Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick stood with Kiri in a side room under Privacy. He still wore his black-horn crown, and he would be wearing that for the foreseeable future. His voice was that of the king, but it was still filled with Erick’s normal compassion, “Kiri. Are you doing well as the Gatemaster?”

Kiri knew this was coming, and she was prepared with a quick, “The adjustment has been difficult, but I know I can do this.”

“I know you can do this. I am not worried about the job or about your capabilities.” Erick said, “I am worried you aren’t getting enough sleep.”

Kiri suddenly gave a small, nervous chuckle. “I can handle the job just fine, Erick. It’s the fact that you could sweep away problems with a single word that’s giving me issues. Usually when I run into problematic issues, I’ve been able to tell those problems that I could get you involved if those problems wanted you involved. Usually, those problems would then stop being problems. That only ever happened rarely, but now... Things are different. I was trying not to do that. Because I was trying to keep you out of it, it’s barely been two weeks and I might have fucked up a situation in the northern lands, near Vindin.”

“What happened, and how can I solve this issue?”

Kiri explained.

Erick went out and removed a local lord from power and placed him into jail.

The guy was stealing from the Gate Network and also preventing people from moving freely. Erick dealt with the fallout from that removal, too, by talking to the mayor of Vindin, who claimed to have no idea what was happening with the local lord. Erick let the mayor have his lie.

Both the probably-temporarily-imprisoned lord and the mayor of Vindin were testing what they could get away with, which did not bode well, but it was also something that everyone did, everywhere, all the time. Erick had solved the problem at the top level, so now, House Benevolence would reorganize the Local Area Gate Network and solve whatever issues might have appeared at the lower levels. That would take them time, but the new Overseer of Gate Expansion was on that task, right away.

Erick gave one last bit of advice to Kiri, “Don’t refer to people as ‘problems’. It’s bad form. I know I’ve done it a few times, but I wince every time I do.”

Kiri gave a nervous chuckle, then said, “Right. Whoops.”

Erick moved on.

- - - -

Burhendurur was next.

“But all I have is some paperwork regarding some long-standing cases I need you to sign off on, and then I have some new hires I want you to meet. It’ll be a quick, five minute thing, but I would like a Shelter for that meeting.”

“I’ll go over the paperwork and you put those people all in the same room. I’ll Haste us all.”

“Thank you, my King.” Burhendurur grinned a little. “I never thought I would miss that spell so much, but it truly does make the kingdom run a lot smoother.”

Erick chuckled. “I’m surprised you’ve never tried for Time Magic, what with Death and Time and all that being under Phagar’s purview.”

“The only ones I know of who aren’t in the upper echelons of the Church of Phagar who are allowed to touch Time Magic are you and Quilatalap. Many suspect the God of Time and the End judges the actions of Death dragons and various sapient undead a lot harsher than otherwise, and he’s already a harsh judge.” Burhendurur continued, “Anyway, the paperwork…”

Erick signed off on a pile of 89 different cases, only two of which he actually needed to look over, since they were incidents involving the Benevolence dragons. All the rest were things that Burhendurur put out there for Erick to see that the kingdom was running fine.

As for the Benevolence dragon cases, one was an incident of a dragon eating someone’s cow without paying for it, and another was a dragon burning down a barn, with the people inside, and then torturing the people with fire for several hours. They were both exonerated of their wrongdoing.

It turned out the first guy had paid for the cow, and the seller only claimed no-payment when he found out how rich the dragon was. There was some sort of hate going on there that Erick didn’t bother to check into too deeply.

The second guy was exonerated when the Mind Mages got involved with the case, because the barn was filled with putrescent slugs. No one could see those nasty, green things, as they ate away people from the inside out and incubated inside their hosts. It was like they were a ‘natural’ intervention. The dragon had burned the people and also healed them, while also keeping the people fully sedated so they didn’t feel anything. But he also couldn’t see the slugs at all, so his cleaning operation failed, and the slugs were still there, so his Benevolence triggered him to burn the patients again, which failed again, and this went on for a while. The dragon was a doctor, too, who was completely blindsided as to why he was doing what he was doing, only knowing that he had to keep going into the ‘operation’ over and over again, while his nurses and otherwise had no idea why he was burning those poor people he was ‘treating’. He was very sorry for his actions, but everyone was very hurt over that whole thing.

Erick decided to send some letters to the aggrieved parties in the putrescent slug case. Maybe that would calm them all down. He'll probably have to help the doctor dragon get a job somewhere far away from where he was previously employed, though, and that was fine.

After writing that letter, Erick went to go see the people Burhendurur wanted him to see. It was a quick meeting, though it did take an hour inside a [Hasted Shelter]. By the time he Erick left, he left behind a bunch of happy new security people, who Erick felt good for having at House Benevolence.

- - - -

Goldie, the former Shade of Assassination, was now the Shade of House Benevolence. She was also a bit of a bookworm, who usually hid out in the library, reading books, when she wasn’t out on assignment. Erick chose to visit that library to check up on everything that went bump in the night.

Erick rounded the corner of the Privacy-laden library, and spotted Goldie laying back in her recliner, reading a good book, half a second before she spotted him.

And then she spotted him, her bright white glowing eyes going wide. The Shade’s ever-present, black slab of a sword, floated at her side like a languid cat, but at Goldie’s noticing of Erick, that sword suddenly came to life for the briefest of moments. It relaxed almost just as fast, but Goldie did not. She leapt out of her chair and landed in front of Erick, already down on one knee.

“Sir!” she said.

“At ease.”

Goldie rose from the ground, smiling. “Are you back?”

“Not really. Are you subject to interventions? They’re like Silences, but simpler. Temporary, I think. Anti-memes. First time I heard of them was about 2 weeks ago, so I assume they’re rare.” He added, “Not that rare in practice, though, with putrescent slugs and other mental monsters.”

Goldie frowned a little; worried. “What is the source of the Anti-meme?”

“Rozeta, Sininindi, the Script.”

“I’m immune to those. All of those sorts of things, actually.”

“Good. I thought as much. Everbless is Gold Taker. Does that make sense to you?”

“… I have no idea who ‘Gold Taker’ is, but I assume it’s an… Alter of Everbless?”

“Exactly.” Erick said, “I’m going down to Storm’s Edge, and I need you with me, yet hidden. Bring along a few elites that are the best about keeping secrets and not being seen. The priority is not being seen, and especially not being seen by Everbless or Gold Taker, which is a tentacle-like [Familiar] that can be either kilometers big, or small as Ophiel—”

Ophiel said, “I be bigger one day!”

“Yes you will, Ophiel. You did very well hiding yourself as well as you did down there.”

“I did!”

“Yes you did.” Erick turned back toward Goldie. “Gold Taker is usually ethereal and invisible and intangible, yet he has had little to no apparent formal training in that regard, or no impetus to get better, for he’s been invisible in that sort of way for the last few years. Ophiel knows how to do all that much better than Gold Taker / Everbless. Even so, I am sure that if you are not careful, he can see you anywhere inside Storm’s Edge or the surrounding lands. Trying to hide from him will be like trying to hide from Yggdrasil; near impossible, but I trust you can do that. We leave in 20 minutes.”

“Heard and understood!”

- - - -

Erick stepped into the True Interfaith Church, still located where Erick had begun construction and where the gods had finished that construction 12 years ago. It was all flying buttresses and stained glass and a whole bunch of white eternal stonewood, but also black outlines on the whole place, and the marble-like floor was a checkerboard. Church was not in session right now, so getting inside and where he needed to go was easy enough, though Erick had to stop when he saw Head Priestess Justine Erholme. He didn’t really want to stop and say hello, for he was in a time crunch, but Justine stood in front of the Hall of Gods, Erick’s destination, and he couldn’t really walk around her or push her out of the way.

Justine was an all-white Underworld-born incani, with bright red eyes, who was glad to see that Erick wasn’t barging past her ‘blockade’; she was a rather small woman, after all, and the Hall of the Gods was several meters wide.

“Hello, Justine. I would ask to get around you to go talk to a goddess, but I suspect you already knew that.”

“Hello, my king,” Justine said, “I’ll be happy to let you pass, but first, the goddess you wish to visit has expressed to me that she does not desire a visit with you right now, for news of this latest prognostication is spreading fast and she is dealing with the debris of it all. You have your bargain, and she trusts you to fulfill it as well as you can.”

Erick gave a diplomatic smile, and said to Justine, as well as to the air, for Sininindi was surely listening right now (along with a bunch of other people in the church, who were sitting and praying in silence, and down the Hall of Gods, where a bunch of people were moving through, unimpeded by well-meaning high priestesses), “You can tell her that we’re going to have words about a certain thing that she knows about, after I solve this new minor crisis and fulfill the terms of our bargain. We can talk about all that later, but I do need to see her, to decide how to make this next part happen.”

“… That is acceptable,” Justine said, as she stepped to the side.

“Thank you.” Erick adopted a nicer mien. “It’s good to see you, Justine. Everything going well here? Anything I need to take care of?”

Justine spoke casually. “Everything is going great, as far as I know. Not sure what you got going on with this latest event, but we’re good here, Wizard Flatt.”

Erick smiled in a normal sort of way. “Good to hear.”

And then he walked down the hallway.

- - - -

The world was a dark ocean with a surface tens of meters below Erick’s floating body. Waves broke and swelled everywhere, creating valleys and mountains out of salt water, as a storm raged overhead. Lightning crashed everywhere, briefly illuminating grey and black clouds, heavy with rain.

And then the lightning illuminated the Goddess Sininindi. A wave crashed upon her like she was a rock in the waves. Water splashed everywhere but the Goddess of Storm and Sea remained unmoved.

The water and wind did not touch Erick.

“Hello, Erick,” the Storm Goddess said, with a hint of natural thunder in her voice.

“Hello, Sininindi,” Erick said, like a completely normal human. “I will be going to Storm’s Edge now, to solve this developing issue in the safest and quickest way I can. Are there any nuances you desire from my involvement?”

Lightning flashed across the sky. Waves crashed all around.

Sininindi took a moment. She was subtly angry, but she was controlled, too.

And then she said, “By all rights, you and I should be better allies than we are, but I am terrified of you and of any new Sunderings, and anyone who controls lightning outside of my church. Even after you became Benevolence…” She moved on. “Everbless is old enough and this is a large enough of a possible disaster that the time for distance is over, if you wish it to be over. I would have you as an absentee uncle figure, though, and only if Everbless desires this.”

So they were going to have this conversation right now.

Erick said, “The intervention.”

“It remains.”

“When are you planning on removing it?”

“I will never remove the intervention. Gold Taker will forever be disconnected from Everbless, until a time of his choosing, which he has already chosen to do with ‘Vanya’. This intervention will afford Everbless to have a persona that he can adopt to get away from the eye of the storm of being a World Tree. When he wishes, he can adopt another avatar, and that one can be his public persona.”

“He needs to be held accountable on a larger scale than a personal one for his actions as Gold Taker, so that he will know that killing people is wrong, even if it is done in a dungeon.”

“And who holds you accountable, Erick? No one. Everbless will be like you, and woe betide all who get in my son’s way.”

“I have all the world holding me accountable, Sininindi. I also have over half a century of learning how to be a good person—”

“And before you were given a hand up you were a shit person. Allow my son time to be a shit if he wants to be a shit.”

“… All I’m saying is that you are floating dangerous ideas out there, Sininindi. I didn’t gain power until long after I grew up. People who grow up with unfettered power often grow up dangerous.”

“We are dangerous entities, all of us. And I am his mother; I will not crush my son in any way whatsoever. So you tell him what he has done wrong. Maybe he’ll listen to his ‘eccentric Wizard uncle’ if you speak well enough, and teach him well enough, in the few interactions you will have from now on.” Sininindi frowned a little bit, as she said, “I am extending more trust than I am comfortable with, so do not endanger my people or my son.”

“… I will solve this current problem, ensure that the problem remains solved, and then I will be opening a channel of communication between Everbless and Treehome, so that he and the arbors and Yggdrasil can all communicate with each other in a more direct manner. It was good for Yggdrasil, and it will be good for Everbless.”

Sininindi seemed momentarily surprised. And then she seemed ashamed. “Thank you, Erick. I am sure Everbless will love it.”

“Will you remove the intervention from all the arbors?”

Lightning flashed in the distance. No one cared about that.

Sininindi said, “The intervention is a weak thing, and though it is powerful now, it will break if Everbless removes too much of it from the world, and once it is removed from a person, they’re immune to reinfection. He knows this, and now you know this, too. Let the intervention stand while he is a child, please, Erick. He is learning how to be a person in as normal a way as one like him can learn; don’t take that away from him.”

A moment passed in quiet thought.

Erick suspected that he and Sininindi probably would have been closer if he had handled that first interaction with Sininindi’s priests better, years and years ago when he was giving those talks on Particle Magic in the Mage’s Guildhouse of Spur. Storm Priestess Tiza Nindi was the name of the head priest at the time. She was still the head priest, if Erick recalled correctly, and he did.

“I will be telling Everbless to remove the intervention from people he wishes to be friends with.”

Sininindi gave a little nod, slow and measured.

Erick departed.

- - - -

Erick stood inside his Gate Space, checking everything out while he still had a small bit of time. The Regency had been warned that he was coming, and everything was going fine at the dungeons right now, according to a rapid check with Ophiel. All delving had stopped at the Pit, though, and some battlements had been set up around dungeon 6.

From what Erick gathered through Ophiel...

The people of the Dungeon Guild were being told that they were preparing for a dungeon break.

Barda and Nero were wanted for questioning.

House Maryol was under the control of the Regency’s rapid response teams.

And Archmage Wiloza Tidewalker was standing inside stone battlements overlooking over the Pit, and furiously casting even more castlework, lining the entire Pit like she was preparing for something horrific to come out of all those black holes in the world. Or maybe she was preparing for something to assault the Pits from the outside. Hard to tell right now. She was probably playing that option close to the chest; able to switch her angles of attack and defense either outward or inward as needed.

Everyone was in a panic out there, at Storm’s Edge. But here in the Gate Space...

A calm breeze brushed against Erick, as he gazed upward into the sky.

The sky looked alright. The whole gate space looked fine, actually; it had grown a lot from what it had been eleven years ago, though. Back then it was a land of white stone hexagons, suspended in a vast white sky, with Yggdrasil floating off in the distance. A small fountain had burbled up from the center of that land, flickering with flame at the top while also flowing water up into the air, and then outward, across the hexagon land, into the air again but sideways, and then over to Yggdrasil, connecting Yggdrasil to this gate space by way of floating water. Back then Yggdrasil had looked like a very large tree growing from a floating lake, off in the near distance.

It was the same sort of look these days, but the scale was a lot different. A lot more.

Yggdrasil was fifty kilometers tall and twice that wide. He did not cover the sky at all, though, for he was far, far away from the fountain. At least a hundred kilometers away, for he always looked the same sort of height he always had, but distance and size played grand tricks on anyone’s sight inside this land.

The platform itself was now fifty kilometers wide at the smallest parts and dotted with wild, green spaces amongst the hexagonal ground. Certain parts of the platform even extended out of sight, out past a lightning-filled horizon like stone bridges among the power lines. If one walked across those stone bridges, if they braved the lightning and the dense illuminated fog, they would eventually end up at the other gate spaces that Erick had made, all around Veird.

The fountain that existed in the center of this platform, and to a smaller extent, on every platform inside every one of Erick’s gate spaces, was no longer the small thing of the previous decade. It was now an overflowing lake, a good half a kilometer wide. The bottom of the fountain was a black abyss, while the top held a floating bonfire the size of a house, shaped like the curled-up rune of [Renew]. That rushing lake overflowed directly into several rivers, all of which flowed through deep channels, out to the edge, to form a moat around the main platform. That moat then flowed through the sky, to connect to Yggdrasil in the far, far distance.

If one hopped in that river, or in any river on any platform, and if they managed to keep floating and not fall out of the benevolent sky, they would eventually float to this central platform, and then to Yggdrasil.

Anyone taking such a trip would need to be mindful of the lightning, though.

Tangles of lightning held all around, like white lines of power, never thundering, but always making themselves known, especially with those few black tangles here and there. In those places the lightning did not flow freely like it should.

There weren’t a lot of those tangles these days. Most of them were rather more grey, than black, and those that did exist were generally good things.

Over there was the induction of a boy into Candlepoint university, and the subsequent creation of computers on Veird. Another tangle held the same eventuality but a good 60 more years in the future, so whatever was happening there was not too set in stone… Or set ‘in the sky’, as some people were saying these days. Erick kept his eyes on that particular tangle sometimes. Most days he ignored everything he saw, though, because it was all so ‘up in the air’, which was another multi-meaning saying that was spreading amongst the people of House Benevolence. None of these things were absolutes. All of these futures were possibilities, deeper than most. The only ones that were truly visible as ‘this will happen now’ were the ones that were closest to the edge of the platform...

Erick looked around, trying to find the tangle that was for Storm’s Edge…

He found it.

It was a grey tangle, about forty meters away from the edge of the platform. It was rather a lot less defined than most tangles out there, but it was the closest one to ‘now’.

All Erick could really see, though, was that something was happening at Storm’s Edge, and that situation would be developing over the course of a few months, give or take half a year. Sometimes Erick hated that he couldn’t read the sky as well as other people could. Teressa and Aisha, in particular, saw way more inside Benevolence than he did all the time.

Perhaps he could ask Rozeta or Melemizargo about that phenomenon again, now that he ‘was here’? Maybe they would give a different answer, or maybe he could have a different solution to his lack of capability.

The last time he had asked either of them for a better explanation as to why Teressa could read the sky better than he could, both Rozeta and Melemizargo had spoken about how Erick was the source and other people were the boats, so while he could direct the river wherever he wanted, a lot of it simply went outside of his control once he spent that mana. So of course other people could read the waters better than he could. It was the same phenomenon all Wizards experienced to a degree, with Creation Wizards —and certain Wizards like Erick— experiencing this phenomenon most of all.

Benevolence was Erick, and Erick was Benevolence, but Benevolence itself was rather autonomous when not consciously directed, or after Erick created it from his soul. That’s how that Element was able to do what it did, up there in the sky, showing off potential futures. If Erick had to control it to make it do all that it did, then he would have found the whole thing impossible. Indeed, if he did have control over it, then it wouldn’t have been able to operate like it was supposed to operate.

And so, Erick looked to the sky one last time, checking to see that there weren’t any upcoming disasters except this one down in the archipelago.

Annnnnd… Nope.

Of course, Erick got the feeling that he was missing something big, because there were Silences in the Script, and there were anti-memes, and there were mental monsters out there that fucked with the mind, and then there were fairies, too. Someone was hiding something from his Benevolence and his Sight, for sure. But then again, Erick had always known that there had been things hidden from him. That fact rarely came up, though.

That fact was the main reason he wanted to become a Full Wizard, though. Once he achieved that, then no one could influence him through magic, without his permission, ever again.

- - - -

Zolan delivered a litany of news, “The Regency, through its Regent Augustive Glorious Tidewalker, is politely demanding that you forgo your trip to Storm’s Edge. They have tried to assure us that they have the situation in control. This is a lie. Burhendurur’s elites have already moved into the land, and they’re reporting back a number of untoward events. Archmage Wiloza Tidecaller, a Slime Mage, is acting semi-autonomously, and Shaping the land around the Pit into something else. We’re unsure of her ultimate goals right now, but reports indicate she wants to make the land defensible. She started doing that when Lord Aroido Tidecaller came out of the dungeon carrying a bunch of wildlife he prized, and they had a private conversation. After depositing his wildlife into dungeon 1, in the center of the dungeon space, Lord Aroido ordered the normal dungeons to move their entrances, and all the other dungeon entrances have moved out of the pit, leaving only dungeon 6 there. Dungeon six is still closed to outsiders.

“That’s it for actual action.

“There’s a lot of talking happening in the halls of power down there, as they’re still deciding on their ultimate actions. All of the Regency is currently in emergency meetings with the Storm Priests, their trading guilds, the guard, the Sailors, and a few others from nearby in the Archipelago.” Zolan finished with, “Wizard Destiny got the letter detailing the current events. She wishes to speak with you about —and I quote— ‘Whatever the fuck this is’. She wants to become involved whenever it’s a good time for her to become involved.”

Erick said, “Send Destiny a letter with the details today, and tomorrow I’ll get her with a [Gate].

“Get some people into those meetings with the Regency and everyone else.

“I’ll be taking a meeting with the Regent, privately. No more than 3 important people. Make that happen.

“And then I’m going to the pit, to see all this disaster for myself.” Erick looked over to Poi, who nodded at the glance. “And Poi will be coming with me. No Teressa or Aisha?”

Poi said, “They’re staring at the sky right now, trying to pin down exactly what Teressa saw. Results are inconclusive.”

“That’s fine.” Erick looked to Zolan.

Zolan had tendrils of thoughts coming off of his head, but none of them were in-depth conversations with others, for he had already anticipated Erick’s answers and had prepared accordingly; he just needed final confirmation in order to— Zolan winced a little, and then began speaking, “I’ll get the letter done and sent within the hour. Mox is attempting to send people to those meetings now that she has your permission; they’re already nearby. The Regent is prepared for you; you can appear at the front of the castle in ten minutes at the earliest. They ask you to not approach the Pit without escorts.”

“All acceptable. Then I’m leaving now.” Erick looked to Poi. “One detour, first.”

Erick opened a [Gate] back to his gate space, inside Benevolence, and walked through.

Poi followed.

Erick shut the [Gate] behind them.

- - - -

Erick said, “No time to really process what’s happening, so was I here, or not? These last eleven-ish years?”

Poi said, “I think Melemizargo thinks you weren’t here, and he’s not a liar so there’s surely something to that declaration, but I’m pretty sure you were here. If there was a difference, I could not tell the difference.”

Erick breathed out a little, feeling better already. “So I didn’t skip out on my kids, on the kingdom?”

“I would say you were here, Erick. The gods can say what they want to say, though.”

Erick nodded, and then he went on to easier topics. “This intervention?”

“Standard anti-meme put forth by the Script. Now that you’re immune to it, I can talk about it, but it wasn’t affecting anything at the House, or otherwise. And yes, there are other anti-memes out there. Usually it's we Mind Mages enacting those sorts of things, in order to erase some dangerous magical working from the public consciousness. Forgotten Campaigns and all that.”

“I did not expect to encounter one down in Storm’s Edge. I hope Everbless turns out okay. He seemed like a good kid. Hopefully he isn’t freaking out down there right now, with all the sudden changes.” And then Erick asked a big question, “Do I need to come back to the House, to be in charge of everything?”

“You want me to say ‘yes’, but I can honestly say ‘no’. We’re adjusting, but we’ll be fine. Besides, you have an obligation to Yggdrasil.”

“Is Kiri really doing okay, though? I’m worried about her.”

Poi smiled at the rapid series of questions and concerns, and at how deeply Erick cared. “Kiri is adjusting the most of any of us, but she’s doing fine, too.”

“Okay. Good.” Erick breathed deep, then he said, “Let’s get through this disaster, and then I’m off to help Atunir, or something.”

Poi nodded serenely.

The Apparent King adjusted his clothes a little, checked himself over with some mana sense, and then he was ready. Black horns like a crown. Impeccable suit/robe; white and black and a touch of silver. Poi was dressed for deployment into a political zone, too.

He opened the [Gate] to Storm’s Edge.

- - - -

Erick Flatt, Wizard of Benevolence and Apparent King, stepped down onto the blue-stone road that wound into Regency Castle. The castle itself loomed ahead. From this angle, it was a rather normal-looking collection of white stone buildings and bright blue roofs, and with enough architectural flourishes to mark it as a truly important place. It looked the same as it did the last time Erick was here; when Soltic and Vanya had accompanied Jarod and Glariol into the castle, to give their presentation to Lord Aroido. The guards lining the blue road were different, though.

Guards stood at attention on both sides of the pathway, all of them wearing their dress armor or uniforms.

The place was set up for the arrival of the Apparent King.

The fountains burbled wonderfully. The grass and flowers had been manicured one last, rushed-yet-perfect time. The windows and the walls were cleaned recently.

And a trumpeter announced Erick’s arrival with a rapid blast of sound.

A good forty knights and other assorted important people stood at rapid attention, lining both sides of the road leading into the castle. Down the blue road, standing in the massive archway leading inside, waited Regent Augustive Glorious Tidewalker, Archmage Wiloza Tidewalker, and off to the side, Lord Aroido Tidewalker.

Augustive and Aroido possessed similar features; a normal height for a man, black hair with a bit of grey in it, though Augustive had a lot more grey, and similar builds. They were older men who still clung to power, and it showed. More so in Augustive’s position at the center of the arrangement though, and since he had a gold-coin shoulder cape to go along with his grey suit. That shoulder cape was the mark of his office of Regent, passed down from the former Last King of the Archipelago some few hundred years ago to the Tidewalker family. The Tidewalkers were the regents until the Stormcaller family returned, but those last, hidden family members had been killed by Shades before they could retake the throne. And now, the Regency held power.

Archmage Wiloza was an elderly woman, maybe 85, with grey hair done up in a bun, and tanned skin. She looked wiry, and rather perturbed at finally seeing Erick in the flesh. A lot of people here shared that sort of look as they gazed upon Erick. Erick had once made vague promises to never come here unless it was absolutely needed, and now, the need was here, and everyone was on edge.

Where was Head Priestess Tiza Nindi, though? Erick supposed he did specify 3 people, at most, but he still expected Tiza to ignore that command and come anyway. A quick check with Ophiel showed that Tiza was at the Blue Church, currently arguing with Sailor Asmus, who was giving just as good as he got. Erick decided not to pay attention to that anymore.

A bunch of thoughts and concerns flitted through Erick’s mind as he strode forward, down the blue road, to stand before the Regent and his people. The soldiers on both sides of the road barely breathed, holding their tension in their lungs and shoulders and in their legs. Some people peeked out from windows high up in the castle; worry writ large on their faces.

What was the Wizard going to do?

What indignity were they going to suffer?

Would the Wizard stay long—

Regent Augustive began to speak before Erick got all the way to a proper speaking distance. “The Regency greets you and welcomes you to Storm’s Edge, Wizard Flatt. We would ask your intentions in this unprompted visit.”

Erick stood before Augustive, and said, “I heard a great calamity was either coming or already here, and I came to ensure the best possible outcome for all. How would you like to proceed, Regent Augustive?”

“We would proceed first with telling the Wizard that he is on foreign soil at the moment, and that though we are allies, he has little power over our internal matters. Secondly, we do welcome your assistance, but only in the ways that we wish for your assistance to occur. To discuss the coming order of events, please join us in the meeting hall, where we have prepared a briefing of events and some light appetizers, for what is happening right now is well under control. If, when we are done with the briefing, that you decide there is further need for your assistance, we would discuss that. But as of right now, all that needs to be done is being done, and you’ve never been here before, Wizard Flatt.” Regent Augustive smiled diplomatically, saying, “So let the Regency treat you to our bounty.”

“I accept.” And then more friendly, “I heard you have some good fishing here.”

A polite chuckle. “Some of the best in the world!”

After the act out front, Erick followed Augustive into the castle, down the hallway, talking of nothing of much importance at all, such as the state of the ocean and the weather, which was under control. People were watching, after all.

Erick saw no sign of Everbless.

- - - -

The meeting hall was a rather normal affair of one grand table in the center, some paper shapers and similar sorts standing off to the side who were waiting for their turn to speak or to hand out papers, if necessary. There was also a nice, multi-window view of Storm’s Edge, spread out below, across the mountainside and all the way down to the harbor.

Aroido shut the doors to the meeting hall and flicked a switch on the wall, connecting a latent Privacy spellwork to the node network, and enveloping the room in a modicum of security. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the latest, publicly available model of Privacy runework, available for purchase by governments, through House Benevolence. The windows occluded, turning messy, like someone had dragged a hand through a painting of the world outside, but it was just a Privacy filling up the windows, and also running through the walls.

Erick spoke first. “Augustive. The prophecy is a true one. Storm’s Edge is facing some sort of danger, and the dungeons must be made into something to contain and protect the people of this land. I will be assisting here in some deep capacity to ensure that happens, but I will also be combating whatever this disaster is, however it should appear. I would like for my assistance here at this end of solving this prophecy to be minimally disruptive for your people, but it will happen, and the treaties we have between our two powers will ensure that whatever we decide here will remain in place going forward, even after I deal with whatever storms are coming.” Erick said, “Also, Sininindi has finally given me leave to visit Everbless, so I am going to be doing that occasionally from now on.”

Hitting them with so much stuff that they couldn’t properly form a response was a tried and true tactic.

Mostly, everyone from the Regency bristled, unsure where to begin. Archmage Wiloza had an idea of where to begin, but it was not her place to speak first, though Erick saw her visibly holding herself back from breaking that protocol. Lord Aroido seemed relaxed, but he was anything but relaxed…

Ah. He was ready to face his death.

Did he think that Erick was going to erase him, his brothers, and the dungeons? Probably.

Augustive bristled, too, but he formed a response fast enough. “You’d have to go to Everbless himself if you would wish to speak with him. As for this recent disaster, we greatly dislike the entire idea of putting a shelter into a dungeon, and especially since a cultist has just taken over dungeon 6! Now you and your lot might be fine with cultists walking around and doing whatever, but even you would balk at one of them taking over the infrastructure of one of your dungeons, and then turning it into whatever she wanted! She is probably the cause of the coming disaster, we are sure of it, and so, if there is anything at all that you can do for us, we ask you to eradicate Vanya Silver and Soltic Cross from dungeon 6, before we begin to entertain the idea of turning the dungeons into a shelter. Maybe, if this Vanya and Soltic were Ended, then your Benevolent Sky would clear, and there would be no need for your interference in our business.”

“… I know some of this event already, so I was under the impression that Vanya and Soltic were here on Sininindi’s orders. What makes you think that their inclusion is a bad idea?”

Aroido was surprised at that response; at the fact that Erick knew that information at all. But then he realized that of course the Wizard would know about that.

Wiloza seemed a little vindicated that Erick was willing to let Vanya and Soltic live, or maybe she was vindicated for another reason.

Augustive said, “Sininindi tests us with storms and hardship sometimes, and this must be one of those times. Perhaps her true goal is the utter destruction of the dungeons, and then to have them remade into something else. Who can say; certainly not me, and certainly not you. All your Benevolent Sky can tell us is that something bad is happening.”

“… I would hear your briefing, if you would tell it. Perhaps I will hear something I did not know before now.”

Augustive gestured to the table, to a chair for Erick, while Aroido went to the front of the room and Wiloza went to her own chair. And then, with the help of the other people in the room, Aroido rapidly began his presentation, dishing out paperwork and speaking of the history of the dungeons and how they had been trying to make them better for the past several years, but it was only in the last few years where the constant dungeon breaks stopped. This was due to some techniques worked out between the Regency and some other people that Erick would be meeting later. Dungeon breaks still happened these days, though, for Sininindi was constantly sending dungeon masters in to remake the dungeons into something better.

It was one way to look at the situation, for sure.

An incorrect way, some would say.

There was no mention of the Maryols, or of the Storm Priests, or of the Dungeon Guild, or of the fact that the dungeons were still breaking, even now, with their ‘new techniques’, and that the dungeons were barely functional right now. There was no explanation of why the dungeon breaks kept happening, actually, or how Everbless had been the only ‘solution’ to the dungeon breaks that actually worked. There was no word at all about Aroido’s potential mismanagement of the situation, or how the Regency’s primary use for the dungeons —as a monster lure and kill box— was not how the dungeons were supposed to be used, and therefore, that was their major reason for breaking all this time.

Aroido was painting all of Storm’s Edge in a very good light, and he was also trying to save his own life, no doubt. When he was about 80% through with his propaganda-filled talk, and since he didn’t seem to be getting to any of the real information—

“I’m going to stop you there,” Erick said, “Sininindi wants the dungeons better. She invited a pair of accomplished, if secretive masters to come here, and they’re probably immortal through any number of means so of course they’re secretive. They gave you a decent presentation, according to your own words. Why not let them do what they want to do down there?”

Aroido went silent.

Regent Augustive simply said, “They are unlawfully enacting their will upon this land, and that is all I really need to know in order to condemn them. Again, I would ask for your assistance in removing them from our dungeons, if anything at all, and then we can talk about creating a proper dungeon in accordance with the prophecy received today.”

Erick pretended to consider that option, then he said, “What caused this happening over there at the Pit? What caused Vanya and Soltic to lock you out?”

Aroido looked to Augustive.

Augustive nodded.

Aroido began, “I took Miss Silver and Mister Cross into dungeon 6 in order to show them around, for everyone was eager for the dungeons to get made, for Miss Silver’s presentation on her ideas was phenomenal. So I did the tour. Halfway through they turned on me, killing me. Luckily I respawned before they could take over the place, and the dungeon master managed to get me some of my prized fish out of there before they forced the dungeon master to detach from that dungeon, and then leave. Gold Taker is recuperating from— He’s the dungeon master; Gold Taker. He’s an octopus archmage, and he’s recuperating from the ordeal right now. He cannot be with us at this moment.”

Augustive winced, and tried not to show it, when Gold Taker was mentioned.

Wiloza wanted to speak, but she knew not to.

“… Okay. Now that is something I did not know.” Erick stood from his chair. “I’ve heard enough. I’m going to go knock on the dungeon entrance now and get their side of the story. With any luck, I can resolve this in an hour or two.”

Augustive stood, with Archmage Wiloza following a second behind. Augustive gestured at the other Tidewalkers in the room as he spoke, “Archmage Wiloza has already cordoned off the area with her vast Stone magics, and her plan is to continue to do that in preparation for the eventual dungeon shelter that your House has suggested we construct. She is our person who does all of that exterior dungeon work. Lord Aroido is our main contact for the interior of the dungeons, and he knows everything about them. Please accept Aroido’s assistance in going inside the dungeon, for though Miss Vanya Silver has expressed that she has a great deal of knowledge with dungeons, we doubt she could have remade it into anything truly dangerous in the last three hours, for even the fastest repro she could have created would still be floundering around for another 9 hours, at least. She hasn’t even managed to move the dungeon entrance, so how good could she be! So now is the time to [Strike]. Aroido can assist you with that.”

Aside from the fact that Vanya wasn’t moving the entrance as a part of the deals she worked out with Aroido in those last minutes of interaction...

Erick actually considered the offer of Aroido’s assistance for a moment. “… Sure. I’ll take his assistance.”

Aroido looked both pleased and terrified.

Augustive had dropped the use of his royal ‘we’ when he got upset, but now he once again spoke as a king, “We are sure that with his knowledgeable guidance, you will see the crimes of Miss Silver and Mister Cross for what they are, and that even your vaunted benevolence will see that some problems need permanent solutions.”

Aroido continued to look both pleased and terrified, for he was expecting Augustive to say that.

Erick said no more. He opened a [Gate] directly to the Pit, and walked through.

Poi rapidly followed.

Wiloza and Aroido took a moment, but they followed fast enough, while Regent Augustive remained behind.

Erick shut the [Gate] behind them.

- - - -

Erick once again stood on the ledge of the Pit, but in his normal body, and with different people standing all around him. Poi at his left, Archmage Wiloza and Lord Aroido on the right. The situation was completely different from that first time that he was here, and the ledge of the Pit was different, too. Before, it had been a cliff, with a carved, bare-stone valley down below, with holes in the world where the dungeons lay, and Everbless in the sky directing mana in his Gold Taker form.

Erick noted a distinct lack of Everbless that entire meeting they had just come, and his ‘nephew’ was absent from the sky above the Pit, as well—

“They’re going to kill me, Wizard!” Aroido exclaimed, “I and my brothers are the former dungeon masters of the dungeon and the Regency is going to kill me and all my brothers if you don’t save me!”

Wiloza said, “I hate how you’re doing this, but they will kill him and all the other Aroidos to simplify the problem now that you’re here and telling us we all fucked up.”

Erick nodded. “Thank you for coming clean about all that. I’m sure I can still work with the Regency, though, and you’re all going to be safe afterward, as well.”