Apprentice William Becker slumped down on his sofa after a long day at work. After the Clarke situation, Harth had become a mess. Monarchs of all kinds had descended upon the city, the Inferno King interfering the most of them all. Of course, the elusive King of Time kept a careful watch over the situation, keeping them all in line, but such protections didn't extend to their probing underling Archmages, poking their noses where they didn't belong.

Whilst the Weaver's Web itself was influential enough to repel these invasions, some of their neighbors weren't. Many Schools, small and large, have been accused of treachery or betrayal in some capacity, everyone suspecting their fellow Mages of having a hand in the death of the man who started it all.

And it hadn't even been a day.

His Spider had instructed him to leave Harth promptly, amongst fears that a promising talent like himself may be kidnapped for leverage. The city was no longer a place safe enough for both him and other prodigies, with it seeming like every School was in agreement of that fact.

It hadn't been even a hundred years since the Mage Wars, and every single high Tier Mage remembered how it had all begun. No one wanted such a catalyst like him to remain in case the worst would come to pass. All it would take is a single Mage, poor of mind, to slip up and all Hell would break loose.

It wasn't like William didn't want to return to the Web's headquarters, but he had been enjoying his stay here in Harth. He could complete his Apprentice duties well and exercise some freedom due to the low-mana environment too. Of course he couldn't keep in contact with his genuine Master, but she had sent a Spider over to teach him in her stead. A Spider who was also scared shitless about what was happening in the city.

One thing he especially liked about Harth was the ability to practice something he couldn't really do amongst other Mind Mages. Dreamwalking.

Drifting off into sleep, a Spell infused his last conscious thoughts as he entered a Lucid Dream of his own creation, where he could stage his efforts from. Peering out towards the ocean of lights at the edge of his Dreamscape, he could see fragments of dreams surrounding him, those of his neighbours and those farther away. Some were shielded, their fragments hazy and indistinct. Others though, that of the general mundane, were as clear as day.

Smiling gently, he floated into the distance and towards the Dreamlight, sinking carefully into it.

* * *

Monarch Felix Smith rubbed his hands over his face as he 'teleported' back to his Tower, his work done for the night. Although he did not require sleep, it was a welcome distraction and excuse to be lazy and simply rest. All functions usually fulfilled by sleeping were done by his body constantly, and the majority of his body wasn't even of flesh either. His mana portion was sitting at a nice and even 95%, by his latest estimates. It had increased slightly upon his initial ascension to the Tier, but in spite of more than two decades passing since then, he wasn't any closer to reaching 100% than before.

Mages of old spoke in hushed tones about the elusive Tier above Monarch, one that they said Mages before the Wars had reached in droves, becoming 'gods'.

They called it Ascendancy and Felix did not believe in it.

All those supposed gods had fallen, and no records of this supposed Tier existed. He would know, as he was the King of History itself, and those times in distant pasts came to him as easily as he breathed; not that he actually did that anymore.

Rather, a far more reasonable answer was that what they called an Ascendant was merely the name for the peak Tier of Monarchy, just like that or Master or Lord to the two Tiers prior. And even if such a Tier existed, it was far from the thoughts of any Monarch in the world. Only he himself had come close to dreaming of the next Tier, whilst the other Monarchs were still stuck behind him in the race for power.

Yet, in spite of the security that thought provided him, Felix couldn't help but doubt himself. Not long ago, he had been trapped in one of his Time Loops, and his memories were still too fractured to identify why he even was in one. The Queen of Webs herself could not fathom why his mind was in such disarray, those memories and what they might have held now forever lost to him.

And those Mages who had conspired for his life? They were powerful Lords and Ladies, yes, but not enough to kill him, certainly not enough to kill him permanently, and definitely not enough to kill him for all of History. Any Monarch worth their salt had at least two layers of immortality and Felix had four. First was his Return, allowing him to briefly rewind to before the moment of his death. Then was his Avatar, a version of himself that would inherit his soul upon his current body's demise. After that was his Historical Revival, where the History of his existence would slowly bring him back to life after enough time had passed as long as the memory of him persisted in some way; and his FPGs certainly accomplished that. Finally, of course, was his Time Loop, in case all was lost.

Whoever his killer was had effortlessly by-passed the first two forms of immortality, negated his Revival, and almost broke his Loop completely.

Not even all the Monarchs in the world could accomplish such a thing, as his Historical Revival was an indiscoverable secret that had been Obscured from History. Such a negation would require that his very name was forgotten, which would be impossible with his FPGs.

Unless, that is, he was dealing with an agent of The Forgetting.

And, oh so coincidentally, The Forgetting had reappeared for the second major time in recent history.

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A frown on his face threatened to deepen at the remembrance of the recent travesty, and the source of his latest troubles. Archmage Harrison Clarke had come to the council, hopeful, and left its service a corpse. Felix himself had examined both the young man's battle and body and had come up short. Harrison was, without any doubt, in the wrong with what he had tried to do. If he was more sensible, more experienced, or simply older, he would've held back when he discovered a lead on this Forgetting Mage. Instead, he dived in head first without letting anyone know.

When the first reports of an altercation in the Harth slums rolled in, Harrison Clarke and this Forgetting Mage had vanished from the scene, leaving only magical History to speak for them. It was in fact the Inferno King who had realised what had caused their disappearance and traced them to a safe house in the city outskirts. By the time they had done so, it was too late. The boy was slain and the Mage had escaped.

That same disgusting Forgetting Element plagued everywhere the two had fought, interfering with Felix's divinations at every turn. It wasn't like the Day of Remembrance, where they were dealing with passive barriers and small recollections to help them along. There were no Forgotten memories this time and the Element was very much active.

Does that suggest two Elements? Felix considered for a moment, the archives of his mind bringing up memories of the two Elements and comparing them. Yes, they are indeed different. The passive Element of the original Forgetting is subtle and practised. This active Element is brash and wild, erasing all in its path. It could simply be the same Element wielded by a greater and lesser skilled hand, or it could be two distinct ones. Perhaps, even, the latter is the source of the former. What should these two distinctions be called then? The first should probably still be known as the Forgetting Element, by convention. Perhaps, at least temporarily, I'll refer to the new one as the Erasure Element. It erases all attempts to inspect it after all.

Casting a small Spell, Felix spun a Historical Recreation into life in front of him as the Erasure Element appeared in front of him, its horrid tendrils seeking to spread throughout the mana of his Tower immediately. However, its attempts were locked down when the enchantments sprawling all over the building came to life, trapping it in a small protective bubble.

All the mana within the bubble swiftly became corrupted until all that was left was a great invisible mass, like the mana inside had never existed in the first place. How very similar to the Nameless Cloak. That Harrison boy really was onto something.

Felix sent a small tendril of weak mana towards the Element, barely that of Journeyman Tier, and was surprised by how quickly it devoured it completely and utterly. Not seeing any point in increasing the strength of the mana bit by bit, the Monarch instead directed a full-power portion of his Domain into the sphere, completely repelling any of the Element's attempts to corrupt his incorruptible mana. The invisible mana danced around his own in a feeble attempt to avoid his detection, one that was completely pointless.

Strange how the instinct of the mana isn't actually to erase but to become erased. I didn't actually feel my Journeyman mana be invaded, but rather incorporated. And when it couldn't do that to my Domain, it tried to hide. It lends more credence to the thought that the Forgetting Element is an off-shoot of this Erasure Element however. Forgetting is actually a novel application of this baser, perhaps even Esoteric, Element. The real question then is how was this Esoteric Element not found until now? Not all Esoteric Elements are known of course, but they've been pretty much discovered in totality. Not even The Forgetting could erase Esoterics; it only went after Advanced Elements and their respective Mages. Unless… it did.

What if it went after only a select few Esoterics, such that its hunting of them wouldn't be noticed? What if such Elements were erased not to be Forgotten, but to hide its own trail?

Now that would be very interesting.

* * *

Felin sat languidly across his throne, staring intently at the planar barrier between the Faerie and Ryuen. Again and again the barrier had foiled his efforts to intrude upon the realm in person. It had taken the forces of every Ascendant on that plane to put that barrier in place, and a single Ascendant like himself, no matter how powerful, could not surmount it.

Scowling, Felin cursed the cowards who had emplaced it. They were driven by fear, albeit not entirely unwarranted, and made the largest mistake they ever would. Now, they are all gone.

And Felin cannot enter the plane in person to investigate exactly how, or even why.

He wasn't entirely without hope though. He had a second lead, one more substantial even than his initial one. That Holy bitch still eluded his tracking, but this irregularity told an even greater story than her seclusion.

Felin could recognise the School of Hate, and even name its greatest practitioners. Yet, he could not do the same for the Wizards, not any more. That, in itself, told a story. This Forgetting was not widespread and fair, no, it was exact and vindictive. Why else would the Wizards be singled out in such a manner? The School's Mages and his former contractor were targeted specifically and made to suffer a worse fate than other victims.

Combined with the realisation that whoever had caused that Robe to become what it was, was once a Wizard, or had training in Wizardly practices, told him more than he would've liked. To sort through all those rejected from the School or expelled for malpractice would be a fool's errand. There are thousands of them and neither my apprentice or myself have a way to look for them.

And even if she could, would I even allow Amy to do so with the state she is in now?

Felin's scowl darkened at the thought of his apprentice. The omnipresent light of his palace dimmed until all was cast in uniform shadow, the world reacting to his will. If only my contractor was with me. He had enough experience with Unknowable to help her. I have the knowledge of Fae but… I am not at all well versed in its interactions with that Element. That combination of the trinity was simply too rare. And it just had to be Unknowable too, the one Esoteric without a plane I could travel to and ask its Ascendants questions.

Sighing deeply, the palace breathed with him, almost seeming as if reality deflated slightly with his exhaustion. Well, it's not like I'm on a time-limit. Slipping out of Time for a few centuries will be annoying, but looking through all possible candidates will be worth it.

Letting Time's noose release from his soul, Felin began to flip through his memories, searching deeply. There will be gaps with cases I wasn't a part of but I can't help that. I can only hope that it's not someone I never bothered looking into.

Felin sighed again as the first person was crossed off the list. 14,567 to go.

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