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

[Malcolm Tent]

"This is bad." I said bluntly to Callie and the others. "Like, worse than most things. On a scale of one to ten this is like a fifteen." I knew that because I could see Zeke standing up there. I could hear him talk. And he didn't sound confident or laid back. He sounded ANGRY.

That wasn't good. If Zeke was angry he was affected, which meant he was worried, and if Zeke was worried, it was because he might lose.

Which didn't seem…possible. Zeke was Zeke. He was an irresponsible drunk who never took anything seriously, but he was also a supreme badass who never lost a fight. Forgetting that if he lost we would all probably die, HE would die. I didn't want to lost my uncle. I almost tried to tell him to run, to leave me and go get Chelsea out of here, or to take Callie and the others and let the Duke have me.

But…I didn't. Because it wouldn't do any good. We'd all been party to his son's death and he'd come for all of us. Maybe not Bethy, because there had to be a limit to the amount of revenge crazy someone could be, but running would just leave an opening for him to use.

"Stay in the shield." I told the others seriously. "He's an A-ranker with probably some mobility Skill. There's nowhere we can reach that is safer than here."

I tried to think of some way to help. Maybe some wishes or something…but this guy was so far out of my league we weren't even playing the same game, and even stacking the strongest wishes any of us could make was unlikely to slow him down for even an instant.

All I could do was watch, helplessly, and hope that Zeke could pull off another miracle. I'd seen him fight up before, and he could do it again.

Staring hard for a moment, the Duke sat stoically before nodding. "I am Duke Crassus Tolbert, third son of Pericles Tolbert. Your charge is guilty of slaying my only son."

I glared up at him, so angry that I didn't even bother to keep quiet in the face of overwhelming power. "He was your kid? You know he killed your daughter right? Do you even care?"

"Be silent, boy!" Hissed the Duke. "You know not of what you speak. Of course I knew. My son was not as devious as he thought himself. What he did…it went beyond the everyday cruelties of our house. It was a monstrous act."

I threw my hands up. "Then why are you trying to kill me? I did you a favor, did you really want that lunatic getting named heir?"

"I knew." He said simply. "But my wife did not. Would not believe it. Losing our daughter so young nearly broke her. Losing a son would have finished the job. His japery was enough for her to hold onto, and so I allowed it."

I gestured around us. "And all this?" I demanded. "The stone lions, the murder attempts on Camden?"

"Don't mistake me boy." He said coldly. "My disdain for my son was founded in his senseless cruelty. Killing a child, your own sister, it's an abomination. Because a child is no threat. No competition. Killing my nephew is a justified course of action."

I was incensed, and about to respond, when a web of dark chains erupted from the ground, wrapping the Duke tightly in black metal. He frowned and started to strain at them, but looking close I could see something terrible about the chains. Something hungry. Just like the fight with the elf archer, my uncle was stacking the effects of two masks together.

The conceptual erosion, the decomposing and rotting, it didn't effect the chains, but strongly impacted the Duke. His eyes widened, hissing in outrage, and his eyes flashed as his blade danced out, taking apart the chains like a hot knife cleaving butter.

Beneath the metal, I saw his clothing burned and tattered, and quickly fading burns on his skin from the energy.

"Was that a-" his mockery was cut off as an arrow the size of a bus, flickering with the white flames of purification, slammed into him from above. There was still dark energy gathered in the air from the chains, and like before, the two colliding energies detonated, exploding in a massive cloud of unchecked destruction.

Zeke, who I'd though had been standing across from the Duke, stood a few dozen feet above us, drawing back a familiar bow, specifically the one the elf archer had used during our trip to the ruined soul temple.

The version of Zeke we'd been talking to just hung there at the edge of the cloud silently, and I grinned as I realized Zeke had put my distraction to good use.

I grinned up at the cloud, ready to see a corpse or a seriously injured Duke, but my smile dropped off my face as I took in the scene before me.

The Duke stood impassively, hand at his side gripping his sword. His other arm was raised, and while it was definitely burned and bloody, it seemed to be the only part of him that had taken any damage.

"Fucking Duellists." Spat Zeke in annoyance. "Don't think twice about giving up your off hand. I thought I'd at least remove the damned thing."

The Duke examined his arm. "This will be expensive to repair." He said, in a voice like someone discussing the weather. "I suspect you've got enough treasures on your person to compensate me, however. You can take pride in dealing such an injury to me."

Zeke chuckled. "Oh I'm not done yet. Did you think that was all I had?"

The Duke gestured to Zeke's face, "I think you've overdrafted at least one of your masks. I can see the cracks from here. Had I to guess it was those chains. I suspect they weren't built to support the all consuming hatred of a goddess."

This wasn't going well. That had been one of Zeke's biggest punches, and somehow I didn't think his mask on face trick would work this time. I was pretty sure that arrow had actually been THREE masks, one of them A-rank and it had barely done any damage at all.

Drawing his sword, the Duke performed a fencer's salute to my uncle. "You've proved yourself a worthy foe. But I'm afraid this is over."

There was a sudden absence of a form, too fast to even be considered a flicker of motion, and an explosion of force that shattered both the flaming sword construct and the shield it was stuck in.

I shot a panicked glance from the fragmenting light up to my uncle, and sighed in relief as I saw him still standing. Hanging in the air, my uncle had a familiar block box playing with red lightning in front of him. Chains of enshrining darkness wrapped the box like a magic trick, and plunging right through the middle of it was the Duke's sword.

Whatever the thing was made of, it had punched clean through, but stopped inches from Zeke's chest, though it looked like he was having trouble holding it in place.

I'd seen him use that box to ricochet attacks from high level bishops, and that was without the chains. The Duke looked impressed. "I've rarely seen such a powerful application of B-ranked Skill." He praised. "It's a shame to have to kill you. I'm imp-" He didn't get to finish with his comment as another arrow speared down from above, and the Zeke holding the box vanished, leaving it floating in midair.

Then the box came apart, and I looked up to see it appear in the hands of another Zeke. Calmly, almost in slow motion, Zeke drew four masks from the air, and slapped one of them on top of each face of the box. "You were wrong earlier." He said to the Duke. "THIS is what it looks like when I overload a mask."

He hurled the box, and it spun towards the Duke, whose eyes widened in fear as he blurred toward it. I assume he wanted to hit it before it detonated on its own, and his sword, now glowing with golden flames, slammed tip first into the rotating box of darkness.

When it pierced the closest mask, there was a wailing screech as black energy started to seep from the object, then from the other side as white flame flickered free of the spot on the other side where it had pierced through. On either side, the other two masks flashed and the box expanded, chains wrapping tightly around the exterior, trapping the Duke inside.

There was a cacophonous boom and the ground lurched, and I saw cracks begging to spread of the box and chains as they disintegrated releasing plumes of ash and smoke out into the air.

Zeke stood above us, panting. "Ow." He spat. "I hate backlashing my masks like that. Pain aside, do you know how long it takes to replace those?" When there was no answer, he snarled, about to say something else before a colossal flame rapier bisected him.

Or tried to. The blade split another illusion. The smoke cleared, and I saw The Duke glaring up at Zeke, fury etched on his face. He was holding the sword in the wounded arm Zeke had speared last time, and most of his body was raw like he'd had a terrible sunburn times a hundred.

Of his other arm, the one he'd been wielding the sword with before, there was no sign, just a burned stump, and his breathing was heavy and irregular. "Wily." He snarled, eyes glancing around, trying to find Zeke. "Destroying the masks to increase their output. A resourceful trick, but one only used once. Now you've lost a full third of your strength. I may be diminished, but you are much moreso. I can kill you without an arm."

"Maybe." Called Zeke's voice. We all whirled to see him standing on a tree branch, holding a black book with a pair of silver masks on the cover. In his hand was a pitch black quill that shone with a glassy texture. Obsidian. "Or maybe you're about to to help me make a jump I've been meaning to make for a long time."

The Duke's face went pale. "Did you just…" He trailed off. "Are you insane? You know the consequences of using an uncertain event as the final page of your Chronicle." Zeke snapped the book shut, and the air around us changed.

I considered opening my Eye of Revelation, but quickly decided it wouldn't be wise. The black book started to shimmer and shine, as did the quill. Not with light, but with a metallic luster, an almost liquid effect as the two objects ceased to be Obsidian and began to shimmer into the consistency of Mercury.

That was what gave it away. The book wasn't quite a singular object, it gave me a powerful feeling of Zeke's own Skills and legend. His Path. The book was his Path, somehow made manifest, and the Mercury Quill was his SOUL somehow able to manifest itself into the real world.

The change I was seeing was his soul elevating itself from Obsidian to Mercury. Which is to say, A-rank. Whatever Zeke had just done had ranked him up, and I watched the book change and evolve as the Impact poured into him through it, pushing him and reshaping him into something…more.
I'd seen rank ups before, even one to D-rank, but watching someone become an A-ranker was different. I'd never experienced anything like it. It was like watching a star being born. Zeek barely changed physically, but somehow there was so much more of him than there had ever been.

Reaching into his robe, he pulled out a blank mask, then snapped his fingers, and a blood burned arm appeared in his hand. He squeezed and it shattered into a fine powder, which he blew towards the mask in his hand.

The mask glowed golden, then faded back to blank white, and he studied it critically. "Won't last for more than an hour without stabilizing, but that should do." His eyes turned up to the Duke as he removed his current mask, revealing a wolfish grin. "Now." He said, raising the new mask to his face.

There was a ripple and Zeke's form shifted, leaving behind an exact replica of the Duke himself, only without any of the injuries. "What was that you said about only needing one arm?" The Duke asked himself in my uncle's voice.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"What have you done?" Snapped the Duke, eyes frantic. "You've doomed yourself! To enter an event into your Chronicle before it has come to pass. You know what will happen if you fail!" Despite his words, he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

Sure enough, Zeke, or rather, the version of the Duke that was Zeke, looked amused. "Oh I'm so happy to hear you're worried about me. Most people would be more concerned about the identical copy of them that had to kill them to make sure his soul didn't shatter like cheap sugar glass."

The Duke flinched. "Fool!" He sneered. "So you've taken my shape. Maybe you have my stats, or over my Skills, but you don't have my equipment. What good is a duellist without a sword." He brandished his rapier with a slight wince, obviously trying to look threatening.

It explained some things. I'd been wondering why he didn't run, but he was in tatters, and if Zeke had all his abilities there was no way he could escape as wounded as he was.

He had a point about the sword though, or I thought so until the Zeke-Duke grinned. "Oh you're right. I definitely should have a weapon to take best advantage of your Skills. And I don't have a rapier." He snapped his fingers, and suddenly a MASSIVE claymore appeared in his hand, which he hefted cheerfully over his shoulder.

"Why do you have that?" The Duke spat. "And do you think you can really defeat a master duellist with that oversized hunk of iron." Despite the derision in his tone I saw his eyes locked on the huge blade.

"Maybe not." Zeke said. "Than again-" He blinked out of existence and suddenly he was smashing the blade down on the mutilated form of the original Duke. There was a crash and the damaged A-ranker was sent hurtling into the ground with a crash. "You only have one arm to block with. And it's wounded."

The Duke climbed out of the crater he'd left in the ground, glaring up at my uncle. "Imposter!" He spat. "You'll never surpass the real thing!"

"Probably not." Zeke admitted cheerfully. "But do I need to? This is math, my friend. Seventy percent as good with your abilities is still twenty percent better than a version of you operating at half capacity."

Gritting his teeth, the Duke flickered forward, rapier flashing. I stared in awe as he engaged Zeke, his single arm blurring, sword licking out like a storm of steel, so fast my eyes could barely track it. I was getting a headache just trying to follow it. Zeke wasn't, and his blade intercepted the other man's before it made contact, holding the big claymore in front of him and using small economical movements to knock aside dangerous attacks.

"How are you doing this?" Hissed the Duke. "I refuse to believe you are my equal with the blade!"

Zeke just shook his head. "I'm not." He said with a sigh. "But right now, neither are you. You're slowed from injury and blood loss, and while I don't have the kind of training you do, I DO have your Sword Skill.Lucky I had this A-ranked sword I picked up traveling, or this might have gotten awkward."

"I refuse to lose to a cheap copy!" The noble howled. "I will not be killed by a pretender wearing my face! You'll have t-" There was a flash of light, and he stopped talking, he coughed, blood leaking from between his lips, and looked down. A golden arrow was sticking through his chest. "What? That's not…"

He plummeted from the air, slamming into the ground with a bang and leaving another crater, this one smaller. Zeke put the sword away and followed him down. Peeling away the mask, he laid it on the Duke's face.

The Duke's body cracked and dissolved, turning to golden dust that flowed into the mask. Setting it on the ground, Zeke started taking out vials and bottles, then a set of brushes and chisels. He laid it all on the ground and began working on the mask, carving and painting and filling in details.

None of us moved, frozen in place, transfixed by the sight of a soul of Mercury captured and stuffed into the mask. He worked on it for about fifteen minutes before he finally stopped, sighing as he gingerly picked it up and set it in a box that he then closed and stashed away.

"That should do it." He muttered. "Cut it kind of close there." He glanced up at the hooded figure with the bow. "You come back too. All of you. I have four replacements to make and several upgrades planned." He snapped and the figured collapsed, the robe wrapping the mask and the whole thing flying back to his hand. Six more masks returned and he stashed them all away.

He turned to us. "You can move now." He said wryly. "Thanks for not trying to run off. You'd probably have died."

"We assumed." I said as we approached, staring at the spot where the Duke had been. "Is killing him going to cause a problem? Because I feel like it's not ok to just show up in Empire territory and off an A-ranker from a major force."

He waved it off. "He attacked you directly. Taking issue with his death would mean taking issue with the candidacy process. It's why guardians exist. Granted I'm stronger than most, which is why I'm so limited, but still, just doing my job."

I'd never considered that. I'd seen Nat's guardian and she wasn't anything special in the grand scheme of things. Zeke was far and away more impressive, plus Nat's guardian was from another Branch. Was the reason for Zeke's absurdly strict geas that it was necessary for dad to leave him with me? It made me rethink a lot of things. Though speak of the geas. "Can you tell me what…" I gestured around us. "That was? Or is that cultivation shit you can't share."

I tried to keep my tone even, but Zeke knew me well enough to know when I was pissed. Callie put a hand on my shoulder. "Shane, honey." She said lightly. "Maybe now isn't the time for that conversation."

"No, he's right." Zeke said, shaking his head. "This falls into the 'so high level I'm allowed to talk about it' category, and you could use some context here. We should get somewhere safe before we talk. How about the Inn?" He glanced at Anna. "The Imperial Fork I mean, it's closest, and you have that safe room Shane installed."

Anna looked…green. Half horrified half in awe as she stared at Zeke. Like she was standing in front of a wild tiger. It took her a second to process everything, but she eventually nodded dully, and we all headed for Saltzburg, which was pretty close by.

I hadn't really noticed how far we'd traveled to get to Spencer's place, but we'd gotten near town, and it wasn't a long walk to Anna's place. When we entered, she waved off her niece and led us to the back and then down into the secret room she'd wished for. Once we were inside she activated a device I recognized as one of the isolators Camden had been using.

"Alright." I said once the field went up. "That should be enough. You're the only A-ranker on the planet, and that's the best security we can get, so why don't you tell me what the hell that was about?"

He blew out a breath. "Alright." He said after a momentary pause. "I assume you're asking about the comment he made about me dying?"

"No shit." I snapped. "What did you do? If your soul shattered we could never bring you back. Not unless you managed to get a Mirror Soul Body, which I know from seeing yours earlier you didn't!"

He smiled at me. "You're learning. Good. To explain what I did, you'll have to understand how I did it, and to understand that, you'll need to understand what B-rank is."

I blinked. I'd been curious about this for ages but he'd kept putting me off. I wondered if seeing him do that had been some kind of condition in the geas. It must have been, or he wouldn't be telling me this. "So you're finally going to tell me how to reach B-rank?"

"Yes, but you can't try to do it." He warned. "There's a reason B-rank is so high up. Trying too soon is dangerous. To reach B-rank, you need to condense your Solid Path inside your soul to create a Chronicle. It's a book that you use to record a hundred of your most important deeds. Your soul is needed to fill in pages, as you saw, which means it has to be formed inside you."
I raised a brow at that. "But yours wasn't?" I asked cautiously. "And why record them at all? What does a Chronicle do?"

"Short answer? It's a method to control recursion." He said with a shrug. "By carefully selecting your deeds you can shape the way outside perception changes you. It allows you to more closely align your stats and the renown that shapes them with your soul in preparation for S-rank."

That sounded amazing, and I was so tempted to try to form one, but he'd just told me how dangerous it was so I just focused on what I'd seen. "You said it's in your soul. So how was yours outside? And what did you do with it that was so dangerous?"

"I've been at the peak of B-rank stat wise for a while." He admitted. "And at ninety nine of one hundred pages Chronicled. But the legends you write in a chronicle have to be true. If they're not the book destabilizes and shatters, and since a Solid Path is part of your soul…"

I nodded. "You die." I said hollowly. "That's what he meant about doing it early. You gambled your advancement to A-rank when you did that. If you hadn't killed him you'd have failed and died." My tone was flat and angry, and I glared at him, willing to hear how pissed I was he'd taken that risk.

"I did." He said unapologetically. "And would again. If I hadn't done that I would have died. You would have died."

I growled in frustration. "Ok, well what about now? Your Chronicle is filled in and you're an A-ranker, so what do you do next? How do you continue to…what was it you said? Align your renown more closely with your soul in preparation for S-rank?"

"That's none of your concern." He stated bluntly. "I've already told you more than you needed toi know. We're done." He stood up, and I was confused. Why even bother to tell me this? Why not just blow me off if he was only going to answer a handful of questions. He headed for the exit, but before he got halfway he stopped.

As if stating an afterthought, he tossed one last comment over his shoulder. "Oh, by the way. Forming a Chronicle isn't something just anyone can do. The more perfected the Skill your Solid Path is based on the better your chances of managing." He stopped talking, teeth snapping shut so loudly I heard it from where I was sitting.

He strode forward stiffly, looking like he was in pain, and I stared after him in shock. The geas, he'd tripped the geas. And judging by this whole conversation he'd done it on purpose, using the farce of answering my questions to slip me extra info.

Sighing, I shot a sad smile after my uncle as Callie put her arm around me. I was so glad he was safe, and he was still doing his best to help me even after all that. The old man might not say it much, but he showed how much he loved me every day. I was damned lucky to have him in my family. Someday I was going to pay him back for all this. I swore it to myself.

 

[Bezarius]

Zeke is definitely one of my favorite character from this story. Best uncle too, strong, helpful, and have a good carong relationship with Shane.

As if stating an afterthought, he tossed one last comment over his shoulder. "Oh, by the way. Forming a Chronicle isn't something just anyone can do. The more perfected the Skill your Solid Path is based on the better your chances of managing." He stopped talking, teeth snapping shut so loudly I heard it from where I was sitting.

Click to shrink...

This will be helpful for Shane to build up his DS skill to be more solid.

 

[Mastersenseinewby]

I'm looking forward to Shane to drop kick his father in the face

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We met up with the others back at the valley (I still refused to use the term Bennington, because it was stupid and definitely not because I was jealous I didn't have a town named after me) and I just felt…exhausted. It was strange, really, I'd been fine for the whole month, time with Callie and training and building had distracted me from the enormity of the situation.

Now that it was over though, I felt drained. It was like holding your breath for a long time. At first it was no big deal, but once you let it out you realized how hard it had been to hold it in to begin with.

"How is everyone doing?" I asked as I slumped down at the table under the inn. "I know everything was a bit crazy, but it looks like we all came out of it ok."

I looked around, happy to see all my friends, stronger and better geared than when we arrived. Benny looked as exhausted as I felt. "Fine." He said with a sigh. "We didn't lose anyone else that we knew, thankfully, and obviously no one in the team died. But this has been rough. Now that it's over what's the plan?"

"We've got about a month left." I said with a sigh. "Before the Necromedes gets back and we head for the conclave. I kind of figured we'd the usual. Help Celine build up the village, train, spend time with everyone. One way or another someone is going to stay here."

Nat raised her hand, drawing lots of attention. "I'll do it." She said flatly. "I just…I can't do this anymore Shane. I've been trying, helping out with wishes, but it's just not the same. This was supposed to be a trip with my closest friends. I never really expected to win or even get close, and you outstripping me so badly shows that was the right attitude. But I'm just…tired."

I sighed, nodding. Nat had been withdrawn, quiet, and generally cold since Perit died. Not that I blamed her, I'd be a mess if I lost Benny, but this wasn't exactly out of left field.

Celine spoke up. "I've already talked with Natalie about this. I'm fine with making her my seneschal and giving her the power to operate in my stead. We've agreed to sign a contract where she grants me he wishes going forward for a stipend, payment for a job rather than ownership of the land so there's no conflict. She's going to be remaining here indefinitely."

"As will I." Said Valk, to no one's surprise. "It's been an honor to travel with all of you. To learn and grow and fight with each of you." He said, his eyes trailing over Abel, Gabe, Bethy, and the rest of us. "But my place is here with Natalie."

Chelsea, who had been silent this whole time, sniffed a bit, and I looked at my sister in concern. "Sorry." She said, wiping her face. "It's just…I was really hoping to get to know you better. We're family after all. But I know you've been going through a lot so I steered clear and now I kind of wish I'd pushed you."

Smiling widely, Nat stood and walked over to give my sister a big hug. "Hey, none of that. You know you guys are always welcome here, and you're even taking my boss with you. Come back any time. Plus there's no possible way I'm missing my cousin's wedding, so Celine will need to find someone to take over for me when that rolls around."

"Which will be a little while." Said Callie. "But not too long. After the Conclave at least. You're welcome of course." She said, giving my cousin a tight hug. Under her breath, I heard her mutter. "I'm sorry."

Nat just squeezed her back, pulling away with a sad smile. "I've told you I don't blame you for what happened. Just keep your man in line." She raised a brow at me. "No slacking off little cousin, you're definitely going to rank up before I will, and I expect you to be ready to bring my friend back as soon as you have the stats for it."

Not that we knew when that would be. All I knew was that it required a version of the wish ability higher than my current one.

"What about your guardian?" I asked. "Zeke took over for this trip since he was already watching Chelsea and mom decided to send her back to the WCP as a messenger, but with us leaving who is going to look out for you?"

She chuckled. "I think I'm going to officially drop out of the running. I won't need a guardian. Like I said, I'm just done."

I was next up for a hug. She squeezed me so tight my ribs creaked, but when she pulled back I could see tears in her eyes. "I want you to know I don't regret coming with you at all. I've seen and done amazing things, and I couldn't have done most of them without you. Even among candidates you're something special, little cousin. Don't give up, I really think you can make it."

"Ok, I feel like this premature." Laughed Valk. "They aren't leaving for a month. The heartbreaking goodbyes should wait until it's actually goodbye. Otherwise you won't have anything to say day of."

Nat looked embarrassed. "I'm trying to have a moment here, shut up." She pouted. We all laughed, and I gestured upstairs.

"How about I make us all something to eat and we talk over what to do for the next month over dinner." Everyone cheered, and I grinned as they followed me up into the kitchen. To my surprise, I found Zeke and Cass there, the little girl running to tackle hug her brother as my uncle grinned at me.

Callie snickered. "Shane didn't even know he'd be cooking until just now. If not for the kid I'd assume you ran or teleported, but you just knew him well enough to predict it huh?" She shook her head in exasperation. "I have much to learn."
"I don't like this." I said bluntly. "The two of you conspiring brings imbalance to my life. Stay in your lanes."

Zeke snorted. "Mouthy for a cook, aren't you." He shot Callie a conspiratorial look. "Is all the attitude really worth it? Personally I got sick of him when he was about five, and sticking around has been rough for me ever since."

I flipped him off as Callie started giggling. "I think you're misremembering the past. I hear that's common for people your age. Luckily we have access to a historian, maybe we can find some cave paintings of what it was like when you were our age."

"Old jokes?" He sneered. "You can do better than that. Anyway, you going to try to buff up the village? Or are you thinking of just leaving it to Nat since she's staying." At my questioning look he just rolled his eyes. "What? Like I wasn't going to figure it out? Honestly I'm proud of the kid. Not many of your candidates are smart enough to call it quits before things get bad."

I nodded. "She's contracted to help, so I figured I'd leave it to her. Honestly I'm not sure why giving up the territory to Celine even worked. I was half expecting my ability to veto the village building wishes."

"It's because you're leaving." He said simply. "You might be a bit attached, but in the end you're not staying. Even if you planned on maybe having her give it to you later on, since that can't happen and you're not sticking around you don't really consider it yours, so upgrading it isn't really a benefit to you."

That did make some sense. "Anyway, what am I making for dinner?" I asked with exasperation. I saw a bunch of people start to speak, but a voice cut through the din.

"Quesadillas!" Shouted Cass at the top of her lungs. "Everybody likes cheese, and you can put different meats on everyone's if they want it and we can have it with sour cream and maybe some salsa and some juice to wash it down." Ah, children, masters of the run on sentence. Even I was short of breath listening to that, but I smiled and nodded.

The others looked annoyed but I shrugged. "Sorry everyone, first come first served. Cass gets to pick tonight."

Callie looked murderous, but Zeke just snickered at everyone else's misfortune. My bride to be glared at me imperiously. "You're making guacamole, right?"

"Yes dear." I said innocently, trying to hide my laughter that she'd been outdone by a nine year old."

Nat came over to sit next to me as I cooked, while everyone else cleared off the table from the earlier meal the inn guests had. "So, how are you doing?" She asked in a small voice, and for the first time since Perit died, I saw a little bit of my exuberant cousin under the sadness. It was nice to see that spark back in her eyes, even if it was because she was worried about me."

"I just don't know if I can do this." I said in a somber voice. "I mean, how will I feed myself? Pick out my clothing? What about walking? Without you there to tell me I might forget which order my feet move in. Is it left left right?" I'd cracked and started snickering halfway through my diatribe, and by the time I was done she was rolling her eyes as I dissolved into laughter.

If not for her lips twitching I might have bought her glare. "Dick. See if I ever check on you again. I was just seeing if you were ok with me leaving."

I put an arm over her shoulder, pulling her in for a side hug while I cooked one handed. "I know, and I'll miss you. You were the first family member I ever met as an adult. But I'm not selfish enough to ask you to stay if it's hurting you. Besides, you were totally right, we can come visit you whenever we want."

She nodded stiffly, staring at the wall in a way I suspected had more to do with staving off tears than any desire to see something in front of her.

"You've grown up a lot." She said quietly. "I remember that kid I met at the circus, and he wasn't a patch on you. But you didn't lose the part of you that feels compassion. That wants to help people. The part of you that wouldn't kill Satala even though her mom wanted us dead."

I shrugged. "That's all Callie. She keeps me on the straight and narrow, you know that."

"No!" She snapped. "That was YOU Shane. It was your heart. And I hope you don't ever lose that. We've got a lot of scary people in the family, but not to many heroes. You're the closest I've seen, and you better hold onto that. If you come back here and you're some ruthless dickbag I'm going to punch you in the throat."

I laughed at that. "Alright, I'll do my best. I should be fine, Callie won't let me drift too far. But I'll do my best to make you proud."

She reached up over my crown, having to stand on her toes to reach, and tousled my hair. "You always made me proud, Shane. You make a lot of people proud, they're just too obnoxious to actually tell you so." She turned and stuck her tongue out at Zeke, who sniffed and turned his head away, barely hiding a smile.

Rejoining the others, she left me to cook, and I went ahead and finished up cooking dinner, bringing it to the table for everyone as I sat down to eat. Looking around with a smile, I felt my heart soar. Goodbyes or not, my family was pretty great. We'd survived. We'd thrived. Now we'd enjoy our month together before we made our way to the next adventure.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

A month flew by. I was pretty shocked at exactly how quickly it had gone. Spending time with Chelsea and Nat, as well as wedding planning and helping with the construction. It occurred to me the next day that I really could use the money from working on the village, so I'd ended up pitching in to prepare for the Conclave.


It was being held on a big floating continent in neutral territory between three factions, which was pretty cool, and the place hosted a pretty big cross section of people from multiple factions and tons of objects to sell or buy.


That was all a problem for future Shane though, because for now all our time was up and we needed to get ready to go. "Alright, does everyone have anything?" I asked anxiously, sweeping my room to make sure I hadn't left anything behind. "Because if you forget something it's going to be ages before we can come get it."


"Yes, MOM." Said Benny exasperatedly. "We went over all our stuff, it helps that we use extra dimensional pocket spaces that can hold houses worth of items that sits in a ring on our fingers and weighs nothing."


I just snorted. "You say that like you've never forgotten anything in your life. You'd forget your head if you didn't have it stuck up your ass."


He flipped me off and ignored as everyone else snickered. I gave Nat another hug, telling her to keep in touch and wishing her good luck. Then I turned to Zeke. "Ok so when are we leaving? Do you know when and where we need to meet up with the shuttle?"


"KIllian is in the system." He nodded. "Told me when he'd be here about an hour ago. We still have a few minutes and it isn't far from here. You have time to say your goodbyes."


Nat shook her head. "He already did. They all did. I'll miss them but they should go." She turned to Celine. "I'll take care of the valley for you, you're already E-rank so you won't need to collect the renown for a while. You can't do it from a distance right?"


"If there's a way, I don't know it." Celine acknowledged. "Since it needs to be distributed to the residents. Just keep a stockpile of the stones they use to transport it. I'll collect it next time I'm here. I appreciate you staying to keep an eye out."


She nodded, and after one last round of farewells we all tromped out of the inn, headed for the forest where Zeke had indicated we'd be meeting our shuttle.


I fell in next to Benny. "So…going to be weird being in transit again. You thinking about buckling down on training? You've been getting some decent point income from renown based on some of our other adventures, but I'm not against helping you blitz a bit."


"Nah." he said with a laugh. "We're going to be at E-rank for a while. I'm not rushed. I get why you might feel that way, but the Conclave is going to be full of people too tough for us. Might as well take our time, since even hurrying won't bridge the gap."


I made a sound of acknowledgement. I didn't disagree. Plus D-rank was when my guardianship ended. After I became a master I'd be on my own. No more Zeke to keep me safe, though I wasn't sure if he would leave or just keep hanging around as an asset. It was something I'd been afraid to ask him up to this point.


Now that he was A-rank, having him with us would be the safest possible thing. Not to mention I was kind of worried about him leaving and missing my wedding. I didn't expect dad to be there, but I wanted Zeke to come. I needed him there, after everything we'd all been through. I knew I was being stupid, but it felt like him being my guardian was the best way to make that happen.


On the other hand, I was a bit worried about E-rank. This was the most dangerous time in my candidacy. The jump from E to D-rank was quantitative as well as qualitative, and killing up ranks with that gap between the two was all but impossible. Without Zeke being able to intervene, masters were a huge danger to all of us.


I shook off my thoughts. "I get that. So you'll just let the passive income boost you? Going to spend some time with your lady?"


"Yeah." he said with a mock glare. "Because SOME moron went out of his way to up the ante by proposing and made the rest of us look bad. Now I have to keep things fresh or else I look like an inconsiderate dick because I'm not writing her sonnets or some shit."


I clapped him on the hand supportively. "Hey, don't talk down about yourself like that. You're perfectly capable of looking like an inconsiderate dick all on your own." He rolled his eyes and slapped my hand away, and I just grinned.


"Be nice to see the puppies again." He said after a moment of comfortable silence. "It's been ages. I know Jessie has been missing them like crazy."


I snorted. "Callie too. And I admit it's great having Jin around to cuddle with. It's sad we left them so far behind. I wish there was a way to rank them up faster. Bethy and Jessie have their power sets for that, but for us the pups are just pets."


"Sucks." Agreed Benny. "How badass would we look riding wolves everywhere?"


I laughed at that. "So badass. I actually tried that a few times. It's pretty awesome. And they use Might better for travel than we do. I'm really jealous of Gabe sometimes, with his crazy starlight horse thing."


"True." Agreed Benny. "But hey, at least that means we get to send him to do stuff instead of going ourselves. That's a plus." We both laughed as we saw Gabe up ahead, turning to shoot us a dark look that didn't really seem all that dark. He was pretty obviously trying not to smile, and it made it made us laugh all the harder.


When we reached the clearing in question, the shuttle was already there, and to my surprise, Blake was there to meet us. Killian's son looked us over. "You're already E-rank? You bastards."


"It's ok." I said kindly. "You too will someday be powerful and impressive like us. Instead of being a loser who lives in his dad's basement." I winked to show I was messing with him, and he laughed, rolling his eyes but not engaging.


Callie smacked my shoulder with a snort. "Be nice. Is Sasha still onboard, I was hoping to talk to her about…things." She flushed a bit and I didn't bother fighting a grin since no one could see it anyway. I like that she was so excited about everything.


Sadly, Blake shook his head. "Nah, she disembarked a while ago. She left word she'd meet up with you at the Conclave, she'll be attending personally. She wasn't sure about her father though."


I wasn't really sure if he knew she was my mom, or if he was just fulfilling orders as she'd left them. It was hard to keep track of that kind of thing. Zeke looked around in annoyance as we entered the shuttle. "Killian can't even come and greet an old friend? I see how it is. No time for all us little people now that he's a big shot spacefaring badass."


Blake brightened. "Oh, he thought you might say that, so he left me a message to give you." he pulled out an honest to gods scroll, unfurling it and clearing his throat. "He says. 'Yeah, pretty much. Shut up.' And nothing else." He handed the scroll to Zeke, who took it and read over it before wadding it up and throwing it into a trash can.


"Someday." he told Blake kindly. "You're going to get older and end up more like your dad. When that day comes, I want you to remember something very important. Your dad is not funny. And you probably won't be either. Even if it seems to you like you are. It'll be an illusion, don't believe it."


I tried not to snicker at his obvious saltiness, but I failed, and he turned to glare at me. "Hey, don't look at me, I thought it was hilarious."


"Where did I go wrong." He bemoaned. "How did I fail so badly in raising you."


I didn't even try to hide my snicker this time. "Being drunk most of the day and leaving me to my own devices a large percentage of the time might have been a bad start. Not that I'm complaining."


"That's how you teach someone independence." He said loftily. "Plus it's not like I didn't have an eye on you from a distance. Even if you didn't notice it at the time."


The shuttle lifted off, and Bethy, who was standing by the open side of the conveyance near the transparent shielding, stared at the receding ground with a whoop of excitement. "That's so cool! I wish I could fly like this." At all of our deadpan glances she shrugged. "I mean like, high up. My kitty storm form only goes up a few hundred feet. Cats are NOT designed for high altitudes."


That was fair. "So." I said turning to the others. "Any big plans for the trip? It'll be a few months on the ship. I'm probably going to relax aside from doing some points stockpiling. Well, relax and wedding plan. We have a lot to figure out." I turned to Blake. "Speaking of, do you and your dad want to come to our wedding? I proposed to Callie back on Stratholme."


She giddily showed off her ring, and he made the proper appreciative sounds. "Congrats man." He finally said. "I'll pass on the invitation. I know I'd love to come. Where will it be?"


"Callus." I said without hesitation. "Our home planet. It's kind of small, on the edge of Cult territory in the Conglomerate, but it's a pretty cool place. Callie's mom is there and we want her to be in the wedding, plus lots of friends. It's going to be a big deal." I knew just having my mom there would make it a crazy affair, now Zeke was A-rank too.


Chances were good the Unity would send someone to keep tabs, and if Killian came that would blow things up even more. A-rankers all over the place. It was going to draw all sorts of attention, and I really did like that Callie would probably get a renown boost of this. I would too, but that was less important. I had wishes after all. Making Callie stronger was what mattered most.


As we approached the hulking mass of the Necromedes, I couldn't help but wish the Conclave was already over. I was ready to start my new life, to be happy for a while. But since that seemed unlikely. But hey, at least Callie was excited. She was insistent she was going to buy her wedding dress at the Conclave.


I glanced over to her, sitting happily chatting with my sister, and my heart warmed. I'd been through so much since becoming an Ascendant. I'd been in so much danger, lost people, been through agony I couldn't describe.


But I hadn't been alone. Not since that night in the scavenger hunt when she told me she wanted to be together. No matter what came next I'd be ready for it. We all would. Gods, monsters, whatever the danger. We'd face it together. As a family. And honestly? I felt kind of bad for whatever got in our way. Making my way over I sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, ready for the next step in our journey.

 

[MichaelSuave]

The Cult is definitely going to either invade or just attack at the wedding... because we aren't allowed to have nice things.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Four months went by faster than I'd expected. Our last journey had been almost eternal in comparison, probably because aside from wishes I hadn't really done much training at all. I'd just…lived. Spent time with Callie, gotten to know my sister. The small bit of actual training I'd done had mostly been fun stuff like the occasional spar with Abel or Gabe or Bethy.

Benny had spent most of his time with Celine, not that I blamed him, though he did join us for some of the sparring sessions when he was free. It was peaceful and, as I slowly came to realize, necessary.

The Empire had been a great experience and one that had taught me quite a bit, but it had also been extremely draining. Constant learning and fighting. We'd been given our own armies basically (we'd rented them to Nat while we were gone for forty D-rank chits which Celine had footed the bill for, leaving me at eighty and Callie at twenty) learned to command them, fought against some terrifying people, and even killed a D-ranker.

After all that, taking a few months to decompress and relax was just what the doctor ordered,our month of downtime before leaving was nice, but it still felt…fraught. The journey was just that. A journey. Nothing we had to concern ourselves with.

Now we were finally arriving, and it was sad to see an end to all the leisure time, even if the thought of what was coming was both exciting and terrifying. Which was how I found myself standing next to Callie and Chelsea in the same room we'd used to view Zeke's fight with the elven archer all those months ago.

"So…that's Tricorn huh?" I asked, staring at the colossal three cornered continent floating in space. "It reminds me of the bazaar we went to for the moonsong glade."

"Not even close." Said Zeke as he stepped up next to me. "Tricorn is a permanent structure, unlike the bazaar. It's C-ranked, like Stratholme, and is considered one of the most integral trade hubs in the five faction alliance. It sits on the corner of Church, Fairyland, and Imperial territory. This is where some of the most important business in the universe gets done."

I nodded. "I can understand the need for a place like this, since all the most powerful artifacts and objects are made and sold in galactic centers where forces have the strongest grip. What about the WCP?"

"Not really a factor." He shrugged. "The WCP exists across faction lines, and are sort of an alternative to this kind of place. You'll note that the Cult and the Conglomerate aren't connected, and while they have people here too, their presence is less solidified. Not to mention all of this is monitored by the main governmental entities of the three factions, which means it all has to be legal."

That was one thing about the WCP that hadn't sat well with me at first. The whole 'criminal' vibe. We weren't, really, we were just pretty much unbound by any ethical or moral restrictions, which lots of people claimed was criminal because of the stigma. Still not ideal, but we weren't breaking any laws most of the time, at least that I'd seen. The reminder that some aspects of the organization was extralegal wasn't exactly a welcome one.

I took a long breath. "I think I might try to change that aspect of things. Not completely, granted, because we need the networks to function, but trying to limit the activities of the Palace a bit might endear us more to other forces."

Zeke just chuckled. "Won't work kid. Sorry." At my confused glance, he just shook his head. "The standing Wishmaster isn't really the leader of the WCP. I mean, he is, but not unilaterally. The position is there to help a promising talent rise quickly by way of entry to the Unlucky 13. Everyone on the Unlucky 13 is an up and comer who needs the renown to grow."

"Wait." I said, crestfallen. "So I won't be able to change things? I can't fix the cuckoo bird bullshit that the family does?"

He waggled a hand. "That you might be able to swing. It's related to the candidacy and as the Wishmaster your say over matters of selection for the next round is pretty much absolute. But stuff like instituting wide reaching trade and political engagement policies? That has to go through the council."

"The council of….?" I said, having not heard anything about this before.

"Elders." He said with a shrug. "Branch leaders one and all. The S-rankers, both family and close associates. They're the strongest forces in the clan outside the old man, and we don't really bother him if we can help it."

Something about that caught my interest. "Wait…not all the S-rankers in the clan are family?"

"Of course not." He snorted. "The Wyndhams have the wish ability. Think about Benny, about me. Our clan has the most advantage in creating powerful Ascendants. Only half of the council are Wyndhams. The other half are close friends and proven associates. All under geasa to ensure loyalty, of course, but not particularly restrictive ones."

I knew there were only about a hundred S-rankers in the universe, at least ones that we'd been able to dig up information about, and knowing we had a whole council of them really shed light on how we were able to keep our autonomy despite not having our own territory.

Then again, I didn't know a lot of things, and it had been implied before that some of the clans had their own S-rankers who had retreated from public view for one reason or another, presumably to make the attempt at godhood. How many demi-gods like Morgan Lark were out there?

Come to think of it, how did that even work? Impact was the necessary step to reach godhood. I couldn't imagine how much you'd need to spend trying to acquire more than five hundred points of Impact. Was regular renown even necessary after S-rank? Was that why most of them faded into the background?

I felt a soft bop on my head, and turned to see Callie smiling patiently at me. "Chit for your thoughts?" She said casually.

"Sorry." I said, shaking my head. "Didn't mean to space out." I glanced at the stars outside the viewing panel. "I mean…get distracted. I was just thinking about how big the universe is. Tricorn is huge, but it's nowhere near as big of important as some of the central planets. The galactic centers have main planets right? A-rank worlds?"

Zeke shook his head. "No need to worry about that. It won't be relevant to you for quite some time. Just focus on Tricorn, and why we're here." He pointed out into space where I saw other ships slowly fading into view. White and gold monoliths, dark metal monstrosities, red steel beasts, and dozens of other strange and spellbinding transports I couldn't even put words to.

"That's a lot of expensive ships." Said Zeke. "The Necromedes is a total boondoggle and some of those are even worse. No Saintships, thankfully,. Apparently even the faction leaders have enough common sense not to dangle an entire ship made of S-rank material out in the middle of space."

Killian stepped up on his other side. "The wealth on display there is worth more than one or two Saintships from an objective standpoint. Though no one would be willing to piss off that many high ranking faction members from that many forces. There are S-rankers on board I'm sure. The gods will have sent their best."

"Old man Anders is here." Zeke grimaced. "Sasha warned me before I showed up. He's never liked me much. Always considered Eli and I a bad influence. Not that he's going to do much about it here. Good to know ahead of time though."

My head jerked up. "M-My friend Chelsea's grandpa is here?" I said, catching myself before I blurted out something stupid. "That's…interesting. What about mine?"

"Malachai didn't come." He said with a sigh. "Which is a shame, because we could have used a friendly face. They sent Harrison. He's the youngest branch clan leader. Aiden's father. He likes to think that gives him a lot of influence, even though it doesn't."

Aiden was the name of the current Wishmaster, the one who was retiring to make way for whoever won my candidate selection. "Is he…like an enemy of ours?" I said carefully.

He waggled a hand. "He's not a friend. But not an enemy. I don't think he's going to try anything in such a serious situation. As the only witnesses to what happened in the Aetherbright Academy, you'll be expected to testify. We passed on everything you told us, but the bigwigs want to question you themselves."

I nodded, letting out a long breath. "Do we know who is coming from every faction? Or just those two?" I wanted to be as prepared as possible for what was coming, even if that wasn't going to be all that much in the grand scheme of things.

"No idea." Shrugged Zeke. "And they won't be here yet anyway. We made good time, we're still about a week out from the start date. You can do some shopping and make inroads with some of the other visiting factions. Maybe meet up with some old friends. I suspect several of the people you met during the Moonsong Glade incident will be present, since it's related."

I turned back to stare out at the rapidly approaching continent, and I felt Callie take my hand and give it a squeeze. It was a lot, but at the same time, knowing we'd be seeing old friends was definitely a bonus.

"What about independents?" I asked, realizing I hadn't really thought to ask. I knew they existed. The Vampire was one, and there were more than a few unaffiliated clans, like smaller versions of the WCP, that I'd learned about recently. "Are they going to have representation here?" That would be yet another powerful person I'd have to deal with meeting.

Grinning, Zeke raised a hand, pointing out the panel and into the distance. I blinked in shock at the sight of a familiar floating black metal coffin in space.

Bethy, who had just gotten to us, saw what he was pointing at and squealed with joy, bouncing up and down in place. "Daddy's here!" She cheered. "I can't wait to tell him all about my time in the army. I was the best soldier ever, he's going to be so proud!"

I was unsure Bethy had even technically BEEN a soldier, though I certainly wasn't the one who was going to tell her so. I was more worried about why the Vampire had made an appearance. Was he some kind of de facto leader for the independents?

Whatever the reason, I couldn't imagine his presence was going to have a pacifying effect on things. The gods had sent their strongest, but they were all still just S-rankers. Morgan Lark was the closest being to godhood, able to take on even a deity (albeit a young one) in pitched combat and come out ahead.

Him being here signified both how seriously everyone was taking this and how dangerous it was going to be. I knew the Vampire hated being sucked into politics and tried to avoid interacting with anyone.

Was he here because of the danger? The opportunity to fight unknown gods? I knew he could siphon stats. Could he drain a god's Impact to help himself ascend. Would they allow him a position among the factions if it meant getting his support? This was all way above my paygrade, but I knew it would be important in the future.

Regardless of all that though, I knew that this conclave was going to be a mess. This many high rankers and children and disciples of gods? The winds of fate around this place would be whipped into a frenzy, it would be like my life times a million. I just hoped they were all ready for it. I was sure I would be. I didn't have a choice.