It had been frantic.
And now, for the moment, it was over.
Erick sat down on a conjured chair, sighing in relief. Solomon joined him. The others were busy looking over everyone, as they slept in groups on white stone platforms above the slime dungeon main floor, out and away from the Gate. Both he and Solomon were fucking exhausted.
That had been a lot of magic, as quick as they could do it.
The Grand Hall was gone. They almost hadn’t been fast enough. Erick glanced over toward the Black Gate and the space beyond. What was once a hallway of Judgment was now a kaleidoscope of prismatic black, like it usually was.
“So that worked out?” Solomon asked, teasing sort of, but exhausted and not at the top of his game.
“I wanted to ask him to bring everyone he cared about into the room before we proceeded, hoping that he would believe me, but expecting that he would not. I was hoping it would take awhile between his realization of what was happening and the total collapse of that place. Time to talk and be cryptic, to allow for the saving of more people…”
Solomon finished Erick’s thought, “There was no way it was ever going to work out perfectly.” And then he added, “Let’s take solace in that it worked at all.”
Erick looked to the left, to where Avandrasolaro slept upon the ground.
The processes of summoning angels and demons were practically the same; involving Elemental Exalted or Vile which then got turned into proper Angelic and Demonic when interfaced with an actual sentient collection of that sort of person. They were almost elementals in that way. Summoning and controlling them was a lot more difficult than just [Conjure Force Elemental]… But not really.
But Avandrasolaro was a real person now; not just a conjured being made of Elemental Angel.
Erick had done that. He had taken Avandrasolaro and turned him into a real person, who was also an angel.
Avandrasolaro lay on his back, on a thin mattress. He was brown and muscular and bald, and a towel covered his dignity. His weapons were mostly lost in the transfer, but even now, Erick watched as his Angelic soul manifested those weapons in the air beside him. Just tiny daggers for now, but they would grow to fullness soon enough, especially with that much power inside that man. He didn’t appear to be a demigod anymore, but… Who knew what the future held.
That man was technically the only real angel on Veird, as far as Erick knew. Sure, the Converter Angel on the moon Celes could come back through a strong enough ritual to that effect, and she would also be a true angel on Veird, but that wasn’t likely to happen as far as Erick knew. That Converter Angel was on the moon, doing moon-side things, like talking to dead people and other stuff. Erick had never met that Converter Angel in as long as he had been at Candlepoint in the last 11 years, but he had heard of her now and again. Apparently, she was the Converter Angel; she had never been killed, like all the Breach Demons were eventually killed. She just went away until it was time to come back to exact revenge against the demons and their incani children.
Which had been a minor mindfuck, but enough sources corroborated it that Erick believed it.
Erick said, “I hope he can actually end the Forever War.”
“He’ll need to regain power,” Lorizal said, standing near the angel, staring down at Avandrasolaro like he was a certain kind of salvation. “The Church of Peace is ready to help that happen.” Lorizal looked up at Erick. “We hope House Benevolence will be there beside us as we work to end the Forever War.”
Erick shut that down, “Sorry, no. House Benevolence will not step into the Forever War; we are neutral. But Solomon here will be helping with that, as soon as we’re done here in this Sundering Search, and other such Dark investigations.”
Solomon bowed his head. He was still sitting, still tired.
Other people were working right now.
Guile sat near Avandrasolaro’s head, looking down at him, studying the angel. And then he looked up at a hovering shard of manifested Angelic. It was still growing, tiny motes of power continually gathering, crystallizing, as angels always did. Erick thought it might become a sword; he wasn’t sure. It certainly wasn’t going to become a mace.
Guile spoke up, “This summoning was unorthodox, but it seems to have worked out.” He looked to Erick. “You are a Strong Wizard, aren’t you.”
Erick nodded. “I’ve been told that; yes.”
Guile hummed and looked back to the shard of not-metal, hovering in front of him. “Everything you did with this summoning was wrong, but it still worked out. Or maybe I am the one who is wrong. Magic certainly doesn’t work like it used to work.”
Solomon asked, “What did he do wrong?”
Erick was interested, too.
Guile said, “Nothing, as far as I could see. The spellwork to open the way, the power displayed in that opening, the layering of intent, the pulling of purpose. Even the crafting of auric power afterward, in the frantic re-embodying of all these people… But something still feels wrong, and I cannot put my paw on it. I will inform you when I come to a theory.”
“Probably the anti-meme,” Solomon said, offhandedly.
Erick thought so, too. But to get back to the topic, “How would you have summoned people from the Dark?”
“A year of preparation. Tracking down every single piece of the person I could find. Cherished memories locked into items to use as bait. Finding a good spot in the Dark to plumb, and having to pass a Trial of the Dark to get a single opportunity— though I suppose you’ve done plenty of Trials already. And then there would be about an hour-long Calling. Maybe a week-long Calling in some cases.”
Erick asked, “I can understand most of that, but at the end of the day the final ritual shouldn’t take that long, should it? It’s just pulling someone from a different reality into this one. A simple translation from one harmonic reality to another. It's a complicated Rift, but not much more than that. When you line up all the pieces, anyway.”
Solomon added, “The Dark used to be a lot larger, so I assume that would account for most of the change in Calling times.”
“That’s a good point,” Erick said. “Though I assume the Dark could help with that if they were so inclined.”
“Melemizargo and the Dark both seem very inclined these days,” Solomon said.
Guile frowned. He looked at the two of them. “What’s Rift Magic?”
Erick paused before he answered, because the nature of that question hit him rather solidly. He looked to Solomon, and Solomon returned the confused look.
Solomon asked Guile, “Do you not know Rift Magic? —Oh wait. Translation error?”
Guile waited.
Erick said, “It’s opening barriers between this world and side-dimensions. Other wavelengths of existence. Other frequencies— Ah…” That wasn’t helping. Those were all physics terms. Erick tried, “Other resonances? Like this world exists on a certain level, and all the other Elements exist on another level; separate from this main world yet still existent in their own world. Like Fairy is just on the other side of Springtime—” Guile seemed to understand that, so Erick finished with, “—and Rift Magic is weakening the walls and allowing that other dimension to spill through into this one.”
Guile nodded. “Rift Magic, yes. I recall Rift Magic now. And yes, this is sort of like Rift Magic.”
… He was deflecting. Why was he deflecting?
Solomon noticed, too. He said to Erick, “You’ve been working on that multiversal theory of magic.”
Ah. Yes. Erick explained, “All magic is basically all Rift Magic.”
Solomon continued, “I imagine that this sort of knowledge used to be rather widespread, actually. For how could there be advanced civilizations of magic users out there without knowing this? [Gate] is rather wide spread, and there were a lot of Wizards in the Old Cosmology making nodes in their chosen Elements to use as Gate Nodes.”
… Erick was suddenly not tired anymore.
“Fairy Moon knew what she was doing when she made me realize Benevolence,” Erick said. “You should know about this stuff, Guile. You should know very well about all of this.”
Guile looked a little lost.
“… I don’t think it’s a translation error, Erick,” Solomon said, as he looked around.
Moments ago, people had been listening to them, trying to decide what the Wizards were talking about, but now they were back to investigating the new arrivals and talking amongst themselves about what came next.
Guile, meanwhile, was narrowing his eyes at nothing in particular, his gaze darting back and forth just a little bit. At the mention of Fairy Moon, though, he focused hard.
Fairy Moon stepped to Erick’s side, looking around. She noticed Avandrasolaro and all the others right away, but she was mostly turning her face this way and that, as though she were seeing something that wasn’t there.
Panic began to rise within Erick, like a leviathan from the depths. He checked on his most precious things in the world.
The girls were all fine. There was Abigail, Beth, Candice, Emily, and Jane—
“You can see them now, can’t you!” Debby’s bracelet shifted on her arm as she yelled at them, “Tell me you can see them too! Please!”
“See wha—”
There was something red in the air.
Scattered, jagged cracks, floating like crimson snow—
- - - -
“Of course I know of Rift Magic,” Guile said. “This is clearly a different application of it than I would have done. Seems like you must be tapping into Fate Magic, too.”
Erick shrugged. And then he looked down at Avandrasolaro. “Want to wake the big guy up?”
Unanimous consent among all those involved soon had Poi unraveling the [Sleep] spell he had put on Avandrasolaro.
The angelic ruler of a trillion people and the founder of the legendary Bisection, opened his dark eyes. His still-regrowing weapon-shard wings began to grow much faster as a white-gold light shone from Avandrasolaro’s soul and eyes, and collected upon his weapons, crusting them over, before shattering to reveal full-sized swords and daggers and maces. In a flash his towel flipped away, leaving behind a kilt he had been wearing on the throne.
Erick, Solomon, Guile, and Lorizal stood near him. Everyone else had retreated.
Avandrasolaro sat up, giving a glance to the sleeping forms of all the other people who had been inside the Judgment Day hall. And then he looked at Erick, Solomon, Guile, and Lorizal. He got to his feet, and then he bent the knee, bowing toward them, saying, “A rescue from Dark Death is a priceless boon, and to give the same to my family and friends is too generous. Give me your greatest command and I will see it done, whether it takes me ten thousand years or more.”
Erick was thankful that this whole thing was going so well. Avandrasolaro was swift on the uptake, and willing to do what it took to save his people first, and then himself. He had been the last one through the Black Gate, and Erick respected that a great deal. For those reasons and for all the stuff he had seen during the day of Judgment, Erick didn’t foresee any problems with agreeing to this sort of arrangement the Angel was proposing.
Erick said, “End the Forever War through as peaceful and prosperous of means as you can.”
Avandrasolaro went stock-still. He thawed as he spoke, “I will… have to make an assessment on this request before I can agree to such a thing, but the basic idea has merit and I am interested in working toward that goal.”
“Most of the work has already been done,” Erick said, “Over 1400 years ago, the Old Demons screwed up and erased alvani from existence, while making their own forceful union of demon and human viable as a species called incani. Over the next hundred years, the incani murdered all the Old Demons to the very last and took over as the rulers of Elemental Vile, but instead of peace, the Forever War continues between Angels and the New Demons to this day. It spills down to mortal descendants in the phenomenon known as the Quiet War.” Erick gestured to Lorizal, “Lorizal Ex is one of those descendants of demons, but she is not involved in the war. She is a priestess of Koyabez, of Peace, and has been dedicated to the end of all wars for most of her life.
“And there’s so much more than that going on.
“But please, rise,” Erick said, “I would speak with you about a lot, and I’m sure you have lots of questions, too.”
Avandrasolaro rose steady on his feet, a light frown upon his face, filled with concern and unsaid questions. He did not speak, though. He waited. He observed Lorizal deeply, and then he moved to Erick and Solomon, and finally Guile. Surprise lit upon his face when he realized Guile was actually Guile, but he said nothing. He waited.
Erick said, “… Anyway. There’s no great rush to go out crusading or anything like that. We’re in a period of peace right now. But the Forever War could start up again once we’re expanding out to new worlds, and we don’t want that to happen. We wish for an end to the cycle of violence, and that is why we brought you back from the Dark. We want peace and prosperity for all.” Erick gestured to Solomon, saying, “This is my brother. We’re of comparable actual power, though I have a lot more political power in this world, but we’re practically the same person anyway. He wants to work with you to end the Forever War. Do you have any major questions, before we get to the actual questions of what all is truly going on here?”
Avandrasolaro asked, “Am I to be your lapcat for eternity? Or a partner? Or have you summoned me as Ruler of the Bisection?”
“I absolutely do not mind if you become a partner, or even something of a ruler once again.” Erick gestured to his people, still sleeping on conjured mattresses and under conjured blankets all across stone platforms. There were 167 of them. “Your people are here and they’re free to make their own decisions and become rulers, too, if they’re able. They’re all human for right now, because that’s simply how we had to make it work, but I can change them into better bodies soon enough.
“All that is likely going to happen in the next few days, weeks, or months, is that you and your people will become more secure in yourselves over at some property of mine, known as the Wake Up House. I have been bringing people back to life or giving them new lives for a while now, and that’s where almost all of those people spend some time after that event.”
Avandrasolaro took a moment, then he asked, “Who are you?”
“Ah. Sorry. I’m Erick Flatt, Wizard of Benevolence, of House Benevolence, Apparent King, and some might call me one of the most powerful persons on this planet… And a lot of those words mean very little to you, which is to be expected.”
Avandrasolaro said, “No. I am asking, who are you, to pull us all out of the Dark like this.”
Erick wasn’t quite sure how to answer that—
Solomon said, “The living treaty between all the various antagonistic forces of this world, to ensure that we all learn how to get along until such time as he can pass that power onto others, and the means by which we will all get going into new worlds, after the Sundering destroyed the Old Cosmology 1451 years ago. You died 180,000 years ago, by the way, but the Dark has been holding onto you for a long time.”
Avandrasolaro went stock still again, even the soft movements of his wing weapons freezing in place. Except for his eyes. His eyes focused on Erick.
“… This is a lot to take in,” the angel said, not fully grasping all that Erick had explained.
“Completely understandable,” Erick said. “So how about we get you and your people into some better accommodations and I set you up to learn all about what is happening here on your own time?” Erick lifted his hand and all the sleeping people rose into the air, all across the nearby space, as the Apparent King took a step into the air himself, light spilling out below his feet. “We have to leave the dungeon first in order to do that, so if you would please follow me.”
A flash of light swept out of Erick as he laid a ten-meter wide staircase of solid Benevolence in the air, like an illuminated path leading from the Black Gate area, up to the exit of the dungeon in the center of the dungeon, high in the sky. It was wide enough for every single person in the group to walk, but it would take a few minutes to walk because the exit was five kilometers away.
It was a good distance. It would allow for many, many questions to spill out of Avandrasolaro.
To get that tide of questions moving, Guile sidled up to him, saying, “Welcome back, Avandrasolaro. They brought me back a few days ago.”
Erick stepped up the path and the sleeping people followed, floating in the air beside the way out.
After a moment Avandrasolaro followed too, concern still etched deep on his face. But he saw his people were fine, and no one was making any moves on him, and Guile seemed to be a familiar face. He said to the small fox, walking at his side, “Are you ready to admit you were wrong to try and eat my wife? Do you apologize for everything that happened after that?”
Guile frowned, his tails going stiff… And then he relaxed. In a small, yet sincere way, he said, “I am sorry I tried to eat your wife.”
“Then we are settled,” Avandrasolaro said, with strength. And then, softer, he smiled, and said, “It is good to see you again, old friend. It seems you have a habit of turning up in my life at the strangest times.”
“You have no idea how strange.”
Avandrasolaro looked across the dungeon space, at the Dark, and at the slimes playing in the waters, and at the iridescent black beyond the Black Gate, saying, “I’ve seen strange things before.”
Guile chirped, laughing as foxes did, then he said, “They call where we were the Old Cosmology, Avandrasolaro. This is the New Cosmology, as in an entirely new universe, because the old one was destroyed in a grand Sundering. The entire thing. Gone.”
“… I don’t believe you.”
“It is rather unbelievable,” Guile said, nodding.
Avandrasolaro looked around again. “… But what I do believe... Is that trust is better than distrust in initial meetings between non-antagonistic forces, and even sometimes among antagonists.” He looked to Erick. “If you give me a reason to distrust you then it will be a lot harder to work with you going forward.”
The threat was implied.
Erick said, “I would expect nothing less. In the following days, I will be proving myself as a cooperative resource for you to call upon when needed.” Erick paused his walk, as he realized something else needed to be said. He turned. He looked at Avandrasolaro. The angel suddenly stopped on the stairs in response to Erick. Everyone stopped. Erick took a moment, then said, “I’m very sorry we couldn’t grab everyone you knew and loved. All I could reach was you, and the people in that room. We spent hours looking at you, but we had no good indication of when it was proper to interrupt, or how anything truly worked on that Judgment Day. Guile provided some information, but you’re little more than a memory of a brighter past to those of us living in this world right now. I had hoped to be able to tell you to gather everyone you loved… I’m very sorry, Avandrasolaro. I did what I could. I am not asking for your forgiveness right now, but I hope that one day you might give that forgiveness.”
Avandrasolaro was tense as Erick spoke. He was not used to his new, physical body, either. He noticed his own tension and seemed appalled at himself for a moment, but then Erick said what he had said, and brain chemicals and physiological responses took hold in a way that was clearly uncomfortable for the big man. A few tears fell, shimmering white-gold as they traced tracks down brown skin. Avandrasolaro spoke through his pain, “I was dead, and now I live again, instead of being a would-be-forgotten memory. I thank you for doing this for me and for all the people you managed to save. It is more than anyone could have asked for.”
He seemed sincere.
It was as much as Erick could hope for.
Erick said, “I’m still sorry we couldn’t save more.” Erick turned, and began walking up the stairs again. “Got any questions?”
Avandrasolaro and the whole contingent of others resumed walking.
Silence stretched.
And then the big angel asked, “Read any good books lately?”
Erick huffed a tiny chuckle; there and then gone.
The atmosphere lightened.
And Erick said, “I haven’t read much recently; not for enjoyment, anyway. I have a friend who reads everything she can get her hands on, though, and she told me about a series called ‘Whispers in the Pantry’ that she wanted me to read. It’s apparently a well-regarded comedy of errors, about a young man meeting women and turning them into his enemies through his own ineptitude…”
The conversation continued, with Avandrasolaro talking of books, and then Erick mentioning movies. It was an exchange of culture practically 200,000 years distant from each other, and yet people were mostly people. Eventually the group reached the surface and Avandrasolaro stared at the brilliant blue sky, his questions falling silent as he took in the sight of the moons in the east, rising above the horizon like three drops of color upon the endless blue; a drop of white, a silver drop, and a bit of pink.
“That would be Celes of the Angels, the Silver Star of Koyabez, and Hell of the Demons,” Erick explained. “We can talk about that later if you want, but for now—” Erick opened a [Gate] to the Wake Up House, to the reception room, where nurses and doctors were dressed as professional as they could dress and Director Magnin stood ready to receive his new patients. “This [Gate] takes us to the Wake Up House, far away from here. Getting back here will be easy because I have a Gate Network up and running…”
Erick stepped through as he explained, carrying all the sleeping kings and queens of the Bisection with him in a softly floating train. Avandrasolaro followed. And the others followed him.
Events proceeded rapidly and sometimes painfully slow as people got situated and woken up and tempers flared or emotions turned dark and depressive. Avandrasolaro calmed all that he could and then the panic started but was quickly quashed by others. Lorizal got to talking with Avandrasolaro about the Forever War. Solomon spoke with Avandrasolaro about this and that. Erick introduced the man to his daughters, all 6 of them, and also to his friends, and then Avandrasolaro started getting some really concerning questions about the nature of the world.
So Erick took the angel and Solomon on a small tour of the world, to show him how the Gate Network functioned and some places of interest; the human kingdoms of Greensoil, the incani kingdoms of the Wasteland, the mixed demi nations of the Songli Highlands, and the orcols of Treehome and a bunch of other places. Avandrasolaro had kept himself in reserve, but now he started to actually ask about what would happen next. Erick asked about what he could actually do, which was still a mystery, and Avandrasolaro let go of some of his trepidation. He spoke of his powers a little bit, warming up in a certain kind of way, finally beginning to believe that this truly was happening.
And then Erick introduced the angel to House Benevolence, and Candlepoint.
The entire trip was a whole big thing for Avandrasolaro, but for Erick and Solomon, it was running through everything they knew about the world, and simply repeating it in a way that Avandrasolaro could understand.
They cut the world tour short, though, because Avandrasolaro’s people were starting to get truly pushy with their demands, and more than one of them wanted a [Reincarnation] into something else. Erick was happy to oblige, trying to make the new people as comfortable as possible.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
But there were limits to his generosity. No elves. No dwarves; at least not yet, and no, he didn’t have any real good reason for that. No; he couldn’t do alvani at all, for many reasons, all of those reasons being the same as why he couldn’t do elementassi; the Death of All Halves was still in effect in certain ways. An old dragonkin body? Like with wings? Erick tried that, and he succeeded. The resulting person was extremely happy, and yet still reserved. They kinda reminded Erick of Rats, that old guard of his who quit long ago. He was living down with Messalina’s entourage last Erick heard, but that was years ago; the guy did his damnedest to avoid Erick at all times, too, so Erick never really pursued that reconnection.
Eh.
Some people wanted to be orcols after they saw orcols for the first time. Erick explained about Aloethag and all that, but everyone who wanted to be an orcol already knew what they were signing up for; these people were not dumb, after all. Erick granted them their wishes.
And that’s what started a whole round of everyone else suddenly wanting different bodies; more beautiful, more perfect, more whatever-they-wanted. Erick had seen this before and he had given the same sort of response to that demand for beauty time and time again. He simply told people that one more change was all they would get, until they proved themselves as beneficial to the entire world, at which point he would be happy to renew their [Reincarnation]s.
Avandrasolaro confronted Erick about that later. “You can really give everyone eternal life?”
They were in the side rooms of the Wake Up House, where Erick was going over the [Reincarnation] applications of many different people, many of them not of his most recently-revived group. Mostly, he let people choose whatever they wanted, because sometimes people needed to make mistakes before they learned what they actually wanted, and that was fine. He still tried to help people avoid mistakes, though, like someone wanting to be a red-skinned orcol; those simply did not exist in a natural state. Sure, there were red-skinned orcols from Ar’Cosmos, specifically those from House Carnage, but those were red because of an influx of Carnage Dragon essence; they weren’t naturally red. Erick was hesitant of adding something like that to the basic gene pool. In that particular case, Aleothag would likely have something to say about all that, and so would Treehome. Raging orcols were often red-tinted with Carnage, so no real orcol would appreciate seeing another orcol ‘Raging’ all the time; that was one point of cultural contention between Treehome and Ar’Cosmos these days. Such a [Reincarnation] would cause Treehome to send letters.
It had happened before.
“I can certainly bridge the gap between immortal and mortal, but not for all always,” Erick said, “But this particular magic is getting around to others. Solomon can do it, as can another, as can my boyfriend Quilatalap. I and Solomon might be the only people who are doing this in an organized, ‘for most people’ sort of way.”
Avandrasolaro stared at him. “… So you really are Xoat. As those people say.”
Erick laughed. “I don’t know. Probably not. That’s just what a few people are calling me.”
Avandrasolaro was rather sure Erick was lying to himself.
The angel asked, “Are you lying to yourself?”
Erick smiled. “Maybe! Let me know if you should come across a particularly noteworthy link between me and Xoat that I haven’t already derided. I’m sure the Xoatists have a whole list of reasons why I am Xoat, right alongside the publicly-stated reasons I have given for why I am not.”
Erick wasn’t speaking in hyperbole there; the Xoatists really did have that sort of writing. Erick had seen it a few times and felt his answers were rather strong in all cases, but the Xoatists believed… And Erick had mostly gotten over that.
Avandrasolaro huffed a small laugh, his weapon-wings lifting up and out a fraction, in what Erick was rapidly coming to learn meant something like a ‘smile’. His mannerisms as an angel were almost the same as other angels Erick had met, but they were also more. Other angels were just summoned creatures, but Avandrasolaro was a real person. He seemed to be adjusting well to both his body, and his current circumstances, though he had a habit of only wearing a very short kilt, which Solomon probably appreciated more than Erick; Erick had a boyfriend—
“I believe I have decided where I wish to base my operations,” Avandrasolaro said.
“Oh? Already?” Erick was a little surprised at that. It had only been several days since Avandrasolaro’s resurrection. “Sure. Where?”
“On the island east of Dungeon Island. It is rather untamed, as far as I have heard.”
“Done and done,” Erick said, “I can get a part of the Network out there as early as tomorrow. Would you like help building?”
Avandrasolaro was puzzled for a moment. “You really are letting us go.”
Erick smiled at that. “I’m pretty sure some of your people want civilization, and I have no problem with raising other people to power, so yes. You can ‘go’ wherever you want, as long as you do what you normally do and bring peace and prosperity to all. In order to do that, it will require your people interfacing with all the other people of this world. Which means my Gate Network.” Erick added, “Though it’s kinda Kiri’s now, or at least it will be soon enough. You can make your own Network too, if you want. I think all of my daughters and my brother are on the Worldly Path too, right now.”
Avandrasolaro regarded Erick, and then nodded. “I am also on this... ‘Quest’, right now.”
Erick smiled, and continued, “I’m rather glad you’re sticking your flag into an unclaimed part of the world. It would have been messy for you to try and integrate with any other society with a direct move into their territory.”
Avandrasolaro nodded, satisfied with that answer.
“So what are your first moves going to be against the Forever War? Have the Angels and Demons contacted you for real talks yet? Or are you still in preliminary talks?”
“Both have contacted me halfway. It was… An enlightening experience, to say the least. I will not say that their problems are minor and completely of their own making...” Avandrasolaro discarded whatever complicated thought he had, and said, “This world has many different problems, but I truly enjoy the prospect laid before me, that ‘Everything can always be made better’.”
Erick smirked. “I believe that, too.”
They spoke for a little while longer regarding actual plans, mostly involving the city Avandrasolaro wished to build, but soon the conversation wound down.
Avandrasolaro said, “I believe I will be accepting Solomon and your daughter’s offer to ‘dungeon delve’ with them, as will many of my people.”
“Good luck. The dungeons that actually give base mana production require you to risk your life. Magic is apparently the same everywhere, but it’s also different. Don’t go in unprepared.”
Avandrasolaro smiled. His wings spread a little, but they were still trapped at his back because they were in a building. “I am prepared.” And then he lifted a hand and conjured an orb of power that was almost frost, but not that at all. It was Time Magic. “I may not have met with the Angels and Demons as much as I would have liked, but Phagar was very helpful.” He crushed the spell in his hand, and let it dissipate as fractured white-gold light.
“Congratulations. He doesn’t approve many people for that.”
Avandrasolaro looked at Erick, and said, “I know.”
Erick raised an eyebrow. “Phagar was controlling Time even before the Sundering?”
Avandrasolaro huffed a small laugh, as though Erick’s suggestion was so far outside the realm of possibility that it became hilarious. “No. But his church was the only one you could learn proper Time Magic from.”
“Ah. Well that makes a lot more sense; yes.”
- - - -
Three days later, with Avandrasolaro and his people hovering high in the air with Erick and a thousand others in attendance either physically or through [Scry] eyes, Erick prepared to work some magic, using Ophiel to cast his gaze wide and deep, into the northern peninsula of the northeast island of the Three Sisters. Unlike Dungeon Island proper, this place was a wild monster-covered land, with unknown dungeons and unknown beasts everywhere, and it changed with the months. Nothing was permanent. Between months, sometimes even the trees moved. Other than all that, this place was a good spot to make a new city, in this new land, in this new world.
Through Erick, this new city would have good access to the three cities of Dungeon Island and thus Candlepoint, and thus all the rest of the world.
It just needed some prep work before people could live here.
And so, Erick leveled the land with Ophiel and [Physical Domain], pummeling stone, trees, monsters, and every living thing to dust within a 200 kilometer diameter space, mostly nestled to the coast on two sides. He had done extensive [Cascade Imaging] to make sure no people or sapient living things were down there, but he was destroying a whole lot of wild monsters. Treants, slimes, oozes, monkey-like things, deadly and peaceful birds, and even just the local wildlife. A small part of Erick didn’t like ‘nuking’ the land from ‘orbit’ to make way for people, but people mattered more than animals, and this land was beyond deadly unless such massive steps were undertaken.
Ophiel finished flattening the land after ten minutes of easy work.
All the land was dirt and rock and mulched trees and biomass. It would be rather fertile land, but that was for later. For now, Erick [Cityshape]d the land, erecting a simple city, separating biomass from stone and solidifying stone into proper strength. He made apartment buildings instead of individual houses, and then he added basic city infrastructure like roads and gathering yards and a courthouse, along with walls to guard from monsters and tunnels for sewer systems, which would be installed later by a professional sewermaster. That took another half hour. When he was done, a city stood strong upon the coast, made of white stone and grey rock. It was not perfect. It was not ready for habitation right now.
But it would be.
The final thing Erick installed was a Gate which connected to Aniduun. It was not a part of the local area network; it was a simple, permanent portal from here to there.
Erick set down on the ground, and Avandrasolaro joined him.
Erick turned to the angel. “By right of power, and with no other people to gainsay my actions, I bequeath this land to you and your people. It is yours now, and I am a guest, if you would have me.”
Avandrasolaro breathed deep, and surprise showed on his face along with the faces of his people. “You know some impressive words, Wizard Flatt.”
“Guile told me what to say for a proper ceremony that might mean something to you.”
Avandrasolaro chuckled. “I accept your gift, and invite you and yours as guests to our home.”
Erick smiled. “Excellent! I was hoping you would.” He opened a [Gate] to the side, where a small parade of people marched on through with Solomon in the lead, floating an entire roast cow behind him and ten barrels of different wine and beer. It was a feast coming through, made special for the day. Guile carried a plate of mashed potatoes above his little foxy self that had been sculpted into a grand castle ten times the size of the fox; it was a display piece almost too big and too piled high for any party to finish off. At Avandrasolaro’s open stare, and slight upturn of his lips as he looked upon his old friend, Erick added, “Guile suggested a commemorative feast, but I had to tell him to stop telling me what to do because Solomon was already on this part. He did want to give you a castle, though, but this one is made of potatoes.”
“Solomon is certainly competent, and Guile...” Avandrasolaro’s voice trailed away as he grinned.
Erick nodded, and then he walked forward.
Solomon rapidly began adding decorations everywhere, as he set out one roast cow and then ten more, [Duplicate]d from the same perfectly cooked meal, each with their own small firepit to keep them warm, while Lorizal and others from the Church of Peace began organizing everything else, for real. Guile was quick on the instructions, and it seemed he had somehow hired even more caterers than Erick had imagined he would have; the little guy was very into parties, it seemed. Where had he gotten the money? Probably from Solomon, actually.
Erick had nothing to do with any of that. He was just the provider of the venue.
Avandrasolaro sighed in contentment as he watched his people watch the feast take hold, under the bright light of the sun. All of the former kings and queens and even some of Avandrasolaro’s children were checking out the place, all of them having fallen into groups of their own making since the rescue a week ago. Most of them had become different species from human, too, and from there they fell into groups either mixed or not. All of them were talking of what they had learned, and how they would be moving forward in order to fulfill the Wizard’s request of Avandrasolaro, but also what came afterward. There was talk of business opportunity, and how most of them had met with Benevolence dragons and other titans of creation and industry.
Erick got the rapid impression that, through proper machinations, that all these people felt they could peacefully end the Forever War within a decade, and make sure it never came back within 50 years. But that would not take up all of their time; so what they were going to do the rest of the time was regain power, among other things.
Avandrasolaro took it all in, and said to Erick, “This Forever War is not going to be solved through violence.”
The angel had a drink in his hand by now, and the Wizard did, too.
“I would hope not,” Erick said, feeling unexpectedly good at hearing Avandrasolaro actually say that.
“When you first charged me with this Quest, and after I discovered some of the lay of the land, I thought the Forever War might be best solved through supreme violence, through cutting the heads off of the Crown of the Host and the Demon King and his entourage.” Avandrasolaro continued, “But that is not a solution here. There is no real Contract Magic, enforcing rules down lineages; there is only Elemental Vile, which is easily worked around, comparatively. There are no real demons anymore. The Angels are fueled by simple hate which is —at most— a thousand years old. That hate has been renewed through constant sabotage and terrorism, which is a problem, but nothing overly difficult to solve. There are no old monsters making sure that nothing ever gets better, for you have already dealt with all of those.
“This world is not capable of seeing an end to the Forever War, because they cannot envision it. But I can. We can. And yet...
“This is simultaneously one of the easier tasks than I have ever been given, but harder, because I am so unfamiliar with the cultures here. I am unfamiliar with the actual problems that keep the cycles of violence going. And I have no real power yet…” He looked at Solomon, copying a whole bunch of vegetables and fried things and cornbread and sauces and otherwise, and said, “But I will be gaining power again, and going forth, to complete this task. Solomon and your daughters have been very helpful in dungeonwork.”
Erick smiled. All was good; all was getting better. “I’m happy to hear all of that, Avandrasolaro. I’m glad we brought you back. I’m still sorry I couldn’t get more—”
Avandrasolaro waved a hand. “It is fine. My harem… Not many know this, but it had become a political thing long ago. In truth, there was very little love in my life, so there is no real love lost…” He wiped away a tear, mumbling about how physical bodies were strange, then he continued, “All is good, Wizard Flatt.” He sniffled, then banished his harder thoughts, and whispered conspiratorially, “Is Solomon spoken for?”
Erick froze and thawed at the same time. He muttered, “I’m so glad you didn’t ask about my daughters.”
Avandrasolaro raised an eyebrow. “Would they be interes—”
“Solomon is probably interested,” Erick said, “He can probably overhear us, too. So there’s that.”
Avandrasolaro smirked. “This is good to hear. I can’t have my people be the only ones going at it like 20 year olds.”
“Oh yes. A common side effect of being young again… And one I have not tried to curb. Probably do more harm than good to try and stop that phenomenon.”
Avandrasolaro smirked—
Guile stepped out of the air near Avandrasolaro, his foxy tails swishing. “I have heard there is a party going on in Fairy, if you’re interested, Avandrasolaro. I’m trying to convince Solomon to take me, but he seems averse to a good time.”
Erick laughed at that. “Do you want more party here, Guile?”
“Yes,” said the little blonde fox, absolutely resolute in his decision.
Soon, Erick was asking Solomon what he wanted to add to the party, and Solomon had a whole bunch of ideas, but no ability to execute those ideas. The loss of [Gate] in a world without [Teleport] was a big deal. Solomon seemed to be adjusting to that new world of his, though. It seemed that Solomon was really taking up this mantle of Peace, and making actual ties with the Church of Peace. Erick approved.
He also opened [Gate]s to all the world.
And soon, the little no-named city near Dungeon Island had people from all over the world, showing up for a good time. Fallopolis appeared, bringing shadeling assistance with her in the form of bands and entertainment, though they only had to fly over from Ascendant Mountain. Clan Void Song showed up from Songli, along with Nirzir, and Erick was happy to introduce one of the world’s best Songstresses and Archmages to Avandrasolaro and his collection of kings and queens from another time and place. Nirzir had long outgrown her child infatuation with Erick, and now she was just a good friend. House Benevolence appeared with Aisha taking the mantle of diplomat for this meeting. She was a good choice of diplomat, because Avandrasolaro and Aisha seemed to hit it off well. Both of them were very into Book Magic and prognostication… and Aisha was made of celesteel.
… Oh.
Well.
Avandrasolaro and Aisha looked… like they might get really close, really fast.
Prognostication was probably involved there.
Well good for them.
Somehow Solomon was a big black dragon, drinking beer and downing kegs like they were nothing, and that was fun.
Fairy Moon showed up, somehow, for someone must have called her, maybe, and suddenly the party was city wide and then wider.
Some monsters got into the party, but instead of raging and eating people, they danced along to Fae music, which was quite strange.
Erick realized as the sun set, and with Melemizargo as a witness on the edge of town, 50 meters tall and outsizing both him and Solomon many times over, that Erick had transformed into a dragon at some point too, trying to win a drinking game against his ‘brother’. The two of them had stopped copying keg after keg of basic-bitch wine and whiskey, and simply copied some free-flying divinely-silver-shimmering Peace wine. Koyabez was there, which explained the wine, for he had blessed all the wine at the party, which turned out to be quite amazing.
Over there was Rozeta and Kromolok, drinking Peace wine, too.
Atunir was talking to Avandrasolaro, speaking about kids and stuff like that, with Aisha standing in the background a little. Erick realized in that moment that of course the man with a thousand kids would be kinda put out that he could no longer sire children, since the Script wouldn’t allow it because of what the Old Demons had done. So of course he was looking for ways to actually make that happen.
Phagar was chatting with Sininindi by the stage with the band… One of the bands.
There were all the girls, here and there among the crowds, talking to whoever they were talking to. Abigail was talking with Sitnakov for obvious reasons, and both of them seemed to be laughing and smiling. Beth and Candice were having an exhibition match against each other with limited powers, using just swords, or something like that; they weren’t spiders so it wasn’t anything approaching their full power at all. Emily was talking with some of the people from the Bisection who had chosen odder [Reincarnation] forms. Two people who had been demons had chosen to become minotaurs, male and female, joining that very small group of people who were minotaurs here on Veird. From Erick’s understanding those two new minotaurs had already been welcomed to ‘the herd’. Another of the odder selections was a man who had asked if there was a way for him to be a mother, too. After some very personal questions, and then a cast of [Reincarnation], Erick felt he had succeeded in granting that desire. Or at least the man could grant himself that wish later, with whomever he wanted.
Debby was somewhere… Somewhere.
She was fine, wherever she was; Erick was sure. But to be sure, he contacted Poi, and Poi pointed out Debby at the party. She had been playing around with red magic on the coast. Maybe she wasn’t directly at the party, but that was fine. She seemed to be having fun with some people, and also Fairy Moon. Well that was fun.
And the night partied on.
Turns out Melemizargo could outdrink them all.
Erick and Solomon both called him a dirty cheater, but he just laughed at that.
- - - -
The party lasted for a few days, but eventually Erick had to get back to work.
Fairy Moon took her people back through Springtime, into Fairy. All of the semi-sapient monsters went with her because they had found sapience in that party and they did not want it to stop. A few of Avandrasolaro’s people went with her, too, even though Erick had thoroughly explained what was happening. Those people were in a lot of pain, and they wanted the Fairy Party, and it was still hopping in Ar’Cosmos, and so they went. Erick felt he would probably have to rescue them later, except the Queen of the Fae appeared to Erick, and explained a few things.
He was Fairy Moon’s husband, her Queen, just like she was his King, and Erick had only seen him once, when all the other fae had been released from the Bands of Intent of the Script. He was every bit the dark, handsome man to complement Fairy Moon’s pastel coloring, and his name was Greg, short for gregarious. He was not a gregarious person. Erick had named him without really knowing who he was.
With dark seriousness, Greg said to Erick, “We take them to a time of less troubles and more merriment, but we do not harm them or hamper their rightful returns. So carry on with your causes of sundering the Sundering, our Wonderful Wizard of Benevolence.”
And that was that. The guests were gone.
Cleaning up took a day, and then the real work began, but Erick was not a part of that.
Solomon worked closely with Avandrasolaro, setting up the city with a node network, getting them some starter gold, showing them how dungeons worked, and a whole bunch of smaller things that Erick wanted to be a part of, but he could not. All the world was moving with the news of the return of an ancient demigod of ‘Angelic Peace’, as they were calling him, and Erick needed to fend off worrying questions from the Angels, the Demons, and their mortal counterparts. Thankfully, they were all just tiny questions; nothing big and direct from either House Dinnamoth, with the King of Hell, or the Crown of the Host, with Adavido. They were all gathering their wits right now to try and understand what Erick was doing.
Blood-On-Hell got a meeting with Erick, though. It was not a very big meeting, but it was still important. They simply wanted clearance from him to ‘set up shop’ in Avandrasolaro’s new city. Erick gave them his blessing, but told them that they’d have to speak to Avandrasolaro about all that. And then they asked for what they really wanted, which was a direct-access Gate from Avandrasolaro’s city to their holdings in the Wasteland. There was more to their question than what met the eye, but Erick eventually agreed that as soon as he got clearance from Avandrasolaro, then he would set up a Gate between the Wasteland and Avandrasolaro’s city, which he still had not named.
Avandrasolaro’s official request for that very same Gate came to his office ten minutes after the meeting.
The angel got his Gate to the Wasteland after another ten minutes.
Trade flowed.
- - - -
“Dad,” Debby said, as she stepped into his office. “I need to tell you something.”
Ophiel chirped on his perch beside Erick’s desk. “Debby Debby!”
“Of course.” Erick set down his pen. “What is it, Debby?”
“I’ve tried to say this a few times, and I think I might have finally gotten it right. This is going to sound mean and cryptic, but it’s none of those things. I love you. I have to drop out of the Sundering Search program. Please don’t ask me why.”
Erick was a little stunned at that. A thousand thoughts condensed to one. “I have to ask you a few questions, Debby. You can’t just drop that on me and expect me to say nothing.”
“I know. Don’t ask me about the Sundering Search.”
… Oh.
A lot of very different thoughts passed in that moment.
If she was telling him not to ask about the Sundering Search, then this was obviously about the Sundering Search. But she had specifically told him not to ask about that. So of course he wanted to ask about that.
This was the anti-meme.
Erick didn’t let his emotions show as he realized that Debby had probably tried to talk to him a lot over the past few days or even weeks. It had been about 2 weeks since they had brought Avandrasolaro out of the Dark. How long had Debby been trying to talk to him about this? She was not worried, though. Heartbeat fine. No sweating. This was rote trial and error for her. No one was in any true danger. She didn’t even expect this to work this time, because… Well it hadn’t worked yet, had it?
This had to be the anti-meme of the Sundering, or something nearby the Sundering.
How many experiments had she gone through? Jane had always been very experimental with her magic until all her experiments failed and she latched onto Prismatic Polymage, but she kept her physical approaches to various circumstances experimental when normal approaches did not work. She had never lost that particular spark for life.
Debby had inherited all of that, and so she had probably tried…
Debby was wearing the Bracelet of Memory; that Mind Magic artifact made by some Wizard in the past which ensured the wearer remembered everything they experienced. How long had she been wearing it? The physical object was a slave shackle, and it reddened her skin a little. She had to have been wearing it for a while. Why was her skin red, though—
Erick hadn’t noticed that before. And now he did.
Erick rapidly compartmentalized his thoughts. He turned off his mana sense and stopped looking at the Bracelet. The Bracelet vanished to his side-vision. Erick even turned away from the Bracelet, from Debby, and looked at the wall.
Debby’s heart beat hard. Erick had turned off his mana sense, but he could still hear heartbeats. He could still hear Debby’s deep breath. She was seeing hope in her father’s averted gaze.
Erick stared at the wall, not looking at his daughter, hoping that Debby would understand what he did next, as he said, “I’m disappointed, Debby. I don’t want you to explain yourself. I want you to leave, and return when you figure out what your problem is.”
Debby’s pulse raced. “I will, dad. I promise. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Debby.”
For a long moment, Debby stood there, on the other side of Erick’s desk. She wanted to say something more. To maybe discard this experiment and try again, to give him more information now that she had found a proper path forward. But. No. Debby breathed a few more times, her heart settling down as she made peace with what was happening.
Erick was still looking at the wall when Debby left. Tears stained his face. He didn’t have to fake that pain for whoever might be watching, and there was certainly someone watching, wasn’t there.
Erick learned one important thing.
Whoever was suppressing information about the Sundering was actively suppressing that information, and it was both stupid and strong. That the Sundering Source could drive Debby to enact multiple tests against him and yet not actually harm him or those around him meant that it had vast power, but little nuance; little ability to actually affect the world. Perhaps it had wiped certain people from his memory? But probably not. If it were capable of that, then it would have wiped Debby from his mind. So it wasn’t nearly as powerful as a basic Mind Mage, and—
… Erick learned two important things, for the corner of the room he was staring at held the Dark within.
Melemizargo was watching all this happen, but he didn’t show himself until ten minutes after Debby left, and after Erick’s tears dried. He whispered, “It’s hard to have those difficult conversations with daughters sometimes. I know I’ve tried a thousand times before, but sometimes the information just doesn’t stick like you want it to stick.”
“Heard and understood, Melemizargo. I’m not in the mood right now.”
The shadows bobbed and left, leaving Erick with even more questions and precious few answers.
Maybe this world was a liferaft and a cage.
- - - -
Later, but not much later, Erick had one test he needed to run himself.
He wrote down his interaction with Debby, sticking to specific words said only, and then he copied that letter a hundred times and sealed them up with some Privacy magics, before he sent those letters out to the mailroom, with orders to give him one every day, starting with one letter in the next ten minutes. Maybe it would work. Maybe it wouldn’t. No way to know until he tried.
And then he called Poi into his office.
Poi stared at Erick, already understanding what had happened. “… Well those are some big changes.”
“So you understand.”
“I understand that I understand nothing, except that it’s vastly powerful and yet weak.”
And that it can’t read minds, but the Mind Mages could.
Poi nodded.
Erick nodded. “Should we inform the Crossing?”
Poi went still. He said nothing, because to speak about the problem was to highlight the problem, and there was no way to know the outcome of spreading this fragment of knowledge too far. Perhaps the Crossing was infected.
“Not yet, then. Not until we’re ready,” Erick said.
Poi nodded.
It’s not like they actually knew anything that they didn’t already know…
Except it hurt a bit more, this time.
The letter system he had set up earlier deposited his letter to himself in his inbox. It said exactly what he remembered Debby saying.
- - - -
Later, on his way back to the dungeon, back to the girls who remained, Erick searched for Debby with every normal sense he could manage, but not with magic. If he searched with magic, then… Well he wasn’t sure what would happen. But he decided to trust his daughter, and leave her to it.
He could not find her with normal senses.
Debby was gone.