263, 1/2

Erick stepped out onto a large grassy island. Tens of small structures held all around the entire place. The very center of the island held a small amphitheater, where one could stand on a podium and deliver words to all of the 900-ish people that Erick had rescued. That amphitheater was made of glass, or possibly clear crystal; Erick wasn’t sure. The little temples and offices all around the island were all made of clear crystal, too. The only exceptions to the crystal were various colored adornments here and there to signify what those buildings were for, which mostly came in the shapes of signs or pictographs here and there. There were some apartment buildings on the next island over, providing rest areas for people; those were made of more normal building materials, and were opaque to normal visual senses.

It was all quite nice.

There was one issue.

There were a lot more than 900 people here. There were, in fact… Maybe triple that? Over triple. There were 3,120-ish people on this and the other island, and many more were walking onto Cascadio’s Cavalcade or back, to participate in the pleasures of life over there, or to see what was happening with this land.

What truly stuck out to Erick the most, aside from the number of people, was the white and black temple on the third island. It was pretty big. It was not part of the Cavalcade. It was probably a temple to the Dark.

Shadow was over on that third island, but she was walking this way.

A lot of people were walking this way, from every direction. The resurrected had noticed Erick’s 3-meter tall self, and maybe they had noticed Cascadio, too, standing next to Erick.

Cascadio said to Erick, “Keep the Translator. You might need it for what is to come.” He put a hand on Erick’s shoulder. “You’re a good man. Stay here and use this land as long as you wish. And now, I must go to my people.”

Erick nodded. “It was great working with you.”

“And you as well.” Cascadio turned to his people, who were rushing toward him. Cascadio raised his arms and the sun beat down brilliantly, flashing gold across the sky, as he called out, “Welcome back to Margleknot, my devout! My wonders! My children! This land grant to Erick is not leaving. You may stay and listen to him, and when you are ready, venture into the Cavalcade, and we will talk at length when you reach the center. I wish to know everything!”

He clapped his hands, turned to a brilliant sun, and then into light that rose into the sky. That light then fell down upon the middle, golden island in the center of the Cavalcade, but Cascadio did not suddenly appear on that island. Cascadio was already there, already speaking to people who had walked the Cavalcade to get to him. The world flashed gold around that island. Cascadio raised a glass in the direction of Erick’s little island, and then he turned back to continue talking with people he was already with.

The crowd in front of Erick had a minor split as some warred with the decision to stay, and others wanted to rush into the Cavalcade. Erick instantly lost about 50 people who all went onto the Cavalcade, but that was fine. They were Cascadio’s people already. Some people in the nearby Cavalcade were rushing this way, because Erick was finally here. Erick expected he would gain many more than the 50 he lost soon enough.

Erick turned to the people in front of him, and said, “Let us reconvene in the amphitheater over there. I will give a little talk, and then we can have questions and answers.”

And then Erick started walking that way. A lot of people tried to ask him questions right away—

And then Shadow was there, saying, “Some people banded together and went to the Celestial Observatory to start killing people and sending them to the Waiting Room for you to bring back.”

Lanzoil, one of the people Erick wanted for an Overseer, said, “And many of us wanted to follow them. I stopped most of that, but people still went.”

Erick took a moment, glanced over to the edge of the island near the Cavalcade, where people had finished rushing this way, then made a decision, “Just a moment.” He lifted his aura and cast a massive [Hasted Shelter] across this island and the connecting apartment building island and Shadow’s Dark temple. Time outside of the space slowed to a crawl, and Erick said, “That’s some Time Magic, for those of you unfamiliar, which is probably not many of you. We’ve got time for a full presentation and some [Reincarnation]s now.” Erick raised his voice a little so that it was heard across the whole trio of islands, “Hello. I am Erick Flatt, and I will be speaking at the amphitheater in a moment. Please let us take our seats.”

It didn’t take much more to get the whole group moving in the right direction. It helped that a lot of them knew of Time Magic, and that to cast Time Magic was a whole lot more difficult and dangerous than most people truly knew. That simple act of spellwork, more than the Soul Magic and the new bodies and the erasing of their Wraithborne Contracts, convinced at least a hundred of the people here that Erick was the real deal.

Soon, Erick stood on the amphitheater podium, and many people were streaming into the stands.

Shadow stood beside and behind Erick.

Erick said to her, “You’re looking a bit different. Trying out a new role?”

“Yes. I am currently torn between wanting to go to Veird to eat Nothanganthor’s heart, or to stay here and control your House while you’re away. A strong House Benevolence here in Margleknot could support Veird and the Dark from now until forever.”

Erick had some obvious worries about that.

Shadow understood those worries without needing them aired out for everyone to see. “Before you get worried about betrayal, know that I have worn this role well before in the creation of the Painted Cosmology, and the enactment of the third version that actually worked. This time I’m a lot more Benevolent in my persona, though.”

Erick could see that, now that she explained it. By the way she stood, to the way people in the audience listened to her, to the way Erick saw his Lightning Path forking between her, and all the rest of the universe, Shadow was not some simple ally-of-convenience right now. She was a lot more than that.

Erick simply said, “We’ll talk more.”

Shadow nodded.

Erick turned back to the crowd which was still gathering. He raised his voice, and softly spoke out across the land, “Lanzoil. Querkooda. Ta’Kamoil. I spoke with you three specifically about roles in the coming House Benevolence. I see Lanzoil and Querkoda… Ah. Ta’Kamoil is on the other island. He’s coming here now. Could you three please come and stand on this side of me?”

The first two men came right over and stood there, while the third was still running, but he got there fast enough and took his place beside the other two.

Erick spoke to the crowd, “I’m the Wizard of Benevolence, Erick Flatt, of Earth and also Veird. I built a House Benevolence down on Veird, and I want to return there to take my home back from the leviathan of Malevolence, Nothanganathor, and to end the quarantine that the Fae Council has placed on that land.” Erick held up a hand and conjured an image of Veird in the sky, and then he pulled that image down and wrapped it in layers of black land before he conjured a massive black sphere around the image of a sun. Soon, a black model of Veird’s current solar system held in the sky. “Thanks to what I and my allies did before I came here to this land, Veird is home to a sphere, like the one that surrounds Margleknot. That’s a lot of land out there for living upon, and for securing it against Nothanganathor.

“It’s not nearly enough, but it will serve for the time being.

“What will actually matter is the help I secure here, in Margleknot. When we finished making the sphere around the sun, I went looking for help, and found out that I’m a Father of Margleknot. Back on Veird, I had created a World Tree son over ten years ago, but I found out that when I came to Margleknot that Yggdrasil, my son, is also Margleknot. So that’s why, when you look in the distance over there—” Erick pointed toward the rainbow-crowned green-fire and white-bark tree that held on the horizon. “Margleknot is no longer gold, as he was in most of your eras. He is as I made him. He is Yggdrasil.”

The audience had heard much of this before, and probably from Shadow, but now Erick was here claiming these things and they wanted more than words.

Someone in the audience called out, “Proof!”

Erick didn’t have to ask for Yggdrasil to appear.

Yggdrasil stepped onto the platform next to Erick, but he wasn’t the Yggdrasil that Erick knew him as. He was a golden deer of a hundred legs and ten thousand curling antlers. He spoke with the words of the world, “This is proof.” And then he transformed into the green-skinned son that Erick knew. “And here is more proof.”

“Thank you, Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil smiled a little, then said, “Good luck, Father.”

And then he vanished.

The crowd was completely silent.

The mood change was sudden, and not unexpected for some.

For many it was as though they were finally believing.

Erick waited a moment, then began, “And so, the Fae Enclave has given me the tasks of killing a lot of people to prove my power, to prove that Benevolence is worth as much to them as Malevolence already was. I already did that with almost half a million people, but that was a [Grand Reincarnation] event, like what each of you got to experience singularly. That didn’t count, apparently. And so, I’m building an extension of House Benevolence up here in Margleknot, and populating it with formerly-Good people and formerly-Evil people and anyone who wants to find a new purpose in a better tomorrow with less war and less horrors for all.

“Because redemption is for everyone.

“The immediate goal of this extension of House Benevolence is to prove my power in grander ways, which means the eradication of something. Anything, really. I have chosen to raise my claws against Slaver’s Den, because I hate slavery. Simple as. It will be a grand war of extermination and reincarnation.

“It will not be the first war I have waged like this. It will not be the last.

“And when the war is done and the Evils are no longer evil, then House Benevolence will be taking the continent-sized land of Slaver’s Den and making it our place of power. The people who work for me will have access to the resons I generate from the Benevolent Sun in the sky.” Erick pointed. “That one. I made that one. Yggdrasil currently maintains that land and gets half of its reson generation. I get the other half. That number is currently around 1 trillion resons per day.

“House Benevolence will benefit from that. For starters, I plan on setting up some automatic resurrections for all members of the House.”

The crowd was absolutely silent.

“And when House Benevolence is stable, then I’m going back to Veird to do what I came up here to Margleknot to do, which is to save my world.” Erick added, “I’m rather sure that there will be some sort of permanent portal-like structure between here and there when that is done, too. The people who live and work at the House Benevolence on Veird are people I trust with my life, though, so this House Benevolence on Margleknot will be subordinate to that one for a time, even if this House is set up to become radically more powerful.

“Eventually, though, I foresee my House on Veird eclipsing the House here in Margleknot, and fast.” Erick breathed deep, giving the moment weight, as he said, “And that’s the shortest I can make that explanation of direction.

“Moving on.” Erick gestured to his three potential Overseers, saying, “We have our potential Overseers of House Benevolence on Margleknot.

“Lanzoil was a grand administrator for Paradise Rises, and his death and forced Contracts were considered a main reason for the fall of Paradise Rises. He’s back to be the Overseer of Governance for House Benevolence, if he’ll have the job. I will allow challenges to his position in 5 years.

“Querkooda was a warrior king for The Good Lands, and his death and forced Contracts are considered one of the largest contributing factors for the fall of that place. He’ll be the Overseer of Enforcement, if he’ll have the job. I will allow challenges to his position in 5 years.

“Ta’Kamoil was an archmage of light for the Celestial Observatory until he fell the same way that many of you did; by taking the Contracts of your people with you into the Waiting Room so that they would not affect your people anymore. He’ll be the Overseer of Magic, if he’ll have the job. I will allow challenges to his position in 5 years.

“All of these people were considered High Talents. Many of you here are in similar situations. If you have ever touched that sort of power before, then please get in line for more power, if you would have it, and if you would wield it for Benevolence. I am giving out a lot of power here, to a lot of people.” As a final note, Erick added, “And one more thing: We’re not going after Wraithborne Tower. I hope, through proof of power, to knock them out of Evil completely, and thus remove Contract Slavery itself from Margleknot in the future.

“Now.

“Let us move on to the question and answer segment of this whole thing.”

Everyone spoke at once. Many were already complaining about the anti-war sentiments regarding Wraithborne. Some were mad that they were overlooked for high positions. Others were skeptical of this whole thing, and as Erick spoke of not going after Wraithborne they got even more skeptical.

The pair of goblin-centaur girls whom Erick had first rescued, and a few other people here and there, were mesmerized, enthralled, and in love, for a whole bunch of different reasons.

The goblin-centaur girls were both human now, just like everyone else. Of those two, the more violent goblin-centaur girl said to her sister what was on the minds of many, “I have never been able to listen this well to all those wordywordys. Maybe this guy can make me even smarter!”

The other not-goblin girl said to her sister, “He did make us smarter. This… This is true power.”

The first one cackled. “I love it!”

A few people looked at the cackling woman.

Most demanded answers. Some louder than others.

And that was enough time to let his words sink in.

Erick raised his voice over the cacophony, saying, “Everyone please be quiet. I will be picking people to speak through fate-like magic.” The crowd was mostly quiet. Some still yelled. Erick ignored them. Following his Lightning Path, Erick pointed at one guy on the far right. A beam of light illuminated that man from above. “You. Please speak.”

The crowd went silent for Erick quietly shushed them with spellwork. That very same spellwork raised the voice of the one under the light.

The man’s voice spread softly across the entire trio of islands, “I want guaranteed resurrections for me and the people who would become my family, and when I get old I want to be brought back to this age here. Or I want to be an immortal dragon. There’s a rumor that you can do that. Is that true?” The light on the man faded.

Erick said, “Good questions. Yes. I can make anyone I want a dragon. As for resurrections, that will be a part of the incorporation of House Benevolence into an entity recognized by Margleknot. Administration will figure out all of that later. Reincarnations into a younger version of yourself is certainly possible, too. I’ll be working on an auto-Reincarnation magic soon enough so I don’t have to spend all my time on that one.” Erick pointed at a woman. She lit up with light. “Yes, you.”

“Are you saying you can really make us young like this… forever?”

Erick said, “Yes. It’s not that hard. Benevolence is very good at positive-outcome Soul Magic. I plan on enacting all of your reincarnation paperwork later, too. Anyone can watch that whole process, if they wish. I’m sure many of you will want to become Soul Mages yourselves. I welcome those of you with the expertise to try to copy what I can do.”

Erick won over 30% of the crowd with that statement alone. Eternal youth and life? Yes please.

Erick pointed to the next person.

“Who is that fae beside you, exactly?”

A lot of people in the audience were worried about the fairy in their midst. That was good of them; it showed they knew what to be worried about.

Erick said, “Shadow here is the constructor of a universe that she and many others call the Painted Cosmology. That universe went through a universal sundering event because of Nothanganathor, of Malevolence, about 1450 years ago, Veird-time. Uncountable millions of billions of people died in that Sundering, because Nothanganathor did something that no one is quite sure of. All we know is that he killed Shadow’s universe, and she and I are here to enact long lasting justice on Nothanganathor. He will not be spared.” Erick gestured to Shadow.

Shadow stepped forward, and said, “When we ensure that the problem of Nothanganathor and the degradation of the Darkness is done, there will be a great expansion. The Dark will flourish. This is the foundation. Erick and House Benevolence will likely be at the center, but I will be ever expanding and creating once again. Stars with worlds will be made habitable. People will flourish. If you want resources, we can make those resources. If you want homes, we will make those homes. The land we make will not be subject to any greater Balance of Good and Evil like it is here in Margleknot, but instead it will be the home of the Darkness, and of Benevolence, the best anti-corruption power ever created, and which can create resons at a 9-to-1 rate.”

Every single person that Erick had not won over, Shadow enthralled.

Erick was a bit hyped up now, too. He had not known that Shadow was going that direction exactly, but he was glad to see it. With a soft smile, Erick nodded, and then said, “There is a great deal of room to expand. I plan on making a multi-world gate network back on Veird, and to our local stars. All of that will come many years from now, though. I’ll answer a few more questions, and then I’ll be reviewing your reincarnation paperwork and doing all that. I expect, in a week or so, that I will be marching on Slaver’s Den. I expect some assassins to arrive shortly if they aren’t already here.” Erick pointed at another person.

Light lit upon a person who almost didn’t speak because they were obviously worried about assassins now, but then they caught up to themselves and asked, “How do you see this fight going? Slaver’s Den is 40 million people and though 80% of them are slaves, they will fight in defense of their land, for that’s what their shackles demand of them. Even if you get around that problem then they’ll have Wraithborne backup, and that means immortal liches who will come at us through uncountable deaths.”

Erick smiled softly, and said, “That’s a good question, too. I plan on evicting a lot of people from Margleknot completely, sending them off to other worlds and lands through a reson-empowered [Grand Reincarnation], turning them all into random people on random other worlds, giving most of them a great chance at a new life free of the problems they fell to here on Margleknot, or the problems they themselves created. Such a magic looks like this:”

Erick cast a lightshow into the sky, placing a good hundred little human-shapes scattered throughout the air above, and then he struck them with another lightshow of lightning that struck one person, split into striking two people, and then continued on like that until every person was touched. Each person the lightshow lightning touched turned to flowers and grasses and mushrooms, but their souls went elsewhere, into fractal splashes that soaked into the roots and branches of Margleknot, to move off to other worlds, to be reborn in Benevolence.

A few people in the audience were in complete disbelief.

But some wanted to believe.

Some people started talking softly. Some started arguing with their neighbors about realistic goals.

Erick spoke above the susurrus, “Right now, I can do that to about a million people at a time. I’ll work on some Propagation Magic and make that spellwork self-sustaining so I don’t have to wait a few days between clearing out a million people at a time, but even if we did take the long way, according to some math, clearing out 40 million people would only take 150 days.”

That got people talking.

Someone shouted, “What are we expected to do if you do it all?!”

Erick did not mind the outburst. Emotions were riding high right now. Erick said, “My magic cannot hit those who are well defended, and so I would need fighters to take over for the smaller problems, and to keep the peace as we advance across Slaver’s Den and take it all from them. Mostly, I need people willing to do paperwork, to organize others, to make Slaver’s Den habitable, etcetera. I’m building a House here that will last for a very, very long time, so all of the normal things are still necessary.”

A big woman stood up and the crowd around her went silent. Erick recognized her as Vieltresia the Demon Summoner, a woman who had been locked down by Wraithborne Contract for 1,700 years, according to Cascadio. She was just one of many people who had tried to circumvent Erick’s [Reincarnation] out of the Waiting Room. She had not succeeded in that circumvention.

Erick nodded her way.

A beam of light came down upon Vieltresia, amplifying her voice. “And what of Wraithborne? Are we truly going to ignore them? To be nominal allies? To forgive what they have done to us?”

The crowd was mad about that, now that Vieltresia had brought it back up.

Erick said, “You don’t have to forgive. You don’t have to forget. But the greater victory would be had by turning Wraithborne to Benevolence. The simple fact is that Morbion wants power and to control all of Margleknot and thus the universe and beyond, but Evil can never get there; Good anchors Evil into an ever-warring Balance. Benevolence is not like that. Benevolence is better. Someone inside House Benevolence is going to achieve that goal of universal power. Evil cannot rule this universe or any other. Neither can Good. Morbion was always destined for failure by choosing Evil. With Malevolence, Nothanganathor got so much further than Morbion, by far, for he took down an entire universe. By that same, opposite turn, Benevolence will build a universe.

“Maybe more than one.”

Erick let those words hang. He had not known he was going to say all that when he had started answering questions, but he knew those words to be true.

Someone was going to rise up through Benevolence to create a universe.

Perhaps Nothanganathor wanted to use Malevolence to do the same.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

It was hard to know right now, but the mirror there was impossible to deny.

All the world seemed quiet as they thought about Erick’s words and proclamations, too.

Into that pause, Erick spoke softly, “That’s all the questions for now. I’ll be reviewing your [Reincarnation] paperwork now. I am sure that after I get through the first ten or twenty people that many of you will want to write up new paperwork, and the people who went first will wish to be changed to something else. Perhaps a bit taller, or naturally stronger, or smaller, or maybe a different species or color. All of those are fine changes. I will have to stop everyone from going a third time, though. Let’s be careful with our life-long choices before we make them, please.” And then Erick turned to Lanzoil, Querkooda, and Ta’Kamoil. “With me. Shadow too, please.”

He walked off the stage.

Behind him, people started talking to each other, or they got lost in thought. Some people were beyond happy. Others were worried. Some doubted. Most did not doubt at all.

Mostly, there was hope.

– – – –

Erick sat down in a temporary office made of stone and soft fabrics. The walls were opaque, but there were no privacy magics here. Cascadio didn’t truly believe in real privacy, which is why many of the buildings around here were made of clear glass. The walls of this place were even only half-opaque, with the ‘stone’ actually a bunch of darker white splotches inside the glass. It was almost like glitter-crystal, like the Fae Enclave, but not that at all.

Lanzoil, Querkooda, Ta’Kamoil, and Shadow sat with Erick.

Erick started with, “Are you three comfortable with the general direction of the duties that I would impose upon you? Lanzoil as grand administrator again? Querkooda as warrior general? Ta’Kamoil as prime archmage? Primarily, I expect you three to be able to work together in a council-like shape, with Lanzoil doing most of the administration, Querkooda keeping the peace and the walls, and Ta’Kamoil providing a deciding vote to break up the power of administration and enforcement.”

Erick had spoken to each of them inside the Dead Waiting Room about much of this, and he was pretty sure that at least Lanzoil and Querkooda had met and spoken with each other, but Ta’Kamoil had not been a part of that meeting-of-2. He was here now, though.

All three of them had a pretty basic sort of human body.

All three would be changing, soon.

Lanzoil and Querkooda glanced at each other, and then at Ta’Kamoil.

Ta’Kamoil smiled a little, saying, “I have heard stories of Lanzoil’s prowess with paper and ink and because of that I desire to see what he can do with a new land, and with the Father of Margleknot at his back. I’m very glad I’ll be courted for my vote instead of actually participating in administration. I’m much more of a teacher and explorer-crusader leader than an organizer of civilization.” He said to them all, “I would seek action outside of the lands of Benevolence, ensuring that people know us well and acting as more of an ambassador, while maintaining schools back at home, and for those schools to maintain wards and other magics.”

Querkooda and Lanzoil relaxed a fraction at that. Erick could tell those two were already experiencing friction but of a rivalry-sort, rather than a friction of real dislike.

Querkooda said to Lanzoil, “Then it appears you will not be getting your way with everything, Lanzoil, for I can already see my organization sending off warriors to babysit exploring mages.”

Lanzoil grinned, “And I will be the one ensuring that the schools and army are funded, and that Benevolence flourishes.”

Erick relaxed as he saw a bright future ahead, and as his Lightning Path coalesced around all three of them, each of them gaining a bright ring of Benevolence around their necks that then flowed inward, into their souls and bodies. They would be the instruments of Benevolence upon Margleknot by which Margleknot would truly grow Benevolence, to spread productive power out into the rest of the universe.

Erick asked Shadow, “Do you have anywhere in this organization you would like to be, in particular?”

The group looked to her—

And Erick felt his Lightning Path wrangle into a new, deeper shape.

Shadow became something More in that eternal moment.

Her eyes flashed Dark. Her mien turned regal, and powerful.

And then she began, her voice a sonorous declaration, “There is a collection of stories that I am reminded of, Erick. They appear in your dossier as the Tellings of the Creation of the Painted Cosmology. The one my father Told was perhaps the most correct, from their perspective, but from my perspective, there on the ground, in the Dark, working Creation, the First Telling told by the Shades at your Last Shadow’s Feast was more correct, in parts.

“Insanity and a loss of perspective caused Melemizargo, my distant greatness of a grandson, and his flock, who have also lost themselves, to lose some of the Truth of that Telling. But not all. The story of the First Dragon meeting the rest of Creation begins with a specific meeting which was touched upon in that First Telling.

“Specifically, there is the part when the First Dragon meets the Second Dragon in the Dark.