Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 870
🕑 Added 2025-04-22 23:57:18 +0000 UTCOur trip to Rackham wasn’t immediate. I’d neglected one very important thing during the god fight. Namely, the breakthroughs. All these people had come out of a dungeon, and most were locked at a specific rank because of circumstances. C-rankers couldn’t leave at all, and D-rankers couldn’t leave if they ranked up.
My wish power had changed the game for the C-rankers, temporarily suppressing them, but the suppression had worn off by the time the fight was over, and they were ready to break through. Crell, Carmichael, and Alanna were all at Legendary with a skill, which required a Chronicle. It did NOT require a Chronicle condensed from that skill, or it wouldn’t have been possible for them to GET to Legendary, but it gave them the foundation they needed.
One, two, three B-rankers breaking through. Carmine and Delilah weren’t QUITE there yet, but they were on track, and at least three of my other C-rankers were most likely going to be able to reach the threshold within a few months.
Which was to say, my ten B-rank slots were officially full even if I didn’t manage to recruit anyone from Dom’s clan.
On top of that, eighty of my D-rankers had broken through, way more than expected, taking me from sixty to one hundred and forty, with some more looking to make the jump before we made the trip to the competition.
“This was a surprisingly productive trip,” I told my mother as we sat together on the way back. “We broke off our search for people to help my friends and ended up finding them anyway.” She’d dragged me away to check me over for injuries then hugged me for ten straight minutes after the battle ended. Apparently Rackham had worried her much less than this divine bullshit. Which was fair, given the stakes.
She shrugged. “That’s how it works sometimes. Recursion is weird. Sometimes it gives you exactly what you need, and other times…” she grimaced. “That void shallow is a mess. It still needs to be cleaned up. We left Schrader behind to coordinate the imperial response, because this is on the edge of Empire space. But don’t think this is over. The void have entered the war. We got rid of one of the vanished gods, and now we have a whole new swarm of enemies.”
I hummed to myself. “What if we didn’t?” I asked slowly. “Or, like, we do, obviously. But what if we had two less?” I told her about the Lady and Verdyn. “If we can convert them to allies, we would deal a solid blow to the enemy forces, cutting them in half, at least if you count Raxus being gone.”
“That won’t work,” she said bluntly. “It’s a nice thought, but I told you why the gods only allow six. Too many deities will influence the Impact of the universe. It’ll elevate us all into a higher realm, and we aren’t ready for it.”
“But that’s realspace, right?” I said quickly. “The void doesn’t count, that’s where they’ve been the whole time. If they stay in the void not only would it not compromise reality, but we’d have a pair of combatants already over there. You mentioned their worlds were in the void, and those manifestation domains were just slight protrusions into our world. Our gods were beating theirs because this is their home ground. So wouldn’t the void be THEIR home ground?”
She paused, thinking it through. “It’s not impossible,” she admitted. “I can try to talk to my mother, but you need to understand that this isn’t something my parents can decide. This is god business, which means you need the deities to weigh in. Most of them won’t even MEET with mortals. My grandmother lives by her own rules, and my grandfather came to help because we really needed it, but don’t mistake meeting with gods for a daily occurrence.
“Not to mention that we would need an emissary that they would trust. And since other gods can’t go into the void easily, it would need to be someone important, but not strong enough to be seen as a threat.” Her tone was absent, more like she was turning it over in her head than trying to actively deny me.
But I latched onto that last part. “Someone like…the current Wishmaster?”
“No!” she snapped, eyes widening as her gaze snapped to mine. “Under no circumstances Shane. That’s out of the question. Forget that you might not win this succession war at all, forget the the Wishmaster is still beholden to the council, and forget that the void is far too dangerous for the WCP to let you risk it, I won’t allow my child to run off into the darkness beyond reality to try to make FRIENDS with evil gods.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Are we really throwing around the E word in present company?”
She coughed. “My grandmother is…complicated. But she helped us this time. And you seem to be growing on her.”
“Not as much as Bethy,” I said, pointing across the deck of the Acheron to where Black Sorrow was currently BRAIDING Bethy’s hair as the vampire girl chattered amiably to a bunch of stupefied C-rankers.
“Yes, that’s concerning,” she admitted. “I’m trying not to think about it. Morgan does not look happy.” Sure enough, the Vampire himself was glaring at the pair of them, looking like he wanted to storm over and yank her away. But…he didn’t. His eyes were oddly sad, and he eventually sighed and looked away. It made me think about the story Bethy had told in the dungeon. I wondered if Morgan felt quite as positive about that experience as he came across from her point of view. Somehow I didn’t think so.
I sighed and shook my head to clear it. “Look, no use talking about it now. We need to win the succession war for it to matter, apparently.” Another reason for me to put my all into becoming the next Wishmaster. “We still have what, four months left? Do we need to start heading over?”
My mother sighed and nodded. “I heard from your father. He’s making his way there personally, and will be meeting us when we arrive. It’s actually a bit more than four months, but we’ve been travelling in the opposite direction from the Heirworld. If we want to make it in time, we should start the journey soon. We have a few days, or even weeks if we push, but after the banquet with my grandparents we should leave.”
I locked onto a specific word she used. “What exactly is an Heirworld? I keep hearing about the succession war, but how does it work? What exactly IS the succession war? How do we decide who takes the top spot? Is it just a death battle?”
“Not death,” she said with a shake of her head. “Conquest. I was actually on your father’s team during his attempt, so I know more about than most. But not as much as some.”
“She means me,” Zeke said as he dropped into a chair next to us. “But yeah, we’re on the way now, so I guess it’s finally time to fill you in. I’ve been avoiding bringing it up, given how crazy things have been. Didn’t want to distract you.”
I chuckled at that. “I guess I can understand that. But I think it’s time to finally catch me up.”
“It’s said, by and large, that the WCP is a floating faction.” He said, having taken a moment to consider his words. “This is mostly true. But we DO have at least one dedicated planet. Of course, it’s not EXACTLY WCP territory. We don’t interfere with anything that happens there, in order to keep the testing conditions pristine. But the majority of the forces there reflect the WCP branches and factions anyway. That would be the Heirworld.”
My mother nodded. “The Heirworld is a planet specifically terraformed for the succession war. It’s existed as long as the Wish Curse Palace, having been established by the first Wishmaster personally.”
“So it’s some kind of homeworld?” I asked worriedly. “Like a spot for all the elites to gather?”
Zeke snorted. “I suppose you could phrase it that way. But I wouldn’t. Don’t forget the Wishmaster is a god. He has his own world, even if it isn’t a physical home planet. No, the Heirworld isn’t a training camp. It’s a prison. The worst of the worst end up there. Anyone too brutal for the WCP, and that’s a high bar, gets tossed on the Heirworld. It’s left to fester and rot between competitions, but when the succession war rolls around, that’s when that place really heats up.”
“Why?” I didn’t see why they would participate if they were imprisoned. Wouldn’t they want to kill as many of us as possible?
“Because the people following the top candidate get to LEAVE,” he said grimly. “It’s a once in a lifetime chance, and you have to back the right horse. Once you commit to a backer, you’re stuck with them. So the wars get nasty, because the local factions will do anything to force their candidate to the top of the heap. Not to mention old grudges can flare up, because a lot of the old factions from the last succession war are still around.”
“I’m still stuck on the prison thing,” I said dazedly. “This is a whole planet full of people the WCP thought were too hardcore to leave running around? Why would I let any of them out?”
Zeke shrugged. “Not exactly. Lots of the reasons people end up there are political. I’ve told you before, the WCP doesn’t DO morality. There are a couple of real monsters lurking down there, granted, but none of them are S-rank or higher. Plus you can request information on locals through your branch if necessary.”
“My branch?” I asked. “Like…through my dad’s dad? Because I don’t even know him.”
“You will,” he assured me. “Trust me. Malachai won’t miss the succession war. None of the branch heads will. The whole council will be in attendance. They’ll be watching from a space station in orbit over the Heirworld.” He grinned at me. “Hope you’re excited, kid. You’re finally going to meet the other side of the family.”
My mother grimaced. “I’d prefer he didn’t. Malachai is a cold hearted bastard. I have no idea how Eli turned out as well as he did.” I gaped at her in disbelief, and she smiled bitterly. “Yes, he’s THAT bad.”
“Malachai isn’t so bad,” Zeke said wryly. “He’s not NICE, but he cares about his kids. He always took care of Eli and his brother and sister.”
“Out of guilt,” my mother pointed out. “Because he left their mother and got remarried for political reasons and had ten OTHER kids.” I knew about that, actually. Nat had told me. Her mother Allison was my dad’s full sister, and he had a brother named Felix. His half siblings I was much less clear on.
Zeke didn’t seem to have an argument for that, just shrugging again. Meanwhile, I was fixated on everything I had learned. The succession war was finally here, or would be soon enough, and now I had another reason I had to win. If I could pull it off, not only would I be able to grow fast enough to help my friends survive the coming storm, but I might be able to use my influence to save the Lady and get us an ally all in one fell swoop.
Maybe that was beyond my pay grade, but for some reason, I was convinced it would be necessary. The Void had come into play in a big way, but I somehow got the impression this was just beginning. The god war wasn’t the real disaster, it was just the opening salvo, and my fate sense was screaming at me that things would only get worse.
I’d go to the banquet, meet my great grandfather properly, and spend a bit of time with my friends, but once I left, I was going to buckle down and do some serious training. Once the story of this most recent adventure got out, I should be raking in the points, and if I was lucky I’d make it to at least halfway to C-rank before arrival. I’d need every advantage I could get.
Comments
Void
Well this should be a good time to start getting more PR for his staff art, and to potentially begin making an order of fate walkers for the coming war.
thaughton2
Shane's shaping up to be the one fated to rise into godhood and as a result, be the breaking point for the universe's impact. After having a war with the Void, apparently.
LadyLark
I don’t think she’s going to get what she wants. It feels like Callie and Bethy were hinted at being creatures that hunt the Void.
