235, 1/2

Clarice rapidly said, “Rebecca is the shadowcat from the first floor.”

Erick felt unmoored, suddenly lost. Fyuri was here, in Utopia? Or at least her shadow was? A lot of little facts suddenly lined up for Erick, and the truth of Clarice’s declaration became easy to verify in retrospect. Or maybe that was Erick’s sudden rage clouding and cloying to his thoughts.

All Erick could really say was, “Oh.”

Clarice looked at Erick through her slitted helmet, her eyes wide and reverential, as she said, “And you’re the Summoner.”

“… What?”

Clarice rapidly released the power in her hand, the displaced-reality-shards evaporating, as the tool in her hands slipped into the cuff of her armor. And then her full silver platemail turned semi-liquid and she stepped to the side, leaving the armor and its cape behind. The armor walked over to the corner of the room, and Erick could not mana sense it anymore, nor could he mana sense Clarice. Too many things were almost happening too fast, but Erick kept up—

As Clarice rapidly said, “Sorry for threatening you with murder because this changes everything. You need to leave the Iron Bandits right now.” She repeated, “You have to leave them. You can’t be near them. They’re already trying to control you—”

“Stop. Stop.” Erick softly said, “Stop with the ultimatums. Did you actually make tea? We could drink it while we talked. Or did you just plan on murdering me even after you invited me into your home?”

“… It’s not murder. It’s violent displacement and ejection.”

“Would a [True Resurrection] be involved?”

“Well yes. I would have churned through whatever Saves you had and then the dungeon would have—”

Erick sighed deeply, and that was enough for Clarice to stop talking. Erick said, “Please make the tea, and let us talk.” He gave a disapproving look, as he added, “I know you know about Elemental Mystical and probably Fae, too. Fae, especially, follows rather strict rules that are outside of any user’s ability to control, least of all little ‘humans’.”

Erick was goading Clarice now, because he was too furious to be the only one left angry.

His goad hit its mark.

Clarice, as a master of illusions, would have easily been able to see through Erick’s illusions. From there it would be a few small leaps of logic to conclude what Erick could see that Clarice could see. And since she had concluded that Erick was a dragon, it was easy for Erick to conclude that Clarice was a dragon, too.

Clarice fully dropped the act. “Oh fuck you, too. You benevolence dragons think you’re so much better than the rest of us. I know perfectly well how to use Elemental Fae! I’ve been using the damned element for the last 200 years!”

Now that seemed more like the Clarice who had first appeared to Erick.

The quiet one was the lie.

The loud one was closer to the truth.

Erick narrowed his eyes. “Not even going to try to lie even more to me? To pretend to be a human even longer?”

“… You didn’t fully know, did you.”

“I guessed correctly, and you confirmed, yes.”

Clarice frowned. Then she went to the kitchen. “I’ll make the tea.”

Erick saw a teapot fill with water from the sink, and a bunch of tea leaves float through the air. Maybe this time that’s what was actually happening. He asked, “Where are you from?”

“I’m not a normal dragon, if that’s what you’re worried about. No chance of the Curse activating here.”

Erick breathed out. “Okay. Good. No worries there, then.”

“I’m a Fae Dragon. What were you before you got changed?”

“A Free Dragon.”

A grunt of disapproval. “Well. I can work with you if you can work with me. I imagine you can, since you went and got yourself turned into a Wizard’s pet. What happened? Finally lost your willingness to be yourself?”

“Oh now that is too much. Are you always like this? No wonder you’re a hermit, and that I passed you on the Decoration board.”

A teapot clunked hard onto the stone counter. “If you knew anything about anything, then you would have witnessed that I hit a block on delve depth, not personal power. I got to 149 all by myself!”

“Please no alliteration, miss Fae Dragon.”

“Fuck you, Ashes.”

“No thank you; I have a boyfriend.”

Clarice came out of the kitchen holding two mugs, a big pot of tea, and a deep frown. “I wouldn’t want to make eggs with you anyway.”

“Let’s move on, please. So what the fuck do you mean Rebecca is the shadowcat?” Erick almost shouted the last words, but he pulled himself back at the last moment. He breathed deep. He calmly said, “That is very disturbing news to hear.”

Clarice’s frown softened as she set down the tea onto the table, and then she sat down herself into the chair across from Erick. “I’m surprised you still want tea from me, knowing I’m a Fae Dragon.”

“I’m surprised you think that matters to me, or that I would be powerless before you. How about this: You don’t try anything on me, and I won’t try anything on you, and we can work together to figure out these memories of the Old Cosmology we have both deeply experienced… I have no idea what to do about Rebecca and I’m way too agitated to think too deeply about what to do, so I will not act outside of full information. Let us proceed with the full information, please.”

“… That is a fair bargain.” Clarice poured tea for both of them. Steam swirled into the air as the scent of oranges and flowers filled the air. It was a relaxing and yet energetic scent. “Since you have told me your tale, I will tell you mine, but first… Do you know all about all five historical levels?”

“No. I skipped 3, 4, and 5.”

“You didn’t spy on people talking about them, too?”

“I know the general shape of those floors. I want to hear about your experience.”

Clarice grunted. “The third floor is ‘Destroy the Siphon’. The fourth floor is ‘The Mountain Under Siege’— Do I need to explain those?”

“How about you take down the hostility about 4 levels.”

Clarice frowned. “You’re the one that came after me, Ashes, with your self and then with your revelations.”

“I came at you peacefully, and you resorted to threats of murder as fast as you could.”

“That’s what a human would normally do when confronted by a dragon!” Clarice paused, then said, “But… Okay. Look. I’m… Sorry about the threats.”

“I appreciate it.”

“… So floor 3 is about 40 years after floor 2. On floor 3, there’s a Siphon that you have to attack and disable. The main threat to overcome is the complete loss of atmospheric mana near the Siphon, which drains you dry, and you’re running on dreams while you attempt to take it down, and kill the Siphoner. I didn’t have any experiences there.

“Floor 4 is The Mountain Under Siege, and it’s a cooperative effort by the Mountain… Which gets mentioned as a part of floor 2, which you probably heard?”

“I did hear of that, but I wasn’t about to go traipsing through the forest when there were enemies around. So I killed the Riamite army instead, and then cleared the Plains base.”

Clarice’s eyes widened a little. “Yeah. That’d be tough to do, especially with how few resources you can attain down there on your own. But I suppose you made your resources, so there’s no trouble there.” Clarice added, “As a note, though. I could have made better weapons, too, but I didn’t want to get too noticed by everyone… I have not made a whole lot of true friends down here and Rebecca… is a terrible person. She’s a Riamite who—”

“Please, Clarice.” Erick said, “We will get to that later.”

“… Sorry. Distracted.

“Back to the floors.

“The Mountain Under Siege is a city that needs to be rescued. It’s a week-long floor on average, and you have to kill wave after wave of monsters and monsterized Riamite forces. That whole mess occurs about 20 years after floor 2. It’s also the first major appearance of the Summoner… The Summoner is an NPC who calls down obliterating light to kill most of the red army. A lot of people complete the floor by standing back and saving the Summoner from assassins, until he has enough time to wipe out the enemy all by himself.” Clarice breathed deep. “I had my first experience of the Old Cosmology on that fourth floor, with the Summoner. I was with my team at the time, so that first viewing wasn’t that powerful, but it was what prompted me to begin solo delving.

“Tom and the others already know this but not many others do. So I would ask you to keep this to yourself.”

Erick nodded, mentally tucking away the fact that Clarice probably originally delved with Tom and his team, or at least that’s what she was implying.

Clarice said, “In the dungeon, at the end of the siege, the Summoner raises a staff and calls down Light upon the enemy. In the memory, I was a child, maybe 15, who watched as the Summoner who was just a man, stood on the tallest tower of the Mountain, shooting endless streams of Bolts at the enemy, each death sending up a streamer of golden light into the air, each streamer fueling more Bolts from the staff until it looked like he was shooting pure obliterating light.” She paused. “I went to the fifth floor by myself because by that time… It doesn’t matter.

“The fifth floor is the Calling of the Goddess.

“In the dungeon, I raced around to various ritual sites, ensuring they were able to function by clearing out the occupying Riamite forces, and guiding Atunir’s priests to make those sites into strongholds, all while Riam prepared its own ritual sites…” Clarice paused. “Do you know what the goal of the Riamites was, all throughout that period of time in Insten’s history?”

Erick said, “I have some guesses. I know that in the first floor, Riam might have been contacting evil gods in order to rise to further power. I did not get the full brush of history… But I had memories of a decade spent between Riam and Insten, moving with Fyuri, and Fyuri was a High Adjudicator. And they were all into some rather terrible things. Human sacrifice…” Erick looked up and away, as he tried to remember. And then he realized he didn’t want to. Not fully. He turned back toward Clarice. “They threw the people from Insten into Siphons in order to turn them into mana which then became land and other resources over on Riam. They didn’t start with people, though. They started with taxes. Then they moved on to rules in the cities of Insten.

“The taxes became food and goods and other material things… And monsters, when they could get them. Riam hunted all of Insten’s monsters all the time; all of our Sacred Beasts and otherwise. They took everything they could from Insten, constricting what the people were allowed to know and how the people were allowed to fight back, and the people constricted. Society changed.

“And when Riam started reaping people, which of course they did, Insten barely fought back.” Erick said, “But as for their ultimate goal… it was the ultimate goal of all tyrants, right? To have control, and since other people were by definition of being ‘other people’ not under their control, they tried to control them anyway through death.

“Even Riam summoning an Evil God was just about Riam being in control.”

Clarice listened, her eyes focused hard. When Erick was done, she said, “They wanted to make a god, and with that god, they would control their section of the universe.”

Erick nodded, as Clarice confirmed the worst possible theory Erick had had.

“Could have been a Wizard, actually.” Clarice said, “I’ve talked to others and… Well. The trajectory is that Riam wanted to make an ultimate power. The exact nature of that power is up for debate.”

Erick slowly nodded. “… Please continue.”

Clarice breathed, then said, “In the dungeon of the fifth floor, I cleared out land and raised towers and made ritual spots in order to connect with other ritual spots already made by others. I cleared out Riam’s forces from some. I cleared monsters from others. I made holy places by picking up a toppled stone epitaph and righting it against the wall.

“Eventually I killed the final boss of the final tower and completed the floor.

“In the memory, I only assaulted one tower, with the direct help of the Summoner, and I was but one girl of a hundred he was ferrying around to… Many different places.

“Atunir was not yet present on Insten, or Riam, because the Riamites were actually preventing her from descending, because they were trying to create their own god, and that required space; a displacement of godly power, to allow for something else to fill that void.

“Then came the ritual.

“I was there, at one of those ritual sites. It was a lonely thing, out in the middle of the Emptying, rising a kilometer into a mana-void sky. It was also absolutely filled with Riamites. These days we would name those people as Blood Mages, and Desecration Priests, and Destruction Mages. That land was filled with horror and sacrifice and death, and it was one of the foundation towers that blocked Atunir, and nurtured the development of an Evil God.

“I don’t think the Evil God ever got a name… If it did, I do not desire to know it.”

Erick felt his heart ache as Clarice spoke, as he imagined what she had [Witness]ed. His core flickered with white lightning inside. A tiny white spark escaped from his fingers as he touched his mug, leaving a little black mark on the otherwise white ceramic.

Clarice continued, “I was a priestess of Atunir, guided by the Summoner to that bleak tower in the middle of the Emptying, where nothing survived except for hope and well-laid ritual materials. The Summoner killed absolutely everyone, and then re-consecrated the land with a tap of his golden staff. Blood carvings in the walls and floors turned into brown dirt. Cages that were filled with monsters for sacrifice suddenly transformed into mana and vanished into that staff. And then the Summoner had me kneel at the top of the tower, where everything untoward had been transformed into loam, and nothing evil remained.

“He asked if I gave myself willingly.

“I said yes.

“He tapped me on the head with his staff. Divine golden light flowed into me, and I went into a trance.

“I remained there, on my knees in brown dirt, there at the top of that tower, praying.

“I do not know how long I prayed, for time did not seem to matter. This was part of the plan. The Summoner was setting up a hundred volunteers in various parts of Insten and Riam, whereupon he would layer us with divine power. It was a plan a decade in the making, that would already take advantage of the horrors Riam had already built. It would turn their machine against them. That plan worked.

“I died. I ascended. And Atunir descended onto Insten.

“The world of Insten was turned into a lush, fertile world, with the tower of my death becoming one grand tree amongst a multitude.

“And Riam was utterly consumed, for the Summoner had reversed the ritual, and done to Riam what they were about to do to us. Ten billion souls, consumed, and the land they lived on, to give back to Insten what had been taken from us.”

Clarice finished.

She sipped her tea. Her hands were shaking a little.

Erick was freaking out a little, too, so that was probably why—

Clarice looked to the left of Erick, her eyes going wide.

… Erick slowly looked to the left.

His staff was floating there. The Staff of Divine Absolution that he had gotten on floor two, and had left at home. It was here. It had followed him. And it was floating, untouched, the whole thing carved up with words of all kinds in unknown languages, while the prismatic white gem at the top seemed to glow faintly gold around the edges. The whole silver staff had a golden sheen to it, as though it was floating in a field of golden wheat, that gold reflecting on its silver surface.

Erick touched it, and his Benevolence sparked white as he touched his weapon. He wasn’t quite sure why he said it, but he said, “You can go back home. Thank you for coming.”

The staff dipped in the air, and then vanished in a flicker of gold.

Erick looked to Clarice, whose eyes were wide as they could be. Erick said, “I would speak on the Riamite situation here in the Glittering Depths now.”

“And I would like to speak of you being The Summoner!” Clarice jabbed a finger toward the air where the staff had been. “Because I did not do that! And I didn’t see you do that either!”

“Obviously the staff did it,” Erick concluded.

“You were the one who sacrificed me! And now we’re both back here, and we’re both dragons, with you tied to some new Benevolence and me tied to the old, and now we’re fighting the Riamites again!” Clarice said, “Time is an ever repeating loop, AND WE ARE IN A LOOP.”

Clarice realized she was yelling and halfway out of her chair. She pulled back. She sat down. Embarrassment briefly clouded her features. And then came stone solid resolve.

Meanwhile, Erick was freaking out for what were likely very different reasons.

A long time ago, or maybe just a few years or weeks ago, Quilatalap had said to Erick that Xoat was often spoken about in the Old Cosmology, as some unknown savior of people, who came in with the crisis, and who left when it was done, either through death or through disappearance. Quilatalap had never put much stock in those stories because he had never put much stock in the idea of Xoat existing at all, except in the way that Erick considered the Big Bang to have been a real thing that probably happened. And then Erick came into Quilatalap’s life. It was that Shadow’s Feast, twelve years ago, that really did it for Quilatalap. Back when Fairy Moon spoke of the creation of the Old Cosmology, where her Daughter plucked a spaceman from another world and dropped him into an Endless Dark, and created a universe filled with life.

That life sometimes spawned old memories.

Memories of being Xoat, and of changing everything.

That was the primary tenet of modern day Xoatism, and Erick had, of course, seen and heard all the ways in which people were tying him to that mythical figure of the Old Cosmology. It was ridiculous, to Erick. But then again, he had ‘invented’ [Reincarnation], and given that to this world of Veird.

Erick didn’t believe he was Xoat. He was just a guy, in the right place at the right time, with the right amount of power to help when he could.

Softly, in the still of the wake of Clarice’s eruption, Erick quietly said, “We’re not in a loop. We’re in a new time. A new place. With new opportunities able to be made, and taken. There is no such thing as a loop, Clarice. There are the memories we hold, and our ability to take those lessons and craft a new time, and a new place, in this present. Even if we might be seeing figments of the past, we are still who we are.”

Clarice’s eyes went wide. Her eyes teared. She whispered, “That’s what the Summoner said to me, too.”

Erick’s heart pounded. “Clarice. It is insane to think we’re the— what? The [Reincarnation]s of those dead people? We are not that.”

Clarice laughed a little as she wiped tears out of her eyes. “What’s a little insanity among dragons, eh?”

“Clarice.”

“Fine!” Clarice composed herself. “We’re not exactly that which came before. Maybe we’re just a nugget of mana that managed to survive from there to here, and get reborn because of our own minor Wizardries, made larger by the major Wizardry of Melemizargo and Atunir combined.” She laughed. “We’re just elementals! Manifested from Ar’Cosmos! Ha—” And then she stared at Erick. “I need you to do the fifth floor. Maybe if you do, then you can uncover my name. If you uncover my name then maybe I’ll regain those memories! The full ones. It’s happened before! Marii’s name is practically stuck in the dungeon core as ‘Marii’, and every new one that people drag out of the depths is a copy of Marii, with the same memories as the other ones.”

Erick instantly said, “Absolutely not. I am not doing that.”

And then Clarice got a twinkle of hatred in her eyes.

She had already picked out a way to take Erick down if she needed to, and she was thinking about doing it, because if Erick wasn’t going to do what she wanted, then she was going to make him.

Erick realized what he had done.

And Clarice suddenly laughed.

Erick slammed a fist on the table, sending a wild crack through the wood as he roared, “YOU WILL NOT TELL FYURI HER NAME!”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Clarice stilled, narrowing her eyes, and then she rethought something. She softened.

Erick repeated, softer now, “You will not tell Fyuri her name.”

“… It was only a passing thought— No. Stop. I see you disbelieving me, but I need you to believe me, because I believe you, implicitly. I don’t even care who you really are, Ashes. I know the kind of man you are instead. And I might have fucked up with…” Clarice said, “I fucking hate Rebecca and every single Riamite. But I’m not going to actually unleash a real Riamite on this world. Not after what I’ve already seen the Riamites capable of doing when they last got up to their shit.

“I want your help to oust them from power and to turn them over to Greendale for execution; however it happens I do not care. I just want them gone. And this means Rebecca, too.

“Because there is absolutely no way that they are not behind this newest string of demonic murders happening in Greendale right now. If I can prove it, then they all vanish from this slice of heaven here in Atunir’s Dark.” Clarice frowned. “But I can’t prove it, because Rebecca is too skilled at… everything. And her record of cooperation with Greensoil is impeccable and she controls the Iron Bandits and all the dungeon masters cover for her, all the time.”

Erick did not believe that Clarice wouldn’t tell Rebecca her real—

“Rebecca probably already knows her real name, Ashes.” Clarice said, “I was just having a passing moment of what I know to be unachievable joy. I would love to see her implode with her True Name, but… I know Rebecca, and I know the Riamites.” She stared at Erick, saying, “But since she for sure already knows her name, then she’s already exactly the horrible person you know her to be. You should have no problem killing her for real, a third time.”

“… You don’t know that. You’re guessing.”

“In my experience it is better to err on the side of caution against Rebecca, because she is practically a fairy when it comes to knowing shit she should not know.”

Erick frowned… Then he realized something important. He looked up at the air. “Can the dungeon see you in here?”

“Theoretically, yes, but actually no. I am very good at making illusions, Ashes, and at seeing through them.” Clarice’s bright amber eyes briefly shifted to Springtime swirls of pastel color, with slits instead of pupils; dragon eyes. And then her eyes shifted back to normal amber. “Your illusions could be a lot better, but I doubt that really matters at this point. Everyone who knows anything down here knows you’re a dragon, and they know I’m a dragon, too.”

Erick frowned. “I’m not interested in making better illusions, but I am interested in whatever [True Sight] shenanigans you have figured out here inside the empty manaspheres.”

“I’m not trading magic tips with you….” Clarice leaned back in her chair. “… But I suppose that one is quite crucial to know going forward, and you went and sucked the Wizard for power, becoming Benevolence yourself. So you won’t be as much of a bitch to work with as a normal Free Dragon.”

Erick leveled a disappointed glare at Clarice.

And Clarice smirked, giggling. “Oh fine! I want to oust the Riamites from power. I want you to help me. I will grant you this [True Sight] knowledge now, and you will officially become my ally in the overthrowing of all current Riamite interests from the Glittering Depths. In doing so, I imagine we’d solve the demonic murders happening in Greendale, and the Inquisitors will stop bothering me, and you.” She added, “You weren’t the only one they bothered that day, when they were camped outside the dungeon entrance.”

Erick stared. “This is not my life down here, Clarice. I am not getting overly involved. So state all your concerns now, so I can know the true measure of your desires. I will decide my involvement past that; not you.”

Clarice instantly said, “I want you to go to the fifth floor and [Witness] all of that to see if you can discover my Old Cosmology name.”

Erick thought for a moment, then he said, “Perhaps all the bad Riamites were purged that last time when they ran afoul of Greendale, and all we have left are normal people—”

“This is not a redemption scenario, you soft-scaled Benevolence bastard.” Clarice said, “Rebecca only pretended to spearhead the anti-Riamite collection teams down here after their whole operation was compromised. She was cutting her losses, for sure. After the story you told me there is no way you believe she isn’t capable of doing that exact thing! Fyuri, the Head Adjudicator, is Rebecca Fellhorn, and they are both beyond redemption.”

“… I am very furious right now, and I am trying to remain calm. Everything is happening too much right now. So here’s what is going to happen. You are going to tell me this [True Sight] magic. And then I’m going to go away, and I’ll come back to you some other day.”

“Fair. I agree to that.” Clarice said, “If you don’t return in a week I am telling Fyuri her name in public.”

“… Ten days, then.”

Clarice nodded. “The secret to [True Sight] in a manaless atmosphere is Wizardry. You have to change your core to make it so that you can see magical effects all the time, through whatever medium you can sense. Instead of needing to open yourself to the mana to meditate and mana sense, you open yourself to Particle Magic, too, and all the myriad other ways that the world and magic creates all sorts of illusions and lies.” Clarice said, “That’s not something that is achievable except through brute Wizardly strength, and the ability to take reality and substitute your own Reality.”