Chapter 245, 1/2

“We gonna try for Avandrasolaro today?” Solomon asked, over breakfast.

Erick said, “I still haven’t heard from Koyabez about that, but it’s only been three days since I met with him.”

Poi said, “I’m surprised it’s taking him this long to get back to you.”

“I’m rather certain he wants to do something special,” Erick said. “I got the impression that he might send us a Paladin of Peace to join us here in the dungeon for that summoning. Maybe a whole slew of people.”

“That’s more than what I know,” Solomon said, sounding a little down.

Erick almost asked him what was up—

“Eh! It’s just… I don’t like being out of the loop like this.”

A silent moment passed.

Erick got the distinct impression a Big Conversation was coming.

He prepared for it.

And then Solomon said, “It’s painful to not be able to call up Rozeta or any of the others. It’s like I’m a complete non-entity to them. Which is fine. But it’s hard to go from… Well. You, to me. Maybe I need to start up my own international organization.”

Erick was stunned, but not really. Looking back, he had seen all the signs of Solomon’s discontent. The guy was a great uncle to the girls, and he loved that role, but he also missed just being their father. He wanted to be the person who called upon the Black Gate, to open the past to the present. He wanted to be the one to talk to Poi about whatever was happening at House Benevolence while he wasn’t there, to see if there were things that needed doing, that he could do. But how could he act at House Benevolence while also being here at the dungeon? He couldn’t; he might have [Gate], but he didn’t have Ophiel. Which was another thing. He desperately missed having Ophiel, both to enact his will upon the land and also to just have there upon his shoulder, singing tiny songs and talking about this or that when no one else was around. Yggdrasil had shown up a few times to the dungeon, and he always spoke to Erick but never to Solomon.

“Sorry, Solomon,” Erick said, and then he tried to be more positive, adding, “Zolan made me promise to not start a different international organization when I was done with this quest of Yggdrasil’s, but that promise doesn’t tie into your future. Whatever you want, I’ll help you achieve. You want to make some sort of organization? I’ll be there for you, to help with all of that.”

Solomon didn’t smile, or seem relieved at all. The pain he was feeling was too deep for Erick’s simple solutions. His sort of pain would take time and distance from the source of his pain, but this quest of Melemizargo’s was going to take a while longer. Months, at least. They wouldn’t be able to separate at all for that length of time, and Erick knew, in that moment, that his and Solomon’s proximity to each other wasn’t doing Solomon any good at all. But afterward…

Erick said, “Maybe some of the girls would want to go with you, too? To do whatever it is you might feel like doing after this Dark search is over with? I’m pretty sure Beth wants to explore the world, and she seems much more willing to be near you than Jane is willing to be near me. She could be an enforcer for you, or something like that. And Abigail wants to settle down with a man, for sure. She wants children...” Erick wasn’t too sure about his next words, because he wanted to be a grandfather, too, but Solomon needed a certain win, and if Erick wanted to be a grandfather a whole lot, then Solomon certainly did. “And you could be their grandfather? And I could be the granduncle? Maybe we could… I don’t know. Switch who is father to who?”

Now that seemed to cheer Solomon up, if only by the pure weirdness of it all.

Solomon said, “Now I just need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Poi spoke up, “If we’re allowed to do this Black Gate thing past this quest, then this searching of the Dark for people and trinkets is much too valuable to ever give up. So, if you want to have a long term goal, Solomon, it could be an organization built around this dungeon.”

Erick perked up. “… Really? I mean… Yes. That could be an option.”

Solomon’s eyes went a little wide. “… I was thinking that we would… I’m not sure. Close it off? Dismantle it all?”

Erick decided, “There’s no need to close this dungeon, though, if Melemizargo decides to leave it active. You could stay here if you wanted? Provided Melemizargo agrees to it, which is not a sure thing.”

“I can’t control the gate like you can,” Solomon said.

“A skill you can learn,” Erick said, “Or maybe you need to become a Wizard. An ignition event of your own? You’re already Benevolence, but maybe… I don’t know?” Erick was suddenly lost. “Go further that way?”

Solomon chuckled.

“Yes, yes,” Erick said, “I realized it was silly the second I said it, because you can’t really ‘go further’ with Benevolence, and you’re already that way, anyway… But perhaps you can ignite with Benevolence, directly? … I have no idea. Probably safer to go your own way and try to become a Wizard of something else, that you can make fully your own.”

… Even though ‘Solomon’ had invented Benevolence, too.

Hmm.

Solomon winced as he probably had the same thoughts as Erick. “A harsh truth. I did not create Benevolence. Benevolence is not me.”

“Sorry, Solomon.”

“It is how it is.” Solomon looked away, his thoughts drifting. “… I probably do have to pick a different path to ignite…” And then he looked at Erick, and said, “I’ve tried to ‘ignite’. I’ve kept that from you, but I have tried. Elsewhere. In between dungeons with the girls. I’d take a little trip through a [Gate] and step off onto some mountain peaks and trying out some rhymes and songs and just pure [Physical Domain] touching upon the universe. Tried talking to Yggdrasil. Tried poking around at the various Elemental Caves in the Underworld… All of it felt weird. Nothing felt right. Even trying out some no-Script spaces in the dungeon weren’t very inspirational. I don’t think I can ‘ignite’ with Benevolence. Or maybe who we are is so different from who we were when we made Benevolence that that option is closed to me.”

Erick’s eyes widened. He hadn’t known any of that, for he did not keep perfect track of the girls or of Solomon when they went out to delve dungeons for base generation. “I knew you had tried to ignite in the no-Script spaces, but I didn’t know you had gone on a trip? Any trips at all? … I suppose you do have [Gate], though.”

… Which could be a problem, actually, to his attempts to achieve an Element of his own, or even just a future of his own. The Worldly Path was a very deep magic, after all.

Solomon smiled softly as he saw that Erick had picked up what he was putting down, and then he said, “I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. I believe I need to do the Worldly Path again, but I can’t. Having [Gate] pre-installed ruined my chances of going my own way, for I am, right now, at the end of that particular Path, with nowhere else to go.” He lost his smile. “I’m thinking about getting rid of the spell and starting over.”

Ahh. Yeah.

That tracked.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

This was a much bigger conversation than the ones they had been having here and there for the past two months of this Sundering Search. This was definitely a Big Conversation.

In a utilitarian sort of way, Erick was conflicted. Emotionally, he wanted Solomon to become his own person. But it was nice to be able to count on someone else being able to step up in case anything happened. Solomon might not have Ophiel, but he still had every other part of Erick’s capabilities. He still had [Gate], and could get around as much as he wanted. Nothing had happened so far that required another ‘Erick’ to come out of the woodwork, but it was only a matter of time, right?

And yet, they had Ezekiel for that. Unless—

Erick asked Poi, “Does Ezekiel still have [Gate]?”

“Yes,” Poi said, as though he was waiting for Erick to actually say the words. “And I was waiting for you to say the words, so that both you and Solomon are on the same page. Solomon and I have spoken about a lot of this stuff already, but you weren’t involved in this until now.” He looked to Solomon, and said, “You’re going to be your own person eventually. I’m going to eventually become two people, too, when this [Hive Mind] is broken. The girls are going to become different people when this ends. Fate willing that we all survive this, of course.”

Solomon said, “Right. I don’t need to break the [Gate] yet.”

Poi nodded. No need to get Fate involved in this Sundering Search; there was plenty of time for that later.

Erick looked to Poi, “You’re worried about a Worldly Path interfering with the Sundering Search. Maybe you both are.” Solomon winced a little bit, as Poi sighed and frowned. Both of them knew what was coming next. Erick said it anyway, “Maybe a bit of Fate is exactly what we need in the coming months to make this work out how we want. The end goal of that Fate Magic is the opening of new opportunities and the expanding of worlds and people. That power is anti-Sundering in effect, though not in its core. And that’s good. It’s more assurances that we’re doing this right. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am sure this is the right course of action.”

Solomon seemed to turn more solid at that moment.

Poi frowned a little. “I… I reluctantly agree that maybe it could be a good idea for Solomon to walk the Worldly Path as we Search, but… I would err on the side of caution.”

Erick said to Poi, “We’re taking this slow, and it might be a while.” Erick said to Solomon, “I think it is fine if you wish to break your [Gate], though we should prepare before—”

Erick had been about to say some more caveats, to address security concerns and health concerns, but Solomon did as Solomon wanted, because Solomon was Erick.

The soul was a mostly-opaque thing that looked like a cloud, or mist, or a dust storm. It was mostly impossible to suss out one part of it from another. Even Quilatalap didn’t know all the parts of a soul, because souls were largely unknowable. And so, even without knowing exactly what he was seeing, Erick logically recognized what was happening inside Solomon, inside his soul, his core.

He had broken his [Gate].

Something deep shifted in Solomon’s soul, parts of it shredding in a cascading event. He had to have been in monumental amounts of pain, but he smiled at Erick’s decision. He said, “Oh thank the gods. I was hoping that… it would be… Okay?” He paled. He winced. The pain had become too much for stoicism. His soul twisted upon itself inside his core, and inside his body. He breathed out, “Ohh...kaaay. That doesn’t feel—”

His core cracked, a third of it splitting off, spiderwebs of destruction weaving through the rest of it, blood spurting out of his mouth as a shard of his core passed through his left lung, only stopped by his rib cage. Lightning zapped through his chest, from his broken core to the fragment he had lost, cauterizing his internal wounds as it damaged him at the same time.

Erick almost [Return]ed, reversing course.

But Solomon pulled back. He struggled, muscles tensing in his neck and shoulders as he tightened his stomach. His aura flared, lightning flickering all throughout his body, erupting from his arms and shredding his skin as it danced between his skeleton and the table. One jolt went toward Poi, but Erick was already there, defending against that, and Solomon’s lightning struck a shield. Poi hadn’t even managed to flinch before the discharge was already over but now Poi moved as fast as he could to get away, to stand behind Erick. He stared hard at Erick, communicating without words that Erick should have [Return]ed already.

But Solomon’s condition looked a lot worse than it really was.

Erick had gotten into a lot of bad situations over the years, and having a smashed core and a skeletonized body certainly qualified, but he had pulled through stuff like this before and in much worse situations. Solomon wasn’t in any danger that wasn’t self-inflicted.

And Poi was out of the danger zone now, so all actual concerns were handled.

Breakfast was totaled as Solomon’s body crackled with power, Benevolent Lightning shattering his skin and his clothes as it crashed into the egg container and danced across the sausage and pancakes. Half of the food was blackened beyond recovery, but the other half turned into wheat growing from a field and bits of moss crawling across the table. The syrup erupted into some cactus, for it was cactus syrup, so of course that’s how it reacted to Benevolence

Solomon huddled in his chair, head down, blood and muscle falling off, as he regained his core. He had to discharge his lungs and his heart from his body, for they were all in the way of gathering up the pieces of himself, which is what he did next, sparks of white racing out of his core to grab the pieces that had fallen to the ground, latching onto them like positive current meeting a negative sink.

Solomon was half skeleton by the time he regained full control of his power.

In a flashing instant, his broken pieces came together into his body, his core restored to its former self, but a bit less bright, if Erick were guessing.

Erick stood, saying to Poi, “Now I help.”

“Well thank the gods!” Poi said, miffed.

Solomon’s body was technically dead by the time Erick rushed him out of the dungeon, back onto Veird, where Healing Magic worked a lot better. But Solomon was not his body. Solomon was his core, and his core was very much alive.

Erick applied Healing spells; [Greater Treat Wounds], [Regeneration], and [Blood Restoration] were the big ones. Solomon was already doing all that himself, but help was help.

Soon, Solomon was breathing and half-asleep upon a conjured bedroll, spread out upon the grass outside of the dungeon’s crystal-golem-covered grove. The sun was barely up, so the world was skill kinda blue below the treeline, but above, it was all red and gold.

Solomon opened his eyes. He breathed. Erick had fixed up his clothes and the rest of him, but Solomon took a moment to check himself out again, his aura flickering across his body, his clothes ruffling in his investigations.

And then he lay there, as the full weight of what had just happened really hit him.

Erick looked down at Solomon, saying, “[Gate] appears to be one of those spells that is too big to simply erase, and especially outside of Script assistance.”

“… Appears that way,” Solomon said.

“You know… You claim not to be me, but only I would do something that irresponsible. Reminds me of the time I tried to make [True Anti-magic] and my blood turned to water and they warned me against ever trying to control the Script like that again.”

Poi held himself back from spitting, as he said, “I thought we were past you doing stupid things outside of proper protections and preparations. I thought we talked about you waiting to see if Erick said okay.”

Erick had said ‘okay’, but he wasn’t going to bring up that point right now.

Bleary eyed, Solomon looked to Poi. “… Shouldn’t you be inside the dungeon?”

“I am panicking right now, yes,” Poi said, “Don’t deflect. You always deflect.”

Solomon blinked a bit, then smiled a little, saying, “Thank you for caring.”

Ah.

Solomon was having a really bad time of it, wasn’t he, if he was saying stuff like that.

Erick softly said, “Of course we care. We care a lot, Solomon. I care.”

Solomon breathed deep, then sat up. “I know you do. But… It’s not ‘caring’ how I’m used to. I don’t like being on the receiving end. I’m used to being the center. Of caring for others… Not… This.”

He went silent.

Erick conjured another bed roll and sat down—

Poi said, “I want to be here for this, but I cannot. I am panicking right now. I have to go into the dungeon.” He said to Solomon, “We will talk later.” He walked back to the dungeon, and—

Erick gave voice to the thought in his head, “Want the other you to be here for this?”

“Yes!” Poi said, and then he rushed back into the crystal copse, into the dungeon.

Erick opened a [Gate] to Poi, sitting at home, in his office.

Poi walked right on through and sat down on another bed roll that Erick had conjured.

Solomon smiled softly the whole time. When Erick closed the [Gate], Solomon looked at both of them, and said, “I have the Worldly Path Quest box again.” He waved a hand.

A blue box appeared.

Special Quest!

The Worldly Path 0/1

OR

10 Points

Reward: The ability to cast Gate

Erick could already imagine Rozeta, sitting in the Core, cursing up a storm.

Poi said, “People care about you, Solomon. Don’t pull shit like this. It is self-destructive and dangerous.”

Solomon sighed. “I had it under control.”

“And now you’re deflecting again,” Poi said.

Erick asked, “How can I help?”

Solomon’s breath hitched again.

Poi said nothing as he sat there, watching Solomon. He waited. Erick waited, too.

Solomon said, “I want to use the Black Gate in the dungeon to find out more about Wizards, and how they happen.” He looked to Erick. “And how they actually ascend to True Wizardry.”

Erick nodded, “Then that need has shot to the top of the list of things to find.”

Solomon added, “And when I ascend to True Wizardry, and completely discard my dungeon master slime origins, I will be treated as an equal. And not this subservient thing we have going right now.”

Erick was a little hurt by that. “I didn’t think I was… doing that.”

“You weren’t. But it was happening, by the very nature of what we’re doing. You are in charge, and I am not in charge. You have no idea how difficult it has been for me to… to be calm about all this, Erick. To accept that this is happening, as it is happening. I have discovered for the several-th time that I don’t like being less than who I was. It’s Storm’s Edge and keeping quiet while Vanya did all that stuff all over again.” Solomon said, “But a lot larger. I have to pretend that I am not here to the entire world.” Without sparing a single moment to let that thought hang out, Solomon got to his feet, saying, “And I’ll pretend for a while longer. So let’s get back to it.”

Erick almost didn’t let Solomon get away with yet another deflection. But then he realized that Solomon simply wasn’t willing to talk about all this right now, because Solomon was without agency, and there was no way to fix that. As soon as Erick had that thought, he thought about his own history, which was also Solomon’s. Was this how Poi felt, when Erick always deflected, when he was having emotional problems with his Wizardly nature and his kingly fate, all those years ago? Probably.

Erick could do one thing to give Solomon some agency, though.

“What item do you want to go after?” Erick asked, as he stood. “Or person? I don’t think we’re quite ready to rescue Avandrasolaro... Actually. Let’s find out.” Erick looked to the sky, and asked, “Koyabez? How is that Avandrasolaro question going?”

Solomon’s face dropped in pure embarrassment and a mix of other emotions. Erick guessed that he was fearful of his situation being called out in such a way, and directly involving the person whom Erick —and therefore he— considered a friend. But Koyabez wasn’t a friend to Solomon, was he? None of the gods were too friendly with repros, and Solomon’s situation had been no different. This direct confrontation was a bridge that Solomon hadn’t managed to make on his own, and for more than normal repro-reasons. He probably just never wanted to actually pray to any of the gods, because that would be fucking weird, because Erick had very much outgrown that, and now, here was Erick, pulling Solomon along in something that Solomon had missed being able to do himself.

But it was too late for Solomon to say anything one way or the other.

The air flickered and a demi man descended. Koyabez wore his normal form of a lithe violet-skinned man with tiny horns and a simple loincloth. He smiled a little, as he said, “Hello, Erick. Avandrasolaro is still being vetted by my mortals, for they would wish to be heavily involved with his potential resurrection. There’s an argument right now about who is actually going to come here to receive that ancient Angel.”

Erick nodded, then said, “Solomon wishes to be involved in this more than he is. Can your people talk with him?”

Solomon was stoic in the face of his own embarrassment.

Koyabez almost said, ‘No’.

That was surprising to Erick. Sure, the gods treated repros as new people, but… Really?

The reaction had been instant, too. But then Koyabez stopped himself. He paused. He looked at Solomon for the first time since his descent, and he still didn’t look at Poi. That’s how it was when gods descended sometimes; they didn’t look upon those who were not directly involved in whatever situation caused them to descend. It wasn’t a hard and fast rule, though Erick had seen it happen like that more often than not. Once, he had believed that that disregard was almost a shunning, but it was more a preservation of the self, and of boundaries. If people wanted to talk to gods, they could talk to them directly; the gods certainly didn’t proselytize themselves, though. They had people do that for them, and then if converts wished to speak with their new gods, then they spoke—

Koyabez looked to Solomon, and in that moment, Erick saw the god of Peace as a God. The effect was likely larger for Solomon. With muted power, Koyabez asked, “You wish to rescue ancient angels from the Dark, and bring about an end to the Quiet War? And the Forever War?”

“I do.”

Solomon’s answer had been quick.

Koyabez demanded more, “Why?”

“Because I stayed out of it for a long time, and now that I’m— Now that I’m not Erick, I can do certain things that I was never able to do, like actually get involved in all of that Forever War business, to try and end it for all time before it spreads out to other worlds. Erick will be busy. I will not be busy.” Solomon said, “And I want a purpose besides regaining my Wizardry. Peace seems like a good one.”

Koyabez stared hard, his silver eyes glittering like his moon, the Silver Star up above, forever separating Hell from Celes. He flicked his gaze to Erick. “Do you trust him with the world?”

“Yes,” Erick said, “As much as I trust anyone, and even more than that.”

Solomon’s heart beat hard. His face showed hope at recapturing some of his old life.

And then Koyabez said, “I will be honest with you, and with all who listen, because it is you asking this of me, Erick.”

Solomon’s face fell a fraction, and no more. He was a rock, and he would endure.

Erick was mad on Solomon’s behalf; he knew a rejection when he heard one.

Koyabez said, “Until Solomon is fully extricated from Melemizargo’s power, then I will not interact with him as I would a normal person. None of the gods will. The same goes for Ezekiel, but he is not center stage right now, asking to be a larger part of the Sundering Search. Ezekiel is not attempting to become a Wizard, either. Solomon is both those things.” He looked to Solomon and said, “I will always hold you at a distance until you are fully cleansed of Melemizargo’s influence, but since you have a goal of becoming a Wizard, two things will happen. Either you will ascend to Wizardry and separate from him fully, becoming your own person. Or you will become a Wizard under his power, which will demand our concerted efforts to destroy you. We still do not trust Melemizargo enough to let him have a Wizard at all.”

The shadows gathered under the morning sun, and Melemizargo’s voice carried in the clearing, “That’s a bit harsh isn’t it, Koyabez?”

“My old friend, you are still not yourself, and it will take many centuries until we believe otherwise. Do not take my unwillingness to fully embrace you as any sort of condemnation, for we are on a good Path right now.”

“Hmm!” Melemizargo’s shadow swirled. “I’m not weak-willed enough to think that. I do find it strange that you wouldn’t allow me a Wizard now and then. They allused to be mine and they comefrom me, anyway, and you have Erick.”

Koyabez said to Solomon, “This is why no one answers your queries; it was nothing personal.”

“Just personal toward me.” Melemizargo huffed, “Pah! Solomon isn’t anywhere near achieving Wizardry.”

“Which is why I’m stepping halfway toward him,” Koyabez said to Solomon, “I accept your pledge of peace, but I will not ordain you in any way prior to your full escape from Melemizargo’s influence. I have no doubt that this trust I place in you will bear prosperous fruit, and I trust Melemizargo to not endanger his own goals moving forward, but you are a new person, no matter what memories and powers you might have. Trust of the sort you enjoyed as Erick will have to be built again.”

Solomon said, “I accept.”

Erick just watched; this was not his show right now. He was very glad that Solomon accepted, though. If it were him being offered these sets of choices, he would have accepted, too. He had already done so once before, with Rozeta, in order to remain his own person, and that turned out well.

For a brief moment, Erick recalled when Clarice, in the Glittering Depths, had said that they were just playing parts that had already been played before, and for a moment, Erick felt that this was true. But choices were still made, and Paths still forged anew, and different, and bearing superficial resemblances to the old.

Koyabez softened slightly, seeming more like the Koyabez that Erick knew. “You’ll either need a [Reincarnation] of your own to rid yourself of Melemizargo’s influence, or ascension to True Wizard. Both would be fine. Good luck on whatever Worldly Path you choose, Solomon. My priests will be here within a day to meet with you, and to discuss what they have decided with Avandrasolaro.”

Solomon spoke up, “Did you know him? Personally?”

Koyabez smiled softly as he looked into the distance. “I did. Once upon a time.” He looked to Solomon. “Whichever version of him comes back he’ll probably call me a ghost, too. We’re all so changed from who we used to be.”

And then Koyabez faded, gold and silver turning to nothing. Koyabez had always had a bit of a silver tint to his divinity, which was by choice; gold was the color of power and everyone cleaved to that thinking, but silver was the color of Peace, and that was all Koyabez, and his Silver Star.

The shadows in the clearing did not fade at all.

Melemizargo muttered, “They have the nerve to talk to me about putting levers into people, but they do the exact same thing. That’s what gods do. How elseare we supposed to communicate with you mortals?”

“Talking, usually,” Erick said.

“Bah! Talk is such a weak form of communication. Look at your man Poi. He knew he needed to get back to the dungeon without any words exchanged at all. That’s the only ‘lever’ I have on dungeon master slimes, I’ll have you know. ‘Guard the dungeon you are tied to’. Simple.” Moving right along, the shadows spoke to Solomon, “Don’t let the angels put anything in you; they’re pretty gross about their implants.”

“Heard and understood,” Solomon said, seeming happier than normal.

Melemizargo’s shadow curled around the glade once more, making sure he was truly heard and understood, and then he vanished.

Erick asked Solomon, “Is that the first time he talked to you?”

“First time for both of them,” Solomon said.

Poi let out a sigh he had been holding, as he said, “[Gate] back home, please. And Solomon; good luck with your new Path. Hopefully it won’t be as world-changing as your original.”

Erick opened a [Gate] back to Poi’s office, as he smiled, saying, “You remember that time when we made the Sighting Mirrors, and you teased about ‘how bad could it be’?”

Poi seemed to puff up a bit as he took the serious-route in his clapback, “I remember that quite clearly, and trying to equate a Mirror in the Dark to a potential Wizard walking a Worldly Path is completelyunequivocal.”

Erick couldn't help it; he laughed. Solomon smiled.

And Poi said, “But seriously, though. Let’s not get more Paradox Wizards, changing the worlds at their whim, if possible. I still field complaints about Destiny going this way or that, righting this wrong or that wrong. Yesterday she turned a magistrate into a toad.”

Erick winced.

Solomon said, “But she turned them back, though,” his voice filled with unsure conviction.

“The magistrate was starting to use curses to punish people for their trespasses, and one of those curses was a Curse of Flies.” Poi said, “She had the magistrate-toad eat all the flies around one of his convicts before she turned him back.”

“… Okay that’s kinda funny,” Erick said.

Solomon nodded. “I’d laugh if I were there.”

Poi eyed both of them very seriously, and then he walked away, through the portal. “Don’t make more problems for us, please.”

Solomon smiled, saying, “Only solutions!”

Poi nodded once more, but it was less sure.

Erick was grinning as he shut the [Gate]. And then he turned to Solomon. “So you’re actually gonna step into the Forever War mess?”

“I think it’s time to take that bull by the horns, yes.”

“I love it.” Erick said, “You let me know when you need help.”

“Of course, ‘brother’.”

Erick had a sudden urge to hug the guy, and so he did.

Solomon hugged back, then patted Erick on the back and pulled away. “Okay. That was nice, and yes, I wanted a hug, but that was weird.”

Erick laughed. “Yeah. Kinda.”

“But before we get to the angel!” Solomon said, enthusiastically, “I gotta learn Wizardry at the end of this Sundering Search just like you, and we’ve both been slacking on that. So how about we go looking for some helpful Wizard artifacts, like that Enchanter’s Guile? That thing is supposed to help with all sorts of big Quests, right?”

“That’s what I’ve heard, too.” Erick said, “Haven’t vetted it too much, though.”

Solomon waved. “I’m sure it’s fine. Atunir said to get it, and all the other gods looked excited for it. I’ll go tell the girls.” Solomon waved his hand to the left, to open a [Gate]… Nothing happened, because of course it didn’t. Solomon was weirded out for half a moment, but then he surprised Erick. Instead of looking sad, or mad, or any other negative emotion, Solomon grinned, and chuckled. “Ah. Right!” He smiled. “I always loved flying, anyway.”

And then he took off into the air.

Erick watched him go for a moment, and he, too, felt something like joy unfurl inside him. Flying was pretty awesome, and he so rarely got a chance to fly these days. [Gate]s were just faster.

- - - -

The girls, Erick, Solomon, and Poi, all stood on the white stone of the slime dungeon, near the Black Gate. The world beyond the ephemeral wall of the dungeon was vaguely black, but also filled with distant dreams in all sorts of dark, iridescent colors. The Black Gate itself was mostly platinum, but white light hid within each of the runic markings upon its surface.

Jane rhetorically asked, “So we’re really starting up the search again. Even though we haven’t vetted 90% of the requests.”

The girls had voiced some small objections before Solomon had gathered them all to this point, and now Jane was voicing even more. This was probably because she hadn’t gotten a chance to voice those concerns directly to Erick quite as strongly as she wished to voice those objections.

Erick said, “While it is true that House Benevolence is still working on vetting the requests, we’re not starting there. We’re going after the Enchanter’s Guile. It’s one of the few things we don’t have to search or vet more than we already have.” Erick gestured to the Black Mirror, stationed a good forty meters west of the Black Gate. He had used that while Solomon was gathering the girls, to check on the Enchanter’s Guile, and the imagery of that search was still there upon that black surface. The Guile was a bracer that went over the right arm, and it had been upon the arms of many, many different people over the centuries. The Mirror had shown the Guile, for sure, but watching the Guile in the Dark was like watching a stationary object while the world changed all around it, as thousands of different people wielded it toward sometimes good, and sometimes evil ends. “We might have to try a few times because the Guile was used by everyone, and we don’t want to bring back some problematic person. But the Guile itself is known to the gods, and they approve of its return.”

The only one convinced was Solomon.

Poi tried a compromise, “How about we look for it between users? Therefore no one comes with it?”

Debby said, “Maybe we should look at why it changed users so often.”

“It’s because people fought over it,” Solomon said. “Everyone wanted it. That thing passed around so many hands, for it was the inciting incident in enough stories in the Old Cosmology to fill a library.”

“It’s also the start of many other artifacts that we might be searching for.” Erick said, “The Prismatic Key that could take a person anywhere they wanted in the entire Old Cosmology was made by the Enchanter’s Guile.”

Solomon said, “And when it was done being used to solve problems, the user often tried to hide it, like a pirate burying treasure, but it always wanted to be found. It always wanted to make something new.”

“And that’s why it’ll probably come through the gate just fine,” Erick said. “It will want to be returned to life.”

The girls frowned at that; ‘to life’.

“It’s sentient, then,” Jane flatly guessed.

“Almost 100%, yes,” Erick said, as Solomon said, “Probably.”

The girls had more words to say—

But Erick told Solomon, “Line her up!”

Solomon smiled as he looked toward the gate, and the swirling lands beyond. “Show me the Enchanter’s Guile where it had been looking for a new purpose for a while.”

Darkness shifted. A timer appeared, 0s flickering past other numbers and symbols, to land on all 9s, filling up the black box. Shadows lifted beyond the Black Gate.

And then there was a scene. Seemed like a good one, too.

A shaft of sunlight fell upon a rusted anvil in the middle of a forgotten forge that had once been fit for a swordsmith, but which was now empty of all life. There were no embers in any of the hearths. Billows lay on the ground, some burned and broken, others with cables snapped, to fall to become piles of rust. A few small hammers held on the walls here and there, while a single lonely black ingot held in the back of an empty stockpile, as though it had been forgotten or ignored in the move. Trash was everywhere. Mounds of piles lay here and there, looking like someone had tried to clean up and stopped before they actually took the trash outside, opting to leave it for rats to nest within, but there were no rats.

It looked like a nice place to work, but only for simple things.

Which was why the glittering gold and gem-encrusted bracer sitting in the sunlight, atop the anvil in the center of the walkway, stood out so much. It was a pearl in a mud pit. A laptop in an ancient library.

A trap, perhaps.

But it was also what they had come for.

Maybe.

The stories about the Enchanter’s Guile were all relatively the same, according to Erick’s interactions with Atunir and Rozeta, and even Lapis. When Erick asked the Shade of Enchantment about what appeared to be one of the old histories of the Old Cosmology, Lapis had been excited to talk about it, but also to warn that it was dangerous to people it did not like. So it was alive, for sure.

Which is why Erick did what he did next.

Erick reached through the Black Gate with his aura and hit the absolute wall that existed between him and the other side; the Dark tearing at his aura like an Absolute Void. That was just to make sure that his plan was working. With his aura on that boundary, Erick said, “Hello, Enchanter’s Guile. You are currently inside the Dark. Would you like to come out, back into the real world?”

The barrier between Here and There deepened, becoming something less absolute.

The golden bracelet slipped a little to the left, glittering even brighter in the sunlight.

Good.

He had connected with the other side.

Erick pressed his aura against the barrier inside the Black Gate, and the barrier was weaker, now. His power showed through to the other side, but barely. Lightning flickered in the air, as Erick wrote out ‘Greetings’ in every language he knew, and a lot he did not, filling the wide portal with tens of lines of welcoming.

The portal deepened as Erick added more and more wording, his power soaking through to the other side. His words of welcoming were written in what could only be considered an act of Wizardry. Words written in Inferni, the language of the Demons and dead incani, seemed to crack the barrier between Here and There in a deep sort of way, and then Karstar, the language of the Angels, opened it wider and wider. Those were the two most ancient languages on Veird, aside from Ancient Script, which did nothing, for Ancient Script was the language of the manaminer of Veird. Ancient Script had its roots in Dwarvish, another ancient language, but it was so far removed from that ancient start, and made so unique on Veird, that when Erick posted ‘Greetings’ in Ancient Script on the Black Gate, it did nothing at all. Even Gargantual, the language of the orcols, did more than Ancient Script—

And then Erick said ‘Greetings’ in Dwarvish, or at least what passed for ‘Greetings’ based upon the scant writings of those dead people that Erick had in his various collections.

Cracks formed in reality, and the portal flowed.

The stale air of a forge long gone to pot crept into the slime dungeon, while the air of the slime dungeon, clean as could be and filled with moisture and the sounds of water, flowed into the forge.

Erick switched his aura to [Physical Domain] and spoke through to the other side, “Enchanter’s Guile, I know you’re there. You’re in the Dark, please beware. Embrace reality’s beckoning call, and let’s make miracles for all.”

The edges of reality on the other side began to turn Dark, and filled with nothing. Forges that once lit with fire and light, now overflowed with gloom and black. The Dark Dream was breaking, becoming more real. Dark waters curled down the edges of the forge hall, like seeking tendrils, pushing away dust and disturbing old piles of trash—

There were skeletons in that trash. Bones, carefully hidden until that moment, until dark waters buoyed those bones briefly into the air, and then dragged them down into the Dark.

The light above the anvil flickered and panicked, drawing downward, like a tendril retracting into the anvil, as the entire anvil swallowed the golden bracelet atop its surface, like a tongue pulling inward, slipping between massive teeth. The anvil, once a rusted thing, flashed into an ornate golden fox of ten tails but only a meter in height. The light which had shown down on it now enveloped it, like a protective aura.

Shadows intruded upon the creature, but its brilliant aura flaked away instead of the fox. The fox did not seem to mind this. It had been startled, and now it was not. The fox looked around, almost casually, then it looked to Erick and his family on the other side of the Black Gate.

It spoke, “I appear to be in the Dark.”

“You are,” Erick asked, “And you’re not panicking? … You also appear to not mind it much, except for the first panic when you stopped pretending to be that anvil.”

Something was off. Erick wasn’t sure what it was. But something was off—

“I was asleep,” said the fox. And then he started walking around the floor of his hiding hole, the Dark retreating from him as he walked. Dark destroyed brick and stone reformed under his paws. With his tails, he kept his shield strong. “You try waking up under attack some time.”

“I have done that many times, so I can see where your reaction is warranted.” Erick said, “Pardon me, but it appears that you are a lot more stable than other people we have rescued from the Dark… But we have only done this once before. One successful time, anyway. Would you like to talk more, or come over here, first?”

“I am not sure I can come over there,” said the Guile, for this thing was obviously the Enchanter’s Guile. “I am a shadeling… or something like that. This is most peculiar, actually. I have rescued people from the Dark before, but I have never been rescued myself. I am not sure you have the capability of actually bringing me over there, or else I would jump at the chance.” He said, “Most people lie to me —a lot— in order to get my help.”

As they spoke, the Guile’s Forge was already collapsing, but the collapse seemed way too slow around the Guile itself… ‘Himself’? Herself? Erick would know later.

Erick said, “I try not to lie. Lies break and harm, while Truths affirm and support.” Erick added, “And I already know resurrection and reincarnation magic. So we would be using one or both of those to bring you back. Though… We thought you were an item. Sentient, yes, but not quite… A full person sentient.”

“You’re a Wizard, then?”

“I am.”

“I won’t work with you; you’re too set in your ways.” The fox looked to the others. “Maybe one of the others, I will.”

Erick instantly said, “Solomon here is on his Worldly Path to become a Wizard himself. How about him?”

Solomon stepped forward a little.

The fox narrowed his eyes at Solomon. And then he sat on his haunches, his tails waving back and forth, light spilling out, yet fraying as it touched the Dark and kept the Dark at bay. Almost the entire forge had fallen to black. The Enchanter’s Guile and a thin path of stone between him and the gate was all that remained, and only because Erick was purposefully keeping that pathway open. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep that path open because his power was physical, and the mana was not physical at all.

“You have weird powers over there,” Guile said.

“We do,” Solomon answered. “The Old Cosmology is dead. The New Cosmology is all that remains. We’re 1451 years out from the Sundering, and it was only now, through Erick here, that Wizards are finally accepted once again, and only minimally.”

Guile’s foxy eyes went wider, briefly. He hummed. He said, “You and I will enter into a Contract, then.”

“Contract Magic doesn’t exist over here,” Solomon said, “We won’t let it come back, either.”

“Pah! … I suppose…” Guile said, “Tell me your goals, Solomon. I will help you achieve one of them, and depending on what comes after, I will either move on from you, or stay with you. My goals are to build worlds filled with plentiful things to eat. And you will give me tasty meats every single day. One human, or one equivalent-sized magic beast. If you fail to provide food per day, then I will eat whichever of your arms I reside upon and leave you forever.”

The human-eating thing tracked with the skeletons.

Which was concerning.

But the rest of it… Was fine?

Solomon countered, “I wish to build worlds and make this one better. To end the Forever War, to bring peace and prosperity to all. We are already planning on doing everything you wish to have done, but it will take a long time, and this Cosmology is not one you are used to, so don’t get strange ideas about time lines or stuff like that. And I’m fine with giving you good food. We eat great and magical food every day. If you end up eating my arm through inattention, that’s fine, but it won’t be a permanent sort of eating; I expect to be able to regrow it with minimal effort.”

Guile flicked its many golden tails. Its golden eyes went fractionally wider.

Solomon waited.

Guile said, “If you will allow me to eat your arm every day I might stick with you forever.”

Solomon chuckled. “We’ll try the normal contract you’ve proposed, for now.”

“Agreed. Now what’s going on with this power all around me?” the Guile asked. “It’s invisible to me… Hmm. Something weird is happening here.”

“Probably a lot of things. We’re on a manaminer right now, too,” Solomon said. “It was the only way this part of the Old Cosmology survived at all.”

“… That might be it. I’m coming over now. Be ready.” Guile stood up and walked forward, carefully stepping on the bits of stone that were floating in the Dark— And then his foot touched Black and he began to unravel. “Oh slag and shards—”

Solomon ripped forward with Benevolence, grabbing Guile with a lightning grip. He pulled the golden fox out from Beyond—

Something happened when the Enchanter’s Guile crossed the threshold of the Black Gate. Or maybe it was something Solomon did. The golden fox crushed down into a bracelet once again, his bright soul transforming to fit his container.

He did not die. He did not pass on.

… He was fine?

“I guess my Wizardry earlier was enough?” Erick asked, a little concerned.

Solomon held the bracelet in his light, in front of him. “… Are you okay in there, Guile?”

A tinny, metallic voice spoke from the bracelet, “I see this realm has an Elemental Fae lock in effect.”

Well that was bothersome for many different reasons.

“It is not that much of a bother,” Guile said, “But it is annoying. I will amend my meat requirements, for now, and bump up my desire for new worlds even more than it already was. I require full knowledge of my current state, Servant Solomon. The Element you are using to hold me is unknown to me, and I seem to be composed of some sort of material that is quite a lot weaker than I am used to… And unintelligible. This is all very strange. And your reactions to me speaking of Elemental Fae do not bode well for the general state of this reality.”

“… This is gonna take a while, so let’s get started,” Solomon asked, “Where would you like to start?”

“Put me on your wrist.”

Solomon put Guile onto the wrist not already occupied by Wheatly, trusting Erick, or Poi, or even the Janes, to react if something bad happened. But nothing bad happened, at least not overtly. Maybe not even covertly. Erick watched as Guile flickered some sort of sensing magic into Solomon. Solomon noticed the flow of golden light, too, and did nothing to stop it.

Guile hummed, almost in thought. Then the golden bracer fit more cleanly onto Solomon’s wrist, adjusting itself as it added some soft padding, and some decorative scales, like dragon scales. He asked, “Does the Darkness know you look like a Dark Dragon in your true form?” and then he added, “I suppose the Dark must, since we appear to be in the Dark Itself, at the Dark’s behest. What year is it?”

Solomon said, “I have no idea, but we can find out. Poi?”

Poi said, “Conflicting reports. From the main fairy on Veird, she was about a million years old when the Old Cosmology was destroyed, so that might give you a general idea of the current age, but her age might have been an exaggerated telling one way or the other.”

“… OKAY!” Guile said, kinda strained and kinda loud. “If that is what you think is anywhere near relevant then we’re gonna need to start at the very beginning. I would like a full history lesson of wherever the hell we are now.”

Erick said, “I was not expecting to get practice for bringing Avandrasolaro up to speed quite yet, but this works.”

“Him!” Guile said, latching onto that name. “I know of Avandrasolaro! He died ages ago. Maybe 80,000 years. I have been off and on working to heal the Bisection ever since his passing. It is not going well— it was not going well.”

Solomon said, “You might be from 100,000 years prior to the Sundering and the death of your entire Old Cosmology.”

“… Okay.” Guile said, “Back to a full history lesson, and then you can tell me what’s going on with all the weird magical items everyone here is wearing. You have a bracelet filled with godly might —Atunir, I believe— and that Wizard over there has stranger artifacts, and those women have exact copies of the same rings… exact copies. Also! If you can get me a meeting with whoever is running the manaminer of this world then that would be helpful for understanding a lot of this… place. But I understand that those things take time. Manaminer minders are always busy with whatnot and hows-it-ever.”

Solomon started with, “It might not take that much time to get an audience with the Goddess of this particular manaminer because...”

Solomon spoke of various things. Guile showed continual surprise, even though it seemed to gall him every time he showed his own surprise.

And Erick went to the girls, saying, “I guess that’s it for the day. Easy day. Relatively speaking. Guile being fae is obviously concerning, but none of them had been that bad since Rozeta relaxed the bands.”

Jane looked from Erick to Solomon, and then to the bracelet on his wrist, as Guile erupted in surprise at Erick knowing all the gods of this world. ‘He’s not even a True Wizard! … Is he?’ the bracelet exclaimed. Solomon continued his explanations, with the bracer asking deep questions, and Jane frowned at all of that. All the girls did.

Emily asked, “Is this worse, or better, than how it was with the people from the Censer?”

Emily had been the one to ask the question, but most of the girls shared that same concern. How much of a security risk was the Enchanter’s Guile, exactly? No one knew.

Erick said, “Those people were mortals. The Enchanter’s Guile seems… Accomplished, to say the least. None of us expected this level of sapience, but we kinda did, and we’re here now, and it’s good preparation for Avandrasolaro anyway.” Erick looked over to Solomon and Guile talking, and said, “I just hope we haven’t harmed him with all this information so fast. I had to stop answering questions like this with those guys from the Censer because it was harming them.”

Guile spoke up, “I can hear you!”

“I meant for you to overhear me.” Erick asked, “Are you mentally well enough to take all these answers right now?”

“… I am handling it,” Guile said. And then he turned his attentions back to Solomon. “You were saying about the Shades.”

Solomon said, “I was talking about various forces in the world, actually. But if you want to go right to the whole story of the Shades, we can, though that story has affected Veird the most, so perhaps we can leave that for the moment.”

Guile softly demanded, “Tell me of the Shades, Solomon.”

Solomon began, “The Shades were the most malevolent force on Veird for a long time, but never outright killing everyone, like we all knew they could. Instead, they sought to control, because for the longest time, Melemizargo, the current God of Magic, had been insane…”

Jane grabbed Erick’s attention away from Solomon’s history lesson as she said, “I guess we are done.”

Erick gave each of the girls a farewell-for-now hug and sent them on their way, saying he was glad that they didn’t have to risk themselves today. They were kinda looking forward to risking themselves, though, so today had just been boring for them. And concerning. Debby watched Solomon talk to Guile, and was concerned, but she moved on. Jane and the girls went back to searching the Dark through the Well, and the Black Mirrors, and to talking to people they knew, in order to vet the various items that were on the searching docket.

Avandrasolaro would be tomorrow, and they would likely need to be there for that. Finding Guile today, on his own, had been lucky. A powerful angel like Avandrasolaro never went anywhere by himself.

Erick went back to the house with Solomon at his side, to help with answers about the New Cosmology and otherwise, with Poi providing exterior sources of answers when Erick or Solomon didn’t have them.

And then Guile —which was his preferred name; Erick asked— said something about fairies again.

Fairy Moon stepped into the room.