The hallway of the gods in most Interfaith Churches, like in the one at Spur, was a white tunnel of alcoves and trinkets left in those alcoves by parishioners communing with their deity of choice. Sometimes the hallway was a tunnel to talk to multiple gods, with the gods appearing for those who truly needed their help. In all cases, it was usually a journey of white, and maybe the barest hint of divine golden flames.

The hallway of the gods at the True Interfaith Church of Candlepoint, was different. The white was there, along with a lot of golden fire.

But this place had a black undercurrent. Darkness seeped into the light, and cast everything into stark relief. The pillars holding up the roof seemed more real. The tiles on the ground seemed more solid. The land ahead was a path forged of power.

And Erick started walking.

Koyabez stepped to his side, saying, “Hello, Erick. Welcome back so soon.”

Erick felt some of his previous anger at the dragon situation vanish as the God of Peace and the original God of Veird walked beside him. Koyabez wore his usual form of a loincloth-wearing demi, with pale violet skin and as much of his body exposed as possible to show his vulnerability.

And then they weren’t in the same hallway that Erick had stepped into.

Visually, it was the same. But the hallway was longer, according to Erick’s mana senses. A lot longer. The lands outside the hallway vanished. Time probably dilated too, as Erick’s connection with all the Ophiel outside began to stretch; he had learned to recognize that sense rather well in the last few weeks of nightly [Hasted Shelter]s. Erick found himself able to breathe even easier. He had time to solve this crisis of the dragon exodus. Not a lot of time, but some time, at least.

He would get to all the other gods when he got to them, and not a moment before.

“Hello, Koyabez. Good to see you again. The Denial Spheres with [Zone of Peace] work great.”

Koyabez nodded, saying, “I saw. I’m glad you were able to fix those small issues, but those spells will never be as strong as when you cast them yourself.”

“I could have Yggdrasil blanket the land with a Peace that stretched out across the entire 250 kilometer space, if I Shaped it to, like, 200 meters tall. But that’s building a weakness into the system. Yggdrasil might forget to do that one day. Or he might decide not to for whatever reason. The spheres aren’t perfect, but they will be, and many hands make for something that won’t break upon first meeting a [Chaining Dispel].”

“I approve, Erick,” Koyabez said, smiling, “I also approve of taking in those you have Blessed, and the Dicers from the Sovereign Cities, and the people from Ar’Cosmos. It’s all a big undertaking, but if anyone can make it work, you can.”

It was as good a way to get to the meat of the conversation as any.

“Did you hear about how the fairy is interpreting their deal? The exodus of dragons?”

“I have. It’s for the best.”

“… Is it, though?”

“This world was never meant to hold and contain all the power that it has been forced to hold and contain. That a deal has been struck that forces that fairy to take a true stand against violence is one of the largest workings of Wizardry you have ever managed to achieve.”

Erick looked over at Koyabez. Then he faced forward again, looking down the hallway that seemed ever longer. “I do not believe that I did this.”

“If you [Teleport Object] a boulder out from under a mountain, do not be surprised when the mountain starts to rumble. You have taken out a lot of boulders, Erick. This is a rumbling of the world, and the avalanche has only begun to roll.” Koyabez added, “But at the same time, yes, you did not directly do this.”

“… Could you help with the problem of dragons and the Curse? Do you have a way to let them stay on Veird without being subject to all the things that make them vulnerable to the fairy’s pact?”

“I do not. You do. [Reincarnation].”

“Something else that doesn’t require them to lose out on power, or eternity.”

Koyabez said, “You could go the Ar’Cosmos way and make a real House Benevolence with Benevolence dragons.”

Erick smiled softly. “It’s like you're sorting out my own thoughts to me.”

“That is usually what gods help with; yes.”

“I can’t do dragons, though.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s already enough power in this world, and if I do that, then that would make me responsible for those dragons. I don’t want to be responsible for that much power in the world.” Erick felt the words begin to pour out, “I don’t want to control everything. I don’t want to be a threat to other people. I don’t want to endanger a twist in the Curse and fuck up draconic society even more than it is already fucked up. I don’t want to be a dragon, either! Fuck! I have to take in dragon essence and then twist it to Benevolence? I can already see how I could do that, but it’s like making the [Cascade Imaging] [Luminous Beam] spell; it’s just too much power for anyone to have. Even the power I have right now is too much.

“I’m going to stick with this kingdom shit for maybe 50 years, and ensure that other people can step up to the plate, and then I’m going to run off into the sunset…

“Or. No. Not that. I could easily see myself running a country for the rest of life. I love it. But at a certain point I know my own sensibilities will be old fashioned, and the kids should take over. And so I will step down as ultimate authority over everyone at Candlepoint. Eventually.

“Maybe I’ll last the full hundred years…

“Or maybe I’m talking out of my ass and I like having real power.

“Maybe I do like making the world better, by force.

“I’m pretty damned sure that I’m doing as much good as others out there. I’m not conceited enough to think I’m doing better than anyone else, but I’m certainly doing a decent job so far. I got all the major powers of the world either dead, or cooperating. And that seems like a good thing, to me.

“But…

“This is stressful.

“I just want everyone to stop fighting. To stop having power grabs. To stop generational trauma spurring children into committing horrors in the names of their fathers and mothers. I want a world where people only have to worry about picking out what they want to eat for dinner, out of a thousand options, and not have to worry about monsters crashing through their doors or if a neighboring nation is going to [Teleport] in and start a war that kills a million people.

“And I think…

“I think I want dragons to be forces of good, and not forces of selfish behavior and Cursed fights. But that’s just not what dragons are, are they?

“But I could make them that way.

“I mean… It’s the easy solution, isn’t it? Become a dragon. Take on more power, because I know how to wield it properly, and then I can bequeath that same power to others of a like mind? And because it’s Benevolence, and we already know how that will work, then… What is the downside? I don’t see any downsides.

“Except I’m putting more power out into the world, and that’s just… Uncomfortable.”

As Erick gushed a verbal essay, Koyabez walked closely, listening. The hallway seemed to be just as long as it needed to be, because when Erick was done talking there was a bend in the hallway. Beyond that bend lay another land. He couldn’t see what that place was, not from where he was standing. But he would be there soon enough.

Koyabez spoke, “It sounds like you have an answer, Erick. Now figure out if you want to accept that answer, or forge a new one. But I can’t help you past this. The fairy’s pact will hold for the good of all, and every individual; as a great man once said.”

Those were the same words Erick had once said, when he spoke his Truth of Benevolence.

Erick echoed his own words, but with a bit of sadness, “For the good of all, and every individual.”

Maybe being a dragon wouldn’t be so bad.

… Erick liked himself, though.

“Just think, Erick.” Golden fire licked from the ground, as Koyabez said, “If every dragon you Benevolence Blessed was another one of you, how much better the entire world might be.”

Erick laughed out loud. “That’s rather narcissistic!”

As the soft flames of divinity billowed through the space, Koyabez’s voice was a vanishing thing, “That you can recognize that narcissism means it might not be a real problem; yet another mark in your favor.”

- - - -

Golden fire fell away, turning into grasses and sunshine and cows mooing in the distance. The sky appeared above, blue and expansive, with fluffy white clouds raining platinum on the horizon. Flowers bloomed underfoot, and Erick found himself barefoot and enjoying the stroll.

A dark-skinned human woman walked with him.

Atunir, the Goddess of Field and Fertility.

“Hello, Atunir,” Erick said.

Atunir’s heavy braids tossed as she turned to Erick, giving him a great big smile. “I love what you’re doing with Candlepoint, Erick. Not only is grass growing on the Crystal Forest once again, but you’ve already got a good hundred babies on the way. A lot of those bundles of joy are still small surprises waiting to make themselves known, but I’m rather sure that they’re all going to have the best lives they could get. All thanks to you.”

Warmth blossomed in Erick’s chest, and his smile mirrored Atunir’s. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“If you were to visit Yetta and put a baby in her belly, that would be pretty great, too.”

Erick laughed loud, because that had to be a joke. “What!”

Atunir shrugged. “Everyone else is trying to link houses with you, so I thought I might as well throw out the invitation. About four days ago, one of the farmhands and her husband got their own good news —twins!— and that got Yetta to thinking about what she really wants out of life. She’ll always be my Champion until the day she dies, but she’s got time for other pursuits, too, and so, like many of my Champions before her, she wants a husband. She wants children. And so, I have made this offer to you.”

She was serious.

Erick looked at the goddess. “Does Yetta know you made this offer?”

“She will, if you accept. Otherwise we can forget this ever happened, and I will make a few more offers to other prospects out there.” Atunir asked, “Did you know they sometimes called me the Matchmaker, back in the Old Cosmology?”

“… No. I did not know that.”

“I still do that sometimes, but not nearly as much.” She asked, “How about that Nirzir woman? You should go for her.”

“Nirzir is a child!”

“19 is not a child. And besides that, Nirzir won’t be that age for long, and you’re never going to age. Eventually she will be an old woman, and you will still be young, and then you’ll transform her back to 25, or something similar, and keep going on like that forever.” Atunir’s eyes sparkled. “Lots and lots of babies! Maybe some of them wizards, too? You never know. That stuff either crops up once in a bloodline and never appears ever again, or it comes and goes every other generation. Either way, you would raise those Wizards right, for sure.”

Erick felt that sort of future in his heart as Atunir spoke of it. It wasn’t so bad. It might be nice. But.

No.

Erick shook his head a little, saying, “She’s too young. The timing isn’t right, and sometimes, that’s all it takes to make or break a relationship.”

“You should have someone, Erick. Someone to sleep with at night. Someone to hold. I would prefer a woman just because it’s easier for you to make more babies that way, but I don’t care if you get a guy, either, for you’ve already made Jane, and eventually you’ll have made Ophiel and Yggdrasil, too. You’ve left a great mark on the world. You can rest some and enjoy it all, if you want.”

Erick felt another pang of soft joy in his heart that spread out like summer wind, filled with the memories of playtime with Jane at the park on all the swings, and also flying in the air with Ophiel. He thought of all the times he talked long into the night with Yggdrasil, and the big guy talked about everything that was going on up north, at Treehome.

Erick kinda did want another kid….

Eventually.

He was still raising Yggdrasil and Ophiel right now. He had no time for another kid, actually.

But as for sharing a bed with someone...

The idea of sharing a bed with another person hit him like a brick to the head, which was not that serious of a comparison these days; it’d probably take that serious of a hit to deal him any damage at all.

“There’s no time to enjoy anything like that right now, and certainly no time to raise a kid right. I’m barely keeping up with Yggdrasil and Ophiel.” Erick moved the conversation back to the appropriate target, “And now the exodus of dragons is yet another crisis on my plate. It won’t be long til more people than Al show up asking to become a Benevolence Dragon, and I am not prepared to do that.”

“Dragons are perfectly fine people when they are the rulers of their own land, Erick. It’s only because we’re all stuffed on Veird that we needed the Curse to prevent complete war before it could start.” Atunir said, “At first, it wasn’t that way. At first, the Curse was a horror. But after that first round of dragons killed each other after the Death of All Halves, and all the rest happened… It was a time of growth, and all the tyrannical dragons who had been poking at each other, preparing for war, were themselves dead. You’ve already heard the stories of fights erupting in Ar’Cosmos, even though the size of that land is growing every single day? Imagine it’s 25 years Post Sundering, Veird has billions of people living on the Surface, and the emotional scars of the Sundering are just starting to heal, and the dragons on Veird are just starting to see that they don’t have nearly enough land.

“It’s the same story, over and over again, every time there are too many dragons in any one place.

“The Curse is a terrible, terrible thing, but it is also the only way that this world remains intact. And now, there is another option for the dragons; a real home and a chance for them to do whatever they want, and to actually have a community again. The fairy pact ensures that they take that option.

“For the good of all, and every individual.” Atunir looked to him, “As you have said yourself.”

They had almost reached the edge of the flowering field, but they still had a ways to go.

Erick looked up at the vast sky.

“The fairy pact is good… eventually. It will be good eventually. I can admit that. But there are dragons that don’t want to go to Ar’Cosmos, and they will either throw themselves against the fairy in order to stop from being taken, and fail, or they will accept a [Reincarnation] from me. But there is that other option. I could become a dragon myself. I could turn every incoming dragon into a Benevolence dragon. I could put more of me out there— though I am rather sure that this option will not be that easy. Something bad will happen if I choose that path. And yet… I haven’t seen anything bad when looking in that direction…

“Though I should probably step into my Gate Space and have a real, serious look.

“The problem is I don’t want to become a Benevolence Dragon, Atunir.”

Atunir smiled softly, saying, “You know most Wizard Kings of the Old Cosmology were actually dragons? Not actual Wizards at all?”

“I think I heard that once or twice.”

“Then there you go. Or, you could Wizard up a different solution.” Golden flames licked across the world, taking Atunir and the sky and the field with them, but leaving behind the voice of the goddess, “I would advise against that, though. Big Wizardry is dangerous. Never know how that could go.”

- - - -

Erick stepped into a park; a lightly wooded area with benches and picnic tables and a small pond where ducks quacked and dragonflies flitted upon the reeds. Another man sat upon a bench near the pond. With a gentle scattering, the man threw green dots into the pond. Those dots floated. The ducks went crazy for the food.

Phagar, looking like a mirror of Erick, turned to see Erick. He smiled. “Hey, Erick. Come on over.” He held up a thawing bag of frozen peas in his left hand. “I got more peas if you want to feed the ducks.”

Erick smiled, and made his way over there, asking, “Do you know how long it’s been since I fed the ducks? —you probably do know.”

Phagar handed over the bag as Erick sat down, saying, “I do. Your last week at college, a few days before the mother of your daughter came and granted you Jane.”

Erick’s hand paused inside the bag. He didn’t think that that was the exact last time, but now that he thought… Yeah. That was correct.

Erick just breathed, took out some peas, and threw them to the hungry ducks. In a rush of feathers and snapping beaks, the ducks rushed in to grab all that Erick had bestowed upon them, some of them diving down to grab the deeper peas while others fought for the peas that floated on the surface.

Erick frowned a little.

Something weird was happening.

There were a lot of ducks down there on the water. More than he thought there had been. And then, as soon as there wasn’t much food left on the water, some of them fought with each other for what was left. Some of them looked at Erick, and at the bag in his hands, like if he didn’t give them more then they were going to take it.

Erick grabbed a massive handful and handed out more peas, scattering green morsels across the entire surface of the pond. That was exactly what the ducks wanted, and it seemed to be what was better for all of them, because now they could hunt and prosper without harming each other. A lot of the peas managed to float for a good minute before they were eventually consumed, but by that time, Erick already had another large handful ready to go.

Green life scattered, and the ducks went back to feasting.

Erick continued on like that for a while, measuring his gifts of food to what the ducks were able to consume, but then the sky darkened a little. He looked up.

A formation of ducks —not many at all— settled down in the lake, crashing into the waters and diving for the green peas. Fights erupted again and Erick’s minor balance was ruined. He reached into the bag again and rapidly scattered food for the hungry animals. This time, it took 30 seconds for all the peas to vanish into gullets and for the ducks to start looking at Erick with hungry, beady black eyes.

Erick handed out another massive handful of peas, drawing deep from the bag in his lap. The bag wasn’t actually emptying at all. He had more than enough peas for all that he saw.

And then more ducks showed up.

“Oh,” Erick said, finally realizing what was happening. “I see.”

The bag of frozen peas seemed endless. But the ducks were also endless.

“The ducks keep coming and coming,” Phagar said, breaking the silence between them. “Even if your bag is endless, something else must be done if you are to care for them all, for there will only ever be so much room on the pond. Or, you could not feed any of them. In that case, the pond would have one or two ducks, based on how much food there is naturally, and all the rest would go somewhere else.

“You sit upon a crossroads, Erick, as you often are. Do you feed them? Or do you let them find more ponds elsewhere, even if they will probably fight in those other spaces for whatever resources there might be, and which you will never know of?”

Erick knew what he wanted to do.

He wanted to make a new pond, maybe two or three more. He wanted to scatter more and more food out for everyone. He wanted to power through the cynicism that others might see; that there was only so much he could do before he killed himself trying to do it all.

But Erick knew that he could never do it all on his own. Reality was reality, no matter how much of his own personal Reality he managed to bring into existence, and share with the world.

He smiled a little with a sudden thought. Could he appoint some of these ducks to hand out food to others? Train them up to help him hand out even more peas to all the rest of the ducks? Not without a lot of effort! But the thought was fun.

… That fun thought rang in Erick’s soul.

For Veird was not a world of mundanity; it was a world of Magic. Erick could, theoretically, take in some ‘duck essence’ of his own, become a duck, live with them and teach them at their level. He could taint them with his own Benevolent understanding of the world. He could make them better than they were before.

Or rather… Not ‘better’, but different. More apt to help others. Able to help others without fighting with those others.

And yet…

Erick said, “If I became a dragon then I would be vulnerable to the fairy pact, as you all seem to be calling it.”

“We wouldn’t let that happen.”

Erick looked to Phagar. It was like looking into a mirror of golden fire.

Phagar said, “Though you don’t have to pick that option if you don’t want. There are other paths.”

Erick chuckled. “What other paths?”

“Just turn the dragons into normal people, Erick, no matter what their personal problems with that transformation might be. Sure, there’re some unpleasant ethical concerns there, but I have every confidence that [Reincarnation] is still a good solution to this problem.”

Erick looked back to the ducks. They were all quacking at him like a town hall full of angry protesters, demanding that he fulfill their needs above all the other needs of the community. Thinking back to those old memories brought up others. Some of those protesters were always good people, looking out for what was best for all, but there were always those who wanted what was best for themselves, and damn all the rest.

He could still do all of the possible solutions to the dragon exodus, if only he took on more power, couldn’t he? For some, [Reincarnation] would be the right solution. For others, a Benevolencing might be best.

But only if he could actually do that.

The pond began to mist with golden fire. Some of the ducks squawked even louder, taking to the air and flying away as fast as they could. Others didn’t care, they just stood there, staring at Erick, demanding more food as golden fire burned them to bone, turning them to ash and dust as the entire world fell away into a golden conflagration.

The fires didn’t touch Erick, but he still felt the heat.

Phagar’s voice came to him, “And yet, ethical concerns about forcing people into new bodies might be the least of the issues here.”

The park from college vanished.

- - - -

Erick stepped onto a cloud in the sky.

Rozeta stood across from him, wearing her wrought form; a human woman but made of white metal, and wearing a pantsuit of the same. “Hello, Erick. We have to talk.”

Erick said, “Hello, Rozeta. Let’s talk.”

Rozeta smiled softly. “I would like for you to take us into your Gate Space, so that we can both better see the outcomes to what is to come, and of whichever ways you lean.”

“… You need an invitation for that? To come into Benevolence?”

“I do not.” Rozeta said, “I have already tried to get the sky to appear on my own, though, and that did not work. I am trying to replicate what you already have, but that will take some time. And thus, this is a situation like with many Elements and magics that are wholly created and sustained by a still-living person; unless you invite me in and I am there under your own continued cognizance, then the nuanced functions of your magic will not manifest.”

Erick would have invited her into his Gate Space at any other time and not had a second thought, but today was a day of Fairy Moon shit. Of Fae problems. That fact made him unduly wary about inviting anyone into his Gate Space.

Rozeta noticed. So instead of insisting, she gestured to the cloud and summoned two chairs that sat catty-corner beside a round table. Tea and cookies appeared on that table. Rozeta went and sat down on her chair, saying, “All this fae nonsense has me on edge, too. Will you allow me to put your mind at ease? As much as I can?”

A pang of comfortableness welled up inside Erick. He went and sat down, asking, “Can she actually get in here?”

“She usually respects holy communions… Or rather, she dislikes them. She will certainly try to appear if we say her name, so we won’t be doing that. She might try to make herself present in your Gate Space if we eventually end up getting there today. Or she might not. She’s busy, and so, right now, we’re safe.” Rozeta looked to him. “You’re safe, Erick.”

“Am I, though?” Erick asked, as thoughts of approaching dragons filled his mind.

“Not really, no. For now, though. You are safe. When I am with you, you are safe.” Rozeta asked, “Do you believe me?”

Erick thought for a second about what his life was, now, and then he sighed, saying, “Yeah. I do. But… You know what? I certainly didn’t get this far being scared of magic, so let’s tackle this head on. Let’s go to the Gate Space. We can view the sky as we talk.”

“… Are you sure, Erick? We don’t have to move on yet if you don’t want to.”

“I do, though.”

Rozeta smiled a bit. “Okay then.” She stood.

Erick stood with her.

As though he had already cast the magic, as though he was closer to his magic than he had ever been before, a jolt of iridescent white lightning flickered from his half-raised hand, striking the clouds ahead. That lightning gathered a short distance away, like flowing threads, and suddenly the Gate Space stood on the other side of a lightning-ringed [Gate].

Erick led the way, with Rozeta at his side.

The Gate Space had grown by a lot since Teressa and Aisha had been filled with lightning falling from the sky, almost a month ago. The central platform had increased in size again, forming a layer of octagonal stone and scattered green spaces about a kilometer across. The fountain in the center had become a twenty meter tall thing of flowing water and a surrounding pond, filled with lilies and life. Flames glowed at the top of that fountain like a signal bonfine, shaped in a [Renew] rune.

The fountain’s pond emptied off the edge of the structure, tumbling into a minor river that wound back and forth in a ditch of depressed stones, to flow off into the sky, to reach for Yggdrasil in the distance like a tether.

Yggdrasil was bigger, too. Erick almost expected the big guy to notice that Erick was here; to notice that Rozeta was here, if nothing else. But that big [Scry] eye did not appear; Yggdrasil’s focus was locked to playing and learning at Treehome.

Erick looked up, and Rozeta looked up with him.

The sky was a distant thing, at least a few kilometers away, and deeply piled with whirling white Benevolence, like storm clouds that tried to be lightning now and again. With a mental flick from Erick, all that changed. The sky spooled into lightning, like a weaver gathering wool into yarn.

Silent lightning crashed across the heavens, spreading out and touching nothing except itself. A few darker tangles appeared here and there in those crossings, but nothing serious. Nothing imminent.

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Erick was somehow disappointed in that. “I expected to see a new tangle about this sudden decision.”

Rozeta was not disappointed at all, though. She was thrilled, and relieved. She smiled brightly and then began to relax, seeming less like a goddess in that moment and more like a friend who had just been told that some test results from a doctor had come back negative; nothing was wrong. She chuckled, saying, “That’s about correct, Erick. Nothing is wrong. Or at least you’re going to make the right decision.”

Erick had a sudden, burning question, “But isn’t it foolish to pin your hopes that this is all correct?” He swept a hand at his Gate Space. “That all this isn’t some figment of my imagination?”

Rozeta laughed a little; a happy sound. “I’ve looked at a lot more paths to the future than this one; This is just another confirmation among many that this is the right path, Erick. You made Benevolence very well! Be proud of your accomplishment, and what your mana means for the continued existence of this world, and all others to come.” She smiled. “But I am glad to see that you aren’t resting on your power, and that you are taking proactive roles to ensure that what we see comes to be. Nothing quite like actually working to make a problem go away, as opposed to doing nothing and hoping it goes away.”

“… Speaking of ‘doing’.” Erick faced the sky, asking Rozeta, “Got any plans for making this fairy pact not kill a lot of people?”

“Absolutely. I’ve got levers working everywhere to ensure a safe transfer of dragons to Ar’Cosmos. The fairy is the main one. She’s doing her thing, and in a few cases where those dragons pray to me —which is very rare for dragons, by the way. Dragons like gods about as much as the fairy does. In those cases of prayer, though, I am able to offer [Gate]s to put those directly to Ar’Cosmos, so that they don’t have to cross the world to get where they need to go.

“The news that I’m doing that is still disseminating, and that offer, once more know of it, will allow a lot of holdouts worried about encountering other dragons in their travels. They can head into Ar’Cosmos without risking a fight.

“Thankfully, not too many dragons have thrown too many hissy fits and exposed themselves to the broader world, but if they do, I have the Inquisition ready and able to respond to those scenarios within moments. Your Benevolence has actually been helpful in spotting those problems before they happened, too.

“One would-be-fight in Eidolon has already been prevented before it could even happen. Three more fights in other places met the same fate. In all four cases, every participating dragon in those fights were then moved into Ar’Cosmos without further incident.

“Everything is going very well, Erick. So far.” Rozeta said, “The only real wrench in this scenario is you, and the decisions you make today, for whatever you decide means that the flow of dragons might change.”

Erick was very glad to hear that Rozeta was taking this whole thing seriously, and as soon as Erick had that thought he realized that of course Rozeta would take a grand movement of dragons seriously. She wanted the Curse to exist to lock down dragons from controlling and fighting over the world until nothing was left, and so dragons hid, barely showing themselves. When people moved, though, there was always a chance for dragons to accidentally meet other dragons and start a fight, thus killing hundreds of bystanders or more.

And here was Erick, a source of possible draconic power; a Wizard able to allow those dragons to not have to flee to Ar’Cosmos under the threat of Fairy ultimatums. He was the same sort of power that dragons had been fighting with the wrought and with Kirginatharp all these centuries to control.

Erick had known it would get bad. He had known that dragons were going to come for him.

But now he realized…

Maybe he did need to be a dragon, just so he could withstand that sort of demand upon him.

Or he could run and hide and let the storm blow over.

But then dragons would raze Candlepoint to the ground, looking for him, or finding each other and fighting because the Curse would make them fight.

“There’s going to be a lot coming for me.” Erick asked, “I’m going to be a target again, no matter what my choices are, and many of them aren’t going to be nearly as polite as Al.”

“Yes.” Rozeta said, “But before we get into your response to that whole situation, I want to say a few things.

“I have a responsibility to maintain the Script.

“Dragons produce anywhere between 250 mana to 5,000 mana per day, with the vast majority producing somewhere around 4,000 mana per day, and a few other outliers here and there producing a lot more. That’s anywhere from 25 times the value of any other sapient, to 500 times. Each one you [Reincarnation], ridding themselves of their Dragon Essence, is the same as killing between 24 to 499 people.

“So this is all kinda like that pachinko machine I saw you playing around with that other time.

“I once said I wouldn’t care if you killed a thousand people, if you thought it best for the world. I reassert those words again.” Rozeta said to him, “If you need to ‘kill’ five thousand people, it’s fine. But that’s only transforming 20 dragons into normal sapients, and there are a lot more than that headed your way. I’m guessing 300 to 400 dragons. I would strongly prefer that you do not ‘kill’ around 140,000 people, each of which have lived for centuries or more, constantly contributing to the safety of their own small parts of the world, and by their very nature as dragons, and their habits of dropping kids wherever they go, the continued existence of Veird itself. But if you have to kill all those people… Then you have to.”

“… I didn’t consider that.” Erick looked at Rozeta. “Are you pushing me to do the dragon thing?”

“Absolutely.”

Erick blinked, uncomprehending.

“You wouldn’t need to get help from the fairy. I could help you instead.” Rozeta glanced around. “We could do it in here, but you’d need to make the space deeper, and by a lot; the Script is still here, and so is the Curse. We’d probably do it in a private plane, though, that I can cut off from Veird for a little while.” She looked to him. “Becoming a dragon would make your eventual full ascension to Wizard take less time, but not all that much less time. It would allow you to rather easily learn how to make double and triple cores, and allow you to remove those cores to use them in permanent enchantments. All that is rather nuanced, though, and not really important at the moment. One thing that is not nuanced, is that all your children henceforth would be half-dragons, carrying within them a small part of your own Paradox’d Benevolence. That one is fixable post-birth, though.”

Erick had no words. Instead, he looked out across the sky, and saw that nothing changed, even though he was really, truly considering Rozeta’s offer. He said, “I could fix my future kids, couldn’t I. Give them whatever bodies they should have after they’re born, instead of whatever genetics decides. And then when they grow up and if they don’t like the one I chose, I could change it again before they Matriculate… or whatever other Script-inclusion system might happen in the future.”

Rozeta nodded, then she said, “I do have about a thousand ulterior motives for suggesting this path to you, though, but I can tell you about the major ones. I want the Houses of Ar’Cosmos to have less power. I want you to be a stable force for as long as you feel like it. I want you to be less susceptible to murder and possible assassination. I want you to be as strong as you want to be, because when we do open new worlds I want you to be able to fight my father, if it should come to that.”

“… Ah.” Erick had quite a lot of thoughts. He focused on the one that was most important overall. “Would your father even allow such a threat to his power?”

“Yes.” Rozeta said, “For you, he would. He and I have already talked about this. He doesn’t think you would actually be a threat to him no matter what powers you could gain, and he is right. You will never actually be a threat to him. None of us ever will. But if he should actually try some shit, if he is still insane, I want a backup plan. You won’t be fighting to win against him; you would be fighting to survive, and ensure all the rest of us survive too. I want you to be fully strong when the time comes to help keep the world from breaking. You and any dragons you Paradox, too.”

“… Ah.” Erick watched the sky, and felt his decision coalesce inside his heart. He was going to do this, then. He was going to become a dragon. “But I like me. I don’t want to change.”

“Good news there! When I made [Paradox Shift] I built it thinking that this might happen, and I am glad to report that I can easily add a third option to your Paradox form; one with [Dragon Body]. I can even give you all the Dragon Essence you need to gain that power.” Rozeta said, “All of that is as simple as deciding you want this, and then following through. It’d take a day to get it done.”

“I suppose you have thought of everything, then.” Erick asked, “But what if I’m not good enough? What if this whole thing isn’t going to work at all?”

Rozeta smiled as she chuckled, saying, “You are a saint, Erick. You are more than good enough. If everyone in the world had even half of your desire to do good then Veird would have no problems at all.” She added, “But if this doesn’t work out, we can always remove your dragon body version of yourself. Such an action would be dangerous and it might cause unforeseen problems, but I could do it, and I wouldn’t even need your help to do it. If you’re worried about going on a rampage, don’t be.”

Erick smiled a little. “I was worried about exactly that.”

“I know.”

Erick stared out into the sky, as another thought formed in his mind; one that didn’t require becoming a dragon.

He could take whatever makes a dragon make all that mana, and then put it into another form.

A Protean, perhaps.

In that moment, it was like he was setting up the pachinko machine again, where one final slot held the deaths of a thousand people, and all the rest held nothing. Except in this case, every decision ended in death for at least a few people, and maybe a lot more than that. Who knew what would happen if Erick unleashed a second immortal and [Perfected Polymorph] type of people upon the world? One that didn’t fight with each other, like dragons do. One that had Erick’s Benevolence in them to start with.

In little time at all, Erick worked through that entirely new idea, and when he thought it was mostly finished, he mentally set himself upon this new course of action.

All the while he tried to sense for a feeling of ‘don’t do this’.

But nothing changed in the sky; the tangles of lightning were still distant and fractionally dark here and there. It was entirely possible that the sky was less dark overall, but that could mean many different things. Maybe he’d gotten rid of a few good possibilities out there, and made a few more bad things happen. Or maybe he had gotten rid of bad things, and gained some good. There was no way to really know except to let other people study the sky for a day, but even then, Erick knew that he would get conflicting opinions, and he’d have to make the decision on his own.

He’d always be making decisions on his own, wouldn’t he?

Erick briefly discarded his new idea, and turned his thoughts back to being a full dragon.

To hell with the protean idea.

Dragon all the way!

To dominating his part of the world! To handing out power to others, for them to dominate their parts of the world, too!

… But in a way different from normal draconic domination. Such a world would not be a repeat of the glimpsed horrors Erick had heard from Apogee, the planar half dragon from a world filled with dragons who ruled everything and ate all who opposed them. A Benevolent Dragon world wouldn’t look anything like the unfurling horror show happening in Ar’Cosmos right now, either, where Bright Smile was surely going to come out on top and become the Dragon Empress of Fairy.

A world of Benevolence Dragons would be something new.

And the sky remained the same.

He stared for a while.

And then he asked Rozeta, “What about taking whatever makes a person produce a lot of mana and shoving it into the protean species?”

Rozeta sighed a little. With great reluctance, she said, “If you want to go down that path, you need to talk to my father. You were going to anyway, but… Here are some facts, so that he doesn’t try to steer you wrong: I know what makes people make mana. The gods know, too. A few very select immortals know as well.

“But this is a topic that no one talks of for reasons you will discover. We have tried to Silence this information, and rip it out of people’s minds, making them unable to even think about this Truth, but this is impossible.

“And now you are wondering what has been hidden from you. What other parts of your naturally curious nature have been stripped from you without you ever realizing.

“The answer, in all cases, is this: That which you cannot know is that which would harm us all, and has thus been removed from you and all others. But as soon as you ascend to a True Wizard and remove yourself from the Script, all those limitations of the Script can’t touch you.”

Rozeta looked to him, waiting.

That was a lot.

Erick stared out into the sky of his Gate Space, thinking.

“… Not that unexpected, actually.”

“… I am glad you are taking this well.”

“I trust you, Rozeta, and I appreciate that you trust me, too.” Erick asked, “Anything else you think I should know before I go talk to your father?”

“I would rather you be a dragon than make a new race of dragon-like immortals, Erick. A hundred times over, I would rather the known solution than your new, protean idea.” Rozeta said, “Proteans are not inherently tied to Benevolence right now, but if you do this, then I will have to make them tied to Benevolence, and Benevolence would become like a new major subset of mana, like Stone, or Air, or Dragon, or Force. It is dangerous to do that. I would have to call for a full vote of all Relevant Entities to see if this would be allowed, and if they vote no, and if you continue with this idea, then… Then I would force myself to continue to work closely with you, just by the nature of your power and your role in this universe…

“But there would be strains. Breaks. Unknown fractures.

“Ultimately, I cannot dictate how you do your magic, but please don’t go down the unknown path. Please don’t accidentally break the Script, trying to make it fit a mold that is more pleasant for you.”

Erick felt a chill.

Maybe he should stick to being a dragon. Really consider that as a part of his future. It might be nice, actually? Dragons seem to like being dragons, and most of them are fully capable of being whatever form they wish to be, so it’s not like they’re limited by anything except for what the Dragon Curse did to them, and Erick wouldn’t be affected by that.

Hmm.

Would he like lounging around atop Yggdrasil’s roots, after a nice swim, laying in the sun like a very long, very large cat, soaking up the rays?

Erick smiled a little at that thought. He could just be nude all the time, then. Might be rather freeing! And hey! He could still turn back into himself and wear clothes and talk to people and be the same sort of person he had always been, like Kirginatharp, but with a lot more power and ability to make the world a better place.

And he could help others become Benevolent, too, and that was probably a good thing. Maybe he could really do this—

A wind blew across the sky.

Yggdrasil waved in the breeze.

And then everything changed.

The sky suddenly deepened, falling away like light piercing a gloomy night, revealing everything in the distance. Erick’s Gate Space was suddenly not a 150-ish year map of the future, with lightning lifting off the edge of mist a few kilometers off into space.

It was a map of a thousand years hence, with white mist falling into streamers of lightning, and collecting in brand new tangles. A few dark tangles still held at what Erick had considered the hundred year mark, but past that floated worlds.

Planets of black tangles, gently orbiting in a glowing sky.

Erick and Rozeta stood in the center of an orrery of unmatched Sight.

It would have been beautiful. Magical and miraculous.

Except for the dark tangle that held right next to the platform, larger than life, right on the edge of white stone, splashing lightning onto the ground. Ferns and mushrooms and flowers grew where that dark lightning touched, and then lightning touched again, burning everything down, only to zap again a moment later, sprouting life out of the ashes, bigger and more beautiful than what had come before.

Rozeta’s breath hitched as her entire body went rigid.

Erick’s heart skipped a beat, his core sitting beside that heart suddenly feeling small to contain all of his soul; of all that he was seeing.

Fizzing lightning and gentle wind was the only sound flowing through the Gate Space for a long while, as both goddess and Wizard studied what they saw.

A minute turned to five, and then to seven.

And then Rozeta spoke, “It’s a change, Erick. But...” Rozeta tore her eyes off of the nearest tangle, and gazed to the sky of planets beyond. White light fell from her eyes, like tears, and she did not bother to hide them, or brush them away. Without looking at him, she steeled her voice, and said, “Make your own choices, Erick. I’m sure it’ll turn out fine either way.”

“I hope so, Rozeta.”

Silence reigned again.

And Erick walked forward, into the lightning that flashed as black as Darkness Himself.

- - - -

Erick stepped into a familiar place that was not really familiar at all.

He had only ever been here for about 5 minutes, once, and that was almost two years ago. The place hadn’t changed, but Erick certainly had; he could actually see the area, thanks to his Perception and his mana sense.

The ground was mostly flat, but filled with rubble of all sorts from boulders to fallen ceiling, with ‘potholes’ here and there. But they weren’t potholes, as Erick remembered them; they were battle damage. Claw marks from meter-long claws that had been raked through the stone. Places where something heavy had crashed, breaking the surface. The walls of the tunnel were a good fifty meters away on both sides, and they looked worse than the road, looking like someone had used them for shelling practice in some previous century, or maybe only a few decades ago. Maybe not even that long.

The place was dark, but there was some light.

A few pillars of illumination stood here and there on the edges of the tunnel, like shining fountains of radiance, lighting this small part of the Underworld. They were actually long-lasting permanent wardlights attached to a version of runic web that was wholly buried into the ground, and thus protected from casual damage. They were a rather ancient design, but they still worked, though most of them out in the open had been mined for their precious metals long, long ago.

The only places that had lights like this were the deeper places that the Darkness had fully reclaimed.

That Darkness swirled up ahead, looking like a gloom standing tall in the tunnel, but still a lot smaller than he could be if he wanted to. Erick had noticed the massive dragon right away, for his mana sense stopped at Melemizargo’s influence, but Erick did not actually see the God of Magic yet.

Melemizargo was just a gloom right now.

An ink stain upon the world that was darker than black.

Erick felt melancholy well up within, but he was having none of that, and so with a grin upon his face,

Erick sang, “Hello Darkness my old friend. I’ve come to talk to you again—”

A small chuckle started in the tunnel, growing to a fast laugh as bright white eyes opened in the gloom, and Melemizargo pawed forth like only darkness could; his wings snapping backward and then collapsing against his shoulders, his tail whipping the air, his eyes glowing bright white as he smiled—

Fangs, the size of orcols, a mouth filled with dark radiance.

A voice like quiet thunder,

“Hello again, Erick.”

“Hello, Melemizargo.”

The Darkness moved in, slowly walking forward, and then to the side, circling Erick, his voice echoing as he spoke methodically, his darkness flowing, creating the inner wall of a hurricane there in that too-small, large tunnel, “Do you want to be a dragon, like me? Or more like the Other Dragons of Ar’Cosmos, spinning personal Truths that work well enough? Or do you desire to force dragons to mortal bodies that you control for the rest of their lives, constantly giving out rebirths until the former dragon displeases you? Or do you want to try some new form of immortality? To tear apart what makes a person make mana, and stuff it into a new, more permanent container? I’m open to many different suggestions, and options.” Melemizargo stopped, standing directly in front of Erick, his head and fangs and bright, bright white eyes barely meters away, his voice filling the world, “All you have to do is make a decision which affects all of the coming universe, and then keep making that decision for the rest of eternity.”

Erick felt sweat drop down his back, and all over himself, but not because of Melemizargo’s closeness—

—not just because of Melemizargo’s closeness—

—but because Melemizargo was angling for something. Sure, the decisions Erick made today would have long lasting consequences, and he would have to keep making those decisions until he felt like doing something else, but if Erick should truly feel like doing something else, he could give up his responsibilities to another.

“What do you want, Melemizargo?”

“Two things!” The God of Magic pulled back, seeming to smile a bit as he spoke from a much more comfortable position twenty meters above Erick. “The first is simple. On Shadow’s Feast you will sing that song to me and you will sing it well. The full thing! I want to hear it all, for the words vibrate something inside of me that has not been active in a very, very long time.”

“… And the second?”

“Consider asking me to turn those wayward dragons into Shades!” Melemizargo grinned. “It is the perfect solution to your problems. I’ll even give you ultimate authority over all of them—” He Looked at Erick. “—as I already have, but which you have failed to accept fully—” He digressed. “It might be too early for more Shades, though, so I could lock those particular Shades into a small, timeless box, and let them out into the future. Say? 50 years? I could bring them out one at a time, too, and ensure that they all play nice, under your well-established rule. They won’t even know that any time has passed, at all. Seems like a nice middle-path to me.”

Erick stared up at the black dragon. “Really.”

Melemizargo looked down at Erick, going from a strongman look, to instantly allowing his face to show that he had known full well he had asked for too much. “Well fine then. The Shade option is not really necessary. I do want the full song, though. That part is not negotiable. Such a display will show that you are actually committed to this treaty between Myself and all the godly sparks barely holding onto their existence in this tiny world.”

“… I would like to know what it is that makes people make mana,” Erick said, trying to move the conversation forward, “And if I can preserve that somehow through [Reincarnation].”

Melemizargo smiled a little, then said, “You can preserve some of that, but not all of it, for not all of that production is within your rights. It is within mine, and I don’t feel like sharing that with you right now. There are some things you can change through your [Reincarnation], though. I will list how it all works, and you can then decide what to do with that information afterward.

“Here now is how mana production works:

“Life itself grants you a single point, though certain types of existences grant more. Wizards, for instance. Dragons are another. I am not telling you about that particularity, though, for that is the information I am withholding… Probably. However, you can still do a lot for the people under you.

“Base production is gained through experience with the mana, and through learning how mana actually works. The Script artificially causes this rise in people through the implantation of points and spells and a resulting familiarity. If people can actually learn to use those grafted magics, and if they gain aura control and mana sense and they learn how to transform an Elemental Body into a Greater version of that magic, then they gain more base mana.

“With these things gained, a normal person, starting at 1 mana production, can raise to 5, then 10, then 50 to 75 base mana. A person was not a mage in the Old Cosmology unless they gained around 50 base mana production.

“A Truth of the Self is perhaps the largest bonus that most people will ever gain, and that is worth 100 to 500 base mana production, depending on the Truth, and the person wielding it. Once a mage attains a Truth, they are usually able to become an archmage without needing much more than what they already have.

“And now we come to the multipliers, which are separate but often linked to the base modifiers.

“Immortality is an easy 10 times multiplier.

“The head of a major magic school, and much of the staff, all of them ensuring that people learn of magic, can each gain as much as a 10 times multiplier to their own mana production.

“The entire major governing body of a nation usually finds themselves with another 10 times multiplier.

“Most people are just normal people, though, gaining perhaps a 2-ish multiplier if they are the head of a large family. A farmer supporting a city on her crops is another 2-ish multiplier. The head of a growing co-op is perhaps a 3.

“Killers of killers get a large multiplier, but wars are always mana sinks. Sometimes necessary, true, but usually not.

“Killers of the innocent. Killers of the normal. Killers of the powerful. Not much of a multiplier! No real negatives, though.

“Everyone has an upper limit of how much mana they can actually produce, and that is rather unchangeable and based on that part of mana production that I am not willing to share with you. Most people reach this limit if they try at all.

“But if your goal is more mana, overall, the best thing to do is make more people.” Melemizargo said, “So if my daughter has a problem with you [Reincarnation]ing some dragons because their mana production will go down, I would tell her to take a look at the nation you are building, where you have plans to teach magic properly, with runic webs and Remake quests and Particle Magic newness. All that real learning should counterbalance the loss of a few hundred dragons by quite a lot, as soon as you get a real population.”

Interesting.

Erick had another sudden question.

“What is my total production? Without being a Wizard?”

Melemizargo smiled. “Are you trying to trick an answer of ‘what is mana production’ out of me, Erick Flatt? Did Rozeta not tell you? I would have expected her to, but then again they do always try to keep that particular knowledge hidden and I always have to go teach them not to.” He lost his smile there at the end. “Now that you are here, and you still don’t know… Do I have to go teach them that lesson again?”

Erick scowled. “Actually, she told me that you would tell me, so don’t be an asshole about this.”

Melemizargo’s eyes widened in surprise, and then he filled with joy as he laughed loud, then said, “Wonderful! I’ll tell you the secret of what makes mana! It’s Darkness. It’s Me. Every single soul has a bit of Darkness inside of it, and it is that Darkness that allows one to connect to all the other mana out there, and produce mana of their own. A tiny bit of breaking! A tiny twinge of soul sundering —though that terminology is completely wrong— constantly turning possibilities into mana, and allowing every living being to turn mana into magic. If you magnify that Darkness through ways that were decided long, long before I took up the Mantle of the God of Magic, you magnify your mana production. My Darkness doesn’t actually soul sunder you, though. Using one of those awful little devices —which are not aptly named at all— is to violently turn a soul into possibility, ripping out the Darkness and mulching the soul in the process.”

Erick…

Had a lot of thoughts about that.

But mainly it was just one:

“I have Darkness inside of me?”

Melemizargo leaned in, smiling wide, his glowing white fangs framing a cavern of light, as sun-bright eyes stared down. “A lot more than most.”

Erick processed that.

And Melemizargo pulled back, adding, “Dragons have a bit more than most other people, as is their draconic right, as the people most Blessed by Darkness. But then there are people like you, who look like the First Wizard, who caused the Darkness to cause everything else. Oddly enough, Wizards rarely ever happen among dragons because dragons are already Blessed by Darkness. Sometimes, though, a Wizard turns into a dragon, and has the powers of both. If you wanted to be a dragon I would not be opposed, Erick. I would actually like it if you could join me at my level of power. You’d certainly be more of a god than all the other phantoms running around in this tiny world.

“You’d still be lesser than me, though. Let’s not kid ourselves.”

Erick wanted to sit down.

They all wanted him to be a dragon. Even Melemizargo.

All of them had different reasons, too. And now this Darkness-thing, with mana production, was yet another layer to the whole issue. Erick tried to think logically about all this, about why they all wanted him to be a dragon, but he was still missing some pieces—

Wait.

“What is the Dragon Curse, Melemizargo?”

A dark chuckle.

“You think I seek to burden you, my dear Wizard, with that awful Curse? By ascending you to a power easily able to topple Kirginatharp, that you will, by all rights, take his place as Second to Rozeta? And that somehow the Curse will transfer to you?”

“That was exactly what I was thinking, Melemizargo.”

“Well your paranoia does you poorly in this case. Your idea of moving the Curse onto you certainly seems like a scheme that someone out there might have come up with, but not me, and I doubt any of the gods actually want you interacting with that Curse at all. If you gained the Curse, you could remove it from yourself, and thus from the whole world.” Melemizargo said, “Which is the opposite of what everyone seems to want.”

“… Okay. Well. That seems somewhat reasonable.”

“Also! It can’t be moved, anyway. I made sure of that.” Melemizargo said, “When Idyrvamikor made the orcols and threatened to consume all of this tiny world’s people into one —very poor decision on that boy’s part, which he only found out later— and Kirginatharp interfered, turning Idyrvamikor’s civilization curse into a spell that only affected him, I had to step in to prevent the utter destruction of everything and everyone on this world. Because, with how the Script limits the number of fae in this world, if Idyrvamikor’s spell had completed properly and all people including the fae had been turned into one, then the number of people left alive in this world would only be one. This had been that fairy’s plan all along, to force Rozeta to increase the bands of Elemental Fae on Veird.

“But since I can only sense this singular world, I had to prevent this absolute tragedy.

“In the aftermath, I might have gone overboard, though, and Kirginatharp is now Cursed with the Dragon Curse, irrevocably, and Idyrvamikor got murdered by that fairy for failing to live up to her expectations, since he was wounded by his failed Wizardry and thus easy pickings, and also proven to be weak enough to need killing, too.” Melemizargo added, “That fairy murdering her husbands is what that fairy does to all men who disappoint her that much, by the way.”

“… How much of that is true?”

“All of it!” Melemizargo said, “But you are right to question my memory. I’m not so good with remembering that part of my life either, and really, everyone was at fault for what happened way back then. Maybe someone else eventually killed Idyrvamikor? I doubt it, though; that fairy has a very specific operating procedure. Idyrvamikor was left alive after that failed Grand Wizardry, though. That’s all I personally remember. The rest I’ve had to piece together.

“But I’ll get it all back, for sure! Soon, Erick! Soon! Darkness will spread once again! And you will be the Herald of Benevolence that lights the way!

“You should probably become a dragon just so no crazy people can crawl out of the woods and kill you when you least expect it.” Melemizargo said, “Those are the ones you really have to watch out for. The crazies. I should know; I used to be one of them. That fairy will always be one of them, according to her base nature.”

… Whatever came out of today, Erick was sure of only one thing at this singular moment. He was not messing with the Darkness inside of himself; he would not be touching the source of all mana that deeply. The Darkness would touch back.

It was also rather concerning to find out that Erick was only capable of Wizardry because of the Darkness inside of himself—

… Wait.

Erick scowled. “Was I a Wizard before I came to Veird?”

“Yes,” Melemizargo said, “Absolutely. There is life outside of Veird, Erick! And you are proof of it. For the longest time I thought this meant that I was trapped in a [Fake World], or some other truly powerful magic. How else, but through some spell’s function, could you explain the Sundering; a sudden event that did not make itself known through normal matters of Time Paradox Wizards, always flitting about as they wished? I would have known of the Sundering before it happened.

“I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, ERICK!

“IT MAKES NO SENSE THAT I DID NOT KNOW—” Melemizargo breathed. “Pardon the anger.”

Erick barely heard the apology.

The world had quaked when Melemizargo roared, the very mana vibrating with shockwaves of black magic. Erick’s own magic failed him, as he fell to the floor, all his spellwork breaking from his body, his aura falling away from his control, his [Pristine Benevolence] canceling.

And his mind filling with utter terror, blanking under the displeasure of an angry God among gods.

But then Melemizargo pulled himself back, the tunnel —now broken just that much more— began to shift as cracks sealed and boulders melted into solid floor. Claw marks vanished. Tail smashes healed, the walls transforming back into something solid.

Erick’s mind transformed back into something solid, too. As his brain started working again he began casting all the spells that had been stripped from him, knowing that the only reason he was being allowed to cast those spells at all was that Melemizargo was letting him. Healing magics began repairing broken eardrums and lacerated skin, and restoring Erick’s left pinky, which had caught on a wave of Darkness and simply disintegrated.

Erick eventually climbed back onto his feet, though his shoes were gone and his feet now touched bare rock, and his pants and all his other clothes had been ripped apart. His rings were broken; he would have to make more. Fairy Moon’s necklace was broken, too; a hairline crack ran right through the center of the small watermelon-like jewel hanging on Erick’s necklace.

His timeline was no longer hidden to all viewers. He was once again visible to the world through mana sense, and [Witness], and all those other spells.

… Not good.

Melemizargo sat there on his haunches, waiting for Erick to be ready to continue.

Erick breathed, and then nodded; ready to continue. “As you were saying? About Wizards and planars?”

Melemizargo nodded in return. “There is life outside of Veird. Perhaps it is just bits of Darkness that had fallen through the Yawning Voids left by Primal Lightning, that collected upon whatever life was already out here in your universe. Perhaps my predecessors for the Mantle got up to some shenanigans long before I came along, and seeded your universe with ours. Or maybe it was the other way around. I think the most obvious answer is that mana exists in all universes. The fairies seem to think so. Whatever the case, Wizards naturally occur in this New Cosmology, too. But without a true mana-holding environment, those Wizards can never grasp what they innately have.

“And yet, Wizards will be Wizards.

“I suspect that every planar who has ever come to Veird is the product of an unfortunate or fateful or perhaps even Fateful encounter with a Wizard, since Elemental Fate is not locked away outside of Veird. Perhaps there are some sorts of mechanisms out there which can replicate, temporarily, the mana density of a normal manasphere? I do not know. I cannot sense the mana out there; it is a complete Void to me. To me! Which is odd and I want to be angry about all over again, but also I do not want to hurt you again, so let us continue with Wizards and chance: A Wizard does a Wizardry, and then magic happens, as it sometimes does, and people get whisked to this tiny world in some odd, arcane form of spontaneous magic. Possibly because the density is so much higher here, and so a random [Teleport] puts them here, most of the time? Maybe for another reason. I suspect that most people either end up here, if they are lucky and the Wizard wants them to succeed, or maybe the planar is simply shredded by forces they never see coming.

“There were planars in the Old Cosmology, too, and the theory about why those people happened and why people like you continue to happen, is the same as it always has been… But it’s all still actually a mystery to us. Or maybe not.

“I am the Darkness, but I have also forgotten more than I have ever known. I doubt I’ll ever be able to get it all back.

“If that makes sense to you.

“Based on what I have seen of you, I theorize that you didn’t want to lose your daughter, and you were on the very edge of that happening, and so, on a strange road in the middle of wherever —if I have that part of your story right— you finally did your first bit of Wizardry. You sent your daughter here, to someplace that you thought might be safe. Or that she might enjoy. Or maybe it was truly just a strange accident? Who knows! Maybe you do, if you search yourself deeply enough. Or maybe not?

“And for whatever reason, you came along for the ride!” Melemizargo said, “I am very glad that you did.” He stretched to his full, regal height, and asked, “So you want to be a dragon now, right? Make some Benevolence dragons of your own, and all that?”

Erick wanted to do quite a lot, but maybe not transform himself into some other species right this very moment.

“I think I’d rather like a nap back home, actually,” Erick said, “And then maybe dinner, or something. Talk to others.”

“That’s an option, too! I look forward to your eventual choice, whatever it might be.”

Erick blinked—