Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 195, 1/2

Chapter 195, 1/2

One day of rest became more than was planned, of course.

It had started with a simple enough request from Kiri; if she could get one of her office spaces beside her mage tower turned into an extension of her mage tower. From there, Jane joined in, asking if she could get something changed about her rooms, too. If this Fae Magic really was as malleable as Erick had shown, Jane wanted the outer wall of her bedroom opened wider.

Erick happily got on those projects, taking requests and moving around the runic web inside the walls as necessary. He loved every second of it. When he was done with Kiri’s and Jane’s requests, Teressa requested her bedroom’s adjoining bathroom to have larger windows, but it was mostly just an excuse so that she could get in on the lessons, too.

For while Erick was moving around the house, he was also explaining all about Fae Magic, Illusion Magic, and Elemental Mystical.

While Kiri was ecstatic to learn the intricacies, Jane and Teressa wanted to know about all that in order to know what they were dealing with. [Intangibility], to physically shift an item slightly into the Fae. [Concealment], to shift the perception of an item into the Fae. Together, along with [Fairy Item] to create physical items, and [Renew] to make it modular, those spells became [Fairy Stronghold]. The first two were spells best left alone unless one knew what they were doing, for [Concealment], but mostly [Intangibility], could really hurt a person if they used the spell wrong. Like, on the level of a miscast [Cleanse], sort of harm.

That tamped down some of Kiri’s excitement, and cemented Jane’s resignation that this magic was out of her league at the moment, and possibly forever. All of them also knew not to experiment with Fae Magic inside the house, or anywhere, really. Erick had given them the same disclaimers that Kydyr had given him, back before Kydyr was killed by Fairy Moon.

Teressa looked around, and with a worried voice, asked, “So what happens if this breaks with us inside?”

“Nothing big,” Erick said, as he transformed Teressa’s bathroom more to her liking. “The house just breaks and we fall through the vanishing floor, or something like that. This sort of spell doesn’t actually shift someone into Fairy like Ar’Cosmos is shifted into Fairy. It’s a halfway-stop. There are lots and lots of stops along the way into the Deep Fae, and this house is barely under the surface.”

“… Oh,” Teressa said, her worries vanishing.

Erick finished with the new window. “How does that look? Wide enough? If I make it an opening then it will connect to the real world outside, which carries all sorts of minor but workable risks, but that’s not a big deal.”

Teressa shook her head. “No no. Just bigger is fine. This is good.”

Erick nodded, then he judged the rest of the room. One thing stood out. Erick asked, “Is the tub big enough?”

Teressa looked down at the tub. “… It could be bigger.”

Erick smiled, then began casting again, transforming the very large faux-marble tub, which could have fit three men, or one orcol, into a tub that could fit one and a half orcols. It was a decadent fixture, and Teressa loved it. From the looks Kiri and Jane were giving that tub from beyond the door of the room, Erick could tell they wanted a similar tub, too.

Teressa smiled brightly, saying, “That’s good. Thank you, Boss.”

“Is that everything you want, Teressa?” Erick said, “Feel free to ask for anything. This is just mana, after all. None of it is real.” He turned to Kiri and Jane, repeating a warning he had already given twice, “It’ll also break in the presence of any Fae Magic, so don’t go experimenting with that stuff inside the house.”

Kiri nodded.

Jane mocked a salute, saying, “Heard and understood.”

Erick smiled at that.

And, for a brief moment, Teressa was torn. She actually did want something else, but she was afraid to ask. And then she decided to just say what was on her mind, and see what happened, “I like the marble… But it makes me feel like a noblewoman. Maybe plain wood would be nice.”

Erick teased, “I could make it out of solid gold, instead.”

“Ha!” Kiri said, “I want that, please.”

Teressa paled. “Uh. No. That’s… That’s too much.”

Jane scowled at Kiri. “Wouldn’t that weigh too much, and just make the water cold? This stuff does act like the real thing, after all— And it’d be too soft! It’d bend under the water weight… Maybe?”

“Hollow gold, then.” Kiri said, “Steel core, gold leaf.”

“I like stone,” Teressa decided. “I like white marble. This is good.”

Erick happily said, “Then onto the next project! A gold tub for Kiri!”

Kiri clapped her hands and did a little jump as she moved off to her rooms. Erick followed, asking if they liked the floors in the hallways, or if they needed more light fixtures in the ceiling. After adding a few more lights, Erick got back to Kiri’s room and started shifting around everything she wanted shifted. Eventually, Poi decided to join in on the rearrangement. Poi got a balcony and some more lighting and some nice, soft carpets; all little details to make his room more homey.

With the rooms done, Erick decided that he could fix the outside of the house, too, even though no one was actually going to see the house from the outside, except for with mana sense from the inside. Before that could happen, though, he helped all four of his people learn to navigate some of the stranger nuances of living in a Fae Space.

When you left the house, from any angle, the house remained visible for a few seconds, but then it would vanish, and you would return to normal space. Reentering the house would require approaching a known angle of attack, where a door, or window, or other egress had been left open. Or, you would have to approach the front door, because it was expected for everyone to come through that way.

Approaching an open window was a lot more difficult, and near impossible for even Kiri to do with Sunny, while she was inside the house itself, at an open window, and Sunny was right outside, not one meter away. She would learn, though, because after twenty tries of Sunny flying right through Kiri instead of coming inside, Sunny managed to ‘connect’ with the open window, and come inside the Fae Space like normal.

Erick had never had that much trouble moving Ophiel around, but he had Perception, so that likely helped a lot.

Also, [Fairy Stronghold] was his spell, so that helped, too.

There were a few other nuances to the house that everyone would eventually learn with time. One of the largest ones was if you held a hand on the outside wall, then you would remain ‘inside’ the Fae Space, even if you were technically outside. In this way, Erick left the girls and Poi behind as he went outside the house and began shifting around the exterior, smoothing out walls and ‘painting’ them bright white with green trim (all the better to match Yggdrasil), while a string of [Pristine Benevolence] connected him to the house.

Unexpectedly, though, his Benevolence had some side effects.

Where his lightning connected to the house, a trailing vine of bright green leaves and perfect white flowers began growing up the side of the house. This was not exactly what Erick wanted, though, so Erick shifted some stuff around and added some trellises. Now his lightning touched upon the trellises, growing vines that did not seem to need soil at all. Air vines, or something. Whatever the case, they smelled of jasmine.

The mushrooms, though. Those had to go.

Mushrooms would eat away at the fake wood of the house, and that was just not happening right now, or ever. Perhaps Erick should have made the home out of stone, or at least the outside layer, but he had not. This happenstance of mushrooms served to highlight how Erick needed to control his Benevolence better, though.

All he needed to do was remember to suppress his bloodline, and then actually suppress it, which is what he did for the remainder of the day. His [Pristine Benevolence] still sparked and jolted away from his sunform, but it no longer left greenery behind, nor did it leave glowing mushrooms. Good enough, for now!

- - - -

For lunch, Erick made burgers on the large flattop grill that Jane had bought and installed at the house back in Spur. That appliance had joined all the rest of the ones in the kitchen here, at Yggdrasil, and Erick was happy to have it.

This flattop was a variant on the Grand [Prestidigitation] Stove design, and had a grand rad in the bottom of the machine, powering the whole thing. That grand rad would last a very long time, but Erick smiled as he realized how easy it would be to produce this rustless steel product at half-cost, with just runes and [Renew]—

Well.

An estimated half-cost. How much did this thing cost Jane?

Erick ran some estimated numbers through his mind to see if they fit what he was seeing.

The grand rad was the least expensive part of it all, for grand rads were price-controlled by Mage Bank; 1000 gold, flat cost. Jane had likely gathered that herself, too, so it was actually free. The rustless steel flattop, which was large enough to cook for a few orcols, was probably 500g by itself. It’d last forever, though, so that was a good investment. A much cheaper variant which used plain steel would need to be taken out and recast, or [Metalshape]d back to normal steel, as the wear of magic would gradually turn it to rust.

The ‘burners’ of this stove, trapped between the underside of the flattop and piped metal, were made out of very thin platinum wires, like someone had curved platinum back and forth under the rustless steel and then capped it off with [Metalshape]d sealant. That platinum formed heating areas that could be turned on or off based on dials in the front of the appliance. The actual enchantments mostly took place under the machine, inside a rustless steel box attached but separated from the grill top. The grand rad went inside that box, and the machine drew power from that grand rad, while the grand rad continued to soak up power from its surroundings, in order to replenish itself. As long as the machine was allowed 20 hours of rest for every 5 hours of cooking, that grand rad could theoretically last forever.

Erick guessed this stove had run Jane around… 3000 gold.

Erick called out to Jane in the other room, “How much did this flattop cost?”

After a moment, Jane walked in, saying, “Way too much. 3500 gold, without the grand rad; I got that rad myself.”

To make it out of runes and not need a grand rad…

“I don’t think I can actually make this stuff cheaper; not without having it rust out after a day or five,” Erick admitted, and it felt like defeat. But there was a caveat. “But… I think I can make it so you can use [Renew] to fill up a tank, and then bleed off that tank to use as fuel for the enchantments. Removing the cost of rads to power these machines will put them in the hands of normal people… I think.”

Jane shrugged. “That would be useful, sure, but I’m sure that with some proper metallurgy you can solve the rusting problem.”

Erick perked up. “OH! Right. [Condense Oxygen] to remove rust from steel, and then just make everything out of steel. That would plunge the costs down to barely anything at all. I had almost forgotten— Anyway. I should run that experiment. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Jane smiled. “That works, too. Didn’t Tasar invent that spell? She’s probably capitalizing on it already, or maybe that Archmage’s Rest is—” Jane paused. She asked, “What was Tasar’s full title?”

“Archmage Tasar, or Geode Guardian Tasar. Either works. And she’s probably not capitalizing on her magic. Or at least not monetarily. She invented that spell to figure out wrought rot, and then promptly helped the Gemslicers learn that magic, so that they could spread it further. I think that transfer of information likely went through Archmage’s Rest, but I don’t know the exact details.” Erick said, “That spell is being used in the Underworld to rid wrought of what is now being medically called ‘oxygen sickness’. You remember the Gemslicers, right? They’re the ones who have that whole ‘ultraviolet light’ thing sewed up, too. They know all about how light actually works.”

“Those guys are the healers, though?”

“Correct!” While Erick flipped burgers, he explained, “I met one of them by the name of Awir, who apparently Remade my [Luminous Beam] and fed it to the guardians around the Core. He re-Classed as Particle Mage, too, and he’s… Well. He’s a guy who doesn’t really like me because I stepped on his toes in creating [Luminous Beam]. He’s been trying to make a spell like that for a long time, and…”

Erick told stories for a long while as he made lunch, and Jane sat at the kitchen table, sipping her berry soda. She had managed to get Kiri to make a carbonation spell, but Kiri’s version needed a [Cleanse] running at the same time in order to get rid of unwanted side effects of that particular Particle Magic.

When lunch was finally served, Erick asked Kiri about her carbonation spell. That led to Erick talking about [Crystallize Diamond] and conjuring a latticework image of carbon atoms to explain how they fit together to make diamonds. He also went back to talking of Elemental Mystical, to explain how to Remake Clarity, Precision, and Meditation, and what all of those Skills actually meant. This talk of Mystical was important, because Elemental Mystical, when combined with Particle Magic, would produce an end product without any side effects; there would be no need to run [Cleanse] at the same time as [Crystallize Diamond].

(Elemental Illusion could likely achieve the same thing, but Erick felt that Elemental Mystical was better.)

With a good enough understanding of Mystical (and probably Illusion, too) there would be no need to run [Cleanse] during any Particle Magic at all. This, then, was a minor revolution of Particle Magic that Erick wanted to spread out there, too; perhaps as a Class Ability he could make himself, but also as general knowledge that others could take and use as well. It was through Mystical and Illusion that Yggdrasil had managed to make himself this big, this fast, and it was through the Mystical that all Health and Mana Cost Reductions worked.

“There’s Elemental Mystical everywhere in this world,” Erick said. And then he added a maybe-Truth, “This is likely part of the reason why Melemizargo thinks this world is fake.”

Teressa, Kiri, Jane, and even Poi, a little, were caught off guard by that. Poi asked to shut down further conversation about Melemizargo, though, so Erick didn’t speak more of that possible-Truth. He returned to talking of Elemental Mystical, and what he had learned on his Worldly Path. He was finally getting a chance to talk to his people about this stuff, and this was stuff they needed to know.

The conversation went well past lunchtime and eventually ended up in the front yard of the house, upon the bare, glowing branch of Yggdrasil, with Erick’s daughter, his apprentice, and his two guards standing behind him. For it was time to make magic.

[Crystallize Diamond] was a spell Erick had made a while ago, and which served as the basis for all the Stat Rings Erick had gone on to make. The only problem with the spell is that Erick needed to run [Cleanse] at the same time to negate all the toxic particle effects that his magic created in the pursuit of perfectly aligned carbon. The fix for this was, of course, Elemental Mystical.

Erick added [Airshape] too, though, in order to move more air through the space, and to make the resulting diamond grow even faster, and to hover in place while it was growing. Erick just liked the idea of a hovering, growing diamond, and what was magic for if not for having fun?

One by one, Erick channeled the sounds of his spellwork through his hands, and then handed them off to Ophiel to bring the song to fruition. And then, he held up a hand with his fingers loosely cupped, and cast.

A breezy song of static clarity threaded through the air, drawing power and wind through Erick’s fingertips like the gathering of a very tiny storm upon his palm. A diamond began to form above his hand, starting off as a tiny speck of almost-nothing, and then rapidly blossoming into a perfect tetrahedron. In five short seconds, the diamond grew to half the size of his pinky finger’s nail, but it was just getting started. Erick dropped his hand away, and the diamond continued to float in the air, growing and growing with every passing second. He instinctively felt he could cancel the spell at any time, but there was no need. The spell was working perfectly.

After twenty seconds of growth, a blue box appeared.

Manifest Perfect Diamond, instant, close range, 85 mana

Create a diamond, or cause a targeted diamond to grow in a specific way. Results vary.

Spell ends after 10 minutes, or when desired shape is reached.

“Ah ha!” Erick showed off the spell, and had an Ophiel open up a [Cleansing Aura]. When no thick air spilled away from the still-growing diamond, Erick said, “And no thick air! Works just like I said it would.”

“You make it look so easy.” Kiri chuckled. “Ah. Okay. I can figure this out. Thank you, Erick.”

Jane scrunched her face at her father, though, asking, “Were you… Worried that it wouldn’t work?”

Erick tensed. “Maybe. Still working out these Benevolence kinks, and they seem to show up when least expected. I almost expected something odd to happen… And you know what? Let’s just see what happens when oddities are introduced.” Erick held up a hand—

Kiri and Teressa went wide-eyed. Poi grimaced. Jane just looked curious.

—and sent a jolt of Benevolence into the still-manifesting diamond. Lightning struck, and suddenly the diamond was twice as large as it had been. The size of his thumb-nail, now. He retracted his lightning and stared at the growing diamond with all of his senses, and wondered…

He sent a continuous jolt into the manifesting diamond, trickling mana into the spell, and the resultant product. Ten mana. Twenty mana. Erick didn’t stop, or slow, or speed up, for this seemed to be a quick enough rate, for the diamond seemed to drink in the power Erick gave it, coming alive with its own brilliant white iridescence, growing to the size of his thumb, now, and then even larger—

The diamond and its spell shattered, bursting white shards and dust away from the epicenter of a splash of lightning.

Erick rapidly captured most of those shards and some of the dust inside a sweeping grasp of light, bringing them back to a single space. He held the mess up, inspecting it. The dust looked completely inert, but the larger shards seemed… Brighter? Hmm. Ophiel’s [Cleansing Aura] was still going, but none of the shards turned to thick air; they must have been normal diamond—

A spark of Benevolence flickered out of the largest diamond shard and vanished on the wind.

… What did that mean?

Jane said, “I’ll leave you to figure that out, dad. I can’t wait to see what sort of new Stat Rings you make, but I’ve still got a room to sort out.” She waved behind her as she walked away.

“Let me know if you want help!” Erick glanced over to see Jane walk away, but he was mostly focused on whatever was happening here with this diamond. “I wonder if it means anything… Maybe the Benevolence interacted with the Mystical? Or… Hmm.”

Kiri stood beside Erick, looking at the shards of diamond in his palm. “Adding strong magic to delicate magics usually messes up the more delicate spell. The point where that happens is called the Interruption Point. I think you just reached the Interruption Point in [Manifest Perfect Diamond].”

“Hmm...” Erick said, “I don’t think I’ve encountered that particular theory, but it makes sense. I wonder what did it, though. Specifically, I mean.”

Kiri started, “I don’t know enough about Mystical, but the smaller Particle Magics are highly prone to being called ‘delicate magic’. The Arcanaeum Consortium published their first Particle Magic book four months ago… I think you were at Songli?”

Erick perked up. “Oh! Do you have that book?”

“I do!” Kiri said, “And a lot more besides.”

Teressa and Poi took that as their cue to leave, too, both of them walking back into the house, following Jane… Who was still stuck looking for the front door. Her hands were out and fumbling through the empty air, and Erick almost wanted to help her find her way, but Teressa got there first, and offered. Jane told them that she was perfectly capable of finding the entrance to the house.

She just needed a moment.

Teressa smiled and walked past Jane, into the house, vanishing from sight the second she crossed the threshold to the porch.

Jane just stood there, dumbfounded and looking embarrassed for half a moment, before she, too, found the entrance. She was just a half step too far to the left, and that was an easy enough fix. Poi followed in after her.

And Erick turned his full attention back to Kiri.

They talked of Particle Magic and Chelation and alchemical news, moving from the front yard to the porch, and then to the library where Teressa brought them coffee and cookies. Erick thanked Teressa for those, and then he continued to talk magic with Kiri.

Poi made dinner. It was fish and sauces and rice. It was simple, and it was wonderful.

Erick got to bed at a normal time, and that was nice, too.

- - - -

Erick grumbled, tossing over in bed while ‘twilight’ shone brightly through his windows. Perhaps too brightly. The curtains were half drawn, keeping away most of the light, because light wasn’t strictly necessary to be able to see one’s surroundings. Even through barely-open eyes, Erick could still mana sense everything around him as much as he wanted. But as he lay there, blinking and being annoyed, the light seemed even brighter.

It was a sad fact of life on Veird that Erick was still not comfortable sleeping in anything but total dark, and yet, sleeping in total dark simply wasn’t an option.

The dark was uncomfortable because Erick knew who lived in the dark. He could have shut the curtains all the way, but he didn’t want to invite that dragon into his life. Not right yet. Otherwise, he would have been perfectly comfortable in pure darkness. It wasn’t like the dark actually hid anything to his Perception enhanced eyes, or to Ophiel’s eyes either.

Seeing that Erick was moving around again, Ophiel fluffed up on his perch upon the headboard, his eyes glittering in the calm light of the room. He twittered very quietly, almost experimentally, wondering if Erick was getting up. It was rather early to get up, after all.

Erick also wondered if he was going to get up, or if he could force himself to sleep some more.

For a while, he just lay there, bleary-eyed and wrapped in comfortable blankets. What time was it? He had no idea. Back in Ar’Cosmos Fairy Moon had gifted him an ‘electronic clock’. It was a green stone, like a brick of jade, that projected glowing numbers into the air itself. He really liked that clock. It reminded him of his alarm clock back on Earth, but with green numbers instead of red.

Erick wanted that fairy clock.

Next time he saw Fairy Moon, which would probably be too soon, Erick would ask for that clock.

Ophiel twittered again, a bit quieter, but more insistent. Are you getting up? Are you getting up? Is it time to sing songs yet?

“Yup yup.” Erick sat up. “I suppose that’s enough sleep for tonight.”

Ophiel trilled in quiet happiness as he landed upon Erick’s shoulder. Yggdrasil’s iridescent [Scry] eye, which had been hovering on the other perch of Erick’s bed, took his place on Erick’s other shoulder. And now he was fully awake.

Might as well take advantage of the extra hours, right? It was time to get back to proper work; to prepare for what was to come. Erick flipped his covers off and swung out of bed.

There was spellwork to be done!

… Even if it was still hours to twilight. All that light outside of his room was not actual twilight. It was Yggdrasil, being his normal, happy and bright self. Erick wasn’t about to ask him to turn it down, either, but he was absolutely sure that Yggdrasil was brighter these days, and by a lot. Like, noticeably a lot.

- - - -

Well dressed for an excursion into the desert at night, and with conjured armor robes to boot, Erick stepped down the stairs toward the first floor landing. Kiri’s couatl-shaped [Familiar] hung out on a little pillow beside the main staircase, tucked into a small alcove like a little defender. Sunny shimmered in rainbow hues as Erick passed, while Ophiel twittered in small violins in response. And then Sunny returned to her cat-like nap, and Ophiel turned his attention back toward Erick’s destination; the front door.

Beyond an archway near the foyer, was a reading room. Teressa sat in the side room, doing what the room was made to allow, while also being on nightwatch. It would probably take everyone a long while to realize that nothing was going to happen at night inside this house, but they were all worried, and Erick couldn’t blame them.

Teressa glanced Erick’s way as he passed, first freezing with worry, and then rapidly thawing. She had been rather engrossed in her reading, it seems, but she came out of it fast enough, a dozen thoughts flitting through her head. Primarily, she looked to the space where Erick’s fairy necklace lay upon his chest. She didn’t like that thing. Even with Ophiel betraying where Erick went, that little necklace prevented her from seeing all of Erick’s actual worldline.

She dispersed her worries fast enough so that she could fake a proper tone, though, asking, “What’s upPP—” Her voice cracked. She tried again, “What’s up, Boss?”

“Out to do some magic, and then off to talk to some people. I’ll be back. Don’t worry about me.”

“… Do you want—” Teressa had started with a half-hearted attempt at offering something, but then she realized that that would have been improper for so many different reasons, not the least of which that she was a guard, and she should be ready to guard whenever asked, and even when not asked at all. So she stood, saying, “Let me wake up Poi and I will go with you. You need a spotter, right?”

Erick grinned, saying, “I would like a spotter. Thanks for offering.”

Teressa nodded firmly, then began moving, out of the reading room, into the foyer then past Erick, saying, saying, “I’ll get the rod of [Greater Treat Wounds].”

“Might want to pick up your shield, too. Never know what’s out there at night.

Teressa paused in realization that maybe she could actually defend like she was used to, and then she resumed walking, saying, “Of course. This is my duty.”

Erick tried to contain some of his joy; Teressa wasn’t fully comfortable with him yet, but she was getting there, and faster than he had expected. It took Poi apparently a year to come around to the idea that Erick was a Wizard, and that this was not automatically a bad thing, but then again, Poi had been there first, back before it was obvious what kinda person Erick truly was. Teressa had only found out a few days ago; well after she had already formed opinions that were, apparently, based on lies.

But she was adjusting well.

Erick happily watched as Teressa continued on, to grab the rod of [Greater Treat Wounds] from the kitchen, conjure her usual fully-enclosed armor, and then tuck the rod into a compartment on her back. With a quick cast of grey magic, she empowered the adamantium shield that she had gotten from Enduring Forge, and commanded it to float upon her back. A knock on Poi’s door was enough to wake the guy. Poi grumbled awake and then dispelled his brief annoyance, understanding what was happening without being told, and Teressa rejoined Erick in the foyer of the house.

Erick asked, “How did you guys get one of those rods, anyway? I thought we had run out?”

Teressa’s fully-encased armor was a sight to behold, making her look like a tank from Earth, but in person form. Her helmet was completely solid, too. She seemed truly imposing in that conjuring, but her voice wasn’t so solid, as she said, “Ah? Kiri needed one, and… Well she’s made some money, and commissioned several from Oceanside for the Army. Bulk shipment of twenty-five, for the cost of 10.”

“Still like 250,000 a piece, though, right?” Erick suddenly realized that he could…

He had no idea how hard it was to make one of those rods.

Teressa nodded. “Yup. But she paid in rads, so they cut the cost a lot.”

Erick realized something. “You know? I never did find out why it cost so much to put the spell into an item. I’ve heard people talk about how the items require a lot of skill to make, but nothing definitive.” He had some ideas, but nothing concrete.

Teressa brightened. “Oh! Kiri actually found this out! When a person casts [Greater Treat Wounds] the Script helps them with that spell, but the [Greater Treat Wounds] that gets put into an item requires the enchanter to actually be able to use Elemental Healing and Destruction how they’re supposed to be used to Remake [Greater Treat Wounds] from scratch. It’s because magic cast through the use of rads takes on the qualities of those rads, and there’s…” Teressa frowned a little, underneath her helmet. “I don’t really understand it all, but rads make for good enchantments that anyone can use, but making Healing Magic out of those rads is very difficult, because making true Healing Magic is exceedingly difficult.”

“I’ll have to run some experiments with runic wands of [Greater Treat Wounds].” Erick nodded, then gestured to the right. Ophiel zipped to the door, opened it, and fluttered out of the [Fairy Stronghold] several meters before Erick cast [Gate], opening a lightning-ringed hole in the world, that led to the dark sands of the Crystal Forest about a hundred kilometers north of here. And then Ophiel flitted through, leading the way. “Only a bit to the north; not too far away.” Erick stepped forward, out of the house and toward the [Gate].

Teressa had paused for a moment, likely feeling any of a hundred disconnected emotions, but then she rolled her shoulders, getting herself in the mood to move. She followed.

- - - -

The dune-filled desert was cold at night, and slightly more active than it was in the daytime, but that was normal. Sand mice tussled with a brown snake to the left, about twenty meters out; it was a life and death struggle for the mice to eat the snake, but it was a very small battle that would likely play out like it normally did. The venomous mice would eat the animated-plant-type snake, while the gibbous moons lit the land in enough light for most animals to easily see everything that happened around them.

Erick and Teressa could see everything around them rather well, too. Either through mana sense, or through enough moonlight to read by, the night was dark but it was not filled with terrors at all.

Erick half expected something horrible to happen right after they had stepped out of the [Gate], but nothing had, and so Erick had closed that [Gate] behind them. Now, they walked upon the sands. They had only been out here for a minute so far, but Erick hadn’t said anything yet, because…

“I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for, exactly, Teressa,” Erick admitted.

Behind him, Teressa offered, “Uh? What are you looking for, at all? I thought we’d drop right next to the target.”

“Perhaps I have come to think that the world would bend in odd ways to fit my needs… I think the Worldly Path fucked up my sense of… I’m not sure.” Erick tried out, “Of what should happen when one does something strange?”

Teressa smirked. “Your sense of Fate.”

“That works.” After a moment of thought, Erick decided to just tell her, and see how she reacted to his plan; her reaction would be a good reaction to what he should expect from the rest of the world. She might not be a good test case, though, since this magic was probably too close to her own trauma with her original adventuring team who were turned to shadelings by the Witch, but… Erick went for it, saying, “I explained some of this already, but here’s the full story: While I was in Ar’Cosmos, there was a magic I helped them to make. It started with [Baleful Polymorph] and my [Renew], and then came a whole lot of runic workings to form the resulting magic into something new.

“What this spell does is take the base of a person’s soul and works out from there, continually rebuilding the soul in a certain direction and discarding everything aside from base level power, granting a person a new Familiar Form that is completely new. The result is devoid of all medical issues or soul issues. It’s a complete [Reincarnation]. It’s what Melemizargo has done for some of the shadelings in Candlepoint. It’s what I’ve helped Redflame in Ar’Cosmos do for his people, in order to… That explanation is a mess and a half, but short version: Some people have dragon essence and soul problems, and this spell solves those problems by ridding the soul of everything that is not the base soul. The mind follows the soul, but the body comes along for the ride.” Erick said, “Rats— Xendross could have used a spell like this, and thus never would have needed to go with Messalina to get her to do… Whatever she’s done for him. I honestly do not know.”

Erick finished speaking.

The wind blew calm, and cold.

After an initial hitch in Teressa’s breathing and steps, she resumed walking, catching up to Erick and retaking her defensive position behind him.

Erick continued, “I need to make [Baleful Polymorph] first.” He turned to the left briefly, saying, “I could turn one of those mice into a fish, and then back again, but I need a person-level spell; not [Baleful animal-morph], or whatever might result from that sort of experiment. I went over a lot of this with the dragon Redflame and that was one of the lesser versions of this magic that I am trying to avoid. You will likely meet Redflame one day. He’s the guy who makes Ar’Cosmos; the land of the dragons. Anyway. There are ways to do this without having a person for a test subject, and that is what I am on the lookout for now. [Baleful Polymorph] isn’t an ethical spell, strictly speaking, but I can work this magic against a mindless monster, and that should be fine. Some magics are necessary to have, after all. A mammal-type monster would be better than a crystal mimic, though… But I haven’t seen any shadowolves yet. Or sandwolves. I guess we keep looking.”

The night was quiet after Erick stopped explaining.

He had already explained a little of this before to Teressa, but now they were here, and the time was now.

And then Teressa asked, “Why not make a [Benevolent Polymorph]?”

“A good suggestion!” Erick smiled as he glanced backward at Teressa, happy that she was participating, even if she was obviously unhappy with the nature of the topic. He turned back forward, saying, “[Baleful Polymorph] isn’t good or bad, actually. It’s only called ‘baleful’ because it causes a lasting effect against a subject. Usually, the spell is used to force a target into a physically weaker body, but that’s not what the spell actually is. However, the end goal of this morning’s magic is to include Elemental Benevolence in the working, through the addition of [Renew] and a Blessing-type of magic, all in order transform the [Baleful Polymorph] into [Reincarnation].”

Almost reverentially, Teressa said, “You really are going to be… resurrecting people.”

“I hope to stay out of the resurrection debate.” Erick said, “This spell won’t work on dead people. It will grant a person a whole new chance at life, though, which is the point. A healthy start. A whole soul. The removal of all curses or blessings. I imagine that this spell can even be used by a common person if they wanted to reset their Script Status back to level 0. Might even be able to turn monsterized people back into normal people, too.” He reiterated, “Won’t bring back the dead, though.”

Teressa’s steps faltered briefly, but she steadied herself and kept walking. She looked outward, over Erick’s head, at the horizon ahead, not wanting to look directly at him, for even though she knew that Erick could see past her solid helmet, she did not want to betray that she was crying. Tears of joy rolled down her face, as she breathed out, “Ahh.” She softly said, “You plan on offering this to the shadelings, to turn them back to people.”

“I do. Eventually. No one needs ever experience what you went through with the Witch, ever again. Capturing and containing such dangerous monsterized people for transport back to here, so that I can bring them back to themselves, will be a problem.” Erick said, “But that is a problem of logistics and power; something to be solved once the actual solution has been made.”

“Ahhh.”

Teressa fell silent again.

The only sounds were the soft wind rushing across the dunes, sand underfoot, and the jostling of Erick’s clothes, but there was nothing from Teressa except for a soft, quiet cry. If Erick didn’t have mana sense on the large woman, then he would have thought her an illusion, for her armor was [Silent Armor], or something close to that. He did not interrupt her moment to ask her those specifics, though. He would have in any other scenario, for he was rather sure she had created her current [Conjure Armor] spell after they had parted ways at that teleport pad at Enduring Forge; it looked like an upgrade from her previous armor.

And then the tears slowed, and stopped.

Erick said, “Your armor looks new, Teressa. Looks good!”

She chuckled once, then said, “Yeah. Made it a month ago. More durable than what I had before.” She added, “There’s a dying trio of shadowolves in about 110 meters to the left. Looks like they went after a crystal mimic and lost. Looks like it happened several hours ago, too. They’ve been dying for hours now.”

Erick perked up. He ignored the crystal mimic not twenty meters in front of them, and turned to the left, saying, “Let’s go rescue some puppies, then!”

“… Puppies, Boss?”

“Well—” Erick digressed, “I hope they remain normal wolves for a while when I’m through with them, or they might turn into monsters again or maybe even become spirit beasts. You know of spirit beasts?”

“Oh! I’ve heard of those before—” Suddenly a little wary, Teressa asked, “You’re going to turn them into people?”

“… I think we have different ideas of spirit beasts.” Erick explained, “Spirit beasts are monsters that accrete their cores properly, thus avoiding one of the underlying insanities and murderous natures that makes a monster a ‘monster’. Spirit beasts are not people, in the strictest sense of the word. They’re just monsters with all the power and smarts of a monster, but without a monstrous nature.” Erick hummed a moment, then added, “Which… I suppose now we’re getting into the philosophical territory of ‘is a very smart monster a person’? And I honestly can’t answer that. Soulwork is all sorts of ethically dubious, at best, but since I’m likely going to have to deal with the worst sorts of soul mages in the near or far future, I need to be prepared with my own expertise in the field, and so, monstrous soul experimentation.” Erick said, “If I accidentally make a person, then I’m going to treat them like a person… And I hope I don’t make a person until I actually want to make a person.”

Teressa frowned a little, but she said, “Okay?” She rapidly added, “You don’t have to justify yourself to me, Boss. I know who you are.”

Warm fuzzies blossomed in Erick’s chest… right beside his core.

Erick said, “You do know me, Teressa, but I know that me wearing this necklace and hiding myself has been uncomfortable for you. I can go for a while without wearing it, if you want to actually see for yourself what’s going on.”

Without waiting for confirmation for or against his offer, and while Teressa was just beginning to say ‘no’ Erick took off his fae necklace. He slipped it into a pocket of his robes, letting Teressa get a good look at his core, and the lightning in his body, and all the rest of him. Words failed her as her breath hitched, but she kept up with his pace, walking a good three meters behind him across the dunes.

“There’s the Perfected Body, thanks to Rozeta; got that after we parted ways at Enduring Forge and I went to the Core.” Erick said, “And then there is my own core.”

Teressa breathed quickly and shallowly for a little while, not saying anything as the two of them continued toward the dying shadowolves. Slowly, her breath evened out. Eventually, when they were almost to the scene of the battle, she said, “Okay. That’s different.”

“Are you okay, Teressa?”

“I’m good. You can put it back on now, though.”

Erick put the necklace back on, right in time to crest the next dune, and to see the battle which had taken place between a crystal mimic, and several shadowolves.

The mimic lay scattered across the valley between two low dunes, its large, white-blue clear-crystal spires having been torn apart by what appeared to have been at least seven shadowolves. The shadowolves were similarly broken and scattered, their darker, red blood mixed with the blue blood of the mimics, but all of it simply looked like scattered ink under the moons’ light.

As he looked down at the dead monsters, and the three barely breathing shadowolves that remained alive, Erick was reminded of just how weak and wretched these shadowolves truly were. They were like wolves, of course; big dogs with thick fur and powerful jaws and powerful legs, but this shadow-variant was anything but healthy. Each and every shadowolf Erick had ever seen, including the ones who almost killed Erick and Jane back when they were being shown around the Human District of Spur that very first time, was emaciated. Sometimes bone even poked through in the holes of a shadowolf’s skin. More often than not, this particular breed of monster was only alive because it was half-shadow, and it could survive being gutted by a very large monster and forever have its abdominal region exposed to the world, or it could lose half its face, or part of its ribcage.

It was no wonder that these three monsters had ‘survived’. The mimic had either crushed, or pierced and ripped apart, every single shadowolf that tried to kill it, for whatever reason. Normally, this doesn’t happen. Normally, wolves can take down a mimic and feast for a night or two. But that didn’t happen this time.

And so, three barly-living shadowolves lay scattered around the body of their enemy, and all their allies. One was missing its lower half. Another was missing half of its chest. Another was missing half of its head and most of its left side. They’d die once the sun came up and exposed them to actual light, but for now, they hung on in the shadows.

“Well. Time to fix this.”

Erick began casting spells, cleaning up the battle and placing the survivors into three Force boxes. They yelped and they snapped and snarled, but they could barely move. With a triple tap of [Greater Treat Wounds] and a general application of [Merciful Ether], along with some lightwards cast by Ophiel to illuminate the procedure, Erick soon had three mostly-whole shadowolves hovering in boxes, inside bright lights that would ensure that they wouldn’t be getting away. A few more [Greater Treat Wounds] brought these shadowolves up to ‘fully healed’ status.

And then a small application of [Undertow Star] stripped away all the Health and Mana that they had managed to hold onto. They didn’t care, though; they were fast asleep, and would remain that way as long as Erick wished. The [Undertow Star] had been necessary, though, in order to make them truly vulnerable to the magics Erick was about to cast.

Making [Baleful Polymorph] wasn’t going to be the hard part about this experiment, though. Erick had had thorough discussions about that spell with both Redflame and Inferno Maw. But to ensure that he got this part as right as possible, Erick held out a hand, and channeled the sound of [Polymorph] through his palm.

It was the sound of a different path than the one he was on, like being on a concrete sidewalk, and seeing/feeling that just over there, just beyond sight, was a forested path, or a path through the residential neighborhood, or the market. It was a lot more different than the sound of [Teleport], which was just a branch in the current path. [Polymorph] was the sound of something else.

With his other hand, Erick channeled the sound of [Force Bolt]. That one was an old, well known sound; the sound of reaching out and touching something else. Of imparting power to a target.

Combined, such a touch would transform another into something else.

Erick pointed, and cast.

A sparking Bolt of white light struck the first shadowolf, and the shadowolf transformed.

A wolf became a doberman. Erick smiled. Perfect! That was exactly—

A blue box appeared.

Baleful Polymorph, instant, close range, 500 mana + Variable Cost

Inflict a new form upon a target.

Large deviations require more mana.

Erick handed Teressa the spell, though the large woman just let it hang there in the air in front of her instead of taking it. She seemed scared of it, while also trying not to appear scared of it at all. That was fine.

Erick was already turning back to the would-be dogs, saying, “It worked, but there’s a lot more work to be done. That spell box barely tells any of the truth of this particular magic. For one, it doesn’t actually grant a Familiar Form to the target. Any sustained healing efforts would eventually turn the target back to their original form, or, if the target has [Polymorph] themselves, then they can break out of this magic by simply transforming back into their usual Familiar Form. Notice the rad still inside this one’s chest? Monsters, like this one, can break out of this type of magic through normal accretion. This [Baleful Polymorph] is the weakest form of this magic. Actual malicious forms of [Baleful Polymorph] will have some sort of Curse to them, to prevent these easy fixes, or to allow them to work on monsters. For my purposes, though—” He smiled, and felt really good about what was to come next, as he said, “I’m going to give these little guys a brand new chance at life as proper guard dogs. Not sure who is going to get them, right now, but maybe we need some dogs, eh? Would make nightwatch a bit easier, for sure.”

Teressa glanced at the blue box still hovering in front of her, but she also looked to Erick, and to the dog and the wolves. She had so many emotions upon her masked face, and in her posture. Enthralled, worried, hopeful, scared, and everything else all at once. Not really because of Erick’s explanation, either, but because she could already see what was coming next.

Erick channeled [Renew] through one hand, and [Baleful Polymorph] through the other, and then he handed off those spells to two Ophiel who took up their song and danced in the air around the would-be doberman.

The healing thrum of [Greater Treat Wounds] and [Regeneration] came next, to allow for the melding of Familiar Form and Soul. Ophiel took those sounds and enhanced the chorus of Erick’s magic.

The second-to-last puzzle piece was a spell that already surrounded the target; [Merciful Ether]. Erick had Ophiel take that static, but also [Cleanse]ing magic, and add it to the song. It was necessary to keep the target asleep and numb to the pain of a transformation like this, and to let them wake up on their own time.

And then he added his own Benevolence.

Lightning poured out of Erick’s veins, like the sound of a power granted. A catalyst imparted, that woul jolt a soul from their current path, and guide them to another, better present. Iridescent lightning flickered from one hand to the next as Erick spread his arms wide. With a thousand lessons gained during his time working with Redflame and Inferno Maw on the Renewal Tank, guiding a thousand smaller intricacies of Healing Magic and Soul Magic, Erick stretched his Perception as far as he could see, and he prepared his lightning strike.

He spoke,

“A new chance for a life.

“A soul passed through translation.

“Different dance, different strife,

“A new [Reincarnation].”

Iridescent lightning lanced from Erick’s hands, striking the wolf that was currently a dog, fracturing the world around her into a stained-glass mirror that continued to break and fold and shift under Erick’s power. It was a glimpse into every possible way for the soul to have been. Erick mostly saw the death and destruction of the wolf as she fought to kill any of a hundred different monsters or people, but he also saw the wolf transform into a Primal Wolf and become a mother to a thousand more wolves, to continue the cycle of shadowolves hunting and killing anything and everything they could. That was the usual outcome for a shadowolf; a life of constant fighting and avoiding death and eating and producing more of their kind.

Erick would not have it.

Lightning broke that path, spreading out to the edges of Fate, to pluck a new possibility out of the mana, to guide the wolf to a new destination; a destination of Erick’s own creation. It was a blank destination too full of chaos to properly see, but Erick saw enough to understand what he had chosen.

Her fate had her living on the coast of a lake, raising puppies and getting fed food from a kind stranger. And then happenstance moved her to a house where she barked at intruders and warned of monsters. She had a home, food, and less pain and more joyful days far removed from any sort of fighting at all, where she saw her puppies grow into fine dogs themselves.

It held a far away death, when all her hairs were grey and she spent most her days fat and happy sleeping by a fire at night, while the cold desert winds blew outside. She had always been cold at night, out there on the sands. She was, perhaps, most happy about that change in her life.

The lightning detached from Erick’s hands to soak into the sleeping dog, reaching her rad, and then shattering that innermost part of the monster. The stained-glass world folded in on itself, into the dog, imposing a Reality upon the reality of the monstrous animal. The dog yelped, but the [Merciful Ether] kept her asleep. Lightning curled around her rad, dissolving it into ever smaller pieces, releasing the monster from the core like a container of bright, dark ink dropped into a tub. That ink rapidly settled back into the body that it inhabited.

And the body changed.

Erick and Teressa watched as a wolf became a dog. It was not instant. But it was not slow, either.

A good thirty five seconds passed without a blue box appearing, but that notification came soon enough, and well before the lightning inside the creature actually subsided. Erick ignored the box for the moment, to watch iridescent crackling here and there atop the sleeping dog. Everywhere the spell sparked, the soul seemed to fit the body just a bit more, and the body shifted to match.

And then suddenly the dog shrunk, turning younger. The shadowolf had probably been rather old, perhaps? Erick wasn’t sure.

When it was over, the doberman looked like a juvenile dog sleeping soundly in her Force box, on her side. She seemed to be having dreams of some sort; kicking her legs like she was running, while she nipped at some invisible thing, her jaws no longer looking like they were ready to rip open a warrior’s armor, but she could still catch smaller prey without problem. She was fine, and that was good.

Erick glanced at his two notifications. The first was normal enough, but it was the spell for [Reincarnation], so…

Holy fuck, right?

Erick was impressed that his spell had turned out so well. That blue box brought a wide smile to his face, and a giggle out of his throat. He had done it! He could save anyone from any physical or spiritual malady!

Reincarnation, instant, close range, 5,000 Mana

Bestow a new life upon a target.

May their new form fit them better than the one that came before.

The next box was a bit more concerning.

Hello, Erick.

This is Rozeta.

Congratulations.

Please be responsible with this magic.

This particular ability is something that very few people have ever been able to achieve, and is mostly constrained to the realms of shades and gods, or more specifically, my father, and less specifically, in a very long Quest chain that my registrars can bestow to those who truly do want to start over, but which rarely works. Most can never walk all of those required steps.

“Ah. Hmm.” Erick read over the larger of the boxes again, and then handed them off to Teressa because Teressa looked concerned. Upon reading them, Teressa was suddenly much more concerned, but Erick just said, “Looks like it worked!”

While Teressa was still having a minor crisis of faith or other such emotional occurrence, Erick [Reincarnation]ed the other two shadowolves into dobermans…

He probably didn’t want to call them ‘dobermans’, since appending ‘man’ onto the end of that particular breed would likely lead to uncomfortable questions later, if the word never got fully translated from English into Ecks. So for now…

“I’m going to call them dobers.” Erick said, “It’s a type of dog breed back home on Earth. Friendly dogs. People-oriented. Does well in hot climates, but even if it’s not that hot next to the lake, these guys should do well on that side of the wall. They are still wild animals, after all.”

It took Teressa to come back to the moment, but she did, because the dogs reminded her of something, but just what did they— She perked up. “They look like a smaller version of the wardogs of Nelboor.”

Erick looked at the dogs. “Ah. So they do. Huh. Well, these ones probably aren’t suited to war now that they’re not monsters.”

“… Will they be, uh… Safe? Inside the wall? Now that you took away all their power, I mean.”

“Oh? Well. I’m sure they will be fine inside the wall. Sand mice are all over the grasses and such near the coast, and those will make good meals for the dogs. Lots of room to run and live. Some small trees for shade. Plenty of water.” Erick explained, “This particular magic is very, very abusable, for I could have made them unable to eat anything but plants but left them with a taste for meat, but I didn’t do that. No; I worked the magic correctly. It helped a great deal that [Baleful Polymorph] and [Polymorph] operate in the function of ‘picking another life’ and inhabiting that life. If you pick a form that is a real form that actually does exist, then the mana takes care of most of the smaller bodily intricacies.

“[Reincarnation] takes that whole process a step further, gifting the target a new Familiar Form and allowing their soul to replenish and repair and fully inhabit the new body. But it’s sort of like how some orcols can get their head cut off, and if they get healed fast enough and well enough, then they’ll be loopy for a while, but they’ll be fine, eventually.

“They still have their memories. The soul remembers what the body forgets.

“And so, these guys are still wild animals who will be smarter than a dog should be. There will be an adjustment period for they won’t have the power that they are used to having, but the only real issue they will have will be if they don’t recognize each other as the same packmates they always were. Once they pass that difficulty and are able to work together once again, they should be fine foraging on their own, as dogs, instead of as monsters. I’ll stick around to ensure that they can make it to that point, but…” Erick said, “They’re still originally monsters, and they would be dead without this intervention… So I’m fine with leaving them to their own devices now that I’ve rescued them to this point.”

Teressa stared down at the dogs. She wasn’t convinced. These were clearly dogs now, through and through, and dogs did not do well outside of protected pet-friendly spaces.

Erick decided to offer, “Do you want to look after them?”

“What? Me?” Teressa balked, but it was completely false. She actually did want to take care of the dogs for some reason. “No no.”

“… Are you sure?”

Teressa stared at the dogs. “They’re young, right? So they need a little care. Even if they are wild.”

Erick nodded. “They are wild dogs. I’m absolutely sure they’d do fine on their own. There’s nothing dangerous on the lake-side of the wall, and there is a lot of space for them to roam.”

“Yeah. But.” Almost shyly, like she was sure she was stepping over a line, but she knew she had to step over that line anyway, Teressa asked, “You made them like they are… Shouldn’t you look after them more than dropping them off at the lake?”

“A valid criticism. It is for that reason that I will be looking after them for about a week or two.” Erick said, “But I’m going to be making a lot of opportunities for a lot of different people and otherwise, and I’ve long ago learned that just because I help someone through bad times once, does not mean that I need to be there for them forever.”

“… Ah. That’s true, too.”

Erick grinned a little, knowing that Teressa wasn’t paying lip service by acquiescing, but also that she was both bold enough to still question him and his motives. She had never done much of that, but when she did it was always with just cause.

He turned his gaze out to the darkened crystal forest, beyond the lights that Ophiel had conjured into the area to illuminate the successful experiment. It had been good that they had found a proper target for [Reincarnation], though doing so wasn’t exactly hard in this area, so close by the massive water source that was Yggdrasil’s lake. Water was life, after all, though most things out here subsisted on killing mimics or each other to get their required water.

Erick said, “I plan on changing this entire ecosystem, Teressa. This is going to kill many, many different animals that already live here. Maybe I should reincarnate most of them into something better suited to an actual forest? Or should I let the sand mice and the brown snakes and even the shadowolves be naturally overtaken by forest cats and root eaters and spiders of all sorts?”

Teressa stood a bit straighter. “I. Uh. Hadn’t even considered that. But. Yeah. I guess they’re all going away, anyway. Aren’t they? I guess… the Soul Magic has me worried more than it should.”

Erick shrugged, saying, “Soul Magic should worry you. It should probably worry me more than it does, too.” With a casual gesture, Erick opened a [Gate] leading to the northern coast of Yggdrasil’s lake, cast some [Force Platform]s under the dobers, and then sent them on their way through that ring of lightning to their probably-temporary home. Ophiel had already been preparing the space while Erick had been talking with Teressa, and so there was plenty of space and water, with some trees for shade, and some small dog houses, too. “But you’ve surely seen more mangled Soul Magic than I, both in the Guard of Spur and in the Army inside Ar’Kendrithyst.”

Teressa breathed out, “Whoa yeah. That’s… Those are some horror stories. Makes your new [Reincarnation] look downright Saintly because you can just—” She froze. She said, “You can just erase the Curses they put on people, can’t you?”

“All Blessings and Curses and everything. I suspect I will mostly use it on half-dragons who wish to rid themselves of their various abnormalities and emigrate to this land, but I could set up a soul-healing hospital, too. If Rats were still here, I’m absolutely sure I could heal him of his troubles, too. But all that is for later.” Erick began turning off the conjured wardlights around them, then opened another [Gate] to their next destination. “Ophiel will watch the dobers wake up slowly, but I’ve got to meet with the governors of Candlepoint. Do you want to come for that?”

“Of course!” Teressa said with sudden fervor, as she glanced at the city of Candlepoint, sitting beyond the ring of lightning. “I’m right with you, Boss. Always will be.”

Erick smiled again, and led the way.