185, 2/2

Erick stepped onto what appeared to be the upper levels of Ar’Cosmos Arcanaeum. Illustrious Moon stood to his side, smiling a little as Erick took in the sights, but then she took notice of who was coming to greet them. Her smile took on a strained edge due to one of the newcomers, but she maintained her professional persona.

The people coming this way were a ways off, so Erick glanced all around at the school, first.

This layer of the arcanaeum was almost like a university campus, but the blocky buildings were separated by bridges and small green spaces, instead of by large expanses of green. The buildings were more like massive towers, though, for all the green spaces and bridges were actually the roofs of the next level down, where even more small green spaces and bridges connected the still-separated towers to each other. But then, further past that, was what appeared to be the third and final level of the school, with buildings separated by little more than large thoroughfares and hallways. Every floor was the roof of the next building below, and Erick would not be surprised if there was a fourth level, or even a fifth level, far below the solidness that he could see through Ophiel’s eyes.

External stairwells connected all levels to each other, in some byzantine organization that Erick could probably figure out if he wanted to, for there were signs everywhere, but he did not care to unravel the Escher-like architecture at this time. He did not doubt that there were internal stairwells, too, which probably added to the confusion. Lighting was ample, though, illuminating what normally would have been deeply shadowed spaces below. Instead of the spaces below seeming like dark holes, they seemed more like recesses full of daylight.

Students in blue and white uniforms, either robes or suits, walked everywhere. Most of them were young, and dragonkin, with tails or with horns or without, and in obvious cliques or study groups, with books set in their laps or between them as they read and conversed on the green spaces, or in gazebo-like structures. Many were walking back and forth between classes, with most of the visible people out and about on the second and third levels down.

There weren’t that many students on the top level, where Erick and Illustrious had arrived, but there were a few people who were obvious teachers, who wore shoulder capes in various colors.

Two of those teachers had finally reached them, to stand before Erick and Illustrious.

One was a man of average build with dark skin and a long red beard that he had split into two twisting braids. His hair was similarly long and braided, to fall back behind his robed self, while his horns were strongly red and curved to the sides like a ram’s, but not really that at all. He had a bright red cape over his left shoulder—

Ah. His horns were the same as Redflame’s horns? Yes, they were. Redflame, then? The Dragon Stalkers had said that dragons liked to keep their same horns in their forms, so it was easy to tell who was who even outside of their full selves. Therefore, this man was either Redflame, or one of Redflame’s close relatives. From his genuine grin and the way he made sure not to show his teeth when he smiled, Erick suspected this was actually Redflame, himself.

The other teacher was a tall, skinny man with pale, severe features and a grey shoulder cape. His horns went up and out, while his robe had a lot of long lines of gold from top to bottom, making the man’s height seem excessive, in Erick’s opinion. He was even taller than Illustrious.

Both of the people did not have tails.

Illustrious introduced the first man, saying, “I believe you already met Redflame the other day.”

Redflame smiled wider, saying, “I am pleased to see you showing interest in our ways, Erick. It bodes well for future cooperation, but news of the circumstances that have brought you here are starting to circulate, and I have had some time to think more since yesterday. Such appalling treatment is not good for our future relations, so I would like to know how to make this better for you. I apologize on Fairy Moon’s behalf, and will say that Fairy Moon is simply a great deal worried about the future, and I don’t blame her—”

The severe man sighed a little, directing his casual and long-suffering ire toward Redflame, who was still talking.

“— so I just wanted to say that I am for cooperation, and not for whatever containment is going on here— And my colleague is getting testy! So that’s what I wanted to say.” Redflame said, “Glad to see you again.”

Erick felt some warmth from the man for that…

He wanted to believe that this school was simply a normal school, and the city was simply a normal city, and that everyone here was just trying to live their lives, which most people often did. Everything he had seen so far made that belief easy. This boded well for future relations.

But the rulers here… the people who actually had an impact on Erick…

He didn’t know if they were lying to him. Aside from how Erick had arrived here in Ar’Cosmos, which was still a very large issue, everything here was Fae Magic, and that stuff was rather close to Illusion Magic… Could he trust them? Only as far as he could test them, he supposed.

So he would ask questions. He would investigate truths. If he found nothing untoward, then true cooperation might happen. That was what Erick had wanted, anyway, before Fairy Moon stole him away to this place. These people were all here because a terrible curse held them tight in its grip, and so they had done horrible things to survive, but they truly did seem to want to be normal people.

And that was good.

And so: Redflame’s words were nice, and it meant something important that he was willing to say them so openly instead of in the comfort and privacy of his house… Erick decided to believe him until proven otherwise.

He said, “I appreciate the sentiment, Redflame. I hope that such words will form the foundation for a long and peaceful cooperation in some manner or another. I have thought about your words since yesterday, too. I would speak of the potential fallout of [Renew] in a more private setting, though.”

Redflame’s shoulders relaxed as he smiled brightly, accidentally showing his perfect white teeth. And then he shut his lips tight, before saying, “This makes me glad.”

And then the severe man eyed Illustrious.

Illustrious smirked as she introduced the severe man. “Erick Flatt, this is Inferno Maw, High Chancellor of the magical side of Ar’Cosmos Arcanaeum, which is only about a third of what we do here so he’s not that important.”

Inferno Maw eyed Illustrious.

Erick jerked a little bit at the man’s name, though. He said, “Ah. Hello. I did not expect to see another head of house today. Did not know you worked at the arcanaeum, either.”

“I did not expect to be introduced second, so it’s a day full of unexpected events,” Inferno Maw said, sarcastically.

Illustrious’s smirk remained firmly planted on her face.

Inferno Maw gave the woman a half-lidded eye roll, and then he turned his full attention to Erick. “If you will permit me a small spiel: Welcome to Ar’Cosmos Arcanaeum, Erick Flatt. Our libraries and our classes are open to you for whatever needs you need. I’ve heard that you’ve had recent success with runework. If you desire to learn this magic here, then we have courses on this study. We also have courses on enchanting, if you desire that as well. Or instead of runework; whichever. Most magics are different here than they are on Veird, but magic is possibility, and true enchanting and true magic will still work from here to there, mostly. The reverse is very much not true at all.” He added, “But! The reason I open my arcanaeum up to you is not out of an idea of altruism; we can’t all be heroes like yourself. I heard that you wish to remove the Dragon Curse. I have no doubt that in the years to come you might actually find a way, but the only way to do this is to open a line of communication between us and Kirginatharp that he will respect; to create a cooperation between Ar’Cosmos and Oceanside. The Curse will need to be removed at its source, after all. Of course, I am not asking you to blindly trust us at this juncture, and especially not considering how you were stolen to here by Fairy Moon, nor am I expecting this construction to take place in a matter of years, or even decades. But I feel that you’re our best chance at ridding our people of this affliction, and so, this is my reason for helping you to learn whatever you wish to learn. Keep this in mind going forward.”

The man was heavily forthright, and he seemed to be telling the truth.

What Inferno Maw wanted was something that Erick believed he wanted, too.

Rozeta had said that this world would not survive a true flight of dragons, though, but even if she was right, they still had time to work out the particulars of a cure. If this [Gate] thing worked out, it would be a hundred years before they needed to actually plan around gaining new worlds. A timeline to curing the dragon curse might take that long, considering how difficult life had been for everyone involved so far.

Erick felt another loosening around his heart.

Everyone here seemed to want the same things as Erick. Motivations and goals were different, but…

That was fine.

Erick said, “I don’t fancy myself a hero, for I simply wish to fix as many wrongs as I can, and the Dragon Curse seems to be one of them. If your offers and your hospitality are real and true, then I look forward to cooperation with your people for a long time to come.”

Illustrious seemed a fraction concerned as Erick mentioned ‘real and true’, but Redflame was trying desperately not to show his teeth as he smiled wide. Inferno Maw was simply pragmatic.

“Our offers are real and true, so I foresee no issues in the immediate future.” Inferno Maw asked, “Do you have any particular need that our arcanaeum can fulfill, at this moment?”

Erick did have a need. He said, “I want to see how a core is formed, the methods and reasonings by which accretion works, and what it means to soul-bind a spell into one’s core. I also want to speak to some of your Wizards.”

Redflame turned quizzical, looking to Illustrious. Illustrious nodded.

“Not what I was expecting,” Inferno Maw said, unconcerned for Redflame’s or Illustrious’s reactions. “Accretion business is easy enough. The arcanaeum cannot assist you with [Gate Space] creation, which is what I was expecting, so I’ll just say that now. Not only are our Wizards incapable, they do not know how to make a [Gate]. Illustrious would be the one to ask after that particular magic. Or Fairy Moon herself. Our current batch of Wizards would likely fail to grasp even the major nuances of this magic, for once their mana was stripped of them they lost all capability. Without a cheat, they cannot compete!”

Erick did not like that last part.

Redflame scowled at that part, too, complaining, “The ones here might not be great creators of magic these days, but they are no less capable than any tier 5 mage, and they’re all great teachers. They all learned how to do proper magic.” He turned to Erick. “It is a common misconception that the wearing-out of a Wizard means they can no longer function in society, but it is true that they are no longer capable of easy magic. This is what Inferno Maw means when he says such a cruel thing.”

Inferno Maw brushed off Redflame’s comments with a huff, and then he said, “I suppose Arnolio is decent. The other three just lost their love of magic; that’s the only real thing that can truly break a Wizard.”

While that was fascinating…

Erick wanted to go back to an earlier point, since the three dragons had seemed to move on too fast from it for his liking. He said, “Speaking of cruelty: I appreciate your acknowledgment that what Fairy Moon did was a theft. That means a lot. I will have you know, though, that until that event, I was predisposed to judging in your favor, for I was already hoping for some sort of cooperation to rid the world of the cause of dragon fights and other, smaller evils.” He added, “Now, though, I am here against my will, and Fairy Moon has threatened a lot, and… It’s been a lot.”

Illustrious gave a small sigh. Redflame seemed to be experiencing a lot of different emotions, most of them happy, though he kept the majority of whatever was happening to him in that moment under a lot of wraps.

Inferno Maw was direct, smirking as he sarcastically said, “Pretending at Fairy Moon’s throne of Judge, are we? Fair enough; she’s been enamored with you since you purged the crystal forest of Hunters, and then again after you rescued all those orcols in that commune. I’m surprised it took her this long to steal you away from the world.”

“She shouldn’t have done that,” Redflame rapidly said, frowning deeply. “She will never apologize, but I hope you can accept my apology in her place, Erick. Sorry. Again, sorry.”

His apology was something. It was not nothing. It certainly wasn’t freedom, but it was something.

And then Inferno Maw said, “Fairy Moon will do it again and again, and you apologize each time, Redflame. Don’t you get tired of that?”

“How often does this shit happen?” Erick asked, suddenly incensed, and trying to hide it.

“One of the primary diplomatic things we heads of house engage in is damage repair and anti-propaganda measures for all new guests whom Fairy Moon retrieves from the world.” Illustrious Moon said, “And saying that: I also apologize. It took me entirely too long to do this particular damage repair, as we almost never get a guest as high profile or as important as you. House Handinoi was simply… We were not prepared for this to happen. We did not foresee this possibility.”

“Yes yes; the fox is as blind as always.” Inferno Maw said, “But all that is boring politics. Let us learn how true magic works, shall we? Linking up with the Wizards here will have to take place another day, though.”

Illustrious kept her tight smirk, though Erick could tell she wanted to hit Inferno Maw, at the very least.

Erick was just a bit unmoored, though. He decided to stick to what he cared to know. Inferno Maw was likely correct that nothing political was going to happen right now, or soon, so they might as well move on to the important facts of the day. Like what accretion was, and how it worked.

Erick decided to move on, saying, “Wizards later; accretion now. This is fine. I want to see accretion in action.”

Inferno Maw flicked his hand at Illustrious as he spoke dismissively, “I can take it from here. Take your kits and go back to your parties and your pageantry.”

Illustrious smiled wide at the man, showing off her sharp teeth. “No.”

Inferno Maw sighed, then turned, and began walking. “This way then, Honored Guest, and intrusive foxes. We go to see the Accretion Masters.”

– – – –

The School of Accretion was one of the central buildings of the arcanaeum. Erick walked right through the main entrance on the third floor alongside his three guides, and noted how absolutely no one was scared of Redflame or Inferno Maw, but everyone gave Illustrious a second look, and then promptly realized this was a bad idea. When Illustrious noticed, which was often, she glanced back, and almost everyone receiving a glance instantly tried to rush away, or they simply froze. Most people froze, and gave deference, which seemed to be what she wanted.

Some people stared openly at Erick, though. They just froze in place, open mouthed and wide eyed. Erick gave those people a small smile and a little nod. Ophiel copied the same gesture from atop Erick’s shoulder.

Accretion Hall was about as nice as any of the other places in Ar’Cosmos, which was to say it was built to last forever, with thick stone walls and wide spaces. Some of the hallways were wide enough for full-sized dragons to roam, but Erick saw none of those here. With Redflame and Inferno Maw and Illustrious’s lack of tails, but seeing tails on some of the people here, Erick knew there was some sort of division of hierarchy going on there, but he did not know enough to understand what sort of division he was seeing.

The trip through the halls and down two staircases took little time at all, with Redflame eagerly pointing out the various sights to Erick, which Erick appreciated. Inferno Maw asked questions to better guide the tour, and Erick explained that he wanted to see accretion, itself; not core formation or anything too in depth. And so, Redflame simply pointed out the room for First Foundation creation, but it was empty, for now, though it could be filled if Erick wished it to be filled. Across the hall was the core diagnostic room, which was currently occupied and unable to be viewed; that process was delicate and could not be disturbed. Some large classrooms had professors explaining things to students in large groups, but Erick’s tour did not go into those rooms, since he had explained he wanted to see the actual practice, not the theory. Soon enough, he ended up at the back of a small classroom with one teacher with big horns and a long tail at the far end, and four students of various body-types sitting in front of him. A private class, meant for specific instructions with gifted students.

The teacher looked up from his instruction and scrunched his eyebrows at Erick and the others—

With their lesson interrupted, Inferno Maw spoke, “Erick Flatt is here to see how we accrete a core; the middling and largest part of the whole ordeal.” He said to Erick, “All of these students, as you can see, are somewhere between First and Second Foundations… And you said Illustrious explained this to you?”

“Illustrious explained the basic theory on the way over; yes.”

Inferno Maw frowned a little at that, as he eyed the tall, violet woman. “I’m sure it was adequate.” He said the word like an insult, then turned back to the class, and everyone was now looking at him. “Allow me some more words on the subject, though: Monsters naturally form cores. Dragons do, too. But dragons can get stuck in their ways, and thus they teach the new generations the same thing as the old generations, over and over and over again, thus perpetuating bad practices that don’t work for everyone. But monsters have been learning how to cycle and accrete in as many different ways as there are monsters.

“Through trial and error and proper investigation and experimentation, which is verified by accretion seekers —it’s a job some people do— we search out monsters, discovering how they accrete, and through this knowledge we can sometimes find better accretion methods. Actual accretion is based on personal mana produced, though; we don’t cycle like the monsters do. That way lies insanity. We think this insanity is due to Melemizargo’s Insanity Mana filling up Veird’s ambient mana, but that is only part of the reason we have monsters and not ‘spirit beasts’ like they did in the Old Cosmology. There are, in actuality, hundreds of different factors for why monsters are the way they are.

“We, however, are not insane, and we are not ‘naturally violent’ unless provoked or given reason; the same as anyone else, really. Anyway. Through our hunts for ever better cycling methods, we have found the best generalized methods. These methods are what we teach our young.” Inferno Maw said, “Show him some cycling.”

The instructor strongly said, “You heard the chancellor. Everyone start cycling. We can get back to the actual lesson afterward.”

Erick asked, “What was the actual lesson? Also: pardon for the intrusion. Hello.”

The instructor instantly answered, “Directed accretion, in particular toward the spirit and toward personal abilities. Everyone here has plans to study magic but they also have bloodlines and personal abilities that they wish to either enhance or mitigate, so I help them to direct growth in those directions to fortify those base abilities.” He saw Erick’s minor confusion, then added, “It’s like… Imagine having a plant-based bloodline which allows one to [Grow] on demand, but you can get a spell to do that, so the bloodline is useless as gifted. So you need to mutate that bloodline ability toward something else in order to make it useful again, like [Mature Plants], which does the same thing as [Grow], but it also helps with magical plant cultivation. On the other end of the spectrum: Some people might consider such a bloodline to be completely useless, and thus I help those people erase their bloodline, and thus they are able to devote more of their limited mana per day into actual accretion, with the goal of Second Foundation. Or, they are then able to seek out a bloodline that they actually like, which is a whole other series of discussions.”

Erick nodded in partial understanding. “Thank you for the explanation.”

The instructor nodded, then said, “And thank you for solving the Shade problem, Archmage Flatt.”

It was such an honest statement that Erick felt that maybe this thing would work out after all—

One of the kids, who was looking completely lost at what was happening around her but who knew enough to be afraid of Illustrious, finally recognized what all the other people had already recognized: That in addition to two heads of house being present, that Erick Flatt was also there. That one girl did a double-take, and then promptly fainted, falling in a boneless slump backward onto the ground. Erick winced. Her classmates were horrified. The instructor just sighed, then commented that the girl really needed to fortify her body more than she had.

Illustrious chuckled.

Redflame instantly went over to the young girl and lifted her up to put her head on a pillow, while Inferno Maw instructed the class to continue and invited Erick to walk around to see what the students were doing. The girl was out of it, but she was breathing and Redflame did some minor fussing over her before deciding that she was okay, so she was probably fine.

The instructor and the students began accreting; auras flared, then solidified, mana filled those auras, and then that mana flowed inward.

And Erick watched.

What he saw in that small room, as he walked around, but did not get too close, matched Illustrious’s earlier lesson rather exactly. There were a few variations, though, which fell in line with what the instructor had explained earlier. The students released their auras, then their mana, then they concentrated that mana inward. They didn’t do a general fortification, though. They focused their mana through the very short mana channels that connected their core to the outside of their chests; the shortest distance between the outside and their cores. This, then, was directed growth. Their cores were all in various stages between rough-cut gem and perfect sphere, while their bodies were not as strong as that of Redflame, or Illustrious, or Inferno Maw, so the kids were obviously going for Willpower/Focus fortification. As Erick watched, he saw a few facets of their cores begin to fill out, with one kid going from about 400 facets to 430, but it would take them a long while to actually get to Core Saturation; the first half of Second Foundation. He estimated… Months? Maybe more like four months, rather than ten months.

He might have been off on that estimation.

Erick’s consideration of Illustrious increased, for she hadn’t lied to him about how this worked.

After ten minutes of watching in silence, Erick stepped back, softly saying, “Okay. Thank you. That was very informative.”

Inferno Maw smiled, instantly saying, “Excellent! Care for another class like this? Or is it time to get to proper enchanting?”

“Or talk of [Renew]!” Redflame said, hopeful.

Since visiting the Wizards was off the table for today, Erick had already decided what he was going to do next. There was only one way he was getting out of here, and that was to apply these accretion lessons to himself, and make whatever Elemental Benevolence Fairy Moon wanted.

Erick wanted to make Elemental Benevolence, anyway. It would be good to solve an existential threat like the Sundering before it could ever happen again.

So Erick said to Inferno Maw, “With your earlier warning about how enchanting is different here, than it is on Veird, I feel I do not know enough about the way you enchant here in Ar’Cosmos to have a meaningful conversation on that subject at this time. So instead, I ask if you have any books on the subject, so that I might read them and have a better conversation in a few days, or however long it takes to understand the material. I would like to see the Wizards at such a time, too.”

Inferno Maw gave a small, sly grin. “This works for me. I will have some material delivered to you in a few hours. A few primers and a few textbooks. On a few different subjects?”

“I would appreciate whatever bookwork you feel like assigning me.”

Inferno Maw cheerfully said, “Careful with those choices of words; I might assign you some impossible problems just to see if they can be solved through Particle Magic.”

“If you give me such problems then I look forward to being as befuddled as anyone else.” Erick added, “So maybe stick to the remedial stuff, for now.”

Inferno Maw gave a happy grin, not bothering to hide his pleasure as he said, “Then let us be off, and disrupt this class no longer. It was fine to meet you, Archmage Flatt. I look forward to working well with you in the future.”

Inferno Maw led the way out of the classroom, back into the hallway where Illustrious’s guards had remained. The grey-horned man gave a tiny tilt of his head as he walked off down the way, and then turned a corner, going out of sight. He had seemed like a decent sort of man, so Erick was glad for the unexpected meeting.

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

Erick said to Redflame, “We can talk on the way back to Fairy Manor? I don’t actually know what the place is called.”

Redflame briefly looked dejected—

Illustrious softly said, “‘Fairy Moon’s House’ works for most people.”

And then Redflame got over it, saying, “A walk and talk is acceptable— Wait. No. Actually. Could we have a meeting tomorrow? I will need to gather up my supplies before we have this conversation.”

Erick offered, “Afternoon, then? Where? Here?”

“In the early afternoon. I will visit you at Fairy Moon’s house.” Redflame nodded, looking satisfied. “It was good to meet you again, Erick.”

“It was nice to see you again, too, Redflame.” Erick said, “But… Before we part, I wanted to ask you one specific thing about your search for [Renew]: why can’t you funnel mana through runework in order to produce a specific type of mana, which could then be used for Wizardry purposes, such as securing the lives of newborns, or whatever? I’ll admit I don’t know what you do there that requires Wizardry… But I have seen rather ancient mana-changers that could take anyone’s mana and make an iron slime out of it, which would then go on and gather up iron as an old method of mining. I’ve also seen cooperative casting enchants that anyone can donate to, to activate the enchantment. Those are the two major ways I’ve seen to align mana in my own journey to understand [Renew].” Erick said, “It’s all about the bouncy mana… if you want to call it such.”

Redflame’s eyes glittered red. He grinned. “Ahhh. We will have much to talk about, I think. Yes; I know of those items you suggest, and many, many more. The problems with those are efficiency and actual purity. None of those items produce actually-pure, single-source, appropriately-aligned mana. The Script supports the mana most people use to such a degree that proper Wizardry is impossible using this methodology. What is actually happening in those two designs you speak of is that people are all taking mana from the same source and throwing that mana through a sieve in order to catch the same types of mana. It’s like… proper Wizardry requires pulling specific fish from a specific pond, but what is happening in those designs is that people are funneling the same ocean of water through similar sieves trying to catch one type of fish.” He added, “It sounds like the same process, but it’s truly not.”

“… Oh. Well that’s unexpected. But…” Erick said, “We can talk more later.”

Redflame gave a small inclination of his head, and a happy grin, then took his leave.

Erick looked around at the strong stone walls, and had a thought. This arcanaeum seemed nice. How did it truly compare to Oceanside? Better? Worse? The books that Inferno Maw would send over would show much of how Ar’Cosmos worked; if they taught for truth, or if they worked like Oceanside, and taught to make people cogs in the machinery of Veird.

… Not that there was anything wrong with cogs. The world needed to be maintained… of course.

Erick turned to Illustrious. “Back to Fairy Moon Manor, then.”

Illustrious asked, “Don’t want to see the rest of the city?”

“Not right now.” Erick said, “I’m a bit hungry, and I want to write those letters to my people that you promised I could before I get to Inferno Maw’s reading materials.”

Illustrious said, “Then let us be off.”

The walk back to the manor was pretty much the same as the walk to the arcanaeum; heavy with conversation about everything out there, and about how Ar’Cosmos actually worked as a city. Mostly it was boring logistical stuff.

And then Erick asked why they didn’t have public transportation, like a rail system. This entire place was made of fake materials, right? If so, it should be simple to include some moving carts, or maybe moving walkways. Illustrious explained how that, no, this place was made of real stone and real everything, and that they tried moving-systems twenty times since she ascended to the head of her house, 1100 years ago. They always broke down.