Wish upon the Stars chapter 1046

Despite the unhappiness, they DID leave most of their forces inside my Domain. Dayna and I stepped out with the two leaders (Renier and Edward, or blue and red respectively) into the castle proper. Renier, who had arrived first and was nominally in charge, led us to his temporary base camp, a series of tents set up in a magnificent ballroom.

Looking at the decor as we walked, I could kind of see what she meant about this place. It felt…hybridized. The skeleton was an old time castle, grey stone and accents of wood and sometimes bone that reminded me of a hunting lodge, but overtop of that was a sort of gilding of brass and knobs and gears. 

The hallways had been stretched (it felt like that anyway) to accommodate the tracework of brass rails spiderwebbing across the walls, some of which seemed to do nothing and some of which appeared to have things like tiny robot servitors connected to them that whizzed along back and forth, attending to tasks out of sight. Seeing the results of what appeared to be a pair of broken Domain fragments mixing was absolutely fascinating.

I wondered if the Domain seeds that my great grandparents had used to establish their Domains early (without negative repercussions) had been something like this. Were Domain seeds fragments of objects of power?

“Welcome to basecamp,” Renier said sourly. “It’s a bit empty, for obvious reasons, but we have maps of the area laid out in the main tent, and you can use that to get around. I cannot do much in the way of guidance, as I am not familiar with the area. Our scouts would know better, but they’re currently…enjoying your enthusiastic hospitality.”

I sighed. I would have asked why he hadn’t told me that before, but I knew why. He was essentially being held hostage, it would be weird if he WAS happy about it. We followed him inside and he led us to what looked like some kind of modified sand table. Knowing the two of them couldn’t actually help us, and not wanting to watch what I said, I smiled warmly at them. “That’ll be plenty of help, gentlemen, thanks. Say hi to your friends.” I flexed my Domain and they vanished, dropped back inside with the others.

Turning to Dayna, I gestured at the table. “Alright, so we can speak freely now. Is this anything like the lodge? Like can you help us find the right path? Actually, where is the arrow going to BE, like relative to the normal lodge.”

“The rumpus room,” she said with certainty. “Lord Verdyn keeps his treasures there, and they’re all items of immense personal value. Its very nature is to demonstrate his might, and as such, the shallowing will reflect that purpose. I don’t see it on here, but I DO see a few rooms I recognize relatively close together. The archery range, the killing glade, the menagerie, and the trophy room are all here.”

“Wait, I thought the rumpus room was where he kept the trophies?” I asked, confused by the change. “Why does he have a separate room from that?”

She shook her head. “Verdyn is a consummate hunter. He spends all his time hunting, and has killed many beings. However, not all of Verdyn’s trophies are treasures. Only the rarest and most unique of his finds are qualified for the rumpus room. The trophy room is mostly just full of the heads of animals he’s slain. Beyond just trophies, however, the rumpus room contains unusual items of interest he brought back from his travels.”

I grimaced. “I don’t suppose any of those is a sarcastic nickname for something totally innocuous and NOT the death trap that Ascendant’s make out of almost everything?”

“The killing glade is a LITERAL death trap,” she said bluntly. “It’s a huge forest filled all sorts of traps and devices designed to ensnare and destroy prey. Verdyn believes that the only way for a hunter to learn their trade is to first be prey. When we reach D-rank we’re sent into the outer forest to retrieve various items as a test of skill. In order to pass, we have to survive the traps.”

“What happens if you don’t?” I asked, appalled at the casual disregard for their own people.

She stared at me blankly. “If we don’t…survive? We die. What else would happen?”

I rolled my eyes. “What happens if you don’t take the TEST, wise ass?” She cleared her throat, obviously a little embarrassed at missing the obvious.

“Ah, yes,” she said slowly. “We get kicked out. No one is forced to undertake the killing glade. The investment necessary to raise low level Ascendants is relatively paltry, so if a fresh D-ranker or below leaves, it’s no great loss. Refusers are ejected onto the Void Roads and left to fend for themselves.”

“Charming,” I mused. “Anyway, with this map, can you figure out where the rumpus room is? The layout has changed right, is that going to make this impossible or something?”

She shook her head. “Not at all, the rumpus room should be right…there,” she pointed at a corner of the table. “The issue is that this place has been heavily altered by the Stralthrem’s blood. The machines running back and forth, the gears, I’m a little concerned as to what this might do to some of the rooms. The killing glen and menagerie specifically. The trophy room doesn’t connect to the rumpus room itself, but sits caddy corner to the two others, so we can’t go in through there.”

“What do you think has changed about the menagerie?” I asked with interest. “I mean, I think given Dantalion and Azazel’s presence, we can make it through a trap gauntlet, but I don’t want to leave any options on the table.”

“I would avoid the menagerie,” she warned. “It’s not a zoo so much as a nature preserve. Things wander around, and many of them are hostile.”

Since we had a plan of action, we officially set off for the killing glade. I was going to need to do some serious recon, or rather, I had people to do that for me. A quick flex of my Domain brought Dantalion and Azazel out to meet me, and I explained the situation. They didn’t need to be told twice, and before long, we had arrived at a large brass archway with a door made of shiny bronze gears.

The whole thing was a marvel of engineering. Turning one small gear near the bottom set all the gears spinning, and once they’d moved aside, it left a large gap between the gears that could be entered through. Stepping inside, I wasn’t surprised when the door clanged shut, leaving the four of us alone in a strange clearing.

The killing glade had been changed by Stralthrem, just like everything else. As expected, it was a forest, but the changes had altered the core impression of the place. Nature had evolved to something decidedly UN-natural, and I had to whistle at the impression it gave.

Streams of bronze wove through the ground and into the trees, and gears floated on the edge of branches like leaves drifting in an invisible wind. “Well,” I said dryly. “This is pretty. Shame it’s almost definitely going to try to kill us.” I eyed a gilded metal rose nearby, its petals made from what looked like hammered purple gold. “Do you think I could pick one of these? Callie would love this.”

I still had the linked spatial rings connected to my wife, which worked perfectly fine in the Void and adjacent territories, so I could send and receive things when I needed them. Sending my bride a flower to let her know I was thinking of her only seemed right.

“I wouldn’t,” said Azazel cheerfully. “Mostly because that isn’t a flower. Dan?”

Dantalion closed his eyes, power surging from him as he unleashed his information gathering abilities. “Gah,” the old demon spat, flinching back. “That’s horrifying.” He waved a hand and a surge of purple electricity coalesced into a three dimensional image of…something. A colossal giant lantern fish, the stalk of which extended for much further than normal, slimming as it went until it reached the size of a normal flower.

I blinked and glanced at Dayna. “That…doesn’t seem like it belongs in a trap maze.”

She frowned at the image. “It doesn’t. I think the menagerie animals have broken into the killing glade. The good news is that most of them are probably dead. The bad news is that the ones that are NOT dead have most likely been honed by the brutal training ground into a sort of unstoppable super predator.”

“I think your optimism is my favorite thing about you as a person,” I said flatly. 

“That WAS optimistic,” she said bluntly. “I don’t think that many of them are actually dead. I was just trying to make you feel better.”

I turned to the demons. “Dan, I need a map, preferably one with notations on where not to step if I don’t want to fall into a spike trap or get lit on fire. Oz, do me a favor and make sure he doesn’t get eaten when he’s distracted. In the meantime, Dayna, we absolutely cannot leave this weird fish thing lurking below us while we sit here for hours letting Dantalion collect data, so we need to kill it.”

“Of course,” she said with a stoic monotone. “I believe I have a plan. If you can lure it out into the open, I can shoot it. I am an expert at identifying vital spots and targeting them directly.” I nodded, then my eyes flicked to one side, and a demonic figure complete with horns and wings manifested. “Asmodeus,” I said in introduction. “This is Dayna, you’ll be backing her up on this. As for MY backup…” I closed my eyes, and my wings unfolded behind me seamlessly.

I didn’t summon Sam, he had other things to do, I just manifested the form directly. Still, it felt…right. I hadn’t had my wings for too long, and letting them spread was like taking a breath for the first time after holding it in for a few minutes. Something inside me relaxed as I called up my staff. “Alright, go get in position.”

Asmodeus erupted into a blaze of flame, flowing into Dayna, and once it faded, she was standing before me, wings and horns prominent and looking like she could take on the world. She spread her wings, flapping off to land on a nearby tree, and drew her bow, giving me a solemn nod.

With that done, I approached the flower. I debated how to do this. I had a plan, but it was a bit simplistic. Still, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I stepped back, raising my staff into the air and gripping the very end to maximize the range. Then I tapped into and began channeling Extinction Event.

A sphere of powerful black flame manifested above my staff, first the size of a fist, then a melon, then eventually a wrecking ball. I kept expanding it, pouring the power in, and when I had reached the very edge of what I could control, I started to CRUSH it.

Inch by inch, I forced the absurd amount of power to contract, condensing and amplifying the force until I had a small, eyeball sized sphere at the tip of my weapon, so dark it was stealing the light from around it and smooth as black glass. It was heavy, legitimately hard to handle in terms of soul strain, because it was just so MUCH power.

Grunting at the effort, I began to lower the staff, happy I had chosen to choke up all the way because it kept that thing as far from my body as possible. Finally, the black marble of power touched down on the purple gold flower. There was a sort of ringing chime as it struck, and then a long (or what felt like a long) silence. My grinned as I felt the power began to fluctuate in preparation for the blast. “Boop.” And then all hell broke loose.