Wish upon the Stars chapter 1013

The trip to the Back Palace was surprisingly fast, but it was also kind of weird. We headed out into the hallways, making our way down into the underlayer, and then along the underlayer until we reached a large sort of enclosed tunnel. The tunnel was kind of a half roof over a descending stairway, and when we walked down it, we emerged into a large sort of domed atrium.

Aside from being vast, the whole place felt kind of empty. Most of it was tile, with an overhanging walkway of weirdly compressed grey carpet and glass sided metal railings looking out over a long, narrow walkway. Or rather, two walkways, each lined with small carpeted seating areas. The seating areas had letters and numbers over them, and they seemed to be connected  to a variety of special archways with labels above them.

In the center of the walkways, a single long strip of black rubber in the shape of an aisle rotated consistently, with black rubber hand rails on either said atop sturdy metallic siding. One of those mobile walkways.

“Where the hell ARE we?” I asked with immense confusion.

“The Terminal,” my mom said cheerfully. “You know how the Wishworld connects to all those points in space? Like the gate we came through. Well, the terminal is how you access them. When coming INTO the Wishworld you have to come in through an entry point, but leaving you can access them all through the terminal.”

That was complicated, but honestly pretty smart. Giving outsiders access to the core of the Wishworld would have been stupid, but allowing our own people to traverse most of the known universe in much shorter periods of time was brilliant. I marveled at the spatial engineering it must have taken. “So one of these leads to the Back Palace?” I asked as we descended from the overhanging walkway.

“No, that’s at the end of the moving path,” she gestured to the rubber walkway. “The Terminal also connects most places inside the Wishworld. You just need to know where to get off the path.”

Sure enough, there were a series of small gates in the railing of the rubber path, each corresponding to either a sitting area or one of the open hallways that led off seemingly deeper into the Terminal. I blinked around the place. It felt…sterile. Alien. Unwelcoming. “The old man’s aesthetic taste isn’t exactly warm and homey,” I observed.

“No, but it is efficient,” my dad said with a shrug. “The old man doesn’t worry about homey. He just wants efficiency. The Terminal is pretty much perfectly designed for him. Now everyone hop on, we have a ways to go before we hit the right hallway to access the Back Palace.”

I nodded along, but I was already imagining the scene we were heading toward. I had no idea what a Sword Dance Symposium would be like, BUT I had a swordmaster on hand. I turned to Fade. “So, what exactly is the Sword Dance Symposium about?”

“Swords,” he said with a smirk. At my unamused look, he rolled his eyes. “Ok. Well, the blade is infinite. It contains endless mysteries, and any technique can be a sword technique if you have the imagination. But there are a certain number of major categories that most sword techniques fall into.”

I wasn’t familiar with any categorization, but it sounded interesting, especially since Callie was following a sword path with Gossamer now. “Such as?”

“Well, about ninety percent of all swordmasters fall into the first category,” he said contemplatively. “I call that one ‘cut anything’. It’s what it says on the tin. The pursuit of raw severing power. It’s the most brute force and simplistic of the sword categories, but it’s also the most accessible. People in this category just want to split things in two. Metal, people, planets. All sword paths can lead to the peak, and that one can be as deadly as anything. The Moonlight Pope pursues that path. He swings his sword and the world parts.

“The second category is what I like to call ‘cut nothing’,” he continued. “Now, this obviously isn’t an inability to cut, but rather the ability to exercise a choice. Swinging your sword at something doesn’t mean you want to sever it. Masters on this path can pass through objects without actually cutting them, and it lets you do things like bypassing armor. Most sword nurturers are also in this category.”

He was about to move on, but paused. “To clarify, the ability to not cut something has a prerequisite of being ABLE to cut it. You can’t decide not to cut an object if you’re unable to cut through it to begin with, that’s not a choice, it’s just incompetence. So the second category is pretty intertwined with the first, it’s just a different path.”

“And the last?” I said, having a feeling he was going to stop at three. Whether a fate sense thing or just intuition I had no idea, but I was sure there was only one more.

“Cut everything,” he said with a smile. “This category focuses on mysterious techniques. The ability to sever emotions, dreams, even destiny. Being able to cut the uncuttable. It’s one of the rarest subdivisions of swordmasters.

“Of course, once you reach a high enough level they all tend to blend together,” he admitted. “All paths converge at the peak. The sword, in its ultimate form, serves the will of the wielder. It cuts what you want it to. Legends say that Sword gods can sever the firmament and ascend to higher planes with a single swing. There aren’t any left, so we can’t ask them, but considering how incredibly combat focused they are, they don’t usually go down easy, so maybe their absence is its own form of proof.”

I knew you could become a god on any Path, but that reaching divinity through a Path basically closed that Path behind you. Anyone else who tried to walk it would be competing with a literal deity for renown, and their chances were slim. I supposed sword paths were more of a broad spectrum of paths than a singular path that could be closed. After all, lots of S-rankers used swords. I was curious how it worked though, so I asked Fade.

“It’s complicated,” he admitted. “Reaching divinity through the sword happens fairly often. It’s a common weapon. But that doesn’t make you a SWORD god. Sword gods are rare, because in order to become one, you have to essentially monopolize the reputation of every swordmaster. It requires talent so absurd, skill so polished, that from the records I’ve seen, there hasn’t been a true Sword god since before the Aetherbright Empire.”

“That’s not entirely based on talent requirements,” my dad added. “The Sword Path is difficult and time consuming. It’s very basic, which means it has extremely high limits, but it also means it’s hard to stand out. Paths that INCLUDE the sword, like he said, are common. Void swords, time swords, nightmare swords, swords of holy light, I’ve seen more sword Paths than I can count, but sticking to JUST the sword…it’s a challenge.” He raised an eyebrow at Fade. “You didn’t do it, did you?”

Fade grimaced. “No. My Path is mixed with metal control. The Hall of Steel isn’t the Hall of the Sword, for a reason. Purists have low ceilings. At least, unless they’re a lot scarier than me.”

His comment reminded me of the Spear Legion, a faction I’d met back on Callus. It seemed like they were purists like he was talking about, and I thought they might have even mentioned something about that at some point, though I didn’t remember the details. “I’m guessing the Moonlight Pope isn’t a purist either?” I asked, hoping to make my bodyguard feel better.

“Nope,” my mom said immediately. “Uncle Moon’s Path is the sharpness of the waxing crescent. He embodies the moon cutting the sky as it reaches its apex. It’s a cleaner Path than most, honestly. By the time people hit A-rank, Path’s tend to be muddled. That’s part of why people Author Chronicles. At B-rank you Bind them, and each page enhances an aspect of you Path and abilities. At A-rank you Author those pages, shaping them to more singularly focus on your chosen Path. Uncle Moon has managed a level of refinement in his Saga that most people don’t manage. That means he can…” she trailed off, glancing at me. “Nevermind, don’t want to get into that right now. You’ll find out about it later.”

I grimaced, but understood. My parents and Zeke sometimes declined to bring up aspects of cultivation, not because they didn’t want to share, but because focusing on things too early could result in mistakes. Like my early presumption that Domains were powerful and should be acquired early on. That was TECHNICALLY true, but getting a Domain without a Chronicle could cripple or even kill you. Accepting a Domain seed from someone else could bypass that issue, but there were all sorts of rules for that, or you might end up locking yourself behind a Path that was already occupied. Bethy was the only person I knew who had managed it successfully, and that was because Morgan Lark had violently murdered pretty much every person on the Path of the Vampire aside from his own family.

Fade looked intrigued, but he forced himself to focus. “Anyway, the Sword Dance Symposium caters to all three categories. Everyone can learn something at an event like this. And the Moonlight Pope being in attendance means we might get to see him unleash his Path. Any technique demonstration from someone like him is bound to be great inspiration.”

“Isn’t that dangerous though?” I asked. “Like what if his Path is so awe inspiring it changes how you think about the sword and your own Path becomes a derivative of his?”

“Less of an issue with the sword,” he assured me. “Swordmasters are all obsessed maniacs. Plus like I said, it all mostly leads to the same place. Regardless, there’s always more to learn, and being able to make it your own is a prerequisite of any Path or Skill. Any high ranking Ascendant can knock you off the Path if you don’t have a solid mindset, doesn’t matter what weapon they use.”

That…was a good point. My own Path was so weird and off beat that it was nearly impossible to derail me. I could incorporate almost any concept and keep my core direction intact. It was one of the major strengths of DS Mastery and the resulting Solid Path, in my opinion.

So I was looking forward to learning more and applying it to my current power system. I was looking forward to whatever big change I could feel coming, and adding in some crazy overpowered sword mastery technique wasn’t out of the question if something caught my eye at the Symposium.

“Well, enough talking about it,” my dad chuckled as he pushed against the rail, sliding open a gate and stepping out onto the tile. We followed him out and he led us down a long tiled hallway. “You can experience the event in person. Because we’re here.” As we emerged from the hallway, he held out a hand, gesturing to take in the huge fairground covered in straw and orange yellow leaves.

I stared in awe as I processed it all myself. Swords were everywhere. People were juggling them, carving with them, sculpting them from ice, throwing them, riding them, swallowing them, BREATHING them like sword dragons. If you could imagine something to do with a sword, someone here was doing it.

Fade was mesmerized, and I didn’t blame him. It was a shocking sight. Callie stepped up next to me, eyes gleaming, and I grinned as I felt how exhilarated she was. She had a lot to learn here too. Maybe I could ask my mom’s Uncle Moon to give her lessons. After Aiden of course. By the time I got back from the Void, Callie was going to be even more terrifying than she was now. I couldn’t wait.