086, 1/2

In a comfortable room with fluffy chairs and a short table, situated atop the northern tower of the Mage Guild, Anhelia laid out tea for Erick and herself in dainty porcelain cups, etched with purple flowers. Poi waited outside, while Kiri and Teressa were still downstairs, in the war rooms.

Erick said, “Thank you,” as he sipped his tea. It was good, but it was not the plum tea he was used to. It was something else. Something red, that tasted of spices. “This is good. What is it?”

“Spiced ripponfruit.” Anhelia sat down across from Erick and lifted her her cup, saying, “It’s been quite a while since we last spoke of killing Shades, on the veranda at your potato party. You haven’t changed your mind on what needs to be done, have you?”

Right to it, then. Erick sipped his tea, then said, “They deserve to die for what they have done, and what they would do in the future.”

“Good. Many will forget that fact when the war is about to end, and the atrocities have piled high.” Anhelia asked, “Where would you like to start?”

“A bit of history regarding how these things usually go, to give context to what is happening today, and then I’d like to know how to kill a Shade.”

Anhelia nodded. “That is a winding conversation, so let me know when you have a question.” She said, “I’ve gone through this event twenty-three times. A few of these were instant wars. Monsters streaming out through the walls of the Dead City, setting up bases outside, them allowing Spur to be a beachhead against the tide. That sort of thing. Sometimes they burn Spur to the ground first, but they usually avoid killing people who run.” She said, “This avoiding of the innocents is thought to be a way to make future enemies, so don’t go thinking it’s out of honor.

“Other Shade excursions were widespread assassinations throughout the world, causing widespread trouble. All of them ended the same way: Civilization came together to physically destroy the threat. There were variations, of course. A few times, our own assassins were required to kill the masterminds behind the attacks.

“But in the end, there are always two or ten Shades that are spearheading the effort to conquer the world, and other Shades are willing to take their place as the top monster of the Dead City.

“Usually, we get ‘help’ from these other, opportunistic Shades, who want to kill the Shades in charge of their excursions. This has always happened, to some degree, at some point in time.

“The Great Purge that took out Spur 104 years ago was the only time that every Shade managed to band together and decide, as a whole, to fight. When Spur was destroyed, the centering idea that held the Shades to a single goal, was shattered. They fell to infighting almost instantly.

“This is why we don’t go after Ar’Kendrithyst, directly, at all. For doing so would cause them to band together and end Spur again. But really, they’d band together and end any threat they deem worthy enough to end.” She asked, “Is that anything you didn’t already know?”

Erick said, “I’ve heard some of what you just said, but not quite like that. Continue, please.”

Anhelia continued, “Right now, and verified through all of my sources, the entire Dead City is working together to make Candlepoint succeed. This is mostly normal, and likely a facade of some sort. They’ll splinter in time if they aren’t already splintered. The existence they’ve focused on this time is different, for sure, but this level of cooperation is not too surprising.

“In a slightly abnormal way: they’re not going directly to war. This has happened roughly five to eight times in the past.

“They’re tempting mortals into allying with them. This is completely normal, though the method this time is rather unique.

“What is very rare, and has only happened once before, is, firstly, that they are creating shadelings that truly appear to be their own persons. This will undoubtedly lead to complications down the road. Are they making generals for a future army? Perhaps. Usually they summon mindless generals, outfitted with all the knowledge that several Shades possess, and send them out to conquer. But they could do shadelings this time, each with their own levels and Status under the Script.

“No. I don’t know how it’s happening, only that it is. Shades don’t have access to the Script, but these shadelings do. It is odd. But it has happened before.

“One thing to keep in mind is that these shadelings are not slaves. The Script brands people with the Slave sub-Class rather quickly, if they are, and then allows them [Teleport]s away from their slavers, or to get a massive damage bonus against their slavers.

“I mention the slave-[Teleport]-thing because that specific event has happened before. And then those shadelings turned out to be malicious actors, and assassins.

“So don’t ever trust a shadeling, Erick. No matter what they may look like or how they might speak. Even if they are real people, and not just masks worn by the Shades who made them, they’re people who want you dead. Or worse: a traitor to the rest of the world.”

Erik sipped his tea, listening, realizing, in some way deeper than before, that war was truly coming, and he’d have to kill people. Monstrous people, sure, but still people.

Anhelia continued, “The other thing that is rather different, but not unheard of, is that Candlepoint’s items are real. Mostly, there are zero side effects.”

Erick frowned. “The sign down there says that opening two new Stats makes a person a shadeling.”

Anhelia said, “That’s not the whole truth. Yesterday, one person survived the transformation and came back to being orcol; a member of the unincorporated Treehome tribes, to the west of Wyrmridge mountains. With the backing of his whole family of wyrm hunters and a reluctant Archmage Syllea, he had enough money to get 2000 darkchips. He then picked Constitution, first, then Dexterity. Others tried to follow in his footsteps and failed. They were turned into shadelings almost instantly. Or, at least that’s what their Status said.

“They had no rad in their body. They had no urge to do the bidding of any Shade, or anything else that normal shadelings do. They still had normal access to the Script. But they were no longer listed as ‘orcol’; they were listed as ‘shadeling’.

“A Registrar was asked to intervene, and that’s the extent of my knowledge on that front.” Anhelia said, “Archmage Syllea sent the missive containing this information to myself, and several others, in the hopes that I could find a cure. Incidentally, this is also how we know that opening two Stats makes a person a shadeling. I have told others these facts and asked for help, but no one seems to know anything right now. If you wish to pursue this, Archmage Syllea has already promised personal lessons or a vast sum of money to whoever solves the problem.” She added, “I have heard that she owes you a bargain of trade, too, which is another reason I mention this. I do need more information on this, Erick, and you’re in a perfect position to get it for us, if you’re willing.”

“Maybe.” Erick said, “But… So one new Stat does nothing? Besides what it says it does?”

“According to the Registrars. They’re not sure how the new Stats fruits are made or why they turn people into shadelings, only that the fruits exist, they work exactly as they are said to work, and that too many of them turns a person into a shadeling.” Anhelia said, “New races of people pop up from time to time. Usually, through the inventions of summoners. Usually, they don’t last past two or three generations. Maybe these people aren’t actually the shadelings that we know, but are instead a creation of a Shade. Or someone like the Life Binder. It is entirely possible that these ‘shadelings’ are not the ones we know of; that they are just named the same thing in order to cause confusion.” She added, “But that is a low possibility.”

Erick frowned. “Why are people willing to take the chance with Shade magical items?” He instantly answered himself, “Some people are just like that. Obviously. The need for power, and all that.”

“That is a part of it, yes.” Anhelia continued, “Terrible magic items have come out of Ar’Kendrithyst before. Usually the catch is obvious, but that doesn’t stop people from wanting them. This is one of the main reasons why people flock to Ar’Kendrithyst, in the first place. Usually, whatever they find are simple trinkets that are used and then vanish, like Staffs of [Lightning Bolt], or plus-100 Strength belts. One time, someone actually managed to find a Crown of [Meteor Swarm]. I think they went on to fund themselves a title of nobility, over in the Wasteland, long, long ago.

“These items are created to lure adventurers to the Dead City, to give the Shades their ‘entertainment’.

“But just as often, people who find these items are found much later, roaming the kendrithyst, transformed into a monster with the cursed item in hand, or on their head, or what have you.

“But in some cases, the items are very real, with zero side effects.” Anhelia added, “For if the place was pure poison, no one would go, and that is a fact proven time and time again.

“There was one item, years and years ago, known as the Staff of Swords. It allowed the user the ability to effortlessly cast the spell ‘Sword Tide’ by providing the item with mana. Every single stone and metal surface for a hundred meters became slicing swords, for one brief moment, except where the user stood. There were quite a few lesser effects, but that was the main one.

“The Staff of Swords was an artifact, Erick.

“Of the many true artifacts to ever exist on Veird, the Shades have made nine out of every ten.”

“That Staff of Swords came out of Ar’Kendrithyst when a war on Nelboor spilled across the ocean, into the Greensoil Duchy— Oh. That was the Republic four hundred years ago. Anyway. The Duchy was occupied with their war and all of their up-and-coming adventurers had been killed in several massive battles, and for a very long and complicated reason that was mainly the fault of army quotas, the Shades got antsy without their entertainment, and the Staff of Swords found its way to the hands of a soldier in the Greensoil Army. It turned the tide in their war, at the time. And then it fell into the hands of another.

“Thousands of people died on hundreds of battlefields, for the Staff of Swords turned almost any middling mage into an archmage. The Staff of Swords is either somewhere in Nelboor, still causing havoc, or laying in some crypt somewhere; I know nothing more about that.

“The point is that the Shades make awful items that instantly kill people and turn them into monsters, and they also make items that cause utter chaos.

“Candlepoint appears to be the second case. They’re real items. They have some unknown drawback that even Registrars can’t tell is a drawback. We don’t know much beyond that.” She sipped her tea.

Erick asked, “So how do you kill a Shade?”

Anhelia nodded. She said, “Shades are constantly surrounded by shadows and under the effects of [Shadowalk] that costs them nothing to use. This means that you must either overpower them with light to turn them solid and then kill them, somehow lure them into an antirhine trap, or fight them on their own turf and win. The first is easier said than done. The second has happened a handful of times, and never on purpose, but the Shades experiment with everything, and there is a fair bit of antirhine in there, so, it happens. The third is by far the most usual method.

“A combination of 1 and 3 is the best way. Have attacks that combine light, but strike from the shadows.”

Erick asked, “Can they [Cleanse]?”

“Oh?” Anhelia paused, then asked, “What were you thinking? Poison? Or…?”

“Poison.”

“It will work, but not well. [Cleanse] is a very special spell, given to us by the gods, so the Shades don’t have access, but they have other ways to do the same thing. But besides that, their shadowy bodies prevent them from being poisoned; they don’t have actual biology. Parasites, though. Those will give them some trouble, but not enough to count in a fight.” She added, “Maybe if you had some light-infused parasites, they might be able to burrow into the Shades and stop them from [Shadowalk]ing away. That is worth investigating; it hasn’t been done in a long time, so they wouldn’t expect it. Shadowflesh is easy enough to come by, but you would need shadowflesh from a Shade, and that would be much more difficult.”

Erick let that go, for now. He’d invent his theoretical gamma ray cloudkill spell, anyway, because it’d be useful in other ways. He asked, “What does a fight look like between a Shade, and say, Killzone?”

“Usually, Killzone just slaps the misbehaving Shade around while they try to fight back, but can’t, and the other Shades look on, laughing.” Anhelia added, “By ‘slapping’ I mean punching hard enough to have the offending Shade fly through a ten-meter wide kendrithyst tower. There’s also the slapping away of any magic used against him, and him using his arms like dull swords, that somehow still manage to cut. Also, constant battlefield movement. He perfected his [Shadowalk] long, long ago. I still remember when he was a young kid, fresh from the Geodes, but even then, he was a prodigy.

“You can’t hope to fight like him, and more than two Shades will still put Killzone on the back foot.”

Erick asked, “How about Extreme Light?”

Anhelia asked, “You mean like how Toxic Hydras destroy magic?”

That wasn’t what Erick meant, but that was a good question, too. He said, “Yes.”

“A variation of using antirhine. It works, but not well.” Anhelia frowned. “But you meant something else, don’t you?”

“Poisonous light.” Erick said, “Like the blacklight I gave to you, but on a much larger scale. Imbuing Decay into Light. That sort of thing.”

Anhelia shook her head, then paused. “… Maybe. I’m sure you could try with some… Mana Altering for Decay on an Aurify’d [Force Bomb]… With Alterings for Light damage? Maybe.” She continued, “But you have time to work on your magic. The largest point of failure in your assistance with this war, is your high profile.” Anhelia said, “I hate to say it, Erick, but you live in a very exposed and exploitable location.”

“… I’m not becoming a hermit.” Erick said, “That seems rather foolish, especially now.”

Anhelia smiled. “Yes. It would be rather foolish. But you must know your weaknesses going forward, for they will be used against you. But by the same turn, your unwillingness to be a hermit is a great boon. You have the ability to easily gather allies, since you have already worked with people who would seem your racial enemy.” She added, “I must say, the Magisterium was rather happy with your work, according to my sources.” She said, “Now, you just have to do that for everyone in the world, picking up pledges of service, and the rest of this will go rather smoothly, up until the end.”

Erick felt his stomach drop. He didn’t want to, but he asked, “What does the end of this conflict look like?”

Anhelia said, “Whatever happens going forward, the groundwork must be laid now, for once we do push them back to the Dead City, the rest of the world will decide that is enough. It has happened before, and it will happen again. I have failed 22 times in pushing farther forward. I’ve had archmages back out on me. I’ve had smaller nations back out on me. Outpost always helps, but they always back out, too. And in the interest of full disclosure, when archmages step into the fight, they are always targeted by the Shades.

“In the interest of further disclosure, Melemizargo constantly spies on anyone who works magic well, and this certainly includes every archmage. He will know your weaknesses, and the Shades will exploit your weaknesses.” Anhelia’s dark metal eyes seemed to hold great pain, as she said, “He will certainly know of you, and everything that gives you the will to live.”

“Yeah. I… I got that part.”

“This is what it comes down to:” Anhelia spoke from hard hitting experience, “In the war, at the end, there will be a moment, where the world could turn back, leaving the Shades to their Dead City, or face forward and end the threat. One of the Shades might offer a truce, and it will be real. A different Shade might reach up and murder those behind this recent expansion, and then ask for a truce. This, too, will be real. This is how a war with the Shades usually ends. This ending has taken a dozen different forms in these last eight centuries I have been a part of Spur, and each time, the world flinches. They are offered peace, and they accept. They feel they have done enough. So the war ends. Nations retreat to their corners, and the Shades are left to themselves, to lick their wounds and try again next time.

“But it won’t end that way, this time. You and I, Erick, we know the evil of the Shades. The other archmages of Spur are Silverite’s creatures, and they are complacent defenders. But this is not who you are. You and I know what must be done, so we cannot let the war end there.

“And this is what you can do:

“There will be a moment, after the archmages are finally loosed to join the fight against Ar’Kendrithyst, when half of them are dead and the nations rally, when the Crystal Forest is a smoldering crater and maybe Spur is destroyed, or maybe not, and everyone is scattered to the wind and all of our collective intent is aimed at destroying the Shades, something will happen. The exact nature changes each time, but each time it is the same: the Shades will threaten mutual destruction. They will not be lying. They only speak the horrible truth. It is in this moment that you must flood that city with every single high ranking spell you have.

“It must be a bloodbath. Annihilation to a degree never before seen.

“And with that action, the surviving Shades will band together and attack, and civilization will be forced to do the same.

“The beast will appear. Melemizargo will come.

“There will be another window; another chance at peace. Gods will involve themselves. Peace will be attempted by the weak hearted, but peace must be cast aside.

“Because I won’t let it end there,” Anhelia spoke with a depth to her voice, “Because this time I am going to do what needs to be done, far ahead of that fated day.” Anhelia’s fire retreated, as she said, “But you needn’t worry about that part.”

Erick got the distinct feeling that if he knew what Anhelia planned to do, that he would disapprove. So he did not ask her to elaborate. The mood was too heavy, and Anhelia’s cold anger was too serious.

So Erick attempted a joke. He smiled, and tried, “Or they could kill us all tomorrow?”

Anhelia paused. For one long moment, she was unmoored. And then the metal around her eyes crinkled, as her lips parted. She smiled, then laughed. It was a real laugh.

“But seriously though.” As she laughed, Erick asked, “Got any good ideas for killing spells against Shades?”

Anhelia laughed for a little bit more, as she tried to say, “Yes. Yes. I have lots of known good combinations.” She calmed. She said, “And since we’re in this together, I won’t even charge you.”

Erick smiled.

“You almost laughed!” Anhelia admitted, “It wasn’t a very good joke. I got too serious, there. Anyway… I finished making all my magic a long, long time ago, but I do know of some of the better Shade-killing spells.” She reached down to the table between them, and pulled out a hidden compartment. A thin book laid inside. She handed the book to Erick, saying, “They’re in there and the good ones are the three in front, but let’s talk about them.”

Erick took the thin book, and flipped a little way through. It was a compiled breakdown of several stronger spells, along with the math he had often seen elsewhere, and higher-level overviews of those spells. He glanced at the first one. It was something called [Shattering Light], that was useful for destroying structures and shadowy monsters. The next was for a summon to flood the battlefield with anti-shadow lightballs, called [Radiant Wisp]; it was a crowd control spell best used against shadow monsters. Erick flipped to the third one, and said, “Oh. I was thinking of something like this.”

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Anhelia glanced over. “[Carving Radiance] is probably the best one there.”

 

– – – –

 

Poi stood strong, stationed at the top of a staircase, in front of the door to Anhelia’s tea room, unintentionally listening in to the verbal and nonverbal conversation happening behind his back. The room was [Ward]ed against most conventional means of spying, and Anhelia was well trained to keep her thoughts to herself, but that couldn’t stop Poi. Poi couldn’t really stop himself from listening in, anyway, even if he wanted to.

He found himself wishing Anhelia well.

She would fail, but maybe not completely. Maybe she could strike a smaller blow than killing the Dark Dragon. Maybe her plot would kill all the Shades, and with Melemizargo’s clergy gone, he would lose power. It was widely speculated that if a god were to lose all their clergy and their believers, then they would begin to die, themselves, but no one really knew if that were true, or not.

Poi paused his own thoughts.

He almost laughed.

Look at him! Thinking about how to kill a god! That was like planning to stop the moons from rising, or Veird from turning. Crazy thoughts. Intrusive thoughts, maybe. Truly foolish, too, but foolish in the way of dreams. Even aiming for them, knowing they were impossible, might get you closer to your ideal life, and if anything was worth pursuing, it was that. But killing Shades was nasty business, full of consequences—

Kiri interrupted Poi’s thoughts, sending, ‘Is he done yet?’

Poi sent back, ‘He’ll be a while. Go on home, if you wish.’

‘We’ll do that, then. See you later.’

 

– – – –

 

With the sun shining outside, Erick wrote on a blackboard in the empty third floor room.

–

Shattering Light

(t1)[Force Bomb] + (t1)[Force Wave] = (t2)[Prime Area] (goal of designating an area as under your intent)(most difficult part, since force spells want to do damage)

(t2)[Prime Area] + (t1)Mana Alter: Light = (t3)[Light Shift] (goal of priming an area with your intentioned light)(second most difficult part)

(t1)[Force Shrapnel] + (t1)Mana Alter: Light = (t2)[Broken Light]

(t3)[Light Shift] + (t2)[Broken Light] (goal of making shrapnel at the location) = (t4)[Breaking Light]

(t4)[Breaking Light] + (t1)Mana Shaping, 500 (for deeper soaking of intent and range) + (t1)[Lightshape] (for ripping it all apart) = (t5)[Shattering Light]

–

[Radiant Wisp]

(t1)[Conjure Force Elemental] + (t1)Mana Alter: Light + (t1)[Lightshape] = (t2)[Summon Bright Wisp]

(t2)[Summon Bright Wisp] + (t1)[Shadowshape] = (t3)[Radiant Wisp]

–

[Carving Radiance]

(t1)[Force Bomb] + (t1)[Force Wave] = (t2)[Prime Area] (goal of designating an area as under your intent)(most difficult part, since force spells want to do damage)

(t1)[Force Beam] + (t1)Mana Alter: Fire + (t1)Mana Alter: Light = (t2)[Firelight Beam]

(t2)[Firelight Beam] + (t1)[Force Bomb] (careful to make the spell explode at the end of the beam, not at the beginning!) = (t3)[Firelight Exploder]

(t2)[Prime Area] + (t1)Mana Alter: Fire + (t1)Mana Alter: Light = (t3)[Land of Firelight]

(t3)[Firelight Exploder] + (t3)[Land of Firelight] = (t4)[Carving Radiance]

+ Mana Shaping as needed for longer range. You want longer range.

–

Erick looked over the board and said to himself, “Multiple uses of multiple spells at the same time… Difficult, but I guess that’s what archmages do.” He added, “And a tier 3 summon is rather close to sapience. But I’ll need soldiers. A way to even the battlefield.” He glanced over to an empty board and then to Ophiel, sitting on a stand. “And I think I need another one of you. What kind of brother or sister would you like?”

Ophiel responded with a confused guitar strum and a hopeful harp twang.

Erick asked, “[Fireshape]?”