Chương 312: 188, 2/2

Rozeta felt the mana shift before it happened. And then the shift occurred, like an echo cast backward from the future, touching upon the entire manasphere to see where it should land, moving like living lightning. For a horrible, terrible moment, Rozeta had a flashback to the Sundering. But the lightning didn't grow. It circled a drain, and Rozeta followed the flow. The mutation in the mana rapidly centered upon the intangible lands of Ar'Cosmos, deep in the green Forest of Glaquin.

For a tense moment Rozeta cast her eyes in multiple directions at once, one part of her staring upon the Green, while another inspected a small section of the Core of Veird, upon a tiny space dedicated to one person, and one person only. That entire small space clicked. An alarm had been tripped by the passing of something unknown. That was where the lightning had started, but where it flowed, was to its creator. Rozeta felt another round of terror for a long moment. This was it.

Erick had turned Wizard, growing his core into something half-respectable a day ago, and now they were here. The birth of something new. The creation of something calamitous, but also caring. Had he intended the lightning? Had he meant to make it look like the start of another Sundering? Was something even larger happening? Why? Just. WHY. And then Rozeta knew why. Erick had always been close to lightning, and now Fairy Moon had struck. That realization hit Rozeta hard.

The clouds in her blue sky turned dim, and distant, but then she took an eternal moment and began to inspect the newness. Fairy Moon had touched upon Erick in a moment of weakness and demanded a creation, and now that creation was here, and the similarities to an old horror were too much… Rozeta's fear held strong for an eon, and for less than a millisecond. Gradually, calmly, as Rozeta looked, as she did some preliminary tests, she found that Erick's new 'lightning' was not Primal Lightning at all.

For one, it responded to her tests. She was able to shape and poke at it without blowing up thousands of kilometers of the Core. Primal Lightning was terrifying. This stuff was… The opposite of terrifying. Hopeful? … Fairy Moon had struck well. Was it just coincidence that had caused this creation to look so similar to that old horror? … Sure. Let's go with that, for now. The new Element was small. It was already well integrated.

Only one person had the Element in them in any measurable sense, so there wasn't much to play around with, but Rozeta was able to get some decent readouts. Erick surely had a name for his creation, and Rozeta suspected that that name was 'Benevolence', but until he was out of Ar'Cosmos and could tell them the name of this element, then calling it 'Benevolence' was just a guess. His creation, though, was already in the Script, like it had always been. It fit well into the standard model… Sort of.

Benevolence was between Light and Air and Water, but with a deep touch of Fae that placed it firmly into Fate and Time magic. If anyone else had made this then Rozeta would have ripped it out of the Script, put it in a void box, and sent paladins after the creator. Benevolence was too strong. It was too varied. It wasn't deadly, but it didn't need to be. It was also a part of [Renew] while never having been there before now.

It was also a part of Yggdrasil, but mostly because it even had some sort of [Grow]ing aspect to it, putting it onto the Stone-Water axis—" Old gods!" Rozeta cursed, as her inspection revealed something more.

"Fire-Healing axis, too? …'Warmth'? Ah. Concepts. Ah… Erick—" And then she frowned, for she had seen something else that was more worrying than all the rest.

"… Dammit, Erick." A pinprick of Darkness held inside the new Element. … Rozeta continued her inspection to ensure that what she was seeing was correct. Ten years and ten moments later, she pulled back. She had seen enough. She had tested enough. This was firmly not Primal Lightning. This was something new, and helpful. The metaphysical conversation around why Erick had made a visually similar Primal Lightning-like element would come later.

After going through several more minor emotional crises on her own over the course of the next ten months spent in solitude and more testing, Rozeta had arrived at her response. She called up Phagar and demanded he share in her worries. It was easy to commiserate with Phagar, for while there was some trouble happening in the near future, the near future was suddenly very stable. More stable than it had been in a while, too. This was no doubt due to the chaos Erick had made today, and Phagar agreed.

Atunir and Koyabez both came into the conversation third, for Rozeta had found Elemental Benevolence inside [Exalted Rain], and also inside the Crystal Star that Erick had made. Atunir was surprised, but then not surprised at all that Erick was a Wizard. She was mostly just resigned. Rozeta could relate. Koyabez was not surprised about any of this, and was, in fact, the most happy of everyone.

Phagar came in a close second, because he already had a good idea of what would come next, though he wasn't going to tell anyone; like usual. They spoke for a while about possible connections to Primal Lightning, if only due to the similar visuals, but the fact was that Elemental Benevolence and Primal Lightning were completely opposite in effect and nature. And then came Sininindi.

The goddess of storm and sea had called up Rozeta before Rozeta even considered calling up her, or even including her in this particular conversation. Sininindi was still smarting from the last Wizard to darken her shores, and Rozeta didn't want her to be involved with Erick at all. The damage from Hullbreaker still haunted several port cities even twenty years later. But something had happened to Yggdrasil's twin, and Sininindi was demanding answers. Sininindi took in the news, and stood back, silent.

And then she began demanding to know how Elemental Benevolence worked with regard to natural disasters, and about its visual similarity to Primal Lightning. That particular conversation took an hour and a year, but the gist was that Benevolence was not Primal Lightning, at all. It was the opposite.

Rozeta said, "We'll have to wait and see, but Benevolence should provide all users with an innate understanding of when bad things will happen, with the degree of feeling directly proportional to the degree of danger of the future event, based on how much overall harm might happen to life in the area. For a normal murder, I suspect Elemental Benevolence won't give any notice at all except for in the hands of the truly skilled, and possibly only in the hands of someone like Erick."

Some users will likely use Benevolence to track storms, but I don't foresee this method being more prevalent than the normal [Future Sight] methodology." Users will be able to foresee if some malicious actor decides to cause a storm. Possibly. It's too early to tell how mortals will use this creation, and [Renew] is still a year away, so that common source of Elemental Benevolence is still out of reach of most people.

[Exalted Rain] has a little Benevolence inside, but unless those users are specifically made aware of this then they might not realize that the Exalted in there is actually Benevolence. Many things that look like something else, are actually Benevolence, for Benevolence seems highly capable of masquerading as any number of other Elements. As for Yggdrasil's twin, the only ones who now know he has Elemental Benevolence inside of him are all of us, Erick, and whoever he decides to tell.

I imagine many people will figure this out sooner rather than later, though." Sininindi frowned. She looked to Atunir. Atunir seemed pleased. Atunir held out a hand, saying, "I win the bet. Cough up the goods." Sininindi slapped a single, completely normal gold coin onto Atunir's hand, saying, "Technically, he has been and will continue to be monumentally destructive, but he's also similarly creative. On balance, you did not actually win, and the future has yet to be written.""

I told you to stay away from him and we'd all be better for it, and now he's solving an existential problem that continues to worry us, even now. I don't think any of us like how Benevolence looks but Erick has always had an affinity for lightning, so that explains that. Therefore, I was right; I won the bet. Decades or centuries more do not matter for this." Atunir smirked as she said, "Don't be inglorious, Sininindi; it is not a good look on you." Sininindi frowned. Atunir added, "And be nicer to him.

Maybe he'll let you hook up to his [Gate]."" I would already be able to…" Sininindi frowned, then she lost her frown, and said, "I tried to get my priests to find him after that [Teleport]er incident; to save him! Bah." She waved a hand.

"Ehhh!" She focused.

"Rozeta! Tell us of Benevolence scenarios. You have already run some, yes?" The conversation continued. They had all already thought that Erick might have been a Wizard, but now they knew. If they all kept to the covenant then their priests and otherwise wouldn't know about Erick unless they really paid attention to their spells, or their environs… But that was a long shot. Koyabez would likely adhere to the covenant.

Phagar never told anyone anything, so his reaction to this news was a foregone conclusion, and it was quite possible that he had known of all the day's events long before Rozeta, and maybe even before Erick and his daughter had fallen to Veird. Atunir… Her clergy would likely find out soon, for they were the closest to the magics that Erick had put out there; specifically, [Exalted Rain]. Her Champion, Yetta, was still out there, so… That was a thing. Atunir would likely directly ally with Erick-as-Wizard.

Or at least Yetta would. Maybe. Sininindi was as wild and unpredictable as her Storm Priests, and she couldn't keep secrets for shit. … There was no keeping this secret. Rozeta had at least one person to personally inform, anyway. - - - - Kromolok awoke with a start, coming back together from his bed like an ooze reforming out of a bowl. Something had— Rozeta stood in front of him. Kromolok almost sighed, full of sudden worry, but Rozeta's expression was one of hope, and surety. Something had happened.

Something good. With a voice full of trepidation, Kromolok asked, "What happened?" Rozeta's grin was brighter than the sun.

"Erick hasn't made a [Gate], but he has solved the Sundering problem by creating Elemental Benevolence. I have some concerns over the exact nature of his solution, but it might actually work. The created Concept is mostly beneficial to others, but it has a Dark aspect to it that is close to Destruction, which should be easily malleable into targeted Forgotten Missions. If I'm right, then the job of the Inquisitor just got a lot easier." Kromolok sat, stunned.

Rozeta continued, "There will need to be experiments and infrastructure and Erick will need to be involved with all of that, but first we need to get him out of Ar'Cosmos. Draft a letter. Diplomacy might work, but if it does not…" Her brightness turned immutable, and deadly. Rozeta always tried to be a comfortable goddess, but she had a harder side that came out when necessary.

"Light and Ash, Kromolok. Light and Ash." A familiar weight, like a worn blanket, fell upon Kromolok's shoulders.

"Then that is how it will be." He stood, asking, "Has Kirginatharp been informed?"" I will be dealing with him." Expected, and yet… Kromolok felt the need to say, "Erick is likely going to ask Ar'Cosmos for assistance in some way, and he might have even have solved the Dragon Curse. What will we do when he releases those un-Cursed dragons into the world and looks to them for alliances?""

If we give those dragons a chance to spread out into the world unchecked then they will take over everything, and a Forgotten Campaign would destroy too much while trying to push them back into Ar'Cosmos." Rozeta said, "So approach the problem diplomatically, and lay down some rules that they can follow. Feel them out. Don't be too stringent. They have been keeping their own society in check for a while now, but that was only due to space concerns.

If you lift up the heads of houses to proper governmental status then we might be able to work together. That is only if Erick actually goes to them for alliances, though, which he might not do. I want him to ally with the wrought and I want him to ally with Kirginatharp, so depending on whatever they did to him in there and the nature of his mind control, then our goal of Erick-working-with-us might either be easy to achieve, or difficult."

She frowned a little, then lost that emotion, saying, "The full truth is this, Kromolok: Erick is and will always be a danger. But so is every other good person in the world, and I want to trust Erick and this new Elemental Benevolence that he has made. Keep this in mind once you finally get to see that Element for yourself." Kromolok had heard similar words from his goddess scant few times before. Each time, Rozeta's hopes had never come to fruition. Every time, Kromolok had needed to clean up the mess.

And yet, he still felt hope that this time might be different. He had taken Erick's measure many times, and the man seemed a practical Saint. And yet, Erick was a Wizard, and Rozeta's final words were a hammer blow to the psyche. Kromolok took those words to heart, and then he moved on to seeking problems with Rozeta's ideas, to look for solutions, as was his purpose in life. Erick was a Wizard that had done too much, in too little time, who had changed how the very world would function going forward.

Erick hadn't created his own [Gate] yet, but after this news Kromolok was sure that [Gate] was only days away. And yet, Melemizargo had never ended Erick's Worldly Path. The problems Erick churned out just got bigger, and bigger. And there was one problem that was still on Erick's list to solve, that he had not solved yet." Kirginatharp still has the delegations from Hell and Celes at Oceanside." Kromolok asked, "Is Erick's Path truly so large that he is going to solve the Forever War?"

"… Well." Rozeta said, "There are multiple ways to solve that problem. Erick could pick any of them. Or he could fail. If he tries to actually get both sides to stop fighting then he will likely fail. So… Be prepared for the inevitable." Kromolok let that particular thread of the conversation go for there was nothing he could do about that looming danger, and moved onto the next largest question.

"What about Melemizargo?"" I haven't heard from him. This is worrying, of course. He'll show up like a wraith when it's least beneficial. Be ready for that, for that is all any of us can truly do when it comes to the Old God of Magic." Kromolok bowed a fraction, saying, "Thy will be done, my Goddess." Rozeta nodded. With her message complete, she vanished in a splash of divine, golden fire. And Kromolok went to work. - - - - Dinner was done, and it was Jane's turn to put away the dishes.

The only problem was that plates were already stacked high in the stone cupboard, and there was no room for more. When did they even get this many plates? Must have been Kiri. She liked to go antique shopping. Teressa too, Jane supposed. Well whatever. Jane opened up the other cupboard and began making some room among the cups. There weren't too many dishes in this particular cupboard, since all the stuff here was the 'good china'. Some of the good stuff could be moved around, though.

So that is what Jane did— A cup fell out of the cupboard and smashed into the counter, for Jane's hands were too full of plates to catch it. The tinkling-crash was loud in the relative quiet of the kitchen. Jane set down the plates. And then she stared at the shards, puzzled for a handful of reasons. Why had she not reacted to grab the cup before it could break? She could have with her new aura. Activating her aura was possible outside of the Script Second.

With that thought, she opened herself to her prismatic light and her power flowed across her skin. She touched the shards of the cup and [Mend]ed it whole— She jolted. Jane recognized the cup. It was a part of a cup and saucer set that her father had gotten months ago, at one of the antiquing excursions that had seemed to become more and more commonplace since then. Now…

Jane did not believe in signs or portents or omens, but she finished putting away the dishes and, with sweat trickling down her back, she went to find Teressa— Teressa was currently upstairs, in the middle of the third floor hallway, alone, eyes open as she gazed upward at nothing. Her face was slack while her sight danced with grey light. Jane's worries ratcheted up several notches.

Nothing had happened for two weeks since her father had been abducted by the fae, except for the letters from him and all the yelling and talking by a lot of people far above Jane in the political landscape. Jane wasn't privy to any of that, except when those conversations concerned her and what had happened with the Soul Slime. Teressa had been looking for Erick's return on the daily, though. Jane slowly approached the tall woman, asking, "Teressa? Do you see something? Teressa?" Where was everyone else?

Surely it wasn't just her and Teressa in the house right now? At this late hour? Had Kiri fucked off somewhere? Maybe she had, actually. Maybe she was talking politics with someone right now. Poi would have gone, too, if there had needed to be talks. Everyone usually did their own thing after dinner, anyway, or pretty much all the time now, actually. Jane kinda missed Nirzir, too, but the princess of Songli had gone back home not seven days ago. It might actually be just Jane and Teressa in the house right now.

Teressa wasn't answering, but the grey light in her eyes seemed to deepen, and brighten. A book lay at her feet, half opened and on its pages. It was a novel she had been reading. For some reason, she had wandered out here into the hallway and then just… dropped her book to stare at the ceiling, to have a vision. Jane waited. And then she couldn't wait anymore." Teressa? Teressa. Teressa." No response. Jane ventured closer and poked the woman in the hand— Jane jumped back.

Teressa giggled and sudden tears poured out of her eyes, down the sides of her face. She turned her head to look at Jane and her eyes were still full of grey light, but somehow the grey was diminished, and in its place was white. She looked happy. With a voice of pure emotion, Teressa spoke, "I see it all, Jane. A possible future. It's never been so clear... before." She pulled back from that brightness.

"But… It clouded?" She frowned, and then her emerald eyes came back. She blinked several times in quick succession, then said, "I think… I think Erick will be fine? Maybe. Something happened. Something big." She looked to Jane.

"We need to talk to Poi." But Poi never spilled his guts over anything. He wouldn't even talk to her about the mental impressions he had shown her back during the assault on the soul ooze. Jane asked, "Specifically, Poi?" Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more." Yes. He will know more." So they went to go find him. - - - - All across Ar'Cosmos, in every layer of the city, the mana shifted.

In the depths of Nightly Road, where the land was tight-packed with tenements and tenants both temporary, and who had lived there all their lives. Some of those people had barely breached the higher layers to see Central City, or any of the other parts of Ar'Cosmos. Portals opened in that twisted place, and houses were suddenly split in half. A lucky woman opened the door to her bathroom and saw a storage room filled with gold. She giggled in nervous joy.

Along the causeways of Central Road ten thousand people hawked their wares to any who would buy, and there was always a buyer. The entire world of Veird, as curated by the dragons who lived out there in secret, came here to sell their gains and their creations for chances to rid themselves of their Curse; to join a House, and not have to live in the shadows anymore. In the middle of all this a river opened up, flowing down from the farmlands.

Chaos flew through Central Road for long moments while houses suddenly appeared on skyways, and skyways suddenly replaced houses. The guards of House Carnage moved fast to reestablish order but they had no idea what was happening, either. Thieves and opportunists escaped in the flow of change, darting through walls that should have been solid, but which had been replaced by farming fields, and bright, bright sunlight. The tall skyways of High Road ended in cliffs.

- - - - A woman with a crown made of her bright red horns, like red stone, gazed across her well-appointed study. She set down her paperwork, for there was a more pertinent problem than payroll. Her study was half missing. Half of her monster trophies were gone somewhere else, for half of her room had been replaced with half of a classroom. Luckily, Inferno Maw was in that other half of her new room, and so the woman's bright, bright smile had a better target than the students.

The students likely had nothing to do with whatever this was, so good for them. They were already cowering in fear, as was right; uninvolved people needed to get the fuck out of the way when danger happened." So what's all this, then?" Bright Smile asked. Inferno Maw frowned, narrowing his grey eyes at the division that separated the classroom from Bright Smile's study.

"The rooms are perfectly aligned… Mostly." He looked to the left, where a broken wall met open air, and wind whistled into both rooms from outside.

"Someone was doing Fae-based Wizardry, but the only one I know of who could do that would be Redflame… But he was supposed to wait till tomorrow to try for [Renew]. But even then… This is his [Gate Space]. Whatever this is should not have happened if he caused it." Bright Smile finally rose from her chair, smiling all the while.

"Shall we go see the man, then?" Inferno Maw told his class, "Dismissed for the day. Do be diligent with doing your— Ah." He whispered to himself, "Yes. Fae Magic, then; I was speaking in alliterations." He turned back to the students, "Don't forget your bookwork." He turned to Bright Smile.

"Let's be off." Bright Smile gestured in the direction of Redflame's cliffside mansion, which was directly across the classroom. The problem was that there was most of a classroom and likely many buildings in the way, but they weren't Bright Smile's classroom or buildings. With a flick of power a tornado of red light opened a hole directly through Ar'Cosmos, stabilizing the space in a tunnel, opening up a path through to the forest that surrounded Redflame's home.

Bright Smile stepped into the air, gliding on red Carnage light, into the suddenly-existent tunnel, saying, "Uncle Redflame was supposed to wait for me to see his creation." Inferno Maw eyed Bright Smile as he floated alongside her, slightly annoyed that she broke through his classroom. He did not quip at her, though anyone with Sight to see could tell he wanted to. Perhaps he wanted to say 'of course he didn't wait for you', but he did not.

Quipping at Illustrious was one thing, but Bright Smile was too serious by far, and she made sure everyone knew that— They had entered open air, and both of them paused. They stared across the length of Ar'Cosmos, toward their destination." I do believe you were correct about Uncle Redflame, Inferno Maw," Bright Smile said.

"He was the cause."" Something has happened by your uncle, but Ar'Cosmos wouldn't react like this to Redflame using Fae Magic." Inferno Maw said, "That's not how Fae Magic works." - - - - Illustrious Moon stepped out of City Hall, flying fast toward Redflame's mansion, her ten violet tails stretched out in all directions, propelling her forward. She had already organized her people to repair the damage done, but it was easy to see where the destruction had originated.

Redflame's white mansion was a wreck of floating white stone and broken towers, like someone had taken a glass-painting of the place and shattered it, and then combined the broken pieces haphazardly with broken glass paintings of all the other layers of Ar'Cosmos. Apartment buildings and farming fields and libraries and walls, all tried to dominate their own spaces, and all failed. Most of the building had crashed down, but a lot of it remained standing due to pure luck.

Or perhaps the lightning was providing structural support? An unknown lightning filled parts of the sky that were too broken to be anything but rubble. It was iridescent white. It looked like a spell had interacted with Ar'Cosmos in some oddly broken way, but it hadn't acted from a single source like an explosion; it had done something much odder. One of the towers was wholly intact and absolutely ringed with the iridescent white light, like lightning frozen in time. Whatever had happened, that was the epicenter.

That was where Illustrious needed to go. And so she did. While she flew as fast as she could, she counted her luck that whatever had happened wasn't worse. Luckily there hadn't been an actual breach in Ar'Cosmos's walls. If there had been a breach, then the resident Free Dragons of Ar'Cosmos would already be fighting each other down below, as the Script and their Curse would have returned in full force. Illustrious breathed a sigh of relief that that had not happened.

As she flew toward Redflame's remaining tower, navigating the broken rest of the city between her and her target, she saw Bright Smile and Inferno Maw already on their way, far to her right. That was good. They were both alive, and that meant this wasn't an attack. That had been Illustrious's first fear; that the outside world was trying to find and retake Erick with force. But if that was what was happening, then assassins would have already been trying to kill her, or Bright Smile, or Inferno Maw, as well.

That everyone was alive and… decent, was a good sign. She would worry about the residents when the crisis was over; other people were on recovery, she was on a warpath. But since she had time and nothing too horrible was happening right now, Illustrious started going down the list of possible reasons for this event. Redflame could be dead. Assassins might have gone after him and succeeded. Top of the list. Worst possible outcome. Also not likely. Ar'Cosmos was still intact… Mostly.

Redflame could have tried for [Renew] and failed spectacularly … Possible. Likely, even. This option became Illustrious's primary idea of an explanation. Fairy Moon could have been struck hard enough to actually permanently injure her. Second worst possible outcome. Near impossible. Erick did something… Either Erick did something, or Redflame had fucked up his [Renew] very, very badly. Possibly both.

Illustrious wasn't exactly prepared to talk to Bright Smile and Inferno Maw about how Erick was a Wizard, so hopefully it was a failed [Renew]. Hopefully, Erick wasn't involved at all— And then she reached the tower, seconds after Bright Smile and Inferno Maw. All hope to avoid a conversation about Wizards went out the window. Since nothing was happening aside from what was happening, though, no one spoke right away.

They all saw what she saw, and while Inferno Maw was his usual dour self that made Illustrious want to reorganize his house again without him knowing, and while he was inside, Bright Smile's reaction was less than great. The (relatively) young woman stared, eyes as wide as they could go, as her smile turned full of fangs. Inferno Maw broke the silence, "I would not have thought Particle Magic to be fake, but I suppose it must be." Illustrious responded, "You're the one that told us that it was real!""

He's obviously a powerful Wizard," Bright Smile said, smiling.

"One to help us take over the world." Illustrious tried to snip that branch before it could grow much larger, saying, "Fairy Moon is already making a House out of him, and I suspect that's what this is." Inferno Maw and Bright Smile whipped around to Illustrious, both with varying degrees of shock upon their faces. They weren't heads of house for nothing; quick on the uptake, they were. Illustrious said, "I've known about Erick a while; this is true.

I did not expect them to birth the new Element here and now, though, but every time I think I know Fairy Moon I realize I do not. I doubt you're getting this Wizard, though, Bright Smile. Erick is Fairy Moon's, and that's that." Inferno Maw was silent; contemplative. He turned back toward the spectacle in front of them. Bright Smile lost some of the sharpness of her namesake as she, too, turned back to the frozen tableau before them.

She said nothing, but Illustrious could tell that the gears of war were turning in her mind. A new House was not a powerful Wizard that she could wield against the enemies of Ar'Cosmos, but it was something. Something important. Perhaps she could use a new House as an ally? Such an addition would send the politics of Ar'Cosmos into a frightful Decay-spiral, though. Illustrious would have sighed in relief if it wouldn't have given her away. The potential crisis of Bright Smile had been averted for another day.

Illustrious turned toward the scene, and regarded what she saw. Time was frozen inside the tower. The tower was intact. Erick and Fairy Moon had met with Redflame for some reason, and if Illustrious had to guess, their meeting would have to have been about [Renew], but also about the strange runic devices sitting on the table between the three of them.

Here and there, iridescent white lightning clung to Erick's skin, highlighting him as some center of power in a space that looked normal, but which was not normal at all. That lightning barely touched Fairy Moon, but she had reached for Erick, and where she touched his hand, her own hand was blackened and covered in Erick's lightning. And yet, Fairy Moon had a happy expression on her face. Redflame's eyes were very wide. He was outside of the immediate effect.

Maid Maria was far outside of the effect, and protecting herself with a silver tray. Inferno Maw spoke, "The birth of an Element is not usually so… Timeless." He added, "I have never actually seen such a birth up close, though." Bright Smile said, "Time Magic. We suspected Erick had a connection to a god besides Koyabez. He must have a connection to Phagar. Or he's just a powerful Wizard and he has taken that power for himself." Illustrious said, "It's Fae-based and Time-based. It's an anti-Sundering Element.

That was the goal as per my understanding." Bright Smile lost her smile. Inferno Maw turned paler than usual. Illustrious continued, "I doubt we'll actually get to control this, at all, and it will be complete war if we attempt to control it. Besides, I think Erick was trying to attempt Elemental Benevolence, which I highly doubt will be useful for war, or anything approaching war, at all.

Now that we're at this juncture, though, we should turn Erick back over to the wrought, but not before we demand some nice concessions for this action. I'm thinking of demanding the secret of [Duplicate] from Kirginatharp." She added, "I think those runic things are [Renew] rings. Not sure, exactly, but I do know Erick made that spell weeks ago." Bright Smile's namesake returned in full force as she opened her face wide. She laughed loud, and greedily. Inferno Maw turned heavily sarcastic, "Ah.

So with this Elemental Benevolence I Sight we're on Particle Magic version 2— Or is it 3? Ah. Elemental Benevolence is number 3, since he made [Renew] a while ago, as you say, and that one would be world-shift number 2, according to your timeline. Any reason why we're only finding all this out now?"" The breakdown of Ar'Cosmos and the fact that these secrets can't be hidden anymore," Illustrious said, offhandedly." Sure," Inferno Maw said." Sure," Illustrious responded.

Bright Smile continued to cackle like a madwoman, red light filling the sky all around her. Two heads of house continued to speak for a while, while the third reveled in the possibilities. Eventually, the third came back down to reality, and took part in the conversation. All three recognized that they had time to kill, and that all current projects were on hold until this event finally resolved in front of them. Other people were already handling the immediate repair of Ar'Cosmos, after all.

Time would resume for Erick, Fairy Moon and her Maid Maria, and Redflame, sooner or later, and possibly more sooner rather than later. If one looked closely, they could already tell that slowly, ever so slowly, the iridescent lightning in the cracks in the sky was slowly retreating, back to the tower, back to their creator. Back to Erick, at the epicenter of it all." Oh!"

Inferno Maw said, "I nearly forgot Erick's other world-shifts; Yggdrasil and new worlds, along with Melemizargo's sanity and the Last Shadow's Feast of Ar'Kendrithyst." He nodded to himself, then loudly declared, "I want him gone from Ar'Cosmos at our earliest convenience."" I agree." Illustrious said, "But not before we get something from this."" We've already gotten everything we'll ever need. So!" Bright Smile happily said, "Seal Erick and Banish him from Ar'Cosmos.

Shove the problem onto someone else, and don't let him be used against us."" I disagree," Illustrious said, knowing that she had fallen for a trap only after the words had left her mouth. She powered through, anyway, saying, "I know I sent over a briefing on how Erick reacted to the mind control, Bright Smile. We will not be Sealing him, at all." Bright Smile's namesake gained its usual edge.

"There was never any way we were ever going to let him leave without some sort of Seal upon his memories. He knows too much, and according to what I see in front of me, he is too much. Therefore we must either enter into some sort of binding agreement with the man, or we must kick him out and make sure he cannot be used against us. According to you, though, kicking him out without his memories is not possible, which means that we must bind him to our goals."

She said, "I say we demand Erick assist Ar'Cosmos by using him to enter into a binding non-aggression agreement with Kirginatharp and the wrought and the Angels and Demons. Now that Uncle has gained [Renew], we will spread out from Ar'Cosmos, as we should, to secure the Surface and secure our destiny among this New Cosmology. We must take up land, and our power must spread. And then, when the time comes, we will take over this entire world, but before that happens we must first gain power."

Bright Smile was rather smart, and so she had correctly deduced everything that was made possible due to this new development. One did not become the head of a house by being stupid, after all. But Illustrious had been at this a lot longer than her. Illustrious kept her face perfectly normal, as though she was considering Bright Smile's ideas on their own.

She said, "I would rather we get [Duplicate] from Kirginatharp and secure and expand Ar'Cosmos with this new power of [Renew], but in addition to that, know this: Erick has plots to take back the Crystal Forest. He needs allies, both because of what he is, and what he can do. He has already spoken about helping us to remove the Curse, and whatever happened here was obviously Erick reaching out to Redflame, which might work out in our favor, depending on how this event finishes.

For all these reasons and more, I desire to ally with him in all the ways that matter. Your timeline of inevitable war is not something I agree with, but I do agree that binding agreements with all the other forces out there must happen." Bright Smile simply nodded, and turned back toward the intact, time-frozen tower. Iridescent lightning continued to flow backward, out of the shattered spaces of Ar'Cosmos, into the ephemeral air surrounding Erick, like cold cactus syrup.

Inferno Maw said, "I would prefer to live on the Surface. I would also prefer Kirginatharp to come to the table and help us to remove the Curse that has plagued our people since those two brothers fought. I would prefer no war at all." Bright Smile said, "Full dragons exiting from Ar'Cosmos will bring about a world-shift as large as Particle Magic, or [Renew], or the opening of new worlds. They'll never let us take power like we should, Inferno Maw, and Kirginatharp will never allow the Curse to be lifted.

You should content yourself with destroying all who oppose us, as I already have."" Diplomacy will be tried before war, Bright Smile," Inferno Maw said, with as much authority as he deemed necessary.

"But what needs to happen first is the fixing of our realm, and our people... If [Renew] works how Redflame wishes it to work."" Of course." Bright Smile said, "And now that there are true options for us outside of Ar'Cosmos, when diplomacy fails, I will be ready to go to war to secure the future of our people. I hope that by that time, you will have come around to my way of thinking." Inferno Maw said nothing, his dour face focused forward, on Erick, and Redflame, and Fairy Moon.

The conversation died, for the lightning had mostly retreated. A specter of iridescent radiance still connected Erick to Fairy Moon, but that part seemed the most dense of all the lightning. That spark would likely be the last to go. The retreat of the structural lightning had already caused several parts of the rest of Redflame's castle to collapse, though, which was a problem. Illustrious spoke, "Anyone volunteer to hold the tower up so it doesn't collapse around them?"

Inferno Maw started weaving a spell, saying, "There are other forces out there besides just the wrought and Kirginatharp. There are also the undead kingdoms of the Fractured Citadels. They would demand peace, though." Bright Smile grinned brighter, as though she was a shadowcat waiting to pounce. - - - - Erick floated in a white room that had no floor, or walls, or ceiling of any kind. It was an endless white space. Something big had happened. And now, he was here. The exact nature of 'here' eluded him.

It seemed like a godly space, or something along those lines, but there was no god here. Rozeta's domain was one of blue sky and clouds, so this wasn't that. Phagar's space was whatever normal setting you happened to meet him in, sometimes with the addition of stained-glass-like possible futures hovering in the air all around. Koyabez held court on the surface of the silver moon, with Veird hanging in the sky overhead.

Erick was pretty sure that there weren't any other gods that were capable of pulling him into— Erick finally realized. He had been doing something important— He had been talking to Redflame, telling the man about [Renew] and his own Wizardry, and then Fairy Moon had asked a question about Benevolence… And then Erick answered? Yes. He did answer. And now he was here." So where is here?" Erick asked the empty, white expanse.

His voice flowed outward, without touching a thing, endlessly vibrating out into the air all around. There was no echo at all.

"Hello?" His words left him and went outward, without reflecting on a single surface. Erick had only ever experienced a similar effect when he was flying high in the sky, and the ground was twenty kilometers away. The sensation of sound just going away and never coming back was an emptiness that was hard to experience unless one went looking for that experience.

He inspected himself next, holding out his hand to see if he had hands, but also because it had only occurred to him to do such an inspection at that very moment. His body existed and he was nude for some reason, so that was fun. But more than that, as he saw himself he wondered if he could move through this space like he usually did while flying, and at that thought, he began to move forward. Thought caused action. … Thought caused a lot more than action.

A realization and another event occurred the very second Erick tried to activate his mana sense. The white world became a jumble of everything and nothing and eternity and oblivion and hopes and dreams and dead drama brought back to life and lightning coursing across his skin as the panes of reality shattered like a stained-glass window. But this was not Phagar's domain. The only one in this space was Erick. He was in the mana.

The very moment he realized that, he shut his mana sense off, turning the world back to white, but that wasn't what had happened at all. What happened, Erick realized, was that he had only thought his mana sense was responsible for the shattering of the sky. Therefore, turning that sense off caused the sky to return to how it was. But that's not what had happened at all. Everything was what he wanted it to be; nothing was stable at all. Erick was inside the mana. And the mana was possibility.

Erick had no idea why he had his next thought, but as soon as he had it, he knew it to be True. Whatever he demanded to happen next, would happen, and that would be it; his demand would turn real. This timeless moment would be over, and he would be left with the aftermath of his creation. He could solve anything he wanted to solve. He could even take himself and Jane back to Earth. He had seen an image of Earth back when his mana sense was on, and the white world had fractured.

There, his previous home sat in the far distance, but also close by. Close enough to touch. Close enough to reach. He could even reach all the way back to Spur, to pluck Jane out of that hallway with Teressa, to bring her with him as he took one step through the mana, and landed them both back on Earth. But. No. His home was here. His home was Veird, and Spur, and here. His problems were here. And his problems had no easy solutions. So he spoke the words he had already spoken once before, but slightly different.

His voice was a slow tidal wave that built and built." For the good of all, and every individual, we give assistance to those in need and do what we must to prevent apocalypse before it happens, to found and cultivate an evergrowing cycle of less war, less horror, and more hope, for now, and for all always." The white room began to fracture, and reorient.

Iridescent lightning collected upon constructions that were not there, revealing knots in the future and in the present that had to be untangled before they threatened the whole of creation. Erick could only tell the shape of those threats by the lightning they collected, but all of those threats were so far away that they were more like stars in a night sky, than actual dangers. — Wait.

Erick had no idea how he knew what he knew, for it was half instinct and half how-he-wanted-it-to-work, but some of those knots were turning points; not 'dangers'. If they were navigated correctly, then many future knots in the tapestry might vanish completely; many future problems might not exist at all. With a tiny chuckle, and relief flowing through him, Erick said, "That's good." And then, it was done.

The room turned to light, and lightning, some dissipating, but most retreating back to where it had started; back to Erick's core, his soul. - - - - Erick's sense of sight and touch and bodily sense and mana sense, all came back, like they had been hidden by an illusion that was more real than reality. He had never shut his eyes, either, so for three moments before everyone else, Erick saw the frozen world all around him.

He saw how Fairy Moon had reached for him, for some reason, and now a single spark of iridescent lightning connected her hand to his, which he had left propped out there because he had been explaining things to Redflame. Fairy Moon's hand was burned to the bone, charred and bloody, like she had stuck her hand into lightning. Maybe that was exactly what she had done. She looked happy, though. Erick's hand was fine. Redflame's eyes were frozen wide open, in uncertain fear.

Maid Maria was behind Erick, behind the bar, cowering behind a metal tray. And to the left, beyond three different windows, floated three different people. Erick knew two of them, and the third was easy enough to guess at; Illustrious Moon, Inferno Maw, and a person who could only be Bright Smile. Her namesake was on full display, and Erick thought her ruby-red crown of horns a bit too ostentatious for his liking.

Other than that, there seemed to be a distinct family resemblance between her and Redflame— Something twitched inside Erick's core and a new sense unfurled across his vision. In the space of a blink, Erick realized there was something about Bright Smile that he saw even when his eyes were shut. A thin tendril of iridescent white lightning, so thin it might as well not even be there, coiled around the dragon woman's neck like a living snake the width of a hair. She did not seem to notice the hair-thin lightning.

Bright Smile was a knot of possibility. Tiny. Barely present. But she undoubtedly was, and because of that focus she was a lightning rod in Erick's sight that demanded attention. The living white lightning even had sparks pointing inward, like an inverted spiked collar. That meant something rather simple, but it was too early to tell the exact meaning. Fairy Moon had no collar. Redflame had no collar, either. Maid Maria was another normal person to Erick's sense. Inferno Maw and Illustrious had nothing around them.

All of those people had various magical effects happening, from flying spells, to protection spells, but none had white lightning around them. Erick was surprised at that. Whatever this was, and he had his suspicions it was somehow Elemental Benevolence, he would have expected Redflame or Fairy Moon to have a marker of some sort, if only because of their sheer power, or possible influence on future events. For there was one more lightning manifestation in the room, though it was a lot different from Bright Smile's.

Thick lightning poured in and out from Erick's core, filling his mana veins with unseen power, wrapping through him like some sort of Elemental Body. Which it probably was, actually. But it was more than that. If he focused on the lightning at all, he saw the light inside of himself even before he opened his mana sense to truly look. When he used his mana sense to truly see, all the lightning turned absolutely solid. The meaning behind all that would likely take a while to untangle. But time had resumed.

Time to face the music. He was a Wizard, and they all knew.