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Dinner turned to drinking, which immediately became stories of the past, and of what had happened between then and now. Erick knew that everyone here who was not Teressa and Arathani were quickly headed into ‘third wheel’ territory. But, to Teressa and her auntie’s credit, they did not make him, or Poi, or Kiri, or Jane, feel unwelcome.

As the sky outside turned to night, Erick stepped up from the table during a lull between stories, and said, “Arathani, Yogdrick. Thank you for the wonderful—”

“You can’t go yet!” Arathani leapt up from her seat, saying, “I have cookies in the back! Dessert!”

Arathani did not wait for an answer, or recognition, as she tore off into the back room. She did that a lot. She had a nice, tough attitude, and Erick liked that about her. He smiled as Arathani came back with a giant basket filled with enough cookies to choke a small dragon, or at least several orcols. She set the basket on a separate dining room table, saying, “Berry and oat! I made a batch for the school for tomorrow, but you can take some. Take a dozen! I’ll get you a to-go plate.”

As others moved to get going, Teressa rose from her seat, too—

Erick said, “You can stay, Teressa. Spend the night if you wish?”

“Yes!” Arathani put a hand on Teressa’s shoulder, firmly planting the younger woman back onto her seat, saying, “We’ll have her back to you tomorrow safe as antirhine!”

“Auntie.” Teressa began protesting, “Sir. I do not have to stay—”

“You can, though.” Erick put on a false bossy facade, saying, “But I’ll expect you back tomorrow morning, soon as you’re able.”

“Please?” Arathani asked Teressa. “We got a nice room right upstairs for guests, and we’ve got a lot to talk about.” She teared up, saying, “You’ve been gone for so long and we had that awful fight—” She shook her head. “Please stay, Teressa.”

Teressa said, “Sure. Of course I’ll stay. Thanks for having me, Auntie.”

Erick said a few more goodbyes, then left, trailing three of his four people and carrying a plate of cookies.

Teressa and her Auntie would end up talking long into the night.

- - - -

Teressa walked in as Erick set out breakfast.

“Hey there!” Erick said, “Welcome back!”

Teressa smiled softly, and said, “Good to be back. She’s invited us all to dinner again. This time she promises it will be something special… And I promised her that I would tell you that, but we don’t have to go.”

Jane said, “I liked her food.”

“I liked it too, and we got time for this sort of thing. I haven’t heard back from O’kabil or that Chieftain about anything.” Erick said, “So we’ll go back to Arathani’s, unless you would rather go yourself, without us. That is perfectly fine, too. Family is important, after all.”

Teressa said, “Then let’s go back there for dinner.”

Erick nodded, saying, “Then we will! But other than that, you all do whatever you want to do. I’m going to actually, truly try to stay in today. Get some work done.” He added, “Record players won’t make themselves, after all!”

- - - -

Two hours later, Erick sat before Chieftain Wyrmrest and the man in charge of the Special Forces of Treehome. While the first was an orcol man of poise and strength, the second was an orcol man of blood-red plate armor and a no-nonsense face with quite a few scars. More scars than Erick had ever seen on an orcol, too. Of course, ‘more than he had ever seen’ also meant ‘one or two’, in the case of orcols, but this dude was scarred up like any human or incani Juggernaut you’d find in Spur’s Adventuring District at any time of the day.

Hollowsaur didn’t count for Erick’s idea of ‘orcols with scars’.

Peron introduced the scarred man, saying, “Archmage Erick Flatt, I would like you to meet Warchief Koropo Ikabobbi, leader of the Special Forces of Treehome, and the man who has been fighting the cultist menace for years.”

Erick said, “Nice to meet you, Koropo. Please call me Erick.”

Koropo paused in surprise, much like how a rock could be surprised, then spoke in a particularly deep voice, saying, “Informal, then. Erick. I heard you had some conditions for your support. What are they?”

“I won’t track down simple cultists. I will track down murderers, Hunters, and terrorists. Anyone who has taken a life in service to Melemizargo qualifies to be hunted, but I’d like you to be sparing with your targets, if you can.” Erick thought for a second, then, deciding that his words had been good enough, said, “That’s about it.” He gestured to Poi, standing behind him, adding, “And my guard and friend, Poi Fulisade, will be verifying the truth of your words, and any questions I have regarding any of the paperwork. Broadly speaking, I have no reason not to trust your word that the people you seek are dangerous killers, so please don’t give me a reason to not trust you.”

Peron said nothing and gave none of his emotions or biases away as he watched the conversation between Erick and Koropo.

Koropo said, “If I catch cultists in my net they will be tried and found guilty of consorting with The Enemy. The usual punishment for that is execution. If you want to take them off of my hands, then I’ll give them to you, but I will not go easy on the enablers of the Hunters, murderers, and terrorists.”

Erick blanked for a minute, then said, “No. I want you to let them be. Just don’t prosecute them.” He added, “This should not be a hard thing to compromise on.”

“If you don’t want them, then why should I have to deal with them? Don’t you have a city full of cultists?” Koropo said, “If they’re too dangerous for you, then we should just kill them and be done with it, and when we do catch them and we do kill them, I won’t have you gainsaying me in my decisions about my city.”

“Ah. So you don’t want my help at all.” Erick stood up, getting ready to leave, saying, “Sorry we couldn’t come to an arrangement.”

“I apologize for my dutiful Special Forces.” Peron stood, saying, “Please sit back down, Erick, and let us continue these discussions.”

Erick turned to Poi. “Is he actually apologizing, or is he playing ‘good cop bad cop’ with Koropo, just to see how far they can push me?” He turned back to the orcols, saying, “Because at the first sign that my wishes aren’t being upheld, then I am gone, and I will not be persuaded by Peron trying to placate me when you, Koropo, go ‘off all on your own’ and kill some stupid, idiot cultists who don’t know any better. If that is indeed what you’re both planning on doing.”

While Peron’s face remained the same mask as ever, Koropo’s scarred visage gained a hard-edged smile. Poi did not need to answer; Erick gained everything he needed to know right then. Peron was the actual bad cop, here, while Koropo was only pretending to be the bad cop at Peron’s behest, because, at the end of the day, Peron was the boss and Koropo was the underling.

Poi remained silent.

Koropo stood, and continued to play his part, saying, “I can respect you for murdering the Shades and turning the survivors into soul-slaved helpers, but this is how they get you, Erick. You’re doing what every single cult leader has ever done, just on a much larger scale.

“The leaders start the initiates off small, having them give gifts in the shadows to the Darkness. Then it’s compassion. Then comes a feeling of belonging. Then comes the request that the initiate prove their worth to the cult, and I’m not just speaking of Melemizargo’s Cult. This is how they all work. The people on top draw the people on the bottom into their webs of lies and comfort, and the people in bottom thus draw even more people in, and the cycle continues.

“All of the people in these cults are all part of the problem. Even if we cut the heads off of the wyrm, they always grow back, because that’s what tumors do when you only cut out the parts that are causing direct harm. For that’s what the Cult of Melemizargo does. It stays dormant for years. And then all of a sudden, there’s a crisis manufactured by the people in charge, usually when they find an initiate willing to kill to solve their problems. One problematic person becomes two, becomes five, and then you’ve got a string of murders on your hands, and too many murderers covering for each other.

“So your insistence that we ‘leave the simple Cultists alone’ is asking for us to leave the wyrm alone while it regrows its teeth.” Koropo said, “I will not do this, and if you won’t help clear out the entire cult, then I don’t need your shitty help, because as soon as we move on them with your kind of power, they’ll activate every single dormant member, instructing them all to kill as much as they can, to take out as many leaders and key people as they can before we can pin them to the wall.” Koropo said, “It’s happened before, and it will happen again.”

Silence descended upon the room.

No one spoke.

Erick glanced to Poi.

Poi said, “Warchief Ikabobbi believes what he is saying, and the event that he is referring to is the Insurrection of 1406, thirty years ago, when a string of massacres inside Treehome was found out to be the result of Cultists.”

Erick felt himself go a little pale, then mentally reminded himself that he didn’t always know everything, and that this wasn’t Earth. Erick’s experience with the Cult was not everyone’s experience with the Cult. He sat back down, saying, “Fine. Let’s talk.”

Koropo and Peron sat back down.

Erick said, “My initial statement stands, but there is an amendment: If they start doing what you say, then I will help you eliminate them all. If they do not activate their sleeper agents, if they do not start killing indiscriminately, then I want you to leave them alone. I will leave it up to you to proceed however you wish in order to enable a quick kill on whichever targets you desire, without alerting too many to what is going on, but, if possible, I ask you to detain and then release whoever you capture who is not directly responsible for some atrocity.”

Koropo said, “There will be collateral damage, no matter how much my people would wish to avoid such. I need to know that you’re in this till it’s over, no matter what happens, otherwise you’re a liability I won’t risk. I won’t risk stirring the dragon’s nest with a partner that is going to [Teleport] out at the first sign of trouble.”

“I’m taking a risk here, too, Koropo.” Erick said, “If you aren’t willing to take a risk that I’ll leave as soon as I see you harming innocents, then maybe you’re right. We shouldn’t be doing this at all.”

While Koropo slightly narrowed his eyes, in what had to be either a practiced or naturally perfect manner, Erick waited. He had given his line-in-the-sand, knowing that it would be tested, going forward. He hoped his morality wouldn’t be tested too harshly.

Another silence stretched through the meeting room.

Koropo said, “What do you need to find people?”

“… Are we going to do this, then? Will you abide by my rules? Both in spirit and to the letter?”

“Fine, dammit.” Koropo laid a gauntleted fist on the table right as Peron’s mask slipped, and the Chieftain’s anger briefly showed to the world. Koropo tapped the wood with a thick, armored finger, saying, “But listen to me when I say that stepping out halfway will be worse than doing nothing. Listen when I say that collateral damage is expected. We fully expect a large-scale retaliation, and we will be preparing some specific countermeasures to counteract that, but— Gods dammit, I’m usually the one telling my hothead subordinates not to get carried away.” He took away his hand, adding, “I haven’t been on this side of the table in forty years.” He stared Erick right in the eyes, saying, “I need you to go the distance with us. The Cult of Melemizargo must be eradicated from Treehome and the surrounding lands. Roots and all. I can’t have you getting scared halfway through. And I mean that.”

Erick softly asked, “What sort of large-scale retaliation?”

Koropo sat back in his chair, saying, “Archmage Syllea’s brother, Omaz, is one of the Cult leaders, so. Something on that level, and Syllea will likely get involved, too. Do you know Omaz? Anything about him?”

“No…” Keeping the sudden horror out of his voice, Erick said, “I met him once. But. No. I don’t know the man. At all.”

Koropo said, “He’s picked up some tricks from his sister over the many years. She’s got that famous [Starlight Fall] magic. He’s got it, too.” He whipped out a blue box and gave it to Erick. “According to Syllea, this one is Omaz’s version. It’s a pale imitation of the original, but it’s still an existential threat.”

--

Starlight Fall, instant, super long range, 35,000 mana

Conjure countless stars down to Veird, each creating a small explosion for 25x WIL per star.

--

It was almost the same spell that Syllea had shared with him way back when. He looked at that one, now, and saw that they were pretty similar.

--

Starlight Fall, instant, super long range, 29,900 mana

Conjure countless stars down to Veird, each creating a large explosion for 50x WIL per star.

--

Erick mumbled, “Syllea is better than her brother, but…”

“But ‘countless’ stars is still ‘countless’,” Koropo said.

Erick asked, “How many is ‘countless’, anyway?”

Peron said, “About three million, over a ten kilometer diameter space. Normal [Dispel]s are useless. You need a [Chaining Dispel] to counter those magics.”

Dawning horror turned into something darker, as Erick realized what sort of ‘Cultists’ he was going up against. At least when he had been in Shadow’s Feast, no one could escape the Feast Barrier, and he didn’t have to worry about hostages and collateral damage. But this? This was worrying.

Koropo said, “Syllea gave me a breakdown of her brother’s capabilities when he proved himself a traitor. Pretty much the only spells he has are Star-based, so we don’t have to worry too much about Blood or Soul magic, but the fucking traitor probably hid that stuff from her. You see it all the time with these types. They lead double lives in the shadows, practicing ritual murder and conspiring in ways that any normal person would never consider doing. As for what Syllea knew, Omaz is at least level 75, and he certainly has Intelligence. Syllea clocked her brother at a max of 36,000 mana, or 150 Willpower, but that could be a screen, too. If he gets the chance to retaliate, then he would certainly put on some temporary Stat Rings to boost his Willpower higher. That much mana in a mage would normally be a limiting factor, even if it is rather high, but with his Intelligence, we have no doubt that he can cast his [Starlight Fall] at least ten times in a row, and still have mana left to escape.”

A lot of things stuck out in that little bit of information, but what Erick focused on, was asking, “How are you able to wear casters out?” He clarified, “I mean: You speak of how many times he can cast his spells, and I think you’re vastly underestimating the value of Intelligence, but I have literally never seen a long fight. Everything is always over within minutes, if not faster. Do you plan on winning by wearing out the opposition? Is that a real win condition? How do you do that and not just kill them, accidentally or otherwise?”

Peron couldn’t help but smile, it seemed. “Not everyone’s magic is as strong as an archmage’s.”

“Ah.” Erick said, “Well. Yes. My experience with fighting is not normal. I accept that. But you can still Critical someone by hitting them in the head.”

Peron nodded, accepting Erick’s words as they were.

Koropo said, “We have a lot of experience taking down strong targets while minimizing casualties. The problems arise when people outside of the targets get wind of what we’re doing to their friends. They start shit where we can’t see them, and where we’re not prepared. Which is what will happen if we do this wrong.” Koropo asked, “But is the question you’re asking about taking down targets without killing them?”

“Yes. How do you do that?”

Koropo nodded, then said, “Most of the people in my Special Units have vetted experience with Blood Magic and Soul Magic, and most of them are Mage Hunters, but we also have a few Warrior Hunters for the less usual targets.” Koropo said, “I’m a Witch Hunter myself. All of us have high-rate [Mana Drain Wards] which we can latch onto various targets we're actively fighting. We even have several people with [Curse of Locality], to prevent [Teleport], as well as counterspellers to prevent the use of magic. But our best offense, is to take people out before they realize they’re in a fight. We don’t like long fights, either, for when that happens, something has gone wrong. But if we do end up in a long fight, we’re always at an advantage because our Drain spells not only deny the targets many of their resources, but we take those resources for ourselves. That is what Mage Hunters do.”

Koropo’s words were a shock to Erick’s mind. How could he have forgotten about [Drain Ward]? The rate it drained was rather slow, but there had to be some way to make it drain faster!

[Drain Ward] was an inherent part of [Ward]’s big blue box, and Erick had somehow forgotten about that when it came time to think of ways to incapacitate a person without killing them. He had certainly remembered the Drain part of [Ward] when he was making [Ward Destruction], though!

And then there was the Class itself.

Erick recalled all of what he had heard of Mage Hunters. The first time he heard about them was back when he was wondering about ways to take mana from someone else, for his own use, and for ways to give his own mana to another person. Kiri suggested Mage Hunter as the Class that took mana from a target, then she told him that Font was the Class that gave mana to another person.

He had heard about Mage Hunters again, when he was asking around how to figure out the [Polymorph] problem; how to track a person through the vagaries of [Polymorph]. Even [Cascade Imaging] didn’t break that absolute protection provided by [Polymorph]’s lifestyle shift. [Cascade Imaging] sidestepped that problem by being able to track shed DNA, and that stuff got around, especially if the [Polymorph] target didn’t take special steps to clean themselves between shifts.

Erick sighed to himself, as he considered making a Health and Mana [Drain Ooze] to complement his Counterspelling [Blood Ooze]. Such a spell would go well with his eventual [Anesthesia] Particle Spell. Maybe a few Wind spells just to tie it all together. Bloody Wind spells, too.

… He could pretend to be a Mage Hunter, when he was out in the world, going incognito. That actually seemed really good.

He wasn’t out to lie about his life going forward. He wasn’t seeking a new identity. Just something that he could don when traveling through, like, Nergal and the Underworld and Nelboor and… And pretty much anywhere except for Treehome. He had already fucked up his chances to be incognito in this city, even if it was rather large.

Only five seconds passed in silence while Erick thought. He came back to the conversation, thinking of how Caizoa followed him through his lightstepping, and asked, “What about following people through a [Teleport]? Do you have some ways to do that?”

“Of course.” Koropo, straight-faced but with the barest hint of pride in his voice, said, “You don’t get to be Special Forces unless you have [Teleport Link] or some other niche spells or abilities. A full 25% of my people can do this.” He turned sterner, slightly, and said, “But that’s dangerous. We don’t do that on any but the highest value targets, and only if they’re fully debuffed. No telling where you might end up once that tether gets latched on. They drill a lot of lessons into us when we’re at the academy.”

“Do you have Mercy spells to incapacitate, too?”

Koropo nodded, saying, “And Draining Cuffs and a Tattooist for more permanent means of incapacitation.”

“Then…” Erick said, “We need a test run. I need to see how you work, and you need to see how I can help you. Name your time and place.”

Koropo said, “Now, and just down the hall. We have some targets outside of the Cultists that we would like gone, but which we haven’t been able to find. You get us close, and we can take it from there. I can promise you now that the targets I can put together in the next hour will not test your line in the sand at all, or else we have a much bigger problem on our hands than I thought.”

Erick said, “I may be a pacifist, Koropo, but even I know that some people don’t deserve multiple chances.” He added, “Our definitions of acceptable targets are likely more in line than you think.”

Koropo’s stoic face took on the tiniest smile, as he said, “We’ll see.”

Peron, however, was not happy at all, but he said nothing.

Erick had met with Koropo and Peron inside Wyrmrest’s home office, which was located on the other side of the Arbor from Syllea’s house. As their first meeting ended, Erick followed Koropo and Peron to the next room. They passed by a training yard next to Arbor Wyrmrest’s trunk. It looked rather similar to the space beside Syllea’s house, which was somewhere directly on the other side. Erick wondered if she knew that her Chieftain and Warchief were hunting her brother. He wondered if Syllea knew that he was helping Peron and Koropo to hunt for her brother.

There was some drama waiting to happen there, when she found out.

Would she want to go hunting for her brother, too? Or would she try to stay away? Ah… She probably felt really bad when it turned out Omaz was a traitor. Erick had a hard time imagining what he would do if any one of his people turned traitor, becoming a pawn of Melemizargo’s insanity.

Rats, or rather, Xendross Sands, as was his real name… He was the closest thing Erick had ever encountered to a traitor, and even that would be stretching the meaning of the term so far as to be untruthful. Rats leaving had hurt an awful lot, and that was probably nothing compared to losing a brother to the Darkness.

Koropo led the way into a large office, filled with wall space, mobile blackboards, corkboards, and several tables. The room was empty, and possibly recently cleaned, as evidenced by the order of it all. There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. It looked ready for work; for papers to be splashed and tacked up on a cork board, and for clues to be written on blackboards. A double stack of chairs rested in a corner, waiting to be spread around the room, while a glass dome in the ceiling let in scattered light, offering a great view of Wyrmrest, so high in the sky he seemed frozen in time. Erick strained for a moment to look for movement. Person-sized leaves rustled in the wind, kilometers above, as Starfruit gently glowed, even in the light of day.

Koropo spoke, and Erick’s attention came back to his surroundings. He said, “If this works, this room is our headquarters. I don’t want your map or that glowing ball over the space, unless we have to do that. I will need your Imaging off-site, and a recreation made here for us and Wyrmrest to see, but if you can’t do the recreation in addition to the map then I can have someone else make that. There’ll be some adjustments as we learn to work together, but as for our first target—” He lifted his head. A telepathic line of intent flowed from him, into the starlit manasphere. “I just got a call from one of our team leaders. She’ll be here soon. She’s been chasing this guy for years—”

The air blipped on the other side of the room, revealing a thin orcol woman with dark green skin, short black hair, and dark eyes. She wore ruddy leather armor. Real armor too. Not the conjured stuff.

She put a fist over her chest, and bowed, saying, “Sir!”

“Speak of the Darkness—” Koropo said, “Squad Leader Naervion. Meet Archmage Erick Flatt. Erick, meet Naervion.” Koropo indicated Poi, saying, “This is Erick’s Mind Mage oversight for this meeting. You will comply with a mental scan of whatever the Archmage wants, and answer all his questions as truthfully as you can, and he’ll be doing the searching. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes sir. Thank you for this honor!” Naervion stood at attention, asking, “Where should I start?”

Erick asked, “Before that. Something else is bothering me. Why don’t the Arbors see the killers and such? They see everything, don’t they?”

Peron stepped into the conversation, saying, “They only see when they want to see, or when their attention is called. For the most part, all of these problems mostly happen outside of the Districts, in the nomadic parts of Treehome. These itinerant lands are the problem, as we find almost all of our targets out there. Don’t go blaming Wyrmrest for stuff that happens outside of his perusal.”

Koropo added, “Almost all the area you’re going to be searching, Archmage, is well outside of Treehome. From the Wyrmrest mountains to the deep Forest, to the coasts surrounding the Forests. These people might commit their crimes here, but they live elsewhere. Sometimes we manage to catch them when they show up here, but mostly, we find them in the itinerant lands.” He gestured back to Naervion.

Naervion waited for Erick to speak again.

“Well, okay then.” Erick stepped toward the woman, closing a little of the distance, and asked, “Who are we hunting, and why? If there’s gore or other horrors involved, just be up front about it. I’ve seen some shit so don’t worry about offending me.”

With utter professionalism, and relaxing only a little, Naervion began, “We call him the Flower Killer. He is one of the few who come in and kill directly under the Arbor’s boughs. He’s operated under the canopies of practically every single Arbor, too. He’s one of the more dangerous ones.”

Peron almost frowned, but he kept that under control.

Naervion gestured to a blackboard. “The paperwork is on the way, and should be here in minutes, but—” With great control she cast several images into the air, directly onto the slate. She explained what she had conjured, saying, “The corpse is always laid directly on the ground, in the sun. The chest is always methodically pried open, with the organs mostly intact, except for the heart. With the heart thus exposed, the Flower Killer then plants a Carmine Lilly directly in the heart, and then [Grow]s it to full size, meaning a green stalk of about a meter long with a fist-sized brush-like flower on top. He has been doing this for the last twenty nine years, at least twice a year, and though the exact date changes, he always finds a victim during the Triumph of Light. The second one usually comes six or seven months later. Sometimes he drops two bodies at a time.” She added, “We haven’t found the victim for this Triumph yet, so we don’t think he’d killed yet.”

Erick looked toward Poi.

Poi nodded.

Erick turned back toward Naervion, asking, “How has your investigation gone so far?”

“I took up the cause when my previous Squad Leader was killed by the Flower Killer, years ago.” Naervion lost a bit more of her professionalism, growing angry for a brief moment, before stuffing that emotion down and away. She continued, “We’ve tried policing Carmine Lilies, but that was basically a fool’s errand. They’re—” She almost continued, but she instantly changed track, saying, “We’ve tried Seers. Blood Mages to track him down. Necromancers, in the rare case that the victim’s family has agreed to such a thing, in order to call back the dead and ask questions. Nothing has worked. The Flower Killer doesn’t stick to a single District. He doesn’t stick to a single type of victim. But we do know a few things about him. We know that he is a fantastic Polymage and that he routinely changes bodies, and that he is a remorseless killer.”

“How do you know he’s a ‘he’?”

“When we have had a necromancer call back the soul of the victims, we were able to ask enough to know that they were attacked by a man. Some have called the man tall, or fat, or short, or muscular, or skinny, with everything from brown hair to white to black. This is how we know— How we suspect, very strongly, that he is a Polymage.” She said, “But there’s no real way to verify that information. Our resident Necromancer was barely able to pull together that much, as the Flower Killer opens the target’s chest while they are alive, killing their target with horrific pain. It is a horrible way to go and leaves a lot of trauma on the soul.”

Erick nodded, then asked, “So why did you interrupt yourself regarding the Carmine Lillies?”

Every orcol in the room turned slightly uncomfortable.

“Oh!” Erick understood. He said, “It’s a Red Dream thing.” While Koropo suddenly had to cough and look away, Peron blinked long, and Naervion went stock still, her eyes glazing over as she mentally retreated inward. Erick asked, “Or is it a funeral thing, for the Red Dream?”

Naervion whispered, “And he keeps saying it.”

Erick said, “And I’m a part of the Red Dream, too. Did a Quest for Aloethag, bringing someone back from the Rage. I know all about all of that. Even had my own ‘experience’ with it not too soon after that Quest completion. Had no idea what was going on. I thought it was real.”

An intern, or a clerk, walked into the room at that moment, carrying a large box of papers, then walked right back out.

Erick continued, “So less embarrassment, and more talking. Like I said: I’ve seen some shit.” He thumbed toward Poi, saying, “And he’s a Mind Mage! He’s seen worse than everyone in this room, no doubt!”

Koropo sniffed, once, then said, “Like the archmage says, Squad Leader. Full disclosure.”

“Apologies, sir.” She corrected herself, saying. “Sirs.” Naervion breathed deep, then said, “The Flower Killer is tied symbolically to the Red Dream, somehow, and we’re not quite sure how. Aloethag won’t help find the killer, but there is a long-standing Quest to find and kill the Flower Killer.”

“Oh!” Erick said, “Hold on, one second.” He turned to his Quest Board, and searched for ‘Flower Killer’.

A blue box appeared.

--

Find or Kill the Flower Killer

Find: 0/1

Kill: 0/1

Reward: 2 points, ???

Note: Half reward for a location that leads to a kill.

Poster: Aloethag, Goddess of Beauty and Brutality

Lesser Posters: The Arbors of Treehome; Wyrmrest, O’kabil, Firebrand, Icebrand, Rottundra, Heral-ken, Home, Nosier, Leaf-cutter, Redarrow, Steel Branch, Ikabobbi. The collective tribes of Treehome.

--

Erick said, “I have a Quest for that, now.”

Naervion asked, “You have a Quest Board?”

Koropo said, “Most high-level people do, Squad Leader.”

“Recently acquired, yes.” Erick said, “Still getting used to it.” But noticing that Naervion knew what a Quest Board was, he asked, “How do these Quests get made, anyway? Or posted, rather?”

Naervion glanced to Peron. Koropo did the same.

Peron said, “A Quest maker, usually a mortal, beseeches a Relevant Entity for sponsorship, usually through a Church, and then gives over whatever they wish to give for the Quest Reward. Around here, the Arbors and the Chieftains each give portions of their power to institute some of those Quests, but for Quests that the gods make themselves, they grant power from themselves to empower those Quests.”

“Huh,” Erick said. Then he gestured to some of the diagrams and dates drawn in wardlight on the corkboard, saying, “Run me through this, from the top? How to find this guy? Don’t have to do much, though. This is a valid kill, as far as I’m concerned. I just want to know how we’ll be working together.”

Naervion said, “Certainly. The Flower Killer first appeared...”

- - - -

A bell rang overhead, set to chiming by the opening of the door, as Rudidi walked into the shop. The scent of a dozen different orchids swirled around him as he started down the main aisle, searching for his target. He almost stopped to smell the flowers well before he spotted the one he had come here for, because it wasn’t every day that you see such perfectly cultured specimens. Why, the reds of that Bloodheart Orchid were simply divine! And that Radiant Dew! It sparkled like frozen light. ...But.

No. He was here for a certain orchid. A specific target.

And then he saw it. He had not been lied to.

He almost froze on the spot. A Flaming Sapphire orchid! He sighed out the sigh of a man who had finally found water in the desert. It was a perfect specimen, too. The sweeping, upward curves of the blue stem matched the upward curves of the transparent blue flowers. It glowed with health, and with a bit of mana, too.

Rudidi was so enthralled by the Flaming Sapphire, that he didn’t notice the employee of the shop coming up from his right. The man spoke, “It’s a—”

“Wha—!” Rudidi practically jumped a half meter. Then he instantly realized he wasn’t in any danger. He smiled, sighed again, and said, “Didn’t see you there.” He gestured to the orchid. “How did you ever get such a fantastic Flaming Sapphire to grow so well? I must have it. I’ve been looking for one of these for a very long time.”

Rudidi noticed the exact moment that he lost the purchase. This employee was the only employee here, and the shop was rather off the normal paths, and though it was technically inside Arbor Nosier’s domain, it was also technically outside of that Arbor’s domain. It was just a flower shop, after all. The flowers here weren’t even that magical. Most of them, anyway.

Those various facts, combined with Rudidi asking how the man managed to get the flower to grow so well, and then speaking of directly purchasing it, caused the employee, or more accurately, the owner, to narrow his eyes, and frown.

The owner said, “If you can’t take care of him, then you don’t deserve to own him. Get out of my garden.”

Rudidi instantly said, “I’m very terribly sorry, sir. I shouldn’t have said such an awful thing about such a nice orchid. I do know how to take care of them, sir, but every time I get them to bud, they go up in flames! How did you manage to arrest the impetus to self-immolate? Please, tell me how you manage to get yours to live?”

The owner’s frown deepened. He took another look at Rudidi’s clothes, which were rather nice, but said nothing. Rudidi had certainly started off on the wrong path with this man.

Rudidi tried, “I will pay you the price of this one if you can just tell me. I still have bulbs that I have in storage, but I fear growing another if they’re just going to burn down my garden like that one did.” Rudidi shivered, recalling waking to that blue fire. That had been awful.

The owner scowled. “What sort of fool horticulturalist are you? You can’t grow a Flaming Sapphire?”

“Well… I can. Technically.” Rudidi scratched the back of his head, then asked, “I can pay you for the cost of this orchid, if you will help me with some information? How much is it, anyway?”

The owner crossed their arms, then said, “It’s 25 gold.”

Rudidi didn’t even balk at the inflated costs, or at least he tried not to. Something must have shown, for the owner got a rather disgusted look on his face.

The owner said, “No. Get out of my shop. You don’t deserve—”

“But! Please!” Rudidi got closer to the man, pleading, “I need—”

Before their relationship could deteriorate any more, Rudidi whipped a hand out, up, and directly into the owner’s chest, driving inward with all of his might. The man didn’t even know what had hit him as Rudidi grabbed onto what was left of the man’s heart, his hand encircling a mass of tough vines that had evaded all attempts to tell them apart from actual arteries and veins until just half an hour ago, when Archmage Flatt narrowed in on this space and confirmed what no one else could see. The Flower Killer was part flower himself.

Right as Rudidi’s hand struck true, four people stepped out of the shadows and into the room. One cast an entangling [Ward] that wrapped around the Flower Killer, into his body, and then down into his heart, draining Mana. Another cast a similar spell that began draining Health. The third person cast a special Curse onto the Flower Killer, preventing it from using all Spatial Magic for a short while; hopefully their presence would prove to be superfluous. The fourth was a new person, and so their timing was off, slightly. They cast a flash of black magic into the air, instantly killing every plant in the room, turning precious, well-tended flowers into naught but sludge—

Rudidi banished that stupid thought, and focused on herself, and the mission. Naervion, with her arm in the Flower Killer’s chest, finally had another second of the battle to use another attack. As the Flower Killer’s heart flailed against her touch, trying to dig into her hands, but faltering because of the pulse of black that turned it weaker than a shadowolf, Naervion pulsed burning light through her hand.

The Flower Killer’s skeleton, along with all the vines and roots inside of him, turned radiant, illuminating him from the inside-out, before flashing through his skin, and detonating the body. Blood, organs, bone, and roots, exploded into the room, splattering against everything and everyone.

No notification came.

And yet, there she was, currently [Polymorph]ed into Rudidi, with her hand empty, and still, no notification.

She didn’t have to yell that the target was getting away. She had worked with most of these people before, and they all knew what ‘no notification’ meant. Every single person in that room should have gotten at least 1% if the target was dead.

“There!” shouted the new guy, as he pointed at the ceiling at a glob of flesh and root stuck up there, but slightly moving.

Fire and lightning blew a hole in the stone ceiling, revealing the light from outside. Still no notification. Three awful, terrible seconds had passed since the start of the actual fight. Naervion leapt through the roof.

She paused. Anger stilled, as she saw the salvation of her fuck up, hovering in the air before her.

A fluttering abomination of light, eyes, and wings, shone like a second sun had come down to Veird. A pleasant trilling of violins flowed on the breeze, as Naervion’s eyes moved from ‘Ophiel’ to what looked almost like a solar flare coming off of the [Familiar]. Inside that pustule of light, was a ball of bloody roots. It struggled against its confines like a crazed spider.

Erick’s voice came through the air, “It’s trapped. It’s not going anywhere; not with those spells and that Curse you put on it, but at the same time, I don’t want to kill it—” He seemed to change tactics, as he said, “I mean: I don’t want to kill it because then I’ll get full Quest completion.” He said, “I won’t steal this win from you if you want to kill it yourself.”

“I’m not an ‘it’!” yelled the ball of roots. “I’m just trying to have a child! Let me go! Don’t do this to m—”

Something happened to the light around the Flower Killer. It railed harder against its cage, but no sound came out.

Naervion took one look at the Flower Killer, the one who had killed her former boss, the one she desperately wanted to kill herself, and knew that if she asked for the chance to kill it while Erick held it, it might be able to slip away. She couldn’t take that chance. She said, “Kill the fucking thing and be done with it!”

Ophiel’s glowing light flexed around the root ball, crushing inward, twisting, then flexing back out.

And the rootball still moved. Still, no notification appeared.

Erick’s voice came through, “What is this thing made of?”

He crushed again, and with a great deal more force than probably necessary. Naervion watched as the very air seemed to crack and break as light piled into light, crushing, tearing, and forming even brighter cracks in the radiance all around.

The air popped, as the root ball broke inward, all resistance vanishing.

A notification came, like blessed rain after a drought. Naervion looked upon the proof of death, and blinked long, as a wave of memories came over her that she would spend a long time dissecting. Disbelief, rage, acceptance, even more disbelief. She sniffled, then [Polymorph]ed back into her normal body. When she opened her eyes again, Ophiel was still there. The notification was still there, and she would deal with that later. Her old boss’s final theories had been right, and Archmage Flatt had proved him right, or at least on the right track.

--

You have slain Carmine Changeling Vine!

31 % participation!

+20,328,157,991,507 exp

--

And then a second notification joined the first.

--

Special Quest Complete!

Find or Kill the Flower Killer

Find: 0/1

Kill: 1/1

Reward: 1 point

--

Erick seemed happier, as he said, “Oh! Quest Complete! And I didn’t get major Kill credit. Who did? All I got was 30 percent.”

All Naervion wanted to do was visit the old boss’s grave and tell him how he could rest easy, now that the Flower Killer was dead. But she maintained poise. She said, “That would be me, sir. 31 percent.”

“Very good then. I'm glad it worked out like that.” Erick asked, “So? Next target?”

“Right!” Naervion rolled with the emotional punch to her face, the quick shift from one problem to then think about the next, muttering, “The next target.”

She’d go to the old boss’s grave after work. Or maybe in a few days, when work calmed down. She had seen the map that Erick had summoned. She had seen the ease at which he put together facts and postulated answers that no one had thought of. No one, except for one.

The old boss was the first to consider that the Flower Killer was a plant himself. Because of that, some of those files were left in the case file, and Erick had seen them. And yet, even the old boss had given up his thoughts of killer plants when further pursuit of the ‘plant angle’ got them nothing and brought them no closer to catching the Flower Killer. For if the Flower Killer was a Deathsoul Shroom, or a Changeling Vine, or a Meat Gardner, then why were the victims left with their soul, or why were there victims at all? Deathsoul Shrooms consumed the person from the inside out, eating their soul, as they spread spores over a population center. The Flower Killer didn’t do that. Changeling Vines ate their victims whole, before spitting out copies to entice or force more people into the Forest. The Flower Killer left their victims in the middle of roads, or other sun-filled places, with a Carmine Orchid growing out of their opened rib cage. Meat Gardners fit the Flower Killer’s profile the best, but even those treant-like beasts weren’t methodical enough to drop bodies every 6 to 7 months.

But a Variant Changeling Vine?!

Someone had to have made that. Someone created that creature, on purpose. The creature spoke, too, so some soul magic had to be involved. Or maybe the creators were trying for an intelligent Changeling Vine? Those plants were already almost creatures, based on intelligence alone. Maybe the old boss had gone back to the plant angle on his own, off the record, and gotten himself killed for it…

Some Cultist probably made that Carmine Changeling Vine. The arrival of that killer was pretty close to the Insurrection 30 years ago. Was there something to that angle, there? Maybe the old boss had pursued that angle, too.

Ahhh. Yet another thing to tell the old boss when Naervion visited his grave. But then again, he probably already knew. He was probably watching them from the Red Dream right now, and smiling.

We finally got the bastard, sir.

- - - -

Erick sat up in his chair. “That ‘Carmine Changeling Vine’ was just trying to procreate? Huh?” After a moment, he asked, “Failed experimental monster? Or a dead-end natural evolution?”

Poi said, “No way of knowing, sir.”

Koropo, who oversaw the whole operation from his own [Viewing Screen], from his own seat to the side, said, “A lot of blame for these sorts of things is irrationally laid at the feet of the Cultists of Melemizargo, and the Forest produces a lot of strange monsters... But my gut is telling me that this was a Cult project. Chimeras usually are, and this one managed to live underneath Nosier for a long while.” He added, “The only time that happens is when the Cult is involved.”

Erick didn’t want to argue with the man. The Halls of the Dead and their Queen Daydropper had no known ties to the Cult of Melemizargo. The Flare Couatl was a product of Messalina. Messalina made the Toxic Hydras, too, centuries ago. But he recognized that he lived in Spur, a land where Cultists could not survive at all, and why would they want to? Ar’Kendrithyst was a safe haven for them, just on the horizon.

Erick said, “A lot of people make monsters. If this was a Cult-made monster, then I doubt it would have failed to procreate after all this time. I have a feeling that it was actually a strange cross-pollination event, perhaps involving dragon essence, since that is a melting pot of biology.” He added, “I’m just glad you guys had samples of every possible monster you’ve encountered. I couldn’t have tracked down this chimera without those.”

“I’m surprised those samples worked for you. We keep them around for Scanning people we have in custody for the stranger of the Forest’s infections, but that long range Scan of yours is something else...” Koropo’s gravely voice turned fractionally harder, as he asked, “How did that work, exactly? Never seen that kind of Blood Magic before.”

Erick said, “The less people that know about this right now, the better. I will not answer that question.”

Koropo grumbled something resembling either assent, or resignation. And then he returned to work. With a grab and a flop, he moved a thick folder from the pile beside him, onto the table in front of him, saying, “Moving right along. The next target is…”

Erick listened to Koropo, but he also glanced around the room, watching as more Special Forces put up more police work onto more cork boards, for Erick’s eventual perusal, while a cadre of paper pushers gradually added more and more thick folders to the pile beside Koropo. It was going to be a long day, and Koropo had already said that they likely weren’t getting to the Cultists till tomorrow, and maybe not even then.

Erick suddenly had a question, and he couldn’t wait till Koropo was through with his overview of the next killer, so he interrupted, saying, “Sorry for the interruption, but I just have to ask.”

Koropo looked up at Erick, asking, “Yes?”

“How many violent crimes go unsolved each year?” Erick looked to the stack again, asking, “How many murders per year?” Erick thought again about what he had seen across the city, which was more like 12 different kingdoms all connected over a vast area of land a good forty kilometers across, and that was just for the main Districts under each Arbor. He asked, “How many people live here?”

Koropo seemed to organize his thoughts, then said, “You have to know a few things for me to answer that question. Firstly, there’s about 9 million orcols who call Treehome home at least part of the year, with most of those being nomadic. Maybe 40% permanent, 60% nomadic. Then you gotta know that there are two categories of killers. You got your low-level crimes of passion or unprepared planning. And then you got your high-level premeditated murders.

“The Guards of the Districts take care of all of the first category and we rarely have to step in to help, though when we do, it's a near 95% clear rate. Otherwise, the Guards of those Districts clear low-level murder cases at about an 85% rate. For this last year of 1436, we had about 250 low-level murders of passion inside the Districts of Treehome, and 1500 in the itinerant lands, with the vast majority being low-level problems and quickly solved. We had about 75 high-level murders this year, with most of the culprits being Hunters or terrorists or cultists, though there is quite a bit of overlap with the terrorists and the cultists. We don’t get much of the Quiet War up here, thank the gods.

“As for violent crimes, total, including rape and assault and burglary and such, we had 2500 cases in the Districts, and 18,000 in the itinerant lands, with rape being very low on the list of crimes, but it does happen.” Koropo said, “But you don’t need to worry about all that. The Guardmasters take care of much of that. All we’re having you deal with are the high-level or weird murder cases that are strictly the realm of Special Forces, like the Flower Killer. Special Forces has about a 30 percent clear rate on these dangerous cases, but that number comes with a high mortality rate for our people, and many of them don’t get solved for decades, when the killer dies of old age or just stops killing for whatever reason.

“I’d like to say that what you saw happen with the Flower Killer today was an aberration, but these are the sorts of cases Special Forces deals with, but we’re only mortal. Usually, we know exactly who has done what, but the trouble is finding them, and when we do manage to find them, our people are rarely as prepared as we were today with the Flower Killer. But even that wasn’t enough, as you well saw.” Koropo said, “You’re saving a lot more than just the lives of future victims by helping us today, Archmage Flatt, so thank you for this.”

Erick couldn’t help but compare the violent crime statistics of Treehome to the violent crime statistics of New York City. That was why Erick had asked after Treehome’s statistics, after all. Somehow, New York City’s violent crime numbers, from a should-have-been forgotten internet surf so long ago, had surfaced onto the mindscape of his brain and dominated his focus.

New York City went from something like 2,200 murders per year in the 90s, and half a million assorted violent crimes, to something like 500 murders per year in recent times, and a hundred thousand violent crimes. That place had a population of something like 8 million people in a much smaller space than the widespread Districts and the surrounding land of Treehome. NYC was about half the space of Treehome, actually, and that wasn’t counting much of the rural land further out from the Districts.

Koropo asked, “Is something wrong?”

“… Ah. No. I’m just… I was thinking of a city of comparable size back on Earth. My home planet.” Erick said, “People have told me that Treehome is one of the best places to live on Veird, and I guess I didn’t actually believe them, until now.”

A gentle smile broke across Koropo’s face. He said, “Damn straight. We work hard to keep those numbers that low, and it’s not always easy, but we get the job done.” And then he lost his smile, as he complained, “I don’t mean to disparage others in my own comparable position, but those assholes over in the Greensoil Republic are a shame to the job. I hear that they’re lucky if they get 50% clear rates for violent crimes in some of their major cities. The Kingdoms are not much better, hovering around 60%.” He waved a hand, saying, “And the Sovereign Cities are terrible. Every single one of them is a pile of shit, and the people in charge are shitlords themselves. Never walk those streets if you can help it. Stepping on the mud out there is taking your life in your hands, for sure.”

Erick felt a pang of sorrow, and said, “Yeah. My daughter went there once… I did too. It was… It was awful how they treat their people over there.”

Koropo said, “I heard that they’ve got a major rebellion on their hands. They’re calling themselves ‘Dicers’ and they’re killing every noble they can find, and killing hundreds in the crossfire.” He added, “Their problems are systemic, from top to bottom, from noble to mudslinger.”

Erick went silent, and then he began, “The Shades…”

The room was full of people, moving around, getting ready for more operations, but at Erick’s words, almost all of them paused. Koropo just listened. Erick knew that the Warchief was pumping Erick for information, or maybe he was just an amiable man, but Erick was willing to oblige this much, especially if the ‘Dicers’ were killing hundreds in the crossfire. But just to be sure, he glanced to Poi.

Poi just nodded.

Then Erick turned back to Koropo, and said, “The Shade who called himself the Toymaker created these dice artifacts, about the size of a fist. When I was at the Feast, he bragged about seeding the Sovereign Cities with them. Tania, the former Champion of Melemizargo, wanted to expand that program to the rest of the world. What those dice did was grant someone one step on the path toward an Elemental Body that was best in tune with their nature. This action automatically Matriculates a person, you see.” Erick left the rest unsaid.

Koropo breathed in, deep, then said, “I see. So that’s where they’re all coming from. The current rumors had the Dicers as having some unknown dungeons where they were gathering elemental essence, and then unlocking new people in defiance of the law. But Shade artifacts? I don’t think many people guessed that.” He added, “They probably did, but thinking that the Shades are responsible for all the evil in this world is…” He almost smiled, but he didn’t, as he said, “Well, that thinking is going to have to change an awful lot, isn’t it?”

Erick said, “I gave out a full accounting of all the artifacts I heard about, including those dice. Someone should have heard about those dice by now.” He almost said that he was glad that the Sovereign Cities were imploding in revolution. Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving place. But to hear of collateral damage put a heavy damper on that thought, and Erick said no more on the subject.

Koropo turned back to his paperwork, asking, “Back to the case?”

“Yes. Of course. I’m listening. Thanks for the tangent. I’ll try to keep them to a minimum going forward.”

Koropo nodded, then restarted, saying, “So this woman is a Hunter who...”

- - - -

After the day was done, and too many people had been killed, Koropo broke open five kegs of celebratory brandy for every single soldier and clerk on staff. Erick had a small glass himself, and stood to the side as Koropo gave a great speech. They had killed the 25 most wanted criminals of Treehome and a good lot more besides that, and though the whooping cheers and hurrahs were infectious, Erick could barely believe the extreme violence and power and death that he had bore witness to for the last 8 hours. He, and his Ophiel, had scanned all of Treehome and much of the Forest, and the mountains, to find their targets, and they had been wildly successful. Erick got to see every single takedown, and he even participated in a few, when the target broke encirclement and almost got away. And yet, still, with all their preparation and foresight, soldiers died. There were civilian casualties. Buildings exploded, and people got hurt.

Several of his 170,000 mana Ophiel were even banished by mages of considerable power, or luck, as was the case in two instances when the target had [Banish Familiar]. It was an acceptable loss, for in those few seconds, when those mages were dealing with Ophiel instead of with the soldiers all around them, Special Forces took them down.

Erick knew he had saved more than a few soldiers from death today, and a lot of them looked to Erick with appreciation in their eyes. More than a few of them spoke with him, thanking him afterward, their voices filled with reverence.

Peron came into the room ten minutes after the first round of celebratory drinks had been drunk. The room went quiet as he held up his hand.

“Good work, everyone!” Peron said, “You’re all getting bonuses!”

A round of cheers went up. Peron had no more words for everyone else, though, so people returned to their drinks, and their talking as Peron walked over to Erick.

“Erick.” Peron said.

Some people looked their way.

“Hello, Peron?” Erick asked.

With a polite yet firm stance, Peron said, “Erick. I have heard that your Ophiel was directly engaging with some of the people you all hunted today.”

Koropo stepped in, saying, “Aye. And it was good that he did. Made me change my mind on [Familiar]s. We should consider looking for some Summoners to add to our ranks, if we can find some with quality summons like Ophiel.”

Ophiel trilled on Erick’s shoulder; a quiet sound, mostly.

Without giving Erick a second to think, Peron continued, “I do this as a part of my job, you understand.” He stated, “You are here on guest rites. You are not a member of our community, and though we value your assistance in the spells we have asked you to cast and the actions we have asked you to take, please do not overstep your bounds. We have much more work ahead of us all, and I will not have vigilantism in Treehome. Please do hold your Ophiel back from participating in any fights, from here on out. This much vigilantism sets a bad precedent, and people are complaining to me. I would prefer not to receive complaints about you, Erick.”

This was not a fight Erick was willing to fight. So he said, “Of course, Peron.”

Peron nodded, then moved on.

Erick had another drink, and then moved on, too; back to his room at Hotel O’kabil.

- - - -

Erick sat by the dinner table, the full enormity of the day’s events coming down on him all at once, as Jane set out the room service dinner. Kiri just looked to him from across the table, obviously wondering if he was okay. He was not okay. Not really. He didn’t know how to be okay right now. This was different than that time he had hunted for the Hunters that Caradogh set upon Spur. Much different. Back then, he had gone into all of that in some rage-fueled fugue state, where he barely understood that the people he helped Spur to kill were still people. Erick would have liked to have blamed all of that barely-remembered time on [Hunter’s Instincts], but that was a cop out. He had chosen to help hunt and kill those people. Those Hunters.

Just as he had helped to hunt and kill the people he had hunted and killed today. And this time, he didn’t have the excuse of running [Hunter’s Instincts]. This time, and last time, too, all of this death was on his hands.

… But by that same token, with the deaths of the Hunters, serial killers, and terrorists today, Erick had saved an untold number of people in the future. Koropo had said as much, several times, and changed from a stoic man, solidly following the lead laid down for him by his superior, Peron, into a man with a smile on his face at the end of the day. And Koropo wasn’t the only one. At the end, many people in that office walked with a skip in their step and a relaxation in their shoulders that they did not have at the beginning. There was some sadness for the soldiers who had died in the line of duty, but Koropo had never lied about the people that Erick needed to hunt, either. Those killings were justified, in almost every common usage of the word ‘justified’, but—

Jane uncovered a plate of spicy fried chicken, right in front of Erick.

The smell instantly assaulted his nose. He turned away and sneezed, and sneezed—

Jane demanded, “Tell me what is wrong, dad. You’ve barely said a word since you walked in the door.”

Erick sneezed once more.

“Bless you,” Jane said. “Now talk.”

And so, Erick talked. “The Special Forces… They were so prepared. It was practically a storm of activity, with every single Guardhouse of every District called in to execute the orders of the Special Forces… Fast as they could be. We were clearing a mission every five minutes there, in the thick of it all.” Erick sighed, then said, “I helped kill forty four people today, Jane, and every single one of them deserved it.” He said, “I’m coming to terms with that, and with the fact that tomorrow, there will be more.”

Poi, also sitting down at the table, said nothing, but he had been there the whole time. Erick almost wished that the man would have said ‘no’ to some of the deaths. He almost wished that he was being tricked into hunting innocent people. But then that would have been a lie. Everything that Erick saw in those case files, and everything that he saw on the ground, when the teams confronted the people Erick had found, proved that those targets needed to die. One guy was found in the middle of a room full of severed heads, the trophies of his victims, way out in the Forest where he never would have been found otherwise.

Jane said, “If they deserved it, then they deserved it.”

“They did… It’s not that simple, but at the same time, it is that simple, isn’t it?”

Jane said, “Sometimes there is no grey. Sometimes black and white do exist.”

“Yeah…” Erick said, “Eleven of them were serial killers, each more crazy and yet capable of hiding that crazy than the last.

“There were nine alchemically toxic orcols who were a part of this group called Downfall, which consisted of fifteen people, in total. They wanted to bring down the Arbors of Treehome. They almost succeeded in killing an Arbor twice in the past five years. Once was an attack on Ikabobbi and on the Special Forces headquarters last year, and the other was against the base of Steel-Branch. Both Arbors only survived due to massive assistance efforts on the part of every other Arbor. Those Downfall people only hadn’t been found for so long because those toxic orcols were literally immune to most scanning magic.

“And I helped take down their entire organization in a matter of hours.

“Thirteen of my kills were Hunters, which is a distinction from ‘serial killer’ that I don’t quite understand, but… That’s how they do it.

“And then there were six monsters that only looked like people. Acted like people, too.” Erick shivered. “Those were scary.”

No one said anything, but they did start digging into the food that Jane had set out.

After a moment, Erick added, “And twelve good— twelve good men and women died to make that happen, and this is what is labeled as a success.” Erick looked down at the food he had mechanically served himself, somehow, and then decided he wasn’t really hungry. He was thirsty. So he got up and went to the kitchen and poured himself a drink.

Jane watched her father. “Are you going back tomorrow?”

“… Yes.” Erick downed the first shot of Sunset Red Rum. Jane had found the bottles for sale when she had gone out into the city today. It was a good drink, and it reminded him of simpler times, of discussing magic with Jane while they sat in Windy Manor. Or, rather, those weren’t simple times? Were they? They were just in the past, facing a different set of trials, while Erick was here, in the present, and facing yet more trials. He poured himself another shot, and said, “I’m going back for more hunting tomorrow, because they need my help. They said as much, too, and not just verbally. It was their hopeful eyes and their relaxed shoulders and their… Their everything… They need [Cascade Imaging].” Erick verbalized a thought he had been kicking around for a little while, and said, “I think I have to give this spell to a god of justice, or something. Or at least let them use it, like I let Atunir use [Exalted Rain].” He asked, “Is there a good god of Justice out there? For some reason I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one.”

There was a short silence, as Jane looked toward Poi, Erick glanced over between Kiri and Teressa, and Kiri and Teressa shared similar unsure looks. Poi just frowned a little.

Kiri said, “Not really.”

“Sumtir is close,” Teressa offered.

Poi looked to them both, and said, “No. He’s the god of Righteous War.” He turned to Erick, saying, “There’s no god of Justice. Justice is too subjective. There are minor gods of justice, though. For humans, there’s the Crown of the Host, while the Incani have their Demon King. Both of those stations have a divine spark to them.”

Well, well, well. Wasn’t that a thought? Erick narrowed his eyes, and took another drink. The rum burned a little going down, but it was the good kind of burn that warmed him from the inside, chasing away the cold clawing at his mind.

He said, “I didn’t know that’s how it worked.”

“This is why there is no god of Justice?” Jane asked, “Is it the diametrically opposed views on justice that make it so no god of Justice can be born? Incani versus Human, or Angel versus Demon?”

Poi said, “No one knows, but that’s one of the current guesses. Both angels and demons do exist on the moons of Celes and Hell, after all.”

Kiri said, “There are lots of Gods that should exist and who have existed historically, before the Sundering, but don’t anymore. Back in Arcanaeum, they told us that Veird is just too small of a pond. That the domains of gods used to be hundreds or thousands of worlds, but that’s just not possible here on Veird. There just isn’t enough room for more gods to be born. There should be a god of Knowledge, too, but they don’t exist, either.”

“That’s not a bad thing, though.” Poi said, “There used to be dark gods back before the Sundering, but we don’t have any of those, either.”

“… Well now I’m depressed about a whole different topic.” Erick asked, “What happens with the gods if Yggdrasil actually does manage to open the Script on the other worlds of this solar system?” He let that question hang in the air for three moments, before rapidly declaring, “Whatever! Let’s eat.”

Dinner was delicious, but silence stretched over the room for a little, while everyone ate, and thought. It was rather quiet, as far as dinners usually went.

“Oh.” Erick said, “Wait.” He looked to Teressa, asking, “Weren’t we going to eat at your auntie’s again?”

Teressa shook her head, saying, “That fell through, but don’t worry about it.” She asked, “I heard you managed to clear some Quests today, though?”

Offhandedly, Erick said, “Enough for 13 points.”

Jane almost choked on her chicken strip, but Teressa slapped her on the back and a piece of chicken went flying across the room, barely missing Poi. Poi continued to eat as if nothing had happened.

But it was Kiri who demanded, “What! How?!”

“Criminal Quests,” Teressa said.

“There were Quests attached to a lot of those criminals,” Erick confirmed. “I didn’t get full points for a lot of them, but I did get partial points, which is something. Usually a quarter to a half of a point. That terrorist group, Downfall, was seven of those points.” He added, “And I saw a lot of how Mage Hunters work. That’s a pretty amazing Class, you know? Niche, for sure, but really good at taking down other people.” He looked to Teressa, asking, “How good are the Mage Hunters in Spur?”

Teressa said, “They’re pretty good. About as good as anywhere else, really. We have more Sin Seekers than Mage Hunters, though. There’s a lot of overlap with those Classes, and Sin Seeker is usually better.”

Jane said, “I never considered law enforcement as a path toward extra points.”

“It’s usually not.” Teressa said, “We discourage that sort of stuff in Spur. But up here, where there’s 8 to 10 million people? They need those incentives to cut down on potential criminal activity.”

Erick briefly wondered who Silverite or Merit would petition to create a Kill Quest, even if they wanted to. Silverite was aligned with Koyabez, for sure, so… Erick said, “I doubt Koyabez would want to sponsor the type of Kill Quests that are necessary in the Guardhouse, anyway.”

Poi said, “Yup.”

Over dinner, Erick figured now was as good a time as any to distribute his new points. So he did so. 5 points went into Willpower. 5 points went into Focus. He’d save the other 14 for when he needed a new Basic Spell. A few of those points were already earmarked for [True Sight], eventually, when his soul wasn’t tattered and he was able to make new magic without fucking it up.

--

Erick Flatt

Human?, age 48

Level 90, Class: Particle Mage

Exp: 2.32 e20 /7.54 e20

Class: 10/10

Points: 14

HP 2,430/2,430 - 6,054 per day

MP 9060/9060 - 6,054 per day

Strength / 20  / +61 / [81]

Vitality / 20 / +61 / [81]

Dexterity / 10 / +61 / [71]

Constitution / 20 / +61 / [81]

Perception / 20 / +61 / [81]

Willpower / 90 / +61 / [151]

Focus / 90 / +61 / [151]

Intelligence / 20 / +61 / [81]

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

Favored Ability waiting!

--

- - - -

“Downfall is over. In the space of a single afternoon, they were raided and ended by Warchief Koropo and his Special Forces.” A light voice said, “We can no longer count on them as customers.”

“The Flower Killer is gone, too,” said a deep voice. “I quite liked that little scamp.”

“That plant was a failure, anyway.” Light said, “Erick Flatt has come, and our little part of the world collapses at his arrival. We must plan.”

“It’s true, then? Erick Flatt has come to Treehome?” Deep asked.

“Yes,” Light said.

“What are we to do?” asked a petite voice.

“Go to ground. Run and hide,” said Light.

“And when that isn’t enough?” Deep asked.

“… We could kill Erick?” Petite ventured.

“… No. We can’t… Can we?” Deep said, “The Clergy itself went against him, and died for it. We would do no better?”

“I can kill him. I’ll have it done in an hour.” Light asked, “If this is our decision?”

“It will be dangerous, but if we don’t kill him…” Deep said, “Then we will end up like the Clergy.”

“We could…” Petite offered, “We could play nice like Treant has done. We could go to Erick before he starts hunting us, and offer to take on his Curse.”

“It is a Blessing, not a Curse.” Light said, “And I will not do that to myself. We must decide if we are to kill him, and we must decide this soon. Otherwise I am going to the Underworld and you will not see me for ten years.”

“Maybe we should just do that now.” Deep said, “I don’t think we should kill him. Melemizargo has plans for Yggdrasil. We do not want Sininindi’s World Tree to be the only one left to our Dark God, for that would complicate everything.”

Petite offered, “What we could do, is not tell everyone else, and then let Erick find them, but not us. We can clear house and leave our underlings out to dry. Then we come back much stronger in ten years.”

“Or, in ten years, Erick’s Imaging might be able to penetrate into the Underworld, and we will never be safe.” Light said, “Which is why we have to kill him now, if we are ever to have a chance.”

Deep was resolute, as he said, “We should take the loss and Erick’s Blessing. It’s better than death.”

“Have you eyes to see? Ears to hear? Treant moans at the Arbors every day, and gets nowhere.” Light said, “I will not have that ‘Blessing’ on me.”

“I see and hear more than you think.” Deep said, “You don’t even know who I am. There is a reason we meet like this.”

Light said nothing to that.

Petite said, “I’m going to the Underworld, for at least until Erick leaves Treehome. I pray you all make similarly smart decisions.”

Light said, “Then I’m going, too. If we meet, I hope we don’t kill each other, Petite.”

Petite chuckled, saying, “You think too highly of yourself, Light. Goodbye~”

Petite’s voice faded from the silence all around.

Light asked, “If you decide to go to Erick and take this Blessing, are you going to mindwipe yourself, first?”

“No. I have to give him something to prove my sincerity. I’ll give up a few dozen people. A few major operations.” Deep said, “He’s an honorable man, so I think he’ll take the win.”

Light sighed. “In any other time, I would be forced to be an honorable man, too, and kill you for the good of the rest of us, but times have changed.”

“Ha!” Deep said, “Times certainly have changed, Omaz.”

“… When did you find out, Edolphis?” Omaz asked.

“… When did you find out about me?” Edolphis asked, his shock plain in his voice.

“Since everything is ending, I might as well tell you. It was eight years ago, when you fucked up that caravan attack and cost us three operatives.”

“That was a bullshit target and you know it!”

“You fucked up. I gave you all that information, and you fucked up.”

“And you fucked up when—” Edolphis said, “I’m not doing this. You are right: everything is ending. Goodbye.”

Edolphis’s deep voice faded from the silence.

“And then there were two.” Omaz asked, “Now that those two have abandoned the tribe, what’s the real plan?”

Silence.

“Hello? I know you’re there. You’re always there.”

Silence.

“… Melemizargo? My Lord?”

Silence.

- - - -

The conference room looked much the same as it had when Erick left the room yesterday. Papers filled with information and ‘photos’ that were more drawing than actual photos, lined the cork boards, while writings and postulations filled accompanying blackboards. But those papers were not the same as the ones that had been there yesterday.

Right now, those papers were all about cultists. Mug shots of Omaz Wyrmrest, Archmage Syllea’s brother, were pinned up alongside sketches of a walled settlement, outside of Treehome. Erick had heard of that ‘settlement’ before. He had even spotted it from afar while he was searching for people yesterday. It reminded him of a prison. Blocky, stone buildings, lined with anti-Shaping runes. A curtain wall several meters tall, and unique in the area, for there were no walls around Treehome. The people inside waited in line for food from dispensaries. They grew nothing for themselves and had no daily jobs. There were only a few hundred people in that small settlement, but there were at least a hundred guards stationed on the surrounding wall, and around the perimeter.

The commune was a place of little cheer where they had kept the people who became shadelings when they consumed a second Stat Fruit, and gained a second one of the New Stats. Erick hadn’t actually been inside the place yet, in any capacity. But that was going to change. Today was the day to investigate the commune for cultists.

… If any of the targets led that way. Erick hoped that nothing pointed toward the commune, but that seemed like a fool’s thought.

Erick walked up to the picture of Omaz and the sketches of the camp, and said, “That place looks rather worse in person.”

Naervion, who had been on many missions yesterday with Erick leading the way, stood beside him, and said, “That’s not my beat so I’ve never been inside. I’m on call for when the targets show outside of there, though.”

“Didn’t a lot of them come to Ar’Kendrithyst and drink at the Well? Get shifted back to being normal orcols?” Erick instantly added, “Or. No. That was only 12 people, wasn’t it.”

“I heard there were plans to do all the rest, later. But then you happened, sir, and killed all the Shades.” Naervion said, “I heard that the Well was gone.”

“Aye, it might be.” Erick asked, “How many people are still there? Over two hundred was the last I heard.”

Koropo spoke from behind Erick, saying, “We’ve still got about three hundred thirty shadelings in there.”

“More than there were, then.” Erick turned to the man, saying, “After I went home, I was thinking about a few of the kills yesterday. A few of them stood out to me more than most. The Flower Killer was the most obvious, for sure, but the people of Downfall were similarly tough. They all had at least Constitution.”

Koropo lost some of his good cheer. He turned stoic, again.

Erick continued, “Spotting Constitution got me talking with a guy down in Candlepoint a few hours ago by the name of Mephistopheles. He knew roughly how many Stat Fruits Candlepoint had given out while Bulgan was in charge. But something doesn’t add up.” He said, “I had access to a few different sources, and from what my guy at Candlepoint tells me, and from what I overhead at the Feast, there were maybe 4,400 Constitution Fruits given out, in total, with something like 21,000 various Stat Fruits of all different types, all combined, distributed to various people. But that number went to people all over the world. Now here’s the question: In your professional opinion, how likely is it that every single major killer from yesterday had access to those New Stats? How many people in Treehome have any of the New Stats. You obviously had enough extra Stat Fruits rolling around Treehome in order to have an entire commune of people who became shadelings.” He added, “Each one of those Shadelings has at least two of the New Stats, which means that’s over 650 of the Stat Fruits accounted for. But how many orcols are in Treehome that have just one of the New Stats? How many people slipped under the Scan, so to speak?”

Erick did not ask his big question, not yet. It was only a thought rolling around in his mind that there might be more Stat Trees out there, and he did not want to voice that concern when he had no numbers to back up his thought.

Koropo listened, then he said, “I can see how you might look at the numbers and think them a little stretchy. Not to be too proud, but we orcols are some of the best adventurers in the world, and we make a point to stay ahead of the curve. All of our high-level adventurers have been to Ar’Kendrithyst and gotten a lot of treasure out of that place, so it doesn’t surprise me that there seems to be a lot of our people with those New Stats. To me, you asking that question is strange, because we’ve always taken what we could from Ar’Kendrithyst.” Koropo added, “Add to that, many of us dislike our Divine overseer, Aloethag.”

Naervion harrumphed, adding, “That’s putting it lightly.”

Koropo glared at Naervion, who had the wherewithal to take a step back and looked chastised. Koropo continued, “Aloethag is one of the main reasons why a lot of orcols end up becoming Cultists of the Dark God.” He said, “It doesn’t surprise me that we seem to have a larger number of people with the New Stats than we should.” He seemed to struggle with something, then just came out and said, “When word got around that becoming a shadeling cut you off from the Red Dream, a lot of people worked hard for those New Stats, specifically for that reason.”

Naervion, and more than a few other orcols in the room, rapidly found important tasks elsewhere, away from the conversation between Erick and Koropo.

“Hmm.” Erick turned back toward the pictures of the commune and Omaz. “Does Syllea know you’re hunting her brother?”

“… In a general sense.” Koropo said, “And that’s a headache and a half.”

So he hadn’t told her that Omaz was on the docket for today. Why not? Was Peron involved with that decision? That seemed likely.

Erick asked, “So where are we starting this Cultist hunt? Are we starting in the commune?”

“We have the major targets, but…” Koropo said, “But they’re not killers, like the ones we took down yesterday. Look. I’m gonna level with you before Peron shows up and I need to shut up to keep my job and my city safe. Today’s gonna be hard for all of us, because we want the targets dead, because they are Cultists. But you won’t want them dead, because they haven’t actually killed anyone.”

Erick was surprised, and said as much, “I didn’t expect such forthrightness.”

“You’ve done this city a major service and I don’t want to alienate you over some religious differences between Peace and Vengeance, since that seems to be your hard line in the dirt.” Koropo said, “Our major problem with most of the Cultists is that they corrupt us from the inside out, and we don’t want them in our city. I spoke of people accepting shadeling status, just so those people could step out from Aloethag’s domain, but it was the Cultists who really churned up the people, getting them to accept the idea of becoming shadelings. A lot of those people in that commune are there because, for them, being a shadeling was better than being an orcol. Even if they have to live in the dirt to do it. No one cared when we went after the terrorists and the killers yesterday, but those people in that commune are a tight-knit community, even if they are just a couple of months old.”

Erick thought for a moment, then asked, “So if all they’re doing is talking and convincing people to switch gods, then why not just leave them alone out there?”

“That’s what most of them do. And a lot of the people who do the talking are just the shadelings, who we label as Cultists because... If it sounds like a wyrm, walks like a wyrm, then it might as well be a wyrm.” Koropo said, “We do still have a list of killers that need taking down. People with clear intentions of generalized harm. The problem is that they’re going to band together with people who are nominally Cultists, so I wanted to be upfront about that. The line is about to get blurry, and when we go after some of these guys, we’re going to stir up the whole commune.”

Erick asked, “This might sound like a stupid question. But have you tried posting Wanted posters into the commune? Talking to people? Telling them that the killers there will not be tolerated?”

“Yes. We’ve done—” Koropo turned toward the entrance to the room.

Peron had walked in, wearing his usual green robes. He spotted Erick, and began walking over. Smiling amiably, and speaking to the whole room, he said, “That was some good work you all did yesterday. You’ve all certainly earned your pay, and your holiday bonuses, which I’m looking to expand in a special chieftain action in the coming week.”

Several people around the room brightened at that. Some, who Erick noticed as those who had been on the front lines, were rather stoic and silent at Peron’s proclamation. They recognized the duty that they had to make their home safe, but they also felt the sting of missing faces that had been in that room yesterday.

Gods above, Erick did not understand how anyone could willingly get into this line of work. To face this sort of death every day? But then again, he did understand them, at least a little. They were people who saw what had to be done to keep their world safe, and then they went out and did it. Jane was the same way. Hell, it seemed that more and more, Erick was getting that way, too.

Peron said, “Good work, everyone.” He reached Erick, and said, “And thank you, Archmage Flatt.”

Erick nodded, saying, “I’m glad we were able to work together. I hope that today goes…” He just couldn’t be that polite and political. He couldn’t not mention all the people who had died to make yesterday a success. Good men and women, working to make Treehome safer than it had been, were now dead and gone. Their funerals were even put on hold, because there was work to be done. So, Erick said, “I hope everyone goes into today as safe as they can. It’s dangerous out there.”

Peron said, “I’d say that it’s more dangerous out there than you know, if you were anyone else besides who you are.” He stood tall, and gazed upon the papers on the boards, stating, “I don’t like how we left the cultists for later. But it was either going after them first, or going after the other half of the problem. We made our decisions, and now we will live with the consequences.” He looked down to Erick. “Are there going to be problems doing what needs to be done to rid ourselves of the Cult?”

“Probably!” Erick said, with perhaps too much vitriol in his voice. And then he toned it down, and seriously asked, “Have you tried telling them to stop? To leave that commune, and to leave Treehome, and the Forest? There’s lots of places in this world for them to be besides in a place they are not wanted. I’ll help you find and kill the killers among them, for sure. But.” Erick said, “I see you, Peron. I see your desire to get rid of the Cult, entirely, and in the worst way possible. I foresee you stepping over the line in the dirt that I have already established, and then saying ‘oops, oh well’, afterward.”

Koropo sighed, almost imperceptibly.

Peron looked down his nose at Erick, and said, “I won’t step over any lines, Erick. But it is my belief that you will soon see that your lines are placed on shaky ground. Make no mistake: Yesterday was a choice to go after a lot of the disjointed Evil in this land. It was a choice that cost us the lives of good soldiers, good men and women. But the Evil we combat today will be as poking the dragon. The dragon will wake. The backlash will test our resolve, both of Treehome, and yourself. You would do well to come down on the right side of the line you have drawn, before you drop into a chasm of your own making, and before you get even more people killed.”

Erick had a near-difficult time restraining his anger, but he held himself back. He did not rise to the bait in Peron’s words. He did not fight against the implication that Erick had gotten those soldiers killed yesterday. But maybe he should have. Some of the people in the room were looking Erick’s way, and not all of those looks were ambivalent.

Erick said, “This isn’t my home, and this isn’t my fight, but I have been helping you in your home to fight your fight because it is the right thing to do. I can help more, if you wish. Closer Ophiels? More backup? How much do you want me involved in your affairs? Yesterday, after it was all over, you told me to only act within the parameters you set going forward, to only be your scanner, because ‘people were complaining to you about me’. Now you want me to look the other way while you use my power to harm people who are potentially innocent—”

“They’re Cultists of Melemizargo. The same Dark Dragon who has almost destroyed this world time and time again. They undermine and they poison others to their dogma.” Peron said, “People like that have no place in any good society. People like that are not ‘innocent’, by any stretch of the word. Besides! Look around you. The people in this room took down dozens of murderers yesterday, and they were well within acceptable levels of collateral damage. You’re telling me you think these fine people will purposefully harm innocents? Bah! I tell you that they will do exactly what is needed, and you need to do the same.” Peron said, “You need to back these fine soldiers with all of your power when that entire commune comes together to protect the evil that they harbor within, or else you need to leave, and we need to call this whole thing off.”

“… Less talk of politics.” Erick said, “More talk of actual responses that you expect to happen from this ‘deadly’ commune, and how we are going to negate those responses.” He turned to Koropo, saying, “I’m going to need some good mana potions up in here to chain-[Dispel] whatever large-scale counterattacks might happen. If they happen.”

Koropo nodded, then silently turned to the side and gestured at a clerk. The clerk ran off.

Peron barely glanced at the rushing clerk, before focusing on Erick. He said, “I would love to include you in those plans, but I cannot, for these ‘politics’ as you so dismissively call them, include not divulging operational protocol to unknown actors.” He added, “But if you see the sky filling with danger, then do your best to get rid of it.”

“Of course.” Erick said, “I can do that.”

Peron stared at Erick for a moment, then turned toward Koropo. “The first target is Omaz. Syllea does not know. I want that boy’s head on a pike before she catches wind. I want every person found with him in heavy custody. Do what needs to be done, Warchief. You have your orders.”

Four seconds passed while Erick debated with himself if he should warn Syllea.

He needn’t have bothered. Someone else already had.

“Peron!” Syllea had blipped into the air outside the hallway, yelling as she burst into the room, “That’s my brother!”

Bless whoever had told her and taken that guilt off of Erick’s shoulders!

Peron casually turned toward the angry archmage, saying, “Omaz is guilty of high crimes. I would do the sa—”

“Shut your god’s damned mouth.” Syllea turned toward Erick, saying, “Find him and tell me where he is. I’m taking care of him myself.”

“Okay. But. Hear me out:” Erick said, “Maybe we could all work together today? To take down the parts of the Cult that need removal, and to pardon those who have done nothing wrong?”

Syllea glared hard at Erick. “You shouldn’t be casting spells in your condition, let alone telling me how to deal with my traitor of a brother.” She rounded on Peron, saying, “And I have to find out you’re going after him from someone else besides you, grandpa?! What the fuck?!”

Peron said, “You are too close to this, Syllea. You need to back off and let us elders handle this, now. You are not in charge here, so listen to those who are, or you will find yourself in chains, too.”

“Ignore him.” Syllea turned to Erick. “Find me my brother.”

Peron started, “Syllea—”

“Fucking shut up!” Syllea yelled at his face.

Peron sighed, then said, “Do as she says.” He said to Syllea, “Whatever that traitor does now is on your head.”

Syllea said, “And if I hadn’t gotten here in time and you did to Omaz what you did to all those people yesterday, then I would have had your head, old man.” She said, “I wouldn’t give a shit about the consequences, either.”

Peron went still, as he narrowed his eyes at Syllea. “That was an ill-advised threat.” He turned to Koropo, and said, “You have your missions, Warchief. Leave Omaz to Archmage Syllea. She will have no backup.”

“… Sir?” Koropo asked.

“You heard me,” Peron said. “Do your job, or I will remove you and instate someone who will.”

Koropo put a fist on his chest, followed soon by the same gesture from everyone else in the room, except for Erick, Syllea, and Poi. Erick briefly registered that another person walked into the room. Bayth, Syllea’s bodyguard and oldest friend. The massively muscular woman nodded toward Poi, who simply nodded back, then she took a stand beside the door.

Syllea turned to Erick.

Erick spoke before she could, saying, “My Ophiels are already out there, Imaging the whole of the Forest and Treehome. I remember what your brother looks like, but I won’t have the best Imaging of possible locations unless I have some of Omaz’s blood or body parts.”

Syllea instantly turned to Koropo, demanding, “What parts do you have of my brother?”

Koropo gestured to a severed and cauterized lump of meat sitting on a table to the side of the room, saying, “That’s from one of the bodies we think he has [Polymorph]ed into.” He gestured to two other lumps of flesh, and one severed hand, saying, “The hand was his, though. Our blood mages weren’t able to get far with it…” His voice trailed off.

Because Syllea moved toward the hand, her hard eyes turning soft, as she almost touched the dead flesh with her own open hand. And then her eyes turned hard again, and her open hand became a fist. Anger filled her visage, as she muttered, “You fucking idiot. Why the fuck did you join the Cult.”

- - - -

In the deep Forest, to the far north, where every tree was larger than an Arbor and spirit deer the size of mansions walked across the land, bringing growth and death in equal measure, an Ophiel hovered high above it all. A ball of cascading white light hovered even higher than that. This map was one of several currently Imaging different parts of the Forest. Maybe this one would get lucky?

A map formed out of misty white light, revealing the land for a thousand kilometers in every direction.

And barely, ever so slightly, a blue mark appeared on that white map.

This map and its blue mark was not the only blue mark that Erick had uncovered in the last ten minutes. This map was just the seventh map to be manually checked.

Syllea went in.

Erick moved Ophiel to follow, as he had done for the last six positive results.

And then Ophiel popped.

Erick instantly moved another Ophiel toward that location. The second one reached the treeline and managed to survive what had killed the first, for Ophiel had turned on [Pure Reflection Ward]. A comet struck Ophiel, but bounced away, impacting a branch and crushing it with Void and Light. It wasn’t an attack directed at Ophiel, in particular, though. The entire Forest was filled with comets, and more were filling the darkness under the canopy as each second passed. Branches broke as balls of starlight swarmed. Fire spread as light burned bright enough to incinerate the drier parts of the Forest.

Gloom turned flickering, then yellow and red, as trees burned all around. Animals whooped and screamed as they fled. Something roared far away, or possibly really close.

Syllea, hovering below the canopy, flying in a sky made of straight pillars of burning tree trunks, slapped away a comet aimed at her, yelling, “How many!” She flew at her brother, still a hundred meters away, demanding, “How many!”

Omaz flew backward, keeping just ahead of Syllea’s advance, as comets swirled around his body. He laughed, and said, “I thought it was someone else! But it’s just you! Go home, sister!” The comets in the area seemed to calm, but they did not disappear. They were simply waiting to strike.

Erick noted several parts of this area of the Forest rather fast. The first was that several of the nearby trees were warped near the upper part of their straight trunks, forming something like houses out of holes in the wood. The second, was that there were a lot of other people in the area, boiling out of the houses shaped out of the tree trunks, but they were all running, flying, or blipping away. Several of the people here had their faces on the boards back in the room Erick was in, at that very moment. The final thing Erick noticed was that none of them seemed to care about getting involved in the fight between Syllea and Omaz.

… Which seemed like a feint. Erick had started running [Hunter’s Instincts], and everything about this scenario screamed that something bad was about to happen. He rapidly got more Ophiel into position to help Syllea if needed, while he simultaneously told everyone around him, back in the conference room by Wyrmrest, what was happening. The people around Erick didn’t need to be told, for they had already been moving, too, but Erick still felt better warning everyone that shit was going down.

“How many!” Syllea roared at her brother, “How many people have you killed over the years?! How much of what I told you ended up killing someone I knew?!”

Omaz laughed again, saying, “Hundreds! At least! They were coming after my people, so of course I killed them first!”

“Your people?!” Syllea swiped a hand through the air, and every spell around Omaz burst into fractured mana. Omaz briefly lost his smile as he began to fall, but he stabilized almost as fast, though he was a lot less bright according to Ophiel’s [Mana Sight]. Syllea advanced on him, pointing a finger back toward the treetop village they had quickly passed, roaring, “You dare to call Cultists your people! HOW? WHY?! What did I do wrong?!”

“Everything!” Omaz laughed, saying, “You did everything wrong! And if you don’t let me go, I’ll be forced to put you in the ground with all the rest, dear sister! The only reason I haven’t is because your help was what got me where I am today! If it wasn’t for you, the Cult in Treehome wouldn’t be nearly as powerful as it is today!”

Erick watched as Syllea turned silent, calculating, and a little bit red. It started with her eyes, once so clear, becoming pink, then crimson. Omaz saw it happen, too. His own eyes went wider, as a manic sort of glee overtook him. All at once, every single hovering comet began to shift, they swarmed, heading straight for Syllea. The archmage was falling to her Rage, and her brother was happy to see it happen.

Erick considered his options. And then he saw that Syllea was not doing anything to actively defend herself from those comets. She likely had some sort of [Reflection Ward] active, for she had backhanded that one comet away from herself. But Erick didn’t want to risk her spell not working against all the thousands of the comets currently aimed her way. That fact made his decision for him.

He had one of his few remaining high-mana Ophiels cast a 36,000 point [Grand Dispel] at the nearest comet; a little over the raw mana cost of Omaz’s [Starlight Fall], according to the blue box Erick had seen before. The dark magic struck true, setting off an instant chain reaction through the entirety of Omaz’s [Comet Swarm], propagating through the offensive light, popping comets like they were soap bubbles, until the [Grand Dispel] circled all the way through the trees to impact Omaz and rip away his defenses, again. Syllea didn’t seem to notice.

Her body was wreathed in Light and Void. She was half a moment from reaching Omaz, and from plunging starlight swords into his chest.

Omaz faltered through the sky, looking dejected, as he muttered, “Bah.”

And then he blipped away. Starlight swords flashed through empty space. Syllea’s eyes sparked red—

She whipped around to stare at Ophiel, red lightning trickling across her body. Erick almost panicked. Teressa had almost killed Poi back when she Raged. How bad would Syllea’s Rage be? At least she couldn’t use Spatial Magic, right?

Ah. This was why Omaz had taunted her.

Syllea’s head jerked to the side, as intent flowed from her body and into the air. The air around her turned dense, then dissipated, almost as fast as Syllea had exerted her control. She flinched. Her eyes turned redder. She wasn’t trying to attack Ophiel… What was she do—

She turned to wind, briefly, as she stepped through the sky, to reappear ten meters in front of where she had been.

Ah. Shit. She was windstepping.

- - - -

Someone touched his shoulder.

Erick came back to himself, to see Poi standing beside him, with his hand on his shoulder. Bayth stood on Erick’s other side. The room was a flurry of activity, as it usually was, but there was something more frantic about the current rushing about. Someone was yelling about something happening to the southeast, while another person spoke of activity in the north. Erick focused on Poi, though.

Poi said, “There is a counterattack. You’ve been asked to assist. Please help with [Grand Dispel]s.” He handed Erick a mana potion, adding, “And you need to get checked for intestinal rads after today.”

Bayth gazed down at Erick, pleading with her eyes for good news, but she asked for nothing, and Erick couldn’t tell her what was going on out there right now. So he mentally left that task to Poi, who instantly grimaced. Erick went to work.

Ophiels took to the skies over Treehome, right as the starfalls began.