Tuisto changed many things regarding the dead magic zone. The cognizance impairing illusion that made people either ignore or avoid this area if they didn’t know it existed was stronger now, making the existence of the shit desert slip the mind of even those who knew of it. And the boundary now had a physical effect. Anyone attempting to enter got a notification and a small resistance, like trying to push through a plastic shower curtain.
As I flew over the dead magic zone, I lowered my hand to press on the boundary and pushed.
> >WARNING: You are entering a dead zone. Imminent death.
Very ominous and it would probably make people want to enter out of sheer curiosity. Not my problem though. I just wanted to see in what state the gnomes were after the shit-show back at the kobold village. I reached the mountain with the staircase and landed next to the entrance. Last year, I planted a pine tree next to the exit so I could access my refuge faster. Touching the trunk, I willed myself to enter the tree and go there.
Upon my arrival, I called Nenandil. The water fairy quickly flew out of the old house to meet me. She landed next to me and held my head by the cheeks.
“What happened?”
I explained it to her. How I got obsessed with the siphon, how I took over the kobolds, how I dug to the Core, and what happened afterward. Nenandil listened in silence, nodding or humming to let me know she was following what I said.
“You got mana madness. It happens with all of us fairies, I thought you knew. Sorry,” she apologized.
I rubbed her head and hummed my dragonfly wings, “Not your fault. What is it?”
“Do you remember when Alloralla went down to pay the tithe to the elder fairies? How they got so engorged on your mana and blood they kept you longer than they should?” I nodded. “That’s mana madness. It is rare but may happen anywhere for almost anything magical. Sometimes a fairy gets crazy about a contract, or something silly like getting revenge because they took a nibble of your cookie house. It has to do with emotional attachment rather than sheer power. It brings the dark side in any of us.” She cuddled me and ran her hand against my green hair. “You poor thing. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you. I know it doesn’t help with the sorrow but you are very unlikely to catch it again for a long while. So long you remember your shame.”
That last line was rather sinister. I knew Nenandil loved me and she wouldn’t hurt me but I knew mana madness was a huge taboo in fairy society. Maybe that was the reason the elder fairies were so nice to me. They were trying to repay me to ease their shame. And now it was my turn. I couldn’t do anything for the kobolds but the gnomes would need guidance to evolve past their savage age.
Now that Tuisto blocked conception of any babies carrying the genes for the drug glands or the harshest version of the {Anti-Magical}, the future gnomes had a shot at living a life outside the boundary of the dead magic desert. I could see how they would become expert mage-killers and could hunt specialized magical monsters that were too dangerous for normal people.
I won’t lie, it was eugenics of the highest level. Of the divine level. Was it ethical? I knew the gnomes had accepted the Perk as the System seldom allowed even the Administrators to mess with living people’s Status without proper compensation. What did he give them to convince the gnomes to accept the Perk? But one pressing factor trumped over everything. It had to be done. The males were poisoning the females. A side effect of the poison was the euphoria and pleasure it caused in the females’ system but the mutation was literally killing babies, as the female fetuses didn’t have the same resilience as an adult weaned to the poison.
And the gnomes had to grow and move outside the desert. Now that the kobolds were no more a threat, the gnomes needed something to keep their minds preoccupied. If they didn’t have an enemy to challenge them and force them to stay united, they would fight against one another. It was a trait shared by every sentient species, not only humans. Society needed an outlet for aggression or a deeply-ingrained indoctrination called civilization. Maybe A Dungeon up here in the mountains to allow the gnomes to fight and challenge themselves would be such an outlet. They needed to move outside the dead magic zone for that to happen, though.
I talked about that with Nenandil for a while but I had to go. I couldn’t leave the gnomes to their own device for too long and I had to check the death toll. Moving back to Yznarian through the tree, I found Tuisto waiting at the mouth of the stairway leading into the caves.
“Can we talk for a while?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I nodded. “You never betrayed my trust, Tuisto. I now see that I wouldn’t be misled if I gave you the Divine Core. Although my path would be radically different.”
“You accomplished something unique, beyond my expectations. Even Loki was surprised by the birth of the wisp you call Pandora. But I promise I won’t take too long. Let me tell you what you should expect down there. More than a third of the gnomes perished. Those that had free Perk choices were forced to purchase the resistance Perk, and I enacted emergency activations for the infants. That included your ward. She’s alive. I apologize for dismissing you back when you warned us of the dangers of the {Anti-Magical} Perk. I didn’t look at it with the due diligence.”
“It’s fine. You didn’t trigger the events that led to this catastrophe. If it is anyone’s fault, it is both mine and Wyxnos’.”
“I won’t argue against neither confirm it. What’s done is done. We turned a blind eye to Wyxnos’ machinations one time too many. I have two Cores here for you. One is an [Ambient Mana Regulator], a modified lesser version of the one controlling the dead magic zone. I suggest you install it in the mountains to the north, it will create a field of weak ambient mana where the gnomes won’t burn to death immediately. It will be helpful to make them train their resistance and proficiencies. This [Ambient Mana Regulator] is synchronized with the dead magic zone and won’t overlap so it’s safe to put it close to the boundary here. The second one is a modified Dungeon Core that will work inside the weak ambient mana and feed off of the mana drained by the [Ambient Mana Regulator]. They are supposed to be used in tandem. You know how to operate a Dungeon Core and this one already has a willing soul inhabiting the crystal.”
He gave me the two engraved crystals and I studied them. I wanted to learn how to make Dungeon Cores and these multi-purpose enchanted crystals. But even with five hundred in [Enchanter] and [Rune Scribe], it was beyond my current skills. It wasn’t wasted time as just studying them gave me a point in the former and two points in the latter because it still had Fast-growth points to burn.
With the Cores in the item box, I assumed Tinarturnner’s form and walked down the stairs.
----------------------------------------
The gnome tunnels were filled with lamentations. Since I arrived, we had a year with very few deaths in the desert. They moved up Maslow’s pyramid and that gave them room to cherish the living. Now they were suffering the other side of the coin, mourning the dead.
“Matriarch’s voice, why did this happen?” A gnome asked me as he carried his brother’s body down the main tunnel, going to the garage.
“The Matriarch fought the kobolds and their dark god. They perished when their devices backfired and exploded, killing all of them. It also destabilized everything here, causing these deaths. They already paid for their folly and the desert is now ours.”
That didn’t offset his loss. I had similar talks with the gnomes as I walked in the tunnels until I found Grenniana at the nursery.
“Tina! Nanny…” she ran to me with teary eyes. I understood what happened. Nanny had very few opportunities to gain levels and was rather old.
> > Level 5 Female Scavenger Gnome (no Class).
“I understand. Come here, sit with me. I’ll explain what happened.”
I would repeat the same explanation several times as I went among the gnomes, comforting them. But that day belonged to Grenniana. We shared stories about Nanny and how the grumpy old gnome was one step from crumbling down. After we had shed enough tears for the father figure in our lives, I took her down to the garage.
“It is time for you to pick your Class, Grenniana. What do you want to do?”
Her reply wasted not a split second, “I want to stay with you, Tina. What are you going to do now that the kobolds are defeated?”
“A few patrols out there survived. They are not entirely gone but I think we should get them to live with us. They don’t have a village anymore.”
“What? The Kobolds won’t--”
I put my finger in front of her mouth and pulled her into a nook in the wall. “Let me tell you a secret. I killed the kobold [Queen] and took over control of their settlement before their God exploded everything. The kobolds obey me now. The gnomes will change their way of life, the Matriarch has decided. We will climb out of the caverns and settle in the mountain above. I have a sacred relic that will allow the gnomes to live up there. Under the sun, but without the devouring sands. With trees, grass, and flowers.”
Grenniana closed her eyes, the simple thing surface people took for granted demanding all her imagination to visualize. After she either succeeded or gave up, she made her statement. “I want to make that a reality. That’s what I want to do. Create a place for the gnomes.”
"Are you sure? To make a place means you'll have to rule the place. Set laws, customs, settle disputes. It is a lot of hard work. I once had a girl take over a city, she later resented it. But she did a wonderful job."
She shook her head. "I don't mind. I think it is better than staying in the mother's cave having visitors all the time and keep birthing children over and over and over. I want to be like you, Tina. I want to visit places, see the world. When everyone started to burn, the System told me the Matriarch had gifted me a lot of Perks. Including a resistance to what was killing our people. I think the Goddess did that for a reason."
"She did that because she loves you."
She smiled for the first time since my return, "I know that. And I want to be someone worthy of that love."
“I'll help you. We'll go up there next week and set the cornerstone of our new gnome and kobold realm. I officially adopt you and make you a [Princess] of the Siphon Desert. You’ll be a [Mason] and a [Landscaper]. Those will be your Proficiencies. You’ll become an [Ruler] and a [General] so you can govern the new city and also defend it. You shall be the cornerstone of the gnome city and its defenses. Because outside the dead magic zone, marvels await and also danger from monsters and magical creatures. Clean air, running water, magical lights, and birds.”
She was puzzled and overwhelmed. “What’s a 'birds'?”