Chapter 83, 1/2

Erick stared at the ceiling, waiting for the sky to brighten even a little before he got up for the day.

And then he decided that he didn’t want to wait any longer. He got up. Ophiel did not squawk at being disturbed off of the bed; he had picked up on Erick’s emotional turmoil and had never pretended to fall asleep, like usual.

Erick went directly to his tower to get to work. He summoned a few more Ophiel, and sent them outside, on the ledge. A quick [Stoneshape] outside his window, below the Ophiel, pulled a few troughs up from the orange stone. A casting of [Call Lightning], but Shaped to the house, brought rain from the sky, filling the troughs with clean—

Poi said, “Up already?”

Erick glanced behind, then returned to face his window, saying, “Don’t worry about me.” Rain ran in tiny rivers down the window, while the city slept in the distance, and Ar’Kendrithyst loomed past that. “I can’t sleep so I’m making those rings for Delia’s group.”

A small stone door Erick had built into the side of the tower, that let in platinum rain, also let him hand off a diamond to the exterior Ophiel. As the troughs filled up, Ophiel broke the starter diamond apart, and began to make more. Some of the Ophiel held open [Cleanse Aura], wiping away thick air, while other Ophiel cast [Crystallize Diamond] under the water, spilling bubbles and contamination from the process. While that was happening, Erick turned to his completed diamond stock. There wasn’t much left—

Erick glanced back to the archway to his tower. Poi had moved on, so Erick returned to the current problem to solve.

—There weren’t many ring-quality gems left, or wrought-quality metal, for that matter. Maybe he should just make the solid diamond rings? Eh. No. He didn’t want to make something that the kids would outgrow. If most of them were Delia’s age…

Erick stopped for a moment, all thought fleeting. As his thoughts came back to him, he said, “I should help the orphanage, too.” Erick added, “And the Adventurer’s Fund.” He pondered, “Would Mog like rings, too?” He muttered to himself, “Surely, she would. Maybe for her more capable people? Hmm.”

Erick summoned a face mask and gloves and enough protective equipment to keep the diamond dust out of his eyes and out of his clothes, and went to work making blank Stat gems. Carve. Shape. Grind and polish to a perfect sphere; the exterior of the gem would become the interior, so it had to be perfect. While he worked, he thought about how to make the world a better place. Killing the Shades would go a long way toward that goal, but Melemizargo could just make more, couldn’t he?

Besides that, Erick had no idea how to actually fight a Shade and win. He wasn’t exactly sure of their strengths, but they were supposedly archmages in their own right.

… That thought made Erick pause, briefly. If they were all basically archmages, and Jane was able to kill one herself, then, not to knock Jane, but what did that mean for him? Obviously, it meant that if someone took him unaware, he’d likely die. Health was an ‘illusion’, after all, and there wasn’t much of a way to fight back against some of those situations when he was just himself. He knew all that, already. But to put that in terms of killing Shades, and they were already supposed to be really tough to kill, so what did that make him? Weak as a kitten?

He smiled to himself, contemplating his own mortality, and how the only way to avoid the problems he was facing was to run away. After all, if a Shade could die when they were taken unaware, what hope was there for him, and all his own attempts at raising his defenses?

It was like protecting a house from robbers, really. You could protect a house with locks, and gates, and heavy metal walls, and such, and there was merit in taking those steps, but if someone wanted in, they were going to get in.

But there was another solution. The solution was obvious, when he thought about it! The solution was people, of course. Erick just needed more help. He needed to surround himself with good people. Duh. ‘Get help’ was Erick’s usual go-to reaction to solve almost all of the problems he’d ever encountered. So why wasn’t that his first solution, here?

… Probably all the unusual trauma he’d suffered recently.

… And everyone expecting him, as an archmage, to sequester himself away from everyone, and to be able to pull a solution to every possible problem out of his ass, or some other location, like he was a walking Relevant Entity of the Script, or some shit.

Erick smiled as he worked.

And then he noticed a box he hadn’t thought about in a while. He paused his carving. He went to the box. He opened it, revealing a football-sized silver ball. He had enchanted the silver ball with as much All-Stat purple manalight as he could, and then sealed it with a layer of platinum rain. It should have exploded, but it did not explode. It remained. But how would anyone use such a thing? Jane as an ooze— Nope. Fire ooze. Not a workable solution.

… But if she got a metal ooze form? Maybe? Hmm. Shelve that idea for now.

A wrought could just put the silver football inside of themselves, couldn’t they? It was a miracle that the orb hadn’t exploded, though. No one would want to put ordinance inside of themselves.

Erick summoned another Ophiel, and with a gentle command, he had that Ophiel take the silver orb and ‘play with it’ for a while. Toss it around. Don’t let it hit anything except sand, maybe. Ophiel grabbed the football with an application of Erick’s Handy Aura, and a happy trill. He blipped away to a room upstairs—

Two things suddenly occurred to Erick.

One, was that Ophiel had blipped away and taken the orb without actually touching the orb, but with using [Flight of a Thousand Hands] to act as the part of [Teleport]. There was no [Blink]ing between here and the third floor rooms, after all; that was definitely a [Teleport]. So how did that work? Was it the ‘intent’ part of the Handy Aura, that functioned as a bridge to [Teleport]’s requirement?

Two, was that Particle Magic was a nice way to help the people of Veird advance both scientifically and against the monsters, but all of the good Particle Magic was locked behind Particle Mage, and was therefore likely never going to become a part of the magics necessary to truly fight off the Darkness. What was needed, was firepower against the Dark, and any method to gain that firepower and distribute it among the people would be a good thing.

… As long as ‘the people’ in this scenario were all people like Erick, who abhorred killing others. Monsters were fair game, though.

And in addition to ‘Two’: Erick already had a good method for increasing one’s firepower, that wasn’t just the rings he was making. It was a method that was already a part of the Script, already open to almost everyone, and had already proven itself to work three times. Finding the right sort of people to teach might be difficult, and there would be some ethical concerns going forward regarding the treatment of magical constructs, maybe, but...

Erick watched the four Ophiel outside his window as they created diamonds in the troughs below. Ophiel chatted with himself in trills and whistles, singing a tiny chorus of storms and night, while the sky rained itself out and the stars reappeared.

Ophiel was a really good [Familiar], wasn’t he?

- - - -

The sun rose in the east, painting the sky outside Erick’s southern window with purples, then reds, then yellows, as twilight came and went, eventually filling the sky with blue.

Erick continued to make gems.

When Kiri woke and wandered into his tower, carrying breakfast and coftea on a tray, he gladly took a break to eat. He wasn’t ready to tell her of his ideas quite yet, but she asked if she could help, and yes, she could. Erick sent her out after some wrought-iron for some rings; then she could help make gems.

When she came back with the metal, she commented on the prices she saw down on Market Street. As the two of them worked on diamond spheres, they spoke of the goods flowing into Spur. Clothes and weapons and all other finished goods were more or less unchanged, but fabrics and metals and ore and anything else unfinished? They were half as much as they were before Portal’s embargo.

One out of every five stores on Market Street were still closed, their operators targeted and assassinated by Caradogh’s attack, but those stores that were open were all selling at a discount. 20% or 30% less in most cases. One posh alchemy shop was even half-off the entire store. Apparently the alchemy shops were all in the same boat on that one; they were all selling at least half off. And all of them were packed, too.

And those were just the shops.

The grocers and the restaurants, the diners and the bakeries, especially the bakeries, they were all absolutely packed with people, and fresh goods, even this early in the morning. Everyone was happy for the return of the rains.

Erick occasionally glanced up to look south, at the line of green growing a kilometer away, and at the stone gazebo visible to the far right, outside his window. It was still an hour to go-time, but people were already out, getting ready for today’s rain. He sent an Ophiel to wait in the gazebo. When Rollo and Calizi showed up and gave him that signal, Erick set an Ophiel out on top of the tower. Platinum rain fell right on time, as he and Kiri continued to make and then enchant gems. Kiri still wasn’t able to make the proper purple maskward, but she didn’t need to, right now. Erick made the maskwards, but both of them imbued Stats into the round diamonds.

Erick sent Kiri out to fetch sandwiches from Jane’s favorite shop, Meat! Bread! Cheese!, before the rain stopped; they would get too packed for Erick’s liking if he went for sandwiches after the rains. By the time she returned, her arrival with lunch was accompanied by clear skies, and the end of the day’s rain.

Poi ate lunch with them. Teressa showed up soon after, and ate her two sandwiches with gusto.

In another hour, the first 600 rings were done.

By that time, Erick had formed a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do, going forward. He gathered Teressa and Poi and Kiri together, in his tower, to ask their opinion about teaching others how to make a [Familiar] like Ophiel. He spoke. They listened.

No one said anything.

After a minute of silence, Erick said, “Well?!”

Kiri offered, “I think you should create some water gathering particle spells so that they don’t need your rain all the time. The current water-from-air spells are much too low-power for anything except niche needs. Easy water has less of a chance for catastrophic side effects than your [Familiar]-for-everyone idea.”

Teressa said, “People don’t need more power.”

Kiri continued, “A minor version of your [Exalted Storm Aura] would put way too many alchemists out of work, though. So maybe hold off on that—” She added, “Oh. You can’t create that spell without Particulate Force, anyway. No one can combine [Grow] with a Particle spell right now.”

Teressa stressed, “Make the ‘easy-water’ spell.”

“Okay okay.” Erick filed away ‘[Easy Water]’ in his mind, but returned to his ‘[Familiar]s for everyone responsible’ idea, “I don’t want people like the Red Dot mage learning how to fight through [Familiar]s with independent mana pools.” He looked to Kiri, saying, “But there are more responsible people out there in the world besides just you and Sizzi.”

Poi almost said something, but suddenly stopped. He looked stuck. He remained quiet.

Kiri looked from Poi to Erick, and continued, “Sure. But Rats left after he got what he wanted. Do you want that to happen again? I don’t want that to happen, at all, ever again.”

Teressa got a dark, angry look on her face, as her lips became a thin, hard line.

Erick said, “I don’t want to hold people under my power forever, Kiri. Not you, not Rats, not anyone. I’m sure when you’ve gotten Particle Mage you’d go on to make your family back in Odaali safer, wouldn’t you?”

“Fah!” Kiri said, “They’re perfectly safe! I’m staying here. I managed to snag you as my teacher until I say otherwise, and I don’t ever see myself saying that.”

Erick felt a wonderful flicker in his chest, like a gentle heat. He blinked a few times, to clear his eyes of their water.

Kiri glanced away, half-sullen, murmuring, “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

Erick smiled, saying, “Thank you, Kiri.” He continued, “But about more Ophiels: Maybe the Headmaster has some trustworthy people that could learn this method?” He stressed, “The point is to put these strong tools in the hands of those who would use them properly. Not to hoard everything for myself and those directly around me.” He added, “I recognize the need to be that kind of paranoid person, but I don’t want

to be that kind of paranoid person.” He said, “What I want is more ‘giving away potatoes to the world’ kind of thinking. There’s no way for me to order fries in a restaurant when I’m the only one who has potatoes, after all.”

Kiri declared, “That is not the same thing at all!”

“It kinda is—” Erick tried.

“No it is not!”

Poi blurted, “This secret is practically out already. Might as well go for it, sir.”

Eyes wide, Kiri rounded on Poi. “Holy gods! Sizzi blabbed, hasn’t she?”

Erick laughed. “Okay then!”

Poi went stone-cold silent.

Kiri’s eyes went wider. “Sizzi blabbed.” She murmured, “Oh. That might be bad.”

Poi frowned at Kiri, saying, “Your mental magic teacher should have told you not to draw conclusions based on what Mind Mages do or do not say, especially when it comes to specific people.” He said, “Hypothetically, Sizzi wasn’t involved at all!”

Kiri immediately exclaimed, “I hope you’re not insinuating it was me!”

Poi sighed.

Erick grinned as Kiri teased Poi. He probably should have been worried about a plague of Ophiels, or whatever, but the sheer terror of his trip to the Hole was long gone, and all he wanted to think about were more people like Kiri getting their own Sunnys, and other nice things. Depending on how Ophiel’s creation method got out, this could be a good thing! Theoretically.

Erick glanced to the boxes of gems, then to his people, and said, “I’m going to drop these off at the Church, and then I’m going to talk to Sizzi, if I can find her.” He asked, “Who wants to come?”

- - - -

All three of them came for the first half of the trip.

As soon as Erick hit the city, he realized that the journey to the Interfaith Temple would take a bit longer than it normally did, especially since it took him twenty minutes to walk past the Gardens; he chatted with farmers, making sure they had what they needed, and every time he asked, they said they were good.

But besides that, Spur was packed with people, these days. Erick liked walking everywhere, so he never brought up the subject, but with the crowds on the main streets and even seeing a few people in really nice clothes, Erick wondered about vehicles. He had seen some wagons in Oceanside that were used to get goods from ship to shop, but the true lack of wheeled conveyances in Spur seemed suspect ever since he came back from the island. People didn’t fly around here, or on floating platforms, either.

Teressa held one of two stone boxes of gems under one arm, saying, “All forms of vehicle are outlawed within city limits. Most people aren’t even allowed to [Teleport] around town, though enforcing that rule is a lot harder than the vehicle rule.” She added, “And that reminds me. Merit asked me to ask you without directly asking you if you could scan for [Invisibility] and [Force Trap] whenever you get a chance.”

They rounded the corner of a store with a line of people twenty deep waiting to get in the doors. It was a bakery; the scent of bread hung in the air like a siren’s call to indulge.

Kiri held the other box of gems in both her arms as she glanced at the bakery, and said, “That place makes the best bread, but I cannot abide those lines.”

Erick smiled. “At least they’re not waiting in lines to get any bread at all, right?” He glanced to Teressa, asking, “And why would Merit not want you to directly tell me?”

“I don’t know.” Teressa added, “I’m not going to get stuck between that sort of thing, though, so I’ve just up and told you.”

Poi spoke up, “They don’t want to wear out your hospitality.”

Erick smiled at that. And then he teased, “Do you monitor my calls, Poi?”

“No.” Poi said, “But more than a few people have dropped subtle desires that they have expected me to pass on to you.” He added, “I pass along everything that is an actual request from a known and trusted source.” He asked, “For example: Would you like to join a rookie mission to kill five mimics? Or would you like to donate all your magical knowledge to this startup mage group no one has ever heard of? Or perhaps you’d like to have a tea party every day at a different house?— Hmm. Uh.” Poi asked, “You don’t want that last one, right?”

Erick laughed, “Not at all!”

Kiri muttered, “Thank the gods.”

Erick added, “But maybe once in a while, it might be nice?”

Poi said, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Erick continued, “But, you know? I’ve been expecting to get inundated with a lot more telepathic prods than I do.”

Teressa laughed.

Kiri said, “You could probably cripple any random person who tried to contact you without your consent.”

“Noooo.” Erick brushed off that concern, saying, “It’s only like… I don’t know? A thousand damage? It’s not even real damage, anyway?”

Teressa joked, “Maybe for you.”

Poi said, “Attempting to contact someone who doesn’t want to be contacted will backlash you for half of your Health in False Damage. Most people call it mental shock. It’s like a headache, but worse. It can’t kill you, but it will make you feel horrible. If you have lower mental stats, it ‘hits’ harder, too.”

“Oh?” Erick asked, “Is there an actual calculation for that damage?”

“It’s an informal thing; not a real calculation at all,” Poi said.

Kiri added, “For the unwanted sender, the formula is half your Health plus a portion of the mana of the recipient, dependent on a few different factors, like nearness makes the feedback worse, and degree of refusal is also taken into account. A large enough refusal can knock you to the ground.” She added, “But besides that! It’s impolite to contact people you don’t know. Especially people with power. Everyone’s heard the parable of the Unwanted King.”

“I haven’t,” Erick said.

Teressa smiled, saying, “It’s about a king who ruined his nation, and yet he wouldn’t allow himself or anyone else to leave or else the monsters would overcome everything he had left. So he sent out calls to every person he knew, but he was the Unwanted King, and no one liked him. Every time he tried to contact someone to get help, they rebuffed his [Telepathy]. The damage from the feedback caused him to faint. He recovers, of course, but when he wakes, some of his people are gone. This process repeats.” She shrugged her massive shoulders, setting her new shiny silver armor to glitter in the sun. “He eventually dies alone as the monsters are closing in, The End.”

“It’s an old trope.” Kiri said, “There’s tons of literature written about him.”

They spoke of literature and stories Erick had never heard of as they walked through the busy city.

Eventually, they arrived at the Interfaith Church. Erick led the way past the vineyard, into the Church itself. An acolyte received them, then showed them through the front cathedral, where light shone down through rainbow stained glass, and the walls were made of white stone carvings.

They ended up on the right of the main church, beside an open door, where the sounds of children playing on playgrounds carried through the hallways. The acolyte knocked on the open door, informing the occupant of Erick’s arrival.

The woman beyond said, “Hello, Archmage Flatt,” as she walked to the door. She was a perfectly composed older woman with scales the color of rubies, who wore the pale silver robes of a priestess of the church. “Greetings. I’m Mother Eriliad Sands. I’ve been expecting you.” She stepped into her office, saying, “Come on inside. We can talk.”

Erick smiled. “Nice to meet you, too. I’m glad to know I’m expected.” He went into the office.

Everyone else stayed outside. The acolyte that showed them here gave a quick farewell, and went on with his business.

Eriliad’s office was homey. A large window looking south showed a sandy playground with jungle gyms and swings, where rambunctious kids played tag around obstacles, and jumped on each other, and roughhoused, and laughed, and lived. They looked happy out there, but as Erick watched, one kid played a bit too rough with another, sending the second kid tumbling into the ground. Red blood marred the sand.

A young woman in silver priestess robes rushed over to the too-rough kids and picked up both of them by the arms. The injured kid was crying, but otherwise okay. Erick couldn’t hear what the woman was saying, but every single kid nearby looked mortified, especially the one that had gotten too rough.

Mother Eriliad sat down behind her desk, saying, “I have heard that Delia Greentalon has garnered your support?”

Erick turned back to Eriliad, saying, “Yes. She has.” He sat down across from Eriliad. “She asked for me to deliver some enchanted rings here, and they’re done, so that’s why I’m here. One of the reasons, anyway.”

Eriliad kept a stoic face, but she was obviously tense. “Please, go on.”

“I was all prepared to just hand over the goods and wish them all good luck, but when I understood that you would be the one to handle this transition of goods, I wanted to speak to you about Rats— I mean. Xendross Sands.” Erick asked, “I want to know if he is okay. If he had contacted you? I understand he was going through something painful, but I never knew until he was gone.”

Eriliad kept her shoulders square and her eyes level. She was obviously controlling her response. Moments passed in silence, before she said, “He was there to oversee the Life Binder bringing me back from my Final Rest. I can’t forgive him for that, but even still, I love him as if he were my own.” She added, “He has always been an emotionally stunted idiot and it has always cost him everything he ever built. He—” She shook her head. “I cannot speak of him any more or I am liable to journey south and drag him back here by his ear.” She added, “Maybe some other day, but not now. Apologies, archmage.”

“Perfectly fine.” It wasn’t, but Erick let it be. He said, “If he wants to return, can you tell him that he is welcome to come back, but only after clearing the necessary security questions and answers, of course.”

Eriliad seemed to go softer at that. She smiled, tiny, as her shoulders relaxed. She said, “If he ever realizes his folly, I will tell him you said this.”

“Now that that is out of the way—” Erick said, “Ah. Thank you, Teressa.”

Teressa was already stepping into the room with both stone boxes. She laid them on the table in front of Erick, then gave a short bow to Mother Eriliad and stepped back outside. Erick opened the first one and set the lid to the side, as Eriliad stood from her chair to see inside the box. Silver orbs gleamed in dark settings atop strips of dark metal.

Erick said, “Each box has 5 layers of 60 rings; they just need a bit of [Metalshape] to twist into the proper shape. You could even use [Stoneshape] to properly shape them, but that ends up a bit crude— You’d know how to do this. I don’t have to tell you.”

Eriliad stared down at the bounty before her. She picked one up. She glanced to Erick, then looked at his fingers. She saw that the rings here were not the same as his own.

Erick said, “These are lesser versions of what is possible. I want to help Delia and the victims of the Red Dot, but I don’t want to give away too much power at once. This particular box of rings is unlike any you’ve ever seen; I guarantee it.” He added, “Anyway. If the kids prove to be responsible, I can make stronger ones. Can you tell Delia, that? I haven’t spoken to the Army, yet, but I’m going to make them some new rings, too, and soon.”

Eriliad held the almost-ring up, then said, “I’ll test this now, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead!” Erick added, “Do you need me to— Guess not.”

The strip of metal flowed into a ring, and settled down onto Eriliad’s pointer finger. When the dark iron settled, she gasped. “TEN TO EVERY STAT?!” She immediately took off the ring. She almost tossed it back into the box, but she didn’t. She laid the ring on her desk. She stood over the ring, staring at the artifact. “This—” She cut herself off. She thought.

Erik waited.

Eriliad sat back down in her chair with a great wumph. She said, “You’ll get them addicted to magic that doesn’t exist except from you. I don’t like that… But.” She added, “That’s what I’d say to anyone else who came here with this sort of extravagant gift. Normally, I’d throw you out of here with your shirt on fire. It’s my duty to protect these kids, you see.”

“I completely understand.”

“That said, even you can’t possibly be this giving.” She seemed to deflate, saying, “Or maybe you are?” She solidified, adding, “No. I need to know what you get out of this.”

Erick said, “I want to help those who I can help.”

Eriliad thought for a moment. She said, “I need a larger reason than that.” She added, “If I go around with that sort of story, then someone else will invent some other reason that you’re doing this.”

“Then tell them that I want to support those who can do good in the world.”

With a concerned voice, Eriliad asked, “Are you feeling guilty over what happened to the Farms?”

“Of course.” Erick barreled through whatever uncomfortable emotions filled his chest, saying, “I thought I was helping people, but then hunters got involved, and now Spur has a rapid influx of orphans due to my inability to find and kill every single threat out there, before it became a threat. If I can empower those who are left, maybe they won’t suffer as much when I try to do more good in the world.”

Eriliad looked at Erick. She said, “That seems rather demanding.”

“Knowing that my actions have consequences is rather a normal thing to recognize and ameliorate. This gift is one such attempt to lay a good foundation for whatever might happen in the future.” He added, “It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.”

“Apologies. What I meant to say is: That seems rather egotistical.” She added, “And you haven’t thought this through nearly enough.”

“… Excuse me?”

“You’re not excused.” Eriliad narrowed her eyes, then took a deep breath and a completely different tone from before. She spoke like a woman defending her children, “You don’t seem to get what this ‘gift’ would do to these kids. These rings are targets and Delia is completely unqualified to speak for her fellow recently-orphaned and this much power is NOT going into the hands of children, especially when less scrupulous people will break their little fingers to get rings that never break!” She launched into Erick, saying, “How can you possibly consider this a good idea?!” She added, “I knew you were kind-hearted, but this is completely irresponsible!”

Erick backpedaled, “They’re just 55 extra Stat points. That only costs a thousand gold every few mana pools to replace with normal gear.”

“Spur’s Care Services feeds 4500 orphaned and low-care kids every day on a thousand gold! Your idea of money is completely inflated, like all high level adventurers!” Eriliad said, “You might have killed all the nearby hunters, Archmage Flatt, but there are still rookie adventurers around here that would do awful things to children if that’s what it took to acquire a single artifact!”

Erick was taken aback. He bargained, “This method is not that special. Anyone can do it if they know the trick. These rings are nice, and nothing more.” He said, “They aren’t really ‘artifacts’ at all!”

“Then take these rings and sell them! Get them out there on the market, so that they’re not so special people would kill over them.” Eriliad picked up the ring on her desk and put it back in the box. She shut the lid, and said, “Because these rings are not going to my kids, and if you don’t want to kill them, then you won’t break like wet paper when Delia comes back to you, whining for some other way to get her hands on power she is too young to possess!”

- - - -

Erick walked out of the Church with his boxes floating to his sides.

When they were far enough away from the vineyard and Erick didn’t think his voice would crack with anger, he asked, “Was she right?” He added, “We killed every nearby hunter, didn’t we?”

Kiri said, “I’d guess that anywhere between five to twenty of the kids to get a ring would also get into serious trouble because of it, but you could track these rings, and kill whoever stole one. Everyone knows you can track people in some unspecified, possibly blood magic way, now. That’s a pretty big knock against her argument.”

“Yeah. But...” Teressa said, “That’s only possible if the kids report the problem. People would notice a body, or a missing person, so that likely won’t happen, but I doubt many would report a simple theft.” She added, “That reminds me. Merit also dropped heavy hints that she’s interested in using you to catch thieves.”

Erick asked, “What about you, Poi?”

Poi frowned. He said, “I was… caught up in the good you wanted to do, while also considering that very, very few people want to do anything against any of your interests, especially with Spur supporting almost every action you take. I considered your idea to give rings to the freshly matriculated as somewhat low-risk, and already told the Guard that there might be kids walking around with your rings on soon. Merit thought it a risk, too, but it would be simple enough to nail to the wall anyone who had a ring who was older than 17, for that would mark them as improper owners. Your ability to track them was secondary to that, but it was also brought up as a countermeasure against theft. But… Mother Eriliad is right, and also wrong, and also considerably overprotective.

“Delia and her crew are orphans in the care of the city until they turn 18, but they are freshly Matriculated. They are adults. If they choose to be adventurers, then it is not our right to deny them their journey. But… Giving someone unearned wealth never turns out as good as you think it will.” Poi said, “So I have to agree with Eriliad, but for very different reasons.”

Erick sighed out at the sky. “Then… I’ll figure out some other way to help Delia.” He said, “But I’m not selling them. So...”

- - - -

Teressa took a right inside the Courthouse, at the floating globe of Veird hanging in the center of the building, but veered left. She split off from the group to see if Silverite’s office had any [Witness] needs for the day. She’d head off to the Guardhouse next, and then meet everyone back at the house, later.

Erick, Poi, and Kiri, took a right at the globe, and split right. Erick floated his boxes just above his hands; it wasn’t an overt display of magic, but it allowed him to carry the two large boxes without much effort.

Finding the appropriate offices, Erick went inside. He bypassed rows of chairs filled with people; each of them holding paperwork and waiting for their number to be called. It did not take long to find the desk of the appropriate person. The man at that desk also saw Erick coming, and smiled.

Erick floated his boxes to his side, dropping the act that he was holding them up himself, and said. “Hello. Delivery for the Quartermaster; Liquid. 600 rings.”

The greenscale secretary, ‘Thom’, according to the nameplate on his desk, grinned wider. He tapped his desk with a talon, saying, “Quartermaster Liquid is out on business, but you can set them right here, Archmage Flatt. I’ll be sure she gets them. The Army thanks you for your donation.” He asked, “By chance… are any of them Willpower?”

“Much better than that!” Erick opened the lid to a box, saying, “Go ahead and take one.” He tried to keep the acid sarcasm out of his voice as he said, “Careful though. I’ve been told they’ll make you a target."

Thom did not seem to care about Erick’s tone. He just plucked out the ring sitting on top; the one Eriliad had formed. He said, “Yes. That is true. They do make you a target.”

Erick felt his stomach drop. “Really?” He winced. “How bad was it?”

“Not bad at all.” Thom added, “Some dumbfucks tried to steal from soldiers in the Dead City. They didn’t survive that lesson.”

By now, a few of the nearby office workers were craning their necks to see what was going on over by Liquid’s secretary. It took less than half a moment for the excitement to go to some of the people sitting down, waiting for an interview. Some of them stood up to have a look-see.

Thom slipped the ring on his finger. He exclaimed, “Plus 10 to every Stat!”

People instantly got up from their desks—

Thom glared, belting out, “Sit back down!”

Most of them sat back down. The interviewees also backed up, as someone else behind a different desk spoke like a retired drill sergeant, and told them all to get back in their chairs, before calling out the next number.

Thom turned to Erick saying, “Thank you, sir.” He smiled mischievously, saying, “Liquid is going to be thrilled

. As will the rest of us. We’ve actually run a little low. These things remove cursed objects, so we’ve actually used up almost all of what you gave us before.”

Erick paused. He asked, “Really?” Now he felt a little bad. He should have replaced the Army’s rings well before today. He said, “You guys should have said something.”

Thom smiled. “So are they all bonuses to every Stat?”

“Just the ones in that box. The other box is an even assortment of normal plus-25 Stats. 75 rings of each kind, waiting for fingers to be formed around.”

“Perfect! Great. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He added, “If that’s not enough, then send me a request for more.” He asked, “Actually. How many people are in the Army?”

“12,000, if you include the Guard. Maybe only 500 active soldiers at a time, though.” He said, “So 600 is great for our needs. Thank you.”

Erick felt a spark of inspiration. “If you want me to outfit the entire Guard and Army, just give me the word.”

Thom went speechless, but he quickly found his footing. “I’ll pass the message along.”

Erick nodded, then left them to it. By the time he neared the exit for the Quartermaster’s offices, the other people around the room could not hold themselves back. They rushed Thom, everyone wanting to see the new shipment. For his part, the greenscale man deftly yanked the boxes of rings away and retreated into Liquid’s office, slamming the door shut behind him.

- - - -

Erick, Poi, and Kiri went to the Mage Guildhouse.

Sizzi sat behind the front receptionist desk. She spotted Erick walking into the building. In that moment, she seemed for all the world like a deer facing down a semi-trailer truck on the highway. Her purple skin paled as her violet eyes went wide.

A soft looking bunny made of bright violet fur poked up from behind the counter. Its long ears twitched to see what Sizzi was looking at. At the same time, Sunny almost flew off of Kiri’s shoulders, but Kiri controlled her [Familiar] before Sunny got too far. Ophiel, resting on Erick’s shoulders and looking like a tiny parakeet, simply twittered in soft, interested guitar strums.

Anhelia, sitting next to Sizzi, but talking with a customer, noticed Sizzi’s shift and the sudden perking-up of the three nearby [Familiar]s. She glanced from Sizzi, to Erick. She paused in confusion, then her eyes went wide, too. She smiled.

Erick smiled, walking to the receptionist’s desk, saying, “Sizzi! Just the person I wanted to see.”

Anhelia said, “Why don’t you two use the room back there?”

Sizzi forced a smile to go along with a nervous chuckle, as she stood from her chair. “If you would follow me, archmage.”

The bunny hopped through the air like it weighed nothing, to alight on Sizzi’s shoulder. Somewhere between the desk and its creator, the bunny shrunk to the size of a mouse.

In one of the stone rooms Erick had once upon a time used to get his Mend-Cleanse mage quest license, Sizzi pulled a few chairs from a stack against the wall and set them out in the center of the room. She took one. Erick and Kiri each took their own chair; Poi stood to the side of the room, and closed the door.

Kiri glared at Sizzi the whole time. Right before she sat down, she spat out, “I cannot believe that you would spread Erick’s method for—”

“It was unintentional!” Sizzi sat down. Everything about her spoke of accepting a defeat; from the slump of her shoulders, to her downcast eyes. “I never meant for this...” Her bunny flopped from her shoulder to her lap, as Sizzi said, “I was on a trip to Kandahi, you see, on the Wall. Do you know where that is?”

Erick, already sitting, said, “I’m vaguely aware of the location.”

“I have family there.” As if accepting that she had done wrong, Sizzi rapidly said. “One thing led to another and I was very drunk and looking back on it, it was very stupid, because they were plying me with drinks to get me to talk about Rokkel.” Sizzi flicked her eyes up and down, causing a blue box to manifest.

Summon Rokkel, medium range, 1104 mana + Variable.

Summon an Rokkel to do your bidding. Maximum 10 Rokkel permitted.

Rokkel persist until killed or dismissed.

All Rokkel are the same creature; to know one is to know them all.

All Rokkel naturally have and regenerate mana based on your own mana and mana regeneration, which they may use to cast the spells that you imbue them with, at your own command or at their own discretion. Comes summoned and proficient with [Lightshape], [Telepathy], and [Scry].

All Rokkel are able to alter their size and shape.

Imbue your Rokkel with new spells, wherever they are. Variable

See through the eyes of your Rokkel. Variable

Communicate telepathically with your Rokkel. Variable

“Looks almost the same as Ophiel’s,” Erick said, patting Ophiel on his shoulder.

Sizzi said, “I am sorry, archmage. I know we never entered into any formal arrangement, but I acted rather foolish with the method you gave me.”

Kiri harrumphed, and shot a glare at Poi. Poi just rolled his eyes.

Erick asked, “So what’s the damage? What’s actually become of this?”

Sizzi said, “My uncle Orxan disappeared into the Magisterium, the day after I told—” She sighed. She said, “That’s a lie. I didn’t just tell. I gave a successful demonstration.” She held up her hand, palm up. A bangle of yellow metal and tiny purple stones jangled on her wrist. “Grahla. Come out out.”

The bangle went liquid as it flopped up and around her hand like a tiny ooze. Grahla took its place atop Sizzi’s palm, burbling upward, eyeing Erick and Kiri with purple stone eyes.

Kiri’s eyes went wide. “Oh my gods. You made a second [Familiar]!”

Erick smiled. “You can do that, huh?”

“Yes. You can. Grahla’s creation was as successful as Rokkel’s, too” Sizzi said, “[Stoneshape], this time.”

“How many can you make?” Erick said, “I never considered making more than Ophiel.”

Ophiel trilled to hear his name.

Kiri said, “I’ve tried, but it didn’t work for me. Sunny is perfect, anyway.”

Sizzi said, “I’ve tried for a third. Zog. I wanted to make him more real. Two seems to be my limit, for now.”

“Class ability?” Erick asked.

“No.” Sizzi said, “Well. Yes. Actually. But I don’t actually have a Class, yet. So that’s not my limiting factor.”

Kiri said, “One of the options of Summoner is the ability to turn up to your Willpower-divided-by-10 temporary summons into a new [Familiar].”

“Yes. But I’m not a Summoner, yet.” Sizzi’s metallic [Familiar] slipped back around her wrist, as she said, “As far as I can tell, the ability to make more [Familiar]s with Archmage Flatt’s method is likely tied to your Personality Limit. It’s not a real number, but more a hard limit based on biology and personality.”

Erick said, “I think I know that theory. It was called ‘Dunbar’s Number’ back on Earth, but it only dealt with how many people a person can ever really keep track of at any one time. 150, right?”

Sizzi thought for a moment. She said, “Yeah. I could see that being the right number for 10 Willpower. The Personality Limit is considered 300 random people, at 20 Willpower, though, with a much lower number for personal friends.”

Kiri said, “Yes. That’s all well and good, but let’s not forget your wagging tongue!”

“I am sorry.” Sizzi said, “Truly! It was a mistake. I did not mean to betray your trust.”

“You didn’t betray my trust, Sizzi.” Erick said, “I never expected anything I said to remain private. I just hope the fallout isn’t catastrophic.”

Sizzi frowned. “Magic isn’t treated the same over there as it is out here. They do yearly checks to make sure no unapproved person has taken Clarity or gotten their Willpower or Focus above 19. Whatever outcome comes from this would be measured and quiet—” Sizzi winced, as she realized what she had said.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Erick laid it out there, “More Quiet War shit.”

Sizzi murmured, “Sorry.” She quickly added, “But I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Orxan tried to make a [Familiar] but failed. And then there was my cousin Bex who—”

Someone knocked on the door to the room.

Poi just opened it, like he was knew who was on the other side.

When Erick saw who it was, he realized that Poi probably did know who was at the door, because of course he did; he was Poi, after all.

Sizzi spoke first, her voice tainted with worry, “Mother?—”

“Good. You’re all here.” Zago stood framed by grey stone, with sand on the hem of her black robes and flyaways poking from her white hair. One of her horns was chipped. She looked harried, but her eyes were bright violet, and focused. She said, “There has been a development with the Dead City. Come to the war room when you are done here. Sizzi knows where it is. Everyone will be there as soon as they can. Mog, Merit. Silverite and Killzone.” She did not wait for a response. She just blipped violet; gone.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Erick laughed in the face of Zago’s proclamation, saying, “And here I was, wishing it could be anything else but the Quiet War!” He added, “Serves me right.”

No one else thought him funny. He didn’t consider himself funny, either, but you had to laugh at some parts of life, didn’t you?

Sizzi got up from her chair and strode out of the room, saying, “This way.”