Chapter 47

Jane said, “Insight, Creation, More Mana, More Mana Regeneration, and either Healing or More Particle AoE, though I don’t think you really need either. Sculpt Spell is also a winner; it reads like you could choose to avoid raining on the town; you wouldn’t have to move the temple. It would also help with your Handy Aura, Dad.”

Erick was stunned. This was his power gamer daughter? She didn’t want Killer, or Poison? Even he could see how those would be useful against Shades. Wouldn’t they? Sapping spell didn’t even have a listed cap—

Erick asked, “If I have a [Familiar] and Sapping, would the [Familiar] grant me False HP way beyond the cap listed under Particle Shell?”

Jane glanced at Erick like she had seen an unexpected oddity. Like a rhino appearing from the sky, or the walls turning different colors.

Erick said, "I'm learning, Jane. It's just taking a while."

Jane's eyebrows rose, but she said nothing.

Meanwhile, Irogh moved the floating blue box of Class Abilities to the side, to hang up against the wall. He read the air for a moment. “Not directly.” He hummed. “I see how you would think that. It doesn’t specify Particle Spells Only in the description but it… it should. Sorry. This is a very new Class. We’re still working out the bugs—”

The blue box for Sapping Spell changed.

Sapping Particle Spell, gain False HP from hurting your enemies with Particle Spells, lasts 1 hour, is renewed with more damage done to enemies.

Irogh said, “You’d need a [Particle Familiar] to make that work, and it wouldn't grant you False HP, but it would grant the [Particle Familiar] False HP. But, yes, Sapping has no cap, as you can see. But in order to create such a [Particle Familiar] you would likely need to take Particulate Force.”

Jane breathed calmly, but she turned to Erick with eyes full of pain. “Do not take Particulate Force, Dad. Please. Just… Don’t. Don’t try to combine Particle and Force magic ever again. That’s why I didn’t suggest Sapping.” She calmed, saying, “You almost killed yourself with this latest magic. Either you tried to do too much or you didn’t have a clear understanding of what you were asking for or— I don’t know what happened there, exactly.” She spoke, and her words were steel, “I cannot watch you kill yourself. Do you understand that? I want you to understand this: I’m never talking to you again if you take Particulate Force.”

She was serious. Erick had rarely seen his daughter like this. Jane had drawn a line in the sand, and Erick was at that line. He took a step back.

Erick said, “I won’t take Particulate Force. I’ll always use Insight before trying to make a spell, too.”

Jane stilled. She smiled, but a tear rolled down her face. She brushed it away, quickly, then sniffled, and said, “Thank you.” She breathed.

She relaxed.

Erick tried to relax, too, but he was still startled by Jane’s ferocity.

“Just so we’re clear:” Jane turned to Irogh, “If he doesn’t take Particulate Force, does that mean he is locked out of that kind of magic? There’s no chance to create a [Particle Force Familiar], even with a song?”

“If he has Particulate Force, he will be allowed to complete his song to the end, and he will accept all the Errors it will cause. If he does not have Particulate Force, then he will be automatically struck with a moderate Error at the end, but there will never be any spell created, because now the Script has a…” Irogh scrunched his face, “A ‘buffer’? Am I using that term correctly? We have a buffer now for any sort of spell creation.” He spoke with confidence, “A buffer for all spell creation. Errors have been mostly normalized. Unless you take Particulate Force, in which case you might be hit with non-standard Errors.”

Erick didn’t know what to make of that.

But Jane’s face had gone pale. She said, “He won’t be taking Particulate Force, so that shouldn’t be an issue.” She turned to Erick. “Right, Dad?”

Erick said, “Yeah. I won’t take it. Not that one. Seems like a trap?”

Jane nodded. “It’s a double edged sword and you might kill yourself with it.

And then Jane started in on him, “We also have to talk about your Favored Spells. Didn’t you Favor your [Call Lightning]? See about getting that undone and Favoring [Ward] instead. I’ve got 40 Willpower right now, which, with all my boosts, gives me 2400 mana. With Clarity for half cost and then Favored Spell for another 25% off, drops all [Ward]s to 25% of the original cost, which gives me a [Personal Ward] of 4700 points. That darn thing has saved my life so many times...” She frowned. She said, “[Ward] has been really good. Everyone says that Favoring [Ward] is boring, but boring works. Gambesons work better than plate in almost all scenarios. A shot to the head is better than trying to hamstring a giant. Fiscal responsibility means no clubbing and normal clothes, but it also means you have enough left in the tank for emergencies, and on Veird, for an adventurer, there are only ever emergencies.

She kept going, “If it were me taking this Class, I would go for Killer, More Mana, Sapping, All Spell Cost Reduction, and maybe Sculpt Spell, just so I could use some theoretical Particle Aura in the middle of my team or to concentrate damage in one area.

She continued, “All Spell Cost Reduction is massive, Dad.” She got a far off look in her eyes, thinking, saying, “With [Ward] Favored, and another 10% off, you’re spending 15% of the mana needed to make a [Ward]. With those prerequisites and 1000 mana, a [Personal Ward]… 15 goes into 100 6-point-6 times, but divided by 2 because [Personal Ward] is twice the cost… 1000 mana will give you a 3300 point shield. Or 3100 because you don’t want to be at 0 mana, but whatever. At my 2400 mana, that would give me a… 7800 point [Personal Ward]. If I got More Mana and all of this? … Uh… that’s a 15000 [Personal Ward]. 30,000 if I put it on the ground instead of on myself. If you put 1000 mana into a [Ward] on the ground, it would be worth 6600 effective HP.” She came back to herself, to say, “[Ward Strike] from a competent assassin would probably get through most of that, but not all.

“I’ve researched assassinations in my spare time and while there’s always overwhelming force in some scenarios, mostly, you’re looking at 5000 to 7000 damage for a top-end single attack. A ranged hit for 5000 is a lucky crit from a good spell, like [Force Beam Bolt], which is a [Force Beam] shot all at once. A melee [Strike] can be for more, but that’s only in melee.

She looked to Erick. “I used to think that HP didn’t matter because everyone around town says it doesn’t matter, and to some extent this is true, but when you’re looking at over 8000 effective HP, it does mater. It matters a lot. I think that the people around town are mostly Classless, and only a few of them have Scion of Willpower, so, on average, with —I’m guessing— 1000 mana being the top end, just like you, they only have 2000 point shields and only if they Favor [Ward], which many don’t, because everyone here likes Strength based builds and even the mages don’t have the natural regen to keep up a [Ward] through the casual damage of multiple fights in a row.

“People see these powerful adventurers running around, tanking giants, with just their pure Strength holding up these massive shields, effectively multiplying their HP by unknowable huge margins, protecting everyone and turning the tides of battle all on their own… Then they see mages destroying hundreds of wolves at a time, but also falling to the smallest critical hits because mages get into a lot of trouble when they’re pinned down.

She stressed, “Shades can pin down mages, quite well.”

Irogh rested with a light smile, for all of Jane’s speech.

Jane said, “Back to the point: 2500 point [Ward]s are not that great, and the main contributor to why people don’t Favor [Ward]. But a 10,000 point [Ward] is fantastic, and you can get that with enough multipliers. Having a Class is a huge boost to your survivability, and you need to crunch those numbers right. Take the boring, survivable options, Dad. Sculpt spell is fancy, and I think I like it. Do you really need more area? I don’t know. Your choice. Healing seems fancy, too, but I’ve been talking to people, and more and more of the people coming into Spur, either to adventure or to farm, and are choosing to go with Focus builds, so that they can use [Telekinesis] more often; there’s some manual labor involved on the farm, but not much. You don’t expend that much HP using [Telekinesis] to pick vegetables.”

There was a hiccup in the beginning where Erick almost interrupted —a 4700 point [Ward] saved her life!?— but then she kept going. Jane was in life and death situations all the time. Erick could have smacked himself for forgetting where he was, and who Jane was. She was right about a lot. She was probably right about all of what she had said.

“I will endeavor to get this right.” Erick said, “This is a big help, Jane.”

“Good.” Jane smiled softly. She stood up, saying, “You can tell me all about your abilities later, Dad. I gotta go.”

Erick stood up. “Already?” A pang of loss ripped through his chest. “You could stay for dinner!” He bargained, “You could stay for the end of this?”

Jane smiled wide. “I love you, Dad. I gotta go. Besides!” She spoke without sarcasm, “This is supposed to be something sacred between you and Rozeta. I gotta go.”

She hugged Erick, and Erick felt yet another pang of loss, but softer this time.

Jane let go. “I’ll talk to you later.” She asked Irogh, “One last thing before I go: Will he have to kill anything for any of these quest completions?”

“Not for the ones you have specified.”

“Good.” Jane bowed to Irogh. “Thank you for allowing me to participate in this event.”

“Rozeta thanks you for your participation.” Irogh gestured to the air. The door unlocked with a click. “May all the Relevant Entities of the Script watch over you, Jane Flatt.”

Jane hugged Erick one more time before rushing out of the door, past Poi, then vanishing in a blink of blue light, above the white marble floor of the Courthouse. Irogh waved his hand through the air again, and the door shut with another magical click.

Erick sat back down, and sighed. “It never gets easier to watch her go.”

Irogh nodded, but said nothing.

Erick asked, "How would I go about un-Favoring my [Call Lightning]?”

Irogh said, “1 grand-rad, and a Quest.” Irogh looked up, then back to Erick, saying, “UnFavoring [Call Lightning] will also unFavor [Lightning Aura], since the aura is a pure version of the original spell. You will only get one instance of Favored Spell back, though. If you want, I can issue you this quest right now, and you can complete it by fulfilling both conditions, in any order you wish.” n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Erick said, “I think I’ve made my decisions about all of it, actually. In addition to unFavoring [Call Lightning], I’d like the quests for Insight, Creation, More Mana, More Mana Regeneration, and… Sculpt Spell! Ah. Wait… Jane had a lot of good points about All Spell Cost Reduction.” He asked, “What do you think?”

“How high in Willpower do you think you will go?”

“Probably 50, at least. Not sure.”

“You’ll have 3000 mana with the More Mana Class Ability. With all the bonuses she spoke of, spending 2900 mana will get you a 9570 point [Personal Ward]. Without All Spell Cost Reduction, and just Favored Spell, that’s a 5800 point [Personal Ward].” Irogh said, “Stacking cost reductions is rather powerful in the case of [Ward], especially if you have enough regen for that [Ward] to come back multiple times over the course of a day. And you will, with 12000 regen from the Double Mana Regen option. There was a lot of good to what she said.”

Erick said, “Okay okay. You’re both right.”

“No one is ‘right’, Erick.” Irogh said, “This is all personal choice. If you want Healing, take it. If you want Sculpt Spell, take it. If you want Cost Reduction, take it.”

Erick breathed. He said, “Insight, Creation, More Mana, More Mana Regeneration, and… Sculpt spell. And unFavoring [Call Lightning].”

Irogh smiled, saying, “Of course.” He tapped the air several times.

Blue boxes appeared.

Class Ability Quest!

Ask for and receive a Relevant Entity’s Pledge of Insight, to assist in Spell Creation, 0/1

Reward: Particular Insight

Class Ability Quest!

Create 1 new Large-Sized or greater Basic Particle Spell, 0/1

OR

Create 5 new Particle Spells by upgrading a known Particle Spell to a higher tier, 0/5

Reward: Your ability to Create new Particle Spells is Greatly Increased

Class Ability Quest!

Enchant an item, or items, that give you twice as much Mana, then wear those items, consuming them in the process. 0/1

Reward: Double your Base Mana

Class Ability Quest!

Enchant an item, or items, that give you twice as much Mana Regen, then wear those items, consuming them in the process. 0/1

Reward: Double your Base Mana Regeneration

Class Ability Quest!

Reach Aurify 3, 0/1

Reward: Major Mana Shaping applies to all Spells. Altering ongoing Auras is considerably easier.

Status Change Quest!

Be struck by natural lightning and survive, 0/1

Grand-Rad, 0/1

Reward: {Favored Spell} on [Call Lightning] returned to you, to be used on another Spell.

All of the Quests looked as fine as Erick expected them to look.

But that last one...

UnFavoring [Call Lightning] felt wrong, somehow. Erick didn’t like it, in some instinctual, unknowable way. Be struck by natural lighting? As though accepting some final parting glance at what had been, in favor for what might come? He stared at the box for a few moments.

Erick said, “I decline the Favored Spell switch quest, please.”

Irogh said, “Done.”

“Can Rozeta be my Relevant Entity for Insight?”

Irogh glanced at the air for a moment, then turned back to Erick, and said, “She cannot. She has already been seen as favoring you too much. If you find a single Relevant Entity willing to help, she can do nothing, but if you truly have no offers, she will help.” He added, “She would like me to explain that she is supposed to be truly neutral; The Script is for everyone, from people like Bulgan, to people like you. Registrars hear and guide people down a neutral path, but we do not judge those who kill, or those who maim, or those who heal, or those who help.”

Erick’s skin prickled with goosebumps.

“Remember what I said when we first met?” Irogh spoke as though from a script he had memorized long ago, and made his own over the years, “I will assist you in planning your builds to the best of my ability, be you plotting the downfall of a nation, god, demon king, or dragon lord, or if you want to become the best darn farmer on Veird. I am here for you, and your needs.” He added, “I suppose, for you, I should also add ‘crown of heaven’ to the list, just to round it out.”

“… That’s why you’re not more popular around town.” Erick felt a chill, realizing that the orcol in front of him was truly dangerous, in his own way; in a way sanctioned by a neutral goddess. “You helped Bulgan. Did you help him become a Shade, too?”

Irogh said, “I cannot talk about the decisions of those who have walked through my office.”

Erick stilled. He said, “Okay.”

Irogh nodded softly. “This is why I avoided most of your party.”

Now that just pissed Erick off. Tension broke, as Erick said, “You avoided my party for…!” He frowned. He said, “I worked damn hard on all that food! You should have come anyway. It’s not your fault Bulgan chose to do what he— It’s not your fault, right?”

Irogh said, “I give guidance to all, but I do not make choices for anyone.”

“Do you wish people would do better with their choices? Do you wish people would murder as much as they do?”

Irogh smiled softly. “I do not wish for people to harm others, but I must remain neutral in all proceedings.”

“Then! Fuck. Come on by sometime for coffee or something. I almost always have some dessert laying around. I know you can’t share stories about people who’ve done wrong, but I know all about trying to help people who just can’t help but hurt themselves and others.”

Irogh said, “Maybe some other time.”

Erick looked at him for a moment, then said, “Okay.” He stood up. “Then I guess I better get working on these quests.”

Irogh nodded. “Do you require any guidance as to where to start?”

Erick glanced at the quests again. “Looks like I need to go to the Church and talk to some Relevant Entities to get Insight, and then pump out another 25,000 experience into Aurify. Figure out another large-sized Particle spell somewhere in there; I’ll stay away from the SLR stuff for a while. I think I’ll go talk to the Mage Trio regarding that. Then it’s time to research enchanting… I probably need to buy [Metalshape]…” Erick looked up [Metalshape]; it was just past [Stoneshape], at tier 2. “Then I need to buy some metal from somewhere… Am I forgetting anything?”

“Gems hold enhancement enchantments better than base metal, and if you stress the enchantment, it will break. Don’t wear the items until you’re ready to complete the quest.” Irogh said, “Or do, just to see how they work.”

Erick nodded, “Then I can create a particle spell to make as many diamonds as I need. They’re just carbon arranged in a crystalline structure, you know.”

Irogh winced.

“What?”

“Diamonds are okay for enchantments. They’re cheap enough, anyway. Perfectly round pearls are the best, though you’d likely have to go to Portal to find enough of a supply to make up for failed attempts.”

Erick smiled. The world seemed to be opening up for him.

He said, “Maybe I’ll do that, anyway, just to see some other part of Veird.” Erick nodded, saying, “Thank you, Irogh.”

Irogh flicked the air; the door to the room unlocked. He said, “May all the Relevant Entities of the Script watch over you, Erick Flatt.”

“And you as well!”

Erick walked out of Irogh’s office, rejoining Poi in the hallway. Irogh’s Script-blue door swung almost closed; remaining open a foot. Light spilled out into the already bright hallway.

“Where to next, sir?” Poi asked.

“First, I gotta do this.” Erick thumbed toward his back as he turned on his Handy Aura, but restricted it to between his shoulders, like tiny, tiny, handy wings. It was a major alteration to his aura so it cost more mana to maintain, but his regen could handle it; if he kept this up for the rest of the day, he could knock off his Sculpt Spell quest by tonight, and get Aurify 3. “Is this weird?”

Poi smirked. “You’re already plenty weird, sir; that will not stand out.”

Erick laughed, then said, “And now we go to Church.”

- - - -

The Interfaith Church was more like a cathedral than a ‘church’. It was as magnificent today as it was the first time Erick saw it; all white stone with flying buttresses with huge stained glass windows, surrounded by a green and purple vineyard twice as wide as the temple itself, which was already larger than all other nearby buildings. The sun streamed through the vineyard, to touch a scattering of people praying under the vines in their own, private ways. There were some larger trees here and there, with simple little stone shrines nestled next to them; the tree at their back almost growing completely around some of the more ancient-looking shrines. Wind blew through the city, rustling leaves in a peaceful way.

A redmetal wrought in the shape of a male dragonkin, with his metal flesh shaped like priest robes, stood at the entrance to the garden. The man noticed Erick’s approach and stepped up when Erick came closer. He looked slightly nervous; he stood a bit too straight, moved a bit too solidly.

“Greetings, Archmage Flatt. A few Relevant Entities have decided to grace us with their presence. If you would please follow me.”

“Okay?” Erick said, “Sure! Why not. Is Darenka okay?”

“Head Priest Darenka is busy with provincial matters. My name is Abraxis; it is a pleasure to meet you, Archmage.”

“Nice to meet you, Abraxis.”

“This way, please.”

The red wrought walked down the path through the vineyard to the Interfaith Church, through the wide open doors, into the central room. Pews lined the church, just like back on Earth, all of them pointed toward a blank wall and a blank podium all the way at the other side of the massive room; most of the ornamentation in this room was blank, in fact. That blank back wall and all the rest would be [Stoneshape]d into appropriate imagery depending on which god they were venerating on that day. Each Relevant Entity had their own days of the year they decided on as holy, while several of the major gods held particular days of the month. Today was no one’s day, though, so the Interfaith Church stood blank.

But it wasn’t plain, not by a long shot.

The high, cathedral ceiling and all the pillars and corners of the church were adorned with ornate, geometric stone, that left ample space for people to [Stoneshape] imagery into the large blank spots around the room. The pews were rich brown, heavily carved wood, that had supported hundreds of thousands of people. This place was holy in a very real way. The most beautiful parts of it had to be the multicolored stained glass windows, draping everything in rainbows; the windows were abstract, geometric designs, done in all colors, equally.

Erick smiled. He hadn’t been to Church for anything except business; he would have liked to explore it all sometime, but that just felt wrong, somehow. These weren’t his religions; he didn’t think he really had a religion, even back on Earth.

But maybe today he’d find, if not a religion, something to complement his own faith in what life should be. Abraxis walked down the central aisle, and Erick followed. Several people prayed silently around the room; not one of them within five meters of each other.

The main room of the Church was technically ‘blank’, but where Abraxis took Erick, was very much not blank at all. To the left and right of the stage and black backdrop, behind the preacher’s podium, were two archways that were connected by a winding hallway. Entering one archway would eventually spit you out on the other side, but all along that path, there were alcoves; some larger than others, some deep enough to hold a dozen people. All of them filled with stuff, and sculpture. Books, paintings, stone imagery, incense and offerings, little bits of gold or silver, gems, poetry, gilded things and plain rocks. Back on Earth, Erick would have thought of these almost-rooms as dioramas, displays, or exhibitions. But here, they were full of divinity, where Relevant Entities had invested themselves with minuscule fractions of their power, so that they might form a connection to those living on Veird.

With Meditation active, several of the alcoves blazed with a strange power that was like hearth fire in an ocean of ambient mana; all flickering and welcoming. Abraxis stood at the entrance to the hallway; he went no further, but he bade Erick to continue.

Poi stayed behind; he would not follow Erick down this path.

Erick turned away from Poi, and walked down the hallway.

- - - -

Erick sat down on a tree stump, beside a dark skinned woman, sitting on her own stump, in the only green space in the center of an endless field of golden wheat. There was no sun; there was no need. Everything was made of light.

Atunir spoke toward the wheat, “Keep making your new plants; I like them a lot.” She said, “I’ll help you [Grow] some good things, but I’m way too busy to grant you a Pledge of Insight. You’ve tossed down dozens of new vegetables and fruits and vines and trees for me to fit into the ecosystem. Everyone wants some or all of what you’ve created, and you’re not my Champion. My Champion might come your way, soon, though. That’s up to her. She’s dealing with this Daydropper mess. It’s going well, in case you were wondering.” She turned to Erick. “Tell me about chocolate.”

Erick smiled. Then he talked about chocolate, from seed, to tree, to beanpod, to fermentation then drying then roasting. Processing past that was a detailed affair, about sugar content and cocoa butter and grinding the beans very, very fine. All the way through all of that, Erick sprinkled in anecdotes about the taste and the variety, from cakes to drinks to bars to cooking, to tempering, to sculpting. It was a nice conversation. Atunir listened.

- - - -

Erick stood in the air, above a dark, storm tossed ocean, while hurricane winds blew sideways rain and flashes of lightning illuminated everything; but there was no noise. None of the rain struck Erick.

Sininindi said, “I probably had some reason for talking to you, but there’s a war in Nergal and you like lightning and storms. Not as much as me or any decent storm priest, but… Meh. I’m busy now. Go away.”

- - - -

Erick sat at the table beside his garden of successes.

Another Erick sat across the table; a game of half-played chess waited between them.

It was hard to tell which pieces were Erick’s and which were Phagar’s, because there were no black pieces, or white pieces; every single chess piece was a type of slime. The pawns were little sewer slimes, all wiggly and greenish yellow. The knights were furry slimes, that sniffed the air. Bishops were wispy, airy slimes, that were mostly tendrils. Rooks were stone slimes, dark grey, completely opaque. The king slimes were dark metal, and barely moving. The queens were brilliant crystal slimes that glittered in the sunlight.

Erick was not winning, but he wasn’t losing, either. He felt like there had been some close calls, but he had pulled away from defeat before, and Phagar didn’t have a clear path to victory, yet.

But the God of Death and Time would win, in the end; of that there was no doubt.

Phagar said, “I’ll help with this Pledge of Insight. If you wish to become my Champion, you could do that, too. I haven’t had one of those in a long time. I’ll help even if your ultimate goal is to 'defeat' me.” Phagar shrugged. “I don’t consider myself a poor sport by any stretch of the meaning, but everything dies, even if you do manage to reinvent immortality-in-a-spell; souls still flow, and someone has to keep this mess in order.”

“… Do you like slimes that much? I mean— To name me your Champion? To be okay with me poking around with immortality? To help me poke around with immortality?” Erick admitted, “I think the little slimes are cute, too. But about all the rest of this… I’d call you a liar in some sort of way, if you were a person, and not a god. Do gods lie?”

“We try not to. Lies ripple and break. Truths affirm and solidify.”

“Break what? Solidify what?”

“Everything.”

- - - -

Erick looked up, and saw a hazy planet, swirling with atmosphere and blue water and white clouds and green life.

Erick looked down, and all around him was a half-there reality; silver sands that supported figments of trees, shadows of houses that spilled out laughter and love into the air, a flying river with silver fish that glinted under the lights of four celestial bodies; Veird, the sun, pink Hell, and white Celes.

A loincloth wearing half-incani, half-human, with pale violet skin and tiny white horns, stood on the silver sand in front of Erick.

Koyabez said, “You managed to make some normal magic, and it almost cost you your life, but the spell you created has already saved thousands of lives. My head priests, all across Veird, are already holding peace talks between embattled peoples, in spaces where everyone knows there can be no hostile magic.” He pointed to Veird. The continent of Glaquin glowed all along the edges, then that light moved inside, like a flashlight concentrating to a point, down to the south east of the continent to become a bright spark upon the globe, on the southern coast of the Greensoil Republic. “The Halls of the Dead still plague the land with guerrilla warfare, but the Wasteland Kingdoms and the Greensoil Republic are debating all out war, instead of heading out to fight. This is only possible because of [Zone of Peace].”

Koyabez waved his hand, and Veird turned in the sky; several bright sparks appeared all across the surface.

Koyabez said, “There is hope for peace in many parts of the world, and there is more to come.”

Erick felt tears run down his face. He saw people around the world, helping each other, reaching out to their neighbors and lifting them up out of the dirt, or out of danger.

“I’m glad.” Erick looked back down to Koyabez, and the god looked sad. Erick had been about to ask for a Pledge of Insight, and his spell. But suddenly, that seemed impossible. “What’s wrong?”

Koyabez said, “I cannot give you the spell, and I cannot help you with a Pledge of Insight; not as you are right now.”

“Why?”

“Because you have pledged to kill all the Shades, and I am the God of Peace. If you promise to give up your conquest, I will grant you as many ability points as you want, a Pledge of Insight, and uncommon help in constructing all of your future spells. Do you want to know the secrets of immortality? Do you want to be my Champion, to try and end this war between Melemizargo and everyone else? I can grant all of that to you, if you turn from this path you have chosen.”

The mirage of a ghostly heaven all around Erick evaporated as he felt the fires of anger glimmer to life inside his chest.

The Shades were immoral murderers. Tania Webwalker wanted Jane giftwrapped in platinum chains for the ‘crime’ of killing a shadow spider who had come to kidnap her. Bulgan tried to annihilate Frontier, and before that, Bulgan's people had tried to murder Erick and Jane in the attack on the Sewerhouse.

The old, naive Erick would have said yes. But now? No. Arguing with people who wanted nothing more than them on top and everyone else bloody under their boots, was worse than futile, it was deadly.

There was a limit to peace.

Erick demanded, “Why would you try to make peace with genocidal megalomaniacs?”

“Because I was once friends with Melemizargo, back when he was a god of magic, and everything was different. I will not move against his forces, for he would rise in reprisal, and I will not have my people be the ones to cause him more pain.” Koyabez said, “Melemizargo is insane with grief, and his terror seeps out through his clergy. Fear drives them to violence. Violence begets fear. And the cycle is never ending.”

“Would Tania have killed everyone in Spur if we had let her?”

“Yes.”

"You would rather have had Spur been annihilated?”

“No.”

“If Spur wasn’t there, would the Shades spill out into the land, singing the song of Melemizargo to turn the people of the world into their unthinking servants?”

“Yes. They have before, but concentrated efforts by worldly powers have always managed to push them back to their city.”

“So you plead for peace with people unwilling and unable to try.”

“Yes.”

“… good luck with that.”

Koyabez smiled, his deific face full of understood pain. “The Path to Peace is foolish, but sometimes fools change the world.”

“I would love to believe you, but I cannot afford to be a fool.”

- - - -

Erick sat down to chess with Phagar, next to the garden.

He asked, “Do you have a problem with me trying to kill all the Shades in Ar’Kendrithyst, and… I don’t even know what to do about an insane old god of magic. How do you fight that?”

Phagar, in a copy of Erick’s body, laughed. “Does the God of Death and Time have a problem with an old god finally passing on?” He smiled, saying, “No. I do not have any issue at all with the dying of an age. Though this task you have set for yourself is not as easy as you think.”

“Thank you for your concern, but that is my cross to bear.” Erick said, “I’m in. Please give me your Pledge of Insight. I’m gonna need to think about the Champion thing, though. Where are your thoughts on all this daydropper and necromancer stuff? Will people find it strange if they find out I’m working with you?”

Phagar nodded, smiling, and said, “Gods deal in the realm over here, Erick. We help guide those of you on your side who feel like listening, but your lives are your own. That business with you— the one where we all stood around to decide your fate? That was one of a handful of times anything like that has ever happened on Veird, and the end result in every case, except one, was that we chose to do nothing. Your lives are your own.” He added. “I feel you may have a skewed view of what life on Veird is like for the average person.”

“Jane has said as much.” Erick said, “I think she’s having a much more normal life on your planet than I am. Just tell me: is working with you not some cultural faux pas? Are people gonna treat me different?”

Phagar laughed. “I won’t tell if you won’t.” He said, “But if you do: Some will come to you, others will flee, some will be terrified, some will find comfort, because, just like this conversation, sometimes everything ends before you’re ready.”

- - - -

Erick walked out of the opposite stone archway, on the other side of the Interfaith Church.

Some boxes appeared.

QUEST COMPLETE!

Ask for and receive a Relevant Entity’s Pledge of Insight, to assist in Spell Creation, 1/1

Reward: Particular Insight

Particle Mage

Spend 100 mana to discover if a Particle spell is possible, greatly reducing the risk of Errors.

If you witness a Particle spell and you understand it, you may unlock that spell for free.

Erick had a lot more to ask Phagar, but that’s life and death for you.

Poi and Abraxis were looking down the other side of the curving hallway.

Erick called out, “Over here, Poi.”

Poi whipped around to glare at him, then relaxed, then quickly walked across the room, whispering, “You were gone for 2 seconds.” He calmed, looking around. “Don’t yell in the Church.” He added, “Sir.”

Erick smiled.

Abraxis arrived in the intervening seconds. He whispered, “All is well?”

Erick said, “All is well. Thank you.” He looked behind him with Meditation active; whatever was going on before with that weird ethereal mana fire was gone, now. “I think it's over.”

Abraxis softly, saying, “If not for the dissipation of divine energy, I would have thought you [Teleport]ed.”

Erick said, “Thank you for your assistance, Abraxis.”

The man bowed.

- - - -

Erick went home and promptly took a nice nap.

When he woke up, he turned on his Handy Aura, keeping it close to his back, while he went back into town, to the Mage’s Guild, to research the god Phagar. The orangescale librarian on duty, Tamarim, was not concerned over Erick’s inquiry at all.

… From what Erick read, Phagar was the kindly old man who guided souls to their chosen, or inevitable, destinations. Of all the gods, he was the one who kept the most out of mortal affairs, because he was always there in the end, anyway.

- - - -

Jane didn’t call that night; Poi said she was busy making up for her unscheduled absence.

- - - -

Just before bed, and because he had been holding his Handy Aura next to his back all evening long, Aurify finally leveled.

Aurify 3

Transform an AOE spell into a semi-permanent effect surrounding yourself, based upon the parameters of the Aurified spell. Increase an instantaneous spell to a 1 second duration in order to create an aura.

Able to support 2 auras at a time.

You may choose who or what is affected by your aura.

Triples the range on an Aurified spell.

And a quest completed.

QUEST COMPLETE!

Reach Aurify 3, 1/1

Reward: Major Mana Shaping applies to all Spells. Altering ongoing Auras is considerably easier.

Particle Mage

Spend 100 mana to discover if a Particle spell is possible, greatly reducing the risk of Errors.

If you witness a Particle spell and you understand it, you may unlock that spell for free.

Major Mana Shaping applies to all Spells. Altering ongoing Auras is considerably easier.

Erick was in the kitchen when it happened. Suddenly, everything felt more fluid. He relaxed his Handy Aura and it stayed nestled against his back. Erick smiled. He didn’t have to spend more mana to hold it in this odd configuration. Erick gently pressed outward; his aura flared full, filling the room—

Jars knocked over, silverware went flying.

“Whoops!” Erick said, “Too big!”

Erick pulled his aura back to manageable size, carefully, then went around the room, picking up what had fallen, using his handy aura like it was the most natural thing in the world to tidy up with air and thoughts. He picked up a plate, then [Mend]ed it, while also pushing scattered tea into a pile, and righting a jar of platinum coffee-tea, and putting silverware back on the table.

Erick paused.

He activated [Cleanse Aura] at the same time as his Handy Aura. The fallen tea in his telekinetic hands swirled away as thick air. Both his auras worked at the same time. Two auras at a time! He giggled. He laughed. He put everything in the right spots, and cut all of his auras, and smiled. Poi was standing at the door to the room.

Poi asked, “Something good, sir?”

“Aurify 3. We won’t have to move the temple in the farms because I can control it all quite easily.” Erick pondered, “I wonder what they’re going to say, if anything.”