Ar'Kendrithyst

The sun set to one side of the horizon while the moons teased their presence upon the other, and a rainbow of reds, yellow, and blues stretched across the heavens between, covering the world in color. All around, grasses swayed under northern winds. Though this was Veird’s equivalent of Spring, it was still cold at night, in this part of the world. Erick’s breath fogged in the chill air, producing streamers of visible warmth that whipped away in the breeze.

In the distance, and all around, tiny dots of light danced among the grasses. They weren’t fireflies; they were much larger, each about the size of his thumb. Erick had heard them called lightbugs, and they were harmless. They flitted among the tall green grasses, glittering in whites and greens and yellows, bringing light to the deepening night. They had a few slim uses. About one in a hundred thousand had Light Essence in their glowing bodies, which was about the most expensive thing about them. Hunting for those specific lightbugs was like hunting for dropped gold coins on a beach, though; no one did it unless they were a rather odd person or had some method to shorten the search. Either way, only the foolish or needy would go hunting for such a specific payout, since hunting the monsters which were out here at the same time would provide a much more steady paycheck.

But the lightbugs were pretty to look at. Erick had chosen this spot because of those lightbugs, for they gave rise to the idea that even in the dark, there was light, and even when the world seemed empty, that was just an illusion.

Ah.

Yes.

There’s the mindset.

Erick relaxed into the moment. With one hand, he channeled his mana through [Lightshape]. With the other, he channeled [Shadowshape]. He found the harmony almost instantly, like someone else had taken the vocals and the instrumentals of a song and pulled them apart, and here Erick was, putting them back together.

He cast.

The world in front of him took on an unreality. Small natural damage done to the grasses all around him, like bent blades and chewed stems, vanished. The breeze turned more hospitable, warming up by degrees. Lightbugs appeared, but they were fake, too; all the real ones had stopped glowing around Erick, for they would not glow in the direct presence of others. That was one of the ways that a grass traveler could tell if there were monsters waiting in the deepening twilight, just out of sight.

A blue box appeared, but Erick ignored it for a moment, as he tested the control he had imposed upon the scene. He made the false lightbugs glow brighter. He made the night deepen. He made the air turn frozen, and chilly, sending the dancing illusions of lightbugs to the ground like scattered, glowing ice cubes, their glows rapidly giving out. And then when even the distant lightbugs noticed this and shut off their lights, Erick went the other way with his illusions. He warmed the world, bringing high summer to the night, making the world muggy and false, and bright with buzzing lights. He hid himself, Poi, Jane, and Teressa, in the illusion.

It didn’t take long for the lightbugs to notice the happening scene in front of them. The real bugs all began to relight. They moved into the area and seemed to love the false warmth.

The night danced with illusions of brightness.

The spell soon ran its course; Erick had asked too much of the Shaping magic. The cold night returned. The fake lightbugs vanished. The real lightbugs saw Erick, standing in the middle of their glow party, and they stopped glowing. They dropped into the shadowy grasses and hid, once again.

Erick checked his spell.

Mysticalshape, instant, medium range, 100 mana

A large illusion of the world is yours to command. Unreal control. Lasts 5 minutes.

It was a good outcome. The ‘unreal control’ is what made the spell Mystical, while [Illusionshape] would have retained the normal ‘fine control’ of its parent spells.

Erick played around with [Mysticalshape] for a little while, targeting the images he could see in the mana whenever he activated Meditation. Fake eyes and fake monsters in the mana became real, for a certain definition of real.

Tigers made of arms. Floating, swimming fish in the grasses made of scales and webbing. Lizards made of claws. Mouths made of tongues.

And then Erick shifted those unreal sights into something nicer. Tigers made of orange and gold, with gold that turned black in the shadows, and white in the light. Fish made of emeralds with diaphanous fins made of starlight. Lizards made of obsidian, that hid in the darkness like it was their homes, with bright red eyes like cherry red iron. The mouths and the eyes simply went away; Erick didn’t need those in his life.

As he got a feel for the magic, night deepened. Stars came out. Twilight was here, while the sun set far beyond the western horizon. In the half-light of almost-night, Erick went onto the next part of this magic.

He held out a hand and listened to the Growing tale of [Treeshape]. He mixed a tale of decades of easy life, under the sun and growing tall, with the sounds of [Stoneshape] producing a life that stretched out into time frames measured in eons.

A transformation. A mutation. A permanency of solidness that still managed to reach for the sky and make itself known.

He told this tale to a seed he had gathered from a tall, strong tree, back in Alaralti.

And then he set the seed into the ground, and cast.

Stone raised from the land like a sapling trunk, then grew tall, and strong. Erick directed the growth with a bit more trouble than he usually had with [Treeshape], but only because the stone tree did not want to grow as fast as a normal tree, and Erick was pushing against that limit. A blue box appeared but Erick was concentrating. He pushed the message to the side. With focus and goals, the stone tree grew. The spell ended. The tree stood mighty, thick of trunk and reaching of branch, with bright orange, red, and brown bark, and with black leaves that drank in the world, making the world just a bit more solid. The tree was ten meters tall and did not wave in the wind. Even the leaves were like chips of unmoving stone. It would take a hurricane to move this tree.

Erick looked at the spell.

Living Petrified Treeshape, instant, medium range, 250 mana

Direct the accelerated growth of a tree into a living petrified tree. Control lasts for 5 minutes. The living tree will continue rapid growth for up to one week after this spell ends, and then slow down. Recasting this spell upon a living petrified tree will temporarily invigorate new growth.

Erick nodded, then turned to his creation. With a swipe of his lightform, he grabbed a seed pod in the upper reaches of the living petrified tree. It was the shape of a walnut, but a bit bigger, almost the size of his palm. The outside was vibrantly orange but Erick’s mana sense told him the inside was crystalline white.

The scrolls from Devouring Nightmare had said using a seed from his first working wasn’t strictly necessary for the second working, but upon seeing the size, the heft, and the interior of the seed, some inner part of Erick knew that he had to use this nascent tree to grow the next.

He stepped away from the original tree. This next one would be much, much larger.

With the stonetree seed held in his palms, he channeled [Mysticalshape] into the seed from his left hand, while [Living Petrified Treeshape] channeled into the seed from the right. The seed began to glow. The interior crystal shone through the petrified surface; a white light under oranges and reds.

Ophiels danced around Erick, their eyes focused in reverence as they sang a syncing song to the night, to the seed.

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye held in the sky above Erick like a fourth moon, gazing down upon the working with a focus to rival Melemizargo.

That Old Dragon was probably watching this, wasn’t he? Eh. Whatever.

—The seed shifted. The exterior turned black as the interior became as bright as the sun. Mana flowed from Erick into the seed; he had cast the spells in the middle of the working, somehow, only realizing that he had cast after the fact. The seed soaked in his power and greedily drank thousands of mana from his soul.

He felt a tether take hold.

He let the seed go.

The seed did not drop. It floated away, like a leaf upon a slow river. Ten meters, then thirty, then fifty; traveling like a coconut upon unseen waters to where it needed to be. Suddenly, the grasslands turned to liquid, swirling away like so much sand and mud, and the seed buried itself according to its own desires. Erick felt himself connect to the magic, and the magic asked what he wanted.

Erick spoke, “A kilometer tall, or more, and strong enough to withstand whatever the world brings to bear against you.”

The seed seemed to laugh, as though Erick’s request was too easy.

The tether snapped.

From one flashing second to the next, as though Erick had seen a bright light and his eyes were adjusting, the tree appeared. Fully grown. White as Erick’s magic, and almost as bright. Fifty meters wide at the thickest part of the trunk. A kilometer and a half tall. Its branches blocked out the sky with a million billion white leaves, upon branches that were just as brilliant. It was a version of Reality that was close to reality, but not exactly.

And then the magic faded. The white light faded.

The tree remained.

In the twilight purple sky, the tree was a lot less white, a lot less unreal. Purple shadows played in the boughs while dark wind played among the leaves. The tree had become real, and yet remained a bit inscrutable. It did not sway in the breeze, except in the smallest of ways. The Arbors of Treehome at least swayed a bit. This one was solid as, well, rock.

From an odd direction, Erick felt a demand.

Yggdrasil demanded; a wordless expression of need.

It was an overwhelming emotion, one that Erick almost gave into right away, but he did not. Erick looked at Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye and said, “You’re going to have to wait. The scrolls from Devouring Nightmare were very clear about what the good version of this spell looked like, and since the blue box hasn’t appeared yet, we don’t know if it turned out well. Even if it did turn out well, though, you only have one body right now, and I don’t want you experimenting on yourself when you only have one self to experiment on.”

Yggdrasil… still demanded, but it was less forceful. After a moment, Yggdrasil’s eye bounced along in reluctant understanding.

“Thank you for understanding.” Erick nodded at the [Scry] eye, and then turned to the open air, openly wondering, “Now where is that— Ah. There it is.”

The blue box had finally appeared.

Eternal Stonetree, instant, super long range, 5000 mana

Grow an eternal stonetree based upon your desires, or grant the properties of an eternal stonetree to a living tree, with variable outcomes either way. Targeting a sapient tree will grant control of this spell to the tree. Targeting a magical tree will produce wildly unknown effects.

Eternal stonetrees are extraordinarily resistant to any outside force.

Erick smiled. He showed Yggdrasil the spell, saying, “It turned out well. Soon as I get to Spur and grow you a new body to replace the one you lost, we can experiment. Okay?”

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye tumbled through the air in reluctant understanding.

Erick added, “You know, if you grew up enough for me to plant one of you on this side of the world, maybe I could grant you the spell here. Would you like that?”

Yggdrasil’s eye went rigid in contemplation. Then he began to vibrate a bit like an excited child, rapidly transitioning into elated nodding.

Erick smiled. “Good. You work on growing, then. Besides that, it might be nice to have one of you on this side of the world. Less distance to cover with [Scry].”

Yggdrasil’s eye danced through the air, understanding a bit, but too excited to comprehend. He went to join Ophiel, who was already flying around the big white tree. Erick simply watched for a little while.

Poi, Teressa, and Jane watched from a bit further away.

Soon enough, the [Familiar]s all came back to Erick, and Erick moved on to the final part of the evening’s magic. He focused, he imagined, and he cast, transforming that which was partially illusion, partially real, into adopting a different form that was no less impressive.

The massive white tree transformed into a craggy white boulder a few hundred meters across, set halfway into the ground. It had only two architectural accompaniments; a staircase that led up to a plateau at the top, and a house upon that plateau. The house was a familiar three stories tall, with two mage towers on either side and balconies here and there.

Erick smiled as he gazed upon his craft. He had recreated his house at Spur, here, in this open land north of Holorulo.

Eternal Stonetreeshape, instant, super long range, 5500 mana

Warp an eternal stonetree into your desired shape or warp the illusions around a living eternal stonetree into your desired shape. Unreal control. Spell lasts 5 minutes.

“Ah ha!” Erick turned to his people and handed out the spellwork. “That’s the good version, too!”

Poi, Teressa, and Jane, had silently watched the whole time. Now, they read the blue boxes they had been given.

Jane read and discarded the boxes, then asked, “Why’d you make it like the house in Spur?”

“A summer home! Or something. I’m not sure yet. Maybe I’ll make a whole lot of these homes all across the world? It could work.” He started walking toward his own, private clan mountain, saying, “Come on! Let’s go see what it looks like on the inside!”

While Ophiels twittered and flew ahead of Erick, everyone else began to follow.

Erick stepped upon the white stonetree, onto some stairs he had shaped into the working that went all the way to the house at the top. Now that he was here… The stairs were a bit uneven, and a bit too shallow, like someone had hewn stairs out of a real rock mountain without any care about how stairs should be. OSHA would not approve.

Erick mumbled, “Eh. Good enough for a first try.”

Jane asked, “You didn’t use [Metalshape], did you? Why not?”

Erick hummed, thinking.

Jane let him think.

It didn’t take long to get halfway up the white staircase. While he was thinking, Erick saw room for improvement everywhere. Water would collect and putrefy in that divot over there, while those steps right there were a tripping hazard, and this whole place was rather unprotected. He could have easily made his clan mountain harder to assail if he had been thinking about defense when he cast. He could have made sheer walls on the sides, instead of slopes that allowed easy scaling. He could have made extra houses here and there, too. Guest houses. Garden spaces. Places that, with a bit of carving, or better Shaping, could be made into a nice set of waterfalls and small ponds and—

Ah. Erick realized Jane was setting up for a joke.

Erick asked, “Why would [Metalshape] have been good?”

Jane smiled. She stepped to her father’s side, and said, “You could have called the spell [Adaman-tree-um].”

Erick burst a laugh that filled the silent night sky. Jane smiled brightly.

Erick said, “Puns aside, the scrolls didn’t go into alternate versions, but I can imagine a ton of reasons that they didn’t use metal. When I researched for Yggdrasil, I found out about metal trees that grow in the deep parts of Nergal, as a way to protect themselves against the various toxic monsters and life that also grows all around down there. They’re probably not natural, though, so that evolution idea is rather thin. They’re rare trees, because they’re very easy to [Metalshape], because of their second property, of being living, magical metal. You can chop off a branch and immediately use it to make some magic item, or what have you. This is likely the main reason that metal trees are not part of the clan mountains; they’re not secure from a simple tier 2 spell that is purchasable from the Script.”

They had reached the house, and it looked exactly the same as Erick’s house back in Spur. He smiled as he looked up at it. And then he walked in, with the others following. With a flick of his intent, lightwards spread throughout the entire space, illuminating the house almost exactly as the house in Spur was illuminated.

This house was a mess.

There were many places where the Shaping had failed in the details. There were holes in many walls, and the staircase was half melty. Erick frowned, as he walked deeper into the house.

Erick continued, “Another problem of including metals into this magic is that such a spell might only produce small trees. The steel trees of Nergal are all stunted things that only grow large when you give them lots of metal. They’re not able to just take the rock in the ground, the water in the land, and nutrients in the air and make themselves as big as they can be. This spell can do that. Plus, eternal stonetree is electrically insulated. Lightning is not a problem for clan mountains.” Erick looked around the kitchen as he said, “There’s probably more reasons not to include [Metalshape] in the working but I can’t think of many.”

Jane asked, “But to include illusion would circumvent many of those issues, wouldn’t it?”

“Possibly. I’m not too experienced with illusions yet, but illusion seems to be able to make Reality into reality, but only if reality is already rather close to Reality. You probably have more experience with illusions than me. You made all of the Shaping spells, didn’t you?”

“I did, along with a few subsequent spells,” Jane said, casting a spell at the ground and achieving nothing. “Didn’t make anything that I’d be unwilling to break and try again, though.”

Erick walked into the main room, then up the central staircase. Everyone else stayed nearby as he explored. He said, “Anyway. I won’t be making a metal version of this spell; I’m almost 100% certain that the existence of [Metalshape] would invalidate the whole working.” He stomped his foot upon the floor and it sounded like stomping on a boulder. “Heh. This stuff is a lot more solid than I thought it would be.”

Jane cast another spell at the ground, then said, “Yup. None of my Shaping spells work on it. Not even [Illusionshape].”

Erick teased, “It’s only ten days to remake the clone spell you have at tier 3. Try to remake [Illusionshape] into [Mysticalshape].”

“I might.”

“If you had a truly good illusion spell, you could use it for practically everything.” Erick said, “But I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Yeah. When I read about it, it sounded like a good way to get myself killed.”

“Yup.” Erick said, “But the utility of illusion is not to be diminished.”

“Maybe.” Jane said, “Anyway. Let’s go home. I got monsters to kill in the morning.”

“Sure sure.” Erick looked around again, and paused.

He had felt a bit homesick the second he saw this remake of his house at Spur, but now it hit him pretty hard. Jane and Poi noticed.

Teressa did not. She asked, “Are you really going to leave this house here?”

“Sure. Why not?” Erick said, “It’s in the middle of nowhere.”

Poi said, “Operational security. Best not to have outside forces know what your house looks like because they can scout it out before an assault.”

Teressa nodded. “Yes. That.”

“… Oh.” Erick looked around. He frowned. “Well. I’m leaving it here. It’ll have a natural illusion layered over it, so it should be fine from most casual views.” He tapped a hole in the wall between the main staircase room and the sunroom. “After fixing these small problems, of course. Can’t have intruders come into a messy house!”

Teressa laughed.

The second Shaping went much better. Holes in walls were patched over. Staircases became normal, instead of looking like they had been copied from a funhouse. The sides of the mountain turned sheer and Erick erased the staircase leading up, turning the whole place into a miniature Holorulo clan mountain. Places for dirt for gardens and water for lakes were carved out on top, along with places for waterfalls and some small internal plumbings.

… A third Shaping, because he could, created two small guest houses in the local, pagoda-based style.

Another Shaping vastly improved on the plumbing, allowing for a system that cycled on the interior of the tiny mountain, and places in which Erick could place sand, and gravel, and various other filters, to allow the place to naturally clean itself, as well as funnel into the waterfalls and lake system he installed. There was no water yet. There were no fishes in that nonexistent water. But there could be! Theoretically, all it would take to keep the place stocked with water and fish and keep everything alive, would be some [Gravity Ward]s to draw liquid to the top of the falls, and some plant life to clean it all.

Another Shaping had the living eternal stonetree adjust its illusion of itself.

From far away, it looked like a mirage, with the parts closest to the grasses looking like grass and the parts above looking like sky. Once you got within a kilometer of it, though, that illusion was easily seen through.

Erick rapidly decided that he needed to get some more experience with this spell before he went and repaired Red Ledger’s clan mountain, but the night was here, in full, and he would have to gain that experience later. He bid his secondary house farewell, and lightstepped himself and his people back to their temporary residence in Holorulo.

- - - -

Erick’s eyes shot open. He was laying in bed, on his side, the sheets pulled up around himself. He had been dreaming, and then something happened in that dream. It had awoken him. The dream was already fading because Erick didn’t know why he woke up. He had woken up because… Something...

A quick check revealed that the world was not on fire.

No… He had woken up because of something… else...

“Oh!” Erick sat up, and laughed a little. “That’s how you Remake a Shaping spell! It’s aura control for Mana Shaping and Altering at the same time!” The formula used in the clan mountain scrolls that turned [Eternal Stonetree] into [Eternal Stonetreeshape] was the same formula that could be extrapolated to every other type of Elemental Magic out there! “Ha!” And then Erick thought a bit more, and mumbled to Ophiel, who was eyeing him, “I’d have to figure out aura control then I need to Remake Mana Altering and Mana Shaping. Not even sure how to go about Remaking something that is not a spell, but there has to be a way.”

Ophiel twittered unsure guitar twangs; he didn’t know either.

Erick nodded, saying, “Another question to ask at Rozeta’s Orrery, for sure.”

Ophiel agreed, singing tiny violin sounds into the darkness.

Erick smiled as he laid back down.

Eventually, sleep returned.

The next morning, Erick scheduled a meeting with Tsung Red Ledger.

It was time to apply his magic to practical applications.

He was already excited.

- - - -

The Alluvial District of Eralis was much diminished from how it looked before Terror Peaks attacked. The white bridge leading from the city to the noble district had been repaired, along with the winding roads that went around all the clan mountains. But the clan mountains were a different story. Some were fully repaired. Most were half repaired, and in the process of spot fixes here and there, using stone instead of eternal stonetree. That was why there were runes against [Stoneshape] inside Star Song; normal stone was used for repairs in most cases. A few clan mountains were broken beyond repair, reduced to little more than rubble and broken walls, their inhabitants gone from this world forever.

Everywhere Erick looked, people were rebuilding. Everywhere he looked, there was still a lot of work to be done. Apparently there weren’t a whole lot of people who could cast the spells Erick had learned last night, and they were all booked up.

There were clan mountains that had half fallen down in landslides, with rooms and hallways exposed to the world. In some places, the mountains had been cratered on the side, where something inside had exploded outward. Fixing this land was harder than fixing the rest of Eralis, for when the dirty bombs exploded everywhere, they tainted the land. [Cleanse] helped to get rid of the fallout from those dirty bombs, but [Mend] didn’t work here.

As he walked down the white road, toward his meeting, Erick saw where and how a few of the mountains had failed in ways that went beyond the simple trauma of war. Mostly, he noticed many perfectly smooth, cliff-like areas, that he supposed were some sort of fracture that went through the whole of the mountain. A stress break, along a fault line? Very likely. Some mountains had been exploded outward with massive, breaking spells, leaving jagged edges where the eternal stonetree had snapped away from its interior, leaving behind edges that looked a lot more like broken branches than like stone.

Now that he knew what he was looking at, the true nature of the clan mountains was practically on display. Surely, others would come to the same conclusion Erick had originally arrived at, that these were stonetrees of some kind, but how many would guess that there were Illusion Magics here, as well? Not many, for sure.

Eventually, Erick came to Red Ledger, and nowhere was the true nature of the clan mountains more evident than here, in the southern part of the Alluvial District. One of the [Gate] bombs had been planted just beyond here, weakening the area for a decisive strike against Red Ledger. It was here, upon the corpse of this clan, where most of the early fighting had taken place, by all the rest of the Alluvial District, against Terror Peaks, who had [Gate]d in here and established a beachhead.

The mountain had been cracked open like someone had taken their hands to a birthday cake, and pulled half of it away. All that was left of the original structure was a thirty meter tall arc of eternal stonetree that had been an outside wall, and which was now just a lonely spire, like a leaning gravestone.

Erick stood beside that arc of stone. Tsung stood on his other side. A man from Void Song, a Building Overseer by the name of Huu, stood on the other side of Tsung.

Poi and Teressa stood behind Erick, to the side, while a few other survivors of Red Ledger stood near a table that had been pulled from the wreckage. Those other survivors had placed a scale model of the reconstruction plan upon that table, along with architectural maps that detailed every floor and every pipe and every vent.

When Erick showed up, Tsung was already here with his people, and he had rapidly told Erick a few things about what was going to happen, showing him the model and acting rather informal the whole time. It was nice.

But then the BO showed up, and Tsung briefly turned contrite, before realizing that he was a patriarch now, and his words turned stronger. Huu was a bureaucrat, and he needed to be sure that Tsung had filled out all the proper paperwork, and gotten his models and architectural maps approved by Void Song.

Erick got the distinct impression that Tsung had spoken at length with Huu about the model and about the plans, long before today, and that Huu didn’t like something about what he saw. But Huu never said what his objections were, directly. Tsung had answers for all of Huu’s problems, and soon enough Tsung was speaking rather short at the man. Eventually, Huu accepted that everything was good to go.

Eventually, it came time to cast some spells.

Huu hadn’t spoken to Erick beyond a cursory greeting before this point. He did not make a great impression.

Huu said, “It is no trouble if you fail, for we have casters on standby. Please erect your Domain and ensure that this land is not spied upon by outsiders. Patriarch Tsung. Everyone else. You may leave the area. You are not authorized to see what happens here.”

Tsung did not argue. He simply gave Erick a pained nod, said, “Thank you, Archmage Flatt,” and walked away, down to a space in the white road that had been cleared of clan mountain rubble. His people followed him.

Huu spoke again after Tsung removed himself, “Your people too, Archmage Flatt.”

Erick said, “There’s no need for that.” And then he threw out a [Domain of Light], easily stretching his spell to the white roads that surrounded Red Ledger’s land. As the world inside the Domain turned saturated, Erick twisted his working, and the world outside vanished from sight. Every single nosy [Scry] eye in the area popped, except for Yggdrasil’s. Erick felt out his Domain, finding a few more esoteric sensory spells. He couldn’t tell exactly what they were for, or what they did, but he crushed them anyway. It took less than ten seconds before he said, “There we go. We’re secured now, Mister Huu.”

Huu glanced to Poi and Teressa, but said nothing. He turned back to the rubble. “Clean up comes first. Save whatever stone you can, but be sure to excavate every object that is not stone. Dump the trash over there.” He pointed to a mostly clear space on the white road, acting like he knew best.

Erick had included that part of the white road in his Domain, though, specifically because he knew he would have to clean out the remains of the clan mountain. Erick could tell a lot about Huu from what he had seen, and heard.

Huu liked things done perfectly, and that he brokered no disrespect from anyone. He valued his job, and from how Huu glared at the broken bits of the clan mountain around them, and how he had spoken to Tsung, it was apparent that Huu thought that his predecessor had done a shitty job. If the crafting had been better a hundred years ago, when the mountain was first erected, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

Unfortunately, Huu was completely unaware of how to not be a jerk about it.

Erick did not feel the need to respond in kind, so he said, “Of course.”

[Eternal Stonetreeshape] soaked into the grey and black rubble, spreading like an echo, chiming off of every bit of broken clan mountain. The magic soaked in, and the debris began to melt, to liquefy. There was a lot of rubble, and it had been gathered and piled back into the original space where the mountain had been, but most of the original mountain had been erased by [Cleanse], in the process of cleaning up the land from the dirty bombs. In effect, the rubble that was present was not the rubble of a full clan mountain. It was less than a quarter.

But it was still a lot of material.

Erick pressed the spell into a dome, first, turning a large pile of boulders and otherwise into a pile half the size it had been that bubbled upward in the center. In that center, it was maybe 35 meters tall. On the edge, the bubble met the white road, exactly.

Erick flexed his cast again.

Here and there, like surprises appearing, furniture surfaced. A broken chair tumbled upward, out of grey eternal stonetree, then rolled down the half-liquid slope of the mountain. A dresser shook grey goo from its top and began to slide down the slope. More objects came, faster and faster.

Furniture and carpets and fabrics and bodies—

A few bodies. Several.

Erick breathed deep.

Tsung and his people had cleaned up the land well before Erick came here, but they did not get everyone. If the broken bodies were of people from Terror Peaks, or from Red Ledger, Erick did not know. He maintained the spellwork, causing everything that was not eternal stonetree to float up onto the grey surface. And then, all at once, he understood the spell a bit better. With a flex of control, and a designation of the illusionary eternal stonetree as supremely dense (which it was not, at all), making everything else comparatively light (which was the opposite of the Truth), every last treasure and horror breached out of grey sands, everywhere across the kilometer-wide base of the clan mountain.

The magic faded.

The grey bubble turned solid.

Huu mostly contained his surprise as he said, “It takes a proficient hand to achieve that. You’ll still need to do that again to get all the debris, and then maybe a third time. Allow me to help with the cleanup.” He cast a spell.

A many-armed blue-noodle thing popped out onto the ground in front of Huu, looking like a jumble of ramen with gloves on the ends of its appendages. It barely came up to his waist. Huu silently gestured forward and the creature instantly rushed forward onto the grey bubble. The ramen summon grabbed the nearest object, which was a broken painting, and tumbled down the side, holding the broken painting above itself until it reached the edge of the area, where it dumped the painting onto the ground. And then the noodle boy went back into the mess.

Huu cast another summon, his voice oddly stiff as he said, “I am sorry you have to see this death again, Archmage Flatt. Nasty business, that.”

Erick glanced at the man.

Huu’s eyes were wide, and unnaturally focused on the job ahead of him. Ah. He was unsettled. The bodies had triggered something within him.

“Don’t worry about the bodies, Huu. Ophiel can get them.” Erick directed his Ophiel to where they needed to be, saying, “This war was quite awful. I hope to never see its like again, but I suspect I will before the year is up. Maybe sooner.”

Ahh… Maybe he shouldn’t have been that honest. Perhaps Erick had been unsettled, too.

While Erick was moving the bodies to a space to the side, Huu stared at them for a moment too long. He was at his breaking point, and then he broke. Huu turned and vomited onto the ground, apologizing even when he was in the middle of his second vomit.

Erick’s opinion of the man improved.

No more words were exchanged. Erick laid the bodies upon conjured white cloth, and then he helped to move out the actual trash from the site. Huu continued to summon more noodle boys and together, both finished the job of moving items to the side. There were a lot of items. Mostly furniture, but a lot of personal effects, too. Books. Papers. Letters. Clothes.

When the piles of trash had been collected, Huu went to the center of the pile and cast a large [Mending Aura]. Half of the objects returned to their original forms. The other half did not. They had likely been damaged by the Extreme Light dirty bombs. Still, he did not [Cleanse] the trash away. He merely separated the piles between broken and non-broken. Red Ledger could further separate the piles from there.

Erick went over the site with his Ophiel and his mana sense, then used another Shaping to bring up a few more items, but nothing of note. With everything cleaned out of the site, Erick helped move the bodies and the items outside of his Domain, to where some people from Void Song and Red Ledger were already waiting. Red Ledger was there for both the items and the people, to see what was salvageable and who needed to be mourned. Void Song was there to see if any of the bodies were Terror Peaks soldiers.

Erick left them to it, not wanting to be involved in all that, and went back inside his Domain to continue. It was time to begin the real work. He handed off a seed he had plucked from a tree outside, to an Ophiel, who planted it on top of the grey hill.

And then Erick cast.

In seconds, a kilometer tall white tree appeared, its branches stretching off half a kilometer in every direction, while its roots dug deep into the grey ground. Erick’s creation shimmered in the saturated white light of Erick’s Domain, its leaves glittering in sunlight like chips of mirrors. It was beautiful.

Huu’s eyes went wide, and then he resigned himself. “Ah. Of course. The white version. I suppose that’s appropriate enough.”

“Is there a problem?”

“No. No problem.” Huu said, “Gaining a white mountain is a sign of… Well. Magnificent prestige. I did not expect this. Perhaps I should have.” He discarded his wonder and returned to work, saying, “We will likely require two trees, and since your trees look slightly larger than normal, we will likely go over the target by 20%. Addendum B-25 through B-27 of the plans will be replacing Base Plan 25 through 27, resulting in a restructuring of the top, producing two pagodas instead of one, with the first being of larger size than the second. Do you wish to go over the plans?”

“I read them, and I can see them. I don’t need to read them again.”

Huu looked slightly unsure, but he professionally said, “Proceed with Shaping, parts 1 through 9; foundation first, and then Shaping the raw material upward as you can. Shove excess material to the center, and leave that area mostly unShaped; it will be supporting the weight of the second tree. They might be a lot lighter than they look, but they are still weighty things. You may conjure the second tree in that central location when the first floors are completed to my satisfaction.”

Erick gazed up at the tree, and smiled; this was fun.

A single cast of [Eternal Stonetreeshape] melted the tree, turning it into raw material that crashed down onto the grey hill, settling into a white cap that was three times as large as the grey hill. It glittered like a snow capped hill. It reminded Erick of taking Jane sledding in the deep winter.

He smiled again. This was actually really fun.

And then he went to work, casting [Eternal Stonetreeshape] again and again as necessary, using Ophiels for his eyes and the senses of his Domain to feel out where, exactly, everything needed to go. While the architectural maps provided precise measurements, it was the meter-wide scale model that helped Erick the most. That model was actually made out of paper and wood, constructed with care and precision. It had to be the work of some highly experienced Paper Mage somewhere, or something.

Erick formed the basement and the solid foundation, keeping the original grey rock inside the walls, and not visible. That was kinda tough. For the most part, eternal stonetrees, when in the middle of a Shape, acted like concrete, and when two colored concretes got mixed, it was impossible to unmix them. Not only that, sometimes that concrete had a grain to it, which introduced all sorts of odd problems when the material was stretched thin, like it was when it was stretched into walls. It kinda reminded Erick of bread dough being pulled too thin, and thus breaking.

Eventually, Erick roughed out the bottom floors, and then ‘washed’ them with white eternal stonewood. If Red Ledger went carving down there, they’d find the grey, but that was on them.

Huu watched the working with a bevy of [Scry] eyes and their accompanying [Viewing Screen]s.

(Erick still didn’t have whatever spell it was that made those screens. It was on his list, though.)

Erick continued to work; this entire event reminding him of when he used to work in construction, back when Jane was a baby.

Huu seemed to warm up rather fast after Erick showed off his obvious skill, and especially after Erick finished the fourth floor, and the beginnings of the water systems slipped into place.

When Erick got to the tenth floor they were a third of the way done. Huu insisted on a break, to inspect the interior from the inside, with his own eyes. Erick accompanied him.

As they walked down the newly-made hallways, Huu complimented Erick on the plumbing, and on the levelness of every wall, floor, and ceiling. There were even a few small flourishes here and there that Erick had included, like the sweep of some nice banisters, and the vault of a central gathering place. Those flourishes were part of the optional plans, but they seemed easy enough, so Erick did them.

Huu definitely noticed Erick’s competency.

“We only have one other person who can approach this level of craftsmanship, and one person capable of casting the White Tree. Thankfully, they are not the same person.” Huu said, “The sculptor is booked, for the next ten months; the downside of Scion of Willpower. The White Tree woman is not booked, but she works in Holorulo almost exclusively, and for exclusive prices. Her ability with the White Tree would be less prestigious if anyone else had been able to make the spell in the last thirty years, but no one has, so people pay, or they don’t get the White Mountains.”

“Seems like someone else should have been able to make it in thirty years.” Erick wondered what everyone else had done wrong, if only the one woman and himself were able to make the good version of [Eternal Stonetree]. He asked, “Are you privy to the spellwork that makes these trees?”

“I know the overview, but I don’t wish to know more. I care not for secrets and I cannot offer you any.” Huu said, “I’m merely an administrator, ensuring that the plans and the end result are well crafted.”

Erick nodded, and then his eyes drifted to the side, to where a grey streak marred the wall. He frowned at it.

Huu turned and saw the problem. He and Erick did not stop walking, though. Huu said, “There are fourteen more levels to go, with the first of those being right above us; you can Shape that mark away easily enough.”

“That’s not the first mark I noticed; it’s just the largest.”

Huu frowned a little, then his eyes fluttered a bit as he switched over to his mana sense. He wasn’t too proficient, so it was easy to see when the man switched over, but still had a mana sense, unlike almost everyone else in the world. Huu blinked hard and came back to himself. “It’s structurally sound, as is all the rest of your construction. I wouldn’t worry about it. Besides. A lot of people would appreciate the subtle grey. It is a reminder of what came before.”

Erick nodded. “True enough.”

Huu said, “I have seen enough. Good work. Continue?”

“Continue.”

Soon, another white tree stretched into the sky, and then, with another cast, that tree became a plop of white material upon the white cake of the clan mountain. Erick was kinda surprised that the plop didn’t break anything, but eternal stonetrees were truly lightweight, and truly strong. The perfect building material!

Three hours later, the clan mountain was finished. It stretched into the sky, 460 meters tall and a full kilometer in diameter. The exterior was shaped like several white crags but with lakes and balconies and windows and courtyards linking it all together. The interior had dormitories and offices and learning centers and training centers, along with all the normal bathrooms and vents and plumbing and kitchens.

The top had three pagodas. Two of them were planned, each situated atop the largest crags. The third one was a nice, small guesthouse, upon an out-of-the-way crag. It was still two stories tall, of course. Erick Shaped it to be exactly how he would want it to be, with spaces for a kitchen and several nice bedrooms, along with a viewing porch to watch the sun set across Eralis. It was a nice, normal home, but with quite a few nods towards defense.

When the whole clan mountain was as perfect as Erick could make it, he had Poi tell Tsung to get ready, and then he spent five minutes applying a general illusion. And then, Erick stepped outside of his Domain, along with Huu.

Tsung and a few of his people were there, waiting. They stood upon the white road, their eyes full of anticipation.

Tsung waited for Erick to speak.

Erick smiled, and gave no preamble. He simply dropped his Domain and allowed the world to see the mountain.

Tsung looked up and saw the white, his eyes going wide, and his mouth dropping open. He wasn’t the only one with a dumbfounded expression.

Huu broke the moment with a happy, “Your clan has a new home in Eralis. May it forever protect you and your descendants.” He bowed to Tsung, who was barely understanding that he had been spoken to, and then he bowed to Erick, saying, “It was a pleasure, Archmage Flatt. Thank you for all you have done for Songli. I will take my leave.”

Erick bid him, “Farewell, Huu.”

Huu nodded, then walked away, down the white road of the Alluvial District.

Tsung ignored the departing administrator, and exclaimed, “IT’S WHITE!”

Erick laughed. “You can paint it if you don’t like it.”

“NEVER!” Tsung exclaimed.

Soon enough, everyone was talking.

Some of the people on nearby mountains had similar reactions to Tsung.

It was a good day.

The night was even better. Surviving students and clansmen and otherwise would be moving into the mountain over the next few days, but a small gathering was held in one of the larger rooms with everyone who was available. Tsung had invited Erick to be the guest of honor, and Erick went. It was a small affair, marked mostly by speeches of thanks, and toasts, and decent food.

It was nice.

Poi informed Erick that he was now flooded with requests to rebuild more of the Alluvial District, if he wanted. People were offering upwards of 750,000 gold for his conjuring and crafting of new clan mountains. Erick denied them all, for now.

- - - -

Erick had a few more things to do before he went after the dragons.

And so, the morning after the remake of Red Ledger’s mountain, Erick sent an Ophiel to the House of the Wandering Soul, to check in on how the kids were doing with their new mana sense blockers.

Ophiel slipped down through the sky, toward the house, where dozens of confused spaces in the mana blocked his mana sense, but the house seemed more alive than ever. Sounds carried well, now that many of the generalized sense-blocking spells had been taken down.

Children laughed and played with each other inside, and outside. They took music lessons with teachers, or they read in the library. They were kids again, and they relished in their freedom.

A few of the caretakers who remained outside of the various obscuring spheres saw Ophiel, but all they did was look his way, then turn back to what they were doing; be it cooking, or cleaning, teaching, or watching over the kids.

From what Erick could see and hear, the children seemed to be getting on quite well.

But he was here for a specific thing. Erick found what he was looking for quick enough. A stone box, about half a meter square, had been built outside the front door and placed on the second level of a small 8-sided, two-tier pagoda. The box had been labeled ‘Charms’. It was quaint.

It was filled with letters.

Erick took the letters instantly and brought them back to himself, with a [Cleanse] halfway through because he was paranoid in an offhand manner. He opened the first letter. It was from a girl named Toori, written in precise brush stroke letters upon lined paper.

She was six, and she could finally venture outside of the bubble they kept her in, because otherwise she was too scared to be in the outside world. Her mother had named her after a water bird, and now she finally got to go to the lake, and see the toori peck the water to find fishes. They were pretty birds.

Toori had drawn him a picture, too.

It was a lovely picture, made by a child’s hand.

… And now Erick was crying. Ahh. Yeah. This was happening. He continued to read. He started bawling on the second letter. The third letter was from a brat of a kid, wanting a wand of [Fireball]s. Erick laughed at that. The fourth letter had him crying again.

There were forty three letters in the pile. Some of the letters were from parents of the kids, thanking him for making it so their child could come home for the weekend. Two of the letters were from Caretaker Shani, and Warder Azrin Severing Crescent. Shani expressed her thanks, and politely requested some variations on the charms (if it was not too much trouble). She included a list of desired Shapings. Azrin’s letter was a postulation of his own theories on how Erick had managed to make his [Delirium Charm]s, and a polite request to know if he was correct.

Erick decided that Shani would get her adjustments, but Azrin would not get any answers from him. Erick had already given the man enough hints, hadn’t he? Yes, he did. The main reason for denying the man, though, was that Erick didn’t want to start some cycle of questions and answers with Azrin.

For his reply, Erick had an Ophiel go out into an open space, outside Holorulo, and gather some stone. With a simple Shaping, Erick transformed the stone into some durable boxes. Temporary [Conjure Item]s were good enough for small, temporary applications, but Shani’s letter hinted that what she wanted might be more permanent than Erick’s original distribution of charms.

Erick started summoning Charms.

He conjured ten charms sized to their full, 3 meter radius sphere. He made ten of a 3 meter diameter sphere. And then, in the process of Shaping the spell into something similar to a [Personal Ward], a blue box appeared.

Personal Delirium Charm, instant, close range, 1256 mana

Create a charm which blocks the sensing of mana around the wearer.

Lasts 10 days.

“Unexpected, yet not unwanted.” Erick tested the charm on himself and was surprised at how perfectly it worked. He could still mana sense his insides, though. He smiled. “The kids are gonna love this.”

Erick took the charm off, then conjured forty of that particular charm. Shani only asked for ten, but he suspected that she would want a lot of this one. There were a few more variations of the original [Delirium Charm] that went into different boxes, but Erick gained no new spells for those simple transformations.

When that was done, Ophiel took the boxes and lightstepped them back to the small pagoda outside of the House of the Wandering Soul, along with his own letter, saying that he was very happy to receive the children’s words. He almost signaled to one of the caretakers, but it was unnecessary; they saw Ophiel fly in the first time.

The kids had seen Ophiel fly in the first time, too. They were waiting; some in the hallways in the house, by the front door, others in the woods, watching the pagoda from ten meters away.

It was a mad dash to the new toys—

A caretaker appeared beside the pagoda and cast some [Force Wall]s around the structure, after Ophiel left. The kids, naturally, objected. The caretaker told the noisy kids that they needed to wait, and that Shani would be here to distribute everything.

Erick smiled wide, back in his room in Holorulo.

And then he moved on to his next project: how to hunt a drag—

Ah.

No.

… Erick could wait one more day. He could hunt the dragon tomorrow.

He didn’t want to do that right now.

So instead, he tried a few of the aura control techniques he had learned from Kaffi. First, he went to Teressa, asking her how she had figured it out. Then he practiced with her for a few hours. Lunch came and went. Erick went back to trying to find his aura, though he did not drop his [Personal Ward], nor did he take off his rings, both of which were definitely holding him back.

Well… he did take off his rings, once, and then he put them on, and then he took them off. This repeated a few dozen times.

He frowned as he put his ring back on, saying to Teressa, “I don’t get it. Rings and other Stat accessories work by connecting to the aura of the wearer and powering up the soul, which adjusts the body in temporary ways… This should work! I should be able to feel my aura by doing this.”

“I agree. You should be able to feel your aura when you put on the ring.” Teressa said, “I don’t get it either.”

Erick left the ring on and went back to meditation, to ‘feeling out his aura’. Teressa’s aura was already manifesting outside of her body as a grey shimmer, but only when she wanted it to shimmer. She was already working on increasing her area of control.

This was frustrating.

… He could drop his [Personal Ward]—

No. He could be attacked at any time… Which was a reason for pursuing the dragon sooner rather than later. But...

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would put out feelers to find the dragon. Some spells in the sky. Some illusions, perhaps. Something…

Or maybe he would go see how Tadashi was doing with chelation and all that.

Erick had a good reason for putting off this dragon thing. He wasn’t fully sure, but he felt as though finding the dragon would be another step along the Worldly Path. A step he could not take back. As soon as that happened, he would need to move on from Songli.

Therefore, before he went after the dragon, he needed to be sure that everything he needed to do here was done.

- - - -

At night, Erick slept.

He had a nightmare about dying daughters and sundered souls, and so, he woke up, covered in sweat and trying to purposefully forget what was easily forgettable. He laid there in bed, covers thrown to the side, air drying, now that he wasn’t terrified and producing even more sweat.

Eventually, he knew he was never getting back to sleep. So he got up, and got on with his day.

He hoped these nightmares wouldn’t be a normal thing.

- - - -

Light unraveled around Erick as he set himself and his little group down in front of the target house.

It was a quaint place, large enough for a single family. A growing house made of glass was set apart from the main house. Plants grew within, but also in the open gardens around the property. A woman stood on the front porch, wearing bright blue and subtle orange robes that looked a lot more expensive than her home. In moments, a man joined the woman, wearing clothes that were of dark blues and dark greens. The woman was clearly incani, with red skin and red horns. The man was human. Both of them were Erick’s age; in their late forties. According to their house, neither of them could have easily afforded what they were wearing.

If the hidden guards stationed around the property weren’t hint enough, the parents’ clothes were evidence that Star Song was treating Tadashi’s parents better than they were accustomed to. That was good.

Erick walked forward, with Poi and Teressa following behind and Ophiels fluttering about wherever they wanted to go. Only one of the little guys stayed on Erick’s right shoulder; Yggdrasil’s eye hovered above his left. Erick approached the couple.

The couple bowed; Erick did not.

The woman, Raniza, said, “We welcome you into our home, Archmage Flatt. Our son would come to greet you but he physically cannot.”

“I understand. I do not wish to stress Tadashi, or you. I merely came to assess his condition, to see if there is anything I can do to help.” Erick added, “I also came to extend my condolences for the loss of your son, Wabi. I heard Wabi gave his life in defense of his brother. I am sorry for your loss.”

Raniza froze, then broke in a hundred small ways. A tear escaped, but she controlled the rest of her reaction to a small sob. She whispered, “Thank you.”

The man, Oorol, had a reaction that was much the same. He gestured to the open doors behind him, and his voice cracked as he said, “Please come into— Into our home, and partake of our hospitality.”

Erick did so, without reservation.

Tadashi’s parents led him, Poi, and Teressa, to an open air gathering room, with a view of the garden and a tea set waiting upon a table. Raniza began making tea as Oorol gestured for Erick to sit. Soon enough, the three of them were sipping by a garden of flowers and pungent herbs. It was not a bad smell.

Erick had already checked in on Tadashi by looking for the hole in his mana sense. A tendril of light snaked in that direction to allow actual viewing of the man.

What he saw wasn’t good.

Tadashi was sleeping in what amounted to Veird’s idea of a hospital bed; it was more of a deep recliner chair, with Tadashi’s back raised on pillows and what remained of his legs raised on even more pillows. Both legs were shortened to the knees and wrapped in bandages, though a blanket covered that half of him. His torso was lightly covered, and a nasty scar marred half his face and continued down under the wrappings around his chest. He still had both eyes, though he looked terribly weak. His potions were set to the side, lined up and ready to be administered whenever needed. They were all mundane potions, too, not a single one of them glowing, along with a few jars of pills.

Oorol brought Erick back to the moment, saying, “I have heard that Tadashi’s colleagues have solved chelation without him, but I have not heard much more than that.” His voice was full of guarded hope, “Do you know when they will allow our son to take the medicine he invented?”

“I apologize, for I do not know any of that.” Erick said, “I have been busy with other matters.”

Oorol instantly said, “Of course, of course,” but he could not fully hide the hurt in his voice.

Raniza spoke with some strength, “We will get the medicine when it is safe, I am sure. Tadashi need not live a life like his grandfather. It is simply a matter of time. We will wait.” She said, “You will have to come back when he is walking around on his own two feet again, Archmage Flatt. We will have a huge celebration. Star Song is treating us quite well, so I am already planning for three hundred guests.”

Erick recognized a deep, perhaps delusional hope in Raniza’s entire being.

He would not fault her for that, though, so he simply said, “I look forward to receiving that invitation.”

“As well you should!” Raniza happily said, “It will be wonderful. We’ll have all his favorite foods— Ah! Do you have any favorite foods? I will be sure to include them!”

“I have enjoyed almost everything I have eaten around here, and I like new things, so whatever you plan would be good, I am sure.”

Raniza relaxed a fraction, saying, “Oh, good! That makes things simple.”

Erick nodded, then moved on. “May I speak to Tadashi? If he wakes over the course of our own talk, of course; I do not wish to wake him if he is sleeping deeply.”

Raniza almost spoke, but her temporary joy faded from her face.

“He will want to be awake for a little while, to speak to you; he has already told us this much,” Oorol said, taking the reins. “But if you do not mind, we would like to keep that short. I would prefer for us to answer any questions you might have.”

“I am perfectly fine with that.” Erick said, “How is his recovery going?”

Raniza found herself again. “The Doctors assure us that sleeping all day is normal for long term recovery. Star Song even gave Tadashi extra… I mean. After Patriarch Zalindi…” She was losing it again, but she mustered her composure, and said, “Tadashi visited a Registrar and— Patriarch Mirizo of Star Song gave him 8 points for defense of the realm. I understand they had a meeting, while Tadashi had enough potions in him to remain cognizant. Our son moved a few things around in his Status, planning for the long term, you understand.” Raniza brightened. “He’ll get better. Long term recovery is always dangerous, but our son will make it. I know he will.”

Raniza was utterly hopeful.

So Erick kept Oorol in the corner of his eyes, watching the man’s reactions. Oorol believed that Tadashi would make it, but he was more cautiously optimistic instead of openly optimistic. Erick had seen such reactions to medical problems many times before. Raniza’s and Oorol’s reactions were no doubt heightened by the death of their other son, Wabi, too.

“I know Tadashi will recover.” Erick said, “When this chelation treatment is perfected, I am sure that your son will be on the list. If he is not, I will be sure to talk to some people about that.”

Raniza wiped away a sudden tear and smiled. Her voice came out weak, “Thank you, Archmage Flatt.”

A soft whisper came from the other room, “Mother? Is he here?”

Oorol stood up, saying, “He doesn’t sleep very deeply.”

They moved to Tadashi’s room. The boy looked a lot better when he was awake, or at least he looked more lively.

Erick said, “Hello again, Tadashi.”

“Hello, Archmage Flatt.” Tadashi said, “I hope you can forgive me for not getting up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Erick said, smiling. And then he lost his smile. “I am sorry about your brother.”

“It… It is what it is. He saved me.” Tadashi said nothing for a long moment, then he said, “I think I made him feel too much guilt over letting me get taken in the first place. He could have saved himself, but he saved me instead.”

Another silent moment passed.

Erick asked, “How are you doing?”

“About as well as can be expected. Wabi was my liaison with the other Alchemists, but without him here… Ving comes to see me every other day, to talk about particles and molecules and bonding forces. I think she would rather talk to you. I promised her that if I ever saw you, that I’d tell you that. And now I have.” He smiled, closing his eyes a bit as he leaned back. “Now I only owe Star Song 7 more points.”

Erick smiled, gently. “Maybe I’ll talk to her if I feel like it.”

“Oh!” Tadashi joked, “A favorable reaction. Now I only have 6 more points to repay them.”

… Erick arrived at a sudden decision. With a flick of lightform, he grabbed his half-drained cup of tea from the other room, and brought it to his hand. He asked Tadashi, “How would you like another 10 points? Quick, yes or no.”

Tadashi’s eyes went wide. “Uh. Yes.”

Erick set his cup of tea on the bed beside Tadashi’s hand as he filled out the Quest. With a gesture, the Quest floated through the air toward the bed bound man. The blue box fizzled a bit as it entered Tadashi’s antirhine aura, but it remained. Tadashi read it. Then he moved his hand and took up the cup. He strained a bit, his grip weaker than it should have been, but he lifted the cup and held it out to Erick, as far as he could go. He didn’t make it the whole way, but that was okay. Erick took the cup from him.

A blue box appeared.

Your posted quest ‘Hand me my cup of tea’ was completed.

Tadashi’s arm crashed to his side. He smiled, saying, “Thank you.”

“You spend those. They weren’t for paying off a debt.” Erick said, “Make yourself better, faster.”

Tadashi laughed a little. “Someone probably noticed the 10 point Quest.”

“Then they can feel free to complain to me.” Erick said, “With the extensive injuries you received, I would expect a recovery period of months, but that calculation is based on my own experiences with helping people with disabilities back on my home planet. With Health and Vitality and all those modifiers, I expect you up and about in a few weeks. And then there’s physical therapy to ensure that you heal properly. It is important to be active, once you can be active…” Erick wondered, then asked anyone who could answer, “Do you have wheelchairs?”

Confused looks met him, but one person had an answer.

Poi answered, “No, sir.”

Erick said to Tadashi, “Have someone in Star Song invent you a wheelchair. It’s just a chair with large wheels—” With an Ophiel, he grabbed a stone from outside, and brought it to his hand. He conjured a small lightsculpture of Tadashi on a modern wheelchair, pushing the wheels with his arms and with a tiny smile on his face. The scar was there, but it was minimized. Erick wouldn’t lie to the guy. He set the wardlight to the side, on a table, saying, “Someone should be able to look at that and make it for you.”

Small tears escaped from the corners of Tadashi’s eyes. Everyone pretended not to notice.

Erick added, “At least you don’t have to worry about bed sores here on Veird.” He paused. He asked, “You’re moving in your bed, right? Can you, yet? Don’t want to get bed sores.”

“I have none of those. With my new Vitality, I likely won’t ever get them. Thank you… Archmage Flatt,” Tadashi said, closing his eyes. He seemed to be breathing better now than when Erick first arrived. “Thank you.”

Erick said, “You rest up, now. I’ll see you around.”

Tadashi nodded. He was already halfway asleep.

Erick gave his farewells to Tadashi’s parents, then went on his way.

- - - -

Erick was feeling pretty good. The wandering soul kids were doing well. The university and its adjacent hospital were up and running with new staff; Erick’s money going to good purposes. Red Ledger’s mountain was back, and that whole clan was reorganizing under Tsung. Star Song was progressing with its chelation technology. Tadashi was doing… fine, for a certain definition of ‘fine’. Hangzi was learning how to be a patriarch of a High Clan. His little brother, Warzi, was doing a lot better. After Erick handed over one of his new [Personal Ward]-sized [Delirium Charm]s, Warzi started crying with happiness.

Eralis was healing. All of Songli was healing, in fact, and Erick had helped to excise all the small ‘cancers’ of Hunters and Face stealers that would have harmed total healing. All of Terror Peaks was gone, except for the people Erick had blessed, who were doing well in their paddy house, unlearning the brainwashing that they had been raised upon. The pirates to the south were no more. The warlord clans were organizing under the Compact of Songli, with an eye toward becoming the fourth main city of Songli.

A lot of problems had happened, and then solved to the best of Erick’s ability.

A lot of problems remained, not many of them were problems of other people, though.

Ari was practically chained to the Palace of the Eternal Court, and that sucked, but she seemed fine with it, for a certain definition of ‘fine’. Xue was doing better, though he missed his wife, Sikali, terribly. Riri was on her way to becoming a financial power all on her own, but that outcome likely leaned more toward the ‘good’ than the ‘bad’. She still missed her Pearlchan, though, to hear Jane tell it.

Jane was setting herself up to be a power in Songli…

Erick was worried that she would want to stay behind.

Erick had a lot of worries, and unfinished business of his own to work through.

Aura control still hadn’t happened. He would need that before he could Remake the Shaping spells, and thus gain those 6 points back. Understanding Illusion Magic was a new necessity, for it seemed way too useful. Even if it wasn’t exactly what it appeared to be (which would be exactly what Erick expected out of Illusion Magic) the ability to ‘nudge’ Reality into reality boded well for the creation of many types of difficult-to-make magics, including [Gate], and [Renew], and [Draining Elemental].

Erick more than felt that he was approaching a major marker in his Quest for [Gate].

He was at a crossroads, and not only because of everything he had learned and done, but because of what lay ahead. The answers to [Gate] were held by the dragons. Erick already knew this because of his time with Tenebrae, and now, there was a dragon gunning for him.

The Worldly Path would take Erick directly to that dragon, and then many of the others, for sure. Of this, Erick had no doubt.

It was just a matter of taking that first step.