Sitting cross legged on the beach, with his hands on his knees and his eyes focused on the waters before him, Erick’s aura wafted from his skin like a clinging, glowing mist. He flexed that mist, churning a small portion of it to clarity around his left shoulder, like pulling back a curtain of light, leaving thick air behind. Another twist flowed mana into that clarity, manually forming a well known spell.

A normal [Force Bolt] silently shot from his shoulder, impacting into the illuminated waters of Yggdrasil’s lake and sending a small splash into the air. And then Erick did it again. Sweat gathered on his brow as it had many times for the last two hours; his clothes were already soaked. He breathed deep. Then he moved on to clear several more spots of his aura, all at once, turning light to thick air, and then into Bolts which flickered out to slam harmlessly into the water. Normal Bolt, normal Bolt, normal Bolt. Sweat dripped. And Erick fucked up. The eleventh Bolt was brighter than the first ten, while the twelfth and thirteenth Bolt were made of Light; not Force. He had allowed his aura to cloud over with light again.

Erick sighed and relaxed. His light aura vanished.

Tasar, standing to the side, said, “That’s… rather fast improvement for someone with your level of aura contamination.”

“I can cast ten thousand Bolts at once with [Greater Lightwalk].” Erick said, “This is a downgrade.”

“Aura control will always be a downgrade from Elemental Body spellwork. Aura control is never about power, anyway. It’s about clarity and understanding, which will allow you to go further with normal Script tier work.”

Erick asked, “You have Healing Magic? Yeah?”

Tasar side-eyed him. “… I am afraid to say yes.”

“Ophiel can handle it, then.” Erick nodded to his [Familiar] then bega—

“Wait. Wait.” Tasar said, “I got it. What are you going to do?”

“An adjustment of light all the way into Force. I might end up with Force erupting from my skin, but probably not since I’m not putting any mana into the working.”

Tasar nodded, once.

And then Erick flicked his aura on and held a hand up and began channeling mana through [Force Bolt]. With his other hand, he channeled through Mana Altering, listening for Force. He already knew what Force sounded and felt like, for Force was a neutral sound of solidness and clarity, but he was just making sure. Closing his hands, cutting off the channel, Erick hummed the Force he heard, starting the noise in his throat. He had never attempted this with his [Greater Lightwalk], and he had never had the idea to try this, either, but it should work with his Light-contaminated aura. Maybe.

Erick moved the sound of Force into his aura—

Waves of Force rippled out from his chest, shattering the light of his aura into curling, thick air as barely-there Force, like wild snakes, pushed away from every part of him, sending Ophiel into the air with a squawk. His clothes rippled like tendrils were reaching out from every part of his skin. Sand pushed away, scattering like he was a child throwing dirt—

Erick dropped a decimeter into the sandy beach and cut off his aura. His small crater slumped back onto him, but he pulled himself out of the dirt easily enough, scattering more sand as he brushed himself, saying, “The aura was clear, right?”

Tasar looked at him, concerned. “Yes. But the Light will come back, and transitioning to an aura of Force isn’t good, either. You have to go neutral, of which Force is merely a step in the right direction. But... Now that I realize that you can do this, I feel that you could probably transition through all the various Elements rapidly enough to understand what a ‘neutral’ aura would feel like. Fire and Stone might be dangerous, but no more so than Lightning or Magma.”

“… I don’t think I need to go through all of the Secondary Elements, too.”

“You might. If you have a better Familiar Form that can handle all of the oddities of this method then I suggest you use that form. We have steel slimes if you want one. They might prove useful for this methodology.”

Erick actually was interested, but not for the idea of taking in another slime form. “Steel, or platinum?”

“… Steel,” Tasar said, but she was unsure.

Erick suddenly had to ask, “Why are steel and platinum the same thing? They’re very much not the same thing at all. Steel can rust, for one. Platinum doesn’t rust at all. Why use the same Ancient Script word for both?”

“Ah. That’s what you mean.” Tasar relaxed a little. “It was a translation error in the creation of Ancient Script that other languages like Ecks don’t have. Once you go looking for small stuff like that you’ll see them everywhere. Like…” She switched to Ecks, saying, “There’s only two words for ‘blue’ in Ancient Script; Willpower-blue and Focus-blue. If I wanted to name a color between those I would have to qualify them with other directional variations that come off of the color wheel theory of mana.

“Remember when Riivo spoke of [Rebound] being taken out of Mana Altering and put on its own? That happened rather recently when it came to colors. There weren’t Ancient Script words for any of the colors made by the New Stats, until the Dark God made those colors and threw those runes into the Script.” She began interspersing her language with Ancient Script words that Erick had never heard before. “Now we have <Constitution> which is the same as saying ‘sunshine yellow’, but there is a color for that already in the Script, and we used to say <stone> but in a yellow sort of way. It’s a contextual language.” Tasar added, “You probably didn’t even notice since you used [Language Acquisition] and no one pays attention to the way language actually works, but the same thing is true for platinum and steel. They’re the same word in Ancient Script, but the one that turns to rust becomes <decay steel> while platinum remains <steel>.”

Erick realized a lot in that little bit of explanation.

After a moment, he said, “I didn’t think that the problem with Ancient Script was this intractable. I suppose that’s why it rhymes so well. The downside is that it’s a dead language.”

“I wouldn’t call it dead.” Tasar shrugged, saying, “But, yes. Growth and change are for other languages; not for the solid stone upon which all other things are built.”

Erick had another thought. “How is <Constitution> being received by your people? Do people use that word to refer to <yellow>?”

“Not at all.” Tasar frowned a little. “If you knew anything at all about wrought society you would not be asking a question like that. Would you like to talk about what to expect during Bright Tea when standing before the King, or what to expect in the inquiry?”

Erick decided, “If I’m going to be taking Bright Tea inside the city could we go inside the city? Before those things happen? I’d like to see it with my own eyes. I’m ready to go now.”

Tasar blinked a little. “Sure. We can absolutely do that. But right now? I would have thought you would have wanted to talk about [Gate] or any number of other topics before moving on.” Tasar softly said, “You can go slower, Erick. There’s time.”

Erick tried not to let his stress enter his voice too much, but it surely did as he said, “There’s no time to go slow, Tasar.”

“… Okay. Then I will be less polite about my words, and tell you that you must go slower, for moving this fast is incredibly rude to the vast majority of wrought society.” Tasar said, “We move on time tables of years, with disturbances to our daily routines taken as great affront.”

Erick frowned a little, then said, “Okay. I can understand that. Then… Tell me about Stratagold, first. Gate can wait.”

Tasar nodded, then she breathed deep, and began explaining, “Inside Stratagold you will see multiple types of areas and you’ll have no idea where you are unless you live there, or have lived there, and so I will escort you through so you don’t absolutely offend someone and ruin their day, or yours. I won’t have an international incident on my hands, please. A routine breaker is something that you must not become, understand?” She paused, looking to see that Erick understood. He did, though if he was being honest, he did not. He was already very much a ‘routine breaker’, though Tasar said the word like she was calling someone a ‘bastard’ or a ‘fucker’, so Tasar’s use of the word meant something more specific. Tasar continued, “The Geodes are lands where time stands still for a lot of people, and they like it that way. They walk certain paths every day and take pride in reading the same book for the last hundred years and...”

- - - -

Erick stepped away from the t-station into a land of light and crystal. For a brief moment he was back in Ar’Kendrithyst, stepping through the Crack the first time to see the lands beyond, for Stratagold was exactly like that, but with a different color scheme.

Spires of gold crystal with white striations rose up from indeterminable depths of light and wind to plunge into the sky of the same. Clouds flowed through some of those far away spaces, like mist carved up by the crystals, obscuring much of the further lands in soft white shadows. The spires themselves were dozens, or hundreds of meters wide, and shot through with housing and green spaces and all sorts of normal, everyday mainstreet-like areas of shops and houses. Roads of crystal connected every spire to every other spire. And as above, so it was below; Like stacked civilizations, everyone either lived above someone, and below someone else.

And the people! So many people.

Mostly— No. Entirely copper people, now that Erick understood what he was seeing. Tasar had told him this was a copper neighborhood, after all. To be specific, it was ‘Copper Human Neighborhood 156’. The lands above were ‘Copper Human Neighborhood 157’, while down below was 155.

The burnished bright orange-gold coppers were the young ones, and they were in the minority, for at least 90% of people were some shade of green, with some people so aged they were almost the color of the Statue of Liberty; white green. Browns, like aged yet not-old copper, were almost as rare as the young ones. They were all technically immortal, but only a few people actually made it to ‘adulthood’, which Tasar had explained was 100. She had also explained that when a new wrought came into being they were both physically and mentally adults, but those young ones were not allowed out of special protection areas. Tasar hadn’t gotten into the breeding habits of wrought, though, and Erick hadn’t asked. He still wasn’t sure if wrought were like [Familiar]s turned real, or if there was sexual reproduction, but based on the fact that Tasar was both adamantium and copper, he guessed that there was some sex going on somewhere. That was just speculation, though.

Erick had left most of his Ophiel behind at the t-station back by Yggdrasil, ready to blip into this particular t-station the second they were needed. They didn’t seem to be needed, though he did keep one Ophiel on one shoulder, while Yggdrasil’s eye was on his other side.

Nothing bad had happened and nothing bad looked to happen.

Tasar had been on the level when she explained what would happen on the other side of the t-station transport.

And now, after noticing no subterfuge, Erick took full stock of his situation. Tasar had taken him and Ophiel to a t-station in her old neighborhood to show him how most Geode wrought lived, because some of what she had said was just too hard to believe. Tasar now stood beside Erick, gauging his reaction.

The t-station was positioned in a very out-of-the-way location, upon what looked to be an addition to the side of a small footbridge between two towers. Erick gestured to the nonuniform crystal where the t-station rested, and the uniform crystal of the path, asking, “You had to put an addition up to put this t-station here?”

“Correct. We could not disturb the routine.” Tasar said, “And this particular footpath isn’t used by anyone at this time of day, so we’re good with staying here to watch, for a while.” She rapidly began, “Now remember: don’t engage with anyone. Observe if you want, but don’t engage them first. Us talking here doesn’t matter, but actual approach and disruption does. The young coppers might come up to find out what we’re doing and that’s fine; you can talk to them like you would anyone else. But do not engage the old coppers. Do not stand in their way. Do not touch anything or move anything, and if you have to move something then move it back afterward. Mostly, everyone here should glance your way and do nothing. If they do engage, then be polite and try to end the conversation as soon as you can, unless you want to be culturally obligated to be stuck having the same conversation for all time.” She stared at him, saying, “And be polite. You are disrupting their lives just by being here and that is unkind. But you have ample reason for disrupting them…” She pulled back, saying, “We already had this talk... I am just worried. This right here is a rarity. But it’s… It’s a rarity that needs to happen.”

Erick simply nodded; they had spoken at length about what to expect, and Erick had already asked all the important questions he could think to ask. ‘Are wrought robots?’ was his major question, to which an explanation of robots was necessary, along with an explanation of the limits of computer language, before Tasar could finally answer that, ‘No, we’re not robots. We have souls and grow, but we grow deeper, like an indelible mark on reality; not like a tree, growing taller. Security and strength over expansion and absorption.’

Back in the present, Tasar repeated her major warning, “Geode wrought like their routine and overly disturbing that routine is a horrible offense. You might get a raging wrought trying to kill you if you disturb them too much, so don’t do that.”

“Right.” Erick looked outward, at the clean, efficient city. The spires of golden crystal were rather thick, filling up half of all space, but there was plenty of space to step into the air and avoid accidentally disturbing any routines. He turned to Tasar. “And no lightstepping?”

“Correct.” Tasar said, “One Ophiel on your shoulder is probably okay. Yggdrasil’s eye…” She frowned. She dropped the subject.

Erick turned away from Tasar and scanned the area. He saw no overt displays of magic upon anyone. No [Scry] eyes anywhere. No runic webs. No open displays of magic at all. One guy over there was gardening with clippers and— Ah! The gardener used [Grow] on the plant— Oh. It was a specific [Grow]. Now that Erick looked down the row of trees lining the sky road, he saw that every single one was straight-trunked and spherical of canopy. The gardener’s spell had fluffed the tree out, and then the guy conjured a ladder to reach the canopy, to trim it down to proper shape and size.

Tasar saw where Erick was looking, and said, “That guy has been taking care of those six trees on that road since I lived here nearly 500 years ago. I learned the hard way not to make that guy angry. Anyone you see using any magic at all should be considered extremely dangerous. It is a privilege to use magic in the open where it could disturb other people, and that privilege has been hard earned.”

Erick looked around. From their vantage point on the side of the bridge he saw at least twenty five people openly using magics, though they were small magics, for sure. A conjured broom, to sweep out the storefront. [Fabricate] to make a dress out of cloth. A [Prestidigitation] to prod the fire in a bakery…

Hmm. Odd. Wrought didn’t wear clothes or need to eat fleshy-people food.

Erick asked, “Dresses and baked goods?”

Tasar smiled fondly as she looked toward the bakery, three towers over and one level down. “Now there’s a man we might be able to talk to, if you want. Getting there might be dangerous.” She looked toward the bridge with the trees. “Have to walk past him.”

“… No. Let’s not do that. Just tell me… Why the dresses and baked goods?”

“Well, we do eat food for the taste of it and some people do wear clothes instead of metal. But it’s about being the people we strive to protect, more than anything.” Tasar looked toward the dress shop that Erick had seen, saying, “The seamstress will sell one red dress to a woman who comes by at 9 in the morning, but who isn’t sure if she wants the dress. The woman comes back at 10 and buys it, though no money changes hands; we’re beyond money here… Which. I suppose I can tell you that practically every green-white wrought here has [Duplicate], and the seamstress has the spell, too. That’s how she has her fabrics to make her red dress, and also a black dress that she doesn’t sell, and a blue suit that she sells to a man getting married to his wife tomorrow. The marriage is always tomorrow, too.” Tasar softly smiled. “156 is on a one-day rotation, but there’s a larger weekly rotation that happens in some neighborhoods. 161 is full-weekly rotation. One small area which we will not venture is on a year rotation; they’re outliers, though.”

Erick nodded, and softly said, “This is all kind of terrifying, but I can see the appeal of living the same day over and over. Nothing changes, meaning nothing bad happens.”

Tasar reluctantly, but knowingly accepted Erick’s words when he mentioned his terror, but then her small smile returned as he spoke of nothing bad happening. She said, “It’s nice to know that tomorrow is going to be the same as the day before. I tried it for a while but… I didn’t fit in.”

“I hope it’s not offensive to ask, but…” Seeing that Tasar was waiting for Erick to ask the obvious, to ask about her own history here, Erick went in a slightly different direction, asking, “Sitnakov promised you elevation to Heavy. What is required for that?”

“… That’s not where I thought you would go.” Tasar thought for a second, then looked away, back to her home neighborhood, saying, “My elevation to Heavy is more me humoring that man than anything that will truly happen. Such an elevation is reserved for royalty born improperly, and I’m just a bastard. I have been more than fine with this designation for a long, long time, and besides, I’m not going to spit in my mother’s face like that.”

“Ah. Well. That’s…” It was rather personal, is what it was. Erick focused on the actuality of the theoretical process, “I was theorizing that that all it would take would be a lot of adamantium, but if [Duplicate] is already here then you’re already a post-scarcity society so such a transition to adamantium must take something more than extra adamantium.”

“Yes. It does take more than that.”

Erick waited a moment, wondering if Tasar would elaborate.

She did not.

Erick said, “So this deepening of Truth through routine, instead of expanding Truth to encompass more... Is this how the Script works? Directly through the repetition of the wrought?”

Tasar scrunched her face a little. Unsure, she said, “… No?” More strongly, she said, “That’s not how the Script works, but then again, none of us actually know how the Script truly functions. It’s theorized that this tendency toward routine might be a side effect of the Script, but… Some people find their glory in routine; in making sure that home is safe, and that other people are free to experience ‘events’.” She added, “One thing that routine does work on, though, is magic, and a lot of us need a lot of power to keep this home safe, so… That gardener over there deepens his Truth of Pruning with every repetition of his path. He is very skilled at pruning monsters down to size. The baker has a Truth of Bolstering, with support spells that spread like fire and make generals and archmages envious of the armies he leads. The seamstress has a Truth of Mending, and with that, she’s one of the best wrought-specialized Healers you will ever see.

“But interrupting that routine does nothing bad for the Script. This entire neighborhood has mobilized for war time and time again, at the single warcry of King Alfonin. It has happened before and it will likely happen again. Months at war…” Tasar said, “If a disruption of routine is all it took to break the Script, the Script would already be broken.”

Erick had a small epiphany. “Ah. It’s trauma. That’s why routine.”

Tasar’s face turned a bit softer, as she said, “That’s the more accepted reasoning. Immortals live a very long time. We see a lot of shit. We…” Her voice trailed off; she thought about speaking more, but she decided against it.

“I understand trauma; war response. Maybe not as much as some people, but I understand it both personally, and through helping others.” Erick added, “We called it post traumatic stress disorder, back home.”

“We have therapy services. I’ve used them myself after going through a few… wars, and otherwise.” Tasar said, “One of the best things they ever told me was not to compare my trauma to that of others, for there is no comparison except that everyone hurts in different ways, to different degrees.”

Erick smiled. “That’s what I’ve told people a few times, too.”

“Ah?” Tasar glanced his way, her eyes briefly going wide as though she had fucked up. “Oh. I suppose you would have known this already, and you’ve lost your whole world. Sorry. Sometimes it’s hard to gauge where other people are in their lives, and you look rather young. I apologize for my misstep.”

Erick chuckled a little, saying, “Veird is home but I did have another, yeah. Aside from a few things I don’t really miss Earth. And hey! I have Jane, so it’s all good. Plus, if I hadn’t fallen here with Jane then I would have likely died of cancer; either this year or the next.”

Tasar went still. When she mentally returned to the moment, she seemed stiffer, as she spoke from on high, “We have ways to grant immortality to mortals should you prove yourself worthy.”

She had returned to her persona of ‘distant immortal’, but Erick could tell it was just a facade that she wore to distance herself from the pain of losing people. That much was as easy to see as the sun on a cloudless day.

Erick decided to tease her about her reaction, saying, “Unless your people plan on killing me then I should be sticking around for many, many years to come, even without your immortality methods.” Tasar turned his way, letting her mask fall and her incredulity show, so Erick added, “There were dozens of theorized methods toward non-magical immortality back where I came from. I just need to figure out a few of them. Phagar even said that he’d allow a single cast of such a spell, too, if only to plug that hole in the Script.”

Tasar’s eyes went wide. “… I did not know you were that close to Phagar.”

Odd reaction. Tasar had a lot of odd reactions… Almost as though she hadn’t been spying on Erick all this time? What an odd thing for her to pretend at.

Erick said, “I included my acceptance of Phagar’s Championship when I handed out that point-of-view memory of Last Shadow’s Feast. Phagar told me that he wouldn’t accept such a thing in such dire circumstances and I’m kinda glad that he denied me, but yeah. Phagar’s a good guy. We talk sometimes.”

“Ah. That ‘report’ of yours.” With complete seriousness, Tasar said, “I did not believe it. Almost no one did.”

Erick blinked a few times, then laughed. He asked, “Do you believe it now?”

“Your power is undeniable but there were holes in your report.”

“Well of course there were holes.” Erick asked, “If you had gone through what I had, would you have given a complete accounting to the entire world? Some witnessed events should not be spread out to everyone.”

“Will you give a full accounting at the inquiry?”

“Nope.” Erick said, “And you evaded my question. Would you have given a full account to the entire world?”

“… No.” Tasar said, “My own report would have been considerably smaller, and would have gone through the proper protocols for dealing with the Dark to ensure I was not compromised. But what you did was more than that. It was a wide-ranging statement to the world, and it played right into the Dark’s claws to fit his narrative of becoming something else than who he has always been.”

Erick had a quick rejoinder for that, but he waited a suitable amount of seconds to allow Tasar’s words to have some weight; she seemed to need that. Then he said, “I much prefer wide ranging open honesty than allowing the majority of people to remain unenlightened.”

“Unfettered Truth has been the cause of many Forgotten Campaigns.”

Erick paused.

He listened to the wind and the small voices of people carrying on all around them, as he thought.

Eventually, he said, “Regarding the inquiry… I’ll answer questions. I’ll speak truths. Though I don’t really understand what you people need to question me for, anyway. You’ve probably had spies on me since I landed on Veird. Don’t you know everything already?”

“The inquiry will be an official hearing where you present yourself for evaluation, the judges decide Stratagold’s official stance with you, and then we go from there.” Tasar said, “I get the feeling that you think an inquiry is a bad thing, but that could not be further from the truth. An inquiry is what every single group of people at the embassy wishes they could have, because a successful inquiry means the weight of Stratagold falls behind you, lifting you to new glories with manufacturing and magical assistance and help with monsters and other problems. Consider a successful inquiry as the wrought version of Kirginatharp’s bargain of trade.”

For a moment, Erick felt untethered.

His entire worldview shifted in the moment.

Tasar continued, “Enduring Forge succeeded in their inquiry around 100 post-Sundering, and they’ve fallen to the Dark several times, only to be propped back up by the wrought city of Titanite. Oceanside exists due to the Headmaster, yes, but Stratagold falls behind Kirginatharp whenever there are any threats too big to handle. I wasn’t there when it happened, but it is my understanding that the Fall of Quintlan is partially due to not a single nation on the Surface being able to satisfy an inquiry.” She said, “You don’t need an inquiry to succeed in this world; just look at Songli. But it helps, a lot.” She added, “We have limits, obviously, but a lot of those limits might relax now that the Dark Clergy has been purged or Blessed into submission.”

Erick felt a bit better about everything…

But he kept his expectations low. Maybe he would try to do this ‘inquiry’ thing correctly.

He said, “Okay. That’s a lot better than what I was expecting out of an inquiry.”

“Don’t misunderstand in the other direction, Erick.” Tasar said, “An inquiry is very much a judgment. But the good outcome is great for you and your descendants. The bad outcome is exile and distancing.” Tasar didn’t need to mention the truly bad outcome, but it was there; unsaid.

Erick turned his thoughts toward the future, thinking about what he desired, and no more easy words seemed ready to be said. So he simply stood by Tasar, the two of them staring out at the land in front of them. Tasar likely saw a lot more than he saw, by simple virtue of knowing these people, and knowing their routines. The black-green wrought seemed happy as she gazed upon her homeland. Happier than Erick had ever seen her, though admittedly he had not seen a lot of her. That would change in the coming months, with or without approval from Stratagold and the Church of Rozeta’s inquiry.

And so, Erick watched. He listened. He did not judge, but...

The whole thing with wrought and routines was a little freaky, but as Erick stood there, letting his mind wander while the gardener trimmed his trees and the baker baked his bread, it seemed nice. It wasn’t long before Erick noticed a rhythm to it all, as the seamstress clipped her threads in time to the gardener snipping small branches, as the people walked across skybridges talking of whatever, and a woman sat on her porch and turned the pages of her book in time to it all...

To always know what was going to happen next. To never worry about the danger of a disrupted life...

There was a certain allure here. But this kind of life wasn’t for Erick, and he still found it really weird, no matter how much he realized that this was just the wrought’s culture.

Erick broke the personable silence between him and Tasar, asking, “Do you have [Duplicate]?”

Tasar pulled herself away from the sights around her, turning to Erick. “Yes, but you’ll never see me use it outside of private spaces where I am absolutely sure that no one else can ever see. Here is okay. Outside of Stratagold? Never.” She added, “And only for essentials. They tell us all when we gain that spell to never leave a trace of it anywhere you go.”

“Have the Geodes ever considered transitioning the rest of Veird to a post-scarcity society?”

“That’s the second time you used that phrase.” Tasar said, “I don’t understand.”

“The idea of ‘post scarcity’ is where the need for items is fulfilled, so people’s wants and actions and lives are filled with the pursuit of pleasure or intellect or something other than scrapping in the dirt for gold to pay for food, for example.”

Tasar thought for a second, unsure.

Erick added, “Giving [Duplicate] to everyone, for example, would transition society to post-scarcity.”

Tasar’s eyes went wide, and then she solidly said, “Oh, no. That would be a bad idea. Every time that [Duplicate] has gotten out into the wider world bad things have happened.”

“Well yes.” Erick said, “But that's an unequal distribution allowing for the exploitation of systems already in place, like one person making gold and crashing the local economy and then getting themselves and a lot of other people killed. I’m talking about, like, everyone who reaches level 75 gets [Duplicate]? Or maybe everyone who saves a hundred lives gets [Duplica— Ah. And I instantly realize that this would just incentivize rulers to cause wars, or whatever. Anyway. Imagine instead of Farmers, you had Duplicators— And I realize right now that this would cause Atunir to turn Dark again…” Erick asked, “Are the gods the reason we can’t have a post-scarcity society?”

Tasar took a moment to think, and then a moment longer to answer, unsure, “Why would we want to risk everything we already have to enact such a system?”

“Because new worlds aren’t going to have anything on them at all.”

Tasar stood a bit straighter, saying, “That is a very good point.” After a moment, she added, “One to think about.”

“I’ve thought about it a bit, but nothing too deep.” Erick said, “I suppose if [Duplicate] were handed out to every Mind Mage, or some other organization of honorable people, then that would be fine. Probably.”

Tasar eyed him. “Do you want to be in charge of such an organization?”

Her question was slightly barbed like many to come before, but only because she was worried. Worried over Erick’s goals, and his power, and his true desires. She believed him a highly competent liar, and he was gaining that skill, for sure, but Erick wasn’t lying about any of the important stuff.

Not much of the important stuff, anyway.

Erick answered with compassion, “I want to ensure that no village is ever razed by monsters or war. That every child gets an education. That the land is filled with life and people. That every single person can feel safe in the pursuit of their mundane or magical goals. That cities are safe from the predations of monsters or other evils, whether those evils are shaped like people or not. That the world is connected and that all good peoples can move freely and live freely, without overworrying about their lives or their livelihoods. Obviously I’ll never change reality itself, for monsters will always prowl around where there is magic, but I have a responsibility to use my power for the betterment of all, and so I will.” He added, “I don’t really care how these good things happen or the exact form it all takes in the end, but I know what I generally want out of life, and that is to make life better for everyone I meet.”

Tasar got a softness to her face and her shoulders that she didn’t have before. Her voice was quiet, as she said, “That’s quite a larger dream than my own.”

Erick asked, “So what do you do?”

“Logistics.” Tasar asked, “Would you like to see what I do? Or we could talk over dinner? When was the last time you ate?”

Had she really just asked that?

Erick semi-rapidly spoke, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

The second his words left his mouth he realized he had misinterpreted Tasar.

Tasar’s eyes went wide. “No! I mean…” She rapidly explained, “People need to eat so there is a culture of feeding the non-wrought we are with and generally making sure they’re comfortable— It’s rude to not take into consideration the needs of others and I know fleshy bodies need more than our metallic ones.” She added, “Not a date.”

Erick got over his own embarrassment as Tasar’s was more than enough for both of them. He smiled, and then his smile grew. “Okay. Yeah. Actually, I could eat. This is—'' He paused in remembrance of his first time talking to Anhelia, the front desk girl / information broker at the Mage’s Guild in Spur. “The very first time I spoke to a wrought looking for information, they took me to a place to eat and drink while we spoke.” Oh. “I accidentally flirted with her, too. Oh.”

Oh.

Tasar rapidly recovered from her rejection of embarrassment, giving a little sigh, and saying, “It was actually rude of me not to offer food before now, but we’ve been talking for several hours and it seemed like a good opportunity to ask if you were still comfortable. Wrought can talk with each other for weeks before we need breaks.”

Erick decided that teasing was the best policy. “What about poop breaks?”

Tasar leveled a glare at him, then pulled back, saying, “Those are accounted for.”

Erick laughed. “How!”

“The same way that I know you’re hungry; my mana sense tells me so.” With nonchalant grace, Tasar quietly announced, “I suspect you have at least 4 hours before you need to defecate, but I have been proven wrong before.”

Giggling loud, Erick said, “A [Rebound] of my own teasing! Okay okay! You win. Let’s go get something to eat— Wait a second.” A thought occurred. Erick looked to Tasar. “This means that Kromolok had [Duplicate]? He could have saved you on his own?”

“No one knows what Kromolok has. But he might.” Tasar said, “Kromolok had basically zero mana so he could not have saved both of us. We think that’s what the Darkness was trying to do; force a horrible decision upon him. Either through cannibalization of me to keep Sitnakov intact or the other way around or [Duplicate] of our bodies which… It's actually quite disgusting.”

Erick suddenly realized that he had offered Kromolok copies of his own metal, which was apparently disgusting. Well then. Just another thing to apologize for, apparently.

Tasar continued, “We didn’t even consider that we were interrupting your time with Rozeta until after the whole thing was done and we had time to talk in a calmer environment.”

“… Oh.” Erick said, “Okay.” And then Erick couldn’t help himself, asking, “What do wrought do for pooping? Is that a thing that happens? I didn’t even know wrought had organ-equivalents until I saw Kromolok reconstruct them.”

Tasar would have been blushing hard if she had fleshy skin instead of metal. “We certainly control it better than you types and I am very glad to know you cannot tell. Thank Rozeta you are not a Smith with Metal Sense.”

Erick smiled wide, laughing a little as he said, “Okay okay. Let’s go get some food and talk about nicer subjects.”

Tasar readily agreed, “Let’s.”

- - - -

In the world diner’s market, deep in the embassy, at a nice table in a nice restaurant which served all kinds of food, Erick sat across from Tasar. He had ordered fried chicken tenders and a salad and they would be arriving soon enough, while Tasar ordered the same for whatever reason; Erick didn’t pry much. It felt rude to speak of things like conspicuous consumption while other people sat in booths less than three meters away, listening in because they could not believe who had walked in and sat down beside them.

They were more or less in a private, public setting, so that framed the conversations that Erick chose to pursue. As the beer arrived, he restated the question that brought them here, “So what do you do? You said logistics, but what does that mean?”

Tasar nodded, then began, “In the Underworld, everything is either connected to someone or someplace else, which is connected in some way to a Geode, or some massive power on the Surface. There is no surviving down here on one’s own, though you do always hear stories about some elusive archmage or whomever carving a paradise out of the Dark and raising their own network of power out of the tunnels down here.

“Anyway. New places are popping up all the time, or people need to escape a collapse for any number of reasons. Monster surges or assassination or just general failures of a hundred different sorts can all lead to a bad end down here. What I’m getting at is people move around a lot.

“When everything is going right, usually those moves are to new areas where they need resources from other lands to make it in those new places. Usually what happens is that someone decides to break off from a city to found a new city, and they enlist Stratagold’s help, so we come in and make sure that their village or city can survive and that they have the tools to meet with others.

“Now where I come in, is if these people meet certain criteria to receive a Stratagold outpost, I help set up a t-station and get them connected to the local network. But that’s only a small portion of what I do.” Tasar said, “When I’m not working with Stratagold’s various independent city-states, I’m traveling and coordinating with Titanite, Navanaryst, Dimarald, or any of the other Geodes. A lot of coordination with Dimarald, actually. They produce much of the food down here, having a whole organization of archmages focused on that sort of thing.” She said, “But the average person never sees anything of what I do, since much of what I do is hidden behind treaties and other such high-security measures.”

Erick said, “I know barely anything about the Underworld. I’m still not sure why people want to actually live down here, but I suppose if there’s this much coordination… That explains a lot of it.”

“It’s quite easy to start a city in the Underworld. One of the absolute major reasons is that building and infrastructure down here is dead simple. Not like on the Surface where you need special materials to make anything over 20 stories.”

“… Oh. I hadn’t considered that.”

“Security is actually easier, too, since [Teleport] is so limited down here. Everything else is harder, though, but the Geodes are down here, so a lot of other people are down here, too.” Tasar said, “Anyway. Most people file the paperwork for a standard support package and then they receive the standard support package, but a lot of people aspire to get an inquiry, and if they can prove worthy of such support, then they get that support. We haven’t done anything on the Surface for the longest time because… Well. The Shades were only part of the problem. Too many wrought were getting assassinated for their metal bodies.” She shook her head, saying, “The Golds won’t even show themselves outside of the Geodes anymore, and we’re all poorer for it.”

The waiter brought their food.

Erick stuck his fork into the chopped, fried chicken, saying, “I didn’t even know there were golds. But… I imagine that with the Headmaster using [Duplicate] to make gold an actual currency instead of just metal that you can pull out of the ground… Did that make the problem better, or worse?”

“Ohh. Now that’s a question.” Tasar said, “The history of using [Duplicate] to ensure that the economy works is a deep dive into logistics. Are you sure you want to talk about that?”

Tasar looked very ready to talk about economies.

Erick decided that he would take that deep dive. “I know how we used paper money back home to make our economy work, but I would very much like a deep dive into how Veird’s economy works. Back home we had ten thousand different currencies, but only a few large ones, but here there’s this gold standard and [Teleport] can move people around for the best prices rather well— On the Surface, anyway. Down here I can understand price differences, but, like, one thing I noticed was that prices in Songli were better than prices in Spur. Was that because of Spur’s adventurers constantly harvesting rads from monsters, driving up local prices?”

With an infectious smile and much enthusiasm, Tasar began, “Now the reason for what you saw was manifold. First, Spur is a lot smaller than Songli, and comparatively everyone in Spur is rich compared to everywhere else for a thousand different reasons but adventuring most of all. Also people are lazy so some markets can inflate like that, but the Mage Bank works to ensure that prices are rather similar across the world through the actions of taking rads out of the economy in exchange for gold, and…”

Erick ate, drank, and listened while Tasar spoke her joy, talking about market forces and economics and trade between nations. He asked questions and Tasar happily answered, going off on tangents which led to her asking Erick questions about the economies of Earth. He gave half-realized answers, excusing himself for his limited knowledge in that area because it just wasn’t something he had to be concerned with until now. Tasar accepted his excuse but kept asking questions about the movement of people on Earth, so Erick spoke of planes and trains and trucks—

“And the cargo ships.” Erick said, “Great big ships 300 meters from stem to stern, carrying 4500 shipping containers each, as they motored across the world connecting everyone to everyone else. The whole world was connected by cargo ships; they formed the backbone of world trade, for Earth was very much a global economy.”

“You’ve used that word a few times, ‘shipping containers’.” Tasar asked, “What are they?”

“Oh! Those might be useful here.” Erick said, “Some guy a hundred or so years ago came up with the bright idea for uniform shipping containers that everyone used. Each one was basically three meters wide, three meters tall, and a little over 6 meters long. Practically all major shipping on Earth is standardized to that size, with every dock having machines that work in that size and strength. The shipping containers can even be put directly onto a train or truck and moved out to where they have to go, so no one in the intermediate steps has to deal with loading or unloading cargo, leading to a lot more security, and the major shipping is easier for everyone. Small items are still moved normally at the last mile, like always; either by hand or by smaller delivery trucks. But the middle is standardized for everyone. Makes everything much smoother than tying down individual boxes on a sailing ship, like I’ve seen the people at Portal do with their ships.”

Tasar sat stunned. And then she softly said, “That’s a good idea.”

Erick smiled. “Feel free to steal it.”

Tasar laughed, then said, “No. You’ll get credit.”

“I’m basically stealing it, myself.” Erick smiled as he said, “I’ve stolen so much from back home. It’s worked out quite well for me.”

“Oh.” Tasar laughed. “It has, hasn’t it.”

“Very much so.”

They spoke more of shipping and logistics.

Eventually the night —or was it day?— came to an end, and Erick made a crass joke about needing to get back to his own daily routine, which Tasar didn’t understand at first, but which Erick explained had to do with the bathroom. She chuckled again. And then Tasar paid for the meal and they went their separate ways.

On his way back to Yggdrasil Erick picked up a whole bunch of fabrics that Sergeant Kapra and her people had procured for him. He thanked them, then brought all his new supplies back with him to Yggdrasil, to one of his [Sealed Privacy Ward]s, where he rapidly copied what he wanted and destroyed the originals. He was probably being overly paranoid, but…

A little bit of paranoia was prudent.

Outside of the sights of anyone else, Erick switched over to his Other Form and had a second dinner of [Renew] and mana cycling. After doing some more necessities in a conjured toilet and [Cleanse]ing away the proof of his fleshy nature, he hopped into bed and examined his current situation.

He felt good there, under the covers, under the light. He felt good here, next to Stratagold. The inquiry certainly didn’t seem nearly as scary now as it had yesterday. In fact, a successful inquiry could be a rather good opportunity to ensure that Candlepoint got more help—

Ah. They probably wouldn’t go for that. If what Rozeta had said was true, then every shadeling had within them a backdoor which Melemizargo could use to take them over.

Well… A good inquiry would still help Erick to take back all of the Crystal Forest from the mimics. If Tasar wanted to take back Glaquin, too, then maybe he could help her with that, as well. Tasar seemed nice enough, now that they weren’t on opposite sides of a battlefield. Honestly, she had always seemed decent, but also distant. Knowing what he now knew, perhaps her distance was just her not wanting to get near mortals; a perfectly reasonable desire. Attachments between mortals and immortals never worked out well. Mortal and immortal cultures just didn’t mix.

And apparently, immortals were mostly post-scarcity, too; yet another point of contention.

It would probably be difficult to bring all of Veird into a post-scarcity society, considering all the boons granted to everyone by the Script already made them much, much more post-scarcity than Earth, and yet there were still problems of murder and mayhem everywhere, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration all the monsters.

There were quite a lot of problems to fix out there, and Erick could fix a lot of them, couldn’t he? Like. Yeah. He had had these thoughts before, and he had been solving problems for a while now, but…

He could actually do this.

And a [Renew] runic web would solve all the problems of bad actors learning runework from a runic web! Every problem had a solution, and Erick had lots of time to solve them all, now that he was apparently immortal, too. Probably wouldn’t go telling people about his immortality for a few decades, though. If he lived that long.

Most immortals didn’t make it past a year outside of their specific societies.

Erick might not last a year, either.

… Maybe he should purposefully throw the inquiry to keep Stratagold out of his life.

Maybe.

As Erick closed his eyes and fell into the embrace of sleep, a few more thoughts crossed his mind. He should talk to some people about their inquiry experiences to see how much of what Tasar said was true, and he should see what Silverite has to say about her own experiences with the Geodes. Erick and Silverite had never been close, but Erick was technically in Spur’s Army, so maybe Silverite would have some good advice.

Anyway, Geode society was weird as fuck.

- - - -

Erick woke, got ready for the day with another swim and another [Renew] session, then he made himself some nicer clothes out of the materials he had gotten from Sergeant Kapra. As he turned cloth into pants and other assorted high-class items, Erick got back to thinking about what a ‘post-scarcity’ society would actually look like.

Veird already was post-scarcity for the most part. All basic needs could be met with a bit of Script assistance. People could already [Teleport] anywhere, and protect their homes from smaller monsters, or feed themselves with [Grow]. All one needed to do was learn how to work the system in their favor, and while the Registrars didn’t give away secrets, they certainly made sure that everyone knew how to interact with the Script, and what all the blue boxes and terms meant. Past that, one needed to interact with other people to learn how to best take control and use the magic granted by the Script.

So in that sense, Veird was practically 75% post-scarcity already. [Duplicate] wasn’t necessary to have a good life in the current socioeconomic environment. What was necessary to a good life was participation in the lives of others. If [Duplicate] was in the Open Script, then that would solve practically all physical needs. It would also absolutely tank the gold-based economy.

Maybe if the economy moved away from the gold standard to some sort of…

Runic inscription banknotes?

Runes couldn’t be stamped out of a press, after all. Someone had to actually use their power to carve into the history of an item, to physically and magically create a rune. Putting [Renew] into a banknote seemed like a safe thing to do, too, but that banknote would have to be capable of taking in [Renew], which would mean the banknote would have to be made of metal.

So coins with runes of [Renew] in them. The goal here was to make a currency that everyone could use and benefit from, after all, and what better way to do this than to make currency that could actually be used on existing magic. Such a tax system could actually be ‘1500 units of [Renew]’. Maybe the actual currency could be mana, then…

That would leave warriors out in the cold, though.

And besides that, Erick wanted to transition away from gold and other heavy metals because it was annoying to use gold due to the weight of it all, but having metallic currency might end up a necessity. Maybe coins were fine, anyway, since most large transactions took place through Mage Bank; physical currency only changed hands when dealing with small amounts of the stuff.

It would be easy to test runic coins for authenticity, too, since in Erick’s hypothetical world everyone had [Renew], and they could just channel into a suspect coin to see if it was real or a product of [Duplicate]. Hmm. Interesting thoughts, there.

Erick put on his new clothes and looked up at Yggdrasil, asking, “I want to talk to Poi again and to some people over at Nelboor. Want to help me?”

Yggdrasil had been playing with the fish down in the lake, seeing if he knew all of them and naming a few, but at Erick’s words he focused on him, instead. “Yes! I help.”

Erick nodded. Then he got to talking to people.

- - - -

Poi sent, ‘I can’t talk too much about inquiries for that would be breaking protocols, but I can say that… I can say that Tasar wasn’t lying. Maybe misrepresenting the danger? There is a danger there, but it’s also an opportunity. Obviously whatever sort of inquiry you attend won’t be the normal sort of inquiry. They’d judge everything you ever did and… It’s going to be tough for you.’

Erick mentally nodded ‘That’s sort of what I figured already.’

Poi mentally shrugged, then said, ‘Silverite is not able to talk right now but she can in ten minutes. Is there someone else you want to talk to before that?’

‘Yeah. I need to make sure that Enduring Forge made out okay. Maybe I can speak to their mayor, Arakag?’

‘When they found out you were okay they sent us a missive. Let me remember…’ Poi sent, ‘To Archmage Erick Flatt: We are relieved to hear that you have survived your trip through the Teleport Pad unscathed and are recuperating near Stratagold. If ever you feel like returning to Enduring Forge, you will be well received.’ He sent, ‘There was more about rune work and wishing you well on the creation of [Renew]. Do you want me to recite the whole letter?’

‘No. That’s fine.’ Erick asked, ‘Did they say anything about Darabella? What happened to the people who made the Teleport Pad?’

‘They were in deep shit for a while, but when you turned up alive things cooled down.’

‘I’ll need to make an apology to them when I get back to the Surface. What about Nirzir? Was she okay?’

‘Nirzir was not okay, but she got better. She’s actually in Spur right now, along with a bunch of other people from Songli.’

Erick connected a few dots. ‘But you can’t tell me more than that because then you’d be talking about what’s happening at Spur.’

‘Correct.’

‘… Whatever is happening… Why would Nirzir… It’s some sort of monster hunting but why would anyone… Are the monsters made of gold?— No no. That can’t be it— Did you know that [Duplicate] is rampant down here? That they have Teleport Stations?’ Erick sent, ‘It boggles the mind. I am boggled.’

‘Those things are kept deeply secretive. I’m surprised you got one near Yggdrasil.’

‘Everything is happening so fast down here I’m not sure I can stomach all of it.’ Erick sent, ‘Anyway. You have monsters and Nirzir is there, for some reason.’

Poi stoically said, ‘I’m sure I don’t know what they’re here for, but Nirzir has enjoyed rooming in one of the extra rooms and talking with Kiri. She’s working well with Jane, too, while one of Nirzir’s bodyguards is a prognosticator who is getting along well with Teressa. Everyone is doing great, so don’t worry about us— Silverite is ready. I’m connecting you now.’

‘Way to dodge the questions, Poi,’ Erick sent, as he waited—

‘Hello, Erick,’ Silverite sent, ‘I understand you’re headed into an inquiry?’

‘Hello, Silverite.’ Erick sent, ‘I’m headed into an inquiry with the Church of Rozeta and a few others, and to have ‘Bright Tea’ at the White Palace. Got any words of wisdom for me?’

With a serious tone, Silverite asked, ‘How many days has it been since they invited you to these events? Have they given you specific dates to meet with them?’

‘About five, now. And no; no specific dates. Whenever I’m ready it will happen.’

Silverite relaxed with a soft chuckle, then sent, ‘Let’s speak of the inquiry first. Have they offered you counsel?’

‘… Uh. I’m not sure. Tasar the Summoner is my ‘keeper’, for now, though that is just what I’ve been calling her and I don’t think it’s her official title. They want her to stick with me till the end of the Worldly Path. They wanted to wipe my memory of the Core and force me off the Path, but that’s not happening. Instead, I have Tasar and some responsibilities to the Headmaster, and we’re going to hunt down a Wizard different from Melemizargo in order to gain the spark —or whatever— is required to make a [Gate] summon.’

A heavy joy and relief flooded out from Silverite, but she kept her tone even, ‘Good. Tasar is a decent sort; used to mortals, anyway. If she’s at your side for the final part of your Path, then you might actually make it to the end.

‘That said, and about your inquiry: Stratagold was not my home Geode, but I’ve dealt with them a lot, mostly through the various teams that they send out to recover dangerous magics that have usually been stolen into Ar’Kendrithyst. They want things certain ways and anyone standing outside of those parameters are —best case— ruthlessly abandoned to the Dark. Exile and cutoff from all support is their usual option for dealing with problematic people, for even a dangerous person is still a tool they can throw against the Dark. If you can prove yourself as worthy of their benediction and capable of acting in their desired ways, then they will stand firmly with you against all odds.

‘I don’t know how you’ve interacted with them so far, but based on what you’ve done and are looking to do I can only assume that they want to help, now that you’re finally down there and forcing the issue. Visiting the Core without proper clearance is a dark mark, and it will be a problem, but hopefully not large of one.

‘So here’s what you need to do: I highly doubt that Tasar would be your official counsel for the inquiry, but you should ask her if she is. If she is, then have her help you prepare for the inquiry. If she is not, then you need to hire an inquiry preparatory committee and prepare for a year before going into that meeting; the lives of Geode wrought are much slower than other wrought. But! This seems like an outlier of a time, so they might want something sooner. Ask about your timeline, and find out. You’re probably going to wind up hiring an emergency IPC, which is fine. Hire three; you got money. Take whatever advice from them you feel like taking, and then move on.

‘You don’t actually need Stratagold to make any future plans work, but many future plans will be easier with them at your back.’ Silverite said, ‘I’ve been told that you want to do some runic web stuff? You’re going to need a Geode’s backing to get that working, otherwise they’ll come in and shut you down. They’ll be nice about shutting you down, but even if you’re making runic web breakthroughs and solving world problems with your runes, if you aren’t working within their system they’ll confiscate every runic structure you make until you run out of resources. Violent escalation will be met in kind, but they usually won’t even confront you. They’ll just steal that shit out from under you. Constant, horrible theft is likely the worst possible outcome from a failed inquiry. Thankfully, Mage Bank isn’t operated by them or else they’d go in and take your money and leave you destitute, too, but Mage Bank was created in response to them doing that when Geode Bank was the main bank— Eh. That’s all ancient history.’ Silverite sent, ‘Get an EIPC and prepare well. You want Stratagold on your side, Erick’

Toward the end Silverite’s voice was strained with hard emotions. Erick almost asked what had been stolen from Spur, or otherwise, but that would be a topic for another day.

Erick sent, ‘Thank you. I’ll keep all that in mind.’

Silverite mentally nodded, then sent, ‘Now this Bright Tea thing is more dangerous— Which is happening first, Bright Tea, or the inquiry?’

‘Whichever I want, I think.’

‘Right. Okay. Take Bright Tea first if you feel you can make allies there. If you feel you can’t make allies, take the inquiry first.’ Silverite sent, ‘Do you feel you could make allies among the adamantium? Because that’s who you’re going to be meeting. Them and the steels and a few others.’

‘I met with a Gemslicer by the name of Awir and we spoke of me adding ‘solving the Black Curse’ to my Worldly Path, since I’m already headed after a Wizard anyway.’ Erick said, ‘I’d need to find out more about how Wizards rid dragons of their Blood Curse, though. I feel that those two Curses might be variations on a similar base, though I don’t know enough to be sure about that right now.’

Silverite was silent for a moment, then she said, ‘Take Bright Tea first. Don’t spend more than 12 hours there. Don’t promise them the sun. Do be pleasant and smart. Do dress well, but nothing more than how you usually try to dress well. Excuse yourself for various mortal needs every two hours. Listen more than you speak and be humble even about your largest accomplishments— Follow King Alfonin’s lead— Ah.’ Silverite said, ‘You can deal with these kinds of people so I’m not sure why I’m giving you this advice, but… Just be careful, Erick. And don’t promise them the sun! Don’t do that. And don’t come back to Spur until you’re done with your Worldly Path.’

Erick smiled. ‘Good luck with whatever is happening there; Poi still won’t tell me.’

‘I pray that you never know what is happening here until it is long over and we have saved ourselves.’ Silverite signed off, sending, ‘Safe travels.’

Erick turned back to Poi, sending, ‘I’ll talk to you later then? Unless other people are able to talk now? Is Jane there?’

‘Jane is… indisposed at the moment. Teressa is free. She’s standing right beside me wondering if you need someone— I’ll just let her tell you.’

Teressa’s voice came through loud and clear, ‘You need a bodyguard down there, Boss?’

Erick smiled wide at the obvious warmth flowing through the connection. ‘I’m okay, Teressa. Nothing to get too worried about. Oh! Got any stories about the wrought of Stratagold? You’ve probably heard of Sitnakov, haven’t you? I had to fight him and we came to a draw, but I’ll likely end up seeing him again sometime soon.’

Teressa strongly said, ‘SITNAKOV! You’re meeting the Adamantium Wind himself?!’

‘Ah! See? If his name does this to someone in the know, then it’s no wonder he was pissed I had no idea who he was.’

Teressa just started laughing and laughing. Eventually, though, she started talking, telling a story of when Sitnakov eradicated a kingdom of soul eaters in the Wyrmrest mountains, north of the land now called the Wasteland Kingdoms. Of the entire book collection of Sitnakov Stratagold’s Stories of Soldiering and Slaying, which has been in reprint for 700 years. Of how he always joined the hunt when a great-wyrm was found, which was apparently a type of wyrm that was level 99 and held the power of an Ancient, but each one was different—

‘The last great-wyrm had to be 50 or so years ago.’ Teressa said, ‘It was a Sand-Sky Wyrm which threatened all the sky giant lands as well as every city of the Crystal Forest. Truly massive thing. I don’t think Sitnakov has been very active since then… Yeah. He hasn’t been. Before my time, really, but my—’ A soft sadness came through, as she said, ‘My mother loved his books— Oh. Shit. Uh. I gotta— It was nice talking!’ Her voice cut out…

‘Uh.’ Erick sent, ‘Is she okay?’

Poi’s came right in, ‘I think… Yeah, she got a vision. She’s talking to other people to make sure— I have to go, too— Wait. Kiri wants to talk.’

‘Oh good! I wanted to talk to her, too—’

Kiri’s voice came in, ‘Hey, Erick. I have to make this quick. I miss you and this would be a lot easier with you here, but I guess that’s not happening for a while yet. So I want permission to use the crown you made.’

‘That thing is still enchanted? The duration on [Luminous Trap] should have failed long ago.’

‘It did fail. The thing became unenchanted a while ago, but I have [Luminous Trap] and I could use the extra Stats, so I want your permission to take the base crown and recast the enchantments upon it.’

‘Sure. But also, you should learn how to make [Crystallize Diamond]. It’s a base spell. Didn’t I teach you that one?’

‘I’ve been trying to make the base spell but so far that has proven outside of my current capabilities, so I went with the third-tier variation and have failed five times now; 50 days of waiting, and I still haven’t gotten it right.’ Kiri’s voice was pained, but she tried to hide that pain.

‘I’m really sorry I haven’t been there. I did not expect this Worldly Path to take this long, but knowing what I know now, it might take even longer.’ Erick sent, ‘Go ahead and take that crown and make it your own. Good luck protecting Spur. It’s a big responsibility.’

Relief flowed through as Kiri sent, ‘Thank you, Erick. Yes. It’s a responsibility, but I can do this. Good luck with the Worldly Path.’

‘Good luck protecting Spur!’

Kiri sighed and laughed at the same time, sounding a lot better than she had at the beginning, then their connection dimmed, and cut.

Poi sent, ‘I have to go, Sir. Good luck with Stratagold.’

‘Good luck with your problems, too.’

The connection fully cut.

Erick sat upon his chair on Yggdrasil’s branches, staring out at the green canopy and the glowing white bark for a moment longer…

He had a few things to do before he pressed on, to Oceanside. One, was clearing out his aura for more precise aura work, and to Remake all the basic boosting Skills. Another, was now that he had Perfected Form from his Protean species he needed to create a high variable-cost-variable-absorption [Bloody Personal Ward]. Perfected Form was supposed to make one immune to all of the harmful aspects of Blood Magic, but Erick was definitely going to ask some actual immortals if that were a true thing that really worked like that, before he did it. Perhaps he could ask ‘for his daughter’s benefit’? It would be a true statement that would also apply to him, but other people didn’t need to know that. Maybe someone would try casting a Blood spell at him to test if he was asking for himself— Ah. He should just be wearing his [Sanguine Charm], anyway; that thing prevented all hostile Blood Magic and lasted 48 hours.

He cast that spell and affixed the red blood drop to his left wrist.

A trip to Archmage’s Rest would answer most of his questions about magic, and some of his still-developing questions about the release of magical knowledge into the rest of the world. While he was there he could fill out paperwork to become an ‘official’ Archmage, too—

Blast it. He should have asked Silverite about Archmage’s Rest.

Everything down here was too new.

Whatever. After Archmage’s Rest, Erick would prepare for the inquiry.

So…

Erick got up and decided to go ask around about ‘inquiry preparatory committees’, first. He’d stop by Tasar’s office, and begin his questioning there. Probably go with Tasar to Archmage’s Rest, too.

Yes.

This was a plan.

Erick hopped to it.

- - - -

Erick stepped into the hallway close to Tasar’s office, but before he could knock, Tasar’s green copper mother opened the door, inviting him inside with a small smile and an easy countenance. She asked if he wished for tea, and this time they might actually get to enjoy it since Tasar might be a while. Erick accepted.

Erick sat down across from the older woman. “Tasar took me to her home neighborhood yesterday. It was a bit of a culture shock, but still enjoyable. I assume it was your hometown, too?”

Otaliya poured tea, happily saying, “Yes. Many, many centuries ago, but I haven’t been back in a long time. Not since I ran into my former husband and everything changed. Tasar goes back sometimes but I bet either of us could answer questions about it. Why do you ask?” She handed him his tea, then sipped her own.

Erick took his tea, sipped it, and set it back down, before saying, “A few reasons. The main one though, is that I want to know what it means to deal with the adamantium wrought, and you might be able to shine some nice light on that situation. I’ll probably ask Tasar, too, but that seems like it could be insensitive.”

“Not much experience with wrought, eh?”

“Practically zero.” Erick said, “Though now as I’m saying it, it seems rather ridiculous to not just ask her these sorts of questions, too.”

Otaliya smiled a bit, saying, “Many people operate under certain misapprehensions about wrought, mainly regarding the idea that since we’re all made of different metals and since we have a caste system that we’re all truly different from each other. This is both vastly untrue, and yet also true in smaller ways. In the smaller ways, Silvers like their magics, Coppers like their routines more than most, and the Heavies like cultivating, maintaining, and ensuring the proper use of power. But in the larger ways, everyone can love and live with everyone else. But love often leads to children, and certain blends… They do not survive. I got lucky with my children. Many others aren’t ever willing to take the chance.

“But as for the Heavies themselves— The adamantium. They are the rulers by ancient decree, and they take that role very seriously. That’s all you really have to know about them. Individually they’re as different as anyone, but on the whole, they are born ready to break the world if they have to, in order to make it better, and this makes them both great leaders and terribly stubborn. If you try to fit into their world they’ll love you more than most. If you go against the flow they’ll discard you at best, or… They’ll try to discard you, first. Escalation is never the best way to deal with the Heavies.”

Erick felt some relief, but an entirely new set of apprehensions fell upon his shoulders.

“Thank you.” Erick asked, “Do you have any advice for someone headed into an inquiry with the Church of Rozeta and others?”

“Oh!” Otaliya perked up. “Are you headed into an inquiry?”

“I am, as soon as I get around to it.” Erick said, “I was given suggestions to speak to at least three emergency inquiry preparatory committees before I go to my inquiry, and to take my Bright Tea appointment before the inquiry, too.”

Otaliya went still for a moment, seeming to decide something. Then she said, “All good advice. I used to do a lot of that years ago. I can serve as one of those EIPCs, if you desire, free of charge, and give you a wrought perspective that is different from most. I used to do this all the time for people in your particular situation of needing to deal with the Heavies and other powerful organizations inside Stratagold.” She rapidly added, “But you should get some current-day EIPCs, too. Downstairs in the main lobby, down to the right, you’ll find many inquiry services. An emergency IPC will cost a fair bit, but you would likely get a massive discount due to their desire to secure a win. They all trade on their reputations down there, and getting a win with you would put them in a category higher than most others.” She smiled, adding, “Savior of Light.”

Erick smiled. “Well then.” He nodded. “I believe I will take you up on that offer, but not today. I still have some organization of my own to clear away before I start thinking about my inquiry. This is lovely tea, by the way. What kind is it?”

“Tasar goes far and wide with her t-stations, so this one comes all the way from…”

They spoke of nothing in particular for a little while until Tasar showed.

- - - -

In a well-guarded room in the center of the embassy, Erick walked with Tasar down a solid hallway deep into the bowels of the place. They passed guards stationed to prevent entry and magical barriers that could be thrown up to block egress whenever they were needed. There were even a pair of portcullises on both ends of the hallway. At the end of the short descent was a grand space that only had one way in and one way out, and only contained a few objects; a guard station near the entrance, a blast door ready to slam shut in case of wrongful entry, a large holographic map of the t-station networks distributed across the world, and one single t-station, sitting in the center.

As they were in the room, a pair of people popped out of the t-station, glanced at Erick and Tasar, and kept walking up the hallway. They showed papers to the guards—

More people blipped in, then moved out.

So this place was an actual working t-station node, then? The structure of the place and all the traffic brought forth a question that had percolated in Erick’s mind, but which he hadn’t gotten to ask until now.

“So these things are all over the place… Why was Enduring Forge trying to create them? They would know that these t-stations already existed, right?” He looked to Tasar, asking, “Did I get sucked into your t-network when I stepped onto that pad in Enduring Forge?”

“Ah. Well… Those are complicated questions.” Tasar said, “What happened when you stepped on that hexagon of deep sky silver is that your possibility was magnified and turned to mana and then transmitted, but the bounding runes on that pad were weakly made and too destructive, so you ended up following the normal paths that thick air mana takes to the Core. It’s a miracle you didn’t die, but you are on the Worldly Path, so unlikely events do tend to happen in your particular case. But you didn’t touch upon any ‘t-station network’, for there is no t-station network; not like you have with a Gate Network.”

“Hmm.”

There were a lot more questions to ask, But...

“So I understand that you try to keep runework out of the hands of people who would misuse it…” Erick asked, “Did you guys do anything to Enduring Forge, when I vanished?”

“That particular nascent t-station has since been removed from Enduring Forge because it was very incorrectly made. It’s my understanding that their head Rune Smith was in search of answers as to the death of her former husband due to that same pad, so after this development we tried to tell her what likely happened to the best of our abilities. Her husband likely followed the same path that you did to the Core, like many other people have before you. Perhaps Enduring Forge will write down what we told them so we won’t have to have this discussion with them again in another 25 years, but someone is always trying something to replicate the success of the t-stations, and they’re always failing, and usually with deaths happening to cement that failure.” Tasar said, “Rarely do we catch those people before they kill themselves.”

Tasar had probably seen a lot of people kill themselves due to improper Spatial Magic.

And yet, Erick had to ask, “Will you be giving Enduring Forge assistance with making a real t-station?”

“Not at all.” Tasar said, “This network is highly vulnerable to ingress, so it has to be commensurately more secure. We don’t really allow the public to use these things, either.” She glanced at another pair of people who had come down the hallway behind Erick and Tasar, to step on the t-station and vanish to parts unknown. “All these people are cleared for certain travel, but this location is very secure. It is our hope that you will eventually take the t-station near Yggdrasil and put it in a more secure location.” She added, “And also not replicate it on the Surface.”

Erick could have gotten mad about that.

But...

He took all his hateful thoughts about the regressive educational policies of the powers of this world and put them in a box, and then he buried that box in the far back of his mind, for now. Later, he would unearth that box and have a grand time yelling at someone who deserved it. Did Tasar deserve this yelling? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Did the Headmaster? Oh most certainly yes, but Erick would at least have a calm talk with that Old Dragon before the yelling began. Hopefully, Erick could hold it together when they visited Archmage’s Rest…

So Erick just breathed, and he prepared for whatever was about to happen by distracting himself, first.

He stood before the holographic map. It was a globe cut into a hundred layers, like an onion, and upon every layer there were separate, veiny networks of various colors; diagrams of individual t-station networks. The t-station in the room was connected to a golden-colored network that spanned the world. Other colored networks were located around other Geodes, leading to other lands. This particular t-station, if Erick was reading it right, did not connect to those other nodes, but it did connect to the larger t-stations inside Stratagold’s network.

All these people coming in and out of this node were likely coming from the major ports allied with Stratagold.

Erick asked, “Which one is Archmage’s Rest?”

Tasar gestured to the t-station, saying, “Archmage’s Rest is north of Stratagold in a place called Vibrant Falls. I think you’ll like it. Most people do.”

Erick accompanied Tasar onto the platform.

The world blipped black and green.

- - - -

The world came back and Erick stared outward at the beautiful lands ahead, for the t-station was positioned on an open spit of land. Tasar said something about moving off to the side, and Erick followed her lead, but also, he just stared.

The land was broken for a hundred kilometers up and down. It was like someone had opened up a hundred separate levels of the Underworld and played with the geology that made the world work, creating metropolis-sized spires of horizontal stone that reached out from shadowed spaces beyond sight, pointing toward the largest waterfall Erick had ever seen. A silent ocean poured down through the center of this massive space, blue and shining with light, while greenery grew on every kilometers-long spire. The magnitude of the space was hard to truly fathom, for Erick had seen wrecked land before, but this was on a whole other level; on a whole hundred levels.

And yet, it wasn’t wrecked at all. The land was cultivated, illuminated, with smaller waterfalls pouring down from higher spires to lower spires, creating lakes and streams that then poured down to the next level. Fishes flew in the air, alongside birds. Clouds were everywhere. Mist obscured much of the central space, for that central waterfall was kilometers across.

It wasn’t nearly as loud as he thought it should be. All Erick could really hear was a gentle wind and some far away river.

People lived here; a lot of people. Mansions and log cabins and stone castles and buildings with curled corner roofs and even a yurt, over there; people were everywhere, and yet each were on their own. A few small cities were scattered in the bright cavern, but mostly people lived on their own, with their own farms and their own caretakers. They weren’t all wrought out there, either; mostly, they were fleshy people.

Erick looked up, and saw even more. Spires reached out above him like the fingers of gods to touch the waterfall and tear off small pieces of it as it fell. He couldn’t see all the way up, and nor could he see all the way down. He wanted to explore, but also, he knew he could not. Not right now.

Erick rapidly proceeded through a dozen different emotions, and said, “The Underworld really is on a different level than the Surface, isn’t it. I truly had no idea— I mean. I knew. But I didn’t know.”

Tasar smiled at that. Then she gestured toward a building down the path, saying, “Let’s head to the main office.”

The building was rather simple in design but that simplicity was a lie to fool the people who couldn’t see the truth. With [True Sight] active, the 2 story townhouse that was their destination became merely the foyer for a grand castle that…

Erick recognized the form of Archmage’s Rest. He had seen it before.

“It’s the Grand Wizard’s Tower of the Core,” Erick said. He glanced around. A lot of things were hidden by illusions, from the guard station with its guards over there, to the [Familiar]s hiding in some of the branches of the trees; all of them watched Erick and Tasar as they strolled by. But there were no statues of Wizards anywhere. “Different, though.”

Tasar nodded as they walked, saying, “The Worldly Path moves the Walker in odd, replicating and yet escalating ways. I look forward to experiencing this phenomenon again when we walk the Path into other lands. It will be difficult, but nothing good is ever easy.”

“No Wizard statues is kinda bugging me, though. Why none of them?”

“Wizards are, as always, a threat. We do not venerate them.” Tasar said, “We are not the gods, with their Sights of the before-times, when they saw Wizards as more than the true monsters that they are.”

Erick left most of that discussion on the table and picked up, “Then why the recreation of the tower?”

“Ah.” Tasar said, “The Dark actually did that. Every time Archmage’s Rest has come together the Dark has changed the building around us to this form. Eventually we accepted it as the cost of doing business.”

Erick eyed Tasar. “… Really.”

Tasar smiled and laughed a little. “Truly! The Dark loves the Wizards —which is one more reason to add to the pile of why they cannot be allowed to openly live on Veird— and he hates us, and we hate the Wizards, so he tortures us with this sort of small [Strike].”

With every conversation Erick had about Wizards he felt more and more a pull toward the Dark, simply due to the desire to survive. He could practically see it now: Him, discovered as a Wizard, facing off against the wrought and every other normal society on Veird. With the shadelings protecting him, Yggdrasil would blow up crucial infrastructure across the entire world, to prevent an easy war against him, but he would still fail. Then Melemizargo would sweep in at the last second to secure Erick’s life, further alienating everyone…

Erick put those thoughts in a box and threw away the key, as he said, “I hope you can contain that anger if we do find a Wizard. I don’t come from your culture, so I have no basis for this hate, but anyone with half a Sight to see would see this hate of yours and run the other way or fight to the death.”

Tasar pulled back everything; her emotions, her self, her own hatred. She had accidentally let too much show, and now she was chastised and she didn’t like it. After another moment she hid her disgust at how easily she was seen through, and simply said, “You are correct. I will likely need to let you take forward position when we meet a Wizard, for I have met too many to see them as anything other than dangerous.”

Erick said, “I would hear of your other meetings later, if you are willing to tell.”

Tasar relaxed a fraction. “Of course. The people inside will have insights and histories into the Wizards of Veird as well, though we might not get that far today.”

They had reached the front door to the fake entrance. It opened for them automatically, revealing an entrance to a large foyer that Erick had already seen once, with people standing around the space like they were welcoming Erick and Tasar to a cake party at a food court at a mall. Riivo was there, standing right in front of an array of ten other people, only a few of which were made of metal. Erick recognized one of the other fleshy people as Ryul, the 20-something red harpy Force Mage he had met at Oceanside. The barely dressed bird-man looked excited to see Erick, and he was, for he was the first to start clapping.

In a flickering moment, everyone else started clapping, too, with Riivo giving a loud cheer, followed soon by everyone else in attendance. Lights, like minor fireworks, flashed in the air as illusory streamers fell down from on high, cementing the festive atmosphere. Behind the archmages there were more people stationed to the sides of the large food court-like space, some servers in the very back, but a lot of apprentices or otherwise in robes and such who joined in the cheer, shaking the building with their clapping, hollering mirth.

Erick stood stunned.

He had not seen any of this until he stepped through the front doors, and now that he was here it was too late to back out and simply run away. So he put on a happy face, and with any luck his facade of joy would turn real, soon enough.

Old man Riivo stepped forward, clapping his iron hands together and smiling wide. The crowd quieted a bit, and then all the way, as Riivo began to speak, “It is not often that we gather to celebrate the accomplishments of one person. Gathering in thanks happens even less, but it does happen! Today we have the honor to do both. Thank you, Archmage Erick Flatt, for all you’ve contributed to the advancement of magic on Veird, for all you have done against the Dark, and for all we hope you will one day achieve! Thank you!”

As one, everyone on this level and the level above, cheered, “Thank you!”

A band in the back of the room started playing a jaunty tune on violins and other assorted string instruments. Ophiel perked up on Erick’s shoulder, wanting to go play with the band, but Erick kept him near as Riivo further approached.

Riivo smiled at Erick, then spoke to Tasar, “I see it managed to stay a surprise.”

“He has a lot on his mind, so it is good that this happened sooner, rather than later.” Tasar nodded to Erick. “Congratulations and thank you, Erick. This is Riivo’s base of power, though, so I will go get some cake. Want me to get you a slice?”

“Yes.” Erick said, “And a beer.”

Tasar smirked, then nodded as she walked off.

Erick refused to be overly paranoid, though a large part of him wanted to calculate all the ways in which these people could kill him if they wanted, but as he scanned the eyes of everyone looking his way, as he saw the lack of magic among most of them, he knew he wasn’t in immediate danger. Or, at least, that’s what he wanted to believe. He really should have seen this sort of surprise coming. Did he miss any clues from Tasar? Did he—

Riivo smiled as he softly said, “Now you’re probably wondering how come you didn’t see this coming, as would anyone in your situation. But the fact is that Tasar told us you were coming here not twenty minutes ago and then we got everything ready rather quickly. You’d be surprised how easy it is to put together a party down here. This is only the night crew, though. More people will likely start showing up as the night progresses, but we archmages are a busy lot. I expect some people to come in and grab some cake and then scurry off, but you!” As though he was telling a joke, Riivo said, “You get to be the center of attention, and maybe we can even figure out some magic you desire, eh?”

Erick… Did feel better about the suddenness of the festivities, and now that he looked around, he saw a lot of people had gone right back to talking to whoever they were with, as though conversations had been interrupted and could now resume. A few people had gone back into their offices on the second floor, but many people in the audience were already attacking the various dishes set out for all. Some were very much waiting for their chance to speak to Erick, though.

“Thanks for the explanation, and for excusing my jumpiness.” Erick tried to return Riivo’s smile as he said, “It’s been a tough year.”

Light laughter came easily from the iron man. Riivo gestured back to the party, saying, “Come! Let me introduce you to some future companions. We don’t have every archmage in our little club, but everyone here has proven their character ten times over, and we all work to ensure that the world is a bit more stable today than it was yesterday.”

Erick joked, but not really, “Then you must all secretly hate me.”

A few true smiles. A few fake ones. A few non-reactions.

Riivo gave a true chuckle, then said, “Ah! It’s all about where we go from here, Erick, for only a fool would deny the benefits of forcing destruction and repentance upon the Dark Clergy.”

The gathered archmages relaxed at that—

Ryul the harpy took a half step forward and happily said, “From non-humble beginnings to this, and now going after [Gate]! I still owe you for that lesson with Particle Magic, Erick, but now I also owe you for clearing out all the Dark Sects that have plagued my homeland for centuries.”

Erick brightened. “I was wondering where you were over there.”

“My jobs take me to many places,” Ryul said.

Riivo spoke up, “Ryul joined us right out of Oceanside. Headmaster Kirginatharp recommended him, and he has proven to be a valued asset to us, and to the safety of the world. Some of the cleanest Force Magic I have seen in a long time.”

Ryul bowed just his head, then took a half step back.

Riivo explained, “In Archmage’s Rest, you get what you put in, and Ryul here is an example of those who decide to take the heaviest burdens to achieve access to our deepest libraries. He’s got a lot left to go, but he’s headed in the right direction.”

“Worse ways to catch up to everyone else than killing off monsters and protecting places here and there,” Ryul said.

“Quite right.” Riivo gestured to a pink-metal incani man on the far left, saying, “This is Devond, an archmage with a strict focus on Book Magic, and our head librarian in charge of the archives. He controls who gets to see what, so one must go through him to achieve the best known answers to whatever magics you might desire— But only with the correct permissions, of course.”

Devond bowed his head, remaining silent and impassive.

Riivo gestured to the human-shaped woman next in line, who was made of iridescent metal, saying, “This is Aisha. She is also one of our librarians, but her skills are in both Book Magic and Prognostication, with a focus on the past. While Devond is in charge of physical copies of the library, Aisha knows all the lore you could ever desire to know.”

Aisha gave a small smile and a smaller nod. “I’d like to talk to you about your pursuit of your Worldly Path when you get a chance, to help you arrive at the best possible end without the final step being into the Dark.”

“I would like that.” Erick said, “Thank you.”

Riivo nodded, then continued, “And here we have…”

There were a lot of names. A lot of fields of study to memorize, recall, and connect to other people in the crowds. Riivo took Erick through all of them. Soon enough, Tasar came back with a drink and Erick’s cake at the end of those introductions. All throughout, there was an undercurrent of working toward order and peace, while hammering down chaos and disruption. More than once, Erick got the hint that Riivo and the others wanted him to pull back his plans for the world, but Riivo knew none of those specific plans and Erick wasn’t going to have that conversation with these people at the moment.

Eventually the archmages had had their introductions, and either their requests for more talk later or their polite, yet silent exits from the conversation. Some people got up and left the party altogether, after they had made their meeting. Erick got the impression that some of these people appreciated him, but many just wished he would not be there, for whatever unsaid reason. Erick wasn’t going to press any of them for answers, though, because he did not need that sort of drama in his life.

Eventually, Riivo and Tasar guided Erick around the place, pointing out various services that he could use now that he was a member. Somehow, Erick had become a member without actually signing any paperwork, and he brought this up, to which Riivo just smiled and said that they could fill that out right now if he wanted. Or he could do it later. Whichever he decided, Erick was already guaranteed entrance down to seven star level of the library, but only years of safety and security would allow him to go deeper to 10 star and beyond. Erick asked about inquiry preparations. Riivo pointed out that they had an office for that, too. Offices to get approved for a t-station were over there; this was one of Tasar’s many work offices, actually. Places to hire out quests for people which you couldn’t be arsed to do yourself were located right over there; a branch of the Adventurer’s Guild, but small, and for archmages only.

Apprentice services. Resource requests from Stratagold. Prognostication and planning services turned out to be a whole floor of the building, where they often did outsourcing for whoever was vetted for hiring. Archmage services for hire were also an option, which is what Ryul was doing to climb the ranks. Three whole floors above that were the private offices of the various archmages in residence, for very few archmages wished to be on their own; it was dangerous out there. But mostly those offices were fronts; empty of substance and only used for [Familiar] speaking. Many of them had [Familiar]s of various sorts hanging out atop desks in those rooms, but the archmages themselves were mostly located at their houses in the lands of Vibrant Falls. If one needed a truly private meeting with any of the archmages here, they could go meet the archmage in person, outside of Archmage’s Rest.

“It truly is a beautiful land out there,” Erick said, as they passed a window.

“It is.” Riivo said, “Do you wish for a plot of land out there? I can secure that for you.”

“Oh. No. Thank you, though. Spur is home and I have plans for there, anyway.” Erick said, “I’m just surprised that a place like this exists at all, with Melemizargo being near all archmages, all the time.”

Riivo nodded sagely.

Tasar said, “The Dark God is a being of insane desires but he is not all powerful. We’ve scared him off ten thousand times since the birth of our people. The last time he tried something destructive here in Vibrant Falls we took a wing.”

“The Shades came by and stole that wing not five hours later, but I almost got a new cloak out of it.” Riivo said. “They avoid direct confrontations because they know they would lose… And sadly, we are guilty of the same fault.”

Erick scrunched his face. “But he turns wherever you gather into a Grand Wizard’s Tower?”

Riivo scowled for the first time in the night, saying, “He does that whenever I’m out of residence. Very annoying.”

“There is a bit of a disconnect, isn’t there.” Tasar shrugged. “He has power and he uses it in strange ways all the time. I have no explanation beyond his insanity.”

Riivo “I’m partial to the Evil God theory.”

“I haven’t heard that one.” Erick said, “But I have heard of Dark Gods before. They’re not the same?”

“Not, they are not. Modern church teachings conflate many terms, but...” Riivo explained, “Gods require worship to remain in power, naturally granted to them by people who work under that god’s auspices or direction, but not all worship is the same. Wishing for a god not to harm, and then that god not harming, thus fulfilling that wish, is about the same as wishing for a god to help, and then that god helping. In this way, by simply not harming, the Dark God passively accumulates half of all worship, while actual desire for help is fulfilled by every other god out there, depending on individual desire. There is a bit of overlap in some areas, though, like with Sininindi and people desiring for storms not to harm their experiences on the ocean, or with Sumtir taking worship from both sides of battle when both sides think they are in the right.” Riivo said, “People are the base cause of godly occurrence, but since all of the actually-Evil gods failed to make it to Veird in the Sundering, and since people still produce both evil and good, the Dark God took on the Evil half of worship. Before that he was just neutral, and Dark, but now he is unavoidably Evil.”

Erick paused. “I’ve heard some of that before. But not quite so… succinct.”

Tasar held a gentle smile, as she said, “So very blasphemous, too.”

Erick rapidly added, “And I never heard that as an explanation for Melemizargo’s insanity.”

“It’s quite possible he’s a truly neutral god,” Riivo said, “But because people will always produce Good and Evil worship, that Evil had to go somewhere so it went into him. Doesn’t change anything, but it’s good to know what one is dealing with when one has to do dealings.”

Erick was reminded… “So killing all the Clergy was never the way to actually de-power Melemizargo, was it.”

“It’s made a difference.” Riivo said, “That, or maybe some of his insanity is going away, for real. But if the insanity is a problem of him soaking in the Evil of the world, then I dare say that he is likely finally acclimating to the Evil, and that is something to truly fear.”

Erick had a lot of thoughts in quick succession, then he asked the important question, “Does mana actually need to have an ‘evil’ force in it to be balanced? Or is that simply your interpretation of events and situations? Is there such a thing as ‘Elemental Evil’?”

Riivo almost spoke, but—

Tasar smiled wider. “Ah ha! And this is why Riivo’s idea is blasphemous.” She happily said to the iron man, “There is no Elemental Evil. While there is some claim between people praying to turn a Sightless eye and the rise of Dark gods, it is simply that. A Dark god, and only due to the fact that many people pray for the Dark God to look elsewhere.” She turned to Erick, saying, “There was a third type of worship pre-Sundering; sacrificial worship.” She said to Riivo, “This ‘sacrificial worship’ was erased in the Script; it no longer works. If there were ever any truth to this idea of ‘Elemental Evil’ it was in the idea of sacrificial worship, and it, along with all the Evil Gods, did not survive the Sundering.”

Riivo almost said something, but he saw Erick had a question.

“Is that why there haven’t been any gods born since the Sundering?” Erick asked, “The natural trio of worshiping methods were permanently disrupted?”

Riivo almost said something again, but he paused.

Tasar glanced at Erick a bit. “No one really knows.”

Riivo said, “Aisha would be the one to ask about that, but before we rejoin the party, do you have any smaller questions of magic? I would like to reward you with something for all you’ve done for the world, and for what you will continue to do. A specific spell that you’re having trouble with, perhaps? I would like to help you make it, and in doing so enlighten you as to how Archmage’s Rest works.”

Erick mentally marked that something weird had just happened with their avoidance of god talk, then went with the flow, saying, “I was wondering about one specific magic. Are there any [Personal Ward]s of perfect defense? I was moving around with Nirzir Void Song of Eralis in Songli for a little while, as I’m sure you know, and she’s working on a spell of perfect defense. Is such a thing actually possible for fleshy people?”

“Oh oh oh! Now that is a very, very complicated question.” Riivo chuckled, saying, “Something smaller, perhaps?”

“Very difficult.” Tasar asked, “Do you have a starting point, Erick?”

“Well. My daughter has Perfected Form and Scion of Balance, so she was thinking of a [Bloody Personal Ward] with a high multiplier, allowing her to take a portion of damage as physical but letting her [Ward] be three or four times as large. Will that actually work?”

Riivo was already shaking his head before Erick even finished.

But it was Tasar who said, “Don’t let your daughter do that. If she already has a [Bloody Personal Ward] you still have twenty years to get her to stop, but she needs to figure out another way to defend herself as soon as she can.”

Erick’s skin felt suddenly cold. “Ah.”

“Tasar is quite right.” Riivo said, “This method of a large multiplier for [Personal Ward] at the cost of full coverage is possible through other means, though. You could simply have her do that; a [Personal Ward] that only covers 75% or 50% of damage taken or whatever percentage of damage she is comfortable with taking. With the ability for most frontliners to have a [Rejuvenate] constantly restoring their Health the whole time they’re using that Health in battle, this might be the best option to ensure longevity in a [Personal Ward]. But in addition to that, I would suggest something like a [Gloom Ward] which can mitigate a small percentage of damage taken, or a true [Shadow Ward], but Shadow Magics do tend to make one look like an enemy; her choice, I would say. A [Metal Ward] would be useful if she has a metallic form, but if she does not then she won’t gain much benefit from that. It’s hard to say without knowing more about her capabilities, and you shouldn’t tell those to anyone; not even me.”

Erick thought for a moment, then asked, “Would you have any suggestions for me, with regards to a new [Personal Ward]?”

Riivo hummed a little as he thought.

Tasar said, “Don’t go for anything fancy with a [Personal Ward]; no Esoteric Elements, and certainly no Blood Magic. All you need is a simple absolute damage mitigation [Personal Ward]. Anything above 100 would be acceptable, and this can be achieved through normal Force Magic integration.”

Riivo countered, “You say that because you’re adamantium.”

Erick was a bit lost.

“My methods work for others, too,” Tasar strongly said, and then she calmly added, “The individual numbers might need adjustment, but Erick has Constitution, so he might be nearly as difficult to damage as— Well. Maybe not as difficult as adamantium, but at least as solid as any normal metal.”

Riivo didn’t look convinced. “I don’t like the idea of relying on any of these New Stats for anything. They’re too new. Too untested. Such methodology would open him up to way too many threats, especially without Scion of Balance. Even the smallest plinking of [Soul Burn] and any proper [Decay] magic would—” He said to Erick, “You need all the Health you can get. You shouldn’t use any [Personal Ward] method that leaves you open to taking Health damage at all.”

Erick asked, “Do either of you have a good example of the type of [Ward] you’re talking about? I’ve never heard of absolute damage mitigation before now.”

Riivo spoke to Erick, but he was mainly speaking to Tasar, “It’s not used outside of specific circumstances, like if you’re wrought and have tried and tested natural defenses.”

Tasar simply handed Erick a blue box, saying, “This is what I use.”

Steadfast Ward, instant, self, 5000 mana

Enact a personal ward of absolute defense, preventing 250 damage from all outside sources. Lasts 24 hours.

Erick’s eyes went wide. Then he thought, and guessed, “Against every attack? After all natural defenses? Is that what this is?—”

Oh.

Sitnakov must have had something like this… All wrought had something like this? Unless it didn’t work how Erick thought it would work. His own [Personal Ward] took all damage first, while, just like Constitution, [Defend] did not work until his [Personal Ward] was gone.

Tasar said, “It’s a complicated interaction if you make the spell wrong, for a properly made [Steadfast] ward needs to be made to take all your natural defenses into account, first, and this is not how [Personal Ward]s work. It doesn’t help that you won’t know if you’ve made the good version of [Steadfast Ward] until you do some testing on your own.” Tasar said, “But if you make it right, natural mitigation and various abilities like [Defend] come into play first, which means a 10,000 damage [Fireball] might become 1000 points of damage, which is then mitigated to 900, but 100,000 damage from 100 [Force Bolt]s, each worth 1000 damage, would be fully mitigated.”

Riivo countered Tasar’s good words with, “Absolute damage [Personal Ward]s are terrible against Decay spellwork, giving you less than a tenth of the numbers on the box against those spells. Any damage over time effects. And you can’t use two [Personal Ward]s at once without being a Warder.”

Tasar said, “But you can [Cleanse] away most [Decay] spells, and if you can’t do that then Elemental Bodying them away works well enough.”

Riivo said, “Some damage over time magics burrow into the person, preventing...”

Tasar countered Riivo again, and then Riivo countered her right back, their conversation turning spirited and exact, with examples of the pros and cons of [Steadfast Ward].

But the more he heard, the more Erick became enamored with the idea of absolute mitigation. He was at theoretically 87% damage reduction because of Constitution, therefore a [Personal Ward] of this type might be fantastic. His Constitution mitigation was only ‘theoretical’, though, because like Riivo said, these New Stats were not wholly what they appeared to be. Perhaps he was closer to 65% or 75% damage reduction. It was something to experiment with, anyway; more testing was required.

Erick interrupted the back and forth between the two metal archmages, asking, “Can you apply these ideas in area [Ward]s, too? I might not be able to use this, but Yggdrasil certainly can. Also, is this 250 number the best you can do? What about a variable mana modifier?”

Yggdrasil bounced on Erick’s shoulder upon hearing his name. Erick sent the big guy some nice, indistinct feelings— And then he paid attention to Ophiel, too, giving the little guy a pat before he could fluff up at not being included in the conversation.

“Ah!” Riivo’s face lit up. “Yggdrasil should certainly have this sort of spell. That is a marvelous idea.”

Tasar smiled, too. “Yes it is a good idea, and yes he should.”

“I had not considered— No bother.” Riivo waved a dismissive hand, then said, “Let us rejoin the party and let the mechanisms of Archmage’s Rest help you to learn this magic. I think Ryul made one of these worth 310 absolute damage mitigation and an [Area Ward] worth 50.”

Tasar said, “Ryul is a Force Mage, though, so results will vary.”

“Yes, yes.” Riivo led the way back toward the party, saying, “Achieving a Variable modifier to this particular magic would likely require Blood Magic, so you don’t want to do that. This is a spell you will have active at all times, after all.”

Erick walked beside the two wrought, saying, “I’m sure immortal views on magic are longer term than most mortals will ever live, but surely there is room for emergency use for many dangerous magics?”

Tasar fully stopped for a short moment. She resumed walking quickly enough, saying, “Best practices are still best practices.”

Riivo’s steps stuttered only the barest fraction as he smoothly said, “I agree with Tasar, and I disagree with you, Erick. There is no use for improperly made magic except as a learning tool toward more perfect spellwork. At the same time, perfection is never truly attainable, but it is something one should aim toward. Only the most learned Blood Mage should ever use their magic on themselves.”

“What about anti-Blood Magic?” Erick asked, suddenly conscious of the anti-Blood Magic charm on his wrist.

“That is fine.” Riivo said, “Anti-Blood Magic is a denial of certain spellforms, whereas Blood Magic is the enactment of those spellforms upon a body; the first usually causes no issues for it is an interaction between magics, while the second can lead to many problems. Now, truly bad anti-Blood Magic could lead to malformed Blood Magic affecting you in horrible ways, but those malformed effects can usually be [Cleanse]d away, unlike the truly insidious Blood Magic that cannot be [Cleanse]d. And besides that, all Blood Magic you want working on your body is something you wouldn’t want to [Ward] against in the first place.” He added, “There is a true solution to bad Blood Magic, though, but unless you want to pledge fealty to Aloethag, the Bloody Goddess, then you should take care what sort of Blood Magic you choose to use.”

That all tracked with what Erick knew.

Soon they were back at the party, which Erick recognized was more like he was being paraded around as their newest conquest, and less like he was his own person, choosing to be in this space. It was a little pushy on Riivo’s part, but he and the rest of Archmage’s Rest were doing what they needed to do to ensure that Erick threw in with them. It’s not like Erick wasn’t getting any benefits out of this arrangement, either. He probably would sign the paperwork making him an official member either at the end of this party, or perhaps tomorrow.

Riivo called the party to order and explained that there was a small spell that Erick wanted to work on, based on [Steadfast Ward]. He specifically called on the harpy Ryul, who looked delighted to be included, and then on a Blood Archmage named Juris, who looked interested but reserved. Juris was a human man of nearly black skin from the Greensoil Republic. Erick was a bit wary of him due to his stated allegiances, but he seemed personable enough. And then Riivo asked for volunteers. Two more people chose to participate; the celesteel prognosticator/historian Aisha, who had some sort of Exalted Magic going on with her, and an owl shifter human woman Warder from Eidolon, named Boralia, who wore an owl mask that did not cover her mouth. Erick doubted he would get to know them all more than in an acquaintance sort of way, but that was no reason not to be personable himself. He tried, anyway; mostly, he shoved his paranoia down as far as it would go and went with the flow.

In a completely normal way that mirrored Erick’s time at Oceanside when he gave his own talk of Particle Magic, Riivo, Erick, Tasar, Ryul, and the three others, moved to a large meeting room to the side of the main floor. Some party workers or otherwise normal employees followed behind, wheeling in some treats on carts into the meeting room, before stepping back out.

Once it was just archmages, Riivo cast some anti-Sight spells across the room, then began summoning some chalkboards. Words started to appear on the boards as he happily spoke of magic, saying, “[Steadfast Ward]s are [Ward]s which are useful in certain situations, but since only a Warder can have two [Personal Ward]s at once, their [Personal Ward] use is mostly relegated to certain special situations. Every archmage should know of this magic, though, because there are many times when absolute defense is more useful than a gradually wearing down a [Personal Ward]…”

As Riivo spoke his enthusiastic joy spread to others. Five minutes later he was done with his overview and asked if Aisha could take over. The celesteel human wrought happily stepped to the front of the room and began giving a small lecture on history.

Aisha began, “Best practices for [Steadfast Ward]s are probably exactly what you would expect; highly useful in cases of plentiful, small damage coming your way. Historically, the spell came from mages in the Geodes, because wrought are made of metal and therefore have high damage thresholds. Certain [Polymorph] forms greatly benefit from a [Steadfast Ward], but for the vast majority of people a [Steadfast Ward] is suboptimal.” She asked Erick, “Which makes me wonder why this spell? What are you going for?”

It was Erick’s turn to speak, then. As everyone else watched, Erick stood, and said, “For Yggdrasil, mainly, but I do want to experiment with it myself, if only to make a [Personal Ward] that allows me to make use of [Defend] beyond the anti-kill aspects of that skill.” He explained, “My original question posed to Riivo and Tasar was asking after a [Bloody Personal Ward] for my daughter—” He glanced to Juris, the Blood Mage, as he said, “My Polymage daughter has Perfected Form. I was led to believe, before coming here, that Perfected Form made one immune to the harmful effects of Blood Magic, and the high multiplier for Blood Magic made the spell attractive in certain ways. The conversation transitioned from there.” He sat back down.

Aisha took her seat, saying, “Then there’s no need to go into too much history.”

“Quite right.” Riivo took his seat, too, saying, “Let’s go for a round of discussion, then. Juris?”

Without standing, Juris spoke, “The Class Ability for Perfected Form is one of the goals of all learned Blood Mages, but while it does prevent the majority of side effects from many Blood spells, one should not ever wear Blood Magic around all the time, like one does with a [Personal Ward]. The time table for such degradation is decades for mortals and centuries for immortals. But even so, a [Bloody Personal Ward] with a high multiplier is a good idea if you are comfortable with making pacts with Aloethag, or with the originally intended use of [Polymorph]. Both methods remove potential long term [Bloody Personal Ward] concerns.”

Erick asked, “What does a pact with Aloethag look like?”

Juris said, “Usually a million Health spilled in her name unless you’ve done that a few times already. Aisha would know more of that than I.”

The room turned toward Aisha.

Aisha said, “A million Health is her usual demand but there are side effects of being automatically included in the Red Dream, which can…”

The conversation shifted from one person to the next, and each time it moved, Erick felt a little less worried. None of the people here were jumpy. All of the people back in the main rooms were chatting away, taking their cake or their drinks and sitting around, or walking back to their offices to eat while they worked. It was very much an ‘office party’ atmosphere, and Erick kinda liked it. It was very, very magical, but it was also rather mundane.

He liked that the conversation around [Steadfast Ward] was a great way to get to know his fellow archmages, too. Except…

Except Erick realized that he was a very terrible liar. He knew this already, and while he could lie sometimes, he could not lie well. And he had fucked up.

Juris, the Blood Mage, who knew all about Perfected Form, had Perfected Form himself. The veins in his arms were near mirrors of each other, while his eyes and ears were perfectly symmetrical. Unblemished skin! Zero scars! And though Juris’s body was slightly less muscular than Erick’s, Erick’s own Perfected Form was easy enough to see for anyone with any Sight to them at all. Erick had been walking around with his Perfected Form for a while without anyone questioning him, but talking about how Jane had Perfected Form like he didn’t was just a bridge too far.

Like.

Hur, dur. I don’t have Perfected Form, no sir!

Gah!

It was suspicious, is what it was.

And Erick had fucked up.

He was not a good liar. Never had been. Never would be. This boded badly for keeping his Wizardly nature under wraps, but, maybe if Erick got out of here fast enough, he could avoid the inquisi—

There was no avoiding the inquisition. Inquisitor Kormolok had probably recognized Erick’s Perfected Form the second they saw each other, but… Meh. Kromolok was a Mind Mage and probably under normal Mind Mage protocol. Even if he did have a certain amount of leeway due to being the leader of the Forgotten Campaigns, Kromolok hadn’t outed Erick yet…

What was more concerning was that Tasar and Sitnakov, and now all these other people, saw Erick trying to act like he didn’t have Perfected Form. Well. Maybe he had just the right amount of doubt, there. It was likely public knowledge that Jane had Perfected Form, too. So…

Meh.

… Whatever!

Like. These people were saying unsaid things and poking at each other with hidden-dagger questions, too. They were mostly leaving him alone, even though this conversation was about magic he was going after. Perhaps he had given them enough—

Bah.

Moving right along.

Ryul eventually got to speak but it was after everyone else; he was the youngest there at barely 25, though, so this much was partially understandable. While everyone else had spoken of theory and idea and best practices (and tried to extract from everyone else every hidden bit of knowledge they could, without directly extracting knowledge; Juris seemed to be the largest offender of them all, though. Tasar, Ryul, and Aisha were the least guilty of this), it was Ryul who took over actually explaining how [Steadfast Ward] worked. And he was good.

Ryul got right in the zone, enthusiastically speaking of his field of expertise, connecting Force Magic and Shaping in ways that Erick hadn’t truly considered before. The harpy man was hungry for advancement.

… Looking at Ryul, Erick honestly felt a bit bad that he was so suspicious of everyone here, and of Archmage’s Rest as a whole. Like, yes, there were a lot of unsaid plots and plans happening with every turn of phrase, but on the surface, this was a lot of real, hard information about magic. And here was Ryul, dipping his toes into at least two archmage societies —both Oceanside and here— and yet all Erick could feel for the moment was dread.

But at the same time, not a single person called him out for having Perfected Form and pretending not to. Erick was conflicted. Paranoid, yeah, but mostly conflicted.

As Ryul finished his explanations, which only took fifteen minutes and ended up with three chalkboards full of arcane notation and five diagrams of how the body worked under Steadfast magic, Ryul moved across his work, explaining it more succinctly, “Whereas every body has some innate absolute damage reduction on the scale between 1% of your Health or 5 Health, [Steadfast Ward] is all about a strengthening that natural resistance by stringing ethereal Force under the skin and through the bones and muscle. It is this Shaping that requires the most precision to achieve the greatest effect for a [Personal Ward], but it is still possible to achieve a lesser Steadfast Effect when stringing this magic into a wide scale [Area Ward]. But for all aspects of this spell, to start at the beginning, you must use an ablation effect, which you have strongly aligned with the skin, and it must be ethereal, too, for actual [Force Wall]s or any other Force effect in your working could create a spell that simply traps people inside a skin-tight bubble which could lead to death from asphyxiation or wrong placement on a battlefield.” Ryul looked to Erick, saying, “In this way, [Steadfast Ward] works wonders against small damages, and will allow [Defend] and other mitigation methods to function, dropping the threat of a thousand-needle attack down to nothing. The drawback of this is that the larger attacks are more dangerous.”

Riivo spoke first, saying, “A wonderful explanation, Ryul! You have done well today. Thank you for your expertise. Anyone else have anything to add?”

The owl shifter Warder from Eidolon, Boralia, spoke, “I use one of these in addition to my [Personal Ward]. I’ve gone about it a bit differently.”

Ryul gestured toward the boards as he went back to his chair. “I would love to hear your methodology.”

Boralia got up and went to the chalkboards.

The group of archmages spoke for an hour more, leaving Erick with a lot to think about, and many thanks for all of them.

Back in the main room Erick spoke to each of them individually a bit more, as well as some newcomers who showed up late. Ryul spoke of how he hoped his lesson was well received, and Erick told him it was, while Juris hinted even more at knowing that Erick had Perfected Form. No one else was as overt with poking through Erick’s ‘lies’, though; probably because they didn’t feel the need. Almost everyone noticed Juris poking holes and they universally agreed it was bad form, but no one said anything against the human from Greensoil, either.

Erick capped the night off with signing the paperwork to join Archmage’s Rest as an official member.

There was a bit more celebration after that, but most people began to move on.

- - -

An hour later it was just Erick, Tasar, and Riivo in the main room. Much of the food had been eaten or squirreled away into the offices around the tower since every non-archmage, and even a few archmages like Ryul, had work to do. Work continued as the world continued to turn.

At the end, Erick said to Riivo, “Thank you for the invitation. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

“Just go at your own pace, Erick.” Speaking like a kindly old man, Riivo said, “You’ve been through a lot. You’ve done more than most ever would, causing a lot of other people to look up to you. Just glance at Ryul, running around trying to catch up. He’s not the only one.” He said, “But I’ve seen bonfires sputter and fail more often than you will ever know, and you are a bonfire, Erick. The brightest one this world may see for a long, long time. So go at your own pace, okay? You have earned your rest. We’re a support structure for archmages in many more ways than simply being a community, so drop by any time, okay?”

Erick smiled softly. “Thanks.”

“I mean it now!” Riivo smiled as he said, “Come by anytime, for any need. We’ve got lots of books on Wizards, too; more than the few you’ve scavenged from the Core. Aisha wants to talk to you about all that stuff, too.”

“… Yeah. I’ll need to do that, I suppose.”

There were a few more words, but the night was over.

Erick and Tasar departed.

Soon, they were back at the node on the beach in Yggdrasil’s cavern.

Erick said, “I didn’t get to ask too much about the approval process for giving magic to the rest of the world, but they seemed nice. I’ll have to do that some other day, too. Thanks for accompanying me, Tasar.”

Tasar smirked a little, saying, “Thank you for accepting my accompaniment. Were you interested in doing anything else today?”

“I’d like to speak to a few more emergency inquiry preparatory committees, but it was suggested to me that I take Bright Tea before the inquiry.” Erick asked, “Is there any word on when either event has to happen? Are you to be my counsel for either?”

“I will be there for both events, and I would like to discuss preparations as well. As for the events themselves they will happen whenever you want it to happen. Bright Tea is a bi-weekly event. You can attend any one you wish to attend. The next one is in 3 days, though.”

Erick nodded. “Then… Let’s go speak to some EIPCs. Oh. Your mother volunteered her services for that, too.”

Tasar suddenly stood straight, almost freezing as she stared at Erick. Then she softened, but only the smallest bit. “She did?”

“… Is that odd?”

“Nope! Not at all.” Tasar glanced backward, down the beach to the tunnel that led to the embassy. Then she turned back to the t-station not four meters away. She took a step to the gold and platinum platform, saying, “I’m going to go on ahead and speak to my mother before you show. Uh. Nothing bad.” She stared at Erick a bit, then she stepped on the platform and vanished in a blip of black-green light.

Erick stood alone on the beach.

… He went back to Yggdrasil, had another meal of [Renew] in his Other Form, then he went back to the beach and mosied toward the embassy, to speak to some EIPCs. He found several willing to talk to him, so he tentatively set some meetings with them before heading upstairs to Tasar’s room, to speak to her and her mother, Otaliya.

Arriving back at Tasar’s office, Erick saw Tasar on one side of the room and acting like nothing was wrong while Otaliya stood on the other side, and nothing was wrong. The table was gone and a tea cup was in chips in a corner of the room and some wooden splinters were in the hallway, and the near history of the manasphere was blank, but nothing obvious was wrong.

Otaliya simply smiled, moving calmly as she gestured to the door Erick had come in through, saying, “Shall we talk downstairs with the other EIPCs?”

Erick ignored Tasar giving her mother a death glare, and said to Otaliya, “I just spoke to a few and set up some meetings, but I’m sure they’d love to talk now. So sure. Let’s go.”

Erick walked out of the room first.

Otaliya stared at the doorway for a long moment, then she breathed deep and walked through, acting like nothing was wrong.

But Tasar’s eyes bugged out as her mother entered the hallway. For a long moment Tasar did nothing. Then she rushed out to follow. She didn’t shut the door behind her, though, because the door was missing. Even the hinges were gone from their settings in the stone. Erick had no idea what happened to the door either, because the history of the manasphere had also been erased from the hallway.