Ar'Kendrithyst - Chapter 217, 2/2

Chapter 217, 2/2

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

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

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

… Erick would save all of them soon enough.

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

They could work on that issue.

Erick read about dungeon cores.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And the cycle got bigger.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So not Erick.

But a wyrm would qualify.

… Problems upon problems.

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

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

Hmm. That could be a problem, too.

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

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

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

It got complicated.

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

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

What the fuck.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which…

Terrifying.

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

Which was also fucking terrifying.

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

Oh.

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

So.

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

Erick set down the book.

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

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

Hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

The Relevant Entities of the Script.

– – – –

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

He got an audience with all of them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It seemed like a cruel sort of calculus. But…

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

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

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

The mist shifted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Melemizargo smiled. “Nope!”

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

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

Erick’s eyes went wide.

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

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

“Ha! Why?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“… My vote does not matter, then?”

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

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

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

As though the entire caldera breathed a sigh of relief—

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

– – – –

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

And he felt weird.

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

He could figure it out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Erick could barely believe what he was hearing.

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

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

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

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

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

Erick glared.

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

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

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

“… I suppose so.”

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

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

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

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

“Fine fine!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I am not against Rozeta! Bah!”

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

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

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

Erick said nothing, either.

– – – –

Erick stood just outside of the [Tea Party].

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

And now it was time to end this horror.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m sorry.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Okay.”

Erick sent the telepathic message.

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

Erick left.

– – – –

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zolan just shook his head.

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

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

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

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

Aisha relaxed a fraction—

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Erick nodded. “Please join me outside.”

– – – –

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

It was nice.

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

… Ah. Would that be a problem?

Probably.

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

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

“… No, that is…”

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

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

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

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

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

Erick waited.

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

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

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

“And why does that work?”

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

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

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

“Do you need a gift?”

“I want one.”

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

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

Erick frowned at her, saying nothing.

He lightstepped back into the House, back to everyone.

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

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

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