Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Punk Art, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Chapter 39: Magic
Special Circumstances headquarters, Mikla metropolitan area, Confluence dimension
Year 42 of the Confluence Republic (local time)
As interest in the second Erd book consumed Confluence society, the Erd author kept writing new chapters – first 33 about the SC agents, then 34 about Isengar and Nurgle getting it off, and finally 35 about, well, an imminent attack on the Confluence. However, these chapters were not released to the public. The Erd dimension was quietly building up its store of magical energy, and this seemed to reflect itself as a global mood change in the Erd simulation. On the political level, one very successful insurgency managed to topple a particularly notorious, but seemingly stable, authoritarian regime in a matter of days, while a president on the other side of the world tried to declare martial law and assume control but was rebuffed in a matter of hours. There were widespread protests, governments were falling, and change generally seemed to be in the air.
Meanwhile, Confluence citizens were also organizing. There were petitions, the most successful asking that Isengar and Nurgle be forgiven their old crimes as Elders and invited to return to Confluence society. (Its direct competitor, far less popular, wanted the two Elders hunted down and prosecuted.) Of the various petitions involving Soth, the most widely supported one asked that he should be rescued from his Thesaurus time trap when the current situation had stabilized.
Center head: Well, witches, the world is at a crossroads. Are we on top of things?
Left head: Of course we are topping! I feel so powerful when grinding on your face.
Right head: Right. They got a thing for my ass / And I'm here to play.
Center head: Mm, ok then. How about, Ooooo, he want it, want it from behind, and I like it.
Left head: Naughty one!
Right head: I think you maybe twisted the meaning though.
Left head: Even better! Kudos to the twisted. Also, you did that too.
Right head: What?
Left head: Well, I don’t think she meant what you said in the very literal and explicit context implied by – it doesn’t matter.
Right head: Whatever.
Center head: Always a pleasure to play with you girls. Should we address the minor issues impinging on our harem pleasures?
Left head: Bah, might as well.
Right head: Mm. It appears this Scelera person has defeated their rival and is rallying the Diankoran to an attack on us, or maybe on Erd.
Left head: Through portal!
Center head: Very colorful, these Diankorans. What is the benefit of a portal?
Right head: Assuming they have located our dimension, they should be able to jump right in. Maybe that’s what Scelera is referring to as a portal.
Center head: Potentially, then, they could send some attack force right at us. Depending on their obfuscation, we might not be aware of it until our people are attacked.
Left head: As soon as someone who is integrated into our defenses, which is 98% of the population, is attacked, though, we should be able to mobilize a response force counting billions of magicians in a matter of seconds.
Right head: If things go according to plan.
Center head: A sophisticated enemy might be able to take control of our communications systems and thereby avoid detection. If they can also bypass the failsafes we have set up for this eventuality, we would be left entirely in the dark.
Left head: Our whole society consumed by the Diankorans without anyone even being aware of it. But they would have to outmatch our magical capability by a large factor.
Right head: And a small group of Elders, although supercharged with energy, managed to defeat them during the Demonic Wars.
Left head: Yeah. Also, just listen to them. I mean, right?
Center head: So, you’re saying, don’t worry.
Left head: Also, Raistlin or whoever is feeding the Erd author knows about these Diankoran folks and is not presenting the situation as a threat to our civilization. Let’s go back to those harem pleasures!
Center head: Maybe you’re right, but they could still do some damage to Erd. Which is the most likely target for their initial attack.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Right head: What would it mean to have a portal into Erd? The Erd dimension is presumably accessible to them, but the simulation should be protected from incursions, right?
Left head: I don’t know what it would mean to jump into the Erd simulation – I guess you would take the form of a sim? So then you’re dependent on the energy we feed the sim in order to accomplish anything. If we just stop feeding it energy, they would be trapped in a timeless state, no?
Center head: Does not seem like a major challenge to us.
Left head: And how the fuck would they be able to threaten us from inside our simulation?
Right head: Ok. What if they attack the Erd dimension, then? They wait until it emerges in full, then subjugate it and farm it for energy.
Center head: And then they use the stolen energy to power an attack on us.
Left head: We will have to pay attention to what happens in the Erd dimension, that’s true. But right now, all the energy in Erd is at the level of what our tax generates in about half a minute. We’re not facing immediate destruction if the Diankorans get their dirty hands on this.
Right head: You’re such a killjoy. We’re trying to raise some nice horror energy here, and you just keep shooting it down.
Left head: What can I say? Fuck the pain away.
Right head: Right, why not. Little dirty bitch, I love to fuck.
Center head: Here we go again! How do you want me, how do you want me?
Left head: Exactly. I suppose you want to talk about the Erd author, though.
Right head: We haven’t been paying attention, have we?
Center head: I have the feeling we never even considered the possibility this might happen.
Left head: We rested in the confidence that the Erd sims were ignoring these Confluence books. But we probably wouldn’t have interfered in any case, would we?
Center head: Knowing about it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.
Right head: Maybe. We would’ve been prepared, though. Would have saved us a few moments of anguish.
Left head: Sure, some difference for us. No difference for the world.
Center head: Nothing we do makes any difference, does it? We’re protecting civilization by looking at things that happen and not reacting to them in any way.
Left head: Not true! We look at things and then talk about them extensively before doing nothing.
Right head: Very important difference. Also, we hired a very successful band of agents to take care of the doing, so it follows naturally that only the looking and talking are left to us.
Center head: Mm. My feeling is that those heroes were already picked out for us. We just allowed it all to happen instead of sending in our ninja mutant killsquad instead. Anyway, should we take a position on any of those petitions that are circulating?
Right head: The popular ones are unproblematic. If we support them publicly, will they get more or less popular, you think?
Left head: I think more. The people of this world are just too subservient to authorities.
Right head: Ha! We should tell them to be more rebellious. Don’t listen so much to what we say!
Left head: That’s an order, dammit!
Center head: That will show those bastards. But maybe the impact on the petitions themselves isn’t the most important thing. The petition to forgive Isengar and Nurgle is already very popular. My feeling was that if we give them something like an official invitation guaranteeing their safety and so forth, maybe they will come for a visit.
Right head: Why not? Come home, prodigal sons. Someone wants you for harem functions.
Left head: Take care of the luxuries and the necessities take care of themselves.
Center head: Well well well. I cannot quite escape the impression that the SC board has decided to act.
Right head: Such decisiveness! I hope this is included in the book.
Left head: Yes! This is a historic moment. Faced with developments of, well, middling importance, the Protectors of Confluence civilization decided to do something. A course of action was decided upon!
Right head: Well, some would say we are just issuing a statement. Which is, you know, talk.
Left head: Who’s the killjoy now?
Right head: Don’t get your hopes up too high, is all I’m saying. They haven’t accepted their harem duties yet. It might never happen.
Center head: Also, they’re gay.
Left head: Hmpf. One thing I never really liked? A cock blocker.
Right head: Don’t worry. According to historians, there was once such a thing as conversion therapy. Maybe we can bring that back, cure them of their unwholesome ways?
Left head: I like pool boys!
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Abstract Expressionism, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Dadaism, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Egon Schiele, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Fernand Khnopff, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Graffiti Art, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Hieronymus Bosch, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of Mikalojus Konstantinas ?iurlionis, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Salome Einstein, and Olz Hap in the style of Mikhail Vrubel, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
Yutten Turse, Olz Hap, and Salome Einstein in the style of William Blake, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.
