253, 2/2, End of Book 8

A month passed faster than Erick would have ever thought possible. It was not an [Onward] incident. He had just been busy. Busy with the House, and with Destiny purging problems the world over, from petty crime lords who would have risen to power in the chaos to come, to tyrant landlords who were kicking out people who could not afford to live anywhere else. Busy with Ophiel, and how he started a [Gate] fight with four liches in Death’s Throne that Quilatalap showed up for as an intervention. Busy with Fallopolis to make sure the New (old) Shades were copacetic.

Busy with Avandrasolaro and some incidents with a coordinated hostile effort that started in his city, through his people, who tried to take over several transportation companies the world over, to try and make Avandrasolaro’s city of ‘Angelwatch’ into a new center of trade. There was nothing wrong with that sort of takeover, since it was all above board, but a lot of people had complained to Erick about that, and he had needed to actually investigate what was going on. Benevolent dragons had been involved in Avandrasolaro’s peoples’ business practices, too, which complicated matters a lot.

Erick made liberal use of [Hasted Shelter] to get all the time he needed to put the world in order.

Because he was pretty sure he would be gone from this world for a while, if everything worked out.

In the middle of all of that, Erick had forced a sit down with Yggdrasil, because the big kid wasn’t talking to him like Erick wanted him to talk.

– – – –

Erick stepped onto Yggdrasil’s roots inside Benevolence, and patted his trunk, saying, “We’re gonna have a talk now, son.”

It took Yggdrasil a moment to prepare himself, then another moment to appear. He was his human form with black hair and a crown of rainbows. “… Hi, Dad.”

“That’s not your real form. Come on now. I love you, and I want to see the real you, please.”

Yggdrasil froze for a moment, all of his trunk flickering, dimming, and then coming back solid, while his human body frowned. That frown deepened. He did not change forms. With a hurt sort of tone, he asked, “But I’m still your son?”

Erick smiled and hugged him strongly, saying, “That will never change. No matter what form you are, no matter how far apart we are, I love you, Yggdrasil. I want you to be happy. I want you to be you. And I want to share in your joys, however those joys might happen. No matter what, I will always be your father, and you my son. Nothing can ever change that, and especially not the end of the world. Besides, we’re going to stop the end of the world, and that’s that.”

Yggdrasil held on tight, his voice cracking, “I’m not just your son, though.”

“And I’m not just your father. Those extra masks and lives we show others might be true, but you and I? We’re true, too. I don’t care if you originated in some other multiverse. I probably did, too.”

And then Yggdrasil hugged hard. He sobbed softly into Erick’s shoulder, and Erick held tight. Yggdrasil’s voice was a soft thing, “I knew you’d figure it out before I told you.”

Erick smiled onto Yggdrasil’s shoulder, then pulled back, not caring for the tears trailing lines down his own face he wiped off the tears from Yggdrasil’s cheeks. Far, far overhead, green leaves fell here and there from the flaming green sky like falling stars. Erick held onto his son, and said, “It could only be so many things, right? So many reasons for being scared to talk to me. I’m sorry I made you scared, Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil smiled softly, and said, “I didn’t want to scare you but… I think I have a life far, far beyond here. Ancient. Too big. I’m tiny right now but…” His voice drifted off as he looked down. And then he flickered and transformed. No longer was he a copy of Erick at 14, but he was an orcol teenager, barely taller than Erick in his human form. Erick guessed he was still physically 14. Yggrasil asked, “Can you be your Apparent King self?”

And then Erick was. Black horns out like a crown, taller than Yggdrasil now. A bit of magic resized his clothes; the same magic that Yggdrasil had used on his own. Erick looked down at his son, and asked, “Want to sit down?”

Yggdrasil smiled a little, and then he sat down on his root.

Erick sat down beside him.

For a long minute, they simply watched the ocean floating around Yggdrasil’s body in Benevolence.

And then Yggdrasil asked, “Did you know what you were doing when you named me ‘Yggdrasil’?”

Erick said, “Barely a clue at all. It was a wish for a brighter, better future, anchored in mythology from Earth. At the time, I had the goal of making a defensive [Familiar] to go with Ophiel’s offensive nature—”

“He certainly kept that nature,” Yggdrasil mumbled.

Erick smiled and put an arm around his son and held him close, saying, “And you turned out to be someone very special.” He kissed Yggdrasil on his black hair, then let go because Yggdrasil wanted some space. Erick continued, “Both of you are special. At the time of making Ophiel, I picked a name out of the ether that sounded vaguely angelic. When I named you, I had no idea what to name a tree, but I did have a desire for you, Yggdrasil. I wanted you to bring safety to all, and through that safety, everything else would follow. You were a bedrock upon which to keep me and Jane and others safe. Everything that came after was just me getting to know you, to try and raise you right. To try and instill within you the desires and purposes that drove and continue to drive me. Obviously you’re your own person, and I tried to recognize that right away… I still have fond memories of you sending me million-word [Telepathy] packets about fish.”

Yggdrasil’s green face turned slightly red as he looked down and away.

“All this stuff with Malevolence and the world ending constantly and whatever multiverses we belong to… None of that was on purpose. I think Benevolence was always going to work out like this, though, if it ever worked out at all. I’m glad it did. I’m glad I’m here with you. I’m sorry if you don’t like your name, or what it has done to you. It was never my intention to hurt you, but instead to gift you a name that resonated with every hope I had for you, and more.” Erick said, “And honestly, I didn’t know many tree names at the time. I didn’t gain Intelligence until after that Shadow’s Feast, hours after I created you with the help of the gods.” Erick asked, “Would you prefer a different name?”

Yggdrasil was silent for a while.

Erick waited patiently.

Eventually, Yggdrasil said, “I like my name. What other names might you have called me, if you would have remembered others?”

Erick leaned back a little, looking up at the green fire and branching white lightning that was Yggdrasil’s canopy and branches. “Let’s see. There’s the Ashvattha of Hindu mythology. The most famous one of those is the Bodhi Tree, the tree under which Siddhartha Gautama, otherwise known as The Buddha, sat and achieved enlightenment, allowing him to achieve nirvana, but he stayed on earth in order to teach others the Middle Way, which was all about kind living and a way to achieve freedom from suffering; a way between pure indulgence and strict asceticism. See, there was this belief that the only ways to free yourself from suffering was to indulge in everything, or nothing, and Buddha said that there was a middle way, and that resonated with a lot of people.

“I’m probably messing that up, but that’s the basic premise of that idea.

“The mythological Ashvattha, though, was a sacred fig, that grew upside down and extended roots into everyone and everything, tying it all together, locking it into suffering and reality, and which must be cut off in order for one to ascend and attain enlightenment.

“So I’m glad I didn’t think to name you that.”

Yggdrasil nodded a little, grinning a little, too.

Erick continued, “There’s the Sky High Tree of some people, I forget which, which simply ties together the heavens and the earth and all the mountains and hell. People adventure on it. There’s Jianmu, which is a road for the gods to take to heaven and back. And that’s all I remember. I’m sure there are a lot more, but Yggdrasil was the one I actually know about the most, for that particular World Tree has been in popular culture for a long time.

“That particular tree was supposed to hold up the nine worlds of men and gods and everything above and below. To walk Yggdrasil was to walk from Here to There, to travel an entire cosmos. Of course, that cosmos was only 9 worlds in the original stories. With your capability, I expect you to be able to do a lot more than that.” Erick said, “I hope I’m not putting too much pressure on you.”

Erick fell silent.

And Yggdrasil just looked out at the waters.

Erick waited again.

Yggdrasil asked, “What’s the full story of Yggdrasil?”

And so, Erick spoke out a tale that he only half knew, about gods named ‘Odin’ and ‘Thor’ and of Ragnarok and the burning of the World Tree, and roots that lead to worlds, and the rebuilding of everything after that apocalypse. He spoke of Fenrir swallowing the sun. Nidhogg eating Yggdrasil’s roots. A rainbow road known as bifrost that connected everything to everything else, and was a way to get around without walking on Yggdrasil’s body, which was the long way. He spoke of Odin hanging from Yggdrasil and paying the price of an eye in order to gain the knowledge of everything, and then Erick made a joke about how he had gained an ‘All-Seeing Eye’ that now hung around his neck that gave him True Sight Beyond Sight, but Yggdrasil was focused on himself the whole time, so he didn’t really find Erick’s joke amusing.

Erick finished saying, “It’s all quite jumbled up and probably wrong, too. But it’s just a story. And yeah, I can see you already pointing out parts of it that fit too well, but it’s just a story. It’s not our Path forward. I didn’t make Nothanganathor exist by naming you Yggdrasil.” Erick said, “But we’re sure going to slay that dragon eventually. Ain’t no dragon going to eat my son’s roots for all eternity.”

Yggdrasil smiled softly, saying, “Thanks, Dad.” And then he added, “By naming me Yggdrasil you carved a groove in reality that allows us to see this thing through to the land beyond, whatever that might be. We just gotta swallow the sun and have a Ragnarok.”

Erick chuckled. “Ahhhhh… Well. Yeah.”

Yggdrasil handed Erick a small, white gem. Erick had not seen it to begin with, but now it was suddenly there; the brightest thing in Erick’s mana sense. Yggdrasil picked up Erick’s hand and placed the drop of power into his hand, and then closed his hand, shutting out the light, completely blocking the power of the object. “It’s something you’re going to need. Don’t ever use it. When it needs to be used, it will use itself. Also, I just made it so you cannot lose it. Set it down and then think about it, and it will appear in your hand.”

Erick smiled a little, and then he opened his hand, exposing the drop of white light, letting the magic show. He set it down on Yggdrasil’s mossy surface, then held his hand out and thought—

The drop of power moved to his hand.

Yggdrasil said, “It’s still a good idea to wrap it in a bit of metal and put it behind your All-Seeing Eye, though. Easier to make it stay with you if you actually try.”

Erick smiled a little, then opened a tiny [Gate] to a workshop and pulled out some stainless steel. He wrapped the drop of power up in metal and then clipped it to the back of his necklace, saying, “Thank you, Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil almost said something else, but he stopped.

And then he hugged Erick.

Erick hugged his son, his head on Yggdrasil’s black hair, his arms around his back. He ignored his own tears, and said, “The girls and Evan are going to be so mad at you when all this stuff goes down.”

“I have a plan for that,” Yggdrasil said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I won’t talk to them.”

Erick laughed.

Yggdrasil whispered, “I’ll talk to them. To everyone.”

Erick hugged tighter. “Thank you.”

– – – –

And then it was the day before the Big Day.

Security was tight. House Benevolence had already prognosticated 5 attempts to interfere with the reclamation of the Lifeblood Heart from the Dark, but they hadn’t stopped a single one; they hadn’t needed to. Burhendurur and Aisha as Overseer of Enforcement and Magic were working closely with Geodes Stratagold and Bluite in order to ensure the safety of the upcoming event, and the wrought were on the case.

The collection of wrought upon the Surface in the last four days had become the largest collection of wrought on the Surface of Veird since the world’s last Forgotten Campaign, however many centuries ago that might have been. All across Dungeon Island, from the slime dungeon and all around Mount Ascendant, to the downways at the whirlpool in the middle of the Sister Islands, stood temporary wrought fortresses. Each one of them was captained by many archmages and otherwise. All throughout the sky, high, high above the slime dungeon, were cloud castles or floating platforms or floating stone castles. Tenebrae, now as a 28-ish year old orcol man, had remade his floating castle and floated it up there, in line with the other floating bastions.

Dragons of all the Houses of Ar’Cosmos were represented in their own fortresses here and there, but they were mostly on backup.

This event was already the largest gathering of coordinated effort on Veird.

The plans had already been made, set, and triple checked. Hardly any people in the world knew who Solomon was before this; not really. But they certainly knew now. This was Solomon’s baby. His honor proof. His way to resurrect a forgotten daughter. That last one wasn’t said in too many circles, but it was said in a few.

In a small room on Oceanside, under the light of the bright sun, two people were speaking of those hidden subjects right now.

Kirginatharp looked the same as he always did, and Erick was glad that ‘the Headmaster’ was not subject to the Red Sparks at all. The Apparent King and the Headmaster had had their heart to heart about Erick’s mental health two weeks ago, and then Erick had taken tea with the Second of Rozeta a few times since then, to discuss this or that, and for Kirginatharp to officially request that Erick remove Destiny from Oceanside grounds, for she was ‘doing weird things, Erick, like moving books around and spilling grass seed onto one kid’s botany project, and switching out the caffeinated coffee for decaf, and I cannot abide!’. Erick had convinced the older-looking man to just let Destiny do what she wanted, if she was harming no one.

Which was coming back to bite him in the ass right now.

Kirginatharp said over tea, “Destiny and Solomon are an item, and Destiny’s small actions are too much. In particular, she blew a ship off course a week ago and delayed the rescue of that class for a day, and now the ripple is here. That professor of that castaway ship was one woman who I would have assigned to watch over the Heart Relay, but she is now sick with The Blue, so I had to send another guy, who was the person I decided to send because, apparently, Destiny had helped all of his students prepare for his pop quiz which he designed them all to fail, so that I would not be able to assign him to the Heart Relay, because he would had have the excuse of ‘but I have an important class!’ which is what he always does when I want him to work on something specific.” Kirginatharp took a breath. “And that’s only ONE of her ‘small actions’ that I have uncovered.”

Erick just smiled. “She’s rather great at that, isn’t she.”

Kirginatharp rolled his amber eyes. “And that’s not to mention anything of Solomon trying to bring back a daughter that never existed, and his obsession with this Heart and with an ignition to Wizardry.”

Erick was deep in a Benevolent Path with Kirginatharp right now, the Red Sparks fighting off the edges of his words, but really, not much more than usual. Erick followed the Path, and asked, “How about your own obsession with Wizardry?”

“Bah! I have enough power. I’ll get in line for the Heart like everyone else.” Kirginatharp asked, “What I am really afraid of is Solomon simply taking the Heart into himself right then and there, and damning all the rest of our ascensions for his own foolish concepts of Reality. A Reality which —I am not sure if you have considered this or not— which might be complete fantasy. A dream! A falsity.”

“I know you have your concerns but Solomon will prove himself as capable. These are just last minute worries of yours, anyway. We’ve gone over all of them before.”

Kirginatharp said, “And we have some extra time right now, so I will go over them again—” He stopped. In a moment he switched modes, turning from an old friend to the Second of Rozeta. A Red look entered his eyes, as he said, “Not enough time, it seems.”

Erick nodded, glancing at the clock on the wall. The plan was for the Heart Relay to start in 32 hours.

The real plan was to go in ten minutes.

Erick said, “We have a moment. Please sit, Kirginatharp. Ask the question you want to ask but are avoiding.”

Kirginatharp frowned at him, Red vanishing a little. “Why haven’t you gifted your Death Switch to him? Rozeta allowed that over two weeks ago. Why are you waiting this long?”

“Because I’m plan D, in honor of Debby, and I’m absolutely sure that I’m gonna need to do the switch and other magics against Solomon somewhere, at some failure point, in order to keep Solomon in line with Veird. The requirements of that action will change based on today’s events, and a whole bunch of other shit besides. I can’t lock him down without raising him up at the same time, Kirginatharp.”

Kirginatharp’s Red eyes faded, leaving wholly Gold, and then he calmed a bit more, and his Gold faded, showing amber irises and black pupils. “I suppose that’s metaphysically significant enough to be an acceptable answer.”

Erick nodded.

And then Erick opened a [Gate] to the clearing outside of the slime dungeon. It was daytime at Oceanside, but Dungeon Island was a world away, in the middle of the night, and all three moons were barely slivers at all, looking like eyelashes made of minuscule color upon a black sky. It probably would have been a starry sky, but the various fortresses everywhere were drowning out the true night with their light.

Erick and Kirginatharp joined the cacophony of people from all around the world trying to make this happen, with the area outside of the dungeon entrance as the largest gathering. It was an organized gathering, at least, with plenty of space for Erick and Kirginatharp to move around, and with wrought lining the clearing, some of them bowing.

Even Melemizargo was in attendance, though he was not visible, and his help would be a lot smaller than the actions of everyone else, and hopefully nonexistent. Rozeta didn’t want him touching the Heart at all; if he did, that was considered a secondary fail state, for Rozeta would never accept such an item into the Core. There was a lot of difference between Melemizargo handing over something he took from the Dark himself, or something that Erick, Solomon, and company achieved.

Not like Melemizargo would have done such a thing anyway. He was always about personal power overcoming adversity, and reaping the fruits of one’s own labor. The world would gain the Heart through its own power, or not, according to a very public statement by Melemizargo just a few days ago, where he spoke of Trials of the Dark and a bunch of other politically-flavored words.

And now, the Trial was here. Veird would attempt to reap one of the largest fruits of all the Old Cosmology.

The grove was laden with Red Sparks.

Erick suspected they’d be a problem, but not right now.

One foot in front of the other, Erick walked the Benevolent Path.

Inside the dungeon, Solomon walked that Path, too.

And somewhere in the world, Destiny also walked that Path.

– – – –

The slime dungeon’s main floor tumbled with rolly, gooey little slimes of all colors of the rainbow, all of them playing in the water rides, or resting on the white stone in the ambient light of the dungeon. It was hard to place the light sources for the dungeon, because all the roof of this separated space was black as Dark, except for the northern wall, which was a cacophony of color and images and dreams from so very long ago.

A Black Gate stood between the stable dungeon of slimes, and all that chaos of beyond.

Solomon stood beside that Gate, its enormity dwarfing his body four times over. Jane, Abigail, Beth, Candice, and Evan, stood close to him, but not too close.

It was all organized chaos, with everyone but Solomon coordinated by Mind Mages. Solomon was exempt because Erick had asked them to extend the same protection he enjoyed to Solomon and Destiny, which had raised a lot of red flags and concerned voices, but no Red Sparks, so that was great. Solomon didn’t know Erick’s plan, anyway, so that cleared that hurdle nicely.

Erick suspected that Kirginatharp was half here to watch him and Solomon, in addition to being a backup support. Which was fine.

Erick, Kirginatharp, Rozeta’s mortal form, and Koyabez, stood to the side, out of the way. The gods were forbidden from physically interacting with the world, due to the God Pact, while Erick was Plan D, and Kirginatharp was Plan E. There was no Plan F, but Erick was pretty sure that Fallopolis was heading up plan F. She was out there at Ascendant Mountain with the other Shades, watching from a distance. Everyone knew the Shades would get involved if something horrific happened and the Lifeblood Heart —gods forbid— shot away from Veird, into the sky and beyond, but no one wanted that, for that would invalidate Veird being able to accept the Heart at all. Despite the displays of peace and prosperity from the Shades for the last decade, no one truly trusted them.

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A bunch of wrought relay team members stood on platforms beyond the ledge which supported the Black Gate. Sitnakov was there, along with a bunch of his friends. Archmage Tasar was the center of that formation, though.

The copper green and adamantium black Summoner Archmage of Spatial Magic was the main actor of Plan A, because she had finally succeeded in making her [Familiar], using Erick’s methodology, last week, and that [Familiar], along with some other powers, made her the anchor for this event. Tasar had decided to abandon her pursuit of The Worldly Path in order to finally bring her [Familiar] into the world, because she had finally decided that she simply couldn’t allow anyone to transform her personal mana signature into Benevolence, or any other Element. After making that tough decision, and then making her [Familiar], she had told Erick that she couldn’t be happier. She looked happy, too. Sengaralo was a cute little chipmunk-like creature that was primarily Spatial magic, which rested on Tasar’s shoulder and also along the whole path from here to the Core of Veird.

Tasar might not have [Gate] herself, but Rozeta had outfitted her with a special, one-time cast of [Gate]; a divinely supercharged version that should work well to capture and transfer the Heart to the Core, as long as the first person to hold the Heart didn’t explode in that holding.

That first person to hold the Heart was Sitnakov, looking ready and raring to go. Other holders of the Core would be a Void Well positioned here, in the dungeon, and outside in the clearing.

Plan B was all the wrought standing around outside, along with thousands from here to the Core.

Plan C was Solomon taking the Heart himself, if it should pop out of anyone along the relay path. It should stay with him for a while, too, because he could transform into a dragon and ‘soak the Heart’ for a while, whatever that meant. Erick was clear on the concept, but Jane’s suggestion of the Heart constantly dealing damage to the host had turned to tanking terminology, which Erick wasn’t quite sure was correct, but that language had stuck around anyway.

Erick and Kirginatharp would follow along in their own dragon forms.

And Melemizargo would be out there, too, somewhere. Waiting.

The Red Sparks were surprisingly absent, as they had been throughout most of this whole endeavor except when dealing with certain people. Perhaps Nothanganathor wanted the Heart released from the Dark? Probably. Nothanganathor wanted to be the God of Magic, according to some logical reasoning that might be utterly wrong. Would the Heart be enough to accomplish some of that?

Eh. Who knew.

Perhaps Nothanganathor simply wanted the Heart for the sake of having it. But the theoretical distance that the Heart acted at was a hundred solar systems, so Nothanganathor would be empowered for a while, even if the Heart should shoot off into space. Heck! Even Veird would remain empowered for a while. It was very possible that the Heart would escape and then begin to slow down in the void of space, and perhaps gravity would keep it tethered to Veird’s system for a long, long time. No one really knew the distance the Heart would act at, though. All of that was a guess.

No one wanted that solution—

Into the pregnant air, almost a day before the publicized go-time, Rozeta spoke, “Now.”

Solomon breathed deep, and regarded the Black Gate. He spoke,

“From Darkness cast, Wisdom’s decree,

“This Lifeblood Heart, sets mana free.

“Wonders rise tall, magics take wing,

“Infinity now! Eternal heart spring!”

The world flickered beyond the Black Gate—

Iridescent Dark Dreams became the absolute void of the deep mana ocean of the Old Cosmology.

A light bloomed in that universe of mana, like a distant comet, and like the disturbance of a phosphorescent ocean. Light spilled away from that spot of brightness, the very ocean itself churning to life, to expansion, to brightness in the dark, like a sparkly cheerleader’s pom pom coming into view. The Lifeblood Heart itself was pale blue, or maybe that was just the color of the ocean out there. Hard to say—

The Heart had only been in view for a bare moment. It had started out as a pinprick of light in the distance.

Now it was a radiant ball of every color in the universe and several that Erick had never seen before. Some of those colors felt like they should not exist.

And now it was a brightness which consumed the entire northern wall of the dungeon, all ten kilometers of it.

Colors exploded across everyone and everything. The Black Gate was not large enough. Nothing could ever hope to contain that power coming through the world, spilling into Veird already—

But something could. The Void Well. That Well was the only hope that they had to make the Heart come this way. The Void Well sat in the center of the dungeon, not even visible until now, until it started sucking all the mana in the air down, down, down, into nothing. Technically it sucked that mana down into the dungeon core, because the Void Well had been installed in the dungeon core for this exact purpose.

And still, the Heart came on.

The world was washed in color, every single person and living thing spilling out rainbows from themselves like colorful shadows and inks dropped in wells and so, so much glitter. The Heart itself was barely in view, and Erick wasn’t even sure if he was really seeing it among all that mana.

This was just the halo of the Heart.

The Black Gate was open, but it needed to be opened more.

Solomon flexed his [Physical Domain] into the Gate, into the mana ocean beyond—

And it was like punching into a geyser.