Wish upon the Stars chapter 1112 (Patreon)

The next day started just like any other. Another run through the obstacle course, this time with the difficulty turned up even higher. Every time I’d get used to it my parents would increase the difficulty. Speed up the swinging blades, destabilize the balance points, remove handholds from the climbing walls. It seemed like they could tell exactly how far to push me to take the difficulty JUST beyond what I could comfortably achieve.

After my fifteenth run of the day, I collapsed onto my side, gasping for breath. No matter how often I went through it, the course never ceased to make me feel like I was dying. “You look rough,” Zeke said as he lounged nearby, sipping a colorful drink from a wide bottomed glass. He was sitting on a long chair like you see on beaches, and had, for some reason, chosen to wear a woven straw hat, sunglasses, and a smidge of sunscreen on his nose.

“I hate you,” I wheezed. “So much.”

“It’s not my fault you’re out of shape,” he said far too gleefully. He took a long, loud slurp of his drink as he grinned down at me.

I glared up at him pointlessly. “I am wearing FULL plate armor,” I hissed. “Speaking of which, have the materials for my upgrade come in yet?” Despite access to more than a few powerful Wish users, I unfortunately lacked the means to PAY for the materials to craft my upgraded armor. I’d decided to buy them with the points left over from the succession war, but I couldn’t use them as direct payment for the wish because no one who was powerful enough to get me those materials NEEDED the damned things.

Still, they were currency, and I was able to redeem them for the metals that I required, I just had to wait until the damned things showed up. 

Zeke smirked. “Nope. You just have to be patient. You’re still waiting on Bethany to finish that new wine recipe anyway, right? Personally, I think her first offer was pretty neat, vampire trees sound awesome.”

“You do NOT think that,” I snapped. “Nobody thinks that except Bethy, because it’s ridiculous. And don’t say it in front of her, because she’ll probably try to get Alyssa to help her make a bunch to keep in her Domain, and those poor animals have suffered enough.” I slumped onto my back with a groan. “Gods I’m sore.” I whimpered. “I’m just glad nobody has used this method on me in combat.” I paused for a moment. “Actually why DON’T people use Impact suppression in combat?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t work. Impact is the manifestation of reality. Reality itself is the only reasonable way of suppressing it for long. Basically, the reason some planets suppress Impact  is a natural phenomena. It’s been studied, and replicated, but never actually reproduced. Suppression like that isn’t REAL suppression, it’s just simulated pressure. In the same way you can suppress your own Impact voluntarily to look weaker, you can project it outward too, and even a brief flare of that breaks the suppression.”

I hadn’t noticed that, actually, but it made sense. Sadly, it wouldn't be of much use to me since I was willingly participating in this madness, but it was nice to know how it worked at least.

After a minute or two, I was recovered enough to stand. Once I was out of the course, my life nova regeneration and triple Vitality kicked in nicely, and my flagging energy and sore muscles melted away like ice cream in the hot sun. It was like getting a good night’s sleep in the span of two minutes, and honestly felt so nice it ALMOST made the training worth it on its own. Almost.

Popping to my feet, I felt almost ready to take on the world, but my nascent plans of global domination were interrupted by a pulse through the bond. I blinked and looked up and across the room, eyes fixed on a point on the wall through which my wife was waiting. “Something’s happening,” I said to Zeke immediately. “Let’s go.” I bolted for the door, aiming for where Callie was waiting for me at what felt like the front entrance of the palace.

Zeke kept pace effortlessly, easily matching my steps without any sign of hurry or rush. We arrived at the palace entrance in about ten minutes, and I found Callie there waiting. I stopped next to her, threading my fingers through hers as I took up position on her left side. Callie was right handed, so I made sure to leave that one open for her to summon her blade if needed.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I stared out into the blackness of space. The building was sat atop a huge chunk of black stone, and past the edge was just the endless expanse of the gaps between the stars. I tried not to look down. 

The most terrifying thing about outer space, and the one that no one ever mentions to you when describing it, is that space is not a SHEET. It’s a sphere, and that means the endless expanse of darkness doesn’t just expand outwards, it also expands DOWN, and even with no gravity to enforce the drop, there’s something viscerally terrifying about looking over a cliff to see a drop that goes on for eternity.

Luckily, I wasn’t doing that now, because my attention was being drawn in the exact opposite direction. I’d asked what was happening, but that question turned out to be unnecessary to answer, because one look up at the sky made it obvious.

Above our heads, cracks were forming. Like the starry sky was a sheet of glass struck with a mallet, lines of blazing light were expanding from a single point, radiating out from a spot that looked like the center of a shattered vase. Through the cracks, I could see a strange multicolored riot of cascading strangeness. A familiar multicolored riot. It reminded me vaguely of the Chaos Chasm.

Then, with a piercing howl, the air shook, and the cracks widened as a massive shape punched right through, burst out into the lower world in a shower of radiant spatial shards, all of which dissolved into soap bubbles of strange energy as soon as they got far enough from the opening they spawned from.

“What the hell is THAT?” I asked in awe. The object was…immense. Not the physical size, more like the power, I could feel a tremendous Impact from it, far beyond what I’d sensed from my grandmother’s ship, the Acheron. Which could only mean-

“It’s a Divine warship,” came the disgusted voice of Alara from behind us. “And one I recognize. That’s the Bloodraven.”

I blinked, then spun to stare at her. “What? But you said they wouldn’t send gods!”

“I doubt they did,” she said with a sigh. “No reason to bother dispatching a ship that powerful if you have a god onboard. I’d imagine he gave it to his heirs as protection. He always was annoyingly cautious.”

“He who?” I asked slowly. “It’s been a long time since you were alive, I assume whoever this person is was a god when you knew them?”

She nodded. “A contemporary of my father’s, a thief god named Selwyn. They were on passingly good terms. Selwyn was slippery and hard to pin down, and he did his best to stay out of everyone’s way. Not surprising he survived this long. I suppose he Ascended personally. Seems he’s done well for himself up there.”

“So I take it Divine materials don’t count towards the limits of the Universe in terms of Ascension?” I asked worriedly. I was still stuck on the fact that someone had built a fucking SHIP out of god ranked mats. The Acheron was one of the few S-ranked vessels I was aware of, and it was unspeakably valuable. I didn’t even know divine materials existed. Was it forged from melted down artifacts or something?

Alara shook her head. “It doesn’t. Materials are…complicated. Divine ranked artifacts aren’t really godly. They’re just naturally occurring items that have passed the thousand point threshold. They don’t possess inherent world connection like a god does. Without an imbued Domain seed, their power is pretty much hollow. They have god bark but not god bite, so to speak.”

“So it can’t hurt us?” I asked hopefully, knowing the answer before I said it.

“Oh it can DEFINITELY hurt us,” she warned. “I told you, it’s got a thousand Impact. A heavy ball rolling off a table and landing on an insect might not have the same force or intention as a human foot stomping on one, but it’ll be just as dead either way.”

I winced, staring up at the massive ship in trepidation. But it wasn’t over. The destroyed space behind the ship had started to mend, but it was once again forced open as something else shoved its way through. This one was only S-ranked, and it wasn’t a ship, but a flying city made of red glass. From behind that emerged a colossal wooden horse, and then a floating spinning wheel the size of a small moon.

It took me a moment to really process the scope of what I was seeing, given the distance, but the size of every single entrant was bigger than most cities I’d visited. “Don’t suppose those are ALSO old friends of yours?” I asked hopefully.

She shook her head. “No idea. Selwyn’s presence is already quite a coincidence, though hopefully a lucky one. I was never a fan, but he and my father had a rapport. Bloodraven being the only Divine ranked vehicle is also a potential benefit for us. Assuming it wasn’t taken from him by force and is now filled with his enemies, of course.”

“Of course,” I said dryly. “But maybe let's not borrow trouble when we already have so much. If they’re enemies we’ll find out soon enough. Doesn’t hurt to have a little hope.”

“It can actually hurt quite a bit to have hope, little or otherwise,” my sister in law said dryly. “But I find it refreshing that you have such a positive outlook. It speaks well of your character. You are an adequate husband for my little sister.”

Callie sighed. “Ali, sweetheart, do you remember that talk we had about the way you phrase things? You said you wanted to be more accessible, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed. “And you said that my demeanor is often condescending or patronizing. You said it is poor form to act like I know better than everyone. But I DO know better than everyone, and they often ask me to share my wisdom, so I’m not sure what I should do about it.”

“Yeah,” my wife sighed. “We’ll work on it. As of right now though, we have bigger problems than you being a little aloof. We have no clue what the protocols are for interacting with forces like this. If you know the people on the Bloodraven can you act as a point of contact?” her eyes flicked to me. “Unless you were planning to send a diplomat?”

I shook my head. “I mean, Harrison might be an effective negotiator, but he has no leverage here. Even a tangential connection to one of the factions is better than nothing. Are you willing to make contact for us, Alara?”

“I would be happy to do so,” she nodded gracefully. “I am fascinated to learn more of these higher beings. The forces they come from may represent Overgods or even Worldgods. It might even make up for my disappointment at missing the legacy trial. Now, how are we to get their attention?”

She stared out across the vast distance consideringly, but finally decided to just go for it. Closing her eyes, she focused on…something, and there was a ripple in the space. Above us, a massive manifestation of Alara appeared in space, staring across the void. “I seek a meeting with the captain of the Bloodraven,” she intoned in a voice composed of intent rather than sound. There was a brief pause, and then the ship began to move. Apparently they’d heard her, and now they were coming. Here’s hoping they were friendly.