Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

[Malcolm Tent]

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Sometimes a blur of pain, sometimes of tension. Alanna was a brutal taskmaster, but an effective one. I learned a LOT about countering swordmasters. I wouldn't say I was in any way prepared to become one myself, but when someone with a Mythical Skill dedicates a day to teaching you the basics, you pick them up pretty quick. Finally though, I was escorted to the arena where I was going to face my opponent.


It had been a long time since I'd been in an arena like this. The last one I remembered was the tournament back on Callus before our first departure. Despite all I'd been through, and how far I'd come, there was something…disquieting about that wait before I stepped out to face my enemy.


Above me, I could hear the roar of the audience, the pounding of feet on stands as they cheered and bayed for blood. Whether it be mine or my foe, I doubted most of them cared. It should have been terrifying, or disgusting, but it felt…freeing. No one here cared about me. No one had expectations beyond what they would have for any combatant. I would win. Or I would lose. Wyndham, god descendant, none of it mattered. As Abel had once told me, all blood looks the same when it's splashed on hot sand.


And the sand WAS hot. I could feel the heat sizzling up from below as I stepped out into the arena. They called my name, and I emerged into a sea of bone white powder. Hell, maybe it WAS bone. I could check, but I didn't really care to know.


"Ladies and gentlemen!" Boomed a voice from all around me. "Today, we have a special treat. A powerful Ascendant of the Wyndham family. Son of Elijah Wyndham, the Wish Devil, and Sasha Anders, the Star Queen. Great-grandson of Black Sorrow herself, and defier of the Void. A warrior of skill and renown of such magnitude that he earned the fealty of the Vampire's youngest daughter. Shane Wyndham, but they call him SOLOMON!"


In normal circumstances, I'd have tried look imposing, or dignified, or something politically savvy. But down here, in the hear and with the glaring light of the red sky reflecting up from the white sand around me, I had no need or use for words. I knew what these people wanted. I raised one fist above my head, and let out a primal bellow of bloodlust, infused with the demonic voice of Mephistopheles.


My roar echoed off the stands and the walls behind them, overtaking the baying howls of the crowd, and there was silence as every single watched froze under the sheer weight of my wordless declaration. One single beat of silence, before they howls and cheers redoubled, rising like an erupting volcano as they burst forth to roll over the arena, shaking the sand down to the individual grains.


"And in the other corner, an expression that makes no godsdamned sense because these arenas are all ROUND, you know him, you love him. Cyrus the RED! Cyrus is, of course hometown hero, a personal chosen representing the Lord of the Hall of Steel Himself, and a frequent combatant in these arenas in the D-tier bracket. Cyrus is, of course, undefeated at his own rank, and we've been informed that today is a very special day for him. You see, if Cyrus wins this fight, Lord Fade has agreed to compromise on the rank limits necessary to enter the Hall of Steel. For the first time in living memory, a D-ranker will be admitted to the Heartless Hundred. Every child's dream is within Cyrus's grasp, so you can bet he'll fight to the bitter end for this victory. Good look Lord Wyndham, you're going to need it."


I glared around me, tapping into Mephistopheles as my voice boomed out. "If I find out that you're trying to boost my opponent's morale because you've placed a bet on this fight, I'm going to find you and kick your ass."


There was an awkward pause, then the voice cleared its throat. "In other news, all proceeds from tonights victory among the staff will be donated to the Aendarl Aren's widows and orphans fund. Let the fight begin, or whatever, I don't know," he petered off toward the end muttering under his breath as I smirked at the direction change.


Of course, I was already crossing the hot sand, heading for the center as a small man with dark hair and electric blue eyes strode to meet me.


Cyrus was surprisingly compact. I expected a big hulking brute, but the man was every bit the duellist I'd been warned about. Despite that, he wore a heavy dark red plate that glimmered like freshly spilled blood. We stopped about fifteen feet apart. "I'm guessing you really are going to go all out for this" I asked him casually.


He nodded, his expression grave. "I am. Are you prepared?"


My staff smacked into my palms, called from within my soul. I triggered Glory, and a boxy razor sharp blade extended from the end as my body filled with power. Behind me, my wings spread out in a display of force and ferocity as my Waltz roared to life in my veins, calling out to begin the dance.


"Like the man said," I drawled. "Let the fight begin." I blurred, vanishing in an explosion of black flame, appearing behind him. To my shock, his hands clamped down above his head, rising to meet a tide of blood that flowed over his armor, condensing into a colossal sword that intercepted my blow as I aimed it at his lower spine.


My black flame spear ate into the blood, but more of the red liquid poured down his blade to reinforce the damage, effectively neutralizing the attack.


He spun on his heel, the blade reforming to change attack angles, perfectly sliding into my blind spot…only to be deflected by the butt of my staff as I anticipated the maneuver and moved to counter his rhythm. Commander. His style was that of a Commander to use Alanna's terminology.


Overwhelming force, brought to bear on the world around him as he attempted to conquer the space around him and force me to meet him on his own terms.


His sword flashed as he pressed the attack. Literally, it condensed into some kind of gemstone state, the weight dragging it down as the razor's edge split the air…and then nothing else, as I drove forward at his back with my spear. Double Trouble had distracted him just long enough to commit to a blow. I grinned widely as I whirled my spear toward his spine again. I was going for disabling without actual death. Jessie could heal any long term damage.


I was so confident in the attack that I almost missed it when his red armor shifted again, spikes of red metal emerging from his back. My Danger Sense had been screaming non stop, so I was forewarned, and stepped back fluidly to dodge the attack. But Cyrus was better than I'd given him credit for.


Whether he knew I could sense danger or it was just dumb luck, he'd pushed back at me with two attacks. As I'd dodged the spike barrage, his sword had dropped, and then dissolved into liquid. When I moved to avoid the spikes, the whip of blood snapped taught, tripping me. Of the dozen spikes, eleven of them withdrew, the last one extending twice as far, and then whipped out to spear into my gut.


I screamed as my lower abdomen was drowned in molten fire, my staff snapping down towards the whip around my ankle, severing the tendril. As I pulled away though, I felt a tearing sensation as the red spike he'd used to punch through my armor shifted inside me, sprouting hooks and barbs.


The jagged edges caught on my abdominal muscles and what felt like something much more vital and TORE as I yanked myself off it, stumbling away with a gurgled scream. My staff dismissed, my hands shot down to my stomach. I triggered Zagan and Double Trouble again, and was treated to a front row seat of Cyrus whirling in an impossibly tight rotation as his blade reformed, whipping it through the neck of the illusion so fast that I think it took him a second to realize he hadn't just beheaded me.


Stumbling away, I flooded my abdomen with green flame, sighing with relief. The purification wiped away all the poison from the damaged organs, and the life force helped staunch the internal bleeding. I was not in good shape, but it was better than nothing.


That had been an impossible attack. The speed of it. Not just the blood but the movement. He was moving too quickly for me to match up to. I'd assumed he might be faster, but this was beyond a bit of Might difference. It took me a second to figure it out and then I cursed. Blood. Not just the stuff on his armor. Looking close, I could see a red haze surrounding him, his skin flushed. I'd thought it was the heat, but paying closer attention he seemed to be in some sort of overclock state, burning his blood to enhance his physical body.


Stumbling to my feet, I stared him down as he turned to look at me. "You're fast, and strong," he said grimly. "And tricky. But that's all it is. Tricks. You're no warrior. No true combatant. Though I'm impressed you're not curled up in a ball weeping on the ground. Your pain tolerance is astonishing."


My mask receded like it did when I ate, and I spat a bloody chunk of something I'd rather not think about onto the sand. "Practice makes perfect," I rasped. "But you're talking like you've already won this? You think it'll be that easy?"


"That blade shredded several of your organs," he said idly. "Your blood is most likely turning septic. It might not kill you, but it'll take some time to purge it all, and until you do, your body isn't going to be in much shape to fight. In fact, the longer we talk, the more unsteady you're becoming."


Which explained the chat. He was stalling. My mask had reformed, so I didn't have to hide my smile as I triggered my staff to boost Zagan to C-rank, flooding my body with healing fire that actually knitted it back together. Zagan was hands down one of my most overpowered forms, the intense specialization allowing it to operate far above its level, but at C-rank it was basically enough to close any wound that wasn't made by an ACTUAL B-ranker, or at least a weapon of that level.


Meanwhile, Cyrus was staring me down, expecting me to be getting weaker and weaker. I triggered Glory again, surging Zagan's vitalizing power into my body while it was still C-rank to both boost my regeneration and flood my body with strength. Cyrus noticed, nodding solemnly. "Well, it seems you've decided to die here. One last exchange then?"


I spun my staff experimentally, the black blade of the spear hissing as it ate away part of the white sand beneath my feet. As I did, I triggered another domain. Limbo. We'd been locked into a single tradeoff now, and that meant very limited futures. I kept up the spin, the blade of my spear cutting through potential outcomes one by one, narrowing the exchange down to a single possibility. With an explosion of black fire, I moved, appearing in front of Cyrus, my spear flickering out.


He'd been waiting, his blade splitting into five different spearing attacks aimed at my vitals. But I'd seen that. I turned my body. Some of the blades passed me by, some sliced into non essential body parts and my spear slipped into his gut, narrowly missing any vital organs as the edge clipped his spine, severing the nerves that held his body up.


Letting the blade fade, I allowed Glory to lapse as my still running C-ranked Zagan form got to work patching up my injuries. Cyrus stared down at the staff lodged in his gut, the only thing holding him up, and I didn't bother saying anything. I levered the staff to the side, sending his limp form skidding across the sand, twitching and unable to move but still alive and fixable, and raised my weapon in the air. The screams of the crowd were all the last word I needed to get in.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The first person to reach me as I left the arena was, to my complete lack of surprise, my wife, who hit me like a bulldozer and nearly took me off my feet, her arms clamping down around me so hard my armor groaned. "What the HELL were you DOING!" She bawled into my chest as she tried her hardest to squeeze me to death.


I didn't have any arguments there. I hadn't screwed up, a fight is a fight and that one had been a good one, but this was the most injured I'd been in front of her in the years we'd been together. Even if it was brief injury and I'd patched it up fast, seeing the person you love most in the world get eviscerated probably sucked about as much as BEING eviscerated, which, spoiler alert, sucked real fucking bad.


So I just held her, letting her press her face into my neck and ground herself in the knowledge that I was ok as she muttered random nonsense about what an idiot I was. I could feel her desperate fear through the bond, and I understood it. The mere thought of watching someone tear into my wife like Cyrus had done to me turned my blood to ice.


Eventually, I just stood up, liting her with me, and folded my wings around us for privacy as I walked us over to a bench to sit down. After about ten minutes, she came up for air, drying the tears she'd been very careful to try to hide before she let herself be seen by the others.


"Well," she said in a rough voice, clearing her throat. "That was certainly dramatic. But we won."


"That you did," came a familiar voice. I turned to find Fade standing politely off to one side. He nodded at me in acknowledgement. "Well fought, little lord. You've got steel in your veins. That was a nasty injury, and healing or not, being able to fight through it shows that you're not an easy man to put down." He grinned humorlessly. "I respect that."


My wife glared at him. "I suppose it must be an important quality for you to test for it so thoroughly. But let me make something clear. Now that we won and you're on our side, if you ever put my husband in a position to be hurt for no reason again, I'm going to drop you into your own shadow and let you plummet through eternal darkness until you starve to death." She gave him a hard, wintery smile. "Respectfully."


"You should've let her fight," Fade commented to me mildly. "She's much scarier than you."


"True," I grinned. "But I didn't want to traumatize the audience. I'm trying to make alliances here, not give everyone here permanent nightmares."


We both laughed, and Callie pouted, despite me feeling through the bond that she was proud that someone like Fade recognized her as a threat. Because I could smell the truth, and he hadn't been being nice or condescending. He'd meant that. And he was right.


"So, you proved yourself," he said with an intense gaze. His steely grey eyes shone like drawn blades, the glint off the iris the next best thing to the edge of a knife. "I suppose that means I'm at your service, little lord. What would you have of me?"


Ellie bulled into the middle of my response. Literally, she physically interjected herself between us, glaring at the warrior distrustfully. "Don't get so familiar with the little lord, captain flatware. He's already got a bodyguard. I guess you'll be more useful than that sneaky blabbermouth, but don't get ideas above your station. The little lord is more than a Wyndham, and if you have bad intentions you'll be praying the Wish Devil gets ahold of your soul before my master can get her hands on it."


Fade looked unconcerned, smiling mildly at her provocation. "Peace, milady, I meant no offense. I offered only my service, in whatever capacity it might be required."


"I appreciate the sentiment, Ellie," I told her firmly. "But I'm the one who decides where he's going to be assigned. Not you. I'm half tempted to partner him with you, but I feel like that would be more punishment for him than for you. Now that we're moving into more official meeting territory, however, I WILL need my B-rankers on hand, at least the ones with the most combat power. Fade, you'll be on bodyguard detail alongside Alanna. Ellie, I know you're on assignment for my mom, so you and Felicity will stick with me too. Four guards doesn't seem too overboard."


My gaze flicked back to Fade. "Now, what can you do about setting up a few interviews? I understand you're a power player here. How many B-rankers can you get on my side."


"Less than you'd like," he shrugged. "Being king of the hill rarely endears me to others. Not to mention your cousins have been making overtures for some time now. I can get use another two or three smaller factions, or at least arrange contact. Several of them are large organizations, though mostly heavier on the rank and file. More C-rankers than B. But the few B-rankers they have are excellent warriors. Quality over quantity."


I nodded. "Set it up. The conclave starts tomorrow, and I want to go into the meeting with my roster as stacked as I can get it."


With more than a thousand people in my entourage, I was already a force to be reckoned with, but at this point in the succession war, some of the higher ranked cousins had been active in this zone since the beginning and had a big headstart. I knew there was at least one or two B-ranked candidates, even if I wasn't sure exactly where they were.


"It shall be done," he said with a solemn nod. "If it wouldn't trouble you, I'd prefer to meet this potential partner as well. I like to take the measure of a warrior before I trust them at my back."


"You will, and we need to get your contract signed," I agreed.


He sent one of his nearby warriors off to deliver messages and we all headed back to the boarding house. To my surprise, Fade looked…hungry. I raised a brow at him, not that he could see it. "Why do you seem so excited?"


"When I met you yesterday," he said contemplatively. "I couldn't see an ounce of the blade about you. Not in your stance, in your bearing, not even in your Path, despite how muddled it seems to be. But now, there's something of the sword about you. It's faint, only a whisper, but someone has sharpened an edge I didn't know was there. Nothing so complete as real training. More like they gave you very detailed instruction on a VERY specific dueling related concept in preparation for your match."


Which was exactly what Alanna had done. She'd essentially mimicked enough beginner combat styles (albeit ones cranked up a notch) so I could understand what I was up against.


He didn't continue talking about it, considering that answer enough I supposed. But I got it. Fade was a sword maniac. He ate slept and BREATHED the blade. Honed steel was his very blood, and seeing what Alanna could do…


Those who advanced beyond their realm, especially at such a high rank, were astonishingly rare. Only her stranding in the dungeon and the suppression therein had pushed her to polish that skill as she had. Most Ascendants wouldn't waste the time when they could just rank up. No wonder he was so excited. I wondered if he'd have been so willing to accept the loss if he hadn't discovered that little fact about me. Or maybe he'd known from the beginning somehow. Maybe this whole thing was an excuse to set up this very fight.


I shook that thought away. Mythologizing my opponents (or allies) was as bad as underestimating them. Not everyone had been planning everything all along.


When we reached the boarding house, we found Alanna practicing in the training yard. Kind of. She was doing some kind of exercise, her blade drawn, poised outward and still as stone, held parallel to the ground. Leaves fell from above, landing on the blade, and she seemed to be trying to cut them on impact without moving.


Her eyes were closed, but they opened when we arrived. "Little lord," she beamed. "Suppose you won? Though not easily. That armor is shredded. Seems like you might need some more instruction."


"I think I'll just buy better armor," I told her dryly. "And cheat more. Duels are much less fun than they seem when you're starting out. If I hadn't had a point to make I'd have turned the whole arena into a lake of burning ash and drowned him in it. I'll avoid fighting by the rules in the future. I don't think it's my thing."


As exciting as the idea had been after so long, I found duels restrictive and annoying. I saw Callie beam at me in approval at that sentiment, and even Fade snorted.


I expected Alanna to correct me, but she just grinned. "Your first real lesson then," she laughed. "You're not a duellist little lord, don't act like one. You proved your competence today, next time prove your wisdom."


"I don't think I have any to prove," I said wryly. "Do you know where I could get some on the cheap? I'm low on cash what with the armor needing to be made."


She laughed, then turned to Fade. "Can I help you, friend? You're doing an awful lot of staring."


"We are to be partners," he said with a smile. "And before then, opponents, assuming you're willing. I'd love to test the edge of such a deadly opponent." He stared at the sword, held perfectly still in midair, split leaves falling around and over it despite the edge never moving even a micron.


She stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded. "Watch closely, little lord," she said with a wolfish grin. "You could learn quite a bit."


The two of them took up their positions across the yard. Not too close, I noticed, not as close as I'd have expected from a melee battle. I realized why quickly afterwards. Both of them had chosen manifestation when they were starting out. Alanna moved faster, her blade manifesting above her like a piercing rainbow, blurring into existence as she struck out at her foe.


Her Path was stronger. Mythical, not Legendary, and it was clear. To my surprise though, Fade didn't seem bothered. He might not have broken through, but he was MUCH higher into B-rank than she was, maybe at the peak, and he had the Chronicle to show for it. His own manifested blade whirled up, deflecting hers with a spark through the ether. He followed up, and so did she, their blades meeting and clashing the air and space disturbed by the clashes.


They moved so fast the blade shadows overlapped, the entire training ground vanishing under waves of ripples and flashing metal. The swords sang as they clashed, the reports blurring together into a high, clear tone of victory and challenge, the hum of the steel singing of power and glory as the two blademasters attacked


Despite not being able to follow the specifics (this was well above my level) I triggered Dantalion and Piece of Mind. Inside my library, a parallel recorded the clash in a tome for me to study later, even as my main mind watched on in wonder.


They fought like that for hours, operating so fast, so seamlessly, that I was half afraid an eyelash in someone's eye would be the difference between life and death.


Callie sidled up next to me, and I put an arm around her shoulder as we watched, awed at the spectacle. "You know," I murmured in her ear. "This was definitely worth it. Gut stab or not." She snorted, but didn't agree. That was fine, I was feeling much better personally. At least for now.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"So, we're looking at twenty five hundred total?" I asked Crell as Callie checked my tie. "Twenty five B-rankers, two hundred C-rankers, and twenty three hundred D-rank, give or take. Can we fit them all in the boarding house?"

He shrugged. "Probably not, but we don't need to. The conclave shouldn't last more than a day or two, and the locals have their own locations to use as a base."

"I don't like this," my wife said worriedly. "I trust Alanna and Fade well enough under contract, but we barely know them. You'll be all alone there. I should be going. Or at least take Carmichael with you." She tugged on the lapels on my suit anxiously. "You don't even have armor on at this point."

I caught her hands in mine gently. "I'll be FINE, Cal. But the conclave has been called for today, and only candidates and two guards are allowed. I won't be alone. Nadia, Charlie, Derrick, and Alys are all coming with. Each of them will have their own pair of B-rankers on standby. Given how scary Fade is we should have the edge in quality, and between all of us I'm not worried about my safety."

"I know," she sighed tiredly. "And I know that this meeting is important. You all need to pull together to deal with the Void incursion."

She gave me a fierce hug, then pulled back, grabbing either side of my face, staring up into my eyes even through my mask."If you need my heretic flame, take it," she told me intensely. "Any time, just pull on the bond and I'll give you everything."

I let my mask recede, then leaned down to kiss her softly. "You always do."

"Not the time for this," Fade said dryly. "We have to get going if we're going to meet up with the others before we enter."

I cleared my throat, nodded, and then gave my wife one last squeeze before stepping away. "Wish me luck," I said cheerfully. "Literally, if you feel up to it. Nat should have some spare scrolls around." I shot her a wink, then turned and headed down to the street. Fade and Alanna trailed behind me like menacing shadows. The two of them had fought for hours last night, only stopping to sleep, and even that for much less time than a lesser Ascendant would have needed.

When I woke up this morning, I headed down to check on them after stockpiling my scrolls for the day, the two of them had sort of fallen into sync. They weren't fighting anymore, just sitting around reading the paper and drinking coffee, but there was a strange sense of understanding between them. It reminded me of Callie and I at the beginning, though I didn't know if they had actually achieved a Skill.

Still, I felt better about them guarding me than I would have otherwise, and I was perfectly comfortable sitting in silence as we drove to the meetup location outside the public park where we were supposed to be holding the conclave.

I was the last one there, and when we climbed out, I was greeted by an excited Alys and an eager Derrick. Nadia and Charlie were more sedate, but I could tell they were energized by the intensity of their gaze. Their guards stood behind them, none of them recognizable to me, which wasn't a shock. I hadn't met any of their B-rankers, though Fade gave one of them a nod that told me he was probably local.

"Evening friends," I said with a grin. "Everyone ready for some good old fashioned family fun?"

Alys looked ecstatic. "Oh, definitely! This is going to be so great! We can catch up with all the family members we never see, talk, get some food. I hear cousin Aaron is going to be grilling. Plus Vince isn't here, and he was responsible for five of the last seven stabbings at family related events, so our odds of avoiding an incident are really good!"

Derrick let out a relieved sigh. "Oh thank the gods, I lost a huge chunk of money to him at the last branch poker game, and he kept making these REALLY pointed "jokes" about repossessing one of my kidneys."

"Don't be silly," Nadia said with a reassuring smile. "Vince would never stop at just one."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, enough joking around. I need some details on who IS going to be here. I assume you know better than I do?"

Alys nodded brightly. "Of course! Delia is in charge of this conclave. She's B-ranked, and one of the oldest cousins here. Brandon is helping, he's a C-ranker, but he's really connected. His dad is a branch head, and there have been some…implications that he gets preferential treatment. Personally I don't believe it, because cheating is harshly punished, but he's pretty strong."

"Roland is here," Derrick added. "He's a swordmaster. He's B-ranked too, and he's one of the toughest members of the family. He's kind of my role model. Family legend is he only accepts payment in sword Skills and Might stats. He's a total beast. With him around, no one will be starting trouble at this thing unless they're looking to get ventilated."

Charlie added. "Wesley is here. He's my least favorite cousin. He's a sneaky underhanded bastard who never means what he says. He's got a fondness for poisons, so avoid letting him near your drink."

"Catherine and Sarah are both in attendance," Nadia chimed in. "They're full sisters, and are kind of like brand ambassadors for their branch. They're professional charmers, masters at making people feel special and appreciated, and they can talk anyone into anything. It's been implied that that they accept payment in people skills, and has honed hers to the point that it's the next best thing to mind control. I've been around them and it's not QUITE that extreme, but they are VERY persuasive, so be careful when you speak to them."

"How many people are going to be AT this thing?" I asked in annoyance. "I don't think I can remember them all."

Nadia shrugged. "A hundred, last I checked. Word on the street is some of the branches are benching their weaker candidates. Getting off world is impossible, but the D-rank zone is a lot safer than down here. Way more peak D-rankers there to play babysitter. Plus less Path stuff to mess with."

"Well, glad someone mentioned THAT was an option," I said sarcastically. "But whatever, I wouldn't have bothered. Just as well no one wasted my time. Now how do we FIND everyone?" I pointed into the park, where the majority of the land vanished into a heavily shaded canopy of trees.

It wasn't spatially expanded, I didn't think. Not like that first copse of trees when we'd just arrived. Alys took the lead, gesturing us to follow, and we did, trailing behind our sunniest cousin until we reached a clearing in the center of the forest.

It looked…quaint. It wasn't some big overwhelming glade or majestic expanse of lush greenery, it was just a big empty green meadow full of cheap wooden picnic tables. Off to the sides I saw ugly box shaped metal grills on posts sticking out of the ground, several of them lit with charcoal and merrily burning away, sizzling meat dripping aromatic juices into the banked coals that sent bursts of scented steam up onto the gentle breeze that played with the leaves on the trees.

Honestly the whole scene was kind of idyllic, with the various relaxed looking family members lounging on tables or playing sports. Of course, that was ignoring the menacing forms of the bodyguards sticking to the shadows of the trees, more than two hundred B-rank elites composing a force large enough to conquer a small star system.

Fade grimaced. "We're expected to give you space. You want to go with it or just tell them to fuck off?"

"It'll be seen as weakness if I need my bodyguards right next to me when no one else does," I told him firmly. "Besides, you're B-rankers. Does a few dozen yards really matter that much?" His shrug was answer enough, and I nodded him and Alanna off with the others. Alys, to no one's surprise, dragged us to the nearest group of revelers with a happy squeal. "Adrianna! How are you! Oh my god your hair looks amazing where did you get that dye job?"

The tall, tanned woman with eyes that looked a lot like my own shade of Wyndham green laughed as she swept Alys into a hug. "The same place I got the last one, Aly, you need new material." She was quite a bit bigger than Alys, so my blonde cousin was lifted up into the air as she crushed her into a hug. Alys just laughed happily, squeezing back as Adrianna set her down.

"Well it still looks great," she looked around at the others with Adrianna. "Who are your friends?"

Adrianna laughed. "Wayne, Thomas, Adra, this is Alys. Everybody's favorite. And these are her friends, apparently."

"Shane," I told her solemnly as she glanced at me. "That's Derrick, Charlie, and Nadia."

Her eyes sharpened. "Shane," she said slowly. "Elijah's kid. I've heard a few stories about you. You're bigger than expected. Elijah is a normal sized person last I checked, how are you so damned tall?"

"My mother's side of the family," I shrugged. I was by far the biggest person here. Despite our similar features, my father was easily a half foot shorter than me, and his size was pretty typical for a Wyndham. I hadn't ever really considered it, but my mom was almost six feet, which was pretty damned tall for a woman, so I assumed my height came from her.

The other woman, a redhead named Adra, glared at me. "You've got a lot of guts coming here. Nobody wants you around, you know. We should just take the chance to get rid of you."

Adrianna grimaced. "Forgive her, she doesn't think," she said apologetically. "If she did, she'd know that any attempt to harm you would mean having to fight Roland, something only an idiot or a lunatic would do." She pinned the other woman with a gimlet stare, and the redhead went pale.

"I wasn't being like…serious," Adra muttered sullenly. "I was just talking shit."

"That happens when you have your head up your ass," Derrick said spitefully. "Maybe pry it loose and brush your teeth."

Alys physically interposed herself between them. "Whoa! No need for hostility everybody. We're all family here. I think it's clear from this trial that they want us working together. We've all got bigger fish to fry than some family squabbles. Adra, I know you're from Shane's uncle's branch, but there are more important things than Wyndham politics, ok?"

Adra looked like she did NOT think that was ok, but a glare from Adrianna shut her up fast. The taller woman turned to glance at Alys questioningly. "You say that like you know what's going on? Have you heard something? About three quarters of us are in a communication blackout, and the ones who aren't keep getting stonewalled. Someone up there seems REALLY concerned about information security and compartmentalization right now."

I realized what Alys was doing even as she nodded her cheerful acknowledgement. "That's right," she all but sang. "I know something you don't know. Now aren't you glad we're all being friendly and civil?"

Adrianna stared at her unreadably for a moment or two, then sighed. "You know, you're always so chipper and friendly I forget how sneaky you can be. You want to make a deal, right? An alliance for information?" She looked me over with a long sigh. "You know what? Fine. You provide us with some worthwhile info and I'm open to a temporary truce for the duration of this conclave. From ALL of us," she said firmly as Adra tried to speak up. "So…what do you know?" I was so glad I'd allied with Alys. She really got things done.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The truce was hashed out pretty quickly, and we shared our information without reservation. They all looked unsettled, and I didn't blame them. I wasn't exactly feeling balanced and carefree myself. Being here without any backup bothered me. Not that I didn't like Alys and Derrick and the others, they were family. But I was still getting to know them, and this was clearly not a friendly place for me to be. Having Bethy or Callie or Abel at my back would have made me feel a lot better.


Luckily, the socializing and "family time" wasn't foremost on the agenda. They let us mess around until everyone arrived, and then when we were all accounted for according to the trial, Delia called the meeting to order.


Delia was…intimidating. Short and steely eyed, with platinum blonde hair tied back in a tight, severe braid, eyes hidden behind a pair of sleek but functional glasses. They weren't the same green as mine, not that all Wyndhams had those. Delia's eyes were ice blue, a pale color close to white, and they were uncomfortably intense as they stared across the conclave at the rest of us.


Roland stood behind her, a tall red haired man with a colossal sword hanging over his back. He didn't speak, just kind of loomed behind her looking menacing. He was good at it.


"You have been summoned," she said in a cold, implacable voice. "And you have come. That is good. This is an unusual circumstance, I know, and plenty of you had reservations. Confusion and doubt runs rampant. This was not an oversight. You will notice that our number is small. Many refused the call. Their qualifications have been revoked."


Everyone froze. That…that wasn't supposed to happen. I knew the score, so I understood why they did it, but these trials were voluntary. Not doing them meant no points to free locals, which would hurt your faction, but no one was FORCED to participate.


There were nine other cities in this ring, and nine other meetings presumably taking place, but assuming similar numbers to here, that meant there were now only about a thousand candidates left in the running for the position of Wishmaster. Hell, it meant more than that, because some of the ones who didn't show were probably competitors with higher point values.


"You see my earnestness now," she continued icily. "This is not a game. It is not politics. This is a matter of survival. I personally believe the succession war should be postponed at this juncture, but wiser minds than I have decreed that we shall continue, and continue we must. That said, during this next action, any attempts to curry favor, or remove rivals, or undermine the cohesion of this family will be met with swift and violent reprisals."


Roland stepped forward, his hazel eyes sweeping the crowd. "I am Roland. You know me." It wasn't a question. "Delia's threat will be carried out by me personally, should it require fulfillment. We are not, however, unreasonable. Any who do not wish to participate may leave. As we mentioned, your qualification will be removed, but you will live. Should you decline this generous offer, you are giving your implicit consent to be used by us for the duration of this trial. It will be dangerous. Some of you will die. Those who do not will benefit. Make your choice."


Alys grimaced. "Delia is smarter than this. Choosing Roland to support her was smart, he's very strong, but she shouldn't have had him speak. He's blunt to the point of brutality, and she's already incredibly in your face. She should have picked someone political who could dress it up better than that."


"No," Nadia corrected her. "She doesn't want that. This isn't a matter that will be solved with numbers. We need quality not quantity. Anyone who could be swayed into it with smooth talk wouldn't be the kind of person they want on the team."


That didn't fill me with confidence, but at the same time, it kind of did. Based on what they were saying, this "trial" was some kind of punitive expedition against the Void. Reading between the lines, Delia and Roland belonged to a faction who wanted to proactively eliminate the Void and abandon the succession war. The people in charge were naturally not fans of that idea, given their investment in the ritual, but the Void made someone worried enough to give their faction control of a trial to use us for housecleaning.


The fact that they seemed so resigned told me that they didn't expect this little crusade to actually DO much, but that it was the best they were going to get.


To my surprise, the threatening show wasn't enough. Someone raised a hand lazily. "Hello there, I'm Wesley, nice to meet you all. I'd like more details about exactly what we'll be expected to DO for this trial before I accept your unlimited control, thanks very much. Perhaps you might illuminate us as to your plans?"


It was reasonable, polite, and just the right amount of sarcastic. Enough that everyone knew he wasn't happy and was making it known, but not so much as to give Roland an excuse to react negatively. He was clearly pleased with himself, thinking he'd made it impossible for any rational person to deny him that request.


"No," said Roland bluntly. He did not elaborate further. We all just stared at him, and he stared back.


Wesley seemed to be at a loss for how to respond to that, and someone else neatly stepped in, raising a hand. A tall, athletic looking blonde girl with a ponytail and a wide, magnetic smile. "Hi, Catherine here, I was wondering if we could get some more background on the threat in general? I totally understand not wanting to share battle plans," she sneered at Wesley. "SOME of us have better sense than to try to compromise operational integrity to score brownie points, but I think most of us are a little confused right now, and any light you could shed on the situation would be helpful."


Despite her warm smile and sincerity, she might as well have had a billboard behind her mocking him for being gauche and overly obvious. He glared back, but she just ignored him. The black haired girl next to her, who looked nearly identical except the hair color, just smirked at him. Sarah, I would assume.


Delia took this one. "That was on the agenda for this conclave, yes. We will address those concerns once any of our more hesitant relatives extricate themselves from the proceedings. Do we have any takers on that offer?"


There was a slight hesitation, just a brief pause where people weighed the options, and then about ten people got up and left. Delia and Roland didn't seem particularly upset about the loss. She waited to see if anyone else would leave, and I was actually kind of surprised no one did. Once she was sure she had our complete attention, she nodded.


"Very well," she said calmly. "Now that we are all in attendance, I will begin by catching everyone up on current events. As of this moment, this planet is under siege by the forces of the Void. The limitations inherent in the terrain remain stable, but attempts have been made by the Void to subvert those limitations to their advantage. Thanks to several enterprising groups of Ascendants, those attempts have failed, but that have NOT ceased."


Sarah raised her hand this time. "What kind of attempts?" she asked warily.


"Construction appears to have gotten underway to build a Void ladder, with the express purpose of submerging the heirworld itself, along with all of us on its surface, into the depths of the Void." She said stoically. "Should these attempts succeed, I trust I need not spell out what our fates will be."


Everyone I could see flinched. Like it was choreographed, every one of my relatives physically recoiled from the thought. It occurred to me that I might have accidentally missed out on something of a communal nightmare of my family based on my relatives and experiences.


Wishmasters nominally controlled who we could help or grant wishes to. Nominally. But if someone captured me and forced me to grant a wish on pain of death, or of losing Callie, I would do it. Fair compensation would still be required, but that was to prevent me from benefiting and unbalancing the wish. Being FORCED to help would most likely just increase the price a bit, if that.


For everyone here, the idea of being held captive and used as an on demand wish service must have been their most horrible nightmare come to life. Being with Zeke, then my mom, and then in various "safe" locations (and wasn't that a weird thing to think unironically, but from this perspective it fit) meant I hadn't had to worry about that particular bit of horror up to this point.


Having seen the Void, I could understand even better what they were afraid of, and it made my heart ache a bit. Competitive or not these were my family. My blood. I didn't know them well, but I didn't like the idea of them being terrorized like that.


Delia, surprisingly, seemed to agree. "There is no shame in fear," she said to the disturbed crowd. "I do not hold the desires of those who left against them, I simply consider them unworthy to lead us. Similarly, your own fear is immaterial, especially in light of your bravery and willpower. You have faced your terror and emerged victorious. Bravery is not the absence of fear, but its conquest."


Wesley, who had stayed, looked unhappy with the direction things were going. He tried to interject. "What do we know about the Void forces?" he asked loudly. "I assume we have some sort of data on what resources that have available? Or are we going in blind?"


"If you wish to attempt this task blind, I could carve out your eyeballs," Roland said mildly. "Does that sound helpful?" The swordmaster stared the younger Ascendant down coldly, not a hint of joke or mercy in his tone.


Wesley reeled back. "What? No! I don't…that's not necessary. I was just hoping for some intelligence."


"A wish beyond even our ancestor's ability to grant you, I suspect," Delia said in a stoic tone that made her casual insult WAY more devastating. "But we might be able to gift you some information instead."


That got a smattering of laughs from the crowd, but Delia didn't focus on it. She started outlining a few discovered bases, double agents, and supply chains they'd discovered. I was pretty shocked, honestly, my family was way more on the ball than I'd expected. I supposed I tended to take the competence of others for granted, but you don't run a faction equal to the five faction alliance members without some serious skills.


"With all of that laid out," she said. "We have only one opportunity to lay waste to these attackers. Any we miss will be warned off and will scatter, potentially never to be seen again. As such, we will be splitting into teams. Five of you in each, with your guards included. You will be given a location, as well as several neighboring locations. Should you accomplish your primary mission, you may move on to assisting with another operation. The entire strike will have a duration of one hour."


She went on to clarify the rules, elaborating on the power distribution of the individual bases and how they would be strictly curated to be within our capabilities. Wishes would be used to ensure the match ups would be as close to fair as possible, though that would ensure the strongest of us would be fighting the most difficult battles. She also mentioned that we could have members of our retinue accompany us, but that there was a manpower limit, and that we would need to get permission to get help during this trial. I sighed. Let the negotiations begin.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"So I can bring five D-rankers, two C-rankers, and four B-rankers," I informed my friends tiredly as I slumped on the couch. Negotiating with Delia had been…stressfull. I had assumed it would be a formality, given we were family and I was doing this for her trial, but she'd put me through the ringer.


About a dozen different stipulations about power distribution, point caps, loot distribution, and any number of other niche and frankly outlandish bullet points had been added to the contract where my forces had been laid out.


I was honestly almost as impressed as I was horrified. Callie, meanwhile, was less than thrilled. "So they want you to run off to the middle of nowhere to fight the Void at a fraction of your strength? Why would they use THAT as a test? That's so dangerous. This isn't a game, the consequences of this could be catastrophic!" She growled in frustration. "What is WRONG with your family?"


Sighing, I explained my hypothesis that Delia and Roland were part of a proactive faction being hamstrung by traditionalists. Callie just grimaced.


"I'm not…unfamiliar with that dynamic," she admitted. "We had some hardliners like that in the Guild when I was growing up. Everyone had to work around them, because of course they never compromise. This is how we've always done things so it's the right way." The voice she used to spit out that line made me pretty sure it was either a quote or based on the tone of a specific person, but I didn't have a chance to ask, because Bethy interrupted excitedly.


"So who gets to go? Is it me? Is it? Can I go Shane, pretty please? I've been working on a new ability! It'll either allow me to teleport or turn someone into a cabbage." I was…unsure if she was kidding about that. "If it's the first one, there's a REALLY good chance I can control what happens when I use it!" That one seemed like less of a joke.


I grimaced. "Bethy, I think maybe for your next few tricks, you should look into something more…understated."


"Pshaw, understatement is for nerds," she snorted. "I prefer THUNDERSTATEMENT!" She leapt to her feet and bellowed that last word so loud the glasses on the table shook. Someone banged on the floor upstairs and she winced. "SORRY!" She shouted up at the ceiling.


I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Thunderstatement isn't a real term, Bethy." I cut her off with a glare, pointing my finger at her. "And don't use your hypnosis to start convincing people it is. I've been getting complaints that some of the last batch you tried that on have been having memory problems."


"Nothing serious," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I had to delete some stuff to make room for the improvements. It'll come back eventually. I think. Or it'll get worse. But that almost never happens."


I glared at her. "Do not EXPERIMENT on members of my army, Bethany," she pouted at the use of her full name.


"It's nothing too serious," Callie soothed me. "Bethy would never hurt an ally. I'm guessing we can wipe it out with some basic purification flame treatment. We can have Chelsea look them over, maybe give them some time off or something. But he's right, Bethy. No more hypnosis on allies. Even as a joke. I know you didn't do anything drastic but some things aren't ok to do as pranks."


She wilted a bit. "I…ok. I swear it was just dumb little stuff. Like the word thing, and that one guy who called Chelsea a bitch, so I added a compulsion for him to drink shampoo to his shower routine."


"Wait, what guy-" I started to ask in outrage, but Callie steamrolled over me.


"As long as you know now," she said serenely. "But I think bringing Bethy on the raid is a good plan. We need to keep an eye on her anyway. Do you really want to leave her alone in the camp with our entire force for who knows how long? She'll probably start another fake religion."


I rolled my eyes. "Fine. We could use the help anyway. Abel, you're with us, obviously. Callie, you would kill me if I tried to leave you home. Dayna, would be useful to have you along, and for our last party member…" I scanned the room, before finally settling on someone I think surprised a lot of people. "Mel. We haven't done a mission together in a bit, and you'll be a huge help with Callie's fire stuff. Assuming you two have gotten around to perfecting that without Chelsea bridging you?"


Mel nodded excitedly. "It's just an invocation when there's only two of us. Totally doable. It only gets complicated when you have a ton of inputs. If one party member is steering things you don't even need the diagram, but for real combinations anything past two is a nightmare. Hell yes! This is going to be great, thanks Shane!"


"Hey thank me by setting a bunch of Void shit on fire," I shrugged. "My darling wife is all brawn no brains when it comes to her heretic fire. I figure someone should be there whose battle strategy goes beyond "MORE FIRE!". Sorry honey, but you know it's true," I told her apologetically.


Callie had been gearing up to snap at me…but just slumped over. "Yeah," she admitted. "It should be taken care of soon though."


I knew what she meant. Callie's control and manipulation abilities were all part of her Abyssal Priestess Path. Until we merged her two power sources together, there was always going to be some lacking overlap. "Anyway," I continued. "Obviously Ellie and Felicity are our C-rankers, and Carmichael and Crell will be joining Fade and Alanna on guard duty for the lot of us, so I hope everyone is excited for some quality camping time. Because we're going to be sleeping out in the wilderness for a few days. Lucky us."


No one seemed worried, which, considering they knew I could make buildings from dirt was reasonable. Still, I had other things on my mind. Namely, I needed to know more about our target. Luckily, I had a local titan right here to question. "So, Fade, what do you know about," I checked the information I'd copied down. "Castle Raymore? Is that a real castle? It doesn't really fit the aesthetic here."


"It is a real castle," he nodded. "It's also…kind of haunted. Well no, it's actually extremely haunted. The Raymores were a necromancer family. They got violently murdered by a rival faction a few hundred years ago. Used some kind of creepy ritual to bind their souls to the castle itself. A few people have tried to move in, but ghosts are a pain in the ass to deal with. Not a lot of purification specialists at high B-rank."


That was interesting, but also unsettling. Could the Void corrupt ghosts? Actually what were B-rank ghosts even LIKE? I didn't think I could purify something that strong, even with Zagan and the boost from my staff. But with the wishes they'd used for this trial, we shouldn't run into anything we couldn't match. "Have you ever been there?" I asked him slowly. "Like do you know what to expect?"


He waggled a hand. "Not personally, but some of my boys have checked it out. It's sort of a local hangout for idiots who want to get into trouble, and several of the Hall's members qualify. The place has a sort of aura around it, the ghosts have leached into the stone. Super cold, drains the life from you, that kind of thing."


Which was unfortunate, to say the least. Because that sounded a LOT like Void taint, and I was pretty sure mixing the two wasn't going to produce puppies and rainbows.


I glanced at Callie, who looked equally worried. All I could do was hope that whatever Vessel was here (and I was positive if there was a Void infiltration happening in the B-rank zone there was a Vessel in charge of it) they weren't actually B-rank themselves. Callie and I could take on a C-rank Vessel. With my staff and our natural advantages we were basically made to crush the Void.


But a B-rank Vessel would be up to our guards to handle. My only consolation was that it wouldn't be a particularly good test of our abilities if they sent us after someone too strong for us to handle, so it was unlikely to make it past the wish they'd used to prepare for us.


"So, when do we need to do this?" Callie asked as she looked over the paperwork I'd drawn up. "I don't see any indication of timing."


"There isn't one," I admitted. "They don't want us to blow the op by leaking anything. I signed a heavy contract for secrecy, but they're doing this blind. We're to get within range and wait for the signal. The whole raid is going to be done within an hour, so we'll all be contacted at the same time and then we move out."


It was needlessly complicated and borderline ridiculous, but that was my family in a nutshell. Besides, Delia was clearly competent, and I was willing to accept that she probably had reasons beyond the one I could fathom for doing it this way. "Anyway, we hear anything about the smith I was looking for?" I asked Fade. "Because I want to get my armor made before this trip if possible. I feel naked without my plate."


"I found one that should be able to swing it," he nodded. "Donovan Redfellow. VERY famous smith around these parts. He's only B-rank, but only by choice. He's got a Mythical smithing Skill at least. Makes some of the best blades on the planet." He tapped the short sword on his hip. "My Devlos is a Redfellow." He drew about an inch of the sword, which I had never actually looked at closely before.


It was B-ranked, much like my staff, but…more. It was SCARY. The steel was pattern forged, but the patterns seemed to shift and twist as the light caught them. The thin red lines in the steel flexed and wove through each other like the sword had pulsating veins.


"And he'll take on the job?" I asked pensively. "Like…soon? Because we need to leave for our posting in the next few days. Some of the targets are further away than others, and they don't want to tip our hand by rushing. How fast does this…Redfellow work?" I was getting excited. That sword was magnificent, and the smith who made it had to be just as amazing. I wanted to see what my new, B-rank armor was going to be like.


"Donovan contacted ME, actually," he admitted. "I hadn't heard from him in a while, but when I put the word out about a smith, he jumped at the chance. Donovan was the person smith of the Hall of Steel before I took office. He and my master, Kairos, built the whole faction from the ground up. I think he heard about us working with you and wants to support our dreams of getting off planet. Of course, he would be coming along. But I somehow doubt that's a problem."


I snorted. "Oh of course, how dare you force me to recruit a world class blacksmith who could effectively outfit my entire force. I mean, I'm sure the materials would be exorbitant, but having someone like that on staff would be a game changer. I assume I have to do…something to get him on my side?"


"He's watching the results of this trial," he admitted. "He'll do the work on your armor for payment. But if you want him working for you, you need to win this. Handily. If you can do it though…Donovan is someone who operates at a respected level in the A-rank zone. Having him with us will not only be good for your people, it'll open a lot of doors." He grinned at me ruefully. "But hey, no pressure."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The trip out to the forest was pretty easy. A group of Ascendants can move shockingly fast over land, even when suppressed by a high level planet. When we arrived at the location in question, I was kind of underwhelmed. Not by the castle itself, exactly, but by the information gathering abilities of my cousins. I'd been impressed they'd managed to find this place so easily, but staring at it now, I quickly revoked that positive impression.

"Subtle," I said wryly as we stared up at the castle on the cliff. A castle, mind, that was coated in a bank of roiling back fog. It looked…dense. Not like Void taint, exactly, but something more.

My wife shrugged. "Well this IS the middle of the forest. We're hundreds of miles from the nearest town, and it's not like there are many people doing flyovers. Flying here is exhausting, in case you didn't notice. Even the birds don't do it for too long."

I had noticed that. It was doable, at least if you had wings, but no one below B-rank would be flying around here without them, and even the B-rankers themselves would have run into problems doing it long term. "So, how do we approach?" I asked slowly. "I assume that the wish they used will separate us to fight individual enemies, I just don't know what form that'll take. Should we split up on our own so it doesn't happen dramatically or just take it for granted and go in normal?"

Wishes were…complicated. It was one of the reasons I tended to keep mine very specific or VERY general. Trading points, or wishing for "good luck" were both hard wishes to fuck up. Ironically, leaving so much open to intent with the latter made it easier for the wish to find a reasonable outlet to accomplish the stated end goal. But for more specific stuff like "make sure we get into the castle and only run into enemies we can handle"... well that was both open to interpretation enough to go bad and specific enough to possibly require some extreme measures to happen as stated.

Everyone just kind of looked at me. Bethy, of course, was the first to speak up. "We should split up!" She said excitedly. "Like in stories, whenever people split up they get attacked by vampires. But I'm vampires. So if we split up, either no one will get attacked, we'll all get attacked by me, or one of my siblings will be in there. And because of the wish, two of those things almost definitely won't happen."

Ellie frowned at her. "Wait…which two?"

"The latter two," I admitted. "The wish is to meet up with people suited for us to fight. Anyone who runs into Bethy is going to be screwed. Everyone with us is either way too strong or not strong enough. I'm honestly a little worried about what she might run into here, but splitting up will make sure no one ELSE runs into it, because anything legitimately dangerous to her would butcher the rest of our D-rankers like chickens."

My bodyguard looked skeptical, but Callie just nodded along. "It's true. Bethy is basically unbeatable at the same level unless you have cheaty purification bullshit like Chelsea or Shane. I'm guessing she'll bump into a weak C-ranker."

"The point is, she's right," I said with a sigh. "I can feel that it's the right choice. My instincts are screaming at me to split up." I sighed. "I really wish they weren't, but they are. Everyone else down for that?" It was a rhetorical question. I was stalling. I HATED splitting up. Watching my wife and best friends walk off into a creepy Void fog was like top ten on my nightmare list, but I refused to let THEM see that. A leader needs to appear confident, even when he isn't. Possibly ESPECIALLY when he isn't. For Ascendants, faking it until you make it was a way of life.

Everyone tried to seem comfortable with it, but all the D-rankers and both C-rankers weren't. I could smell the falsehoods when they talked shit about how easy things would be. I obviously said nothing.

With a quick hug for my wife, I waited until we got the go ahead from the trial overseers and then took off into the fog. I took a few steps in…and then vanished.

Well, I didn't vanish. Everything else vanished. I grimaced. "I'm guessing you just disappeared into the darkness?" I asked my wife through the bond. I looked around, trying to find any landmark to use as guidance in the fog, because all my vision had been swallowed by the darkened mist.

"Pretty much," she said distractedly. "Stay safe, hon. And watch your back. Love you."

I returned the sentiment, along with a healthy dose of affection through the bond, then returned my focus to the world around me. It was dark. Empty. I was alone. I yawned. I'd been through so much worse. Torture, solitude, I'd ground away any weaknesses in these areas ages ago. So I just kept walking.

The space seemed to twist. I walked for about five minutes. Then ten. I was beginning to think I was in a loop or something, until I came to a stop in front of a building. A tall multi dwelling a apartment complex.

"Home is where the heart is, huh?" I asked derisively. "Bit on the nose, don't you think?"

There was no answer. I headed inside, took the stairs up, then stepped into my old apartment for the first time in years. We'd abandoned the place when we'd moved to Rajak, but I'd lived there for most of my life. The couch where I'd watched shows on my scan ring, the back room with Zeke's work bench where he made masks.

And there, in the middle of the room, sitting in a beat up looking chair, sat me. I rolled my eyes. "I give this a two out of ten," I said with a snort. "The ruined soul temple already tried this, and it didn't work there either."

This wasn't my first time confronting another me. I'd done this dance before, and this version wasn't going to be the one that broke me. In fact, I was pretty sure this one wasn't really me at all. The blue glow in the irises of his maskless eyes were very familiar. That was odd though. "Hey, why don't you have a mask on?" I asked suspiciously. "I'm wearing one, so it would stand to reason you would be too."

"Because I can't," the other me sighed. "I tried. It's…there's something off about that mask. Some interaction with the duplication. I can't make a mask of that mask."

Presumably, Zeke was too powerful for this B-ranked threat to copy. Some kind of authority among the masks at play? It was interesting but not important. "Kind of ruins any chance of you copying me for properly, doesn't it? Why even bother using my face? You had to know I wouldn't buy it."

"I admit, I was mostly going for confusion and self doubt," he shrugged. "But I don't believe that'll be possible with you. I wonder, why are YOU bothering with this? We know about your heresy. This fog is dripping with Void. You could burn it away easily."

I shook my head. "It's only half Void. The other half is some undead lifedrinking ghost shit. No idea how it'll react when freed." I didn't mention the wish, which was another big reason. This whole arrangement was going as planned. Which meant this was either a high D-rank or low C-ranked enemy. Probably…"You're the Vessel here," I decided. "The one in charge?"

He gave me an amiable nod. "I am. Not enough B-rank Vessels to have one running every outpost. I wonder though. How are you going to use that information?"

"What do you mean?" I asked him suspiciously. "Now we fight."

"We could," he acknowledged. "But do we have to? Surely you've considered that with so many various forces among the Void Children, conflicts will be inevitable. That there might be room for compromise."

I froze. I…hadn't. But that made some kind of sense. Maybe. "How would that work. The Void Children hate those of us in realspace. Our legends are loud and cause them pain. They want to wipe us out." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Or are you claiming that isn't the case?" I wanted him to give me a straight answer on this. My Scent of Truth would make discerning the veracity of any claims easy, but only if he MADE claims. He'd been very careful to pose abstract hypotheticals up to this point.

"That's true," he admitted. "But realspace and the Void overlap in many places. If there are noisy spots, there are quiet spots too. Not ALL of the Void is constantly bombarded with noise. At least not normally. For those in the deeper reaches, the war itself is unnecessary noise. Those who live at the edges have dragged the rest of them into this conflict, and it's ruining the peace of the deepchildren."

I hadn't considered that. I knew very little about the Void in general, and Void Children in particular. "Alright," I acknowledged. "So you're interested in what, an alliance? You expect me to believe that?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he said with a laugh. "There are interested parties who might open a dialogue, is all I'm saying. But that's predicated on your ability to earn that interaction."

I frowned at him. That sounded ominous. Not just what he said, but the WAY he said it. There was a certain hungry amusement to the sentiment that make me tense up. My Danger Sense was pinging, but it had been for a while now. It had suddenly cranked up to eleven. "What are you doing?" I asked him harshly.

He put his hand to his chest in a shocked parody of a gasp. "Me? Why, nothing. Nothing at all. In fact. I was just leaving. Can't very well participate in the test myself. Otherwise the results will be suspect. Have fun now, and don't die on me. I do so look forward to our next talk."

There was a flicker in the air around me, and then he vanished. As did the apartment, and all the black from the fog. I was left standing in a field of unrelenting grey on top of a hill.

I froze. He'd withdrawn the Void taint. I hadn't expected that. But now that it was gone… it was just me and the ghosts. The wish must still be restricting me from meeting anything too far out of my weight class, because none of them were B-rank, but there were several C-ranked spirits. I could see them in the fog, their shapes forming just out of sight.

I tried Dantalion, but it was like trying to look through butter. Too much information in every inch of space for me to easily view what was happening.

"Solomon," whispered a voice in my ear. "Shane," came another from the other side. "We see you," a third hissed. "We KNOW you."

I sighed. "I'm sure," I said in annoyance. "I don't suppose you all became ghosts because you really wanted to see a rainbow or a sunset before you died but never got the chance? Because I could make that happen I'm pretty sure. Maybe you all wanted to taste a really delicious chocolate silk pie? Come on people, last requests, last meals, anything you want."

"We will dine on your soul," came a thousand voices from all around me. "Feast on your flesh. Gnaw on your bones. You will be our last meal, Wyndham. And you will be…delicious."

Sighing, I shook my head, then cracked my neck. I activated the one form I suspected might help me here, triggering my staff to boost Zagan to C-rank as I looked around in annoyance. "Alright, but I have to warn you. I'm way spicier than I look. I'm definitely going to give you indigestion." Sadly, my awesome line didn't seem to have much effect. They attacked anyway. Everyone's a critic.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The ghosts fell on me like a pack of rabid hyenas. Probably. I wasn't sure if hyenas retained the necessary presence of mind to form a pack after contracting rabies, but in a general sense, they were a group of very angry barely lucid monsters who definitely wanted to do me harm, so it was close enough.

They weren't the strongest ghosts here. These were C-rank ghosts, not B-rank. I suspected the wish had somehow tweaked things to allow me to end up here, otherwise I'd have definitely met some of the original owners of this place. Still, they fell on me with tooth and claw, and as their hands and weapons sank into my body, I felt icy shards of pain radiate from the impact sites.

It was agonizing, but ultimately not more than I could handle. More than that though, I felt something…deeper. Soul strain. Not from draining power or my own effort, but an actual attack on my spirit in a way I'd never really experienced before. With each burst of pain and damage, the green life energy in me flared, Zagan acting as protection and renewal all at once as it attempted to repair the damage even as it was happening.

My staff whirled, trying to deflect and distance them from me, but I ran into an issue I hadn't expected. Ghosts weren't solid, but my Ten Demons Tree was a soul based item. It could do all sorts of amazing things, including, apparently, physically interacting with ghosts.

While that might have seemed like a good thing under other circumstances, it was definitely NOT in these. My staff couldn't get enough room to maneuver, and the crowd of ghosts was too dense for me to even use Double Trouble to get out of. I couldn't see the edges, and if I appeared behind one of the interior spirits I'd just end up in the middle of the crowd.

So…I dropped the staff. Or at least, returned it to my soul. I needed room to move, and more importantly, I needed to commit. I was letting myself get bogged down in choice paralysis. My C-ranked Zagan form was keeping me from taking TOO much damage, but the bit that was getting through was starting to mount. If I sat around panicking, I was going to get dragged down and killed.

In a situation like this, when I was surrounded and had no way out, I only had one real option. Make a breakout point. Pick a specific ghost and tear into it, then do it again.

I let them all slash and snap and tear, feeling the pain as they tried their best to eat away at my soul. It was horrible, well beyond most of the pain I'd been through even in my trials for the Lady. Most.

But finally, I spotted one that would work. He was…small. I thought he was a kid at first, albeit a tall one, but upon closer inspection, I was pretty sure he was just malnourished and sporting a baby face. I triggered Dantalion as I grabbed him, then focused and started to pour green fire into his spirit.

He froze, then screamed, trying to get away, but I ignored it, holding him like iron as the others tore into me. Dantalion was necessary here. It taught me how to interpret what I was doing, because my next move was something I had never tried before.

Ghosts, by dint of the stories I'd heard, were people who had unfinished business. Spirits of Ascendants left behind when they died. They were NOT human beings. You couldn't leave behind a part of a soul beneath Mirror. If a soul broke, the person it belonged to ceased to exist. Mirror souls were the ONLY exception to that rule. No resurrection, no healing, no last minute save. That was the end. At least for the sentient parts of a soul. People like Benny and my dad could access certain aspects of a soul separate from the part with a will and consciousness, though the how was a little complicated, but their "bound souls" weren't thinking beings with emotions like these ghosts.

Because of this, it could be understood that ghosts were not broken souls. What they WERE, as far as I could tell, were more like…stuck souls. Still complete, but wedged into reality in the wrong way and jammed outside of a body. Ghosts weren't exactly controllable. They were more…confused. Spirits so lost they couldn't leave, and by virtue of that, too confused to resist simple commands as given by necromancers. You could even command your OWN ghost if you did it right, essentially using a ritual or ability to wedge yourself into reality ahead of time with FAKE unfinished business.
Regardless, this process was damaging. In order to get stuck, ghosts needed to be twisted in just the right way. Not many abilities could do it, because souls were tough to interact with, so not everyone understood the process, but I'd looked into it.

Which was where my current plan came from. I focused all my information from Dantalion in this particular spirit. On understanding him. On gaining a grasp of him. "Tyler," I breathed out, staring into his screaming face. "Tyler Reubens." He froze, the flames pouring into him quicker. As they dug in deeper, I gained more information. I learned more about him. The first thing I did was erase any artificial compulsions from necromancy, cleansing his spirit so that if he was being kept stuck it was only by his own will and unfinished business.

Then, once that was done, I started another process. Genesis Burst had been developed to heal my cousin from long term soul damage. The process her father had used to train her willpower to resist recursion had actually shared some similarities with making a ghost, and that gave me a place to start. I focused on the most recent problem plaguing him, the most recent pain of the soul I could find with Dantalion, and then I released a Genesis Burst.

The cleansing fire melted away the pain, easing the hurt and pacifying that part of the unquiet mind. Then I found the next one. I repeated the process. Tyler had gone still, the screaming stopped, and was staring into my eyes, tears trailing down his spectral face. I liked to think that I saw a flash of ease at the end, a split second of relief and gratitude as he began to burn in earnest, and his spectral form was cleansed from the world around it by the flames of Zagan.

After that, it was a blur. Grab a ghost, cleanse a ghost. My head…my head hurt. So badly. I hadn't felt soul strain like that since I was first starting out. Zagan helped with that too, actually, restoring a bit of the damage as I went. About halfway through, I felt another spirit enter the equation. A steady, soothing presence that was always there with me, stepping forward to shield me from harm as Callie interposed herself between the strain of using Dantalion.

She couldn't do much for Zagan. It was a C-ranked skill used through the staff, and she didn't have a Chronicle, so she wasn't capable of holding up under that weight. But she was there. She helped.

When I finally finished, when the last ghost was gone, cleansed from the hill I stood on, I wobbled and started to fall. But I didn't hit the ground. Callie caught me. Her embrace soft and comforting as she lowered us to the ground. I groaned, my head pounding, and looked around for any sign of the Void Vessel. I saw nothing. He was gone, as was the Void taint. The fog left behind had thinned noticeably at least at the edges.

Bethy and Abel appeared beside us, looking tense when they saw my condition. When I waved them off though, they nodded, then took off to help the others. Callie just held me, letting my rest my head in her lap, and rubbed my temples, humming softly as I recovered.

It took me about five minutes of that to realize she'd removed my mask to do it, and another five to realize why the sky above me was so blurry. She didn't speak, didn't even look directly at me. Just sat and hummed and rubbed my head as I cried. Over the tragically short life of Tyler Ruebens, and Daniel Godwin, and Sally Caruthers, and a dozen other people that I'd never met, but whose tragedies I had learned far too much about during that hellish and bizarre panoply of overstimulation and agonizing torment.

I thought I'd known torment. Had understood it. I'd thought nothing could hurt me anymore. But I still had the capacity for taking pains. As I wept there, in the shadow of that haunted castle, a part of me was glad for it. I'd come so far, changed so much, and I was getting farther and farther from the person I had been. Sometimes I relished that growth. Sometimes not so much.

It was hard not to think about my own tragedies. Not the pain they inspired, because I had slowly burned that part of myself away. I had cleansed the scars and the petty poison of weakness from myself, built myself up like I'd needed to in order to become more than I was. I'd Ascended, and left so much behind, just like Zeke had warned me years ago at the beginning of all this.

And just because I was already hurting, was already broken down. I allowed myself the smallest amount of self pity. I allowed myself to cry for one more lost soul. For Shane Wyndham, a shy boy from a backwater city on a backwater mining planet, who I had essentially killed on the path to becoming the man I was today. Because no one else was ever going to know about his sacrifice, or care about his loss.

My maudlin pity party was cut off by a soft pair of lips pressing to mine, and I refocused to find Callie smiling down at me sadly. Tears in her own eyes. "You didn't kill him," she said firmly. I realized I must have been thinking that loudly into the bond for her to pick it up. Probably a side effect of how fragged my head was. "We all grow up. We all change." She nodded at the spot where I'd been standing.

"You saved those people. Strangers you'd never met." She said firmly. "You hurt yourself to lay them to rest and set them free. Not because you didn't have another way, not because you were afraid. Because you cared. Because it was the right thing to do.

Her voice was almost angry in its intensity. "You are every bit the hero you were when we first met. Your heart is every bit as kind. You've come so far. Done so much. And it's been painful, and scary, and hard. You've sacrificed, and lost, and come up short. You protected the people you loved. Brought us with you out into the universe and helped us flourish. You never let go of who you were. Not for a second. Benny can attest to that."

"Is that really a good thing?" I asked hoarsely. "Am I doing that for him? Or am I just clinging to the past pointlessly?"
She grinned at me. "So are you a sentimental idiot who can't let go, or are you a heartless monster who buried all your human emotions in a shallow grave? Can't have it both ways, babe. I think we're going to have to face the fact that you're a flawed, stupid person who sometimes does contradictory things because you can't help but get in your own way. Just like you were the day I met you."

She leaned down to kiss me again. "That boy is still in there, I see him every day. And if you lose sight of him, just ask me, and I'll smack him upside the head so can figure out where he is." I started laughing at that, and I didn't stop. Not even when it broke down into more crying. Of course, Callie was watching out for me. She had us under Murmur. By the time the others came looking, I was back in my mask and perfectly stoic. But I felt lighter somehow. I didn't realize until we had already set off for the nearest Void outpost to try to snag a few more points that my head didn't hurt anymore. How interesting.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The rest of the raids went smoothly. We dropped in to help with two others, and to my complete and utter shock, we netted a cool hundred points for our efforts, two thirds of my entire haul up to this point. I was sitting at two hundred and fifty points total, and while I had no clue exactly how useful those would be, I knew from discussions with others that it was a high number for where and when in the competition we were at.


Sadly, there was no possible way to do more in just that hour. In fact, the only reason I'd managed what I had was Callie and I splitting up the support missions for the other two raids. I barely remembered what had gone on. I was distracted, agitated, and honestly just plain out of it. Thoughts of what I'd been through, of possible alliances with the Void, swirled in my head.


By the time I returned to Veltheim, I had already processed everything, and I realized that my soul felt…different. Stronger. I'd hit my cap in terms of color, but apparently I was still capable of clarifying things a bit more. I put that aside though, because now that I'd returned, I had apparently proven myself enough to rate a face to face with Fade's blacksmith about my armor. And I needed that out of the way before we moved on to the A-rank zone, assuming we could get in, since I still hadn't looked into how to do that yet.


Donovan Redfellow had summoned us for a meeting, calling me to the ancestral home of the Hall of Steel. Fade was going to be escorting me, along with Alanna, and Carmichael and Crell were coming along as well, but aside from those four I was essentially flying solo to this little get together, and I had to admit I was a bit nervous.


Not because of the limited escort, mind. But because the results of this meeting were going to have a huge impact on the lives of myself and my friends.


We set off pretty much immediately upon reaching the boarding house. Callie wasn't happy about me going alone, especially given she'd already had to separate from me during the second raid, but I gave her a reassuring smile and a quick kiss, as well as sharing my confidence through the bond, and she calmed down a bit.


Losing my composure like that had helped release a tension I hadn't even known was there, like the pressure had finally let up despite my actual situation not having changed. I felt freer, calmer, more centered. Some of that was probably whatever improvement my soul had undergone. Though I still didn't know what had happened. So…I asked Fade. He was a resource at hand and we were traveling anyway, so I thought maybe he'd have some idea.


When I described the situation to him, he blinked at me. "Huh…you bound a page into your Chronicle." He looked pretty shocked. "I…I've never heard of anyone doing that at D-rank before. I didn't even think it was possible."


I froze. Triggering Piece of Mind, I set a parallel to take up the journey as I dove into the depths of my library, heading right for my Ten Demons Tome. Lifting the heavy book, I flipped it open, and sure enough…the first page was full. In a strange, twisting writing made up of stat points (mostly Vitality, Might, and Fantasy) was the entire story of how I had cleansed the spirits of those dead.


"I…how did I do that?" I asked in a daze. "I wasn't supposed to be able to. Not until at least C-rank, right?"


I went back over my actions, repeating them out loud. Fade was a peak B-ranker, someone with, if not a complete Chronicle, one that wasn't far off. He was the best possible choice to help me figure this out.


"There's a few possibilities," he mused. "First, you were using a C-ranked form. Second, you were cleansing C-ranked ghosts. Third…well, it's possible what you did was just so significant that your Chronicle couldn't resist binding the feat. I'm not sure why freeing a few ghosts would count, though I guess the rank gap is impressive."


But I could see why it might be. Not just the ghosts, but passing the test for the Void vessel. The first step toward a legitimate alliance with Void forces against their own. I had to imagine that was a hell of a feat to accomplish.


"So what is that going to do?" I asked slowly. I've never been clear on that. "What does the bound page accomplish?"


"You can use it as a focus," he shrugged. "For what depends on what you bound into the book. The power involved in that feat, obviously, but there's a reason people pick and choose which feats to bind as best they can, and a reason that the step for A-rank is Authoring the Chronicle. I'd assume you could use that page to boost your purification and soul restoration abilities, if you wanted to."


That wasn't too bad, actually. Zagan was one of my most potent forms, given what it was made of and how incredibly specific it was. Specialization, as Jessie had shown, always made a bigger impression, and hence yielded more impressive results.


I stopped asking questions, considering the possibilities as we traveled. It helped pass the time, and when we finally stopped at the Hall of Steel, my head was mostly on straight. I glanced up the mountain we'd stopped at. There was one path, and it wasn't particularly stable or well crafted. Just a dirt road up the sheer mountain, the top of which held a large temple building made of solid metal.


"Wow," I said as I stared up at the building. "That's definitely…a statement."


"It's gaudy," said Alanna disdainfully. "What is the point of a whole metal temple up on top of a mountain? Waste of good steel."


Fade shrugged. "It's some kind of focus for metalcrafting. Donovan made it. It does SOMETHING, even if none of us have ever quite managed to figure out what. He's implied that it's the reason his blades are always so much better though. He doesn't NEED it, mind, he can and does forge in other places, especially after he retired. But that's why we're here now. It should help with the armor."


"What about the other materials?" I asked as we started our climb. "I mean, I brought the shackles, but if we're making a whole suit that won't be enough. We'll need to cut the alloy with other metals, right?"


"We've got some stock," he shrugged. "As long as you pay what you can, and maybe pass him some scrolls, we can cover the excess. The main issue is we need to make it upgradeable. If we pick specific metals, we can splice in higher ranked versions when you hit B-rank and elevate the armor to A. Especially with the shackles as a core. It's a difficult thing to do with crafting, but with Donovan working for you, it's plausible."


I knew it was also possible to just make the armor A-rank and suppress it to let me use it, like my grandmother had done with Callie's starpluck bangle. But I'd need to not only pay for an A-rank set of armor, but more for the suppression. I didn't have anywhere close to enough to cover that.


As we mounted the path to the top of the mountain, I felt something shift around us. The world warped slightly, flexing in a way I wasn't used to, and I felt the weight of the nearby rock sort of press down on me. Not physically, exactly, but like every step I took captured some of the gravity of the rocks and poured it onto me, making me that much heavier. Every step increased it a bit more.


At first it didn't really matter. My Might was hundreds of thousands of points now, and even with the Impact making this place that much heavier, the extra weight wasn't anything to write home about. To start. After about five minutes though, I was staggering, my body covered in sweat, and my legs were shaking. To my surprise, the others all seemed similarly exhausted, though they weren't showing it the same way. Except Crell, who was wheezing and all but sobbing as he dragged his battered body along the trail.


I glanced at Fade. "Ok, what the hell IS this?" I puffed as I stepped to lean against a wall. "Is this some kind of ambush? Defenses? It's working on you too, clearly." I didn't think it was a trap for that reason.


Fade grinned at me wolfishly. "This is the path of steel. You have to have iron in your spine to climb it. There's a reason we only had one hundred members despite being so popular. It moderates itself to your power level. It's purely a test of willpower and determination. Don't worry, there's a font of life at the top we can use to replenish our energy. But it's a great opportunity. How many things can really push you physically at this point?"


I snorted. It was weird, I should be annoyed. If I'd thought this was game playing, or if Fade hadn't been going through it right beside me I might have been. But it wasn't. It was pretty clear that he hadn't even considered warning me OR taking me a different way (if there was one). He didn't even consider this an imposition, but a gift he was giving me to help me get stronger.


Alanna rolled her eyes. "In the future, you should probably WARN your boss that there's a physical challenge to get into your place."


He blinked at her. "But…it's a trial for entry. You have to do it without any prior knowledge the first time. Otherwise how do you show your dedication?" He glanced at me, puzzled. "You get it, right?"


I rolled my eyes. I'd gotten so used to Fade being stoic and competent I'd neglected to remember that he was a B-rank Ascendant. No one who made it to that rank did so without being kind of weird. Fade's weirdness hadn't shown itself TOO much, but him accepting the fight with Alanna and the way they interacted made it clear that he was just as much a battle maniac as Abel was.


He was right though. This was actually a lot of fun. I was used to strain on the soul, but I rarely had occasion to put pressure on my physical form like this. With how high my Might was, I didn't hit my limits often, and when I did it didn't tend to be slow and steady like this.


"Alright, no use chatting," I said forcefully as I stood up straight. "Let's get back at it. We have a meeting to get to."


Crell groaned as he followed behind me, but I ignored it. Now that I had changed my mindset about this whole thing I was actually getting excited to push through this. I didn't even trigger Zagan for energy. I wanted to do this cold. It felt like reforging my body like this was a perfect prelude to getting my first set of B-rank armor.


It only took about an hour to make it to the top, and when I arrived, I was only extremely out of breath. As soon as I stepped into the courtyard surrounding the temple, the pressure completely vanished, and I bent over to rest my hands on my knees as I panted out the effort for a bit.


"Took you long enough," came a lazy voice. I looked up, not at all surprised to see a tall red haired man with wire rimmed glasses smoking a long pipe. His golden eyes watched me like a hawk, and when they met mine, he grinned around the stem of his smoking implement. "Now that you've arrived, let's get started." He gestured over to a large box full of metal bars. "Go pick those up and follow me." Then he turned and headed inside. The box looked heavy. I sighed and walked over to pick it up. Guess I was going to be helping.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The interior of the metal temple was surprisingly cramped. Most buildings I'd seen were spatially expanded, and this one might have been as well, but if it was, it was expanded and THEN filled with an absurd number of walls and hallways, making every step I took feel like I was walking through a maze.


Normally, that would have been pretty immaterial to my interests…except right now I was exhausted and carrying an INCREDIBLY heavy box of metal bars. The bars were all B-rank, and Impact interacted strangely with gravity when it came to certain concentrations and environments. Or maybe the metal was just literally hundreds of thousands of pounds, I couldn't say. What I could say was that it was really heavy, and I was having trouble keeping on my feet dragging the box.


"Why?" I wheezed as I trailed behind Donovan. "Am I carrying this? I have four different B-rankers working for me, and they're all less than ten feet away and could take this off my hands in an instant."


There was a slight whistle and I staggered as something smacked me upside the head. "OW!?" I snapped, glaring at Donovan. "What the hell was that for?"


The red haired smith was holding what appeared to be a long blue LEEK, at least if I knew my vegetables as well as I thought. He sneered at me. "Fool! I'm here to design you the most effective suit of armor possible for you. I need to see how you move under pressure, how you comport yourself when tired, and I need those bars in my forge and don't feel like carrying them."


I grimaced, but eventually nodded, sighing in frustration. "Ok, yeah, I guess I can see wh- OW!" Another slap across the face.


"Fool!" Donovan barked again. "You're humoring me! If you have a problem with my methods, speak up, boy! No one is going to respect a leader that panders to his subordinates like some whimpering child."


"If you hit me with that thing again, I'm going to-" another slap. "Ow! Shit will you stop that?"


He snorted. "Fool! Don't make idle threats. Makes you look ineffective. And don't talk back to your elders!"


I bit my tongue, glaring at him hatefully, but he didn't seem to notice, scurrying off into the hall as he caught sight of a room that had just revealed itself. I turned to glare at Fade. "You couldn't have warned me?"


The Lord of the Hall of Steel shrugged. "Wouldn't have helped. He does what he does. You're lucky he played nice until you got inside. He must like you. The leek of education usually comes out with the first bit of criticism. I was expecting you to get smacked for being late. Speaking of which, I'd hurry inside with those bars."


Cursing, I scrambled into the room after Donovan, hoping to avoid that weirdly painful leek hitting me again. When I arrived inside, I was relieved to find Donovan stoking a forge, clearly focused more on the act of doing so than my presence. I was intrigued, because rather than use a lighter or some ability, he had his pipe out and was tapping the ashes into the forge, which roared up with each tap.


I cocked my head at him as I dropped the box with a rattling thump. "Magic pipe?" I asked with interest.


He popped it back into his mouth, puffing it, and I was surprised to see the bowl of the pipe start to glow. He winked at me. "Something like that," he grinned, his teeth bared as they clamped down on the stem. "Now, dump the box."


"What?" I asked in confusion. "But I just- OW! Fuck, will you stop that?"


The older man just raised an eyebrow, not even bothering to yell at me. I sighed, then leaned over and grabbed the box, tipping it sideways and sending a bunch of random bars of metal across the floor. "Your focus item," he demanded, pointing at the forge. I withdrew the shackles, tossing them into the forge directly as he gestured for me to do.


He weighed the leek in his hand, then, with a blurring flick of his wrist, he slapped one of the nearest bars of metal. Then another. Then a third. Each bar was…different. Color, shine, they all had slight variations, but more than that, each time the leek hit, they made a slightly different sound.


Donovan didn't break eye contact as he smacked them. Meanwhile, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shackles slowly start to glow. Very slowly. "Sarcassian Pit Steel," he said musingly. "Unexpected."


He smacked one of the bars again, squinting. "Desrick Phase Iron. That one makes more sense." He tapped five or six more, stopping and going back to one of them.
Pallax Platinum. And…Wraithcopper. Is that enough?" He finally broke eye contact, looking over the bars musingly, lips twisted uncertainly. Then he smacked the rest of the bars. Twice. "Arcadian Lifeiron. And Verixian Tin." He sniffed the air a few times, then flicked the leek sideways, knocking the dimly glowing shackles to the side, and then nodding.


I blinked at him. "Wait…was that why you were hitting me? You were using the leek to like…calibrate my armor?"


He smacked me upside the head again, too fast to track. "Fool," he said, this one much milder. "Don't question your elders. Pick up the bars I just gestured to, and dump them in that crucible over there." He gestured to a colossal bowl made of some kind of rock set on some kind of metal tong setup. Sighing, I grabbed all the bars and carried them over one by one. Before I dropped in two of them, he held out the leek, pressing it to my chest and stopping me cold. "Not those two," he corrected. He had me separate out the tin and copper, dumping the rest in the crucible.


Then he had me lift the absurdly heavy crucible and carry the thing over to set it in the forge, to one side of where the shackles were still sitting. Once he had, he reached under a nearby bench and pulled out another crucible. Slapping it down, he used the leek to hook the red hot shackles and drop them into the crucible. He twirled the leek three times, and there was a rumble before a bolt of blue lightning crashed through the ceiling (literally THROUGH it, there was a hole) and sheathed the baton shaped weapon in electricity.


When the electricity cleared, the leek was gone, replaced by a lang handled ballpeen hammer. The hammer crackled with azure lightning, and he swung it sideways and slammed it into the crucible where the shackles lay.


There was a mighty gong sound, and the electricity on the hammer jumped to the crucible. The stone bowl began to glow, and the electricity did…something Reacting with the banked flames in the coal of the forge. The crucible started to shake, glowing an orangish blue color as the heat began to climb rapidly. "Throw them in," he said, gesturing to the last two bars. "Quickly now, boy, we don't have all day."


I did, and as they plunked into the crucible, Donovan turned and whirled his magic hammer. Once. Twice. Three times over his head before bringing it crashing down on a table nearby. A stone table.


When the hammer struck, there was a resounding crash, and the stone splintered. About three quarters of the slab collapsed into rubble, clattering to the floor like a rain of teeth and leaving behind what appeared to be a perfect stone approximation of…well, me. Donovan turned to smirk at me. "That, boy, is why I was hitting you. Now go get the big one. We need to do this right. Timing is crucial."


As I hefted the huge cauldron of melted black metal, he easily lifted the other one with a single hand. He gestured for me to head over to the stone idol of my body, and when I arrived, he had me tip the crucible over onto it. Faster than my eyes could track, his hammer licked out, smacking several spots on the stone. Lightning clung to the rock, attracting the melted metal like it was magnetized.


The black metal flowed over every inch of the statue, coating it, and started to thicken, seeming to expand outward like it was gaining mass. He tipped the second crucible, the gleaming bronze metal spearing into the black mass and burrowing in like a river wearing down a canyon. He tapped the metal a few times, reaching down to SPIN the table on an axis I hadn't even seen before he used it. It whirled sideways so fast it almost turned into a circle, and the hammer flashed a few more times, deflating or shaping the black metal so fast I could barely track it. He turned and grinned at me. "Now, for the fun part. Back away, boy, unless you feel like experiencing life as a pile of ash." I did, and he turned on his heel, hauling back on the hammer and SMASHING it down into the steel floor.


Another gong, this one resonating through the whole building, split the air as the electricity roared over the walls and floor. He swung again, and the voltage seemed to climb. The armor still spun, and with the third strike, he slammed the hammer dead on into the chest. The floor shook again, and all the electricity in the walls and floor jumped to the armor. There was a sort crack and the armor…shrank.


The next hit did something similar. And the one after. He struck the spinning armor like a master potter shaping clay, carefully altering and smoothing in ways I could barely understand. The ballooned hunk of black metal with bronze traceries started to writhe and twitch, collapsing down on itself. As the dark metal condensed, shrinking to the proportions of a normal suit of armor.


As it shrank, the bronze crawled over the surface of the plate, sliding into the spots where joints would be, over plates as runes, and finally congregating in the center of the chest into a circular bronze plate sporting my own symbol, the one I hadn't seen in ages, not since my time back on Callus.


With one final swing, the electricity exploded off the armor in a wave of unseen force that ruffled my hair and pushed me back a step. Donovan was panting, leaning over with his hammer as a cane. "Almost done," he told me. "Just one last step." He hefted the hammer with a grunt , bringing it down hard on the exposed head of the stone statue where the metal had pulled away from it during the plate formation.


Blue energy surged into the stone and it cracked, spiderwebs of blue energy crawling over the surface of what I could see. Then it collapsed, turning into grey dust that blew away from inside the armor, leaving just my suit of plate lying on the table base the stone had been sat on.


I stepped closer, in awe at the new suit. "It's…it's beautiful."


"It is," Donovan said proudly. "You gonna name it or just stand there and stroke it like it's a fuzzy puppy?"


I grinned down at it, running my fingers over it. It was exactly what I wanted. I considered a possible name. This suit was different than my Tree. It was part of me, sure, but not the same way. This wasn't Shane's armor. It belonged to my other self. The symbol, the traceries of bronze lighting up the midnight black iron. My lips pulled back into a wolfish grin.


My fingers flitted over the bronze plate with my symbol on it. This armor would contain and enhance my forms, would work with me and augment my power. Every demon in my Goetia staff art would be bound within this plate. I knew exactly what its name was. "I'll call it…the Seal of Solomon."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The Seal was…impressive. Slipping into it was deceptively easy, for one thing. It looked bulky and imposing, and it was, but it was also fluid and surprisingly mobile. I was able to open it up and slip inside with no trouble. More than that, my wings slid free of the metal like there was a custom made slot for them, and once they did, I was able to move and walk with almost no resistance at all.


"The articulation on this is insane," I said as I moved back and forth, bending and stretching to check my range of motion. Examining the spots, I was able to identify why that was the case too. The bronze that was the connection between individual iron pieces had sort of grafted to both sides, but in a strange way that made it seem almost like actual joints. "I really don't know if I have enough to cover this. Two hundred seventy five B-ranked chits and some change. Can't possibly be enough."


I emptied my pockets, so to speak. Honestly, I wasn't lying though. What felt like a literal fortune at the auction suddenly seemed woefully short of what was deserved.


Up to this point, I had always focused on utility for my gear. What it could do, how it did it, and how it could enhance my powers. And that was a feature of The Seal, for sure. It could channel my forms perfectly, I could already feel that.


But beyond that, it was also just…good armor. Utility was important and impressive, but I already HAD almost every kind of utility. The Seal of Solomon wasn't some amplifier that I carried around at all times. It was…art. It was pure unrestrained defensive power combined with flawless mobility.


There was value in specificity. Ascendants had been proving that for years, and this was a clear example of why. Rather than go with some super special trick ability, I just got REALLY good armor. And honestly? It was better.


He waved me off. "Fool," he said lazily. I flinched on reflex, expecting to get smacked, but nothing hit me. He just chuckled. "You're covered. I'm looking forward to leaving this place. I've spent most of my life on this planet. Not all, but most. I'm ready to move on to another adventure. Which begs the question. Are you willing to take me with you?"


"I mean, I would prefer you learn to use a measuring tape instead of slapping the shit out of people with a blue vegetable," I admitted. "But…after this? Hell yes. This is…mindblowing. It's also less weight on my soul than expected." Part of that might have been my first bound page making my Chronicle sturdier, but it was still impressive. "In any case, yes, you're in. Obviously. When we go to the A-rank zone, you can come along."


Which brought up another point. "Speaking of which," I said leadingly. "I never did find out how to actually GET there. I know the A-rank zone is small, and polar. I know there's only one A-rank city on either side of the planet. But I don't know how much of the zone it takes up."


"All of it," he said with a laugh. "The twin cities on the poles of this planet are connected through the core. An endless staircase from one to the other. But apart from those stairs, there's only four gates by which you can enter them. Arcadia and Albion, the shining jewels of the frozen heights. Not just the polar limits of the planet, but the highest point. A massive plateau of glacial ice on either end, surrounded by an impenetrable wall."


I could tell from his hushed tones that he'd seen them but never been inside. "Entry to Arcadia, the closest city is…" he shook his head. "Either be an A-ranker or be the personal retinue of one. There are less than one hundred thousand people in the whole city. Obviously, they're not ALL A-rank, but the B-ranks that make it inside are either terrifyingly wealthy or powerful. Or both."


"Well, that's not ideal," I sighed. "But it's not like we're going in blind. Our own A-rankers are in there. And my parents aren't the type to sit on their hands while the rest of us play around."


Not to mention Zeke. Anything Crell could do, Zeke could do better. I'd be shocked if my Uncle didn't already have an apparatus in place for intelligence inside Arcadia. Donovan shook his head. "That isn't the issue," he said grimly. "The issue is the intake. Those four gates are impregnable. The city is a fortress. The gates are the only weak spots, and only barely. And they only open once a week."


"Ok, so we wait a few days," I shrugged. I glanced at Fade, who had entered behind us and was waiting silently nearby. "What am I missing here?"


"Fatal funnel," he said bluntly. "The platforms to enter the gates are killboxes. Normally there are a few people heading up, and no one bothers starting anything. In this case, you're all competitors."


I grimaced. Despite my cousins realizing that this was an emergency and doing their best to deconstruct the Void influence on this planet, I had no illusions that the majority of them would pass up a chance to shoot some fish in a barrel. The faction behind Delia and Roland might be all about togetherness and family unity, but it was clear they weren't ascendant at the moment. Whoever ran the faction in opposition clearly enjoyed the bloodsport that embodied the worst of the succession war. Whoever their representatives were would almost definitely take a shot at whoever was nearby.


More importantly, Arcadia had four entrances, and there were eight cities in the B-rank zone. That meant I wouldn't just be interacting with the relatives I was familiar with, but another crop of dangerous unknown cousins who might be just as strong if not stronger then the ones on my side.


"What about the A-rankers?" I asked slowly. "Will they be aware of the incoming crop? I can't imagine entry is common, and especially not large amounts of people like will be incoming with us. Won't they step out to help?"


My parents were both monsters. Not morally (though you could make a solid case for my dad) but in terms of combat potential. My mother was intergalactically famous, and had two different abilities, one of which was inherited directly from a sitting pope. My father was a former candidate so feared that even the current Wishmaster, a man who essentially did whatever the hell he wanted by sheer force of arms even inside the WCP, considered him a peer.


Not to mention they had been married for decades and knew each other inside and out, and I had heard it implied several times that Zeke contributed to their group combat dynamic heavily. The three of them together would be the kind of threat that basically no other group of A-rankers would be able to touch.


Which, of course, meant next to nothing if they were outnumbered twenty to one. The simple truth of it was, I had no clue how many A-rankers were on this planet.


While the common axiom that there were one hundred S-rankers (an estimate I had been informed by Zeke) was well known, the actual number of A-rank Ascendants in the universe was…difficult to quantify. S-rank was a staggering leap in difficulty from A, that wasn't in doubt, and I was fairly certain the number was at least in the five digits, if not six.


It was hard to conceptualize, really, given how rare they seemed to me, but I had spent most of my time on lower tier planets and in special environments that specifically catered to lower ranked Ascendants. Beyond that, I wasn't entirely sure ANY of the numbers I'd been given for the numbers of Ascendants took into account god worlds, since they didn't seem to be common knowledge at certain levels of Ascendant society.


All this was to say that I had no idea how many enemies my parents would be up against, how many locals lived in the city at their rank, or how many of the candidates even brought A-rankers. I didn't believe that the thousands of candidates all had five A-rankers each. It wasn't feasible. There were like ten thousand candidates on this planet, and even if there were fifty thousand A-rankers in the universe, which there very well could be, I highly doubted my family had access to whatever percentage of the A-rank population that represented, regardless of how much money or influence we had.


Donovan seemed to sense my worry, and waved me off. "The A-rankers won't get involved. THe political situation inside the shining cities is complicated but mostly balanced. Even with newcomers, given the weeks you've been on world, there's no way some equilibrium hasn't been reached. No one faction will move lest they disturb the others and kick over the proverbial beehive."


Sighing, I headed out of the Hall. My new armor flexed comfortingly around me, almost propelling me it was so smooth. Crell, Carmichael, and Alanna had been waiting outside, and when they saw me, Crell let out a long whistle of awe. "Damn, boss. You look scary. And expensive. I'm kind of worried someone will try to kidnap you for your armor."


I paused, then turned to Donovan. "Is that…is that something that might happen?"


He shrugged. "Hypothetically possible, but unlikely. That suit is custom designed. It fits you like a second skin, and you're a bigger than average man. It wouldn't fit most people, and honestly, a B-rank suit of armor wouldn't be enough to piss off your collective forces here. Not to mention the suit is monogrammed. It has your symbol right on the front, and trust me, nobody is going to be melting down or reworking that armor. All in all, not worth the trouble to steal it."


Fade nodded. "He's right. They would just kill you and chop it up into scrap if they had the resources to unload it in the first place. Sure it would lose some value, but it would be much easier to sell in pieces. Most people don't have the resources to buy a full suit like that. You definitely didn't."


I glared at both of them. "You are the least comforting people I know. Now, is there a path down this damned mountain that doesn't require me to drag my aching carcass down the path? Because I don't even want to consider the possible power interaction between that trial and the weight of this armor."


"That…is a good point," admitted Donovan. "I suppose we can take the elevator."


I froze, then turned to glare at Fade. "There's…an ELEVATOR?" I asked him in a tone of barely constrained fury. "I knew there might be a non enchanted path, but you walked us past an ELEVATOR?"


"The elevator is for cargo," he explained sincerely. "Not people."


Now even Donovan was staring at him. Alanna pinched the bridge of her nose. "How are you any good with a sword? Your brain is made of rocks. Or possibly chunks of steel. The fact that you beat me in a fight is the most humiliating thing that's ever happened to me."


We all laughed, except Fade who looked mildly perturbed, which I took to be his version of pouting. We followed Donovan across the courtyard to a small fountain. He pressed a few of the rocks, and there was a low rumble as the water drained away. We all climbed in, and then the floor of the fountain began to slowly lower into the darkness.


We all chattered as we descended, but I started to tune it out. With the Void incursion temporarily taken care of and my armor acquired, not to mention my new blacksmith, I was now officially ready to head for the A-rank zone. I would be seeing my parents soon enough, provided I didn't die first. Hopefully it went better than my last family reunion.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"That armor is badass," Benny said enthusiastically as he studied my new suit. "I mean, obviously, but like…the craftsmanship is insane. In fact, it's ALMOST as good as my new piece of gear. Well…pieces. I just finished my most recent project. Want to see it in action?" I'd called everyone together to tell them about Arcadia, but I had to admit, given how much time my best friend had spent on his newest project, I was excited to see what he could do.


Callie sighed. "Shane, I feel like you had something important to share," she tried feebly. She knew it wouldn't matter, but she always at least tried to keep me on task.


And as in most cases, she failed. "Nah, it'll keep. It's not like we have to be anywhere in the next ten minutes. Come on Benny, lets go out to the training yard. My armor is sturdy enough to take anything you can throw at it, so you can give me a live demonstration." Not to mention I was about five times as strong as him, so I wasn't worried.


Clearly he was confident in his new equipment, because he didn't even bat an eye. "Hell yes, you're going to love this."


My wife didn't look appeased, so I took out a couple pages of information I'd scribbled down about Arcadia and held it out to her. She squinted suspiciously but finally took it with a sigh, nodding for me to go off and have fun.


Everyone else filed in behind us as we left, eager to see Benny's new gear. His ability had changed in ways we didn't all understand, and he'd been working hard on the soul weapon he was creating. It had been built around the axe we had gotten from the siege back when we first arrived on the heirworld, and included infinity crystal and the gods knew what else.


When we arrived outside, Benny was practically bouncing with excitement. "This is going to be good. You ready Shane?"


Celine, who was among the close friends who had followed us, looked worried. "Ben, this might not be a good idea. I mean, his staff and armor are both B-ranked, right? I know your new item is strong but…"


"It'll be fine," I assured her. "We're sparring. I'm not saying I'm not going to throw him a beating, but I wouldn't actually hurt him." I grinned tauntingly at my friend. "As for hurting me…well, I don't see that happening. But hey, if you can surprise me maybe I'll apologize. You seem pretty confident."


As expected, the fire in his eyes blazed brighter. Benny wasn't the kind of person who wanted to be coddled or babied. His new gear needed testing, and he wouldn't have enjoyed the process if I didn't talk a little shit about it.


Amusingly, I could feel anxiety from Callie, and my sister looked uncomfortable at the taunts. The two of them were familiar with our dynamic, but they hadn't seen Benny ever get REALLY passionate about something before. It was sweet of them to worry, but unnecessary. "So, before we start, why don't you introduce your new invention?"


"Inventions. Plural," he corrected. He held up both hands. "The axe got split in two. I put one blade into each hand, and they're infused with infinity crystal dust." He straightened his hand into a flat blade and jerked it through the air. I heard a soft hiss as it split the air itself, and I could see the disturbance behind the attack. It looked surprisingly intimidating. "My phantom blades can ALSO be channeled through weapons. They're soul items, so I can use the abilities within them a lot easier than I used to. Not to mention they can grow alongside me."


I grinned at him. "Sounds like fun. How do they pair with that Dance of the Dracolich you created. You get any better at that?"


His eyes lit up with a manic energy. "Why don't you come find out." His hands flicked and a pair of swords appeared in them. He'd withdrawn them from his spatial ring, only…I blinked at him. "Wait, did you integrate your space ring?"


"Yup, left forearm," he preened. "Along with the two axe blades I'm at seventeen of my twenty slots. I've mostly been upgrading the stuff I have to my current rank the last few months as best I can. Getting my hands on the souls is proving tough, but I've gotten pretty close. I was considering swapping everything out with new gear but honestly stuff like my triple multiplier boosts is too rare to get rid of, so it didn't seem worth it when I still had a bunch of empty slots left. Now I'm down to three, but I can always remove something later if I need to."


I nodded, but wasn't too worried. Triple his stats for a few minutes was damned useful, but I was pretty much five times his total at this point. I was pretty sure triple his Might would be more than mine, but I was also aware that numbers weren't everything. Between forms like Sammael and my Path I was more than used to taking on stronger opponents.


Behind him, a figure wavered into existence. A colossal bone dragon with eyes of burning green flame. I'd seen it before, but it had changed somehow. Rather than the same white as the rest of the bone, the empty wing skeletons were darker now. They had a sort of striated metallic look at the end, black along the length and then fading to metal. Like an axe head. The metallic talond at the end glimmered with an almost unnatural coruscation of colors, rainbow metal shimmering as the light struck them.


Benny had his pair of swords up and in front of him in a strange spread stance. One blade low and at an angle away from his body and the other high and at a diagonal across him for protection.


His feet started to slide, first forward, then back. Not like walking, but more like he was trying to build up a charge of static rubbing them on carpet. His body tilted…and then he vanished.


I whirled, my staff manifesting as I spun, and the ends licked out in succession, slapping aside his blades on the flat. His eyes widened, and he stumbled back. I pressed the attack, my staff blurring as I started flicking probing strikes at the openings in his form.


Dantalion activated. I could have done more, but I wanted this to be close to even at least. It wasn't about winning. I could do that a lot of ways. I was stronger. It was about helping, showing Benny where he needed to improve. He's integrated the new tech to improve his technique, but he hadn't adapted the actual sword art yet. "Did you just teleport?" I asked him casually as Dantalion deconstructed his sword technique.


He chuckled through gritted teeth, vanishing again. My Danger Sense pinged and I reacted with a waltz, vanishing in a flash of black flames as I appeared behind him, attacking in return. "Nope," he gritted out. "I cut the space. It's one of my many new tricks. Like THIS!" There was a flash of dark metal, and the six spider legs built into his back shot out, attacking at multiple angles. They spread like wings, and the Dracolich power infused them, dyeing them the same colors as the wing tips.


Cursing, I waltzed again, avoiding the attacks, but my lips were peeled back in a grin. Then I blitzed forward, flashing through a series of waltzes to try to trip him up. His swords sang, somehow in perfect harmony with the spider legs, all operating as a whole under the influence of his Path. He wasn't engaging the manifestation to attack directly, I didn't think he could yet, but he was using it to create a sort of structure for this fight, and it was helping him operate multiple limbs at once.


More than just that, the limbs and blades were cutting into the air in a way that made it clear that I did NOT want to experience them head on. The swords flicked at my throat and leg, and my staff lashed out to deflect them, and I detected a surge of discomfort from the Ten Demons Tree when they landed. It wasn't enough to do much real damage, but it DID cut some faint grooves in the surface, even if they faded almost immediately.


It was an impressive showing…but sadly it wasn't enough. We kept up the fight for several minutes, but the stat boosters he have only worked for five minutes each. Once his Might dropped back down below mine, the coordination couldn't offset the difference in power. I took his feet out from under him with a sweep and he hit the ground with a thud.


I dismissed my staff and offered a hand to help him up. "What the hell was that last thing? How did you affect my staff?"


It was a B-rank weapon, and while he hadn't been able to do much to it, he had done SOMETHING. I wasn't sure what rank those axe blades were, since the soul of the person used to make them had probably been higher than his actual rank and I didn't know how that worked when crafting, but it couldn't be more than C. It was impossible for Benny to use a B-rank weapon without a Chronicle.


He waggled a hand. "I didn't exactly. I kind of cheated. Those slashes cut space, kind of, but it's more like…shaped portals. It teleported a layer off the outside of your staff. It took a second for it to register as an attack, and then it bounced off the Impact. But there's a bit of wiggle room with that kind of thing. It has to do with how you perceive threats. Now that you know it won't work again. But it's a good trick. I THINK I could cut into a C-ranker with that attack. It's hard to do it though. It involves…well, it's hard to describe. When I do that teleporting trick it eats space. Then I use it to form the portals. It's a Dracolich thing."


I shrugged. I was sure it made internal sense. Path bullshit was complicated and hard to track if you didn't have access to the full story. Adding and tweaking internal consistency to align the effects with your motivations, personality, AND the way people saw you (because the stats that made up the Solid Path were formed from your mythology) made the whole thing a very personal and deeply complex manifestation of a person's power and self.


Though I still didn't know the exact details of how a Domain was formed, I was pretty sure it was based on that unique combination of factors. Benny's sounded damned impressive. "Anyway," my best friend grinned. "I just thought you seeing what I could do might tweak things in my favor on the next leg of the journey. I take it from the meeting request that we're leaving soon. And based on how serious you sounded its going to be on an important mission."


I laughed at that, but he didn't join in. I stopped. "That- are you serious? You did all that to get a spot on the assault team? We're moving up to the next zone, everyone is coming with. You didn't need to-"


"Bullshit," he said bluntly. "You have a lineup. A core group of frontliners. And I'm not one of them. Not anymore. You bench me every chance you get. Which I understand, I'm not the strongest fighter here. But this is a dangerous technique. I've spent months working on all of this, doing everything I can to get stronger so I can help."


"And we're going to need it," Callie said as she emerged from the boarding house, holding up the papers. "I was going over the details in this, and I think we have a problem. There are very exacting standards to build the Void Ladder. I originally assumed they would use the fire cage somehow, but from what I can tell, this staircase would work just as well. Maybe better. Which means…"


I sighed. "Which means that the Void infiltrators will be scrambling to get in if they aren't already there. Our trip up to Arcadia is going to be about ten times more dangerous. Great." Because of course. It never rained but it poured.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"So, I have a plan," I said as we stared up at the platforms to Arcadia. They nearest one to us was apparently the West gate. It was about a hundred miles outside of Veltheim. It had been a week since my duel with Benny (fifty six more scrolls put me at two hundred thirty two), and I had gathered most of my main combat force here, with the majority of the army inside Bethy's domain.


Ellie, Felicity, Callie, Gabe, Chelsea, Benny, Bethy, Mel, Abel, Carmichael, Crell, Alanna, and Fade were the only ones outside with me. Thirteen of my strongest and most trusted friends willing to follow me into the gates of hell. Granted, they weren't all willing to do it QUIETLY.


"Is it a good plan?" Benny asked politely. "Because based on even a rudimentary ability to recognize patterns, I'm a little worried."


I glared at him. "Can you use your pattern recognition ability to predict what I'm going to say next? Because if not, it's not that impressive after all, and if you can, then why are you not already shutting up?"


He zipped his lips (which were smirking) and mimed throwing away the key, and I huffed and turned back to the others. "Now, as for my completely reasonable and totally tactically sound plan," I continued harshly. "We're going to get on the platform. And everyone is going to group up facing out. And Abel and Bethy are going to combine forces and cover us with a blood sea infused Domain."


They all just stared at me. Like they were waiting. Then Callie sighed. "Shane…that's not a plan. It's an ACTION, but plans involve steps and predicting outcomes. You just basically said the plan is to block really hard."


"It worked last time," I shrugged. "If it ain't broke don't fix it."


My sister pinched the bridge of her nose. "The Universe is doomed. Either the Void will get us or my brother will become the Wishmaster and it will signal the end of days."


"I cordially invite you to join Benny in shutting up," I told her dryly. "Besides. That's not the WHOLE plan. We also have allies. My cousins are coming. And not just the few you met. Delia and Roland have been in touch, and they're joining up for this push. Apparently Roland knows my dad, and is terrified of him. He agreed to work with us in exchange for me putting in a good word with the old man. I guess Roland's dad and mine are enemies and he's worried dad might rip his soul out or something."


Chelsea look unhappy. "He wouldn't do that." She looked around at everyone else, who was very deliberately not looking back. "What? Dad's power is contract based. He needs permission to take someone's soul."


I was almost positive, based on my own experience, that he did NOT need that, or at least that the permission didn't need to be spoken with full faculties by an adult person. I didn't see a reason to make my sister sad though, so I kept quiet about that. The others followed suit, and I gave Benny and Callie a relieved nod.


Luckily, we didn't have too long to wait. Delia, Roland, Derrick, Nadia, Charlie, and Alys all arrived posthaste, their respective guards trailing behind. Once they joined us, our tight grouping of thirteen turned into more like a hundred, and I couldn't help but sigh.


Delia smiled at me, probably the warmest expression I'd ever seen from her, though it was so faint I might have missed it with normal senses. "Managing such a large gathering is a daunting prospect," she said with mild amusement. "Especially with us all being Wyndhams. I can say from experience, managing so much family is like herding cats."


"Drunk cats," I added. "With rabies. But it's better than the alternative."


I turned to glance at the platform in the distance.


It was…big. That was the only word for it. A huge grey stone plate hooked into an equally large metal rail set into the wall of a glacier so tall I literally couldn't see the top of it. The whole thing vanished into clouds a few miles up. However high it went, it wouldn't be a quick ride. Not on a platform that size.


Delia nodded. "I share your worry. Such a location is rife with opportunities for ambush. But it is a path we must take. You sent a message to your parents?"


"I did," I agreed. "Did you and Roland bring A-rankers along? I never asked."


She nodded. "My Aunt and her husband for me. Roland brought a cousin on his mother's side. I still can't believe you brought the full five. I thought only the branch heirs would manage to recruit so many power players."


"What can I say," I shrugged. "Ascending is the family business. And business is good. You're all just lucky they banned S-rankers. I could have managed at least three of those. And I MIGHT have been able to get The Vampire to show up." They stared at me in horror and I couldn't help but chuckle.


Bethy thought it was funny too. "I think he might have said yes just to watch all the branch leaders wet themselves."


"You're stalling," commented Abel. I glowered at him and he shrugged. "I didn't say I don't GET why you're stalling. Just figured someone should point it out. Personally I wouldn't mind a few days vacation. I love a good fight, but I didn't finish taste testing all the food stalls in Veltheim yet."


"Where the hell did you find food stalls?" I asked in confusion. "I didn't see anything like that." Then I shook my head, holding up a hand. "No. Stop. You're right. I AM stalling. Alright, we're all here. Let's get going. Keep your eyes peeled everybody." Then I narrowed my eyes as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. "Damn it Bethy, put that AWAY, I know it's not a real eyeball." My vampire friend froze, her nail slowly skinning what I was almost sure was a white grape with a markered on pupil, and pouted.


Despite the ridiculousness of the action, it did successfully break the tension, which I appreciated. Still, we were all pretty keyed up as we walked slowly in formation towards the huge stone platform.


When we arrived, I was even more stunned by the device. It wasn't just large, it was intricate. The whole thing was carved with strange patterns and complicated reliefs. I also noticed that we weren't the first to arrive. My lips peeled back as I noticed two familiar faces. Rega and Pallax. Standing with them was sneaky cousin Wesley, and another person I didn't know. Delia caught me looking, then followed my gaze and grimaced. "Kent," she said sourly. "That is…unfortunate."


Roland sneered at the tall thin man with the greasy black hair. "Unfortunate for him maybe. If he tries anything I'll gut him without a second thought."


She shook her head. "You know it won't be that easy. Kent is a nightmare to deal with in a fight. His Stealth ability is nearly unparalleled in the family. But more importantly, he has Shelby with him." She nodded past him at a hooded form I had to really focus on to spot. I suspected Kent might have been keeping her obscured, but paying attention was enough to bypass whatever he was doing.


Shelby did not look impressive. I'd seen a lot of powerful looking warriors since I got here. Tall and imposing, muscular and hard bitten. Shelby looked…kind of like Jessie, actually. She was small and blonde, with a round face and big blue eyes. She had a wide smile and dimples, and her hair was braided at random spots in small thin braids, the whole effect of which made her look like she was going to the shops with friends or something.


She was in good shape, granted, but we all were, and the only real clue to her being anything but a normal, cheerful girl was the frankly ludicrous axe perched on her shoulder. A very sharp looking, very scary B-ranked axe that REEKED of blood and death.


Roland grimaced. "I missed her. He was covering her with stealth. I can take her, I think, but I'm not sure I'd be good for anything else. She's…dangerous."


She also had good senses, because when he mentioned her, she turned and gave him a wide, cheerful smile and a friendly wave. Unlike Alys though, Shelby looked…wrong. It took me a second to realize why. It was her eyes. Her smile was wide and genuine and her dimples made her seem sweet and likable, but her eyes looked like chips of frozen cyanide. Cold and poisonous and very deadly. Shelby was a wolf in sheep's clothing if I'd ever seen one. And I basically LIVED with Bethy, so I knew what I was talking about.


Kent, the candidate with her (they were both B-rank) ambled over with a smarmy grin on his face. "Delia, Roland, how lovely," he all but cooed, clearly thrilled by their dislike and the discomfort it caused them. I already did not care for him. "I suppose we're taking the trip together. I didn't see you back in Sparklev, so I suppose you ended up in the other spoke city that borders this place. I'm surprised so many of us arrived here. Derran is here somewhere too."


Roland actually brightened a bit at that. "Derran is always a welcome addition to any proceedings. Have you seen him since we arrived?"


"He hasn't," came a relaxed voice from behind us. "But he will now, as will you." We all turned to find a tall, tan man with Wyndham green eyes. "Roland, good to see you. You remember Kara." He nodded to the tall redhead next to him with literal hawk eyes. The two of them were, obviously, also B-rank.


Roland nodded back with a warm smile. "Derran. Glad you made it. I trust you were able to avoid most of the Void influence?"


Derran chuckled. "Oh I sidestepped all of that. You know me. I'm the cautious type. Bit low on points, but then, I don't have much need of local muscle. My father is here representing me personally, you know."


To my shock, Roland actually FLINCHED. "Davis is here? That's…good. I suppose. You know Elijah is here representing his own son, right?"


That didn't seem to sit well with Derran, whose eyes snapped to me. "No," he said slowly. "I knew his kid was in the competition but I didn't know he was here. I'm almost positive it won't come to anything. My mother doesn't HATE her half brother. She just finds him insufferable. And last I heard my father and Elijah aren't on bad terms, even if they're also not on good ones."


I blinked at that, processing the information. "Wait…half brother?" I asked. "So that would make you-"


"Your cousin," he said with a smirk. "An actual blood cousin, not the euphemistic kind we use to refer to people several generations distant. My mother is Arabella Wyndham. Malachai's oldest daughter."


I nodded along at that. My grandfather had more than a dozen kids, and only two of them shared a mother with my dad. I'd met one of my other uncles, though it hadn't been a pleasant experience. I assumed Davis was an A-ranker if he was married to Arabella and could be expected to be a match for my dad. I held out a hand. "Huh. Well, nice to meet you then. I'm Shane, as you seemed to already know."


He shook my hand with a laugh. "Knowledge is power. I do my best to stay informed of the goings on of the various branches and factions, though seem to have slipped through that net for the most part." We chatted a bit longer, but were interrupted by a lurch. I flinched and looked down, and sure enough, the ground was starting to move. "Hold tight everyone," my newest cousin commented. "Seems like the ride has begun."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The trip up the glacier was tense. I'd expected that, with all of us stuck together in a very small area (relatively speaking) and unable to leave. Given the rank of the planet, the distance to the ground, and the makeup of the rock at the bottom, for anyone who DIDN'T have wings, falling off this platform was going to be a quick trip to the morgue, assuming there was even enough left to bother burying.


Luckily, we were in a decent position. Roland and Delia were serious heavy hitters, and with my newfound cousin being friendly with the former, that meant most of the B-rankers on this platform were pretty safely in our corner. Most. Kent and Shelby were obviously not allies, but we outnumbered them by quite a bit. Unfortunately, those weren't the only B-rankers here, just the closest ones we'd interacted with, and once we got moving, factions started to form quick.


Kent and Shelby attracted another sixteen B-rankers, most of them allied with weaker candidates. I wasn't sure if some of my less industrious distant cousins had failed to fill all ten slots, if some of their B-rankers had died, or if they were just avoiding showing their full force somehow like we were with Bethy, but whatever the case I was sure we were only scratching the surface in terms of numbers. There were about two hundred people on this platform, and probably half of them were B-rank, though naturally only a few of those were actual Wyndhams.


Which put me distinctly off balance, and made me VERY uncomfortable. It was impossible to say where our side stood in terms of alliance strength, given how independent everyone seemed to be, but the general impression I got of this place was definitely 'powder keg'.


My only consolation was that at least I had a new relative to get to know. Derran had settled nearby and was happily chatting with Chelsea and I. He'd been shocked I'd brought my twin sister with me, given her lacking candidacy, but didn't seem at all unhappy to meet her. We were getting to know a bit about his mother, and I was fielding some questions about dad.


"So is he really as terrifying as he's made out to be?" Derran said contemplatively. "Some of the rumors-"


I shrugged. "Most are probably true. He's a complicated person. I love him, but I don't like him very much most of the time. He's…cold. Distant at the best of times. I've been told that hides genuine concern for me, but he doesn't demonstrate that well. If you're asking if he's DANGEROUS, then yes, very much so. He can and will kill you if you get in his way. I suppose the best endorsement I can give is that he isn't needlessly cruel. He just also isn't needlessly kind."


Chelsea looked unhappy at the summary, which I didn't begrudge her. In some ways, Chelsea had gotten very lucky in her placement during our childhood, but in others, a bit less so. She was obviously better off with mom, but her eventual let down was a lot worse than mine.


While I had found my mom, who adored me and had been desperate to make her absence up to me, Chelsea had ended up finding dad as her long lost parent. I wasn't sure they'd even spoken more than a few words since my great grandmother's threat had been lifted. I suppose they might have been in touch through calls or something, but I knew my dad well enough to know he wasn't the daily chat type. While I envied my sister her childhood, I did not envy her the disappointment of having my father dropped on her as an adult. He was an acquired taste in the most generous terms.


Derran seemed interested. "That sounds about right. My mother isn't fond of him. She says he's a dead fish, though I suspect being grandfather's favorite has more to do with her dislike. Even after leaving the family, it's well known that Malachai adores Elijah. He considers him running off to join the devils a daring escapade rather than the betrayal that many of his siblings see it as."


"Honestly, I'm not sure how much difference that makes," I admitted. "Malachai seems to foster a fairly cutthroat political attitude among his kids. I've only met a few Aunts and Uncles, and most of them were dad's full siblings, but I got the impression from Uncle Percy that his position as Malachai's favorite is more curse than blessing, not that I think he CARES about that at all. One of the few good things I can say about dad is that he isn't the type to be swayed by popularity."


Derran nodded ruefully. "That might not be a bad read. I've met grandpa a few times, though we aren't close. My mother is actually a member of Seline's branch. Most of Malachai's kids stuck with the one of the family branches, but mom and Percival don't get along and she was motivated to go out on her own."


I could see how that decision wouldn't endear her to Percy, though it also made her dislike of my dad a bit more hypocritical. I didn't SAY that obviously, because I wasn't an idiot. But it was on my mind.


We chatted like that for a while. It was a combination of family bonding and information gathering and we both knew it. I was learning more about Davis in preparation for coming up against him in the last round (and regardless of Void interference that was what Arcadia was) and he was feeling out more info about my dad.


Of course, we weren't really giving each other anything useful. We'd been telling emotional stories with lots of personal context and very little power scaling information. It fit with the narrative of the conversation well enough and denied the other person any real useful dirt.


I DID pick up a few tidbits here and there. My ability to smell truth made it easier to slightly shift the conversation in directions where I could confirm or deny things without coming across as prying. I kept one of my parallels active at all times, keeping an eye out for the Void. I doubted MOST of the Vessels would be willing to start a fight in this cramped environment, but there would be some. More importantly, Callie was a prime target, and Fade and Alanna had strict instructions to guard her closely…which was literally the only thing that saved her.


Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash, then heard a scream. I whirled to find Fade standing in front of my wife, a dagger in his side, and his sword Devlos drawn and arching toward the throat of a very panicked looking B-ranker.


The assassin wasn't one of the big name B-rankers that had been pointed out. Just a mousy brown haired guy a bit younger than me. But I DID recognize him. Or rather, I'd seen him before. Sure enough, the blade lashing at his throat was deflected by an oversized axe that smashed into the ground where Fade had been seconds ago as Shelby pressed an attack to drive back my retainer.


Alanna appeared next to Fade, her eyes glowing with rage as her sword flickered for Shelby's eye, obviously going for a killing blow from the jump, and the axe wielding woman snarled and ducked behind the haft of her weapon to avoid being speared through the brain. The dagger wielder had retreated into a crowd of Kent's retainers who had shown up, and my own teammates had all gathered around us. I was at my wife's side instantly, checking her for injuries, and glaring at Kent across the crowd.


"Hey, fuckface, you better explain yourself," I snapped, my blood boiling with rage. That asshole had tried to MURDER my Callie. I was going to see his skin peeled off and nailed to a door when we got to the top of this glacier.


He sneered at me. "Watch your mouth, boy. Your betters are speaking here. If Roland or Derran has a question for me, I'll happily listen. But I won't be threatened by some-"


"Fuck off!" I snarled. "Explain or fucking die! I have five A-rankers waiting at the top of this lift, and their first mission upon reuniting with me will be mounting your fucking HEAD on a spike if you don't tell me what the hell is going on. That's my WIFE your errand boy just tried to kill you pompous simpering little prick. Not to mention a noted threat to the Void. The only reason someone like you would have to try to kill a D-ranker like that would be if you were in league with them."


He blanched, though whether because of the threat of being butchered by A-rankers or because of the accusation, I couldn't tell. I also didn't have the chance to find out, because before any of us could react, the same dagger that had been driven into Fade emerged from his chest. He blinked, staring down at his chest and then looking back at the B-ranker in confusion. The man was grinning like a maniac. Everyone froze, staring at the obvious killing blow.


I didn't know what was up with that dagger, but given that my sister, Ellie, and every other member of our group with flame or purification related powers were pouring them into the wound on Fade's side, I was guessing some kind of poison. Whatever it was would have immediately killed Callie, and had done the same to Kent, who was sliding bonelessly to the ground as the light faded from his eyes.


He never made it. With a desolate howl of "NO!" Shelby crossed the intervening distance, her axe coming across in a sweeping blow that cleaved the fucking SPACE itself, bisecting the body of her employer and beheading his killer in the same stroke.


That attack was the match that lit the powderkeg. With a roar of gleeful sadism, about a dozen different B-rankers lashed out with suicidal attacks toward their nearest neighbors, doing their best to take someone with them. They were nearly instantly cut down to a man, but several Wyndhams were killed in the ensuing attack.


None of the Wyndhams revealed themselves as Void agents, but I wasn't entirely sure that was because they were all clean. I suspected this whole assault was a cover to help some of the better hidden Vessels get into Arcadia more easily. But I hardly had time to focus on that. I dove forward, wrapping my whole body around my wife, putting as much of my armor between her and harm as possible.


"Shane, stop it!" She screamed as she tried to break free. "You're going to get yourself killed idiot!"


I heard a gurgle of stunned pain from beside me, and turned to see Kara, Darren's retainer, driving a spear into his gut. Roland let out a roar of betrayal and cleaved her head from her shoulders with a flick of his wrist. He produced a scroll, popped it open, and muttered under his breath as he removed the spear.


We all exhaled in relief as Darren's gut wound healed, all except Darren, who was staring in devastated horror at the head of his second in command lying on the ground nearby.


Luckily, the assassins had MOSTLY failed. Several of the Wyndhams had defensive wishes in place, and even their subordinates had been mostly protected. Still, some of the attacks had been vicious and quick enough to claim lives. I saw Shelby on the ground, cradling the top half of Kent in her lap and rocking it as she cried uncontrollably, Darren was nearly catatonic from shock and horror, and even the various survivors had looks of numb terror on their faces. I know I did.


So of course, that moment was when we all felt a lurch as the platform began to slow. We passed out of the cloud bank we'd been sliding through, and the stone shuddered as we came to a stop at the top in front of an absolutely massive gate, upon which stood about twenty of figures in dark robes. A-rankers, waiting for their charges. We looked up at them, they looked back…and then all hell broke loose.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

There was a brief lull before everyone lost it. Not a long one, mind. It seemed like everyone was so shocked they didn't know how to react. On our side we were staring down twenty A-rankers, and on theirs a small massacre had played out among their charges. The first person to react was a particularly large figure on the left side of the parapets of the gate.


Before any of us could move, he was standing at the base of the platform, staring in at us. "What happened to Kent?" he demanded. He was tall and blonde, with a thick beard and a heavy brow. His eyes were grey as granite, and narrowed in outrage.


I stepped in front of Callie, noticing Bethy had joined me in the motion. I smiled at my friend before remembering my face was covered by my mask, but she grinned sunnily back at me anyway, as if she knew. The man, receiving no answer, turned to the sobbing blonde holding Kent's body. "Shelby!" He barked. "Pull yourself together girl. What did you do?"


"D-daddy!" She sobbed. "They stabbed him!" She gestured to the headless B-ranker. "That one went after her!" she pointed at Callie. "And the other one stopped him." She pointed to Fade. "Then Kent tried to talk them down and he turned on us. He killed him so fast I couldn't stop it."


The man's eyes darkened as he surveyed the scene. "The blade severed the spine and struck the heart. And it was poisoned. Death would have been instant."


Shelby clutched the body tighter, crying even harder, and I felt my heart break for her a little. She'd clearly cared about Kent a lot. I tried to imagine that being Callie, or Benny, or my sister, and my blood ran cold. My hands clenched in outrage. I was so ANGRY. I had nowhere to vent it. One second I'd been snapping at Kent that I'd have him killed, and the next he'd been dead. Something Shelby seemed to remember as I did. "He threatened Kent!" She said, her eyes narrowing as she pointed at me. "Said he'd have him killed!"


The man's gaze turned to me, and I felt a crushing force from his attention. I had zero hope of offering any resistance to an A-ranker. I triggered Leviathan though, and the tide of mental pressure dissolved as it hit me. Barely. It was draining me fast, and he wasn't even actually DOING anything.


"You threatened him?" He said quietly. "D-" He seemed to be about to attack, but before he finished the word, another figure appeared in front of him, and he vanished.


My mother pushed her hood back, glaring at the person sized hole in the wall over where the others were waiting. It had shaken on impact, but not too much. "I KNOW you weren't about to threaten my son, Caius."


Another man spoke up from the wall. "Are we something you take so lightly, Star Queen? An heir of a major branch has died. Kent was one of Desmond's youngest children. His sister and nephew are both Branch Heads in their own right. Do you think your brat is going to be the side anyone picks over that?"


"I think there's no proof my Shane had anything to do with that little twit being snuffed out," my mother hissed, eyes literally alight with rage. White flames flickered on her irises and ignited on her fists. "The girl the assassin went for first is his WIFE, you lackwit. Caius is just embarrassed he didn't manage to properly vet his brat's retinue. My boy isn't his punching bag, if he wants to work out his frustration he can do it on someone else."


Between one blink and the next, another figure appeared beside her. A familiar red skinned version of my (albeit shorter) with black hair and horns. My dad stared up at the wall threateningly, fingers folded over the head of his cane. He didn't speak. He didn't need to. Everyone here knew who he was and what he could do.


There was a grinding of stone as Caius climbed out of the gate, his face murderous…right up until he saw my dad. At which case it went from enraged to terrified.


"Gods dad, what did you do to these people?" I muttered under my breath. Callie snorted out a quit laugh, quickly covering her mouth, not that I was delusional enough to assume anyone here had missed it.


Sebastian appeared next, in front of my parents rather than beside them. "This is pointless," he said forcefully. "The girl is barely coherent. We need a more stable source of information."


My mom nodded. "Ellisara," she barked. "Report."


Ellie appeared ahead of us. I actually SAW her move, albeit barely. The A-rankers were so fast they might as well be teleporting. Without a ship to watch them through or anything to slow this down, I couldn't perceive what was going on aside from the talking. Ellie dropped to a knee in front of my mother. "I'm here, master. The little lord didn't do anything wrong. He was demanding answers from the dead one when his underling literally stabbed him in the back. He was protecting her for the rest of the very short fight. Putting himself between her and harm."


"Of course he was," she said with a proud smile. "That's my boy." Her face hardened again as she turned to look up at the man on the gate, whose face I couldn't see from here. "And don't think that'll be ignored either. Someone tried to murder my daughter in law. I'm quite fond of that girl, and my MOTHER likes her even more. Or did you not realize your nobody traitor tried to assassinate Drowning Shade's personal apprentice."


The figure flinched. "I think we're getting off track," he said lamely after a slight delay. "This was clearly an attempt at infiltration by the Void. We should hurry to the other gates to survey the extent of the damage. It's doubtful this was the only attack." Then he vanished.


I was surprised. There was a strict non-interference policy on the succession war. A threat of an outside attack normally wouldn't produce much worry. This was hardly a normal competition though. The Void had broken neutrality over their knee and chucked it in a swimming pool, and no one knew what the rules were. Plus grandma was right above us, and while the S-rankers couldn't make landfall because of their Impact and the fire cage, in order to LEAVE they had to go past her. It wouldn't be out of character for her to claim Void influence and kill someone who had attacked her apprentice. Grandma was kind and compassionate with me and my friends, but she WAS her mother's daughter.


Which was another issue for them. Black Sorrow was fanatically devoted to her only child. On the off chance someone had either stopped or harmed my grandmother (unlikely with my Demigod grandfather nearby), they'd be dealing with both my great grandparents and two entire factions.


Unlike the old man, Black Sorrow and the Red Revenant didn't even pretend at neutrality. If someone picked a fight with their baby girl they'd go on a rampage.


This was, of course, why neutrality was normally enforced on this event. Because the convoluted web of relatives and support made it almost impossible to make a move if it wasn't. With the spirit of that breached by the Void, this whole thing had become a lot more complicated. For everyone else. I was actually pretty fine with the whole thing.


Grabbing Callie's hand, I gestured for Bethy and the others to follow, including Darren, Roland, and Delia. Then I approached my parents. "Mom, dad," I told them wryly. "I had a terrible time at camp."


Another familiar form snorted in laughter as it materialized beside us. Killian, the fifth member of my A-rank entourage and an old friend of my parents, grinned at me. "He really is just like his dad. I swear, it's like looking in a mirror. Well, a funhouse mirror, since he's so much taller than you were. I never realized you were so short."


"I am NOT short," my dad snapped waspishly. "I am of perfectly normal size. The universal average is five foot ten. Discounting the fairyland. But they don't count because the fae are all over the place.


"Shorter than me," Zeke said with a grin as he leaned past Killian to shoot me a lazy wave. "Took you long enough, kid. Your mom was going out of her mind with worry. When we heard about the Void attacks we had to physically restrain her from going down into the lower zones to help. But the fire cage sections off Impact. It would have caused problems for her to enter anything below Arcadia."


I hadn't realized she was that worried. I'd known she was unhappy with things, but she'd played it off as just casual concern. "We're fine," I assured them. "Assuming we're not about to get murdered over shitty family politics."


"You are not," Sebastian said in a tone like cast iron. Dark and heavy and a little brittle, it was clear that he was much angrier than he looked, and wanted an excuse to do a little violence himself. I glanced at Bethy, who was looking at him in concern, and realized why. Bethy had been through a lot since we got here. I might not be able to see the signs of her various upsets, but that didn't mean he couldn't.


My mom nodded. "He's right, sweetie. No one with any real power came besides us and Caius. I was expecting Davis, but he's been steering clear of Eli. I imagine he'll be along shortly. The rest have scattered."


Looking past her, I realized she was right. All fifteen of the other figures had vanished without a word or sign. I was DEEPLY uncomfortable with exactly how casually they were all making us look like nonentities. Fucking A-rankers. Although speaking of ranks. I was coming up on a new one myself. I wasn't sure I was there yet, but I suspected I'd hit C-rank in Arcadia, given how long this test was looking like it was taking.


We also didn't have a new trial yet. I turned to my parents. "What's the deal with the competition? We've been getting drip fed information through the announcements and don't know much. I assume you guys have been in touch with the grandparents?"


"We have," my mom assured me. "The situation is…complicated. We're all kind of flying blind. There's an implication among everyone that there's got to be a traitor, and one high up in the WCP. It has to be either an elder or someone down here in one of the cities. Possibly both. Which is making things complicated."


My dad sighed. "Everyone is questioning everyone else's motives. Which means people are backpedaling on legitimately intelligent responses because idiots are implying their treachery almost as often as the idiots are proposing terrible responses and sticking to their guns. We've managed a sort of equilibrium, but it's basically just a city wide detente for the duration of this last test as we try to ferret out the Void infiltrators."


That was disappointing but not shocking. I sighed, shaking my head. "Yeah, I assumed. There must be some way to increase points though. Right?"


My uncle grinned. "Oh there is," he said gleefully. "In fact, we think you're going to be pretty excited about it. They've put a bounty on Void infiltrators. It was one of the FEW useful moves our supporters managed to bully the council into making. Which means we can genuinely get some work done here. Hope you're all ready to get started after a short rest. We've got a big advantage given your connection to the Void, Callie. Once you're all settled in, it'll be time to start hunting." Given her excited grin, my wife was just as excited about that idea as Zeke was. And she said I was the impulsive one in our marriage.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

When we reached the house my parents had been staying at, I admit I froze. "I…was expecting something bigger." We were standing in a small grass yard between two huge buildings. Packed into the intervening space was a small cottage, thatched roof and all. It was a warm brown color, with a blue painted door sporting a shiny brass knob. The windows had matching blue shutters thrown wide to reveal gauzy yellow curtains, and the path up to the door was brown cobblestone.


My mother beamed excitedly. "Isn't it lovely! Your father wanted to stay in a big drafty castle, but I wasn't having any of that. I get quite enough of castles back home. I went looking for lodgings and found this darling little cottage for us to sleep in!" The others had already split off to stay at the two neighboring boarding houses, but Chelsea and I had been press ganged into staying with my parents for family bonding time.


I turned to look at my dad, whose face looked like it was carved from stone. I might have assumed he was unaffected, if his shoulders weren't slightly hunched. I snickered at his obvious exasperation and he glared at me. I turned to look at my mom. "Hey mom, dad doesn't seem very happy to see me, was he not as worried as you were? I mean I just assumed he would be super anxious about all the trouble, but if it didn't bother him that's fine too."


He turned to shoot me a betrayed look, his jaw dropping in horror as she pinned him with a gimlet stare. "Now honey, I'm sure that's not the case. Your father loves you, of course he was worried for your safety. Would it kill you to show your son a little affection Eli? We're not on the run anymore. Now that we're a family again I won't have you treating him like a stranger."


My lips peeled back in a sadistic grin. This was MUCH better than punching him in the throat. I knew my mom was my dad's biggest weakness, but I hadn't realized how easily she could push him around.


Granted, I was also aware that this whole dynamic was probably him expressing guilt over how my life had gone, and she was playing along because she thought I deserved a little payback. Oddly though, that made me feel even warmer. They knew me well enough to know I was still upset and were letting me work it out my own way.


Chelsea giggled at his expression. "I didn't even get a hello. Honestly, it's like you both forget you have two children."


My mother snorted. "You were twins, dear. Trust me. No one forgets giving birth to twins. Your brother has simply been deprived of affection for most of his life. I'm not asking for miracles, but I'd like to see Eli put in a bit of effort at least." Her eyes softened as they landed on me. "And it would mean a lot if you could meet him halfway, Shane. I know that isn't my right to ask, given the way things went, but…now that we have the chance, I really hope we can try to be a real family."


That took the wind out of my sails, as far as tormenting my old man went. She sounded so sincere and pleading. I felt like an asshole for reducing my own mother to begging me to be nice to my family.


"I can try," I allowed. "I can't just wave a magic wand and say everything is fine. But I get why he did the things he did, and it turned out ok for the most part. I won't swear to not to give him a hard time when I can, but I'll make an effort at least. If he'll do the same."


I looked him in the eye as I said that last part, and he sighed. "I…suppose I can do that. I can't promise to do it WELL, however." He grimaced. "I'm not a KID person. Never have been. I find children frustrating, and you were a special kind of frustration because you reminded me of myself in some ways."


"YOU raised me," I scowled. "Or helped from a distance at least. I guess Zeke did most of it. Though he led me to believe I reminded you of mom more than yourself, he said that was why you left me on Callus."


He smiled wanly. "Like I said. In some ways. I don't mean to say I'm not proud of you. The things you've accomplished are nothing short of miraculous. But I've always been a selfish man. I take care of myself first. Sasha was the exception to that rule, and I suspect you know a little something about that. You and your wife seem to be close as well. But anyone else…I just didn't have it in me."


"Don't make excuses," snapped my mother. "You were never a proper child. Ezekiel's family treated you like an honored guest, and when you finally met your father he manipulated and controlled you as best he could manage. The only positive feedback you got from Malachai was when you outsmarted him, and that's not the kind of relationship I want you to have with our son."


Putting up both hands, he just sighed. "I didn't say it would be. And I'm not making excuses, just setting expectations. I'm not going to suddenly be the dad who takes him to ball games and plays catch at the park. That isn't me. It wasn't me when I was his age and it won't be me from this side of the equation. I'm not here to parent him. He doesn't need it. But that doesn't mean I can't get to know the boy. We're both adults, and just because I'm not going to wipe his nose for him doesn't mean we can't interact."


She just rolled her eyes. "Oh for the love of the gods." She turned to me with an exasperated snort. "He's SAYING that he's afraid he won't be a good father, so he'd rather try to be your friend."


"I was NOT saying that," he said in an appalled tone. "I would never say anything like that. It's…cloying."


Her eyes hardened. "I hear you deride me for showing affection to your son again, and I might decide all the affection I show YOU is cloying. You can maintain your ominous and intimidating image sleeping on a pile of fertilizer bags in the back shed."


"That's not what I meant," he groaned. "Damn it woman, this is hard enough without you putting words in my mouth!"


"Mom," I said gently, taking off my mask. "I think maybe this is making it harder for him." She looked hurt, but I offered her a warm smile. "You said you wanted me to try, and I want to do that. But I think he needs to process things with me in his own way. I know you want to just make things ok, and you probably COULD bully him into acting like it, but I think in the long rain that'll do more harm than good."


She wilted slightly. "I just…I want us to be a FAMILY," she pleaded. "It's not that hard!"


"No," I agreed. "But it's not that easy either. We'll get there. I know we will. Just…let us go at our own pace. That was my fault, honestly. I didn't realize it would upset you so much when I teased him like that. I don't actually need you to fight my battles here. I love you, and I know you feel guilty. But like I said, I'm past the anger mostly. I get you want to fix things between us all, but some things just need time."


Biting her lip, she nodded slowly. "Alright. Fine. I'll stay out of it. But can we have dinner together? The four of us? Actually, make that five. I want to spend some more time with my daughter in law."


"I'm sure she'd love that," I beamed at her. "And even better, I'll cook for us. I've been told I'm a decent hand in the kitchen, and my skills have only grown."


Chelsea nodded eagerly. "He's got a gift," she admitted. "He's going to make Callie an amazing house husband someday." She grinned at me teasingly, sticking out her tongue at me, and I raised an eyebrow in challenge.


"I'm sorry, how is YOUR love life going?" I said with a malicious grin. "You expressed your feelings to EITHER of the people you're interested in?"


She squeaked, her face going red as she glanced anxiously at our parents. "Shane what the hell? How did you even know about that? I mean…what do you mean? I mean…shut the hell up!"


My mom actually giggled at that. "Listen to the two of you, acting like real siblings. I love how close you've gotten."


"This family is the worst," sulked my sister, actually pouting about her secret being exposed. She hadn't actually told me about it, I'd just kind of guessed, so I hadn't been under any obligation to keep it secret. It was my turn to stick my tongue out at her.


I sent a quick mental message to my wife, who appeared pretty quickly after as mom led us inside to give us a tour. She hadn't been far, and was planning to stay with me, of course, she just wanted to give me time to reconnect with my family. And I appreciated it, but honestly…I felt awkward around them.


After years with my friends and allies, being around these people that expected me to be someone that I wasn't sure I'd ever been was awkward. Like yes, there'd always been expectations from mom, but only for the short time I'd actually seen her.


Weirdly my dad seemed to have the least expectations, if only because the self absorbed bastard was too focused on what he should be feeling to even worry about me. I was a little grateful though. What I'd said to my mom was true, I did think we'd get there eventually, but I hadn't had the heart to tell her that her trying to force us to mend fences made me feel like a damned zoo animal on exhibit.


Callie appeared next to me without any hesitation, lacing her fingers in mine and shooting me that lodestar of a smile. No matter how lost I got, that always showed me which way was north. One smile from my wife would set me back on the right path, and I'd never been more grateful.


We headed inside, and I explored the kitchen, snagging some easy ingredients as the others gathered at the table in the kitchen on the other side of the counter. "So," I said as I started preparing the roux I was going to use to make the Jambalaya tonight. "Zeke said there are bounties?" This was one of my favorite recipes. Jambalaya was supposed to be tomato based, but this one cooked much faster because the roux got VERY hot (the trick was using an oil with a high smoke point, like grapeseed oil).

My dad nodded as I started chopping up the onions, celery, and bell peppers. "There's been some success identifying some of the abstract information on targets. Due to the secrets moratorium, outright FINDING them is problematic, but getting some information to use as a base for a bounty list is much more manageable."


I grimaced. I knew perfectly well how annoying that could be. But with a bounty list…I hummed to myself as I started to prepare the chicken thighs. Dantalion could help me ferret out many different things. Maybe not A-rankers, but C-rankers if I used my staff. Hell if I ranked up B-rankers would be viable if I spent some time working on it. Beyond that though, I had another advantage. I had Zeke. I was in a good mood as I returned to cooking. I had a feeling I'd do just fine in this round.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I stared down into the very large hole with trepidation. "Look," I said slowly. "I feel like no one will take this seriously, and it might not even matter since we have to go down there. But I feel like it needs to be said. Literally NOTHING good has ever happened to any of us in a hole in the ground."


Callie rolled her eyes. "Let's be honest. Bad things have happened to us in almost every imaginable biome. I think pretty much the only ones we're missing are the ocean and the desert." Then she paused. "Except after we came out of that underwater city in the dungeon, which I guess was technically both?"


I snorted at that, looking around at all my friends. "Guess I can't argue that. We have everyone here?"


"We left some of the D-rankers to guard the houses," Callie said with a grimace. "Well, not really, there's nothing they can do if someone attacks, but they're being punished. Bethy hired a bunch of them to follow her around and serenade her with a theme song they made up on the spot. She liked it so much she decided to hire them to do it to the rest of us too. Sadly, we couldn't punish Bethy for it because it's not on the list."


I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Of course she did. It's fine, we don't need most of the D-rankers anyway. The higher ranked members of the group will have a hard enough time keeping everyone safe. Are we sure splitting into groups like this is a good choice?"


She sighed. "I mean…no. But we have to maximize our odds of finding Void infiltrators. Based on what I know about the Void ladder, they'll be setting up relays along the staircase. Considering the pressure gets heavier the deeper they go, as long as our people don't go too deep they should be fine, especially with a few C-rankers on each group to protect them."


"Fair enough," I said grimly. "My people need to get out on their own and fight, otherwise they can't build their rep and get stronger. Keeping everyone locked up in Bethy's Domain all the time isn't a viable long term solution. Groups of twenty five should do it. Obviously, we're going deepest, so my parents and Zeke should come with us. Sebastian and Killian can each head up a group of our second liners. Fade's people, some of the leftover C-rankers, what have you. Does everyone have the orbs we made?"


With Callie coming along with me, I knew at some point we'd run into problems supplying heretic fire to the rest of our group when we were separated. So last night after our family dinner I'd settled in to spend hours making more of the heretic fire spheres we'd sold. They wouldn't last forever, but if any of our people hit the Void spawn, those should be enough to handle the problem.


It was a unique advantage we had. Most people didn't have an easy way to destroy Void creatures. They were nasty and hard to kill. Most of my cousins would be concentrating their forces into large groups and trying to dive deep to maximize their point gain from the bounties of the stronger Void creatures. Spreading out like we were wasn't a viable strategy for anyone else. Which was the only reason I was agreeing to it, despite my reservations about leaving the people I was responsible for unprotected.


I glanced back down into the hole. "So…this thing leads all the way through the planet? I wonder what happens if you fall in. Do you get stuck in the middle?"


"Eventually," Zeke said as he stepped up next to me. "You kind of ping pong around in the center until you reach equilibrium between the two gravities and then stop in the middle once the momentum runs out. We've seen stuff like this before, though the heirworld's is bigger than most. It's also…unique. The staircase has floors that descend surrounding it. Every few hundred feet or so there's a new level with some other new bit of nonsense. The one in the center is kind of a mess."


That made me frown. "Why are there floors like that? It's just a hole in the ground. Why dig out levels along the staircase."


"No one knows," he shrugged. "The staircase wasn't created by the WCP. It was here when we took control of the heirworld. So were the levels. We suspect it might be a resource thing, like they were digging for ore and stuff on the way down. But no one can say for sure. The levels get pretty wide. They run under basically the whole city."


Mom grinned. "They're ALSO full of treasure. Kind of. They're unstable spatially and move around pretty much all the time. Hallways changing places every few days and things like that. So the various items lost by explorers tend to pop up. It's why this city isn't ALL A-rankers. The levels closer to the surface have pretty low pressure, and the things lost there are fairly worthless. They send D,C, and B-rankers to explore for them at various depths to dig out treasure."


"It's one of the WCPs major revenue streams," my dad added. "The heirworld has been producing artifacts for millennia. No one is sure how much is down there, or how big the floors are. Since they move around constantly they're impossible to map."


Callie looked upset. "That's bad," she said bluntly. "If they get any of the receivers down there and they get shunted away into some random part of one of the levels…not to mention the spatial instability down there will make it much easier to construct the Void ladder. What about the central level, you said it was a mess? What did you mean by that?"


"Most of the levels change places every few days," Zeke clarified. "But the central level does it every few MINUTES. It's constantly in flux. Not just sideways either. Up is down, left is right, it's a deeply unsettling place."


My mom rolled her eyes. "What Ezekiel means is that he's HEARD it's a deeply unsettling place. None of us were strong enough to get that deep when we came here last. It's impossible to reach that depth without at LEAST a Chronicle. The reasons for the slowly growing pressure closer to the core haven't been fully explored, but the Impact steadily builds as you descend. By the time you reach the center, it's much too heavy for even a normal C-ranker to bear. And we weren't nearly as powerful during the last succession war."


"Alright," I said, processing it all. "So the bounties are organized by…what? Floor? How does that work with the shifting?"


"No one sticks around for that in person," said my dad. "The spatial warping is extremely dangerous. When it starts, anyone inside flees to the staircase. The stairs themselves are made of…well, we aren't really sure. Something that anchors space." He glanced at Callie. "I assume that wouldn't completely spoil the attempts at the Void ladder?"


"If anything, the opposite," she grimaced. "Ladders need to be set on stable ground to be climbed. A cylinder of stable space through the center of the planet would be an ideal foundation to use for the construction."


I just sighed. "Fine. What's our target today then? I assume with A-rankers working on information gathering we know at least enough to pick out someone worth some real points."


"A B-rank vessel named Faustryche," my mother said cheerfully. "When the purge of the planet started, several A and B-rankers already in the city fled to the stairs. It's not a great environment for fighting, so the locals "conveniently" decided to leave them for us. As a fun obstacle in the succession war. Wasn't that nice of them?" Her tone made it clear she was being deeply sarcastic, but my dad just shrugged.


"Not their monkeys, not their circus," he said blithely. "Or at least that's what they think. It's shortsighted, but I imagine the A-rankers think they can flee when things get bad. It's easy to decide something isn't your problem when other people are around to be made to deal with it."


I chuckled. "Yeah, shocking how bad most Ascendants are at long term thinking."


"Not really," Zeke countered as we began to divide up into groups. "Stories tend to change with the telling, warping over time to become something completely different. In order to survive as an Ascendant, you need to focus on the present. I told you this years ago, kid. You'll never make it if you don't live in the now."


He had. It shocked me sometimes how casual conversations with Zeke could have so many layers. The things he said or didn't say were often important later on down the line in ways I'd never expected. It clashed with the image of the sloppy drunk I'd grown up with, but then, a lot of his Ascendant persona did. Janus was a scary, competent, devious man. I suppose it shouldn't be shocking he could put on such a good front. His entire path was based on masks and deception.


In a way though, that made him the most dependable person I could think of. Zeke could have left when I was a kid, I was convinced. Thinking about it now, he could have come up with some way to slip the contract. He was the craftiest person I knew, and I'd seen him kill A-rankers at B-rank.


The fact that he stayed was one of the reasons I knew I could trust him. And really…Zeke was the first person I'd ever trusted. He'd shown me what stability meant, gave me the sense of structure I'd needed to build the friendships I had today. Even with my parents back, Zeke was still one of the most important people in the world to me. I needed to make sure that once I became the Wishmaster, he was rewarded for everything he'd done. And I knew just how to do it. In fact, I didn't even need the WCP.


"Hey Zeke," I said as we descended the stairs in a group of twenty five. "I was thinking. What do you think about Stella apprenticing with my grandmother?"


My mom blinked. "Stacy?" It still confused the hell out of me that Stella's name was a hero name and not her actual name. I knew it meant star, but the whole thing was deeply counterintuitive. "That's a good idea. Mom does a lot with stars. I bet she could teach her plenty, and her Cosmic Witchcraft has a lot of potential. Witches can be pretty scary with the right tools."


My uncle looked a little bushwhacked. "I mean…that would be great, but Celia is an S-ranker, and the daughter of two gods. I'm sure she has better things to do."


"No way," Chelsea chirped happily. "She would love to help out a member of the family. And it would be nice having you two around. Shane got to spend his whole childhood with you, but I never got any uncle time. You owe me like…twenty years of birthday presents." She winked at him, and I saw him grin back at the audacity.


"I think I can manage something," he said with a laugh. I couldn't hold back my own grin. I hadn't really considered that Chelsea might want to have a relationship with Zeke like I had, but I definitely approved. My uncle was one of the best people I knew, and my sister deserved to have someone like him in her life. I felt like it was fitting, too, that they connect when we were all doing this family thing.


Callie smiled warmly at me, reaching over to thread her fingers in mine, giving my hand a tight squeeze. Callie loved holding hands. She had ever since we got together, and I had to admit after years of it, I felt just as warm and protected as she did when her fingers laced into my own. And so, my wife and I held hands and chatted with my parents as we all marched cheerfully down to hell.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Reaching the tenth level wasn't too tough. I wanted to go deeper, honestly, but Faustryche had been recently seen down here and we had a day or two before the next shift. In fact, we couldn't have gone lower as a group anyway. The majority of our people didn't have a Chronicle, even among the top percentage of our combatants, and hence they couldn't stand the pressure too many levels down.


Even ten levels below the surface (and the staircase DID start at the surface, with the whole of Arcadia built in a sort of bowl set into the glacier which the stairway was at the bottom of), things were starting to get a little heavy, and I could see my friends starting to strain a bit.


Not Bethy, mind, who I was almost positive already had a Chronicle anyway, or Abel, but some of the lower end power additions like Benny and Jessie. But when we arrived, I was quickly shown that things weren't going to be that easy. Much like the other Vessels, Faustryche had supplied a large amount of what Callie called 'Void spawn'.


These particular spawn weren't mantis shaped like the ones in the forest. They looked…like devils, kind of. Short pudgy things with obsidian skin and little wings and tiny horns. Oddly enough though, most of them were D-rankers.


Ellie stepped forward, hefting her mace, but my mom held up a hand. "No," she said simply. "This isn't just bounty hunting. It's training. Shane. You and your friends'll take care of these." I shrugged, stepping up to call for my staff. It landed in my hands with a reassuring thump, but before I could activate a form, my mom continued sharply. "With no abilities."


I froze, turning to raise an eyebrow at her. The imp things were gathering at the edge of the pool of light from the staircase. The tenth level was a massive cavernous hall made of dark stone, filled with tall columns and cloaked in complete shadow. I only even knew they were Void spawn because of the eerie blue glow of the eyes. It was a very distinctive glow. "I assume you want all of us to do the same?" She nodded, and I sighed. "Any reason why?"


"You're too clever," she said bluntly. "I know you have tricks to handle any occasion, and that's good. Preparation is always a smart move. But at some point, you'll fight something tricks don't work on. You need enough strength of arms to hold your own when you're on even ground."


Despite her hard tone, I could see the worry on her face. She had clearly been more shaken by being stuck here while we dealt with the void than expected. I could understand that. I just sighed, then turned to call out for a familiar face. "Bella!" I shouted for my apprentice. "Front and center."


My apprentice's red hair had grown out since I'd seen her last. It was staggering to think she'd been essentially locked up in Bethy's Domain since we arrived on this planet. I felt a little bad, because I was supposed to be teaching her, but it was just so damned dangerous.


"Aye aye, master!" She shouted energetically as she snapped off a crisp salute. "What do you need?"


I nodded to the imps. "I need a sparring partner. Assuming my wife doesn't mind me checking on your progress?" I cocked my head at Callie, who rolled her eyes but still shook her head. Grinning, I turned back to my disciple. "Then head out. It's time for me to see the results of your training. Go on, I'll be right behind you."


She looked a bit nervous, but she moved forward. Benny, Jessie, Daysia, Dayna, and all the others spread out with him. By seeming unspoken agreement, we sent the weaker combatants out first. Well, weaker in melee. Dayna was a Heaven Murder Elf, and was dangerous in any kind of battle, but she preferred a bow.


While my mom clearly wanted us to take care of this personally to see my progress, I had my own concerns. To her credit she didn't complain about it, just raised an eyebrow and watched. After all, like I'd told Bella, I was right behind her.


It was…kind of amazing, really. To see her whirl her staff into action, striking out with different forms. Mephistopheles to destroy, Mornax to defend. Seeing the results of my training, of her obviously constant practice, brought a swell of pride to my chest. She spun and stomped and cleaved through the imps with brutal efficiency, bringing the goetia staff art to bear at what I was pretty sure was a high Expert level.


Of course, she needed some help. Once she killed a few, the imps swarmed, rushing her in a screeching wave of hate and stubby claws. My own staff spun out to meet them, flickering between her strikes and around her spinning form, slipping through minute gaps in her attacks as I threaded the needle with expert precision.


More than my enhanced stats, I was just much more experienced in the staff. Especially THIS staff. The art was my creation, and I could read it like a map. It almost felt like I was using Belial, honestly, like I was conducting a symphony of spilt blood and shattered skulls using my apprentice as my instrument.


Bella moved like a precision machine for about twenty minutes…but eventually she started to flag. I stepped past her, hooking my staff in front of her and pushing her back gently, with Callie stepping up to escort her away. "You did good, kid," I called to her as she retreated. "Now watch close. This is what you're aiming for." And then I lost myself in the flow of battle.


I wasn't a conductor anymore, I was a dancer, and my weapon was a part of my body. Imps shattered and broke against me like the tide crashing against the rocks. Some of them got through, scraping my neck or wrists or just raking my skin between gaps in my armor. But it didn't matter. Even without Mornax active, my Impact was higher than a normal D-ranker. They didn't have the power to deal real damage.


I heard myself laugh as if from far away, releasing all the pent up stress and aggression that I usually held in. No plans, no tricks, just violence. Pure, simple, uncomplicated force, brought to bear as I enacted my will on the world around me. The music was over. I wasn't dancing anymore, I was exterminating. Smashing insects in droves as I cackled my glee into the overwhelming darkness.


Until, suddenly, I wasn't. I froze, my breath was coming heavy, blood dripping through the crevices in my plate, and my muscles were burning. The heavier Impact, combined with the raw speed and ferocity of my movements had pushed my body to a level I hadn't felt recently aside from that fight with Fade's champion.


"You doin ok, love?" my wife asked in amusement from off to the side. I glanced down to find the ground torn up by my footwork, and the bodies of the imps all gone, cleansed by a rolling carpet of blue black flame.


"Thanks for the tidy," I told her with a laugh as I leaned on my staff for support. "Got a little carried away there, I think. But it was nothing too serious. I was still processing everything, just got a little tunnel vision." I knew Callie would wake me from that trance through the bond if needed, and it felt good to cut loose.


Bella appeared next to me, bouncing and clapping excitedly. "Holy SHIT master, that was AMAZING! I could barely SEE you move. Your staff was crushing them so fast it looked like one continuous motion! Do you think I'll be able to do that someday?"


"I think you could do that NOW with some work," I laughed. "I wasn't using any abilities, just the staff stances. That was pure physical combat. My stats are higher, granted, but still, no reason you couldn't do the same thing." I made sure my tone was supportive and reassuring. While tough love for the apprentice WAS good, it wasn't the only kind of reinforcement. Sometimes a positive comment could be helpful too. Bella had done well with her demo.


My comment was still ringing in the air when a blur flashed in front of my face, only to be deflected by a familiar steel sword. I nodded cheerfully to my strongest B-ranker. "Hey, thank Fade. That would have been awkward. Nothing like having your head explode to ruin a pleasant conversation."


He snorted. "Your parents wouldn't have allowed that. The only reason I was even able to deflect it was because they're treating this like a training trip. I got a tap on the shoulder from your uncle as a warning when he noticed it coming."


Despite his comments being for me, he didn't take his eyes off the enemy in front of him as Faustryche appeared before us. The man was tall. Like…unnaturally tall. Eight feet maybe. His limbs were long and spindly, and his fingers were spidery tendrils coming off too small palms. His eyes glowed that Void blue, and his mouth was full of too sharp teeth so thickly packed in that when he spoke, it was muffled. "Heretic," he slurred, eyes flicking to the still burning flame that had consumed the imps. "Surrender your life."


"Void lackey," I said in a deep voice to mimic his. "Invest in dental care." I heard a snort from behind me and turned to grin at my wife as I stepped back, letting Fade take his position opposite the vessel. Just to be safe though, I withdrew a sphere of heretic fire and tossed it to him. "Here, just in case."


He snatched it from behind him without looking, slipping it under his cloak. "Thanks, but I don't think I'm going to need it. Honestly, I don't want to risk taking the fun out of this fight." He grinned, his form flickering as he appeared in front of the vessel.


The motion was…odd. Unlike anything I'd seen him do up to now. He was moving strangely, like he had drawn himself from a scabbard and swung himself at his enemy. Every move Fade made was always in tune with his path, everything about him was reminiscent of a blade. But despite always having something of the sword about him, this was different.


While most of his movements were swordlike, this was the first time I'd seen him…DRAWN. Like he hadn't ever bared his edge before. His body twisted, aligning every muscle and hair along a razor sharp boundary as he attacked. His blade flickered, attacks sweeping in from all sides so fast they looked like they were occupying the same space.


And then…he was done. The drawn sword was sheathed, and Fade was turning away from Faustryche. Who proceeded to literally fall apart like a jigsaw puzzle.


I raised an eyebrow, staring down at the remains of the vessel with a low whistle. "Damn. Rest in pieces, I guess." I turned to my mother, and even she looked vaguely impressed. "So…you have any more bounties for us? Also, do we have to bring back a piece of him or something?"


She snorted, turning to glare at my dad. "He gets this from you, you know. Always needs to be dramatic and get the last word in."


"Of course," he said dryly. "It's all my fault dear, sorry dear."


He couldn't have sounded less sincere if he'd made air quotes, but she just rolled her eyes with a smile before turning back to me. "We have ten more bounties on this level. You're making good time, we might even be able to get to all of them. Well done with your little display earlier. I think next we'll find you a C-ranker to fight." My face went pale, but she didn't notice, turning to stroll off into the depths of the level. Maybe we should have taken our time.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Over the next eight or nine hours, we caught three more B-rank Void infiltrators. Not all of them were Vessels, sadly. In fact, only the first one, Faustryche, had been a vessel. Personally, I didn't think it was so bad, we'd still taken down some Void worshippers, and even if they didn't happen to be big bosses, they were still powerful assets we were denying the other side. Not to mention they still had bounties, which meant we'd still get points.


My parents though, looked deeply unsettled. "Something is wrong," my mom commented as we finished off the third. "There were supposed to be a few different bounties down here, and these were the least consequential."


"It's been bothering me for a while," my dad agreed. "This isn't how the Void operates. They hate us, but they also mostly hate each other. Void Children aren't insane so much as UNsane, but they're certainly too alien to operate in a coherent formation. Even to each other. The way this whole thing has been going, it's like someone is moving pieces on a board. Which they shouldn't be capable of."


I frowned at him. "Really? It's seemed a little…haphazard, don't you think? I mean yeah, they have a shared goal, but they're not working TOGETHER. They're just kind of aimed in the same direction."


"That's more than they should be capable of," he said flatly. "This is off. Working towards a coherent goal like this is…complicated. I could maybe see enough of them agreeing to throw their people scattershot at the planet, but planning the infiltration on the lifts? The attack on Calliope? It smacks of purpose. Of overarching goal. That shouldn't be possible. There is no HEIRARCHY among the Void Children, not beyond the inherent hierarchy of power."


I froze. His voice prickled something in the back of my head. "What if there was," I said slowly. "Or at least, what if there could be." I told him about the Vessel I'd run into who had tried to recruit me. I hadn't really thought about it since it happened, but in retrospect, it seemed odd.


"That's…bad," Zeke cut in. "Like, scale of one to ten, thats fifteen points of total fucking disaster. Void Children cooperating is cataclysmic."


My mom nodded. "It is. There's no way a truce like that will hold. Once we've destroyed the ones inhabiting the nearest areas to realspace, the others will expand to fill the gaps." I cocked my head, and she explained. "The Void is complicated. But as best we can tell, the rank of a Void Child is related to the space they take up in the Void. The more Void they control, the stronger they get."


"So if we worked with them, they'd help us kill the others, and then use the space to get stronger?" I said in horror.


"Worse," Callie cut in with a grimace. "Once they expanded, they would be adjacent to realspace. So the ambivalence that allowed for the truce would no longer be viable. They'd be driven just as insane by the neighboring noise."


My dad shook his head. "That's not the worst of it. The worst is that the power blocs formed by these…what was it he called them? Deepchildren? Will influence the rest of the Void spawn. The Void is fractured because they're constantly clashing. No one force can gather enough power to centralize. But if the Deepchildren manage to form a large enough power base, they can pressure the others. Conquer or destroy them. It'll snowball into a cohesive and unified Void."


Callie looked pale. "I think…I think that's happened before. Sometime a long long time ago. There was a god. A Void god. But it died." She grimaced, clutching her head. "This isn't…ow, ow, ow, fuck!" She collapsed, and I was there next to her, panicking.


"Cal?" I said anxiously, shaking her. "Honey, what's wrong? What hurts?" I shifted to Zagan, flooding her with cleansing life giving flame, but it didn't help. I turned to my mother. "Mom, help! Use your purifying flame!"


She knelt down beside my wife, putting a hand on her head and flooding her with white flame. It didn't hurt her, of course, but it also didn't help. Maybe because Callie had some of the purifying flame in her heretic fire. I snarled, laying her down on the ground as I fumbled for a scroll. Her hand snapped up to grab my wrist. "No!" She hissed. "It's not…it's not the Void!" I frowned, not understanding what she meant. "It's my trait. The Heretic Fire is trying to commune with me."


I blinked at her dumbly. "I don't understand," I said in frustration. "But if it's that, I can help." I reached into the bond, where the trait was connected, and pulled it toward me, trying to offload some of the pain or pressure or…whatever, to myself.


It didn't work, exactly, but it did help a little. Her face eased. I pulled her up, leaning her head in my lap. "Don't scare me like that, damn it," I said tightly. "What the hell is going on?"


She grimaced. "It's not over yet. I can feel it trying. My trait wants me to know something, but the Void is rioting inside my brain. I think it has to do with how all the Void spawn seem to know what the flame is. What I am. With that ancestral hatred of Heretics. I think…I think the Heretic God is the reason the Void doesn't have a god anymore."


As soon as that came out, she threw her head back and SCREAMED, the pain echoing off the distant cavernous walls. I snarled in frustration my fingers digging uselessly into her shoulders as agony wracked her body.


This…this was fucking TORTURE. Why was this happening? Why couldn't I help her? I could handle pain, she should just give it all to me. It would be so much less horrible than holding the woman I loved and watching her suffer when I couldn't do anything. My breathing go heavier, faster, I felt like the world was narrowing to a pinpoint. I was failing. She was going to die and I- my brain came crashing to a halt. I couldn't go into her head and help or anything, but I could do something else.


Pulling my mask off, I lowered my head to hers, pressing our foreheads together and pulling and then…we were inside my library. I picked her up, carried her to the table in the center of the room, and then started grabbing books. Empty books by the armload. I triggered Beelzebub, twelve other me's joining in, and we started pressing the tomes to her body anywhere we could find.


Then we all triggered Dantalion (I upgraded it to C-rank with my staff) and PULLED. Dantalion was the demon of information. This was the Great Book Heavenly Library, but it was also my Pride pseudo Domain. This place was made for information, for its capture and preservation, for its deduction. The tree above my own Chronicle shifted, the branches reaching down to pick up books, adding them to the connection.


Callie's screams faded. Information. Forbidden or not, this was about information. Her Void Path was telling her something, her Heretic Angel trait was telling her something else. They were fighting over what she was allowed to know, but here that wasn't their choice. In the presence of my Ten Demons Tree, with Dantalion running a rank higher, INSIDE my library, no information was hidden from me. Not the kind contained in D-rank skills or traits.


The books were filling. Mostly with gibberish. Black jagged symbols that looked nothing like letters, written in strange spiral patterns that interlocked and intersected in strange and frankly uncomfortable ways.


One of the books slammed shut, and I threw it over my shoulder, grabbing another. Then a second one did the same. I snarled, calling for more. The library had no limits on knowledge. It could hold anything. I KNEW it could. Because the library wasn't just mine. It came from the old man. He'd used it to create the most powerful Skill the universe had ever known. The perfect Skill. The Void wasn't more powerful than he was. I refused to admit that.


Books began to slam shut, and I threw them away, grabbing new ones. As I did, Callie's pain started to ease. It wasn't over, but something was happening. Just not enough. Not fast enough or completely enough. My wife was dying. I could FEEL it. And it was my fault. My half assed idea to counterbalance her Path with a trait too early. She couldn't handle combining them and…I froze.


Leaving the others to work, I turned and bolted over to one of the books. I opened it, wincing at the jarring script, and tried to use Dantalion to process or parse it. I just needed to know…pushing through the pain, I bared my teeth in a vicious grin. Perfect.


It was hard to describe the sort of inspiration that I got when dealing with these kinds of things. My natural talent and instinct for Paths. But it was there, and it was real, and my own Path, with elements of the Fatewalker, was particularly attuned to those strokes of brilliance. If it hadn't been, I doubt I would have been able to do or even explain my actions following that discovery.


I threw the book on the floor. Then went and grabbed another, and another. I piled all the books that were filling with Callie's Path and stacked them all as high as I could go, grabbing more from the tree and from my other selves as they were completed. I quickly ran out. Eventually, the books stopped filling, and Callie started whimpering in pain. "It's ok love," I told her softly, pushing sweat soaked hair out of her face.


She didn't have her mask in here, it was just those beautiful blue eyes I loved so much, staring up at me clouded with pain. I had to physically tear myself away from her side as I rushed to complete my task, but I did it. Her safety was all that mattered.


Once the book stack was complete, I ran over to grab my staff from where it floated above the tome. Then I ran back over, and I reached through the bond. Finding her Heretic Angel trait was simple, given my connection to it, and pulling on her Heretic Flame was even easier. A fist sized sphere of blue black fire manifested on the end of the staff, looking for all the world like a torch, and I lowered it to the pile.


There was a whoosh and the entire stack of books went up like they'd been soaked in kerosene. The flames caught, exploding outward and literally BLOWING me off my feet, consuming my vision in darkness and sending me falling. Falling where, I had no clue, but fall I did. I could still hear Callie screaming and I tried to get to her, but I couldn't and then…


It was over. We were both fine, sitting in a chair across a familiar table. This was the executive cafeteria in Valen, back on Callus. The first place I'd ever seen my wife. Across the table from us was a man I'd never met before. A man with startling blue eyes that faded to black rather than having a defined pupil.


He was sitting at the table, eating a steak, and when we appeared (because I somehow knew we had) he smiled warmly at the two of us. "Hello little ones," he said in a voice like simmering honey. "I've been expecting you." He gestured to the table in front of us, where a pair of plates containing a sort of red rice based stew I'd never seen before sat waiting. "Please," said the Heretic God. "Have something to eat. We aren't in much of a hurry. And I imagine you have quite a few questions."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I stared at the kindly man in shock. Or rather, I tried to. I couldn't see him, really. My eyes were inexorably drawn to his, falling into the blue black abyss. He had the same eyes as my wife, but…more. An order of magnitude more. They were magnetic, hypnotic, whatever term you wanted to use, I couldn't look away. Like they were pulling me into an endless abyss from which I'd never escape.


And then, they weren't. "Apologies," he chuckled ruefully. "I forget that happens to mortals. I haven't entertained company in quite some time."


Callie was staring too, but she didn't seem captivated or consumed, just…lost. "I...I know you. How do I know you? Not just like, who you are, I mean. I feel like you're familiar. Like you're someone important to me. But we've never met."


"Well of course," he beamed warmly. "I like to think all children know their parents."


Her eyes hardened. "You're not my father," she said firmly. "Trust me, I wish that was the case, because you almost couldn't be worse than the one I have, but he is who he is. He might not have parented me much, but I got enough physical and mental traits from him that I couldn't deny it if I wanted to."


Laughing, he just shrugged. "Is that what makes a parent? Because it seems to me you have as much of me in you as him at this point. After all, haven't you noticed you've got my eyes?"


That seemed to throw her off balance, and I could tell she wanted to argue but didn't know how. "Yeah, about that, how did you manage that?" I forced the conversation back onto me. "Because we were just kind of throwing pasta at the wall to see what stuck. I originally thought the Heretic Flame was a lucky accident, but even my luck isn't that good. You did something."


"What a wonderful man you've found for yourself, Calliope," he laughed. "Such presence of mind. Most would take credit for such an occurrence. It's a rare man who questions his gifts and not just his misfortunes."


Callie's hand found mine, gripping it tightly enough that I could tell she was overwhelmed without needing my eyes or the bond. "That's not an answer," I pointed out.


He shrugged again. "You got close enough. The presence of the Void, the purifying flame, and a few of your more esoteric tricks. It gave me enough to work with. Once you got my attention, I just…tapped your elbow, so to speak."


"You can do that?" I said warily. "Affect a working when you're, I assume, dead?"


"Gods don't die," he told me matter of factly. "They just kind of scatter. And once they do, they retain bits of what they once were. Our Domains are…inextricably linked to who we are. With a shattered soul, it takes a VERY close match to stumble into a god's sphere of influence. But it does happen. How do you think Hatescream orchestrated his resurrection? The information necessary to engineer that kind of ritual is far beyond what you could leave in written instructions. Some fool tripped over his divinity by mistake and ended up an avatar. It happens."


Callie spoke up. "So I'm your…avatar?" She chewed on the word like it was oatmeal. "What does that mean?"


He waved it off. "It's just a word for a being through which a god acts. After a deity dies, if you want to use that word, their power is diminished to near nothingness. But stories never end. And neither do the gods they become. You know that Domains can interfere with each other, it's why Morgan Lark killed all the other vampires. They can also interact, as can the forces that will one day become them."


"I see," my wife said inscrutably. "And you used this connection to make me…what I am."


His smile was kind. "I did. Gods have always acted through their children, when they have nowhere else to turn. Your friend Satala, for instance. I chose you, Calliope. You were the only option, admittedly, but I haven't regretted that choice. You've made me proud."


I felt Callie's churn of emotions through the bond. Confusion, anger, hurt, longing. Callie's relationship with her dad was BAD. Understandably, because Paul Reynolds was a fucking scumbag. But this man was kind of a relative. Kind of a new start. And kind of intrusive, which wasn't helping. He seemed to pick up on that, because he changed gears. "As I said, I'm sure you have questions for me?" he prodded.


My wife nodded, getting her head back on the matter at hand. "Yes. So many. But I think for now, we need to know what the trait was trying to tell me. About the Void god. Could he be coming back? Could this all be because of him? If gods don't die…"


He waggled a hand. "That's complicated. The Void god called itself a god, but it wasn't, not really. Void Children, and the things they become, are not capable of divinity as we attain it. They don't have souls, exactly. Though they do have SOMETHING. Ruxx was a particularly powerful being, but its return is unlikely. I destroyed it quite thoroughly, though the effort destroyed me in turn."


"Ok," I said slowly. "Probably a bit of a sidetrack but…how? How did you do all this?" I waved at him. "The Heretic God, the Heretic Flame. Like, was that just your Domain? Did you build your whole legend around destroying the Void?"


He shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, I got my powers from the Void. It's why Calliope was so compatible with me. But I suspect you already guessed as much."


"You mentioned it was an ingredient in the Heretic Flame," I acknowledged. "But I didn't expect…that. How does that work? Like you were a god and you bent the knee to serve, what was its name? Ruxx?"


His sigh was wistful. "Not at all. I gained my divinity in service to the Void. I was originally…well, I had a complicated childhood, let's say that. I was very strong as a boy. Possibly too strong. All the other children in my city looked up to me, and I gloried in the adulation. I was tall and powerful, everyone expected great things from me."


Those blue black eyes lost focus, staring off into the distance. "Except for one small thing. I wasn't an Ascendant. I didn't have a point of Impact. Several of the other boys did, and they gained power quickly. I was left behind, abandoned, and I was angry.


"We knew about the Void, in those days," he explained. "And were taught its dangers. But some were seduced by its power. There was a witch, near the city I grew up in, named Morwenna. I went to see her, and I begged her for power." His smile turned bitter. "And she gave it to me. Oh yes. I became an Ascendant, I stepped onto the path to power, and I never looked back."


I grimaced. "Favors like that aren't free. Especially not from the Void."


"No," he said with a sad laugh. "No they are not. This one certainly wasn't. I was approached years later, once I reached D-rank. I was told I would become a Vessel.


"Being the Vessel of a Void Child is…awful," he explained. "And wonderful. It burns out a part of you. A part that people need, but one that most of us would rather not have. The part that feels shame. Uncertainty. Doubt. The part that hesitates." His eyes narrowed with remembered pain. "It makes us monsters. And I was the very worst."


Callie was staring at him in horror. "So…what happened? How did you go from that to this?"


"When a Void Child grows, so does its Vessel," he said tightly. "And mine GREW. With my help and influence, Ruxx climbed the ranks quickly. I was powerful. My black flame was mighty, and it consumed all it touched. The fires of the Void are hungry things, and none could stand before them. Or me. Until Ruxx crossed that final threshold. Until he became a god, or some version of one. And so did I."


I blinked as everything clicked together. "Your soul," I said as I got it. "The damage he did was to your soul, but when you became a god it pushed your soul up with you. Mirror souls are special. It fixed whatever he did."


"It did," he nodded. "It was the most excruciating thing I have ever experienced. But when it was done, I felt…everything. And I hated. Myself. Ruxx. Morwenna. Hell, I hated the world." As he spoked, he began to weave his fingers, pulling specks of burning cinder from the air. He started to weave, and I knew without looking what he was making. A Chronicle. Callie's Chronicle.


He reached out and pulled free some of her shadow from the table, using it as thread as he started to stitch together a book. Callie watched, but didn't stop him. He was doing this, but we both knew he wasn't. She was. This place was hers, and he was acting through her to create this. We could both feel his good intentions, both feel how useful this would be, so we just sat and listened to the story as he stitched.


"I spent millennia wallowing," he said as he worked. "Hating, and breaking, and healing. Until I made a choice. I decided that I had had enough. That the Void's grip on realspace was too strong. In those days, the universe as a dark and terrible place. They kept us alive as servants. As pawns and amusements. Because Ruxx was lazy and liked what we could do for it.


"So I began to plan. The fires of the Void were powerful, but they couldn't affect the Void itself. They were a weapon that could only be turned on my own." His voice rang with shame and self loathing. "So I went out and began to search for ways to change them. I searched for centuries, eventually stumbling upon a spark of divinity from a goddess of purification. An ember that had been one of her objects of power."


He held up a hand, and the blue black flame we had come to know kindled in his palm, leaping and dancing as he stared into it. "There was more. It was a long journey. But I eventually reached the end. I kindled a spark of Heretic Fire. I burned the Void from my very BONES, and I took up a war standard against the Void Children, driving them from our space and freeing my people from the servitude I help cast them into.


"They lauded me as a hero," he said in disgust. "No one was left who remembered what I had done. What I had been. When I changed sides, realspace had been under the boot for tens of thousands of years. I was almost glad that destroying Ruxx killed me. It was a relief not to hear their undeserved cheers of gratitude anymore. They made me sick."


His hands stopped, and he set the object he'd been holding down. It had been burning cinders before, scraps of the books I'd lit aflame to bring us here. That had been why I'd done it. But he'd stitched them together into a single, solid tome, and he pushed it towards Callie. She took it reverently, feeling the power from it, just like I could. He'd combined them for us. Her Path and Trait. Combined them more perfectly than I ever could have, and I wasn't quite sure what the result would be, even if I was eager to find out.


Callie picked it up, looking lost still, but she had one more question. This place was coming unravelled. And she had one more thing she needed to know. "What was your name?" She asked him softly.


He smiled fiercely at her. "I haven't spoken it for eons now. No one has. But I suppose, oh daughter of my heart, that if anyone deserves it, you do. I know you don't think of me in such a way, and maybe you never will, but someday, I hope to earn that regard. To have family again after all this time, and leave a mark on this world that will wash away the stain of what I did. When that day comes, when you feel ready to claim me as kin, lift your head with pride, and tell any who ask that you are the child of Adam Atlas." And then, we woke up.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We came back to reality dazed. The first thing I did was check on Callie. "Cal? Sweetie? You with me? How's your head?" I surged Zagan, flooding her body with life energy before she could answer, and she giggled and smacked at my hand.


"Wait til I respond, idiot," she said fondly. "And I'm…good." She sounded conflicted. But not in a bad way. I helped her sit up, smiling the whole time. I was just so relieved she was alright.


Everyone around us looked frantic. I glanced around to find my family and friends huddled nearby. "Hey, assholes," snapped Benny. "Maybe show some consideration? Callie just screamed and collapsed and then Shane went down after her. I don't know what happened to you idiots but I do know the rest of us were freaking out about it, so maybe take a minute to reassure us?" His voice was ragged, and I recognized the same tight helplessness I felt earlier.


"I will," I told him firmly. "AFTER I check on Callie. I need to make sure she's ok, we just went through something a little crazy, and I'll tell you all about it in a minute."


Callie stood up, spreading her wings…which had changed. Rather than a single pair of large wings, she now had three pairs of smaller wings. Oddly, these seemed much less intrusive, able to be folded up in a way the others really hadn't, but it was still shocking. Holly, one of the angels who were part of my crew and Chelsea's retinue visibly flinched when she saw them, looking terrified. "Holy shit, are you an ARCHANGEL now?"


My wife blinked in confusion, then her eyes went hazy in the way I had experience myself a thousand times when checking my stats. "Yes," she said with interest. "My Path is gone, and so is my trait, and my ability. The only remaining evidence of any of them is 'Master Trait: Heretic Archangel'. I'll be honest, that's a bit of a let down. When Shane gets a new power his stat sheet always gets way longer and more complicated. Mine was already pretty thin."


"Trust me, that's a good thing," I assured her. "Keeping track of all my bullshit is exhausting. But I am a little surprised. I mean, I figured you'd get some kind of demigod trait after…that. Though I guess it doesn't work like that."


Holly shook her head. "You don't get it." Her voice was frustrated and tight. "This is…there are no Archangels. None. Not even S-rankers. The transition from angel to Archangel isn't a matter of degree, it's a matter of type. Archangels aren't just 'angel but better'. They're…primordial entities. It's like comparing chickens to velociraptors. An Archangel is the beloved child of a god. An entity custom built to serve the will of their deity. Angels are BASED on them, but it's like someone trying to paint a masterpiece based on the description someone gave after seeing a blurry photograph one time."


Her tone had become both reverent and terrified. Callie looked conflicted. On the one hand…cool. On the other, while we'd known creating her Chronicle would let Atlas guide the way her traits blended together, hearing about it in that way made it seem intrusive and kind of stifling. It was clear from context that he's woven together the three Skills in such a way as to make the absolute most of her trait, in the same way that the old man had created the Wish power.


Honestly, we probably would have been a lot more worried, except he had ALSO blended the bond in, and left it just as strong as ever. I could still feel my wife beside me, still feel her soul touching mine, and it put both of us at ease.


My SECOND reaction after caution was awe. Binding the Chronicle like that…it was something I hadn't even imagined doing. But it was also a direct extension of my own abilities. And I knew that he'd shown me that on purpose. He's not only rewritten her story to have the effect he wanted, he'd disassembled MY OWN books to create hers, and had used that physical representation as a direct medium to alter her nature in a way I hadn't known was possible.


Atlas understood Skill and ability creation in a way I don't think anyone I had ever met did. Possibly even moreso than the old man. And speaking of the her Chronicle, I turned to my wife with an eager gleam in my eye. "So, you have your Chronicle now, right? What is it?" My Ten Demons Tome was unique. An extension of myself and my powers. Binding a Chronicle was a deeply personal thing, and given how much Callie had put into the Skills he was working with, I was sure the result within him helping guide her had been something amazing.


She held up her hands, which whooshed to life with blue black fire. "The Book of the Final Flame. It's an extension of the Heretic Fire, which is…more than I thought." As she stared at her hands, the blue black flame shifted subtle, the blue becoming muted, and I felt a sort of cold seep into the air. The same cold and despair I felt from the black mist of the Void taint. I blinked at her. "The Flame of the Void," she explained. "The Heretic Fire contains the seed of Void flame. It was Adam's old power, after all. Now that I'm better with it I can draw that out."


"Because Heretic Fire only works on the actual Void spawn," I nodded. "Now you have a weapon against other Ascendants when you need it. Though I have to wonder, if suppressing the heretic part creates that, what does suppressing the Void part create?"


She blinked, then focused on her hands. The blue undertones in the Heretix Fire strengthened, the black parts washing out, and it felt like…I stared down at my own hands. Zagan. Kind of. More purification than life force. But still a solid healing ability. That would be useful. Holly didn't seem to care though. She was more focused on something else. "What about the sword?" We turned to look at her in confusion. "Archangels aren't just angels but better, I TOLD you that. They're the sword of their god. Literally. Archangels have a soul weapon. Like Shane does."


I blinked at that. I hadn't realized the relationship I had with the Ten Demons Tree could be replicated, but I probably should have. Hell, the tree was GROWING out of my tome. I wondered what the connection was there to a god's object of power. Regardless, Callie seemed excited by the possibility.


Personally, I was more focused on something else. "If she has a soul weapon. She must have a place to keep it. My library is a pseudo Domain based on the old man's. Does that mean Callie has her own pseudo Domain like that?" My pseudo Domains were seeds of and ACTUAL Domain, and the foundation, I was pretty sure, of a god world, albeit in a VERY indirect way. If Callie had one, it could potentially give her all sorts of unique advantages, depending what the damned thing actually did.


Holly looked pretty confused, and at a general loss, which didn't shock me. Callie, however, knew from entering my library how this worked. She smiled softly at me, closed her eyes and then…


We were alone. Or rather, together. But everyone else was gone. We were standing inside of a huge black cathedral. The windows along the sides were towering murals of stained glass showing scenes of Callie's life. One was her meeting me, one was her slaying a god, one was our wedding, and the moment I proposed, and a dozen other important moments, some featuring myself and others not.


The pews of the cathedral were empty, as was the aisle, but at the end sat an altar. It was carved of gleaming black stone so dark it ate the light, and a book sat upon it, flickering with blue black flame. Above THAT, sat a sword. A huge behemoth of a weapon, easily six feet long and made of the same black rock, polished to a sheen and sharpened to a razor's edge so sharp it stung my eyes to look at it. In the pommel, held in a clawed hand, was a deep gem of startling blue, the tones deepening to black towards the center.


Callie approached, looking awestruck. I couldn't blame her. This was…a lot. Atlas was really working for that father of the year mug. I had no idea how he had DONE all this. Apparently gods were WAY more bullshit than I had been aware of. Which made sense. I hadn't had much contact with them, really, and never when they were serious about doing something and unopposed. Also Atlas was OLD. Maybe this was just a factor of him being THAT scary.


My wife approached the altar reverently, reaching up to wrap her hand around the hilt of the colossal weapon, lifting it free of whatever orbit was holding it over the book. She lifted it easily, the blade seemingly lighter than air, and whipped it back and forth a few times, her face splitting with unconcealed glee.


I sighed. Because of COURSE he would know that giving her loot was the fastest way to my wife's heart. "Shane!" she squealed in excitement. "I have a SWORD!" She spun, whipping it in a quick series of cuts that, while mildly impressive, made it clear she had no clue how to handle a weapon that size.


I winced and stepped forward to grab her wrist. "Whoah there, let's maybe not disembowel me. Not sure what it would do here, but I'd rather not find out. I'll talk to Fade about you getting swordplay lessons." I frowned. "I'm a little jealous. Why don't we have a staff master on the crew? Remind me to find one of those."


She snickered, then flicked her fingers and the sword appeared back above the book. "It's…amazing," she whispered in awe. "I think it might be one of his objects of power. Or part of one? I don't think I could hold the whole thing. But it's powerful, and it'll get stronger as I do." Her smiled was so wide it threatened to split her face. "I've always been so jealous of your weapon, Shane. Like I didn't say anything because why bother? But this…? This is all mine, and it's AMAZING!"


Flicking her fingers again, the blade caught fire, and the whole sword lit with the internal glow of the Heretic Flame. It looked imposing and majestic, but insubstantial. Like fire trapped in a black soap bubble. "Does it have a name?" I asked her with a grin. "My Ten Demons Tree didn't until I gave it one, so maybe you have to pick it?"


She blinked at that, her hyperfocus on the blade shaking as she was brought back to the present. "It doesn't. But I think I'll call it….Gossamer."


A word that meant something filmy and insubstantial. I could kind of see it. I smiled as she raced forward to snap it up again, retreating to the empty area behind the altar to swing it around. She looked so happy, all I could do was watch and smile. At least on the outside. Time in the soul space could be weird, so we weren't in a rush, but I had other concerns besides my family waiting for an explanation.


Because this was…a lot. Like yes, Atlas wanted Callie to be his legacy, to right his wrongs and redeem him to the world. I suspected he probably eventually wanted to be resurrected, but that was between them. We'd deal with it when it came. But to do all this for her. This wasn't currying favor with your new kid. This was arming his daughter for war.


We knew the Void was planning something. It was probably related to the Void god, or at least a new one, judging by what had triggered the Chronicle formation. But that was ALL we knew. What I was more worried about was all the things we DIDN'T know? Who were our real enemies? What were they planning? And how awful was it going to be that a dead god had felt the need to give Callie THIS to prepare her for it. There was no such thing as a free lunch, and I had the unsettling feeling this particular meal was going to include us eating a lot of crow.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Once we emerged from Callie's soul space, I explained everything to my friends and family. Inner circle only, of course, under Murmur. Of course, everyone wanted to see Gossamer, and my wife was all too pleased to show off her new soul weapon. Even my mom was jealous. My dad, apparently, had his own ( the cane he tapped to summon his contracted souls), but they weren't common below S-rank.


I had never even realized that my relationship with my staff was something so rare until they told me. Apparently everyone just assumed I already knew soul weapons were a thing since I had one, but I'd assumed it was just a unique interaction between me and the Ten Demons Tree.


It wasn't unique, but it WAS extremely uncommon. In this case though it wasn't an example of me doing some impossible bullshit by accident, as sometimes happened. The Reincarnation Tree my staff was made from was rare and mysterious, and the power interaction was as much on its part as mine. In my case though, it had interacted with the soul space I already had to form that bond, as opposed to Callie's soul space forming in response to the weapon itself.


"I want one!" Bethy trilled happily, appearing in front of us in excitement. "Show me how! I want it to be able to summon a wardrobe! Or an umbrella! Or a paintbrush! Ooooh! What if I made Luggage my soul weapon! People would sneak up on me expecting to beat me up and then BAM! Dogalanche!"


"Ok one, 'dogalanche' isn't a word," my wife said wryly. "Two, I don't think you can have a living being as a soul weapon, and three, if dogalanche WAS a word, it would imply a large number of dogs. One of something isn't an 'alanche"."


She stomped her foot in pique. "Luggage is the best! He's worth a thousand dogs! He can be a dogalanche, just you watch!"


I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Honey, what's rule number five on the Bethy list?"


"Never tell Bethy she can't do things," she groaned. "Look, that wasn't a challenge. Please don't make this a thing?"


I buried my head in my hands and screamed in frustration. "What's rule number FIVE?"


But it was futile, Bethy had vanished into the crowd, probably off to do something impossible and disturbing. My mother was giggling hysterically at our antics, and when I glared at her she held up both hands in self defense. "Sorry, it's just funny. She reminds me of an old friend of your father's." She glanced at dad. "Actually, what happened to Tim?"


He shrugged. "Last time anyone saw him he was trying to create a perfect Stealth skill by convincing himself he didn't exist. He vanished after that, so either it worked or he got bored and wandered into some kind of hidden pocket universe again. He's done that a few times. Either way, he'll probably pop up at some point where no one is expecting him and ruin someone's plans in some convenient and terrifying way."


My mom snickered. "Anyway, best not to worry about people like her. They always end up coming out on top. Some people are just loved by the universe. Bethy will be alright. And you two will as well, apparently." She stepped forward to wrap Callie in a hug. My wife stiffened, eyes widening as my mother said fiercely. "You really scared us there, sweetie. I'm so glad you're alright."


"Sadly, the good news ends at your survival," my dad added grimly. "We've been doing some thinking about the information you shared, and based on a few odds and ends you told us, we think we know what the Void has planned." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out…something. It looked like mercury, kind of, but more shimmery, and physically painful to stare at. It was confined inside of a familiar looking crystal. "Is this the spatial anchor you mentioned for the ladder?"


Callie nodded. "Yeah, that's one of the anchors. It's good you found one. I imagine they've been scattering them pretty deep, but the more we can dig up, the better chance we can stop this. But what do you mean you figured out the plan? The Ladder drags the planet into the Void, they destroy us and snap up a generation of Wishmaster candidates. Right?"


"Doesn't fit," he said with a head shake. "Or at least not with that rogue faction Shane mentioned. But if you add in the existence of the Void god, and this thing…" I gestured to it. "What if rather than dropping the planet in wholesale, they were planning to scatter it across the Void. Would the ladder do that? Use the anchors to rip the heirworld to pieces and disperse them across the whole of the Void?"


That got a horrified wince from my wife. "I mean…theoretically. Ladders have rungs. But there's no reason to do that. It would kill most of us. That would be a huge waste of potential converts and resources."


"Except we know that there's a faction targeting the Void itself. Or at least hoping to expand," my mother explained. "And now that we know that the ladder can connect multiple points, and we know how Void gods are formed…we've figured out the endgame. They're going to use the heirworld as an invasion nexus."


Callie looked confused for a second, then she went pale. "You mean move an army through this place and into other parts of the Void to consume them and get stronger? Try to create a Void god?"


I knew the Void god thing would be involved, after Atlas made such a big deal of forcing the information through whatever block the Void had tried to establish. But this sounded pretty bad. My parents seemed to agree, but the bad news wasn't over yet. "Not an army," Zeke corrected, breaking his previous silence. "That would mean sharing the power. Maybe some Void spawn, but it'll only be the one Void Child. In fact, it might ALREADY be happening. That fake alliance they offered Shane smacks of a stall tactic. Could the ladder be partially open? Connecting a few locations to start?"


"Theoretically," Callie admitted. "If they really are trying to scatter the planet like that, it would need to be done gradually. This world is protected by quite a few safeguards. The only good news is that the Void Child won't be able to come here directly until the ladder is established. The rungs will connect two points, and it'll be able to use those to bounce around in the void, but the planet isn't connected itself yet. Think of it like the individual rungs are already constructed but they aren't actually mounted on anything yet."


"Then we need to find more of these," my dad said, holding up the anchor. "The more we find the more we slow them down. If we find enough, can we completely derail the construction? Assuming we don't get them all?"


She nodded firmly. "Like I said, gradual. We can stop it. And we need to. Whatever Void Child is doing this is going to be growing from this. Fast."


"We have another problem," I pointed out. "Atlas's story made it clear that the Vessels grow alongside their masters. And whatever means they use to do that completely circumvents the normal progression system. Atlas's soul was forcibly elevated to mirror when his master became a god. That implies there's no inherent limit to Vessel growth."


My mom sighed. "Which means the Vessel currently on this planet representing this hypothetical future Void god could be reaching A, S, or even god rank inside the confines of the heirworld and completely bypass any and all safeguards. We need to stop this, now."


"I say we contact the grandparents," I said after a moment's thought. "Try to get them to pressure the council of elders with this information. Change the point bounties to anchors instead of Void infiltrators at LEAST. Maybe even do something more proactive, as unlikely as that is. If nothing else they can spread the word of what's really at stake. The Void collapse is kind of esoteric and hard to imagine, given how long this world has been around, but a rogue S-ranker? That's the kind of shit Wyndhams pay attention to."


"We've made good progress on the bounties as is anyway," my mom assured me. "Your B-rankers, under supervision of course, hit a few more targets while you were down. We also received reports from a few of the other teams. B-rank bounties are a hundred points each, and with six of them and another twenty C-rank bounties at ten apiece, we raked in another seven hundred fifty points today."


That was good news at least. I'd had two hundred fifty already, and this put me up to a solid thousand. I was pretty sure I'd be able to redeem most of my people with that much, though I hoped the redemption cost didn't correspond to the bounties or I'd be woefully short.


Exhaling, I nodded. "Alright, let's head up and get in touch with the others. Whatever the council decides to share, I want our allies filled in on the stakes. We'll have to scatter again after that, but at the very least we can hit more anchors with them helping. I want to get as many of them as we can before the Void realizes we're onto them."


The sources of information we were working with on this weren't anything the Void could know about. Atlas was totally off their radar in his current form, at least I hoped so. I had to trust the ancient god knew how to cover his tracks. Even if word got out about the Heretic Flame, I was pretty sure the whole Chronicle formation thing was something most gods couldn't have pulled. My dad had cheated his ass off to make it happen with me, and we were blood related.


But as soon as they realized we were pushing for the anchors, they would figure out what we were doing, and this whole thing would go from cat and mouse to all out war. I suspected that the forces of the potential Void god were helping us out right now, at least based on my conversation with that Vessel. It explained a few things about how quickly we got the information on where those bases were in the B-rank zone.


Which meant that not all of the Void were currently acting against us, and that would change once they caught onto our plan. I wanted to do some damage before that happened.


More than that, I needed information. If that Vessel I talked to was the Vessel in charge of this little invasion/coup plan, then he was our target. If we could find and kill him early it would be a huge relief. I didn't want to deal with a fucking S-ranker running amok on the planet.


I mentioned this to my parents, and my dad glanced at my mother with a sigh. "There…might be someone who could help," he told me uncertainly. "A lot of the coordination across the heirworld in the fight against the Void has come from the The Empty Room. They're an organization dedicated to studying the Void. Combat, travel, they have their fingers in lots of pies. Their current leader lives on the heirworld. If anyone could get you more information on individual Vessels its him."


Based on his hesitation, and on Atlas's story, I could understand why he didn't want me to meet this guy. The Void was all about corruption, and the people who studied them would be neck deep in it. I doubted they were fully traitors, they would be under close scrutiny, but I somehow didn't think the reputation or the beings they interacted with led to stable and likable personalities. But hey, maybe I was just paranoid. Whatever the case, I'd take all the help I could get.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We headed back up to the surface after a bit more searching. We'd found two more anchors leaving, but since we knew the levels wouldn't shift for another two days or so, we just recorded their locations for our wide purge later. Two anchors wouldn't matter in the long run, but if we tipped our hand too early we could screw over the whole plan.


After that, my parents reached out to The Empty Room, and the rest of us turned in early. Callie and I were exhausted after everything we'd been through, and I was mulling over some important decisions of my own.


When I woke up the next day, I made sure my scrolls were stocked up, and then I sat down and started doing some math. Two hundred forty eight scrolls, seven reserves for emergencies. I could use two and leave my friends with five. That would put me at an even two hundred and fifty, and based on my estimations, I should be able to net a solid hundred stats per scroll.


Twenty five thousand points, not to mention the things I'd been accomplishing since we'd gotten here. My big fight, recruiting Fade, my new armor, the job I'd done on the trial to oust the Void infiltrator bases.


I was sure it was enough. I could do it now. After all this time, after months of working on it, hell maybe a year at this point, I could finally hit C-rank.


And I needed to. This was going to be a mess, and I was way too weak. Not to mention a rank up would allow my staff to bump my techniques all the way to B-rank. That would be a huge coup in combat against about ninety percent of our enemies. But I was on the fence for one simple reason. Scrolls.


My scrolls were a force multiplier, a counter to all manner of terrible shit. Curses, poison, dozens of traps or dead ends or possible dangers just off the top of my head. Two hundred and fifty was a LOT of them.


But they were still D-rank scrolls. My NEW scrolls would be made with C-rank Impact, a full fifty percent boost to my current total, not to mention the actual hundred thousand points extra juice from my final push over the line. Plus I'd get nine a day instead of eight. The only question was whether that calculation would break even quick enough to be useful here.


In the end though…it didn't matter. The truth was that my life was a series of cataclysmic cacophonies of cosmic coincidence constricting my control and confiscating my continued confidence. Ugh. I was thinking in alliteration again. I must have been spiraling. The point was valid though. There wouldn't ever be a magical perfect time for me to rank up. If we got out of this situation it would be on to the next one. The god war, the Void war, being Wishmaster if I won.


So I told Callie what I was planning and headed out to confer with my forces. Or rather, to offer up scrolls to as many as would take them. It wasn't a hard sell. The thing about being an Ascendant was that you were at the mercy of the whims of perception (lower case p). You were defined by your renown, and while you could ignore of redirect that, you couldn't really CHANGE it very well until A-rank, and even then it was a less literal shift than what I was offering.


Everyone wanted to course correct. To specialize a little bit more. To shave some points off a useless stat and shore up their weak spots or double down on a strength.


The hardest part was finding the specific stats that I wanted to gather. Luckily, my lowest stat was Creation, and that wasn't a popular one among anyone but crafters. Almost everyone I talked to was happy to sacrifice a hundred points of Creation for a hundred of some other more useful stat like Might or Vitality. Once I snagged all of that, I headed back to my room at my parents place to settle in and prepare for my rank up.


I relaxed my soul, allowing the stats to come pouring in. I could hold off even the stats I got from wishes if I really flexed. But it was harder. Only doable for a short period of time at these volumes, and only because my soul was strong.


Twenty five thousand points went right into Creation, which was good because I got nothing else in that stat outside of the scroll stats. What I DID get, and in surprising amounts, was Focus and Perception. Twenty and thirty thousand respectively. Apparently my feats of outing the Void had been getting more attention than I expected among the upper echelons of the WCP.


Of course, I got about forty two thousand Might, because I had consistently demonstrated it to a starling degree in my fights and actions. Add in another fifteen thousand Vitality, and I had cleared the hurdle as easily as I'd known I would.


It didn't hurt as much as I'd expected, really. It was only a hundred thousand points, which was less than ten percent of my total at this point, so I wasn't overloading myself. The soul evolution was…a lot. But the shift to D-rank had already fundamentally shifted my perception of the world. This was just more of that same overwhelming change, so it was less jarring.


Honestly, it was almost anticlimactic. The soul change was pretty subtle, though noticeable. My soul changing from Amethyst to Tanzanite. It took me a minute to realize that the reason for that was staring me right in the face. My Chronicle was handling most of the strain. And the Ten Demons Tree was helping. I should have assumed that would happen, given the use of those two items, but it was still a shock, if a welcome one.


Before I knew it, everything was done, I had changed, and at the same time I felt like I wasn't any different at all.


Wishmaster candidate status. C-rank. Ability: Grandmaster Wish- Nine times a day grant a Master wish in return for proper compensation. Wish must be feasibly achievable by the candidate's own efforts within a three day period with current statistics.


Grandmaster Path of the Doom Sovereign- A Solid Path toward a great destiny.


Wishmaster candidate points-1000


Might-281,619


Impact-155


Fantasy-124,703


Vitality-161,854


Focus-169,766


Perception-168,014


Creation-130,372


Progress to next rank:1,198,337/10,000,000


Soul strength- Tanzanite Soul Body


Chronicle: Ten Demons Tome (pages bound:1)


wish scrolls stockpiled: 0 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)


Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)


Weapon: Ten Demons Tree (reincarnation tree staff that lets him simulate alternate lives to perfect his forms, and when combined with the library lets him simulate and deduce techniques in a process called the "Wisdom of Solomon")


Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)


Skills: Grandmaster Path of the Doom Sovereign, Lesser Valtek Mastery, Mastery of Cooking, Lesser Inventing Mastery, Beginner Balam Mastery, Minor Fire Manipulation Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor First Aid Mastery, Master Angelic Bond, Expert Dust Construction Mastery


DS Subskills. Monk: Stone Limb, Moonlit Night, Consecration of Flame, Ripple Running, State of Grace, Steam Arrow, Afterburner, Pit of Despair, Mountain Stance, Heart over Body


Rogue: Mercy Kill, Double Trouble, Touch of Tears, Flurry of Blows, Heavy hands, Marked for Death, False Fatality, Blood Curse, Creeping Darkness, Final Strike


Diviner: Overlay, Song of the Soil, Rhythm of the Wild, Eye of Revelation, Danger Sense, Piece of Mind, Empty Spirit


It was a lot to take in. My new soul, my extra scroll, my higher level abilities. But the biggest surprise of all was the capstone skills. I'd honestly forgotten them. You got them very late in DS, and they were hard to earn. Not just leveling up, there were questlines for those three skills. They were the pinnacle of what could be accomplished with each of my three subclasses, the very peak of what each skill tree offered, and even to someone as advanced down the paths of power as I was, they were…very useful.


First was the Monk capstone. Heart over body. It allowed the conversion of energy based attacks into physical strength. The monk had a lot of useful abilities based around fire and steam and various other energy types, and in game could learn a bunch of martial arts that let you basically do punch magic on top of that. Heart over Body was the ultimate form of the Monk, the shift from magical might to overwhelming physical force.


It would be absurdly useful to me, given my access to states like Zagan, where my overwhelming power couldn't be applied in any combat related way.


Second was the Rogue capstone. Final Strike. A simple name for a terrifying ability. It was basically the finisher to end all finishers. It literally took everything out of you. Once you used Final Strike, you would lose consciousness completely for an entire day. But it unleashed the strongest attack you were capable of making at your level. Every ability, every perk, every ounce of power. Final Strike was the last resort. The assassination move that you used when your back was against the wall.


It was terrifying and I had absolutely no idea what it could or would do at my current level or with all my various forms. But it wasn't the most important or useful of the capstones.


That honor lay with the Divination capstone. Empty Spirit. The ultimate protection from insight. Perfect defense against remote viewing, prediction, or any form of Divination. Empty Spirit was exactly what I needed. My Murmur domain was powerful, but it only worked as long as I was there to erase traces. Things would stay gone, but someone could use a tracking Skill or something after the fact and find me through traces I hadn't even known to erase.


But now things like that wouldn't work on me. Granted, I was sure that given it was only a Grandmaster ranked Skill, it wouldn't protect me from people TOO much stronger than me. But a blanket immunity to similar level tracking or scrying abilities, to fucking PERCEPTION effects in general for the most part, if I understood it properly, was…a game changer.


I slumped back, staring up at the flickering purple flames rolling over my vision in shock. I couldn't believe it. That was…it. My Doom Sovereign growth had come, my final capstone abilities, and I was just…ambivalent. I mean I liked them, and they were huge for me. But they weren't the kind of ultimate power I'd have envisioned when I started down this Path. The kind of bullshit I was capable of on my own had slowly built me up to the point where these two were just more powerful tools in my already bloated toolbox.


Not that I'd complain. But I suspected I was going to have to start condensing some of my abilities a bit once I finished all thirteen of my pseudo Domains. A Domain seed, like the ones I'd need to make, was a condensed and durable thing. When it came time to make my full Domain, choices would need to be made.


I let out a low laugh and hopped to my feet, stretching and enjoying the feel of my new and improved body. That was a problem for future Shane. For now, I was stronger, better, and I had new abilities to try out. I wasn't sure how much good they would do me, but hey, that was why I had powerful subordinates to test them out against. As a new C-ranker, I had just the target in mind.


Stepping to my door and pulling it open, I called down into the house. "Hey ma? Want to see me fight your apprentice?" At the very least, I knew that ranking up hadn't spoiled my ability to come up with good ideas. This was definitely my best plan ever.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"This is your worst plan ever," my best friend informed me cheerfully as I stood across the ring from my mother's apprentice. "You know you're going to lose, right? Like yes, you're the same rank now, but she's got ten times the stats you do, and probably has a Chronicle. Not to mention she practices the martial arts style that made your mom famous. You have no chance."


I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a TERRIBLE hype man? I'm about to get into the hardest fight I've had since my last battle with Bethy, and you're just sitting around cracking jokes."


"Oh, I'm sorry," he said in a deeply apologetic voice. "If that came across as humor, it was totally unintentional. You are absolutely going to get your entire ass kicked. In a very serious way."


"Benicio," said my wife kindly as she stepped up next to us. "If you don't stop demoralizing my husband before his big fight, I'm going to make you fight ME when he's finished. And I assure you. I would kick just as much of YOUR ass. If not more."


Benny clicked his tongue. "Married life has made you so mean. I was just messing with him."


"She can tell I'm worried," I explained with a chuckle. "And its putting her on edge. But he's not wrong, Cal. I'm about to get my ass kicked, and I'm fine with it. Ellie won't really hurt me. And I need to see how far I can push her. Won't be safe to engage any C-rankers unless I know what I'm really capable of."


She blew out a breath. "Yeah. Sorry. I just…I'm on edge. Now that Shane is C-rank, he's playing in a whole different league. We're supposed to be partners, and he pulled ahead, and I don't like it. I'm happy for you, of course," she said, turning to me. "But I feel so helpless with you jumping to the next rank, and I don't like it. Especially when I JUST got this kickass upgrade and now it feels like it suddenly means nothing."


I put a hand on her shoulder. "You're going to rank up in no time. With your new trait and your soul weapon? You're the Void's worst nightmare. Hell, once it gets out that you're a god's kid now…well lets just say I have to win this succession war or else you're going to pass me up so hard I'll never catch you again."


She gave me a wan smile, but I could tell it did help. She'd been really worried about the distance between us growing if I became Wishmaster. She never said anything, but I'd learned to read between the lines even when she hid her emotions from the bond. I'd just never confronted her about it because I didn't know how to actually HELP with that problem. If it could be helped.


But we'd seen from Satala that the children of gods (even adopted ones probably, or whatever Callie would be considered), got a considerable bump in renown. And that was regular gods, not scary Void adjacent Heretic gods that sent Void spawn into paroxysms of terror at their very mention.


Leaving her to think over our potential future, I stepped out into the ring. We'd found one in the courtyard of one of the two boarding houses surrounding my parent's cottage. Apparently they were basically standard in every Ascendant housing complex. Which made sense given how punchy we all were.


Everyone else looked excited, honestly. Bethy was taking bets and selling PEANUTS she'd gotten from…somewhere. Abel had reopened his sausage stand as a competitor and seemed to actually be beating her out on sales, though no one was placing any bets with HIM, so she was probably still ahead by the numbers. I considered betting myself, but I doubted my odds were good. Which was fair.


"This is lively," Ellie said as she strutted out to meet me in the center of the field. "As a complete newbie, it's shocking you attracted this much attention. No offense little lord, but your chances of victory here are…not high."


Clad in her usual golden armor, her giant mace swung over one shoulder, Ellisara looked like a warrior queen getting ready to slay a dragon or something. It didn't help my confidence.


Holding out my hand, I caught my staff, setting it whirling absently as my mom stepped between us, looking serious. "Alright, there WILL be rules to this bout. Shane, no using your staff's upgrade charge. A B-ranked attack is beyond the scope of this battle. Your weapon is a staff and hers is a mace, so despite both being B-rank, with your similarly ranked armors you shouldn't be in any real danger. No need to hold back either, Ellie can handle a little rumble."


The redhead grinned. "If you're REALLY impressive, you might even get to see my Sunsmasher Body technique. Though I wouldn't bet on it. There's a BIG gap between you and I. But hey, try to prove me wrong. Sounds like a party."


My mom nodded, gesturing us back and then retreating to a safe distance. She had us take up positions across from each other, and then said quietly. "Fight."


I expected a blitz. Ellie was the strongest C-ranker I knew of at the moment, and might have even been holding a Mythic Skill. I knew she probably had a Chronicle, but I ALSO knew it wouldn't be in my mother's Stellar Flame Fist, because my MOM'S Chronicle was Stellar Flame Fist, and she'd have been essentially hamstringing herself. Which meant the Stellar Flame Fist wasn't part of her ability and could be higher ranked than she was.


But despite the power I was both assured of and suspected, she didn't lunge at me or attack. She just…waited. I triggered Sammael, wings spreading behind me, and then after some consideration, I triggered Zagan.


Because of the combination of my grandfathers' purification flames, Jessie's life force abilities, and several modifier meta abilities, Zagan had the most raw energy output of any of my forms. In terms of pure power, Zagan was the peak. But it came with a tradeoff. Part of what made it so strong was how completely singular it was. It couldn't do any damage to anything. Ever. It was only good for healing and purifying. Until today.


I triggered Heart over Body alongside Glory, counting on the reinforcement of my flesh from the pseudo Domain to handle the excess power, and then I poured all that powerful life energy into the capstone skill and felt my entire body FILL with a sea of overwhelming power. My wings beat the air, and the sky tore, thunder echoing as the combination of Sammael's enhancement and the full power of Zagan and Glory flowed through my muscles.


Even my reinforced bones creaked under the strain, but I didn't care. My lips were peeled back in a bloodthirsty grin as I whirled my staff into action, spinning it into a series of sweeps and probing jabs, just trying to get a feel for her defenses.


Laughing wildly, Ellie swung her mace, and the weapon smashed into my staff in a series of blurs so fast it looked like she'd made a dozen concurrent movements. My assault broke with a crack of thunder (and not my staff, thank the gods), sending me stumbling back, guard broken. Ellie followed up, her mace hammering into my side, but between Mornax and my armor, I came away gasping with just a serious bruise instead of being folded in half.


I groaned, gritting my teeth tight against the pain. Then glared at her. I looked at my mother. "So, a question," I asked her tensely. "You said "a B-rank attack is beyond the scope of this bout. What about if I use my upgrade charge on a defensive ability?"


She raised an eyebrow at me curiously. "I mean, I won't begrudge you more durability, as long as Ellie is fine with it." She glanced at my opponent inquiringly, and the redhead nodded.


Grinning, I reached into my staff and triggered the upgrade skill, pushing Mornax to B-rank, and allowing my body to be reinforced by B-ranked defensive energy for the first time. Zagan might be most overtly powerful form, but combined with my enhanced Impact, Mornax was my most useful. I even dropped Glory. I didn't need it anymore.


Ellie raised a brow at me, looking unimpressed. "I mean, now I guess I can't beat you up until you drop that. But you can't beat me either. You're not strong enough. Not even close. Just give up. Why even bother with this?"


"Because if I didn't," I told her with a rumbling laugh. "This next part would probably kill me. Ninth circle of hell: Abbadon."


I wanted to know my limits. I could have used Final Strike, but honestly I wasn't sure that wouldn't kill her, and I didn't want to hurt her with an uncontrolled technique like that. I wanted to test my new limits. See what I could do with my capstones, and more specifically, to see what Heart over Body, the capstone of the Monk subclass, could really do for me if I pushed it to the edge.


Ellie looked confused when I said that. She looked LESS confused when I triggered Beelzebub, and even less confused than that when every one of my dozen clones triggered Zagan. Her confusion vanished completely as the clones all triggered Heart over Body and funneled every ounce of that overwhelming power into my main body, enhancing my physical strength far beyond what I should ever be capable of.


It didn't hurt. Not with Mornax at B-rank. This wasn't a B-ranked attack, no matter how impressive it might be. But it WAS enough to tear the fucking SPACE around me slightly as I blinked across the circle, my staff whirling like a hurricane, covering the sky in a torrent of attacks as I flickered around Ellie like a stop motion shadow.


I hit her. She didn't fall or really flinch at all, tanking all the attacks on her B-ranked armor, but I was able to deflect her retaliatory strikes with the overwhelming power of my current physical body, with a little bit of my Belial stance to mitigate the impacts.


Howling with laughter, Ellie shifted her stance, and something about her changed. Her form rippled, turning to living flame in a way I'd seen once before, back during the fight with her brother. Sunsmasher Body. I'd forced her to use it. Laughing, I triggered Mephistopeheles, enhancing my unnaturally strong physical blows with explosive bursts of black flame to try to offset the defensive power of her form.


A dozen blows landed on her still armored flame body in an instant, but she just ignored it, letting me land as many attacks as I wanted as she lined up a swing with her mace, both hands choking up for a massive smash.


My danger sense screamed at me to dodge, to move, and I triggered my waltz to evade as soon as it happened, knowing that blow would be too much for me.


Sadly, my waltz was based on my mom's Supernova Step, which Ellie was using at an extremely high level. She vanished in a blaze of flame, and I felt the danger sense trigger again as I turned to see her appearing next to me out of nowhere. She was still in her windup stance, and as soon as I turned, she swung full force, smashing the mace head on into my masked face at speed.


I blacked out. Instantly. Zeke's mask was designed to protect me, and I was still rocking a B-ranked Mornax form for defense. It didn't do any real damage, but it knocked me right the fuck out. Still, the last thing I remembered thinking as the spiked mace rocketed towards my head was "I made her use it". Damn it felt good to be strong.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I regained consciousness slowly, seeing a familiar cheerful red haired face hovering above me, a wide grin on her lips. "Hey there little lord, how ya feelin?" She backed off as I sat up, groaning as I tried to get my head to stop doing its best impression of a six piece orchestra.


"Like someone hit me in the face with a bus full of dynamite," I spat sourly.


She snickered. "Oh, no, that would have done WAY less damage.That was my Starbreaker Smash. It's my own personal variation on the master's techniques."


"How the hell am I in so much PAIN?" I growled. "I had B-rank durability."


"Of course you did," she said sweetly. "If you hadn't, that blow would have smashed your head like a grape. Probably STILL would have pulped you, except that mask is way more durable than it looks. That's why I aimed for your face. You're welcome."


I glared at her as I massaged my temples. "If I was at B-rank durability, how the hell did you hurt me?"


"Because I'm a peak C-ranker," she shrugged. "And an elite of one of the five factions. Crossing the gap between B and C is completely doable for me. That's why your mom allowed you to use that augmentation trick on your defensive skill. C-rank is a whole new ballgame, little lord. You were all but invincible in D-rank, with a few minor exceptions, and could do a decent job fighting up even when you first broke through, from what I hear."


I let out an irritated sigh. "I could, and I was expecting that to be the case here too."


She reached down to help me to my feet, brushing off my armor absently in a way that made me feel like my big sister was cleaning me off after a playground tussle. It was not a flattering thought.


My mother stepped up behind me with a proud grin. "I didn't expect you to force her to use the Sunsmasher Body. That technique is one of the most dangerous abilities I have to teach. That was an amazing showing, Shane."


I shrugged sheepishly. "I mean, I guess. I just…"


"You expected to do better," she said with a laugh. Nodding off to one side, she clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Come here. Let's talk. I allowed this fight because there was something important you needed to learn, and given you're your father's son, there's a non zero chance I need to explain it in detail before it sinks in."


A snicker brought my gaze over to where my wife was standing not far away, looking like she was prepared to snag me from the air if I fell over. At my scowl, she just shrugged. "What? I feel better now. I can tell you're not actually hurt, nothing bruised but your ego. Besides, even that isn't too bad off. You were happy for a second before you passed out."


I grumbled as I followed her and my mother off to one side, but she was right. I HAD been proud. Still was. Just not proud ENOUGH. I hadn't realized how badly I was hoping to win until I woke up. I knew I wouldn't, but part of me had still been burning for it. To beat the odds. To conquer my enemy.


And…that was wrong. Not wrong as in bad, wrong as in stupid. That was the kind of egoistic bullshit that would get me and my people hurt. Which had been the point of this, I realized. I'd been hoping to show off what I could do and prove myself, but mom had known it would go this way. So when we got to a secluded area, I stopped and waited, letting her talk rather than opening my mouth.


"That was a wonderful showing," my mother told me serenely. "I am UNSPEAKABLY proud of you. That said, it was also very stupid. Can you tell me why?"


"Because…Ellie is an elite from the church?" I asked slowly, not sure of the answer even if I knew the basic shape of it. "She's not some bargain basement Ascendant I can beat across an entire rank? Because she's your personal apprentice."


She laughed at that. "That's very flattering, sweetie, but no. You missed something relatively obvious. But it's a mistake a lot of people make at C-rank. You see, in order to reach D-rank, you need a Path. In order to reach C-rank, it needs to be solid. But in order to reach B-rank, you need a Chronicle.


"Chronicles, much like the transformation to D-rank, are a watershed," she gestured to my staff. "I'm sure you realized that you've been capable of some truly absurd victories since you got yours. You've always been ahead on the Path. And that has been a tremendous advantage up to this point. But once you hit your Chronicle, things start to even out until you create a Domain. Even your pseudo Domains aren't going to bridge the gap as much as they used to."


I put together what she wasn't saying. "You're saying most people I would fight at peak C-rank will have Chronicles. But in the dungeon, there were a ton of peak C-rankers stuck at the edge of B-rank, and Chronicles were still rare."


"The dungeon was a petri dish," she corrected me. "People were STUCK at peak C-rank. They had grown up that way, without a chance of advancement, and they knew it. They had no motivation to form a Chronicle, aside from a few VERY talented people who were able to push a skill to Mythical. But that's astonishingly difficult to do. Besides that, you're operating in a high social strata now. This is the succession war, and if you win you'll be the WISHMASTER. You shouldn't judge your future opponents by the standards of your past enemies."


That was a valid point. I sighed. "So it'll be a while before I'm invincible in C-rank, even discounting monsters like Bethy. Point taken," I grinned wryly. "Probably could have gotten away with less humiliation if I hadn't let my head get so big."


"It's incredibly common with people who rank up fast like you do," she shrugged. "There's no term for it really, because it's not exactly common for people to improve so quickly, but a certain amount of arrogance tends to seep into your recursion when everyone sees you as the next big thing. The fact that you can recognize it is going to be a big help with avoiding it." She grinned at my wife. "Having HER around is also likely to keep you humble. Since she's likely to pull ahead of you if you don't keep your nose to the grindstone."


Callie preened, but didn't comment on my mother's praise. The two of them had been getting a lot closer lately, and I really loved to see it. Mom seemed to see Callie as another daughter, and while I was aware that was at least partly motivated by guilt towards me, I could tell that she genuinely adored my wife and the feeling was entirely mutual.


"So, now that I've reached C-rank, I can funnel all my scrolls to you, Cal," I told my wife as I sat down heavily on a nearby bench, trying to let my head rest. "You'll be right behind me. Then we can focus on helping Benny and Jessie catch up."


She chuckled, sitting down to snuggle against me. Her nine wings wrapped around us both, holding me close, and she leaned her head against my shoulder. "I know. I'm just being impatient. Getting Gossamer made me think about how great it would be for the two of us to fight together with our soul weapons. We still can, I guess. It's just not going to be the same. We're partners and you're pulling ahead."


"Some advice?" my mother offered with a smile. "Don't sweat the small differences. I hit A-rank some time before Eli did, just by virtue of who my family is. But he hit B-rank before me. Any relationship is give and take. Even an Ascendant partnership. Until you're both gods, one of you will always be ahead and one behind. Which is which will change at any given moment, but in the end, it doesn't really matter."


At Callie's obvious look of confusion, my mother laughed and answered her unspoken question. "Because you're in this TOGETHER. Forever. He'll always be there to have your back, and you'll always be there to have his. Even if there's some distance, he's not going to rush ahead. He'll wait for you to catch up, and you'll do the same. Because no matter how far apart you are, you'll always be side by side where it matters."


Her face as she spoke was…glowing. In a way I recognized from the mirror when I talked about Callie. She and my dad had been through a lot, but one thing I hadn't ever doubted since I'd first seen them together was how in love they were. My dad could be a cold hearted bastard, but my mother was his whole world, and I knew he loved my sister and I too.


Was this what Callie and I would be like in a few centuries? Still just as in love? As much as I resisted being like my father in any way, I really hoped so. I hoped we got to have what my parents had. And based on the warm adoration coming through the bond as I took her hand, she felt the same. My mother noticed that too, and smiled. "Yeah, you get it just fine. Don't worry about the small stuff. You're together and you love each other. And if you think about it, isn't that worth more than a rank or some skills?"


At first I thought she meant figuratively, but then I really thought about it and…she was right. My ability to endure pain was something I could never have developed if I didn't have Callie to rely on. The things I'd been through would have broken me without her. Her racial trait, her heretic fire, her Path. All of it happened because of us. Because we were together, and made each other better.


I tried to imagine where I'd be right now if I didn't have her. Where I'd be without the warm reassurance of her soul brushing against mine every day. And honestly, I just couldn't. Because my mom was right. Even when she wasn't with me she never left my side. I couldn't have gotten here. Wouldn't have lived through everything that had come my way. I folded my arms around her, releasing her hand so I could pull her tight against me, and she returned the embrace fiercely.


"You two are so CUTE!" my mother squealed embarrassingly. "I can't wait to have grandbabies, they're going to be adorable little angels. I wonder when you'll have your first set of twins?"


Callie froze, not in her usual mortification, but in true, genuine terror as she processed that. "What do you mean, our FIRST set of twins?" she asked my mother in horror. "As in…you think there will be more than one? And why would we even have one set? Twins are rare."


My mother just shot her a puzzled look. "Your father is a twin, right?" Callie nodded hesitantly, glossing over the whole Atlas thing for now. "And Shane is a twin. And Ascendants are already predisposed to multiples because of the drama factor. I only had the one pregnancy and it was twins right off the bat. With the predisposition on both sides, you're extremely likely to have twins your first time too."


Ignoring my wife's horrified gaping expression, my mother clapped her on the shoulder. "We can worry about that later though. You two have a meeting with The Empty Room tomorrow, and Shane is so tuckered out. Might as well get some rest. You two kids have fun!" She turned and strolled away. She made it almost around the corner before she busted up laughing and Callie just stared after her in horrified silence. And I'd thought my mom was supposed to be the NICE parent.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Creating my scrolls the next day was anticlimactic. There were nine of them now, which was new, and they were C-ranked, which was new, but they were…just scrolls. The same ones I always made. After getting that done and kissing my wife goodbye, I headed for my meeting at The Empty Room.


I left everyone behind except my dad. The current master of The Empty Room was a man named Vacant, an A-ranker of considerable power with a very mysterious nature. Of course, being a Void specialist who gave most Ascendants the creeps, the man did a lot of his business with the devils, the WCP and the more…morally grey members of Ascendant society. My dad, being one of Adramalech's generals, was in a position to have interacted with the man a time or two, and so he would be making introductions.


"So, what do I need to know before this meeting?" I asked him as we walked up a small hill towards a large foreboding looking manor.


He hummed consideringly. "I'd say just try not to worry too much. You're a C-ranker, which means nothing you can do could protect you from an A-rank threat. I'll be outside, and I've taken measures to ensure your safety. Leave it to me and ask your questions."


His eyes flicked down to my shadow, where an Obsidian Soul Body he'd bound was lurking seamlessly. He'd attached it to me before we arrived, just to be safe, and I wasn't sure if knowing he could do that made me feel more or less secure. When we reached the door, he knocked on it sharply with his cane. There was a brief pause, and then the door creaked slowly open, admitting me to the house.


Nodding stoically to my father, I stared through the doorway, into the interior of a house that I…couldn't see an inch of. Nothing lay past the door. Just darkness. Like the frame was a hole in the world.


Taking a deep breath, I stepped through, preparing myself to fall or stumble or feel some sort of change.


Nothing came. Inside the house, the temperature was the same, the atmosphere was the same, everything remained exactly as it had been, except that I was just standing in nothingness. I activated Dantalion, hoping for some kind of feedback, but nothing came. Aside from the exact amount of ground my feet were in touch with, I appeared to be standing in a vast chasm of nothingness. I took a tentative step, and the ground appeared under my feet. Then another.


I walked for about ten minutes through the nothing, stepping into darkness for the ground to form under my boots, before I came to a stop. I sensed…something. Not concrete, but a presence nearby. I was being observed. Whatever it was, my Empty Spirit wasn't enough to counter it, but I was getting a sensation of observation, which meant that even when my immunity couldn't hold up it would at least warn me something was there. I cleared my throat. "Traditionally, it's polite to introduce yourself when greeting a guest."


"A guest?" came an amused whisper in the dark. It was carried around me like a swarm of locusts, buzzing on the air and not coming from any one location. "One must visit a home to be a guest. Is this a home? Can you visit that which is not?"


I snorted. "I would argue that constructing your home in such a way as to pose that question says more about you than you might like."


A sharp bark of laughter tore at my skin, scraping across the surface of my body like I was standing naked in a sandstorm. "Perhaps," the voice whispered jovially. "Or perhaps I simply do not wish to be visited? You come to impose on my solitude. You seek knowledge from beyond the edge of this world."


"I know," I told him bluntly. "I'm the one who decided to come here, I know what I seek. The question is, do YOU know what I seek? And what will it cost me to learn?"


"Cost," he mused. "A fickle thing. Information is priceless. Or perhaps worthless. Will you pay in kind? And what information would one such as you possess that I might wish? I remain on this planet because it suits me. I am not beholden to your bloodline, and should I wish to flee, even your ancestor would not stop me. I know many secrets about the deep places of the world, and they can be used for more than just barter."


I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't threatening you. I was asking a genuine question. But fine, you want information, I have some." I had discussed this with Callie when we found out about the visit. We only had one bit of information a Void scholar might want, and she was the only person who I felt had the right to decide if I revealed it. She hadn't hesitated for a moment, giving me permission to share her new father's story.


So I did. I recounted the story, and the voice waited with bated breath, listening intently to the tale until I finished. "Your offering is…magnificent," he breathed into the dark. "What knowledge do you wish?"


"I want to know the names and affiliations of the vessels you know about on the heirworld right now." I said without hesitation. "I suspect some of them have contacted you with tales of an alliance. They contacted me, and I have far less in common with them. The alliance is a lie." I informed him of our theory and the possibility of a new Void god.


A snarl tore through the dark. "Deception," he hissed. "Your gift of further information is appreciated. I will answer your question, but I owe you a further debt. One favor of your choice, to be collected at a future time." I nodded solemnly, accepting that for the massive boon that it was. "I am sad to say I do not have information commensurate to your payment, however. A deal was proposed, and so I will share what I know, for whatever use it might be."


I remained silent as he organized his information, and then he began to speak. "I know of seven Vessels currently active on this planet. Five are A-rank. One B-rank and one C. The last, I suspect, is the one you met, for it was he who approached me about this alliance. In my hubris, I considered this an assurance. I assumed one such as he could not lie in my presence. Perhaps my understanding of the Void is not what I once thought."


"We've all been there," I shrugged. "Anything you know might help. Do you know who they're Vessels FOR?"


That got a sigh. "A few of them. Void Children are…complex. Not all of them have a cohesive enough identity to be described. The three I'm aware of are Schnex the Keeper, Doranka, and Roviram. They are complicated beings, but their core natures are more consistent than most. Schnex is a collector. It finds promising talents and then nurtures them to add to its collection. It is…unusual, for a Void Child, in that it ALMOST doesn't hate Ascendants."


"That sounds horrible," I said cheerfully. "Who is its Vessel?"


"His name is Bremman," said the voice heavily. "He is a Heaven Murder Elf." My blood froze at that. Heaven Murder Elves were rare. I had met one, but she had been under the protection of one of the vanished gods. I'd been under the impression they were mostly extinct. Heaven Murder Elves were scary. Like…Vampire scary. They were natural geniuses at weaponry and combat.


A collector of the Void having one made sense, even if I REALLY didn't like the idea. Especially if he was an A-ranker, which, upon asking, he was. "Roviram's Vessel is an A-ranked Dullahan named Vex. Roviram is obsessed with the concept of finality, and his army of executioners bring true death to all that fall beneath their blades. Doranka, meanwhile is a parody of fire, manifesting a cold flame that freezes all it touches. His Vessel is a woman named Violetta, also A-rank."


He went on to describe the other two A-rankers, a man named Drewell who used exclusively his fists, and a woman named Nasha who used sonic attacks. That one sounded particularly nasty to deal with, and I had to wince at the idea of fighting her, even for someone like my dad.


The B-ranker's name was Pell, and he was some kind of falconer. Which sounded cool, except the Vessels all had access to a variety of terrifying Void spawn, and I was guessing his was an army of evil Void falcons, which was about as terrifying as it was awesome.


Which left us with the last one. The C-ranker I'd met. It was unfortunate we didn't know the name of his patron, but whatever Void Child he served had gone out of its way to fly under the radar. "The one I met didn't give a name at first, even to myself. I forced him to part with it as payment for information given. He called himself "Wise". A pretentious moniker, but one told true when asked. That is the name he associates with himself."


I snorted at that. "Yeah, he seems like the self aggrandizing type. Did you see his face? He appeared to me as an image of myself. I wasn't able to get a good look at any actual features."


"He came cloaked in shadow, as many of the Void are want to do," the voice admitted. "My own concealment was learned from them, and they possess perhaps the most advanced means of Stealth among the Ascendant factions and their equivalents." I noted he used the term equivalents as a plural, and I wondered what he meant by that, but now wasn't really the time. "He was not concealing himself, mind. But I believe was under the protection of something greater."


"Can you tell me anything that might help me find him?" I asked desperately. "I think he's the key to this mess, and we need to stop him from accomplishing his goals. If they're what we suspect, we're all going to be VERY screwed if he pulls this off."


He hummed ponderously. "Perhaps. I detected something subtle. A scent clinging to his concealment. Liquor. A particularly expensive brand native to Arcadia. It isn't TRACKED, per se, but it is uncommon. Perhaps an investigation into that might bear fruit. That is all I know."


Honestly, it was more than I'd expected. Even as a potential alliance partner, I doubted Vacant had been put in a position to learn all this easily. It was clear he'd investigated his potential partners thoroughly. He had been willing to work with the Void where I might not have been, but at the very least he'd done his due diligence. I should have expected as much from a veteran A-ranker, I suppose. You don't last long enough to reach the penultimate step below god if you're an idiot.


Thanking him for the information, I turned and headed back the way I came. Or at least I was pretty sure I did. Orienting yourself in a pitch black void wasn't exactly easy. But I made it to the door easy enough, and when I stepped through, I was suddenly back in reality, standing next to my dad.


He raised an eyebrow at me. "So…learn anything interesting?" I recounted the events of my conversation, and he grimaced but nodded along anyway. "Well, that's better than nothing. A shame he couldn't give us more on this "Wise" fellow. I'll look into the liquor. He didn't say what kind specifically?"


I was about to confirm that he hadn't, until I realized something was crumpled up in my palm. I'd missed it because my gauntlets prevented fine tactical feedback like that, and the thing was almost cobweb thin. I unfolded it, realizing it was a label. "Apparently he did," I said wryly. I handed it over to my dad with a chuckle. "So, think you can do anything with that?" Judging by his answering grin, he did.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next day was hectic. Arranging the full court press of searchers we needed required calling in a lot of favors with a lot of people. Some of those favors I called in personally, some my parents called in, but the result was the same. We had officially gathered enough people to head down to clear out the anchors.


Of course, we weren't going in completely blind. We had the two anchors we already knew about documented, but more than that, we had an army of Wyndhams, and that meant a LOT of spare wishes.


In order to make the most of that, we'd had everyone wish for compasses that would lead them to the nearest anchor (the compasses would ignore anchors that already had a compass locked onto them, unless the owner died without reaching them). We'd ALSO managed to make contact with the folks upstairs and tweak the bounty board to reward anchor captures.


The tricky part was that we were sure there were active traitors, so we couldn't ANNOUNCE that fact en masse. We'd ended up arranging for the board to change at a specific time, hoping the anchor bounties could all be applied at once before anyone else noticed.


Our own forces were, of course, under strict contracts arranged by my father in exchange for the compasses, which kind of killed two birds with one stone.


While all this was being set up though, my old man had begun the process of trying to track down the Vessel who went by "Wise", hoping to head off some of our future problems by being proactive. He failed, unfortunately, but was finished with time to spare on following us down to take out the anchors.


Which led us to now, standing at the top of the colossal staircase at the heart of Arcadia, about to head down with all our forces.


We split up into multiple groups again, and mine was, as before, only twenty five people, with three of our A-rankers leading the way. I'd wanted them to split up, actually, but mom had been adamant that I was heavily at risk down here and that she refused to let me go without at least my parents and Zeke as guards.


Now we were back down in the dark stone level, searching for the anchors we had clearly marked, ready to take them out first thing.


Despite the fact that everything was going according to plan (or possibly BECAUSE of it), I was deeply uncomfortable about…something. I just couldn't tell if it was one of my precognitive senses acting up or just my own paranoia. Or if those two things were even any different from each other at this point.


"You doing alright?" Asked a familiar voice. I turned to blink at Jessie, who was giving me a soft, sympathetic smile.


I shrugged. "Fine, just worried. This…this whole trip has been nonstop chaos. I should be happy that Callie's Path problem is handled. But now I'm worried this whole planet is going to be shredded into confetti and jettisoned to the furthest corners of the Void in a plot to make some kind of dark anti-god."


She stopped, grabbing my arm. I let her pull me to a halt, though there was zero chance of her being able to move me at D-rank. "That's my point," she said bluntly. "Are you ALRIGHT? Like…in a general sense."


Her eyes were shining with concern, and despite not having a bond like I did with Callie…I knew what she meant. She was asking if I was ok being around my parents. Being around them with my sister. Being around my cousins, and potentially becoming the boss of my entire family, after which I would need to reconstruct the entirety of the system that led to me getting there in the first place, at least as much as was possible given the strong resistance I would face from the council of elders.


And the answer was that I had no idea. To make sure we had some privacy I triggered Murmur at B-rank. It wouldn't work on my parents or Zeke, but I wasn't really worried about them hearing this. "I don't know," I admitted. "I don't think I CAN think about it. I've been going non stop for years now. And that used to just feel like a fun game, like I was on a nonstop adventure, but now…


"I'm going to hit the end of my task soon," I admitted. "If I win this. If I BECOME the Wishmaster, then I did it. I accomplished that first goal. And I'm not sure I'll have it in me to pick up the next burden. To shift gears and just turn my focus to stopping a war, or ruling the WCP."


Because at the end of the day, I wasn't sure what I was anymore. Not without this. Not without the quest I'd been on since day one. Because once I accomplished the goal (assuming I fucking LIVED through this mess), then I had to start the WORK. Becoming the Wishmaster wasn't the end, it was the beginning. The beginning of the hardest part of my journey, and after everything I'd already been through, I wasn't sure I had that in me.


I expected a pep talk. Some kind of encouragement or confidence. I expected an oath of loyalty or a promise to be by my side every step of the way. But Jessie had a way of knowing what people needed even better than they did, especially people she knew well.


She just hugged me. I froze, not sure how to respond. Not because I minded her hugging me, but because I couldn't really remember the last time someone had just given me a hug because I needed one. I just put my arms around her and held her back, resting my chin on the top of her head, and felt the strain drain away from me.


Because it didn't change anything. Not a single solitary factor of all the shit I had to deal with. And in a way, that made it exactly what I needed. Not everything needed to be this momentous colossal task or great shaking revelation. Not everything needed to be BIG just because we were Ascendants.


We were still people. Still humans deep down. And abandoning that like Zeke suggested might be easier, but it made it almost TOO easy. Made it too simple to gloss over the hurt, or the worry, or the fear, instead of dealing with it. And maybe that was WHY Ascendants could be so inhuman at the higher ranks. Because they had to be. Except when they didn't. Because maybe admitting you needed a hug from a friend because you were scared was ok too. Even if it wasn't a very Ascendant thing to do.


And paradoxically, admitting that, letting that worry in and accepting it could be part of me…helped. Acknowledging that I wasn't failing to live up to my future godhood by being scared. That I could be a god AND a person, even if most people didn't.


Part of me wondered about the timing of that revelation. After meeting Atlas, after seeing his sorrow and regret. After hearing the story of what the Void had done to him. He'd become the perfect god in some ways. The ultimate god. But it hadn't stopped him from being a slave to the Void. His humanity had done that. Adam Atlas the god had failed. Adam Atlas the person had saved the universe. Had he wanted me to see that? Had he been trying to show me by example what not to do?


Or maybe I was projecting way more competence and ability onto him that was warranted. Maybe he routinely let people assume he was all knowing and secretly manipulating things behind the scenes.


In the end it didn't matter. What I took from my meeting with Atlas was my own. Despite who and what he was, no one became a god the exact same way as anyone else. I could learn from him and keep what I needed, then drop the rest.


I released Jessie, stepping back with a chuckle. "You know, your power only lets you heal the body. You have no business being this smart about what people's minds and hearts need."


She just shrugged, giggling. "What can I say? I've always been the smartest of our group."


"Yeah," I laughed. "You kind of have. Thanks, Jess. Sorry I've been a little bit distant lately. With everything going on…"


She rolled her eyes. "If I was going to throw a fit every time my friend gets busy, I'd have picked different friends. You ARE going to win this competition, and become the Wishmaster, and when you DO, you're going to be even busier than now. But can you make me a promise? Please?"


"Anything," I told her solemnly. "Anything you need. You know that."


She smiled softly at me. "Take care of yourself Shane. And let other people take care of you too. After this is over, don't jump right into the saddle. Promise me you'll finally take Callie on the honeymoon you've been talking about. The WCP can survive a few months of vacation with the council running things."


I couldn't help it, I just laughed. "Yeah," I promised her. "I will. I'll make sure to-" I stopped, letting Murmur drop instantly as my head jerked up. Doom. Overwhelming horror and death. My Danger Sense was screaming so loud I couldn't hear myself think, couldn't process anything but the sheer overwhelming panic. "Mom!" I called loudly, trying to get their attention.


My parents had stopped just ahead, and at my call, my mother nodded. "Yeah, we noticed," she said grimly. "They snuck up on us. Used the spatial instability to get close."


"Who did?" Callie asked, appearing at my side. "Who's there?"


A low laugh echoed from the darkness. "That would be us," came an amused voice. And then several figures appeared from the shadows. Or rather, five. Five figures. Five A-RANK figures. Two more than we had.


Before we could speak, Zeke was standing behind us. A series of masks flowed from a pouch on his belt, enlarging as they drifted into the air and began orbiting the group. Everyone except for my parents, who were trapped outside the circle of masks. Alone. Without even Zeke for backup.


Not that the two of them seemed fazed. My father tapped his cane on the ground thoughtfully. "A trap then," he said contemplatively. "I'm guessing you had some sort of detection array around the anchors? Assumed we'd be back for them?"


Which meant they didn't know about the plan. The contracts had held up, and he was trying to warn us to keep our mouths shut.


I understood. They couldn't have dispatched any more A-rankers than this anyway. Or if they could it wouldn't be many. Sebastian and Killian were both powerful combatants. It would take more than a single enemy to take them on. The full court press could still succeed at wiping out enough of the anchors, provided they didn't catch on and find some way to counter our plan.


The tallest man there was familiar to me. Not because I knew him, but because he had about five points of similarity to Dayna, including the pointed ears. Bremman, the Heaven Murder Elf. He seemed to be the leader of this motley collective.


"Well, you're not complete idiots," he said lightly. "Shame that even the partial idiocy you're guilty of carries the death penalty."


My father's lips peeled back from his too white teeth, his horned visage so like mine and so very different at the same time. I hadn't seen him quite like this before. So excited about the prospect of violence. "I'd have thought the servants of the Void would have more imagination. But don't worry. By the time I finally let you leave this world, I'll have demonstrated the DEATH is the least of the penalties I plan on applying to you." Then he tapped his cane again, and the world was consumed by shadows.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I expected my dad and mom to leap into action. His shadowy black soul army spread out around them, taking up a sort of formation shaped like a series of concentric stars, easily thirty of the things. But rather than join him in combat, my mother hummed consideringly. "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten," my dad said with a grin.


"Six," she responded instantly, clearly more aware of what that meant than I was.


He barked out a laugh. "Nope, it was four. Go wait with the kids." His tone was teasing, but relaxed. He wasn't even remotely worried.


She clicked her tongue and strode over to where Zeke was surrounding us with masks, walking effortlessly between the rotating items as she came to stand beside Chelsea and I. "Um…what was that?" My sister asked slowly.


"It's called high or low," my mom explained. "Whenever your father and I have to share enemies, one of us picks a number between one and ten and guesses. One to five is low, six to ten is high. If you're in the same range as the person who picked, you win."


"Winning in this case being…the ability to fight five powerful A-rankers ALONE?" I asked her in disbelief.


She smirked at that. "Elijah never fights alone. But don't worry, if he runs into trouble I'm right here. I don't see that happening though. There's a reason your father is so prized by Adramalech. Catching the attention of a devil prince isn't an easy thing to do."


I couldn't help but remember the towering purple skinned figure of the devil I'd met at the conclave. Someone who spoke to Morgan Lark as an equal and had been completely unbothered at the thought of fighting Harrison with almost no provocation. I could imagine how powerful someone like that must be.


Bremman, who was standing at the forefront of the A-rankers, smiled indulgently at my father. "That's the kind of arrogance I'd expect of a Wyndham. And not just a Wyndham either. The rebellious son. The Wish Devil. I'm curious, why are you so focused on standing against us? You've seen the depravity and corruption your family has be-"


"Let me just stop you right there," my dad sighed. "Please don't. Like, I understand that it's tradition, trying to sway me to your side. That you'd be a powerful ally, and all that I wish for could be mine and blah, blah, blah. Or maybe you're actually an idiot and you were going for a soft sell, trying to tug on my heart strings. It makes no real difference. It's not going to work.


"I don't care about your tragic backstory, I don't want your priceless treasures, I don't have any unresolved issues to work out on my relatives," he said blithely. "If I want something, I take it, if I don't like someone, I kill them, and I am very experienced at tempting and corrupting others. Frankly your amateur sales pitch is insulting, and I should very much enjoy allowing both of us to skip the awkwardness of you trying to make it and just dispense with the ensuing bloodbath."


He tapped his cane (a soul weapon of some kind, I knew), and a mirrored sheen rolled up from the ground, over the cane and his body, covering him in a reflective finish, which with another tap turned the shiny black of onyx, just like the others. Another tap, and there was an eruption of black smoke beneath all thirty versions of my father, and then they flickered and reappeared at seemingly random points all over the chamber.


Six of them for each of the opponents, surrounding the five A-rankers in a loose ring.


Bremman, meanwhile, looked incensed. "I tried to do this the easy way," he snarled, his eyes lighting up an eerie blue. Black mist poured from him as he manifested a large black spear, driving it forward directly into the chest of one of the nearest clones.


The onyx soul in the shape of my dad choked, seizing up, and then collapsed into a cloud of black smoke. The Heaven Murder Elf choker, waving away the smoke, but it clung to him, even as the other clones attacked. He snarled, stabbing his spear into another clone, then a third. The smoke billowed up, clinging to him even more tightly. Five clones, all dead in a blink as he engaged the last one with a snarl.


Driving his spear forward, his eyes were wide with rage…and then with shock, as the cane simply stopped the blow head on.


Not just the blow. As soon as the spear touched the head of the cane, the black mist and blue glow vanished. The black smoke around him thinned, but didn't disappear. He looked shaken. "What…what have you done?" He shook the spear, smacking it against his palm a few times. "What have you DONE?"


"Combat," my father said casually. "Is a social contract. Two combatants unleashing violence upon one another until one or both are dead. However, like all contracts, it has certain provisions. For instance, while multiple people can engage in combat, each person involved can only die once. Your spear attack killed me with the first blow. And the second. And the third. You've killed me no less than five times. I'm afraid contractually, you're quite overextended."


The spearman looked outraged. "What? I never agreed to that!"


"Of course you did," my father said cheerfully. "As did the rest of your friends." He glanced around at the others, who I noticed were all standing in front of now singular copies of him, looking similarly cowed. "And that's not all either. I've repossessed your Void taint in order to repay your debt, but that's only worth one or two lives."


He tapped his cane, and the spear vanished from Bremman's hand, then again, and the elf stumbled, his leg giving out under him and sending him collapsing to the ground. He stared up at my father in terror. "This is…you can't do this! This isn't possible!"


My father shook his head, smiling coldly. "Incorrect. I'm the Wish Devil. With the payment of a human soul I can do nearly anything. And you paid me five."


He knelt down in front of the cowering man and stared straight into his eyes. "I could have done this nicely, you know. I could have killed you quick. Made it look effortless and reinforced the terror that others feel of me. But I'm not going to do that. I have questions about your masters."


"I…yes," Bremman said desperately. "I'll tell you anything! I swear! Ask me whatever you want to know!"


My dad chuckled darkly. "Oh, you've misunderstood. I already told you earlier that your sloppy attempts at coercion were insulting to me. You are not a source of information, Bremman. You are a DEMONSTRATION." He stood and turned away, then tapped his cane again. A wave of black energy exploded out of his cane, funneling into a cloud above his head and then swirling into a vortex, the mouth of which poured itself into the mouth of the Heaven Murder Elf.


Bremman screamed, writhing on the ground as he clawed at his face, and cracks began to appear along his skin, starting at his mouth. The cracks covered his whole body, spreading quickly, and then he screamed and his form shattered, the rest of him flaking off as a reflective soul climbed up to stand in front of my dad.


He hummed with amusement. "Go stand guard for my family." The mercury soul nodded, hefting its mercury spear, and its eyes glowed blue as black mist began to pour off the weapon.


My dad turned to one of the other four A-rankers, all of them now kneeling in front of his other clones. "You," he said to the woman that, based on the ice surrounding her was Violetta. "Tell me what you know about Wise."


"I…" she stammered. "I don't know! Wait no please I swear!"


"And that's enough of that," Zeke said breezily, snapping his fingers. The protective field his masks created went opaque, and I turned to look at him in shock…only to spot my mother sighing with relief. That made more sense. Protecting us like that was out of character for him, but less so for mom.


I turned to her with a frown. "You were expecting this," I said bluntly. "You both seemed completely at ease the whole time. You knew there were alarms on the anchors. That was why you encouraged me to leave them for later." That had been subtle, I'd barely noticed it happening. I'd thought that was my own idea.


"A demonstration," she said, echoing my dad. "The Vessels are dead, and the part of the soul your father retains isn't connected to the Void Children, but the process of their deaths will be witnessed. I personally don't much enjoy cultivating that sort of reputation, but when necessary I can be flexible."


Chelsea looked devastated. "Mom…" she whispered. "I can't believe you were ok with that. The things he was doing. I mean, I expected it from him, but you're a SAINTESS. You're supposed to be…better. Better than dad."


"Better?" my mother asked calmly. "I believe that was the best I've been in quite some time. Let's ignore the Void aspects of this for a moment. Ignore that those are monsters who feed people to the darkness beyond space. Even if they had been normal humans. Even if they had been saints themselves. They made a mistake. They tried to hurt my CHILDREN.


"I don't care what you think of what I just did," she told my sister calmly. "You can hate me for it if you like. But I'd do it again in an instant. Don't make the mistake of thinking that being from the church gives us the luxury of being paragons of virtue. Sometimes, to protect the ones we care about, we need to get our hands dirty. Your father didn't teach me that, dear heart. I taught HIM."


Personally I wasn't bothered. Soul bullshit was ethically dubious at times, but like she said, the Void destroyed the human part of them anyway. Though not as entirely as I'd believed, given the terror on Bremman's face. I guessed even sociopathic Void stooges can be afraid if someone is scary enough.


Zeke cleared his throat. "Think we're all good," he said. He waved a hand and the masks retreated, floating back into his belt, shrinking as the went. My dad approached, five new mercury souls trailing behind him menacingly.


I raised an eyebrow at him. "Finished having your fun?" I asked dryly. "Did it actually LEAD to anything?"


"Oh ye of little faith," he chuckled, tapping his cane. The five mercury souls and all the onyx still out vanished in clouds of smoke. "I got everything I needed. Wise is performing the ritual as we speak, slowly opening the portals like we suspected and growing stronger over time. And now…I know WHERE."


My lips peeled back in vicious triumph. "With the rest of our forces attacking the anchors, he'll be too distracted to see us coming, won't he?"


The Vessels Void Children might have seen what we just did, but they weren't WISE'S Void Child. They couldn't tell him without a means to interact, and I somehow doubted they were going to believe he was a friend much longer, given he was going to run out of neutral targets and start picking off his own soon to grow his power. I'd be shocked if he hadn't started already.


"Call Sebastian and Killian," I told him bluntly. "We need to get down there and take him out. Before he hits S-rank. You can take him on at A-rank I'm sure. Let's get down there and fucking end this once and for all." I paused and looked around the room. "Also, did anyone record us taking down the A-rank Vessels? Bet that'll be worth some points." I still had a competition to win after this was all over.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Down, down, down into the deeps. The ritual, to no one's surprise, was taking place on a much lower level, one much closer to the center of the planet. Not TOO close, mind. Our B-rankers and those of us with Chronicles were able to withstand the pressure, and Zeke had lent a few masks to the others to offset the strain for them, but it was much deeper than we'd been so far.


Which I supposed made sense. The Void Ladder was using the entire length of this stairway as a focus. In fact, it was probable there was another group of Void Vessels coming down (or I guess up?) from the other side to plant the anchors.


I'd completely blanked on the fact that this planet was dual sided and that there was probably a similar invasion (albeit most likely missing the key actor in the form of Wise himself) taking place opposite us. Luckily, I wasn't the only person on this planet, nor was I actually in charge of the WCP (yet), so I assumed that other people were dealing with that whole mess, and I was free to focus on the impossible task I already had to worry about, namely, disrupting the apparently ongoing ritual Wise was performing before he got too strong and dealt with US.


Part of me was hoping we'd taken out his entire force, that we would have a free shot at Wise as we approached, but unfortunately, that was proven demonstrably false.


"Shit," Zeke said as my entire group of thirty plus stopped at level above our target. He'd set one of his masks on the floor, manifesting some kind of technique, and the thing had…become him. Or at least his face. That I'd seen before, but I had NOT seen that face sprout spider legs and scurry off into the dark. Apparently he could see through its eyes too, because he was currently reporting the view to us directly. "There's a bunch of them."


I cursed. "How many is a bunch?" I asked anxiously. "We've got six A-rankers, not to mention Fade who might be able to fight up a rank. Do they have more?" Aside from the five I'd brought, we'd ended up meeting up with Davis, my cousin Derran's dad, and several more B-rankers besides. They'd finished their anchor sweep, so we'd recruited them to help us with the raid. They were more than happy to join up once we let them in on the stakes for this particular outing.


"Ten," he said grimly. "And…that's bad. I'm pretty sure they have a Void tainted DRAGON there. It might be a Vessel, I can't tell. And there's not just them either. There's a LOT of Void spawn down there."


I sucked in a breath. "You sure it's not a Wyvern?" I asked weakly. "Or a Wyrm or something?" I'd never seen an actual dragon before, but I knew they were SCARY. Apex predators, the least of which were born at D-rank. If he considered it a threat it must be A or B-rank minimum, and that was…unsettling.


"I mean, it could just be dragon shaped Void spawn, I guess," he said slowly. "I don't know where those come from, so I can't say. But I've SEEN dragons before, and that definitely fucking looks like one."


I grimaced. "So…ten," I looked at the others. "Can we do ten? If we assume Wise is still at C-rank, and I'm not sure he is, I'm willing to take him on. But we have to be able to GET to him." I glanced at Callie. "I assume we have some kind of PLAN here? Like you know what's supposed to happen to stop all this?"


She flicked her wrist, and Gossamer appeared, the blue black gem pulsing eerily in the hilt. "I can shut it down. If you can get us close. Adam made sure I'd have a way. I think that was the whole reason he gave me the sword."


"Alright," I said with a sigh. "Then we've got our plan. Callie, you're with me. We're going to use Murmur to sneak in while the others distract the defenders." I looked around at my friends. "This is going to be VERY dangerous. If anyone wants to back out, there's no shame. This is going to be a mess." To my complete lack of surprise, not a single one of my people stepped forward. Whether out of loyalty, self-preservation, or good old fashioned greed, everyone was onboard.


We stepped out of the level we were on (the nineteenth) and headed down once more, remounting the stairs. We'd stopped on the floor above where the ritual was going on to do recon, and now…now it was time for battle.


Murmur washed over me, and Callie beside me. Not JUST Murmur either. I boosted it to B-rank with my staff. My stealth domain was powerful enough to affect even high ranked opponents, so the boosted version should enable us to get past any of the enemies in question. "Ok, everyone stick to the formations my dad lays out," I said, letting my voice roll out of the field. "Be safe, and be careful."


I grabbed Callie's hand and squeezed, and the two of us made our way around the bend in the staircase. I stopped when the forces ahead came into sight because…damn, that actually was a dragon.


It was funny. I'd never seen a dragon. I hadn't even really seen any decent PICTURES of a dragon. But looking at this thing, all I could think was that this was what a dragon looked like. I'd mistaken things for dragons before, like the Bone Wyvern, but looking at this creature, I was absolutely blown away by how I could make that mistake, because nothing I'd ever seen before looked like THIS and this was so obviously a dragon.


We approached it slowly, almost ploddingly so. I felt the need to move slow to allow Murmur to work to its fullest, because I didn't want the dragon to spot me. I needn't have worried. As I passed into range, there was a rumble and the stairs beneath us shook aggressively. Looking over my shoulder, I spotted my mother standing further up the steps, her body made of living fire. The dragon's eyes, and the eyes of the other A-rankers, were all on her, leaving us free to slip by.


The approach was nerve wracking. Even under stealth, the crowd of Ascendants and Void spawn arrayed on the stairs, blockading the level in question, was truly staggering. I kept expecting them to notice something out of place, but the further I got, the less concerned I became for myself…and the more I became for my friends.


Because my family and my retainers had engaged as soon as they were in range. My mom hit the dragon like a speeding train, my dad deployed a full seventy two souls (many of which were mercury and three of which were mirror), and Zeke had deployed more masks than I thought he even had access to. A small army of swordmasters, marsh elves, and every other local we'd recruited since out arrival rushed out, with Bethy, Abel, and all my friends trailing after them.


And we just…left them. It made me sick, turning my back on my friends in battle. But if we didn't take out that ritual then this planet would get torn apart, even assuming the Void Child behind it didn't become an S-ranker and slip through to murder us all ahead of time.


The level the ritual was taking place on was confusing. Mirrors lined the walls, ceiling, and floor. Once we entered, I had to slow us down, because there were so many fucking reflections for me to erase as me moved that I was barely able to keep up even walking at a crawl. Callie clutched my hand tight. "We're close," she whispered. "I can feel the call of the Void from ahead of us."


I decided not to read into her still being able to hear that despite her elimination of the Void Path. As as Heretic Archangel, my wife was tied to Atlas, and Atlas was a former Void Vessel whose whole power was based on being their bane.


It took us about twenty minutes to penetrate deep enough into the level to start to find evidence of the ritual itself. Anchors floated in the air, empty stones suspended below black tears in the fabric of reality. Through the tears was just…nothing. Not the Void, not an abyss, just the complete absence of creation.


Callie stared at the holes in sick dread. "It started," she whispered. "He's already eaten several sections of the Void. Because it's not a stable or solid place, when a Void Child takes a territory, they consume it and integrate it into themselves. They literally ARE what they eat, and they eat the Void. They embody their territory, so as they expand so does their power."


That explained a bit of how the Vessel thing worked. It didn't make sense to artificially inflate the soul like they did, but the Void was the opposite of space. Like…the spirit to reality's flesh. Whatever part of the soul they took from their Vessels must be enough to connect them directly to the Void in a way similar to how normal gods connect to their worlds. I blinked at that thought. I didn't…that wasn't obvious. At all. Where had that come from?


I felt a pulse in my chest and realized it was the bond. Callie and I were connected soul deep. What she knew I knew, at least sometimes.


We stepped past another dozen tears, ignoring them as we approached a circle of blackened crystals jammed into the ground, energy leaping between them as they conducted spatial power unlike anything I'd seen.


And in the center…was me. Wise was still wearing my face, for some reason, and seeing it look so cold and smug was tough for me. I expected Callie to have trouble too, but oddly she didn't seem fazed. She knew that wasn't me, she could feel me. She was clearer than anyone that this was all bullshit.


There was a rumble underfoot again, and I heard a rattle as the mirrors shook. The me in the center of the circle frowned, then looked up and…stared. His eyes, blue glowing Void irises rather than my own green, fixed on me. "Well hello there," he said, grinning widely.


I froze, but after a long sigh, I dropped Murmur. It wouldn't do much good anyway. Because now that I was closer, I could see that Wise wasn't a C-ranker anymore. He wasn't even a B-ranker. Wise had clearly eaten more territory than we had expected in such a short time. He was firmly in the S-rank now.


Despite that, I didn't panic. When I folded my domain, I didn't drop it completely. I just condensed it to cover Callie more thoroughly. Sure enough, his vision didn't seem to twitch. Whatever his eyes were doing to pierce my stealth so easily, it wasn't something that affected my wife. Callie was a Heretic Archangel, and was the natural enemy of the Void. Wise had some tricks with stealth, which I knew from The Empty Room, but those tricks didn't extend to her.


So I took all of his attention on myself, focusing Murmur as hard as I could on Callie as she started to slowly edge around the circle. I didn't know what her target was, but it didn't matter. It was my job to make sure she reached it. She knew how to take this apart and I needed to give her the time. So I did what I did best. I decided to bullshit.


Grinning at the Vessel, I spread my arms welcomingly. "What? You weren't expecting me? I've decided to take you up on your offer of an alliance. I even brought an army here to surrender to you. What do you say?" Wise had opened his mouth to reply, but when he heard that, he froze, clearly not sure what the hell was going on. Callie continued to inch across the room, and I tried desperately to come up with a plausible story to explain all this. Given I could sense the others approaching behind me, it would have to be a doozie.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"You want…to surrender your forces?" he said slowly, his tone obviously disbelieving. "The ones with all your friends and your PARENTS in them? Those forces? You want to just…hand them over to the Void?"


I was panicking. Or rather, I would have been panicking if I could fucking THINK. Instead, my entire godsdamned brain was lighting up like a theme park of agony as my Danger Sense tried to clobber me over the head with the fact that I was SPEAKING to an enemy S-ranker. I was less than a hundred feet from the bastard, as was my WIFE, and we were both in horrifying amounts of lethal danger.


I triggered Leviathan, because I had to, both to ward off the Danger Sense and to prevent myself from being flattened by the extremely inconsistent field of Impact radiating off Wise.


Which was almost definitely why Callie and I were alive. Wise wasn't…right. He WAS an S-ranker, but he was still operating like he wasn't. The Void in his system had boosted him up several ranks, but he was…stilted. It was the only reason I could think of that he wouldn't have noticed Callie.


This entire plan had been extremely haphazard. Looking back, I could see where my Fatewalker instincts had been pushing me back and forth during this whole debacle, leading to outcomes that were probably outwardly extremely dangerous, but that I was pretty sure I'd get through. I was threading the needle, and while I knew that this wouldn't save me if I actually pushed Wise over the edge, I still had options.


I reached into my ring, wrapping my will around something that had been in there for a very long time. Something I hadn't even thought about in months, because it would be a waste to use it against anything but a literal deity. The token.


Almost a year ago, I'd won a single use defensive token from the Lady of Lamentation during the trials on Rackham. I'd never had occasion to use it, but if anything warranted busting out the big guns, it was this. But I couldn't activate it yet. If I did, Wise might notice Callie sneaking around.


At the moment, her status as a perfect Void predator seemed to have combined with Murmur to grant her some protection from his incomplete senses, but who knew how long that would last.


Which left me scrambling, trying to justify this whole mess with nonsense to keep his attention. I'd have preferred the life and fate of every person I loved NOT rest on my ability to make shit up on the spot. But sadly, wishes weren't horses today. Lucky for me, this had all been going through the head of a parallel I'd spawned before engaging in this conversation, so I wasn't standing around like an idiot staring at him in terror. I smoothly answered his question.


"Not for disposal obviously," I told him dismissively. "But let's be honest. We both know what's going on here. I wouldn't have made it here if I didn't. You've won already. We could keep struggling, of course, but how many of my friends and family would die? I can't risk that. I won't. The WCP hasn't done shit for me in my life. Who cares what happens to their prison planet. I'm more concerned with my people, and I want to ensure they make it out of this in one piece."


A surrender hidden inside a plea for mercy with a side of ego stroking. I was almost proud of myself for that. Sure enough, Wise looked pleased. I'd figured him out. It was the form changing. He looked like me. That said something about him, whether he wanted it or not. I wasn't sure why he'd fixated on me, whether he hated me, was jealous of me, or just wanted to prove he was better than me, but he had SOME attachment.


"You ARE smarter than I gave you credit for," he gloated. "But then, I suppose that's not a high bar. How do I know you aren't planning some betrayal? That this isn't a ploy to buy time for your parents to arrive?"


"To what end?" I asked bitterly. "You're at S-rank now. You'd crush them. I didn't reunite my family just to watch them die. Not to mention I'm standing right in front of you. If an S-ranker wants me dead, what the hell can I even do to stop it? I'm completely at your mercy. All I can do is plead for my life." I let my head fall, projecting the image of a broken man.


He laughed coldly. "How pathetic. Shane Wyndham, the Wish Devil's Son, debasing himself for his enemy. I suppose you would be an amusing pet, if nothing else. But you're forgetting something. Your wife. I know what she is, and I don't believe you'd sacrifice her. Actually, where is sh-"


"She's part of the deal," I cut him off, my head jerking up. "Nonnegotiable. You need to protect her. And honestly, why wouldn't you? Your predecessor, the previous Void God, was cast down by her father. To have the only daughter of the Heretic God on your leash…could you imagine the status? Not to mention that to grow you need to consume other Void Children. Or your patron does anyway. What better weapon to wield against your own than a predator custom made to destroy them? You would be feared throughout the Void."


His expression became pensive. "That…is an interesting proposition. I confess, my patron seems a bit too cavalier about her death. But using her for our own ends." He grinned mockingly at me. "And she's such a lovely thing, too. Perhaps she'd like this face I've adopted."


My blood caught fire. Rage kindled behind my eyes and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to expose us right there. But I held out. I couldn't let it go though. Nothing in me would allow that. "Don't get ahead of yourself," I snapped. "You're not the only one down here. And even you need underlings. I don't believe you can afford to lose all those A-rankers. Afford to lose that dragon. The longer you draw this out the worse your position. It's in your best interest to bring us under control and turn this particular weakness into an asset."


I saw a flash of anger in his eyes, but he smoothed it over nearly seamlessly. "Of course," he soothed. "I was just testing your limits. I have no need of a spineless servant. Good to see you've got some guts even if you're smart enough to see which way the wind is blowing."


Lie. I could smell it on him. He was enraged. But he'd decided to play along, probably to "betray" me at the last second so he could gloat. He'd never get the chance. My eyes focused past him, to where my wife had reached a sort of cascading nexus of glowing lines that I was only able to see through our bond. Lines of dark Void energy connected to all the anchors in this chamber.


Sadly. That glance was all he needed. His brow furrowed, and I could tell he was about to look for whatever had caught my attention. I didn't even think. I triggered Double Trouble, and then flexed my will, shattering the token to surround Callie and I with a defensive shield as I dropped Murmur, since it wouldn't really matter now that he was actively searching anyway.


In the distance, I could feel the rumbles getting closer. My parents were coming, and I wasn't sure if I should be more afraid or relieved. Could they do anything to him now? Could they help us?


"SNEAKY BITCH!" he roared, hands coming up. His fingers spread, and the world CRACKED as black mist shattered the space in front of us, sending cones of rippling Void infused force right at us…which hit the barrier and did nothing.


Single use. I knew what that meant. I would get one try with it. But I had been studying up on tokens like this in my spare time for a while now, and single use did NOT mean single attack. This shield could block a blow from a literal god. Granted, not very well, because it was designed for emergency defense. But Wise wasn't a god. He wasn't even a proper S-ranker, and his attack only managed to vaguely disturb the screen of hazy reddish light that surrounded us.


Callie, who hadn't even looked up from her task, sent a wave of trust through the bond as she raised Gossamer. The black blade lit from the inside with a blue black fire, looking like nothing so much as a soap bubble. The gem at the hilt glowed brighter, and brighter. And I felt…something. Something else.


I remembered what Atlas had said. About Callie being an avatar. And the church that he'd created to house the blade. The temple. Wise screamed in incandescent RAGE. "Don't you dare! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"


My wife didn't even hesitate. She swung her blade down like a headsman's axe, and the razor sharp edge bit right through the black misty chords, igniting them all with Heretic Fire, creating a web of blue black flame that strung the length of the mirrored chamber, sending the entire level into a dizzying explosion of flames and visual feedback. I heard a crackle, like an egg on a hot pan, and then another, and as I watched, the closest anchors began to explode light overloaded lightbulbs, the distortions above them snapping closed.


Wise screamed in fury, blurring forward to pound on the screen of red with black cloaked hands, eyes blazing that unearthly blue. "NO! NO NO NO! You can't do this! I'll butcher you! I'll turn you into fucking SHOES!"


The shield wavered, the red beginning to fade. My blood turned to ice. This was it. We'd fixed things. We'd saved the whole planet…and we were going to die. I wrapped my arms around my wife, resting my head on her shoulders as I turned her away from the enraged Void Vessel. "I'm sorry." I told her softly. "I'm sorry this is how it ends. I'm sorry this is where loving me brought you."


She reached up and yanked my mask off, pressing her lips to mine fiercely. "I'm not," she said stubbornly. "I'm proud. Being married to you has been the greatest adventure of my life. If I have to die, I'm glad it's with you. I love you Shane Wyndham. And don't you ever forget it."


Resting her head against my chest, she closed her eyes, and I smiled softly down at her as I bowed my head. I was ready. This wasn't how I'd planned things to go, but at least we'd saved my friends. I was sure Zeke and my parents could get them away from some jumped up Void Toady. He was barely an S-ranker. I had faith they could handle him. It was a shame I wouldn't get to see it.


I thought that was the end. As I heard the shield begin to finally give way, cracks spreading over the screen of light, though, I heard something else. A scream of incandescent rage so primal and terrifying that I felt it in my bones. "GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF MY SON!"


There was a blur, and a female form made of blazing white fire smashed into Wise at top speed, sending him careening across the chamber to smash into one of the mirrored walls. Give her credit, my mother didn't mistake him for me for even a second, her blazing white eyes shimmering with unrepressed wrath. Her hands were covered in a pair of mirrored gauntlets, and her torso had a mirrored cuirass across it. I saw my dad off in the distance, approaching with Zeke and Sebastian, Killian bringing up the rear.


Staring at them, I couldn't help what I did next. The relief, gratitude, and joy washed away every speck of terror, leaving me to collapse to my knees, still holding Callie. My head tipped back, and despite the still very real danger we were all in, I started to laugh. And I didn't stop.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

When Wise rose from the shattered remnants of the mirrored wall, his face was…wrong. Broken like the glass. The visage of me that he'd been using was cracked, and black mist leaked from inside of it. He snarled, his hands coming up to his face, trying to press the flaking shards back into position. It didn't work, and he finally gave up, tearing the worst offenders free and tossing them aside.


"That seeming was EXPENSIVE," he hissed at my mother. "Must your whole family be a constant thorn in my side?" He sneered at me. "When my lady told me that you were so troublesome, I thought she was exaggerating."


"Ok, do I KNOW you?" I demanded. "Why are you so fixated on me. Using my face, targeting me specifically? What the hell did I do to you?"


He snorted. "Not me, fool. My lady. You ruined her cult in the Screeching Shoals. Luckily you ALSO left a trace behind for her to harvest to create the seeming. It was laborious work, creating something that would withstand scrutiny and hold up under my advancement. But I suppose I have no need of it now."


I blanched at his words. They'd made this thing from TRACES I'd left in the dungeon? That fucking cult was just the gift that kept on giving. As if the nightmares weren't enough.


"You are a constant annoyance, you know that?" his voice was boiling with barely restrained hate. "First you ruin the shallowing we were trying to cultivate as one of the anchor points, then you steal the infinity crystals we were using to replace that project after word got out, and THEN you come down here and destroy my damned ritual! Can't you bastards just lay down and DIE?"


My mother stepped between us, making sure to be in his path as he prepared to lunge. He just sneered. "An A-ranker. You think you're capable of stopping me? I admit I was unprepared for your punch, but you're not a match for me. You'll die just as easily as he will. Being forced to watch me kill his mommy will serve as a fitting punishment I think." The others moved, preparing to back my mom up, but she held up a hand.


"Wait," she said coldly. "Not yet. Stay on alert, and you can cut in if it looks bad, but I don't need any help with trash like this. Not directly. Calliope, dearheart, might I borrow that gem from the pommel of your sword?"


Callie blinked at her in confusion, but looked down at the jewel. She reached down and gripped it, then pulled lightly, and it came loose more easily than it should have. Shrugging, she turned to my mom and tossed it. My mother caught the gem without looking, then held it up, staring through it to look at the darkening center with interest.


"A divine fragment," she said with interest. "I assumed he'd need one of these to construct a weapon like that for you. Thank you, dear, I'll return it in a moment. I just need to borrow it for a bit." She clenched her fist around it, closing her glowing white eyes, then with a deep breath, she shoved it into her chest. Her body ripples, the flames that made up her form began to waver, flowing towards her heart, and as they did, a blue black stain began to spread through the ivory flame. It rolled through her whole body, under the mirrored chest piece and gauntlets, until her entire body had gone from bright white to the blue black of heretic fire.


"Oh, that is lovely," she grinned coldly. "I can feel the extra power there. Not a trade I'd willingly make permanent, but I think this should do just fine to settle things." Her eyes flicked back to Wise. "Now, I believe you mentioned something about killing me in front of my son? Please, feel free to give it your best shot."


I'd never heard her sound so…enraged. Hateful. My mother was a warm and nurturing presence. Sometimes sad, or guilty, and I'd seen her mad a time or two, but she wasn't…dark. Vicious. She was one of the kindest people I knew.


Wise didn't seem to share that sentiment, he spat on the ground. "You think that scares me? That some heretic fire is enough to bridge the gap of a whole rank? I'm an S-RANKER, you ignorant-" there was a blur, and his head snapped back, smashing into the crater he'd already left in the wall.


My mom was standing over him, her mirrored knuckles shedding black mist. "First of all," she said harshly. "You're going to drop that insulting charade. I won't have you using my boy's face to spew your toxic nonsense."


Both her hands blurred, and there was a kind of…delayed ripple, and then the wall behind him cave in, a spiderweb of deep cracks running from behind him as she pummeled his head and chest into the mirrored stone (not glass oddly enough) too fast for my eyes to track. She stepped back, and he staggered up from the wall, more of the seeming flaking off. "That's not…how are you?" His eyes fixed on the gauntlets. "Is it those?"


Her eight gauntlet blurred as she backhanded him off his feet again. "I said stop it," she hissed. "Drop the mask before I slap that look right off your face."


He spat, crawling to his feet again, peeling the shattered remnants of my face off to leave nothing but a mass of Void taint covering a face I couldn't quite make out. My mom reached out and clamped a hand over his face, channeling the Heretic Fire through the gauntlet and into him as he screamed, the Void taint burning away to reveal…nobody. Nothing special. Just an average looking man I didn't know.


She threw him to the ground, straddled him, and then started to beat him across the face. Slow, steady punches, left, then right. His head cracked against the ground, and he reached up to paw at her, trying to get her off him, but he couldn't. The Void that gathered in his hands burned away on her body.


"You can't beat me," she said conversationally as she slowly pummeled him into the rock. "Because this power isn't yours. It comes from your master. I probably could have done this with just my flames of purification, honestly, but it wouldn't have been as hopeless."


She stopped hitting him, getting up to walk across the room to Callie. With a grunt, she shoved a hand into her chest, removing the stone, and handed it back to my wife. "Put it back in the hilt please." My wife did so, and then my mom held out her hand for the sword. Callie handed it over, looking unsure as to what was going on.


Walking over to me, she reached down and pressed the weapon into my hand. "This is yours to finish," she said kindly. "He almost killed you. Stole your face. You deserve to end it."


I glanced at Callie, who nodded solemnly, and I walked over to where Wise was lying, beaten to a pulp, on the ground. He was gurgling, blood foaming up between his lips as he looked at me with absolute loathing. "That won't kill me," he hissed. "I'm an S-ranker. You can't kill me."


I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you?" I ran my eyes over his body. "Because it seems to me that my mom just beat every ounce of Void out of your body. All I see now is a badly injured C-ranker with a superiority complex. It's just a shame that your patron benefited from all this. It got to S-rank off your hard work, and all you get out of it is a pathetic helpless death. Doesn't seem fair."


He snorted, dissolving into a coughing fit as he spat up blood. "Fair, that's rich coming from you. You and your disgusting family think you're the heroes. Protecting the universe from the Void. Newsflash. It's THEIR universe. Everything came from the Void, and everything will eventually return. You can't stop it. It's inevitable. This isn't a victory. I'm just a tool. A Vessel." He was grinning, and his eyes had started to glow again, flickering with Void light.


I didn't hesitate, I hefted Gossamer, infused it with Heretic Fire, and drove it down through his chest into the floor, spearing his heart. "Yes, that's very scary," I told him drolly. "Or it would have been, if you weren't choking to death on your own blood. Before you die though, I'm curious. What's the name of you Void Child? Who is the monster that's using you to try to claim the throne of the Void god after all these years."


He shook his head, baring his bloody teeth at me with a wet, sickening giggle. "No one special, really. She's not someone you'd have heard of. In fact, she wasn't even always a Void Child. She used to be human. She served under the last Void god, and he rewarded her service by remaking her in his image. Her name is Morwenna."


My eyes widened, because I knew that name. "Wait, don't-" but it was too late. His head flopped back, the last gasp of breath rattling from his lips. I cursed, pulling the sword out, and if it hadn't been Callie's soul weapon I'd have thrown the damned thing.


She stepped up next to me, and I handed it back. It vanished into her soul, and she took my hand in hers. "It'll be fine." She said softly.


"But you heard him, his patron is-" she cut me off, a finger to my lips. "I know. I heard. I think that's why he interfered so much this time. I've been trying to get in contact with him for the last few minutes, but I guess it doesn't work that way. I represent him, but I don't get to speak with him whenever I want. I'm honestly just glad he let your mom channel his power through the gem."


I sighed. "I think it worked because the purification flame is an ingredient in the Heretic Fire. We used it to make your trait, too, so he had a connection."


"This is all fascinating," Zeke said as he approached, dragging a wounded leg behind him. "But some of us want to get the hell out of here, kid. So scoop up your bounty and have the rest of these rookies carry up anything they can find, because these bodies are going to be worth a pretty penny point wise, if we have anything to say about it."


I laughed at that. I couldn't help it. The thought that this, all of this, had just been a GAME. That the succession war was a contest we'd been doing for POINTS. After all the horror and bloodshed and fear of the last hour. It was laughable.


Reaching down, I stashed Wise in my ring. He was dead now, so the body went in easily. Then I turned and started making my way back to the staircase. My mom fell into step beside me, silent and supportive, and I reached over to pull her into a tight side hug. My sister joined in on the other side, and we all walked out of there together, her arm around each of us.


It was…over. I mean, there might be a few more trials or whatever, but I was confident all this had netted me enough points that I should be able to maintain a solid lead. I was going to win this. I was going to be the Wishmaster.


And that felt…empty. After all this pain and sacrifice. It felt like it meant nothing. But I knew that wasn't true. Because after my honeymoon (and you could bet your ass I was taking one now), I could begin. I could start the work of fixing my family, whether they liked it or not. And once I got started on that, I just had to convince some of the vanished gods to join up and help us repel the Void invasion. Piece of cake, right?