Wish upon the Stars chapter 1204 (Patreon)

“So, how is this a lodge?” I asked gruffly as we stopped on a hilltop, staring down at what was the least lodgelike building I’d ever seen in my life. Huge and made of crumbling stone pillars, moss overgrowing the sides, the building looked like nothing so much as a-

“He doesn’t like the word temple,” my grandfather shrugged. “He feels it’s disrespectful to my teacher.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “He…knows the point of being an Ascendant is to reach godhood, right?”

“He disagrees,” my grandfather said bluntly. “In fact, I suspect if he wanted to, he’d already have done so. Moon is the strongest of my teacher’s students, but besides being the oldest, Judgement is by far the most talented. I firmly believe the only reason he isn’t a god is because he doesn’t want to be. In fact, I suspect he’s spent quite a few centuries finding other ways to gain power. I’m not certain Moon or I could beat him at this point.”

That brought me up short. “You can do that?” I asked. “Just…find another way?”

“You can do almost anything,” he confirmed. “Judgement has an almost unhealthy amount of reverence for our teacher, and believes godhood to be his sole purview within the church. He considers the fact that no other member has reached Divinity to be proof of that fact. As such, he’s never tried to reach it himself. Despite his complete lack of stat gain over the last few centuries though, I can never shake the feeling that he’s getting stronger every time I see him. Harder to see through.”

I frowned at him. “Are you sure we can trust this guy? Everything I’ve heard about him is kind of shady.”

“Judgement is easily the most trustworthy of the lot of us,” he shrugged. “He doesn’t play the same games as the others. No need to compete for renown or resources. Not sure what exactly he DOES compete for, but he always comes through when we need him.”

I nodded tiredly. Honestly, I normally might have pushed, been a bit more suspicious, even if just because it was my first instinct, but now…I didn’t care if he was shady. My wife and unborn child were missing, I’d work with Morwenna herself if I thought it would get them back. “Then lets go and ask our questions,” I said grimly.

We made our way down the hill, climbing the small mountain where the temple rested with purpose but no haste. I considered just flying up, but my grandfather stopped me. “It’s a pilgrimage,” he said gently. “A karmic bond that connects you to all those who have come before and will come after. Even we don’t get to skip it. Not if we want his help.” I could tell he was aware of how frustrating that was for me, but he didn’t budge.

So we climbed. One step at a time, up the side of the mountain, along the steep and winding path. I had to admit, it felt…weighty. Not like Impact did. But like every step brought me closer to my destiny. It was the spiritual equivalent of a massive spire towering over us, expanding in the horizon as we drew closer to it. Of course, there was no actual spire, but that’s how it felt.

Finally, after what felt like hours, we reached the top, arriving in a flat, overgrown courtyard of mosaic glass. The platform was beautiful, red and gold and white glass mixed with obsidian and dark blue. The tapestry of color swirled and blended into a dizzying and barely recognizable image. Beyond the mosaic lay a large stone door, cracked and faded with age, but thrown wide to reveal an interior that was in much better condition.

The inside of the temple was like another world. Not by virtue of magic or ascendant nonsense, it wasn’t bigger on the inside or an open sky. It was just…maintained. Well cared for and cherished.

At the door, waiting, was a tall, willowy young man with a black cloth tied over his eyes. His clothes were worn and battered, but sturdy, and his hair was long and as dark as the cloth, likewise tied, but in this case back into a ponytail. He stood motionless, hands behind his back, as we approached, and then nodded. “Nicholas,” he said in a soft, ethereal voice.

“Percival,” my grandpa said with a nod. “It’s good to see you.”

“There’s no need for lies, Nick,” the Judgement Pope said lightly. “But you’re welcome all the same. And this must be your grandson. A strapping lad, but carrying more weight than one would hope. Lay down your burdens here, young man. There’ll be time enough to shoulder them again once you’ve gone.”

I grimaced. “It’s not that easy to lay down a burden,” I said bitterly. “And I don’t have time to lay this one down. I need your help. My wife is missing, taken by a fragment of an ancient goddess. I need a way to find her.”

He stared at me. Or at least, I think he did. It was hard to tell with the blindfold. “You have the tools you need,” he said softly. “If you learn to use them properly.”

I frowned at the cryptic answer. “Tools I don’t know how to use aren’t exactly helpful.”

“Truth,” he nodded simply. “We are all equipped for so much more than we think. But it is only the tools for which we have understanding that show their worth. You have many tools, and very little understanding.”

“Fuck you too,” I snapped back, annoyed at the dismissal. “Look, I don’t have time for this dime store wisdom bullshit. Normally I’d play your games and bow and scrape, but my wife is in trouble, as is my unborn child. If you can’t help me find them how about you do me a favor and say that so I can stop wasting my fucking time.”

My grandfather winced, but to my surprise, the Judgement Pope didn’t get angry. “Haste makes waste,” he said sadly. “The fire that burns you now is consuming your reason. I said to lay down your burdens, but I think perhaps you aren’t carrying them at all. Perhaps your burdens are carrying you. Despite what you may think, I am not wasting your time, I am showing you a path. Your ability to walk it depends entirely on yourself.”

I almost snapped back, but my grandfather put a hand on my shoulder. I paused, turning to look at him. “Listen to what he’s SAYING, Shane,” he said gently. “Listen to the words he’s speaking, not just the ones you want to hear.”

Forcing myself to calm down, I reached for Piece of Mind. What an ironic name. The more parallels I ran, the easier it was to distract myself. I really could give myself peace of mind. I closed my eyes, splitting off multiple parallels. Finally, I opened them slowly. “Karma,” I said in a serene voice. “You mean I’d need to use Karma, and that my emotional attachments were going to make it harder.”

He smiled proudly, nodding his confirmation. “Well reasoned,” he said simply. “Many think the intricacies of Karma require a lack of attachment. They do not. Connection is the heart of Karmic communion. That said, certain types of connection are harder to see past than others. With rage predominant in your spirit, finding the links to the ones you love would be much more difficult. The Karmic connections of rage carry the Karma of vengeance, of hatred. Emotions are part of Karma, and to find the connections you seek, you must find the emotions they carry.”

Having calmed myself down a bit, I could understand that somewhat. Still, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do here. “Well, that’s good to know, but I don’t have any Karmic abilities. Like I can’t see the threads of…” I stopped.

Threads. Lines. Arrows. I blinked in stupefaction, then reached out with my mind, calling up Owen’s power. My Overlay was the first of my powers, and it involved time and fortune in ways I didn’t understand. But thinking it over, those arrows were…distinct. The lines of probability, yes, but also of connection. I should have known that, I’d created a timepiece for that one already. It seemed that my timepieces could still improved as I learned more, even beyond just adding complications.

I triggered Overlay, and then Dantalion, pushing both of them to the next rank. Then, considering my strategy, I triggered Azazel. Oz had access to some fairly obscure divination powers, and if anything would let me tap into Karmic lines, it would be his nonsense.

I didn’t think that Overlay WAS Karma. I’d have realized that sooner. But I didn’t think the lines were a coincidence. I opened my eyes to take in the world, trying to see beyond the Overlay, beyond the data, beyond even Oz’s divinations. To the spot where it all collided, where every ounce of information swam behind a sea of possibility, swirling through tides of destiny and potential.

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I heard Percival’s voice. “You seek what need not be found, young man. Karma is always with us, always part of us. It clings to us, transposes us. Karma is not something you discover, it is something you accept. Tear away the veil of convention. Accept what is.”

His words were like a lever, wedging themselves under my perception of the world and hoisting it up and over. Shifting my worldview JUST far enough sideways that the shape of my power clicked into an unseen divot, slotting into place and unlocking a whole new world.

It wasn’t an Archdemon. Not on its own. I hadn’t created the timepiece mounts to do that. But Percival’s gift helped me force a resonance, create a simulacrum of that process and unlock a new form that could help me find my wife. “Archdemon:” I intoned as I felt the world open up.”Yama.”

Before me spread a tapestry, an endless weave of golden lines, shot through with streaks of black and red and grey and a few other colors I couldn’t even identify. There were so many types of strand, so many types of bond. Every one was different. Some were thick like chains, some thin like strands of golden silk. Some wrapped back on themselves, forming strong ropes after years of steady reinforcement, and some were frayed, rotting away over decades of disuse, on the edge of snapping entirely.

But one of them stood out above all the others. An unbreakable white shackle that anchored itself into my chest, stretching off into the distance uncaring of the space between us. Inside the chain, a smaller, more delicate chain of silvery white metal threaded through the links, shielded and supported by our unbreakable bond. Callie. And the baby.

I only got a second of it before the whole thing collapsed and I stumbled forward, falling to my knees with a groan as I clutched my head. “Owww,” I groaned, hissing through my teeth. “Gods that sucked.”

“All knowledge comes with a price,” Percival said simply. “Did you pay enough to receive your answers?”

“Yeah,” I grunted as I staggered to my feet. “Yeah I did. Thank you. It’ll take me some time to get back to that state on my own with a little work. I’m sorry, for earlier. For yelling at you. I didn’t realize what you were doing. But I appreciate it.”

He nodded solemnly. “Children need not find their own wisdom,” he said with a warm smile. “But only accept that which adults have earned through hardships of our own. The only thing we wish in this world is that our young do not have to suffer as we have suffered. I sense that you’ve known quite a bit of suffering, but perhaps my wisdom might save you a bit more.” I nodded thoughtfully as I considered his words. “Now, come inside, I’ll pour some tea while we wait for your ride. I am not SO wise that I can’t benefit from a little gossip. I want to hear all the latest news from back home.”

If it had been before, I might have declined, too agitated and impatient. But seeing that diamond chain in my heart, seeing what the bond looked like between my wife and I with my own eyes…I wasn’t feeling better, exactly. But I was more at peace. It would take more than some punk ass god fragment to break a bond like that. The rest I could figure out as I went.