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Sizzi had attended several meetings yesterday in order to ingratiate herself into Treehome’s various societies. Erick had barely paid attention to her as she had not come down for breakfast and he had left for the day with Kiri. That evening, she strolled back into the hotel suite rather inebriated. She had been drunk then, and she was probably a bit drunk this morning. But she managed to get up for breakfast, this time.

“Good morning,” Sizzi said as she came down the stairs.

Erick flipped a waffle out of his waffle machine, saying, “Good morning, Sizzi. I made waffles again. You want one? This one is yours.”

Teressa, Poi, and Jane were already halfway through their own waffles.

“I’d love a waffle! But I will have to take it to-go.” Sizzi came up to the counter and took her prize. The heat caused her [Personal Ward] to flicker magenta at her fingertips. “Thank you for your hospitality, Erick. Sorry I haven’t been around much, but that trend will continue; I will be headed back right now. I heard Kiri had a great night killing monsters with all her new lightning and I must return to reclaim some of my place among the leaderboards.”

She had said it in a nice tone, like a dryly delivered joke, but it was undercut by an actual need.

“So soon? Okay. Well. It was nice having you around to help with the Culling.” Erick smiled, and started making another waffle, as he said, “If either of you two ever need help with any monsters, just let me know; I owe you one. I have a feeling that Silverite will delay asking me, or not ask at all, and I would prefer to be asked.”

“Will do, Erick.” Sizzi held up her hot waffle, and said, “These waffles are a nice little invention. They’d go over well in the Wasteland.”

Jane huffed a single laugh, then said, “You guys need to stop trying to poach my father.”

“It’s just a fact, Jane.” Sizzi added, “They like non-magical inventions over there.”

Sizzi headed off with a bow and another thank you, and then breakfast went fast, in the usual, nice way. Erick rescinded Sizzi’s Prismatic permissions as soon as she departed.

“First thing first!” Finished, Erick got up from the breakfast table. And then, as though proclaiming a great secret, he said, “Man cannot live on diversions of record players and Art Nouveau posters and cameras alone, but I’m not making any magic here, and I think it is time to make some magic.”

Jane said, “Don’t forget all the monster killing. I daresay that part was more important than the ‘diversions’.”

Erick smiled, then frowned. “Ah. Kiri should have been here for this.” He asked around, “Anyone else want to come? Aside from Poi, who is coming. Right?”

Poi was in the kitchen. He had just finished cleaning up the debris of breakfast-making, and was enjoying a new cup of coffee. “I’m coming.”

Teressa shook her head, as she poured caramelized cactus syrup on her seventh waffle, the last one, saying, “I’m going to work on [Future Sight], unless you want me out there with you?”

“No no. That’s fine. Jane?”

Jane said, “If you’re not at the auction at noon then I’m going without you.”

Erick paused. “I thought that was four days ago? Wait. You lost that auction, didn’t you? Did you tell me there was another one yester— You did tell me there was another one yesterday. I thought you weren’t going for that monster.”

“Arbor Ikabobbi has animal auctions all the time.” Jane added, “And yeah: I lost the Prismatic Octopus, but there’s another going up today and I decided I want it. The Beast Master who sells them had a whole clutch, apparently, but he didn’t want anyone to know that he had managed to breed multiples. Should go for a lot less than 23,000 today! Hopefully.”

“I can give you money, Jane.”

“I know.” Jane said, “But I want to get it myself. Bad enough that I’m buying the damned thing, anyway. I’m at least going to buy it myself.”

“Eh. Fine. I’m going to feel almost lonely out there with no one else to watch.” Erick glanced over to Poi. “You ready?”

Poi sipped his coffee, then said, “One minute.”

“Okay okay.” Erick asked, “Tenebrae get back to you, yet?”

“Nope. He’s denying all communication. We’re going to have to visit him in person.”

“How about Syllea?” Erick said, “Is she still avoiding us?” He amended, “Avoiding me?”

“She has said that she will help after the Path, but, yes, Syllea is avoiding you.” Poi said, “I remind you of similar requests to help you assist in the creation of a Gate network, after you figure out [Gate] magic. There’s Tasar of Stratagold, and also the Headmaster.”

“I remember them, but I don’t want to involve Tasar or the Headmaster right now. The first because she seems like a whole new adventure waiting to happen, especially because she is Tasar, the Summoner, and there’s no doubt she’ll have something to say about the Culling we just did, and the second because he’s… I just don’t want to. Eh! We’ll find Tenebrae and shake that location out of him. It can’t be that hard.”

“Good luck with that!” Jane said, “I’m going into the auction without you if you’re not there.”

“I’ll be there.” Erick looked to Poi. “Eventually.”

Poi went to the cupboard and took out a traveling mug with a lid. He poured his coffee inside, then said, “Ready.”

In a flash of light, Erick whisked both of them away to the mountains south of Treehome.

- - - -

He had scouted this location earlier and cleared out the monsters with a bit of [Withering], killing a good dozen level 25 threats and a few hundred lesser threats, all across the mountainside. Greenery dotted the valley below, with a few scattered trees and lots of grasses, but up here, there was simple, bare rock, slowly slanting downward.

There was also a small stream and a medium-sized pond. The pond had held some sort of alligator-like monster infestation that were listed as ‘mountain gators’ in their Kill Notification, but they were all dead now, and the [Cleanse]d remains rested at the bottom. This was why Erick chose this place. It was nice and pretty, and perfect for magic, and it had needed a little more cleaning than the other valleys.

The manasphere was alive with possibility, waiting to be given form, and Erick was here to give it those forms.

He had leveled [Condense Particle] through an overhead Ophiel, flying in the skies of Treehome while he was having breakfast. The spell looked much the same as before.

--

Condense Particle X, instant, close range, 25 mana

Collect loose particles of a chosen type into a small area. Lasts 10 minutes.

--

It lasted 10 minutes, now.

Erick smiled wide, as he pointed to the air over the pond, and cast, targeting a specific element.

A blue box appeared.

--

Condense Hydrogen, instant, close range, 25 mana

Collect loose Hydrogen into a small area. Lasts 10 minutes.

--

He already had [Condense Hydrogen X] as a Base Spell, thanks to his talk with the archmages at Oceanside. That one had actually come from the Headmaster, as he made the spell right in front of Erick and Erick had thus gotten a copy of that spell. Archmage Tasar had gifted Erick with a similar spell for oxygen; [Condense Oxygen X]. There were plenty of applications for these Basic Tier spells, but all of the most tactically important options involved making up for mistakes and for improperly made magic; spell combining from a lower starting point could literally save centuries of waiting, if you fucked up your high-tier spell.

Which is why Erick planned to not start his combining efforts with his lower-tier Base Spells. If he messed up, he needed a different way to get to those high tier spells, and his grandfathered-in Base Spells would be that way. As that thought crossed his mind, he wondered at the Condensing spells for three elements in particular, Carbon, Oxygen, and Hydrogen, and wondered if Shaping them in different ways would allow him to remake a failed spell without needing to break the previous spell.

… And also if he could use those three Condensing spells in different ways to make different molecules. If he was ‘locked’ to only one use of those three elements, then that kinda sucked.

But first, he would need to make those spells!

So he focused on [Condense Particle]…

And then he went through the Periodic Table of the Elements.

Stuff didn’t just pop out of the air. Blocks of gold did not fall from the sky. Almost every single one of Erick’s rapidly growing arsenal of spells did not pick up and condense a single thing. But those blue boxes kept coming, and they didn’t stop coming. Erick dismissed each spell as he made them.

Erick started slowing down somewhere around element 11: Sodium, so he started chanting.

“Sodium is a part of salt; here’s another spell for the vault!

“Magnesium is good for health; silver-looks but gives no wealth!

“Aluminum is soft yet hard; this one will be avant garde!

“Silicon has blue-grey luster; watch out now, it’s a blockbuster!

As an aside to his only audience, Poi, Erick added, “I bet the wrought use some of this, but who knows what gives kinesis.”

Poi smirked.

Erick continued,

“Phosphorus is so reactive, therefore life finds it attractive!

“Sulfur stinks like rotten eggs; sometimes comes from oil dregs!

“Chlorine is a match for salt; it makes many great gestalts!

“Argon is a noble gas of purple glows that has a mass of 39.948, but it does not appreciate the other parts upon this list— And here we go, onto the next,”

“For Potassium is part of life, it works and works throughout all strife!”

“Cal~ci~uuuu~UUmm! It’s what makes your bones all strong!”

“Scan-di-ii-um! All I know is it exists!”

He started laughing. Then he got back to the music.

Titanium was easier to sing about, titanium had applications! What the fuck was Scandium for? Scanning magics? Ha! If anyone was listening, would they make the mistake of thinking so? That would be funny.

He hit a speedbump at copper, but he managed to make it though. The speedbump was just a flicker of the manasphere, anyway. An odd flicker, but it was there; Erick saw it. There was a similar flicker on his soul. A creation here, and also there.

It was not much more than that.

Nothing to worry about.

Erick kept going.

Silver came, and the flicker it made was deeper, this time. Erick felt a warmth on his face. He touched his nose, and his fingers came away bloody.

Poi tapped him with the rod.

Erick smiled, and kept going, but he had no more song after Silver. He just had numbers that were definitions, that had surfaced in his mind and needed to be categorized into magic.

He started sweating after Dysprosium; number 66 on the Periodic Table. He faltered, but his voice was strong. He kept going.

Platinum was a solid wall, looming ahead. Erick didn’t know how he knew it was a wall, but he knew.

He met that wall with a small ritual.

“Platinum is extremely rare and often found all alone, looks like silver but it’s not, accept no lesser white-gold clone!”

A blue box appeared, and Erick stumbled where he stood. He breathed hard, spat blood onto the rock under him, and he went on to the next element; that lustrous yellow metal that made the world go round. Not even platinum could compare.

The manasphere held tense, as though waiting. As though prepared to hit him with a very, big, rock.

Erick sang against that limitation,

“And here we have a metal known for all the worlds as kingly throne. Bright as suns and used for lots not having ‘nuff twists life in knots. Here and now a lustrous shine, if I were greedy, I’d make it mine! It is a flash that all do seek! It is of course of Gold I speak!”

A blue box appeared.

--

Condense Gold, instant, close range, 25 mana

Collect loose Gold into a small area. Lasts 10 minutes.

Particle Mage Only.

--

Erick crashed to his knees, then to his butt.

Poi tapped him with the rod again, saying, “Maybe stop with the particles.”

Erick eyed Poi, standing above him, then looked to the air, and cast one more spell as he spoke, “Mercury.” And then another, “Thallium.”

A blue box appeared, and then another. They were normal boxes.

No backlash that time.

“Ha!” Erick spat blood, then said, “So there are limits to Gold, Silver, Platinum, and even Copper, if only just a bit. Only Gold got the ‘Particle Mage Only’ tag. I was wondering how Rozeta was going to work around that.”

Poi said, “I’m surprised you didn’t get hit with a negative-five point penalty.”

“Gold really isn’t that impressive. It’s just… useful. And pretty. It shouldn’t be limited. Fiat currency is the wave of the future.” Erick sighed at the blue box, then said, “But something has to be a monetary standard in this world, I guess? I’m not getting into banking.”

Poi shrugged. “Are you going to try for the next one?”

“… I’m not going to try for Antirhine.”

If Gold had been a wall, Lead was a void to fall ever into. Erick did not take that step.

“Glad to see you have some sense remaining, sir,” Poi quipped, as he helped Erick to his feet.

Erick swayed a little, but he steadied himself. He considered the path to the next spell, then brought out another blue box.

--

Catalyst X, instant, medium range, 50 mana.

Enables easier reactions in a large area.

--

He had made that one long ago, back when he made [Electrolysis Bomb]. It had been a part of ensuring that the water pulled out of the target was electrically conductive, allowing an easier time for that water to be broken down into Hydrogen and Oxygen. It seemed appropriate to use [Catalyst] for the next spell because the spell would need some way for the separate parts to come together easier. This next spell wasn’t something like [Crystallize Diamond], where it was just carbon being jumbled until it locked into the correct position to expand the diamond. It was an actual molecule that required breaking and reorganizing before it could come together in the proper way.

Erick briefly checked the sound of each necessary Element.

All of them sounded the same; like nothing at all, or possibly background static. Channeling mana through each one produced the same flare of mana, too; a white orb hovering above the hand. He was sure that if Kiri were to channel any of these spells she would produce a green orb. He doubted that she’d hear any different, too.

Maybe that would change in the coming centuries as the collective unconscious of people, society, and civilization, shifted the manasphere’s idea of Particle Magics. But for now, combining them seemed simple enough.

Erick got a feel for [Catalyst], along with [Condense Hydrogen], [Condense Oxygen], and [Condense Carbon], but also with [Cleanse], which was the only complicated part of the magic.

Aside from knowing what the targeted molecule looked like, of course.

That was a rather large hurdle toward making good Particle Magic.

He was almost ready to cast, but a nagging feeling poked at the back of his mind. He frowned—

“OH!” he exclaimed.

He rapidly added one more piece of the puzzle, and laughed at the obviousness of what he had just added. Volatile compounds were sure to occur in this spell, that’s why he had [Cleanse] in there, but it needed one more thing to round it out into non-lethal status, and that thing was a Mana Altering to Mercy.

Erick smiled. He shaped. He cast.

The air wavered on the mountainside. The starter spells were only capable of small-sized spaces, but Erick was a Particle Mage, and that made all the difference. A space the size of a house seemed to twitch, as a rim of thick air took hold around it all. Inside that space, possibility herded airborne particles into a form more fitting for Erick’s purposes. He couldn’t quite tell what he was seeing since the contained result was colorless, but that was exactly how it was supposed to be.

… Maybe there was a heat-mirage-like occurrence in the middle? Erick couldn’t quite tell, even with his Perception and the Sights of all the Ophiels hovering around the area.

A blue box appeared.

--

Merciful Ether, instant, long range, 150 mana

A large creation that may induce sleep. Lasts 10 minutes. Volatile.

--

“Still volatile, eh?” Erick nodded to himself, then looked back at his creation, watching as it matured. He smiled. “Oh! So that looks like it works… Oh yeah.” He pointed. “See that spot, Poi? That’s where the ether is forming. Looks like it’s flowing everywhere, though. There appears to be some thick air from [Cleanse]’s inclusion, too”

“Uh.” Poi was focused on something else. “Volatile?”

“Oh yeah.” Erick waved that concern away. “This stuff explodes, but I’m pretty sure I cut down on most of that.” He paused. “Or maybe not?”

Poi rapidly said, “Let us back up. Perhaps to the other mountain across the valley.”

“Oh! It’s not that bad!” Erick had an Ophiel throw a [Prismatic Ward] around them, and then throw a [Stillness] into the surrounding air. “We’re good. But!” He gazed down at the forest below. “I need an animal to test this on. Or rather...”

In minutes, Erick had his first test subject.

Ophiel, in his sunform, held aloft a squirming squirrel, except, it was not really a squirrel as he knew them. It thrashed and bit and was the size of a small adult human, with a tail and fur made of spines, similar to those of a porcupine. It was a monster; Erick saw the rad in its chest, right behind its heart. It would have been trying to kill them if Erick had gotten anywhere near its territory. As it was, it was trying to spit poison at him and at Ophiel, too, and it would have, if Ophiel didn’t have a few tendrils around the squirrel’s muzzle. Clear goo dripped out between the monster’s lips. That goo plopped on the mountainside, then bubbled and ate away at the stone. Ophiel had the monster locked down. The squirrel wasn’t going anywhere.

Erick said, “Good job, Ophiel. Put ‘er in the sleep spell. Let go of the mouth.”

Ophiel held the squirrel in his strong grip, dangling the thing from tendrils of light, but he let the monster’s muzzle go. It instantly started screaming light and spitting globs of clear goo that did nothing to Ophiel. It tried spitting at Erick, over ten meters away. It would have hit, if not for the [Prismatic Ward]. The goo struck the edge and slid down. The squirrel was completely outclassed. Ophiel hovered the monster into [Merciful Ether]’s area of effect.

Erick waited.

The squirrel’s energy kicked up several notches as it tried to trash and bite and claw and shoot acid and quills at everything, but mostly at Ophiel. It was not successful at doing anything but tiring itself out—

The monster tired out much faster than normal. Ten seconds passed, and the squirrel’s tail drooped. It slashed one more time, and then its arms drooped. Its head lolled. Ophiel cleared away the quills underneath the squirrel, then set the monster down.

Erick couldn’t believe his eyes.

“… Oh my gods. It’s sleeping.” Erick gazed with [Blood Sight], and said, “Heart rate falling. Eyes closed. Not dying. But sleeping… Sleeping very deeply. Slowing heart, still… Very slow, actually. I think it’s going to d— Oh! Look at that.”

Tiny puffs of thick air escaped from the squirrel. Its heart rate steadied. When its heart rate slowed too much, more puffs of [Cleanse] escaped from the creature. Keeping it alive. Asleep, and alive!

“Success!” Erick called out, his voice echoing across the valley, eliciting a flash of light from the [Stillness] all around, “But we’re not allowing that monster to live. So!” He looked up to Ophiel.

Ophiel sent a fire down into the not-very-protected space.

For one bright, shining second, all was light, and little sound. When the light cleared, the squirrel was very dead and Erick had the blue kill box as certifiable proof of that death. One couldn’t trust the blasted, blackened landscape as proof that the monster that had been at the center was dead, after all. Not even the little bits of blackened monster squirrel raining from the sky were proof of anything, once you had seen the horrors and illusions of Ar’Kendrithyst.

Erick clapped his hands, eliciting a flash of light from his palms, as he said, “That is what ‘Volatile’ means. I imagine many of my spells will have this tag.” He recast [Merciful Ether] onto the same spot, telling Ophiel, “Go find some non-monsters.” He added, “We can let those ones go when we’re done.”

Soon enough, there were several small animals resting atop blackened stone, in a space filled with [Merciful Ether]; an owl, a snake, a pair of rats, one normal squirrel. There were also two large animals off to the side; two wolves. The wolves had each taken thirty seconds to succumb to the ether, but the smaller animals had taken a lot less. There were obviously some body-weight variables happening there.

Each one of them had gone a bit oddly crazy before they finally zonked out, but now, even the wolves were drooling like saint bernard dogs. Maybe they smelled the other animals? The wolves jerked in their sleep, as though dreaming, perhaps.

“… No. Wait. I know what that is. The monster squirrel messed me up.” Erick said, “The drool is a byproduct of the ether. I knew it had side effects, but I had forgotten. Also, some of them might not actually be asleep.” He asked Poi, “Can you tell which ones are actually asleep?”

“The wolves are not. They’re just disconnected from themsel...” Poi paused, then said, “Now they’re asleep.”

“Yes. That’s right, too. Sometimes it disconnects people from themselves.”

Erick let the spell run its course, eyeing the animals for any signs of distress, or otherwise. As the spell went on and the ether inside the space turned deeper, becoming more concentrated, the thick air spurting from the animals became a steady, even trickle. The animals remained under their anesthesia, and were likely unhurt. Did they still have Health left? Erick didn’t know, and it would be difficult to test, for animals like these always had low Health and low levels. Maybe the wolves were in their twenties, but they were likely not much higher.

When the spell ended and the rim of thick-air containment broke, Erick threw a [Cleanse] at the escaping ether, making sure to miss the test subjects. Ophiels moved in, casting [Quick Wall]s, ensuring that any waking animals would not immediately hunt the others.

Five minutes later, the rats woke first, followed almost instantly by the squirrel. All three of them stumbled about, as though drunk. It was another minute until they noticed the wolves lying two meters away. Then they woke up quite a lot faster. Ophiel let them run back down the mountain, back to the woods they had come from, but they ran like drunkards; swaying this way and that and not running in the direction they wanted. Erick threw a [Cleanse] at them before they got out of range, clearing out their systems of all lingering ether. The three animals instantly began to run much, much faster.

A minute later, the snake tried to snap at the sleeping owl, but it hit an invisible wall.

Erick frowned. “I didn’t even see that the snake was awake.” Erick looked to Poi.

“… I should not be helping with this sort of thing, Erick. I shouldn’t have mentioned the body-disconnect in the wolves, either.”

“Eh. Okay.” Erick turned back to his experiment, watching the snake flop around as it too, was obviously still doped-up. “I couldn’t even tell it— Owl is awake.”

The owl’s heart beat hard. Ten seconds later, it twisted upright, and then flopped back to the ground. Erick threw a [Cleanse] at both the owl and the snake. The owl righted, instantly. Erick lowered the walls around it just as the owl looked up and flew away. The snake remained where it was, contenting itself to curl up into a coil, its eyes watching Erick, the Ophiels above, and the wolves to the side. The snake did not want to move, and Erick didn’t make it move; not yet.

Another full ten minutes later, or maybe even fifteen, for Erick was thinking about other magics while he waited for his current experiment to finish, and the wolves woke. They seemed similarly wasted, like all the other animals, like they were waking from a night of partying. Both of them fell right back down. Erick threw a [Cleanse] at them while taking down their walls. They perked up. They stared at Erick with bright, dark eyes, then turned and bounded away. Erick watched them go until they reached the treeline, and vanished into the woods.

With a lightform scoop, Erick had Ophiel transport the snake back into the tree where he had found it.

That done, Erick made his next spell which was a variation of the previous one, but Mana Shaped for 500 more mana and transformed into a new and more-useful form.

A medium-sized blob of thick air popped into existence. Within seconds, a mirage-like core took hold of the center of the ‘creature’. A blue box appeared next.

--

Merciful Ether Slime, instant, long range, 750 mana

A medium-sized ethereal sleepy slime sticks to a target. Lasts 10 minutes. Volatile.

--

Erick joked to Poi, “Not all slimes wait for you to fall asleep before pouncing.”

Poi narrowed his eyes. “You made this spell just so you could make that joke.”

“I did!” Erick laughed.

Poi pointed at the slime. “It’s coming this way.”

Erick was still laughing as the slime rolled their way. He laughed again, and then dismissed the spell. The slime had barely gotten to the edge of the [Prismatic Ward]. Erick said, “It almost got us, Poi!”

“… Quite.”

“Those slimes are deadly, you know. Don’t fall asleep with one in the room.”

“…”

Erick chuckled, then went on to the next spell. He had had time to consider the future, so he knew mostly what he wanted, but he asked Poi for a second opinion. “I’m thinking mace and shield. What do you think?”

“I would prefer you never step into a physical combat, but I approve of shields.” Poi added, “Most untrained mages cast from their hands, though. So if you want to appear untrained you gotta keep one hand free.”

Erick sighed. “I thought you might say that. And yeah. You’re right. Okay. Just the shield, then. In which case, I’ll just move onto the next spell and use that to make this one. And I think I understand how it works, now. Sizzi helped a lot. Those conversations over dinner…” He paused. He asked Poi, “If this works, should I tell her?”

Poi frowned. “You already know that you will tell her.”

“… I want you to talk me out of it.”

“Sizzi Zago and Sirocco Zago are still valued Citizens of Spur.” Poi said, “Helping them helps us all.”

Erick felt Poi’s words sink in. He had already decided to tell Sizzi, if this worked.

Hopefully it worked.

With thoughts of mana and reality as both physical and not, and therefore able to twist back on itself, Erick considered [Rebound], [Ward], and [Strike], together. [Pure Reflection Ward] was great, but it was a [Personal Ward], and therefore rather limited. He already used his [Personal Ward] for damage mitigation, and had done so for a long time.

So! To make a good [Melee Reflection Ward] that was not on his person, Erick needed something solid.

[Conjure Weapon] would do for his needs.

Ophiels on either shoulder began to sing, small, and yet powerful. One spoke of [Conjure Weapon]; a solid plane of Force, but twisted sideways into a blocking Force. The other spoke of [Rebound]; an echoing noise that picked up [Conjure Weapon] and turned it into a mirror. Other Ophiel hovering in the air sang of the delineation of space; [Ward]. Others spoke of harm committed in the most advantageous ways; [Strike]. Discordant noise became reflective harmony.

Erick felt the magic in his very soul. With a breath in, and then out, he willed [Conjure Weapon] into [Rebound], [Ward], and [Strike], blending into his working the idea of the reflection of matter and magic; a denouncement of all oncomers, a denial of the enemy. His [Lodestar] flexed. The light around him moved as though sinking into a whirlpool, churning and condensing.

He felt a call in the light before him.

He plunged his left hand into the churn. Mana drained; a staggering cost for any normal person, but not for Erick. Light snapped to his forearm, cracking the air with a flex as that light turned into something more solid.

It was… a shield… of sorts. Erick had never seen anything like it. From his own perspective, a small buckler of solid silver held against the outside of his wrist, upon which tendrils of thick air, like solid glass, arced away from that silver center. From Erick’s side, his new shield looked like a masterwork of glass with a bit of silver at the center; an ineffectual shield a meter tall and two-thirds of that wide, a working that would break at the very first [Strike].

But from an Ophiel’s perspective, just on the other side of that shield, Erick’s new magic looked like a solid, thorny briar and a brilliant mirror without a single gap. It was a reflection of the world, pointed outward and against all oncomers.

A blue box was waiting for him when he came back to his own sight.

--

Shield of All Reflection, instant, self, 2500 mana

Create a nigh-unbreakable weightless shield that reflects all spells and Strikes. Lesser protections against physical attacks. A much lesser protection extends to cover your entire person while held. Will break if the user suffers too much damage. Lasts as long as held, or 10 minutes.

--

“Ohh.” Erick breathed out, then said, “That’s a mighty fine spell!” He looked to Poi. “Hold out your hand. I want to try something.”

Poi eyed him.

“Bah! Hold out your shield-hand!”

Poi sighed, then held out his hand.

The shield wasn’t actually attached to any part of Erick, it silver buckler part hovered just on the other side of his forearm, so he had an inkling for some fun tricks he could pull. And he was right. Erick held the shield against Poi’s arm and willed the shield away. It snapped like a closing beartrap upon Poi’s sapphire-scaled arm.

Poi yelped. Then he relaxed. “Okay. So. That was just unexpected.”

The shield had snapped over his arm, but then reformed.

Erick smiled to see the shield on Poi’s arm. “You look good with a shield! Why don’t you use one more?”

Poi waved his arm and the shield around, feeling the weight of it all, or rather, the weightlessness. [Conjure Weapon] was rather light unless you made it otherwise. The shield still caught on the air, of course. If one were to look at it from Poi’s perspective, it might not even seem to exist—

Nope. That was wrong.

Erick looked at the shield again, from an Ophiel that was flying behind Poi, while Poi held the shield up in front of his own face. Glancing over Poi’s shoulder, the shield was just solid silver.

Poi said, “Yup. Only the wearer can see through it.”

Erick summoned another shield onto his left arm. “Want to play around with it? Spell description says it should work against all spells and [Strike]s.”

“No.” Poi twisted his arm to view the opposite side of the shield then poked one of the thorns with a talon. His hand flinched back. He continued to poke at the shield but with more care. “You don’t see me with shields because I’m terrible with shields.”

“Bah!” Erick dismissed his shield, and also the one on Poi’s arm. Poi waved his arm around a bit, as if recirculating the blood. Erick added, “But you’re right. I’m not that great with shields, either, so, I either learn and spend all that time sparring— Or! I do this!”

In much the same way that Erick had once made [Flying Weapon] by linking together [Telekinesis] and [Conjure Weapon], he now did the same with [Telekinesis] and [Shield of All Reflection]. With a quick channeling of mana through his abilities, and checking to hear how they all went together, Erick cast.

The air folded and twisted. Six silver vines, covered with thorns, sprouted from a silver whirlpool, each vine spouting even more vines, all of them curving and curling around and back toward the center, or through each other, layering like some creation halfway between a snowflake and a briarpatch.

The shield hovered a meter in front of Erick. The outside was a silvered surface, covered in tiny spikes with a mirror in the center. The inside was silvered, too, but partially transparent. With a telekinetic impulse, he moved the shield exactly as he would have moved his [Flying Striker], or his light tendrils, or any other telekinetic-adjacent spell. The shield moved quickly. At a thought, Erick whipped it around, testing the responsiveness.

It was pretty good.

Erick checked the blue box.

--

Flying Shield of All Reflection, instant, self, 2600 mana

Create a nigh-unbreakable weightless shield that moves at your command, and that reflects all spells and Strikes. Lesser protections against physical attacks. A much lesser protection extends to cover your entire person while held. Will break if the user suffers too much damage. Lasts until dismissed, or 10 minutes.

--

Erick smiled. He could make it better.

He channeled the sounds of [Interception] through one hand, and the [Flying Shield of All Reflection] in the other. He combined them into something quicker. Something more responsive than humanly —or even ‘human?’ly— possible.

Mana twisted away from Erick, then snapped to his forearm, forming into something small; a tiny twisted-silver buckler not even a handspan across.

He blinked.

It might have looked like a nothing-spell, if you used normal sight, but it certainly did not feel that way, and to [True Sight], the tiny buckler appeared like a glowing rock upon Erick’s forearm, bright as his All-Stat belt had been. With a twist of will and a push of intent, that tiny buckler was suddenly in the air, and fully deployed into a full shield, faster than the eye could see. It was the same flying shield Erick had seen earlier, except perhaps more streamlined. Smaller, yes, but no less powerful for it. With another flex of intent, the spell was back on Erick’s forearm, like it had never left.

This was a powerful spell.

The blue box that appeared confirmed Erick’s hunch, somewhat. He came to that conclusion based solely on the dearth of words therein, for other powerful spells like [Lodestar] didn’t have many words, either.

--

Animadversion, instant, self, 3500 mana

A thorny rebuke!

Lasts until dismissed, or 10 minutes.

--

Poi put a slight damper on the mood. “That thing is certainly not low-key, sir. Even when it’s small.”

“But it’ll be great when needed!”

“That’s not what I mean— You could use the first or the second one whenever you want. Adventurers have strange magics out in the world all the time. But that thing is casually blocking my— my natural [Telepathy]. Not completely, but partially.”

“… Oh?” Erick glanced at the shield upon his forearm. “That’s a foible I can work around. Would it block hostile mental attacks like [Pure Reflection Ward] does?”

“Yes. That’s a touch above [Pure Reflection Ward], actually.” Poi said, “And you can use it at the same time… That’s... That’s really good. It’ll reflect all healing spells, though. So keep that in mind. You need to actually dismiss it if you want to be healed because it lasts ten extra minutes...” Poi frowned. “I don’t know if this is a good spell.”

“Foibles to work around, Poi! Nothing more than that.” Erick smiled, then dismissed the shield. “I don’t know how Jane expects me to make magic in the middle of a battle. Archmages need to be prepared ahead of time.” Erick did not completely ignore the fantastic spells he had made in the heat of any moment, like [Flight of a Thousand Hands], but he could only get lucky so many times. Being prepared was better than pulling things out of his ass whenever they were needed. “[Animadversion] will be useful some of the time, but not always. So let’s see... I got my shield. My incapacitating spell. I need one or two damaging spells and then I think we’ll be good for exploring the Forest. What do you think?”

Poi instantly said, “Remake your [Sealed Privacy Ward]. I want a nice place to sleep at night, please and thank you.”

“Oh! Right!” Erick said, “That was also on the list. I broke that down just the other day… Has it been long enough? It feels like it has...”

Erick checked his magic, then considered the Destructive versions of [Mana Sight], [Soul Sight], and [Blood Sight], along with the Audio and Visual Disruption options of [Ward], exactly as he had before, but this time he added more pieces. Ophiel picked up those pieces, singing a song of privacy. Erick continued onto a Destructive [Witness], listening to the end of mana sense. He sprinkled in a Destructive [True Sight], listening to the end of sight. There was a Destructive [Scry] in the mix, of course. With a thought to what he had done to make his [Prismatic Ward] permanent, Erick added some of that same functionality to his new creation. He wasn’t sure, exactly, when he had switched from theorizing and listening to casting, but he went with the flow, and magic happened.

Five meters away, in a large space the size of a house, the world blinked, then came back, looking exactly as it had been; nothing seemed to have changed, but everything had. With a blink, Erick switched on his mana sense.

He smiled, laughing a little. This was a good version! The original [Sealed Privacy Ward] had been rimmed in the visual static of [Ward]’s Audio and Visual Disruption options. The spell today had created a private space that looked exactly as it had before. Unless one walked into that space, Erick doubted that anyone could even tell it was there…

Except if they had a mana sense.

Seeing the world as the mana did, Erick saw an opaque white bubble where the spell lay. This was fine. Erick would have put up a [Prismatic Ward], anyway, and there was no way to hide that working from a mana sense.

He blinked off his mana sense, and read the box floating before him.

--

Sealed Privacy Ward, instant, medium range, 1500 mana

Disrupt all light, sound, scrying, mana sense, soul sense, life sense, and true sight, as it exits a large area, replacing all of that with an image of what was already there. Lasts 24 hours.

When ended, Sealed Privacy Ward further disrupts all mana sense within the protected space.

--

“I didn’t expect anything close to permanency with as little study I have put toward this, so 24 hours is great! … Blocks all senses.” Erick felt something was missing, but it was a vague feeling, easily dismissed, as he said, “That’s a keeper.”

Poi sighed, content, saying, “Yup.”

“Oh! No scent blocking! … But I already have that in my [Scent Ward]. This is fine.”

“For a trek into the Forest, there will be many redundant hiding spells.”

“Right.” Erick continued, “So! On to a few attack spells, then…” His voice trailed off. Then he said, “I don’t know what a normal mage’s spells look like.”

Poi chuckled, then gestured toward a boulder over yonder. A puff of flame escaped his hand, traveled the twenty-ish meters to the target, then struck, billowing easy-going flames around the rock and leaving lingering fires at the site. He said, “[Fireball] is always a good one.” He kept pointing. A spike of ice, a meter long, dashed forward, cracking into the rock. The ice broke; the rock was fine. “[Ice Spike] is decent. You already have that one.” He lowered his hands. “Then you got [Blinding Flash] and [Thunderous Chime]. Both are useful against anything that relies on sight or sound to target. Great for clearing away animals. Less effective on monsters. [Noxious Scent] works wonders as an animal deterrent, and you get that from Decay and [Alter Scent]. [Invisible Bolt] is great for harrying monsters and keeping them distracted from the tank, but not fully focused on you.” He said, “Basically, just go through the whole Mana Altering Skill, and have one for each Alter.”

“… I had never considered doing… any of those.” Erick said, “You’re quite talkative today, too! I like it.”

With good humor, Poi said, “Maybe we should have gone to the Adventurer’s Guild more. All you keep thinking about is air magic that suffocates and Mercy magic that’s useless against monsters, and besides that, those are not middling-mage spells.”

“How about sticking to anything under 50 mana?” Erick asked, “Would that work?”

“Sure. And then Ophiel shows up and blows your cover. Normal mages don’t have [Familiar]s.”

Ophiel, sitting on Erick’s shoulder, objected with a series of flute sounds.

Poi glanced up to Yggdrasil’s [Scry] orb, adding, “And not even middling-mages let people [Scry] on them all the time.”

Yggdrasil’s orb did not react.

“Everything about you is odd.” Poi said, “I’m not even sure why— I mean. I know why you want to make these new spells. But you don’t really need them to go incognito out into the world. Polite Society dictates that you don’t use active magic inside cities. If you want to walk around without attracting a crowd, all you really need is to dye your hair and your irises and to wear something less nice, and for Ophiel to keep away except for having him as a small bird.” Poi looked to Ophiel. “And I mean actually looking like a bird. Two eyes, at the most.”

Erick chuckled. He, too, looked to Ophiel on his shoulder.

Ophiel got the message. He flexed. His tiny jumble of wings became streamlined, as he took the form of a bird with a normal-looking head, a beak, two wings, a normal body, and a long tail. No legs, but that could be discounted by him sitting down directly against Erick’s body. And he had only two eyes!

But…

He was fully white. Even his beak. And his beak was made of tiny, tiny wings.

His whole body was made of tiny, tiny wings. Hundreds of wings, at least. Perhaps a thousand. Every one of his wings were so fine as to be mistaken for feathers. And then he flexed out his main wings, revealing dozens of eyes on the underside of each.

“I didn’t think it was possible.” Poi said, “But that’s even more creepy.”

Erick laughed as Ophiel relaxed back into his normal form of four wings and a scattering of eyes. He squawked. Erick patted him.

Poi said, “This world is not as connected as yours. If you did what I suggested and left Teressa, Jane, Kiri, and I behind, you could walk down the streets of almost anywhere in the world, except for Spur, and likely not be recognized by any normal person. You’d have trouble with Candlepoint, too, I suppose.” He added, “Your biggest problem with retaining anonymity would be your lack of experience with visiting cities as a normal person, and the people in charge would recognize you sooner or later depending on various factors outside of anyone’s control; chance meetings and such.”

“Bah! Problems for later! For now: Magic!”

Poi smirked.

Erick listened to the flowing wind of [Air Bolt], the spell he had made with Syllea’s help, and with Ophiel’s help, then he extracted the sound of the wind. Getting the same result from Mana Altering was easy enough, and from there, he refined the sound even more, into a gale force breeze. With a twist and a cast, Erick flowed wind into [Force Shrapnel], because [Force Shrapnel] was a rather decent short-range spell.

--

Force Shrapnel X, instant, short cone, 5 MP

Sharpened forward blast of mana that deals 25 + WIL damage in a cone

--

A blast of ten cutting wind blades, some meters wide, exploded from Erick’s hand, slicing through the air like the whistle of an oncoming tornado. Most of the blades went wide. Some scraped tiny furrows in the mountainside. All of them went much further than Erick expected.

Ophiel instantly copied the sound, whistling like a windstorm on the horizon.

Poi shivered.

“Wind must add range, eh?” Erick mused, as the blue box appeared.

--

Tornado Blades, instant, medium cone, 15 MP

Ten blades of wind blast forward, each dealing 50 damage + WIL

--

Erick said, “Only 50 damage plus Willpower. I left the suffocation out on purpose. Does that seem close to normal?”

Poi countered, “50 damage plus Willpower per blade. With your Willpower, that single spell deals 2000 damage if they all hit, with a high chance of at least one of those blades critting. Beyond the simple Health damage of the magic itself, it would probably do some decent damage against hard targets, too, though I am not certain of that fact. Wind is not sturdy.”

“Well… I can’t help it if everyone else is shitty!”

Poi laughed.

“No. Seriously.” Erick said, “Do they teach wrong at the Arcanaeums on purpose?” He glanced around, as though expecting the Headmaster to be right there. “I heard about the Headmaster’s brother… Was that true? About the origin of the Dragon Curse?”

Poi’s laughter died. He said, “That’s just one more story among the apocryphal origins of that Curse. ‘Melemizargo did it’ always made the most sense to me; he doesn’t want dragons overpowering him now that he’s so small. You must keep in mind that there’s only one existent dragon that isn’t Cursed, and her name is Rozeta.”

“Oh!”

“Don’t believe everything a Shade tells you, sir. But about arcanaeum magic? That method of magic works just as well as yours—” He winced. “I realized what I said the second I said it. Your Particle Magic works a lot better than normal magic. From what I’ve seen, it could be true that we’ve had it wrong all this time. The god of magic has been insane for a long while, after all.”

“Oh. I never considered that angle.”

Poi said, “Anyway. Your [Tornado Blades] is fine. A bit strong. But fine. Try for a Mercy variant?”

Erick was back to being excited for magic, as he said, “Mercy seems like it would like the suffocation, so let’s add that back into the mix.”

Erick did exactly as he said.

Curling, insubstantial blades made of wind and light blasted across the mountainside like fog given form. They did not leave tracks on the stone where they touched. They left fog, instead.

--

Merciful Suffocation, instant, medium cone, 35 MP

Ten curls of suffocating wind blast forward and attach to struck targets. Curls stack. Affected targets take 50 damage + WIL to Health per curl of wind each time they attempt to breathe with a high chance of causing suffocation. Each breath expends one curl upon the target. Merciful Suffocation immediately fails if the target has no Health.

--

“Huh.” Erick said, “A bit more sinister than I envisioned.”

“Less sinister than that slime you made earlier.”

“Hey now. Don’t disparage the slime. They’re your ancestors, after all.”

“I can disparage my ancestors all I want.”

Erick laughed. Poi smiled.

Poi added, “And ‘damage every time you breathe’ is a lot less sinister than a potential 20,000 damage to the face. Not many people can actually shape [Force Shrapnel] as well as you can, and some mages have trouble getting a single shard of a [Force Shrapnel] to hit, but I doubt you would have that problem. Keep that in mind when you cast [Tornado Blades] where other people can see.”

Erick frowned. “Surely you exaggerate. Other people can Shape [Force Shrapnel] to hit a target with all the shards, and with that in mind, [Tornado Blades] would only be… 10,000 damage for a normal mage… Ah. Still really high. Bah!” Erick deflected, “That’s with all of them hitting a person’s head, though. I couldn’t do that.”

Poi gestured forward. “Make a statue. I bet you can.”

… Erick made a statue with [Stoneshape]. It was a rough human-sized target, and that was good enough for the purposes of a target. From ten meters away, Erick shaped and shot his [Tornado Blades] at the statue’s head.

Five blades struck true. Five went wide, with three clipping the body, but each of those were only barely off course, missing by decimeters, if that. Every attack that hit carved a tiny furrow in the stone.

Poi joked, “I guess I expected too much from you.”

“Ha ha,” Erick droned. “That was my first time. Here—”

He cast again, and this time all ten blades lined up like a barrage, each funneling into the power of the one behind it. Each blade struck true, right where Erick had meant for them to strike. He briefly considered linking [Force Bolt]’s ‘inevitable’ to the striking power of [Tornado Blades], but… No.

[Force Bolt]s Bolts always struck where it was easiest for them to strike. They could not be aimed at heads or such in order to critical. Erick suspected this was due to some Principle of Least Action, or something, that designated that a [Force Bolt] take the shortest possible path to a target. [Force Bolt]s could crit, but only if you got really lucky with the target turning their head toward the Bolt at the right moment, or some other similar accident.

Combining [Force Bolt] with [Tornado Blades] would create a spell that was almost guaranteed to not crit, and Erick had more than enough of those.

He pointed at the target, saying, “There we go. Other people should be able to do that with some practice, right? It doesn’t even seem good against armor, or anything hard, really. That’s normal magic, right? Or… I’m missing something obvious, aren’t I.”

Poi reminded him, “Your Sculpt Spell Class Ability~”

“Oh.” Erick could have smacked himself. “Not many people take that, huh?”

“Not just that!” Poi said, “I don’t think you actually understand— The problem is that you have a Class at all, let alone gone as high as you have, which makes magic easier for you in a way that shows in everything you do, but that, and Sculpt Spell, is just the start. Any seasoned adventurer looking at [Tornado Blades] would mark you as a Classed person, but if you were to show off your less well-known Particle Magic, anyone with the knowledge to see would either recognize you as ‘Erick Flatt, the Particle Mage’, or they would see you as an uncommonly talented adventurer.

“[Incandescent] or [Frozen Mist] are really good crowd-control spells, effectively blocking off avenues of attack, but with damage. Actual blocking is achieved with [Force Wall], and you have that. You could probably pass off [Hermetic Razor] as a Wind-based spell if you wanted, and most would never know the difference. Spells like the [Sleep]-slime you just made would get you some weird looks, but not many know that [Sleep] is a Mind Mage only spell. You could probably pass that one off as a wind-derivative spell, too. Incidentally, I have circumvented the visit that you would normally get from us Mind Mages, of course.

“But even disregarding all that: there’s the fact that as soon as a person sees that you never run out of mana, they would, at the very least, rearrange everything they think they know about you. Most people in this world have 600 mana, at the most, and that is only true of those who actually try their hand at being a mage. Most people don’t even have that, with the average being 80 or 120 mana.” He finished with, “So the only way for you to go incognito would be to pretend to be an adventurer, but in those circles, you’d get spotted almost right away. That’s why I say that this idea of going incognito is going to be tough.”

Ahhh… He knew this was going to be tough, but he had not allowed himself to connect as many dots as Poi had. Maybe he should have, but he had not wanted to, because, now that Poi laid it all out there, in some intrinsic, sad sort of way, Erick felt a disconnect between himself and the rest of the world; a gulf he could not easily cross.

Poi stood straighter. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I just… Forget, sometimes.” Erick said, “I’ll figure it out. I appreciate the warnings, and the perspective. Thanks, Poi.”

Poi nodded, “Of course. So what other spells are on the list?”

“Let’s see… Shield, sleep, two attacks… and all the other spells I barely ever use.” Erick decided, “Good enough. Let’s move on.”

“Back to the room?” Poi asked, hopeful.

Erick crushed those hopes, saying, “Nah. I’m going to ring Syllea.” Erick did so, sending out a telepathic call to the other archmage.

Poi said, “She is still avoiding us.”

“Yeah. But I haven’t actually pressed the issue until… now… No answer, though. I’m going to try Bayth.” He did so.

No response. No backlash of a denial, either, though! So—

The connection cut; a denial, but not a harsh denial. And then Syllea’s connection cut, too, in much the same way.

“Bah! Still avoiding me. Well fine.”

Poi asked, “Tenebrae?”

Erick agreed, “Tenebrae.”

- - - -

Ophiels descended upon the mountains west of the Firemaw Volcanoes, far away from the deep lava pools and open, red maws of Firemaw itself, where the land was still covered in black and cooled lava drifts, but green grew in the cracks. The volcanic rock of this land had not been molten for a long time. In some of those valleys, the green took up more space than black and brown, and tiny streams of water wound through nascent river beds. This place was a lush bit of land, where the Forest was a far-off idea to the north and west.

The Firemaws hadn’t opened in this place in centuries, and may not open here ever again.

This was a land of budding green, and many, many rock monsters. Elementals, mostly. Standard stone, but also rarer variants, like cutting obsidian that glinted in the sunlight, and light-weight pumice that rode the wind like a jumble of black sand. Mud elementals rested at the edges of streams. Water elementals rested in the edges of the streams themselves, cutting whirlpool-lairs out of the banks.

Mostly, the elementals ignored the other lives all around them, or perhaps it was more accurate to say the life around them knew enough to skirt around the elementals; to not disturb them into attacking.

Blackscaled fish avoided whirlpools, staying in the deeper parts of the black sandbed streams. Mountain deer, with their black glittering horns and their dark fur, avoided shiny rocks out in the sun, sticking to the green, shadowed parts of the mountains. Green birds stayed in the trees, or among the grasses, looking for food among the new growths.

It was a really nice place.

Which was probably why Tenebrae’s Castle floated in the distance.

Erick stepped onto the air above a nice valley. Poi stood beside him. Both of them held steady on the light under their feet while Ophiels darted in the windy sky and squawked in joyful violins.

It hadn’t taken that long to find the stone-based Archmage, not comparatively, anyway, but it had been a complicated thing that had taken longer than Erick had wanted it to take.

[Cascade Imaging] had returned blank responses for Erick’s searches for ‘humans’ and ‘rock people’ and ‘golems’ and even ‘castle’. ‘Humans’ was a long shot, since Tenebrae had obviously prepared against those sorts of scans, but as for the other ones, Erick imagined he didn’t understand the archmage’s rock people well enough to scan for them. There had been some false positives in all his Imaging, but Ophiel checked those out easily enough, and found nothing more than adventurers out in the world, doing what they wanted to do; Erick didn’t bother them, for none of them seemed in danger. After a while, and after a dozen more scans, Erick had been reminded of his search for Messalina. He had failed to find the Life Binder until the woman had allowed herself to be found in her cloud giant castle in the sky, in order to enable some convoluted scheme to find the people who had hunted her village in Nergal.

So, going off of that experience, and imagining that Tenebrae’s floating castle was invisible and highly [Ward]ed in special and similarly infuriating ways, Erick had his Ophiel sunform-step across the whole of the entire mountain range, each of them wielding [True Sight].

It hadn’t worked. Erick wasted thirty minutes doing that.

But then he remembered the cloud giants again. They were visible through the heat they emitted, though infrared light. He had his Ophiel manually scout the land again, this time with their sights shifted toward infrared.

This also didn’t work.

Erick had thought back to his freshly created [Sealed Privacy Ward]. He checked that out with infrared sight, and though he couldn’t see inside, he could see that there was something there. Maybe he’d have to remake that spell, now that two vulnerabilities had been found; scent, and light-sight beyond the norm.

But regarding Tenebrae’s Castle, Erick finally got a break when he shifted the weather of the entire thousand-kilometer wide area and called the rains. Brute force solutions! If brute force doesn’t work, you aren’t using enough of it.

Brute force worked. Erick suspected that if Ophiel didn’t have great experience racing through the valleys and mountains of this land west of Firemaw, if they were as slow as they had been the first time in their search, that he would have missed Tenebrae’s castle, for the archmage would have solved the minor issue of blocking the rain from reaching the ground.

And so, Erick found the [More than Invisible] castle, then dismissed the rains.

Now, the land steamed in the bright sun, elementals and animals came back out to do what they were wont to do, the greenery seemed a bit more green, and the castle had dropped all pretense of hiding. It was a normal-enough castle of solid grey stone with a few towers, but it was certainly built for war, and not for comfort. The walls were thick. The windows were small. The upside-down mountaintop that it rested upon looked solid, and the roofs matched that look.

The rock-man standing on the walls also looked rather solid. From a kilometer away, he waved.

Erick waved back. Then he started walking forward. An [Animadversion] held on his left wrist, and also on Poi’s. Erick was happy that he could share that spell with others, though the twisted-silver shield would only last 10 minutes in Poi’s hands. It might be enough to divert any sudden, magical disapproval regarding Erick’s visit.

Erick and Poi reached the edge of the castle with little fanfare, except from the rock man on the walls.

“Hello!” the rock guy called out. “Archmage Flatt, yes? Sorry for you to come all this way, but Tenebrae isn’t accepting visitors at this time. We are thankful for the rain, though. You have exposed a vulnerability that we normally have more time to prepare against.”

“I am glad I could assist in some small way.” Erick politely said, “Tenebrae owes me a bargain of trade, and I have come to collect. Can I please see the man?”

“He wishes you gone.” The rock man stood resolute. “Please leave.”

Erick maintained his civility, but he pressed forward, “He owes me a Gate.”

The topmost tower’s window slammed open, the glass cracking.

Tenebrae stuck his head out, yelling, “I ain’t owe you SHIT! Get the fuck off my property!”

Erick lost his civility. He called back, “Give me my damned Gate, old man! AND the plans to this floating castle!”

“Tell me how this new Particle Magic is supposed to work!”

“… I’m going to throw a spell at you now. Figure it out, but don’t use fire! It explodes if you do that!”

Tenebrae started sputtering. Defenses went up across the stone, like hexagons of grey light suddenly manifesting. Erick pointed, and cast. [Merciful Ether Slime] coalesced around the window like a bag of thick air, failing to make its way inside the castle’s window. Instead, it hung on the hexagons of light that covered the stone.

Tenebrae shot ice through his own barrier, at the creature. Ice locked around the ether slime, trying to hold it frozen in place, but the slime was an ethereal spell. It slipped out of the ice and kept trying to enter the room.

Fire came next.

This time, the slime exploded. It was a small explosion; barely more than a puff of fire and a thunderous crack sent through the air. The ice that failed to hold the slime lost its grip and plummeted to the courtyard below, in the center of the castle.

Tenebrae did not stick his head outside, but he did put his face to the edge of his barrier, as he called out, “What a shitty spell! That level of explosion wouldn’t hurt a child!”

“It’s a non-violent Particle—”

“Then it’s even shittier than I thought it was! You can’t call a spell that explodes ‘non-violent’! You truly are an idiot!”

“That would have put any breathing person to sleep, and without Mind Magic, but you destroyed it and you’re not getting another. I have fulfilled my bargain with you twice over! Give me my bargain of trade! Give me my Gate!”

Tenebrae sputtered curses as he retreated into his tower. The grey hexagons vanished.

Erick waited.

The rock man on the wall, who had simply watched all this time, said, “My Master does not wish to be disturbed. Please leave, Archmage Flatt.”

Erick sputtered, “What the— He just went back inside? He’s not going to get me my stuff?”

“That is correct. You may leave now.”

Erick spoke loud, saying, “Then I suppose I must ask the Headmaster about the honoring of bargains of trade.”

Tenebrae appeared at his window, calling out, “You damned bastard! Can’t you solve your problems yourself?”

“I am! I solve my problems by getting other people involved!” Erick called back, “What’s the problem, eh! Just tell me where the damned thing is and tell me how to make my own castle! You owe me both answers.”

Tenebrae muttered more curses in languages Erick did not know, then he called out, “Ransack a Cloud Giant city and take it for yourself! There. You got one out of two. Not bad! More than most! I ain’t givin' you my Gate!”

“You said you were done with the damned thing!”

“I still want it! It’s mine, dammit! Find your own!”

“There are no more!”

“Not my problem!”

Erick glared.

Tenebrae glared right back, then said, “I’ll give you a recreation. I got the thing copied years ago. You can have that—”

“NOPE. I want the real thing, and you’re going to hand over the location.” Erick offered, “You can come with us when we go inspect it, but Redarrow said you’d die if you came with!” Erick thought about, but did not tell the man, that if he didn’t come, then others would die.

Tenebrae glared. He glared for a long minute. Erick had no problem glaring right back.

The stone archmage frowned, calling out, “You’d die without me there, so fine! I’ll go. Idiot youngster.”

“I’m fucking 50!” 49, but whatever.

“Could’a fooled me! And I’m 90, shit-for-brains!” Tenebrae retreated back through his window, muttering about young stupid people and how they never changed.

Erick called out, “I’m leaving for the place today! In the afternoon! I hope that’s okay with you!”

Tenebrae slammed right back through his window, almost falling out, but easily preventing a defenestration, as he yelled, “Well NO SHIT we’re doing it today! Get your asses in here!” He relaxed, either unable or unwilling to maintain his anger. “We’re taking my castle.” He retreated back into his tower.

The rock man instantly turned and gestured to the courtyard down in the castle, saying, “This way, if you would, Archmage and guest.”

Erick pointed in a different direction, at Tenebrae’s window. “I’m not done talking with him. We have to pick up my daughter and my other guard, as well as make a visit to the auction. I only physically came here because he wasn’t answering my calls.”

The rockman said, “—

Tenebrae happily stuck his head back out the window, his voice turning pleasant, as he said, “Why don’t you go get them? Come back here when you’re ready and then we can leave for the Gate.”

“So you can vacate this valley and abandon your bargain? Maybe learn how to hide your castle better?”

A hateful look briefly crossed Tenebrae’s face, then vanished. His voice was full of sugar, “Ohhh. Nooo. I’d stay right here, for sure! Promise! I’ve got a few things to do before we traipse across the Forest, so we can wait for your auction to be over. Go ahead! Go be with your daughter!”

Erick weighed the possibilities of casual treachery and found them very high, but he liked Tenebrae pretending at being nice, so Erick decided to adopt a saccharine tone as well, either in mocking, or to keep the conversation at least partially pleasant. Maybe this almost-’Polite Society’ interaction would last past one verbal joust.

“I’d be ever so pleased to take some tea and crackers with you so we can discuss where to meet to venture into the Forest. That way, even if you aren’t there for some, I’m sure, completely valid reason, we can just mosey on in without you.”

Tenebrae almost spat some horrible words, but then he paused. He calmly said, “You’d never be able to find it without me.”

“Exactly. You are necessary, Tenebrae. I wouldn’t want to cut you out of any discoveries, either.”

“You can’t move it either! You can’t— Just! Just…” Tenebrae’s voice dwindled. He called to the rock man, “Get them a table and a room for—” He asked Erick, “How many?”

“Four people.”

“Four is fine. Good number. And I make five. Rocky. Get them their room.”

Rocky, the rock man, which if that was his actual name was rather rude or strange, Erick wasn’t quite sure, gestured behind him, to a building in the castle, saying, “This way, Archmage Flatt and Guest.”

Tenebrae vanished back into his tower.

Erick did nothing to stop that or to interrupt what was happening. They seemed to be moving in a good direction. So, he followed Rocky onto the castle walls, and then down a set of stairs, to the courtyard below.

Tenebrae’s Castle was a well-lit, austere sort of place, with a square curtain wall and an organized jumble of stone, box-like buildings inside that wall. The only bit of color in the place was a gnarled tree in the center of the courtyard, atop a small dome of stone. It wasn’t very tall, but it was brown and vibrant green, and the roots, small as they were, went everywhere, in every crack or along every wall of the stone. To Erick’s [True Sight] and mana sense, that tree was a beacon of light and air in the center of this heavy place.

It didn’t look like a [Familiar]. It looked like a natural tree. Highly magical, though.

Erick only paid a little attention to the tree, interesting as it was, for there were other rock men in doorways and windows of the castle’s buildings. Only a few of them stopped whatever they were doing to look at Erick and Poi as they passed through. Most of them were simply talking with each other. There weren’t many, maybe a dozen to be seen, but they all looked somewhat the same.

Human-sized bodies, with thick arms and thick legs, they all looked like someone had attempted to sculpt a person but stopped when they had gotten to the ‘human-looking’ stage. There was definitely some sort of ‘uncanny valley’ thing going on, but at least they were all slightly different looking, but none of them wore clothes. None of them had visible genitalia, either, but for some reason, Erick got the impression that they were all male.

‘Rocky’ led them to a building on the other side of the tree; a small house built into the curtain wall, with a nice little porch in front, where sat a table and a few chairs.

He said, “This is our guest house. Meetings will be conducted at this table outside. Master will not venture inside while you are a guest. We ask that you respect his privacy as well; do not go past any black lines in the stone. Other than that, please avail yourself of any amenities you might find in the Estate. Also: do not adjust any of the stone with any Shaping; it is all thoroughly enchanted, so you shouldn’t be able to, but please do not try. For the duration of your stay in this Estate, you will be cooked for by the same chef who cooks for our Master. Dinner is served across the courtyard in that building there. If you wish for more food, then it will be provided, or, you can acquire it on your own terms and bring in back here. There is a kitchen and other such amenities inside the guest house. I, or someone else, will always warn you when our Master is coming. We Stone Men thank you in advance for bearing with his eccentrici—” A pause. “Master is coming right now. Any quick questions before he arrives?”

“Is your name actually ‘Rocky’? Are you being insulted every day?”

Now that Erick looked again, Rocky seemed like a person. He had a soul, but it was a thin thing. Thicker than Ophiel’s. Maybe Rocky was a summon, too?

Rocky smirked, only a little, the stone of his face moving like the metal of a wrought, but rougher. “I am still a member of the collective and have yet to differentiate my self or my name. All of us here are like that.” Rocky gestured to the table. “Please, take a seat.”

The collective? Well. Okay…

Erick found no reason not to comply, for he had checked out the place rather well with his Ophiel flying all around in their tiny bodies. The stone seat was not comfortable, but it would do. Poi took his place standing behind Erick.

Rocky stepped away, to the side, but he did not leave. Another Rocky came forth with a plate of small sandwiches and a glass pitcher of cold tea, with three cups. He set them down then walked away, but not too far, right as Tenebrae opened the courtyard door of his tower.

Erick put on an easy expression with a slight smile and relaxed shoulders. By now, the [Animadversion] had expired from Poi’s arm, but it remained on Erick’s as a twisted silver buckler. Erick silently asked Poi if he wanted another. Poi shook his head.

Tenebrae walked around the courtyard, spitting, “Show me that damn thing on your arm.”

Erick paused. Then he held up his arm as Tenebrae stopped in front of him. Erick forced politeness and kindness out of his mouth, “Why of course, Tenebrae. I can show you some functions of it, too, if you wish to tell me about your castle.” The silver buckler extended a few thorny snowflake-like arms, but Erick kept them small. “It’s just an [All Reflection] spell.”

Tenebrae leaned over, slightly, and stared at the buckler, his eyes roaming across the thorny silver protrusions. He flickered with a few spells, but Erick couldn’t quite tell what they were.

Ophiel whistled in unsure guitar thrums.

Tenebrae said, “Looks like you can give it away like it was a normal [Conjure Weapon], but it’s a shield. I approve. Probably the best thing you’ve ever made!”

While Erick was suddenly dumbfounded, Tenebrae ignored the shield and sat down on the other side of the table. He served himself some tea, but did not do the same for Erick. He picked up a small sandwich, took a bite, and stared. He hadn’t even set the pitcher of tea close to Erick, or even halfway; he had set it directly in front of him, on his side of the table.

… Erick stood up and reached over to grab the pitcher. He served himself some tea, then set the pitcher halfway down in the center of the table. He sipped the tea. It was good.

Tenebrae said, “The Gate is inside a Twisted Vision of the Forest.”

“I assume it’s more complicated than that, and that there’s a reason you can’t just kill the Vision to get the Gate.”

With a deep frown, Tenebrae said, “You don’t know what a Twisted Vision is, do you.”

It wasn’t a question. Erick gave his answer, anyway, “They inhabit parts of the Forest and copy monsters, growing their preferred pets like a mayor grows a city, or something like that.”

“You don’t know—!” A sigh. “That’s barely a tenth of the common knowledge in any Adventurer’s Guild near the Forest! Ignorant, dumbass— Archmages need to know more. Here’s a lesson: Twisted Visions are products of [Duplicate] and other spells gone wrong. Don’t know what the ‘other spells’ part is, and don’t care, but some Shade made them 1300 years ago or more, for sure. Their ability to copy is not limited to monsters and biologicals. They can copy gold and jewels and other stuff, if they want to. Almost none of them do, but this one does. It copies everything.”

Erick sat straighter. He frow—

Erick jumped to the obvious conclusion, “It’s copying Gates?”

“Among other things. It’s classified as a 9-star threat— You do know about the ranking system the Guilds use, don’t you?” Tenebrae stared at Erick.

“Yes.” Erick withheld a rebuttal that would have gone along the lines of ‘killing the Shades was a 12 star threat’, for many reasons, least of all that he didn’t actually kill them all. He only killed a few. “I am aware of the ranking system. 10-star requires nations to get involved. Your 9-star means it's just below a national-level threat. It’s probably killed thousands of people.”

“… Correct. Before we go further, I will have your promise that you will not endanger the life of this Twisted Vision. It is rare. It is valuable. And it doesn’t just ‘copy Gates’.”

Erick almost lost it. Exasperation, disgust, anger, all of these emotions swirled, and more. But he kept calm. As politely as he could, he asked, “Why can’t we just kill it and take the Gate? Are you really that—” Erick stopped himself before he said something unkind. This place did not look rich. Was Tenebrae poor? A poor archmage? Was that what was going on here? How, though? Why? Erick almost asked those questions, but he did not. Instead, he said, “Okay. It’s valuable. More valuable than the Gate inside?”

Tenebrae eyed Erick, then said, “Long time ago, a very, very long time ago, don’t know which idiot did it, but someone found a Twisted Vision that copied stuff besides monsters. That wasn’t the only criteria this unknown person searched for, I’m sure. This particular Vision is one of the calmest Visions I have ever seen. Maybe it’s a byproduct of what was done to it. Maybe it’s a byproduct of how old it is, for this Vision is old. It’s also extremely deadly if irritated. That is why I choose to approach this Vision with care and quiet. We will not be killing it. Understand this?”

“Somewhat. But not really. Please go on.”

Tenebrae huffed. He continued, “Either someone got the bright idea to throw the broken pieces of several Gates inside, or maybe the Vision found, or was birthed on, a dumping ground for Old Dragonkin Gates. When the Rage Wars were going strong, people destroyed the Gate Network so the orcols couldn’t use them anymore, you see. But every single Gate was guarded. Those attacks that took out the Gates were suicide hits. Most were not properly destroyed. Most of the broken Gates were left behind for the Raging orcols to pick up and try to put back together. They failed.

“And thus, those broken Gates likely went in a laboratory, or a pile, depending on how one views primitive Orcol society. Truth is, I don’t know how it happened but it happened. and it doesn’t matter. Point is: Almost every Gate in that dungeon-like space is broken, but all of them appear to work, but that is just part of the real illusion of the place. All Twisted Visions are odd, disjointed spaces, but this Twisted Vision figured out [Gate].” He finished with, “And that’s why we can’t destroy the Vision. The monster itself is a clue to [Gate] just as much as those Gates are.”

“… Huh.” Erick immediately said, “You talked about recreated Gates that you brought out. How close are they to the original?”

Tenebrae frowned. He breathed in, then out, calming himself, then he said, “I’ve been inside twenty times.” Slight lie there, but Erick let it slide. Tenebrae continued, “I’ve managed to find a reasonably intact Gate ten times and copied them as best I could, but all I ever got was a long way down a false path.” With venom, he asked, “Do you want to see my own attempts?”

“No. I want the real one.”

“Good. Fine. I ain’t letting you see my failures, anyway.” Tenebrae said, “But there’re complications to this Vision. Every time I go in there, all I mostly find is near-death, because this Vision’s Domain is stronger than most.”

“Ah. Complications.” Erick’s words were an understatement.

Visions had Domains?

“Quite.” Tenebrae said, “Using Spatial Magic inside this Vision will get you [Partial Teleport]ed into a wall or the floor or some other shit. Elemental Bodies are constrained. Shaping spells alert the Vision that you’re inside if used on any ‘wall’, though Visions don’t really have walls— You do not want to alert it that you’re inside. As soon as you try to move a Gate… Any number of things could happen. The Gate could activate a [Gate] and monsters or water could flood out and try to drown you under claw or ocean pressure.” Tenebrae spat, “You can’t move any of these Gates inside. I already told you that before! Didn’t you listen! All I made were bad copies.”

Erick did not explode back at the man. Instead, he calmly absorbed all of that, then he said, “I assume manual Spatial Magic is blocked?”

Tenebrae calmed a fraction. “Correct. I have not discovered all the limitations of that place, for I do not test it anymore.”

“How do you get inside, then? What are the actual limitations of this place that have allowed you to explore it?”

“Physical hiding —no magical hiding!— with minimal monster contact. Minimal use of magic. The Vision is larger than most Visions, and also calmer; this combination causes oddities that you would never find in other Visions. This one will ignore campfires, for instance. If you use magic that does not harm or attempt to hide, then it might not react. The best way to investigate is to cast your magic outside and hope that you’re not stuck inside when the duration ends. Any spell exposure beyond 50 mana might mean that you have to run, for it might notice you, then. NO DOMAINS! It senses those right away. Elemental Bodies might not work that well, but they’re the preferred way to operate.” Tenebrae said, “This Twisted Vision is among the largest, most hidden, best defended Visions in the entire Forest. It spans thousands upon thousands of kilometers, though you’d never know it because almost all of that space is the Border Vision. We will NOT be going into the Vision more than a hundred kilometers; somewhere at the Middle Vision. We will be coming in from the sky, and dropping directly into the Middle Vision, through a [Gate] attached to a Gate. That Gate is the most broken one I have ever seen, but we can stick around and eye it for a while, if you want. What we’re after is one of the better Gates deeper in.”

Erick refilled his tea, and said, “Okay. That sounds dangerous. I thought Twisted Visions were just out in the open monsters that adjusted how you viewed the space. From what you’re saying, it sounds like they don’t exist in the real world. Elsewise we could just scout the Deep Vision from the air and not have to walk through a [Gate] in order to explore the space.”

“You really don’t know shit about anyth— Twisted Visions are pseudo-spaces. They twist everything around and depending on the Vision, if you attempt to leave, you either run into monsters or walk out of the space, and if you attempt to go through the canopy, you will be eaten. You break anything at all and the Twisted Vision will try to break you. Most Visions are the size of hills or valleys. They affect an area that is measured in a handful of kilometers. Those are babies. This one is a mother. It is calm. It is massive. Most people pass through the outer edges without even knowing it exists. It is old. Some would even consider it the first Vision to ever exist, but I doubt it. You will follow my instructions at all times, or I will not help you find it.” Tenebrae said, “And we won’t be killing it!”

Erick frowned.

Who the fuck cared if it was an old monster? Old monsters deserved to die more than most. All it sounded to him was like this Twisted Vision needed to die. It needed to be GONE. He kept those thoughts to himself.

Instead, he asked, “Does it have a name?”

Tenebrae paused. He lied right to Erick’s face, “No. But I call it the Green Labyrinth.”

“Thanks for that, Tenebrae.” Erick spoke with his most sincere, thankful voice, “I appreciate your help with this.”

“You better appreciate it.” Tenebrae said, “The Green Labyrinth pops up in unlikely places all the time, spewing out excess monsters every so often. Most people come across these side entrances and think them young Twisted Visions. Most people never find the true entrance. Only I know where the true entrance is, and that’s where we have to go if you want to look at a [Gate] or a Gate.”

Erick had several thoughts.

Chief among them were, in no particular order:

He needed to talk to someone else about this ‘Green Labyrinth’. If it was as odd of a Vision as Tenebrae said it was, then Syllea would know where it was and what it contained, for sure. Teressa might, too, if only through hearsay and stories, but she would be Erick’s second choice for information. He could also go back to Nosier and ask him for his opinion on why others had not thought to excavate Gates from the Green Labyrinth, or, why others had failed to excavate from the Green Labyrinth.

And why couldn’t he just kill the Labyrinth with a particularly violent set of murderous magics? Erick needed to talk to Arbor Rottundra about that. Him and his Chieftain were all for melting the entire Forest away. Surely such a plan would account for something as dangerous as this ‘Green Labyrinth’.

And finally, did he want Jane involved with this?

Once his daughter found out about such an enticing location… Could he even forbid her from coming? Like. Sure. He could try. He would fail. If it weren’t for the Feast Barrier, she would have followed him into Ar’Kendrithyst. But looking at it from a different way, should he try to dissuade her? Visions weren’t Shades. Visions were hordes of monsters and dangerous ecology. Without the use of his many stronger magics, Jane would likely be stronger than him in such a place, what with her martial bent and all that. She could even cast all of her necessary spells before she went inside. Erick could not.

Tenebrae leaned on the table, eyeing Erick, and said, “And if you go talking to others about this I’m calling the whole thing off. You can run to the Headmaster and force a compromise, but I’ll take my hits and you won’t get shit. I’m not giving up the Green Labyrinth to anyone. You hear me?”

Erick heard the man, but mostly, he considered Redarrow’s warning.

Was he more comfortable with risking Tenebrae’s life, or the life of everyone else?

And also, looking back on it, a lot of Tenebrae’s words seemed contradictory. If all Twisted Visions were pseudo-spaces, didn’t that mean that they were all partially [Gate] capable? How old was this ‘Green Labyrinth’, if it had managed to find a whole stash of discarded Gates? Surely such a stash had to have been impossible to have gone unfound for very long, unless this monster was really, really old.

Erick was sure that he could pick apart what he had been told, to figure out the lies and more, but then Tenebrae would renege on his bargain of trade, and Erick would be risking the lives of his daughter and his people.

Erick said, “I will be researching Visions more.” The man across the table almost exploded, but Erick spoke louder, saying, “I will not tell others why! But I will be researching them for my own needs. If anyone asks, it will be a part of learning what might boil out of the Forest when we set to destroying the whole thing.” He glared at Tenebrae, adding, “If you don’t want to risk such an information leak, start explaining why you have been lying throughout this whole conversation.”

Tenebrae stared.

Erick waited.

Eventually, Tenbrae said, “I’m casting a [Privacy Ward], and then I’ll speak.”

Erick nodded. “Sure.”

A foggy haze, like grey dust, enveloped the world beyond their table, swirling with hidden sights, as Tenebrae’s eyes glittered grey. Ophiel turned blind; gently squawking in disturbed flute sounds. Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye vanished. Poi vanished beyond the grey cloud. It was just Tenebrae and Erick, sitting across from each other. Erick’s mana sense and [True Sight] failed him, as they touched upon that grey expanse. He patted Ophiel, trying to calm the little guy down. It worked, if only a little.

Tenebrae said, “Dragons live inside that Vision. They have for the last ten centuries. The Headmaster has tried a thousand times to get at them, but he has failed a thousand times over. I will not allow you to be the vehicle in which these people are finally murdered.”

Ah. So Erick could have gone to the Headmaster. Probably Syllea, too.

Good thing he was avoiding the first and the second was avoiding him.

Erick said, “I will not cause harm where there is no need to harm.”

“That’s not good enough. I need your word that you won’t start shit.” Tenebrae said, “The only reason I am even considering helping you is that you’re on your Worldly Path, and I either have to help you and mitigate your disaster, or let you find your own way forward, killing everything that crosses you. And these people will cross you, and it won’t be on purpose. Do I have your word?”

“Maybe you didn’t understand me, Tenebrae.” Erick said, “I won’t start shit where shit does not need to be started. My record should speak for itself, but allow me to say that nothing I have done has ever been intentionally harmful to people that did not deserve such harm. Or would you say that the Shades did not need to die? That I should not have liberated those shadelings from Treehome’s commune? That the murderers of Treehome deserved to remain at large? That Melemizargo deserved to remain insane, and for this world to not understand the basic building blocks of existence itself?”

“Ha!” Tenebrae laughed. “Tell me, oh great arbiter of what is right and good!” Tenebrae snarled, demanding, “How do you plan on helping the dragons overcome their Blood Curse? Can you actually fix that, or will the dragons you see become like that Carmine Changeling Vine, who was only trying to reproduce?”

Erick’s eyes went wide. “Ah. Yeah. If the Dragons are like that, then I’m murdering them, for sure.”

Tenebrae smiled. “Then run along now and murder the Headmaster. We can rejoin this Forest Hunt after you do that.”

“I’m not sure what you think those words accomplish, but I do know that they have exposed your dumbassery. Like? Do you want the Headmaster dead? Go do it yourself. I’m not involving myself in your suicide mission. Should I warn him that you’re coming? Meh. He probably doesn’t need me to do that, does he.”

Tenebrae flinched back, saying, “That’s not what I meant. I meant that—”

“I know what you meant. All dragons are Cursed to kill each other, no matter what sort of damage that will cause. The Headmaster is out in the open, therefore he’s automatically challenging all dragons the world over. There’s probably something in your words about— some tangled thoughts about how, since I have been allied with the Headmaster, that these dragons will seek to harm me or dominate me in some way, as a way to dominate the Headmaster. What you meant was for me to have empathy for killers who can’t help themselves. And I do. Believe me, I do. I couldn’t even kill a monster without puking when I first came to this world, and though a lot of that is gone, the base remains.” Erick said, “So I ask you! Why don’t you go ask Melemizargo to lift his Dragon Curse? Or was it cast by the Headmaster’s brother, Idyrvamikor? In which case, find yourself a Wizard. I hear stories about them all the time, so they must exist. Or, was Idyrvamikor’s story, which I heard from the Shades, just propaganda? There are just too many things I don’t know about dragons to make a judgment call, Tenebrae. But what I do know is that I know nothing, and therefore I would like to know more.” He added, “But to make myself clearer: monsters deserve to die. So! Are dragons monsters?”

Tenebrae sat there, his face a mask.

Erick waited. He almost took a sandwich, but he did not.

Tenebrae asked, “Do you know any Wizards?”

“Nope. Do you? I’d like to know what makes them so deadly, if you got any ideas.”

“… Nope.” Tenebrae lied, “I don’t know any Wizards.” Tenebrae turned to truth, saying, “But there’ve been a few Wizards to venture through the Forest now and then. I never met one the Headmaster didn’t kill as soon as the world found out about them, but over the many centuries, those few Forest Wizards have lifted the Curse from a few dragons. We might even get to meet one of those Cleansed Dragons. So meet back here when you’re done with your daughter and your other guard, and we can visit them. Once you meet and understand them, maybe you can help me look for more Wizards who can do more than spot-treat Idyrvamikor’s Legacy.” He breathed deep, and with a maybe-genuine smile, said, “Glad to know your measure, Erick. Don’t speak of this conversation to outsiders.” He stood and waved a hand at the grey swirls beyond their table. Erick stood, as well. The clouds began to dissipate. Tenebrae said, “Glad no one had to get hurt, today.”

The cloud cleared.

A pair of Rockys removed a collar from Poi’s neck and let him go.

Erick was suddenly, deeply furious, but he had expected some sort of treachery, and Poi was safe. Poi was safe. Bloody around the neck, but safe. With a stern face, the sapphire man unruffled his uniform and stood tall. Ophiel’s eyes returned to him, he was alone, and Erick sensed his solitary nature as a second moment passed. All of the other Ophiel were gone. Erick had been locked out of sensing through them while he was inside that grey, sandy fog, but he had assumed it was just like the Feast Barrier; no [Telepathy]. That had happened, for sure, which exposed another problem of Erick’s [Sealed Privacy Ward], but the problem was deeper than a [Telepathy] block; his Ophiel had been [Dispel]ed. Tenebrae, or, more likely, the Rockys, had [Dispel]ed every Ophiel aside from the one on Erick’s shoulder.

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye came back.

Tenebrae stared at Erick, as though challenging him.

Erick almost punched the man. He refrained. He said, “I am glad that Poi is merely bleeding from wounds on his neck, instead of bleeding out. Do I need to make threats regarding what could have happened if you had done more?”

“I’ll ignore everything you say if you pose an actual threat. Until that time, I see no reason not to work together.” Tenebrae said, “But you mistake yourself, Erick. You are merely picking up the scraps that I have left behind, because I am the one in power in this place, in this bargain of trade. If I find you have run off and mouthed off to the unworthy, then… Well. I hope you have the sense to not come back here. You have been warned.”

Erick buried his overwhelming anger as deep as it could go. “I will be back soon enough. Please don’t run off.”

“I would never!” Tenebrae said, mockingly and with a smirk. “See you soon.”

- - - -

Once he was several mountains distant, Erick roared out something unintelligible. His voice bounced across the valley, echoing. Birds flew. Monsters stirred. They’d be gone before the monsters actually showed. Erick calmed. He turned to Poi.

Erick asked, “Are you okay? Did they do anything to you besides that collar?”

“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern,” Poi said, pretending to be calm. “And since I deem it necessary, I will answer your other questions that you didn’t ask: I couldn’t get a read on the Rockys because they’re a hive mind. Impossible to break through. We’ve had our eyes on that man for a long time because he fucks around with Mind Magic. His former [Familiar]s are just one of many such issues.”

“I remember. He intercepted a [Telepathy] to Rats, back with the Daydropper stuff. Pretended to be Killzone to find our location. Did anything happen there?”

“He was censured as much as we could for that action, which, as you have already guessed, was for us to do nothing at all.” Poi calmed by the second as he spoke, “Archmage Tenebrae is protected by too many powerful forces. He regularly helps people lost in the mountains, or at least his Rockys do. He murders any major monster asked of him and if enough gold is raised to pay his fee. He has accords with Treehome and Oceanside and every other nation in the world. He’s—” Poi touched his neck. “He’s not a nice man, but he is a good man. Vaguely. We have left him alone for the good of the world.”

Every word sent Erick’s heart to thrumming hard, and angry. He asked, “Has he disappeared people before? Were you in actual danger back there?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. And yes, I was in danger. Right before you went into that [Privacy Ward], he gave his commands to his Rockys. Until he popped that [Privacy Ward] and gave his Rockys the all-clear, I could have died. We both could have. Tenebrae… I barely got a read on him at all. I know I said this back when we met him at Oceanside, but it bears repeating: I cannot protect you from other archmages, Erick. I cannot protect you from Tenebrae.” Poi asked, “Do you want to continue this path?”

“I have to. Do you want to go back to Spur, too? You can.”

Poi smiled, a sad thing, as he said, “No. I cannot do that. I will stay, of course. You couldn’t chase me off with a [Fireball].”

Erick joked, “What about a [Luminous Beam].”

“That would do it.”

Erick chuckled. Poi huffed a laugh. They fell to silence, as wind blew through the valley. Erick resummoned his Ophiel. All of his high-mana Ophiel from when he summoned them with [Death’s Approach] active were now gone.

After a minute of silence and gentle violin sounds, Poi asked, “We’re really doing this dragon-thing?”

“I guess we are. So there are dragons inside Twisted Visions? Or at least inside this one?”

“News to me.” Poi said, “And no. I can’t tell you where the place is. I think I got a location, but it might have been a [Screen]. But besides that, if you show up there without him, he will know how you got that information, and then my people will come down on me, and I might be useful, but I am not a world protector.”

Erick teased, “That thought didn’t actually cross my lips.”

Poi laughed, once, small, then said, “Thank you, sir.”

“I will ask if he's going to run off, though.”

“He’s not. He was. But he’s not anymore.” Poi said, “I think so, anyway.”

“If he runs off, that’s not as big a deal as I initially thought.” Erick gazed toward the west. “Time to go to an auction. Got any [Polymorph] forms that interest you?”

“Nope.”

“Me either. I don’t know how Jane does it.” He added, “And I’m not sure what else is missing in my [Sealed Privacy Ward], but I think it’s something intrinsic.”

“There are always missing parts to a [Privacy Ward].”

“Eh… I won’t break it apart today, but soon. When I figure out the other pieces.”