Chương 490: 490

In a large, empty room, tilted and mostly silver, Mark stood on woven vines that served to level the floor. Lights glimmered overhead in ancient dimples in the ceiling, while a low, long pulpit, perhaps a judge's bench, looked like it was sinking below the woody vines. Three rugs, also made of vines, formed 3 out of 4 quarters of a circle on the woven ground. The remainder of the circle was a round rug. The three representatives of the Picory sat on the three arranged rugs.

Mark sat on that round rug, while Derek stood behind him. Mark had spoken a little with the man on the way here, asking him if he was okay, and yeah, he was okay. Derek had scoffed at his resiliency being questioned, but he had also been glad Mark had asked anyway. Dying was never an easy thing, no matter how many times Derek died. Derek had then given Mark a rapid rundown of what was going to happen, all in the minute it had taken them to come to this room.

For their part, the three 'not-Elders' and rather 'guardians', were all quiet, all of them angled at each other more than they were at Mark. They didn't talk to Mark. Not yet. Derek made sure that Mark knew that these guys were 'guardians'.

'Elder' meant something specific, and there were only 3 elders. Those three Elders were Amokai, the person who had met Mark at the beach and who walked into the room behind them, to sit on a bump of vines to the side. Two other elders sat with Amokai, to the side. The older woman was Poura and the young guy, who looked 20 years old, which was weird for an 'Elder', was Urutu. Mark easily told the Elders apart from everyone else; they all had those coiling eels of mist inside of their souls.

They were also the strongest people on the island, at PLs in the high 90s. Mark had assumed that Amokai was at PL 70-ish earlier, but now that he saw the other two Elders, Mark pegged Amokai at 95-ish. Mark was at 99 across the board. It was hard to tell exact numbers without actual machines, of course, but Mark was developing a good eye for it these days. He could even be a scout on a team if he wanted, which was kinda sobering to think about. He missed his team. He'd get back to them soon enough.

For now, he had to deal with these guys, who were actually dealing with each other. Mark was practically an afterthought… Or maybe they'd surprise Mark, and not act like their vectors seemed to suggest. Guardian Mabi sat to Mark's left. She opened with, "The Picory formally welcome the Traveler Mark Careed to our lands." The other two said, "Welcome." So that was nice. They seemed to be a lot more unified than they actually were. Mabi continued, "I'm Guardian Mabi Khava.

My family has brought a fraction of the bounty of the ancients back to us, after our ancestors, our grandparents and great grandparents, crashed to Vaka in the Reveal. I sit at this gathering because of the rite of prosperity." The larger woman sat directly across from Mark. She said, "I am Guardian Lani Arona. My family has commanded the green as speakers for generations, far into the past, far beyond Crash, when it was named elsewise and Forgotten to time and to our people.

We raise the cities and Speak the Language that keeps our homes safe from the Fraying Edge. I sit at this gathering by right of lords, creating and maintaining 80% of the habitable lands of our people." Okay, that was impressive. The older, muscular man on Mark's right, glared at Lani for a fraction of a moment, hating what she had said. And then he spoke to Mark, saying, "I am Kei Rarei.

My family has sailed the waters and conquered the lands that allow us to spread from Crash, into the lands of Waysoff and Castaway and Greenlake and many others. We are warriors, wavecrashers, one and all. I sit at this gathering by the right of lords, of enabling and creating 100% of the habitable lands of our people." Lani casually told Kei, "You overstep." Kei said, "You overstepped first."" We are here!" Mabi said, raising her voice a fraction and drowning out the discontent of the other two.

She continued, "We are here to ensure the gifts of the traveler are used to the best of our ability. Is there a way the traveler would like to dispense his gifts?" They were asking for his input, huh. Well… Off the top of his head…" I'm glad I captured three Ocean Shapers, because I did not know there were three factions here, so it makes sense that each of the guardian families will get one Ocean Shaper, along with a fair number of True Brawny/Telekinesis combos, some Smarts and Tacticians, and some Dynamos.

I also have 250 Healthy Bodys to hand out in any number of combinations. If you have people who have Powers they do not want, then I can take those Powers from them and give them to others." Mark finished with, "I would like to spend, at most, 10 hours doing this. So I want everyone organized in lines and with vetting and for it to be done quickly and in an orderly fashion, and then I need to get back to the world, to prepare for the war.

I would like to leave here knowing that the people here are allies of the anti-Dominant faction." Mark carefully tracked the emotions in the room, from all of the guardians, to the Elders sitting to the sides and watching, to Derek sitting behind Mark. Derek was the only calm person here. The rest were all quietly excited, worried, terrified, hopeful, and furious to varying degrees. Mostly it was all a confusing mess with a few pointed vectors easily understood.

Kei glared at Lani, saying, "I demand your allowance of Ocean Shaper." Lani Arona half-lidded her eyes, looking at the vines between them all making up the ground, as she responded, "I want all of your Dynamos and Minds." Kei Rarei spat, "The Arona owe the Rarei many times over. I will clear the debt if you give us another Ocean Shaper, and if you dispense with your own overstepping request." Lani did not raise her gaze as she said, "The Arona demand your Minds and Dynamos.

You may have our other warriors, but you will not have our Ocean Shaper."" The brawnies are the most useless of the options!" Kei exclaimed, slapping his thigh. Mark's eyebrows went up when he heard that. True Brawny and Telekinesis combos were probably the weakest kaiju killers around, sure, but they could still kill a kaiju just fi— Oh. They had no kaiju issues here, did they? Just goblin issues? That made a certain kind of sense.

Mabi spoke up, "The Khavas would take all Minds and give up our Ocean Shaper to whoever buys it at the highest cost, but the particulars of the dispensation is a discussion that would be best had by ourselves. What does the traveler ask for this boon they would grant us?" Kei wanted to argue, but he decided to put that anger away and talk to Mark later. He sat up straight, legs crossed, hands on his knees. Lani sat with her legs underneath her, kneeling.

She nodded a little, looking at the vines between the four of them for a moment longer, before looking up at Mark. Mark answered, "I would know the deeper history of the land here, and I will try my luck taking your soulhouse book from its location for the use—"" No," Kei said, shaking his head, unable to let Mark even finish what he was saying. Mark didn't need to finish, though, because Derek had told them what Mark was after. Mark actually voicing that concern was just a confirmation of worries.

Kei stared at Mark, saying, "This is too great of an ask. The Rarei cannot support this request." Lani easily said, "The Arona cannot support this request either." Mabi said, "The Khava request that Mark continue with his request, so that we might hear the entire request first before making judgments."

"… I want the house book you all are keeping in treasure. I will use it to ensure the Two Worlds don't fall to total collapse." Lani's voice was a solid, soft thing, as she said, "If one treasure could possibly keep the world from falling apart then the Picory would have to bequeath this treasure to its necessary person, but such an occurrence has never been true, ever, for any reason at all. One treasure cannot save any worlds at all." Kei said, "You cannot have the golden book."

Mabi said, "We will not give you the book, which is located at the center of Crash in a very obvious location." Lani sighed a little. Kei glared, and told Mark, "We welcome the traveler into our homes, but he will forsake himself if he steals from us." Mark hmm'd, and said, "I demand the book as payment for services rendered." Decorum broke in that moment, with Kei standing up and yelling, "Leave, outsider!" and Lani saying, "We will not give any of our treasures to anyone!"

While Mabi simply said, "The traveler can try their luck at grabbing the book, if they can." The gathering focused on Mabi, paused, and then Kei laughed. Kei said, "If he can take it, then it is his." Lani shook her head and looked down again, her astral body turning ephemeral as she glanced at the veiny magic in the roots, in the land, and beyond. She was checking on something. She came back quickly enough, but she remained silent.

Mark said, "Then I'm going off to check on that book, and also on the goblin threat. I need to speak with them to know if they know of the ancient horrors that Okuana can and will release if they look to lose the coming war. I would rather speak with the Picory about all of that first, if you have that sort of information." Amokai stepped away from his seat near the wall, saying, "This conversation has moved beyond the Guardians. It is now the realm of the Elders. Let's go to the book first, traveler."

And then Amokai waved his arm and the room filled with mist and then vanished behind Mark and Derek. Mark now sat on a silver stone bench, near a tilted courtyard maybe 150 meters square, located between many tall buildings. The buildings still had the lights on, but the air was thick with mist, occluding everything with a layer of grey softness. There weren't any vectors in that mist aside from the people right next to Mark; Amokai, and the other two elders. Derek was missing.

The older woman Elder was thin and wearing simple wraps, her coil of long white hair braided and draped down her front, off of her shoulder. Derek had named her Poura. The young 'elder' was male and shorter than Mark. Derek had named him Urutu. Those two simply stood to the side, watching silently, though Urutu wanted to talk to Mark a lot. He did not try to talk to Mark, though. He held himself back.

Amokai pointed forward, deep into the mist, to where a golden light similar to a street lamp glowed in the diffuse fog, light spreading all around. It was not tall enough to be a street lamp, though, and it was in the wrong position, too. It was central. It was the boo— Amokai said, "There's the book. Take it if you can." … Mark walked forward, into the mist, toward the golden light. Mist curled around him, obscuring the landscape beyond, the tilt of the land almost slippery underfoot.

Everything smelled of the sky over the ocean, or perhaps of the fog on a dreary day, and soon the world was a muffled obscurity and the light ahead was the only thing Mark could truly see, though here and there, when the mist and the Forgetting inside the mist curled and cleared, he saw more lights beyond. Mark kept walking forward. Soon he reached the glowing book.

This treasure of the Picory indeed sat on a pillar in the middle of a town square, anyone able to take it at all, if they could; just like Tulo Khava had said. Obviously there were tricks to it, because the book had never been taken before, even though people grabbed it all the time, trying to take it. Stranger than that, the pillar underneath the book looked almost like a vending machine with an opening at the top.

It was strange enough that Mark paused, just to look at the thing, while the Forgetting prowled in the flow beyond. Primarily it was an angled glass pillar, round, with the top open and flat, except for a lip around the edge of the top. The whole pillar was about a meter tall, so larger than a child, but clearly made for anyone to grab the book on top. The golden book was about the size of a hand and it had no markings at all.

It rested against the lip on the top of the pillar, and it glowed softly, but its glow still pierced the surroundings like a much brighter, stronger light. It had slipped from its original position in the center of the pillar, because all the city of Crash was tilted. The book glowed, and that let Mark see into the base of the glass pillar, and what he saw gave him even more pause.

The transparent pillar had a conveyor system that went down into the depths, beyond the visible portion, underneath the large courtyard all around. Mist swirled down in those depths, but there was also a golden glow down there. That golden glow matched the glow of the book on top of the pillar. More books lay down below? Maybe.

That top of the pillar had a transfer bucket and platform that was connected to a bunch of glass gears and the conveyor system, and so it was easy to see how it all worked, and that implication was staggering. When Tulo Khava had told Mark about the location of the house book, he had spoken of its open location, and how anyone could come and grab the book if they wanted. Some people did grab the book. They always put it back, or they lost it and it reappeared right back here.

But maybe those people didn't lose the book at all. Maybe each and every one of them had grabbed the book, for real, but the Forgetting had taken it from them, because this whole system right here certainly seemed to imply that there were lots of house books, below the surface. It implied that when one was taken another would get shoved out from the depths and onto the surface, and then someone else could take that new book.

Mark picked up the book— The mist roared at him, tentacles and eyes making fangs in the mist, but Mark held the book. It did try to grab at the book itself, but Mark held firm, and the Forgetting stopped trying to take it from him directly. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Mark waited. Nothing else happened— The world flowed, full of mist and eldritch power. Mark stood facing Derek and the three elders. He had no book in his hand at all.

Mark looked down at his hand and said, "Huh." Elder Urutu couldn't contain himself anymore. He blurted out, "Ahh, dammit! I thought he might have gotten it!" Elder Poura said, "He got closer than most."" How far did you get?" Derek asked, probably having run here." I picked it up, and then…" Mark frowned, looking down at his hands.

"I had it? I know I did." Amokai moved on, saying, "Watch." And then he reached into the air and grabbed the housebook from the claws of the Forgetting. It had been right there, nestled into the coils of mist, but Mark had missed it, and now it was in Amokai's hand. He let it go and the Forgetting took it back, hiding it away from the world. Mark glanced over to the middle of the courtyard, and sure enough that golden glow returned to the middle of the mists. There were a lot of implications to that.

In the smallest way, the eldritch were clearly a threat that Mark had no idea how to truly handle. The people here did know how to handle at least this particular eldritch thing, so maybe Mark would get some answers in that direction soon enough, because, in a bigger way, the eldritch were the thing that made the Reset Quest so scary to a lot of people, like Nobody Important. The eldritch scared Dominant, too…

though maybe Dominant's problem with the Reset Quest was more of a loss of personal power than the eldritch threat lurking beyond the Systems. Stranger questions popped into Mark's mind as he considered what he saw and what he had heard the Guardians, Lani, Rei, and Mabi talk about back there at that meeting. Lani had mentioned something called the Fraying Edge, and how they all protected the Edge. Did she mean the Edge of the System? Shouldn't the Edge be out there, in space?

Why did they claim the Edge was in here? Or had Mark gotten that wrong? Last among Mark's concerns was actually taking the housebook from this land, to give to Eliot, because he was 90% certain that Amokai had taken the book from him and was trying to make him Forget that he had taken the book from him. There was a lot of 'instant transportation' happening around Vaka, and though people like Wakka seemed to imply that it would be 'a pain to get back to his scooter', 'a pain' was not 'impossible'.

So the Picory probably all had ways to 'call upon the mists', or whatever they called it, in order to walk around this place. But the Elders Urutu, Poura, and Amokai, could just move people, at will, wherever they wanted to move those people. There were no Power Level complications about that movement, either, which meant that it wasn't a direct spell attacking Mark and moving him, but instead a shifting of space around Mark, moving him wherever the Elders desired.

And Amokai, at least, had been very quick to pull that power, which meant that he had other powers in reserve. Mark didn't think the guy would attack him directly, but he was absolutely on edge and ready for anything. So Mark started his questioning of the Elders with, "What do you want to tell me about what's happening right now?" Poura hmm'd, in an agreeable sort of way. Urutu grinned, but he said nothing.

At the moment, Amokai spoke for the three of them, saying, "We'll help you kill the goblins forever if you don't try for the book ever again."" Huh," Mark said, feeling a confusing set of angry-adjacent emotions. He asked, "Seems like there's a second housebook down below the first one, and that whole thing is a vendor station for public access to the housebooks, AND! And, it's you guys that have a problem with the goblins right now. I have no problem with them at all. I already solved my problems with the goblins.

So why should I give up such a valuable negotiating position when you're the ones deep in the shit?" Mark didn't feel the need to mention the Powers he was going to directly give these people, and how that was a bargaining chip, too. That seemed petty. Amokai turned fearful, though his face and stature remained strong. He put on a heavy front. Poura's eyes changed a fraction, going from 'stand back and watch' to 'a bug might need to be crushed'.

Urutu sounded incredulous, disbelieving, as he asked, "I thought you were a hero?"" I know I am, but what are you? I come to you with help and resources, I want something from you that will help save more people, and then you deny me everything and you still want everything." Amokai argued, "The goblins are a threat to everyone." Mark said, "Okay, first of all: Yes. They are a threat to everyone. But so what? We can't solve that threat. Not yet.

Goblins will just spread and spread, no matter how many small ones we kill now. So yes, I could clear them out from here, but they'd move on and be someone else's problem." So that's a non-starter." But even if we do kill them… Dominant created the goblins, and he probably created them by taking an elf with a soulhouse, crushing a curse into that house, and then causing all of the issues of goblins forever more.

I have no doubt that Dominant has many horrors lying in wait for all of humanity, and 'Goblins Version Two' is one of them. So you asking me to leave the housebook alone is ignorant at best and actively dangerous at the least." Mark asked, "Do you know the history of what you ask, when you ask me not to investigate this housebook? Because from the way you've poured vines over ancient lands to make them habitable, it seems that your people have forgotten your own histories.

Therefore, I'm not letting you make the decisions that will affect history forevermore, and especially not when those decisions are fear-based." I am taking that book, and I would like to take it with your blessing." Amokai and Urutu's vectors went internal as they had deep, disruptive thoughts. Amokai looked away from Mark, unable to look at him anymore; his anxiety was getting to him. Urutu looked at Mark like Mark was some sort of painful confusion.

Poura seemed less confrontational, more open, as she said, "Push back the nearest goblin incursion and we'll speak on what your Reset Quest would truly cause, and why we would ally with Dominant even toward our own destruction, if you would pursue the Quest. We will leave the book for another day's talk." Allying with Dominant, huh? So that was a real danger. Mark felt himself flow with an undercurrent of rage, but he held himself in check.

The other two were suddenly on edge; Amokai stepped back, while Urutu looked almost pained. Mark felt like dealing with Poura would be the easiest way to progress this visit toward a good end for everyone, for she had been honest with him, though it had taken her a bit to come out and actually be honest. It took Mark an equal bit of time to think diplomatically. Soon enough, Mark said, "I'll go talk to whoever is out there. If they attack… Well, they're going to attack, so I'll probably crush them right back."

Derek spoke up, "I'll go with you!" Poura's Binding of vaporous eels unfolded into the misty air, and then they unfolded away, revealing a sandy beach, a dark mountain of mist and forest, an open, black ocean, and the aurora sky of Daihoon all across the horizon. They had moved locations again. Poura pointed across the water to a dark bump, barely visible between the black ocean and dark rainbow sky… no wait. There were lights over there. Dim lights. Quark picked them up; Mark couldn't see them at all.

Quark enlarged Mark's vision, even as he constructed a camera system on Mark's shoulder so he could see better. The mist was still thick, but it moved and let Mark see what he needed to see. A goblin encampment grew wild on the next island over, full of those green trees, twisted into platforms and homes and with fruiting lights that drove back the night like giant hanging lanterns. Goblins walked around the place, or slept here and there.

Quark picked out a blacksmith goblin and a horde of weapon maker goblins on the edge of the goblin city, turning what appeared to be roots or branches into weapons. They used big clippers to break up large branches into smaller pieces, and then they took those smaller parts and ground them on stone wheels to sharpen them. They had taken those branches from some sort of metallicized tree, for sure.

These specific goblins lacked specific Powers to allow them to make weapons themselves, which meant they were young goblins with random Powers, but there were more than enough goblins to make for light work. Smart goblins directed everyone. They were absolutely Goblinhome goblins. Poura said, "We are located at the north east edge of Vaka right now, about 15 hours of quick running to Castaway, one of our main cities. That island over there was one of our outpost homes.

You would call it D'New Britain on Earth, for it has no understood name here on Daihoon. It contains an ancestor tree, like the one under Crash, but so much less so. The goblins are turning that tree into weapons that allow them to drive the Forgetting away, allowing them to further invade our lands. Three ancestor trees have fallen already. The entire island of D'New Britain is lost to us.

Push back the goblins and reestablish our control of the outpost, and then we will welcome you into our home as an actual savior."" Yeah sure," Mark said, throwing a rotor into the air. He asked Derek, "Wanna come?"" Yes, but I'm staying here, too," Derek said, splitting into a few different people. One of those Dereks told Poura, "Can't get rid of me yet!" Poura pulled the mist over herself and vanished. Amokai rapidly followed. Urutu stayed for a moment longer, clearly wanting to ask something but not sure how.

Mark asked, "Do you have a concern?"

"… We don't want to ally with Dominant." Urutu stepped backward through the mist, vanishing. Mark took to the air with Derek sitting on an adamantium seat, asking the guy, "They would actually consider allying with Dominant?"" Fucking hell! Can you believe it? I can't!" Derek added, "Makes a lot of sense with all of the other shit I saw, though.

There's the trees-as-bases, the eldritch-containment and probably kaiju-containment like the trees at the iceberg 'gate' we saw in Endless Daihoon, and a whole lot more that I am investigating right now, but yeah… They're kinda similar to Dominant's whole… thing, aren't they? I should have seen that coming, but I think they were hiding it from me— Well, duh! Of course they were." Mark flew across the ocean, asking, "Do they care about kaiju at all?"" Nope! Not that I see!"" You know…

I came here because I assumed that they would need some anti-kaiju Powers, but if they don't even care about kaiju then maybe they don't need any of these Powers at all." Mark felt out the vectors in the water below, and he glanced back at the misty island.

"I don't feel or see any monster vectors at all. Do they have monsters? Do the demons leave this place alone, too?" Derek shrugged as he held on to the seat, saying, "You'll find monsters in the further waters, but we're technically inside the Forgetting right now, so all the monsters are gone." He pointed ahead.

"I've seen Goofy Goblin out there, by the way, attacking these places alongside the Light Titan, Grax. We're gonna run into them sooner or later."" Huh… Do you think they've been here the whole time?"" No idea!" Mark glanced backward once more as they reached the halfway point between the mainland and the island ahead. Mist curled on the open ocean, but it was thinner out here by an order of magnitude. Mark asked, "We won't forget the place, will we?"" Where are we?" Derek asked, acting all confused."

Har har, very funny."" We're fine, dude— Well. I'm fine, and you're fine, so we're fine." Derek added, "But the rest of the world might forget about us until we come back." … Mark hummed, thinking, as he flew toward the goblin encampments.