220, 2/2

The Grand Dungeon of House Benevolence was one of the largest and most intricate dungeons in the world.

The entrance to that dungeon was located about 20 kilometers northwest of the Gate District, between the Elemental Dungeons and Benevolence Tower. The original entrance had been inside the House itself, but Quilatalap quickly gained control of the dungeon and moved that entrance to where it was now; inside a large, black crystal expanse.

It wasn’t long after that relocation that the Office of the Exterior, overseen by Mox Dawnsider, had organized the harvesting of the Grand Dungeon, as the Office of the Exterior had already done for all the other normal dungeons in the area.

Mox and Quilatalap had a decent enough working relationship, which is about what Quilatalap had with almost everyone in the House. Delvers went in and out of his dungeon all the time, bringing out riches and more, if they were very good, but mostly people went in and came out empty handed. They usually gained the knowledge needed to try another day, though.

Erick went in and out as he pleased, for Quilatalap lived inside this dungeon.

The Apparent King stepped down onto grassy land outside the dungeon’s brutalist entrance, and a part of him felt like he was coming home. The Kingly part of him, though, stood well over 2 meters tall, straight-backed, with black horns on his head and white and black robe flickering with lightning upon its edges. His clothes were mostly an illusion of power, but Erick maintained his illusions of power in this public space, as he was well-trained to do. Fewer people tried to kill him and those around him when he looked the part of The Wizard, and The King.

Glossy black stone rose up from the ground in front of him, like black kendrithyst crystals growing together, forming a foundation first, and then towering overhead to join together to blot out the sun with their enormity. It looked like a dangerous place, and it was. Four thousand people died in those dark depths every single day. Mostly, those people came back, [True Resurrection]’d either by the Archlich, or by the Grand Dungeon itself.

In a way, all of the largest, most put-together dungeons were sort of like this one.

Even with all the dark immensity of this place, there were offices of intake and outlet on the left and right sides of the dungeon entrance, adding a sort of banal, Disney-esque corporatization to the entire affair. The Dungeoneer’s Guildhouse, a massive thing of wood and stone that rivaled the dungeon entrance for size, lay about half a kilometer to the south, towering like an Adventurer’s Guildhouse upon the prairie.

If it weren’t for the giant collection of towering black crystals, and the well-paved road leading from the Dungeoneer’s Guild to this place, this place would look rather normal. As it was, it almost looked like an attraction at a theme park.

The early-morning crowds certainly gave that impression, too.

Erick paid little outward attention to the various people all around, as those people gave him looks, and exclaimed about this or that. He just walked forward, into the dark interior of the black crystal structure. Ophiel trailed behind him, singing a tiny song about purple tarts. At least the little guy kept his song narrowed to his personal concerns. It was somewhat embarrassing when the little guy would sing little love songs he had overheard over the years, whenever Erick walked this way.

The Apparent King strode past the small line of delvers, all equipped in their real armor and with their real weapons, all waiting for their turn at the dungeon laying far beyond the dark hallways. Then he walked past the first guardian undead, which was a simple bird skeleton perched on a pole in the middle of the hallway. The skeleton bird would squawk at people, warning them to stay away until it was their turn, and then it would do worse if people tried to sneak around, or ignore it.

Just beyond that guardian skeleton were massive black-boned skeletons, dozens of them, lurking in the darkness to the sides of the black-crystal tunnel, almost vanishing in the shadows, except for their eyes which were like distant pairs of stars. They watched Erick as he walked past, their heads slightly turning to track his movements. They did nothing more than watch, which was also all the skeleton bird had done.

Ophiel fluffed up at the gazes of the black-boned skeletons, his song turning more solid, as though he could ward off the shadows with mere words. Which he could, no doubt; he’d have to put in some actual magical effort into those words, though. Ophiel wasn’t scared of much these days, for he had seen almost everything Erick had seen these last 13 years, but he still got nervous around eyes in the dark.

Erick couldn’t blame him for that.

The Apparent King strode down the dark hallways of the Grand Dungeon’s entrance. Eventually, under a black dome of crystal that was much more than that, Erick came to a hole in the world, ringed in black light. Beyond that hole lay the dungeon. It was a land of soft grasses and trails leading this way and that, while forests and mountains rose in the far distance beyond.

Erick glanced upward, up, up, to the ceiling, where the first true guardian of the dungeon stood watch, hidden in the shadows, here at the true entrance of the dungeon.

It was a thing of long arms, a head made of several heads, eyes at the end of every palm, and dark, forgetful magic lingering in the black fur of the animated beast. It was a black moon reacher. There were three more of them prowling around the exterior of the dungeon, though those ones out there were much, much smaller. This one was the size of a mansion, and was technically an amalgam of tens of black moon reachers; the ones that went unseen, unknown, unfelt, and who could reach through magic to take and kill whatever they touched.

According to Erick, that monster was #1 the creepiest fucking thing in the entire kingdom. It was one of Quilatalap’s many masterpieces, and it was about as powerful as one of Melemizargo’s Ancients, back when he was still making those. It hardly ever did anything, though, so according to everyone else in the kingdom, Erick or Quilatalap himself ranked #1.

Still, though, the look of that thing hanging under the dome of the ceiling gave Erick a frightful case of the heebiejeebies. Jane couldn’t stand the damned thing at all; she hated all moon reachers with extreme prejudice.

Erick ignored the monster overhead, as it did the same for him, and then Erick hopped through the dungeon portal, back into the bright sunlight on the other side, where green fields spread out in every distance and the horizon was a land of mountains. Paths lay at his feet, pointing the way to several different trials and tribulations.

Erick stepped off the paths, ignored the warning trill that briefly filled the air like a dying cat, and walked his own way, through the knee-high grasses.

A minute into his walk, he passed an invisible corner in the dungeon’s domain, and then he turned left.

To all outside observers, Erick had walked behind the air.

The grass stilled, and then, as though nothing was wrong, a breeze passed across the plains, sending the grasses back to movement, like they were green waves in an ocean.

– – – –

White lightning struck a white boulder that was covered in moss, half-buried in a rock garden at the side of a real garden, and a house. Erick stepped out of the light. For a brief moment he was imposing. Larger than life. Broad-shouldered and with a crown of black horns on his head, with a robe of white shimmers and deepest black, just in case Quilatalap had some guests. But there were no guests. And so, Erick smiled, transforming in that moment from the Apparent King, to just Erick, as he dispelled his horns and ditched his shoes, to feel the greenery underfoot…

Whatever repro came out of today would likely remember these next few hours in a nebulous sort of way.

Erick hoped that however ‘Erick-2’ turned out, that he wouldn’t be angry that he wasn’t the original.

– – – –

Erick held within his hands a core that was oh-so-similar to the one beside his own heart; perfectly spherical, the size of a fist, and iridescent white. It contained everything that was himself, along with a very tailored experience of meeting Quilatalap and deciding to actually go through with this whole thing; this ‘vacation’.

The dungeon master slime that gained this core wouldn’t really understand what he was until hours after implantation, though, and when that happened, and the memories finally settled, he would be Erick. In almost every way that counted, Erick-version-2 would be Erick. He’d probably pick a real name for himself, though.

Erick held out the sphere to Quilatalap.

Quilatalap took the sphere into his much larger green hands, and then he put his other hand on Erick’s shoulder. “He’ll be fine, and I won’t do the implantation for days yet anyway.” He flicked the sphere into the air, where it vanished instantly. He put his other hand on Erick’s other shoulder, and pulled him in for a hug. “He and Quil are going to get along well.”

Erick sighed as he held Quilatalap. “Gods that’s going to be such a mess.”

“It might not be. No way to really know until I actually introduce the core to a dungeon master slime.” Quilatalap pulled away. “You’re really sure you want to give him all your spellwork?”

“I am. It would be cruel for me to do otherwise to myself.” Erick rapidly added, “I know you do it differently, but… I couldn’t see myself not having all of the spells I have now.”

“I’ve regained my spellwork so many times I hardly need a foundation anymore to get up and running again.” Quilatalap grinned. “And it’s nice making a different Status every few decades or so.”

“Eh… Maybe.” Erick said, “I’ll have everything lined up as soon as I can, and then we can go. Thank you for agreeing to come help with this, Quilatalap.”

“If Sininindi’s proposal isn’t completely untenable, then I’m probably going to agree to it in exchange for some actual assurances of peace between the greater pantheon and I.” Quilatalap shrugged. “She’s probably going to have me stick around there for the foreseeable future, too, but that’s fine with me.”

“Hopefully her demands aren’t too great. It’s a good chance for actual peace, right?”

“The possibility is there. Of course, she could be doing this because she wants you to be involved in her power, somehow.”

Erick was not so sure of that. “She hasn’t wanted me to get anywhere near Everbless.

“Maybe she does, now. Everbless is growing up just like Yggdrasil.”

“He’s only begun to talk last year. Meanwhile, Yggdrasil has 9 bodies and he’s piggy-backing off of me, so he’s growing a lot faster than Everbless.”

Yggdrasil’s twin, created at the moment of Yggdrasil’s own creation, way back before Last Shadow’s Feast, was taken by Sininindi as fulfillment of her demand that Erick make a [Control Weather] machine. The goddess of Storm and Sea had named that ‘machine’ ‘Everbless’, and he was anything but a machine to Sininindi. From everything Erick had heard, Sininindi truly doted on the World Tree.

Over the years, and from a great distance, Erick had watched Everbless grow from a seedling to a full World Tree, but where Yggdrasil was white-barked, green-leaved, and rainbow-crowned, Everbless was deeply affected by the Storm Goddess’s power. Everbless might be Yggdrasil’s twin, but they looked and acted nothing alike. Everbless was still only a kilometer tall, and he had only begun speaking about 16 months ago. Rather stunted growth, there… Or maybe Everbless was simply experiencing normal growth rates? Probably.

Quilatalap chuckled a little. “I suppose Everbless isn’t very big.” He changed the subject, “So! I want dinner at the Saucery before we go to Storm’s Edge.”

Erick smiled. “It’s been a few years, hasn’t it? I will make that happen.”

“Good! Now go on and get back to being a king. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do, too, since I’ll be handing off the Grand Dungeon for a while.”

“See you tonight? Talk more?”

“How about tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

– – – –

The day passed with little in the way of events, except for another odd monster break on Dungeon Island, over at Quintlan. Erick didn’t need to clean up that monster mess, for the local Dungeoneering Guildhouse was on the case, but there were a dozen dead that Erick had sudden responsibility over. So he revived them, because the local guildmaster asked, and that revivification had been a major part of their international agreements.

Back when Hollowsaur and Treant and others had taken the island back from the oozes, nearly 9 years ago now, the collective efforts of the world moved in. It was there that the people of the world truly started working toward making a replacement for the Script in those experimental dungeons. House Benevolence was one of those signers of those agreements, and so had agreed to certain things. One of those things was the revival of those who had been lost to dungeon breaks or other disasters in the area, and who had agreed to signing the associated paperwork.

The dead people today got un-deaded, then they got some new paperwork to go with their new lives, because a [True Resurrection] outside of the dungeons carried with it a closing of all current bank accounts and property and lives. Because of that, all 12 people got [Reincarnation]s, too; [Reincarnation] was simply a bonus that Erick included because he could. It wasn’t a part of the normal [True Resurrection] agreements.

That whole [True Resurrection] debate was still going on in the courthouses across the world, but House Benevolence and Oceanside and Dungeon Island had come to an agreement with how [Resurrection], at least, would be treated; it would be as though the recipient had legally died. People got around this legality many different ways, since the Fractured Citadels and all the liches of those lands had interests in Dungeon Island, too, but House Benevolence adhered to the international treaty.

Erick was still sitting on his throne, at the top room of House Benevolence, dealing with the final parts of that minor international incident, when Kiri showed.

The Wizard’s Apprentice appeared on the other side of a white-rimmed [Gate], stepping through from some mountainous land directly into the throne room. She was no longer the 19 year old girl who had whipped Erick in the training arena, and who had the audacity to ask for an apprenticeship; to use Erick for her own needs, while she was already laden with so many entanglements to those who would also use Erick for their own needs.

She was 32, now, and a full woman grown. Her green scales gleamed in the rainbow-white light of the throne room and under the bright sun overhead. Her green dress was layered and formal, but made for fighting, while her green horns curled backward, forming most of a halo. She saw Erick, and she smiled, her bright white eyes flickering with Benevolent lightning. She might have been born with a green magic signature, but her transition into a Benevolence Dragon years ago pushed her full-white. Her transition also made her a little over 2 meters tall, making her the second tallest person in the room.

Kiri glanced to Zolan, who was the only other person in the room, not counting Ophiel.

The Castellan of House Benevolence stood on the ground just beyond the Benevolent Throne and its dais. The pale-purple demi was even more handsome a decade after his [Reincarnation], in Erick’s opinion, and he had regained all of his previous magical power, and then some. He was considered the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom, and his days were barely less busy than Erick’s. He didn’t often act as Erick’s personal secretary, for Erick had about ten of those people, but for certain shifts in schedule, Zolan reported personally to the Apparent King, which is exactly what had happened with this Dungeon Island problem.

Zolan gave a small nod toward Kiri, then easily said to Erick, “I’ve pushed back your 4:00 pm appointments, but it seems the Overseer of Gate Expansion is particularly eager today. Pray tell, I hope it’s nothing bad.”

Erick almost laughed at that. Zolan wasn’t a Mind Mage, and he did not have Intelligence, but he was whip-smart anyway.

Kiri stood tall, her eyes focused on Erick, “Is today the big day?”

Kiri was always a smart one, too. Thanks to all the New Stats, and a clearing/prevention of the shadeling curse by Erick himself, she was even smarter, with well over a hundred base Intelligence.

Zolan wasn’t often surprised these days, but he was surprised by Kiri’s declaration; her insinuation. He looked to Erick. “The big day?”

Erick wrapped the room in a [Hasted Shelter]. Time slowed to a crawl. “Since you’re both here, there is something very large happening, and it is time you both knew of it. To begin with, over the next 6 months to a year, I am going to be working toward removing Yggdrasil’s 100-year seal…”

Erick explained.

Kiri’s eyes shone with worry, and joy, and anticipation, and finally, as she came down from the high of ‘it’s finally happening’, she rapidly transformed into the capable archmage and statesman she had grown into over the last ten years. Her recent Worldly Path had finally filed down her most dangerous parts, like her thoughts about places like Greensoil, which had fucked her over in her younger years due to human supremacy being the law of the land. She still saw injustice everywhere, which was great, but she could at least work with Greensoil these days without pissing off some noble from over there with pointed questions.

Zolan frowned a little throughout the whole explanation, and then, when Erick was done, he announced, “Archmage Flamecrash is not ready for this responsibility.”

Kiri asked him, “Will you help me be ready with this responsibility?”

“I’m not vanishing off the face of Veird,” Erick said, “But I am going on a sabbatical, at least. Six months to a year, and hopefully by the time that is done, when I come back it won’t be in nearly as large a position as I have now. You can contact me if something horrendous happens or is about to happen, but I imagine that I’m going to be traveling by myself for most of the trip, and I would appreciate not having any interruptions at all.”

Zolan frowned a little.

Kiri stood strong, waiting, hoping that Zolan would agree to this. And then she went on the offensive. “I will not be able to replace Erick, so the House will likely have to go through a minor restructuring. I’m imagining you, Zolan, taking over as Head of House in Erick’s absence.”

Zolan sighed a little. “The fact is that no one will ever be able to replace Erick… But you are a close second. And you want it, right?”

“Absolutely,” Kiri said, without hesitation.

“Glad to see that hasn’t suddenly changed, unlike other truths I thought were stable,” Zolan said.

Erick smiled softly. “Kiri can do the job with everyone’s help, Zolan; just like me. This organization is too big for anyone to do on their own.”

Zolan looked to Erick, his expression hard. “Promise me you won’t start some other organization when your sabbatical is over; that you will come back.”

“Absolutely,” Erick said, “And my repro will be around here somewhere in case you have questions for me. He’ll probably want to continue working, too… But I have no idea how he’s going to be. Not really.”

Kiri said, “Well I think it’s great you’re trying for one, and he’s probably going to work out fine. Better than mine.”

Zolan looked straight at Kiri and announced, “You and I will have quite a few talks about what went wrong there, along with a hundred other hours of dialogue before I accept you as a temporary replacement for Erick.”

Kiri nodded, saying, “You always have the best interests of the House at heart, so I would expect nothing less from you, Zolan. I know none of us are ready for this transition, but at least you won’t have any more 60-hour days.”

Zolan had a complicated set of emotions over Kiri’s last words. After a moment, he said, “I suppose small miracles can be found where least expected.”

Erick smiled, and then he got up off his throne, saying, “Let’s talk transition. Kiri? Want to try out the throne—”

Three things happened fast.

Kiri gleefully, yet calmly, walked forward, her eyes locked on that simple, white stone throne.

Erick stepped aside.

And Zolan announced, “NOPE!”

Erick frowned a little.

Kiri tsk’d, briefly narrowing her eyes as though a prize had been snatched from her.

Zolan said, “Make a new throne for her. Smaller and set to the side. Maybe your throne can be moved backward, and Kiri’s throne can go where yours is now, but Kiri is not taking your throne. I’m not having that, and neither is the House.”

“Eminently reasonable,” Kiri said. “I’ll make my own throne.”

“Also,” Zolan said, “You’re not stepping down from Gatemaster, Erick. You’re elevating to the position of ‘Wizard’, which is informal but which I have just decided needs to be made formal. ‘Wizard’ is above ‘Gatemaster’, of course, and then Kiri is taking ‘Gatemaster’. A lot of specific duties will move around… Thusly.”

“Reasonable, and acceptable,” Kiri said, her voice still solid and unperturbed.

And she wasn’t faking it, either.

The Kiri of a decade ago would have been miffed by Zolan’s shifts and demands, but the Kiri of today was older and wiser, and she had been working toward this goal right here ever since Erick started truly raising her to be his successor. She still wasn’t completely ready for the role, but she was close.

Over the next few hours they spoke of what needed to change around here in order to elevate Kiri to a separate, smaller throne. Funnily enough, they eventually decided that Kiri wouldn’t get a throne at all. She would simply take her Overseer chair and put it up there in front of Erick’s throne.

Erick was sure everything was going to work out fine.

– – – –

Eventually, Zolan had other things he needed to attend to, and quickly, so he requested Erick allow him an Ophiel and a [Hasted Shelter] so he could have some of his own emergency meetings. Erick easily agreed to this, and soon, Ophiel sat down on Zolan’s shoulder, squeaking out small hellos. Zolan smiled a little bit at that and pulled a purple candy from his pocket; the same pocket which Ophiel had been poking at when he sat down on Zolan’s shoulder. He and Ophiel got along well, with Zolan always giving the little guy little treats, now that he could taste things.

As he handed off a second candy to Ophiel, Zolan said to Erick, “I like that you’re unsealing, or re-sealing, Yggdrasil. I hope that your actual ascension to Wizard goes well, too, for I’m looking forward to never having to use [Hasted Shelter] again, and relying on you to simply [Return] if something catastrophic has gone wrong.”

Erick laughed at that. “Didn’t take much to convince you, eh? Just needed to be able to finally bend the universe to my will?”

“If your repro is half the man you are, then we’re all going to be okay.” Zolan said to Ophiel, “Okay, Ophiel. Let’s go to the Office of the Exterior.”

This book’s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Ophiel chirped, “Office of the Exterior!” as he opened up a [Gate] directly there.

Zolan stepped through the edge of the [Hasted Shelter], experiencing a bit of a time dilation lag and ephemeral burn, but it was only 250-ish damage, and he had more than enough [Personal Ward] to withstand that. Ophiel did too. They moved like absolute molasses in the office space on the other side of the [Gate], though, so Erick conjured a wall to block off the view inside the throne room. After a few subjective minutes over here, and only seconds over there, Ophiel would close the [Gate].

For now, Erick turned to Kiri—

And Kiri giggled like a schoolgirl as she wrapped Erick in a sudden hug, saying, “Oh my gods, Erick! It’s finally happening!”

Erick hugged her back, being careful of her horns, and of his own horns, saying, “You deserve it. You’ve worked hard for it.”

Kiri hugged tighter once more, then pulled away, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I was expecting another ten years. Not a transition a month or two out from my completion of the Path.”

“I think Yggdrasil has been waiting for years to ask this of me, and with you becoming a real option, he decided to ask this of me now. All the rest of it is just some godly drama, I think.” Erick said, “I’ll be working to ensure that the 90-year timeline to new worlds remains intact, though. Not a single person is ready for that to happen in the next year.”

Kiri put away her mirth, and she became the woman who Erick knew would become Gatemaster. “You hope that is the case. You don’t actually know. In fact, there’s that convenient gap between the seal transferring to Yggdrasil and you becoming a Wizard capable of enforcing that shifted seal. Someone is going to exploit that gap, Erick, and it’s going to be the gods; any number of them, maybe all of them.” Kiri said, “The gods went along with this dungeon core program awful damned fast for a lot of different reasons, most of which are about expanding their own personal domains and sucking in new worshipers. Or creating those worshipers directly, and sometimes in order to directly attack Melemizargo in a faith-campaign inside his own Darkness.” Kiri said, “The gods are not truly benevolent. They press and shape and carve the world as they are wont, making it in their image as dictated by their beliefs, just as much as Melemizargo does.”

Erick had already considered all that, but he was glad that Kiri had considered all that, too. “I know. Something is likely going to happen, but if it does, I can always fall back on Big Wizardry; it just won’t be as Big or solid as it could be, without being a Full Wizard myself.”

Kiri frowned a little. “I suppose… That could be true.” Then she added, “I always thought that you never went far enough with combining your two Statuses. You still have two of them; you should only have one.”

“Well… I did what I could there. Combined all the things I could combine; erased everything that didn’t fit.” Erick admitted, “All I ever managed to do was make both Statuses look the same.”