200, 2/2

In his office, on the western side of his throne room, Erick took a seat at his desk. Poi stood behind him. They were the only two people visible in the room, but he knew there was another close by. If Goldie didn’t show up after being named, then Erick would call to the Darkness ever-lurking in the corners.

“Goldie,” Erick said, “I’d like to talk now.”

The goldscale Shade of Assassination appeared in the air next to her seat, looking proper in her black work attire. Her large sword hung in the air behind her like a plank of black steel, while her eyes were bright white. She gave a small, professional curtsy. “My lord.” She rose. “What would you have of me?”

“I’d like to know of your encounter with Patriarch Xangu, what you found regarding the Chelation War, and to know what you’ve been doing since then. Afterward, I will tell you what I expect of you going forward.” Erick gestured to the chair. “Please sit.”

Goldie took out a folder of papers from the air and sat them down on Erick’s table, and then she sat herself down in her chair. “Where would you like me to begin?”

Erick ignored the folder for now. “When you stepped through that portal at the meeting.”

Goldie nodded, then she began, “I stepped through the portal and went unknown…”

Though she couched her abilities in obfuscating words, the rest of her tale seemed normal enough.

Goldie entered the Underworld where Erick had put her. She went ‘unknown’. She found the house on the hill under the large blue crystal, and then she infiltrated. Within ten minutes she had managed to confirm her target was at the location using a variety of measures. These included paperwork in three offices linking the owners of the house to Nelboor and Terror Peaks related interests, a blood-matching spell taken from the stray hairs of three easily identifiable family members and cross checked with some blood she had taken from the direct Terror Peaks clan, and visual and magical-signature confirmation of the target. While she did that, she also gathered evidence of Terror Peaks’ various interests and knowledge of how they managed to gather those Soul Spears. Then she prepared for the actual confrontation.

At the time of her infiltration, Patriarch Xangu was inside an office and arguing with his cousin, and he had been doing that for the last 25 minutes. The argument had been about the loss of the war a few months ago, but primarily it had been how Erick had been taken by the fae, and how Stratagold was keeping it as quiet as they could.

Erick interrupted her there. “Did you discover how they knew about that?”

“It was the argument you had with the fairy on the shores of Yggdrasil’s Underworld lake.” Goldie said, “There are always thousands of Sights upon all of these World Trees. Most of the world knew when you were taken.”

“… I probably should make an anti-[Scry] magic and put it out there.” Or maybe not? It was a double-edged sword. Anti-[Scry] meant Ophiel and Yggdrasil were blind… So probably not, actually. Erick moved on, “Continue.”

Goldie nodded.

Once she had confirmed the target, through several independent Blood Magics and prognostications, she flinched at actually killing the man. But she knew it was for the greater good, and Erick had ordered it, so she rapidly cut Patriarch Xangu into several disintegrating slices, annihilating his body, soul, and mind in the process. It was as quick and as thorough as possible. His defensive magics activated briefly and Goldie also had to tear through the various [Ward]s surrounding the whole property, but she did the job, and then she left. She was ashamed to say that they did track her for a short time, as she had left tears falling in her escape; her Blessing remains rather strong. Escaping from pursuit and the Underworld was easy enough, though, as she went to the nearest Teleport Station and commandeered that magic laid down by Tasar and Stratagold in order to reach the Surface.

Erick was a bit stunned by that.

Goldie finished with, “I arrived here in Candlepoint about 36 hours after that meeting. Since then, I have been acting in hidden service to ensure that only positive outcomes have happened in this land, as well as pursuing leads that I have accrued regarding the Chelation War ever since that disaster. I haven’t acted violently in any of these cases, but I did leave some notes on some pillows in order to frighten certain malefactors, and side-powers. The investigation into the Chelation War was completed weeks ago, with confirmation of many leads proven by what I found during my assault on Xangu.

“I have also checked up on your hires.

“Your woman, Mox, has a whole family of airy assassins, and they have been spying on you for a while now. When she accepted her [Reincarnation] she divorced herself from that life, as she does not wish to endanger what you are building here, and she is unsure if you would like her assistance in these sorts of matters. She would take her family back if you gave her the go-ahead. Her family would likely also feel in your debt if you took them back.

“As for the other ones,

“Zolan is a crafty man who we have attempted to kill only once, but he talked his assassin out of it, so he has had our approval for a long time. That happened when he was 45. Raingorl teaches his students well, and he seems to be continuing that tradition, so we have never had a problem with him. Mundane teaching has never been a problem for the Church of Melemizargo, for we do wish people to grow and prosper. We have tried to recruit Raingorl several times, but each time he rebuffs us. Our previous ultimate goals and his views of how the world should be have been incompatible.

“Aisha would be a Cultist and fall in line with our previous ideals to change the world if she didn’t have such a bad opinion of Melemizargo. As she has chosen to join you, a Wizard, I can reasonably confirm that she will be a great asset.

“Your dragons are dragons, and they are plotting to take as much power from you as they can.” Goldie said, “I am rather sure you will either have to put them in their place through physical means, or magical means, for they will never truly join House Benevolence until you undertake either of these options.”

Surprises, and non-surprises all around.

There was nothing about Goldie’s story or her opinions that struck Erick as untrue, and so he said, “One minute,” and he opened the folder and began leafing through the 30 page report, with pictures. 45 seconds later, he closed the folder and looked to Goldie. “Terror Peaks managed to infiltrate the Book Binders and actually get the spell themselves? I have a hard time believing that.”

“I doubt Kirginatharp realizes what actually happened because the trail was rather distant, or maybe he does, and he does not wish to inform you of his own failure to protect his assets.” Goldie said, “As for the infiltration itself, I could easily infiltrate the Book Binders if I wanted; it is not impossible. You might be able to infiltrate them as well, just by virtue of that necklace you wear. But as for Terror Peaks’ infiltration… Your Worldly Path allowed a lot of small things to happen that would not have happened otherwise.”

Erick took a breath, the enormity of 4 million lives hanging over him like a guillotine. He frowned. He breathed again.

He fell silent.

Goldie sat at attention.

Poi was steady as a rock, standing behind and to Erick’s left.

Erick moved on, saying, “I’m going to give a copy of your report to Kirginatharp. Moving on. Do you have a place to stay? A place you are comfortable with?”

Goldie sat a bit straighter, for she had not foreseen that particular question from Erick. She said, “I have made a small place for myself in the tunnels of this House. It is more than enough for me.”

“That’s not enough for me, though.” Erick said, “If you’ve been keeping up with my actions here, you can probably guess that one of the towers I put into this House is for approved Shades if you can keep to a level of civility that everyone else in this House maintains… Or at least to the level of which I wish them to maintain.”

Goldie’s breath hitched ever so slightly. “I will follow your wishes, my lord. I will take residence in the smaller tower southeast of the main tower.”

“Good.” Erick said, “I want people to eventually get used to you being around, but I don’t want you seen that much in public for the first few months. Maybe not even a year or two. Other Shades who come here will need to adhere to the same level of respect and wariness as I believe you have shown. But! That said, you’re the only one I am accepting right now. If any others wish to follow you, they will be better served by making a district of their own on the other side of the lake, or somewhere they will not frighten everyone else. They will also have to adhere to all the general laws that I expect a place around here to adhere to.” Erick warned, “This whole endeavor cannot fall apart due to old hatreds, Goldie, and your Clergy is the largest contributor to those old hatreds in all this world. Do you understand?”

Goldie looked ready to cry for joy; small tears of light gathering in her bright white eyes. With a voice that she desperately tried to keep calm, Goldie said, “Your words are my law. I will see your will be done.”

Erick nodded. “Good. Now. How did Burhendurur know where you were?”

“An Elemental Death ability known as [Death Sense], though he was not able to accurately guess. I moved into the position he thought I was in at the last possible moment, in order to make him think that he knew where I was.” Goldie said, “His ability sees the number of lives that someone has taken. The only thing impressive about what he managed to do was that he was able to see through the pure pull of your own kill count. With the number of monsters you have killed I am amazed he was able to see anything at all past your own glory.”

Erick had mixed feelings about that, but he was too busy to dwell on them for any length of time. “Do Carnage dragons have any senses like that? Any stranger abilities I should know of?”

Goldie nodded. “Death Dragons are very good at Soul Work, though they are not good at working living souls. They have to kill the thing first.

“Carnage Dragons are a bit more nuanced. They are able to see the rage of others and accept that rage into themselves, giving them untold destruction in a battle. They can also control their rage better than any other dragon type, giving them the strongest resistance against the Dragon Curse compared to the other two types.” Goldie said, “Death kills the Dragon Curse. Fae tricks it away. Rage simply nullifies it. There are other nuances to Carnage which some are able to tap into, which allow them to subdue the impetus to war in others, or to sense the flow of battle, or to sense people ready to start a riot inside an otherwise plain-looking group of people on the street. There are nuances to all the types of dragons. Would you like me to continue?”

Partially, Erick did want her to continue, but he had other things to do and he couldn’t spend time on this right now. He’d need to ask Aisha about all this, too, for she would likely know. He could also directly ask Burhendurur and Volaro.

“Ah. No. That’s enough for now, which is why you asked that, I suppose.” Erick said, “I’ll learn all of this in due time, and I suppose I’ll learn all about Benevolence as time goes on, too. Do you have any suspicions about what Benevolence can do?”

“I know it can lay out the best possible path forward in any situation in order to exert helpful pressures on all involved.” Goldie said, “I believe you do this mostly unconsciously, but in the future I suspect you will be able to actively visualize the best paths forward. Other than that, and the visualization of ultimate ends and ultimate beginnings, I am unaware of any other unique uses of Benevolence.”

Erick’s eyes opened a bit wider. “Ah. Yes.” Laying out that as a nuance of Benevolence sort of put Erick’s entire life in a different light. Or maybe it didn’t? Erick wasn’t sure. He moved on. “You will not be joining the gathering tonight. Not publicly. In the future, you might, but not tonight.”

Goldie accepted this with a small nod.

Erick asked, “Do I require an oath from you? Or will that be too much for your prior commitments?”

“You have me forever, my lord, but I cannot offer you the final, most truest of oaths. It would turn binding in a way I will not be able to survive, for I have already given my entirety to my God in Darkness.” Goldie said, “I pray that His gift of me to you is enough.”

“Would it be correct, or incorrect, to say that the veracity of your loyalty is thus connected to the whims of your God?”

Goldie stared with bright white eyes, her countenance solid. “My God desires this to work, and so, I am here at his command.”

Erick left that non-answer alone.

He simply said, “Dismissed.”

Goldie slammed a fist over her chest, and then she vanished.

He had no idea if she was truly gone, but…

It was what it was.

Erick sat there for a moment longer, then he said, “Time to get ready for a party, I suppose.”

Poi sighed a little, letting out a massive amount of stress in the moment, all in order to shoulder more stress in the coming hours.

Erick said to him, “You need a break too, eh?”

“I don’t think I’m going to get one.”

Erick put on a smile, saying, “Maybe you will! Maybe these overseers will be the best possible people to make House Benevolence bloom into something that makes life easier and better for all of us.”

“One can hope,” Poi said, not feeling it.

“One can hope!” Erick said, speaking with as much enthusiasm as he could.

Poi tried to feel it, but it wasn’t taking. He shook his head.

Erick changed the subject, “Is everyone at Candlepoint getting ready? What about the other reincarnators?”

Poi looked away for a moment, tendrils of thought spilling off his head.

Erick waited.

Poi said, “Mephistopheles got the information packet and is happy to be part of your governors’ court. The Interfaith Church has been cooking since noon, when you officially told them this would be happening. They are prepared for a professional feast, but they want you to know that if you require an actual feast, they have food in reserve.”

Erick smiled a little.

Poi continued, “The Headmaster received your overseer packet earlier as well, and now he is talking about all that with the reincarnators you installed at— ahem— the New Folks Home. The other reincarnators will be ready for transport two days from now. There have been a few delays on regaining Levels.”

Erick was glad that nothing had changed with the plan for the reincarnators, but upon hearing that name for the house at Yggdrasil… He frowned a little. “I didn’t call it ‘New Folks Home’? But— Ah? I kinda like it?” He lost his frown and said, “Yeah. I think I do.”

“It was named by Zolan, since you didn’t give it a name.”

“I think I made a good choice with that one.” Erick said, “With all of them, really.” He got up from his chair and opened a [Gate] back to the house, saying, “Time to get ready for the party.”

– – – –

Zolan sat in the common room of his new apartment building, feeling concerned.

Not about the house, or the fact that he was now living with others just down the hall, like this was an old folk’s home. He actually liked that a lot. He loved living in a great big house full of people, and the thought of living with his colleagues was growing on him. It would be difficult to maintain a proper work and life balance in this sort of environment, but it would be good to live like this while constructing House Benevolence. Later, he would have his own home inside the House itself, with his own security, but this was fine for now. This place was pretty decent, too, even though it was all Fae Magic. It even had most of the proper amenities, but the reincarnators would have to take care of cycling the water themselves. Wouldn’t be too hard to do that; the place was set up for easy [Cleanse Ward]s and [Gravity Ward]s for moving around water, and there was a giant lake not 1300 meters below them if they needed refills.

Zolan wasn’t even concerned over his new assignments. He was thrilled to have almost as much responsibility as he had had back when he was working for the Headmaster. In some ways, he had even more responsibility. He was excited to get in on the ground floor of what would eventually become a multi-world organization.

And then there was another nuance to this whole situation. Zolan was excited, and a little scared, knowing that if he was even half as good as the man he used to be, then Erick would keep him around for a very, very long time… Assuming Erick would achieve immortality himself. But then again, Erick was a Wizard. Of course he would eventually become immortal. Knowing that, Zolan saw his own future stretch into beyond. He could probably get another [Reincarnation] in 80 years. Or maybe only 40?

65 seemed like a good age to reset at.

Zolan couldn’t imagine growing much older than that, now that he had experienced youth again. His fellow overseers had had similar thoughts, back when they were at Oceanside and talking about their experiences in their new bodies. They wanted to be young forever, too.

Mox was a stunningly beautiful woman who Zolan was still feeling strange about. He had never felt anything even remotely desirable about Mox, and yet, here he was, getting odd, tingly feelings down there when he looked at her. It was probably the vagaries of youth, for Mox was usually not his type. ‘Type’ didn’t seem to matter much, though, for Zolan had been getting a lot of those sorts of feelings with practically every woman he looked at these days, and even a little bit for Raingorl, which was new, and a little bit exciting if Zolan was being honest with himself. At least Raingorl did have a strong Blessing from Aloethag, so that explained that, and other men just looked like men to Zolan; nothing special. There was no denying that Mox was definitely special, though. A competent woman with strong ties to other competent people. Who wouldn’t be attracted to that? And yet, Zolan had found himself making similar justifications regarding every woman he met—

He cut his thoughts short.

‘Splitting up our people will be a disaster,’ Zolan thought at the group. ‘Ar’Cosmos is going to do something to those under them. Some sort of ensorcellment.’

‘I don’t believe Erick would allow that.’ Raingorl sent, ‘He would notice.’

‘Unless he’s already compromised.’ Mox sent, ‘But the fact that we’re able to think these thoughts at all gives credence to the idea that he is not compromised.’

Raingorl sent, ‘I feel like everything that is happening is fine. Erick was willing to listen to our suggestions and push back on Burhendurur’s and Volaro’s overreaching. We’ll get our own securities for our tower in the House and they won’t be under the Carnage dragon’s oversight. Our people will be inside every other department, and we can all talk to each other about what happens in those departments. And none of us are redundant. We will know everything that happens there. Therefore, this is fine.’

For a long moment, no one said a word.

And then the Headmaster sent, ‘I suggest you think hard about whether remaining in your New Folks Home or moving into the House is in your best interests, for once you leave Yggdrasil you will likely not be allowed back. As for the departments and the organization, I am reading Zolan’s report, and Erick passed me one of his own. They are virtually identical. I don’t believe any of you are compromised. I do believe that Erick is trying his best and that it will be enough, if you help him to make that House the best that it can be. The future of our world is in your collective hands, my newly-young friends. Do your best.’

Zolan, Mox, and Raingorl sat there in the living room, stunned. Those words from the Headmaster were clearly his final decisions on the subject, and his final decision had been good. And he had called them all friends. Zolan knew that, in private, each one of them had received that honor at least once. It was why the Headmaster had even taken this chance on Erick’s [Reincarnation] working as advertised.

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But to openly state friendship was to give honor and danger in equal measure. If someone else had heard that Zolan was a ‘friend to the Headmaster’, he would have been targeted…

But he supposed they were going to be targets now, anyway.

So they might as well tell those good truths to the world, while they could.

Zolan cheerfully sent, ‘Thank you for your kind words and your guidance, my old friend Kirginatharp.’

‘Ha!’ the Headmaster sent, surprised and amused at the same time.

Raingorl and Mox gave Zolan a little stare.

Zolan shrugged, adding, ‘I heard that everyone else is going to be calling you that, so I should, too. You know. So that they take me seriously.’

Still amused, the Headmaster sent, ‘Maybe save that for when you become at least an archmage and can stand up to your other overseers without Erick backing you.’

‘Ah. Prudent as always, my old friend Headmaster,’ Zolan sent, smiling, ‘Always a wise one, you are.’

Still amused, the Headmaster sent, ‘Enjoy your party, safe in the knowledge that if something strange should happen with Erick, that Stratagold, Oceanside, and others are ready to step in if necessary. If some exterior force should attack, then I wish your organization the best of luck in growing strong. Farewell.’

The connection to Oceanside vanished.

And then it was just the three of them, sitting in a room together. Zorik was in his own room down the hall, putting away clothes. There was nothing to do for another three hours; until the party. So it was time to work.

Zolan stood up, saying, “I need to prepare myself for the gathering.”

Raingorl stood up alongside Mox, saying, “I’ve got it easy compared to you. Making a school and a hospital? Simple.”

Mox said, “I’m on dungeon and sewer duty for a while. Also rather simple.” She looked to Zolan, saying, “You’ll have to organize something completely new, though.”

“The exact form of this castellan position is new to me, but it’s little more than money tracking, allocation, and politicking on the entire world stage through this Gate District. I admit that it will be different to be within a single [Teleport] of any possible meeting, but that should prove more conducive to proper organization than anything.” Zolan said, “No… My worries remain in the contents of this House. We’re going to be vastly outnumbered by Ar’Cosmos and Candlepoint’s people, even if the wrought will be there with us.”

Mox hummed under her breath, saying, “Even when our fellow reincarnators come here we’ll still be outnumbered, just because of Candlepoint.”

“Even with your family hiding in the wind we’re outnumbered,” Raingorl said, shrugging.

Mox said, “They won’t do anything. I already told them not to.”

“But that’s enough fretting for now.” Zolan said, “All the world is watching, so we best put on a good show. It’s time to get politicking.”

“I’m ready,” Raingorl said, “Though the feel of eyes upon me is something I will need to get used to again.” He gave a tiny smile, adding, “It is not a bad feeling, but I did not expect as much from you, Zolan. Or you, Mox.”

Mox blushed, hiding a small smile of her own.

Zolan smiled wide, saying, “You’ve got a lot to look at, big man!”

Raingorl barked a laugh.

Zolan included Mox in the teasing, saying, “And you’re as beautiful on the outside as you always were on the inside.”