Tad could see the minotron Bicker Brothers arguing in slow motion on the small seat while Kettle talked.

"First, your book changed. You have some new entries. Once I applied two minds to the task, I figured it out. There are many new symbols showing up now, and it scrolls by must faster. You have a new list of things that involve your ownership of the city and temple champion role you fill for Gweleth. " said Kettle as he walked around the soulscape looking at the windows. He stopped.

"You know your window here is different than the one in the Cathedral? The Ponies are not ponies anymore in the real window, " said Kettle.

"Oh, I will have to check on that then. I've not looked at any of them in a few days. I wonder if the goddess is changing them or if they are linked to some magic she possesses through the Gate of Stars. The book?" asked Tad.

"Oh yea, OK, well, you have new entries for the city. It's a list of dwellings, food, water, armaments, defense, and some other things. I think because you're the lord of the land, your choices will be reflected in your soul. That makes sense because those folks depend on you, and your choices do matter. " said Kettle.

Tad nodded. He knew his choices mattered, but he was struggling with some of the choices. He is certain that if he doesn't fulfill these quests for his people, it will turn out horribly for him and the valley.

"Tell me about the quests first. Let's start there, " said Tad.

"Now your quests, you have completed a total of six quests, two of them recently. Help Zanna find herself – is completed. Reward, I don't' know. It didn't show, but I'd guess you now have a powerful healer and demonic fire caster who wields a mace of neutralization. Oh, and she can fly, and her father is a god. Good luck with figuring out what your reward is, " Kettle chuckled there, " hopefully her father isn't going to murder you now. "

Tad smiled, "Let's hope, friend. I have no idea what gods think. They tend to say things with three or four meanings, and I'm supposed to figure out what they mean. What is the other recent one, Rescue the Pride?"

"Yes, I do not know what the reward for that one is either, but there was an improvement in one of the city metrics under loyalty. I think that might be your reward or part of it," said Kettle.

Tad nodded, "Good, I hope they are going to be well. It can't be easy experiencing all that and coming out the other side. I'll continue to help them where I can, of course. " said Tad.

"Good that you said that. There is a listing of education under your city information. Education is 0 at the moment. You will want to raise that, and there are several subfields under education. There is also an apprenticeship column for magic, craftsmen, farming, laborer, clergy, and the military. Each of those has other subfields. Magic and craftsmen have a very long list of possible choices. I recommend you look for people that can start teaching any kids right now. A rating seems to affect the population and the overall morale number associated with the city. I'm going to spend some time trying to sort this out, and I'll let you know when I have a better understanding. Food, housing, and the military seem to be your biggest items. They are going up slowly. Housing is at four dwellings, " said Kettle.

"Four? That's good. Once those trees grow larger outside the valley, we should see them go up faster. They are using Tent fabric roofs right now. There isn't much material for this, " said Tad.

Kettle moved his hands like he was flipping through a book and continued, "New quests are God Crisis I with a blinking red symbol. Find the Seeds and Updated Find Samphire II, Find Samphire II is now blinking Amber Gold. Both are still gold, but blinking appears to indicate urgency. "

Tad thought about that for a few moments, "No quest to save Aea or help Jack? "

"Not that I saw. There might not be a direct reward for that. Jack is your friend, and you did make a deal with him for his hair, " said Kettle.

"Hmmm, what else? " said Tad.

"Quests still active are Clear the River Valley, Avenge the Lady, Find your lost amulet, Discover the lost magic of monkeys, and Find Yoroula," said Kettle.

"Shees, that's a lot. How am I even going to clear that valley? It will take an army, and there are undead all through that fog down there. Ahh, Yoroula, that whole thing makes me angry just thinking about how stupid I was, " said Tad.

"Perhaps you should work on the military of the city or find an alliance somewhere. Help Jack, and hopefully, you will think of something to help with the other quests," said Kettle.

"I'll not risk the dwarves of Splendarr Sonn Licar on this Kettle, it is not their fight, and Kizzac struggled with just undead gretchics in those caves. I'll think of something else," said Tad.

Kettle's metallic head nodded in agreement as he flipped through his unseen book some more, "Let's talk skills then. Many of your skills have improved, and I think there might be some connection between them and your other abilities. For example, when your chromatic paladin class went up, you got more smites. So those are definitely linked somehow. Also, your soulmancy shielding became more powerful when your soulmancy skill and Chromatic paladin skill went up. Did you notice that many of your shields were not just blown through by the bigger void creature? The first couple of creatures you fought, those shields barely slowed them. I'll try to work out how much better your spells are getting when your skills go up. I think though you should start envisioning ways to train specific skills and classes. Staff skills, Soulmancy skills, and Chromatic paladin class in particular. That last class Chromatic paladin number is linked to your magic casting too, along with your paladin skill. I've never heard of a chromatic paladin. I'd be careful who you tell that name too when you are chatting with your goddess. Let me give you the numbers:

Class

Rank

Demon Cultist

1

Animal Handler

4

Tactician

3

Dwarven Defender

2

Staff Monk

11

Paladin

13

Chromatic Paladin

5

Magi

3

Soulmancer

6

"Most of your class numbers are now being reflected in Chromatic Paladin. I expected your Staff monk and magi to rise, but they didn't, just Chromatic paladin. I'll keep watching that one, as the other two don't seem to be moving when you fight now. Also, your paladin class number didn't change. I think Chromatic paladin is all of them together. Also, I've been counting your smites. You have an extra one. You received that when you hit five in your Chromatic Paladin class. I wonder if it lets you learn more magic domains? You should test this, " said Kettle flipping through pages only he could see.

"Do you think I needed to have those others before I could be a Chromatic Paladin? That makes sense, sorta. The universe is giving me a headache trying to figure this all out, " said Tad sighing.

"You think that's bad, trying having that in three minds at the same time. This deciphering the new symbol every few minutes is not easy. " Kettle paused, pointing at a page, "now let's talk skills. Your soulmancy is listed under a skill, but soulmancer is listed under the class. They are linked, and when you hit fifteen in soulmancy, you could do those cool shields you used to run across those undead the other night. It is at seventeen now after you fought that devourer. Your soulmancer class went up, and your shields are thicker, more like Jack's, well closer to Jack's. His are still stronger. You need to practice! And the more conflict and struggles you are in, the faster many of these go up. You gained a couple of new skills too. Cast Curse, Curse Resistance, Hold Soulmancy Creature and Sense Powerful Beings are skills. Your Negotiation skill went up a level. It's eleven now, and it is tied to your city skills. " Kettle flipped a few more unseen pages, "That sums them all up. Do you want to cover spells? " asked Kettle as he looked up at Tad.

"No, I know my spells. I'll look for a way to test that thing you said about learning new domains as part of the Chromatic Paladin. More spells would help. I need to commune with Gweleth about the void creature and Scekan. We can talk more about this tomorrow," said Tad as he closed his soulscape. The door to the World Egg opened.

As Tad left the World Egg, Kettle spoke, "You should get a haircut. I'm not an expert on human hair, but half of yours is missing. "

Oh, yea, his hair was on fire earlier. Marena usually cuts his hair. Time to find someone that knows about cutting hair. Tad rubbed his hand across the bald half of his healed scalp.

***

Tad left Jack's trailer wearing his performing hat. He had shaved most of his hair off in front of the small mirror and thrown it in the cook fire, leaving him with a very tight shave. The hat was the one they had used in their popup performance. Brown leather with a five-inch brim that flopped down on the sides a bit, the crown was eight inches high and mostly flat on top with a dark red-black leather band and a brass buckle holding it in front. The sweatband was worn. He would get that replaced soon as he saw Naula again. It was loose-fitting without his extra hair to hold it in place, but it still looked better than an almost bald Tad. Also, he wasn't interested in getting a sunburn up there.

He made his way down to the lower temple. Sat on the edge of the platform and brought out his Cittern. He started playing the song for the dance that didn't happen a couple of days earlier. He liked the rhythm of the song and how the cords brought so much feeling to the melody, and how fast it was.

Niucrelath spoke from behind him, "I always loved that song. You play it well, " said the goddess.

Tad finished the last note, collapsed the Cittern, put the amulet back around his neck, and then stood.

"I'd like to speak to you about the void creatures and the trap earlier. It was a trap, and it was set for someone else. Do you have any guidance on this? " said Tad.

Niucrelath's hair was still hair and not writhing snakes. "It was a trap, and it explains much. Scekans fall to the void creature's magic was unexpected. I do not know why you were lured to this trap. It was not set for one such as you. It was set for a god. "

Tad felt his belt jingling. The librarian coin was flipping in the other coins. Tad opened the pouch, took out the librarian's token, and focused for a few seconds. Maximilianus was standing there with another person Tad wasn't familiar with, " Maximilianus, can I help you? " asked Tad.

"If you would bring me through, I believe I have knowledge that might assist you," said Maximilianus.

Tad looked at Niucrelath, she nodded. "Come through, please, " said Tad. A few seconds later, Maximilianus stood next to him.

Maximilianus bowed to Niucrelath, "Greetings, Goddess. " He rose and stood straight again, his metallic face and tone turned serious, "I have some information about your earlier encounter with the devourer, and I believe we are at war. One that we are not aware of is being waged. "

Niucrelath's eyebrow rose as she looked at the metallic librarian. "War? Why do you say this?"

"What Thaddius fought earlier was a devourer. There are three of those in known existence, and they have not been seen since the brother wars, where the dark brother was cast across the universe, and his essence spread so far that it was thought he would never be able to hurt anyone again. I believe he is back, and he plays the same game with different means. The Librarians were expecting a great number of powerful beings to take note of our finding more primal ooze, which was why we locked and sealed our home. This didn't occur. Few beings showed up to try and take that which is ours. This made us curious, so I sent out several requests, but none of the recipients returned a response. The gods just were not there, their peoples still exist, and they cry out, but their gods are missing. In some cases, the people are also gone. I believe what you saw happen to Scekan has happened before. Many times before, how we were not aware of this, I do not know how we missed this. It's obvious now that we looked at the lower number of requests from the library, " said Maximilianus.

Niucrelath started walking around the platform, thinking, "That would explain a few things. Scekan is still paralyzed in his abode. I will fetch him back, one moment. " Niucrelath disappeared for a few minutes, then reappeared. "I have placed him in the wagon with the monkeys he likes so much. He should be safe here for now. The void magic holding him is strong. I do not know how to counter it. "

"That is to be expected. We believe that the magic is specific and intended to trap gods and goddesses such as yourself. The trap you sprung today was intended to trap one or more gods. They expended a great deal of power trying to get to this place. This will place you and everyone in this valley in danger. We do not know yet why the dark one is doing this, but he is gathering power, and we believe he already holds two of his brothers. Samphire, God of the Life foci, and Eos, God of the Law foci, this leaves only Tychon, God of the Chaos foci. This bodes ill for the universe. The God of the Void foci wants to consume and destroy all creatures and the very planes that bring life. Nothing will survive if he succeeds in his desires. " said Maximilianus.

Tad was listening to the discussion. He was deciding how much he should tell them. He cleared his throat to get their attention, " Ahem. I might have some information on this. Breamas mentioned before I was brought to the desert. The universe was in danger. He thought somehow that I would change it, or something I did would. At least, that is what I think he meant. "

Niucrelath's eyes narrowed at the name of the God of mischief. "What else did he tell you, Thaddius? "

"Just that I was needed to help Zanna make some choices and that … well, some other stuff that probably isn't part of this. He was certain that if the carnival had gone to the Forest of Myrth as we had intended, the universe would end." He stopped there. He wasn't intending to share his personal talk with Zanna's father about him not breaking her heart or the fact that the universe had already failed twelve million times. That would lead to questions about Kettle and the World Egg.

Both Niucrelath and Maximilianus were looking intently at Tad now. He could feel them probing his soulmancy space. He hoped what he had learned from Jack was enough to keep them out. He didn't know what would happen if they learned everything that he knew about the universe and the weird system running it.

Maximilianus spoke first, "Thaddius, how did you know of the location of this Samphire duplicate that was a trap? "

"I learned it through Jack, he said. Samphire sent him a message with that image in it. Samphire said find me, then the message ended," said Tad.

"He didn't send it directly to you? I don't think Samphire sent that message. If he did, then it was changed. How did anyone know to send it to Jack? Something doesn't make sense if they were trying to trap Tychon. " Maximilianus was deep in thought, and then he tilted his head a little as if listening to someone. "Tad, do you know if Samphire has children? "

Tad shook his head negative, "I don't know. I've never thought about it. "

Maximilianus looked at Niucrealath, who nodded for him to continue, "We believe that message was sent to those related to Samphire. It was a trap, but not for you. I don't think it was for Jack either, as the magic they had stored appeared only to affect the God of Monkeys. I believe it is possible that Jack is a descendant of Samphire. It's the only thing that makes sense. The magic spell we think was used is tuned to family members. The target was most likely Tychon, the foci God of Chaos. The library will send a message to his court to see if this is possible. I will know in a few hours one way or the other. I will return when I know more. " Maximilianus nodded to Tad, then gave another elaborate bow to Niucrelath, then faded away with a slight rush of air into the space he just occupied.

Tad whistled, "Jack is related to Samphire? Well, that would explain why he let a drunk unicorn stay at the carnival for so long, " said Tad.

"Tad, I think it's very important to help Jack now. More important than the simple changes I made to Aea. You will make this your priority. I will keep the undead in their fog until we can deal with them. You should go now and find out what bargains you will need to make to find the information you seek, " said Niucrealath, then she too faded away.

***