Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 146, 1/2

Chapter 146, 1/2

After three hours of nothing happening, a few of Eralis’s defenses came down.

Most notably, the Void Song that had spilled up and over the Void Wall, to inundate the world, became something less. It retreated, slowly. In four hours, the Void Song settled back to its normal territory, like a roused beast going back to bed. A few of the various Domains and spells that held over the Alluvial District went away; but that was more likely the result of improperly made or costly spellwork, and less likely because the casters thought the battle was truly over. Some spellwork stayed strong, and even got bigger, or denser, as the night wore on.

By the time morning rolled around, Ezekiel had caught three hours of sleep, which was more than enough for him to stay awake for several days, if needed. Paul and Tiffany each got a few hours of shuteye, here and there. They’d need proper sleep going forward, but from what Ezekiel had seen and heard from his Odins, and from his own mana sense stretched out into the Southern House, the Highlands were not going to full war. Not yet.

Hangzi had pushed back Raidu at the first Battle of Chelation, but while neither side had achieved dominance, neither side had displayed true weakness, either.

Ezekiel was not amused that the name he had given to anti-antirhine therapy was being used as the name of a battle, or that they were calling last night’s battle the ‘first’. A few people had already taken the next step, and were calling this the start of the ‘Chelation Wars’.

The sun rose in the east, brightening the clouded sky and highlighting the various Domains still active across the Alluvial District. Star Song’s Domain, [Star Void Sky], as Ezekiel had heard it called, was still active. It was one of the few that had gotten denser.

Ezekiel recognized, now, that Star Song and Eralis had been in a state of peace, until last night. Sure, the guards in the city had been harsh and thorough with vetting him and his people, but now, they were being absolutely antagonistic. Everyone was being stopped on the streets and papers were being checked. Guards of a different sort, probably actual soldiers, were patrolling the white road that wound around the Alluvial District.

Another hour passed.

Ezekiel ate toast and eggs, as he watched the world around them. Hangzi had not yet returned to Southern House. In the course of the night, Yorza had come out of the [Sealed Privacy Ward] three or four times in order to send telepathic missives, while her guards had packed up the place for easy escaping, if needed. They didn’t look too panicked down there, though. Hangzi was probably fine.

As the day matured, and Odin watched from above it all, mothers and their children all around Eralis and the surrounding lands ran quickly from place to place, doing necessary errands. Men and their friends walked in groups from here to there. No one walked alone. Guards stopped everyone, randomly.

And Ezekiel waited for the impending disaster.

A wonderful event interrupted his waiting.

Julia sent him, ‘Hey, dad.’

Breath gusted out of Ezekiel’s lungs as he laughed twice, and relief flooded his mind. He sent back, ‘Hey, Julia. I’m glad to hear your voice.’

‘I’m glad to know you’re okay, too.’ Julia asked, ‘How did it go on your end?’

‘Ah. Things have been rather hectic here. I was worried about this place exploding on me.’ Ezekiel said, ‘I thought I knew what a battle between soldiers looked like. But that… They annihilated each other. I wondered how a place like Eralis could exist with spells like the Red Dot floating around out there. The Void Song was one thing, but I should have seen that the true answer was in their culture. They ritually murder centuries of soldiers instead of the civilians. But if the soldiers had broken, the civilians would be next. Then we’d have a real war. I think. I’ve overheard a lot of small conversations, but no one knows for sure what will happen. Terror Peaks has done some pretty awful shit, but nothing too bad in the last 50 years.’ He needed to change the subject, so he asked, ‘What did you do last night?’

‘… Killed monsters. I asked Sikali if that was going to change, based on the war with Terror Peaks, but she said no. Said I was going to keep killing monsters that threatened civilian populations so that a few more warriors could be freed up to face the oncoming war.’ Julia said, ‘I heard it’s gonna be bad. They think Terror Peak is going to break convention to murder some key defensive figures, and then they’ll sweep in and kill whoever they can. I heard you’re in danger.’

‘I’m always in danger, Julia. It’s different this time, but I’m more than capable of defending myself.’ he added, ‘I got [Treat Wounds] and [Regeneration] yesterday. Gonna make [Greater Treat Wounds] as soon as I get a hot minute. I’m pretty sure the sounds need to be harmonized, and that’s all. How’s your Willpower doing?’

‘I’m up to 70 Willpower. 15 out of the 20 points promised. All’s good on the mind contamination front.’ Julia sent, ‘We’re running through these Quests as fast as I can do them, and once I’m done, I’ll be back at Star Song to get the last 5 points. Maybe only a few days. We’ll have to do this Underworld stuff later, when Eralis is not at the start of a war.’

More relief. ‘How’s Sikali?’

‘She’s pretty fun. And yet— I mean. Honestly? She’s a good person, I think. You wouldn’t like her. But we get shit done. Course it’s probably all an act, but whatever. Our goals align.’ Julia asked, ‘How is Xue?’

Ezekiel heard the unspoken concern in Julia’s voice. He sent, ‘Sikali has every reason to be concerned about her husband, for Intelligence has made him paranoid, but I think I helped him out of most of that. He was pretty damned deep in the paranoia, too. He thought I was out to kill him.’

Julia sighed. ‘Yeah. That’s the impression I got from Sikali. She hasn’t actually said anything, but I could tell. So Intelligence makes you paranoid, eh?’

‘I’m reasonably certain that paranoia is not a direct effect of Intelligence. Paranoia is more like a side effect. It’s like… In knowing that there are forces in this world that will and are trying to kill you, you become paranoid and start seeing shadows everywhere.’ He added, ‘And I gotta say, that it’s been a real mental hurdle to get over the idea that ‘seeing shadows where there are none’ means something very, very different here on Veird.’

Julia chuckled. ‘That’s what I figured, so I’m gonna tell Sikali all of that.’

All this while, people had been blipping onto the grounds outside, near the central pagoda of Star Song, into a prepared space with guards stationed all around it. The people blipping in confirmed their identities, then moved inward, to the central pagoda. Ezekiel recognized Scion Caina Small Scare and others, but it was the appearance of Scion Hangzi Devouring Nightmare that caused him to startle. The guy looked clean and poised, but he was ragged; the trauma of deep healing showed in his sunken cheeks.

It was time to go see what was happening down there.

Ezekiel sent to Julia. ‘I love you. People are talking downstairs. Big talks. I gotta find out what’s going on. Stay safe. I will too. I love you.’

‘I love you, too. Stay strong!’

They both signed off at the same time. He wanted to talk to her for an hour, but that wouldn’t happen; not on a day like today. War was upon Songli, and Ezekiel had to make some difficult decisions.

Ezekiel walked out of the room, with Paul and Tiffany joining him. By the time he reached the ground floor, more people had blipped into the temporary ‘Teleport Square’ that the guards had set up outside, including an unexpected arrival.

Kaffi had appeared.

She was showing her papers to the guards as Ezekiel stepped out of Southern House, but she certainly noticed Ezekiel, standing out in the open, only a hundred meters away. She left the temporary blipping zone, and walked his way.

Ezekiel met her halfway, on a garden path where willow trees cascaded pink flowers and a small spring bubbled out from below the willow’s roots. Kaffi looked exactly the same; an aged demi woman of pale skin and blond hair, with bright red eyes, though Ezekiel doubted very much that that was her original form.

Kaffi spoke without joy, saying, “Scion Ezekiel. We had an appointment half an hour ago.”

He had sent to her that he wasn’t going to make the appointment. She had agreed. And now she was here? Saying this?

Ezekiel went along with it, saying, “Apologies. I didn’t know if it was proper to [Telepathy] you, and there seems to be a war on.” And just to be sure that he was not mistaken, and that this was Kaffi standing in front of him, he sent to Kaffi, ‘Is something wrong?’

His connection went to the person standing right in front of him; this was Kaffi.

‘Many things are wrong, Erick.’ Kaffi said, “We won’t let a little thing like war stop us from fulfilling our obligations, even if that war looks to be larger than most. Let us adjourn to your room, or to the roof, and we shall continue the day’s lesson.”

Ezekiel glanced behind Kaffi, toward the central pagoda. An opaque Solid Ward dominated the entirety of the pagoda’s interior, denying him vision, and the ability to sneak inside and see what was happening. Scions and otherwise had no problems entering, though. Guards stood by the front entrance, where the white wall of the Solid Ward beyond blocked more people going in than the guards could ever hope to actually stop. Hangzi had already vanished past the white wall, without impediment.

Kaffi saw his look. She added, “You won’t be allowed in there, Scion Phoenix.”

Ezekiel turned his attention toward Kaffi, and said, “Maybe not.”

‘They’re talking tactics and expectations.’ Kaffi sent, ‘Hopefully, Terror Peaks adheres to proper rules of combat. This is why I came here: to talk to you about your involvement.’

Ezekiel frowned, then said, “Let us adjourn to Southern House, then.”

- - - -

The sixth floor of Southern House was open to the world, with railings all around and nice, full views of the Alluvial District beyond. An additional defense that was not a true defense, but one of illusion, was a [Sealed Privacy Ward] Erick had put up, that surrounded the entire floor, hiding Erick, Poi, Teressa, Ophiel, and Kaffi, from outward sight.

Kaffi sighed, sadly, as she gazed out across the land. “It’s quite beautiful, but those assholes from Terror Peaks are going to immolate this land as soon as they can. Four hours. Five, maybe. We might be able to talk them out of it, but I doubt that will happen. They’ve lined up many more forces besides their usual ones, including two archmages.”

Erick sat down on a bench, forcing himself to calm as he asked, “Archmages, eh? Has Terror Peaks had them for long?”

“No, but also yes.” Kaffi said, “People have spoken of the ‘evil of Erick Flatt’ long before now. People who think you are pledged to Darkness. But with Raidu’s words and official declaration of war, unexpected allies have appeared for Terror Peaks. Of concern to us are two archmages. There’s the Rain Mage, Shendeng, and Fulmination Spear, Xida. The pair of them are easy to contract when it comes to fighting monsters, and they’ll work with anyone who proves the validity of their need. They’ve worked with Terror Peaks before, but now they’re going a step further. They’re following Terror Peaks into war.”

“Never heard of ‘em!” Erick sighed. “What the fuck.”

“They keep channels open with Scions and Clan Heads, but not the common people. We’re not sure what they look like, exactly, but they don’t show themselves except through their [Familiar]s, and if their interests are stoked. Shendeng shows himself as a traditional lightning wolf, while Xida is a flying spear.”

There had been a lightning wolf in the skies last night. Had that been Shendeng? Likely.

Kaffi continued, “But what matters, here, is if you are going to stay and defend, or if you are going to leave. We can certainly use you either way, but if you choose to remain, then we must talk of purpose and methods and coordination.”

They would use him if he left? How would that work? Not well for Erick, no doubt. But… he had to ask.

“How would you use me if I left?”

“We would publicly denounce you and charge Terror Peaks with the burden of proving your involvement in our Chelation treatments. We would charge them with the burden of proving Wizardry. And since you display no mana coming from yourself, then that main claim would fail. When all they have is the existence of Intelligence in our potion houses, then we will gain some small manner of legitimacy. We would, of course, deny Terror Peaks from investigating themselves, but we are open to allowing Shendeng or Xida to investigate. We are already in talks with those two, in hopes of a peaceful and quick resolution. We theorize that many of Terror Peaks’ backers would drop them when Shendeng and Xida speak on our behalf, but Terror Peaks will still attempt assassinations and lesser war. Attacks on Border Clans, and such. Terrorism. Anything that they can strike at and leave before we can catch them in the act.”

Erick felt a coldness in his heart. “I would go from maybe-ally, to enemy. Just like that?”

“You would always remain what you are, but publicly, we would denounce you to make Terror Peaks easier to kill.” Kaffi said, “Ezekiel Phoenix would still exist, if you wish for him to exist. You can even come to the Highlands as Erick; later. All that matters at the moment is stymieing Terror Peaks’ propaganda campaign and dismantling their war works before they start their attack.” She added, “If you wish to cooperate with our forces to make this plan easier for us, we will accept your help. You would have to leave, though. When you come back, we will likely put up some token resistance to your presence, and then you can publicly win us over.”

It wasn’t a bad idea to just leave...

Erick thought about all of that.

Then he asked, “How do you see a real war going?”

Kaffi said, “Bloody. Best case scenario for Terror Peaks, is for us to lose half a million to three million citizens, depending on many factors which are unable to be calculated. Terror Peaks’ base of operations will be annihilated. Half of our clansmen will die. Several Clans gone from top to bottom.

“But Songli still wins.

“Afterward, the Highlands will expand, for we are stability and safety. For Terror Peaks to attack us with everything they have, and to still come up short, will gain us many other allies. I suspect Songli will expand rather darn fast after this war is over, and Terror Peaks is laid low.”

Erick shook his head. “If they know they’re going to lose, then why do this?”

“Ah.” Kaffi said, “I have misconstrued something. Terror Peaks, the myriad of cities which call themselves part of that Clan, will no longer exist, but the Clan will remain. We have destroyed their cities many times over, but they always rebuild in some other place, because the ones who need to perish to stop this fight always manage to get away.

“It would take ten years, but they will rebuild based on assistance from other clans.

“This problem is thorny, and it has to do with Terror Peaks being one of the major powers to stand against the Highlands, and many of the smaller warlord-led clans out there will give them assistance in order to keep them around as a shield to use against us. But that’s only one of the issues with ending Terror Peaks.” She asked, “Do you know of the tank-born?”

This was rapidly becoming a lot more complicated than Erick liked. As for the tank-born? That had seemed too fantastical, but he had heard too many variations of that sort of talk to discount it entirely.

He asked, “Are they truly grown in vats?”

Kaffi said, “They’re not grown in tanks of slime, like those ancient monsters, though the process is little better. They’re normal kids, but they’re produced by fanatical mothers who want nothing more than to produce more children for their society. They raise every child for war over there, and they Matriculate early, at age 10. Once the first few levels are gained, they assist every single child to level 45 by helping them kill mist stone gluttons. After that, the kids are put into training programs, which they call tanks. Inside those closed systems, the children are raised upon near-death battles with each other, while they are educated about the horrors of the rest of Nelboor, and of the Darkness.

“By the time they’re let out, they’re fanatical, insular, and also some of the best soldiers and monster hunters in the world.” She added, “When we crush Terror Peaks, it is never without great losses on both sides, but the majority of Terror Peaks’ elders and otherwise always escape the final [Strike]. The mothers are a major problem, too, for they are always the first to [Teleport] away, often raising their children in ‘tanks’ all on their own, before rejoining the main clan when the kids are old enough. Right now, if you were to look at the cities of Terror Peaks beyond the Tribulations, the people you see in the cities might only be a quarter of the actual population.

“Terror Peaks is named as plural, because of this cell-raised strategy of their culture. Terror Peaks is a land of a thousand peaks, each raising together to lift the world out of Darkness and into the terror-filled light.

“And when I say that we destroy their ‘cities’, I mean that we destroy several dozen trading centers over a thousand kilometer area.”

That was a lot to take in.

Erick sat still for a moment, thinking. Maybe he needed to send an Ophiel to one of these cities of Terror Peaks to speak to them. Or maybe that would be a bad idea, all around.

Kaffi watched him think.

Erick asked, “And you can’t simply give them the chelation treatment, because then they could unlock the few Elixir’d people who you’ve managed to get?”

Kaffi frowned a little, then said, “That is not what would happen. Terror Peaks does not suffer weakness, so everyone of theirs that we have ever Elixir’d, has probably taken their own life. But then again, they were trying to get Tadashi to make it for them, so this knowledge might be incorrect. Terror Peaks likes to show the world one face, but its people see their land in a different light.

“Even if we cannot confirm, we think none of their people are afflicted, so if we gave them chelation, then they’d use it as leverage against other clan states and bring them under their aegis with the promise of an end to the antirhine affliction. That is what we think that they were trying to do with Tadashi’s capture, but they failed.

“Once under Terror Peaks’ power, those smaller clans would begin their conversion to Terror Peaks ideology. It wouldn’t take long. A year. Three. Star Song’s projections of chelation taking a year or more would certainly give Terror Peaks a large timeframe in which to convert other clans with Elixir’d people. That would be enough. For all their fanaticism, Terror Peaks takes very good care of its people. Usually.

“Aside from when they fight us, or when they go against clans they suspect of dabbling in the Dark, they are a stable and prosperous country. If they weren’t so damned righteous, then the Highlands and Terror Peaks would be ideal neighbors. Even allies. But they are who they have always been, and so we are enemies.”

Even more to take in.

Erick asked, “What does me staying and defending look like?”

Kaffi nodded. Then she moved to a nearby bench and sat down. She said, “Everything continues as it has, and after the war, which we will win, you help us hunt down and eliminate Terror Peaks with your locator spells. We also ask that when the war is happening, that you prevent any atrocities you see around you. We have every confidence that you do not need to be part of a command structure, and if needed, then your guard can fulfill this role.

“As for problems of which you should know: It is only a matter of time before the assassinations begin, and we have agents of Terror Peaks in our homes. You shouldn’t have to worry about other archmages, for we will deal with them if they choose to bring out their [Familiars]. I merely informed you of them to inform you, and for no other reason.”

Erick asked, “Is there a way to get Terror Peaks to truly back down from this war?”

“Likely, no, and we are not going to put much effort toward that path.” Kaffi said, “Our efforts will mostly go to unlinking Terror Peaks from their temporary allies.”

Erick frowned.

“You, however, can feel free to do as you wish.” Kaffi added, “It would be reasonable for Erick Flatt’s Ophiel to show up after he has been called out as a Wizard. If you choose to pursue peace, I warn you to not expect much from Terror Peaks. Many of them are true believers of the light, and they feel certain ways about certain things. If they find a shadow collaborator in their own land, they have a tendency to enact a ‘three-fold ruling’, which is the execution of anyone three steps or less from the shadow collaborator. This fanaticism was why we banished them from the Highlands 300 years ago.” She said, “But the Church of Koyabez is reaching out to them today, anyway. I could direct you to them?”

Erick wanted to stand, and declare ‘Yes! I will talk to them and then go and prevent a war!’ but another, darker part of himself latched on to the ‘three-fold rule’ and the horrors of an enemy state that refused to die, which grew upon the backs of child soldiers, and which spread a doctrine of absolute hate against the enemy. In a normal Veird, if certain things had happened differently, if the Shades had killed Jane, or if they had pushed him into other parts of the world, and if he had met Terror Peaks in other circumstances… He might be their ally, right now.

In a Veird where Last Shadow’s Feast had not happened, and Shades still ruled, Erick might have gone to Terror Peaks, seeking allies against the Darkness. But today? Of all the thoughts circling in Erick’s mind, one stood out above the others: It didn’t matter if the shadelings of Candlepoint weren’t agents of shadow, Terror Peaks would never let those people live.

Terror Peaks would never believe that Erick wasn’t an agent of shadow, no matter what he had done.

As temporary emotions flared and died, and thoughts of a different Reality vanished like mist under harsh sun, cold rationality took hold, and Erick thought. His heart skipped a beat. He blinked. He breathed.

He looked away, and down, then back to Kaffi, and said, “I will pursue both paths to peace; through Koyabez’s church, and through my own actions as Erick. I doubt either will work, but I will try.” He added, “I also won’t promise to Image for anyone; not yet.”

But if Terror Peaks came after him, then…

Then he would make new plans.

“Understandable.” Kaffi said, “A desire for peace is an honorable emotion, but in this new world without Shades, people like Terror Peaks have no place, and they know this. So they will fight to the death, inventing shadows where there are none, and drawing others into their abysses of lies. Do not get drawn in.”

Erick frowned at Kaffi. “I appreciate the warnings, but do not take my appreciation for full acceptance of your words.”

Kaffi straightened. “Your castigation is acknowledged. I apologize for overstepping.” Kaffi bowed in her chair, then raised, and asked, “Shall we go to Koyabez’s temple?”

“I will go there on my own.”

Kaffi stood, and said, “Please be careful, Erick. I believe the Peace Envoy is leaving in an hour, at noon.”

- - - -

Erick did not head for Koyabez’s temple right away. He remained on the sixth floor of Southern House, waiting for Kaffi to leave. It didn’t take her long to get back to the temporary Teleport Square outside of the central pagoda. The meeting of Scions and otherwise was already over. The white Solid Ward inside the space was gone, and so were the people.

Erick turned to his people; to Poi and Teressa. “What do you two want to do?”

Teressa laughed a little, then said, “Whatever you choose is great by me!”

“Your choice is our choice.” Poi said, “But I’d advise us not to go to Terror Peaks, in person. I would have to strenuously counter such an idea if it were to come up.”

Erick asked, “What if the peace team from Koyabez plans on meeting the people from Terror Peaks in a neutral location?”

Teressa glanced to Poi, one of her eyebrows raised.

Poi glanced away from Teressa, back to Erick, saying, “You should not join this expedition. But we can certainly go and ask them for an impartial idea of Terror Peaks. And then we come back here, to a defensible location, surrounded by allies of convenience.”

Teressa eyed Poi, saying, “You could just tell us about Terror Peaks. Was Kaffi lying? She didn’t seem to be lying to me, but I’m no mind mage.”

Erick nodded, agreeing with all of that. He looked to Poi.

Poi sighed, then said, “Terror Peaks is fanatical and their inquisitors are worse. There were no lies in what Kaffi said, or at least there were no lies that she considered lies. It’s hard to read her, but I already asked about Terror Peaks long before she came here to talk, and everything she said matched up… with… what I...” His voice trailed off. He turned toward the west, toward Eralis.

The three of them watched as a fireball a kilometer across rose from a far part of the city, turning from white to red as it lifted into the sky. It was not a large spell, or effect, or whatever. The fireball was now little more than smoke on the horizon. Erick had stood, and found himself at the edge of the railing, at the edge of the [Sealed Privacy Ward], with a hand outside of the space. He questioned the Ophiel still high in the sky.

The target had been a collection of buildings, according to Ophiel; a central cathedral, and a few surrounding structures. The fireball had been large enough to blacken everything, but only the central location was completely gone.

“That was the Church of Koyabez.” Poi stood beside him. A few of his tendrils of thought were wiggling past the edge of the privacy. “Quick estimations have it at 350 dead. More injured.”

With growing rage in his heart, Erick whispered, “Okay.”

He went to help—

He stopped.

He watched as Eralis responded to its own problems.

Guards spilled from booths and stations. Fires were put out. Stone flowed away from ruins, revealing injured people who were then healed by guards who trained for this sort of thing. Erick would have gotten in the way.

Right.

He was currently superfluous. So he did what he could do in a situation like this: He made a spell, in order to prepare for what was to come. He channeled his normal, white mana through [Treat Wounds] in one hand, and [Regeneration] in the other. Ophiels gathered around, helping him to pick apart the spellwork.

The sounds of complicated healing rose to a crescendo. In a strange flow that was similar to how Elder Ari had described it two days ago, Erick heard the ‘lock’ of [Treat Wounds] crumble open when exposed to the ‘key’ of [Regeneration]. A bit of his soul bloomed where yesterday, it had broken. A rift healed over.

A blue box vanished.

Treat Wounds X, instant, touch, 100 mana

Heal the injuries of the target. Increase the natural healing of the target for a while. Increases Health Regeneration. Effect breaks if damage is incurred.

Another blue box appeared in its place.

Greater Treat Wounds 1, instant, touch, 250 mana

Greatly heal the injuries of the target. Greatly increase the natural healing of the target for one full day. Greatly increases Health Regeneration. Effect breaks if damage is incurred.

It took almost a minute to level [Greater Treat Wounds] to level X. Erick just cast the spell from one Ophiel to another Ophiel. While he cast, he considered his options. When his new spell was completely leveled, Erick changed who he was, and had an idea.

Ezekiel asked Tiffany, “So? Have you tried prognostication yet?”

Tiffany frowned. “Haven’t gotten far with it. Not in any useful way. What are you thinking?”

“According to Redarrow’s notes, Treehome might have the best prognosticators in the world, but places like this, and like Terror Peaks, will have lesser fortune tellers. There’s bound to be counter-prognostication going on in a situation like this, with both sides capable of seeing the large attacks, so I doubt we’ll get much warning, but any warning at all would be good.”

“I think you’re giving them way too much credit, Boss. A church was attacked right in front of us.”

“Not just that church.” Paul said, “Every church of Koyabez in Songli, all at the same time.”

Ezekiel’s heart sunk.

Tiffany frowned, then said, “Only Redarrow is capable of good counter-prognostication. I doubt that the fortune telling around here amounts to more than throwing runes and reading the random outcome. But I will do this.”

“… Thank you.”

Tiffany said, “If I’m not [Future Sight]ing all the time, there are going to be holes in the visions. There’s only one of me, so it might not work out that well.”

“This is true, and you should have your mana sense active whenever you can, but we’re in an odd situation here.” Ezekiel said, “With this Worldly Path, you might get lucky.”

Tiffany startled. “Ah. I see.”

Ezekiel glanced downstairs with his mana sense and his Odin, and said, “And now it’s time to put away this privacy. Got clansmen looking this way at the obvious-security-problem, and Hangzi is back.”

With a wave, the [Sealed Privacy Ward] popped, revealing the three of them. The clansmen who had been watching from the central pagoda stopped caring, now that they could see there was nothing special happening here.

- - - -

Ezekiel stood at the railing of the fourth floor, gazing downward to the third. He watched as Scion Hangzi stepped up the stairs. As if sensing eyes on him, or maybe due to the guards with him whispering about Ezekiel’s presence above, the young man turned his face upward. The two Scions locked gazes.

Ezekiel said, “I was thinking about joining Koyabez’s Peace Envoy to stop this war before it truly began. Now I’m not sure what I’m doing. Need help with something?”

Hangzi blinked, once. Then he rapidly said, “The mana sense blocking spell for my brother, eventually, but all that is necessary at the moment is for you to assist with Clan Star Song’s defenses, and in particular, the defense of Southern House. The duration of this assistance will last until the end of this war. Might be days, or weeks.”

Ezekiel nodded, slowly. He asked, “What is going to happen next?”

“They will attempt assassinations. We will retaliate in kind. Have you investigated Terror Peaks with your [Familiar]?” Hangzi quickly asked, “Would you be interested in assassinating some of them? I’m sure you could do it easily enough, and there is little they could do to stop you if you stay away from certain people, of which I can brief you upon before you go.”

“I will do what I can to protect this space.”

Hangzi hid most of his disappointment, but not all. “The attack at Koyabez’s temple was not a singular incident. Every major Koyabez temple in the Highlands was hit at the same time. Terror Peaks is saying that the God of Peace has Darkened, and joined with Melemizargo, so they’re purging everyone that has a Silver Star, or prays to Koyabez. So far, the death toll is at 7800 people, all in the last hour.” He stared at Ezekiel, asking, “Does this change your mind?”

If he hadn’t been holding onto the railing, Ezekiel would have collapsed to his knees. Three heartbeats later, his anger finally bloomed. He sighed out, and said, “Yes, but not in the way you imagine.” He walked away, into his rooms.

Down below, Hangzi stayed at the stairs for a moment longer, then walked into his office.

Ezekiel briefly watched as Hangzi reunited with Yorza and Warzi, but Ezekiel had other people to concern himself with at the moment.

For the first time in a while, Erick prayed.

- - - -

Weightless.

Directionless.

But then, substance.

Down. His feet touched a solid surface.

Erick opened his eyes. He stood upon a dusty silver land that stretched to the horizon in every direction. The sky was black and full of stars, except for a pink moon to the right, a white moon to the left, and Veird, hanging above. Erick’s current home was illuminated like a crescent moon, of blue, green, and white. Small lights brightened some of the darkness, but mostly, the dark overwhelmed.

There was Spur, in the middle of Glaquin, along with two spots of illumination in Ar’Kendrithyst. There was Kal’Duresh off to the west. Frontier seemed dimmer than it should have been, but there were lights there, too. Erick hadn’t looked upon that land for a while, for Silverite had told him to stay away, and he honored that request.

A presence stepped down onto the silver sand beside Erick.

Koyabez.

He was the same lanky violet-skinned demi that he had always been. He wore a loincloth that barely hid anything, while small horns poked out of wavy hair.

Koyabez’s voice was peaceful. “Hello, Erick.”

“Hello, Koyabez,” Erick said. “I saw some tragedies today.”

“You saw the barest bit.” Koyabez spoke without rancor, though his choice of words seemed otherwise, “Terror Peaks has purposefully destroyed all of the normal paths to peace. With this action, it is all but certain that Nelboor will have another Continent War. The last one was 125 years ago, and that war claimed 53 million souls. Back then, there were 400 million people on Veird. Today, we have 550 million. I suspect this new war will be larger than the last. Much larger.”

Erick felt a weight. “Is there a way to stop this war?”

Koyabez said, “The only reason that the Continent War ended was because it interfered with the plans of the Shades. Now, there are no Shades.”

The weight increased.

With a slight desperate edge to his voice Erick said, “So there’s a chance to end this.”

Koyabez turned sad eyes to Erick. Tears fell. He said, “The option you imagine is always an option for people of your power.” His tears dried, as though they had never happened. Hard-edged, he stared at Veird. “But make no mistake: Murdering the opposition is not the only way.” He said, “But sometimes, the only path to True Peace is through removing the causes of a war, one way or the other.”

For a long moment, no one said anything.

And then Erick said, “I’m still having trouble, mentally, seeing that a God of Peace is willing to kill and go to war to prevent greater tragedies. I did not understand this about you before… Even when Silverite spoke of the Black Order, it still hadn't sunk in. I think my problem was with how you spoke of the Shades, back when I came to you that one time.”

“I have to consider timelines larger than most people; especially angry archmages.” With a sad smile, Koyabez said, “I’ve been helping people against the Shades ever since the Sundering, when they became corrupted by Melemizargo’s insanity. My people led the fight against Ar’Kendrithyst for the longest time. Silverite was there, killing Shades as best she could. But...

“But after the Great Purge of Spur, for the last hundred years the Shades stopped raising any more of their kind, and so I pulled back from my normal aggression.” He said, “And now we’re here, in this place, where zealots of small nations are scared and banding together, becoming major threats to the rest of the world. It’s the power vacuum left by the removal of Ar’Kendrithyst; it tempts people, and when enough people are tempted, someone falls, and to borrow a term from Earth, the dominoes start falling. This is the opening act of a much larger event, Erick; one with possible outcomes far beyond what we can see.”

Erick felt Koyabez’s words in his soul, as he gazed up at Veird. The planet looked so peaceful, up there in the sky. Of course, it was anything but.

Erick asked, “Got any thoughts on using this Crystal Star against the people of Terror Peaks? Or against anyone else?”

“I only have one observation to share with you, to ease your own choice, but it is your choice, Erick. Not mine. The choice of how to enact justice is always in the hands of the living. But everyone touched by the Crystal Star no longer fights. They choose something else out of life. Most have chosen to help their fellow people in one way or another.

“To make homes out of desolation. To clear souls of corruption. To plead for forgiveness, and have it denied, and in some cases, allowed. To teach magic. To raise new life, in order to restore that which they have damaged. To aid those who plot toward peaceful power.

“To counter-assassinate, but in only the broadest sense of the term.

“For even the assassin isn’t killing anyone anymore. It is too painful. As they had once broken others using much more vile methods, you have broken them in return, and they will never recover who they used to be. Instead, they will do what they can to undo the damage that they have done.

“They will never purposefully strike down another life. This is their fate. This is their burden.

“You can do this to anyone you meet.

“Some deserve this fate. Others do not. And so, in order to separate one from the other, perhaps there is only one facet of this argument that truly bears weight:

“If you break every warrior in the world, then who will fight the monsters?”

A profound moment passed.

Erick and Koyabez watched Veird turn, as the full weight of Koyabez’s divorced perspective unfolded for Erick, and he understood what the god meant. There were no real morals to the argument for the use of the Crystal Star, were there?

This ‘Chelation War’ was temporary. Wars between people came and went. But the war between monsters and everything else would never end. In dealing with the wars of people, one must always consider the loss of life, and what it meant for fighting back the monsters.

“How many people directly died in that Continental War you mentioned?”

“Several thousand key people dead, due to assassinations. 5 million in population centers, due to massed attacks. 48 million due to failures of civilization, and over the course of the next ten years, before stability returned with the next generation rising from the ashes.”

“You know…” Erick said, “I didn’t consider that as a reason for Peace. I really should have.”

“You considered the fact that peace means prosperity. This was not wrong thinking.” Koyabez smiled, gently and full of divine love, and said, “You’re not part of the clergy. Knowing this other truth is not expected of you.”

“I should have considered this aspect, though.” Erick said, “And I should have considered this reasoning as a simple answer to the question of the Crystal Star. I was just blind, for some reason. Thank you for your help in understanding.”

Koyabez said, “That’s why we gods are here; to help.” He lost the quiet joy on his face, and turned to cold acceptance, as he said, “Good luck, Erick. The rest of us will need it.”

Erick blinked.

- - - -

He blinked again, and Ezekiel was back in his chair, in his room at the Southern House, under the safety of his [Prismatic Ward]. Tiffany sat on the other side of the room, reading, as she mana sensed the world around them. Paul was talking to people through [Telepathy].

Ezekiel looked to Paul, and considered how to explain that he was going to start using the Crystal Star, if needed.

Paul looked to him. He opened his mouth, but then he snapped shut, and turned to Tiffany.

Tiffany jerked her head up and around, coming out of her [Future Sight], sudden worry on her features as she yelled, “Attack from the south! Big! Caustic!”

Not even a moment of peace. Well fine then.

Ezekiel’s heart beat hard, and then he calmed as [Hunter’s Instincts] flowed through his veins.

Paul began sending out Tiffany’s warning, the tendrils around his head multiplying from three to dozens. Ezekiel sent instructions to Odin, who twittered in an orchestral understanding, each of him unleashing their sunforms. Brilliant magenta bubbles scattered across the skies, inside the room, and outside, sitting on the trees here and there.

Downstairs, Hangzi was in his office. He startled three seconds after Ezekiel had already started moving. The Scion of Devouring Nightmare began yelling at people to get defenses up and active. Everywhere Odin looked, people began to move. The warning had gotten out, but it would never have been fast enough.

A [Gate] opened to the south, maybe a kilometer away, in the center of the Alluvial District. It was lined in white. An orb of metal came out of the [Gate]. It was three meters across, dark silver, and resembled a globe. And the [Gate] closed. The entire action had taken less than a second.

A magenta sunform Odin still reached the orb in time.

Contact with the metal disrupted magenta light —radioactive— but not fully; not with the power of a Domain backing up [Greater Lightwalk]. It was a bomb. A massive bomb, charged to explode, but it couldn’t have gotten through the [Gate] if it was lead. Indeed, the Odin on site mana sensed through the whole structure, and saw no dead spaces that denoted antirhine. He just saw a lot of dense spellwork, and a heavily enchanted item.

Ezekiel didn’t bother looking too deeply, though.

Odin lightstepped the bomb out of the Alluvial District, toward the north, dripping pieces of the weapon all the wa—

Twenty three kilometers north of the Alluvial District, near the coast of the Wanzhi River, the grenade exploded. It was not an atomic bomb. Ezekiel had panicked for a good moment in the middle of transportation, wondering if the gods had lied to him all this time, thinking that maybe atomic magic was real, and was possible, and that now he had to account for all of that shit.

And also that he was very dead if it was an atomic bomb, anyway.

But.

No.

It wasn’t an atomic bomb. It was a dirty bomb.

Green and white light flared from within the remains of the three-meter wide grenade. The weapon exploded into a flashing bright orb that burned and scattered, and Decayed the world with Extreme Light. Odin vanished under the onslaught of magic-killing magic. The radioactive materials spread on the shockwave.

The initial blast was a fireball half a kilometer wide. But the shockwave expanded radiation out to wherever the light touched. In moments, the fallout of the weapon began to rain upon the land, exposing pieces of the land to radioactive effects. It wasn’t an antirhine bomb, but it was the next best thing.

Ezekiel moved another Odin to the blast site, but three kilometers out, Odin’s sunform was already twice as bright on the leading edge, where radiation ate away at spellwork. He couldn’t see shit. He didn’t really need to, anyway. The blast was outside of the Alluvial District. If the bomb had exploded in the air, where it had appeared, and where it had been set to explode, that radiation would now be covering the entirety of the Alluvial District. Defenses would go down, and they’d stay down for some unknowable length of time.

Erick would find out soon enough. Back in the Alluvial District, where the grenade pieces had fallen, those pieces broke the magic they touched. The white road of the Alluvial District was darkened for ten meters from where a single square of radioactive shrapnel had fallen. Half a Domain of Fire around one of the nearby Clan Mountains was now gone where a trio of pieces had struck. A similar scene played out all along the path that Odin had taken to get out of the district as fast as he could, for pieces had fallen from the weapon all along the way.

Ezekiel sat up in his chair and conjured another Odin. Was that the entirety of Terror Peaks’ attack? It might have been. Tiffany was sitting down in a nearby chair, her eyes glazed over as she sought to view the future. Paul was not sitting. He paced, with twenty tendrils of thought swirling around his head.

Ezekiel asked Paul, “What’s next?”

Paul startled, and looked to him. “There’s no consensus.”

“Did Terror Peaks send that dirty bomb?”

“I’m asking, I’m as— They have not yet claimed credit.” Paul added, “But they have officially claimed credit against the Temples of Koyabez, and we… We feel that this bomb was the work of Terror Peaks; yes. If it had worked, they would be claiming credit for this, too. They’d likely be attacking right now, as well.”

Ezekiel leveled his gaze at the man. “What kind of credit claims did they put forth about the temples?”

“It just went out; timed to the explosion of this bomb. [Viewing Screen]s here and there around Eralis, Alaralti, Holorulo, and many of the cities outside of the main three. Wherever they destroyed a temple. So far, seven major temples have been destroyed. 1700 dead.”

Ezekiel said, “I want to see it.”

Paul nodded.

- - - -

Ezekiel stood in a town square somewhere. Not inside Eralis, but close.

A smoking crater laid ahead, maybe a hundred meters across. People cried out all around, but most of them were out of sight. The viewer of the scene also cried. Ezekiel couldn’t move his eyes to look around. All he could do was watch the burning crater before him.

Suddenly, a flat pane of Force materialized above.

The viewer looked up, and Ezekiel looked up with them.

Images appeared.

Ezekiel recognized Raidu from yesterday, but the Scion of Terror Peaks was not center screen. He stood to the left. A woman in a red dress was also not center screen; she stood to the right. The man in the middle was old, perhaps in his eighties, but in the red robes of his office, he looked like a proper dictator. The vision supplied the man’s name as Patriarch Xangu.

With fire and power, Xangu announced, “Repent, sinners of Songli! You have trafficked with Darkness for too long, and it has corrupted you! You have allowed the corruption of your Temples of Peace! And so, your priests have been sent to their god, to atone for their sins. The Darkness has corrupted your casters into accepting his Wizard Flatt’s Particle Magic as the way of the world! You attempt to turn antirhine into power! And worst of all! You have kept your people weak in the face of the danger of the Darkness, as you have always done! For ALL OF THIS! You must atone in blood and fire! Repent and die, and find the truth of your vile nature in the arms of the gods!”

The screen vanished.

- - - -

Ezekiel came back to himself.

A dark fury held in his chest. A need to destroy.

He hadn’t been sure of where he stood, before now. It was all so divorced, wasn’t it? Sudden, and different. Like seeing a fireball on the horizon. What did that really mean? Nothing good, but it was all the way over there. Wasn’t affecting him at that particular moment.

And yet...

He didn’t know what he was going to do about any of it; not really. Run? Hide? Help? Pray it all blew over and that the politicians handled it? But, no. Those solutions would not work. They never worked.

And Ezekiel knew this.

Back when he had no power at all, back on Earth, he was persistent with phone calls and filing paperwork and getting people to come to the table. He was persistently friendly, too. Or at least he tried to be. Maybe that was just the past playing tricks on his thoughts, but Ezekiel helped people as much as he could. Even here, on Veird, he tried to help as much as he could, too.

And his ability to help had magnified, a million fold.

All of that meant that he was in a certain position in the world. He had tried to deny it, to go incognito for a while, but he had ended up here at Clan Star Song anyway. He had responsibilities to his power, and to his ability, and to use what he had to help others as best he could.

He did not want to get involved in this fight, for it was not his fight.

Except it was his fight.

They were calling him a Wizard. Did it matter if that was true? No. And besides: he wasn’t a Wizard. The only ones who called him such were gods, and they hardly counted… Right? What did gods know! Nothing! The goddess of Knowledge was dead, after all.

This was his fight because Terror Peaks had made it about him.

And Ezekiel was going to win it.

Ruthlessly and immediately, as Terror Peaks had tried to do—

… No.

He’d give them one chance.

Yes.

One chance.

Erick was, after all, still himself.

- - - -

The cities of Terror Peaks were not hard to find. One major location sat just beyond the South Central Tribulations, while more laid on the horizon. This nearest city was like a castle, expanded out thirty kilometers in diameter, with firebreaks between each major housing block and not a single location looking more important than any place else. The city was a study in wartime preparation. Solid red banners hung from every rooftop, curling in the wind. Doors were shut and barred. Barricades filled every street, while the gates were closed and barred with thick metal.

Every building looked like stone, but the material here was called ‘Flowstone’, according to what Erick had overheard. Erick suspected the structures here were anything but stone. These cities were ‘grown’ like the clan mountains of Eralis, for sure. Terror Peaks did get its start in Songli.

Not a single person was out on the streets, but the buildings were filled with warriors ready to attack. Even the mothers were prepared to fight, though Erick could only tell the mothers apart from other warriors in red because of the toddlers on their hips, or in the room with them, or in carriers on their backs. Everyone was human, though. Fully human. Which was odd. The Highlands had lots of demis, but maybe they were the only nation like that? Perhaps there was some Quiet War shit going on here, but Erick had not heard of such casus belli in any of the proclamations for war.

But also: it wasn’t called the Quiet War for nothing.

All in all, Erick saw several good landing zones in that first city place. A market that was empty of buyers or sellers. Courtyards. Fountain squares.

If Erick didn’t know much about this place, he would have thought them a prosperous, nice society. A bit austere, perhaps, for there were little decorations anywhere. Ah. Wait. There was a nice mosaic of a woman killing a monster on that wall. And the geometric designs of that fountain over there were well done. There wasn’t much wealth on display, though…

Ah. Erick noticed, now.

There was no wealth on display. There was nothing truly beautiful anywhere. This city was built for war, and thus, everyone there expected to die.

He had seen enough. He passed the city over.

Well… Ophiel passed it over. Erick was not there in person. Ophiel wasn’t looking like ‘Odin’, either. He was resplendent in his full form, of three dozen hard-edged wings, three times as many eyes, and glowing as bright as a second sun. He was vaguely surrounded by a [Prismatic Ward], cast onto a bit of wood and held inside his body, just to allow him to Rest, so he’d be at full mana the whole time.

From several kilometers up, Ophiel followed one of the main roads leading out of the first city, lightstepping quickly to hover over a second city that looked the same as the first. A second and third Ophiel joined the first, each of them running their own sets of spellwork.

Erick passed the second city, and then arrived at the third, for this one still had people outside, and it looked nicer. More murals. More fountains. Still no wealth anywhere, though.

… No wealth anywhere.

People walked through markets, taking what they needed from stalls and vendors. No money exchanged hands. No guards stood by, goading anyone into selling anything they didn’t want to sell. The ‘sellers’ were all old men and old women, while the ‘buyers’ were younger.

A young boy took an apple from a vendor’s stall and lost a hand for it. Snick-crack went the boy’s mother’s knife, and the hand fell to the ground. The mother started to reprimand the kid, and such a harsh reprimand likely would have gotten a lot further, but people started to see the three Ophiel hanging in the sky. The kid grabbed his own hand as the mother raced away from the open market, to get under cover. Apples and sausages and more went tumbling to the ground as people rushed out of the market with rapid, yet oddly orderly manners. It was as though they had all trained their whole lives for situations like this.

According to what Erick had heard, they had.

From three kilometers above the city, Erick cast [Cascade Imaging], targeting Scion Raidu.

The map began to populate.

It took a minute.

Down below, the city transformed into wartime readiness. Bars went over doors. Windows got shuttered. No [Ward]s though, strangely enough. Erick tracked the boy who lost his hand for a little while, but then someone cast a [Regeneration] on the boy, or perhaps it was A Child’s Protection activating, and by then, Erick had other concerns.

Four red-armored soldiers had appeared in the center of the city. They ascended toward Ophiel, and the map. One of them was Raidu, according to the blue dot that followed in sync.

Erick had his lead Ophiel shift his sunform into a copy of Erick, himself, as he stood back in his room in the Southern House. As Erick moved, the sunform moved. There were a few feathers and wings left in the skin and clothes of the resulting ‘illusion’, but only because Erick wished it so. He thought it a nice effect, if only to throw the scent off his own, real form, even though they had to know what he truly looked like.

Raidu and his three followers hovered to level with the map, keeping about 50 meters distant. Others blipped into the area, but kept far away. These extra people were mostly red-armored soldiers that were hard to differentiate from each other. A few people wore red robes, leaving their faces exposed, though Erick had no idea who those people were. And then people who were not obviously from Terror Peaks began to appear, though to a casual observer, they might be confused; they wore red armor, but of clearly different styles than Terror Peaks uniform style. At a quick count, Erick spied a good dozen extra groups of people not directly affiliated with Terror Peaks.

The archmage [Familiar]s that Kaffi spoke about, the lightning wolf and the floating spear, appeared after everyone else had already arrived, but they kept more distant than the rest.

As though waiting for the archmages to appear, Raidu began to move. He approached Erick’s image, speaking to the world, “I did not expect the Wizard to show up himself, and I was right! He sends his [Familiar]! Like a weak-willed sycophant of the Darkness!”

Erick ignored the jab and spoke his own mind, asking everyone, “Is there a reason you’ve started this war? Some provable reason? Or have you been deluded by the Darkness into believing that I am an enemy? What you are doing now is what the Darkness has done to this continent since forever. The most recent, active Shade responsible for this was known as Torika, the Shade of Ashes, but she’s dead now. One of the many Shades that I helped to kill at Shadow’s Feast. You’re not ignorant of this fact. You’re not ignorant that the Shades have controlled the people here to war, over and over and over again. So why are you continuing to war? Why are you doing this?”

Raidu instantly answered, “You killed no Shades! You are working with them! The Shade of Opulence works in Holorulo, working for Songli, so that they may swallow all of Nelboor for themselves! The Shade of Assassination leaves threats on pillows across the continent! And now you are here! A Wizard, stripping away the only defense we have against the predations of Songli, to keep that monster from overrunning us all! You’re ridding the Highlands of the only weapon we have to keep them in check!”

Erick would be checking up on all of that. But for now—

“When those in power overstep the bounds of good sense, most of us can only hope that those in power will somehow be held accountable for their actions, and to be excluded from the bloody act of counterbalancing the evil we see. Sometimes, though, we need to get involved. And since you are directly involving me in this war of yours, I am thus involved.” He stared at Raidu, and said, “I don’t want to be involved in this. I don’t want this war. I am asking you to stop, because I cannot let you harm civilians. I am asking you to please stand down. Don’t send any more Extreme Light Bombs through to Eralis. Don’t bomb any more churches. Don’t continue this war. End this now, before it escalates, and before this archmage must stand up to your tyranny.” He said, “Stop killing civilians.”

He spoke his words to Raidu, but he was not the person who needed convincing. Raidu was his own puppet, and convincing him would require Mind Magic. The people watching were the ones that needed convincing; the ones that were able to be convinced.

Raidu exclaimed, “He doesn’t deny it! Do you see?! He is working with Darkness! He is a Wizard, and if you allow him to sway your hearts, the Darkness will win! Already Holorulo tries to sway the Headwater Clans of the Warzhi River with words that are a little too knowledgeable, and with promises of relief from the Elixir! Already Songli is expanding down the Peninsula south of Eralis, killing thousands of innocent Clans! Songstresses have destroyed the scattered Clans north of our homeland of Terror Peaks, and they continue to prevent proper monster farming of the South Central Tribulation Mountains!” Raidu said, “Songli is an Abyss, swallowing all, and making them weak to the Darkness! Everyone knows that Shades openly walk in the streets, and that the Highlands only exist because the Shades allow it! They’ve had their summer homes there for a long time, but now that their destroyed city has become yet another lie of Melemizargo, to delude the rest of the world into believing what he wants you to believe, they’re living in their summer home, permanently!” As though driving a nail in a coffin, Raidu declared, “And let us not forget Candlepoint! A new home for shadows! UNDER THE CONTROL OF ERICK FLATT!”

Back in Eralis, in the Southern House, Erick stared out the window, and hated, just a little bit deeper.

He spoke through his sunform Ophiel, “Stop killing civilians.”

Raidu exclaimed, “We must be vigilant, now more than ever before, because Melemizargo has never been this devious. World Trees grow under darkened waters, while a second option of the Dark God grows on storm-tossed shores, under the auspices of a goddess that has always been closer to shadow than all the rest! Shades have abandoned their city, to make their marks openly upon a world that has been deluded into thinking that most of them are dead! Wizards subvert the natural order, creating Particles and…”

The man ranted. Erick couldn’t listen to it anymore, so he tuned it out. Soon enough, the man hit a lull, expecting a continuation of their ‘conversation’.

Erick merely said, “Stop killing civilians.”

Raidu’s eyebrows twitched, but he kept it under control, and he ranted again.

Ideally, Erick should have shut down the man with a rant of his own. Letting the opposition speak without interruption would only lead to the opposition ‘winning’ the ‘argument’. But he couldn’t control his anger to that degree. He couldn’t muster up the desire to yell over the enemy like that.

And, almost more importantly, he had already said his piece; he didn’t want to be the guy who always had to outsmart the opponent, for there were some opponents that could not be outsmarted, simply because they weren’t playing with a level field. This dude certainly wasn’t.

At the next lull in Raidu’s rant, Erick decided to speak a little more than before.

“I don’t have all the answers you’re looking for, but if you’re looking for war, then come at me, directly. Don’t involve others. That’s rather cowardly.” Erick said, “Strike me down if you wish for war, otherwise kindly go away, and stop killing civilians.”

Raidu said, “And now he threatens when he cannot convince! Such is the surest sign of Evil, because—”

Erick had a fourth Ophiel, in just a normal lightform, lightstep in and expand the other aura he had running: his [Physical Domain]. From one second to the next, in an expert control of aura, Discord held the sky around Raidu, silencing him completely.

Erick felt a perverse rush of pure satisfaction as Raidu ranted for three more seconds, before he realized something was wrong, and then he yelled louder. Erick almost laughed. He really, really, wanted to. But he did not. As Raidu roared in impotence beyond his silencing effect, Erick spoke to the gathered, suddenly-more-wary crowd, “I have merely silenced the man. This is not an act of aggression, but of procedure. I might not know all of you, but I welcome open discourse. I welcome the honest exchange of ideas, with equal time given to both sides, as long as both sides are equal in nature.

“You wouldn’t give a murderer the same time to talk about murdering as you would the headsman about what needed to be done about the murderer, would you? Under such an understanding, I feel I have given a murderer of priests more than ample opportunity to speak of truth, but all he speaks of is zealotry. I cannot, in good conscience, abide by Raidu’s continued zealotry. If Raidu’s zealotry doesn’t get him dead, it will surely result in the deaths of millions. I don’t care what this man does with his own life, but I do care about what he does to other people. I don’t think Raidu cares about anyone else but himself, and his own goals. He’ll send you to your deaths, for sure, just like he sent those hundred soldiers last night to their deaths! And then, when he didn’t win? He broke war protocol!

“He could have told Koyabez to piss off, but he didn’t do that, did he? No. He murdered priests because he needs this war. I’m not sure why he needs this war so much, but he’s doing everything he can to get it. Maybe you should ask yourself why. That’s what I’m doing right now, and all the answers I can think of are not good ones. Whatever the case, he’s certainly not looking out for you. From what I hear, Terror Peaks will start a war, and lose, but they won’t lose their major forces. Nope! You’ll lose yours, instead! Your sons. Your daughters. Your wives and husbands! Like cows to the slaughter, all for the good of Terror Peaks, and only Terror Peaks! That’s for sure.”

It didn’t take Raidu long to understand that no one heard him, no matter how loudly he yelled. But Raidu did not attack the source of his silence. He blipped to the left, which was not fast enough to escape Erick. Discord followed the man like a bubble reappearing.

Erick continued his speech.

Was literally silencing the man the best method to deal with him? No.

Was killing Raidu the best option? … Maybe. But also, likely not. Especially with the audience looking unsure. Koyabez had spoken of world war. Now that Erick had a good bit of distance from that conversation, and now that he saw the lay of some of the forces arrayed against him, he knew that a world war was inevitable.

The end of Ar’Kendrithyst could only ever mean one thing, and this right here was merely the loudest, first true hint of that eventual world war.

And that meant that Erick was never going to draw first blood. That would make all these fence-sitters flow into the opposition. Striking the first blow would make Raidu’s forces stronger, which was probably what Raidu was hoping for.

… This was, of course, discounting the option where Erick hunted and murdered every single opposition leader who would ever stand against him. He could do that…

He would never do that. He would never let this war get that far.

So what the fuck was Raidu waiting for? Destroy his Ophiel already, and be destroyed in return! Erick might not be willing to put down every murderer on Veird, but one nation? Sure. He could do that.

If they pushed him again.

They had already pushed him pretty fucking far.

Even if he wasn’t personally impacted by any of the deaths he had seen today, he wasn’t ever going to turn his back on obvious injustice.

As silence stretched and Raidu never advanced against Ophiel, it seemed Raidu wasn’t going to strike first either. It seemed like he was waiting for something else to happen. Perhaps an attack on Eralis while Erick was occupied in this ‘conversation’? In that case, the joke was on him. This right here? Keeping Raidu’s dishonest voice silenced? This took barely any effort at all.

Erick raised his voice, flexing his [Physical Domain] into sound to fill the sky, speaking toward the scattered groups of non-Terror Peaks forces that floated all around, and waited on the roofs of the city below, “If anyone has any questions they would like to ask, to ensure that I am not the monster you believe me to be, please approach. I will not attack, and I will attempt to answer your questions to the best of my ability.”

For three long seconds, silence filled the sky. Raidu had stopped trying to escape Erick’s [Physical Domain], and now he just watched, though tendrils of thought betrayed that he was speaking to at least a few people. Others in the scattered audience also spoke to others through telepathic signals. Some whispered to their compatriots, but not many. There were about 325 people in the air, though that number fluctuated as some people left, and others appeared.

“I have a question!” came a bright voice from the lightning wolf; Shendeng, the archmage Rain Mage.

The gathering turned to the [Familiar] as the lightning wolf padded closer to Erick, tiny storm clouds appearing wherever the wolf touched the sky. His archmage wife’s [Spear Familiar] followed closely at the wolf’s side. Though Erick had no idea what the wife’s Class of Fulmination Spear meant, exactly, he had some ideas. Shendeng was the storm, but Xida was the lightning.

The lightning wolf stopped 25 meters from the map, and from Ophiel. With perfect calm, Shendeng asked, “How did you steal my Rain Magic?”

Uh?

Erick startled, and it showed on his projection. “Uh? … What?”

“I have no problem with some competitive theft among fellow archmages, but I had considered my fortress unknown and impregnable.” Shengdeng said, “Tell me what methods you used and how you discovered where I lived, and I and my Xida will ignore this warthing which we have been drawn into. Consider it a bit of reciprocal courtesy. I will also ignore that you have flaunted my methods to the rabble of the world, which I believe is more than fair; it’s positively magnanimous.” He added, “We only took this war option because from what we heard, you did not seem like a reasonable sort of man. Obviously, this was a lie. So. Tell me now how you stole from me. How did you manage it?”

Erick almost listed every single reason why Shendeng’s claims were completely baseless, from the fact that Erick had never heard of the man before an hour ago, to the fact that Particle Magic did not exist before Erick came along, but he quickly recognized that his conversation was a minefiel— No. Wait. This conversation was not a minefield. This was a single landmine, and Erick had already stepped on it. There was not a single thing he could say to prove his innocence, for Shendeng had already exploded. The [Familiar] gave away none of the turmoil and vitriol of the archmage on the other side, but it was there, for sure.

Well fine.

Fuck ‘em!

— No! No no. No.

Let’s step back a bit.

Erick tried, “Why do you feel that I stole your magic?”

The lightning wolf eyed Erick’s light projection. “You know why.”

So that was a non-starter. Okay.

Erick tried, “[Call Lightning] was the first spell I made. The rest flowed from there. Rain was a byproduct which I expanded upon afterward. All I know is that you’re a Rain Mage, so… I’m not sure what to tell you. Rain was just a happy accident of my own spellwork. I’m sorry. I cannot help you in this.”

Shendeng said, “Just admit it was Goldie, the Shade of Assassination. She got in here and she gave you my spellwork. It’s why she’s still alive and Blessed by you while all the rest are dead. It’s why she’s running around setting notes on pillows, threatening the release of even more secrets unless we cooperate with Melemizargo’s plans for peace and prosperity.”

Erick sighed.

He didn’t know much about any of that. But...

Erick asked, “Is she actually doing that?”

“Yes!” Shendeng said, “And since Songli is working with her, then Songli needs to die!”

“How about this: I will find her and stop whatever she is doing. I found her once, I can probably do it again. Finding people is not hard for me; and that is my own magic, completely.” So even if I did want your fucking magic then I could probably just find you and take it you pompous… Erick didn’t say that. Instead, Erick asked, “Will that be acceptable? No more of your secrets will spill out into the world. Or at least not through Goldie.”

The lightning wolf stared for a long moment. Then, he said, “Not my preferred outcome, but it is more acceptable than working with priest-killers and civilian murderers.” He paused, then let out a sudden laugh, and said, “A pet Shade on a leash!” More seriously, he added, “And they won’t turn on you if you make them slaves. A fitting punishment if I ever heard one.” The wolf retreated, adding, “I demand satisfaction soon, Archmage Flatt! Or else I will work with these priest killers even though it pains me! We cannot have Shades moving in the shadows of Songli. You might not have known they were doing this, but it’s a bad look for you either way.”

Erick had a very, very low opinion of Shendeng, but he kept that opinion to himself. Instead, he said, “I will need time to find her and inform her of my displeasure, and to investigate all of the new information I have received today. How about no one do any war for a month, and we revisit this problem then? We can even get a priest of Koyabez to erect a [Zone of Peace] in the talks, so that no one can cast any harmful spells at each other.”

Many of the gathered people seemed to approve of the idea; it was written on the relaxation of faces, and in the loosening of shoulders, and fists. But just as fast, the other people, the ones from Terror Peaks, went hard. Raidu was still behind a bubble, but the other ones weren’t. They made their opinions known.

“Shades have always walked the streets of Songli! You all know this!” The speaker was a woman who was at Raidu’s side, but far enough away to not be in the same bubble of Discord. Erick didn’t want to trap her when she hadn’t spoken until now. She shouted, “Erick controls the Shades! He admitted as much! He is an agent of Melemizargo!”

Another one, on the other side of the sky, yelled, “Don’t be taken in by the Wizards words! My clansman! Don’t fall for his lies!”

Raidu’s woman yelled, “He has all the New Stats!” She gasped, as though in realization; an act. She was a terrible actor, though. “He has Charisma! The Wizard has Charisma!”

That single word sent a ripple of change through the audience. Many backed away.

“Shield your mind!” a Terror Peaks clansman yelled.

Another yelled, “Kill the Wizard!”

And just like that, as though it was planned, for it likely was… There was a chant. One voice was joined by three, then by ten. Not everyone who chanted wore the style of armor of Terror Peaks, but half did.

“Kill the Wizard! Kill the Wizard! Kill the Wizard!”

Raidu’s woman leveled a spear at Erick’s lightform. The spear turned to flames, then the woman launched herself at Erick.

He was in absolutely no danger. The magic of the spear was minuscule. The woman was barely buffed up. Erick let it happen. He held Ophiel's [Animadversion] back, too, so that the woman didn’t explode herself in her own fake zealotry.

Erick, Raidu, the entire audience, watched the woman attack.

The woman burst into scattered light the instant her spear touched the [Prismatic Ward] that defended Erick’s lightform. It was as though she had exploded away…. Because she had?

Huh?

Red mist, burned flesh, and sliced bones scattered in the air.

She… She killed herself?

Is that… Is that what happened?

“Murderer!” exclaimed a man, right on cue. “Murdering Wizard!”

Erick was still trying to process what he had seen.

His first instinct was that this was some sort of [Teleport] farce. But he had [Soul Sight] running. Through [Soul Sight], he watched as the woman’s soul broke apart and vanished from where she had been. She had not done some odd [Teleport]-like effect. She had truly killed herself.

That had actually happened.

Erick shivered, but he was not so deep in revulsion that he didn’t recognize when a new person [Teleport]ed into the nearby air.

The newcomer was a man in flowing red robes, hovering a hundred meters from Ophiel. Erick recognized him. Everyone did. The chanting stopped, as Patriarch Xangu took the field. He was the man who claimed credit for the attack on Koyabez’s temples.

Xangu’s voice filled the world, “The Wizard has shown his true nature. He is aligned with Shadow and Darkness.” A spear appeared in Xangu’s right hand. It was a thin thing of craggy metal and a single brittle point, but it was also a solid-red brightness upon the manasphere, filled with enough power to drown out everything else in the sky. A second passed, and suddenly, Erick felt fear. He watched, transfixed, as that red brightness turned to white, but not just any white. It was his own color. It was the exact shade of white as his own soul. Xangu declared, “And thus, the sentence is duly passed.”

Xangu didn’t point with the spear, or move the artifact at all. It moved in the manasphere, becoming a Forest-tree-sized weapon of a thousand, thousand points, each curving through the mana without care for the physical, each trained on its target: Erick’s soul.

The singular weapon struck each Ophiel as though it was aimed from every angle.

The spear popped [Prismatic Ward]s. It drank in the light of [Lodestar] and [Greater Lightwalk]. A handful of spear points reflected upon [Animadversion], but the vast majority got through, into the soul of Ophiel—

And then further.

Erick had already retreated from his [Familiar], back into his own body.

The spears followed.