Rather than going directly to the Cerast, as Marigold expected, he went back to the cottage where he met the Dague family.

He figured that if he waited for half an hour or so, Marigold would return to New Kor, then he could go to see them.

Marigold had made good on her offer and the family was living somewhere inside of the veil, so he was alone; the family hadn’t left anything of worth behind, not that they had much anyway.

He lost track of time, it was getting easier, but his senses were duller than when he was alive in some ways.

When he thought 10 minutes had passed, he went to the undercapital.

The people jumped back when they saw the shadow stepping through the city, each stride covering hundreds of feet.

The guards at the gate of the royal mansion hadn’t even gotten the chance to lower their bidents by the time he was gone once more.

Finding Copperhead took a handful of seconds, since he had to check each room.

She didn’t jump as the others had, she was expecting him to arrive eventually.

“Fomoria, welcome.”

She stretched as she woke from a nap.

“Marigold told me not to accept your mark. Please, give it to me.”

“You are going to just ignore her?”

“I know the meaning of my old carving. You weren’t supposed to give us that power before, but now, this is what we were meant for. I will call the rest, and they will accept this mark.

Though, I am surprised it took you so long to come here.”

“I waited 10 minutes or so.”

“Six hours you mean. But, that’s not important.”

She slithered to him and just as the others, he placed his hand on her chest over her heart.

But unlike the others, he saw her body undergoing changes before his eyes.

Her head stretched, her brow ridges extended and her eyes numbered seven, six smaller eyes where one might expect along her brow, and one much larger eye on the top of her head where her patch of now dark metallic scales were.

Her horns darkened, though her scales remained a sandstone brown; other than the metallic patch atop her head.

Her size, already 15 feet tall, expanded, bringing her to 20 feet tall in her normal stance, but 40 feet long in total.

Her muscles grew greatly and her scales became smaller, interlocking like a fine scalemail.

Her scales involuntarily flared for a moment, showing Fomoria the heat that was being trapped inside of her now.

Her back tore open and spikes came out, then skin as black as a starless night sky filled in the spikes, turning them to a pair of four jointed wings.

Unlike what he expected however, her claws didn’t extend into better weapons, but rather receded to give better dexterity and finesse.

When the eye on her forehead opened, he felt nothing, but the entire city became aware in an instant the change that took place in their leader.

“Did it hurt?”

“Not at all.”

She began to slither out of her room, only for her wings to catch on the door frame.

“This will take some getting used to.”

She flailed for nearly 10 minutes before she figured out how to move her back so her wings hugged her body.

The suspected population of Cerast was anywhere from 1 to 6 million.

Nobody really went down into the tunnels to check out how many there were, since they weren’t important in the grand scheme of things.

Tens of thousands already gathered in front of Fangre’s home, and from the rumbling, many more were coming.

No longer were their minds limited to touch, Fangre, and later all of them, were to become fully psychic.

She didn’t give any speech, at least, not one that could be heard by Fomoria, but one by one, the Cerast moved forward and puffed their chests to gain the mark and their evolution.

Marigold arrived after the hundredth Cerast, because now it was clear to the gods that the mental blip they could sense wasn’t a flook of any sort, and it was growing stronger.

“Fomoria, step away from them.”

“No.”

The ground gave way when she jumped forward like a bullet.

Yet her kick met only air.

Fomoria was standing 50 feet from where he was an instant ago.

“It’s taking time, the world doesn’t blur as much as it did before when I stepped like this.

So, care to try again?”

“Anu knows nothing of these things. The most important rule is don’t make new creatures that can reproduce.”

“They aren’t new. They are just Cerast, but better, more draconic. Without Wyrmwood, who is here to complain?”

From the dirt rose the figure of a woman, which quickly turned from stone to flesh, revealing Zella.

“Marigold, you can stand down.”

“Don’t give me orders.”

Zella’s eyes turned brown, and Marigold’s turned golden.

When they stopped, Marigold reluctantly stepped back and left Zella in charge of the situation.

After a series of tests, poking with wooden needles, and making them drink potions, Anu was satisfied.

“The Cerast are still part of Aarde, and they are just one possible evolution that they could undergo given enough time. Anu says that they can stay, and that your power hasn’t stolen away enough influence from Aarde to cause problems.”

Zella fell back into the dirt, and Fomoria went back to marking them.

Marigold didn’t like that Anu went over her head and bothered Aarde with it, since she had already had a conversation with the god and thought that they came to an understanding.

“Fine, I’m going back to New Kor. Remember, we aren’t enemies, you don’t need to go behind my back to do things like this.”

“You told me no. I’m going to guess that unless Anu got the chance to view them herself you would’ve continued telling me no.”

“You could upset the balance of-”

“Please, don’t feed me that horse shit. How much of the land was destroyed when Wyrmwood fought Xol and died? How much was tainted by Seraphallen and Ur’s battle? I saw the desolation from you yourself fighting against Seraphallen. Those petty gods only care when they don’t get to pick and choose what gets destroyed.”

She tried to talk with him more, but it ended up being her talking at him instead.

What she didn’t directly say, but was most worrying, was the phrasing of his last statement.

He had many times defended The Darkness, against the other gods or against normal people, but they were no longer the gods to him, they were those gods.

It took two days for the Cerast to all receive the mark.

The process became many times faster when Fomoria stopped waiting for them to come to him, and just held his hand out while stepping around the underground.

How long it would take for them to learn how to fly, he didn’t know, but most of them were still having trouble moving them around at all.

Fomoria remembered how difficult it was to learn how to use limbs that he wasn’t born with, that didn’t belong to his body.

Each of them were effectively chicks trying to leap from the nest.

Fomoria did what he could, sprouting wings of his own and showing them how their back muscles moved, but it was only a limited help.

Fomoria finally returned to New Kor, and Phoebe was finally ready to act as his assistant.

“Good morning.”

She tried to kick his leg, but she could hardly reach more than the twisting strands where his legs stopped and he wasn’t entirely physical, so she spun around and fell.

“You never taught me anything.”

She was unphased by the fall.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I was dead.”

“So? Now you aren’t. You were supposed to start three days ago. Instead I ended up playing with your brother and waiting for you but you didn’t come back.”

“You are supposed to be my assistant, not my student.”

“Well I wasn’t going to be one without trying to be the other.”

He chuckled.

“You are as strong willed as I remember.”

“I want that mark.”

“Only if your parents say yes.”

“I already asked.”

“Yet I will check if you are lying. Call your father.”

It was rather shocking to him that she really had asked for permission beforehand.

So he pressed his hand to her chest, through her clothes as he now realized he could do, and she felt the instant surge of power.

“I can see the mana so clearly now.”

“Really? So you’ve neglected your training so much that you haven’t mastered your mana sense yet?”

“I tried, I really tried. But Mosley is bad at teaching and Bly talks to me like I’m a baby and I hate that.

Yara was going to teach me but…”

She looked down and twiddled her thumbs.

“Yara was always sad and she didn’t want to see anyone for a long time. I’m sorry I kicked you.”

“I’m sorry that I was gone.”

“I can’t find her, and Amber won’t tell me where she went. Yara was teaching me again and we were supposed to start using real magic like fireballs.”

“She went back home.”

“When is she coming back?”

“Why don’t you bring me a book and I’ll start writing what I remember.”

Fomoria quizzed her on what she already knew, then started writing exercises based on where he thought she should start.

“Now, focus. Speak the words and use the hand signs at the same time. The words and signs are linked, so remember not to rush one without the other, they should ideally end at the same time.”

She did everything he explained then thrust her hands forward, shooting a small black fire at the target that The Spire made.

Presently, the large empty first floor was morphed into a firing range of sorts.

“Very good.”

She panted a few times, then shivered and staggered in place.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just weird. My mana is coming back so fast and it makes my tummy tickle.”

“Why don’t we wait for a moment then.”

She began to pout.

“But I-”

“You will listen to my commands.”

His voice was cold and harsh along with his pointing made her flinch back.

With what she was taught before, he was always kind and understanding.

“I’m sorry.”

She began to tear up, but she put up a good front.

“It’s alright, I just don’t want you to be hurt. This mark, we don’t know a lot about it, and it’s the first time I’ve heard someone say that it feels weird for their mana to refill like that. I’m just worried. You aren’t in any trouble.”

He tried patting her on the head, and she tried swatting his hand away.

“I’m not a baby. A real fighter needs to suck it up.”

“No, you aren’t a baby, but you are still a child, you should remember that. I had much of my childhood taken from me. Don’t throw yours away.

Now, how do you feel?”

“My belly isn’t cold anymore, it feels normal.”

“Then we can continue.”

Amber came in near the end of training, so he decided to end it there.

“Miss Amber, look, I got a book.”

“Oh that’s very nice. Did my brother write it for you?”

“Yep. He said that I’m a pro… prodigy.”

“I said that with the mark, you have the power of a prodigy. But your call to mana could be better, you aren’t thinking enough about how you are casting your spells.”

She rolled her eyes, since she couldn’t tell the difference between the two.

Then she opened the book for Amber.

“Look. Here is the rune for fireball, and this one is for water drop, and-”

Amber furrowed her brows and looked back and forth between her and the book.

“What’s wrong?”

“You can read this?”

“Yeah. Everyone can read.”

“Can I look at the book a bit closer?”

Phoebe was reluctant, but Fomoria gave her a look, or so she thought.

He had no opinion on the matter, since it was her book to do with as she wanted and he hadn’t looked any different than normal, but his influence on her made her less willing to be so possessive.

Once it was in her hands, Amber looked up and down the pages, flipping back and forth and upside down.

“This is all gibberish. I can’t make out a single word of it. I know this is fireball because we had to learn the rune by heart, but these aren’t even words around it.”

Phoebe pulled on Fomoria’s hand, and he lowered his head.

“I think Miss Amber hit her head. You should take her to Miss Elk.”

She cupped her hands together and whispered to him.

“There’s nothing wrong with my head.”

“You aren’t supposed to listen when people whisper, it’s rude.”

“Whispering about people is rude in the first place so it cancels out.”

“Nuh huh, it’s double rude to listen to whispers since they are supposed to be secret.”

“Actually… I’m not arguing with a child. I’m going to call Marigold and-”

“Don’t.”

“Why? You and her having some weird language between each other is weird.”

“Using weird twice in quick succession makes you sound ignorant. Mix up your word choice.”

“Fuck you. Phoebe, don’t repeat that.”

“I hear Ned say that all the time and then momma yells at him.”

“I’m calling her.”

“Don’t call mama!” “Don’t call Marigold!”

The two looked at one another.

“Give me a reason.”

“She’ll yell at me.” “I don’t trust her.”

“Why don’t you trust mama?”

“Not her, Marigold. Phoebe, wait outside.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m telling you. Amber, give the book back.”

“Not until we’re done.”

“Mister Fomoria, she won’t-”

“Amber, I’m not negotiating. Give Phoebe her book back.”

His fury was clear by his body turning to flames, and Amber handed the book back to the little girl.

Though her crossed arms told him that he had overstepped and failed to threaten her.

After Phoebe was gone and The Spire sealed the room, Amber punched him in the chest, actually hitting him due to aura, but also failing to cause him pain.

“Yeah, I remember that trick. So what the fuck is your problem with Marigold now?”

“I don’t think she or the gods trust me.”

“No shit. Of course they don’t.”

“Don’t tell me that you are siding with them.”

“You did this. I didn’t want to say it before because you weren’t all there and you needed your full state of mind to understand how badly you fucked this all up. If you didn’t give Xol the chance, he couldn’t have stolen your body and then immediately taken the Godtouched flesh of Seraphallen.”

She looked down at Durandal.

“Shut up.”

“What is he saying?”

“Nothing, he’s a sword, swords don’t talk.”

“Yet you are talking at him, and you keep saying him instead of it.”

“Stop trying to change the subject.”

“And before, you looked upset with Durandal after you suggested that you wanted to fight alongside me and you were talking about Velvet-”

“SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU. I’M CALLING MARIGOLD.”

She answered as soon as possible and arrived just after.

“What is the problem.”

“I think her sword is a pervert.”

She used her right hand to pinch her temples and her left to support it.

“What?”

“Don’t listen to him. He wrote a book for Phoebe and it’s all gibberish but she could understand it perfectly.

I told him I was going to call you, and he told me not to and threatened me.”

“Fomoria, why would you do that?”

“Neither you or the gods trust me.”

“Of course we can’t. It is your fault that Xol was in the position to execute his plans. He was also directly involved in both your birth and life to the point where we have no idea how much he influenced events to get you to that point or this point.”

“That’s what I told him.”

“But more than any of that, you aren’t acting normal. You’ve been overly aggressive and… honestly you’ve lacked your cunning. You are blunt when you need to be, but you couldn’t even talk your sister out of calling me. You made no attempt to arguing the point about the Cerast. You just run away again and again to do whatever you want without explanation. You did that before, but now we have no idea what you are going to do and we can’t be sure that it’s good or that it even makes sense.”

“How does Xol use Aardian magic?”

“Don’t change the subject. Tell me about the book.”

“I want to know. He could use void gate, normal gate, he split mana into pure elements and he did a bunch of other things. I need to know how he did it so I can start using normal magic again.”

“Honestly? I can’t say. He was already using magic like that before I got closer to him. The book.”

“I wrote it normally, I just drew with my finger. I don’t know what Amber means when she says that it doesn’t have any real words.”

“Phoebe is outside, I’m going to look at the book.”

“How do you-”

“Mind sense. I’m sure you miss it.”

Marigold took the book without asking and then stepped back into the room to examine it.

Her eyes flashed golden and then black before she tossed it aside, burning it to not even dust by pulsing radiance and void before it hit the ground.

“Don’t write things down, it’s dangerous.”

Then she left.

“The fuck was that?”

Amber’s eyes flashed black.

“THAT DIDN’T ANSWER ANYTHING.”

She yelled at her shadow.

Her eyes flashed again, and then she deeply sighed.

“What did she say?”

“Something about writing down pure magical intent being dangerous. You’re fine, Phoebe is fine, but that thing was basically a time bomb.”

He hung his head.

“Of course. Scrolls. I basically handed her a book full of charged runes. One wrong touch and she could’ve died. Stupid stupid stupid.”

“Nobody uses scrolls anymore, don’t worry about it too much.”

“No. I should’ve known better, I’ve used runes for traps before using the same principles as scrolls.

I just… I just didn’t remember.”

She sighed again, feeling a little bad about blowing up at him.

“You see what we mean? You might think that you are back to normal, but you’re still missing parts of yourself. Whenever you think about doing something, doesn’t matter if it’s magic or visiting someone, anything, just think about it a little bit longer and try to double check. You had all of those flashes before, do you still get them?”

“Not really. I just remember things normally now.”

“That could be it, or maybe you are using the wrong memories and you aren’t looking for those right memories because you think that you are already right.”

“Thank you. I’ll try to remember that next time.”

----------------------------------------

Marigold wanted to know what Fomoria was, but even The Darkness had no clear answer.

“How is that possible?”

“He’s Fae now, possible or not is a hard question to answer. But he’s not Xol, he’s not a human soul from Earth.

When Xol was formless, he was just a spirit, Fomoria has become something else.”

“How much of this was expected?”

“I intended for certain things, but I saw not one thread where this happened. Perhaps because he would no longer be of Aarde I missed them, or more terrifying, Xol hid them all from me without me noticing anything was wrong for decades.”

“He hid a lot from all of us…”

Marigold closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

“I think I should’ve told him how to use Aardian magic.”

“Aarde has forbidden it. Find more ways to build up an army, and find out how we can trap him. It’s possible that pieces of Xol were left behind and are influencing him. It’s much safer for us to use him to enhance others rather than strengthening him.”

“He’s going to find out how eventually, and if he ever learns that I knew and didn’t tell him he’s going to be upset. It seems shortsighted.”

“Aarde is certainly wiser than any other, what they say is what makes sense.”

Marigold left the small world of The Darkness and returned to keeping an eye on New Kor.

She hated the name, since she always intended to take Kor back, but Sepul spread it around and it seemed to be accepted.