The Newt and Demon - Book 6 Chapters 79,80,81 (Patreon)

Chapter 79

Elrin Manastream

“This is as many as I can make on such short notice,” Throk said, as grumpy as ever.

Theo counted the various stills presented by the marshling. He had produced twenty of his base-level stills for them to work with. And he had done so in about four hours, which should have been impossible. But that’s what the alchemist relied on. The impossible. With this many stills, they could process a vast amount of Soul Blooms immediately. It was going to be another all-nighter if they wanted to get this done.

“Take whatever you want as payment from the treasury,” Theo said, sucking each of the stills into his inventory.

“I’ll have one house made of gold, thank you,” Throk said. “Or a pile of mythril, actually.”

Theo went through his interface, increasing Throk’s permissions to take from the storage at the smelter. “All the mythril you want. I’ll make sure Nira doesn’t export any of it.”

Throk rubbed his hands together. “Excellent.”

“Thanks,” Theo said, rushing out of the workshop.

Salire was already on alert, as was the defending force of the alliance. Zan’kir was already having a blast repositioning some guns. He had roped Ziz and his boys in to do some work on the east-facing cliffs outside of town. Since Theo had craved some paths over there, he didn’t see any sense in ignoring that as the best place to put a bunch of rail guns.

Each still in the lab was already working on a batch of Soul Essence. Theo took his twenty new stills and set them up on the second floor of the Newt and Demon. He wanted to distill all his things in the giant metal cube, but there was a problem. The lab—even if it wasn’t on the lab’s floor—provided several bonuses to distillation. They didn’t have Soul Blooms to spare. Salire arrived just as he was getting them primed to run, bringing enchanted water and Cleansing Scrub potions along to help the process.

“We’ll have some decent capacity, but I have the old notes from when we made the Soul potions before,” Salire said, tapping her finger on a stack of loose papers. “Unless Tero’gal alchemy changes the process, we’re looking at a week-long brew time.”

The idea hadn’t escaped Theo. But he had his hopes up. “That’s what I’m counting on. The Reforge Mind potion didn’t require a brew time. Which might be a function of the longer distillation time. But we’ll just have to find out. If it takes longer, it takes longer.”

“Right. I’ve got everything working at capacity,” Salire said. She helped him process the Soul Blooms, adding the correct amount of water to each still and getting the artifices running. “I have five of the stills running Suffuse Essences, but we have enough Burning Regeneration.”

“Did you run the numbers again?” Theo asked, smiling to himself as he placed the lid on another still.

“No, I took the upper bounds of your elf estimation.” Salire tried not to giggle to herself, but failed. “Elf estimation. Gods, we don’t even know how many there are.”

“Convenient time for the gods to shut themselves off, right?” Theo asked. “Right when we could have used their help… I just felt something strange.”

“Strange like… how? Upset stomach?” Salire asked with concern.

It took Theo a minute to figure out what the sensation was. He eventually settled on it being an echo from Tresk’s Dreamer’s Core. When he asked her telepathically, she dismissed it as nothing more than something that happened often. A little twinge of rule-breaking somewhere in the distance.

“Guess that’s nothing to be concerned about,” Theo said. “Famous last words…”

“Did you want to take this in shifts tonight?” Salire asked.

“Nah. I won’t be able to sleep,” Theo said, looking over the stills on this floor. Everything was running well. Salire had even set up an extractor fan and sensor on the second floor to make sure nothing went wrong. The extraction power of that fan wasn’t as great as the ones installed on the third floor, but it would do enough for a single run. “You can go to sleep like normal. I’ll just come grab you if something goes wrong. Although, if something goes wrong, I’m not sure what anyone can do.”

“Right,” Salire said with a nervous chuckle. Not like the fate of some elves rests squarely on our shoulders or anything.”

As evening set in, Salire headed out for the day while Tresk, Sarisa, and Rowan brought some food for everyone to eat. They used the counters in the shop portion of the building, mostly eating while standing up. Eating a Broken Tusk classic of wolf meat stew, they chatted for a while.

“That pulse of energy might be more concerning than I originally thought,” Tresk said. “My Dreamer’s Core gave a few interesting notifications about a rule-breaker. Kinda strange, though.”

“Why?”

“It keeps listing the offending person as ‘Death,’ which can’t be right.”

Theo had to have a long think about that one to make sense of it. He followed a trail of logic until he arrived at a conclusion. His theory was based on the way the system gave him a name. He had originally been ‘Belgar’ according to the system. But that changed when Belgar’s soul left the void, settling on Tero’gal. The system automatically updated names based on certain conditions.

“My guess is that Kuzan was doing something naughty, and had it hidden from the system. Now that he’s gone, whatever he was doing was unveiled. Now that the system views him as ‘Death,’ that’s the message you get.” Theo nodded to himself, sucking up another greasy piece of wolf meat.

“What authority does Tresk have to take care of something like that?” Sarisa asked.

“Depends on the infraction,” Tresk said. “I only get my superpowers when something super naughty happens. We’re talking about aliens and stuff like that. Even then, we’re not really supposed to kill anyone. Just banish them.”

“We don’t really know Tresk’s job yet. I mean, she’s the right hand of the arbiter. The mechanism where she can go into people’s dreams is a great way to get information from the sealed ascendant realms to the mortal realm. In theory, she can steer people to do something with secret information.”

“That’s cheating,” Rowan said. “If the whole point is that the gods are sealed away, and everyone down here has to do stuff the old fashioned way.”

“The ascendants have a very specific role now,” Theo said. “I think we can steer the development of the mortal world with a vote. We don’t have all our rules in place, but Fenian can even come down here when he likes. Once the change happens.”

“But he’ll be restricted,” Tresk said. “I think he’ll have an energy bar or something like that limiting his actions. And no direct involvement in conflict. Stuff like that, y’know?”

“Yet you still haunt my dreams,” Rowan said with a sigh. “Sounds like an abuse of power.”

“Stop dreaming about those sexy ladies, and I’ll stop invading,” Tresk said, giggling to herself.

“I cannot determine my dreams! No matter how many times you drag me from that warm bed to go skydiving, I’ll never relent. The heart wants what it wants.”

The meal was pleasant. While the group threw around theories on what they thought might happen after the next shift, they weren’t likely to reach a conclusion. Theo was almost certain the ascendant thrones would get together with the system, defining what their responsibilities were over the next few weeks. Only when the end finally happened would they have it in stone. Right now, there were too many hanging threads to tie up. Some of the system’s power was likely tied to the shards themselves.

Salire and Rowan headed out for the night eventually. While Tresk was willing to stay up all night with Theo, Alex had already gone to bed. Since she couldn’t fit in the building, she soon became bored watching through the window. Not as though anything exciting would happen. Tonight. It was a long, boring night of watching the stills bubble away/ But Theo couldn’t afford to lose a single drop of that essence.

A series of sharp knocks came from the front door a few hours later. Tresk was falling asleep on the counter when she sprung up. Theo shared a look with her. When the knock came again, a pair of glowing wings sprouted from her back.

“Uh. That’s not good,” Tresk said, her daggers appearing in her hands. “We got a naughty bad boy at the door.”

“Yet the bad boy knocks so politely,” Theo said, cracking the door open. A man in a black hood stood there. Theo watched in his future vision as the man reached out to shake his hand, but was otherwise reserved. “Half-elf?”

“How did you know?” the man asked.

Theo didn’t want to say that it was because his hood had tilted to one side during one of many possible futures. “Lucky guess. We’re closed.”

“You’re the alchemist, aren’t you? Why does that lizard have wings?” the man asked.

“It is normally polite to introduce yourself before pointing out a lizard’s wings. You know that, right?”

“That’s a long story. May I come in?”

Theo shrugged. If Tresk had her wings out, that meant she had some unreasonably strong power at her fingertips. Anyone who wanted to fight would be sorely mistaken if they made a move. He opened the door fully, allowing the man inside. The alchemist could feel the power of several magical items coming from the man. They radiated energy like he had never felt before.

“My name is Elrin from the Manastream Clan in Whisperwood… You won’t know where that is,” the man said, sighing as he fell into a chair. “These are old things. Ancient things.”

Theo shared a look with Tresk. “Is he speaking English? Why are you speaking English?”

“That’s an even longer story. So, are you the man handling the shards?”

“Theo Spencer. This here is my partner, Tresk,” Theo said, gesturing to the winged marshling. “Her wings are out because you’re breaking the system’s rules.”

“Yeah, accept the prompt, buddy,” Tresk said, glaring. “Or I’m gonna slap you pretty hard. With my fists.”

“That’s called ‘punching,’” Elrin corrected.

“You get the point, elf boy.”

“I suppose we’re at an impasse,” Elrin said. “I have no plans to accept the message to change to the new system.”

Tresk pushed off from the counter, rolling her shoulders. “The other one. Did you even read your messages?”

“I skimmed them… Ah, I see the one you’re talking about. Yes, I’ll take that one. But this has me wondering.”

“Fight?” Theo asked with a shrug. “We’ve been doing more fighting around here recently. Might give Tresk a chance to know you better.”

“Why not?” Elrin asked, gesturing to the door. “Business later. Fighting now.”

Tresk had trouble getting her wings out of the door, but the party marched along toward the empty field on the far side of the river. As long as Tresk held her punches, this guy would be fine. If he wanted to march in like he owned the place, he would do well to learn how things worked around here. Well, he seemed friendly enough. And he held a comforting energy that Theo couldn’t deny.

“So, where are you from?” Theo asked.

“From what I’ve put together on my own, I’m from here before the latest change,” Elrin said. “I was fighting for both Iaredin and Earth when everything was frozen in time. How about you?”

“Near-future Earth,” Theo said.

“Interesting. Any rules for the fight?” Elrin asked.

“You won’t be able to hit her, or do any damage,” Theo said. “As long as she has the wings, she’s empowered by the system to banish you.”

“That hardly seems fair.”

“Yet you haven’t backed down! Getting cold feet?” Tresk asked.

Elrin shrugged as they entered the open field. Theo stretched his future sight as far as it would go. The pair were already fighting, and the newcomer elf wasn’t doing well. It wasn’t in Tresk’s nature to go easy, and this was no exception.

“Good luck, bud.”

A halberd appeared in Elrin’s hand. Theo was blasted by the sheer power of the thing. He had never felt a magical item with such power. It was intense enough where he questioned if the weapon itself wasn’t a powerful person, emitting a strong magical aura. Tresk stretched her wings wide, rolling her shoulders. A blink later, she kicked off of the ground and went straight for the poor elf’s heart. He only barely parried, the haft of his weapon ringing out.

“Oh, she’s fast,” Elrin said, sweeping his weapon through the air. He blurred, appearing behind the marshling and thrusting forward with a concealed dagger. The sound of steel ringing against steel echoed over the open field. “Too fast.”

“You’re quick!” Tresk said, spinning around. Demon horns had sprouted from her forehead. “Now I’m faster.”

No matter what Elrin tried, it didn’t matter. Tresk was granted too much power from the system for him to overcome. The most striking thing was how strong this guy was, though. Even with the system’s power through her Dreamer’s core, Elrin was keeping up at points. He was strong. Not as strong as Khahar was, but he would have easily overpowered Fenian. And that was before the other thing got involved.

Tresk unleashed a flurry of blows at the elf. Theo could tell she was holding back, but she put enough force into the strikes to send shockwaves of force radiating outward. The marshling danced around, cackling as she had the time of her life. She let out a small gasp when something fell from the sky. Theo watched it in his future sight as a tiger wreathed in blue energy came falling from the sky. He didn’t warn Tresk as that would be unfair. And he always followed the rules. But the result of the encounter was the tiger gaining an injury, so it was time to call it off.

“Enough,” Theo said, snapping his fingers to get Tresk’s attention. “Call the tiger off, Elrin.”

“Predictive powers?” Elrin asked, panting for breath. “Guessing it doesn’t end well… Fine. I’ll accept the prompt.”

“Bah. We were just getting started!” Tresk shouted. “But man! That was GOOD!”

“Come on, you idiots,” Theo said. “Let’s get some tea.”

Chapter 80

Tall Boys

The scent of earthy moss tea spread through the Newt and Demon. Theo, Elrin, and Tresk sat downstairs, finding whatever chairs they could to wait out the brewing process. The smell of the Moss Nettle had become something of a comfort for the alchemist. Late nights in the lab—often working hard to create potions for the defense of that same town—were an event. At least his attributes would reduce the negative effects the next day.

Theo poured a cup of tea for everyone, watching the way Elrin leaned back in his chair, halberd propped against his shoulder. That guy must have been through the ringer. He was just happy to have been able to stop the fight before things got out of hand.

“I’m guessing you’ve been on a wild ride,” Theo said, popping the lid of his kettle to check the water. It was boiling enough, so he dished out three cups of tea before blowing on his own. “And the fun has just started.”

“You could’ve let us fight a bit longer,” Tresk said, folding her arms. She could only be grumpy for so long before she drank her tea. Theo knew that. She knew that. Everyone knew that.

“From what I understand, you’re from Earth,” Elrin said. “Near-future, or something like that. Tell me, are you aware of my exploits defending your planet?”

“No. In the several-hundred years that passed since your time, the information was lost or covered up. I can’t really say.” Theo shrugged, taking a sip of the empowering tea. He felt energy race through his body the moment he sipped. “So, did your system work on Earth?”

“Indeed. We made a deal with someone to seal the worlds away. Unfortunately, certain powers prevailed against my wishes. Betrayal and all that.” Elrin looked around the room taking in a deep breath. “But seeing Iaredin survive is encouraging. I’m sorry Earth didn’t make it.”

“I was born here,” Tresk said, smiling to herself as she sipped her tea. It hadn’t taken her long to cave.

“I don’t remember your race from before. Or the large ones guarding the wall. Actually, most of you are quite big. Even you, demon.”

“Yeah, we’re a bunch of tall boys over here. Except the marshlings. They’re comically small.”

Elrin nodded, taking a sip of his tea. He grimaced. “This might be the worst drink I’ve ever had. Do you have any sugar?”

“Of course,” Tresk said, producing a sack of sugar from nowhere.

“Where did you get that?” Theo asked. “That’s an alchemy reagent, you know.”

“And he wonders why I hide all the good stuff,” Tresk tutted. “When will you learn, Theo?”

“The tea takes some time to get used to, but the effects are great. It’ll keep you up all night if you’re not careful.”

“I don’t sleep,” Elrin said, spooning some sugar into his drink.

“You don’t ever sleep?” Tresk asked. “Well, that sounds horrible.”

“That’s how I got so powerful. Everyone else had to sleep while I leveled. That’s what allowed me to become the strongest fighter and the strongest crafter at the same time. No one could keep up with me.” Elrin cast his eyes to the ceiling, a smile spreading across his face. “I can switch locations with my companion. Since he can take the form of an eagle, that means I can be anywhere I want on the planet within a day or two.”

“That’s a fast bird,” Tresk said.

“Someone told me he was as fast as a ‘fighter jet’ at one point. That was near the end, though.”

“So, you’re a crafter. Like me. What did you make?”

“Everything,” Elrin said, gesturing to himself. He pulled back his cloak, showing intricate earrings hanging from his ears. He showed his rings, cloak, and various weapons. “The message the lizard was telling me to accept was related to my position as the Guardian of the Shards. It gives me some interesting powers.”

“He doesn’t sleep, he can craft everything… Hey, craft me some stuff,” Tresk said, jumping from her chair.

Elrin’s gaze locked onto her. He unclasped a leather pouch from his belt. “Okay, what would you like?”

“Uh… uh… Daggers?” Tresk asked. “I guess.”

Elrin withdrew a small crystal from his bag, holding it out. His brows knit. “You’ll have to wait, little lizard. The system is yelling at me about using a crafting method that isn’t supported.”

“Any errors you have now should be cleared up during the reset,” Theo said. “We’re working on that.”

“Right. You’re in charge of that, right?” Elrin asked. “What are you waiting for?”

“A few things,” Theo said, clearing his throat. “There are some elves trapped in the void. We need to rescue them first, then we need to get the shards from the same place. After that, I guess we’ll have a few meetings with the gods and we’ll initiate the restart.”

“Don’t forget to tell him about how we’re going to kill Death,” Tresk said.

“I’d like a part of that plan,” Elrin said. “I have some unfinished business with Kuzan.”

“That guy just sticks his nose in everyone’s business, doesn’t he?” Tresk asked. “Anyway, I’m sure the ascendants are happy to work with you. You’ve met us, but you still need to meet Fenian and Khahar.”

“It might be harder to meet Khahar, though,” Theo said. “It depends on if I can convince the system to let us into Khahak. I mean, getting into the void is easy enough. But that might just be a fluke.”

“We’ll get a defined list of rules after the switch,” Tresk said, nodding a whole bunch. “Think we should have a chat with the system about this guy? He should get special permissions, right?”

“I already have those,” Elrin said.

“Fancy pants over here.”

Theo left for a few minutes to go check his alchemy stills. Everything was progressing as it should have, and there wasn’t a dangerous buildup of vapors in either room yet. As long as nothing catastrophic happened, the run shouldn’t be a problem. Observing the collecting essence, he didn’t believe there would be a secondary brew process for this version of the Reforge Soul potion. It should have been a process of going straight to the bottle and down the gullet of the space elves.

“Tresk here explained your plan to bring the shards back through the void,” Elrin said, nodding to Theo as he descended the stairs. “I don’t understand how this void works, but I know the shards. The wizard… What was his name?”

“Xol’sa,” Theo said.

“Right. Xol’sa sounds like he knows what he’s doing. The theory is sound, but there’s a missing piece,” Elrin said. “I’ll need to prepare the sites for the shards. Otherwise, the concept of a beacon won’t even work.”

“Sounds like a path forward,” Theo said, taking his seat. He withdrew a communication crystal from his inventory, sliding it across the table and explaining how it worked. “Just don’t kick anything off until I’ve rescued the space elves. It should only take a few more days, depending on how many I can transport at once. Use this if you need to contact me.”

“Understood,” Elrin said, standing after snatching the crystal.. “Thanks for the tea. Thanks for bringing me in on the plan to murder Death. I have a feeling that one won’t end the way you expect.”

Without another word, he vanished in a burst of blue energy. Theo couldn’t determine the flavor of the magic, but it seemed familiar. He didn’t have to share his thoughts with Tresk. They were used to dealing with otherworldly forces by this point. It was unlikely they would be able to kill Death. Kuzan was a smart guy, and had been around for a long time.

“Killing him won’t be possible,” Tresk said, rolling her shoulders. “But I’m pretty sure we can force him from the throne. Maybe just get him to cough up some souls. Or we can bind him in restrictions.”

“All of which needs to happen before the switch. Once we have more restrictions, taking actions against the gods might be impossible.” Theo sighed.

It was a boon to have someone like Elrin around. He would be the first to admit that. Even if they couldn’t control the man, he would be a valuable asset if only for his knowledge of the shards. The plan to remove Death from his realm was extremely simple and was based on the Venom potion. But it made Theo wonder if they would get a more friendly version of Death.

“Do you think Fenian is right?” Tresk asked. “Could his wife be at Death’s Gate?”

“Everyone might be there,” Theo said. “Every soul that had ever lived or died in this world might be waiting for the system to fix itself. We can hold out hope.”

“Just don’t have too much hope,” Tresk winced. “I don’t think she’ll be there.”

“No, I don’t think so either. But everyone who died under the unfair bounds of this system deserves a fresh start. Hell, Kuzan might not even be a problem. If our assassination attempt fails, we can try to negotiate. He seemed like he was taking his role seriously, right?”

“Makes you wonder if we should even try to remove him… How do you pick the right move for something like this?” Tresk asked. “Something worse could happen if we made a move and he was ready.”

They could speculate on the best path forward all they wanted, but that wouldn’t do them any good. The plan was simple enough. Someone like Kuzan couldn’t be trusted with the souls of everyone. Perhaps there was another path forward they hadn’t seen yet…

###

“Why have a Seal of Passage if you’re just going to break it!” Omen’s voice echoed through the golden forests of Eral Dum—the elderling realm of Fate.

Fate turned, looking at her twin brother with a scowl. They had been through this too many times for her to argue again. An old friend had finally been awakened. Well, she had only waited a few weeks of mortal time, but that was too long for her to endure. There was a time whens he was known as Aline, granddaughter of King Leon. Since she had been sealed away, there was only one thing on her mind.

“I’m following the threads. I’m not leaving. Not again, anyway,” Fate said.

“Remember what happened last time?” Omen asked. “My prediction came true.”

“Think of it like astral projection. Anyway, the system said it was fine,” Fate folded her arms, glowering at her brother. “Don’t you want to see our dear uncle? Perhaps father is still out there… somewhere.”

“He’s not even our uncle,” Omen grumbled.

Fate glared at her brother long enough that he slunk off into the forest, leaving her to her work. Reading the threads of fate was hard enough without Omen badgering her all the time. With a steady breath, she invoked the power of her station. Her vision was clouded with gold until she plucked through the threads, finding the ones she was interested in. The threads of fate were whittled down to five, all pulled through her metaphorical loom and ready for investigating.

“There he is,” Fate said, pinching the fibers between her fingers and plucking. The scene before her shifted, and she soon stood on a rocky field. The shadow of a ruined fortress lingered on the dawn’s horizon. Becoming a god as a child had its advantages. It was disarming for people to see someone so small with so much power. Fate giggled to herself as she remembered an encounter with a huge man on Earth. She remembered breaking his arm with barely a twist of her hand.

“You haunt me,” a hooded man said with a sigh.

Fate bounded over the rocky landscape, laughing to herself. She loved bothering this one. Even if it kinda sorta broke the rules. Just a little, anyway. “You’re so intimidating! That’s the badass fighter I remember. Where’s your gun?”

“System took it,” Elrin said, turning to lower his hood. “I had to give up quite a few of my magical items, actually. Have you found Silvain?”

“How did you know I was looking… Oh, right. You always see through me.” Fate sighed.

“And Cyril? Armel?” Elrin asked. “Where are the others? The Defense Force?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Fate said. “Even now, I’m close to being shut down. This job belongs to another, now. The Dreamer and the Herald. New titles, same job.”

“I met the Dreamer,” Elrin said, his pale eyes locked on Fate’s golden eyes. “I’m not confident in her skills.”

“You’re so stuffy. Makes me want to puke… Anyway, what are you doing here?” Fate asked.

“Do you remember which shard was here?” Elrin asked, gesturing to the ruins.

“The Shard of Strelon,” Fate said. “My father used to take us here sometimes. When he had the time…”

“I doubt there are many that remember where the shards go,” Elrin said. “And I don’t know if I have the power to set them all in place. The power gifted to me by the Shard Network is fading. This may be the last thing I do.”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic.” Fate sighed, hanging her head. “You were always such an optimist. Suck it up and do your job.”

Elrin smiled, nodding to the god before him. “You’re right. Let’s get to work.”

Chapter 81

Epilogue

Theo Spencer,

15h Day, Season of Death,

873rd Year of Balkor’s Betrayal

Some people might have trouble finding motivation when they know the end of the world is coming. But I’ve never had that problem. I grew up in a world we knew was ending. I found meaning, even if it was a bit nefarious, and pushed on to have a decent life. Yeah, I get that a lot of people misunderstand what I did on Earth before I was taken to Iaredin. Instead of correcting them, I just let them make the same statements. And yes, I understand that not being the one to pull the trigger doesn’t absolve me of sins. But whatever. You had to be there to understand.

I write this in the last days of Broken Tusk on Iaredin. I’m looking forward to the task of tipping the vote of the gods to bring my new home to the heavens. Perhaps that involves me assassinating Death, or removing him from power, but these things need to be done. Why is a piece of land so important to me? Well, I just mentioned people having a hard time finding meaning in the end. Hanging onto something tangible is the way to do it. If that’s a chunk of land, a group of people, or whatever, you just need to hold on like your life depends on it because it very well might.

Let’s see. What has happened since my last entry? First, let’s talk about how we saved Qavell. Not only did we not destroy the place, but we also saved its new king and got rid of whatever weird infection plagued the place. We’re talking about some dimensional being that latched onto it. Well, we had this overpowered potion that persists forever. While I doubt we’re done with that creature, we gave it something to think about. After reinforcing the City of Qavell, her people were glad to join the Southlands Alliance.

As if a mortal alliance was the biggest concern we have…

The biggest thing to talk about here is the damn struggle for power in the heavens. Turns out the gods are all fake. Cool, cool. Those that seized power in the heavens had done so by exploiting something within the system. They could make themselves proto gods by tricking the system with the ascendance feature. Basically, a person could create a little pocket realm based energy they could cultivate on the mortal plane. Khahar was smart enough to do a little double-trick on the system, giving him a more permanent realm. But the other were all booted from their realms. Goodbye, no one will miss you.

There was an exception to this exodus, though. Uz’Xulven got to keep her realm. Mostly because she had specialized it to such a degree it latched onto Tero’gal. Lucky her.

That led to one of the most devastating effects of the change. Aligned cores all around the world were removed, or changed to the unaligned versions. Two ascendants I can think of were spared. Zaul and Glantheir. They assumed the role of Shadow and Hallow, which is cool. Zaul might have been insane, but he was always on my side. I think. He hasn’t made any outward moves since the change, so I count that as a good thing. The system let me keep his core, even if it evolved into a Shadow core.

Speaking of cores, most of the people in the alliance now have a Tero’gal themed core. I don’t think Tero’gal knows what it wants to do. It has themes of subtlety, shadow, and willpower but that place is still figuring itself out. I’m sure it’ll make more sense eventually. 

We’re close to helping the space elves. Very close. The change with the system didn’t help us out, but I think we have the solution. Once these reforge potions get done brewing, we’re in business.

The last thing that happened was the arrival of the guy who is supposed to help me. A man named Elrin showed up, claiming he was the guardian of the shards before everything went wild. I can’t tell if he’s on the level, but it doesn’t seem to matter. This guy is strong. He almost beat Tresk when she was using her Dreamer powers. Fenian used those same powers to beat back the dimensional being, so I can only guess how much power they’re granted.

As long as we keep at it, I know everything will work out. We’ve come too far to falter now. It does make me wonder how you’re reading this… Do you live on Tero’gal? Have you pilfered the contents of my personal room. If so, please make sure Tresk doesn’t eat all my good cheese. I need it for alchemy.

Thank you.