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

[Malcolm Tent]

strode out the door fast enough to be noticeably hurrying but not fast enough to seem panicked. Mephistopheles was a methodical, implacable kind of guy, and I wanted to really cement that image.

Rayden caught up to me within seconds, jogging without any worries about image. Lucky bastard. "Hey, Fist-o! Wait up."

"I have changed my mind." I intoned. "I do care how you address me. You will refrain from using such a ridiculous moniker for my person." I didn't mind Fist that much, but Fist-o wasn't anything I wanted to go by.

"You got it Fisty." He said with a thumbs up. "I'll keep going through nicknames until we find the perfect one. It'll be Fisteriffic."

I almost groaned out loud. It was like dealing with Bethy. Actually it wasn't, Rayden wasn't half as endearing. I really missed my vampire bestie. And Benny, and Jessie. But I shook that off. If the act of talking to people made me homesick, I needed to socialize more than I thought. I sighed. "Fist-o is acceptable."

"No can do Fisterino." He chirped. "I refuse to call you something that you so clearly hate. I'll never use the name Fist-o again. We'll find you the perfect nickname Fistocles."

"Oh look." I drawled as we rounded a corner. "A distraction."

His head whipped around, his lips peeling back in delight as he watched what appeared to be a giant green ferret made of lightning jump on a towering figure with the head of a bull as it tried to smash the beast into the ground. It dissolved into a shower of verdant sparks as the bull man roared his anger.

"Puddles!" Shouted a green haired girl in a green leather jacket. "Tanner, what the actual fuck? It takes him hours to reform when he gets destroyed, what are you waiting for?"

A figure appeared behind bull man, climbing his back and reaching around with a dagger to try to hook back and slit his throat. The knife got caught in his fur and he reached back, grabbing the formerly invisible guy and hurling him at a nearby building. The armored sneak hit the shadows of the building and melted in, and I heard the green girl sigh.

"Fools!" Boomed the minotaur. "You speak to me as equals? I will crush you all!"

I knew Mephistopheles wouldn't do anything. He would probably just watch and enjoy the show…but I was still Shane in real life. I was a hero, or I tried to be, and I wasn't going to let this big asshole crush these people because they'd TALKED to him informally. My instincts were screaming at me to help, and I tried to listen to my gut. Withdrawing my staff, I stepped forward, and I reached for Limbo.
Despite the month of training, I hadn't gotten much of an opportunity to work with Limbo. It didn't work on people too far above my rank, and most of my sparring partners were. Still, I'd been workshopping the pseudo Domain. After a month of backstopping and tweaking the imagery, I'd managed to refine the ability into something both more useful, and more deadly.

As I stepped into the First Circle of Hell, I felt the world around me shift. Not overly much, not a full change. It was less like a real Domain and more like a film I'd laid over the world that lubricated my powers a bit.

My mind split. Piece of Mind creating parallels of me to parse the information from a combination of the Overlay and Eye of Revelation.

The last time I'd used this ability my mistake had been following the narrative in the heat of the moment. I hadn't done my due diligence, hadn't shaped the pseudo Domain to be what I needed, and so it shaped me. This time though, I'd done the work, come up with the legend I needed, and I had tied it intimately into who I was.

Moonlit Night to set the stage, Eye of Revelation and the Overlay to predict their actions, Piece of Mind to parse the multitudes of possibility, and the hyper corrosive black flame of Belial and Mephistopheles to destroy the other options.

Rather than manipulate him with the Domain like a puppetmaster, i identified the possible outcomes, and used the power of my destructive energy to eradicate the paths they had until they walked the one I wanted. I still controlled and deceived, but this was more in like not only with my destructive side, but with my Fatewalker nature.

The minotaur spun, roaring at me, and I saw a thousand reactions, blazing through my head like an infinite map. In a feat I wouldn't have been able to do without my pseudo Domain (I was just going to start thinking of it as a lowercase D domain for ease of consideration) I saw all the possible outcomes, parsed and analyzed them as a dozen people, and discarded the ones I didn't want.

My staff licked out, explosions of dark energy destroying possible outcomes as I boxed the minotaur in, getting rid of possibilities before they could be realized and slowly constraining the big bastard to dance on my string like a puppet. I felt that cold, sadistic joy well up in me again, but it was muted this time, balanced by the Fatewalker and by my own new and more powerful soul.

The bull man roared, diving forward…into my staff. An explosion knocked him back, and he fell right onto a strike as I Double Troubled behind him. Every step was like destiny, implacable, inevitable. I wasn't just beating him. I was making him beat himself, smashing into my staff at the exact right time.

It took only a few seconds for him to drop, flesh sizzling and burning from my powerful dark corruption. Everyone around us was just staring at me as I let the First Circle recede, the domain returning to where it came from. I felt a surge of weakness after it was gone, but not enough to seriously bother me. Much more manageable than before.

Rayden whistled. "Damn Fist, that was fucking brutal. Did you guys see that? That was some 'quit hitting yourself' type of shit."

I almost laughed, before I remembered I was playing tall dark and brooding, so I just loomed ominously. The one upside to the shock and awe approach I'd taken was it had been so overwhelming people had forgotten to ask WHY I'd done it. I probably just seemed like I wanted to kick the shit out of some huge powerful Ascendant.

"That really WAS awesome!" Chriped the green haired girl. "Thanks for the save, big guy. I'm Vesper, and that over there is Tanner. Puddles is my summon, though he's gone, and our friend Archimedes was setting up a big attack to take down the beefcake over there." She gestured at bull guy. "Still, it was really nice of you to lend a hand."

Shaking my head, I boomed. "I simply wished to test my strength against a worthy foe. Your fates were immaterial to me."

She chuckled. "Whatever you say, big guy. I can tell you're a big softie deep down."

"Right?" laughed Rayden. "He's definitely a nice guy. I can tell." He grinned charmingly, holding out a hand. Rayden Strent, at your service milady." He leaned down to kiss her knuckles and she rolled her eyes, though she smiled at a bit at the gesture. "I was just about to step in to help.

Desria snorted, her seaweed hair drifting oddly on the light breeze in a way that resembled actual underwater plants. "Can you not be a shameless flirt, for like…five minutes, Ray. These people are probably our competition. I'm guessing you guys are here for the selection like we are?"

Vesper shrugged nervously. "I mean…maybe? I'm not sure. My faction is kind of under a lot of pressure. I'm from a system near here, and when I heard about this…I don't know if I really have any other options, but a lot of these gods don't really sit right with me. I'm still deciding on whether we're going to enter."

"We are." Said another voice as a tall blonde man with broad shoulders stepped into view. Over one shoulder he was carrying a massive war maul, the head glowing with condensed power. Archimedes, I took it, and that would be his big hit. The fact that it was still teed up was a bit alarming, and I immediately went on guard.

Rayden seemed not to care, and Desria remained relaxed, but Cavallo, the big quiet aqua haired member of their trio, narrowed his blood red eyes at the other warrior, sizing him up.
Vesper glared at the blonde. "We decide that TOGETHER, Archie. And we haven't. Tanner and I are still on the fence, so unless you want to go it alone you'll wait for us to make a decision. I don't appreciate you trying to bully us into falling in line.

"Tell you what." Rayden said cheerfully. "Why don't we treat you all to a bit of food. We were just going to break bread and get to know our terrifying friend here before your fight caught us off guard." His tone was bright and inviting and I felt kind of…confused.

This wasn't going how I expected. I thought everyone who showed up here would be an edgy lunatic hell bent on crushing people under their boot. These people all seemed…nice. Just friendly Ascendants my own age. Sure the minotaur was a dick, but that still wasn't like…evil. These people were here for their own reasons, and they weren't all bloodthirsty monsters like I'd expected.

But that didn't matter, really. I was still going to have to get through them to win this. To beat them all so I could be free of my great grandmother and my family could be back together. Granted, my dad would still probably be off doing whatever until I kicked his ass and dragged him back, but being able to go visit my grandfather in the Holy Dominion, see where my sister grew up. It all sounded like a dream.

So I firmed my resolve and settled into my character, but I also promised myself I wouldn't ignore this feeling either. Callie was there with me, her love and support giving me the resolve to do what I could for these people. People like Vesper and Rayden might be decent despite their desperate situations, and if they were, I would help them.

I could have Sorana pick them up on the Acheron when I left if I felt they were worth saving. So I followed the group back to the tavern, and we all sat down and ordered. I got some shepherds pie and a mug of root beer, and everyone was suitably terrified when they saw my mask mouth open.

After we decompressed a bit and got to know each other, I turned my attention to something Vesper had said. After a brief pause, I finally asked. "Tell me about 'the selection' as you call it. Tell me what you know of those who are chosen."

Vesper chuckled. "Seems like its the least we owe you. We can do that. I don't know how much it'll help though. We just heard a rumor and came here on a whim. I THINK someone said something about the selection happening in Deltaverde, but the trip there is taking us a while." She coughed in embarrassment. "We're not used to B-rank planets."

I got that, though I couldn't say so. Rayden had no such compunction, however. "Yeah there's an adjustment period. Don't worry, you can stick with us. We can track down Deltaverde together. Once things kick off we might be rivals, but there's no reason not to work together until then." He grinned at me. "You're invited too, big guy." I thought for a second and then nodded. Having some help certainly couldn't hurt. I'd take what I could get.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"So you're making new friends?" Asked Callie as I leaned back against the wall. She'd manifested a copy through my shadow, and it was curled up next to me. "Because I'll be honest honey, you can be an acquired taste at times." She winked at me. "I joke, but seriously, new friends are always good."

"Unless they're evil psychopaths who are going to end up being our enemies." I pointed out.

She shrugged. "Do they seem like psychopaths? I trust your divination Skills to keep you out of trouble, and as long as they don't try to stab you in the back, I don't see why you couldn't offer them a spot with one of your factions. You know your mom and Chelsea would be perfectly happy to scout some new talent."

"We'll see. I have to get to know them better." I was still in my armor, but with my mask off I felt more myself. It was strange how much that aspect of things had changed. I used to feel naked without it, but since Black Sorrow changed it, it didn't feel like mine anyway. I was going to have to ask Zeke to make me a better one when this was over. "Speaking of Chelsea, how is she doing?"

My wife snickered. "Not bad. She's learning to use both her abilities, and to try to slowly mix them in combat. Bethy keeps trying to 'help' and Chelsea gets flustered when she's around and accidentally blows herself up."

"That sounds like her." I snickered. "How about Abel? Anyone heard from him?"

Her snicker became a full on cackle. "He calls Mel to complain like every day. I'm sure they talk through their bond too, so I think he just wants to make sure we all hear about how pissed off he is. Apparently Morgan is not a gentle teacher."

My own grin matched hers in sadistic amusement. "Gosh." I drawled maliciously. "That's so sad. I can't imagine what it would be like to suffer at the hands of a cruel and capricious teacher. It certainly wasn't my INTENTION for him to suffer in such a way. I'll keep him in my thoughts."

She rolled her eyes, and was about to respond when a knock sounded at my door. I tensed, grabbing my mask and sliding it back on. I hadn't heard anyone coming, which meant Stealth, and my Danger Sense wasn't pinging so they weren't hostile. I came to my feet slowly, nodding to Callie as the clone melted back into shadow. She couldn't help me from where she was, those clones being far too fragile for a prolonged long distance fight.

After mentally preparing, I strolled to the door and pulled it open, glaring down at the person on the other side. "What?" I snapped.

The figure before me simply stared back, unaffected by my ire. "Mephistopheles." Came the voice from under the darkened hood like the rustle of dead leave over a cold gravestone. "You are requested in the dining room." The face beneath the cloak wasn't visible, but a mask was. A half face mask carved of black wood to resemble the top half of a skull, with bright red eyes that cast a dim glow over the unrelieved darkness inside the hood. It gave the impression the mask was floating in an empty abyss, and was deeply unsettling.

"And who are you," I intoned. "To command me in such a way?"

"Attend or do not." Rasped the figure. "But know that if you choose to defy the invitation, you will forfeit all rights to the divine selection. The eyes of the dark gods are on this world. Your trials have already begun, and they watch carefully. Be warned, for if you are not a willing vessel for their power, your only choice is to bow to their awful might by force, and for those who stand against their fury, only tragedy awaits."

There was a flutter in the air, and the figure dissolved into a few drifting black feathers, which vanished as they touched the ground. I rolled my eyes. "Melodramatic ass." I muttered as I turned to head for the stairs.

To my complete lack of surprise, Vesper, Archie, Rayden, Desria, Cavallo, and Tanner were all converging at the top of the steps. We'd all chosen to stay in the same inn, though obviously our rooms had some distance between them. Still, thinking back, I should have heard the hooded figure addressing any of the others, or even knocking on their door. Whatever the thing was, it had some interesting tricks.

Thinking about it, I suspected he might be some kind of servant of Delthrys, the god of secrets. It would certainly fit.

"Fist!" Called Rayden as I joined them. "Good to see you got the call too. Anyone know anything about creepy mcweirdmask back there? Because I tried a few of my analysis Skills and I got jack and shit."

Archie shook his head in annoyance. "Likewise." He grunted. "But they did give me a fun little ultimatum. I take it we're all heading downstairs to meet with our new friend now?"

"I chafe under their assumptions." I rumbled. "But I came for the selection. To throw away my chance for greatness to sate some fleeting sense of personal pride is pure foolishness. I will attend this conclave."

Vesper nodded. "Pretty much where we landed. We should stick together then. Just in case our new friend has impure intentions."

Nodding solemnly, we all got into a tight grouping, though not so tight as to limit range of movement. We were all experienced, and Archie, Cavallo, and I took the front, being the biggest. I triggered Mornax along with my two consistently active forms, just in case something attacked.

We reached the ground floor, and the whole place was shockingly empty. An almost blue moonlight flooded the area from the windows, leaving dark shadows pooling everywhere. We headed for the dining room, and when we arrived, the cloaked figure was standing among the tables, hands clasped behind their back.

"Well, we're here." Said Rayden. "It's late though, so if there's a version of this where you don't posture dramatically and waste a bunch of time, can we go with that one? Also what's your name, because I can't just keep calling you 'creepy mask guy' in my head. We already have one of those and it's getting confusing."

The figure paused menacingly. "You may address me as you wish, my name matters no-"

"Cool, you're Scott now." Interrupted Rayden. "Problem solved. Now, what are you doing here, Scott, and what do you want?"

The pause this time was less menacing and more confused. "I…yes. Well. I have come to extend your invitations to the selection, as well as give you your first task. To serve the dark gods is an honor that not just any may accept. You must prove your worthiness."

"Worthiness?" Rayden said skeptically. "How high can the bar be? I mean, you're worthy, and your name is Scott. That's a ridiculous name."

"You don't…please stop calling me that." The cloaked figure formerly known as Scott sounded frustrated. "Take this seriously. Your very lives hang in the balance."

Rayden snorted. "Yeah, because that's an unfamiliar set of circumstances."

"Look, what is the task?" I asked, figuring I'd better interrupt Ray before he got up a head of steam. I'd learned to handle unpredictable teammates when I'd been working with Bethy. Sometimes you just had to make them focus.

Not-Scott nodded, clearly pleased. "Very good. At least one of you is treating this situation with the gravitas it deserves." His tone was almost reproachful, and I smirked behind my mask, seeing that Rayden had done exactly what he'd probably intended to do, and taken the wind out of Not-Scott's creepy sails.

"Exactly." I boomed. "So tell us what we need to know, Not-Scott."

Rayden burst out laughing, and I could swear the masked figure glared at me. "My NAME," They hissed. "Is Echelon. I serve Delthrys, the god of secrets, and he is not amused by your antics!"

"Oh please." Snorted Desria. "There's no way an actual god is giving us enough attention to care about this conversation. So just tell us what the task is."
The figure glared for a moment, then sighed. With a snap of their fingers, a series of birds coalesced (ravens, of course, because what else would a creepy masked cloak person use) they flew to us, each dropping a small scroll. I snatched mine out of the air, and after opening and reading it, looked back up at Echelon. "Its a person." I said flatly.

"Of course." Echelon said with a nod. "A target. Delthys is one of the six whom you may serve. The first trial shall weed out those who might stand at his side. Every person in the trials is given a target. You have three days to find them. Should you fail, you will be barred forever from service to Delthrys, and all that he may grant you, though you will not be precluded from the other trials. Those who succeed most quickly will more on to Delthrys's next trial."

I blinked at her. "So this trial has no benefit for those who seek to serve a different deity?"

Echelon shook their head. "Not so. If you succeed in a trial, you may use that success to offset a failure for the first trial of another deity. The top scorer in any first trial may even beg intercession from that god for aid in another trial down the line, even if that trial is for a different god."

That sounded complicated as hell. That meant there would be, eventually, six different selections going on all over Rackham. I could blow some of them off, but if they were all thematic…having a free pass for the Lady of Lamentation's task might be a good idea. As a goddess of torment, there was a chance it would be incredibly unpleasant.

Having a free intercession from the god of secrets could certainly come in handy. I was just really hoping the Lady of Lamentations had some other domain than torturing people, or I wasn't going to make it through this.

I glanced down at my target. For now I just had to find this guy. Chester Baddington, professional thief and a D-ranker on the Path of Stealth. Fantastic. Echelon, seemingly ignorant or uncaring of my mental dilemma, turned their back to us. "And so your task has been passed. The first task of the next trial will commence in one week's time. Some of you will not bother to move on, and will serve at the hand of Delthrys. For the rest, this will be the last time we meet."

Echelon vanished in a puff of raven feathers, and we all turned to each other. "So…" Said Rayden. "Did he say anything about us helping each other? I bet teaming up would make this way easier."

I considered the trial, and the god behind it. "I think not." I said slowly. "Not on this one. At least not yet. Perhaps if we run into difficulty on day one. Is anyone planning not to bother with the task?"

No one was. It made sense, it was a big opportunity for some free credit in case our task down the line was too hard or painful. That thought resonated oddly. Too painful. The Lady of Lamentation was a goddess of torment, though based on her liquid, probably also corruption. What if her task was to ENDURE those things. I felt my blood run cold at that. In some ways it would be easier, but in others…yeah, I definitely needed to make sure I had a free pass for the first trial for the goddess I was aiming at. I had a feeling it would be one of the hardest to endure. Before that though, I had to do some research, because if I was going to pass any of these trials, I needed to know more about the dark gods.

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