“You have restored the Final Rest to a functional state,” Tender said, nodding upward at the bright light spilling over the lake. “Unfortunately, it remains disconnected. The excess mana needs to be vented.” “Excess mana… How is that mana? I can see that! With my eyes! How much mana does it even take to do that?” I demanded, pointing upward. The green fire in Tender’s eyes flashed, and there was a hint of amusement in its voice when it responded, “That much.” We stared blankly at each other for several blinks before it chuckled, adding, “More than emerges from what you call the Infinite Rift. It is good, that Aeternia begins to wake in truth. Now, you have spent too much time here. Go, rest, talk to your loved ones. Then complete your task. Beware venturing beneath the waves to find Depths.” “Right. Each of you do have your own expertise, don’t you,” I said, though I wasn’t too worried about taking a break. Might as well- “Do not ignore my advice. If you plan to encounter Depths and not falter, you will need to be at your best. Our brother is… not all of us have grown during our service,” Tender said, eyes sparking with amusement once more. “Remember, no matter what he says… you, he cannot harm. He is unusual.” I gave the twelve foot tall plant-skeleton-devil a quick once over. “Right. Unusual.” Still, Tender was the most directly helpful of the strange beings. If it figured I should take a break first… well, I could afford a few hours to indulge it. Besides, there was an entirely new mana-well I should probably mention to the others, assuming they’d somehow missed it. It shouldn’t have surprised me that Nexxa was the first to find me. “The Front did you do Perry?” she demanded, finger pressed against my chest before I even realized she was there. I was pleased by how her finger didn’t simply dimple my flesh like it would’ve the day before. “I could feel that mana eruption on the edge of my domain. Where does that much mixed mana even come from?” “Did a bit of plumbing. Turned out the pipes were clogged,” I said, unable to keep from smiling. Mixed mana. That was interesting. Potentially problematic, but interesting. “What does… you’re going to sit down and tell me everything you’ve been up to since I stomped that fool for you yesterday.” “Was that only yesterday?” I asked, thinking. Then I nodded to myself, it had been only yesterday. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast,” Nexxa said, waving me after her. Somewhat numbly, I followed her out of the Waygate nexus only stopping when I realized she’d led me to Southport. “Uh, normally I eat-” “Hush, Perry, there’s a great stall here that does these amazing- Ah, there it is,” Nexxa said, dragging me over to a cart with sticky crunchy cookie like snacks alongside milk. Fresh chilled milk. It was expensive, at least for a normal person. Even so, the stall was popular enough we had to wait nearly ten minutes. Unlike back in Tetherfall or Verdant Point, people didn’t instantly recognize me, so no skipping the line. I enjoyed the moment of relative anonymity. When we got to the front of the line, it was clear the vendor knew Nexxa. It was equally clear he only knew her as a regular customer and not as our resident Hydra-soul goddess of storms. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝙣𝙚𝙩 Seemed I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed a touch of anonymity. With breakfast acquired, I did as Nexxa had asked, filling her in on everything that had happened since the day before. Including my encounter with Perth. “Wasn’t him,” Nexxa said, shaking her head. “Might’ve been a perfect copy, but wasn’t him.” “There’s an argument that being a perfect copy is the same thing,” I said, licking at my teeth, trying to get the stickiness off, not sure why I was arguing the point. “Continuity of existence,” Nexxa said, waving a hand. “It’s an old topic. Philosophers have been arguing about it since before the Everstorm, as they say.” “So, you’re not upset that I killed him? Again?” “Are you trying to make me upset? You said you were in there for hours. How many times did he mention me?” “Uh… once,” I said, shaking my head. “And it was a question about why I thought it had been okay to lie to you. Still regret that, by the way. Anyway, he kinda pestered me with a whole bunch of questions like that, then started bragging about his hunting skills and how many more women he’d been with than me but… no, never talked about you. Not really.” If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. “And there you have it. I might’ve loved him, but if I’m honest, he was kind of a spoiled brat,” Nexxa said, huffing out a sigh. “Maybe I’m just making excuses. Perry… you know you’re my brother, right? You’ve earned that much, in your own right. Even if you hadn’t ended up in my brother’s body, what you’ve done for me. Yeah, I’d want to call you brother.” “Thanks Nexxa, I’m glad to call you sister too,” I said, reaching over and snagging one of her cookies. “Hey, I don’t love you that much!” she protested, snagging the cookie back before I could dunk it. Grumbling, she split it in two, offering me half. Then we laughed together as I dropped my half in the milk. After my breakfast with Nexxa I went and found Bevel, who was cruising through the new mana-well over Mistvale Lake. There was plenty of Air mana about, though that was true for each of the common mana types other than Nature. “You gonna stay up here forever?” I asked her, barely managing to catch up with her in the middle of a lull in her diving. “Papa! There’s so much mana! It’s like being in a storm! But better, ‘cause it’s all wind!” “It’s actually got a lot of other mana mixed in too,” I said, waving. “Earth, Fire, Arcane and… you’re not listening.” “Am too,” Bevel said even as she spun herself in place like one those toy tops. “Earth, Fire, Arcane and…?” “And Water. They’re all mixed together. And apparently this is just a side effect of me fixing the piping,” I explained. “I knew it was you! Told Ari it was but she said she hoped it wasn’t because then you’d have done something dangerous or stupid. I’d told her it was probably something stupid, since we’re all stupid sometimes,” Bevel said, her words oscillating wildly in pitch as she didn’t slow her spin. “That seemed to upset her.” “It might’ve been dangerous and stupid, yes,” I said, shaking my head at her silliness. “But it was important too. Do you know where she and Tamrie are?” “Uh. I think they were visiting the Shapers guild? Something about preventing a riot?” “Right, that sounds like something that needs to be handled. Wonder if it’d help or harm the cause if I showed up,” I said while dodging a random bird that shot past at a ludicrous speed. Seemed Bevel wasn’t the only one enjoying the abundant mana. “Oh, Ari said you could come by if you wanted to, but she’d take care of the uppity sprigs,” Bevel said, finally stopping her spin as she turned towards me, brow scrunched up. “What’s a sprig?” “It’s a little bud or leaf on a branch, I’m pretty sure,” I said absently, watching the bird turn and dive towards the lake, maintaining its unreasonable speed. “How do those get uppity?” “Metaphor. She was talking about the Shapers,” I said, ruffling her hair now that she wasn’t spinning, wincing when the poor bird bounced right off the surface of the lake. “Oh, right, makes sense,” Bevel said, nodding as she stretched her arms out to either side, the wind swirling around us. “Did you want to race?” “You know what? Sure,” I agreed, before taking off. Without setting a destination, it wasn’t much of a race. More like a victory lap, as I circled the lake, bathing in the mana. At least, it was a victory lap for me, even if Bevel won the race. After messing around with Bevel for another few minutes, I gave her a hug and went to find Ari. As promised, she was with Tamrie, keeping the Shapers from abandoning their assigned tasks to go investigate the new mana-well. “You can investigate it this afternoon. None of you need more mana for your morning tasks.” One of the Shapers raised his hand, but a glance from Ari had them lowering it. I waited a few feet back and out of sight as the ladies got the Shapers back on task. Only after they were on their way did I step forward into the room, catching glances from the Shapers as they shuffled past. “You are aware you didn’t have to refrain from making your presence known. I would have been able to redirect their attention just as well with you present as otherwise,” Ari said, her voice carrying a hint of amusement, backed up by a slight smile. “More’n like, he just wanted to spend a few minutes appreciating our assets,” Tamrie said, bumping against my hip. Despite ourselves, Ari and I both flushed. “That isn’t… well, I mean, I did notice…” I stopped myself. “I’m not blind. But it wasn’t the focus of my attention.” Tamrie cackled, though it quickly settled into a more humble chuckle. “Right as rain, you noticed. And I noticed you noticing, sure enough. So, then, what in the depths was all that mess-” Tamrie waved a hand in the direction of Mistvale, “-about?” “That’s why I came to talk to you two,” I said, before giving them a brief rundown. Then I nodded towards the expansive foundry spread out around Tetherfall. “Let Inertia know for me? Oh, Vendil too.” “Aye, we’ll take care of it. Even make sure Selvi and those knights of yours are filled in, sure enough. Going to the halls now then, are ya?” Tamrie asked, arms crossed. “Yeah, figured I should talk to you first,” I said. Despite the fact I’d replied to Tamrie, I found myself looking at Ari too. “I get the impression it might be a bit dangerous.” Ari nodded. “I’ll come with.” “That’s… I don’t think you can, unfortunately,” I said, shaking my head. “Not yet, anyway. Maybe after.” Ari’s brow scrunched up, then she sucked her lower lip in for a second before nodding. One of her bracelets appeared in her hand, and she held it out to me. “Not really my kind of accessory,” I said even as I studied its enchantments. Ari rolled her eyes, shaking her head as Tamrie chuckled. “It’s a beacon. Even with the interference around here, if you activate that, I’ll Recall directly to you.” “That’s…” I honestly didn’t have the words. That was a very good enchantment. And a very specific one. “I know. Took a lot of work to get it right,” Ari said, rather smugly. “Now, you be off. And only call if you need me. It’ll only work the once. Besides which, I suspect today’s going to be more busy than usual.” The last was said with an eye towards the still visible mana geysering up over Mistvale. “Right. Thank you,” I said, leaning forward and giving her a peck on the cheek. Her cheeks flushed crimson, and I felt a half-second of satisfaction until Tamrie’s cheer sounded out. When it did, I flushed just as bright as Ari. So I went for a kiss on her cheek as well, only to get grabbed by the chin and have my aim redirected to her lips. Even as I was pulling away, Tamrie reached up and kissed Ari on the cheek as well. “There, all nice and even,” she said smugly. Making a tactical retreat, I slid the bracelet around my wrist, then made my way to the Golden Halls. It was time to see just what this Utility Access could do.