060 Start of Book 3 part 1 of 4

The Harvest Temple at the center of Spur’s green farmland was the same as Erick remembered. Eight pillars with a domed roof, a dozen meters across on the inside. The main floor of the temple was several steps raised from the ground, while the whole temple was surrounded by the Ring of Gods; a holy space filled with the statues of various deities, each sitting upon their own waist-height pillar, each pointed in their own direction.

Erick walked past the statue of Koyabez. The half-incani, half-human God of Peace held his gaze at the road to the Harvest Temple, his grey stone body wearing nothing more than a loincloth. Erick seemed to feel a sight upon himself as he walked by the statue, though nothing watched him from the manasphere; Meditation revealed no [Scry] eyes, or anything else, really.

But there were more than a few farmers watching him walk to the temple. They were in the fields, and ready for work. They were waiting for him to start the rain. Erick hadn’t actually shown up in person in a week, so some of the farmers were noticeably startled when they saw Erick walking down the dirt road to the temple.

Erick ignored Koyabez’s statue, wondering where the God of Peace actually drew the line when it came to committing violence to prevent the larger confrontations between the incani and the human nations of the world.

The sun shone down, warm and inviting, while the green land all around gave a sense of life and moisture to the otherwise dry Crystal Forest air. Erick breathed deep.

He never expected to like living in a brown and orange land of sand and crystal, but he did, he liked living here quite a lot. Maybe he wouldn’t like Spur if it was truly a desert, but his [Exalted Storm Aura] provided more than enough water for everyone, and the farms. At least right now.

But water season was ending soon. The underground water table would drop a hundred meters; Erick’s rain would be the only way that Spur could survive with all its new farmland intact and productive. Normally they survived through heavy trade with Portal, but maybe they wouldn’t need to do that this year.

Erick started up the temple steps, thinking.

Poi spoke from behind Erick, “Heads up, sir. Business men from Portal are coming here, and Silverite can’t stop them this time. They’re threatening to enact a trade embargo if they are not allowed to speak with you.”

Erick had been expecting this. He paused at the top of the temple steps, saying, “Thank you for the warning. Time frame?”

“Ten minutes.” Poi followed behind Erick, saying, “It appears that after the merchants in Odaali failed to get to us, the people from Portal decided to up their game.”

Erick nodded, then walked to the center of the temple, to pause and stand before the statue of Atunir that dominated the back half of the holy space. The grey stone of the statue matched the stone of the temple, while platinum leaves curled up and around the edges of the stone; the coftea tree at the statue’s back had grown since the last time Erick was here.

Atunir’s left hand rested on the head of a happy cow, while her right hand held a round fruit outward. All around the goddess were stone sculptures of fruits and vegetables; copies of that which grew on the farm all around Erick. Some of the stone harvests displayed here were even fruits and vegetables from Earth; Erick had added those himself.

Erick bowed to the statue, then stood and said, “I hope the rest of the Daydropper quest goes well. I pray for Odaali’s recovery, and for Yetta and Cyril to have a better future.”

A full silence filled the air.

Erick nodded and turned away from the statue. He started the rain. Silver mists materialized all around the green land, to then fall upward. Soon, the sky was filled with roiling silver glows in heavy, thick clouds, blocking out most of the sunlight overhead. Platinum rain began to fall.

Golden wheat stretched up from tilled fields. Green stalks sticking up in rows from ponds, grew tall, then split, spilling out stalks of golden rice. Potato vines of all kinds, red, brown, white, and gold, filled out with above-ground potatoes. Grape vines drooped with purple fruits. Tomato vines filled out with purple orbs, though some people had planted the red tomatoes Erick had made. Carrot stalks grew tall. Trellises filled with vines, and then with bean pods, like thick orcol fingers growing downward from nodes of leaves. Apple trees filled with juicy red, or pink, or golden apples. Out in the distance, on the edge of the rain, too far to see, were the fields of sugar cactus; they liked Erick’s rain, but not too much of it.

Bees buzzed, hiding from the rain, while cows mooed, reveling in the downpour. Fish in rice ponds schooled together, the silver flash of their scales an organized flicker under the water’s mostly clear surface. The standing water of the rice ponds did not turn platinum; the rice sucked up that magic as soon as it touched down. Cats raced to hide under roofs and the [Weather Ward]s of farmers scattered throughout the land. Chickens, so many chickens absolutely everywhere, clucked and pecked, trying to eat whatever they could—

… What did they feed all the chickens?

Erick paled, as he remembered corn. Erick had forgotten about corn. He needed to make corn, to make fat cows and fatter chickens. Like, holy crap, how had he forgotten about corn?

Why hadn’t he made corn yet? Cornflour for cornbread. Cornstarch for crispier fried chicken. Popcorn. Cornflakes. Corn for vegetable oil. Tortillas and chips. Corn was necessary, and Erick needed to make it as soon as possible. Seriously! How had he forgotten about corn?

Erick smiled. Corn was next on the list.

Erick gazed out over the fields as more than a thousand farmers plucked their harvests with [Telekinesis], while a thousand more replanted as necessary. Incani, orcol, dragonkin, and even a few humans… Humans? When did they show up? Erick paused, trying to remember if he had missed the human additions to the fields. No… He had not. When did that happen? Where were they living?

Erick smiled wide, saying, “There are humans, Poi. That’s new.”

Poi said, “And here comes more.”

Erick stepped over to see what Poi was seeing.

Three humans, two men and one woman, were walking down the [Weather Ward] covered road, leading from town to the Harvest Temple. All of them wore the loose, billowing white fabrics common to the people of Crystal Forest, when they weren’t farming, anyway, but these three also wore shoulder cloaks. The man in front of their group wore a black shoulder cloak, while the man and the woman in back wore blue. All of them had short hair; buzzed short. Erick would have mistaken them for monks, if he didn’t know better.

The man in the back looked around at everything around him, but the flanking woman and the front man stared directly at Erick. Erick’s stomach dropped, seeing the awful look in the front man’s eyes. This was not going to be a fun conversation.

Erick stepped to the top of the stairs leading into the Harvest Temple, and waited.

The people from Portal entered the Ring of Gods and stepped to five meters away from Erick; coming no closer.

Black shoulder-cloak said, “Greetings, Archmage Erick Flatt of Spur.” The man paused, waiting.

Erick just looked at him. When two more silent moments passed, Erick frowned.

Black cloak asked, “You have no idea who we are, do you?”

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“Am I supposed to?”

The woman glared. The other man, who was still looking all around, fixed his gaze at Erick. Now all three of them were looking at him like he was a slab of meat, or an unruly child; probably a mix of both.

Black cloak said, “Anyone else would have. Take a gander at the farmers nearby.”

Erick glanced at the nearby fields. In every direction, people stole glances at this confrontation. Erick looked back to Black Cloak, and then behind him. Valok and Apogough, two of the three people on the Farmer’s Council of Spur, were coming down the road, moving fast, toward the temple.

Noticing Erick’s glance, the woman looked behind her. She said, “Here they come.”