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

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Wishmaster candidate points-1000


Might-281,619


Impact-155


Fantasy-124,703


Vitality-161,854


Focus-169,766


Perception-168,014


Creation-130,372


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


Soul strength- Tanzanite Soul Body


Chronicle: Ten Demons Tome (pages bound:1)


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


Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

 

[Malcolm Tent]

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


She gave me a wan smile, but I could tell it did help. She'd been really worried about the distance between us growing if I became Wishmaster. She never said anything, but I'd learned to read between the lines even when she hid her emotions from the bond. I'd just never confronted her about it because I didn't know how to actually HELP with that problem. If it could be helped.


But we'd seen from Satala that the children of gods (even adopted ones probably, or whatever Callie would be considered), got a considerable bump in renown. And that was regular gods, not scary Void adjacent Heretic gods that sent Void spawn into paroxysms of terror at their very mention.


Leaving her to think over our potential future, I stepped out into the ring. We'd found one in the courtyard of one of the two boarding houses surrounding my parent's cottage. Apparently they were basically standard in every Ascendant housing complex. Which made sense given how punchy we all were.


Everyone else looked excited, honestly. Bethy was taking bets and selling PEANUTS she'd gotten from…somewhere. Abel had reopened his sausage stand as a competitor and seemed to actually be beating her out on sales, though no one was placing any bets with HIM, so she was probably still ahead by the numbers. I considered betting myself, but I doubted my odds were good. Which was fair.


"This is lively," Ellie said as she strutted out to meet me in the center of the field. "As a complete newbie, it's shocking you attracted this much attention. No offense little lord, but your chances of victory here are…not high."


Clad in her usual golden armor, her giant mace swung over one shoulder, Ellisara looked like a warrior queen getting ready to slay a dragon or something. It didn't help my confidence.


Holding out my hand, I caught my staff, setting it whirling absently as my mom stepped between us, looking serious. "Alright, there WILL be rules to this bout. Shane, no using your staff's upgrade charge. A B-ranked attack is beyond the scope of this battle. Your weapon is a staff and hers is a mace, so despite both being B-rank, with your similarly ranked armors you shouldn't be in any real danger. No need to hold back either, Ellie can handle a little rumble."


The redhead grinned. "If you're REALLY impressive, you might even get to see my Sunsmasher Body technique. Though I wouldn't bet on it. There's a BIG gap between you and I. But hey, try to prove me wrong. Sounds like a party."


My mom nodded, gesturing us back and then retreating to a safe distance. She had us take up positions across from each other, and then said quietly. "Fight."


I expected a blitz. Ellie was the strongest C-ranker I knew of at the moment, and might have even been holding a Mythic Skill. I knew she probably had a Chronicle, but I ALSO knew it wouldn't be in my mother's Stellar Flame Fist, because my MOM'S Chronicle was Stellar Flame Fist, and she'd have been essentially hamstringing herself. Which meant the Stellar Flame Fist wasn't part of her ability and could be higher ranked than she was.


But despite the power I was both assured of and suspected, she didn't lunge at me or attack. She just…waited. I triggered Sammael, wings spreading behind me, and then after some consideration, I triggered Zagan.


Because of the combination of my grandfathers' purification flames, Jessie's life force abilities, and several modifier meta abilities, Zagan had the most raw energy output of any of my forms. In terms of pure power, Zagan was the peak. But it came with a tradeoff. Part of what made it so strong was how completely singular it was. It couldn't do any damage to anything. Ever. It was only good for healing and purifying. Until today.


I triggered Heart over Body alongside Glory, counting on the reinforcement of my flesh from the pseudo Domain to handle the excess power, and then I poured all that powerful life energy into the capstone skill and felt my entire body FILL with a sea of overwhelming power. My wings beat the air, and the sky tore, thunder echoing as the combination of Sammael's enhancement and the full power of Zagan and Glory flowed through my muscles.


Even my reinforced bones creaked under the strain, but I didn't care. My lips were peeled back in a bloodthirsty grin as I whirled my staff into action, spinning it into a series of sweeps and probing jabs, just trying to get a feel for her defenses.


Laughing wildly, Ellie swung her mace, and the weapon smashed into my staff in a series of blurs so fast it looked like she'd made a dozen concurrent movements. My assault broke with a crack of thunder (and not my staff, thank the gods), sending me stumbling back, guard broken. Ellie followed up, her mace hammering into my side, but between Mornax and my armor, I came away gasping with just a serious bruise instead of being folded in half.


I groaned, gritting my teeth tight against the pain. Then glared at her. I looked at my mother. "So, a question," I asked her tensely. "You said "a B-rank attack is beyond the scope of this bout. What about if I use my upgrade charge on a defensive ability?"


She raised an eyebrow at me curiously. "I mean, I won't begrudge you more durability, as long as Ellie is fine with it." She glanced at my opponent inquiringly, and the redhead nodded.


Grinning, I reached into my staff and triggered the upgrade skill, pushing Mornax to B-rank, and allowing my body to be reinforced by B-ranked defensive energy for the first time. Zagan might be most overtly powerful form, but combined with my enhanced Impact, Mornax was my most useful. I even dropped Glory. I didn't need it anymore.


Ellie raised a brow at me, looking unimpressed. "I mean, now I guess I can't beat you up until you drop that. But you can't beat me either. You're not strong enough. Not even close. Just give up. Why even bother with this?"


"Because if I didn't," I told her with a rumbling laugh. "This next part would probably kill me. Ninth circle of hell: Abbadon."


I wanted to know my limits. I could have used Final Strike, but honestly I wasn't sure that wouldn't kill her, and I didn't want to hurt her with an uncontrolled technique like that. I wanted to test my new limits. See what I could do with my capstones, and more specifically, to see what Heart over Body, the capstone of the Monk subclass, could really do for me if I pushed it to the edge.


Ellie looked confused when I said that. She looked LESS confused when I triggered Beelzebub, and even less confused than that when every one of my dozen clones triggered Zagan. Her confusion vanished completely as the clones all triggered Heart over Body and funneled every ounce of that overwhelming power into my main body, enhancing my physical strength far beyond what I should ever be capable of.


It didn't hurt. Not with Mornax at B-rank. This wasn't a B-ranked attack, no matter how impressive it might be. But it WAS enough to tear the fucking SPACE around me slightly as I blinked across the circle, my staff whirling like a hurricane, covering the sky in a torrent of attacks as I flickered around Ellie like a stop motion shadow.


I hit her. She didn't fall or really flinch at all, tanking all the attacks on her B-ranked armor, but I was able to deflect her retaliatory strikes with the overwhelming power of my current physical body, with a little bit of my Belial stance to mitigate the impacts.


Howling with laughter, Ellie shifted her stance, and something about her changed. Her form rippled, turning to living flame in a way I'd seen once before, back during the fight with her brother. Sunsmasher Body. I'd forced her to use it. Laughing, I triggered Mephistopeheles, enhancing my unnaturally strong physical blows with explosive bursts of black flame to try to offset the defensive power of her form.


A dozen blows landed on her still armored flame body in an instant, but she just ignored it, letting me land as many attacks as I wanted as she lined up a swing with her mace, both hands choking up for a massive smash.


My danger sense screamed at me to dodge, to move, and I triggered my waltz to evade as soon as it happened, knowing that blow would be too much for me.


Sadly, my waltz was based on my mom's Supernova Step, which Ellie was using at an extremely high level. She vanished in a blaze of flame, and I felt the danger sense trigger again as I turned to see her appearing next to me out of nowhere. She was still in her windup stance, and as soon as I turned, she swung full force, smashing the mace head on into my masked face at speed.


I blacked out. Instantly. Zeke's mask was designed to protect me, and I was still rocking a B-ranked Mornax form for defense. It didn't do any real damage, but it knocked me right the fuck out. Still, the last thing I remembered thinking as the spiked mace rocketed towards my head was "I made her use it". Damn it felt good to be strong.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I regained consciousness slowly, seeing a familiar cheerful red haired face hovering above me, a wide grin on her lips. "Hey there little lord, how ya feelin?" She backed off as I sat up, groaning as I tried to get my head to stop doing its best impression of a six piece orchestra.


"Like someone hit me in the face with a bus full of dynamite," I spat sourly.


She snickered. "Oh, no, that would have done WAY less damage.That was my Starbreaker Smash. It's my own personal variation on the master's techniques."


"How the hell am I in so much PAIN?" I growled. "I had B-rank durability."


"Of course you did," she said sweetly. "If you hadn't, that blow would have smashed your head like a grape. Probably STILL would have pulped you, except that mask is way more durable than it looks. That's why I aimed for your face. You're welcome."


I glared at her as I massaged my temples. "If I was at B-rank durability, how the hell did you hurt me?"


"Because I'm a peak C-ranker," she shrugged. "And an elite of one of the five factions. Crossing the gap between B and C is completely doable for me. That's why your mom allowed you to use that augmentation trick on your defensive skill. C-rank is a whole new ballgame, little lord. You were all but invincible in D-rank, with a few minor exceptions, and could do a decent job fighting up even when you first broke through, from what I hear."


I let out an irritated sigh. "I could, and I was expecting that to be the case here too."


She reached down to help me to my feet, brushing off my armor absently in a way that made me feel like my big sister was cleaning me off after a playground tussle. It was not a flattering thought.


My mother stepped up behind me with a proud grin. "I didn't expect you to force her to use the Sunsmasher Body. That technique is one of the most dangerous abilities I have to teach. That was an amazing showing, Shane."


I shrugged sheepishly. "I mean, I guess. I just…"


"You expected to do better," she said with a laugh. Nodding off to one side, she clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Come here. Let's talk. I allowed this fight because there was something important you needed to learn, and given you're your father's son, there's a non zero chance I need to explain it in detail before it sinks in."


A snicker brought my gaze over to where my wife was standing not far away, looking like she was prepared to snag me from the air if I fell over. At my scowl, she just shrugged. "What? I feel better now. I can tell you're not actually hurt, nothing bruised but your ego. Besides, even that isn't too bad off. You were happy for a second before you passed out."


I grumbled as I followed her and my mother off to one side, but she was right. I HAD been proud. Still was. Just not proud ENOUGH. I hadn't realized how badly I was hoping to win until I woke up. I knew I wouldn't, but part of me had still been burning for it. To beat the odds. To conquer my enemy.


And…that was wrong. Not wrong as in bad, wrong as in stupid. That was the kind of egoistic bullshit that would get me and my people hurt. Which had been the point of this, I realized. I'd been hoping to show off what I could do and prove myself, but mom had known it would go this way. So when we got to a secluded area, I stopped and waited, letting her talk rather than opening my mouth.


"That was a wonderful showing," my mother told me serenely. "I am UNSPEAKABLY proud of you. That said, it was also very stupid. Can you tell me why?"


"Because…Ellie is an elite from the church?" I asked slowly, not sure of the answer even if I knew the basic shape of it. "She's not some bargain basement Ascendant I can beat across an entire rank? Because she's your personal apprentice."


She laughed at that. "That's very flattering, sweetie, but no. You missed something relatively obvious. But it's a mistake a lot of people make at C-rank. You see, in order to reach D-rank, you need a Path. In order to reach C-rank, it needs to be solid. But in order to reach B-rank, you need a Chronicle.


"Chronicles, much like the transformation to D-rank, are a watershed," she gestured to my staff. "I'm sure you realized that you've been capable of some truly absurd victories since you got yours. You've always been ahead on the Path. And that has been a tremendous advantage up to this point. But once you hit your Chronicle, things start to even out until you create a Domain. Even your pseudo Domains aren't going to bridge the gap as much as they used to."


I put together what she wasn't saying. "You're saying most people I would fight at peak C-rank will have Chronicles. But in the dungeon, there were a ton of peak C-rankers stuck at the edge of B-rank, and Chronicles were still rare."


"The dungeon was a petri dish," she corrected me. "People were STUCK at peak C-rank. They had grown up that way, without a chance of advancement, and they knew it. They had no motivation to form a Chronicle, aside from a few VERY talented people who were able to push a skill to Mythical. But that's astonishingly difficult to do. Besides that, you're operating in a high social strata now. This is the succession war, and if you win you'll be the WISHMASTER. You shouldn't judge your future opponents by the standards of your past enemies."


That was a valid point. I sighed. "So it'll be a while before I'm invincible in C-rank, even discounting monsters like Bethy. Point taken," I grinned wryly. "Probably could have gotten away with less humiliation if I hadn't let my head get so big."


"It's incredibly common with people who rank up fast like you do," she shrugged. "There's no term for it really, because it's not exactly common for people to improve so quickly, but a certain amount of arrogance tends to seep into your recursion when everyone sees you as the next big thing. The fact that you can recognize it is going to be a big help with avoiding it." She grinned at my wife. "Having HER around is also likely to keep you humble. Since she's likely to pull ahead of you if you don't keep your nose to the grindstone."


Callie preened, but didn't comment on my mother's praise. The two of them had been getting a lot closer lately, and I really loved to see it. Mom seemed to see Callie as another daughter, and while I was aware that was at least partly motivated by guilt towards me, I could tell that she genuinely adored my wife and the feeling was entirely mutual.


"So, now that I've reached C-rank, I can funnel all my scrolls to you, Cal," I told my wife as I sat down heavily on a nearby bench, trying to let my head rest. "You'll be right behind me. Then we can focus on helping Benny and Jessie catch up."


She chuckled, sitting down to snuggle against me. Her nine wings wrapped around us both, holding me close, and she leaned her head against my shoulder. "I know. I'm just being impatient. Getting Gossamer made me think about how great it would be for the two of us to fight together with our soul weapons. We still can, I guess. It's just not going to be the same. We're partners and you're pulling ahead."


"Some advice?" my mother offered with a smile. "Don't sweat the small differences. I hit A-rank some time before Eli did, just by virtue of who my family is. But he hit B-rank before me. Any relationship is give and take. Even an Ascendant partnership. Until you're both gods, one of you will always be ahead and one behind. Which is which will change at any given moment, but in the end, it doesn't really matter."


At Callie's obvious look of confusion, my mother laughed and answered her unspoken question. "Because you're in this TOGETHER. Forever. He'll always be there to have your back, and you'll always be there to have his. Even if there's some distance, he's not going to rush ahead. He'll wait for you to catch up, and you'll do the same. Because no matter how far apart you are, you'll always be side by side where it matters."


Her face as she spoke was…glowing. In a way I recognized from the mirror when I talked about Callie. She and my dad had been through a lot, but one thing I hadn't ever doubted since I'd first seen them together was how in love they were. My dad could be a cold hearted bastard, but my mother was his whole world, and I knew he loved my sister and I too.


Was this what Callie and I would be like in a few centuries? Still just as in love? As much as I resisted being like my father in any way, I really hoped so. I hoped we got to have what my parents had. And based on the warm adoration coming through the bond as I took her hand, she felt the same. My mother noticed that too, and smiled. "Yeah, you get it just fine. Don't worry about the small stuff. You're together and you love each other. And if you think about it, isn't that worth more than a rank or some skills?"


At first I thought she meant figuratively, but then I really thought about it and…she was right. My ability to endure pain was something I could never have developed if I didn't have Callie to rely on. The things I'd been through would have broken me without her. Her racial trait, her heretic fire, her Path. All of it happened because of us. Because we were together, and made each other better.


I tried to imagine where I'd be right now if I didn't have her. Where I'd be without the warm reassurance of her soul brushing against mine every day. And honestly, I just couldn't. Because my mom was right. Even when she wasn't with me she never left my side. I couldn't have gotten here. Wouldn't have lived through everything that had come my way. I folded my arms around her, releasing her hand so I could pull her tight against me, and she returned the embrace fiercely.


"You two are so CUTE!" my mother squealed embarrassingly. "I can't wait to have grandbabies, they're going to be adorable little angels. I wonder when you'll have your first set of twins?"


Callie froze, not in her usual mortification, but in true, genuine terror as she processed that. "What do you mean, our FIRST set of twins?" she asked my mother in horror. "As in…you think there will be more than one? And why would we even have one set? Twins are rare."


My mother just shot her a puzzled look. "Your father is a twin, right?" Callie nodded hesitantly, glossing over the whole Atlas thing for now. "And Shane is a twin. And Ascendants are already predisposed to multiples because of the drama factor. I only had the one pregnancy and it was twins right off the bat. With the predisposition on both sides, you're extremely likely to have twins your first time too."


Ignoring my wife's horrified gaping expression, my mother clapped her on the shoulder. "We can worry about that later though. You two have a meeting with The Empty Room tomorrow, and Shane is so tuckered out. Might as well get some rest. You two kids have fun!" She turned and strolled away. She made it almost around the corner before she busted up laughing and Callie just stared after her in horrified silence. And I'd thought my mom was supposed to be the NICE parent.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Creating my scrolls the next day was anticlimactic. There were nine of them now, which was new, and they were C-ranked, which was new, but they were…just scrolls. The same ones I always made. After getting that done and kissing my wife goodbye, I headed for my meeting at The Empty Room.


I left everyone behind except my dad. The current master of The Empty Room was a man named Vacant, an A-ranker of considerable power with a very mysterious nature. Of course, being a Void specialist who gave most Ascendants the creeps, the man did a lot of his business with the devils, the WCP and the more…morally grey members of Ascendant society. My dad, being one of Adramalech's generals, was in a position to have interacted with the man a time or two, and so he would be making introductions.


"So, what do I need to know before this meeting?" I asked him as we walked up a small hill towards a large foreboding looking manor.


He hummed consideringly. "I'd say just try not to worry too much. You're a C-ranker, which means nothing you can do could protect you from an A-rank threat. I'll be outside, and I've taken measures to ensure your safety. Leave it to me and ask your questions."


His eyes flicked down to my shadow, where an Obsidian Soul Body he'd bound was lurking seamlessly. He'd attached it to me before we arrived, just to be safe, and I wasn't sure if knowing he could do that made me feel more or less secure. When we reached the door, he knocked on it sharply with his cane. There was a brief pause, and then the door creaked slowly open, admitting me to the house.


Nodding stoically to my father, I stared through the doorway, into the interior of a house that I…couldn't see an inch of. Nothing lay past the door. Just darkness. Like the frame was a hole in the world.


Taking a deep breath, I stepped through, preparing myself to fall or stumble or feel some sort of change.


Nothing came. Inside the house, the temperature was the same, the atmosphere was the same, everything remained exactly as it had been, except that I was just standing in nothingness. I activated Dantalion, hoping for some kind of feedback, but nothing came. Aside from the exact amount of ground my feet were in touch with, I appeared to be standing in a vast chasm of nothingness. I took a tentative step, and the ground appeared under my feet. Then another.


I walked for about ten minutes through the nothing, stepping into darkness for the ground to form under my boots, before I came to a stop. I sensed…something. Not concrete, but a presence nearby. I was being observed. Whatever it was, my Empty Spirit wasn't enough to counter it, but I was getting a sensation of observation, which meant that even when my immunity couldn't hold up it would at least warn me something was there. I cleared my throat. "Traditionally, it's polite to introduce yourself when greeting a guest."


"A guest?" came an amused whisper in the dark. It was carried around me like a swarm of locusts, buzzing on the air and not coming from any one location. "One must visit a home to be a guest. Is this a home? Can you visit that which is not?"


I snorted. "I would argue that constructing your home in such a way as to pose that question says more about you than you might like."


A sharp bark of laughter tore at my skin, scraping across the surface of my body like I was standing naked in a sandstorm. "Perhaps," the voice whispered jovially. "Or perhaps I simply do not wish to be visited? You come to impose on my solitude. You seek knowledge from beyond the edge of this world."


"I know," I told him bluntly. "I'm the one who decided to come here, I know what I seek. The question is, do YOU know what I seek? And what will it cost me to learn?"


"Cost," he mused. "A fickle thing. Information is priceless. Or perhaps worthless. Will you pay in kind? And what information would one such as you possess that I might wish? I remain on this planet because it suits me. I am not beholden to your bloodline, and should I wish to flee, even your ancestor would not stop me. I know many secrets about the deep places of the world, and they can be used for more than just barter."


I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't threatening you. I was asking a genuine question. But fine, you want information, I have some." I had discussed this with Callie when we found out about the visit. We only had one bit of information a Void scholar might want, and she was the only person who I felt had the right to decide if I revealed it. She hadn't hesitated for a moment, giving me permission to share her new father's story.


So I did. I recounted the story, and the voice waited with bated breath, listening intently to the tale until I finished. "Your offering is…magnificent," he breathed into the dark. "What knowledge do you wish?"


"I want to know the names and affiliations of the vessels you know about on the heirworld right now." I said without hesitation. "I suspect some of them have contacted you with tales of an alliance. They contacted me, and I have far less in common with them. The alliance is a lie." I informed him of our theory and the possibility of a new Void god.


A snarl tore through the dark. "Deception," he hissed. "Your gift of further information is appreciated. I will answer your question, but I owe you a further debt. One favor of your choice, to be collected at a future time." I nodded solemnly, accepting that for the massive boon that it was. "I am sad to say I do not have information commensurate to your payment, however. A deal was proposed, and so I will share what I know, for whatever use it might be."


I remained silent as he organized his information, and then he began to speak. "I know of seven Vessels currently active on this planet. Five are A-rank. One B-rank and one C. The last, I suspect, is the one you met, for it was he who approached me about this alliance. In my hubris, I considered this an assurance. I assumed one such as he could not lie in my presence. Perhaps my understanding of the Void is not what I once thought."


"We've all been there," I shrugged. "Anything you know might help. Do you know who they're Vessels FOR?"


That got a sigh. "A few of them. Void Children are…complex. Not all of them have a cohesive enough identity to be described. The three I'm aware of are Schnex the Keeper, Doranka, and Roviram. They are complicated beings, but their core natures are more consistent than most. Schnex is a collector. It finds promising talents and then nurtures them to add to its collection. It is…unusual, for a Void Child, in that it ALMOST doesn't hate Ascendants."


"That sounds horrible," I said cheerfully. "Who is its Vessel?"


"His name is Bremman," said the voice heavily. "He is a Heaven Murder Elf." My blood froze at that. Heaven Murder Elves were rare. I had met one, but she had been under the protection of one of the vanished gods. I'd been under the impression they were mostly extinct. Heaven Murder Elves were scary. Like…Vampire scary. They were natural geniuses at weaponry and combat.


A collector of the Void having one made sense, even if I REALLY didn't like the idea. Especially if he was an A-ranker, which, upon asking, he was. "Roviram's Vessel is an A-ranked Dullahan named Vex. Roviram is obsessed with the concept of finality, and his army of executioners bring true death to all that fall beneath their blades. Doranka, meanwhile is a parody of fire, manifesting a cold flame that freezes all it touches. His Vessel is a woman named Violetta, also A-rank."


He went on to describe the other two A-rankers, a man named Drewell who used exclusively his fists, and a woman named Nasha who used sonic attacks. That one sounded particularly nasty to deal with, and I had to wince at the idea of fighting her, even for someone like my dad.


The B-ranker's name was Pell, and he was some kind of falconer. Which sounded cool, except the Vessels all had access to a variety of terrifying Void spawn, and I was guessing his was an army of evil Void falcons, which was about as terrifying as it was awesome.


Which left us with the last one. The C-ranker I'd met. It was unfortunate we didn't know the name of his patron, but whatever Void Child he served had gone out of its way to fly under the radar. "The one I met didn't give a name at first, even to myself. I forced him to part with it as payment for information given. He called himself "Wise". A pretentious moniker, but one told true when asked. That is the name he associates with himself."


I snorted at that. "Yeah, he seems like the self aggrandizing type. Did you see his face? He appeared to me as an image of myself. I wasn't able to get a good look at any actual features."


"He came cloaked in shadow, as many of the Void are want to do," the voice admitted. "My own concealment was learned from them, and they possess perhaps the most advanced means of Stealth among the Ascendant factions and their equivalents." I noted he used the term equivalents as a plural, and I wondered what he meant by that, but now wasn't really the time. "He was not concealing himself, mind. But I believe was under the protection of something greater."


"Can you tell me anything that might help me find him?" I asked desperately. "I think he's the key to this mess, and we need to stop him from accomplishing his goals. If they're what we suspect, we're all going to be VERY screwed if he pulls this off."


He hummed ponderously. "Perhaps. I detected something subtle. A scent clinging to his concealment. Liquor. A particularly expensive brand native to Arcadia. It isn't TRACKED, per se, but it is uncommon. Perhaps an investigation into that might bear fruit. That is all I know."


Honestly, it was more than I'd expected. Even as a potential alliance partner, I doubted Vacant had been put in a position to learn all this easily. It was clear he'd investigated his potential partners thoroughly. He had been willing to work with the Void where I might not have been, but at the very least he'd done his due diligence. I should have expected as much from a veteran A-ranker, I suppose. You don't last long enough to reach the penultimate step below god if you're an idiot.


Thanking him for the information, I turned and headed back the way I came. Or at least I was pretty sure I did. Orienting yourself in a pitch black void wasn't exactly easy. But I made it to the door easy enough, and when I stepped through, I was suddenly back in reality, standing next to my dad.


He raised an eyebrow at me. "So…learn anything interesting?" I recounted the events of my conversation, and he grimaced but nodded along anyway. "Well, that's better than nothing. A shame he couldn't give us more on this "Wise" fellow. I'll look into the liquor. He didn't say what kind specifically?"


I was about to confirm that he hadn't, until I realized something was crumpled up in my palm. I'd missed it because my gauntlets prevented fine tactical feedback like that, and the thing was almost cobweb thin. I unfolded it, realizing it was a label. "Apparently he did," I said wryly. I handed it over to my dad with a chuckle. "So, think you can do anything with that?" Judging by his answering grin, he did.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next day was hectic. Arranging the full court press of searchers we needed required calling in a lot of favors with a lot of people. Some of those favors I called in personally, some my parents called in, but the result was the same. We had officially gathered enough people to head down to clear out the anchors.


Of course, we weren't going in completely blind. We had the two anchors we already knew about documented, but more than that, we had an army of Wyndhams, and that meant a LOT of spare wishes.


In order to make the most of that, we'd had everyone wish for compasses that would lead them to the nearest anchor (the compasses would ignore anchors that already had a compass locked onto them, unless the owner died without reaching them). We'd ALSO managed to make contact with the folks upstairs and tweak the bounty board to reward anchor captures.


The tricky part was that we were sure there were active traitors, so we couldn't ANNOUNCE that fact en masse. We'd ended up arranging for the board to change at a specific time, hoping the anchor bounties could all be applied at once before anyone else noticed.


Our own forces were, of course, under strict contracts arranged by my father in exchange for the compasses, which kind of killed two birds with one stone.


While all this was being set up though, my old man had begun the process of trying to track down the Vessel who went by "Wise", hoping to head off some of our future problems by being proactive. He failed, unfortunately, but was finished with time to spare on following us down to take out the anchors.


Which led us to now, standing at the top of the colossal staircase at the heart of Arcadia, about to head down with all our forces.


We split up into multiple groups again, and mine was, as before, only twenty five people, with three of our A-rankers leading the way. I'd wanted them to split up, actually, but mom had been adamant that I was heavily at risk down here and that she refused to let me go without at least my parents and Zeke as guards.


Now we were back down in the dark stone level, searching for the anchors we had clearly marked, ready to take them out first thing.


Despite the fact that everything was going according to plan (or possibly BECAUSE of it), I was deeply uncomfortable about…something. I just couldn't tell if it was one of my precognitive senses acting up or just my own paranoia. Or if those two things were even any different from each other at this point.


"You doing alright?" Asked a familiar voice. I turned to blink at Jessie, who was giving me a soft, sympathetic smile.


I shrugged. "Fine, just worried. This…this whole trip has been nonstop chaos. I should be happy that Callie's Path problem is handled. But now I'm worried this whole planet is going to be shredded into confetti and jettisoned to the furthest corners of the Void in a plot to make some kind of dark anti-god."


She stopped, grabbing my arm. I let her pull me to a halt, though there was zero chance of her being able to move me at D-rank. "That's my point," she said bluntly. "Are you ALRIGHT? Like…in a general sense."


Her eyes were shining with concern, and despite not having a bond like I did with Callie…I knew what she meant. She was asking if I was ok being around my parents. Being around them with my sister. Being around my cousins, and potentially becoming the boss of my entire family, after which I would need to reconstruct the entirety of the system that led to me getting there in the first place, at least as much as was possible given the strong resistance I would face from the council of elders.


And the answer was that I had no idea. To make sure we had some privacy I triggered Murmur at B-rank. It wouldn't work on my parents or Zeke, but I wasn't really worried about them hearing this. "I don't know," I admitted. "I don't think I CAN think about it. I've been going non stop for years now. And that used to just feel like a fun game, like I was on a nonstop adventure, but now…


"I'm going to hit the end of my task soon," I admitted. "If I win this. If I BECOME the Wishmaster, then I did it. I accomplished that first goal. And I'm not sure I'll have it in me to pick up the next burden. To shift gears and just turn my focus to stopping a war, or ruling the WCP."


Because at the end of the day, I wasn't sure what I was anymore. Not without this. Not without the quest I'd been on since day one. Because once I accomplished the goal (assuming I fucking LIVED through this mess), then I had to start the WORK. Becoming the Wishmaster wasn't the end, it was the beginning. The beginning of the hardest part of my journey, and after everything I'd already been through, I wasn't sure I had that in me.


I expected a pep talk. Some kind of encouragement or confidence. I expected an oath of loyalty or a promise to be by my side every step of the way. But Jessie had a way of knowing what people needed even better than they did, especially people she knew well.


She just hugged me. I froze, not sure how to respond. Not because I minded her hugging me, but because I couldn't really remember the last time someone had just given me a hug because I needed one. I just put my arms around her and held her back, resting my chin on the top of her head, and felt the strain drain away from me.


Because it didn't change anything. Not a single solitary factor of all the shit I had to deal with. And in a way, that made it exactly what I needed. Not everything needed to be this momentous colossal task or great shaking revelation. Not everything needed to be BIG just because we were Ascendants.


We were still people. Still humans deep down. And abandoning that like Zeke suggested might be easier, but it made it almost TOO easy. Made it too simple to gloss over the hurt, or the worry, or the fear, instead of dealing with it. And maybe that was WHY Ascendants could be so inhuman at the higher ranks. Because they had to be. Except when they didn't. Because maybe admitting you needed a hug from a friend because you were scared was ok too. Even if it wasn't a very Ascendant thing to do.


And paradoxically, admitting that, letting that worry in and accepting it could be part of me…helped. Acknowledging that I wasn't failing to live up to my future godhood by being scared. That I could be a god AND a person, even if most people didn't.


Part of me wondered about the timing of that revelation. After meeting Atlas, after seeing his sorrow and regret. After hearing the story of what the Void had done to him. He'd become the perfect god in some ways. The ultimate god. But it hadn't stopped him from being a slave to the Void. His humanity had done that. Adam Atlas the god had failed. Adam Atlas the person had saved the universe. Had he wanted me to see that? Had he been trying to show me by example what not to do?


Or maybe I was projecting way more competence and ability onto him that was warranted. Maybe he routinely let people assume he was all knowing and secretly manipulating things behind the scenes.


In the end it didn't matter. What I took from my meeting with Atlas was my own. Despite who and what he was, no one became a god the exact same way as anyone else. I could learn from him and keep what I needed, then drop the rest.


I released Jessie, stepping back with a chuckle. "You know, your power only lets you heal the body. You have no business being this smart about what people's minds and hearts need."


She just shrugged, giggling. "What can I say? I've always been the smartest of our group."


"Yeah," I laughed. "You kind of have. Thanks, Jess. Sorry I've been a little bit distant lately. With everything going on…"


She rolled her eyes. "If I was going to throw a fit every time my friend gets busy, I'd have picked different friends. You ARE going to win this competition, and become the Wishmaster, and when you DO, you're going to be even busier than now. But can you make me a promise? Please?"


"Anything," I told her solemnly. "Anything you need. You know that."


She smiled softly at me. "Take care of yourself Shane. And let other people take care of you too. After this is over, don't jump right into the saddle. Promise me you'll finally take Callie on the honeymoon you've been talking about. The WCP can survive a few months of vacation with the council running things."


I couldn't help it, I just laughed. "Yeah," I promised her. "I will. I'll make sure to-" I stopped, letting Murmur drop instantly as my head jerked up. Doom. Overwhelming horror and death. My Danger Sense was screaming so loud I couldn't hear myself think, couldn't process anything but the sheer overwhelming panic. "Mom!" I called loudly, trying to get their attention.


My parents had stopped just ahead, and at my call, my mother nodded. "Yeah, we noticed," she said grimly. "They snuck up on us. Used the spatial instability to get close."


"Who did?" Callie asked, appearing at my side. "Who's there?"


A low laugh echoed from the darkness. "That would be us," came an amused voice. And then several figures appeared from the shadows. Or rather, five. Five figures. Five A-RANK figures. Two more than we had.


Before we could speak, Zeke was standing behind us. A series of masks flowed from a pouch on his belt, enlarging as they drifted into the air and began orbiting the group. Everyone except for my parents, who were trapped outside the circle of masks. Alone. Without even Zeke for backup.


Not that the two of them seemed fazed. My father tapped his cane on the ground thoughtfully. "A trap then," he said contemplatively. "I'm guessing you had some sort of detection array around the anchors? Assumed we'd be back for them?"


Which meant they didn't know about the plan. The contracts had held up, and he was trying to warn us to keep our mouths shut.


I understood. They couldn't have dispatched any more A-rankers than this anyway. Or if they could it wouldn't be many. Sebastian and Killian were both powerful combatants. It would take more than a single enemy to take them on. The full court press could still succeed at wiping out enough of the anchors, provided they didn't catch on and find some way to counter our plan.


The tallest man there was familiar to me. Not because I knew him, but because he had about five points of similarity to Dayna, including the pointed ears. Bremman, the Heaven Murder Elf. He seemed to be the leader of this motley collective.


"Well, you're not complete idiots," he said lightly. "Shame that even the partial idiocy you're guilty of carries the death penalty."


My father's lips peeled back from his too white teeth, his horned visage so like mine and so very different at the same time. I hadn't seen him quite like this before. So excited about the prospect of violence. "I'd have thought the servants of the Void would have more imagination. But don't worry. By the time I finally let you leave this world, I'll have demonstrated the DEATH is the least of the penalties I plan on applying to you." Then he tapped his cane again, and the world was consumed by shadows.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I expected my dad and mom to leap into action. His shadowy black soul army spread out around them, taking up a sort of formation shaped like a series of concentric stars, easily thirty of the things. But rather than join him in combat, my mother hummed consideringly. "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten," my dad said with a grin.


"Six," she responded instantly, clearly more aware of what that meant than I was.


He barked out a laugh. "Nope, it was four. Go wait with the kids." His tone was teasing, but relaxed. He wasn't even remotely worried.


She clicked her tongue and strode over to where Zeke was surrounding us with masks, walking effortlessly between the rotating items as she came to stand beside Chelsea and I. "Um…what was that?" My sister asked slowly.


"It's called high or low," my mom explained. "Whenever your father and I have to share enemies, one of us picks a number between one and ten and guesses. One to five is low, six to ten is high. If you're in the same range as the person who picked, you win."


"Winning in this case being…the ability to fight five powerful A-rankers ALONE?" I asked her in disbelief.


She smirked at that. "Elijah never fights alone. But don't worry, if he runs into trouble I'm right here. I don't see that happening though. There's a reason your father is so prized by Adramalech. Catching the attention of a devil prince isn't an easy thing to do."


I couldn't help but remember the towering purple skinned figure of the devil I'd met at the conclave. Someone who spoke to Morgan Lark as an equal and had been completely unbothered at the thought of fighting Harrison with almost no provocation. I could imagine how powerful someone like that must be.


Bremman, who was standing at the forefront of the A-rankers, smiled indulgently at my father. "That's the kind of arrogance I'd expect of a Wyndham. And not just a Wyndham either. The rebellious son. The Wish Devil. I'm curious, why are you so focused on standing against us? You've seen the depravity and corruption your family has be-"


"Let me just stop you right there," my dad sighed. "Please don't. Like, I understand that it's tradition, trying to sway me to your side. That you'd be a powerful ally, and all that I wish for could be mine and blah, blah, blah. Or maybe you're actually an idiot and you were going for a soft sell, trying to tug on my heart strings. It makes no real difference. It's not going to work.


"I don't care about your tragic backstory, I don't want your priceless treasures, I don't have any unresolved issues to work out on my relatives," he said blithely. "If I want something, I take it, if I don't like someone, I kill them, and I am very experienced at tempting and corrupting others. Frankly your amateur sales pitch is insulting, and I should very much enjoy allowing both of us to skip the awkwardness of you trying to make it and just dispense with the ensuing bloodbath."


He tapped his cane (a soul weapon of some kind, I knew), and a mirrored sheen rolled up from the ground, over the cane and his body, covering him in a reflective finish, which with another tap turned the shiny black of onyx, just like the others. Another tap, and there was an eruption of black smoke beneath all thirty versions of my father, and then they flickered and reappeared at seemingly random points all over the chamber.


Six of them for each of the opponents, surrounding the five A-rankers in a loose ring.


Bremman, meanwhile, looked incensed. "I tried to do this the easy way," he snarled, his eyes lighting up an eerie blue. Black mist poured from him as he manifested a large black spear, driving it forward directly into the chest of one of the nearest clones.


The onyx soul in the shape of my dad choked, seizing up, and then collapsed into a cloud of black smoke. The Heaven Murder Elf choker, waving away the smoke, but it clung to him, even as the other clones attacked. He snarled, stabbing his spear into another clone, then a third. The smoke billowed up, clinging to him even more tightly. Five clones, all dead in a blink as he engaged the last one with a snarl.


Driving his spear forward, his eyes were wide with rage…and then with shock, as the cane simply stopped the blow head on.


Not just the blow. As soon as the spear touched the head of the cane, the black mist and blue glow vanished. The black smoke around him thinned, but didn't disappear. He looked shaken. "What…what have you done?" He shook the spear, smacking it against his palm a few times. "What have you DONE?"


"Combat," my father said casually. "Is a social contract. Two combatants unleashing violence upon one another until one or both are dead. However, like all contracts, it has certain provisions. For instance, while multiple people can engage in combat, each person involved can only die once. Your spear attack killed me with the first blow. And the second. And the third. You've killed me no less than five times. I'm afraid contractually, you're quite overextended."


The spearman looked outraged. "What? I never agreed to that!"


"Of course you did," my father said cheerfully. "As did the rest of your friends." He glanced around at the others, who I noticed were all standing in front of now singular copies of him, looking similarly cowed. "And that's not all either. I've repossessed your Void taint in order to repay your debt, but that's only worth one or two lives."


He tapped his cane, and the spear vanished from Bremman's hand, then again, and the elf stumbled, his leg giving out under him and sending him collapsing to the ground. He stared up at my father in terror. "This is…you can't do this! This isn't possible!"


My father shook his head, smiling coldly. "Incorrect. I'm the Wish Devil. With the payment of a human soul I can do nearly anything. And you paid me five."


He knelt down in front of the cowering man and stared straight into his eyes. "I could have done this nicely, you know. I could have killed you quick. Made it look effortless and reinforced the terror that others feel of me. But I'm not going to do that. I have questions about your masters."


"I…yes," Bremman said desperately. "I'll tell you anything! I swear! Ask me whatever you want to know!"


My dad chuckled darkly. "Oh, you've misunderstood. I already told you earlier that your sloppy attempts at coercion were insulting to me. You are not a source of information, Bremman. You are a DEMONSTRATION." He stood and turned away, then tapped his cane again. A wave of black energy exploded out of his cane, funneling into a cloud above his head and then swirling into a vortex, the mouth of which poured itself into the mouth of the Heaven Murder Elf.


Bremman screamed, writhing on the ground as he clawed at his face, and cracks began to appear along his skin, starting at his mouth. The cracks covered his whole body, spreading quickly, and then he screamed and his form shattered, the rest of him flaking off as a reflective soul climbed up to stand in front of my dad.


He hummed with amusement. "Go stand guard for my family." The mercury soul nodded, hefting its mercury spear, and its eyes glowed blue as black mist began to pour off the weapon.


My dad turned to one of the other four A-rankers, all of them now kneeling in front of his other clones. "You," he said to the woman that, based on the ice surrounding her was Violetta. "Tell me what you know about Wise."


"I…" she stammered. "I don't know! Wait no please I swear!"


"And that's enough of that," Zeke said breezily, snapping his fingers. The protective field his masks created went opaque, and I turned to look at him in shock…only to spot my mother sighing with relief. That made more sense. Protecting us like that was out of character for him, but less so for mom.


I turned to her with a frown. "You were expecting this," I said bluntly. "You both seemed completely at ease the whole time. You knew there were alarms on the anchors. That was why you encouraged me to leave them for later." That had been subtle, I'd barely noticed it happening. I'd thought that was my own idea.


"A demonstration," she said, echoing my dad. "The Vessels are dead, and the part of the soul your father retains isn't connected to the Void Children, but the process of their deaths will be witnessed. I personally don't much enjoy cultivating that sort of reputation, but when necessary I can be flexible."


Chelsea looked devastated. "Mom…" she whispered. "I can't believe you were ok with that. The things he was doing. I mean, I expected it from him, but you're a SAINTESS. You're supposed to be…better. Better than dad."


"Better?" my mother asked calmly. "I believe that was the best I've been in quite some time. Let's ignore the Void aspects of this for a moment. Ignore that those are monsters who feed people to the darkness beyond space. Even if they had been normal humans. Even if they had been saints themselves. They made a mistake. They tried to hurt my CHILDREN.


"I don't care what you think of what I just did," she told my sister calmly. "You can hate me for it if you like. But I'd do it again in an instant. Don't make the mistake of thinking that being from the church gives us the luxury of being paragons of virtue. Sometimes, to protect the ones we care about, we need to get our hands dirty. Your father didn't teach me that, dear heart. I taught HIM."


Personally I wasn't bothered. Soul bullshit was ethically dubious at times, but like she said, the Void destroyed the human part of them anyway. Though not as entirely as I'd believed, given the terror on Bremman's face. I guessed even sociopathic Void stooges can be afraid if someone is scary enough.


Zeke cleared his throat. "Think we're all good," he said. He waved a hand and the masks retreated, floating back into his belt, shrinking as the went. My dad approached, five new mercury souls trailing behind him menacingly.


I raised an eyebrow at him. "Finished having your fun?" I asked dryly. "Did it actually LEAD to anything?"


"Oh ye of little faith," he chuckled, tapping his cane. The five mercury souls and all the onyx still out vanished in clouds of smoke. "I got everything I needed. Wise is performing the ritual as we speak, slowly opening the portals like we suspected and growing stronger over time. And now…I know WHERE."


My lips peeled back in vicious triumph. "With the rest of our forces attacking the anchors, he'll be too distracted to see us coming, won't he?"


The Vessels Void Children might have seen what we just did, but they weren't WISE'S Void Child. They couldn't tell him without a means to interact, and I somehow doubted they were going to believe he was a friend much longer, given he was going to run out of neutral targets and start picking off his own soon to grow his power. I'd be shocked if he hadn't started already.


"Call Sebastian and Killian," I told him bluntly. "We need to get down there and take him out. Before he hits S-rank. You can take him on at A-rank I'm sure. Let's get down there and fucking end this once and for all." I paused and looked around the room. "Also, did anyone record us taking down the A-rank Vessels? Bet that'll be worth some points." I still had a competition to win after this was all over.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Down, down, down into the deeps. The ritual, to no one's surprise, was taking place on a much lower level, one much closer to the center of the planet. Not TOO close, mind. Our B-rankers and those of us with Chronicles were able to withstand the pressure, and Zeke had lent a few masks to the others to offset the strain for them, but it was much deeper than we'd been so far.


Which I supposed made sense. The Void Ladder was using the entire length of this stairway as a focus. In fact, it was probable there was another group of Void Vessels coming down (or I guess up?) from the other side to plant the anchors.


I'd completely blanked on the fact that this planet was dual sided and that there was probably a similar invasion (albeit most likely missing the key actor in the form of Wise himself) taking place opposite us. Luckily, I wasn't the only person on this planet, nor was I actually in charge of the WCP (yet), so I assumed that other people were dealing with that whole mess, and I was free to focus on the impossible task I already had to worry about, namely, disrupting the apparently ongoing ritual Wise was performing before he got too strong and dealt with US.


Part of me was hoping we'd taken out his entire force, that we would have a free shot at Wise as we approached, but unfortunately, that was proven demonstrably false.


"Shit," Zeke said as my entire group of thirty plus stopped at level above our target. He'd set one of his masks on the floor, manifesting some kind of technique, and the thing had…become him. Or at least his face. That I'd seen before, but I had NOT seen that face sprout spider legs and scurry off into the dark. Apparently he could see through its eyes too, because he was currently reporting the view to us directly. "There's a bunch of them."


I cursed. "How many is a bunch?" I asked anxiously. "We've got six A-rankers, not to mention Fade who might be able to fight up a rank. Do they have more?" Aside from the five I'd brought, we'd ended up meeting up with Davis, my cousin Derran's dad, and several more B-rankers besides. They'd finished their anchor sweep, so we'd recruited them to help us with the raid. They were more than happy to join up once we let them in on the stakes for this particular outing.


"Ten," he said grimly. "And…that's bad. I'm pretty sure they have a Void tainted DRAGON there. It might be a Vessel, I can't tell. And there's not just them either. There's a LOT of Void spawn down there."


I sucked in a breath. "You sure it's not a Wyvern?" I asked weakly. "Or a Wyrm or something?" I'd never seen an actual dragon before, but I knew they were SCARY. Apex predators, the least of which were born at D-rank. If he considered it a threat it must be A or B-rank minimum, and that was…unsettling.


"I mean, it could just be dragon shaped Void spawn, I guess," he said slowly. "I don't know where those come from, so I can't say. But I've SEEN dragons before, and that definitely fucking looks like one."


I grimaced. "So…ten," I looked at the others. "Can we do ten? If we assume Wise is still at C-rank, and I'm not sure he is, I'm willing to take him on. But we have to be able to GET to him." I glanced at Callie. "I assume we have some kind of PLAN here? Like you know what's supposed to happen to stop all this?"


She flicked her wrist, and Gossamer appeared, the blue black gem pulsing eerily in the hilt. "I can shut it down. If you can get us close. Adam made sure I'd have a way. I think that was the whole reason he gave me the sword."


"Alright," I said with a sigh. "Then we've got our plan. Callie, you're with me. We're going to use Murmur to sneak in while the others distract the defenders." I looked around at my friends. "This is going to be VERY dangerous. If anyone wants to back out, there's no shame. This is going to be a mess." To my complete lack of surprise, not a single one of my people stepped forward. Whether out of loyalty, self-preservation, or good old fashioned greed, everyone was onboard.


We stepped out of the level we were on (the nineteenth) and headed down once more, remounting the stairs. We'd stopped on the floor above where the ritual was going on to do recon, and now…now it was time for battle.


Murmur washed over me, and Callie beside me. Not JUST Murmur either. I boosted it to B-rank with my staff. My stealth domain was powerful enough to affect even high ranked opponents, so the boosted version should enable us to get past any of the enemies in question. "Ok, everyone stick to the formations my dad lays out," I said, letting my voice roll out of the field. "Be safe, and be careful."


I grabbed Callie's hand and squeezed, and the two of us made our way around the bend in the staircase. I stopped when the forces ahead came into sight because…damn, that actually was a dragon.


It was funny. I'd never seen a dragon. I hadn't even really seen any decent PICTURES of a dragon. But looking at this thing, all I could think was that this was what a dragon looked like. I'd mistaken things for dragons before, like the Bone Wyvern, but looking at this creature, I was absolutely blown away by how I could make that mistake, because nothing I'd ever seen before looked like THIS and this was so obviously a dragon.


We approached it slowly, almost ploddingly so. I felt the need to move slow to allow Murmur to work to its fullest, because I didn't want the dragon to spot me. I needn't have worried. As I passed into range, there was a rumble and the stairs beneath us shook aggressively. Looking over my shoulder, I spotted my mother standing further up the steps, her body made of living fire. The dragon's eyes, and the eyes of the other A-rankers, were all on her, leaving us free to slip by.


The approach was nerve wracking. Even under stealth, the crowd of Ascendants and Void spawn arrayed on the stairs, blockading the level in question, was truly staggering. I kept expecting them to notice something out of place, but the further I got, the less concerned I became for myself…and the more I became for my friends.


Because my family and my retainers had engaged as soon as they were in range. My mom hit the dragon like a speeding train, my dad deployed a full seventy two souls (many of which were mercury and three of which were mirror), and Zeke had deployed more masks than I thought he even had access to. A small army of swordmasters, marsh elves, and every other local we'd recruited since out arrival rushed out, with Bethy, Abel, and all my friends trailing after them.


And we just…left them. It made me sick, turning my back on my friends in battle. But if we didn't take out that ritual then this planet would get torn apart, even assuming the Void Child behind it didn't become an S-ranker and slip through to murder us all ahead of time.


The level the ritual was taking place on was confusing. Mirrors lined the walls, ceiling, and floor. Once we entered, I had to slow us down, because there were so many fucking reflections for me to erase as me moved that I was barely able to keep up even walking at a crawl. Callie clutched my hand tight. "We're close," she whispered. "I can feel the call of the Void from ahead of us."


I decided not to read into her still being able to hear that despite her elimination of the Void Path. As as Heretic Archangel, my wife was tied to Atlas, and Atlas was a former Void Vessel whose whole power was based on being their bane.


It took us about twenty minutes to penetrate deep enough into the level to start to find evidence of the ritual itself. Anchors floated in the air, empty stones suspended below black tears in the fabric of reality. Through the tears was just…nothing. Not the Void, not an abyss, just the complete absence of creation.


Callie stared at the holes in sick dread. "It started," she whispered. "He's already eaten several sections of the Void. Because it's not a stable or solid place, when a Void Child takes a territory, they consume it and integrate it into themselves. They literally ARE what they eat, and they eat the Void. They embody their territory, so as they expand so does their power."


That explained a bit of how the Vessel thing worked. It didn't make sense to artificially inflate the soul like they did, but the Void was the opposite of space. Like…the spirit to reality's flesh. Whatever part of the soul they took from their Vessels must be enough to connect them directly to the Void in a way similar to how normal gods connect to their worlds. I blinked at that thought. I didn't…that wasn't obvious. At all. Where had that come from?


I felt a pulse in my chest and realized it was the bond. Callie and I were connected soul deep. What she knew I knew, at least sometimes.


We stepped past another dozen tears, ignoring them as we approached a circle of blackened crystals jammed into the ground, energy leaping between them as they conducted spatial power unlike anything I'd seen.


And in the center…was me. Wise was still wearing my face, for some reason, and seeing it look so cold and smug was tough for me. I expected Callie to have trouble too, but oddly she didn't seem fazed. She knew that wasn't me, she could feel me. She was clearer than anyone that this was all bullshit.


There was a rumble underfoot again, and I heard a rattle as the mirrors shook. The me in the center of the circle frowned, then looked up and…stared. His eyes, blue glowing Void irises rather than my own green, fixed on me. "Well hello there," he said, grinning widely.


I froze, but after a long sigh, I dropped Murmur. It wouldn't do much good anyway. Because now that I was closer, I could see that Wise wasn't a C-ranker anymore. He wasn't even a B-ranker. Wise had clearly eaten more territory than we had expected in such a short time. He was firmly in the S-rank now.


Despite that, I didn't panic. When I folded my domain, I didn't drop it completely. I just condensed it to cover Callie more thoroughly. Sure enough, his vision didn't seem to twitch. Whatever his eyes were doing to pierce my stealth so easily, it wasn't something that affected my wife. Callie was a Heretic Archangel, and was the natural enemy of the Void. Wise had some tricks with stealth, which I knew from The Empty Room, but those tricks didn't extend to her.


So I took all of his attention on myself, focusing Murmur as hard as I could on Callie as she started to slowly edge around the circle. I didn't know what her target was, but it didn't matter. It was my job to make sure she reached it. She knew how to take this apart and I needed to give her the time. So I did what I did best. I decided to bullshit.


Grinning at the Vessel, I spread my arms welcomingly. "What? You weren't expecting me? I've decided to take you up on your offer of an alliance. I even brought an army here to surrender to you. What do you say?" Wise had opened his mouth to reply, but when he heard that, he froze, clearly not sure what the hell was going on. Callie continued to inch across the room, and I tried desperately to come up with a plausible story to explain all this. Given I could sense the others approaching behind me, it would have to be a doozie.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"You want…to surrender your forces?" he said slowly, his tone obviously disbelieving. "The ones with all your friends and your PARENTS in them? Those forces? You want to just…hand them over to the Void?"


I was panicking. Or rather, I would have been panicking if I could fucking THINK. Instead, my entire godsdamned brain was lighting up like a theme park of agony as my Danger Sense tried to clobber me over the head with the fact that I was SPEAKING to an enemy S-ranker. I was less than a hundred feet from the bastard, as was my WIFE, and we were both in horrifying amounts of lethal danger.


I triggered Leviathan, because I had to, both to ward off the Danger Sense and to prevent myself from being flattened by the extremely inconsistent field of Impact radiating off Wise.


Which was almost definitely why Callie and I were alive. Wise wasn't…right. He WAS an S-ranker, but he was still operating like he wasn't. The Void in his system had boosted him up several ranks, but he was…stilted. It was the only reason I could think of that he wouldn't have noticed Callie.


This entire plan had been extremely haphazard. Looking back, I could see where my Fatewalker instincts had been pushing me back and forth during this whole debacle, leading to outcomes that were probably outwardly extremely dangerous, but that I was pretty sure I'd get through. I was threading the needle, and while I knew that this wouldn't save me if I actually pushed Wise over the edge, I still had options.


I reached into my ring, wrapping my will around something that had been in there for a very long time. Something I hadn't even thought about in months, because it would be a waste to use it against anything but a literal deity. The token.


Almost a year ago, I'd won a single use defensive token from the Lady of Lamentation during the trials on Rackham. I'd never had occasion to use it, but if anything warranted busting out the big guns, it was this. But I couldn't activate it yet. If I did, Wise might notice Callie sneaking around.


At the moment, her status as a perfect Void predator seemed to have combined with Murmur to grant her some protection from his incomplete senses, but who knew how long that would last.


Which left me scrambling, trying to justify this whole mess with nonsense to keep his attention. I'd have preferred the life and fate of every person I loved NOT rest on my ability to make shit up on the spot. But sadly, wishes weren't horses today. Lucky for me, this had all been going through the head of a parallel I'd spawned before engaging in this conversation, so I wasn't standing around like an idiot staring at him in terror. I smoothly answered his question.


"Not for disposal obviously," I told him dismissively. "But let's be honest. We both know what's going on here. I wouldn't have made it here if I didn't. You've won already. We could keep struggling, of course, but how many of my friends and family would die? I can't risk that. I won't. The WCP hasn't done shit for me in my life. Who cares what happens to their prison planet. I'm more concerned with my people, and I want to ensure they make it out of this in one piece."


A surrender hidden inside a plea for mercy with a side of ego stroking. I was almost proud of myself for that. Sure enough, Wise looked pleased. I'd figured him out. It was the form changing. He looked like me. That said something about him, whether he wanted it or not. I wasn't sure why he'd fixated on me, whether he hated me, was jealous of me, or just wanted to prove he was better than me, but he had SOME attachment.


"You ARE smarter than I gave you credit for," he gloated. "But then, I suppose that's not a high bar. How do I know you aren't planning some betrayal? That this isn't a ploy to buy time for your parents to arrive?"


"To what end?" I asked bitterly. "You're at S-rank now. You'd crush them. I didn't reunite my family just to watch them die. Not to mention I'm standing right in front of you. If an S-ranker wants me dead, what the hell can I even do to stop it? I'm completely at your mercy. All I can do is plead for my life." I let my head fall, projecting the image of a broken man.


He laughed coldly. "How pathetic. Shane Wyndham, the Wish Devil's Son, debasing himself for his enemy. I suppose you would be an amusing pet, if nothing else. But you're forgetting something. Your wife. I know what she is, and I don't believe you'd sacrifice her. Actually, where is sh-"


"She's part of the deal," I cut him off, my head jerking up. "Nonnegotiable. You need to protect her. And honestly, why wouldn't you? Your predecessor, the previous Void God, was cast down by her father. To have the only daughter of the Heretic God on your leash…could you imagine the status? Not to mention that to grow you need to consume other Void Children. Or your patron does anyway. What better weapon to wield against your own than a predator custom made to destroy them? You would be feared throughout the Void."


His expression became pensive. "That…is an interesting proposition. I confess, my patron seems a bit too cavalier about her death. But using her for our own ends." He grinned mockingly at me. "And she's such a lovely thing, too. Perhaps she'd like this face I've adopted."


My blood caught fire. Rage kindled behind my eyes and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to expose us right there. But I held out. I couldn't let it go though. Nothing in me would allow that. "Don't get ahead of yourself," I snapped. "You're not the only one down here. And even you need underlings. I don't believe you can afford to lose all those A-rankers. Afford to lose that dragon. The longer you draw this out the worse your position. It's in your best interest to bring us under control and turn this particular weakness into an asset."


I saw a flash of anger in his eyes, but he smoothed it over nearly seamlessly. "Of course," he soothed. "I was just testing your limits. I have no need of a spineless servant. Good to see you've got some guts even if you're smart enough to see which way the wind is blowing."


Lie. I could smell it on him. He was enraged. But he'd decided to play along, probably to "betray" me at the last second so he could gloat. He'd never get the chance. My eyes focused past him, to where my wife had reached a sort of cascading nexus of glowing lines that I was only able to see through our bond. Lines of dark Void energy connected to all the anchors in this chamber.


Sadly. That glance was all he needed. His brow furrowed, and I could tell he was about to look for whatever had caught my attention. I didn't even think. I triggered Double Trouble, and then flexed my will, shattering the token to surround Callie and I with a defensive shield as I dropped Murmur, since it wouldn't really matter now that he was actively searching anyway.


In the distance, I could feel the rumbles getting closer. My parents were coming, and I wasn't sure if I should be more afraid or relieved. Could they do anything to him now? Could they help us?


"SNEAKY BITCH!" he roared, hands coming up. His fingers spread, and the world CRACKED as black mist shattered the space in front of us, sending cones of rippling Void infused force right at us…which hit the barrier and did nothing.


Single use. I knew what that meant. I would get one try with it. But I had been studying up on tokens like this in my spare time for a while now, and single use did NOT mean single attack. This shield could block a blow from a literal god. Granted, not very well, because it was designed for emergency defense. But Wise wasn't a god. He wasn't even a proper S-ranker, and his attack only managed to vaguely disturb the screen of hazy reddish light that surrounded us.


Callie, who hadn't even looked up from her task, sent a wave of trust through the bond as she raised Gossamer. The black blade lit from the inside with a blue black fire, looking like nothing so much as a soap bubble. The gem at the hilt glowed brighter, and brighter. And I felt…something. Something else.


I remembered what Atlas had said. About Callie being an avatar. And the church that he'd created to house the blade. The temple. Wise screamed in incandescent RAGE. "Don't you dare! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"


My wife didn't even hesitate. She swung her blade down like a headsman's axe, and the razor sharp edge bit right through the black misty chords, igniting them all with Heretic Fire, creating a web of blue black flame that strung the length of the mirrored chamber, sending the entire level into a dizzying explosion of flames and visual feedback. I heard a crackle, like an egg on a hot pan, and then another, and as I watched, the closest anchors began to explode light overloaded lightbulbs, the distortions above them snapping closed.


Wise screamed in fury, blurring forward to pound on the screen of red with black cloaked hands, eyes blazing that unearthly blue. "NO! NO NO NO! You can't do this! I'll butcher you! I'll turn you into fucking SHOES!"


The shield wavered, the red beginning to fade. My blood turned to ice. This was it. We'd fixed things. We'd saved the whole planet…and we were going to die. I wrapped my arms around my wife, resting my head on her shoulders as I turned her away from the enraged Void Vessel. "I'm sorry." I told her softly. "I'm sorry this is how it ends. I'm sorry this is where loving me brought you."


She reached up and yanked my mask off, pressing her lips to mine fiercely. "I'm not," she said stubbornly. "I'm proud. Being married to you has been the greatest adventure of my life. If I have to die, I'm glad it's with you. I love you Shane Wyndham. And don't you ever forget it."


Resting her head against my chest, she closed her eyes, and I smiled softly down at her as I bowed my head. I was ready. This wasn't how I'd planned things to go, but at least we'd saved my friends. I was sure Zeke and my parents could get them away from some jumped up Void Toady. He was barely an S-ranker. I had faith they could handle him. It was a shame I wouldn't get to see it.


I thought that was the end. As I heard the shield begin to finally give way, cracks spreading over the screen of light, though, I heard something else. A scream of incandescent rage so primal and terrifying that I felt it in my bones. "GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF MY SON!"


There was a blur, and a female form made of blazing white fire smashed into Wise at top speed, sending him careening across the chamber to smash into one of the mirrored walls. Give her credit, my mother didn't mistake him for me for even a second, her blazing white eyes shimmering with unrepressed wrath. Her hands were covered in a pair of mirrored gauntlets, and her torso had a mirrored cuirass across it. I saw my dad off in the distance, approaching with Zeke and Sebastian, Killian bringing up the rear.


Staring at them, I couldn't help what I did next. The relief, gratitude, and joy washed away every speck of terror, leaving me to collapse to my knees, still holding Callie. My head tipped back, and despite the still very real danger we were all in, I started to laugh. And I didn't stop.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

When Wise rose from the shattered remnants of the mirrored wall, his face was…wrong. Broken like the glass. The visage of me that he'd been using was cracked, and black mist leaked from inside of it. He snarled, his hands coming up to his face, trying to press the flaking shards back into position. It didn't work, and he finally gave up, tearing the worst offenders free and tossing them aside.


"That seeming was EXPENSIVE," he hissed at my mother. "Must your whole family be a constant thorn in my side?" He sneered at me. "When my lady told me that you were so troublesome, I thought she was exaggerating."


"Ok, do I KNOW you?" I demanded. "Why are you so fixated on me. Using my face, targeting me specifically? What the hell did I do to you?"


He snorted. "Not me, fool. My lady. You ruined her cult in the Screeching Shoals. Luckily you ALSO left a trace behind for her to harvest to create the seeming. It was laborious work, creating something that would withstand scrutiny and hold up under my advancement. But I suppose I have no need of it now."


I blanched at his words. They'd made this thing from TRACES I'd left in the dungeon? That fucking cult was just the gift that kept on giving. As if the nightmares weren't enough.


"You are a constant annoyance, you know that?" his voice was boiling with barely restrained hate. "First you ruin the shallowing we were trying to cultivate as one of the anchor points, then you steal the infinity crystals we were using to replace that project after word got out, and THEN you come down here and destroy my damned ritual! Can't you bastards just lay down and DIE?"


My mother stepped between us, making sure to be in his path as he prepared to lunge. He just sneered. "An A-ranker. You think you're capable of stopping me? I admit I was unprepared for your punch, but you're not a match for me. You'll die just as easily as he will. Being forced to watch me kill his mommy will serve as a fitting punishment I think." The others moved, preparing to back my mom up, but she held up a hand.


"Wait," she said coldly. "Not yet. Stay on alert, and you can cut in if it looks bad, but I don't need any help with trash like this. Not directly. Calliope, dearheart, might I borrow that gem from the pommel of your sword?"


Callie blinked at her in confusion, but looked down at the jewel. She reached down and gripped it, then pulled lightly, and it came loose more easily than it should have. Shrugging, she turned to my mom and tossed it. My mother caught the gem without looking, then held it up, staring through it to look at the darkening center with interest.


"A divine fragment," she said with interest. "I assumed he'd need one of these to construct a weapon like that for you. Thank you, dear, I'll return it in a moment. I just need to borrow it for a bit." She clenched her fist around it, closing her glowing white eyes, then with a deep breath, she shoved it into her chest. Her body ripples, the flames that made up her form began to waver, flowing towards her heart, and as they did, a blue black stain began to spread through the ivory flame. It rolled through her whole body, under the mirrored chest piece and gauntlets, until her entire body had gone from bright white to the blue black of heretic fire.


"Oh, that is lovely," she grinned coldly. "I can feel the extra power there. Not a trade I'd willingly make permanent, but I think this should do just fine to settle things." Her eyes flicked back to Wise. "Now, I believe you mentioned something about killing me in front of my son? Please, feel free to give it your best shot."


I'd never heard her sound so…enraged. Hateful. My mother was a warm and nurturing presence. Sometimes sad, or guilty, and I'd seen her mad a time or two, but she wasn't…dark. Vicious. She was one of the kindest people I knew.


Wise didn't seem to share that sentiment, he spat on the ground. "You think that scares me? That some heretic fire is enough to bridge the gap of a whole rank? I'm an S-RANKER, you ignorant-" there was a blur, and his head snapped back, smashing into the crater he'd already left in the wall.


My mom was standing over him, her mirrored knuckles shedding black mist. "First of all," she said harshly. "You're going to drop that insulting charade. I won't have you using my boy's face to spew your toxic nonsense."


Both her hands blurred, and there was a kind of…delayed ripple, and then the wall behind him cave in, a spiderweb of deep cracks running from behind him as she pummeled his head and chest into the mirrored stone (not glass oddly enough) too fast for my eyes to track. She stepped back, and he staggered up from the wall, more of the seeming flaking off. "That's not…how are you?" His eyes fixed on the gauntlets. "Is it those?"


Her eight gauntlet blurred as she backhanded him off his feet again. "I said stop it," she hissed. "Drop the mask before I slap that look right off your face."


He spat, crawling to his feet again, peeling the shattered remnants of my face off to leave nothing but a mass of Void taint covering a face I couldn't quite make out. My mom reached out and clamped a hand over his face, channeling the Heretic Fire through the gauntlet and into him as he screamed, the Void taint burning away to reveal…nobody. Nothing special. Just an average looking man I didn't know.


She threw him to the ground, straddled him, and then started to beat him across the face. Slow, steady punches, left, then right. His head cracked against the ground, and he reached up to paw at her, trying to get her off him, but he couldn't. The Void that gathered in his hands burned away on her body.


"You can't beat me," she said conversationally as she slowly pummeled him into the rock. "Because this power isn't yours. It comes from your master. I probably could have done this with just my flames of purification, honestly, but it wouldn't have been as hopeless."


She stopped hitting him, getting up to walk across the room to Callie. With a grunt, she shoved a hand into her chest, removing the stone, and handed it back to my wife. "Put it back in the hilt please." My wife did so, and then my mom held out her hand for the sword. Callie handed it over, looking unsure as to what was going on.


Walking over to me, she reached down and pressed the weapon into my hand. "This is yours to finish," she said kindly. "He almost killed you. Stole your face. You deserve to end it."


I glanced at Callie, who nodded solemnly, and I walked over to where Wise was lying, beaten to a pulp, on the ground. He was gurgling, blood foaming up between his lips as he looked at me with absolute loathing. "That won't kill me," he hissed. "I'm an S-ranker. You can't kill me."


I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you?" I ran my eyes over his body. "Because it seems to me that my mom just beat every ounce of Void out of your body. All I see now is a badly injured C-ranker with a superiority complex. It's just a shame that your patron benefited from all this. It got to S-rank off your hard work, and all you get out of it is a pathetic helpless death. Doesn't seem fair."


He snorted, dissolving into a coughing fit as he spat up blood. "Fair, that's rich coming from you. You and your disgusting family think you're the heroes. Protecting the universe from the Void. Newsflash. It's THEIR universe. Everything came from the Void, and everything will eventually return. You can't stop it. It's inevitable. This isn't a victory. I'm just a tool. A Vessel." He was grinning, and his eyes had started to glow again, flickering with Void light.


I didn't hesitate, I hefted Gossamer, infused it with Heretic Fire, and drove it down through his chest into the floor, spearing his heart. "Yes, that's very scary," I told him drolly. "Or it would have been, if you weren't choking to death on your own blood. Before you die though, I'm curious. What's the name of you Void Child? Who is the monster that's using you to try to claim the throne of the Void god after all these years."


He shook his head, baring his bloody teeth at me with a wet, sickening giggle. "No one special, really. She's not someone you'd have heard of. In fact, she wasn't even always a Void Child. She used to be human. She served under the last Void god, and he rewarded her service by remaking her in his image. Her name is Morwenna."


My eyes widened, because I knew that name. "Wait, don't-" but it was too late. His head flopped back, the last gasp of breath rattling from his lips. I cursed, pulling the sword out, and if it hadn't been Callie's soul weapon I'd have thrown the damned thing.


She stepped up next to me, and I handed it back. It vanished into her soul, and she took my hand in hers. "It'll be fine." She said softly.


"But you heard him, his patron is-" she cut me off, a finger to my lips. "I know. I heard. I think that's why he interfered so much this time. I've been trying to get in contact with him for the last few minutes, but I guess it doesn't work that way. I represent him, but I don't get to speak with him whenever I want. I'm honestly just glad he let your mom channel his power through the gem."


I sighed. "I think it worked because the purification flame is an ingredient in the Heretic Fire. We used it to make your trait, too, so he had a connection."


"This is all fascinating," Zeke said as he approached, dragging a wounded leg behind him. "But some of us want to get the hell out of here, kid. So scoop up your bounty and have the rest of these rookies carry up anything they can find, because these bodies are going to be worth a pretty penny point wise, if we have anything to say about it."


I laughed at that. I couldn't help it. The thought that this, all of this, had just been a GAME. That the succession war was a contest we'd been doing for POINTS. After all the horror and bloodshed and fear of the last hour. It was laughable.


Reaching down, I stashed Wise in my ring. He was dead now, so the body went in easily. Then I turned and started making my way back to the staircase. My mom fell into step beside me, silent and supportive, and I reached over to pull her into a tight side hug. My sister joined in on the other side, and we all walked out of there together, her arm around each of us.


It was…over. I mean, there might be a few more trials or whatever, but I was confident all this had netted me enough points that I should be able to maintain a solid lead. I was going to win this. I was going to be the Wishmaster.


And that felt…empty. After all this pain and sacrifice. It felt like it meant nothing. But I knew that wasn't true. Because after my honeymoon (and you could bet your ass I was taking one now), I could begin. I could start the work of fixing my family, whether they liked it or not. And once I got started on that, I just had to convince some of the vanished gods to join up and help us repel the Void invasion. Piece of cake, right?

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Making it back up to the surface was exhausting, but not in the one you would expect. The slow, plodding rise out of the depths of perdition should probably have been grating. A pool of dread filling my stomach as I inched closer to the surface and the results of the competition (which wasn't over, granted, but I was probably far enough ahead not to have to worry about much). But that was kind of the opposite of how it felt.


It felt like…liberation. Each step brought me further from the things that happened, lightened my burdens and lifted the weight from my shoulders. But once that was gone I felt…untethered.


My body felt like it was going to float away, like I was drifting into an endless void (lowercase V) from which I would never return. All the weight that had been pinning my in place was gone, and now I was just…empty. And tired. I'd been carrying so much for so long, now that it was gone, I didn't remember what it felt like not to be overburdened. My muscles aches without the strain, like I was still clenching for an impact that would never come, and starting to cramp from the effort.


"You need to calm down," came a wry voice to one side. I blinked, turning to see my wife grinning at me fondly. "This is my least favorite side of you, you know? The introspective, maudlin version that shows up when you're bored."


I huffed in outrage. "Bo- I am not BORED. I'm just processing my newfound freedom and its implications."


"You're bored," she said bluntly. "You're addicted to running from crisis to crisis and now that there isn't one you don't know what to do with yourself. Staring dramatically off into the middle distance and bemoaning the cursed weight of your colossal destiny doesn't change the fact that you're spinning out worrying about what you'll do with yourself now that all this is over."


I…frowned. Maturely. It wasn't a pout, even if I could see Callie trying hard not to call it one. "Can I have like five minutes to feel sorry for myself inside my own head, woman?"


"Nope," she chirped, popping up her toes to kiss my cheek. "You don't have to feel bad by yourself. We're in this together. And that means I'm here for you when you feel down. I'd do almost anything for you, Shane, but I won't let the man I love suffer for his own stubbornness. Any more than you would let me do the same. Or am I wrong?"


"No one likes a know it all," I said petulantly. But I still wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against me. She was warm and soft and made me feel…supported. "Speaking of knowing it all, I'd be shocked if this whole mess doesn't push you to C-rank. Are you excited? It's quite a shift. Especially for you, seems like trait holders always get a more dramatic upgrade when ranking up."


She grinned. "I have to admit, it does seem like it'll be pretty cool. The last month or two has been…wild. I'm almost looking forward to things settling down after my rank up. There's only so many crazy evolutions I can handle."


"Speak for yourself," I snickered. "If I win this succession war, I'm on the fast track for a hell of a renown boost. You'll probably be riding the gravy train right alongside me too. People won't just be talking about the Wishmaster, they'll be talking about his gorgeous godslaying angel wife. It might not be crazy upgrades or divine evolutions, but we're definitely going to be on the fast track."


Although, given the huge difference in the amount of stats needed between reaching C and reaching B, we probably wouldn't be ranking up THAT much faster.


"More importantly though…are you sure that THAT was a good idea?" she pointed down the stairs to the back of our group, where I saw Benny and Celine riding on the back of a colossal black entity. Specifically, a fucking DRAGON.


I shrugged. "Sebastian said it's fine. He managed to resuscitate it after it died, and Killian stitched its soul to Benny's. Between my mom and you, the Void is purified from it. It's still an undead dragon, but…well I have a feeling it's going to be a BIG help to Benny. Besides, he was falling behind. Getting a boost will be helpful to him. Though I do feel bad for him about the name. It seems unfair that Bethy decided to name it before he had a chance, but it just kind of stuck."


"I don't know," Callie hummed. "I think Toast is a cute name for a dragon."


I snickered at the mention of the title of my best friend's new…companion? Pet? I wasn't sure how their bond worked, honestly. Benny's whole ability set worked oddly, and Killian and Sebastian knew much more about it than I did. Still, I WAS happy for him. I was betting he'd hit C-rank in no time with an ACTUAL dragon at his back.


When we finally reached the surface, we split up. I went home with Zeke and mom while my dad headed off to turn in evidence of our bounties and try his best to maximize my point totals.


It felt almost anticlimactic, in a way. But I knew it was anything but. There had been so many things that had needed to go right for this to turn out as anything but a tragedy. I was so lucky I hadn't used that damned token before now, honestly. I couldn't imagine how bad things might have gone if I hadn't had it.


We all settled in for a nice dinner once we reached my folks place, enjoying the company and decompressing until finally, my dad slipped in and dropped into a chair near me, right next to where mom was sitting. "So, I haggled for quite a while. And I managed to talk them into counting Wise as an S-rank threat. That's a thousand points on its own, and with the others all added up, we managed to net you a cool three thousand. Your final total is four, and that puts you firmly in the lead and unlikely to lose the top spot."


I grinned. "So…I won?"


"It's not a done deal yet," he cautioned. "But given what you did for the Palace by saving this whole planet, its unlikely the council will pull anything too overtly underhanded. You won. And not JUST that, you have more than enough points to bring all of your local recruits out, and even grab some more. If I were you, I'd start thinking about what else you'd like to do with them."


I blinked at him. "Wait…what? What do you mean? They're for freeing locals, right?"


He snorted. "Shane. This is the Wish Curse Palace. Points are CURRENCY. Like yes, you can obviously use them to free captives and expand your forces, but that's not ALL they do. You can use them to access the WCP treasury, the Wyndham Vaults, you can even request a wish from one of the higher ups paid in points. You could get a personal wish from the old man."


I blinked at that. It was…wow. A lot. I mean, I was sure I wouldn't have a TON of points left over. I had a lot of recruits. I didn't know the point values for freeing them, but twenty five hundred people wouldn't be cheap.


But past that…what did I want? Gear? Power? None of that sounded particularly useful to me. I had my soul weapon, my new set of armor, and I'd just ranked up. I didn't need legendary items of special skills. I was about to be the Wishmaster, I could get all that on my own. "Can I…keep them?" I asked slowly. "I assume even as the Wishmaster I can't just take anything I want."


"Of course not," he agreed. "Fair compensation is the cornerstone of the Wishmaster mythology. You have to pay for everything. Even as the boss. But yeah, you can hold onto them. Like I said, it's currency."


I chuckled. Of course nothing could be that simple. "Alright, then I'll hold onto as many as I can. But I do have one thing I want, as soon as possible."


I glanced down the table to where my cousin sat with Daysia, Alyssa, and Jessie. "Perit. Nat's bodyguard. I want a resurrection. She died because of Travis's bullshit, and she didn't deserve it. I want to bring her back."


The room went silent. Everyone turned to look at me. Nat was staring. "Shane…that's…I mean of course I want her back, but these points are a big deal. You heard what he said, you can get a wish from the original Wishmaster. I can bring Perit back on my own. I've been getting stronger, and I'll get there eventually. I appreciate the thought but-"


"Nope," I shut her down. "I already made the request. It's a done deal. And before you try to talk me out of it, remember who was the one who accidentally landed that killing blow. I know you don't blame Callie, but SHE does. I don't want my wife living with that guilt, I don't want my cousin living with that pain, and Perit deserves to come back as soon as possible, to get something close to the life she left behind. You can always resurrect her later, but if it takes too long, think of how much the world will have changed. How much she might lose. I'm the boss here, and you all need to get used to it. So this is my first decree."


Nat stared at me, hard. Her lip trembled, then her eyes glistened, and then she burst into tears and literally threw herself across the table to tackle me in a hug so intense I was pretty sure if she'd been C-rank my spine would have been permanently damaged.


She curled against me, sobbing into my armor, and I just let her. I could feel the tension draining out of her body, the year or so of built up stress and expectation and guilt. Nat had been furious that she hadn't been able to bring Perit back. Not at Callie or me, but at herself. SHe'd felt like a failure, and seeing my previously gregarious and snarky cousin turn into a ghost of herself under the weight of sins she hadn't really committed had broken my heart.


But I'd never forgotten. Not what I owed her, not what she was going through. I could never forget. Seeing her lose Perit had driven home how devastated I'd be if something had happened to Benny or Callie or Jessie. And it had been my fault. Because my wife may have struck the killing blow, but Travis had only managed it because of me.


That had been why I'd taken his betrayal so personally. He hadn't just hurt my friends and family. He'd made ME hurt them.


But he was dead, and gone, and now the last of his bad work would finally be put right. Perit would need help and support to readjust, but she hadn't been gone too long. She could get her life back. Could help Nat and Valk do the same. "You and Celine will be heading back to Stratholme with Valk and Perit." I told her as she pulled away for air. "Benny will be going with you." My best friend looked up at that, and I grinned. "That's right, you're going to need to work on some training with Toast. Get him integrated into your combat system."


He pouted at the name but otherwise didn't complain. I knew how much he missed Celine, spending time with her would be good for him. And speaking of which. I turned to the others, standing up to clink my glass with a fork. "Excuse me," I said, unnecessarily really, given they'd already been paying attention. "My first decree is, of course, Perit's return…my SECOND decree is that once I'm confirmed I'm officially taking a vacation. I owe my wife a honeymoon, and I intend to pay up." Honestly, the cheers of support felt almost as good as that adoring smile on Callie's face. Almost.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

It took a week for the competition to officially come to a close. The succession war wound down in the background, and I didn't do a single thing to participate. No alliance meeting, no trials, no recruiting. I had twenty five hundred people to free, and while most of them were D-rankers who would only cost a single point, we had a few hundred C-rankers and about a dozen B-rankers.


The only upside was that given our impressive showing saving the planet, a decent chunk of our people had decided to stay behind. Not Fade or his people, obviously, but some of the lower rankers, and not a small amount.


Regardless, that wasn't my problem, I left it up to Crell, no, MY week was spent doing one thing and one thing only. Deciding where to take my honeymoon. And even a week on, it wasn't going well. Even now, the night before the final announcement ceremony for the position of Wishmaster, I was engaged in a heated debate on the topic. Or at least, I was witnessing one.


"Look, this isn't even an argument," Benny snapped hotly at Abel. "Vertex has clouds made of ACTUAL candy, rivers of chocolate, and the fish can be eaten still swimming and are filled with caramel. It's a PARADISE!"


"It's a SUGAR coma," Abel sneered. "Shane and Callie are WARRIORS. They should go to Svagan. The hunting there is the best in the universe. There are boars there that can SMELL your greatest fear! And their meat tastes like its been smoked in hickory freshly butchered. That's so much better than some candy planet."


Bethy slammed her hands down on the table menacingly, looking as enraged as I'd ever seen her. "No! They need to go to Gatosia! It's a whole PLANET of cats! The cats can TALK! And they can sense your perfect kitty partner. Everyone leaves with an adorable kitten bound to them for life! It's the best place ever! I've been trying to go for YEARS, but the Vitalstorm Matriarch hates daddy a whole bunch and refuses to let him send me! I want a magic kitten damn it!"


"Bethy, you're supposed to at least PRETEND this is about Shane and Callie," my sister chuckled. "This their honeymoon, remember?"


Jessie rolled her eyes. "You're all wrong anyway. They should go to Rayvar. Every surface is so soft it feels like silk, and the air has naturally occurring relaxants blowing around on the breeze. It's literally the most peaceful place in existence."


"I say the Dorax Nebula," Nat said firmly, cutting in from where she was sitting with Valk on the other side of the room. Since she'd gotten news that we were bringing Perit back, she'd been more and more her old self. "You can walk crystal bridges through the void of space, overlooking the cataclysmic star cauldron of Asteria Seven as it gives birth to stellar spirits. It's supposed to be the most beautiful sight you've ever seen."


I glanced at Callie, raising an eyebrow. She just smirked at me. I almost groaned. I knew that look. She'd picked our destination already then. I didn't really care where we went as long as it was with her. She winked at me, and I rolled my eyes but said nothing. They WERE being kind of annoying, so I didn't think a little prank was out of order.


"Are they always like this?" Derran asked from across the table. My cousin had been availing himself of our hospitality every since the battle with Wise's forces, where his father Davis had been wounded. The A-ranker was on the road to recovery and wasn't badly injured, but we didn't have any healers who could affect someone at that level, so pretty much his only option was to wait and heal the regular way.


"Of course not," I reassured him. "Sometimes they're unreasonable."


Nat snorted. "Ignore him. He likes to play himself off as wise and sardonic. He thinks pithy comments make him sound worldly." She grinned teasingly at me. "At least he's predictable. You can always count on Shane to be sarcastic and quippy."


"Can you not NUTSHELL my personality to people who don't know me!" I said waspishly. "You're making me sound one dimensional. Don't make me come fight you." Despite the faux angry tone, I felt a surge of warmth in my gut. Nat hadn't really be willing to tease me like that since Perit died. I'd missed my patronizing pain of a cousin something fierce, even if I would never admit it.


"Natalie, don't pigeonhole your cousin. Shane, don't threaten to fight the D-rankers," Callie said with a sigh. "It's gauche." She looked away to prevent us from seeing her grin, and I took the chance to stick my tongue out at her. I wasn't wearing my mask, so when she jerked her head back to look at me I had to rearrange my face into an innocent expression, then returned her earlier wink. Before I could comment though, a loud voice cleared its throat on the other side of the room. I looked up to find Roland standing at the entrance, looking solemn.


I stood, walking over to shake his hand. "Hey, cousin," I said warmly. "Good to see you. What brings you around these parts?"


"You haven't been attending the trials," he said solemnly.


I shrugged. "Family time. But I think I did alright for myself during this whole thing. The succession war is over as of today though, right? Tomorrow is the ceremony to announce the winner. Unless you're planning to rope me into some night before trial?"


"Not necessary," he smiled. "I've been dispatched by the family to be the bearer of good news. Well, good for you. It's pretty bad news for everyone else. They sent me because they were a little worried if they sent one of the A-rankers or another B-ranker they might attack you and get murdered by your guards."


I froze. Because I knew what that meant. Why they would dispatch him to come see me. It had happened. I had won.


It wasn't…a surprise, really. Like I had known I would probably win. But at the same time, I hadn't KNOWN. This was the sum total of the result of all my efforts for the last two years, all bearing fruit. I had done it. I was going to be the Wishmaster. Knowing in the abstract didn't compare to being told in no uncertain terms that it was coming.


"Wh-why would they need to do that?" I asked hoarsely. Everyone shut up with their bickering, turning to stare in rapt fascination. I ignored them, my eyes locked on Roland's face, the edges of my eyesight darkening like I was getting tunnel vision.


I followed the shape of his lips as he spoke more than hearing him, given the rushing in my ears, but I still understood every word. "Shane Wyndham. By order of the Elder's Council, under the authority of the current Wishmaster, Aiden Wyndham, and on your own recognizance as the officially selected heir to the Wish Curse Palace, your presence is requested at a ceremony tomorrow to announce your ascension to the position of Wishmaster, should you accept such a responsibility."


I stared at him, brain blank, mouth open. It was…over? Or not over. But that had been it. What I'd been waiting for. Callie stepped up next to me, snagging my hand and bumping up against my side to jar me into rational thought. "He does agree, and we'll see you tomorrow," she said graciously. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"


"Thank you," he said with a smile. "But no. I have my own celebration to attend. Those of us who chose to throw our lot in with Shane have benefitted greatly from this whole debacle."


I raised a brow at that. "I mean…how? Because I didn't pay you or anything."


"The selection for Wishmaster is a complicated and many layered affair," he chuckled. "While the actual position is, of course, the biggest prize, the WCP is fill of people determined to make a profit off any conceivable vector."


I blinked at him in disbelief. "Did you…did you BET on me becoming the Wishmaster?"


"Nothing so overt," he said with amusement. "But we positioned several of our interests in such a way as to benefit from your selection. Business interests changed hands, financial assets were traded, even a few planets had their leadership restructured. And that's just us. Several of the branch heads benefited even more."


"But they HATED me," I protested. "They were actively trying to prevent me from taking power! How the hell were the in a position to benefit?"


He shrugged. "They're old, and very sneaky. The majority of the upper seven members of the council almost always position themselves to benefit from either outcome of any given situation. There's a reason they've still held onto so much power despite Aiden's near total dominance. If you want a bit of advice from a loyal future subject, it's this: politicians don't worry about how to win. They worry about how not to lose."


Grinning, he clapped me on the shoulder. "Take care of yourself, cousin. And good luck on the new position. I don't envy you at all."


I watched him leave, frowning in annoyance. "Godsdamned Wyndhams always needing to get the last word," I grumbled as I turned to pull my wife back over to the table so we could drop into our chairs. Everyone was staring. I sighed. "Oh come on, I get why I'm freaking out, but you all knew this was coming. You don't have to be weird about it."


"I mean, it's a big deal," Benny pointed out. "I mean, you're about to become one of the most powerful people in the universe."


"No," I said firmly. "I'm about to take up a mainly ceremonial position balanced by a whole council of S-rankers. Like, yes, I'm going to be VERY famous, but that doesn't mean I'll have any real say until I get stronger. Like yes, it's a big deal, but I still have a LONG way to go." I'd been reminding myself of that for a while so I didn't feel so unmoored, but now that my ascension to Wishmaster was confirmed, all that comforting weight I'd been trying to pile on felt like it was crushing the life out of me. I wished my damned brain would make up its mind.


Changing the WCP, approaching the Vanished Gods about the alliance, negotiating some kind of peace, helping fight off the Void invasion, the list went on. And I KNEW the Void invasion would fall on me. Even without my new job and all the responsibility that came with it, my connection to Callie would suck me into this. I refused to leave her to fend for herself against the Void, which meant I was going to have to fight. They hated what she was too much to ignore her.


Oddly though, that thought settled me. Not her being in danger, that had me terrified, but the thought that we'd be in this together. All of it. Other Wishmasters might have been solo acts, but Callie and I were soulmates. She'd always be on my side, there to help me handle whatever came my way, no matter how big it was.


I squeezed her hand, smiling warmly at her, and then turned back to our friends. "Now, no need to keep gaping. I believe you were all suggesting possible honeymoon destinations? We still haven't picked yet." Almost immediately, they turned on each other, and I had to smother my smile as they argued endlessly over possible vacation spots. Callie was trying not to dissolve into giggles at the sight, and I winked at her like I had earlier. I had to wonder though, where had she picked for us to go? I kind of hoped it wasn't the star bridges. That sounded like a chore. Oh well, I supposed I'd just have to trust her. It wouldn't be hard.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

It was the day of the ceremony. Not my coronation. That had been made clear. The actual anointing of my position would be undertaken at a later time, in front of a LOT more people. This was more of a confirmation. An award ceremony for the succession war rather than a passing of the torch as per the leadership of the faction.


Still, it felt…weighty. My thoughts from earlier felt heavy, but unfinished. I hadn't really come to any conclusions, had I? Hadn't really made a decision. I had reframed my way of seeing my journey, but not myself.


So, as we sat in the shuttle (after stockpiling today's scrolls we'd set out immediately), heading to the ceremony, I took stock of myself, and more than that, took stock of everything else. My mother, who was sitting nearby, looked a little worried, clearly able to sense some of the uneasiness in me. "Are you alright, Shane?" she asked me quietly. I felt a shift in the world that told me she'd cut us off from the surroundings so we could talk privately, which I appreciated.


"Just thinking about change," I said philosophically. "About how inevitable it is. Zeke is a big fan of just surrendering to that. Accepting who you'll be and abandoning the past. At least in some ways. But I want something more…permanent. When I become a god, and I do think it's a WHEN at this point, I want to be more me than just a generic deity. So I need to keep something. And I feel like committing to one path or the other is going to impact me heavily, and I have no idea how or how much, so…what do I choose?"


She smiled at me warmly. "Ah, the old growth vs. self debate," she said with a chuckle. "An old Ascendant standby. I can't tell you the answer to that, I don't think anyone can. But I can share my point of view, if you'd like."


"Please," I said with relief. "Anything would help. I just feel like this ceremony marks a huge milestone, and that I need to…understand who I am before it happens. Like I'm locking in a choice that I can't take back. I might just be imagining things or being paranoid, but it feels like my Fatewalker sense pushing me to make a call. So what is my priority? Being myself, or being the best me I can be? And are they really incompatible?"


"You know," she said introspectively. "I don't think they are. I used to buy into that myself, but as I've grown, I've had a much different experience than Ezekial."


I raised an eyebrow at her. "And what is that?"


"People like to talk about the self like it's some…intrinsic thing. Like your base nature is bedrock, and it can either be changed or worn away." She chewed on her lip, like she was trying to put something difficult into words. "But that paints a person's fundamental nature as something static. Rigid. As much as we talk about people twisting, or warping, or breaking, they don't REALLY ever do any of those things. Recursion can beat and bully us into ACTING a certain way, but not BEING that way."


I grimaced. "But how does that help? If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck-"


"Then it's still a person, albeit one who has an unhealthy fascination with ducks," she said bluntly. "The nature of self is not rigid, or unbending. Not unless we allow it. Humans aren't bedrock, we're more like…water. Water can change shapes, it can be compressed, it can be mixed with other things, but no matter WHAT you do to it, it doesn't STOP being water.


"What people in the Ascendant world mistake for being brittle is just being cold." Her eyes were warm and alive. Blazing with righteous fervor. Like she was sharing a fundamental truth of the universe. And maybe she was. "They let their water freeze, and as such it can shatter or crack. But it doesn't stop being water. They just think it does. And that's fundamental Shane, it's KEY. Because you're only as brittle as you let yourself become."


She reached out and put a hand on my chest. "This is what makes you who you are. Not your power. Or your mind. Or even your soul. Just this. Your heart. The heart has a voice, Shane. It has a song. And we can hear it if we listen. It doesn't change. Not really. Not unless you let it freeze over. Just listen for that melody, and it'll never lead you astray. No matter how different you may talk, or walk, or look. As long as you can still hear your heart, you'll always be you. The things that define us aren't what we say, or even how we behave. They're who we LOVE."


I blinked. Because…that felt right. It reminded me so much of the Ruined Soul Temple. Of that long walk in the endless dark, where they stripped away everything that I was.


That had been a formative experience for me. It had shown me I could be strong without the people I cared about to lean on. Helped me break my shackle and advance my soul. But what if that WASN'T what it was trying to show me.


What if the important part wasn't how I dealt with the end, but the journey to actually get there. The fact that even as I stripped away all my senses, memories, and everything else, my love had still been there. I'd realized even then that it meant I would never be really alone, and that it could be a strength, but it was more than that, wasn't it.


I'd thought I needed to abandon my friends to regain my sense of self, at least in some way. But wasn't my mom saying the opposite. That my friends WERE my sense of self? That the version of me that loved the version of them that I did would never change. Impressions were only as strong as the material they were made in, but love was…it was a material that took an impression of both sides.


Friendship, marriage, family, these things captured an image of me. I loved who I loved because of who I was, and because of who they were, and because of who we were to each other. But all of those things meant that the emotions I felt kept an image of that person. To love someone I had to remember the person I was when I developed that affection, and the person they were.


And linking my sense of self to just one of those impressions, even Callies, would be unhealthy, and honestly kind of weak. Depending on just one person to hold up your senses of self, no matter how much you loved and trusted them, was a burden too cruel to put on someone you truly loved.


But I didn't NEED to do that. Because that wasn't what she'd said. The heart wasn't just the feelings you shared with one person. It was the feelings you shared with ALL the people. It was the impression of the me who fell in love with Callie, who met Benny and became best friends with him, who let my parents back into my life despite all the hurt between us. My heart was a thousand versions of me all mashed together, and it was greater than the sum of its parts.


Because people really were like water, in a way. We could move and shift and reform, but we still showed the reflections of the things around us. And as long as I could see those reflections, I could remember who I'd been when I first gazed out at them, and I'd always be able to find my way back.


And that thought, oddly enough, seemed to unburden me. To set me free of the fear and the cloying worry. Not about becoming the Wishmaster, though that had been part of it. But of UNBECOMING me.


Except I couldn't do that. My friends wouldn't let me. I wouldn't let myself. Recursion might change the way I thought, but it wouldn't change the way I felt, and it could never change the way I HAD felt. No matter how simple the Ascendant transformation wanted to make us, humans were not simple creatures. And recursion's most dangerous trick was making us think we were.


I glanced up to see my mother grinning at me. "That helped a little, huh?"


"It did," I agreed. "It's not what I've been told before. I don't think Zeke would agree with you, or even dad. But…I do."


"Oh your father agrees," she said nonchalantly. "He's just too stubborn to realize how he feels."


I grinned at her. "I don't know if that's how it works, but you know him better than I do. Speaking of which, you never mentioned where you thought we should go on our honeymoon. I'd have expected you to weigh in." I felt…settled. I didn't need to ponder my existential makeup anymore. I understood now. So I could change the subject.


She just snorted at me derisively. "I DID. I just didn't do it in front of all your friends." Her tone softened to a happy lilt. "I invited Calliope back to the holy dominion, to the planet where my father's clergy lives. The planet where Chelsea grew up. I thought you two might enjoy the chance to see some family history and get to know your grandparents in their home environment." She winked at me. "Don't tell her I told you though, I think she wanted it to be a surprise."


I blinked in shock. I…hadn't even considered that. I mean, I definitely wanted to do it. I wanted to see my sister's home, meet some of my uncles (who my mother rarely talked about) and just generally learn more about my family. But this was supposed to be Callie's honeymoon. Knowing she had abandoned the chance to see all those amazing planets and places so I could learn more about my family history.


Turning to stare off into the deeper parts of the Shuttle, I smiled at Callie, who was chatting excitedly with Nat about Perit's return. My heart warmed, and my mother chuckled. "Like I said, sweetie. Follow your heart. It won't steer you wrong. And I think yours in particular has excellent taste."


That drew a long, happy laugh from me. A laugh that was sadly cut short by a shift under us as the shuttle slowed down. My mom dropped the shield around us, standing to prepare to disembark. "Good timing though. Seems like you figured things out just in time to be ready for what comes next." She grinned wolfishly at me. "You ARE ready, aren't you?" I could tell that she wasn't worried about me anymore, and had moved on to delighting in my misfortune. Lovely.


I stood, stretching a bit as I prepared. I didn't need to do it, but it helped me mentally shift gears before we got off. "I think I am," I said lightly. "As ready as I'll ever be anyway. How about you, ready to be the mother of the Wishmaster? What do they call that anyway, the Queen Dowager?"


She recoiled in horror. "What? Oh, gods. Don't say that. It makes me sound ANCIENT." I turned and headed for the exit, and she followed after me, calling desperately. "Shane? Sweetie? You're not going to tell people to call me that are you?"


Callie stepped up beside me as I disembarked, threading her arm in mine. "Queen Dowager?" she asked in amusement. "Don't you think that's a little mean." I could see from the twinkle in her eye that she wasn't really bothered, but I still felt the need to defend myself.


"You DO remember her whole speech on you probably having twins when we have kids, right?" I asked her mildly.


Her eyes narrowed. "As a matter of fact, you might be right. Queen Dowager does have a nice ring to it. Or hey, what about Queen Mother? Or respected elder? Something that really underscores her wisdom and experience." We both tried not to cackle at the wordless wail of despair my mother let out from behind us. We were not successful.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Stepping out of the shuttle, I took in the location of the ceremony with fascination. I'd expected something ostentatious, maybe a huge castle or some kind of formation. Instead, we were standing in what appeared to be a soothing garden. Rock features, ponds, topiaries. It was…soothing.


"Perfect," my mom said from where she arrived next to me. "They wanted to put you in some gaudy auditorium. But that's so…expected. This is more impactful, I think. I told your father that a serene and natural environment would underscore your dominance of outside forces."


I raised an eyebrow at that. I hadn't expected her to think so hard about the optics, though given she was an A-ranker, I probably should have.


My own grasp on that aspect of Ascendant culture was fleeting at best, since I mostly bypassed it by using wishes and doing insane over the top things that drew large amounts of attention. It was probably good SOMEONE was thinking about it though. Callie gave an impressed shrug from beside me, and we headed out into the park towards the gazebo in the middle where several figures were waiting for us. Fourteen figures, actually.


The family had mostly been lined up along an aisle of purple velvet carpeting that led directly to the gazebo, with seating on either side currently filled to the brim with familiar faces. Belsara, Derrick, Nat, Delia, and a dozen other relatives I knew sat among crowds of total strangers, all focused on this ceremony of which I was the focal point. Or would be, once I joined the illustrious group of people up on the dais.


"Is that…all the branch heads?" I asked my mom quietly. "I thought S-rankers couldn't touch down here."


The fourteenth figure, a familiar one I'd seen twice now, snorted and addressed me through the assembled family members. "They can't. That's why none of us are actually here. Just projections here to pat you on the back and tell you what a special boy you are."


"Gosh Uncle Aiden," I said in a deadpan voice. "Do you think I could maybe get a cookie?"


He barked out a laugh. "Oh good. I knew you had a spine. You're going to need it with this crowd." As we approached, he turned to the assembled members of the Wyndham family. "It is traditional for the exiting Wishmaster to give a speech at this point. Before we have the official coronation, when it's just family and retainers. Well, I don't much hold with tradition, but it has been…impressed on me, that it would behoove me to say something anyway. So here it is: You all suck."


Everyone winced, but no one reacted with anger. Aiden didn't seem to care and kept going. "I don't say that as an insult. Just as a fact. Water is wet. Most skies are blue. All of you suck. It's not your fault. It's just how you were born. I was born awesome and you were born irritating and pointless.


"If I'd known how much trouble this job would be when I was in MY succession war, I probably would have gone to the beach to work on my tan and let Eli deal with you bastards, but hey, live and learn." He gave everyone a winning smile. "But the good news is that you're now no longer my problem. You're free to suck as much as you want and it won't affect me, so you know, go nuts. Really scrape the bottom of that barrel. Give the kid a run for his money. Because Eli is going to have to deal with all of you morons second hand now anyway, and that makes me smile."


He turned his bright grin on the council of elders. "You know what? You were right? I AM glad I gave the speech. This was a good talk." And then, in the blink of an eye. He vanished.


Harrison, standing off to one side, buried his face in his hands and let out a long, tormented sigh. "Godsdamn it Aiden," he muttered before facing the rest of us with an austere expression of quiet certainty that I was sure he'd practiced in the mirror. "Well. That was…very forthright. Out thanks to the current Wishmaster for his words of…wisdom. And now, without further ado, our reigning champion and FUTURE Wishmaster, the current heir to the Wish Curse Palace in its totality, Shane Wyndham."


He gestured to where I had stopped on the approach to listen to the funniest speech I'd ever heard, indicating I should come down the aisle to join them. They watched us approach (because like hell I was leaving my wife behind for this) and Harrison raised his eyebrow.


Stopping just short of them, I raised my voice to announce Callie. "May I introduce the family at large to my wife, Calliope Wyndham. Daughter of the Heretic God, Adam Atlas, and Amelia Reynolds of Callus."


A hush fell over the crowd. Callie and I had discussed her introduction. If she was going to stand with me it would be best to make sure everyone in the Palace knew she was my equal and partner, and her new divine heritage was a good way to do that (it was essentially what Black Sorrow had done to help me start my rep rolling on a universal scale). We'd ALSO decided her mother deserved to be mentioned, and Midknight could fuck right off.


Harrison looked impressed. "A child of divinity. I was…unaware of her prestigious pedigree. I was led to believe your marriage was one of affection and that your bride was a native of the planet you grew up on."


He didn't sound snobby or condescending about it, exactly. He just said it like he was commenting on the weather. He didn't care if Callie was godspawn or a random space peasant. We were Wyndhams, and no one would really measure up, so he might as well be welcoming to anyone who tried. Sometimes my family's staggering arrogance was ACTUALLY useful.


"Yup," I said conversationally. "So I figured I'd bring her up here with me, if you don't mind."


He looked more amused than offended by me pushing. "By all means," he stepped aside, gesturing to the center of the ring of council members. "Please, take your place among the council. Do you understand your role in these proceedings?"


I nodded. "Yeah, I'm supposed to request confirmation from each of the branch heads. It symbolizes their acceptance of the transfer of power."


Of course, it was also a formality. No one said no or refused to answer. They knew that this was the will of the old man, and no one disobeyed the Wishmaster. Taking my position, I nodded to Harrison, who, as the first in the ring of councillors, gestured for me to proceed. I cleared my throat. "Council of Elders, I, as the heir of the Wyndham bloodline, rightfully chosen by rite of trial, do so request your recognizance of my station. Harrison Wyndham, do you grant this recognition?"


He nodded austerely. "I do. I welcome you to the fold and honor you as the head of our family. And so it is known."


Next up was Desmond, whose daughter Mara and grandson Miles were both branch heads themselves. I repeated the ceremonial request, and he replied in turn. Next was Warren, and after him Miles and Mara. After them was Selina, who was the head of the branch my Aunt Arabella belonged to, and she gave me a warm smile as she confirmed my appointment, seemingly perfectly happy with me getting the position.


Finally, I reached my grandfather. "Malachai Wyndham, do you grant this recognition?"


He beamed at me. "I do. I welcome you to the fold and honor you as the head of our family. Well done, Shane." Harrison glared at him, clearing his through loudly and my grandfather rolled his eyes. "And so it is known. There, are you happy?"


I snorted, moving onto the only one of the branch heads I was actually worried about. "Percival Wyndham," I said formally. "Do you grant this recognition?"


He glared at me. Hard. His jaw was locked tight, and his eyes were narrowed like he was about to attack me. Harrison, to my surprise, seemed to notice something, and he snorted coldly. There was a strange pulse, and the air of menace I hadn't realized was hanging over the interaction dispersed, and Percy blinked absently, wincing like he'd just gotten an ice cream headache. "I…yes. I do, rather. I welcome you to the fold and honor you as head of our family. And so it is known."


I turned my head slightly, glancing casually over to where Harrison had looked when he snorted, to see Ayra Vetala, Percy's wife, pale and holding her head. Next to her, a younger version of Percy I assumed was her son Devon, glared daggers at me in particular. I ignored him, turning back to continue.


Danielle went next. Then Cristoph, then Westley. None of them looked particularly upset of unhappy, smiling encouragingly at me. I heard my wife snort something about two faced bastards in my head and had to clamp down hard not to laugh. I managed, but it was close.


"You have been welcomed to the fold," Harrison said formally. "Aknowledged by the members of this council, chosen by rite of trial, and preceded by the reigning Wishmaster. Now. As is your right, you may address the family."


I nodded, then turned to look out at the faces surrounding us. Some hostile, some friendly, some strange. But…all familiar in their own way. Around the eyes, something in the jaw. These were my people. My blood. I tried to remember being that terrified kid on Callus, worried about this whole mess, scared I couldn't hack it.


But I couldn't. I was fine. Up here with my wife, with my parents in the crowd, with my best friends smiling on proudly, I couldn't have cared less about which of the people out there were glaring at me or not. "I'm not going to tell you that you suck," I said dryly. "Since I don't know most of you and the ones I do know I'm mostly pretty fond of."


There was a polite chuckle at that, mostly from people I knew. But I wasn't done. "I'm also not going to pretend you're perfect. Or that I am. We might be Ascendants, but we're still human where it counts. We make mistakes. I do it. You do it. Even the old man does it." That stirred up quite a bit of muttering, which I ignored. "I have qualms with the way things are done. I plan to make changes. I won't announce them now, because I know getting them past the council will be an uphill battle, but I want to be clear about my intentions.


"But more than that, I want to make this family stronger," I looked each of them in the eye as I spoke. "I want to make us better. And that starts with all of you. If you have something to say to me. Say it. I don't care if it's insulting, or pointless. I want you to feel free to communicate with me directly. To bring me your concerns. Because I want to improve things for the family, and I know enough to know that I don't know what that means yet."


I could have waxed eloquent and told them I was on their side, but I didn't. I hadn't earned that. They didn't know me. They had no clue what I would or wouldn't do. I had said my piece, and if they were interested they would get in touch with me.


But what made my heart sing was that despite most of them looking disaffected and bored, I DID see a few people take me seriously. I saw thoughtful expressions, and even one or two hopeful looks. Maybe my quest to change my family wasn't going to be as frustrating and isolating as I had feared. Maybe there was hope for us all yet.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The rest of the ceremony was mostly just smiling and nodding, unfortunately. I shook the hands of an endless parade of relatives, and they definitely took me up on my open door policy. My head was aching from the sheer number of subtle overtures and attempts at backroom dealing. The politicking started early, and after announcing that I wanted to be hands on, I couldn't very well pass the buck like I might have otherwise.


By the time we got back into the shuttle, I was leaning back, mask off, rubbing my temples in the hopes of making the constant ache go away. "I feel so much sympathy for Aiden now," I groaned. "He was right. They DO suck."


"Probably best to keep that observation to yourself," my mom said wryly. "But you did amazing out there, sweetie. I am SO proud of you." She turned to smile at Callie. "Both of you. Don't think I didn't see you propping him up and feeding him lines during that mess. That would have been a million times harder without you."


"Impossible," I corrected. "It would have been impossible. I'd have punched someone in the throat after fifteen minutes. I swear, I almost stabbed Peter."


Dad snickered. "That's a common reaction to Peter's presence. No one would have blamed you. Honestly you might have made a few friends. It's staggering to me that someone can be so thoroughly unpleasant and still so politically connected."


"How is he related to us, anyway?" I asked with a grimace. "He seemed to be insinuating he was a close family member."


Dad rolled his eyes. "He's your grandfather's second cousin. He likes to play up the family angles with anyone he feels is useful. Oddly, it seems to WORK for him more often than not. I'm surprised he tried it on you though, he and my father have a contentious relationship, and he usually avoids members of our direct line."


I snorted. "If only. But I think all this was worth it." I glanced over at Callie. "What do you think? Was that enough?"


She grinned at me wolfishly. "Can't be sure until we try, but I'm pretty positive we hit the mark."


"We figured you might be skimming off the ceremony to bump her up to C-rank," my mom said wryly. "Honestly, everyone noticed, but being godspawn has a certain cachet, so no one was too bothered. Of course, I may have let slip that she was my mother's personal apprentice. And THAT has plenty of cachet of its own."


Laughing, I leaned over to hug her. "Thanks ma, I appreciate it." I turned to look at my closest friends, who had been fairly silent since the ceremony. "What did you guys think?"


Jessie grinned. "I thought you nailed it. Just the right mix of reassuring and stern."


"And threatening," Bethy chirped. "You were super ominous there for a minute. People LOVE ominous leaders. Daddy says being ominous is like half of his management style. The other half is eating troublemakers."


I chuckled at that. "Noted. I think I'll skip the second part though."


"Probably a good call," she said conspiratorially. "None of them looked like they would taste very good."


Turning to my sister, I raised an eyebrow. "How about you? I saw a lot of people approaching you to talk. I'm glad to see the family welcoming you. I was worried that not having the Wish power might ostracise you, but everyone seemed really excited to get to know you."


She beamed at me. "It was pretty cool. I was expecting them to hit me up for favors, and a few did that, but I mostly just told them that I had to ask you about anything I did, and they all gave me letters to pass you and then moved on to conversation. Speaking of which, I'm going to need a place to put those. The pile is EXTENSIVE."


"Ah, throw me under the bus, lovely. How about you Benny?" I asked my best friend. He'd been oddly quiet since the ceremony. Even moreso than the others.


He blew out a long breath. "I don't know. It was…a lot. Weird seeing you like that. You looked almost competent. I had no idea you were that good an actor." He winked at me, but it wasn't up to his usual standards. He looked…tired. And sad.


Seeing my concern, he waved me off. "I'm good. Just been thinking. I have a lot of training to do during your honeymoon." His eyes hardened. "You better watch out when you see me next. I've got big plans." I could tell something he'd seen at the ceremony had rattled him, but I could also tell that he didn't want to talk about it, so I just nodded and moved on.


Abel hadn't really cared one way or the other, Mel had been impressed, Fade had just nodded his approval. In general it seemed like I'd gotten favorable responses from everyone. Which was nice to know at least, because I didn't think it was universal, and most of my family hadn't seemed impressed. The few that had though, they had approached me during the meet and greet and passed me contact information, which would be a good opportunity to build connections…later.


"So, with all that over with…" I looked to my dad. "I want to arrange Perit's resurrection first thing. But once that's done and we have everyone processed for departure, I plan to skip out for a few months. I'm taking that honeymoon."


He shrugged. "You're technically just the heir right now, rather than the Wishmaster. The old man is going to want to meet you, but as you can imagine, he isn't one to rush. Six months or so should be doable. Though you realize that you won't start getting the really heavy point boosts until the coronation? If you remember from your childhood, members of the Unlucky Thirteen are very famous, but their successors don't come up much."


I just shrugged. "I'll get the renown eventually. And with six months of almost a thousand points of income a day from wishes, I think I'll be alright. Nine scrolls at a hundred apiece is plenty."


"Fair enough," he nodded. "I'll make the arrangements. Natalie, I assume you'd like to be present. Would you like my sister to attend? It shouldn't be too hard to arrange, given her presence here."


Nat seemed enthused by the idea, and when we arrived they headed off to organize more of the details, and Callie and I headed for the cottage. Once we arrived, we settled in to prepare for her rank up. She let out a long, shaky breath. "Ok…wow. Haven't done one of these in a while. D-rank was a doozie."


"Yeah, it's been such a long time since then," I agreed. Then I paused. "How many people do you think would try to stab me if they heard me say that?"


She giggled at that, falling backwards onto the bed. "More than we could count in a lifetime. But I get it. It's been…a lot. Now we're here. Really here. It feels like it should be a bigger deal. But C-rank is almost inconsequential now. I mean, I know you said we can Bind pages in advance, or at least you can, but still. It feels like we're just killing time until B-rank."


"We might be getting a little jaded," I observed. "But if it helps, you'll FEEL the difference when you get to C-rank. Especially you. Your Heretic Archangel trait is pretty complicated, I'm guessing the effect of it ranking up will be…considerable. You ready?"


She nodded, letting out a long breath, then laid back on the bed. Her three pairs of blue black wings spread out behind her as did her hair, which had that same blue black quality in a way I hadn't really noticed before. It was subtle, but beautiful. I felt through the bond as she opened herself to the renown, and let it all pour into her, running through her body as it pushed her closer and closer to C-rank. And then, she was past, and everything…shifted.


It had been so long since I saw another person rank up that I'd forgotten how…impactful it could be. Her body stiffened, eyes going wide, and I felt her soul start to change through the bond. The power crashed into it, overflowing, and the Impact rolled through her body, carrying changes unlike anything I had ever been able to witness personally, as her powerful trait upgraded alongside her soul and took her body with it.


When the changes stopped, she rolled over, hacking and gasping, and I snagged her a cup of water. She drank it slowly, looking a bit unsteady, but as she calmed down her body seemed to adjust. Apparently the physical changes from a racial trait were very different than the normal rank up process.


"So, how did you do?" I asked eagerly. I could feel some of it, but I wanted to know the details too.


Grinning, she pulled a pen and paper from her ring and slowly wrote out the changes, passing the paper to me with relish when she was done. I took it eagerly, reading over everything, and I couldn't help but let out a low whistle.


Calliope Wyndham. C-rank.


Ability-: Grandmaster Trait: Heretic Archangel. An instrument of the will of a faded god. A child of the flame that burns back the heart of the Void.


Weapon:Gossamer (huge black sword housed in Callie's new soul space, a massive cathedral created when she formed her Chronicle)


Chronicle:Book of the Final Flame


Might-257,550


Impact-155


Vitality-159,742


Fantasy-246,520


Focus-157,908


Perception- 176,375


Creation-156,485


Progress to next rank: 1,154,735/10,000,000


Soul Strength: Tanzanite Soul Body.


Skills: Minor Tracking, Beginner Dual Dagger Mastery, Intermediate Stealth, Intermediate Trap Mastery, Beginner Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Mastery of Shadow Manipulation


Path of the Heretic Scion- Solid. Technique: Dance of the Abyssal Fairy


"That's…a lot. But also not very much?" I said slowly. "It's wild to me how condensed your stat page is. Your Path changed, apparently, which is cool, and the archangel trait is front and center. Your Skills seem to have fallen behind, I guess the reforging severed the connection your shadow manipulation had with your ability. But it also seems like the bump from the ceremony was more comprehensive than expected."


She shrugged. "A lot of my stats were lagging behind. Hyperfocusing and all. And we know that a rising tide raises all ships, stat wise. I guess people were perceiving me as a bigger all around threat than I actually was, and that evened me out a bit. My Might and Fantasy are still far in the lead."


I gently set down the glass before pulling her into my arms and flopping onto the bed. "And look, you've almost caught up to my numbers. That's pretty impressive."


She gave me a flat look. "Your rank up happened days ago, before the ceremony, before the mess with the Void Ladder even, I think. I have NOT caught up with you, you just haven't updated your status in too long."


"Maybe," I shrugged. "But still. We're both C-rank now. And as a Heretic Archangel, your base form is WAY stronger than mine anyway. So it all evens out."


She rolled her eyes, giving me a long, slow kiss before laying her head on my chest. "I love you, you dope. I don't care which of us is stronger. Because we're BOTH stronger together. And that will never change."


I squeezed her tight, smiling softly down at her. She was right. I'd always be better when I was with her. We closed our eyes and drifted off to sleep there, in each other's arms. And my last thought before I was swallowed up by my dreams was that being there, alone together, was a bigger prize than any faction I could ever be put in charge of. Not that I would ever say that out loud. Some things were too sappy even for me. But from the warm pulse of adoration I felt through the bond…she already knew anyway.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Arranging Perit's resurrection took longer than expected. We had to arrange things with the body, wait for my points to be available, then wait until someone could be sent by the family to take care of everything, which given all my relatives who had been present had their OWN points to cash out, wasn't exactly quick and easy to arrange.


But we'd finally reached the point where we were ready to perform the resurrection, even if this one seemed…different than the last.


"I don't think I'll ever get used to this," I told my dad as we watched them lay Perit's perfectly preserved body out on a makeshift altar they'd cobbled together. "The fact that we can just….bring back the dead. You think they're going to do this for Kent?"


He shrugged. "Probably. But it's harder for people of higher rank. Your only experience with it is with people below the watershed, right?"


"Yeah, is it really that big a difference?" I glanced at Perit, who had died back at the ruined soul temple, or at least the connected academy. She was pre-watershed too, which seemed like it was a good thing at this point.


"It's…qualitatively different," he said slowly. "One point of Impact makes you an Ascendant, ten points makes you a REAL Ascendant, but it's not too big of a difference because of the values you're working with. But a hundred? You need to understand that the next watershed is GODHOOD. D-rankers have shed the initial stages of mortality and mounted the path to the divine."


I grimaced. "So Kent's resurrection will be WAY more expensive."


"Unimaginably," he agreed. "But not impossible. Any of the Branch Heads could do it. Some of the stronger A-rankers. And he was connected. It's just a matter of horse trading at that level. It might not happen quickly, but it'll get done."


"Well, thank you," I told him sincerely. "Not just from Nat, or even from Callie, but from me. Perit and I weren't close, but I was responsible for her. It means a lot, you arranging all this." I snorted. "If I'm going to be the Wishmaster I need to make sure that I use that power to help my friends." I thought about what my mother said about following my heart. "Power corrupts, after all."


He snorted derisively. "I hate that saying. Utter nonsense."


"Why am I not surprised to hear you say that?" I asked wryly. "But I'll bite. You really don't think power corrupts?"


"People mythologize power," he said bitterly. "It's not some toxic, corrosive force that seeps into you and wears away at your humanity. In fact, humanity is probably the main problem for most people."


I raised an eyebrow at that. "How do you mean?" I'd expected some off the cuff answer about strength and imposing your will on the world, but this sounded more…reasoned. I was intrigued.


"Power, at its core, is just choice," he said with a shrug. "Humans, even Ascendants, are weak creatures at heart. When given an easy path, they tend to take it. So when they're offered choices, they inevitably pick the path of least resistance. But no one wants to admit that they're weak of will. So they put in the groundwork. Power corrupts. It's poison. That way when they get some and they're tempted to do the wrong thing, they can point to the power they gained and say, 'see, I told you'. That way it isn't their fault. They weren't weak, the power made them do it."


I frowned at that. "I mean…I can see how you get there. But don't you think that choices are kind of…weighted? People with more power get MORE choices, yeah, but they also get more IMPORTANT choices. People don't choose in a vacuum. And if I have more power, my choices take precedence over yours. It's easy for me to assume that makes ME more important than YOU."


"It does," he said simply. "Demonstrably so. But you're missing the forest for the trees. We're not talking about how power affects others. We're talking about how it influences the self. What I choose to do with my power isn't about anyone but me. I'm given choices, and the ones I pick show who I am. If someone else's choices push me into a specific situation, how I react to that situation is still on me. Power doesn't corrupt, Shane. Power REVEALS."


I hummed at that. "That's more nuanced than I'd have expected from you. And more responsible."


"That's fair," he laughed. "From your perspective I'm probably a fairly irresponsible person. I won't try to change that impression. It's not my right. I did things that hurt you. I knew they would hurt you, and I did them anyway because I thought they were best. I made the choices that I thought would result in the best outcome for my family, and that revealed who I am. I'm reckless, and arrogant, and sometimes thoughtless."


Left unsaid was the fact that sometimes, I was all those things too. I appreciated him sparing my feelings, though I had long since grown out of the phase where I got defensive about people comparing us.


Nat and Valk were standing anxiously near the body, Nat's mother Allison waiting with them, a hand on her daughter's shoulder to steady her. Allison probably could have done the wish herself, to be fair, but she was heavily invested in the proceedings, given Nat's emotional tie to Perit. It would have messed with the payment too much.


The man they'd sent to oversee the wish was a tall, bald Wyndham with a hawkish nose and a thick mustache. He must have been ancient, because he looked about fifty, albeit an incredibly fit fifty. He was an A-ranker, and apparently a fairly powerful one.


"So who is he, by the way?" I gestured to the man as I glanced over to my father. "He seems important."


"Uncle Walter," he said nonchalantly. "And he IS important. He's my father's right hand. I assume dad sent him to oversee this event as a sign of favoritism, and to presumably build himself a bit of good will."


I chuckled. "Well, I can't say it isn't working." As we watched, Uncle Walter withdrew a small black stone and crushed it. The stone was a bindable stockpile where points from the succession war could be transferred or held, and destroying it signified that the point in that particular stone were null and void.


As he crushed it, I saw Nat mouth the words to her wish, and his eyes began to glow with the purple flickers of electricity I had come to expect from my family.


The last time we'd done this, it had been relatively simple. This time though, whether because of who was doing it or the relative strength of the target, things were…different. The purple electricity rolled over Uncle Walter, up and down his body, growing in intensity as it did so. Once it reached a crescendo, he caught it on his his hand and flung it skyward, a bolt leaving his fingers and piercing up into the sky.


Above us, the clouds began to darken ominously, the sky blackening to the pitch of night within an eye blink as sparks of purple electricity danced through the onyx clouds like electric eels slithering just beneath the surface of the blackest water.


The flickers danced around the edges of the clouds as the sky began to shake, thunder rumbling through the air as the power in the sky built and built. We all stood, transfixed, as the air began to crackle and sing with the suppressed power of the building charge. It got stronger and stronger, the field so dense it felt like it was crushing me, until, with a barely audible POP like a soap bubble collapsing, a PILLAR of purple lightning plummeted from above to smash into the prone body on the altar.


Perit's body jerked, her muscles seizing as the damage from her final wound closed up cleanly, the healthy glow returning to her skin as she sat bolt upright, eyes flying wide as she gasped in a desperate breath.


Nat was there in an instant, Valk beside her, hugging her friend and sobbing uncontrollably. Poor Perit just looked kind of confused, staring around her in complete astonishment. "Wh-whats going on?" she rasped. "Why are all these people here? Where is here? Why am I so THIRSTY?"


Valk appeared next to her like magic, holding up a cup of water. "Here, drink this! It's…you were…Perit you died."


She blinked at him for a moment. "Wow. That sucks."


"I…uh I figured you would have a harder time with the whole death thing, honestly," Nat said slowly. "I mean like, I'm glad you're doing ok. But you seem less fazed than I expected. I know resurrection is possible, but it IS rare. I figured we'd have to convince you."


"Well, I'm laying on an altar and my clothes are covered in blood," Perit said shakily. "So…I mean there's some evidence to back up your claim. Also your hair is shorter than the last time I saw you. And based on the pressure we're under I'm pretty sure this isn't the same planet, and both of you are apparently D-rankers now." She frowned up at the sky. "Actually, is space on fire? Because that doesn't seem right."


Nat patted her shoulder. "We've got some things to catch you up on. But before that…someone wants to talk to you." She glanced up and over towards where my wife had been waiting, silent and terrified. I'd wanted to stand with her, but she'd sent me away. She said she'd needed to do this alone. At Nat's glance, Callie slowly walked over to stand next to the altar, looking for all the world like she was waiting for Perit to attack her.


"Hello," Perit said in mild confusion. "You're Shane's girlfriend, right?"


"His wife," Callie said shakily. "We got married while you were…I mean. Yeah, that's me. I'm also the one who killed you."


The other woman frowned. "Well, I can't imagine you did it on purpose, or Nat wouldn't be standing her with you all nonchalant. I don't remember…well, anything really, but why don't you tell me what happened."


"Travis," my wife snarled. "I don't know if you remember him, but he betrayed us. Used translocation to swap himself with you when I attacked him."


Perit frowned. "I don't. Remember him, I mean. But it sounds like you didn't do anything wrong. I don't remember dying. Or being dead. How long was I gone exactly? Because YOU'RE C-rank and that seems like a lot."


"It's only been a year or two," Callie assured her. "We've just been through a lot of stuff."


"Yeah, I can see that." Perit's voice was dry, if a little shaky. "Did you at least get him after he got me killed?"


Nat grinned at her. "Shane did. Killed him a few months later. It was pretty brutal."


They dissolved into conversation, starting hesitant and they slowly picking up speed as the fear and uncertainty melted like snow in the warm summer sun. Nat and Valk being there to support her clearly helped, but Perit also just seemed like a surprisingly emotionally stable person. It was honestly impressive.


"Thank you again," I told my dad. "You're coming with us to the holy dominion right? No way mom lets us avoid family time, even if this is supposed to be my honeymoon."


For the first time, his crimson features twisted in something approximating wariness. "Yes," he said shortly. "I am. Though I don't know if I should. Your mothers brothers do NOT like me." I grinned at that, amused he could still worry about such human things. I hadn't heard much about my uncles, they were much older than my mom and were mostly off doing their own things, but after that revelation I was kind of excited to meet them. It would be amusing if nothing else.