Wish upon the Stars chapter 1052

Emerging from the door back onto the Void Road, I felt a weight slough off my shoulders. I released Dayna to help with directions, and Archie to scout, but left the demons inside. To make sure we weren’t spotted though, I incarnated Murmur, allowing my stealth demon to dwell within my body and infuse me with his skill and technique in hiding.

Once I had the others hidden, I stepped out of Astaroth, letting a parallel deal with Murmur’s presence in my head and just enjoyed the walk. It was almost relaxing, being back on the Void Road after the Blood Widow City, where everyone was so densely packed.

It didn’t take us long to arrive at the entrance to the Bonesorrow Canyon, but once we did, I couldn’t help but question Dayna on how we were supposed to get in. “If this place is some forbidden zone why is there still a door? Assuming there IS a door. Like how are we supposed to get inside?”

“Remember how I told you earlier that fragments sometimes impact the Void Roads, causing new worlds to pop up out of nowhere?” she asked. “Well, when that happens, the impact causes the two phases of reality to overlap. It’s similar to the process in geology of mountains forming. When two tectonic plates strike each other, one is pushed up over the top of the other, creating a spire of stone that we call a mountain. Well, then a fragment collides with a Road, a spur of space punched through the space inside, creating a Void Corridor. It’s kind of like air lock leading into a realm.”

I grimaced. “And I’m guessing these things don’t CLOSE? Hence the reason this place hasn’t been blocked off.”

Nodding, she stepped forward, drawing an arrow. She started poking around in the air, searching for something, and once she found it, she twisted sharply and the space began to blur. “They don’t,” she agreed. “But they DO settle. It’s been quite some time since anyone entered this one. We need to be careful going in. If we disturb the space too much it’ll be obvious that someone entered.”

Carefully, slowly, and ever so delicately, she dragged the arrow down through the air, creating a small slit in the fabric of space in front of us. It looked deeply unsettling and VERY cool, but that wasn’t important right now.

Once she was at the ground, she gingerly reached up and, like plucking a hard string, grasped the edge of the tear with her thumb and middle finger and pulled it slowly aside. “Archie,” I told my partner. “You’re up, and stay high when you’re in there. Remember the place is full of bug zombies.”

He trilled, then swept inside. I waited a full five minutes, then he swept back through to land on my arm, reporting what he’d found. “Alright, we’re clear,” I told her. “Slip in there, I’ll follow you through.”

She raised an eyebrow in confusion, but shrugged, putting away her arrow and smoothly rolling through the tear. The slice began to fall shut, and the last thing I saw before it did was a quick glimpse of Dayna turning back to look at me…which was enough for me to trigger Double Trouble and appear directly behind her.

“Watcha lookin’ at?’ I asked casually, enjoying her terrified squeak far more than I should have, at least until I had to dodge the arrow she tried to shove into my eye socket. “Whoa!” I yelped, hands going up. “It’s me! Calm down, damn.”

She stopped, glaring up at me. “Are you insane? I could have killed you.”

“I feel like sanity might be on the side of the guy who does NOT assume that the reaction to jump scared would be attempted murder,” I retorted grumpily. I could see why that might have been a bad idea in hindsight.

So could she, apparently, because she snorted derisively. “And I think it’s with the woman who reacted violently to a potential attack while stranded in a forbidden undead hellscape.”

“Admittedly not my best plan,” I allowed. “Anyway, what are we doing here? I assume we need to go somewhere to get to the exit. Is there another Void Corridor somewhere, or will I need to use the Adherent Fire to get us out?”

She shook her head. “There’s an exit, I just have to find it. The Platinum Route Report has everything we need, including the last known map for this fragment. The problem is that the map in question is two thousand years old. I’m going to need a little help from your feathered friend for this next part. We’ll have to map the route and compare it to the current force distribution of the corpses.”

I nodded. “Archie,” I called out for my companion. “Dayna needs some help, bud. Come here.”

He flew over, landing on my arm, and I put a hand on him, closing my eyes. I reached for the connection I had to him through our shared flames, slipping a parallel in through the fire and the bloodline bond that had partly formed through the process of the Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art when I condensed my first drop of blood.

Once the parallel was in, he triggered Murmur, coating my buddy in a sphere of occlusion that protected him from view. I let him swoop over to join up with Dayne and then walked a short distance to sit heavily on a stone outcropping.

Bonesorrow Canyon, as one might expect from the name, was…well, sorrowful. The whole place was a blasted plateau of bone white dust and endless nothingness and death for as far as the eye could see. Luckily, I wasn’t trying to see it. I was just sitting down to close my eyes so I could reach for a very specific demon. Angelic Bond.

Angelic Bond was unique among all my demons because it represented my connection to my wife. Back when I’d been injured in the trial, Angelic Bond had been able to ferry demons through our connection and into Callie’s soul space. Since it could do that for THEM, I was fairly sure it could do the same for me.

Sure enough, it only took a moment to connect, and when I opened my eyes, I was sitting in the pews in Callie’s church, watching my wife swing her blade in a series of deadly, flowing movements at the altar.

It was lovely, really. The swish of her skits, the rippling of muscle, the way her hair flowed. She was practicing in here presumably because Gossamer was a big attention grabber and inside her soul was the best place to keep it concealed, but it felt like she’d known I was coming. Like she was waiting to show me how much stronger she was getting. I watched in awe, my heart boiling over with adoration and awe that this amazing woman was in my life.

She stopped, sighing without looking up. “Shane, darling, light of my life. I love you, want to spend the rest of my life with you, and adore how close we are. But it is NOT conducive to the learning process when you just pop into my soul to watch me practice and beam feelings of overwhelming affection at me.”

I froze. “Ah…right,” I said awkwardly. “I was…helping you with resistance training?”

There was a flash of wings, and she was sitting next to me, curled up at my side. “Think you’re irresistible, do ya?”

“Well you’re not with me for my abundance of caution and common sense,” I pointed out with a smirk as I removed my mask. Hi, love.” I leaned down to kiss her, reveling in the feel of having her with me again. That went on for probably longer than was productive, and I eventually pulled back, panting. “Well, I think it’s clear SOMEONE missed their spouse.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “Is it?”

“Yup, it was me,” I admitted. “I’ve been going out of my mind missing you. Also worrying. Did you leave yet?”

“Davina has been getting things in order,” she snickered. “Turns out Aiden did almost nothing to prepare for his exit, so she’s taking the time to teach me how to be the wife of a wayward Wishmaster. So you better watch your ass bud, no slacking off or I’ll have to use my badass Wishmistress mindgames on you.”

I burst out laughing. “Oh gods, please tell me they’re actually calling you that.”

“Well, some of them,” she admitted. “Some of them were calling me ‘the wife’, but they stopped that after Bethy ate one of them.” I blinked at her in shocked horror. “Only a little bit,” she assured me. “He’s alive. Physically.”

I put up both hands. “I don’t want to know, it’s not my problem,” I said firmly. “Bethy can do whatever she wants until I get back. If she does something too out there consult the cabinet. They’ll keep her in line.” I ignored the fact that I still hadn’t managed that myself and moved on. “So, I wanted to fill you in on what’s happening. Because it’s been a wild ride so far.” I briefed her on our trip, the shallowing, Brad, the arrowhead, the Blood Widow City, the ambush I’d avoided, and our current location en route to the lodge.

She stared at me in horror. “It’s been ONE DAY!” she all but screamed at me. “How did so many things happen to you? What the HELL Shane?”

I shrugged. “I live an exciting life. It’s fine. We’re all safe and sound.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I swear to the gods, you were created by the universe to drive me into an early grave through shock and terror. I love you more than life itself, but you have, as I heard some of the local kids saying ‘no chill’. Just…don’t die? I know asking you to be careful would be like asking a sword not to cut, but if you could put a concerted effort into not doing anything hilariously dangerous for at least twenty four hours, I would consider it a personal favor.”

“Well I’m about to trek through a sand blasted wasteland full of corpses possessed by paracit god bugs. So…that seems like it might not be in the cards,” I said sheepishly.

She glared at me. “Yes obviously, I mean AFTER that. At least wait until I’m on the front lines and can distract myself with imminent death.” I just looked at her, face calm, eyebrow raised. She sighed, leaning forward to bury her face in my chest. “Why did I have to marry an idiot with deathwish?” she grumped.

“I’ve been told it’s because I’m cute and lovable,” I told her solemnly. “But I’ve always suspected you just like my ability to get things down for you off high shelves.”

“Nobody likes a smartass,” she pouted. She paused for a moment, staring off into the church at where Gossamer hung suspended on the altar. “I love you,” she said, not looking at me. “Always. So much it hurts. Please be safe? If you can? I know that’s a ridiculous thing to ask, but.”

I reached down and took her hand in mine. Her eyes snapped to my own, and I stared into those bottomless blue black pools. “You are the best part of my life,” I told her bluntly. “You are the reason I get out of bed. The reason I fall asleep. The reason my heart beats in my chest. If you need me to promise to come home to you I will. 

“And I don’t care if it’s impossible for me to know.” I said emphatically. “Ascendants do the impossible every day. We change the world with belief. With faith. And there’s not a thing in this universe I have more faith in than us. So yes. I promise. I’ll be ok. I’ll come home to you. And I expect the same promise from you. Because there’s nothing we can’t do for each other.”

She stared at me, eyes wide, breathing ragged, and then she threw herself into my arms and kissed me like I’d never been kissed before. And then there was no more words. Just us. Together. And everything was alright again.