Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 105, 1/2

Chapter 105, 1/2

The horizon was an orange sandpit in every direction, with few clouds hanging in the blue above. Warm winds flowed from the north, and sand had gotten into Justine’s shoes. In a few hours, she’d have chafing. She was only level twelve; most of her points had gone into the few spells she needed to advance, and to get up to 20 in Willpower and Focus, as well as the tripling Skills for more Mana and Mana Regen. Thank Erick for his rings and that extra Strength, else she’d have blood blisters, for sure, as well as a horrendous sunburn. Her white skin burned rather easily under full sunlight, and 600 Health helped to mitigate much of that possibility. Her eyes were still at risk of sun blindness, but she’d only be out here for a little while. All this place could offer her was level 32, or maybe 34, if she wanted to spend five hours in the sun, instead of two.

The road to high level was long, and dangerous, but even with all of that in front of her, she couldn’t help but feel happy. She smiled at the sky, and then turned toward Ophiel, and the white map hovering above the sands. Studying it had not taken long; there were no people within a hundred kilometers. Justine and Ophiel were alone out here, in the middle of nowhere. Erick was here in spirit and in the eyes of the Ophiel flying high above, but he wasn’t really here.

The Ophiel currently controlled by Erick pointed north west.

Erick said, “It’s a hundred meters that way. I could blip you closer?”

Justine chuckled. She began walking north west, saying, “I haven’t walked more than the length of your house, in a week. This feels good.” She said, “The sun. The wind.” She smirked, as she kicked the sand. “The sand.” She admitted, “Though I do need to make myself a better pair of shoes.”

“I could get you shoes?”

Justine shook her head. “No thank you. You’ve done a great deal for me already.” And he had. Justine arrived at Erick’s house with nothing. But he had given her fabrics and plants and shelter from the Darkness. One of the only ‘non essential’ spells she picked up since then was [Fabricate]. Her shoes were self-made, along with her brown pants and white blouse. She was not a seamstress, but she could get by, and [Fabricate] helped to smooth out the small mistakes that hand creation would have caused. Justine would never be selling her clothes in any sort of shop, but not many people could. She said, “I’ll make myself a better pair, once I get back and I have the mana to spare for more [Fabricate]s.”

Ophiel floated forward, slightly, as he casually wreathed himself in light.

After a moment Erick said, “Only about sixty meters ahead, past those dunes.”

Justine smiled, and headed up the first of many dunes. Sand scattered down the slope as she trudged upward, her feet not sinking in too far at all. This was fine. When she reached the top, the vista of the Crystal Forest stretched out before her; undulating waves of orange under a blue, windy sky. Here and there sat crystal mimics, like splashes of glitter interrupting the horizon. The nearest one was only a dune away, its stigma barely visible on the other side of the sand. It was moving.

Gently, like it was simply repositioning itself, the stigma of the crystal mimic rose above the dune. It was probably positioning to get into the sun better, but whatever the case for the movement, it didn’t really matter. The upper spikes of the mimic were coming into view.

Justine waited for a good angle, and hoped that the mimic wasn’t preparing to attack her before she got a chance to attack it.

But honestly, though, she wasn’t in any real danger. The worst case scenario here, was that she embarrassed herself in front of Erick; unable to kill a mimic in one or two shots. Erick would certainly kill it if it got within ten meters of her. He had even said so, many times, probably to assure both her and himself that he wasn’t going to let her get hurt on his watch. That was good, and fine.

But Justine hoped to Koyabez that she wouldn’t embarrass herself. Erick might be an archmage, but Justine was twice his age, with many times his magical experience. She had killed much worse things than crystal mimics in order to survive, and at much lower levels than 12. The spell she had made for today was created in a corner of her room, against two expendable plants. It was adequate, but it wasn’t great.

The mimic came fully into view. It stopped atop the dune, and dug in with its bottom crystal spikes, securing itself to the crest. Ah, Justine realized, it was just repositioning for the sun. She knew that mimics positioned for the sun. Why had she thought that it was coming for her? She was too far away. Of course she was too far away.

She breathed. She could do this.

She did not point. She did not move, to give a hint that she was attacking. She just cast from the air around her body; from her aura. Red splashes of bright Decay pulsed from her body, one after the other, the first one still arcing in the air, toward the mimic, as Justine fired the third red Bolt. Red magics hit the mimic, center mass, like a rotten melon, splashing red light onto crystalline limbs, as Justine cast again, and again.

The mimic chimed into action like jumble of angry greatswords, clashing against itself, briefly, before it rotated and saw Justine.

She had no idea how these particular monsters could see their prey from this far away, and yet, if you didn’t disturb them, if you just walked outside of ten meters from them, they would leave you alone, most of the time. But strike at one from well outside of their range, and they instantly recognized who had attacked them, from even this far away.

Justine’s red splashes kept striking as the mimic tried to rush down the dune. Red soaked into crystal. Crystal broke. Red splashed across the mimic’s central spike, finally doing enough damage to crack the stigma. The top spike of the monster fell to the ground, like so many other crystalline spikes, as the mimic kept rushing toward Justine, clawing forward on whatever crystal spikes it could.

She almost smiled. Her spells were actually doing enough damage, thanks to Erick’s rings.

Plant Killer Bolt, instant, long range, 23 Mana

A bolt of splashing decay unerringly strikes a target, dealing WIL damage per second for 3 seconds. Deals 3x damage to plants.

The mimic survived the initial onslaught, but barely. It tumbled down the dune like a broken chandelier, all crystal and sludge and oozy juveniles tucked into its ‘leaves’. The babies were bubbling away like their parent, but not nearly as bad. They might survive her attack for they weren’t plants yet, since they weren’t actually [Polymorph]ed into crystal agave.

Justine threw more bolts at the broken adult. Decay was great for a dozen different reasons, but its main selling point was that you could create spells that were artificially stronger against specific creatures, much easier than you could with the vast majority of other alters. In this case, Justine’s spell had been created to work well against ‘all plants’, and little else. She could have made a magic specifically against crystal mimics, but she would have needed to experiment on the creatures to create that magic. That would have been overkill, by Justine’s estimation, since extra damage versus all plants was fine for the long run. But still… She had hoped that her [Plant Killer Bolt] would have been better than it was. She had not killed one of these things in a long, long time. She had forgotten their toughness, and past a certain toughness, Decay’s failings became apparent; Decay just couldn’t harm like other magics. It certainly didn’t help that her base spell was [Force Bolt].

Justine threw another bolt of red sludge at the pile of blue sludge that had been the crystal mimic. And then another. Finally, a blue box hovered into the air.

You have slain Crystal Mimic A!

95% participation!

+20,693,935 exp

Justine smiled as she breathed deep the desert air. Just like that, she was level 24. 12 levels gained on one monster.

Erick spoke up, “Splashy bolts?”

Justine shared the blue box for [Plant Killer Bolt] with Erick, saying, “I’ll make something better once I can come out here on my own to cast and experiment, if for no other reason than to be able to kill a mimic in one spell.” She looked to the melting pile of mimic, saying, “I had forgotten they were this tough.”

“Do you need to rest?”

“Nope!” Justine said, “I’m doing great.”

And she was. Today was much better than last night. She smiled at the sky, as she dumped those twelve levels of points into her Focus, bringing her natural Focus into the 40s. A few more mimic kills and she could get Scion of Focus— Hmm. Later. Not right now. Not when she was out here, killing mimics. When she got back home, though, then she would allocate that Skill. She didn’t want her Scion Revelation to knock her out when she was supposed to be hunting.

“Do you want the rad?” Erick asked, as Ophiel hovered a meter towards the blue sludge.

Justine looked at the dead mimic. “… I probably destroyed it. Decay isn’t very good about leaving intact corpses and I know I did not craft this spell well enough to have it ignore rads.” She looked closer at the body. It was utterly still. “Not even the juveniles survived.”

Ophiel dipped in acknowledgment, then pointed to the north east. Justine began walking down the dune, in the pointed direction.

Erick asked, “What sort of vision do you have when you allocate your Scion, as a shadeling?”

Justine almost faltered. “Uh.” She took a step down the dune, steadying herself, thinking of what she wanted to say. She decided to say, “It’s a talk with Melemizargo. Usually, it doesn’t go so well, with him not being all there, but last time… Last time he was rather present. That’s a recent change. I’ll get Koyabez, this time, though. Or maybe Rozeta. I’m not sure.” She added, “I even got [Shadow Healing] last time, and that’s never happened before.”

“I thought shadelings didn’t get healing spells?”

“They don’t. No one would consider [Shadow Healing] a healing spell. It’s just called that. It’s all a recent change, too.” Justine made it back down to the flat land between the dunes. “Back before Particle Magic brought him back to some sanity, you were lucky to get the Scion you wanted when you picked a Scion. Sometimes your Stats would change to reflect his decision, too. One time, when I was working for Cludolphis, the Shade of Mending, she had me killed and brought back three times, because I needed Scion of Focus to assist with repairs to the city. I kept getting Scion of Vitality.” As Justine walked up another dune, she said, “This [Shadow Healing] is completely new.”

“What does it do?”

“Not a lot.” She said, “It was worse than [Rejuvenation]. I’m not sure why I got that spell, either.” She said, “I didn’t talk much during the Revelation.”

“… I’m glad I made that [Shadow Radiance].”

Justine smiled as she neared the top of another dune; she was getting a real workout, out here under the merciless sun, atop these sandy dunes. She said, “I’m glad you made that [Shadow Radiance], too. I’m sure it will help a lot of people come back to themselves.” She crested the dune.

The mimic was on top of another dune, thirty meters away.

Erick said, “What kind of [Fly] are you going to make?”

“Just a platform… Maybe. Flat, unadorned.” She focused on the mimic, and cast. Red Bolts flowed through the air, slamming into the mimic, splashing from stigma to center, coating the mimic in bubbling red power.

Fifteen Bolts later, Justine got another notification and gained more levels, then said, “It’ll be weird not having [Shadow Blend]. Usually I’d just make a [Crystal Platform] and Blend myself into it, and fly anywhere I needed to fly.” Ophiel pointed forward, and Justine walked. As sand followed her down the dune and got into her shoes, Erick’s question over [Fly] settled into her mind. She said, “Actually. I probably need to change that platform plan. As a Scion of Focus, I really should consider making an aura.”

“Auras are great!” Erick said, “I made mine with [Airshape], [Telekinesis], 500 Mana shaping, and Aurify.”

Justine almost shuddered. She knew about that spell of Erick’s, of course; it was part of her required knowledge for becoming the ‘face’ of Candlepoint for Erick, when he first arrived at the shadeling city. How he had ever managed to make that spell cost 1 mana per second was ridiculous.

She said, “I’ll try that one, but I doubt I can be that successful.”

“Maybe you can!”

As she smiled, Justine threw a few more points in Focus, just to get up to 50. She had worked hard to get Meditation high enough to use in the field, and Clarity high enough to chop off some of her spell costs, but almost none of her Skills or Spells were at 10. She had barely done enough to do what she was doing right now, and would never have chosen to go mimic hunting if it weren’t for Erick’s oversight. His rings helped a lot. At 100 Focus, it was a little over 15 seconds to regenerate enough mana to fire a single [Plant Killer Bolt], meaning 4 minutes to regenerate enough to kill a single mimic. That was fine. The walk from one mimic to the next was almost enough to regenerate that much mana. But besides all that, this ‘hunt’ was much, much easier than even the nicest strolls on the most empty skyroads of Ar’Kendrithyst.

But after the first twenty minutes, and five mimics, the sun was getting to be a bit too much. Maybe she should have made herself a hat, too—

Ophiel handed her a wide brim, white hat, with holes for her horns, along with a pair of dark glasses, both of which were in a style completely unlike Justine had seen before; moreso the glasses, than the hat. They were full face coverage, and iridescent. The hat was just wide, stiff, and white.

Justine didn’t know what to say.

Erick said, “I see you squinting.”

Justine smiled softly, then put the hat on her head, making sure to string her horns through the openings. Almost instantly, the hot day felt less oppresive, as the northern breeze brushed through her airy clothes, and across her shaded neck. “Thank you.” She held the glasses, but paused. She glanced at the rod of [Treat Wounds], stuck in Ophiel’s feathers, and decided that she could deal with a bit of sun blindness from wearing dark glasses. She put the glasses on.

… There was something different about these glasses. Something cooler. They were easier to see through than other desert glasses she had worn before. Were they enchanted to remove the natural Blind effect of the light from the sun? They certainly seemed that way, but she wouldn’t be able to tell until the hunt was over, and she was back home, possibly nursing a Blinding headache.

Justine paid the glasses no more mind, and walked forward, up another dune, to spot another mimic on the ridge of another dune, just ahead. She blasted it from a few different parts of her body, getting a feel for her aura.

Yes; she would definitely make an aura flight spell, this time.

- - - -

Erick returned to himself, and looked down at his stomach. With a bit of concentration, a bolt of white light emanated from his stomach and slammed against the ceiling, chipping the orange rock.

Poi looked up from his book. “… What?”

“I had never tried that before— on my own, I mean; cast from parts that aren’t my fingers. I do that with Ophiel all the time but never tried on my own... I suppose I did with the eyebeams, once.” Erick reached up with a tendril of light and touched the tiny crater. [Mend] erased the damage, as he explained, “Justine is always firing from every part of her.”

Poi returned to his book, saying, “Casting in odd ways is one of the first steps to aura control.”

Erick thought back to Al’s lesson. He frowned. He said, “Al started me on materializing my aura.”

Poi shrugged, as if to say, ‘There are several ways to start.’

Poi glanced back up from his book and stared at Erick, saying, “Your empathy is practically Mind Magic.”

Erick laughed. He asked, “Does this mean I can know more about your secret Mind Mage Cabal?”

“If empathy was all it took to make one a Mind Mage, then this whole world would either be a paradise, or a graveyard.” Poi said, “The greatest minds of Veird are still split on the most likely outcome.”

Erick took a moment to think about that, while he oversaw Justine kill another two mimics. He said, “Because then people would understand each other, and then people would understand each other.”

“Thank all the Gods that only the few are cursed with Mind Magic.”

“… You’re actually talking about this, now?” Erick said, “Do you mean to say that it takes something besides spending a few points and study to become a Mind Mage?”

Poi struggled with something for a moment, before deciding to say, “Yes. A lot more.”

Erick almost continued the conversation, but Poi resolutely turned to his book. That must have been enough Mind Mage talk for this month. Next month, Erick would ask about genetic predisposition; if the factor for becoming a Mind Mage was some inborn trait, either cropping up on family lines, or if certain conditions needed to be met, like unlocking hidden options in the Script. Maybe you need to be born with a ‘Mind’ Element, or something similar.

Poi grumbled.

Erick turned his focus back to Justine.

- - - -

Two hours later, along with one break in the middle of that, Erick blipped Justine home. She appeared in the foyer, sweaty, but happy. She took off her hat and her glasses, revealing bright red eyes that were brighter than the days before, when she was recovering, somewhat, from her panic attack.

Justine handed Erick back the glasses and the hat, saying, “The glasses work great. Thank you. The whole experience was a world apart from how I’ve done it before.” She bowed. “Thank you, archmage.”

Erick smiled. “You did all the work, so raise your head.” With a dot of unraveling intent, Erick ended the conjured hat and glasses, turning them briefly to white light before that, too, vanished back into the manasphere. “There’s no need for this formality.”

Justine stood up, saying, “There is, though. Almost no one in power is as calm and dismissive of formality as you. I would get in to bad habits if I followed your lead.”

“… Probably true.”

Justine said, “I might be headed back to Candlepoint today, or I might be headed off somewhere else entirely.”

“You can stay as long as you need, you know. They’re all level 55 over there, but you’re not.” Erick glanced through Ophiel, to see Candlepoint. He came back, saying. “The city seems fine.” He added, “Though if you don’t get back soon, then… Mephistopheles seems to be in a power struggle with Zaraanka, while everyone else just lets Slip do his own thing...”

Candlepoint could use a third and fourth person on site, though. And soon. Erick didn’t really count Slip among the powers of the city, but Ava might become a power. What little he had seen of the woman left him impressed at her drive.

Justine bowed again, then looked to Erick one more time, before saying, “Thank you for your hospitality. I will take your words under advisement.”

Erick nodded, then turned his attention back to Candlepoint.

- - - -

Ophiel floated across Candlepoint, as Erick wondered at renewing [Control Weather]. The sky was still full of clouds that served to block out some of the sun, but the clouds were getting thinner. Erick decided: he cast, and the sky turned darker. It would not rain today, but it would be nicely overcast.

There was no immediate change down below. The sun had risen hours ago, yet most of the shadelings down there were half an hour from finding their way to a bed; they were largely active at twilight. Erick watched as some shadelings finished up the last touches on a road they had been carving out of dark stone, while others ensured that the trees and bushes they had raised from the nearby soil were good, and healthy. The demolition teams in the other parts of the city were almost done for the morning, too; in another few days, most of the rubble would be transformed into black blocks, for use in construction in other parts of Candlepoint.

With that overview done, Erick flew Ophiel to the center of the lake, and cast a [Cascade Imaging], near the surface, far away from sight of any shore, searching for eels. When the spell finally condensed enough to spit out results, the map was only half full of blue dots. The area near the city was almost completely clear, while other coastal areas were also similarly empty. Erick smiled. The mud flits in the lake had monsterized and multiplied, exactly as they should have, and they were winning their war against the eels.

He still sent an Ophiel down to the heaviest concentrations of blue dots, to fry those violet parasites with [Fulmination Aura]. And when that was over, and the map was fractionally clearer of dots, the Imaging had finally resolved enough to show that there were still only three springs.

The eel problem was on its way out. In another few days the flits would clear out most of the violet eels, and at that point in time he could seed the lake with grasses, lilies, and other assorted plants. The monsterized mud flits would continue to eat eels, while both sides ignored the growing greenery in the water. As eels became less and less of a problem, and then finally vanished altogether, the monster mud flits would begin eating each other, and then enter the final stages of their life cycle, becoming red and engorged, preparing to birth thousands and thousands of eggs. The next generation would be born normally, and since there wouldn’t be any parasites to eat, they would be omnivores. A single mud flit would then live several years, growing slowly, naturally, until they too swelled red and began the last legs of their lives, repeating the process over again. If more parasites came in at some point in the future, then the other fish Erick planned to add would take care of those, as long as the next infections weren’t too large. Mud flits were just the emergency parasite and monster treatment. Rainbow flits, goldscale slippers, and silvertail, would keep the water clean, from then on out.

Slip had mentioned something about bobber worms and glowfish, though. He’d have to look into those fish, too; see what all that was about.

… Erick wondered if the lake would be okay, if Candlepoint would be okay, or if some other ecological disaster would fall upon this lake and the city on the shore.

But that was the future. Right now, a person made herself noticed, near the black Crystal in the former center of Candlepoint.

Erick transferred his senses to the Ophiel overseeing the gazebo under the Crystal. For a moment, he regarded the presumptive Sewermaster of Candlepoint, Ava Jadescale. He almost greeted her normally, she was wearing a dress. A really nice dress. It was green and it fit the thin woman rather well, matching the green of her eyes and the blacks of her hair. For a brief second, Erick wondered where she got it, since, at the moment, she was literally the nicest dressed person in Candlepoint. Even Zaraanka’s pink dresses did not compare to the couture gown hugging Ava’s body. Zaraanka had needed to make her own dresses, by hand, and Erick had even seen her doing such with a bit of [Telekinesis] in order to speed the process along. But the clothes upon Ava were not crafted that crudely.

“Good morning, Ava,” Erick said. “That dress suits you well.”

She smirked, as she brushed a hand down the green fabric, saying, “I spent a few points here and there outside of the necessities, as one does when times demand. [Fabricate] is a wonderful little spell.” She added, “I look forward to what I can craft when my skill is where it used to be.”

Erick wondered how she had prepared for the mimic killing that was to come. Justine had prepared well; Erick had seen her hard at work leveling her key magics. But Ava simply did not have the time. She might have done some magic work in the middle of the night, but she couldn’t have done any before she appeared before Ophiel, for that would have drained her mana. Whatever the case, she couldn’t be more than level 5, right now. She certainly didn’t have any skills at level 10.

It was a mystery that he would solve before the day was done. But besides that, there was something he had prepared for her.

“I look forward to what you can do, too, and I might have something here that can help you with that, or at least grant you a few more resources than you had before.” Erick had Ophiel pull out a small stone box from behind the counter of the gazebo. He actually had several of these stone boxes back there, each filled with the same pairs of objects, but they were all behind the density of his [Prismatic Ward]. He didn’t really care if anyone discovered some way to steal them. He could always make more. He floated the box to Ava, saying, “Some Stat rings, for today, and as congratulations for coming back to yourself. They should also provide you with some decent defenses while we’re out there.”

Ava happily took the stone box and opened it, to see two rings sitting inside. She looked up at Erick, and said, “Thank you, archmage.” Hers was a put-upon expression, with words crafted to be pleasant, instead of any real emotion or expression. Perhaps she thought the rings were trash? That must have been it, for then she put the first ring on, and blanked. She blinked at the air. She almost said something, but she didn’t. She steadied herself, and said, “There have been some advancements in Stat rings since I last prowled a tunnel.”

Erick said, “Ah. No. That’s just me. They’re artifacts, too, so you don’t need to worry about stressing them. My own rings have lasted me months.”

“Oh,” she said, as though someone had revealed to her a wonderful secret. She put the second ring on, then held the box for a moment, unsure of where to place it. She settled on setting the box on the ground next to the gazebo. She stood back up, saying, “I had thought I was prepared for this conversation and jaunt into the desert, but I find myself already at a loss.”

At that, Erick couldn’t help but ask, “How did you prepare? Weren’t you level 0, like, 20 hours ago?”

“I was,” Ava said, with a smirk. “And I’m only level 5, right now. But you don’t have to worry about truly boosting me. You can just watch, if you want.” She shrugged. “But I’d take a [Teleport] out into a good spot.”

Back in Spur, Erick smiled. “Then prepare yourself.”

“I am in your care.”

- - - -

Ophiel floated alongside Ava, feeling the northern wind in his feathers as the steady breeze flowed across the desert. Erick watched from afar, gazing upon the world through dozens of eyes, each pointed in a different direction. Another two Ophiel flew much higher, but each of them were lightforms, with much better sight, including infrared, and ultraviolet. There were no invisible people anywhere near here, but it never hurt to be too safe.

Ava, for her part, was having a grand stroll. Up the dunes and down the dunes, nary a toe sinking into the sand. Her being barefoot was only part of the conundrum of the hour. Most people wore shoes when they walked around, but apparently not Ava. The most confusing part was that as she walked, the very ground seemed to move with her, if only a fraction. For every step she took, she moved more than that.

The two of them were a good seven hundred kilometers from Candlepoint, in another high-density mimic area, similar to the one where Erick had taken Justine. They had yet to reach the first mimic.

Erick started the conversation, “How are you moving upon the sand, without any spell at level 10?”

Ava glinted a smile at the sky. She kept walking, as she said, “Easily understood, but difficult to master. I attempted to teach every student who came across my sewer, but only five managed to learn the technique. Three surpassed me.” She hiked up her dress, showing off her legs as she exaggerated her footsteps, saying, “The narrow of it, is [Stoneshape].” She stepped forward. The sand deformed into a solid surface as she touched down. “The deep of it, is aura control.” She lifted her foot, and the stone turned to sand. “See?” She tapped the dune with her foot, turning sand to solid then back again three times, before moving on. She waved a hand, saying, “[Stoneshape] and Aurify is a cheater’s start. Real control lets you move the stone under your feet like it was an old friend, helping you in every task you do.” She pointed at the air around Ophiel, asking, “You’re already doing this, though, so why the question?”

Ophiel trilled to be complimented, as Erick spoke from the air around him, saying, “That’s Ophiel; not me.” He didn’t mention that he had never really played around with Ophiel’s own [Airshape] capabilities, but he had already shown his deficiency of expertise, as he admitted, “I will have to try this method with [Stoneshape], though.”

“Good luck. Flying is okay, if you’ve the wings for it, but I prefer the grounding of Stone all around me.” Ava stepped to the top of her dune, and stopped. The mimic stood perfectly still on top of the next dune over; it wasn’t going anywhere. Ava said, “I also prefer harder hunts than mimics, but I have been reset to zero, so I might be overestimating myself. I’m not even a Rookie, anymore.” She paused, then asked, “They still have ‘Rookie’ designations at the Adventurer’s Guildhouses, do they not? Or?” She lowered her voice a little, asking, “They still have the Guilds, do they not?”

“They’re both still around.” Erick said, “I was under the impression that the Guilds were millennium old traditions. Hard to see that vanish when immortals are around to keep the past in the present.”

Ava stared off into the sky, into nothing. The wind played with her black hair and long dress. She said, “The Jadescales were a millennium old clan. We traced our history all the way back to the Fall of Quintlan, and from there, up, and to the past, to the Cutting Scale Empire of the Old Cosmology, in the depths of Radiant Sphere.” She lowered her gaze to Veird, saying, “In the west, the Lori Dukedom is now the Wasteland Kingdoms. The Greensoil Republic survived and thrived, even with its many, many civil wars that somehow got resolved past my first death. I never could have predicted that.” She added, “The Nelboorites are still at war with each other, so at least it’s good to know some things never change.”

After a long moment, staring at the mimic twenty meters ahead of her, she said, “It’s all been a very large change, archmage.”

He said, “I know what it is to lose everyone. I am sorry that this happened to you.”

“… Thank you.” Ava said, “I suppose you would know more than most.” She clicked her tongue, taking on a harder demeanor, as she said, “But everyone and their sister has a tragedy of loss in their history. At least some of my people managed to escape and survive. Perhaps, one day I will visit them, and hear for myself what befell our people.” She looked to Ophiel, “But your story is stranger than mine. I cannot say that I have ever interacted with a true Planar, archmage.”

“Please, call me Erick.”

Ava paused. She said, “With your leave, I shall do this.” She tested the word, “Erick.”

“My whole world isn’t gone. It’s still out there. I’ll just never see it again. But I still have my daughter. We fell here together.” Erick said, “She’s enough for me.”

Ava’s whole being softened, for a moment. Then she stood straighter, saying, “That is good. You can treasure the most important things, and discard the rest.” She looked to the mimic, as her voice took on a conspiratorial edge, “Has anyone discovered the purpose behind the mimics, or their creator, since I’ve been dead?”

Erick thought for a moment. He said, “I’ve heard conflicting stories. Half of them say that the mimics were a creation of Ar’Kendrithyst. Half say that the mimics were a misguided attempt at starving Ar’Kendrithyst of resources.” He added, “Apparently there’s an open Kill and Exterminate Quest from Atunir to kill them all, but no one has received this Quest in 800 years and Atunir isn’t forthcoming. It is possible that both stories are true. Maybe a Shade created them to harm the other Shades.”

“Drat.” Ava said, “I was always hoping for someone to solve that mystery for me.” She asked, “How is Spur, anyway?”

“It’s doing well. Rains are feeding crops and the city is bustling.”

Out of the blue, Ava asked, “Is Slip a Shade?”

“Ha!” Erick said, “I have no idea.”

“Are you going to try to kill him?”

Erick sighed, then said, “Not… No. I will not.” He said, “You were likely alive back when they were killing Shades every other week, and there were hundreds upon hundreds. But when Silverite pushed her city forward as a group to end them all, 104 years ago, they pushed back as a group. The Shades killed most of Spur, and Silverite changed who she was. Now, there’s only maybe-40 Shades. The first new Shade to appear in a long time was Bulgan, a little over ten months ago.”

“He was the one that controlled Candlepoint before, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. He also has a large grudge against my daughter, for showing him up when he was still a member of Spur’s Adventurer’s Guild.” Erick said, “He tried to kill my daughter and I, but he failed. After that happened but before we could do anything about it, he left for the Dead City. Apparently he’d been working for Tania Webwalker, the Champion of Melemizargo, for years, at that point.”

Ava, already pale, paled a bit further. Then she relaxed into the sun, saying, “That’s enough horror for now.”

“I have a hard time coming to terms with it all, as well.” Erick handed her a green hat, and sunglasses, saying, “Care for a hat and glasses?”

“Oh! Perfect.” Ava took the hat and the glasses, and put them on, saying, “It is rather bright today, and [Conjure Item] is too far down on the list of necessities, you know.” She stepped forward, saying, “And now the mana is finally full again. Let’s do this.”

Erick watched.

Ava dipped her hand down into the sand, and with fingers flared, she pulled up five stones, one at the end of each finger, each of them two centimeters across. She pointed. She fired. Like a bullet from a gun, the rock launched, breaking the sound barrier, scattering wind and flashing bright for the briefest of moments. The mimic faltered, then righted. Ava had struck center mass. She fired again. Two seconds had passed, and one crystalline spike, three meters long, broke off, as the mimic chimed into action, racing down the hill toward Ava.

She fired three more times. Her final shot blew a bleeding blue hole large enough to see through in the central stalk, near the top. The mimic had only reached the bottom of its dune, and no further. Blood flowed from the monster as it rolled to a heavy crash and died. Ava relaxed. She gave the barest notice to the air; likely dismissing a kill notification, among other boxes.

“That was impressive,” Erick said. “And no level 10 spells? No tier 2 spells?”

“Not a single one!” Ava waved a dismissive hand, saying, “Altering is useful at all levels of spellwork. You just won’t know your true capabilities until you make the tier 2 spell box.”

“… Right.” Erick knew that. “It’s been a while since I practiced with lower level spells.”

She added, “[Rock Bolt] was my very first spell. I could cast that in my sleep.”

Ophiel pointed toward the north, as Erick said, “That way to the next one.”

Ava smirked, and took off walking, strolling down the dune, her feet never sinking below the surface. She was practically walking on concrete, or maybe something slightly softer.

As they reached the dip between sandy hills, Erick asked, “What level were you before?”

“85.”

“Impressive!”

She shrugged. “I doubt I’ll get there again. But, you never know. Does wyrm season still exist?”

“Yes. Wyrm season is in five months, or thereabouts.” He said, “85 is rather high.”

“There are lots of monsters in the 90s near the Core. Melemizargo has been trying to breach that Script-blue orb since its creation.”

Script-blue? “… Really?”

Ava paused, then continued, saying, “Well… That’s what we all assumed. Fact and legend and truth are a lot more… fluid, than what most people tell each other. Fact is, the density of the mana that far down ensures that monsters grow a lot stronger than they can on the surface. Another fact is that the Geodes routinely kill as many of those high-leveled monsters as they can, trying to ‘keep others from the danger’ and to ‘protect the core’.” She balked. “As if! Here is another truth: Anyone who can reach the Core can easily kill at least one of those beasts, and thus gain massive power. Getting away is another task entirely, but that is doable, too.” She added, “I always felt that the Geodes worked to keep the power of those high level kills out of the hands of others. But the Dark Dragon is remarkably easy to talk to, these days. Maybe he is trying to breach the Core? But who would want to ask him? I certainly don’t know, and I certainly wouldn’t want to ask him.”

That was a lot to think upon.

While Ava hunted, and Erick oversaw, she asked of shopping opportunities in Spur, and other places. Erick admitted his ignorance on much of all of that; he didn’t get out of the house, much.

“Do you want me to pick you up something specific?” Erick asked. “I could look for something. I’ve already offered this to every other person of power in Candlepoint, and you will qualify for this once you become the actual sewermaster.”

Ava thought for a moment, but quickly waved him off, saying, “I’m going to gain it all, myself.” She smiled, adding, “My first step will be the sewer, of course, but that is only part of my myriad goals. As long as Candlepoint isn’t deemed blasphemy, heresy, and denounced by the world with a hundred thousand [Meteor]s, then my next step is beautifying the entire city. I’ve always wanted to work more in crystal, Erick. And now! Now, I will finally be able to do that, and more.” She exclaimed, “Can you imagine it! A city of crystal that is not full of Shades or wrought! As long as I can get everyone else to agree, of course.”

Erick could imagine Candlepoint as a city of crystal and brilliant architecture, but thinking on it a bit more…

Ar’Kendrithyst was full of shadows, because they could safely ensconce themselves deep in the red-purple crystal of the city. That was why even the strongest adventurers had trouble in there; attacks could come from literally any angle and retaliation would be impossible, for the attackers would all retreat into deep, dark crystals.

By that same merit, crystals in Candlepoint would protect the shadelings.

But it would also be like declaring to the world that they were building defenses, and digging in, either forging a forward base, or a retreat. Some people might not like that.

Erick said, “As long as you go with some friendly coloring. The point is not to be a danger to civilization. Maybe that would be enough. The shadelings do need a defensive structure, but… It might be fine.”

With excitement in her voice, Ava crested the next dune, as she asked, “What are your feelings on green?”

“Mimics go crazy for green.”

“… Right. I had forgotten that.” Ava asked, “White, then?”

Erick looked to the mimic on the next dune. Its crystalline body was not just clear, but also white and blue. Erick offered, “White and blue?”

“Ah, yes.” Ava scooped up five stone bullets from the sand at her feet, then pointed at the mimic, saying, “We have a lake to consider, as well.” Over the next five seconds, she killed the mimic with five expertly released [Rock Bolt]s. When it was dead, she said, “White and blue sounds good.”

“There’s everyone’s votes to consider, too.” Ophiel pointed toward the next dune. As Ophiel and Ava continued on, Erick said, “Whatever everyone decides is fine. Where would you get the crystal, anyway? From sand?”

Ava headed down the dune, saying, “Yes. White should be rather easy to create out of this sand.” She dipped a hand behind her, causing a minor avalanche in the dune as she strolled to the base, saying. “This stuff is mostly quartz. You simply have to know how to put it back together to make the crystal and I know how—”

The dunes rumbled below; a small tremor, but one that belied something shifting under the surface.

Ava went silent, as she stepped backward, then raced back up to the top of the dune.

If there had been a danger, Erick would have gotten her out of there, but as his other Ophiel confirmed, this was just a simple rise of creatures that naturally lived here, that Ophiel’s and Ava’s passing had disturbed. They weren’t even headed in Ava’s direction.

Ava gasped as she gazed upon the shifting horizon, and the creatures rising from below.

In the short distance, two dozen dunes slipped down, as fins lifted up, spilling orange sands across the horizon, billowing clouds of dust into the sky. As grit fell away, gold and glittering scales appeared from a pod of creatures that seemed to have no interest in anything, except escaping the ground, and lifting to the sky as an orchestrated group. They were larger cousins to the goldfish that had once drawn a wyrm toward Erick, Teressa, Poi, and Rats, and they were beautiful in a sharp sort of way. Each the size of a large house, and shaped roughly like tuna, these skyfish had lost the billowing fins and tails of their smaller cousins, but as the sand fully fell away, Erick witnessed those smaller cousins in the shadows of the behemoths, following along, keeping up with the larger skyfish.

Erick smiled to see the procession before him. He found himself wishing he was there, in person…

But he could not be there. He would not put himself in that sort of reckless danger.

But Ava looked happy to be there. She stared at the flying fish, watching as the larger ones flew east, like gentle giants, and the smaller ones trailed behind; toddlers trying to catch up to their parents.

As the skyfish filled the air with glittering gold, they crooned, one after another, a gentle sound that reverberated through Ophiel, that Erick heard in his heart, even though the experience was one step removed. As the school of skyfish ended their first song, the Ophiels above the one beside Ava joined in, crooning deep vibrations upon the world, echoing what they had heard, and yet changing it with the added sounds of violins.

The skyfish didn’t seem to care for Ophiel’s attempt at their song, but it made Erick smile to see Ophiel try to catch their attention.

As the skyfish flew on, and Ava watched them go, she suddenly perked up, going from awe to active in a moment, calling out, “They dropped scales!” She rushed forward, saying, “I want some!”

Erick smiled as he made Ophiel follow Ava, across the orange sands, under the endless blue sky.

Over the next two hours, Ava managed to get to level 30, as well as procure seven good gold scales out of the thousands of broken and discarded remnants that had been left in the skyfishs’ sand pit. Each of those scales were as large as dinner plates, and as bright as polished gold. Erick had no idea what Ava would use them for, but her eyes lit up as she gazed upon their luster; she had plans for them, for sure.