As per Dawn’s request, we held a small party that consisted of mine and August’s households, Pyro’s and Volt’s, and a few friends from the Order of Mages. Of course, the Pendulums were there. I think her father accepted me a lot more after the Ulanos situation. I spent that night with Dawn, but the next morning, I devoted to another woman.
Her arms drooped down from doing her hair, “I see,” she said, looking into the mirror. “Part of me wants revenge even now, but, I’m glad you made the decision you made.” She stood up and hugged me, “I don’t want my son murdering people because of his soggy mother,” then ruffled my hair. “You’ve really matured, Eric.”
I hugged Mary back, “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t happy with my decision.”
“So,” she returned to doing her hair up, “second marriage, huh? What about second child?”
“Uh,” I scratched my cheek nervously, “Well, it’d be third, because I consider Celosia my daughter as well.”
“Hmm, I see. That’s quite a situation, you know. Your duty as the witch’s successor means you aren’t around much, and even if us women don’t tell you, we all want children. But, just don’t bite off more than you can chew. In your line of work, you’re probably going to suffer a lot. You can’t make faces of defeat in front of young and impressionable ones.”
“Children, huh?” Yet another cog began turning, another thought to consider in the melee of things swirling about my head already. “Is that how you feel with dad’s death and Tacari?”
The direct question stopped her in her tracks. “Yes,” she admitted. “It’s really hard, pretending to be happy, pretending everything’s okay. I, miss him.”
“Why haven’t you asked me to Light-Resurrect him?”
She shook her head, “I will not abuse your power. I imagine you have your own reasons for not doing it as well.” Quickly, she rose to her feet, “How do I look?”
I smiled, “Like you’re ready to take on the world.”
“Good!” she grabbed her things. “Enjoy your day, sweetie. And let me know if you’re leaving beforehand, dammit!”
I snickered guiltily, “Yes, ma’am.”
She left me there, in her room. Hmm, I guess it’s time to get the ball rolling, eh Drak’ka?
~
“Again?” King Maxwell sighed. I was putting yet another plan in motion and needed permission from him before I could do it. “Well, void magic has increased the success rate of missions at the Order, so the orcs were a great addition. And elven architecture and spell books certainly raised the standard of living in Methelia, so the elves were an even bigger success. But warlocks that can summon demons?”
“Could,” I corrected. Drak’ka only allowed warlocks to force contracts on low-ranks and mid-ranks because she was getting free souls for the soul well. But now that the soul well wasn’t her primary concern, her allowance of these contracts was no more.
“What I’m asking, Eric, is what benefit would they bring to Methelia?”
Hmm, what do they have anyway? I know they can use draconic magic to an extent. They can use a sliver of shadow magic as well, which would be a great addition and probably the best weapon to kill with. But, do they have anything I can use as a bargaining chip?
“Ah, that’s a good question. I’m not really sure. Look, I’ll be frank here. At some point, this is probably gonna have to happen with or without your permission. Maybe not in the exact way I imagine it, but it’ll happen.”
He looked me dead in the eyes, interlaced his fingers and rested his hands on the table, “I know you’re a powerful mage, and I know that power doesn’t blind you. And with what you’ve seen of your travels, there must be some semblance of wisdom in that mind of yours. So, what aren’t you telling me?”
The room ran quiet. I mimicked his movements and joined my hands together as well, leaning forward on the table, “There’s a creature strong enough to wipe out not just towns, cities or villages. Not just countries and continents. It’s strong enough to wipe out worlds. That includes the world, Methelia. It includes the home of the warlocks, Pargat. The elves aren’t safe either. No one is safe. All I know, is that there is a creature of unfathomable power coming in a few years and I wouldn’t feel good if I don’t prepare in every way possible. The Methelian world is too weak. The warlock world is too weak. So is the elven world.” His eyes widened as I spoke. “You see what I’m getting to, aren’t you, my king?”
“Y-yes,” he leaned backward, almost flabbergasted.
“There are worlds I’ve been to that you’ve yet to know about. There are worlds I haven’t been to as yet. But I’ll have to make do with what we have now and put my plans into action.”
His hands extended to mine, and he squeezed tightly, “Eric, I’m blindly trusting you here. I want yo – no. I need your word, that Methelia will not be destroyed.”
“He can’t give you that, my king,” August finally said something. “No one can guarantee it. However, we can most likely guarantee that we’ll be a dead world if we don’t do something now.”
King Maxwell chuckled, “Alright, then, heroes. I’ll trust in you both to save us once again.”
~
“Well, whatever. I’m with it,” Cey shrugged. “Hell, this guy,” he threw an arm around my shoulder, “helped me become the best magical engineer in my family, and he helped out you guys a lot too. Genuk, SMCs were great, but even you’ve gotta admit that mana potions are what propelled your family’s business into true greatness.” He sure was an upfront elf. “Rizt, you introduced him to us, so I assumed you’d be more willing to accept what he’s saying. You hold the top seat on the board of the most prestigious school to exist in Tyrr, probably in Jynnak! An unlimited supply of potions for your students have produced the school’s best. Morhiggan, dude. Out of all of us, you getting mana potions has probably been the most important. I’ve heard what happens in surgery and operations where mana is a problem. Despite how spotless your hospitals seem to be, there are still blemishes, there are still failed surgeries.” He then turned to the fiery Tuvos girl, “Ah, and Tuvos. Well,” he winked, “I know if Morhiggan is on board, so are you.”
Morhiggan stood up properly from his leaned position onto the wall. His glass of wine seemed to be of great importance even during a discussion like this. “You speak of a great enemy, Eric; one that can lay waste to all life in Jynnak. You want elves to risk their lives in fighting this enemy?”
“Nah, dude. Elves will not fight. Elves won’t be anywhere close to a fight. Frankly, I don’t think elves are cut-out for war. You guys specialise in the technical things. Us guys who fight on the frontlines will only look at your specialties as auxiliary means of help, but I can’t possibly depend on every healer we have to take care of all the injured soldiers. That’s where I need your joint efforts with medics.”
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Next it was Tuvos’ turn, “I won’t even dream of conjuring and transmuting food and water for every soldier, we’ll need a good tradeswoman to fulfil that role.”
I pat Rizt on the shoulder, “Even though we plan to train, it would be pointless if we do it blindly. We’ll need good magic educators.”
Cey’s validation was next, “And I’ll be damned if teleportation pads weren’t available. We can make them, sure, but to mass produce them? We’ll fail. And Genuk, not even my own business produces mana potions as fast as the elves do. We’re nowhere close. Each of you have an extremely important role to play.”
Rizt rolled her eyes, “Alright, alright. We’ll do it. The five families can convince the big boys in the government to at least be present for your meeting.”
“Good. I’ll give you all notices then.”
~
Reylin, the Baruum Empire’s new empress held her head in frustration. “I’ve only just began working as empress, and you want me to unite the warring continent and convince them to fight right after the wars I have to incite just to unite said continent?”
“I told you,” Dillon interjected, “the guy’s an idiot.”
“Shut up! Look, I know it’s a lot to ask, but if I weren’t planning on supporting you, I wouldn’t have asked in the first place. The other countries in Pargat barely have warlocks or mages, right? It’ll be an easy win, especially with August and I onboard. However, I’d like to reduce the number of deaths as much as possible. Although, all-in-all, I won’t expect any help from Pargat. Uniting this mess of a world will require trust from the masses that won’t come until years in the future. I doubt that’s enough time to properly train up your armies. However, know that if I fail, life in your world will most likely be extinguished.” I stood up. “I wish you both the best of luck. Dillon, I’ll still put you in contact with the leader in the Order of Mages.”
~
“She’s changed a lot since you left,” Scarlet, the guild master of First Flight said, speaking of Freya who held onto August like there was no tomorrow. “She takes what she wants now,” she said, looking at the battlemage tank in a proud way. “So, how come you’re back?”
“I’m arranging something, something big. And Yunaris has the biggest and most important role to play in that. If we fail at this, there’s a very high chance that a great demon will wipe out life in the different worlds. Yunaris has world magic that’s extremely important. Furthermore, you have an unlimited number of enemies. Everything will be explained in detail when I gather all those that I need. It’ll be a seven-day summit. For now, though, I have to meet with the emperor. Think you can put in a good word for me to convince him to come? I’d like all the guild masters in Yunaris, the emperor, commander, and the heads of Nine Skies.”
Scarlet sat in silence, and thought heavily on the matter. It seemed this weighed on her mind for some reason. “W-will you provide food and snacks?”
“Yeah, I don’t have a choice.”
“Then I’m there!” she proclaimed. What a shameless glutton.
“Good, good,” I patted her shoulder, “I’ll make you nice and round by the time the summit ends. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some others to convince,” I said, making sure to leave a chocolate treat for her before I left. It was good to know that I could bribe her with food.
My next target in Yunaris was the Regulations Committee and Nine Skies, basically the police for dungeoneers and regular citizens respectively. There was some other guy as the head of the RC, so I didn’t even bother. I forgot Bruno Ulyen was corrupt so he got booted out. Instead, I opted to speak to the head of the Investigation Unit, the IU, in Nine Skies. She was easy to convince. The head of the Enforcement Unit was another story; however, a slight Enthral and a candid explanation at least planted a seed in his mind.
I flew towards the emperor’s quarters later that evening, and beheld the eye-patched man. He was, busy, with a woman. I waited patiently until he exited the room. The guards stationed outside had no idea I was there in Invisibility anyway. “Sup? You’re the emperor, right?”
The guards’ spears quickly pointed to my neck. “If we wanted to attack you, we could’ve done so long ago,” August greeted the man when he came out of Invisibility as well. “We’re here on important business. Business that could save this world.”
The emperor watched us from his side. “You two must be demented.”
“Nah, we’re X-ranks Eric and August,” I introduced us.
August continued, “And you are?”
The man stared at us even harder, then dismissed his now trembling guards. “Emperor Wharton. Come, let us discuss your important business in an appropriate setting, X-ranks.”
This time, August did the explaining, “And that’s why we need Yunaris’ participation in this,” he concluded.
Emperor Wharton leaned back, small bottle of wine in hand, “Hmm, witch’s successor, huh? Frankly, if you weren’t the X-ranks who helped our dungeoneer’s push forward and set a better economy for us, I’d have dismissed you both. How do I know I can trust you?”
August and I gave a quick glance to each other, then reverted our attention to the one-eyed emperor. “Well, you’re not under my mind control, so that’s something. I could have you do anything I want, but I want this answer of your own volition and your own reasoning.”
“Very well. We can at least attend your summit. Yunaris will then decide whether or not to ally with Methelia when the summit ends.”
“Perfect. I will send a notice of the time and date.”
~
I’d tell the story of my great persuasive skills in Hyzek, but the paladins agreed without so much as an explanation, especially the paladins of Ansul and Telon. I guess we had enough of a relationship with them. We did single-handedly stop a war for them, so I guess that stands for something.
So, I’d earned the attendance of all the parties I wanted for the summit being held in a month. All I had to do now was map Yraz’s mind and learn from him, detail my plans, and spend as much time with my family and friends as possible.
Despite intentions to omit mind magic from the summit, I found myself relying on it as a contingency just in case things didn’t quite go my way. I know it was selfish, but I felt like it had to be done. Hethekk the Scryer was right in that I should use it as I saw fit. So, I dedicated eight time-warped hours to mapping Yraz’s mind each day for a month, whilst considering each force’s strengths and weaknesses and seeing where I could place those forces. However, the training process was something that took quite the time for me to think up.
In the nights that I wasn’t ‘busy’, I’d sleep with Vena and use nature magic to merge her cells with mine. The very same thing she did that almost erased my existence when I was training with her was what was happening as I slept, but after mastering void manipulation, it was easy to keep control of my thoughts even when merging with pure void. It was quite the amazing feeling, blissful and scary at the same time. It felt like I was spread like a thin cloth over the entire void plane. Hell, I was the void plane. When I woke up, I felt it. It was different than just mastering a magic type’s manipulation. I now had all of Vena’s understanding of void magic, every single thing. Hydra’s sweet ass, I feel invincible!
Thinking of it now, one could say I was now an avatar of void magic, just like Vena. I could become void magic at will, it was a transcendent feeling. My eyes were opened to what understanding true magic meant. It meant literally becoming the magic! To become an avatar, I surmised that three different criteria needed to be met: manipulation mastery, living enchantment of the preferred magic type, and merging your cells with the magic type. To concrete all that I just said, was Arcana. She was there, in my room, to congratulate and acknowledge me as a literal avatar of void. I guess it was easy for me to achieve because my mana pathways were already so close to orcs, whose cells are basically made for void magic.
I decided to try it, and melted my very existence into a void plane, I became a void plane, and rebuilt my body next to August doing his morning push-ups. I basically teleported extremely fast. A-amazing. What the fuck, man? This is amazing! Vena could do this shit all the time? Hydra’s ass! The only issue though, was that I didn’t rebuild my clothes, so I appeared butt-naked. Thank goodness for transmutation; I was quickly clothed again. “Dude! Duuuuuuude! Bruh!” I bothered August. I was too excited to bottle it up and wait for him to finish training.
“What? Just discovered those ‘robes’ you guys wear are actually just glorified dresses?”
“Dude I’ve become the void now!”
He glanced at the side, “So, uh, does that mean robes aren’t dresses?”
I palmed my face. This guy! “What other living enchantments can you do?” I simply asked. He was not of mind to share in my excitement, clearly.
“There are the other magic types, and I got some other stuff for mages.”
“Hmm, well, I’m training mind heavily now so uh, remove void and enchant me for mind.”
He didn’t stop exercising, instead he created a clone to do that for me. Just like that, my void enchantment was gone, and a mind enchantment set in.
In a month’s time, mind manipulation mastery was completed after mapping Yraz’s mind, and the time for the summit was at hand.