Amun.
***
"Leave it."
I turned inward to my twilight domain with raised proverbial brows to see the dragon, Cononthoth, peering her burnt-red eye through her mound of coin. ‘Why?’ I asked.
"You wish for faith before your ascension. This is the means." She growled.
Looking forward, I saw my hand outstretched to the moon I’d created. I was just on the verge of disassembling it and reverting the land to its prior state when Cononthoth stopped me. In truth, A part of me wanted to leave it. But there was an unknown factor to the decision that kept me from going through with it. So I asked. 'How long will it last with all my arcana?'
From my experiences dilating everyone’s time in Hill Base, I knew the answer was at least a few days. But weeks, years. I had no idea and I wasn’t willing to wait for a planetoid to fall out of the sky to find out. Thus I assumed an indefinite effect could only be imbued into enchantments or runes. However...
"To cast arcana is to reshape reality itself, Tiny Devil." Cononthoth sneered. Then purred with glee as the coins began trailing in from my Pocket as per the arrangements of our deal. "Or." She growled. "Do you not believe in your own words?"
‘You got me.’ I dropped my hand with a snort and looked upon the damage I wrought. What before was a steppe interrupted by three colossal buttes that resembled inverted mushrooms was now a single structure of stone that stood over twice its initial height due to the gorge my Quasar dug around it. What was left of the other buttes were nothing more than piles of rubble that hardly stood taller than the rim of a triangular crater some 30 kilometers to a side and 2.6 kilometers deep at its lowest point. Overlooking it all was a spherical body of hollowed rock that measured just under a megameter in diameter.
At a crisp 999 kilometers, it was slightly larger than Ceres. But at an altitude of 2,965 kilometers, its apparent size was around twenty degrees. Making it appear more like Jupiter seen from the surface of its moon, Io; not that I’ve ever been, but it was about the same width as the bull sign held out at arm's length. It was still burning with the light of the Blood Moon, something I ceased at once by bringing my hands to my chest to blend darkness with light and chant. “Full Moon!” Then imbued gravity into my voice to chant. “Orbit!”
As it calmed to a pale light, its influence worked to calm my raging peers and heal my injured classmates before it faded to the silver-blue reflection of its regolith. Then, it began drifting ever so slowly away, truly making it a satellite. If I was considered a planet, at least.
Regardless, I turned inward to the apps running in my Eternal Eye while my classmates gathered around me. ‘If arcana is to manipulate reality, what of the other densities of mana?’ I asked my scaled companion. ‘What would become of the water if Peter made a lake here?’
"He cannot. "Cononthoth jeered.
‘Let’s say he could.’
"The water would yield low oxygen. Life would not thrive. Your lake would simply… exist." She said, gleefully in response to the deposit of coins funneling to her. "Only crystalline mana or arcane energies can accomplish what you seek, Tiny Devil."
‘Ah. I see.’ Interesting.
“Well, that’s new.”
I could see her face before I even turned. Round cheeks with a chiseled chin like her father’s. Dark brown skin and large gray eyes that contained just a bit of naivety. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in quite some time and one of many that I'd grown to miss, making me doubly surprised to find the rest of the gang and much more standing behind Roheisa.
“Just when I thought I closed the gap between us.” Toril chuckled dryly, then lifted his shaking head to gaze upon the Moon. “You go and pull this.”
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“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Just a little something I’ve been working on.”
“Clearly.” Jaimess gasped in disbelief.
“Potions!” Hardly anyone could turn towards the recognizable voice echoing in from the back. “If anyone needs potions, just scream! Potions! Po- oh!” In quite the comical fashion, Olga jumped after rounding a boulder to see the majority of Class 999 huddled around me, mostly staring up at the moon. “You’re all healed.” She gasped.
“That… big... rock? It healed us.” The plain-faced girl from Epeth said as she pointed up.
“Right.” Olga dropped her eyes to me and shuddered. “What the hell was that?”
“It’s my first woven world. Mani, my moon.” I motioned around me, grinning wide. “I used it to bring the injured here and heal them.”
“Okay?” Zeff waddled in with a maddened gaze. “But… what is it?”
“It’s a floating rock that I infused with a fusion of light and darkness.” I snorted. Then gave everyone a quick glimpse of the pale light before spreading a gravity domain across everyone to bring us to the top of the remaining pillar. “Ask my party members how it works if you’re curious.” I continued. “But I’ll tell you that the pale light; Moonlight, is a peculiar thing. Alone, it benefits both the living and the undead. But in differing ways. For the living, it acts as a beacon in the impenetrable darkness. A pillar of hope as much as a means to see. Oftentimes, however, their being able to see makes them bear witness to the horrific things that dwell in the night, increasing their fear to levels that drive the dead into a controllable rage. And since moonlight isn’t bright enough, the dead aren’t harmed by it.
“Twilight is somewhat the opposite.” I continued. “It's light and darkness in tandem. It can help or hinder both the living and the dead. Obscuring and hiding things with darkness, or unveiling things that are hidden with light; among other things. For the undead, it sustains them. It enhances them. Heals them. You’ll be seeing that next. So don’t expect this free-for-all to last long.”
“How long?” Came another familiar voice pushing its way to the front. “How long have you been able to use light?”
We were just at the summit by then, and I waited for us to arrive just so I could approach Lance on foot with the friendliest indifference I could muster and say. “Since the day I was granted my affinity core for Electromagnetism.” I stared deeply into his eyes for a tense moment. And then… he walked away. Without saying another word, he stepped off the butte and disappeared to the edge of the crater in a flash of light.
“Well, no time like the present.” I sighed after he left. Then took a moment to Void the scrying point. “If I may have your attention,” I said and was nearly taken aback at the sea of heads swiveling in my direction. “I’m sure you’ve all heard that I’m aiming to make a guild. In short, that process is beginning soon.”
I paused. If only to hold back a laugh from the wide-eyes Toril and the others were throwing me. But the honey badger was out of the bag. I made sure they were scrying when I talked with Doyle, so they were already aware of the invitation I extended to him and of my other revelation. That said, I didn’t want them to hear this, although Doyle, Zeff, and Olga were a different story.
“If you want to join, I’ll begin taking you seriously and accepting pledges or oaths or whatever it is you wish to call them. Just infuse your voice with mana and name your price before you make the agreement. After next week.” I gestured around me. “I’ll be spending the majority of my time here to train. If you join me, I’ll be training and teaching you all I know, as you will be my first officers when the guild is established. The highest ranking and the most esteemed.
“After that.” I grinned. “We’ll return to Maru and close off the portals in Ulai. And after that.” I chortled. “You may retire. Or, you can join me as I explore the Mortal Plane in its entirety. Starting with Betrarth and on to Vagua, then to Youtera, and beyond the White Wall before we return to Nonus.”
***
Doyle Wolfgang.
***
“That is all.”
Like many others, I could only watch on in disbelief as Amun receded into the woods with his undead with Toril, Edward, Jaimess, Roheisa, Lucia, Peter, and Zakira trailing behind him. And behind them were Opal and Elijah, both hurrying to catch up to the half-elf or whatever he was.
The Amazonians followed soon after. Orsola, Teofila, and Ale practically skipped behind them, singing some sort of Amazonian shanty as they swerved around each other in a strange dance. The Goliaths followed with not much said between them. Then, surprisingly, Winston Epeth trailed after him at a dutiful pace. And so too did his knight, Issac Galliard. The other Epethians were then left in the same conundrum as many others, torn between the lure of prominence and fear, curiosity, or prejudice.
It took little effort for some to make their choices. Among them were Rua Nun and Zarzok, of all individuals, the latter of whom was practically begging Phelaia to join him. As always, she was hesitant. But she eventually joined him. Along with a few others. Hogaz and Elurial. The Epethian commoners, and then the Epethian nobles.
The last wave seemed to be those who were unsure of their convictions but at least wanted to learn more about the one who made the offer. Among them were Bazzric Baal, Ash, Veil of Shadows, and, surprisingly, Vlorlyn Lagunath. Though she was held in place by her brother. In the end, all that was left were the two Tritons, the two lizard-folk; Rhot and Butuss, Snusz Silentjaw, Zaos Torhorn, and Zeke Silva. And of course, the three of us, staring in disbelief.