Of course, reaching the courthouse (or the city hall, or whatever they called it) and meeting with Mephistopheles was not as easy as a calm stroll through the predawn streets of Candlepoint. Shadelings were wide awake at this hour, and everyone (mostly not shadelings, strangely enough) recognized Erick.
Some dashed away. Others sent out tendrils of thought. Very few of those people looked to be gearing up for something big; to come back with a question, or a concern. Mostly, they were just telling everyone that Erick was finally in town.
And slowly, over the course of walking down two calm streets, Erick encountered a street that was not so calm. People waited for him. They had paperwork and ideas and came forward, asking if Erick would approve this business plan or that business plan—
Most of them were trying to be respectful, but like flipping a switch, the crowd suddenly turned needy. They had to talk to Erick before everyone else! Everyone else was just in their way! Erick instantly decided to avoid whatever this was and opened a [Gate] directly into the center of what he assumed they were calling City Hall these days.
He left one demanding crowd behind, and landed right in the middle of a suddenly worried crowd of guards and a scant few lawyers.
Some shadeling guards instantly rose to the challenge of defending what they were right to defend, but they all rapidly realized who he was, as if Ophiel wasn’t enough of a clue. Thanks to a very quick thinking head guard of city hall, Erick was quickly and courteously extracted from that central hallway and shown to the main meeting room on the top floor.
A dome of smoky crystal held overhead. If it wasn’t still an hour till sunup, Erick suspected that dome would let in natural light and shadow in equal measure. But as it was, the room was bathed in the shadows and light of various sconces around the room, and in the ceiling. The room and the furniture inside was black like all the rest of the building, and like the building, all of the stonework here had lines of white stone inlaid as accents to the black.
The room was quiet, and a bit too dark for Erick’s tastes.
Other than that, the room was paradoxically bright and welcoming. Sure, there were shadows everywhere, but the room itself was well lit. Can’t have shadows without light, after all. Erick’s own Benevolent light flickered and skittered inside of him, around his core, protecting his most vulnerable part from any sort of direct attack, but he wasn’t really worried about anything like that happening right now.
Erick was the only one inside the room, not counting Teressa, who stood behind him near the wall, or Ophiel or Yggdrasil, who hovered on the back of his chair. He had not sat down yet, for that seemed odd to do when he was the only one in here, but Ophiel and Yggdrasil had already scouted out his chair and sat upon the headrest, marking Erick’s territory for him.
Every office worker, lawyer, judge, janitor, clerk, and otherwise, was at least two rooms over in every direction but on the roof, acting like they didn’t know what was going on, or stressing about what was going on. A few of them clearly had mana sense or some other method of spying into this room, and they were trying to be circumspect about it, and yet nothing was happening. No one was coming this way. People were trying to get work done, but there were a lot of thought tendrils out there.
Erick had only been here for two minutes so far. Two very quiet minutes.
The head guard had just dumped Erick here and then left as fast as he could.
Perhaps it was too much to hope to be offered tea? The next room over to the left held a small kitchen with a multitude of small snacks in stone boxes, and various teas and teapots. Perhaps curiously, all of the teapots clashed with the décor of the room; none were black and white like the rest of the space. Erick guessed they were all from other places outside of Candlepoint. All of the cookies were in boxes that labeled them as from here or there, with most of them actually labeled with a pearl-like design; from the Pearl Kingdom, from Portal.
Erick wondered at that.
Like, yes, he had hope that Candlepoint would get some trade up and running, but he had also hoped that they would start making their own stuff, too. Were they not making their own stuff here in Candlepoint?
The farms to the north of the city looked to be churning out food, according to Erick’s casual observations with Ophiel. According to his casual observations, the shadelings and otherwise in town all seemed to be wearing nice-ish clothes, as well. Erick had assumed that they were making their own fabrics and such, but now that he was here, and really looking everything over…
There were an awful lot of browns, reds, and whites; three of the easiest colors to impart into fabric on Veird. Were they actually not making their own fabrics here in town?
… Erick checked on the farms through an Ophiel he had hovering above.
There were no cottonfruit fields. And no dyefruit fields, either?
How strange?
Had industry failed to materialize while Erick was gone? Like, sure, it was hard to make clothes and such, but Erick would have expected Sewermaster Ava to go gung-ho for luxury goods, and then to start producing them herself, or ensuring they got produced, as soon as it was apparent that none of the other nations wanted to trade properly with Candlepoint. Sewermasters usually had a great deal of pull in a city, based on the amount of rads (and thus wealth) that they naturally funneled back into that city, so why hadn’t the higher-end markets happened as Ava wished them to happen—
In the adjoining kitchen and preparation room, a few extra people appeared. By their appearances, Erick gained answers and more questions.
Ava Jadescale slipped out of the wall, stonestepping, no doubt. She looked like Erick remembered; A 25ish young human woman, but with tiny green scales up and down the sides of her body. Most shifters wore masks, as a cultural thing, but Ava did not, though she did wear sparking green eyeshadow in great abundance. Her eyes were green and not slitted at all. Sometimes a snake shifter’s eyes were slitted, not always.
Ava wore some of the nicest day-to-day clothes and bright, enchanted jewelry that Erick had ever seen on a sewermaster. Al, back at Spur, wore really nice clothes, too, because he could afford it. Ava was even more rich, or something along those lines, because she had actual enchanted stuff wrapped around her wrists and neck and fingers. Maybe she had made them herself? It was entirely possible. Perhaps sewermasters from Ava’s part of the world, before she was turned into a shadeling, were enchanters, too. Whatever the case, she was clearly well off.
Richer than Mephistopheles, it seemed.
The mayor of Candlepoint was a shadeling incani who stepped out of the crystal in the same room as Ava. His eyes were aglow with white light, while his skin and curving horns were as red as fresh blood. Nice clothes on par with Ava, but no enchanted jewelry on him. Then again he was a monster and people didn’t normally make enchanted stuff that worked for monsters. Erick could make some stuff that worked for monsters, though. He was pretty sure that Mephistopheles, or some other shadeling in town, knew how to make monster-compatible enchantments. There had to be someone, right? So why no enchanted defensive items, at least?
The other person to blip into that room was Justine Erholme. She looked about as good as the last time Erick had seen her, too, if a bit more tired than before. She was an incani with bright red eyes and milk-white skin. Justine was originally from the Underworld around Enduring Forge, in Nelboor, before she succumbed to the shadeling curse and unknowingly opened her Underworld city to attack from monsters, and then monsters did what monsters do; they killed everyone who could not flee.
Justine was still working for Koyabez, last Erick heard. He had expected her to be brokering peace between shadelings and other nations elsewhere, but perhaps, since none of the nations of the world let shadelings live openly, Justine’s continued life here in Candlepoint was not that much of a surprise. What was a surprise, though, was that she was dressed like a full priest, in plain white robes, and she had deep bags under her eyes like she hadn’t slept well in months.
Justine also had a brief scowl for Mephistopheles, but other than that, the three of them glanced at each other, and then at the door separating their room from the meeting room. Ava glanced at Justine’s garb and at Mephistopheles’s outfit and then put them out of her mind; she didn’t like their style, but that was not important right now. Mephistopheles almost went for the door, but then he paused, and caught himself.
All three of them were somewhat scared about what was to come and they were putting it off as best they could.
Justine decided that she wasn’t going to wait any longer. She went for the door first, but then Mephistopheles shadowstepped forward and led the way, both to get there first, and to deny Justine whatever Justine wanted. There was friction between Mephistopheles and Justine, and there always had been as far as Erick had known, but now that friction seemed mean spirited. Ava glanced at that small interaction and ignored it as one would ignore shit on the sidewalk; it was unpleasant, but not her problem.
It appeared that this place was a bit dysfunctional.
Not actively broken, of course, but not a well-oiled machine at all. And where was Slip, the guard captain? Or Valok, the former master farmer of the former Farms of Spur, and now the master farmer for the farms of Candlepoint, and Erick’s old frie— Well. Not ‘friend’. Not really. Not after he had been murdered by Portal and been turned into a shadeling in order for Bulgan to be able to taunt Erick. But they had been friendly enough—
Anyway.
The black doors opened.
Candlepoint put as many of their best feet forward as they could.
“Welcome back to Candlepoint, Archmage Flatt.” Mephistopheles warmly greeted. “We’re glad to hear that you’ve moved into Yggdrasil, and are here to stay. And congratulations on [Gate]! A monumental achievement. Let us throw a party sometime soon! A commemoration.”
“I don’t need a party, Mephistopheles, but I thank you for the idea, anyway. Good to see you again.” Erick turned to Ava and Justine. “Good to see you two, as well.” He asked, “Is Slip still the guard captain? Is Valok still the master farmer?”
Justine said, “Slip—”
Mephistopheles quickly answered in order to speak over Justine, “Slip is still guard captain, and Valok is still master farmer. They will be joining us as soon as they are able.” He gestured to the table. “Shall we sit and discuss what is to come? Would you care for tea?”
Erick looked at the man, and wondered…
Mephistopheles used to be rather flamboyant and sarcastic. He had been the overseer of the Garrison back when Erick deposed Bulgan, but Mephistopheles had only gained that office after the previous several appointees met untimely ends at the hands of Bulgan, or adventurers, or otherwise. Mephistopheles had always been very aware that he could have been killed at any moment, back then, and so he had armored himself with an extravagant persona to deflect his mortal worries. This Mephistopheles wore a nice suit and tried to be presentable, but mostly he was overly worried about being deposed, or assassinated, or killed, or any number of horrible things. His mental armor was gone. It had rotted away under the constant demands of this mayoral job.
Not having any actual power, such as an archmage, available to back him up has probably made it tough to run a city such as Candlepoint.
Or maybe Erick was giving the man too much credit?
From what Erick was seeing and what he knew of Candlepoint, this city needed someone who was very, very good at their job, and maybe Mephistopheles was that person, or maybe someone else was needed.
Erick glanced across Ava and Justine, and then flicked his sight back to Mephistopheles, saying, “Sure. Let’s sit down and have some tea.” Erick put on a smile as he sat down in the chair that Ophiel and Yggdrasil had commandeered. “I would like to be apprised of everything that needs appraising.”
Mephistopheles did not miss a beat as he sat down across from Erick, instantly asking, “Where would you like to start?”
Justine and Ava took their seats to the left and right of Mephistopheles, leaving Erick alone on his side of the table, which was how it was to be. There was room for more people to fit in on both sides if they needed, and to that end—
Erick cut his thoughts short.
Erick said, “I can save the questions of the farms and the security of Candlepoint until Valok and Slip get here, and so—” He looked to Ava. “Ava. It’s good to see you, and to see that you seem to be doing well. How has it been getting luxury to Candlepoint? Have you had any trouble with the sewers?”
Mephistopheles tensed, as though he had failed in some unknown way.
For a brief moment, Justine tensed, too, but then she relaxed a fraction. She knew she would get her turn to speak, and then everything that needed to be said would be said. She happily waited her turn.
Ava suddenly didn’t know what to do with herself, now that she was in the spotlight. But then she realized that yes, she did know what to do; she knew exactly where to start. With a serious tone, she said, “Every single week it’s something, from unexpected shadow slimes to shadelings trying to use my sewers as hideouts, but I’ve handled worse back when I was the sewermaster for my Jadescale enclave all those years ago. The problem I’m actually having, though, is that people keep stealing from me! Now theft of rads is a large issue for any town, because such a theft removes a reliable source of enchantment materials which are better served being turned into reliable enchantments from reliable enchanters. But never has a respectable sewermaster needed to make allotments for shadelings! There’s nothing wrong with them going out into the Crystal Forest and smashing mimics for their meals now, but instead, they steal from all of us!
“It’s a problem because all the solutions I can come up with are negated because every time I fix it, they just set up slums in another part of the system! Actual slums! Always popping up in some other corner of the sewers and diverting waters and stealing necessary resources from the city’s coffers!” She digressed. “But I have been able to scrounge up some decent clothes, thank Aloethag. Thank you, too, for noticing. I probably wear this outfit too much, though, because… Well. The rads are not flowing like they should.”
Slums?
That seemed…
Not right.
Erick scrunched his face. “Why are there slums at all?” Erick looked to Mephistopheles. “Housing should be easy?”
Mephistopheles held his tongue, but he Sighted Erick’s look.
Justine spoke, “Because people tried running away and then they got shoved back here, and now we’re having a crisis of housing—”
“It’s not a crisis.” Mephistopheles spoke, “We’re simply low on people who can make good housing, and every time someone gets a good house, we have others tearing them down. A normal city would be able to exile some of the malcontents and impose actual order on outsiders who look to do us harm. I could wish them better luck in the next town over. But the original people are stuck here and they’ve mostly been pushed out by the outsiders who bring in the goods. The actual crisis we have is that the original people are outnumbered 3 to 1, and those 3 have formed blocks to lock out the original inhabitants of this land.” Mephistopheles said, “Kind words won’t rid us of the problems we are having; I need actual power to be able to expel some of these miscreants, and we have no power, for as soon as we decide to use our power we will be seen as monsters. And so… We abide as best we can.”
Justine frowned at Mephistopheles, adding, “And the ‘1’ out of that scenario is actually more like 1100 shadelings working against 3000 former-shadelings who tried and failed to leave, and who want their homes back, but those homes have been sold to outsiders in order to line the pockets of Mephistopheles and his cronies! And now, we’ve got 16,500 people —most of them outsiders— working against 3000 returners who have nowhere to live!”
Mephistopheles weathered Justine’s accusations like a mountain would the rain, and then simply said, “Those newcomers now rightly own land, and they bring with them money and otherwise. You know, the things we cannot go out and get ourselves? That stuff. Like proper fabrics and stationery and books and pots and pans and other metalwork. And seeds for plants and knowledge to construct houses that don’t fall down the next day, and all sorts of other necessities.” He said, “There are 1100 shadelings who decided against rolling the dice with the Darkness’s [Reincarnation] because we knew which way the light moved. We originals have taken care of this land and done as much as we could. Those who have left are welcome to participate, but they left. Returners don’t get to have their house back when it has already been sold to an investor bringing in goods that we all need.”
Erick heard and understood a few of the problems laid in front of him, though he was still stuck on one part that made no sense.
A housing issue? That seemed… Too easy to solve.
Erick would solve that issue today. Right now, actually. And probably not in the way any of them expected or wanted it to be solved. This meeting was within the sensory range of others, after all. Not two rooms away, people were listening in with mana sense. High in the sky, people watched with [Long Range Scry] eyes. The walls had eyes and the shadows spied.
And so, Erick saw the pile of problems with no easy solution, and set it on exploding fire, “I’m sure a lot of those new investors will want to leave soon, because I am apparently a Wizard. I made [Renew]. I made the anti-Sundering Element which I call Benevolence. I made [Gate], myself, without Melemizargo’s final help. To that end, there will probably be some sort of establishing war soon enough, when that information gets more wide-spread and people come for me and everything I have built. This information was already spreading wide and fast, but now you’re in the loop.” He added, “Such a war won’t come from Kirginatharp, or the wrought, for I have maintained alliances with them. I’m also allied with the dragons, and have made [Reincarnation] just half an hour ago, so we’ll probably get some former dragons up in here, too. It’s a variant on the same spell that Melemizargo used on you, Ava… or something. It’s probably not like that at all, but it works. I turned some shadowolves into dogs just half an hour ago. Anyway. Dragons. The dragons who come here and partake of [Reincarnation] will be cleansed of their Curse, so there shouldn’t be any dragon fights in the area, but if we do get dragon fights around here then I will simply solve those problems and [Reincarnation] the dragons into less destructive lives right then and there.”
There.
That was not everything, but it was a lot, and it was as succinct as Erick could make it.
Mephistopheles blinked, uncomprehending. And then he leaned back in his chair, pretending at calm thought, but whatever was going through his head was not calm at all.
Ava escaped in a [Teleport]. One Script Second later she came back, mumbling, “Sorry, sorry. Instinctual.”
Justine froze, eyes wide, softly breathing. Justine seemed to freeze a lot in the face of fear. Erick had once toyed with the idea of using Justine to replace Mephistopheles as mayor of Candlepoint, but that was a bad idea for any number of reasons. Like, sure, Justine could handle herself well in talks, and her heart was clearly in the right place with how she spoke before, but she also froze in fear sometimes.
Erick let them have a moment or five, and then he said, “I feel that this problem between the originals and the returners will solve themselves, because I already see people escaping from a few rooms over here and there, probably off to tell whoever they report to.” He glanced to Ava. “Or maybe they’re just escaping.”
“Yeah… There are spies everywhere.” Mephistopheles’s voice was a small thing, warbling with uncertainty. “I had thought that the wrought were rather accommodating yesterday. They knew we’d be losing everything we’ve worked for on our own.” He sat straight, then looked at Erick. With a steady voice, he said, “It was unkind to explain things in this manner. You could have warned us and we could have prepared.”
“I don’t do subterfuge, Mephistopheles.” Erick said, “But you are right; this was unkind. You have had no real say in your own circumstances in a long while, and this is just another expression of that particular fate. Sorry.”
Mephistopheles flinched a fraction. “… Accepted.”
For a long moment, no one spoke.
And then Ava broke the silence, muttering, “Gods above.” She was staring at the wall, but according to her flickering eyes she was focused on somewhere else. “It’s going to be a full-scale evacuation, isn’t it? It’s already started.”
Outside, under cover of darkness and a morning that was still an hour away, people raced across the city, heading here or there. Some went to the market streets—
Erick saw something unconscionable. He had only ever experienced it once, himself, way back when he was working with the Greensoil Republic to clear Odaali of the Halls of the Dead. Back then, someone had used [Stoneshape] to tear down their first command center, while they were inside. Such an act of magic was considered worse than Soul Magic in some circles. It was one of the reasons that the Sovereign Cities didn’t allow houses made of [Stoneshape] (though that particular situation was a lot more nuanced than that particular law).
And here now, someone cast [Stoneshape] on an occupied building. In this case, the building was a general goods store on the market street. A human man and woman lived above the store, and now, they were trapped in rapidly solidifying stone. They had been sleeping. They were certainly awake now, though. The caster, an orcol (non-shadeling), had been trying to get into the store, to steal everything he could. He didn’t even care that people were now locked in stone.
Erick’s heart sank. There was no way to avoid what was coming. It was always going to be bad. He just didn’t think that someone would start looting this fast.
Erick would have helped out with the trapped people, but he saw them [Stoneshape] away their trap and advance on the orcol. This seemed to delight the orcol just fine, for he seemed to hate the store owners. That story was merely one small occurrence out of ten thousand happenings all across Candlepoint, though. Erick needed to do something bigger to stop the larger problems before they happened.
Ophiel descended onto the Crystal in the center of Candlepoint and opened up his [Spatial Denial Aura], shaping it to flow over almost all of Candlepoint. Where one Ophiel could not reach, the other Ophiel could. Soon, the entire city was filled with Denial.
The shift in mood of Candlepoint was instantaneous.
The thing about [Spatial Denial] was that it felt like a prickling of the skin that you could ignore most of the time. But it felt exactly the same as a Shade’s [Teleport Lock]. It functioned more or less the same, too.
The orcol who had been raiding Market Street suddenly stopped and started running for his life. The owners of that store also started running, and in the opposite direction. A pair of incani who had been following that orcol to Market Street, suddenly turned tail and ran. Half of Candlepoint was awake already, and every single person out there felt they knew what was happening, for there were no children, there were no innocents here. Every single person here in Candlepoint had either come here as a shadeling, not of their free will, or as a person looking to strike it rich through Erick’s promises of a Gate Network.
They all knew what it felt like to be near a Shade.
They were wrong, of course. This was not a Shade attack.
He decided to tell everyone the short version.
While Erick sat in the meeting room with Ava, Justine, and Mephistopheles, he also had an Ophiel take to the sky, and open up his [Physical Domain]. He looked up at the shadowed crystal dome above, and also down through the eyes of his [Familiar]. He began speaking to Candlepoint.
“Attention. Attention. Some of you have just heard some disturbing news, that I am a Wizard. Some of you seek to capitalize on the coming confusion. I am stopping that capitalization right now. If you wish to leave Candlepoint with your stuff, you are free to do so, but you will do so in an orderly, calm manner and the guard will be verifying your departure. For clarification: I am, apparently, a Wizard. I have also made [Gate]. Those of you who are able and desire to leave may do so, but for those of you who stay, or for those who cannot leave, know that I am here now, and nothing will ever be the same.”
The first repeat of the message was done, and everyone in the room with Erick was staring overhead, or directly at him. Erick just sat calmly.
Teressa went, “Uh. Boss? Uh. Was that wise?”
Erick almost answered that yes, it was wise, and also necessary, but Mephistopheles looked like he had his own answer. Erick nodded at Mephistopheles, letting him speak.
Mephistopheles looked at Erick with narrowed eyes, saying, “If the goal was to make for an easy transition and keep everyone here who is here, then no; this was not wise. So obviously that was not your goal. You want most people to leave.”
“Correct.” Erick said, “Those who are put off by this will leave and take their uncertainty with them, and we’ll all be better off for it, because my own truth of Wizardry will not change. The truth sitting at the foundation of Candlepoint will not change. It will only fester and come out as a cancer, later, for I can’t lie for shit and I won’t have the future built upon any lies, either. Besides that, the wrought and Kirginatharp and all the gods know this truth already.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Mephistopheles breathed in, then nodded, steeling himself before he spoke with authority, “I need to start organizing the guard and the exodus.” He stood. “Is there anything else that needs to be said? Or shall I begin to enact your will?”
“I’ll leave the [Spatial Denial] running to prevent people from escaping with whatever they wish to steal, but no; there’s nothing else that needs to be said right now.” Erick said, “We can talk more at sunset, when most of the people are either gone or settled. Know now that I wish to discuss the nature of the Cult in Candlepoint, of which I am rather sure you are still a member.”
Justine frowned. She glanced at Mephistopheles, uncertain.
Mephistopheles almost lied directly to Erick’s face, but then he thought better, and said, “For what it is worth, the Cult is not what it used to be. We’re mostly an affiliate system helping each other these days.”
Justine’s red eyes filled with hate and worry as she stared at Mephistopheles. Ava frowned at the man, then she turned her thoughts back to her own situation.
Erick just nodded, saying, “That’s fine. You might have heard already, but after the Chelation War I helped the Dark Sects of Nelboor turn away from their dangerous ways. The Church of Koyabez took a lot of them in, but I’m absolutely sure that most of them are still Cultists. I’m pretty sure that Koyabez wants Melemizargo’s cult to return to how it used to be before the Sundering; for the Cult to stop their destructive activities. So as long as you aren’t undermining your own city, or planning on harming people, then I have no problem with the Cult. I will have a problem with the Cult if you are planning harm.”
Justine paused her hate as Erick spoke, as though he had been reprimanding her as well.
Now that was a complicated situation. Justine was working for Koyabez, and probably trying to do stuff against or with the Cult in Candlepoint, but she did not know that Mephistopheles was still a member. Erick was pretty sure that all the shadelings were members of the Cult, by status if nothing else, and simply because Melemizargo could take over their mind at any time he wished…
Or something like that.
Erick wasn’t 100% knowledgeable about the Cult, actually. Probably only 85%. Erick did not want to get into the intricacies of whatever was going on between Justine and Mephistopheles, either. And so, he had delivered his warning. He hoped Mephistopheles would abide.
Mephistopheles said, “Since we are airing truths… If we do manage to get a true Interfaith Church up and running —instead of several separate buildings and our Dark Temple constantly being torn down and us needing to tear down the temples of the other gods in response— it is our hope that you will ensure that such a true Interfaith Church is only allowed when we are all allowed within its doors.” As a quick afterthought, he added, “And it can’t be a wholly-white building.”
With a voice like a whispered quake, Justine accused, “You tore it down!”
Mephistopheles tried to keep the grin off of his face, but he could not, so he reveled in that brief emotion and shot his smile directly at Justine. “Nope! I did not. And I’m not going to tell you who did! Besides! It was empty at the ti—”
Outside, on the docks, where several smallish fishing vessels were tied, a ball of fire bloomed across the waters like the release of a napalm flood. Erick sent an Ophiel to solve that problem and to heal whoever had been targeted, and to undo whatever had happened as fast as he could, for that wasn’t the only [Fireball] bursting into the darkness across the city—
— While inside the meeting room, Erick cut through hate, saying, “[Fireball]s are blooming across the city.” All eyes turned his way. “I’m already working on it, but I do believe you three are needed elsewhere to help ensure a safe transition. I see Slip is out by Market Street—” Erick scowled as bright lights to the north caught his attention. “Now the farms are on fire. Why would anyone set the farms on fire?” Erick turned on the rain. The sky darkened even further as the moons vanished behind clouds. Two seconds later, great big drops of water tinkled against the crystal dome above the meeting room. Two more seconds passed and the tap-tap-tapping of rain turned into a torrent. He asked whoever felt like answering, “I’m going to turn on a lot of different Denial-type spells. All the main 6. Do any of you foresee a problem with this? Specifically with people being trapped in stone, or something like that.”
Justine and Mephistopheles both realized something at the same time, after Erick had mentioned Denial spells, and now that their initial panic had passed. Erick was uncomfortable with the recognition he saw in Justine’s red eyes, and in Mephistopheles’s pool of white light. They saw Erick as something Shade-adjacent, if not a Shade-in-hiding. They had no basis for dealing with Wizards, but both of them had lived and worked under Shades long before now.
Instead of being more scared, though…
They relaxed. They prepared themselves to accept a yoke that they had worn for many, many years already. The shape of that yoke was different, but it was a familiar yoke all the same.
Huh.
Ava’s own experiences as a shadeling were a lot further from her mind, though, since most of her time as a shadeling was unknown to her; according to her, anyway.
Unsure, Ava answered, “Don’t do the Stone Denial?” And then she regained some of her wherewithal and realized her first answer wasn’t sufficient. “Keep it above ground.”
Erick had the Ophiel already blanketing the city with [Spatial Denial Aura] open up a second aura; a spell he rarely got to use, but which was perfect for this situation. [Prismatic Lullaby Aura]. According to the text, and to the spells Erick had put into that working, he would ‘lull the primary elements to slumber!’ It even had a lesser effect against esoteric elements, like Blood and Force.
Prismatic waves blossomed all across the city, expanding out from every Ophiel Erick had set up to do so. They kept their aura about a decimeter off the ground, and then worked to keep it like that; this was complicated, constant Shaping, and the land here was not perfectly flat, though it was close.
Erick had his message Ophiel, currently flying high and repeating his previous message, switch to a new message,
“Attention. All Elemental magic is now being Denied. Please stop hurting each other, or anything else for that matter. Come out from the ground while you still can. Stone Magic will soon be denied. Come out of the ground while you still can. Don’t get trapped underground.”
Erick’s [Physical Domain] was loud enough and cast over a wide enough area that even though Particle Magic was partially Denied, because it was untyped Force Magic, it didn’t matter. Erick felt the very stone of the room shake a little as Ophiel continued to repeat his message using Erick’s voice.
And soon enough, holes opened up in the ground, and people began to step out into the night. Based on their clothes, Erick guessed that these people were part of the ‘slums’ Ava had mentioned earlier.
In the lull between the second and third repetition of Erick’s message, he told Mephistopheles, “Good luck out there. I’ll ensure that no one dies, but I will be doing that from Yggdrasil. And don’t worry about the stuff that Candlepoint is going to lose due to this cleansing. I’ll make sure that we’re fully connected to Stratagold soon enough, and with all of the resources that will come with that sort of connection.” Erick stood, saying, “I’ll be back.”
He opened a [Gate] to the side of the room, leading to Yggdrasil’s branch outside of his house, and stepped through. Teressa followed. The lightning portal soon closed behind him, sending out one final zap against the floor as it did so, leaving behind a trail of soot.
No one saw the soot since the floor was already black to begin with.
- - - -
Mephistopheles watched Erick vanish beyond his [Gate] and felt something like hope rekindle inside his chest.
Keeping Candlepoint together had been so difficult. More difficult than he had ever thought it would be. Everyone wanted something. All the traders and all the little people and all the—
So many, many different wolves-in-skin pulled at this land from every angle, hoping to rip off a large enough chunk for their own purposes, hoping to push the shadelings from their own homes, and to take everything that had been given to them by Melemizargo. They had succeeded as much as they could. They had almost assassinated Mephistopheles twice, now. But he survived.
The larger enemies had survived, too; those who had ordered those assassinations saw no proper recompense for their acts of swordpoint diplomacy, because while Mephistopheles had killed the actual assassins, he had no idea who had actually ordered the hits, and he could not do what he needed to do in order to find out. Not with the little power he had. Not with his hands bound with the chains of propriety and civility. If he had acted like he wanted to, breaking whoever he needed to break in order to get answers, Candlepoint would have been destroyed by all the larger powers of the world.
But now that power had finally come back to Candlepoint?
… Erick was not a Shade. He probably wouldn’t do as a Shade would do.
But he was strong enough to bring the fight to whoever brought the fight first.
“Good enough for now,” Mephistopheles whispered, as he smiled way too much to be proper.
He smiled brightly and turned to Ava—
Ava was lost. She was unsure what would happen now. Mephistopheles pitied her a bit, for she had lost all her memories of being a shadeling. If she had had those memories, then perhaps she wouldn’t be like this right now.
He turned around, to face Justine on his other side.
Mephistopheles didn’t like Justine, for she had turned away from Melemizargo. Ever since her [Reincarnation] she was a Koyabezite through and through. It was shameful! And yet… He saw in her red eyes a recognition. A realization. The same one that he had experienced, sometime between where their new demigod walked away through his [Gate], and now. Sure, her personal realizations probably lined up with exactly what that ‘god’ Koyabez desired, too, but whatever! Only foolish Cultists couldn’t adjust with the times, and in that moment, Mephistopheles knew that Justine was no fool at all.
Justine was looking at him, too. She spoke first, “I thought you had quit the Cult.”
Mephistopheles stood from the table, saying, “You can’t quit the Cult, Justine. You know that. You can only go into hiding until the time is right to reveal yourself, and now is that time.”
“You and I will have words before this is through, Mephistopheles.” Justine stood, scowling. “And you will not be mayor. We cannot have that going forward.”
“I will be mayor until Erick, himself, casts me down.” Mephistopheles teased, “But it’s not a total loss for you: At least our people will get their homes back!”
Justine spat, “All you can do is follow the wind.”
“It’s the only way to stay alive,” Mephistopheles said, with perhaps too much force.
Justine looked at Mephistopheles, and in that moment, they were closer in purpose than they had been in a long time. She knew which way the wind blew, too.
Justine ignored and moved to stand near Ava. She filled her voice with kindness for those less fortunate, and asked, “Ava? Are you okay?”
Ava instinctively stood like a proper shadeling called to attention, even though she had and left behind this life almost a year ago. And then she realized what she had done and was embarrassed for her instincts. She said, “I appreciate your concern, Justine. I am fine. The words the wrought left us with yesterday make a lot more sense now. Under the illumination of…” She found her footing, saying, “Upon Sighting these certain events, I feel I might actually enjoy a proper connection to Stratagold. Aloethag had told me that opportunity for real beauty and security would come soon enough and the barnacle-cities of the Geodes always made the best of everything down below.” She muttered, “I certainly did not expect a Wizard, though. I had put no stock in those recent rumors but perhaps I should have.”
“Koyabez had told me to be alert.” Justine said, “He spoke of everything changing but would not give details; only saying that I would know the lay of the land after it was revealed.”
Ava muttered, “And what a revelation it was.”
Mephistopheles cheerfully ignored the personal plights of lesser gods and their worshipers and strode toward the double doors of the meeting room, happily saying, “We’re officially a nexus of the world, girls!” He threw the doors wide open, saying, “Our time to [Grow] is now!”
The hallway was empty, though some doors had been thrown open here and there down the way. Those doors rapidly closed as Mephistopheles’s voice filled the corridor, echoing off of the solid walls and the emptiness contained between. Some people had been thinking of venturing outside, but they had decided not to.
People did not fill the hallway, for there were no idiots in Mephistopheles’s city hall, like they were running around outside. City hall had spies and opportunists hiding in rooms, of course! Lots of those. But no fools. In a situation like this, when magic spilled out across the world and changed everything in the blink of an eye, the only people who should be out were those working for the powers that be; people like Mephistopheles.
For at that moment, Erick was certainly looking down upon Candlepoint, and judging. He was probably plucking people off of the street and setting them aside to be sorted through at his convenience—
And didn’t that thought bring a smile to Mephistopheles’ face. The widest smile he had had in a while! Finally, Candlepoint had power! Finally, city hall wouldn’t be a nest of minor intrigue and appeasement for all the other nations of the world to carve apart at their leisure!
Mephistopheles cheerfully called out to all those who lurked, to those who needed to know which way the wind now flowed, “Our Archmage has returned to us, no longer a simple archmage, but a Wizard King! Those who would follow, follow! Those too scared to step into the shadows, prepare to be judged!”
His words echoed down the empty hallway.
Slowly, a few doors opened.
Behind him, Ava shuddered. “Wizard King.”
“Wizards,” Justine whispered, worriedly. And then she rapidly added, “We should not call him a Wizard even if he is open about that.”
Mephistopheles took Justine’s concerns under advisement and decided that she was probably right. No matter what treaties and such Erick had managed to wring out of the wrought and the Headmaster and the gods, it was better to be circumspect about some of these things, even if the Wizard himself wasn’t being circumspect at all—
And wasn’t that wonderful!
Power unhidden! Force unfurled!
Erick was a Shade in all but allegiance to Melemizargo, and since he was a Wizard, his allegiances to everyone else were always going to be in question, and Mephistopheles could work with that. He had worked with Shades for many, many years, after all. Erick would be a fine 'Shade' to work under, too.
Mephistopheles turned to Justine, saying, “You are not seeing what I am seeing, but other than that, I agree that we should be circumspect, though with caveats. We will speak more of the intricacies of our stances when this crisis is concluded.” As people cautiously stepped out into the hallway, Mephistopheles noted that a few spies had chosen to come out, too, but most everyone here was a former or current shadeling. The people still inside the rooms were a lost cause. He included these people here in the conversation, saying, “Erick believes he is a Wizard, and that this truth will cause him no end of headache and worry over who is at his back. This is a valid concern. This concern of his will be the first of many to come, because, even if he doesn’t conceptually understand that he is a power emplacing himself, he is doing exactly that. He is a king coming into his power, crystallizing this land into a proper kingdom. And so, as any good king does, he will be evicting all those who might give him trouble. We are to assist in this eviction.” Mephistopheles stressed, “And it will be an eviction. They will leave with all of their belongings intact and unmolested. We’re a civilized kingdom, after all. That part has not changed.”
Mephistopheles led the way.
- - - -
Upon the boughs of Yggdrasil, Erick paused.
He stared up at the sky of flaming green leaves, and at the lightning-like branches that stretched up to support that glowing canopy. He had a moment.
“Ahhh, Teressa.” Erick said, “I could have handled that a lot better. I could have taken them aside and told them in private. Or scheduled a meeting and not just assumed that everyone would have been there. Quietly let the rumors drive all the opportunists and spies away. I’m not sure why I did it that way… And now that I think about it, the spies are probably the ones who stay.” Along with the shadelings and former shadelings, of course.
Teressa took off her helmet. Her green eyes sparkled with grey light as she faintly smiled. “There’s not a single person out there who would be caught off guard by a sudden upheaval, especially one that’s not actually dangerous. I’m sure they all had emergency-bags ready to go.”
“… They do have emergency bags.” Erick was present on that branch, but he was also flying across Candlepoint with Ophiel, putting out metaphorical fires; all the real fires were already turned off, and unable to be recast, thanks to [Prismatic Lullaby]. “My Denials are hindering a lot of those quick escapes, though, which was the plan, anyway. I want people taking all their stuff and leaving and us not being called thieves after this is over. I do recognize that there was no easy way to do this...”
Erick saw the guard deploy down Market Street, and run right into a crowd of people trying to ‘loot the stores’, according to half of those in that street. Some of those ‘looters’ were just owners, though, and they wanted to leave. Erick had Ophiel repeat his message about allowing people to leave with whatever they could prove was theirs, which seemed to inflame the crowd but also vindicate the shop owners, while also assigning the guard a side to take in the conflict.
Back on Yggdrasil, Erick said, “I suppose it was only ever going to be a clusterfuck. Best get it out of the way as quickly and solidly as possible.”
Teressa smiled. “Hopefully this will stop people from bothering you when you’re out and about, now.”
Erick chuckled at that thought. “Thanks, Teressa.”
“Anytime. Now you want pancakes for breakfast?” Teressa began walking to the house, which was about ten meters away and still invisible. “Or something fancier? Steak and eggs? Jane told me about that one time, and I haven’t made that yet.”
Teressa vanished beyond the edge of the porch.
Erick followed. As he stepped foot onto the porch, and the house reappeared, Teressa was already by the door. “Steak and eggs sounds wonderful. I’m going to sit out here and watch the sun come up, though, and to oversee the city.”
Teressa nodded and gave a quick, comfortable salute, saying, “Sure thing, Boss.”
Erick turned his full attention to Candlepoint.
The sun was still half an hour from rising, but the city was fully awake now. Mephistopheles, Justine, and Ava, were on the move, along with everyone else in uniform, shouting orders and calming the worried people in the streets. There wasn’t much calm to be had when everything Erick had said was true, though.
He was a Wizard, and that was terrifying.
‘Worse than a Shade!’ was a widespread consensus, and that hurt, but Erick let that hurt flow away as much as he could. People worriedly spoke of the Sundering, and of tales of Wizards that they had never given much thought to in most of their lives. They spoke of Hullbreaker the Pirate mostly, since he was the most well known and recently-active of the Wizards of Veird, but Erick also heard new stories, of Oathbreaker the Scourge of Greensoil, and Deathstealer the Broken. Oathbreaker was a claimant to the Viridian Throne centuries ago, but she was revealed as a Wizard before she could take the throne. She broke everything she could break before they finally killed her. Deathstealer was long, long ago, and part of the reason why [Resurrection] wasn’t considered real; he had created souls whole-cloth and claimed they were the original people. Even those people didn’t realize they were completely fake—
Poi joined Erick on the porch, asking, “How can we help?”
Erick felt warmth at that kind offer. “There’s to be lines and organization and a mass exodus as soon as they can get a viable means of sorting truth from lies, and Candlepoint does not have enough truthstones. I need verification that people are only taking their own stuff.”
Poi nodded. Tendrils of thought escaped his head, going off into the manasphere. After a moment he came back, saying, “We can provide truthstones and organization. If you will [Gate] some people in from Spur, they can be here within ten minutes.”
“I can do that.” Erick sent an Ophiel flying across the world, as he said, “Have them come to the house. There’s still a lot of people around there, so let me know which ones are the Mind Mages when they get there.”
“Will do.”
Within a minute, three nondescript people carrying small bags of truthstones appeared at the house in Spur. They were promptly stopped by guards, like all the rest of the people eyeing Erick’s house from outside the property lines. But at Ophiel’s appearance, and Erick’s waving of one of Ophiel’s wings, the guards parted and the Mind Mages came through onto the property. Ophiel opened a [Gate] from there to Candlepoint’s city hall.
The Mind Mages met up with Mephistopheles and Slip and Justine, and everything started to go easier from there.
- - - -
The sun rose, turning the world to shades of blue and then pink and gold, illuminating long lines of people with all their belongings packed into carts. They waited for their turn at guard stations set up on the very edge of Erick’s Denials; their freedom waited for them beyond one final bit of bureaucracy. They were fleeing, and that was fine.
Erick had already flown some Ophiel to a few places around the Crystal Forest to help with the exodus; to the lands just outside of Spur’s northern gate, and outside Kal’Duresh’s public access ramp, and even outside Portal’s eastern public gate, down on the coast. Soon, the first of those no longer interested in living under a Wizard departed the city of Candlepoint with all their stuff in tow, passing through the [Gate] that led to Spur.
A few, very few people, upon seeing the [Gate]s and realizing that this, right here, was the reason they came to Candlepoint in the first place, decided to turn around. To go back to the lives they were trying to create in this land. And that was fine by Erick.
Most people decided to leave. Some people who were on the fence, decided that the getting was good, and so they would get. A few people didn’t even want to take Erick’s [Gate]s; they went through the queue for the [Gate]s but they just blipped away as soon as they exited the Denial.
Most people seemed to leave through the Spur-destination [Gate].
Erick would have to keep that in mind for the future.
According to the heraldry on some of the boxes and on the uniforms of those leaving, almost everyone with an organized cart was from a merchant house, or here on behalf of a kingdom from the Wastelands, or a kingdom in the Greensoil Republic, or from some other organization. Those people had come as a part of a company, and the company had said ‘no Wizards!’, and so, they left.
Very few of those escaping were those who had come here hoping for a new life. It was easy to tell those people apart from the rest, for they left with boxes of clothes and assorted household items packed into wooden boxes, floating atop [Force Platform]s.
Erick ensured the transition happened peacefully.
- - - -
Soon enough, Teressa served breakfast on the porch. Poi and Erick and Teressa all enjoyed a nice breakfast of steak, sunny side up eggs, hash browns, and hot coffee. It was wonderful. Soon enough Jane and Kiri came out, too, carrying their own meals in their hands.
Jane started off the topic of the day, asking, “So what’s happening with Candlepoint?”
Erick winced, then began, “I’m not happy with how it happened, but...”
He explained. They listened.
And when he was done, none of his people thought that he had done any wrong.
“I feel you are all focusing on the wrong thing, here.” Erick tried repeating what he had done wrong in a different way, hoping that they would understand, “These people came here hoping for something better, and now that they know I’m a Wizard they’re running for their lives. One of my larger goals was to help Candlepoint grow into a real city, but now Candlepoint has lost almost all of that growth.”
Kiri waved a dismissive hand and summed up what Erick had yet to understand, “You’re a king clearing his castle. That you have done so bloodlessly is fantastic—” She realized something. She said, “Not a ‘king’, sorry.” With no small amount of delight, Kiri said, “A Wizard King.”
Erick instantly slumped in his chair, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the underside of the porch roof. It was painted light blue, like the sky that was impossible to see from under here, inside Yggdrasil’s canopy. “Oh, gods above. I’m not a… ki...” His voice failed him.
With too much delight, Poi struck with words that he had been saving for quite some time. “A Benevolent Wizard King.”
… Erick slowly turned his gaze upon Poi.
Everyone looked at Poi, wondering what the fuck was this, now.
And Poi just laughed.
Jane glanced around, asking, “I don’t get it?”
Poi happily explained, “A title for your father! How do you like ‘Emperor Erick’?”
At Erick’s suddenly deepened scowl, Jane burst out laughing.
Kiri’s eyes just went wide as she whispered, “I was joking but are we actually making a kingdom here?” She looked to Erick. “You want to be a king?”
“No!” Erick complained.
Teressa offered, “Overlord Flatt.”
“Not you too!” Erick complained.
Teressa grinned as she shrugged. “You used the word ‘oversee’ earlier. ‘Overlord’ makes sense.”
Erick felt the blood drain from his face.
Kiri decided she was good with making a kingdom. “I like ‘King’. Simple, effective.”
“ ‘Harbinger Flatt’?” Poi offered. “ ‘Tyrant Flatt’ is the fallback option.”
“No.” Erick stated, “I am not a king.”
Erick’s complaints fell on deaf ears. Everyone had opinions for what his official title would be, and each one was more outlandish than the last.
And all the while, Candlepoint emptied of over half of its opportunists and would-be citizens. Erick tried to get the conversation back to discussing that, but it was impossible.
For Kiri summed it up again, saying, “People in the Crystal Forest have [Teleport]. They might not have enough mana to use it properly, but they have enough to move around as they wish. Look at Spur! That place is at 350,000 people right now, and it’s still growing. Two years ago they had less than 80,000 people. I bet almost all these people who move out today will move up there for a while, anyway.” She nodded, and secure in her opinion, she said, “I bet they’ll all be back, too, once you’ve secured your reign and shown yourself to be a just and fair Wizard King.”
Erick scowled, and Kiri laughed.
In an attempt to change the subject, Erick said, “Enough about kingdoms. I made [Reincarnation] this morning—”
“YOU DID WHAT?!” Jane exclaimed, standing up from her chair.
Kiri stared, disbelieving. But when Teressa and Poi both gave no indication that Erick was telling anything other than the truth, Kiri just started laughing and laughing.
“I reincarnated some shadowolves into dober dogs and set them on the northern coast, too. Nice stone homes. Plenty of room to run around in.” Erick said, “De-monsterfied them, of course. They’re doing okay; I’ve been checking on them. They recognize each other as pack members, so now that that first problem is cleared, I’ll see how they develop as dobers in the coming weeks and months. Probably end up giving them away to someone, though, unless you all want dogs here?”
Kiri chortled right along, happily laughing.
Jane sat back down and stared out at the horizon. “I shouldn’t be that surprised at [Reincarnation], should I.”
“Nope!” Teressa happily said. “This is normal, now.”
Jane added, “And you already made most of that spell in Ar’Cosmos, right, dad?”
“I did!” Erick said, “But putting it all together was still a task.”
Kiri exclaimed, “A spectacular accomplishment, Wizard King Erick Flatt!”
Erick frowned.
“How about ‘Divine Emperor’?” Teressa offered.
“Probably shouldn’t have ‘Divine’ in the title,” Poi digressed. Then he offered, “But ‘Glorious Wizard King’ could work.”
“How about ‘Saint Wizard’?” Jane offered.
Poi said, “I’m sure there’s at least one god out there willing to bestow that status.”
“Oh!” Teressa said, “He always starts off with ‘I am —apparently— a Wizard’, so how about ‘The Apparent King’?”
Kiri’s eyes went wide as she said, “I like that one!”
Erick had not succeeded in changing the subject.
… And this was kinda fun to think about, anyway. Distracting, at the very least. Which was probably why Poi had started this naming mess in the first place. As that thought crossed Erick’s mind, Poi smiled.
And then Poi said, “The Wizard Dictator!”
Erick scowled again.