Wish upon the Stars chapter 1152 (Patreon)

We descended into the Chamber without me deciding what to use my contribution points on. There were just too many possibilities, and I couldn’t decide what I should commit to. I was considering spending them to get my hands on another keystone artifact I could use to alter one of my demons, but I didn’t have a demon in mind, and given what department Harper was in charge of I also had to consider the possibility of getting my hands on another phoenix flame, so I put it on the backburner for now.

Fortunately, my deliberation at least wasted enough time for Callie to finish condensing her anti Void inside the sphere. After that was done, it was time for us to make the trip down to learn more about the Void from our host, hopefully this had all provided some intel that was worth the cost, otherwise we’d wasted potential gear Callie might have gotten on nothing.

We approached the hole in the ground slowly. “So do we just jump in, or…?” I trailed off, waiting for some idea of how to proceed.

Dean Harper clicked his fingers lightly, and there was a ripple in the space around us. Not the air, mind, the SPACE. Whatever he did had shifted the underpinnings of reality on a layer beyond the physical. In fact, looking closer it didn’t feel like spatial manipulation either. More like he was interacting with reality itself.

There was a low groan and the stone around the hole warped and shifted. It wasn’t smooth or fluid, either. The rock jerked and twisted, screaming in an almost inaudible subhuman warp as it was forced to become something it wasn’t meant to be to suit the unnatural will of the monster accompanying us. Finally, after about a minute of the unsettling reformation, it stopped, and we were standing at the top of a shaft of darkness ringed by a steep set of stairs that only extended about a foot from the wall.

“What the fuck was THAT?” I asked in an appalled voice.

Harper shrugged casually. “You wanted a method of descent. Now there’s one there. You’ll find the underpinnings of creation are more malleable at my level.”

Which was an understatement. Because that wasn’t Mythcrafting. It wasn’t even Worldforce as far as I could tell. That had been…thought. He’d just smashed his merciless will into the universe like a club until it did what it was told. The rock had been in PAIN. I was starting to understand why they called him The Monstrosity.

Of course, I didn’t say any of that, because I wasn’t an idiot. I mounted the stairs and descended, though I went first just in case. Callie was still at C-rank, and I wasn’t risking her safety. Especially since I had the Seal protecting me, and an A-rank suit of armor outstripped any defenses she had on hand. We hurried in, both of us eager to be as far away from Harper as possible right now. Which both did and didn’t work, because he vanished as we headed down, but appeared at the bottom when we reached it. Joy.

“Welcome to the Chamber,” Harper said proudly as he gestured around us at the walls…which I immediately realized were made of fucking BONES.

“Is this an Ossuary?” I asked slowly, stepping away from the walls as best I could. The bones were more than just calcium and marrow. They were steeped in the same kind of power that was brewing topside. Namely, they were all cursed. Every single one of them.

Along the walls, stretching off into the darkness, I saw small alcoves, within which pedestals of bone held up weapons and artifacts. It was a formation, all of it intricately slotted together. The bones were sucking up the cursed energy that the crucible was focusing into this place and then transmitting it like wires transmitted electricity into the weapons, which were giving it shape and function.

The energy from the alcoves rose like heat, collecting on the ceiling above us and being swept up in a torrent of dark power that flowed off into the distance like some horrible river. Even looking at it hurt my eyes. Harper chuckled. “It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” He said happily. “Certain materials have attunements to certain attributes, as I’m sure you know. Even mundane materials have inclinations. Bone, for instance, has a deep connection with the attribute people often refer to as ‘resentment’. Resentment is, of course, the component medium of curses, and as such, bone soaks up curse energy like a sponge. It’s an excellent conversion matrix for the crucible.”

I looked around at the walls of interlocked bones with a slightly sick feeling. “Where did you GET all these?”

“Oh here and there,” he shrugged. “Curse bones need to come from the unwilling, but you’d be surprised how many students wander in with corpses in their spatial storages. And of course, the bones don’t need to be human. Plenty came from monsters and beasts hunted for credits. We buy at a premium if you have any to spare.”

He headed off down the tunnel, and we followed, mostly because the idea of standing around alone in this place made my back sweat. This was not a safe place to be. “So…why curse energy? Does it have some sort of special effect on the Void?”

“In a sense,” he said hesitantly. “First, we should start with the obvious question. What do you think the Void IS?”

Callie answered. “The Void is the soul of the universe. The spiritual emptiness that stands opposite the flesh of realspace. People like to pretend it separates worlds, but that’s not it. It lays across reality, not between it.”

He nodded. “Well put,” he complimented. “That’s absolutely correct…and also completely wrong.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as Callie flinched back a bit. “How can it be both?”

“Because of the nature of the Void,” he said patiently. “The most direct manifestation of what I mean is something you’re familiar with. Recursion. Recursion is the power of belief, the trend of faith as a force that moves creation. It is, in some ways, the collective belief of reality, altering the universe in the same way that more individualized recursion alters us on a singular level.”

We headed deeper into…something. Some kind of labyrinth of bone. “The Void IS the spiritual component of reality, where realspace is the physical. However, the reason this is important to note is that recursion has a much deeper impact on spiritual matter than physical.”

Callie froze, her eyes going wide in horror as she figured something out. “You’re saying the Void is…nothing? Potential? That the manifestations it produces are subconscious alterations based on what we believe as a collective?” Her voice was horrified, and I didn’t blame her. If that was true…

Harper shook his head. “Not exclusively, though partially. What you’re missing is that while universes don’t have WILLS exactly, they do have…echoes. A universe is a realm, and is created by a creator god. This is a distinct position outside the cultivation hierarchy, mind, and shouldn’t be confused with gods or Overgods. Regardless, because of this process, it is important to remember that universes develop certain tendencies.”

“So the Void is a reflection of the subconscious of the creator god who created it?” I said uncertainly. “But wouldn’t the Void be huge, spanning multiple planes? How does it pick which tendency to express.”

“Calling the Void ‘The Void’ in the singular is inexact,” he clarified. “There are many Void, just as there are many realms. The Void is usually a sort of amalgam, a composite of multiple factors. Culture and belief do have some effect, as does the natural tendency of the universe. However, the latter manifests itself more directly than one might expect.”

My eyes went wide. “Void Children!” I said excitedly. “They’re the manifestations of the tendency?”

“Well reasoned,” he beamed, seeming genuinely impressed. “They are indeed. Void Children are the direct manifestation of the originator tendency. They act as a sort of guiding force for the Void and its denizens. If recursion is the wind that blows across the fabric of the Void, Void Children are natural windfarms. Or perhaps antibodies would be more accurate. You could consider them the subconscious manifestation of the suppressed portions of the creator god’s psyche. Literal inner demons.”

I frowned. “So…we need to beat them,” I clarified.

“Well, not necessarily,” he hedged. “Void Children can vary based on the nature of the creator god that spawned them. Some can be reasoned with. Some are quite mad. Depending on your situation, you may be able to make peace. But barring that potential outcome, you WOULD need to remove the Void Children, or at least disperse their centralized leadership, in order to take control of the general trend of the Void. Without the Children to guide the spiritual aspect of creation, recursion will become the dominant force in the spiritual space, and the Void will change to better reflect the denizens of realspace. Though whether that’s an outcome you would desire can vary wildly.”

We walked as he talked, heading deeper and deeper into the maze of tunnels. “Ok, this is all fascinating,” I said slowly. “But what does it have to do with this place? With the resentment?”

“Ah, of course,” he said with a chuckle. “I got a bit distracted. Hazard of age, I’m afraid. I so rarely get to discuss my hobbies, and I tend to wax philosophical when given the opportunity. The answer to that is simple. What IS resentment?”

I shrugged. “It’s…bad feelings?” I said vaguely. “A manifestation of animus.”

“It is, and it isn’t,” he said, with the tone of someone frustratedly trying to describe a flavor they’ve never tasted over the phone. “But the answer I was looking for is that it is a subconscious force that interfaces directly with inner demons. More than that, it is often used as a shield against them. How many times have you heard of someone using hatred to divert animus from one target or even from themselves?”

“That does happen,” I said slowly. “But I’m not sure I understand your point. You’re…what? Altering the Void Children with the resentment to repurpose them into helpful entities?”

He stopped walking. “No…” he said slowly. “But that is a FASCINATING research direction. I may use that. No, we aren’t applying the resentment to the Children at all. Rather, we’re using the resentment to trigger the universe’s natural defensive instincts against the Children themselves. Essentially tricking the body into killing its own immune system.”

We finally came to a stop outside a huge pair of bone doors, and he turned to face us. “Should our research bear fruit, we would be capable of weaponizing the conscious remnants of the tendency, for whatever values of consciousness you might believe exist, against the Void Children. These natural defenses are very real. In fact, prior to the advent of our current method of cultivation, they were triggered fairly frequently. Ancient Ascendants used to call them ‘heavenly tribulations’.”

He turned to the door, bracing his hand against it. “As it stands, we haven’t managed to rouse that particular reaction yet, though we’ve taken steps to explore the reasons why. Namely descending to lower planes where the creator gods were weaker and the tendency is more easily influenced. But the star of this little project is, of course, the most powerful of my research subjects. The being I described to you in the canyon.”

Pushing on the door, he swung it open, letting it fall ajar to reveal a colossal chamber inside, presumably the one that gave this place its very name. “This is an Overgod level Void Child. The purest manifestation of a realm’s inner demon I have ever found…and I believe, the key to extinguishing the Void Children from all planes and handing control of the Void back to the denizens of the realspace that it echoes.” And with that, he turned and walked into the Chamber, and we followed closely behind.