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The buildings around Arbor Ikabobbi looked like normal enough utilitarian structures that Erick would see anywhere, from Spur to Candlepoint, to the temporary structures that Odaali had put up after their city had fallen to the Queen Daydropper. The buildings here were only a bit nicer than those sorts of buildings, and only because ‘adornment’ seemed to be the Arbor’s choice of style, with every building having mouldings or sculptural doorways or sculptures of animals pinned to the walls here and there. That made sense, because as Erick gazed up at Arbor Ikabobbi, he definitely 100% knew that the former [Familiar] must have been designed after the Ikabob trees; those trees were magical trees that speared and held any woodland creature or monster that had the misfortune to get too close.

… Or maybe it was the other way around. Erick wasn’t quite sure.

The Arbor stretched above the buildings like a tapered spire of grey-brown stone. At the top, maybe less than a kilometer up, a sparse decoration of red canopy held to the spike-like trunk as though it was a bit of bloody meat, speared in place by some force of nature. And then there were the countless other spikes, all around the entire spire, like thorns. A few of the higher spikes had similar tufts of red leaves upon them. Most were barren.

But with his own sight, and with Ophiel in the air, Erick saw that the rest of the Arbor was exactly what he would have expected. Wyrm bones, like garlands, wrapped around the Arbor. The bones of chimeras or other large monsters dangled upon thorns like Christmas tree ornaments. A few thorns were like places of honor, for sure, because the bones stuck upon those thorns were carefully arranged in seated positions atop the thorns, the body held directly against the tree, locked in place by a hundred smaller thorns. Those places of honor were orcol bones, for sure.

Erick barely paid attention to the gilded buildings all around him, or the thorny plants that were cultivated like flower gardens, because his eyes were fixed upon the thorny orcol man in the manasphere who walked beside him, covered in red mana, silent and evaluating. The first time Erick noticed the much-taller-than-him man, he glanced at the man, and the man vanished. Erick walked on for moments more, headed toward the auction house ahead. As soon as he wasn’t looking, the red man appeared again in the corner of his vision.

Another glance at the man had him vanishing from sight.

Erick walked on, asking Poi, “Did you see him?”

“No.” Poi said, “But others have.”

Erick had noticed the other people on the street, how they gave Erick a wide berth, how some bowed to him, and how no one spoke to him at all. And then he noticed that they did not just do this for Erick, but also for the presence walking beside him, even though that presence was rather invisible most of the time.

As Erick walked forward and people got out of his way, Erick asked a woman who hadn't fully vacated the street, “Is that Arbor Ikabobbi beside me?”

The woman startled at being singled out. She just nodded, then backed away, bowing as she went.

Erick walked on, and casually asked the red air, “After this auction, I’m going hunting for some of the bigger monsters out there. Got any recommendations?”

Whoever else happened to be on the street, after overhearing Erick, decided that they immediately had other places to be. Guys out on the town, rushed to vacate the area. Mothers pulled daughters out of the way. Grandsons helped grandfathers to leave.

Ikabobbi stepped onto the ground to Erick’s left, and the world turned to thorns. Buildings sprouted phantom knives. The street erupted in ethereal swords. Erick paused, as the field of edges touched upon his skin, and his [Personal Ward] flickered with the faintest white. Poi held perfectly still as the thorns touched him and then drew away.

It wasn’t an attack. Erick could tell that much, and he had heard a bit about what it was like to meet Ikabobbi in person, but he hadn’t expected it to be so real, or necessary. Why would an Arbor purposefully hurt its people, after all?

But here, now, Erick saw that it was not intentional. It was just how the Arbor was.

As the thorns came into being, they folded away, out of Erick’s path. Erick resumed his walk, and Ikabobbi joined him.

Poi was forced to hang back, lest the meter-long thorns slice him to ribbons. He gave Erick a small message that he’d meet him at the auction house, and then he blipped away.

“You know just how to get a tree in the mood, don’t you. Such bloody conquest, and now you’re asking for more! I love it.” Ikabobbi asked, “Have you thought about what you’ll do with your body after you die? I’m willing to make you an offer. I have nine archmages in my boughs, but there will always be a special place of honor for you.”

“I’m sure I’ll die in battle somewhere but I hope to die at least a century from now. I’ll have to get back to you on that.” Erick asked, “Got any targets in the Forest?”

The thorns in the area flexed, but came no closer. Ikabobbi smirked, then said, “Twisted Visions. Wyrm Tangles. Forest Crowned Stags. A few Ancient monsters, too, like the Ancient Treants in the Deep Forest. Shade Treant is still out there, somewhere. He’d moved on recently. Want to kill a Shade you missed, and add his bones to my trophy spikes?”

“No.” Erick said, “I have a responsibility to let him try to make amends. What’s a Forest Crowned Stag?”

“Great big things. I hear your daughter killed an Ancient Unicorn once. Forest Crowned Stags are about the same size. They raise up the Forest all around them as they walk. Cousins to the Unicorns, but the Stags came first. They’re less murderous; more flighty. Easier to kill in some cases. Hard to kill because they run quite often and can [Blink] through the Forest, while the Forest itself will try to kill you in the chase.”

“If all they do is run, then that doesn’t seem like a monster I wish to harm, even if it does sound like they enable the rest of the Forest to thrive.”

“Hmm. Yes. I suppose so. They’re rather rare monsters, anyway. If you find any, then mark them, and we’ll try to keep them alive. Hard to hunt when the home-makers aren’t able to make homes anymore.”

“Speaking of monster spawners. I heard that Twisted Visions spawn monsters.”

Ikabobbi smirked, and the thorns scraped at Erick’s skin, eliciting tiny white flashes. Then the thorns relaxed, and the Arbor said, “Visions are fun. If we kill the whole Forest with fire and rot and ash, then the Visions will be the defenses that come after us, trying to stop our advances.”

Erick’s eyebrows rose. “They’re sentient?”

“Enough to know how to best kill intruders, or to know where an attack is coming from. Doubt you’d be allowed into their heart, though, not with all that power you have layered upon your skin. If the Visions retaliated we would have to send particularly skilled low-level people. Higher leveled or powered people have a tendency of either getting brutally murdered, or the Vision closes up and runs away.”

Erick fixated, “I just need to know if they're sentient… I can’t kill one if I know they’re people. This is the first I’m hearing of this nuance to the Twisted Visions and it both annoys and intrigues me.”

Thorns retreated. Ikabobbi frowned. “You do have that weakness in you; needing to understand others. Why not test them with power and see how they react, and if they fail, then they obey you. It is a failing of society that we talk so much.”

Erick said, “Your Warchief talks a lot. I liked working with him and knowing the numbers.”

“Koropo has a thorny rest waiting for him when he dies. If it would help sway you to accept my offer, I would tell him to talk to you about your final resting place.”

“I don’t think that would help.” Erick said, “I left funeral planning behind when I left my world behind.”

Ikabobbi smirked. “Enjoy your Forest Hunt, Archmage Flatt. Leave the Wyrm Tangles for the lesser hunters. You’d probably just blast them out of the sky and learn nothing.”

“Blast ‘em from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure.”

“Perhaps.”

Ikabobbi faded back into the manasphere, taking his thorns with him.

Erick walked up the entrance stairs to the open doors to the auction house, and walked inside. The outside had been impressive, but Erick was not here for the sights.

Just beyond the door, hiding behind the wall of the building and on the other sides of grand staircases and potted plants, people gathered, huddling just out of sight. They were dressed in nice clothes, but not that nice. They were all ready for a big, expensive auction, for sure, but more than a few looked like warriors or people hunting for rare ingredients for the tables of nobility, or people ready to abandon their clothes and trade in their body for another Familiar Form. That last category belonged to at least one person here; Jane. Erick’s daughter stood beside Teressa and Poi.

Erick smiled, saying, “Hello! So this is the auction house, eh? Looks nice.”

And it did. Though the building was simple stone, it also had wardlights that looked like fires holding onto twisted iron torches, large paintings of various rare animals up for auction that day, and a rather comfortable atmosphere of plush couches and other soft items. Erick liked the grand staircases curving up and away from this preparation-like room, too. They probably led up to private auction rooms and to the second floor of the main auction room, which had to be beyond those huge double doors, beyond that large counter, there.

People started to mumble. Some tried to approach Erick. Poi and Teressa were faster, flanking Erick and giving evil eyes to other people, warding them off.

Jane was faster than those two, whispering, “Glad you could make it.”

Erick smiled, as he said, “Glad to be here.”

Teressa casually told someone, “If you wish to speak to the Archmage, please file a request with Spur. He is here on vacation.”

“But he can make so much money if he—”

Erick promptly ignored the money-making man and several others, as a different man who looked to be in charge of the auction house, or something like that, popped up from behind the main counter. He wore a grey suit with red accents. He had been hiding, only to come out after the ‘danger’ was over.

“Ah! He left. We’re clear!” The man clapped his hands over his head, drawing attention to himself. He spread his arms, calling out, “Now that our esteemed guest has arrived, we will begin filling into the auction room! Please see an usher if you are unaware of where to go.” He stepped out from behind the counter. Ushers, wearing the same outfit as the man, stepped out from behind half-open doors upstairs, and also out from behind the staircases. The man gestured to the large doors. They opened. “Please take your seats! The auction will begin right away!”

Jane and the man locked eyes, briefly. She nodded; he nodded. She grabbed Erick’s arm and Erick went with the flow. He soon found himself in a private box up and above the main auction floor, with a good view of the all-metal stage.

It wasn’t five seconds later that the man from before strode out under the bright lights, and began talking.

It was an auction. How much of a difference was it from auctions on Earth? Erick was not very impressed, but Jane was certainly wound up. He was, however, interested in all the active spells all around. The nearest active spells were upon the box Erick, Poi, Jane, and Teressa, now stood in. Those spells were conveniently listed on a small metal plate affixed to the railing between them and the stage. Aside from the general comfort spells, such as a [Temperature Ward] and a [Concealing Ward], with the first active and the second not, according to the lit and unlit button. There was also a [Sound Barrier], one-way, of course, allowing the people in the box to talk amongst themselves without being heard. That one was inactive, too. All Erick would have to do to turn that on was to press the labeled button, but he did not. There were also the bidding buttons, conveniently right there as well; several of them, in fact, with denominations going from ‘+100’ to ‘+10,000’. Pressing any of them would raise the bid that amount, and from what Erick’s mana sense was telling him… Also do something to the mouldings just outside of the VIP box. Possibly, light them up? Yeah. That was Erick’s guess.

The man down below gave generalized introductions, and then he said something about the Archmage in attendance.

Erick looked up when he heard those words. Many people below, and inside the other boxes on the other side of the auction house, were looking at him. He waved. Some waved back.

The host waved, then gestured behind him, to the metal stage, saying, “And now! Onto a special auction! One worthy of an archmage!”

Ah. Damn. They shouldn’t have gone through the trouble. Erick wasn’t interested in any of this.

But hey! If it made Jane happy, and she didn’t have enough to buy something, he was totally going to buy her some horrific monster.

… Or maybe some cute and cuddly monster. Yes. That was a much better idea.

Were there bears on Veird? Erick hadn’t ever actually checked, but he had never seen a bear, either.

As the host spoke about the auction plan, Erick wondered at the strangeness he was seeing upon that dark metal area behind him. It was fully metal, and heavily enchanted; that was all Erick could truly tell from here. The floor practically glowed, while the air above it was partitioned into boxes that were otherwise invisible. Erick switched his Sight off and on a few times to see that… Yes. Those were [Force Wall]s of some sort. [Force Cage]? Yes. That seemed right.

The host gestured, and an animal appeared in the central box. It appeared as though floating in midair. Startled, it quickly reorganized itself, as it realized it was standing on something invisible. It did not like the invisible floor, but as it bounded left and right, it hit the box that contained it, and flopped, rather cutely.

It was a bunny with a horn of glass. Er. Or. Not glass. Something harder, for sure. The audience murmured as its horn scraped the [Force Cage] and managed to cut the cage, but the cage reformed, and three more [Reforming Force Cage]s —for Erick was reevaluating what he was seeing as it happened— snapped shut around the first Cage.

It was fluffy. It was cute. That horn could cut through Force rather well, which was odd, actually. Maybe it wasn’t that cute, but maybe Jane would like it? She needed more cute animal forms.

The host said, “A Variant Mist Rabbit!—”

Ah. No. That seemed somehow morbid. Jane already had that Mist Rabbit comforter. Never mind!

“This Mist Rabbit has a Force Horn and is capable of practically every Basic Tier Force Spell. It might even have the mythical [Force Body], though we’ve only ever had that come through our Grand Auction House three times in the last hundred years! More often than not, what we get is a monster or animal with Force Savant, which is still useful in its own way! There’s no way of knowing which one this little monster has, so there is a risk to this entry. Bidding starts at a thousand gold.”

Erick instantly pressed the button for a thousand gold, raising the price to 2000. As he suspected, the mouldings outside of his VIP box lit up with red glows.

Jane looked to him, her eyebrows raised. As others instantly started bidding and the auction house flickered red here and there, Jane pressed the [Sound Barrier] button. As a thin layer of magic enveloped the space and nothing audibly changed, and yet an Ophiel outside of the box couldn’t hear what was going on inside the box at all, Jane asked, “That wasn’t for me, was it?”

“I’ve never heard of [Force Body]. I want it.”

Jane seemed to have trouble understanding what she just heard. She paused. And then she laughed. “Okay. Okay. Good! Yes. You go for that. It doesn’t exist, far as I heard, and I researched those a lot. He was embellishing for the auction.”

Erick shrugged. “Eh!”

Others had been bidding as soon as Erick bid, with some bidding faster than others. Bidding slowed down to hundred gold increases soon enough, but then Erick hit the thousand gold button, bringing the price from 5,200 to 6,200. Someone increased the price by another 500.

“How much will it go for, you think?” Jane asked.

“More than that.” Erick casually pressed the ‘+1000G’ button, again, raising the price to 8,400, saying, “The auctioneer said that other people had gotten [Force Body] from other monsters, and he wasn’t lying. My ability to tell a liar from not isn’t perfect, but that guy was not lying at all.”

Across the auction house, in another VIP box, a rugged-looking man scowled and outbid Erick again.

That guy had been the same one to take the bid from Erick, each time. He was rapidly followed by others, but that other VIP seemed to really want that rabbit.

Jane shrugged. “I wouldn’t risk wasting the money.”

Erick pressed the thousand gold button twice, raising the price to 10,700, saying, “It’s just gold.”

The guy across the way yelled, but no one heard him; he was behind a [Sound Barrier], too.

And then other people in the audience down below began bidding in earnest. If the archmage wanted it, then they wanted it, too!

Jane laughed again.

He asked, “So? Do bears exist? Do you want one of those?”

Jane was suddenly serious. “Win me a bear, dad.”

“I’m gonna win you the cutest, bestest bear. Something bright pink! If they have it.”

“How about something with lightning and acid?” Jane said, “With racing stripes to make it go faster.”

Erick laughed. Suddenly serious, he said, “Bright pink. Possibly with a tutu. I’m sure that must exist.”

Bidding lights blinked throughout the room. Erick stopped after another two increases, when he realized that he didn’t want to actually eat the bunny, and that guy across the way started to look distraught. Besides! What would a [Force Body] get you that wasn’t already a Basic Spell that Erick already had? And besides that: one bunny wouldn’t get you enough ‘Force Essence’ to get [Force Body], anyway, if such a mythical ability actually existed. Erick suspected that he’d have to eat a thousand such ‘Force Mist Rabbits’ to get [Force Body], and that was simply not happening.

Was the other VIP across the way a breeder? Perhaps. Certainly not a normal sort of rich-person. He was one of the fancy people that wore normal clothes, as normal as Erick’s.

Erick asked Jane, “Is there a listing of auctions, for today? How does this all work? Who is everyone here?”

Jane hummed, then said, “There are a few highlights promised and listed on the walls out in the front room, like the octopus I want, but there’s also a ton of random monsters from known breeders around the world. This place might not look as fancy as some of the auction houses back on Earth, but it is one of the best places for this sort of thing. Lotta Polymages and Beast Masters in the audience.” Jane pointed to the upper back of the room, where a bunch of [Scry] eyes held in the air. “This place also has people watching from all over the world, but you’re only allowed to bid if you’re actually here, and you’re only allowed inside the doors if you’re high-class. You helped me get past a lot of that without ever knowing.” Erick smiled at that, as Jane continued, “See those people down there? Most are servants or stuff like that; here to bid on what their employers tell them to bid on. I think that guy across the way is a Beast Master of some sort. Gods. Look at him. Still bidding on that rabbit.” She shrugged. “Other than that, it’s all rather normal auction stuff.”

That man was indeed still bidding, though each raise seemed to physically hurt him. The woman with him put her arm around his shoulder as he dropped his head into a hand, then pressed one of the ‘+100G’ buttons for what was probably the fiftieth time. His VIP box flashed red.

A few more flickers happened throughout the audience. Then one more came from the guy in the box.

Everyone waited for the price to keep increasing…

The VIP guy looked out across the crowd, staring daggers while holding hope in his heart.

“Sold! For 121,300!”

The guy across the way burst into a cheer, talking about finally having a breeding pair. Of course, Erick couldn’t hear him. He was behind a [Sound Barrier], after all. But reading lips wasn’t that hard.

Erick smiled.

This was a nice break after dealing with Tenebrae.

The rabbit blipped out of its [Force Cage].

The next animal was a unicorn. It popped into existence inside a larger [Force Cage] than the bunny had occupied. A series of collars wrapped its neck, legs, and horn; each of them more enchanted than the one that came before. The unicorn was asleep, too. Dead to the world, and yet still standing.

And, of course, it was black of fur with a mouth of tentacles, and the shadows around it seemed sharper. It was not using its usual [Beautification Aura]. There was no danger to the crowd, but Erick wasn’t the only one who went tense at the sight. Then the announcer explained all the various ways they had the creature on lockdown.

… Erick considered if he wanted a unicorn.

Jane noticed, then said, “You might want that, Dad. They’re highly useful, especially with a lightform.”

The auctioneer called out, “A unicorn of normal quality. Nothing special, aside from the fact that it is a unicorn. Sale is for Polymorph purposes only. Beast Masters need not apply. We will be checking credentials and overseeing the consumption of this particularly dangerous monster. You will not be allowed to leave the premises with it alive. Bidding starts at 10,000 gold.”

Someone in the audience instantly bid the asking price. Another raised ten thousand gold. The price quickly raised to a hundred thousand gold, and then doubled.

Erick leaned back in his chair, saying, “I think I can hunt one myself. Why are they keeping it alive?”

“To sell the body in a fresh condition.” Jane eyed him. “You will never catch one in the Forest, even if you can find them. They are much, much too flighty outside of Unicorn Season. That they managed to trap one and bring it here is a big deal.”

“Eh. Maybe… But I’m not made of money, Jane.”

She laughed, then said nothing more.

An usher came around offering refreshments. Erick ordered some fruity alcoholic drink, while Jane ordered beer for the whole VIP box. Teressa had some, while Poi refrained.

The unicorn went for 317,000 gold. Even Jane thought that was too much.

Other monsters came and went. A bevy of Assassin Frogs of every color; hand-sized things that radiated an aura of deadly Decay that was much larger than themselves. A Trip Wolf; a dog-like creature made of vines that made a great Beast Master pet. A collection of Hidebound Sneakeyes; eye-like creatures that grew like barnacles, which were able to hide and adapt to any environment, and were also gifted with [Life Sight]. Upon hearing of that ability, Erick asked about it, and was told that it was a lesser version of [Blood Sight]. Jane got one of those for 700 gold.

They were not great monsters, but they were cheap enough and it was an easy path to [Life Sight]. Jane had gotten the Class Ability to triple her Familiar Forms, and she could take lesser monsters for some of those new slots, if they had a good ability.

The Prismatic Octopus appeared in a [Force Cage], without any water. It didn’t need the water, either, for it was an amphibious monster and perfectly capable of living on land. It even had ‘bones’, though they were more like cartilage, like that which Moon Reachers had. Jane explained that it had a habit of living near the water, so that if things got too hot in one area, it could escape into the water, or onto the land. It was not the big prize of the day, for there were many more monsters after this one. Jane didn’t want those other monsters, though. She wanted this one.

She sat on the edge of her seat, her eyes wide, a smile upon her lips.

The host called out, “From one of our esteemed breeders, we have multiple Prismatic Octopuses—”

Three more [Force Cage]s each blipped with another Prismatic Octopus. Jane smiled.

“—which number four in total. We will be bidding on them one at a time, but this is our stock today, and let no one grouse or grumble that they preferred the one that came after the one they won. From left to right, we have male, female, male, female. Bidding will begin on the left, and go to the right. Opening bid on octopus one! Can I get a thousand?”

Someone bid a thousand. Another raised to two. The bidding went on, and Jane almost pressed the button, but she refrained, and sighed.

Erick covered his mouth, and asked, “Don’t like that one?”

“It’s fine. I’ll try for one of the female ones.”

Erick glanced down at the bidders. Men and women both bid on the first octopus. “You know… I’ve never actually asked if gender dysphoria is a thing among Polymages.” He added, “Or among the wrought, or the Hunters who [Polymorph] into other people of a different gender… Or any of that.”

The first octopus went for 15,900 G. That was a good price.

Jane relaxed. Bidding started on the first of the females, but other people bid on it, and Jane sat back, waiting for the right moment to strike.

“All of my monsters are female, though the slimes and ooze are non-sexual. I think.” Jane waved her hand, saying, “Never bothered me, so there was never any risk of a bleed-through, but I don’t want there to ever be any bleed-through. Body dysphoria doesn’t seem like a real thing when I’m existing as one of the other Familiar Forms, anyway. I feel comfortable as a spider or unicorn or ooze. It’s quite nice being a Primal Frost Owl, too. I think that might be part of the magic.”

“And yet still, you want the female octopus?”

“Yeah. I do.” Jane said, “I feel good and lucky with what I’ve managed to get, so—” She went silent as she pressed the first bidding button, raising the price to 13,900 G.

Seconds passed. No one else bid.

The host said, “Going once! Going twice! Sold, to Archmage Flatt!”

A few small claps echoed in the room, as had happened after a few of the previous sales.

Erick instantly wondered if they were waiting for Jane to bid—

Jane smiled, and through gritted teeth said, “Ah. Damn. I think they were waiting on me to bid. I could have gotten that for a lot cheaper.”

Erick just smiled.

It wasn’t long till the Prismatic Octopus auction was done. Jane opted to leave, but Erick wanted to stay for a bit longer. This was supposed to be in his honor, right? Surely they had something interesting planned. Or, at least, that was the idea that Erick got when Jane asked the waitress about leaving and getting her two monsters. The suddenly-worried waitress begged Jane to wait a moment, then she left and came back with someone in charge who assured Jane that the monsters would be distributed at the end of the auction, and were there any refreshments they wanted? Complementary, of course.

Jane saw what they wanted, and Erick was in no rush to continue, so she ordered spicy foods, and sat back down, both slightly miffed, and curious about what was coming up. She hadn’t seen anything too special on the listings outside.

Erick wondered what was coming, too.

But the monsters on parade right now weren’t that interesting.

Erick spoke to his daughter of his two new non-particle spells, through [Telepathy], while including Teressa, Poi, Ophiel, and Yggdrasil in the conversation. While handing off his new reflective shield spell to Yggdrasil and Ophiel, and the boxes to everyone else, Erick described [Animadversion], and how Jane should consider making such a spell. Jane’s eyes practically bugged out of her skull when Erick showed her the blue box. Teressa laughed loud, then said that his [Animadversion] was the first spell he made that she wanted. Who wouldn't want a reflect-all shield!

Erick paid attention to the auction in the background, of course. But mostly he ate spicy little beef wraps while he talked to his daughter and his people about reflective spells. Poi hinted that Erick needed to erase the manasphere of the space once they were done, for it was possible for a good [Witness] to pick up on the sub-vocalizations that everyone made when they used [Telepathy]. Teressa agreed. She wasn’t as good as Felair had been, but she’d get there eventually.

This was fine; Erick would just use [Sealed Privacy Ward] to erase the space, and did Teressa have any thoughts on making a better one? Her mana sense was the best of everyone in the VIP box, after all.

Yes, she did have some ideas.

Somewhere in the middle of that, more Variant monsters came to the stage.

Jane perked up when the host announced a Variant of a monster Erick hadn’t heard of in a while.

“A Rivergrieve?” Jane looked to the stage.

“I think he said ‘Lesser Rivergrieve’,” Erick clarified.

The smaller [Force Cage]s across the stage had been cleared to make way for a single, five-layered [Force Cage]. Water appeared in that tank with a blip, as whoever [Teleport]ed the monsters in and out had been doing as necessary for the entire event —they likely had multiple people casting [Teleport Other] and [Teleport Object], for the mana colors had been at least three, so far— and then, came a monster.

… A small monster. Comparatively. Small compared to a wyrm.

Still at least a dozen meters long and terribly dark green.

And, actually, now that Erick looked with his [True Sight], it wasn’t a monster at all. Technically. It didn’t have a rad in its heart. It was an animal.

The host described the beast, “Thirteen meters long, this Lesser Rivergrieve has the characteristic ocean snake-like body common to its larger cousins, but with only a smattering of the ethereal jaws, claws, and greater self that define a true Rivergrieve. A well-honed Polymage might be able to affect the style of its larger cousins, but as we all know, a true Rivergrieve is impossible to hold in any tank. The bidding will start at 50,000 gold.”

Bids started flying. A VIP box who had yet to do anything, and which was covered over in a [Privacy Ward], blinked, as they made their first bid of the afternoon.

As the price rapidly inflated to 110,000, Erick asked, “Is a Lesser Rivergrieve impressive? It’s not a monster...”

“Yeah. It’s not... I thought it was a real Rivergrieve.” Jane frowned a little, but then lost that frown. “They’re still impressive, but they’re nothing compared to a real Rivergrieve. They’re some of the few naturally ethereal creatures, like Forest-Crowned Stags or Anathemas. You can’t contain them even inside a [Force Cage]. This lesser Variant has a body, though, so it can be contained.” She whispered to herself, “I didn’t know this was an option.”

“… Do you want it?”

“No. … No.”

“Liar,” Erick said, with good cheer, then reached for the bidding button—

Jane bopped his hand. “No. I do not.”

“Bah!” Erick did not press the button.

After half a minute of increasingly surprising silence, where bids raised the price way too high, almost everyone dropped out, except for three. The three-way bidding war was between the darkened VIP box and two patrons in the audience. The price was already pushing a half a million gold. Erick almost raised it further, but…

He asked Jane, “Why not have this one? Do you have a water form yet?”

“It’s a good form for the water and I don’t have one yet, yeah. It’s one of the best, actually, and that’s why the price is so high. But. It’s not a true Rivergrieve. It’s how you get a true Rivergrieve.” Jane said, “And I’m not doing that. Those things are death. Let these people fight over that animal; I don’t want it.”

That certainly did not sound like Jane, but she obviously did not want her father to pay for anything, and so Erick would have let it slide… Except...

Erick asked, “Will this ‘Lesser Rivergrieve’ keep you safe in the water?”

“I will have a good water form once I eat some sushi for dinner. The Octopus is not as impressive as this animal, but it’s viable on land, and that is more important… For now.”

“… Okay. I guess that’s true.”

Erick watched a bidder drop out. It was just the VIP booth guy and a different guy down below. The price hit, then passed, 550,000 gold. Then began to slow. The guy down below seemed to be losing his cool as the price went ever higher. Erick turned his gaze toward the animal in the cage that reminded him a lot of a moray eel. As he watched, ethereal blue jaws snapped open and shut all along the curling monster’s body, trying to strike at what lay beyond the [Force Cage], but failing to get more than a meter beyond the invisible shield. The host was a good four meters away, though.

Erick deduced, “It can attack from any angle.”

Jane said, “True Rivergrieves are the monster-form of these Lesser Rivergrieves... Or else they’re a different species. I’m not sure. True Rivergrieves are entirely ethereal monsters. You can’t hurt them unless you use Force. They’re usually the undisputed masters of their domains.”

“From how those people are betting… I think you can upgrade this one to a full Rivergrieve.”

Jane eyed the bidders, and then her mouth opened with a tiny gasp.

The darkened VIP booth raised the price to 655,000 gold. The guy in the crowd, who was certainly a proxy for someone else, raised the price to 660,000 gold. The host had trouble keeping the giddy look off of his face as he called out the new bets and then egged on the other person to raise it even higher.

Even though the [Sound Barrier] was still active, Erick found himself whispering, “What sorts of price tags were here last time?”

Similarly mystified, Jane said, “51,000 was the big auction. It was a Nascent Salamander. They’re what you’d expect, but about a meter big. Exposure to any sort of strong Element would have mutated it into that sort of Elemental Salamander.”

“Oh? The Primary Six? Or any Element?”

“I think it was any. The woman who bought it was a Blood Mage, so I think she was going in that direction. I didn’t get the whole story. I overheard that Blood Salamanders have to be made, but also that they have unmatched regenerative properties. Practically impossible to turn a Nascent Salamander into a Blood Salamander, but if you can, they’ve no real weaknesses and they’re really hard to kill for most… people...” Her voice tapered off.

The blinking bid lights had stopped. The [Privacy Ward]ed VIP box waited to be overturned by the man down below. The man down below did not raise the price again. Instead, he stood from his seat, turned to the VIP box, and bowed.

The host swiftly announced, “Going once! Going twice! Sold! To VIP Box Two, for 712,000 gold! Congratulations. We wish you well with transforming your Lesser Rivergrieve into a True Rivergrieve.”

The audience clapped; a small sound, but a sound nonetheless.

Jane sighed. “Ah. You can transform it. Ah.”

“We can go hunting for one? A real one, too! How about it?”

Poi sighed. Teressa grinned.

Jane sighed, too, then said, “No. I have the octopus.”

“That Prismatic Octopus will be good for our trip to the Forest. We’re going to need to do some manual, non-magical hiding, according to Archmage Tenebrae.”

“How did that meeting go, anyway? You did meet him, right?”

“Ah.” Erick had been mulling over how much he wanted to tell Jane. The whole truth? Or a truth that would enable her to have an easier time with the man? Erick opted for the middle path. “I did meet with him. From what I hear, and from what I saw, he’s not a nice man, but he’s a good man. He’s a right asshole, though. We’ll talk about it more when we get to his floating castle.”

Jane said, “Sure. That sounds… reasonable. Did he seem friendly? At all? I asked around about him and he did not seem like he would make this an easy trip.”

“Ha! That’s an understatement. That man does not seem like he’s going to be a good friend.” Erick eyed his daughter, then said, “Don’t let yourself be vulnerable around him, Jane.” He turned back, toward Teressa, adding, “You either. He’s a good man, but he’s not a nice man.”

Teressa nodded.

Jane asked, “Worse than the Headmaster?”

“… I’m not sure.”

Jane hummed, thinking.

The auction continued.

Erick kept waiting for a bear to show up on the auction block, but no bear came. Nothing cute. Nothing cuddly. Nothing that was appropriate for a father looking to buy a nice animal for his daughter. Everything was death and destruction and too many arms or legs, with some of those extra appendages being little more than scythes-for-hands. There was a nasty insect called a Scythe Bearer, which had ‘bear’ in its name, but that was the closest anything came.

Jane wanted many of them, though she never said; it was all in her eyes.

The auction drew to a close with three more monsters, blipped out onto the stage all at the same time. Erick smiled. They weren’t bears, but they were similar in shape and face; very furry, large, and plodding, but bright green. Almost neon green. They looked friendly, and that made Erick smile. He had to have all three. What possible kind of evil could they be? They were so cute.

They were still getting situated into their [Force Cage]s as Erick said, “I thought bears didn’t exist on Veird? Maybe we should start a breeding program.”

Jane turned to her father. “Is that what you see?”

“… Are they not bears?”

It was then, that Erick noticed the crowd below had gone completely silent. Everyone was staring at the creatures like they were adventurers and the monsters were piles of gold. Erick turned his [True Sight] back on; he had let it lapse.

The monsters became skinny creatures of dark flesh that seemed like a cross between a dog, a skinny bear, and some sort of clawed monster, though their claws were rather small. Their eyes were bright and dark. Those eyes stared around the room, seeing, and perhaps understanding. Erick blinked. Though [True Sight] was active, the monsters turned back into neon green bears.

Erick blinked. “What?” He asked Jane, “What do you see?”

Jane said, “I see three fat dogs. Big ones. Nice ones.”

Poi spoke up, “They’re False Sights. Reality or Mind Magic monsters, depending on who you ask. They normally never get anywhere near people because they’re herbivores and—”

The host spoke, “Three False Sights! Our crowning achievement for today’s auctions! I know they might not appear as such to most of you, but I assure you that these are true False Sights. These monsters naturally appear non-hostile because they will always run before they try to fight, but if they’re forced to fight, their unlucky foes will usually end up pissing themselves in fear. They’re wary of us right now, but that could change if you are a Polymage looking for one of the best Familiar Forms in the world. For those Beast Masters out there, a False Sight will make one of the absolute best pets, for they are herbivores, and extremely friendly once they trust you. The person who brought them to us is offering a 50% rebate for any Beast Master who takes them in.” Some of the audience instantly frowned, or voiced their disgust in other ways, but some leapt for joy. The host continued, “From left to right we have male, male, female. The bidding begins at 250,000.”

Lights started blinking. Bids came rolling in.

Erick asked, “A pet? Do you… Have to be a Beast Master? Those things are monsters; they have rads. But… They look so nice.”

“You want a pet?” Jane asked, incredulous. “With your lifestyle?”

“… Okay. When you put it like that. That would be rather cruel. Maybe not, then.”

The first one went for 550,000, to a Beast Master. So did the second.

And then… So did the third.

“I could have bought it for you.”

“I know, dad. But I didn’t want that.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go get your octopus.”

And so they did.

Erick didn’t watch Jane eat it, but the auction house had a complimentary room for that sort of thing, They even killed the creature for her, first, with a simple strike to the brain, as one would do for any animal bred for slaughter. Erick thought it was all rather morbid, but he enjoyed a good steak, and that was practically the same thing.

Sort of.

- - - -

Jane was currently a replica of the chair near the window of the hotel room, except you could tell which one she was by the tiny bits of flesh that stuck up here and there like tufts of fluff. Real chairs did not normally have fleshy bits.

Erick said, “And I can see your blood with [Blood Sight]. It’d fool almost anyone except for… Well. The three people in this room.” Ophiel whistled. Erick added, “And Ophiel.”

Jane unfolded from her chair-like mimicry, revealing her rainbow-like Prismatic Octopus self. She was almost the size of an orcol when ballooned out to this size, but her actual body was smaller. Her skin moved in odd ways as she stood upon her arms like exactly how a real octopus could not. She spoke through her [Greater Shadowalk], saying, “It’s more difficult than I thought it would be.”

“You’ll get the hang of it.” Erick gestured to his own bags. “Are you packed?”

“I am!” With a shadowy slip through the world, she moved out of sight. Her voice came out of her room. “Be ready in a moment.”

A knock came from the front door.

Erick answered from the living room, guiding a flick of his lightform over to opening the entry to welcome the person he already knew was standing there. He called out, “Hello, O’kabil. Glad to see you again.”

O’kabil strode into the room, her white Mist Rabbit fur coat fluttering like a soft cloud as she moved. She sniffled, on the edge of tears, and Erick turned quite a bit more concerned.

“O’kabil? Is something wro—”

“Don’t die out there, Erick. That’s what I want to say.” O’kabil schooled herself, then said, “You are much too valuable an archmage to go risking your life out there in the Green, but if you must go, then you must. You will always have a place waiting for you here at my hotel, or otherwise. Yura wanted to be here but she is dealing with politics and mortal problems.” She huffed. She asked, “Is there some way to convince you not to journey into the Deep Forest? You might never come out. Many never do.”

Erick smiled. He liked O’kabil’s genuine emotions. He liked the old tree. But… “Unless you have a spare, intact Gate lying around, then I must go in search of one.”

“Would that I could offer you a series of drawings and measurements recorded a thousand years ago by a different Arbor, but those measurements were lost long ago and never recovered. There hasn’t been a real Gate sighting in a very long time.”

“That’s what I don’t get.” Erick asked, “How did Tenebrae manage to find one?”

“I don’t know. If I knew, I would help you there, if only to keep you out of danger.” O’kabil said, “I have grown fond of you, Erick Flatt. Don’t die out there.” And then she turned, and walked away. Her body turned to mist as she strode beyond the door.

Erick spoke to the air, “Thank you, Holy O’kabil, for your hospitality. I enjoyed my stay, too.”

The misty manasphere wafted through the air like a gentle breeze. Erick swore he could hear music upon that mana, but maybe not.

Soon, Jane was ready. Teressa had been ready. Poi was packed.

It was time to go.

Erick had his Ophiel transport many of his unnecessary items back home, to Spur, but he kept a few. A record player and a few records, copies of a few song crystals; they might go a long way to making Tenebrae a bit more pleasant. Or maybe not! Who knew!

But there was a stop to make, first.

- - - -

In a bit of land, framed on one side by a mountain, on a second side by a shallow lake, and on the third by the Shallow Forest, the trees had reclaimed what was once a village. Hundred meter tall grey-pillar trees and their like joined together into an endless green canopy that kept hidden this broken place. There were huge houses built of thick logs, where [Woodshape] had been used to turn them into seamless homes, but now, those places were either rotting into fungus-filled piles, or branching out, and becoming true trees again. Cleared roads were now layered with leaves and vines. A well, once filled with cold water, was now filled to bursting with mushrooms.

And now, Erick saw that some of the buildings were not just abandoned. They had been burned. The well had been broken, and possibly poisoned. The shallow lake had not been that close to this place, before. Someone had broken the land and jumbled what remained. Buildings rested in the shallows.

A lot of people had died here.

The Rednail tribe had been nomadic, like most tribes, but they did have a small home that they kept functioning to provide for those who could not travel. To enable easier trade with other tribes. This had been that place. Erick had not known that until now; Teressa had not told anyone how it worked, until now.

Teressa stood in the center of her former village. Tears rolled down her face, as she stared around herself, and remembered. Erick stood beside her, silent and supportive.

Jane and Poi stood much further back. But not too far away, either. This was the Forest, after all, and there were dangers everywhere, even if Erick’s scans showed no nearby monsters.

This place was only four hundred kilometers northwest of Treehome. It had been a part of a minor trade route that supported several tribes in the area. Now, all of that was gone. Rednail was just the first to fall. The rest moved away soon after. This measure of civilization had been gone for years.

Teressa spoke, “There are thousands of little villages like this out there in the Forest. I never thought my Tribe would ever get added to the Lost.” She breathed out, “… I’m a mess.”

Erick just stood beside her.

Teressa stood straighter. “I burned this place down. It was just me and a few others… Auntie Arathani. A few more… I lost track of all of them except for her. A few went to the Greyroots… but I have no idea where that tribe is. They were our neighbors, but all of those are gone, too.”

“Someone must have rebuilt it.”

“No. I don’t think so… Fire doesn’t always take in the Forest. The Forest rebuilds, sometimes in the shapes of what had been here before… In the shapes that are desired by those who came before.” Teressa turned, and gazed down a darkened, overgrown street, then she looked over a large house that seemed like a tree imitating a home. She said, “When Silverite and the Army pulled me out of my daze, and we came back here to drive off the Witch… We burned the bodies and scattered the ashes. We had a [Cleanse]ing ceremony, too. But… I guess the ghosts here were too strong. The trauma was too deep. They made homes again, even if they couldn’t live here anymore… They should have been able to move on.”

She went silent, her eyes flickering grey.

Erick peered into the manasphere, and saw what Teressa saw. He watched as children played in the streets and old men smoked blueweed on porches. He blinked, and he saw monsters eating people, and hatred slashing through lives. He blinked, and fire consumed it all, only for those flickering flames to dance into the forms of people who grew flowers and houses from the ashes.

He asked, “What do you see, when you look into the mana?”

Teressa smiled and cried at the same time. “I see lives that should have moved on.” She sniffled. “I want to burn it all down again. This time I’ll do it right.”

“I can help. If that’s what you want.”

“… Yes. That is what I want. Let’s burn it down.”

Jane stepped forward, saying, “I want to help, too. Flame Oozes are great at burning.”

Teressa laughed, then she nodded.

Jane became a flaming ooze. Fires ignited five meters from her body. She moved down the streets, starting the flames, but Teressa came in and added to the inferno, Shaping flames higher and deeper, into living and dead wood alike. Ophiels fluttered around the edges, strengthening the sudden conflagration.

Erick kept himself, Poi, and Teressa safe from the fires with [Prismatic Ward]s and sunforms provided by Ophiel. A [Cleanse] kept the air breathable. Soon, the three of them stood in the center of the once-again burning village, watching as inferno consumed what should have already been consumed.

Giant grey trees tumbled from the surrounding lands, becoming firewood, becoming ash.

It took a half an hour; much shorter than any natural fire.

The land was blackened, but not glass. Piles upon piles of white-grey ash drifted on the wind. The sun slanted in from the side, but it was only early afternoon. Erick, Poi, Jane, and Teressa, stood in the center of an ashy desolation.

Erick started the cleanup with Ophiels moving out in every direction, [Cleanse Aura]s active.

Ash became tidal waves of immaterial mana, billowing through the manasphere, blowing away what had come before, revealing brown sands, rocks, and little else. And yet, still, looking through the manasphere, Erick saw people on porches enjoying their former lives, and others running terrified from an unseen enemy. Erick deployed a hundred [Sealed Privacy Ward]s for their ability to disrupt the ‘memory’ of the manasphere.

That did the trick.

Teressa gazed upon the mana alongside Erick and they both saw the same thing: static, a blank slate, nothing yet. That was enough. This had been enough.

Teressa said, “I don’t think I really… tried... the first time… I wasn’t ready. No one really tried.” She breathed deep. “I’m sorry.” She spoke to the land, “You can rest, now. The Witch is dead. I’m sorry.”

- - - -

Three mountains over from their first of many destinations on this small part of their larger path, Erick gave a few final warnings to his daughter and his people.

Don’t piss off Tenebrae. Be as nice as possible. Follow Rocky’s lead when it comes to being polite, but do not ever be alone with Rocky, ever. Don’t be alone with Tenebrae, either. Erick had learned that the man responded almost disarmingly so when confronted with niceties, but don’t let him trample over you, of course—

“So Shade-interaction rules, then?” Jane said.

“Sounds like,” Teressa said, “Poi?”

“That’s the right of it,” Poi said.

Erick said, “We’ll do our best. I hope he won’t be as bad as he had been… We’ll do our best.”

A short lightstep later and the four of them stood upon illumination, not ten meters from the castle.

A Rocky stepped out from a protected part of the wall, saying, “Welcome back, Archmage Flatt and guests! Please follow me, and we can get you situated in the guest house.”

Erick kept his eyes open and his Ophiel alert, and while Poi knew what to do, Teressa and Jane were having much different reactions. Teressa was subdued, so that was fine. But Jane...

- - - -

Jane stepped down from the light and into a fairy tale land of enchantment. A flying castle! Stone people! A trip into the Forest, with archmages at her back, and the promise of high adventure awaiting! She could not keep the smile from her face. This! This was what she had wanted when she decided to become an adventurer! And yet, it was also so much more! Could she ever have imagined such an event, two years ago?

Well. When she dropped to Veird, and after finding her feet and knowing that there was a chance for survival, she had imagined scenarios exactly like this. Surely flying castles must exist! This was a land of magic, after all. And here was one!

She had lost some of that wonder in the following months. But...

Jane almost laughed for the sheer joy of it all, and sure, there might be death-defying acts of heroism waiting for her, alongside monsters that wanted to eat her still-beating heart, or whatever, but that was life for you! Monsters and magic, and everything else!

She was taking this seriously. Let no one say that she was not taking this seriously. Her father’s words had not washed in one ear and out the other. But so what? Life was dangerous, and life was awesome.

The ‘Rocky’ brought them past a tree that Jane was sure was absolutely not the lynch-pin of how this flying castle flew. Who would put such an obviously magical weakness out in the open? No, it probably had other functions. Hiding functions? General protection functions? Utility functions?

… Jane would have to find out!

“And these are your rooms,” Rocky said, gesturing toward an archway in a house.

Erick said, “Thank you,” as he sent an Ophiel in, probably to scout the place, seconds before he followed.

Her father was like that a lot, these days. Second guessing people. Checking before he moved. Keeping his defenses on high alert almost all the time— and yup. There was that familiar spell. The house filled with dense air; [Prismatic Ward]. Jane enjoyed the spell. It made her feel safer when she slept, especially since that time with the Moon Reachers reaching into her underground room all those months ago, back when she was going after [Fire Body].

But they had killed every Moon Reacher in the Forest!

And how awesome was that!

Jane followed her father into their room.

… It was not as nice as the Holy O’kabil’s hotel. It was just a stone box… With stairs. Two boxes, then; one on top of the other. A half box for the kitchen. A separate box for the bathroom. Multiple boxes, none of them stylish.

No furniture.

Tenebrae obviously didn’t want people spending too much time in his abode.

This was perfectly great, though. This is what [Conjure Item] was for! For beds on the go; exactly what any enterprising adventurer used in these sort of situations. The kitchen was as bare as anyone would expect, with just a stove and some pots and pans and a small water basin. Jane headed upstairs, while Rocky and the others spoke of whatever; standard ‘don’t do this’ stuff.

She listened! She just didn’t listen that closely.

The second floor was a bit nicer. It had some windows, at least. Jane conjured a bed in a corner of the room and plopped her stuff onto the stone floor beside it, then she went back downstairs.

Rocky had left.

Her father said, “The castle will begin moving in a few minutes. But first: some rules...”

He listed some rules. Jane paid attention; she did! But they were normal rules, and she had been through this sort of thing before. He was speaking as though she had never dealt with people way out of her weight class, that she knew she could not offend. It was grating to be treated like such a child, and though she knew that her father did what he did out of love and worry, it was still grating. And then he surprised her.

“And we’ll…” He paused. He said, “We’ll be going into a Twisted Vision. We will likely meet dragons. Tenebrae will say more, I’m sure.”

Jane’s excitement vibrated from 8, to 11, then down to 4, and then all the way back up to 10.

“Visions and dragons!” Jane gasped.

Teressa whispered, “Shit. Visions and dragons.”

Jane zeroed in on Teressa. “How do you deal with those?”

“You run away when you see the Forest turning odd around you, and if you ever meet a known dragon, you never, ever speak of it, ever.” Teressa turned to Erick. “I wish you wouldn’t have told us. It’s easier to look the other way and pretend you don’t see what you see when something like that happens.”

“Impossible.” Erick said, “Something would have happened with regard to the dragon-thing anyway, and I will not be some fool who doesn’t let you know crucial information.”

Jane added, “And running away is not an option, right, dad? So how do you deal with a Twisted Vision?”

Erick and Jane waited for Teressa.

Teressa said, “Uh… To kill a—”

“We’re not killing it.” Erick said, “Investigation only.”

Jane stared at her father. “We’re not killing it?”

“We’re not killing it?” Teressa asked, at almost the same time.

“I don’t know why, either, but that’s what I promised.”

“Then...” Teressa smirked, as though a problem vanished, and a path became clear. “Okay. That makes it easier. A lot more fun and a lot less dangerous. Still dangerous, though. But not Shade-dangerous. I think, when it comes to Visions, you just don’t do anything. Don’t kill monsters. Avoid all interesting phenomena, like glowing lights or stuff like that. Don’t investigate noises. But obviously… I think you’re saying that we have to actually explore the thing. So I think I recall— The elders used to say that if there was no way to avoid a Twisted Vision, say if you were walking and found yourself trapped between a closing valley of twisted Forest, then you just had to follow the mana. I was really bad at it, back then, but now? It’d be easy enough to escape one, or to go deeper. Following the flow of mana will drag you deeper into the Vision. Going against the current would lead you out. Simple.” She paused. “… Except when it’s not.”

“Stealth mission.” Jane said, “Sounds like fun!”

“Ah. Yeah. Stealth Mission.” Erick said, “I hear this particular Vision likes to suppress everyone with its Domain. So no [Lodestar] for me, with minimal ability to [Lightwalk], since it suppresses those, too. It also notices the casting of spells, so all spells need to be cast outside of the place, and then walked in.”

Teressa scrunched her face. “I’ve never heard of a Vision capable of that. But everyone I knew tried to stay away from them, and I have not been near the Forest in years. Maybe I would have heard of such things had I not stayed away for so long.”

Jane heard the sudden hurt in the woman’s voice, and pretended she did not; it’s what Jane would have wanted anyone to do for her.

Erick went right for that hurt, though, saying, “Don’t worry about it, Teressa. I’m sure Tenebrae will tell us more.”

Jane jumped in. “So I heard that we’re free to go anywhere we want, just to stay behind the black lines, right?”

“I wasn’t sure if you were paying attention—” Erick zeroed in on Jane, his eyes going hard. “Do not test this limit. Please.”

Ophiel squawked, echoing her father’s words.

Jane had to say something against that. “Dad. I hear you and understand. Don’t worry so much. I am not a child.”

“I… I know.” Erick softened. He spoke to all of them. “Let’s just be on our best behavior.”

“Is there any other type?” Jane teased, then, not waiting for an answer, she hopped around her father and went out the door. “I’ll just explore a little bit!”

Erick cursed, saying small words about ‘not wandering off on your own’.

Jane smiled as a tiny Ophiel sat down on her shoulder, glaring at her.

She ran almost into a pair of ‘Rockys’, coming down the stairs leading to the curtain wall. She twisted out of their way and stepped onto the shadows, off the side of the staircase, avoiding them.

“Whoops! Sorry! Hello there!”

Rocky One just nodded, and continued down the staircase.

Rocky Two said, “No problem, Miss Flatt. Do you require guidance anywhere?”

“I’m just exploring a bit, and not going beyond any black lines!” Jane asked, “I’m allowed to do that, right? The one guy said we could… But?”

Rocky Two nodded, saying, “That is correct. Do you wish for a guide?”

“I would not want to impose since you have places to be and I don’t want to take up your time— But. Maybe tomorrow. What’s up with the tree in the center of the courtyard?”

She might not have a proper mana sense, but her spider form had [Mana Sight], and with her Class Ability, Shifting Form, she had easily replaced her eyes with a spider’s for practically no mana at all. Almost no one could tell, either, unless they looked closely. If these Rockys could tell, then they hadn’t said. She hadn’t shown her father this Ability, yet, but she would, when they started talking tactics.

She looked to Ophiel on her shoulder. Ophiel’s eyes widened at her, as he scooched a tad away.

No need to tell her father, then!

Rocky Two said, “The Home Tree provides for minor defenses of the Estate, as well as plumbing and water functions. It was a gift from Arbor Home, and has been a part of the Estate for many, many years.”

Jane gazed at the small tree with a bit more reverence. “Ohhh!” And then she said, “That’s awesome! I love magic.”

Rocky Two smiled, then said, “It is my understanding that you and your father came from a world without mana. Do you prefer this world or your previous one?”

Jane’s temporary high came back down to a low joy.

Rocky One poked Two in the shoulder. “Impolite. You will never differentiate if you can only emulate Master.”

Rocky Two lost his smile. He looked lost. He turned to his companion. “How was that rude?”

Rocky One glanced to Jane, then turned to Two. “I will explain later. I do not wish to be further rude.”

Jane jumped in, saying, “It’s not a— I don’t feel wronged. My old world was a lot more technologically advanced, but you guys have magic, and that makes up for almost everything I miss from back home.”

She missed some of the shows she had been watching, but at least she had managed to see the Game of Thrones ending…

She could have done without that ending.

Rocky One’s eyebrows came together. “But… Surely you miss the people?”

“Eh. Well. That’s different. I try not to think about that. Besides. The only one I care about came with me. So it’s really not that big of a deal to lose everyone else.”

Rocky One looked unsure.

Rocky Two nodded, sagely, saying, “I can understand this sentiment.”

Rocky One chided his partner, “Still a rude question.”

Jane stepped across faint shadows, to stand on the stairs above the Rockys, saying, “I am not offended and we’re all learning about new people and how to get along all the time, aren’t we?”

Rocky One nodded, then said, “Thank you for your forgiveness.”

Rocky Two bowed to Jane, saying, “It was nice to meet you, Jane.”

“It was nice to meet you, too. Uh. Rocky? Right?”

“Correct. I have not differentiated. None of us Stone Men in the Estate have truly differentiated.” He added, “You might not want to be on the walls when we begin to move. People have fallen off before.”

Jane looked up, then turned back to Rocky Two, saying, “Thank you for your recommendation. I think I still want to go up there. But if you know: How would the Rockys or Archmage Tenebrae feel about me using my [Polymorph] forms around here? Shadow Spider and such? Not the Flame Ooze, of course.”

“You will have to ask him about that. We just grow up here and follow the rules.” Rocky Two turned and followed Rocky One down the stairs.

Jane watched for a moment. Then she continued upward, to the northern castle wall. As she crested the edge wind came on from all sides, whipping her hair back and forth, fluttering the Ophiel on her shoulder as she beheld a wonder that she had already seen. A green and pleasant valley stretched out below while blue skies held above, and the castle floated in the middle. The sight made her giddy. A giggle escaped her lips.

Ophiel twittered in happy violins.

And then…

Movement.

It started slowly, with crosswinds that buffeted from every side becoming something else; organizing. Soon, northern winds blew her hair straight back. Ophiel clutched tighter, turning himself more aerodynamic. Jane smiled as excited violins squeaked next to her ear, and the winds carried that sound away. She almost lost her balance; the wind was almost too much. But then, it wasn’t. She turned her body to stone and set herself in place upon that leading edge of the moving castle. Hurricanes were nothing compared to the might of the stone moving under her cemented feet, or the strength with which she gripped that castle wall.

For there was a hurricane. Perhaps this was why the castle was built so blocky; to minimize the damage done when it moved through the world. There were no fancy buttresses or wimpy glass windows to break in this place.

Jane was the only one on the walls. She laughed at the thrill of it all. A flying castle! Monsters waiting in the Forest! Her laugh caught on the wind as the castle rushed north, toward the green, passing mountains, flying over rivers, heedlessly advancing to a land covered with trees and danger.

The castle advanced. Faster.

The ocean of air tried to brush Jane aside, to fling her like a little ball of lint, to break her, to see what her insides looked like as they painted the grey stone of Tenebrae’s Estate. But it could not. She held strong to the stone under her, one foot in front of the other, the wind tearing upon her with shrill whistles.

Or maybe those whistles were coming from Ophiel. It was hard to tell at this sort of speed.

And then the wind stopped. Abruptly. Jane almost went flying forward, into the still air and off of the castle, her back foot coming off of the stone wall, her arms wheeling. Ophiel fluttered away. She caught herself with her front foot, in a fashion, slapping down onto the stone wall and melding just a bit with the grey. She laughed as she righted herself.

Ophiel came back down to rest upon her shoulder. He squawked in angry flutes and unsure guitars.

The castle had not slowed, or altered trajectory. A shield had simply come up over the entire thing and blocked the wind.

Jane laughed at it all. And then she sat down on the wall and watched the world roll away, far below. Soon, she just smiled. Ophiel’s eyes scanned in every direction, but even he was mostly watching forward. He enjoyed the speed, too.

- - - -

Tenebrae watched the young girl through the windows of a middling tower in the center of the Estate. From the outside, this place was just one of a few such towers, it wasn’t even the highest, and yet, it provided a full surrounding view of the entire Estate, letting the archmage see through the stone, to see every single person in the place. He could also spot the enchantments both active and not, to see if any of them needed repairs. If needed, he could also scan for any potential enemies, from any direction. Half the floor and all of the ceiling was see-through. All of it was enchanted with variations of [Stone Sight] and [True Sight].

From the outside, this place was nothing special, but from the inside, the archmage appeared to be just off center of what could have been a lighthouse, which was what he called it, since it provided a wonderful full view of the entire place, and more besides. Everyone else who knew of this place also called it the Lighthouse when talking to Tenebrae, but since ‘everyone else’ was almost entirely just the Stone Men, and they were different from him, they also called it another name: Operations.

Tenebrae took his hand off of the control crystals that glowed upon a pillar in the center of the Lighthouse, leaving the controls to Rocky.

The Rocky standing behind the controls said, “Shields holding. Minor damage is already being repaired. Speed increasing to 140 KPH.”

Tenebrae had delayed activating the wind shields to see if the young girl was going to fly off like so many other young idiots had. She would have survived…

Probably.

Either way, Erick would have vacated the Estate and Tenebrae would have left him behind, and damn the consequences. Once that uppity archmage was gone, there would be time to fill in some gaps in the Estate’s [Ward]s, and with a bit more discouragement, maybe Erick would simply never find him again.

But then again, neither would anyone else. And that was actually a problem.

If Tenebrae calibrated the [Ward]s to block Erick, then he would also block out others who could actually use his help, others that Tenebrae would actually consider, outside of a Headmaster-backed bargain of trade.

Why had he ever agreed to this? Particle magic was idiotic.

Erick was idiotic.

“Bah.” Tenebrae stepped away from the controls and spat, “This is going to end in disaster.” He glared down at the guest house. “Look at them! He brought two people without an Elemental Body! For almost any other mission they would have been fine! But for this one? How foolish! Nothing but a hindrance!”

The orcol woman and the Mind Mage dragonkin both crashed into a wall when they took off. They were not hurt, because of course they weren’t. At least Erick had the sense to bring along rods of [Greater Treat Wounds].

“But only Erick’s girl has [Stone Body], or any other Elemental Body. All Erick has is [Greater Lightwalk]. A Domain, sure, but… Bah. Domains are useless where we’re going.” Tenebrae frowned as he gazed upon Jane, sitting on the wall. “Even his Girl is going to be useless! Prismatic Polymage. Too specialized, by far…” He went silent. He asked, “When was the last time we saw one of those?”

Another Rocky, this one near a set of secondary controls, said, “Thirty nine years ago. He won your assistance and you put down a roil of Tangled Hydras for him and his team, in the Uncharted Beaches southwest of the Kingdoms.”

“Ah. That one. He was rather competent. When did his city die? It died, didn’t it? They always die.”

“Thrived for twenty two years. Population of 30,000, and then more Tangled Hydras washed ashore. They did not survive the second attack.”

“Of course.” Tenebrae scowled. “Damn blasted idiot adventurers, thinking they can sustain even the smallest of towns out there in the wild! That Prismatic Polymage killed all those people who believed in him. I don’t know why I help when they— Wait. Did he die before the hydras? Or during? Might not have been his fault. Rare, but it does happen.”

“That Prismatic Polymage fought the hydras as they appeared. From what we heard after the fact, he was killed by an antirhine dust attack in the middle of the battle. Weakened him enough for the hydras to eat him.”

Tenebrae’s scowl deepened. “I authorized a counter-assassination, didn’t I?”

“You did. We carried out your orders to satisfaction.”

“Good.” Tenebrae said, “Damn blasted idiots all over this world.” He thrust a hand forward, gesturing toward Erick and then Jane. “Idiots from every world! It never changes!” He looked to Erick, then to Ophiel, then said, “Damn idiot archmages, too.” He spat, “And no mana coming from him?”

“None that we can detect, Master. He is not one of them.”

Rocky did not say the W-word, and he didn’t have to.

Tenebrae eyed the control crystals in the Lighthouse. A few important ones were dark. “And we’re running all the detection magics?”

“All the ones we think he is not able to see.”

“… Hmmm.” Tenebrae stared at those darkened control crystals, then sighed. He asked, “What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Baked Chicken. Steamed vegetables. Highland Wine. And for dessert, we have Chocolate Cake.”

“A humbling meal, for sure. But… Chocolate? That thing that Erick made?” Tenebrae scowled. “I don’t approve.”

“You will like it. It hits all of your desires in a desert. Sweet, decadent, and it requires a lot of work to transform the cocoa beans into a proper food item.”

Tenebrae continued to scowl. He huffed. “But he made the base item. Beans, though?”

“This is a good way to show that you are willing to meet halfway.”

“… Fair. Then it will fall to him to be polite. I am already meeting him halfway.” He scowled a bit. “No… I will have to do something more. I have met more than halfway.”

“Of course, Master. Would you like to try some cake before dinner, in case you don’t get that far?”

“No.” Tenebrae said, “I can have it in private after they give me cause to storm off.”

- - - -

After a tumultuous upheaval of their new living quarters, whereupon everything Erick had thought to take with him was unceremoniously thrown to the southern side of the room, Erick set everything back to rights, and [Mend]ed whatever needed [Mend]ing.

And then Erick and his people were invited to dinner with their ‘illustrious benefactor’. Erick had not named Tenebrae that; Rocky had. Erick had quite a few other words to describe the man who had most assuredly moved the castle like he had, specifically to injure, or at least be as petty as possible.

Jane had been on the wall. Erick had told her not to go anywhere on her own, but she immediately ignored him. But he put an Ophiel on her shoulder, so she was never in any real danger. But...

Erick refused to make himself more angry than he already had been. Anger was not a fun emotion. It ate him up inside, and so, he made every effort to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Erick distracted himself with the smell of a nice, if plain, dinner.

Baked chicken, steamed vegetables mostly of the green variety, but also with some corn in there, and nice wine. It might not have been the most impressive meal, but there was no want for portions. At least three chickens were quartered and placed in a large bowl, beside another bowl full of vegetables. Tongs were provided for grabbing whatever one wanted to grab. It was all very informal. It meant sharing with others.

Erick’s estimation of Tenebrae rose several degrees for that.

And then promptly fell, because Tenebrae was seated upon a nice chair. Teressa and Poi and Jane all had nice chairs. Erick had a two-legged stool that only stayed upright when held upright. The legs were too short, too. Even if he did sit upon the ‘stool’, it would put him eye-level with the table. He, of course, did not sit in the chair and find out that it was too short for him; he eyed it, and found out that way.

Everyone else sat down, because Tenebrae was being very polite to them, and Erick had told them to be polite back. And yet… Tenebrae smiled at Erick. Erick was the only one still standing.

Tenebrae asked, “Why, Erick? Is there something wrong? It’s a good meal waiting for us, but we can’t partake unless you sit. Palodia worked hard on it.” He waved over to the kitchen, which was half visible, saying, “Thank you, Palodia! Smells wonderful.”

Palodia was an ornery old incani woman with red skin and horns who scowled out of the opening toward the kitchen. She disappeared back behind the divider and some metal thing slammed against some other metal thing, as she said, “I cooked for kings, and you ask me for baked chicken! Disgraceful.”

Tenebrae called to her, “Blame our guests!”

Palodia did not comment.

Tenebrae spoke to Erick, “Please. Erick. Sit.”

Erick sat upon the given chair, but only after supplementing it with lightform supports, turning into a copy of all the other chairs, in everything but color. Erick’s chair was white.

Tenebrae did not lose his smirk.

Erick crafting his own chair seemed to be within the man’s expected parameters of this interaction.

Erick said, “It smells wonderful. Thanks for the invitation.”

Tenebrae waved his hand, activating a magic without saying so before he did, being as rude as possible in the process. Erick did not react, for the spell was just to move the food around the table, onto the plates.

Erick got wing-tips and spines and potatoes on his plate. Everyone else got real food. He hadn’t even seen the bones in the pile of baked chicken. Erick said nothing. He could eat the potatoes. This was fine.

Jane glared, then stood. She cast a localized [Cleanse] on Erick’s plate, removing the fried bones, then used the tongs to give him two pieces of meat.

Erick said, “Thank you, Jane.”

“Of course, dad.” She sat back down.

Tenebrae watched, smirking the whole time.

Tenebrae ate first, then everyone else followed. It was a tense situation. It was boring food. But it was good food. The chicken was seasoned well, and moist throughout. The vegetables steamed, but well seasoned. It was a pretty good meal. Palodia was surely capable of much more than this.

Halfway through dinner, Tenebrae broke the silence, as he looked to Jane. “Filial. Decent Class. Decent abilities. You pass, for now.” He turned to Poi. “Mind Mage. Useless for everything except for grave scenarios that you could have prevented in the first place.” He regarded Teressa. “Recently learned and close to mastering [Witness], but for all that you are still a [Juggernaut]. Why? No. Don’t answer. I don’t care. I suppose your Class is good enough, but you won’t survive an encounter with a dragon. None of you will. And you’ll get Erick killed when he tries to save you.” He looked to Erick. “And you’re the worst of them all. An archmage, so I must judge you harsher. Self taught. Excelling in such, so this much is fine. But have you ever considered taking the Basic Mage Certification Course provided by Arcanaeums around the world? A year or two to complete, and you would have had a spell for every occasion. Or do you imagine yourself with a full arsenal? An answer for every occasion?”

Tenebrae went silent, waiting.

Erick answered, “I have enough spells for now and more will come as necessary and as I consider them. Do you have a spell for every occasion?”

“Yes. But this isn’t about me. It’s about you.”

Fair enough. Erick could play along. He asked, “What spells do you think I should have?”

Tenebrae kept his smirk. “What do you have that will protect you from Blood Magic?”

“Nothing, except for a lot more Health than the average mage.” Erick said, “All I can say against that is that I would be fine, and my vengeance against those who dared to wrong me would be served to them ten-fold.”

As if telling someone to step aside from a hostile magic, instead of trying to outrun a spell, Tenebrae said, “The spell is called [Blood Dummy], dumbass. The enchanted items are called Blooddraw dolls. You take [Conjure Force Elemental], [Interception], and Blood Magic and you combine them into a doll that will take into itself the Blood-mangling parts of any targeted Blood Magic.”

Erick sat up straighter. Ah. There was a solution? But why hadn’t Quilatalap suggested—

Tenebrae smirked. “You’d know this if you went to Arcanaeum.”

Erick almost scowled, but he refrained. He simply said, “I don’t believe I would. Not after years, if at all. Certainly not after the basic arcanaeum courses. I was there for a little while and they spoke of Blood Magic like it was just a level below Soul Magic.”

“You’re old and stupid and yet young and stupid, too. A terrible combination. I’ve seen grandfathers who were both less and more smart than you.” Tenebrae declared, “You should have started slower. Making such lightning in the middle of a city! Terrible. You were found out right away. And then you gave out your Particle Magic with lectures to anyone who wanted to come! Completely asinine. I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.” He glanced to Poi. “How many assassination attempts have you had to save him from?” Not bothering to wait for Poi, though Poi was never going to answer that, anyway, Tenebrae stared at Erick. “A hundred assassins? Maybe even some proper Assassins, too? Mostly Mage Killers, as befitting someone so deeply powerful and deeply flawed.”

Something relaxed in Erick as he heard the vitriol in Tenebrae’s voice. The man was deeply hurt by a lot of events in his life, for sure. He was 90, at least, and if he had been an Archmage for most of his life, then he had likely lost a lot of people. The cook, Palodia, was the only other real person Erick had seen inside this flying castle. Most of the ‘people’ here were the Rockys. There was a story there, for sure, but for now...

Just how many people had Tenebrae lost?

The most important ones, for sure, and then thousands more besides.

If Erick lost everyone, he’d probably become a hermit out in the middle of nowhere, too.

Erick calmly asked, “What would you have done? I couldn’t very well not give out all that information. They would have come after me even harder. I needed the support of the people of Spur, and I got it. And now, I’m known as the Archmage who gives you what you want; you just gotta be nice about it. Much better than being—” Erick cut himself off before he said something mean.

Tenebrae sniffed. “They call you a pushover.”

“Sure. Why not. I don’t care what others think; only what they do. And I like helping people.”

Tenebrae snapped, “You are doomed to a life of pain! You know this, right? You will be used and thrown away when you are useless! You will watch your daughter die to some petty tyrant who thinks to steal from you. You will watch your city burn to idiot Hunters, looking for levels! Did you think that first Red Dot was the only time that would happen? It will happen again.” He spat, “More Red Dots! More parasites in your brain! More of everything!”

Erick softly said, “I know.”

His attempt at being gentle did not cause Tenebrae to think before he shouted.

“This [Gate] network will be the death of at least five million people!” Tenebrae said, “That’s what the Headmaster estimates. That’s what powers like Yggdrasil and his copy down in Archipelago Nergal represent. Millions of deaths! Ending the Moon Reachers and the Deathsoul Shrooms means massive sweeping changes in the Forest in ways no Prognosticator could ever truly see! That’s another million deaths right there! The Converter Angel will do horrible things to end your Path before you get anywhere near her. You should just become a hermit right now. Abandon everything you have set to achieve. Find some criminal in some part of the world and consume him for a new body. Practice Mana Altering your magic all the time, until your natural color becomes something else. There are ways to avoid what you have set for yourself, and yet you do not! You will kill millions, Erick. And that’s saying nothing about what you did to the Shades and Melemizargo.”

Silence.

Tenebrae said, “All the good you do will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

Silence.

Erick softly asked, “So we should try to achieve nothing? Do nothing?”

“Yes.” Tenebrae said, “Do as little as possible. Stay out of the affairs of the world. Let them come to you, and let them prove that what they ask is for the best. And when they succeed because of what you give them, you watch them fail later when you’re not around to help, or when you turn your back for just a second. You harden your heart. The problems of the world are not yours to solve.”

More silence.

Erick said, “I will take your words to heart, Tenebrae. Thank you for them.”

“… And yet, that is not the end of this quest into the Forest, is it?”

“Correct.” Erick said, “We’re still going, for I am young, and dumb, and I still believe in the basic goodness of most people. Thank you for taking us to the Gates, Tenebrae.”

“Good causes just as many wars as evil.”

Tenebrae grabbed his plate, stood from the table, and left. He seemed both incredibly angry, and something else. His eyes were rimmed in the red of unshed emotions, but it was hard to tell which ones. There were surely a lot of them, but anger and sadness were the most obvious.

Erick, Jane, Teressa, and Poi, resumed eating, but remained silent.

A Rocky brought out a chocolate cake with a slice cut out of it, and told them it would be a few days of travel to reach the expedition point. They would not be going all the way to the center. There would be a lot of walking, soon enough.

- - - -

Beyond a deep spell of obfuscation and occlusion, in the deepest parts of his Estate where paintings of lost ones adorned the walls, a man tried not to cry, and failed. He did not need to be a prognosticator to see the future that laid before his guests. His past, and their future, was contained in a painting in his hands. The painting was of a happy family, taken long ago. These days, only one of the five remained. Even after all these years, Tenebrae had never changed his beard or hairstyle, though there was a lot more white where once was brown.

All of the others in the painting were nothing more than dust and ash.

The oldest had died to assassins breaching the walls of his former home, back when his Estate did not fly.

The youngest had perished to a team of adventurers who would not take ‘no’ for an answer. For their evil, not only did their homelands die, but they died, too.

The middle child died when a Shade came calling…

That Shade had died in the Culling of Ar’Kendrithyst. Tenebrae did not have the strength to ask Erick if he had done what no one else could do; to seek a clarification of the report published by the Mind Mages, or the second report, handed off to the Arbors of Treehome. If Erick had managed what he could not… The shame of it would have broken Tenebrae all over again.

The last person in the painting died to her own hand; to a decision to walk into Ar’Kendrithyst and kill the offending Shade or die trying. She had died. All her children had been taken from her, and she could not bear to keep on living. She had wanted Tenebrae to join her, but that was asking for the one impossibility he could not grant. He had a responsibility toward the world. That responsibility had finally separated them, for while wars and nations and Wizards had only brought them closer together, she was tired. Three of her four reasons for living were gone. The future was gone, and so she was done.

Tenebrae had killed her shadeling a year later.

That was almost forty years ago.

Where no one could hear him except the dead, Tenebrae whispered, “I cannot ever join you, it seems. Even that final journey was taken from me by Erick.”

He sighed. He set down the painting. He spent another minute in the room, gazing upon all the other paintings of those who had come before, of memories of long ago. Then he sealed off the room and entered the hallway beyond.

Rocky had been standing there, looking pensive, but he stood straight and professionally when he saw Tenebrae. Why was he there? Had something happened?

With his senses extended far beyond himself, Tenebrae paused. He saw a little charm of deep magic held in Erick’s hand. More charms, or perhaps… Charms? More Charms sat in the hands of the others. Those bits of magic had not been there before.

He returned to himself.

Rocky said, “He has experimented with your comment over dinner regarding Blood Magic.”

Tenebrae ran through several scenarios in his head.

The first was colored with anger. Erick had experimented with Blood Magic? On his Estate? What sort of messes needed to be cleaned? If he had injured Palodia or conjured some new bacterium then he would be very wroth with Erick. As soon as that thought occurred, Tenebrae checked on his cook. She was in her rooms, reading her romance novels, as she usually did. She was almost more of a hermit than Tenebrae himself. She was fine. She didn’t even know of the horror that had almost happened. It was better that way.

He might need to clean out his entire Estate, but no one was dead. They’d all need to be checked for Blood Corruption, though, and before they made it anywhere close to the Village; that place dealt with more danger than most of the rest of the world, but Tenebrae wasn’t about to be the vector for even more danger.

Anger blossomed, and kept blossoming.

Tenebrae didn’t fully process scenarios two through twenty; they were probably wrong, anyway. The idea that Erick had made a good anti-Blood Magic Charm? Impossible. He hadn’t even known to try before dinner!

Not even a thought worth entertaining.

Ohhhh! Now he was good and mad! He would throw them all out! Then blast them into shattered—

Rocky derailed his anger, “How was the chocolate cake, sir? You have some on your beard.”

The memory of chocolate was a bucket of water poured over his head. She would have loved it.

And Erick had made the base bean; one of dozens of new vegetables he had unleashed upon Veird in the past year. All of those were also made in an afternoon, or less.

And wasn’t that a sobering thought.

Tenebrae cleaned his beard, staring Rocky down. He said nothing, and then he stormed down the hallway, or at least he tried to storm. His heart just wasn’t in it at the moment. And yet… What sort of fool spells was that ‘archmage’ making now!

There’s the anger! Yes. Hold onto it, and wield it like a sword.

Tenebrae loved being angry.

- - - -

Erick cast the spell again, creating a tiny sphere that glittered with promise. It was an intricate working, but it likely fell short of the [Blood Dummy] Tenebrae had mentioned over dinner.

--

Minor Anti-Blood Charm, instant, close range, 250 mana

Create a minor charm that prevents a single major Blood Magic or many minor Blood Magics from affecting the holder. Lasts a maximum of 48 hours.

--

The glittering white sphere caught the last glints of sunlight in its depths, like a marble made of compounded crystals.

Erick said, “I’m not sure if ‘major Blood Magic’ means what I want it to mean… And I have no way to test that theory without a [Cancer Spell], or something.”

Jane held her own [Anti-Blood Charm] in her hand, then she stuffed it in her pocket, saying, “I like the idea of Charm magics. Make a bunch and then string them on a bracelet, or something.”

“It’s a niche field.” Teressa said, “48 hours for your first one is pretty good. Our Charmer’s Charms usually only last a few hours, and we almost never get them unless we’re going up against actual threats. We never even got the option in the Army.”

Poi said, “Shades like to steal things that can be stolen, and Charms are among the worst offenders.”

“That, too.” Teressa said, “If you can be deprived of it and it can be used against you, you best not be taking your Charms into a thievable situation. Same reason we tell people to never make non-anchored [Ward]s—”

“You!” Tenebrae called out from across the courtyard. “What are you doing!”

Jane sighed, and then she put on her best face.

Everyone did.

As the angry archmage walked their way, Erick stepped forward, saying, “Your hints over dinner were interesting and so—”

“You’re experimenting with Blood Magic in my house!” Tenebrae stepped to Erick, demanding, “How have you not blown yourself up yet! Barely a year in this world and you touch upon the depths of magic! Foolish! Irrespons—”

Erick showed him the box for the spell.

Tenebrae scowled, brushing away the box. Erick simply showed him another one, this time holding it in his own hands so that Tenebrae couldn’t brush it away.

Tenebrae read, and his scowl almost vanished. Then he fixed his face, regaining his scowl.

Erick spoke, “Your hints at dinner were useful. I had never considered making such magic, but once the idea was planted, I spoke to Teressa, and she spoke of the Charmer Class. Very interesting magic, there. I didn’t even know the field existed, but I think my first foray into that particular magic was decent enough for a first try.”

Tenebrae narrowed his eyes at the blue box. Then he stared at Erick. “You didn’t make this with [Conjure Force Elemental].”

“Nope. Here.” Erick held out a glittering charm. “What do you think?”

Tenebrae took it, like a child snatching a toy from another kid. He held it up to the light and his eyes glittered grey with some [Sight] magic, no doubt. He pinched. The charm broke into dust and drifting ideas, scattering on the air. Tenebrae regarded the dust as it disintegrated into nothing.

He said, “Destructive Blood and a [Ward]. Well put together, but still the work of an amateur and an artist. All style and no substance that does not befit the goal, and in the process, crafting holes in the working that would catch upon all Variable Blood Magics, and thus ruin your charm. You have made a protection worth roughly 450 Health, and thus a Blood Mage would hammer you with a minor spell and break your protections, as any Blood Mage would do anyway, thus opening you up for the actual spell that you needed to protect against.”

Tenebrae had said all of that with disdain and hate, and not a little bit of gloating.

Erick responded with a nod, and a calm voice, saying, “You have spotted the problem I have spotted. I assume this was why you suggested [Conjure Force Elemental] and not [Ward]. That change would have been to give the spell some measure of sentience, to choose when to activate. Charms, I think, are always full protection, since they are based on [Ward].”

Tenebrae deflated, ever so slightly. He reinflated, saying, “This is why the [Conjure Force Elemental] version is better! If you would have done the math, then you would have seen this glaring flaw well before you got as far as you had! How much time have you wasted on this spell? How many days till you can try again? Ten? A hundred! A tho—”

“Just one.” Erick said, “It was just a tier two spell, and I didn’t use [Conjure Force Elemental], so your method is still possible. As I was saying, I didn’t even know that Charms were a field of magic that existed. In retrospect, it was obvious that you could make a Destructive Charm against specific types of spells, but the use of Destruction was also not something I was familiar with, until recently. Very dangerous magic, that. But surely there is a way to limit the discharge of a Charm?”

Tenebrae huffed, then said, “Basic Charms are too broad and too easily discharged. If you must go that route, then you must include an [Interception]-based clause to the magic in order for your Charm to only trigger when damage or a certain level of spell approaches. Otherwise, bumping into tables or simply walking around will break a basic anti-damage Charm.” He added, “Anti-Damage Dolls are the preferred method of generalized defense, and those include [Conjure Force Elemental] in their working, but you must include some sort of healing magic with those.” He sneered, “And all you have is [Healing Word]!”

Jane stood to the side, listening, her eyes locked on the conversation as she kept her mouth shut, but at Tenebrae’s words, she whispered, mostly to herself, “I can make a [Greater Treat Wounds] Charm.”

Tenebrae turned to her. “You have [Greater Treat Wounds]?”

“Oh. Uh.” Jane smiled brightly, saying, “Yeah! Never go anywhere without it. Saved my life a lot. Would have died to an Ancient Unicorn without it. I think it was having that spell that allowed me to get Shedding Form, too. Much cheaper to just reform my Familiar Form these days, than it is to cast that spell.” She added, “But I can’t always be near people, so I think I need to learn how to make Charms so that they can heal themselves.”

“… Good. I approve.” Tenebrae turned to Erick. “You need better healing magics than [Healing Word]! What is the problem! Do the Quests. Get them. Your daughter has [Greater Treat Wounds], and you should, too! What is wrong with you!”

Erick honestly offered, “I was considering a certain healing magic that I would have had to make myself, but I have mostly abandoned that idea. I had heard that you could only purchase one healing spell, and until recently, I hadn’t even had [Healing Word].”

Tenebrae asked, “What healing spell were you considering making?”

“[Immortality].”

“… Ah.” Tenebrae said, “That would explain the expertise with Blood Magic. I warn you not to try this, but if you do, you will not try this under my aegis. I don’t want any [Grand Abomination]s in my estate, understand? You risk [Abomination] with every active Blood Magic. You know this, don’t you?”

“I did not—”

Tenebrae laughed loud.

“—But I would not attempt mutative Blood Magic, anyway.”

“Any why not?” Tenebrae asked, narrowing his eyes. “You already do all this other Destruction and Blood Magic without any training. Maybe you would succeed!”

It was a taunt.

Erick did not rise to the man’s taunt. Instead, he said, “The only reason I have succeeded with those dangerous magics is because denial and countering is easier than creating.”

“And yet you’ve created a whole new branch of magic! You should try this [Immortality], but give me your notes before you do. I would like a souvenir of your death. I could probably sell it for a lot!”

Jane twitched. Teressa and Poi tensed.

Tenebrae was incensed, now.

Erick had been trying to deescalate, but he had not done enough, obviously. He probably should have stayed away from the idea of [Immortality], but there were tons of immortals on Veird. It wasn’t that taboo of a subject, as far as Erick knew.

Erick tried, “I won’t be doing the more dangerous magics until I know more, and all I know right now is that I don’t know enough. [Immortality] was a crazy idea that I will not be pursuing any time soon. That was why I finally got [Healing Word], as you have discovered… How did you discover that? Even though I haven’t shown that spell around you, or those who I believe to be your agents. But then again, you are a member of the Wyrmrest Alliance. Did Treehome tell you? Should I be mad at them?”

“Ha! I don’t need them to speak to me of what I can already see!” Tenebrae smiled, viciously. He thought he had won the exchange, and that was good enough. He said, “[Identify]. It’s a useful spell, once you shift it into the right perspective.” He pointed at his left eye. It flickered grey. “Figure that one out, why don’t you.”

Erick instantly guessed, “[Identify] plus some sort of soul magic aligned with… I’m not sure.”

Tenebrae kept his smile, but a tough battle of emotions raged behind his eyes. Erick had broken off his guess once he realized he should purposefully take the loss, but he had still gotten more than halfway there, and Tenebrae did not like that.

Tenebrae said, “Don’t go experimenting with souls on my Estate. I’ll rip yours out of you if you do.”

And then he turned and walked away.

- - - -

Erick laid in bed, considering a theoretical [Identify a Person’s Spells] spell. It surely included [Identify], [Soul Burn] or [Soul Sight] and possibly both, to either puff away a part of a person’s soul and scan through the contents or maybe just seeing the soul was enough… There also had to be some intrinsic interaction with the Script in order to classify the basic tier spells that existed in the souls of others. It was entirely possible that you couldn’t check for anything more than Basic Tier, for reasons similar to why [Cascade Imaging] could only check for spells which Erick already possessed. Which meant that the more magic someone possessed, the more they could understand the spells of a scanned target. Which meant that Tenebrae likely had [Quick Spell], if he had [Healing Word].

Or.

Someone was feeding Tenebrae information. Possibly from a Sin Seeker, or some other Class that allowed the scanner to see the Status of their target.

Or.

Erick was being spied on in other ways.

Because he hadn’t told Tenebrae or showed his [Quick Spell] capabilities around anyone except for his people, and the Arbors, and Syllea. Which…

Tenebrae was a part of the ‘Wyrmrest Alliance’. The older archmage had probably received missives about Erick regarding his combat and utility capabilities.

And, he was probably being spied on.

Eh. Tenebrae seemed better the more they interacted. Maybe, when this was all through, they’d be the best of friends!

One can only hope!

- - - -

Jane laid in bed, thinking.

It was a good thing she had taken Draconic Inoculation.

What would it be like to have a dragon’s actual body?

Ah. No no no no.

Banish that thought.

No eating the people they were going to visit!

But… if some were to die and she was there and the brain and the heart was right there….

Okay. Look. Hypothetically. If one were to entertain the idea of being a dragon without being a dragon…

Jane sighed as she tried to stop her stupid mind from getting her into way too much trouble.

She turned off her Hidden Monster: Surround Sight, and tried to sleep. And then she turned it right back on. She was in a dangerous place, after all, and she could sleep ‘with her eyes open’, as it were.

And then she couldn’t sleep at all.

She sat up in bed, and tried to process, again, that her father had made every single [Condense Particle] spell up to Thallium. He had stopped just before Lead.

Damn, dad.