Ar'Kendrithyst

Dinner was delicious. Kiri outdid herself with the meat pies. Erick needed to up his own food game, too, especially with all the strange and delicious things he saw in Oceanside. He also needed to find that fruit that grew in Nergal called ‘Tarip’, and see about making real coffee and actual chocolate.

But for now, Erick rested in his room, while five Ophiel held a chain of thought into the center of Glaquin. Jane was somewhere around there, for sure.

‘Jane? Can you hear me?’

Moments passed.

‘Hay, Dad! Howsa joo ban? Yo woods song fungi.’

… Erick added a few more Ophiel to the chain.

‘Repeat that, please?’

‘Oh. That’s better.’ Jane asked, ‘What changed?’

Erick smiled at the ceiling of his room, sending, ‘Five Ophiel were supporting my message across the world, but now seven are. Did you know you can piggyback the signal like this?’

‘Nope. I did not know that.’ Mirth flowed through the connection, as Jane sent, ‘How’s Oceanside treating you?’

‘Oceanside is pretty great. Already met the Headmaster. I didn’t see him in his true form, but there’s no doubt that he’s a dragon.’ He asked, ‘Hey? What were those game masters called? The ones that created the games that you played?’

‘Game Masters.’ Jane laughed. ‘Why?’

‘Because people in Oceanside make dungeons to support the growths of slimes, and then they harvest the rads inside.’ Erick added, ‘Everything is stupid expensive, here.’

‘I’ve heard a little bit about that.’ Jane said, ‘The practice is illegal in the Crystal Forest, but that doesn’t really stop people, and enforcement is rather low. Al is technically a dungeon keeper, but he never uses the term.’ She asked, ‘Are you going to become a dungeon keeper?’

‘No. Well. … No. It’s just amazing that I’m learning stuff again.’ Erick said, ‘Oceanside is nice, Jane. I’m going to take classes and learn about cultures and laws and magic! I haven’t felt this way in decades.’

‘I’m glad.’ Jane sounded both happy, and a little sad.

Erick asked, ‘What’s going on with you?’

Jane said, ‘Hunting slimes in exposed, old lava tubes, funnily enough. They each only have a few Flame Essences, but its only a matter of time before I’m ready for the unicorn. Maybe another two weeks.’

‘You’re not too lonely out there, are you?’

‘… I’ll be back in civilization soon enough.’ Jane quickly added, ‘Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself. You’re the one with a target on your back.’

‘Yeah yeah. Speaking of targets:’ Erick said, ‘Caradogh Pogi, the Lower Trademaster of Portal, you remember him? Anyway: That asshole got Yetta and all those people who bargained with me for rains and gems, to destroy their gems, and tell me to go away. I’m going to make this [Gate] network and fuck Caradogh over, though. Just watch me do it.’

‘… You’re gonna make me start worrying about you again.’

‘I am well aware of the problems. This would be a catastrophic change to a vast majority of life on Veird, so I won’t do it right now. But if Caradogh wants an enemy, he’s gotten one.’ Erick added, ‘Though I know full well that turning Spur into a breadbasket is already dangerous.’

‘… Are you really aware of what you’re already doing, though?’

‘Yes. Spur prospers, so Portal has less trade, which means less money for those people in charge down there, which means I have a target on my back. This is very simple stuff, and I understand all of it. Doesn’t mean I won’t keep doing the right thing.’ Erick said, ‘I just wish there was more room for advancement, and less people on the top making that advancement difficult specifically because any advancements at all would upset their bottom line.’

‘That bottom line also supports militaries which drive back the monsters.’ Jane said, ‘Portal is home to a million people, at least, and their entire economy is based on trade across the Letri Ocean.’

Erick sent, ‘Well maybe I could just solve this entire problem with providing a [Gate] network for Portal to control.’

A moment passed.

‘That’s one idea.’ Jane asked, ‘You don’t really care about the money you’d make from the network, do you?’

‘Not really.’ Erick said, ‘What I want to do is kill all the Shades.’ He added, ‘Making Spur a launching point for the world to attack Ar’Kendrithyst is a good idea. But, of course, then you’d have a [Gate] sitting next to the Shades, and that would be a bad idea.’

‘I don’t think Silverite would want a [Gate] network in her town, anyway, for exactly that reason. I’m pretty sure she’s humoring the threat you made because it makes her look good and the people of Spur want the farms.’

‘Gods. I really shouldn’t have boasted about making a [Gate] network.’ Erick said, ‘[Gate] is a weird spell. Oh! That reminds me. What do you remember about quantum tunneling?’

‘Uhh…’ Jane paused for a moment, then spoke as though reading a remembered sentence, ‘High energy quantum particles can sometimes cross thin barriers, where classical mechanics say they shouldn’t be able to cross. Not sure what that means, though.’

‘That’s a heck of a lot more than what I remembered.’

Jane sent, ‘I love you, Dad. I got to go. I see more slimes that need eating.’

‘You are taking care to remove the rads you might accidentally eat, aren’t you?’

‘Of course.’ Jane said, ‘Might have enough saved up to fund the rest of my trip, if it doesn’t get too expensive.’

‘Love you, Jane. Good night.’

‘Good night, Dad.’

- - - -

When Erick woke, it was a rapid morning of prepping his speech on blackboards in an unused room. He had given the lecture a few times before, and even expanded upon it with Kiri, but he wanted a cohesive set of words and ideas to present to the archmages; not a jumble of words and the mostly-formed thoughts he had given to those back in Zago's classroom.

Kiri helped to organize what Erick was going to say and Erick was happy for the help, even if he might have mentioned a few things he maybe shouldn’t have mentioned. But this was do or die time, and Erick needed to be prepared. If he couldn’t trust Kiri to do the right things with the knowledge she was getting from him, then he shouldn’t have ever accepted her apprenticeship, and he certainly shouldn’t have accepted these bargains of trade from some random archmages approved by yet another archmage who only allowed himself to be referred to as ‘the Headmaster’. This whole string of events was risky, but it was a risk Erick had decided to take.

Poi came into the room half an hour to go-time. “Sir.”

Erick turned from writing on his fourth blackboard, asking, “Yeah, Poi?”

Teressa stood behind Poi, while Rats stood beside Teressa.

Erick saw the group, and felt a sinking feeling. “What’s up?”

Poi said, “We cannot protect you from archmages. We will try, but we cannot. If something should happen, you must escape, however you are able.”

Erick looked to Poi, and Rats, and Teressa, and said, “You three should stay here.” He immediately turned to Kiri, adding, “You, too.”

“Hell and Celes no!” Kiri said, “No way.”

“That’s not happening,” Rats said.

Teressa added, “We’re going to try, sir. But the fact is, is that we’re nothing more than a temporary nuisance compared to the power of six archmages.”

“Six?” Erick asked, “Who’s the— Oh? The Headmaster, right.”

Poi frowned a little, then said, “No…” He breathed, then said, “Archmage Opal has decided to participate in this congregation of archmages.”

“Really?” Erick laughed a little, saying, “She’s actually here? I finally get to meet her?” He switched back to the main topic, “That’s not important. If you guys are in danger, then you shouldn’t go. But I am going. I want those bargains of trade.” He added, “Unless you think I’m walking into a trap.”

Poi said, “I don’t believe it is a trap, but there is a danger. Opal is aligned with Spur, wholly, so we might have two archmages against the other five and the Headmaster, if that is how it turns out.”

Kiri must have finally had enough. She spat out, “I cannot believe that you all would think that the Headmaster would allow such a thing to happen!” Kiri said, “Honestly!”

“I totally think that he would,” Erick said. “He has to think of the rest of the world.”

Kiri just went still, like weights had fallen and she didn’t know how to pick them up again. She said, “I mean… Yeah. I can see that.”

Poi said, “We’re going with you if you are truly doing this, sir. I just needed you to know the score.”

“Thank you, Poi.” Erick said, “You don’t have to go, Kiri, if you don’t want to go.”

“… I’m going,” Kiri decided. “For sure.”

Erick looked around at his people, and saw Teressa missing her head, and a hole in Rats’ chest, Kiri clutching her missing arm and Poi barely able to stand. And then he banished those thoughts. Today was either the end, or the beginning; he would either gather the power to protect himself, or they would kill him for the disruption he presented.

Erick held no illusions about what today’s lecture really meant.

Hopefully, he could convince them of the benefits of Particle magic, or at least let them know that this magic was not going away. A door had been opened. The powers of this world needed to get some sort of control on the situation, and Erick was here to help.

Poi nodded, then left the room, with Teressa and Rats following him away.

Erick went back over his blackboards, while Kiri helped him organize everything. As moments stretched to minutes, Kiri’s demeanor shifted from resigned, to strong willed. For her, too, today’s lecture would be a vast change. Erick wasn't the only one getting introductions to a small snippet of archmage society.

A green fire lit in Kiri’s eyes, like today was the beginning of the rest of her life. It was a little scary to see that fervor in Kiri’s sight, but it helped Erick get into the right mindset. He needed to be a little more ruthless than normal, for he had no doubt in his mind that these archmages today would each be just as ruthless toward him.

- - - -

Erick strode down the stone stairs of an amphitheater classroom large enough to hold two hundred students. This classroom was at the very top of Central Tower. The walls and floors and desks were cream-colored stone, while the ceiling was a stone and glass roof, and the sky beyond a perfect blue. The sun shone down, illuminating the room, setting the stone to slightly sparkle, as though diamond dust had been pressed into the rock. Maybe it had.

Erick was the only archmage in the classroom right now, but others were there. Krigea, of course; she showed Erick the way to this room. All of Erick’s party stood near the back of the room, while Kiri followed Erick down the stairs, holding his bag. Professor Rue sat in middle seats, to the side, out of the way, smiling and waving to Erick, as Erick looked to her. He waved back, saying “Hello,” as he continued to the professor’s podium and stage.

When he stepped down into the moat of space between the student seating and the professor’s stage, a blip of golden light revealed the Headmaster near the podium. The ancient emperor of a man stood atop the professor’s stage with a wide, bright smile, and sparkling amber eyes.

“Good morning, Erick.” The Headmaster said, looking around; probably spying the [Scry] orbs here and there. Erick watched as a spike of intent from the Headmaster popped several of them with extreme violence. He seemed to clap the very manasphere with a look. The [Scry] orbs responded by invisibly, intangibly, exploding. He turned to Erick, looking like an ever benevolent emperor, saying, “Others will be arriving shortly.” He stepped down the stairs, lifting a hand back toward the stage, saying, “Your show, archmage.”

Erick walked up the stairs, past the Headmaster, asking, “What are you looking for, today, exactly?”

Kiri silently followed Erick up, making herself small as she slipped past him and got out his papers. She set some of them on the main podium, then went to work putting the diagrams up on the blackboards in chalk, exactly like Erick had drawn.

The Headmaster stepped to the first row of seats, turning to say, “Whatever you choose to give will be returned in trade, to be discharged at whatever convenience you individually decide amongst yourselves, before the lecture begins. I am merely here as an arbiter and to provide the platform for you to rise to glory, or to vanish in self-imposed hiding, before your knowledge is lost forever.”

Erick went still. He looked out across the mostly empty stone amphitheater, then to the Headmaster. He asked, “You don’t believe your society could learn this stuff? On their own?”

“It’s not a matter of believing.” The Headmaster said, “It’s a matter of being alive for millennia and knowing that, for the very first time in known history, actual progress has been made in understanding this Reality.”

“But.” Erick said, “Other planar people certainly had this knowledge.”

“That might be true.” The Headmaster stood in the seating area, in the front row, saying, “But none of them were able to act upon such knowledge before you came along. We do have accounts from many other planar people in the libraries, if you would like to look over them sometime, but I have recently reread many of them and almost all of them either had no idea how their own magics worked— Ah. No. ‘Technology’ is the proper word. Many of the other planar people to pass through Oceanside spoke of Script-like entities governing the worlds they came from. Most of them had no idea how their accoutrements of daily life functioned. Most of them were completely unable to adapt to the Script, too.”

A blip of bright red flashed to the side of the room, in the seating area.

The Headmaster reacted first, instantly saying, “Welcome, Ryul!”

The blip of red resolved into a feathered, winged man, much like Krakina, but this man was wearing airy, barely there clothing, and jewels. Lots of jewels. And gold. A bright red coat of feathers covered his entire body and his bird-like legs, while his arms were wings, with grappling fingers and talons at the final juncture of his longest wing feathers. His face was human, with bare skin from his eyebrows to the bottom of his neck. He was rather handsome, in a birdy sort of way.

And he seemed to like Erick’s attention.

Ryul’s eyes brightened as he smirked at Erick, saying, “Hello, Headmaster. Hello, Erick Flatt of Spur.”

“Hello, Ryul,” Erick said.

Ryul took a seat exactly where he popped into the classroom, saying, “I flit around Nelboor, up and down all day long. Let me know when I need to come to Spur to return the favor of today. I'd prefer a private lesson.” He asked, “If that’s alright with you?”

The Headmaster smiled as he looked upon Ryul, but he spoke to Erick, saying, “Ryul is a headstrong warrior, but he has quite a bit of honor for such a young man of 35. I have no reason to believe he would break this kind of promise.”

Erick said, “Sure. I suppose. Uh. What’s your specialty?”

“Force Mage. Pure Force, too. None of this Altering cow shit.” Ryul leaned back in his chair, to put his clawed bird feet onto the desk, saying, “Isn’t Syllea joining us today, Headmaster?”

“She is.”

“Good!” Ryul said, and left it at that—

Because two blips of two more people popped around the room. One was clear, like thick air, but not, revealing a tall orcol woman in leathers, with the most gorgeous long blond hair that curved around her shoulders, and rested upon her considerable assets.

The other blip was dark green. A wrought, human-shaped, but black with a green sheen. She appeared behind the front row, to the left side of the room. She immediately sat down in her seat.

Ryul instantly taunted the orcol woman, saying, “Syllea! Glad to see your sorry face again.”

Syllea completely ignored the bird man.

The black and green wrought, said, “Please don’t be an arsehole today, Ryul.”

The Headmaster interrupted Ryul’s response with a raised hand. The Headmaster spoke, “As you can see, Erick, this community tends to know one another.” He nodded nicely to the orcol, saying, “Welcome Syllea.” He turned and regarded the wrought, “Welcome Tasar.”

Syllea spoke, with a warm, rich voice, saying, “Archmage Erick. I understand you wish to push back the Crystal Forest. I would like to offer my Bargain of Trade to assist you with this endeavor. It has long been my goal to retake the land from those mimics, though the matter is too large for all the magic that has come before. Perhaps with this new kind of—”

Ryul interjected, “Come on, cheepo! A bargain of trade to do something you already want? That dishonors the entire idea!”

Syllea’s face scrunched, as she seemed to hold back a deep, deep anger. She let it go, and came back to herself, saying, “We can figure something else out, too.”

Tasar said, “I would also like to just ‘owe you one’. Though I will say that I want the Shades dead, too.” She asked, “Can we leave it at that, for now?”

The Headmaster said, “All honorable choices. But the matter of acceptance is up to you, Erick.”

Erick had plans for some of the archmages in attendance, but he had no idea what he wanted from these people, so he said, “Sure. We can leave it at that, for now.”

An orange blip interrupted further discussion. An aging, white and tangerine mottled dragonkin stood near the top of the room, near Erick’s companions. Poi visibly startled to see the dragonkin. The dragonkin didn’t seem to care about Poi, though there is no way he [Teleport]ed blindly into the room; he had appeared exactly where he wanted to appear.

“Welcome, Hocnihai,” the Headmaster said. “One of Oceanside’s truest friends, and a Warder of great respect.”

Poi’s eyes went utterly professional. His stance turned solid. He watched, and did not react, as the tangerine dragonkin blipped again to a different seat, five meters away.

Hocnihai said, “I almost hit the right seat.” He sat down. He said, “The Wasteland Kingdoms would like to pledge support to Erick, on my behalf. Not quite sure how long these bones are gonna keep grinding along.” He chuckled at his own joke, before coughing a bit, and straightening up in his seat. “Damn age.”

Erick said, “Glad to meet you, Hocnihai. I’d love to see your country some time and help with some of your toxic monsters. But I would like assurances of non-violence before I do such a thing.” He added, “And personally, I would like help with both a [Prismatic Ward] and the [Reflection] suite of spells.”

Hocnihai smiled, to say, “I would love to help an Avowed Pacifist with these spells. How’s your [Prismatic Ward] come along so far?” He added, “Variable multiplier, permissions, and size. But if you’d rather not say here, we can talk later.”

Erick looked around the room at the interested faces, and decided to just answer, mostly because Kiri had thought it impressive, and this seemed to be a test from the old mottled dragonkin. “Three-fold Variable, medium sized, and full range of permissions.”

Kiri cracked a chalk behind Erick. She quickly mumbled something small as she picked it up and went back to setting up Erick’s lecture; she was currently drawing water molecules on the blackboard.

“Ah ha!” Hocnihai laughed again, then said, “Good show. Too bad you’re not a Warder. I can work with this. Consider the bargain struck. I’m not allowed in Spur, so I’m afraid I’ll have to teach you while we’re both at Oceanside. I’ll be here for a while, maybe a week.”

“Sounds fine to me,” Erick said.

The air blipped five seats down from the Headmaster, revealing a small, floating opalescent orb.

Ryul frowned at the orb, saying, “Still can’t be bothered to leave Spur, can you?”

“I cannot.” Opal said, “I wish I could, but I can’t, and that’s all there is to it.” She said, “Erick. I’ll try to teach you that [Ward Destruction] skill.”

Erick said, “Accepted.”

Honestly, Opal had already helped him out of some pretty awful jams there in the final assault on Odaali and she was a trusted ally of Spur. Erick was happy enough to have her along for the ride, even if she wasn’t truly here at all.

The Headmaster nodded, saying, “One more person—”

The air near the third row of seats blipped with the color of dull stone; grey and brown and solid.

The Headmaster said, “Welcome, Tenebrae.”

A human man resolved out of the blip. He was pale with white hair, and wore slate-grey clothing. He sat down, silently, at his chosen seat. He frowned. He said nothing.

Erick said, “You already owe me a bargain of trade, Tenebrae.”

Opal laughed loud; a singular sound to grate against the tension in the air like a knife through a heart.

Tenebrae glared at Erick. “I owe you nothing. I am here to take my recompense from your fuckup by participating in this farce of magic and hopefully getting something out of your stupidity.” Tenebrae’s voice was a harsh thing, “I would have gained so much from that Queen Daydropper, but then you intervened.”

“There was another Queen.” Erick said, “You could have had that one all to yourself. In fact, that’s exactly what I bargained for you to do, but you failed to show up and claim that one.”

Tenebrae shook his head, saying, “Bah! Who cares about some lowly level 50 shit. I had that level 90 kill in the bag. Full Participation! On my own! And then you intervened.”

Erick stood stunned.

Now… Erick knew that Tenebrae was only after the experience gain from killing the Queen Daydropper; how else could Erick have gotten 0% from that fight unless Tenebrae worked after Erick’s intervention to secure himself a larger Participation. Mog had told Erick that it was possible, so that’s what Tenebrae must have done. But to hear it stated so openly, that Tenebrae was only in that fight for the Experience of it? Erick was appalled, down to his very core.

“You’re a rather sad person, aren’t you.” Erick immediately added, “I demand full technical and magical knowledge of your floating castle as well as a [Teleport Gate] or whatever it is that the wyrms guard in the forests north of you.”

Tenebrae glared at Erick, then said, “Agreed. Arsehole.” He added, “Maybe you can figure the damned thing out. I’m done fucking around with that piece of trash. And you’ll get the plans to my City, and nothing else! No tours. No help with your spellwork. You hear me?”

Talking to Tenebrae was like getting punched in the face. Erick rolled with it. He said, “Fine. Deliver the plans to me here, and the gate can go—”

“I can’t move the shitting thing. Idiot.” Tenebrae said, “I know where a good one is, and that’s all the help you’re getting from me.”

Opal’s orb vibrated, “I’ll help with investigating the Teleport Gate.”

Syllea stood up from her seat, her long blond hair flowing around her leather-clad body. “I too, would like to help with this.”

The Headmaster said, “I would be very interested in recreating a functional [Gate] network.”

Tasar’s green eyes seemed to glow amid her black, metal skin. “I want to be a part of this, as well.”

Ryul flicked his red wings out across the table, relaxing, saying, “Not me! I got enough stuff on my schedule.”

“Don’t count on me for any adventures.” Hocnihai scratched at his orange and white scales, saying, “Busy busy.”

Erick looked around the room, from face to face. Some of them were friendly, others decidedly crotchety. No one seemed overtly hostile, though.

This was good.

Erick said, “Okay. Sounds good.” He turned to the blackboards behind him. They were filled with the diagrams Erick had made, along with Kiri’s handwriting, listing parts of the pictures. Kiri stood to the side, patiently waiting. Erick smiled, then said, “Thank you, Kiri. Looks good.”

Kiri bowed ever so slightly, ever so quickly, before stepping further to the side, almost completely off of the stage. Erick turned back to the podium, to look over the notes Kiri put there, and grinned again. He looked up at the faces in the crowd. The Headmaster had no papers or pens in front of him, but everyone else did. They were all seated; ready and waiting.

Erick began, “I’ll answer questions near the end. This might take a while.”

It took Erick two hours to get through the lecture he had designed with Kiri’s help. They all took a break for lunch, and then came the questions.

The questions lasted two hours, and Erick's lecture soon became a round table discussion affair, with only Tenebrae opting to watch from the side. Rue, also, did not directly participate. Demonstrations were made of [Call Lightning] and [Exalted Storm Aura] and [Crystallize Diamond], which everyone was surprised to learn was not a Particle Mage only spell.

After that, the other archmages decided to show off their own spells.

Erick gained five new particle spells, but they were nothing special. The Headmaster had a water extraction spell that could dehydrate a monster, but was demonstrated on meat to make jerky, while Ryul had a spell that magnetized iron. Hocnihai had a spell that weakened walls or could tenderize meat, or monsters, while Syllea was able to make an object somewhat heavier than water, into something lighter than water, in a way that was not the levitate magic of a common [Prestidigitation].

The only spell Erick learned with immediate practical applications was from Tasar.

It was a spell that drew the oxygen in a medium space into a smaller, concentrated space, maybe a foot across. When cast on a burning object, the object exploded, rapidly burning up. But there was a problem. And Tasar already knew the problem.

When cast on a burning object, the object rapidly burned, sometimes fast enough to be called an explosion, but if the spell was cast on a free-floating fire spell, like on the tiny flame of a [Prestidigitation] fire held atop a finger, nothing happened. Only when something was actually burning, did this spell help to speed up the process.

Erick had no answer for why this was.

The Headmaster watched the nuances of fire and oxygen, and did a little rhyme to make a Hydrogen gathering spell. Hydrogen was, of course, the other main component of Water, the molecule and parts Erick had already talked about at length in the morning.

Now that spell made a fucking fire.

And Erick got a copy of that spell; his sixth new spell of the day. And then the day was done, for now.

By the time Erick was back at Windy Manor he was both exhausted and thrilled. As he patted a gently trilling Ophiel in his lap and channeled mana across the ocean to the farms of Spur, he considered the nuances of fire, oxygen, and hydrogen.

And then it came to him.

“Oh! Right!” Erick said, “Oxygen is an oxidizer. Hydrogen actually burns, though. Oxygen does not burn.” He paused. He said, “Maybe.” He grumbled. “Ah? I don’t know if that’s right.” He looked over to Poi, cooking dinner, saying, “And can you believe that the Headmaster just went and made that spell, right there?”

Rats walked in from the front yard, carrying freshly picked potatoes, saying, “I can’t believe there wasn’t violence.”

Poi deboned fish with a sharp [Telekinesis], saying, “Violence was never a possibility. The Headmaster had that locked down tight.” He looked over to Kiri, slicing lemons, saying, “You were right.”

Kiri shuddered, sharp knife in one hand, lemon slices on the table in front of her. “That was still terrifying.”

Rats agreed, “Hell yeah it was.”

Teressa yawned in her seat by the window, saying, “Glad nothing happened.”

Erick nodded, in complete agreement.

Kiri added, “At least not right then. I bet they’re all talking about a lot of dangerous stuff right now.”

Erick nodded, in complete agreement. Then he asked, “Why would a wrought want an oxygen creating spell?” He amended, “I mean. An oxygen extracting spell?” He added, “Well. Actually. If they can take the oxygen out of metal, it goes back to being metal and not rust. So I can see how that—”

“Holy fuck!” Rats said, “Really?”

Poi and Kiri stared at Erick, while Teressa giggled, looking off into nowhere.

Poi went back to slicing up fish, casually saying, “It wasn’t an oxygen extracting spell. It was an oxygen condensing spell. If oxygen makes rust, then what Tasar had was an assassination spell, sir. She had to know this fact about rust, though. Which means she knows a lot more about particle magic than what she showed today.”

Kiri said, “That’s unfair. It also extracted oxygen. It could very well be a spell that pulls rust out of a wrought.” She added, “If that’s really all Wrought Rust is. I don’t really know.”

Rats said, “Both sides are possible.”

Erick sighed out, tired and weary, as he channeled mana across the oceans, to silver clouds that dropped platinum rain across the only green land in the Crystal Forest. He said, “Syllea seemed nice.”

Teressa said, “She is. She’s the golden girl of the Wyrmrest Tribe in Treehome, you know?”

Rats looked to Poi, and asked, straight out, “But who the heck is Hocnihai?”

Poi frowned deeply at Rats, saying, “One of the original activists of the Scaled Union, who became the Scaled Horns.”

Kiri gusted, “No shit! Really?”

"I wasn't sure until I saw him. But..." Poi said, “That man has thousands of human deaths to his name. And thousands of incani. He is a locus of the Quiet War, and you would do well to stay far away, sir.”

Erick sank further into his seat, touching the Silver Star on his chest. It was cool to the touch. It hadn’t reacted at all, all day.

Rats joked, “At least Hocnihai’s kept his numbers even.”

Kiri said, “Terrible joke!”

“Bad form, Rats,” Teressa said.

Poi just frowned and grumbled.

Erick whispered to himself, “Fucking quiet war.”