074 (Patreon)

Erick woke early. The sun had yet to rise on the other side of Windy Manor. As soon as he got out of bed, Ophiel flitted up to his shoulder, taking his position for however long he could. It wouldn’t be for long. Erick nudged him off of there as he went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Ophiel waited outside, scratching the wooden door. When Erick came back outside, he saw Ophiel had left little scratches in the otherwise unmarred wood. The little guy was getting pretty bad about that. A quick [Mend] fixed the scratches, though.  

With Ophiel back on his shoulder, Erick stepped downstairs to the kitchen, to start making breakfast. No one had a night shift, anymore; not with [Prismatic Ward] filling the Manor.  

Pots and pans and flour, eggs, and milk, hovered around the kitchen under Erick’s Handy Aura’d control. Eggs cracked, flour and milk became batter. Pans heated in the meantime. When it was good and hot, Erick made pancakes while he grilled sausage into patties and made coftea, all at the same time. He didn’t use his flesh and bone hands; he didn’t need to.  

Soon enough, others woke. Poi first, as usual. He had trouble sleeping when everyone stirred to wake around him, and his own stomach growled at the smell of breakfast. As he came down the stairs, Erick handed him a cup of coftea with lots of cream and sugar; just how he liked it these days.  

Kiri and Teressa came down next, just in time for the first round of pancakes and sausages.

“Did Rats not come in last night?” Erick asked, over his plate of pancakes, as he looked up at Rats’ open door on the third floor. The entire manor was open in the center; it was easy to see everyone’s room from down at the kitchen table.  

Teressa yawned, saying, “He was called in a few hours ago. With all the anti-parasitiers gone after Messalina, they needed him.”

Poi offhandedly said, “He’s fine. I just checked. He’s a bit crabby, but he’s fine.”

“How is he doing with that, anyway?” Kiri asked.  

Poi said, “They like him. He floats around a lot, but he’s primarily in the Emergency Ward to work on his [Greater Treat Wounds] quest. It’s going faster here than it was back in Spur. It might only take him one year instead of three.”

Erick smiled. “That’s good.”

“We won’t be here for a year, though.” Kiri said, “When are we going back?”

“Soon as I finish this initial light dungeon.”

“I want to help, but...” Kiri said, “I’ve been practicing what you said, but it’s not working for me like you said it would. I don’t understand how a lightwave should look.”

“I’d love your help.” Erick said, “But you still haven’t made a [Familiar], right? I won’t be physically going into the place until after the architecture is all set up. If the walls weren’t so thick, that place should have crashed in on itself years ago. It’s not safe in there.” He added, “And I have to string water through the whole place, too. That’s gonna make it all a lot weaker. Can’t work on the lights until all of that is done.” He said, “And I think… It’s going to take quite a bit longer than 5 days.”

Poi hummed as he sipped his coftea.

“I’m close to a [Familiar],” Kiri said, cutting up a pancake and drizzling syrup over it all. “I was going with [Flameshape], but now I think I should do [Lightshape] instead.”

Ophiel trilled on Erick’s shoulder, as though objecting to Kiri’s choice on a very personal level.

Erick said, “[Airshape] is pretty good, too.”

“Yeah. But...” Kiri said, “[Lightshape]… if everything is actually made out of light...”

“Well that’s not true.” Erick said, “Very little is actually made out of light. I think I might have said some confusing things.”

Teressa smirked, saying, “Very confusing.”

“What’s made out of light, then?” Kiri asked.  

“Uh…” Erick thought, just to make sure he was thinking correctly, then said, “Nothing is made of light.”

Kiri dramatically half-collapsed over her pancakes. She lifted her head, asking, “Isn’t light energy? And isn’t everything energy?”

“Oh!” Erick said, “I think I see where I said the wrong thing. Everything is energy. Light has different energy levels. In that way, light is sort of like an energy, but it’s also a particle.”

Kiri sat up, saying, “But how can light be both an energy and a particle! I can understand how a system like a rock, or whatever, can have energy, but it’s not energy itself! Why do you say that matter is energy?”

Erick paused, looking at Kiri. She was stressed, with her shoulders hunched and her face in a grimace. He looked over to Poi. He was stressed, too, but in a much more Poi-sort of way; he was quiet, with less thought tendrils around his head than normal. Teressa, with her blond hair and bright green eyes, looked somewhat okay, but maybe she was just better at hiding it than Kiri.  

Erick said to Kiri, “I think that you might want to leave all of this stuff alone, Kiri. Maybe work on the wavelength of light stuff I showed you. Maybe try your hand at making some Stat items. You can raid my stash of blank diamond spheres at any time.” He added, “Practical knowledge is better than theoretical, and I honestly do not know enough about all of this stuff to properly answer your questions. Maybe in 50 years, or whatever it takes, other people will be answering all of these questions you’re having.”  

Kiri stuck her fork in a slice of pancake, silent.

Erick added, “Besides: there’s not going to be any new basic light spells. No extra points. Rozeta said that the whole system is going under [Ward].”

Poi laughed once, then went back to drinking his coftea. Teressa smiled, saying nothing.

Kiri asked, “Really? No points? No new basic magic?”

“That was my impression. Besides: I was using lightwards and lightmasks to do everything before.” Erick said, “Others have obviously done the same. There’s those Gemslicers and their darklights I keep hearing about; so at least those guys know the secret. If that light dungeon I heard about in Nelboor is real, then those guys must know the secret, too.”

Kiri said, “Maybe.” She added, “I’ve heard about that dungeon, too. The Headmaster investigated that place centuries ago, right? He found nothing?”

Erick said, “There were two instances of Hocnihai searching for it in his journals, too, but he never found it either. That delegation that dropped off his books also mentioned it when they were handing me the man’s last tomes; something about ‘those who want to learn true light magic should find the place’, or something. I think the Wasteland Kingdoms think it exists. Or at least they want it to exist.”

Poi said, “One quest at a time, please.”

Erick agreed, “One thing at a time.” He added, “As soon as this preliminary dungeon is done, we can go back to Spur and help find Messalina. Or at least defend the city from further monsters while everyone else works.”

Teressa said, “Are we all going back to Jane’s room for the day?”

“I know I am.” Erick said, “Soon as breakfast is done.” He added, “Unless Apell is already at the dungeon. Actually...”  

With a thought, Erick conjured another tiny Ophiel, and sent him blipping over to the dungeon, to see through the [Familiar]’s eyes. Apell Calloway, the pale green wrought Professor of Dungeoneering, was not there, but other people were. Five people stood around outside of the dungeon, on a flat plateau of land outside of the dungeon entrance, in the twilight morning. But that was not the first thing to catch Erick’s attention.  

The entire mountainside had been clear cut; every single tree or bush or fern had been ripped out, or burned away, or however they had done it. The mountain now looked like a very, very large staircase, with ten-meter steps, each ten meters deep. The dungeon entrance was at the very top of these steps.  

Erick would look at all of that later, but for now, he turned his attention to the people standing outside of the dungeon. They were standing around a wardlight in the shape of the dungeon; a map. It was colored with blue floors and red intakes and white outlets.  

And it wasn’t nearly complex enough. If that was their idea of what Erick needed out of the space then he would need to straighten them out. He didn’t see any waterworks in their design, for one, and they were probably missing other things Erick had put into the first dungeon.  

The people standing around the floating map noticed Ophiel as soon as he appeared. One of the people was Calzin, the pale owl shifter from yesterday. He waved. Erick made Ophiel wave back. Erick let go of that Ophiel; he could wander around in the breeze outside of the dungeon entrance until it was go-time.  

Erick came back to himself. Barely twenty seconds had passed. He said, “They’re already there.”

Kiri said, “I’m coming with you, this time.”

Erick said, “Of course.”

She added, “I also… want to talk to you about helping me make a [Familiar] of my own… later.”

“Of course, Kiri.” Erick smiled, saying, “We can make a whole production of it, too. Zago told me that Sizzi got her [Familiar] with [Lightshape] by having Zago and Anhelia play some musical instruments while Sizzi sang a whole song at the sky. I haven’t actually seen Sizzi’s blue box, but I’m told it was quite impressive.”

Kiri flushed darker green, bordering on red. She said, “If I must. I primarily want her to have her own mana pool, like yours.”

Teressa smirked, saying, “Then I’m going to Jane’s room on my own?”

Erick said, “Thank you, Teressa. It makes me feel a lot better knowing she’s being watched over. How’s your Mana Sense coming along, anyway?”

“Pretty good.” Teressa said, “I can flip a switch and see the world around me for a good eight meters.”

“That’s amazing!” Erick said, genuinely happy for her. “Good job!”

“I don’t use a [Personal Ward] like you, so I think that has helped a lot.”

Erick said, “Maybe. Whatever the case, you’ve worked hard for this. I’ve noticed. Are you going to get [Witness]?”

Teressa laughed. “I’m still a long ways away from all of that. But, maybe.”

Poi said, “That’d be really useful, but if you got that skill I don’t think Killzone would let you operate in Ar’Kendrithyst ever again. Merit might even pull for you to join the Guard.”

Teressa lost her grin. After a long moment. She said, “That would be okay with me.”

Erick asked, “Really?”

Poi just looked at Teressa, full of unasked questions.

Teressa said, “Before I was stationed as your guard, I was a wreck. It’s been really nice to get away from that place.” She added, “Rats was even worse than me. But these days, he hardly drops anything when people make a loud noise.” She said, “The Dead City is a poison. It seeps into your bones and you can’t enjoy life anymore, because… Because as soon as you express anything real, a Shade will see that happen, and they’ll work to take it away.”

A long moment passed in silence.

Kiri said, “I don’t know how the veterans do it. I was only in there for a month, and it was awful.”

Poi said, “If you want to go for [Witness], Teressa, you can. I’ll file the paperwork to transfer you to the guard.”

“I don’t know, Poi.” Teressa said, “I hadn’t really thought about it until you brought it up. I’m just talking. Don’t mind me.”

Poi nodded, saying, “The option is there. I doubt your duties will change if you choose to pursue this path, but another person who can [Witness] for the guard is a valuable resource that no one would mind having.”

Teressa ate her pancakes in silent thought.  

Erick and Kiri talked of math, and of how long the dungeon would actually take. They knew the rough plans, but actual numbers could be anywhere from 10 days to 25. Poi just nodded; he knew it would take longer than Erick thought it would.

Near the end of breakfast, after talk of dungeons and plans got ironed out, Teressa said, “I’ll think about [Witness], Poi. Thank you.”

Poi nodded.

- - - -

Erick blipped to the dungeon shortly after breakfast was over, taking Poi and Kiri with him. They landed on the top step of the mountainside, appearing several meters from the map hanging in the air, beside the tiny Ophiel Erick had left floating around the area. The Ophiel Erick had left behind in the house blipped in beside Erick. Both of the feathered [Familiar]s each took one of Erick’s shoulders for themselves, with eyes wide open, to look all around. Erick looked around, too.

This entire side of the mountain had certainly been clear-cut since yesterday. The plateaus and straight cliffs has been exposed to the dawning sun rising on the other side of the mountain, and the wind and mana ocean sweeping up from ocean to the west. But the streams that were nearby yesterday, that cut across the forest floor, were gone. The forest floor was gone, too. Everything had been flattened and made into pristine, new stone.  

Several people stood in front of Erick, standing around a glowing, floating map of the dungeon. Calzin was one of those people. He was talking to a young incani woman, but at Erick’s appearance, the girl lowered her head and stepped away.  

Calzin called out, “Hello, Archmage! Good morning.”

Erick walked forward, saying, “Good morning. I didn’t expect everyone to already be here. Where’s Professor Calloway? What’s happening?”

Calzin pointed to the dungeon entrance, saying, “Down there, already. She was the first one here, several hours ago. I heard that as soon as your [Familiar]s went away the Headmaster sent her back here.” He added, “After she got here, she set to clearing the mountain. Then a pair of doctors came out and checked the area and the dungeon for biologics. They found some outside, but they took care of those. The entire mountainside and dungeon is clean, now. We’ve got the all-clear to work, so we’re working.”

“Okay.” Erick looked to the dungeon entrance. It was still a hole in the ground, three meters wide, leading to a downward tunnel. Not much had changed there. Maybe the lights leading down the tunnel were more uniform, or maybe not. Erick would get to all of that later; put up some something decorative, or whatnot. But proper construction came first. He turned back to Calzin, then looked to the floating, glowing dungeon map, saying, “I don’t see any waterworks in here.”

Calzin smiled. “We were waiting for you for all of that.”

Erick said, “Excellent!”  

“Good. You’re here.”

Erick turned toward the voice.  

Apell was walking up from the dungeon. Her light green metal body was formed into light work clothes.  

Erick said, “Hello. I expected to be working on it myself, today.”

“No such luck, I’m afraid.” Apell stepped to the side of the floating dungeon map, saying, “The Headmaster wants this done as soon as possible and he’s worked out the basic math. You need help.” She looked to Kiri. “I’ve heard that your apprentice should be able to help put up lights?”

Erick covered for Kiri, saying, “I haven’t told her everything quite yet.”

“Probably for the best, but that will throw our schedule back a few days.” Apell looked to Erick, saying, “What kind of waterworks do you want? Something similar to the original location? We’ve got streams to route however you want, but I assume you’d want to start with some of that silver rain of yours?”

Erick turned his attention to the dungeon map, and saw it inadequate. He turned to the left, to an open space, and began creating a second map in full color, saying, “This is how I would do it...”

Apell, Calzin, and the incani woman, who was no longer just standing in the background, but watching intently, all listened and saw what Erick wanted to do. Apell had quite a few suggestions. Erick moved the map accordingly.  

When the conversation was done an hour later, there was a plan, and several other graduates who had come in halfway through the talk were all in the loop.  

Beauty and ornateness would come later, but for now, the ten floors would each be the same. Each of the base floors of the dungeon were a hundred meters square and perfectly flat, but that would all change soon enough. Undulations and fun spots for slimes to play, is what Erick wanted. He also wanted a winding river that went from the top floor and around the entire level before passing through a grate, to drop down onto the next floor, to continue on its way. Each floor would have lots of diamond sculptures and lots of entertaining lights, which Erick would provide. The students would work the mana flows and the river and even the carving of the floor and the pillars everywhere, to maximize the condensation of mana into areas that Erick would flood with all the necessary lights.  

The verdict had come down from the Headmaster. He wanted this place full to bursting with all the appropriate lighting, no matter if it was secretive or not. Blacklights were to be liberally employed throughout the whole space.

Apell was less than happy about this, as it meant she would have to account for this strange new magic being widely employed, and everyone soon finding out about it, but Erick was thrilled; he was going to make a good product that actually did what he wanted it to do. After a little bit of explaining about the side effects of the blacklights, without getting into too much detail, the graduates, who were apparently going to be employed here to watch after the dungeon, were also slightly thrilled. Blacklights meant that the need to [Cleanse] the place would be a lot less than normal. Blacklights were natural disinfectants. In the main reservoirs, strong blacklights would keep the water pure, but even the smaller, less powerful blacklights that Erick would place around the dungeon itself would be good for keeping out other accidental slimes or other potential fauna. With all the moisture in the air, moss and mold were usually a problem, but not with the lighting Erick had planned.

When they doubted Erick, Apell spoke up, saying that it was true. The original dungeon was still clean, even with all of the water Erick had strung through the place. Several people looked at Erick differently, after that.

With the plan finalized, Apell set her people to work with precise orders.  

Erick stayed outside. The first thing to set up was the diamond-making area.

Atop a plateau only thirty meters north of the dungeon entrance, and still in view of that hole in the mountain, Erick first conjured a few more Ophiel, then set them blipping across the ocean to Spur, to check on the Mage Trio’s house. With another Ophiel right in front of him, and using that Ophiel to cast the spell, he conjured a [Prismatic Ward].  

He checked back to Spur, and…  

The dense air around the Mage Trio’s house remained stable; Erick had not compromised the [Ward] around the Trio’s house. Very good.

… Needing to check on their house every time he wanted to use another [Prismatic Ward] was rather annoying. He really needed to hurry up and understand how Ophiel’s [Prismatic Ward]s worked, with regard to the ‘can only have one Solid Ward’ aspect of the spell. He couldn’t do it right now; he needed to use his mana and his time on the dungeon.  

Erick recalled the closest Ophiel and dismissed the rest. He summoned a few more. As several Ophiel hovered around him, Erick shaped the land into a large pool. Then, he raised silver mist from the land. That mist turned into silver clouds, that rained platinum. Erick funneled that rain into the pool using a wide [Weather Ward]. When the pool was full and shimmering, he cast a [Distill] into the water. Platinum metals, that Erick very much doubted were platinum, separated from the water. He and Kiri separated the resulting metals from the pool. Soon, Erick was left with one long, large pool of clear water, underneath a long, hanging [Prismatic Ward].  

Erick set five Ophiel to hovering above the water, inside the dense air. With another thought at comfort, he pulled up perches of stone from the bottom of the pool, into the [Prismatic Ward].  

With the benefits of the enforced ‘Rest’ state inside the [Prismatic Ward], Ophiel’s natural regeneration was the same as Erick’s; a little over 20k per hour. Meaning that, between all of the Ophiel on perches over the water, they could maintain a [Cleanse Aura] by switching between who cast the spell every 20 minutes, keeping the water pristine, and casting [Crystallize Diamond] down into the pool below them.  

Erick took a dozen diamond chips from his pocket and tossed them into the water. [Crystallize Diamond]s began from each Ophiel, almost immediately. The water bubbled. One of the Ophiel turned on their [Cleanse Aura].  

Chips became gems, became jewels, growing larger and larger as time went on, and thick air spilled up and out of that deep pool. Time would pass, and rocks would become more than simple rocks. They would become the accents for a new light dungeon; ones that would glitter and sparkle enough to entice light slimes to spontaneously generate out of the manasphere.  

Erick set up a system of shifting magical responsibility with those five Ophiel, knowing Ophiel could follow his instructions. One of them would [Cleanse Aura], while one Rested, and the other three cast [Crystallize Diamond] at their targets. Occasionally, one of them would grab a done diamond, and crack it into shards with [Stoneshape], to keep growing more diamonds. When one of them was done, they would take that rough diamond and set it outside of the pool, into a pile.  

And that would take them a while.

With that set up, Erick went in to the dungeon, itself. The young incani woman who Erick had seen earlier met him at the entrance. Her name was Merith. She was a graduate of dungeoneering from Oceanside who had yet to make it on her own, but she was a Water Mage and fully ready to commit to Erick’s planned waterworks, and working here after the dungeon was set up; she just had a few questions. She walked with Erick, down into the dungeon, down into the cavernous space where sounds echoed loud and moisture layered across grey and tan rock.  

(That grey and tan would need to get covered in white. Erick had had to cover the rock in the original dungeon, too. Erick made a mental note to talk to Apell about it.)

They spoke of plumbing, coming to agreements and working out ideas on what Erick thought would be necessary. Erick essentially wanted a water park for the light slimes; an area for them to play and not hurt themselves, full of swirling pools and lazy rivers and splash zones that would all catch the light and break it up into color and rainbows. Some water sprays for rainbows here and there would be a good idea, too. Merith thought the idea rather cute. Time would tell if it was a good methodology, but Merith was more than willing to try it out. It sounded rather fun.

Merith went off to work, and so did Erick.

Erick started off with sending Ophiel over to Windy Manor, to pick up a pile of iron ingots. When Ophiel came back, carrying four ingots, Erick began shaping lightmasks over [Metalshape]d bands, making sunglasses for everyone. He had told them of the danger of blacklights on the eyes, so hopefully everyone would use them. He spoke to Kiri through [Telepathy] as he made the sunglasses, telling her of the polarization of light, and how back on Earth they used physical substances to do what he was doing now; mainly molecules in a string that vibrated in only one direction, up and down. That was how ‘polarized sunglasses’ came to be on Earth, but that system was very complicated and Erick had no idea where to even begin making such a thing, and it was all quite redundant, on Veird.  

One just needed to know that light waves traveled in packets of energy that could be polarized, in order to create a working polarization lightmask.  

But, oh! Wasn’t it interesting how if you took one mask that was polarized up-and-down, and crossed it with another turned 90 degrees? Zero light would get through if you did that.

But if you put a 45 degree polarization lightmask in between both of them, you lost only something like half of the initial light coming through the first mask! Amazing!  

Kiri’s eyes went wide, as she deeply frowned.  

No. Erick did not understand why, exactly, this happened, only that it was neat.  

And no, the lightmasks were all made the same. They all blocked light in the same fashion; everything that wasn’t up-and-down didn’t get through the mask. Erick gave Kiri the lightmasks and she tried them herself, but they worked the same, because, of course, Erick had made them. Handing them off to her wouldn’t change how they worked.  

Kiri tried to make her own polarizing maskward, but she had yet to understand anything that Erick was talking about. Her own attempt at a lightmask produced a brown blob of air. She would have to work on all that for a while longer, and Erick would need to figure out a better way to explain light and electromagnetic waves.

In the meanwhile, Erick made sunglasses enough for everyone. Twenty right now; more later, if required. After giving one each to Poi and Kiri, and putting one on top of his head, and telling everyone else to have at it ‘because it was going to get very bright in here!’, he set those metal bands into a stone bucket at the entrance. Then, he set to work crafting [Permanent Special Ward]s on the first floor.  

He stopped after the first kaleidoscopic lightward. He needed see the whole of the dungeon first, just to make sure it was all looking like the plan. A few people paused in their dungeon shaping tasks to look at the prismatic light, but not very long, and not too directly; it was damn bright, after all. But it didn’t have ultraviolet light or infrared in there; that was a separate lightward. It was too complicated of a lightward to include absolutely everything, after all.  

The tunnel to the second floor was directly across the first floor. It was a three meter wide tunnel that led down a smooth walkway made of undulations; slimes were expected to be able to climb everywhere, except up the final set of stairs.  

The second floor was the same as the first; flat, for now, and full of lots of structural pillars. Some of those pillars were thicker than others. Those larger ones were meant to flow air down or water up, and were inscribed with ‘air’ or ‘water’ to indicate which was which.  

Erick had repaired a lot of this place yesterday, but not nearly as much as was present. Apell had done a lot of work since Erick had last set eyes on this dungeon.  

And getting around the place was going to take a while. The floors were each a hundred meters to a side, and square. Erick summoned a [Teleporting Platform] to get around faster, but he didn’t just [Teleport] himself, Kiri, or Poi downward. He flew the three of them, alongside Ophiel, through each floor, as fast as he could fly. It still took twenty minutes to get through the whole place. Luckily, each floor was about 5 meters tall, so there was plenty of space to fly.

Floors 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, were the same as before, almost completely, except for little numbers inscribed at the tops and bottoms of each pillar in each room that indicated which floor it was. Floor 9 was half done. The land had been cleared and rough pillars held up the arched roof, but not much more than that. Erick hadn’t gotten this far yesterday. Floor 10, the final floor, was just a tunnel in the ground.  

Apell stood at the end of that tunnel, carving [Stoneshape] down.

“Hey, Professor,” Erick said, dropping his [Teleporting Platform] to the ground nearby.

Apell turned around, saying, “I already told you to call me Apell. It’s weird for you to do otherwise.” She said, “You did well cleaning up. I was just about to start on the tenth floor and the major plumbing.”

Erick said, “I just flew through the place and it all looks rather good. You did a lot since yesterday.”

“Not as much as you.” Apell said, “This place is going to be big, Erick. And I don’t just mean by the size. Light dungeons didn’t exist, until now. All the other ones except for shadow are easy enough to make, but the maintenance. That’s where it’s costly. No plants here, though. And if the mold and the rest really doesn’t grow, then that’s a major boon.”

“As long as people don’t get cancer from the blacklights.”

Kiri yelped behind Erick.

Erick turned to her, saying, “That’s what [Cleanse] is for, Kiri. A few superficial wounds is all you get cleaning the cancers off of your skin. There’s rods of [Treat Wounds] if you can’t wait a few days to heal naturally.”

Apell said, “I didn’t know you knew about that problem with those blacklights.”

“Of course I knew.” Erick said, “But it’s not so much a problem, as a concern to be aware of.”

“True enough.” Apell asked, “So what are you down here for?”

“Just checking everything out.” Erick asked, “Do you mind if I make the last floor?”

“I do, actually.” Apell said, “I’m on a schedule, too. I gotta get this done fast. But if you have anything specific you want me to build, I can.” She added, “Unless it’s too intricate.”

Erick said, “That’s fine. I was just thinking… The plans we all made up there aren’t enough. Dungeons are usually dedicated to gods, right?”

Apell frowned as she said, “Yeah… Okay?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, I would like three pools, each with a diamond statue standing in their shallow centers, each twice a person sized. Maybe four meters tall. Rozeta, Phagar, and Koyabez.” Erick added, “I’ll make the statues myself, obviously. But if you’re not comfortable making the space for them, then I could do that, too.”

Apell took a moment to say, “I’ll make the space.” She squinted as she asked, “Even with all the diamonds I’ve see you making up there, it still makes me nervous. You’re really gonna put giant diamonds in here, too?”

“Ophiel makes diamond making easy.” Erick said, “I’ve already started three large diamonds for the statues I want to make, but I’ve also got about two hundred fist-sized diamonds for the main floors already sitting in a pile up there, waiting to be carved into something nicer than jumbled octahedrons. The larger ones will take a day to grow to full size, but the smaller ones only take ten minutes.” He added, “I’ll carve them, too, unless some of your people want to carve some? Just gotta be aware of the diamond dust. It’s very bad to breathe that in, but I’ll be saving as much of the dust as I can. It would make a nice sparkly addition to the floors and the walls and everything. That’s what I did with the original dungeon, too, so it’s not just for the sake of being pretty.” He added, “Just gotta mix it in with white stone, that gets layered over everything, which is something we’re going to need to do, too.”

Apell took a moment to respond, saying, “We really are in a new age of magic, aren’t we?” She added, “Got guys like you walking around, churning out new magic monthly, dropping the price of already cheap diamonds into the dirt, upending everything, little by little.” She smirked, mostly to herself, as she turned back to the tunnel she was carving before Erick came along, muttering, “So many new things.” She raised her arms toward the stone. The tunnel began to open, as tons and tons of stone moved out of the way, as Apell walked forward and down at an even pace, saying, “Makes me glad I became a teacher up here on the surface.” She glanced back, saying, “Don’t worry about venting or intakes, or the white rock. That’s already on order. Worry about the lights. You probably don’t even have to worry about the waterworks. That girl, Merith, is a River Mage. It’s a variant Water Mage. Great for dungeons.”

“We talked a little bit about the water. She’s going to work well.” Erick said, “This is going to go well, Apell. I’ll talk to you later.”

Apell waved as she continued to walk forward, and the mountain parted for her.

Having seen all the floors, and gone over the initial plan with everyone, Erick hopped back onto his [Teleporting Platform] along with Kiri and Poi, and one blip later, they were back on floor 1.  

While graduate students carved the grey or brown or tan stone of the dungeon into plumbing and pillars and playgrounds for slimes, Erick turned his attention to the arched ceiling. Each dome of that ceiling was about 2 meters across, meaning the open floorplan dungeon was 50 arches by 50, meaning 2500 spaces per floor that each needed a kaleidoscopic lightward, and that didn’t even take into account all the other lights he had to make. The kaleidoscopic lightwards were just visible light. He also needed to work in ultraviolet and infrared at every intersection, which meant another 5200 [Permanent Special Ward]s per floor; they needed to be placed around every kaleidoscopic lightward. But those went fast enough, and were easy enough that Ophiel could do them on his own.

… He wondered if he could do it all in a single kaleidoscopic lightward. It wasn’t how he had done the original dungeon, but he could try to make one, couldn’t he?

But the kaleidoscopic lightwards took skill and a deft hand already. Adding all the other invisible colors would be too much, and each one was already 500-ish mana. That was before Clarity cut that in half, and since Erick had Favored [Ward], that price was further cut down. But that was still something like 312,000 mana for just the kaleidoscopic wardlights. That was Kiri’s math; not Erick’s. They had spoken of math back at Windy Manor, and with the new plan, the numbers were finalized. Kiri had new numbers for him, and those numbers were large.

Erick could make one light every 10 seconds, though, so that meant he wasn’t time-limited, but he was mana limited. Under Mediation, he regained about 340 mana every minute.  

… but it was still going to take him 15 hours to do a single floor, because that’s how long it would take him to regenerate that much mana.

And that wasn’t taking into account making Ophiels in order to make the infrared and ultraviolet lights.  It took 750 mana to summon one Ophiel, and one Ophiel could create 5000 mana worth of permanent lights, at the full, non-reduced cost of 300 mana per light, meaning 16 lights per Ophiel. Erick could do that much math in his head. But then he handed the numbers off to Kiri for what came next.  

… Erick would need to summon about 315 Ophiel per floor, meaning about 237,000 mana, meaning 12 hours of regeneration per floor. Meaning, if Erick worked himself to the absolute bone, he could do a single dungeon floor in just over 27 hours.  

Each Ophiel would expend itself putting up those lightwards, too, unless Erick made a [Prismatic Ward] rest station for them… And that was honestly a good idea. He would do that.

… And that was just the lightwarding! Ophiel was currently still up top, still making diamonds.  

‘Holy shit.’ Erick sent to Kiri and Poi, as they were talking of math and mana, ‘This is a lot of mana.’ He looked to the silver rings on his fingers and the ball-bearing of a jewel in the setting, saying, ‘Maybe I need to go put on some of my other rings.’

Kiri sent, ‘Or just put on a crown.’

‘These rings don’t work so well with the other kinds. Already tested that out. There were explosions.’ He added, ‘A belt of these is too much, too. That thing melted.’

‘I didn’t know that.’ Kiri frowned. She sent, ‘I was hoping to make a belt for myself… sometime.’

Poi stepped in to the conversation he was supporting, sending, ‘There should be no changing of defenses out in the field. Your increased Health is necessary in the field, sir, especially if we’re going to be putting in 12 hour days.’

‘Poi is right.’ Kiri sent, ‘Besides. I can help make the warm lightwards. I’ve been adding warmth to [Permanent Special Wards] for a long time. It won’t cut down much of the requirements, but it will help.’

Erick looked up at the grey and tan stone of the dungeon, and sent, ‘There’s also the white stone that needs to be mixed up and layered over everything.’

Kiri sent, ‘That’s what everyone else is for. And it’s not even here, yet.’

Erick gazed around the dungeon floor, at the considerable job he had promised to do, and at the other people walking across the dungeon, sculpting stone into riverbeds, or low walls, or raised walkways. He sent, ‘They’re going to need to make sure the white is real white, too. Not cream-colored. It’s pretty obvious how much the Headmaster likes his barely off-white cream.’

‘… They can handle that, Erick. I think.’  Kiri looked around. ‘White stone is easy, but they sure are gonna need a lot of it.’ She paused. She asked, ‘By the way? Why is it white light, and not green light? Green is in the center of the graph you showed me.’

Erick smiled, channeling his inner Rozeta as he sent, ‘I can’t explain physics. It is what it is.’

Kiri just frowned.

Erick laughed.  

And then he went to work. With a deft touch, Erick molded mana into 2 meter by 2 meter arched sections of the ceiling, crafting a brilliant, ever shifting light made out of cyan, magenta, yellow, blue, green, and red, with hundreds of mixed colors stretching into an ever expanding and collapsing illuminated flower. White light shimmered as colors mixed in the center. Rainbows glittered on the edges, only to mix to white, then separate into jeweled tones, only to mix again in an ever dizzying radiant array.  

It took about eleven seconds to make. The next ones came faster. He stopped when he ran out of mana.

A quick checkup on the Ophiel on the surface showed that they had already made a thousand rough diamonds; not including the larger ones that were destined for statues. Those ones had grown to the side of a small torso. It would take them the rest of the day to get to the proper sizes.  

But with a thousand fist-sized diamonds done, Erick pulled several Ophiel from their task and set them to hanging up blacklights at the corner of every arched dome and along the walls. They went to work. When they got close to the edge, they went back to the [Prismatic Ward] hanging over the water by the diamonds. Fifteen minutes of hanging in that dense air later, under the enforced Rest of the [Ward], and they were back up to full mana.  

Ophiel was a machine. He worked harder than Erick, for sure. It was hard to look up all the time; Erick expected to get a crick in his neck, but that didn’t happen. The benefits of Health were wide and varied, after all.

Hours passed. Breaks came and went. People went for food, or snacks, or water, and came back and kept working. Shaping stone, mainly, but also plotting rivers and calculating water rates, and everything else that it took to make a dungeon. The first floor was slowly but surely changing from a flat, grey and tan underground fortress-like space, into a bright, airy yet strong, grey and tan playground for slimes.  

After five hours, Erick must have been doing something right, or maybe something must have changed somewhere else in the Script, because a notification appeared.

--

Kaleidoscopic Radiance, instant, medium range, permanent, 500 mana

A medium-sized lightward of evershifting brilliance supports the growth of Light Essence creatures.  

--

Erick paused and read the box a few times. Soon enough, he came to the conclusion of, “Huh.”  

Kiri stood nearby, casting infrared lightwards into the intersection of every arched alcove of the ceiling. She hadn’t gotten much further than Erick; she hadn’t Favored [Ward] and her regeneration was less than half of his own. She still didn’t have a Class. She stopped when she saw Erick stop. She asked, “What happened?”

“I’m honestly not sure.” He handed the blue box to Kiri. “What do you think?”

Kiri read the spell, silently.

Poi, looking cool as a cucumber in Erick’s ‘sunglasses’, stepped forward. Erick handed him a copy of the spell, too. He read the spell. He dismissed it, saying, “Tell the Headmaster, if you want. It would make the job go faster.”

Kiri dismissed the box, saying, “Yeah. That’s my opinion, too.”

Erick cast one into the air, in front of him. The air sparkled with a much more organic-looking evershifting ‘flower’ than the ones Erick had created against the ceiling. The lines of the lightward were less solid; more ephemeral. It was almost like a kaleidoscope made of fog and rainbows. Almost.    

“It’s a little different.” Erick said, “But the costs of using it would make the job take twice as long…  Unless I had Ophiel put them up. Then I could automate this whole thing.” He added, “Mostly.”

Kiri said, “I’ve never heard of anyone getting a spell out of a lightward.” She chuckled, adding, “This would be fascinating if not for everything else going on.”

“I’m ready for a break.” Erick said, “And I need to test this to see if it has everything I need. Maybe it has the other lights, too?”

Kiri said, “Let’s so see the Professor? I saw her walking around earlier. She can see blacklights.” She looked up at the lights above, saying, “I can’t tell if it’s giving off warmth in all of this.”

“Me either.” Erick said, “Let’s go find Apell.”

Poi said, “Apell is on the third floor, working with Merith on the waterworks.”

Erick led the way to Apell. As he walked into the second floor, his eyes relaxed from pinpoints to normal; the lights down here were dark compared to up on the first floor. He took off his sunglasses; maybe he needed to make stronger glasses. The dungeon was even darker on the third floor, but there were still enough wardlights to see by, and it was a nice walk. Erick’s legs were apparently getting stiff.  

Apell’s people had finished sculpting and shifting the first and second floor into their proper positions not one hour ago, so they were down here now, working alongside Merith and Apell.  

Apell and the young incani woman were in a room set past the northern dungeon wall. Another young person beside the two of them noticed Erick walking toward the water room. He notified Apell, then stepped back. Erick still hadn’t learned most of everyone’s names, and he likely never would.

Apell turned. “Hey? What’s happening?”

He said to the others nearby, “This is gonna get bright. So put on your glasses.”  

They all immediately dropped their shades over their eyes, except for Apell. Wrought and dragons apparently didn’t suffer from blindness like mortals.  

When everyone nearby had their glasses on, Erick conjured a flower, asking, “Can you tell if this has blacklight in it?”

Apell’s face went still as she gazed upon the churning, brilliant flower. She breathed a little. She said, “Uh. Yeah. Yeah. It does. That casting was instant, too— How did you…? It’s really pretty.” She caught hold of herself, and said, “Yes. It has one of these blacklights in it.” Her tone turned serious, as she said, “But we need permanent lightwards. Not… whatever this art piece is.”

“I got it when I was making permanent lightwards.” Erick brought out the box and handed it over to Apell, saying, “I didn’t know that lightwards could make new spells.”

“It’s rare but it... does… happen...” Apell’s eyes widened as she read the box. She breathed. She sighed. She said, “I’ve got to tell the Headmaster.”

Erick said, “Fair enough.”

Apell nodded, then sent a tendril of thought through the manasphere, like a tiny thread coming off of her head. After a moment, she said, “The Headmaster does not want this spell in his dungeon. Erase all the ones you have put up, and craft the lightwards as you made them in your original location.” She paused a moment, listening to elsewhere. She looked to Erick saying, “But a few around the statues you have planned at the bottom would be nice, just to see what happens.” The thread of thought snapped. Apell spoke for herself, as she said, “Personally, I think you should experiment elsewhere. This dungeon will be better if we treat it like a farm, not like a minefield.”

“There goes that easy idea.” Erick said, “Probably for the best, though. The farmers in Spur are always talking about order versus chaos in the farm; Chaos is the enemy, after all.” He added, “You know what my new magics did for them, right? A whole new way of life in the desert.”

Apell smirked, then said, “We’re a lot more conservative, here.”

“Fine fine fine.” Erick changed the subject, “So when is the white stone getting here? That stuff is expensive. It cost me fifteen grandrads to layer my original dungeon in the stuff. This place is going to be a lot more.”

Apell winced, saying, “Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the day after.”

“We’ll have diamond dust to put in all that white stone, too, just so you know.”

“Oh, I know.” Apell said, “This place is going to be the brightest, most expensive, most sterile dungeon I’ve ever made. I hope we can scale your example dungeon up without losing whatever made the first one effective.”

“I do, too.”

- - - -

An hour later, after putting up lightward after lightward, Calzin went to town and brought back hot sandwiches enough for everyone on the job site. The sandwiches were full of fish and spices. Poi loved them, but Kiri just eyed them.

Erick whispered to her, “We’ll get some good beef tonight. That haraah beef, maybe? If you want to head out for a while to pick some up at the market, you can. There’s a few grandrads left in the Manor. Buy whatever you want.”

Kiri smiled, saying, “That sounds wonderful.”

After lunch, Kiri went to the market. An hour later, she came back. Erick was still putting up lightwards on the first floor. It would take him another 7 hours to finish, and that was only if there weren’t any other interruptions. But there were. When the afternoon rolled around, and it was time to rain in Spur, Erick already had more than enough Ophiel to send them blipping across the ocean, so he sent them on their way, and continued to cast lightwards in the ceiling of the dungeon, while he also rained platinum on the farms. He had to slow down his creation of kaleidoscopic lightwards, but he kept it up. Kiri went back home to start making dinner.  

Erick took another break to go back to Windy Manor and eat. It was delicious, like always, but Kiri had pulled out all the stops. She made potatoes and steaks and fire grilled vegetables. It was great.  

And then Erick went back to the dungeon. He and Ophiel finished the first floor's lights, 20 hours after Erick had first arrived on the scene. The time was somewhere after midnight, Kiri had already gone to the Manor, and Erick was exhausted. Poi wasn’t too happy either. The man never complained, but Erick could see it in the man’s shoulders. Erick wouldn’t work this hard tomorrow, but he needed to get one floor done.

Ophiel had no problem continuing. Eight Ophiel kept working throughout the night, following the pattern Erick had set down. They’d each individually drop 13 ultraviolet or infrared lightwards in the ceiling, exactly in the grid where they needed to go, before flying over to a [Prismatic Ward] Erick had cast into the second floor, to Rest. And then they’d do it all again, and again, and again.

With the casting of this new [Prismatic Ward] in the dungeon, the one over the Mage Trio’s house in Spur had dissipated. But that was okay. Erick had checked in with them, and they were a lot better now that they had gotten some good rest. Spur had even managed to oust Messalina’s worms from the town. Things were looking better in the Crystal Forest.

- - - -

When Erick showed up at the dungeon the next morning, which was actually closer to 10 am by the time he managed to drag himself out of bed, there was an issue. He had warned them yesterday, but that apparently didn’t matter. They hadn’t taken his warning seriously. Or maybe the message hadn’t gotten around. Or?

Oh. Or Erick didn’t prepare well enough. Honestly, this was his fault.  

At least ten people sat around outside the dungeon, under stone awnings on the flat grey stone steps of the mountain, while doctors attended to them. They blinked long and hard, trying to see, but they could not, until a doctor came over to them and applied [Greater Treat Wounds]. Erick didn’t know them, but he guessed these people were the workers they had brought in to move the white stone into the dungeon.  

Blocks and bags of white stone and rubble were layered like a minor avalanche waiting to happen, all down the steps of the dungeon's exterior. The shipment had come in, alright.  

Calzin stood beside Apell, a little bit away, watching Ophiel hovering nearby. Eight Ophiel had worked all through the night, putting up infrared and ultraviolet lights. They hadn’t made it past the second floor, but they had gotten through most of it. Which meant—

Erick, Poi, and Kiri, blipped onto the grey stone near Apell and Calzin, near the Ophiel Erick had taken off of lighting duty. The others kept right on with their assigned tasks.

Apell shouted, “What the fuck, Erick.”

Erick instantly began, “If people are going blind, then they weren’t using the glasses I provided, and I told everyone this yesterday. I know I did.” He added, “But I also know I didn’t provide enough for all these extra workers. I’ll fix that, now.”

Apell glared.

Calzin frowned, muttering, “Is that what you meant?”

“Wait a second… Did you not believe me?”

Calzin winced, though Erick couldn’t really tell with only the lower half of Calzin’s face not covered by a mask.

Erick said, “Yes! That is what I meant. If you take your glasses off and you view blacklights directly, then you will go blind. Being as floor 2 is full of blacklights and heat lights, and I haven’t gotten the chance to make it actually blinding, means that everyone is taking off their sunglasses once they get past the first floor, aren’t they?”

This was Erick’s fault for not making enough sunglasses, or maybe he hadn’t explained the danger properly yesterday. Whatever the case, he wasn’t expecting a hundred extra people on the jobsite on day 3. So that was all on him.

Apell sighed out, “Yes. No one can work on floor 2 right now.” She added, “We need a lot more of those glasses. We tried putting up dark lightwards to counteract the blinding effect, but it just got worse. Dilating pupils, and such.”  

Erick said, “We can solve this problem a few ways. I could just have Ophiel automate the whole dungeon light system with the spell I showed you, and I could lock dozens of them at a time behind maskingwards while people worked. This would have the added benefit of having the job done in...” He had worked out the math earlier, at home, with Kiri. He tried to remember all of it now.

2500 alcoves per floor, at 500 mana per alcove, meant both 1,250,000 mana per floor and 10 casts per Ophiel. They would have to retreat to a [Prismatic Ward] Erick would put in the center of the room every five minutes, and it would take 15 for them to fully regain their mana pools, which meant 1 rotation would take 20 minutes, meaning 3 rotations per hour.  

That meant 30 flowers per Ophiel, per hour. At 8 Ophiel working full time, that meant 240 flowers per hour, meaning roughly 11 hours per floor. This meant that the remaining 9 floors could be done in under 5 days, instead of the current need for at least 135 more hours of Erick putting up kaleidoscopic lightwards himself; he was the bottleneck, here. 135 hours would take him 17 days, if he put in 8 hour days. He’d likely put in 12 hour days though, just to get it over with faster. That was still 12 days of work, though.

Erick said, “I could have this place fully lightwarded in five days, instead of the 12 to 18 days it would otherwise take.”

“Nope.” Apell said, “Absolutely not. No further experimenting in this location. Just stop Ophiel’s automation until you catch up with the ornate wardlights.”

“Fine.” Erick said, “Then I’ll make more sunglasses for the hundred people here, first. That’s gonna eat up more time.”

“That’s okay.” Apell said, “That’s what the Headmaster wants.”

Erick added, “Actually. I should just make some full-body sunlight wards, too. Something you could wear in your pocket and project a blocking lightmask out two meters in every direction.”

“None of that. I don’t know if you could do it, but I don’t want to test out your ability to make shadow slimes. Not here. Not ever.”

“Then put the [Ward]ed stones away from the light when you’re done. These blacklights cause cancer, too, so wearing a full body mask is good for the longevity of whoever is going to work here after we’re finished.”

“… Fair.” Apell said, “Then make some of those, too.”

Erick said, “I’ll get right on that.” He turned to Kiri. “Can you start working on the diamonds and setting aside the dust for them to work into the white stone? Do you need me to conjure you the masks I showed you?”

Kiri said, “I can do the masks. But...” She pointed north, toward the pond Erick had made yesterday, where the diamonds had been growing. “Uh.”

Erick turned to look with her. The pond he had made yesterday, and all the diamonds, were gone. In their place were piles and piles of white stone. He turned back toward Apell. He drawled out, “Soooo? Where’d they all goooo?”

Apell frowned.  

Calzin said, “Someone stole them.”

Suddenly exasperated, Erick said, “Oh holy fuck. Really? There were thousands of them!” More miffed than angry, Erick spat, “Shit. Fine. I can make more.”  

Apell rapidly said, “The Headmaster sent an Elite after the thieves. Some headhunter. I don’t know who. But the Headmaster won’t allow something like this to go unchallenged. We might not get back the stones, but we’ll get whoever did this.”

Erick whiplashed from unfocused anger to feeling cold, even in the sun. He said, “He’s going to execute the thieves, isn’t he?”

“Yes.” Apell scrunched her face, disbelieving Erick’s tone, or something. Erick wasn’t quite sure. She said, “That is what usually happens like this. Whoever it was must have been desperate or very, very well connected.”

Erick suddenly found himself on the side of the thieves, saying, “You know the spell I used to make the diamonds is going to be in the Script in something like 9 months? It’s not a big deal if they get stolen. They’re literally the easiest thing to make in the world.” Erick said, “I’m only upset because Spur is under attack, and I can’t go back unless this job is done.”

Apell frowned. “… I’ll tell the Headmaster. He might not retract his sentence. Or he might do something else.” She relented, “I don’t know. It’s out of my hands, Erick. When people steal from dragons, they die. Everyone knows that. Doesn’t matter if it’s books or dirt, gold or rads.” She added, “This has absolutely nothing to do with you.”

“… I didn’t know that.” Erick turned toward Poi and Kiri, including them in the conversation as he asked, “Is that really true?”

Everyone just looked at Erick like he was an idiot, except Poi.

Erick spat out, “None of you know how to make these lights. I don’t know a lot of your cultures. Take it easy with these condemnations of idiocy. It’s getting really fucking tiring.”  

Apell said, “Sorry. Did not mean to offend.”

Erick immediately said, “It’s not you.” Erick felt drained. He said, “Sorry, Apell. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He looked to the dungeon entrance, and to the people under stone overhangs, waiting for the doctor to walk around and heal them. He said, “I’ve got [Ward]s to make. Did you get that shipment of metal in, too?”

Calzin spoke up, saying, “Yes! It’s four steps down.” He gestured toward the mountainside. “Down there. Can’t miss it.”

“I’ll have sunglasses made soon enough.” Erick added, “And more diamonds.”

Apell said, “Thanks, Erick.”

- - - -

A new pond full of new water soon had new diamonds growing in them, with eight Ophiel doing their thing, casting exactly how Erick wanted them to cast. They sang as they worked under the power of a [Prismatic Ward]; a chorus of violins and harps sounding out of dense air.  

It was a nice sound. It make Erick feel a bit better about his situation.

Nearby, Erick pulled metal into sunglass frames. His previous design for the masklights to go on them worked well enough to fully cover the front of the eyes and even set into the skin a bit, to provide full coverage, so he kept the design the same. Making these was much simpler than the kaleidoscope lightwards, but it still took him an hour to make 150 of them. His regeneration was the bottleneck, again. The sunglasses were handed out as they were made.

Work resumed.  

Kiri shaped new diamonds into glittering dust, firstly. Kilograms and kilograms of diamond dust journeyed into the dungeon alongside massive, hovering crates of white stone. Four workers worked together to lift the white stone and the diamond dust into the air. They mixed the white stone and the diamonds into a huge, floating orb, then they took the stone apart, each taking a quarter of the tonnage to then paint the dungeon white and glittery; a thin, solid layer of white that they locked into the grey and tan stone underneath. It was not just a breakable veneer of stone, but more like a weld.

Kiri continued to shape diamonds into dust, but when there was enough diamond dust for the first five floors, and not enough people putting down white, she started cutting the diamond octahedrons in half. With a novice’s touch that was quickly improving, Kiri shaped each of those halves into basic brilliant-cut diamonds, with a flat top and a reflective bottom. Light shone in from the top then reflected back out when she did it right. They were perfect for setting into the walls and into the floor; the slimes loved shiny things, after all.

Down on floor 2, Erick cast kaleidoscopic lights into the arched ceiling.

They broke for lunch. They continued working till it was time for Erick to break to rain on Spur. Erick, Poi, Kiri, Teressa, and Rats, all had an early dinner in Jane’s room. She was still sleeping, but Alibeth, the Mind Mage doctor, brought her out of her [Sleep] for her daily checkup while Erick was there.  

She began vomiting immediately. She asked to be put back under, though she did say hello to everyone. Erick watched Jane fall back asleep, feeling horrible about everything, as thick air cleaned up the mess she had made.

[Sleep] enforced a Rest state on its recipient, and Jane was being fed while she was asleep, so she was okay, and she was healing. But it was still rough for Erick to see his daughter like this.

Then he went back to the dungeon. He stayed there well past nightfall and then a few more hours in, but he would not spend another late night like before. He went home in the dark, while people were still putting down glittering white stone over the greys and tans of the natural dungeon walls.  

Erick had briefly checked on his original dungeon every day with Ophiel, if for nothing else than to just renew the [Gravity Ward] that fed the river of the dungeon floor. He did so again, today. Through Opheil’s eyes, the [Gravity Ward] was working just fine; Erick renewed the spell, anyway. But when he checked on the actual dungeon floor, there were easily four dozen light slimes or more, bumbling this way and that, but generally moving in a large circle around the dungeon floor.

Like some huge skating rink, light slimes glittered in rainbow light, as they circled the center.

And in the center, floating above the waters of the main pool, was a woman made of white light, wearing rainbows for clothes, like billowing clouds. She could have been of any people; human, incani, orcol or dragonkin. Maybe even wrought, but Erick somehow doubted that. Maybe she was a harpy, or a shifter. Whatever the case, she was an intruder of some sort, and her eyes were open, and staring at Erick, through his connection to Ophiel.  

In a blink, Erick stood in the dungeon, and it wasn’t blinding without his sunglasses.  

“Ah.” Erick checked his Status. It did not come up. He asked, “Dream Wormed?”

“Yes.” The woman said, “I’m Messalina, the Life Binder. I think it is past time I talked with you, directly.”

He was likely already being tended to by Poi, and he was close enough to the hospital that, even if they couldn’t [Teleport] him there without his conscious consent, they could certainly get other people to him. So Erick rolled with this confrontation. He said, “Your worms have killed people. Your plots are murderous. You appear before me in a dazzling, probably fake way. You’re obviously a very fake person. Why should I listen to whatever lies you feel like spinning?”

“Because if you do not, then I will have no choice but to go to Melemizargo for help.”

“Lie.”

Undeterred, Messalina said, “He’s growing much more cognizant as new magic is being invented everywhere.” She added, “He’s not insane anymore. Most of his Shades aren’t, either. They purged those using Yetta as an excuse.”

“Half-truth. Likely just enough true to try and get me to believe you, but I won’t. I’m going to have to be stubborn about this, all the way to everyone’s deaths, if I have to.”

Messalina, all bright white and floating rainbows, frowned. It was like the world turned two shades darker. She stepped down from the air, to stand upon the water in front of Erick. She said, “Let me prove it to you, then. Set for me a task.”

“Nope.” Erick said, “One task completed does not make you worthy of redemption. You dream wormed the people in town. Turock and Veel, people who were staying with my daughter and looking after my house, [Defend]ed themselves to death because of your influence.”

Messalina laughed, saying, “Now that is untrue.”

Erick frowned at her. He did not ask for a clarification.

Messalina said, “Fine. I can have this conversation without you, but it seems I must add certain words that you can go ahead and verify on your own.” She said, “The Lower Trademaster of Portal and I worked together for a period of one month, maybe 35 days, to try and find the people who killed my people. I gave him dream worms as a part of this agreement. He has spread them far and wide, in order to increase his own influence—”

“And that doesn’t bother you!” Suddenly incensed, Erick said, “Taking that at face value —and holy shit is that a hard thing to take— you allowed your magic to go wherever others wanted it to go? You allowed your mind controlling worms—”

Messalina’s face flared into anger. “I do NOT mind control people! I do not pinch at souls. I do not do anything to the free will of anyone, anywhere!”

Erick glared at her, saying, “Lie.”

Messalina’s eyes went wide. She suddenly cooled, like a volcano stuffed back into the ground, and said, “You invented a new magic. Is your circumstance not the same as mine?”

“Absolutely not.” Erick said, “I didn’t invent anything. It’s already all there. None of you managed to see it, is all. Even if I did believe your story— Do you expect me to think that you giving out mind controlling parasites is the same as me giving out knowledge?”

“Yes. They are. A hundred percent the same. But I can argue from your position if you want, because when Caradogh decided to use my mind freeing worms to control people, I cut him off.” She said, “Normally, they don’t control people. Normally, they allow recipients to quest for their personal truths in the safety of their dreams. But that great boon is also an unavoidable weakness. They open up people to the possibilities all around them, and when this is used in the wrong way, you get victims like Turock and Veel.” She said, “Those two were not Caradogh’s only victims. But I discovered the problem too late and he had already spread my magic far and wide. If you have a problem with him using my gifts, then take it up with him.”

“Fine.” Erick said, “I don’t believe you right now, and probably not ever. But I will check up on all of that. Continue.”

Messalina nodded. She said, “Kirginatharp is dangerous—”

“I certainly won’t believe you about him. Try another tactic.”

“Then I will simply say this: Has he ever touched upon a spell you created, holding long to the release of the blue box? Has he ever threatened your life? Has he ever made a list of Pros and Cons to decide your fate? Has he ever threatened the lives of your loved ones, perhaps by standing over their bleeding forms while you begged him for help?”

“That last one sounds personal.”

“… It was.”

“Lie.” Erick said, “Sorry. No sympathy for the killer, here. You have killed people in Spur, and you killed those people in the villages on your way to Eidolon.”

Messalina started with, “Firstly: I gave power to people and then they used it wrong. The Flare Couatl was never under my control, but he did see you talking about killing him the next time you met. I will not accept responsibility for the actions of a free man who was only looking to protect himself. And besides!” Half incredulous, she said, “Really? No sympathy at all? With all your ideology of helping ‘the dregs of society turn their lives around’? This has no bearing on me, who just lashed out because my entire world was taken from me?”

Erick said, “So you know me. So what? You’ve obviously listened to me talk about you, and there’s something to be said about you being open about that as opposed to trying to hide it. But. You already know all my buttons. As does the Headmaster, I’m sure.” Erick said, “So go ahead and bring on the threats. I know you have a dozen lying in wait for this part of the conversation.”

“I prefer the carrot.” She said, “I can heal your daughter's Disintegrated Dragon Essence in three moments, if you produce the spell to find the people who killed my village.”

Erick felt his anger bloom like a darkness rising from the bottom of the ocean. He calmly said, “Stay away from my daughter.”

Messalina, all bright and rainbow, sighed out, “That was not a threat. That was an offer of assistance.”

Silence stretched between the two of them, while light slimes bumbled around the room and water splashed.

“Haven’t you already found those people?” Erick said, “The Headmaster said that there was no way you had not found them by now.”

Messalina barked a single laugh, then she said, “That Old Dragon. He can’t find me, but he expects me to have found my own quarry? We’re both using the same damn spell, Erick. I learned it from him! [Eyes of the Goddess].”

Erick paused. He had no idea what to say to that.

Messalina continued, “You really don’t know anything, do you?”

“I know both less and more than you.”

She laughed again. “True! So let me fill you in on a little history—”  

“I don’t want to hear it.”

Messalina smiled, all teeth and anger, as she said, “But you will.”

Erick almost said something, but he couldn’t speak. He could only listen.

“Kirginatharp and I were the two sides of a schism in the Arcanaeum Consortium that began 350 years ago, but the whole thing erupted into violence soon enough. The only reason I retreated to the jungles of Nergal was because I voluntarily lost, because to continue the fight was to plunge the world into darkness.

“The world has forgotten that fight because I have allowed him to dictate the terms of my surrender, but I have been deeply wronged by the Cinnabar Hand, and Kirginatharp has chosen to fight me, instead of help. So allow me to break this very old bargain of trade now, and tell the truth of that fight.

“I was apprenticed to That Dragon for 30 years, but even in the beginning it was so much more than that. I learned everything from him. We even had children. Melemizargo ate those children, like all dragons do whenever someone is born three generations removed from the one who began their lineage, and the great grandfathers or mothers discover the progeny. But I brought them back with necromancy, and without the taint of dragon essence, too! That was the start of my involvement in the schism that would shake the very foundations of Oceanside, and every Arcanaeum on Veird."

Erick listened. He couldn’t help it. Either the dream was trapping him here, or her words were powerful. And had she just implicated that the Headmaster was Melemizargo’s grandson? Did that mean that Rozeta was Kirginatharp’s mother? Or at least an aunt? Whatever the case, as Messalina spoke, dark lines, tears or black blood, fell from Messalina’s glowing eyes, to trace lines of darkness down her pained face. Her voice choked as she forced a long held torment to the surface.  

“Kirginatharp was the one who showed me necromancy. He knows every magic there is. But when I used it to bring back our children, he cast me out. He wouldn’t even entertain the possibility that my necromancy was different.

“And it was, Erick.” Her entire radiant body seemed to brighten. “I had done it.”

“I brought back people from death, whole and unharmed. Memories intact. Soul unblemished. True Resurrection! I had done the impossible. And I had damned myself in his eyes. He tried to kill me, but I managed to flee with my kids.

“In the years to come, I traveled the world, hiding from everyone, raising my children on my own, doing what I needed to do to survive. Years turned to decades. I thought I was free of That Dragon. But a chance meeting with one of Kirginatharp’s Elites in the highlands of Nelboor led That Dragon back into my life. His children had grown...

She spoke with restrained anger. “He said he wanted to reconnect. He knew my children were grown, and whole, and pure of soul. They were not abominations. They were genuine, and they were without a single drop of natural draconic essence, therefore they were not a target of Melemizargo. And it surprised him. He had never been able to have children before, because that Dark Dragon always killed them. But he saw my kids— his children! He saw them as a possible future. A future of happiness, with kids and grandkids and a whole linage. A future!  

“I foolishly believed him. All three of us believed him. When the three of us showed for the meeting, it was a trap.

“He took them from me. He ripped their souls from their bodies in order to understand how I had done what I had done.” She stopped. Moments passed. She wiped the black lines of blood or whatever it was from her face. The darkness vanished from her radiant skin like so much flaking ash.

She continued, “Originally, I had been all for That Dragon’s iron fist wrapped around Veird; holding civilizations together and bringing warmagics to bear against the monsters.” She spoke flippantly, “And all the time, I saw the small things he did to me, but I didn’t care. When he intercepted a spell I had worked on before it could come to me, I thought nothing of it. When he demanded concessions for the good of Civilization, I gave in. When he demanded unequal bargains of trade, what did I care? I was doing good to help him do good to help the whole world.” She said, “I gave myself to him, Erick. Body and mind and soul. And he took it all. But then he took my children, and that was it. I would take everything from him.  

“And so I went to war.” She said, “I contacted his detractors in the Arcanaeum Consortium, for people in power always have detractors. I gave True Resurrections to people he had killed, raising co-conspirators from ash. I controlled minds. Eventually, I maimed souls. I put people together wrong, all for the glory of That Dragon’s downfall.  

“That section of my life lasted two months. And then I undid all I had done. If I was to win this war, I was going to win it right. I wiped some memories, and put some people back in the ground who were too evil to live. For all his faults, That Dragon is sometimes right about some things.

“With free will, and with plots and partners, we planned Kirginatharp’s downfall from Second to Rozeta. We wanted to teach the magic that would give True Resurrection to the people. Kirginatharp wanted that magic buried and gone. I had a much more personal reason for fighting, but I believed in the greater cause, too.

“In the end, seven arcanaeums out of fifty five joined our side, of their own free will.  

“There was a war. Islands sunk. Oceanside broke. Thousands died, and the darker forces of the world, the Shades and the Ancients, they were beginning to move to take advantage of the schism.  

“I ended the fight that would have torn civilization apart. I betrayed my people to do it. Not everyone survived, but I am a necromancer with the secret of True Resurrection, and he is just an old dragon sitting on his pile of gold. The collateral damage was immense.  

“Kirginatharp still lays those deaths at my feet. He says I killed them. I did not. He is the one who started it all when he killed our children.  

“When everything was over, I picked up what was left. I asked the souls that he had reaped if they wanted to stay dead. I gave True Resurrection to over half of them; to five thousand people, to five thousand students and professors and warriors and mages who only wanted to use magic that had already prove itself as real. All of us went into exile, into the jungles of Nergal. Those five thousand people were the first generation of my village.

Her voice turned hard, as she said, “And six months ago, I had 10,000 people, some of the old guard, some of the new; working, living, and just being in my village, when those hunters from the Cinnabar Hand came. They were hunting for levels. They got them. And now, I hunt for them.

“I have given up my conquest of That Dragon. I laid my hatred aside a long time ago. But he hasn’t.  

“He can’t.

“For at the height of our war, I foolishly tried to upset his position as Second. I hunted dragons for sport, and ate them whole. I unlocked the highest tiers of Dragon Essence.” She said, “That was a threat on a fundamental level. But I lost that war. So I died for my sins of standing up to power. I got better, obviously. And without the dragon essence this time, just as I had done for my children. But his own essence compels him to dominate me, no matter if I have no essence anymore.

“He could let me live without interference. He could make amends by giving me the souls of my children. He could help me find these people who killed my people.

“But he doesn’t.  

“Because once he makes a proclamation, he never waivers, no matter the cost.

She stared at Erick, with eyes of light and surrounded by rainbows. She said, “I have said my piece. You could have read most of this in the letter I gave you, but I can see the wisdom in not accepting my words as truth.” She added, “Do what you want, but know that Kirginatharp is a killer, just like you think I am. But That Dragon has managed to win every war he has ever waged, and teach his history in every Arcanaeum the world over.”

A long moment passed, while Erick stood on the side of the pool, thinking, and Messalina stood on top of the water; a woman made of light and color. Light slimes continued to bumble around the room, counterclockwise around the pool in the center; around Erick and Messalina. Erick felt his mind relax.  

Erick asked, “What would he do if I asked for the souls of your children to give them to you?”

Messalina quickly went through several obvious emotions. Hatred, utter and complete. Hope. And finally, reluctantly accepted pain. With a fallen smile, she said, “He would be very angry. Then he would deny he has them. He would say they were destroyed, or some nonsense.”

Erick asked, “Could you two work on the same side, to kill the Shades?”

“No.” Messalina said, “Never again. I cannot ever trust That Dragon.”

“You spoke of a spell he held from you. What did he do to that spell?”

Messalina spoke like she was opening an old, soft wound, “He intercepted a tier 8 summoning spell. The resulting person would have been the start of the return of the Elementassi to Veird. They were a race of sapient elementals. They would be able to walk the land and fly the skies, and to help drive back the monsters, to help win the Real War against Melemizargo. That did not happen. Instead, I got a creature that was an automatic Slave. It tried to kill me, even after I went through the rituals to magically emancipate the thing.” She said, “It was a perfect spell. I hadn’t accidentally created a slave in twenty years. My spell should have worked. It didn’t. And the only clue I had to how it went wrong, was the three minute delay from the summoning of the creature, to getting the box, because Kirginatharp was there, looking at the blue box first.”

“How did the people who attacked your town manage to kill everyone and reap their souls? Where were your defenses?”

Messalina chuckled. She said, “I was sleeping, and they targeted my champions first. It took the Cinnabar Hand ten minutes to turn my jungle into a crater. Sometimes, that’s all it takes for ten thousand people to die.”

“I was told you killed everyone on the way to Eidolon, searching for the killers. What about them?”  

“I gave them new bodies, too. Later. Wynding talked some sense into me before I got too far in my wrath. I had known her since she was a babe in her mother’s arms.” Messalina said, “But they’re all dead again, Wynding too, because no one believes in True Resurrection. Kirginatharp’s people hunted down each one and put them to the sword, thinking that they would fall to monsterfication and become cannibals.”

“Thank you. This is a lot to think on.” Erick said, “I would like to be released from this vision, now.”

Messalina looked at him. “What is your decision about this [Scan] spell?”

“I told your Flare Couatl the truth. I don’t know if I can, or even how I would.”

Messalina stared at him, slightly frowning. She said, “The Flare Couatl’s name was Oyil. He was my Captain of the Guard for a hundred years. Yiralia was his wife. While he chose to become a knight, she chose to become a monster, instead. With her whole life gone, Yiralia was tired of being a person. She just wanted to kill hunters, so she chose the body of the Toxic Hydra.”

The world flickered.

- - - -

Erick came around slowly to the sounds of ten tiny flutes, like a chorus of birds chirping in the morning.

Poi said, “Easy there. You were heavily wormed. Everything is going to feel weird. You had a prolonged out-of-body experience. I’m putting you back together but it will take time.”

Erick blinked. He was in a hospital bed. The sun shone down outside. He rolled—

Poi caught him, then pushed him back onto the bed.

Erick laid there this time, taking in his surroundings. He was in a bed, under a blanket. Jane was sleeping in her own bed, two meters from him. Poi stood there, between him and his daughter, while Teressa stood to the side of the room, and Kiri stood at the feet of his bed.  

Ten Ophiel, all tiny, leapt and played ontop of Erick’s covered body, jumping from his feet poking up from the blanket, to his stomach, to the headboard behind him. They trilled in flutes and a few tiny harp sounds as their eyes and jumbles of wings moved freely around their bodies.  

 He must have been wormed before he could dismiss all but one of them.  

Erick smiled at the Ophiel… Or… He tried to smile. He lifted a hand to touch his face and smacked himself across the chin. He mumbled, “Waaa.”

“Your mind is coming back to you. Your body is catching up.” Poi said, “You might be like this for an hour but it’ll get better.”

Kiri spoke up, trying to be chipper, “You’ll be fine. Alibeth and the other doctors think so. They healed you up well.”

Erick checked his Status, and sure enough, the blue boxes came to him. He shoved those away with a mental command. He sent to Poi and Kiri, ‘How long was I out?’

Kiri sent, ‘Eight hours. Maybe. The Headmaster visited.’

‘I’ll need to talk to him when I’m better.’

Poi sent, ‘He wants to talk to you, too.’