Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick stood in front of a mirror, looking over—

Quilatalap sighed, as ‘he’ stood in the doorway to the room. “You look fine!”

“You might have done this many times, Quilatalap, but this is my second major attempt at going incognito and if I’m going to wear this form for a while then I want it to look…” Erick looked at himself in the mirror. “I’m not sure.” Then he looked to Quilatalap. “You look great, though.”

Quilatalap was a comfortable-looking human woman a few centimeters shorter than Erick’s current height, wearing brown traveling clothes. Black hair, black eyes, pale skin and softer-than-your-average adventurer, Quilatalap did not look like he was ready for a big trip into dangerous territory, but that’s because he was so very good at this. He looked the part of a mage who could get around a battlefield well enough, but who chose to use overwhelming magic to solve all of their problems. All of his magic was either hidden or muted to acceptable levels for a slightly-above-average mage.

Erick, on the other hand, had gone for a handsome-viking-look, which was more like a ‘Underworlder look’, when translated to Veird sensibilities. Specifically, the part of the Underworld deep under Nelboor, near Geode Bluite. His long blond hair mostly fell free, but a few braids kept it out of his face, while his trimmed blonde beard was thick on his face. He was bulky, with a strong body, and clear blue eyes. He was warrior-shaped, for sure. A rather stark contrast to his old self, which was rather similar in size, but not in color or shape at all.

His voice was also deeper, coming out like a proper rumble as he asked, “Picked out a name, yet?”

Quilatalap walked into the room, smirking as he said, “Vanya Silver. ‘She’. 31. From the outskirts of Blueite, like you. Got tired of the dungeons down there, so I’m out exploring the Surface with my boyfriend, whatever your name is.”

Erick smiled. “Clark Fitte, or Celtik Raft. ‘He’, 31.”

‘Vanya’ looked at Erick for a moment, her expression was rather unsettled for a moment. “… Are these names connected to your own?” Knowingly, she added, “Are they anagrams.”

Erick easily explained, “No one should be able to figure them out without first knowing English, and knowing my whole name, and that’s a tall order. There’re some other connections that are possible to figure out, but they’re only connections based on knowing Earth History, and that’s even more obscure.”

“So a scholar of Erick Flatt with the appropriate Book Magic might be able to figure you out.”

“… No. They’re more obscure than that.” Erick relented, “Okay fine! I’ll change them up some. But I really like the idea of ‘Clark’ or ‘Celtik’. The first one more than the second one.”

Vanya shrugged her shoulders. “ ‘Clark’ is a good name… But you’re smiling too much.”

Erick had to explain. “The name ‘Clark’ is the name of a fictional... archwarrior’s mundane self, while the archwarrior’s public self is named ‘Superman’.”

“Ah.” Vanya declared, “Nope. Don’t like those comparisons; the right Book Magic will ping your name as odd, even if the caster doesn’t know the reason for the oddity. Go with the other one. ‘Seltic’.”

“How about ‘Chris’? That’s completely unrelated. ‘Chris Celtic’?” Erick had a sudden second thought. “No wait. ‘Chris’ is too close to ‘Christ’, and I don’t want that at all. Jane would make fun of me forever if I picked that one… She’d make fun of ‘Clark’, too, now that I think about it… I’ll go with Soltic Cross? That meaning is a lot more nuanced, and I’m not even spelling the word right in my head.”

“I picked my name out of a jumble of tiles in a bag and then arranged them till they sounded right, using an Undersea naming convention. It is a traditional way to name a child in certain parts of the Underworld, though that way of naming has fallen in and out of fashion for the last thousand years. My name won’t be picked up by any Book Magic at all. Yours still might.” Vanya added, “Also, your everything is too perfect. Perfect hair, perfect face, perfect ass. I’ll be amazed if someone doesn’t pick you out of a crowd instantly as either reincarnated by the Wizard, or some conceited Polymage.”

“You don’t like my ass?”

“I love your ass, but it’ll be hard enough staying undercover with you looking like that.”

‘Soltic’ smiled, saying, “The hardest part about this will be making sure Ophiel stays incognito.”

Ophiel fluffed out from his hidden perch atop the mirror, saying, “I’m here!”

Soltic chuckled. “Yes you are, Ophiel, but you’re supposed to be hiding, even if someone calls your name.”

Ophiel chirped then flickered back into invisible, intangibility. Any potential onlooker would need to have very specific spellwork to be able to see him when he didn’t want to be seen, but where they were going, someone would likely have that spellwork. Erick could make Ophiel completely unnoticeable if he were actually concentrating on that action, but Ophiel had yet to do this on his own for overlong, so Erick suspected he would have to maintain a modicum of concentration on the little guy for a while, at first.

It’d get easier with time, though. Erick hadn’t done this whole ‘incognito’ thing for more than an hour or four here or there over the years, so it would take Ophiel a little while to understand what was happening, but he’d get there. Erick had faith.

Soltic looked at himself in the mirror, and changed a few things around. A notch across his left ear, as though he had narrowly avoided a soul-carving blade. One eye gained a small stripe of hazel in his otherwise-blue irises. And then he fucked his teeth up, just a little, so his smile wasn’t quite perfect. He kept the ass, though.

Vanya laughed, then said, “I think the eye-thing made you prettier.”

Soltic changed his hair. Dirty-blonde.

… And then he gave himself a few more indelible scars across the left of his chest, as though he had gotten as good of healing as he could get, but some things could not be fully healed away.

“Better. Now you just need to put on clothes.” Vanya waggled her eyebrows. “Or we could… ?”

Soltic smiled wide, showing off a good, but imperfect smile, as he turned around and took in the sight of his girlfriend, Vanya.

Vanya giggled at the look he gave her, saying, “You should be a little taller.”

Soltic did so. He was now over two meters tall, and Vanya was decidedly not. Soltic tried out a combative tone, “Anything else, princess?”

“Oh. I like that.” Vanya looked Soltic up and down, and then haughtily proclaimed, “Acceptable.”

“I’ll show you ‘acceptable’,” Soltic said, advancing.

Vanya giggled even more.

They were delayed from departure by an hour. Neither minded.

- - - -

Preparing for actual travel through the Network was difficult, but doable, because Erick had instituted a host of measures across the entire Gate Network to combat face stealers. Most of those measures were [Cascade Imaging] based, and emplaced there through runic devices. A decade ago those measures were catching immortals-through-[Polymorph] every other day, along with even more face stealers than Erick thought possible, but these days an actual notification-of-impostor was a rarity. People had figured out how to circumvent the system, and Erick had left certain loopholes open for those types of immortals.

Erick and Quilatalap would not be using those loopholes today.

They’d be using completely different loopholes. The largest defensive measures that were likely to trigger an alarm were the ones for wrong names, but—

Vanya tapped Soltic on the arm, saying, “You’re too tense. It’s just a trip through the Gate Network.”

Soltic sighed. “We’re only halfway through the trip and I already miss [Teleport].”

“Don’t we all!” said the guy behind them in line.

Grumbling filled the air from others in front of Vanya, or behind Soltic.

The younger people in the line just looked at the older ones like they were crazy. They might have experienced a [Teleport] from a trip with a parent or something when they were children, but they never got to use the spell themselves.

Erick’s thoughts traveled back to his preparations for this trip...

Vanya and Soltic had started off their trip at House Benevolence, joining the throng of people who daily passed through the area, headed off this way or that. It was exceedingly difficult for anyone to get anything through any Gate without being thoroughly investigated with a dozen different magics, and being held up by at least a few checkpoints. But Erick cheated. Or, more appropriately, Zolan cheated, providing Erick with some fake bank accounts, but which were completely legit, and various Guild registrations which were also technically fake, but also legit. Getting that paperwork finally filled out with their chosen names had only taken a half hour.

Soltic now wore a standard Adventurer's Guild badge on a necklace that would serve as an international identification, underneath some sturdy brown and tan traveling clothes. Vanya had a Mage Guild badge that she wore as a ring. Both of them had Dungeon Guild certification, too. A backpack slung over Soltic’s shoulders held exactly the sorts of things that Soltic would normally have, along with a secondary bag that held Vanya’s stuff. It was just some clothes, both vacation and formal, some extra money, and a few minor magical items.

Ophiel held on top of the backpack, silent and unknowable as he could manage, and Erick hoped it remained that way.

They had just left House Benevolence’s Gate Network, passing the easy part of the trip.

Now, they stood under the bright blue sky, down at the coast of Glaquin, in the city of Pearl.

Soltic breathed in the salty air and allowed himself to relax a fraction, and to only use his own, current senses, which meant no Ophiel.

There had been a question of if he should use his mana senses, or not. Most people didn’t have mana senses, and for those who had mana senses, it was easy to spot if others had a mana sense. It was all in the little looks. Subtle elevations in heart-rate, when nothing should be elevating any heart rates. Also, if someone was too schooled with their natural reactions to nearby stimuli, it proved they were either a highly skilled mana senser, psychotic, nobility, in law enforcement, or some combination.

Normal people always had normal reactions, and with his mana senses up and active, ‘Soltic’ would not be having normal reactions… But Erick could fake that well enough.

He had learned a lot of good tricks over the years.

The fact was that Erick simply did not want to turn off his mana senses. In the end, they decided that Soltic was born with a good mana sense. ‘Wandering Soul’, they called the affliction over in Songli. They had also decided to never explain his mana sense if it came up, unless the question was asked by someone who actually deserved to have their question answered.

Quilatalap, however, just went without his mana sense. Erick was slightly jealous of that calmness; that capability to just… ‘turn off his worries’. Or at least ignore them. Anyway...

Soltic stepped forward a single space, following the line to the Gate, a fist clenched tight on one strap of his backpack as he and Vanya waited alongside everyone else. He was nervous, and for his background, it was perfectly normal for him to be nervous. If anyone was looking, they would just get the wrong impression about what he was nervous about.

Which was fine.

The guy ahead of them noticed Soltic’s nervousness. He was a shorter, portly incani man with dark features. “Have you been living under a rock, or something? It’s just a Gate.”

Vanya said, “We have, actually. Underworld.”

“Oh!” With actual remorse, the incani man said, “Pardon my ignorance. Is this your first time on the Surface?”

“Not exactly,” Soltic said, grumbling.

“The last time we were on the Surface we had access to [Teleport], and the Wizard wasn’t here either.” Vanya shrugged. “But I wanted a vacation up here and I didn’t want to travel the harder way to get up to the beaches of Archipelago Nergal.”

The man brightened. “Oh! The beaches are wonderful this time of year, if you’re fine with a bit of cold. I imagine you are. You two should get some good color if you spend enough time out there under the proper sun.”

Vanya smiled. “That’s the hope.”

Soltic grumbled, and the incani man retreated a fraction, reconsidering if he wanted to continue this interaction.

There were 10 groups of people between Soltic and the front of the line, here under the bright sun, but the line was going at a quick pace, with tellers calling out ‘Next!’ and people walking forward rather fast. Soltic was glad for that. The less time spent here under scrutiny the better.

Traveling out of the Gate Network at Candlepoint had been easy enough, but here, at Portal, at this Local Area Gate Network…

This was the first true test of their covers.

The incani man eyed Soltic for a moment, asking, “Are you two going into the dungeons down there?”

“Oh yes,” Vanya said, “I suspect we’ll be spending a long time in those, but based on what I have heard already… I’m not sure what to expect. What brings you down there?”

“Weekly dinner with the family, and then I might go to the dungeons, too.” The incani man brightened, as he smiled softly. “My little girls are growing up fast, and if it wasn’t for the Gate Network I would have missed watching them grow; [Teleport] was always too expensive for me, either in distance, or opportunity cost. But I’ve been using the Network for the last decade and it’s been great!”

Soltic softened at that. “What brings a man like you into the dungeons?”

The man brightened. “Every dungeon is worth something, though I find the cultivated dungeons to be mostly terrible— Except for the Grand Dungeons, of course. The cultivated dungeons down in the Archipelago are almost universally worthless; good for some quick yellow if you have the time, but they’re too delineated by far. I tried to get the dungeons near home made properly, but I was butted out of all that for various reasons. I spend most of my time over on Dungeon Island these days.”

Vanya’s eyebrows went up. “Are you a dungeon master, by chance?”

The man smiled. “I am!” He held up his hand, showing off a Dungeoneer Guild badge that was in the shape of a bulky silver ring. “You noticed.”

“Maybe,” Vanya demurred. “I’ve tried my hand at those things, too; Delving, mostly.” She held up her Mage Guild ring. “I’m Mage Guild, primarily, but the dungeons are rather great.”

The man’s eyebrows went up. “Have you tried any of the Grand Dungeons? They’re—”

A teller called out for the next person in line, which was the man in front of Soltic and Vanya.

“—OH! That’s me.” The man walked forward, saying to Vanya, “The name is Golariz Poloi. It was nice to meet you…?”

“Vanya Silver.” Vanya gestured to Soltic. “And the silent one is Soltic.”

Soltic nodded. “Goodbye.”

Golariz smiled a little as he turned and walked away to the teller, his bag floating at his side.

A teller called out for the next group.

Soltic and Vanya found themselves standing before a goldscale dragonkin with a book sitting in front of him that was not a book at all. It was more a sculpture of a book, made out of base iron, with a bunch of runic letters on it, and enchanted with a bunch of normal enchantments that were all fed by the local Node Network. You couldn’t tell that from the outside, though. Back in Candlepoint, Erick had strung his Node Network through the sky, but here at Portal the Node Network was buried in the walls and the ground.

With his fingers hovering over the runic book, with little rubber stoppers on his talons, the goldscale asked in a dispassionate voice, “Spell your names, please, and state your purpose of visit.”

“Vanya Silver. Soltic Cross.” Vanya spelled their names, then added, “Pleasure and Delving.”

A tiny light flickered blue above the iron book; the truthstone returned ‘true’.

Vanya could fool a truthstone. Soltic could, too, but Vanya was more comfortable with lying, so Vanya took the lead.

The teller barely cared. He tapped away at his book, lights flickering upon every rune as it was touched, magic filtering through the local system and then all the way back to all the rest of the Network, checking their names against established files. And then the teller flicked a button at the side of the iron book, and the light came on again, turning blue.

Now that whole thing right there was a rather insidious travel safety mechanism.

All names were logged in the Gate Network, through the Node Network, and if ever a dangerous name popped up then the system would get a log, and that log would be reported to House Benevolence itself. The light would turn red if it was a minor infraction that needed clarification. If there was a major problem, then the light would remain blue, but someone at the House would be alerted. Or, since this was Portal’s Local Area Gate Network, someone here in Portal would be alerted.

They’d also be alerted if this were the very first time that Soltic or Vanya used the system, but since they had used the system over in Candlepoint, that particular foible of security didn’t touch them. Still, though, there were so many ways to evade this system. This way of doing things didn’t catch everyone, but it did catch most normal people, and that was enough to scare away most everyone from trying shit. If Vanya had spelled their names differently, for instance, then that’d warrant a look-see from the local powers.

There was an easy solution to all that, though; a way for someone to evade the system and go unnoticed. But it required the inside help of someone from House Benevolence, which wasn’t that hard to achieve. Bribes, coercion. Whatever.

The system was a sieve, and Erick hated that for so many different reasons. Mostly, he hated that he needed to make the sieve at all.

It wasn’t that difficult for Soltic to look like the disgruntled man he was.

All this security was absolutely necessary for the safety of the system, but it smacked of Big Brother. Erick did not like that this was his life now; that he had made this happen this way. Even years later, he still didn’t see any other alternatives to this system, though. They had tried so many different ways, and when the system had been completely open… Bad things had happened.

And so, they had adopted this system that the various Guilds and both Geode and Mage Bank used to keep things in order, though their systems were considerably more secure. All in all, this way of doing things was probably fine.

… Probably.

Right on cue, Erick’s paranoia sprung up, demanding he check over himself and his surroundings and go over every possible way in which he could be discovered, and all the ways in which he had secured himself.

The first layer of defense was simply not being ‘Erick Flatt’, in Form. ‘Soltic’ was a solid Form, rather well-removed from his usual human form. Erick had even run through a few different cleaning situations, while he also kept his Forms separate, so DNA evidence wouldn’t get cross contamination’d from either of his Forms. All the rest of Erick’s defenses were conscious choices to leave behind all the truly magical things he usually carried around with him, that usually provided some modicum of defense but which stood out like beacons to any proper mana sense. All he really had on him right now were his dual [Personal Ward]s; the normal one that provided absolute damage reduction, and a secondary one around his core, which hid his core from all observers, among other things.

‘Soltic’ mentally came back to the moment—

“Anything to declare?” asked the teller, giving a half-bored glance to Soltic.

Soltic ignored it, and let Vanya speak.

“Just personal stuff; no goods for sale, or stuff like that,” Vanya said.

“Two silver,” said the teller, as he tapped the hole in the stone counter in front of him. “Right there.”

Vanya put two silver down into the coin slot. The silver coins rolled down the internal tubes, down into the counting systems of this LAGN, and a green light flickered on; they were good coinage.

“Proceed to Gate Left, inside Departure Square,” said the teller.

Vanya led the way and Soltic followed, as the teller called out ‘Next!’ to the people standing in line.

Soltic frowned a little, and not for any reason he could really discern; Soltic was simply a dour sort of guy.

They stepped into the Departure Square, where 3 different Gates sat around the courtyard-like space, each of them 5-meter-sized glowing-white squares, each with a different sky beyond. Rain fell heavily atop a [Weather Ward] beyond the right-side Gate, as lightning crashed overhead. The middle Gate held storm clouds. Gate Left, their destination, held a cloudy sky and a sparse courtyard in front of a city filled with people.

A few [Force Wall]s held in front of every single [Gate], though, preventing anyone from leaving until they were called to leave. That calling would come from the guards at a central control room, in the middle of the Departure Square.

Vanya led the way to the center of the courtyard, to the control room, which was basically a squat tower with three different runic controls and people operating those controls. She stepped up to the teller which controlled Gate Left and began to open her mouth—

The teller simply pointed over to Gate Left.

Vanya and Soltic saw glowing letters holding above Gate Left, saying ‘Storm’s Edge’.

Vanya smiled brightly, Soltic was stoic, and the two of them walked over to Gate Left, where the sky beyond was full of white clouds, and the land beyond looked like a city. The [Force Wall] in front of the Gate temporarily went intangible.

And they went through.

Just like that.

Easy as could be.

Behind them, they saw Departure Square briefly, before the connection between their lands flickered, and vanished. The people over at Portal’s control bank had switched the Gate to another location, severing Portal’s connection to Storm’s Edge as the [Gate] moved to some other destination; some other Local Area Gate Network. Portal actually had a whole collection of LAGNs these days.

Ophiel had not followed them through, though. He had taken off of Soltic’s backpack. He would rejoin them somewhere up ahead, because the Gates had ways of counting people and [Familiar]s, even if those [Familiar]s were invisible and intangible.

Soltic turned his sights back to Storm’s Edge.

The sky stretched overhead like it was Rozeta’s domain. The courtyard had dozens of other people walking through, coming in from other Gates, hurried on by a few guards in the center of the space, saying for everyone to move along.

Vanya led the way through the Arrival Square, into the city of Storm’s Edge, right into the tourist trap.

People came out of the Gate Network in one location, and so the people of Storm’s Edge had built the surrounding lands into one of absolute security, and also sales.

Everywhere people spoke of sales on jewelry or clothes or fruits, or to call out for tours of Everbless, or other places. ‘Buy this!’ ‘Buy this’! ‘Island tours here!’ ‘Hotel rentals here! Cheap!’

The air smelled of salt, but also of barely-[Cleanse]d life, and with a whole lot of spices thrown in for good measure. Cumin and turmeric. The colors were stone-brown and blue and white, with oranges and reds in smaller measures. Kids ran around everywhere, laughing and playing, with a few of them trying to steal from the newly-arrived. One of them even tried to steal from Soltic, and though Erick would have allowed it, Soltic gently grabbed the kid's hand as it darted into his pocket. The kid was absolutely terrified for a brief moment, but then Soltic narrowed his eyebrows at the kid and let him go.

The kid ran off, cursing all travelers, before Soltic could even say a word, not that he was saying many words these days.

Vanya did speak, but she had to talk loud to make her voice heard over the crowd. “Should have let him take it!”

“We need the money, too, Vanya.”

“We can make more!”

Vanya laughed loud, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as the crowds, as she led the way forward, into the dense streets of Storm’s Edge, here at the central ‘edge’ of Archipelago Nergal.

The Archipelago was roughly divided into East and West, where a major water channel flowed between two of the largest islands in the chain. The East side was anchored to the continent of Nergal by Eidolon, while the West side was anchored to Nergal by the Freelands. Storm’s Edge was on the Eastern half of the Archipelago, right at the dividing channel, where storms played havoc above the waves, and the waves themselves crested a hundred meters high on Sininindi’s more stormy days. There was a sister city on the other side of the channel, but it wasn’t anything special.

This land held some of the best fishing in the world, and if you could withstand the storms, it was damned safe living, for storms and lightning had a way of affecting the monsters in this land a lot more than the people. That was Sininindi’s blessing, of course. Back when there were lots and lots of monsters in the world, for a good 1440 years until Melemizargo made the dungeons, the Goddess of Storm and Sea brought a great deal of protection to her people in the form of lightning and rain.

Now, though, with most of the monsters inside dungeons, Soltic would have thought Sininindi’s worship would have stalled out a little, since a great deal of her worship had been people asking for safety from the monsters at sea, but from what Soltic was seeing, he worship had only grown. Probably because now she and her clergy could truly control the weather, through Everbless. Before now, Sininindi would have overstepped the God Pact if she were to directly control the weather all the time, for that would be her interacting too heavily in the world, and giving out too much magic. She, like Atunir with [Exalted Rain], had been able to go around the God Pact, thanks to Erick Flatt’s donated magic.

And Storm’s Edge had thrived for that. A million people lived in this mountainous land of stone and rain and dense rainforest. Even more lived on the surrounding islands.

As Vanya walked down a slightly less-dense road, onto a main thoroughfare, Soltic saw, for not the first time, the bounty of Sininindi, growing on the horizon.

Everbless was a grey tree, with a canopy of storm clouds and a crown of lightning. He was kinda small, though. He barely poked up above the buildings ahead, and once Vanya and Soltic walked down the road, into the main city, they wouldn’t be able to see him at all.

They’d get there soon enough, though.

As Soltic held the straps of his backpack, he followed alongside Vanya, down a nicer street, down to the wharf. The smell of salt intensified, and with it came the scent of fish and the sounds of sailors—

And finally Ophiel fluttered down from the sky, to land invisibly and intangibly onto Soltic’s backpack.

Erick felt himself relax a little. A quick check through Ophiel showed him that nothing was on fire here, and nothing was exploding back at the House, though a lot of people were freaking out in a lot of ways back there at Candlepoint.

The news of Erick’s actual absence would be getting around due to him missing some meetings and Kiri showing up in his place, but most people would assume he was off doing something important and that he would show when he needed to show. Kiri hadn’t taken her chair up to sit on the throne-dais of the House yet, but that was only days away, once Zolan and the other Overseers couldn’t hide the truth any longer and answers were demanded by allies and others. Erick hoped to have at least a week before—

Vanya glanced backward to Soltic and saw that he was worrying over everything. Instantly, he was more embarrassed than anything. He was the Apparent King, dammit. He shouldn’t be this nervous about anything.

But he was.

She didn’t say a word as she took his hand into hers.

That simple connection was divine. It was more than enough. Soltic let himself enjoy the simple warmth of Vanya’s hand, the sun on his face, and the freeing experience of simply being a person in the crowd. This was what he wanted by being incognito, wasn’t it? To get lost in the world. To just be himself for a little while.

Eventually he would go back to being the person that a lot of people the world over needed him to be.

But for now, he was just here, simply being ‘Soltic’, while Quilatalap was ‘Vanya’, and…

And Erick was happy.

- - - -

Soltic lost the sun beyond the clouds, past the tall buildings all around, as he stepped into cool shadow, and the wardlight that was there to keep those shadows at bay. The sounds of city life filled the air. Apartments, financial places, restaurants, and small corner stores stocked with anything anyone might need, but not as much as most people would want. Storm’s Edge was a cacophony of life on narrow streets, but also inside courtyards here and there, out of sight of the public. A child laughed somewhere nearby, and an argument took place between two men on a roof over there, while some old women talked about plants on the other side of the street.

Balconies and overhangs crowded out the sky. Soltic could barely see the clouds in some places, where riotous greenery grew and overflowed overhead, between the cracks of houses. Vanya led the way down a known path, following little metal signs shaped like storm clouds affixed to walls here or there. They weren’t the only ones going this way, following the stormy path from the harbor to elsewhere, for this, too, was a touristy part of town. One of many.

Soon enough the streets carved back and forth, and up. Soltic and Vanya left the city behind, headed north, following a road that ran along a cliffside. It was one of many small roads that came this way, all of them emptying onto this single path.

It was a populated path to the north, but it wasn’t like a major road. It was for pilgrimage.

On the left was a sheer drop down to a rocky beach. Soon, the beach was left behind, and the cliffside rapidly gave way to deeper drops into the ocean itself. Waves crashed upon that cliffside, sending up plumes of saltwater, or carving deep holes into the mountain below. On the right side of the path was a windswept plain with hardy grasses, layered with little white and grey flowers that almost looked like snow, from a certain angle. Sheep, all fluffy white, grazed upon that field, while a herder stood under a distant rocky outcropping. The man fiddled with a knife and a piece of wood, more than he watched his sheep.

There wasn’t much to watch for these days.

Even the walls of Storm’s Edge had become unmanned in the years following the Dungeon Exodus; Soltic and Vanya had gone through a checkpoint back there, but the checkpoint had been empty, the walls open and free, for there was no need to guard the city from this approach anymore.

In certain, easy to corral places like Storm’s Edge, almost every single monster that appeared on this island was only trying to get to one of the dungeons. Now those places were well-guarded, and well-tended. Monster highways, they were calling them. Or monster roads, or thoroughfares. ‘Whirlpools’, in some places, and amongst some academic texts.

Walls on most sides, and then great big thoroughfares that only allowed things to go in one direction; inward. Monsters flowed inward, but so did mana, into each dungeon. It was that flow which ensured that monsters moving in from the ocean, or out from the interior jungles of the island, would not meet a single person on their way to the dungeon; they would simply follow the mana, and leave the people alone.

If a dungeon was tuned right, then there was very little outflow, for the production of mana actually occurred in the Core of Veird, and from there it was given back into the bodies of every single sapient that used mana under the Script.

Still, though, even the most well-made of dungeons produced some sort of off-gassing, usually in the form of thick air, like from a [Cleanse].

Soltic raised his mana sense a little more, to see if he could spot the local highway, or sense any nearby dungeons…

And no. He could not.

Mana moved with the wind and the waves, crashing against the rock underneath, and trickling through the grasses to the side. The current was strong here. Even inside the stone, and inside the water, the current of mana was quick and solid. But it was natural. Not a dungeon nearby at all.

Soltic mana sensed the people on the path with them. Inside those few souls and bodies, the mana flowed just the same as it did around all normal people. The other pilgrims to the Blue Temple weren’t wearing any magic at all, which was normal. They were also talking softly about this or that, which was also normal. Soltic and Vanya both had incredibly strong mana on them, but even Soltic couldn’t see that spellwork because it was so well made.

Soltic and Vanya, like everyone else on the path, were just walking along, companionably. Normally.

Nothing to see here.

Soltic ventured to speak, “Where’s the Highway, you figure?”

Vanya shot Soltic a beaming smile, then she turned back forward. She had been waiting for him to talk, it seemed. She said, “I hear it’s on the other side of Everbless, along with all the dungeons on the island. There’s about 7 of them, all within a kilometer of each other.”

Erick had done some research before he came here, but it had honestly been the last thing on his list before he and Quilatalap left for Storm’s Edge. He was a busy guy, and he would learn everything he really needed to know on the ground.

Plus, knowing too much would make it harder to act out like ‘Soltic’ would act, when confronted by new information.

Soltic had to do a bit of acting now, because the shape of the dungeons of Storm’s Edge wasn’t that widely known outside of the Dungeon Guild, or other in-the-know polities. Like, for example, a bumpkin warrior from the Underworld, out with his girlfriend of several years on the Surface for the first time.

“… That doesn’t seem right?”

“Correct! It’s not very good for the dungeons at all.” Vanya gazed ahead, at the ‘cloud’ hanging low on the horizon, and not moving at all. “They shouldn’t be that close to each other, because once they are, you sacrifice possible depth and richness of each dungeon for the safety of the exterior world, and even that’s not that safe, for you get breaks every other week.”

The two people ahead of them, an old human man and old human woman, were going a bit slow, so Vanya and Soltic had gotten close enough for them to overhear Vanya’s words. The old man turned around suddenly and glared, but his probably-wife stiffened. She reached out for her husband, to calm—

The old man wasn’t having it, though, because he spoke up, “Dungeons are tools of the Darkness; not something you should ever try to use. I bet you two are delvers, aren’t you!”

Vanya smiled, saying, “We are delvers.”

“How many times you been brought back by the Darkness? Are you even you anymore?”

The wife grabbed the old man by the shoulder, saying, “Stop it, Lou.”

The two old timers stepped to the side of the path and stopped, the old woman whispering for the old man to calm down, and to think about what they were doing here, on pilgrimage.

Soltic walked past them, while Vanya stepped past, but she stopped, and turned.

She said, “I’ve died more times than I could ever count, and I’m still me.”

The old man frowned in a sad, angry sort of way. “I pray for your wholeness, then, young woman.”

“May all the gods smile upon your life, as well,” Vanya said.

The old man stiffened, and then the old woman reciprocated Vanya’s blessing.

Vanya caught up to Soltic.

Soltic whispered, “I think I see the shape of our first difficulty with the dungeons.”

“Oh yes,” Vanya said, “I’m prepared for it, but first comes finding out what the duty actually is.”

“Did you try a prayer again?”

“Still no answer.”

Soltic had nothing to say to that, so he just hoisted his backpack into a better position on his back, and kept on walking with Vanya, toward the north. Their destination lay beyond the path, but they could already see the first major sight of the trip, hovering far beyond the next rise in the mountainous path.

Soltic and Vanya crested the hill, and they could finally see Everbless, Yggdrasil’s twin, sitting inside his goddess-made home.

Beyond a long cliffside trail, down the mountain, kilometers still away, there lay the start of a wide, wide, crescent harbor, sized even larger than the massive city behind Soltic. Rocky and vast was that watery space, and inside there, there grew a tree superficially like any other. It was all variations of white and blue, and it was also a kilometer and a half tall. It was massive, but it was also undersized, when compared to the harbor. Everbless almost looked like a single planting inside a garden of water that had yet to be filled with anything else. Eventually, though, Everbless would fill that space, and then some.

Where Yggdrasil had been oak-like, with roots that arced in and out of his various lakes, Everbless was more a mangrove, or a banyan, with a grandeur of arcing anchor roots reaching out of a multitudinous trunk, and a plethora of roots reaching down from a canopy made of fiery grey leaves that resembled a storm. And then there was the lightning crown.

He was a perpetual storm, and also a peaceful tree, growing tall in saltwater.

Erick had never seen Everbless in person like this before. He almost dropped his disguise, to go to the twin of Yggdrasil that the gods had made, and then taken from him. It was a fatherly instinct, Erick knew, so he crushed that down. Everbless was not his son. He was the son of Sininindi. The Goddess of Storm and Sea had made that clear a few times over the years.

Soltic breathed deep the stormy air, felt the brush of saltwater upon his face, and took another step forward, down the path, to the crescent harbor of Everbless, and the large Blue Church of Storm’s edge, located on the western edge of that crescent harbor. From this far away, Soltic thought that the church was decent looking. He appreciated Everbless more, though.

He must have been standing there too long. Vanya was smiling softly at his side.

And the old man and woman from before had caught up.

The old woman smiled softly, too, saying to Soltic, “I was just telling my husband that you two were good people, and see! Here you are, looking all Storm-struck. You don’t get that look in your eyes when you take in Everbless unless you’re a good person.”

Soltic gave a rare smile— And then he crushed that smile away. “Ah. Hmm.” He faked a cough. “… Yeah.”

Vanya wrapped her arm around Soltic’s arm, saying to the older woman, “He’s scary sometimes, but he’s also a good guy most of the time.”

Soltic felt his face flush red.

The older woman smiled brightly, chuckling a little, as she led her husband toward a bench set to the side. “You two youngsters go get some blessings! Us old folks have a harder time going all the way, so we stop up here.”

Soltic nodded, and he and Vanya continued down the path, toward the Blue Church of Sininindi.

- - - -

Soltic walked across salt-crusted rocks, following the path to the Blue Church, as waves crashed on the breaker wall to the left, far out into the rough ocean waters. To the right, the crescent harbor offered some protection from the greater ocean, but not really, but then again it didn’t need to; Everbless was the storm. All the grey stone in sight was crusted in white salt, just a little, making this spit of land look almost cloud-like, but not at all.

The Blue Church itself loomed ahead, like a grey stone edifice of protection against the roughness of the world beyond. The largest parts were massive; fifty meters tall in some places. The smallest parts were so short that the waves lapped over them, endlessly. The main structures actually looked like they might be below the waterline.

Soltic could see the design of it all from where he stood.

It was like a stone building had splashed down, creating concentric walls of uneven stone waves, spreading away from the building itself. Further out, the walls were short enough for waves of water to crash over them, while closer, those walls were tall enough to form true fortifications. The actual church was solid; made of thick grey stone, and composed of several towers and several keeps. The main structure was half as big as House Benevolence, while the outermost walls extended at least a kilometer out there, into the waves, breaking those waves before the waves could break them.

Not much about it was ‘blue’, but Soltic guessed it was called ‘The Blue Church’ because, when he looked closely, he saw a blue shimmer in the air over the concentric walls. And if he looked with mana sense, the whole place was thick with Elemental Water, like it was at the bottom of the ocean. As Vanya and Soltic got closer, it was easy to see what all that Water did, for Soltic breathed easier, as though he had [Water Breathing] active. Which he probably did. It did a lot more than that, though.

It was quite an ingenious, yet simple design as far as defensive measures against the strength of the seas; Soltic suspected that this place likely went underwater in big storms, but if you could breathe underwater, then everything was probably fine. Just had to try not to get dragged away by the waves. But then again, the whole place looked like it could fill with water and then you’d be safe from getting washed away because of all the concentric walls.

A weird thought occurred. What about documents? Furniture? Stuff? And then that thought completed. Soltic doubted that there were very many important documents here, or anything like that. Maybe there were, though? And they were kept dry through other types of magic—

Soltic emptied his head of magical thoughts. He was under cover; not here to investigate magic…

But he could probably break that self-imposed restriction if he saw something really interesting.

Anyway. ‘Soltic’ turned his attentions back to his surroundings.

Several ships were docked on the crescent harbor side, with two of them being tended by clergy members, two of them headed out, and a few more ships already out there, on the calm-ish waters of the harbor, floating toward Everbless. Soltic was pretty sure it was part of the tour of the place, for many pilgrims came this way, just like he and Vanya were doing, right now.

Salt crunched underfoot as they walked atop the barely-dry road, and the crowd began to thicken.

People of all kinds were here, moving to pray or give thanks to the Goddess of Storm and Sea. A lot of people were here to see Everbless, though. Ever since Yggdrasil had gone up, and things had calmed down after the Teleport Exodus, a lot of people started to go on a world-wide tour to see all of the Wizard’s largest [Familiar]. Other people just wanted to see really big, magical trees. Orcols were the larger portion of that last group, and a group of those people had come down here to see Everbless, too.

A whole group of orcols, tall and strong, with most of the women veiled and some of the men, too, stood as a group, up ahead, getting onto one of those boats. They were undoubtedly Treehome natives.

Just up ahead, above the path, a priest in ocean-blue robes with white trim stood on the edge of a wall, and only a few meters above the crowds. He held out a censer that trailed a cloud, speaking in a forgotten language, while an acolyte sprinkled salt on any who stepped close; a benediction for the parishioners. Soltic and Vanya passed by, but most people stepped off of the path to take a benediction.

Vanya led the way, beyond a great open archway of grey stone, covered in salt-crystal, into an open cathedral that was riven in half, with the ocean flowing left to right, through the center of the room. Water crashed and salt sprayed onto people who kneeled near the waters, praying. It was an austere cathedral. Utilitarian. Scary, really. All that power, all that rushing water, right there in the middle of everything.

But it was also beautiful.

A song of saltwater flowed through the space, gushing here and there, crashing back down. It almost sounded like an ever-singing song.

It was magnificent.

It was also a tourist attraction.

The main church of Sininindi was actually back at Storm’s Edge, at the harbor, at the end of the piers, where sailors gave a quick prayer to the Storm Goddess for a good harvest, or for easy transport at sea. This place was where land-livers came to commune with the Sea, and the Storm.

With that thought in mind, Soltic suspected that, even with the lack of monsters on the ocean, Sininindi’s worship had probably grown a lot due to the Teleport Exodus, even with the Gate Network up and running. The ‘Last Mile’ problem remained firmly in the hands of people outside of House Benevolence, and that meant sailors and other ocean-goers still cared for her benedictions quite a lot. Ships plied the nearby waters of Archipelago Nergal just as much now as they always had, and sailors wished for good travels now, just as they always had.

And the wives and husbands of sailors continued to wish for the safe return of their loved ones.

Soltic breathed a little, taking it all in, and then he pretended to be slightly surprised when an important-looking priest came out from a hidden-ish side passage in the main cathedral, and headed right for him and Vanya. The man was an older sort, with salt and pepper hair and deeply tanned skin. He looked human, but his eyes were pale red, so maybe he had some incani ancestry somewhere deep in his family tree.

The man whispered, “I have been informed by Her Most Holy that you are here at Her request.”

The man was not disturbed by who he was talking to. He looked a little miffed, actually. Soltic could easily believe that he was completely unaware that he was speaking to Erick Flatt, and Quilatalap. That much was expected. Sininindi seemed to be playing this whole thing, whatever it was, rather quiet, so… That was fine with Soltic.

It was fine with Vanya, too. She did a small curtsy, then said, “This is somewhat correct, priest. There wasn’t an official Quest, though I had expected there to be one. I haven’t been able to get a second audience, either.”

Looking slightly less miffed, the man said, “Please follow me, so we might talk in an easier location.”

Without waiting for confirmation, the priest led the way back to where he had come.

Vanya and Soltic followed.

- - - -

“I’m Sailor Asmus,” said the priest, Sailor Asmus. “And you two have been sent by Sininindi to deal with the dungeon problem we’ve been having. How much do you know of the issue?”

Soltic and Vanya had been taken to an upper room which was almost as austere as the cathedral down below, but it did have a nice view of Everbless to the east, the ocean to the west, and a small collection of personal stuff set upon a shelf, and the desk which separated Soltic and Vanya from Sailor Asmus. The desk looked like it was carved from coral, and it had some paperwork inside of some of its drawers. All in all, the Blue Temple was either suffering through hard times, freshly recovering from hard times, or they liked it this plain.

But really though… This place had to flood every so often, and until recently there were likely monsters everywhere out there, so they likely kept nothing of true value at this location.

“We’ve only just arrived and haven’t done much in the way of research. We haven’t even been to the local Dungeoneer’s Guild. We are aware there is some sort of issue, but we have no specifics.” Vanya asked, “Have there been many people to respond to Sininindi’s Quest?”

For a moment, Sailor Asmus looked uncomfortable, then he said, “The problem has been years in the making, but it’s not the most pressing problem for a great many people, because the dungeons are mostly doing what they’re supposed to be doing; they’re taking in monsters and leaving the rest of us out of it. But they’re doing a shit job. We get dungeon breaks every other week, and every few months the break is actually bad. The problem is the Dungeoneer’s Guild— Or Dungeon Guild. Whatever they want to call it these days. I take it they call it Dungeoneer’s Guild… Wherever you are from?”

“Underworld, near Bluite,” Vanya said, “Some people just call it the Adventurer’s Guild.”

Asmus nodded, then continued, “We call it the Dungeon Guild here, and yes, we have had a few people come in off the streets, sent here by Sininindi over the years. They’ve mostly met the same ends: dead in the dungeons, revived a few times, and then kicked out of town by the Storm Priests of Storm’s Edge, or the Dungeon’s Guild, or the Adventurer’s Guild, or the Regency. There are a lot of different factors at play here, miss…?”

“Vanya Silver; sorry, Priest Asmus.” Vanya gestured to Soltic. “And my boyfriend, Soltic Cross.”

Asmus nodded, then said, “You likely won’t deal with me much going forward, for we here at the Blue Temple try to be neutral in this situation, but I will act as a keystone for you. If you get in trouble, bring up my name with any people you talk with, and it might open doors that were otherwise shut. It’s ‘Sailor Asmus’, though, not ‘priest’. We’re Sailors here at the Blue Temple; the practical arm of the Church of Sininindi. The Storm Priests are at the temple at Storm’s Edge, to the south. A lot of people get us confused, but we’re not the same; sailors are a lot calmer.” He stood, saying, “A pleasure to meet you, Miss Silver, Mister Cross. Do you need directions to the dungeons, or anything like that?”

Vanya and Soltic stood, as Vanya asked, “Down the crescent harbor, and off the other side, right?”

“That’s correct. Takes you a couple of hours to hike there unless you [Fly] or something similar, but politeness demands you do your magic outside of public places.”

Soltic asked, “People we should watch out for?”

Asmus eyed Soltic for a fraction of a moment, then rattled off, “Storm Priestess Tiza Nindi is an owl shifter who is generally in power among the storm priests, though you’ll probably end up dealing with some rambunctious acolyte until they catch wind that you’re here under Sininindi’s request, then you’ll move up the chain. I suggest you try to keep out of the storm priests’ sights as long as you can.

“The Dungeon Guild has their guildmaster Larro Tizet, and he’s a decent incani man. A former adventurer, that one, but most delvers are former adventurers, or at least the overlap is rather large.

“The Regency will likely remain uninvolved unless you try to do something as crazy as install a new dungeon master in any of the seven dungeons, but considering the shape of your probable goal, the Regency will get involved. That’s a whole thing, but you’ll likely deal with a human man by the name of Aroido Tidewalker; he’s a part of the main family of Tidewalkers.” Asmus asked, “Any other questions?”

“The quest was rather light on details, in that we don’t even have a blue box for it, so it’s not even a Quest.” Vanya asked, “Is there anything specific we’re supposed to actually be doing, here?”

Reluctantly, and hiding that reluctance rather well, Asmus said, “Sininindi rarely talks to any of us directly unless there’s a big problem, so it’s enough that you’re here and pointed in a direction, and that you don’t have some overly-preconceived notions of what you need to do. I suggest you ride this storm to wherever it takes you, and make the most of what you find; it’s the best way I have found to live, and this quest given to you is no exception to that guidance.”

Vanya nodded, grinning softly. “Fair enough. I can work with that.”

“Why are you so eager to get us out of here, Sailor Asmus?” Soltic asked, turning a minimally-polite conversation suddenly cold.

The three of them were all standing because Sailor Asmus had stood a few minutes ago, and not even a few minutes into the meeting. He wanted them gone, and Soltic needed to know why.

Vanya’s smile grew strained.

Asmus frowned. Without rancor, he said, “Ever since That Damned Wizard upended the world a lot of people have gained a lot of different ideas about the best ways to protect Storm’s Edge from all the new threats and changes sweeping our way. Things have mostly settled down, but a lot of conflicts just got buried, to fester. The Blue Temple wishes to remain neutral in that conflict, and so I’m rushing you out of here before I accidentally chum the waters and get involved in whatever new-catastrophe your arrival heralds. I’m sure I’ll get involved soon enough, though.” He looked like he really wanted to say something, and he was having second thoughts, but he decided to speak anyway. “The last time someone tried messing with the dungeons we had a break that cost the lives of 76 people. If the damned fool hadn’t been killed in that break, then he would have been killed for gross negligence. It’d take a trial to figure out if he was actually guilty, though we all knew how that trial was going to go anyway. Whatever you do, don’t go making changes without clearing it with everyone else...” Asmus paused. He decided he had said enough. “Begone, and may waves carry you to good harbor.”

Soltic did a small bow, Vanya did a curtsy, then they left.