Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 174, 1/2

Chapter 174, 1/2

Sitting under one of a hundred small, scattered Privacys on Yggdrasil’s branches, Erick fell into Yggdrasil’s consciousness like a man falling into a waking dream. It took a moment to come to terms with the unreality of viewing the world through his largest summon’s ‘eyes’, but Erick waded through fiery water and liquid stone and airy waves, and found the threads that connected Yggdrasil to himself.

Both threads led off in two different directions. One toward the beach with the cavern that led toward the embassy, while the other led off into the riverways that fed the waterfalls on the other side of Yggdrasil’s cavern. Beyond that, the journey was much more ethereal; messier than when Erick was in the Core. When he was in the Core, the path had been clean, but here, the path was strewn with everything and nothing all at once.

According to what he was seeing, Erick was somewhere deep under the Surface, under the ocean that separated Nelboor, Quintlan, and Nergal. Both paths toward the other Yggdrasils almost crossed the edge of the Core, but instead they bent around that space like curving lightbeams. Yggdrasil and Erick were, perhaps, extremely far away from home. The connection didn’t seem weak at all, though, so that was good. No unexpected barriers down in this ephemeral liquid land.

He went to the body of Yggdrasil that he thought was close to Poi and sent out an inquiry.

He waited.

‘Sir?’ came Poi’s groggy voice. And then Poi realized what was happening and shouted, ‘Erick! You’re alive!’

Erick felt a flush of warmth rush through his entire body, and then tears flowed, filled with all his rage and hate and subtle joy of being safe, for now. While he bawled like a baby, it didn’t affect his ability to send, and so he sent, ‘It’s good to hear your voice, Poi. Is everyone doing okay?’

‘Yes. Everyone is fine.’ Poi let some of his own warmth flow through their connection as he happily sent, ‘I am glad to inform you that, due to the spellwork you allowed me to share with Kiri, that she has been able to take over much of the defense of the city, almost entirely on her own. 12 hour [True Sunlight Rifts] that empower everyone on every battlefield with pure light, while the same spell is shifted toward damage and positioned out across the—’ Poi paused, then said, ‘[Luminous Beam] has shifted the entire battlefield, too. We’re winning easily… Uh. I shouldn’t tell you. Not when you’re still on the Worldly Path.’

‘That’s fine, Poi.’ Erick chuckled a bit, then sent, ‘I’m glad to know that everyone is doing well. What time is it, there?’

After a moment, Poi sent, ‘Looks like nearly noon. Most of Spur is on night shifts, now. Jane is up, though. Want me to connect you?’

‘In a moment. I need to talk… I need to know about a few people, and you probably know of them.’ Erick sent, ‘Have you ever heard of High Inquisitor Kromolok or Sitnakov Stratagold? I also need information on Tasar the Summoner; more than we already had. Tasar is to be my keeper till the end of this Worldly Path, so I want to know who I’ve saddled myself with.’

Dread filled the connection. Poi lightly sent, ‘I know of them, yes. I…’ He decided something, his voice turning serious, ‘Tasar the Summoner is the least dangerous of the three, but it would be folly to call any of those people ‘harmless’. She is aligned with the Headmaster and Stratagold, but leans toward the Headmaster. Of Kromolok or Sitnakov, I have no idea which is more dangerous. High Inquisitor… High Inquisitor Kromolok is a man you do not cross lightly, though he is always fair in his dealings until the safety of the world is threatened. Uh. Sitnakov is a world famous hero but everyone thinks he’s in retirement? He’s not? Uh.’ Poi sent, ‘I need a full rundown of what happened— URK!’

The line went dead.

Erick did not panic, for he was already keeping himself as calm as he could. He simply cast [Telepathy] again, trying to reestablish their connection.

The connection returned.

Erick blinked hard as he breathed out, ragged and worn, but very thankful that Poi was still alive. ‘You okay?’

Quietly, Poi sent, ‘I tried to send in a request for information, covering my options, and got— They denied me and warned me against interfering. Kromolok, himself, denied me. I think… I think you’re going to be okay, but they’re starting an official inquiry about you… According to everything I knew before you went down there such an inquiry would have returned a result of ‘do not interfere’. Did something happen to change that? I mean. It must have?’

‘I’ve never heard you so nervous before.’ Erick asked, ‘Should I be worried?’

‘About me? No. I’m fine. Jane is fine and Spur is fine. Everyone here is good.’ Poi sent, ‘You should focus on yourself to get through this inquiry as fast and as securely as possible.’

‘… Okay. Then, about that. I’m a Wizard, apparently. Paradox.’

A pause.

Poi sent, ‘It finally happened, huh.’

‘Rozeta helped me and installed a plug that she could pull if I look to go bad. It’s complicated. Does this mean that they’re going to kill me, Poi?’

‘Not necessarily.’ Resigned to giving out secrets, Poi sent, ‘We send Wizards into hiding sometimes, wiping out their Wizardry and setting them up with new, happy lives here or there. You won’t choose that path though, so you’re going to have to be careful. I don’t know much about how Wizardry works, but as long as you don’t form a core then you should be okay. Nothing will change—’ Poi cut himself off. ‘You didn’t.’

‘I both did, and did not. I went with Paradox Wizardry, with Rozeta’s help. She wants to control my Worldly Path but Melemizargo isn’t handing it over and no one wants him involved in helping me to make [Gate], so I need to find another Wizard to end the Path and actually make the [Gate Creator Summon], or whatever it is. Such a spell requires Wizardry, though, and since I’m already a Wizard… The option was obvious.’

After a moment, Poi sent, ‘Are you planning on being open with this?’

Erick instantly sent, ‘Gods no! Hiding for all time. Though I did make [Renew], and apparently that was an act of Wizardry. I have a year of hiding, but likely less than that if we’re being honest.’

‘Hold up.’ Poi said, ‘Okay. Okay. Okay… Hold on.’

Erick waited.

Poi sent, ‘Okay. I’m ready to continue. First, I want you to know that I am very thankful that you trust me enough to have this conversation. This right here is very dangerous information. Perhaps more than you’ve ever touched upon before. I’m still here and with you, but many people of Spur will not want to associate with Wizards… Or… Okay. I have a large idea about how many other people will react when they find out you’re a Wizard, but no one really knows how a mind breaks when faced with new threats; anyone telling you otherwise is a liar or controlling how those minds break. I know for sure how I’m reacting, though, and it’s to say that I’m going to stay by your side through whatever comes.’

Erick felt another warmth in his chest. He had been deeply worried about a thousand small things, and one of those worries had been about the people around him abandoning him. After all, Wizards were thought to have destroyed the Old Cosmology. A powerful enough Wizard could easily break a single planet like Veird. Apparently, Melemizargo could end Veird at any time. But Wizards could also create.

Wizards were hunted down by everyone in power, either to end an existential threat, or because Wizards were able to twist both subjective Reality and objective reality as they saw fit. While most of the populace would want to kill a known Wizard, dragons wanted to capture and torture and mutate Wizards in order to rid themselves of their Cursed Blood.

From what Erick had found out while walking this Worldly Path he had expected Poi and everyone else to stab him in the back the second he revealed himself as a Wizard.

He had been prepared to leave Spur behind, to forget everyone that he had ever known and cared about, except for Jane, of course. He was pretty sure he knew how Jane would react to this news, but he had needed to keep her ignorant of this part of his life, to keep her safe. Once his Wizardly status was outed to the world, he would likely need to abandon Spur for their own safety…

But he was glad to see that Poi would remain at his side.

With uncommon relief on his mind, Erick sent, ‘I’d say you don’t know how much your trust means to me, Poi, but you’re one of the only ones who truly would know how much this means. Thank you.’

A trill of quiet happiness filled their connection, and then Poi said, ‘I’m glad you’re okay, Erick.’ He added, ‘But with all that said, we move on to this: What the FUCK were you thinking?’

Laughing, Erick sent, ‘Want me to start at the top?’

A sigh. ‘Yes. From when we last spoke. You were setting up Yggdrasil in the Outer Core?’

Erick mentally nodded, then began, ‘So…’

They spoke for an hour. Talk of Wizards ended up being a small fraction of that time, with the conversation quickly moving on to the public stories of Kromolok, Sitnakov, and Tasar. Poi explained that he had a bit of trouble pulling apart what he knew from public knowledge, to what he knew from Mind Mage matters, so he erred on the side of caution and kept his words about them all rather short, to ensure that he wouldn’t break Mind Mage protocols.

At the end, Poi summed his caution up, sending, ‘They’re three of the most dangerous people on the planet, but you’re right up there with them. The only differences are that you’re an unknown and mortal— No. You’re immortal now. Uh. Well. You’re not going to tell them that, are you? Kromolok would know because he— Ah. I didn’t say that last part.’

Erick smiled. ‘No. Not planning on telling anyone I’m immortal now.’

‘Good. Well… With some fantasticamounts of luck, you might actually get to experience that immortality, but most immortals don’t make it far past middle-adulthood due to monsters and intrigue— Anyway.’ Poi sent, ‘You’re an unknown and, for all intents and purposes, mortal, so they won’t respect you at all. Try not to take it personally. I would like to save all further international incidents for after your Worldly Path, when you’re back home and I can be present for all brewing calamities. Maybe we can get in front of this Wizard thing so that when [Renew] comes out it’s not as bad as it could be.’

Erick laughed a little. ‘It’s good to talk to you, Poi. I’m probably going to need those Mind Mage therapists when I get back home.’

‘Yes, you will.’ Poi sent, ‘Want to talk to Jane?’

‘Absolutely. And thank you, Poi. I wasn’t sure… Thank you.’

Poi just mentally nodded.

And then Jane’s voice burst through Erick’s head, ‘DAD! WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL ME FIRST?’

Erick laughed, sending, ‘Because I’m still in a very dangerous situation and I needed help and guidance from Poi. I hear you’re in a dangerous situation, too.’

‘… No you didn’t hear anything like that. Not from me.’ Jane went silent for a moment, then she said, ‘I’m not supposed to talk about what’s been going on here, but I think I can say… Yeah. We’re doing fine. It is what it is, and we’re fine. How about you? How’s the Underworld been treating you?’

‘It’s a shitshow.’ Erick sat back in his chair, happily saying, ‘So let me tell you all about it, starting with this: If you don’t have a Domain, don’t come to the deep Underworld, because everyhigh level monster has a Domain. Every single one, and most of them are strong.’

‘Huh.’ Jane said, ‘I guess that tracks with what I’ve been able to find, which has been almost nothing. Unless you got a Domain, you just die down there, eh?’

‘Yeah.’ Erick said, ‘On the way back from the Core I even came across a Variant Deathsoul Shroom and my ‘escorts’ —all very high powered people— tried to go around it, but I blasted the shroom away with [Luminous Beam]. There’s been a few monsters like that. Probably shouldn’t try to get one of those variant monstrous forms until you have a Domain, too. Maybe not even then. I don’t know how monster Domains work, but if the Queen Blood Weaver was tough, then these are likely worse.’

‘Bah.’ Jane mentally frowned. ‘Heard and Understood, commander.’

Erick smiled. Then he said, ‘But other than that…’

He spoke. Jane listened. Then Jane talked and Erick listened. They went back and forth on some of the monsters he had seen, while she tried to understand whatever abilities they might have had, before Erick obliterated them. And then they moved on to the Core, and the wrought. Jane’s anger mirrored Erick’s own, and he felt a few tears roll down his face as he listened to her tirade. It was nice. And then she calmed a fraction and had some words to say about what the wrought were doing and trying to do to him. Eventually, she agreed with his choice to forgo total violence. She also agreed that she didn’t like any of the Underworld wrought she had ever met.

‘We’ve got some adamantium wrought up here working with Anhelia to take back Ar’Kendrithyst, and they’ve been rather haughty about it all. They won’t talk to anyone who isn’t a wrought.’

‘Their line is probably more that they won’t talk to any non-immortal.’ Erick sent, ‘And speaking of such, I realized that you should be immortal with your monsters and learning how to properly work [Polymorph].’

‘… Well.’ Jane seemed to breathe deep, then she said, ‘I’m not there yet, but I realized the implications of a skilled [Polymorph] a while ago. You wanna talk about it?’

Erick smiled. Jane was keeping secrets from him, too, wasn’t she? That was fine.

‘I do want to talk about it.’ Erick decided to tell Jane a small lie that was effectively the truth, but in another form, ‘I’ve decided to try to learn how to [Polymorph] my way to immortality. That, or else make an [Immortality] spell based on DNA repair and [Cleanse]ing magic and such. I think I got enough time to make a ‘[Full Restore]’ spell as long as I don’t have a sudden bout of assassin-itis or wrought-induced trauma.’

Jane laughed, then said, ‘If anyone can figure it out, I’m sure you can.’

‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out, too.’ Erick said, ‘I love you, Jane.’

‘I love you, dad.’ Jane said, ‘Get some rest. Eat some good food that isn’t a thousand years old.’

‘Maybe I will. There’s restaurants all over the tunnels outside the embassy.’ Erick added, ‘And hey! Maybe I’ll meet more wrought that aren’t assholes. I have high hopes for Tasar, and minimal hopes for Kromolok, but Sitnakov seems like a lost cause.’

‘The name Sitnakov still seems familiar to me… I’ll have to check out the Adventurer's Guild’s archives. I’ll get back to you about that next time you give me a ring.’

‘Thanks. Send my love to everyone else. I’ll be home soon enough. I’ll try for a week.’

‘Maybe longer than that.’ Jane sent, ‘Not before you get [Gate], right?’

‘... Right.’ Erick added, ‘Yeah. I suppose so. That means I’m likely headed toward Oceanside next.’

With a sarcastic bent, Jane teased, ‘Finally getting into the Quiet War!’

‘Maybe I’ll end it! Now there’s a laugh.’

‘Heh.’ Jane mentally nodded, then said, ‘I love you, dad.’

‘I love you, too, Jane.’

A moment of silence. And then...

The connection frayed, and broke.

Erick sat back in his conjured recliner, on the upper reaches of Yggdrasil, staring at the barely-moving fiery green canopy overhead, and the lightning-like branches that held those leaves above. Beyond the roof of Yggdrasil the world was bright with near-true sunlight, given off by ten thousand crystals jutting from the ceiling near 20 kilometers above. Some of those crystals were the size of skyscrapers, but they looked more like LEDs on the ceiling from this distance.

In the far distance, at the edge of the cavern nearly 15 kilometers away, a facsimile of three Niagara Falls, side by side, fell into the waters of this lake, providing a wonderful sound of distant, rushing water. A slight breeze came from that direction, barely rustling Yggdrasil’s leaves, as the wind continued on toward the tunnel leading toward the embassy, passing through there and a hundred smaller air holes in the cavern. This place was well ventilated, for sure. The lake waters were well piped as well, draining through holes in the bottom of the lake, near even more skyscraper-sized illuminated crystals that jutted up from the waters, providing glows everywhere, and especially in the depths, chasing away all shadows.

Yggdrasil was doing a great job of chasing away the shadows, too, with all of his myriad glows.

The area felt safe.

Erick felt able to relax, if only a little.

Talking to Poi had helped. Talking to Jane had cemented his mental state. He was ready to proceed with life. But to make sure he was stable he had at least one more task. He switched over to his Other Self, and ate his own mana with [Renew]. He felt a lot better about everything after that. He was still at base Stats in his Other Form, but he was up in levels by a lot; mostly due to cycling. [Renew] had yet to reach level 10 because Erick still only had 200 maximum Mana, and leveling spells was slow when you couldn’t dump effectively endless resources at them. It hadn’t changed at all even with the few levels it had gained, though.

He could have put some points toward Clarity and Meditation and Resource multipliers, like Concentration and Discipline, but…

… He could probably go hunting for monster meat and eat it to gain some Strength; fortify his physical Stats a bit while he was still able to do that. Save some points in the future...

Eh.

Too much effort for too little gain. At least right now, anyway. He didn’t want to do much of anything with his Other Self at the moment except to ensure it didn’t drag him down with unexpected rage. Once he was in a better place he could actually start leveling that side of him. And besides that, what if he unknowingly and accidentally crossed some threshold and he was kicked off the Script? No; there would be no fortification of his Other Self at all, for now.

Erick switched over to his Normal Self and decided it was time to sleep. Food, exploration, meeting new people, all that would all come later, after he had some time to actually rest.

He conjured a bed and all the appropriate bedding and then he dismissed his armor and stripped to his underwear. A [Cleanse] washed away all recent signs of stress and fatigue and then Erick climbed into bed. A recast of his [Personal Ward] made him feel a fraction safer, but...

He asked, “Yggdrasil? Are you okay? Do you like this new cavern?”

“I good. I like cavern. Little fish all places.”

With a tired smile, Erick said, “Good.” And then he patted Ophiel and tucked himself in.

He was as safe as could be, for now.

Ophiel and Yggdrasil kept thousands of eyes on him and their surroundings, popping [Scry] eyes like clearing raindrops from the air. They only got the close ones, though. The cavern was 30 kilometers wide and 20 tall, with Yggdrasil in the exact center of it all, and only 3 kilometers across. There was a lot of space out there for a long range [Scry], so the only thing protecting Erick from those were the decoy [Sealed Privacy Ward]s scattered all over Yggdrasil like Christmas ornaments. Erick’s largest summon took up less than one percent of the available space down here…

Ah. Yeah; Yggdrasil didn’t take up a whole lot of space, but he was bigger than the last time Erick had seen him. Perhaps he was bigger back in the Core, too, but Erick hadn’t noticed the change until now. Yggdrasil was growing up.

They always grow up faster than you’re ready for.

At that pleasant, sorrowful thought, Erick closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Oblivion claimed him faster than he thought it would.

- - - -

Erick woke with a start—

He began applying his defenses as soon as he could, his mind already reaching out for Yggdrasil and Ophiel, who were both all around. A terrified second passed as Erick discovered that nothing was wrong.

… And then he groaned into his palms while Ophiel chirped, welcoming Erick back to the world of the awake as Erick had a broken, heavy moment with himself, trying to put himself back into the ‘now’.

Yggdrasil said, “Good morning, Father.”

Ophiel gently rammed right into Erick’s chest like an excited cat, and Erick was forced to move his hands away from his own face to cuddle the little guy. It was difficult at first, but being a parent was about showing your children that you were capable and strong, especially in those early years. As he had once done while he was with Jane, he now did with Ophiel and Yggdrasil; he pretended to be okay, and eventually, that would be the truth. ‘Eventually’ only took three seconds, this time, as he looked down at the ball of feathers and eyes cuddling his chest, and out at Yggdrasil, all around.

Erick smiled. “Good morning,” he told the ball of feathers. He looked up, saying, “Good morning, Yggdrasil. Did anything happen while I was asleep?”

“Nothing happen. You not sleep long.”

“How long was I out?”

“… Not know.” Yggdrasil’s bark briefly dimmed—

Erick instantly said, “That’s okay, Yggdrasil. I was just curious, anyway.”

Yggdrasil’s bark returned to its normal glow.

Erick breathed out for a moment, just sitting there on his conjured bed, looking at the world all around. He decided he needed more sleep, but before he did that he recast his spellwork and switched over to his Other Self, to eat a delicious meal of his own mana and cycle his core for a little while. When he was done with that, he changed back to his Normal Self, went to the bathroom in a conjured toilet that led nowhere, [Cleanse]d the mess, and then he reconjured his bed.

Slipping back under the covers, he told Yggdrasil, “One more sleep, then I can start doing other things. Wake me if anything happens, okay?”

“Okay!”

Erick closed his eyes—

And his stomach gurgled something fierce. Still, he refused to wake up right now unless he had to, and he didn’t have to. Eyes closed, he turned—

The bed popped out from under him, sending him falling half a meter to Yggdrasil’s bark and smacking his head on the glowing surface. Apparently he had fucked up with the conjuring. With his face planted on Yggdrasil’s surface, Erick breathed out, and in, and then he just got up. He was awake now. Might as well get something to eat, too.

A protean cannot live on mana alone, apparently.

“You awake?” Yggdrasil asked.

“I guess so,” Erick said.

Standing on the edge of Yggdrasil’s branches, Erick looked down at the clear waters far below. Yggdrasil’s subway-sized roots curved out from his trunk like a basket of snakes unleashed, to dive in and out of the lake bottom, sometimes arcing above the surface like a certain white dragon goddess with her clouds. Erick stared at the calm lake for a little while, feeling the wind and smelling next to nothing. This place was clean and healthy.

Erick asked, “How’s the water, Yggdrasil?”

“It is water.”

“… Do you like being planted in water?”

Yggdrasil paused. “I grow in stone. Water above stone.”

“I mean: Would you like me to plant you in stone, without so much water?”

“No. I like fishes.” Yggdrasil asked, “Do fishes in stone?”

“Do fishes exist in the stones of mountains?” Erick asked. Then he answered, “Not really. There are some flying fishes in the Crystal Forest that live in sand and air, though. A whole flock of them lured a wyrm at me one time.”

Yggdrasil thought for a little while, then said, “Water fishes better. Flying not good. Get in leaves. Roots fine. Leaves not fine.”

Erick smiled. “Is there enough light in this place for you? I can hang more lights around here, if you want.”

Yggdrasil thought for a long moment, his bark flickering with brightness as his canopy and rainbow crown glittered and dimmed. He settled down. “I got light.”

Erick nodded. Then he discarded his clothes to the side, near his bed, and stepped out to the edge of the branch. He looked down at the waters below and felt a giddy sort of flutter in his stomach. It was probably a bad idea to jump from this height, and yet... He had survived worse skydives with less protection!

He jumped.

The wind whistled over his body as he free fell toward the waters below—

At the last moment before splashdown he deployed his sunform and fell from a much more reasonable height of 3 meters. Splash! The water was cold, but it wasn’t freezing. It was a good temperature. Bracing. Invigorating. Erick let himself drift under the waves for a long moment, savoring the sensation of free floating in the middle of this land of strangers, and danger, and then he opened his eyes underwater. He was still alone, save for the small fishes nearer to Yggdrasil’s massive trunk.

His first thought coming back to the moment was an odd one. If he didn’t have his sunform, or other forms of travel, he’d be facing a rather scary ten kilometer swim to shore, or a few kilometer swim to the nearest glowing crystal, or he could take his chances with the nearest structure; the giant glowing tree in the middle of this almost holy space. Erick smiled at that thought, of being stranded out in the middle of nowhere, but not really. And then he swam upward and broke the surface, splashing and feeling great. He looked around and confirmed that yes, he was in the middle of a dangerous situation, but the lake had no monsters, or large fishes, and he was safe under Yggdrasil’s boughs.

And then he tried to float on his back and found himself sinking, instead. Apparently, with this little body fat and all his extra muscles he couldn’t float in water anymore.

Huh.

He didn’t actually know that until now. When was the last time he tried relaxing with a swim? Last year at the bath house with Al? Had he gone for a swim after that? No… Not that he could think of. He had sat in that hot tub in the Core, but that wasn’t a swim. Had he even relaxed lately? A party, perhaps? No, not that he could think of. Not really, anyway. Everywhere, there’s always people, and Erick had needed to be on duty even when he was surrounded by people celebrating the end of the war in Songli, or the banquet at Enduring Forge, or the party after he helped Treehome clear the Forest of moon reachers and deathsoul shrooms…

Even here, he couldn’t truly relax. But he could relax enough.

With a twist and a turn, Erick dove down into the waters, swimming free, letting the water wash over him. When was the last time he actually got to have relaxation time on his own? Like? Surely he had had some. He just couldn’t think of it at the moment.

Yeah. He had to have some relaxation time in the last… 5 months of the Worldly Path? Did making magic count as relaxation? Hmm. Yes; yet no?

Ah. Well. Linxel was certainly relaxing, but it was not meant to be. Darabella wasn’t meant to be, either. Apparently, according to Poi, Enduring Forge and Nelboor had had some tense moments when Erick vanished, but most of those issues were gone now that he had resurfaced in the Underworld. Erick had no idea the depth of those ‘tense moments’, for Poi had been more concerned with more personal, current events, so they had moved on from that talk of Nelboor rather quickly. Apparently Erick hadn’t left too large of a mess, but... He would ask around later, when he was back on the Surface, to see if there were any problems he needed to fix.

But for now, Erick swam back to the surface of Yggdrasil’s new lake and paddled around for a little while, enjoying himself, getting to know how his new body moved. Mostly, he sank. His new body didn’t feel heavy; he felt light and free. But muscle with no fat was denser than water, so as soon as he stopped he began to sink.

So Erick swam and kept swimming, trying not to sink, trying not to think of how everyone was watching, and how he was never going to get any private time, anymore. There were probably some voyeurs out there watching him through [Long Range Scry]s right that very second, but whatever. He was skinny dipping and it was great.

Eventually, most of his thoughts fell away as he just swam. Legs flicking, arms pumping, head turning to take a quick, deep breath, and then back under to blow bubbles out as he moved. It felt good to work his body; to experience what his Stats and arms and legs could do outside of a magical sense. He still kept his mana sense open, and his sunform remained active on his back, but this was great.

Maybe he should take up sparring again. It was fun to sweat sometimes.

Or maybe swimming was a good activity.

But soon enough the water got too cold, and he was beginning to prune, and his stomach was starting to demand to be filled. So Erick lightstepped back up to where he had dumped his clothes on Yggdrasil’s branch, dried himself off with a wipe of his sunform, and redressed.

As he slipped his tunic over his head, Yggdrasil spoke. “I didn’t know you fish.”

Erick smiled wider, saying, “Most things my size can swim. Doesn’t make us fish.”

“No. You fish.”

“I’m glad you like fish, then.”

“Yes. Fish great. Slippy slippy. You fish.”

Erick chuckled. “Looks like you have some good varieties down there, too. Do you know what they’re called?”

“Yes!” And then Yggdrasil opened his floodgates of words, “Rainbow flit. Goldscale slipper. Striped silvertail. Brown cruncher. Red flit. Shortnose hook. Three-eye blackie—”

Erick sat down, asking, “Can you make a lightform to show me what they look like, too?”

“Yes! I do this.” Yggdrasil happily began drawing with light in the air in front of Erick, painting pictures of fish, as he started naming them again. “Rainbow flit. Goldscale slipper…”

They weren’t great pictures, done by someone with years upon years of practice, but they were large and pretty, and Yggdrasil was doing a great job. Erick sat back and watched, feeling better with every passing picture. After about fifty fish, Yggdrasil slowed down. At 65, he had trouble remembering the last one, but it came soon enough.

With a triumphant flicker of light all across Yggdrasil’s body, he announced, “Razor Guppy!” Happily, he said, “And that’s the fish!”

“I’m very proud of you, Yggdrasil.” Erick said, “You know so many fish and you’re so good at lightpainting them.”

Yggdrasil brightened a bit, before settling back down to his normal glow. “I like fish.”

“Where did you learn all the names?”

“Small shadow at candle place. He fisherman. Named fish as caught then I pick fish and he name.”

Erick thought for a moment, then he conjured an image of a man, describing him to Yggdrasil, “Is the fisherman this man? A black incani with black horns and white eyes?”

“Yes. You know?”

“That’s Slip, the captain of the guard for Candlepoint.” Erick said, “He’s the one that makes sure your lake at Candlepoint has the proper fishes necessary to maintain a good ecosystem.”

“What is ‘ecosystem’?”

Erick talked with Yggdrasil for a while, but eventually they ran out of words, and Yggdrasil asked Erick why his stomach was making noises. Erick told Yggdrasil that he would be back later, but he wanted to go get some food to stop the grumbling.

And so, with a lightstep, and as fully clothed to deal with politics and people as he could be, Erick stepped down the beach next to the tunnel to the embassy. The sand got between his toes, for he had lost his shoes way back when he had fallen out of the mana stream. Ophiel alighted on a shoulder, though, making him feel secure enough, and the [Scry] eyes all around him recognized him, so he probably wouldn’t be kicked out for looking like a vagrant. Wherever he walked, people would already know he was coming.

He glanced to the side, and saw the t-station sitting on the beach in the distance. It was the only structure on the sandy land. Erick almost wanted to go inspect it, but his stomach growled at him. Seeing the t-station did knock loose a thought, though; how would he get back to this location? He instantly decided he would have to use the t-station to get back, until he learned [Gate]. [Teleport] was still blocked here, for sure, and he did not fancy a lightwalk all the way through the tunnels of the Underworld to get back here.

To test that theory, though, Erick manually cast [Teleport], doing a small test blip to try and move left one meter. He barely moved a centimeter. So, Spatial Magic was blocke—

This raised another question: how was Tasar doing her Spatial Magic while Spatial Magic was so restricted in the Underworld? Yet another question to ask her, he supposed.

But food came first.

Erick lightstepped into the tunnel near the beach. He flickered forward to the halfway point, then started walking normally to the checkpoint at the far end. Ten minutes later, he reached the miniature garrison that flanked both sides of the tunnel.

Six wrought, each of a different form, but most of them iron, bowed a little to Erick as he walked through. There were no protections on the tunnel. No physically blocking gate, or any spellwork, or any runework, either. All there was was a politely worded stone tablet on a plinth in the center of the path, asking that no one step this way unless invited or with due cause.

Further past the garrison space was the front end of the embassy. Seeing the space in front of him, Erick got the distinct impression that he had walked out of the Vatican, into Saint Peter’s Square; the giant empty space that sat before him seemed a massive, holy structure similar to the one back on Earth. And yet, Erick looked up, and up, and up, and was reminded of what ‘massive’ actually looked like. The embassy’s ‘front lawn’ was three stone football fields next to each other, but the embassy itself looked like a thousand towers and keeps and bastions all done in white, all stuck together in some arcane mess of a well-laid structure.

The ‘embassy square’, or whatever it was called, was comparatively tiny, but well guarded. The path between the front gate which led to the Underworld roads, and the front door of the embassy, was well filled with people, but not a single one of them veered from that path to head to Yggdrasil’s tunnel. No wonder this side tunnel to Yggdrasil didn’t need to be guarded that much; anyone veering off of the main path would immediately be suspicious and turned back just as fast.

Erick turned back to the wrought on duty, asking, “Anyone know if I need money to get food down at the town?”

An iron wrought in the shape of a stern incani woman said, “Money is required down here, same as anywhere. We have money we can give you if you have none. Or you can walk in the main building and get a small payment. Or you can accept any invitation for a meal from any of the people wishing to talk to you, and have them assume the cost of the meal. We also have human cooks inside the embassy which would be happy to feed you whatever you want for free, but eating in the towns will cost money.”

Erick listened, judged the iron woman as competent and reasonably nice, then he said, “Thank you. Very helpful. Are you six positioned here from now on?”

“For the most part.” The woman asked, “Is there anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable? Real furniture, perhaps?”

“No… No thank you. Not right now.” Erick paused, and asked, “What are your names?”

The iron incani said, “Sergeant Kapra, at your service, Archmage Flatt.” She gestured to her people, saying, “This is...”

Erick listened while she introduced her people, but mostly, he knew that Kapra was the one he would be dealing with when it came to moving in and out of the tunnel. Erick nodded to them all after their introductions, and said, “Nice to meet you all. I’m going to get some free money at the embassy, then.” But he would likely just use his Mage Bank account, if they accepted that.

The wrought bowed.

Erick turned and walked across the large, square kilometer of empty courtyard in front of the embassy, looking at people as they looked at him. The people were dressed rather nicely, either in actual clothes if they were fleshy people, or in similar brocade and tassels and layers done up in the metal of their wrought bodies. The people sometimes gave courtly bows, or nodded, as Erick and Ophiel’s presence interrupted their discussions. Erick nodded back, but he had a destination, and he went there.

The entrance to the embassy was as grand as anything Erick had ever seen before, and a part of him truly wished to enjoy the architecture and the opulence and the experience of it all, but he was wrung out, and he was hungry. And he did want a real bed, now that he thought about it; he might need to take up Sergeant Kapra on her offer.

Anyways.

The floor was a checkerboard of cut gold-colored crystal and white marble, while white pillars held up a vaulted ceiling festooned with artistically arranged drips of even more gold-colored crystal. Everything was bright and shining. People were everywhere, dressed up in nice outfits as they sat around in the public space and discussed business like this was a hotel and they were all guests of the state. Perhaps that analogy was more true than Erick had first suspected, but he didn’t know; not yet.

Five meter tall paintings on the walls. Jewelry on everyone.

People slowly realizing Erick was here.

Eyes rapidly moved through the room as conversations around tea tables died.

A guard looked like he wanted to say something to Erick about Ophiel, hovering around him like tiny parakeets, or about all of Erick’s active spellwork. Almost no one around here had active spellwork. Erick was almost mad for at least two different reasons. They were in the Underworld, and death was everywhere! How could anyone walk around without all their spells active? How could that guard think it was okay to ask Erick to drop his?

But the guard who had been approaching him suddenly stopped and glanced to a superior. The superior nodded. The guard backed off, back to the edge of the room.

Erick realized his own worries manifesting in his thoughts so he discarded them as he walked up to the front desk, to a male copper wrought who suddenly looked extremely nervous, but who was also able to discard his emotions in order to get the job done.

Erick calmly spoke to the calm man at the front desk, saying, “I understand there’s places to eat around here. I need some directions. Good food and no fuss. I have no money on me. Do you accept Mage Bank?”

“All places here will accept Mage Bank.” The man asked, “Do you have a particular type of food you desire?”

“Basic food and a lot of it. Meat, cheese, and bread. Beer, too.”

The man brought out a sheet of paper from behind the counter and laid it on the desk, drawing a map of wardlight upon it as he said, “Three locations might be of use to you. There’s The Cookhouse, down the main hallway, over there, located at the world diner’s market, along with twenty other options. In town, we have the Underground Eatery, which serves many of the people who live and work here at the embassy. As of an hour ago when last I checked, you also have over four hundred standing offers for a business meeting of any type you wish, and in such a case the other group will gladly pay for your meal if that is how you wish to meet them.”

Erick took the map, saying, “World diner’s market it is. Thank you very much.”

The man stood and suddenly bowed, saying, “Thank you for taking back Ar’Kendrithyst and for stopping the yearly surge. Tens of thousands are still alive because of you. Hundreds of cities and villages out in the Dark that don’t need to be rebuilt. Thank you.”

At that, the five other front desk workers stood up in unison and bowed. Like a wave passing outward, people stood if they were sitting, or stopped talking with their neighbors, or they stepped away from their tea shop counters, and they bowed, too.

Erick turned, regarded them all for a brief moment, then said, “Ah. You’re welcome.”

And then he started walking away, down the main hallway. Some people tried to talk to him. Erick just shook his head and they stopped trying to talk to him. He had to do that a few times, but that was fine. The floor was cold under his feet as he walked through the place, eyes rapidly turning away from whatever they were doing to instead look his way.

The world diner’s market was a food court, but also twenty restaurants in a mall-like two-story setup. Erick spotted The Cookhouse sitting on the second floor near the middle of the place.

By the time he made it to his destination they already knew he was coming.

The owner, who was a large orcol man with a great big beard, promptly set Erick up in a nice booth in the back of the place, and then started parading food his way, in accordance with Erick’s desires for meats, cheese, and breads. A surprise came out, too, in the form of fries made from the potatoes Erick had created. He bit into those fried sticks of golden goodness and felt temporary bliss, while the owner explained how the fries were a hit because they resembled the spires of Stratagold from the right angles.

Erick drank his beer and smiled a bit, as he ate his fill and was mostly left alone, except when the owner wished to ask his opinion of the ways in which they had cooked the food Erick had created. That started off a whole conversation about food that Erick found a wonderful diversion, and the owner of the place, Rodolok, was thrilled to be a part of. Erick ate quite a lot more than he expected to eat, but it was wonderful, he was starving, and Rodolok was happy to supply.

When the meal was over, Rodolok would not accept Erick’s money, and told him to come back whenever he wished.

As Erick retraced his steps back toward Yggdrasil, he shook his head at whoever tried to talk to him, and mostly, people listened, opting to remain away instead of potentially inciting anger, or any other unwanted emotion. Soon, Erick was back at the tunnel leading to Yggdrasil’s cavern, back at the garrison with the wrought guarding the place.

Erick said, “Sergeant Kapra. I believe I will take you up on that offer of a nice bed. Please have it delivered to the beach at your earliest convenience.”

Kapra bowed, saying, “It will be done.”

And then Erick lightstepped down the tunnel, back to Yggdrasil where he summoned his bed upon Yggdrasil’s branches and instantly crashed—

He switched to his Other Self, [Renew]ed his rad, as well as cycled for a minute, then he switched back, and then he crashed. With a full stomach Erick slept much better this time.

- - - -

Leaves rustled. Birds chirped. Wings flapped. Eyes saw.

And Erick slept.

- - - -

As Erick opened his mana sense and then his eyes, he realized that he felt good and that he was safe, so he paused, and woke up more slowly. Yggdrasil and Ophiel had maintained the various spellworks Erick had asked of them. [Prismatic Ward] held all around him, serving as his last lines of defense, but his main protections were the [Sealed Privacy Ward]s scattered throughout the big guy’s boughs.

And his bed didn’t pop in the night! Or… Day? The sun never set down here and Erick hadn’t actually checked on the time through Yggdrasil’s other bodies. His circadian rhythms were all messed u—

… Did he have circadian rhythms anymore? He was ‘protean’ now; not human. Humans had rhythms. What did proteans have?

Eh. Whatever!

Erick reached up to the headboard of his bed and patted the Ophiel sitting there. Ophiel cooed. Erick dropped his hand back to his side, checked on his surroundings for any possible [Scry] problems, and finding none, he switched over to his Other Self and had a breakfast of [Renew] and cycling as he thought about food again. What would he have today? Maybe a salad would be good. He hadn’t had one of those in a while. Did he have to take care of his body like a human would? Or was he purely a monster—

Wait a second.

Erick had a few discordant thoughts, all in a row.

Monsters were naturally stronger than people in ways that were incomparable to simply having excess Stats. People could even gain extra Strength all the way up to 20, if they ate a diet of well-prepared monster meat for a few years. In addition to that, Rozeta had even said that once Erick dropped out of the Script, he would need to fortify himself with mana to achieve the same level of increased physical and mana power that Stats normally gave people.

Monsters didn’t get Stats, did they? Monstrous humans might gain Stats, but normally… Monsters did not have Stats. Shades did not have Stats either, and they were fully cut from the Script. So how did any of those beings gain power? The answer was mana, of course. Rozeta had already said that. Erick would need to fortify himself to gain more power once he was cut from the Script.

Would his [Renew] and cycling begin to fortify his Other Self? Or maybe it didn’t work that way? Maybe it would work that way when he was fully cut off.

… This idea that ‘monsters did not have Stats’ was profoundly new to Erick. It was not something that he had ever heard before. He, and everyone he had ever known to speak on the subject assumed that monsters got Stats. They had levels, for sure, so why not Stats too?

Or were ‘levels’ and ‘experience’ something that mana naturally did, that the Script had simply quantified for everyone on the Script? Enabling power for all?

Was there a way to prove this theory?

Oceanside would have that answer.

But also:

When Erick met his Other Self in that mirrored place, his Other Self had been rather physically weak. Perhaps… An improper ascension to Wizard? Or was his Other Self focused more on mana than on the physical? Probably both, if Erick were to guess. One thing was very true about his Other Self, though, and that was that his Other Self highly likely did not have the same learning opportunities as Erick, so maybe he didn’t know how to strengthen the body with mana? Maybe he didn’t know that he needed to?

… Erick didn’t know how to strengthen his body with mana either.

For not the first time, Erick lamented missing out on several days of learning with Rozeta.

Ah! Whatever!

What was done was done, and now it was time to get back to the grind. Erick shifted back to his Normal Self and got up for the day, or whatever time it was. And then, because he could, he went for another swim in the waters around Yggdrasil. He even conjured himself a pool raft and laid upon it, but the small waves of the lake tossed him out twice, so he moved to one of Yggdrasil’s roots that arced from the lake and laid down under a conjured sunlightward. Warming himself under his brighter light, and atop a nice towel, Erick started talking to Yggdrasil, asking him how he was doing. He spent a while talking to Yggdrasil while he sat there in the conjured sunlight, warming himself and flipping over occasionally. After an hour or two of that he went back into the water, then got out and laid under the false sunlight again to dry off.

Erick rapidly reached the point where he felt bad about not working, and no amount of relaxation was going to fix that, so Erick went and got dressed then he bid Yggdrasil farewell. A lightstep took him back to the beach, to the tunnel to the embassy—

He stopped. He turned. He went to the Teleport Station.

He spent three hours prodding that thing with various bits of light and mana, learning how it worked, without actually learning anything at all. He got a good guess, though, what with all the ‘probability magnifying’ runes and ‘shadow banishing’ and ‘form solidification’ and other such tangled runework. Whatever this thing was, it certainly was not [Gate]. There were no ‘space joining’ runes, for one, nor were there any magics in this space that were not explained by the runework inside.

Erick knew he was missing some of the workings, though, for there was certainly some sort of obfuscation runework strung throughout the whole t-station, preventing easy understanding. But he was pretty sure this was not a Gate Network, at all.

There was some sort of solid state rune stacking system in the gold pillar in the center of the gold platform, though, which held [Teleport] runes alongside pretty much a whole alphabet of runic letters. Erick was pretty sure that if he knew a destination, he could channel [Teleport] into a specific combination of runes, and blip directly to the designated t-station.

But he knew no other t-stations, and he wasn’t even sure of this one. If he tried a station at random he would likely end up in a holding cell full of anti-magic spellwork, for some of these runes looked like they defaulted down certain pathways…

He wasn’t sure, though.

When Sitnakov told that garrison to ‘prime the t-station to target ygg’ he might have been lying, but also, Erick saw some runes which were pronounced ‘ygg’ in the system, and he saw those same runes replicated inside other parts of the platform...

He was pretty sure that if he had Ophiel stand on the platform and channel into those runes, he would blip in place, leaving and arriving at this very same t-station. So Erick stepped off of the t-station and had Ophiel test that theory. Ophiel blipped almost in place, reappearing a meter to his left.

So he had figured out that much, at least.

Figuring out one mystery was enough, for now. The demands of biology and the need to eat were all he could think of anymore, so Erick left the t-station behind for another day.

While he had been doing that, though, the soldiers at the garrison had brought him a bed, and set it at the end of the tunnel on the beach. It was a good bed. Erick checked it for bugs both magical and parasitical, moved it to Yggdrasil, copied it and destroyed the original, and then he went back toward town.

Erick complimented Sergeant Kapra’s choice on his way past the garrison. As he left, Kapra relaxed a fraction and turned to one of her people, a copper goblin, to tell him the good job he had done. The copper goblin was already getting pats on the backs from his fellow soldiers.

Erick smiled a bit as he walked back to the embassy with Ophiels trailing behind him and people stopping to stare.

Inside the embassy, Erick was exposed to a similar experience from yesterday, but this time he asked the guy at the front desk if he had any messages, or any necessary meetings demanded from Sitnakov, or Kromolok, or anyone else.

While other people stared at or whispered about Erick, the man behind the desk calmly said, “We have some messages for you.” And then he gestured to a man standing behind him. While that other man quickly walked down a short hallway, the guy at the desk said, “Messages began flooding in when you raised your Yggdrasil in the lake cavern so there is a bit of a pile, but some are higher priority than others.” He pulled out a small envelope of letters from behind the counter and handed them over, saying, “These are from the major forces of Stratagold, while the man I sent off should be back soon with—” Behind him, the gopher came back holding a rectangular wooden box about a meter long. The counter man handed the box over, saying, “There are a great many letters wishing for introductions. We’ve taken the liberty of verifying—” He glanced at the paper stapled to the front of the box, his eyes going a little wide as he said, “—1,289 diplomatic contacts that have asked us to ask you for introductions. That’s nearly a hundred more than it was an hour ago.”

Erick frowned a little, but he handed off the box and the envelope of ‘important letters’ to Ophiel, saying, “Thanks, I suppose.”

The man said, “If you wish for an office in the embassy one can be made available for you, as well as staff. You would be free to fill that office with your own staff whenever you wish, as most people do. Stratagold is committed to making this connection, Archmage Flatt. We’ve included a packet of paperwork detailing how to go about that process inside this box.”

“… Okay then.” Erick said, “Thanks for this.”

And then he walked down the main hallway, headed toward the world diner’s market in search of breakfast.