077, 1/2

Jane slept in her hospital bed in the long term care unit of Oceanside’s hospital, under the power of a constantly charged [Sleep] rune. She wore the same thing that she had been wearing for the last 15 days; a simple white chemise. White bedsheets covered her body. It was not cold in here, like in the hospitals back on Earth; there was no need to keep the temperature low to inhibit bacterial growth. They had [Cleanse] on Veird.

Erick looked down at his sleeping daughter, happy that she didn’t have to suffer the indignity of soiled clothes, or strange smells, or her body failing while she slept for days and days on end. Jane even looked peaceful, with her soft brown hair still looking soft, and her face still looking healthy. Even though the food they administered to sleeping patients like Jane was a simple grain soup, it was certainly nutritious enough.

“Knock knock.”

Erick turned to the open door to the room. He smiled, saying, “Hello, Doctor Alibeth.”

Alibeth, the human Mind Mage, walked into the room, saying, “Good afternoon, Archmage Flatt.” She glanced around the room, looking to Poi and Teressa, then back to Erick, saying, “She cannot be up for very long, but she should be able to speak for a little while. We had her up for ten minutes around noon and that was not too long ago, so we’ll only do five minutes for right now. She still has maybe 7 days of healing to go before we can extend that time to hours, but she is improving, exactly as she should be improving.”

Erick felt a great weight slide off of his shoulders. He said, “Good. Good. Can I talk to her, now?”

Alibeth nodded. She stepped over to Jane’s headboard, holding her hand nearer to the rune over Jane’s head, saying, “I’ll ask her some baseline questions before you can have the floor. It will take maybe 30 seconds.”

“Sure.” Erick said, “That’s fine.”

Alibeth touched the metal rune. Erick couldn’t really tell that the metal rune was glowing in the light of the room, but after Alibeth took her hand away, he could certainly tell that the rune was now a simple, dark metal. Jane breathed deep, as her eyes fluttered.

Alibeth said, “Jane Flatt. I am your overseeing doctor. Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are?”

Jane blinked, her brown eyes flickering open and shut, as she said, “Hello, doctor Alibeth. I’m in Oceanside’s First Sword Hospital, long term care unit.” She asked, “How long has it been?”

“Just a few hours since we last spoke.” Alibeth said, “Your father is here and he wishes to speak with you. He heard that you were able to speak at our last checkup, which was at noon of this day. I’ll get out of your way.”

Erick stepped right next to the bed, saying, “Hey, Jane.”

Jane smiled up at him, saying, “Hey, dad.”

“I got a [Polymorph] form just a bit ago.”

Jane chuckled, asking, “Which one?”

“A light slime.”

Jane closed her eyes, saying, “That’s good. You should eat that horn I got. Get [Lightwalk].”

“That’s your horn.” He said, “You should try for [Greater Lightwalk] with it. I got this light slime dungeon for my own needs. It’s almost done, too. Ten floors. Soon, Oceanside will have light slimes coming out of holes in the ground.” He rapidly added, “But not really. It’s all very organized. They’ll be selling or giving out [Lightwalk]s for anyone who wants one, soon enough.”

Jane breathed for a moment, blinking and adjusting her arms as she wiggled in her bed. She flickered with dark blue light, a [Greater Treat Wounds] no doubt, and relaxed, as she said, “That’s fine. Good.” She asked, “How long have we been here? Two weeks, right?”

Erick paused. Jane had lost track of time. Of course she lost track of time; he shouldn’t be surprised. He said, “It’s been about 15 days. A week and a half.”

“Close enough.” Jane smiled, saying, “I was thinking in Earth-weeks.” She added, “I’ve had a lot of weird dreams. I’ve been playing D&D with my old highschool friends.”

Erick smiled, asking, “What did you play? A module or more of Larry’s campaign?”

“Amber ran a module.” Jane said, “Tomb of Annihilation.” She added, “It was a lot weirder than I remembeeEEred—” She paused, holding back a rumble in her stomach. She said, “Uh. I think I’m going to be si—” She heaved—

Alibeth quickly upended a glowing vial of white oil into the top of Jane’s headrest, as she put her hand over the dark metal [Sleep] rune. The metal glowed. Jane breathed out as her eyes closed.

Erick stared down at his sleeping daughter, and at the small trickle of oatmeal at the corner of her mouth. Alibeth said some things to him as she cast a [Cleanse] over Jane, spilling trace amounts of thick air into the room and vanishing the oatmeal on her face. Erick acknowledged Alibeth’s words, but he was not paying attention to her, at all. Poi took over whatever all of that was about, as Erick continued to gaze down at his sleeping daughter.

Jane’s chest rose and fell. Her eyes fluttered behind her eyelids, darting back and forth. She was dreaming again.

Erick looked up. Poi was the only other person in the room with him, and Jane. Teressa had gone out to do whatever, and Alibeth had departed.

Erick said, “Sorry. I wasn’t— Did Alibeth say anything important?”

Poi said, “She spoke of timetables and what to expect going forward. Jane is on track for a normal recovery. She’ll start recovering at a much faster rate, from here on out. Soon, she’ll be awake for a few hours at a time, and then it’s physical therapy for a few days. She’ll be discharged in anywhere from a week to 15 days. Then, she’s under strict advisement to not eat any other Unusually Large monsters unless she wants to be put in this position again.”

“Thank you, Poi.”

 

– – – –

 

Two days later, Erick put up the last kaleidoscopic lightward into the final alcove of the ceiling of floor ten.

Two hours later, while he was taking the time to rain on Spur, he carved the finishing touches out of a special delivery on the front lawn of Windy Manor. That special delivery was then loaded onto his [Teleporting Platform], and one blip later, Erick, Poi, Kiri, and three, three-meter tall statues of gods, directly entered the final floor of the only widely known light slime dungeon on Veird.

Rainbow light, bright and radiant, splashed around the final decadent floor of the dungeon, reflected off of every white surface as it tangled up in every rush of water and sprinkling fountain and diamond-crusted surface. Twisted reds and blues and yellows and greens, and every color in between, caught up on each other, turning the space mostly white, but also not white at all. In the center of this last floor rested three pedestals, each already carved by priests hired by the Headmaster. Erick didn’t even know the Headmaster had organized such a workforce; he had little idea about just how much the Headmaster had actually done with regard to this dungeon, anyway. Erick was the lighting guy, and the idea guy, but everything else was all the Headmaster’s ideas, or else his ideas as executed by Apell.

The godly pedestals rested in a triangle, each five meters from each other, each surrounded by a foot-deep moat, with a small raised island in the center of the formation. Most of the moats and riverbeds of the dungeon were only a foot deep. Slimes were supposed to be able to get everywhere they wanted, after all. And keeping with that theme, diamond slimes had been carved and placed around the base of one of the pedestals. This was Phagar’s position, for sure. The second pedestal was composed of four-pointed diamond stars, while the last was made of stacks of carved-diamond books. It was easy to tell which was meant for which god.

Erick guided his floating platform and its three statues toward the slime pedestal.

Apell blipped down into the waters, calling out, “Uh! Erick!”

Erick paused the platform. He had been working all day long on the place, putting finishing touches up here and there. He was going to just put the statues down and fix them around, as needed, but Apell seemed to have other ideas. So Erick slowed the platform, pausing to talk to Apell. Before he could get a single word out, the air blipped gold, though it was hard to tell in all the other light of the room.

The Headmaster appeared beside Apell, in the waters between the platforms. Erick was inexplicably glad he didn’t seem to care about getting wet. It made him seem more approachable, or something. Erick wasn’t quite sure.

Erick said, “I was just going to put them into position. Is there a problem?”

The Headmaster sighed with a smile. He said, “No problem, because I caught you before you placed them however you wished.”

Apell stood aside for the Headmaster, splashing water as she moved.

The Headmaster said, “Since this is not a dedication to any specific god, we must place your statues all at the exact same time.” He looked up, beyond Erick, to the statues on the floating platform, and said, “You did well carving them so I feel they will be well received, even if they are a bit unconventional.”

Erick looked back to his statues. Sculpting in wardlight was considerably easier than carving in diamond, but he had taken a while to get these statues done correctly. A full week, here and there, in fact, with most of that time spent tracking down examples of ‘proper sculptures’, and what was normally done for this sort of dedication.

All three of his sculptures were made of crystal-clear diamond, and smooth as silk, except where clothes demanded a texture. Those textures were all heavily cut and faceted, and here in the brilliant light of the dungeon, they sparkled like glitter. They almost looked like ice sculptures, but they were obviously not.

The Phagar statue was a hooded person, with a body fully covered by flowing robes, and a hood that covered almost his whole face, except for the bottom half, where a calm smile seemed to promise a gentle end. He stood tall and strong, but his sculpture had the most clothing of any of them, and because of that, he was almost completely made of sparkling, flowing diamond. His hands extended out of his full-robe, cupping together in front of his stomach, to hold a tiny slime with both of his hands.

Koyabez had the second least clothing of any of them. He was lithe and smooth, with hard muscles and a loincloth made of radiance. Tiny, hard-carved horns upturned from his forehead. He stood contrapposto, relaxed, while a slip of faceted cloth draped from his back hand to the floor near his back leg to provide stability to the sculpture, while his other hand held forward, and open; palm-up, and inviting the viewer.

Rozeta was a wrought shaped like a human, standing straight and tall, but because she was a wrought and her clothes were her skin, she was technically naked, and therefore almost completely smooth, even though she was ‘wearing’ a two-piece women’s blazer with a knee-length skirt. It was the perfect outfit for her in Erick’s mind. To balance out the statue with some glittering sparkles, Erick added a small tower of brilliant-cut books at her feet, to provide that sparkle, and to provide stability to the sculpture. She did not smile, but she did have a serene expression.

Each of the three statues were 9 feet tall.

Erick said, “Okay. I’ll take Phagar. Do you want… Rozeta?”

The Headmaster smirked, saying, “Yes.” He gestured, and Rozeta’s statue lifted from the platform.

Poi said, “I’ll take Koyabez,” as he telekinetically lifted the barely-clothed god into the air.

“Alright then.” Erick Handy Aura’d Phagar into the air, holding the weighty statue upright as he moved himself across the space, toward Phagar’s pedestal. In moments, the statue hovered over his resting spot. Erick looked up to see Poi and the Headmaster already in position. “So they’re all going to face each other, I was thinking. Is that okay?”

The Headmaster turned Rozeta to face the interior of the space, saying, “This is also an unorthodox methodology, but it is an acceptable arrangement.”

Poi nodded, turning Koyabez toward the inside of the three pedestals.

Erick said, “When I reach 3, we put them down?”

The Headmaster agreed, “On three.”

Poi nodded, holding Koyabez above the statue’s star-filled pedestal.

Erick counted. He hit three. The statues descended, right on time.

Erick got out a level from his back pocket. With a bit of [Stoneshape] and a reorganization of the carved diamond slimes at the base, Phagar locked into position, straight up and down; perfectly balanced. Erick flew over to Poi, next, to help organize the balance on Koyabez. Strictly speaking, this representation of the god should have had nothing at all in his back hand, but there were some allowances artists and Koyabez’s church had declared to be ‘okay’, when it came to making sure the statue wouldn’t break under its own weight. The cloth in Koyabez’s back hand, that led to the ground and supported some of that weight, was one such allowance. Koyabez’s statue was still the most fragile, even with this allowance, so Poi held the statue in place, while Erick fiddled with the balance.

When that was done, and Koyabez was locked to the white stone floor, Erick moved over to Rozeta’s statue. The Headmaster stood to the side, while Erick checked the statue over with his level. She was already perfectly stabilized. The Headmaster must have done that. He didn’t even use a level, but him not using a level to balance something as large as a literal ton of diamond did not surprise Erick as much as he thought it would.

Erick hovered himself, Kiri, and his platform away from the statues, to set down on an empty spot in the center of all three; a small island of raised stone. The water flowed around the bases of the statues, and around the little island in the center. Erick looked up.

Up above, was a smooth, white domed alcove, five meters across. No light had yet been cast into that space; Erick had left it for last. If Erick had been designing the mana flow system of this dungeon, he would have put the main intake right there, at the top of this dome. But that was ‘bad design’, according to Apell.

The Headmaster spoke, “If you wish to try [Kaleidoscopic Radiance] in this space, I would not be opposed. I could always erase it later if it turns out to be a problem.”

Erick thought about doing just that, but he had wanted to put something personal, here. The only problem with that, though, was that ‘something personal’ might mess up the dungeon space.

After staring at the empty ceiling for a minute, Erick decided against a personal touch. He had already made the sculptures, and they were rather unlike the ones he had seen when he was researching art history, and accepted designs. They weren’t sacrilegious, but they definitely had that personal touch, already.

… But there was something that Erick could do, that no one else could. Not yet, anyway.

He cast a lightmask into the air that gave off no light, but anyone looking up at it could tell there was something purple, about three meters across, hovering in the alcove. If anyone thought to Stat-enchant into that space, they’d find a fun little secret. He briefly considered putting down the individual lightmasks of his purple prize into the four corners of the dungeon, but no; that would make it too easy to guess at the real purpose of this floating, purple space. Besides, if someone tried to enchant a single Stat out of the space, that would be hint enough. Erick had already tested that experiment and found that he could use the same purple lightmask to enchant individual Stats. All he had to do was channel mana through a single Stat, instead of through all of them.

Erick smiled, as he looked back down.

The Headmaster looked up at the purple area. He did not frown. He did not smile.

Erick teased, “I know that you know what that is.”

The Headmaster looked back down to Erick. He said, “I’m surprised you decided to put that up there. And that you made it permanent.”

“It’s cast into the space, so you can’t really move it, anyway.” Erick said, “And besides! All dungeons have to have a prize, right? I doubt it’ll still be a prize in ten years, but it’s nice to think about the actions made today leaving a mark on history.”

Suddenly, a few blue boxes appeared. And not just for Erick. Everyone standing around him, including the Headmaster, paused to read the air.

Kiri must have read hers super-fast, because she exclaimed, “Oh!”

 

 

 

 

 

While everyone else read their boxes rather quickly, Erick was still stuck on his. As moments piled up, and the initial excitement of an unexpected bonus died down, Kiri nudged closer to Erick.

Erick whispered to her, “Did you expect to get anything?”

Kiri said, “I’m not even sure what I got.”

The Headmaster spoke up, “It’s a rare thing for non-clergy to gain access to sacred magics. You should hold whatever you got in confidence, and share it with no one.”

Erick gazed up at the purple spot above. He said, “Is this what usually happens to clergy of a god? Spells and such?”

“Yes.” The Headmaster smiled under the radiant lights, saying, “All we have is each other in this strange New Cosmology, and the gods know this more than most, though they do choose to be slightly cryptic when handing out their boons. You would do well to think on what you might have gotten, before you use it.” He turned his attention to everyone around, from Apell to Poi, and Erick and Kiri, “The dungeon is made. The gods have approved. Merith and Calzin are being tagged as the Keepers of this space, while Apell is to return to normal duties, as soon as she is satisfied with the final flows of this dungeon.” He turned to Apell, saying, “Thank you for your time.”

Apell simply curtsied, nodding her head as she dipped to the waters swirling around her feet.

The Headmaster continued, “Slimes have already begun to spawn and crowd on the first floors. Soon, they will no doubt be tumbling down here, too. Are you interested in pursuing [Lightwalk] at this time, Erick?”

“Not right now, but I am going to pursue this option at a later date.” Erick said, “I need to develop this [Particle Scan] spell, then get back to Spur to join the search for Messalina. If I don’t make any headway on this magic in a few days, then I’ve heard Silverite has plans to search out nearby Cloud Giant cities. I’ll join one of those task forces and contribute however I can.”

“I think that is an excellent plan.” The Headmaster said, “I have heard that you have partially figured out [Blink]. I can only hope that the rest of your pursuits meet a similarly quick step in the right direction.” He added. “Windy Manor is yours now, if you so choose. I require my tomes returned to me when you choose to return to Spur, but they will be made available to you, through Krigea, whenever you wish. I would like to call upon you before you leave, so that we might discuss other possible beneficial arrangements. Please ensure that someone contacts the appropriate people to ensure this happens. Either through Krigea, or through the Elites stationed beside your residence.” He did not wait for a response. He blipped away in a shattering of golden glows.

The author’s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Erick smiled. “Having a vacation home would be really nice.” He asked Apell, “What are the taxes like around here? Do I need to pay for the Elites beside my house?” He joked, “Did I just lose my 25% revenue stream from this dungeon?”

Apell grinned. “I doubt he would do that. He might own Oceanside, but he has other people run it. I doubt they’d try to drag you through the walls. The Headmaster has supported many archmages over the years, so they know what he prefers, so your daily experience likely won’t change.” She asked, “Have you ever been down to the courthouse, before?”

“No. But I can do all that later, I hope.”

Poi spoke up, “We’ll take care of it, sir.”

Erick nodded at Poi, then said, “Then I have spells to make.” He guided his floating platform to Poi, who adroitly stepped onto the stone surface to join him and Kiri. Erick turned toward Apell, saying, “It has been a pleasure working with you. I’m sure something will need to change here, going forward, so please don’t hesitate to ask for more diamonds or otherwise.” He added, “I think we could do better on the front entrance, too.”

Apell chuckled, saying, “It has been a pleasure working with you, too. If you wish to adjust the front door, then you can do so whenever.”

“Maybe I will.” He added, “Your class certainly was fun.” As Erick floated there on the platform, in the center of the last floor of the dungeon, he briefly considered taking off his sunglasses just so he could get a proper view of the place. But that would have been a bad idea, so he did not. He simply turned to Apell, waving as he said, “Later.”

A blip of white crashed through Erick, Poi, and Kiri, as the platform whisked them back to Windy Manor, just in time for sunset.

Across the ocean to the west, where the dark water met the orange, pink, and yellow sky, the sun descended on another day. Erick sighed, seeing all that water, and knowing that this sight would be waiting here for his return, after Messalina no longer threatened Spur. As to what ‘no longer threatened Spur’ looked like? Erick had a vague idea. Right now, if he could find someone through [Polymorph] and at a vast range, then one or two or ten applications of that spell would, hopefully, make Messalina leave. That would be good enough.