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One thing to know about Veird was that it was rather large. Much larger than Earth. The mountains were twice to four times the size of Earth’s. The distance from the land to the sky was, first of all, measurable, which was a difficult concept to grasp at first because the atmosphere of Earth was a nebulous 50-800 kilometers from bottom to top, depending on who you asked. On Veird, the atmosphere above the surface was an average depth of somewhere between 90 to 110 kilometers, depending on the landscape, and ended at the Edge of the Script. The oceans of Veird were a whole different existence than the oceans of Earth, altogether. The average depth of the Pacific Ocean was 4 kilometers, but the oceans of Veird often had large parts of them that simply continued down into the Underworld, and then all the way to the Core. The Underworld of Veird to the Core, both of which had no equivalent on Earth as far as Erick knew, was 6000 kilometers deep.

The singular surface continent of Glaquin, which was the smallest surface continent, and the only one that Erick had been on, was the size of several Asias.

In most parts of Veird the trees were all normal, Earth-sized. But in some places, when they wanted to be, the trees were pretty damn big.

From his position on the southern deployment zone of the Castle, Erick looked down upon a land of green trees. None reached up this high, of course, but ‘this high’ was actually two kilometers above the surface. The surface, and the path to the start of the Green Labyrinth, started two kilometers down, past a dense canopy, which was itself, almost like a second ‘surface’. In some places, the branches and leaves were so thick that they provided places for various animals to stand upon. In one spot, just down there, actually, the canopy gave one orangutan-like animal a good vantage for him to throw his crap.

Those tiny turd missiles actually managed to reach the [Air Shield] surrounding Tenebrae’s Estate. They didn’t do anything, but still! What a throw! At least two hundred meters, or more. Erick watched, as the furry thing was joined by another furry thing. The second furry thing brought rocks. A third furry thing brought a boulder.

The boulder hit the [Air Shield], too, but it broke up into sand and whipped away on the wind.

“What are you looking…” Tenebrae frowned at Erick, then pointed at the animals. “You’re not going to kill them?”

More and more six-armed furry animals climbed out of the canopy. They hooted with grey annoyance, but Erick only heard them when a rock or pebble clipped the [Air Shield] and briefly allowed their calls to enter the Estate. They were loud.

“This is going to sound stupid, I’m sure. But they’re animals…” Erick asked, “Aren’t they harmless?”

“You’re right! Those were stupid words!” Tenebrae said, “They aren’t getting those rocks from the canopy. They’re making them. Only the young ones throw feces. The other ones conjure stone. Elder Furred Rockers are actually a threat— Speak of the Darkness. There’s one now. Ha! Pests.”

Tenebrae lifted his hand and pointed, right as the rockers hooted very loudly and all of them scattered, giving the new arrival their space. A giant orange thing lifted through the trees. It was easily the size of a house. Arms unfurled, like a lotus blooming, revealing a slightly-larger rocker at their center, with each of its many arms holding a javelin of stone.

Tenebrae shot a marble-sized stone of his own that ripped through the air, supersonic, then passed through a hole in the [Air Shield] that only appeared at that moment, letting out the stone and letting in the sudden hooting cheers of the smaller rockers. Tenebrae’s marble impacted the elder rocker’s head, cracking the air with a sudden spack. Javelins dropped from the elder’s arms. It screamed, then raced back down, into the safety of the Green.

All of the smaller rockers scattered when their big brother was defeated.

Tenebrae said, “Their monstrous cousins are probably around here somewhere, so they’re going to be a problem, but this is the easiest place to enter, so we’re going in here. Use whatever spells or Domains you have until I say so, then we will be going in under stealth.” He added, “And those Rockers are harmless, unless you’re weaker than them. Then they’ll eat you up. Animals kill and eat people, too, you know.”

Without another word, Tenebrae stepped off of the side of the Castle walls.

He dropped like a stone. A pair of Rockys followed, also dropping like stones. The [Air Shield] opened, briefly, as they passed. Tenebrae fell right through one of the less-dense parts of the canopy, and the canopy swished out of the way of his passing, then closed right back up. The Rockys just crashed through, breaking branches.

Jane giggled as she stepped past Erick and dropped off the edge. The [Air Shield] opened at her passing. She didn’t transform into shadows until she got too close to the canopy for comfort. Teressa followed; a smile upon her face, and hard grey [Conjure Armor] on her body. She crashed through everything, and she seemed to enjoy it, too.

“Nothing to worry about at this point.” Poi said, “The only one who hasn’t spent most of their life doing this sort of stuff is you.”

“Right right.” Erick turned into his sunform. “This is probably just War Fatigue, isn’t it.”

“Yup. We’ve all dealt with it, too. If you need to talk to someone, I could help, or I could find someone else for you to talk with. The Mind Mages have gone to Candlepoint, and though not many are partaking of their services, some are.”

Erick nodded as he held Poi in his sunform, and then stepped off of the Castle walls. He descended in a controlled manner like a fast boulder, through the [Air Shield] and then into the canopy, brushing aside thick branches as he moved. Leaves swung back overhead as he passed. Shadows swallowed them.

Ophiels swarmed, providing eyes in every direction and Sights of all kinds. The mana and blood and souls of creatures glowed, like Erick had stepped into a blacklight rave.

Small glowing animals huddled against branches that wound like roadways through a tangle of green that supported a million swarming insects and those that lived solitary lives, both flying and not, each of them a slightly different brightness and color, while larger animals were like great, singular glows that preyed upon all the rest and were preyed upon in turn.

Erick and Poi descended faster now. These trees were massive, after all. At any sort of slow rate it’d take ten minutes to reach the bottom. Erick moved smaller branches out of the way as he and Poi passed, racing toward the bottom, avoiding the larger beasts in the trees—

And then, they were out of the main canopy. The topmost layer of Green was up there, and they were in the trunk-space, where smaller roadways of branches snaked through here and there, but mostly, it was just up-and-down trunks, each the width of houses. Here is where the real monsters roamed.

Far to the left, an Ophiel spied the beginnings of a spiderweb similar to the ones that laid across the Weaver’s Quarters in Ar’Kendrithyst. A mother spider was curled around a tree trunk, looking like a bulge of brown bark half-again the size of the tree she clung to. Her eight eyes seemed to shift toward Ophiel, but Ophiel kept himself well out of reach. As Ophiel moved around, he saw a horror in the spider’s web; the carcasses of countless red-furred rockers, and other, desiccated things.

To the right, the trees had been damaged by large slashes in groups of threes. Some large, 3-clawed monster had marked its territory, here. Mushrooms sprouted in the slashes, like brown shelves, the same color as the trees themselves.

Erick and Poi continued down, down, into the darkness, for the light of the canopy was far, far above, and the brightest thing in this whole place was Erick, and all of his Ophiel; a central sunform surrounded by smaller scouting planetoids.

After a minute of descent Erick and Poi reached everyone else. The party stood upon loamy land covered in soft moss. Most of it was stable, but there was a lot of deadfall in some of that green Forest floor. Jane and Teressa stood upon part of a fallen tree, partially reclaimed by the Forest. Tenebrae and his Rockys stood upon the mossy ground. The old archmage looked peeved.

Tenebrae said, “Took you long enough! And turn off the lightshow and use your actual eyes without Meditation. You’re missing all the beauty of the land!”

Jane smiled, as if in anticipation. Teressa grinned, as she turned her eyes outward.

… Erick did not turn off his sunform, but he did retract it to the middle of his back. Each Ophiel retracted their own sunforms down into tiny dots in their centers. The light of their temporary solar system vanished as Erick used his own, normal sight, to see. He even lost track of the manasphere, when he let Meditation drop.

The Forest was dark and full of unseen terrors. It was almost worse than the eyes and the flows of the manasphere.

And then a million small things happened all across all of Erick’s vision.

The Forest came alive.

Ferns unfurled with bioluminescence, glowing green and teal. Fireflies flickered reds and oranges. Small blue-glowing animals darted into the darkness, attacking other pink-glowing animals.

Jane giggled.

Erick went, “Huh.”

It was pretty, for sure, but Erick had already seen this when he used all of his Sight spells in the canopy above. It was kinda nice to see it without magical aids, though.

Teressa said, “A Forest-Crowned Stag came through here a day or two ago.”

“Hours ago, I bet.” Tenebrae said, “Okay. That’s enough of that. Turn your Ophiels back on, but not yourself. With any luck, the monsters we find will attack the [Familiar]s first.”

Erick rapidly had Ophiel pop back into full sunforms. The glowing Forest vanished, hidden, as Ophiels moved out into the darkness, dispelling much of the oppressive gloom. They would let them know of encroaching monsters or animals that were too dumb to know to run the other way.

Tenebrae pointed south, saying, “That way. About a thirty minute walk because we have to approach it on foot or it won’t appear. Mana senses active. Watch where you step. Not all of this land is land; a lot of it is deadfall.”

A Rocky jogged forward, taking point. Teressa went next. Poi, Erick, and Tenebrae went somewhat together, as they were the mages of the group, while Jane and the second Rocky took rearguard.

Poi offered, “Shall I connect us?”

Tenebrae hummed, then said, “Voices won’t attract anything. Yelling might… Yeah. Connect us.”

‘Connected,’ Poi sent to all of them.

Tenebrae sent, ‘The path I plotted to the Gate should be empty of any real dangers, but I suppose there’s no harm in correct protocol.’

The Forest floor was a land of darkness and depth and the calls of animals and monsters, seeking mates or declaring their territory. It was more than a little scary; if Erick had been here without all of his people… He would have never gone to a place like this. Erick felt sweat drip down his neck. As he walked forward he felt as though he was walking through some amalgamation of the Jungle in Ar’Kendrithyst, and also the towers of the Dead City, but hyped up to a whole new level of danger. At least the Dead City had lights everywhere and relatively known terrors. Can’t have shadows without light, after all.

And then there was the fact that Ar’Kendrithyst and the Forest both spat new and unknown monsters out all the time, but the monsters that came out of the Dead City were mostly able to see and gauge the power level of any particular person-sized morsel walking through their territory. The monsters of the Forest…

They saw a thing, and they wanted to eat that thing.

Tenebrae’s prediction of an ‘empty path to the Gate’ turned out to be nothing more than fiction.

Three minutes into their journey, a monster appeared.

Twenty meters up, and to the right, out of sight of the party but not out of sight of an Ophiel, a trio of curved claws curled around one side of a house-wide tree trunk, followed by another that curled around on the other side. Some massive creature was gripping the trees, and coming closer.

Erick was suddenly terrified, but he had dealt with monsters before.

Poi stiffened—

Right as Erick sent, ‘Monster or something, ahead and up twenty meters up; claws surrounding a tree trunk—’ Erick moved that Ophiel around to get a better look. A smashing trio of claws, their points held together by the monster beyond, crashed into Ophiel’s expanded sunform. Ophiel gave a surprised guitar twang as he spun away from the attack and gazed upon the attacker. ‘— a giant fucking…? Twenty-limbed very-furry moss-covered… sloth?’

Everyone had paused their forward walk.

‘Ah.’ Tenebrae said, ‘Kill it, Erick. Extreme force. It can—’

Several quick lightsteps by Ophiel later, and Erick had the thing surrounded.

It was a sloth of epic proportions with a face four meters wide and eyes as dark as the darkness all around. Greenery grew upon its deep fur, like shag carpets and green garlands. Twenty arms, maybe more, supported it as it hung in the middle-tree layer. Whoever designed the monsters around here must have loved the many-arm approach!

(A more rational part of Erick’s mind connected the Rockers he had met earlier with the Sloth he met now; the rockers were animals, but this was a monster, with a monstrous form.)

The Forest up ahead, where the monster was approaching from, briefly turned into daylight, as several Ophiel each unleashed [Luminous Beam]s. Meter-wide flood lights of deadly light impacted the beast, spilling away from it as it reacted, trying to protect itself with its arms while it simultaneously attacked the tiny Ophiels. Ophiels dodged; easily. The monster flailed. Lights as though from a pulsar rapidly burned through the monster’s resistance, cutting it to bits. Bony arms dropped to the deadfalls below, like so much meat. The rest of the burned and severed monster dropped from the tree trunks, crashing into the mossy loam. Ophiels tracked the falling monster to the ground, [Luminous Beam] trained on the monster’s core, ensuring that the beast was very dead.

Tenebrae softly continued, ‘— It can attack the Castle and maybe injure someone.’

Nervous laughter escaped Erick’s lips. He shut that down as soon as he recognized what he was doing. A notification appeared for ‘Lesser Armed Sloth’. It wasn’t a high level. Maybe 52.

As the heat of the moment died, the large gouges from stray [Luminous Beam]s caught fire. Those fires did not last long. Erick watched as the trees themselves seemed to flex in the manasphere. Divots and damage repaired; living wood flowing back into normal positions.

Tenebrae started walking again, faster than before, sending, ‘The meat and the kill and the light, for sure, will attract larger monsters. We will hurry and avoid all of that.’

Rockys, Erick, everyone, picked up the walk again, but this time it was almost a jog.

Ten minutes later, there was a giant lizard that seemed like Tyrannosaurus Rex’s larger, uglier cousin, but with arms. Long arms, with large claws. Only two arms on this one, though!

Tenebrae killed it with a stone bullet through the head while it roared and charged. His tiny bullet splattered brains and blood over a good twenty meter space behind the beast. And then he shot it again, and again, because T-Rex’s cousin felt like regrowing its head, its chest, and then its head, again. Its head flopped on its broken neck, and then it used its arms to hold its head in place while the neck fully regrew.

It roared again.

“This is ridiculous…” Tenebrae mumbled. “Why is that here?”

And then he cast again, and the ground swallowed the wannabe-threat.

There might have been a roar, but it came from the other side of several hundred tons of rock. The roar cut out soon enough.

‘There we go. Dead.’ Tenebrae exclaimed, ‘And what the damn! An Armed Sloth I can understand; rockers live around here and the Worldly Path is a causality fucker. But that lizard was thirty biomes from his home!’

Twenty minutes later, Erick and everyone else was still on high alert for something else to jump out at them.

Nothing did.

There were a lot of bugs, and a lot of smaller animals eating those bugs and each other. The cool Forest remained dark in the distance, but here, around every Ophiel, lay pools of light that drove back some of the fear coiling in Erick’s guts.

Tenebrae suddenly said, “We—

Erick startled.

“—’re here!”

Erick breathed out. Nothing to worry about! It was just Tenebrae speaking aloud for the first time in a while and causing a minor, unable-to-be-stopped panic. No worries!

Erick looked around. He wasn’t the only one who had a sudden bout of panic. Poi, wide-eyed, breathed out hard through his nose. Jane whipped around toward the sound. Only Teressa was cool as a cucumber on ice; Erick was glad to see one of them was.

The Rockys seemed to know what was going on, though. No panic there, at all.

Jane sent, ‘Where is here?’

Tenebrae gestured forward, to a path between the trees which was the same as all the other paths between the trees. He sent, ‘Look at those two trees, there, to the left and the right. Tell me what you see.’

Erick looked— Oh.

To the left and the right of a flat bit of mossy ground, same as all the rest, were two trees, each slightly wider than a house, same as all the rest, each stretching up into the dark above, like all the rest. But the tree on the right had this rather picturesque root that stretched out from the trunk and buried into the ground, just like all the other trees all around. And the tree on the right had the very same root, except mirrored. As Erick glanced across both trees, he matched up parts that were the same on both trees, except opposite. The same knots, but flipped. The same moss patches, but flipped. The trees were mirrors of each other. The same tree, but flipped.

With a small wonder in her voice, Jane said, ‘Same tree, but duplicated.’

‘Mirrored, is the more precise term. Duplication is slightly different.’ Tenebrae said, ‘This is one of the smaller, stable entrances to the Green Labyrinth.’

‘This is the entrance?’ Erick complained, ‘But you said the entrance was a Gate?’

Tenebrae smirked. ‘This is a Gate. It’s just broken as all fuck! It’s attached to the trees, and if you want to investigate this Gate, then you will do so later, and on your own time.’

Okay… Well. Fair enough.

Erick didn’t see the Gate, exactly, but—

Oh. There was a slight bit of fading—

‘Pay attention, now!’ Tenebrae continued, ‘This is a stable entrance to the Green Labyrinth. One where the larger monsters inside cannot get past. If we find any monster of size large or above, we will not kill it. We will stall it, and we will run. We might be able to kill medium-sized ones without alerting the Vision and needing to run, but we’ll try not to kill medium sized monsters, either. Smaller ones are fair game, unless there are more than five. Then, we run. If we get ten kilometers in, I will count that as a successful first day. The real Gates that actually look like Gates are all a hundred kilometers in.

‘This journey is where stealth becomes necessary, where Domains will provoke the Vision’s ire, and Elemental Bodies are subdued. Sight spells are your friends. Cast your long term magics now.’ He added, ‘And the only reason I am being so accommodating to allow this entire thing to happen in the first place, is that most of you have proven yourself as Ar’Kendrithyst-capable. Except for you, Erick.’ He looked at Erick, his voice turning disappointed, ‘You just blasted through everything, didn’t you? No stealth at all.’

‘That is completely correct!’ Erick said, with a bit of pride, even if it wasn’t what Tenebrae wanted out of him. ‘There was also a lot of purposefully flying out in the open; the opposite of stealth!’

Tenebrae snorted, then asked, ‘Can you make your Ophiel invisible without [Invisibility]? The Labyrinth is sensitive to that spell.’

With a thought, each Ophiel turned their lightforms to infrared. They vanished from sight, though the air did turn a tiny bit warmer.

‘And make them small, too.’

… They were already head-sized, but they could go smaller. At a thought, each Ophiel turned to parakeet-sized. They twittered in anxious guitar thrums, their songs becoming just a part of the background cacophony of the living Forest.

Tenebrae pointed at the [Scry] eye hanging over Erick’s shoulder. ‘That won’t work once we get deeper, just so you know. The Labyrinth shouldn’t react to that, or to [Telepathy], but [Scry] fails once we get far enough.’

The [Scry] eye bobbed in affirmation.

Tenebrae watched it happen, then sent, ‘Is Yggdrasil a part of this group-think?’

‘He understands what I think about almost all the time.’ Erick looked to Poi, and guessed, ‘Yes?’

Poi clarified, ‘He is not, but he understands Erick rather well.’

Tenebrae narrowed his eyes at the [Scry] orb, then looked away, toward the entrance to the Labyrinth. ‘Okay. Here we go. Domains off. Cast your long-term spells.’

Erick cast an [Animadversion] onto his left arm. The silver spell took hold above his robed arm like a twisted bit of metal. Thorny mirror-like vines briefly appeared, before slipping back into the spell. Every Ophiel equipped themselves with their own [Animadversion]s while four of them each cast small, meter-wide [Prismatic Ward]s, onto stones, and then picked up those stones. They’d be using those Restful spaces to regenerate their mana and to defend themselves, and others, if necessary.

Jane summoned a rather normal-looking sword of only a meter length. Teressa summoned a massive mace. The Rockys both summoned one-handed shields, leaving their other hand unoccupied. Poi and Tenebrae did nothing; they had already cast their long-term spells, their [Personal Ward]s, earlier that morning.

Tenebrae said, ‘Don’t get seen. Don’t strain your Elemental Body to reach too far. Don’t cast spells of more than 50 mana; and that’s after your various reductions. Spells or Abilities that you have Favored to be below this limit should be fine. No splashy spells either! None of that [Luminous Beam] shit; don’t care how much it costs you. The Green Labyrinth will sense if too much mana moves inside its Domain. Use your Mana Sense to find the way out if we get lost! Remember! Go away from the pull of mana to leave the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth always pulls mana toward its center. Running against the flow will get you out. Don’t try to go through the canopy or the floor or the trees. You will be seen. You will be attacked. Depending on the severity of those attacks it could go very badly, for we will NOT fully engage with the Vision. We will die if we do.

‘The first few kilometers are easy. Don’t get confused if nothing looks different.

‘Let’s go.’

Rocky stepped through the space between the trees. Teressa followed.

Then everyone else came through.

Ophiel spread himself out, keeping his selves aloft on [Greater Lightwalk], while dragging along spheres of dense air in order to keep his mana high. He would switch the rocks holding the [Prismatic Ward]s around, as needed.

Erick followed Tenebrae through the space between the trees, his mana sense active, trying to see more of what he was already seeing.

Mana always flowed. Normally mana flowed with the wind, with the water, with all natural movement, as though it was just a touch behind and ahead of the movement of the natural world. But between the twinned trees, mana flowed inward, against the wind.

‘Huh.’ Teressa said, ‘That’s odd.’

‘Odd flow,’ Erick agreed, as he followed Teressa.

Tenebrae kept up behind both of them as he sent, ‘You should work more on your magic, Teressa. You have achieved a skill that many never do. All you need is proper aura control.’

With a smile, Teressa sent, ‘I can only cast what I can because of the rings I have. I’m no mage.’

‘You could be.’ Tenebrae sent, ‘Anyone can be a proper mage if they know the way and have a few of the basic starter skills. Discipline, Concentration, Clarity, Meditation. You have those. You could be a mage.’

Teressa gave a non-committal grunt.

And they walked.

Ophiel kept watch over them all with [Greater Lightwalk] turning him to heat and shifting much of his vision into something resembling [Heat Sight], though Erick had yet to find such a spell available for him in the Open Script. Between all of his bodies, the feathered [Familiar] kept every Sight spell active, and his eyes trained on the darkness, and on the path ahead. He would be the first to know if something was out there.

They walked.

Not a single person in the group made any sounds. Everyone had some sort of [Muffle] effect; either [Silent Movement], or in the case of the Rockys, Erick, Jane, Teressa, they had [Hunter’s Instincts]. The party walked between the trees, giving each of them a wide berth, in case something hid on the other side, or just above, waiting for something to come close enough to grab and eat.

But nothing materialized out of the gloom. Nothing descended from the canopy high, high above. Nothing came up from the loamy ground, or out from under the many deadfalls or the mushroom piles or from out of the very air itself. Nothing appeared from behind the curve of any tree.

And they walked.

As they walked, Erick felt his [Greater Lightwalk] become something less. His natural control over the surrounding light grew weaker. Ophiel experienced the same thing, but for him it was a greater problem. He could no longer fly through the darkness, supplying his own light. So he started to walk on the ground. Four of him took position on the shoulders of each of Erick’s people, and Erick himself.

‘Dad.’ Jane said, ‘I don’t need the hanger-on.’

‘I didn’t put him there. He likes you.’ And that was true.

Tenebrae smiled, then he looked away, into the darkness, struggling to see something in the distance. It was an act, though. There was nothing out there. Tenebrae was looking away because of some emotions bubbling forth.

And they walked.

All in all… It turned out to be a nice walk, even if it was in almost complete darkness.

Twenty minutes later, a Red-Ferned Armed Sloth appeared. It was not a Lesser one, for there was no way a beast of that size could compare to the one that Erick had killed earlier. Red talons wrapped around trees far ahead as the beast held itself a good twenty meters above the Forest floor, like some cross between a spider of a hundred arms and what should have been an herbivore, but obviously wasn’t. Not with those teeth! Erick’s stomach and heart flip flopped in his chest as the back end of the beast failed to come into view. The beast’s torso and so many more arms just continued into the dark beyond, like the head of the monster was simply the first car in a train made of red fur and ferns and arms.

It moved without making a sound. Somehow, there had been no hints of its arrival. The Vision was empty of threats, and then, suddenly, it wasn’t.

Tenebrae saw the complication a bare moment after Erick. While Erick was currently feeling something between satisfaction that the enemy had finally appeared, and worry because it was a damned huge monster, the older archmage sent out, ‘Retreat. Quiet as you can.’

Erick turned around—

‘This way, idiots!’ Tenebrae rushed to the right—

Erick blinked his mana sense back on; somehow, he had lost that sense, briefly.

The mana flowed to the left.

Erick had gotten turned around, somehow. He wasn’t the only one. Everyone seemed to move in a slightly different direction for a bare second, but then Tenebrae’s instructions snapped them all in one direction. They moved right, against the flow, toward the exit.

In the distance, the massive sloth moved with a ponderance, possibly not having seen—

Red arms, almost black in the darkness, slipped around the intervening trees. The beast flowed toward the party, like a tram moving through the skyline of Chicago. The dark eyes of the main body stared in Erick’s direction, focused on him, like two abyssal pools. Red glittered inside an open maw. A sparkling darkness lanced forward, aimed directly at Erick.

Teressa deflected a dark lance of stone, barely changing its trajectory. The attack shunked two meters into the soft loam to the side. Ten meters of the stone was still visible.

Ah. Would Animadversion have worked against that? Erick did not know, and he wasn’t eager to find out. The weakness of reflective magics were that they did not completely work on physical objects, and that [Stone Lance] certainly looked partially physical! Maybe it wasn’t fully summoned stone? The monster could have picked up stone from the ground and shaped it with—

Focus.

You’re being chased by a monster, Erick.

Focus.

They ran, just like Tenebrae demanded of them. Erick threw out a few dozen [Quick Wall]s into the air behind him, in front of the beast. The exit was far away, but they were running rather fast.

And then, somehow, there were two Red-Ferned Armed Sloths. One behind them, crashing into [Force Wall]s and breaking through them with great effort, while another descended from above; a long spider crawling down from the treetops, high, high above.

Stone lances rocketed forward. An Ophiel stepped into the way of one aimed for Jane. Jane sidestepped the attack. The attack struck Ophiel’s thorny shield.

The lance broke into shards as it also bounced backward with a small explosion of reflective power. Red stone shards sprayed into the eyes of the oncoming sloth. The sloth did not even flinch.

No more experiments!

Erick threw out more [Quick Wall]s, blocking the one from above. It worked, for a very generous definition of ‘worked’. The monster crashed through the panes of Force, but was stopped as the [Quick Wall]s piled up faster than the monster could break them.

The party raced away.

The two sloths roared, tiny and ineffectual and far behind them.

And then the sloths were gone. Suddenly. Without warning. The darkness of the Vision turned into normal darkness of the land under the canopy of the Forest. Tenebrae ran for twenty more seconds before he stopped.

None of them were out of breath, at all. A Rocky did throw several blinks of [Healing Word] at Tenebrae, though. Tenebrae stood taller, and then he sighed.

‘Are they invisible?’ Teressa openly wondered. ‘Should we keep running?’

‘Did we pass out of the side of the Vision?’ Jane guessed, ‘But we didn’t pass through the trees we went through to go inside? Are we just… somewhere in the Forest, now?’

Tenebrae breathed again, then sent, ‘They are not invisible. They’re the lesser guardians of the Vision so they’re stuck inside. We just raced toward the nearest edge and exited the Vision, and that edge is in a lot of places. So, yes; we are somewhere in the Forest. Probably not too far from where we started.’

A Rocky pointed in a direction.

Tenebrae nodded, then pointed in the same direction. ‘The Castle is thirty kilometers distant. The Vision will be on high-alert for the rest of the day. This day is sunk. We were found out too early to get very far. Disappointing, but not that bad. Anyone have any idea what could have set it off? I didn’t see anyone break any of my rules and we approached it in the correct manner… I can only conclude that it was Erick’s Worldly Path, but that feels wrong to me.’ He said, ‘Let us have this discussion inside the Castle.’

He blipped away, followed by his Rockys.

Erick turned on his [Lodestar], and enveloped his people. One step later, and he was above the canopy. A few more lightsteps, and they were back at the Castle. Palodia greeted them and then set to making more than just a sandwich for herself for her lunch. She didn’t expect them back till dinner.

Over a quick lunch, they discussed the failure of their first expedition.

Tenebrae said, “I saw [Quick Wall]s. What’s your mana cost for those? With your bonuses?”

“Three.”

Tenebrae narrowed his eyes. And then he relaxed, and hummed. “Three… Is rather low. The sudden hundred of them likely helped to cause the Vision to [Duplicate] the Sloth, but even the first one went directly for you…”

Erick asked, “Should I not have used those [Quick Wall]s?”

Tenebrae waved him off. “I was going to throw up some [Stone Wall]s if you hadn't done that. The run was fucked as soon as the Sloth went after us.”

Jane suggested, “Every Ophiel and me and my dad were all running a Greater Elemental Body? Could that have caused it?”

Tenebrae waved that away, too, saying, “That shouldn’t have done anything. The [Familiar]s were running it at 10 mana per second, but that’s fine. I’ve taken whole squads of Rockys in there, and they were all running [Greater Air Body] or otherwise. Forty Rockys! The Vision shouldn’t care about constant, low-level mana expenditure. It never has before.”

“Something has it spooked,” Teressa offered.

Tenebrae breathed in deep. “Ah…” And then he frowned. “Maybe. If it was spooked… Maybe.” He said, “The problem is that what we saw we should not have seen until a few hundred kilometers into the Vision, or if we killed some random roaming monster on the edge, and then continued to do so against every monster that we saw. Then we would have gotten a response like that, and not before. And then, the Vision copied the sloth right on top of us! Both of those were very large responses… Too large. I don’t believe that this was a Worldly Path problem, but it either is a Worldly Path problem, in which case this is doomed to failure, or something has the Green Labyrinth spooked, or… Something else.” He shrugged. “I expected failure right away, but not that sort of failure. We’ll try again tomorrow.” He rounded on Erick, his eyes narrowed, but his voice even, “You didn’t have a Domain running, did you?”

“Nope.” Erick asked him, “Did you?”

“I did not. Odd.” Tenebrae frowned. Then he shook his head. “Anyway! The Castle’s full defenses and obfuscation magics are active now that we’re done for the day, and we’re ten kilometers above the Forest. We shouldn’t be attacked, but if we are, we’ll be fine. Don’t [Teleport] away. You won’t be able to get back without the proper telepathic codes and I’m not giving you those. Just read a book, or something. Make some more magic.”

- - - -

Back in the room, Erick received a ping from Jane, which included Poi and Teressa in the group-think.

She asked, ‘Should we be worried about Tenebrae trying something? Or is this Worldly Path shenanigans?’

‘I don’t know about the second one,’ Erick said, ‘But if Tenebrae is trying something, I don’t think he’s even aware that he is trying something. As to what ‘things’ could be ‘tried’, I have no idea about those, either.’

‘Delay tactics.’ Teressa offered.

Jane frowned.

Erick reflected on that idea, then sent, ‘Okay. That’s plausible. What for, though?’ He added, ‘And besides that, I didn’t see any Vision-tripping magics come from him or from anyone else.’

Jane sent, ‘Could have had a Rocky come in when we were kilometers from the start point. That third Rocky could have alerted the Vision.’

‘While plausible, I won’t start second-guessing Tenebrae.’ Erick sent, ‘He’s been awful, but also informative. If the Rockys did that then they did it on their own.’

‘Okay…’ Jane sent, ‘I agree. So. Maybe it’s not Tenebrae at all. How much have you paid attention to the Rockys?’

Teressa sent, ‘They’re omnipresent, but otherwise compliant to Tenebrae. They wouldn’t do something without his consent, would they?’

A thought clicked.

‘Ah.’ Erick said, ‘I told Tenebrae that if he went with us, there was a high chance of him dying. A Rocky was there to hear that.’

Teressa and Jane paused as they digested that information.

‘Eh. Don’t worry about it.’ Erick sent, ‘If we get chased out again then we will have to change tactics. Other than that, Tenebrae believed himself when he said that the unexpected monsters were not because of the Worldly Path. So this is either a Worldly Path thing, or a Rocky thing. Or some outside force.’

‘Or just bad luck,’ Poi sent, deciding to join the conversation.

‘Or just bad luck,’ Erick agreed, then he asked, ‘Anyone able to talk to the Rockys? Aside from a few early talks, I think they’re avoiding me.’

‘I talked to a pair of them once, but they’re avoiding me, for sure,’ Jane sent.

Teressa sent, ‘And me.’

‘And me,’ Poi sent.

- - - -

Dinner was great. It was hamburgers with lettuce, onions, and the red tomatoes that Erick had made in response to the purple tomatoes in the marketplaces of Spur. Piles of thin-cut fried fries sat in a large basket in the center, while everyone had a strawberry milkshake. It was absolutely decadent. It reminded Erick of home in a way that he hadn’t known in a long time. The food truly was perfect.

Erick took his third bite of the burger, and had to stop to wipe away a small tear. Tenebrae watched him, silently, as Erick swallowed his food and said, “This is really good.”

Jane sipped her milkshake from a waxed paper straw. She had needed to wipe away several tears already.

Tenebrae nodded, but did not comment, though a smile did briefly appear behind the hidden cover of his white beard. He ate his hamburger with a knife and fork in the same way that Poi ate his, and though Erick wanted to call them out on their sacrilege, he did not.

Teressa ate her four burgers like they were sliders. Two bites! Gone.

Erick commented, “Even got the straws, too.”

Tenebrae said, “They use straws for cold drinks over in the Wasteland.”

“Ha! Yet another reason to visit that place,” Erick said, “So many places to see! It’s kinda nice. Did you ever go on the Worldly Path?”

“Tried it.” Tenebrae cut another bite of burger off, saying, “Didn’t care for it. I experienced a choice that wasn’t a choice at all, and I chose to abandon the Path.”

“How far did you get?”

“Several steps past the start, a few more toward the end.” Tenebrae said, “You’re only on your… What? Third step out of… how many?”

“At least a dozen.” He asked, “Do you think it would rile up the monsters if I sent an Ophiel into the Vision?”

“You can try. You won’t get far. Your connection to Ophiel will vanish after several kilometers.” Tenebrae seemed to struggle with something for a moment, then he said, “If you wish to enact your own series of experiments on the Vision, without damaging it, then you can do so. Don’t kill too many monsters. If you alert anything as big as that Armed Sloth then you will set us back another day. Whatever you feel like doing, I tell you now that the only way to actually proceed in there is to go in your own body and to be as stealthy as possible.”

Erick smiled. And then he went back to enjoying his hamburger.

- - - -

Seven Ophiel fell off of the side of the Castle, while the sun set in the west, bathing the Forest in menacing oranges, and the east was filled with darkness. The moons rose on the horizon, as Ophiel knifed through the sky, aiming for breaks in the Forest below. He did not lightstep, for there was no light to step upon; he just descended. The canopy proved no barrier. Ophiels slipped through leaves.

The sounds of the Forest echoed across the dangerous land, soaking into the leaves, giving credence to the idea that some hungry thing was around every corner. Monkeys howled. Birds squawked. Bugs buzzed. The canopy was as alive as things hunted in the darkening twilight.

Smaller things lived high in the trees, hoping that the larger things could not get them on the fragile branches. They died instead to other smaller things, like ants, spiders, and carnivorous birds.

Larger things hunted in the deeper canopy, feeding off of each other and whatever fell from above, or wandered too far into the dark.

Ophiel dodged grasping arms. Monsters or animals, Erick wasn’t quite sure, reached out to catch the glowing thing that passed beside their hiding holes. One grasping hand was too fast, but Ophiel was untouchable, liquid light. A roar of frustration followed the escaping Ophiel down through the tangled branches.

Ophiel passed straight through spider webs like falling rain, his glowing bodies catching on the dark eyes of the spiders of those webs. The spiders just watched Ophiel pass, not bothering to move because Ophiel had not disturbed their webs.

A cat, or a jaguar, or maybe it was a frog, leapt, and caught an Ophiel in its maw. Erick checked for a rad; the rad was there. This was a monster. That Ophiel burrowed through the frog-cat with a carving of [Force Shrapnel] made extra sharp. Ophiel left the scene of the attempted eating; a body remained behind for scavengers to find.

Erick had all of them switch to their infrared, invisible forms; he had not expected any trouble at all to get to this point, but maybe he should have.

And then Ophiel was past the canopy.

Ophiel spied larger monsters hanging on the sides of trees. Another spider. Another web.

Something moved far below, like the darkened space in sight that happened whenever Erick had seen a bright flash and experienced a temporary light blindness; the monster was both glowing, and the exact opposite. It moved away from Ophiel’s path; there was no bother.

Somewhat invisible, Ophiel descended to the Forest Floor.

Erick’s Perception and Intelligence, and several Ophiel floating around everywhere with eyes in every direction, helped him to find the path he had traveled earlier in the day.

Three minutes later, Ophiel came to the Twin Trees. Each Ophiel cast an [Animadversion] for themselves, which a few wore like hats, a few wore like a buckler either on their left or right side, and one wore like it was a platform to float upon. Each Ophiel was only as large as a hand; Erick thought they looked very cute. He almost asked if Jane wanted to see one, but she was busy with gridwork.

Erick focused on the mission.

One by one, Ophiels used their lightforms to give themselves a semblance of legs.

… The Ophiel with the ‘platform’ buckler turned his shield into a ‘backpack’ buckler.

And then they walked inside.

They walked, and walked, and wal—

Erick felt his connection grow faint. He had an Ophiel hoof it to the entrance, which was…

That way! Still directly behind them. They were only a kilometer in; they hadn’t gotten turned around too bad, yet. Once that Ophiel was back beside the Twins, the others moved forward. A second Ophiel was left behind after two kilometers in, creating a connecting bridge to the rest. That Ophiel hunkered down in the moss, holding his buckler over him and retreating to his smallest form, closing the [Animadversion] over himself like he was closing the hatch in a submarine.

Two more kilometers later, a third Ophiel did the same.

Erick constantly checked the direction and the flow of mana to ensure that his Ophiel were moving forward, all the time, and that to look backward was to truly gaze back toward the entrance.

Erick reached the end of his Ophiel. 14 kilometers in. That’s as far as he had gotten. He could have used the ones around him in the Castle, but that seemed like a mistake.

Back in the Labyrinth, and for every single Ophiel therein, nothing appeared out of the gloom. Nothing attacked. Erick had kept his Ophiel as small and as dim as possible. They peeked out from their hiding spots occasionally, seeing if they could see anything, but there was nothing in the Vision save for darkness and house-sized tree trunks, covered in moss.

Okay. Time for tests! Here’s the big one.

… Erick had one of the forward-most Ophiel enact his [Lodestar].

Briefly, the world flickered, as the forward-most Ophiel expanded out into a tiny sunform, barely half a meter across. His twisted silver buckler hovered in the air behind him.

The mana of the Green Labyrinth churned with sudden intent.

No one blinked, for Erick was seeing through [Scry], and Ophiel had a hundred tiny eyes trained upon the world beyond. But still, something appeared that wasn’t there before, without warning, without sound.

A flickering fire. It was green around the edges, with a white core, and pink accents. That fire shifted into a solid sphere that twisted around to reveal a pupil made of darkness. Another eye opened three meters from the first. And then came a smile, wide and bright as a crescent moon, stretching beneath the inquisitive eyes.

Erick wondered, briefly, if he had made a mistake.

The smile vanished.

Three Armed Sloths descended on that Ophiel, like three trains converging onto a point. Arms and massive claws came out and crashed into Ophiel’s sunform, battering him around like he was a soccer ball. His silver buckler became a full-body snowflake-like wrapping, with dozens of thorns directed outward. Red claws broke as they tried to break Ophiel’s sunform, and only managed to hit [Animadversion]. Arms with broken claws retreated, only to be replaced by countless more claws and the addition of another Armed Sloth.

Erick expected Ophiel to break. Ophiel whined in flute sounds, expecting himself to break, too.

But that didn’t happen.

[Animadversion]. [Greater Lightwalk]. [Lodestar]. These were enough for simple melee attacks, and to negate most magics. 

Ten minutes passed.

Claws broke upon Ophiel’s [Animadversion]. [Stone Lance]s turned into reflected shrapnel. One [Stone Lance] actually fully reflected, hitting an Armed Sloth in the face but breaking at the contact.

Without warning the Armed Sloths retreated into the gloom, vanishing from sight and every Sight that Erick tried. The fiery smile didn’t return. The eyes did not appear. The world seemed to still. Moments became minutes.

Erick called out, “Hello? Are you t—”

Gloom vanished. The mossy Forest floor wheeled underneath Ophiel, like the world’s fastest moving tram. Without moving, Ophiel was suddenly far ahead of where he had been.

Erick briefly saw a Gate standing in the middle of a clearing. It was a bright silver metal, with each of its four sides maybe a meter thick, while the whole thing was rather blocky. He guessed it was about ten meters tall and maybe that much wide, while it sat upon a platform that was double that size. A small ramp of the same silver metal arced into the active magic in the center of the Gate.

The Gate was active.

The sun shone on the other side.

There was a city. People. Waterfalls. Buildings made of airy levels of carved stone. A market.

Someone in guard-armor yelled at the direction of the Gate, while other guards ran toward the Gate, and the people beyond suddenly stared at the Gate. Some ran away.

Erick lost his connection to Ophiel.

He sat up on his chair.

Thirty seconds later, he went to find Tenebrae.

- - - -

Tenebrae received Erick in the tea room. The sky outside sparkled with stars and the brilliance of the three full moons. Hot tea curled steam into the air as Tenebrae poured himself a cup. He did not pour Erick a cup; Erick had to do that himself. Which he did.

Tenebrae started, “You disturbed the Labyrinth.”

“Did you know it would draw Ophiel toward an active Gate if I used a Domain?”

“I know that’s not what happened.” Tenebrae said, “What happened, was this: You tried a Domain. Monsters came. You survived those monsters by inflicting damage and not being overly damaged yourself. Or rather, Ophiel survived the tribulation. Then Ophiel was pulled toward the active Gate.” He sipped his tea.

Erick frowned. “That’s… a marginally more correct list of what happened.”

“I have a question for you, Erick. Do you want to get involved with the dragons? Or do you want to learn how to make a Gate? The two options are not necessarily linked. In fact, choosing one might mean that you cannot acquire the other. The dragons that live inside the Labyrinth do not like people poking around at their Gates. But, if you are strong enough, you can bend that entire society to your will, and they will help you acquire the knowledge of the Gates. They’ve lived there for a long time, after all.”

Erick narrowed his eyes at Tenebrae. “What is your deal, here, Tenebrae? Are you getting something out of this that you’re just not telling me?”

Tenebrae seemed to weigh his options. Slowly, he spoke, “I… failed the Worldly Path long ago, when I was offered a choice that was not a choice. But I never stopped wanting [Gate]. That was the entire goal of my Path. When I fell off of it, I was lost. But I went back to the chalkboard. For twenty years, I chased down every [Gate] lead I could find.

“I met sycophants of rulers, with contracted [Gate]-mages who had completed the Worldly Path by paying points. When I could, I trained them in proper enchanting and proper magic. Often, I had to murder them, or their patrons, when they came to me looking for more than I was willing to give.

“I spoke to the Angel and the Demon of Oceanside, to ask them for their [Gate] magics. I quested and Quested for both sides for a decade, when they needed me. But still, they could not help me to understand [Gate].

“I visited the Orrery of Rozeta, in the Splinter Mountains, and reached untold heights of spellcasting, and yet, still, I could not fathom [Gate].

“Finding a Gate from the Old Dragonkin civilization was something I failed to accomplish on the Path. Afterward, I searched in my spare time, casually scanning the Forest as my Estate flew across the land.

“When I was on my Worldly Path, these things were just pieces of the puzzle, but after I fell off the Path, I tried to pick up the pieces, to see the grand design of it all, but all I did was retread old roads. It got harder and harder. And then, I got lucky. My Scans revealed the hidden [Gate] we walked through today; those twin trees. Fate and Ritual could not find that [Gate], but hard work could.

“I stepped in there with my Domain active, for I run that thing all the time even when I conquered other Visions, for why would I subject myself to the whims of a Vision? Why would I ever lower my Domain? I experienced a tribulation, likely the same as you. I survived, of course. Then the Labyrinth moved me to its very center and pushed me through a [Gate].

“I landed in the middle of their city. There was… confrontation. When the dust settled, they offered the opportunity to study their Gates and their [Gate]s, if I brought them what they wanted from this outside world, for despite all my power, I am not what they are looking for.

“I am not a Wizard, and they care nothing for Archmages. The power of this world is not their own. It is poison to all of them. While they are inside the Green Labyrinth, their Dragon Essence is… Different. While they are out here and fully contained by the power of the Script, they are subject to Idyrvamikor’s Curse; they are dangers to everyone they know.

“But Wizards can break this curse, and allow more of them to leave that place.

“I could not give them what they wanted, and so, I was banished. They gave no knowledge and I had no opportunity to steal any secrets. All I had was a quest from them. ‘Find us Wizards!’ they demanded. And so, I searched. I never found any. They never gave me any more answers. Since you say you are not a Wizard, and everything I have subjected you to tells me you are not lying, the same fate awaits you.

“And so, people like you and I must steal what we want from the Gates lying around in the Labyrinth, or else we will have to deal with the dragons.”

Erick sipped his tea. He sat back in his chair.

Tenebrae sat back, too, as he waited.

Erick glared at the older archmage, but there was no true anger in his expression. “Why are you continuing to scan me?”

“Because I think you’re lying to me about being a Wizard, and my leading you here would obligate the dragons to fulfill an old promise and hand over tome upon tome of [Gate] creation and Gate construction.”

Erick’s tone took an edge. “Are Wizards cows for the slaughter?”

“No, dumbass.” Tenebrae scowled, as he set his teacup down with more force than necessary, spilling tea onto the table. “A Wizard can break a dragon from the Curse, but they can only do it while they’re alive. This is not sacrificial magic.”

Erick saw through that lie. He said, “You’re guessing it's not sacrificial magic. You don’t actually know that, do you?” That was just the kinder interpretation of what Erick saw. The more accurate interpretation was that Tenebrae was directly lying.

“I know what I’m talking about!” Tenebrae said, “They have living Wizards in there! It’s one of the only places in this world where Wizards aren’t murdered on sight! They’re treated like royalty!” He practically shouted, “I have met them!”

… All of that seemed truthful.

Huh.

Erick wondered at himself; did he read that body language wrong? Or the micro expressions? Maybe… his ‘lie detector’ wasn’t all that great? Or maybe he had gotten over sensitized. Tenebrae set his ‘lie detecting’ senses off a lot, after all.

Erick tried, “My mistake, then. Maybe it is as you say.”

“Damn right it is!”

“Sorry. I have zero experience with Wizards and the idea of them weirds me out.”

Tenebrae seemed to accept that. He cooled down. He said, “I know of no Wizards. The Headmaster always gets to them first. And so, I am forced to avoid the dragons and steal their [Gate] secrets.” He stared at Erick, asking, “Unless you have a secret Wizard that we can go capture and throw at the dragons?”

“I do not, and I wouldn’t do that, anyway.”

Tenebrae frowned, then nodded. “If we get caught and are forced to deal with them and with the Wizards therein, you will see that my suggestion of capturing and handing them a Wizard is not whatever foolish evil thing you are imagining. You are thinking of Blood Ritual cults and such, no doubt!” Tenebrae huffed in annoyance. “Wizards the world over all live in fear of the Headmaster for no other reason than that the Headmaster kills all the Wizards out there, which is a fair fear. That Old Dragon is truly dangerous if you are not an approved person. But I tell you now, that if you ever find a Wizard, and if you bring one here? You can get almost anything you want. All the dragons want is to be free of their Curse.”

While all that seemed fascinating, Erick contemplated what it would mean to erase the Dragon Curse? What would it mean to unleash a whole new immortal population onto Veird, each of which had the ability to reach high, high levels, each of which could theoretically be a match for the Headmaster’s power?

It seemed like a bad idea to release dragons onto the world.

Erick asked, “If the Curse was gone, would the dragons fight the Headmaster to become the Second? The collateral damage would be… immense.”

Tenebrae lied again, “They’d just go into hiding.” And then he told the truth. “Even dragons die to a boulder to the brain. Killing is not hard, Erick. The Script ensures as much, both inside the Green Labyrinth, and in the world out here.”

Erick blinked a few times. He poked at the lie, asking, “Why would they go into hiding if they didn’t need to?”

In a huff, Tenebrae poured himself some more tea. “They’re hiding now, aren’t they!” He spilled the tea as he said those words. He scowled at the spill, then ignored it. He looked to Erick. “What say you? Which path are we taking? The one where you steal from dragons? Or the one where you talk to dragons and fail to get what you want, exactly like I have for years upon years?”

Erick asked, “Why not both?”

Tenebrae froze. He suddenly laughed, then laughed again. He breathed deep, smiling. Then he frowned, and scowled, saying, “No. Even with the two of us. No. Impossible. Foolish. No. Inside their part of the Green Labyrinth, they are practically unassailable. We will not do that. We will journey through the Labyrinth without the use of Domains and without partaking of any tribulations, ensuring that we do not alert the dragons. We will find those Gates and you will see whatever you need to see.” Relaxing a little, he added, “I have taken my own notes over the years, which you had already rejected once, but when you have done enough exploring on your own, you will look at my notes, and then you can help me to make [Gate].” As an afterthought, Tenebrae added, “And I will do the same for you.”

Erick said, “When I propped up my Domain in the Labyrinth, a pair of pink-green-white eyes appeared, and then a large smile. And then the tribulation happened. What was that about?”

Tenebrae flinched, but he controlled his flinch. Mostly. He lied, “That’s how it always is when you test the Labyrinth.” Then, he spoke the truth, “The Labyrinth looks upon you and tests you back. And since we would crush any test, we would then be dragged before the dragons! Hence, we do not confront the Labyrinth!” With his fuse already short, he demanded, “Your answer, now!”

Erick said, “Hiding and stealing.”

“Good.”

- - - -

Erick got back to the rooms. He gave an abbreviated, telepathic report to Poi, Jane, and Teressa, then he asked them for their opinions.

Teressa sent, ‘I’d rather confront tribulations head-on. But that’s not viable here, is it?’

‘No. Passing a tribulation would put us before the dragons.’

Jane smiled, saying, ‘Then we must be more sneaky! Anyone know how to make a [Shadow Clone] spell that can run off in wrong directions and draw monsters away?’

‘Never even considered that idea.’ Erick sat up straight. ‘How would you even… I’m going to have to consider that idea. It has to be linked to Elemental Illusion, I would think?’

Poi sent, ‘Time for sleep, anyway. Work on the magic in the morning. It sounds like we have a full day of downtime, anyway.’

Jane asked, ‘Tenebrae would know how to make a [Shadow Clone], wouldn’t he?’

‘Probably,’ Teressa sent.

- - - -

Over breakfast, Jane asked, “Archmage Tenebrae. Could I ask you a magical question?”

Tenebrae looked up from his pancakes as he poured caramelized cactus syrup on them. He set the pot of syrup aside, and regarded Jane. He said, “Sure. A small one.”

Jane smiled, then turned as serious as her happy heart could let her. “I have been considering a [Shadow Clone] for a while. Is there a best way to do this?”

“[Shadow Clone] could mean many things. What are you wanting this spell for?”

“For evasion tactics and minor hits versus large monster targets. Perhaps something that I can send running in one direction while I run the other.”

“Then this is a good spell to progress your understanding of gridwork, as it is a low-tier spell.” Tenebrae nodded. “There are many paths for this magic to take, but broadly, you can either have a few expensive clones, or many, many useless clones. 1500 mana cost clones, or 150 mana cost clones. Or you could pick a middle path. The proper spell is actually called Replication. With your Prismatic Class, I suggest you forgo this [Shadowy Replication] idea you have and instead attempt to work in Illusion, with [Illusionary Replication]. It’s a more difficult spell to create, but it’s still only tier three, which is doable through gridwork. You could even try it at Tier 2 if you wish to work in the remaking of [Shadowshape] and [Lightshape] into [Illusionshape] for every attempt at this type of spell, so you can try again every single day.

“To make this Replication, you start with [Conjure Force Elemental], Mana Alter for the appropriate Element, and the appropriate Shaping spell. This is the low-quality version, but if you get a ‘limit of 10’ on this version, you have failed. From this starting point, you apply [Strike] or [Conjure Armor] or anything else you wish to apply, and for that increased cost, your summon will have those— What is with that expression? I’m sure you can do this! All you need to do is do the gridwork.”

Jane had been highly attentive, but then she briefly frowned as Tenebrae mentioned ‘summons’. She said, “I don’t like the idea of summons… They’re not… going to grow up like Ophiel, or Rocky, will they?”

“Ah.” Tenebrae nodded in understanding. “I see. This problem. No. [Illusionary Replications] will not grow with you unless you add [Telepathy] and [Scry]. Adding those to the spells already listed will bump up the tier to four or five and thus you will have semi-permanent summons that might grow into real beings in forty years, or so. Just stick to tier 3 for your [Illusionary Replications] and you should be fine. It’ll be like killing a slime every time you cast this spell and create a very basic soul, but that is nothing to worry about.”

“What about leaving out [Conjure Force Elemental], completely?”

Tenebrae frowned. “[Conjure Force Elemental] is the basis of every rudimentary summon spell, and what you want to make is a summon spell. Get over your inhibitions and make the spell the correct way.” Tenebrae continued, “But as I was saying… Where was I?”

Jane supplied, “[Conjure Force Elemental], plus Altering and Shaping, and then adding [Strike] and whatever.”

“Yes.” Tenebrae said, “Altering is for the base summon, but Shaping will turn that mass of empowered Element into a better facsimile of yourself. Empower that mirror of yourself— Ah! Yes. Include [Rebound] in the first layer of your spell in order to give the Shaping something to Shape into and to make the whole working a lot less complicated. That way you can designate a target and the spell will copy that target. That’s a neat little trick. I had almost forgotten that. So: a four or five spell combination at tier 2. There’s some difficult gridwork for you, but wholly possible.”

Jane bowed at the table, saying, “Thank you, archmage.”

A quick smile passed across Tenebrae’s face, keeping mostly hidden under his beard, as he said, “You should consider making a Replication of each Element, but I suspect that if you make a good Illusion-based one, then you will not use any of the other Elemental versions. That’d be a five-spell combination. As I said: You need to turn [Shadowshape] and [Lightshape] into [Illusionshape] inside that first combination, unless you want to make that spell beforehand and bump the whole creation up a tier, and thus it will cost you ten days to remake it if you fail the first time. The gridwork to make a tier 3 is easier, in some ways, but larger and thus more time consuming.” He paused in thought, then said, “Eh! That book I gave you will steer you right. Once you have the basic forms down, all gridwork requires is properly executed methodology.”

Jane repeated, “Thank you, archmage Tenebrae.”

He waved her off. “We’ve got downtime. Have some fun with magic while we wait for the Labyrinth to calm. We’ll try another attempt tomorrow morning since your father set it off only 10 hours ago, and I am not going to go into any Twisted Vision at sunset.”

After breakfast, Jane hit the books. She didn’t come up for much, but she did make time for Tenebrae-enforced meals, and bathroom breaks. Erick liked that Jane was so industrious with her magic, and he liked that Tenebrae forced everyone to eat together. Erick even managed to ask his daughter after her magical progress without upsetting her, which was something Erick had rarely been able to do. Erick couldn’t help but feel some deep gratitude toward the older archmage, and for not the first time, he saw one possible future for himself.

He fervently hoped he would never have to experience the older man’s tragedy for himself, whatever it was.

- - - -

Erick did not go into the Green Labyrinth.

He did, however, stand just outside of the Twin Trees and their mutated space. Tenebrae stood beside him, along with a few Rockys. Poi and Teressa stood further back, while Jane was even further away, her eyes trained on the Forest, while Ophiels flitted about through the gloom. It was just past noon above the canopy, but it was barely twilight down here.

With his senses peeled to the max and a few Ophiel helping him, while they weren’t scouting for approaching dangers, Erick studied the [Gate] that made up the start of the Green Labyrinth. Tenebrae watched Erick.

Mana sense allowed one to become one with the mana, and to see the world as the mana saw the world. This sense could be focused in multiple ways. Focus it enough in certain ways, and one unlocked the ability to purchase some top-quality Sight spells from the Script. [Blood Sight], [Mana Sight], [Future Sight], [Witness], and [Soul Sight]. Get all of them, and one could purchase [True Sight].

Erick gazed upon the [Gate] with every single Sight available, switching as needed, trying to uncover something he hadn’t seen before.

Nothing helped him to understand what was happening in that liminal space, except that the mana was basically ‘ambient’ everywhere except for when it crossed a fuzzy threshold between both trees. Even around the outsides of the trees, the mana was ‘ambient’; it flowed with the natural world. A breeze moved it around, or the growing power of the trees of the Forest drew it upward, or the moss on the ground swirled it down into the ground.

At that fuzzy threshold, the mana went in one direction: into the Twisted Vision.

The threshold was most present at the Forest floor. Ophiel confirmed that the ‘[Gate]’ fuzzed out the further one got from ground-level. Ambient mana stopped flowing into the shifted space somewhere around meter 35, but from meter 10 to 25, there was still some ‘draw’ that pulled the mana into the Twisted Vision.

When Erick started inspecting the opposite side of the entrance, he saw nothing; the Forest beyond was perfectly normal, and the [Gate] was non-existent from this direction. He could even see Poi standing there, on the other side. But an Ophiel next to Poi could not see Erick on the other side of the [Gate].

Linking his own mana sense to the mana sense he was getting from that Ophiel was like seeing an impossibility. The mana flowed normally; the mana flowed into the [Gate]. Erick got an instant headache. He dismissed the multiple mana senses and his headache retreated.

Tenebrae suggested that he send an Ophiel through, or step through himself.

Erick stepped through the opposite side of the Gate.

Briefly, the entire [Gate] vanished, like he had disturbed a reflecting pool. Over the course of five minutes, the [Gate] reestablished itself, slowly; the ‘reflecting pool’ calming down enough to resettle into the space. Ambient mana flowed, once again, through the entrance to the Twisted Vision, like a river finding a new exit toward the ocean.

Erick stood back, stumped.

Tenebrae asked, “What do you see?”

“I see a [Gate] that connects to a slightly different but mostly the same reality as this one.” Erick said, “That can’t be the secret to [Gate]. I took a [Gate] once, and I know I did not shift into a different reality… Unless the multiverse theory is true and this is just how [Gate]s work? They do not connect one part of the world to another? They only connect realities to realities? Am I not in the same Veird as the one I fell to?”

Tenebrae looked at Erick, then looked off at nothing; thinking.

Erick continued to investigate the Gate and the [Gate] therein.

Tenebrae eventually broke Erick from his investigation, saying, “Interesting theory. I don’t agree with it. The Vision beyond this Gate is controlling that whole space with a very powerful Domain. That’s all that you’re seeing. The Vision is not actually on the other side of the twin trees, here. It is on the other side of that [Gate]. It only looks like it is connecting to another reality because that is how Visions are; they’re tricksters. Duplicators.”

“… Okay. I can get behind that idea. It’s not a separate reality beyond the [Gate], but an application of a Domain.” Erick gazed upon the [Gate], and then he turned his eyes toward the twin trees. “Have you ever poked at these trees?”

“Scans; yes. Very little actual poking, and I will not allow you to poke or take samples, either.” Tenebrae said, “They’re just copied trees as far as I can tell. I scanned all the way from the top to the bottom, too.”

“Fair enough.” Erick looked to the older archmage. “I’m going to Image them.”

“Non-damaging?”

“Particle Spells are physical spells, but this one isn’t damaging, as far as I know.” Erick said, “I can test it, first, with a smaller working. In fact. I will do that.”

Tenebrae nodded.

Erick held up his hand, shifting his [Greater Lightwalk] into a sphere upon his palm. With a thought, he shifted that light into radio waves. The sphere blinked out of sight. Nothing happened to the Twin Trees or the [Gate] between them.

Tenebrae gave a sudden sigh of relief.

Erick did too. “And now, the actual scan.”

With a few quick steps, he moved away from the Twin Trees, each of which was at least 10 meters wide. He gave himself forty meters of space from the entrance to the Vision, for this was going to be a large spell. Ophiels, Jane, and Teressa, moved with him, to make sure he was protected from every angle.

Everyone knew that this would likely alert monsters. It was a very flashy spell, after all.

“Just do it!” Tenebrae said, seeing Erick’s problem and eagerly waiting for the actual Imaging.

Erick shaped a [Cascade Imaging] into the air above, being sure to exclude stone from the Imaging.

A bright white orb took hold of the gloom, shoving back the darkness as it showered the air with bright white glows that raced off in every direction, then came back in like sand settling on the bottom of a pool. Ahead of Erick, between the orb and [Gate], a white mist flowed out of the air. Moments later, that mist began to carve away from itself, revealing an exact copy of the trees, except twenty meters in front of the trees, and completely penetrable.

And since it cost nothing and could easily image over a rather large area, Erick included four other nearby trees in the effect, creating ghostly copies of those trees in the air between them and the Imaging orb.

Erick had Imaged trees before. Most normal trees were uniformly denser than a person, except for a person’s bones. Bones were usually denser than trees. The trees of the Forest were all as dense as bones. The trees of this entrance to this Twisted Vision were even more dense than that. A great lot of the Image that appeared out of the mist was solid white.

But this spell could run for a hundred minutes, gradually refining itself as it went, and could be renewed with a cast at the same location. If the spell ran long enough, Erick would be able to see the entire inside of every nearby tree, from ground level to twenty meters up, without harming anything.

Erick had time.

And he wasn’t getting any further with mana sensing or Sighting the trees, so he ended his investigation here, leaving his [Cascade Imaging] to run as needed. Everyone hoofed it back the way they had come.

A trio of Ophiel remained at the site so that they wouldn’t need to come back the long way each time. One couldn’t just lightstep to the entrance of the Green Labyrinth, after all. If the entrance to the Green Labyrinth wasn’t approached properly, then you wouldn’t find it, and part of that ‘proper way’ was to arrive on foot; no blipping allowed!

And besides that, Erick wasn’t about to let some monster come by and break his Imaging with some odd monster magics, or whatever.

If this didn’t work, he’d make a [Cascade Imaging] but with X-rays.

… Or maybe all he would have to do would be to Mana Shape [Cascade Imaging] into x-rays.

- - - -

When Tenebrae had mentioned to Poi that Elemental Ice was capable of inflicting Slow, Erick had filed that idea away in the back of his mind. Being chased by large monsters brought that idea back to the forefront. Obviously, he should have a Slowing spell of some sort!

Aside from Eduard, of the Mage Trio back in Spur, Erick had never really seen anyone use Ice Magic, and Eduard never showed off much of his spells, so while Erick waited for the Imaging to finish, he read about Ice in the Esoteric Elements book that Jane had brought along. Jane’s conversation with Tenebrae over breakfast had also given him some ideas about Illusions, but those were rather unformed ideas. Ice. Illusions. Hmm.

Erick considered what he wanted.

There was a temptation to throw a good ten ideas together into one.

Elemental Slow. Illusionary diversions. The stickiness of ooze. The slight intelligence of conjured elementals. The ability to pump out a good hundred of these at a time.

… Anti-[Dispel] tactics. Either something that would prevent [Chain Dispel], or something that an enemy could [Dispel], only to make the attack worse. Was that possible? The obvious solution would be to include a bit of an [Illusion Domain] into his working, probably though an aura, but Erick would need to make such a Domain first and that wasn’t happening today. Erick put the idea of an actual solution to [Dispel] on the backburner, too; that was too complicated for now.

… And then he separated out his desire for Illusions and Slow, too. He’d work on Illusions later. All he wanted was a Slow spell.

Now! If he was making a Slow Particle spell, he’d start with some ideas of gravity and the nature of time itself, and he would surely do that eventually. He could even ping Phagar to see what he would say about all of that. But for an Elemental Slow spell, he would work with Elemental Ice, for now.

Putting together the actual spell took less time than it took to figure out what he wanted.

Erick stood upon the staging area atop the southern wall of the Castle. He held his right hand forward and channeled mana through the idea of Ice, producing a prominence of white splinters that brought a mist from the air as they sang a song of endless stillness. It was the uncaring dark of winter. The solidification of an iceberg. The slow march toward permanence, and the uncaring death of all things.

With his Ophiel around him, he refined that chaotic rush toward the absence of life into something else. Something less deadly. Something less damaging. Splinters of mana became a mist, which then became a glow, which then became a faint orb of white light that completely engulfed his hand and his arm up to his elbow. A phantom sensation of cold had filled his entire being while he worked on this transformation of an idea, and now, at the end, he knew he had it right. Cold had become just stillness. There was no pain. No end. There was only calm.

He added Mercy to the mix.

Mercy and Slow went together like cream and coffee.

With Ophiel holding together the sounds of his working, Erick added another spell; a simple [Force Bolt]. And then he added another working; a bit of Variable Cost, for Variable Damage, but in this case, for Variable Effect.

He pointed at a target dummy made of cloth and hay positioned twenty meters down the Castle wall, and cast.

A white bolt surrounded by a nimbus of white light zipped forward, fast as it could go. It struck the dummy like a ball of cloying mist, soaking into the straw dummy. Frost flashed across the target and soaked into the stone wall underneath. Tiny icy burs spread over everything in a three meter space.

A blue box appeared.

--

Slowing Bolt, instant, long range, 15 mana + Variable

An ethereal bolt of mist inexorably strikes a target, inflicting Slow for a Variable length of time.

Very high Variable costs may inflict Stop.

--

“Oh! Neat.” Erick handed out the blue box. “Is [Stop] what I think it is?”

The two members of his audience lost their shit.

Tenebrae threw up both hands, saying, “What the fucking shit is this shit! Break it all to dust— [Stop]! You made [Stop] at tier 2? Fuck you, idiot savant brain-addled— Fuck you!”

Jane just stared, and then she laughed like a half-crazy person. “You made [Stop]! Isn’t that a legendary—”

Tenebrae exclaimed, “It’s not legendary magic! He’s not that accomplished! This is disgusting. I’m…” His voice trailed off, as he stared at the target dummy, narrowing his eyes.

Jane smiled as she said, “It’s not [Time Stop], but it’s a start!”

“How do you think that one would work?” Erick guessed, “Speeding up yourself to the point that the rest of the world looks like it isn’t moving?”

“That was my guess, just now, which you just now updated based on what you just did.” Jane said, “Before today I would have thought [Time Stop] was actual Time Magic. Not some stretch of heat magic, or whatever.”

Tenebrae stared at the target dummy, offhandedly saying, “[Time Stop] is Time Magic and it is restricted by the divine decree of Phagar.” Tenebrae glanced at Jane then turned to Erick. “You postulated that ‘cold’ was the slowing of ‘particles’, which you just tangled out of Altering to Ice in order to create Elemental Slow… You also said that ‘heat’ was the speeding-up of particles, did you not?”

“… It was a little different than that. I said that ‘cold’ is particles moving relatively slower than oneself, and ‘heat’ is the opposite. For example, when you touch a ‘cold’ object your own heat leeches out of you depending on the conductivity of the object in question, which gives you the sensation of ‘cold’. The sensation of ‘heat’ is when the object in question gives energy to you, instead.” Erick said, “Generally, though, the particles in hot objects move fast, and the particles in cold objects move slow.”

Tenebrae squinted at Erick; his eyes flickering grey.

After a moment, Erick added, “It’s considerably more complicated than that when it comes to ideas of time or Phagar or whatever, though, but space and time are inextricably linked. It makes sense that you can come to Time magic from a different direction than through Elemental Time, if such a thing even exists.” He said, “It’s not in any of the Elemental books I ever read.”

“Hmm.” Tenebrae said, “Interesting. No lies...” He looked away, adding, “All magic is linked to all other magic. You can come to many spells in wildly different ways. The connection between Time Magic and Elemental Ice is one that many people play around with, but few ever reach the depth of such workings to create a [Stop] effect. If there is a way to speed oneself up through Elemental Fire, then… Such a spell would be the career-creating work of one lucky or smart individual.” He added, “Such a person might get slapped down by Phagar, or at least get a visit from the God of Death and Time.”

Jane asked, “What would you call such a spell? I always called it [Haste], and the larger version is [Time Stop].”

Tenebrae instantly added, “[Alacrity] is the spell I am referencing. I know not of this [Haste], and I doubt you could get to [Time Stop] without Phagar’s approval.”

“Lots to think about!” Erick stepped back, taking the focus off of him as he said, “Anyway! Jane? You’re up.”

Tenebrae looked to Jane. He nodded.

Jane breathed deep. She said, “Okay!” And then she stopped. “Uh. One second.”

A shadow flickered from her feet, zipping down into the Castle like a very, very long arm. As that shadow came back, it brought with it a stone and an elaborate wardlight attached to that stone. Jane grabbed the stone and studied the lightward briefly, before setting it down on the ground beside her.

She stepped away from Erick and Tenebrae. She cast.

She stepped left.

A dark copy of her stepped to the right, and backward, and forward.

The forward copy walked off the edge of the Castle wall and promptly fell down, down, down, toward the Forest below. It hit the [Air Shield] and was ripped to pieces. The backward copy teetered over the inner edge of the wall and splattered on the courtyard, turning into shadows. The right one kept walking.

Jane, however, had stopped walking after just two steps. She turned, and winced as she read the air, and watched her copies fall. The right-moving copy failed in walking and tripped itself. Jane winced again as that copy rolled off the edge of the wall and followed the forward-copy toward the [Air Shield].

It splatted. Its shadows dissipated on the [Air Shield].

Jane said, “Ah. Damn.”

Tenebrae said, “The basic functionality is there except your execution was off. Your scaffold is correct. Now work on the ornamentation.”

Jane nodded, as she tore something out of the air. Erick watched as a tiny piece of her soul vanished, leaving a repairing hole where it had been.

Jane said, “Thank you Archmage Tenebrae. I will do better.”

“Of course you will.” Tenebrae walked off, saying, “Now, I must see to some day drinking. It seems your father cannot stop himself from harming every part of me and I wish to forget some of this interaction.”

- - - -

Erick checked the Imaging at the Twin Trees before dinner.

As far as he could tell, according to the glowing map, the trees around the Twins were normal trees. The Twins themselves were denser than the rest, but otherwise they were normal, too. The only thing odd about them was that they were twins, all the way down to their roots, and all the way up to their canopies, both of which tangled together in intricate patterns.

But Erick’s Imaging only mapped the first three meters below the surface, and the first 15 meters above the surface. Ophiels manually confirmed the similarities in the canopy. Erick wasn’t sure how far the mirrored similarities continued below the surface. So he had the Ophiels recast the Imaging a good fifty meters up, above the Forest floor, and focused on the root systems.

The second Imaging would run all night while Ophiel kept it safe. It wasn’t hard for Ophiel to keep the space safe; he had done so already. All it required was some [Animadversion]s to take care of the few natural magics of the local wildlife and some [Merciful Suffocation]s to further dissuade any beasties from trying to eat the feathered [Familiar]. The inability to breathe without experiencing pain and the inability to injure the thing causing that pain was a good, mostly-humane combination, in Erick’s opinion.

Over the course of the day, Erick had occasionally been pinged by Ophiel. Something had attacked them, trying to get to the large glowing space beside the Twin Trees. Over the course of the day, Erick had watched as many types of animals failed to injure Ophiel or to disrupt the Imaging.

Cats fell from the trees, their claws glowing with power in attempts to [Strike] at Ophiel. Those cats touched silver thorns, slipped off of Ophiel, and left that brief encounter covered in small, bleeding scratches. Then they got facefuls of gold-white gas which injured them every time they tried to breathe. Those cats ran away, trailing glowing mists, escaping from Ophiel in every direction they could race. [Merciful Suffocation] ended when the target was out of Health, so Erick wasn’t worried about accidentally killing the cats, while the more injured ones got a few [Healing Word]s cast at them, as they fled. Erick wasn’t in the business of overly injuring animals, after all.

Ophiel mostly dodged all the other attacks that came for him, though. The cats had been the major exception. Wolves were easily seen before they got close enough to attack. They got face-fulls of [Merciful Suffocation], too; even the ones sneaking up from the sides. That was enough to send them racing away.

When a massive spider came down from above like a mountain climber rappelling down a cliff, drawn by the rather radiant [Cascade Imaging], that spider hocked a loogie made of white webs at an Ophiel. That attack webbed around an Ophiel’s thorny shield before instantly bouncing away, into the dark.

Then the spider received its suffocating welcome. With white-gold mist trailing around its entire body, the spider skittered back up the tree trunk, back up to the middle trunk-space.

But when monsters came around, Ophiel’s welcome was much more deadly.

A Lesser Armed Sloth raced forward, through the trees, right into a near-invisible web of taut molecules; a [Hermetic Shredder]. Claws broke a few severing wires, but it was not enough. The remainder cut the oncoming monster, like a trip through a laser grid. Cubed, julienned, and rough-cut pieces of that Lesser Armed Sloth tumbled through the gloom. Ophiels pushed the mess away from the scanning area. Animals were hungry, after all. No need to clean up all this meat right then.

The next time Erick was pinged for a monster attack, there were Monstrous Ghouls coming toward the Imaging. Erick had read of these monsters before, and what he read was what he saw. Monstrous Ghouls were an undead-type monster that inhabited the bodies of Furred Rockers and person-sized spiders and something that resembled an otter, but they were all the same undead. They went right for the remains of the sloth.

Erick was not too happy about that. He had felt bad about chasing away the cats and the wolves, and yes, even the spider. They were not monsters, after all. Monsters were not deserving of his sympathy…

Erick realized what he was thinking the second he thought it.

Maybe some monsters were deserving of sympathy. The shadelings were, after all.

Through Ophiel’s eyes, he looked down upon the remains of the Armed Sloth and at a trio of cats that had started to scavenge from the left side of the pile of meat. He turned toward the Monstrous Ghouls that had come in from the right to also scavenge.

He decided to experiment.

He waited for the undead to attack the living, or vice versa.

The undead saw the living cats and attacked, en masse. Erick had Ophiels shoot out Merciful Suffocations—

Ah. They didn’t care. Undead. Duh. Erick forgave himself; he had never faced undead like this before, except for that one time over in Odaali, and that didn't really count. He had forgotten that they did not breathe. The spell did draw the attention of the ghouls away from the cats, though. They ran toward the Ophiel. When the undead groaned toward Ophiel, the cats heard, and took off in the opposite direction.

Erick focused on the undead coming for Ophiel. For his first experiment, he erected enough [Quick Wall]s to make attacking the Imaging area almost impossible for the land-based undead.

The undead did not care. The glowing orbs in the air had attacked them and they wanted to tear apart those glowing orbs. The ghouls attacked the [Quick Wall]s in front of them, breaking through rather fast, so Erick just cast more… And then he cast more, and more. And more.

Erick watched for five minutes, stopping the undead advance, but not actually damaging them.

The undead were not stopping their attack.

So much for that experiment. Undead monsters were incapable of not-attacking, just like the books said.

Erick filled the air on his side of the [Quick Wall]s with [Hermetic Shredder]. When the undead broke through again, Erick did not recast the Walls. The undead raced onto molecular wires, meeting the same fate as the Lesser Armed Sloth.

Erick plucked out rads from the wiggling undead bodies, killing the undead. He pushed the remains into the meat pile.

When more monsters came, they came for Ophiels, or to investigate the Imaging, or to prey upon the animals that came for the meat, or for the meat itself. Erick tried to dissuade every encroaching monster from the first three targets, just as he did for the animals, but where animals learned that only the meat was fair game, the monsters seemed incapable of learning.

By next morning, and after being woken up every hour, it seemed, the meat pile was very large, and the root-system Imaging was mostly done.

Erick cleared up the meat pile with [Cleansing Flame] over breakfast, an hour before it was time to investigate the Imaging and the Labyrinth, too. He didn’t need violent wildlife hanging around while he personally studied what the Imaging had revealed.

- - - -

Erick walked through the air, light splashing under his feet as he explored the illuminated root system. There was something here besides just what he was seeing, and what he was seeing was that the Twins were mirrored underground as well as above. He already knew this, but now he saw the full extent of the mirroring.

The major roots of the left tree went left, while the right tree’s roots went to the right. There was little tangling of large roots between the two trees, almost as if both of them had been planted on mirrored, opposing cliffs, instead of right next to each other on the same Forest floor.

The only exceptions to this phenomena were amongst the smaller roots. Anything less than a few centimeters in diameter was a mess of growth that grew in whatever direction it felt like growing,

While the larger roots were mirrored systems that grew away from each other, the smaller roots in that small space between the two Twins, directly under the [Gate], took on a rather peculiar pattern.

Erick saw the pattern. He memorized that pattern as easily as he had replicated Van Gogh’s Starry Night with a single cast, back in that art supply store. He saw how swirls of roots obviously moved mana around like the Twin Trees were some sort of living enchantment.

But he didn’t understand any of it.

There was no known language in that pattern; Erick checked rather thoroughly for Ancient Script, and then all the other languages he had learned since coming to Veird. Gargantual, the language of the Orcols. Inferni, the language of demons, and thus the base language of the Incani. Karstar, the language of Angels, and thus the language of many humans, but more accurately the language of human nobility in several parts of the world. Ecks, which was actually a blend of Karstar, Inferni, and many other languages, and the main spoken language of most people on Veird.

There was no language pattern in the patterns of the roots under the [Gate].

There was a pattern, though. An enchanted pattern, was Erick’s guess. Not a gridwork pattern, or a basic enchanting pattern, but with a bit of expansive mana sense, and knowing what he was looking at thanks to the Imaging, Erick could feel the flow of mana through the roots, and the trunks, and the air. There was a system of mana movement here, for sure. That system likely gave rise to the magic in this space, but whatever that system was, it was beyond Erick, for now.

Tenebrae hovered not too far from Erick, his robes and small parts of his body wisping away under the effects of his [Greater Air Body]. He glanced toward Erick every now and then, but he mostly studied the glowing root map, too.

Everyone else was watching out for threats from the outside.

Erick asked Tenebrae, “The metal Gates, inside the Vision? They have more of all of…” He waved his hand at the Imaging in the air. “All of this?”

“A great deal more.” Tenebrae said, “Easily a hundred times more complicated.”

Erick started speaking aloud, “Maybe… You said before that the Vision is just connected to this space though this attached [Gate], and that it is not a separate reality that just begins at this connection.” He asked, “But in such a case, where is this Vision, then? Physically?”

Tenebrae said, “Maybe I was not understood. This Vision is there on the other side of this [Gate] space.” He pointed toward the [Gate], then curled his finger up and over in a gesture that was almost like a hop of his hand, saying, “It’s on the other side of this [Gate]. It is physically there. Right over there.” He lowered his hand. “But the Vision’s Domain allows it to make its own Reality, which we then invade when we go through this [Gate].”

Erick hummed. “Okay. That clears up some misconceptions.” He pointed at the tangled, patterned roots, asking, “Have you tried damaging the roots? What happens?”

“They regrow based on the damage done.” Tenebrae said, “Takes a while.”

“So the Vision reconnects itself to this space? Or someone else reconnects it? Or the Twins reconnect on their own?”

Tenebrae said, “The Twins regrow the pattern depending on how damaged it is. Cut out a small piece and it comes back in a day. Cut out a square meter section and it comes back in a week. I did not test further than that and I would advise you against this.”

“I wasn’t going to suggest destroying anything, but it’s good to know it comes back, eventually.” He asked, “Have you made new Twin trees anywhere, to see if you can move the [Gate]?”

Tenebrae frowned a little, but that expression didn’t last long. “I have. It won’t move from here. I’ve replicated the mana flows and everything else perfectly. Still, the [Gate] will not switch locations.”

“Then the [Gate] regrows itself, but the Vision is what connects to this space. Or maybe the act of reconnecting is what produces the regrowth in the Twins. Or—”

Jane spoke up, “Activity in the west.”

Ophiel chirped up a second later, confirming what Jane saw.

“Huh.” Erick said, now looking. “What is that?”

Past a good dozen ten-meter wide trees, in the small spaces where the dark was as deep as the bottom of the ocean, eyes hovered just to the sides of the trees, glowing with a reflected light. Something was spying on this space. A good five somethings, at least.

The interlopers startled; they saw Erick seeing them.

They lit up with tiny lights, illuminating what looked like wide-brim hats upon their heads and lines of pearls along their arms, and then they ducked behind their trees.

Erick had no idea what they were, but they were obviously smart.

Tenebrae said, “Looks like Forestspawn.”

Jane asked, “They’re not shroomspawn? No Bleeding Veil to worry about?”

“Similar, but vastly different creatures. Both are monsters of the mushroom variety, but Forestspawn follow around Forest-Crowned Stags. They’re technically monsters, but they won’t attack unless we attack their Stag and there’s no Stag around here. They either got lost or were just born, or something. Whatever the case, the light of the Imaging might have confused them. We would never have seen them, otherwise.”

Teressa stood beside Jane. Both of them were eyes-forward on the part of the Forest where the monsters had been. Jane looked ready to kill something, but Teressa had a faint smile. She looked ready to cheerfully kill something.

Erick asked, “Can we ignore them?”

Tenebrae waved off Erick, saying, “They don’t matter!” He pointed at the [Gate]. “Focus. You have enough of the damn Stat, don’t you?”

“Enough to focus on multiple things at once. So! About these Forestspawn?”

Tenebrae spat out, “Bah! It’s like you want a damn book shoved under your nose with all the answers! Focus on the [Gate]! Tell me what you see!”

“Forestspawn are mostly harmless. Worse than a slime, better than a shadowolf.” Teressa said, “They eat the bugs and small life that sprouts in the wake of a Stag, but if you kill one, it explodes, showering the area in virulent Decay; that’s the worst they can do to you. More Forestspawn will grow from where another has detonated.”

Erick nodded. “Thank you, Teressa.” He looked to Tenebrae, saying, “Didn’t think to mention the exploding?”

“Not relevant,” Tenebrae said. “You would have found out.”

“Fine, fine.” Erick gestured at the massive root Image before him, saying, “I’m certainly not finding anything more out about this, though. I have no idea what is going on here, except there is an obvious movement of mana that somewhat resembles the movement inside enchanted objects.”

Tenebrae sighed. “Must I teach you enchanting, too?” He muttered, “Dammit.”

“I’ve read all the theories!” Erick said, “I’ve just had trouble putting them all together. A lot of it is contradictory.”

“There’s not a single damn thing in any damn enchanting book put out by the damn Arcanaeum Consortium that is damned contradictory with any other damned book!”

Erick could not help himself. “Well damn! Since you put it like that, it all makes sense!”

“Don’t get snippy with me.” Tenebrae said, “Just because you can’t understand what you’ve read—”

“Here’s an example:” Erick said, “Why does the Grand [Prestidigitation] stove use what I now know to be gridwork to make almost all of itself, but a wand of fire-spewing [Prestidigitation] only uses Ancient Script for the spell but with a bit of different characterization in the interior inscription?”

Tenebrae paused as he looked at Erick. “That’s a high-level question. I thought you were going to ask about [Force Bolt].”

Erick replied, “—

Tenebrae rolled over Erick’s words with a louder voice, “I’m going to lay all of enchanting out for you, so listen up! All enchanting is about eliciting magic from the manasphere. Low-level enchanting is about learning all of the basic tools in the enchanters arsenal. High-level enchanting is about applying difficult Shapings and sometimes contradictory ideas to that eliciting, like using Ice and Fire Alterings in the same spell! You have read contradictory enchanting ideas in all those damned books because magic itself is contradictory! Mana is possibility, and that includes going left and right at the same time when you’re supposed to go forward!

“None of those books are contradictory. They’re all just pieces of the whole puzzle.

“When you spoke to me the other day about Sound and about picking magics out of the air with resonance it sounded like you had already found your enchanting path. But this question reveals to me that you have not.” Tenebrae said, “So think on what I said, and also on these Gates and [Gate].”

Erick flinched backward.

Tenebrae had slapped him with some high-concept enchanting, resetting his entire idea of the whole field of meta-magics.

An idea developed in Erick’s mind. An idea that involved the gramophones that he had reinvented.

But first…

Erick said, “Thank you for that, Tenebrae. Shall we go inside, now? See how far we get?”

“Yes, dammit. Finally!” Tenebrae said, “[Dispel] this Imaging; all it’s doing is attracting problems.”

Erick dispersed the light in the air with a thought. Gloom swallowed the party. The Forest sounded of animals and monsters in the dark, while eyes opened up in the far distance, but that was normal. It was time to get going.

A Rocky, Teressa, and Jane were the first through the [Gate]. The rest of the party followed. Everyone had their long-term spells active. Everything was the same as it had been in their first excursion into the space.

Except, Erick cast an [Alarm Ward] over the entrance to the Vision, and he also had the Ophiel on his shoulder cast [Scry] into the air a good distance from the Twins, to see if anyone came in after them. He wasn’t sure if the [Alarm Ward] or if the [Scry] would work because both spells would likely have some issues sending their signal to Erick, or Ophiel, while they were inside the Vision. But if this didn’t work, if the larger monsters appeared right away, then that only meant that he would have to try something else to monitor the entrance.

Walking through land beyond the [Gate] was simple and silent.

And then, almost half an hour later, the Ophiel on his shoulder poked Erick in the face to get his attention, and then he mentally showed him an image of what he had seen. The [Alarm Ward] had failed, for whatever reason, as the intruder walked right through the invisible space without setting it off, but Ophiel’s [Scry] had not failed.

Erick sent to the party, ‘A Rocky entered the Vision at the entrance.’

Tenebrae rounded on his Rockys and glared like the world’s angriest man. At that moment, he might have been. Erick didn’t need to elaborate on what the unexpected Rocky meant; it could only mean one thing.

Ten seconds later, the Red-Furred Armed Sloths appeared. They zeroed in on Erick, again, for some reason.

After Tenebrae vented his anger at the first four Armed Sloths, turning them into little more than red rain, the entire party started to run and Erick got to experiment with [Slowing Bolt] on the oncoming eight. 200 mana caused a Slow that lasted 10 seconds, where the afflicted Armed Sloth moved at half speed, and rapidly fell behind all the rest. A thousand mana caused a three second complete cessation of movement —a Stop— followed by 30 seconds of Slow.

Erick suspected that if the creatures were not literally subway-train sized, that his Slows and Stops would last a lot longer. As it was, everyone who could helped to erect [Force Wall]s into the air as the entire party all ran against the flow of mana, toward the nearest exit.

Two minutes later, everyone had escaped from the Labyrinth.

Tenebrae started yelling at his Rockys. For the part of the rock men, they looked ashamed. Erick heard a lot of ‘we didn’t want you to die’, so he wasn’t really mad. This was quite a dangerous event, after all. And then a Rocky did something Erick was not expecting.

Tenebrae repeated, even louder than before, “You do not get to choose what I do with my life! If you don’t like how I—”

“I can’t watch you kill yourself!” a Rocky shouted, his meekness suddenly shifting to rage. “Redarrow even predicted your death! Believe him if you don’t believe us! But I cannot do this anymore! I love you too much, and I— I can’t watch it! I’m done!” The Rocky shifted, his stone flesh becoming mud, and falling away.

Tenebrae was too surprised to argue. A tear fell down his face.

He recognized the significance of the mud-form that Erick did not.

The Rocky’s stone body spun back into itself, briefly, then broke away, casting grey dirt to the ground, revealing a pristine young woman made of white marble, wearing a toga made of the same. She moved exactly like a wrought, her body and clothes made of her self, while her face was full of anger and gold tears colored her white eyes. Gold rolled down her cheeks and fell from her chin. 

Her voice was an octave higher than it had been before, “I’ve decided my name is Ophelia, because Erick treats his summons much better than you! If only I were born to him instead!” She quieted. “Do not blame the others for this plot, as it was my idea, but since it’s not working... Then…" Her chest heaved as she breathed hard. She spat out, “Goodbye. I never want to see you again, you death-seeking old man!”

Ophelia vanished in a gold blip.

Tenebrae crashed to his knees. The remaining Rocky was suddenly there, beside him with a hand on his shoulder, trying to help the older archmage, trying to get him back on his feet. He spoke in soft tones and Tenebrae mumbled in softer words, tears rolling down his face, catching in his white beard.