Wish upon the Stars chapter 1023

The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was the sensation of falling. I was, of course, NOT falling. But that didn’t stop me from FEELING like I was. The world spun around me like a vortex, and I pitched over as I stood up, smacking into the ground with a dull thud as my perception was consumed by the whirlwind of…whatever was happening.

I opened the bond, sent a quick cry for help to my wife, and then surrendered to my complete loss of equilibrium. I didn’t puke, or moan, or show any outward sign of distress, because I had been through worse, but I had to admit, complete disorientation without the ability to stop yourself was definitely unsettling.

Callie pushed the door open, sticking her head in with concern. “Shane? You ok in here?”

“Get-” I ground out as I tried to keep my gorge (which was harder when talking) “Zeke.” My Uncle would know SOMETHING about what was going on. She shot me a worried glance and then left, coming back with Zeke not two minutes later. He stepped into the room, strolled over to me, then knelt down and shoved me onto my back. Prying my mask off, he peered into my eyes, then my mouth and then for some reason checked my ears.

“Huh,” he said with interest. “You appear to be condensing a Domain. Which is…really weird, honestly. Because you definitely shouldn’t be awake during this. Domain condensation is a deeply personal experience that requires extremely delicate micromanaging. If your soul wasn’t rock solid stable right now, I’d be concerned.”

Closing my eyes to try to fight back the nausea, I ground out. “Why do I feel like I’m on a tilt-a-whirl?”

“If I had to guess, it’s because pretty much every bit of Impact in your body is currently being used to build your Domain,” he shrugged. “I don’t know if you remember what your world was like before you hit a hundred points of Impact, but I can promise you that suddenly going BACK to that state is not pleasant. Not to worry, though. Once your condensation is finished, your body will regulate. Super curious though, how EXACTLY are you doing this?”

I groaned, trying to sit up. Unfortunately, Zeke was right. This wasn’t just a visual thing. My hearing was…off. And my skin felt like it was being rubbed with sandpaper. And the air tasted like dust.

“The staff,” I explained. “Apparently, it’s been consistently analyzing and deducing everything I’ve done since…” I paused, because I wasn’t actually sure. “Maybe since I got it? Anyway, apparently I’ve reached some sort of tipping point, and it’s sublimating all that information into a new groundbreaking Domain.”

I didn’t mention my incoming Path change, or the possible loss of my Doom Sovereign Skill. I still didn’t know how that would manifest. Something about the way Azazel had talked about it made me unsure I’d be LOSING too much. Something was changing, I could FEEL that already, but I wasn’t sure what.

Zeke nodded slowly. “The staff IS B-rank. Which makes it more qualified to condense a Domain than you. Normally that wouldn’t be possible, but it’s your soul weapon, and that connection can be weird. Is it almost done? You should at least be able to tell.”

Frowning, I focused internally. I tried to bring up my stat screen first, and I got a painful flare of purple flame behind my closed eyelids. That was annoying, but I was just going to wait and hope it went away. I had no idea where to even START fixing something like that. Still, once I focused, I WAS able to sense…something.

Something was changing in my soul. I couldn’t sense the library, though I COULD still sense my Tome (and the old man’s). And surrounding them was a sort of weird vortex of Impact and a bunch of other things I couldn’t really process.

I shared this with Zeke, and he nodded. “It’s condensing. Domain projection is…complicated. It has a lot in common with ranking up actually. When you rank up, energy pours into and elevates your soul and then it overflows out and into the rest of you. When your Domain condenses, all your Impact pours into your soul, sublimates, and then overflows. It carries out into the world around you, essentially expanding your personal reality to the nearby space.”

Of course, he was simplifying things for me. I knew there were other factors, like the Void was involved somehow, or would be eventually.

“Anyway, once the sublimation is done, and it’s finished condensing, then you can project it.” He looked intrigued. “Normally you would KNOW what was going to happen at that point, because you’d have been the one doing the condensing and would know exactly what was coming out. This should be interesting for all of us though.”

So we waited, and slowly, I got acclimated to my new condition. I knew it was temporary, but NOT feeling like I was on a high speed carnival ride that never ended was still nice.

Finally, I felt something at the core of my being shift. I let out a long breath as the Impact flooded back into my body, carrying something…new. It stopped at my skin, but I could feel it straining at the edges of me, like I was a water balloon straining just before it popped. “I think it’s done,” I said cautiously. “So what do I do now?”

Zeke hummed contemplatively. “You should feel it trying to project. The Domain is formed. It WANTS to manifest. All you have to do is let it out. That is, if you’re ready.”

I closed my eyes again, readying myself for whatever was about to happen. Then, I allowed my Domain to project out of me. The pressure building up under my skin dissipated, and something deep at the core of my soul expanded, pressing my conscious, my sense of self, out into the world. It was like I stopped being a single person in a single place and became a huge dome of space, miles across. The world shifted, and all around us, things changed. 

We were standing in a black and blasted plain of basalt. Between the stones, magma bubbled and spat, heat rolling over the barren hellscape. I turned slowly, taking everything in, until finally, I stopped, staring at something…else.

An imperial palace. A huge edifice of grey marble the size of a small city. My Domain was weirdly large. Bethy’s wasn’t this big. But then again, she had been given a seed of her father’s Domain to use, and his was also smaller. I turned to look at Zeke. “Is this…too big? Lark’s is smaller. Should mine be small?”

He shook his head. “Not how it works. Different Domains do different things. Lark’s is mainly for containment. Being small makes it easier to keep track of prisoners. This one though, I’m not sure what it’s for. We should go check out that palace.”

I nodded, and Callie stepped up next to me, hand lacing with mine. She wasn’t worried anymore, just curious, and I couldn’t blame her. I was curious too.

We headed through the scorched plains, eventually arriving at the palace. When we got there, I expected to have to push open the huge doors, but to my surprise, I didn’t. The door opened on its own. As I stepped inside, I was greeted by a familiar face. Which was, well, my own. Technically. But with a goatee. “Azazel,” I greeted my final pseudo-Domain. “Guess I really did see you soon.”

He bowed at the waist. “I bid greetings to his majesty, Solomon the Demonbinder. Welcome, your grace.”

“That’s new,” I said dryly. “You were a lot less formal last time.”

“I was a lot less real last time,” he said as he stood up. “We all were. But you’ve ameliorated that particular issue, so it behooves me to act in a manner befitting the shepherd of these wayward sinners. As your last manifestation, I am to be your guide to this, your infernal court. Welcome, your majesty, to Gehenna.”

He turned and gestured us through the doors and into a wide amphitheater. It didn’t look like an entry hall, so I suspected that the door didn’t always lead directly here. But I was a bit distracted by what he’d said, and what I was seeing.

Because the entire amphitheater was filled to the brim with PEOPLE. Strange people. Some of them looked mostly human, with only an odd feature or two. Some of them had familiar strange and unearthly features like flaming hair and horns. Features I recognized.

Mephistopheles. And Agares, and Mornax. And Sammael. Some of them were forms, some pseudo-Domains, and some, I was fairly certain were just skills. Or techniques. But what struck me was the NUMBER. “Seventy two,” I said softly. “Seventy two members of the Ars Goetia. This was why I needed just a few more.”

“Members of the court of Gehenna,” Azazel corrected me. “Due to its synchronization with the legend of your predecessor, the number seventy two was selected as the optimal configuration for the court, but you are not Solomon. At least, not the Solomon who came before. As your uncle has taken the mantle of Janus, so too have you stepped into the shoes of a legendary figure.”

I barely even heard him. I was bust counting. Guitar, Piano, First Aid. All Skills I possessed but never used anymore. When I located them, sure enough, the beings representing them were…weak. They felt like G-rankers or something. I turned to raise an eyebrow at Azazel. “What’s with them?”

He shrugged. “Unused potential. Demons in Gehenna aren’t Skills or Techniques anymore. They’re beings. Rather than having ranks, demons have tiers. Those are low tier mostly. One and two. Of course, they can get stronger, and will over time.”

Zeke’s head snapped up. “They can WHAT?” he said harshly.

“They can get stronger,” Azazel said calmly. “We all can. As living beings, and ones with histories and personalities synthesized by the reincarnation tree, we can learn and grow, and the Skills and Techniques we represent grow alongside us.”

That brought me up short. “Wait…my Skills improve THEMSELVES?” I asked in disbelief. “Like, even if I do nothing?” I followed that concept to its logical conclusion and the blood drained out of my face. “You said they’re not confined by my rank anymore. You told me that during our meeting. That my Skills could continue to grow. That wasn’t just about normal rank up mechanics for Skills. That was about TIers right? Like you’re tier…what? Seven?” He nodded. “So you could break through to Legendary, or rather Tier Eight, and my own rank wouldn’t mean anything.”

He nodded, and Callie looked confused. “I don’t get the big deal.” She smiled apologetically at Azazel. “No offense, self training skills are great, I’m sure. It solves a lot of problems for Shane, but why is that so important.”

“Because they aren’t SKILLS,” Zeke said quietly. “They’re DEMONS. Physical creatures. Living breathing entities native to this Domain. Which is STUPIDLY rare on its own, but does happen. But entities have limits. They grow slowly, or with renown. It takes resources, time, fame. Skills just improve with repetition, with knowledge. These demons are embodiments of Skills and Techniques. Which means they grow the same way.”

I swallowed hard as I said aloud the thought that had only just occurred to me. “And Skills don’t have limits. Or requirements like Chronicles or Sagas. Skills can continue to grow without limits. Which means if all of my demons keep getting stronger…:

Callie’s jaw dropped as the logical conclusion we’d all reached hit her like a train. “They could keep growing to S-rank. Or higher. If they keep growing with no bottlenecks, someday, you might have seventy two GODS inside of your soul.” As she spoke, the words echoed in the huge chamber, bouncing off the walls and reverberating through the space like a divine edict. Azazel had been right. My Domain was something no one had ever seen before. And I wasn’t sure if I was thrilled or terrified.