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

[Malcolm Tent]

Harley was asleep. I tried waking him up but he straight up refused to talk to me during his "legally mandated five hour lunch break". He told me to come back in a few hours, so I left. I wasn't really in a hurry. I had a task to do, but I also had a week to kill, and this murder happened two hundred years ago.

It was kind of nice, really. I'd been sprinting from one fire to the next since I became an Ascendant. I'd had downtime, travel and vacations and stuff, but at the same time, even that felt…immediate. Like I needed to chill out RIGHT NOW so I could get as much relaxation as possible into as little time as I could. Which, of course, wasn't actually a super relaxing sensation.

This was weird. It was like…a working vacation. Just facts I was hunting, taking my time, walking my own pace. It was peaceful.

"Master!" Squealed Bella as she appeared next to me where I was sitting outside the bookstore. "Did you talk to the bookstore guy?" I chuckled, speak of the devil. It didn't bother me. In a way it added to my relaxation. Having a friend to share things with.

"I didn't. He's on lunch apparently. Did you have any luck at the tavern?" She seemed energetic, but then, she always did.

Her smile wilted a bit. "Not really. Chester is still there. He's better at this kind of stuff. I don't have a lot in common with small town people. I tried my best though." She looked like she expected me to kick her puppy or something, and it made me feel kind of bad. Was I being that harsh? I'd messed with her a little, but it had felt like banter.

I considered her for a minute then stood. "Follow me." I told her calmly. "I want to give you a lesson."

Her eyes widened in excitement. "A lesson? Is it going to be a technique? Maybe a new Skill?"

"Neither." I said with a shake of my head. "Something much more important. I've learned a lot from my own mentors, but one of the biggest things they've taught me is that WHY you do what you do is as important as how." I led her out of the small hamlet, into the woods to a clearing I remembered nearby. "Motivation and drive is what separates great Ascendants from flashes in the pan."

She nodded, accepting my statement, but seeming a bit confused. "So you're going to teach me…philosophy?"

"Among other things." I agreed. "But philosophy first. My mentor has his own, as does my uncle, who has helped shape me. My mother does too, though she's talked less about it with me. And during the time I've been traveling, I've been working on my own. It's still taking shape, but I'd like to share it with you."
My Path was a part of me. Not just literally, but figuratively. I was the Doom Sovereign, the Fatewalker. It affected the way I lived my life, the way I saw the world, and so much of who I was. And I'd never taken the time to put that into words. To crystallize what it meant to me.

"Destiny…" I said slowly, thinking about how I felt. "Is all around us. It isn't a single path, or a single concept. It's fluid, ever changing. Your destiny can be one thing one second and another thing the next. We all have innumerable destinies, uncountable possible paths, and we have to decide which one to walk down."

Her face was still confused, but it was thoughtful. "So…I should think about what my destiny should be? Try and choose my path as it comes?"

I shook my head. "The path we walk isn't just made up of what's ahead. It's also made up of what's behind. Every step you take is a brick in your road, but the entire thing is the sum total of your destiny. Both the next step and all the ones before.

"People like to treat combat, or contests, or even survival, like it's a zero sum game." I tried to articulate. "Like each incident you experience is discrete, a unique and unrelated moment in your life that you pass or fail. But that's the opposite of what it means to be an Ascendant. Destiny isn't just a step you take. It's MOMENTUM. Every step is leading to the next, pushing you forward. Everything you were before makes up who you are, and that's the person who takes the next step."

I didn't know what I was talking about exactly. Like I did, and I believed everything I was saying, but I didn't know WHY. I just felt like I had to get it out. Had to speak my truth into the world, and that Bella needed to be the one to hear it.

It felt like Enlightenment kind of, but more…personal. I somehow knew that if I could find the right words it would push my Path forward. Or at least help me understand it. But to do that, I needed my Path to not just help me, but to help her. I'd accepted her as my apprentice, and this was how she could help me grow. By learning what I had to teach.

Fate swirled around us, nearly visible it was so thick, and I felt words ready to spill out of my mouth, but I needed her to UNDERSTAND. To grasp what I was saying.

And to my utter shock, she did. It was like something clicked in her head, and her eyes got a little hazy. "You're saying you can help me find my direction, but unless I take my steps with all the experiences I've had before behind me it won't mean anything. You can show me the roads but I have to walk them. Or else I'll interrupt my momentum."

"Exactly!" I shouted, excited. "You need that buildup of purpose and drive to progress, so I can show you ways to choose a direction, but you have your own path to walk and have to choose your next steps yourself. Never compromise your destiny. Never change it to be more like someone else. Not even me. Find what works for you in what I have to teach and make it yours, make everything yours, and that'll be how you move forward without ever slowing down!"

My mind cleared. I'd been rolling along on my Path, having skipped a bunch of steps because I'd tripped into accidentally forming it. But I hadn't UNDERSTOOD it. And I was never going to create my Chronicle that way. I couldn't. I wasn't there yet either, but this had helped, had shown me the way. My Path wasn't just a skill or a thing I used to create techniques. It was like I told Bella. It was my destiny. It was the next step that all the other steps had led you, and I'd somehow managed to sprint a quarter mile ahead of myself, and I couldn't take another step until I caught up.

Which was a ridiculous metaphor that made no sense at all, but it made sense to ME, and that was all I needed. I glanced at Bella, who seemed to be in kind of a trance. I hadn't taught her anything tangible, but this was something she could incorporate into her Path like I just had.

In a way she was probably lucky, because her Path was still illusory, and incorporating this information into it earlier would help her get a better idea about how to proceed. She would UNDERSTAND how she could move forward, instead of just accidentally falling ass backwards into her progression like I had.

I think I'd needed this trip off on my own. Needed this chance to understand who and what I was without my team around, to find this direction. Honestly, I think I'd needed an apprentice. It made me wonder how much influence my Fatewalker instincts had on pushing me toward the ambush where I'd met Bella.

Regardless of the answer, she'd helped me here, in a way that I couldn't quantify, but that I absolutely KNEW was going to be integral to my future success.

And so, I decided to teach her more than just meta lessons. I waited, letting her digest the Epiphany she was having. I wasn't in a rush, like I'd just been thinking, though my current excitement made that harder to hold onto.

Finally, she blinked away her reverie, looking at me in wonder. "That was…weird. I feel like my Path changed. Not in a bad way, I did like you said and only took what felt right for me. But…it changed things. Like my Path is still escape, but a different kind of escape. Before it was reactive, like I was running away, but now I see that escape can mean other things. I can keep ahead of everything, run forward and outdistance my enemies not out of fear, but to be…free of them? I can't put it into words."

"And you don't have to." I told her with a laugh. "But you should hold onto the understanding. Put it into a technique. In fact, it sounds perfect for the one that I want to teach you right now. It's a movement technique."

She perked up. "A technique? Is it like that cool exploding flame teleport thing you do?"
"It's the technique I derived it from." I said with a laugh. "My mom taught it to me. It's called the Supernova Step."

I explained the concept to her, demonstrating it, and emphasizing the need to focus on the image. But instead of just having her use it as is, I told her to try to adapt her new understanding of her Path to the image. Mom always told me I was a genius at creating techniques, it was time to see if I could teach it.

"I feel like I can ALMOST see it." She hissed in frustration. "I just can't…find the connection."

That stumped me for a second. Her Path was personal, and I couldn't exactly create a technique for her when I didn't understand it…but I could give her a concept to link the two things. "Did you know." I said conversationally. "That the speed and momentum required to escape from the orbit of a celestial body is called 'Escape Velocity'."

I don't know why I decided to say that. Why I felt like it was important for her to hear. It was a connection between the Supernova Step and her Path, sure, but it was more than that. I think my Fatewalker instincts pushed me to that, a form of repayment for helping my crystallize my path.

Her clouded expression brightened like the sun coming out after a storm. Not with excitement or joy, but with understanding. She turned, and with a burst of flame, vanished and reappeared across the clearing…faceplanting into a tree.

She stumbled back, falling on her ass and cursing, holding her nose. I walked over and helped her up. "Looks like it needs some work." I told her wryly.

Her eyes were dazed and a little dizzy, not from the impact against the tree, but more from the drain of using a new technique I think. Her soul wasn't two ranks ahead like mine (though her dad HAD paid for her to break her shackles at a local heritage of a branch of one of the five factions) and she couldn't just ignore the costs of techniques the same way I could.

Still, she had figured it out, and it was enough. She laughed, pulling me into a tight hug. "Thank you master! I promise I'll work on it until it's perfect." And I believed her. Which was good. Because I suddenly felt like I had a lot more to teach, as long as I could figure out how to help her learn it.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I was in a good mood when I got back to the bookstore later that afternoon to talk to Harley. I'd already gotten my wishes stockpiled (I had seventy one), done some more training with Bella, and just generally had a fantastic day where I'd learned a lot. Sadly, my good mood didn't last long in the face of Harley's…Harleyness.

"Look man, I don't remember." The dark haired man yawned. "It was a long time ago. That was like…seventy five thousand naps ago."

Frowning, I pointed around us. "I mean, we're in a bookstore. I got the impression some of these books would cover, if not that subject, maybe the disappearances? It's been two centuries, SOMEBODY has to have written a book about it."

He blinked. "Hey, wow. That's a great idea." His brown eyes sparkled with excitement as his curly black hair flopped around, his head jerking to the side as he searched the messy stacks of nearby books. "You should check the books. They might have something about that whole thing!" He said it like he'd just had a brilliant epiphany, and I had to strangle a growl of annoyance.

"Where are the books on recent history?" I asked patiently, since I now thoroughly believed he would be no direct help.

He shrugged. "Over there." He said lazily, gesturing to basically the entire store. Rolling my eyes, I turned to the store in general, and of course, Harley took that as an excuse to go back to sleep. Sighing, I walked to the door, opened it, and called out loudly for my apprentice.

There was a loud crash from the woods off in the distance, and I watched a plume of smoke rise from where a tree had been not long ago. I waited another second or two, and Bella appeared, blazing into existence with a flash of fire and actually managing to stand still when she stopped, though she wobbled a bit like she might fall over.

"What's up, master?" She asked excitedly. "I've almost got the hang of this technique!"

I chuckled, pointing to her head, where a large piece of wood had gotten stuck in her hair by sap. She cursed, reaching up to try to pry it off, yelping at the pain when it pulled at her hair. I rolled my eyes and held up a finger, focusing a bit of black fire to the tip of it in a minute cosmic collapse and walking over to point at the wood, which exploded.

Given my new breakthrough, I suspected I could have actually tapped into both the black flame and the corrosion, even without my forms, but it would have been overkill for a piece of bark.

"I need your help with something." I said with a laugh. "If you're not busy." She pouted at my teasing tone, but I just snickered and turned to walk back into the shop. "So. We need to find any references to the disappearances, or to the murder two hundred years ago. I'm positive they're related, and we need to figure out where these people are going if we want to figure out the reasoning behind the murder."

She frowned. "I mean, it's kind of weird, isn't it?" She said slowly. "These people who were taken were people no one would miss, right? So why would whatever is doing it come into town and kill a shopkeeper? That doesn't fit the pattern at all. Are you sure it's the same thing?"

"Assuming it is, which both common sense and my instincts seem to concur with…yeah." I said in surprise. "It's a huge breach in pattern. That's a good catch, Bella. I should have thought of that." In fact, Echelon had actually helped do a lot of my work for me with this. Maybe because of the trial.

Unfortunately, it just made it more frustrating that there were no witnesses and no one to talk to about the shopkee-. I stopped mid thought, replaying what I'd been told earlier today. Old Ted Donahue's boy. I was still thinking like a mortal. If Ted junior had been murdered two hundred years ago, there was still a decent chance Ted Donahue was still ALIVE. If anyone would know what was going on with his son, it would be him.

"Bella, do me a favor, go through these books like we talked about. I'll be back to help, but I just thought of something." She gave me a sharp salute and picked up a random book, flipping through it and then tossing it on the counter before moving on to the next. Satisfied she had that under control, I headed back to the tavern, getting directions from bartender Kirk to Ted Donahue's place.

I was excited. Solving a mystery like this was kind of fun. Digging for clues, learning secrets, following leads. It made me wonder if I hadn't become an Ascendant, if I'd have wanted to be a detective.

Maybe after this whole war thing was over and my time as Wishmaster ended, Callie and I could spend some time solving mysteries. I had a feeling my wife would enjoy this as much as I did.

Despite my exhilaration though, I forced myself to calm down and take an appropriately somber tone as I knocked on the door to Ted Donahue's house. It didn't take long to answer, after a few minutes, a tired looking man in what appeared to be his early forties answered the door, dark circles under his eyes and grey in his beard. "Ted Donahue?" I asked.

"Aye?" He asked tiredly. "What can I do for you?"

I grimaced, trying to decide how to word it. "I came to ask about your son." His face hardened, and I held up my hands. "Please, I don't want to dig into painful memories for some Path nonsense. I think it might be related to a case I'm working on." It felt pretty awesome to be able to say that. That I was working a case.

He sighed, shoulders slumping. "Might as well come in." He said with a shrug. "Not like I have much better to do." He waved me inside, turning to head toward the small kitchen tucked behind an open bar in the back corner. "You want a beer?" He asked blankly.

"I'm good." I said politely, scanning the room as he dug in the fridge. It was…neat. But cluttered. Lots of things packed into a small space, but none of it looked out of place. On the mantle I saw pictures of Ted with a younger boy who looked a lot like him, a teenager. Photos of them with a snowman, awards from contests they'd won, and even one with a smiling dark haired woman that only appeared in that single image.

He saw me looking when he came back. "Sylvia." He said with a sad smile. "She was mauled by a mountain lion the same year. Beasts in these parts get antsy sometimes, and we have to send for a subjugation quest from one of the larger cities. My Sylvie had the bad luck to stumble on a wildcat. I'm ashamed to say I didn't take it as well as I could have. Left too much work on Teddy's shoulders."

I heard the guilt and regret in the sentiment, and easily followed it to its logical conclusion. "Like the shop?"

"It was a weekend." He said tightly. "He shouldn't have even been there. He wanted weekends off. But I was too drunk to open." He closed his eyes, voice jagged with grief. "I let myself fall apart and now my boy's gone. You mark my words, lad. A parent should never outlive their child. Ain't nothing worse."

"I'm sorry." I said truthfully. "I'm sorry to bring this up. But like I said, I think it might be related to a case I'm working. Did Teddy do anything strange or different in the weeks leading up to his death? If you don't remember that's fine-"

His eyes snapped open, narrowing at me in fury. "And who says I don't?" He snapped. "Who says I forgot the last days I had in this world with my son. You ask your questions, boy, and you see if I don't answer them! I'm good for that much still. Good for somethin'."

"I know he was…I guess the local word would be courting, some girl named Dana-" I started.

He burst out laughing, a genuine smile on his face. "Only in his dreams, boy. Dana Cassidy never had eyes for nobody but Brady Thornton, whom she eventually married. She was friendly enough, but never gave my son or Harley the time of day aside from polite chitchat. No, they 'admired' her from afar, and argued themselves stupid over the girl, but neither of them had a chance."

"So you don't think Harley did it?" I didn't either, but I'd met the guy for all of five minutes.

"Maybe if he was sleepwalking." He snickered. "No, Harley didn't hurt my boy. Doesn't have it in him. I saw the body. Had to identify him. Wasn't no bookstore clerk that killed him. That was trained knifework. A Skill, most like. I was in the army when I was a lad, and I saw men killed like that. Killed cold. Whoever did that knew what they were doin' and they didn't spare it no nevermind."

I nodded slowly. "Did you tell the constable?"

"Until I was blue in the face." He said with a shrug. "But I was just a grieving drunk. Ain't nobody minding me."

"So what about the weeks before." I prompted. "DID anything strange happen?"

He looked pensive. "Well…I'd never really paid it any mind. But maybe. He started asking me some questions about his ma. Where she liked to take her walks, if she knew how to fight. Dab hand with a long knife, my Sylvie. Damned cat must have surprised her."

"Really?" I asked in a faux casual tone. "That's an interesting thing to bring up out of nowhere. Where did it happen, if you don't mind me asking?"

Snapping out of his reverie, his eyes narrowed again. "Up by Deadman's Drain. The falls. She used to go up there to pick blackberries. They grow wild up on the ledges. Prickly, but sweetest damned berries you ever saw. She was making a pie for Teddy's birthday." He said absently. "Blackberry was his favorite."

I winced, realizing from the timeline his sons birthday was probably very close to the time he was killed. Not that anything could make losing a child worse, but still…that definitely wouldn't have helped.

But the last thing he'd done…that was interesting. His mother's death had been an animal attack. But him dying so close to poking around about it couldn't be a coincidence. Had the mysterious killer slipped up and left a corpse. Were there clues up at the falls maybe? I smiled at Ted. "I appreciate your time, Mr. Donahue. Sorry to bother you."

He shrugged, not even bothering to comment one way or the other. I said my goodbyes quickly and left, heading back to the bookstore to check in with Bella, a new lead in my pocket. The falls, animal attacks, plenty of possibilities to check.

As I walked, I thought to myself of what I would do if I lost a child like that. I didn't even have kids and the idea was unbearable. Then I thought about my mom. She'd lost a child, in some ways. Had been forced to give me up for my own good. Had she been like Ted, after I was gone? Drowning in her grief? Or had Chelsea saved her?

Whatever the case, I sent a quick message to my wife, to let my mother know I loved her. It didn't cost me anything to say, and it made me feel better. Then I arrived at the bookstore and stepped inside. For now, I needed to focus on the task at hand.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"So, what do we got?" I asked enthusiastically as I dropped another book on the pile of finished texts. I had all my clones out and multiple parallels going, offloading some of the strain to Callie, who was free and willing to help, which meant I was reading multiple times faster than normal. Of course, Ascendant books were stupid dense and used absurd microscript, so it was still taking a while. Especially since I could only keep a few parallels going at once.


Bella looked up from her book. "Oh, are we reporting? Let's see, i found a few mentions of those falls. They are apparently "tears cried from the eyes of hell", "the blood of an ancient evil god", "the saliva of the mouth of eternity", I'm not even sure what that last one means, but there's an illustration and it's disturbing. Giant tentacle tongue with tastebuds for eyeballs, gross."


"I'm pretty sure none of that is real." I said cautiously. "I mean…I feel like someone would have noticed, and probably tried to build a city on it or something. Ascendants are stupid like that." She nodded, acknowledging my point, but I continued. "That said, just because the falls themselves aren't special doesn't mean there isn't something special ABOUT them. There might be a place nearby housing a monster or something."


I was skeptical that was the case, honestly. Monsters didn't sneak into town and assassinate witnesses by slitting their throat. I trusted Ted's instincts, if he thought that was a professional job, it probably was. Someone with knife experience and probably experience killing people.


Chester, who had shown up a few hours ago, emerged from his own book pile. "I found a few references to animal attacks. They're not commonly talked about, but they've had to call a few "subjugation" quests. Mountain lions, bears, that kind of stuff. They always find something, but sometimes they spend a few weeks looking and have to range pretty far out. The assumption is that the "incidents" scared them off, but that doesn't sound right."


"It really doesn't." I said thoughtfully. "At least not to me. I'm not an animal expert. Luckily, I know someone who is, and she's within easy reach." I mentally shot a question to my wife, who had been relaxing helping me with my parallels. She sent me an impression of waiting, then went to ask Jessie about it.


It took a few minutes, but eventually she came back. I paused, listening to her, then thanked her and told her I loved her. Thought communication was so convenient. I made a show of bringing up the screen on my ring and fiddling with it, keeping one side of the projected image opaque while I pretended to text, then closed it.


"Alright, my source says it doesn't sound like common animal behavior. Most predators are territorial. An incident with prey wouldn't scare them off." Which had been what I'd thought. "That said, D-rank is a milestone, and the results of that rank up can be unpredictable, so it's not completely impossible. We'll have to go check the place out ourselves. If you two are interested."


They seemed excited, so I packed up all the books into something approximating their original piles (I wasn't too fussed about being exact, Harley didn't seem to have much of a system, and if he had requests he should have woken up) and then we all set off for the falls, ready to take the next step on our journey into mystery.


We arrived at the falls pretty quickly, they weren't that far away, and we were D-rankers, so travel time wasn't an issue. We came up the path across a small gorge from the falls themselves, and staring down at them…I could see why they had such an ominous name.


The water itself was normal, I could see that at the base where it collected in a pool, but because of the positioning, or some kind of material effect, it looked black as ink as it poured over the cliff. Liquid darkness, cascading off the peak of the falls, plummeting into the pool below, almost eating the light like the darkness of a collapsing star.


Deadman's Drain. I could see it. The pool at the base looked like it was consuming all life. While the edges were visibly translucent like water should be, showing the crystalline sand beneath, the center of the pool churned with the same fathomless black as the falls themselves, like the water was eating the world. "I wonder what causes that." I said with interest. I'd triggered Eye of Revelation, and I could tell it wasn't anything based on Impact or stats.


"The rocks at the top." Said my apprentice, surprising me. "It was in one of the books I was reading. They're a weird sort of inverted prism that creates a kind of anti-light. Don't ask me how it works. I read like three chapters on the effect and I still don't really get it."


I nodded with interest, tapping on the bond to send the image to my wife. I made a mental note to pick up one of those rocks as she responded with delight, clearly interested in the effect.


"Let's check around the top of the falls first. Unless there was a specific area where the bodies were found?" I addressed the question to Chester.


He shook his head. "Nothing concrete. Top, bottom, even in the woods nearby. It wasn't too obvious, or someone would have noticed it." He frowned as he stared at the dark waterfall. "Maybe. Do you guys feel…"


"Like this is a bad place and we shouldn't be here?" I finished. "Yup. It's a soul effect. It's not hitting me very hard because my soul is MUCH stronger than yours, but I can feel it a little. Scratching at the back of my brain. You guys ok here? If it's too much I can go it alone. Though I would mention this place is probably good soul training."


Bella looked interested, but Chester didn't. "My soul is already pretty decent. Sapphire. I never managed to break my second shackle, but honestly I don't mind."


I winced. Soul strength was FUNDAMENTAL. Sure, you could theoretically stick to the base soul level for your rank, but at the later ranks you NEEDED a Path. D-rank was doable at base, but once you got to C-rank it was extremely difficult and time consuming to progress your Path, and using techniques was extremely tiring, if you could do it at all. Ranking up to D-rank without breaking both shackles was essentially consigning yourself to cap at C-rank. Nobody with a weak soul could handle condensing a Chronicle.


To be fair, C-rank was decent in most forces, and that was still fifteen thousand plus years of life. That was enough for some people, and it seemed Chester was happy in his comfortable life.


Getting a running start, I pushed off, exploding forward into a Waltz that crossed the distance easily, landing neatly on the other side next to the falls. Kneeling down, I snagged a dark crystalling rock that looked a bit like obsidian, stashing it in my ring before I began my investigation…until I realized I didn't know what the fuck to look for.


I reached out through Callie to Jessie again, and she informed me that I should try to find any signs of consistent passage by a predator. If any animals claimed this area, they would either BE what we were looking for, or they'd have come across it. At least assuming it was still around and they had been born when it had been here two hundred years ago.


I activated Eye of Revelation, Rhythm of the Wild, Song of the Soil, and Scent of Truth all together. The pulse of the earth, the song of the plantlife, the smell of fact, all these things blended together in my head as I opened myself to the stimuli, giving myself as much data as I could while I scanned the area. I saw so many things. Little tunnels dug by insects, holes in the wood of the trees made by woodpeckers, and so many other things…and somehow, all of it converged into my eyes, pushing my revelation to an even higher level.


Following a path that was nearly invisible, I trekked through the trees, down a small embankment, until I came to a spot where a divot in the earth dropped into a small cavern. Overhanging roots and overgrowth hid the entrance, but it was there, and I grinned triumphantly as I dropped down into the hole.


I found myself in a cave, low and smooth, seemingly worn from the rock naturally, but sculpted in a way that told me it was made with intent. Along the walls crystals poked from the stone, a low, blue glow illuminating the space.


In the center of the chamber was a long rectangular stone, flat on top like a table, and wicked iron bolts had been driven cruelly into the stone, pinning ragged cuffs of badly cured leather. Cuffs that stank of blood and violence to my revealing eye and truthful nose. I stepped back, able to almost feel the pain and despair soaked into the rock along with what looked like LOTS of blood. It had been soaked in the stuff more than once, stained in a way both ethereal and physical.


Bella had dropped down next to me and she gagged. "That's awful. What is that?"


"It's an altar." I said grimly. "Though to what I'm not sure. Based on those, I'd say some kind of…forest demon?" I pointed at the walls, where images could be seen of some kind horrible beast, crouched and menacing. Its limbs were long and spindly, with two jointed legs like a goat, ending in flat hooked feet with five equidistant talons that formed a circle around them for stability.


It's head looked kind of like a wolf, but with raw muscle exposed on its flat ugly snout. It was disturbing how much detail was in the picture, given it seemed to have been drawn in dried blood. Someone was quite the artist.


The image showed the creature looming over a bowing figure in a hood, with a body place on the table. In the next panel, it had torn open the chest and somehow folded itself up to climb inside. Once it was finished, it cut away the face, gifting it to the figure. After that it was hard to tell, pictograms only went so far, but I was pretty sure the figure did something with the face that made it stronger.


It didn't show what happened to the monster, or why the bodies needed to be replaced, but it was clear from the context that this was a regular thing that needed to happen every so often.


Glancing around, I could see that this place hadn't been used in quite a while, but while it might not give me any special insight…it did give me a new clue. A tunnel, leading out of the chamber and off into the darkness.


"Well, I'm going down there." I pointed. My Danger Sense would alert me if anything was going to jump out and murder me. It hadn't gone off yet, and my instincts weren't telling me something impossibly dangerous was ahead. I trusted them to pick up if that thing was C-rank or something. Plus I was pretty sure that town wouldn't exist anymore if it was.


Bella took a deep breath, then nodded. "I trust you, master. I know you won't let me die. Plus if you do, I can always haunt you later. I'd make such an awesome ghost."


I laughed, and we looked at Chester, who looked annoyed. "You're both bad influences. Fine, idiots. Let's go." He gestured for me to lead, which I did, and we took off down the corridor into the unknown. I didn't think the monster was here, but hopefully I would find some sort of clue as to who the figure was. I didn't see the faceless forest demon sneaking into town and slitting someone's throat, but that hooded figure…that I could see. Time to find us a killer.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The corridor was…disqueiting. Not because there was anything in there, but because there wasn't. I was an Ascendant, which meant I had powerful senses when I chose to use them. I had all my Perception dedicated to watching out for potential traps, just in case they were too fast for my Danger Sense, and I was listening close for literally any sign of local life. There was none.

No insects, no worms, no small creatures burrowing. Even the wind seemed somehow dead, and with a flex of Song of the Soil, I could feel the earth around me, and I was horrified to discover what was in it. Bones.

Big, small, and medium bones, human and animal and some things in between. Old bones, new bones, broken and whole, some chewed upon and some pristine. A sea of silence and death surrounded us, floating in the dirt like the scattered corpses of a sunken ship in an endless earthen ocean.

I could FEEL death. It was all around us, beneath and above us, I was choking on it, like I was buried alive with all the dead interred here in these walls.

Turning to check on the others, I found them on the ground insensate and terrified, and I pushed back the sensation of death, grabbing them and dragging them behind me until we finally emerged from the tunnel. As soon as we did, it was like the air cleared of poison, I gasped in relief, panting as the other two sat bolt upright, finally lucid again out of the influence.

That was…awful. And OLD. Those bones were countless, and some were ancient. This wasn't a few hundred years of sacrifices. It was thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Not that I was stupid enough to think some million year old monster was in here. No, this place was old, but any creature who had eaten that many high rank Ascendants would be WELL past C or even B-rank by this point.

I looked around the new cavern we had entered. The sensation had gone, at least the ambiance, but if I focused I could feel it gushing from the tunnel. It just wasn't sitting stagnant. It was being funneled into the room and around a huge formation, shoved into a number of statues surrounding us. More than a number in fact. Thousands. Tens of thousands, we stood in an ampitheater, surrounded by alcoves filled with statues.

The statues were humanoid but indistinct, vague manlike shapes, with only one thing unique about them. Their faces.

Screaming human faces, all perfectly preserved and lifelike, locked in a rictus of agony but not able to make a sound. I searched the faces, and I saw one in particular that I recognized. Sylvie. Ted's wife. Her face was hard to recognize without the rest of her body, but I'd just seen her picture earlier that day. There was no mistaking it. The statue had somehow mimicked her facial bones.

Animal attack. Ted hadn't mentioned that her face had been eaten. But why would he. Animals did that kind of thing all the time.

"Oh gods." Gagged Bella. "That's…what is this? What kind of person would do this?"

"I don't know." I said with a frown. "I don't understand any of what's going on here. The monster takes the faces and gives them to the hooded figure. I assumed he kept them, but it seems he…offers them here? To something. The faces don't seem dead. I think they have SOULS caught in them. They're using them to gather something."

I needed help. Some kind of advice. This was out of my depth, lorewise. I didn't know sacrificial rituals. Or soul harvesting. But I knew who fucking did. I reached through my bond to my wife, asking her to find my uncle. She did, bolting from the room when she felt my distress, when she arrived, I reached for Shadow Manipulation, and used the darkness and our bond to create a simulacrum for Zeke.

My uncle's shadowy form rose from the dark, just like we'd done back on Callus. He raised a brow at me. "Hey kid. What's the big idea? I was working on my tan." He froze. "Shane…why does it look like you're standing in a Soul Abattoir? Where did you even FIND one of those? They haven't been in common usage for longer than your GRANDFATHER has been alive."

I shrugged. "Fuck if I know. Also watch the real name stuff old man. I'm here with new friends." I had used stealth when I'd seen him forming my name to block out the sound, but it was still sloppy of him to slip. He must be shocked. "What is it?"

"It's…complicated. They're used for soul transplants. The spirits of the unwilling dead are harvested and suspended in a state of agony. The spiritual suffering drains into the center of the room, condensing into a kind of bath. A newly transplanted soul that bathes in the Abattoir for three days and three nights can stave off rejection."

Frowning, I described what I'd seen to him. Then I described the creature itself, and he grimaced. "Varenkarsel. Nasty. They're a form of evolved undead. They're concentrated decay manifested as a spirit. They burn out bodies when they wear them, the Abattoir probably helps, but they need new bodies regularly. The whole face thing must be to feed the Abattoir. The Varenkarsel is strong, but it's difficult for them to grow. Their nature is corrosive, and it eats away at their own progress."

"So this one could be as old at the Abattoir?" I asked in worry. If it was millions of years old we were fucked."

He shook his head. "They're spiritual beings but they're not eternal. Even with a regular supply of bodies this one probably doesn't have much longer to live. They don't accept supplicants until they're on their death bed. They spend a few centuries testing their faithful by having them acquire bodies, and if they follow through, when the Varenkarsel dies, it bequeathes its essence to the supplicant to use as a catalyst for a racial trait."

Bella looked sick. "Who would want to be something like that?" I'd dropped the stealth once I knew Zeke was paying attention and the others had been listening.

"Varenkarsel are rare, and they possess a particularly unique ability." Zeke said grimly. "They have three times the lifespan. A D-rank Varenkarsel lives longer than an A-ranker. Part of their nature shifts the corrosion of age onto their host body. It's why they burn through them so quickly. They were originally created by undead sorcerers seeking immortality."

I shuddered. "I don't think that's worth it. Living for what? Thirty thousand years as a corrosive body jacking ghost?"

"Most people don't." He acknowledged. "But there's always somebody. Someone with no talent or a weak soul, or a flawed Path who can't advance and is afraid to die. Based on what you told me about its pattern, this one is probably almost gone. But you need to find the supplicant before he can use the catalyst. It's almost impossible to KILL a Varekarsel. Even if you kill the body it can escape. You need someone with a soul altering ability, and you don't have one of those."

Cursing, I turned to look around. "Thanks for the help." I told him with a nod. You should go. Not safe to be talking like this."

"I'm masking us." he said with a shake of his head. "Unless someone much stronger is actively watching you, they wouldn't notice. Hopefully none of the vanished gods are keeping a close eye on you. I don't think it's a problem though. I couldn't do a thing to stop a god from watching me or you, but I could at least FEEL it happening."

I wanted to ask if that included Delthrys, the god I was doing this trial for, but I was afraid if I said the name it would call his attention. I just thanked my uncle and shut down the bond, letting the shadow fade.

"Well that was…terrifying." Said Bella nauseously. "I don't think I wanted to know about that kind of monster."

"Me neither." I said with a bitter chuckle. "But we have a chance to stop one from being born. We have to take it. Help me look around for clues in here. Don't touch the statues. We'll come back and free them when this is over, but if we wreck this place now and the Varenkarsel comes back it might spook and run off without passing on its essence here. It could pick some random asshole to turn and we'd never know."

She didn't look happy, and I didn't blame her, but Chester came to my defense. "They've been here for centuries." He said gently. "I know it sucks to leave them, but they'll be free soon. And I think they would want us to destroy the thing that put them here." He put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly, and my apprentice nodded resolutely.

"You're right." She said after a deep breath. "We need to help them, but we can get them justice first. They deserve it." Her sad eyes floated over the statues, horrified, before she turned and started pacing the hall, searching for anything that might be a clue.

Delthrys had sent me here, presumably to stop the transfer, so I could only assume it was happening soon. Sylvie had been one of the victims, possibly having stumbled on the cavern, and Teddy had been looking for her killer and maybe found this place. Or at least found the sacrificial chamber.

I paced around, Eye or Revelation active as I went over the details. The timeline felt off. Weird and stretched. Two hundred years after the last sacrifice felt off. But then, maybe there needed to be another one. Or maybe there had been and we just hadn't known about them. I remembered the man from the bar, talking about his niece.

"Hey, I found something!" I stopped, turning to where Chester was standing at a seemingly random corner of the formation. Walking over I stared down at a spot on the ground. There was a scrap of cloth there. I reached down, skeptical it could help. Maybe I could use it to track the owner, or try a blood curse and see who got sick.

I rubbed it between my fingers. "I don't think it's anything." i said regretfully. "Looks like a piece of like…towel or some-" I froze, then slowly, raised the cloth to my nose. I sniffed. It smelled like must, and death, and dirt…and alcohol.

My eyes widened. I remembered the first person I'd talked to. The person who had pointed me at Harley as a suspect, the person who had been sat behind his bar, cleaning a glass. Kirk the bartender. I turned to the others. "I think I know who it is." I said angrily. "And I know where to find him."

I passed them the scrap, telling them what I'd figured out, and their expressions flattened.

"We don't need to stop him." I admitted. "We completed the task. Find out who and why. We did both of those things. But I'm not leaving this unfinished. I'm going to find that bastard and put him down before he becomes some unkillable evil ghost. You guys in?"

Bella snorted. "I would be doing it myself even if you didn't master. I'm not leaving something like that loose on my planet. Abominations like that have no place on my world." Her eyes hardened. "I walk the Path of Escape. And I say there will be none for our enemies." Her voice echoed slightly, and I didn't know if it was the chamber or her Path, but I grinned in response.

"Well them, let's go kick some bartender ass." I said viciously. I turned and stalked toward the exit of the chamber, rage pushing me forward as I prepared to confront a monster. Even if I was working for the dark gods, I could still help people.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We arrived back at the tavern after dark. It was still open, but everyone had left. I stepped inside, letting the others in behind me, then chucked my chin, letting Bella know to go around out of sight. As I approached the bar where Kirk cleaned a glass, Chested bolted the door, though how much good it really did in circumstances like ours was up for debate.


The bartender smiled at me as I approached. "Evening." He said jovially. His smile was wide and friendly, but it didn't reach his eyes. In fact, nothing reached his eyes, because he didn't have any.


The picture on the wall hadn't had eyes either, just empty black holes in its face. I'd assumed that was artistic license, but it wasn't. Kirk's face was sporting a pair of black pits in its eye sockets, devouring the light like gravitational singularities in miniature. Seeing those eyes in a human face was deeply disturbing.


"So you're not even going to pretend not to know what's going on?" I asked tiredly. "I assume you watched us in the cavern somehow?"


He chuckled, the same friendly chuckle as before I'd known who he was, but it was somehow infinitely more grating coming from someone I knew was a monster. "Of course. So many of my faces in that temple. How could I miss you? That mask seemed to cause problems with my vision, but I was able to gather enough to figure out that you know who I am. I already initiated the ceremony. I even had a snack before you arrived."


His head turned toward the bar, and I followed his lack of gaze to where he was facing to find several bloody corpses, faces missing. "Don't you need the temple to absorb their souls?"


Shrugging, he gave a wry smile. "We existed before we found the temple. It just made the process more streamlined. We've been using it a long time, and we've learned how to imitate the mechanism. With limited results." He burped. "Bar snacks. Never very filling. But don't worry. I'll be sure to consume you properly. I want to keep this body as long as possible. Guess I'm sentimental like that."


I sniffed. I could smell…something. Truth, but not. He wasn't telling me everything, but that wasn't a surprise. I considered just attacking him, but my instincts told me I could learn more, could understand more about what was going on. And beyond that, I wanted the truth. I'd spent days trying to track this asshole down, and I wanted to hear the end of the story.


Despite that, I slid a hand behind the bar and began to concentrate, a parallel split off with a flex of Piece of Mind, controlling the condensation of the Cosmic Collapse as I built up my biggest punch. Corrosion and black flame swirled into an orb of pure destruction, but I left it up to my parallel, focusing on the murdering psycho currently explaining his evil plan. He seemed almost enthusiastic to tell me. I think he'd been frustrated that no one knew how brilliant he was. Villains and their fucking monologues.


"It's not like I'm some bloodthirsty demonic lunatic." He said jovially as he cleaned a glass I didn't think was even dirty. "I just want to live. Really, ten thousand years is an eye blink to people like us. And I never took anyone important. Just strays no one cared about. I think I did them a favor, really. Gave their lives purpose."


I snorted. "Say I bought that, which by the way I don't. Say I agree that not having close friends or family makes it less evil to sacrifice someone to a soul torturing temple. What about Sylvie? What about Teddy? I know Teddy stumbled on your lair when looking for what happened to his mother, but why kill her to begin with."


He grimaced. "It was so stupid and avoidable. Back when Sylvie and Ted and I were kids she had a cousin. Sweet girl, her name was Mary. Pretty, desperate, followed me everywhere. She was my first, you know. Before I knew what I was doing. I buried her body out by the falls. We got into a fight, you see, and I had my knife on me. I used to apprentice under Harley's father Brock as a butcher, before I took over the bar. That's how I met Him. The blood attracted him."


"So you killed her cousin?" I asked. "Because you're a hell of a lot older than two hundred years. The timing doesn't add up there."


"Rain washed up the body." He said with a sneer. "I told you, I was new. I got much better over the years. You'd be surprised how much you can pick up about murder in a butcher shop, especially with lots of practice. I went through a phase in the beginning where I went a little overboard, but eventually I got my rhythm. Once a decade, sometimes twice. Slow and steady.


"Anyway, a storm rolled through and unearthed the bones. Mary had this charm bracelet Sylvie had given her." He shrugged. "Everyone thought she'd run off. Even Sylvie wasn't suspicious. But once she saw the body…well, like I said, I was sloppy my first time. She connected me to the spot and to Mary. Lured me out there to 'talk'. She was a formidable woman, but I've gotten some nice perks from Him over the years. And lots of practice with my knife."


Truth. I was choking on it. Gagged with it. This was almost all the unvarnished truth, and he was RELISHING getting to tell me. Because there had been one lie he'd told for sure. He WAS a bloodthirsty lunatic.


I triggered Double Trouble, my Cosmic Collapse already formed and condensed to the most dangerous attack I had, aimed at the back of his head as I fired it off. There was a sort of…shift, in the space, like a hitch in the world, and he ducked and whirled, gracefully avoiding the attack like a snake as the eruption of dark corrosion blew a hole out the side of the building the size of a bus.


Snarling, I reached for Limbo, triggering it complete with mist as I triggered Double Trouble again, appearing behind Bella where she'd been positioned off to the side. The illusory copy of me was shredded by dinner plate sized clawed hands as Kirk's fingers stretched and warped. He'd seemed amused when I tried to attack, but the dodge wiped the smile off his face as he scanned the room with his empty pits.


"You can't hide from me!" He hissed, jaws distending. "I don't have eyes. And your little tricks can't fool me senses for long." I scented the air. Lie. I could hide from him. Whatever trick he'd used to sense my attack wasn't enough to pierce my pseudo domain. Limbo was holding him off.


Which was good…because he was WAY stronger than I was. This was a fucking PEAK D-ranker. Probably with a Solid Path, and a rather developed one. He was, from what my Eye of Revelation was telling me, halfway through digesting the spirit, but he had access to all its years of experience and instinct, and all it's hoarded power. It had been grinding away for millennia, ancient and horrible and strong. It might just be D-rank, but it was a KING of D-rank, and if I let him fully integrate it we'd all be FUCKED.


I triggered Mephistopheles, Belial, and finally, in the safety of my domain, Beelzebub. Twelve of me manifested, all burning weith black flames as they assumed their OWN Mephistopheles form, and we fucking blitzed it.


Something I hadn't known, or had no way of knowing, was that the number of possible future actions a being could take SCALED with power. All my enemies in Limbo had been around my level, but something about this one, Path or power, made it so much more than me. An endless ocean of possible ways this could go wrong was arrayed before me, tens of thousands of overlapping futures.


With thirteen of me, I went to work, revving up Abomination Engine as I shifted into a Waltz, blasting apart possible outcomes as I began the long work of whittling away his options.


I heard a scrape and felt hot blood on my neck, felt a slash through my elbow tendon between plates on my arm, caught a blow under my armpit, and that was just my main body. One of my clones got fucking eviscerated, and I FELT that, felt the pain and horror of the slow draining death, but I ignored it.


He was so far, so vicious, and despite not knowing where I was, he was somehow FINDING my weak spots. I was destroying futures as fast as I could, but there was always a dozen of them where I got hit, and I couldn't get rid of them fast enough.


Bella and Chester were staying back. My physical form was getting stronger, and my armor was C-rank, but either of them would be dead by this point, like one, no sorry like THREE of my fucking clones were. A second one had its throat slit, and the third was snapped over his knee like an oversized tree branch that wouldn't fit in a garbage can. Ouch.


I'd taken this fight WAY too lightly. I needed to have Callie and the others cash in those fucking wish scrolls, because I wasn't advancing fast enough. If this guy had actually been at peak D-rank, I'd be dead right now. But he wasn't. Not really. KIRK was early to mid D-rank. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. Which was why I had managed to blow several holes in it.


My staff licked out and I tapped a shoulder, unloading my injuries back onto my enemy, sighing with relief at the lack of pain. As I watched, the damage mounted, and the number of futures to destroy began to dwindle. Rather than eliminating them in singular, as was the case in a more even battle, my damaging attacks were withering possibilities by blocking off actions he could take.


A hundred thousand, eighty thousand, fifty. The futures dwindled, and as the tide turned I was in less and less danger. I could see the dangerous futures, and I was destroying them before they could be used against me. The stealth aspect of my domain wasn't doing much here. He couldn't see me, but I'd narrowed down how he was tracking me to attack. His Impact sense.


D-rankers had it integrated with ALL their senses. Sight was the big one, but also hearing, smell, and even instinct. He'd integrated it with whatever sense he had that wasn't eyes, and he was using it well. It was a shame, but it was good to know there were ways around it early rather than late.


Finally, I'd taken so many chunks out of him that I was able to destroy all the futures where I'd miss. Using my twelve bodies, I narrowed all paths to victory, and slowly beat him down, one blow at a time.


My clones managed to restrain him, switching to Mornax to make sure he couldn't escape, and with one might heave I slammed my staff butt first into his head, or more accurately, and empty eye hole, detonating a Cosmic Collapse inside his skull. I watched as the body died, and the soul rose from inside it, screaming.


The spirit of the Varenkarsel was…hideous. Ancient and twisted and falling apart, like it was rotting in front of my eyes. Zeke told me I didn't have anything for this, that I couldn't affect the spirit…but he was wrong. As soon as I saw it I knew. This was an abomination against nature. It was a blight. And I could cleanse it.


I dropped Beelzebub, triggering Zagan, and I started blasting holes in the creature with my purifying flame. Again, and again, and again. I obliterated it. And when I was done, I finally let my domain fall, and slumped to the ground. I was exhausted. But it had been worth it.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next week was pretty peaceful. Train, teach Bella, talk to Callie, I just chilled and did my own thing, getting ready for my first trial for the Lady of Lamentation. I had a feeling it would be a doozy. I made another fifty six scrolls, bringing my total to one hundred twenty seven, and I had Callie and the others use a hundred of them (I didn't tell them what FOR, just asked they hurry up).





Fifteen points per scroll netted me fifteen hundred, and I got another fifteen hundred from the renown gathered during the trials (kicking the shit out of the D-ranker with pseudo Domain and fighting a crazy spirit monster serial killer on a B-rank planet really paid off) split evenly among Might, Focus, and Perception. I got fifteen D-rank chits for the lot of it bringing me to forty five, and it became clear exactly how much help I needed to rank up.





I'd have to start pushing to higher per wish stat payouts soon, and more than that, wishes weren't going to let me keep up if I didn't push myself. I kept two scrolls for personal use, gave the other twenty five to Callie and my friends, and left it at that.





It was becoming clear that advancement, even independent of Path stuff, wasn't something the Wish power could support on its own. Not quickly at least. EVENTUALLY, if I kept at it, I'd reach B-rank. But there was a built in secondary requirement in the competition that was only now becoming noticeable. You had to keep up.





Which was why I had arrived early for my meeting with the Lady of Lamentations representative. This trial would suck. I knew that. Ray, Desria, Cavallo, Archie, Vesper, and Tanner were here too, all taking the second trial as theirs had yet to come up. I fully expected them to regret that decision, knowing what was to come, but it was nice not to be in this alone. Chester had left after the investigation concluded, deciding life with me was too weird, and I'd made Bella stay home for this.





I stepped into the empty tavern we'd been asked to meet at (the Lady apparently believed in manners) and scanned around for our contact.





What I found was…not what I'd been expecting. I'd thought we were going to be meeting some doom and gloom edgelord, maybe with fangs, or whips, or some kind of chains hanging off them. Instead I found a peaceful, cheerful looking girl a bit older than I was. She had a round face and a wide smile and eyes covered with a grey cloth, over which say a nun's habit.





"Good evening." She said as I approached. "I bid you welcome to my table."





"Um, thanks." I said after a minute. "Are you my contact? For the task of Felicity, Lady of Lamentations?" I mostly called her the lady in my head, since I had a cousin with the same name, but formality seemed like a decent idea here. "I expected someone more…malevolent."





"Please, sit." She said with a kind smile. "I am Sister Bernadette. It is lovely to meet you. I understand your confusion, but if you might wait until the others arrive, all will be revealed."





Shrugging, I sat down, and since the staff was here this time, I ordered a milkshake and a steak with a baked potato. After a few minutes, everyone else showed up, and they seemed much more confused than I was, which was saying something.





Once our final member arrived, Sister Bernadette pushed back her chair, standing to bow. "Peace, my friends. And be welcome at my table. I am Bernadette, a sister in the order of mercy in the service of our Lady Felicity, the Lady of Lamentations." Her smile was bright and welcoming, and my confusion did not abate.





Ray, of course, raised a hand. "Um. No offense but…what the actual fuck?" Desria elbowed him in the ribs and he yelped. "Ok, OW. But seriously. Your goddess is a dark torture god. Why are you…" he waved at her appearance. "This."





"Our Lady is NOT a goddess of torture. She is a goddess of torment. Of suffering." She corrected.





"Not traditionally cuddly things." Ray said. "I don't see the difference."





She smiled sadly. "There are many who do not. And once, long ago, they swarmed in droves to kneel at the feet of my mistress. They did not understand her gifts, the lessons and the wisdom she had to bestow. They saw only the chance to harm, and through that harm enrich themselves in material wealth."





"Ok." I said slowly. "So why don't you tell us what her true message is. Tell us about her gifts." Everyone else had ordered, with Bernadette assuring us she would pay for everything, which seemed nice. The food arrived and she finally decided it was story time.





Nodding, she sat back down, taking a deep breath. "When man is born, he is a blank slate." She began. "His empty, a vessel to be filled. We fill this vessel with family, with life, and love, and joy. But as with all drinks, to sip only of joy deadens the palate. For what is joy without sorrow?





"And so comes pain." Her voice was a whisper. "And pain gives shade to the light, gives the eyes respite, and teaches us the contrast between suffering and delight." That part was said like it was a rote prayer she said all the time, and the rhyming made me believe that might be the case.





She bowed her head three times to touch her interlaced fingers after she said it, and only when she finished the motion did she continue. "Many people despise pain. Suffering. Torment. Whatever name you call it by, pain is the enemy of man in their own minds. But that is not so.





"When a person is born, they are empty, and through their years, pain fills their cup. Tears and sorrow mold them, not just in contrast to the joys of life, but in contrast to others. Pain unites us, teaches us, it shows us how we are alike." Despite the dour topic, she had a soft smile on her face. "Without pain we could have no empathy, no understanding. Pain is the commonality between all people. The single universal constant. Pain is life. Life is joy. Joy is pain."


That was…interesting. I couldn't necessarily argue those points. I wasn't entirely eager to volunteer to be tortured to…what? Season myself? Though I guess that's exactly what I was doing. "Look, this is fascinating." Said Vesper politely. "But what exactly IS the trial? Because if we have to go out and torture some random person to "enlighten them", I'm going to pass on this one."





"Such suspicion." Murmured Bernadette. "Such cynicism and doubt. My heart breaks for you, young one. For you have clearly been hurt by the cruelty of others, but gained through that pain no understanding. Pain without clarity, without understanding, is waste.





"And so I bring to you a gift." She beamed. "A chance to gain knowledge, to sharpen your understanding of the human condition. Experience pain with me, children, and through that gain enlightenment. Suffer and learn to grasp the suffering of others, and you will never truly be alone."





Ray cocked his head. "Sorry. I missed that."





"She's saying WE'RE going to be tortured." Archie said gruffly. "The trial is an endurance test. At least the first one. But what do you mean we? Are you going to take it with us?"





Nodding happily, she chirped. "That is my honor. The Order of Mercy are the teachers and students of human understanding. We experience pain, and through our suffering feel the truth of all living things. Tonight, you will take my journey with me, and you will gain the wisdom to understand all who may be at odds with you in the future."





"Ok, but HOW?" I asked in exasperation. "How are we going to experience the pain. I guess we have to give consent to take the trial?"





Laughing, she shook her head. "Oh no, your continued presence is considered consent by my mistress. You've already agreed to take the trial." Her tone was pleasant and upbeat, but I was annoyed.





"Ok, fine!" I said unhappily. "But when does it START?"





"Any second now, I would imagine." She chirped. "It takes a minute for the poison to kick in." We all froze, then looked down at our plates…and then the screaming started.





I keeled over. I'd been through some serious shit in my life. Mindmelting agony, bonecracking pain, I got eviscerated once which is objectively not great. But literally NONE of it felt as bad as this.





The pain wasn't constant, it strobed through me like a second heartbeat. Bursts of agonizing torment melted my fucking stomach (except they didn't unfortunately) and I just laid there and screamed.





"Don't worry!" Called Bernadette cheerfully through gritted teeth. "It won't kill you. Simply allow the wisdom to wash over you. It's so much less unpleasant when you let the pain into your heart. Oh, but not literally, because that would probably actually kill you. So if it goes near your heart you should take this antidote. If you do so, you will of course forfeit, but worry not about the missed chance for enlightenment. I know the pain of losing this opportunity will be integral to your spiritual growth."





There was a clink and we all jerked up to stare at a bottle on the table. It was tall and sturdy, made of dark blue glass and full of a thick liquid.





We all glared at her, but we didn't have the strength to yell or protest. I just held on suffering. I considered using Mornax, but I didn't think it would DO anything. All I could do was wait it out, screaming and twitching as the agony ripped through me. Oh gods, I could TASTE it. Wait, no, that was just vomit.





Finally, after what seemed like eternity but based on my scan ring was an hour. it subsided. I lay on floor, shaking and sweating, lying in a pool of my own vomit and having spent at least twenty of those sixty minutes just dry heaving. I groaned, climbing back up into my chair to glare at Bernadette, who was sipping a cup of tea, the rest of the food having been cleared.





Tanner was gone. As was Archie. Vesper, Desria, Cavallo, and Ray were the only ones left, and they all still had to shake off their poison. They'd eaten a bit after I had. I glared at her. "You proud of yourself for that shit?" I rasped.





"Very much so." She said excitedly. "We've taken such a marvelous journey together. Do you not feel closer to your fellow trial takers? Do you not understand their struggles?"





"Yes!" I snapped in outrage. "Because they're MY struggles too! I just went through them!"





She clapped in delight. "Precisely! Oh, I do hope you continue on your path, new brother. I feel so close to you now that we've shared this suffering. I believe in time we will become great friends!"





"You POISONED ME!" I shouted, throwing my hands up. "I'm extremely upset at you."





She nodded in satisfaction. "Yes." She said in a glowing tone. "I know. I understand you completely."





"That…IS A VERY FRUSTRATING ATTITUDE!" I screamed at her, even as the others climbed up onto their chairs groggily. She just hummed happily and drank her tea, and I had to bodily restrain myself from diving across the table and attacking her.





As I watched Bernadette 'enlighten' the others, I felt a strong pang of loss. Why couldn't I have gotten edgelord Echelon for my emissary. He'd been a dick, but he was better than THIS. I had a feeling this frustration would get worse before it got better. Fucking Black Sorrow. This was all her fault.