240 (Patreon)

The sky was dark, and so was Melemizargo, his white-fanged maw curled in a gentle smile, high above Erick and Jane. His wings, his neck, his body, and his tail, spread outward like solid black voids, but with scales that glinted in the subtle light of his eyes and in the distant light of the sun, hiding behind the clouds above.

Erick stood next to Jane, on the white crystal dais that was Melemizargo’s public-access throne, while the God of Magic sat slightly curled on his own, raised white crystal dais. Clear crystal spires ringed the ‘throne room’, some of them only meters wide and meters tall, while others were thick as buildings and reached just as high, each of them filled with shadows that curled and danced in the presence of their god.

They were in the middle of Ascendant City, located on the southern half of Ascendant Mountain, right at the cliffside edge that separated the halves of the split land. Melemizargo’s tail even curled over that edge, and then flipped the other way, back into view. He was happy. Inordinately happy.

And Erick had a choice.

He could allow himself to truly wallow in the fury at the machinations that led him to stand here with his daughter at his side, where both of them were vulnerable to whatever horrors would come from searching out the Sundering. Or, he could be productive. Melemizargo had given out his task to Erick, to solve the question of the Sundering, but he had also given him permission to seek out every single bit of information and power that could be used to strengthen Veird for the coming expansion.

Erick wanted those strengthening magics.

There were some concerns, though.

Erick said, “I have some concerns.”

“Speak your concerns, and let all know that I am listening.”

Erick was going to ask some tough questions. He hoped that Melemizargo would answer them truthfully, and that those answers would be acceptable.

“Long ago you said that you consider this world to be fake, and only recently you have changed positions on this. As a part of that previous view on the world, you thought that some outsiders might have been trying to get information or something else out of you, and that you needed to fight back with all your might against their intrusive inquiries.” Erick asked, “Wouldn't we, trying to solve all of Veird’s problems with Old Cosmology magic, intrude upon that sanctity of the Dark that you were so paranoid about protecting?”

Melemizargo listened, his eyes focused on Erick. There was a flicker of anger there, but he crushed that anger. He nodded, then said, “I’m still the God of Magic, and that Mantle is not passing now, or ever, or at least until I am sure that we truly are outside of this life raft of Veird, and are able to continue expanding uninterrupted. This question of malicious actors desiring power from me remains a paranoia that I experience, but you sorting through my memories of the Old Cosmology does not endanger my Mantle of godhood. To me, what is happening now, is that I am showing you a treasure hall and you are free to pick from the trinkets and books that you find, but the hall itself is still mine. That will not change.”

Erick’s question had been a potentially very dangerous one. But Melemizargo had given a good answer. It was one that Erick could easily believe, for now.

Erick moved on. “How do you see this plundering of the Dark going?”

“Any way you desire,” Melemizargo said, calmly.

As though Erick hadn’t just called it a ‘plundering’.

“A perfect outcome for me would be for both of you to make many different copies of yourself, and to send them out into the Dark together, while you two remain here, and safe. To that end, I have one dungeon with multiple dungeon slimes ready to copy both of you many times over, and the crack between the southern and northern halves of Ascendant Mountain is filled with dungeons that give base mana regeneration per major accomplishment therein. Your repros can go in there and gain base power, to bring you closer to the originals’ power. 99% of the tasks in those dungeons are the killing of monsters, and 1% is touching the dungeon cores themselves, for a final reward.” Melemizargo said, “I expect copies to go and get about 10,000 base mana per day down there in the canyon. After a month, with around 250,000 mana production per copy, they should be able to survive the dark well enough to dive multiple times before they meet their accidental ends.

“I also expect that nothing will happen right away.

“All I care about is that something happens in the correct direction, eventually, and that we’re set up to eventually and inevitably go in a positive direction.

“Gather the brightest minds of your generation. Ward the walls. Set up in another location that more fits with your desire for security, though I will still go to that location and make it mine, but whatever makes you feel more comfortable is fine with me.

“As for actual targets in the Dark:

“Perhaps a visitation of the shadows of Old Wizards is in order? Someone to teach you all the various ways in which the final ascent to True Wizard might happen?

“Perhaps I can help you step into Paradox, and pull out a version of you which has already ascended to Wizard, while simultaneously stripping them of their Wizardness, to better secure this current era?” Melemizargo said, “What will not happen right now, though, is that you will not give me any answers at all. Instead, you will stay here for as long as you desire. There are many resources here, at Ascendant Mountain, that do not exist anywhere else in the world. My Shades are just one such resource.”

The Dark God of Magic flicked his wings, shadows going wide. Shades appeared. But not all of them.

“Hollowsaur and Treant are here, in the wild dungeons of the canyon and in the cultivated gardens of the northern slope.”

Hollowsaur and Treant were exactly as Erick remembered them from a few years ago; the last time he had seen them. Erick could have visited them at any time, though, because both of them had worked in this land since it was established.

Both were male orcols, nearly 3 meters tall and just over 3 meters tall, respectively. While Hollowsaur wore ceremonial leather armor crafted from beasts he had killed and harvested himself, Treant wore some leaves, and his skin was more brown-bark, than brown-colored. Both of them bowed to Erick.

“Lapis is a relatively new addition to Ascendant Mountain who has taken to making useful artifacts for people to find inside of my dungeons the world over, and under.”

Lapis was an androgynous dark-skinned woman without any hair on her head, who wore a slick black dress. Her eyes glowed bright white, as did all the Shades and Melemizargo, but Lapis’s eyes were the kindest Erick had ever seen from a Shade, which made a bunch of sense. Lapis had fulfilled the ‘1001 good deeds’ requirement of her “Repent Sinner!’ Quest years ago. Now she was on the 101 year wait.

Lapis bowed to Erick.

“And then we have Fallopolis, my Culler.”

Fallopolis stepped out of the shadows, also looking exactly as Erick remembered. She was a grandmother of a woman, with frizzy white hair that was barely kept in check by a hairband, a rather masculine cut to her suit, and a black staff of kendrithyst crystal floating beside her, ready to be gripped and wielded at a moment’s notice.

She did not bow to Erick. She did nod, though.

“Fallopolis will be your primary contact when I am not available, but if you wish to speak to me at any time, just come up to this Throne, or speak wherever you are, and I will hear my name.” Melemizargo said, “Aside from that contact, we have the Well of Darkness located below this Throne. That is where you will be searching for dungeons that might lead to answers in the Dark, so I suggest you go figure out how that works, for the Well of Souls and Shadows is not exactly me, so it takes some getting used to in order to work it properly.

“The Well will also serve as a [Scry] mirror, to let you find Jane or her copies or your own copies when they’re out there delving in the Dark. All of the Shades know how to use it well, so learn from them when you can.”

Melemizargo stopped talking, and waited.

Erick took a moment, and asked, “Why don’t you just know what caused the Sundering?”

“Because The Sundering was an obliterating event, erasing its own passage through the Old Cosmology, and all I have are partial reconstructions of the past.” Melemizargo said, “I doubt you’ll be able to find proper, exact answers to that disastrous question at all. But you should be able to see tracks left in the Dark. Events where the Sundering started. Planes that were known and then gone, but which left records left on fragments of worlds that survived for a while.

“Lapis has been searching for the Sundering in the Dark for years with little to show, but she still has quite a lot of records about that search, and not just her own. I have been asking ‘what was the Sundering’ for a very long time, Erick, and many people have done research into this topic. You will have unfettered access to that information when it proves necessary, but for now, smaller access is granted.”

Erick scowled a little at not having full access to all records right away. “Why ask me for this? Why Jane? Why hasn’t anyone been able to figure this out before now?”

“Shades simply dissipate inside of me. So they’re no good for proper searches in the Dark.

“I’ve been insane for a long while, so there’s that.

“I’ve only been able to invite people into the Dark recently, with the dungeons, which was one of the major reasons for the dungeons in the first place.

“And so, I would need to either appoint a Champion to gather more information, which I have agreed not to do, or I would need a paladin capable of truly delving into the Dark, of which Jane is that person. Though she has yet to actually accept her paladinhood, so it is what it is.

“The other major solution is to have a Wizard, True yet or not, piece together what is out there into a cohesive whole. And that’s you.

“Know this, Erick. I cannot do it myself. I have tried. My memory is a fragmented mess, but I am still a God. I can still put myself back together rather well, and your Particle Magic has helped as an anchor for my mind. You have given me an edge to hold myself together. And that is terrifying, for many different reasons.

“The fact that a simple Wizard’s exploration of a new universe is enough to pull myself together should terrify you, because I should be beyond you. I am eldritch. I am unknowable. Except, I obviously am not all that. The very fact that you were able to pull me out of my insanity is crazy. But it happened.

“And I don’t know why.

“I have a theory, though.

“My theory is this: Whatever caused the Sundering is still out there, still actively hiding, and it is doing a very good job of hiding, but for some reason, Particle Magic fucked it up, too.

“That is why the Relevant Entities of the Script agreed to this. That is why this is happening now. You’re not looking for the previous causes of the Sundering. You’re looking for the active cause of the Sundering.” Melemizargo breathed out. “Or maybe the Sundering was left far behind, and Particle Magic destroyed whatever remnants of it existed, freeing me from my insanity. Either way, find the answers, Erick, and let us put this horror to a proper End.”

Erick felt sweat break out across his body at the thought of the Sundering still being active.

And so, Erick simply said, “Okay.”

Melemizargo breathed out again, relaxing another fraction.

And that was enough talking for him.

Melemizargo gave Erick the smallest of nods, and then he vanished backward, his voice trailing, “I look forward to Ending this horror, Erick and Jane, and to civilization once again spreading out to the New Cosmology.”

The Shades spoke in unison, “To the New Cosmology.”

Erick felt another chill, even as clouds disappeared and light chased away most of the shadows.

And then Fallopolis stepped forward, being more personable, as she said, “Hello again, Erick. We have lodgings for you and your daughter, if you wish to use them. Or you can bring a cloud castle in.”

“My gods,” Erick mumbled, the depth of what had just happened leaving him a little shaken. And then he gathered his wits, and strongly said, “Let’s get to the housing! Get this shit show on the road! Know now that I’m gonna be changing everything I don’t like around here, Fallopolis.” Erick opened a small [Gate] to the library in House Benevolence. “Goldie? Are you there? Or are you already here?”

Goldie stepped out of the Shadows near Melemizargo’s Throne, saying, “I’m here, my King.”

“Good.” Erick looked around, breathed deep, and then said, “What about Farix and Queen? Or are they not involved in this?”

Fallopolis said, “Farix is at New Brightwater, but he can be made to come here if you desire it.” She added, “Queen is in Nelboor at the moment, working on several Quest-points right now. I heard they’re at a delicate stage. She will obviously report here for duty if you need her to be here.”

Erick felt some of his anger drain. “No. Unnecessary.” He breathed again, centering himself… And then he noticed Fallopolis, Treant, and Goldie’s all-white eyes seem to flicker to the top of Erick’s head. His horns were out. Well that was fine. They could stay out. But he had also grown a decimeter in height. He had no idea when all of that had happened, but that extra height could stay, too. He fixed Fallopolis with his gaze, and said, “Let’s see the lodgings, and to the Heart of Melemizargo; the Well of Souls.” He said to Lapis, “I would see your work.” He said to Goldie, “Do you want to stay, or go back?”

“I’ll stay, my King. I would like to act as your Hand in this arena.”

Fallopolis raised an eyebrow in Goldie’s direction, then said to Erick, “I would call upon you later, if Goldie is going to be acting as your Hand in this land.”

“Lovely. That’s acceptable. I’ll see the rest of you later.” Erick gestured away. “To the lodgings we go, wherever they are.”

Jane started walking left, saying, “They’re this way.”

Because of course Jane had already been here, and knew where to go.

Goldie also started walking to the left, nodding, her giant black sword hovering behind her like a plank of black steel.

Fallopolis, Lapis, Treant, and Hollowsaur, all bowed to varying degrees, as Erick followed behind Jane and Goldie, to the east side of Melemizargo’s Throne.

- - - -

Erick stepped down a wide white staircase, deep into a canyon of clear crystal, following his daughter and the former Shade of Assassination, through lands that reminded him a lot of Brightwater, back in Ar’Kendrithyst. Back when he first went into that land, he had stepped down a similar staircase, and all around had been skyscrapers of crystal with sky bridges and little courtyards filled with plants and a whole bunch of different living areas, all filled with shadelings walking around in fugue-states. Those almost-people played out their lives as though they were real people, and not barely-sentient souls of the Old Cosmology stuck walking tracks that their lives used to walk, so very long ago.

Looking back on that moment, and knowing what he now knew, Erick could tell that the shadelings around here, in these skyscrapers and in these living spaces, were actual people. Humans and incani and harpies and goblins, and all the other races of Veird, were present in this place. And they all noticed Erick, Jane, and Goldie, walking down a staircase that did not connect to any of the nearby crystals. Erick walked through the lands of shadelings; separate, but seen.

It was better than walking through a land of ghosts. It was better than walking ‘invisibly’, knowing that if the residents did see you, that they would go dark-shit insane and try to kill you.

As it was, these people all bowed at Erick’s passing, some going all the way to their knees to press their foreheads against the skybridges they walked upon, and against the floors of courtyards that hung suspended between crystal spires. All conversation stopped. All sounds ceased, save for the wind blowing through the crystal city, through the second largest shadeling civilization here on Veird.

This all sort of reminded Erick of the actual largest shadeling civilization on Veird; Candlepoint. Except a lot more layered.

In four minutes, Jane led them from Melemizargo’s Throne, to step onto a large white-and-clear crystal courtyard; one of the largest around. To the left and the right were sky bridges that encircled the area under the Throne, providing what amounted to a ‘wall’, separating the shadeling side of Ascendant Mountain from the rest of Ascendant Mountain. Behind Erick lay an inhabited city. Further forward lay lands of real monsters, and cultivated danger. That’s where sentinel golems prowled and adventurers killed those sentinels, to gain keys to the greater dungeons, which also lay ahead, in that land of white crystal, deep shadows, and grand dungeons.

Jane headed right, along the border sky bridge, following a wide gap in the crystal city.

Erick followed. Almost no one walked this road for it was guarded by guardians who hovered above and to the sides, ready to kill anyone who came this way without keys, or without permission.

Jane soon came to the end of the road, to where a large open space held out from the crystal lands like a cliff-balcony, reaching beyond the city, to stick out over the canyon. She turned right. Erick glanced to the left, and saw the northern slope of Ascendant Mountain, about 3.5 kilometers down, looking like a carpet of green with a few brighter colors here and there. Between the northern slope and this southern rise, lay a dark canyon filled with monsters and dungeons… somewhere down there in the shadowy mist—

Jane pointed forward and spoke for the first time in the fifteen minutes they had walked here, “That’s where we’re staying.”

It was standard crystal housing, looking from the outside almost like a skyscraper, like the upscale hotels of Treehome. The whole thing was white and opaque and boxy, but there were also tan areas, shadows in corners, and glinting gold here and there. Some balconies on some of the windows offered great views of the north, and also of the east, where the sun would rise over a land of crystal, and mountains.

Jane walked up to the entrance, and then went into the crystal tower.

Erick easily followed, and so did Goldie.

“A whole hotel to ourselves?” Erick asked, as he looked around the lobby, and saw for himself what awaited him. Luxury. And a lot of it. “I suppose private pools for bathing quarters are nice. If a bit much.”

There were four servants in the hotel, each of them shadelings. Three of them were in the kitchens, located about 40 meters away and down in the bowels of the hotel, all kowtowing in Erick’s direction. The fourth was kowtowing beside what was obviously a concierge desk, right in front of Erick.

Erick said, “Rise, and tell me what you’re here for.”

The concierge rose. He was a human shadeling—

And Erick knew him.

Erick scrunched his eyebrows, saying, “Gary Dearth-of-flowers? Is that you?” He had to be. Gary was a person born as a woman, who wished for and got a [Reincarnation] from Erick several years ago, along with a new first name chosen by Erick; his primary name remained his choice, though. Gary had become a human through that transformation. “You’re a shadeling again? And working here? Rise, please.”

Sometimes people who went through [Reincarnation] to get away from their shadeling status decided to go back to being a shadeling. Or they died again, and their souls went to Melemizargo because they still believed in Melemizargo. Erick wasn’t sure which camp Gary belonged to… But he wished to know.

“Yes, my king; shadeling again,” Gary said, getting to his feet. “I actually worked in a smaller hotel to the south side, where adventurers might stay, but when it became apparent that you would be coming here there was a call for volunteers. I spoke up. And now I am here, gratefully serving you. Any mundane thing you wish for, I will bring to you.”

Erick cast his gaze over to the other three shadelings in the kitchens. He didn’t know them. He turned his attentions back to Gary. “Okay. Well. Nice to see you again. The rooms look lovely.”

Gary grinned at that, and then bowed professionally. “We aim to please.”

Erick decided to just ask, “Did you die, Gary? Do you want another [Reincarnation]?”

Gary’s small grin turned into a nice little smile. “I tried delving and failed miserably, but I am happy with my life now. Everything is as it should be, and Melemizargo is as good of a god as any.”

“Okay… Well. Then that’s fine.” Erick said, “Spread the word, if you could, if anyone wants [Reincarnation]s. I’ll probably be here in town for a while, with my daughter… Who appears to have already gone up to the rooms.”

Jane had gone ahead, with Goldie pausing to look at Erick for a moment, before she decided to stand at attention at the side of the room, like a professional guard.

Erick said to Gary, “I’ll probably be going back to Aniduun for a small gathering and politicking. No need for dinner tonight, but I will be wanting to talk to you later about the relations between the dungeon guild cities and Ascendant Mountain.”

Gary bowed. “Your will be manifest.”

Erick moved on, up the stairs, to their rooms, which appeared to be four whole floors of high-class hotel rooms. Jane had already picked her rooms, so Erick went into there. Goldie followed, and then melded into the shadows behind Erick, leaving him ‘alone’ with his daughter.

The rooms were nice.

And then Jane asked, “Why are you going along so easily with all of this? I thought you’d be yelling back there.”

“That’s an easy answer,” Erick said, “My personal comfort in this scenario is the least of my concerns. Your comfort in this scenario ranks much, much higher. And besides; I’ll be changing all of this to suit my needs, and if I didn’t do this, then someone else would, and I’d rather be here at the center of it all instead of on the outside looking in.”

Jane relaxed a little, and then she nodded. “... Okay.”

Erick asked, “How were you going to go about all this?”

“Pretty much exactly as Melemizargo outlined up there. Copies of myself, hunting in pairs or trios for the answers in the Dark.” Jane asked, “Are you going to make one? Because that’s what I had planned on doing right now.”

“… Are you mentally ready to wake up and not be yourself?”

“Yes,” Jane said, without hesitation. “I’m ready for that. Have been for a while now.”

Erick didn’t believe that right now, but he was ready to start believing, soon. “I assume this hotel would have been for multiples of you?”

“Yes. I’ve been to a lot of places here already, but in a preliminary sort of way.” Jane looked around. “Every room is the same, except for the view. There were going to be, like, 10 of us, making do and making progress, with Lapis directly helping and Fallopolis running around taking care of larger concerns. I was going to learn a few things before I got to copying myself, though, so that all of me didn’t have to keep learning the same thing every time.” Jane asked, “To that end: want to go see the Well? Or talk to Lapis? Both need to be done as soon as possible.”

Erick recalled what he knew of the Well.

The Well of Melemizargo, also known as the Heart of Darkness, or the Black Mirror, or any number of other names, was the geographical ‘center’ of the Dark. Or at least that was the popular theory of it all. The Dark Mirror is where some shadelings came from, though most were born from smaller gatherings of Darkness and Shadow near the Well, and not from the Well itself.

The Dark didn’t actually have a geographical center, though.

The Well could move, gathering shadows wherever Melemizargo desired it to be. The Well used to be at the Spire in Ar’Kendrithyst, and though it had been physically destroyed in that location tens of times over Ar’Kendrithyst’s long history, it was not an actual item. It was a place, and it was sort of like the Vile and Exalted moons of Hell and Celes; gathering locations of power.

It was not at all like Erick and his production of Benevolence. He was the headwaters of that ocean, just as Melemizargo was the ‘headwaters’ for the Dark… Though Erick wasn’t too sure on that fact, actually.

The Benevolent Sky inside Benevolence Itself, located near the Yggdrasil planted there, was where Erick’s own ‘Heart of Benevolence’ existed, if anyone wanted to call it that. Of that, he was rather sure.

And that was pretty much all Erick knew about the Well… That, and that people peered into the Dark there to find answers to… Everything. Back when the New Stats were first coming out, and people were taking more than one New Stat and thus falling to the Shadeling Curse, people could journey to the Well and learn of the Dark and become normal people again…

Was that all Erick knew? … Yeah. Mostly.

“Have you actually poked around at the Well at all?” Erick asked.

“No. That was for today. You and I are mostly on the same page now, dad.”

“Let’s go to the Well.” Erick said to the air, “We can walk and talk with Lapis while we go there.”

Lapis stepped out of the shadows of the lobby downstairs. Though a few floors and walls separated them the Shade of Enchantment bowed toward Erick, and waited, hands crossed over themselves, just above her belly button.

- - - -

They went back to the encircling wall/sky-bridge between the adventuring districts and the shadeling city, and took a left only a hundred meters past the overlook. Deep into the bowels of white, shadow, and clear crystal, Erick, Jane, and Lapis walked into a shadowy space that was filled with light from above, but also wreathed in deep gloom. The path led toward the Throne, but lower.

There weren’t many shadelings on this part of the city, for to the south lay infrastructure and amenities. The only voices in the air were those of Erick and Lapis, as they walked and talked, while the smell of baked bread and hydroponic-grown vegetables and greens filled the air. This was sort of like the farming center of the city, but not quite.

“And everything is so clean,” Erick said, “Even without [Cleanse]. Unless you have adventurers that come in and do that?”

Lapis said, “Ascendant Mountain is a shadeling city, but we do have around a 2% shadowless population.” The androgynous woman raised an eyebrow at Erick, her white eyes glowing brightly. “You truly have never been here? I had thought that rumor was false.”

“I’ve been about as busy as anyone, yourself included. Last I heard you were working with Farix and New Brightwater, making inroads with Anhelia’s kingdom.”

The sounds of their feet clicking on the stone echoed slightly in the canyon of crystal. A sudden wind carried the distant sounds of people through the air, talking and laughing and working on farms, or otherwise. Some loud thing roared far behind Erick, way, way back beyond the walkway that separated adventurers from shadelings; it was some sort of fight.

Erick gazed through Ophiel, to look down at that fight, while he also walked beside Lapis, with Jane right behind them. It was a normal sort of adventurer fight, happening between what looked like two mages, a tank, a healer, and a pair of white-crystal-and-gold-automatons which slashed and flickered through the light, aiming to maim and succeeding rather easily. There went legs and a hand, curses settling into limbs like shadows soaking into sponges.

A mage went catatonic and fell over, her body rapidly flashing with shadows, and then crystallizing over in a [Crystal Curse], or something like that, and then sinking into the stone underfoot. The warrior followed half a moment later. The healer and the other mage decided to run. They managed to make it several meters before a third crystal guardian appeared out of the walls and stabbed both of them through the stomach and the chest. It missed the heart.

Erick knew from experience that those people would be cursed, unable to regrow anything for at least a few days, but they would also live. The guardians would drop them off at Aniduun, where the city would take them in and Baxter, or someone else high up, would take away their Ascendant Mountain delving license for a while. The delvers would probably complain about guild overreach the entire time they waited out their anti-restoration curses, too.

Lapis continued the conversation without pause, for there had been no pause while Erick watched that team get dismantled. “New Brightwater is getting along with Anhelia’s kingdom as well as two shadowcats in the same neighborhood. But at least they’re not like light and shadow slimes.”

“A steady improvement, then.”

“Steady, slow improvements are generally the best.”

Lapis was ready to talk turkey, and so was Erick.

“It has been good to see you again, Lapis. You seem to be doing well. Secured in your presence and your future.”

“I am, though this whole Sundering search has me worried.”

Erick grinned a little at that. “That just means you’re awake.”

Lapis chuckled, which ended in a grin, and then faded away as she said, “Everyone on Veird grows up with the story of the Sundering. You hear tales of Primal Lightning that destroyed all of that past in a matter of days. Most never look too deep into that far-ago horror; they remain secure in the knowledge that it won’t happen again, and that Veird survived once, so surely we can survive again. But some of us know that is simply not true, and that the conscious, healthy mind actively rebels against the idea that it could be ended at any point in time. There would be no way to live otherwise. If one was aware of all the ways they could die at any given moment, then nothing could get done. And so… The conscious mind hides the truth from itself.” Lapis said, “According to my studies, this is only part of why the Dark doesn’t know what happened, either.”

“Ahhh… Is the real explanation why Melemizargo cannot search out the answer himself?”

“It’s my theory, though the Dark only ever speaks sparingly to us Clergy, so we don’t know; can’t know. You and Fallopolis have his ear most of the time, and you may try your luck with direct questions. I and the others speak at the Well when we wish to ask questions, or receive guidance.”

Erick stepped up stairs with Lapis. The stairs leveled out rather soon, and came to a direct path forward. The road led directly toward a shadowy space up ahead, save for a line of sunlight that angled down, into the canyon of shadows and crystal. That line of light illuminated the wall-like base of the Throne up ahead, where the Well lay hidden further beyond.

Erick asked, “Have you found anything specific in the Dark?”

“The arch-story of the Sundering is the same, though individual stories vary.

“White, iridescent lightning ripped through the Old Cosmology, creating Yawning Voids which drew in all mana, and since the Old Cosmology was all mana, it drew in everything. Civilizations died in instants. The only reason Veird survived at all was because the Primal Lightning took 3 days to fully kill the universe, and Veird was a life raft even then, surviving because Veird’s manaminer was already divinely-empowered, and because of the sacrifice of deity-level power in order to empower the proto-Script even further.

“Primal Lightning still hit Veird between 1 and 3 and ‘countless’ times, depending on who is telling the story, but the accepted number is 3. Two glancing blows, and one direct blast.

“When Veird finally fell into a True Void, and popped into this New Cosmology, everyone almost died to the Killing Sun, and to all the other parts of this New Cosmology that didn’t make sense. Gravity. Particles. The different nature of Light, and the fact that Shadow was more magical than real. And the complete lack of local mana. All of that contributed to the problem.

“And so they had to sacrifice more.

“They sacrificed the catatonic Goddess of Knowledge upon the Altar of Need, or the Altar of Preservation, depending on who is telling the story. If that Goddess had not been catatonic from the influx of new knowledge —which is the most widely accepted explanation for her catatonia— then perhaps her sacrifice wouldn’t have been necessary. But the sacrifice was rapidly deemed necessary, and so it happened.

“Then came the Great Translation, and Veird became a planet instead of a plane, along with countless smaller changes, like the imbuing of souls into physical bodies, etcetera etcetera.

“Beyond that story, which I have confirmed as true in hundreds of ways, I have been looking for sideways-glances at the Sundering.” Lapis finished with, “There have been many individual stories of individual falls to Veird, but other than minor individual changes to the accepted story, it’s been a bust.”

Erick listened as they walked, looking around at the city, and at the surroundings. The sun was starting to set in the west, painting the sky gold and red. Erick happened to glance upward, and through the crystal spires he saw the sunset sky. With the unevenness of it all, that strip of red and gold and the spreading cracks of sunset beyond the white spires... It all sort of looked like a great bolt of red lightning, aiming toward the Throne.

That was probably just his imagination adding lightning-symbolism where none existed.

“Melemizargo spoke of finding parts of the Old Cosmology and… Well I don’t want to say [Reincarnation]ing them here, but I will say exactly that, because we’re on a Path, or whatever.” Erick asked, “Any targets for delving that would build a stronger Veird? That’s what I’m most interested in. If we should hit upon Primal Lightning then I want to be absolutely ready for it.”

Lapis easily nodded, saying, “Veird can survive Primal Lightning; as proven by history itself. That is not a worry right now. But too much lightning would certainly prove disastrous. Individuals certainly couldn’t survive Primal Lightning, though.

“But before that, there are other matters to gird against; the Dark Itself, for instance.

“When your daughter was looking to be the one doing this, we did a lot of searching for Familiar Forms that could survive in the Dark for an extended period of time. Eventually, we settled on something that already exists here on Veird, because the Old Cosmology wasn’t giving up any hints in that direction. Dark Slimes don’t exist here, but Curse Slimes do exist, and they’re rather close in stability and capability. They’re everywhere in Ar’Kendrithyst, around the former Brightwater. They can survive the Dark for extended periods of time, too. Some curse slimes might even come out of the Well when we’re talking to it, too.”

Erick glanced back at Jane. “Curse slime? Is that… Enough?”

“Slimes are fine when amalgamated with other Forms.” Jane said, “All on their own they’re pretty bad, though.”

Erick nodded, then turned forward, asking, “What sort of locations were going to be initial targets?”

“The Traveler’s High Tower.” Lapis said, “It was the collection of Paradox Wizards that did not work under Phagar. They had a majority share of the transportation organization inside the Radiant Depths, which was one of the many Light-aligned parts of the Old Cosmology. They’re one of several locations known to the Dark that might prove useful, though getting there would be… difficult.

“Then there were the Dark Worlds. They lasted through the Primal Lightning storms the longest, aside from Veird, and they were the most intact inside the Dark when they finally did fall. They’re sort of like the Fairy Paths that would become Ar’Cosmos here on Veird. Those lands are highly random, and temporary, and the only way to visit them is to find a core that needs breaking, and then break it. What you see in the Dark in those moments are the Dark Worlds.

“And then there is the dungeon creation option, and making steady inroads into the Dark through that.” Lapis said, “To me, that is the most obviously safe way to do this, for a multitude of reasons.”

Erick thought on that. Then he asked, “What are the main problems you think we’ll face finding the causes of the Sundering?”

“The primary issue is that the Dark is just one perspective. A very large perspective, of course. He is the Dark, after all.” Lapis said, “Dungeons can be used to bring forth memories of the dark, and then gradually make those memories real, but every person inside the Dark is a shadowy reflection of a person, and not a real person. Them becoming real is an act of minor Wizardry. They’re all NPCs, to use the common dungeon vernacular.

“But in reality, they’re more… Dark imprints that have the possibility of becoming true people, of having their soul reawaken, if they’re given enough time and impetus to reawaken.” Lapis looked at Erick, as she said, “The Dark is Creation. He is only Paradox and Destruction in small ways. You are Paradox in a major way. With the Dark’s guidance, and your own power, you might be able to find something real in the memory of the past, like that bracelet around your wrist, and bring it out into this world.”

Erick’s staff of golden wheat reflections popped into the air, to float beside them.

Lapis nodded, then turned forward, and continued, “That sort of Wizardry would be the best for drawing forth a perspective from the Dark that does not actually exist in the Dark at all. Maybe, from this other perspective, we might find the answers we’re looking for.”

Erick thought on that, his eyes looking ahead, as ideas began to percolate in his mind.

They soon reached another wide staircase leading up toward the Throne itself, but this one led inside, instead of onto what Erick now understood as the ‘roof’. That path took them through an archway that reminded Erick of the one he had once seen in front of the Armory of Ar’Kendrithyst, where he had met Quilatalap for the first time, under his guise as the Caretaker.

It was an artistic sort of archway, composed of many people of all races and shapes, all done in black stone, all of them reaching upward, or helping each other to reach higher, toward a single white sphere above the archway that looked almost like one of Melemizargo’s eyes. The gateway was large enough for Erick to walk through in his dragon form, and the hallway beyond was even larger.

Beyond that black archway lay white walls of crystal, laced with shadow, and tree-trunk sized black pillars holding up a black, arched roof. Much deeper into that grand hall lay a massive open space, like a cavern, where a black pool rested in the middle, perfectly circular and placid. It was the Well of Melemizargo.

… And there was more to that space than Erick realized.

As Erick stepped onto the landing in front of the archway, he looked at the archway again, stressing his mana sense to the limit, and then going further with the All-Seeing Eye.

The interior space of that black archway of people… wavered.

“That’s a dungeon portal,” Erick said, looking up at the stone bodies pretending to be a simple archway. “That’s a dungeon in there.”

Lapis nodded. “Yes. It’s a hidden dungeon. Shadelings sometimes come out of the Well, but mostly they exist in the shadow city inside this grand dungeon. This portal is the entrance into that dungeon… It’s easier to see and understand than to explain.”

Erick was apprehensive about walking into a dungeon—

But Jane walked forward, Lapis followed.

Erick put aside his lack of trust, and spoke as he walked, “My first instinct is more along the lines of ‘what can Veird get out of this’, to prevent subsequent catastrophes, especially since it appears we will be dealing with Wizardry. How do you feel about focusing our efforts in that direction? And if we should happen to cross the Sundering, then—” Jane and Lapis had already crossed into the dungeon space, but now Erick followed, stepping through the archway…  And nothing seemed to happen. He couldn’t even tell if his magic had been minimized, for it was all still working as it should. Even his staff still floated beside him. “... If we should happen to cross the path of the Sundering, then it will happen when we’re more prepared for that event.”

Lapis nodded as she continued to walk toward the Well, saying, “A more prudent use of resources could not be had.”

Jane stopped ten meters before the edge of the black pool, where a thin line of gold had been inlaid into the otherwise-white floor, like a ring encircling the whole pool.

Erick was glad that she had stopped, because his mana senses ended at that pool of black. There was nothing there as far as he could see, or sense. Using his All-Seeing Eye… Was not something Erick wanted to do in this location, right now, not knowing anything at all about what this Well of Darkness could actually do, or how it would respond to such an overt attempt to pierce its secrets. Despite how placid it was, and how silent it was, that black pool felt alive in a way few other things could ever hope to be called ‘alive’.

Jane seemed ready to open her mouth normally, and speak normally, but then she changed that idea, and spoke softly, “How does this work?”

Her quiet voice filled the entire cavern.

Lapis’s voice was much more normal. “Melemizargo is not actually here unless he wishes to be. This Well is for communication with the OverDark, which is not a real thing, but the idea is easier to get across when speaking in blasphemous, incorrect terms. Remain behind the gold line, and your words will barely reach the Dark. Step forward and brave oblivion by speaking your heart, praying for answers you can use.

“Using the Well properly requires speaking clearly in both word and action and magic.

“But at the same time, to speak to the Well of Darkness is to reach for True Magic.

“This is not for the weak. This is not for the unsure. If you harbor any of that within you, then to use this area is to invite oblivion to scour you clean from the world as it drags you down into its depths for proper answers.” Lapis said, “Those who have no Truth are the most vulnerable to the Well. Shadelings and Shades are least vulnerable, unless we actually touch the well, and then we are rather more vulnerable than most. An archwarrior, almost-Paladin of Melemizargo, and a secured Wizard dragon, should be reasonably safe, as long as you have clear ideas of what you want to know.

“Directly asking about the causes of the Sundering is not a good line of inquiry.”

Erick thought for a moment, then spoke with solidity, “I’m going to rattle off some inquiries that do not go against your warning, if that is safe to do in this location.”

His voice remained normal, for it did not spread out to fill the cavern, as Jane’s had. Thanks to Lapis’s words, and that small experiment of Erick’s, Erick understood that Jane’s query of ‘how does this work’ was way too open ended, while Erick’s own words had been more declarative than questioning. Jane noticed what Erick had noticed, and rapidly came to the same conclusion.

Lapis said, “Words stated instead of questions asked are a safe way to test your words before they become questions.”

Erick nodded.

He did not cross the gold line as he spoke, his words rippling the surface of the waters, “Evil gods responsible for great losses, and the possibility of those Evil gods somehow gaining a whole lot more power, even power over the Dark Itself, could happen if we searched for dead, Evil Gods in the Dark.”

The not-question had been a major one. But the Well did not react, save to ripple slightly. Could have just been the wind, though.

Erick would ask actual questions later, but for now, he continued with the not-questions. “Ancient magics that were responsible for great destruction, somehow gaining power over the Dark, could threaten Veird if we searched for those.”

Just another ripple.

“Destruction Wizards would be dangerous to find in the Dark.”

Just a ripple. Though perhaps it was a larger ripple than normal.

Erick decided to ask a Sundering question, or at least something closer to that sort of danger. “The possibility exists that the Dark Itself would want to purge the Old Cosmology, and cause a Sundering-like event.”

The Well rippled angrily. A low growl-like sound, almost too soft to be called a growl, echoed through the area.

“Perhaps the Sundering was caused by Xoat waking up and reconstituting all of the Old Cosmology back into himself, killing all the Old Cosmology in the process.”

The Well did nothing at all.

“The Sundering could have been caused by forces outside of the Old Cosmology, here in this New Cosmology or in other universes, of which the Fae often traveled freely.”

The air thrummed with distant power. Black water rippled deep.

Erick had held back his Intent from his words, perhaps because he was only preparing the air and the Well of Souls for the real questions, or perhaps because he had truly been trying to keep things simple, for now. But something called to him in those black waters. Erick had been teasing the Dark, and the Dark wanted something substantial.

Erick found himself stepping to the golden line on the marble ground.

He did not step far over that line, but he was close enough. And then Erick began to unfurl the power of his core, to let his intent seep into his voice, because what he truly wanted to know was not what caused the Sundering at all, even though that was what everyone else wanted, and why he was here, and why this was happening at all.

He wanted something more.

“What would be the single greatest thing to bring from the Old Cosmology into this new universe?”

The answer had come throughout the very firmament of the room itself, like a hammer wrapped in towel, the blow blunted only a little. Jane shielded herself right before reality vibrated like a [Strike]. She got sent flying to the edge of the room where she righted herself like a superhero landing on concrete, her legs crunching marble underfoot.

Lapis splashed away in a shower of shadows that almost instantly regathered into a person, much further away from the Well of Souls. She sported wounds everywhere, and her dress was shredded.

Erick withstood the Well’s answer like a stone in a storm of knives, his clothes disintegrating off his chest, and half away from his legs, his All-Seeing Eye flailed about on his neck while his staff huddled behind him, alongside Ophiel.

The answer was simple.

A CREATION WIZARD COMPARABLE TO YOURSELF

Erick fixed his clothes—

Hmm. [Mend] didn’t work properly. Ah. The manasphere imprint of his clothes had been thoroughly trashed, and when [Mend]ed, all Erick had ended up with was even more shreds hanging off of his body. He spent a few moments using [Duplicate] on his remaining fabrics, and then manually [Fabricate]ing them into what he had been wearing, but simpler; just a nice shirt, and nice pants. The shoes could remain obliterated, he supposed.

As Erick did that, he considered the Well’s answer.

The first thing to consider was that there had been no voice, no actual words. Melemizargo might have been the one speaking that answer, but Erick didn’t think he had, because to attempt a trick like that was easy enough to disprove; Erick was going to speak to Rozeta and possibly Phagar later, and they would have words to give regarding this event. Also, Erick certainly wasn’t going to be doing any exploration of anything right now. This was the information-gathering stage.

Rozeta would probably tell him something like ‘the Dark and Melemizargo are technically different, but there is no practical way to tell that difference.’

That line of inquiry wasn’t too useful.

Melemizargo could be lying, or he could truly be allowing Erick to venture into the unstructured Dark, into Melemizargo’’s ‘subconscious’, as it were.

As for The Dark’s answer…

“A Creation Wizard comparable to myself, eh?” Erick heard his voice echo in the air. And then he stepped forward. He was already past the golden line, but now he was two meters from the Well’s edge. He asked the pool directly, “Why does this world need a powerful Creation Wizard?”

TO FIGHT AGAINST ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION

“… Fair,” Erick said, his clothes barely rippled by the firmament’s answer this time.

For a moment, he thought more.

And then Erick turned around and walked away, looking first to Jane, and then to Lapis. Jane mumbled about being okay, though she had blood on her lips and she had needed to regrow her arm. Erick had known she was okay already, but it was good to see that she actually was okay. Lapis was doing fine, too, having changed her sleek black dress into something more matching Erick’s new casual attire; a black sundress.

Erick said, “I’ve seen enough for now. Thank you for the directions, Lapis. I will be coming back on my own, and I’m sure Jane will as well. Where is the dungeon that has all the dungeon master slimes ready to go?”

The cavern had four exits, each of them looking the same as the one Erick, Jane, and Lapis had come in through. Only one led back to reality as Erick knew it, though; all the rest led into a mirror-version of Mount Ascendant, where shadelings in fugue states lived their lives, like the fugue-shadelings around Brightwater had done, back when Brightwater was full of shadelings and that Dark civilization.

Lapis gestured back to that first archway, saying, “We’ll have to go this way to get there, but it’s on the other side of the Throne. We’ll take a Platform around.”

Erick glanced toward the other hallways, asking, “Will the shadelings in the dungeon actually attack right away, if we should go deeper into the dungeon?”

“Yes, and with extreme prejudice.” Lapis said, “They’re deep in the shadow fugue.”

Erick looked to Jane, “Do you want to ask anything?”

“I’ll do it later,” Jane said.

“… Fair enough.”

Erick started walking back the way they had come, away from the Well of Shadows, and back into the sunset light. Jane and Lapis followed. As Erick stepped out into that red light, and all the white and clear crystal spires glowed with the colors of sunset, Erick was reminded of Ar’Kendrithyst, a lot. This place had been called the Second Ar’Kendrithyst by many. It was a fitting title.

Lapis led the way, onto a floating Platform of crystal, saying, “There aren’t many Platforms in the city because they’re a security issue, but I’ve put up a few for your use. Other people are already using them without permission, of course, and then heavily requesting permission when they’re found out, so it seems we might end up with a Platform Network soon enough.”

Erick smiled as he stepped onto that Platform, saying, “Node networks are very useful for eternalizing magic, though Platform systems have a way of failing and dropping people off in midair.”

With everyone on it, the platform took off slowly, rising into the air along a line of light that directed them toward the south, and then east.

“That is the major danger,” Lapis said, resigned to people falling to their deaths for using a Platform network.

Erick could commiserate with that.

“Have you done much further experimenting with [Renew] since last we spoke?” Erick asked, hoping for a better topic.

Lapis chuckled. “It is hard to say exactly which miracle of yours is more impressive, Erick. Elemental Benevolence, the acceptance of certain Wizards in Veird’s society, Particle Magic, any of the other things you have done for us, or [Renew]. Everything about enchanting changed with that one Establishment, though most of the world has yet to truly catch up. I think I’ve done alright, though.” As they flew around the Throne, neither the top nor the bottom visible, Lapis said, “I’ve managed to make self-repairing artifacts and self-creating artifacts.”

Erick’s eyebrows went up. “Really.”

“Both were inordinately difficult, but the repairing ones were slightly easier. I’ve managed a Rod of Storm, based off of your [Call Lightning], that has two charges and breaks after the second use, but by imparting around 50,000 mana the whole rod comes back together, ready for proper use once again.” Lapis added, “Which is 1 use per day, mind you. The second is for emergencies only.”

To understand how large of a breakthrough that was, Erick only had to think back to his experiments with metiron in the Glittering Depths, and how you just couldn’t do that on Veird; you couldn’t make artifacts that made themselves… Without using souls, of course.

Erick asked, “No souls?”

“No souls at all!” Lapis happily proclaimed. “Not even a bit of actualization in that whole experiment. Pure runework and enchanting and all based around [Renew].”

“Congratulations!” Erick chuckled. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to pick your mind about all of that later, you cannot have made a self-creating one without souls. Now that would take Wizardry.”

“Of course. I’d love to discuss all of that later.” Lapis said, “Also… I might not be able to publish my research like a normal person, but perhaps you’d be able to bring that magic out into the world, too?”

She had a look of quiet need about her as she asked for global recognition. She was done with her ‘Repent Sinner’ Quest, but it had become a habit of hers to help others however she could, usually through magical knowledge. It was a good habit. Erick wished to foster that desire.

Erick nodded. “I’d have to know about whichever magic you wish to show the world before I could give my endorsement, but that doesn’t seem like too much of an ask.”

Lapis smiled a little, “I want to show the world both of them.

“The creating artifact was a natural outgrowth of the repairing artifact, but the creating one does have some slime-level souls to it, which you were correct to guess at, for there was simply no other way I could find to make a self-creating artifact happen. Those souls are discharged as slimes of an appropriate element once the item is fully created, though; they do not become slaves to the artifact.”

Erick’s eyebrows went up again. “Huh.” And then he asked, “How?”

With a look of triumph, Lapis said, “To start, the self-creating artifact has quite a bit more depth than the repairing artifact, making use of four different magical theorems, of which [Renew] and Benevolence became a fifth and sixth addition to that quartet, solving the whole creation problem in a rather straightforward sort of way.

“I believe that once you have any type of artifact of high enough quality, one should be able to adhere a self-repairing artifact to the third artifact, which could be of any type, and thus you will have made a magical artifact that repairs other magical artifacts. Though that is, of course, a much more difficult problem than the other two problems, of first making an artifact that repairs itself, and making an artifact that makes itself. The general line of difficulty of creation in making a universal repairing artifact is either a line or an exponent, and I do not know which.

“All of that is made rather superfluous by the fact that [Renew] exists at all, but not all worlds will have [Renew], and thus we must make a magic that makes itself viable wherever it might be.

“And so, to start with the self-creating artifact, which is actually the second step:

“We look upon the Rich-man’s theorem, to explore the cultural relation between gold-platinum-iron, and how each of them has a value based upon common cause. And then we look at Particle Theory, and how iron and oxygen— Ah!” Lapis paused, then she said, “The self-creating item I made was a Rod of [Prismatic Ward]. Not the Solid Ward function, but the anti-magic version. That one seems to be the easiest to self-create, though any sort of defensive [Ward] is similarly easy.” She continued, “Looking at how iron turns to iron oxide…”

- - - -

The dungeon with the extra slimes was located about 25 kilometers beyond the city, on the southern slope of the northern crack of Mount Ascendant. The Platform had carried them beyond its physical lightrail, onto Lapis’s manually-created railing, and past a good twenty visible crystal guardians and another few thousand invisible guardians. The automatons did not attack, of course. Lapis explained that Erick, Jane, Ophiel, and Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye, were all approved parties of the Mountain, but also that they shouldn’t go into the dangerous parts of the Mountain unless they wanted the challenge. As long as they stayed in the air and away from everything important, like the patrolling guardians that held the keys to the Grand Dungeons, they should be safe.

As the platform landed on the forest floor, and a prime shadowolf attempted to attack and Erick killed it with a swipe of light, Erick chuckled a little bit, saying, “Nowhere around here is truly safe, though.”

“Untrue!” Lapis said, smiling. “The shadeling city is very safe for all people, and the adventurer city is safe for you as long as you stay away from the color-coded patrols.” And then she gestured forward, to where a copse of trees was bent and layered upon itself, weighed down and festooned with multicolored crystal that held it in that position. Beyond those rainbow stones lay a portal into shadows. “This area is only safe for you, Jane, and the people you bring here. I’m only safe right now because you’re here. It’s not completely secure, of course, because complete security is death. But it’s close enough.”

Erick raised an eyebrow at that and looked to the gore of the shadowolf he had just spread out across the land to the right.

Lapis shrugged. “It only appeared when you were here, so perhaps it was technically considered a guest of yours? The defense is made of golems, Erick. They’re not people.”

Erick glanced back through the manasphere, into the past— Ah. He came back to himself, and said, “Looks like the crystals are the golems.”

“Correct.” Lapis cast her glowing white gaze over the rock-candy-like crystals. “They’re dormant when you’re around. This dungeon has a lot of these golems inside, overseeing the area and ensuring it is stable. I believe I saw a shadowolf in there last I looked, but the golems have been killing every non-slime that makes its way into there, and then depositing them back out here.” She glanced toward the shadow-laced gore, saying, “That might have been one such unlucky wolf. Hard to say.”

Erick took a moment to look over the whole land, with all of his senses.

And he felt a supreme moment like he was standing on yet another edge, peering at the shadows below. All these recent upsets with the Sundering search, and the Glittering Depths, and Ashes, and Quilatalap being stuck in that dungeon at Storm’s Edge and the Storm Prophecy…

All of that stuff was way too large.

Erick knew that he had positioned himself as ‘The Wizard who deals with the big stuff’, but he had tried to step back from all of that recently with his attempts at making cover Familiar Forms for himself; to hide in plain sight, and to experience the world from a smaller perspective. He had even said to Yggdrasil recently that being smaller was even more important when you were overly large, because if you didn’t try to see the leaves of the forest, you’d never get to see how real people lived their lives, and you’d lose touch with them, and with yourself.

And now he was about to charge headfirst into the most dangerous problems that had ever faced Veird.

This was going too fast.

He needed to pause.

Erick had asked to come here, to this dungeon, to potentially pick up a few copies of himself and then… Search out the Sundering, or something like that. He was still in the information gathering stage right now, so his plan hadn’t been too solid, but it wasn’t like Melemizargo’s imposition was overly large. The Sundering search needed to happen eventually, and soon, but there was no rush.

Jane had been about to rush into all of this, too… Or maybe she would have taken her time? Hard to say. Erick obviously needed to have another talk with her about all of that…

Erick decided to ask her about all that right now. “Jane? Based on what you’ve seen so far, what should be our next step?”

Lapis and Erick both looked to Jane.

And Jane raised an eyebrow. Then she rapidly said, “Something small and directed toward the goal. Nothing major. Eventually, I would learn enough at the Well in order to go into this dungeon and then make a dungeon of my own, and then use that dungeon to make more of me. Only two or three at first. My copies and I would go out and gain base mana regen in the surrounding dungeons, then use the Well to narrow down dungeons that need breaking, then we’d go out and break those dungeons that need breaking, and witness history in the Dark, searching for answers.

“The first thing I’d search for would be some monsters from the Old Cosmology that could better survive the Dark. Once there were four of us with that capability, then we’d search for anti-anti-memetic threats, but only for half of us. Two of us would remain unprotected. It’s entirely possible that this threat with the Sundering is anti-memetic in nature, or, the threat is memetic itself, and everyone who learns of the Sundering dies automatically.

“So we’d protect ourselves in both of those ways, and whoever dies would die, with the unprotected Janes serving as canaries, so we’d first cross off the anti-memetic/memetic threat nature of the Sundering. That, to me, would be the first concern of the Sundering to lay to rest. As long as the threat isn’t knowledge-based, then the rest of the search would proceed as planned.

“But considering the Goddess of Knowledge was catatonic at the end of the Sundering, then I’m pretty sure the threat is some sort of knowledge-based attack.” Jane said, “One [Far Bolt] idea that is looking rather attractive to me right now is trying to bring back the Goddess of Knowledge, and letting her solve the Sundering problem for us.”

Lapis stood stunned.

“… Well now there’s an idea I hadn’t considered,” Erick said. “Is it a valid idea, though? Is such a thing actually possible?”

Lapis stood there for a moment, then said, “I would have to get back to you on that.” She rapidly, and very seriously added, “That solution of resurrecting a goddess is way, way above my level of expertise. I would direct you to the Champion of Melemizargo to ask those sorts of questions, but we don’t have one of those right now. Fallopolis would be the closest suggestion, or Melemizargo Himself, of course.”

“Well… I like the idea of bringing back Knowledge, on the surface,” Erick said.

“Obviously, yes,” Jane said. “I barely know anything about gods and next to nothing about the Goddess of Knowledge, so all I have is that idea. Nothing more.” Jane gestured toward the crystallized grove ahead, saying, “I do know that one of me isn’t nearly enough to solve this problem, which is why I was going to make more of me.”

Erick nodded, then turned back toward the dungeon. He didn’t move. The others expected him to move, but…

Erick said, “I think we should take a day or three to digest the information we have, and then get back to all of this later.”

Jane nodded.

Lapis gestured back to the Platform they had come in on, saying, “Shall we return to the city?” But then she saw that Erick wanted to do something else, so she added, “Or I can leave the research I’ve already done at the Well in your rooms, and leave you to the rest. Fallopolis would likely wish to speak to you in the morning, after you’ve made some decisions.”

“Let’s do that,” Erick said, “There’s a dinner feast I need to get to back at Aniduun—”

Jane went toward the Platform, saying, “I’ll join you later, dad. I’m going back to the rooms to speak with Lapis and go over the research.”

“… Sure,” Erick said. Lapis bowed, and then joined Jane on the Platform. Erick said, “That works. See you later.”

Lapis bowed again, saying, “Till the morrow, Fire of the Age.”

They took off into the air.

… Eventually, Erick took a white-lightning portal back to Aniduun.

- - - -

As the approved people left the area, except for an Ophiel high overhead, the crystals growing on the trees began to flex and shift like gelatin moving on its own. That soft stone fell back together, and soon golems made of crystal stood among the trees, ready and willing to cut down anything that might appear.

Another shadowolf slipped out of the dungeon, holding to the shadows, but a crystal spear stabbed it through its core and pulled it out of those shadows, killing it in the process.

- - - -

Erick sipped his after-dinner coffee, and made a decision, “When I was first told to come here, there was a certain dangling of dungeon creation laid out there for me. That had been my primary expectation, months ago. But now I have gotten here, and everything is much larger than I initially expected. And so, I think I will simply make a dungeon, for now.”

Guildmasters Baxter, Golgoro, and Debiza, were the only ones left in the dining hall of Aniduun’s largest dining hall, after the feast. The major talking had been done. The major questions of the state of the island, and of the known facts of the Sundering search, had all been gone through, and Erick had solved a good hundred small problems and rescued a bunch of people from dungeons they had no business being inside, all while eating wonderfully herb-roasted pork, and lots of different side dishes. Erick had done a lot to solidify the current state of Dungeon Island in the matter of a few hours, and then he had a very well-prepared flank steak as a reward for himself.

The Cook of that steak was none other than Donny, who had been among the first to get a [Reincarnation] years and years ago. The former Cook from Nelboor had tried and somewhat succeeded in becoming a famous Cook within House Benevolence, especially after his involvement with the food at the Shadow’s Feast right before the Teleport Exodus, but he had moved on to Dungeon Island years ago, and now there were franchises with his name on the signage in all three major cities. He had risen to franchise power, exactly as he wanted to.

It was always nice to see people he had helped long ago; to see them once again rise to power, and prestige. It was especially nice to help Cooks, because then Erick got to eat all the nice things they made, and this was yet another example of that wonderfulness. Dinner was long over, but Erick almost wanted to ask the kitchen to bring him another steak. Alas, it was time for after-dinner coffee, and some final talks of serious topics.

“But before I make a dungeon…” Erick said to Golgoro, “You’re all old enough to have been through Ar’Kendrithyst,” he looked to Baxter and Debiza, “Or if not there, then other places.” He asked, “Obviously dungeons and Ascendant Mountain are vastly different from the threats of ‘normal’ danger… But how has the usual ultimate danger been? The threat of the Dark Itself. Are you scared of shadows eating you if you were to speak out poorly against Melemizargo? Are Shades pressuring you into doing things you wouldn’t normally do? Or are they just being incredibly smart about their pressures?”

Golgoro rumbled with disapproval, baring his lower fangs at such a deep question. He was from the old guard of the world, and had been a sort-of ‘mercenary’ in the Adventurer Guild near Spur for a long time, taking people into Ar’Kendrithyst and then back out. Most of his charges survived those trips. But not all.

Golgoro shook his head, not willing to speak on that subject right now, then he drained his beer and got up to go refill it.

Debiza sipped her wine, her dark eyes dutifully not-focused on the shadows in the corners of the room. The jewelry on her black horns seemed to glitter just a bit more as she manually empowered the magical trinkets to do… something? Heighten her awareness? Yes, that was probably it. She took a moment to decide what to say, and then she said, “I will never be comfortable speaking of shadows, but they have never imposed upon us at Zawindi as they used to impose upon us at the Magisterium of the Wasteland. They were never terrible impositions, of course, because we did what they asked when we could, and because it never seemed horrible until looking back at it from a larger scope. A lot of Quiet War events were that way, too.” Her lips were an unknowable line, and her eyes and face gave nothing away, as she said, “If the shadows are playing a longer game than usual then we’re all dead anyway, so we might as well play along.”

Golgoro scoffed, but said nothing.

Baxter had been sipping his lemon-lime soda mixer, but he set that down and said, “If the Dark asked you to come here to make a dungeon, then make one. If he asked you to search for the Sundering, then delay, delay, delay. Everything between those two extremes is not something I can help you decide upon.”

At that, Golgoro had to speak up, and so he did. “I don’t trust gods and I don’t trust the Dark. But I do trust interests. I trust what drives people. For the longest time, with Ar’Kendrithyst and all the rest, I knew what drove the Dark, and his Clergy. And then everything changed. But did it, really? No. It did not. Melemizargo still wants off this rock of a world, but this time he’s being nice about it. ‘Nice’ is a lie. That nice lie has gone on for a long time and some people have forgotten how it used to be. But I didn’t forget, and you sure as steel didn’t forget, either. Or maybe you did. Maybe you were never actually subjected to the full lie, Wizard.

“Not quite your fault, for the Dark has ensnared you, too.

“Right now Miss Jane is off with the shadows, and they’re all working together! Bah! Never thought I’d see that damned day. Point is she’s there, and she’s the pawn to get you to move how the Dark wants you to move.

“Maybe the Dark is too damned smart for all of us, as Debiza thinks. But I took rookies into Ar’Kendrithyst all the time, and those that came back out came out warriors. If anything of history still remains true, then that one fact remains the same. The Dark is a carving stone, Wizard Flatt.

“It is not a guiding Path. It is not a virtue, or a fault. It is a thing that one must test oneself against, never forgetting that it wants to kill you if it can, and is always trying to lure you back with gold and treasure, so it can have another chance to kill you.

“So delay, delay, delay, like Baxter says, but in that delay, take the Dark for everything you can possibly grab, and make this world a true unassailable bastion.”

Debiza instantly countered, “But those trinkets stolen from the Dark could turn on us—”

“Yes, they could,” Golgoro said, strongly, “You can never escape the carving stone; you can only grind yourself against it, and hope your edges come out sharper than how you started.” He stood. “I am done talking. It was a good feast. Blessings upon you all.”

And then Golgoro left, turning to pink light as he lightstepped away. Erick had almost forgotten that the giant warrior orcol king had a pink mana signature, but Golgoro’s departure reminded him of that fact again. Erick wasn’t sure exactly why he liked that nuance to the man, but he did. Golgoro was a straight-shooter.

“When he talks, he makes a good point,” Erick said. “So a dungeon and delays.”

“What sort of dungeon will you be making?” Baxter asked.

“I would like to know that as well,” Debiza said, standing, “But it is getting late, and I must go. It was a pleasure to see you again, Wizard Flatt. I look forward to your presence on the Island for a while.”

Erick grinned politely as he also stood, saying, “I suppose I must be going as well, but I do look forward to being here for a while. If you need anything, just ask; either personally, or through the House.”

Debiza said, “If you have no plans for a residency on the Island yet, Zawindi would be honored to host you.”

Baxter had taken his time to stand, but he stood with Erick and Debiza, and now he offered, “We’ve houses here, too, Erick.”

“Thank you both for your hospitality and for the wonderful meal and talk, but I will be staying at the Mountain. I’ll let you know if something should change. I also won’t be allowing people to challenge the Mountain for the next few days, at least; I told you I saw that one team get pulled apart, well I’m not letting that happen again, even if it is their choice to be there. Let the others know, will you. Or at least let them know that they will be removed should they appear.”

Debiza and Baxter both accepted this task, and then they bowed.

Erick said, “It was a wonderful evening.” And then he stepped through a portal.

- - - -

Erick had thought he had stepped onto the cliff outside of the hotel.

But the air shifted, and he appeared on Melemizargo’s Throne, and Melemizargo was there.

“A delay is fine, Erick, but I would appreciate a delay of months, not years.” He frowned. “And I cannot believe that you would not just ask me about the goings-on around here; that you would need to ask the tested if the tests are too much.”

Erick frowned right back at the big guy. “This is the biggest thing you could have possibly ever asked of me or anyone else, so take your disbelief that I would investigate you down a notch.”

A sigh.

“… Fair.”

Erick suddenly added, “And I barely told them anything, because even if all the Relevant Entities are on board with this project, I’m terrified of this task, Melemizargo, and if I told everyone everything they’d panic and attack. You should be just as scared of this, too.”

Melemizargo sighed again, and rolled his eyes at Erick, who was so far down below him, there on the floor of the Throne, while Melemizargo’s head was at least 30 meters above it all.

“And another thing!” Erick did not like speaking upward, so he conjured a Platform and rose into the air, to look Melemizargo in the eyes. “While we’re here! What about bringing the Goddess of Knowledge back? What’s up with that? Is that a valid idea?”

Melemizargo stared at Erick, floating level with his face. His voice was tense, “She was sacrificed in more ways than such a simple word could ever convey. She’s not coming back. You don’t even know her name, do you? I don’t remember her name, either.” He frowned a little, and then discarded the attitude, saying, “All that is left is her Mantle, and there are no good candidates for that position at this time. If you want to find a good candidate, then you’re welcome to do so, but I have tried giving that Mantle to others before, and they all go insane within minutes. Perhaps my choices had been in error, for I was not wholly myself when I made those decisions, but perhaps the Script itself and the lack of enough True Knowledge is the real reason for the failure of a Knowledge god to rise again.

“For the longest time, I felt that particular failure was due to this world being a cage, and all True Knowledge being locked away from me.

“But I’ve gotten better since then. Now, I believe that there simply isn’t enough civilization to support the rise of any True God, of any flavor. Minor gods, sure, but the major ones? Not happening. Even the major gods that exist these days are bare fragments holding onto themselves more than they hold onto the world, because otherwise they would fall apart.”

Erick asked, “Are you responsible for the rise or denial of all gods?”

“The majority of them, but not all. Zephyrspray of Travel was born here on Veird, and is sized to this land. After the original Wild God finally died for their failure to hold themselves together in this tamed land, Fangorl of The Wilds created themselves, making a new Wild Mantle out of possibility. I still have the original Wild Mantle hanging around in my hoard alongside many others, waiting for someone to take up that power in truth. It won’t happen under the Script, though, for this land is not Wild at all, though some who don’t know any better might call it that.

“Knowledge is certainly not coming back under the Script unless you want another Mad God.” Melemizargo added, “But I’m rather sure we’re not doing Evil Gods anymore.”

Erick took a moment to think, then he asked, “Do you really want a Creation Wizard?”

Melemizargo frowned slightly. “The answers the Well might give you are different from my own. Personally, a Creation Wizard on level with yourself would be too dangerous to allow into this world, for without a Destruction Wizard to counter them they could create untold horrors and dangers, and no one wants a Destruction Wizard to appear right now. So: No. A Creation Wizard deprived of their Creation might work, but even that is a dangerous ask.” Melemizargo said, “Whatever might come, we should do this slowly, and methodically.”

“I’m glad to hear that, because I feel the need to make a bulwark against the worst possible outcomes, so I’m going to make a dungeon, and have that be the center stage for all the horrors that might come out of the Dark.” Erick asked, “If such a thing is possible.”

Melemizargo grinned. “The Dark is full of possibilities, Erick, and you are a Wizard. In order to make your possibilities happen, all you need to do is make them happen.”

Erick nodded at that.

Melemizargo nodded in return, and then floated backward, turning into shadow and nothing as he vanished into the night.

And then Erick was left alone in the middle of the air above the white disk of the Throne. The white crystal of the Throne glowed softly at Melemizargo’s departure, almost like the land was bathed in the light of full moons, but the moons were only slivers in the sky overhead, and the stars looked almost cold as they glimmered in the deep.

The air was cool. Erick decided to walk to the hotel. It was a nice night for a walk.

- - - -

Erick had almost gone into the hotel, but Jane was there with Lapis and Fallopolis and they were deep in a discussion about searching for three specific targets in the Dark. Based on the setups around the planning room, they looked like targets in the Radiant Depths, the Wild Green, and the Endless Library; a Wizard collective of sorts, an eternal font of life, and a separate collection of Wizards based around knowledge. If Erick interrupted that then all the conversation would focus on him, but Jane was definitely the most qualified for searching in the Dark, based on how she was talking of navigating around this or that horror she’d already seen in the Dark. He’d talk to Jane about all of that later.

There were other things that Erick could do to propel this project forward.

So he had an Ophiel appear in that planning room, and say, “No need to interrupt based on me. Just letting you know I’m going to instantiate that dungeon we saw earlier under a repro of myself, in order to have a firm bulwark against whatever might come from our searching.”

Jane softened a little, saying, “Okay, dad. Yeah. That seems like it would be for the best.”

Her tone was solid, as though she had been worried about asking him to do exactly what he planned on doing, and then Erick had made the decision on his own. It only took a moment longer for Erick to understand why, for he had already had half of that thought himself.

Erick easily said, “It’d be easier for either of us to kill a version of me than it would be for you to kill a version of you, or for me to kill a version of you.”

“Yes,” Jane said. “… Theoretically, anyway.”

Erick nodded through Ophiel, and then he departed the planning room.

- - - -

Erick stood before a copse of trees all crusted over with rainbow crystal. The night was dark, and full of monsters, but the crystals glowed faintly, making the darkness inside those crystallized trees look truly deep. Erick strode forward, under heavy boughs, into—

- - - -

As shadows peeled from Erick’s sight he found himself upon a wide, floating stone staircase, somewhere near the bottom of an endless stretch of floating stone, but not actually near the bottom at all.

There was nothing to his left and his right except a great, black openness. Perhaps there were walls somewhere out there, but Erick couldn’t see or sense any walls at all. There was still light, of course. The black world was illuminated from some unseen overhead space, mostly showing on the staircase under Erick’s feet, and upon the vast, tumbled and smooth white stone land far below.

That land reminded Erick a lot of the Light Dungeon he had made for Kirginatharp all those years ago, with small water features here and there inside depressions in the white, and flowing down slides here and there. Glowing prismatic power floated in lazy trails above that ground, tracing arcane patterns over the land, providing sustenance to the creatures that inhabited the dungeon, to the slimes.

Slimes of every color bounced and tumbled and played in the water and in the light, and there were so many of them that Erick could not hope to count them all. They mushed into each other, and then trailed away to find others to play with, with small colonies of single-color slimes gathering here and there, but mostly mixing up everywhere else. It was a land of color, and white stone, and water.

Ophiel slipped forward off of Erick’s shoulder to fly down, past the end of the staircase, and then further down into that far-away land below. Soon Ophiel had taken on a ball-of-feathers form, to play with a particularly large purple slime that trundled down a lazy river. The purple slime was a little too large to be able to float down the river like all of its friends, but it tried. It was not the only overly-large slime in the dungeon, but Ophiel liked purple, and so Ophiel played with the purple slime.

Erick let that happen as he turned his attentions to the rest of the space.

The staircase led back the way he came, ending somewhere… far above. The white staircase seemed almost ephemeral past a few kilometers up, where shadows crawled across the glowing white stone slats, like clouds passing across the sun.

Looking down again, Erick noticed there were only a few hundred steps to get to a landing. That landing was still high above the slime land below.

Erick walked to that landing, taking his time to test his magics, to see if anything was barred from him. He cast a Bolt spell into the air, and then tried to cancel it, but found that canceling wasn’t possible. A Script-assisted Bolt did not happen; so the Script was partially blocked, but Erick felt his mana coming back to him through the Script, so it wasn’t fully blocked. His Intelligence and Perception seemed normal enough, too, and when he began accreting a second core in his stomach, Rozeta’s Accretion seemed to be working out perfectly normally, as well.

--

Rozeta’s Accretion

Your core now passively repairs itself. Gaining extra cores is easier. All Script-gained spellwork can now be copied between your cores at will, providing a backup, the perfect fuel for core-magics, or a specific loadout for whatever reasons, such as going incognito.

--

Erick began fully developing the second core as he continued down the stairs, testing his magics to make sure that everything worked more or less normally. And it did. However this dungeon was currently programmed, it was rather minimally programmed. Which is why Erick next flowed out Elemental Book into the air, to see if he could ping the dungeon for stats about itself. He did not get a return single like in the Glittering Depths. He got impressions.

A riot of color, surrounded by black, being teased out in every direction by claws made of both light and shadow. There was a frizzy-haired old woman, with a big black staff. A house of welcome, and known capability. A place of security in the Dark.

“Ah,” Erick said to the air, “Looks like Melemizargo and Fallopolis made this dungeon themselves, eh?” Erick stepped on the platform, and the platform began to descend toward the ground, more than a kilometer below. Looking over the edge, and through Ophiel, Erick saw Ophiel playing with a trio of orange-colored slimes now, following them up and down a waterway splash zone. Casting his gaze forward, Erick saw the dungeon core… “Or at least the entrance to the core.”

The platform stopped about 5 meters above the ground, in the southern-middle of the large, slime playground. Erick hopped off of the platform and landed on the ground where he was instantly attacked by a pair of red and yellow slimes.

‘Attacked’ was perhaps too strong of a word for what the slimes were trying to do to him.

They definitely butted up against his legs and backed up to launch themselves at his shins, which was sort of like an attack, but they didn’t actually do anything except to hurt themselves, because they trailed away little bits of color in the wake of their [Strike]s. As the big purple slime and a white slime came in to join their brethren, to attack the interloper, Erick decided to wrap himself in light and turn invisible. A bit more magic, and he stepped into the air, to avoid a confrontation entirely.

A part of him looked at Ophiel bounding around among the slimes, looking like a slime and therefore not a target at all, and Erick thought of his own Light Slime Familiar Form… But he discarded that option. The slimes couldn’t see him anymore, anyway, which removed all confrontation as he traveled to the hole in the northern-ish side of the dungeon. Ophiel tired of slime games when Erick passed by, or maybe he knew to be present instead of playing around, so Ophiel turned back into a bird-ish form and landed, invisibly, upon Erick’s shoulder.

With a voice filled with childlike need, Ophiel whispered, “We play slimes?”

He wanted Erick to join him in slime-time.

And Erick… Needed to do that, because Ophiel asked, and Erick was a good father.

“We’ll do some slime-time later, okay? I have to do something else, first.”

Ophiel fluffed up happy as could be, whistling in violins that filled the air with joy.

The slimes all started looking around, trying to find the source of the noise, each of them looking slightly agitated or joyful at the noise. Big purple did a full-body shake, and then rolled out of the lazy river, to follow where he had heard the noise.

Erick left big purple behind, smiling softly as the big slime stopped where Ophiel had cried out.

Ophiel whispered, “We be back soon!”

Erick smiled wider at that.

Soon, Erick reached the hole in the northern side of the dungeon floor. It was not just a hole, though. It was also a very large ridge, which no slimes could accidentally climb over, to fall into the space beyond.

Erick descended. Beyond that hole lay a second floor which was much smaller than the first floor, and with several key differences.

The land itself was a domed space, while the inside of that dome had some sort of intricate illusion painted on the whole thing, giving the impression that this cavern was on the Surface, in the forest up above. Dark trees lined the land, and the sky was full of stars, except the hole that Erick had arrived through; that hole was just black, and looked like a new moon perpetually hanging in the sky above.

And then there was the house sitting in the middle of the cavern.

The property around the house was barren, orange-ish stone, which could easily be turned into sand, and then with some [Grow] and some water and some clover, it could be turned into proper soil, for growing things. It was a familiar-looking land surrounding the house, but the house itself was more familiar by far. It was not the cottage house that Erick and Quilatalap had shared at all, and Erick was glad for that. It would have been weird to see his and Quilatalap’s house here, in this place.

It was his house from Spur, though, and that was almost as disconcerting.

Erick wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Three stories tall, with a mage tower on the north and south sides, and with balconies on the second floor and third floor, it was an intimately familiar house. The original one, from way before Erick and Jane had gotten to it and then [Mend]ed it from destroyed foundation into ‘new’ house, had been so well destroyed by time that the [Mend]ed version had turned out lumpy and indistinct. And so Al had helped to fix it up properly, since he was a Stone Mage capable of architecture-level stonework. Jane had wanted a ‘Victorian’ style house, but Al had had no idea what ‘Victorian’ meant, but he was accomplished in stone, and he had figured out what she wanted soon enough. The actual style of the house had become ‘Newood’ style due to that interaction, while most of the other houses of Spur remained flat-roofed places that weren’t too well suited for rain.

A lot of Spur had adopted the Newood style because of that house and Erick and his rain, but a lot of places in Spur had just opted for some slopes and drainage to their usual desert style.

Erick had lived in that house with Poi, Teressa, Kiri, and Jane, for a long while, when Jane wasn’t out gallivanting around the world, or delving into Ar’Kendrithyst or other dangerous places.

The original house in Spur was gone, and had been gone for many years by now. People kept either trying to destroy it, or venerate it, and neither of those outcomes was acceptable, so Silverite had ordered it demolished. Al had turned it into sand and brushed away that sand into the Crystal Forest preserve that surrounded Spur. Now, the only thing left in Spur where Erick had started his life was an empty space upon the orange stone.

But here was that house again, inside a dungeon, located just outside of the ‘New Ar’Kendrithyst’.

Ophiel was also having a prolonged confusing moment, but his moment was completely distinct from Erick’s. The little guy fluffed up and took off of Erick’s shoulder to fly inside the house, to look around at the furniture and at the books on the shelves, and at the chocolate bars sitting on the kitchen table, alongside freshly–seeming baked cookies. Or at least those cookies had been freshly baked. Ophiel disturbed [Preservation Ward]s everywhere he flew, breaking them as he twittered in concerned, unsure guitar noises, as he poked around at cans of coffee and at frozen beef in the chill room. The little guy was having a lot of trouble understanding what he was seeing because he wasn’t a real person with real memories, and yet he had some memories, and that was disturbing to him.

He remembered the house, but not enough to really know what it was.

Erick steeled himself and walked through the front door of the house.

Steeling himself wasn’t enough to completely nullify the emotional response of stepping into the past like this. His heart pumped. His breath hitched. And then he walked forward, into the well-lit house that was lit with wardlights exactly as Erick had once lit it with wardlights, over a decade ago.

Everything about the house was old-tech compared to what Erick now had in his cloud castle. The wardlights weren’t shuttered at all; they were just always on. The [Air Conditioning Ward] had lapsed, and it needed to be remade, so Erick did that, and then he began tying all the magic in the house together with a proper node network, casting the lines of the network into the stone, so that everything was hidden from sight. With casual gestures of his aura control, he began remaking the lights into more perfect lights, righting a tilted one he had put up in the second floor hallway so that it pointed directly down, instead of at a tiny angle. Why did he cast the original one at an angle? Erick wasn’t sure; probably just so he didn’t look perfect, so guests could see that magic and say to themselves ‘oh, he’s not perfect, I feel better about myself now’.

His bedroom looked the same as it did, oh so long ago. The other rooms looked similar to how they had looked a decade ago. Erick’s mage tower even had most of his copy of Earth’s Solar System, done in stone, hanging on the ceiling.

“But that’s different,” Erick said, looking up at the ‘sun’, and then at a few spots in the ‘asteroid belt’.

‘The sun’ was the dungeon core. That was the only thing it could have been. Bright white and iridescent, the core was a good meter across and radiating power. The planets were just plain orange/white stone. 17 of the asteroid belt’s asteroids were [Ward]ed and secured dungeon master slimes. They looked like fist-sized amoeba-shaped plops of goo suspended in crystal spheres.

“Whelp,” Erick said, “No time like the present… I suppose.”

Erick finished off the second core in his stomach and put his hand under his shirt, into his stomach, reshaping his flesh to pull out that second core. A small bit of blood scattered away as he did so, but there wasn’t much pain at all. Erick held up the iridescent white core below one of the crystallized dungeon master slimes. Drops of blood slid off of the core, past Erick’s hand, to fall upon and mar the otherwise clean orange-and-white stone ground.

As if knowing that it was time to become real, the dungeon master slime that Erick held his core under began to flex. The protective seal burst into fragments of dissolving magic. The slime fell through the air and Erick guided it to gently plop directly onto the core. It still splattered, but that splatter rapidly came back together, to subsume the core into itself. Erick held onto the proto-him, the little guy flexing and squirming over the core to right itself into the correct position, as Erick walked out of the mage tower, and into the hallway that led to his room.

Erick set ‘himself’ down atop a bed that was not his, but which was his, and would become his, soon enough.

And then Erick took a seat, to watch himself come into being.

This was going to be traumatic for himself, and he needed to be here for this.

Slowly, the slime began to flex upon the covers and veins of magic began to appear within the amoeba. Those veins went up to the head area, and down to the arms and legs, with the core in the middle, outsizing the amoeba twice over, for now. Within minutes the basic structure had stabilized, and those arms and legs began to grow in size.

When the repro was the size of a small child, Erick put the covers over its lower half.

It took an hour for ‘himself’ to appear in the slime.

Erick looked at ‘Erick 2’, sleeping in his bed. There were still some small problems here and there, in the shape of the hair still made out of slime, and in the fingers not being fully realized, and in the insides being all made of slime and not real organs at all, but Erick 2 opened his eyes anyway.

Erick 2 looked at Erick, sitting in his chair on the other side of the room, startled for a moment, and then he relaxed, and said, “Ahhh. Fuck. Put me to sleep, please. I’m too fucked up right now to think right.”

Erick tried not to wince. ‘Erick 2’ must have been out of it, still, because if he wasn’t, he would have known… “Sorry, Erick. [Merciful Ether] doesn’t work that well on slimes.”

“Try anyway.”

Erick did so.

Erick 2 frowned, whispered some curses about how he should have figured out a name before he did this, but eventually he fell asleep again. Erick silently chided himself for not picking out a name, too. Erick had to reapply [Merciful Ether] a few times to keep Erick 2 asleep.

Two more hours later, and Erick 2 was completely himself, without any trace of slime-parts at all. Erick let the Particle sleeping spell lapse.

Erick 2 woke up again, looking groggy.

Erick figured that would happen, so he dispelled the [Preservation Ward] on the pot full of coffee he had made earlier. He poured a mug out for his other self, and for himself, with a liberal amount of sugar and cream for both of them; this was not a wake-up coffee, this was an ‘ease you into the horror’ sort of coffee.

Erick 2 sat up in bed and took the cup, drinking deep, as the ether in his system was further purged by a lingering [Cleanse] that Erick had already cast. At least [Cleanse] was working right in this dungeon; it was more often that [Cleanse] didn’t work at all in these spaces.

Erick 2 savored the warmth of the coffee entering his body and the heat seeping into his hands, and then he set the cup down. He looked to Erick, then Ophiel, who was having another surreal moment, then to the band of gold on Erick’s left arm.

“I want the staff.”

The staff materialized in the air and then slipped onto Erick 2’s wrist.

Erick went, “Uhh…”

Erick 2 went, “… Well. I was… Expecting something of a talk after making that request.”

Erick tried, “On my wrist, staff?”

The staff flexed through the air and went right back onto Erick’s wrist. Erick looked down at the golden twist of not-wheat, and said, “Ah. Well. Weird.”

Erick 2 said, “We are copies of each other— Well…” He frowned.

“We are copies of each other,” Erick said, solidly. “But we’re not perfect copies. And I’m really sorry for not figuring out a name before I did this.”

Erick 2 sighed a little, and then he chuckled. “The only one I have to blame for me being ‘Erick 2’ is myself.”

Erick gave a small smile. “We sorta ran out of good names.”

Erick 2 smiled a little toward nothing in particular, and then he got up, and started putting on the clothes that Erick had [Duplicate]ed for him. “Now that I’m here… Now that I can argue with myself, I don’t think Jane should make copies.”

Erick instantly countered, “I sure as shit know that I would want Jane to be with me, if I were you.” Erick had expected this conversation, for he had been waiting for it. “You can’t do this life alone.”

“And I know that her repro wouldn’t be my Jane. My Jane would be the one out there, talking with Shades like she was a Shade herself, or at the very least Melemizargo’s Champion. Whoever comes out of a dungeon master slime would just be a repro.” Erick 2 adjusted his clothes, and then picked up his coffee mug, saying, “Because no matter how much I pretend that this person standing before me is me, I know they’re not. I know Jane’s repro wouldn’t be Jane. I like to pretend that repros are their originals, and I like to legally treat them the same, but they’re not the same at all. And now that I’m on this side, I can say what the original can’t.”

Erick frowned. “So what if we’re not perfectly empathetic all the time—”

“A lot less these days than it used to be, too.” Erick 2 walked out of the room. “But what does that matter at all? We’re kings of the world.”

Erick carried the coffee pot and his mug, saying, “Don’t you get unmoored on me, now.”

The two of them walked down to the kitchen.

Erick 2 sat down by the window, saying, “I’m not unmoored, but I do wish to leave behind all the uncomfortable conversation for when we aren’t faced with a world-ending threat that needs to be explored, lest less-capable hands do the exploring. I’d also prefer there not be any world-level threats at all, but we never get to choose our real battles, do we.”

Erick joined Erick 2 at the window, and moved onto a different topic. “Are you going to be okay down here?”

“… That’s not ‘leaving it alone until later’, is it.”

Erick stared at Erick 2, his question standing.

Erick 2 said, “I have a whole dungeon to explore and remake and then extend out into the Dark, searching for… whatever we decide to search for. But more than that, I kinda want to make a dungeon, too. Quilatalap has a lot of fun with them, after all… and I have a few ideas about what I’d like a Second Script to look like, anyway. It’s magic making, and I love that, so it’ll be fine.”

Erick nodded. “Okay. Good.” Erick had been worried about the health and wellbeing of repros for a very long time, ever since the concept came along with dungeon cores all those years ago, which is why he had never made one until Rozeta demanded he make one, as a backup for himself, in case the worst should happen on this journey. Making that first one had been very stressful, but Ezekiel was doing okay as far as Erick knew, and so making a second repro had been easier. Not ‘easy’; not by a [Far Bolt]. But easier. “It helps that we’ve kinda wanted to make a dungeon for a while, after that Glittering Depths event. And now you get to do that; I can only watch.”

Erick 2 smiled. “I was thinking the same thing.” And then he waved a hand to the left, and a bunch of black screens with white text appeared. “We’ve got a basic set up, but we can change it however we want.”

- -

RULES:

1: Script Interface, minimal settings

2: Auto-Resurrection, unlimited lives

3: Maximum Life Support, slime generation set to maximum; PLAIN SLIMES ONLY

4: Sanctity of Space, golem enforcement of life form level; MAXIMUM LETHALITY

~ Exceptions: Fallopolis, slimes, Erick Flatt, Jane Flatt, Ophiel, Yggdrasil, + Accompaniment

5: Direct access to Darkness

Note: Rules Changes Locked for <09D:23H:16M>

- -

- -

Inflow: 1,740,000 per day

Outflow: 23,580,000 per day

Use: 197,500 per day

Masters: Erick 2, <awaiting> x16

Bosses: Master Golem

- -

- -

Welcome to the starter dungeon for the Flatts! If you are reading this message and you are not Erick Flatt or Jane Flatt, then the Dark will be with you shortly. Running will not save you. Otherwise, Melemizargo wishes Erick or Jane a bountiful dungeon, and a fruitful search of the Dark!

- -

Erick’s eyes went wide at those numbers. “Holy shi—”

“There are a lot of slimes up there!” Erick 2 said, chuckling as he finished the thought.

“It can’t be more than ten square kilometers of space?” Erick asked.

“The math does work out a lot faster than one would assume—” Erick 2 lifted a hand… And then he lifted a hand again. “Ah?”

Erick understood. “No map function?”

“Not a whole lot, actually,” Erick 2 frowned at the air— He pulled back. “Got it.”

Another menu appeared.

- -

Basic numbers:

Floors: 1.5

Livable space: 103 square kilometers.

Monsters: ~25,750,000 slimes

Other: 500 golems, 1 master golem, 1 Erick-repro, 16 master slimes (stasis)

Visitors: 1 Erick

- -

“… Huh,” Erick and Erick 2 said at the same time.

“I guess slimes don’t even do a full mana per day?” Erick asked.

“Did not know that,” Erick 2 said. “A basic slime dungeon still does… a whole lot more mana than I thought it did.”

Erick said, “A whole fucking lot.”

Erick 2 had an exciting idea. “Could we make a spaceship out of a mountain and stock it full of slimes? Full slime-based mana-harvesting life support?”

“It might be possible. It’d have to be a mountain-sized spaceship to have any hope of braving the penetrative power of cosmic rays.”

“And if it was that big, we would have lots of room to be able to install all sorts of magnetic shielding and life support and all of that.”

Erick laughed. “Oh wow. They really could restart the cosmology on slimes, couldn’t they!”

Erick 2 smiled softly, and Erick saw the hidden pain in Erick 2’s eyes. He wanted to play around with mana crystals and magic in space, too. Erick almost said something, but Erick 2 saw Erick see him have those thoughts, so he steeled himself, and said, “Don’t worry about me and my fate. Worry about everyone’s fate, including your own. When I’m done here, and all the world is safe until the next crisis—” He said to the air, “Which I hope to all the gods is not world-ending!” He spoke softer to Erick, “I’ll move on and… I’m not sure… What I am sure of is that I’m changing this body into something else.”

Erick 2 flickered with perfected [Polymorph] magics, his form becoming something different. Something older. Instead of Erick’s usual semi-muscular 30-year-old’s body, with strong black hair, Erick 2 became older. 55-ish, and a little more comfortable; less physically strong. More friendly-looking, really, as his black hair became salt-and-pepper. He smiled when he was done, his clothes hanging a lot looser on his body, until he fixed those too.

“Still haven’t decided on a proper name,” Erick 2 said, “But what do you think?”

Erick smiled a little, saying, “You look like how we used to look, before we fell to Veird, but a lot better. Like we had time to go for hikes in the woods, or hit the gym once a week.”

“Did I manage to hit that ‘hot dad’ energy?”

Erick chuckled. “Yes.” And then he looked down. “But I’m rather sure we weren’t ever that gifted down there.”

Erick 2 smiled brightly, saying, “I’m allowed to be different from you.”

A laugh. “You’re going to go after Baxter, aren’t you!”

“Maybe! But more than him— Did you see how Debiza was looking at us?” Erick 2 waggled his eyebrows. “I don’t have to worry about Jane hating her because of me. Maybe I can date a woman again!”

Erick laughed again.

“But all that doesn’t matter right now,” Erick 2 added, “What does matter is figuring out what Veird needs to be safer.”

“Right!” Erick said, “So where do you think we should actually start?”

“I think I want to start with either another pot of coffee, or something stronger.”

Erick slapped his legs, and joked, “It’s like we’re the same person!”

Erick 2 smiled.

- - - -

Two men shared shots of whiskey in a house that hadn’t existed in years, and the air filled with talk of Evil Gods and Creation Wizards, and much smaller things, like making a form of Healing Magic that was usable outside of the Script, and mana crystals, and what it meant to be a Wizard, and the topic of a name for Erick 2.

It wasn’t long till ‘The Name’ became a central conversation point.

“Chad?” Erick offered, as a joke.

“Ha! No. John?”

“Oh no, I could never be a ‘John’. Could you? That one guy was a total asshole to us back in grade school.”

“Yeah… But, years later we met him again at the parent teacher conferences and he turned out okay,” Erick 2 said.

“Yes, but we still hated him. We can at least admit that to ourselves.”

“... Yeah. Now that I’m thinking of it, ‘John’ is a bad name.”

Erick offered, “How about Adam? Alexander? Or something mythical. Atlas?”

“Ha! I’ll be holding up the world, eh?” Erick 2 considered it… And then he moved on, “Maybe the name of a star would be nice. We have that Sun Form, and that’s kinda our thing— Well. It’s Kirginatharp’s thing. And then we kinda stole it.”

“Baxter does the Sun Form, too. It’s a powerful symbol as well as a powerful magic.”

“We never really leaned into it though, did we?”

Erick asked, “You think you want to lean into that?”

Erick 2 furrowed his brows. “… It’s a way to be individualized a bit more. Know any white stars? Or I could shift to a different color, actually. Ezekiel went magenta.”

“I don’t know any white stars anyway—” Erick rapidly added, “But the Sun is a white star. Veird’s sun is white outside of the atmosphere.”

“ ‘Soltic’ is already down in Storm’s Edge with Quilatalap.” Erick 2 thought. “I think ‘Sirius’ was a white dwarf star… But fuck that’s digging deep into the memory. ‘Sirius’ would be appropriate anyway, since white dwarfs are the remnants of stars that burned out and are no longer what they once were.” Erick 2 scowled at himself. “No. Let’s not go that naming route.”

Erick nodded proudly, happy that Erick 2 had pulled himself back from that depression. He declared, “Only the biggest, bestest star names for us! The biggest ones are all blue-white as far as I remember, too… Maybe rare exceptions of purple/white? Ah… Hmm.”

Erick 2 nodded, and downed the rest of his rum before refilling it, and saying, “The memory is a bit hazy that far— OH! We should look into memory enhancement magics.”

“Oh my gods, yes! That magic would have to be Wizardry, because that magic would have to create stuff that doesn’t exist.” Erick merrily clapped his hands, saying, “Bravo! You’ve solved the Sundering mystery! Now we just have to make it happen.”

Erick 2 laughed. “Remember that guy in the Paradox? All we gotta do is show the mana who has the bigger dick, and then whammo! We win.”

Erick chuckled. “Then we’ve already won.”

Erick 2 almost said something, but then his eyes went wide. “I remember something else; All the biggest stars are in the Tarantula nebula!”

“No more spiders, please.”

Erick 2 laughed happily— “Oh! I just remembered the brightest star is called ‘Godzilla’!”

“We’d need kaijus to fight kaijus in the Dark. Do you want to be a kaiju?”

“... Suddenly, no.”

“Let’s not tempt fate,” Erick said, nodding.

“How about Gemini, then?”

“… The twins?” Erick raised an eyebrow. “You look like you’re old enough to be my father. Old man.”

“Ha!” Erick 2 said, “How about we get away from stars, and go to languages. How about ‘Delta’?”

… Erick did not hate it. Which was probably why Erick 2 floated the name. “A ‘change’, then?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh!” Erick touched the All-Seeing Eye on his chest, and then he smiled. “Want to find out what we look like with this thing? It might help with the naming.”

“… I do. Yes,” Erick 2 said, very seriously.

Erick flicked his power through the All-Seeing Eye, and Erick 2…

“Well you look like an emaciated Melemizargo,” Erick said, “There’s the eyes replaced by white eyes, the wings and arms sort of crammed in where your arms are. Soul impression looks bigger than your soul, but also confines to your body… And your soul, which is inside your core.” Erick held out the trinket to Erick 2. “You do me.”

Erick 2 smiled as he took the Eye— His eyes went wide and his breath hitched. “Ah. Well. You know that fear that we never really talked about, like we’re somehow Melemizargo, but time displaced, or some shit like that?”

Erick frowned.

Erick 2 set down the All-Seeing Eye on the table between them, saying, “You look like him. Same feeling and everything. It’s like I’m seated not with the original Erick, but with him. You’re in the shadows all around, and in your body, yet not. Ophiel is a collection of white eyes and black wings. And you’re… A lot of Darkness, spread out everywhere, and yet still… You. Ah…” Erick 2 sat up, and said, “Yeah. We’re not the same anymore, at all. Well shit… I’m gonna change my dragon color, too, now. Silver… Or maybe just white.”

Erick put the amulet back on, trying not to worry about anything too existential, as he asked, “Dragon names, then? ‘Bahamut’ comes to mind. ‘Ouroboros’, with the whole [Renew] thing going on, like Jane once said.”

Erick 2 shook his head. “No… But that’s the right track.” And then he looked at his hands. “… And I need more mana regeneration and Stats. I think I’m level 0. But with a core and all my spells.” He touched his chest. “… I have some innate regen due to the dragon-thing— Bah. I’ll get to it later.”

The conversation moved back toward solving existential problems and ‘repairing’ memory that never existed in the first place, and then it went on to mana crystals again. They spoke for a long while, [Duplicate]ing the food in the pantry as desired, and making a feast of the night, with just the two of them. Erick offered to take Erick 2 out of the dungeon to hunt for some monsters, but…

Erick 2 scrunched his face. “… No. That… Is suddenly another thing that marks us as different. I didn’t think it would be difficult to leave when I decided on this course of action, because Ezekiel could leave right away. But. I’m tied to the dungeon right now because I’m the only master. I… could probably leave to defend the dungeon. But not to… just go outside.” He scrunched his face as he went silent in thought. “That is a bridge too far.”

Erick moved the conversation back onto better topics, like what Erick 2 wanted for breakfast, since it was somewhere around that time.

Erick 2 said, “I want to talk about doing some real Wizardry research, now that we have a dungeon to use for Wizardry experiments. You’d have to actually do those experiments, though, since I am not a Wizard.”

“Okay,” Erick said. “And you need to appoint a slime as another dungeon master, so you can leave this land and be your own person, too.”

“... That could work.” Erick 2 paused for a moment, then asked, “Or how about we ask Poi if he wants to come and make a repro?”

Erick winced. He could have theoretically conceived of such a solution to his own loneliness, to desire to have his best friend there with him, but he most certainly had not thought to ask Poi to subject himself to this sort of existence. It appeared that the differentiation between him and Erick 2 was already well under way. And yet, Erick could still very much imagine himself in Erick 2’s shoes. He would probably want to have Poi there with him, too.

And so, Erick said, “I will ask him—”

“I changed my mind already. He’d say no, and he’d be right to say no.”

Erick felt that Poi would actually say yes.

Erick 2 knew that Poi would say yes, too.

But both of them dropped that thought.

Erick moved on, saying, “Poi wouldn’t want to be around Shades anyway.”

“He’s always about that calm life, and this won’t be calm at all,” Erick 2 agreed.

“... We could still ask him?”

Erick 2 wasn’t sure. “Would we need some anti-memetic people?” he asked, already knowing the answer was ‘yes’.

“We probably do.”

Erick 2 nodded.