191, 1/2

Time ticked onward, and Erick watched dragons discuss the new world orders they wished to implement. None of them spoke in specifics, for most of the dragons here could not actually meet any of the other dragons out there in the world, lest they get into a fight, so their plans were couched in dubious language. The exception to this was when a few dragons openly spoke of their half-dragon family members getting Renewal Tank’d and then sent out into the world to secure land and other various interests. Their own cures would come later, and might come from any one of them doing their own experiments on [Renew]-based soul magics.

The basic theory of how this new magic cleared a person of elemental influence was rather simple, after all. The spellwork targeted the very center of a person, their base nature and soul, and then recreated everything from there, outward. Everything that was not in-tune with that base nature was discarded.

The conversation moved on from there, to talks of securing the actual cure for the Curse while allowing one to remain a dragon. The Curse itself was still an intrinsic part of Dragon Essence, after all, so a ‘reset to base’ for a dragon would still leave them with the Curse, so any actual cure would have to come from a person gaining a Death, Carnage, or Fae Elemental Body and then combining them with Wizardry. But is such a thing even possible? Unknown. And yet…

House Carnage was absolutely going to do everything it could to create a Carnage Dragon Renewal Tank.

House Fae would be expanding the number of people with [Fae Body], if they could, but as of right now it didn’t appear that Fae Dragon Essence would be that easy to foster through a Renewal Tank, no matter how miraculous the magical technology seemed to be. Resetting a person to Dragon would likely be easy, as would resetting a person to Fae, but a combined spellwork would still require Wizardry. Therefore, House Fae would be going the [Fae Body] route and leaving behind most of their Fae Dragon selves. At least that was the idea, for now. Things might change in the future.

House Death agreed with House Fae’s assessment. They might go that way as well, while also attempting to revive wyrms, granting the Silent dead new bodies.

The idea of wyrms coming back to life was a major revelation, though.

Many dragons shouted out for further answers, all across the Rotunda, and so Light Blight, the dragon from House Death, spent a good 40 minutes explaining what Inferno Maw’s latest research indicated. He didn’t say anything that Erick didn’t already know, but Erick did send his sight over to the Ophiel currently by the Renewal Tank, to see what was happening over there.

Ophiel was currently pumping [Renew] into the machine. Erick had already checked on that whole situation a few times already, and this latest check did not show anything too concerning.

So far they hadn’t tried to revive a wyrm, but their experiments were getting rather esoteric.

Redflame and Inferno Maw were both by that Renewal Tank, while yet another large rat was inside the tank. This rat did not currently have a core, but it had had a core not ten minutes ago. The bloody remnants of that grand rad sat upon a nearby dissection table. The rat itself didn’t even have a scar from where its core had been broken, and removed.

Currently, the rat floated in the tank, while glowing white water rained down into the top.

This was the fourth experiment doing this.

The rat itself was physically whole; the injuries it had sustained in the core removal process had been healed up by Inferno Maw. But its soul was another story entirely. Its soul currently looked like a flaking mist, barely filling up the rat’s body at all, looking more like a splash of paint inside the rat than the usual solid mist that was a soul’s normal configuration. Some parts of that broken soul even dangled out of the body like tattered sheets, billowing away in the tumbling waters of the Renewal Tank.

But, that soul was healing.

As white rain fell into the tank and soaked into the monster’s skin, and then deeper, into the un-cored soul, the rat’s tattered mess of a soul began to thicken, and coalesce. In five minutes the soul lined up with the body of the now-non-monstrous rat. And the rat had shrunk. It was about half as large as it had been before, which was an odd, but not unexpected result.

The rat itself was completely healed. The soul was fine. The body was fine. It was just like the other three rats that came before.

Inferno Maw clapped his hands and did a small, probably unprofessional dance, before he caught himself. After briefly smiling at the floor and banishing his giddiness he went on to the next experiment, trying not to smile too much the whole time.

Erick turned his attention back to the Rotunda.

House Fae had been talking about turning the toxic jungles of Nergal into normal jungles, ripe for habitation. It was an odd sort of talk, specifically because the Speaker for House Fae, Asteroid Stars, was discussing the similarities between remaking the Crystal Forest into a real forest, and utterly destroying the toxic forest of Nergal, to try and replace them with normal forests.

Erick supposed this was for his benefit. Asteroid Stars was trying to show that they were right there with him and ready to remake the world as he desired. He would have liked to hear more of House Fae’s plans, but it was time to get going. It was nearly noon. The representatives from Stratagold would be appearing soon.

Erick got to his feet and stepped to the edge of his and Fairy Moon’s alcove.

Instantly, Asteroid Stars stopped talking.

Mikatiti, the red dragon still floating in the middle of the Rotunda, announced, “The Rotunda recognizes Archmage Erick Flatt.”

Erick nodded, then said, “This has been most enlightening, and I appreciate the invite to this talk, but this is where I must depart. The wrought envoy is going to be here in about 45 minutes and I must prepare. It was a pleasure to meet you all. I hope to work well with Ar’Cosmos in the future. If it is acceptable, I will be leaving Ophiel here so that I might continue to participate in these discussions, if only as an observer.”

“We welcome your time and presence, Archmage Flatt, but your request is a request we normally deny outright. But we can bend with the times.” Mikatiti gestured with her floating, sinuous body to the rest of the dragons of the Rotunda. “A vote to allow?”

A minor cacophony of ‘acceptable’s and ‘permitted’s and ‘allowed’s filled the space.

Light Blight raised his tail into the arena.

Mikatiti said, “The Rotunda recognizes the words of Light Blight, of House Death.”

Light Blight said, “I would ask for Yggdrasil’s Sight to remain with us as well. It is important for young ones to know the coworkers of their parents, especially when they themselves might be working with those coworkers too, and soon.”

Normally, this was an easy thing to allow.

But Yggdrasil couldn’t actually reach this deep with a second [Scry] eye. This far into Ar’Cosmos, Erick couldn’t even talk to the guy. The barriers around this place were practically as thick as the barriers around Veird’s Core. Did Light Blight know this? Or was he expecting Yggdrasil to be different? Whatever the case, Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye bounced on Erick’s shoulder, and there remained only one of him.

The dragons of the Rotunda seemed to approve of Light Blight’s words, though, since a lot of ‘ayes’ flooded into the open air.

Erick answered, “Yggdrasil is still attached to me, and this meeting with the wrought is going to be important as well. Yggdrasil will likely join you another day.”

Light Blight did not seem to mind this, for he just bowed a fraction.

“Then Ophiel will remain, and Yggdrasil will go with Archmage Flatt,” Mikatiti said, as she descended a fraction as though in a bow. “The Rotunda is always open to you, Archmage Flatt. Please return whenever you wish.”

The brilliantly colored dragons of the Rotunda all extended a fraction out into the open air, and gave their own versions of bows. Some went low. Some only bowed a little. Some just nodded.

Erick gave half a bow in return, and then he turned, and began walking back the way he came. Fairy Moon followed silently, like a quiet observer.

When Erick was far enough away from the central space, he conjured another Ophiel. The little guy happily took his usual spot on Erick’s unoccupied shoulder, chirping and trilling. The Ophiel back in the Rotunda opened his eyes wide, and took in all the sounds he could.

– – – –

Erick stood at the end of a road.

At the other side, stood a Gate which led to the Twisted Vision that kept Ar’Cosmos separate from the rest of Veird. He had seen that Gate before, and yet, he hadn’t; not really. Not from this side, anyway. He had seen that Gate from the other side, when he had been with Tenebrae, and he had sent Ophiel into the Vision to scout around. Activating his Domain had caused the Vision to yank Ophiel all the way there.

And now Erick was here again, with the dragons, and with Fairy Moon, and he had all the secrets to [Gate]. He wondered a little how Tenebrae was doing. Was he recuperating? Could he walk around again? Erick quickly came back to the moment, though, for there was business to be done, and important conversations to be had with people who may or may not be enemies.

This was the staging ground for that eventual discussion with the wrought.

It was a long road with stone pagodas lining both sides, and dragons flying through the distant sky, headed toward wherever it was they were going. And in front, was that Gate, looking exactly the same as the last time Erick had seen it. He just couldn’t get over that. There were hundreds of gates exactly like this one, but Erick knew this was the same one he had seen before. It was a square, a good ten meters to a side, with each of those sides being about a meter thick. An arc of that same silver metal formed a bridge that curved from the stone roadway on this side of the Gate, to the dark forest floor of the Twisted Vision on the other side.

The street on this side was a small market, while the actual Center Road and all the real markets of Ar’Cosmos were far down the road and beyond three different checkpoints. The land here was basically only open to the poorest of dragons; those who could not afford to enter into the main city, or those who did not desire to enter the main city. This land was more like the transient, orcol campground lands of Treehome, than the city lands inside of that metropolis.

This place did not skimp on the guards, though.

Those guards hung out in fortified bunkers arrayed around the Gate, with House Death’s grey enamel wearing soldiers set around the Gate itself, and House Carnage’s red enamel guard further back, in the parts of the city that could actually be breached; the roads up and down to the other layers. They were all on high alert.

Erick was, too.

Mainly, as he stared at that Gate, he thought about running. Escaping as fast as he could. But… That was just some stupid instincts talking. If he went out there without Ar’Cosmos at his back then the wrought would likely want to ‘nullify’ him like they did to other Wizards. Erick would still be able to cast magic if they did that, and he could still use whatever magic he had already made, but attempting new magic would likely be…

Difficult. Painful. Annoying.

But would being neutered really be so bad?

Obviously it would be personally bad, but for the world? Could Erick lay down his power to prevent a war? Yes. Undoubtedly.

Except… that’s not what would happen.

If he laid down his power, then others would choose how the world worked.

And that was simply unacceptable. Erick did not ‘know better than anyone else’, but the wrought were poor stewards, for security through obscurity was a terrible way to secure anything, and that included a world. Security through scarcity, or rather, security through the absence of easy magic, was probably a better option, but if power was scarce, then the monsters would overrun all of Veird. So that wasn’t a solution either.

There were no easy solutions to the problems of life on Veird, which was why this land was how it was.

Melemizargo would be happy if the wrought all chose to rip apart the Script and put something lesser in place, though. But, oddly enough, Erick was pretty sure that Melemizargo was perfectly happy with Wizards and dragons and other ‘naturally powerful’ people having as much power as they wanted. That seemed to be a contradiction, to Erick. Due to a happenstance of birth, having more power than another person was okay? No. That did not sit well with Erick at all.

And yet, if he was weak then he couldn’t have done anything that he had done.

And so, Erick needed to retain his power, not just for his own personal needs, but also because he did good with his power. Was that a bit narcissistic to say? That Erick did well with the power he had gained? Yes, it was narcissistic, but it was also true.

And—

Fairy Moon leaned a little toward Erick, smirking with her mouth and with her heterochromatic eyes. “Nervous?”

“Extremely.” His thoughts were spiraling. “Is anyone ever truly ready for the turning of an age?”

“Oh yes.” Fairy Moon nodded, then stood straight again, her eyes turning back to the square Gate. “I am ready for the revolution, but I do hope the coming happenstances are curated and calm.” She added, “You have leave to leave, by the way, if we get out there and they give you better bylaws to bow down to.”

Erick almost started running right then.

But he did not.

Inferno Maw’s voice filtered down from Erick’s right like a controlled avalanche, “I highly doubt they will be willing to acquiesce to even the most basic of Erick’s wants, such as his desire to keep his memories and mind intact.”

Erick felt a rushing cold inside his chest. Inferno Maw’s words were rather true.

Erick glanced up.

Inferno Maw was a massive dragon with a head two meters across and a body trailing fifty meters down the street, and gently undulating. White-black fire held inside his mouth like monochromatic, anti-gravity napalm. That fire moved as he spoke, “House Death appreciates the addition of the extra three [Renew] rings you have granted us. They will help further research into that spell, and how it works, but we could never have achieved any of this without you. You are invaluable to Ar’Cosmos and to the future of all of Veird. Not just us dragons, either.” Inferno Maw lowered himself till his head was level with Erick. With deep, grey eyes staring straight at Erick, Inferno Maw said, “Please don’t let them take you, and please do not believe whatever lies they conjure to get you to leave with them.”

Erick looked at Inferno Maw for a moment longer, then he turned toward the Gate. “I am aware of… What to expect from them. I appreciate your words nonetheless.”

Inferno Maw lingered at eye-level with Erick for a moment longer, and then he pulled back. Four other Death Dragons held to the sides of the roads, hovering gently in the air, ready to move at Inferno Maw’s command. He did not give that command, yet.

Fairy Moon hopped forward one step, then said, “We go to have talks with hopefully not-tyrants. Evacuation of Erick will commence if he commands, or is incapacitated by the invaders. Otherwise there will be no nudging of him either way. And now! We go!” She stepped forward, and did not stop walking.

Erick followed, and then he realized he was following. He almost faltered, but he did not.

Inferno Maw followed next. He whispered, “When we get past that Gate you should reconnect to the Script. If you need a minute to go through your notifications, then let us all get all through the Gate, first. We still have ten minutes before I open the pathway for the wrought.”

Erick just nodded. Inferno Maw had spoken a few words about how the Twisted Vision worked. Apparently, everything beyond that metal Gate would move at House Death’s commands, and usually automatically so that no visiting or leaving dragon would encounter another dragon. There were ways to direct that movement, though, and that’s what they were doing today.

Currently, to the right, the switching station had four guards from House Death set up inside that bunker to facilitate those switches. On a more normal day those people would simply move the pathways according to arcane schedules, ensuring that every dragon who left this land did so without meeting any other dragon.

Because the Script was on the other side of that Gate.

… As Inferno Maw had already said. Erick was just nervous.

Fairy Moon went first, stepping onto the silver bridge that arched through the silver square. Erick took a step onto that bridge next, the metal not even making a sound, for it was solid metal. He followed Fairy Moon across that arc of metal, through the Gate—

He crossed through an unseen edge inside the Gate and blue boxes instantly filled his vision like someone had wrapped him in a blue tarp. He could still see out of it, of course, but the messages in that blue space suddenly began shifting as new blue boxes appeared. Thankfully, his mana sense suddenly expanded outward, going from the cramped 5 meter distance it had been all this time in Ar’Cosmos, back out to 50 meters in all directions.

Erick felt a rush of comfort at finally being able to sense the world again, but he focused on his footing and kept walking down the other side of the silver bridge. When he was clear of that bridge he stepped to the side, where Fairy Moon stood waiting, so that the dragons could more easily pass. Inferno Maw and his dragons followed through the Gate one at a time, each of them thick enough to take up the entire Gateway if they wanted. Rapidly, they took points all around the Gate like they were soldiers in enemy territory, which was sort of true, Erick supposed.

But the Pathways were clear of monsters and Inferno Maw controlled those spawns, anyway, and all the wrought had yet to enter into these Pathways, so they weren’t in any real danger. Not yet, anyway, and nothing that the people here could not handle.

Mostly.

Erick was now subject to the Script, which was a different sort of danger. The gods could probably appear here if they wanted, and maybe Rozeta could simply abduct him straight from this place… But since she hadn’t, maybe she couldn’t? Whatever danger he was in, though, was dwarfed by a warm, comforting feeling that spread throughout his entire body—

Ah!

His Stats were ‘coming back online’! Yes. That’s what this was. Health had returned, and washed away every single lingering bit of unnoticed-until-now harm inside his body. Constitution had come back, too, making even the small chill in the air seem like nothing at all. He could probably cast spells for 5% costs, now that Intelligence was fully working again. As for actually casting spells, though, it was time to do some of that; to create some defenses for the meeting with the wrought.

He started with [Greater Lightwalk]—

Not only did every single dragon and fae nearby turn to him as he let out his light and lightning, each and every one of them looking mightily concerned, another message popped up. This message got added to the pile, but Erick did read it first.

Erick read the box again, and then he pushed aside all his messages and pulled up his [Greater Lightwalk] box. And sure enough, his mental command to pull up that box had instead pulled up [Pristine Benevolence]. All the while, wispy white lightning zapped away from his body to touch the ground, leaving lingering sparks and small scorch marks here and there.

Everyone else continued to stare.

Erick explained, “Normally this is [Greater Lightwalk]. Obviously, this has changed.”

Inferno Maw stared, saying, “I should say so.”

“So I heard Domains were bad here in the Twisted Vision, but they didn’t seem to matter inside Ar’Cosmos itself.” Erick asked, “Would it be a problem to try that out, too?”

Inferno Maw smiled a little, his massive maw revealing a monochromatic inferno. “Going into discussion with the wrought without all your protections would be a foolish thing indeed.”

Fairy Moon shrugged.

[Lodestar].

The light and lightning around Erick took on a deeper, more radiant hue, and then it calmed. For a moment Erick had looked like a plasma ball, but with a twitch of effort his sunform looked… Mostly normal. Benevolence sparks jolted here and there across the boundary edge between where his Domain was absolute, and the rest of reality began. Some of those jolts silently traced across the ground, leaving thin black lines where they touched the bare soil.

Another blue box appeared, looking akin to the previous one. Erick only read the last part.

… Okay?

[Lodestar] was different, but mostly the same. Except for the occasional lightning, the visuals were mostly the same as the original, so that tracked.

… And now, he was surrounded by his Domain, and his Elemental Body, and he was outside of Ar’Cosmos. Sure, Fairy Moon had some power out here, still, but…

He was finally acting under his own power. He was finally able to act under his own power.

Erick sighed as a heavy weight seemed to falter, and then fall off of his shoulders. Sure, he was surrounded by dragons and Fairy Moon, and he was going to visit a wrought contingent that might want him dead, or neutered, or contained. But here he was, back in his ‘sunform’, with Intelligence dropping his costs to barely anything, and the dragons and the fairy were not hostile. In fact, they might be real allies. Sure, their relationship hadn’t been tested yet, but it was going to be, and soon.

And with that! Erick felt good enough to go over the rest of his messages. With a thought, he lined them up chronologically—

Kill Notifications?

Oh.

Quite a lot of Kill Notifications.

Almost everything here was a Kill Notification.

Monsters of all kinds, with most of them fishes, actually, which painted an odd picture that something was happening… Somewhere. Where the fuck did a ‘harpoon-eye glasser’ live? Oh! Erick recognized the notification for a lesser rivergrieve, though. So something was happening over in Songli? Or maybe some rivergrieves had gotten into Candlepoint’s lake someh—

Erick’s heart skipped a beat. He turned toward Fairy Moon. On one hand, it was odd to see that she was only level 45, except for the first kill which had been level 93, but then again, she was a ‘true immortal’ fae.

Erick asked, “Yggdrasil killed you eleven times?”

Inferno Maw balked, and then he reoriented as though considering that Erick’s words could be true. And then he laughed. The other Death dragons were a bit more reserved than that, briefly turning their heads toward Fairy Moon, and then they turned back to the dark forest all around, resuming their guard duty.

Fairy Moon waved Erick off, saying, “Twas but a temper tantrum from a toddler.”

…Sure.

Why not.

Erick eyed Yggdrasil’s eye and the iridescent white orb merely tilted a bit, as though he didn’t see the problem. Which… Fine! No problem? No problem. Erick turned back to his messages.

Except for the first major message which probably happened when Erick was kidnapped, chronologically, the bulk of the messages seemed to start around the time when he finally learned how to properly accrete—

Ah. Shit. Jane. How was she doing?

Okay.

Erick needed to see Jane, and soon.

But not at this moment. Not while he was in the middle of multiple diplomatic missions at the same time. Jane was fine, and she would keep.

Back to the messages. Almost all of them read like they were automated, except for the most obvious ones.

Erick did not poke at that message too hard. It was a bit late, anyway. Now, he was sort of allied with Fairy Moon and Ar’Cosmos. The next messages seemed to be about the time when Erick finally started accreting properly. Most of them reminded Erick of when he had first gained a core, back in the Core of Veird. Back then he had gotten a failed ‘return to X’ Quest, too.