206, 1/2

 

The hallway of the gods in most Interfaith Churches, like in the one at Spur, was a white tunnel of alcoves and trinkets left in those alcoves by parishioners communing with their deity of choice. Sometimes the hallway was a tunnel to talk to multiple gods, with the gods appearing for those who truly needed their help. In all cases, it was usually a journey of white, and maybe the barest hint of divine golden flames.

The hallway of the gods at the True Interfaith Church of Candlepoint, was different. The white was there, along with a lot of golden fire.

But this place had a black undercurrent. Darkness seeped into the light, and cast everything into stark relief. The pillars holding up the roof seemed more real. The tiles on the ground seemed more solid. The land ahead was a path forged of power.

And Erick started walking.

Koyabez stepped to his side, saying, “Hello, Erick. Welcome back so soon.”

Erick felt some of his previous anger at the dragon situation vanish as the God of Peace and the original God of Veird walked beside him. Koyabez wore his usual form of a loincloth-wearing demi, with pale violet skin and as much of his body exposed as possible to show his vulnerability.

And then they weren’t in the same hallway that Erick had stepped into.

Visually, it was the same. But the hallway was longer, according to Erick’s mana senses. A lot longer. The lands outside the hallway vanished. Time probably dilated too, as Erick’s connection with all the Ophiel outside began to stretch; he had learned to recognize that sense rather well in the last few weeks of nightly [Hasted Shelter]s. Erick found himself able to breathe even easier. He had time to solve this crisis of the dragon exodus. Not a lot of time, but some time, at least.

He would get to all the other gods when he got to them, and not a moment before.

“Hello, Koyabez. Good to see you again. The Denial Spheres with [Zone of Peace] work great.”

Koyabez nodded, saying, “I saw. I’m glad you were able to fix those small issues, but those spells will never be as strong as when you cast them yourself.”

“I could have Yggdrasil blanket the land with a Peace that stretched out across the entire 250 kilometer space, if I Shaped it to, like, 200 meters tall. But that’s building a weakness into the system. Yggdrasil might forget to do that one day. Or he might decide not to for whatever reason. The spheres aren’t perfect, but they will be, and many hands make for something that won’t break upon first meeting a [Chaining Dispel].”

“I approve, Erick,” Koyabez said, smiling, “I also approve of taking in those you have Blessed, and the Dicers from the Sovereign Cities, and the people from Ar’Cosmos. It’s all a big undertaking, but if anyone can make it work, you can.”

It was as good a way to get to the meat of the conversation as any.

“Did you hear about how the fairy is interpreting their deal? The exodus of dragons?”

“I have. It’s for the best.”

“… Is it, though?”

“This world was never meant to hold and contain all the power that it has been forced to hold and contain. That a deal has been struck that forces that fairy to take a true stand against violence is one of the largest workings of Wizardry you have ever managed to achieve.”

Erick looked over at Koyabez. Then he faced forward again, looking down the hallway that seemed ever longer. “I do not believe that I did this.”

“If you [Teleport Object] a boulder out from under a mountain, do not be surprised when the mountain starts to rumble. You have taken out a lot of boulders, Erick. This is a rumbling of the world, and the avalanche has only begun to roll.” Koyabez added, “But at the same time, yes, you did not directly do this.”

“… Could you help with the problem of dragons and the Curse? Do you have a way to let them stay on Veird without being subject to all the things that make them vulnerable to the fairy’s pact?”

“I do not. You do. [Reincarnation].”

“Something else that doesn’t require them to lose out on power, or eternity.”

Koyabez said, “You could go the Ar’Cosmos way and make a real House Benevolence with Benevolence dragons.”

Erick smiled softly. “It’s like you’re sorting out my own thoughts to me.”

“That is usually what gods help with; yes.”

“I can’t do dragons, though.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s already enough power in this world, and if I do that, then that would make me responsible for those dragons. I don’t want to be responsible for that much power in the world.” Erick felt the words begin to pour out, “I don’t want to control everything. I don’t want to be a threat to other people. I don’t want to endanger a twist in the Curse and fuck up draconic society even more than it is already fucked up. I don’t want to be a dragon, either! Fuck! I have to take in dragon essence and then twist it to Benevolence? I can already see how I could do that, but it’s like making the [Cascade Imaging] [Luminous Beam] spell; it’s just too much power for anyone to have. Even the power I have right now is too much.

“I’m going to stick with this kingdom shit for maybe 50 years, and ensure that other people can step up to the plate, and then I’m going to run off into the sunset…

“Or. No. Not that. I could easily see myself running a country for the rest of life. I love it. But at a certain point I know my own sensibilities will be old fashioned, and the kids should take over. And so I will step down as ultimate authority over everyone at Candlepoint. Eventually.

“Maybe I’ll last the full hundred years…

“Or maybe I’m talking out of my ass and I like having real power.

“Maybe I do like making the world better, by force.

“I’m pretty damned sure that I’m doing as much good as others out there. I’m not conceited enough to think I’m doing better than anyone else, but I’m certainly doing a decent job so far. I got all the major powers of the world either dead, or cooperating. And that seems like a good thing, to me.

“But…

“This is stressful.

“I just want everyone to stop fighting. To stop having power grabs. To stop generational trauma spurring children into committing horrors in the names of their fathers and mothers. I want a world where people only have to worry about picking out what they want to eat for dinner, out of a thousand options, and not have to worry about monsters crashing through their doors or if a neighboring nation is going to [Teleport] in and start a war that kills a million people.

“And I think…

“I think I want dragons to be forces of good, and not forces of selfish behavior and Cursed fights. But that’s just not what dragons are, are they?

“But I could make them that way.

“I mean… It’s the easy solution, isn’t it? Become a dragon. Take on more power, because I know how to wield it properly, and then I can bequeath that same power to others of a like mind? And because it’s Benevolence, and we already know how that will work, then… What is the downside? I don’t see any downsides.

“Except I’m putting more power out into the world, and that’s just… Uncomfortable.”

As Erick gushed a verbal essay, Koyabez walked closely, listening. The hallway seemed to be just as long as it needed to be, because when Erick was done talking there was a bend in the hallway. Beyond that bend lay another land. He couldn’t see what that place was, not from where he was standing. But he would be there soon enough.

Koyabez spoke, “It sounds like you have an answer, Erick. Now figure out if you want to accept that answer, or forge a new one. But I can’t help you past this. The fairy’s pact will hold for the good of all, and every individual; as a great man once said.”

Those were the same words Erick had once said, when he spoke his Truth of Benevolence.

Erick echoed his own words, but with a bit of sadness, “For the good of all, and every individual.”

Maybe being a dragon wouldn’t be so bad.

… Erick liked himself, though.

“Just think, Erick.” Golden fire licked from the ground, as Koyabez said, “If every dragon you Benevolence Blessed was another one of you, how much better the entire world might be.”

Erick laughed out loud. “That’s rather narcissistic!”

As the soft flames of divinity billowed through the space, Koyabez’s voice was a vanishing thing, “That you can recognize that narcissism means it might not be a real problem; yet another mark in your favor.”

– – – –

Golden fire fell away, turning into grasses and sunshine and cows mooing in the distance. The sky appeared above, blue and expansive, with fluffy white clouds raining platinum on the horizon. Flowers bloomed underfoot, and Erick found himself barefoot and enjoying the stroll.

A dark-skinned human woman walked with him.

Atunir, the Goddess of Field and Fertility.

“Hello, Atunir,” Erick said.

Atunir’s heavy braids tossed as she turned to Erick, giving him a great big smile. “I love what you’re doing with Candlepoint, Erick. Not only is grass growing on the Crystal Forest once again, but you’ve already got a good hundred babies on the way. A lot of those bundles of joy are still small surprises waiting to make themselves known, but I’m rather sure that they’re all going to have the best lives they could get. All thanks to you.”

Warmth blossomed in Erick’s chest, and his smile mirrored Atunir’s. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“If you were to visit Yetta and put a baby in her belly, that would be pretty great, too.”

Erick laughed loud, because that had to be a joke. “What!”

Atunir shrugged. “Everyone else is trying to link houses with you, so I thought I might as well throw out the invitation. About four days ago, one of the farmhands and her husband got their own good news —twins!— and that got Yetta to thinking about what she really wants out of life. She’ll always be my Champion until the day she dies, but she’s got time for other pursuits, too, and so, like many of my Champions before her, she wants a husband. She wants children. And so, I have made this offer to you.”

She was serious.

Erick looked at the goddess. “Does Yetta know you made this offer?”

“She will, if you accept. Otherwise we can forget this ever happened, and I will make a few more offers to other prospects out there.” Atunir asked, “Did you know they sometimes called me the Matchmaker, back in the Old Cosmology?”

“… No. I did not know that.”

“I still do that sometimes, but not nearly as much.” She asked, “How about that Nirzir woman? You should go for her.”

“Nirzir is a child!”

“19 is not a child. And besides that, Nirzir won’t be that age for long, and you’re never going to age. Eventually she will be an old woman, and you will still be young, and then you’ll transform her back to 25, or something similar, and keep going on like that forever.” Atunir’s eyes sparkled. “Lots and lots of babies! Maybe some of them wizards, too? You never know. That stuff either crops up once in a bloodline and never appears ever again, or it comes and goes every other generation. Either way, you would raise those Wizards right, for sure.”

Erick felt that sort of future in his heart as Atunir spoke of it. It wasn’t so bad. It might be nice. But.

No.

Erick shook his head a little, saying, “She’s too young. The timing isn’t right, and sometimes, that’s all it takes to make or break a relationship.”

“You should have someone, Erick. Someone to sleep with at night. Someone to hold. I would prefer a woman just because it’s easier for you to make more babies that way, but I don’t care if you get a guy, either, for you’ve already made Jane, and eventually you’ll have made Ophiel and Yggdrasil, too. You’ve left a great mark on the world. You can rest some and enjoy it all, if you want.”

Erick felt another pang of soft joy in his heart that spread out like summer wind, filled with the memories of playtime with Jane at the park on all the swings, and also flying in the air with Ophiel. He thought of all the times he talked long into the night with Yggdrasil, and the big guy talked about everything that was going on up north, at Treehome.

Erick kinda did want another kid….

Eventually.

He was still raising Yggdrasil and Ophiel right now. He had no time for another kid, actually.

But as for sharing a bed with someone…

The idea of sharing a bed with another person hit him like a brick to the head, which was not that serious of a comparison these days; it’d probably take that serious of a hit to deal him any damage at all.

“There’s no time to enjoy anything like that right now, and certainly no time to raise a kid right. I’m barely keeping up with Yggdrasil and Ophiel.” Erick moved the conversation back to the appropriate target, “And now the exodus of dragons is yet another crisis on my plate. It won’t be long til more people than Al show up asking to become a Benevolence Dragon, and I am not prepared to do that.”

“Dragons are perfectly fine people when they are the rulers of their own land, Erick. It’s only because we’re all stuffed on Veird that we needed the Curse to prevent complete war before it could start.” Atunir said, “At first, it wasn’t that way. At first, the Curse was a horror. But after that first round of dragons killed each other after the Death of All Halves, and all the rest happened… It was a time of growth, and all the tyrannical dragons who had been poking at each other, preparing for war, were themselves dead. You’ve already heard the stories of fights erupting in Ar’Cosmos, even though the size of that land is growing every single day? Imagine it’s 25 years Post Sundering, Veird has billions of people living on the Surface, and the emotional scars of the Sundering are just starting to heal, and the dragons on Veird are just starting to see that they don’t have nearly enough land.

“It’s the same story, over and over again, every time there are too many dragons in any one place.

“The Curse is a terrible, terrible thing, but it is also the only way that this world remains intact. And now, there is another option for the dragons; a real home and a chance for them to do whatever they want, and to actually have a community again. The fairy pact ensures that they take that option.

“For the good of all, and every individual.” Atunir looked to him, “As you have said yourself.”

They had almost reached the edge of the flowering field, but they still had a ways to go.

Erick looked up at the vast sky.

“The fairy pact is good… eventually. It will be good eventually. I can admit that. But there are dragons that don’t want to go to Ar’Cosmos, and they will either throw themselves against the fairy in order to stop from being taken, and fail, or they will accept a [Reincarnation] from me. But there is that other option. I could become a dragon myself. I could turn every incoming dragon into a Benevolence dragon. I could put more of me out there— though I am rather sure that this option will not be that easy. Something bad will happen if I choose that path. And yet… I haven’t seen anything bad when looking in that direction…

“Though I should probably step into my Gate Space and have a real, serious look.

“The problem is I don’t want to become a Benevolence Dragon, Atunir.”

Atunir smiled softly, saying, “You know most Wizard Kings of the Old Cosmology were actually dragons? Not actual Wizards at all?”

“I think I heard that once or twice.”

“Then there you go. Or, you could Wizard up a different solution.” Golden flames licked across the world, taking Atunir and the sky and the field with them, but leaving behind the voice of the goddess, “I would advise against that, though. Big Wizardry is dangerous. Never know how that could go.”

– – – –

Erick stepped into a park; a lightly wooded area with benches and picnic tables and a small pond where ducks quacked and dragonflies flitted upon the reeds. Another man sat upon a bench near the pond. With a gentle scattering, the man threw green dots into the pond. Those dots floated. The ducks went crazy for the food.

Phagar, looking like a mirror of Erick, turned to see Erick. He smiled. “Hey, Erick. Come on over.” He held up a thawing bag of frozen peas in his left hand. “I got more peas if you want to feed the ducks.”

Erick smiled, and made his way over there, asking, “Do you know how long it’s been since I fed the ducks? —you probably do know.”

Phagar handed over the bag as Erick sat down, saying, “I do. Your last week at college, a few days before the mother of your daughter came and granted you Jane.”

Erick’s hand paused inside the bag. He didn’t think that that was the exact last time, but now that he thought… Yeah. That was correct.

Erick just breathed, took out some peas, and threw them to the hungry ducks. In a rush of feathers and snapping beaks, the ducks rushed in to grab all that Erick had bestowed upon them, some of them diving down to grab the deeper peas while others fought for the peas that floated on the surface.

Erick frowned a little.

Something weird was happening.

There were a lot of ducks down there on the water. More than he thought there had been. And then, as soon as there wasn’t much food left on the water, some of them fought with each other for what was left. Some of them looked at Erick, and at the bag in his hands, like if he didn’t give them more then they were going to take it.

Erick grabbed a massive handful and handed out more peas, scattering green morsels across the entire surface of the pond. That was exactly what the ducks wanted, and it seemed to be what was better for all of them, because now they could hunt and prosper without harming each other. A lot of the peas managed to float for a good minute before they were eventually consumed, but by that time, Erick already had another large handful ready to go.

Green life scattered, and the ducks went back to feasting.

Erick continued on like that for a while, measuring his gifts of food to what the ducks were able to consume, but then the sky darkened a little. He looked up.

A formation of ducks —not many at all— settled down in the lake, crashing into the waters and diving for the green peas. Fights erupted again and Erick’s minor balance was ruined. He reached into the bag again and rapidly scattered food for the hungry animals. This time, it took 30 seconds for all the peas to vanish into gullets and for the ducks to start looking at Erick with hungry, beady black eyes.

Erick handed out another massive handful of peas, drawing deep from the bag in his lap. The bag wasn’t actually emptying at all. He had more than enough peas for all that he saw.

And then more ducks showed up.

“Oh,” Erick said, finally realizing what was happening. “I see.”

The bag of frozen peas seemed endless. But the ducks were also endless.

“The ducks keep coming and coming,” Phagar said, breaking the silence between them. “Even if your bag is endless, something else must be done if you are to care for them all, for there will only ever be so much room on the pond. Or, you could not feed any of them. In that case, the pond would have one or two ducks, based on how much food there is naturally, and all the rest would go somewhere else.

“You sit upon a crossroads, Erick, as you often are. Do you feed them? Or do you let them find more ponds elsewhere, even if they will probably fight in those other spaces for whatever resources there might be, and which you will never know of?”

Erick knew what he wanted to do.

He wanted to make a new pond, maybe two or three more. He wanted to scatter more and more food out for everyone. He wanted to power through the cynicism that others might see; that there was only so much he could do before he killed himself trying to do it all.

But Erick knew that he could never do it all on his own. Reality was reality, no matter how much of his own personal Reality he managed to bring into existence, and share with the world.

He smiled a little with a sudden thought. Could he appoint some of these ducks to hand out food to others? Train them up to help him hand out even more peas to all the rest of the ducks? Not without a lot of effort! But the thought was fun.

… That fun thought rang in Erick’s soul.

For Veird was not a world of mundanity; it was a world of Magic. Erick could, theoretically, take in some ‘duck essence’ of his own, become a duck, live with them and teach them at their level. He could taint them with his own Benevolent understanding of the world. He could make them better than they were before.

Or rather… Not ‘better’, but different. More apt to help others. Able to help others without fighting with those others.

And yet…

Erick said, “If I became a dragon then I would be vulnerable to the fairy pact, as you all seem to be calling it.”

“We wouldn’t let that happen.”

Erick looked to Phagar. It was like looking into a mirror of golden fire.

Phagar said, “Though you don’t have to pick that option if you don’t want. There are other paths.”

Erick chuckled. “What other paths?”

“Just turn the dragons into normal people, Erick, no matter what their personal problems with that transformation might be. Sure, there’re some unpleasant ethical concerns there, but I have every confidence that [Reincarnation] is still a good solution to this problem.”

Erick looked back to the ducks. They were all quacking at him like a town hall full of angry protesters, demanding that he fulfill their needs above all the other needs of the community. Thinking back to those old memories brought up others. Some of those protesters were always good people, looking out for what was best for all, but there were always those who wanted what was best for themselves, and damn all the rest.

He could still do all of the possible solutions to the dragon exodus, if only he took on more power, couldn’t he? For some, [Reincarnation] would be the right solution. For others, a Benevolencing might be best.

But only if he could actually do that.

The pond began to mist with golden fire. Some of the ducks squawked even louder, taking to the air and flying away as fast as they could. Others didn’t care, they just stood there, staring at Erick, demanding more food as golden fire burned them to bone, turning them to ash and dust as the entire world fell away into a golden conflagration.

The fires didn’t touch Erick, but he still felt the heat.

Phagar’s voice came to him, “And yet, ethical concerns about forcing people into new bodies might be the least of the issues here.”

The park from college vanished.

– – – –

Erick stepped onto a cloud in the sky.

Rozeta stood across from him, wearing her wrought form; a human woman but made of white metal, and wearing a pantsuit of the same. “Hello, Erick. We have to talk.”

Erick said, “Hello, Rozeta. Let’s talk.”

Rozeta smiled softly. “I would like for you to take us into your Gate Space, so that we can both better see the outcomes to what is to come, and of whichever ways you lean.”

“… You need an invitation for that? To come into Benevolence?”

“I do not.” Rozeta said, “I have already tried to get the sky to appear on my own, though, and that did not work. I am trying to replicate what you already have, but that will take some time. And thus, this is a situation like with many Elements and magics that are wholly created and sustained by a still-living person; unless you invite me in and I am there under your own continued cognizance, then the nuanced functions of your magic will not manifest.”

Erick would have invited her into his Gate Space at any other time and not had a second thought, but today was a day of Fairy Moon shit. Of Fae problems. That fact made him unduly wary about inviting anyone into his Gate Space.

Rozeta noticed. So instead of insisting, she gestured to the cloud and summoned two chairs that sat catty-corner beside a round table. Tea and cookies appeared on that table. Rozeta went and sat down on her chair, saying, “All this fae nonsense has me on edge, too. Will you allow me to put your mind at ease? As much as I can?”

A pang of comfortableness welled up inside Erick. He went and sat down, asking, “Can she actually get in here?”

“She usually respects holy communions… Or rather, she dislikes them. She will certainly try to appear if we say her name, so we won’t be doing that. She might try to make herself present in your Gate Space if we eventually end up getting there today. Or she might not. She’s busy, and so, right now, we’re safe.” Rozeta looked to him. “You’re safe, Erick.”

“Am I, though?” Erick asked, as thoughts of approaching dragons filled his mind.

“Not really, no. For now, though. You are safe. When I am with you, you are safe.” Rozeta asked, “Do you believe me?”

Erick thought for a second about what his life was, now, and then he sighed, saying, “Yeah. I do. But… You know what? I certainly didn’t get this far being scared of magic, so let’s tackle this head on. Let’s go to the Gate Space. We can view the sky as we talk.”

“… Are you sure, Erick? We don’t have to move on yet if you don’t want to.”

“I do, though.”

Rozeta smiled a bit. “Okay then.” She stood.

Erick stood with her.

As though he had already cast the magic, as though he was closer to his magic than he had ever been before, a jolt of iridescent white lightning flickered from his half-raised hand, striking the clouds ahead. That lightning gathered a short distance away, like flowing threads, and suddenly the Gate Space stood on the other side of a lightning-ringed [Gate].

Erick led the way, with Rozeta at his side.

The Gate Space had grown by a lot since Teressa and Aisha had been filled with lightning falling from the sky, almost a month ago. The central platform had increased in size again, forming a layer of octagonal stone and scattered green spaces about a kilometer across. The fountain in the center had become a twenty meter tall thing of flowing water and a surrounding pond, filled with lilies and life. Flames glowed at the top of that fountain like a signal bonfine, shaped in a [Renew] rune.

The fountain’s pond emptied off the edge of the structure, tumbling into a minor river that wound back and forth in a ditch of depressed stones, to flow off into the sky, to reach for Yggdrasil in the distance like a tether.

Yggdrasil was bigger, too. Erick almost expected the big guy to notice that Erick was here; to notice that Rozeta was here, if nothing else. But that big [Scry] eye did not appear; Yggdrasil’s focus was locked to playing and learning at Treehome.

Erick looked up, and Rozeta looked up with him.

The sky was a distant thing, at least a few kilometers away, and deeply piled with whirling white Benevolence, like storm clouds that tried to be lightning now and again. With a mental flick from Erick, all that changed. The sky spooled into lightning, like a weaver gathering wool into yarn.

Silent lightning crashed across the heavens, spreading out and touching nothing except itself. A few darker tangles appeared here and there in those crossings, but nothing serious. Nothing imminent.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Erick was somehow disappointed in that. “I expected to see a new tangle about this sudden decision.”

Rozeta was not disappointed at all, though. She was thrilled, and relieved. She smiled brightly and then began to relax, seeming less like a goddess in that moment and more like a friend who had just been told that some test results from a doctor had come back negative; nothing was wrong. She chuckled, saying, “That’s about correct, Erick. Nothing is wrong. Or at least you’re going to make the right decision.”

Erick had a sudden, burning question, “But isn’t it foolish to pin your hopes that this is all correct?” He swept a hand at his Gate Space. “That all this isn’t some figment of my imagination?”

Rozeta laughed a little; a happy sound. “I’ve looked at a lot more paths to the future than this one; This is just another confirmation among many that this is the right path, Erick. You made Benevolence very well! Be proud of your accomplishment, and what your mana means for the continued existence of this world, and all others to come.” She smiled. “But I am glad to see that you aren’t resting on your power, and that you are taking proactive roles to ensure that what we see comes to be. Nothing quite like actually working to make a problem go away, as opposed to doing nothing and hoping it goes away.”

“… Speaking of ‘doing’.” Erick faced the sky, asking Rozeta, “Got any plans for making this fairy pact not kill a lot of people?”

“Absolutely. I’ve got levers working everywhere to ensure a safe transfer of dragons to Ar’Cosmos. The fairy is the main one. She’s doing her thing, and in a few cases where those dragons pray to me —which is very rare for dragons, by the way. Dragons like gods about as much as the fairy does. In those cases of prayer, though, I am able to offer [Gate]s to put those directly to Ar’Cosmos, so that they don’t have to cross the world to get where they need to go.

“The news that I’m doing that is still disseminating, and that offer, once more know of it, will allow a lot of holdouts worried about encountering other dragons in their travels. They can head into Ar’Cosmos without risking a fight.

“Thankfully, not too many dragons have thrown too many hissy fits and exposed themselves to the broader world, but if they do, I have the Inquisition ready and able to respond to those scenarios within moments. Your Benevolence has actually been helpful in spotting those problems before they happened, too.

“One would-be-fight in Eidolon has already been prevented before it could even happen. Three more fights in other places met the same fate. In all four cases, every participating dragon in those fights were then moved into Ar’Cosmos without further incident.

“Everything is going very well, Erick. So far.” Rozeta said, “The only real wrench in this scenario is you, and the decisions you make today, for whatever you decide means that the flow of dragons might change.”

Erick was very glad to hear that Rozeta was taking this whole thing seriously, and as soon as Erick had that thought he realized that of course Rozeta would take a grand movement of dragons seriously. She wanted the Curse to exist to lock down dragons from controlling and fighting over the world until nothing was left, and so dragons hid, barely showing themselves. When people moved, though, there was always a chance for dragons to accidentally meet other dragons and start a fight, thus killing hundreds of bystanders or more.

And here was Erick, a source of possible draconic power; a Wizard able to allow those dragons to not have to flee to Ar’Cosmos under the threat of Fairy ultimatums. He was the same sort of power that dragons had been fighting with the wrought and with Kirginatharp all these centuries to control.

Erick had known it would get bad. He had known that dragons were going to come for him.

But now he realized…

Maybe he did need to be a dragon, just so he could withstand that sort of demand upon him.

Or he could run and hide and let the storm blow over.