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Mark brushed up on his knowledge of the Lightning Spires on the way to that historical destination. The Spires were located on some islands at the very northern, central tip of the Daihoon-side of what would be called the Northern Territory of Australia. The Spires were similar to the Pyramids at Longwater, which Nobody Important had destroyed when Okuana used them to fire Prismatic Mana at the Winter Ball at Domal'Takela.

The Spires were also similar to the Alawani Obelisks of Aluatha, located about 130 kilometers northeast-ish of Domal'Takela. All together, those three locations marked the three known Great Weapons out of 12 theorized in total. Xerkona's Great Weapon was lost to history, somewhere in central Sheorune on Daihoon, as were the Great Weapons of the 8 other Lost Empires.

Each of those 'Great Weapons' were probably more 'energy systems meant to control the System and the Veil and repel the outsiders', but since they were usable as weapons and no one knew how else to use them, calling them 'Great Weapons' was close enough to the truth. The Lightning Spires were thought to be a part of Metrovakara, which was thought to be the Dragon King's personal Great Empire.

Metrovakara was almost completely lost to history, as far as Mark knew, but the AIs of United Sapients (thanks to Mark's group's documentary of Endless Daihoon) had gotten together and deduced that Metrovakara was down below the Lightning Spires. When Mark had kicked the goblins out of Goblinhome, back in the Greendeath Mountains 500 kilometers east of Dawncoast, the goblins had come here to D'Australia.

The timeline of events were: Mark ousted the goblins to D'Australia, the goblins started doing shit while Mark immediately went to Endless Daihoon, and then 6 months later Mark came back and that's when the AIs figured out that D'Australia was part of Metrovakara. Mark kinda wondered when and who, exactly, decided to kick the goblins off of Aluatha and over here to 'the middle of nowhere', which turned out to be Metrovakara. Maybe Mark had done it.

Seemed like a lifetime and 10 crises ago; hard to remember that kinda stuff. The goblins knew a lot about D'Australia, apparently, or more specifically Wongod knew a lot, and maybe BiggestBaddest too, just by virtue of being in so many places at the same time. Maybe they even knew how to make the Lightning Spires work, instead of them just blasting off all the time. If they didn't, then this was a safe trip, and then Mark could meet Wongod 'near' the Spires. But if they did know how to control the Spires…

Mark had gotten blasted by a stray fragment of the Prismatic Mana beam from Longwater, from Okuana, and his entire body had splashed away. And that was just a stray beam. A direct attack could have killed him… as to how well that killing would take? Mark had no idea. Probably not well. His soulhouse was in perfect working order, his Extra Lives at 'Secured' status. He'd still die and Quark would become a real person, though; there were consequences to his death.

Mark was pretty sure, if he died and if Quark was released from smallness, that Mark was not going to ask for Quark to be made a part of him again. Quark deserved to live a full life. Maybe Mark would get another AI familiar. Or maybe a Mind Power of his own. As the continent of D'Australia came into view, as lightning sparked prismatic into the sky like a flickering pulse of fractal power, Mark wondered…" The Spires are still just sparking, right?"

Mark asked Derek, "No hint of a change in rate of fire or anything like that?" Derek's vector turned inward and then outward as he said, "No changes. Still a spark every few minutes of varying size. Still kinda chaotic. Anywhere beyond 10 kilometers is fine. The furthest sparks ever recorded ever since their discovery after the Reveal only happens when a kaiju gets too close, and in that case the sparks can hit about 40 kilometers distant— Oh."

Derek paused, and then Derek said, "I was gonna say that there's a few remote observatories 50 kilometers away to the South and East of the Spires—" Derek cut forward in his explanation, "Wongod is at the Eastern Observatory. He's been standing there for 20 minutes, in view of the main camera, or at least that's when the public broadcast went down. Some hackers have regained the feed and I'm looking at that right now." Mark had wondered where, exactly, he was meeting Wongod.

He had basically decided 'go there and figure it out', and that's what had happened. Mark briefly wondered at the chain of events that Derek was going through right now, with all his other bodies. Were a few of him always on computers somewhere? Maybe inside sensitive locations, too, in order to get the information he needed to get. What Mark asked, was, "You still got some small bodies for infiltration, right?"" I do. Want me to investigate something?"" I was just thinking about Goblinhome… But no.

That's too dangerous. Are you in Okuana right now?"" Okuana actually specially-bred some tiny horrors to clear me out of several locations, but coming to Vaka cleared away that threat and now I'm fully infiltrating all over the place right now."

"… Huh. You're doing a lot, aren't you?" Derek grinned as he said, "If you ever wanna get reckless I can see about swinging something with Timeweaver and me and you and we can get you into Okuana to behead every single dryad out there—" He rapidly added, "That we know about."

"… Yeah, I want to do that," Mark said, having taken a moment to make the decision. But now that he made the decision…

"We'll run through a few of those after Gate Day. Chances are it won't work—"" Oh yeah," Derek said, very seriously and completely agreeing.

"Maaaajor major issues with that kind of plan." Mark nodded… and his gaze caught on the Lightning Spires ahead, now visible, as the night gave way to pale blue day, the auroras retreating from the illuminating horizons, darkness still heavy in the west. The Spires were an organization of prismatic white spikes, caught in early twilight, like frozen lightning in soft blueness.

By shape, they reminded Mark of the stalagmite and stalactite towers he had seen right before the gateway out of the elven lands, to Okuana, but without the mirrored spikes in the sky of that portal zone. Here, just the bottom spikes poked out of the ocean and lands ahead. There were 5 of them, in a rough diagonal line from southeast to northwest, the central one being the only one on an island, the other 4 in the ocean.

Lightning flickered between the 5 of them, and just like the reports said, it was a rather organized flicker, save for a bit of broken randomness here and there. The lightning flowed from the southernmost one, on Mark's left, to the middle one, arcing across the water and land like an uncoiling serpent, and then curling around the central spire before vanishing down that spire, like lightning grounded.

Another flicker of prismatic white lightning uncurled from the northern spike, on Mark's right, and grounded itself on the middle spire, just like the first one did. And then the central spire flickered and lightning broke the sky, crashing down everywhere, but mostly in the water. It spilled across the blackened land and burrowed into the oceans. If the Spires had been all on land at any point in history, that land was now gone.

Whatever ocean the lightning touched turned to steam, and then more water flowed into those gaps. A warm mist flowed from the Lightning Spires due to the heat, the power, and the magic happening all at once. The cycle restarted. The sun dawned in the east. Derek turned off the brightspeed function and coasted the ship to the east, toward wherever he knew Wongod was. They did not approach the Lightning Spires more than this; more than 60 kilometers away.

Mark and Derek both knew that Derek's current bodies would absolutely die if he got close, but the rest of him would be fine. Mark… was another story. He'd get hurt, for sure, but probably not more than that. Getting hurt near some goblins was a supremely bad idea. Wongod had tried and failed to corrupt Mark the first time, so Mark imagined that the goblin god would bring more to the second fight, for sure. Mark asked, "You ever met with Wongod?"" Nope. He scares me. BiggestBaddest, though? Yeah.

I've tangled with him before… quite a lot, actually. He corrupted a few of my bodies and I corrupted him right back. He doesn't try that shit anymore."" Oh wow? You corrupted him back?" Mark added, "Seems wrong to say it like that, but… yeah?"" Well yeah; not actually 'corruption'. I did a Union of Good and Bad with a focus on Humanity and Inhumanity and BiggestBaddest shriveled and died in those other bodies as waves of empathy hit him hard. He doesn't try that anymore."" Fuck, man… That's cool as fuck.

We don't talk nearly enough." Derek laughed.

"You are kinda busy. I heard they gave you the key to New Tokyo!" Mark smiled, feeling all sorts of amazing and warm.

"Oh gods, I want to go back. It was so fucking amazing. Superheroes are awesome." Derek chuckled. Derek aimed at a research station nestled into some rocks, visible to Derek because of whatever he was doing, and to Mark through Quark. All Mark really saw was a little bit of white between some boulders, and, of course, the goblin standing on one of those boulders out front. Everywhere else was low scrubgrass and skinny, sparse trees. This was a harsh land, made harsher by the Lightning Spires.

Even beyond the Spires' ultimate ranges there wasn't much to see… or at least there shouldn't have been. Derek looked up first, and Mark's gaze followed. The land far, far to the south, was all torn up. A bright silver spire, barely visible from here, but which clearly grabbed Derek's attention, now grabbed Mark's attention. He hadn't noticed that at first. It was too much the color of the sky. Quark highlighted the superstructure and expanded it in Mark's vision.

It was a silver skyscraper not unlike the ones at the main city of Crash, at Vaka, but it was so, so much bigger. It was visible from all the way here, which was 70 kilometers away according to Quark. They were still pretty high up so they had a long range on their scouting, but that was a biiiiig building. Derek said, "The reports about goblins excavating Metrovakara will have to be updated.""

Quark is saying it's 2, 300 meters tall and 200 wide," Mark said, conveying information for the sake of inter-team communication. Derek probably already did that himself, though. Derek began his final approach toward Wongod, asking Mark, "How close do you want me to get?" Mark decided, "This is close enough. I'll hop out here. Thanks, Derek."" I'm going to go investigate Metrovakara personally. I don't need my small selves to do that." Derek patted the ship's steering wheel, saying, "And Mabi gave this to us.

They got lots."" Oh! That reminds me… Can you find Goofy?"" I can do that instead," Derek said.

"I do like keeping my skiffs in good working order." Mark nodded, and then he grabbed the handle of the air bubble enclosing their vessel and said, "See you soon. Don't wait for me. I'll get back on my own."" Heard and understood!" Derek slowed a fraction, Mark opened the skiff, air ripped through the small space and then Mark jumped out, scattering fragments of adamantium in order to adjust his fall into a flow. Wongod was right down there, standing on a boulder, looking like it wasn't a trick at all.

Some goblins lurked in the low forest, but only in one direction, over and behind the research station. As Mark spun his rotor and slowed even further, preparing to fight or flee or fuck up whoever needed fucking, he got within Unionsense range, and mostly he just felt Wongod, standing there, in the open. The Wrong-Made God looked about as normal as you could get when it came to goblins. Green body, big ears, big nose, big fangs. No clothes. Just himself.

If Mark didn't have Unionsense or Quark, he probably wouldn't have recognized Wongod at all, but since he did, and since he had a fragment of a divine mirror, Mark saw Wongod as a tall, ethereal green tree, branches and roots like knots filled with the souls of his fellow goblins. The other goblins were nothing compared to him at all. Those other goblins were not Greeplox, or Puppet, or any of the other big-named goblins.

BiggestBaddest was there, but only as an observer; Mark recognized his specific brand of magic, lodged in the brains of several goblins like a parasite among parasites. Mark closed himself off to that sense as he extended his body in a few different directions, preparing for void bomb tricks, and then he landed on a low rock about 20 meters from the goblin god. They stared at each other for a little while, both of them sizing each other up.

Mark was sure he could fight and win, but it would be a difficult win, and incomplete. What he was absolutely sure of, if he fought, was that Wongod would visit retribution upon everyone Mark held dear. Mark told the evil 'god', "I'll still pull the trigger on killing you if I can."" And I, you," Wongod replied.

"But I know I can't kill you without losing a great deal of my people, and I would rather not have that happen."

"… Yeah." They stared for a while longer. Mark said, "Leave the People alone."" I want to be rid of the curse Dominant put upon me and my people. Help me do that and you will have an ally against him when he inevitably pulls all of the triggers he has, with one of those triggers being the curse he put upon us that turns us into his unwavering soldiers." Wongod added, "You don't even have to do it yourself. Talk to the Pantheon and get them to do it. I've already got Thrashtalon on board.

I just need all the rest of them." Even though he hated it, Mark had to consider the option. Mark asked, "What would you do with your newfound freedom from smallness, and your new ability to fuck up humanity?" Wongod couldn't stop himself from smirking, just the tiniest bit. That was all it took to let Mark see past the solidity of his visage, to see the blood-covered tree and the dream of genocide lurking in the heart of the Wrong-Made God. Goblins didn't smile like people did.

Goblin smiles were something closer to threat displays. Among the older goblins, the 'real' ones, a grin could be many, many things, but it was never a display of joy. Not really. Wongod wanted to kill every single human in every world." Why Mark… I would stand aside, of course!" Wongod said, barely hiding his laugh.

He waved a hand through the air and painted a fantasy with his words, "I would live here, in these gloriously free lands, and I would have neighbors of the People, and I would be a good, honest king, in ways that I was not allowed to be, if only you would let me be that good person." He dropped his hand low, palm up, toward Mark, saying, "I could even help you in the Reset Quest if you desire, for soon I will command Metrovakara, and you need another vote on your council, yes? Why…

you don't even know where White Cauldron is! But I do."" You can't even keep it together to pretend, can you."

"… View this offering less like that, and more like a test of your worthiness of an Inheritance and of Empire. Can you deal with enemies that have the same goal as you, but who will diverge later along known lines? Or do you act as a petulant child, wrecking possibilities and peoples when those people don't fully conform to your sensibilities?" Mark scoffed.

"You actually think that gambit is going to work with me." Wongod's grin cracked. He huffed and stood straight, saying, "I suppose not." He continued, "BiggestBaddest is perhaps the most useful member of my tribe in a very long time. He is pushing the most for us to get behind the mists of the islands to the north, so that we can leave behind the coming worlds' war. There is some deep, good merit to this plan.

Most everyone forgets why we're up there fighting, but not me, so I have fallen onto BiggestBaddest's side in some rather contentious arguments about dispensation of forces, and whatnot. But BiggestBaddest is rather alone right now. The council is about ready to give up the war and prepare against Dominant in our own ways. Those ways will fail, but they believe they won't, and I don't care enough to steer this ship in other directions. But I care enough to try BiggestBaddest's path.

To that end, I ask you for help in taking the misty land so that we don't have to go to war with all of you." Wongod added, "All you have to do is stand aside." This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it." No," Mark said, as a matter of course.

"I will not help you ask the gods for help with your curse. I will not help you harm humans in order to remove yourselves from the board. What else did you want to say? Or are we starting this battle now?" It felt like they were already fighting, though not a single action had been taken." We're close to starting, but I have a few more talking points." Wongod said, "I saw your documentary. Exciting stuff. I haven't seen the homeland in forever; not like other, luckier goblins."

The air felt softer, like Wongod pulled back his malice for humanity a fraction, the ethereal titan tree in the dream feeling, for a moment, less like a dangerous thing ready to curl and devour, and more like a tree you'd sit under and read a book for a while. It set Mark on-edge. Mark asked, "Any stupid elves come by, yet?" Mark expected and hoped for a 'no'." Oh yes," Wongod said, happy to say it.

"We're entertaining one right now. I haven't managed to rip his territory from him yet, but we're working on it. I believe you met Kialo, of the Plains?" That fucking idiot really did come here— And then Wongod held out a hand to the right, and a black, octogonal staff materialized in his hand, expanding upward and downward to match the Wrong-Made God for height. It was made of adamantium, like the one Eria of the Central Spire had the last time Mark saw her."

Kialo is in our dungeons right now, being tortured until he gives up his housebook."

"… Of course he is," Mark said, resigned to killing goblins for the next few weeks, starting with Wongod, until he could rescue Kialo from who-the-fuck knew where. Wongod didn't recognize this right now. He had fallen to megalomania, and now he was spouting even more shit. Mark let him, for Quark was calculating goblins in the area, and Mark was able to put eyes out in other directions, to see what was coming, or what could be coming. So far, all he saw were goblins." Kialo had an escort! You knew her."

Wongod said, voice like grave l ly hate.

"Eria of the Central Spire." Wongod twirled the stolen staff in a hand, catching the air like something thunderous moving through a small space. And then Wongod smacked the staff onto the boulder under his feet, cracking the stone, green fingers tightening on the hexagonal length.

"Eria thought she knew me. She did, in another life. Once upon a time I had the same name, but a different outlook, and I had duties to the Endless Court. I and my people, my 'goblins', were the Endless Court!" … Ah, fuck, they really were the Endless Court." Did you kill her?" Mark asked, "Or is she trapped, too?" Wongod scoffed, hating being interrupted, but also for another reason. Wongod asked, "Did I kill Eria? My sister? No. Not permanently." Mark frowned.

"Your sister, huh. That's why she cried when I talked about you?"" Doubtful," Wongod said, "At least at the point where you saw her, according to your documentary. Her tears were likely more for you, for seeing the hate you have in your heart for someone so young. She didn't even know me at that point in time. No… She learned, though. She grabbed some of her books of life up there in that Library and consumed more of them, and when she came here she was truly sad. Tears flowed like the rain when she looked upon me.

She brought some of my own books of life to me, opening my eyes, and for a moment, for a minute, I cried, too. She opened my eyes, Mark! She brought me back. Reminded me who I was." Wongod seemed slightly different than the last time Mark had seen him. Perhaps he was more grounded. And then Wongod added, "I did not need that reminding, for I had never forgotten." The absolute hate rolling off of Wongod was like gravity.

Wongod had been a painting done in pastels the first time Mark had met him, but now he had true blacks to him, and true whites. He was a full person, and all of his experiences had crystallized everything about him that he had experienced in the last several thousand years of being a goblin." Of course," Mark said, exasperated.

"Of course, you viewed your younger self, and then you returned your sister's kindness with treachery. How very predictable."" Ha!" Wongod glared.

"Shall we get to the fighting and the devastation for everyone? Or are we keeping this spar verbal?"" I've scouted your side so I'm ready, but if you wanna get more megalomaniac al then go ahead." Wongod nodded, and then continued, "I want you to know how unwinnable this is for you, Mark.

'Nephew'." Mark scoffed. Wongod grinned, showing teeth, fangs edged with thick, green venom. His poison was almost luminous. It was the same color as his tree in the dream. Grinning for goblins was not a sign of mirth. It was a sign of hunger. Wongod was hungry to Bite, but he was also hungry to make himself be understood. Wongod continued, "We of the Endless Court were once responsible for managing relations between elves, the System, and all lesser beings. I was their leader. My name was still Wongod… ha!"

Wongod laughed at the sky, not even looking at Mark. And then his gaze lowered and he stared at Mark with silent hatred that rivaled a kaiju's roar.

"And then the Dragon King deposed us and offered us a choice. Serve him, and place him above us, between the System and us, or die, forever more. We accepted the offer. And thus the decline of the elves began." For a time it was… it was not horrible." It was an embarrassment. A degradation. But it was not horrible." This was because the Dragon King was not a human, for he was more like you, a shifter. We elves could respect that. We could follow that. It was…"

Wongod's anger mixed with longing and with cold hate and with a loss, unfathomable.

"It was what it was."" And then the Dragon King perished in battle, and Dominant took advantage." I hate Dominant a great deal, Mark," Wongod said, voice like fire, "But I hate humans more. I hate how they consume, how they take, how they kill us… You should have seen the world of the Dragon King! It was glorious. Hardly any monsters at all, and everyone had a 'Healthy Body', and magic was plentiful and amazing.

And then one man fell in one battle, and the world returned to how it was before a strong hand took proper control of everyone, but worse. So while I would never willingly submit to Dominant's rule again, if you cannot help us, if you will not become the person you emulate on the screen with this ridiculous Blackvein persona and that insane 10-point crown…

This is the truth: I know that submitting to Dominant will only remove my personhood for 30 years, and then he'll let us go, again, and in that 30 years we will scour the world of all humans." And I will love every minute of that holocaust." A hot wind blew across the world, carrying a prismatic charge, like prickles upon Mark's pale flesh.

The Lightning Spires continued to erupt in the background, coruscating lightning scattering hither and thither, while goblins hid and watched from the bushes all around Mark and Wongod. Mark looked at the staff in Wongod's hand as he asked, "So Eria really got away?" Wongod grinned again.

"She was smart enough to run when she could. Kialo was not."" What are you going to do with him?"" Hand him over and pray that Dominant would take him instead of us," Wongod said, and then he added, "Probably won't work. Dominant is very much his namesake." Mark had to try, "Give him to me, and I walk away."" I want 3 goblins with True Brawny and Telekinesis. Give me that and I'll give you Kialo, though you won't like what I've done to him."

"… You made a goblin out of his existence."" Yup!"

"… You already killed him and then prevented even resurrection." Wongod grinned. And then he smacked his staff against the boulder underfoot, announcing, "Kialo! Show yourself!" Four goblins jolted, and then stepped out of the sparse brush to the side. They looked ashamed. Mark glanced at 'Kialo' through the fragment of a divine mirror, and through the dream, and Mark saw something like a soul and a house, but it was also like a green cloud split into multiple pieces and strewn across the greater Green of Wongod.

A floorboard over there, a roof in another place, some walls floating in the green, and a bed and some chairs laying on each other. Mark had seen the strange set of goblins before that moment, but he hadn't realized that it had been Kialo. Disgust rose like a tidal bore. Mark twitched. Wongod said, "He couldn't kill himself and rise as one. It's a pretty typical problem of very strong souls.

All you have to do is decide which one is truly Kialo, and then he'll fall back together, but he will never be himself or welcomed anywhere, Mark, for I'll always have him as a part of me. Take him and maybe I'll talk to you through him, sometime. Now back up, Kialo." The elf formally known as Kialo, with a mind that gave no indication anything was left of the original person, backed up, four goblins kinda walking away, like each of them was a stiff arm, or a leg that belonged to one, unseen entity.

Wongod glared at Mark, voice rumbling, "You don't want to help me shove off Dominant. You don't want to help me avoid the war by stepping into the mist. So tell me, Mark. Am I getting my kaiju killers today, and are we beginning the start of a transactional relationship, or are we destroying the world with our fight, right now?" Mark took a moment. He breathed, in and out, Good and Bad.

Miasma leaked from his mouth and nostrils, pulsed on black veins that filtered out through his main body and also through the adamantium Mark had stretched out in multiple directions. Wongod kept his eyes on Mark, but he watched the world, too, the Green moving around, shifting, condensing. They had both been ready for a fight since the very moment Mark had made his approach, only 20 minutes ago.

And then Mark turned his extensions of himself, that he had trailed out there as insurance, into solid weapons; monowire line. He swept left and right, a Union of Good and Bad as his targeting system, every breathing thing getting a touch of adamantine wire angled up the nose and down the throat, through the heart, and then moving on. It was almost a mist of black thread. Wongod braced himself against Mark, holding Eria's staff up in front of himself.

Trees, goblins, grasses, spiders, and more, all fell apart, as Mark breathed with the world. Mark Unioned with Alacrity and Slowness and stepped to the side, but was too late to avoid the main strike. Something at the top of the central Lightning Spire flickered. Mark came back to himself 200 meters to the left, inside a collection of adamantine thread that he quickly wound into a body, eyes first.

Before he got to his chest or his legs, which were rather superfluous, Mark was Unioning with Alacrity and Slowness again, and trying to latch on to Wongod but he could not. The staff in his hands protected him from that connection, Mark's adamantium threads smashing against the staff in a weird way. Why was the staff able to protect Wongod at all? Mark was attacking from all angles, but the staff deflected everything away from Wongod's right side, as though Mark was only attacking there.

Mark pulled back his attack, spreading himself out while fully forming his body. The entire battlefield had changed. Where Mark had been was now splashed away, prismatic crystallized lightning still melting into the ground and remaining there, burning away absolutely everything, except for Wongod. The attack itself was rapidly evaporating back into the atmosphere. The Lightning Spires were no longer flickering randomly.

They had stabilized, small arcs of solid lightning curled around the gatherings at the tips, like fireflies trailing around a nightlight. One of those lightning trails had been the thing that had broken Mark's previous body, for sure, but not Wongod, even though he was right there. Wongod remained standing tall against the backdrop of disintegrating lightning. He raised his staff high, laughing as he said, "I had forgotten how amazing one of these was! They just don't make 'em like this anymore!

And I even managed to link it to the Spires! Watch now, Inheritor! Nephew! Witness what happens to infiltrators and disruptions to our new goblin nation!" Mark was already moving. The lightning found him first, curling out of orbit around the tip of each spire, rapidfire and cutting through the sky faster than should be possible.

Mark twisted in the sky, rushing left and right, zipping his consciousness around to try and fool whatever targeting systems the Spires had, because the first bolt went right through his brain and splashed away the land below. Mark recalled himself to another part of his adamantium, swelling back to full right in time to take another prismatic bolt to the face, splashing him away. It hurt. Mark knew pain; it would not stop him.

And then Wongod's staff was a kilometer long and thin as a truck, slamming through Mark's wire-strung center, gathering his body around that massive 'stick'. Wongod struck the ground, pinning Mark in place for barely a moment. It was long enough for three more trucks of Prismatic Mana to splash away the gatherings of Mark's body.

Mark was lost in a world of dreams again, a giant green tree with a black spike in the core smashing down upon his house with a giant black spire, while prismatic lightning tore through his soul again, right through an edge. Purple Death blossomed in the dark Green, Black breaking and shattering into forgotten moments in time. Focus. Flow. Mark tilted his soulhouse, eyes appearing in reality, dream fading. He became a leaf, and the wind was hot today. Tilt again.

Prismatic heat twisted and Mark twisted in turn, flowing with the battle, angling to grab Wongod with a Union of power. But Wongod pulled back and secured his location with flows of prismatic mana like sheets of wind. Mark's body broke in that direction, so he flowed away into the sky. Retreat. Threads became collections that splashed away into particulates that grabbed at the lightning as it passed, Mark attempting a Union of Power and Weakness to drain the heat from the power.

The power just burned him, so Mark twisted away, discarding broken parts of himself, becoming a flow of adamantium mist that gathered and broke apart before the next salvo hit. Lightning slipped through the holes Mark left for it, and Mark began to rush away, spiraling and curving, eyes forming and remaining open just long enough for him to draw the prismatic heat at those eyes. It hurt too much to think, to be, so Mark remained the wind. Mark retreated.

Mark came back to himself several hundred kilometers away, though he did not realize he had gone that far until he came back together and the lightning was easier to dodge because it was far past the horizon. He couldn't see the Spires from here at all— Lightning arced at his face. Mark shifted downward. The lightning hit the land behind him, splashing rock into molten sparks, drowning the world in radiant heat.

Mark retreated faster, rushing away, Quark appearing in his vision to give directions and words to the fleeing. He was now 850 kilometers away. Lightning sailed overhead and then far to the right, and then, it stopped. Mark watched the sky and the western horizon as he hovered in the air, the downdraft from his rotor feeling blessedly cool, but he still hurt. Everything hurt.

His skin was still full-black, full adamantium, and his heart beat rapid-fire in four different locations spread out across the sky and floating on little rotors of their own. Quark asked, "Shall I relay this new information to Aluatha and the relevant authorities?"" Just… just give me a moment." Mark didn't need to catch his breath, but he did need to think. It had been a trap, of course. Mark hadn't expected any of that stuff about Eria of the Central Spire or… or fucking Kialo of the Plains. Fucking hell.

Fuck—" Sir!" Quark flashed an alarm into Mark's vision and a bright red arrow pointing downward and to the right, with a little label for 950 meters on the arrow. Mark shifted to another body, rapidly moving out of the way of… of nothing? What was Quark— And then Mark saw it. Mark saw her." No," Mark said, mostly to himself. And then Mark Called out, "NO. FUCK YOU."

Quark enlarged Mark's vision so he could see the details, but Mark didn't need any zoom to see the spread that had been put out there, some time ago, specifically for him. If Mark's guess was correct —and it probably was— someone had taken a big finger and dug up an empty stretch of land to spell out the words 'Hello Mark!' in English. The period of the exclamation point was actually a large, round blanket, with a picnic happening at the moment.

Little tea cakes, sandwiches, soda, chips, and a radio playing music from Memphi. Dolly Parton. There were three people down there. One of them was the Light Titan, Grax, who had probably dug up the ground with his Light Titan fingers. Goofy Goblin was eating a tiny cake. Perhaps, if it had just been those two, then Mark would have descended and had a nice talk with them. But then there was the other person. The most offensive one of all. The traitor, Kardi Shale.