I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision.

Warm weight of rainbow and black-white wings pressed down on me from both sides.

"Ughhh," Cinder groaned. "Was this... supposed to happen?”

"I am not exactly sure what happened," Vee clicked weakly.

“I thought that you were just going to claim his soul and then…” Cinder whined.

“And then we lost control,” Vespera sighed. “Again. Absolutely, totally lost control and did something really effy....”

“What?” Ci asked.

“Something odd…” Vee answered. “What in the Abyss?"

I pushed the wings aside and spotted the wide open beak of the Thunderbird.

Beyond us, the entire dining hall had transformed. Everything - the walls, the floor, the ceiling, even the furniture - was now made of transparent, slightly bluish-white crystal. The stone fireplace was transparent too, the Kitlix inside now a being of pure crystal and faceted geometry, seemingly purged of its previous black and orange colors.

Clear, crystalline eyes of the magic kitten blinked at me, as if seeing me for the first time.

"Uhhhhh.... what," Cinder let out, staring at her Lazarus bracelet.

I followed her gaze.

Her Lazarus bracelet had changed too. Instead of its usual pure black hexagonal pattern, it was now transparent and whitish-silver-blue, like it was carved from a single piece of ice.

"Impressive," Io suddenly commented at us from the edge of the crystalline hall. "Very crystal palace."

"Hey, dawg. Does this count as a disaster?" I asked.

"I'm gonna go with... yes," he nodded, antennae flicking left and right.

Vespera jumped off me, spinning like a wild squirrel, eyes wide.

"How far are things crystalline?" She demanded.

"All the way into the deep," Katherine’s figure flickered into existence, diving out from the deep shadows. "Whatever you idiots did is bad. Very bad. Never seen anything like it bad."

"What about physical distance-wise?" Vespera asked Io.

"Gloomy horse is no longer gloomy," Io said. "Almost the entire silica column along with the old citadel is now pure crystal. We should rename it to the Crystal Horse," he suggested. "Would be more accurate now."

"What the shit?" Cinder asked, poking her Lazarus bracelet with a talon.

"What in the actual Abyss did you three knobs DO?!" Katherine demanded. "Can I not leave you alone for five minutes without you breaking everything?!"

"We… did a chase," I said. "Then, Vee soul-claimed me. We... uhmmm... Burned the lighter for I don't know how long. It went up to about 17k mana. Saw the thing from the lake. I made a wish so the Outsider wouldn't come through reality to our lovely Guild citadel. Now we have a crystal building. Hooray?"

"Outsider... what Outsider?!" Kat frowned.

"Long story," I said. "Involves Ci. She can tell you about it if she wants to."

Cinder frowned, clearly not wanting to talk about her problems with Kat.

I leaned close to the now crystalline floor. I could see right through it to the caverns below. Bewildered faces of my mooks stared up at me through layers and layers of crystalline walls. I waved at them.

I focused past the tunnel-expanding mooks, past the myriads of caverns and crystalline tunnels. Something glowed far, far below us looking like distant ocean waves moving in radial patterns.

I realized what I was looking at.

“Holy crap,” I commented. “I can see all the way down to Abystall Dungeon, this is freaking amazing!”

My friends stared down into the floor with me, their expressions extra-bewildered.

Then I considered what else I was seeing. The tunnels below us should have been pitch black and yet they weren't. It was like the crystal strata glowed ever so slightly from within, creating incredibly even, soft light, basically casting the glow of Abystall fields through itself like a gargantuan prism.

"Wowzah. Sheeeeet," Vespera clicked, tapping the crystalline floor with her talons. "It's... conducting electricity. Conducting magic. Like, really well. Better than magisteel."

She pressed her magisteel-covered hand against the floor, sending sparks dancing across it. The electricity spread out in perfect fractal patterns, creating intricate designs that pulsed with inner light.

"Wow," she breathed. "This crystalline strata is... perfect. No impurities, no flaws. It's like... like someone took reality and... optimized it."

"Optimized it how?" I smiled at her.

"Uhhhh. Made it... more Syntropic," she clicked.

"Umm, guys," Cinder commented. "Did we break our Lazarus bracelets? Why are our bracelets transparent?"

"The bracelets aren't broken," Vespera clicked thoughtfully, sending more electrical currents into her transparent hexagonal bracelet. "The hexagrams are still there, it's just... the strata materia is overwritten conceptually. Just like cavern silica. Everything is basically… Syntropically stabilised."

"Am I Syntropically stabilised too?" I grinned at her. "Are my teeth and bones transparent now?"

The Thunderbird grabbed me, sending sparks across my body.

"Nope," she said. "You're still a basic human bean. Whatever this is, it didn't apply to organic materia.”

"Lame," I whined. "I wanted to be Crystal-man. Should have wished for infinite wishes."

“This is better,” Vee clicked. “It has the potential for writing an ungodly amount of hexagrams on it! Saves me a fuck-ton of time."

"And now everyone in Undertown will know where we are," Katherine growled, stalking across the crystalline floor. Her claws made soft clicking sounds against the transparent surface. "The giant crystal tower is a bit of a giveaway. Plus it's basically transparent. No privacy whatsoever. Now is anyone gonna go to the bathroom here? Look, you can see everything and everyone through it!”

“A temporary problem,” Vee waved at Kat. “I can add privacy hexagrams where such are needed that should make specific sections take on solid colors.”

"As for any potential crystal palace invaders. They'll have to swim through a moat of mites to get to us," I said.

"A moat?" Katherine asked.

"I sent a few of my most agile mooks into Abystall fields to collect even more mites to refill the extradimensional bags," I said. "I'm exporting Duskbloom and Duskbloom accessories."

"You're... exporting Duskbloom?" Katherine's eyes widened. "To freaking where?"

"Wherever it is needed most," I shrugged.

The Stollwurm's eye twitched.

"Are you..." Katherine's tail lashed dangerously. "Are you planning to spread Duskbloom to other cities on Arx?"

"Only if they attack Katsburg," I said, picking up the now transparent Kitlix from the fireplace and sitting in a leather chair like a proper supervillain. "Maybe I'll hold Arx hostage for 100 billion celesteel cards or something? Anyways for now it's mostly a deterrent, sort of like having nuclear armament!”

The Stollwurm didn't seem too pleased by my words. I ignored her.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Hey, Vee, does the crystal tower attract the mites?" I asked our resident Thunderbird.

Vespera sent more electrical currents across the crystalline floor, studying the patterns.

"Not exactly," she clicked thoughtfully. "It's pure conductive strata. Doesn’t have shit flowing through it with the exception of hexagrams already there. Good for writing... runes on. Das about it."

“How good?”

“Possibly the best strata I've bloody seen,” she replied. “Has a ridiculous level of artificer malleability. Around 17k on the aetheric potential density scale.”

"Syntropic and way over nine thousand" I mused, petting the crystalline Kitlix in my lap. It purred geometrically, prismatic refractions dancing across its transparent form. "Like Zee Captain. I think that's what she called herself... A being of Syntropy. Hrm. Vee, can you try writing a cold rune through a wall, onto the other side of the floor below us?"

"Mhmm," Vespera hummed, her magisteel talons igniting with electrical arcs. She pressed them against the crystalline floor, sending currents of electricity dancing through the transparent material.

The electricity formed intricate patterns that seemed to sink deeper and deeper into the crystal, each layer perfectly aligned with the ones above and below it. The patterns spread out in three dimensions, creating a complex lattice of glowing lines.

"Oh wow," she clicked excitedly. "Yep. I totally can! The crystal conducts and holds the patterns perfectly! It's like... like writing on water, except the water remembers everything and amplifies it! Yeah, this is hell-a-handy. I can write runes on the other side of walls, you're right!"

"Then I got a job for you," I said. "Write generic mana pulse runes around the tower to attract mites. I want the outside crawling with them. So much so if anyone even looks at it, they will want to run away screaming."

"I can do better than that," Vespera clicked, her gray eyes sparkling with joy of artificery. "Cus the entire silica column is basically single strata, I can write a massive resonance pattern that will make the mites swarm in specific formations. Like... imagine a giant skull made of glowing parasites floating above our tower! Ke ke ke."

"Perfect!" I grinned. "Make it happen."

"On it!" Vee gave me a salute.

Katherine looked from me to the Thunderbird.

"What?" I asked her. "The mites are attracted to magic. Vee can direct magical pulses in a specific direction from our tower. It's basically a magic beacon with point and click. Imagine a magical ray that raises the or lowers the aetheric density of a specific location. A death ray!”

"A deathray," Vee clicked merrily, sending sparks flying across the floor as she clapped her talons together. "I love the way you think, Quartermaster! We are going to need a power source for this thing though. Something incredibly magical.”

“Maybe I can steal the Abystall core?” I asked.

“Sounds like an extra-dangerous idea, but yeah,” Vee clicked. “A dungeon core would work. Or at least a very big beast core. Without that, the tower is a car without fuel. Can only cast smol, basic spells. Nothing guided or far away."

"Should we kill these two now or later?" Kat asked Cinder.

"Uhhh." The Quetzi tapped her pearlescent chin. "Maybe later. After they're done being useful."

"I heard that!" I called out. "No plotting my demise!"

"Too late," Katherine growled. "I'm already plotting."

"Same," Cinder nodded.

"Aww, they're bonding over wanting to murder us," Vespera clicked cheerfully. "Isn't that adorable?"

"Adorable?" Katherine's emerald eyes narrowed dangerously. "You think this is cute? I’m being serious! You two are clearly insane and need to be put down for your own good.”

"Shhh. Everything's cute when you're in love!" Vespera sang, smooshing me.

"Love?" Katherine repeated. "You've known him for what, a week?"

"And what wonderful week it's been!" Vespera clicked. “What's not to love?”

“He literally threw Duskborn mites at your face,” the Stollwurm pointed out. “I saw it before I peaced out."

"Ah, mais oui!" Vespera clicked, switching to perfect French. "C'est l'amour! C'est très romantique! Such passion, such vision! And now he gives me a crystalline palace to conduct electricity through! Mon petit renard est parfait!"

"I don't speak French," Katherine growled. “I’ve no idea what you’re saying.”

"L'amour ne connaît pas de langue!" Vespera declared dramatically, draping herself over me. "Il parle avec le cœur! With actions! With biological weapons and criminal enterprises! With deadly mites to the face! With localized Celestorms overwriting our Arx domain to create a proper... oh. Oooooooohhh!"

Her beak fell open.

Kat blinked at us, not getting the entire picture.

"You made a mage tower!" Vee accused.

"Yep," I nodded. I lifted the lighter to my face, checking the level of the fluid. Half of it was already gone. Way to go me, way to use it conservatively. Eh, whatever. At least it worked. Sort of. Instead of a mere crumbling citadel tower, I now had a proper mage tower, one that could eventually cast area-wide spells, if we acquired a dungeon core to power it.

“Hang on,” Cinder drew her ocean-blue eyes from the transparent caverns below us to my smug face. “Did you… plan for this? All of us giving you our Omnid scales, feathers and fuzz ground into shakes, us chasing you across the cold tunnel and back here, Vee biting you… then all of us using the lighter to create a localized Celestorm?!”

“Ten million points to Quetzi-claw house,” I winked at her. “There is power in specific magical acts. I knew that whatever resonance exists between me and Vee could produce a Celestorm. I knew that there’s an Outsider that I had to start booting out sooner or later. Though… I didn't expect the tower to become this crystalline this far out. That's a nice bonus. Very wizard-chic.”

"You..." Cinder's feathers shifted through brilliant oranges. "You manipulated me and Vee into... into..."

"Into helping us create a proper mage tower?" I suggested innocently. "One that can channel and amplify magic across all of Undertown? One that lets Vee write runes on crystalline strata with lightning? One that will eventually give us a proper base of operations on Arx, right beneath Shandria? Yes. Yes I did. You’re welcome."

"You absolute..." Cinder's wings flared bright. "You... you..."

"Manipulative genius?" I suggested. "Brilliant strategist? Handsome devil?"

"CHEEKY CHUPPY!" She roared, grabbing and hugging me tight.

"That too," I nodded sagely. "But I'm your chappie now. Both of yours. No take-backsies."

"There will be many take-backsies," Katherine growled. "Starting with your spine."

"Can't take my spine," I said. "I need it for my evil overlord posture. Besides, how else will I sit dramatically in my crystal throne while petting my geometric cat?"

“You don’t have a…” Cinder began.

I pointed at the stone couch turned into transparent crystal now inhabited by Io who was snacking on superhero-themed pocky sticks. “Crystal couch-throne. Fits all of my besties.”

I pointed at the crystalline tunnels and the distant view of Abystall Dungeon far beneath our feet.

“Crystalline-prison,” I grinned. “Fits all of our future Emeralds.”

Cinder choked.

“And below that… our lovely dungeon human settlement, for our future human colony.”

“Where dungeon Sentinels and giant tentacle monsters roam wild and free!” Vee commented.

“Indeed,” I said. “I was quite frankly concerned about the number of mage-staff and arrow-armed Sentinels down there but now that we have a mage tower pointed down there… well then…"

"We could death-ray the monsters directly from above... to clear some room," Vespera grinned, clapping her talons together excitedly.

Cinder’s eyes went wide and then her mouth snapped shut. She slipped onto the crystalline couch-throne next to Io, rubbing her face and pulsing with the colors of a well-lit Winter See-Mass tree.

"Does this really help... with my soul?" She asked.

"A mage tower is step one," I shrugged. "A thousand more to go."

"I see," she deflated slightly.

"To start off, I'd like to practice Charmchain magic with you," I said.

"Sure," Cinder nodded. "Charmchain isn't dangerous like deep diving, it's just an outward mental projection, making others believe in things that aren't true. You're already pretty good at that."

"Right," I agreed. "But I could be better at it."

"You can practice on me," Vespera said. "Convince me that you're a...." she clicked her beak thoughtfully. "A sneaky little fox!"

I cleared my throat dramatically and struck a pose.

"Ahem. Yes. I am definitely a fox. Look at my... uh... clever and foxy ways." I made awkward pawing motions with my hands, trying to mentally picture myself as a vulpine. "Yip yip?"

Cinder burst out laughing, her feathers flickering through amused oranges and pinks.

"That's terrible!" she snorted.

"Ye, that's like negative twenty outta ten fox-ness," Vespera shook her head. "Try harder. Also, Ci, you gotta project your skill into Lex for him to catch onto it. That's how it works. Hold onto each other. Picture Lexy as a big radar dish and bounce your skill off his innards. Lex - charm me, make me mentally perceive ya as an actual small fox."

"Mkay," Cinder grabbed my hands, staring at my eyes.

I felt a strange tingling sensation as her skill flowed through our joined hands and danced somewhere in my stomach. The crystalline room seemed to wobble and tilt slightly as my perception shifted.

"Picture yourself as small and clever," she instructed. "Be a fox."

I nodded, focusing on foxness with all of my will.

"Smaller," she instructed. "Picture yourself low to the ground, alert, watching everything from that perspective. Feel your tail swishing behind you..."

I focused harder, trying to imagine myself from a fox's perspective - close to the ground, alert, with keen senses. The crystalline room seemed to shift and grow larger around me.

"Good," Cinder encouraged. "Now think about how a fox moves - quick, light steps. Always ready to dart away. Feel your ears swiveling to catch every sound. Focus your foxness at Vee, make her believe that you're a cute, little, orange fox."

I nodded, losing myself to the skill.

"Think about the way a fox tilts their head when curious," Cinder guided, her feathers shifting through encouraging blues and violets. "The way they perk their ears forward. The slight head-tilt that makes everyone go 'aww.'"

I attempted to mimic the head-tilt, feeling slightly ridiculous but committed to the art of Charmchain magic.

"Hum. That's... actually working," Vespera clicked, her eyes widening slightly. "For a moment there I almost saw whiskers and fluffy ears."

I focused harder, pulling on the magic flowing through me from Cinder, projecting, pouring it into Vespera's head.

Foxness. I'm a fox. A cute, little, clever fox.

The cool crystalline couch felt different under my imagined paw pads. My nails seemed to elongate without actually getting longer. My senses seemed slightly sharper - I could pick up more subtle sounds echoing through the crystalline halls.

"That's it!" Cinder encouraged, her feathers shifting through excited violets. "You're getting it!"

"Oh wow, what a cute little fox," Vespera reached out and petted my head. It felt strange. Like I was myself and also wasn't.

The system error message once again flashed in my right eye.

[Level 2 skill gained: Charmchain] the Lazarus bracelet notified me.

"Got it," I smiled, letting go of being a fox.

"Nuu, go back to being a smol pettable cute," Vespera whined.

"Later," I laughed. "Out of mana now."

"Fineee," she let out, still vigorously petting my human head.

I leaned into the Thunderbird pets, returning to petting the transparent Kitlix.

I wondered how Emerald’s team was doing uptown and whether the crumbs of incredibly dastardly information I sent up to my orphans and mooks across the magical lockdown barrier made her life extra spicy and complicated.