OoOoh, so mysterious. You ain’t fooling me though, System! I’m going to see this done.

  The god-king eyed the piece in Sammy’s hand and then met her eyes. “Even if you could reforge it somehow, I don’t believe the control crystal is here. Or anywhere.”

  “One thing at a time, my friend,” Sammy replied, then floated upward into the air. “Let’s see, shall we?”

  Utilizing [Deific Pneumamancy], Sammy focused on the metal piece in her hand, feeling lines of spiritual connection still existent between it and the rest of the whole, each of them having pneumanic substance and presence in that realm. She thrummed the lines to aid in locating them, then grabbed them telekinetically, pulling them to her.

  Numerous bits of metal and small gemstones shot toward her from all angles of the throne room, quickly orbiting her like moons. Some bits were larger and some were as small as a tack, and she had to focus to bring some from around obstructions. Inevitably, a great broken mass of corroded old gold and gemstones swirled around her, the gemstones blues of great variety—sapphires, blue topazes, aquamarines, and so on.

  A few easily impressed guardsmen gasped. And Gabriel. The king watched her with mild curiosity if anything.

  Painstakingly, Sammy began to fit all the puzzle pieces together, aided in supplementation by her supernatural sense of the flows of power within. They wanted to reconnect because the artifact was not inert. It was broken salvage. Pieces were bent as she restored the frame, so she bent them back into their proper place with raw telekinetic strength.

  She pressed all the pieces together and fused metal to metal in midair, simultaneously reconnecting and ‘alchemically’ fusing various tethers of pneuma. With a final pulse of unseen energy, the crown was re-forged on the spot.

  “Remarkable,” the god-king said, staring upward. “Too-tiny particulates necessary, and yet you pulled them all together and positioned them in the precisely correct spot. Even years of this effort should not have borne such fruit, always missing some fiber of the whole. I’d ensured this truth suddenly but deliberately, yet you’ve made it a lie.”

  “It’s missing something,” Sammy muttered in disappointment, frowning and not looking up from the crown. “This isn’t enough. What a damn humpty-dumpty on my parade here.”

  “Is it the control crystal?” Gabriel asked from below.

  “No,” the god-king answered, and suddenly lifted himself into the air, floating right across from the goddess with the crown suspended in front of her. He stared at it with his face an unreadable mix of emotions. “You are missing something, Heiress Apparent. A certain spark. But this is something I can provide.”

  The king raised his staff and magical energy built up around him, concentrating into the staff head. He then thrust it forward to make a conduit to the crown, beginning to chant in the casting a spell, his deep voice filling the throne room and echoing off the walls. From every direction, Sammy felt mana flowing. A grand enchantment was taking place.

  Mana concentrated into the crown, fueling it anew as its many gemstones began to glow. Into the pattern carved by pneuma, the natural world’s magical substance flowed like plaster into a mold, like glue ready to harden.

  In a flash, matter, spirit, and magic became one and the artifact was complete — such as it was. It seemed to warp and melt into its final shape, becoming something truly imperfect. An antique.

  I suppose that suits.

  The god-king finished his deific spellcraft with a tired wave of his staff. Wearily, he said, “Perhaps the final relevant act of the old God of Magic. You will inevitably have to take up the torch, Samantha.”

  Crown in her hands, Sammy beamed and nodded. “I will. Soon.”

  He gestured with a hand out flat. “Please, try it on.”

  Sammy obliged. Removing her helmet, she solemnly placed the crown on her head. Gabriel cheered and started a clap. Everyone joined in, even the king.

  She felt immediate new connection points through the still-incomplete artifact. The throne room was not the crown’s home at all — it was meant for its tower, which it was the focusing point for. Risen, that tower would be the realignment of a mana nexus deliberated sabotaged. The crown made it clear as day, giving her a sensory vision of sorts as it was subtly drawn to its own purpose and completion. She could feel the ‘rift’ or the askew alignment without the tower and its island, pulled so far away and buried that it ruined the mana flow. That nexus needed air and water, not simply earth and stone. It needed the sky.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “I am truly sorry,” the god-king added. “Perhaps the control crystal can be replaced. Remade. I could assist in the first rumblings of this quest, but my construction took a decade. No doubt you lack that time.”

  “No doubt,” Sammy replied. “This crown… it channels the mana of an entire land, doesn’t it?”

  “The greatest land. Yes. For rituals. Its primary utilization is local and requires an hour of acute alignment, concentration, and casting, for the performance of grand acts. But-”

  “It requires the control crystal.”

  “Correct.”

  Orswyth suddenly spoke up. “Its name wouldn’t happen to be The Aunmodatus, would it?”

  The god-king stared down at him incredulously. “Yes. How would you know that, Wiseman?”

  Orswyth grew a slow, smug grin as he glanced at Samantha. “We already have this item, Your Majesty.”

  “What?!” Sammy exclaimed. “How?!”

  “Most curious and fortuitous,” said the king. “By what means?”

  “A gift from the deeps, I suppose,” Orswyth replied. “While you were away, Goddess, the merfolk sent gifts to your order on your behalf. One such gift was a big oval gemstone about the size of that inset there in the crown, which was said to be ancient salvage from ‘dry lands.’ Only its name and the description ‘Mana focusing crystal’ were discernible with identification. Zephyr planned to delve deeper into its potential applications as it seemed to require investigation or experimentation. Evidently, the merfolk never found a use for it.”

  “Merfolk — of course,” the king mused. “They go after all of value that sinks in the ocean. A fissure outside of our cursed territory. Yes. I suppose it had a bottom after all. Or it caught on a wall. Hmph. It catches the eye, does it not? A blue diamond. Manufactured by clever means rather than natural, but from natural stock, making it undetectable.”

  Sammy laughed, half because she was quite simply in a fantastic mood. “Your focal crystal is basically a cubic zirconia?”

  The king apparently didn’t get a functional translation and appeared confused. “Pardon?”

  “Nothing! Nevermind. An impressive feat of engineering, then.”

  “Yes. The particulars aren’t known to me, however, and the clever craftswoman is gone now.”

  “What do I do now? Return the crystal and then what?”

  “You’ll know precisely where to go in the waters. Raise the land, raise the tower up through the waters into the heavens and the curse will be broken instantly and forever.” His eyes shifted down to his guardsmen. “The Sentinels that I have not already managed to release will depart with their duty entirely completed. Only a scarce remnant will persist — what souls somehow find sagacity and clarity. It will be up to you to protect the land going forward for the most part. But these here are greatly formidable, mighty, and educated. Do not think them mere warriors, for they are gifted in magical arts bent to defense and destruction, though admittedly they have narrow specialties. The spirit realm will be difficult to assail. Sadly, their influence in the material realm is far less.”

  “We’ll protect Itha Ranon absolutely. I promise you only my loyalists will settle in your halls or on your shores. Loyalists therefore to your heiress and throne.”

  The king nodded simply.

  “We might have to worry about water displacement,” Azure commented. “A massive landmass suddenly popping upward seems a bit catastrophic for Geirkos.”

  “Perhaps less massive than you’d think,” the god-king replied, “but damage to nearby shores seems likely. I do not know the lay of the land, now, however.”

  “Well, good thing we have a water controller around!” Sammy said cheerily. “We’ll check with our fishy allies about this. If it’s too much, we can figure out a sea wall or something.”

  The god-king turned and floated back down to his throne, dropping back into it as though exhausted. As he did, the roof of the throne room slowly began to return, piece by piece. It wasn’t sealing up anytime soon. “I will linger for a time. My servants are of course at your disposal, though they are tied to the land and its vicinity. When it is time for me to fall away from this reality, their souls will sequester to you as the new queen. Their Afterlife should remain as it was, in service to the crown. To what additional use you find to put them is your own quest, even now.”

  He cast his eyes around the hall and waved his hand dismissively. “Do not think this your abode, mind you. This is a tomb, however it may look. The center of a necropolis. Put my servants back where they belong, in the open air where they can forget the unlives of degraded corpses unbefitting their honor and stature.”

  The captain once masked in silver, whom Sammy had named Boldspear, stepped toward the king and touched his heart. “That the True King returns, all has been made a sky worthy of suffering and new plenty, it’s beauty like many oils mixing. Our honor is forever to serve, to have served, and onward likewise, to final glory at the end.”

  The other guardsmen touched their hearts and nodded soberly in agreement.

  The king’s face softened as he looked at them, but he said nothing.

  “I’ll be going then,” Sammy said. “I… think I know how to communicate with you remotely here.”

  “I will extend full mental communion,” the king replied. “Your realm will have all access that is possible and you may journey unmolested in any quarters of the spirit here. May none step foot on material soil, however — not until the tower rises, lest they be cursed.” After a pause, he added, “Take note the end of this Spell of Worldly Renown will be known to many across this planet. Gods, high wizards, key players of renown.”

  “Oh. I see.” Sammy swallowed. “Will they know anything more?”

  “No. Not the means or the who or any such thing. Only that the world was changed and such a grand spell is no longer altering the planet. Farewell, Heiress and Goddess of Fate. May the winds of magic blow you swiftly to your aims above and below.”

  I feel like it's probably about impossible to tell synthetic diamonds from real these days...

  Next Chapter...

  Leavetaking the place. Also: Snek.

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