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“We gonna try for Avandrasolaro today?” Solomon asked, over breakfast.

Erick said, “I still haven’t heard from Koyabez about that, but it’s only been three days since I met with him.”

Poi said, “I’m surprised it’s taking him this long to get back to you.”

“I’m rather certain he wants to do something special,” Erick said. “I got the impression that he might send us a Paladin of Peace to join us here in the dungeon for that summoning. Maybe a whole slew of people.”

“That’s more than what I know,” Solomon said, sounding a little down.

Erick almost asked him what was up—

“Eh! It’s just… I don’t like being out of the loop like this.”

A silent moment passed.

Erick got the distinct impression a Big Conversation was coming.

He prepared for it.

And then Solomon said, “It’s painful to not be able to call up Rozeta or any of the others. It’s like I’m a complete non-entity to them. Which is fine. But it’s hard to go from… Well. You, to me. Maybe I need to start up my own international organization.”

Erick was stunned, but not really. Looking back, he had seen all the signs of Solomon’s discontent. The guy was a great uncle to the girls, and he loved that role, but he also missed just being their father. He wanted to be the person who called upon the Black Gate, to open the past to the present. He wanted to be the one to talk to Poi about whatever was happening at House Benevolence while he wasn’t there, to see if there were things that needed doing, that he could do. But how could he act at House Benevolence while also being here at the dungeon? He couldn’t; he might have [Gate], but he didn’t have Ophiel. Which was another thing. He desperately missed having Ophiel, both to enact his will upon the land and also to just have there upon his shoulder, singing tiny songs and talking about this or that when no one else was around. Yggdrasil had shown up a few times to the dungeon, and he always spoke to Erick but never to Solomon.

“Sorry, Solomon,” Erick said, and then he tried to be more positive, adding, “Zolan made me promise to not start a different international organization when I was done with this quest of Yggdrasil’s, but that promise doesn’t tie into your future. Whatever you want, I’ll help you achieve. You want to make some sort of organization? I’ll be there for you, to help with all of that.”

Solomon didn’t smile, or seem relieved at all. The pain he was feeling was too deep for Erick’s simple solutions. His sort of pain would take time and distance from the source of his pain, but this quest of Melemizargo’s was going to take a while longer. Months, at least. They wouldn’t be able to separate at all for that length of time, and Erick knew, in that moment, that his and Solomon’s proximity to each other wasn’t doing Solomon any good at all. But afterward…

Erick said, “Maybe some of the girls would want to go with you, too? To do whatever it is you might feel like doing after this Dark search is over with? I’m pretty sure Beth wants to explore the world, and she seems much more willing to be near you than Jane is willing to be near me. She could be an enforcer for you, or something like that. And Abigail wants to settle down with a man, for sure. She wants children...” Erick wasn’t too sure about his next words, because he wanted to be a grandfather, too, but Solomon needed a certain win, and if Erick wanted to be a grandfather a whole lot, then Solomon certainly did. “And you could be their grandfather? And I could be the granduncle? Maybe we could… I don’t know. Switch who is father to who?”

Now that seemed to cheer Solomon up, if only by the pure weirdness of it all.

Solomon said, “Now I just need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Poi spoke up, “If we’re allowed to do this Black Gate thing past this quest, then this searching of the Dark for people and trinkets is much too valuable to ever give up. So, if you want to have a long term goal, Solomon, it could be an organization built around this dungeon.”

Erick perked up. “… Really? I mean… Yes. That could be an option.”

Solomon’s eyes went a little wide. “… I was thinking that we would… I’m not sure. Close it off? Dismantle it all?”

Erick decided, “There’s no need to close this dungeon, though, if Melemizargo decides to leave it active. You could stay here if you wanted? Provided Melemizargo agrees to it, which is not a sure thing.”

“I can’t control the gate like you can,” Solomon said.

“A skill you can learn,” Erick said, “Or maybe you need to become a Wizard. An ignition event of your own? You’re already Benevolence, but maybe… I don’t know?” Erick was suddenly lost. “Go further that way?”

Solomon chuckled.

“Yes, yes,” Erick said, “I realized it was silly the second I said it, because you can’t really ‘go further’ with Benevolence, and you’re already that way, anyway… But perhaps you can ignite with Benevolence, directly? … I have no idea. Probably safer to go your own way and try to become a Wizard of something else, that you can make fully your own.”

… Even though ‘Solomon’ had invented Benevolence, too.

Hmm.

Solomon winced as he probably had the same thoughts as Erick. “A harsh truth. I did not create Benevolence. Benevolence is not me.”

“Sorry, Solomon.”

“It is how it is.” Solomon looked away, his thoughts drifting. “… I probably do have to pick a different path to ignite…” And then he looked at Erick, and said, “I’ve tried to ‘ignite’. I’ve kept that from you, but I have tried. Elsewhere. In between dungeons with the girls. I’d take a little trip through a [Gate] and step off onto some mountain peaks and trying out some rhymes and songs and just pure [Physical Domain] touching upon the universe. Tried talking to Yggdrasil. Tried poking around at the various Elemental Caves in the Underworld… All of it felt weird. Nothing felt right. Even trying out some no-Script spaces in the dungeon weren’t very inspirational. I don’t think I can ‘ignite’ with Benevolence. Or maybe who we are is so different from who we were when we made Benevolence that that option is closed to me.”

Erick’s eyes widened. He hadn’t known any of that, for he did not keep perfect track of the girls or of Solomon when they went out to delve dungeons for base generation. “I knew you had tried to ignite in the no-Script spaces, but I didn’t know you had gone on a trip? Any trips at all? … I suppose you do have [Gate], though.”

… Which could be a problem, actually, to his attempts to achieve an Element of his own, or even just a future of his own. The Worldly Path was a very deep magic, after all.

Solomon smiled softly as he saw that Erick had picked up what he was putting down, and then he said, “I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. I believe I need to do the Worldly Path again, but I can’t. Having [Gate] pre-installed ruined my chances of going my own way, for I am, right now, at the end of that particular Path, with nowhere else to go.” He lost his smile. “I’m thinking about getting rid of the spell and starting over.”

Ahh. Yeah.

That tracked.

This was a much bigger conversation than the ones they had been having here and there for the past two months of this Sundering Search. This was definitely a Big Conversation.

In a utilitarian sort of way, Erick was conflicted. Emotionally, he wanted Solomon to become his own person. But it was nice to be able to count on someone else being able to step up in case anything happened. Solomon might not have Ophiel, but he still had every other part of Erick’s capabilities. He still had [Gate], and could get around as much as he wanted. Nothing had happened so far that required another ‘Erick’ to come out of the woodwork, but it was only a matter of time, right?

And yet, they had Ezekiel for that. Unless—

Erick asked Poi, “Does Ezekiel still have [Gate]?”

“Yes,” Poi said, as though he was waiting for Erick to actually say the words. “And I was waiting for you to say the words, so that both you and Solomon are on the same page. Solomon and I have spoken about a lot of this stuff already, but you weren’t involved in this until now.” He looked to Solomon, and said, “You’re going to be your own person eventually. I’m going to eventually become two people, too, when this [Hive Mind] is broken. The girls are going to become different people when this ends. Fate willing that we all survive this, of course.”

Solomon said, “Right. I don’t need to break the [Gate] yet.”

Poi nodded. No need to get Fate involved in this Sundering Search; there was plenty of time for that later.

Erick looked to Poi, “You’re worried about a Worldly Path interfering with the Sundering Search. Maybe you both are.” Solomon winced a little bit, as Poi sighed and frowned. Both of them knew what was coming next. Erick said it anyway, “Maybe a bit of Fate is exactly what we need in the coming months to make this work out how we want. The end goal of that Fate Magic is the opening of new opportunities and the expanding of worlds and people. That power is anti-Sundering in effect, though not in its core. And that’s good. It’s more assurances that we’re doing this right. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am sure this is the right course of action.”

Solomon seemed to turn more solid at that moment.

Poi frowned a little. “I… I reluctantly agree that maybe it could be a good idea for Solomon to walk the Worldly Path as we Search, but… I would err on the side of caution.”

Erick said to Poi, “We’re taking this slow, and it might be a while.” Erick said to Solomon, “I think it is fine if you wish to break your [Gate], though we should prepare before—”

Erick had been about to say some more caveats, to address security concerns and health concerns, but Solomon did as Solomon wanted, because Solomon was Erick.

The soul was a mostly-opaque thing that looked like a cloud, or mist, or a dust storm. It was mostly impossible to suss out one part of it from another. Even Quilatalap didn’t know all the parts of a soul, because souls were largely unknowable. And so, even without knowing exactly what he was seeing, Erick logically recognized what was happening inside Solomon, inside his soul, his core.

He had broken his [Gate].

Something deep shifted in Solomon’s soul, parts of it shredding in a cascading event. He had to have been in monumental amounts of pain, but he smiled at Erick’s decision. He said, “Oh thank the gods. I was hoping that… it would be… Okay?” He paled. He winced. The pain had become too much for stoicism. His soul twisted upon itself inside his core, and inside his body. He breathed out, “Ohh...kaaay. That doesn’t feel—”

His core cracked, a third of it splitting off, spiderwebs of destruction weaving through the rest of it, blood spurting out of his mouth as a shard of his core passed through his left lung, only stopped by his rib cage. Lightning zapped through his chest, from his broken core to the fragment he had lost, cauterizing his internal wounds as it damaged him at the same time.

Erick almost [Return]ed, reversing course.

But Solomon pulled back. He struggled, muscles tensing in his neck and shoulders as he tightened his stomach. His aura flared, lightning flickering all throughout his body, erupting from his arms and shredding his skin as it danced between his skeleton and the table. One jolt went toward Poi, but Erick was already there, defending against that, and Solomon’s lightning struck a shield. Poi hadn’t even managed to flinch before the discharge was already over but now Poi moved as fast as he could to get away, to stand behind Erick. He stared hard at Erick, communicating without words that Erick should have [Return]ed already.

But Solomon’s condition looked a lot worse than it really was.

Erick had gotten into a lot of bad situations over the years, and having a smashed core and a skeletonized body certainly qualified, but he had pulled through stuff like this before and in much worse situations. Solomon wasn’t in any danger that wasn’t self-inflicted.

And Poi was out of the danger zone now, so all actual concerns were handled.

Breakfast was totaled as Solomon’s body crackled with power, Benevolent Lightning shattering his skin and his clothes as it crashed into the egg container and danced across the sausage and pancakes. Half of the food was blackened beyond recovery, but the other half turned into wheat growing from a field and bits of moss crawling across the table. The syrup erupted into some cactus, for it was cactus syrup, so of course that’s how it reacted to Benevolence

Solomon huddled in his chair, head down, blood and muscle falling off, as he regained his core. He had to discharge his lungs and his heart from his body, for they were all in the way of gathering up the pieces of himself, which is what he did next, sparks of white racing out of his core to grab the pieces that had fallen to the ground, latching onto them like positive current meeting a negative sink.

Solomon was half skeleton by the time he regained full control of his power.

In a flashing instant, his broken pieces came together into his body, his core restored to its former self, but a bit less bright, if Erick were guessing.

Erick stood, saying to Poi, “Now I help.”

“Well thank the gods!” Poi said, miffed.

Solomon’s body was technically dead by the time Erick rushed him out of the dungeon, back onto Veird, where Healing Magic worked a lot better. But Solomon was not his body. Solomon was his core, and his core was very much alive.

Erick applied Healing spells; [Greater Treat Wounds], [Regeneration], and [Blood Restoration] were the big ones. Solomon was already doing all that himself, but help was help.

Soon, Solomon was breathing and half-asleep upon a conjured bedroll, spread out upon the grass outside of the dungeon’s crystal-golem-covered grove. The sun was barely up, so the world was skill kinda blue below the treeline, but above, it was all red and gold.

Solomon opened his eyes. He breathed. Erick had fixed up his clothes and the rest of him, but Solomon took a moment to check himself out again, his aura flickering across his body, his clothes ruffling in his investigations.

And then he lay there, as the full weight of what had just happened really hit him.

Erick looked down at Solomon, saying, “[Gate] appears to be one of those spells that is too big to simply erase, and especially outside of Script assistance.”

“… Appears that way,” Solomon said.

“You know… You claim not to be me, but only I would do something that irresponsible. Reminds me of the time I tried to make [True Anti-magic] and my blood turned to water and they warned me against ever trying to control the Script like that again.”

Poi held himself back from spitting, as he said, “I thought we were past you doing stupid things outside of proper protections and preparations. I thought we talked about you waiting to see if Erick said okay.”

Erick had said ‘okay’, but he wasn’t going to bring up that point right now.

Bleary eyed, Solomon looked to Poi. “… Shouldn’t you be inside the dungeon?”

“I am panicking right now, yes,” Poi said, “Don’t deflect. You always deflect.”

Solomon blinked a bit, then smiled a little, saying, “Thank you for caring.”

Ah.

Solomon was having a really bad time of it, wasn’t he, if he was saying stuff like that.

Erick softly said, “Of course we care. We care a lot, Solomon. I care.”

Solomon breathed deep, then sat up. “I know you do. But… It’s not ‘caring’ how I’m used to. I don’t like being on the receiving end. I’m used to being the center. Of caring for others… Not… This.”

He went silent.

Erick conjured another bed roll and sat down—

Poi said, “I want to be here for this, but I cannot. I am panicking right now. I have to go into the dungeon.” He said to Solomon, “We will talk later.” He walked back to the dungeon, and—

Erick gave voice to the thought in his head, “Want the other you to be here for this?”

“Yes!” Poi said, and then he rushed back into the crystal copse, into the dungeon.

Erick opened a [Gate] to Poi, sitting at home, in his office.

Poi walked right on through and sat down on another bed roll that Erick had conjured.

Solomon smiled softly the whole time. When Erick closed the [Gate], Solomon looked at both of them, and said, “I have the Worldly Path Quest box again.” He waved a hand.

A blue box appeared.

- -

Special Quest!

The Worldly Path 0/1

OR

10 Points

Reward: The ability to cast Gate

- -

Erick could already imagine Rozeta, sitting in the Core, cursing up a storm.

Poi said, “People care about you, Solomon. Don’t pull shit like this. It is self-destructive and dangerous.”

Solomon sighed. “I had it under control.”

“And now you’re deflecting again,” Poi said.

Erick asked, “How can I help?”

Solomon’s breath hitched again.

Poi said nothing as he sat there, watching Solomon. He waited. Erick waited, too.

Solomon said, “I want to use the Black Gate in the dungeon to find out more about Wizards, and how they happen.” He looked to Erick. “And how they actually ascend to True Wizardry.”

Erick nodded, “Then that need has shot to the top of the list of things to find.”

Solomon added, “And when I ascend to True Wizardry, and completely discard my dungeon master slime origins, I will be treated as an equal. And not this subservient thing we have going right now.”

Erick was a little hurt by that. “I didn’t think I was… doing that.”

“You weren’t. But it was happening, by the very nature of what we’re doing. You are in charge, and I am not in charge. You have no idea how difficult it has been for me to… to be calm about all this, Erick. To accept that this is happening, as it is happening. I have discovered for the several-th time that I don’t like being less than who I was. It’s Storm’s Edge and keeping quiet while Vanya did all that stuff all over again.” Solomon said, “But a lot larger. I have to pretend that I am not here to the entire world.” Without sparing a single moment to let that thought hang out, Solomon got to his feet, saying, “And I’ll pretend for a while longer. So let’s get back to it.”

Erick almost didn’t let Solomon get away with yet another deflection. But then he realized that Solomon simply wasn’t willing to talk about all this right now, because Solomon was without agency, and there was no way to fix that. As soon as Erick had that thought, he thought about his own history, which was also Solomon’s. Was this how Poi felt, when Erick always deflected, when he was having emotional problems with his Wizardly nature and his kingly fate, all those years ago? Probably.

Erick could do one thing to give Solomon some agency, though.

“What item do you want to go after?” Erick asked, as he stood. “Or person? I don’t think we’re quite ready to rescue Avandrasolaro... Actually. Let’s find out.” Erick looked to the sky, and asked, “Koyabez? How is that Avandrasolaro question going?”

Solomon’s face dropped in pure embarrassment and a mix of other emotions. Erick guessed that he was fearful of his situation being called out in such a way, and directly involving the person whom Erick —and therefore he— considered a friend. But Koyabez wasn’t a friend to Solomon, was he? None of the gods were too friendly with repros, and Solomon’s situation had been no different. This direct confrontation was a bridge that Solomon hadn’t managed to make on his own, and for more than normal repro-reasons. He probably just never wanted to actually pray to any of the gods, because that would be fucking weird, because Erick had very much outgrown that, and now, here was Erick, pulling Solomon along in something that Solomon had missed being able to do himself.

But it was too late for Solomon to say anything one way or the other.

The air flickered and a demi man descended. Koyabez wore his normal form of a lithe violet-skinned man with tiny horns and a simple loincloth. He smiled a little, as he said, “Hello, Erick. Avandrasolaro is still being vetted by my mortals, for they would wish to be heavily involved with his potential resurrection. There’s an argument right now about who is actually going to come here to receive that ancient Angel.”

Erick nodded, then said, “Solomon wishes to be involved in this more than he is. Can your people talk with him?”

Solomon was stoic in the face of his own embarrassment.

Koyabez almost said, ‘No’.

That was surprising to Erick. Sure, the gods treated repros as new people, but… Really?

The reaction had been instant, too. But then Koyabez stopped himself. He paused. He looked at Solomon for the first time since his descent, and he still didn’t look at Poi. That’s how it was when gods descended sometimes; they didn’t look upon those who were not directly involved in whatever situation caused them to descend. It wasn’t a hard and fast rule, though Erick had seen it happen like that more often than not. Once, he had believed that that disregard was almost a shunning, but it was more a preservation of the self, and of boundaries. If people wanted to talk to gods, they could talk to them directly; the gods certainly didn’t proselytize themselves, though. They had people do that for them, and then if converts wished to speak with their new gods, then they spoke—

Koyabez looked to Solomon, and in that moment, Erick saw the god of Peace as a God. The effect was likely larger for Solomon. With muted power, Koyabez asked, “You wish to rescue ancient angels from the Dark, and bring about an end to the Quiet War? And the Forever War?”

“I do.”

Solomon’s answer had been quick.

Koyabez demanded more, “Why?”

“Because I stayed out of it for a long time, and now that I’m— Now that I’m not Erick, I can do certain things that I was never able to do, like actually get involved in all of that Forever War business, to try and end it for all time before it spreads out to other worlds. Erick will be busy. I will not be busy.” Solomon said, “And I want a purpose besides regaining my Wizardry. Peace seems like a good one.”

Koyabez stared hard, his silver eyes glittering like his moon, the Silver Star up above, forever separating Hell from Celes. He flicked his gaze to Erick. “Do you trust him with the world?”

“Yes,” Erick said, “As much as I trust anyone, and even more than that.”

Solomon’s heart beat hard. His face showed hope at recapturing some of his old life.

And then Koyabez said, “I will be honest with you, and with all who listen, because it is you asking this of me, Erick.”

Solomon’s face fell a fraction, and no more. He was a rock, and he would endure.

Erick was mad on Solomon’s behalf; he knew a rejection when he heard one.

Koyabez said, “Until Solomon is fully extricated from Melemizargo’s power, then I will not interact with him as I would a normal person. None of the gods will. The same goes for Ezekiel, but he is not center stage right now, asking to be a larger part of the Sundering Search. Ezekiel is not attempting to become a Wizard, either. Solomon is both those things.” He looked to Solomon and said, “I will always hold you at a distance until you are fully cleansed of Melemizargo’s influence, but since you have a goal of becoming a Wizard, two things will happen. Either you will ascend to Wizardry and separate from him fully, becoming your own person. Or you will become a Wizard under his power, which will demand our concerted efforts to destroy you. We still do not trust Melemizargo enough to let him have a Wizard at all.”

The shadows gathered under the morning sun, and Melemizargo’s voice carried in the clearing, “That’s a bit harsh isn’t it, Koyabez?”

“My old friend, you are still not yourself, and it will take many centuries until we believe otherwise. Do not take my unwillingness to fully embrace you as any sort of condemnation, for we are on a good Path right now.”

“Hmm!” Melemizargo’s shadow swirled. “I’m not weak-willed enough to think that. I do find it strange that you wouldn’t allow me a Wizard now and then. They all used to be mine and they come from me, anyway, and you have Erick.”

Koyabez said to Solomon, “This is why no one answers your queries; it was nothing personal.”

“Just personal toward me.” Melemizargo huffed, “Pah! Solomon isn’t anywhere near achieving Wizardry.”

“Which is why I’m stepping halfway toward him,” Koyabez said to Solomon, “I accept your pledge of peace, but I will not ordain you in any way prior to your full escape from Melemizargo’s influence. I have no doubt that this trust I place in you will bear prosperous fruit, and I trust Melemizargo to not endanger his own goals moving forward, but you are a new person, no matter what memories and powers you might have. Trust of the sort you enjoyed as Erick will have to be built again.”

Solomon said, “I accept.”

Erick just watched; this was not his show right now. He was very glad that Solomon accepted, though. If it were him being offered these sets of choices, he would have accepted, too. He had already done so once before, with Rozeta, in order to remain his own person, and that turned out well.

For a brief moment, Erick recalled when Clarice, in the Glittering Depths, had said that they were just playing parts that had already been played before, and for a moment, Erick felt that this was true. But choices were still made, and Paths still forged anew, and different, and bearing superficial resemblances to the old.

Koyabez softened slightly, seeming more like the Koyabez that Erick knew. “You’ll either need a [Reincarnation] of your own to rid yourself of Melemizargo’s influence, or ascension to True Wizard. Both would be fine. Good luck on whatever Worldly Path you choose, Solomon. My priests will be here within a day to meet with you, and to discuss what they have decided with Avandrasolaro.”

Solomon spoke up, “Did you know him? Personally?”

Koyabez smiled softly as he looked into the distance. “I did. Once upon a time.” He looked to Solomon. “Whichever version of him comes back he’ll probably call me a ghost, too. We’re all so changed from who we used to be.”

And then Koyabez faded, gold and silver turning to nothing. Koyabez had always had a bit of a silver tint to his divinity, which was by choice; gold was the color of power and everyone cleaved to that thinking, but silver was the color of Peace, and that was all Koyabez, and his Silver Star.

The shadows in the clearing did not fade at all.

Melemizargo muttered, “They have the nerve to talk to me about putting levers into people, but they do the exact same thing. That’s what gods do. How else are we supposed to communicate with you mortals?”

“Talking, usually,” Erick said.

“Bah! Talk is such a weak form of communication. Look at your man Poi. He knew he needed to get back to the dungeon without any words exchanged at all. That’s the only ‘lever’ I have on dungeon master slimes, I’ll have you know. ‘Guard the dungeon you are tied to’. Simple.” Moving right along, the shadows spoke to Solomon, “Don’t let the angels put anything in you; they’re pretty gross about their implants.”

“Heard and understood,” Solomon said, seeming happier than normal.

Melemizargo’s shadow curled around the glade once more, making sure he was truly heard and understood, and then he vanished.

Erick asked Solomon, “Is that the first time he talked to you?”

“First time for both of them,” Solomon said.

Poi let out a sigh he had been holding, as he said, “[Gate] back home, please. And Solomon; good luck with your new Path. Hopefully it won’t be as world-changing as your original.”

Erick opened a [Gate] back to Poi’s office, as he smiled, saying, “You remember that time when we made the Sighting Mirrors, and you teased about ‘how bad could it be’?”

Poi seemed to puff up a bit as he took the serious-route in his clapback, “I remember that quite clearly, and trying to equate a Mirror in the Dark to a potential Wizard walking a Worldly Path is completely unequivocal.”

Erick couldn't help it; he laughed. Solomon smiled.

And Poi said, “But seriously, though. Let’s not get more Paradox Wizards, changing the worlds at their whim, if possible. I still field complaints about Destiny going this way or that, righting this wrong or that wrong. Yesterday she turned a magistrate into a toad.”

Erick winced.

Solomon said, “But she turned them back, though,” his voice filled with unsure conviction.

“The magistrate was starting to use curses to punish people for their trespasses, and one of those curses was a Curse of Flies.” Poi said, “She had the magistrate-toad eat all the flies around one of his convicts before she turned him back.”

“… Okay that’s kinda funny,” Erick said.

Solomon nodded. “I’d laugh if I were there.”

Poi eyed both of them very seriously, and then he walked away, through the portal. “Don’t make more problems for us, please.”

Solomon smiled, saying, “Only solutions!”

Poi nodded once more, but it was less sure.

Erick was grinning as he shut the [Gate]. And then he turned to Solomon. “So you’re actually gonna step into the Forever War mess?”

“I think it’s time to take that bull by the horns, yes.”

“I love it.” Erick said, “You let me know when you need help.”

“Of course, ‘brother’.”

Erick had a sudden urge to hug the guy, and so he did.

Solomon hugged back, then patted Erick on the back and pulled away. “Okay. That was nice, and yes, I wanted a hug, but that was weird.”

Erick laughed. “Yeah. Kinda.”

“But before we get to the angel!” Solomon said, enthusiastically, “I gotta learn Wizardry at the end of this Sundering Search just like you, and we’ve both been slacking on that. So how about we go looking for some helpful Wizard artifacts, like that Enchanter’s Guile? That thing is supposed to help with all sorts of big Quests, right?”

“That’s what I’ve heard, too.” Erick said, “Haven’t vetted it too much, though.”

Solomon waved. “I’m sure it’s fine. Atunir said to get it, and all the other gods looked excited for it. I’ll go tell the girls.” Solomon waved his hand to the left, to open a [Gate]… Nothing happened, because of course it didn’t. Solomon was weirded out for half a moment, but then he surprised Erick. Instead of looking sad, or mad, or any other negative emotion, Solomon grinned, and chuckled. “Ah. Right!” He smiled. “I always loved flying, anyway.”

And then he took off into the air.

Erick watched him go for a moment, and he, too, felt something like joy unfurl inside him. Flying was pretty awesome, and he so rarely got a chance to fly these days. [Gate]s were just faster.

- - - -

The girls, Erick, Solomon, and Poi, all stood on the white stone of the slime dungeon, near the Black Gate. The world beyond the ephemeral wall of the dungeon was vaguely black, but also filled with distant dreams in all sorts of dark, iridescent colors. The Black Gate itself was mostly platinum, but white light hid within each of the runic markings upon its surface.

Jane rhetorically asked, “So we’re really starting up the search again. Even though we haven’t vetted 90% of the requests.”

The girls had voiced some small objections before Solomon had gathered them all to this point, and now Jane was voicing even more. This was probably because she hadn’t gotten a chance to voice those concerns directly to Erick quite as strongly as she wished to voice those objections.

Erick said, “While it is true that House Benevolence is still working on vetting the requests, we’re not starting there. We’re going after the Enchanter’s Guile. It’s one of the few things we don’t have to search or vet more than we already have.” Erick gestured to the Black Mirror, stationed a good forty meters west of the Black Gate. He had used that while Solomon was gathering the girls, to check on the Enchanter’s Guile, and the imagery of that search was still there upon that black surface. The Guile was a bracer that went over the right arm, and it had been upon the arms of many, many different people over the centuries. The Mirror had shown the Guile, for sure, but watching the Guile in the Dark was like watching a stationary object while the world changed all around it, as thousands of different people wielded it toward sometimes good, and sometimes evil ends. “We might have to try a few times because the Guile was used by everyone, and we don’t want to bring back some problematic person. But the Guile itself is known to the gods, and they approve of its return.”

The only one convinced was Solomon.

Poi tried a compromise, “How about we look for it between users? Therefore no one comes with it?”

Debby said, “Maybe we should look at why it changed users so often.”

“It’s because people fought over it,” Solomon said. “Everyone wanted it. That thing passed around so many hands, for it was the inciting incident in enough stories in the Old Cosmology to fill a library.”

“It’s also the start of many other artifacts that we might be searching for.” Erick said, “The Prismatic Key that could take a person anywhere they wanted in the entire Old Cosmology was made by the Enchanter’s Guile.”

Solomon said, “And when it was done being used to solve problems, the user often tried to hide it, like a pirate burying treasure, but it always wanted to be found. It always wanted to make something new.”

“And that’s why it’ll probably come through the gate just fine,” Erick said. “It will want to be returned to life.”

The girls frowned at that; ‘to life’.

“It’s sentient, then,” Jane flatly guessed.

“Almost 100%, yes,” Erick said, as Solomon said, “Probably.”

The girls had more words to say—

But Erick told Solomon, “Line her up!”

Solomon smiled as he looked toward the gate, and the swirling lands beyond. “Show me the Enchanter’s Guile where it had been looking for a new purpose for a while.”

Darkness shifted. A timer appeared, 0s flickering past other numbers and symbols, to land on all 9s, filling up the black box. Shadows lifted beyond the Black Gate.

And then there was a scene. Seemed like a good one, too.

A shaft of sunlight fell upon a rusted anvil in the middle of a forgotten forge that had once been fit for a swordsmith, but which was now empty of all life. There were no embers in any of the hearths. Billows lay on the ground, some burned and broken, others with cables snapped, to fall to become piles of rust. A few small hammers held on the walls here and there, while a single lonely black ingot held in the back of an empty stockpile, as though it had been forgotten or ignored in the move. Trash was everywhere. Mounds of piles lay here and there, looking like someone had tried to clean up and stopped before they actually took the trash outside, opting to leave it for rats to nest within, but there were no rats.

It looked like a nice place to work, but only for simple things.

Which was why the glittering gold and gem-encrusted bracer sitting in the sunlight, atop the anvil in the center of the walkway, stood out so much. It was a pearl in a mud pit. A laptop in an ancient library.

A trap, perhaps.

But it was also what they had come for.

Maybe.

The stories about the Enchanter’s Guile were all relatively the same, according to Erick’s interactions with Atunir and Rozeta, and even Lapis. When Erick asked the Shade of Enchantment about what appeared to be one of the old histories of the Old Cosmology, Lapis had been excited to talk about it, but also to warn that it was dangerous to people it did not like. So it was alive, for sure.

Which is why Erick did what he did next.

Erick reached through the Black Gate with his aura and hit the absolute wall that existed between him and the other side; the Dark tearing at his aura like an Absolute Void. That was just to make sure that his plan was working. With his aura on that boundary, Erick said, “Hello, Enchanter’s Guile. You are currently inside the Dark. Would you like to come out, back into the real world?”

The barrier between Here and There deepened, becoming something less absolute.

The golden bracelet slipped a little to the left, glittering even brighter in the sunlight.

Good.

He had connected with the other side.

Erick pressed his aura against the barrier inside the Black Gate, and the barrier was weaker, now. His power showed through to the other side, but barely. Lightning flickered in the air, as Erick wrote out ‘Greetings’ in every language he knew, and a lot he did not, filling the wide portal with tens of lines of welcoming.

The portal deepened as Erick added more and more wording, his power soaking through to the other side. His words of welcoming were written in what could only be considered an act of Wizardry. Words written in Inferni, the language of the Demons and dead incani, seemed to crack the barrier between Here and There in a deep sort of way, and then Karstar, the language of the Angels, opened it wider and wider. Those were the two most ancient languages on Veird, aside from Ancient Script, which did nothing, for Ancient Script was the language of the manaminer of Veird. Ancient Script had its roots in Dwarvish, another ancient language, but it was so far removed from that ancient start, and made so unique on Veird, that when Erick posted ‘Greetings’ in Ancient Script on the Black Gate, it did nothing at all. Even Gargantual, the language of the orcols, did more than Ancient Script—

And then Erick said ‘Greetings’ in Dwarvish, or at least what passed for ‘Greetings’ based upon the scant writings of those dead people that Erick had in his various collections.

Cracks formed in reality, and the portal flowed.

The stale air of a forge long gone to pot crept into the slime dungeon, while the air of the slime dungeon, clean as could be and filled with moisture and the sounds of water, flowed into the forge.

Erick switched his aura to [Physical Domain] and spoke through to the other side, “Enchanter’s Guile, I know you’re there. You’re in the Dark, please beware. Embrace reality’s beckoning call, and let’s make miracles for all.”

The edges of reality on the other side began to turn Dark, and filled with nothing. Forges that once lit with fire and light, now overflowed with gloom and black. The Dark Dream was breaking, becoming more real. Dark waters curled down the edges of the forge hall, like seeking tendrils, pushing away dust and disturbing old piles of trash—

There were skeletons in that trash. Bones, carefully hidden until that moment, until dark waters buoyed those bones briefly into the air, and then dragged them down into the Dark.

The light above the anvil flickered and panicked, drawing downward, like a tendril retracting into the anvil, as the entire anvil swallowed the golden bracelet atop its surface, like a tongue pulling inward, slipping between massive teeth. The anvil, once a rusted thing, flashed into an ornate golden fox of ten tails but only a meter in height. The light which had shown down on it now enveloped it, like a protective aura.

Shadows intruded upon the creature, but its brilliant aura flaked away instead of the fox. The fox did not seem to mind this. It had been startled, and now it was not. The fox looked around, almost casually, then it looked to Erick and his family on the other side of the Black Gate.

It spoke, “I appear to be in the Dark.”

“You are,” Erick asked, “And you’re not panicking? … You also appear to not mind it much, except for the first panic when you stopped pretending to be that anvil.”

Something was off. Erick wasn’t sure what it was. But something was off—

“I was asleep,” said the fox. And then he started walking around the floor of his hiding hole, the Dark retreating from him as he walked. Dark destroyed brick and stone reformed under his paws. With his tails, he kept his shield strong. “You try waking up under attack some time.”

“I have done that many times, so I can see where your reaction is warranted.” Erick said, “Pardon me, but it appears that you are a lot more stable than other people we have rescued from the Dark… But we have only done this once before. One successful time, anyway. Would you like to talk more, or come over here, first?”

“I am not sure I can come over there,” said the Guile, for this thing was obviously the Enchanter’s Guile. “I am a shadeling… or something like that. This is most peculiar, actually. I have rescued people from the Dark before, but I have never been rescued myself. I am not sure you have the capability of actually bringing me over there, or else I would jump at the chance.” He said, “Most people lie to me —a lot— in order to get my help.”

As they spoke, the Guile’s Forge was already collapsing, but the collapse seemed way too slow around the Guile itself… ‘Himself’? Herself? Erick would know later.

Erick said, “I try not to lie. Lies break and harm, while Truths affirm and support.” Erick added, “And I already know resurrection and reincarnation magic. So we would be using one or both of those to bring you back. Though… We thought you were an item. Sentient, yes, but not quite… A full person sentient.”

“You’re a Wizard, then?”

“I am.”

“I won’t work with you; you’re too set in your ways.” The fox looked to the others. “Maybe one of the others, I will.”

Erick instantly said, “Solomon here is on his Worldly Path to become a Wizard himself. How about him?”

Solomon stepped forward a little.

The fox narrowed his eyes at Solomon. And then he sat on his haunches, his tails waving back and forth, light spilling out, yet fraying as it touched the Dark and kept the Dark at bay. Almost the entire forge had fallen to black. The Enchanter’s Guile and a thin path of stone between him and the gate was all that remained, and only because Erick was purposefully keeping that pathway open. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep that path open because his power was physical, and the mana was not physical at all.

“You have weird powers over there,” Guile said.

“We do,” Solomon answered. “The Old Cosmology is dead. The New Cosmology is all that remains. We’re 1451 years out from the Sundering, and it was only now, through Erick here, that Wizards are finally accepted once again, and only minimally.”

Guile’s foxy eyes went wider, briefly. He hummed. He said, “You and I will enter into a Contract, then.”

“Contract Magic doesn’t exist over here,” Solomon said, “We won’t let it come back, either.”

“Pah! … I suppose…” Guile said, “Tell me your goals, Solomon. I will help you achieve one of them, and depending on what comes after, I will either move on from you, or stay with you. My goals are to build worlds filled with plentiful things to eat. And you will give me tasty meats every single day. One human, or one equivalent-sized magic beast. If you fail to provide food per day, then I will eat whichever of your arms I reside upon and leave you forever.”

The human-eating thing tracked with the skeletons.

Which was concerning.

But the rest of it… Was fine?

Solomon countered, “I wish to build worlds and make this one better. To end the Forever War, to bring peace and prosperity to all. We are already planning on doing everything you wish to have done, but it will take a long time, and this Cosmology is not one you are used to, so don’t get strange ideas about time lines or stuff like that. And I’m fine with giving you good food. We eat great and magical food every day. If you end up eating my arm through inattention, that’s fine, but it won’t be a permanent sort of eating; I expect to be able to regrow it with minimal effort.”

Guile flicked its many golden tails. Its golden eyes went fractionally wider.

Solomon waited.

Guile said, “If you will allow me to eat your arm every day I might stick with you forever.”

Solomon chuckled. “We’ll try the normal contract you’ve proposed, for now.”

“Agreed. Now what’s going on with this power all around me?” the Guile asked. “It’s invisible to me… Hmm. Something weird is happening here.”

“Probably a lot of things. We’re on a manaminer right now, too,” Solomon said. “It was the only way this part of the Old Cosmology survived at all.”

“… That might be it. I’m coming over now. Be ready.” Guile stood up and walked forward, carefully stepping on the bits of stone that were floating in the Dark— And then his foot touched Black and he began to unravel. “Oh slag and shards—”

Solomon ripped forward with Benevolence, grabbing Guile with a lightning grip. He pulled the golden fox out from Beyond—

Something happened when the Enchanter’s Guile crossed the threshold of the Black Gate. Or maybe it was something Solomon did. The golden fox crushed down into a bracelet once again, his bright soul transforming to fit his container.

He did not die. He did not pass on.

… He was fine?

“I guess my Wizardry earlier was enough?” Erick asked, a little concerned.

Solomon held the bracelet in his light, in front of him. “… Are you okay in there, Guile?”

A tinny, metallic voice spoke from the bracelet, “I see this realm has an Elemental Fae lock in effect.”

Well that was bothersome for many different reasons.

“It is not that much of a bother,” Guile said, “But it is annoying. I will amend my meat requirements, for now, and bump up my desire for new worlds even more than it already was. I require full knowledge of my current state, Servant Solomon. The Element you are using to hold me is unknown to me, and I seem to be composed of some sort of material that is quite a lot weaker than I am used to… And unintelligible. This is all very strange. And your reactions to me speaking of Elemental Fae do not bode well for the general state of this reality.”

“… This is gonna take a while, so let’s get started,” Solomon asked, “Where would you like to start?”

“Put me on your wrist.”

Solomon put Guile onto the wrist not already occupied by Wheatly, trusting Erick, or Poi, or even the Janes, to react if something bad happened. But nothing bad happened, at least not overtly. Maybe not even covertly. Erick watched as Guile flickered some sort of sensing magic into Solomon. Solomon noticed the flow of golden light, too, and did nothing to stop it.

Guile hummed, almost in thought. Then the golden bracer fit more cleanly onto Solomon’s wrist, adjusting itself as it added some soft padding, and some decorative scales, like dragon scales. He asked, “Does the Darkness know you look like a Dark Dragon in your true form?” and then he added, “I suppose the Dark must, since we appear to be in the Dark Itself, at the Dark’s behest. What year is it?”

Solomon said, “I have no idea, but we can find out. Poi?”

Poi said, “Conflicting reports. From the main fairy on Veird, she was about a million years old when the Old Cosmology was destroyed, so that might give you a general idea of the current age, but her age might have been an exaggerated telling one way or the other.”

“… OKAY!” Guile said, kinda strained and kinda loud. “If that is what you think is anywhere near relevant then we’re gonna need to start at the very beginning. I would like a full history lesson of wherever the hell we are now.”

Erick said, “I was not expecting to get practice for bringing Avandrasolaro up to speed quite yet, but this works.”

“Him!” Guile said, latching onto that name. “I know of Avandrasolaro! He died ages ago. Maybe 80,000 years. I have been off and on working to heal the Bisection ever since his passing. It is not going well— it was not going well.”

Solomon said, “You might be from 100,000 years prior to the Sundering and the death of your entire Old Cosmology.”

“… Okay.” Guile said, “Back to a full history lesson, and then you can tell me what’s going on with all the weird magical items everyone here is wearing. You have a bracelet filled with godly might —Atunir, I believe— and that Wizard over there has stranger artifacts, and those women have exact copies of the same rings… exact copies. Also! If you can get me a meeting with whoever is running the manaminer of this world then that would be helpful for understanding a lot of this… place. But I understand that those things take time. Manaminer minders are always busy with whatnot and hows-it-ever.”

Solomon started with, “It might not take that much time to get an audience with the Goddess of this particular manaminer because...”

Solomon spoke of various things. Guile showed continual surprise, even though it seemed to gall him every time he showed his own surprise.

And Erick went to the girls, saying, “I guess that’s it for the day. Easy day. Relatively speaking. Guile being fae is obviously concerning, but none of them had been that bad since Rozeta relaxed the bands.”

Jane looked from Erick to Solomon, and then to the bracelet on his wrist, as Guile erupted in surprise at Erick knowing all the gods of this world. ‘He’s not even a True Wizard! … Is he?’ the bracelet exclaimed. Solomon continued his explanations, with the bracer asking deep questions, and Jane frowned at all of that. All the girls did.

Emily asked, “Is this worse, or better, than how it was with the people from the Censer?”

Emily had been the one to ask the question, but most of the girls shared that same concern. How much of a security risk was the Enchanter’s Guile, exactly? No one knew.

Erick said, “Those people were mortals. The Enchanter’s Guile seems… Accomplished, to say the least. None of us expected this level of sapience, but we kinda did, and we’re here now, and it’s good preparation for Avandrasolaro anyway.” Erick looked over to Solomon and Guile talking, and said, “I just hope we haven’t harmed him with all this information so fast. I had to stop answering questions like this with those guys from the Censer because it was harming them.”

Guile spoke up, “I can hear you!”

“I meant for you to overhear me.” Erick asked, “Are you mentally well enough to take all these answers right now?”

“… I am handling it,” Guile said. And then he turned his attentions back to Solomon. “You were saying about the Shades.”

Solomon said, “I was talking about various forces in the world, actually. But if you want to go right to the whole story of the Shades, we can, though that story has affected Veird the most, so perhaps we can leave that for the moment.”

Guile softly demanded, “Tell me of the Shades, Solomon.”

Solomon began, “The Shades were the most malevolent force on Veird for a long time, but never outright killing everyone, like we all knew they could. Instead, they sought to control, because for the longest time, Melemizargo, the current God of Magic, had been insane…”

Jane grabbed Erick’s attention away from Solomon’s history lesson as she said, “I guess we are done.”

Erick gave each of the girls a farewell-for-now hug and sent them on their way, saying he was glad that they didn’t have to risk themselves today. They were kinda looking forward to risking themselves, though, so today had just been boring for them. And concerning. Debby watched Solomon talk to Guile, and was concerned, but she moved on. Jane and the girls went back to searching the Dark through the Well, and the Black Mirrors, and to talking to people they knew, in order to vet the various items that were on the searching docket.

Avandrasolaro would be tomorrow, and they would likely need to be there for that. Finding Guile today, on his own, had been lucky. A powerful angel like Avandrasolaro never went anywhere by himself.

Erick went back to the house with Solomon at his side, to help with answers about the New Cosmology and otherwise, with Poi providing exterior sources of answers when Erick or Solomon didn’t have them.

And then Guile —which was his preferred name; Erick asked— said something about fairies again.

Fairy Moon stepped into the room.

- - - -

“Hello, Fairy Moon,” Erick said, as though greeting an old frenemy, because he kinda was.

The friend-enemy spectrum usually landed on ‘friend’ more often than not these days, but more than once Erick had needed to [Fairy Banishing] her to remove her from whatever it was she was doing wrong at the time. She was the whole reason Erick went about making that spell in the first place, both for his own use, and for Quilatalap, who needed a little bit of Wizardry to be able to make a proper version of that spell himself. Erick usually waited till Fairy Moon made a nuisance of herself before Banishing her, but Quilatalap Banished her on sight. He had even included automatic Banishing in many of the dungeons he made.

Erick added, “I was wondering when you were going to show up.”

Fairy Moon looked about the same as always. Short, pale, with one eye blazing pink and the other emerald green, and wearing clothes that Jane once described as ‘pastel goth’. She also wore a concerned expression. “I heard my name overmuch and have come calling on this gathering of old ghosts.” She looked to Guile, wrapped around Solomon’s right arm, like a bracer. “You’re looking poor, dear Guile.”

In complete contrast to the last two hours of talking with Guile and explaining the world, and Guile sometimes-vehemently disbelieving Erick, Solomon, and Poi, this time Guile’s voice was completely deferential, “I apologize my glorious Queen EverStar, King of all Fae, Perfect Ruler and Magnanimous Life After Death For All Who Believe, Mladfawb. Please excuse my form. I appear to be affected by a manaminer that is beyond my capabilities.”

Erick had never heard those names before, and he might never hear them again considering he already heard a soft whine in the air, which had to be the Script trying one of its Silences. Erick had never heard of Fairy Moon formally referred to as anything besides ‘Fairy Moon’, until now, but he certainly remembered Melemizargo trying to call out Fairy Moon’s Other Names, that one time near Stratagold, and getting nothing from that naming but unheard static and bleeding orifices. Apparently this dungeon was beyond that, thankfully; that’s what they had made the anti-Silencing rules for, and those rules had worked.

Erick looked to Fairy Moon. “Mladfawb?”

“An ancient trifle of a name. What of it?” Fairy Moon asked, not even looking at him.

Erick almost wanted to try to be personable to Fairy Moon, to ask small questions, like ‘what’s in a Name?’ and ‘are more of your Silenced Names acronyms?’ and ‘were the names I gave the others bad, or good?’. But Fairy Moon seemed unusually peeved.

Did she not like Guile?

“Never mind the names.” Erick asked, “Was the artifact meeting I granted House Carnage not enough? Do you wish for something pulled out of the Dark, too?”

… Fairy Moon looked to Erick. And then she looked back to Guile. “I am here for Guile. I felt a fae fall into this dark dungeon, into this languished land, and I needed to nose around anyway since all of you were avoiding naming my names.” She said to the golden bracelet, “You need to request a requisition of allowances of existence from Rozeta’s strangling Script. Erick can cause that happening to happen… Probably pretty promptly.” She looked to Erick. “You and I need to talk about New Cosmology fae.”

“I’ve heard about them, yes. Rozeta spoke about them to me, and about your talk with her and Kromolok about the warning for otherworldly fae to appear on Veird.” Erick said, “I trust that Rozeta hasn’t seen any other fae. Do you not trust her in this particular way?”

Fairy Moon distrusted Rozeta in many different ways, but not when it came to big things, and this seemed like a big deal to her. Honestly, the idea of New Cosmology Fae was a big deal to Erick, too, but he had never seen any of them, either. They seemed to be a problem beyond current problems, and therefore they were nothing.

Fairy Moon frowned a little. And then she intoned, “Hear me now, my Wonderful Wizard of Benevolence: The Old Fae are out there always. I fear you are not feeling the fullness of my complete candidness.”

“… Your warnings are heard loud and clear, Fairy Moon, but there’s not much I can do about your warnings or to prepare against Other Fae.” Erick asked, “Unless there is something in the Dark we should be looking for as defense against them?”

“… No, there is nothing in the Deeper Dark that can conceal or create a ward of perfect protection against Those Other Outsiders.” Fairy Moon frowned a little more, and then she sighed, and said, “I hope the Sundering Search does not uncover those uncouth Other Outsiders. That would be a disaster of deadly proportions.”

Everyone paused at that.

Erick asked, “Could these Other Fae be the true cause of the Sundering?”

Fairy Moon tilted her head a little. “… Doubtful, but definitely possible. Many possibilities are possible.”

Erick stopped being concerned about Outsider Fae, for he mentally ticked off ‘not going to search in that possible-Sundering direction until we’re ready for it’. Poi and Solomon seemed to have the same thought process.

Fairy Moon turned and looked at Guile again, and then at Solomon. “You’re on the Worldly Path once again. How weird. Well. Whatever. Your Wizardry is yours to wrestle with this time. Guile! Guide him well to grandness for all Good Gains.”

Guile instantly said, “I will do this decree, my Kind King!”

Fairy Moon nodded, then stepped away, vanishing from the kitchen dining room, in the house in the dungeon.

Solomon looked at Guile. “Want to try and get your body back?”

“There’s no time for that nonsense now. I am not leaving you until you ascend to Wizardry to rival all that has come before. We are making a powerhouse of you one way or ten thousand others!” Guile said, “It is good that you have already stolen enough Darkness from others to bump up your mana production as high as it is; it will make the next steps a lot easier.”

Erick had a lot to say about that, from Guile’s implication that it would take long to get Rozeta to add another Fairy Band… Well. Actually. It might. Anyway! Stealing Darkness, eh? That old taboo subject that was made unimportant because of the dungeons?

Solomon paused in a lot of questions, too. “You mean the Darkness that makes me produce mana?”

Guile’s tone turned full of implied frowns. “Yes, I mean that! A good bit of ruthlessness is always nice to see in an aspiring Wizard; makes all the rest of it easier.”

Erick asked, “What makes you think he stole Darkness?”

Solomon had the same question, but he left it unvoiced.

“… Did…” Guile asked, “Did people give you their Darkness?” He rapidly added, “I suppose you are a grand power in this place so that sort of makes sense— Do the people here not know what they were giving up when they gave you their Darkness?”

Erick said, “That’s not what happened, either.”

Solomon said, “Dungeons, like the one we’re in right now, can make big monsters or official Trials of the Dark, and when you kill one of those or complete one of those, you get base mana production. It’s a whole thing, and it’s rather new, as far as we know. Before, in the Old Cosmology, this simply did not happen. I’ll take you on a dungeon run later with the girls and you can see what all that’s about.”

“… Ah? Well…” Guile’s voice fizzled out. “Well… I’m not sure how to actually approach this increasingly complicated and dangerous dimension. I keep increasing my expectations of what you might have available to you, for your use, while simultaneously striving to come to terms with how little you have here on this planet. You have no Radiant Depths to which you can reach, to align your soul and system in a Great Cleansing. You have no Grand Wizard’s Tower to visit, where people might help you prepare your power —which is filled with these ‘particles’ which make very little sense to me, but which I think I know of, a little— There is no Goddess of Knowledge! I should have been able to point you at her parishioners at least so that we could learn all of these missing pieces of this universe, and how it fits together with mana!

“And yet!

“And yet! We have all of an entire world’s resources at our disposal, and you won’t have to fight for any of it. You know the gods. You have clearance to ascend to Wizardry within the sphere of this ‘planet’ —which is another new concept for me. And perhaps the most important thing is that you are on the Worldly Path, which will smooth out and bring to us untold ultimatums for advancement, and since you already have all this power within you, Solomon, since you come from another Wizard and have all those memories, I have little doubt that you can ignite your core into something brilliant! All it will take is a little bit of time, and talking to the right people! We’ll have to search out some non-manaminer spaces, but that shouldn’t be too difficult.

“And, most of the Elements that existed in the Old Cosmology but which do not exist here, which I would have pointed you at for inspiration, means that you can choose who you want to be! You have complete choice! You don’t have to compromise on anything at all, as you would have to do if you chose something unimaginative yet easily trod, like Peace or Security.

“We are on a paradise island made of natural treasures.

“This is the best possible start I have EVER HAD for any of my servants… And yet… And yet… It might be the most difficult.”

Guile fell to silence.

Erick and Solomon and Poi joined him in that silence. Moments passed as Erick considered both the full breadth of how Guile used to live his life, and how much had been lost. If Erick had fallen to the Old Cosmology with Jane, then Jane would have for sure left her starting planet already, to try and seek her fortune in the great beyond. Erick probably would have been found by some higher power of some sort and used for their own ends. Or perhaps a kind Wizard would have found him first. Either way, there would have been no way to hide his natural mana generation outside of Veird…

But Erick had never noticed his natural mana generation on Earth?

… Did Earth have a manaminer? Because Erick was still a Wizard back on Earth, right? Wizards and every other sapient person generally developed their mana generation at the end of puberty.

… Earth did not have a manaminer. No way. That’d be crazy.

Erick held that crazy thought inside, strangling his laughter to ensure nothing escaped and ruined the deep moment that Guile was having right now. He distracted himself, and considered that maybe, in a natural manasphere, he wouldn’t be spewing mana crystals everywhere, like he did whenever he entered the no-Script space inside this dungeon. Maybe he would have naturally learned to control his power in a normal, no-Script space. That’s probably how it worked in the Old Cosmology.

No way to really know, though, because they weren’t in the Old Cosmology at all—

Solomon broke the silence, asking, “Where would you start with training me to become a True Wizard, Guile?”

Erick added, “We could probably get your fae body back, if you want.”

Guile glinted on Solomon’s bracer for a moment, then he easily said, “I’d start with getting me a body of my own so that I could show you what to do, directly. If I am understanding everything correctly, this means a talk with Rozeta? Even if bureaucracy takes a while, bureaucracy should still be done as soon as possible.”

Erick stood from his seat, saying, “Let’s do that, then.”

- - - -

Surprisingly, Rozeta had been okay with increasing the bands of acceptable Elemental Fae by 1.

In the glade outside of the slime dungeon, Rozeta stood atop the grass, saying, “Of course, Erick. I was waiting for you to ask.” And then she looked to Guile, wrapped around Solomon’s right wrist. “You will have to be quick and dense with regard to taking that extra slot, Guile.”

Trying to keep his surprise out of his voice, and failing, Guile said, “Understood, Goddess of Veird.”

Rozeta grinned a little. “In 4, 3, 2, 1—”

The air changed, ripples flowing out from the bracer upon Solomon’s arm, filling the manasphere before fading into nothing among the trees and the sky. Guile’s bracer form slipped off of Solomon’s arm, plopping onto the ground and instantly taking on his small, golden fox form once again, his ten tails spreading out behind him like prehensile feather boas. His head only reached Solomon’s knee, but his tails were longer—

And then the world seemed to relax, and breathe.

Guile transformed from golden fox, to a fox with blonde hair and bright amber eyes. From unnatural, to natural. He shook himself out, and breathed a little.

Rozeta sighed in contentment. “Glad to see that it worked how I wanted it to work. Welcome back, Guile.”

Erick caught up quickly, and so did Solomon. Poi was back in the dungeon, but he’d find out what happened as soon as they got back in.

When fae died, they returned to Elemental Fae, only to be born again in a new form, with a fraction of the memories of their old selves, like shadelings coming back from the Dark. For the longest time only Fairy Moon had been reborn, over and over again, alone each time. When Rozeta relaxed the Fae bands of intent to 10 a while ago, it allowed 10 more fairies to be reborn. Those bands had been quickly filled, and now when any of those 10 fae’s corporeal bodies met its untimely end, they were reborn inside Fairy, like normal. They’d carry memories of their old lives which would inform their new lives, but most times any death at all was rather traumatic, forcing a personality reset. Fairy Moon was the only one immune to this sort of change.

Now that Guile was connected to Fairy once again, he had regained something in that rebirth. Some of his old memories, no doubt.

Guile breathed deep and padded forward two small steps before he dropped to his butt. He craned his neck up toward Rozeta. “I perished in the Sundering. It was not a joyful time. I believe I was trying to prevent the Sundering as it happened… I was on the other side of the universe from Veird at the time. One day, I and my servant at the time saw a bolt of Lightning pass across the sky, far, far in the mana ocean. It left ripples of death and sparks of annihilation as it passed. One of those sparks touched down on that world… I think I died then.” Guile frowned at himself, as much as a fox could frown, and then he narrowed his eyes upon the ground. He looked at his paws. “These particles are strange. I feel as though I should know of them. They are certainly clouding my… memory. My everything. Hmm. The mana of this universe is well… organized, but... simple? Yes. Simple— Oh.” He startled. And then he looked back up at Rozeta. “I apologize for my lapse of decorum, Goddess of Veird.” He bowed.

He had a lot more to say, but all of that would come later.

Rozeta moved on, too, saying, “I’m glad your story continues here on this small life raft we call Veird.” She gently turned her gaze from Guile, to Solomon. “I believe I will mirror Koyabez’s words, Solomon, and say I am taking a half-step toward you, to respect you as your own person. I look forward to working with as many Erick-Wizards as you all feel like making, but each one will be their own person, without connection to any who come before.”

Erick chuckled at the idea of ‘Erick-Wizards’ as a category of being.

Solomon merely grinned. “Thanks, Rozeta.”

Rozeta nodded, then she looked to Erick, and said, “I would speak with you for a moment.”

Solomon and Guile both knew that meant without them.

Guile instantly said to Solomon, “It is time to train accretion, servant. From the foundation!”

Guile did not wait for Solomon to agree to anything. He just walked over to the dungeon once again.

Solomon grinned as he followed.

After the two of them vanished into the dungeon, Erick turned to Rozeta. “I understand why Atunir suggested Guile, now.”

“The little fox has more stories about him than could fit in most personal libraries. I’m glad to have him back.” Rozeta said, “Though he is a fae.”

“I noticed that.”

Rozeta shrugged. “He’s a good one, as far as I know. He tries to stay out of the spotlight as much as he can, but his goals always further the spread of life… Partially because he likes to eat that life, but he produces more than he eats, so… You know.”

Erick nodded. “Fairy Moon visited earlier.”

Both of them waited a beat for the Fairy in question to show.

She did not.

“She spoke to you about New Cosmology fae, I assume.”

“She did. How valid are her concerns?”

“Adding Guile to the list of approved fae right now helped me to check the Script and the systems we have in place. I am now 99% sure that New Cosmology Fae either don’t know of Veird, or have never been here before.”

“… That’s different from what you said the last time,” Erick said, worriedly.

“It is, isn’t it!” Fairy Moon said, standing in the glade with them. “You told me you never managed to meet one at all!”

Rozeta quickly said, “Now look here, Fairy Moon. That was —and is— still a true statement. This New Cosmology is huge. I don’t feel that you quite understand that. And no one is ever fully sure of anything; don’t blame me for hedging my bets.”

Erick understood all of that. When he first fell to Veird, he was amazed that there was another source of life in the universe at all. Later, had even met a few old planars over the years, and each of them were also amazed that other life existed. Or at least that emotion had been expressed in their writings that they had left behind.

Fairy Moon wasn’t getting it, though. Perhaps her scale of stuff was way different from Rozeta’s and Erick’s?

Fairy Moon shouted, “They should be seen and be here! I harbor no naysaying against your arguments of size, but seriously. Where the fuck are the other fae?”

Rozeta had no words.

Erick asked, “I want to check if we have the same sensibilities with regard to size.” Erick held up a hand, and conjured a small spiral galaxy out of light, while he also darkened all the space around them, plunging the grove into a semblance of night. Some of that Darkness out there moved, but that was fine; Melemizargo could watch if he wanted. Erick lifted his hand up, carrying the spiral galaxy with it. “This could be representative of my home galaxy. It’s not a real representation, because I don’t feel like putting down a hundred billion stars into my hand… or more. Not sure about that number.”

Fairy Moon lifted her head a little, in a questioning sort of look, directly at Erick. Then she lowered her face again, and looked at the galaxy. She turned back toward Erick. “What are you wishing at, Wizard?”

Rozeta watched Erick, but she also watched the Dark all around.

“I’m trying to understand our senses of scale, and if we’re both way off, or not, because Rozeta is correct and this universe is huge.” Erick said, “Assuming we are in my universe, and not in some completely different Cosmology, then…”

Erick enlarged the galaxy in his hands, and stars spread outward in a jumbled, 4-armed swirl, filling the darkened glade along a single plane. Points of light illuminated the Shadow of Melemizargo, hiding in the edges of the black, his form swirling in Darkness. Erick ignored that for now, as he was focused on adding stars and shifting around the ones he had made, to better resemble the night sky he had seen for the first 48 years of his previous life. It took him a moment, and then several more moments after that. Now that Erick was thinking about it this deeply, and actually constructing this display, he realized there there were only maybe 5,000 stars on one side of the glade, and 5,000 on the other, all of them altogether representing the whole sky that one would see throughout the whole year; Only 10,000 stars out of 100,000 visible stars.

Most stars in the sky were invisible from Earth, by the naked eye.

“This is what the night sky looks like from my home planet. Mostly,” Erick said, “Pretty sure I got it mostly right. There’s Polaris up there, and over there are the Seven Sisters. And down below us are some of the brightest stars, including Alpha Centauri, a triple-star system and the closest other stars to Earth, at around 4.5 light years away. That’s the distance light travels in a year, by the way, so when we’re looking at those stars, we’re seeing them as they were 4.5 years ago.”

Rozeta was deeply interested in the night sky. So was Melemizargo.

… Erick had never shown them this before, had he? No, he had not. Well they certainly wouldn’t know of Earth, now would they? They were both gods, and Melemizargo was the Dark, but both of them were something like 5,000 years old for Rozeta and 25,000 for Melemizargo.

But Fairy Moon was different.

Erick realized, or maybe hoped, that as he showed this land to Fairy Moon, in particular, that maybe she might know this night sky.

But.

No.

Rozeta and Melemizargo merely cataloged what they were seeing.

And Fairy Moon squinted her heterochromatic eyes at the darkened glade, with points of light everywhere, and said, “… I know not this lost land.” She looked to Erick, “You sure you secured the stars truly?”

Erick tried not to sigh. He had never been hopeful of returning to Earth, and he certainly never tried to head that way, or even think about it too much, but for one shining moment, Erick had thought that maybe Fairy Moon would know of Earth. Erick said, “I have set them in the sky as best I could.” He held up his hand, and placed a tiny blue and green marble in the center of the glade. “That’s the point of view of the starfield. That is the angle to properly view the stars.”

Fairy Moon stared at the replica of Earth. Then she moved to stand beside it, and cast her gaze outward. “… Nope. This is new land to me.” She stepped away from the replica, saying, “I never needed nor envisioned a vacation outside our Old Cosmology anyway. I will let my people know of this knowledge, and if one of my people perhaps knows of this land, then maybe they’ll mention that miracle to you later.” She waved a hand, saying, “But what of this scale you seek to secure?”

Erick moved on, saying, “For our purposes, Earth is practically the same size as Veird, though Veird is actually about 8-ish times Earth’s size, or something like that. It really doesn’t matter.” And then Erick pulled all the stars in the sky to that singular point that was Earth, adding countless points of light at the edge of the field as he pulled inward. “What we’re seeing as I’m zooming us outward is my home galaxy, the Milky Way.” Soon, the Milky Way filled the glade, like a gently swirling whirlpool. Erick pointed to where Earth lay, saying, “Every single star in Earth’s night sky has already collapsed down into this small area. The Milky Way itself is over 100,000 light years across, and we don’t see most of the stars in the Milky Way at night, because most of them are too small and weak to see.

“Keep in mind that this is just an approximation past this point.”

The starfield crushed downward, once again becoming a glob of pinpricks that was the Milky Way.

“And this is that galaxy, back to being small. It takes light 100,000 years to travel from one end of this galaxy to the other… Or was it 104,000? Might have been 104,000. Anyway. The speed of light is the speed at which the universe is able to act on itself… or something like that. I don’t know exactly.”

Erick added a bunch of tiny clusters around the Milky Way. “These are satellite galaxies. There are a lot of them, and they’re all kinda small.”

At about 7 Milky Ways away, he added another galaxy and a bunch of smaller ones, saying, “This is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way and its satellite systems. This is Andromeda. This whole small collection of galaxies, contained inside this glade, is about 10 million light years across at this point, meaning it takes 10 million years for light to travel this distance. This is the local cluster.”

Fairy Moon’s eyes were a little wide at this point. She seemed to be getting it for the first time.

Rozeta looked reserved. She was getting it, too, and it was worse than she feared.

Melemizargo’s shadow, though, seemed to be positively brimming with excitement, as Erick continued to fill the glade with stars upon stars. The God of Magic’s shadow darted from galaxy to galaxy, from major swirl of light to minor whirlpool of dust-like stars.

Erick zoomed out some more, adding a whole lot more points of light, all across the glade, while the Milky Way shrunk down to the size of a single dot in the center. “This point of light here is the local cluster; I kept it in the middle. All of these other lights have all of what was in the local cluster. Every single point of light out there is billions of points of light.”

Melemizargo was giggling as he darted around.

Rozeta’s look changed from ‘reserved’ to ‘resigned’.

Fairy Moon huffed, “Well that’s wishful wishes. No way is this real.”

Erick said, “I’m not done yet. This is only 500 million light years across.” And then he zoomed out more. The glade was filled with light, like illuminated dust hanging in the dark, clustering around itself, forming universal strings of dust, like dust devils made of light and frozen in time—

And it became easier to add more and more illuminated dust.

This simple illumination was not a spell; it was not magic. Erick had put no real intent into any of this, as he simply carved light and shadow from mana.

And yet, it became a spell. It became magic.

Erick felt a magic pulse from his very soul, unbidden and uncalled upon, but presenting itself nonetheless, as the entire glade turned into a light-strewn emptiness. Rozeta seemed to vanish, as Fairy Moon’s pink and green eyes faded into the black, to become part of the universal dust, and Melemizargo crawled in the depths between everything like a fish taking to water.

Erick’s body had vanished into the depths of everything, but his voice remained, “We’re at 3 billion light years across right now, and you can see how ephemeral forces like gravity and time have guided everything into clustered shapes. It’s been about 14 billion years since the start of this universe, and it might be 100 trillion years till it ends, though those are just guesses.”

Erick zoomed out even more.

And magic, ancient and wanting, filled all the gaps which Erick could never hope to even visualize.

It was a field of light and dark, like static.

“At this distance it is impossible to make anything out. We’re at almost 100 billion light years across. This is the observable universe.”

Erick zoomed out 250 more times, faster and deeper than he could ever hope to contain within his own mind, even as bolstered with Intelligence and Perception as it was. Static became simple grayscale, which became nothing but a sea of perfectly even grey. And yet, there were nuances to it. Nuances which Erick did not put there, but which existed anyway.

Tendrils in the grey.

“This is the theorized size of the actual universe,” Erick said, ignoring the tendrils. Melemizargo must have been doing that. “Though I’ll never know, because I lack the time and the power to see any of it. Or at least that was true before magic came along into my life. Now, who knows what wonders and powers you or I might see, or how magic might get us there.

“And now, we return.”

Erick began zooming back in, falling forward fast. Static turning to more static turning to more static, in a never ending flow, because the size of it all was truly that vast.

Going inward was easier than going outward.

Going inward… Everything was more nuanced. Everything was more solid. There were parts of the lightshow that Erick had not put down there which now appeared out of chaos, like he had always put them there, and not like he had made it all up on the spot. Spiraling clouds of various density, but only seeming that way because the human mind sought to make images out of anything it could, to find patterns in the chaos; that’s what it all reminded Erick of.

And then he got further inward, zooming all the way down, going fast as he could, but all he saw was more and more static. One minute, two minutes. Five minutes of inward diving. Zooming inward, time passed on, as more and more of the universe came into view.

He was not zooming in on a magic he had made.

He was merely at the controls, pressing a switch on a system that had been made for him, which he had had no part in its creation—

Suddenly, the clouds revealed themselves once again as twisted streamers of dust, of light, infinitesimal in their size, intricate in their arrangement. Like nerves in a brain they all connected to each other, and yet they were not connected to each other at all.

Erick found himself standing on the edge of the glade, in the East, like the sun. Fairy Moon stood on the West, like the moon. Rozeta was to the South, grounded as all ever, though she had been on the North side until now, while Melemizargo had moved to firmly stand on the North side of the glade, in his dragon form, but only ten meters tall. He had absolutely crushed the trees that way, like the force of absolute change that he was. A breeze flowed from his direction, rustling the trees.

The Ritual of it all reminded Erick of the time he had bargained for a ceasefire among all those involved, to open them all to the possibility that more could happen, if only they all cooperated.

This was the first time they had gathered like this since then, wasn’t it?

No time for those sorts of thoughts.

That Ritual demanded Erick continue, and so he did.

Erick zoomed inward, into the nerve-like universal strings of this New Cosmology, trillions upon trillions of stars, as dust, passing out of the glade, brushing against Erick, Rozeta, Fairy Moon, and Melemizargo, like the passing of countless tiny lights. A minute passed as Erick went forward, reaching for the end of this journey—

The universe suddenly focused as individual super clusters appeared out of the dust, and those gave way to clusters, and then individual galaxies.

Erick zoomed in on a galaxy that was not the Milky Way.

It was a disk of light most firm around the edge, except in one spot to the north of the circular-like galaxy. That spot held a break in the circle, but not a full break. It almost looked like a natural lessening of the density of the circle. Perhaps someone had caused some ancient, awful magic to sunder that space? Hard to know what had happened there.

All Erick knew is that it looked like the rune of [Renew].

Erick’s breath hitched, but the magic was not over. He zoomed in on that split, because that’s where the magic took them. And right there, in that space that looked empty but which was not empty at all, between the open ends of the rune of [Renew], were countless other stars…

And one star in particular.

There was the sun, up above, and also in the lightward display between them. There were the planets of this system, and Veird, the fourth planet from this sun.

Erick zoomed in more, and the map expanded until it showed the Dungeon Island southwest of Quintlan, and then Ascendant Mountain, and then this very glade itself, with Erick on the East, Fairy Moon on the West, Rozeta to the South, and Melemizargo to the North.

The spell overlapped all four of them, and then it broke, a brilliant whine of light and power washing outward, like a beacon lit.

The magic ended.

For a moment, no one said a word.

And then Rozeta softly said, “I knew I shouldn’t have said I was comfortable with Wizards.”

Arguing started.

Fairy Moon proclaimed, “They’ll never find us! We must find them and tithe to them puzzles and power and purpose and people! They must surely be more secure in their truest trues than us! They will extinct our existences if we are not wily winsome!”

Melemizargo just chuckled, mumbling about gathering worlds of his own, and how much bigger this hoard was going to be than the last one. To which Fairy Moon said stuff about how they mustn't overstep, and Rozeta mumbled about Wizards again.

And then Rozeta said to her father, “We require mana, father. None of those worlds have mana. None I can see, anyway.”

“A problem to fix, Rozeta,” Melemizargo said. “Nothing more than a problem to fix.”

“Not one you could fix, though,” Rozeta asked, “Unless you could?”

“Oh no no. I cannot…” Melemizargo turned his white-eyed gaze outward, and considered. “I don’t know of anything in my vaults that could help us, either… Maybe… I will have to think on this.” And then he looked down at Rozeta, saying, “It’s just a matter of time, though, and we were already planning on expanding from this world, anyway. This gives us a map, of sorts. A plan. A purpose.”

Erick interrupted, “Is no one going to comment on the rune of [Renew].”

Fairy Moon dismissively said, “You were influenced by incarnations outside of ourselves to reach this [Renew] that you did, no doubt. This is all a plan of the planners who we have not yet witnessed!”

Melemizargo nodded. “A Wizard still on a Path.”

“Always on a Path, it seems,” Rozeta said, resigning herself again. “I must go and check on Fate’s box now.” And then she vanished.

Melemizargo grinned, chuckling. “I have plans as well.” And then he vanished, becoming a shadow that briefly seemed full of stars and giggling, and then he was gone.

Fairy Moon exclaimed, “The Other Outsiders must have seen the spectacle! I must make merry in case they come calling!”

She vanished in a splash of springtime.

… Erick stood there for a moment.

And then he moved on, too, walking back into the dungeon to see what Solomon was up to with Guile, and to ask them what they thought of… All that had just happened, and which they had conveniently missed.

“Fate’s out of its box, for sure,” Erick mumbled, as he stepped into darkness.

A minute later he approached Solomon, Poi, and fox-form Guile. All three of them stood upon a white stone platform raised up from the dungeon floor, where Guile was speaking with Solomon and drawing diagrams of human bodies in the air. A lot of the diagrams had colored parts swirling inside of them. They were Old Cosmology techniques to accrete, and the discussion had been about their validity.

Poi noticed Erick last, though he was the only one with a visible reaction. He paled as much as a blue dragonkin could pale, his eyes going wide. Solomon instantly noticed Poi’s reaction, though he remained confused. Guile fared no better.

Erick, meanwhile, had a little bit of schadenfreude at Poi’s mind reading, and finding everything out without needing to be told. Erick smiled, and exaggerated, “Oh come on, Poi! How bad could it be?”

Poi cursed.

- - - -

Erick, Solomon, and Guile, stood upon a large white stone platform, well out of reach of the slimes below, on the main dungeon floor. A no-Script space held on the other side of the platform. Darkness loomed in the distance all around, except in the north, where Dreams stood revealed as much as they could be, looking like an ever-riotous flow of color and memory and black clouds.

There had been a discussion about what had happened out there in the glade in front of the dungeon. The girls had shown up for all of that, and Poi had had a bunch of specific questions. It had taken a good half hour for all of that happenstance to calm and it ended a lot sooner than Erick assumed it would, for Fallopolis had shown up, looking concerned. A short conversation later, the girls rushed out to do a bunch of their own investigations at the Well of Darkness. Fallopolis had her own concerns to follow, too. Poi was currently holed up at the house in the dungeon, talking with a bunch of other people, including Teressa and Aisha at House Benevolence, to see if they could see anything in the Benevolent Sky.

Erick had checked that; there had been nothing.

Everyone seemed a lot more worried than they needed to be, in Erick’s opinion. If something happened, they would solve it. In actuality, Erick knew he should probably be panicking more than he was…

But…

Everything seemed to be falling into place.

Erick had no idea why he felt that way, but he did. Perhaps because he was going to learn about True Wizardry alongside Solomon, from some sort of fae-hybrid kinda person, whom everyone trusted, and who had a list of good deeds following them across the entire Old Cosmology. Erick had never heard any of those stories before, but Rozeta and Atunir and others seemed to know those stories, and that was good enough for Erick… The ‘eating people’ was a bit much for him, to be fair. But that was fine… Probably.

Guile pawed forward on the platform, toward the no-Script space, saying, “We have gone over the basics, and now it is time for proper accretion. I am likely going to die many, many times in this process, so it is a good thing that this dungeon and you possess [True Resurrection]. There might be an issue with my natural mana generation, but if it remains how it was at the time of the Sundering, then this should be fine. If it is not, then we will go kill some monsters inside other dungeons. But, for now, I will accrete a core, and then try to crystallize. This might take weeks.”

The golden fox stepped into the no-Script bubble, face first, and already streamers of yellow light were flowing away from his body. It was the color of a daffodil, and completely different from his normal golden hue. The little fox winced as he pressed onward, and soon his entire body was misting with sunshine-yellow light.

Guile breathed in the yellow air, eddies forming as he moved, turning around to sit down on his haunches. He looked to Solomon, his tails waving like ten very large streamers of power. “I can already tell that I have lost a great deal of power. I cannot accrete to True Wizardry like this, so we will have to go into the dungeons. I can, however, show you a few things.” With a twist of power the yellow flow calmed, sticking to Guile’s body like a controlled aura, and then soaking into his core, near his heart. A dollop of sunshine collected beside his tiny fox heart; the beginnings of a core. Soon, that core began to grow. Guile said to Solomon, “I will be forming a core in the next few hours. While I am doing that first step, please join me in this space. I would see how you handle your body, and then send you on your way to come back later.”

Solomon stepped forward. A soft, white mist spiraled off of his body even before he breached the edge of the space with his core, tiny streamers of his power naturally forming phantom crawling jolts of power, joining him to the white stone platform, like he was the center of a plasma ball that you’d find in a mall back on Earth. And then his core passed through the edge of the no-Script space, and he radiated glows.

Greenery began to spread underfoot forming a carpet of thick moss. Tiny Benevolence crystals grew within that moss, like drops of morning dew.

Guile watched that growth, his eyes going fractionally wider. “So this is Benevolence, then. I heartily approve of your beginner Element, Solomon. It will make a good cushion for me.” Guile gestured with a paw.

Solomon smirked as he stepped away from the greenery he had made, though more greenery appeared under where he moved.

Guile took a seat on the moss, like a cat finding a spot in the sun. “Soul sight, aura control, and a preponderance of self-actualization are the main tools that one uses when guiding one’s transformation from one body into the next… And there are about a thousand lessons we should be having before we get to this point, but I will assume that you have had most of those lessons, and rely upon you to tell me if there is something you do not understand.”

Solomon nodded.

Guile continued, “Wizards are the pinnacle of self-actualization possible in… the Old Cosmology. That is what makes a Wizard a Wizard. They are who they wish to be, and most of them are unending and never dying, unless they wish to end their lives. That is the common end of most Wizards. They reach the final point of what they want to do with their lives, and since they see no point in continuing, they break apart, becoming one with their Element.

“Everything from these ‘particles’ in this New Cosmology… Well actually, I do not know if they will interfere. But they shouldn’t.

“Starting over.

“Everything from these ‘particles’ to all these bits and bobs implanted within you by the Script, should be subsumed in a Grand Act of Self-Creation. You take your Alpha and your Omega and you combine them into one. Your creator over there, Erick, Is Benevolence Itself, and as soon as his [Familiar]s mature and he realizes various deep truths about himself and his place in this universe, he might have an easy time ascending to True Wizardry.

“But he is not you.

“You are just a man with some power and a few good tools on his own Path in life.

“To get to the point where Erick is, and then beyond, we first prime the body with our mana, seeing depth within ourselves. This is usually done through controlled meditation. Like this.”

Guile’s aura had been flexing as he spoke, as he accreted his core inside of his tiny chest, but now his sunshine yellow aura calmed, filling his body. That core began to grow by leaps and bounds. That core had been gradually increasing in facets as he channeled more and more mana into his core but it would be at least an hour before he gained a true, spherical core; the end point of most every dragon or accretor or delver in the world.

Erick and Solomon and Guile would eventually go beyond that, to full crystal.

Guile stopped his focused accretion, opening his eyes to say, “Just like that, but more time spent doing it. If you aren’t in possession of a full core this sort of meditation has the side effect of growing your core most strongly, and it will be the method I use to grow to fullness soon enough. Now you try, Solomon.”

“… I’m not sure what you did, exactly.” And then Solomon took total control of his aura, focused it, and did some basic accretion. Visually it looked the same as what Guile had done, but… “Is that the same?”

“Ahhh. No. It’s not the same.” Guile said, “What I want you to do is meditate on yourself and your path in life. Let the possibilities of your future float up from your mind and rest upon your soul, and when you find one that resonates with your soul, causing a resonance, then you should write that down, and continue meditating. You will come across several ideas, usually accompanied with phrases, that resonate with you. These are future paths that you might take, or they might be corruptions in your soul that you need to purge on the way toward self-actualization.

“Becoming a True Wizard is all about finding your Path, and these phrases… Or ‘Phrases’, said all special like… These Phrases that pop up while meditating can be your guiding signs toward the best possible you.” Guile said, “Once you collect enough of them, and firmly discard enough of them, then you will pull forth your power into yourself, and become a True Wizard, all in a flashing second.

“You will likely go through a period of crystallization at that point in time, exploding in a thousand different directions since your mana generation will absolutely destroy your body, but those phrases will bring you back to yourself.

“I have simplified the steps of it all most terribly. But that is the idea.

“And that’s all there is to becoming a True Wizard… As long as you have the mana generation to start with and you don’t die in the final crystallization part. Coming back from death is no easy feat, which is why I will be making judicious use of the [True Resurrection] measures in this dungeon in order to try to regain my previous power. Rest assured that my Wizardry would be toward making myself invisible to most, for I do not appreciate being seen by many. I prefer my greatness to go unnoticed.” Guile finished with, “I will likely die a few times before I get my own phrases sorted. Nothing quite like a ‘Sundering’ to make you question everything you thought you could count on!” He yipped in tiny laughter, like the fox that he was. His gallows humor didn’t last too long, though, for he calmed, and frowned, as he looked at the ground.

Solomon frowned a little, too, thinking deeply. While Guile looked perhaps sad, Solomon was angry.

Erick was kinda mad, too. “That’s it? That’s all there is to becoming a True Wizard?”

Guile huffed, “That’s all there was. I have no idea how particles affect this natural process or this Script, for that matter. It’s all way too much interference— divine interference, too! The divine nature of the Script is one thing, but this world has too many divines as well. Gods keep to their corners, Wizards keep to theirs; that’s how it should be. Crossing those two domains is useful in many, many different ways, and gods and Wizards should work together most of the time, but Wizards must go alone on this particular journey.

“When a person is adorned with Power wrought from tools and from themselves, and when they are anointed with Purpose wrought from Wizardry, that person is a nascent Wizard. To complete their Path, they must seek themselves among the multitudes, and become who they are meant to be.

“There is no trick.

“There is only doing.”

Solomon said, “Sounds like a trick with extra steps.”

Erick laughed.

Guile hummed, then looked to Erick, “Don’t you have politics to be doing? Shoo.”

“I’m on sabbatical.”

“Bah! Spy on my lessons with Solomon if you must, but please leave already. You’re too far down your Path for me to help, and any help I could give you might inhibit the progress you have already made. All that you need to do is actually do it.” Guile looked to Solomon. “My servant has to tear himself down and build himself up a great deal.”

Erick said to Solomon, “I’ll let you know when things get started to rescue Avandrasolaro.”

Solomon nodded, and went back to meditating.

Guile did the same.

Erick left, stepping on the light, a bunch of thoughts on his mind as he cast one final glance toward Solomon and Guile, toward their auras, and their souls. Solomon’s power was the same as Erick’s right now, and so was his soul, but all that would change eventually. Guile was an odd little critter. Erick wasn’t sure how he felt about him, but he seemed trustworthy, and nothing he said had been too different from what everyone else had said regarding Wizards. And even if he did accrete to True Wizardry… Well. All the gods trusted him, right?…

Hmm.

Erick looked at Solomon and Guile’s souls, even as he lightstepped away—

He stopped.

Their souls looked like souls always did. Like mist, contained within the body, ever dense and yet ephemeral as fog. Zooming in on the soul didn’t help to clear that mist, either; it just made the soul look like more soul. It took a very skilled Soul Mage in order to suss out what was inside a person’s soul, and they didn’t use [Soul Sight] by itself to achieve that. They frameshifted their reference viewpoint in order to categorize what they were looking at, but that sort of shifting always lost things in translation.

… In ‘translation’? Huh. What a curious thought.

Anyway. As it was, 90% of the soul was impossible to see without proper tools, because it was just so complicated, like billions upon billions of… dust… stars...

Erick blinked a bit.

… Why was he standing in the middle of the air—

Oh, right. Guile was instructing Solomon on Wizardry.

Erick lightstepped into the house of the dungeon.

Poi was there.

Poi stared hard at Erick… And then Poi relaxed. He asked, “So is that all there is to Wizardry? ‘Just do it’?”

“Just keep on keepin’ on,” Erick summarized. “Heard anything about Avandrasolaro yet?”

“I have. Some people from the Church of Peace will be here in 5 hours to help set up. You remember the woman who took over Songli’s clergy after Terror Peaks bombed every house of peace, to stop the pre-Chelation War talks?”

“Oh! Yeah. I remember her. Lorizal Ex, the Head Priestess of Koyabez for the Highlands region.” Erick recalled the woman as a dark ruby incani who had shaved their horns down to nothing. “I haven’t seen her in a long time, not since she requested ‘control’ over that [Undertow Star]...” Lorizal couldn’t actually control the Star he had put up there, north of the Highlands, but Erick had set down some rules and Shapings on that Star at their requests, and those Shapings should still hold.

Erick had to be sure, though.

He glanced through Ophiel, then looked outside the dungeon, and then all across the world, his sight traveling far, through his own [Gate Network], as Ophiels carried his gaze to the mountains north of Ooloraptoor, far north of the Songli Highlands. There, among the mountains, sat a Grand Church of Peace, underneath one of Erick’s own [Undertow Star]s and a scattering of a node network. It was one of the oldest Stars Erick had ever cast, looking like a white point of light surrounded by shadows and tendrils that reached out for kilometers. Except for the node network which had been added later, the Star looked rather like Erick had left it, still doing what it was Shaped to do, gently feeding off of the people looking for the salvation of Peace from war, while violently feeding off of monsters, and anyone who stood in one space directly under the Star; people who wanted to be ‘cleansed’. Seemed like that tradition was still going strong. Some people went into a pool of water at that heavy-draw point, ducking themselves under crystal waters as they passed below the Star, light trailing away from their bodies. All those people were supplying power to an entire mountainside and valley filled with houses and farmlands, but Erick hadn’t been the one to make that change.

Erick came back to himself. “That Grand Church seems to be using that Star well.”

Poi nodded. “Under Lorizal’s direction, the Church of Peace is recovering well all throughout the Highlands, between the South Central Tribulation mountains and the South East Tribulations. Blood-On-Hell has taken direct notice of all that growth, but only recently, and only because of their own failure to thrive under your rise to power. That is why they want Lorizal Ex back into their fold, but she’s a firm believer in Peace.”

“… Oh.” Erick realized, “Lorizal is a descendant of House Blood-On-Hell.”

“Something like the 17th generation. We’re not sure. Our records show that she’s still heavily in debt to them in some unspecified way, but that’s true for all incani with any demonic ancestors who have any power at all in Hell. Blood-On-Hell is trying to recover power, and they seem to be cleaving hard toward Koyabez, and an end to the Quiet War. This Avandrasolaro-thing is to try and tie both her and you to the interests of Hell as deeply as they can.” Poi said, “They’re making big moves to make this work.”

Erick had mixed feelings about all that. “Going from Forever Warmongers to Peace, eh?”

“We think they’re trying to survive.”

“That’s usually what it takes to change people; sure.”