Erick stepped onto the grounds in front of Archmage’s Rest. Since it was ‘night’, the replica of the Wizard’s Tower had once again vanished behind illusions, replaced by a small mansion that was not a tenth the true size of the building it pretended to be. One of the main doors to that mansion was shut, but the other was open, spilling yellow light out into the nighttime air of Vibrant Falls.
A few guards hidden behind illusions noticed Erick. Telepathic lines connected them to each other, and also to other people, elsewhere. They tensed upon seeing Erick, and upon seeing Ophiel. Normally, they would have relaxed almost just as fast, but not this time.
Erick was right to be concerned that they would think him responsible for Kydyr’s death. That’s why he insisted on being involved, at least for now. Undoubtedly there would come a point where Riivo or Kromolok would tell him in no uncertain terms to stay away from the investigation, but for now, Erick would remain and he would help, where he could—
Kromolok and Tasar stepped out of the t-station. The Inquisitor looked almost normal; he was very good at hiding his emotions, and dealing with tragedy. Erick suspected that the man always saw danger everywhere, and he was only truly happy when he was pleasantly surprised that he had been proven wrong. Tasar, though, was not used to death and murder, even though she had likely seen a lot of it in her long life; she looked crushed, and barely able to hide it.
Kromolok said, “Riivo and a few others are already down—”
Sitnakov stepped out of the t-station right behind Kromolok and Tasar. He looked ready to kill someone and was barely hiding it. He stared at Erick, saying, “Archmage Kydyr’s death was recorded as true not one minute after you reported—”
Tasar collapsed to her knees, dropping her staff. Dark green tears flowed down her face as she sobbed.
Sitnakov continued, “You, Archmage Flatt, are to be with us every step of the way, to Image and to answer questions as requested.”
Erick stood surprised. Dead a minute after Erick reported it?
What the fuck?
But all Erick said into the emotionally tense situation was, “Of course I will cooperate.”
Sitnakov lightly glared, then judged Erick’s words as true and promptly ignored him. He stepped to Tasar and held down a hand. “Time to work, Tasar.”
Tasar breathed deep twice, taking Sitnakov’s hand on the second breath. “Okay. Yes. Okay… Okay.”
Kromolok continued, “Riivo and the others are down by Kydyr’s property. Let us relocate.”
- - - -
Erick stepped down onto stone that had been whole and covered in moss not an hour ago.
Now, there was a large central crater, and a thousand smaller ones. Debris was everywhere. The view was worse from the ground. The smaller craters were larger than they had appeared to be. The destruction was worse, with much of the land scoured of moss. Rubbled walls, filled with platinum runic webs, littered the land.
And the manasphere was nothing more than static; whoever had been here had scrubbed the overt evidence away.
Sitnakov, Tasar, and Kromolok had stepped onto the ground near to Erick. Tasar breathed out, staring across the land at the floating [Force Cage] which held Kydyr’s head. Sitnakov scowled at the sight, but he was not distracted by the destruction; he zeroed in on the other people nearby.
A hundred meters away, under a dome of gentle light, Riivo stood at the edge, staring at the destruction all around. Behind him stood Aisha and a few other wrought who Erick identified as guards or other middle management mages at the Rest. The Prognosticator stood ramrod straight, her head tilted back, her eyes glowing with iridescence.
Erick was the only non-wrought in the area.
Kromolok walked toward Riivo.
Erick followed after him, with Sitnakov rapidly stepping to Erick’s side, to glance down at him. Erick looked up at the black metal, orcol-shaped man. He started the interrogation so that Sitnakov didn’t have to, saying, “I imagine that this sort of thing doesn’t happen often.”
“No, it does not. And then tens of people that you knew for hundreds of years are suddenly dead.” Sitnakov almost said something, but he switched, and said something else, “It hits some of us harder than others.”
Erick glanced back at Tasar. The green-black woman had sat down upon the stone as she stared out at the crater. Erick turned back to Sitnakov. “Did you know Kydyr?”
“Not personally.” Sitnakov said, “I worked with him many times, before his self-seclusion. I understand he was trying to teach you runic web security.”
“He succeeded in teaching me runic web security.” Erick said, “I’ve never worked in Illusion before, but I gained all the spells and the knowledge to put them into a web. I’m sure I’ll go over the whole experience in detail for Kromolok, if he hasn’t already taken that from me, but the short version is this: The lessons were supposed to last for a week, but some oddities happened today and Kydyr told me that today would be the last day. He said we were never going to meet again, but this was not what I thought he meant. I think… I’m not sure what to think.” He asked, “How did you know he was truly dead? I see that skull in that [Force Cage] and I’m still not sure it isn’t a lie. How do you know he died after I reported this?”
Sitnakov said, “State secrets. Kydyr is dead, though; I can assure you that much. He went into seclusion for a reason, but as of right now, we don’t know if that reason finally caught up to him, or not.”
That brought Erick up short. He almost spoke up, continuing the conversation, but he knew he would have to repeat a lot of what he had to say multiple times if he said it now, so he remained silent.
They were almost to Riivo, anyway. The old iron man stood under his dome of light, alongside Aisha. He watched as the three of them approached, his eyes lightly boring into Erick, but pulling back before he gave away all of his inner suspicions. And then the man seemed to break in small ways. His shoulders sagged. His face wrinkled downward.
He wasn’t suspicious of Erick at all. He was simply mad that…
That Erick hadn’t prevented this?
Kromolok reached the dome of light first. His words spread out in the mist, and in the light, “It wasn’t Erick.” He looked to Riivo, saying, “You were the last one to have contact. Kydyr died about twelve minutes after reporting to you what happened at Erick’s lesson.” While Riivo stood straighter, Erick felt like some breach of trust had occurred, and Kromolok said to everyone, “Now let us get down to it, for at the end of this we will either have captured and killed a fae —which I do not believe is what happened here— or we will have found and ended a mirage dragon, which is almost as good.” He added, “Or, there might be another explanation, but I doubt it.”
The fae? But also:
A mirage dragon. Not ‘the’ mirage dragon. Erick had been right. The mirage dragon that attacked him at Holorulo was part of a family; they were not a singular entity like the Dragon Stalkers had claimed.
Several parts of the day fell into a harsh, new light, and Erick felt his stomach cramp as he wondered if this was somehow his fault. It had to have been, right? He cast that Fae spell inside Kydyr’s house, and the man was obviously hiding from the fae, and…
No.
This wasn’t his fault.
This was the fault of whoever did this.
Other people had other angry, silent reactions. Sitnakov glared at nothing in particular. Riivo frowned. The guards around them stood fractionally more stiff—
Aisha came back out of her [Witness] trance, glanced around, and said, “The manasphere is mostly scrubbed clean, but I have been able to catch glimpses. Someone walked through the mist about 25 minutes ago. Five minutes after that came the first silent blast of Illusion through the mists, tearing through the left side of Kydyr’s house. Kydyr remained—” She looked to Erick, and to the others, as if asking permission.
Kromolok said, “Erick is participating in this investigation and he already knows Kydyr’s most publicly known secret. Let us act with haste, please; if we are fast enough we might be able to catch them.”
Aisha continued, “Kydyr remained in owl shifter form for the majority of the battle, targeting the blank space in the manasphere. Every spell Kydyr used on the target was then used against him, indicating that the assailant was likely a Copy Mage, or very ready to make themselves look like a Copy Mage. After three such mirrored exchanges the assailant got the better of Kydyr and Kydyr was forced to reveal his draconic self. Kydyr struck with all of his force, and the assailant absorbed that power, then shot it back at Kydyr, creating the crater at the center of the area. The battle proceeded to a series of shadow games after that, with both of them attacking whenever the other made their location known. Kydyr used some obscure Fae Magic spellwork to try and end it, but the assailant copied that spell and then it all goes fuzzy. Too much magic.”
Erick was surprised that Aisha was able to get anything out of the static manasphere at all, let alone as much as she had.
Sitnakov turned to face the crater. “Was it a mirage dragon?”
“That or the other thing; It would have to be, I assume.” Riivo sighed. “They finally got him.”
Kromolok said, “Possibly not.”
“The other possibilities are vanishingly small, Kromolok,” Riivo said, keeping his annoyance barely in check.
Sitnakov asked, “Who else could it be?”
Tasar had pulled herself up and come over to the group a little bit ago, to arrive somewhere in the middle of Aisha’s explanation. She said, “It had to be someone who was watching and waiting, and something odd likely happened with Erick’s lessons that caused a vulnerability.”
Erick felt his stomach cramp again, and there was no way to hide the guilt he felt inside.
Kromolok asked, “Erick? Please explain how Kydyr made himself vulnerable.”
Tasar tensed, and then relaxed, as though of course Erick had done something he hadn’t intended to do.
Erick looked away from Tasar and said, “I dug too deep with Illusion Magic, made and cast [Fairy Item], and shattered Kydyr’s [Fairy House] runic web. Everything stood exposed for about 30 minutes until he was able to repair it all. That happened rather early today, and I stayed for another several hours after that, making runic webs. Nothing else happened except for getting food from other places through Ophiel.” Erick said, “I asked Kydyr if he wanted me to stay longer. I asked him… I was only gone for an hour and I came back to check on him, but…” Erick’s voice trailed off.
Ah.
This was hitting him pretty hard, then? Yes, it appeared that way. He hadn’t noticed it that much until now, as his throat closed on him and his words couldn’t form.
Riivo frowned at the crater, saying, “He was always a stubborn… wonderful student, and colleague.”
Tasar argued, “A single Fae Spell should not have broken Kydyr’s [Fairy House].”
“Erick is not lying.” Kromolok said, “That is exactly what happened. Kydyr had likely missed—”
“Kydyr did not miss anything in his runework, Kromolok. Kydyr’s work was always immaculate.” Tasar gained a dark tone, saying, “This was just the Worldly Path.”
Erick felt anger rise within. His throat relaxed and he spat, “I asked if I should stay! To help him move, or whatever he needed! I asked if he wanted to live by Yggdrasil! I tried to help—”
Tasar practically exploded, “I’m not blaming you!” She turned and yelled at the misty, shadowy world all around them, “I’m blaming the Dark! I’m blaming his literal [Gate]keeping that prevents us from moving forward without his approval! I’m blaming the dragons who are always a part of the Worldly Path, because that’s what the Dark demands! I lay the blame upon those who hope for the destruction of everything I have ever cared about! The blame belongs to that which is Evil, which uses good people to make the world just that much more Dark, because that is all the Dark is capable of understanding! Death and Destruction and Darkness!”
No one spoke, because every single person went on high alert, staring at the world outside of the dim brightness of the lightdome, waiting for the Dark to attack; for Tasar’s call out to bring forth claws and fangs from the shadows.
But nothing happened.
Melemizargo was not there in the shadows, or in the gloom.
Tasar breathed deep. “I… I should not have spoken so openly.” She clenched her teeth, then said, “I just… Don’t understand how Kydyr could have been taken by a single mirage dragon? It wasn’t the matriarch, was it?”
Kromolok said, “Again, it could have been anything. Focusing on the most likely possibility is good, but might ultimately be harmful.”
Aisha looked from Kromolok to Tasar, and answered, “The attacker remained in humanoid form the whole time, even when Kydyr changed to his draconic form, so likely not the matriarch, or any other dragon. A dragon wouldn’t have been able to resist challenging another dragon in proper form, even if Kydyr’s Dragon Essence was Sealed.”
Sitnakov asked, “Could it have been the fae, herself?”
“Well…” Aisha said, “Inconclusive. High possibility, though.”
Tasar said, “But… His protections. There were a hundred redundancies. So how could? Even if Erick broke the initial web it should have still had a lot of protections, right?” She looked to Erick. “Right?”
Erick rapidly said, “Yes. It did. [Stoneshape] and [Scry] and a lot of other spells were still blocked. There were some redundancies… But the [Fairy House] broke. That did happen.” He added, “I asked him if Ophiel coming and going was a problem and he said it wasn’t but… Ophiel did hang out in the misty air. Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye was out here, too; he couldn’t get inside the house.”
Tasar said, “That shouldn’t have been a problem.”
“It’s possible that this is something new.” Kromolok said, “Some new mundane threat that followed Erick more than most.”
No one said anything to that.
Riivo spoke up, “Perhaps we should have been more circumspect… but to think that Kydyr would fall… It is like thinking that Veird would stop turning.”
“Everyone escapes the End until they cannot.” Sitnakov said, “This is no one’s fault but the killer’s.”
Tasar looked to Erick, and had another thought. “You know everything that we’re talking about, don’t you. Even ‘the fae, herself’.”
Erick nodded. “Yes. Everything here was hinted at rather recently, and from various sources.”
Tasar stared for a moment longer, then sadly nodded. She spoke like a person resigned, “If we get a chance to kill the fae then we should take it, because there is no way that we won’t meet her; not at this rate.”
“The whole Mirage Family should share her fate,” Sitnakov said. “So if you’re headed to Ar’Cosmos, I would be there to help end the continued injustice of their existence.”
Tasar briefly tensed, but then she nodded.
Erick stared at the tall man and decided that outright denial of his request to join his Worldly Path would not be the prudent response at this time. So he asked, “Can we talk about it later?”
Sitnakov did not smirk, but his body language said he believed he had already won. His actual words, though, were, “Of course. Later.”
And then Kromolok spoke, saying, “We will check all possibilities before we commit to another one of those disasters; this might not have been them, and it is important to get the correct enemy or else we leave behind problems for another day.”
No one had any problem with that.
Kormolok said to Erick, “Please check for spilled blood with an Imaging, catching the nearest ten kilometers if you can, for even if the assailant cleaned up their attack they could have missed something. If this is not the fae then it was an opportunistic strike of a different sort. The assailants might have been scoping out the area for months or years, for it’s also possible that this was a standard dragon hoard plundering. They could have been looking for a book, or for a collection of books, or for the runic web itself, for even with the erasing power of Illusion there is a distinct lack of platinum in the area, and it took 300 tons of the stuff to make the runic web inside Kydyr’s house.”
Erick was glad he asked for Kromolok’s participation. The man was good at this, because yes, there were many different possible explanations for what happened, and it was important not to jump to emotional conclusions. Tasar seemed to relax a bit while Sitnakov and Riivo set their sights on the destruction all around.
Riivo gestured to his people, saying, “Scout the perimeter.”
People started moving.
Kromolok said, “Erick. Please scan for platinum first. If it’s here then that cuts down on a lot of possible culprits. After that, please link with Aisha and scan for clues based on her ideas. She’s done things like this many times before.”
Erick nodded, saying, “Then it’s a platinum scan,” as an Ophiel high above cast a cascading star of light into the mist. The shadowed gloom all around took on a distinct shift toward light, as though it was suddenly day in Vibrant Falls. For kilometers around, Erick’s [Cascade Imaging] began to map the land in a 1-for-1 map. “Should take ten minutes to form a map and an image.”
The rubbled walls and several of the wrought were already beginning to shine blue.
Aisha, who was beginning to shimmer blue, said, “Then I will [Witness] again, trying to narrow down search zones.”
“Sitnakov, Riivo, Tasar. With me, please.” Kormolok stepped into the air, saying, “We will investigate the head and ensure there is no trap.”
Time passed faster as the investigation picked up steam.
The head remained a head until the [Force Cage] was broken, and the bismuth turned into a muddy rainbow liquid that Riivo caught in a bowl of Force. There was no explosion, or anything like that. Tasar picked through the books and named them as children’s stories, which seemed to point toward a fairy culprit. Erick’s Imaging eventually found an estimated 50% of the platinum that was in Kydyr’s runic web. Some platinum had melted into the crater walls and blackened beyond all recognition, but most of the platinum was scattered wide, like molten rain splashed away from the battlezone, to impact and lodge into the stone all around, like tiny silver stars barely noticed in the gloom. Much of the extra platinum could have gotten scattered to the underocean far below, but the current was too swift to make searching that space feasible for anyone without [Water Body].
Kromolok wasn’t 100% sure on the motivations for the attack, yet, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t greed related. This lowered the chance that this was dragon hunters going after a hoard by a fair amount.
Aisha found several locations to search for blood or other leavings from the battle, but grid searches and Erick’s Imaging failed to return any positive results for blood, or bone fragments, or any targeted biological material. Aisha revealed her ability to track based on mana signatures, but she had no way to impart this knowledge to Erick, and Imaging couldn’t find magic that Erick didn’t already personally know. Erick suggested that Kromolok could help bridge the gap in understanding, but that idea was shot down by both Kromolok and Aisha as infeasible.
Eventually, it was just the three of them standing beside the crater, trying new searches, but they had reached the end of the truly viable searches twenty minutes ago.
Erick said, “I can’t search for pure Elements, either; I've already tried that before.”
Aisha said, “You’re so good at finding people and tracking criminals, though. What makes this different?”
Erick had had a mind to ask for unfettered control of the investigation, but upon seeing how Riivo and a few others reacted to his presence at all, he had stopped himself from crossing that threshold; they did not want him involved, at all. Even this much was too much for many of the wrought all around.
Erick explained, “It’s about the physicality of it all. I can search for the markers in blood rather easily. We found all of Kydyr’s bismuth ‘blood’, after all, but… That’s more because it’s bismuth than because it’s blood.” The wrought name for ‘bismuth’ was actually ‘spectrasilver’, but Erick was calling it ‘bismuth’ in his head. “I know how fleshy biology works, but I honestly have no idea how wrought biology works on the deepest level. Or even the shallowest level, actually. But that’s just—” He asked both Kromolok and Aisha, “Do you want me to do this search like I normally would? I can certainly do this, but I was under the distinct impression that while killing monsters was fine, administering justice in wrought lands went against Stratagold’s desires.”
Aisha stood straighter. She was all for Erick’s involvement. She looked to Kromolok, saying, “I’ve gone as far as I can. The manasphere is too disturbed.”
Kromolok turned his gaze toward the crater. He stared for a moment. All around, various guards and soldiers and specialists were crawling all over the place, looking for any physical clues at all. Riivo led the search from the air, with Sitnakov hovering at his side like a silent monolith of a man, judging everything.
Kromolok gave a small sigh, then he said, “You are well and truly exonerated from Kydyr’s death, Erick, but you have reached the end of what we will allow you to do, so please return to Yggdrasil and leave the rest of the investigation to us.” To reiterate, he said, “Stratagold denies your request for full assistance with our justice system.”
Ah. So they went the other direction; kicking him out and away. Erick figured that this was a strong possibility, but at least they had let him help this far.
Aisha though, frowned. “You cannot be serious, Kromolok. Erick can do this much faster than—”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Kromolok said, “About two hours have passed since Kydyr’s murder. In this time, we have cleared two of the highest profile suspects of suspicion; Erick and Riivo were both kind enough to submit before they needed to be asked. We have already moved on to other methods of investigation, far outside of the area of the actual murder. As of ten minutes ago, and according to a letter sent to the White Palace, we now believe that this murder ties into the Amulet of Non-Presence that came out of Ar’Kendrithyst’s Armory this last year.”
So that was completely new information.
Erick felt left out of the loop, but this was by Stratagold’s design.
Aisha gasped. “The Letter Killer is a part of this!? Even more of a reason to keep Erick’s assistance! Catch that bastard, and quick!”
Erick had heard about that amulet, at least. It was an artifact that let the wearer move and live without obeying the laws of physical space, or being subject to any magic they might encounter. With sudden clarity, Erick remembered Quilatalap talking about how the amulet was used to kill some high ranking politicians here, in Stratagold. He hadn’t heard anything about those murders while he was here, though. He had assumed that the killer had been caught, but apparently not. Apparently, the killer had been upgraded from simple killer, to a named serial murderer, too. A name that Erick hadn’t heard before now, despite how much recon he had done in the Underworld near Stratagold.
They must be keeping these murders quiet for some reason…
Possibly because, with a name like ‘the Letter Killer’, they were rather high profile, and the wrought were all about hiding and ending dangerous things without telling people about those dangerous things. Perhaps the rulers didn’t want their facade of power to look like it was challenged by an outside force? Whatever the case, Erick could certainly help… If they let him.
Kromolok said, “The decision has come from King Alfonin himself. Erick is to be excluded from further involvement with the Letter Killer.”
At the mention of King Alfonin, Aisha went silent; contemplative.
Erick tried to help anyway, saying, “I could help search for the amulet, if you would have my assistance. I was forced to attend the Armory Presentation at Last Shadow’s Feast. I think I set down an image of that amulet in my missive to the Mind Mages, so I know what to look for.”
Kromolok said, “Knowledge of the shape of the amulet to be found does not help, for the Gemslicers have already tried this. No; you are restricted from further involvement, Erick. Please dismiss your Imaging and return to Yggdrasil.”
Aisha said, “This is a mistake.”
Erick attacked the problem from a different angle. “Aren’t you ranked higher in your society than practically every other governing body, Kromolok? You might be stationed by Stratagold, but the Church of Rozeta is much larger than that.”
Their voices had carried in the misty light all around; their conversation was not private at all. Most people chose to perk an ear to listen while saying nothing. But Riivo, Sitnakov, and Tasar were all moving toward them.
Tasar moved faster than the rest, coming forward, her voice loud enough for all to hear, “I agree with Aisha. This is a mistake to sideline Erick. He will be involved whether you want him involved or not, and especially if this truly is the Letter Killer, and not a misdirection from the fae.”
Sintakov stepped onto the air at the edge of the crater, hovering like Tasar and Riivo. He chose to speak next, asking, “The letter is confirmed? Not a copyist?”
Kromolok said, “Confirmed. Made with paper and ink from the same type of tree that all the rest were made with. The growing location was found by the Gemslicers not half an hour ago, and it is in line with all the other growing locations. The handwriting is the same, and it was made without the maker getting anywhere near the paper, thus preventing [Object Reading] from picking anything out of the letter. The contents were of the usual sort.”
Erick knew he was poking his head into where he wasn’t wanted, but he had to know, “What was on the actual letter?”
From their reactions, Tasar, Aisha, and Riivo all either knew or had good guesses as to what the letter actually said, but none of them were willing to speak on that (possibly) open secret. Sitnakov knew the larger overview of what the letter said, and the large man’s disgust and resignation told a certain story about what was on that letter, but not the whole story. Kromolok knew exactly what was on the letter, for sure, but he gave nothing away.
Sitnakov spoke first, but not with an answer. He stated, “The decision to exclude you has been finalized. Please take down your spellwork and vacate the area.”
Tasar and Aisha refocused away from the ‘Letter Killer’ secrets and lightly judged Sitnakov an asshole, but they did not speak against him. Riivo withheld all emotions; he was thinking some important thoughts and Erick’s situation was not among them. Sitnakov didn’t seem happy to exclude Erick, but he wasn’t willing to go against his father. All of that seemed normal enough. What actually made Erick a bit mad, though, was that Kromolok was not willing to go against King Alfonin, either. Erick was pretty sure that as Inquisitor, Kromolok ranked above any single king of any single Geode.
But…
Erick decided to acquiesce. He dismissed his Imaging. Like the sun shutting off, the lower reaches of Vibrant Falls fell back into deep shadow. Erick said, “I will return to Yggdrasil. If you change your mind then you know where to find me. I wish you luck with finding this Letter Killer.”
They might not want his help and he would not countermand their decree, but he was at least going to find out what they weren’t telling him about the Letter—
Kromolok sighed. “Erick. Stay away from this. I will come to you tomorrow to speak of various things, but you will strive to remain uninvolved. The hope is that your Worldly Path will pull the Letter Killer into your orbit, instead of the other way around. If you can remain at Yggdrasil then maybe the damage can be contained.”
“I don’t know about the Letter Killer, but that’s not how the Path works, Kromolok.” Tasar said, “Right now, King Alfonin is setting the stage for another disaster—”
Sitnakov said, “My father has spoken. We will abide. With any luck this Path nonsense will be contained to Yggdrasil’s cavern.”
No one else said a word.
After a moment, Erick said, “Then I depart.”
And then he lightstepped away.
Ophiel followed soon after.
- - - -
Erick stopped at the small garrison just outside of Yggdrasil’s tunnel.
Sergeant Kapra was on duty, like usual. She and three of her people stood at attention when Erick stepped onto the ground outside of the tunnel.
Kapra leaned over the stone railing, asking, “Is there something I can help you with, Archmage Flatt?”
Erick looked up at the iron woman. “Have you ever heard of the Letter Killer?”
Kapra frowned a little, unsure what Erick was asking. It was an odd reaction which she shared with all the rest of her people. They knew nothing. Erick found that a bit odd, but it was what it was.
Kapra answered honestly, “I am unaware of who that is. Should we be on alert?”
Erick decided to be a little honest, saying, “I’m rather sure it’s some high ranking assassin who has been around here for almost a year. Probably best not to get involved if you can help it, but I think they made me involved. So if an assassin comes around, just let them through and warn me of their approach instead.”
Kapra stood straight. “Thank you for the warning.”
Erick departed to Yggdrasil.
- - - -
Back at Yggdrasil, Erick ran some tests regarding [Cascade Imaging] and all of the new spells that Kydyr had helped him to make; [Concealment] and [Intangibility], primarily, but also [Fairy Item]. For the Item, Erick instantiated a bracelet onto his wrist, like Kydyr suggested; if it broke, that meant someone had cast some Fae Magic nearby.
And since Erick had those spells in his soul, as he Imaged for them, all three spells showed.
But nothing else showed.
Erick had expected a ping, a blue marker, an assailant hiding out under Yggdrasil’s canopy, or something. Perhaps a well-hidden wrought watchpost in the walls of the cavern, to watch over Erick. And yet, nothing. So he set Ophiel to recasting that Imaging every hour, and got into bed.
… Sleep did not come easy, but after a few hours of sitting there, thinking of everything he could have done differently, wondering who the Letter Killer was, Erick almost fell asleep.
And then, suddenly, he was fully awake.
Nothing had awoken him.
He was just nervous.
So he lay there, unable to find any comfort from his thoughts, eyes wide and staring at Yggdrasil’s canopy above. Erick thought back to what had happened, and played the events of the day over and over and over again, trying to understand if he could have done anything different. Kydyr’s death had hit him with unexpected force.
But there was something else, too.
It was about that artifact from Ar’Kendrithyst. According to the Armory Presentation by Quilatalap, The Amulet of Non-Presence separated the user from their Mana and Health, making them untouchable, but also denying them the ability to interact with the world. So how could such a sequestered person kill anyone? Wouldn’t they have to drop the amulet’s effect beforehand? Wouldn’t that make them show up on a lot of different scans? And especially on [Witness]?
There were multiple solutions to this problem.
The first solution was that the amulet wasn’t the only artifact the Letter Killer had.
Erick’s second idea was that there was some unknown, yet easy way around the limitations of the amulet. Perhaps the killer conjured charms, or used spell wands, or had some other sort of pre-cast spell that they could drop out of the effect of their super-[Incorporeality]. And yet… The manasphere around Kydyr’s kill was cleaned too perfectly for Erick to see anything at all, but Aisha could, and she didn’t see any of that… Though she was only able to give the broadest strokes about the battle, and after a certain point she couldn’t see anything, either.
The most obvious solution was that the Amulet of Non-Presence didn’t work like advertised at the Armory Presentation. Or, that the user had made some adjustments to the artifact, though as to how such a thing could be possible, Erick had no idea. Erick didn’t know much about artifacts, but magical items didn’t grow over time, and if they did, they generally broke themselves once they outgrew their programming or physical housing.
But artifacts were different.
Artifacts could be made with a soul, and that soul could then grow.
Was the Amulet of Non-Presence a sentient artifact? Like the Black Star?
Very possible.
Erick’s mind went back to Songli.
In the war with Terror Peaks, that shitstorm had been brewing for years and more before Erick showed and helped out with chelation treatments, thus turning up the heat on their cold wars. In that conflict a mass-produced artifact, the soul spear, had almost killed him, and a dragon came out of nowhere to try the same.
Therefore, if one was to guess at the reasoning behind this Letter Killer assassinating Kydyr, it was possible that someone had tracked Erick, specifically, and found out where Kydyr was that way. But that meant that the Letter Killer or an accomplice was watching Erick all the time…
Which people usually did, actually.
But if this was a Terror Peaks situation: What sort of enemy was coming for Stratagold? Or, perhaps, was Stratagold the enemy, and Erick was the one defending himself from them? Erick supposed it all boiled down to a larger question that had yet to answer itself in any satisfactory way:
“What is the purpose of the Worldly Path?”
Erick spoke the words as he thought of them, and suddenly, he could not sleep. He was fully awake.
He swung the covers off of his body and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, his heart beating hard and his breath coming fast. It was such a simple question, and Erick had thought he already knew the answer. The Worldly Path was to make [Gate], right? But that was simply too simple. Erick got to his feet and stepped out of the Privacy surrounding his current sleeping location, activating his spells as needed to take the next step, through the light, to get out from under Yggdrasil’s fiery green canopy.
To feel exposed to the world.
With a quick step, Erick landed upon one of Yggdrasil’s serpentine roots that grew far beyond his body, far beyond the edge of his canopy and rainbow crown, to arc above the placid, clear waters of the lake. Erick had a good view of the cavern from here. The whole place, with its roof so high and shores so far, made him feel like he stood atop a white dragon in the middle of an ocean. Illuminated crystals the size of skyscrapers dotted the cavern roof, looking like LEDs at this distance, and yet they filled the land with light. Yggdrasil filled the land with his own colors, and though the white and the green were prominent, his kaleidoscopic crown of rainbow light outshone all of the rest of him. There were no shadows in this land, but that rainbow crown did paint the dimmer areas in pastel colors.
Erick took it all in, and found he loved it all. The color. The calm. The water and the growth.
But how did planting Yggdrasil here relate to the Worldly Path?
What was the true purpose of the Path?
The purposes other people used to start the Path were all rather random. Syllea wanted to make [Greater Prismatic Body], and failed to get far on the Path. Tenebrae wanted [Gate] itself, and also failed, though he got off near the beginning. Many normal, non-archmage people stepped onto the Path as a result of their life’s work with Spatial Magic, allowing them to just barely start the Path. Those people always spent the 10 points to get [Gate]; a gift from the gods, so that they didn’t need to make the spell themselves.
Erick now knew —with 95% certainty— that spending those 10 points was like imbuing a part of one’s self into the ‘[Gate Summon]’ that the gods used, thus gaining access to that system.
Walking the Path was to make one’s own [Gate Summon]; to deny the gods their curated power, and to try to make power for oneself.
Spatial Magic itself was likely a weaker form of Fate Magic.
In that way, Fate Magic was unto Spatial Magic…
Like Fae Magic was unto Illusion Magic.
It was possible to use Illusion Magic to displace a person, or an object, making it seem like they were in one area when they were actually in another.
Ancient Fae Magic made strangeness that only respected its own rules. Script-based Fae Magic made items that were Reality turned into reality, or as close to reality as magic could get.
Spatial Magic actually changed a person’s location. [Teleport] was like placing oneself in a different location that was based on choices the user could have made, but did not.
Fate Magic, though… Put someone where they needed to be?
Hmm. No. Erick had lost it.
… There was something there. Erick wasn’t sure what, but it was big.
But the larger concern of the purpose of the Worldly Path loomed large in his mind, and he had a thought. One that he hated, and that reminded Erick of what Quilatalap had said months ago: that the Worldly Path was the truest form of the Journey into Darkness. That thought collided with what Erick knew of the idea of the Welcoming Dark, and so much more. Syllea could never have finished the Path, for her goals were too small. Tenebrae was too greedy; his goals were too stagnant. The gods could circumvent the rules because they were gods, thus allowing people who bought into their Path to use their godly [Gate] for a small fee of points. Maybe the godly [Gate] was controlled solely by Rozeta, or it was a group [Gate Summon], but that didn’t matter, because Erick knew what the Worldly Path truly was.
Words came to him, begging to be released out into the world, to make real the Reality that now burrowed into his brain, demanding all of his attention. He spoke to the light, and to the pastel rainbow shadows hiding in the depths of the lake.
“The Worldly Path is both preparation and test, to see if the user is worthy of wielding the power that is the responsibility of [Gate], but more than that, there is the goal of the Walker of the Path: to step into the Dark, to bring the light with them, opening up new pathways into Forever so that all may follow in the wake of the Walker.”
A blue box briefly blinded Erick.
Special Quest!
The Worldly Path.
Steps taken: 4 of ???
Reward: The ability to cast Gate
A breeze swept through the land, turning tiny waves into splashing mist. The light dimmed. Darkness swirled in the pastel shadows of the cavern and in the deeper blues of the lake, and then it spread like black ink, soaking into Yggdrasil’s lake from all sides.
Time stopped. The waves froze. The wind stilled.
And then the leviathan himself surfaced from the waters, black scales soaking in all the light, his white eyes shining even brighter because of it. His head was massive, and his curling horns even larger. His mouth curled in a small, large smile, revealing bright white fangs and a deeply hidden white inferno far down the back of his throat. The tips of his wings poked above the surface of the lake, but all the rest of him was one with the water; Darkness spread everywhere, plunging Yggdrasil’s cavern into deep shadows. The illuminated crystals above became points of dim light in the darkness, like cold stars. The crystals in the lake became ghostly lights on the horizon, while Yggdrasil himself was a distant, shadowed rainbow.
Melemizargo dipped his head like a languid swimmer, to level with Erick. The brilliant inferno deep inside his maw glittered as he happily chuckled.
Erick asked, “Are you sure you’re supposed to appear this early?”
Melemizargo laughed. “You have already done more than most on the Worldly Path. If we were in the Old Cosmology, this is where I would gladly welcome you into the Dark, to ask you to spread your wings and fly into the edges of the universe, to push back the edge of Forever just a bit further.” With a contained sadness, he added, “But that’s not how this New Cosmology works, does it?”
Erick’s heart beat hard. Melemizargo seemed rather sane at the moment.
Erick said, “It’s empty out there except for when it’s radically dangerous, or inhospitable to life.”
Melemizargo sighed. “Not that different from the Old Edge of Forever.” He strongly said, “This just means the new Edge of Forever is the Edge of the Script, and we are so very close to being lost to that tumbling destruction. I had lost the Sight to see, until now. I see the Truth. The new obstacles to overcome. And I see that you will lead the way, Fire of the Age.” Licks of white flame escaped from between Melemizargo’s fangs as he said, “So when that killing spell my daughter has installed in your heart begins to drag you down into mediocrity, to threaten everything you hope to build, know that help is only a request away.” He leaned forward a bit, his breath washing over Erick as he spoke, “Don’t expect the same help from Kings and Inquisitors.”
Erick took that all in, and then he moved the conversation to a productive end, saying, “The Inquisitor has a lot of salient points about how new worlds might be subject to apocalypse without warning, like what happened in the Sundering. It is a danger that needs to be solved before we go much further.”
Erick had wondered if he had fucked up by bringing up the Sundering. But he kept going because he had to, and Melemizargo surprised him.
Melemizargo just nodded, saying, “If the wrought looked toward the future instead of securing their holes in the ground, they might work on creating the necessary Fate Magic to prevent such disastrous ends. Such Fate Magic was an accepted practice in the Old Cosmology, though it was obviously not practiced on a large enough scale. I don’t know what happened there, but perhaps you can ensure it doesn’t happen again. Some new answers might need to be made, but you’re already headed toward that age-old solution.”
Erick gasped a little. He had been right? Fate Magic could be used to prevent apocalypse?
But how was he already headed toward the solu—
“The Letter Killer?” Erick asked.
Melemizargo smirked, as though he was privy to some great joke. “I really shouldn’t interfere this much for Rozeta is going to be angry about this, but Fate is coming together rather well and— Well. To cut a long intrigue down to size:
“Her name is Fairy Moon.”
He uttered the name and a shockwave cast out from the Dark Dragon’s throat like the chiming of a gong, rippling the surface of the lake and bringing back time for just a moment; the waves moved, and then they stilled yet again. This…
This might be bad.
And for about a hundred different reasons, too.
And yet, Fairy Moon did not show. Erick had expected her appearance to be rather sudden. Maybe that wasn’t the case? Or. No.
Melemizargo frowned a fraction, mumbling, “Or at least that’s her name here. Hmm. Perhaps she is shy for whatever reason. Come out, come out wherever you are, — , — , — , — , —.”
He hummed a transcendental, nothing song that would either haunt Erick for the rest of his days, or vanish like a dream. And then he kept speaking. More songs poured into the air like silent echoes, crashing against holes so deep in the mana that their removal had left canyons in existence. Four songs passed, and then a fifth came and went just as fast. And then they were gone. The songs vanished, extinguished forever, scraped out of Erick’s mind by some utter Silence that he could barely understand happened, let alone comprehend how fast it had occurred. He was pretty sure that Melemizargo had spoken names, but those names no longer existed.
Melemizargo said, “She’s not responding to her Silenced names, either. Definitely shy— Oh.”
Melemizargo paused, and regarded Erick.
Erick was on the ground. Blood dripped from his eyes and ears, trickled out of his nose, and soaked into his pants. He had no idea when that had happened, only that the Silence had passed and left him on his knees, barely recovering.
Melemizargo bent down and stared at Erick, his eyes occupying the entire world as his voice vibrated Erick’s soul, “You should know that I didn’t do this to you. The Silencing of the Script affects everyone, with the deeper Silences forever stripped from the lips and the minds of all who exist under the auspices of the Script. But, to explain what I just did: I called out five different names for Fairy Moon—”
Another small shockwave blasted outward, like a warm wind.
“But the only name you heard was that one; the one closest to who she actually is at this moment in time.” Melemizargo drew back and his face no longer filled Erick’s vision. “I used to think that these Silen— These Bans were proof that this world was false. Now… I still think that, but in a different way. This world is curated; shaped into what my daughter and the wrought demand of it. It is a false shape…
“But it is the shape of a lifeboat.
“Work hard to make some new worlds in better shapes, won’t you?”
Darkness receded from the world, bit by bit, and then all at once.
As light returned to Yggdrasil’s cavern Erick briefly glanced toward the beach, in the direction of the embassy. If he wasn’t bleeding out and feeling hollowed by whatever had just happened, he probably would have reacted with more panic than he did, for the sky was crowded with wrought of every possible color. Old, green-white coppers. Brilliant silvers of every possible hue. Black adamantiums, and more than a few mixed adamantiums. Full blue cobalts. Irons and magical metals of all types. All of them glowed with spellwork far in excess of anything Erick had ever seen before. Half the world seemed filled with power, and more powerful wrought kept appearing with every passing second.
Erick tried to stabilize, to get to his feet, but he felt like a broken man with a body that barely responded to his will. Ophiel appeared out of nowhere, alighting upon his shoulder to heal—
Sudden clarity washed through his body. With a hitch in his side and his leg half numb, yet getting better, Erick stood tall, once again. Hopefully the wrought would wish to talk, first—
And just like that, as fast as they began to appear, the wrought began to leave. Erick stood mesmerized. There, upon Yggdrasil’s roots, he watched as the sky emptied of overt threat. Flames quieted. Lightning stilled. The wrought left, all except for three.
Tasar floated in the air, looking reserved as she flew toward Erick; reserved, yet hopeful. She gripped her black staff tight as she breathed a bit hard.
Kromolok floated to the side… Also looking strangely relieved, and… Vastly hopeful? At Erick’s thought the white wrought smiled a bit. So very hopeful, then. Why was he happy? The part about apocalypse being preventable through Fate Magic? Oh. Yup. That was exactly it.
Sitnakov hovered forward, taking center stage, looking smug and relieved as his adamantium swords vanished back into his body. Erick made no effort to move from his position on Yggdrasil’s roots, for he doubted he could move very fast at the moment, so Sitnakov arrived first, to hover in the air mere meters away from Erick.
The black orcol man called out upon arrival, “Probably the calmest attack of the Dark that we’ve ever had!” He asked, “You okay, there? When you mentioned the Sundering I expected you to die.”
Erick startled. That meant that— “I thought he had stopped time.”
Sitnakov smirked. “So did he.”
Tasar frowned. “Still insane, then. And yet…?”
Kromolok was the only one who actually provided an answer, saying, “Rozeta is allowed to take off certain limiters when dealing with Geode-level threats, and we had one ready to go ever since you planted Yggdrasil here.”
“The Dark had to know,” Tasar decided.
“Probably!” Sitnakov said, “All of this was probably some sort of ploy to prove himself as capable of speech, but that’s not for us to suss out right now. Right now, Erick, you need some 48 hour observation to be sure that the Letter Killer won’t come for you.” He glanced back. “Tasar; you’re up.”
Tasar stepped forward, saying, “I apologize for intruding on your life at this juncture, Erick. But I will be staying nearby, going forward.”
Erick felt a sinking sensation as he realized he would have to eat some [Renew] and cycle his core with Tasar nearby. Ah. Damn. But he already knew he was going to need to do that, eventually. No, what was actually distracting, aside from the godly visit, was that everyone seemed…
Happy?
“When I saw all the gathered people, I expected war,” Erick said. “When I accidentally called Melemizargo I expected war.”
Sitnakov laughed. “If all it took was meeting the Dark to tattoo someone as a threat, then we’d have to kill every single archmage the world over, and that would be a foolish thing indeed.”
“Okay. Yes. Obviously… That makes sense and I think I am more rattled than I knew.” Erick asked, “But you all seem happy about this, too?”
Kromolok said, “Since the Letter Killer is Fairy Moon it means that she broke covenant when she killed Kydyr. We can demand she act out the breaching terms of our non-aggression pact.”
He said her name like it didn’t even matter.
Maybe it didn’t? Not anymore?
“We never would have caught her as the Letter Killer otherwise.” Sitnakov happily said, “So this is actually a really good outcome.”
“So why do I still need Tasar to oversee me?”
Tasar said, “Because we can’t have her making a deal with you, and somehow twisting you against us. She’ll probably try it anyway with other people, but we can’t let it happen with you.”
Sitnakov and Kromolok nodded.
“… Oh,” Erick said, worried for whole new reasons.