An hour after practicing with his new magic, but without gaining any true understanding, Erick joined a joyful Fairy Moon and a rather humble-looking Maid Maria in the dining room. Maria wouldn’t meet Erick’s eyes. Erick decided to ignore that for now.
Nine of his newly-cast and higher-Stat Ophiel surrounded the node on the other side of the room, each of them joyfully either twittering and regenerating mana, or casting [Renew] into the pink and green abyss. A tenth Ophiel remained on Erick’s left shoulder, though; the Ophiel with the highest effective Stats, from back when Erick still had his Stat rings and his Normal Form was categorically stronger than his Other Form.
The gap between Erick's Normal and Other had closed considerably, but his Normal Form still won out a lot simply due to his Class Abilities for Double Mana and Double Mana Regen, and Scion of Focus for four times Mana Regen. Once he managed to get his Class Abilities to work with his Other Form, and once he actually got Scion of Balance in his Other Form, his Other Form would actually be a little bit better than his Normal Form, Stat-wise.
That was without the boost provided by Stat-light rings, though.
… Erick would figure all that out later.
For now, Erick was in his Normal Form, and while he was physically weaker by a lot, he actually had a good amount of Mana and Mana Regen, for once. And so, he had still left that gaudy crystal amulet back in his room. It was unneeded.
He kinda wanted to turn right back around and resume testing Elemental Benevolence, but securing the terms of this alliance needed to happen, too. Whatever the case, Erick would likely stay in Ar’Cosmos for a little while, if only to put off rejoining Veird and dealing with the next headache.
He was a Wizard, people knew, and [Gate] still had to be made.
All that could come later.
Erick asked Fairy Moon, “We’re not [Teleport]ing through Ar’Cosmos like you did yesterday?”
Fairy Moon said, “Today is not an emergency.”
Erick felt a little chill crawl up his spine. “Ah. Yesterday had been an emergency, then.”
“Several major and several minor, all wrapped up in your Path and threatening to push people over the precipice.” Fairy Moon said, “But today is tamer. Today, they have distance, and those destined to die are already being born again, so your words might have gained weight with those who have the brightest of smiles.”
Well, that was good news, then?
Fairy Moon had probably been correct to pull Erick out of there when she did.
Fairy Moon obviously wanted this to work out, and she had obviously seen some of what Erick had seen yesterday in that room with Bright Smile. But how much had Fairy Moon seen, exactly? Yesterday, when she burned her hand while touching his Elemental Benevolence, she had taken off that flesh and bone like she was removing a long glove, revealing a completely unharmed hand underneath. Then she had taken that glove of burned flesh and turned it into a ring of bright white diamond. That ring still held on her left hand, and it seemed to glow to Erick’s sight. Did that ring, perhaps, grant her his own [Benevolence Sight], or whatever it was he had made?
Erick simply asked, “Yesterday, with Bright Smile. Did you Sight what I Sighted?”
“Did I Sight the warning round Bright Smile’s neck? Or did I catch sight of your own eyes wandering in specific ways?” Fairy Moon shrugged. “Who’s to say? I prefer to judge based on actions undertaken, but there is something great and good to say about woeful warning given well and true.”
Ah.
So yeah.
Fairy Moon warned everyone about whatever lines she didn’t want them to cross, before they crossed them… Yup.
But while there was a similarity between Fairy Moon’s warnings and the warning given by Benevolence, Benevolence was not just an early warning system.
“I hope Benevolence becomes a warning system of opportunity and problems; not just problems.” Erick let loose a fear that he had not given a voice to, until now, “I don’t want Elemental Benevolence to only pick out who will create problems, for that way leads to assassinations and tyranny and evil. I want Benevolence to do more than that. I want Bright Smile to represent an opportunity to create great things. I don’t want her to be the node upon which the entire world might break… Even if she looks like she could be that, and all my instincts are telling me that she might be exactly that. But at the same time, maybe Bright Smile is a great person, and the problem she will create is a thousand years in the future. Is creating a thriving civilization a good thing, if you know that civilization will eventually grow to take over the world and crush all others? I don’t believe it is, no matter what sort of good might come about in the short term, and yet… There needs to be short-term good, too, and the long-term bad might not ever happen.”
Maid Maria’s eyes were wide as she gazed upon the floor, not willing to meet Erick’s bright white sight.
Fairy Moon had no trouble looking him in his eyes, as she said, “I judge based on actions, not futures, for anything else is tyranny, and Chaos can always cause Fated futures to falter, anyway.”
Erick frowned a little. That was already his stance, and it had been his stance many times before. And yet, that way lay the Chelation War, and the burning of the Farms of Spur, and the Hunter attacks on Spur, and probably countless other problems that could have been prevented if Erick had acted sooner. He was trying to be a lot more proactive in his life, especially since the Chelation War. He had succeeded in being proactive with the grass travelers, and with that dragon who lived there, and also with the Sects of Nelboor, and that had turned out fantastically.
Erick openly wondered, “If I just told her that I know that she will one day change the world, for good or for ill, will she choose to step away from the edge of evil, herself? Or will she take it as Fate that she is destined to decide the future of a great many people, all on her own, and she best get to positioning herself to make that happen?”
Fairy Moon nodded, like an expert seeing a child make a correct decision. “All you can do is give warning, and if they gainsay your wisdom, then make your warning a reality.”
Ah.
So there it was.
Maid Maria looked up, her eyes darting from Fairy Moon to Erick, and then back to the floor.
Erick spoke softly, “So many small lessons coming together, I see.” He raised his head, and said, “I will tell her when I am no longer vulnerable to her desires.”
“A genuinely good stance to stand.” Fairy Moon said, “Perchance you might make a phylactery and make yourself truly Immortal, Erick Flatt, and then you can go around warning whoever you wish, fixing it all forever, or as long as you love to live.”
Erick felt his heart beat hard.
“No. I won’t be doing...” Erick breathed. “… Probably not that—” And then he narrowed his eyes at Fairy Moon, asking, almost incredulously, “You didn’t just add another step to my Worldly Path, did you? To the Fractured Citadels of Quintlan? To Quilatalap?”
Fairy Moon giggled brightly, then gestured to the left and the wall opened into a door. She jumped through, like a gazelle leaping through a field, trailing a beckoning hand behind her as she called out, “Come what may, come what may! But for today, there’s dragons to sway!”
Erick followed after her, but he was still stuck on the ‘phylactery’ bit. Was she playing a trick on him? Had she added a step, and was playing it off like she hadn’t? Or did she not add a step, and she chose to act as though she had?
Could go either way.
- - - -
Somehow, five fast minutes later, Erick spotted Redflame’s castle through a break in the canopy.
An hour's walk had taken them a fraction of the usual time.
As they stepped to the grey door at the base of the cliff, Erick asked, “So it only took 5 minutes of walking to get here, right? I’m not imagining that?”
To the side, Maid Maria was looking just as surprised as him.
Fairy Moon just grinned happily, saying, “It might not be [Teleport], but you are yielding a lot of mana into the matrix of Ar’Cosmos; some convenience is sure to be coming, and especially when time is of consequence.” She tapped on the door, transforming the grey stone to white and opening the way to the flame-lit hallway beyond, as she added, “The present is precious at this precipice; more so than a bit of mana.”
Fairy Moon leapt through the portal.
Erick and Maria followed close behind.
After the transition into the main house, the three of them stood in the main greeting hall where a large red transportation crystal held in the center of the hallway. Almost instantly, a beleaguered and very contrite half-dragon man stepped out of the giant red crystal, spotted Erick like he knew who he was looking for, and started talking about how thankful he was that Erick had finally shown. And then came the begging.
“I need another ring!” The large half-dragon fell to his knees, pleading, “Not for me! But for my son! He would never survive the Trial of the Wyrm but he’s otherwise so healthy so he’s going to be so far down the list of candidates to use your rings and—”
Erick wanted to back away, but he did not, for the transportation crystal flashed again, as three more people stepped out. And then came more.
Erick held his ground as suddenly ten different people were all suddenly on their knees begging for more [Renew] rings—
The fires in the hallway suddenly flared bright, swirling high into the air before they came together to form Redflame’s fiery visage, hovering in the air of the hallway like a bright red festival lantern. A rather angry festival lantern. He shouted at the gathered people, calling them out by name, but it was more a disappointed shout than an angry shout.
The begging turned on him, instead.
Redflame told Erick, “Come to the laboratory!” Then he turned to the people, “Your children and brothers and sisters will get their turn! I won’t let the houses take this from you but you have to be civil about this!”
Fairy Moon gestured to a door that was not there before, and then she stepped through.
Erick and Maria raced to follow.
The door shut behind them, even though some of the people in that hallway desperately wanted to follow Erick, too. They could have followed. Some almost did. But they did not.
Erick did not expect violence, but he was glad that he had taken the time to cast [Unbreakable Form] earlier.
- - - -
Erick took it all in as fast as he could, for he surely would be busy rather soon.
Yesterday, the aircraft-sized enchanting room had been filled with machinery-like bits of rune work that had been strewn about like discarded airplane parts, like they were awaiting inspection before the plane was put back together.
All of that was still there, but most of it had been unceremoniously shoved to the side. What remained were the larger, circular parts, waiting to be transformed into workable runic devices, and the prototypes.
Two burned prototypes, each looking like they would have been 5 meters tall if they had not failed, held to the side of the room. One was a melted mess of a glass container the size of a person, held inside the similarly melted half of a [Renew] ring. It looked like some catastrophic failure had burst out from the top center of the artifact, briefly liquefying everything it touched and then splashing that touch outward. The second one had a layer of crackled soot on the inside of the glass pod, inside the [Renew] ring, while the ring itself was intact, save for the connecting non-joint at the top.
A third prototype held in the center of the room, separated from everything else. That one had worked.
The [Renew] ring itself was seven meters wide and set into a stone foundation, while the glass pod inside the ring was filled with bubbling liquid, with a naked man floating inside that liquid. The man floated in a relaxed sort of way, but vertically and held loosely in place by some sort of magics inside the artifact. The [Renew] ring itself was glowing brightly, with ten thousand runes strung all across the surface in a spiraling pattern that interlocked with itself. A flow of power circled through that larger ring, like waters under a frozen lake surface.
The man was a half-dragon, with horns and a tail and scales, but everything about him was malformed. A massive left hand, and right foot. One shoulder larger than the other. One horn larger than the other. A tail that bent horribly and then split to become two tails halfway down its length. His lower left fang jutted out of his mouth, and was sized to an actual dragon’s fang; it laid against his forehead like a sword resting against his skull.
And yet, he was not dead, and he was getting better.
Redflame, in human form, stood to the side of the ring, where he held a hand against the metal and channeled power into the ‘machine’. That power flowed through the runes like red light, flowing upward, becoming pink and then white well before it hit the angled space in the ring and turned into glowing white rain. That rain fell into the opening above the glass container, and soaked into the waters of the tank.
And little by little, the man’s features transformed.
Redflame looked to Erick, and nodded in acknowledgment of his appearance, seeming to relax a great deal in that moment. But then he turned back to the machine and kept channeling. He wasn’t the only one casting magic into the ring, for there were two sides that one could stand upon. On the other side of the ring stood an older woman who held her hand to that side of the ring and channeled maroon-colored magic into the massive runic web. That maroon coloring rapidly faded as the woman’s power joined the ring, turning to white light, becoming part of the flow that then joined Redflame’s power; to become part of the magic that split from the flow to fall into the tank from the top.
The white rain falling from the gap mirrored the tears of joy falling down the woman’s face.
Aside from the people Erick had expected to see, which was mainly just Redflame, there was an entire crowd packed onto one side of the room. About thirty five people. Many of them wore the colors of House Carnage, and some of those people were mages or servants that Erick had already seen, but some of the people were from House Fae, or House Death. Some people looked unaffiliated. All of them looked on in wonder, and surprise.
Their faces were a mix of joy and trepidation and desire, as they gazed up at the guy in the tank. Some of them had been whispering, but now that Erick was here, they fell silent, to watch him, and to watch the patient undergoing treatment.
Erick could barely take his eyes off the guy. He watched, transfixed, as scales sloughed off of the man in the water. The twin tail broke apart, both ends falling away, leaving exposed bone to hang out in the water, leaking blood. None of the blood or bone remained, nor did the water cloud at all, for as parts fell away, the water swished, and cleared, removing the evidence of the man’s disfigurement.
And it wasn’t just his body that was transforming. Erick stepped forward, close enough to catch the guy in his mana sense. The guy didn’t have a core, his soul filled out his body, matching his flesh like souls usually did. Except, little by little, the [Renew]ing waters soaked into his soul, chipping away at his mutated Dragon Essence bloodline, erasing every part of him that wasn’t a normal orcol. And then the flesh fell away next.
The guy was clearly being selected for an orcol body, but Erick wasn’t sure how that worked exactly. He had thought that a user would have to transform into their selected body first, and then his [Renew] ring would work. But Redflame was doing everything, all at once.
Erick had had no idea of how —in practice— the nuances of Familiar Forms would have worked, but apparently Redflame figured it out. Or someone here had. Erick glanced around the room and noticed quite a few of the mages who had helped set up Redflame’s [Renew] presentation ten days ago. Some of those people were just watching the transformation along with the rest of the crowd, but a few were writing down observations and having small discussions with each other.
Maid Maria, almost absentmindedly, walked up to step nearer to Erick, but she wasn’t paying any attention to him at all. She gazed up at the person in the pod, tears flowed down her face. Her breath was shallow. This was a miracle to her.
That thought suddenly hit Erick like a train.
He looked around the room. This was a miracle to most of them.
Fairy Moon took notice that Erick was finally back from his own short reverie, and stepped forward, speaking into the otherwise silence of the room, “A minor miracle of magic. A wonderful wonder to be sure. So what happens now that a known nadir looks like to pass by without preamble, or preparation?”
Redflame spoke, as though reading from a script, which, perhaps, he was, “I look to our savior Wizard Erick Flatt for that pronouncement. How do you wish Ar’Cosmos to repay you for this priceless kindness?”
Not a single person in the audience looked surprised at the use of the word ‘Wizard’.
They wanted answers. Direction. Security. Only one or two expected and hoped for benevolence, for that was all Erick had ever shown anyone. Most of them expected some sort of price paid in blood. The woman who stood beside the man’s pod looked ready to lay down her life for Erick…
Which was a big deal that Erick wasn’t ready for.
He wasn’t ready for the cat to be out of the bag, either, but here they were.
Well.
Okay.
Erick rapidly organized his thoughts, then said, “I plan on opening up the Crystal Forest to habitation, and for now, that opening will happen near Candlepoint. Eventually, I hope to spread civilization all across the desert, pushing back the crystal mimics and replacing the desert with forest and plains and rivers, like it used to be before the mimics poured out across the land. I am not looking for a place of power among the people I help, for all I want is to be the support of any and all who need support.
“Currently, Ar’Cosmos needs some support, and so I am here to lend that support. I wish to help this land and its people expand past its borders, and get back out into the world.” He turned toward the pod, saying, “And it seems like the [Renew] ring works. It seems like the people who use this won’t have any dragon essence inside of them anymore, so therefore, you’re just normal people, and you need homes. I offer you those homes.
“But, I am a Wizard… apparently.
“I don’t wish to bring my problems to you, but if you would stand beside me, together, we can weather any storm.” Erick tried to end on a bit of levity, “For I can control the weather, but I can’t and don’t want to control people.”
A moment passed in breathless silence.
By the worried, yet hopeful faces of the crowd, Erick could tell that he had hit on a lot of their dreams, and yet, he had not promised them what they had actually wanted to hear.
Erick added, “To that end, I will be founding a new House of Ar’Cosmos, using the Element I created the other day, and which I am sure all of you saw. It will be House Benevolence, named after the Element of the same name—” Suddenly, an idea came to Erick. One that spoke to his heart, and all of his experiences on Veird. A culmination. He spoke, “But benevolence without the power and will and action to cause good and prevent evil is not benevolence at all; it is just wishful thinking. And to that end, I will be helping Redflame create many more of these pods—”
People started to break down in joyful tears.
“—and to help him ensure that this healing goes well. So.” Erick stepped toward Redflame—
He took in several facts rather quickly.
Redflame’s hand touched a specific point upon the large apparatus, and that point was where Erick’s own runic [Renew] ring had been embedded into the larger structure. That ring appeared to be the ‘Null’ ring. The woman on the other side of the apparatus had her ring on a blank spot that was surrounded by runic inscriptions. The woman looked exhausted, but was still putting mana into the machine. Redflame looked tired, too.
He had likely stayed up all night to create this machine.
Neither Redflame nor the woman had [Renew], so both of them were putting in bare mana to try and get an effect out of it. As Erick glimpsed the sight of red mana flowing out of Redflame’s hand, into the machine, and through watching how much transformed into white mana versus how much simply disappeared, Erick guessed that the rate of proper conversion had to be… 25%? Maybe 35%?
Erick offered, “I have [Renew]. Want me to cast it into the machine?” He turned back to Fairy Moon. “Is Ar’Cosmos healed yet? Can I take Ophiel off of that node?”
Ophiel perked up at his name.
Fairy Moon said, “In four hours you may move Ophiel, and not a moment before.”
Redflame was relieved anyway.
He raised his voice and spoke to the crowd, “All unapproved people may leave; you have your answers. Healing will proceed as fast as it can and with as quick of an organization as we are able to create. There will be a list, and you will be on that list or you will not get healing, and the list will be organized as I have already discussed.” His voice took on an uncomfortable edge. “Get out of this room. Now.” He rapidly added to the woman on the other side of the apparatus. “You will stay.” He turned to the mages taking notes. “Stay.” He turned to everyone else. “LEAVE. NOW.”
People rapidly vacated the room, rushing out of the door or being hurried along by the mages who had been dismissed. In less than ten seconds, the doors to the room had been slammed shut.
Time seemed to relax a bit, though that could have been Erick’s imagination.
Redflame sighed out in relief, his head drooping a fraction. Then he lifted his head, stared at Erick, and said, “I did not intend for your affairs to be so vastly spread, or so quickly, Erick. Apologies for that. Tell me how I can make it up to you and I will.”
Erick shook his head lightly, saying, “It’s fine. It was going to get out, anyway.”
“I do not accept that answer, but I will accept an answer at a later date.”
Erick smiled at that, and then he gestured at the tank. “So that works, huh?”
The woman on the other side mumbled about miracles and saviors and reincarnation, trying to keep silent but silence was impossible, so she contented herself with quiet reverence. Erick did not miss the use of his own word that he had put out into the world, ‘Reincarnation’, but he let it pass unremarked.
Redflame began explaining, “It works. The runic devices you gave work on their own, but they do nothing to heal an unconscious person, unable to select their own Form. The rate of mana loss is too great, too. I think, somehow, you made your machine to work better on people with a core, but not everyone has a core. No one died in those first experiments because we’ve seen practically every failure of mutated essence transformation, and we prepared accordingly, but we did go through a lot of rats. Your ring itself was not enough, though, for the stated reasons. So now we’re here.” Redflame glanced up at his creation, saying, “This, then, has been enough. But it could be better.”
Erick looked back up at the gradually-transforming man in the tank. “I did expect the user to have a core, and no, I did not foresee this level of… remaking. I can already tell where I went wrong, and I can make a new system for you that will work better for this… I think. How much mana are you spending right now?”
“Good. Yes. I want a new system.” Redflame said, “I’m hardly using any mana to do this, though, for I’m mostly channeling Mystical which takes well to [Renew]-type magics. With that gained efficiency and a loss of efficiency through not actually having [Renew], I believe I’m powering the system at a 1-for-1 rate of mana-into-[Renew]. You could likely quintuple my current rate using the actual spell, but as with most Soul Magic, this is a delicate operation and excess power is not the answer. The next machine I make will be less finicky; more throughput.” He corrected himself, “The next machine we make together.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Erick nodded. “I see you’re using the Null Ring. What happened to the Replacer Ring?”
“Burned out.” Redflame said, “Had high hopes for that one but it melted the very first time we tried to use it. This Null Ring works well, though. Hasn’t burned out at all. Just seems to be getting more and more solid. Strips out every single bloodline a person has, though; no [Dragon Body] for any of the people who go through this process. Which is fine. But it means no easy [Greater Lightwalk]s, either.”
“Huh.” Erick said, “Well… That’s disappointing about the Replacer Ring. Perhaps it does need to be made out of Light Essence?”
Redflame shook his head. “Unknown. With any luck, the actual problem there is simply my personal lack of the spell, [Renew].”
“I’m going to try for a Benevolence Ring.” Erick said, “[Benevolence Body], I think.”
Redflame’s eyes went a bit wide. “I heard your speech there, but I did not believe that you would actually found a House Benevolence—” He caught on fast. “It won’t be Draconic Benevolence?”
“You are correct. It won’t be Draconic Benevolence.” Erick said, “Should be functionally the same as [Greater Lightwalk], though… But I don’t know. Benevolence is strange. Not like Lightning at all, even though that’s what it looks like— That’s something I’m still trying to understand.” Erick gestured at the [Renew] machine, asking, “How did you arrive at this design?”
Redflame looked up at the machine in front of him, saying, “It’s about ten different theories all crushed together, taken from a hundred different projects over the years, and then stripped down to their bare essentials before being strung through your Null Ring. Your ring accounts for about 25% of the workings you see. In the tank itself, there’s a targeted [Cleanse] and a [Baleful Polymorph] keeping the body intact and healthy throughout this process, while also choosing the body that the boy will end up with, for your ring doesn’t seem to have made any attempt at doing that. The larger ring, in which I have embedded yours, combines a [Healing Rain] and the Null Effect from your ring in order to produce the transformative waters. There are more spells to hold the boy in place and keep him comatose during the procedure.” He paused, then said, “I’m manually targeting the boy’s soul and body in order to transform him in a stable and smooth manner, so he doesn’t end up temporarily without a heart, or some nonsense like that, but that’s about all I’m doing. Your inscrutable ring is pulling a lot more weight than my own attempts at this magic.”
Erick stared up at the man in the waters, watching as the guy’s single large fang broke off, floated away, and disintegrated. The guy had a nice face once that was gone. “So you’re saying there’s a lot of room for improvement on my part.”
Redflame said, “For starters, some runic designs done in Ancient Script would be great so that I could actually diagnose what in the abyss your ring is actually doing."
“Sure.” Erick said, “I can do that. I only went with my own language because… Well the enchanting books from Inferno Maw said it was an option to have a personal language that one uses when one converses with the mana. Do you not believe this to be useful?”
Redflame paused, pulling back a bit as he reorganized his thoughts. With a partially scrunched face, he said, “Well. That… Might actually be for the best—” He shook his head. “No. I take it back. Those books are correct when dealing with nuanced magic that doesn’t fit with normal Script Magic. But your ring here is not something that you will only use yourself. The whole point of this working is to use this magic on other people, and a shared language does wonders for such magic. More than that, though, your [Renew] is a part of the Script and it already has a specific rune that is unique to that spell, and you are using that rune in this working, but your Earth-language doesn’t have runes, does it? I might not be able to read what you have here in this runic artifact, but I can tell that these aren’t actually runes; they’re words.”
“… Well. Those are all… Very good points.” Erick glanced back up at the guy in the tank. “How long till he’s healed?”
“Twenty minutes,” Redflame said. As the woman on the other side of the runic tank gasped out a laughing, happy sob at that short of a time frame, Redflame continued, “So I’ve got to be here for that, but then afterward I wish to discuss the theories behind your own workings, and then we can make machine number four. In the meantime: Do you desire to see the other patients?”
“Absolutely!” Erick asked, “I heard there were three?”
Redflame nodded. “We’ve got three so far. Two have already been taken by their families to their homes. If you wish you can disturb their reunions, for I am sure they would not mind. The third’s family perished two hundred years ago, but they secured their son’s [Stasis] for long after their deaths, or at least until I found a viable method to transform him without turning him wyrm. Since there is a viable method now, the third patient is healed, and currently alone with the doctors.”
The enormity of this transformation of Ar’Cosmos society hit Erick again, and then he moved on, saying, “I’d like to see the third one; no need to deal with families at the moment.”
Redflame nodded, then he turned to the note-taking mages. “Bring Erick to Hizogard.”
A woman stood up and promptly bowed, then gestured to the side, saying, “This way, Archmage Flatt. Or would you prefer to be called ‘Wizard’?”
Erick tried to smile, and wave away his sudden, nervous laughter, but it probably came off a bit deranged. He said, “None of that Wizardry nonsense, please. ‘Archmage’ is fine.”
The woman bowed, then walked toward a closed door in the side of the large room. Erick followed. Fairy Moon followed closely behind, but only after saying some small words to Maid Maria, telling her it was okay for her to stay. So Maid Maria stayed behind. Erick could tell, as the woman stared up at the tank, but also took in all the runic designs of the thing, that she was highly interested in the magic happening.
Erick still had no idea how good Maria was at magic, or not, or what she did besides ‘be a maid’.
As Erick passed beyond the door, he glimpsed Maria beginning to talk in a friendly way to Redflame which only inflamed his curiosity more, but then the door closed behind them, and Erick’s destination lay ahead.
- - - -
The room was appointed like a hospital room, but a little bit nicer; a dorm room, perhaps.
A nice large window to view the forest valley outside of Redflame’s castle. Some books and warm tea sitting on the bedside table, within easy reach. A doctor and a nurse, both silently standing to the side of the room, while Erick walked in, followed closely by Fairy Moon. A single bed, larger than most and able to fully fit its occupant.
Hizogard was a human man of about 30, with pale blue eyes, blonde hair, and pale skin. He was conventionally handsome, and through mana sense, Erick saw that he was physically fit. All his body parts were where they needed to be to mark him as fully human. If it weren’t for his current state, he looked like he could hop right out of that bed and go work on a farm, or put on some armor and hold the line against a horde of monsters.
But he was distant. His eyes gazed to another place and time. He had briefly flicked his eyes toward Erick, but there was no recognition. When he recognized Fairy Moon, though, he mentally resigned himself to whatever terrible truth the doctors had already told him. It had probably been less than ten hours since he was decanted, realized he had a new body, and then slapped with the knowledge that the people who had paid to put him in that [Stasis] were long dead. His people were gone, and they were not coming back.
The half-vacant stare in his eyes as he looked at the ceiling was a good indication of his mental state.
“I understand your name is Hizogard,” Erick began.
The man gave no response.
“I understand you’re in a lot of emotional distress right now over the loss of your people—”
The man sat up violently, all trace of passivity gone, as he yelled, “How the fuck would you understand anything!”
The man was angry. This much was obvious.
And yet, Erick could not help but be stricken by the sudden reality that this guy had no fucking clue who he was; that he had lost his whole world. Erick should have expected this dearth of knowledge on Hizogard’s part, he realized, but he had not. And besides that, while he had lost Earth, he still had Jane, which was more than enough.
Hizogard rapidly realized that his outburst had probably been a bad idea. He had no idea if Erick was a doctor, or a person in charge, or what, and so, Hizogard fell backward, back onto the bed, turning his eyes upward as tears fell.
Erick could see that the guy’s soul was fine, and that all he needed now was emotional healing. That would take time, though, and that was not why Erick was here. Erick wasn’t even sure why he was here, actually, until he was.
Now, Erick knew what needed to happen.
Erick said, “I’ll keep my words brief. You have lost everything, but you have gained a new lease on life; a reincarnation. I am working to heal all the other people in your own situation and to expand the walls of Ar’Cosmos. I’m also working to ensure that everyone who wants it will be able to leave Ar’Cosmos and find homes out there in the world, for I plan to leave this place when it is convenient. You can still find a home out there, if you wish to find one, and if you cannot find one, you can make one. Now that you are healed the power of your destiny is once again in your hands. If you wish to be a part of House Benevolence and the recovery and expansion efforts going forward, find me and let me know; my name is Erick Flatt.” Erick said, “Good luck with your recovery, Hizogard.”
Erick turned and left. Fairy Moon followed.
Quiet sobs echoed out of the hospital room.
Erick hoped he had spoken what needed to be said. Everything seemed to be happening too fast right now, and there was not a lot of time to ensure that everything got done 100% correctly.
- - - -
Erick reached the enchantment hangar just in time to see the guy in the tank being decanted.
The patient had been an orcol with a mutated half-dragon body, with one oversized arm, one oversized leg, and a scattering of haphazard and thick scales across his entire body. Now, he was just an orcol with deep green skin. A bit thin. A bit haggard. But maybe all he needed were a few good meals to set him right. Orcols were rather resilient like that.
He was completely comatose, too, but his soul was solid and he breathed fine, and as they set him down in on a floating bed, his mother, bawling this whole time, touched his chest and his arms and his legs and his face, making sure he was real; he was. Redflame stepped in and stopped the mother from picking up her son and hugging him right there. The boy needed rest, for now. The mother contented herself with a light hug and resting her head on his chest while he lay there, sleeping.
Soon, though, the doctors pried the mother off and began carting the boy on a floating platform bed, toward Erick, toward the hallway that led to the hospital wing. Erick stepped to the side, letting them pass. The mother rapidly pursued, pausing only briefly to kowtow to Erick three times, before rushing to catch up.
Erick went to Redflame.
He began, “So Hizogard looks physically healthy. The rest will come with time, I assume.”
“Massive soul changes often lead to temporary mental issues, but this system seems to minimize those because...”
Soon, they were discussing [Renew], and how the Renewal Tank worked, and targeted healing, and how Elemental Healing worked outside of the Script. The conversation was a welcome reprieve from the haste of the last few hours, but the conversation was still quick because time was a resource in short supply. Erick did manage to speak of his own time learning a few healing spells back in Songli, and of how a targeted shift in the use of [Healing Word] had been enough to get him [Greater Treat Wounds] and a few others besides; that the Script had created his healing spells without much input from him. From there, he asked after how healing was different here in Ar’Cosmos.
“Those spells mostly still work here in Ar’Cosmos as they would on Veird, but their effectiveness is almost halved. All the spells the Script imbues into a person are like that.”
To be sure he was understanding Redflame correctly, Erick asked, “So the spells the Script makes are purposefully limited, or is something else going on there?”
Redflame shook his head. “The Script does not put purposefully harmful spellwork into a person; no. What is actually happening there is that the Script can no longer assist you with your spellcasting here in Ar’Cosmos, and so some of the more nuanced spellwork which requires active Script assistance to work properly, cannot find that active assistance, and simply errs on the side of caution. Spells that deal with the body in all ways have a great deal of these cautions built in, and so does everything over 500 mana. Simple stuff, like [Conjure Weapon] works perfectly fine. [Conjure Flying Scalpel], though, or anything with a great deal of nuance to it, will feel clunky, because the Script is no longer there to help. Health cost skills are particularly hard hit by this nuance.”
“That reminds me: Do you know how to get Class Abilities to activate in monster form? I have Blood Mana but it’s not active in my other form.”
Redflame casually said, “You’ll best wait to do that back on Veird, for the process is a lot simpler over there. There are two main ways, and a rarely used third option. Take hold of a Point you have gained from leveling through accretion and then find the part of you that is the Class Ability you want to activate, and then you select that Class Ability. It sounds a lot more difficult than it actually is, for the Script does the rest. The second option is to accrete for a pseudo-Point, hold it in your aura, and then spend it on the Class Ability, though this requires a fair amount of personal mana saved up. The third way is to go to a Registrar and have them turn it on, though that will cost you a Quest and you will be revealing yourself to be a dragon to the— Ah! Apologies. Reacquiring Class Abilities is a common question I get from our advanced students all the time… Uh. You won’t be revealing yourself to be a dragon… Nor would mana concerns matter…” Redflame digressed, “I don’t know if you want to reveal yourself as a Wizard to a common Registrar, though, or accept another Quest for what you’ve already acquired and just need activated.”
Erick smiled a little. “That’s a good answer; I’ll take it.” He gestured back to the Renewing Tank. “Time to make version four?”
Redflame stared at him, blinking a bit. “Already? Some haste is good, but too much is too much.”
Erick gestured at the piles of magical machinery shoved to the side of the room, like bars of gold shoved into a trash heap. “I want to make something, there’s lots of parts we can recycle, we’ve gone over all the larger parts of the puzzle, and news is spreading fast.” He finished with, “I can already tell that either someone is going to try and stop this, or something big is going to happen which prevents me from helping past today, so I want to help you make this reincarnation machine while I am able to help.”
Redflame had a lot of thoughts about all of what Erick had just said, but he quickly picked out the concern that rose above the rest, asking, “I have heard people using this word before today, and here, too. ‘Reincarnation’. I believe I understand what it means, but I do not know its exact meaning, and its link to the shadelings of Candlepoint worries me. Enlighten me, if you could?”
“Back on Earth, reincarnation is the belief that when you die you will be reborn as a new person, or plant, or animal, or some other living thing, and that you will have no idea what you were in your previous life, but that doesn’t matter, anyway. What matters is what you do with the life you’re currently living.” Erick could have elaborated more on Earth sensibilities, but those didn’t really matter. The nuances of the word reincarnation had changed with the word’s introduction to Veird. “Here, the word ‘reincarnation’ has become conflated with high-tier Summoning Magic and putting dead people into new bodies with necromancy. But that’s not what reincarnation is at all. Reincarnation is... a clean Status. A new life, and a new journey. I think a lot of people are taking the word to be synonymous with ‘forgiveness’, but that’s not really what it is, at all. The idea is that the person you were is dead, and now you’re a new person. It’s very much not [Resurrection].”
Redflame listened cautiously, then he said, “Different than [Polymorph], but not a high-tier summoning either. It seems that you’ve skirted the [Resurrection] problem, too, by simply accepting that the person that comes out of the other side is someone else than who went in… Well that’s a philosophical conundrum for another day.” He glanced up at the renewal machine, then he turned back to Erick, and said, “I changed my mind about not including English words in the inscription. You should include that one. ‘Reincarnation’. What is it, like 8 letters? That’s a bit long for an inscription, but it will have to do.”
Erick chuckled. “It’s 13.”
“Oh! Then, no. That won’t do at all… Perhaps a smaller variant might work. Perhaps using the runes for [Renew] and soul and… Maybe just that? The Script is not fully present here in Ar’Cosmos, but the Ancient Script is still felt throughout all that the Script touches, and cobbling together new words out of old words sometimes works quite well. This is especially true when dealing in high-concept, multitudinous-effect magic.”
Erick asked, “Maybe [Renew Soul]? Sure. That can be the word for [Reincarnation]. So how about we get on with the reincarnations and turn a rat into a fish? I notice the smaller trial tanks in the pile, but I don’t actually see any rats. You did speak of rats earlier, didn’t you?”
Redflame waved a hand at a far door, saying, “They’re in that room, on loan from the arcanaeum. I don’t keep them around, normally, but when experimenting with souls it is always better to try on smaller, less important souls first— Pardon me.” He looked away as a tendril of thought connected to his head. After a moment, he came back, saying, “You are correct about the necessity of moving fast. Bright Smile has known you were here for a while and keeps trying to get me to get you to discuss the future of your House Benevolence, but I have secured your time for today. By this time tomorrow they will likely ask you to stand before all three houses and give an accounting of your desires.”
So many things, happening all at once.
Erick had been debating on whether to ask Redflame this next question, or not, but he decided to go for it, since he had brought up the possible-calamity’s name. “Ah. Well. Speaking of politics… Do you think it is possible for Bright Smile to understand that war is not what I want? Because it certainly seems like she wishes to go to war with the world, if she has to.”
Redflame paused, turning his eyes to Erick, and then sliding away off to the side. He thought, then he turned back, saying, “Bright Smile is an asset, for there will be some sort of battle. Ar’Cosmos has tried to expand out onto Veird multiple times before, but every time we openly expand there is always at least one battle, or maybe even a small war. It’s not always the Dragon Stalkers or Kirginatharp’s forces, or the Shades or the wrought, who drive us back into Ar’Cosmos. Sometimes the people on the other side are just the Free Dragons who have found our outside lands, or who go insane from their Dragon Curse activating. But we always need more resources, and so we have needed to content our dealings with Veirdly matters to side-markets and even black markets, on occasion.” Redflame said, “And so, there will be a war. I didn’t want to bring it up today, but since we’re here…
“This Renewal Tank project is cauterization of our population problems; it is not a [Treat Wounds] at all.
“Land ownership outside of Ar’Cosmos has been a dream for a lot of people, for a very long time, and so when it happens there will be a war, regardless. But!” Redflame added, “I can surely tell you that Bright Smile won’t go looking for war, but at the same time, she won’t let our people be cows to the inevitable slaughter, either. She will attempt to strike a balance that is in Ar’Cosmos’s favor.”
Erick heard and understood that some sort of war was inevitable, and yet, he didn’t think he was being understood, either. He elaborated, “That’s fine. But I don’t want Super Large Area spells targeting any civilian population centers. Do you think that Bright Smile will abide by that particular request?”
“Oh.” Redflame frowned a little, as though he hadn’t truly understood Erick until then, and that lack of understanding had caught him off guard. He said, “Bright Smile has never targeted people who have not deserved her ire. There will be no [Grand Fireball]s targeting markets, if that is what you are thinking. What I expect to happen is that Ar’Cosmos will create a new city and populate it ourselves. We will attempt to be neighborly, or hermits, and yet we will be targeted. Bright Smile and others will retaliate. Escalation will happen, which includes assassinations from all sides, and then all of our people will either be dead or in retreat, or all of the aggressors will be dead. Before, we have always needed to retreat. But now...
“With this Renewal Tank, we will have a great deal more soldiers than usual, and all at high levels, and with true knowledge of magic running through their cores. And, we have you. And! I suspect we will try to link up with Candlepoint, too. Kirginatharp and everyone else have avoided going to war with them, so I suspect they will make good allies… Maybe.” Redflame shrugged. “As long as they are people and not mouthpieces of Melemizargo, Ar’Cosmos and Candlepoint might get along truly well.”
All of that was rather…
Par for the course.
The last part about ‘mouthpieces for Melemizargo’ almost had Erick freaking out, though, because Rozeta had said that that was exactly what the shadelings were. Sure, they were people, too. But if Melemizargo decided to, he could take over any of them, turning them into a tool.
Erick decided not to tell Redflame that, or at least not here, in this open area with other mages present and awaiting orders from Redflame.
So Erick moved on, saying, “I hope we all get along well. Cooperation and civilization is the best security against monsters and chaos, and I wish to have a lot of cooperation going forward. I already expect my own Wizardly nature to turn a great deal of people against me… And for that information to have already gained wings and flown to pretty much every part of the world, by now.” He breathed deep, and then did not sigh, though he felt like he needed to. He said, “So let’s make some Renewal Tanks.”
And so they did.
- - - -
Two hours later, Erick had cobbled together a small Renewal Tank fit for a rat. He had used Redflame’s designs, and kept his own thoughts of improvement to himself, for now. Erick simply began channeling mana —not [Renew]— into the prototype.
Over the course of 570 mana, the rat transformed into a bright red fish that promptly churned away into nothing as a result of the [Cleanse] functions of the tank. The fish had been absolutely filled with cancers and wrong bones and a backwards-facing digestive tract. There was brain where the tail muscles should have been, while those tail muscles were simply missing. That rat was dead on arrival, so the [Cleanse] functions erased it.
Redflame explained that Erick had fucked up on the manipulation of mana inside the machine. He used nicer words than that, but Erick had heard what he heard.
He tried again. It took a lot of concentration, and a lot of delicate aura control, but the next 480 mana turned a rat into a proper fish. The new red fish swam around in its tank, flicking its tail like it was drunk, but quickly came to terms with its new body. The rat’s soul now fit the fish, and the fish recognized itself as a fish.
Redflame stood back, frowning, saying, “You’re… Very good at this.”
Erick laughed, then suddenly stopped. He said, “Apparently it’s all Wizardry, though.”
“No. I mean…” Redflame paused, then decided to just say what he wanted to say, “Wizardry merely means your mana responds how you want it to respond. This is actual skill, too.”
“Oh. Well. Then I appreciate the compliment.” Erick moved on, saying, “So I was thinking of trying a different design for the next prototype…”
An hour later, Erick’s prototype was ready. The largest change was the inclusion of the runes for Renew and Soul, combined and together as though they were one word; it wasn’t ‘[Reincarnation]’, for that spell did not exist. But it was a close approximation, and Erick felt like it would work well.
Redflame was less hopeful, for he still wasn’t sure about how Erick had exactly included that ‘new word’ into his runic design, but he was willing to indulge Erick’s curiosity. The bad outcome was just a corrupted rat, after all.
Erick put the sleeping rat into the tank and then began to channel [Renew] into the ring; not just simple mana. Iridescent white waters began to rain down into the glass container and soon the rat was floating, suspended and sleeping and calm, inside those waters.
Erick increased his rate of [Renew], channeling comparatively quickly into the runic machine.
120 mana and three seconds later, the rat was now a fish, still sleeping inside its waters. Erick cut the channel. The mana faded. The water remained. The fish woke up. It lazed around the tank, looking rather bored.
From what Erick could tell, there was zero soul or body dysmorphia. Not only had the [Baleful Polymorph] taken hold, but the soul now recognized the given form as the correct form. It had worked.
Complete success.
Redflame’s eyes were wide. “I had not expected your… minimalist design to work so well.”
“And all I did was channel [Renew], too, so this form will work later, and at volume.” Erick said, “No aura control. No special control at all. I imagine for a person the amount of mana required will be a lot more, but the basic design should still work. The Null option, anyway. This is just a basic fish. I don’t think we can give someone an Elemental Bloodline body with this methodology. And yet…” Erick gestured to some parts of the machine, saying, “We could at least give people the option of selecting a new species. We could replace this part here that can flip between ‘rat’ and ‘fish’ with some sort of slotting system, and have the [Baleful Polymorph] be able to select from various Familiar Forms.”
“But the way [Baleful Polymorph] works best is when it merely shifts a target along a pre-prescribed path, according to the person’s innate predilections.” Redflame said, “Attempting for a base-orcol to select a human Familiar Form requires more normal [Baleful Polymorph] costs, and while that is more in line with what the spell normally does, it means our mana costs go up by 10. I don’t feel that this is a proper solution to the problem of removing half-dragon essence from a person.”
“Okay. Well. That is a good point, and I can see that I’m getting ahead of myself. But what if a person doesn’t want to fall back on their original Familiar Form? Like that one guy you let me see, Hizogard. People like him might want a truly fresh start, away from their base species. It would be easy enough to implement, anyway.” Erick said, “Like, we could put that selection part into a key, and then we can put different keys into the machine, and thus create a Renewal Tank that is capable of making different selected forms, and not just the forms we preprogram into the runic machine, or the base Familiar Form of the person undergoing treatment.”
Redflame thought for a moment, then he said, “It’s time to involve Inferno Maw. He’s a Necromancer and he knows souls a lot more than I, and what you are thinking of doing is more than the scope of the problem we are trying to solve.”
“Oh? Well…” Erick supposed he was ready to talk to Inferno Maw again, though he was not looking forward to the dragon man’s coming disdain for all things Wizardly. “Sure.”
Redflame nodded, sending off a tendril of thought as he said, “He was over earlier to inspect my work and inspect the first transformation, but he’ll want to be here for this— Ah.” Redflame turned away from Erick, to talk to whoever was on the other end of the line. Probably Inferno Maw. Redflame turned back, “He’s on his way.”
Erick nodded, and then he flipped the fish/rat switch on the machine over to ‘rat’. “Time to see if this works in reverse.”
The Renewal Tank did just as fine a job of turning a fish into a rat, as it had turning a rat into a fish. The groggy, wet rat got dried off by an assistant and put back into its cage to wake up on its own time.
- - - -
Inferno Maw ended the call with Redflame, then turned his attention back to the delegation from Stratagold.
The main antagonists of this particular evening stood strong on the grasses before him. The meeting itself took place in the vast, open Twisted Vision of Outer Ar’Cosmos. No one had been willing to stand within fifty meters of each other, or allow any deeper ingress than this, and Stratagold had sent unknown lackeys instead of actual diplomats who could make actual decisions, but that was fine by Inferno Maw. All this was preliminary talk, anyway. Posturing was important in these sorts of conversations, though, and so, since Inferno Maw had finally gained a proper reason to bring this farce to a close for today, he took no small amount of joy in doing just that.
With monochromatic Death licking out of the depths of his cavernous maw like the fires of The End, Inferno Maw reared up to a suitable height. This caused a minor panic in the diplomats on the other side of the Forest Path. A particularly flighty wrought even held his shield up in front of him, like that would have saved the young tyrant from Inferno Maw’s true fury.
Which was all well and good, because things had honestly gone rather well, so far, all things considered.
“The time for talking is tomorrow, young tyrants; our time is up for today.” Inferno Maw would have frowned at Fairy Moon’s meddling of his speech, wherever she was, but he moved on, not letting his brief annoyance show. Apparently his alliteration was terrifying, though, if the faces of the opposition were to go by, so this was fine. “As our honored guest has done for countless others, he has apparently created something new and exciting and I need to go investigate.”
The wrought gave their final, most succinct threat, “You will not be allowed to control Elemental Benevolence, Inferno Maw. Do not try. Return Erick Flatt to us, and you will be allowed to continue as you have.” And then they added an enticement, “We are willing to allow actual trade with one of our cities if you return him to us now; intact and uninjured.”
Inferno Maw shook his head, and then, on a whim, and in the spirit of Erick’s own possibilities, he spoke softer, “You will have Erick when we are done with him, and only after suitable recompense for all the injury and unjust treatment you have visited upon us all these centuries. Trade is a starting offer. We also desire the secret of [Duplicate], and for Kirginatharp to come to the table with regards to removing his Curse.” He offered, “You could even remove that Curse from him yourselves! This would be fine with us, too.”
“[Duplicate] is not on the table.” The diplomat lied, “But we could talk to Kirginatharp and see about actually removing the Curse. There might be a new way to remove it with Erick’s help, but you must return him to us.”
“See. Now.” Inferno Maw said, “That was a lie. You’re not going to actually talk to Kirginatharp about what we need him to do at all.”
For his part, the diplomat did not flinch, or give away any tell at all that Inferno Maw was right.
Inferno Maw continued, “Bringing lies to the table of peace talks is no way to run a world, but I suppose tyrants wouldn’t know any better. We’re done for today. Try again tomorrow. You have ten minutes to vacate Outer Ar’Cosmos before I release the monsters and drive you out.”
The diplomat simply nodded, then said, “We look forward to more talks tomorrow, and urge you to reconsider your adherence to the idea that we are tyrants, or I might have to start calling you a belligerent wyrm.”
Inferno Maw balked a minor laugh, and his own delegation of four Death dragons laughed with him. And then he stopped laughing. The dark forest went absolutely silent. One by one, Inferno Maw’s own delegation vanished into the gloom of Outer Ar’Cosmos, and then he followed, his voice lingering in the dark air, “Five minutes till monsters.”
The delegation of wrought retraced their steps back out of the Twisted Vision, but they were slow about it, not actually leaving until exactly 4 minutes and 59 seconds after Inferno Maw’s threat. When they were finally gone, Inferno Maw moved that particular exit. He would give them a different exit to find tomorrow. Perhaps at the bottom of a bog?
That seemed suitably petty.
But whatever!
It was time to go see what the resident Wizard had conjured out of thick air.
Most Wizards had no idea what the fuck they were doing, and all their achievements were based around nonsense and forcing mana to act as they desired, but Inferno Maw had done some investigating since last he had seen Erick. There had never been a single case of a Wizard creating multiple Elements before. Such a thing was considered truly impossible since a created Element was created to coincide with the creator’s Truth, and so, since Erick had created Elemental Benevolence, that meant the odds that he also created Particle Magic were abysmally low. So while he undoubtedly was a Wizard, he was one of the capable ones.
Erick was rather a good sort of person, too, which was unreasonably rare in this world. And he even seemed to remain good, even through all the wars and tribulations he had faced.
Inferno Maw still wanted him out of Ar’Cosmos as soon as possible.
The wrought had been diplomatic today, but they were maybe… Three? Four? A handful of days away from open war.
Plenty of time.