267, 1/2

Erick said, “I’m pretty sure you don’t actually want to be there, Shadow. I don’t want to be there.”

It was the day of the hearing between the Fae Council and Nothanganathor. It promised to be short and private. Something more public may happen later, but today it was just the Council, Yggdrasil, and Nothanganathor. Certain other people had been invited, but they had been told they were not allowed to speak unless asked to speak, with the various consequences for breaking such a rule left unspecified.

Erick had been invited by Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil had not wanted to invite Erick, but he had done it anyway, and now Erick stood in a prep room in House Benevolence, in City #1 in Tir Gael, looking over papers of facts, organizing his final thoughts. He was also preparing to have those thoughts torn asunder by whatever Nothanganathor said in the Council chambers.

Shadow had wanted to go, too, to be invited by Erick. She did not like being told ‘no’ in this instance least of all. With a dark, calm glare, she said, “I should be there.”

“Yeah. You should be there. Do you think you could honestly not speak up?”

Shadow glared a bit harder. “I could maintain decorum.”

“ ‘Could’ maintain. That’s not a ‘would’.” Erick said, “I am rather sure that he’s going to get under my skin rather well. All he has to do is bring up how he brutalized…” Erick didn’t want to say it, but he said it anyway, “How he brutalized Debby, or… or any of them. And besides that, he knows everything there is to know about me. He doesn’t know much about you. You could be in reserve for when the actual decisions are getting made. This is going to go beyond a hearing, Shadow.”

Shadow relaxed her glare. “There is logic to that, and yet, I am currently beyond logic… which means I should remain in reserve.” She took a moment, looking away, pacing for a few steps, her fancy black dress shoes clipping on the hard white floor, her court-date dress swishing as she moved. She stopped and said to Erick, “You’re not allowed to harm our chances either, and when it is over, you will report everything to me.”

“I will.”

Shadow breathed and then she stepped away, vanishing from sight as though stepping through veils made of half-invisible shadows.

Erick stepped away from the papers on his desk, to stare out the window. He looked without seeing, his thoughts not on the pastel roofs of the many apartments and buildings, but on the upcoming trial that was not a trial. It was just a hearing. Nothanganathor still had great standing within Margleknot, and of course he did. His magic was everywhere, in all of the Evil societies of this land. Slaver’s Den had had a lot of that shit; Malevolence. Malevolence was responsible for a good several percent of Margleknot’s preeminent killers of corruption out there in the greater universe.

Nothanganathor was probably going to claim that he had made Benevolence through his Malevolent actions, like a researcher prodding growth among its research subjects…

Erick frowned.

What did a good outcome of today look like? Realistically.

They certainly weren’t going to dismantle anything that Nothanganathor himself had built. Maybe they might censure him in some… not at all adequate way.

… What Erick wanted was Nothanganathor expelled from Veird and forbidden from interacting against Veird. Would that happen?

Probably not…

But if they believed he was the cause of the Sundering? Would they expel him then?

… No.

They wouldn’t act against him without proof of his malfeasance, and there was no proof, because the Painted Cosmology no longer existed. Would they act against him if he came right out and said that he had caused the Sundering?

… Erick wanted to say ‘yes’, but the answer was likely ‘no’.

Erick sighed. In truth, he had no idea what today would bring. He probably shouldn’t go to the hearing. Nothing good would come of it at all, except, perhaps, that Erick would get a heads up regarding further interaction with Nothanganathor.

“Yup,” Erick said to himself, as he finally looked out the window and saw his newest city. “The only good outcome of today is knowing what comes next.” Erick sighed. And then he prepared himself. With a flick of his aura, he poked at a pad near his desk, and then said, “Ring up Blighter of Wraithborne, please. I need to know if he’s still my lawyer, and if Wraithborne is still non-aggressive.”

Erick’s secretary was the valkyrie known as Shivraa. Erick had transformed her into a dragon the other week, though, after ending the Quarantine. She was taking well to being a dragon of Benevolent Ice and something similar to a Valkyrie, and if she needed to she could return to inhabit the Valkyrie magic, and then be reincarnated back into a dragon. She was still working on all of her particular powers, and that would take a while, but she had been a secretary for many years before she was captured by slavers, so she was taking very well to being Erick’s secretary.

Shivraa spoke up from the speaker, “One moment.”

Twenty seconds of silence and thinking later—

Shivraa said, “Lawyer Blighter on the line, sir.”

“Ascended Flatt!” Blighter said, “I am glad to be taking your call.”

“Are you still my lawyer? Is Wraithborne still non-aggressive?”

“Yes, and yes.” Blighter said, “Wraithborne has been invited to today’s hearing by Nothaganathor. If you were to invite us as well, then we would be on your side as well.”

“That’s not a violation of interests?”

“I’m still the top lawyer at the firm who is not a Prime. Nothanganathor is represented by Prime Hadrago; my boss.”

“… That’s not a violation of interests?”

“No. It is not. Wraithborne plays very well with itself when it comes to bountiful outcomes for all. If both of us are there, for both sides, then we will fight till a conclusion is reached that is beneficial for both sides. If only Prime Hadrago is there, then he will fight for Nothanganathor’s exclusive rights to power.”

“… Ah.” Erick said, “My goal is Nothanganathor’s complete annihilation. That’s not on the table if you’re there, is it.”

“That honestly depends on the outcome of the hearing and the possible trial to come. It could very well be that Wraithborne wishes to abandon Nothanganathor, depending on his depravity.”

“But if he has some miracle plan for a whole new Painted Cosmology, with him as lead God of Magic, then what is Wraithborne’s position?”

“That we will try to keep Benevolence around and also argue against Nothanganathor being allowed that sort of power, considering he killed a universe to get there.” Blighter said, “Someone like that does not deserve the reins over any sort of Creation at all.”

Erick let surprise show in his voice. “That’s unexpected.”

“Ascended Flatt,” Blighter said, “I say with the full weight of Wraithborne behind me: you’re correct about the fact that Benevolence is better than Malevolence for the growth of nations. Malevolence steals and hides, all for the primacy of Nothanganathor. Benevolence is out in the open, and you’re the main user but other people are eagerly taking up the power for themselves. Your rise to power is so much faster than Nothanganathor’s ever was. If you wanted, you could take over all of Margleknot in a millennium. If you do not, then someone will, and it will be a person wielding Benevolence.”

Erick considered that. “I’ll have a different sphere to colonize and grow, Blighter, with Yggdrasil being there as well. You can tell Morbion that, if he’s not already listening in on this call.”

“I’m here, Ascended Flatt,” said a different voice. A deeper voice. It was Morbion. “Wraithborne wishes you luck with your worlds and purposes. Witch Agatha hopes that Witch Aragathara serves you well in the coming trials, and for you to know that Agatha also desires to see Nothanganathor ripped from his throne, if he deserves to be ripped from his throne.”

Erick said, “Aragathara is fitting in well, here at House Benevolence. If her sister wishes to visit, and provided she acts like a proper guest, she is welcome.”

Morbion’s voice seemed almost amused. “I’ll let her know.”

There was a click.

Blighter spoke, “Shall we meet you at the entrance?”

Erick said, “See you there.”

– – – –

Erick stepped through a swirling vortex of gold and green, onto a grand road of glitter crystal, kilometers wide, leading toward a wall of glitter crystal that was that half of the world. The Fae Enclave was massive, like a delineation in reality. At the very end of the road lay a large entrance, left open, leading into a place of trees and greenery and the land of the fae of this cosmology. It was smaller than the nail of his pinky from this distance, looking like little more than a glint of brighter light upon the wall ahead, but Erick knew it was pretty big.

Erick stepped forward—

—and moved hundreds of kilometers in that move, to stand in front of the entrance to the Fae Enclave. The entrance dominated half the world, and a land of cultivated forest lay beyond.

Blighter and Seabass, the two vampire lawyers from Wraithborne, stood there to the side, waiting for him. They bowed toward Erick.

Erick nodded, then turned to the insect-like fae woman sitting behind a glitter crystal podium, before the entrance into the Enclave. “Hello.”

“Aye. Erick Flatt. You are expected. You will remain in this lesser form and observe the proceedings. Your lawyers will abide by this as well. Do you have questions?”

“Can my lawyers and I speak to each other and not have our private conversations interrupt the proceedings?”

“Granted. You’re in the audience. You have to find your own way there. I’ll move your lawyers now.”

And then the fae clicked her fingers.

Blighter and Seabass vanished.

The insect fae gestured to the grand entrance to the Enclave beyond her podium. “You may proceed.”

Erick stepped into the air and flickered through the entrance, into the grand thoroughfare of green grass between kilometer-sized trees the size of Arbors, like at Treehome, with the orcols. This land was filled with fae, though; in houses in those trees, and on walkways, and hovering in the air here and there, going about their days without care for Erick at all. Some of them noticed Erick but he wasn’t a giant black dragon this time so they didn’t really care.

Flickering forward, Erick felt the fae-trap of the endless forest treadmill try to latch on, but he passed through that trap with a burst of his own disagreement.

Within moments, he once again stood before a much-more-reasonably-sized tower of glitter crystal that hovered above an empty crater.

The glitter crystal opened up; a door appearing, to make an entrance into the Fae Council Court.

Erick floated forward—

– – – –

Erick found himself seated on the right hand side of the audience, like he was at a football game or attending the theater. Blighter and Seabass were further right, the vampires both looking a little dazed, but then they were suddenly here, in the moment, as Erick looked to them. They nodded.

The Council room was the same as before; all dense glitter crystal.

The litigants were different.

Margleknot, as his orcol, Yggdrasil-self, stood to the right, behind a podium. On the judging side of the room, the Lords and Ladies of the Enclave sat in their chairs behind the arc of the glitter crystal judges’ table. From left to right, it was Lord Eldraki, Lady Aelorika, The Fractal Fairy, Lady Seraphaka, and Lord Dakka.

And to the left, beside the defendant’s podium, was a man.

Erick felt he should have recognized Nothanganathor, or at least his avatar. Erick had never met the man, of course. Still, Erick felt he should have recognized Nothanganathor.

Short white hair. White horns that curled up and back but which were clearly not dragon horns for they were almost slick; made for cutting through water. A leviathan’s horns. White eyes almost as white as a Shade’s, which was odd. His skin was deeply tanned. The guy was physically attractive, because once you reached a certain level of power you could decide those things about yourself. But he was also kinda tired-looking. Sleepy, almost. He didn’t look bored to be here, but he looked tired.

In any other setting Erick would have been predisposed to want to hand the guy a cup of coffee, to ask him what was bothering him, and if he needed help.

The meeting had not started yet.

Everything was still, in most ways. Sure, Lord Eldraki was messing with some illusions on the Council table, Lady Seraphaka was on a phone, Lady Aelorika was typing away at a tablet, and Lord Dakka was staring at Erick in a… Oh. Uh? A lustful, sort of way? Uh?

Lord Dakka twinkled his fingers at Erick and then made a kissy face, all silent-like.

So that was weird—

Yggdrasil was saying something to Nothanganathor, under his breath, and Nothanganathor was saying other small things under his breath, their lips barely moving. Erick probably could have understood what they were saying if he knew the language and if there wasn’t a heavily magical barrier between the stands and the court proper. That barrier read in tiny words, ‘Talking is permitted among the audience. Do not interrupt the proceedings upon pain of pain.’

There were a few other people in the audience.

Over there, in the seats behind Nothanganathor, was a man who looked human, but grey, who had a Wraithborne briefcase sitting on the bench beside him. The man saw Erick looking at him, and he nodded deeply, softly whispering, “Ascended Flatt.” He introduced himself, “Hadrago. Lawyer Prime of Wraithborne.”

Erick decided to be cordial and nodded back, and that was enough for both of them.

A few swirls of some sort of censoring magics occluded the remaining few people in the audience. One of those magics was gold and silver swirls. Another was a spherical mirror. The final one was a pixelated static cube. None of them sat near Erick at all. He was pretty sure that the gold and silver person was Lionshard; that power had that feeling to it—

Lady Aelorika put down her tablet and it disappeared. She cleared her throat, and the room came to order. “And that’s all the guests.” She intoned, “We are here today in a preliminary way to see if Nothanganathor deserves to be divested of much or all of his power here in Margleknot, or if nothing needs to happen at all. Nothanganathor. You stand accused of Sundering the Painted Cosmology through a series of networked power stations that propagated a dangerous killing magic throughout that entire universe, ripping it to pieces, and then harvesting those pieces for your own gains. What do you say to this accusation? Keep it short.”

Nothanganathor nodded, then spoke as though he was reporting on the weather, “The Darkness still exists. That universe is still there. The magics I did were incapable of killing that universe, but the pieces that people inhabited no longer exist, and yes, I did that.”

He just…

He just… came out and said it.

Erick breathed deep, feeling some unfeeling, unknowing sort of way. It was halfway to giddy, and yet halfway to a rage as well. Vindication swirled around somewhere in his soul, and his heart beat hard. He breathed out.

He knew it wasn’t over at all.

The Council fae all looked unsurprised. Yggdrasil looked… sad? Yeah. Sad.

Lady Aelorika nodded. “Glad you didn’t try to lie to us. How did you kill the inhabited part of the Painted Cosmology?”

“Planted Malevolence seeds all across the land. Took a few thousand years to propagate far enough. It was a magic that was unique to the Painted Cosmology that allowed such a thing to happen at all. It couldn’t happen here due to the multi-magic nature of this uber-universe. It only worked at all because every time Melemizargo found that magic he enjoyed finding it, because he used it to draw me back to the Painted Cosmology and torment me, instead of actually erasing that magic.”

Lady Aelorika asked, “Did you deserve that torment?”

“We are enemies.”

“How did you escape that torment?”

“I had previously stolen a Sign of the Fractal from Margleknot’s avatar that he would send to the Painted Cosmology. Melemizargo only got an avatar of mine each time he drew me there.”

Yggdrasil was quietly furious.

Lady Aelorika asked, “Why couldn’t that magic be used here, in this cosmology, to Sunder this universe’s inhabited places?”

“It was a thieving sort of magic that worked on mana-made souls. Even if you sucked all the mana out of a large portion of this universe, you would still have resons and particles and all the rest. The infinite nature of this universe is truly infinite, unlike how it was in the Painted Cosmology.”

“Could this magic be transposed to work on atoms, or slices, or Infinity itself?”

“Doubtful. The Fractal takes notice of that sort of thing rather heavily.”

Erick whispered to himself, but maybe also to Blighter and anyone else nearby, “Nothanganathor already eats all the slices of infinity around Veird that aren’t the God Pact world, so that’s a fucking lie. He could eat this universe if he plotted well enough.”

Lady Aelorika frowned a little at Nothanganathor. “But you eat the slices of infinity all around Veird’s God Pact world all the time. Plus, there’s Elemental Destruction and various other forms of consuming spellwork, like that [Cleanse] magic. We’ve had quite a few demonstrations of such possibilities rather recently, with your Element’s new Opposite. I doubt that Wizard Flatt, Ascended from Veird, is better at magic than you are, so explain to the court, how, exactly, your Sundering spellwork would not do the same thing to this universe that you did to the Painted Cosmology?”

Nothanganathor easily said, “Because I have given you my Opposite. I have culled Veird in so very many different ways to prepare for this day, so you finally have something that directly opposes my Malevolence, so that you will allow me to consume Veird entirely, and remake the Painted Cosmology how it should be. You have both my weapon of Malevolence and the way to kill my weapons in your hands, with Benevolence. I even gave Margleknot another instance of himself, and a Father. I have also given Margleknot a heavy return of the Balance.” He said to Yggdrasil, “I know you can never forgive me for betraying your trust, but I know I have given back more than I have taken.” He said to the council, “And I know I will make the Painted Cosmology better than it ever was, provided I am allowed now to finally consume that world, instead of watch over it.”

Erick was stunned as Nothanganathor took credit for his own work, for his own Benevolence, as though he hadn’t been fighting Nothanganathor every step of the way, as though That Asshole wasn’t killing him every chance he got, as though—

Erick was spiraling in fury.

Everyone had told him that Nothanganathor was going to take credit. Erick hadn’t believed it until now, until here. But yeah. The guy was shameless. Taking credit for someone finally standing up against him, from successfully hiding from him all this time, from someone among millions finally making an Element to directly oppose him! Of course opposing elements happen now and then! Nothanganathor should not get credit for that!

And then to speak of consuming Veird!

“Ohhhh,” Erick whispered, raging, “I’m going to murder him so much.”

Lady Aelorika frowned at Nothanganathor’s little speech. She hummed. She sat back in her chair.

Lord Eldraki put away his tiny illusions and asked Nothanganathor, “How did you make Erick come to be?”

“I couldn’t do a direct approach, of course, because if I did that then my Opposite would not be accepted as a True Opposite. And so I prodded. I waited. Primarily, I infected their Goddess of Knowledge, eating away at her capability to do anything, and then mutating what was left. I did spawn a few avatars over the centuries, there at the beginning, but Melemizargo saw all of those and killed them or attempted to mutate them back at me. From what they call the ‘Old Demons’ to the Rage of the Orcols to even individual bad actors meant to tear them down how I needed them torn down, my various efforts at working sideways were killed here and there.

“One of my largest shaping successes and also failures was Idyrvamikor.

“In the Death of all Halves, Melemizargo’s wizard grandson was poisoned by me to do my bidding and he almost succeeded in simplifying everything when he made the orcols. If the orcols would have happened as I wanted them to, then that singular race of sapients on Veird would have simply disbelieved in Melemizargo, but he couldn’t have that simple end, so Melemizargo interfered. I managed to instead poison Elemental Dragon with a Curse that worked through his bloodline, attaching that one to his other grandson, twisting all dragons to a leviathan form, like he did to me. Quite proud of that one, really.

“From there, Kirginatharp has done a lot of my bidding over the years, but I kept a very light touch. Barely anything at all, because that seemed to work better.

“From around 75 years onward, Post Sundering, I did very little but nibble here and there, only consuming the slices of realities that got too far away from the main world of Veird; the ones that would fall to self-destruction, anyway. The main world that they call the God Pact world was carefully pruned.

“I had set up everything for success by that time, from Fate magic not being inside the Script so well, to triggering Planar visits, to easing the way forward for everyone who was remotely able to resist my Malevolence at all. It’s that last one that truly got Erick up here, at Margleknot. If I wanted to I could have killed him at any point in time, and I was about to at one of those yearly parties to Melemizargo, but then he made Yggdrasil, and from there I stepped out of the way.” Nothanganathor said, “I knew Erick would become my True Opposite by then.

“And so I went investigating him more.

“Apparently, my Malevolence gave rise to the woman Erick met in college by the name of Margaret, which gave rise to Jane, who was born with a bit of Malevolence inside of her. Erick’s almost allergic reaction to that, as a Natural Wizard, is what precipitated his entire adult life.

“Therefore, as it was my aim to cause my True Opposite all this time, I claim right of cause of the resultant Benevolence, and all the assorted benefits thereof, as well as forgiveness for the temporary loss of the Fractal’s ingress into the Darkness.” Nothanganathor said, “I’ll be setting that to rights as soon as I’m allowed.”

Erick heard a ringing in his ears, threatening to block out all the impossible things that he was hearing. He still listened, though. All of this shit he was hearing might be possible, but Erick would never take credit for something good that someone else did with Benevolence. How could Nothanganathor even begin to take credit for Malevolence in that way? It didn’t make sense—

Lady Seraphaka scoffed. “You can’t take credit for something that happened outside of your direct control on a backwater world that happened to be influenced by your Element. There are billions of Malevolence users these days and all this universe has your taint upon it.” And then, realizing she hadn’t asked a question, she said, “Give us examples of your interference that specifically drew Erick forth to Veird, Nothanganathor.”

“I set up the Fate Magics in the Script to draw forth someone to solve three Ultimate Quests.” Nothanganathor said, “Find a way back to the Old Cosmology, which is through me. Find a way to cure Melemizargo’s insanity, which I caused. And expand civilization out into this New Cosmology, with me as the direct impediment to such expansion. All of these Ultimate Quests are ones that would require a direct counter to Malevolence. I set up the field. Erick wandered into the field, and succeeded against me, every time he went up against me, until he was finally able to come here, to Margleknot.”

Lady Seraphaka frowned. She said nothing.

Lord Dakka giggled as he looked around. “My turn? My turn!” He shot up to his feet, and stared at Erick. “Give me your Valkyrie magic and agree to get Melemizargo to give his Mantle to Nothanganathor, or however you want to do it, and I’ll make you in charge of Veird and all of those lands which Nothanganathor calls his own!”

Erick heard what Lord Dakka had said, but—

Lady Aelorika said, “Erick isn’t allowed to speak right now. Ask something else please, Lord Dakka.”

Dakka rolled his eyes and said to Erick, “You think about it!” Then he asked Nothanganathor, “What does a fight between you and Erick look like? Completely one-sided, yeah?”

Nothanganathor said, “Erick is nowhere near my level of power and he won’t be for a very long time. I only let him go last time. There would be no point in having me fight him, nor would I want to, now that he has proven himself as a valued participant in this universe.”

“Yeah,” Dakka said, “That’s boring. I’ll think of… something…” He paused. He frowned a little, and then he said, “Nothanganathor Sundered his own starting universe, stole from the Fractal, betrayed Margleknot, and now pretends to be some ultimate power instead of a fuckup responsible for his own downfall. I don’t believe a shitting thing he says. He’s always been way too fucking shifty, always in on Eldraki’s tricks. Erick sided with me, though, and I trust war more than I trust tricks… You and Eldraki; you both speak too tricky. You might not be lying but you ain’t truthing!” He said, “That’s all I have to say on this crap. Who’s talking next?”

Yggdrasil demanded of Nothanganathor, “I want my piece of myself back.”

“I can give you the memories. I can’t give you the Sign. It still contains many people of the Painted Cosmology and I want to bring them back.”

Yggdrasil frowned. “What percentage of the Painted Cosmology have you saved?”

“I have 780 billion souls of the Painted Cosmology in your Sign right now. I can’t give you a percentage of the whole.”

Yggdrasil seemed to have expected much of that. He said to the Council, “I officially request the Council to judge Nothanganathor harshly in all ways in this matter, and to favorably view all other involved parties in the Painted Cosmology issue. I request the Council rescind the overall Quarantine of Veird and the surrounding lands, and to restrict Nothanganathor’s ability to regulate those lands, as well as strip him of his status as Arbiter of Veird. I request the Council officially invite the gods of Veird to Margleknot, so that they can give larger testimonies on this matter.”

Silence.

Lady Aelorika glared at Nothanganathor. “You have sundered trillions, and only saved billions. You have ended a universe’s capability to speak and to grow and to change, all for the opportunity to take over that speaking-growing-changing yourself. Do you believe yourself capable of being the creator of a universe?”

Nathanganathor solidly said, “I know I can be the creator of a universe.”

“A universe you could rescind at a moment’s notice,” Lady Aelorika countered. “After all, Malevolence is all about getting yours and damning all the rest.”

Nothanganathor said, “I will abandon Malevolence to your care as soon as I no longer need it, once I am empowered in my original power as I was before Melemizargo and his ilk cursed away my true self, once I am God of Magic of the Dark Universe.”

Silence.

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Eyes wandered.

Thoughts happened behind closed minds.

The trickster Lord Eldraki paid full attention to the hearing, his eyes shining dark.

And then Lady Aelorika commanded, “State your final words of defense, if you have any against the indefensible.”

Nothanganathor asked, “Do you wish to have lands and influence in the Painted Cosmology? Or do you wish to be ignored by that land once again, if Shadow and her ilk are allowed to reclaim it? Margleknot. Do you wish to be planted and to grow within the Painted Cosmology, and not be ousted and killed every other century every time you go visiting that universe? Does the Fractal want more communication with the Darkness? Or a return to small conversations?

“I have used my Sign of Power to grab and contain as much of the Painted Cosmology as I could. It’s just disembodied souls right now and a few trinkets here and there, but it can easily become something more than that, once I can actually communicate with the Darkness at the level I know I can communicate.

“And then all will be right with reality.

“The outcome of my deception was always going to end in this way. Nothing is out of order. Everything is within acceptable parameters. All of this was planned for, and now we are here. Nothing is corruptive about my actions, and the Darkness still exists.” Nothanganathor said, “And now you have Benevolence, in addition to Malevolence. All of this is because of me, and my actions. None of your trust has ever been misplaced, though I have certainly stomped on it overly harshly. It was necessary. I would do it again.

“It takes a harsh hand to deal the death that is necessary to make civilizations flourish properly. I am that harsh hand.

“Because of my pruning, whatever comes next will be wondrous.”

Erick was glad that he had come here.

He also wished he could have stayed in Tir Geal.

Shadow would probably be apoplectic right now. She would have every reason to be furious, too. Erick was furious. Showing that fury in a court of law wasn’t going to serve him well at all.

He wanted to show that fury.

He desperately wanted to.

To speak of the Sundered. To give voice to the lost. To say… so much. There was too much to say. Too much to condense down into anything small like some stupid courtroom drama.

Erick found himself skipping all of that and asking, “Why would the Darkness listen to his call to create? The Dark is chaos incarnate, and the Dark is mindless until it recognizes that it desires a mind. Shadow stuck a painting of an astronaut into a painting of the Dark, and somehow that worked. SOMEHOW, that worked. There is no guarantee that anything Nothanganathor would do with the Dark would work to create anything close to what had come before. No. What he would create would be an empire in the Dark, and then he would grow that empire as far as it could grow.”

… Erick found himself standing in the center of the courtroom, off to the side with Yggdrasil, speaking without stopping until he had arrived at his full counterpoint to Nothanganathor’s position. He had spoken out of turn, it seemed.

Erick doubled down. He puffed out his chest a little, and stood his ground.

The Fae Council was looking at him. Yggdrasil was looking at him. The Fractal Fairy might have been looking at him, or maybe not; hard to know.

Nothanganathor looked at Erick with sleepy, white eyes, and then he disregarded Erick.

Lady Aelorika turned her attentions back to Nothanganathor, asking, “Have anything to say to that?”

“The Darkness isn’t going anywhere and I have a connection to it, and all the souls I saved were from there, so it will take one or two or hundreds of tries, but it will happen,” Nothanganathor said. “I can try for a while. As long as it takes. I imagine it will take a few hundred years to get something generative going. Less time, if I have help. Once I am empowered, ascended, and godly, it would be easy. I would have Margleknot’s help in this, if he would give it. Such help would ensure a good outcome.”

Yggdrasil said, “I would rather help Erick do the same, and never see you again, Nothanganathor.” With a deep hurt in his heart and eyes, Yggdrasil said, “You betrayed me deeply. You don’t understand how deeply.”

“I do understand, Margleknot,” Nothanganathor said. “I have your Sign of the Fractal. I understand fully how much I betrayed you.”

Margleknot raged.