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

[SilverEagle2121]

@Malcolm Tent I just noticed your numbering is off on the threadmarks. You have chapter 1059 twice in the there, so you may want to update that. The chapters are different, it is just the numbering which is duplicated.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The trek to the nearest Hanging Land was just as quick as expected, or even quicker, because we were definitely moving with purpose. Brad had managed something unctionally impossible by making a pit in the Void Road (which was durable enough that most S-rankers couldn't do much to them), but it was at its core, just a hole in a road. Clarent was gone, but definitely not dead.

"So how does this work?" I asked Dayne as we headed for the location of the entrance. "He fell into the Void, and that's not going to kill him?"

"No," she said bluntly. "The Void is everything. Everywhere. Space isn't really linear. He'll fall for a while, and then probably land on another Void Road, or a Hanging Land, or maybe on some random Void Creature, but he PROBABLY won't die. If he really doesn't run into an out, he could probably do that insane reality cutting thing again, but it would be VERY dangerous. Without a notable understanding of what's on the other side, he could end up anywhere."

I sighed in relief. While that wasn't exactly the BEST outcome, it meant he was far enough away that he likely wouldn't be a problem again anytime soon.

I glanced at Brad. "Speaking of insane reality cutting things…did you see what Brad DID back there?" I was still kind of reeling from that whole experience, but I was beginning to understand why Azazel had nudged me toward that shallowing. Brad was a uniquely effective deterrent out here on the Void Roads.

And that was just what we knew about. Who could say what abilities a demon created from the Domains of two gods might be capable of once he got stronger. The merger between the demon and the entity had created a tier 7 being. Who knew what he could do at tier 8. Or 9.

"So, we're almost to this Hanging Land," I said after a moment or two of quiet contemplation. "What should I expect?"

"Blood," she said simply. "Lots of blood. Everywhere. On Everything. Hanging Lands are fragments left behind by dead gods. This particular deity was an extremely unpleasant goddess who called herself the Blood Widow."

I snickered. "Gosh, she sounds friendly."

"Whatever you're imagining? She was worse. The Blood Widow made Hatescream look like a humanitarian," she shuddered. "She was notable for bathing in the blood of young children to maintain her beauty."

I blinked in disbelief. "But…she was a GOD?" I said in confusion. "She was eternally youthful."

Or not. The old man wasn't youthful, but I was sure he could change that if he wanted to. She just shrugged. "Apparently it was just kind of a habit by that point. The point is, the Blood Widow World is…unique. The whole place is covered in blood, and the blood is host to creatures called Vendels. Basically they're a type of undead made from the blood tainted spirits of murder victims. As you might expect, the ones in the Blood Widow World look like children, which presents a problem for many people."

"So…why are we going to this nightmare factory?" I asked slowly.

"Shortcut," she said grimly. "The same way we entered that shallowing in one spot and left in another. We're entering the Blood Widow World and exiting at one of the prearranged exits stably operated inside Blood Widow City."

I raised an eyebrow. "Prearranged exits?" I asked in confusion.

She walked another twenty feet or so and stopped. "Yes," she said with a smile. "Like this one." She reached up and sort of knocked on nothing, and as her hand made contact, there was a loud rapping that echoed through the Road. As her fingers struck the air, the clear space was stained dark brown. The color spread, bleeding out into the shape of a large ancient looking door in a thick wooden frame.

The door was made of long flat boards banded together with reddish iron, and it glistened with a worn in polish in the center, as if it had been knocked on so often it had been sanded smooth by the force of knuckles.

On one side, about halfway down, a single red iron ring hung dully, looking solid and intimidating enough that I was worried it couldn't be pulled at all. Dayna, however, just reached down and yanked it open. "As you saw, breaching the Void directly is incredibly difficult without special abilities or overwhelming force. Locations like shallowings are another shortcut that make it simpler, but outside of those, there are often stable portals set up in specific locations. We enter into Blood Widow City through this door-" she rapped on the frame. "And then exit through another portal set to drop us at a different point on the Roads."

I raised an eyebrow at the process. "How come we haven't seen any of these in realspace? I assume if it works from the shallowing or from the Hanging Lands it would work there too."

"The man who makes them, Doormaker Dave, is a rogue member of the Empire," she explained. "He's been hiding in the Void for centuries and doesn't enter realspace. Aside from that one caveat, he'll make a door for anyone, so everyone pretty much leaves him alone. He's useful to all factions so he gets a pass."

It was strange to think that there were really three communities in the Void. The vanished gods lived in sealed off and mostly complete god worlds. They weren't anchored to realspace like the six, but their worlds were still functional enough for them to easily regain control after resurrection. The Hanging Lands were a huge network of criminal and outcast factions sloppily stitched together with Void Roads, and the actual Void forces, the infiltrators and Void spawn, dispersed among the others when they weren't in the territory actively controlled by the Void Children. No wonder the old man was willing to consider peace. This whole place was an unmitigated disaster, and I wouldn't want to try besieging it either.

Explanation over with, she hauled on the ring, pulling the door with a grunt. The portal, which looked for all the world like a normal door, groaned and swung open slowly. I blinked, realizing that it was an A-rank door, and one without any bindings on it that would suppress the physical effects of that Impact. I wondered if that was done on purpose.

It still didn't take long for it to open, and then we all stepped inside and she hauled the door shut. It didn't vanish on this side, but I assumed it had on the other, and I looked around to see where we'd ended up.

We were standing in a small stone room. The stones making up the walls were large and ominous, and to a one they were stained a deep, unsettling crimson. The surfaces were craggy and uneven, with the torches set on the walls flickering and dancing in the most ominous way possible, creating pockets of moving shadows across the rocks.

Within the tiny pools of darkness, I could occasionally see a lot glimmer of dark red light, and after staring for quite a while I was able to make out small runes jaggedly cut into the faces, guttering with their own dull illumination to the beat of some ethereal heart.

"Well, that's not creepy at all," I said uneasily. "Dan, you getting any useful information here?" My information demon and Brad were both still out here with us, having tagged along after Brad's spontaneous burst of usefulness. Brad was mostly busy chatting with his new 'mentor' (Dan had NOT agreed to this, but Brad wouldn't be dissuaded), but Dan seemed relieved to have an excuse to disengage.

He closed his eyes, focusing on his extrasensory abilities. "I sense…blood. That's not helpful. But it's all I can perceive. It's overpowering. The aura of death and suffering is baked into the stones so deeply it's more part of them than the matter that makes them up."

"True," Dayna said solemnly. "It's a notable feature of stones from this realm. When you build with them, the spiritual impressions of the material develops a sort of presence. If the matter is destroyed, the spiritual imprint lingers. The result is architecture that can functionally survive its own destruction. Or, in other words-"

"Ghost buildings," I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "What are the runes, then?"

She shrugged. "I've heard many explanations. Some say they are binding runes that affix the spirituality to the stone. Some say they keep the resentment suppressed. And some say they're wardings to keep away the Vendels. Perhaps they're a bit of all three, but I couldn't tell you. Crafting is not my gift, nor is curiosity one of my defining traits."

Stepping away from the door, she approached ANOTHER door, set back into the wall of the stone room. This one wasn't wood, but instead the same red iron as the banding on the other and the handle we'd used to open it. She reached up and banged on the door roughly several times, and a riveted iron window was thrown back open. A pair of beady yellow eyes glared through it, slit pupils focusing on none and all of us. "Watchu want?"

"Out of this room, obviously," Dayna said in annoyance. "Put it on my tab. Candlebrook."

The beady eyes narrowed, then the harsh, guttural voice grunted. "One moment." The window slammed shut and we stood there for another ten or fifteen minutes before it reopened. "What's the password?"

"Lavender," she grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

It slammed shut again, and the door opened, letting us out into an equally cramped hallway. Behind the door, a gigantic man with birdlike features, so tall he had to stoop even in the fifteen foot hallway, glared down at us. "Welcome to the palace of doors," he said coldly. "Don't crowd the 'allway. Proceed immediately to your next destination or leave the premises until such time as you are ready to vacate the city."

Dayne nodded. "We'll vacate, we have some shopping to do."

He acknowledged her, then began lumbering down the hallway on a random direction, presumably listening for more knocks. I glanced at my elven friend. "Why aren't we leaving right away?"

"Information," she said as she led me down the hall and towards an exit. I had no clue how she knew WHERE to go, but she seemed to. "Void Roads aren't always safe. Your Ancestor mentioned special locations where strange things happened, but I'm not sure if he mentioned Void Storms. They're rare, but it's smart to at least check. Not to mention sometimes new Hanging Lands bump into the Roads and connect. If that happens, formerly safe routes can become unusable, and recalibration would be needed."

This was more complicated than I'd expected, but I got her point. "So what is this place?"

"Palace of Doors," she said as we reached and passed through a large open red stone entryway. "Doormaker Dave maintains his own locations in most major Hanging Lands. He's the only game in town for doors, which means he's left alone, but he also charges for using the big hubs like this. Standardizing it makes things easier, and makes him a decent amount of money, too."

Dan looked intrigued. "Fascinating. I have so many things to learn here. Speaking of which, can you tell us about the information source you're bringing us to consult?"

She snorted. "Only one place to get maps and routes on the Roads. If you need information on safe passage, you ask the Voidwalker Guild. They have regular jobs refreshing and updating their maps and they pay pretty well. I've done work for them before. They're pricey, but luckily I have a tab through a friend of mine. There are a few of us who use it, but she doesn't mind." Then she stopped talking. It was clear she didn't want to be asked about anything else from her demeanor, so we lapsed into silence as we followed her through red sand streets. I already didn't like this place.

 

[Quenster06]

I glanced at Brad. "Speaking of insane reality cutting things…did you see what Brad DID back there?" I was still kind of reeling from that whole experience, but I was beginning to understand why Azazel had nudged me toward that shallowing. Brad was a uniquely effective deterrent out here on the Void Roads.

Click to shrink...

Was there further conversation missing here? Because it feels like Shane asked this question for no reason since nobody responded, leading to it feeling kind of pointless, at least it does to me.

Thank you for the chapter!

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The Voidwalker's Guild was surprisingly jovial for a building tucked into a back alley corner of a city steeped in murder victim blood. As soon as we stepped inside, a few people took a look around, spotted Dayna, and cheered a greeting. The taciturn elf smiled slightly, nodding to them as we entered, and headed for the back of the hall where a big bearded man stood in front of a counter that seemed to double as a reception desk and bar.

He noticed her coming and shot her a grin, his deep set eyes and high cheekbones making him seem like a naturally friendly person even before he smiled. "Dayna-girl!" he crowed happily. "How's my favorite little stick flinger? You make the decision to upgrade to a real weapon yet?"

"That depends, Ian," she said sardonically. "Have you figured out a way to use melee weapons without parking your oversized ass RIGHT next to your enemy and flailing around in arm's reach for a few minutes?"

He grinned at her in a way that told me this was a familiar bit of banter, before turning to raise an eyebrow at me. "And who is your large intimidating friend? That's a nice suit of armor, lad, though your mask is a bit unsettling, all blank and wooden like that. Face is your advertisement to the world, boyo, man can't see that how's he supposed to trust you?"

"Says the man whose entire lower jaw is hidden inside of a bush," snorted Dayne. "This is…Sol. He's a friend of mine." I perked up at the terminology and saw her wilt as she realized what she'd said, but it was too late for her to take it back. I'd known I'd win her over.

He barked out a laugh. "Fair enough, lass. Fair enough. Now, what are you looking for here today? Hoping to take on a job? We've got a nice little stockpile in the back I've been keepin' warm for you. I know you love the exploration gigs, and you're one of our most thorough mapmakers."

She cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Yes, well, I do enjoy the chance to work on my shading, but sadly I'm already on a job. I came to check the routes and get the most recent news. I'd also hoped to check if you'd seen Anabelle lately."

"Fraid not," said the big man with a shrug. "With the realspace war heating up, us backline folks don't see near as much action. Most of the godbloods are cycling out to the warfront or hanging back in their bunkers for safety. Annie-belle and the rest of your little rag tag band been taking jobs in the edgeroads."

Anticipating my confusion, Dayna elaborated. "Plenty of Roads border realspace like we saw before, with the shallowing. The edgeroads are known weakspots like that, and the ones nearest the war front have been known to see accidental punch through."

Ian laughed at that. "Yeah, it's a bit like diving for trash at a junkyard. Never know what, if anything, is gonna come through. But it can be lucrative as hell if you get lucky. Anyone as can punch through the veil is going to be high B-rank at least. Or have a VERY effective attack ability. Anything they drop is most likely premium gear. And that's not even counting things like spare body parts or souls. Scavenging the edge roads while your people fight the realspacers is like playing the lottery." His smile, everpresent until now, dropped. "Course, we ain't the only ones noticed, either. The Void spawn swarm those edges themselves, and scavs need to be careful not to get sucked into a fight with a horde they can't handle."

Dayna looked troubled. "Can I leave a message for Anabelle here?" she asked slowly. "I don't like to hover, but she should know about some of the recent developments in realspace. In fact, I was hoping we might be able to trade some information for the routes we need? I can use my tab if needed, but this seemed cleaner."

His eyes brightened, narrowing in interest. "Information, you say? Since when do you have connections in realspace?" She just stared back at him mutely and he shuckled, putting both hands up defensively. "Alright, no need to pout, little one. Tell me what you know."

She glanced at me questioningly, and I nodded, trusting her to know what to tell him. "The realspacer gods have been skirmishing with our side," she said diplomatically. "But the vanished ones are split. Hatescream and Stralthrem staged an attack on the Wish god but got repelled. One of the Void Children reached divinity, but she's reticent to engage because the avatar of a lost god has appeared that directly counters the Void."

"The lost ones are always a mixed bag," he hummed. "What do you know about this avatar, are they one of ours?"

"No, she connected indirectly," she said with a headshake. "That lost one's fragment remains drifting, as far as I know. Based on how much antipathy the Void Children seem to feel toward him, I suspect it's buried DEEP."

My eyes widened. She was insinuating that Atlas had a Hanging Land. Which now that I thought about it, made perfect sense. Considering the requirements for resurrection for the vanished gods themselves, I suspected finding that would be one possible way for Callie to help resurrect her dad. I made a note to contact her later and bring it up. If we could mount an expedition into the Void and locate Atlas's world fragment (apparently that was the local term), we'd have a potential method to counter the Void God directly.

Of course, any expedition would require a foothold, which meant we needed to contact and win over as many of the vanished gods as we could and put their side of the war to rest as fast as possible. Our mission continued.

Ian, meanwhile, looked incredibly intrigued. "Well now," he said musingly. "What a complex and fascinating report." He reached under the counter, pulling out an envelope. "Platinum route report," he said decisively. "Covers everything local up to twenty four hours guaranteed accurate."

Dayna's jaw dropped open in disbelief. "That's…platinum? I can't afford a platinum route report. Those have faction specific intel and almost realtime engagement maps to avoid incidents. That's premium product."

"You can afford whatever I say you can afford," he laughed. "And I say your intel was worth at least this much. I'm not sure where you got it, but from what I can tell, it's a hundred percent accurate, at least to your knowledge." He held up his hand, palm out, to reveal a clunky black metal bracelet set with a bright orange faceted stone.

Apparently that stone was some kind of truth device because Dayna's face brightened with understanding. Still she gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"Bah," he snorted. "If I can't be biased toward my favorites what's the point of being a guildmaster." His face smoothed over, eyes shadowing in trepidation. "But in all seriousness…be careful out there, Dayna-girl. When the cats are away, the mice will play, and even down here in the depths of the Void, the echoes of the war can be felt."

She nodded again, and we turned to leave. I frowned at her in confusion. "We're going already? I figured we would stop for a meal or something."

"We're being followed," she said quietly as we stepped out of the guild hall. "That last bit about cats was a code phrase. Ian was telling me he'd clocked someone setting an ambush. He has methods of knowing what is happening in his territory."

I frowned, then jerked my head to one side. "Follow me. I've got an idea."

She didn't even hesitate, following me into an alley with Brad and Dan in tow. We all walked in one end, and a short, plain looking man with grey eyes and black hair walked out the other side.

Astaroth had been designed for times like this, and I relaxed slightly as I watched the simulacrum of a man I'd seen in passing on the way to the guild hall stroll casually in front of me as I skulked in the recesses of space.

Dayna and the demons were stashed safely in my Domain, so where there had been four people, now there was only one, and he was no one special. I walked casually through the streets, my eyes peeled and searching for any evidence of the ambush she'd mentioned.

Sure enough, I spotted a few shady looking men taking up positions on the sides of the road and in recessed alleys, watching the road that lead from the guild

I let my legs carry me slowly and carefully towards the palace of doors, and then tapped into Piece of Mind, giving control of the simulacrum to a parallel as I slipped into my Domain mentally. Being an equivalent to my library soulspace, I could enter Gehenna without projecting the Domain itself, though I rarely did so.

When I arrived, I found my friends waiting for me. "You were right," I told Dayna. "We were being tracked. They were waiting for us down the street. How did they find us? They must have had someone waiting for me. I'm sorry, I should have been using Astaroth from day one. I just figured we wouldn't be too noticeable this far out. Between the armor and the mask, descriptions of me should be pretty general. I got cocky."

She shook her head. "No way of knowing. Don't forget that I have enemies as well. This is Verdyn's territory, or at least nearby. Chances are good using my tab tipped someone off and they were moving to grab me while I was vulnerable."

I chuckled lightly at that. "Look at us, making friends and influencing people, huh? I'll get us back into the palace and then out of the city. Did you check out the route report yet?"

"I did," she nodded. "Unfortunately the route I had planned to take back has been claimed by a particularly nasty group of Road bandits. We'll need to divert. There's an alternate safe route through the Dreamdark Forest fragment. Well…mostly safe. If we avoid going too deep. Most of the worst things in that fragment live deep in the woods. The rest of the predators there have been eaten by the big ones, and those tend to nap most of the year."

She hesitated. I noticed and sighed. "Alright, what is it?"

"If they were after me, they'll know where we're going," she pointed out. "Which means they'll know the approximate route we're going to use."

"You think if they can't ambush us here they'll set up another in this forest fragment?" I asked slowly. "What if we don't go through there, then? You said that's the safest route. Are there any LESS safe ones that are still manageable?"

She paused, her eyes going wide. "I mean…Bonesorrow Canyon maybe? It's incredibly dangerous for most people. It's been a forbidden zone on the local Roads for years. But the undead there have weak Perception. If we moved slow, your stealth field might be able to hide us."

"Bonesorrow Canyon?" I asked hesitantly. "What kind of place is that?"

"It's a fragment that belonged to an ancient undead bug deity called the Desolation Digger," she said with a grimace. "The god was a swarm type entity, and when its bugs latched on they would burrow into the heads of their victims and parasitize them into undead thralls. After it was destroyed, the thralls lost all connection to anything around them and the Canyon turned into a shambling wasteland. Almost no one goes there."

I grimaced at the disgusting imagery, but if that was where we needed to go, that was where I'd head. "Alright," I said with a sigh. "I take it there's a door that leads to somewhere near this place?" At her confirmation, I slipped back out to pilot my simulacrum directly and leave them to prepare for this trip. To an evil undead bug world. Why couldn't I ever be forced into going to a waterpark or on a cruise? Having a destiny sucked sometimes.