255, 2/2

 

Erick stood on a solid surface of nothing, halfway up the trunk of the thousand-kilometer-tall tree, but rather far from the tree. The tree was likely larger than ‘a thousand kilometers tall’, too. Like with the ‘battle’ with Nothanganathor, and with the planet-sized [Terraforming] storm on FENRIR, and with all of space, really, it was hard to tell sizes and distances when it came to the really big things, and this tree was one of the really big things. For a moment, Erick felt as though he needed glasses, for he couldn’t make out the individual leaves on the tree at all.

The trunk was basically a solid wall of gold, so very, very far away.

The whole thing was gold of bark and green of leaf with a canopy that was the entire sky, spanning from horizon to horizon. Those horizons looked funky, though; almost like mirage glass, as though they might exist, or they might not. If they did exist then they were far, far away from here.

Erick imagined that the invisible surface he stood upon stretched out all the way toward that indeterminate horizon.

He glanced down, and saw the roots of the tree. They were gold, too, and they extended out from the trunk of the tree like thick, geometric-shaped fractals, mostly square-shaped, like crystal bismuth that curled into itself. The blocky tangles of roots down there seemed to curl down into infinity. Some of the curls were not so blocky; they were more triangle-shaped. There was a pentagonal-shaped curl of roots, each edge of the pentagon curling off into another set of pentagonal roots, that then also split and curved into more and more pentagonal shapes.

Erick was pretty sure he was seeing leaves down there, too, obscuring the deeper curls of the roots.

The branches were almost a mirror to those below, but their arcs and curves were more graceful, less geometric. It was an infinite tangle of curves and arcs. And then Erick saw some branches that were higher than other branches, but which appeared lower on the tree; it was a non-euclidean tree.

The portal vanished behind Erick.

And Erick’s necklace, which held Yggdrasil’s Gift, shattered.

Erick almost sighed, but then Yggdrasil stepped out of the air in front of him. Erick’s heart beat hard as he saw his largest son again; all green skin and orcol-shaped and wearing a simple tunic and pants. Erick rapidly moved from relieved, to sad, as misinterpretations and logical deductions warred within him to try and make sense of what he was seeing, and why.

Yggdrasil was not here.

This was someone else pretending to be him.

Yggdrasil did not have the same bearing as he usually had on Veird, but there was a certain sadness there, upon his green face, in his dark eyes, that seemed all too familiar. He had looked the same way when he had given Erick a Gift that Erick would not be able to lose.

… Maybe this was a recording?

“You’re not my father, and yet you are,” Not-Yggdrasil said.

“… You’re not a recording.”

“I am not.”

And Erick sighed. “When Yggdrasil spoke of being not only my son, but also someone else, he was talking about you. Wasn’t he.”

“I was talking about me.”

Erick’s breath caught. He forced his breath to evenness. “It’s a fairy-regaining-themselves situation, then.”

“Or you regaining your memories of Ashes in that Old Cosmology.”

“… Ah.”

Not-Yggdrasil waited.

Erick had too many questions.

He was also too concerned about Yggdrasil himself to ask those other questions.

Erick looked upon Not-Yggdrasil, and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Not really. But I’ve gone through this sort of event before, and now that you brought me here the memories are clearing up. It was a slow, confusing transfer before. It will be speeding up now.” Not-Yggdrasil said, “Let’s talk about Veird, father.”

“… Can I still call you Yggdrasil? Or…” Erick’s voice fell away.

“I have ten million names but people call me Margleknot here, though that’s not my real name either. My real names are the names my fathers, mothers, and originators have given me. Yggdrasil is my real name. On Veird and in the worlds to come from there, I am, and will always remain, your son, Yggdrasil.”

Erick was a little choked up. “I feel I have done something incredibly wrong without realizing it.”

“In my creation you went big. You had divine help. And you reached back through time to create me on Veird. These are the normal ingredients to connect to the universe at large, and I am the gathering of that connection. All True World Trees connect to me. I am every True World Tree in this uber-universe. I contain multitudes, father.” Yggdrasil said, “There is nothing wrong with what you did, and I am still Yggdrasil. But I’m also a lot more than that. Just as you are a lot more than you appear to be.”

“I would rather be sure you’re okay before we talk about me, or even about Veird. What do you mean you’re ‘not really’ okay?”

Yggdrasil paused, then said, “It has to do with everything happening on Veird, what you’ve found out with Nothanganathor, and how large the problem has become now that you’re here. This is a rather normal situation for True Wizards adding to the Margleknot, for everyone comes here with problems. That’s the reason that I’m ‘not really okay’. I have gone from being mostly secure in my year-to-year life, and now I have new concerns that are truly pressing. This is a rare situation, but it’s also normal. There are rules that I must keep in order to keep the peace, and one of those rules is that I cannot inject my own desires into these worldly matters.

“I would solve this worldly problem, if I could, but this problem is already in the Eternal Courts, and thus I cannot touch it. And make no mistake; this is a worldly matter. If this was a universal matter, then I could interject, but the Painted Cosmology stopped being a universe when Nothanganathor killed it.

“Shadow will argue that it could become a universe again, and it might. If she does win this new suit then I could step in.

“I would not trust her, though, for she wants the raw churn of life and death and horror and glory once again. She is the true embodiment of the original Goddess of Magic of her universe; in every sense of the word.

“And yet, you must work with her to make that happen. It is the only way to rid Veird of Nothanganathor.

“I cannot help as much as I want, because they’ll block my desires to help, but I will be there giving you weight of character.” Yggdrasil said, “I’ll also be there on Veird, at the same time, ensuring that Veird survives until you and the others might save it. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to actually fight Nothanganathor or drive him off more than I already have.

“He already has my mandate from tens of thousands of years ago to try and figure out what happened to me in the Painted Cosmology, and I have never revoked that mandate, even after the Sundering, even after all that he has done, and continues to do.” Yggdrasil became Margleknot, as he said, “In fact, that is why FENRIR both worked, and failed; because I made it work and didn’t go far enough to stop it from failing. The Veird you come from is safe, but Nothanganathor is largely unaffected.”

Erick rapidly processed all of that, and then said, “Well that’s just great. I don’t know how to process that.” He frowned. “Did we become enemies?” He rapidly answered himself, “No. No we didn’t, obviously… Unless we did?”

Margleknot, still in the shape of Yggdrasil’s young male orcol body, smiled softly, and said, “We did not become enemies. I’m an enemy to no one, father, and sometimes I make mistakes that I cannot take back, as I did when I empowered Nothanganathor all those years ago to find out what happened to myself in the Painted Cosmology.” He added, “I had to leave him an out in the creation of FENRIR because of those empowerments. I have a certain neutrality in all non-universal matters that I must maintain, though my instantiation as Yggdrasil and all the memories thereof have given me a great new perspective on his actions.”

Margleknot went silent.

Erick had a moment to breathe, and think.

Erick was thankful for that.

This was A Lot.

“Got any good news?” Erick asked.

Yggdrasil smiled. “Yes. Quite a lot of good news, actually. It’s been about a year and 3 months since the creation of FENRIR and the expansion of Veird. Everyone is doing well back home. Now that I’m connected and can dictate Margleknot’s flow of time with regard to the outside, for every year you spend here, about a day will pass back there. Nothanganathor is already pissed about that. Veird is existentially impervious as well, now that I have this fun new Element of Benevolence to play around with. It’s already helped to solve 3 universal collapses, and every day, with every spell you cast and every iota of mana you produce in this land and I absorb into my roots, and with the mana I’m producing as Yggdrasil, I’m solving problems on many different universal scales.

“You tipped over a domino when you made Benevolence. There are truly no other Elements quite like it, though there have been many attempts at such. That is what is going to truly bring you acclaim here in Margleknot. You’re saving trillions of lives already, but trillions more die each day. On the whole, though, the trajectory of life has inclined upward in this uber-universe by a noticeable fraction of a percent.

“These various achievements of connecting to me and the creation of Benevolence have earned you property in the Old Dragons District. I’ve taken the liberty of creating a small house for you there, and ask that you Mana Siphon and expel Benevolence whenever you’re home, because we have ‘node networks’ here, too, and they’re mainly in the Dragon District as cleanup for all the various mana, ki, manna, cultivation, resons, talent, hero power, etcetera, in order to both clean up that land, and also power all the rest of Margleknot.” Margleknot said, “I might not be able to help more than I already am, but you will surely find more allies in the Dragon District, and you are already helping yourself by your continued existence. Power is currency here, and your power is growing, father.”

Erick breathed for a moment, feeling slightly better, then said, “Okay. That’s good.” He thought. “… So it’s all Old Fae here? How difficult is that going to be to navigate?”

“Ah. No. The Old Fae— The Fairy Enclave, is what they call themselves, here. Fairy Moon would call them Old Fae, or Other Fae, or something like that. I know who the absolute powers of this land are, and while the Enclave is close, they are not at the top. They are the most powerful faction, though, since they are natural dimension hoppers. You’re almost fae yourself, and you will be as soon as you figure out how to make yourself reborn inside Benevolence. From what I am seeing now, you’re not too far away from that reality.

“You don’t have to ascribe to any modes of thinking you don’t desire to follow, though. Like the whole ‘don’t thank people’ thing. You’re a True Wizard, so you’re beyond that weakness.

“Aside from the fae, which are at the near-top of the political structure of Margleknot, there’s the second layer, which is where you are right now. True Wizards, any Ascended, any True Immortals who are not Fae themselves; they’re the second layer, and they’re the people in the Dragon District. You’re in the Old Dragon District, so you’re top of that pile. Anyone at this layer is a Power Unto Themselves. Shadow is right there with you at this layer, though she is on the low end of capability and political weight. She used to be much higher.

“Then there are the Talented; those who might one day become Powers, or those who might never become true Powers. They’re both in the same category. Sitnakov would be counted among those types, along with Kromolok and all of the Benevolence dragons you made, and Jane and the girls and Evan. Un-True Wizards would be at the very top of the Talented pool; people like Solomon and Destiny.

“Then you have the mortals; by far the largest group at all. They don’t exist in Margleknot except under a Talent or a Power or an Ascended. The Fae don’t have many mortals under their care, but those who are under their care are expected to go far in life, ending up as either Talents, or Powers, or maybe even Ascended or Fae themselves. A fae raising a mortal to fae is rare indeed.” Margleknot said, “As for places of interest, there are many. Here.”

A small booklet materialized in front of Erick. It was green and kinda thin, with gold inlay on the green cover that resembled the geometric roots and the graceful curves of Margleknot’s roots and canopy. Erick took the book and rapidly read through the entire contents using his mana sense. Aside from the fact that the book now felt like a part of his person, almost like Yggdrasil’s Gift had felt, there was a lot written there.

Erick had a lot of sudden questions, but he focused on one part in particular.

“You have fucking slavers in this city?”

“Worse than that, really. True Slavery is just one of the forever-problems of Margleknot. There are also black markets, debt traders, name sellers, fae traders, horrors that stalk some streets and leave eldritch in their wake. Etcetera. Violence is not permitted here, but ‘violence’ is a very broad category of which murder —under certain circumstances— does not qualify as ‘violence’. A lot of people go outside of the city to commit actual violence and then come back here with their spoils of war, which includes people.” Yggdrasil said, “Honestly, father, if you wish to solve these problems, you can try, but Margleknot always reaches an equilibrium between good and evil. It was how this place was built; a land of true neutrality. If good should ever triumph too much, then evil will make a grand resurgence, too.

“Sometimes the fae decide to eliminate the good organizations in this land just so that they can attack the evil organizations from a better angle, and maybe win.

“Your arrival here might be one of those times.” Margleknot asked, “You saw the lands I labeled ‘good’ versus the lands I labeled ‘evil’, yes?”

“… I would circle back to that phrase you said at the beginning. What is ‘True Slavery’?”

“The soul, mind, and body shackling of a person to make them into the perfect slave of another. Some would say a single type of shackling is enough to qualify for True Slavery. Others would say you need all three to qualify. Soul shackling is perhaps the most widespread ‘True Slavery’ of Margleknot. What you did with your [Blessing of Empathy] to the Sovereign Nations would be considered a very poor idea of slavery by many slavers of the Slaver’s Den, but even so they would count you among their number.”

Erick had no words.

And then he found some words, “Okay. Well. I can work on multiple problems at once.” He looked at his new book, with its golden inlay cover. “You really can’t… You’re really neutral, then.”

Margleknot nodded. “Everyone prospers under my boughs. I only stop the worst of offenses. Everything else Balances out.”

“… That’s one way to do it.”

Margleknot grinned. “It works that way not out of any directed, malevolent plan, but because all of the various powers here pollute everything with thoughts that turn tangible. That’s how it works on Veird, too, and many other places, though those places are overseen by overmagics that manage to Power Alter their pollution into better systems. We do what we can here, and if you wish to help, you could sign up with Elder Lionshard in the Old Dragon District. He oversees the various power systems that underlay much of the common lands of Margleknot, keeping the worst powers to a minimum. Meeting him will not be completely different from meeting Al, the Sewermaster of Spur; they fulfill a similar role.”

Moments passed, as Erick considered the complete trajectory of his life.

Things were getting kind of insane right now.

Hopefully he could eliminate Nothanganathor and solve the problems of Veird, and then relax… But who was he kidding. He would never relax, would he? Not really, anyway.

“All life is a series of the same events but with different people, but…” Erick’s words came to him as easy as opening his eyes, “Ideally, it’s an evergrowing cycle.”

“For now, and for all always.”

That was Erick’s Truth of Benevolence, wasn’t it…

Erick openly wondered, “Am I the only one of me to make it here, Yggdrasil? Isn’t this land… infinite?”

Was this land infinite? Erick wasn’t even sure of that.

He wasn’t sure of much right now.

“Infinity has a way of closing off here in Margleknot; it keeps everything simpler. If you were to die and vanish another one of you from a different reality might come forth, but they wouldn’t be you. It is quite possible that the person who you used to be had lived once here in Margleknot, and he had died, and now you’re here to replace them.

“If those other Ericks ever ascend, then they wouldn’t be directed here, to Margleknot. They’d go to one of the many different infinite cities out there, in this uber-cosmology. It’s Fate magic.” Yggdrasil said, “As soon as a person gets here, and no matter where they go afterward, they will always be the version of themselves that comes here to Margleknot, until they perish in Truth.”

Erick decided to let that full mystery stand for another day.

In fact. All of these problems? They could wait.

Time to get back on task.

“I have problems to solve at home, Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil breathed happily at the mention of his name. He easily said, “And home is waiting for you to return triumphant. So get some allies, father, and then return exactly as you planned. I could open a portal there right now, but as soon as you leave, then Nothanganathor might be able to spend a century at the Enclave, turning them harder against you. You have a chance now, and you need to take it before you go back.”

Erick wasn’t sure what to say next, except, “Yggdrasil is already you, and you’re already him, right?”

Yggdrasil/Margleknot nodded. “Yes. It would have happened anyway had I not given you that spot of light, but it would have taken time, and I would not have known who you were right away, as soon as Shadow requested my Sight and my portals.”

“So you’re still my son. You’re still Ophiel’s younger brother. You’re still siblings with Jane, Abigail, Beth, Candice, and Evan.” Erick wasn’t sure if he was asking questions or stating facts. “You’re still all of those things, but you’re also more.”

“Yes. I also have many duties beyond you. Many, many duties.”

Erick rapidly said, “That’s fine! I do want you to be happy, though. That’s all I really wanted, aside from all the smaller duties— I never wanted you to be obligated to work a gate network, though. I was very clear about that. Are you happy working this Margleknot network?”

Yggdrasil softly grinned. “I’ve handed that over to other people long, long before you and I happened, father. I just look in on it from time to time. Aside from that: I tell you now, father, that you are among the best creators I have ever had. Veird is, and will always be, a great home for me. FENRIR looks like great real estate, too. Do you know how many other spheres there are in this uber-universe, father? Less than a million.”

Erick felt a tiny thrill of joy at that…

Erick asked, “Can I get a hug?”

Yggdrasil stepped forward and embraced Erick, and Erick hugged him back.

Erick mumbled, “This is still weird for me, but I do want to be a part of your life.”

Yggdrasil sniffled a little. “I want you to be a part of my life, too.” He pulled back, looking his father in the eyes, saying, “Invite me over to dinner sometime, father. You have a home here, now.”

Erick nodded.

There were more small words and they were important, but soon enough Erick waved his son farewell, for now, and stepped through a swirling portal of gold and green.

– – – –

Yggdrasil watched his father depart.

He let his avatar stand there for a while, under a much larger version of himself than he had ever imagined that he would become…

He almost shifted perspective back to his ‘normal’ perspective, but he decided to stay Yggdrasil for a while longer, both in avatar, and in Truth.

Maybe he’d stay this way for a while, actually.

There was a certain beauty of thought that came from immersing himself in this person that his father had created. A peacefulness. A purposeful clarity. ‘Margleknot’ was always so passive. Yggdrasil was active. Margleknot liked being active when he actually felt like being active.

And he had been rather active ever since he recognized Erick, down there in the Timeless Forest.

Thanks to Benevolence he had already solved 1 existential threat to 2 different universes, and he created 7 truly good twists of Fate to enable something Better to happen in the near or distant future for 15 other places. Some of those forecasts were rather uncertain for now, for the Benevolent Sky back on Veird was focused on Nothanganathor. Yggdrasil had to really press at the Sky to get it to show him what he wanted to see…

And yet his eyes were drawn to all the Red in the sky, most of all.

‘Yggdrasil’ found he had a lot of powerful, disparaging thoughts regarding that dragon ‘he’ had raised to power so long ago. Chief among those thoughts was the overriding refrain that Yggdrasil had promised himself so very many times over the course of his long, long life, and which he had broken so very many times already.

‘Don’t raise people to power; they will always disappoint you.’

Why did he raise people to power anymore? It always ended poorly eventually.

… And yet, here was Erick Flatt, simply the latest in a very long line of people that proved that some people sometimes did very well with power. How had Erick gotten his power, though? Self-actualized?

Mostly self-actualized, considering how many Ericks got eaten by Nothanganathor. Powerfully self-actualized, too, considering the number of Establishments he managed to pull off to make his entrance today into Margleknot. Yggdrasil didn’t think any other Ericks would make it to this land, though. Already, Nothanganathor was reporting a drop in attempted-wizard events.

Solomon was still on Veird, though. He would make it as soon as he tried. So could Destiny, really.

“But they all stemmed from Erick and his Benevolence, which is still rather unique. Fairy Moon deserves some praise for her assistance in that creation, but who else influenced the creation of Benevolence? Erick did, for sure, as for the entire culture of Earth and then Veird… But were there any specific Powers?”

Yggdrasil went searching—

“Oh.

“Well.

“Hello.”

“Okay.”

– – – –

A great platinum dragon had been resting on a bed of softest moonglows and supportive cosmic webs.

And then there was a twinge.

Waking from his afternoon nap, which had been rather short at a few years long, Lionshard went to the kitchen first and had a wonderful breakfast of starfire and crunchy diamonds, and then he turned into his mortal form and had a much more delicious meal of leafies and eggs in a rice porridge. Lionshard might have been far removed from his mortal roots but he had made sure long ago that he would retain his love of the common things. He had never seen fit to remove those casual pleasures, because of course the casual things in life were worth keeping around and enjoying.

Wearing his mortal guise and a robe of moonglows —because while many things were good in their common forms, moonglow was just nice— Lionshard strode through his little mansion to arrive at the sympathetic model of the Great Tangle of Margleknot. This great flow-ways of pulse-knockers and orbitals is what allowed him to do what he truly enjoyed in life which was to clean up the universe by starting at the center. Other people might win wars in other lands and thus affect this Great Orrery, but Lionshard could do the same thing in a general sense from this room right here, extending influence all across this uber-universe of Margleknot to set better stages here and there.

This orrery was Fate Magic beyond the measure of most to understand, and it certainly couldn’t affect the largest players in the universe, but it was good for keeping eyes and counterbalances on corruption, while also serving to balance all the rest… Hmm. No new corruption, it seemed?

Lionshard hummed, mumbling, “Now what woke me up…”

Lionshard stared at the pulsing colored orbs and the flow of magic from this location to that location, and the trillion little stars that marked the largest of big influences that this sympathy was actually capable of tracking…

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

He studied the map for an hour until he found it.

“Oh!” Lionshard said, “Someone activated the MERCY system and they actually got into the city—” Lionshard’s mouth shut and his eyes went wide as he tracked the new person, who was first classified as Talented, then rapidly escalated to Ascended, and then rapidly labeled a True Power by Margleknot Itself— And then Lionshard saw something he had only seen a handful of times already. “Oh stars and wells!”

Lionshard rushed out of the Orrery to the very nearest balcony, which was outside of the room and pointed toward Margleknot in the far, far distance. After one incident long ago, where Lionshard had needed to break a wall to see what he wanted to see, Lionshard had arranged his house and this exit to the house for exactly the reason he was using it for right now. Sure, sometimes people used this entrance to sneak into his house to see the Orrery, but those people were easily captured—

All thoughts fled and then came back as Lionshard stared at Margleknot.

The tree was the size of a mountain in the distance, too far away and too large to ever really see except in a general sense. That’s how the Great World Tree looked from everywhere in the city. This ‘Vision of Margleknot’ was the one constant of this endless land. For the last hundred thousand years of subjective Margleknot time, the tree had been gold of bark and green of leaf.

As Lionshard watched, the tree was changing, just as he knew it would, just as it always did when Margleknot decided to accept the new life granted to him by some World Tree creator.

Lionshard reflexively put a hand over his chest and whispered, “Stars and wells.”

Margleknot was turning ever so slightly white of bark, green of leaf, and with a rainbow crown around his canopy. As Lionshard watched for a minute or an hour, Margleknot began to glow. Greens became green fire. Whites became starglows. The crown turned bright and radiant—

Words appeared in the air before Lionshard.

My new father has arrived in the Old Dragon District. His name is Erick Flatt. We have already met. He calls me Yggdrasil. He will have problems with an incident which was thought solved by the Enclave; Nothanganathor versus the Painted Cosmology.

I have directed Erick your way.

Please temper his expectations with the Enclave. I have told him that I have no real power, but he does not believe me.

Also, he is

Lionshard’s eyes went wide. And then he said, “Of course, Margleknot. Will you be accepting your new name, as well?”

That will be complicated for a time. Call me as you wish; everyone always does. With any luck, Erick will be calling me ‘Yggdrasil’.

“But you changed your appearance? You don’t normally do that.”

I have, haven’t I.

The words read plain, but to Lionshard, he saw a small joy in those letters.

“I suppose that says it all, then.” Lionshard said, “Congrats on your new look. It’s rather brilliant.”

It’s a bit flashy, but I do like it.

Check out Erick’s mana Element either before or after you meet him. Probably after, if you want to have a cleaner introduction. You would be too excited if you checked it out before. You’ll probably be awake for a while for the near and prolonged future, so I hope your nap was well.

Lionshard chuckled. “It was a pretty good nap, thank you.”