Wish upon the Stars chapter 1017

The invasion ended with a whimper, not a bang, and it put my teeth on edge. Something had happened here, something I hadn’t seen yet, and we were all missing it. The timing of the attack was too coincidental, too perfectly staged. The Void invasion striking when the old man would be distracted by the Vanished Gods was obviously intentional.

But I just couldn’t see the POINT. Devon’s attack implied this partially involved me and the trial, but none of it made SENSE. The Void being involved was understandable, but what where they trying to DO? Accusing me and then letting Devon fall flat on his face, then trying to kill him? Why was Devon so convinced I was guilty, and what proof could he have to offer when the proof shouldn’t even exist?

The more questions were answered the less sense this all made, and that meant I was missing something big. I had a terrible knot in my stomach insisting that something AWFUL was coming, and I had no idea what it was.

“Shane, you alright over there?” a concerned voice cut through my analysis, and I turned to see Roland looking at me worriedly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Several,” I admitted. “But they don’t worry me much. No, I’m just spiraling a bit. A lot is going on that doesn’t make sense. I feel like someone is pulling my strings. I hate the feeling of being right in the middle of something huge and not knowing which way is up. Devon…he doesn’t know what’s going on, but he has SOME kind of trump card, even if I don’t know what the hell it might be.”

He smiled at me reassuringly, clapping me on the shoulder. “Hey, don’t sweat it. I’ve got your back. I promise you, I’ll testify. Wouldn’t miss it for the world. And besides, you have a secret weapon don’t you?”

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he rolled his eyes. “Didn’t I hear you have some kind of soul connection with your wife? So she must have had a front row seat to everything. Why not have HER testify on your behalf. She was a first hand witness to all of it through you, right?” I could tell he was pretty pleased with himself for coming up with such a clever strategy, and I had to hand it to him, it was brilliant.

“Would they allow that?” I asked slowly, starting to get excited. Callie was always sensing what I was feeling, we didn’t talk consistently, but even if my own account wasn’t considered compelling (which to be fair, made sense, they couldn’t just take my word for it) her awareness of me meant there was no possible way that she could miss something like that.

He shrugged. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t. I mean, you’re being accused of Void collusion right? Isn’t her dad some sort of renegade anti-Void deity?”

“It’s complicated,” I hedged. “But yeah basically. You think that would help my case?”

“Only if they aren’t idiots,” he laughed. “Between her testimony and mine, I don’t think it matters what kind of tricks Devon is planning to play, the end result is basically a foregone conclusion.”

Laughing, I threw my arm around his shoulder. “That’s genius! Man, you’re really saving my ass here, you know? If you ever need anything, just say the word. I can’t tell you how big of a load off my mind that is.” Sure, it didn’t solve the issue of whatever was going on behind the scenes, but honestly I wasn’t going to be ABLE to solve that issue. It was out of my league.

This at least wiped away my worries about the trial. I could pass off whatever grand design this was to Zeke and my parents. As the Wishmaster, learning to delegate was a skill I’d need to pick up anyway, might as well start now.

“What’s genius?” my wife asked as she appeared next to us, folding her wings as her sword vanished. “Because Shane sometimes has weird ideas about what is and isn’t a good plan.”

I sniffed officiously. “My plans are fantastic. I’m not dead yet, am I?”

She gestured to me demonstratively, as if to say ‘You see what I’m dealing with?’, rolling her eyes at my joke, but I spotted her smiling a bit, so even without the bond I’d have known she wasn’t really bothered by how I did things.

“Anyway,” I said in a leading tone. “Roland had a great idea. Because of our bond, you can testify on my behalf in the trial.” I paused. “I mean, if you want to. I know that’s kind of a big ask, what with the Void stuff and how much attention you’ve been getting. If you aren’t comfortable with that I-”

She yanked my mask off, pulling me down for a firm kiss to shut me up, then pulled back, laughing. “You’re my HUSBAND, idiot,” she scolded. “Of COURSE I’ll testify. You didn’t even have to ask.” Her eyes softened as she laid a hand on my cheek. “But it means a lot that you did. If there’s ANYTHING I can do to help, I’m there. It’s you and me baby. Always.”

Roland was smiling at us sadly. “I have to admit I envy you two,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re a lucky man, Shane. Your wife is an amazing person. Reminds me of my own a little bit. I think what I envy most is that bond though. Maybe if Penny and I had something like that she’d still be alive. Or I wouldn’t. I think I’d prefer it that way.” He frowned at us. “Do you know what happens if one of you dies? What the bond would do?”

That brought me up short because…no. I had no idea. “I guess I’ve never considered it,” I said slowly. “I mean regular death maybe nothing, but if one of us gets out souls shattered…we’re connected pretty deeply.” I was staring at Callie with worry. “If something happens to me it might-”

“Good,” she cut me off fiercely. “Maybe you’ll be a bit more careful. Now that you know your death might mean mine, do you think you’ll be as reckless with your life?”

I exhaled loudly. “I don’t,” I admitted. “Now I’m glad I arranged those defensive shields for us. Even a god won’t be able to kill you easily. With one for each of us I don’t have to worry about anything happening to your soul in the short term, right? And vice versa.”

Roland’s eyes were wide. “Wait…defensive shields? Gods? What are you talking about now? I haven’t heard this story.”

I just laughed. “Nothing crazy. I got a wish from the old man in exchange for some information. I had him pay me with divine ranked defensive shields. They’re consumable and single use, but still, they’re a hell of an insurance policy.”

Callie and I had discussed the shields, and despite our brief consideration to keep them secret, we decided spreading it around wasn’t a bad thing. If anything, knowing they were there might keep some assholes from testing them. The reputation of divine countermeasures could be almost as good as the thing itself. Roland certainly looked poleaxed by the revelation.

I couldn’t help but be a little smug. It had been a pretty good idea in hindsight. I smirked at my wife. “And you said none of my plans are any good.”

“Well, monkeys and typewriters,” she said sweetly. “I’m sure you’ll do something to prove me right any minute now. Either way, I love you just as much, bad plans and all. I just feel the need to remind you of your flaws sometimes so you don’t get a big head.”

I snorted, but couldn’t help a smile. I could feel her concern for me. She’d picked up on my little panic spiral earlier and was doing her best to fill Benny’s shoes by poking at me to take my mind off things. She was a lot gentler about it than my best friend, but I could feel her good intentions, and sent my own reassuring emotions back, along with a heaping helping of adoration.

“Shane!” boomed a familiar but EXTREMELY loud voice. “Shane, where are you?” I turned just in time for a tall blonde form to smash into me at a speed too fast to track. I was briefly worried I’d been attacked, and seeing Callie get grabbed too didn’t ease my worry, but I quickly realized we were just being aggressively hugged. My Seal of Solomon DID creak ominously under the pressure though, and I had to croak out a protest.

“Mom, I’m fine!” I wheezed. “But you’re crushing me.”

Her grip loosened but didn’t drop. “I’m so glad you’re ok. What were you thinking running back here on your own? With the trial in full swing, anyone could have attacked you.”

I patted her on the back, letting her squeeze the life out of me a bit longer before pulling away. “I’m FINE mom. Seriously. What about you guys? Where’s dad and Zeke? The grandparents? Did anyone get hurt? What happened?”

She laughed, smoothing my hair down. “Everyone is fine,” she assured me. “As for what happened…” her face hardened. “Hatescream. And Stralthrem. They fought the old man head on. Whatever that MUCK that Hatescream was feeding in weakened him, but he burned it off quick enough. It acted almost like poison. Gods and their Domains are linked, and the liquid lamentation messed the old man up something awful. He ended up having to break out the Scroll of Wisdom.”

At my confused expression, she chuckled. “Sorry, one of his objects of power. They’re even more effective inside the Wishworld. Even with both gods working together they were no match. But he vanished pretty quickly after.” She lowered her voice, looking around furtively. “I think he might be injured.”

That was…bad. “Liquid lamentation doesn’t grow on trees,” I said slowly. “That stuff is made from tortured souls. If it affected the old man that must have been A, maybe S-rankers. Where did they GET them all?”

“My dad helped purify the tainted area,” she said hesitantly. “He said…there was something in it. Something wrong. Unnatural. He thinks it’s from the Void.”

I felt my stomach drop. That was worse. Hopefully the old man could study it and adapt. Knowing they had something that could affect a god, even if it was something that was hopefully difficult to make, was not comforting.

I informed her of what I’d discovered. My instinct to come back, saving Devon, and my suspicion that there was more going on. She frowned. “That’s…odd. I don’t understand what the Vanished Gods would gain from an alliance like that. I mean, travel through the Void is one thing, but they can’t actually expect the Void to honor any promises they make.”

“Maybe they can,” I said slowly. “Remember, the Vanished Gods want to elevate the universe, to push us up to a higher world where they won’t be limited by the six or by the constraints of realspace. If they do that, the Void might be let behind. All the noise they hate would be gone in the blink of an eye. I could see how they might be tempted to play nice. Especially if they approached someone who used to be human, and might be more reasonable.”

“Morwenna,” she said in a worried voice. “I’ll mention it to Dad and Uncle Moon, and your father can reach out to the council. It makes sense, but it’s concerning. At the very least Morwenna didn’t make an appearance here.”

I nodded slowly, but I was sure I was right. Morwenna was involved here, somehow. I just didn’t know how all of this fit together yet. With a sigh, I shook off the doom and gloom, focusing on my mom. “Anyway, I want to hear all about the battle. Tell me everything.” With a laugh, she pulled Callie and I in and dragged us off away from the others, telling us all the details. It was a pretty good story.