Ar'Kendrithyst

An Ophiel descended to a tower of the Mage Guild of Spur. He stepped inside, allowing Erick to greet his two passengers, then wrap them in light. After several quick lightsteps, Sizzi and Sirocco Zago stood before Erick, Koropo, and Bloodwoo, upon a platform of the Red Henge.

The two of them looked much as Erick remembered. Both mother and daughter were pale violet incani with upturned horns and white hair. Sirocco was in her 60s, but Sizzi was somewhere around 30. Both could easily pass for noble women, considering that their rose-red dresses were surely designed to impress. The only ornaments they wore were silver jewelry, in Sirocco’s case, and a gold bracelet with bright purple gems for Sizzi.

The band was one of Sizzi’s summons; made with [Stoneshape], if Erick recalled correctly. Her other summon was upon her shoulder; a tiny, magenta bunny. That bunny flopped her ears and wiggled her nose, as she looked upon Erick. It had been a trivial thing to include both extra ‘bodies’ in Ophiel’s lightstep trip to the Red Henge, but Sizzi would need to resummon the rest to this location, now that she was here.

Erick blinked, and one bunny became two. Sizzi was already resummoning them.

Both of the women looked to Erick, but then looked up, and up, to regard Bloodwoo. The man was rather tall. Erick barely came up to his thigh.

Erick smiled, saying, “Hello, Sirocco. Sizzi. I’m glad you two could make it on such short notice.” He gestured to Bloodwoo, saying, “Chieftain Bloodwoo Nosier of Arbor Nosier.” He gestured to Koropo. “Warchief Koropo Ikabobbi of Arbor Ikabobbi.” He gestured to the newcomers, saying, “Sirocco Zago and Sizzi Zago; Guildmaster of Spur’s Mage Guild and her Summoner daughter.”

Sizzi gave a small curtsy. Sirocco did not.

Koropo nodded in greeting.

Bloodwoo regarded Sirocco, saying, “Welcome to the Grand Hunt of all Moon Reachers and Deathsoul Shrooms on Glaquin. I have heard some interesting information, but is your daughter capable of what I have heard?”

Sirocco did not miss a beat, saying, “She is more than up for the challenge and the honor of participating in your Grand Hunt. Just last week, her Summons ventured into Ar’Kendrithyst and slew dozens of high-level monsters. She has Classed into Summoner, and I have no doubt she will be a power unto herself in a short time.” Sirocco said, “She merely needs a good foothold upon history to become that power.”

Bloodwoo said, “We shall grant her this opportunity after a successful display.” He turned to Sizzi, saying, “Your level and the box for your summon.”

They had never asked Erick for that, nor had they asked Kiri for hers. But Sizzi did not rank that high; not yet, anyway. Sirocco held one hand on top of her other, as she turned to her daughter, and nodded, fractionally; she had obviously anticipated this, and had likely told her daughter what to expect.

Sizzi curtsied again, then held up a blue box. Erick had already seen her summon’s spell once, but he saw it again, now. It looked almost exactly like Ophiel’s.

Summon Rokkel, medium range, 1104 mana + Variable.

Summon an Rokkel to do your bidding. Maximum 10 Rokkel permitted.

Rokkel persist until killed or dismissed.

All Rokkel are the same creature; to know one is to know them all.

All Rokkel naturally have and regenerate mana based on your own mana and mana regeneration, which they may use to cast the spells that you imbue them with, at your own command or at their own discretion. Comes summoned and proficient with [Lightshape], [Telepathy], and [Scry].

All Rokkel are able to alter their size and shape.

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

See through the eyes of your Rokkel. Variable

Communicate telepathically with your Rokkel. Variable

Bloodwoo read the box. His eyes went slightly wider when he was done. “I was informed you had multiple summons?” His eyes flicked from the bunny on Sizzi’s shoulder to the bracelet on her arm. “This is just one box, though.”

Sizzi said, “Thank you for this opportunity, Chieftain Bloodwoo, but if you would allow this beginner mage some of her own secrets, the box for Rokkel and Grahla are mostly the same.”

“Do you have much experience with ranged-killing?” Bloodwoo glanced to Sirocco, saying, “I have heard of your mother’s capabilities for [Scry]ing. I imagine that if you learned some of her skills in addition to your unusually well-made summons, then you truly will become a force to be reckoned with in the future. Or even right now.”

“I have learned much of what is taught in my mother’s Guildhouse and have been running myself ragged assisting with the Army of Spur in our pacification of Ar’Kendrithyst. Or at least the management of the horrors coming out of there every day, now that the Shades are gone.”

Erick stood straighter. Ah. Maybe Sizzi had been really busy? He looked to Sirocco, and she looked at him, but said nothing.

Bloodwoo nodded, seemingly satisfied. He said, “We’ll try not to keep you too long. But it might be a month.”

Sizzi nodded, saying, “I am sure that with Archmage Flatt, myself, your own people, and the might of Treehome backing us all, we can rid the Forest of Glaquin of at least a few major threats. It benefits us to assist with this, for now that the Shades are gone, we might look into corralling the Crystal Mimics and bringing back part of that green land, too. But if the Forest still exists as it does, then that is just asking for us to turn Glaquin into another Nergal, or gods forbid, Quintlan.” She said, “We are thinking that we would like your assistance with this when the time comes.”

Sirocco spoke up, “There is also the matter of payment.”

Bloodwoo regarded Sizzi; he ignored Sirocco. “Who is ‘we’?”

“Spur.” Sizzi said, “And the Wasteland Kingdoms.”

Bloodwoo said, “Hmm.”

Erick frowned. He wanted to hum his disapproval, too, but after a moment he put a happy face back on, and said, “A dream for another day. How far is the Wasteland thinking of expanding?”

Sirocco spoke up, “The Magisterium is considering expanding all the way up and around Candlepoint.”

Erick could not stop his face from doing a turn. Perhaps his eyes went wide? He wasn’t quite sure.

Sirocco spoke into the sudden silence all around them, “Now that the Shades are gone, all that fresh water is out there, and we have a friendly face as the Archmage in charge of that land, the people of the Wasteland are eager to establish new lands past the Wall. We desire to open up trade routes with the new land of shadelings, and to restore the sandy land of the Crystal Forest back to its green self of a thousand years ago. Or at least one small part of it.” She added, “A test case for future expansions, at the very least.”

Erick’s face surely did another weird thing.

Sizzi and Sirocco both glanced his way, before looking back up at Bloodwoo.

Bloodwoo turned slightly, toward Erick. “Were you aware they were going after your city?”

“That is the furthest perspective of the truth as anyone could be.” Sirocco, politely, said, “We merely see the benefit of such an action; of getting close to our newest neighbor. A bridging of nations, both old and newly formed.”

Sizzi, in what was likely a prearranged signal, ended further discussion by speaking up, “I am here to help Treehome and all citizens of this world, and I would like to get to that. Is there a place I could be, Chieftain Bloodwoo?”

Bloodwoo gestured to Koropo. “Warchief Koropo can fit you into the working. Light duty for now, or whatever he decides. Much of your main duty would come later when we assault the adult Deathsoul Shrooms.” He turned back to Sirocco. “Guildmaster Zago. I ask you to join me for a talk, but first I would know your allegiance. Do you work for Spur, or for the Wasteland? Who am I dealing with, here?”

“I work for the good of Spur, but I know the location of my homeland and my ancestors.” Sirocco asked, “Treehome might distance itself from these affairs, but you have heard that the humans have released a Converter Angel against us, have you not? Archmage Flatt is even honor-bound to fight the thing, which should come as no secret.”

Bloodwoo frowned. “Let us talk somewhere else.”

Sirocco asked, “Will you be joining us, Erick?”

“No thank you. I am needed here.” He wasn’t exactly mad, but he did need to think for a minute, or a few hours. If he went with Sirocco and Bloodwoo he would surely blow up at them, and besides that, he was needed here; Erick had not lied. Every five minutes something was happening that required the adjustment of a map, the elimination of a particular threat, or the rescue of a team, though, thankfully, that last one had only happened once, so far. He said to Sirocco, “Thanks for coming, and for informing me of the new state of the world.”

Sirocco said, “It’s nothing sinister, Erick. Baroness Xelxex has sent some envoys to Candlepoint and she liked what they showed her. Our Stone Archmage, Peatrice Shallowhammer, has fully recovered, too, so the capability of us changing the landscape of the Crystal Forest has gone up a notch. Ah. And you should know, now: The reason she and Orenza were injured last time you interacted with us, when you were clearing out those mimics? That was the Converter Angel. The Wasteland has been fending off strikes from various unconnected foes for the last few months, but it is only now, with Caizoa and the Black Star, that we have managed to root out those infections and see those separated incidents for the larger scheme that they were.”

Erick felt a profound gulf of dispassion swallow him, as he said, “I really hope the Wasteland doesn’t bring the Quiet War to Candlepoint. I will not abide that, Sirocco.”

With a perfectly political smile, Sirocco said, “We would never do such a thing, Erick.”

Bloodwoo interjected, “Yes they would. They will drag you down if you let them, Erick.”

Sirocco conceded, “We cannot control what the Republic does, but we have obligations to respond.”

Bloodwoo hummed, then said, “Let us be off to Nosier, then, Guildmaster. I’m sure you can’t stay for very long.” He regarded Sizzi, saying, “Koropo is empowered to talk of gold, after he sees you in action.” He nodded to Koropo.

Koropo gestured away, saying, “This way, miss.”

Sizzi curtsied again, then followed the Warchief.

Sirocco asked Bloodwoo, “A [Teleport]?”

Bloodwoo held out a hand. “Of course.”

Hand in hand, the Chieftain and the Guildmaster vanished in a blip of green light.

Erick remained. It had all happened so fast. The Wasteland wanted Candlepoint, eh?

Was that a good thing?

He looked up at the blue, blue sky, and at the ribbons of red that flowed through the manasphere, curling around floating red crystals like they were whirlpools. And then Poi, who stood behind him this whole time.

Poi shrugged.

Erick nodded. He got back to work. Maps needed adjusting. Monsters needed killing.

The sun moved across the sky.

And Erick got to see Sizzi in action.

- - - -

Grass grew to the sides of a game trail carved into the Forest floor, while trees blocked out almost all light from above. Something magenta flashed inside the grass. Tall ears poked from the green, followed by a twitching nose and beady eyes.

The bunny looked up.

Some of the trees were not like the others. Instead of brown bark with green moss and vining leaves covering them, they were silver shaggy things, topped with shaggy silver pillows each the size of a mattress.

One of the mattresses moved. It tilted a bit, to look down. Tiny black eyes, like polished obsidian, blinked at the bright bunny below.

And then a tiny hand, covered in rings of tarnished silver and dirty gold, came down from that silver mattress, as that mattress smiled.

Teeth, like a shark’s, surrounded a hole of red flesh that quickly widened into something much too large for the monster to which it belonged. A biologist from Earth would have trouble putting together the bone structure of such a beast, but any knowledgeable person from Veird could tell you that the bones of a Moon Reacher were more suggestions and cartilage, than the solidness of any femur or ulna. Moon Reachers were basically stomachs attached to rubber arms, and made all the more horrific for it, for the only way they could support their own bodies was through prodigious Strength. The only way they could maintain their health, for all the parasites and bugs crawling on their skin, was through a Vitality of the same.

With some artistic license taken, the Moon Reacher did what it was named after. It seemed to reach from the moon, or at least a very high space, to pluck at the bunny down below.

The bunny responded with lightning.

A [Grand Lightning].

A tempest unsealed! A storm brought down to land! Magenta cables of thick, coruscating power struck from that tiny magenta bunny, running up the length of the arm reaching for it, then continuing on to every other target in sight. Five Moon Reachers, none of them that close to each other and only one of them briefly aware of their death before it happened, each received a dose of shocking power that went back and forth several times in the blink of a single Script Second, connecting each monster to each other, frying, burning, electrocuting, and killing, while excess power continuously flashed out into the rest of the Forest, burning trees and incinerating green life.

The bunny’s job was done. Her mana was used up. The bunny seemed to sigh into the Forest as she turned into dissipated mana.

In other parts of the Forest, tiny not-slimes made of gold and amethyst eyes found their own targets. They too, discharged their [Grand Lightning], ending themselves in the process. They had just enough mana to get to their targets, and to kill their targets. Some of the more distant targets required multiple [Teleport]s to get there, and those bunnies had to wait to recharge, but that didn’t take too long.

Sizzi was a Scion of Focus with a pair of Erick’s Willpower and Focus rings on her fingers, after all.

And besides that! Those bunnies and gold-amethyst slimes came back at the rate of one every minute, for their creator was a Summoner and one of her Class Abilities let her summons come back on their own, depending on how many remained. Bunnies multiplied like… Well. Bunnies.

Slimes multiplied like cells dividing.

In addition to that Class Ability, another Class Ability Sizzi had was to double the number of summons by halving their mana and damage.

So.

This meant that, all around the Forest, 38 targets at a time (Sizzi kept one bunny and slime with her, of course), lightning loosed, and Moon Reachers died, for of course they died. [Grand Lightning], like [Grand Fireball], like many other ‘Grand’ type spells, was actually multiple [Lightning]s at the same time.

- - - -

Sizzi said, “Nine [Lightning]s, in my case, based around [Force Beam] with Mana Altering for Lightning and Chaining, with the duration shunted into more power for a minimally increased cost.” She popped out a blue box. “It’s the limit of my current ability, Warchief.”

Grand Lightning, instant, medium range, 2200 mana

Unleash a wild tempest of chaining lightning that deals 900 + 2x WIL for 5 seconds to all targets within range.

Erick looked at the blue box, then back to Sizzi. The spell was expensive! But it worked.

Sizzi must have noticed his look. She glanced to him, but spoke to Koropo, “It’s expensive, but thanks to the rings Archmage Flatt gifted Spur for the defense of the city, even with each summon halved in power, each Rokkel or Ghrala has enough mana to get to one target, and then to take out that target.”

Koropo eyed the rings on Sizzi’s fingers, and there was a desire there, but he did not ask Erick for rings, and Erick did not offer.

Erick shifted the conversation, “Summoners are pretty good.”

Sizzi grinned. “This would not be possible without you, Archmage.”

“Or you, either,” Erick said, for Sizzi had helped him to make Ophiel in the first place.

Koropo sighed, then smiled wide, showing off his lower fangs, as he said, “Ah! This is wonderful. We really need to train some good Summoners.” He looked to Erick. “We’re offering a million gold for whatever method allowed this new breed to flourish. I want rings, too. Name your price.”

Erick suddenly balked. “What? No.” And then he seemed to see a glimpse of a terrible future, and every good thing he saw before him took on a darker hue. Last he heard, Sizzi had accidentally given away his method for making Ophiel to her uncle, who ran off to the Magisterium of the Wasteland and tried to give it to them, but as far as Erick knew, nothing came of that, thank the gods! Well, he wasn’t going to take a second chance and let this method go to Treehome, either. And besides that— He rapidly asked, “You don’t consider this a war crime waiting to happen? That’s what I was worried for, at first. But if it’s just me, Kiri, and Sizzi, then that’s fine! But no more!” He doubled down. “No more. Not from me.” He looked to Sizzi. “No.” He added, “No rings either. Sorry. Uh. No.”

The incani woman nodded.

“I will ask after the rings some other time, and yes, you are right about these summons being warcrimes waiting to happen.” Koropo said, “But all archmages are all warcrimes waiting to happen. It changes nothing that you have summons like you have. But Miss Zago here? And Miss Flamecrash? These are new magics that would save countless lives. We would obviously need to implement some failsafes, like perhaps having practitioners get their mind blanked by a Mind Mage after a successful creation… But that is just a detail of security. There are many achievements to your name, Erick, but personally, this summoning achievement is the one where I see the most opportunity for good.”

“Still. No.” Erick said, “I am glad no one has been able to replicate this success.”

Koropo sighed, small. The Warchief suddenly waved off, saying, “Onto the job! We’re glad to have you here, Sizzi Zago. My people will keep you in the loop and active.”

Sizzi curtsied. “Though I will not be spilling Archmage Flatt’s secrets, I will be paid for my efforts on the Reachers and the Shrooms, Warchief.”

Koropo laughed. “Aye! Wouldn’t have it any other way. Our people come through and clean up the messes, but if anything should happen to not be there during that clean up, then that’s fine. Don’t get too greedy, though. This Culling is expensive. Other than any choice of treasures you might find, we’re offering 10% of whatever you kill in rads and 10% of your portion of the day’s kills in treasure, to be divided at the end of every day. It’s the same offer we’ve given everyone. The only limit to how much you make is how fast and how many Moon Reachers you can eliminate.”

Sizzi said, “Very well. I accept this standard offer.”

“Good.” Koropo said, “You’ll go far, Miss Zago.”

“I intend to.”

Koropo chuckled as he walked away to deal with a clerk who had been waiting for him.

Erick turned to Sizzi. “That’s some nice Summoner Class you have. I didn’t expect doubled summons and automatic resummoning. What else is there?”

Sizzi smiled; a genuine expression. “A lot I wished I could have taken, but I settled for Doubled Mana and Regen and a few other basic Abilities. I couldn’t have done this without you, Erick. Thank you.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, either. And Koropo’s right, you know.” Erick said, “You’ll go far. I hope you make good choices, but then again, I hope that for everyone.”

Sizzi turned serious. She bowed. “Thank you for this opportunity.”

Erick would have spoken more with her, but Koropo wasn’t the only one with a clerk waiting to speak with them. Sizzi also had some people waiting to get her into the system. He asked her, “We’ll do dinner, perhaps? You and your mother and all of us from Spur?”

“I would be delighted, and I’m sure my mother would be as well.”

“And now for work.” He turned to the clerk assigned to him, asking, “What’s up?”

“Just some adjustments to map 14, 17, and 19, Archmage.”

“Around the Fallen Hills?”

“Correct. We need…”

- - - -

The day came and went.

New numbers were tallied.

There would be five more days of this, or somewhere around there, and then…

Every single Moon Reacher in the Forest of Glaquin would be dead and gone.

Sirocco spoke over her glass of wine, “But there are still more Moon Reachers in the world, and even on Glaquin. They don’t like the mountains for all the Stone Elementals roaming that land, but they do still exist in the Wyrmridge, the Greyhorn, and everywhere else.”

Erick cut into his steak, saying, “There was talk about that today. Treehome wants to assist with Imaging and culling all throughout the mountains around the Crystal Forest.”

Dinner was served in a private room to the west of the hotel under Arbor O’kabil, and it had been served fast. Kiri, Sizzi, and Jane all sat next to each other. Poi and Teressa sat on the other side of the table.

Erick and Sirocco sat on opposite ends.

After a few small words between everyone, and a few small pleasantries, here they were. In a certain sort of way it was nice to see Sirocco again, but so far Erick was still tense, and could not put out of his mind that the Wasteland wanted to expand around Candlepoint, like some amoeba swallowing a morsel. Sirocco didn’t seem to want to approach that topic yet, and neither did anyone else at their table, but that tension held in the air, for sure.

Sirocco asked, “If they approach the Wasteland for assistance or permission, then we will agree to assist. Moon Reachers are extraordinarily rare in the Greyhorns, but they do show from time to time. The only problem with getting rid of all of them in all the mountains would be the Greensoil Republic. Last I heard, that Converter Angel is in the Mondariskas, to the west of the Republic.”

“… I have half a mind to just get that over with.” Erick asked, “Is Caizoa ready?”

“She’s getting there.” Sirocco said, “And the Angel isn’t always over in those mountains, anyway. She moves around a lot. A lot faster than we thought possible. We think she has a [Gate].”

“You can just buy the Spell for 10 points, if you can get that far. And that’s concerning, simply due to the tactics required to take down such a target.” Erick said, “But what concerns me more is that you are speaking as though you are a member of the Kingdoms, and not a pillar of Spur.”

Silence, save for the scratching, and then sudden stopping, of cutlery on plates.

“In the face of such danger all incani must band together, for we die if we do not.” Sirocco said, “Even a pillar of Spur is a target.” She continued, “Did you know that I was scheduled to die, just seven days ago? It is true. An assassination attempt was scheduled to go off in the middle of the Triumph of Light, but then you happened with the Cleansing of the Shades, and Caizoa came out of there with the Black Star and upset the Angel’s plans in the Wasteland, and all those monsters came out of there, and we had to adjust every single one of our security protocols— It was this adjustment of protocols that saved my life.”

Erick had dropped his fork. He didn’t even know he had dropped it until Sirocco had paused her terrifying words.

Sirocco said, “Silverite authorized a few special scanning magics which we installed in a few discreet locations. These scanners caught the intruding Angel-touched mere minutes before they attacked. I was saved. Eleven people were killed in the crossfire.”

“… I am sorry, Sirocco.”

“For what?” Sirocco asked, flippantly. “Don’t mistake me, Erick. I’m not mad at you. You have a full schedule. You are dealing with matters that affect the world over and it’s not like this was my first time as a target of assassination; No. Frontier has tried to murder me too many times since I became the Guildmaster of Spur. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at the Angels. I’m mad at the humans of this world. I have had to deal with this Quiet War my whole life. It is exhausting.” She asked, “Aren’t you mad at the Republic, too? They’ve withheld that Quest reward for killing the Daydroppers for months upon months! They refuse to execute that woman in their custody, and thus they screw you out of those points that are rightfully yours.”

Erick leveled a glare across the table. “I will not fault them for not executing a woman who I believe was forced into working on the Daydropper.”

“That is all well and good, but they refuse to execute her because it would give you more power; not for any moral reasoning. They refuse to even hold a trial!”

Erick balked. “No. That cannot be right.”

“It’s true.” Sirocco said, “The Angels of this world have a stranglehold upon their progeny. The Angels are all the same. They whisper secrets into the ears of the humans. They coordinate across the globe. In the beginning, they might not have executed that Daydropper woman due to her forced inclusion in the creation of the Daydropper, but the reason the Republic doesn’t do it now, is, in part, due to the fact that such an action would give you power. And you’re already positioned to go against their greatest current threat in this world: the Republic’s Converter Angel.” She asked, “Here’s a hypothetical, and please tell me true: You have two invites. One to see the Kingdoms, the other to see the Republic. Both are lavish, respectable invitations. Do you visit either? Do you go, but in secret?”

Erick said, “I would visit both.”

Sirocco pulled out a sealed letter from her robes and flipped it across the table, to land in front of Erick. It was laden with wax in several colors, with several seals, some done up with ribbons. She said, “Here is an invitation to visit the Wasteland, signed by King Rashi, Queen Tiz, and Magister Aerie Iordex. There are also lesser signatures from a few barons and baronesses. Baroness Pirazel Xelxex is on there.” She sat down, saying, “We would not dream of interrupting what you are doing here, with the Culling of the Forest, but we do offer you this opportunity. Please visit whenever. And please do not visit the Republic until the Angel is gone. For your own safety. I know you say you would visit both, but I cannot believe that you would actually do such a thing. Those humans will either kill you or control you the second you show yourself over there.”

Erick stared at the letter. He said, “I feel like you have blindsided me over and over again today, Sirocco.”

“I have been neither polite, nor gentle; this is true. Apologies for that.” Sirocco said, “But I was almost assassinated a few days ago, monsters keep pouring out of Ar’Kendrithyst, the Brightwater has turned half of the Dead City into a warzone, and my secretary— But more like my predecessor. Anhelia. You know her. Every single Mage Guildmaster before me has relied on her for so much, and I am no different. She has all the real power in the Mage Guild of Spur— But Anhelia has gone off the abyssal shelf! Banded together a dozen wrought, she did, and now she assaults the Dead City every day, attempting to carve out a bit more of it into livable wrought territory. Silverite is fighting with her, you know. Not physically, though it did almost come to blows right in the middle of the Guildhall.”

“No. I did not know.” Erick said, “Silverite told me to stay away.”

Sirocco sighed. “Probably for the best.” She said, “Apologies. It’s been… It’s been a week. I am blowing some incidents out of proportion. I was almost assassinated. That definitely almost happened. But… On the bright side —ha!— the Brightwater isn’t much of a warzone.” She sipped her wine.

Tense moments passed.

Erick ate his steak.

Everyone ate, or drank. Sirocco ordered a second bottle of wine.

No one said a word.

Suddenly, Erick could not stand the silence. He spoke, “So! Sizzi—”

Sizzi tried not to choke on a slice of whiteroot. Kiri patted her on the back.

Erick continued, “How was your day of summoning?”

“It went well, Erick.” Sizzi said, “They eventually offered me 1.6 million gold to give them your method, but I turned them down, of course.”

Erick sighed, and smiled, and considered secrets, then asked, “What is the major difference in our summons versus all the rest? It’s just the mana they are summoned with, isn’t it?”

“That is it, entirely. Your method produces summons that come summoned with full mana.” Sizzi said, “Standard summons do not have that, and they cannot regenerate their own mana. You have to feed them mana to get them to do anything at all. At their most crude level of use, they are spell platforms from which to prepare contingency magics and for attacking from a separate angle. Before you came along, the best summoning magic I knew of could hold that mana for a rather long time; indefinitely, even.” She added, “Some Summoners could even artificially inflate their mana pool by creating summons that did nothing but hold their mana for them, which they could then retrieve themselves at a later date. Though that is also a rare art, indeed.”

“Oh?” Erick said, “I never considered giving away mana and then taking it back. But that’s an interesting idea.” He added, “I’m still working on that [Melee Reflection] you once showed me. I think Jane is working on that, too.”

Jane gave a small, polite smile, as she said, “Still working on it; yes. Spell reflection was easy once I was shown the way.”

Sizzi asked Jane, “What’s your methodology for [Melee Reflection]?”

“Ah.” Jane said, “[Rebound], [Strike], [Personal Ward]. The usual.”

Kiri spoke up, “I’ve tried that one but never got much further than Jane.”

Sizzi said, “If you two would like, I could work with you on that...”

The conversation turned to magic and melee.

It was a better discussion than the one about Angels and obligations.

- - - -

After dinner, Erick met Sirocco on the balcony of his hotel room, while Sizzi moved into one of the empty rooms on the second floor. Sunset painted the sky orange and gold. He handed her a glass of wine; a refill for her own.

Sirocco took the glass, saying, “Thanks for inviting Sizzi to stay with you. I feel much better about leaving her.” She added, “I feel much better about her being out of Spur, too.”

“I’ll look after her.” He asked, “Did the assassins go after her, too?”

“No, and thank the Demon King for that! If she had been… I wouldn’t have been able to...” Sirocco looked away. “I blew up at you at dinner, and you did not deserve that. The Angel is not your fault, nor should anyone truly expect you to make it your responsibility; not when you’re already doing so much. It is up to us to put that thing into the Void, as it has always been.”

Erick sipped his wine.

Sirocco drank hers.

Erick asked, “Are you truly a part of Spur, Sirocco? Or are you just an arm of the Wasteland?”

“I know where I live, but I also know where I came from.” Sirocco said, “Don’t stop cleaning out the Forest. That is a noble goal almost as bright as culling Ar’Kendrithyst. I honestly feel bad about bringing up all this Quiet War shit around you, but you needed to know. You are still a valued citizen of Spur.”

Erick smirked, and tried a joke, “So I once heard that the Headmaster has said that we should just blow up both Hell and Celes and be done with the Quiet War, once and for all.”

Sirocco’s eyes went wide as she turned to Erick.

“… That was something of a poor joke, I see.” Erick said, “Sorry.”

Sirocco said, “If you want to blow up Celes, go ahead. I already have a plot of land waiting for me on Hell.”

Erick’s eyes went wide, this time.

And then Sirocco chuckled. “My joke was better, yes?”

“Can you actually buy land up there?”

“Oh, no. I see there are some missing cultural—” She waved a hand. “You have to enter into contracts with an Ancient House if you wish to live on the surface, and even then you’re bound to start your next life in the mires and the tunnels unless you have the power or prestige or ancestry to make it up there on top.” She added, “I have what it takes to make it up there on the top.”

“And that… Appeals to you? To live after death, but struggling the whole time?”

“Of course it does? Is this a weird concept to you?”

“… What happens to humans if they end up on Celes?”

“Ah. Well. About the same, actually. More regimented, though. The Angels of the Celestial Choir are soldiers, through and through. Perhaps, back before the Sundering, there might have been other factions to have been a part of the Celestial Heavens, but the only faction to survive the Sundering and the subsequent turmoil was one of war.”

Erick glanced out to the west, to the horizon. Hell was already in the sky, followed by the Silver Star, looming on the horizon. Without Meditation active, the moon was a simple pinkish sphere. But turning on his ability to see into the manasphere, Hell became a land of lush trees and oceans of mainly red, but also every other color under the sun.

He asked, “Why do the Angels and Demons fight? Surely there have been attempts at diplomacy over the many centuries since the Sundering. What’s going on there, exactly? Is it anything aside from hate? Any actual reason for war? Hate cannot sustain a war on this scale, can it? Or… if they’re immortal and warlike, then… that is rather sad.”

Sirocco gazed out west, alongside Erick. “Immortal, biased, and hateful Relevant Entities of the Script fuel the war through incentivizing Participation amounts. For others, the Quiet War is just a small part of the Forever war. For others, it’s a matter of honor and reprisal. There are thousands of smaller, more personal reasons, from every single combatant. Celes is a land of war preparedness, and that’s a major fault. If there are deeper reasons for the hostilities, I don’t really need to know them, for the only thing that matters to me is that they tried to kill me. They have been trying to kill me for a long time, Erick. It is like that for most incani.”

Eventually, Sirocco needed to go back to Spur, so she did.

- - - -

‘Hello, Erick,’ Caizoa sent. ‘Late hour for a call, is it not?’

‘What’s going on with the Angel, Caizoa? I just heard my Guildmaster of Spur was nearly assassinated a while ago.’

‘Yeah. Her and about a hundred other highly placed incani the world over. Not many succeeded, for the Black Star saw them moving all at once across Veird and I started alerting people right away.’ Caizoa sent, ‘Half the time the Angel isn’t on Veird, though. She has a [Gate] to Celes, for sure.’

Erick sighed, as he felt some ephemeral weight descend on his shoulders. ‘Ah. That’s a complication.’

‘She was being circumspect about it at the beginning, but something changed recently. We’re not sure what. She disappeared from the surface every so often and reappeared in the Underworld a few times, making her an impossible target, but then the Black Star spotted her on Celes two days ago. She’s been on the dark side of that moon since then.’

‘Impossible to attack?’

‘You got a way to blow up Celes? Let me know and I will help you make that happen.’ Caizoa asked, ‘Did Zago give you that letter? Don’t accept it. Or do, and make the complication of you a bit easier to deal with.’

Erick filed away every single one of the implications of Caizoa’s words, then changed the subject, ‘If she’s up there, could she not bring more true Angels to Veird, then? All it takes is a [Gate] to Celes, right?’

‘It takes more than that. A ritual, at the very least. Something powerful enough to overcome Koyabez’s Domain of Veird, and a [Gate] is not that power. All this means is that we can’t get her how we thought.’ Caizoa said, ‘So don’t worry about her. We’d rather you stayed away from her, anyway. I’d hate to have to kill you after you’ve done so much good for this world.’

Her words were insincere. She would be fine with killing him.

Erick sent, ‘Good night, Caizoa.’

He got in his last words, and ended the call.

- - - -

‘Archmage Flatt. To what do I owe this late honor?’ spoke Viscount Andro Helix, of Frontier.

‘I’m going to be blunt. Can you stop the Converter Angel?’

‘Nope, and I have no reason to. The incani deserve everything they have reaped. They destroyed Odaali, Erick, or is your memory truly that selective?’

‘Did you authorize the attack on Sirocco Zago, the Mage Guildmaster of Spur?’

‘Not the latest one. I can tell you that she has tried to have me killed, too, just so you know. Her actions almost got you killed by Bulgan, as well.’ He asked, ‘Would you like to come here and put me under truthstone? Or have your Mind Mage Scan me? I'm very willing to take this step if it means getting you away from incani who wish to kill you.’

‘All too willing, it seems, but I will have that Scan the next time I’m in Spur; I will call your bluff.’

A laugh. ‘I await your arrival with open arms. But until then: have you heard? The Wasteland is looking to annex Candlepoint. We will help you fight them off, if you wish. We can even do so diplomatically; without swords. You have but to ask.’

‘Send a trade envoy to Candlepoint. Help them with honest commerce.’

‘We can do that, too.’ Andro Helix said, ‘But I feel I have gotten a raw deal out of our talk today, Archmage. It is considerably expensive for us to travel that distance, so I confess that I don’t see the good in setting up such a trade. Could you sweeten the deal? We could use an embassy in your city.’

‘Mephistopheles will be in touch.’

Erick ended the call, touching his head, fighting off a headache. He looked to Poi, asking, “Is it right or good to ignore the fact that they’ve both tried to kill each other before? It seems self-serving and disingenuous, but it also seems like the best way to proceed.”

Poi shrugged. “I can’t answer that, except to say that how you choose to proceed is how it will probably go. You’re a power now, Erick. People fall in line with what you want, or they’ll stay out of your way.”

“I’m still not comfortable with that. Benevolent tyranny is still tyranny.”

“I think you are making problems out of thick air.” Poi said, “Soon, the Moon Reachers will be gone. Deathsoul Shrooms are headed the same direction. You recently saved a decent sized group of orcols from imprisonment and rescued shadelings and the world from the Shades. You invented a spell of rain that already spreads through Atunir’s temples to feed people from many different nations the world over; both in the Wasteland, and in the Republic, and Nelboor and Nergal. And this is just the start. Anyone would love to have you as their overlord, sir.”

Erick felt a stab of some awful emotion knife through his heart. He recoiled, saying, “Ugh! Terrible word.”

Poi shrugged.

“And I couldn’t have done any of it alone! You’ve kept me a lot safer than otherwise. No one lives alone, or works alone, and I am no different. I would have been killed a dozen times over if not for you, according to what I saw in Guardmaster Merit’s office that one time— And that reminds me! That assassin from the Green Circle. I should have held that over Andro’s head.”

Poi said, “That kill order was surely issued by the Viridian King. I doubt Viscount Helix had much to do with that, but I do not know. That is just my professional opinion.”

Erick sighed. And then he frowned. “Overlord! Really! I’m not no overlord.”

Poi shrugged. “Would you prefer ‘Mage Emperor’?

“Ugh!”

“Archmage Tyrant King?”

“…”

“Lord of Candlepoint and Roadbuilder to the Stars?”

“… You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Poi could not help but smirk, as he offered, “Worldmaker? Demon Slayer? Angel Killer, soon enough.”

Erick sighed.

- - - -

Four days and many slaughters later, the last Moon Reacher breathed its last breath in the Forest of Glaquin. Coincidentally, the final Reacher was killed by a team led by Kordon, with Jane and a few others in his party.

The celebration that night was monumental, enveloping all of Treehome.

Eight days after that, the last Deathsoul Shroom of the Forest was fried by four bunnies, each hopping around the Adult Shroom, each releasing torrents of power, like so much electric death. Sizzi had taken out the bulk of those targets, herself. Her bunnies and metal ooze could do so, so much more than Kiri’s Sunny, or even Erick’s Ophiel.

The party that night was even larger than the previous one. Though Erick was honored with many words and many gifts, Sizzi and Kiri both received their fair share of the accolades. Sizzi was even more popular than Erick, for she was actually approachable in the conventional sense, down there at her own table of honor, closer to the actual ground. People could see Erick, though, up there at his high table of honor, sitting with the Elders, but they could not approach him like they could approach Sizzi.

To everyone’s surprise, the Culling of the Forest went off without a hitch. No one died. Everyone lived.

… Monsters died, by the hundreds of thousands.

Monsters didn’t count.

The Culling of the Forest went off without a hitch; Erick had to repeat that to himself a few times. No one expected that. Everyone expected some other interruption like a Cultist attack, or something worse.

Erick still had no idea where that lead missile from the Cultist attack came from. He had squirreled that payload away in a tree out in the Forest, and he checked on it occasionally, just to see if he could find any clues as to who had tried to kill Syllea, but nothing came of that, either.

In fact, the entire world seemed to pause while the Culling took place.

The Converter Angel had remained on the moon of Celes, full time. She hadn’t moved much except back and forth on that white pearl of a celestial sphere, with almost all of those movements being on the other side of that moon. The one time she had appeared on the visible side, Caizoa had called Erick up and told him to look.

He couldn’t see her. Not even with Ophiel’s eyesights. Maybe he should have been carrying a telescope with him? The Converter Angel moved on even as Erick moved to find a telescope. Caizoa ended that call, disappointed in him. Some part of him felt that her call had been nothing more than a ploy, or a taunt, or something similar.

So Erick ignored the caustic young woman’s comments, and focused on what the Converter Angel had done since being up there on the moon, and the fact was, that the Converter Angel hadn’t made any new attacks against the incani of Veird, at all. She hadn’t done much of any visible thing, up there.

So what was all that about?

- - - -

Erick woke with the dawn.

Something had woken him up. Some intrinsic thing…

What had woken him? He checked himself out, and, finding nothing wrong, expanded his mana sense throughout the whole hotel room.

Jane was asleep in her bed in her room, tangled in the sheets. Kiri, Teressa, and Poi were all in their own rooms. Sizzi had crashed out in her own bed; exhausted. That young woman had truly done more than anyone when it came to Culling the Forest. Erick had been impressed with her fortitude, but she had been extremely busy, and he had not gotten much time to talk to her beside normal pleasantries. No one had. For her, it had been ‘wake at dawn, cast for 14 hours, then crash’. She was truly determined to make her mark, and Erick didn’t quite understand why, or for what reason, though he did have his suspicions.

But for now, the young woman had crashed out for a different reason than ‘overwork’. With how much all of them drank last night, none of them would be waking up for several more hours. Poi might be awake in a little while, but everyone else had partied hard. Erick didn’t want to be awake at this hour, either, and it wasn’t a full bladder that had woken him, though there was enough pressure down there that he could probably just get up and take care of that while he could.

But...

Something had woken him...

He checked himself and his Status.

His Shroud was healed. Mostly. He was rested, for sure. His Mana Regen was still a bit broken, but it was at 90% of where it should be; and that would have to be enough. Maybe he had woken over the anticipation of the spells he had unlocked and bought in the last few days? He hadn’t had much experience with any of them outside of initial usage since he was still healing and he truly could not afford to set his healing back any longer with any experimentation, but his new spells would prove useful, soon enough.

Witness X, variable cast time, variable range, 25 mana

See the past.

Future Sight X, variable cast time, variable range, 25 mana

See the future.

True Sight X, instant, medium range, 25 mana per second

See through all falsehoods.

But that anticipation had not woken him.

Why… ?

He gasped. He realized. He mentally checked the day, and knew what was coming, and what had happened. The Converter Angel wasn’t the only thing looming on the horizon.

An event a year in the making was scheduled to come to fruition, soon. Right now?

Today? Yes. Today.

Any second now.

As though summoned by his thoughts and fears, a blue box appeared, unbidden. A thrill of excitement and apprehension coiled up and down Erick’s spine, for the blue box was blank.

And then words began to populate that blue field, as though typed by a godly hand, directly to him.

Particle Magic is now a part of the Script.

Details to follow for concerned parties...