Chương 360: 213, 2/2 - Jane

That is a lot of damned wights,' Lyrical declared, floating alongside everyone else. The land below was actually the land-to-the-left. A shelf of slate-like 'flooring', which was one of the 'shells of Veird' that the Main Roads followed, had been broken and left to lay on its side in these Slanted Roads. It wasn't actually a 'shell'. Like. Veird wasn't built in shells. But the layers which the Main Roads sat upon, circling the globe, were sort of situated onto 'shells', in that the Main Roads sat upon those layers…

in layers. Anyway. Jane was having trouble coming to terms with how large the infection of ephemewights was in front of her. So she reoriented her 'down' to face the 'down' that the fifty-kilometer-wide plate of stone was oriented on. And that helped. Flying sideways helped orient Jane's thoughts better. The rest of her team looked at Jane. Ravan began flying sideways, too, followed shortly by everyone else. When they got closer the gravity would switch to make this new angle seem more normal, but for now…

From almost horizon to horizon, the land below was awash in a hundred thousand lights that slowly rotated around a central beacon, like an image of the Milky Way Galaxy. Or maybe the Sombrero Galaxy. Either way, those were just the lights that Jane could see, and she knew that what was present was a lot more than what she was seeing. Once Jane got within actual range of the swarm for her [Eyes of Magic] to work properly she knew that swarm would come alive with ten times as many ephemewights.

That beacon was a good 25 kilometers away, and had to be a kilometer across itself. The edge of the swarm was 10 kilometers away. Each individual light looked like a humanoid or monster soul; a collection of arms and legs. Some were denser and brighter than others. Some were so large and airy they looked more like morning mist, than a monster.' It looks a lot bigger in person, too,' Danaro added. Hizogard smiled, sending, ' That's what he said—'' They already see us and are coming.

Battle prep,' Ravan took charge, ' Ten minutes in, then we backtrack. Communication might cut, but I will work to reestablish. Keep your own eyes on everyone. Forward fly; meet the charge.' The swarm was already flying their way, though they moved slow compared to Jane and her team. Sitnakov dove forward, meeting the charge of the enemy and doing what he usually did, resulting in the complete annihilation of many, many monsters.

Jane was a shadow, striking out with her prismatic aura control, infusing her claws and some [Flying Striker]s with a basic elemental power. She was not using her [Greater Prismatic Body]. That power required 12-13 mana per second. Her [Greater Shadowalk], though, alongside her basic prismatic-flavored aura control, was only 2-4 mana per second. Jane's Regen and Blood Mana was more than enough to make up for that constant drain.

When paired with Danaro, who could actually heal Health Fatigue and Mana Exhaustion with his Blood Healing Domain, Jane was an endless storm of faint prismatic power, constantly whittling down the horde of ephemewights, without needing to care about endurance too much. The ephemewights screamed in choral agony, waves of power filling the sky, washing across Jane and Sitnakov and all the rest of the team like an ocean trying to tear down a sandcastle. Jane's weapons vanished.

She had expected this but was hoping that didn't happen. Either way, her claws and all the rest of her continued to tear into the ephemewights, her prismatic Truth shifting her aura control without her input, flickering lines of fire and ice, and then light and magma and blood, across the ghostly forms of the ephemewight swarm. With Jane's eight eyes and her burgeoning mana sense she could see all of everything she needed to see.

Her team was fine; Lyrical strummed a tune that shored up a defense for herself, Hizogard, Ravan, and Danaro, and the choral [Dispel] washed around them like a heavy, black mist. Sitnakov was about half a kilometer to Jane's left, blending his way through the ephemewight congregation, blasting away all the monsters' [Dispel] attempts against himself in the process.

Jane just let those choral disruptions wash across her reflective carapace; sure, her [Greater Shadowalk] faltered to an internal-only spell, and her aura fell out of her control, but all of that was temporary. When the wave of power passed, ebbing to something less than full strength, Jane forced her power against the constant undead song, and then once again began blending through the swarm.

Jane met as much resistance against her power as she would running a sharp sword through a cheesecloth; barely any resistance at all—' Sitnakov is out,' Ravan sent.' Pull out, Jane.' Jane carved her way out of the swarm all around her, surprised to hear that Sitnakov was done already. It had only been two minutes, at the most. The group pulled back and the ephemewights followed, but Ravan organized Jane to be between the team and the swarm, and Jane kept carving away at the uni-directional attack.

After a good thousand kills, the whole swarm suddenly reacted, a massive pulse going out from the central beacon and illuminating the full, million-soul-strong swarm.

The entire swarm decided to give chase. Ravan called for a larger retreat. After retreating almost a hundred kilometers further away, the ephemewights finally flickered, their rage quieting. All but the largest, strongest ephemewights stopped their chase, falling back toward their rotating congregation. Jane easily took care of the large targets while Sitnakov and the rest of the team killed another 3 falseDarks that tried to take advantage of the ephemewight swarm's attack against the team. The team regrouped.

It was not a safe location, but they had power enough to stabilize here, in the middle of surprise-monster territory. Ravan sent, ' That matches what I heard of the swarm back in Downhere.'' Uh. So...' Lyrical sent, ' We almost died back there.' Jane exclaimed, ' What!'' You and Sitnakov could have gotten away, Jane.' Lyrical added, ' And we probably could have escaped through gravity diving once we were away from the swarm's rock, but my countersong worked twice, and then it failed.''

A particularly strong [Dispel Song] from the swarm; yes,' Ravan sent, ' In my opinion we should simply mark this place down for an archmage-level purge, and even then such a purge would need to take place over days, or even a week, as they wait for the swarm to forget about the attacks used against them. We had to move on with the obsidian twisters and the umbral rivergrieves, so we'll have to do that here, too. If we are agreed, then our party will go around the monsters and I will warn everyone else to stay away.

We will likely draw the swarm as we pass by, since they are still watching us, but Jane can cover our escape, since her attacks are mostly unaffected by the swarm's resistance-gaining power.' A quick round of agreements went out. Even Jane had agreed. She had not agreed to move on back when they were tangling with the umbral rivergrieves, because she wanted one for a Familiar Form to replace her own rivergrieve form, but that decision had almost cost Hizogard his life.

Trying to push against the obsidian twisters had almost caused Lyrical's death. There had been a lot of close calls like that down here, actually, and with Jane being the only one who could actually fight against these swarms, Ravan's suggestion was prudent and wise. But Jane had a suggestion, anyway.' If they follow us like that, perhaps we could taper them toward us —from a distance— and I can continue to slash and kill, and then you guys can support me for a while.

I do not want to go into the center of the swarm again, but… Ah. That doesn't float with you all, then?' Sitnakov, Lyrical, Hizogard, and Danaro all looked unsure, though Sitnakov seemed like he might be willing to try.

But Ravan shook her head, sending, ' As you have said sometimes Jane, 'Discretion is the better part of valor', and we shall be taking that advice.'' Fair enough.' As the team raced around the swarm and Jane cut down the ephemewights who gave chase, Jane still felt her idea would have worked out just fine. But… She was part of a team. She was not a soloist. Not right now, anyway. Jane's thoughts returned to Ravan's earlier comments about their team being overpowered. Maybe they weren't that overpowered at all.

They didn't have an archmage, after all. … Still awfully powerful, though. Each person on the team had a role, yes, but each person on this team could also be a team leader in their own right, raising up rookies to strength. Jane had even been a 'Team Leader' rank back in Spur's army. Hizogard had been an Elite of Ar'Cosmos, right alongside Lyrical.

Danaro had grown into his power as a healer, for sure, so that was one powerful growth that had happened inside this team, but he was near the top of his game before this trip anyway. He had no real way to improve aside from simple battle experience. Ravan was a Mind Mage, so there wasn't much more improvement that could be done there; Mind Mages were naturally strong in very specific ways, and to veer out of those ways was to lose power. And then there was Sitnakov.

That guy could probably take on every single enemy they had faced, even the ones they had avoided, and come out strong on the other side. But he was holding back in every single combat. Why? Probably to let others grow strong at his side… Maybe. Sitnakov obviously had limits, but Jane wasn't sure if they had hit any of those limits, yet. Jane still certainly had a long way to grow. She was the only one here without a Domain, and there were so many things still to learn about her prismatic aura.

Maybe she needed to go to Oceanside, or something? Get some real schooling from a master on the subject? … Syllea was all about Mana Altering and prismatic spellwork, wasn't she? … It couldn't hurt to ask, right? Errr… Or would that be weird. Yes. That would be super weird, and also Jane would be leaning on her father's power in order to make a connection like that. She was uncomfortable with that, and always had been. Gods. Jane's father.

The social worker who used to wave to muggers and try to make friends with gangsters, who almost got himself killed trying to help people in the bad parts of town… Now a Wizard (or was he always?), a Dragon, a King, a Gatemaster, who had won a war against a foreign power with his own revolutionary soul magic (and a different war against others last year), with all those powerful allies, who were the gods, a minor flight of Benevolence dragons, and also the Inquisitors of Rozeta, and the Mind Mages.

And he was dating the Archlich of Necromancy. Jane still had no idea how to process all of that— And oh yeah. He's an archmage, too. Can't forget that. If their team had had someone half as good as Jane's father, then they could have taken that ephemewight swarm, for sure. Too bad Kiri was all about the political life these days. - - - - Jane, as a human, stood upon Danaro's Platform as they exited the Hole, flying onto the Surface, entering the Crystal Forest.

She was both the same woman she had been when she first went down into the Underworld with her team, and someone very different. She hadn't gained much in the way of power, or Familiar Forms, or even anything as base as Experience. She did not even find her sword, which had been the main (stated) reason that their team was down in the Underworld, searching out the dark parts of this cultivated world… But that right there: 'This cultivated world'. Jane had gained a deep appreciation for that. The scope of Veird.

The grandeur of it all. As Jane gazed across the rolling orange sands of the Crystal Forest, and at the depth of the Hole and the darkness below, and even at the bright blue sky above… This world was amazing. And it was so very broken. Their whole team, aside from Sitnakov, was also staring out at the world, eyeing the brightness all around. They had been underground for a few months now, and they were all happy to be back above ground. Mostly. One person was eager to get back to the Underworld.

Sitnakov asked, "To Candlepoint, then? Danaro?" Danaro breathed deep and kept his gaze on the deep, deep horizon, saying, "Give me a moment, Prince Sitnakov. I'm having a moment and I want this moment." Lyrical said, "It's so much bigger than I remember." Hizogard chuckled, saying, "That's what he said." Lyrical gave him a playful punch on the shoulder and Hizogard pretended to be hurt."

We have more than enough time to take a slow trip to Candlepoint," Ravan said, "But we'll still have to [Teleport] to get there before sundown, so that Prince Sitnakov can take the Gate to Stratagold."" Oh yeah!" Hizogard laughed.

"We can [Teleport] again!"" Probably could have [Teleport]ed back when we were at the bottom of the Hole," Sitnakov added, "But it was safer not to."" It's all so connected, isn't it?" Jane said, going in a completely different direction than the current conversation.

"Like this Hole was actually an air vent before the destruction of Kendrithyst. The oceans have downspouts and upspouts everywhere, like the downspout at Archmage's Rest and the upspout north of the Wastelands. The Main Roads are as much settlement zones as airways, and the Water Roads are the plumbing of Veird. Everything in this world is artificial, and yet, it always was, even before the Sundering.

Wizards and others in the Old Cosmology made worlds, to ensure the survival of as many people as possible, and Veird is no different. But in this New Cosmology, Veird is a spaceship… Which I suppose is true of all planets with life on them, to a certain extent." Lyrical and Hizogard gave Jane a funny little look. Ravan nodded like this was normal information. Danaro eyed Jane a little, but said nothing. … Maybe Jane had been a bit weird, she supposed.

Smiling softly, Sitnakov said, "If the Darkness doesn't fight us on fixing it from now until your father's [Gate]s open to new worlds, then maybe Veird can be what it should be again, instead of this cobbled mess of Slanted Roads and monsters breaking the infrastructure, and people searching for homes and finding only death."" How do you even go about fixing something like this?" Jane asked, happy that Sitnakov had picked up what she put down." With lots and lots of people working together."

Sitnakov shrugged, adding, "But that's for other people to do. I kill monsters. But even that will come later! So how about we get to a bar and see about some drinks?" Danaro perked up.

"Yes! Let's do that. We can say our goodbyes there." Jane stood up straight in surprise. But... Right. The team was dissolving. Jane knew that already. - - - - The world resolved to sight again, but this time Jane jostled as the Platform bucked. She recovered, though, and so did everyone else." Whoop!" Danaro laughed a little.

"We are on the Surface, aren't we?" Jane knew what was wrong, and so did everyone else; she had experienced it several times back when she was inside Ar'Kendrithyst, and even a few times with her father's magic. She was slightly worried, but not all that worried, so she spoke quickly, "It's either a [Teleport Lock] from a Shade or dad has put [Spatial Denial]s all across the area. Probably the second, and in preparation for the Feast."

The trip from the Hole to the northern edge of Candlepoint was a trip of four-ish [Teleport]s in a southwestern direction, across endless sand-scattered lands. Danaro had said that he would be bringing the Platform into Candlepoint at the eastern gate, and he had even scouted the area ahead with a [Scry]. The 'eastern gate' was now a good distance away from where it used to be, but even so, the new location had people blipping in and out of it like normal. There shouldn't have been a problem.

And yet, the Platform had blipped to here, to the edge of the Greater Candlepoint Area, where half the land was a mess of sparse greenery atop dirt and sand, and the rest was orange desert. Three walls of massive height separated the green spaces from the orange desert. Sitnakov was calmly ready for battle, as he said, "We shouldn't have hit a Lock." Ravan concentrated on a thought tendril as she spoke, "Jane's second theory is correct.

Our King has put up [Spatial Denials] across the land, only leaving specific travel lines open for [Teleport]s. We must go to ground and enter through one of the normal ways… Apparently this is rather new, and laid at the start of the war with the Cities."" Not simply for the Feast, then," Jane said." There are layers upon layers of defenses and Spatial Denial mazes, but we should be able to get through." Ravan turned to Jane.

"Or I could seek permission from Mage Fulisade to ask Yggdrasil for a [Gate] on our behalf?" Jane waved away that concern.

"No no no. Let's… fly forward. Uh. Warn them that we're coming?" Ravan nodded.

"That is also acceptable, though we will be greeted by Enforcement's stone guardians by choosing that option."" Then that is what will happen." Jane said, "Please go forward, Danaro."" Slowly," Ravan added.

"Moving quickly like we did in the Underworld would be cause for concern."" Normal flight speed, then," Danaro said, pushing the Platform to float forward. Soon, a slight tingle crossed Jane's body, along with everyone else's. Danaro shuddered.

"I do not miss the feeling of a Lock."" At least in the Underworld it's less noticeable," Sitnakov said. Lyrical said, "Spatial Magic doesn't work in Ar'Cosmos, so we don't need Locks, but the lack of Spatial Magic is more a matter of everyone knowing that if you try it, you might get bisected by a wall that you didn't know was there. Not so much that it's straight Denied." Jane would have spoken more on Denials, but she looked down and saw a fuzzed-out sort of magic that came together into a thin line of light.

As the Platform floated forward, Jane saw more of those tendrils. Soon, ahead in the sky, was a spot of shadow with a handful more lines of light coming off of it, heading into other directions, toward other Nodes. Jane gestured forward.

"Those things must be the [Node of Renewing Undertow]." There was a great deal of space between the Nodes, and between the [Spatial Denial]s that they supported, but there were enough Nodes and connections to mark out the blue sky with tiny threads, most of which existed in a layer of the sky about a kilometer above the ground. That major layer was cut into equal triangles by those lines of light.

Flying right above those 'power lines' was a rather surreal experience, and no one spoke as they passed beyond the outermost triangles of spellwork. Here and there Jane saw where those Nodes sent lines of light into Super Large Area spells; those lines untwisting into impossibly thin threads that hooked into those massive, almost invisible spells.

Jane could still see those big spells due to her [Eyes of Magic], but seeing those spells was more like seeing the world through a slightly different color; almost like looking at a person when they had an aura active. When she partial-[Polymorph]ed those Eyes away, leaving her with normal vision (still enhanced by incorporating her primal frost owl eyes, though), the world looked normal… Normal for a prairie, anyway. Not normal for the Crystal Forest.

It had taken Kiri and the Overseer of the Exterior and Enforcement a solid month to be able to clear out the mimics from this land and to then start growing starter plants. That had been a headache and a half, according to what Jane had heard from her father when she was down in the Underworld. But they had done it.

They had cleared this land of mimics, and now, with rain spells, dirt-transforming [Stoneshape]s, and with constant vigilance at the walls to prevent reinfestation, the land had started to blossom into green— A line of pale white undulated in the skies ahead. — and Jane mentally added, 'and with Benevolence Dragons to turn the land even more green'. … Except that wasn't a Benevolence dragon? Jane almost opened her mouth to speak— Ravan said, "Look lively.

Overseer Burhendurur is approaching to greet and speed along our ingress." Danaro slowed the flight of the Platform and within moments Burhendurur floated before Jane and her team. It was a quick introduction, with the long, bone-white dragon properly greeting Prince Sitnakov and Jane, and then giving directions to Ravan. Apparently, Jane and her team would not be sharing a final meal in Candlepoint, but they would be able to grab something at the House itself.

- - - - They could not fly across the Gate District, for that was heavily frowned upon. So Danaro guided the Platform to the ground level and flew forward, down a road meant for normal, magically empowered traffic, which ran beside another road meant for pedestrian traffic. There was a lot of traffic here. The land was made of massive orange stones, originally carved out of sand by Kiri, but there had been additions recently.

Sitnakov mentioned that the sewer below the Gate District looked like it was fully operational, but that was far below the orange blocks and Jane couldn't tell about any of that herself. She focused on the roadways filled with Platforms zooming across the stone, whizzing by, loaded with crates and baskets and all sorts of assorted things.

There were also 'shipping container' like objects on some of those Platforms, and from what Jane was seeing most of those containers were coming out from the wrought district up ahead, but a few container-filled Platforms were exiting from Spur's and 'Weald's' and 'Gambler's Rest's' Gates, on their way down to the Underworld... Or over to Portal, actually. If that's what that other inhabited zone was. Jane had heard about that whole debacle from her father, but she did not know which district belonged to Portal.

Ravan knew about the new location, though, and confirmed Portal's District as Portal's District. Jane said, "It's still really fucking weird that my father was able to work with them after what they did to Spur." Sitnakov laughed loudly and suddenly. And then Lyrical and Hizogard and Danaro chuckled. … Jane realized what she had said.

"It doesn't matter that my father will try to work with everyone; It's still weird, okay?" Ravan said, "That's what makes him a great man." Jane looked up at the House, saying, "It's still hard to believe that this is where he is in his life right now— That this is where we are right now. That… That any of this exists at all."

She glanced up at the artful splay of Node lines encircling the 'crown' of the house, which spread up and out, all across the land like some sci-fi utopia's version of power lines, eventually connecting to every Gate and every magic hanging in the air.

"He even managed a runic web without actually making a runic web at all. Everything is powered. Everything will not decay. And every single person can stand inside any of those little shadow-spaces and contribute to the whole." Sitnakov smiled wide, his eyes on the sky and then turning toward the wrought district, to the right.

"It's a miracle." He smiled wider.

"And it's another miracle that I don't have to be a guard for him anymore." Jane nodded.

"Because he's apparently a fucking dragon." Jane realized what she had said, again— As Lyrical and Hizogard looked to each other, and with accompaniment from Lyrical's strummer, then sing-songed, "A~ppar~ent~lyyyy~!" Sitnakov, however, joked in a much more serious manner, "If he and Rozeta get together it's possible that you and I could be cousins, Jane. Maybe technically step-siblings."

"… That's weird, too." Sitnakov patted Jane's back twice, saying, "I know exactly how that feels." - - - - They entered the House from the north entrance, walking on foot to the front desk which was an arc of white wood manned by four receptionists. A great big [Renew] symbol held on the large white wall behind the receptionists.

Jane led the way past those receptionists and then through security, which was mostly people recognizing Jane and Sitnakov, and allowing them past without another word, and then into the food court beyond. The House was open to the public, after all, and many different people came here to eat at any of the 7-10 star restaurants around the open, central space of the House. Jane walked past the obscuring wall that ran between the front hallway and the atrium, and then she saw the food court in all its glory.

Restaurants and shops and law centers and other businesses surrounded a massive open room of tables and chairs and meeting spaces, filled with people sitting and talking. In the very center of the room held a single Node that was also part art-piece, for that Node sent a beam of light straight up, to three very close Nodes, and then those Nodes sent up three beams of light to even more Nodes.

Like a spider's web spreading out, the entire ceiling of the atrium was a web of light, which coalesced through a hundred tangled webs-lines that went through open spaces in the windows that surrounded the entire cylindrical tower. Jane was pretty sure that those tangles were what produced the web of light that held like a crown outside of the House, that she had seen on their way into this place. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

As she watched, a trio of people stepped close to the bottom-most Node, experimentally sticking their hands into the shadowy light at that Node. Trickles of power came out of those people and joined with the Node. The people smiled and they might have even laughed, but the atrium was full of people eating and talking so laughter didn't carry far before it was drowned out. Jane found herself by the railing, watching as the people down below experimented with allowing the Node to Drain their resources.

She was pretty sure that she could see as power joined the web, like dewdrops falling upward on spider silk threads. Those dewdrops rapidly evened out to the point of invisibility amongst all the other power flowing in those lines. Ravan, almost reverential, whispered, "I can feel the Peace on the air. Can't you?" Sitnakov said, "And the Prismatic Denial and the Spatial Denial and yes, even the [Zone of Peace]." He started walking toward the wide, wide staircase that led down into the main floor.

"I'm going to the Wroughtery to see what they have on offer. Meet you in the middle? 30 minutes?" A round of agreements went out and people started moving. Jane moved a bit slower than everyone else; the grandeur of it all was still like walking through fantasy. Eventually, though, Jane found herself on the main floor of the atrium, facing a place called the M Eatery.

It looked a little less popular than the other places, but that was good, because Jane wanted meat and cheese and bread, and the M Eatery looked to have all of that based on the lightward displays outside, and on the food she saw people carrying out of the space. Jane put her hand to the fanny-pack on her lower back and used her shadow to— Her shadow didn't move. At all. Prismatic Denial. Right. Jane's shadow didn't respond. So she tried using her aura and… That somewhat worked.

It was difficult, actually, to use her prismatic aura in the Prismatic Denial, but her power easily and automatically shifted to something esoteric. She manually checked her gold, for she knew that her meal would be expensive, but she had enough. She could have checked with her mana sense, and she had, but mana sense could be fooled, and she had learned not to rely solely on that power while down in the Underworld. Too many intangible monsters, and too many truly great illusions… Jane was delaying.

This whole House was freaking her out a little bit, and some people were recognizing her, and that was uncomfortable... She put one foot in front of the other and joined the line for food. Soon, she was ordering. She requested an orcol-sized portion of magical meat, for 25 gold, for there were only a few options on the menu today, for the Feast was tonight and they were preparing for that. She also got some fries and a large lemon soda. A soda! Sure, it was lemon/lime flavored, but it was still soda!

And then she tried to pay, but the incani woman at the counter really looked at Jane. The cashier asked, " Saaay? Are you—"" So that's 25 gold?" Jane asked, "Or do you take Mage Bank? Sorry. New to this here."" Oh my gods you are her—" Jane whispered, "Don't, please." The woman stiffened. A few other people in line were looking at Jane, with her big tray of food and at the weird interaction with the cashier. And then the cashier said, "I can't take your money. Please. Enjoy your food.

We've got big things planned for tonight and Darkness and Gods willing, it will be a great time!" Jane put 25 gold on the counter and then she walked away with her tray, the weight of the massive meaty sandwich, the big basket of fries, and her large waxed paper cup with lemon soda seeming a lot heavier than it actually was. - - - - Jane sat with an elbow on the table and a hand held a bit away from her face, blocking half of the people around here from looking at her directly. It wasn't effective.

She ate another fry and then hid the other side of her face with her other hand. She hadn't gotten to the sandwich yet at all, because here she was, freaking out in the middle of a food court instead of simply eating like all the other people around her— Sitnakov smiled as he munched on a platinum-covered pastry.

"Fame is easier when you accept it, Jane." Jane whispered, "It'd be fine if it was my fame."" Eh!" Sitnakov said, "You'll get there eventually. Erick will voluntarily accept being stuck in his tower, unless someone forces him to go to war again, but you're free to move about as you wish." He grabbed another small metal-covered pastry, chowing down on it, the metal tearing and whining as he chewed. He smiled again, looking down at the dessert.

"These are really good." Jane glanced at the pastry to distract herself.

"That's like… dipped in platinum, or something?"" It's actually shaved platinum and a bunch of other smaller metals, carefully wrapped into the shape of a pastry; nothing organic at all." Sitnakov pointed to a different pastry, saying, "This one is a normal pastry dipped in platinum." So he was being pedantic for some reason. Okay. Whatever. Lyrical asked, "Isn't that… like. 10, 000 gold in those five little pastries?"" 19, 000, actually." Sitnakov chuckled a little bit.

"The increased cost is because it's made by a 9 star Cook. We hardly ever get any wrought Cooks, too, so this is a real treat!" Hizogard asked, "I thought wrought couldn't eat metals outside of their own?" Sitnakov smiled at that question, and went back to eating his ungodly expensive pastries. Jane forced her hands down to the sides of her tray. She glanced around, returning a hundred similar glances in that moment from people who suddenly looked away, pretending they hadn't been looking at her…

And then Jane used a knife and sliced off a third of her sandwich because it was too large to simply pick up and eat. In its smaller size, Jane easily bit into— Meat melted into her mouth with the perfect amount of juiciness. It was a roast beef sort of meal, but layered with caramelized onions, spicy hot peppers, some sort of iridescent-white mayo, and so much melted cheese.

Wagyu beef had nothing on this, or, perhaps, wagyu beef was exactly how best to compare this meat to others Jane had tried, back when she had stupid rich college friends who tried to show her the world— And now Jane was mad again, for other people being better, or richer, or more skilled than her. She still chowed down on the excellent meal, but she couldn't help but feel inadequate in some way. It was an absolutely stupid reaction, for Jane knew she was good… for most definitions of 'good'.

She had saved countless lives of adventurers while in Ar'Kendrithyst. She had done the same for many, many people when they were down in the Underworld. But here she was, in the House that her father had built, in the center of her father's Gate Network which would open the way to the stars… Jane was not envious … Except when it came to accomplishments. In that way she knew she was envious, for sure. And she hated that. It was not healthy. It was not who she wanted to be.

Jane had done a lot of soul searching down in the Underworld, where they had been ostensibly searching for her sword. Jane knew what her problem was. She wanted to keep her father safe from all the bad things of the world, like he had kept her safe. That's who she had wanted to be when she was younger. But as she had grown older, that desire had soured. She saw her father being reckless with his own life, making friends with gangsters and other sorts, and he didn't see a problem with this.

But Jane knew that, based on everything having worked out back on Earth, that her father had done right by a lot more people than just her. Erick helped everyone he touched. And yet, at the time, all Jane could see was the pain he had put himself through, the danger he had exposed himself to, all without taking any of the necessary precautions to stymie those dangers.

The only reason Jane had left home back then and signed up with the CIA training was in order to get as far away from her father as possible, while still maybe doing some good in the world. At the time, Jane was extremely aware of what it meant to be in the CIA, and at the same time, Jane had believed that extreme violence was the best way to actually cause real, positive change.

Sure, bad stuff happened in the pursuit of that positive change, and when bad people were put in charge of enacting changes, you ended up with more racism and imperialism and danger, but if good people were in charge, then you ended up with good things. Jane knew she could never be one of those 'good people', but she could certainly be the arm of change for some of those good people. She still believed that now, more than ever. But… There were complications, now.

For just like when on Earth, her father had done what he always did, and he had eventually become the same sort of person he always wanted to be while here, on Veird. He had become a source of great, positive change. Of course, he had also learned the lessons of necessary extreme violence, and Jane loved him for that, and yet… Jane pushed aside those complicated thoughts. Jane munched on her sandwich, delighting in the flavors of the roasted meat, melted cheese, toasted bread, and all the condiments…

And she got her head back into the conversation happening all around her.

"… empty rooms are going to be for the Feast presentations, I think," Hizogard said, inclining his head toward a series of rooms on the second floor that were currently filled with placeholder lightwards and advertisements to visit Portal, instead of actual businesses.

"That's what happens every Feast, right? The Shades give presentations of what they did that year? To further the Dark's goals?"" Correct," Sitnakov said, rather seriously.

"Hopefully, we come out of this not worried over the shit they've pulled—" The air resolved four meters away into a blue-skinned incani with white hair and an androgynous dark-skinned human woman, both of them wearing dark and fashionable clothes. Both of them had eyes of brightest white. Ah. Shades. Well okay then.

Jane was rather mad because she had been enjoying her sandwich quite a lot, so before anyone else could say or do anything, and since there was no doubt in Jane's mind that these people were here for anyone but her, she spoke, "Shade Lapis, Shade Farix. To what do we owe this visit?" A rapid hush had already descended all around them. Farix spoke with a jovial tone, "We've been here for a day now and our host hasn't even greeted us properly!

And what's worse, is that we've been asked to make ourselves scarce until he can return from the war. Bah! When is your father coming back, Jane?"" It is my understanding that he will be here a few hours before sunset, but I haven't seen him myself yet so I don't rightly know." Farix said, "Then we shall wait even more!" He vanished in a step of shadow. Lapis remained. She said to Jane, "I found your sword." And then she pulled Jane's sword out of the shadows of her dress, holding it by its grip.

Jane was suddenly stunned, exasperated, surprised, and a touch angry. The black adamantium blade was exactly as Jane remembered; a solid length of metal about a meter long, with a grip inlaid with runes, and runes running all up and down the length of the back of the blade. Runes for sharpness and prismatic power, mostly, but also the runes which would allow Jane to wield it telekinetically with her [Flying Striker] spell.

Lapis lifted the blade upward, the black length of metal looking almost at home in the Shade's grip. Then she set the sword down, tip first, onto the white ground. Jane expected the sword to pierce the eternal stonewood floor, because it very much could, but instead the blade simply hovered." I didn't do anything to your sword, but I am the Shade of Enchantment, so if you want something done to it, bring it to tonight's Feast. Happy Feast Day, Jane Flatt." Lapis vanished from sight.

Sitnakov moved his hand toward the blade. A decimeter before he touched the black adamantium sword, the sword unraveled. Spurts of prismatic light flickered as whatever magic remained inside the sword broke; the tool becoming nothing more than a twist of metal that fell to the ground in several spheres of different sizes.

"That probably didn't break every magic in there, but it got most of it." He turned to Jane.

"I'll have a new sword made for you." Jane had no words. She sat there, stunned to silence. She was angry, a little, because of course she was, but— Hizogard proclaimed, "Whelp! Quest complete! I suppose."" Ending on a good note." Danaro nodded… And then he added, "Mostly." Slowly, other people all around began to speak, to move on from what had just happened. Jane could not, though. She frowned, then looked to Sitnakov.

"It would have been monumentally stupid for them to trap that sword at all. 99% chance it was perfectly fine."" And yet, through my actions, none of us need to worry about that 1%." Sitnakov said, "And come on now, Jane. The very fact that it would have been horrific for them to trap that sword, because to do so would cause so many cascading bad effects, is exactly what the Shades are known for. You see that, right?" … Jane did see that."

I thought adamantium was indestructible," Lyrical whispered a little, while Sitnakov was talking, before slowly going back to eating her sushi. Sitnakov reiterated, "I'll get you a new sword, Jane." Jane picked her sandwich up, glaring at Sitnakov.

"It better be an artifact-quality sword."" I can do that." Sitnakov asked, "You're not actually attending the Feast tonight, though, are you?" Jane paused. And then she took a bite of her sandwich, not answering Sitnakov's question. Rather a lot more serious, Sitnakov said, "You should not attend the Feast."

Jane finished her current bite and debated taking a second, but then she relented, "I've already been told by practically everyone I know that going to the Feast would be monumentally horrible, and likely put my father into some sort of difficult position, too. So yeah; I got the message. I won't go. I wasn't even invited, anyway, so I… Eh." Jane dropped the topic, then said…

"I would rather just kill monsters and not care about these politics at all. Simple problems with simple solutions are nice. I'm going to miss you all. It was… It was a really fun Underworld trip. Lot of simple problems of monsters were solved in the most simple and best manner." Lyrical, Hizogard, Danaro, and even Sitnakov softened, each in their own way. Ravan nodded.

"It was perhaps some of the best monster killing I have ever had the privilege to be a part of." She tapped her giant backpack seated beside her, saying, "There's still the matter of separating everyone's personal stuff in order to actually end this grouping, but that shouldn't take two minutes." Hizogard looked to Danaro, and Danaro looked back to Hizogard, and nodded. Hizogard said to the group, "It was nice grouping with you all." Lyrical sat a little straighter, smiling as she said, "I had a great time, too."

And then Ravan said, "Everyone here is already at the peak of their efficiency. I believe that instead of getting back together after the Feast, a better plan would be for each one of us to try forming our own parties with suitable rookies, in order to increase the number of strong people in the world through those partnerships." Sitnakov scoffed.

"All of you have a long way to go before I'd call you strong." Hizogard laughed.

"Asshole." Sitnakov chuckled. Jane nodded.

"Broke my sword, therefore asshole." Sitnakov laughed, and Jane chuckled." So close to completing the mission! But then the metalhead ruins it at the end!" Lyrical said, "Sounds about right, tho." Sitnakov smiled, saying, "Useless Seeker! Didn't even know the sword was in the hands of the Shades." Danaro said, "We could have searched for years and never found it." Ravan said, "But we did a lot of good down there. A lot of people will live because of the monsters we culled, and the major threats we ended.""

Still kinda miffed about not getting to kill that ephemewight congregation," Jane said, "Seems like we could have stayed for a few hours and gotten to the core, eventually." Sitnakov waved a hand, saying, "Erick could blast that whole thing to nothing with a wave of his power. Maybe he could even help take back the entire Slanted Roads. A lot of people could live in that space if we took it back from the Dark.""

There are a great many ways to fix the world, Prince Sitnakov," Ravan said, "And I would be there with House Benevolence many steps of the way."" I'm sure dad is busy with other stuff, but I can certainly… look into it?" Jane said, then continued to eat her meal. Danaro spoke of how they had transformed the Healing Waters Cavern from a place of absolute danger into a place of healing. He wanted to get a Gate into that location.

Those Elemental Healing waters would be fantastic for making [Greater Treat Wounds] potions, and [Regeneration] potions, and many other high-grade Healing Magic items, though he also reflected on how that Healing Cavern was a world treasure, and it could easily be 'used up' if it were to be taken for all that it was worth. Lyrical spoke of the Thunder Caves, and how wonderful they were for her Sound Magic, while Hizogard reflected on the cutting forces of the obsidian storm caverns.

Those cutting blades of glass had really helped him to figure out his [Domain of the Sword] a lot more than he had. Ravan was simply glad that people were safer down there in the Underworld due to their actions, as a team, culling monsters in the dark. Jane eventually said, "I liked all of it. Every day. Every danger. Every terrible night when one person was on watch and the rest of us slept. Every time monsters woke us up. Every gloom and bright-covered vista. The mushroom forests and the lightning spider cave.

I loved Lyrical's songs, and Hizogard's sword fighting lessons. Danaro's ability to heal everything and his cooking. Ravan's steadfastness with the mission to do good down in the Underworld, and Sitnakov's… Well. He's probably better than all of us— And that's fine!" Jane smiled softly, wiping away something in her eye.

"It was great, and if we get to party again I will love every day of that, too— Ah." She glanced around and tried to ignore the public nature of this place.

"I probably could have said that in a more private setting than here in the middle of everyone." Small smiles all around. Danaro chuckled, saying, "You'll eat anything, though. How can you be a good judge of cooking?"" I saw her try to eat a falseDark, once," Hizogard said, teasing both Jane and Danaro, "It was probably better than your cooking, too." Danaro punched Hizogard on the shoulder. Jane wiped away another something in her eye with the back of her hand. The food was probably too spicy.

Lyrical asked, "How did the falseDark taste, anyway?"" Not nearly as bad as that Decay Spider." Danaro smiled, saying, "I thought spiders tasted good to other spiders?"" Usually!" Jane said, smiling back. - - - - An hour later, Jane had finished stowing her shit back in her room, which was on a different [Fairy Stronghold] on a different branch of Yggdrasil.

All of Yggdrasil's glowing white branches now had a layer of moss and ferns and other green things growing on the top sides, blocking the white glows, and though that was a nice change it was one change of a hundred; too many changes around here. Jane had initially blipped right to where she expected her home to be, but instead of a house, she found herself on one of Yggdrasil's wide, wide branches, directly on top of one of those fields of moss. The house was gone.

Jane had known that the house was gone, and that they had all moved due to some sort of incident with a person playing 'steal from the Wizard', but she had forgotten. And then she was there, where their home used to be. So Jane chanced a contact with Yggdrasil to figure out where the new house was, and was instantly thrust into a storm of a million words asking Jane about the Underworld, along with a bunch of other questions about everything from fish to river flows to what was her favorite monster.

Jane had to ask about the new house several times before she actually got through to the big guy. It was only after Yggdrasil confirmed that Jane was Jane, and Poi telepathically spoke up for Jane (though he couldn't help her more directly at the moment, he was busy), that Yggdrasil opened a [Gate] to the new house. Everyone was busy with Feast preparations, and so her whole family wasn't home —or able to be home— to greet her, or show her inside.

And so, here she was, alone for the first time in months, laying on her bed, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling… She realized..." None of them said it back. None of them said they liked grouping together… Did they? No… they didn't..." Jane whispered softly, to herself, alone in her room as she thought about her final moments with her team.

"Did all of them… hate it? Did they… Hate me? Oh… Oh." Maybe they did hate her. Sitnakov was a prince, fulfilling his duty to his people. He didn't actually want to be there with a team of 'rookies', playing around in the Underworld, fulfilling 'low level' quests in the search for a 'princess's' sword. And then, when they did find the sword, it was because of a Shade, and so Sitnakov rightfully destroyed the sword. Jane wasn't mad about that at all.

But she was mad that Sitnakov was only palling around with rookies like Jane in order to get away from the tedium or guarding her father, by guarding Jane instead. Maybe Sitnakov didn't like that, either? It was all in an effort to look good in her father's eyes, too, so that was bad. Lyrical and Hizogard were both on the mission in order to guard Jane, too. Danaro was the same, and Ravan…

Ravan might have been the only member of the 'team' to be there for the real mission of spreading the good word of Benevolence to all the world, and to clean up monsters in that spreading. Even Jane was there in order to get away from the tedium of running a kingdom, though, so she didn't blame any of them for that. They were all there for the right reasons. It had been a great time. It had been a great group!

Jane had been under no illusions about what their 'mission' really was in the Underworld; on the surface, it had been to recover Jane's sword, but beneath that, it was a mission that served as proof that all the various forces of Ar'Cosmos and Stratagold and the Mind Mages and House Benevolence could work together to make the world a better place. And they had done that. … But Jane had thought that they were maybe… becoming good friends? … Or was that all a lie? Or. Maybe not a lie. But more like a…

A hope that never truly manifested. Or maybe she was just being stupid and emotional and she was overthinking everything and everyone had had a grand old time and they'd group again for another party later— Jane realized something. Ravan had spoken about how every member of the party would better serve the interests of keeping civilization clear of monsters and preserving the light of life, if everyone in the team made their own teams of rookies, to raise up those rookies into power.

This would multiply the number of people capable of fighting the big fights… But what if Ravan's real goal was giving Jane and everyone else there a mission that she knew would linger in the back of everyone's minds, and eventually take root, because this current team was dissolving and it would never get back together. There had been a lot of fractures all throughout the whole experience, after all. Little snipes between Hizogard/Lyrical (Ar'Cosmos), versus Sitnakov (Stratagold), or even Ravan (Mind Mages).

Danaro (former shadeling) had distrusted Sitnakov and Lyrical quite a lot, at first, but then Danaro got together with Hizogard as boyfriends and there was some sort of lessening of hostilities there. Jane (of Erick-descent, and all that baggage) had gotten along well with everyone else, making dinner when they were on the road and cleaning up corpses so no one else had to, extracting cores and ensuring everyone got a fair share of loot.

She had also saved every single person's life in the trip, except for Sitnakov, at least twice. Or something like that. She had stopped keeping a real count of who-saved-who long ago. Jane had thought that the group had been going very well, right up until now. Right up until there were no monsters to fight, and all Jane had for company were the monsters in her head. … Maybe she was being stupid.

Wondering if people liked her or not seemed childish, and yet she knew that a lot of people did not like her for her; they liked her for her father. They wanted to be around her because Jane could speak nicely about them to her father and change their entire world for the better. This was the same issue that Jane had had a year ago, back when her father was going into his first Shadow's Feast. Her problems with her father's power had only gotten worse from there. And yet, these were personal problems.

Jane knew this. It was only her own fault that she felt this way. She did not like feeling this way about her father. She knew it was destructive. So why couldn't she make herself stop? Why couldn't she feel better about her father's actions? Why couldn't she simply be supportive of him, as he had always been supportive of her? Why did she feel the way she felt? This confusion over her role in the world was odd.

Ever since she had coalesced her Truth with the killing of that soul slime, all of her attacks, when imbued with her natural prismatic aura, always became exactly what they needed to be in order to inflict the most damage. Jane knew her Truth. She was who she needed to be for any given situation. So perhaps that's why this whole situation with her teammates not actually liking her was throwing her for a loop.

She could be reading too much into their collective failure to reciprocate her own words of 'I enjoyed our time together, and would be up for it again in the future'. Or, she could be transforming a bit, internally, as she recognized that she needed to change. Their team had seemed like a wonderful place to be, for they seemed to be doing everything that each of them wanted to do, and they also seemed to be making the world a better place in the process, but now that was over, and so, Jane was here, thinking.

So perhaps the more important question was not about her mental state or about the status of her team, or lack thereof, but perhaps… What sort of situation was happening now, that she needed to adjust to? … A deeply political one, at least. Now that Jane had an hour's distance from the final group dinner, she realized that that final meeting with everyone had been layered with lies and small jabs and false smiles all around. Especially with Sitnakov. Jane still didn't understand all of that but…

But more than that…" All this thinking is foolish." Jane sat up on the edge of her bed.

"The Feast is tonight. I need to find Poi and I need to prepare with everyone else." She was probably overthinking the dissolving of her group, anyway. Jane went to go find Poi. - - - - Jane soon found herself stepping through a [Gate], courtesy of Yggdrasil, into something of a control room, situated on one of Yggdrasil's mossy branches. The room was abuzz with activity in a way so very similar to the last Shadow's Feast, but so very different.

A year ago Killzone and Spur held their normal response to the Feast with a main control room, but also with side rooms that could be manned in the case of emergency, or the necessity of a fallback option. What Jane saw now reminded her of that. The room was an average-sized room of [Viewing Screen]s, with Burhendurur in mortal form standing in the middle of it all, watching people watch the world. There were many differences from Spur's usual response to this event.

These viewing screens had bones on their edges, and they were attached to the wall, showing that they were not simple lightward-[Scry]-[Force Wall] things, but instead some sort of more permanent magic. Probably easier to maintain the mana costs. The room itself was rather smallish, at only ten meters square. Other rooms were likely similar. Lotta skilled mages here, though. Those resolutions on some of those screens were almost [True Sight]— Ah. They probably were [True Sight]-capable screens.

Jane's father only dealt in the best possible support for his House— Poi stepped away from one of those banks of screens, and approached Jane.

"Welcome back, Jane. You're in time for some final organizations. Team leader position? Something else?"" Team leader is great."" Good," Poi said, "Because the team you went out with wants you back. Sitnakov had to go back to Stratagold, but everyone else is waiting for your return." Jane was stunned, again. Ah. They did want her back? They did. Poi nodded, then looked up, saying, "Yggdrasil. [Gate] for Jane to Ravan, please." A ring of lightning instantly appeared next to Jane.

On the other side was a prep room somewhere, with Ravan, Lyrical, Danaro, and Hizogard, sitting around, waiting in their armor, waiting for something to happen. Jane looked to Poi once more, nodded in deep, deep thanks, and then she went through the [Gate], back to her team. The [Gate] closed behind her. Jane smiled a little, happily saying, "Looks like we're back together again. And so soon!" All of them looked relieved.

Hizogard spoke up, "Assuming we survive all of this, I want about a month break, and then maybe we can think about more adventurers without Sitnakov." He looked to Jane, "I didn't want to say anything good about you back there, Jane, because then I would have needed to include him somehow, but I wanted to. I really enjoyed working with you, too. If you ever want me in a group, just ask, and I am there."" Me too. It was an absolute delight to group with you," Danaro agreed.

"But being around that guy was almost worse than being around a monster."

"… What?" Jane asked, so very confused.

"What's wrong with Sitnakov?" Lyrical asked, "Are you somehow fine with grouping with that man? Because if you are, then it doesn't matter how much I enjoyed grouping with you, for I cannot group with you again. Stratagold and its people have murdered too many of my own people for me to look at Sitnakov without wanting to vomit." She scowled.

"That whole trip was a mental attack." Ravan sighed a little, saying, "We Mind Mages try to be impartial, Lyrical, but your people are also some of the worst holdouts for the worst magics this world has ever seen." Lyrical rolled her eyes.

"I can deal with Mind Mages well enough, but Sitnakov was too much. The saying still stands; it was a mental attack to be around him." Jane was stunned, but Danaro and Hizogard both nodded, as though what Lyrical had said made perfect sense. Jane said, "I didn't know that… I mean. Maybe intellectually I knew, but. Sorry. You couldn't just get along with him— I mean. You did, and for months… Ah. Hmm.""

He almost murdered your father in the Core, Jane," Ravan said, losing whatever tension she had had when responding to Lyrical. She looked rather relaxed, actually. Jane glossed over Ravan's words about the Core because Jane knew about all of that, and she had hated Sitnakov for a while too, but she had gotten over it, and so had her father. And Ravan's new relaxed nature was throwing Jane for a loop. Was the Mind Mage truly less tense because she was no longer around Sitnakov? She had to be.

Ravan continued, "Even past the Core, the wrought put your father on trial, Jane. That's just… Unconscionable. For the sort of man he is? For the sort of good he had done at that moment in time? And especially considering what came afterward, with the [Gate]s and House Benevolence. The wrought are as inflexible as the metal they are made of, and it is only by the grace of Rozeta that they haven't killed us all for our mortal foibles."

Jane rapidly reevaluated everything that had happened down in the Underworld because she didn't think that Sitnakov was that bad of a guy? Not after she got to know him? Like. Yes. Jane had personally experienced some of the emotions that Lyrical, Hizogard, Danaro, and Ravan were experiencing, but she had gotten over those emotions, and in no small part because her father had moved on. He was trying to make the world better with his action of moving on, and Jane could respect that.

Jane blurted out, "I thought you guys hated me."" What!"

"Huh?"

"… Not at all?" Ravan nodded.

"Easy to misconstrue."" But you all just hate Sitnakov?"" He held back all the time," Danaro said." Fuck him," Hizogard said. Lyrical said, "He could have done more, but he paced himself to always do a bit better than you, or Hizogard. And that was it." Ravan was silent. She could have said something, but she chose to be silent.

Jane glanced at Ravan, then decided to end the conversation about Sitnakov, saying, "Well he's not here right now to defend himself and he did save our lives more than a few times, so that's worth some points in my book. But it's whatever. The Feast is starting in a few hours. Anyone know the defensive plans?" - - - - - Slowly, the sun lowered toward the western horizon...