Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 878
🕑 Added 2025-05-02 22:31:27 +0000 UTCThe meeting was WAY too long. I nodded off several times, though Callie was listening intently if I needed to know what was said, and I could just check with her. Finally, it ended, and I was allowed to leave. Callie talked to a bunch of people, though she didn’t actually SAY much despite chatting for quite a while.
This was a political arena, and while I was slowly improving my mindset and knowledge base in that department, I was still dipping my toes, and wasn’t suited for this kind of horse trading.
Not that we had any horses. We were riding around on broomsticks and clacking rocks together to make hoof noises at this point. Nobody wanted to be associated with the potential future tyrant, and while everyone smiled and put on a pleasant face, they mostly stonwalled any discussions of alliance, much to my wife’s frustration.
At the very least, they served dinner halfway through, and Callie woke me up to eat some lobster thermidor before we finally headed to the rooms they provided us to wait in before the war started.
It wasn’t a long wait. Everyone was already here, so after a good night’s sleep, we all gathered in some kind of exit chamber where Harrison was waiting. I was relieved, because it gave me the night to sleep and stockpile a few more scrolls bringing me up to fifteen total (eight plus the seven I had on hand for emergencies).
My dad waited until we were all gathered, then withdrew a long, dark lighter with a bone plate at the top. He flicked it and the flame…well, it didn’t LIGHT exactly, more like it UNLIT. The flame created an absence in the air. Not darkness, or void, but just…emptiness. It kind of hurt to look at. But it seemed to steal the sound from our voices after they reached the people nearby. It was kind of impressive.
“Alright, advice time,” he said blithely. “Listen up and listen good kids. This might save your life. First up. Passive defense. If you can, you should all use a scroll daily to isolate yourself from direct influence. There are a LOT of nasty things you can do with a wish. Curses, blights, hexes, maledictions, and about a dozen other very unpleasant experiences that you don’t want to endure.”
I nodded. That wasn’t ideal, I had way too many people, but the core group should be coverable, especially with Nat along. Our original alliance from back in the day left room for her to help me now, and she’d shown up, Valk at her side, without even mentioning it. Celine was with them, and all three were clearly pretty firmly into D-rank.
“What about actual combat?” I asked grimly. “We’ve seen what that kind of thing can do. I know you said that people will be worried about cancellation and wont want to risk losing their scrolls, but I feel like we should at least consider it.”
“You shouldn’t,” he said. “I know it’s tempting, but the fact is, the wish power is TOO versatile. You can’t plan for everything, and trying is going to spread you far too thin. You’re going to have to keep it loose and be ready to react on the fly. Reserves can save your ass, so keeping an emergency stash in case something goes horribly wrong isn’t a bad idea, but don’t tie yourself in knots.”
Zeke spoke up. “Your best bet, by and large, is to meet strength with strength. You know as well as we do that wishes have limited impact on higher ranked Ascendants. They can help pin them down, slow them up, or give you a minor edge, but generally, wishes lack the punch to seriously overcome a direct challenge from an overwhelming force of a higher stage.”
“Crell will be invaluable too,” my mom added. “Reductive meta abilities are an nightmare for the wish power. Wishes always work, but if he can counter them slightly, it’ll drive the price WAY up. If you’re proactive enough about it, you can push the prices up beyond the realm of reason and soft cancel some of their responses. Also, it goes without saying, but don’t try to use any scrolls you find during the war.”
My dad nodded emphatically. “They can and will decline wishes, and it’ll screw you mid fight. Not to say they aren’t useful. Keep them in stock and you can sell or trade them for favors later. Most candidates will grant a remote wish with proper payment, even if they don’t know where it comes from. Profit is profit. They just won’t do it during the competition.”
“Why are you guys talking like we’re going to get separated?” I asked worriedly. “You’re coming with us, right?”
They grimaced at each other. “No,” my mom said with a grimace. “There are precautions in place to prevent the higher ranked candidates from steamrolling. One of them is that the more powerful faction members are given postings to wait for their candidates. You’ll be dropped into a zone commensurate with your rank, and you’ll be given a task to recruit a local force to guide you to the city where your C-rankers will be waiting, then another task to find the B-rankers, and then finally us.”
“The higher ranked candidates will be with you?” I asked worriedly. “Isn’t that an advantage?”
“It is,” she admitted. “Though not as big of one as you might expect. It takes time and effort to cultivate sources here, but the high ranked locals have a lot of animosity towards the WCP, and the high rankers are considered low profit investments. They rarely win, because it’s a waste to invest the renown in them, and they’re less grateful if they do. Less time in charge, less likely to take you with them when they leave. It’s an uphill battle for them.”
That made me feel a bit better at least. Being younger and weaker might actually be a benefit to me here, at least in some ways.
“So how do we enter?” I asked slowly. “They’re not going to have us all go in together, are they? That sounds like a bloodbath waiting to happen. Although, given the D-rankers we have, that might not go too poorly for us.”
Ironically, because of the effort we put into finding them we had almost as many C as D-rankers. We were at two hundred and fifty or so D-rankers total for the final drop team. Bethy had them all waiting inside her Domain, so our group looked a lot smaller and less threatening than any of the others, and I was actually looking forward to some idiot trying to take advantage.
“Nothing so gauche,” my mother said with a snicker. “They’re going to load you all into orbital drop pods and randomly toss you into orbit. Where you end up is almost entirely a matter of luck.”
I opened my mouth, but my dad cut me off. “And no, you won’t be able to use wishes to influence your landing site. The planetary gravity is intense, and the drop pods are very high rank. They did it that way to prevent tampering. Not to say no one can do it, but your abilities won’t be enough, and none of the high rankers are going to be randomly dropped, so it won’t be an issue at this stage.”
That brought to mind something else though. “What about their wishes?” I asked worriedly. “An A-rank wish would be able to do some serious damage, and the D-rankers who are going to be going in for the high rankers will have access to those through scrolls.”
“It’s a concern,” he admitted. “We can counter any direct application, and wasting scrolls like that would be absurd, but there are ways to exploit that gap. I’d expect to see artifacts or buildings popping up out of nowhere, for instance. Still, it’ll be limited by payment. Remember D-rankers don’t have the assets to compensate for A-rank wishes. And giving them money directly would make it unfair compensation and invalidate the wish. It’s definitely an advantage, but mostly only enough of one to offset the fact that no one wants to work with them.”
“Not to mention there aren’t many of them,” Zeke added. “According to our information, there’s only three A-rank and five B-rank candidates in this war. Out of hundreds of potential enemies and hundreds of thousands of miles, you’re not likely to run into their forces early on.”
I nodded slowly. “So how are they going to distribute us? And how are we supposed to find you all?”
“Hemisphere style,” my dad said with a shrug. “Basically, each half of the planet is a curved disc, starting with a D-rank zone and condensing into an A-rank zone at the center. Think of it like a target. The outer ring is where the D-rank territory is, and the local D-rank forces live there. That’s the biggest area, a large belt along the equator. You’ll start there, and you’ll pick a direction and head for the poles, where the A-rankers will be waiting.”
That DID leave a large area for us to work in. Absurdly large. But it also brought up a pretty worrying issue. “What if we can’t find you?” I asked slowly. “If he head for the wrong pole we’re fucked.”
“You have scrolls,” my dad said dismissively. “Use them. Come on, don’t get lazy on me. If you can’t even think for yourself you have no shot here. Regardless, you’ll be given tasks to accomplish in each zone, and points can be earned. The points can be redeemed for advantages, including springing locals when you leave, so the more you have and are willing to spend the better you do. If you win, you can bring anyone you want out, since you’re the Wishmaster, but that’s easier said than done.”
My mother elbowed him in the ribs. “What your father MEANS,” she said acidly. “Is that he’s worried about you, and that you need to take care of each other.” She stepped forward and pulled Chelsea and I into a tight hug. “You two be safe, alright? All of you should.” She stepped back, and then after a brief moment of indecision, pulled Callie into a hug too. “Take care of my babies, ok?”
My wife smiled warmly. “Of course. That’s what I’m here for.” She winked at my mother. “Don’t worry, I’ll get him through this in one piece.”
I laughed, leaving them to their moment, and turned to Zeke. “So,” I said with a sigh. “All this time, and we’re finally getting to the big show. Thanks for, you know…not letting me die and all that. Plus the mask is pretty cool.”
“Well I was getting tired of looking at your face,” he said lazily. “So it was really more of a gift for me.”
I burst out laughing and leaned forward to wrap him in a tight hug. “Take care of my parents, you dick. Mostly my mom. The old man could use a beating or two. Maybe let him lose a limb. We can always grow it back later.”
He laughed, squeezing me back, then stepped away. “Take care of yourself kid. And take care of your people. They were always going to be your way out of this.”
Nodding, I turned to look at my friends. They all looked steady, strong, and powerful. Just like I knew they would. I let out a long breath, then turned to my dad. “Alright, so, where is this drop pod we’re supposed to be using? I don’t want to get stuck with the shitty one.”
I was practically vibrating with tension and worry, but at the same time, the excitement was palpable. This was it. The moment I’d been preparing for since I first became an Ascendant. The real test of everything I’d learned and been through. The next step in my path and the only way I could make a meaningful difference in the universe. It was all riding on this. But hey, no pressure, right?
Comments
Roaring waters
And so the story begins. It’s been fun reading your journey of writing on this Malcolm. Congratulations!
Void
And thus, the wish wars began. With them, the beginning of the Doom Sovereign of Fate's tale proper.
