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Erick barely finished breakfast before Poi announced that there would be guests today, if Erick would have them, and of course he would. Ratchet and Arial had made great progress on working with chocolate. The two greyscale ladies in question showed up at the front door not twenty minutes later, both carrying their own basket of goodies.

“Welcome, ladies,” Erick said, moving aside so that they could come in.

Ratchet stepped forward, giving a momentary ‘how do you do’ before immediately launching into, “We managed to temper your chocolate!”

Erick’s heart swelled with joy, as he said, “Fantastic!”

They moved to the chocolate room. The ladies had left with 50 kilograms of chocolate liquor the other day, but they came back with much, much less than that in product. A lot of chocolate had been ruined by experimentation, but once they got their methods down, the rest came easy enough.

With baskets emptied, a table in the chocolate room stood full of chocolate desserts; the fruits of their labor. Dense chocolate cakes, chocolate-covered candy, chocolate and caramel cookie bars, chocolate-covered fruit, chocolate covered pretzels, and more, and of course, solid bars of chocolate itself. Dark, half-dark, milk; all solid as could be, with a sheen to the surface and no swirls or blemishes upon them.

“How’d you do it?” Erick asked, picking up a bar of milk chocolate to smell it. “It smells and looks better.” He snapped it. “Good snap.” He tasted it.

Divine.

Ratchet chuckled, seeing Erick taste the chocolate. She said, “It’s good. Nice taste, nice presentation. Different from other candies, too.”

“So how’d you do it?” Erick asked, again.

Arial said, “We—”

Ratchet said, “You figured it out, Arial, not me.”

Arial smirked at Ratchet, then continued, “We crumbled the chocolate into pieces, then submerged it into a hundred degree, water-boiling [Temperature Ward], just long enough to get the chocolate to melt, and then a single second more. Then we took it out, and put it into a 30 degree [Temperature Ward], stirring all the while, like you suggested. The chocolate turned glossy fast enough. When the heat was gone, we started pouring it into molds. From there, we left it in 22 degree room temperature [Ward]s.” She smiled wide, saying, “And it set! Just like you theorized it would.” She fluttered a hand at the milk chocolate and middle-dark bars, saying, “Those were just variations on the method. Bit lower maximum temperature, otherwise it burned.”

Erick asked, “Did you try the seeding method?”

Ratchet said, “That didn’t work. Or else we couldn’t do it.”

Arial said, “I tried. This method works, though.”

“That’s fine.” Erick smiled as he gazed upon the chocolate. He grabbed the dark chocolate and snapped off a corner of the glossy block. He popped it into his mouth. One of the niceties of chocolate was that it melted at body temperature, and this was no different. The mouthfeel was fantastic, as was the taste. Dark chocolate wasn’t really his thing, but he could still appreciate the flavor. “This is really good.”

Ratchet and Arial giggled like schoolgirls, proud of their achievement.

Teressa, Poi, Kiri, and Justine had stayed on the other side of the room while Erick interacted with Arial and Ratchet, but Erick invited them to try, and they came rushing over. Teressa loved the dark chocolate.  Kiri liked the middle-dark. Poi and Justine both preferred the milk chocolate.

Justine asked, “Is there, perhaps, a more milky version possible?”

“Oh yeah! There is. I had forgotten.” Erick said, “White chocolate is an option, too.”

Ratchet rapidly asked, “What’s that?”

Arial’s eyes went wide, as she waited for an answer.

“White chocolate is…” Erick blanked. “Uh.” He looked to Poi. “Anybody seen Jane? She left so fast after breakfast… She would know.”

Poi said, “She’s at the Barracks. She should be back later.”

“Then I’ll have to give you an answer later, Ratchet, Arial. But I think it’s cocoa butter and sugar and milk solids. Vanilla is a good additive, as well.” Erick added, “No cocoa solids at all. You have to press the solids out of the fat, and just use the fat. You can save the cocoa powder for hot chocolate, though, so it’s not really a waste.”

“There are similar treats made from the oils of the uranga tree and the oils of fatflower berries.” Arial said, “Those two tend to be savory or floral, but I could try those recipes. They might form a good base for the ‘white chocolate’ you suggest. I will try this with cocoa butter.”

“Thank you.” Erick said, “I have yet to speak to the Garden Council on the matter of purchasing some land for a cocoa tree farm, but I was planning on doing that today… Along with a few other tasks. I might have an answer for you by this afternoon.” He said, “But for now…” He looked to Ratchet and Arial, and asked, “Could I commission you two to create some cakes and bars and goodies? I need enough for a large party, tonight. In ten hours. I’ll fill the backyard garden with cocoa trees for you to use in the meantime.”

“In ten hours?” Arial frowned. “What are you doing for Shadow’s Feast? You’re not hunkering down like the rest of us?” She rapidly added, “I mean. Course you’re not. But… I would expect you to go on high alert with all rest of the Army. But a party?”

Ratchet shifted from joyful to serious, as Arial spoke.

Erick said, “Upon threat of unknown danger, I’m required to visit the Feast they’re holding in Ar’Kendrithyst.”

Arial gasped. Ratchet harrumphed.

Erick couldn’t blame them for their apprehension. It was only prudent for them to be like this. But it still stung, because the way they looked and the way they stood, made him think that they were ready to walk out right this moment, and never return. It was like when Savral and Al agreed that he and Jane needed to move out of the Sewerhouse, because Erick was playing around with forces beyond normal magic, and Jane was talking of fighting Shades.

Serious as a heart attack, Ratchet asked, “You gonna be okay? Are we gonna be okay?”

Erick almost answered that he had no idea if they would be okay.

But then Ratchet clarified, “I mean, as in Spur. Arial and I already talked and we’re fine playing in the background with you as our patron. Archmages are targets, and we talked, and we’re fine with it.”

Arial quickly nodded, “Uh, huh. That we did.”

Ratchet added, “But we need to know if there’s an immediate danger to Spur. Something to prepare against, aside from the normal night terrors. We’re both staying with our families tonight and lighting real fires to drive away the shadows, but if we need to move out of Spur for the evening we can do that. I just need to know.”

Relief.

Erick felt a body-thrumming warmth, hearing Ratchet’s words, and seeing how her stance and eyes changed from one of worry and trepidation, into that of a warrior, ready for battle. He smiled, and said, “Silverite has assured me that the only danger will come from if I don’t go. So she’s required me to go to prevent that unknown danger.”

Arial put a hand on Ratchet’s strong shoulder and slumped a little, experiencing her own tide of relief, as she said, “Ho oh oh, thank Rozeta.” She stood up under her own power, saying, “Had me worried there.” She laughed. “Isn’t nice to do that to an old lady like myself.”

Ratchet warmed, saying, “Good to hear.” She turned stern again, saying, “We’ll have your desserts ready by this afternoon.” She waved a hand at the cakes and candies on the table, asking, “Which ones do you want? No charge.”

Erick’s smile returned.

They spoke for twenty minutes of cakes and candies, and designs Erick wanted. Before long, Ratchet and Arial went back to their business to get certain things ready, while Erick went to go to the backyard, to the experimental garden, which he began transforming into a cocoa tree grove. Seeds went into the ground, while platinum rain raised them all into tall trees. Erick cast [Tree of Light] on a few as an experiment. Those trees then produced almost double the number of beanpods, but if that product was better or worse than the rest, only time would tell. Time that Erick did not have.

He did have a little bit of time, though, so for the last row of cocoa trees, he instead planted seeds, and then cast [Grow], imbuing the spell and the seed with all of his ideas for coffee that he could think to try. He stripped the oil from the cocoa, while leaving a certain bitter dryness. He implanted the perkiness of a morning cup, and the energy to get through the day. Three iterations was all Erick could put into this crafting, so he left the fourth generation maybe-coffee trees in that last row, hoping that he had done everything correctly. The [Cleanse] of the trees came back negative, so hopefully it was good. The preparation of coffee beans was almost the same as the first steps in preparing cocoa beans, so that was good.

Meanwhile, Erick had asked Teressa and Justine to help with cocoa liquor production, and they did.

When he was done with the maybe-coffee trees, Erick set a few Ophiel with instructions to begin making person-sized diamonds in stone tanks to the side of the yard. When that looked good, he blipped out into the Crystal Forest. It was time to complete his Class Ability Quests, one way or another.

- - - -

The sun beat down from above. A warm wind scraped across an endless sea of orange dunes. Ophiel floated in the air, just above Erick, while Poi and Kiri stood behind, protected under a [Prismatic Ward]. Erick looked at his Quests.

--

Class Ability Quest!

Create a tier 7 or higher Light-based spell or skill.

Reward: Light Dedication

--

Class Ability Quest!

Create a tier 5 or higher Force-based spell or skill.

Reward: Force Savant

--

After battling Kiri in a real mage match, he noticed some problems that he had, that Kiri did not. He was truly impressed with many of the young greenscale’s spells, but [Firelight Assistant] was something special. That thing cast Bolts of radiance at the target, and even adjusted its targeting when the target adjusted their position. When Erick fought against her, he had had to defend against that spell the entire time he was fighting. Erick brought up the blue box Kiri had shared with him a while ago.

--

Firelight Assistant, instant, long range, 502 Mana

Designate a target. Firelight Assistant bombards that target with a stream of 15 Firelight Bolts. Each Bolt deals an initial 15 + WIL damage, and WIL firelight damage per second, for 15 seconds. Each patch of firelight on the target will increase firelight damage done, up until the target is completely coated in firelight.

Shadow aspect magic turns solid while firelight burns in the vicinity.

--

While the numbers weren’t that impressive, it was a great spell. Useful, too. Erick could have defended against it, but when the duel had been decided in the space of global cooldowns, there had been no point to [Dispel]ing the Assistant, for acting to counter it would have left him open to much worse magic.

But he had still needed to spend some mental energy to deal with the Assistant, and that had been less than optimal. Had Kiri’s Assistant been the difference between a win and a loss? Maybe not. But it had been effective in its own way.

Erick didn’t want to make an Assistant. Something close, though? That would be good.

Something that was outside of the range of [Dispel], too.

Something that demanded action, with numbers larger than [Firelight Assistant].

Something that could threaten its power in plain sight, and demand a response, to put the target on the back foot.

There was something poetic in the spell Erick was about to create. He had felt threatened by all these awful things waiting for him on the horizon, and now those awful things were here. But he could make threats of his own. No one could easily [Dispel] what he was about to create, for it would be piecemeal, and distant, but he would be able to cancel the spell at any time. It would be like that Red Dot. A warning and danger all in one; an inevitable doom requiring one’s full attention, while assassins and other deadly forces would fight down below.

Erick started with [Force Bolt] and the barest touch of Mana Shaping, for only 10 mana.

He pointed at a pillar a hundred meters away, and cast.

A spot of force flowed from his finger, like a drop of water hanging on to the lip of a faucet, barely dropping. When it finally separated from Erick’s aura, it flowed through the air; a gentle touch of disruptive Force that took its sweet time floating toward the pillar. Erick smiled, as he read the blue box that appeared.

--

Inevitable Bolt, instant, long range, 15 mana

A bolt of inexorable Force eventually strikes a target for WIL damage.

--

Erick had managed to upgrade the ‘inevitable’ of the original [Force Bolt] into the ‘inexorable’ that he had gotten out of [True Plasma Bolt]. He also managed to double the Willpower contribution from 50% to 100%, all for a mere tripled cost of the original spell. The 15 base damage of the original [Force Bolt] was gone, but whatever. Base damage didn’t really matter, right now. This was good. This was Mana Shaping at its best.

While Erick had been evaluating the spell, the bolt had yet to fly five meters forward. Erick could jog faster than the spell, and so he did, but that was a bit disruptive to observation, so he used his Handy Aura to hover around and observe the spell from multiple angles. One thing was immediately apparent: He had never truly observed a Bolt before.

It was shaped like a teardrop diamond that was out of focus on the back end, but perfectly visible on the leading end. Crystalline and refractive, with facets and iridescence, the spell flowed forward, its dome-end leading the way toward the target.

Eventually, it struck, with all the impact usual to this sort of low-power spell; a single ‘spack’ barely heard above the windy sounds of the Crystal Forest, and then it was gone.

It took ten seconds to get there, though!

Erick got back into position, and only smiled as Kiri wordlessly looked at him like he was a crazy person. What was he doing with such a slow spell? It made no sense to her. Erick just smiled, as he looked up the next part of his planned magic.

--

Force Crash X, instant, long range, 100 MP

Rain small destruction in a medium area, dealing 15 + WIL damage per crash. Lasts 1 second. 15 crashes.

--

Channeling mana through [Inevitable Bolt] produced a deep sound, like the sound of watching a knife slowly plunge into an artery. Erick grinned wide. It was exactly what he wanted.

In a contrasting and highlighting sound, [Force Crash] was the whistle of bombarding rain.

They went together, so well.

Erick dismissed one of his extraneous Ophiel over Candlepoint and reconjured the little guy onto his left shoulder, to pair with the one already on his right. He gave one of them [Force Crash], and the other [Inevitable Bolt], as he became the crucible in which that sound evolved into something more than the sum of its parts.

He turned his attention to the air above the stone pillar, and cast.

The small part of the blue sky briefly turned solid, becoming a mutated jewel of 15 jagged points that broke all at once. Some of the conjured Force became naught but white dust that returned to the manasphere. The rest became 15 jeweled tears, separating fast and far, maybe thirty meters between the most distant ones. All at once, they all turned at once to the target, to begin their long descent, some arriving in three seconds, some arriving in twelve.

Erick watched each drop of magic weigh in on the targeted stone. The pillar was solid rock, but still, it cracked after the fourteenth Bolt. It was not a large crack. It didn’t mean anything, for now. But it was still a line of separation at the top of a large pillar. A blue box appeared.

--

Inevitable Bolts, instant, long range, 250 MP

Bolts of inexorable Force each eventually strike a target for WIL damage. 15 bolts.

--

Erick examined the spell he had created, and then brought up the next part of the crafting.

--

Force Bomb X, instant, long range, 50 MP

Launch a quick ball of mana that explodes on contact in a medium area for 50 + 2x WIL damage.

--

He smiled to himself, as he gave parts of the magic to each Ophiel on his shoulder. They sang together, of inevitability, and doom; a deep sound that all would see coming. This would be the tricky part. Erick’s heart beat hard as he drummed up his own intent, beating in time to the magic, knowing that a sudden drop would come when it was ready.

He cast.

A piece of the sky broke, and separated. Tears fell, each sounding like a distant, wailing cry.

The first drop took two seconds to almost reach the pillar—

All the speed that first drop had held back, suddenly burst into existence, as the drop whammed into the pillar almost faster than the eye could see. And then it exploded. Erick laughed, his sound drowned out by the rippling booms of 15 slow teardrops, taking their sweet time to get into position, and then once the target was close, racing down, blasting as hard as they could. At the tail end of the spell, the bombs had trailed left, following a boulder that had been smashed into the sky, somehow, only to be blown up twice more as the final two bolts struck the stone. The whole spell lasted at least 15 seconds, but only a few bombs took more than 7 seconds to reach the target.

A blue box appeared.

--

Inevitable Bombs, instant, long range, 975 MP

Bombs of inexorable Force each eventually explode upon a target, each dealing 50 + 3x WIL damage in a medium area.15 bombs.

--

Northern winds blew dust and sand away, revealing the scope of the destruction, or rather, revealing a crater. The remains of the pillar stretched across those craters, like scattered remains. Erick was rather glad to see that the ‘quick’ version of the bombs had adjusted course as the target moved. This was what success looked like.

Erick sent an Ophiel forward, further than the craters where the pillar had stood. Ophiel raised another pillar, a stronger one this time, and then blipped back to Erick, as Erick focused for the next part. Each step in the creation process was crucial, each step deserved his full attention, and its own music. He held his hands forward.

One Ophiel hopped upon Erick’s left hand, and sang of [Inevitable Bombs]. It was the sound of doom approaching. A thunderous beat. A weight, ready to drop, and break the world.

It was muddled, though. The sound wasn’t as clear as it could have been.

Another Ophiel hopped onto Erick’s right hand, and sang a song of Shaping.

Together, the sounds revealed a clarity of purpose, a wider doom. A depth that was there, but needed something new to bring out an inner truth. Some emotion that existed for more than just Erick, but for everyone. A universal truth.

And what was that Truth?

A straw that breaks the camel’s back. A mouse backed into a corner. A threat on the horizon that must be recognized, lest a man who has been pushed too far, push back.

Erick spoke that Truth, “I don’t want to do this, but I will if I have to.”

Far above, where the clouds lay, the sky cracked like a broken jewel. Teardrops spread over a hundred meter arc of the heavens, studding the blue like flickering diamonds, or a kitchen-full of bared knives, or the glittering edges of guillotines.

They descended in a disruptive concert, taking a full minute to reach the pillar, but when they did, they ripped through the remaining distance to impact the stone. Explosions of pure Force rocked the desert, again. This time, the pillar did not explode away, but it did explode into parts. Erick watched, as three separate flying boulders each received a bomb of its own, further exploding the remains of the pillar into even more debris, while the base of the pillar, still hidden by clouds of sand, received the lion’s share of the spell. 15 bombs came and exploded in the space of a minute, with almost all of that time spent on floating down, and converging on the target.

Two blue boxes appeared.

--

Inevitable Bombardment, instant, super long range, 1475 mana

Bombs of inexorable Force each eventually explode upon a target or targets, each dealing 50 + 5x WIL damage in a medium area. 15 bombs.

--

Class Ability Quest Complete!

Create a tier 5 or higher Force-based spell or skill.

Reward: Force Savant

--

Erick shot both hands into the air, shouting, “Ah ha! Did it!”

Kiri spoke up for the first time, “What… Did you do?”

Erick handed a copy of the spell to Kiri and Poi, saying, “It wasn’t impressive in the beginning, but it got there!”

“Holy...” Disbelieving her own words, Kiri said, “That’s… 10,000 Force damage per spell?”

“What I did, was take the tier four spell—” Erick handed over that spell. “And ran it through 500 Mana Shaping to purify the sound and the intent. I got the Super Long Range that I wanted, but I did not expect the Willpower multiplier to go that high.” He smiled. “Force is pretty amazing!”

Kiri blinked. She said, “Force can be anything… That you managed to make a Force spell this… powerful…” She rapidly added, “If you turned this into burning Fire, you can make that 10,000 damage into 50,000. Easy.” She laughed a little, making a mostly nervous sound, as she said, “This could kill most any monster… And for cheap, too.” She looked to the sky, then to the craters ahead, saying, “But those theatrics. I’m guessing that you want the enemy to be able to see the spell coming? And make it hard to [Dispel], too?”

“Exactly right!” Erick said, “All correct, Kiri.”

“… If you would have made this spell a year ago...” Kiri frowned a little, as though she was reevaluating her stance. “I think your [Luminous Beam] does more damage.”

Erick chuckled. “Sending a message is important, too. Besides. I can just add [Luminous Beam] to [Inevitable Bombardment], once Particle Magic becomes a part of the Script.”

Kiri sharply inhaled. “Right. You can do that.”

“I could probably attach almost all my directed spells onto this one.”

“… Right.”

Erick teased. “You should make a spell like this.”

Kiri agreed, “I should make a spell like this.”

- - - -

After a small break to regenerate his mana, that only lasted longer than necessary in order to explain every part of [Inevitable Bombardment] to Kiri, Erick stepped away from Kiri and Poi. He stood under the sun, with the wind rushing through his hair, evaporating sweat and worries. He focused.

He cast.

The spell came upon him like a shift in perspective. The ground was brighter than before. The sky a bit more blue. The sun was a radiant sphere that didn’t hurt to look upon. Being under the sun felt good, actually. Really good. He smiled. He gazed around him.

In a twist of thought, the land around him, made him think of the people he had spoken to in his life, the depressed souls and the downtrodden, when he had managed to help them out of their ruts. Sometimes, they would tell him that the world seemed brighter than before, though nothing had changed except their own perspective.

But something had physically changed around Erick. A topaz-bright edge in the sand showed the range of his spell. Beyond that edge, the orange turned darker, becoming something less impressive. He walked toward that edge, and his aura moved with him, bringing brightness wherever he stepped.

Behind him, his aura lingered, but burned away as Erick distanced himself, turning bright orange sand to topaz, briefly, and then to dull, dark browns. Erick paused, and the new edge of his aura solidified, showing him the exact space of his new Domain.

Three blue boxes appeared.

--

Lodestar, instant, close range, aura, 1 mana per second

Shine Timeless Brilliance.

All of your Light effects are supercharged, and difficult to corrupt.

All of your Light effects require 10x more mana to Dispel.

Your Light effects are uncorruptible and undispellable while they exist inside your Lodestar.

--

Class Ability Quest Complete!

Create a tier 7 or higher Light-based spell or skill.

Reward: Light Dedication

--

Congratulations!

You have combined parts of the Script to create your first tier 9 spell!

You have made manifest a wonder few have ever come close to achieving, but there is always more magic out there, waiting for you to discover, or create. Good luck!

+8 points!

--

He smiled, and sighed to the sky. His new Ability, Light Dedication, kicked in. From one moment to the next, the world became a solid brightness. Erick felt physically closer to the world, in a way similar to [Greater Lightwalk], but more as the god of his tiny domain, than as a simple ruler. With a thought, he activated [Greater Lightwalk].

He was the sand below his feet, and the air tickling the light. He was dry heat, and the bare moisture on the wind. He was the rays of the sun, and he was ready to face anything.

He wasn’t sure what it all meant, yet, but time would tell, eventually.

Erick turned to Kiri and Poi. She looked at Erick in wonder, but Poi looked on in pride. Erick cut his new aura, and his [Greater Lightwalk]. The world briefly lingered with brilliance, before normality closed in, like white hot metals cooling to something less intense, and Force flaking into dust, returning to the manasphere. As Reality became reality, as thoughts turned to solid matter, Erick sighed out with his pitiful lungs, and moved his inadequate legs, as he stared out with his pathetic eyes. He laughed. Pitiful lungs? Pathetic eyes? While true, because his new spells had shown him something he had never experienced before, Erick was perfectly happy being a normal person.

Erick said, “I don’t think I’ll be any more ready for tonight than I am already.”

Kiri faced Erick with determination in her eyes. “I hope so.”

Poi said, “You should sleep, now, if you can. Get a few more hours in before the night begins.”

“Soon enough.” Erick turned to Kiri, asking, “Can you check that stone board in Candlepoint, and go buy whatever seems prudent?”

Kiri readily said, “Of course.”

Erick added, “I know that beds are in demand, so buy a good one. Orcol-size. I’ll [Duplicate] it ten thousand times if I have to.”

Kiri perked up, saying, “Okay!”

Poi grumbled; obviously displeased with the idea of conjuring prosperity from nothing.

“Exactly,” Poi said.

“I might be dead in ten hours, Poi.” Erick said, “I can leave behind good things for the destitute.”

- - - -

A whirlwind of tasks laid before Erick, but he was quick to do as many of them as he could.

After a short delay so that the respective parties could get ready, Erick met with Rollo and Calizi, the two Community Garden Council members that paid the most attention to the workings of the Garden. He could have met with one instead of the other, but after Ratchet and Arial’s mention that these two had taken over most of the duties of the Council, Erick knew it would be bad to meet only one.

The meeting went about as well as Erick had expected.

They politically, and then eventually, openly fought over workers and contracts. Erick mediated. When the actual bickering started, Erick demanded they get back on track. He needed space in the Garden for ‘And Dessert!’s cocoa trees.

There was no space available. So Erick bought a small corner of space in the Human District, since he was a human and could buy more land in the District, and turned it over to the Council.

The process of buying said land involved a talk with Silverite and a few short delays while everyone talked to everyone they needed to talk to, and paperwork was signed, along with money changing hands, but it happened fast enough. They had expected Erick to get personally involved in the Garden well before now, and most of the paperwork to that effect had been preapproved.

An hour later, Erick walked out of the meeting with a new portion of land along the southern edge of the district to his name, while Rollo and Calizi both got more Garden space for both of their factions, and everyone was happy. Even Silverite was somewhat happy. The Mayor of Spur did not like that more of the Human District was being eaten away, as she had managed to preserve most of that space for the last hundred years, but the Garden was important, and Silverite hoped that the new land would lessen some of the friction between the various factions of the Garden Council.

In the middle of getting land for his cocoa trees, and while he had everyone’s attention, he also managed to get Silverite to consider approaching Valok to set up some food trade with Candlepoint, if nothing else.

Silverite sighed. “I’ll consider it, Erick.”

“Thank you. That’s all I ask.”

With that task done, Erick turned his attention to the large diamonds he had been making in the side yard.

Just outside of his house, to the south, Erick stood in front of several large stone tanks of water, each easily three meters deep. Water had spilled out of the tanks, as the diamonds inside had displaced the water with their growth.

With a Handy Aura touch, Erick lifted one massive, octahedral diamond out of the tank, splashing even more water out onto the surrounding orange stone. The diamond was magnificent. Like two pyramids stuck bottom to bottom, with each triangular side a mess of triangular growth planes, the diamond was crystal clear, and perfectly grown. It was all thanks to the five Ophiel, fluttering around from one perch to the other.

Erick smiled. He had trained them well. They had kept at least one [Cleanse Aura] running at all times to ensure that the [Crystallize Diamond] they cast, worked like the spell was supposed to work, and any toxic side effects were turned to thick air, instead of into more problems.

The diamond was well made, though it was a little short. Resting it against the ground, the top of it only came up to Erick’s eyes. Glancing over the other tanks, each with their own diamond, none of them were sized as large as Erick wanted, but they would have to do.

Erick had created these same sort of diamonds for the Rozeta, Koyabez, and Phagar statues in the bottom of his light slime dungeon, but he had grown those diamonds over days, instead of just one. This would have to be good enough. Besides! Ava would get 7 of them.

With a check to the backyard, he saw that Teressa and Justine were preparing cocoa liquor exactly as they had been for hours.

Erick blipped into the library of the house alongside Poi. He sat down in his chair to ensure the diamond delivery went well—

A piece of paper sat on the small table beside his chair, while Sunny floated in the air above the paper, holding a pen in her telekinetic grasp. Upon Erick’s arrival, she fluttered away, just a fraction, but Erick watched as Kiri took hold of the little couatl, and pointed at the paper with Sunny’s tail. Erick left the paper sitting there as he read. It was not a letter, but it was a list of items currently bought, and awaiting Erick in the gazebo-portion of the Crystal of Candlepoint. Erick had laid a [Prismatic Ward] in that space, so no one could get into it save for those he already authorized, like Kiri, but upon sitting down in his chair and transferring his senses to the Ophiel on scene, Erick saw more than one person looking into the space, watching Sunny blip in item after item.

Beds. Blankets. Towels. Moonblood products. Brushes. Soaps. Lots of soaps. Shoes. Boots. Razors. Socks. Fabrics. Pots. Pans. Cooking stuff.

… Footwear could be [Fabricate]d slightly larger or smaller, as long as there were other materials on hand. Erick had already seen a few non-shadelings walking around, so more people had successfully completed the transformation from shadeling to human. One of them, and likely a lot more than just one, probably had [Fabricate]. So Erick just needed to take the shoes Kiri had bought and copy them a whole bunch.

Kiri had picked up two beds. Both mattresses were of a very well made variety; likely even better than Erick’s current bed. One was sized for an orcol, the other was sized for anyone else. Both were only sized for one person, though. No doublewides.

Soap could be copied without worry. Kiri had picked up several types, and clumped them together in a pile. Socks? Fabrics? Brushes and period products and everything else… All good to copy.

But first!

With a silent command, each Ophiel near the diamond tanks grabbed one or two diamonds, and blipped away. Erick had already spied Ava. She was still at the courthouse, still decorating the place with crystal spikes. Whatever design she had in mind, it did not look impressive in the beginning, but now…

The courthouse itself was shaped much like the one in Spur, with a domed center roof, covering only the central third of a three-story tall rectangular box of a building, that stretched north and south. The wide courthouse steps led off to the west, where the Crystal Courtyard stood a few blocks away.

The roof was full of white and faintly blue crystal spikes; a crusted layer of sparkles easily a meter thick. Larger crystals than all the rest were nestled into the four corners of the black building, stretching from ground level to past the roof. The dome was crusted in crystals, too, that grew in size till meeting a central spike that rose above it all. The courthouse steps had yet to be decorated, but Erick saw crystals down there, waiting for Ava’s touch.

The sewermaster was still hard at work, dripping sweat as she added crystals to the roof. A good two dozen shadelings helped, moving crystals into position, or whatever they were all doing, but Ava led the way, and made the design. She was engrossed in her work, but not too subsumed that she failed to notice Ophiel floating her way.

She waved at Ophiel, then gestured to the crusted roof all around her, saying, “Got people running through it now, ensuring that the [Shadowblend] passageways work.” She pointed across the field of crystal, adding, “But it’ll be more impressive when we have lights set in the stone.”

“It’s already impressive, Ava,” Erick said, moving Ophiel close enough for a decent conversation. “I have your request.”

Ava barely had time to collect herself, as Ophiels blipped in, supporting crystal-clear diamonds over a meter and a half wide. Ava stopped breathing, as her green eyes went wide, taking in the sight of too-large diamonds. Tears suddenly rolled down her face, not at all messing up the green band of makeup across her eyes. She reached forward, her hands flexing, desiring, as a slight keening came from her taut neck.

Erick guided a diamond toward her.

She touched the surface with a reverent hand, cutting herself as she graced the jagged diamond. Blood didn’t seem to bother her, as she touched the gem with both hands, as if to prove to herself that it was real. A sigh escaped her lips to join the northern winds. She whispered, reverent, “I love it.” She looked to the rest. She spoke louder. “I love them.” Her eyes flexed back to round pupils, as she said, “Thank you, Erick. I’ll make something special out of them, for sure.” She pointed to a building, a few streets over, to the south. “That’s the sewerhouse. Can you please put them there?”

Erick did so, right then, blipping the diamonds over to sit outside the sewerhouse doors. He returned his attention to Ava. “Can I take out the [Prismatic Ward]s in the springs?”

“Yes,” Ava said, misty eyed. She blinked, and collected herself. “The bobber worms and glowbugs have hatched and spread, but they’ll stick to the deep lake. With them inside that pressure differential between the surface lake and the Underworld oceans, they should take over the depths soon enough. There shouldn’t be any more intrusions into the lake. Not as long as I’m around.” She added, “Good luck with the Feast, Erick. I’ll light a fire for you.”

Erick bobbed Ophiel in place, and said, “Thank you, Ava.” Nearby people could already hear Erick’s words, and few were listening in, but this next part was for them, so he spoke louder so that they wouldn’t have to strain, “I’m going to be distributing beds and all those other products in a little bit. I’ve secured some assistance from the Headmaster, and copies should appear soon enough.”

Ava was not the only one to go wide-eyed at the news. Some nearby shadelings cheered. Others rushed off to the Crystal Courtyard, where they had obviously already seen the items, sitting behind the dense air under the Crystal. From one moment to the next, almost every shadeling on the courthouse roof, vanished.

Ava laughed, then teased, “You have dispersed my workforce, Erick!”

“It’s time to prepare for Shadow’s Feast, anyway.” Erick said, “Bonfires, and such.”

Ava nodded, solemnly saying, “It’s tradition to defend from the Darkness on this night, but whatever happens, all anyone can do is pray that the event befalls someone else.” She stared out into nothing for a moment, then put on a cheer that failed to reach her eyes, as she said, “Time to get me a bed!” and blipped away.

What happened next, was a lot of [Duplication Aura], and a little subterfuge that probably worked, though Erick wouldn’t bet his life on it.

Whatever.

After an hour, the piles and piles of beds in the Crystal Courtyard, the loads of soap down a side street, the toiletries and sundries in a side building, and the various other piles of stuff, were only half gone.

Erick was pooped, though.

It was a chore to move products from the desert into Candlepoint with his [Teleporting Platform] and his 10 Ophiel, but it was divine to see the faces of people receiving the bare necessities of life. Erick could have given them more, but he knew that he shouldn’t. In a month, they might each have homes of their own in which to put their stuff, and live their lives out of, instead of all being cramped into tight apartments or barracks, like they have been.

Standing beside the beds, piled high and gradually being taken away by whoever wanted one, Mephistopheles said to Erick, “Thank you, Erick. This is more than we could have hoped for, but we can take it from here. You should focus on yourself, and Shadow’s Feast.”

Zaraanka moved fast in her pink dress, haranguing people into haranguing others into orderly lines. Slip and his guards helped. Valok organized the cookware.

Erick smiled as he watched, though Ophiel translated none of that visible emotion. He teased Mephistopheles, “You never managed to get me that pamphlet on ‘true magic’. What did it say? Do you even know what it said? Or was it just given to you?”

The red-horned man said, “It was a small primer on Esoteric Elements and several pages in a language not of this world.”

“… Which Elements?” Erick briefly cared about the language, but… No. It was probably something unkind, and written in English.

“Blood, Exalted, and Void, as well as a general overview of the rest.” Mephistopheles added, “Your silver rain is ‘Exalted’, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It is. …Though I hadn’t made that connection until now.” He said, “Thank you, Mephistopheles. Good luck with Candlepoint. If I live to tomorrow, I’ll see you soon.”

Mephistopheles shook his head, saying, “You pretend a paper cut is a gut wound. You’ll be fine. … Probably.”

Erick laughed. “So confident!”

“I have to be, to wear the outfits I wore when I ran the Garrison.” He plucked at the opalescent black almost-tuxedo he currently wore, saying, “This is much more my style. Thanks for this, too.”

“It’s nothing. Good luck. See you later.”

Mephistopheles fully turned to Ophiel, and bowed. He stood, saying, “Good journey, Archmage Flatt.”

- - - -

Erick did a few other small things before it was mid afternoon, like eat a lunch and try to settle down. It was time for a nap. He couldn’t sleep, though, so he asked Poi to force him asleep. Poi obliged.

When he woke, it was two hours to sunset, and dinner was ready.

Ratchet and Arial had dropped off a multitude of cakes, confections, and other chocolate products.

After dinner, which Jane had cooked, Erick took his daughter aside. In his ordeals today, he had managed to work out a Last Will and Testament, mostly with verbal agreements and mostly just on Silverite’s words. But he told his daughter that everything was hers.

While she cried, he spoke of hiding places and magics and bank accounts, and Windy Manor back at Oceanside, and his desire for her to live her life free of undue hatred, no matter what happens. The Shades had been here long before the two of them fell to Veird, and they would be here long after. Erick did not want Jane to lose herself to revenge. It would be too easy to walk down that path of self-mutilation in the pursuit of justice.

Jane collected herself, and though she was red-faced and red-eyed, she said, “You ask too much.”

“I know.” Erick had barely managed to hold it together, but he managed. “But whatever foolish plan you’ve been working on these last days... I want you to forget about helping me. You are not to secretly follow me inside. You are not to openly follow me. You are not to be my plus-1. The invitation specifically says that anyone who comes with me, does so at their own peril, and I will not imperil you, my one and only daughter. Not you, not ever.”

Jane stared at Erick, with hard eyes and harder emotions.

Erick said, “I see it in your eyes. You’re going to come anyway, and you think you will help me. Don’t. I’ll blip you back home the first chance I get.”

Jane stared at him while new tears streamed down her face. Erick felt a dampness run down his chin, to drop onto his hands.

He said, “It’ll be okay.”

She said, “I’m very mad at you.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

She walked into Erick’s arms, and bawled like a baby.

When his own roil of horrible emotions eventually subsided, Erick found that he was happy he had raised such a good daughter. She was willing to walk through fire to rescue him, but it was the duty of the parent to rescue their kid. What kind of father would he be, if he let her endanger herself to save him? Maybe, if there were a way to actually prevent the upcoming event, he would ask for her help. But there was no saving anyone from tonight’s Shadow’s Feast, least of all Erick.

But woe unto the Shades, if he didn’t come back from this Shadow’s Feast.

He certainly wouldn’t want to be them, for though he had told Jane not to seek revenge…

He knew his daughter, and for her, she wouldn’t label her crusade against the Shades as mere revenge.

She would call it what it was: the ending a threat before that threat could do more harm.

If honest talk with the enemy only ended in more deaths, if her father’s bridging journey into darkness was a plot, if they twisted words and usurped societal conventions and normalcy in order to bring about more horror…

To leave the Shades active, would be compromising to live with a killer, and that was idiotic.

The push and pull between Ar’Kendrithyst and the world was already idiotic, with adventurers playing their games and dying in droves, or coming out with treasures untold, but the Shades were archmages, one and all, and while that afforded a certain measure of prudence against open war…

From time to time, the tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots alike.

Erick could see it now. Jane, leading the army that Anhelia had worked to create, that Erick had never pursued. She would lead the charge, and when the Shades and the rest of civilization reached the tipping point, where the war could end, for now, or continue and the world would fall to war…

Jane would take his place as the person that pushed the conflict inevitably forward.

But maybe that wouldn’t happen.

- - - -

The sun hovered over the western horizon, in a gold, red sky.

Erick had said his goodbyes, and picked up his necessary items from around the house. Then he and ten Ophiel blipped away.

He was alone, right now. Not even Poi stood at his back. The absence of his head guard was like a blank spot in his mind. Erick never went out without Poi at his back. A part of him felt naked, and vulnerable, because he was vulnerable, and he wasn’t even next to Ar’Kendrithyst yet.

Erick was nowhere near the Dead City. He was several hundred kilometers north of the Dead City, for there was one more thing he had to do. He didn’t have time to do it right, either.

With all ten Ophiel hovering to the side, and a few of them holding his luggage and the cakes and desserts, Erick conjured a short platform out of the sands of the Crystal Forest. It was just a square block, to raise himself a good ten centimeters off of the sandy ground. With a thought, he had several Ophiel raise stone walls around this patch of orange land. No stray mimics would see what he created, today, for he wasn’t sure what would happen, and he wanted to be ready. As the walls rose, they plunged the area into shadows. With a cast from each Ophiel, Erick conjured ten lights around the arena, brightening what was to come.

With another thought, he had a specific Ophiel float forward. This Ophiel carried a large stone plate, with a large glass dome. Under that dome, and its [Cooling Ward], were three chocolate bars, one of each type, milk, dark, and half dark, a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting, and several chocolate chip cookies. There was also a package of cocoa powder, and an unopened cocoa beanpod, along with written instructions that showed every part of the chocolate making process.

There were also some coffee beans in a small bag, along with a coffee beanpod, because Erick’s coffee experiment had been a success. He had even ground some up and had a cup-o-joe before he left home. It had been good to share one more cup of coffee with Jane.

Turning back to the moment, Erick raised a small platform out of the sand in front of him. Ophiel set his plate upon the waist-high platform.

He called to the sky, “Hey, Atunir! If you’re listening, then this is what I meant when I talked to you of chocolate! It’s pretty good! Thanks for the help, if you helped, or thanks for letting me do it on my own, if that is what happened. There’s also coffee. Real coffee. The good stuff.”

Northern winds blew. Time passed. Erick felt good, with coffee running through his system.

And then he blinked, in a normal way.

The plate vanished.

He blinked a few more times, to make sure his eyes weren’t lying to him. Yup. The plate was gone.

A voice came to him, ‘Normally this is done where I can bless a seedling, or a grove, but you just haven’t made your plant yet, have you?’

Erick happily said, “I have not!”

‘Out with it.’ Atunir asked, ‘What crazy thing do you desire?’

“I would like your help to circumvent some restrictions, and prevent a future problem. I want to make Sininindi’s [Control Weather] artifact-thing, but enchanting hasn’t gotten me anywhere, and I’ll not use another god’s spell to force the creation. So I want to make a [Control Weather] tree, for I also want to ensure both Spur’s and Candlepoint’s prosperity long after I am gone.”

A white light to the left, flickered in the stone arena Erick had built. A white wrought stepped out onto the sands, wearing a ‘business casual’ outfit. Rozeta.

Another light flickered, turning blue and storming for a brief moment, as a woman stepped out. She was orcol-sized with blue skin, and wrapped in ship’s white sails and brown rope rigging. Sininindi.

Another light flickered, turning warm as the sun. A human woman stepped out onto the sands, wearing farmer’s clothes. Atunir.

One light on the opposite side of the arena flickered dark, then broke, leaving a shadow in its presence. Erick restrained his urge to openly sigh at Melemizargo’s appearance.

Rozeta spoke first, asking, “Do you wish to give up your [Control Weather] spell?”

Erick had expected this, and he already had his answer. “No. Never.”

“Ha!”

Rozeta ignored Melemizargo, and simply nodded, as though she expected his answer, too. Sininindi frowned, but gave no other outward emotion, save to look to Atunir.

Atunir said, “Two seedlings. One for Erick, to form the basis of his own [Familiar], so that he may plant them wherever he wishes. The other seedling will go to Sininindi, to grow as she desires, and fully under her power. As for myself, I simply wish for [Exalted Storm Aura] to join the spells of my own priesthood. Erick need not give it up, himself, for he has used this spell well, and I trust him with it.”

Sininindi spoke, “There will be no growth to sapience for Erick’s trees, or any second generation. They will live and die with him. If he wishes to create an arbor he will have to break this spell, and try on his own. There will be no restrictions on my own seedling.”

Melemizargo spoke, “I will break your working if you do not allow this newest [Familiar] to be at least as good as his first. Imagine it! Trees the world over, each mutating the natural cycle, each destroying Sininindi’s credibility as a goddess.”

The goddess of storms and seas did not deign to grace Melemizargo with a look, or a turn of her head, but she added, “[Exalted Storm Aura] must be changed to [Exalted Rain]. I do not like the name it has been given.”

Atunir said, “Acceptable.”

Rozeta turned to Erick. “Having heard the Relevant Entities and their desires, I can move the timetable up for the combination of Particle Magic and Force Magic, for this one spell, known as [Control Weather], to join with [Conjure Force Elemental], [Watershape], [Grow], [Telepathy], and [Scry]. These are the choices given to you, the mortal creator of this magic. What say you, Erick Flatt?”

“… If it’s never going to become sapient, then I want [Tree of Light] and [Kaleidoscopic Radiance] in there.” Erick rapidly bargained, “And I want the ability for one of them to eventually become sapient, in a hundred years. The one I plant at Candlepoint. And not evil-sapient! But normal sapient. Like Ophiel, who I am sure will eventually become a very good boy.” Looking upon the gathered gods and seeing them both unconcerned and heavily invested, Erick realized that they might agree to anything, so he added, “And I want him named Yggdrasil! He’s going to be a big boy when he grows up.”

Rozeta’s professionalism cracked, along with everyone else’s. Atunir smirked. Sininindi huffed.

Melemizargo chuckled. “A world tree? Agreed.”

Atunir said, “Agreed.”

Sininindi declared, “I don’t like that name either, but fine. Agreed.”

They looked to Rozeta.

The Dragon Goddess of the Script spoke, “Then we are in accordance.” She turned to Erick, and said, “All you have to to is make your spell, and we will ensure it is made properly.”

An uncomfortable stirring pulsed inside Erick’s heart, flowing outward; a heat unlike any other. From one blink to the next, each goddess and the Darkness vanished, and Erick's veins filled with fire. A divine inferno consumed him; a golden glow in the manasphere that built with each breath he took, turning his throat molten, demanding that he give words to craft Reality, and speak Truth into existence.

He called out,

“A lightning bolt smashes stone,

“A turn of chance! A seed is sown.

“A life packed tight, a plan laid down

“He turns to more as sun turns round

“He calls to sky, he calls the rain

“A spark is grown! A leaf, refrain!

“Roots twist down, round, claiming ground

“As branches lift, a rainbow crown!

“He brings the light, he brings the rain

“A prismatic touch, he grows again!

“Protected now; defensive measure

“Latent monarch, worldly treasure

“Power, thrill, filled with goodwill

“A Worldly Tree, a [Yggdrasil]!”

Erick sang to the sky, as lightning crashed into the pedestal before him, cracking the stone into nine pieces, with a thousand bolts touching down all at once. Lightning arced across Erick’s flesh, mixing with divine fire, as Ophiels cowered on the other side of the arena walls. The words came faster, stronger. With a final shout, and the naming, divine fire and crackling lightning fled Erick, leaving burned flesh in its wake

Fire and lightning flowed into a coruscating seed that hovered atop the broken pedestal.

And then the gods descended.

Erick could not see them through his burned eyes, but he could feel them. He could sense more divine fire, as divine hands took the seed from him.

One seed became two.

One of the two vanished in a blip of lightning and storm-tossed oceans.

The other turned from real, to something lesser, sealed behind divine mandates. One day, the seals would break, but that would take a hundred years. Erick knew he would have to protect the little guy, to help him help himself, until the tiny tree regained his true power. Had Sininindi given that caveat on purpose? Had they all gone along with his own desires, because he, too, didn’t want his tree [Familiar] to grow up too fast? It had to be that, right?

Erick blinked. The second seed was no more than a bright blur in his eyesight; a common enough phenomenon when one stares at a bright object for too long.

The magic was over.

And Erick felt like shit. Burned shit, to be precise. Aching, burned shit, to be even more precise.

He suddenly slumped to one knee, as a chill rolled over the northern arena wall, digging into his burned clothes, dulling his full-body ache, as the gold-red sky turned fractionally more purple. He almost collapsed to the stone platform under him, he almost lost consciousness, but he clenched his teeth, and made fists out of his bloody hands.

With a thought, Erick directed the Ophiel with his rod of [Greater Treat Wounds] to fly in, and tap him with the spell. Healing took hold. Burned skin sloughed off. Wounds stitched up. Erick cast a [Mend] on his clothes, restoring the burned parts to wholeness. He relaxed, as the healing continued. For a good minute, he just breathed.

Then he stood up.

The Dark Dragon Melemizargo stared at him from just over the edge of the arena, his bright white eyes shining on either side of his five-meter wide head, as he lazed atop the stone wall like a cat laying in an odd position. His spiraling black horns arced behind him, where his hunched shoulders told that he was resting directly atop the sands of the Crystal Forest. His wings raised in the gloom beyond, too far deep in the twilight, or Melemizargo’s own darkness, to truly see.

He smirked, his scaled lips parting to reveal bright white fangs.

“They got what they wanted, and they have a hundred years to kill you to prevent excess. You’ve been duped.”

“… I’m okay with this timetable.”

Melemizargo chuckled, vibrating the stone arena, as his body turned to shadows, dissipating in the wind.

A few blue boxes appeared.

---

Summon Yggdrasil, medium range, 2500 mana + Variable

Summon a sapling of the World Tree Yggdrasil.

All Yggdrasil persist until killed or dismissed.

All Yggdrasil are the same creature, but only one Yggdrasil is the World Tree.

The World Tree has yet to be planted.

Summon Yggdrasil has as many maximum summons as the World Tree allows, with a minimum of 2.

Current Maximum: 2

All Yggdrasil naturally have and regenerate mana based on your own mana and mana regeneration, which they may use to cast the spells that you imbue them with, at your own command or at their own discretion. Comes summoned and proficient with [Grow], [Watershape], [Tree of Light], [Kaleidoscopic Radiance], [Control Weather], [Telepathy], and [Scry].

World Tree Yggdrasil’s mana and regeneration are higher than yours.

Imbue your Yggdrasil with new spells, wherever they are. Variable

See through the eyes of your Yggdrasil. Variable

Communicate telepathically with your Yggdrasil. Variable

--

Special Quest Complete (sort of)!

Create an artifact of [Control Weather] and deliver it the Priestesses of the Storm

Reward: <Barely completed to satisfaction, so have a Point.>

--

Class Ability Quest Complete!

Complete a Quest for a Relevant Entity of the Script.

Reward: Quest Board

--

Notice!

You have more Class Abilities than Slots!

You are at Maximum Slots!

Seek out a Registrar if you wish to change Class Abilities.

--

Erick smiled. “This is better than fine.”

With a thought, he called over one of his Ophiel, and with a few blips, he held a purple crown in his hands. Erick had left it at the house, and would return it afterward, but he hadn’t known if his Yggdrasil plan would work. And then his Yggdrasil plan had worked.

He put the crown on. Plus 241 All-Stats, now. It was probably even pointier, too. But, whatever!

Using this crown, Yggdrasil would be summoned with as much power as Erick could manage, and that would have to be enough.

- - - -

An Ophiel hovered over the lake of Candlepoint, where sunset was still over an hour away, the coasts were too far to see, and where the bottom of the lake was almost a full kilometer below the surface. But that was fine. Ophiel flew a bit toward the north, where Erick remembered a plateau that was only two or three hundred meters below the surface.

With a quick mapping, Erick found the raised part of the lake bed faster than he would have otherwise. His initial blip was only two kilometers off.

Ophiels descended onto the target. And since Ophiel did fine in the water, Yggdrasil would be fine, too, for he was a [Tree of Light] that needed nothing but himself to survive even in the darkness down at this depth. Eventually, he would grow above the lake’s surface, but for a while, he would be hidden.

Erick reached down through Ophiel, and cast.

A spark of light took hold in the dirt, disturbing a small cloud of silt into the surrounding waters.

A glowing green stem poked up from the lake bed.

Erick, and all the nearby Ophiel, went wide-eyed, watching, as the stem unfurled into a leaf, the size of a child’s hand.

A second leaf joined the first.

Ophiels gathered around their brother, singing a violin song of growth and joy and brightness, as the sapling brightened the depths, and grew, just a fraction more. Three leaves, then four.

A halo of rainbows adorned the tiny crown of leaves. The little guy was growing fast, but not as fast as a normal [Grow] spell. He was growing slowly. Surely. A fifth and six leaf joined the rest. The halo of radiance spread out into the surrounding abyss, driving back the darkness.

With a thought and a few blips from Ophiel, Erick planted a second Yggdrasil in the Lake at Spur, at the deepest point. Someone would notice this one, rather fast, but Erick would tell Silverite and others of this one, soon enough.

Erick came back to himself. He stood. He blipped the purple crown back to its not-so-hidden spot in his house. With a concentrating conjuring, his white armor spread across his body. He conjured a white staff into his hand, then gathered his Ophiel.

And because children needed people to talk to them, and because he wanted to impart as much of his own wisdom to the little leafy guy, Erick telepathically spoke to his new summon. He spoke of his time on Veird, and what he had seen, while he ensured that all his bags were there amongst his surrounding Ophiel, and all his chocolate desserts for the Feast were fine.

He blipped to a speck of land, that looked the same as all the rest, but was kilometer east of the Crack in Ar’Kendrithyst’s wall. The sun had already set beyond the wall in front of him, drowning the surrounding land in shadows. Flickering darkness stood in along the path to the Crack, like heat mirages, or shadelings in a [Shadowblend]. They scattered from the path forward, but the shadows did not go too far.

Erick walked forward, as he sent images to Yggdrasil, of all of Veird that he had seen, and the people he had known, and knew. He talked of good things, and he spoke of bad, while two Ophiels held to Erick’s shoulder, and the others floated around him, holding onto his assorted necessities. He spoke of Silverite, and markets, and the Gardens, and the Farm, and the people of Candlepoint, who had gotten a rough hand dealt to them in their disrupted life.

He spoke fondly of Poi, and Kiri, and Justine, and Teressa. And even Rats, while lamenting the fact that the redscale had gone to who knows where.

He spent a while speaking of Jane, his wonderful daughter.

He gave small instructions to Yggdrasil to telepathically speak to them, if he needed help, and Erick wasn’t around to provide that help. They would be friendly, as much as they could, but they might also be prickly. He didn’t tell them what he was planning on…

Poi would have known, though.

… Erick sent Poi a message about Yggdrasil, anyway, packing the entire creation experience into one, thousand-point telepathic message. Poi would likely need a minute to untangle a message that big, but by that time Erick would be dealing with Sha—

Poi immediately, and angrily, sent back, 'Of all the irresponsible and foolish things! My gods, Erick! What the FU—!’

‘Can’t talk now. Meeting a Shade in a moment. Take care, Poi. I always appreciated you watching my back!’

Poi, thankfully, did not interrupt Erick’s thoughts. Erick was already close to crying. Poi was probably proficient enough to pick up on that, for their connection was still open—

‘Fight well, Sir. Good Luck.’

Poi ended the connection with strong thoughts, and determination. Erick borrowed those thoughts, and made them his own, steeling himself for what was to come.

The Crack loomed close. Instead of an indistinct lighting in the dark expanse of the wall, from here, it looked more like a knife of crystallized light in the darkness.

Erick walked on, resuming his telepathic talk with Yggdrasil, inundating his words with thoughts of encouragement, and what to expect in life, but also that it was better to be kind, and get hurt, than to cause hurt upon another, for violence was hard to stop once it got started.

He spoke of rain, and greenery, and the joys of a harvest, and the joys of family, like Al and Savral, and Valok and Delia. Sirocco and Sizzi. Zimmy Saker, and Kirzal Saker. With his thoughts turning to family, Erick introduced Ophiel to his brother, and tried to introduce Yggdrasil to Ophiel, but if Yggdrasil recognized Ophiel, then Erick wouldn’t know for a long, long time.

He spoke of Jane, who was sort of like an older sister to Yggdrasil.

He gave Yggdrasil a copy of [Prismatic Ward], and cast the spell through him, using Yggdrasil’s mana, showing him how to use it for defense. He chose not to give Yggdrasil any attack spells, but took the time to explain his reasoning. You wouldn’t give a child a gun, would you? Best they learn to grow up, first, and even then, diplomacy had to be tried before anything else. Violence was a tool of last resort, and all too often people confused ‘major inconvenience’ for ‘problem to solve with bloodshed’.

Yggdrasil was strong. He was powerful. There was no need for violence against people, and no monster could break [Prismatic Ward]. Not faster than Yggdrasil could recast it, anyway. Not with as much power as Erick had given the little guy, at the time of his creation.

Erick watched, as both saplings, in the lake, and the Lake, cast [Prismatic Ward] upon themselves. It was a weak version; Yggdrasil instinctively knew that He was a being of mana, so he tried to stay high mana. But with those two soft shells of Restful, dense water, the sapling in Candlepoint’s lake grew faster, while the one in Spur’s Lake grew slower. There was lots of room to grow in the larger body of water, but Yggdrasil was only five meters from the surface of Spur’s Lake, and he seemed apprehensive about breaking that twilight purple surface.

Erick spoke of Earth, and Yggdrasil seemed to like that. So Erick spoke of planets, and destinations beyond where one began, of places past the void, where life had yet to live, for even Veird was just a tiny spaceship, in the grand scheme of things. Erick spoke of Earth’s space program, briefly, and then moved on to larger topics, for Yggdrasil grew fractionally taller, faster, and brighter, as Erick spoke of the vastness of the universe.

Before he knew it, Erick had reached the Crack, and all thoughts fled.

Ophiels turned tiny, and got into position, some hovering behind Erick, while the two on his shoulders stretched and oriented their wings and their eyes, giving him sight in every direction, and a bit of reassurance to calm his rapidly beating heart.

Wind billowed out from the break in the wall, whistling all the while. A silver pole set in front of the crack held a blue flag at the top. The flag cracked in the wind, but as Erick approached the beginning of the Crack, where the sands dipped down into Ar’Kendrithyst, the wind stilled, the flag faltered.

He sent Yggdrasil off with these words, ‘Good luck, Yggdrasil. I named you after the most important tree I could think of. I have to go now. I’ll see you when I can.’

A woman stepped out of the red, purple, brilliant black brightness ahead.

Her hair was frazzled, as though purposefully crafted to appear an organized mess. Her black outfit sparkled in the lights of the Dead City, as she raised her hands high, one of them gripping a staff of kendrithyst crystal.

“HellooOOooOOooOo, Erick Flatt! FIRE OF THE AGE!”