Chapter 72, 1/2

Blood and viscera burned on the orange stone all around Erick’s house. Vast crescents of flat land had been turned into rippling, blackened glass, while a breeze flowed through the broken city wall to the north. Ash blew on that wind, like a barely-there snow.

Erick and Jane’s house was perfectly okay; floating ash parted around the dense air surrounding the house like a gently denied intruder. The Mage Trio’s house had not fared so well. As Erick stood atop his tower and Kiri puked over the side again, he stared at the Oceanside Mage’s house. Cold ran up his spine.

A broken blue [Ward] hung haphazard around that three story, towered house, like hexagons of shattered ice. The windows of the house were broken, while the yard was charred and blackened. With a quick [Hunter’s Instincts]-powered look around, Erick saw that the rest of the city around the Human District was minimally on fire; people were already coming out of stone houses to put out the small flames here and there. But the Mage Trio’s house was not on fire at all. The house stood there like the remains of Erick’s gardens; inert, unburning.

Had everything already burned away inside the Mage Trio’s house?

Mog blipped grey, back down to the ground beside the door to Erick’s house. Kiri washed thick air across the top of the tower, catching Erick in her own [Cleanse]. The bad taste in his own mouth vanished, but he was barely paying attention to details like that. He was listening all around. Right now, Silverite, Poi, Jane, and Mog, were all inside of his own house; they were all okay. Maybe Ramizi, Eduard, and Maia were, too?

With a quick thought, Erick sent an Ophiel blipping toward the Mage Trio’s house. He rode his [Familiar]s sight, through the charred doorway, into the broken front room, and further, quick as Ophiel could fly.

Couches and beds were ash. Alchemy ingredients were blackened, or on fire. The kitchen was a wreck. A greenhouse attached to the north side of the house was broken; glass and twisted metal scattered everywhere, while the garden itself was full of burning couatl meat and ash. He had only explored for a minute, but it did not look good. Erick came back to himself, but he urged Ophiel to continue his search for people inside the house. Ophiel wasn’t quite smart enough to know them as the ‘Mage Trio’; not yet, anywa—

Why was Erick searching for them manually? He was inside his [Ward]. Any telepathic backlash damage done to him would be heavily mitigated. Erick recalled Ophiel and opened a [Telepathy] line to all three of them.

‘Ramizi? Maia? Eduard? Are you all safe?’

Moments ticked by.

Silverite sent, ‘You okay?’

Erick was startled for a moment, but he sent back, ‘Yeah. Kiri and I are good. But the Mage Trio’s—’

‘We’re all good. Busy. Talk to you later,’ came Ramizi’s response.

Erick continued to send to Silverite, ‘Never mind; they’re good, too.’

‘I already talked to them.’ She sent back, ‘It’s time for all of us to talk about Spur joining the hunt for Messalina.’

Erick stood on top of his mage tower, looking out at the burning Human District. Barely five minutes had passed since the fight ended, but it felt like a week. He sent, ‘Okay. Give me a few minutes out here.’

‘Sure.’

- - - -

Quick as the fight ended, the reconstruction efforts began. Guards in silver armor walked out of the city, into the Human District. Three here, two there. They worked in groups, and they worked fast. Body parts were gathered together and set to [Cleansing Fire]. Blood and ash were simply [Cleanse]d. Broken walls were moved back into positions. The land was turned back to normal stone.

By the time Erick touched down in front of his house, one of the guards out of a group of three came over to him. A yellowscale guard in silver armor offered to help Erick put his own property back to rights, but Erick told them he could take care of it all himself, later. The dragonkin just nodded, then went on with her job.

Erick repaired the worst of the damage around his house, like the garden that had been turned to ash and then blasted away, leaving a great big hole in the front yard, and a bit around the back near the compost pile that had been blasted away. Erick had failed to fully enclose the house in his [Prismatic Ward], and parts of the building had holes in walls. So with [Stoneshape] and after dismissing the scattered dense airs surrounding the estate, Erick went about casting [Prismatic Ward] properly, this time.

His house was definitely larger than a normal ‘large-sized’, though, so with 5100 mana total, and after Clarity, he had to spend 50 for the base spell and 250 for a Total Mana Shaping, leaving him with 4700 mana left for Variable costs. But he didn’t want to be at 0 mana, so he threw 4600 into the shield. Clarity doubled the power of that 4600 mana, though. The final result was a [Solid Ward] worth just over 55,000 points of damage.

Dense, pleasant air soaked out across stone and windows. The spell extended up several meters into the air on both mage towers, giving him ample space to stand protected, if he wished, while leaving the exterior doors covered only halfway through the wood. If some unpermitted person wanted to knock on the doors, they could. Everything else was fully covered by [Prismatic Ward].

The fight with the Flare Couatl was twenty minutes ago, and it still didn’t feel real.

Erick went into the sunroom. Silverite sat on a chair in the sunroom with several lines of thought radiating from her head. Her eyes were closed, but she knew he was in the room. Erick went to the window, and waited. He watched the Human District, and waited.

Across the way, the yellowscale guard spoke to Eduard in the lawn front of the Mage Trio’s house. Erick guessed she was offering Eduard help, too. Eduard waved her off as he pointed backward. Ramizi floated in the air around their southern, broken mage tower, shaping stone back into position. Maia briefly appeared behind a broken upstairs window, before thick air spilled out from that window. The yellowscale guard nodded, then walked away. Eduard continued walking toward Erick’s house.

Erick occasionally ran [Hunter’s Instincts], just so he could be aware of his surroundings. The battle was over, but it certainly didn’t feel over. It felt like it was just beginning; the Flare Couatl finally attacking Spur was just the opening act.

As he looked out the window, he paused in thought, as he watched the happenings around the only other house in the Human District. Usually this view was blocked by the garden, but that was gone; turned to dead dirt and blown-away sand. Erick had seeds for everything he had grown, while all of his fruits and vegetables and grains were already a part of the farms to the west. Recovering from this blow would be as hard as asking for some clippings from the farmers out west of the city.

But that was a conversation for another day.

Erick turned to the only other person in the room, saying, “Eduard is on his way over. Just him.”

Silverite opened her eyes. The lines of thought around her silver head gradually winked out, as she said, “Good.” She tilted her head left, saying, “Mog is coming back.”

No one had really said anything around Erick after the fight ended. Poi was sleeping off his own magic in his room. Jane was watching over him with her [Greater Treat Wounds]. Kiri made herself scarce for some reason.

Erick wasn’t quite sure why no one was talking to him. Were they mad at him? He felt guilty of something. He wasn’t sure what, but he knew he had done something wrong.

He asked, “Silverite? Is the number of people saved by the Flare Couatl higher than the number he killed?”

“Yes,” Silverite said, emphatically. “He was a power hungry killer in the end, but he also killed over three thousand hunters, at least. Maybe a lot more. Your decision to let him run free for a while was the correct one, based on pure math.” She added, “Sometimes it’s hard to make that sort of decision, but you gave me a good reason to follow your lead, and I took it. But now we have to take a harder stance.”

Erick slowly nodded. He still didn’t feel right, or good, but at least Silverite’s words were… something. Had he really made the right call back then? Maybe he had? Was he really okay with this sort of hard math that Silverite spoke of? It’s not like the extra monsters Eduard warned about ever materialized. According to everything that happened, letting the Flare Couatl run around had been the right choice…

… Except for that part at the end.

Erick spoke for purely his own benefit, to make it all seem more real, “You have to strike a balance between letting the monster-eating monsters roam, and killing what needs to be killed.”

Silverite said, “Don’t go getting a hero complex on me, Erick. You’re not expected to kill everything that threatens this city; you were just the easiest option for the last two months.” She said, “Besides, I am the one that decided that Spur would not hunt Messalina. Not you.”

Erick smiled.

A knock came from the front door.

Erick gave Eduard [Prismatic Ward] permissions. He almost walked out of the sunroom to get the door, but he heard another move faster.

Kiri said, “I’ll get it.”

Erick spoke out into the hallway, “I already gave him permission.”

Erick sat down in the sunroom, across from Silverite, as Eduard walked into the house. Kiri guided the Ice Mage from Oceanside into the sunroom. As soon as she deposited Eduard into the doorway of the sunroom, she took off, eager to get gone; Erick would need to ask her later what that was all about.

Erick said, “Come on in, Eduard.”

Eduard wore pale blue [Conjure Armor] clothes, with an armored section over his chest. He asked Erick, “Are you here to help round up Messalina?”

“… I don’t know yet.”

Silverite said, “Whatever Erick chooses to do or not do does not matter. Spur has now been given reason to find and end Messalina’s involvement in the affairs of the Crystal Forest. To that end—” She paused. She looked to air, to her left.

The front door knocked again. Erick heard Kiri rush to open the door.

“That would be Mog.” Silverite said, “Please sit, Eduard. This discussion might take a while. I wish to know fully and completely what you know, so that we can end this threat.”

Eduard looked to Silverite, then to Erick, asking, “Why are we doing this here, if he’s not going to help?”

Erick said, “I said ‘I don’t know yet’. That means ‘I might help take her down’. It’s just— Where I came from, I used to work with the dregs of society. The people who were bad off and doing worse to others because of it. I helped people turn their lives around, Eduard. I made my community better for it, and though I failed a lot, I also succeeded a lot.” He added, “The point is, is that my metric for how that system would work on Veird is very, very messed up. I think I made a bad call before, and I would like to know more.”

Silverite continued to sit in her chair.

Eduard gave a quick nod then moved into the room. He sat down across from Silverite, next to Erick, on one of five chairs in the room, saying, “Okay.”

Mog appeared in the doorway, asking, “Did I miss anything yet?”

Erick smiled to see Mog.

“No.” Silverite said, “We were just about to start.”

Mog nodded to Erick as she took a chair next to Silverite.

Silverite began, “Do you know where she is?”

“No.” Eduard said, “We do know that she is not in the Underworld. The Headmaster’s [Eyes of the Goddess] would have told him if she was down there. So she is still somewhere on the surface. At this point, our best guess is that she’s discovered some new method of camouflage, or she might be hiding out in a Cloud Giant city. It is well within her power to be able to kill and re-soul Cloud Giants with people loyal to her.”

Silverite said, “I’m guessing more the latter than the former. But I don’t think she would kill and re-soul them. She’s worked with Cloud Giants before.”

Eduard sighed out in both relief and disgust, muttering, “Of course. The one place we can’t actually go, and she has a history with the Cloud Giants. Fuck.”

Mog asked, “Is the Headmaster’s [Scan] still reporting her as somewhere nearby?”

Eduard resumed his professional facade. He said, “There have been some slight fluctuations in location, but mostly, she hasn’t moved at all in the three months since she came to this land.”

“We put out those Cinnabar Hand corpses last month and she took them.” Silverite said, “Have you noticed anything since then?”

“No.” Eduard said, “We’ve gotten no new leads. Honestly, we’ve never had any good leads until now. She’s a phantom.”

“No new monsters on the level of the Flare Couatl, either.” Mog said, “That slew of monsters you promised from Messalina never materialized, Eduard.” She added, “The reports of hunters are way down, though.”

Silverite said, “I suspect that at least 90 percent of the true hunter population in the Crystal Forest is gone. I doubt this will last for long. Some new wayward is bound to step up into the positions vacated by the dead now that the Flare Couatl is no more.” She continued, “As for the Cinnabar Hand themselves, you might not know this, but we kept track of those bodies we left out. Using our own methods, we tracked down two major Cinnabar Hand strongholds that have been attacked and gutted. Historically, there have been as many as seven strongholds the size of Spur out there, but that was ages ago. The two strongholds attacked were each the size of a small village. Maybe 100 to 300 people each. But Messalina is still hunting. She’s still out there. She has not found the ones responsible for the death of her village.”

Eduard sat stunned. He said, “That’s a lot more than what I knew.”

“We are cooperating with you now, if you will cooperate with us.” Silverite said, “I have received word in the last ten minutes that Kel’Duresh and Frontier would also like to cooperate with your hunt. They have been moved by the Flare Couatl’s brazen attack on Spur. I suspect several other cities of the Forest might look to cooperate as well, but I cannot speak for the whole.” She added, “So. What can you tell us that we don’t already know? Perhaps with regard to what the Headmaster has already told you. Maybe he has a theory on what Messalina might do now that her major tool to hunt the hunters is gone.”

Eduard paused in thought. He began, “The Flare Couatl was a perfect hunter-hunter. If most of the hunters in the Crystal Forest are truly gone, as you and the Headmaster fully suspect, that just means Messalina will start using more nefarious searching patterns. Parasites to infiltrate the cities of the Crystal Forest. Spying monsters. People corrupted through promises of wealth and power to act on Messalina’s behalf.” He added, “Most of that has already happened.”

Erick listened in rapt attention.

Silverite said, “Are you speaking with the Headmaster right now?”

“Not right now.” Eduard said, “I just finished talking to him, though.”

Silverite asked, “Will he send more people here to help locate Messalina?”

“No.” Eduard said, “To put it bluntly, he doesn’t like that you let the Flare Couatl do what Messalina wanted. He will give you no more help than us.”

Erick watched, and listened, as they talked. Eduard was obviously holding back a vast amount of anger and pain, based on a tiny twitch in his left eye and his tense shoulders, but his voice was perfectly even.

Eduard said, “But we are not nothing. I would like access to the Cinnabar Hand sites that Messalina attacked.”

“And you shall have them. But if the Headmaster is unwilling to further support this endeavor, then I will be taking a smaller stance than I had initially planned.” Silverite said, “You may tell your Headmaster that until he decides to reconsider his stance, that I will not be placing a quest against Messalina. What Spur will be doing, however, is making smaller inquiries here and there, and taking smaller steps to narrow down on Messalina’s position. We will find her, and then we will inform you of her location. We will give you no assistance beyond this.”

Eduard calmly said, “The Flare Couatl attacked Spur, and this is all you will do.”

Silverite said. “She likely has a whole horde of monsters ready to loose upon her enemies, and my first responsibility is to defense and the people of Spur.”

Eduard said, “I will tell the Headmaster this, but I doubt he will be willing to change his stance.”

“I know how he is.” Silverite said, “I don’t expect anything to change, so I’m just telling you how it is.”

Erick joined the conversation with, “Why is she still here, in the Crystal Forest, anyway? I mean… I know why she’s here. But.” Erick continued, “This goes beyond ‘the Cinnabar Hand are here, so her quarry is here’. How is she so absolutely sure that they’re still here?”

Eduard frowned, silently.

Mog sat back in her chair, watching Eduard, saying, “I’ve been wondering that, too. If it was me who killed her people, I would have moved on. It’s been, what? Four months since her village was destroyed? But still, she is damn sure they’re still out there, isn’t she? She’s a soul stealing witch, but she’s not insane. So how does she know they’re here?”

Silverite said, “Eduard doesn’t know the answer to that. I doubt the Headmaster would have ever told him.”

Eduard winced. He recovered. He shook his head, then came words, pouring out of him like water from a broken levee. “She parasitized us! Taunting us in our dreams all these past months, telling us how—” Eduard controlled himself. He breathed deep. He said, “She needs to die. I need to kill her. Please, Mayor. Silverite. Please help me more than you are. For the good of Spur if nothing else.”

About a dozen thoughts raced through Erick’s mind. First came the notion that ‘Messalina parasitized them! Fucking hell!’ but that was quickly replaced by other ideas. They had been parasitized, which meant that Messalina was fully capable of infiltrating Spur already, and had likely already done so. Which meant his own experience with her parasites were likely not a singular occurrence. But that was Mind Magic, right? What were the mind mages doing to combat Messalina?

Erick asked, “Is Messalina an accredited Mind Mage, working as a part of their society?”

Silverite shook her head, saying, “No. She doesn’t actually alter free will. Therefore, she is not a target for mental pacification.”

Eduard half-shouted, “She throws around dream worms like they’re letters! She invades minds, but no! That’s not good enough for the Mind Mages. I tried to get them involved, multiple times. They said no.”

Silverite took his outburst in stride, calmly saying, “Of course they said no.”

Eduard demanded, “Why is no one helping us to kill her? Even you won’t take a real stance against her, and she sent that Flare Couatl after Spur!”

“I will speak honestly and simply, Mage Rokva.” Silverite said, “No one wants to go out of their way to kill Messalina because she is an evil that does a lot of good.” Silverite said, “Killing the hunters of the Crystal Forest will save untold thousands of lives. Ten thousand. Twenty thousand. Maybe more. This is what Messalina usually does. This is who she usually is. Usually she restricts her methods to Nergal, but that changes every so often. This is one of those times, and unfortunately, her actions have aligned her against Spur.” She continued, “There is a cruel math to letting her run around, and most of us make this calculation, knowing the risks. The only power who truly wants Messalina dead and gone is the Headmaster.”

Eduard sat straight. He looked to Erick. He looked back to Silverite. He said, “I’m surrounded by insanity.”

“But she has attacked Spur, and she knows we must respond.” Silverite continued, “Spur will respond, Mage Rokva. And since the Headmaster is not willing to put actual force into the game, the method of that response is dictated entirely by her actions in the next few days.” Silverite turned toward the window of the sunroom, saying, “Do you need me to repeat any of that, Messalina?”

Mog, Eduard, and Erick all rapidly turned to face the window.

A small bit of ash held in the air. No. Not ash. It was a creature. Erick flared [Hunter’s Instincts]. What floated on the other side of his sunroom window was a tiny, tiny person, with small, translucent wings, huge eyes, and a big head. The being was only an inch tall, but it stared into the sunroom like it was supposed to be there.

The creature blipped away.

Eduard flipped out, launching to his feet, shouting, “That fucking bug! Fuck!” Something suddenly dawned in the man, as he looked at the dense air around him. He said, “It’s a [Prismatic Ward].” He laughed. “That little fucker can’t get in, can he— Ramizi. Maia.” He turned to Erick, glancing at the Ophiel on Erick’s shoulder. “Please. I know your Ophiel can do extra [Solid Ward]s. Please. Put one over our house, right now. Before that bug can—”

Erick was already doing it. He summoned another Ophiel to go along with the quiet one already sitting on his shoulder and sent it blipping over to the Mage Trio’s house. With a quick addition of two people to his list of permissions and a remotely controlled Shaping, a dense air layered around the Mage Trio’s house. The Ophiel who cast the [Ward] disintegrated into the ambient mana; spent.

“Done,” Erick said, before Eduard could even finish asking.

“Thank you.” Eduard went silent as tendrils of thought twisted from his head, into the manasphere. “They’ve been alerted. The bug hasn’t had a chance to get into the house.” Eduard sighed. “Sorry. I haven’t gotten much sleep lately.” He looked around. “It feels good in here, though. Oddly.”

Moments passed in silence.

Erick said, “You’re not okay, are you, Eduard.”

Eduard collapsed backward into his seat. He said, “No. I’m really not.”

Silverite asked, “We’re safe here, for now.” She rolled her shoulders a little, stretching her arms, as she said, “And it feels pretty good in this [Ward], too. What is that, Erick?”

Erick tossed Silverite a copy of his [Prismatic Ward], like tossing a ball through the air. She caught the blue box. She smiled as she read.

She said, “All beings inside are at Rest while inside. No matter what they’re doing, too, I suppose.”

Mog smiled. “I was wondering what that feeling was.”

Silverite turned to Eduard. “Now. Mage Rokva— Eduard. I’d like a complete report on your own efforts to find and combat Messalina, starting from when you first got to Spur, or when you were first informed that this was your mission; whichever is more relevant. I’d also like whatever information you have compiled regarding the event that precipitated her coming here.” She added, “Actually. Start with that. You physically went down to Nergal and [Witness]ed the battlefield, I hope?”

Eduard took a silent moment to respond. He said, “We were already out here in Spur, becoming citizens, when those Cinnabar Hand people killed Messalina’s village. We got tagged for her destruction when the Headmaster’s [Eyes of the Goddess] revealed she was up here. That was when we took over the investigation.” Eduard said, “No one found out the truth of the attack on Eidolon until it was too late to [Witness] the destruction of Messalina’s village. From our and the Headmaster’s subsequent investigation, and through several stories told by the survivors of the attack, we pieced together a series of likely events.

“The Cinnabar Hand show up in Eidolon, aiming for the Life Binder’s village. They immediately take the bodies and assume the forms of the less important members of a merchant caravan that is rumored to bring supplies to the Village.” Eduard said, “Four days later, Messalina rips out of the deeper forest like a tornado, flying in the sky, covered in ripped, dirty cloth and thousands of ghosts, looking like a dark blot on Reality. She then tears through every trading post that the caravan usually traveled through before they arrived at her village, killing absolutely everyone and harvesting their souls, strengthening her own soul storm. She does this all the way to the front gates of Eidolon. The city has had two hours of warning, at this point in time. They’re not ready for the Life Binder.

“An older woman steps out of those gates and confronts Messalina, crossing her hands over a gnarled cane. The old woman is barely able to stand. Messalina stops. Her storm surrounds the old woman, blocking the view from the outside. And then the storm and Messalina suddenly disperse, leaving the old woman’s body on the ground; dead.” Eduard said, “Her name was Wynding. She was the innkeeper for ‘The Dutiful Maid’; one of the better respites just inside Eidolon. Everyone knew her as a tough yet fair kinda lady, though there were more than a few people who were happy to see her dead, but these were all normal dislikes and a few open hatreds. There were no detractors or otherwise deemed to be overly invested in Wynding’s death.

“[Witness]es, conducted by Eidolon’s people, cast on the location of Wynding’s death, reveal that Wynding and Messalina had a telepathic, face-to-face conversation. Neither of them gave any indication of any words spoken. Usually there are sub-vocalizations that a good [Witness] is able to pick up, but there was nothing.

“Everyone who knew Wynding was completely unsurprised that she was willing to stand up to Messalina, but they were all surprised it worked. Wynding was thoroughly investigated. Whatever she said to Messalina must have been a private thing. They obviously had some sort of connection, but further investigation revealed nothing.”

Eduard said, “After that, we came back to Spur and went to work. Our [Familiar]s scoured the area of the Crystal Forest that the Headmaster’s [Eyes of the Goddess] declared to hold Messalina every single day. Every day, they found nothing. But Messalina found us, for sure.

Eduard breathed deep. He sighed. He said, “That’s when the Dream Worms started. At first, they were innocuous things. Normal dreams we never would have taken for anything other than normal dreams. She was feeling us out. She does that, you know. She’s probably already doing that to several people in town.” He thumbed toward the window, saying, “That bug plants the parasites. The parasites go away on their own, too. She’s really, really good at infiltration without you ever knowing, unless she wants you to know.”

Erick listened. Somewhere in the middle of Eduard’s story, Poi stepped to the doorway of the room. He was standing, so that was a good thing; it was much better than him bleeding from the eyes and ears or laying in bed for half a day. He didn’t look too bad. Poi noticed Erick noticing him, and just mouthed, ‘I’m fine.’ Erick nodded. Poi stepped into the room, listening to Eduard.

Eduard noticed Poi. He said, “I expected all the dream worms to get the Mind Mage Society up in arms, but they all said it was not their problem.”

Poi said, “I was not aware of the issue until it happened to Erick. I cannot speak for my society.”

Silverite said, “I will have to file a complaint with them, too.” She stared at Eduard, saying, “You really should have told me that Messalina was in the area, when you first found out, but I suspect that the Headmaster had a lot to do with that refusal to share information.”

Eduard said nothing.

Silverite said, “This failure to champion the needs of your chosen city is a continuation of the mark already made against you months ago when we were having a similar conversation. This splitting of loyalties is a problem, Eduard.” She sat back in her chair, saying, “But I know you are in a difficult position, and I am not up for fighting Oceanside. Therefore, I will simply say that I wish for you to be more open in the future.”

Eduard said, “Thank you.”

Mog asked, “What methods have you used to search the Crystal Forest?”

“Standard grid searching, mostly, but we’ve done it all. Expanding spiral. [Stonesense] searching. Fractured light searching. Scent and sound searching. Linear and windways. [Scan]ing from a [Familiar]. We’ve done what we can to keep our minds separate from potential influence, but then we discovered that we had been infiltrated and then we had to go all the way back to the beginning.” Eduard said, “We were supposed to be enough to bring Messalina to the Headmaster, but the Headmaster is losing faith in us.”

Silverite frowned. She asked, “You mean: you were supposed to be enough to inform the Headmaster of her location? I know I was flippant in our other discussion on this subject, but I hope you don’t mean to actually assault and capture her alive, and then take her into Oceanside.” Silverite said, “If the Headmaster sent you out to do that then he has sent you to your deaths.”

“Yes. Sorry. The first one. We’re just supposed to find her and report her position.” Eduard said, “I’ve not gotten a good night’s sleep in a while.” He added, “She is supposed to be in a roughly 500 kilometer space to the north of Ar’Kendrithyst. This actually includes Spur, but you would know if she was inside your city, right?” He asked, half desperate, “You’re not actually harboring her, are you?”

Silverite answered, “Spur is not hiding Messalina. After the recent trouble with the Daydropper, Merit has done her utmost to see that all the hiding spaces of the city are known.” Silverite said, “But just finding Messalina shouldn’t be this difficult, if she is actually where his [Eyes of the Goddess] says she is.” Silverite said, “At this point, I agree with you that there is only one more place to search, but Cloud Giant cities are no small thing.”

Eduard said, “I can’t go to the Headmaster with an idea of where she is. I need actual proof.”

Silverite said, “Whatever the case, Messalina will respond to the Flare Couatl’s death and this discussion. It shouldn’t take her long, but it also shouldn’t be a deadly response.”

All the bluster and emotion seemed to drain out of Eduard, as he said, “I still don’t understand why you all don’t consider her a major threat, on the level of Shades. She extracts souls and turns people into abominations.” He stood up, saying, “I have to go. I’ll give you copies of all our information as soon as I can.” He turned to Erick, asking, “How long will your [Ward] last?”

“Uh.” Erick paused in thought. Soon, he said, “I don’t know how to keep track of which [Ward]s my Ophiel create. I need to practice that. It could last a few days, or less, depending on if I need to reuse that Ophiel.” He added, “Which is a strange thing to think since they’re never actually ‘used up’ and none of them are numbered. I have testing to do.”

“Days?” A wide smile crossed Eduard’s face. He said, “That’s more than enough. The three of us just need one night, for a good, safe sleep. After I’m done here, I’m going to crash in bed. Thank you, Erick.”

Silverite smirked, glancing at Erick. But she said nothing.

Erick said, “I’m sorry to hear that she was parasitizing you all this time. I didn’t know. I thought my own experience with her was bad enough. I couldn’t imagine months of that sort of torture.” He added, “I heard after the fact that I was a very unkind person.”

Silverite said, “If you are ready to crash, then you can go ahead, Eduard. I have enough, for now. Thank you.”

Eduard nodded. “Then. If you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to be ambushed by that creature before I can make it home. So.” The air blipped cyan. Eduard was gone.

That was an enlightening conversation, but there were other problems to discuss, too.

Erick turned to Silverite, “The people who you assigned to my house? Turock and Veel.” He demanded, “What the hell, Silverite! They got blasted away by half a second of that Flare Snake! What—”

“I know!” Silverite interrupted, saying, “I know. I did not assign rookies to defend your house while you were gone. Please don’t think me that much of a fool.” She said, “Turock and Veel were more than capable of protecting this place from most intruders. Both of them were trusted Scions of Strength, both of them were Juggernauts and in the Army for years, and we were only exposed to the Flare Couatl’s flare for but a brief moment.” She said, “My only guess is that those two were compromised long before today, in the same way that you were.”

Poi frowned. “I talked to them occasionally. Checking in. They were Turock and Veel.” Poi straight-up asked, “Is this soul magic, now? Did we cross into that realm, yet?” He added, “Or were those two just victims of the Dream Worms?”

Erick, suddenly very worried, asked, “Can a Dream Worm kill you?”

“Not directly.” Silverite said, “But it can make you make bad decisions that seem like good decisions at the time.” She added, “And unless Messalina has changed a lot in the last 300 years, she does not operate like a normal necromancer. She has very strict rules, and one of those rules is that she doesn’t use her soul magic to alter souls. She doesn’t even mind control people. Not really. She has more than enough power over people with her Dream Worms, but she doesn’t… The Messalina I knew would not kill someone with a Dream Worm. But...” Silverite said, “This is my fault. I expected the Messalina I knew.”

Poi tsk’d. Mog grumbled.

Silverite said, “I’ll have to get Felair out here to [Witness] the scene… But maybe those two simply [Defend]ed themselves to zero Health.” She added, “I’ll have to ask Jane about them. Maybe she noticed something.” She looked to Erick, saying, “Have Jane talk to me when she can.”

Erick said, “Sure.”

But all he could think about was Messalina messing around with Jane’s soul. Jane was here, after all, living with Turock and Veel for several days already. If Messalina had gotten to them, she had to have gotten to Jane. And then Erick had a slightly different thought. Jane was here, living with those guys for several days. How was she feeling right now, now that those two were gone? Was she okay?

Poi asked, “What else do I need to be on the lookout for?”

“A lot, Poi. You should be safe inside this [Prismatic Ward], though.” Silverite added, “But… that all depends on how your [Prismatic Ward] works when cast on an enemy or on hostile magic or parasites. When you go over your house, you might find some pockets of non-dense space inside this space filled with hostile entities. Parasites or [Force Trap]s.”

“… Okay.” Erick said, thinking.

The wind blew across the windows, making a whistling sound as it caught on a corner. Normally, there were trees out there to block the wind. Normally, there was a wall to the north, also blocking the wind. Erick listened to the sound for a moment, deciding on what to do next.

Erick said, “I’m not taking the risk of leaving this house to surprise me. I will destroy the place and [Mend] it back to full.”

Mog said, “Probably for the best.”

Erick said, “I need to go back and get Teressa and Rats, but I’ll be back to help with tracking down Messalina soon enough. I’m not sure how, but I’ll find a way. I’ll be in Spur until this problem is resolved.”

Mog smiled faintly. Poi nodded.

Silverite said, “Good to have you back. But be careful of giving permissions to Eduard, Maia, and Ramizi. They are compromised, for sure. The last case of parasitizing that I knew about was your Dream Worming. We’ve had nothing else since then. But… I could be wrong about that, too. We’ll find out.”

“… Noted.”

Silverite stood, saying, “There is much to be done. Remove our permissions when we leave, Erick.”

Erick looked to Mog, then Silverite, saying, “Really?”

Mog frowned.

Silverite said, “Yes. Really.” She sent Erick, ‘Messalina isn’t Spur’s first evil necromancer, but now that I know to look for the signs… The only people incapable of having been compromised are you, Poi, Kiri, and the other wrought of Spur.’ With a cheerful, fake smile, she reached her hand out to Mog, saying, “Let’s go.”

Mog sighed out a little, as she put her larger, green hand in Silverite’s smaller silver talons.

Silverite added, ‘Mog is definitely compromised.’

Before Erick could process that, Silverite and Mog blipped away in a spatter of silver light.

Erick immediately removed Mog and Silverite from his permissions. He turned to Poi, saying, “She said—”

“She told me, too.” Poi added, “We might consider going back to Oceanside for the evening if you wish to leave the Mage Trio in your permissions. The emotion of pure relief coming off of Eduard when you put a [Prismatic Ward] over his house was real, but I don’t know if the rest of it was. Distance might be our best precaution right now. Besides, we have to go get Rats and Teressa.”

Erick asked, “Did Eduard’s excuse about the Headmaster not providing aid seem real?”

Poi thought for a moment. He said, “Eduard thought his reasoning was sound.” He added, “He wasn’t currently under the influence of a Dream Worm, either. I only noticed the one on you because it was active.” Poi said, “A lot of people could have latent worms in them, just waiting to activate."

“… I need to talk to the Headmaster myself. We need more help.” Erick looked around him, at the sunroom. It was almost decorated nicely, with nice, thick wooden chairs, and a nice stone table. The walls were a bit bare, and the floor was rather plain, but it was a nice room, altogether. “Fucking— I liked this room.” He touched his chair. “I liked these chairs!” A sudden rage took hold. Erick spat, “Fucking shitty parasites!”

Poi said, “I’m glad you’re able to consider it simply ‘shitty’. Silverite claims to know Messalina, but 300 years is a long time. This might get a lot more messy than parasites. Messalina is a necromancer, Erick.” Poi paled. “Soul magic is terrifying.”

Erick looked to Poi. The man was holding himself together, but he was obviously a wreck. A sudden thought exploded in Erick’s mind, demanding his full attention. “Shit! What about Jane! We have to take her out of here.” He felt cold again, as he said, “We can’t take her to Oceanside.”

The thought of Jane meeting the Headmaster with parasites in her to drive her into a rage, into possibly attacking the Headmaster… Erick’s heart sunk. Messalina could force Jane to attack the Headmaster, and Erick would have to side with Jane.

Erick took a long moment to consider that possible string of events.

“That’s a terrifying thought, Erick.” Poi winced. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have listened in on you. My walls are kinda broken right now. Everything is bleeding—” He sat up straighter, saying, “You don’t need to worry about Jane fighting the Headmaster. We can take her to Oceanside. Her dragon essence is gone. After the battle she went to the bathroom and hasn’t come out since.” He added, “She’s fine. But...” He looked up. “You can hear her from all the way down here.” He added, “Actually hear, too. Not… mentally hear...”

Erick felt several emotions at once. The thought that Poi was listening in to his own thoughts was a vague, distant concern, because other emotions took precedence. Relief that Jane was okay came on strong, yes, but there was also a weird, generalized feeling about the minutiae of life on Veird.

That anyone could just listen to people do their bathroom business would never sit well with Erick, but it was a fact that unless you walked around in [Audio Dampening Ward]s, that other people had [Perfect Hearing], and all their other senses, too.

Those emotions and feelings bounced around in Erick’s head for a hot minute. As they calmed down, Erick’s final emotion was a combination of ‘everything and everyone needs help that I can’t give them’, and a whole lotta ‘I need a nap’.

Erick listened to whatever was going on upstairs, though. He totally listened.

And… Yup. Jane was puking and moaning and cursing at her own life in the upstairs bathroom.

Erick sent, ‘Jan—’

A massive pang of mental shock slammed into Erick’s psyche. Luckily, the [Prismatic Ward] around his house and his own [Personal Ward] were both rather strong. Instead of a splitting headache, his skin just flickered white for a brief, tiny moment.

Jane filled the house with her voice, “DO NOT DISTURB.”

Erick winced, as he whispered, “I guess the dragon essence is gone?” He turned to Poi, saying, “I’ve got to prepare to make this new spell to fight off other possible Flare Couatls. What are you going to do?” He immediately followed that up with, “Are you okay? You collapsed out there. And your ‘walls are bleeding’? What the heck, Poi.”

Poi smiled small, as he said, “I’m okay. Thanks for asking. But don’t ever tell anyone I ever said that bit about the broken walls, please.” He looked around the room, said, “It actually feels really good to be inside this [Prismatic Ward]. I’m at Rest without Meditation. I can do strenuous magic and not break that Rest.” He added, “I would like to be gone from here and then come back with proper help. If the Headmaster won’t give it, then there’s another place I need to go, and you can’t come with me there.”

“Okay. Well. Sure..” Erick stood up, saying, “Where’s Kiri?” He added, “Jane’s not going to like moving.” He said, “I really feel like we’re relaxing too much. Even Silverite seemed calmer than her normal calm.” He looked around. “Oh my gods is this [Prismatic Ward] a drug?!”

Poi laughed, saying, “Maybe.”

Erick’s eyes went wide—

“Relax!” Poi said, “I saw the box. This [Ward] is not a drug. Silverite was just finally able to relax for the first time in… ever? Oh.” Poi paused. He said, “Now there’s a thought.” He continued, “Eduard was finally able to relax as well, but he’s just a human and he’s been under a lot of magic-induced stress. Mog… I think Mog was compromised. I’m not sure how. I don’t know soul magic. Probably a latent Dream Worm.” He slowly stood up, saying, “But you’re right. We’re relaxing too much. We were just under attack. We’re still under attack. We should evacuate to a safe distance and come back with more help from the Headmaster.”

Erick looked around again. Then he asked, “Where’s Kiri?”