175, 2/2

Erick stepped into the hallway close to Tasar’s office, but before he could knock, Tasar’s green copper mother opened the door, inviting him inside with a small smile and an easy countenance. She asked if he wished for tea, and this time they might actually get to enjoy it since Tasar might be a while. Erick accepted.

Erick sat down across from the older woman. “Tasar took me to her home neighborhood yesterday. It was a bit of a culture shock, but still enjoyable. I assume it was your hometown, too?”

Otaliya poured tea, happily saying, “Yes. Many, many centuries ago, but I haven’t been back in a long time. Not since I ran into my former husband and everything changed. Tasar goes back sometimes but I bet either of us could answer questions about it. Why do you ask?” She handed him his tea, then sipped her own.

Erick took his tea, sipped it, and set it back down, before saying, “A few reasons. The main one though, is that I want to know what it means to deal with the adamantium wrought, and you might be able to shine some nice light on that situation. I’ll probably ask Tasar, too, but that seems like it could be insensitive.”

“Not much experience with wrought, eh?”

“Practically zero.” Erick said, “Though now as I’m saying it, it seems rather ridiculous to not just ask her these sorts of questions, too.”

Otaliya smiled a bit, saying, “Many people operate under certain misapprehensions about wrought, mainly regarding the idea that since we’re all made of different metals and since we have a caste system that we’re all truly different from each other. This is both vastly untrue, and yet also true in smaller ways. In the smaller ways, Silvers like their magics, Coppers like their routines more than most, and the Heavies like cultivating, maintaining, and ensuring the proper use of power. But in the larger ways, everyone can love and live with everyone else. But love often leads to children, and certain blends… They do not survive. I got lucky with my children. Many others aren’t ever willing to take the chance.

“But as for the Heavies themselves— The adamantium. They are the rulers by ancient decree, and they take that role very seriously. That’s all you really have to know about them. Individually they’re as different as anyone, but on the whole, they are born ready to break the world if they have to, in order to make it better, and this makes them both great leaders and terribly stubborn. If you try to fit into their world they’ll love you more than most. If you go against the flow they’ll discard you at best, or… They’ll try to discard you, first. Escalation is never the best way to deal with the Heavies.”

Erick felt some relief, but an entirely new set of apprehensions fell upon his shoulders.

“Thank you.” Erick asked, “Do you have any advice for someone headed into an inquiry with the Church of Rozeta and others?”

“Oh!” Otaliya perked up. “Are you headed into an inquiry?”

“I am, as soon as I get around to it.” Erick said, “I was given suggestions to speak to at least three emergency inquiry preparatory committees before I go to my inquiry, and to take my Bright Tea appointment before the inquiry, too.”

Otaliya went still for a moment, seeming to decide something. Then she said, “All good advice. I used to do a lot of that years ago. I can serve as one of those EIPCs, if you desire, free of charge, and give you a wrought perspective that is different from most. I used to do this all the time for people in your particular situation of needing to deal with the Heavies and other powerful organizations inside Stratagold.” She rapidly added, “But you should get some current-day EIPCs, too. Downstairs in the main lobby, down to the right, you’ll find many inquiry services. An emergency IPC will cost a fair bit, but you would likely get a massive discount due to their desire to secure a win. They all trade on their reputations down there, and getting a win with you would put them in a category higher than most others.” She smiled, adding, “Savior of Light.”

Erick smiled. “Well then.” He nodded. “I believe I will take you up on that offer, but not today. I still have some organization of my own to clear away before I start thinking about my inquiry. This is lovely tea, by the way. What kind is it?”

“Tasar goes far and wide with her t-stations, so this one comes all the way from…”

They spoke of nothing in particular for a little while until Tasar showed.

– – – –

In a well-guarded room in the center of the embassy, Erick walked with Tasar down a solid hallway deep into the bowels of the place. They passed guards stationed to prevent entry and magical barriers that could be thrown up to block egress whenever they were needed. There were even a pair of portcullises on both ends of the hallway. At the end of the short descent was a grand space that only had one way in and one way out, and only contained a few objects; a guard station near the entrance, a blast door ready to slam shut in case of wrongful entry, a large holographic map of the t-station networks distributed across the world, and one single t-station, sitting in the center.

As they were in the room, a pair of people popped out of the t-station, glanced at Erick and Tasar, and kept walking up the hallway. They showed papers to the guards—

More people blipped in, then moved out.

So this place was an actual working t-station node, then? The structure of the place and all the traffic brought forth a question that had percolated in Erick’s mind, but which he hadn’t gotten to ask until now.

“So these things are all over the place… Why was Enduring Forge trying to create them? They would know that these t-stations already existed, right?” He looked to Tasar, asking, “Did I get sucked into your t-network when I stepped onto that pad in Enduring Forge?”

“Ah. Well… Those are complicated questions.” Tasar said, “What happened when you stepped on that hexagon of deep sky silver is that your possibility was magnified and turned to mana and then transmitted, but the bounding runes on that pad were weakly made and too destructive, so you ended up following the normal paths that thick air mana takes to the Core. It’s a miracle you didn’t die, but you are on the Worldly Path, so unlikely events do tend to happen in your particular case. But you didn’t touch upon any ‘t-station network’, for there is no t-station network; not like you have with a Gate Network.”

“Hmm.”

There were a lot more questions to ask, But…

“So I understand that you try to keep runework out of the hands of people who would misuse it…” Erick asked, “Did you guys do anything to Enduring Forge, when I vanished?”

“That particular nascent t-station has since been removed from Enduring Forge because it was very incorrectly made. It’s my understanding that their head Rune Smith was in search of answers as to the death of her former husband due to that same pad, so after this development we tried to tell her what likely happened to the best of our abilities. Her husband likely followed the same path that you did to the Core, like many other people have before you. Perhaps Enduring Forge will write down what we told them so we won’t have to have this discussion with them again in another 25 years, but someone is always trying something to replicate the success of the t-stations, and they’re always failing, and usually with deaths happening to cement that failure.” Tasar said, “Rarely do we catch those people before they kill themselves.”

Tasar had probably seen a lot of people kill themselves due to improper Spatial Magic.

And yet, Erick had to ask, “Will you be giving Enduring Forge assistance with making a real t-station?”

“Not at all.” Tasar said, “This network is highly vulnerable to ingress, so it has to be commensurately more secure. We don’t really allow the public to use these things, either.” She glanced at another pair of people who had come down the hallway behind Erick and Tasar, to step on the t-station and vanish to parts unknown. “All these people are cleared for certain travel, but this location is very secure. It is our hope that you will eventually take the t-station near Yggdrasil and put it in a more secure location.” She added, “And also not replicate it on the Surface.”

Erick could have gotten mad about that.

But…

He took all his hateful thoughts about the regressive educational policies of the powers of this world and put them in a box, and then he buried that box in the far back of his mind, for now. Later, he would unearth that box and have a grand time yelling at someone who deserved it. Did Tasar deserve this yelling? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Did the Headmaster? Oh most certainly yes, but Erick would at least have a calm talk with that Old Dragon before the yelling began. Hopefully, Erick could hold it together when they visited Archmage’s Rest…

So Erick just breathed, and he prepared for whatever was about to happen by distracting himself, first.

He stood before the holographic map. It was a globe cut into a hundred layers, like an onion, and upon every layer there were separate, veiny networks of various colors; diagrams of individual t-station networks. The t-station in the room was connected to a golden-colored network that spanned the world. Other colored networks were located around other Geodes, leading to other lands. This particular t-station, if Erick was reading it right, did not connect to those other nodes, but it did connect to the larger t-stations inside Stratagold’s network.

All these people coming in and out of this node were likely coming from the major ports allied with Stratagold.

Erick asked, “Which one is Archmage’s Rest?”

Tasar gestured to the t-station, saying, “Archmage’s Rest is north of Stratagold in a place called Vibrant Falls. I think you’ll like it. Most people do.”

Erick accompanied Tasar onto the platform.

The world blipped black and green.

– – – –

The world came back and Erick stared outward at the beautiful lands ahead, for the t-station was positioned on an open spit of land. Tasar said something about moving off to the side, and Erick followed her lead, but also, he just stared.

The land was broken for a hundred kilometers up and down. It was like someone had opened up a hundred separate levels of the Underworld and played with the geology that made the world work, creating metropolis-sized spires of horizontal stone that reached out from shadowed spaces beyond sight, pointing toward the largest waterfall Erick had ever seen. A silent ocean poured down through the center of this massive space, blue and shining with light, while greenery grew on every kilometers-long spire. The magnitude of the space was hard to truly fathom, for Erick had seen wrecked land before, but this was on a whole other level; on a whole hundred levels.

And yet, it wasn’t wrecked at all. The land was cultivated, illuminated, with smaller waterfalls pouring down from higher spires to lower spires, creating lakes and streams that then poured down to the next level. Fishes flew in the air, alongside birds. Clouds were everywhere. Mist obscured much of the central space, for that central waterfall was kilometers across.

It wasn’t nearly as loud as he thought it should be. All Erick could really hear was a gentle wind and some far away river.

People lived here; a lot of people. Mansions and log cabins and stone castles and buildings with curled corner roofs and even a yurt, over there; people were everywhere, and yet each were on their own. A few small cities were scattered in the bright cavern, but mostly people lived on their own, with their own farms and their own caretakers. They weren’t all wrought out there, either; mostly, they were fleshy people.

Erick looked up, and saw even more. Spires reached out above him like the fingers of gods to touch the waterfall and tear off small pieces of it as it fell. He couldn’t see all the way up, and nor could he see all the way down. He wanted to explore, but also, he knew he could not. Not right now.

Erick rapidly proceeded through a dozen different emotions, and said, “The Underworld really is on a different level than the Surface, isn’t it. I truly had no idea— I mean. I knew. But I didn’t know.”

Tasar smiled at that. Then she gestured toward a building down the path, saying, “Let’s head to the main office.”

The building was rather simple in design but that simplicity was a lie to fool the people who couldn’t see the truth. With [True Sight] active, the 2 story townhouse that was their destination became merely the foyer for a grand castle that…

Erick recognized the form of Archmage’s Rest. He had seen it before.

“It’s the Grand Wizard’s Tower of the Core,” Erick said. He glanced around. A lot of things were hidden by illusions, from the guard station with its guards over there, to the [Familiar]s hiding in some of the branches of the trees; all of them watched Erick and Tasar as they strolled by. But there were no statues of Wizards anywhere. “Different, though.”

Tasar nodded as they walked, saying, “The Worldly Path moves the Walker in odd, replicating and yet escalating ways. I look forward to experiencing this phenomenon again when we walk the Path into other lands. It will be difficult, but nothing good is ever easy.”

“No Wizard statues is kinda bugging me, though. Why none of them?”

“Wizards are, as always, a threat. We do not venerate them.” Tasar said, “We are not the gods, with their Sights of the before-times, when they saw Wizards as more than the true monsters that they are.”

Erick left most of that discussion on the table and picked up, “Then why the recreation of the tower?”

“Ah.” Tasar said, “The Dark actually did that. Every time Archmage’s Rest has come together the Dark has changed the building around us to this form. Eventually we accepted it as the cost of doing business.”

Erick eyed Tasar. “… Really.”

Tasar smiled and laughed a little. “Truly! The Dark loves the Wizards —which is one more reason to add to the pile of why they cannot be allowed to openly live on Veird— and he hates us, and we hate the Wizards, so he tortures us with this sort of small [Strike].”

With every conversation Erick had about Wizards he felt more and more a pull toward the Dark, simply due to the desire to survive. He could practically see it now: Him, discovered as a Wizard, facing off against the wrought and every other normal society on Veird. With the shadelings protecting him, Yggdrasil would blow up crucial infrastructure across the entire world, to prevent an easy war against him, but he would still fail. Then Melemizargo would sweep in at the last second to secure Erick’s life, further alienating everyone…

Erick put those thoughts in a box and threw away the key, as he said, “I hope you can contain that anger if we do find a Wizard. I don’t come from your culture, so I have no basis for this hate, but anyone with half a Sight to see would see this hate of yours and run the other way or fight to the death.”

Tasar pulled back everything; her emotions, her self, her own hatred. She had accidentally let too much show, and now she was chastised and she didn’t like it. After another moment she hid her disgust at how easily she was seen through, and simply said, “You are correct. I will likely need to let you take forward position when we meet a Wizard, for I have met too many to see them as anything other than dangerous.”

Erick said, “I would hear of your other meetings later, if you are willing to tell.”

Tasar relaxed a fraction. “Of course. The people inside will have insights and histories into the Wizards of Veird as well, though we might not get that far today.”

They had reached the front door to the fake entrance. It opened for them automatically, revealing an entrance to a large foyer that Erick had already seen once, with people standing around the space like they were welcoming Erick and Tasar to a cake party at a food court at a mall. Riivo was there, standing right in front of an array of ten other people, only a few of which were made of metal. Erick recognized one of the other fleshy people as Ryul, the 20-something red harpy Force Mage he had met at Oceanside. The barely dressed bird-man looked excited to see Erick, and he was, for he was the first to start clapping.

In a flickering moment, everyone else started clapping, too, with Riivo giving a loud cheer, followed soon by everyone else in attendance. Lights, like minor fireworks, flashed in the air as illusory streamers fell down from on high, cementing the festive atmosphere. Behind the archmages there were more people stationed to the sides of the large food court-like space, some servers in the very back, but a lot of apprentices or otherwise in robes and such who joined in the cheer, shaking the building with their clapping, hollering mirth.

Erick stood stunned.

He had not seen any of this until he stepped through the front doors, and now that he was here it was too late to back out and simply run away. So he put on a happy face, and with any luck his facade of joy would turn real, soon enough.

Old man Riivo stepped forward, clapping his iron hands together and smiling wide. The crowd quieted a bit, and then all the way, as Riivo began to speak, “It is not often that we gather to celebrate the accomplishments of one person. Gathering in thanks happens even less, but it does happen! Today we have the honor to do both. Thank you, Archmage Erick Flatt, for all you’ve contributed to the advancement of magic on Veird, for all you have done against the Dark, and for all we hope you will one day achieve! Thank you!”

As one, everyone on this level and the level above, cheered, “Thank you!”

A band in the back of the room started playing a jaunty tune on violins and other assorted string instruments. Ophiel perked up on Erick’s shoulder, wanting to go play with the band, but Erick kept him near as Riivo further approached.

Riivo smiled at Erick, then spoke to Tasar, “I see it managed to stay a surprise.”

“He has a lot on his mind, so it is good that this happened sooner, rather than later.” Tasar nodded to Erick. “Congratulations and thank you, Erick. This is Riivo’s base of power, though, so I will go get some cake. Want me to get you a slice?”

“Yes.” Erick said, “And a beer.”

Tasar smirked, then nodded as she walked off.

Erick refused to be overly paranoid, though a large part of him wanted to calculate all the ways in which these people could kill him if they wanted, but as he scanned the eyes of everyone looking his way, as he saw the lack of magic among most of them, he knew he wasn’t in immediate danger. Or, at least, that’s what he wanted to believe. He really should have seen this sort of surprise coming. Did he miss any clues from Tasar? Did he—

Riivo smiled as he softly said, “Now you’re probably wondering how come you didn’t see this coming, as would anyone in your situation. But the fact is that Tasar told us you were coming here not twenty minutes ago and then we got everything ready rather quickly. You’d be surprised how easy it is to put together a party down here. This is only the night crew, though. More people will likely start showing up as the night progresses, but we archmages are a busy lot. I expect some people to come in and grab some cake and then scurry off, but you!” As though he was telling a joke, Riivo said, “You get to be the center of attention, and maybe we can even figure out some magic you desire, eh?”

Erick… Did feel better about the suddenness of the festivities, and now that he looked around, he saw a lot of people had gone right back to talking to whoever they were with, as though conversations had been interrupted and could now resume. A few people had gone back into their offices on the second floor, but many people in the audience were already attacking the various dishes set out for all. Some were very much waiting for their chance to speak to Erick, though.

“Thanks for the explanation, and for excusing my jumpiness.” Erick tried to return Riivo’s smile as he said, “It’s been a tough year.”

Light laughter came easily from the iron man. Riivo gestured back to the party, saying, “Come! Let me introduce you to some future companions. We don’t have every archmage in our little club, but everyone here has proven their character ten times over, and we all work to ensure that the world is a bit more stable today than it was yesterday.”

Erick joked, but not really, “Then you must all secretly hate me.”

A few true smiles. A few fake ones. A few non-reactions.

Riivo gave a true chuckle, then said, “Ah! It’s all about where we go from here, Erick, for only a fool would deny the benefits of forcing destruction and repentance upon the Dark Clergy.”

The gathered archmages relaxed at that—

Ryul the harpy took a half step forward and happily said, “From non-humble beginnings to this, and now going after [Gate]! I still owe you for that lesson with Particle Magic, Erick, but now I also owe you for clearing out all the Dark Sects that have plagued my homeland for centuries.”

Erick brightened. “I was wondering where you were over there.”

“My jobs take me to many places,” Ryul said.

Riivo spoke up, “Ryul joined us right out of Oceanside. Headmaster Kirginatharp recommended him, and he has proven to be a valued asset to us, and to the safety of the world. Some of the cleanest Force Magic I have seen in a long time.”

Ryul bowed just his head, then took a half step back.

Riivo explained, “In Archmage’s Rest, you get what you put in, and Ryul here is an example of those who decide to take the heaviest burdens to achieve access to our deepest libraries. He’s got a lot left to go, but he’s headed in the right direction.”

“Worse ways to catch up to everyone else than killing off monsters and protecting places here and there,” Ryul said.

“Quite right.” Riivo gestured to a pink-metal incani man on the far left, saying, “This is Devond, an archmage with a strict focus on Book Magic, and our head librarian in charge of the archives. He controls who gets to see what, so one must go through him to achieve the best known answers to whatever magics you might desire— But only with the correct permissions, of course.”

Devond bowed his head, remaining silent and impassive.

Riivo gestured to the human-shaped woman next in line, who was made of iridescent metal, saying, “This is Aisha. She is also one of our librarians, but her skills are in both Book Magic and Prognostication, with a focus on the past. While Devond is in charge of physical copies of the library, Aisha knows all the lore you could ever desire to know.”

Aisha gave a small smile and a smaller nod. “I’d like to talk to you about your pursuit of your Worldly Path when you get a chance, to help you arrive at the best possible end without the final step being into the Dark.”

“I would like that.” Erick said, “Thank you.”

Riivo nodded, then continued, “And here we have…”

There were a lot of names. A lot of fields of study to memorize, recall, and connect to other people in the crowds. Riivo took Erick through all of them. Soon enough, Tasar came back with a drink and Erick’s cake at the end of those introductions. All throughout, there was an undercurrent of working toward order and peace, while hammering down chaos and disruption. More than once, Erick got the hint that Riivo and the others wanted him to pull back his plans for the world, but Riivo knew none of those specific plans and Erick wasn’t going to have that conversation with these people at the moment.

Eventually the archmages had had their introductions, and either their requests for more talk later or their polite, yet silent exits from the conversation. Some people got up and left the party altogether, after they had made their meeting. Erick got the impression that some of these people appreciated him, but many just wished he would not be there, for whatever unsaid reason. Erick wasn’t going to press any of them for answers, though, because he did not need that sort of drama in his life.

Eventually, Riivo and Tasar guided Erick around the place, pointing out various services that he could use now that he was a member. Somehow, Erick had become a member without actually signing any paperwork, and he brought this up, to which Riivo just smiled and said that they could fill that out right now if he wanted. Or he could do it later. Whichever he decided, Erick was already guaranteed entrance down to seven star level of the library, but only years of safety and security would allow him to go deeper to 10 star and beyond. Erick asked about inquiry preparations. Riivo pointed out that they had an office for that, too. Offices to get approved for a t-station were over there; this was one of Tasar’s many work offices, actually. Places to hire out quests for people which you couldn’t be arsed to do yourself were located right over there; a branch of the Adventurer’s Guild, but small, and for archmages only.

Apprentice services. Resource requests from Stratagold. Prognostication and planning services turned out to be a whole floor of the building, where they often did outsourcing for whoever was vetted for hiring. Archmage services for hire were also an option, which is what Ryul was doing to climb the ranks. Three whole floors above that were the private offices of the various archmages in residence, for very few archmages wished to be on their own; it was dangerous out there. But mostly those offices were fronts; empty of substance and only used for [Familiar] speaking. Many of them had [Familiar]s of various sorts hanging out atop desks in those rooms, but the archmages themselves were mostly located at their houses in the lands of Vibrant Falls. If one needed a truly private meeting with any of the archmages here, they could go meet the archmage in person, outside of Archmage’s Rest.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.

“It truly is a beautiful land out there,” Erick said, as they passed a window.

“It is.” Riivo said, “Do you wish for a plot of land out there? I can secure that for you.”

“Oh. No. Thank you, though. Spur is home and I have plans for there, anyway.” Erick said, “I’m just surprised that a place like this exists at all, with Melemizargo being near all archmages, all the time.”

Riivo nodded sagely.

Tasar said, “The Dark God is a being of insane desires but he is not all powerful. We’ve scared him off ten thousand times since the birth of our people. The last time he tried something destructive here in Vibrant Falls we took a wing.”

“The Shades came by and stole that wing not five hours later, but I almost got a new cloak out of it.” Riivo said. “They avoid direct confrontations because they know they would lose… And sadly, we are guilty of the same fault.”

Erick scrunched his face. “But he turns wherever you gather into a Grand Wizard’s Tower?”

Riivo scowled for the first time in the night, saying, “He does that whenever I’m out of residence. Very annoying.”

“There is a bit of a disconnect, isn’t there.” Tasar shrugged. “He has power and he uses it in strange ways all the time. I have no explanation beyond his insanity.”

Riivo “I’m partial to the Evil God theory.”

“I haven’t heard that one.” Erick said, “But I have heard of Dark Gods before. They’re not the same?”

“No, they are not. Modern church teachings conflate many terms, but…” Riivo explained, “Gods require worship to remain in power, naturally granted to them by people who work under that god’s auspices or direction, but not all worship is the same. Wishing for a god not to harm, and then that god not harming, thus fulfilling that wish, is about the same as wishing for a god to help, and then that god helping. In this way, by simply not harming, the Dark God passively accumulates half of all worship, while actual desire for help is fulfilled by every other god out there, depending on individual desire. There is a bit of overlap in some areas, though, like with Sininindi and people desiring for storms not to harm their experiences on the ocean, or with Sumtir taking worship from both sides of battle when both sides think they are in the right.” Riivo said, “People are the base cause of godly occurrence, but since all of the actually-Evil gods failed to make it to Veird in the Sundering, and since people still produce both evil and good, the Dark God took on the Evil half of worship. Before that he was just neutral, and Dark, but now he is unavoidably Evil.”

Erick paused. “I’ve heard some of that before. But not quite so… succinct.”

Tasar held a gentle smile, as she said, “So very blasphemous, too.”

Erick rapidly added, “And I never heard that as an explanation for Melemizargo’s insanity.”

“It’s quite possible he’s a truly neutral god,” Riivo said, “But because people will always produce Good and Evil worship, that Evil had to go somewhere so it went into him. Doesn’t change anything, but it’s good to know what one is dealing with when one has to do dealings.”

Erick was reminded… “So killing all the Clergy was never the way to actually de-power Melemizargo, was it.”

“It’s made a difference.” Riivo said, “That, or maybe some of his insanity is going away, for real. But if the insanity is a problem of him soaking in the Evil of the world, then I dare say that he is likely finally acclimating to the Evil, and that is something to truly fear.”

Erick had a lot of thoughts in quick succession, then he asked the important question, “Does mana actually need to have an ‘evil’ force in it to be balanced? Or is that simply your interpretation of events and situations? Is there such a thing as ‘Elemental Evil’?”