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Erick found out a lot about the Warlord Clans by watching them from the sky with Ophiel, sussing out various nomadic tribes here and there, and also watching what happened to the face stealers being interviewed beside Warlord Niyazo’s camp, by the soldiers of Songli.

Mostly, the face stealers revealed nothing. The only one who revealed anything was the raging man, who cared not for the idea that one shouldn’t scream and threaten one’s captors, who happened to be the law, with all the ways that one usually killed people, in defiance of the law. Songli did not take kindly to that sort of behavior. That guy was destined for the chopping block, for sure, but not before all that he had said was used against everyone else in his little Hunter gang.

Erick had seen enough of that to cement his desire to help Songli root out the Hunters up here. Perhaps he would eventually help these warlord clans to hunt Hunters, as well, but he didn’t know these people that much, and so, he wasn’t going to offer them the same offer he had given Songli.

At least not yet.

Which was why he had sent Ophiels far and wide; so he could find out more about these fur-wearing tribes.

In a style similar to the orcols of Glaquin, the Warlord Clans north of Songli were almost entirely nomadic. But what Erick had seen previously, with ‘villages’ of three to four hundred traveling along the grassland, was like seeing a bird on the wing and never realizing that birds built nests, and these Warlord Clans built lots, and lots, and lots of nests.

They traveled the grass, but they lived by the rivers. The smaller the river, the better. All one had to do was go 1200 kilometers north of Holorulo to begin to see the strong hand of civilization upon the land.

The development began north of the joining of the Wanzhi River and a similarly large river from the west. Other, smaller rivers joined to both of these large waterways, and with a small lightstep forward, away from the Wanzhi, Ophiel lost which secondary river had been the main one; it was like a branch ever branching. Lightstepping backward to the Wanzhi River, Ophiel proceeded north, along the main river again, but soon, even the Wanzhi River became one river of a thousand others, each of equal size and strength.

And everywhere Ophiel looked, those waterways had been manhandled by people, along their edges, turning riverbanks and floodplains into pools and fisheries and irrigation pathways, where gardens were either in use, and full of food, or had been left to fallow. Most of the tumbled land had been left to fallow, actually. Some places had overgrown rather spectacularly with old-growth purple tomato vines and large berry bushes and whole messes of other foodstuffs, all growing over each other. Erick called them ‘stations’ in his mind, for lack of a better term, until he heard a clansman in Niyazo’s village call them ‘riversides’.

Almost none of the riversides were occupied.

The few riversides that were occupied were well tended, where people opened floodgates to pull the river water down irrigation ditches, flooding the gardens temporarily, while other people pulled vegetables and fruits out of the ground like there was no tomorrow. It seemed that no one made these riversides their permanent homes, but they certainly diverted the rivers and streams however they wished. Some small streams had been so badly mangled that there was no connection to the larger rivers downstream, for there was no ‘downstream’ to be seen.

Erick understood why Eralis had been complaining about the lowered levels of the river. Some of the riversides were dry, and kilometers away from the river itself, for the river had been moved. Sometimes tributaries just ended, their final stretch of visible water ending in a deep pool, or piddling out into nothing, right there in the middle of nowhere. A few riversides were no longer near the rivers at all; they were just bushy growths out in the middle of grasslands.

Grasslands without any trees, too, which was another odd thing. All this water, and no trees.

Erick came across a clan burning down a copse of trees, giving him a reason for why there were no trees in this grassland, but not an answer ‘why?’. A few more times, Erick came across the same thing happening, but on smaller scales.

Eventually, he formed a hypothesis.

Monsters lived in the forests, so it was reasonable to assume that some culture, somewhere, had decided to burn down the forests all around them, and then they had to keep those forests burned, so they became wanderers who lived in yurts. Maybe.

Anyway. The water, and the reasons that it didn’t reach Eralis in the quantities that it usually did.

The Wanzhi River’s tributaries were absolutely everywhere, but even with a million people all mangling these tributaries however they wanted, it was still a surprise that something like ‘less water reaching Eralis’ was a thing that was possible to occur.

Which is not really what was happening, anyway.

It was the cows that were the problem. A million people, but millions of cows. Everywhere the people went, the cows followed, forging rivers, trampling grasses, creating desolation and breaking up riverbanks. Muddying the waters and the land. And when they passed, water evaporated.

Maybe.

There were just so many cows, everywhere. All over the place. Most individual clans seemed to like individual breeds, and stuck to that one. There were blond and shaggy cows. White and black cows. Black. White. Red. Blue cows, too; those were kinda pretty, with their large glinting horns. Fuzzy pink cows that gave pink milk. Orange cows with orange milk that made bright orange cheese. Most of them mostly gave white milk, though.

There were a few major ‘cities’ along the largest of the riverways, but while they were close to water sources, they were decidedly distant from the deeper waters. There were monsters in the waters, too, so that made sense.

Erick didn’t think of them as cities in the usual sense, though, for their main features were their large, empty parade grounds, dozens of kilometers across, where anyone could pull up their yurts and set down for a while. The cows had to stay outside though, except, of course, the cows that were part of the ‘show off your cows’ contest that Erick happened to spy as Ophiel was flying through. Very pretty red cow in that show, with her hair clipped into geometric designs.

The people themselves were of all types, but in most cases, they existed along the incani-demi-human axis. There were mostly incani clans, with large horns and deep colors to their skin tones, who camped right next to human Clans. Almost every tribe had demis in them. If the Quiet War was here, then it was truly quiet.

Erick didn’t see many books, or many high-technology objects, like high-class fabrics or metalwork or glasswork, but the people looked happy and healthy. Children played in the open, overseen by the whole clan. Warriors patrolled the outskirts, keeping eyes on the tall grasses and the deep waters. It was a pleasant enough place.

Moving right along.

Some mobile clans encountered river monsters in their riverside destinations, and either killed the offending lizards or fish or hippo-like beasts, or they avoided the fight, and moved to the next riverside down the way. Mostly, the clans stayed away from the untamed, larger rivers, where the larger monsters lay.

Erick spotted a juvenile rivergrieve in the deeper waters next to a freshly occupied riverside. The clan had yet to start farming; they had yet to open the floodgate to let water into the farm. The rivergrieve had seen them, somehow, and waited just beyond easy sight of the sluice, its eel-like body, ten meters long, undulated below the surface of the water, eyes trained forward on the easy targets. The eel would barely fit inside of the watergate, but it would fit, and it would head straight for the center of the riverside to tear into the people still preparing the land for a [Grow]ing. Or something.

Erick didn’t care what the monster was thinking; only that it was obviously plotting to hunt and eat people.

So Erick killed that half-ethereal monster with a [Luminous Beam], shining down from above like a line of oblivion, carving through the water, through the unaware monster. Erick got a notification of a kill, and while the people at the riverside were still getting to ‘high alert’ status because of the major magic going off right beside their clan, Erick had Ophiel grab the head of the rivergrieve and plop it on the riverbank, making sure Ophiel was seen doing so.

The warriors of that clan had been taken completely unaware; their unpreparedness showed in their wide eyes when Erick’s light came down, and then their wider eyes as they saw and recognized the head of the juvenile rivergrieve. One of the younger guys on duty fell on his ass, completely unprepared to defend his clan. That guy’s hastily conjured sword dropped from his grip, and rolled away.

Erick said, “According to the Kill Notification, it was a Juvenile Rivergrieve at about level 57.”

And then Ophiel took off, headed toward what would likely be the main starting location for much of the search for face stealers.

The main ‘city’ of the Warlord Clans was known as Ooloraptoor.

It reminded Erick of Treehome, but only the parts without all the permanent buildings. It was a parade ground larger than all the rest, maybe ten kilometers across, and situated next to a lake ten times the size of those parade grounds.

Directly next to the lake.

Which was odd. There were monsters in those waters.

This bore investigating. Obviously, something was going on here.

The lake was not the headwaters of the Wanzhi River, but the exit point for this lake was where the Wanzhi River actually started to look like the ten kilometer wide waterway that flowed beside the cities of Songli. The lake of Ooloraptoor, which was where the city got its name, was the dumping spot for a good thirty tributaries and two separate rivers. The lake itself was a hundred kilometers across, with depths and shallows and only a small portion of it tamed by the permanent residents of Ooloraptoor.

For there were two permanent structures upon these parade grounds, where yurts and cows and people moved in and out every day.

The first permanent structure was a squat place of stone and water, built lakeside. It was the size of a rather large mansion, maybe four stories tall. Its most recognizable feature was that it was ugly. It looked like something a starting [Stone Mage] might have made, for it was lumpy in spots, and more than one doorway was crooked. The windows were all sorts of thick and thin and oddly shaped, looking like bent ovals, or squat, melted squares. If there was an architect for this place, then they were likely drunk throughout all parts of the design and construction.

There was a nice shade tree to the side of it, though, half overlooking the water. It was a perfectly normal tree, too. Normal sized. Normal everything. And it was one of the very few trees Erick had seen in these northern lands.

A few elderly people in cow skins and blankets tended a small fire between the building and the water’s edge, while young people plied the lake, pulling up fish with [Watershape]. Those fish were then sold by slightly less elderly people in front of their stone house. Ignoring the elderly for the moment, what struck Erick about the place was the shallowness of the lake, and the methodology to the fishing. The fishermen stood in thigh-deep waters that extended kilometers off shore, fishing the whole space that had been delineated by the second permanent structure of this land; a stone wall that carved off a hunk of the lake from the rest of the lake. Beyond that wall of stone, the lake was still shallow for a good kilometer more, before it turned deep, and crystal clear waters became dark blue. Even further out, abysses of black water lurked, and monsters surely roamed.

That wall in the water, which was more like a sieve that prevented the larger monsters from coming forth, had been the only wall Erick had seen north of Songli. People patrolled the top of that wall, too, watching the lake for signs of monsters.

It was then that Erick realized a fundamental difference between these clans and the civilians of Songli.

These people still warred with monsters, daily, and they didn’t shy away from that necessity. Erick bet not a single one of them was below level 40. If juvenile rivergrieves showed up with any regularity, then many of these people had Classes, too.

While the citizens of Songli hid in their homes, behind their border clans, these people fought, and while these people didn’t have much of the niceties of Songli, they had full control over their own lives.

In the ‘city’ of Ooloraptoor, people grilled fish on portable grills. They smoked meats. They butchered cows and made stews in giant pots. They laughed and joked with each other, and it seemed really nice. There were even people in white robes here and there; representatives from Songli. There were other people there, too, but Erick didn’t know the origins of the black-robed, or the other, various groups of odd people here and there. Orcols were rare, but present. Harpies, quite a few, actually, spread out here and there. Shifters with their animal masks. Goblins.

Oh.

A whole lot of goblins, actually. Whole entire yurt-fulls of goblins. Multiple tribes of goblins, eh? Neat.

Erick came back to himself.

He went and made dinner, as he kept eyes out everywhere.

When Jane came back from her daily duties with Star Song to eat a home-cooked meal, Erick filled her in on what had happened with the face stealer and of his choice to help Songli eradicate the Hunters of the area.

Either through execution, or Blessing, the Hunter problem in this part of the world would vanish soon enough.

“Might take weeks, though.” Erick said, “Defining the problem was easier than solving the problem.”

Jane listened, then declared, “This is good! Where can I join?”

Poi spoke up, “If this happens, I need a third to protect your father, and you’re it.”

“That’s what I’ll be doing, then.” And then Jane turned to Poi, asking, “So you’re okay with this? Silverite is okay with agents of Spur helping to bring justice to people on the other side of the globe? I mean— That’s not exactly what I mean.” She said, “I still haven’t heard any fallout about dad deciding to participate in the Chelation War. This seems like taking another step in a certain direction and I’m surprised we’re not getting pushback from… From someone in charge, somewhere. Silverite at the very least. Songli has been almost eerily accommodating, too.”

Erick furrowed his brow. He honestly hadn’t considered that Silverite would think he was doing a ‘bad thing’, or however Jane thought of current events. It was kinda odd that Songli wasn’t pushing back harder than they were, though; that much Erick could agree with. But then again, he was offering help; he wasn’t forcing his help on anyone.

So on second thought, it was perfectly reasonable for Songli to be as accommodating as they had been.

Poi said, “Spur has fought the Shades for 850 years. Silverite has been the Mayor for 550. If there’s one thing she doesn’t mind, it’s the enactment of justice against people who deserve it. That’s what Adventurers do. Believe me; if she had a problem with your father doing whatever it was he was doing, she would tell him.” He said to Erick, “If anyone had problems, we’d hear about them.”

“What about the Blessing stuff?” Jane asked Poi, “Weren’t you against that?”

Poi turned back to Jane, and was conflicted, with his mouth in a scrunch and his eye ridges narrowed.

Teressa was not conflicted. She said, “That Crystal Star was created by your father and Koyabez. Why wouldn’t Silverite want to enact justice in a way her god assisted with? Same thing as the Black Star. Gotta topple tyrants; gotta execute killers. And now, with the help of Koyabez and your father, there’s the option to make Hunters see the light. I’m all for it. Maybe then those guys can get into a good afterlife.”

“Oh yeah! That reminds me.” Jane asked, “Did anything happen to Raidu, yet? I heard that… something—” She dropped her voice, concerned, “Okay. Something happened. What was it.”

Erick had gone wide-eyed, to stare at the fish and rice he had made for dinner. Poi had a similar expression.

Teressa’s voice was low. “Something terrifying.”

“Too dramatic!” Jane declared, verging on anger. She asked, “Dad.”

Erick started with, “A lot more happened besides the face stealers. First, there was the trip to the paddy house, which…”

Erick didn’t spend much time talking about the paddy house. By the end of the recount of the day, after Erick had explained about how Raidu was ripped asunder by the simple combination of a diamond-cut hat upon a spherical grand rad, Jane’s eyes were wide, too, and dinner was over. He hadn’t even brought up Raidu’s speech, but that was his next thing; he wanted to ask everyone what they thought about that.

Jane’s anger faded pretty fast as Erick spoke of what had happened, and nothing seemed to jump out at her. When he was done, Jane scrunched her eyebrows together. “That doesn’t seem that bad. But why do you use the same term for sundering and ‘The Sundering’?”

Erick paused.

Teressa whispered, “It was bad.”

Jane said, “I am willing to accept that it was bad. But why the same term?”

Poi said, “I don’t know. They’re both awful events?”

“Bout as worse as you can get!” Teressa said, “Ya know; on an extreme macro scale and a micro scale.”

“It’s times like these when I miss the internet.” Jane asked Poi, “You sure you don’t know?”

Poi said, “Ask an open-ended question, get an open-ended answer. The simple answer is ‘I don’t know’.”

Erick guessed, “Maybe the term ‘sundering’ comes from the creation of the new out of the old. I told you the story of Xoat, right? Well, Xoat was sundered into the base materials of the First Cosmology. Today, Raidu was sundered into mana, which is practically the same thing. If we were in the Old Cosmology —Cosmology numbers Zeroth through Third— then the sundering of Raidu would have created reality. Now, in this Fourth Cosmology, the New Cosmology, a sundering just creates mana, which overlays upon this reality of particles and physics.”

“I could buy that.” Jane said, “But then why was ‘the Sundering’ that happened 1450 years ago called a ‘Sundering’?”

“For the same reason.” Erick said, “In all the uses of the word, ‘sundering’ is both a creative and destructive event. Maybe that’s the true etymology of the term. Maybe, the Sundering of 1436 years ago was just a creative event that didn’t create a whole lot.”

Jane said, “Ah. Okay. I get it now. I was thinking it was a conspiracy, or something.”

“Maybe it is.” Erick moved on. “Anyway: How’s this for a conspiracy theory? Raidu was ranting about every single god being a Dark God, and that the true age of Veird is 8500, not 1450. He especially didn’t like being sundered because it would make him ‘food for the gods’, who ‘farm us like cattle for our mana’.”

Teressa breathed out heavily, and looked away, while Poi tried to ignore Erick.

That part of Raidu’s rant had hit them pretty hard, Erick guessed. It hit him hard, too, but he needed to talk about it. He couldn’t let something like that fester.

Jane’s reaction was more clinical than Teressa’s or Poi’s. Jane narrowed her eyes, thinking.

Erick waited.

Jane said, “Nope. Don’t believe it.” She added, “Maybe, if you want to take everything we’ve seen in the worst possible light, then that might be true, but I’ve been to the churches and the places of worship and all of the other areas dedicated to the gods. The gods help people. They’ve got some pretty strict rules on how they help, so they might appear to be Dark Gods sucking the mana out of people, but I came into this rather skeptical. I’ve expected to see something Evil in some dark corner of this world, especially when it came to the gods, and I haven’t.” She added, “I mean. Except in Ar’Kendrithyst. And wherever there are monsters. Or bad people. Or— I’ve never seen a shitty god, though.” She frowned. “Except the Crown of Heaven is divine and so is the Demon King, and they interfere rather a lot. And I guess Sininindi is kinda… Not great, from what I’ve heard. People pray to her to weather the storms and the sea but it’s more of a ‘please don’t hurt me’ sort of prayer. Her portfolio used to include the mana ocean between planes, too. She’s probably the most neutral goddess on Veird, except for Rozeta.” She paused, then said, “Rozeta gives magic to evil people, just as much as she gives magic to good people, but I think Rozeta gets a pass, because she’s in an adversarial relationship with Melemizargo.”

Jane was hedging her words.

Erick saw it.

Poi saw it, too.

Teressa saw something else, though.

“I’d believe Aloethag was a Dark God.” Teressa said, “Now that one is definitely using the Rage of the Orcols to fuel her own power. Barely anyone cares about her, but she’s still a major god, and only because she’s sucking up our power for her own uses.”

Jane agreed, “Can’t forget the former goddess of the elves. Considering what I read about Aloeth, she’s a lot better than she used to be back when the elves were alive and in charge of a good quarter of the Old Cosmology. Or maybe the stories of the elves were exaggerated?”

Teressa almost glowered, but she pulled back that emotion, hard, then simply said, “The elves were bad. For all this New Cosmology is fucked sometimes, the Old Cosmology was worse. You think the Quiet War is bad, with demons and angels? The Elven Wars were worse. I heard all the stories. Most of the time, it was coalitions of races from dwarf to orc to fae and more, all against single elven houses. Single houses! Houses more like nations, with populations that spanned multiple worlds, of course. They used blood magic, everywhere.” Teressa said, “Aloeth granted her people protection from blood magic, which was one of the reasons why elves did so much of that… But back then— Well. I heard stories. Back before the Sundering, the elves had spells that killed whole family lines. [Familial Annihilation] was the big one. Propagating death, spreading throughout the universe to strike at every single blood relation from a target. The story varies, but that was their most terrifying magic, and all of it was empowered by Aloeth.” Teressa said, “Shit like that is why we don’t trust her, and you shouldn’t either.”

Erick hadn’t heard that sort of story, but he didn’t doubt Teressa. If any of the gods seemed ‘dark’, aside from the obvious one of Melemizargo, then Aloethag and Sininindi fit the bill more than most of them. Erick knew a little bit about the first, and while he had contact with both of them, the ‘trial for his life’ from a year ago, back when he met Sininindi for the first time, was a lot more personal to him than Teressa’s problems with Aloethag.

And then later, when he got Yggdrasil, and Sininindi got Yggdrasil’s clone —because Erick was trying to offer an olive branch of peace! Otherwise, he would have told her to fuck off with her Quest— it was revealed to him that Sininindi was going to try and kill him before Yggdrasil matured into a true World Tree in a hundred years.

But that didn’t really matter. Not right now. It probably would matter, though, if this conversation kept going down this path. The gods were always listening for their own names, and they seemed to pop up with some frequency whenever Erick started invoking their names, therefore it was time to stop this conversation before some stupid Quest popped up, or something.

Maybe he should have left this part of Raidu’s words to fester and die in the dark.

Erick said, “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Let’s talk about dessert, instead.” He got up, saying, “I made chocolate chip cookies! I’ll get them, and then you can tell me about your day, Jane.”

Jane smiled.

Teressa got up from the table, saying, “Then I’ve got reading to do; I’m going to try to learn aura control.”

Erick smiled as he came back into the room, offering cookies, saying, “Let me know if anything Kaffi specifically said helped you.”

“Will do, Boss.” Teressa grabbed a cookie then went to the empty front room.

Poi grabbed a cookie and headed to the library, across the hallway, saying, “I’ve got communications to sort through.”

Erick turned back to Jane, “Have you talked to Riri lately?”

Jane said, “We talked. Not today. Yesterday, and barely for a minute. She’s taken hold of a dozen different Clan businesses, trying to keep them from collapsing while taking advantage of the collapse of other businesses.” Jane picked up a cookie, saying, “I did manage to finally Remake [Fabricate], though.”

Erick smiled. “Good!

“Other than that, I’ve been hunting monsters. There’s this larger form of mist stone glutton that’s been bothering some of the border clans west of Eralis, and…”

Erick listened, happy to hear of easy successes due to hard work and skill.

- - - -

As the morning sun lifted in the east, sending warm glows through the fog that swirled across Holorulo, Erick stood on the open third floor of his temporary house, overseeing it all, like the captain on a tall ship, casting his gaze across an ocean of mist. With a cup of coffee in his hands, and wrapped up in warm robes to keep out the chill in the air, Erick decided that mornings in Holorulo were nice.

As he drained the last drop of his coffee and the sun began to disperse the fog, and after Poi joined him, Erick stood up and went to the edge of his pagoda. He had made a few spells yesterday, but it was time to make a few more. The first was the easiest.

Six Ophiel hovered in the air around him, each of them forming the point of a hexagon with Erick as the center. Erick hummed an Unmoving tune, going from Stone to Water to all the rest, and ending at Shadow, handing off pieces of the disorganized puzzle to each of his Ophiel as they, in turn, took up the tune and made it their own. A harmony emerged; a lullaby. A simple tune, of a father lulling a playful child to rest.

Erick relaxed, feeling disparate fluctuations relax with him.

He cast.

Half a kilometer out, a shimmer of white flickered then flashed through the sky, expanding out to eclipse Erick’s position at the edge of his house. There was no brightness showing the area of effect, as there were with the original six spells. There was simply… Rest.

Erick took a step back, and was outside of the effect. His Ophiel had a bit harder time, since they held themselves up with light, and now that light didn’t want to move, except to let gravity take hold. As all six of them gradually floated downward, to come to rest atop the ground like tired birds, all six of them chirped in confused, odd chirps, that were none of their usual sounds. They chirped through [Airshape], after all; there was no way for their usual sounds to happen when they were under the effect of Erick’s new spell. But they did manage to roll themselves out of the space, their many wings tumbling over each other as they flopped and plopped out of the effect, to come to rest at Erick’s feet, where they promptly spoke in unsure guitars as they once again took to the air.

Erick smiled to see Ophiel’s tiny antics.

A blue box appeared.

--

Prismatic Lullaby, instant, super large area, 6000 mana

Lull the primary elements to slumber!

Has less effect against esoteric elements.

Last 24 hours.

--

Erick read the box, and said, “Good.”

And then he started testing the space with various Mana Altered spells.

The combined version seemed to work even better than the individual versions, but [Lodestar] still enabled Elemental Light spells to function inside the space. Domains were still king of magic, apparently.

Setting that thought aside, and dismissing [Prismatic Lullaby], Erick had a good idea for his [Draining Elemental] spell. His new idea went with the notion that all magic was a harmony away from being extracted from the manasphere. So why not make a spell that simply extracted mana from whoever was exposed to it, and then harmonized that mana into the working of a new spell, and then use that harmonized mana to cast that new spell.

There were many parts of this new idea that were obvious failure points.

Failure point one: using environmental mana to do anything at all. Or rather, using the mana stolen from others to make specific magics.

After having yesterday to think, Erick recalled Mage Hunters, and how they could Drain Mana from targets and then use that Mana themselves. He almost kicked himself for forgetting about this fact. Kiri had told him about that so long ago, back when they had been ambushed in the Crystal Forest by Hunters, and they were low on Mana. She had said that Mage Hunters could take Mana from another, and use it themselves, while Fonts could use their own Mana to restore the Mana of others.

So there was obviously some way to take the mana of others and use it for oneself.

Erick just had to figure it out, and put that working into a [Conjure Force Elemental].

Failure Point two: [Conjure Force Elemental] was going to be the base of this magic, but that spell would eventually create a life if the spell was left running for too long.

Erick did not want to create new lives out of his spellwork. When combined with [Telepathy] and [Scry], the point where a conjured elemental turned real was a timeline measured in anywhere from a century to ‘born at cast’, depending on if the tier of the spell was low, or high, and if it was complicated magic or not.

[Draining Elemental ‘Insert Spell Here’] was going to be a very complicated spell. He wouldn’t make it with [Telepathy] or [Scry], though. Simple instructions only. The timeline for the creation of life from this use of [Conjure Force Elemental] would likely be measured in centuries. Maybe even five centuries.

Maybe considerably less.

Failure Point Three: Making a [Draining Elemental] that cast a spell would be like summoning a creature that automatically and manually cast a spell, likely through gridwork and Elemental Body-like manipulations.

It was the ‘manually’ that tripped him up.

Imbuing a spell into a [Conjure Force Elemental] and then having that elemental cast the imbued spell was easy, but doing it that way meant that you had to cast the summon with all of its starting mana. Like with Kiri’s [Firelight Defender]; a summon that shot multiple [Firelight Bolts] at a targeted enemy over a short while. She had to cast that spell with all of the [Firelight Bolts] it would ever have; it could not regenerate mana to cast more [Firelight Bolts]. The point of this working today was to have [Draining Elemental]s cast their own spells using the mana that other people provided.

Which was a problem.

And now that he’d been working on this problem for a while, he saw another problem.

Failure Point Four: The Propagation Ban.

All of this was likely doomed to failure because, at the end of this working, if it worked, Erick would have made a self-sustaining spell that gained mana and could cast other spells…

He looked over to Ophiel, bouncing on the railing, enjoying the breeze.

Ophiel had his own mana, and he could cast his own spells.

Which was a first, for all of Veird; to hear learned people tell it. Learned people like those of Treehome, and the Wasteland Kingdoms, and others.

Hmm.

A funny thought occurred to him about Wizardry but he banished that thought almost immediately, not wanting to think like that.

Might as well test a small part of that unthought thought, though.

Erick asked, “Ophiel.”

Every single Ophiel in the area whipped around and focused on Erick, going silent; watchful.

Erick asked, “Can you manually cast a [Force Bolt]?”

Each Ophiel twittered in unsure guitar strums, then one of them on the railing chirped in happy violins, as he lifted a tiny wing and pointed out at the open air beyond the pagoda. His lightform twisted and touched the world. A bolt of light and air the size of the little guy ripped out from the little guy, and sailed off into the distance. Success! Ophiel turned to Erick and chirped in happy violins.

Erick smiled, saying, “Good job.”

Every single Ophiel sang in tiny, triumphant violin sounds. The one that had been on the railing fluttered up to land on Erick’s shoulder, twisting his [Animadversion] to hang on his back like he was some sort of turtle-bird. He was cute.

Wizardry problems could keep for another day. It was time to work on normal magic, right now; time to get his head in the mana. Erick breathed in, then out, feeling some nice kinda way.

This [Draining Elemental] was a big deal, not only because of what it could do, but also because it could [Renew] other spells. Making [Renew] as a new Basic Tier spell might be possible later, but Erick didn’t think he could get there right now, for he felt that [Renew] was too complicated for Basic Tier; it had to be an emergent function of a few other magics all working in concert together.

And Erick was going to orchestrate that concert.

Later, if this worked, maybe he could extract the [Renew] out of this spell, to see how it functioned, and to make that spellwork on its own.

Or maybe he was putting the cart before the horse! Who knew! Not him, for sure.

Erick calmed himself, closed his eyes, and listened.

Ophiels gathered, and Erick organized his spellwork. He started with Basic Tier components, for this would be, at most, a Tier 2 spell. He could try to remake it every single day if this didn’t work out right.

He started with [Draining Ward], adding in the structure needed for the spell to replace itself, like Permanent lightwards were capable of doing. This much was already asking for a lot, for the moving parts of this magic were dangerous to itself, and would surely cause instability when the main parts of the spell came into the working.

Then he added a [Conjure Force Elemental], and imbued it with a complication. The spell would organize the mana it extracted into two wells of power. One well would go toward sustaining the [Draining Elemental]’s form, with mana harmonized into the [Draining Elemental]’s power—

Erick winced as he listened to the mana strain. Static entered the spellwork.

Static dominated the spellwork.

Hmm.

This spell was a failure, but Erick would continue. He would witness the outcome to see where he went wrong.

—The second well of the two-well [Draining Elemental] would manually cast [Force Bolt] at whoever wasn’t designated as friendly by the [Draining Elemental]. It would accomplish this with a manual twist and condensation of the mana; with gridwork accomplished by the [Conjure Force Elemental].

The unifying idea of this spell was a Permanent [Ward] atop a location that would constantly attack whoever wasn’t permitted with [Force Bolt]s, using the same permissions spellwork that [Solid Ward]s used to ignore all approved guests, and activate against all unapproved persons.

This was a simple spell, in purpose, but in the working it was the most complicated thing Erick had ever made. Theoretically, he could have made a spell to specifically suit the purpose of this one, and then he could cast that same spell over and over every morning, like he did his [Personal Ward], but that was a dead end avenue of spellwork. Erick wanted self-perpetuating magic.

Erick opened his eyes.

He held a hand forward, as Ophiels sang beside him, harmonizing the ideas he had put forth, but he was the one who held the emotion and the power, in the end.

He cast.

The manasphere shifted in front of him, and—

--

Error!

--

The air popped with white light, knocking Erick back, flat on his ass. He barely managed to curl up instead of hitting his head. Everything went black for a brief moment as his blood pressure seemed to drop out from under him, but he came around fast enough. Blood dripped from his nose. Everything was red.

Ophiel had slapped him with a [Greater Treat Wounds] while he was on the way down. Then he did so again, standing atop Erick’s chest and tapping him with more healing.

Erick groaned as a sudden pain revealed itself across his entire body, and then relaxed away in the wake of another [Greater Treat Wounds]. A [Cleanse] flowed over him next, erasing the red from his eyes. Bile suddenly rose in his chest. He reflexively rolled to the side, causing Ophiel to take to the air as Erick coughed, expelling thick air and a little spit. He laid back down and groaned.

Poi was standing over him.

Erick said, “I think it was the Propagation Ban.”

“Entirely possible.” Poi extended his hand. Erick gripped it, and was hauled to his feet, as Poi said, “I like how Ophiel is trained to heal you.”

“I do, too!” Erick said, and then he couldn’t help but laugh.

Poi smiled a little.

A pair of old ladies who had been watching him from a pagoda a block over, also laughed, their trills of mirth carrying across the morning sky.

- - - -

In the aftermath of his experiment, Erick sat in his study to dissect what went wrong.

First of all, he could have sung to the sky, and called the mana to help him, but that seemed like a recipe for disaster on the level of the [Zone of Peace]. As it was, Erick was pretty sure he had gone directly up against the Propagation Ban today, which might put a hard stop to this project.

And yet…

None of the people he talked to about [Renew] ever told him that the Propagation Ban might be a problem. Maybe the [Draining Elemental] was the only problem here; he had never talked to anyone about that spell before.

He would need to consult an expert on the limits of the Propagation Ban, to understand the problem with his [Draining Elemental] idea. The first consultation would likely be with a simple book; the limits of the Propagation Ban were likely well known, and well researched, but Erick had never done any of that research.

Who to ask, though? The Headmaster? Yes, except Erick didn’t really want to go talk to him yet; he’d get waylaid by so many other concerns, first. Tenebrae? Yes; he was on the shortlist. Syllea and Opal were on the list, too. Opal might be a better person to talk to, since she was the one who introduced Erick to Tricking Magic, and Tricking magic seemed important for [Renew], but not so important to [Draining Elemental].

So maybe [Renew] was fine, but [Draining Elemental] was not.

Well.

Maybe they were two completely different spells?

Whatever. Besides the obvious problems, he couldn’t really make a [Draining Elemental], as it was, because his [Drain Ward]s were painful. [Drain Ward] felt like ants and needles and phantasmal cuts upon the skin, all at the same time, and that was not going to work. The end goal here was to make a spell that could be cast inside a house, or other defensible location, after all. Something that would automatically defend people on the approved list. Something that people were willing to use, and which didn’t require pain to use.

[Draining Elemental] went on the backburner.

It was time to try for [Renew] again. He had tried a lot of odd things months and months ago, and then every so often after that, trying to get [Renew] to work. But he hadn’t done much with this magic since he started his Worldly Path. Now, it was time to rectify that deficiency.

So Erick sat on a chair in his magic room, with the windows barred and Privacy magics strung around the place, but not inside; he was working in a ‘clean room’, magically speaking.

He had a few spells that only lasted seconds, but only a few of them were able to be deployed inside the room without breaking the room, and which were elementally aligned with his own Elemental Body.

Erick chose [Shooting Star].

With a flick of light, a bright white ball of energy appeared in front of him, ready to race off and zip through an enemy or ten, depending on how close the enemies were to each other, and how fast the little ball of light was able to go. There were no enemies here, though, and Erick told it to stay still, and so the ball of harsh light just hovered, trickles of glitter flowing away from its immaterial surface in every direction. It seemed happy.

And then it was gone.

Poof!

Spell over; five second duration.

He cast the spell again, holding his lightform around the summon in a gentle grip, watching and feeling how the [Shooting Star] broke down when the duration was over. The spell seemed content to hover there, in his grip.

Poof! Spell over.

“Hmm,” Erick grunted.

He cast again.

And again.

And again.

Watching with all of his various Sights, and all of his various senses, including the touch of his light. Listening to the spell seemed the most important, so Erick also closed his eyes and did that a few times, too.

By the thirtieth time Erick watched [Shooting Star] disintegrate, he was pretty sure that some intrinsic part of the working vanished at the 5 second mark, and then the spell quickly evaporated, practically all at once. By the hundred and fiftieth time, his former idea was nixed. His new idea was that something was breaking down the very second the spell came into existence, and that something only held together for 5 seconds, with a precipitous drop in spell integrity occurring at the 5 second mark.

By the two hundredth time, Erick was ready to try a manual [Renew]. He tried pushing basic Light-altered mana into the cracks of the spell.

He had done this before in his attempts to make [Renew]. He had tried a lot of different, odd methods in order to extend the duration of a magic. Back then, all his Light mana managed to do was destabilize the structure of the lightwards he had been working with.

This time, with [Shooting Star], Erick also destabilized the spellwork, and the ball of energetic light broke at the 4.5 second mark. It wasn’t a very stable spell to begin with, but Erick was pretty sure that he could make it so, if only he injected his mana correctly.

There were literally no books or learning that told Erick that this would work. No Arcanaeum books Erick ever read even touched upon the ability for spells to take in their own mana and become Permanent, if they were well-made enough. This was probably a failure (purposeful or otherwise) of the Headmaster.

Or maybe this was by the Script’s design.

Spells could be made Permanent under the Script, though, if they had that working put in them, and if they were simple, balanced spells.

But [Shooting Star] was anything but balanced. It was an energetic tyke waiting for the command to tear through an enemy, to dart through flesh and evaporate bone.

Erick’s theory was that if it was possible to stabilize something so unstable, and yet so simple, that he would be able to do it with applications of learning he had gained since the last time he tried this, and, almost more importantly, that he would notice that stabilization. 5 seconds was not a lot of time. It would be a breakthrough to get 5.25 seconds. It would mean he was on the right track. So he continued.

After a few hundred more tries, Erick decided on a different approach.

What was the idea of [Shooting Star]?

Erick channeled mana through [Shooting Star] and listened to the energetic playing of bloodthirsty sprites.

This time, he cast the spell, and then channeled mana through [Shooting Star] at the same time, directing the plume of light from his hand into the ball of white light.

The spell ended at 5 seconds.

Okay!

At least he didn’t destabilize it this time! This was progress.

This was the most progress he had ever made!

Incidentally, he had already tried channeling spell-altered mana into a cast spell before, and had never gotten this far with it. This was progress. Something had changed.

Well.

Erick had changed a lot, hadn’t he? Perception and Intelligence were massive changes.

Maybe the problem here was a matter of precision?

Oh!

Was this a mechanical problem? It probably was a mechanical problem. Erick didn’t want it to be a mechanical problem, though. Mechanical problems were hard to fix. A magical solution with a single-vector approach would be the best solution, here.

Erick wanted a single-vector approach.

Another test:

Erick wrapped the next [Shooting Star] in his lightform and channeled the appropriate mana through his light, directly into the [Shooting Star], from all sides and angles.

The spell ended at 5.1 seconds.

In the glittering death of his latest summon, Erick sat back, furiously thinking. And then he did the same experiment again. He didn’t want what he was seeing to be a trick of his own perspective; he didn’t have a clock on hand, but he had gotten pretty good at timing [Shooting Star]’s life cycle in his head.

This time, [Shooting Star] lasted at least 5.1 seconds.

To be sure, he changed his setup.

He had two Ophiel each cast [Shooting Star] in front of him. Then he wrapped the right star in light and harmonized mana through the original spell, into Ophiel’s cast.

The left [Shooting Star] decayed fractionally before the right [Shooting Star].

Erick was, indeed, reinforcing the spell and keeping it alive longer than the blue box’s listed duration.

He sat back, had a think, and then he tried something else.

He tried Mana Altering to Light, instead of through [Shooting Star], and wrapping [Shooting Star]s in that, instead. He directed Light toward the parts that seemed to be degrading as soon as the spell came into existence, and then to all the cracks that formed in the later millisecond of the spell’s existence.

He tried a lot of different tactics.

There was no change in spell duration.

“Well, fuck.”

More and more, it seemed that this simple method of ‘shoving harmonically aligned Light into a spell’ was not going to be the way to [Renew]. The major problem Erick saw was that this method was too crude. Sure, the mana he was shoving [Shooting Star]’s way sounded and felt like the correct type of mana, but it was not fully the same.

Elemental Light was not the same as [Shooting Star] Light.

Duh.

The mana channeled through [Shooting Star] was exactly correct, so that worked to extend the spell’s duration, but that was not the path toward [Renew]. That was not the path toward a general-purpose spell that anyone could purchase for 1 point, to allow them to reinforce the spellwork of others. No one else was going to be able to purchase [Erick’s Shooting Star], in order to [Renew] his spellwork. No one was going to be able to purchase [Opal’s Grand Shield], so that they could [Renew] the shield that Opal had put over Spur to protect from the Red Dot. This line of spellwork was interesting, and might lead somewhere informative, but it was not the end goal.

Maybe he needed aura control, and not [Greater Lightwalk].

He had Remade a lot of spells with [Greater Lightwalk], so that Elemental Body was clearly able to do what Erick needed it to do with regard to spellwork…

But Tenebrae, and many others, had said that aura control was the path to true magic.

A proper aura control might allow him to make an [Intent Understanding] type of ‘attack’ upon [Shooting Star], and then, through some recursive spellwork, perhaps make a Basic Spell that would automatically made the appropriate reinforcement to [Shooting Star], or to any other spellwork that [Renew] targeted.

… That seemed like the way to go.

Erick kept at this experiment, though, to be sure that he wasn’t missing something obvious.

By the time noon rolled around, Erick hadn’t gotten much further than he had in the first hour. He called it quits, for now.

“Bah!”

Erick had pounded his head against the wall of [Renew] for long enough. It was time to pound his head against a different wall. So he got up, and went to find Poi.

“I need to talk to some Doctors about their [Draining Ward]s. Can you ask Elder Varo about that?” Erick asked, “I’ll have Ophiel [Greater Treat Wounds] and take over for whatever Doctor they have on site, if that needs to happen. I want to know how [Draining Ward]s are able to work without itching. I need someone who knows how it works. Having the Class Ability is not enough.” He added, “And I need to know where that place is with the kids with the wandering soul affliction. Actually. I’ll do that, first.”

Poi set down his book, and started sending out inquiries.

Half an hour later, Erick had two destinations.

- - - -

The House of the Wandering Soul was set apart from Alaralti, far to the north of the main city. It was a five story building of three wings, sitting upon a hill, overlooking a sparse land of trees and not much else. A single road led away from the house, but the road connected to a small lake, not to any sort of other main road, for there were no main roads out there. This land was a place of peace and tranquility, set apart from the world, made of thick stone walls and many, many [Ward]s, cast throughout the building and the surrounding lands, but mostly constrained to the insides of walls and doors and trees.

Those [Ward]s were designed to be opaque to a mana sense, making this one of the only places Erick had ever visited that was mostly obscured to him.

He arrived on site on the Teleport Square of white stone, set in front of the building, with Teressa and Poi flanking him. Ophiels blipped in and fluttered around as they were wont, with one of them setting down on Erick’s shoulder. All of them looked up.

The House of the Wandering Soul dominated the surroundings with brutalist architecture composed of flat white walls that reached high, and windows laid in a grid pattern all across the front edifice. It was one of the most Earth-like buildings Erick had seen, with none of the easy adornments that were possible through the use of wardlight sculptures, or [Stoneshape] flourishes.

Erick couldn’t really tell why, though.

Maybe the insides looked better? It was hard to say, though, due to the opaque mana sense magics strung throughout the place. There were likely teams of people who recast those mana sense blocking spells every day, or maybe just one person. Now that Erick was closer, he amended his earlier guess that there were teams of Warders here, for whoever did these obscuring magics was overtaxed in their duty.

Many of the mana sense blocking spells were constrained to the first through third floors, but with a bit stress applied to his sense of the mana, Erick was able to sense that some rooms were fully blocked off from the rest of the world, but the [Ward]s in many of the common areas were open in the corners and edges, allowing a stressed mana sense to see through into some of those spaces.

Or maybe this was by design. If Erick relaxed his mana sense back to normal, then those rooms were obscured to him. It was highly possible that this was a training method for the kids. Learn to relax and the world drops away from you, sort of thing. Maybe.

Whatever the case, his arrival had already been noticed.

The kids who were not behind the impenetrable mana sense blockers were all looking his way. Maybe even the ones that were inside those blockers were looking his way, too, for Erick’s own mana sense only covered 50 meters, max, which was less than his previous max, and much less than Teressa’s 100 meter max. Whatever the case, Erick counted 13 kids. He also counted ten adults of various professions from cooks to cleaners to custodians, but all of them were carers, too, which was perhaps their first concern. Everyone on staff seemed to be a mix of demi, or human, or incani, and that held true for the kids, too.

Within seconds of his arrival, four of the staff instantly blipped from where they had been, to then stand behind the closed doors to the building. Those doors were minimally [Ward]ed against mana sensing, but not that much. They could see him, and he could see them. Erick didn’t doubt that every single one of those people had a much better mana sense than him; possibly even better than Teressa.

Teressa said, “A welcoming committee.” She glanced backward. “And in the forest, too.”

Her range was still much larger than his, so it wasn’t a surprise that she saw the other people behind them before Erick did. It took him but a second to get Ophiel in sight of those new people, but it happened rather fast.

And yup; more carers, coming out to see the archmage.

Erick had called ahead, of course. Or, to be more truthful, Poi had called ahead, through the direction of Elder Varo. Erick hadn’t actually talked to any of these people yet.

As the kids in the building started moving around, some of them rushing into the closed-off [Ward]ed areas and scared out of their minds, others came out to see what was happening. They didn’t do much besides stand in unobscured and minimally [Ward]ed areas, though.

It was kinda odd, and also nice, to have everyone see him, and to see them in return. It was kinda… open and honest, now that he was experiencing it for the first time. He expected everyone here to have a great mana sense, but he had not expected how… freeing it was, to have everyone else be able to see him, just as well as he could see them.

He didn’t like to think of it too often, but having a good mana sense was incredibly easy to abuse for one’s own benefit, and in so many different ways, too.

Most of the people here did not have a mana sense by choice, though.

Erick stepped to the short stairs leading up to the landing, in front of the double door entrance. Those doors opened at his arrival.

A demi woman pushed out the left door, and stood with a straight back. Her counterpart was a male demi who pushed out the right door and mirrored the woman’s stance. Both kept their eyes to themselves.

On the other side of the door stood a human-looking woman with red eyes, and an incani of tanned human-colored skin, with horns the same brown color. All of the adults here seemed in their thirties or early forties, and that included the people before Erick right now. The woman stepped forward.

She said, “I’m Caretaker Shani of the House of the Wandering Soul; an institution of High Clan Severing Crescent. We welcome you to the House of the Wandering Soul, Archmage Flatt.”

She bowed. Her people bowed with her.

It was all very subservient and Erick didn’t appreciate this sort of deference, but he supposed it was his due. He let it happen, though he was absolutely sure that they caught his slight disappointment; they had mana senses, after all, and probably a lot more refined than his.

The four of them raised their heads.

The woman said, “We welcome you into our home. Please come inside.”

Seeing nothing untoward, which was probably both by the specific design of this place, but also in the faces and heartbeats of the people and kids all around, Erick smiled a little, saying, “Thank you for your hospitality.”

Shani led the way inside, with the tan incani walking beside her. Erick and his people followed. The remaining two caretakers closed the doors behind them, and then remained there, their stances solid, and their eyes directed away from Erick’s departing form.

The inside of the place was rather nice; a heavy departure from the brutalist exterior. The walls were painted cream colors, with actual paint. The floor was wooden slats. There were paintings on the walls and carpets running down the centers of the various nearby hallways. Rooms had plush furniture, and lights were ample and warm. It was cozy here. But aside from the niceties of it all, walking through the front hallway, and then passing by the grand staircase and heading left, felt like walking into the mouth of a great beast, in a way that was rather unfamiliar to Erick.

The [Ward]s in the walls blocked his mana sense in a way Erick only experienced when he cast those spells himself. It made him nervous; worried over safety. He tried to shove that emotion away, and mostly succeeded. He could defend himself and Poi and Teressa, after all. The people here probably noticed the tight sunform he kept ready-to-deploy, though; he almost never went anywhere without [Greater Lightwalk] and [Lodestar] active and kept small. [Animadversion] was ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, too, but he didn’t walk around with that one active.

He didn’t want other people to get worried, as they rightfully should when seeing an archmage walking around in full defensive regalia. All his Ophiels were bad enough, but he was not going to put them away, ever.

Ah.

His paranoia was getting to him again.

Erick quieted that part of his brain as much as he could, and followed his guide.

Shani led Erick down a short hallway to a nice, open room, where half of the room was a glass dome and the other half was a library. It was a comfortable setting with plush couches and nice tea tables sitting between them.

Shani led them to the set of couches near the center of the room, saying, “Please have a seat, Archmage Flatt.” She sat down on one couch, while her man stood behind her. “Our kitchen staff will be bringing us tea. Is there any kind you like, specifically?”

Though it was difficult to mana sense for distance in this place, it was still possible to see down hallways and around corners. Erick barely saw as people in a kitchen, down the hallway, were already making tea, waiting for Erick’s announcement of what he preferred.

Erick took a seat on the opposing couch, saying, “I’ve developed a fondness for the citrus blends coming out of some of the specialty growers of Alaralti, at the moment, but I am sure that my tastes will change as new teas come my way. I didn’t really drink tea till I came to Veird, and I was relatively quick to reinvent coffee because that is my preferred drink, so my experiences with tea are still rather limited.”

As he said that, the people in the kitchen started moving.

Shani smiled politely, saying, “We have some nice tea blends that you might enjoy, but we will have to look into acquiring some coffee for your next visit.” Then she turned a bit more professional. “I must say I am very interested in the charms that you’ve made for Young Master Warzi, but before we begin, I must ask you some questions, if you don’t mind.”

Erick nodded.

Shani asked, “Why have you chosen to help with the wandering souls of our children?”

Several of the kids in question were listening in the upper floors of the building, though many more were still hidden from sight. He wondered, briefly, how many horrible things they had all seen before they were placed here, and then, how many more horrible things they had seen when they got here.

Erick said, “I was introduced to the problem of the wandering soul through Patriarch Hangzi of Devouring Nightmare, or more specifically, in Young Master Warzi, who has the same affliction. Since I already had a Privacy spell with some rather convoluted methodology which allowed outward sight, but blocked mana sense and a whole slew of other senses, it was easy enough to create a different spell that only blocked mana sense. Here.” He handed her a blue box.

--

Delirium Charm, instant, close range, 1107 mana

Create a charm which blocks the sensing of mana at a medium sphere around the user.

Lasts 10 days.

--

She read. Her man read over her shoulder. Both of their eyes went a little wide.

Erick continued, “I’ve already agreed to continue to supply this spell to Warzi for the foreseeable future, and when he told me that there were others like him, I decided to help here, too. If you want that help, of course.”

Shani controlled her response to a gentle, “Ah. It’s true.”

It wasn’t a control over her excitement, though. It was a control of concern. She eyed Erick, wondering what his deal was; wondering at the catch. Erick waited for her to voice her own questions, rather than ask at the several possibilities that could be flowing through her mind.

In the meanwhile, a young woman cook came in and set tea on the table between Shani and Erick.

Shani accepted the distraction and began setting tea for two, serving Erick and then herself. She took a sip first. Then Erick took his sip. It was good tea; a blend of citrus and something floral.

Shani set down her cup, and asked, “Why help us, though? We cannot give you anything for this magic.”

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” And when that obviously wasn’t good enough, Erick said, “I’m not sure how much you already know of me, but I used to be a social worker. I helped at-risk kids keep out of trouble and get back to the proper paths of life. I helped people who had no healthcare to find healthcare, and I helped homeless people to get the mental care they needed to not live on the streets. I helped people rebuild houses and helped elderly neighbors to mow their lawns when their sons or daughters couldn’t make it that month.

“And now...

“Now that some of the larger problems of this world have been made better, I can focus on what I want to actually do, which is help people.” He said, “I keep falling into plots with wars and Hunters and Shades and gods and this Particle Magic thing, but helping people is where I come from; what I want to do. This wandering soul problem is something I only recently heard about barely two weeks ago, and something that I am uniquely able to help you mitigate, and possibly even solve, since all they truly need is a temporary solution until they Matriculate and can solve this problem themselves. I’m still not clear on how that happens, exactly, but I don’t need to be. All I know is that I am ready, willing, and able to solve a magical issue that has wrecked the lives of many children.” Erick touched the wing of Ophiel on his shoulder, adding, “And I can have Ophiel here once a week, no matter where I am on Veird. Keeping the cure arriving on time and in the correct quantity shouldn’t be that difficult.”

Shani listened, her heartbeat increasing a little, as it dawned on her that this was not a trick.

Erick waited as Shani thought.

Her decision didn’t take long.

Shani said, “I have another question. The name of the spell. Is there a significance to that?”

Erick smirked. “While I admit ‘Delirium’ is a bit sinister, the naming convention merely has to do with the separation of interior mana from exterior mana in an effect along the edge of the working that is confusing to the manasphere; it has nothing to do with the effect upon the holder.”

“Oh!” said the man behind Shani, looking like a minor revelation had taken hold behind his eyes.

And then he looked right embarrassed since Erick looked up at him.

Shani recovered fast, introducing the man. “Archmage Flatt, this is our Warder, Azrin Severing Crescent, of the main house. He’s responsible for the various spellworks to help our charges to stay inside their own minds; to make the walls act like proper walls, to allow privacy and boundaries for those who grow up knowing none.”

Erick acknowledged the man, saying, “Maybe you can figure out this [Delirium Charm], then. Here.” Erick held up his hand and cast the spell. To a mana sense, the world vanished past three meters out in every direction, and then a whiteness coalesced into Erick's hand, pulling in expanded spellwork, allowing mana senses to see outward once again. To sight, sound, and every other sense, nothing changed, except the appearance of a white charm in Erick’s hand. He held it up, “That’s the base spell; I can shape it however you want if you want smaller blockings. Other than that, it’s a simple charm. Place it against the wrist and it will wrap around like a bracelet, and activate. Should last the full ten days, too.”

Erick demonstrated the spell by attaching it to his wrist, the world once again vanishing to mana sense in every direction. He pulled the charm off his wrist and the world came back. He set the charm in front of Shani, and waited.

Shani stared down at the white charm like it was a miracle she didn’t want to touch. And then she reached out, and faltered. She gave a short, wracking sob, complete with small tears, and then banished that emotion completely, giving an immediate, “I am so sorry. I did not mean—” She silenced herself, and then controlled herself. Her reaction was over almost as soon as it began, lasting about four seconds, then she said, “We welcome your assistance to our House. Thank—” She wiped away a tear, saying, “Thank you, Archmage Flatt.”

All this while, the kids had already been listening from upstairs and elsewhere, some of them excited, others already crying themselves; finally they would be free, like a normal kid. Some of the kids even said as much, though Erick had to lip read them to understand what they were saying. This place was rather soundproof; likely a result of the spells cast by Azrin.

Erick wiped away a tear of his own, saying, “You’re quite welcome.” And then he started casting the spell, laying out charm after charm on the table between them. “How many kids are there? I only count fifteen.”

“We have thirty four children here.” Shani asked, “Could we please get 40 char—” She paled, as all of her emotions faltered. With a vacant look down at the bounty piling up before her, she said, “We cannot pay you what you are due for this service. We are already… We’re at budget.”

“Don’t worry about that. Mana is cheap.” Erick smiled, saying, “So 40, then.”

“… Yes, please. 40.”

Soon enough, the pile of charms needed a box to hold them all, so Erick conjured one.

Azrin and Shani and every nearby child looked on. A few of them were adventurous enough to rush downstairs, trying to get here first, but some caretakers blipped in front of the grand staircase and cut them off. They started to complain. Loudly. Erick could actually hear them from here, now. Their caretakers complained right back at them, telling them about boundaries and protocol and politeness and how they were abusing their mana sense.

The kids countered with ‘So let us cut it off already!’

Erick smiled, and said, “If a three meter diameter is too big, let me know next week, okay?” He added, “You could probably put a box out front, or somewhere, and I can refill it without having to bother you. I likely won’t be able to be contacted myself, for there’s no telling what might happen, but we can work out some sort of system. Leave a note in the box, if you need a change in Shaping.”

Shani said, “Of course, archmage. It will be as you desire. Thank you so much for this. The kids will… It will change a lot for them.”

“That’s why I’m doing this. Everyone deserves a good future, and when you have a better childhood, that better future is easier to attain.”

Shani wiped away another unruly tear. “Right.” She breathed out, then in, controlling herself, then said, “This changes everything for us, so I will be introducing these pearls to the kids on a trial basis. After a few days, would you mind a contact, to reevaluate?” She spoke to Erick, but her words were for the kids yelling down at her from several floors above, “I am sure that some of our kids would be happier with smaller diameters; since you can shape the spell.”

“Of course.” Erick smiled as he conjured another small box, and began casting more charms into the space, saying, “These ones are two meters wide.”

“Thank you,” Shani said, her voice almost a whisper, as if she couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

They spoke more of particulars and Erick asked more questions about the House of the Wandering Soul, and how they fared in the recent battles. They all saw the fires and the explosions from the roof, but the fighting didn’t reach all the way out here. Erick was glad for that. Erick wanted to ask more about what the House of the Wandering Soul provided to the kids, but the conversation didn’t get much past that, because the kids were starting to gather at the staircases in large numbers, begging to be allowed to visit the archmage, to be allowed to get their hands on one of the charms.

At that point, Shani politely asked Erick if he could come back some other time. They did not allow visitors, no matter who they were, direct contact with any of their kids. Erick got the distinct impression that if he voiced the slightest hint of a demand to see the kids, or to see how the kids took to their new toys, that Shani would make an executive decision and allow him to do this much. But he didn’t want to put Shani in that position, and he didn’t want to break what were perfectly reasonable rules and boundaries (which seemed more important here than in most places) and so, he left.

Erick, Poi, and Teressa, left out a side door to avoid the kids and their guardians standing at the grand staircase in the center of the building. Soon enough, when the three of them stood on the white Teleport Square, the caretakers at the stairs finally relented. Erick got to see some excited kids rush down the hallways, to the meeting room, before they passed beyond his mana sense. Some of them waved him goodbye.

Erick smiled, and waved back.

And then, with a wrapping of white light, Erick, Poi, and Teressa, stepped away from the House of the Wandering Soul, headed toward the next destination.

- - - -

“The secret to a painless [Drain Ward],” Doctor Tsung said, with an air of slight annoyance, as he sat behind his desk where paperwork piled high, “Is the consent of the patient.”

Erick was not happy with that answer.

He had been directed here, to the Everlasting Life University and Hospital of Eralis, by Elder Varo. This place was a massive compound of a dozen smaller buildings. Most of the buildings were open to students, with only the adjacent hospital open to the public.

As of right now, almost all of the classes were on hold, and the compound was 75% shut down. With the targeted assassination of Clan Red Ledger, the power behind the university, it was all hands on deck at the hospital and other healing locations all across Songli.

But some people still remained in the university side of things, of course.

Like Doctor Tsung; a professor of magic-assisted healing. He was, according to Poi, Elder Varo, and all the rewards and diplomas and paintings around the office, a very learned, accomplished, and politically connected man. Erick even saw a painting of Tsung accepting a scroll from the Headmaster, with that scroll unfurled next to that painting. It read ‘Headmaster Kirginatharp of Oceanside University has conferred unto Doctor Tsung Red Ledger the title of Grand Mage of the Healing Arts, in this our year of Post-Sundering, 1391.’

The good doctor was a good deal younger in that photorealistic painting, but he was still in his thirties. The human man sitting behind his desk, in front of Erick, was in his late 70s.

In his own seat, across from the man, Erick said, “That’s not a good enough answer. For instance, how can you make a [Drain Ward] that is painless on an unconscious patient?”

“They won’t know the difference.” Tsung said, “But I can see that isn’t good enough for you, so let me tell you a little secret that I’d appreciate you not spreading around for reasons that will become obvious once it is told: No one becomes a Doctor because they want to cause pain; they become a Doctor because they want to heal. That mindset separates a [Draining Ward] that removes Health in order to allow a Healer to operate within the body of the injured or diseased, and the [Draining Ward] that harms in order to allow a killer to have an easier time of killing.

“One of the ways that we separate would-be Healers from would-be Harmers is that the Healer is able to bridge this mental gap all on their own, in a way that they don’t need this phenomenon explained to them. Some realize what they’ve done later in life, but most never do. Harmers never bridge this gap, even when we give them direct instruction on how to bridge this gap, and when it becomes obvious that they cannot do this mental leap, they are usually expelled.

“So if you cannot bridge this gap, you will know yourself as a warmonger. You will know yourself as a man who came into my life to cause pain. You may excuse yourself from my office.”

Tsung’s voice had stayed steady as he spoke, but the words themselves were anything but kind.

Erick’s second emotional response was to take a step back upon hearing the vitriol in the man’s words.

Erick’s third emotional response was to remind himself that he was talking to a big shot in Red Ledger, and possibly the Elder who would take over now that 90% of his Clan was gone. Even so, Erick did not expect to be so rudely dismissed. He wouldn’t blame the man for his curtness, though; almost everyone Tsung had known had been targeted by Terror Peaks for assassination.

Erick’s first thought was to blast the guy into dust. To maim and murder. To vent and purge. To be as angry with Tsung as Tsung was obviously angry with him. But Erick locked that swell of dark emotions down after a flashing red second.

For Tsung seemed unstable, behind his piles of paperwork.

And Erick could understand that.

Erick was unstable.

And yet…

When Erick came back to himself, he decided to allow Tsung the opportunity to accept that he had spoken in error, by saying, “I am sorry for what happened to your Clan. I am sorry that Terror Peaks did what they did—”

Tsung went apoplectic with anger, his face turning slightly red, but he said nothing, and he locked down his desire to interrupt.

“—I don’t know why Elder Varo of Devouring Nightmare directed me here, to you, for surely he would have known that this sort of reaction from you would have been in bad taste, and I don’t believe that Elder Varo is that sort of incompetent person. Unless you are the only one in all of Songli who could answer my question? No. I thought not.” Erick said, “If you have a need, then ask, and I will see what I can do in return for proper knowledge.”

Tsung almost said something, and then he thought better. He came to a decision, then said, “I need money. Lots of money. Enough to rebuild Red Ledger and to pay off our debts. About 2.3 million gold, by my current estimates. It might be higher.”

Erick sat stunned for a brief moment at the shift in conversation.

“… Okay.” Not what Erick expected, but okay. He asked, “Did they steal all of Red Ledger’s bank accounts or— Oh. Ah. You have no access. You’re the one left over.” Erick only realized how callous he sounded after the words had already left his mouth, but he made no move to take them back.

Tsung breathed in and out, then said, “I have access to the accounts— And wasn’t that a terrible ordeal! Ha! … I have access. A day later, I am here, and I have gained the Sight to see the true extent of the disaster laid against us. There’s only about a hundred of us left in the Clan. Having to inter my son and my daughter-in-law was a large enough…” As his voice trailed away, he wiped off a sudden tear and then gestured at the papers piled up around him. “These papers… They’re bills. Outstanding and new. A hundred thousand little hits, all adding up to a disaster that I cannot overcome. A hundred thousand people, all unable to pay their bills, and so, we are unable to pay ours, and so, our debts to fellow clans and commoners alike will be our downfall.

“We sent our students out into Songli as temporary healers, you know? They will likely have to put up shop wherever they are, and hope that people can pay them in food or shelter, and that their lack of accreditation can be overlooked. They likely won’t be able to come back for graduations, for there won’t be a university if this tragedy is allowed to continue.

“I was always told that there wasn’t room in the budget for a new lightscanner, or the new potions coming out of Diligent Scribe, or for better wax models, or enchanting supplies— I never thought that was the truth! They always told me that our debts to herbs gardens and taxes were larger than I thought they were.

“Now...

“We’ve stood for three hundred and thirty years, Archmage. And now, a coordinated attack on Red Ledger and the systemic loss of income and personnel will have ended this manor of healing and—” He had been speaking from the heart, laying things out there in a half-coordinated mess. Then he stopped. When he was able to continue, he said, “I need three things. 2.3 million gold to solve our outstanding debts. Maybe as much as 2.5 million. The right to reestablish the Clan Mountain in the Alluvial District, which has become un-[Mend]able and therefore needs special magics to be repaired. And about five hundred new initiates worth the time it would take to train them.”

So that was a lot of problems.

Erick… could solve them? Some of them, anyway.

Did he want to?

Might as well entertain the idea first, before he dismisses it out of hand. It might be nice to have actual Doctors to call on when he needed healing, or when he had questions of a medical nature.

Anyway.

Tsung’s first two requests would be easy enough for Erick to solve, and he wanted to know what spells they used to make the clan mountains anyway. The last one would be outside of—

Shadeling healers? From Candlepoint? It would do well for Candlepoint to have lots of healing capable people, wouldn’t it?

Might be good.

Hmm.

Erick thought, and then said, “I seem to be getting the thin end of the deal, here, Doctor Tsung.”

Tsung rapidly said, “Red Ledger would owe you anything you would ever want or need!” And then he realized he was speaking too openly, so he added, “Within reason, of course.”

“If that were enough, which it is not, how could you even make this claim? Are you the new Patriarch?”

Tsung went silent. Then he said, “I have been offered the title as per the Compact of Songli, but I didn’t want it and so have denied it.” Tsung said, “But if taking up that mantle will keep the university running and Red Ledger as a Clan of Songli, then I will take up the mantle and make this promise to you official.”

Ah.

So that was why Elder Varo directed Erick here; he wanted to keep Red Ledger as a proper Clan of Songli.

To be sure, though, Erick asked, “What is your relationship with Elder Varo of Devouring Nightmare?”

Tsung frowned. He reluctantly answered, “We were students together, fifty years ago here in this very same University. Practically everyone I’ve had contact with in the past week has been old acquaintances or former friends or even lovers— Everyone seems to have an agenda, now that I’ve been tapped for Patriarch of Red Ledger. I’ve denied them all.” He tapped the paperwork in front of him with as much contempt as he could put into a single finger, saying, “But I cannot deny them anymore. Not with these shadows looming over the lives all all my students, and those who remain. If you don’t help, then someone else will. Eralis will not lose this university of healing. Not while I draw breath.”

Erick considered.

He wasn’t opposed to the idea of helping this man. A university dedicated to the healing arts was a necessary thing, and Red Ledger had been the power behind this university for a long time, if Erick was understanding that correctly. But. There was a question.

Erick asked, “And what happens if you fail?”

Tsung said, “It won’t happen right away. It’ll take months. But when Red Ledger cannot pay its bills, we will be struck from the List of Clans. I will lose the right to my name. I will likely have to join whatever other Clan decides it wishes to expand into healing, for the University will still be here. I might remain a professor. I might not. Likely not, for whoever comes in afterwards will wish for my expertise and I will give it, but they will eventually push me out as their new blood gains power. Many of us might move on to other places before they can do that to us. Oceanside, perhaps. What remains of the Clan Mountain in the Alluvial District will be gifted by Compact Law to whoever is able to pay to have it rebuilt. I have no idea what will happen to all of the students we had waiting to raise to clansmen. The same thing that will happen to the university students, I’d imagine. If I can’t stop this decline, then… A lot of interlocking layers of how Eralis functions will unravel... in ways I can barely imagine.” He stared down at his papers, getting a far off look in his eyes, as though he had realized he left the oven on at home and everything was going to burn down. He stayed silent, in thought.

Erick was thinking, too.

And it was an odd thought. A series of odd thoughts.

When Terror Peaks called him out as a Wizard plotting with Melemizargo, that was only the largest, most recent problem with people thinking he was somehow ‘evil’. People had been thinking he was evil all the way back when the former Weather Witch of Spur, Krakina Kali, called him a Wizard in the middle of the farmer’s market. It had started with his invention of [Call Lightning]. Due to that international upset, and with the humans imagining that he was working with the incani, since there were no humans in Spur at the time, he had almost been assassinated by the Greensoil Republic. And then Particle Magic enabled the killing of Odaali.

And then there were a million other smaller problems all across the world due to Particle Magic. Xue had even spoken of a few; how Particle Magic caused poisons here and there, and how he had been on the watch for them for the past year. Erick even remembered when some guy invented [Condense Gold] before the spell was called that, and thus got a smack down by Rozeta, with his spell taken away and barred to him. That story made international news.

The invention of [Exalted Rain] was yet another mixed bag problem, which caused a meteoric rise in Spur’s population, through people moving into the city, but also eventually resulted in the attacks by Caradogh Pogi and the Hunters of the Crystal Forest, and the Cinnabar Hand.

People started to think better of Erick the world over when he helped to end the ballooning spider horde attacks at a dozen different cities…

But at the same time, with Candlepoint in the mix, his public relations took a dive.

And so, a lot of people hated him, for whatever reason, like Tsung had demonstrated before he started begging for money.

Erick had no illusions that if this Terror Peaks disaster had happened elsewhere, somewhere besides in this super polite society of Songli where a lot of people were already allied with him, that he would have been run out of town. That he would have been called a danger to everyone around him, and they would have been right to call him that. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn’t already been told to leave.

Silverite and Treehome and Tenebrae had already kicked him out and told him to go away until he was done with his Worldly Path, and they were right to do so. This Worldly Path was fucking things up for him, in a bad way, but they were perfectly reasonable fuck ups. Things that had happened outside of his control, that he rapidly moved to control, most of the time. Maybe he didn’t control things as well as he could have. Maybe he hadn’t been as proactive as he could have been…

He was trying, though.

Maybe he needed some long term planning, so that when this Worldly Path was over, he wasn’t barred from visiting every single place he planned to visit. He needed to leave these places better than how he found them, and he had, mostly.

But 4 million dead in a blitz-war in the Songli Highlands…

This was not his fault; it was Terror Peaks fault.

But he could still leave this place better than how he found it.

And maybe the Worldly Path had slipped this hospital into his Path. He had been wanting a better way to move forward, hadn’t he? Maybe that ‘better way’ was through philanthropy.

Erick was magically strong, with the ability to end wars before they escalated too far, but he was also financially strong, and he had never truly utilized that strength before. Maybe it was time to use his other strengths.

… So that was the larger, more rational reason for deciding to do what he had decided to do. He could use some good public relations, so why not buy a hospital? Why not help them out? Why not… Help them expand? Get some shadelings in there, too, to learn how to heal people.

If a lot of the shadelings in Candlepoint knew how to heal people, then that was a way to trust, right?

That was the logical, rational part of Erick telling him that this was a good idea.

The emotionally satisfying reason for entertaining this idea, though, was that Erick had always been scared of death-by-cancer, or any of a dozen different medical issues. And he was filthy rich now, with the ability to gain money rather easily, if he wanted.

So why not buy a hospital that was in dire need of a financial rescue?

The more Erick thought of it, the more he liked the idea.

The nature of nobility in Songli and the reality of Red Ledger’s clan mountain, or the reality of how hospitals worked, or any of those nuanced concerns, were not important to Erick. At the moment, Erick had a place of healing at his mercy, and if he didn’t take this opportunity provided to him, then, as Tsung had said, someone else would come and take over, and then Erick would have been out of an opportunity to help people in a way he had always wanted to help.

Erick asked, “Why ask this of me, and not the other rich people who surely exist, who are coming to you with offers of assistance?”

“Because you won’t be around much. I’m hoping that I can take a grant from you, at the very least, and put up a dedication plaque outside of the hospital, and that’s all that will change.” Tsung said, “If we have to change the name of the place then we can do that, too. I don’t care about the look of the place or who gets credit, but if you do, then we’ll do that, too.”

“… Thank you for your honesty.” Erick held back a smile, as he said, “Some things are going to change, and I don’t necessarily mean the name. I once joked with Scion Yaro, may he rest in peace, about healing stations of [Greater Treat Wounds] on every street corner. He said that the enchantment costs alone would make such a thing impossible. I can likely solve both of those issues, for I am very, very good at collecting cores from thousands of monsters at a time.”

Tsung’s eyes lit up when it sounded like Erick was going to agree to his requests, but then he listened to Erick’s words, and Tsung controlled his excitement to more manageable, reasonable levels.

Erick continued, “I need to know more about how healthcare works in Eralis. For instance, does it work like it does at Oceanside? I see a picture of you with the Headmaster over there, so you know that most people can arrive and get free treatment for most problems, with payment only required for deeper issues that require actual resources aside from mana. Does it work that way here?”

“… We can reform some methodology.” Tsung said, “How much do you know of how healing works around here?”

“Not much at all, except that I have seen healers out there not healing people if the people didn’t have gold.”

Tsung frowned. And then he started talking.

Tsung spoke of [Greater Treat Wounds] costing 10 gold, which was a half-month wage for an unskilled worker. Erick asked ‘why not free?’ Tsung spoke of taxes and upkeep on properties and the price of nobility in Songli. How did that work, when the Clans controlled everything? Who did they actually pay taxes to? For each city, it was different. Void Song controlled Eralis, and its international trade. Severing Crescent controlled Alaralti, and the breadbasket of the Highlands. Devouring Nightmare controlled Holorulo, and the Main Army. Each city collected its own taxes, both from allied Clans and from commoners. This money went toward the upkeep of each city’s lands, bureaucracy, and security. There was also a Grand Tax, required from every Clan in order for them to remain a Clan of Songli.

Red Ledger would fall behind on those payments after the Chelation War. They barely stayed afloat in a normal year.

After that dry learning, Erick offered some healthcare ideas that were, admittedly, not fully formed, and which included: free treatment for commoners and a sliding scale of payment based on ability to pay. He also asked how willing was Tsung to take in shadelings to teach them proper Healing Magic.

Tsung paused. He spoke as though testing each of his words, “I will… Consider. This is more… difficult.”

“Maybe one or two or ten, at first. They could [Viewing Screen] classes, perhaps.”

“This is more acceptable.” Tsung rapidly said, “The gods give us Healing Magic. I don’t know if a shadeling could even learn… Anything at all! I don’t know.”

Erick nodded, saying, “Then we can let that requirement go for now.”

They continued to talk for a long while.

Teressa kept a lookout on the mostly empty building all around them, while Poi stood in the back, overseeing Erick’s conversation with Tsung. Eventually, when Erick formally agreed to solve at least one of the university’s problems, the one of gold, Tsung broke down in tears for a brief moment. After that outburst, he happily broke out a bottle of expensive grape wine that he had imported from Eidolon years ago.

Over a shared drink, and a bit more talking about taxes and payments and how all that worked, mechanically and lawfully, Erick felt better and better about this decision. There were a great many problems that Tsung needed to solve, but Erick was fully capable of solving most of them with a nice injection of cash.

Or rather, an injection of cores.

Tsung said, “We can’t actually take the cores as currency, ourselves, for we don’t do much enchanting here. We have a few small enchanting schools as offshoots of the University, but we need the gold; not the cores. Therefore, we will be completing this transaction through the Clan Exchange— Ah. The Mage’s Guild. If you do not mind. They can take the cores and the Grand Bank of Songli can take the gold.”

“Fine by me.” Erick asked, “How many other offshoot schools do you have? Or is it just the enchanting school?”

“The University has three campuses. The main one, here. Then there’s the main hospital— That was destroyed by a [Gate] bomb.” He paused. He continued, “Some of your money will be used to clean up the main hospital; those Extreme Light bombs certainly made a mess of things. Some of the people who survived that attack are housed here now, plying their trade and helping whoever comes through the Teleport Square out front. The last campus is for enchanters. That’s far to the west of Eralis, in a little city called Juun.” He added, “There’s also hundreds of smaller offices everywhere in Eralis. The majority of our Healers are out in those locations right now, but much of the initial horror of Terror Peaks’ assault is over, so a few people are moving around again.”

“What about healing clans in Alaralti or Holorulo? You’re not the only hospital around, are you?”

He said, “Alaralti and Holorulo have smaller healing Clans, but they have no Doctors. They have Priests and Shrine Keepers and Light Healers. They’re hired out to heal special afflictions, but mostly they tend to their own cities. It’s a different way of doing things.”

Erick said, “Healthcare is so very different here than it was back on Earth. We didn’t have magic, so you can imagine how much more difficult healing a wound would be.” He laughed. “I bet you’re one of the few people who could actually imagine that.”

“Aye. Long term healing doesn’t happen very often. [Treat Wounds] is a miracle.”

“Not just that. Even [Cleanse] is a miracle. If I had that one spell back on Earth… I would have been able to save so many lives.”

“Ah. Yes. I can imagine, though I am sure my imagination fails to reach the target.” Tsung asked, “Is that why you’re helping Red Ledger get back into the fight?”

“Partially.” Erick said, “In another way, it’s easy for me to solve a monetary problem. In yet another way, I healed a lot of people in the aftermath of the battles, and I never felt smaller, so helping this University and helping Red Ledger is helping everyone else. In a third way, I saw a lot of bombed-out Red Ledger healing stations and the people therein killed, but in the places that survived, I saw the Healers of Red Ledger out there in the thick of it all, healing and helping as much as they could. Very few demanded gold. Many gave out as much healing as they could.” Erick said, “Much of it was not enough to save everyone. If your Clan hadn’t been targeted in order to cause a cascade of healing failures, then I am sure that hundreds of thousands of more people would have survived this recent horror.”

Tsung nodded, seriously.

Erick said, “There are a lot of small reasons that I am going to help you.” He tried a small joke, “What I cannot help you to accomplish, however, is your own protection detail. You have no guards in this building aside from the security man we met on the way up here. You’re the Patriarch of a Clan. Don’t you need guards?”

Tsung smiled, saying, “That ‘security guard’ downstairs is more than capable of defending me.” He laughed, adding, “And this old man hasn’t fallen that far from personal power. Thank you for your concern, though.”

Erick nodded, saying, “It was good talking to you, Tsung. I’ll take your thoughts on [Draining Ward] under advisement.”

Tsung looked extremely embarrassed for a moment.

Erick continued, “But it is time for me to depart, and to get in contact with some banks.” He stood up.

Tsung stood with Erick, saying, “A thousand thanks to you, Archmage Flatt. We will be able to continue to heal the hurts of Eralis because of your generous investment.”

Erick waved him off, “See you soon.”

Erick departed in a wrap of light, taking his people with him.

- - - -

Tsung sat back down in his chair.

He wasn’t quite sure how it had started, or why he had asked Archmage Flatt for assistance, but he had followed through and then...

They had spent the better part of an hour discussing healthcare in Songli. Tsung did his best to disabuse the man of his preconceived notions, to explain how the tax system worked, to explain how healing worked, and to explain how Red Ledger worked. Even though Erick had understood, he did not agree with some of the financial decisions Tsung had explained, and so, now that their talk was over, and Tsung knew that this was actually happening, Tsung got the distinct impression that things were going to change around here.

And look at him; Tsung was already thinking like this was a done deal. It wasn’t; no way. Not until the money was in the university account, and he could pay all the outstanding bills and—

And he could afford to hire about thirty new people to completely replace the staff that had perished in the attacks, and then those people could spend the money properly. Tsung was capable of understanding the depths of the hole that Red Ledger had been placed into, but he was not capable of getting them out of it. He was a professor and a Doctor. Not an accountant. This was going to be a headache.

Oh, sure, he could block the archmage from assisting. In such a case, Tsung would then have to go the traditional route of assistance and accept the offers on the table laid down by Star Song, or Void Song, or even Devouring Nightmare. Red Ledger would become even more beholden to the Clans above them, or they might even ask for a complete absorption of Red Ledger. If he remained in his current position, Tsung would gain some other overseer, likely someone who only wanted money, who only saw that Red Ledger’s accounting was in the negative. They wouldn’t see that Red Ledger helped millions each year. They wouldn’t see the people they had healed, and helped get back to work without worrying about a healing loan hanging over their heads, as so many were forced to do. They wouldn’t see that the economy ran on the ability for people to be healthy and productive. All they saw were numbers on record books.

If Tsung accepted these normal offers, nothing would change. Nothing would get better.

But Archmage Flatt saw more than that, and it was clear to Tsung that there would be changes, now that Erick had a decisive say in matters. Sure, the man claimed that he wouldn’t interfere too much, but the implicit threat there was that he would interfere in some ways.

Tsung had never been much for politics, with much of his own views settled firmly between the Reformists and the Traditionalists, but Erick seemed like a true Reformist, even if Erick didn’t know what that meant.

Which was fine.

Better than fine, actually.

Maybe Tsung could stay out of most of those politics, too. As soon as he got some money, the problematic bills in front of him would go away. Financial independence from the usual forces of Songli was important to maintain.

Red Ledger’s warriors were always going out and hunting cores for Clan Exchange gold, and herbs and resources for the university and the hospitals to lower the costs of care. It was the only way that they could stay financially independent. Now that most of those warriors were dead, including…

Including his son and daughter-in-law.

Now that those warriors were dead, even the normal money coming into Red Ledger had dried up, meaning that every day that passed, the clan got more and more into the negatives. And yet! There appeared a light. An archmage, willing to help, fulfilling the role of the warriors the clan had lost, but on a scale unheard of by Red Ledger.

And better yet! Erick was here for all the right reasons.

Tsung wiped away yet another unruly tear. He was too old to be so emotional; to have so much joy for having the solution to a world-ending problem step into his office. Ah. ‘World ending’ might have been dramatic…

He paused, then laughed.

This was Erick Flatt he was thinking about. Maybe ‘world ending’ was the exact sort of thinking to have…

Ah. Shit.

Maybe Tsung should have thought about Erick’s offer a bit more.

… Whatever the case, he needed to send his old friend Varo a bottle of wine and some dried fruit for the connection he helped to forge today. That bastard always liked candied tarip, didn’t he? Or maybe some ‘lemen’ candies would be more appropriate. Erick did invent these new citrus fruits… Right? Maybe Tsung was mistaken. Was it ‘lemen’? No. Tsung knew he was close, but he was off, somehow.

Ah.

He needed to do some research on the archmage. He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a file of Knowledge Mages. Ah. Yes.

Here we go.

Upon contacting his first Knowledge Mage, Tsung was glad to find that the man had packets of information already prepared regarding Archmage Flatt. They were cheaper than usual, too. There was a reason Tsung contacted this particular Knowledge Mage first. Tsung sent a runner after the packet, and ten minutes later, he was reading about his newest patron.

Tsung read the first pages, then skipped around a bit. As he read about Last Shadow’s Feast and felt terror at the implications of it all, a memory was jogged, but not due to anything written in the information. The memory came out of the depths of his mind, hitting him sideways.

The now-dead Scion Yaro had spoken of ‘Ezekiel Phoenix’ and his strange ideas of stations of [Greater Treat Wounds] on every corner. Such an undertaking would bankrupt Red Ledger in multiple ways, for sure. When Scion Yaro had said as much to Tsung, Tsung had agreed. Who had ever heard of such an outlandish idea! Pure insanity.

But just now, Erick had spoken on that idea, as well.

It was one of the first things the archmage had said to Tsung, and Erick kept coming back to this idea of ‘universal healthcare’, which, to him, meant stations of [Greater Treat Wounds] on every corner.

… Tsung sat back in his chair.

Ah.

Erick had been in the Highlands for a while, then?

Tsung flipped through his information packet, and found the information therein was wrong. It claimed that Erick arrived after having his Particle Magic being called out as Wizardry by Raidu, in the only honorable battle of the Chelation War.

After a few more inquiries to other reputable sources, and with a lot of difficulty in a few novel ways that eventually required him to use his Compact-appointed power as a Patriarch to acquire High Clan Knowledge Mages, Tsung decided two things.

One: He was not going to get involved with Erick Flatt overmuch, except to take his money and his goodwill. In return, Erick would be allowed to do whatever he wanted, within reason.

For Tsung did not appreciate the resulting visit from an Enforcer of Void Song. He especially did not appreciate how the enforcer had popped out of the air behind him and stabbed down into his desk with a sword, giving him a whispered warning to play nice with Erick, and telling him that he was being watched.

The enforcer had also wished Red Ledger good luck on their financial solvency, so that was… something.

Two: Erick had been in Songli for weeks, by now. He had likely gifted Chelation to Star Song, too, but he didn’t want credit for that monumental breakthrough? Was the man just… Going around the world and solving problems?

… He was, wasn’t he.

- - - -

The shadow war against the face stealers was decided by the time Erick got back to his temporary house.

While Erick sat down in his chair in his front room, a trio of [Viewing Screen]s appeared, with Hangzi, Lingxing, and Tipanri, all informing him of the results of their deliberation. The three High Clans voted in favor of Imaging for Hunters and face stealers, but with some heavy caveats. During that conversation, Erick got the distinct impression that the three High Clans were performing for each other, to ensure that each of them knew the limits of what they were agreeing to, more than they were informing Erick of how they would accept the offer that he had provided. The High Clans were more concerned with themselves and Songli, after all, and Erick was an outsider whose demands had all been met.

The first round of the counter-shadow war would involve three hundred and fifteen known targets that fit Erick’s criteria of (A) probably not dragons and (B) having committed high crimes in bodies that were not their usual bodies and (C) if they were dragons, then they needed to die, anyway. Some of the targets were thought to have been active for hundreds of years, and were a particular thorn in the side of Songli.

The second step of this counter-offensive, after those first targets were found and neutralized, would be for Erick to search for ‘people’ outside of the Border Clans of Songli. Songli had regular army patrols that scoured the surrounding lands all the time, but it was easy enough for people to escape those patrols. With the use of Erick’s Imaging, it would be decidedly more difficult for potential Hunters to escape the sudden knowing of where they were.

Searching for ‘people’ would reveal everyone, though; not only potential Hunters. But in all such cases, Songli would investigate and either send out a strike team or some ambassadors, depending on what the initial search revealed. Anyone found would be relocated. Songli did not appreciate people camping outside the border, as it was usually a sign of people waiting to attack predetermined locations inside the border. This made sense to Erick, so he agreed to their additional request for his Imaging services.

For he had an addition of his own.

Erick said, “I want to learn the spells that allow the clan mountains to come into being.”

The heads of the High Clans went silent on their [Viewing Screen]s.

In that instant, Erick realized something important.

He asked, knowingly, “This spell is already out there, isn’t it? All I have to do is ask around and I can find it, can’t I?”

Lingxing ignored Erick’s deduction, saying, “We will, of course, teach you this magic, and ask that you do your utmost to ensure that it is not further spread by your actions.”

“… I agree to that.”

There were a few more plans made and a few more clarifications given, but there would be no Imaging today, for the day was almost over. Tomorrow, the search would start.

- - - -

As Erick lay in bed, he thought about his journey so far.

He was not a warmonger, as Tsung had implied.

Wars happened around him. People died around him.

But he had also directly killed people, on purpose. A lot of people. They were coming after him because of what he did with farming or Particle Magic or whatever. The killing of Shades, and the Hunters of the Crystal Forest, and the Halls of the Dead, did not make him a warmonger. He was not a warmonger for helping with chelation and then trying to stop that resulting war, and then coming down hard on Terror Peaks when it became obvious that they had no interest in peace.

But he had certainly made some poor choices here and there.

Erick did not agree with Jane, that he should press the genocide button before problems devolved into war. He truly appreciated Xue for bringing him back from that particular edge, and telling him that everyone had to look out for themselves, in some ways.

But some people were too strong for commoners to face. You wouldn’t expect a farmer to defend himself from skilled killers, would you? Absolutely not. That was the state’s responsibility; the farmer’s responsibility was to grow food for the state.

And so, as someone who was able to take actions on the level of a state, Erick had a certain responsibility. He already knew he had something of a responsibility to use his power well. ‘Power is a responsibility’ is something he even told Kiri, way back at the beginning.

But it was only now that Erick was realizing how deep his responsibility went. How truly far he could take this burden, and how beautiful the end result could be, if he navigated his responsibility well.

Investing in Everlasting Light University was a test.

Tomorrow would be a test, too.

He had already undertaken smaller tests without realizing it, back when he [Cleanse]d the Crystal Forest of Hunters, and the Forest of the orcols of Deathsoul Shrooms and Moon Reachers. But tomorrow would be a real test of his power. He could end a shadow war, as Warlord Niyazo called it, before that war could begin, by allying his own responsibility with the responsibility of the High Clans of Songli.

Did he have that right?

Or was that the trauma and War Response talking, impelling him to take swift action before actions could be taken against him?

Well. Anyway.

Sleep now.

War tomorrow.