Adamant Blood 420

“Eliot is correct about both the history of city defense, and also that lesser powers are simply not that useful compared to direct confrontation,” Addavein said, sitting comfy in his new office in the arcanaeum of the settlent.

Mark plopped down onto the couch beside the window, saying, “I knowthat isn’t the whole story. Eliot even talked about souls and sacrifices and stuff.”

“Well of course that’s not the whole story,” Addavein said, “But that is the official story, and it’s a good story, Mark. It’s the one we should tell people, because through good stories a better world is made.”

… Mark paused.

It had been about 50-ish days since they had been back from Endless Daihoon, and of the many things that had happened, one of the largest personal things to happen to Mark, and to the settlent, was Addavein’s acceptance into Mage Society and into a teaching position here at the arcanaeum. He had taken over Professor Redline’s previous position as a Professor of Magical Ethics, which was kinda funny in a lot of ways.

Professor Redline had been a hidden Sentinel of Empire Aluatha, and she had been taken off of the case when the changeling scare hit and she was a changeling hunter, and then she had co after Mark alongside those two archmage twins, Buckler and Lancer. Before all of that ss, she had truly liked Mark, but she did not like the Understanding parties that he was doing because Understanding always brought strange problems. There were reasons Understanding magics were restricted magics, after all. People learned things and then they couldn’t rember them later, but now they had magics, or artifacts, or weapons that they had made using those Understandings, but now they had no idea how to use them at all.

So they died when they tried using those magics.

In other ways, simply being exposed to an Understanding Party was enough to kill a person.

A few people had thrown themselves off of buildings because they had heard a sad song at the Aethercalling Understanding Party, and though those kids had survived that had been Redline’s last straw… though Mark wasn’t sure if that was a manufactured ‘straw’, or what. He had never gotten to talk to Redline after that. Whatever the case, Redline was gone. The Understanding parties might pick up again now that Mark was back.

And Addavein was a teacher for Ethics, now.

Mark had absolutely no idea how he felt about that. Was it a punishnt from on high, to make Addavein look deeper at himself? Was it a test? Addavein knew pretty much every way in which necessity trumped goodness in every situation… Which was probably why he was a good fit for the new Ethics professor slot.

Addavein certainly looked happy to be here.

His wings folded around him like a cloak, but they were open in the front, revealing a normal set of professional clothes in impeccable black and silver, while his tail stuck out through a curve in the back of the chair, flicking back and forth a little, showing how happy he was. His vector had been practically joyful ever since they got back to the settlent, with him all shrunken and human-sized. His face showed how happy he was, too, but his face was kinda like Mark’s face, and Mark still wasn’t sure how he felt about Addavein having a face that was pretty much his own face, but different.

The silver horns and the digitigrade legs and the tail made sure no one ever mistook one of them for the other, but more than once soone had comnted on it, and Addavein had smiled and said sothing to the effect of, ‘Of course we look alike! We’re brothers!’.

And just like brothers —Mark supposed; he had been an only child for most of his life, and even now he was still an only child… maybe— they told each other everything, when they needed to know those things.

Mark said, “But stories are stories, and the truth is that human sacrifices and Castellan are… are what? Equal?”

Addavein turned his attention toward the half-open door to his office and the door shut, then he told Mark, “In truth, using various magics to extract the soul out of a person and slap it onto the city walls was —and still is— a far better option under certain scenarios.”

Mark muttered a curse word under his breath.

“That Molten Titan scenario was one such scenario… And to be furthertruthful, I was 10 seconds away from killing and extracting the soul out of a man in the Coliseum I had tagged for just such an ergency event, and then Reeni and I would have made it work as best we could. It would have been a haphazard fix. We don’t have the necessary infrastructure to make such a thing work here at the settlent, and Hearthswell was quite clear that she wasn’t going to allow such a thing inside of the cities she supported. Emperor Salvation agreed, and the various systems we used to have and use in order to do that sort of thing are all in deep storage, and the societies that created those sorts of fodder for the walls no longer exist.” Addavein added, “Such a marriage of soul to Castellan magics is still more than possible, though. It’s quite easy if you know the tricks and are able to do them. Eliot could probably do it, if he actually went for it.”

“… Would it have been Judo Kid, with Dodge, or Untouched, with Parry?” Mark quietly asked. “I’m guessing the Parry option.”

Addavein raised an eyebrow.

Mark added, “I talked about it with Eliot a lot. That’s why I ca here; to ask for the real story. I’m 99% sure that even Eliot believes that human sacrifices are old and useless arcana.”

“It would have been that Untouched fellow, with Parry.”

“And Castellan really couldn’t do it? On its own?”

“Castellan matches power for power, but it also does ablative defense and slippery defense in certain cases mostly having to do with softer infiltrators, like oozes and other burrowing-types. It wouldn’t have helped against those molten titans, though, and so, we would have stuck the Parry man into the walls. Even then it would have been a near-thing. Air is a terrible conductor of heat, but those titans released heat on a terrible scale, burning the countryside, aning that they were charged with Words of Power, aning that a lot of people would have died even withmy rapid war cris.” Addavein added, “And so you know: You can’t put Dodge into thiscity, and especially with the gate open. It would have caused a rift.”

“Ladono Maro, then. Battle na: Untouched. That’s the man that would have been killed to save everyone else,” Mark said. “Does he know what almost happened?”

“No. Completely unaware, and I would prefer it stay that way. It’s easier to do what I would have needed to do if he remains ignorant, as well,” Addavein added, “And especially with him. He might have been able to Parry for the necessary seconds it took to make it happen. If that had happened, then most everyone here would have been killed. I still would have had to use so Haste magic as it was, and that would be straining everything to a breaking point.”

“... How close were you to killing him?”

“He was actually already dead. I put the soul back, though.”

… Mark laid down on the couch as a great emotional weight settled down on his shoulders.

Addavein humd in acknowledgnt.

After a mont, Mark asked, “Could we give Eliot a temporary Power and have him stretch it across the city?”

“Ahhh, now there’sa much better option, but likely not as solid. And yes, we could. Or rather, Eliot could learn magic himself and so sothing similar. Or, he could get a familiar, like he has been trying, and the familiar could cast such magics instead.”

“Oh gods,” Mark said, finally feeling a bit of relief. “Okay. I’ll talk to United Sapients next, then.”

Addavein nodded, and continued, “The only way to fight soone like Nobody Important is with true soul magics, but I’m rather certain that the old god’s attack would have slapped aside all our defenses anyway. So it’s a good thing you brought him to his senses!”

Mark felt floaty. It wasn’t a good sort of floaty. He had been hearing praise for his actions in talking Nobody Important down for the last day, but when those words ca from people like Aurora, they also ca with heavy implications that Mark was gonna get grounded, and soon. Talk of the Reset Quest was already being put on hold.

Ambassador Iliandra was going to get her way, Mark supposed.

“Talking… ha!” Mark said, “I never expected being a superhero to involve so much talking… Well. No, actually.” Mark thought about the cartoons he used to watch when he was a kid. “The superheroes on the shows always just beat up the bad guys and left them to the authorities, but they always tried to talk the enemy down, first.”

Addavein asked, “Have you been forbidden from publicly discussing the Reset Quest yet?”

“If I don’t hear the words from soone far above Ambassador Iliandra, then… no. Not yet. I’ve been expecting a call from Walaria about that since I woke up this morning. Still nothing.” Mark added, “There are protests happening outside of the Hero’s Association in mphi.”

“That small thing… Ah? I suppose it got larger. How big is the crowd now?”

“15,000 people at 10 AM, and that was 4 hours ago. There are so talks going on right now. People standing up on stages and saying how dangerous it’s all gonna be, and how Dominant is in the right and all that shit... I haven’t gotten a call from Walaria yet, but Aurora and Mayor Ramirez have forbidden from showing up to argue against them…” Mark frowned at the ceiling.

“But you want to go,” Addavein said.

“I really, really do. I should be in a eting right now with so guys from the Water People —Armsmith Tulo Khava was going to introduce — and we were gonna talk about the goblin threat in their holands, but they left this morning instead of sticking around. My week is half-clear now, and I’m pretty sure Aurora is going to clear it completely, like, by tonight. Or sothing.”

“You being grounded is probably for the best, really.”

Mark felt betrayed all over again, but he couldn’t muster up the emotions to yell at Addavein. Instead, he sighed, sat up, and deadpanned, “It is, huh.”

Addavein easily said, “You have your house to work on, you have magic to learn, and you have to figure out how to cast magic with your house. Sure, the shape of your house has mangled everything about how magic should work, but perhaps you can figure it out if you actually have ti to figure it out, and now you have that ti.” Addavein added, “And it’s not like this Reset Quest is ever going to get done in under 40 years. Finding and founding 10 more empires, including retaking Xerkona’s ancestral lands, is the work of a lifeti. Whatever protests happening right an nothing in the long run. Look at ! I’m here teaching kids, and it is fantastic. It might not be glamorous, but it’s good, necessary work to raise others to power, and we’re gonna need a lot of people raised to a lot of power, Mark.”

“... Huh.” Mark had a deep mont of acceptance, and then he shook himself out, stood up, said, “Thanks, Addavein. That perspective helps.”

Addavein grinned. “Anyti.”

Mark added, “But you know… I didn’t expect to find the elves in Endless Daihoon two months ago, and that was supposed to be the work of multiple decades, too.”

“I doubt you’ll be able to circumvent the arcane rules laid down by System Pri that require 12 empire-level votes, 6 Pantheonic votes, and Malaqua, when we’ve got 10 empires missing, 1 empire actively opposing all of this, and 1 betrayer god who absolutely won’t stop until all the empires are dead, including Aluatha.”

Mark shrugged, and tried a joke. “Maybe Thrashtalon would be fine with just Dominant’s head on a pike, and then we’d get all 6 Pantheonic votes.”

Addavein snorted.

… And then, because Mark didn’t want to get into it, but he had to, Mark said, “I really wish the world wasn’t this way; that we sacrifice people directly to save the rest. It’s disturbing. Disgusting.”

“I completely agree.”

Mark frowned a little. He knew Addavein agreed, of course, but he knew that Addavein would have done what he needed to do anyway, to save the day, and at the end of the day that one guy from the coliseum would have been dead —and not just temporarily!— no matter what… but then Mark had gotten Nobody Important to pull his punch. Mark said, “That was fucked up, yesterday. Every part about it.”

Addavein nodded, but he said nothing. Did anything more really need to be said?

Mark felt so, because Mark asked, “Are there no, like… artificial solutions? Artificial souls with Parry in them?”

Addavein asked, “And how do you think such a thing could work? Using an Artificial Intelligence, perhaps?”

“No, I an… a true artificial soul— Or! Tartu can make plants with special effects? How about a Parry Plant? There are a bunch of monsterized plants out there that actively parry and dodge and escape predators. Rolling mass, tumblevives… Others, I’m sure.”

According to Addavein’s vector and how he looked away a little, thinking, Addavein thought Mark’s idea was malford at the very base of it all.

Quieter, Mark asked, “Or is that… fundantally incompatible with the walls, or sothing?”

“That is rather close to the reason I was going to give, and so it will serve as a good starting point.” Addavein said, “Necromancy is a large topic, and necromancy is what such a magic worked upon the city walls would amount to. To simplify it all a great deal, living things that are turned into dead tools are best used in the way that they were active when they were alive. aning, that if you had a person who was used to fighting against monsters, and you used their soul to defend the city walls, then that soul would defend the walls rather well. Everything they love lives here, after all. Love and community are powerful things that people have, and which plants mostly lack.

“And so, using a Parry Plant to defend the walls would simply not work, because plants don’t care about other plants unless they are made to care about other plants. For the most part, plants defend themselves.” Addavein waved a hand, adding, “And since we’re on the subject, that’s kind of the problem with Godking Dominant. He’s simply not human… ha.” Addavein grinned. “Maybe we could shrink him down to human-sized and he’d get a better perspective on it all. But maybe not! That fucker has been able to avatar into a human-sized body for as long as anyone can rember, and he was never willing to share at all!”

Mark nodded a little, the mirth of Addavein’s parallels with Dominant’s true size not feeling funny to him right now… and then he said, “Thanks for… all of that.”

“Anyti, Mark.” Addavein added, “Now go hang out with your friends! Or go kill so monsters. And later, get back to the books. I would be remiss to not remind you that Grand Mage Solari still wants those Understanding Parties, and I would like to be a part of one as well.”

“Oh…” Mark paused. “Youwant an Understanding Party?”

“I’ve settled in well enough to get so major work done now, so yes. Maybe not tomorrow, but on your own ti, yes.”

“Okay, uh… Yeah. I suppose I have been… not doing any of that for a while now, and now’s a good ti to start?” Mark wondered for a second where he had left off on that obligation. “I think it was supposed to be… Water People? Next? Quark?”

Quark spoke up, “Of the languages assigned to learn, Water People was the next one in the line of Understanding Parties to have.”

“I’ll have to send a ssage to Tulo Khava and see if he can get his people to co back.” Mark asked Addavein, “Was there sothing specific you’d like a party for?”

“Water People is a fine language, though I would call it more of an arrangent of furniture than a real language… though now that I think about it? Would that be useful in your house? Water People is minor fate magic, so… Sothing to consider! But Iwould appreciate a seminar regarding soul work. Skillers, in particular. You might like that, too, considering your idea about taking people to Endless Daihoon to power them up to kaiju-killer levels. That is one way to get that done, but there is a lot of power to be had here and now if you know how to grasp that power, and you’d need to know how to grasp that power anyway for a trip to Endless Daihoon, unless you plan on the gods always being the ones to make those final powerups happen. Personally, I do not like that plan, and you might be able to fulfill that capability yourself, anyway.

“Not only are you able to craft Powers and store them in your house, but with Union, you might be able to extract Powers from others and slot in sothing else where the previous Power used to be. Or smooth over whatever a person experiences from a Second Awakening. There are many options here!”

Mark’s eyes went wide— “Wait… Switching out soone’s Powers? That’s… That’s, uh, dark magic, right?”

“Forbidden magic, dark magic, ‘Being a Skiller licensed by the Empire’; call it what you may. Yes, that is what it is, and you need to delve into the more dangerous aspects of magic while you can so that you’re not caught unawares later.”

“… And you’re the new Ethics professor?”

Addavein grinned as he mocked offense, saying, “You think I tell everyone this stuff? I even closed the door beforehand.”

Mark glanced at the door and felt out the vectors of what had to be spies just down the hall, keeping tabs on Addavein while they posed as clerks and secretaries. “… I suppose you did, though it’s not a very secure door.”

“Half of the reason they even let in here is because I’ve been trying to teach you everything I think you might need to know, when I can, and though I would do that anyway Walaria has expressed appreciation for it, as well. So yes, they have to know I am teaching you when I teach you, but they have magics to check in. Normal kids would use normal magics, and for them a simple door suffices. And there’s a lot to learn, Mark! So lessons happen where they happen. And for now, how about this lesson:” Addavein stood, saying, “There’s a wonderful little bistro that makes so nice donuts down on Magic Street. Let treat you to one of the ‘dragonclaws’.”

“Ah… sure.” Mark scrunched his face. “Aren’t they called bearclaws?”

“Dragonclaws are better.”

- - - -

Mark set down onto the balcony of Eliot’s factory with an easy landing, taking apart his rotors as he did so, turning a bit of that adamantium into a coin and then into a little portal-like-thing to ‘disappear’ 75 kilos worth of tal into his astral body. Addavein, Walaria, and others still had no idea what Mark was doing, exactly, when he put his adamantium into his astral body, because it certainly wasn’t the sa thing that Mithrilkinetics did with their mithril. But it was close enough. The coin remained in Mark’s pocket. Mark had so tal left over to carry a big paper box full of donuts inside with him.

The box slled wonderful; like chocolate and vanilla and fried bread.

Addavein’s suggestion of that donut shop was a good one.

Mark walked into the upper offices, calling out, “Donuts!”

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Isoko was on the couch, watching shows on the big screen as well as on her phone. She had it paused on sothing, and she was taking notes on a notebook to the side.

Eliot was in his office with the doors closed, on the phone with soone. His voice was calm but his vector was furious.

Andria was downstairs and she seed deep in work at her special-made desk. She had been happy to see Nobody Important for about 5 seconds yesterday, and then he had pulled that molten titan shit and now she was furious, and she was looking for ways to defend against city-wide threats and also for any information she could find on Nobody Important. There was no information to be had about the Old God, though; Quark had been looking, and so had everyone else. Andria still thought she could find him.

Maybe she could.

Mark would talk to her later about investing in so specific stuff, in changing their whole direction, but he wasn’t sure what he would need to talk to her about until he talked with Eliot, as well.

Derek was downstairs in about 30 different places, working on wardstones for the walls. The wardstones had helped against the molten titans, but only because they directed the mana and purpose of Castellan into a more protective arrangent. Half of the ones on the walls had burned out, though, along with thousands of other failsafes outside of the walls. Derek was working here to mass-enchant new wardstones but he was also working out there, at the beck and call of Aurora and others.

Tartu was not here. He had an office downstairs, but that office was more of a courtesy. Tartu and Lenny and Shawn were rarely here. They only really showed up when they were shooting a HVP show, and those hadn’t happened for going on 8 months now. They tried to get a show happening last month, but Noel and the Crystal Tower had politely asked them not to do any shows at all.

The team wasn’t exactly blackballed, as Isoko had called it, but they were close.

Sally was busy doing sothing on her computer. Probably checking out the companies that Andria invested in, or maybe even her own stuff. Probably her own stuff, now that Mark was looking at her and sensing her vector. She was judging soone hard. She was not nearly as good at picking out lucrative ventures as Andria, but she was trying to learn, and she was mostly doing charity work anyway. The last ti Mark had actually talked to Sally about her goals with her investnts she had been investing in companies that were trying to make positive influences in the world, even if they were less than capable of making money. Outfitting new teams. Supporting people who got warriors in touch with other warriors based on powersets and personalities. Stuff like that. Mark didn’t know, exactly. Mark was super rich, so whoever Sally wanted to invest in was perfectly fine with him.

But Mark was standing here, with donuts, and no one had noticed. Not even Sally!

Mark hmm’d.

Mark stepped directly in front of Sally and set down the big box of donuts.

“Donuts?” Mark asked again.

Sally blinked as she looked up from her computer, and then her eyes went wide and her stomach growled and she reached out, making gimmie motions with her hands as she said, “Have I ever told you you’re my favorite person, Mark?”

Mark handed over the donuts, saying, “Not often enough!”

“Well you’re my favorite person!” Sally said, reaching into the box… she paused and pulled out a big silver-dusted donut with black ‘claws’ on the edges. “This is clearly not a bearclaw, but it’s the right shape.”

“Addavein showed this donut shop in the Mage Society that was selling them and calling them dragonclaws. They’re pretty good.” Mark asked, “So how’s the charity work going?”

Sally eyed the dragonclaw as she said, “I’m trying to look up this one company that specializes in brawny support out of Orange City, but I can’t find any socials on anyone who works for them because… well. I was talking to them, but then yesterday happened and they blocked on pretty much every social.” She set the dragonclaw down and picked up a caral-maple, saying, “I’m still figuring out how I feel about it.”

“… Oh, wow. Okay? Blocked, huh?”

“Yup! Suddenly I just… can’t see any of the people I was talking with, anywhere,” Sally said, taking a bite out of her donut… And then she made the donut twice as large and took a bigger bite. She spoke through her chewing, saying, “I’m trying not to feel bad about it.”

Mark winced a little. “Okaaaaay…” He looked around, and mostly just looked at Isoko, who was staring at the ceiling now and seeming distraught. Eliot was very, very quiet in his office, which was because he had put insulation into the walls which hadn’t been there before, but Mark was pretty sure he was yelling into his phone. Mark walked over to Isoko with the donuts, saying, “Everyone having a bad day?”

Isoko turned her face toward Mark and tears fell. “We’re officially blackballed. Crystal Tower won’t even let us publish on the platform for fear we might talk about the Reset Quest and then Nobody Important might show up again.”

Mark sighed, and then held out the box of donuts to Isoko, saying, “Addavein says the Quest is the work of lifetis, anyway… Are you gonna do nail polish comrcials like your grandma suggested?”

Isoko eyed the dragonclaw among the donuts but she opted for a strawberry glazed, as she said, “Lifetis, huh.”

“Yeah.”

Silence.

Mark thumbed at the door to Eliot’s office, asking, “What’s he furious about?”

Isoko said, “Sothing like 60% of his contracts are pulling out. Andria is trying to rescue everything she can, but we’re on the shit list, Mark.”

Sally called out, “The only saving grace is that you got Nobody Important to pull his punch.”

Mark looked to Eliot’s closed door again, and he asked the girls, “Should I go rescue him?”

“How would you even do that?” Sally asked.

Mark said, “Like this.”

Mark walked over to the door, knocked, got no response, and so he tried to open the door, but it was locked. “Oops!” Mark said, as he purposefully twisted the handle way too much. The door broke and Mark pushed on through, right into Eliot yelling at soone on the other side of the phone. Mark yelled louder, “I got donuts, Eliot! Who are you talking to?”

Eliot, red-faced and furious, yelled into the phone, “SO ASSHOLE WHO I AM SUING FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT!” And then he slamd the phone onto the table, breaking it before he Manipulated it away, slamming it into a pile of trash in the corner. He said, “Give a fucking donut.”

Mark smiled and handed them over, saying, “How about a team eting to discuss the future? I’ll go get Andria, too.”

Eliot sighed, eyed the dragonclaw donut, and then picked out a vanilla glazed, saying, “Yeah… What about? Hiring so new lawyers— Did Isoko tell you we were blackballed from the Crystal Tower? Goro Teshima might not be your lawyer anymore.”

Mark shrugged. “I’ll call him later and see but we’re moving away from the Reset Quest a little, anyway. It’s too hot right now. We can focus on making the world a better place, first.”

Eliot sighed again. “… Yeah.”

“I’m going to go get Andria.”

Eliot stared off into the distance, donut held between his fingers.

Mark went downstairs with the box of donuts.

Andria was at her desk, situated in front of a whole wall of screens full of numbers and pictures, beside a few servers. The AIs that worked for her, Abs and Zuu, showed their faces on the side screens, but otherwise they remained silent. Andria was silent, looking at the numbers. She pressed buttons on a keyboard and so of the numbers went red on the screen—

Andria turned her head, saw Mark, and her vector unfolded with warmth. “Hey! And donuts, too!”

Mark smiled and opened the box for her, saying, “I’m glad to see soone is happy.”

Andria raised an eyebrow at the silver and black dragonclaw, and then she took the green one, asking, “Is this pistachio?”

“Matcha.”

Andria paused. “… Never had this one.” And then she said, “And I’m not happy. This is a fucking ss. But we’re in another world-crisis-mode, like after we ca out of Endless Daihoon, or when Addavein was born, and there’s so much moventout there right now.” She almost took a bite of the donut, but then she turned back to her screens, excitedly saying, “Pretty much everyone wants to distance themselves from us. Like… 3 colleges have already rebranded their new buildings from ‘Careed Hall’ or whatever to sothing else… There’s a lot.”

“So that sucks, but that’s fine. Team eting soon.”

“Okay! I’ll be up! Just… let finish…” Andria went quiet as she started typing sothing up.

It looked like she was writing a note about sothing in one of the boxes on the screens.

Mark went around the corner, and spotted Derek reading a book in the sun. Derek was also downstairs, everywhere, doing other things. Mark asked, “Donut?”

“Nah. Team eting?”

“Yup yup.”

Derek stepped away from Derek, and said, “Okay!”

Mark went upstairs with Derek close behind.

Soon, Mark was eating the dragonclaw donut while everyone else finished up what they were doing, so that they could eventually et in the gathering space.

Mark stood while the others sat on couches, and he said, “To make it quick: our social capital just cratered, and so we need to restructure everything. The plan is a decade-long plan, now. That human sacrifice stuff we talked about, Eliot, is not very effective, but it was still one of the options that was looked at before Nobody Important turned away.”

Andria paled. “I missed that conversation?”

Sally told her, “Old horrors. No longer useful.”

Isoko made a disgusted face, but she said nothing.

“Actually, they are still useful,” Mark said, “But we got other options.”

Sally winced. “Fuck.”

Eliot asked, “What other options?”

Mark said, “So I want to get you, Eliot, with United Sapients and see about making your application for a familiar a thing that happens, instead of sothing they keep kicking down the road. If you or your familiar can make the spellforms for Parry and then apply them on the city, that would not be as good as sacrificing a person, but it’d still help a lot, so we’re doing that. The reasoning it wouldn’t work right has sothing to do with autonomous actions and necromancy and how when you sacrifice a person they will still work as a person to make things happen, which is just plain better than a spellform.”

Eliot nodded a little, but he said, “I don’t like necromacy, Mark. I don’t want to… do necromancy.”

Sally spoke up, “Dead things rember how it was to live, and who they were beforehand.” She looked at Eliot, saying, “You should just learn necromancy, Eliot.”

Eliot scowled at nothing in particular. “I would prefer… not.”

Sally and Eliot were not doing well right now. They were still friends, but they weren’t in a relationship like they had almost been back on the Dreadnought. Mark didn’t get into any of that with any of them, though, and they didn’t involve anyone else in their relationship worries at all.

They did snap at each other sotis, but that was it.

Mark continued, “Which brings to this: Addavein thinks I might be able to beco sothing of a Skiller, allowing to pull Bindings out of people and replace them with Bindings I have stored in my house. It’s theoretical, but I want to learn how to do that, and I want to learn everything else that there is to learn with being a Skiller, because then I can help people get a Second Awakening without them needing to go through the Pantheon. I still need to take them into Endless Daihoon, though, but that’s for the future as well. I still think it’s a good idea for any prospective people for a theoretical-next-journey-into-Endless-Daihoon to beco Chosen first, so that they’re vetted by the Pantheon, but 95% of people don’t like anything about that process.” Mark said to Eliot, “I think I’ll be learning necromancy right beside you. Or at least the Binding part of it all.”

Eliot wasn’t happy about that last part… but he just looked away, thinking.

Isoko was unsure in a specific way, asking, “You want to cut the Pantheon out?”

“Not cut them out,” Mark said, “But I want to widen the options. We haven’t even talked to any of them about extra trips to Endless Daihoon yet.”

Sally wasn’t sure how she felt, but she looked at Mark like she was seeing sothing amazing and horrific at the sa ti. She almost said sothing, but then she stopped, and then she said, “Maybe if it’s… you… doing the Skilling— That’s what Thrashtalon was before he was Thrashtalon, you know. He was a Skiller for Arica. The profession is just… rife for abuse. I would prefer we ask the gods for help with this, but… if it’s you…”

Mark nodded a little, saying nothing.

Sally looked away, thinking.

Andria was much the sa as Sally. She had too many thoughts.

Derek asked, “What are we doing about being dumped by everyone?”

“Right!” Mark said, “So we’re being dumped by pretty much everyone, right? How does everyone think we should restructure? Because I want to get back to arcanaeum and forging and magic and then helping people. How about you, Andria? Do youwant to get back to making weapons and your apprenticeship with the Drakemores?”

“Oh!” Andria said, “Oh, uh…” She switched gears slowly, saying, “It’s probably for the best, for ultimate goals, if you’re far out of public sight for a while.”

Isoko spoke up, “No. You need to make a statent, Mark. Even if it’s just walking out there onto the street.”

Andria humd, noncommittal, then she said, “The reason I got into smithing was so that I could make weapons to use against the worst monsters out there. Right now my best weapon is goldleaf, and my forge is an investnt portfolio, and even if so people are dropping us there are other people who would want in.” She snorted a little, as though there was a joke sowhere in her next words, “It’s money, Mark. People want money.”

Eliot said to Andria, “Then I want to turn over Cybersong Industries to you…”

Mark sat down as the conversation andered and plans rapidly shifted.

The Reset Quest would hold.

The world still needed more kaiju killers, anyway, and Mark wanted to make that happen, too.

Soon, Mark laid out a nascent plan, saying, “The Understanding Parties might resu. Water People is next. Which ans that Tulo Khava might be there, along with a delegation from The People, and they’re going to want to talk about goblins in their D’Australia holands. The next big fight might be goblins again, and this ti I want everyone ready for it. If that doesn’t happen, then that’s fine, too. But I’m going to go back to learning magic and otherwise, with the goal of uplifting others to power. What do you all want to do?”

Andria said, “Stick with the foundation, which we need to properly na. I put ‘Blackleaf’ on the application, but if you wait much longer then that’s what it’s going to remain.”

Mark said, “I like ‘Blackleaf’.”

Andria wasn’t convinced. “I’ll think of sothing.”

Sally said, “I’m still funding low level teams through Blackleaf. Researching, etcetera. Working with the Church of Drakarok, too.”

Eliot said, “I’m going to sue about a thousand people.”

Mark Looked at Eliot. “Do you really need to punish people who are running scared?”

“In certain situations! Yes! But…” Eliot said, “Maybe… I don’t have to sue most of them—”

“Sir,” Quark spoke up, “Second Princess Walaria is calling.”

Mark said, “Hold that thought. I need to take this.”

Isoko rapidly said, “We need to make public statents! I don’t want to be blackballed!”

Mark nodded, and then he turned and Quark answered the phone, as Mark said, “Hello, Walaria.”

Second Princess Walaria Aluatha asked, “What are your plans for dealing with Nobody Important?”

Mark rapidly said, “Conceding the front, and stepping back from the Reset Quest. Probably making a public statent with Isoko about that fact. Still going to go for it, but in a longer term way. So that ans Understanding Parties again. Probably going to be asked by soone from The People to help with their new goblin issues, and probably going to do that. I want to beco a Skiller, as well, since I can likely store Bindings in my house and switch them out with people… or at least Addavein thinks I can. Still want to learn how to forge proper weapons for the people I help beco kaiju killers, along with all of that assorted learning. All in all, stepping back and evaluating.”

Walaria replied, “Good.” She continued, “There’s a Winter Ball in Crytalis, in Domal’Takela, happening on Sunday, the 30thof January. It will be a large event. You and your team will attend, including Tartu, Derek, Shawn, and Lenny, and whoever else you wish to join you, including Addavein, coming in to the Grand Port of Aluatha by the 27that the absolute latest and making an entrance, but not with the Dreadnought. Use a smaller ship. You’ll stay for several days. There will be so discussions of the future of the Reset Quest prior to the party, and events every day. If you can get here by the 25th, in 10 days, then that is when the first party of the Winter Ball will occur. You will officially et the First Prince Doomo at that ti, and you will likely discuss what he has been doing in Okuana to prevent war.”

Mark said, “Okay. Do I have ti to do the Understanding Party for Water People here, in the settlent?”

“I’ll make it happen here, in Crytalis.” Walaria added, “Good work getting Nobody Important to pull back.”

“… Thank you.”

“How that ended doesn’t please you?”

“No,” Mark said. “I was fucking… powerless.”

“We’ll work on that, but Mark… You were not powerless at all. You were the second most powerful person on the scene at that mont.”

Click.

She was busy. Mark was busy. Thus the short conversation.

Mark looked at the window for a mont, at the city beyond, at the gate holding in the distance. Further beyond that was a titan, standing in the distance like an ice sculpture. It reflected the late afternoon sun in the west, glinting brightly. Not nearly as bright as it had been, but it was still… A mark upon the world.

Mark turned back to his team, and they were all looking at him.

“We’re going to a Winter Ball at Domal’Takela.”

Andria instantly, excitedly, exclaid, “YESSS!”

But then Sally started in on the worries about assassinations, and Andria said how such a thing was unthinkable because of such and such history, and Eliot looked it up while Derek happily spoke of how he was already down there and it was going to be amazing. He could show them around. Andria could show them around, too, since her ancestral property was down there, too.

Isoko asked, “What about the public statent about the Reset Quest?”

“Probably best handled when we’re down at the Winter Ball, after talking with a few other people,” Mark said.

Isoko accepted that, but she said, “I’ll ring up Noel and ask what he thinks.”

“Sure,” Mark said.

It had been a long day.

Mark had technically been up since yesterday, for about 36 hours so far. The others had slept, but Mark had not. That was fine. Mark could go a week without sleep these days. Maybe he’d get so sleep tonight, though. Or maybe not!

He’d play it by ear.