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The North River flowed up from below the Lower Wall of Ar’Kendrithyst, where it ascended through the North River Tower before pouring out in the upper part of the Upper Layer. All three of Ar’Kendrithyst’s rivers were similarly made. The kilometer-wide North River roared out of its great kendrithyst tower then spilled onto a similarly wide aqueduct, where it flowed mostly south, but also west. But there was a point, thirty kilometers from its headwaters, where it abruptly curved north. 

This was where Erick found Dorofiend’s lair. Or rather, where Fallopolis guided him. This place was halfway down the Upper Layer, where the sky was almost completely hidden by towering, glowing kendrithyst, moisture filled the air, and a constant pounding of water on water echoed for kilometers upon kilometers. 

Upon this bend in the waters, there was a deepening, and a stretching. The bend had to be a few hundred meters deep and a few thousand meters wide at its largest points, but its most noticed part were the good two dozen waterfalls that poured from high to low along the entire length. It could have been a pretty place. It was not. The entire place was a mess, with rainbow algae in some spots, green in others, and trees made of body parts growing everywhere. Some of the trees stretched up a good thirty meters. Others, were more like bushes. Every one of the trees were slightly animated. They’d probably get more animated if Erick deigned to get closer. He would not be doing that, though, if he had any choice.

He could tell that this land had not always been this way. He guessed, that if he put down his [Domain of Light], it would probably expose beaching areas all along that coast. His light would turn mud-covered stone into patios and decks, where people could sit beside the river and enjoy the ambiance. If it weren’t for all the awfulness, Erick could easily see this waterfall-laden land to be rather fun to swim in. But as it was, the water lapped against obviously dangerous algae, and rushed under moving limb-trees. No one in their right mind would think to take a dip in that. Besides, the waters were dark, too. That was another problem. The North River drank in the light of the city, all around, and it shouldn’t have. Water could be dirty, yes, and this water certainly was that, but the shadows were too thick, in Erick’s opinion. 

Hovering a good twenty meters above the center of the riverbend, and with his [Lodestar] and [Greater Lightwalk] in full effect, Erick asked, “Why is the water so dark?”

Fallopolis, similarly glowing with her own dark magics, said, “Because it’s full of darkness.”

“Thank you for the non-answer.”

Without the slightest bit of rancor, Fallopolis said, “You are quite welcome.” She pointed with her kendrithyst staff to the largest of the waterfalls, near the beginning of the falls. “That’s the entrance to his underwater lair.”

“Do you care how much I destroy to get in there?”

“Not at all!” Fallopolis added, “But in this specific instance, I can tell you what will happen if you try anything aside from floating in and manually assisting whoever might be inside. If you want to hear it, anyway.”

“Please enlighten me.”

“[Watershape] will cause the limbtrees to react and attempt to destroy whatever they can reach. Since Dorofiend is dead, he is not there to stop the limbtrees inside from doing the same thing inside of his abode. If you go in with force, the limbtrees will tear any possible survivors apart. [Stoneshape] upon the kendrithyst is always a bad idea, but you knew that.” Fallopolis said, “The best way to proceed in ransacking a Shade’s abode is with [Greater Shadowalk], or similar defensive and offensive magics. You go in through the front, spread yourself out, and take what you can find, while keeping yourself as hidden as possible. I suggest speed, above all else.”

Her suggestions against [Stoneshape] and [Watershape] were things Erick had already heard from Killzone, and which were printed in bold in the ‘list of warnings’ given to everyone who dared to venture into this dark land. The kendrithyst was already under the control of shadows, so expecting either of those two spells to work how the caster wanted, was a fool’s endeavor. As far as infiltration was concerned: her suggestion about [Greater Shadowalk], or in Erick’s case [Greater Lightwalk], was something Killzone had already suggested to him. Speed, positioning, and perception were paramount when fighting in Ar’Kendrithyst, or for exploring and fighting in any odd areas.

Fallopolis added, “Good luck.”

Erick turned to the Shade, and said, “I’ll likely Domain this place, but try to keep it to the waters.”

Fallopolis smirked, and began ascending. “Thanks for the warning.”

Erick watched her step into the air, higher and higher, shooting up a good ten meters with each pump of a leg. When she was a good distance above and stopped to look down at him, he turned his attention back to the waters below. He turned insubstantial, fully falling into his lightform self, while his [Lodestar] aura held centimeters above his glowing body. His shoulder Ophiels also turned to light, mixing into Erick’s own. [Hunter’s Instincts] flared on, and he walked forward, toward the largest waterfall. 

Gloom filled the wind; a thick, cloying mixture of shadows and air that Erick hadn’t considered existent until his lesson with Syllea, and that Esoteric Elements book. If he were not inside his [Lodestar], producing an aura-sized Domain of Light, he would certainly be unable to step upon the dim light of this area, because of those shadows. He would have been blocked from continuing his walk down, into the hovering shadows above the swift waters. 

He was not blocked, though. His presence burned away the shadows in the air. When he touched down onto the surface of the river, his presence burned away the shadows in the water—

Showing him why Dorofiend was the Shade of ‘Dead Waters’. 

Bodies laid under the swift-moving surface. Rotten, in some cases. Bones, in others. All of them naked. All of them tied up, and tied together by rainbow algae, and stuffed under the surface of the river like sardines in a can. How deep did these stacked corpses go? Too deep. Even one was too deep.

And then, one of the bodies turned a head and stared up at Erick. It slowly reached up, trying to breach the surface, but rainbow algae pulled it back down tight, wrapping harder around the wiggling corpse. 

Erick paused. 

… It was just an undead body, right? He had never heard of ‘living undead’, but all undead were just souls put into a body like any other. Angels, demons, undead, summoned creatures. All of them were in the same category of ‘soul shoved in body’. In many cases, it was a temporary arrangement. 

Erick had never heard of sapient undead before. But as he looked down at the bodies below… 

Ahh… 

This was shit. This was terrible. Why did the Shades have to be like this? Insanity was not enough to explain this behavior. Erick had known certifiably insane people back on Earth. None of them he had ever worked with were like the Shades. Some of them had dark thoughts and needed a lot of medication to keep away from those thoughts, but…

This was pretty damned shitty. And it all smelled like shit, too! 

Worse than shit, actually. If he were in human-form, he would have been unable to think through the stench. 

Erick had the Ophiel on his left shoulder-space cast a [Cascade Imaging], searching for ‘people’. 

He had never cast this spell inside a [Domain of Light], like the one that was his [Lodestar]. He had expected some sort of nice effect from ‘supercharging’ his Imaging, and he got that. A white map instantly sprung into being, while the orb above radiated power, like a miniature sun with too many solar flares. Things happened very fast, from there. 

The instant-map was of a ten kilometer radius area. It was a good map, too. Towers appeared in miniature. The river showed itself as a bend in white light. The bottom of the river appeared, as well as what laid beneath; under the aqueduct. Dorofiend’s whole sub-river structure was exposed to Erick, in a few shining moments. 

Not too many caves, but there were more than a few.

And then the limbtrees began to shake as they noticed a spell happening around them. They tried to grab at anything they could; anything nearby, really. Limbs broke from the surface of the waters; limbtrees or whatever they were, which were hiding. This was not a problem for Erick, as he was nowhere near the closest one. The other thing that happened was that ten blue markers appeared, one for Erick, and nine for each of the people down below, inside the caves under the river. 

Fallopolis was still high in the air; a blot of shadows hovering in the only part of the air that showed the sky, beyond the kendrithyst towers. She did not count as ‘people’, apparently. Erick would leave that problem for later. With a thought, he had an Ophiel cast a [Domain of Light] upon the entire river, Shaping the magic to just above the waters, and all the way down, as far as it would go. 

The river turned spectacular and awful, as shadows fled and the atrocity below the surface was revealed. But the bodies were locked into algae, and there were more pressing concerns than contained undead.

Erick rode the Domain down into the underwater lairs to solve those concerns. 

With the speed of thought and a concentrated flick of his lightform self, expertly wielded like a hundred individual swords, Erick prevented the deaths of nine people. They had been struggling against what was either suddenly active limbtrees, or torture devices, but whatever the case, illuminated swords turned undead limbs to little more than discarded body parts. The trapped people fell to the filthy floor. With another thought, an Ophiel above, with Erick’s bag, phased through the domain to bring him a rod of [Treat Wounds]. With another thought, and with help from other Ophiel, two [Mirage Slimes] popped into the underground, turning filth to thick air, ridding the stench from the place, and making undead limbtrees into considerably less than what they were before. It would take several passes for the [Mirage Slime]s to clean up everything down here, but they would. 

Five seconds after Erick began his attack, it was over, and it was also just beginning. The people were each wearing collars around their necks. Erick tentatively recognized them as drain collars. He had never studied them, and the ones around these people might be something else, but they had spikes poking inward, and that was one of the sure signs of those types of items that drained Health and Mana rather fast... 

Well. Actually. If they were exploding collars, then Erick’s solution would likely solve that problem, too. Erick grabbed everyone’s collars with his lightform self, then pulled them into his light, leaving the people behind; collar free. Problem solved. 

Some people did not react well to the collars coming off; worried and thrilled, terrified and already crying, arms thrown wide and screaming yet stopping after four seconds when they didn’t get a reaction they were expecting. They probably expected to die? Ah. Maybe. Erick casually discarded the collars up above, just above the waters of the river. 

They exploded. 

… Erick needed to brush up on his enchanting some more. 

They were draining and exploding collars. He hadn’t seen any indication that they were exploding collars. He was just being safe rather than sorry. 

And then another thought occurred. Dorofiend was obviously not as ‘completely insane’ as Fallopolis made him out to be. How else could he be able to keep items like those around? Or maybe he was insane, and he just had a supplier? Erick decided: He probably had a supplier. 

Fifteen seconds after the whole encounter started, Erick spoke over the distraught people he had saved, “Dorofiend is dead; I killed him. But it’s Shadow’s Feast up there and you’d die if you stepped outside.” 

People looked to the air, wondering where the voice was coming from. Some of them finally noticed the saturated brightness to the air. More than one person called out, asking who was there. One woman conjured a blood-red greatsword and chopped at the air around her. 

… And Erick realized he was still in his lightform, nebulous self. 

There were obviously some kinks to work out with regard to this form and its foibles, and when it came to adventuring in person. [Lodestar] and [Greater Lightwalk] either had some sort of mental stabilizing effect, or perhaps his current thoughts were just an occurrence of thinking he was safe, even in the most dangerous city in the world. Dorofiend hadn’t been able to penetrate this combination of spells, after all. [Hunter’s Instincts] was certainly affecting his mental state, but he wasn’t going to let that drop, either. 

He did decide to return to his human-shaped lightform self. Not his fully human self; not yet.

Three nearby tortured people immediately formed ranks, pointing at him. Since the entire place was made of filth and kendrithyst, which was now getting cleaned, and thus the clear kendrithyst was now see-through, three others in a nearby torture chamber also saw Erick form into being. All of the victims were spread out in three nearby different rooms; all of them soon saw Erick.

One of them ripped a [Lightshape] at his body. 

It did not work. Erick only recognized it as a [Lightshape] because it flickered rainbows against the edge of his [Lodestar]. 

One sarcastic young woman immediately screamed, “Who the FUCK ever heard of a Light-Shade!”

Two more people screamed. Another went from halfway screaming, to fully catatonic. He slumped to the floor. The others had various other reactions, but mostly they just backed up, forming ranks with each other. Erick was kinda really glad to see them working together so rapidly after being freed. It warmed his heart. 

Erick tried telling a joke to the sarcastic woman, “Lightshades go around lightorbs.”

Suddenly emboldened, a naked orcol man said, “Let us go, sir.”

Everyone calmed; battle training took over, or maybe most of them had regained enough resources to turn on [Hunter’s Instincts], or a similar ability.

It was then, that Erick recognized that he might not need the rod of [Treat Wounds]. Aside from a bit of blood on their necks, which the roaming [Mirage Slime]s had already removed from a few of them, these people were all rather healthy. No wounds, except for recent wounds caused by scrabbling limbtrees. No missing pieces. As more of the rescued came around corners, fully putting themselves into Erick’s apparent vision to see all the commotion, Erick saw that they all seemed perfectly healthy, really. He didn’t really need them to come fully into his vision to see all of that, since he was seeing them throughout all the light around them, but it was still nice to see that they were still mentally there, according to their actions, anyway.  

Erick pointed up, saying, “There is a Shade up there. Her name is Fallopolis.” He pointed everywhere else, saying, “There are Shades everywhere, tonight. It’s Shadow’s Feast, and you cannot leave for ten more days, and neither can I.” He offered, “Anyone have any wounds? I have a rod of [Treat Wounds], though it doesn’t seem as though you need that.” Erick continued, “I can get you food and clean up some of the exterior for you so you don’t have to worry about that sort of thing, but as far as I know, you’re going to have to find a way to survive the next ten days.”

One small human man, not a child but short enough for it, asked, “What’s wrong with our skills?”

“Time dilatation.” Erick said, “Shadow’s Feast is a 12 hour event that takes 240 hours to complete.”

Several people instantly cursed; some quite colorfully, in languages Erick didn’t know. One lady said, “I told you so.” To which the short man replied, “Fuck off.”

Erick said, “I’d offer to take you with me, but I’m probably going to get shoved at other Shades, in an attempt to kill them or die in the process, and then I’m headed toward the actual gathering of Shades. So do you want to stay here? Or somewhere else nearby? I think you should stay here. I can clean out the waterfall area above easy enough, though you will have to defend yourselves from here on out.”

“Who are you?” asked a redscale woman. “How can we trust you?”

“Erick Flatt, Archmage of Spur,” he answered, without hesitation. “And you should trust your own power more than mine. I’m just one guy, and this is Ar’Kendrithyst.”

A man scoffed. A woman frowned; disgusted. 

Another woman, a greenscale, and one of the only ones to look at Erick with any measure of hope in her eyes, said, “He’s Erick Flatt; I seen him before.” She pointed at an Ophiel, saying, “And that’s his [Familiar], Ophiel.”

Ophiel heard his name and trilled in violins, as people stared at Erick, and at Ophiel.

Erick asked, “Should I bother clearing the river above? This place is only going to be defensible if you can keep the shadows away, under your own power. This [Domain of Light] is coming with me.”

“I have defensive light spells,” a woman said. 

The orcol man said, “It’s as safe as any other.”

“I can breathe again,” said a woman. “The stench is gone.”

A few people murmured thanks to the gods, for that.

The small man said, “If we don’t have to go out for food, then we can make it 10 days.”

“Then I’ll clear out the area above. Those undead will be gone before you know it.”

Erick left them for their talks, and went above, to stand atop the river. First, he laid down a [Withering], sculpting the spell to the shape of the waters, and the land just beyond. Notifications poured in, like drops of rain, indicating kills. ‘Abyss Crab’, ‘Zombie’, ‘Rainbow Algae’. The entire waterfall area and plots of land beyond burped and roiled with a minor hurricane of thick air, as enemies died to drying magics. 

The entire place suddenly looked a lot better, as the stench of the undead under the water was [Cleanse]d away. 

There were a lot of zombies under that water, after all. A lot of cleaning had just happened. But who knew that the zombies would have rads? Or that they had water in them? Well. Obviously they had water in them. They were underwater zombies. But besides that: normal zombies did not have rads. All the undead that Erick killed over in Odaali did not have rads. These ones must be a special variety. A monstrous type of zombie. With water in them. 

Now that Erick thought about it, the water in them was odd, too. Maybe they were waterlogged, and the water had gotten in their auras, and become a part of them? 

Or maybe… Dorofiend was the Shade of Dead Waters. He likely used water magic in his zombies? Maybe. Whatever. Erick’s second option would have been [Wintry Sea], but then [Withering] had worked. It was odd that [Withering] had worked.

Odd, in all ways. 

Whatever the case with these strange undead, Erick called his Ophiels down, and sent a few more [Mirage Slime]s into the river, just to be sure the place was clean. Most of the undead were dead now, though. He almost sent [Fulmination Aura]s into the water, but it would likely reach the people below, so that was a non-starter. Erick would not ever want to swim in this could-be-idyllic waterfall land, for it was not cleaned by any stretch of the imagination, but the larger threats were dead, and if the people below couldn’t handle what was left then they were beyond his help. 

So he gathered the Ophiel holding onto his bag, and had that Ophiel take out a few good items. He had that Ophiel hand those off to another Ophiel, who then activated [Duplication Aura]. For a good ten seconds, and out of the sight of the people below, it rained wind, sandwiches, salads, and desserts into the waiting arms of other Ophiel. It was a lot of food, so it should be enough for nine people for ten days. But maybe not. So Erick had the low-mana Ophiel continue with the copy aura, until Ophiel vanished; mana spent. Erick conjured another Ophiel, who trilled in violins at his reappearance. 

Erick looked to his food. Now this! This was enough food for nine people for ten—

There was a kill notification. It was for a human. Erick only really noticed it because it was for one percent Participation.

“Shit.”

Erick instantly flickered down to the caves below. A body laid in the center of the room. The short man. He was now a very dried-out man, and very dead.

Someone screamed at Erick. Another backed away. Another shot a bronze [Force Beam] at him, which was completely ineffective; it turned to bronze glitter as it touched his [Lodestar]. 

The orcol man yelled louder than the rest, “Everyone shut the fuck up!”

And they listened, for some reason. Ah. Erick probably just resisted a mental effect, maybe? Another perk of being a lightform existence in his own [Domain of Light]? His Class Ability, Light Dedication, probably helped, too.

The orcol man asked Erick, “Did you kill him?”

Amidst quiet complaints and hard stares, the greenscale woman spoke out, loud as she could, “It was a [Withering]! I know it was.” She rapidly added, “They warned us against this possibility when we came to Spur! Didn’t you get the same talk?” She gestured to the body, “You know what happened to him!”

The woman with the red conjured sword inhaled, like she knew what that meant. She drove her sword into the dead man’s chest. It was a perfect [Strike] of some sort; the body crumbled like a dry sandcastle. A glittering rad appeared beside the man’s withered heart.

The greenscale said, “He was a cannibal! Yes! That’s what I was trying to say.”

An argument began again, but Erick had no time for this. He raised his voice, and gently vibrated the light, getting everyone’s attention with a firm, “Okay.”

They looked to him.

He said, “I cleared out most of the river above with [Withering]. There are still dangers out there.” With a thought, he had an Ophiel, and all of the food, flow down through the ceiling as a large ball of light. Some people backed away. Others stood firm. Erick conjured a large table with boxes and had Ophiel rematerialize the items into the proper locations. While he did that, Erick said, “Here’s some food and water. Sorry for the limited selection. Sorry for killing that guy.”

The red-sword woman said, “He would have killed us.” She said, “Thank you, Archmage.” She looked to the group. “Now we know none of us are shadelings, or cannibals.”

The orcol agreed. “Better he’s dead, now.”

A few people murmured agreements.

Erick almost wanted to cry over the guy; to mourn, to linger. But he couldn’t.

One woman stood over the body, saying, “He was fine when we fell to the Shade, two days ago.”

The sword woman asked, “Can you check me for rads, with your light?”

Erick responded not with words, but with the casting of a [Cascade Imaging]. A narrow cast, with slightly less than a one-for-one distance, with the cascading orb atop the ground and the map filling the entire room. Some gasped. Most did nothing at all, except to stare as lightform figures of themselves appeared in the air before them, along with blue markers inside all of their intestines. Some of the blue markings were outside of those intestines, and headed toward the heart.

“Holy gods,” whispered a man, touching his own chest, and the image of himself in front of him. 

Erick knew what had to be done. With a grave voice, he offered, “I have rods of [Treat Wounds].”

Everyone accepted. 

The bloody work took several minutes, and eight charges of the rod.

When he was done, Erick watched some of them conjure specialized lightwards to keep the shadows at bay, then he dismissed the [Domain of Light] covering them all. He bade them goodbye, and good luck. 

He rejoined Fallopolis in the sky above. 

Fallopolis said, “Good work! Their chances of survival have gone up considerably with the removal of the most obvious threats in the river and the proto-rads inside their bodies. If you’d’ve come back before solving those two problems, I would have suggested you go back.” 

Erick eyed her. “Would you have? Really?”

“Of course!” She began walking south again, saying, “The food and water was a bit much. That’s too much hand-holding.”

Erick followed, discarding as many heavy emotions as he could while he walked at her side. He asked, “Are all Shade strongholds like that?”

“Not at all. In general, you can expect more redundancy than you found in there, depending on how highly the Shade-in-question is trying to defend their stuff. Dorofiend’s most precious items were his future bodies and body parts— You noticed how perfect each of them were, physically?”

“I tried not to.”

Fallopolis cackled, saying, “There’s nothing wrong with proper ogling! That sword-girl and manly orcol were both mighty fine specimens. Dorofiend was likely preparing the girl’s body to become the new fellating nose of his Visage, while the orcol’s dick was not going to be his for much longer—”

Erick would have thrown up if he wasn’t running on a lot of magical power at the moment. Instead, he said, “You did not have to tell me that.”

The Shade snickered. “Anyway. Those people were defended as utmost-treasures. Drainbomb collars. Limbtree restraints. You cleared away the first two failsafes rather well. And then you cleared away the harder-to-see problems. The intestinal rads which were almost ready to merge, as well as the shadow-poisons inside of them that caused those rads in the first place.”

Erick flinched in his steps. There was a poison?

Fallopolis noticed, and continued, “The poisons were dispersed not by your [Cleanse], but by [Cleanse] and [Domain of Light]. It was only after the shadows were destroyed by an overwhelming light source that it was possible to clean their bodies of Dorofiend’s [Umbral Body Preservation]. That’s the spell he used to create those rad-carrying zombies; Dorofiend’s used and discarded bodies. Most lightwards and [Cleanse] spells are simply not strong enough to clear that affliction. Most alchemical anti-toxins can’t do that, either. You truly did save those people, Erick. Good job!”

“Right… Good job.”

“So who do you want to kill next?” Fallopolis offered, “I can list them in order of danger to the world, people that are in need of rescue, or cruelty.”

“Where does the Witch fall on all of those categories?”

Without hesitation, the Shade said, “Top Five, Last, and the Top Five, again. Dorofiend was in the top five for Cruelty, as well, just so you know.” She continued, “The Witch’s current victims are most certainly dead. She always kills them all unless shes actively playing with them, and she always puts her toys down when there are more important matters, like the Feast.”

“… Who can I rescue?”

“That is a complicated question, but I will attempt to provide guidance. You see...” 

- - - -

The Jungle was one of the largest areas of Ar’Kendrithyst, and if one included Lake Leviathan in the center of the Jungle, as well as the Aerie to the north of the lake, which most people did, you’d have an area nearly 45 by 45 kilometers large, and almost 50 kilometers deep. The lake itself was practically in the Lower Layer, and the size of Candlepoint’s lake, while the Jungle wrapped around the whole body of water, and extended well above and below what people would usually consider the Middle Layer. The Aerie was wholly in the Upper Layer, to the north of Lake Leviathan, sticking high out of the Jungle, reaching well into what some people called the ‘Sky Layer’. The North River flowed around the entire place, encircling it, sending small streams into the growing greenery, and feeding Lake Leviathan. 

Erick approached the Jungle from the east, near the center of the three-land area.

Red-purple towers loomed overhead, suffocating in their light, for Erick knew it was a false light, put on just to illuminate the shadows prowling through the crystal all around. Tendrils swirled all around; shadows of shadows. And yet none approached as Erick approached the Jungle. None of the obvious monsters stuck a tentacle or a claw or anything out of that swirling inky space. Erick hadn’t suffered a monster attack in a while, ever since they descended beyond the Upper Layer. The shadows down here were more cautious about who they preyed upon. Erick figured if he was alone, he would have been fighting off monsters, but there was currently a greater shadow hovering at his side, and the shadows down here knew to stay away from Shades.  

Fallopolis pointed forward, to a bend in the chasm. “Past there is the Jungle.” She lowered her staff, and continued to walk forward, saying, “Hollowsaur will come if you kill any of the larger animals, for he is an unparalleled Beastmaster, and he knows his flock. Eye Birds from the Aerie will keep you in their sights, and if you attract too many, Hollowsaur will know you are here. But know this: He is a purely reactionary Shade. If you trip no [Alarm Wards]. If you harm none of his Prized Flock. If you get in and get out, you might be able to rescue the 25 people he usually keeps mutated and alive for their parts, in his animal farm.” Fallopolis said, “Normally, I would suggest you trip everything and murder the man, but he’s about the best Shade of the Jungle we’ve had since well before the Great Purge of Spur. People are always trying to poach his herds, though, so your rescue attempt is the easiest way to prod him past the point of civility. Good luck.”

The two of them rounded a particularly large kendrithyst tower, and the world opened up beyond. 

Greenery under starlight, and illusionary planes of existence. Tall, gnarled trees, where vines and moss hung and connected from one canopy to the next. Bright blue birds flying in the sky. Plateaus of kendrithyst lopped off with edges glowing, but otherwise covered in soil and more plants. 

The Jungle was a land out of time, at the bottom of a crater of kendrithyst, with mist hanging in the air, and no towers above. There was a faint luminescence here and there in the primeval greenery; a bit of barely exposed kendrithyst. But mostly, it was dark. A nighttime forest, waiting for the sun to come back up, but the sun wouldn’t appear for over nine more days. 

Erick looked further, ignoring the cries of something dying in the darkness down below, to a kilometer-wide kendrithyst plateau, far ahead, almost to the horizon. Lights hugged that plateau; brighter lights than simply that of exposed crystal, meant to expose anyone coming from below. People lived there, atop that space. But they were not exposed. There was a dome of darkness over the whole plateau. A [Darkness] spell, or something similar. Definitely not a natural structure. 

Fallopolis stood a good four meters away, her feet supported by darkness, just as Erick’s was supported by light. 

She said, “They see you.”

Erick said, “We are in the middle of the sky.”

“Did you mean to just walk out here?” Fallopolis said, “I came this way because it was fine for me to do so, and I know they can’t see me yet, but you’re rather bright.”

“All true.” Erick said, “I knew before I came this way that there was no saving those people without a direct confrontation.”

And there wasn’t. So Erick didn’t bother to hide, or approach in any other way than the direct way. If Fallopolis chose to believe that he had simply followed her, then she could continue to believe that if she wanted. 

When Killzone had spoken of Shades, he had spoken of Hallowsaur. Everything Fallopolis had said, just now, confirmed what the General of Spur’s Army had already told Erick. 

Hollowsaur’s ‘animal farm’ was a place where he turned people into parts, so that he could take those parts and make them into monsters of his own designs. Killzone had told a story of the Shade making an ‘Eyebeast’ for the upcoming Shadow’s Feast, too. He had also spoken of sneaking into the production area and mercy-killing the people who were the resource for that ‘eyebeast’. The usual response to this problem is a mercy-killing.

But Fallopolis knew that by luring Erick here, she was testing him with a hard choice.

So he made that choice, as soon as he viewed the shadowed ‘animal farm’.

He looked to the sky, and cast—

No. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. No. No. No. No. No. 

Erick breathed deep, or at least tried to. He was currently made of light, and [Lodestar], and [Hunter’s Instincts]. And he had almost committed a horrible sin. He had almost thrown a [Vivid Gloom] onto the animal farm. The target was the right size. The people therein were all mutated and kept alive only through alchemy, according to everything Erick had heard. He wasn’t a healer; he couldn’t save them. He knew all this. And yet, he couldn’t simply end the problem, and move on. 

He had to risk that there was another way. But there would be no way to do this without Hollowsaur finding out. Killzone had made that quite clear. So…

Erick steeled himself. He whispered, “Fallopolis. You can stay back, if you wish.”

Fallopolis grinned wide, and faded backward, into shadows. 

Maybe he was being stupid. Maybe he was being smart. Maybe it would all work out. Maybe Hollowsaur would die, tonight, or maybe not. Whatever would happen, would happen, and Erick would find a way to live with himself afterward.

Erick burst into brighter lights; radiant and true, he became a second sun, briefly lighting up the night. And then, to make the effect even more, he had his Ophiels pair up. Three of them turned to [Lodestar]s and expanded their own [Greater Lightwalk]s, while others huddled in the light.

Erick simply stepped forward, ten meters a stride, bringing light to the green land, turning the illusion-filled sky into a bright, radiant day, filled with four different suns. The response was immediate, and it came from all sides. A flock of blue birds turned into fire and raced at Erick and his Ophiel. They cawed, attacking, or at least trying to. They couldn’t get past Erick’s innate defenses; they bounced off hardened shells of light. 

Screams and roars sounded out below. 

A slippery, flame-red snake, ten meters long, maybe, flowed through the treetops nearby, trying to get close. When it reached the absolute peak of the largest, closest tree, it coiled, then launched at Erick. It hit the edge of his light and bore down with its fangs, yet found no purchase. Venom flowed away on solid illumination, as the snake itself slipped off, and crashed back to the trees below. 

All the while, the dark plateau of the animal farm had dropped its outermost shadows. A bubble of darkness still held in the center of the area, but creatures appeared on revealed parapets, rapidly deploying across balconies and into small towers, where they took positions next to swiveling kendrithyst spikes, each twice as large as Fallopolis’ staff. The creatures were tiny and green, like shrunken orcols, perhaps, but with longer limbs. Erick didn’t recognize them, but when the first kendrithyst spike lit up, Erick recognized it as a cannon-wand. They were capable of casting spells up to tier four, and were usually only used in city defense, and only for cities that relied on that sort of thing.

The first cannon-wand shot out a beam of green light that struck Erick’s sunform—

He would need to ask the Headmaster if this combo was part of the Headmaster’s Sun Style.

—struck Erick’s sunform and deflected wide, like a water stream hitting a solid object, sending a shower of green power up, then over, to fall in a slowly descending sprinkle across a vast swath of jungle. The first wand-cannon fired for ten full seconds, moving on from targeting Erick when it was clear the attack had no effect. It had no effect on the Ophiels, either. The attacking birds instantly retreated down below when the deflecting green light caught two of them fully, and the rest partially. The two who had touched the green light instantly died, midair, as feathers turned to nothing and flesh gave way, revealing bone, that soon gave way to nothing.

Four more beams shot out from four other cannons. One was lightning. This zapped into Erick, and chained to every part of his entourage, but it only struck the outer parts of the sunspheres. Electromagnetism was capable of deflecting lightning rather easy, after all. Beams of frozen Force deflected just as easy as the first green beam, and the subsequent beam of red-hot fire. It seemed all things readily deflected against tightly controlled light. That theory was the basis behind Erick’s [Pure Reflection Ward], after all.

The Jungle below caught on fire, decayed under green light, and froze in tiny bits. 

A beam of white light struck Erick, and on a whim, he sent it back. He wasn’t sure how he did it, exactly, as it happened on instinct, but the beam attempted to strike Erick, and was sent back, almost instantaneously. The wand-cannon exploded, launching the green person backward, into the dark sphere in the center of the plateau. 

A beam of shadows died upon reaching Erick. There was nothing to send back, there was nothing to deflect. Shadows met light, and shadows died. Erick had no idea how he caused that, either. 

… Shadow was a stupid element, anyway. How was the absence of something, something in of itself? Void was a thing that existed, too, but that was easy to understand. It was the designation of nothing as something! Shadow and Void were completely different, though, and that still made no sense to Erick. 

Erick stepped to within twenty meters of the plateau, and stopped his advance. Green people scurried about, some of them rushing into the darkness in the center, others down hiding holes in the edge of the plateau. 

He called out, “I would like to speak to Hollowsaur.”

“He’s at the Feast!” yelled a small woman. She wore little more than a wrap of brown cloth around her chest, and a loincloth of the same material. Her face was smushed a little, but comparing her to the others, her smushed face was normal. “Go away!”

Erick said, “I can wait.” He gestured to a nearby tree that was larger than most. He guessed it was ten or twelve meters shorter than the plateau, but Erick could fix that. “I’ll be right over here.”

The woman watched him, warily, but also curiously. As Erick actually began to step away, she shouted, “Yeah! You better run! Coward!” 

She was joined by a sudden dozen other people, each shouting variations of the same, some of them cheering that they had driven away the invader. 

And then Erick got to the tree. Cries of victory turned to confusion, as an Ophiel cast [Tree of Light] with a good 5000 mana, turning the plant into a bioluminescent solar event. Erick directed it to grow. A fifty meter tall tree became sixty meters tall in a matter of moments. Wicked thorns poked out from every part of the plant, causing a minor cacophony of screaming animals and various monsters. Erick saw no less than ten red snakes, smaller than the one that attacked him, fly out of the tree, aiming for another. 

Erick had no idea what that was about, but he had more pressing concerns, such as projecting an air of confidence. 

The cries of confusion from the green people were now silent, as Erick directed the plant to give him a nice seat on the top, please. The plant obliged, its lush canopy flowing out, soaking up Erick’s magic, as its highest part split into three different branches. The tree was now maybe a meter higher than the plateau. It stopped growing. Thorns retreated. Bioluminescence dimmed to a brown glow in the cracks of the bark, a green glow in the veins of leaves, and a purple glow in the few stray thorns that remained. There were no thorns at the top, though.  

Erick sat his sunform down on one of the thick branches. The tree expanded under him, seeming to be happy for the light. Maybe. With a cast from an Ophiel, Erick conjured a curved bench, four meters wide, and opened toward the plateau. He sat down on the left side of the bench. The tree made itself more comfortable, then settled around Erick.

The small woman shouted, “What do you want!”

“I want you to release the people you have in there.”

“Livestock ain’t for sale, service, or settin’ free!” The woman said, “Go away!”

“She’s right.”

The voice came from behind the woman; from the dark shield still covering most of the plateau. The woman balked, turning a bit greener, before she swiftly recovered. Her, and several others, shouted out threats against Erick, as an orcol man stepped out of the dark shield, onto the parapet and into the air. He wore a short, formal kilt made of dark leathers, and nothing else, showing off his rather normal orcol body, but with many, many scars crisscrossing and pebbling his dark green skin. They formed patterns, for sure, though Erick was unsure if there was a meaning to them, or if they were just normal scars, accented with pebbled markings. 

Hollowsaur fixed his bright white eyes upon Erick, as he said, “These people poached on my land. It is my right to be able to use them until they are used up.”

Erick spoke without enthusiasm, as if he were on the last hour of a double shift, “Would you please restore them to their previous bodies and let them go?” He added, “Peacefully.” 

“No.” He sneered, “So what are you gonna do about it?”

“What would you like me to do about it?”

His sneer turned into a smirk. “I want twenty-five, fifty point, All-Stat gems. Artifact version.”

Erick paused. “… That’s it?”

“I also want a silver rainstorm spread out over my entire Jungle. I want this place well and overgrown, many times larger than it already is.”

Erick asked, “Any plants in there that qualify for a Kill and Exterminate Quest?”

The Shade laughed, “Damn you’re dumb. No. Why would I do that to myself?” He looked down, to the glowing tree below Erick. “And I want [Tree of Light], 5000 mana version, cast over every ikabab in the Jungle.”

“… This tree?”

“The ikabab; yes.”

Erick briefly studied the tree under him, using Ophiel’s eyes. He almost recoiled. At the bottom of the tree was a pile of bodies four meters deep. Tiger-like cats. Dozens of shaggy, silver wolves. Snakes, birds, monkeys, long-necked reptiles. Most of the bodies were little more than skeletons, though some of the bodies were not yet corpses; still struggling to move away from the pile, for each and every one of them had horrendous holes drilled though their flesh. He wasn’t sure, but maybe the tree itself had poked those holes through the monsters? Did it trap them somehow? Or did something else stick the beasts onto the tree? Like the bird, the Shrike, back on Earth? Or. No. The tree did this, itself. It was a shrike-tree.

Hollowsaur smiled as Erick couldn’t contain his expression. The Shade said, “That you sit upon it without knowing that it kills everything that comes near, shows that you would not last a day in a real jungle, but that is no concern of mine. All I want is what I have declared, and then I will heal these people and let them go.” He stressed, “I will let them go into the Jungle. I will not prevent you from helping them escape to a lesser part of Kendrithyst.”

Erick almost gave his answer, but another joined the conversation. 

“Hello!” A girl child’s voice cut the air. “Can I get in on this?”

Ophiels stood to the side, allowing the new Shade to make her presence known. In a second, a dark blot in the air resolved into a young girl of blue hair, blue horns, and blue skin. She wore a simple, frilly black dress that you might see on any child. Erick knew who this was, but it was still difficult to imagine the circumstances in which a freshly matriculated child could become a Shade. She was no longer a child, obviously, but she still retained the same body. 

Undine hardly ever made a direct appearance, but when she did, she had never had any form other than the one she wore right now, and there were records of her going back to before the Great Purge of Spur. She always made indirect appearances, though. Riding the back of a leviathan, as the great monster tore through the waves of Lake Leviathan. Waving to adventurers who crossed the demarcation between Jungle and Lake. Trying to foist a clutch of leviathan eggs to Killzone, to then foist them onto Erick, for the lake she wanted him to build at Candlepoint; Killzone had managed to talk her down to a book on monsters that he then left at Candlepoint. Erick never read the book. It was still there, sitting behind the counter of the gazebo under the Crystal.

“Hello!” Undine said to both of them, as she floated in the air, equidistant from Erick and Hollowsaur. She cheerfully asked Erick, “Did you read my book? I made it especially for you!”

“No, for it is hard to deal honestly with people who are historically quite evil.” Erick said, “I still have the book, and will read it when I feel comfortable doing so.”

Hollowsaur’s eyes went wide, as he got an evil grin, but then Erick kept talking, and his expression turned to annoyance. 

Undine, however, went from disturbed, to angry, to suddenly okay. It was a whiplash of emotions, that left Erick truly annoyed.

Undine moved on, though, saying, “If you still have it, then that’s fine. I can prove myself as friendly. That’s the purpose of this year’s Feast, isn’t it?” She looked to Hollowsaur, her voice turning a bit sterner, “Isn’t it?”

Hollowsaur stood taller, and smiled, showing fangs, as he said, “Yup. Correct.”

“Good!” Undine said, “Okay! So! … Uh.” She looked from one to the other. “What’s the deal you two were working out? I heard some of it.”

Hollowsaur replied, “I get 25, 50-point All-Stat artifact gems from him, as well as an overgrowth of the Jungle and 5000 point [Tree of Light]s, cast upon each of the ikabab trees in the Jungle, of which there are 21. He has already cast that spell upon the one he is currently sitting on. He gets the release of all of my current captured adventurers, of whom I will heal to full bodily functionality before I release them into the Jungle.”

Undine smiled wide as Hollowsaur went on, doing a little up and down dance. When he was finished, she rapidly said, “Then I’ll grant them free passage to the Beach! They’ll be safe there, because—!” She delightfully added, “I will ensure their safety! As long as they stay on the beach, of course.” She asked Erick, “How does that sound?”

Erick asked, “Is there a place for them to stay on the beach, and live for the next ten days?”

“Oh yeah.” Undine dismissed, “I can put them up where there’s lots of space. Hardly any monsters. Freshwater lake. They can [Grow] some junk in the shallows.” She staunchly added, “I will not be holding their hands, though. If they run out of bounds or whatever, then they’re… Well they could make it? Eh. Veteran adventurers are a wily bunch. I won’t stop them from running away, though. I can barely guarantee safety as it is.”

“Deal,” Erick said.

Undine smirked, then looked like she smelled a fart. “Oh wait. I need something out of this trade.”

“You get my goodwill,” Erick said. “For now.”

“Nooo… That’s not good enough…” Undine thought. She stood in the air, and put a hand to her chin. She dropped her hand, and said, “I want one of them shiny lights you made that one time.”

“… You’re going to have to be way more specific.”

The Shade of Leviathan Lake bobbed left and right a few times, grumbling, mumbling, then she stopped, and said, “It was a double-pyramid thing that flexed into more triangles and the interior was a shadow-shifted light that you gained from Syllea’s [Shadow Conversion]. You made the working just before midnight. Or maybe just after. It was magnificent. But since you don’t have access to her spells, you can either make that buff spell right now and use it, or do a similar working but with a much more complex shape. Either option works for me.”

Erick would have sighed, if he was still in his body. It always surprised him just how much other people in power knew of what he did. By this point, it shouldn’t surprise him. But it still did. Every time.

Undine said, “Alternatively: Go kill Spinner, of the Aerie.”

Hollowsaur piped up, “I changed my mind. Kill Spinner, and you’ll get these adventurers back.”

Undine said, “Yes, yes! Very good.”

Erick countered, “If I go there, and Spinner gives me a better deal to kill you two, then I could do that instead, and damn whoever you have under your power; I’ll probably end up killing them myself in the crossfire. The world would be better off with two Shades dead instead of one.”

Hollowsaur turned fractionally darker, his eyes radiating malevolence, as the black scar markings across his body seemed to shift, wider, deeper. “If you think you can—”

Undine cut him off, saying, “Drat. Okay. Fine. Original deal!”

Hollowsaur lost his anger, turning less dark. He frowned. “Original deal.”

“Deal,” Erick said, for the second time. He looked to Undine, and said, “Any shapes you’re partial to?”

“Something that fractals in three dimensions.” She added, “I am partial to webs, water, spheres, cubes, and crystals. And it needs to be made of rainbows.”

- - - -

Finding the ikabab trees was easy enough; Erick threw up a [Cascade Imaging] into the sky, targeting trees like the one he was standing upon. None of the trees were too far away. Creating Undine’s artpiece was easy enough, too. Filling the Jungle with platinum rain was easy, and so was creating the gems for Hollowsaur. Erick had a few spherical diamonds in his bag that were perfect for the task, that he had tucked away for just such an occasion. 

Well. Not exactly this sort of occasion. He expected to need to remake his own gear, or make himself some new gear; not make gear for a Shade.

The problem, was that Fallopolis had not shown up after the ‘danger’ was gone. This probably meant that the danger was still all around him. Erick guessed that Hollowsaur and Undine were waiting for him to make himself vulnerable. 

But then nothing happened. 

He never truly made himself vulnerable, though. 

Erick spent a good hour being careful with global cooldowns, and positioning between him and Hollowsaur and Undine, and the dispersal of three Ophiels to go out and grow the Jungle and cast [Tree of Light]s on the ikababs. Erick wasn’t willing to make himself any more vulnerable than that. Those Ophiels had to wait a bit under [Prismatic Ward]s to regenerate the necessary mana to continue laying down 5000 mana [Tree of Light]s, and monsters attacked them a few times, but the three of them were as invulnerable under a single sunform as Erick was.

For a while, platinum rain fell upon green Jungle. For a while, Erick enchanted spheres, and locked them under silver metal. And he waited. 

But nothing happened. 

There was a slight hiccup when he had to recraft the permanent lightward for Undine, but even that turned out okay. She had seen the diamond spheres, and wanted her lightwards locked to one of them. 

She now held that diamond sphere in her power, but also a good hundred meters away, because the lightward was a fifty-meter wide construction of tetrahedrons. Three on the top, one on the bottom; the lightward was an inverted, 3-sided pyramid, cut into four other three sided pyramids, with triangular rainbow fractals falling into each triangular face of the lightward. The center of the four-prism construction, where the lightwards were anchored, was the diamond sphere. That part had a random assortment of crystals that would slowly either appear or grow from the center, to protrude out of the empty space between each tetrahedron. 

It was quite pretty, in Erick’s opinion. All rainbows and interior fractals, while platinum rain fell all around. Making lightart was nice. Easy, too. All one had to do was set a plan into the light, and it would follow through rather well, until it got too complicated, and it broke. The trick was getting it to break back to its base form, rather than break entirely, so it could then resume fractalling. 

Undine sat in the air, with her back to Erick and Hollowsaur, staring at the artwork. Platinum rain across her body because she allowed it. She smiled. “This is good.” She declared, “I’m happy.” She looked out at the Jungle, and at the lush greenery. “That’s good looking, too, and it’s already flowed into my lake, and turned the shallows thick. I like it.” She looked up, then folded her head backward, to stare at Hollowsaur with an upsidedown head and unblinking eyes, while her neck resembled an accordion. She spoke with the abyss in her voice, “A deal is a deal. Do I have to enforce this one?” 

Upon seeing this oddity, Erick felt as though he was a scared fish.

Why a scared fish?

It just seemed appropriate. 

Hollowsaur tsk’d, then frowned. He looked to Erick, as glowing rain fell around him, not touching his skin. He said, “They’ll be ready, soon as your end is fulfilled.” He looked to the gems sitting in front of Erick. “You gonna hand those over?”

“Of all the people here, I think you’re the least trustworthy.” Erick said, “You’ll get them when the people are safely released and in Undine’s care.”

Undine shifted her upsidedown stare to Erick, but then breathed deep, and twisted, shifting her rolling head back onto her shoulders as she turned to fully face Erick and Hollowsaur. She stood up in the air, saying, “I have been remarkably well behaved. Let us be done with this as soon as possible. Hollowsaur. Fix them. Let them go. My slipperys miss me, and I miss them.”

“Dark dammit, Undine.” Hollowsaur said, “No one can save those people.” He gestured behind him, at the black dome covering most of the plateau. The black dome vanished. “I didn’t think you were serious about this scam.”

Undine just frowned; the weight of an abyss behind her mien, 

Erick’s hopes fell out of the bottom of his sunform, as he heard Hollowsaur, and looked beyond the man, to the revealed ‘animal farm’. 

His first thoughts were of cows. But cows, of the Veird variety, had red-brown fur and horns and a swishy tail. There were also black varieties, and white varieties, but Erick liked the red-furred ones the best. These cows were not like those. But the red hair on the head of one not-cow was similar to the red fur of normal cows. 

The hair on these cows’ heads was like a person’s hair; long, or crew-cut, or any of the other styles Erick had seen. Some of them had scales instead of hair; those kinds were scaled over their whole body. Some had horns like an incani’s, along with the violet skin to match. Instead of hoofs on their four legs, there were hands, and feet. The scaled ones had talons of course, because they had been created from dragonkin, and dragonkin had talons. 

The only solace Erick took, was that they looked like happy cows. There they were, eating grass, or tossing their hair in the rain, or rubbing up against scratching posts. Some bounded back and forth with each other, playing in the mud.

And then Erick looked up, above the first platform, above the first field. There was another level, where the cows had too many eyes, or too many heads, or too many legs, or too much, red, red flesh.

And Erick couldn’t look at the horrors any longer. He turned his attention to everywhere. He cut the platinum rain. He waited for an attack.

Undine said, “Just make them look like people again. That shouldn’t be too hard.”

Erick found himself asking, “What did you do to them?”

He knew what he had done, but he asked anyway.

Hollowsaur looked to Erick, and laughed, saying, “Some soul mutilation! They came into my home, hurting my pets, so I hurt them! That’s why I thought this was a scam.” He laughed in Erick’s face, saying, “I thought you would have known how I operate. Fuck. You people have surveillance on me all the time! How could you not know? You came in here, this unprepared? How stupid!”

But Erick knew. Maybe not in so many words. Maybe not fully. For how can anyone know horror until they experience it? But he had been told about the soul mutilations. Killzone had skipped over some of the more difficult aspects of what each and every Shade did, when Erick had visibly balked at the horrors divulged. 

But he still listened. He still learned. 

He had hoped that Hollowsaur was just reluctant to change people back, not that he couldn’t.

Erick said, “I had thought you were reluctant. Not incompetent.”

“Ha!” Hollowsaur said, “That’s thick. You don’t even know how to Break the Shroud.” 

Erick looked from Hollowsaur to Undine. They both regarded him; Hollowsaur, with malevolent eyes, her, with curiosity. What was ‘Breaking the Shroud’? Soul magic, obviously, since Hollowsaur had spoken about mixing sapient souls with cow souls, This might have been an attempt to get him to dabble in soul magic? Or was he reading that wrong? 

That didn’t matter.

“I truly thought you were just reluctant, Hollowsaur. If it is beyond you, then you should have said so. We could have had a much more honest talk.” Erick shoved his emotions aside, and continued, “In light of this, I want you to release them to someone who can help them, and then refrain from leaving out high-level monsters to lure more people into your traps.” He looked to the small green people standing around on the battlements of the plateau, and said, “You obviously care about some people in this world, so why not care about more?”

Hollowsaur seemed to solidify, like a cat preparing to pounce, or maybe an executioner readying their axe. He calmly asked, “Is that a threat?”

The small woman on the plateau, as well as a few others, had watched the proceedings, silently, until then. They called out against Erick. Demanding that he leave and that he stop bothering Hollowsaur, and that the cows got what they deserved.

Twenty-five silver spheres hung in the light around Erick, as he asked, “Are these green people who you wanted these gems for?”

“Yes.”

“I heard you like setting traps for adventurers to trip, just so that you are able to kill them without worry, without remorse. Is this true?”

Hollowsaur was still calm. “Yes.” He said, “I feel like we’re talking in circles.”

“We are, a little. I’m just confirming things multiple times before I move ahead.”

“And where is your investigation taking you?”

“The same place it’s taken me for a long while.” Erick did not take his eyes off of the Shade, as he said, “But the cows look happy. You’re a horribly cruel man for doing that to them, but your torture is not constant.”

Hollowsaur frowned at Erick. 

Erick continued, “And so, I’m sorry that we met like this, and that you’re an asshole, but I’m not taking arms against you today. I’m not going to harm your people in the crossfire, no matter how much you need to be put down.”

Hollowsaur extended a hand back, without looking. A lance of shadows briefly appeared in his hands, before it shot off, down into the center of a herd of ‘cows’, impaling one through the neck and driving a meter deep into the soil underhoof. The ‘cow’ screamed like a man in pain, as it tried to pull away, but the pole was through its neck, and it could not get away. Its bleating wore on, ten seconds, twenty, then nothing; it was dead.

Erick was stock still the whole time; preparing for the next shoe to drop.

Hollowsaur called out, “Meat for the Feast. Butcher it. Put it on a cart. I’m taking it to the Palace after we’re done here.”

The green people below hurried at the Shade’s order. 

Did cannibalism qualify as the next shoe to drop? Erick wondered at that question, as a butchering took place upon a grassy field, where ‘cows’ had been playing, and there had been no blood, until Erick showed up and demanded a change. For the briefest of moments, he wondered if he was in the wrong, to ask for someone to be better than who they were before, that this was his fault, somehow. And then he banished that self-destructive thought. When Evil did Evil, it was the duty of all good-thinking individuals to not get trapped into thinking that their attempts at good were what caused Evil. 

Hollowsaur sneered, saying, “If you hadn’t shown up, maybe that one would still be alive.”

Erick lifted into the air—

Hollowsaur flinched. Undine watched Erick intently, but she also glanced to Hollowsaur.

— and then he backed away. Slowly. Silently. One step at a time, going a normal distance with each step, to begin with. When Erick was ten steps away, he turned, showing his back to the Shades, but still watching them with his full field of vision. With silver gems floating around him, he slowly, but certainly, made for the opening in the kendrithyst where he had entered the Jungle, his steps growing larger with each passing stride.

Erick reached the mountains of kendrithyst at the edge of the green space. He went in. He strode through purple abysses, where the crimson of the upper reaches was hard to see all the way down where he was. All of his Ophiel followed, and once they were fully out of sight of the Jungle, he proceeded south. He got a good distance before he let his emotions relax a fraction. If he had had a body, he would have puked, his anger and pain would have gotten the better of him, and he would have done something truly stupid well before he got nearly this far away.

Fallopolis did not show. 

She didn’t show after the first ten minutes of walking south. She didn’t show when Erick walked up, into the crimson light, back into the Upper Layer, to cast a [Cascade Imaging], to reorient himself because he realized that he had no idea which way was actually south. With a miniature map of Ar’Kendrithyst laid before him, and after reducing a giant centipede to sliced segments, Erick resumed his journey south, to the Palace District. 

Fallopolis did not show.

And Erick knew why.

- - - -

Erick pulled his sunform close, returning to flesh and bone. 

Glowing red crystals dominated the horizons and the land all around. Purple yawned below. Shadows danced inside towers. And Erick just breathed. He had a little cry. Then he breathed some more. Then he copied a vanilla cupcake and ate it, as he copied his canteen and had a long drink of water. He resumed the journey south, walking carefully, but not slow. 

He pissed down onto a kendrithyst tower from ten meters above, just hanging it all out there for a moment. It was a minor joy, for purely juvenile reasons. 

He passed a Desert Rose. It was growing upon the top of a kendrithyst tower like a strangle fig. The plant was giant; thirty meters across, with thorny vines draped across every nearby tower. It was also closed; the ‘rose’ part of the plant hidden behind thick, green leaves. Erick gave the rose a wide berth, but still, a few hundred [Force Bolt]s poured out of its collection of central thorns, aiming at Erick. He didn’t do anything to stop the attack, for the Bolts didn’t hurt. If he had gotten closer, it would have loosed [Force Beam]s at him, and those might have hurt, but there was no need to test the Rose’s strength like that.

Erick continued on.

- - - -

An hour had passed since he left the Jungle, and Fallopolis still hadn’t shown, but Erick still had these 25 silver spheres. He decided to take a small break. The nearest opportunity to do so was several minutes later, when he came upon a thick kendrithyst tower that poked up, higher than all the rest. It didn’t poke up too much higher, and its thickness didn’t look too conspicuous; it simply looked like a better place to stop than most. The top of it was angled rather hard, but that was fine.

So Erick approached the tower, and stepped down onto its peak. He conjured a porch of hard wood, turning that peak into a platform that would last for a good hour, as long as Erick didn’t walk around too hard upon the surface. He conjured a chair, next—

He had a thought. 

He tried flexing his lightform self, like he had when he remade all of the basic Force Spells. He had yet to remake [Conjure Item], but now was as good a time as any. He spent ten minutes trying again, but failed to do more than waste a thousand mana. So he moved on with his life.

He had his Ophiel conjure a [Prismatic Ward] across the peak, while a few other Ophiels conjured dense airs at the corners of the crystal tower, whereupon Erick set those Ophiel down in their defensive positions, to both relax, and regenerate back to full. 

The shadows inside the kendrithyst didn’t seem to care. They lazed far below the peak of the tower; the top forty or fifty meters were clear of obvious shadowy threats. 

Erick settled down into his conjured chair. He conjured a table in front of him, and grabbed a sliver of Deep Sky Silver metal out of his bag. It was barely a sliver, but with a bit of [Duplication Aura] from an Ophiel, and [Metalshape] with his own power, that sliver became a good four kilograms of blue-silver metal. He stuffed a dollop of the metal back into the bag, as he grabbed three of the enchanted orbs. Each of the orbs was a good three centimeters across, so he couldn’t make wrist bands out of them. Or, he could, but they would look rather funky. A necklace would work, but he didn’t want anything bouncing around his neck.

Did he want a crown, again? That seemed like it would be a rather gauche thing to wear, considering he was going to a party full of megalomaniacs. No. None of those options were good options. 

A belt would have to do. 

Metal bar became wire, pulled into seven long pieces that wove together in a concentrated working that resembled a steel cable, about a centimeter thick. This part would just be the interior, though. When Erick was done, this item would easily be twice that thick, and much better looking. 

Erick took his three orbs and wrapped them into a separate working of silver-blue metal, fully covering and securing them in metal, so that they could not rub against each other, the belt, or Erick’s body. He wanted a high quality product, not easily damaged by normal wear and tear. When he settled the three orbs into position, the item was already a magical item, all on its own, worth 150 All-Stats, if Erick had made it right. Good news: it did not explode. Erick didn’t try it on, yet, though. 

Erick pulled back the main cable of the belt and slipped the three-orb item into the center. It was a solid arrangement, but it was far from complete. He went back to the bar of Deep Sky Silver and turned out more wires. Thinner this time, and with the help of a few Ophiel, he had at least a thousand of them. From there, he began weaving with the wires, in and around the gem holder, and then down both sides of the belt using [Metalshape], over the interior cable band. Soon enough, he got into a rhythm, and hundreds of metal wires began flying around each other, creating a dense, overlapping weave. 

He couldn’t do this with wrought-iron, or gold, or any of the other metals he had packed away in his single bag. Those metals strung into these shapes would have this belt break from casual, bendy usage. Gold would last a few days in a hard-working, flexible item like this belt. Iron would last longer. But Deep Sky Silver lent itself to these types of flexible workings that other metals simply couldn’t—

“That’s very pretty.” 

Erick had seen the Shade coming, but he had ignored her, until now. He turned to face the woman standing in the air outside of his [Prismatic Ward]. She was a strong looking girl in her early twenties, with an unsheathed sword at her hip that seemed to be the most magical thing about her. Her adventuring leathers were worn, but well-cared for, but her boots were bright red, and completely at odds with the rest of her otherwise drab outfit. She was a Shade, for her eyes were bright white, but Erick found his sight drawn to the sword again. 

“That’s a pretty sword you have, too.” Erick said, “Not a conjured weapon, I guess?”

“Of course not.” She tapped the sword at her hip, turning a little so Erick could see it better. It was a white metal, with a simple crossguard and a pointed pommel. Ancient Script scrawled down the length of the blade, reading, ‘pierce the heart, pierce the soul’. “I made it with White Bone Steel, just like the original. But this is a replica. No power in this one.”

Ah. The Librarian. Erick had wondered how close he was to her place.

Erick said, “The Librarian, I presume?”

“You presume correctly.” 

Erick set down his wires and let go of his spells, as he turned to the Shade, asking, “Which book is this heroine?”

She smiled, saying, “Legacy of Bone.” She added, “I normally wouldn’t interrupt your crafting, but you’re nearing the end, and… Well… You’re getting close to my library, and while I don’t think you’d destroy the place, since I have no prisoners or… Anything. Really. Except for books.” She added, “You know Hollowsaur is trailing you, right?”

“I know.” Erick said, “I was expecting him to attack before I finished the belt, or even put it on.”

The Librarian nodded, then said, “I was kinda waiting for you to come anywhere close, because I’d like to know some stories from another world and I think you’d actually be willing to talk considering how your interaction with Hollowsaur went… But Hollowsaur is rather uncultured, and he would likely use the opportunity to harm something of… mine...”

The Librarian’s voice trailed off, as she looked to the left. Both she and Erick watched as Fallopolis stepped into the sky, not ten meters away.

“Hello, dear.” Fallopolis spoke in a kindly voice to the Librarian, saying, “Erick was rather close to killing that awful man, but he’s run off, now. You needn’t have interfered.”

The Librarian briefly frowned, then one-upped Fallopolis’s sweetness with her own saccharine facade and tone, “Hollowsaur would have tested me and then I would have had to be angry with him. It’s better for everyone if that doesn’t happen. So I stepped in. Pardon me for ruining your plans.”

“I’ve got plans within plans, so don’t worry about ruining them; I’ll just find another way.” Fallopolis turned to Erick, asking, “Are you going to finish that belt?”

“Can I commission a belt?” The Librarian asked, then clarified, “Not that one. Nothing magical. Just pretty. I like the woven metal with the boxy part in the front. A matching necklace and belt would be nice.”

Erick said to Fallopolis, “I was planning on finishing it, yes.” He said to the Librarian, “And sure, I can make a similar belt for you, and a matching necklace, too.”

The Librarian smiled wide. “Great!”

Fallopolis frowned. “Great.” She stepped closer to Erick and casually poked on the dense air around him and his platform. “I want a seat. And cupcakes. Let me in, or drop the barrier.”

“Sure. One minute.” Erick handed some stray wires of Deep Sky Silver off to one of his Ophiel, as well as the two cupcakes in his bag. “This shouldn’t take long.”

While Ophiel lifted the cupcakes and wires to the edge of the dense air, but still inside, another Ophiel turned on his Copy Aura. Wires and cupcakes fell into Erick’s light, where he held them tight. He cut Ophiel’s aura, then moved the cupcakes out of position, while putting all of his wires into position. The next instance of Ophiel’s Copy Aura, unloaded a good hundred thousand Deep Sky Silver wires, ready for enchanting work. Erick held them all, while he sent that now-spent Ophiel down to a different dense air, while bringing a fresh one up top. 

With more than enough wrought-quality Deep Sky Silver to make a few items, and a good three dozen cupcakes, Erick dropped the [Prismatic Ward], and said, “Care to join me for cupcakes?”

“Don’t mind if I do!” Fallopolis stepped onto the platform, and grabbed a chocolate cupcake as she conjured a dark chair to sit upon. 

Erick looked to the Librarian, who had yet to move, and offered, “That invitation was for you, too.”

The Librarian smiled, and then walked forward. She sat down on a simple layer of darkness, upon Erick’s conjured porch. She grabbed a chocolate cupcake, saying, “Thank you for your hospitality.” 

Erick resumed his metal weaving, adding in more wires to the ends of other wires with seamless [Metalshape]s, as he wrapped up the cable core of the belt. 

Fallopolis finished her first cupcake, then silently began on her second. Erick was sure that if the Librarian weren’t here, then she’d be telling him how he fucked up with Hollowsaur, and how he succeeded. The Librarian, for her part, silently watched Erick work, going through one cupcake rather fast, then rushing onto a second and third, as Erick wove blue-silver metals into a cohesive whole. When he was done, with no one saying a word the whole time, Erick finished the belt by standing up, sizing it to his sunform self, then turning one end into a solid receptacle with a few slots carved out of it, and the other into a tension-loaded insertion. Erick tested out the ‘clasp’, by poking the insertion side into the receptacle. The tensions locked into the slots with an audible, four-piece click. Erick had to press down rather hard and in four different places in order to depress the tensions and unlock the belt, but that was on purpose. 

And then, waiting for something to happen, Erick pulled his sunform inward, returning to his mortal coil. He already had copies of his rings if they exploded on him, though they shouldn’t. But this belt was already +150 All-Stats, and that was more than his rings, so even if an explosion occurred, he would be okay in the short term. Erick looked to the Shades, flanking him, and broke the silence, “I’m going to test this a few steps away.”

Fallopolis nodded. 

The Librarian said, “I don’t think it will explode. The resonance is going to be pretty darn tight, but your soul-stability is higher than it was when you came in here. Dorofiend was level 85-ish, right?”

Erick hadn’t known that ‘soul stability’ had anything to do with Stat enchanting, but he kept that surprise off of his face, as he said, “Even so.” He said, “I’m still going to step away.”

And he did. And they let him. And Erick was still waiting for the attack to come, when he put the belt on, gained 150 more Stats, his rings stayed on, and everything was fine. Nothing exploded.

… Everything was not fine. There were Shades everywhere. 

Fallopolis was currently on her fifth cupcake, while the Librarian was on her sixth, and while they seemed to be competing with each other in a casual eating contest, for whatever reason, the two of them also had their eyes on Erick. Fallopolis was rather nonchalant about the whole thing. But the Librarian was staring, and also trying not to stare, at Erick and his new belt.

… This was fine. 

Erick returned to his conjured table, platform, and shady guests, and began working on—

The Librarian just couldn’t take it anymore. Half-amazed, half-disbelieving, she blurted out, “Do you even know how much of an advancement in the field of Stat Enchantment you have created? I mean! You do. But I don’t think you do? It’s just—! I’m happy to be able to see this happening in my lifetime. To see what you just did.” She added, “You have to understand, that I can make my own plus-100 Strength or Willpower or Intelligence belts and crowns, and I can even create a get-up that holds the four original Stats in harmony enough for a wearer to get 100 All-Stats. But you’ve combined them all into one nifty purple lightward!”

“Lightmask,” Fallopolis added.

“Right!” The Librarian said, “Lightmask.” She added, “And there’s no Stat Dissonance! You’ve balanced them all perfectly. Truly a breakthrough. I just have to ask: Why haven’t you picked up another Stat? Those are a pretty large breakthrough this year, too. Is it because a fifth Stat would lead to an unbalancing?” She said, “I can get you one of each fruit, if you want it. I can… Hmm. I probably can’t get them to remove the inherent curse.”

“No curses for me, please,” Erick said, deciding that reasoning was good enough for an answer. He asked, “The same belt? Or…?”

“The same belt, but no need for any gems; it’s a decorative piece.” The Librarian picked up a metal wire, saying, “You’ve figured out a lot of little tricks… For anyone. Really. Most Planars never get as far as you in their entire lives. Getting Deep Sky Silver to enchant-quality is yet another trick that you’ve seemed to have effortlessly picked up. Or stumbled upon. Of course, if we had True Magic, there’d be no need for these little tricks.” She set the wire back down, saying, “I will say one good thing about the Script, though, and that is that I do quite like [Duplicate].”

Fallopolis scowled at the Librarian, as she un-angrily huffed out, “Blasphemy.”

“This whole Shadow’s Feast this year is about bridging differences, Fallopolis.” The Librarian said, “Part of that is acknowledging that some parts of the Script are good. Like its ability to grow. Erick’s got a trick to his ability, for now, for sure, and so he’s ahead of the rest of us, but the Script does grow to include everything everyone puts in it… Eventually.”

Again without rancor, and maybe with a bit of a musical note, Fallopolis repeated, “Blasphemy~”

The Librarian looked to Erick, and said, “I expect Melemizargo to give up all of these new Stats, or for something major to change about them all. They’re just too disruptive, but they did bring everyone to the table. Everyone was waiting for you to pick up one of the new Stats, you know? But it’s probably for the best that you didn’t. Charisma is definitely changing.”

Now that was interesting. Not the part that they had been spying on him, but the other part. Erick asked, “Changing to what?”

“Intuition.” The Librarian said, “It’s my understanding that Melemizargo got the suggestion from his Silver Friend, and so that’ll likely happen soon enough. Or, what could happen is that we go the other way. Melemizargo’s new four Stats might make it to the real Script, without the need for our Stat Fruits.” She smiled, then lost her smile. “That’s best-case scenario, though.”

“It won’t happen.” Fallopolis said, “Not unless Shades like you get off your ass and help me kill the ones that don’t deserve to live, and then we all abandon Kendrithyst and go become hermits, or something. The Faith will have to go mainstream, too.” She added, “And that’s only a few of the necessary impossible events, listed like they were no big deal.”

The Librarian said, “It wouldn’t take much to gain the Orcols to our side. They’ve been looking to throw off the shackles of the Bloody One for a long time.”

“That one tribe in that one part of the world.” Fallopolis said, “No. The best option is for Kendrithyst to go away and for the few surviving Shades to go into hiding.”

“With you being one of those ‘few Shades’.”

“With me being one of those few Shades; yes. I’m very sane, of course, so this is only natural.” Fallopolis said, “Now you’re catching on.”

The Librarian fell into silence, frowning at Fallopolis. She took up a vanilla cupcake—

Fallopolis snatched the very same cupcake off of the table, before the Librarian could wrap her hand around it. Fallopolis smiled at the Librarian, as she took a bite. The Librarian breathed in, then gave a long sigh, as she grabbed a chocolate cupcake. Silently, the two of them watched each other, as Erick wove metal into mesh. 

Ten spinning wires going this way, ten going the other way, each twisting into each other and then their neighbor, coming together in a tight weave of Deep Sky Silver, layered over several thicker and twisted wires of the same blue-silver metal. When he was done with the Librarian’s belt, which took twenty minutes, he moved onto a necklace. That one only took ten minutes. During that time, he resummoned his Ophiel, at their new, much higher Mana total.

It was only when the event was over, after the Librarian accepted her items and some cupcakes and then departed, that Erick realized that this was probably the most peaceful time he would have in this Shadow’s Feast.

… If that whole interaction had been real, that is. 

Fallopolis’s presence led him to believe that these brief moments had been real. But who would know, for sure? Not Erick. And not right now.  

What he did know, was that he had a fuckload more Stats, and that his Ophiels were very beefy boys.

--

Erick Flatt

Human, age 48

Level 85, Class: Particle Mage

Exp: 7.77e17/ 6.79 e 19

Class: 10/10

Points: 19

HP | 6,960/6,960 | 77,040per day

MP | 17,517/17,520 | 77,040per day

Strength | 20 | +212 | [232]

Vitality | 20 | +212 | [232]

Willpower | 80 | +212 | [292]

Focus | 80 | +212 | [292]

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

--

Fallopolis walked beside Erick, through the sky, her footsteps flashing black, while his flashed white, and most of his Ophiels trailed behind him. One hovered in front, a good distance away; on the lookout for upcoming problems. 

Fallopolis commented on the Ophiel in front, “So that’s different. Don’t trust me?”

Erick countered, “Why would you think I don’t trust you?”

“What cause have I given to sow distrust?”

“Surely you know?”

“Surely you can think of a specific example?”

Erick pivoted, “Are you going to tell me how I failed in my interaction with Hollowsaur?”

Fallopolis smiled, then said, “You did everything quite well. He’ll never turn those people back into people without a lot more forcing, though.”

Erick felt like there were suddenly lead weights attached to his whole body. For a brief moment, he checked himself, to make sure that the feeling was truly emotional. And it was. He centered himself, saying, “Ah. So he needs an asskicking before he can do the right thing.”

“Might makes right, and Hollowsaur is the embodiment of this precept.” She added, “But if you had attacked and killed him, things would have gone bad for you. The Shades of the Spire would have gotten involved, for Hollowsaur is one of our most sane Priests of Darkness. You would have also made an enemy of Undine. She’s quirky, but not truly insane. One of Melemizargo’s better aspects, in my opinion.”

“… But I would need to fight him, and not kill him.” Erick said, “That would be difficult.” He stopped walking. Fallopolis stopped too, after a moment. She looked back at him, with white teeth showing in a dark smile. Erick said, “But let’s try, anyway.” With a thought, he canceled every [Tree of Light] he had spelled into the Jungle, as he also activated [Hunter’s Instincts]. “I canceled the lights on those trees. Do you think that’ll be enough to get his attention?”

Fallopolis cackled, throwing her head back as she laughed louder, and turned darker, becoming more insubstantial. In moments, she vanished backward into the shadows of the sky. 

Erick did his best to ignore Fallopolis’ departure, and walked forward, expanding into his full sunform self, while Ophiels observed, and a few of them took up the same sunform formations. 

Step. 

Step. Step. 

Step. Step. Ste— DODGE.

A thick spear rocketed through the space where Erick had been, but instead of evading, he had stepped right into another one. Erick peeled himself out of the way of the second spear, somewhat, but the dark spear still struck the edge of his sunform. It shattered into a hundred pieces, surprising Erick, for it did no damage and barely disturbed his sunform edge. 

But then the scattered pieces of the spear reformed into smaller spears, that hung in the air and rocketed into Erick again. Erick didn’t dodge this time. The tiny spears broke against his sunform. 

Ah. Good. He was worried there, for a moment!

“You’ve crafted a gods’ damned fine defense, Erick,” said the man who had attacked him. 

Erick brushed his Ophiels wide, reorienting to face Hollowsaur. The Shade stood where Erick had been, moments before, but a bit deeper in the purple abyss below. At his announcement, he stepped upward, into the crimson sky. With one step, he flickered from thirty meters below, to level with Erick. It was practically a [Blink] effect—

“Oh?” Erick said, as he had a thought. 

Chaining that thought into the next logical conclusion, Erick had an Ophiel attempt a manual [Teleport], just like when he was reinventing all those Spatial spells. Ophiel, in a surprising, and unsurprising fashion, did not blip. No [Teleport]s allowed!

“Bah.” Erick frowned. 

Hollowsaur glanced at the Ophiel who Erick had used in his attempt. Then he looked to Erick, and said, “If you cast [Tree of Light] on three hundred of my trees, I will forgive you. For now.”

“How badly do I have to hurt you to make you turn those people back into people?”

“More than you’re capable of achieving.”

Erick nodded, then had a normal, non-[Lodestar] Ophiel release a [Shooting Star]. Hollowsaur stood there, as the speeding ball of light zipped at him, and through his chest, like he wasn’t even there. Probably because he wasn’t. Or not all the way, at least. Hollowsaur’s chest gained a head-sized hole, yes, but flesh and shadows came right back together, with the Shade looking none the worse for wear as his scars reappeared on otherwise unmarred flesh.

Hollowsaur said, “My turn.”

The Shade’s attack took form in the periphery of Erick’s full vision, like shadows that vanished when viewed. This was, in itself, a problem, since how could there be a periphery to full vision? Whatever it was, Erick responded with an Ophiel casting itself into a full-powered [Hermetic Shredder]. Sixteen thousand molecular wires wove around the arena, some of them so densely woven that they were visible as a whiteness in the air, but others were so spread out, that they were undetectable to the naked eye. Each wire was capable of 16,000 points of damage—

Hollowsaur moved through the hundreds of wires that Erick had cast around him them like they weren’t even there. But this was fine. The Shade’s attack was not so fortunate. 

Shadows with blowguns shredded on the wires all around the battlefield. Some managed to loose blowdarts at Erick, but even those tiny spear-like effects carved into broken shadows as they touched molecular wires. 

But Erick had only recognized the Shade’s attack for what it was when simple movements brought the summoned creatures into contact with the wires, and they killed themselves. That was a bit concerning.

Hollowsaur said, “I think that counts as your next attack, so I will take another. But first…” He reached out, and touched a wire. The tip of his finger carved off, falling to more wires, where it split in two, then even more pieces as it fell further. Shadows crawled along the cut edge of his severed finger, replacing what was lost. “This is a rather deadly area spell. I must commend your apprentice.” 

“She accepts Mage Bank. If you have an account, send her a million gold.”

Hollowsaur’s response was to occlude the sky with a dark shape. Erick could barely tell that there was a difference overhead, but as Hollowsaur gave no quip and the shape grew larger, Erick recognized it as an attack. The attack touched down onto the upper parts of Erick’s wired space, well before he thought he needed to get out of the way, or do something else to stop the approach. 

Shadows broke into liquid that rained down, through Erick’s [Lodestar], glowing to bright greens and reds and blacks as though it was a real object.

… It was a real object? 

Bright red blood. Flesh. Bone? Yes. All of that. Body parts decorated the slicing sky. What the fuck was this supposed to—

Something else happened and the world turned to burning fire and impossible noise. An explosion rocked Erick up, out of his molecular wires, into the more open space above. A quick check revealed four Ophiel had lost temporary control of either the safety of their position in the wires, or their cohesion, and they splashed into the cutting field. His bag was out of the field, and down below, but it had still tumbled much further down before that Ophiel collected himself, and the bag.  

Erick hovered in his sunform, above a suddenly empty space in the skyline. 

Crystal towers had been broken, and smashed away from the explosion, creating a hole a good kilometer across. Glowing, shadowed kendrithyst was still crashing against each other and against his wires, as Erick hovered higher, and guided his Ophiel around the problems of Hollowsaur’s attack. Briefly checking his own Status, he saw he had not lost a single point of Health, out of his new, nearly 7000 Health pool. He had not lost any mana. He had not lost anyt—

Ah. His [Personal Ward] was kinda gone. Erick had protected that white surface rather well; keeping himself intangible, and also protected under the density provided by his [Lodestar], [Greater Lightwalk], and the Light Dedication Class Ability. He hadn’t expected his ‘sunform’ to be so effective, but it was. But even so: that explosion had gotten through. Not fully through. Anyone else would have died to that attack, though. Some of his Ophiel even had; probably due to a combination of the explosion, and [Hermetic Shredder]. Whatever the case, most of Erick’s 27,000 point [Personal Ward] was gone. It’d come back to full strength in 25 minutes, but that would still take 25 minutes. Erick wondered if he had that long.

Three seconds had passed since Hollowsaur’s attack. Erick collected himself above the broken and breaking skyline, waiting for Hollowsaur to join him. The Shade did not disappoint. Hollowsaur hovered into the sky in front of Erick, but remained a good fifty meters distant. 

“What was that?” Erick asked. “I thought you had a theme going. Spears. Blowguns. I heard you had pets, too.”

“I’m not killing my pets against you.” Hollowsaur said, “That was just a toad from the Jungle that happens to explode upon destruction.”

“Ah. Well.” Erick said, “Here’s my next attempt. It probably won’t kill you, but I just have to know.”

Erick did not wait till he had finished speaking to cast. Even Hollowsaur seemed to flinch, as a tendril of light shot forward, just to get close enough to cast a shaped [Luminous Trap], that was only Mana Shaped in order to give Erick even more range. A void-dark, ice-cream cone shape of a spell, slipped over Hollowsaur, even as the man tried to step away. He was almost fast enough to get away, too, if not for his left foot. That single foot was caught by the void space, and that was enough.

The orcol’s white eyes went wide.

With a slip and a pull that happened too fast to understand, Hollowsaur flowed into the [Luminous Trap]; vanishing completely. 

“Holy shit it worked,” Erick said.

A moment passed. Then another.

A spike of disbelief disrupted Erick’s hope. He wondered aloud, “Did that really happen?”

Erick waited. And waited. 

No notification of a kill. No further attacks. Five minutes had passed, but the [Luminous Trap] held in the air, darker than black. 

“Did that actually work?” Erick asked himself. 

He waited another minute, just to be sure. In the meanwhile, he resummoned his Ophiel. 

He called out to whoever might be looking, “I’m going to do more to him, now!” He mumbled, “If he’s still in there.”

Silence.

When there was no answer from anywhere around him, Erick spoke up, again, “I’m going to shoot some light into there. It might actually kill him. If you wish for me to not do this, then I’m going to need some assurances to make him do what I originally asked him to do.” He muttered, “He’s probably not even in there.”

Erick lifted his hand, and pointed at the void space—

“Hold,” said a voice. 

Erick lowered his hand, and regarded the intruder. They wore dark cloaks, or some sort of layered cloth outfit, and a featureless, black mask. They hovered a good hundred meters away; well out of the range of Erick’s spells. And then came another person. 

Undine stepped out into the air, also a hundred meters away, saying, “He’s a good guy, you know.”

Bulgan stepped out across from Undine, saying, “Let him go.”

The first person, the masked one, said, “He will be forced to abide by the terms of his deal, or else we will not save him a second time. You too, will need to abide by your deal.”

Erick said, “I am renegotiating. I give him nothing. He does what he should have done in the first place.”

The masked person said, “Give him the rest of the gems you have made and we will accept this compromise.”

“Accepted.” Erick said, “I am going to back up before I release him.”

Erick began stepping away from the dark cone. The visible Shades around him also did the same. Erick got two hundred meters away from the void-cone, then released the spell.

Roaring darkness flooded out of the space, like fire made solid, an explosion of shadows that crashed out and down to burn everything it could touch. Erick was too far away to be touched, but if he hadn’t have moved, he would have been in the thick of those flames. Where the dark fires touched, caught flame. Crystal burned. The molecular wires below burned, too. The very air seemed to turn hot, briefly, as the roaring, continuous explosion, stilled, and then shadowflames flowed together, a roar becoming a cry that fell silent, as Hollowsaur reformed in the center of the sky. He breathed heavily, as his white eyes glowed bright. He stared at the abyss below, and then his face whipped up. He glared at Erick. He almost spoke, but the masked person spoke first.

They said, “You will attempt to turn your captives back into functional people, and you will keep them safe until they can leave Kendrithyst under their own power. There will be no swindling on this deal, Hollowsaur. That you attempted to scheme at all is a disgrace; you would do well to remember this.” They continued, “In return, Erick will grant you twenty of the gems he promised, and that is all.”

Hollowsaur frowned, but he stood straight, and strong, and said, “Accepted.”

Erick had an Ophiel grab twenty of the silver gems out of his bag, then float over to Hollowsaur. 

Hollowsaur, for his part, slashed the air with more shadowflames, grabbing the gems in one swoop, as well as killing that Ophiel; burning the [Familiar] to black ash. The Shade looked to Erick, and said, “Thanks.”

And then he left. 

Erick had missed the departure, even though he wasn’t even capable of blinking. Hollowsaur just left, from one moment to the next; gone, as though he was never there. 

He got the distinct impression that he had been lucky. He said, “Alright then.”

Undine said, “See you at the party, Erick!” as she walked away. 

Bulgan said nothing before departing with the same swiftness that he had appeared. 

The masked person turned their mask toward Erick, held for a moment, then turned, and walked away, slowly, at first, but after their fifth step, they too vanished. 

Erick hovered in the sky for a little while, thinking, planning. Considering. 

Trying not to falter. 

Alone again, or as ‘alone’ as he could possibly be, Erick considered if he wanted to go and oversee how Hollowsaur was going to implement ‘soul healing’, or whatever it was he was slated to do. But he also wanted to check on the people he left at Dorofiend’s bend in the river. Doing the first would have invited reprisal, though he probably could check rather easily, if he put a [Scry] into the air far enough away from Hollowsaur’s plateau. It was still a risk, though. 

So Erick put a [Scry] into the air at Dorofiend’s place, instead. 

People were wearing clothes. The river looked cleaner than before; a lot cleaner. Lights had been put up to drive away the shadows, and those lights seemed to be working well enough. Erick counted eight people, some working on a perimeter, others working on the interior to turn the lair into a temporary home. 

Erick came back to himself, for Fallopolis had appeared.

Fallopolis stood in the air in front of him. She said, “I didn’t think [Luminous Trap] would work on a Shade. The possibility was always there, of course, back when Tulamana invented the same spell. But I didn’t expect it to actually work.”

Erick said, “I didn’t expect it to work, either.”

“Hmm.” Fallopolis turned to the south, saying, “Shall we?”

“Right beside you.”