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The edges of the [Gate] swirled with black magic, but the interior of the portal was as idyllic a land as any. Grass, trees, mountains and a blue sky. Erick thought it might be a nice place to build a small cottage and an accompanying garden. Course there was no way to know where in the world that land beyond the portal actually lay without going through it and trying to get to a known location, and Erick wouldn’t be doing that. The land beyond could be literally anywhere on Veird, and it might not even be on the Surface, for the Underworld sometimes had places that mimicked the overworld, with artificial suns and all.

And besides that, Erick got the distinct impression that no matter how nice the land beyond looked, that it was full of danger. Menace radiated from the swirling black edge of the [Gate], and especially from the Script-like box that hung in the air, in the center of the portal.

- -

TESTING IN PROGRESS

- -

Erick tried to mana sense past the edge of the [Gate], as he could with his own [Gate]s, but his ability to become one with the mana and feel out the reality of that mana ended at that black and white box. Nothing was allowed to interact with the [Gate] at all, except for light, and all of that light could just be an illusion.

Like a screen saver…

Erick hummed, then asked, “Does this scene look like a repeating scene to you, Quilatalap?”

Quilatalap had fallen into a comfortable silence beside Erick, both of them thinking over their conversations of the Theory of Forms and what that meant for the fae, as well as what they were seeing as compared to what they were both effectively [Witness]ing in the mana all around. After taking a moment to come back to the present, Quilatalap focused his eyes again, saying, “Not a repeating scene. It’s a [Gate] to somewhere... Do you think the whole thing might be an illusion?”

“The interior at least.”

Quilatalap hummed in initial disagreement, but then he looked a bit more at the [Gate]. He asked, “Did you [Witness] the conversation between Fallopolis as she introduced the [Gate]?”

“Yes, but I’d take your interpretation over what I actually saw, considering you were in charge of the Armory.”

About five hours ago, according to the manasphere imprint Erick had seen, Fallopolis had gathered the crowds who wished to see her true presentation, the one she had told Erick that she would only show after he had seen all the other presentations. The old kook had stood in the center of the Atrium, declaring how she couldn’t wait any longer to show off what she and the Darkness had been working on, and so she opened this [Gate], loudly proclaiming that All Those Who Aspire should step forth and test themselves to see if they were worthy of the power that the Script gave them.

Three people had gone inside, following Fallopolis like they and she had planned their inclusion beforehand, which was probably what had happened. Fairy Moon followed after a glance from Fallopolis. Hollowsaur had joined them, too, after Fallopolis had wordlessly glared at the man.

Erick imagined he would hear all about all of that later, when they all came back out of the [Gate].

“It’s a test.” Quilatalap said, “I ran the tests of power and capability for All Those Who Aspire for a long time. Apparently, My God has seen fit to give this task to… Someone else? Not Fallopolis, though. She merely declared that the testing would begin.”

“… Hmm?” Erick looked to the black edge of the [Gate] again. “It appeared like she cast this [Gate]?”

“Not at all,” Quilatalap said, looking uncomfortable but reigning in that impetus. “The Darkness Himself opened this [Gate].”

“… You seem uncomfortable for a lot of different reasons? Is something wrong?”

“I have a feeling that all the artifacts I reacquired from the sacking of the Armory have somehow left their secured location without triggering any of the traps and defenses I left behind. I feel that they’re in there. Or at least some of them are. And… I was the tester, Erick. So that’s one of the big...” Quilatalap stared into the idyllic portal, then made himself turn softer, attempting to dismiss all of his previous life in that simple act. “Anyway. It’s a test, and tests are not illusion-based unless the aspirant pursues Illusion Magic. There’s nothing about this that is a lie.”

Quilatalap had been blindsided by this ‘testing’, but this was not the first time his life had been thrown into upheaval without him being able to do a single thing to stop that upheaval.

“Do you want to be involved in this?” Erick asked, not knowing which answer he would want from Quilatalap, but needing to ask the question anyway.

And suddenly, Erick was worried about what it would mean if Quilatalap chose to be involved in this ‘testing’ again.

After a long, silent moment, Quilatalap said, “I don’t know.” And then he shrugged, and turned away from the portal and began walking. “I do know that I want lunch! Breakfast is over.”

… And just like that? Quilatalap was over it? Not bloody likely. But whatever. For now, it was fine. Erick walked beside the man, toward the lunch area.

Zolan, Bright Smile, and Farix sat at a table between them and the breakfast station, their meal of fancy quiches and flaky breads and jams and sausage only half touched. They had been talking business for the last several hours, from before the black [Gate] had opened, and to now, when Erick and Quilatalap had reappeared. The three of them slowed down their conversation as Erick and Quilatalap had spoken, but they had gotten right back to it when it appeared nothing was happening with the Wizard and the Archlich except for talking.

Now, though, Zolan excused himself from his conversation and stood up, as Erick made to pass by. Zolan asked, “Are you Melemizargo?”

Everyone froze except for Quilatalap, who smiled wide, and then kept walking, asking Erick, “Do you want breakfast or lunch, Erick?”

“Lunch. Whatever you pick out for me is great,” Erick said, before instantly flowing into conversation with Zolan, “I am not Melemizargo. When Rozeta helped me achieve my [Greater Dragon Body], Melemizargo did some shit, because he is a shithead, as Rozeta herself has stated.”

Zolan was not convinced, but he had pulled back from an unwelcome edge; that much was plain on his face. He was very happy with Erick’s answer. There was a lot more to that expression than happiness, but Zolan would probably share those thoughts in a more private setting.

Bright Smile had no trouble throwing rocks into the pond, to see how big of wave she could cause, “I suppose it would be impossible to be both Xoat and the Darkness.”

“Oh my gods,” Erick mumbled.

Farix flatly stated, “From you, that statement is more like ‘oh my children’. Same sort of exasperation, too.”

Erick glared daggers. “Now that is completely ridiculous.”

Farix grinned wide. “I know. That’s why I said it.”

… He was teasing? What the fuck?

Oh. Bright Smile had been teasing, too. And not just Erick, but Zolan. Both of them had been teasing Zolan and Erick at the same time.

Odd.

Farix dropped his teasing and said to everyone, “He’s not the Darkness —That’s blasphemy and I don’t appreciate it— and he probably isn’t Xoat, either.”

“ ‘Probably’, Farix?” Erick frowned.

Bright Smile said to Farix, “Melemizargo has been insane for the longest time. If he made an avatar of himself then why not make someone like Erick?”

Zolan did not like how much he agreed with Bright Smile; Erick could tell.

Farix said to Bright Smile, “The Darkness does not take a human-shaped avatar outside of extreme cases, and He would never hide Himself. Therefore, based on all known history of The Dark, Erick cannot be Melemizargo. This situation most resembles the Black Blessing of Adamantium, actually, in that My God did not want the color white to be associated with Good, and the color black to be associated with Evil. That’s all this was.”

Bright Smile frowned, saying, “But the horns. Three on both sides, looking like a crown of black. They bear too much resemblance.”

“It’s a foi— a foible!” Farix’s voice faltered, for he was trying to convince himself of his own words this whole time. He recovered fast enough. “…Nothing more.”

Ah.

So not just teasing. More like them trying to convince themselves that their current reality was fine, and that nothing was wrong, and ‘let’s not speak about the Darkness too loud for he might hear’.

Zolan sighed, grabbed a second chair and set it beside his own seat at the large breakfast table, gesturing to it as he looked to Erick. Erick took the offered seat, and Zolan sat back down in his own chair, saying, “Most people would call the color of adamantium the Black Curse, including Melemizargo himself, and on multiple occasions. To be fair, he also calls it a ‘blessing’ half the time, but the full story is not as simple as you make it, Farix. You make everything too simple by far, like how you think it is acceptable for Elemental Fae to be taught in school. That understanding of the fae we heard at the Tellings would destroy many young casters who think that ‘just willing it to happen’ is all that is necessary for all magic.”

“I thought you all were talking about business?” Erick asked. “I was prepared to speak of [Gate]s and organization on that level.”

Zolan was uncomfortable with Erick, but he was getting over it rather fast. “We could go back to that, but we promised each other that we would hold off on the topics of magic until you arrived, so that you could participate, and I am quite angry at the easy teaching of Fae Magic that these two wish to bring to the Greater Candlepoint Area.”

Farix was absolutely delighted to say, “If it were up to Oceanside, no one would learn anything, and isn’t that a tragedy of the highest sort! All you propose are arcanaeums dedicated to teaching wrong.”

Zolan said, “We do not ‘teach wrong’. We weed out those who would do harm from those who show promise as beneficial for the world. You would teach the world everything dangerous and have the world collapse under the weight of a million tyrants.”

“We would have it collapse under its own preponderance of easy magic,” Farix corrected, before adding, “At least that’s how it used to be! Everything is different now, Zolan, and the lines you have historically drawn need to be reconsidered.”

For a moment, during that teasing not two minutes ago, Erick had thought that they were all getting along.

Obviously, that was temporary.

And now they were back to normal, tension-laced interactions.

Bright Smile stuck her fork into a quiche that was hours cold already. She did not take a bite. She laid down the fork, saying, “Fae Magic is too dangerous to teach before the Bands are released; every bit of Fae Magic will cancel out another Fae spell cast in the vicinity of the first. Its uselessness is reason enough to not teach it at all.”

Farix conceded, “Now that is a valid argument.”

Erick changed the subject, “So anyone know what is happening with that black [Gate]?”

“Not at all!” Farix said, delighted.

“Not yet,” Bright Smile muttered.

“Not as such, no,” Zolan said, “Fallopolis opened it up and then she and Fairy Moon and others went through to the other side, locking the space down, ensuring that no one could follow.”

Farix looked up at Quilatalap, who was walking back their way with food, saying, “But our former Caretaker of Artifacts believes it to be a testing grounds of sorts?”

Quilatalap arrived at the table with three burgers and a large basket of fries, as well as two milkshakes. There was plenty of room on Erick’s other side, seating away from Zolan, and so Quilatalap sat down at that chair and handed Erick one burger, while leaving the fries between them. “It’s probably a new testing grounds, yes. I was hoping that you would know more than I, Farix.”

“Why would you think that? I’m more out of the circle than you are, for I’ve been far too busy with New Brightwater to go playing around with some esoteric uses of [Gate] magic.” Farix said, “The only ones who knew of that magic before Erick finished his recent Path were Our God, the false gods, and Ar’Cosmos. You should ask the empress of dragons why there’s someone else casting [Gate] magic before you ask me.”

Bright Smile did not smile nearly as much as she used to, and that didn’t change. With a slight glare in her red eyes, she said, “Ar’Cosmos has experienced some turmoil recently, but even with that turmoil there have been no great breaches of our libraries of True Magic, while thanks to our Apparent King over here the secret of [Gate] has spread far and wide anyway. Someone else might have Walked the Path since Erick finished all those months ago.”

Somehow Erick doubted that there was another [Gate]-capable caster out there aside from him, or the Darkness, or the gods, and since the [Gate] back there was clearly blacker than black, that ruled out a godly, Script-granted [Gate].

And that’s all Erick really knew about that.

Quilatalap said, “That [Gate] is through Darkness, or maybe Shadow, though with the depth of that black coloring it is likely through Darkness, and that has implications. Melemizargo does help his Clergy with large steps through Shadow, but he would not allow someone to use his power in… however it is being used over there. I don’t believe that this [Gate] is anything less than a new testing grounds, created by the Darkness Himself.” Quilatalap shrugged. “Or maybe he has appointed a new Champion. If so, then maybe they are his new caretaker?”

Erick tried not to give Quilatalap too much of a look for his final statement there. Everyone at the table had heard the same thing he had; that Quilatalap was miffed about being ‘fired’ from his job. Erick decided he would talk to the big guy about his feelings over all that later, in a more private setting, because for now there was a much larger problem.

Erick asked, “There could be a new Champion?”

“Ahh…” Quilatalap frowned, and it was mostly at himself. “Probably not, actually. I’m throwing out hypotheses here, as I imagine that is what we are doing, yes?”

Farix said, “The Darkness is a lot less fluid these days, and though He did not promise to hold off on appointing a Champion, He implied it… And considering the current guests at the party I suppose that this assurance is less than solid. A lot of big things are happening right now and I don’t know about any of them, so a Champion could be possible.”

Erick frowned a little.

He did not want to deal with a Champion of the Dark right now… But maybe the Champion was Fallopolis? Could happen.

Bright Smile barely held back the vitriol as she said, “Every single person in Ar’Cosmos knows that you can’t trust a fae to stick to the intention you believe to have made clear. As far as I am aware, the Darkness is the same way, and considering the stories we heard last night this comparison makes a lot of sense.”

Farix frowned, almost speaking—

But it was Quilatalap who spoke, with authority, “The Darkness is not of the fae. He’s also gotten a lot better in the last two years about being so fluid, and oftentimes what looks like fluidity is just someone working at scales you can’t understand. Anyway— I don’t believe this testing area is the result of a Champion.”

Talk quieted.

Erick ate his burger. It was absolutely delicious.

Halfway through his meal, he opened the conversation back up, asking, “So Zolan? You spoke of Fae Magic causing young minds to fail to understand magic. What did you mean by that? In more of an ‘improper practices’ sort of way, or in a ‘cognitohazard’ sort of way?”

Zolan looked to Erick, questioning in his eyes. It was a look he shared with others, also looking at Erick in the same wondering way—

Farix’s eyes suddenly went wide as he grinned. “Ah! ‘Information hazard’? You mean? Like a detrimental meme?”

Zolan tensed. Bright Smile frowned. Quilatalap looked on, the teeth of his soul flickering in preparation to tear apart some possible internal threat.

And Erick said, “Yes,” heightening all emotions at the table.

Farix said, “I could give a whole symposium on the nature of memes as both detrimental and beneficial to magic, but to narrow it down to just Elemental Fae… Actually, you look like you have something to say, Bright Smile?”

Bright Smile shook her head and gestured toward Zolan; she did not want to speak, but Zolan did.

Zolan said, “Most people can only learn one to five ways of doing magic, and to accept more ways of magical creation into their life is to harm their capability to perform correct spellwork. If you learn math, and rad enchanting, and all the variations of Force Magic, then you might have trouble when it comes to stringing magic together through song, or runic enchanting, or other such ways of learning and doing. Everyone has ways of approaching magic that allows them to excel.

“But Elemental Fae is too varied. Too weird. Too point-of-view. That sort of magic exists in the very depths of the mana; so far gone from this reality that to touch it, in true, is to fall apart from everything solid and knowable.” Zolan added, “In other words, to learn Elemental Fae is to learn a thousand ways of doing magic that will all change depending on your emotions, and what you had for breakfast that morning, and if you’re sick, or feeling frisky. Emotional magic has always been the most dangerous sort of magic there is, and so teaching Elemental Fae is best left to professionals and the students who might actually learn this magic without harming themselves.”

Bright Smile added, “Superstitious and culturally-derived magics found in stories are the equivalent of Fae Magic in many ways, which makes Fae Magic a rather bad meme, when looking at it in a certain light.”

Quilatalap nodded, silently eating his own lunch/breakfast.

Erick almost said that what Zolan and especially Bright Smile described was almost the exact reasoning that Jane had been given for why she was not able to do magic so well. But he didn’t want to bring up his daughter in mixed company.

So he nodded, and the conversation moved on.

Farix went on to speak about the problem of memes in depth, and how all that related to making magic better. Bright Smile spoke for a little bit on the specific problems that learning Elemental Fae sometimes caused, but most of those problems stemmed from Fairy Moon eventually interacting with whoever used too much Fae Magic, and that right there was reason enough to nearly abandon that school of magic altogether. Though Bright Smile didn’t say that; Quilatalap had.

“I simply must lower my expectations when dealing with her,” Erick said, resigned.

Quilatalap nodded, knowingly.

Bright Smile agreed. “She is a storm. Best not to treat with her unless you have to, but then again, both you and I have to, and regularly.”

Erick asked, “Should I not have offered her the chance to give the Tellings?”

“If you hadn’t offered her some way to cause a big impact on this Feast then she would have found some way to impact this gathering outside of your control.” Bright Smile said, “But since she got her moment in the light, she will likely behave herself as much as can be expected for the rest of this Feast.”

“A bold assumption,” Quilatalap said. “Considering she went into that black [Gate] over there, and that’s going to end up a really big deal.”

Bright Smile shrugged. “There isn’t much to do against her except appeasement. I would caution against trying any big spellwork, for she has survived everything you could possibly throw at her, and more.”

Quilatalap grunted in annoyance, and probably from his personal failures against Fairy Moon; Erick only guessed at that, though. The two of them had never spoken about their own specific problems with the fairy, but it was easy to tell that they were of similar mind about Fairy Moon, while Fairy Moon apparently hated Quilatalap right back, so that was probably a great big story right there.

The conversation moved back to the business topics that Bright Smile, Zolan, and Farix had been discussing for the better part of the morning, but this time Erick was there to actually make decisions about the various plots and plans the three others had touched upon. They spoke of [Gate]s in the Forest, to support other lands of Ar’Cosmos, and of New Brightwater getting access to the whole Gate Network. Both ideas were contingent on both lands adopting some basic decency practices as outlined by Zolan, which caused Bright Smile and Farix to glare, and the conversation to get heated.

Erick felt that Zolan was pushing Bright Smile and Farix too much, but he wasn’t about to undermine his castellan, for Zolan had a much shrewder mind for business than Erick. He also, quite honestly, had a much better political mind than Erick; Zolan was trying to get New Brightwater and the varied lands of Ar’Cosmos closer in line with all the rest of the world’s economies.

This conversation right here was undoubtedly among the most crucial conversations to happen at the Feast, but it was all about money and that was hard for Erick to care about. So many other things mattered so much more than money, like ensuring that people were protected, laws were upheld, and opportunities were not abused. But money was a good basis for mutual understanding to happen, and for trust to be built, so in that way there was a lot of trust being extended here at this table, and from there, a lot more would follow—

The black [Gate] flickered.

The sign changed, the black box turning fully dark for a moment, before new text began scrolling.

- -

TESTING COMPLETE!

Speed: <8h20m>

Clearance: < test%>

Deaths: <6>

Grade: <Test>

- -

The black box broke apart into so much fractured black mana, fading into the manasphere as it went, opening the lock on the lands beyond the black [Gate]—

Suddenly, Fairy Moon, Fallopolis, Hollowsaur, and three other people stepped out from beyond the distant treeline, far inside the other space. They moved slowly, as though they were strolling along under the sun without much care in the world, or maybe they were trying to be nonchalant. They were easily a kilometer and a half away, but Erick could see some unguarded hope on Hollowsaur’s face, some satisfaction on Fallopolis, and some calm pleasure radiating off of Fairy Moon. The three mortals were simply tired. Erick didn’t know the mortals, personally, but he had seen them in the Shade tower.

Erick said, “I just now realized I have not asked about the other three people.”

Farix volunteered, “That one woman is from New Brightwater; Moriaga. A ‘team leader’ sort of position. I was unaware that Moriaga was tagged by Fallopolis before the Culler declared this presentation open, and that she was even here at the Feast before then, so I’m as eager to find out about her as you are.”

There was some skepticism around the table, and for a dozen different reasons of which Erick couldn’t really pull apart.

Erick asked, “You didn’t know about this woman’s entry into the Feast, or into the [Gate]?”

“All of the above. I wasn’t aware she was here until she went into the [Gate]. She was supposed to be in New Brightwater, watching the front lines.”

Erick had seen the woman Moriaga around though… Hadn’t he? Yes. She was there from day one of this Feast. Kept hidden from Farix though, obviously.

Bright Smile narrowed her eyes at Farix, not truly believing his non-Sight of Moriaga either… No. Something else was going on there. Erick couldn’t parse it—

She volunteered, “Damo, the incani man in there, was from Ar’Cosmos about 45 years ago. He was in a Team Leader position in my House, until he was killed. As near as I can guess, I assume he was transformed into a shadeling and then resummoned into a new body by Melemizargo before the Feast, and then hidden from me until Fallopolis’s presentation, though that is all unfounded intrigue. He wasn’t able to speak much between his reveal this morning and going into the [Gate]. I had thought him dead until that moment.”

Erick’s eyes went wide. “Oh?”

Zolan said, “The third person is a former student of Oceanside whom I did not know had died. His name is Marico, and according to Bright Smile’s words, I am rather sure that the same thing happened to Marico as what happened to Damo. Marico had been a shadeling, and now, he was not.”

Erick stood from his chair, and turned to face the portal in the middle of the atrium. The people on the other side were getting close. Erick said, “Sounds like a lot of answers are about to be had, so shall we receive them?”

Everyone else was quick to follow Erick’s lead.

And soon, the black [Gate] explorers had walked to the edge of the portal and either flew, or shadowstepped, or hopped through the air, to land back on the flower mosaic that covered the central floor of the atrium. Fairy Moon had a smile plastered on her face, reminiscent of Bright Smile’s namesake, though the empress of Ar’Cosmos was not smiling at all. It was concerning, actually, to look at Bright Smile, and see her own concern when she looked at Fairy Moon, and the fae looked so very greedy.

Hollowsaur seemed rather more secure than he had been the last time Erick had seen the big man. It seemed he thought that all his worries were gone, for all he had to do was walk the path which lay before him. It was a marked improvement from what Erick had seen at the man’s presentation, where he had cobbled together whatever ideas he could possibly find in order to make a plan for taking back Quintlan from the oozes.

The mortals among the party each looked haggard, but calm, as though they had been through hell and back and now they were ready for rest. Farix, Bright Smile, and Zolan were each eager to speak to those three ‘interlopers’ of the Feast, but they held back. A lot of people were eager to find out what had happened; people stepped out of kitchens, and behind counters, or if they were Shades they appeared in quick shadowsteps, placing themselves at railings or on the floor near Erick and Quilatalap. Goldie had stepped close to Erick, but not too close; she was ready to defend him if necessary—

For Fallopolis threw her arms wide, smiling like a happy dragon, laughing as she sent her shadow-soaked kendrithyst staff into the air. It was a rather concerning act, but Erick did not flinch. He remained calm, even as dozens of dark droplets fell upward from Fallopolis’s staff, filling the air overhead, each droplet turning into a repeating light image; a small video of an event from inside the black [Gate], no doubt.

From the mortals of their party walking across ropes strung over canyons of swords, to fighting rock monsters, to braving hallways made of slicing ribbons, to mastering a Shaping magic via condensing flame from ten braziers at once… All if it was taken from inside the testing grounds. Quilatalap had been right. This was very much a testing grounds. A few images were of puzzle solving. Others were of riddle answering. Most images were of monster fights.

A grand map held in the center of Fallopolis’s presentation, with tiny lines in that map leading off to the moving lightpaintings, indicating where every trial had taken place within the space beyond the black [Gate].

One grand light construct stood above all the rest.

It was lightsculpture of a perfectly spherical grand rad that was larger than most any Erick had ever seen before, high above the [Gate], in what appeared to be a fully life-sized image. The people were normal, 2 meter sized. The spherical crystal orb of iridescent lights, with a hidden stream of power roiling within, was at least 15 meters tall.

According to the lightpaintings beside that largest image, the three mortals had worked together to kill a very large, multi-armed, multi-faced, moon-reacher-like monster. And they had failed twice. The first fight ended with the three of them dying to a few lazy swipes of the monster’s long, long arms, and tiny hands, with the three adventurers completely unable to understand why they were dying, and then dead. The second attempt at the core, at the arm-monster, lasted slightly longer. They knew what they faced now, but still they died, as the ‘moon reacher’ suddenly reached out with a hundred extra arms.

They won the third time. Then they placed their hands upon the giant iridescent sphere, and that was it.

Erick felt he was able to piece together about 50% of what he was seeing, but he would wait for Fallopolis to begin talking… As soon as she finished cackling in joy.

With a glance at Quilatalap, Erick saw Quilatalap cement his thoughts that this black [Gate] was a trial location of some sort. True anger briefly appeared, followed by reluctant acceptance. Quilatalap had been replaced. He had mixed feelings about that. Other people took a bit longer to catch up to what Quilatalap already knew for sure, with most of the Shades getting there in only a few seconds longer; well before Fallopolis reached a natural end to her laughter.

“HELLOOOO—ah HahAha!!!” Fallopolis broke into laughter again, but she controlled herself this time, coughing to force herself to calm. With mirth in her words, Fallopolis said, “The Dark, in His magnificence and power, has decided to bequeath to Veird a true testing grounds! But it’s so much more than that! Quilatalap!” Fallopolis stared at the archlich. “Our God still has need of you if you would become a tester once again, but that is a discussion for another day, and your loyalties have always been split. But moving right along—”

Quilatalap stood rock still. He said nothing. He simply stared.

“—for this is a testing ground like no other to ever come before!” Fallopolis said, “At its base, this is a way for rare resources to be plucked from the depths of this land, to be taken out into this material world. Gems. Metals. Even worked magical items now and then. These are the least of the prizes to be won, though, for My God does not want this land to become some sort of replacement for the real world.

“To that end, every day spent within this place will increase the dangers of this place to depths only seen in an event like the recent soul ooze problem of Ar’Kendrithyst, which is appropriate because—” Fallopolis cackled. “—Because My God used the soul ooze’s Truth in the creation of this land!”

Erick’s heart did not sink as much as others, for he had put together that puzzle seconds ago.

Here now was the Soul Slime, an abomination-creator given new form and purpose in death, like a person turned into shadeling and thus under direct control of Melemizargo.

This was dangerous. How much? Erick had no idea.

Zolan had perhaps the strongest reaction of pure hatred, though many of the servers Erick had hired for this event had an equally strong reaction. Those servers were mostly hidden high-powered adventurers ready for trouble, though, so that made a lot of sense. Erick continued to act like he didn’t see those adventurers for what they were, pretending that he didn’t know that Zolan had hired them. They were an assurance, and Erick hoped that they would remain an untapped resource. He hoped Zolan did not call them up to war.

And Zolan did not.

Zolan was not an idiot, but he was directly opposed to many of the plans of the Shades, and this new plan was dangerous. Who could blame him for hating the Shades? Certainly not Erick.

Erick was prepared to stop any shit before it happened, though, because the Shades were on edge, too. Farix had been threatened by the soul slime, and he did not like… Whatever this was. But he didn’t fret too much. He was still a Shade, and he was ready to fight on Fallopolis’s side if necessary, like he had done back at Last Shadow’s Feast.

Fairy Moon also had some hidden reserves ready to go to war… But she seemed ready to fully side with Fallopolis...

Which was strange. Erick couldn’t be reading that right? Could he?

Worst of all this particular moment, though, was that Fallopolis had stopped talking. She just smiled, letting her words percolate upon the gathering, letting the horror sit there, to be digested and cause food poisoning.

It was infuriating.

Erick spoke, “There is too much tension in the air, and your flair for the dramatic is doing you no favors, Fallopolis. Please get on with a concise explanation of the benefits of these new testing grounds.”

With that statement, Zolan was once again fully standing behind Erick, instead of readying himself to go off on his own. Some tension bled from the atrium, as people once again knew who to stand with. Fairy Moon, strangely enough, stood with Fallopolis, which caused an instant schism between her and Bright Smile, who was standing nearer to Erick.

In that moment, perhaps House Benevolence's king and Ar’Cosmos’s empress were in true alignment.

They were all freaking the fuck out about whatever the fuck this was.

And Fallopolis still said nothing.

Hollowsaur scowled at Fallopolis, then spoke, “It’s a solution to all the problems of Quintlan, and all the problems of Veird, too! Stop being so damned dramatic.”

When Hollowsaur was done, Fallopolis instantly whacked him over the head with her floating staff, cracking the orcol’s head open and spilling blood onto the flower mosaic ground. Hollowsaur didn’t seem to care, though. It was a light tap, apparently.

Fallopolis loudly proclaimed, “YOU GAVE AWAY THE BEST PART, ASSHOLE!”

Hollowsaur turned on her, saying, “I didn’t give away shit, old shitbag. Explain it properly.”

“I’m getting to it. Don’t rush me.” Fallopolis breathed deep, her black suit puffing up around her chest, and then she began to speak, her voice absent of mirth for a little bit, but then her joy came back in full. “The testing grounds will be called a dungeon, and the core of the soul slime in the center is to be called a dungeon core. There are many of these, and they are self-creating, like normal slimes. These dungeons deal with turning mana into matter, making a lot of mana, and a bunch of other things that will take time for me to explain.

“The dungeon cores each have a unique Gate Space.

“The land inside that space is fully known and under the control of the core.

“Each dungeon core begins its life with some things already in abundance, like stone, air, water. Basic plants.

“Basic spells, too, like [Grow] and all the Shaping spells. But it also has [Duplicate]. With that spell, a core will take offerings of gold and other precious things, and will expand upon those things, growing their space. You can’t just throw in some gold and get a lot of gold out of them, though. There are certain ways to offer those metals and gems and such so that they are recognized by the dungeon, but we don’t have to go over that right now.

“The second main thing to know about these dungeons is that all Script-magics are useless inside of them, like how it is in Ar’Cosmos. The only magics that work inside these dungeons are the magics one gains inside of them, and the basics, like mana sense, aura control, accretion, and the like. This particular one is set up for Script-nearness, so our three adventurers could actually experience the dungeon as it was meant to be run. But normally, it is not like this. Unless you’re able to do real magic, the way it is meant to be made, then you’re not getting the biggest rewards you can from this place.

“Magics cast on oneself and then taken into the dungeon will remain, in most cases, but to prevent cheating to the final prize, all spells are [Dispel]ed if one should reach the Core Room.

“Which brings us to the third thing to know. The biggest thing! The bestest thing!” With a wild grin, Fallopolis said, “These dungeons serve a greater purpose. They impart power onto those deemed worthy! If one should clear the guardian of the core, and link with the dungeon core, they get their natural mana boosted by a small fraction!” Fallopolis cackled. “Test yourself against the hordes of the Dark, and grasp power beyond that which you were born with!

“With this boost, there is no reason for any future Scripts to clean out people’s mana and feed it back to them! People can run dungeons and gain mana depth and regeneration comparable to what the Script grants. This change removes about 27% of the Script’s functionality, lowering both the initial costs for creating a Script, and the ongoing costs by a vast, vast amount!

“And that’s only part of the best part!

“Dungeon Cores might suck up mana from the world in order to grow and create, but through the production of monsters that gain sapience and power, and especially through the magical lessons they impart to those who plumb their depths, they also produce mana! Way more than they suck!” Fallopolis said, “Each active dungeon has an intake and an outflow, and you can check on it like this!” She waved a hand above herself and a black box appeared.

- -

Intake: 1,347,900

Outflow: 3,108,118

- -

Holy shit, Erick thought.

That was the mana production of about 180,000 people. A major city.

With enough of them…

With enough dungeons…

They could replace people.

“No,” Erick said, his voice instantly filling the air, long before he allowed himself to fully contemplate the horror dawning in his mind.

Silence filled the space.

The air on the other side of the atrium, in the shadowed spaces and behind the black [Gate], began to deepen. To Darken. Everyone noticed. People began to back away from the presentation. Some went with grace, bowing to the presence of the Dark. Others went hurriedly, not willing to stick around when the Darkness came calling.

Soon, there were only two, and arguably three, people remaining on the flower mosaic in the center of the atrium.

Fallopolis had not moved. She demanded, “Why the fuck not, Erick! ‘NO’? Fuck you! I haven’t even gotten through my whole presentation! And you better not give me some cow shit about how this is putting danger into the world, for these cores are very controlled!”

Erick stared at Fallopolis, speaking to the hidden Darkness, as he said, “This dungeon core disincentivizes the creation of peace and prosperity between societies and civilizations through the removal of the needs of trade and the needs of mana. With a thousand of these things on a world, constantly spawning monsters and mana, what need is there for civilization? This thing is the destruction of civility. This thing will cause untold wars.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. This ‘thing’ will allow us to create the next Cosmology!”

“A cosmology of death and destruction. One based upon the evils of violence supplanting growth.”

“Then control the dungeons you want controlled, and destroy all the rest! These are sources of growth themselves!”

“And that’s a problem, too!” Erick said, “What if a tyrant gains control of a dungeon and kills all the rest, and then turns their world into a land where only they have power, and no one else can gain power at all?”

“Ah ha!” Fallopolis grinned. “We have solved for that problem! A core causes other cores to grow far away from where the original core is planted, and if a person desires it enough, and they’re weak enough, then they might get a personal [Gate] into an appropriate dungeon.”

Erick was about to rail against the utter chaos they planned to unleash—

But the Darkness spoke, “We have also solved for the problem of disincentivizing the growth of civilization as you have outlined the problem, Erick. The solving of this problem is part of the dungeon master program, and our solution is quite ingenious.”

Fallopolis jolted at the voice of her God. And then she recovered, “RIGHT! The dungeon master program! Uh… I was getting to that. Er. That was near the end of the presentation—”

Before she was finished speaking, a Dark spark took hold of the air in front of Erick, suddenly becoming a black book a decimeter thick, resting atop a waist-high pillar.

“It is all in this book, Erick.” Melemizargo’s voice filled the atrium. “This core is a large, malleable change I am granting to this world, based on ideas inside your daughter’s computer and opinions expressed elsewhere, along with the general desire of millions of people eager to never see a Sundering ever again. But since you do not have the patience to listen to Fallopolis, I have made this book for you that will allow you to fully understand this change. It is only fair considering the book you have gifted me, and of all the other knowledge you have granted this world. Your efforts will surely increase the stability of Veird’s manasphere by at least half over. Your opinions are valuable to me.

“But make no mistake; this dungeon core program is happening. It’s already been voted on and approved by the Relevant Entities of the Script, as of ten minutes ago. We will have a proper New Cosmology, and the only real problem is lack of mana, and lack of proper education among people. This dungeon core and all the ones already growing all across Veird will solve this problem.”

Erick heard mention of Relevant Entities and felt a profound sense of change in the world.

A shifting of futures.

A deepening of danger.

And then the feeling passed.

A new future was here, and Erick had no idea what it all meant. Once again, the world changed in the blink of an eye, but that wasn’t right… This change had been in the works for months. It had to have been. There was no way that Melemizargo and Fallopolis and anyone else involved hadn’t been involved since long before Jane killed the soul ooze in the name of the Darkness. Or maybe this had happened right after that kill?

Erick snatched up the book, willing himself to calm as he said, “It appears I have some reading to do. Appreciated.”

“Also!” Melemizargo spoke fast, “[Teleport] is no longer purchasable in the Script and a worldwide [Teleport Lock] is going up in one week! No more easy war!”

The Darkness vanished, like a child stealing a cookie too fast to be stopped.

Chaos ensued.

- - - -

Behind the closed doors of a part of the House, Erick stood across from Fallopolis, fuming.

The last ten minutes had been an exercise in controlling his emotions, thus ensuring that everyone else in the atrium could control theirs. There had been quite a few islands of stability in that chaos, raising their voices alongside Erick to calm the onlookers, but one of the servants on Zolan’s side decided that they needed to launch a [Light Missile] at Fallopolis’s head, and Erick had to weigh in on the chaos a lot harder after that.

And then things turned both worse, and better.

Fairy Moon had ‘helped’ by putting every single person into a sudden trance and then sitting them down for tea, but not Erick. Everyone else began talking calmly about the latest news of dungeons and no-more-[Teleport]. Erick wanted to object rather strongly about that, but he couldn’t. Fairy Moon said that her ‘[Tea Party]’ would last as long as it needed to, anyway.

Erick had lost all of his overseers to that Fairy’s power, and Quilatalap, too.

Right now, Zolan was taking tea with Goldie and Quilatalap, all at the same table, all of them listening to the three people who had come out of the dungeon. Those three people had many stories of their time inside. They were easy to listen to over pastries and tiny chocolates that might not be real. Others listened and spoke about the loss of [Teleport], and what that meant.

It was all rather rational. Quiet and controlled.

It was a violation.

And Erick hated himself for letting it happen, for stepping away since he wasn’t affected. He told himself that he needed to get some real answers, and those would not come from that [Tea Party]; they would come from gods and Fallopolis and Melemizargo himself, and he needed time to talk to those people now. But he knew he had fucked up by running from Fairy Moon’s mass enchantment.

He would be back, as soon as he could.

Three people remained unaffected by the [Tea Party], either because they were a Wizard who was very angry, a God’s mortal avatar who was needed to answer questions, or the caster themselves. There was no doubt in Erick’s mind that Fairy Moon could have ensorcelled them, too, and she had simply not, because she knew exactly how much she could push Erick and she was not willing to push past that. Maybe she was actually respecting his own desires not to be fucked over by her anymore.

Many different explanations were possible.

Erick would find out later. For now, he was here, in this room with Fallopolis, as far away from the [Tea Party] as possible, as focused on the moment as he could be. There was a lot to focus on in the moment besides the trauma happening in his own mind, and back there in the atrium.

The Shade defended herself for the third time since they came out of the dungeon, “I didn’t know about the [Teleport Lock]!”

Not a lie. Probably.

Erick tried to be calm. “The loss of [Teleport] is going to kill millions, Fallopolis.”

Fallopolis had no words. She knew exactly how bad this was going to get. Erick had been learning the ins and outs of [Teleport] and shipping and how society worked on a global scale, in depth, these last several months, but there was no way that Fallopolis was unaware of exactly how much [Teleport] was used to keep this world afloat. Not a single person in power did not consider [Teleport] when making plans of any sort at all. The spell might only work on the Surface, but [Teleport] was literally how some people got to work in the morning. Some people even lived in the middle of nowhere, in hiding holes, protected from everything, and were only able/willing to leave their perfect defensive lairs through opening up the anti-[Teleport] runes, and then blipping away for an hour or two, or whatever.

The vast majority of people on Veird were city-locked, and therefore they had some roads and some infrastructure to let them get around without needing to use magic. [Teleport] wasn’t necessary at the personal, neighborhood level. But in many places, like in the Songli Highlands, every neighborhood was connected to every other neighbor through [Teleport].

Every single high-level organization on the entire Surface used [Teleport] extensively.

Even shipping from the Underworld often went onto the Surface, simply because a Surface trip allowed them to [Teleport] across the world, to get where they needed to go without having to travel through thousands upon thousands of kilometers of Main Roads, filled with monsters and death!

The Wayfarer’s Guild was completely fucked!

Open travel across the entire world was going to change!

Fallopolis whispered, “I know. I think… I think this is a mistake on My God’s part.”

The heat inside of Erick’s chest seemed to settle a fraction. “That’s surprising that you would say that.”

Fallopolis glared at him. “I have culled detrimental Shades all my life, and especially in the last hundred years. I know the warning signs of sanity loss, and I know what it looks like when My God is… less than stable— But…” She gained some measure of calm, saying, “I know that My God did not make this decision on his own. All your false gods would have to have agreed on this.”

Erick wasn’t so sure about that, but if Fallopolis believed that to be true, then it probably was. Melemizargo’ words back there could imply that the other gods had approved of this [Teleport Lock] thing. Maybe.

“I’ll be looking into that.”

“You haven’t asked them yet?”

“It’s been a crazy 15 minutes, Fallopolis. I’ll get to it.”

Fallopolis eyed him slightly.

She was probably right; meetings with gods took no time at all, if they wanted it that way.

Erick continued, “I need to gather some facts first.” Erick held up the black book Melemizargo had given him, adding, “About all of the trouble raining upon Veird.”

Fallopolis looked briefly ashamed, but she schooled that expression away, turning slightly shadowy to stop Erick from being able to read her so well. She was taking a moment, though; not gearing up for a fight.

Erick allowed her the moment.

Fallopolis came back to her mortal coil, though to any outside observer she had not changed at all. She said, “I can speak on the dungeons for I have been working to make those happen for the last year. Where would you like to start?”

“WHY?!”

“… Ahem. Well. We need mana, and we need a way to show the world how to properly use magic and to be one with the Dark, so we’ve codified the trial grounds into self-replicating dungeons which can do all of this on a grand scale. The idea is extremely old and had fallen out of My God’s mind until he started to get all of that back when you brought him back to himself—”

“Don’t you dare fucking blame this chaos on me.”

“This entire shift in this entire world is your fault, Erick! Don’t you dare falter in your responsibility now!”

Erick had some perfect rejoinders for that. ‘I only provided the tools to make this world better, more in line with the rest of the universe, allowing for Particle Magic and a true understanding of this reality to take place. What other people did with my knowledge was not on me.’ Or maybe he would say, ‘I’m building kingdoms, and you’re tearing them down.’ Or maybe, ‘Do you want me to make of this world what I truly could? Do you want that, Fallopolis? Do you?!’

But instead, he acted like a king should act. “We will be working together to ensure that this dungeon transformation happens in as harmless and as beneficial of a way as we can make it happen, or else I am going to tear it all down and continue to tear it all down, and I will ensure everyone else does the same. While we are still coming to terms on the dungeons, you will work with House Benevolence to overturn this [Teleport] decree, and I will do the same.”

Fallopolis stood straight. “Acceptable. I agree to this. But when our attempts to overturn this [Teleport] decree fail, you will be responsible for solving the problem in a secondary way, likely through the vast, vast expansion of the plans for your Gate Network. It’s possible that this is only happening because you are making another Gate Network, like we used to have before they gave [Teleport] to everyone. My God didn’t take the option to purchase [Teleport] out of the Script, after all. Only the Relevant Entities could have done that… I’m 90% sure; not 100%.”

“I am aware of this implication. Beyond that:” He changed the subject, “It seems that Melemizargo and the gods are working together like they used to pre-Sundering. I imagined it would take a lot more time for this to happen. Your thoughts on this cooperation? This… whole overarching thing?”

“He’s able to hold full conversations these days without getting side tracked. Every other time He has ever been this lucid He has only been able to maintain this for two months, and then only for short stretches beyond that. It’s been twenty months and He’s getting better every day. He is The God Above All, Erick, and He is coming back to make everything better, just how you came to Veird to do the same. I trust Him to know what is best for us all, and you would do well to follow that example.”

Erick glared.

Fallopolis got the message. “… But we can talk about all that some other time. Let us talk about the dungeons? I am more versed in that.”

“Yes. The other way in which millions will die in the coming years—” Erick suddenly remembered, and exclaimed, “No one will be able to escape from the monsters with an easy [Teleport]! HOLY FUCK, FALLOPOLIS.”

Fallopolis stood there, weathering Erick’s anger like a Juggernaut rooted to the ground.

Another moment passed.

Erick calmed himself.

Fallopolis said, “These dungeons are trials of the Dark, in the same way that Quilatalap ran the Armory. Back in the Old Cosmology and even here on Veird in the first years after the Sundering, the Trials of the Dark either ended in the deaths of the aspirant, and their transformation into a shadeling to toil for an eventual resummon back to their real life, or their ascension. But Quilatalap showed us a new way. When that man took that job and allowed people to try their hands multiple times at those trials, instead of the murderous things we had before, Ar’Kendrithyst really started to grow. Though that transformation of culture was fraught with both My God and many of the Clergy decrying the archlich's [True Resurrection] Trials as tests that fostered cowardice, Quilatalap and Koyabez managed to convince My God of the benefits of not killing everyone rather quickly. All that happened before my time; the Armory’s functions as Trials of the Dark with possible [True Resurrection]s for failed attempts had long since become the norm by the time I showed.

“And so, for the dungeon cores, we implemented this same sort of ‘second chance’. And third chance and fourth chance, depending on the dungeon in question. All of that is changeable, and I will explain how later.

“Anyway. Inside a dungeon, at the normal settings, a person is afforded 3 lives before they are kicked out, or they are allowed to try once more, and either die for real or ascend as a successful aspirant.” Fallopolis said, “In this way, we will allow millions of people to get real life and death experience against some of the worst monsters imaginable.

“In this way, we expect those who train in dungeons to be able to go out into the real world and defend themselves that much better against the real threats out there. We fully expect, in time, for all the training in these dungeons to allow for the complete extinction of all dangerous monster species, but to also allow those monsters to continue to exist, to continue to assist Those Who Aspire to greater heights. That’s complicated, and we can speak on how that will work in depth later.

“For now, know this: We expect all of existence to change, from a reality of people fighting against the horrors assaulting their homes, defending themselves with spellwork they never earned nor understood themselves, to a reality where people fight with real power that they made themselves against controlled experiences— Fully controlled experiences, in the case of a managed dungeon, overseen by a competent dungeon master.

“This is among our many primary goals with this program.”

Fallopolis let that thought hang in the air.

And Erick thought about it. His anger remained an ember in his chest, lashing out at his whole body with emotional sparks of hate and distrust, but his mind guided him to really think about Fallopolis’s words.

“Okay.” Erick said, “Fine. I can see how that might happen. This is too much, though.”

Fallopolis said, “It’s happening, Erick.”

Erick walked away, book in hand.

- - - -

Erick read for several hours, while everyone downstairs struggled out of Fairy Moon’s [Tea Time]. Sometimes people would get out of it. Mostly Quilatalap, every half hour. But then the archlich’s eyes went red and he Raged, and the world filled with impotent black magic, but only briefly. At Quilatalap’s first act of destruction once released, Fairy Moon’s power instantly wrapped around him again, and Fairy Moon repaired the tea set Quilatalap had broken, or the table, or stood directly in front of a blast of dark power that would have killed someone else at the party.

Erick wanted to help Quilatalap, but that Rage scared even him.

Aisha gradually, surely, ate away at the power holding her down, but every time she got up and gave the excuse that she ‘needed to use the bathroom’ or ‘go over here for a moment’, Fairy Moon pulled her back with calming words, saying the discussion was not over yet. And since the discussion was not over, Aisha had to come back to the table.

… Erick would save all of them soon enough.

But as he read the black book, over and over, understanding it all and yet finding new insights with every re-reading... The only real problem Erick saw going forward was the loss of [Teleport] for the entire world. And Fairy Moon’s tea party was still going over that problem, everyone speaking calmly, discussing the issue and foreseeable problems, and then trying to understand how to solve those problems now, in the week that remained before [Teleport] was taken away from Veird entirely.

They could work on that issue.

Erick read about dungeon cores.

According to this book, which may or may not be true, each dungeon would start off as a swirl in the manasphere, and then condense down into a special dungeon slime. This spawning process would work exactly how normal dungeons manhandled the mana to make slimes, or how rads coalesced in areas of strong, singular mana, transforming water into water slimes, or air into wind slimes, or any of the basic building blocks of mana into slimes, or into other, stranger monsters, like undead rising from corpses left on great battlefields, or lava elementals rising out of volcanoes. The mana that condensed in the case of dungeons was perfectly balanced mana, but there was an extra restriction on that condensation, for a dungeon could only spawn at a minimum distance from another dungeon, based on the size of those other dungeons all around.

This slime would then burrow into the ground. Normally, anyway.

From there, the dungeon slime would metamorphose into a Dark Rift, and begin sending out perfectly balanced mana in order to lure things to the Rift. The spewed mana was normal, natural mana. But the base mana of a dungeon was Melemizargo’s mana. This was pure Darkness. To stand near a dungeon was to be under the eyes of Darkness.

Which was a terrifying thought, but not all too much different than normal.

… Anyway. The dungeons soaked their area in power, transforming the overworld into a mana rich environment, usually with lots of plants, but also with slimes that spread outward, all under the direct control of the dungeon. The dungeon wouldn’t be sentient at this point; everything would be instinctual.

That instinct would be to begin cycling the mana of its surroundings, empowering life all around and then taking in power through death in the vicinity, making itself larger through those deaths.

Eventually, the dungeon would reach a level of power that allowed it to disappear through a [Gate] of its own making, and that’s when it truly got going. From there, the dungeon would gain true control over its environment and begin naturally spawning slimes as fast as it could, to grow at a mostly linear rate. Every life born of the dungeon would grow normally, and upon death, either natural or on purpose, the core would take that life’s mana production for itself and use that production to grow itself, allowing for more interior space to allow even more life to grow…

And the cycle got bigger.

Erick had no idea how Melemizargo expected that sort of growth to be linear. It would be multiplicative, at least, or some other mathematical term.

Because there was no real limit to the dungeon’s size. Not inside a gate space…

It was probably limited to the size of all the other gate spaces nearby, actually...

Which was in line with why dungeons were only capable of spawning a certain distance from each other. Now this wasn’t written down in the book, but Erick suspected that if he had control over a ‘world dungeon’, or whatever it would be called, then no other dungeons would spawn. Which would be one way to solve the random danger of dungeons popping up everywhere. It’d be damn difficult to control a single dungeon though.

Because, of course, while a dungeon would start off using slimes for growth, for slimes were the only monsters that actually spawned, other monsters would be drawn into the dungeon by the perfect mana emanating from the [Gate]. Just like how monsters went down, down, down into the Underworld, following the paths of the mana rivers flowing to the Core of Veird, in order to accrete near those densities and grow stronger, monsters would follow the mana inside the dungeons, too. They would go inside and live and the dungeon would use that space to grow, too, but the core would only ever have control over the slimes…

Except that wasn’t true, because the core could eventually create a mimic slime which would then go out and transform into one of the monsters that had come inside the space, allowing itself to protect itself from utter destruction. That was the main way in which a dungeon protected itself. The dungeon copied a monster, and gained that monster’s powers in an ‘avatar slime’ that became its main defender, in case someone should attack the core.

That was rather terrifying, because copying any monster? Well… Erick was technically a monster, for he had a core, but apparently this book didn’t qualify real cores as ‘monstrous’. Only messy cores like those labeled as grand rads qualified for copying; the spiky ones with too many facets, taken from raging beasts.

So not Erick.

But a wyrm would qualify.

… Problems upon problems.

According to the book, though, wild dungeons mostly protected themselves and did nothing else, like a tree simply growing in the forest… That ‘tree’ tried to kill everything that entered their core room, but it also allowed everything else to survive and thrive under its aegis.

Sometimes some monsters would leave the dungeon, but only if the dungeon got overcrowded, or some bigger thing moved inside…

Hmm. That could be a problem, too.

Instead of needing to destroy the core to destroy the dungeon, could you just destroy the [Gate]?...

Nope. If a [Gate] was destroyed, the dungeon would make a new one in some random location, near the gate space of the dungeon. The only way to kill a dungeon was to kill the core, which caused the dungeon to target you with everything they had.

… And from there, things got complicated, because working with dungeons allowed for a person to become a dungeon master, and from there…

It got complicated.

A master could guide the core’s growth anyway they wanted. They could even make the core make extra dungeon slimes, which could copy other monsters, and with each dungeon slime killed the killer could gain innate mana production. The dungeon would lose that innate production, but the killer would gain that production. This, then, was the whole way in which Melemizargo wanted people to be able to grow in the New Cosmology. Most people only produced an average of 10 mana per day, but through ‘mini-avatar’ kills, a person could gain 10 more mana per day, and if they fought and won enough, they could gain a lot more than that. The real gains were in true learning of magic, according to this book… But Erick felt that taking a monster’s mana production was the actual biggest draw. For other people, anyway. Not for him. He already made a million mana per day, naturally.

But taking someone’s mana was an act considered worse than taboo everywhere on Veird, and in the Old Cosmology too, but apparently Melemizargo was changing his tune?

What the fuck.

… The dungeon master program looked pretty good on paper, though. By appointing a dungeon master, that person could then change everything about the dungeon, as long as they directed the dungeon in positive growth.

[True Resurrection]s for delvers, or whatever the adventurers ended up being called.

Eternal resource generation, as determined by the dungeon master, or randomly by untamed dungeons.

The capability to set up real danger, to teach people real lessons of all sorts, from aura control to mana sensing, to things like gridwork, through puzzles.

The ability to test out a hundred different Script configurations was what really resonated with Erick, though. That was the real draw here, since a dungeon master could configure an overlay in the dungeon space that would restrict the people inside. No Script magic was possible. Baseline capability of intruders was another.

People could even test out spells before they bought them, if the dungeon master set it up that way. Touch a specific rock, gain [Fireball] for an hour, or for X amount of casts, or any other spell the dungeon master wanted to set.

Of course, becoming a dungeon master was not simple at all. Ohhh… the act itself was simple; touch the core and bind yourself to it. But the meaning of a ‘dungeon master’ was not simple at all. What actually happened was that a mimic slime came out and copied the dungeon master and then the copy would be the actual dungeon master, and then you would have to talk to your copy to get things done in the dungeon...

Which…

Terrifying.

But the dungeon copy could not grow. The dungeon copy did not have any of the original’s spellwork. It was by design that someone could set up this system and put an ‘avatar’ inside who could be easily eliminated if they should grow unruly…

Which was also fucking terrifying.

You’d just… What? Find yourself as a copy in a dungeon one day? A weaker version of yourself, unable to grow except through making the dungeon bigger? Better? And then your original self with all of your memories and all your hard work and everything that was you would walk away, and you’d be responsible for working the dungeon?! Could you even leave if you were the dungeon master— Yes. Three pages later: A dungeon copy could leave the dungeon… if they put a copy of themselves in the dungeon. So a copy of a copy. How did that work when…

Oh.

The copy dungeon master slime could come back inside the dungeon and merge with the one they left behind, and become the same person again. Memories of outside would join with those inside. Okay.

So.

Nightmare fuel! As Jane would say. So much nightmare fuel everywhere!

Erick set down the book.

He was too tired and it… It was all too much.

Erick looked back to the book, and had a weird thought. What if he set himself up as the dungeon master in a hundred places at once? All across the world? Dungeons didn’t multiply the magical or physical power of the dungeon master at all, but they did allow a person to be in many, many different places at once… Theoretically.

Hmm.

Would his copies retain his increased smarts and brain, though?

Erick picked the book back up and could not find a satisfactory answer to that question. Most signs pointed to ‘yes’, a clone would keep every mental part of the dungeon master, but there would likely be some lessening, of some unknowable way. The dungeon master would just be a mimic slime, after all.

… A mimic slime with the mind and a copy of the soul of the dungeon master, but still a slime without its own core, and without the ability to channel mana at all. The dungeon core could channel mana. The dungeon core could grow.

The copy could not grow in anything but knowledge and temperament.

Nightmare fuel and the ethics of slavery, all in one. Probably a whole bunch of other problems that Erick had not considered yet, but which would become apparent in the following years. A few people probably already knew what would happen, though. Not Fallopolis or Melemizargo, but the others. The ones who had approved of this happening.

The Relevant Entities of the Script.

- - - -

Erick imagined that all he had needed to do was say the name of any god at all, and he would have gotten an audience. He chose Phagar.

He got an audience with all of them.

The volcano caldera was black and wide, the ground knobbly with long-cold lava, the edges of the caldera rising up in the distance, all around, like great obsidian knives. Mist cut as it flowed across those knives, into this black space where the sun did not shine, and everything was illuminated anyway.

Phagar stood in front of Erick. It was like looking upon a mirror, but ever so slightly different. “Hello again, Erick. Hopefully we won’t have to have meetings like this every year.”

Erick would have laughed if he had been in a better mood.

The mist all around them filled with gods and others, most of whom Erick recognized. There was Sininindi, her clothes were torn sails, and a storm-tossed tree hovered around her back and around her legs like a scared child. Atunir filled the air with summer harvest. Aloethag was a white mountain with rivers of blood flowing across her body. Sumtir was a man in armor with a sword at his hip. Fangorl was a wild person, hidden underneath leaves and branches. Zepherspray was a small woman here, and then there, and then somewhere else, all without moving at all. A hundred others lurked in the deeper mist, and Erick knew all of them this time. From Demon King Dinnamoth in his Vile armor of red-gold Demonic power, to the Crown of the Host Adavido, in his gleaming gold and iridescent armor, with a dozen swords floating all around him.

Koyabez stepped out of the mist, wearing nothing more than his usual loincloth. He joined Phagar in the center of the arena with Erick. He said nothing, but he did nod in greetings.

Rozeta came next, looking normal in her white wrought woman form, wearing the same pantsuit as always. “The vote has already happened. We’re allowing the [Teleport Lock] and the dungeon cores. Wars only really happen on the Surface because [Teleport] is supported, and we need the mana from the cores.”

She had a lot more to say on that issue, but she did not. She would talk later on more specifics if Erick asked, though; he could tell. For all of the other Relevant Entities, this meeting was just them appeasing the Wizard, and ensuring that he didn’t ruin all of their plans.

It seemed like a cruel sort of calculus. But...

“… I can almost understand the dungeon cores,” Erick said, “Sure. I’ll be murdering every single monster I can find over the coming decades, and yet you need mana, and monsters produce mana, too. Monsters grow quickly and die just as quickly, so they make more mana than people, overall. So monsters need to exist somewhere since there aren’t enough people yet… And I suppose the removal of the main way in which wars turn truly deadly makes sense. The millions who died in Songli might even still be alive if it weren’t for [Teleport].

“But I know why [Teleport] was put in the Open Script, and so do you. It was given to the people because monsters threatened to overrun Veird. And you’re bringing that back. Even if I put the Gate Network out there again, millions will die because they won’t be able to get away from the big threats… though millions more will live easier lives, not worrying about someone [Teleport]ing into their homes and killing them like they did at Songli.

“On the whole, I understand why this is happening, and I know what I can do to alleviate the problems these changes bring… But this is too much, too fast.”

The mist shifted.

Melemizargo appeared as a black fog, overlooking all, his eyes rapidly forming, looking like twin white suns. Then the black fog retreated, revealing the dragon God of Magic in all his usual ways. Black scales. Wings, a tail. The same thing that Erick saw when he transformed into his own dragon form.

“It’s exactly as much change as it needs to be.”

Erick glared up at the big dragon. “One of my people asked me this morning if I’m you. Why did you make me look like you?”

Melemizargo grinned. “Surprisingly enough, all I did was make you black! I have no idea why you look like me so much, but I imagine it’s because you had me in mind when you thought of power. I allowed it because it pleases me, for all the best dragons have wings like me, which makes this a world of two.”

...While that might have been part of the truth, it was hardly enough to really qualify as an answer.

Erick moved on, asking, “Are you going to help me mitigate this disaster, Melemizargo? I don’t know… Slowly seep in the [Teleport] lock from the wilds, down to the cities? Not deploy it all at once?”

Melemizargo grinned even more, showing off glowing white fangs. “An excellent suggestion! I already thought of this and offered it and it was accepted. This is how the deployment will happen.”

“… I suppose we puny mortals can only ever toil under the decisions of you gods, eh?”

Melemizargo leaned in, eyes going bright. “Do you want to become a god?”

“Maybe some other time.” Erick suddenly asked everyone, “You couldn’t wait for at least ten years before you started to make these sweeping changes?!”

Melemizargo smiled. “Nope!”

Rozeta glared at her father, then said, “Unfortunately not. The option for more security existed, and I took it. In a generation, no one will be able to purchase [Teleport], and all the world will be empty of monsters. The Lock might come down then, but likely not. As for the other issue: Much like the Dragon Exodus, the Dungeon Exodus is happening, and all the true dangers to Veird will be soon be drawn beyond the veil of mortals by the promise of rich mana, sequestered behind Gate Spaces as far beyond mortals.”

“And people will learn of true magic in those spaces, too!” Melemizargo said, “Maybe the entire Script could change based on whichever dungeon eventually rises as the best one. Set yourself as a dungeon master in a few places, Erick, and test out your dungeon of [Cleanse], [Mend], and some basic healing magics. Make an entire city out of your choices, using the random person character option to spawn endless random people! Maybe even connect your dungeons through the Dungeon Network I plan on making, so that a real fake culture can develop on the other side of shadow.”

Erick’s eyes went wide.

That wasn’t in the black book. Just how much was missing in that black book? But besides that—

“That’s… Perhaps the most insane thing I have ever heard you say.”

“Ha! Why?”

“Because the dungeon slime clones would be…” Erick organized his thoughts. “Because the dungeon slime people would have memories of being not that and they wouldn’t be able to grow in power or as people. They couldn’t have children with each other. They couldn’t really form a society at all! They would be slaves to the mana, acting out parodies of real life, only existing for the killing of all who would come in afterward! That’s all they would be. A horrible life as a person who was made to be killed, and they would know that. A living nightmare. A horror.”

“Then I suppose I will have to make some changes!” Melemizargo looked to Rozeta, happily saying, “You heard the Wizard of Benevolence! Let’s make the dungeons fully sapient, this will, of course, trigger the anti-Slave protocols I placed in the Script so long ago.”

Rozeta rapidly said to Erick, “Take back your words right now, or else these dungeon cores will cause untold devastation.”

“Wait a fucking second! Melemizargo made those anti-Slave magics?”

“Yes,” Koyabez said, “And he made them apply to everyone. It was yet another purge he was responsible for, and just like back then, we turned that tragedy into something good for us all. We took control of that change and worked it into what it actually should have been, if Melemizargo had been his usual self. We took the Mind Mages and made of them a positive influence. We repaired the Script after he tricked the Old Demons into committing the Death of All Halves, re-enabling love between interspecies to produce children once again, but not nearly as much as we used to have. We have taken every single great one of his additions to the Script and made them good for us all.

“And as the dungeon slime core system is right now, before any changes, the copies created inside that space are not fully sapient. Whatever the copy gains from the dungeon master truly goes into the core itself. The people-like things walking around are like [Familiar]s, or like fugue-state shadelings. The only truly sapient things are the cores themselves, once they gain enough maturity, or once they are assisted in gaining sapience through a dungeon master.” Koyabez said, “And so, the only way to make this a nightmare scenario, as you say, is to enact this change you wish, to make them all fully sapient from the start.”

Erick rapidly shifted through a hundred thoughts and came upon a question that emerged from this new knowledge. “What happens when the [Familiar]s become real?”

“They spill out into the world, and find other dungeons!” Melemizargo said, “Or they become real people. Depends on the dungeon’s proclivities; a break, to invade other dungeons, or a birth, to make real what had once been little more than imagination. In this way, a lot more people are born in ways impossible through normal means, and soon, we will spread! We will fill this universe with life, Erick!”

“… My vote does not matter, then?”

“No,” Rozeta said, “This is happening.” She looked to her father. “And you’re not changing what we already agreed upon.”

“Fine! Fine! I won’t change anything! It will happen as we have already agreed.”

“I abstain from giving more opinions.” Erick said, “If this turns into a horror I will use all my power to end this magic.”

As though the entire caldera breathed a sigh of relief—

Melemizargo suddenly laughed. “That’s what they were all counting on anyway!”

- - - -

Erick opened his eyes. He was back in his room.

And he felt weird.

He did not like how this decision about the world was made without him. But also, he wasn’t a Relevant Entity of the Script, so of course it was made without him. And yet, he could solve this dungeon problem on the back end, with killing every core as they spawned out there in the world. Or at least on the Surface… if [Cascade Imaging] even worked that way. He would need to make another [Cascade Imaging]; something that could search for mana signatures, to search for Darkness Rifts… But no. That would not work. That particular search would just ping on Melemizargo, who was already everywhere in this world already. Probably.

He could figure it out.

He would need to greatly expand his Gate Network to solve the [Teleport Lock] problem, though. Work with the Wayfarers to do that… Ah. All those people were going to lose their entire life’s work. Forget simply purchasing [Teleport] from the Script for a point. Many of those people learned how to work [Teleport] properly. And now all that learning was useless, even though it was still relevant. They were the ones who had given him a guide on [Teleport], and had truly started Erick down the Worldly path—

Now that pissed Erick off. More so than much of the rest.

Made him mad enough to call out to the shadows in the corner, “Melemizargo. I want to know if you’re going to invalidate every single Wayfarer’s life’s work— If you’re going to make every single Teleport Mage obsolete.”

Melemizargo whispered from the Darkness, “Rozeta has a plan for that. It involves you giving those people [Reincarnation]s. She hasn’t spoken to you about that yet?”

Rozeta stepped into the room in her human form. “I haven’t had the chance, but yes. [Reincarnation]s from you was one option that I have considered. If you donated a copy of that spell to the Script I can have registrars do that instead, like how you donated [Exalted Rain] to Atunir. It would be a lesser working of that magic, to simply reset a person to their current age and body and such, but it would reset their soul in the process, and that is what I would ask for you to give the Script.”

“… Yes. Fine. I agree to donate a copy of that spell. I had been wondering when we would get around to that, but I suppose since we’re doing a lot already, we might as well add more to the pile!” Erick said, “Anyway! That’s not what I meant when I complained about the Wayfarer’s loss. I mean the loss of Spatial Magic as a type of spell taught in school because it’s no longer usable.”

“Derelict magic is what Wizards are known to keep in their towers in case it is ever needed again. This event you see as a problem is not much of a problem at all.”

Erick could barely believe what he was hearing.

Rozeta said, “There are millions of magics that no longer exist. Spatial Magic is a large part of Veird right now, but it is not necessary for it to remain that way, and it would be better for us all if easy [Teleport] went away.”

Erick didn’t understand. “What about The Worldly Path?”

Melemizargo’s eyeless shadow looked to Rozeta, and though there was no way to really tell, Erick imagined it was a pointed look.

Rozeta said, “The [Teleport Lock] will only exist on Veird. Subsequent worlds will not have this lock. The Lock might go away in 50 years, too, once most people don’t have that spell anymore. Probably longer, though. We had considered stripping the spell from everyone—”

“But I disagreed on that. They gave that magic to everyone, and now they have to live with the consequences.”

Erick glared.

Melemizargo told Erick, “Make some dungeons that allow for people to properly learn Spatial Magic if you desire. A dungeon master can disable the natural [Teleport Lock] in there, and allow for easy teaching of that magic. I imagine that Fate is already lining up such a dungeon in order to keep the Worldly Path open, always, but it might take a while before either you or I end up with a Walker at our doorsteps, ready to take that final Step Into Eternity.”

Erick sighed a little. “About that: Tell me if I have this correct. Do I simply transform someone’s mana signature into Benevolence? And they can [Gate] through it as easily as I did?”

Melemizargo chuckled. “Not quite as easily, but yes! That’s the gist of it all. It’s just so convenient that you already have [Reincarnation] made, isn’t it!”

“… I suppose so.”

Rozeta sighed. She glared at the shadow. “Fate is locked up for a reason, just like all the others are. You and I are going to have long discussions until you agree with me on which elements and magics are allowed to return and which are to be kept Forgotten.”

Erick asked, “Which ones threaten to come back the easiest, that need to be stamped out?”

“There are a few that everyone knows about, but which are ‘Forgotten’—”

Rozeta spat, “I will speak on these, father. Not you.”

“Fine fine!”

Rozeta rattled off, “Contract Magic cannot be allowed to happen again. That one is insidious in its ease of creation and how it corrupts an entire world. The Demons always try to make that one, and the New Demons are no different. The next easiest magic to name which can never happen again is Elemental Love. Horrific. Almost as bad as Slave Magic, which was a variation on Contract Magic, and which were both eliminated through the elimination of Contract Magic. Then we have Theft Magic, which gets reinvented every hundred years in a new way, in order to allow a different person to steal something from another. Elemental Pirate was the last time that happened, but there have been others which need not been remarked upon. And then there are the various governmental-themed Elements. Elemental Tyranny. Elemental Freedom. Those two are locked away and cannot happen again… And that’s the extent of magics that I can tell you about at the moment, Erick.”

“Maybe in several generations, several iterations of expansions… Some of those magics can come back, yes? Once the future Scripts of this universe don’t allow for such easy proliferation as the Script of Veird.”

“Veird will always be the most secure planet of this cosmology, father, and that takes precedence over all the ways in which you think that Veird should be. You will accept this and not threaten how we run things ever again, or we are at an impasse which cannot be solved.”

“I am not threatening you. If I were threatening you, you would know it. I was merely pointing out that how you do things here is exactly the reason why Veird is both secured, and so very fragile at the same time.”

“No. Father. The reason Veird is fragile is because of you.”

Erick interrupted, “Why are you moving so fast on this dungeon and anti-[Teleport] thing? I still don’t understand this. You two are obviously still against each other—”

“I am not against Rozeta! Bah!”

Rozeta looked askance at her father, disbelieving, then said to Erick, “Because none of our futures are assured, everything is in chaos, and I need ten thousand different trajectories toward the future in the hopes that one of them works well enough to save all the rest. You started the spell rolling, Erick, but every single one of us is needed to keep it going in the right direction, and I plan on keeping it going from here until eternity. To that end, I have recognized that almost every one of those trajectories leads toward a different type of Script than the one we have today. The dungeon cores will allow for extensive testing of variations of the Script before those prototype Scripts become a reality, so, according to the numbers, it really doesn’t matter how many fake people or real people we kill. We’re building for the rest of eternity here. Obviously, I do not want to cause undue harm, but poison can work well as medicine in the right dosage.”

Melemizargo laughed. “Ah! Wonderful! Wonderful! So let us all get the dosage right, right!”

Rozeta’s lips were a tight line. She said nothing.

Erick said nothing, either.

- - - -

Erick stood just outside of the [Tea Party].

Every single person who had come to the Feast, aside from Fallopolis and himself, were seated around small tables, drinking tea and talking of [Teleport] in a calm, rational manner. It was completely unnatural. Erick hated it for so many different reasons, but he had allowed it to happen because the alternative was everyone killing everyone else.

And now it was time to end this horror.

“This has gone on long enough, Fairy Moon. The discussion is cyclical and you are purposefully keeping them all under your control.” Erick said, “End it in a controlled manner.”

Fairy Moon stepped away from refilling Quilatalap’s cup, a large pot of tea in her hands. She did not look to Erick as she went to fill Zolan’s cup, saying, “Then be prepared to claim their calm yourself. Quilatalap quickens quickly.”

Quilatalap’s head jerked. He blinked. He set down his tea cup and then flicked it with a finger, sending it far. But not to the ground. Tea cup floated in the air, then came back to Quilatalap’s saucer, where it landed perfectly. All the spilled tea flowed through the air, back into the cup.

Quilatalap frowned at that, but it was an incomprehensible sort of frown, as though he couldn’t understand what had happened. And then he blinked again, and again and again. His soul stirred. Those internal teeth of his anima expanded, ripping at the ephemeral threads of Elemental Fae all around—

Quilatalap shoved away from the table, regaining more and more control of himself, growling out, “Fairy Moon… I will rip… I will…”

Erick spoke, “Quilat Alap Aloon Alee. Holy Necromancer of Koyabez. Peace be upon us all, please. Please come out of your justifiable rage.”

Quilatalap paused on hearing Erick’s voice. He shook his head again, blinking hard as Erick spoke his full name, while naming him a priest of Koyabez. His eyes briefly turned red before Erick asked for peace, rapidly returning to their normal dark green, a subtle redness flowing away from his whole body. His Rage was over, but his anger remained strong as he pulled himself away from the [Tea Party], his fang-filled soul ripping at the Fae Magic ensorcelling him, his steps labored but quickly growing in surety.

He stared at Erick, standing twenty meters away, and then he began walking toward him. As he got closer he whispered a demand, “Get me away from her.”

Erick wrapped the man in light and stepped them both to the throne room at the top of the tower, more than 400 meters away.

Quilatalap instantly rounded on Erick, his voice full of calm rage, “I need you to do two things, Erick. I need you to explain to me what happened while I was ensorcelled, and I need you to attempt to tell me why you did not rescue me from that ensorcelling right away. The second you will explain in words. The first you will explain through [Telepathy] dump. If I am unhappy with either explanation, you and I are over. Either way, I need some time alone after this. It might be a day. It might be a year.”

Erick calmly said, “I am sorry that I did not command Fairy Moon to cease her [Tea Party] right away. I did not want people to fight and—”

“YOU AND I COULD HAVE TAKEN THEM.” Quilatalap calmed, but not really, as he said, “Those who had died would be brought back. Chances are the fight would end after either of our first salvos.”

Erick waited a moment, then he said, “I did not want people to fight. I was furious myself. I needed answers and... I made a call that was not the call you would have made. I am sorry. I was…” His voice trailed off. He almost spoke of his own fears of that [Tea Party]. But...

Quilatalap breathed. “I have never spoken about a certain thing with you, and you have thankfully never asked, though you know that she and I are… She and I are not on good terms. You have never spoken of your own time under that fairy, but everyone knows what happened to you, and the reasons you hate her, too. You were ensorcelled for a few days. She had me for years. I will not speak on this with you, not right now, but I need you to know that I know what you went through, and if she had done anything like that again to you, I would have tried— I would have tried and failed…” Quilatalap breathed. “Let us move on.”

Erick watched Quilatalap’s Rage surface beyond his dark green eyes, like glitters of red among the rest, and Erick felt that Rage himself. He didn’t know exactly what Quilatalap had gone through. But Erick knew enough.

“I’m sorry.”

Quilatalap spat, “She wouldn’t have touched you. You could have walked right into that [Tea Party] and pulled me out.”

The pure terror that filled Erick’s mind surprised even him. He could walk into that? No. No he could not. Never. “I… I couldn’t walk into that. I’m sorry.”

Quilatalap breathed. He stepped away. He stared at the ceiling, at the nebulae and billion stars and the rainbow ephemera of a universe that might exist out there, but which was only visible with telescopes and special Elemental Light spells, or Elemental Star spells. Or maybe it was all an illusion cast by Melemizargo’s Feast Barrier magics. The only thing Erick truly knew about the sky at that moment was that it was a distraction for both of them.

After a moment of silence, Erick repeated, “I’m sorry, Quilatalap. I came when I could.”

“… I’ll take that overview of the last several hours now. I don’t need the density of the reports you have given to the Mind Mages, but I do need to know what happened, and what you were doing while I was… Under the fairy.”

“Okay.”

Erick sent the telepathic message.

Quilatalap closed his eyes, pulling apart what he had received, as he said, “You can go back downstairs now.”

Erick left.

- - - -

Extracting the others from the [Tea Party] took time.

Erick focused on those who had almost gone to war, first. Zolan and the hidden powers that the castellan had placed into the feast came out of the party. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Zolan and his seven hidden Elites were able to make themselves calm and coordinated rather quickly.

Zolan said, “Looking back on it, that was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever been through, but now I know a great deal more about what went on in that dungeon and how millions will die from the loss of [Teleport] and—” He took a breath. He said, “We have a lot of work to do. Have you spoken to the gods at all?”

“I have done that and a lot more. Use your Book Magic and read this first—” Erick tried to hand off the black book Melemizargo had given him, but the book passed through Zolan’s hands like so many shadows. “… I’ll send you a telepathic drop.”

Zolan frowned as the shadowy book returned to solidity inside Erick’s hands. “I would hear your experience with the godly decrees instead. Hollowsaur and Fairy Moon and the three elites from our collected allies—” He had to bite back fury. “They had a great deal of insight into the dungeons. I am sure I will learn whatever specifics are in that book in time.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t respond sooner, Zolan.”

Zolan just shook his head.

Erick sent Zolan an overview of his own experience of the last several hours, and then he had Aisha and Volaro come out of the [Tea Party]. He apologized to the two of them as well.

Volaro said, “This is not worthy of an apology; we were prepared to explode over each other, and that fight was prevented. This is not the first time Fairy Moon has done this, and it will not be the last.”

“The way the fight was prevented is an eternally distant and non-important thing when compared to the reasons for the fight.” Aisha said, “I am glad, however, that we were able to have that calm discussion, for the work that comes next will save millions of lives, cause a rapid and unavoidable expansion of the powers of House Benevolence, and cause untold hatred against us, for people will think that you did this on purpose so that you could have power over the transportation of the world, and the gold gained from that power.”

Erick said, “I saw some of your conversations on all that. I’ll drop the [Gate] fees to a silver… or less. A copper. I don’t know. Free? I would do free, but free means that I cannot pay the people who will be necessary to upkeep the system.”

Aisha relaxed a fraction—

Zolan spoke up, “A silver per transport is reasonable; a tenth of current costs. The infrastructure expansion alone will not support anything cheaper, and that’s not even counting our king personally making the Gates for the next few years.”

Volaro asked, “Places like Enduring Forge and Ar’Cosmos and Stratagold will assist with Gate creation, though, yes?”

Erick said, “I hope so, but I don’t know.”

Aisha said, “The technique is too difficult. Of course, we could just make them out of platinum now that everyone will know that Erick has [Duplicate].”

“The Headmaster will provide the materials if the Geodes don’t.” Zolan said, “We could keep that [Duplicate] knowledge hidden.”

“Possibly.” Aisha said to Zolan, “I like your idea for a chit system for the Gates, instead of paying every time someone crosses one. It will save a lot of time and effort on paperwork.”

Erick said, “Sounds good to me. I was hoping to eventually get something like that set up, anyway.”

Erick continued to pull more and more people out of the [Tea Party], with Goldie coming out next. She was calmly detached about everything, but it was a facade. All of the Shades came out of the ensorcelling with a deep facade; they were not willing to show how terrifying the experience had been. Many of the normal people, the Cooks and the staff, came out with trauma written deep in the lines of their faces.

When the [Tea Party] was down to the last person, Fairy Moon brought Bright Smile out of the ensorcelling herself, taking the dragon empress’s hand and bidding her good day.

Bright Smile blinked a bit, smiled, and said, “What a wonderful little party, Fairy Moon. Such wonderful talks we have had.” She turned. “Erick? I would speak with you about a vast increase in our Gate system, as well as several more runes of [Renew]. Made in adamantium, if you could do such a thing.”

She looked ready to inflict genocide on quite a few people, with her bright smile inscribed upon her too-wide face, her red eyes glittering with red Carnage. She was back to normal. Thankfully, the Benevolence-lightning ring around her neck did not reappear.

Erick said, “I would be delighted to talk to you about all of that, but as we will be discussing those matters in depth, I would ask for a moment of time with Fairy Moon, first.”

“Of course of course! Then if there are no objections, I will take my inquiries to your castellan, and your wrought… Unless you know how to make adamantium yourself? Or will they sell you that precious metal?”

“I’m not sure I can make the metal myself, but I have never tried. I would be ordering the rune from Stratagold or another source, either way.”

Bright Smile kept her grin as she gave a queenly bow that was little more than a nod, then she walked past Erick, toward Zolan, Aisha, and Volaro, and a few others who all stood together far away from where the [Tea Party] had taken place.

And then it was just Erick and Fairy Moon, standing between many tables that looked more like lace doilies than anything else. They were fake tables. Soon, tea cups, saucers, pastries and then the tables and chairs themselves, all began to fade into the air, vanishing like the breaking of spellwork, but not at all like it should break. Erick got the impression that the setup was merely returning to Fairy, not actually breaking at all.

Fairy Moon asked, “Is there something to say?”

Erick nodded. “Please join me outside.”

- - - -

Erick reappeared upon the newly-forested roof of House Benevolence, north of the main structure and above what might one day be office space below. That space might end up being an office area a lot sooner than Erick had expected, since it seemed like he was set to replace the current [Teleport] options in the Script, and soon. Maybe he would leave the forest up here, since it seemed rather nice. The trees were normal size. Loose stone paths wound through the wild groves, offering a gentle ambiance to the place that was heightened by the starry sky overhead, and by the coolness all around. He’d have to inspect the roof below to see if there was damage, but for now…

It was nice.

Fairy Moon stepped onto the clearing next to Erick. “Salutations, singer to Darkness! Are you as excited about the eternities in the dungeon cores as I am? I cannot wait to set up some self-copies, to see what my other selves are up to!”

… Ah. Would that be a problem?

Probably.

Erick said, “Fairy Moon. Quilatalap was very upset about the [Tea Time], and he’s not the only one. I appreciate that you saved us all some war, but I do not appreciate how it happened. I would like a true apology from you, to him, and to all the rest of the people you ensorcelled.”

“Easily done! I’ll do it when we’re done here. Is that all?”

“… No, that is…”

Erick had wondered about this inevitable confrontation for a long time. About what he could say to make Fairy Moon not a threat to him, or his people. Every time he thought on the subject, he came up empty. The fact was that Fairy Moon was beyond him in a way that not even gods could change. Probably.

Erick wasn’t sure why gods didn’t deal with her in a more permanent manner. Probably because of pantheon agreement not to interfere in these sorts of material matters more than necessary, and certainly never directly, or because Elemental Fae had to exist in some way, and they couldn’t close off every Band of Intent for fear of breaking something important, which was likely very true, or maybe Fairy Moon was simply beyond the gods, too. Probably the last option, if Erick was being honest with himself.

And so, there was only one thing that Erick could really do.

“I don’t want to ever be affected by ensorcellment from you and yours ever again, and I want to be able to protect others from you, as well. Is there some way to ensure that happens? Beyond the alliances I have already forged between us?”

Fairy Moon suddenly stared at Erick. She lost most of her joy, going quiet.

Erick waited.

Fairy Moon looked away, and her face turned impassive. For a long moment she stared off into the sky, and then she turned back. She was the Fae King, as she said, “You already know what to do to yourself to ensure this eventuality as you envision it being, but be warned, Erick Flatt, Wizard of Benevolence, Guiding Light to the Future of my Free Family, that in the way you can always kill anyone who truly displeases you, we can always do the same as well. But vulnerability to the soft sideways manifests a minor version of the final fate of final lives. A small sequestering of the self, as opposed to the need for deadly death to solve solutions. You ask for ascension, without knowing that ascension brings boons, but also a solidifying of stance. In cases of war, do you want for one to only wage annihilation? Or would you prefer the possibility of amnesty?”

Erick was pretty sure he knew what she was saying, but. “A clearer answer would be best.”

“Accrete to full Wizard, and don’t attack my family in a way that can actually hurt them.” Fairy Moon said, “The second statement was a warning, by the by.”

“And why does that work?”

“Because you will have made of yourself a paradox of power and perishing at the precipice of all. You will be untouchable and unchangeable by that which cannot reach, and only you will be able to reach yourself at all.” Fairy Moon frowned. “Now ask no more of this danger to myself and mine own! Let us talk of possibilities and production! Besides! I have no aims on you or yours; I have already not touched you at this latest [Tea Time].” She stared, “And anyway! You know that I did the right recourse. Even if you and your damned damner of souls could have salvaged all the death back there, I stopped a slaughter and led us to this better benevolent future fate, where everyone talks, and no one ruins our race to the future.”

“I will not admit that.” Erick paused, then he said, “I will, however, have you apologize to everyone that you ensorcelled.”

Fairy Moon pulled back a fraction, her tense eyes widening. And then she smirked. “Then I shall go give my apologies, and I shall call it my gift for the Feast. What gifts are you giving out?”

“Do you need a gift?”

“I want one.”

“I’ll figure it out, then. I was imagining Gates for a lot of people, but those are looking less like gifts and more like necessities to stop the collapse of modern Surface civilization.”

Fairy Moon nodded. “I will accept an assortment of rings from you, Erick, even if they are square-shaped and multiple meters wide.”

Erick frowned at her, saying nothing.

He lightstepped back into the House, back to everyone.

The entire population of the House was already deep in talks about everything, again, but thankfully it wasn’t layered with threats. Every single person there, from the Shades suddenly seeing a chance at real redemption if they did this right, to the overseers, writing down what areas of the Surface needed to be supported first, to the Cooks and servants, anxiously wondering about the safety of far-off relatives, to questions of the safety of Candlepoint…

They were all focused on the goal. To save as many lives as possible, and to keep civilization strong in the face of the coming [Teleport] apocalypse. Reluctantly, and in small whispers here and there, everyone was glad that the change would take a week to fully manifest; It could have been a lot worse.

Melemizargo could have laid his [Teleport Lock] upon the entire world in a flashing instant if he so desired.