Mark frowned as he watched Tartu flash another domain over Eliot’s sleeping body for the third time, while the scanner in his hands kept reading ‘no signal’.

  “Can you really not scan him?” Isoko asked, kinda pissed.

  “Looks like ‘no’,” Tartu said, as he stared at the machine in his hands. It read ‘No Signal’. Tartu set the machine to the side, on a dresser in Eliot’s nice room, as he started to walk out, saying, “All I’m doing is making a System Call and letting the machine figure out the nuances from the astral off-gassing. Eliot must’ve blocked the call or killed the off-gassing; either way would achieve the same thing.”

  Mark took that all in stride as he looked around Eliot’s room. It was a nice room. Stained wood floors and walls, vaulted ceiling, shiplights hanging in metal cages to the sides yet still providing ample light. Eliot’s bed was big enough that it made him look small by comparison, and the sheets were a very high thread count that had felt slippery to Mark’s fingers. Eliot looked so peaceful there, among the soft sheets and big pillows.

  … Mark wanted to lay in a nice bed, too, which was detrimental to his current plan, so he walked out of the room following Tartu, saying, “How’s it going downstairs, Tartu?”

  Isoko scoffed down at Eliot, saying, “Now that’s just not bloody fair. You got to see my scan while I was asleep!”

  Sally chuckled.

  Andria was outside of the room and similarly miffed like Isoko, asking, “You really can’t scan him? Nothing at all?”

  “Not a full scan, of course,” Tartu said, “But I was able to tell that his Binding is stable and he has something in Natural and Arch. That’s it.”

  Tartu moved toward the stairwell down the way, and Mark looked at the grand hallway. Not everyone lived on this floor, but everyone lived close enough to each other that they got to see each other all the time. Mark had a room over there, though he hadn’t been in it more than an hour so far. The hallway was huge. Big enough for Sally to be comfortable. Her room was right over there across from Eliot’s room. Sally and Isoko stayed behind with Eliot in his room, with Isoko muttering something about ‘I’m going to scan him and see his readout before he does, even if I have to threaten him with how it’s going to happen.’ with Sally laughing at that.

  Lola asked, “Can you tell anything else about his readout, Mister Solari?”

  Mark added, “He said something about ‘being inside of his own domain now’, or something like that. What does that mean, exactly? Like, your domains are strong. But what does that mean?”

  “Well...” Tartu sort of drifted off, as he angled toward the staircase leading downward. He had stuff to do, but he stayed behind for Lola, Andria, Derek, and David all stood around, wanting to know what he knew. He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to say, though, so Tartu started off with, “He’s taking a lot more mana from the trees I made downstairs, and that’s indicative of most domains. So yeah. He domained the whole Dreadnought. I didn’t know Castellan was like that, but it makes sense… A lot of sense, really.”

  Mark saw a deep opening in that subtle unwillingness to talk, and yet still giving information out that Mark had never heard before. Mark went for it, asking, “What are ‘domains’, Tartu?”

  Tartu grimaced. Then he said, “Just give me like… an hour— I should probably talk to Eliot about all of this, too, so I’ll do it when he wakes up.”

  “Sure,” Mark said, easily accepting that. “I’ll be sitting with Eliot until he wakes— Oh.” Mark paused as Eliot’s vector uncurled from his body, expanding into the walls and the air, as he woke up in his room. Mark chuckled and then pointed backward. “He’s awake.”

  Soon, Mark stood beside Eliot’s bed and Eliot was propped up on some pillows and still looking tired, but he was awake.

  Isoko told Eliot, “We’re all getting to look before you do!”

  Eliot yawned, and then said, “Sure, sure. Bring it on.”

  Tartu picked up the scanner device from the side as everyone crowded up and around him to look, Isoko pushing Sally a little and Sally jockeying for a better position, so Isoko floated up to the ceiling and looked down from up there. Tartu glanced up and ignored Isoko, while Derek and Mark squeezed in from the side with Lola wanting to look, but trying to be adult about it all and simply wait. Tartu cast a layer of power across Eliot and the boxy readout screen started to flicker and say ‘scanning…’ over and over—

  Numbers rolled down across the screen.

  Body: 68

  Shaper: 55

  Mind: 68

  Natural, Castellan: 098

  Soul: 81

  Arch, Man-made Manipulation: 098

  Estimated astral body strength: 90%

  There was some slight disappointment in the air, but also relief. Not a Tri-Talent! Sally was the most relieved of all, sighing out a great big ‘ahhhh’ as she stepped away, while Lola stepped in and seemed less concerned about Eliot’s wellbeing, but only because he was fine. Mark was 99% pretty sure Eliot was going for an AI Familiar, so this was a good outcome. No Mind Power meant he could get an AI.

  Isoko happily said, “With a Mind in the high 60’s this makes you practically immune to Mind Control! Congrats, Eliot!”

  A certain tension that Eliot didn’t realize was a very, very big tension kinda bled away. And then he turned truly happy as he chuckled, and said, “I’m going to apply for an AI Familiar with United Sapients when we get back, so I’m glad I didn’t get a Mind Power. I talked about that with Hearthswell. She offered…” Eliot shook his head and then he started getting up and out of the bed, saying, “I want a Familiar like Quark; not some Mind Power.”

  Mark grinned slightly, and then he said, “Tartu was gonna talk to us all about domains when you woke up, because you kinda have one, now. Wanna hear about that?”

  “Not in my room! But yes,” Eliot said, trying to stand on the floor. He faltered. Sally was there super quick, holding his hand and helping him stand. Eliot grinned at that, his vector turning joyful. And then he announced, “Everyone out! Let’s meet in the hub.”

  People got moving, but Sally lingered to pick Eliot up into a full-body hug, to hold him for a moment, as he held her back chuckling.

  Tartu was uncomfortable all the way to the hub, but he made himself get over it as he turned to Derek and said, “Do you know about domains already, or am I going to be in trouble with some people for talking to you about this?”

  Three Dereks stood straight. One of them said, “Of course we know all about domains!” as another said, “We’d never rat you out to any governments anyway!” while the last one said, “You’re gonna be bigger than most governments!” A fourth Derek stepped out of the third one and said, “We actually do know a lot about domains. After all, we are one.” The first Derek added, “And everyone here is a domain, too, so… now you all know, too!”

  Mark gasped. “We’re domains?”

  Derek #3 said, “Some of us more than others!”

  “… Okay, well…” Tartu turned toward everyone else and said, “Let’s simplify. Anyone know what a domain is? Not Eliot or Derek— Or Mark!”

  Mark had been about to throw out an answer that was something like ‘a domain is a decided space’, but he closed his mouth.

  Sally, Isoko, and Andria glanced at each other.

  Isoko said, “It’s just the determination of what happens in a space, yeah? You can put out new fundamental universal laws into a location.”

  Tartu nodded. “That’s the basic use of a domain. We call those sorts of domains ‘wards’. You can ward a wall to make it harder to break. You can ward a reservoir of water to clean the water and filter it, or keep the water from freezing over in the winter. All wards like that run on mana. You pinch off some mana and make the space different from what it was before. That’s what I do almost all the time when I put a domain out there; it’s usually just a complicated ward.

  “Actual domains are different in that they’re reactive and able to do more than the basic set of instructions. When I do that with my domains they break very, very fast, because domains are incredibly mana hungry, so I have to make them with weaknesses in them so that I can actually cast them. But if I had enough mana I could make domains that were actually properly made so well that they remained strong, long after I was gone.

  “Those kinds of domains are made so well that the mana they use is contained within, with very little off-gassing if at all… And I think that bit of information necessitates a tangent.

  “You know that spellwork, when made properly, is invisible? Some of you do. For the rest, now you know. When a spell is properly made it’s invisible. The effects might not be. But light, in a spell, is indicative of lost mana.

  “This is why astral bodies are invisible. They’re perfectly made spellwork. When people get tired and they can’t use their Skills anymore, that is because of mana loss. The spell of the Binding is still there, but the various ‘blood’ that keeps the spellwork active is used up to cause effects on the real world. People regain their Skills quick enough, depending on how much mana they used up and how intense their casting happens to be, and then they can use their invisible Binding and astral body again.

  “So I repeat: when a domain is made perfectly you can’t visually tell it is there unless you adjust your sight and you throw some power at the domain and watch it reflect… for a varied definition of ‘reflect’.

  “So here’s a truth:

  “Every single Binding in every single person is the institution of a domain inside the soul through the ritual of the Tutorial.”

  The world seemed to click for Mark, and Mark went, “Ohhhhh.”

  Tartu continued, “That is the difference between a domain and a ward. Wards are installations of power in a location. Domains are reactive, active, living things, just like people, but also, not. Domains, like Bindings, are like computer programs that live inside the soul. Not even AIs; just algorithms.

  “Eliot, now with True Castellan, can extend the influence of his Binding into the air around us all. That is what Eliot is doing, with the domain of Castellan that he has placed into effect around the Dreadnought. That’s what Castellan is, at its core. And that’s why Eliot is taking all the extra mana from people and plants to support his imposed location-based domain into the world, where he decides how things function. Domains are very mana intensive.” Tartu added, almost as a side note, “And every single layer we’ve been in has been a domain, just so you know. Very low-powered domains, comparatively, because they all exist inside the ‘soul’ of the Two Worlds, and you don’t need a lot of power to make Bindings happen. It’s still a fuck-ton of power, of course; a lot of mana, tied up and made unavailable for common cause. But the layers are controlled and ordered by Luna. You can’t see the layers from Earth, because they’re well-made spells— No. Scratch that. You could historically see them from Earth in the winter and far north or south occasionally. You can, however, always see the layers of Endless Daihoon on Daihoon because when we’re on Daihoon we’re on the inside looking out.

  “That’s what the auroras in the sky are, and that’s why they’re visible from Daihoon and not from Earth, unless under specific conditions. They’re always visible at the poles, of course, with the Crossings— Oh.

  “And the dreamlands? Those are all connected to us. Our dreams are out there. Everyone's dreams are out there. The godly heavens are out there. Everything unseen is out there, all mashing together against everything else.” Tartu finished with, “Most of that was real knowledge, but parts of it were theology and not truly provable. Make of it what you will. But it’s a whole lot of stuff to think about, and I’m glad no one had questions until I finished.”

  Mark was kinda stunned.

  A lot of things suddenly made sense in a way that didn’t make sense before.

  Derek was simply satisfied. Lola was concerned, but not surprised; she had heard this all before. David was impressed, though.

  Andria, Isoko, Sally, Eliot, and Mark, were all having a different, individualized moment.

  Mark dealt with his own moment, first, moving rapidly from the fact that Bindings were domains to thinking about the ‘domains’ of the dreamlands that they called ‘layers’, to being concerned about vectors of attack. Mark asked, “Can you attack someone through their dreams, locating them in the real, or any other sort of… dreamland attack? Or whatever you’d call it?”

  “Yes,” Tartu said. “Most witches will attack or defend themselves through the dreamlands first, leaving the real mostly untouched, though the effects of dreamland attacks will always bleed over into reality, and sometimes in unexpected ways. Power Level interfaces between people are technically a dreamland attack—”

  Mark was excited and worried and he almost asked more questions.

  “— but this was all third year arcanaeum!” Tartu rapidly added, realizing Mark was about to interrupt him. “I don’t know that much about this stuff aside from basic stuff every proper mage should eventually know.”

  Mark asked, “So this is where seer powers encroach, right? Into the dreamlands? That’s why Andria is able to send her astral body far away from herself?”

  Tartu frowned a little at Mark. “On one hand, I’m glad that ‘our leader’ can understand all of this. On the other hand, I don’t want you pushing yourself too hard with whatever Second Awakening you’re aiming for, Mark. Like… Have you even talked to Freyala or anyone to help you with your Second Awakening?”

  “I have not. Don’t change the subject.” Mark continued, “So none of this is natural, right? These inner domains that we call Bindings and the effects that we call astral bodies; they’re not natural. Like, sure, the demons codified it all. But what’s at the base of it all? Where does mana come from?”

  Isoko frowned a little, saying, “Isn’t that like asking where atoms come from?”

  Andria said, “Atoms came first, right? With all the mana being variations of atoms?”

  “Manawork,” Eliot said, nodding.

  “That’s what I’m thinking, yeah,” Mark said. “But the Earth was some billions of years old and there’s history there, and then mana came along probably, what… 10,000 years ago? Or something? With the Seed; the guy who made the languages that made the world moldable, in Tartu’s story about the Dreamer. So why did he make mana? Or did mana come from somewhere else?”

  Eliot had a sudden jolt of something in his vector, but he said nothing.

  Mark looked at him.

  Eliot shook his head.

  … Well, okay.

  “Ah… well…” Tartu was interested in the topic, but his vector was ultimately more curious than knowledgeable as he said, “I could say ‘demons are the reason for mana’, but they only claim credit for organizing it all. Even the story of the Dreamer who Dreamed the Demon only has the Dreamer finding stuff and making stuff out of that stuff. Where does all the ‘stuff’ come from? There are a few creation myths about the Old Gods…” Tartu tried to pick a direction out of countless possibilities— “There’s this one story of a god who made humans out of clay and gave them water in the veins and fire in the hearts and air in the lungs, who was himself born out of the dark, and who gave us each a piece of his Dark Self in our souls, to bring us to life and give us magic. So that’s one idea of where the mana comes from. A lot of people put a lot of stock into that sort of thing.

  “Personally, I think saying ‘gods are responsible for mana’ is wrong, because these days gods come about from humans, as an expression of Worship, so while some gods in ancient history might be self-made, none of the ones I’ve ever truly heard of are self-made. So maybe all gods are former people? So if gods gave people mana, and people are what become gods, then there’s a bit of a logical break happening there.” Tartu rhetorically asked, “So where does mana come from? ‘From dreams’, is probably the most correct answer. So people came first. Sapient intelligence. And then we had dreams and from those dreams came mana. But even trees have mana, so… do trees dream? Magical trees certainly dream. Mana is an expression of our want of more, after all.

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

  “But even rocks can make mana.

  “So I have no idea where mana comes from.”

  Silence, and thought.

  And then Mark asked, “What does this mean for Eliot? Or for you and your Domainer? What does Domainer actually do? Can you kill a kaiju if you work it right? If you had enough mana?”

  Tartu huffed a tiny laugh. “Gods, Mark! … Shit. It’s like when we met on the boat to the settlement and you asked ‘why don’t you just suffocate your opponents to death?’. Some of our powers are more limited than you imagine them to be. Some of us are Arches, and some, like you, are Naturals. It’s… it’s different!”

  Mark easily snarked back, “I just today realized that I’ve been being stupid with my powers, too. I should have been turning my adamantium into red-hot heaters —and for adamantium that’s really fucking hot!— and then Unioning with Heat and Stability to turn myself stable while shoving thousands of degrees of heat at monsters.” Mark added, “I imagine the results would be quite explosive.”

  Isoko went, “Freyala fuck!”

  Sally laughed once.

  Lola commented, “The best Union for that sort of thing would be Agitation and Homeostasis. Agitation for the specific excitement of atoms to which ‘heat’ refers to, and Homeostasis is used to lock in on the specific meaning of ‘a body in good working order’.”

  Mark went, “Ahh! That’s a lot better than my idea. Thank you, Lola.”

  Lola gave a professional nod.

  Tartu, meanwhile, just stared at Mark. And then he said, “You’re a battle maniac.”

  “Yes,” Mark simply said.

  Isoko asked Lola, “Can I do that, too?”

  “Take the heat from the atmosphere and put it into a target?” Lola said, “Sounds like you should try it sometime. Might work better than that ionized plasma/lightning experiment you were trying for earlier.”

  “Ohhh!” Mark said, eager to talk about that, too—

  “Anyway!” Tartu said, “With Farmer, I should have enough mana to not ration my domains so much. I should be able to achieve a feedback loop system—”

  “Could you string your domains together over a super large area?” Mark asked, “Like a pseudo-seer?”

  “… Yes,” Tartu said. “… Maybe.” Tartu tentatively said, “I should be able to do it, but more testing is required. I have to string all of the trees together and I’m still working on that. It’s harder than it appears… But actually, Eliot. Can you help me with that, now?”

  Mark looked to Eliot. “How can he help?”

  Eliot answered, “I’ve got an expanding astral body based on the mana within the domain that I capture. Tartu wants my help figuring out how to do that with his domains.”

  Mark made a small gasp. “You can expand your astral body based on mana you take in?!” And then Mark realized that yes, of course he could. “If your Castellan can go to the walls of an entire city like New Tokyo, of course you do! But… But how? Wouldn’t your range just… break?”

  “It gets really, really thin,” Eliot said, “My astral body now goes out to the edge of the castle that I’m in. That’s a basic application of Castellan. The density varies, though. I’ve been prepping for this for a while with the mana I already have soaked into the ship, otherwise I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to Manipulate anything at all right now.”

  “… Can I do that?” Mark asked.

  “You already do that, Mark,” Tartu said, “You take in mana and make more adamantium.”

  Mark paused. “That’s not the same at all?”

  Tartu paused, now. “Sure it is?”

  “No, it’s not,” Mark said, “I can’t put my adamantium into my astral body to expand it all. I’ve expanded my range with practice and condensing my vectors into threads that don’t break —probably because of my adamantium mana— but I still only have a normal-sized astral body. Maybe enough for 5 of me? I can’t expand my range beyond that, and I certainly can’t pull in extra mana to expand my range further, or have a natural range that is multiple hundreds of cubic kilometers wide. Thousands of cubic kilometers? Probably thousands. Anyway. I can take in more mana and make more adamantium, sure, but adamantium solidifies when condensed. If I pull in too much mana I just make more adamantium. And then I set it to the side.

  “But I can’t Shape all of that adamantium. I regularly have to pull in my Kinesis so I can get more range on my Union.”

  “Ahhh…” Tartu said, as if he had realized he was being ignorant.

  Mark continued, “Like… You might be able to condense mana and bring it out and put it back, but when I condense mana I make solid adamantium.” He looked toward Andria, adding, “She can put her mithril back into her astral body, but I cannot.”

  “Yeah,” Tartu said, rearranging a few thoughts in his head. He seemed slightly… disappointed, actually. “I see what you mean, now.”

  Mark said, “Yeah…” And then he looked over to the 5 —no, 6 now— Dereks hanging out at the side of the hub, because all of them were thinking very smug thoughts and one of them was even shining his fingernails on his shirt and smirking way too much. Mark asked, “Do you know how to help me expand my range through seer-type movement through the dreamlands? Or… Actually. It’s not ‘the dreamlands’. It’s the Veil, isn’t it. That’s the proper name for the dreamlands?”

  “Oh shit yeah,” Isoko said, “It’s the Veil. That makes sense.”

  Tartu frowned a little. “That’s… technically correct, but only in the wrong sort of ways. Imagine the Veil as the coastline of a lake and the various water dynamics of the lake, including thermodynamics and the water cycle. The dreamlands is the water that makes the lake a lake at all. They’re not the same. Just how your Binding is made of mana you wouldn’t call your mana your Binding.”

  Mark’s eyes went wide. “Is the Veil a Binding? … Then what is Daihoon?”

  Tartu winced. “Ah. Well… Popular theory is that Daihoon is a Binding but the Veil is a Secondary Binding. Like a spell that you can put into your soul to use all the time.”

  “Oh!” Mark exclaimed. And then he furrowed his brow. “Ohh?”

  Mark was pretty sure he suddenly hated the idea of demons putting a ‘secondary Binding’ on the Two Worlds.

  “Question,” Isoko said, “I heard that witches use something called ‘The Wyrd’. What is that?”

  Tartu paused for a moment, stringing his thoughts together, then he said, “Witches work in what they call the Wyrd, which is sort of like the Veil but different. It’s a Veil they impose on the world around them through their actions. Because of this, witches are pretty powerful when you act against the rules they have drawn you into.” He paused. He nodded. “Yeah. That’s right. I learned it a long time ago but never really thought about it too much.”

  “Neat?” Mark said/asked. Was that neat? Or terrifying? Mark had no idea.

  Isoko went, “Ohhh.”

  Something clicked for Lola, big time, in a way she never expected it to click. Her eyes went wide and her vector focused. Sally learned something new, too, but it was more in the way of learning that something bad was bad in a new, more devious way. Eliot had a similar moment split between Lola and Sally’s reaction.

  Mark had a sudden, new concern. “If we killed all the demons and broke the Veil that they made… It’d be bad? Yes. It would be bad. Another Reveal.”

  Tartu strongly said, “Oh yes. Absolutely. And worse than the Reveal of 80 years ago, because if Arakino broke completely and all the demons were gone, then the ocean that are the dreamlands would break wide open, flooding everything. There are theories as to what that would look like, but no one really knows.”

  “Wait a second,” Isoko said, “When spells break in the astral body there’s… well, there’s a lot of feedback into the main body, so… it still seems wrong to me, knowing what I know now, that the Reveal had any consequences to Earth at all? … But maybe it does make sense? This is a lot— Why did that guy stepping on Luna break the Veil, anyway?”

  “No one really knows,” Tartu said… and then he reluctantly added, “But Addavein, Reeni, and Malaqua and the Pantheon could probably tell us if you really wanted to know, and if they wanted to answer us at all. Hard to say which one would actually know more, or be willing to tell us more in the first place.”

  There was a silent moment of thought and wonder.

  Mark wanted to call up Addavein right now and talk to him about all of this craziness.

  So far, the biggest things he had picked up felt like…

  Everyone had an existence inside the dreamlands, and witches worked those angles the most. Witches called these ‘worked angles’ The Wyrd. This made sense because Wongod had been a Greenspace inside the dreamlands, right outside of Mark’s Binding, only visible when Mark had been reduced to his Incorruptible soul. Also, Walaria, Reeni, and Walaria’s sister, the Third Princess Kalimara, had done a witchy-ritual that reached into the space beyond reality, to pull Grax apart and scatter him to the dark, all in order to permanently kill him… for at least a while.

  So yeah.

  Witches attacked from dreamland-angles. From the Wyrd.

  Mark existed in the dreamland, when he was asleep. Like… duh. He had known that for a while, but not in this sort of way. Looking back at it, though… Mark had done all of his Binding work inside dreams. So! Yeah! Lotta sense, there.

  Bindings were domains? That part was weird, but understandable.

  This was why Pluta had told Tartu he needed to study under a witch. Tartu was a Domainer, who usually only did wards because domains were too mana intense. Which, again, made sense. The guy always puttered out unless he was being supported.

  Mark couldn’t make any spells inside of his Binding because he didn’t have enough free mana to bind into a new ‘domain’. All of his mana was taken up by his Tri-talent— Ah… Which meant that Andria and Isoko, as new Tri-Talents, would probably be a lot worse mages… But Isoko really loved Sky Shaper, so Mark doubted that would ever be a problem for her, and Andria was a crafter, anyway, so not being able to do magic was probably fine for her, too.

  Tartu was heavily interested in magic, though, and he was already a Bi-Talent with Healthy Body and Domainer, but if he added Farmer on top of all of that then most of his mana was going to be ‘locked down’, too. Which was bad. Tartu was a mage.

  But…

  But Tartu had Domainer, so he could just… Oh.

  Oh.

  And putting that together with Eliot’s Castellan, which was expanding his astral body out a lot and allowing him to work this whole place like it was a domain…

  Hmm.

  Mark asked Tartu, “If you had enough mana could you make spells outside of your body? Is that your goal with Farmer?”

  Tartu winced, but he also couldn’t help but grin. “Dammit. I was hoping we could get all the way into an HVP show before I sprang that on you.”

  Isoko gasped. “You can make spells outside of your body?!”

  Mark said, “I think Eliot can, too, which is what he meant when he said that he ‘strung together some systems to keep the ship up and running better’.”

  Eliot told Mark, “That’s a Castellan Secret. Pretty open secret, but still a big one.”

  Tartu sighed and muttered, “I thought I had given up on the idea of Mage Secrecy on this trip, but apparently I am still beholden to a great deal of culture—” He looked at Mark, and said, “Some things should be hidden more than you’re letting them hide.”

  “Okay okay,” Mark said, “I can accept that.” And then he added, “BUT! I need to know one more thing. Are you able to cheat and make every spell you want to make outside of your body, before you make it inside of your body?”

  Sally laughed once. Eliot grinned and Andria went wide-eyed.

  Isoko gasped, almost in a stage-acting sort of way, and declared, “Cheater!”

  “Hey!” Tartu shot back, “It’s not cheating! There is no such thing as cheating when it comes to magic.”

  The conversation probably could have gone on for a lot longer.

  But Lola stepped in, saying, “Okay, children! That’s a lot to think about, and it’s time to get back to work and to figure out the next steps in the trip. Where are we headed next?”

  “She’s right,” Mark said, easily accepting the shift. “Sally and Tartu! Who’s next?”

  Tartu said, “I need an hour with Eliot helping me downstairs and then I can put in some mana to the Storm Prism.”

  Sally said, “I can put in some right now.”

  But Derek couldn’t wait for the conversation to move on. He stepped forward and said, “Before we move on! Mark was talking about seer abilities and moving through the dreamlands. Anyone can do that if they practice, but there’s a faster way!” Another Derek said, “A cheating way!” The third Derek said, “Andria, as a seer, can help you step into the dreamlands if she holds your hand and you both sleep beside each other. Right now, Mark is the only one who could survive such a thing because of Andria’s drifting mithril, but Andria’ll figure that out soon enough.” Another Derek added, “Just thought everyone should know! It’s very simple to find yourself in the dreamlands.” Another Derek said, “Poking out elsewhere is another step entirely.”

  Everyone looked at Andria, including Tartu, who was suddenly spurred to reevaluate everything about her in that moment. Andria was having a sudden revelation, unconcerned with all the eyes on her, her own eyes widening as she let out a small ‘ohhh’.

  And then Mark asked, “You only have to find yourself in the dreamlands to poke out elsewhere?”

  “Yeah?” Derek asked, curious why Mark was asking that specific question. “That is what I said, yes.”

  “Ah well… I think I can get to the dreamlands already.” Mark waved a dismissive hand, adding, “But I haven’t slept yet, so I don’t know for sure. But that’s great news!”

  “Moving on, kids!” Lola said. “Lots of big thoughts to think and things to do…”

  There were more words but everyone got moving.

  Mark went to the deck of the ship to sit on the forecastle and think a whole lot.

  An hour later Eliot announced, “Mark! Get down here and put in another drop of adamantium if you want to put a new one in. We’re making plans.”

  Andria, who was seated 50 meters away and by herself, meditating, suddenly came out of her meditation, blades of mithril dancing on the deck of the ship. Pale-faced, Andria muttered, “Goddess please no Big Silver this time.”

  Mark got off of the forecastle and headed inside, too, saying, “I’m sure it won’t happen ag—”

  “Don’t jinx it!” Andria said, face even paler.

  Mark almost grinned, dismissive. But he saw she was truly terrified. Mark stood solid and said, “We’ll be okay, Andria.”

  Andria wanted to believe him.

  Nothing happened when Mark put his adamantium into the Storm Prism except for a new location popping up, about 15,000 kilometers away. The furthest away of all of them. It was in line with Sally and Tartu’s new destinations, both of which were a lot closer than before.

  “I’m not surprised I’m closer,” Tartu said, “Farmer is a rather normal Skill when you get down to it. I am surprised Sally is a lot closer, though.”

  Sally said, “I expect a weird, hard fight, Mark.”

  Mark nodded. “Shrinking monsters, I assume.”

  Soon, everyone was back in position with Mark at the forecastle, Andria back at her meditation spot, and David at the helm.

  Eliot announced over the loudspeakers, “Sally is next! We’ve got a 3 day trip ahead of us, and then another 4 days after that for Tartu, which puts us within 10 days of Mark’s destination. Let’s roll! Mark, you’re up!”

  Mark Unioned with Purpose and the Dreadnought peeled toward starboard, aiming at the dreamlands beyond the floating cities. Mark glanced out at the cities one last time, wondering what Eliot had really seen when he looked at all of the places out there. So Mark asked, “What do you see out there when you look out there, Eliot? What do you really see?”

  Eliot answered, “It’s a living layer. It’s someone's unconscious dream. Tartu touched upon that when he told us the story of the Dreamer, and how people made paths to Daihoon from Elsewhere, but I can actually see it now. The layer is ‘alive’ in the same way Castellan makes the Dreadnought a living thing.”

  Mark gazed out at reorganizing billboards on floating streets, as they showed created-images of the crew waving to the Dreadnought. Mark waved back, saying, “Do you think the dead dream?”

  No one had an answer to that.

  But Tartu said, “Well… Resurrection magic has to target something, right? So: yes.”

  Mark nodded, feeling hopeful.