enough, he probably hadn’t, then he glanced to the air. He narrowed his eyes at some invisible blue box, no doubt, then said, “They all stack.” He blinked, then looked to Kiri. “I’m not sure what you asked me, so I can’t help you more than that.”

“Okay.” Kiri asked, “What about Particle Power when it comes to fighting someone under a [Ward]? I read that the interaction of Particle Magic and [Ward] has been altered, but… What’s going on there?”

“The Script has fully integrated Particle Magic into itself.” Irogh said, “All this really means is that your [Hermetic Bolts] will now be able to strike a target under a non-solid [Ward], doing damage to the [Ward] instead of the person. Attacking a solid [Ward] with [Hermetic Bolts] will do damage to that Solid Ward. Normal interactions.”

Kiri nodded along as the man spoke, as she read the list of Abilities again and again. There had been a few surprises on there, but she knew what she wanted, so she said, “I’ll take the Class Ability Slot Increase Quest, four times, please. I can complete them right now, so keep ‘em coming.”

Irogh eyed her. “Just so you’re aware, according to my math and if you take the Mana Class Abilities I think you’re going to take, it would take you 320 days at 12 hours of regen each of those days, in order to complete the first Quest of the Slot Increase Quests. You don’t have to channel into the Quest for 12 hours every day. You might be able to get that channeling down to a single hour a day, split up over 12 hours.” He said, “You’re already level 82. You might never get new points from gaining levels ever again. This is a big decision.”

“I’m aware of the repercussions, but I do not have the time nor the desire to channel into those Quests and I’m sure the Abilities I want will save my life; I am sure of this decision.” Kiri said, “Thank you for your concern.”

“Very well.”

Blue boxes appeared.

Kiri completed them, one right after the other, four times in total. 40 points vanished in the course of half a minute, before she could second-guess herself for the thousandth time. When it was over, she sighed. Those damn points had been staring at her, demanding to be used every single time she stared at her Status. And now they were gone! Thank the gods.

Irogh asked, “Which Class Abilities were you thinking?”

Kiri breathed deep, satisfied, then said, “I want the Quests for…”

- - - -

Erick lifted his eyes from his book as the air shimmered green on the other side of the living room.

Kiri popped in.

“Hey, Kiri!” Erick smiled. “How did it go? What did you get?”

Kiri giggled, saying, “So much! I got so much!” She looked around. “Is anyone else here?”

“Poi is in the bathroom, but everyone else went ahead to Nosier’s to get their soul checked out one more time. We can do that, too, now that you’re back, but what did you get?”

“I didn’t get that Ability you have that allows you to see a Particle Spell and copy it into your own Status. I don’t think anyone will ever get that one except for you.”

Erick winced. “Ah. Damn. There goes that easy idea. But hey! That means that no one else can copy what I put out there. Did you see that part in the notification about making new Class Abilities? I think a trip to the Orrery is in order!”

Kiri paused. “Uh. No. I did not get that notification.” Astounded, she asked, “Can you do that?” She rapidly answered, “I mean. Yeah! Of course you can. People invent Classes and Abilities all the time— Or at least they used to do that. Centuries ago! A thousand years ago, actually. That was part of my Magical History Class. I had forgotten about that.” She asked, “What were you thinking?”

“I don’t want to say it out loud before I invent the thing, but I’m pretty sure of at least one Ability that was missing from my list. Maybe more.” He said, “I checked out my own Status and Abilities while you were out and didn’t see much more than what I already had. Nothing of note, anyway. Particle Reinforcement and Particle Power seemed nice, but I’m not changing anything right now.” He eyed her. “So what did you actually get?”

Kiri pretended at difficulty and obstinance, but she could not keep the smile off her face, as she sent, ‘Double Mana. Double Mana Regen. 10% All Spell Cost Reduction. Particle Reinforcement. Particle Power. Light Dedication. Fire Savant. Sculpt Spell. Particle Spell Creation. And one more I can’t really talk about.’ She spoke aloud, “I’ve got to do all of the Quests for all of them, and that might take a while, but that doesn’t matter, because I finally got it!” She held up both of her hands, showing that she was only wearing one of her rings. “I had to take off your rings or else they’d have gotten absorbed, but I’m going to remake my own temporary ones for those Mana Quests as soon as I can.”

“I’m happy for you, Kiri.” He stood up, saying, “So if you can’t copy my Basic spells like I copied yours, then we’re going to have to do the ritual. [Call Lightning] is waiting for you! And then we can plan the trip to the Old Dragonkin ruins out in the Forest.”

Kiri was practically glowing, but then she dimmed. “Yeah. And I do want to go…” She breathed. She said, “But Silverite wants me back in Spur. They’re having monster problems at night and the archmages of Spur are getting angry that they have to take care of everything. Is that…” She asked, “Is that okay?”

Ah. Damn. That was disappointing.

“Well. If that’s what you want?” Erick decided, “Sure. Yeah. You can go back to Spur and help them— Wait a second. Does she need me back there?” Erick found himself with sudden questions, asking, “How did this happen? Is she ordering you to go back? I haven’t had Ophiel on many patrols in a while except to recast [Control Weather], but I was never asked to keep them around the city— Poi would have said something!” And then he looked to Kiri, and ignored his own questions to focus on his apprentice. As he had spoken, she had turned from joyful to miserable-but-hiding-it. She had likely been shoved into an awkward spot by Silverite’s request, too. But the Mayor’s request was also an opportunity, wasn’t it? Erick said, “Sorry. I don’t want to influence your decision. But...” He had expected Kiri to go all the way on his Worldly Path, because… “It’s easier to protect you when you’re near me, Kiri, and I like having you around. But. If you’re not near me, then you might not be in as much danger. Is this what you want? To go back to Spur? If Silverite is actually asking for you, directly, then this is an opportunity, yes?” He rapidly added, “I will go to bat for you if you don’t want to go back. I can field problems in Spur while we’re out in the field.”

“No. No. Thank you. But…” Kiri smiled softly, then she relaxed, as she said, “Silverite caught me in the hallway outside of Irogh’s office and asked me what I wanted in order to come back to Spur, to protect the city at night. They’re having monster troubles as the Dead City shifts into a new equilibrium. I asked for a promotion, some tax credits, and a path to power. She met my offer, so it’s the smart thing to accept her request. She specifically said that she doesn’t want you to come back yet.”

But why wouldn’t she want him back in Spur, if the city was in dange—

Ah… There was a simple answer to this question.

Not many knew what the Worldly Path meant, but Silverite would have known. Why hadn’t she told him what it meant, then? Maybe… She was probably keeping her interactions with him to an absolute minimum.

But she still had a city to protect, and because of that, she was poaching his apprentice.

Eh.

Kiri was probably safer in Spur, anyway.

“That’s fine, Kiri.” Erick said, “I’m glad for you. You’re still going to stay at the house, right?”

“Of course!” Kiri said, “And I don’t have to be back till dark, anyway.”

Erick smiled. “And now you have an excuse not to go with us to the Core.”

Kiri gave a nervous laugh, then asked, “You’re not actually going there? I thought that was a joke?”

“Not a joke.” Erick said, “We’re going to the Core, ya know, eventually.”

“Then I’m glad to have gotten out while I could!”

Erick laughed. And then he settled, with a sigh. “I’ll miss you on the rest of this Worldly Path. I don’t know how long it will take.”

Kiri said, “I’m absolutely sure that if you need me, I will be able to get away from Silverite, and Spur. I will be there whenever you call.”

“I’ll call you if I need you, but I’ll try not to call.” Erick decided, “You should work on a Domain while you’re at Spur. In fact, that’s your homework. Make a good Domain by the time I come back. Whenever that might be.”

Kiri paled, a bit. “Uh. I don’t even know where to start.”

“What were you going to work on, then?” Erick said, “Actually. Let’s you and I spend the next few hours going over whatever Particle Questions you might have, and then we can work on getting you [Call Lightning]. We don’t have to show up for the soul checkup at any set time, and your soul already looks normal enough.”

And it did. Kiri’s soul was a bright green roil of light and life just below her scales; her Shroud an ethereal existence of stabilized fire.

Kiri brightened. With a quiet joy in her voice, she said, “Absolutely. Let’s do that.”

“Jane and Teressa are out, but where is Poi… Oh.” Erick called out, “Hey, Poi! You didn’t fall in, did you?”

Beyond the closed door to the bathroom, Poi grumbled.

- - - -

The orange sands of the Crystal Forest lined the horizon like ocean waves at sunset. But this was the middle of the day, and the sky was perfectly blue. Cloudless, and getting hotter by the minute. Warm winds blew from the north. If one were much, much further north, they would feel those winds coming down from the Wyrmridge Mountains like cold rivers, but out here, those mountains were far out of sight, and the winds were like a warming ocean, sweeping across the land.

Heavy with moisture but devoid of clouds and rain for a variety of reasons, one of which were the invisible Cloud Giant cities that strolled the Crystal Forest, stray air flows kicked off of tall dunes, sending itself spinning as it curled sand into the sky, creating minor dust devils. A few of those dust devils might have been air or sand elementals. A few were moisture elementals, which were almost like water elementals, but lesser.

Here and there under the moving oceans of wind, sat crystalline monsters, pretending at being plants but failing miserably. The agave that those monsters pretended to be did not grow this far north, for the winds of the Water Season were upon the land, and the monsters here had to hold onto the ground and readjust their positions all the time. Their meters-long crystalline leaves chimed against each other, but the wind was not strong enough to break them. The wind was strong enough to break the land bit by bit, moving the ocean of sand, which, in turn, would have broken any true Crystal Agave, which was why there were no agave this far north; they’d get buried under such a breaking force.

Another breaking force appeared in a flash of white light; three people.

Less than a second later, more light flashed, green and white, and the people were suddenly surrounded by flapping not-birds and undulating not-couatls. There was a man dressed in robes of brown and tan, who was not as young as he appeared to be. Another was a young woman with green scales, dressed in greens to match those scales. The third was just there to watch; he held a magic rod in his hand. He was prepared for success, and also failure.

A few small words of encouragement carried away on the wind.

Both men stepped away.

The young woman stepped forward.

She stood under the heavy sky, alone, and yet not. She flickered with green light as her emerald eyes scanned the blue above. She had the words. She had the understanding. The sky held the promise of rain, just as it had in all Water Seasons of the past. Usually, this promise was broken because the land itself had been broken by millennia old monsters and magics. But today...

Today, the young woman just needed to find her voice. She needed to bridge a gap in the natural order.

She needed magic.

Magic came upon her like a friendly stranger.

Mana flowed across the land. She could feel it now, and it could feel her. She was but a pinprick of light in the brilliance of the day, while the friendly stranger was an entire world of possibility. A brush of foreign power that was at once both odd and familiar, touched upon the young girl, as if asking if this was correct. As if asking for permission.

As if asking for a promise.

The young woman had done much with magic, but never before had she felt the mana as she had that day. Maybe it had been like this, a bit, when she called her [Familiar] from the mana, or when she had seen that mage wrap that wyrm in fire, all those years ago, or when she had done this very same thing on much smaller scales in order to make her own smaller magics. She realized, now, that what she felt in this moment was the same thing she saw, as though from a distance, every time she saw her mentor create a new spell. He would not have flinched at the power she had prepared to call, for that power was ready to answer.

The force of that answer was frightening.

The young woman’s voice cracked on her very first word.

The mana roiled—

The woman laughed at her mistake; nervous and yet even more determined than ever. She tried again, her voice growing strong as she spoke to the sky in words that could never convey the entirety of her thoughts.

But she could convey her feelings.

In this case, those feelings were directed up and out, but also at a spire of stone in the distance.

“From ground to sky, and cloud to mount, from flash we mouth a subtle count!

“A strike of three from there to thee, marks the end of ancient trees.

“From ground to sky, and cloud to mount, from flash we mouth a subtle count.

“From high to low be now call’t, in this place, a [Lightning Bolt]!”

They were old words, spoken almost a year ago over a dinner between new friends. To those new and now old friends, they had been the words of a man who didn’t know how magic worked. To the man who had spoken them, those words were filled with ideas of electrons and charge differentials and the rubbing of moisture against moisture in systems so vast that no one person could ever hope to comprehend or control the whole; so he asked magic to fill the gaps.

The young woman had done the same, on this day, but she had the benefit of established magic helping her along.

As the original caster looked on with a dozen different viewpoints, preparing to intercede should something horrific happen, he watched as his apprentice recreated his first magic. He smiled, even before the magic took hold, for he saw the world respond to his apprentice, and it was good.

The sky shifted, but barely. Even if you were watching, you might have missed the wispy white brushstrokes of clouds that painted a part of the sky to something other than blue. The mentor noticed, but then he noticed something else: the shadow produced by that cloud.

That shallow darkness seemed a living thing. It was expected. It was there. It did not interfere.

Eyes turned fully to the sky.

The sky charged.

A brilliant bolt of green-white lightning flashed across the blue, to strike the distant spire.

The young woman collapsed, bleeding from her eyes, her ears, and her nose. She coughed up blood as she was tapped with a glowing rod. Her world was pain, but her mentor held her in his arms and told her everything was going to be okay. He listed her internal injuries to her; they were mostly burst blood vessels caused by something he didn’t quite understand, but the rod’s magic was already mending her body. He did not mention that her soul was slightly damaged, but that too, looked to be minor. She smiled, weakly. Then she held out a familiar blue box.

Erick smiled, overjoyed for his apprentice. “Good job, Kiri. I knew you could do it.”

Kiri groaned and laughed at the same time. Blood trickled from her mouth. A [Cleanse] cleaned up the blood, and her laugh turned pure for two moments. Then she groaned again. She tried to sit up, but only managed to collapse back into Erick’s arms.

Kiri closed her eyes, and said, “I feel like I got run over by a wyrm.”

“I was out of it for a while, too.” Erick said, “I only had access to [Treat Wounds] but you have [Greater Treat Wounds]. You should get better faster than it took me.”

Poi spoke up, “Congratulations, Specialist Kiri.”

Kiri opened her eyes, and said, “Thank you.” She leaned up, trying to stand. Erick helped her to her feet, then held her upright when she almost wobbled back to the ground. She breathed out, “Ohh... That’s an uncomfortable rush.”

Erick said, “You look like you’ll be fine. Maybe don’t attempt any of the other Particle Spells you’ve seen me make until you get better, and never without supervision and help. Maybe take a week? I’ll check up on you each day, but your soul damage is minor. As far as I’ve been able to tell, people walk around with similar damage and are fine for it—” He paused. “Or maybe… are they depressed? Or something? Oh. That’s an idea.” He shoved that thought away and said to Kiri, “You need to work on your mana sense. You need at least two, maybe three things to make it as a power in this world. You need a Domain. You need [True Sight] and all the other Sights, and those come from a mana sense, so you need a mana sense. And you need a place to call your own, along with allies.” He smiled, saying, “One out of three ain’t bad.”

“I will take your words to heart.” Kiri breathed deep, smelling the warm, moisture-rich air. She said, “I just want a moment, then we can go back to Treehome.”

Erick said, “Of course.”

The young woman stared out across the land, to spy the spire in the distance. A black mark adorned the tip, like a splash of ink scattered upon the orange stone. She sighed. She smiled. She was ready to go.

The older man who was not, the emerald woman, and the sapphire guard, all vanished in a flicker of light. The not-birds and the not-couatls vanished in the following seconds.

When everyone was gone, the shadow around the base of the stone spire became something darker, but only briefly. The Darkness left as fast as he had come, gifting a laugh to the wind that was almost too quiet to hear.

- - - -

Kiri stood in a familiar room in one of the towers of Nosier’s Roots, near the top. The orcol-projection of the Arbor stood in front of her with his hand hovering above her head. Erick watched as a profound number of eyes opened in the manasphere, and gazed upon the young greenscale. The eyes blinked, and then departed.

Nosier said, “Clean. Minor soul damage from some recent event. A day of rest and you should be fine.”

Kiri sagged just a bit; relieved.

This was the last such scan for Erick’s people. Everyone else had already gone through this process.

Erick stood to the side and saw the end of his involvement with Arbor Nosier, but he didn’t quite know if he should ask the question that was on his tongue.

He decided to ask, anyway, “Is the generalized soul damage I see on people’s souls out there on the street from some mental issue, or from something else?”

Nosier smiled wide, and then instructed, “The harshness of life is often a cracking force upon the soul; this is the nature of existence, and there is nothing to be done save to strive for greatness and then to achieve it. But in practical terms: they probably just tried to make some spell or otherwise, as I guess your apprentice has done. Knowing which has happened usually requires asking the person in question. And now for my question—”

“That’s not good enough.” Erick said, “If you want to exchange questions, I need a better answer than that.”

“My question is not that large, and your answer just now was the best I can do, for I do not work in soul magics except for defense.” Nosier moved right along, asking, “What are the requirements for Particle Mage?”

“Nope.” Erick added, “And I cannot believe that you think those two questions are anywhere near the same value.”

“I need not find out from you. Someone in this world will have met the requirements besides your apprentice.” He looked to Kiri. “Congratulations, by the way. I can tell you gained a Class and I believe I know which one. I offer you the same question, and the same level of reciprocal answer.”

Kiri shut that down, saying, “I cannot, sir Arbor.”

Nosier shrugged. He turned back to Erick, looming over him, saying, “Someone will let me purchase that information. Somewhere in this world, someone has achieved Particle Mage aside from you and your apprentice. The value of this answer is limited only by a time frame.”

“Still: no.” Erick said, “Ask a different question.”

Nosier sighed. Then he asked, “Where are you going to plant your next Yggdrasil? Surely you have seen the ‘Expand Treehome’ Quest? Yes? When are you going to formally ask us about that Quest?”

“… Ah.” Erick glanced at his blue box for Yggdrasil, then turned back to Nosier, saying, “I can’t plant another one yet. Not sure what the limitations are, there.”

“So you are planning on partaking of our offer?”

“… Yes.” Erick had been toying with the idea of ‘Expanding Treehome’ with Yggdrasil, but it wasn’t till then that he decided, “Yes. That is the plan. But I’m not sure why I haven’t gotten another planting.”

“What’s the wording? This does not count as reciprocation; if you are planting him here, I need to know.”

Erick considered the strategic information Noiser was requesting, and then decided that if anyone would know how this ‘arbor-thing’ was going to go, it would be Nosier. And he was right; you couldn’t very well ‘Expand Treehome’ without the consent of the current Arbors. So, Erick said, “All Yggdrasil are the same creature, but only one Yggdrasil is the World Tree. The World Tree has yet to be planted. Summon Yggdrasil has as many maximum summons as the World Tree allows, with a minimum of 2. Current Maximum: 2.” Erick said, “I am almost completely sure that the Yggdrasil at Candlepoint is the main trunk, but I am not so sure. I’m not even sure how multi-trunk Arbors work. None of you all are multi-trunk summons, are you?” He added, “Not even Redarrow is a multi-trunk summon, though he looks like a grove of trees.”

Nosier leaned back, thinking. The emerald mana in the air around him turned thicker. His eyes clouded over in green. And then he came back to himself. “In all things, time is necessary for growth. Yggdrasil will grow more than most. Him having multiple bodies is a nuance to the usual working…” Nosier glanced at Yggdrasil’s [Scry] orb, saying, “Your Yggdrasil is a unique specimen in that we know what he will become if given time. Yggdrasil is not unique in the ability to have multiple bodies.

“It might seem to the world at large that the creators of us Arbors only made single-trunk Arbors. But this is not what has happened. This is survivor’s bias.

“Multi-trunk Arbors have never worked out for one reason or another, but mostly because the split of power from one to ten weakens the whole, making them susceptible to soul attacks, or other infections. For multiple reasons, I doubt Yggdrasil will have this issue, but all multi-body summons have some issues in their first years of real life that single-body summons do not.” Nosier glanced to Ophiel, sitting on Erick’s shoulder, as he said, “For your Ophiel, I suspect there will be a fight for dominance. There will be differentiation of minds, souls, and bodies. Shifting biology will come, of course, and that first attempt at procreation will be awkward for all involved. There is a possibility that you, as the summoner, might try to control the life you have made, thus becoming an accidental slaver in the process.” He added, “I doubt you will have the Slaver-issue, but Yggdrasil will have some of them.”

“But that’s a hundred years away?” Erick glanced at Yggdrasil’s [Scry] orb, saying, “He has time to learn before he becomes himself.”

Nosier smiled softly, saying, “A hundred years is nothing, Erick. It will be over before you know. I still remember being an Arbor of Treehome a thousand years ago, back when our community was much different. We used to have a sister-city on the southern side of the Wyrmridge Mountains, but then Ar’Kendrithyst erupted from the center of that land and then the Crystal Mimics came. With your obvious ability, I have no doubt that you will either plunge this world into untold ruin, or you’ll be around for longer than I am, helping where you wish to help.” With a shrug, he added, “Unless you get yourself killed. Which can happen to anyone.”

Erick didn’t know exactly what to say to that, so he said, “I didn’t actually ask for an answer.”

“Ha!” Nosier said, “We can dispense with the [Strike]-for-[Strike]. With the day’s final Scans, our little foray into Cleansing the Forest has come to a close, and you have proven yourself as a valued guest of Treehome. Speak openly. Ask what you will. Go and come as you please. My library is open to you whenever you wish, Erick, so don’t hesitate.” He said to Kiri, “And you, too, Miss Flamecrash.” He asked, “Are you going to stay in Treehome for a little while longer? Or are you moving on? I haven’t heard anything about that Converter Angel.”

Erick felt a warmth in his chest as Nosier spoke. He replied with that warmth, saying, “Thank you, Nosier. I haven’t heard anything regarding the Angel either, except that it’s still on Celes. Kiri is going back to Spur tonight, but the rest of us are headed off to the Old Dragonkin lands in search of a Gate.”

“Oh!” Nosier brightened. “You are? I did not know if that was actually going to happen. You must speak to Redarrow. He runs the Old Dragonkin Expedition Center—” He paused. He said, “Hmm. I was going to tell you a secret, but I will inform Redarrow instead. It will be his prerogative if he wishes to speak with you. Anyway. Speak to Redarrow about adventuring in search of a Gate. He might know a location to search, but all the ones I knew about are long gone... Actually. I would go for another round of [Strike]-for-[Strike]. For starters: You didn’t see a Gate out there when you were Imaging the whole Damned Forest? Surely you know that they’re giant squares of solid metal. That should be searchable.”

“… I looked, but I did not find one. I researched what they were supposed to look like, so I know what I’m looking for, but I still got no results.” After he switched away from Imaging for Gates, Erick got quite a lot of results when he searched for specific metals of all kinds, but those maps were wholly blue and not very helpful; there was a lot of metal in the Forest. Besides that, he was in the middle of Imaging for monsters, anyway. Erick said, “I’ll go see Redarrow, but I had a bargain of trade from Tenebrae that I was going to use for that, specifically because he said he knew the location of an intact Gate.” Erick sighed. “But Tenebrae seems unwilling to want to telepathically talk with me.”

Nosier laughed. “He is a rather ornery little man, isn’t he. Just go talk to Redarrow, instead, and don’t mind his weirdness; the people of the ODEC will tell you how to behave. And take care, Erick. Don’t go dying out there.”

“I’ll be seeing you around, I’m sure.”

- - - -

While Erick was busy cleaning up his parts of the hotel room and Imaging some of the Forest to make sure that he didn’t miss any obvious Gates hiding in the Green, Kiri was already done with her room. Kiri laid in bed, resting for a little while. They were all waiting for Jane and Teressa to come back to the hotel. Kiri was waiting for something else.

Poi opened the door to her room and came inside.

Kiri sent, ‘Thanks for doing this.’

‘It’s no trouble, except that it’s troubling it needs to be done, at all.’ Poi, ever the professional, asked, ‘Do you consent to a [Lesser Deep Scan] with regard to missing or altered memories?’

‘Please, and yes. I consent. It had to have happened recently, right?’

‘It could have happened anywhere in the last year, ever since you came to Spur and became part of Erick’s entourage.’

‘I know you have to lie as part of the job, Poi, but I’m absolutely sure I’ve been scanned for memory alterations before now. You probably do this routinely. So why didn’t you tell me I had been altered?’

‘I do NOT do this routinely. I NEVER do this without consent. Never insult me in this way again.’

Kiri winced. ‘Sorry.’

Poi sighed. He breathed. ‘Apology accepted. Shall I proceed?’

‘Yes; I’ll shut up now.’

Poi closed his eyes. Tendrils of intent flowed from him to touch Kiri from head to toe, connecting with her entire nervous system; connecting with her entire mind. Kiri forced herself to relax. Relaxation wasn’t necessary, and the Scan did not hurt, but it was still a vulnerable thing to put herself into.

A minute later, Poi opened his eyes.

He shook his head. He frowned. ‘Nothing?’

Kiri frowned. She sat up, onto the edge of her bed. ‘Nothing?’

‘No memory alterations. No soul-shifting, according to Nosier; I don’t check for that. No lingering scars on your history. No oddities at all, except for those events that introduced you to Mind Magic in the first place.’ Poi said, ‘You do have some rather high aspirations, but aside from those eventually killing you if you play them wrong, I see nothing too abnormal at all.’

Kiri’s frown deepened. ‘Okay. So. Why do I have the Class Ability: Mental Defenses? Should I take it? I really feel like I should.’

‘… I’m going to have to get back to you on that one. You might need to visit someone else for a better Scan.’ Poi said, ‘But aside from that: You’re already high-profile, Kiri. I would suggest you stay away from any Mind Magic. [Sense Emotion] is already treading a line. Erick’s [Call Lightning] already puts you on several watchlists the world over. You already have a history with us, and that gives you some goodwill, but to actually go further means that you are either tied to us even more, or…’ He seemed to decide something, then he said,‘Or bad things happen and you will never know they were done.’

Kiri felt a chill.

He asked, ‘Why not go for Draconic Denial? That’s always a good one.’

‘For all your ability to read people, you would think that I would go for the Denial option? Please.’

‘It would be hard on Erick if you died to your own magic.’

‘… Yeah. But…’

Kiri had no further response to that. She did not want to hurt the man who had raised her as high as he had. But at the same time… Limiting herself to lesser magics? No.

‘Maybe I’ll just go with generalized less spell damage taken. Or Mana Shield.’

‘Those are always good fallback options. I wish Erick would have taken Mana Shield. He could probably survive almost any one attack, if he had.’

‘Better than Blood Mana, for sure.’ Kiri shivered, involuntarily.

Poi said, ‘Blood Mana is not that bad. He barely uses it. I thought I’d have to be explaining to Silverite why my charge was bleeding everywhere whenever he cast, but thankfully that has not been the case.’

‘I’m sure that will change, given time.’

Poi shivered. ‘Not funny.’

‘… It was a little funny. Besides! You’re there for him!’

Poi grumbled.

- - - -

Arbor Redarrow was a stately grove of grey-bark trees of fifteen trunks in total with a looming, bright-red canopy. He, for Arbor Redarrow was just one tree despite looking like fifteen, sat atop a land of volcanic glass. Composed of black buildings with sharp edges and shaper looks, Arbor Redarrow’s District was home to many dragonkin, and the proud host of the Old Dragonkin Expedition Center. The ODEC was one of the main buildings in that volcanic-black set of buildings directly under Redarrow. That museum boasted the largest collection of Old Dragonkin lore, artifacts, and history, of anywhere on Veird.

“Except for probably the Headmaster and other similarly strong or hidden forces out there,” Kiri said.

Erick, Kiri, Poi, Teressa, and Jane, walked down the street, toward Arbor Redarrow, toward the ODEC.

Jane was focused on a different problem. She stated, as though in disbelief, “And you’re really going back to Spur. Right before we go explore Old Dragonkin ruins. Really.”

“Silverite asked me to come back, and so I will.” Kiri said, “I don’t appreciate it, but I am going to comply. Besides. If there is a Gate out there, it will no doubt be underground and well guarded by either dragons or wyrms or some other awful monster. I don’t need to get in Erick’s way any more than you do.”

Erick said, “Hey now. No one is getting in anyone’s way. I will not be able to do this alone, but if Silverite needs help, and Kiri is willing to give it, then that’s fine with me.” He asked Teressa, “How dangerous is the usual expedition into the Forest?”

With a glint of something joyful in her eyes, Teressa said, “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

Kiri winced. Jane smirked.

They had to navigate the crowds a little, but they reached the ODEC and walked inside. Erick introduced himself to the receptionists, weathered a bevy of disbelieving stares and words, then someone who knew what was going on came out from the back. After a few profuse apologies from the staff, for the Chieftain was out, and after being given a few instructions to follow when meeting with Arbor Redarrow, Erick stepped up an obsidian staircase, headed toward an audience with Redarrow.

Jane, Kiri, Teressa, and Poi, followed.

- - - -

Under the Arbor, at the top of the building, in a place both familiar to Erick, and not, they met. Instead of craggy black teeth rimming the place, there were grey arbors. Instead of nothing in the flat caldera of this recreation of the volcanic crater of the gods, there was a shallow pool of unnaturally clear waters. Instead of mists filling the air, steam curled here and there.

A path of dry volcanic stone led from the edge of that pool, toward the center. At the center was a raised basin of water, barely shorter than Erick, that overflowed with clear waters. Steam rolled away from that fountain, across the stone and obscuring a man who was not a man at all.

Their guide had pointed Erick toward the staircase, but that guide was all the way back at the bottom. The only ones in this sacred, steamy and yet cool place, were Erick and his people.

Erick proceeded. Others followed.

A wind blew from the side. Steam cleared. The person in the center of the surrounding Arbor was not an orcol, but a dragonkin, and also not. Their soul was as diffuse as the steam in the air, while their body was a construction of intent, without any blood. Redarrow lifted his head, he flicked his tail, and Erick almost stopped, in shock.

The man was a bright scarlet dragonkin with a tail, a muzzle, and a triplicate set of horns that surrounded his head like broken halos made of twisted spears. He stepped to the side. He had legs like a bird’s, with the talons to match. And he was large. Not as large as Nosier, at least not by body-height. Maybe he was only most of the way to being orcol-sized. But by another metric, he was much larger.

Wings lifted from Redarrow’s back. Large, massive wings, each at least three meters across, each as brilliant a red as a sunset, stretched out across the small spit of land around the man. Steam curled as he moved. He was stretching. He had likely been staring into that basin for a long time. His wings relaxed, then wrapped down around his shoulders to act like some sort of bat-wing cape. The only thing he seemed to be wearing was a simple pair of tan shorts. Those shorts were clean and stylish, and kinda at odds with his whole dragon-ness.

“Greetings!” Redarrow extended a hand down and out, his claws open and inviting, as he called out, “Did y’all come for a reading?”

Erick kept walking forward, but his stride broke as he heard the slight twang in Redarrow’s voice. A reading? What was that about? He kept going, though, as he had been instructed to lay his problems out there as fast as possible and to let whatever happens, happen. Erick said, “We seek a Gate of Old Dragonkin make, out in the Forest, and to know what secrets you see regarding Yggdrasil’s future, Grand Prognosticator.”

Redarrow’s head bounced as he said, “Oh! Okay okay okay!” He lifted both hands out from below his wing-cape, extending his open claws to both sides of his water basin. He closed his eyes and breathed in the steam— He stopped, suddenly.

Erick stopped on the edge of Redarrow’s somewhat-dry spot of land, in the center of the not-caldera, where his basin flowed steam and waters that flowed into the air and splashed atop the black, glassy ground.

Redarrow opened his ruby-red eyes and stared at Erick. He had no pupils; just light. “You’re Erick Flatt! Right. I knew that. You’ve been in Treehome for a while. We just did some readings for you two weeks ago.” He looked away. The light of his eyes flickered strong, then dimmed back to a low heat, as he turned back to Erick. “That seems to have gone well. Moon Reachers Dead. Deathsoul Shrooms dead. A thousand other, smaller targets of opportunity… also dead. Some stragglers in the mountains that might make themselves known in decades to come. But that’s acceptable. I will warn the appropriate... people… Hmm.” He looked to Erick, his eyes turning brighter once again.

Erick would have been lost if he hadn't been warned that Redarrow liked to go off on tangents if he deemed them more important than the petitioner’s questions, but what Erick had not been told, was that Redarrow was obviously some sort of prognosticator; those people had been mentioned more than a few times while Erick had been helping to clear out the Forest.

He did not actually know who the Prognosticators were, until this moment, for he hadn’t asked, partially because he doubted he would have been told, but mostly because once he had been told, he knew that he would seek these elusive people out… And then he’d set his magic back weeks, or more, attempting to figure out exactly how ‘prognostication’ worked.

Erick almost jumped for joy at having this piece of the puzzle of Treehome finally fall in his lap. He had expected to talk to Redarrow about a trip out to the Forest, possibly involving logistics or whatnot. He had not expected to actually find one of Treehome’s elusive future-tellers.

… The guide back there, at the bottom of the stairs, had never given this away. Erick had assumed this would be a normal meeting.

Erick smiled.

His joy was short-lived.

With bright red eyes, Redarrow’s words came out stilted, “What has...” He glanced to the side, at Kiri. His face fell. He sighed. He said, “You were touched by a powerful force, and recently. When did it...” He looked to Poi, then glanced over everyone else. “No one else…” He looked to Kiri again. “It happened right below— What! Right below? How... When you visited that exhibit that was on display, when you first came to Treehome.” He narrowed his bright red eyes. He was angry. “They come into my home and…” He focused on Kiri. “I cannot see which power messed with your winding thread, but it did happen, and it was the work of a complete professional. I have rarely ever encountered someone who has been so smoothly fate-fucked, and possibly mind-fucked. I am only guessing at the second occurrence; Mind Magic is not my field.”

Erick’s eyebrows went up as he smiled, asking everyone, but mostly Redarrow, “What?” He had even more questions, now, as his smile left him, and he focused on the most important part of what he had just heard. He looked to Kiri. “Is she safe?”

Kiri’s eyes were wide. Jane angled toward the greenscale, while Poi jolted, and Teressa looked like she wanted to take a half a step away from Kiri, then she thought better of that. Teressa remained where she was, at Kiri’s side.

Redarrow forestalled any immediate issue, saying, “I barely saw what had been done to your apprentice until just now, and only because I looked further and deeper than I usually do, and only because something unexpected has occurred.” He leveled his burning eyes at the young greenscale, saying, “Your fate was tied to Erick’s rather tightly until today. Today, you begin what others might call a divergence, but what I would call a shadow cast by the light. An echo of what has come before; similar, yet different. For your future, I tell you this: Boldness has always served you well, but if you falter, you will falter hard. Good luck.”

Erick almost spoke up again, but Redarrow was not done.

The large, winged dragonkin turned to Erick. “By your feats of prowess and your power, you have earned two readings. One has been chosen for you, for you would not have picked the correct reading. I will allow you to choose your second.”

Erick rapidly thought, then said, “I did not come for any readings, but to talk of events and logistics and to ask—”

“Oh! I see. I see.” Redarrow said, “My mistake. You want directions to a Gate? Trying to recreate that network? Ah. Yes. I see. I will help with this…” He glanced away, his eyes brightening, before he turned back. “If Tenebrae accompanies you, he will die. If he does not, others will die. Hmm. What is the value of a life? A pinprick of light upon the background of reality? A beacon in the darkness; a lighthouse, perhaps. What is the value of a life, when comparing bonfires to candles?” He added, “All of that is barely-there misty Fate. Choose as you will and already have. Maybe Tenebrae will simply be humbled. Maybe everyone will live. The chances of either are rather low. But! What I see does not always come to pass, while what comes to pass, is always seen before it arrives.”

The man sat down onto a small bench Erick was sure had not been there before now. His wing unfolded from his shoulders, to lay behind him, as he leaned over his bird-bath of bubbling waters. He stared into the steam. He said nothing else.

Erick got out, “Red—”

Redarrow interrupted him, “The Arrow of Time is done. Please come again another da—”

“I have one boon left.”

“Bah!” Redarrow’s eyes glowed bright. “I have given you two! We are quits! No more quest—”

“I can interrupt, too. I can be a bastard, too.” Erick said, “You answered me without me asking the question. In such a case, how can it be that you have answered anything I asked of you, at all?”

Redarrow paused. He looked at Erick. Then he grabbed a piece of paper out of the air and folded it up a few times. When he was done, he said, “Go ahead. Ask your questions.”

Erick nodded, then said, “So what’s that supposed to be? A list of—”

“Gods dammit.” Redarrow unfolded the paper. “You were supposed to ask the questions I already wrote out! Not just jump right to demanding to know what this damned thing is!” He crumpled the paper and threw it at Erick. It sailed five meters and bounced off a sheet of light, then landed in a grip of Erick’s light. Redarrow said, “Read it at your leisure!”

Erick held up the paper. It was absolutely filled with tiny text.

Ah. He understood. Redarrow had written this out with the plan of showing that he already knew everything that Erick was going to ask, for he had written down all the answers ahead of time.

Erick began reading,

“Erick: What is the purpose of life?

“Redarrow: What you make of it! Ask me a real one.

“Erick: Where is the Gate?

“Redarrow: Where Tenebrae says it is.

“Erick: What happened to Kiri?” Erick paused his reading, then said, “Really? You thought I was going to wait till question three to ask after her? And I already know the purpose of life. I would have gotten to Kiri at question one. Two, at the very least.”

“The future is not always a sure thing.” Redarrow nodded at the paper in Erick’s hands, saying, “That is the answer to question ten, and also question twenty five, by the way, as it deals in teaching you prognostication, which is questions and answers twenty through thirty four.” He said, “I will admit, though, that what is happening right now is something I failed to predict.” His eyes glittered red as he stared at Erick, saying, “And that is interesting.”

“W—”

“It’s interesting because this rarely happens. Questions forty and forty one. The answers are thus: Most people are simple. I am not disparaging them. They simply are simple. They work routines. They have dreams they attempt to achieve. This applies to everyone from peasant to emperor. Adventurers are a bit tougher. This is bec—” He stopped. He flinched. He asked, “Why do you think this is?” And then, finding his question correct, he nodded. “Yes. I should ask you why you think this is. Tell me?”

Erick glanced to the paper in his hands. It certainly did hold a lot of answers to a lot of questions Erick had thought to ask. He read and understood each of them with just a glance, and then he looked to Redarrow, and said, “The reason I’m messing up your future-telling has something to do with Spatial Magic.”

“… You’re rather sure of that. How interesting. I see my written answers are not good enough. I will explain.” Redarrow said, “There is something to be said for Spatial Magic’s influence on Fate, since there is a lot more overlap between those two schools of magic than most would guess. Personally, and according to all the history I have ever experienced, Spatial Mages and Prognosticators get along just fine; both schools of magic don’t unduly affect the other. I have even met other planars, so the bubbling idea you were about to ask me about if your planar-ness is messing up my prognostication? That might account for some variance in my foreseen futures, simply due to the fact that you have come to Veird from a very, very long way. But this does not account for all of my problems reading you. Not by a [Long Bolt].” He added, “Do you know why Melemizargo considers us all to be fake people?”

Several questions Erick had barely thought to ask, came to the forefront of his mind. Chief among them were, ‘Is Melemizargo right about Veird being fake?’ and as a corollary to that, came another: ‘Am I actually on my deathbed in some hospital back on Earth, out of my gourd and imagining all of this?’. Both were unprovable either way, so Erick mostly ignored those every-so-often nagging notions.

He focused instead on the ideas of Spatial Magic.

All Spatial Spells, from [Blink] to [Teleport] worked on the idea of a person temporarily inhabiting a different present, and then fully inhabiting that different present; in effect, ‘teleporting’ from one place to another.

This, obviously, must have something to do with future-telling. But Redarrow did not seem to think that Erick’s long distance ‘Teleport’, or more appropriately, the [Gate]-ish event that brought him and Jane to Veird, was a wrench in Redarrow’s ability to Prognosticate.

And now he was talking of Melemizargo’s thoughts that this world was fake?

Erick could roll with the conversation, though he seemed to be rolling a bit further than usual.

He did have something of a theory about Melemizargo considering everyone fake, but it was not complete. He decided to answer Redarrow in a manner which would likely demand more information.

Erick said, “Because he’s a Prognosticator even more powerful than you.”

“Close. But rather far from the truth. And now we’re back to my written answers.” Redarrow smiled, and said, “It’s the concept of time, itself. Gods live beyond time; they are timeless. But also… Not. They see this New Cosmology like we would read a book. Some of the best Prognosticators are barely able to read a paragraph ahead. Some can read the title. Very, very few are able to see the synopsis, and lo! What a skill that is! Once in a millennium Prognosticator! Even I am not that good. Even I have never met someone like that. Back when the Grand Eye walked the world, I was but an idea in my creator’s mind. He took up after her in order to create me, but I never got to meet her.

“But that is a tangent, and unimportant for the Now. Back to time. Back to gods. Back to Melemizargo and his idea of a fake world.

“You see: Gods live among the library. They can see every book and read every variable copy.

“This is a simplification.

“And it was not always this way.” Redarrow said, “I understand that in the Old Cosmology, time flowed differently. It was more subjective. People could control their own time, to a certain degree. Gods controlled time the best. Where they tread, everyone lived at the same time. It had to have been awfully confusing compared to what we have today, for though I have heard of how it worked —second hand and through many different sources— I still cannot quite wrap my head around it all.

“But to Melemizargo, this world must seem rather false. Perhaps he is too close to the library. Perhaps he is too close to a simple reader, passing through. Or perhaps he has read every single book there has ever been written. Gods can deal with this level of simplification, I think; they can deal with living in a smaller world where things seem simple. If they were not able to do this they would have gone insane and killed us all, just like Melemizargo, therefore, they have some way to mitigate this tendency toward insanity because all they have to play in is the single sandbox with all the pieces of sand already counted. Melemizargo, however, sees everything around him from both his draconic eyes, and godly eyes. He cannot shut off his ability to See, and it drives him insane reading the same damn thing all the time.

“I am lucky in that I am not a god. I imagine I would get bored rather fast.” Redarrow smiled. “But you, Erick… You, and even Jane there. You are moving targets, more so than most. You are not simple. You are chaos, and your Particle Magic is even more chaos. Perhaps, even Chaos. I gotta tell you, it’s making this Telling quite a chore. I have had to revise my conversation with you a hundred different times since we started, and I am still getting it wrong, even now.”

Erick started, “—

“HOWEVER.” Redarrow spoke over him, “I am going to call it quits, here. I am not Melemizargo. I don’t take pleasure in not knowing what comes next. I imagine this is because I am mortal. If I was multi-millennium old, I would likely be the other way— Ah.” He glanced away. His eyes brightened, then dimmed. He looked back to Erick. “Just checking. Yes. You haven’t changed that future. Good to know some things remain true even in the face of Chaos. Now be off with you. You have your answers. You have gotten more than most… Wait.” He stared down into his basin of steaming water. “Okay.” He looked up. “One more question. Make it good, and before you ask, know that knowing a version of the answers rarely lets you avoid the pitfalls.”

Erick instantly asked, “Who shot that antirhine missile at Syllea?”

“Another surprise!” Redarrow laughed, then said, “Cultists. Syllea came here a week ago and asked after that very same thing. I believe the man’s name was ‘Edolphis’. He’s dead now. Unmarked Forest grave. He was injured by stray spells when you and Syllea fought, only to succumb to his wounds afterward. We raided the man’s hideout before you started on the Moon Reachers.

“And to answer the question you should have asked: Search the Wyrmridge west of the Firemaw volcanoes. It is there where you will find Tenebrae.”

“… Thank you.” Erick looked to his answer sheet, then said, “This helps, a lot.”

“I know it does. It was the easiest way for me to set you upon the proper trajectory.” Redarrow said, “Please go, now. I was hoping that we could be best friends, but I really do not like what Fate does when you’re around. Think of me when you’re off your Worldly Path. And no: the Path should have made your Fate even more solid. You should be easier to read. Not harder. I have no idea what’s up with the Angel and I am not getting involved with that. Thanks for not asking me. Anyway! I’m always happy to answer questions of the past for allied archmages. Just… Not for you, and not right now. Goodbye, Erick. And don’t tell people that I’m a Prognosticator. I prefer when they discover that for themselves. It makes for more exciting Readings.”

Redarrow’s words felt final.

So Erick left it at that.

Erick nodded, saying, “Goodbye, Redarrow.”

He turned, and left. Kiri, Poi, Teressa, and Jane, bowed toward Redarrow, then followed Erick out of there.

- - - -

At first, Jane had been transfixed that Redarrow was a dragonkin like Apogee, the former Guildmaster of the Wayfarer’s Guild, back in Spur.

BUT WITH WINGS!

How awesome would it be to have wings all the time? And they folded down like a cape! How fricken’ cool was that?

(Jane had tried that with her [Polymorph] but wings on a human body were either decorative, stressful on her back, or really awkward to use; not very pleasant. But she hadn’t tried bat-wings! She would try that, later.)

And then the Arbor started talking like he knew things. And then he did know things. He was the Prognosticator for Treehome! He likely had a whole slew of other people who he worked with, but he had to be the main one. Sure, the reveal that Kiri had been fucked with was rather awful—

Jane glanced over to Kiri, as they walked down through the volcanic innards of Arbor Redarrow’s obsidian glass buildings. The greenscale seemed a bit more green than usual. Erick whispered after her feelings. Kiri spat fire, literally, then stopped herself. Poi glared at her. Erick just went with the flow, talking about how, ‘You’re walking around, and you feel fine, don’t you? Then you’re fine. Poi. Tell her she’s fine.’

Those were not his words, and Poi’s resulting words were similarly not the ones he said. Their words didn’t matter, for Kiri was having none of any of it. She was angry. She was furious, really. And she was also beyond hurt.

Erick tried to help, for of course he tried to help.

But so what if Kiri had been messed with? She was fine, wasn’t she? Jane wasn’t about to step onto that landmine of a conversation, so she stayed out of it.

Her mind was on the events of the last ten minutes.

And then she thought of her current future. There had been three things on her list of necessities. Getting a mana sense, getting a Domain, and getting [Greater Prismatic Body].

[Greater Prismatic Body] was a matter of pushing her [Prismatic Body] further, and that would come with time. A Domain would likely come with time, too. Jane had considered making a variable Domain; something she could switch at a whim, to whatever Element she was using at the time. A Prismatic Domain would likely cost way too much. She suspected that [Greater Prismatic Body] was already going to cost a base of 50 mana every second, and that was a lot.

But now, seeing Redarrow, and knowing that [Future Sight] came from unlocking the sight spells with a competent mana sense…

Jane moved ‘attain mana sense’ to the top of her list.

She would work on that later tonight.

… As long as nothing exploded.

Jane smiled, thinking of using [Future Sight] in a fight. How awesome would that be!

Kiri spat, “Why are you smiling at my misfortune!”

Jane left her thoughts and came to the Now. They were walking through an exhibit for some dead city state or something, and Kiri was glaring at her. Jane said, “I was considering how awesome it would be to use [Future Sight] in a battle. It had nothing to do with you.”

Kiri frowned, her rage turning to something lesser. Something more internal.

Teressa said, “Using [Future Sight] in battle is extremely difficult. I’ve tried.”

Kiri startled. She stared at Teressa; her own issues temporarily forgotten.

“Oh!” Jane said, “What are the complications? How does it work? Dad just got it, but he hasn’t even used it yet.”

Erick looked to Teressa. “I didn’t know you had [Future Sight], too.”

“Yeah... You were talking about all the Sights last week and one thing led to another.” Teressa shrugged. “I worked all the way up to [True Sight] while you were Cleansing the Forest. But I’ve had [Future Sight] for a while. It’s not all that great because I’m not good at it. Soon as you act upon any divergent path you see, it all changes. The more you include others in your vision, the more that path diverges.” She said, “I have no idea how the Prognosticators do it.”

Jane said, “I’m interested more in the battle applications. Ten seconds out. That sort of thing.”

“[Future Sight] is a variable cast time—”

“Teressa?” Kiri yanked the conversation away from Jane, as she asked, “Could you please [Witness] this area?” She asked Erick, “Did you find anything, yet?”

Jane would ask more questions later, when they weren’t busy with Kiri’s trauma.

Jane was not making light of what had happened to Kiri, and she probably should have waited till after the current drama to talk about [Future Sight] with Teressa. But she knew that [Witness] wasn’t going to find anything; nothing was going to get solved right now.

Jane’s unspoken prediction turned out true.

Erick was the first to fail. He hadn’t had much experience with [Witness], and that inexperience proved itself in how much he was able to see, which was nothing. He could barely see to a day ago, after all, and Kiri’s mind-fucking —for that’s what it had to be, in Poi’s opinion— had happened almost two weeks ago.

Teressa had more luck, and skill.

The orcol woman said, “I see Kiri walking through the exhibit, looking at things. Someone is there, beside her. But…” She shook her head. “There’s nothing. The presence has been erased and filled in, almost perfectly. The blank space is not blank. Hmm. No one else around Kiri and the assailant are reacting to the presence next to Kiri. They’re not even reacting to Kiri. I don’t think anyone sees either of you. This is very high-level magic. I have never seen this level of mana-stitching before.” She added, “Other people might have. Here.”

Jane, and everyone else in the group, received a telepathic packet; an image.

Kiri was looking at a map of a land in the middle of the rise to empire. Beside her was a scratchy blot on the manasphere, barely different than all the rest. Jane knew she would have missed the discrepancy if Teressa hadn’t spoken of it, first.

What followed next was Erick searching for DNA, finding none that was not contaminated by multiple sources —this was a highly active museum, after all— Kiri growing ever more despondent, and Jane wondering, privately, what was for dinner. The museum staff got involved when Erick started casting spells inside the museum, but their sudden worry turned to sudden acquiescence once more than just museum security got involved. An hour later, Kiri’s despondency had become something less depression-like. It wasn’t long till Jane saw the exact moment when the woman decided on some hard choice.

Good for her, Jane thought. This sort of thing is never easy.

Kiri stood taller. Her eyes focused.

Ten minutes later, after ‘one more [Witness] attempt’ from Erick to see if he could see what Teressa had seen so easily, Kiri called it off.

“We’re done.” Kiri said, “Thanks for trying, Teressa. Erick.” She looked to Poi, and seemed to solidify her decision from earlier. “I’m taking that Ability, Poi.”

Poi frowned, then nodded. “There will be consequences, but you probably should.”

Jane didn’t know what that was about, and she’d likely never know. Kiri and Poi switched to telepathic conversation after that. Sending messages between themselves was a rather rude thing to do, considering they were in a group setting, but no one blamed them. Jane guessed Kiri was talking about some Mind Mage Ability that had shown up when Kiri got her Class. Kiri had a history with the Mind Mages, after all, but Jane didn’t know much more than that.

She said her guesses to her father, later, when they were mostly alone and killing time while Poi and Kiri went off somewhere else. Teressa was in her room, cleaning up her stuff.

Erick agreed with Jane’s guess, but he wouldn’t get involved with that. “She probably has to give up something if she’s taking a mental Class Ability.”

“But what, though?” Jane said, “I don’t really understand how they enforce their Mind Mage society, either. You know anything about that?”

“Nope.” Erick said, “But I can guess that they don’t enforce it with much mental controls. Otherwise there’d be no rogue Mind Mage users at all, out there.”

“Maybe there are, but then there aren’t.”

“… Erasing mental abilities from a person if they cross a line? That seems… That seems reasonable. Much easier to wipe the offending memories of a few than the existence of a person.”

“Maybe it’s easy to erase people.” Jane said, “I want to say this whole Mind Mage faction thing seems very 1984 to me, but I don’t know enough about the Mind Mages to say that.”

“What’s that book about, again?”

Jane recounted what she remembered about ‘Unpersons’ and ‘Thought Police’ and the systematic denouncement of anyone who was not of ‘The Party’.

Teressa had joined them somewhere around the beginning of Jane’s recounting. When Jane was done, Teressa said, “The Mind Mages aren’t like that, at all. They’re always the Solid Man in the plays and books I’ve read. Poi is the perfect example of a normal Mind Mage.”

“That’s a look they purposefully cultivate,” Jane said. “You’ve heard Poi talk about propaganda in books and such before. There’s absolutely no way he doesn’t know the image he puts out there into the world.”

“Everyone wears a mask,” Erick said. “To me, the Mind Mages seem more like a persecuted people who turned hard. They project the image of strong and secure, but in the background, they are ruthless toward those who would make them appear as anything less than honorable. This is their survival strategy, and it only seems suspicious because they can communicate with each other to ensure compliance. This seems fine to me. I’d rather not deal with people messing with my mind.”

Jane looked at her father. He was holding something back. She said, “You know something else.”

Erick sighed. “No I don’t.”

Teressa looked at Erick. “Yes you do.”

“Okay. Yes. I do.” Erick said, “But I doubt either of you two would ever have to deal with what I know, so I’m not going to put those bad thoughts out there. I’m sure if I was Poi I would literally be itching from all the bad thoughts I know must be out there.”

Jane said, “Okay. Fine. I’m going to speculate, and you stay right there dad, so I can read your face.”

Erick forced his face and his shoulders to go slack. His voice was so even-keeled and forcefully pitched deep that it was almost comical. “Give me your best shot.”

Jane smirked, then she narrowed her eyes, playing her part, too, as she tried, “They’re all secretly cannibals who get their Mind Mage powers from eating the brains of children.”

“What the fuck, Jane,” Erick said, his mask readily breaking.

Jane laughed. She had won!

Teressa eyed Jane, then chuckled. “What the fuck.”

“I’m spitballing, here.” Jane said, “And that one was mostly a joke. So. How about this: They control the minds of everyone to make them believe that they’re harmless.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s the exact opposite of what they do,” Erick said.

“Okay. But they have to erase people, for sure.” Jane said, “Teressa?”

“I don’t know about that.” Teressa said, “But I’ve heard that as soon as a Mind Mage puts a [Mind Control] on a person, the controller gets labeled a Slaver and the controlee gets the Kill Quest for that Slaver.” She asked, “Is that what you’re talking about?”

“No. But… Go on.”

Erick’s eyes went a bit wide. “No. That’s not what I was thinking… That happens with Mind Magic? The Slaver and Slave sub-Classes?”

“Really rare; but yeah.” Teressa said, “I’ve read those case files. Rogue Mind Mages that try to control people usually end up dead when the controllee gets the automatic rescue from Slavery. Those automatically-rescued people are readily found by other Mind Mages, and then the actual Mind Mages come down hard on any mind controllers. People don’t always rescue themselves, though. Any middling Mind Mage will know enough to have their controlled person deny that Quest.” She said, “Guardmaster Merit had me read some of those case files as part of the oddities I needed to look out for, but they were under the ‘almost never happens’ part of that workload. I was told the Mind Mages try to keep that sort of thing quiet, but you can try asking Poi if he’s ever caught any people like that. I doubt he’d tell you, but I’m pretty sure that one of the things he routinely ‘listens’ for is for the presence of the Class: Slave.”

“Well that’s interesting.” Jane listened, filled away those thoughts, then changed the subject, “So. Teressa. How much have you done with [Future Sight]’s combat applications?”

The large woman shrugged, saying, “A lot. But also not nearly enough. I’ve no teacher for that sort of thing, and I’m more focused on viewing the past, anyway. [Future Sight] isn’t much use for detective work.”

“Oh reeaaaally?” Jane said, “But what about scanning the future for a time when you solve the murder, say ten days from then, but then you use that scan to solve the murder on that very same day? Does that work?”

“Doesn’t work.” Teressa said, “Looking at the future changes the future. Looking at your own future changes that future more than most other glances. And like… This has been my experience with [Future Sight]: I’m lucky to see an hour ahead of time, and only if I really try, and only if I don’t interact with that timeline at all. As soon as I touch that timeline with any sort of actual force, then it moves. Most every future teller I have ever met always speaks in riddles because of this reason. I have literally no idea how Redarrow was able to do what he did, but even he got it wrong. And man! That meeting… That was a revelation on so many levels. A lot of things make sense, now.” She smirked, adding, “Now I know why I could never get any good reading on Erick. No one can.”

Jane smiled at that.

… And then she wondered if the same was true for her.

“His paper list had a few riddles on it… I was wondering why the riddles.” Erick said, “So. Back to [Future Sight]. There is this Shade that survived the Feast. Her name is Goldie. The Shade of Assassination. I told you about her, yeah? She does what I think you’re thinking of, Jane, and that ties into what you’re talking about Teressa. Goldie can see the near future, rather perfectly, for five minutes out. She got the drop on Tania because of it. Of course, Tania shrugged that blow off, but Goldie was still able to strike her through her core. This means that Goldie is both able to see her own near-future and then plan around that future.

“Goldie can also casually read the far-future. She told me that Yggdrasil will be able to plant roots on other planets, eventually. My other source confirmed this as well.” Erick asked, “But can you see that? A hundred years out? Seems like a massive, massive event. It should be visible in the manasphere. Theoretically.”

Jane sat back in her chair, stunned. And then she smiled. She had heard of Goldie from her father, of course, but maybe she hadn’t listened. Well Jane was certainly listening now! Apparently, you could warp [Future Sight] into some sort of [Prescience]! That was almost even more awesome than a winged dragonkin that was actually a tree.

… Winged dragonkin were rather awesome, though.

There were so many awesome things about this Worldly Path! Sure, there might have been some deaths, and Kiri was having a bad day, but there was also a lot of good, too! And her father was actually out of the house and exploring, and Jane was there with him! All good things.

Teressa brought Jane back to the moment, smiling, and saying, “I’m glad you think so much of me, sir, but I am not that good at this. The most I’ve ever noticed about what you’re describing are certain inevitable things that ‘color’ the background of a [Witness], like the sun rising or falling; you can’t ever see the sun, but you can see its effects on everything else. Eclipses are rather powerful events, too. There’s one coming up, I think. But… If I were a guessing person, I’d guess that you’d need some sort of far, far ranging [Witness] in order to see an event like Yggdrasil becoming a real being. Or you’d at least have to be on-location.” She added, “Even then, you’d need a wide sight in order to see the larger events.”

“Oh. That’s a very good point. If it doesn’t happen in the mana, then you can’t see it happen.” Erick decided something, then nodded. “My soul is almost healed, so I’m going to try and figure out all of those spells as soon as I can. Maybe do that before traipsing into the Forest.”

“Let’s not have another week of down-time.” Jane said, “You can make magic in the Forest, too.”

“Yeah. But… What if I need it?”

Jane shrugged. “Not much need for new magic is there when you can blast out fifty [Shadow Beam]s and a hundred [Shadow Bolt]s all at once?”

“But that’s so… Crude. I’m right, right? That’s crude.”

Teressa smirked. “Yes. That is crude.”

“It works!” Jane said.

“Doesn’t get you any closer to a Domain,” Erick countered.

“… Fair.”

Teressa spoke up, “So. Sir. I would like to take you up on that offer of [Lightwalk] from the Headmaster’s dungeon.” As Erick brightened, Teressa went ahead, saying, “Eventually. Not right now, and maybe not for a while. But. Eventually.”

“Of course, Teressa!” Erick said, “Of course.”

- - - -

Dinner was great.

Erick made it a whole big thing to see Kiri off, but she was having none of it. She kept the evening subdued, saying that she’d be back if he needed her; all he had to do was send the word. Erick nodded politely, and knew that he wouldn’t be calling her back.

She had been flustered, quite a lot, by the revelation that she had been mind-warped by some oversized power, all while directly under Redarrow. She didn’t say so, but Erick got the distinct impression that her opinion of the Arbors of Treehome had soured, quite a lot. It didn’t help that Redarrow didn’t seem broken up about what had happened.

Jane unhelpfully suggested that maybe Redarrow had done something to Kiri, and that by letting them know that something had been done, he was throwing out ‘red herrings’ for them to chase.

It was a poor joke. Kiri didn’t get it. All she got was fire-spitting angry.

Jane apologized as soon as she could, but the damage had been done.

Kiri accepted the apology, but Erick knew she didn’t really.

Erick saw Kiri off right as the sun was beginning to set. He held her tight for a long moment, and said, “I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m always here if you want to talk.”

Kiri hugged him a bit tighter, then let go. She smiled, even though tears had rolled down her face. “Thank you, Erick. Good luck with the trip into the Forest.”

Kiri blipped away.

Erick sent an Ophiel ahead to Spur, to watch as Kiri arrived. She didn’t arrive till twenty minutes later. She did not look as if she had been crying, and that was likely why she took so long to get back to Spur. She was only 20, but she was professional, through and through, as she walked up the tall Courthouse steps, to meet with whoever she was meeting. Silverite, probably.

- - - -

Late at night, and unable to sleep, Erick sat up in his bed.

He couldn’t do anything for Kiri that he hadn’t already done. She would be fine, in time. They would find out who did that to her, and why, and what, exactly, had been done. From the [Witness]es Teressa had taken, it seemed as though all Kiri and the Mystery Person did was talk.

...Kiri was fine.

Erick couldn’t sleep, though, so he decided to try out a spell. He held up his hand and listened to the sound of [Healing Word]. It was a staccato beat overlaid and an ethereal romance for the body; a love born of wholeness and purpose. Erick easily separated that beat from the whole.

A blue box appeared.

--

Quick Spell, instant, self, 10 mana

You may cast your next Quick Spell right away.

--

He smiled, as he compared [Quick Spell] to [Healing Word].

--

Healing Word X, instant, medium range, 10 MP

Speak, and heal a target for 25 + ½ WIL.

You may cast your next Healing Word right away.

--

That second line was the same in both spells. His first attempt at [Quick Spell] had different, and probably lesser, wording.

He channeled mana through [Quick Spell], and to make sure he was hearing what he was hearing, he had Ophiel repeat the sounds coming out of his mana. Ophiel twittered in a ‘Pip-pip-pip-pip-pip’ like a machine-gun, firing almost too fast to hear, but this was exactly what Erick was already hearing.

He smiled, again.

Erick combined [Quick Spell] with [Force Wall], producing a new spell.

--

Quick Wall, instant, medium range, 50 mana

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

You may cast your next Quick Wall right away.

--

Erick’s eyes went wide. Except for the duration, which was 1/10th of the original, his [Quick Wall] was just as good as [Force Wall].

--

Force Wall X, instant, medium range, 50 MP

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

--

Erick wondered…

He flicked his lightform through the air, manually casting [Force Wall] after [Force Wall], one right after the other, only half a Script Second apart. They were small, thin things, and stopped after four walls. He didn’t put too much effort into making any of them, so they would probably collapse under their own metaphysical stresses in under 10 minutes.

Ah. So.

[Quick Spell] was an inherent part of an Elemental Bodies’ ability to cast as fast as the user could shape their magic.

Apart from that minor revelation, Erick looked at himself with Ophiel’s [Soul Sight].

His soul was healed.

He dismissed the walls of light hanging in the air and laid back in bed. Today had been a day of trials, but none of them were what he had expected. He had expected nuclear bombs and other horrors, even if Atomic Magic had been Banned; he still expected it. There had been no eruptions of Particle Spells, anywhere. No stray [Call Lightning]s over Candlepoint. No odd weather patterns that he, himself, had not put in the sky over Spur. No [Withering]s, but for non-monsters, rolling through Treehome, or Portal, or Kal’Duresh, or Frontier. No [Red Dot]s, or similar magics.

No reports from Caizoa about the Converter Angel.

No… Nothing.

No major tragedies at all.

… There had been one major, minor tragedy, but Kiri would be okay.

Eventually.

Erick closed his eyes, and hoped tomorrow would be more of the same, or even easier. If it was calm, then he’d seek out Tenebrae, maybe talk to Syllea about some Gates, do some magic, and then? It was off to the Forest, to hunt through what might have been a grand civilization at the dawn of the New Cosmology, but which fell to the Death of all Halves only 25 years into Veird’s new existence.

From what he had seen already, he’d likely have to dig through mountains of trees and canyons of monsters to reach anywhere near any old, forgotten Gates. Everyone talked like there were ruins sitting out in the open out there, but throughout all his Imaging of the Forest of the last two weeks, Erick hadn’t seen any old buildings or otherwise.

Just… Thousands of kilometers upon thousands of kilometers of green.