Wish upon the Stars chapter 1048

Arriving at the pit wasn’t hard. The orangutans had, I suspected, been sent to bring us there directly after we’d spent hours mapping things out. The pit had become hungry, and was tired of waiting for its food to step into its salivating maw. So the recon we’d been planning, while still necessary, wasn’t nearly as challenging as expected. Especially since when we arrived, the thing was WAITING for us. After a fashion.

“Evening,” said the cheerful older man standing in the center of the clearing where the pit was supposed to be. “Nice to see some fellow humans.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Really? Humans? That’s how you’re going to play this?”

He shrugged. “What else would I be? In fact, if you’re so sure I’m not human, why not come over here and check?”

“Because the clearing is a trap,” I said dryly. “YOU are a trap, and are currently attempting to trap us.”

He hummed in consideration. “Certainly doesn’t sound like me. What say you come over here and we shake on it, put our differences aside and you can come over to my farm for a nice hearty meal. You look tired and hungry.”

“See, in order for that to work, you would need to be a real person, with a real farm, and NOT a sumilacrum created by an evil pit trap to lure us into its waiting jaws.” I said dryly.

He frowned in disappointment. “Boy, I oughta come over there and whoop your behind.”

“You ought to,” I agreed. “But you won’t. In fact, you CAN’T. Because you can’t MOVE from that spot. Because you are not real.” I didn’t budge, and I could tell its sad attempts to trick me were wearing thin, even for the pit itself. I suspected it was very NEW to consciousness, because this was an extremely simplistic attempt to snare us.

His expression flattened. “Ugh. Fine. You caught me. You’re SO smart. But honestly, you couldn’t play along for a few minutes? What would it hurt?”

“US!” I said in exasperation. “Because you were planning to EAT us!”

“Only a little bit,” it protested. “Just your arms. And maybe your legs. And your heads. But only the soft parts. In fact, I was going to leave all your bones, and those are like…half your body weight or something. I think that’s very generous.”

I stared at it drolly. “And yet, we are not convinced.”

“Well it’s not like YOU came with good intentions,” he complained loudly. “You’re here to steal my treasure. I need that treasure. Without it, I’m just a normal hole in the ground. Do you know what it’s LIKE to be a hole in the ground? It sucks. Well, only if you’re quicksand, but even for more stable pit traps it’s not much fun.”

“I would be a lot more sympathetic if you weren’t stalling to try to signal your minions to come drag is into you,” I said with a shrug. “Which won’t work, by the way. You can’t contact them. Your messages aren’t going through.” Dan had identified that communication channels the pit used from studying the area, and we’d stationed Murmur nearby to block any contact. “Sorry, but you’re not getting to eat us. Which I realize must be tough for a pit, but hey, we’re at an impasse.”

“Well that’s rude,” he whined childishly. “I put a lot of work into making this body, you know? I based it on the memories of several very nice people I’ve eaten. I even named it. So you can stop calling me ‘pit, and call me by my REAL name. Brad.”

 “Your name is Brad the pit?” I asked doubtfully.

He frowned. “Yes? Why? Is there something WRONG with that?”

“No, of course not,” I assured him. “It’s your name. It’s just…it’s a little underwhelming. You’re a pit. An unending maw of consumption. I would have expected something grandiose, like Kalgoth the Devourer or something.”

The pit monster in disguise sneered. “Typical human, always telling people who they can and can’t be. This is why I eat your kind, you know.”

“No it isn’t,” I said bluntly. “You eat us because you’re a pit.”

“Well yes,” he said in a wounded tone. “But you don’t have to be so confrontational about it. I have feelings too, you know.”

Dayne, who had been quietly standing to one side, lashed out with a fist, cratering the trunk of a nearby tree. “ENOUGH!” she snapped. “I’ve had enough! This whole conversation is NONSENSE! Just kill the damned thing so we can get the arrowhead and LEAVE this horrible place.”

“Ok, but HOW?” I asked her bluntly. “Because I’m still not actually sure how we KILL a hole in the ground. It’s a HOLE. How do you kill the absence of space? Void? Maybe? I don’t even know. I was planning to try the Adherent Fire, but my instincts are telling me that won’t work, and I have a limited number of charges, so we’re kind of stuck for the moment.” I frowned. “Or at least…we might be. I feel like there’s a deal to be made.”

Brad snorted. “A deal? If you succeed in your goals I cease to exist. I hardly think I’m motivated to help you do anything.”

I considered what he was, and my own assets. And then…I had an idea. “What if you didn’t?” I asked slowly. “What if I could help you become something else? Something better. Something that can leave here with us, and doesn’t need to eat people.”

He cocked his head in confusion. “I don’t think that’s possible. I can’t leave this place, obviously.”

“But what if you could,” I said again. “What if I had a way to make it possible. Would you be willing to trade the arrowhead for a chance to leave here? To transcend your limits and walk the world as a living, thinking being. Because, let’s be honest, even if we don’t get that fragment, SOMEONE is going to come take it. Hell, if they don’t that might be worse. Like what happens if you eat the current party of people in here? What if no one else ever comes? Can you starve?”

He opened his mouth to respond, then stopped. “I…I don’t know. But how would you help me? You say I can leave, but without the fragment, I’m not a real being. If you take it away I vanish, what can you do about that?”

“Simple,” I said with a manic grin. “I’m going to MAKE you a real being. See, your current personality could be considered a sort of pseudo Domain. And I have a special Domain that allows me to create living beings from pseudo Domains. In fact, I have a perfect vessel for you, assuming you don’t mind sharing your body.”

Brad, despite being a little obtuse, was a special being. Created from a fragment of a divine object infused with the power of a SECOND god. Getting the arrowhead was fine, but I had a sneaking suspicion Brad himself might have been the opportunity I was sent here to pursue.

But before I could do that, I had to make sure that the recipient I had in mind for this shared body experience was willing. I reached into my Domain, pulling gently, and within seconds, a new being faded into existence. A short, stout man with dark hair and dark eyes and a healthy tan. The demon known only as Pit of Despair.

“Pit,” I said with a nod. “Sorry to call you out like this.”

He bowed low. “Of course, my lord. I am happy to serve. What would you have of me?” His eyes contained a powerful intensity that had nothing to do with magic or even abilities. As one of my demons, he was created by me, or rather, by my staff, so he felt an ingrained sense of loyalty.

“I have a task you might be suited for,” I admitted. “But I don’t want to force it. You can say no, and in fact, if you feel uncertain, I ORDER you to say no.” I wasn’t sure if that would actually help, but it was the best I could do. Besides which, I was fairly certain that this little merger would come with substantial rewards, so I wasn’t comfortable actually taking the chance away, I just wanted to make sure he had an out.

After I made that clear, I explained the situation to him, including the nature of the pit itself. This was ultimately a unique opportunity for both of us, so I was actually pretty sure he would be willing, and sure enough, once I explained, his face lit up with enthusiasm. “And by sharing my body in this way, I’ll gain more power?”

I paused, listening to a voice inside my head. “Azazel says yes,” I confirmed. “Not sure how MUCH, but there will be gains.”

After a brief pause, he nodded solemnly. “Then I accept. I’m willing to share my body.”

I turned back to the form of Brad standing atop the pit. The clearing had some kind of illusion or covering that kept it from LOOKING like a pit, but Dan had already showed us the truth before we approached. “You heard him. If you accept, we perform the process first thing. We can retrieve the arrowhead ourselves when it’s done. Does that work for you?”

This was an exciting experiment. Reincarnation was a mechanism to add new skills to existing demons, and given Brad was a pseudo Domain, he would count as much as any of my others. Keeping them separate inside the body would take a little concentration, but I could FEEL that the Domain would allow it. In fact, it was the only way I COULD reincarnate Pit of Despair. He was a tier 6, a powerful demon far beyond my ability to completely alter.

The only reason it was possible to do it at all was because his nature and Brad’s were so closely intertwined. Brad, for his part, looked pensive. He stared at me, then over at Pit, and then looked to Dayna, who had mostly tuned all this out.

Finally, he nodded. I grinned, then gestured to the ground and then to Pit. “Go ahead and peel back that facade, and then my buddy here will be coming over to meet you face to face.”

He hesitated, but did so, removing the grass above the pit, exposing a large, gaping chasm filled with bloodstained bronze spikes. I glanced at Pit, who nodded again, and then…stepped out into midair. And just hung there. He WAS tier 6, so flight was a possibility, but I was pretty sure he just literally decided not to be pulled into the pit, some strange interaction between the two powers.

Walking slowly over to Brad, he held out a hand. “Are you ready?” he asked kindly. At Brad’s affirmative, he signalled for me to begin. Closing my eyes, I called my staff, focusing on my Domain through our connection, and then through that on Pit. I triggered my reincarnation ability.

Reincarnation was difficult. It only really worked on low level demons. The more powerful a demon the more developed, and the harder it was to alter them. In this case though, we weren’t overwriting anything, or even adding a Skill. We were combining Brad’s relatively new consciousness with Pit. Sort of the inverse of what we’d done with the Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art.

I felt a tug in my gut, and then a sort of suction as energy drained out of me. My soul was put under strain, but I ignored it, focused on making sure this went smoothly.

Within minutes, Brad was gone, subsumed into Pit. I cocked my head at the demon. “You still in there?” I was pretty sure he was, but if not, I wanted to know now. I’d feel pretty bad if this had gone wrong.

To my relief, though, he just grinned, eyes flashing a bright green. “That I am.” He clenched his fists tightly, reveling in the sensation. “Now, why don’t we get that arrowhead and get out of here? I have so much to see and do.”