The portal was flat on the wooden floor, showing the stone wall of the portal room in a circle. It was possible that the First would be able to pick the portal up from the other side and squeeze back into the room, so I moved it into the wall of the portal room and up onto the stone roof.

Reforming the portal into a square doorway I stepped through it onto the flat expanse of stone that made up the roof of the portal rooms. I was near the outer edge in darkness, looking back towards the center of the Pocket Dimension I could see the floodlights that lit it up.

I folded the portal up so that it was a double line of thread and used my power to push it into the wooden wall, hiding it in the First's room. It only occurred to me now that none of the wood there was enchanted, which would have made the whole attack more complicated.

I pulled up the feed from the presence in the portal room below me and reconnected to Shade's simulation, sharing the feed with her. Which was showing the black of a complete absence of light.

"You let him live," Shade said. "Why?"

"My original intention was to talk to him first," I said. "And I was setting up to capture him into the stone cell that he is in when he used that nightmare spell on me. After that it was simpler and faster to continue the original plan than come up with something else."

"What are you going to do with him now?" Shade asked. "And what will happen to me now that I've fulfilled my part?"

"I want to ask him some questions," I said. "As for you, you might want to take some time to think on whether you will attack me again. Give me your answer after you have given it some thought."

I used the presence in the room below to project my voice, using my human voice as the template, and cleared my throat.

"Hello, is someone there?" the First asked.

"I'm here, yes," I said. "I'm bringing some lights for the room. They get added after new rooms are set up and need them, and this is a fresh room. What is it that I should call you? I know you're known as the First, but that hardly seems appropriate."

"Bale," Bale said. "And who are you, what is this?"

"Your name is Bale?" I asked. It seemed odd, given the plant themed names of all of the other Forest Keepers I'd heard.

"Balefultree," Bale said. "I was not well regarded by the namer at my coming of age, not with my magic affinity and affliction. She paid for it dearly at a later time, but I am still stuck with the name."

"Did you send an assassin to kill me?" I asked.

"So you're the Lord of the Fortress, then," Bale said. "Yes, I sent the assassin. I wanted to take over the fortress and rule from behind the scenes. From the myths that surrounded you that didn't sound possible with you still alive."

"Why are you being so forthcoming?" I asked.

"People have tried to kill me before," Bale said. "Those that didn't cooperate or that I caught in a lie I made suffer before putting them down. Between the two I would rather die quickly. I do have a question, though. How did you get Greenleaf to turn against me? There should have been no way around her oath, I've spent years perfecting the wording."

"Greenleaf didn't put you in this cell," I said. "I did."

"Are you some sort of mimic, then?" Bale asked. "That wasn't in any of the intelligence that I had gathered, and some of that was exaggerated to the extent of being unbelievable."

"No, in this instance I wasn't mimicking Shade," I said. "I took her body in response to her participation in the attack against me. She's actually listening to this conversation now."

"You can possess people like the Gods can?" Bale asked. "But even they are limited to their own priests."

The lights had arrived. I could have gotten them pretty much immediately through the Bag of Holding that was still being held by my tail, but I wasn't in any rush, happy to have the background processes take care of it. Unlike the portals that moved around in the walls of the block of portal rooms, the lights came over the roof toward me.

There were three of them, and they were already lit up, shining into the air and spilling light around them. They reached me and then spread out in a line, flipped over to face down, and sank into the stone, plunging me back into darkness.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The portal room lit up as the lights pushed through to sit in the roof. Bale was standing just past the two bodies of his people that I had dumped there. He looked at them for a few moments and then looked around the rest of the room before going to a corner and huddling down.

"So, you've stripped me of my magic so everyone can see how repulsive I am," Bale said. "Are you going to kill me or make me suffer."

"I haven't decided yet," I said. "There is a third option, which will involve some suffering, but we aren't there yet. What was your plan for dealing with Chantelle? Practically speaking she is in charge of the Fortress right now, I just deal with whatever occurs to me."

"The Lady of the Fortress?" Bale asked. "She has family that would be leverage enough to convince her to meet. And then nightmares applied in the correct way, she would beg to swear an oath that would bind her to my will."

A surge of anger from my human body pulled my focus there, where my fists were clenched. I took several deep breaths there to calm down before returning to Shade's simulation.

"You are leaving some things unsaid, judging by how you treated Shade," I said. "I don't like people who abuse others. If we are to come to any sort of understanding then the abuse will stop. Or I will kill you."

"You would have me swear an oath to it?" Bale asked. "Why the threat?"

"I don't have much trust in oaths, they're for others to feel more comfortable," I said. "For example, your concept of abuse probably differs from mine. Forcing someone to swear an oath to you and then using that oath to rape them, or force them to do anything against their principles, would get you killed regardless of how you viewed the situation."

"That sounds capricious," Bale said. "Not that I am in any place to argue, but how are you going to police your policy?"

I paused to think, dropping back into my personal simulation. Really, this was something that I would want to apply to all of the citizens of the fortress. So a variation on a quest, something that a citizen could send from anywhere asking for help. There were truth enchantments that could be placed on crystals, like the one Magus Steelborn had in his shop. The victim and the perpetrator could then be questioned to avoid false reports.

Tie in a hook so that if anyone had an oath that prevented them from sending a request for help a separate request for help would be sent immediately.

I bundled the whole jumble of concepts up and sent it at my interface to the System and a window returned showing the progress.

New functionality requested Submitting request...

Request deemed out of scope...

Exploring workarounds using existing systems...

Multiple exploits found that would provide requested functionality...

Skipping redundant calculation of probability that sentient designated 'C.C.' will exploit the System...

Resubmitting request with attached data...

Requested functionality approved...

Adding 'Citizen Panic Button' explanation to new citizen dialog...

Sending 'Citizen Panic Button' explanation to existing citizens...

Done.

Citizen Panic Button Citizens of the Fortress may now send an alert for help by intent command anywhere they are. An alert for help will automatically be sent if the World Magic suppresses this ability. Alerts will be responded to by representatives of the Fortress who will make determinations at the scene, using truth enchantments on those involved.

Abuse will not be tolerated in the Fortress

The window explaining the new feature popped up next to the progress window. I was considered a citizen already without explicitly signing up.

I got a ping from Jeff, the human mage leader of the Fortress Army, and opened a communication channel to him.

"My lord, I just received a dozen Panic Alerts," Jeff said. "They all have location indicators attached to them. What are your orders?"

I should have been expecting that with the automatic alert.

"Can any of you cast a truth detection spell, or enchant the truth spell on a mana crystal?" I asked.

"No, my lord," Jeff said.

"Talk with Gerry or Lizzie about finding Ailfrid, he can," I said. "Gerry will be able to put you in touch with Magus Steelborn as well. I don't know if he sells truth crystals, but he had one and may know where you can buy more. Your orders are to resolve the alerts using your best judgement."

"Yes, my lord," Jeff said and closed the communication channel.

It was good to have reliable people. I returned to Shade's simulation and normal time.

"I assume you are a citizen," I said through the presence in Bale's cell. "That should answer your question as to how I am going to police abuse against my citizens."

"I am, yes," Bale said. "I see. You are able to bend the world to your will at a casual remark. I submit to your judgement."

I began pushing my power against him, adapting his magic so that we could affect each other.

"If you use your nightmare spell on me again you won't like the result," I said.

"I understand," Bale said. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing your punishment," I said.

"Which is?" Bale asked.

"Pain," I said. "But with a purpose."

My power broke through and I built up a complete scan of his body. There were multiple things wrong with it, his entire skeleton was compressed, there were weeping sores all over him, and he was half blind in one eye and completely blind in the other. He must have been using illusions on himself to trick his senses into not feeling the pain his body must be in constantly.

I had multiple other Forest Keeper models to draw from and I used them to fix all of Bale's physical problems. Without warning him I triggered the repair program and let it run. It was about halfway finished when Chantelle sent me a message telling me that Shawn was looking for me.