Wish upon the Stars chapter 1011

After I woke up, I did my usual daily stockpiling of scrolls and then went to find Crell. He’d caught a few hours, but managed to read through a huge chunk of the charter, including the necessary sections. The fact that he hadn’t managed to finish it demonstrated exactly how densely the damn thing had been encrypted.

I picked up one of the black books, opening the stone cover carelessly and flipping the thin slate pages quickly as I perused one at random. Books that could be used for this weren’t exactly growing on trees, especially not so many, so I’d just decided to use Agares to construct them as I went. My clones had engraved the words onto the pages directly, which had been simple enough to manage, and then we’d stashed them back in my ring as they were finished.

Five hundred thousand books was a lot, but luckily, I had a lot of material to work with. The tunnels of rock and dirt I’d scoured in the heirworld had filled my spatial ring with nearly endless piles of materials for Agares to work with, and while I was now almost out, unfortunately, it had at least been enough for this particular task. Honestly, the books were starting to fill up my ring, but luckily the tomes themselves were MUCH smaller than the rocks I’d made them from, so I still had some space to work with.

As I flipped the pages, I studied the engravings. Dull green flames licked the insides of the carved lines, illuminating the information in the books even in darkness. Technically the fire was toxic, but I hadn’t really prioritized that aspect of Agares in a long time, and it wasn’t a danger to a B-ranker. Or to me for that matter. I made a mental note to hit the books with Zagan before I let any of my friends read them though, if they showed any interest.

“So, how are you feeling, you ready for this?” I asked as I slammed the book shut with a snap. The slate pages were sturdier than they looked, and while I COULD easily break them, casual handling was unlikely to do much damage.

“Ready as I can be,” he shrugged. Double checking my armor, I nodded and we left the suite. I knew Zeke would be following behind, but he didn’t appear or interrupt. I guess he wanted me to have some time with my lawyer. Speaking of which, I wasn’t sure how this whole ‘opening statement’ thing even worked.

“So…what are we doing during this?” I asked as we walked towards the council chamber. “Because I already told them everything that happened. So do they want us to just repeat that or…?”

He shook his head. “Opening statements aren’t about establishing facts, they’re about establishing credibility. Remember, the tribunal is basing this off your suitability as a candidate, at least partly. You don’t just need to prove you’re innocent, you need to prove you’re right for the job. Then they’ll DECLARE you innocent. Whether you are or not.”

“What, so it’s just one big popularity contest?” I asked with not a little bit of frustration.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “You DO understand how ridiculous of a complaint that is coming from you, right? Like…any Ascendant, really, but especially you.”

“Point,” I admitted with a grimace. Cultivation was ALL a popularity contest. “So I just, what? Talk a big game? Make him look useless? I’m still not sure what exactly I’m supposed to be trying to accomplish here.” 

He chuckled. “First will be the reading of the endorsements,” he clarified. “That part is…kind of a game, honestly. Basically, you state your endorsements, and then he states his. He can choose to challenge yours, and if anyone you listed chooses NOT to endorse you, it deals a huge blow to your case. Same with him. Basically, it’s a game of political chicken. You can claim endorsement from anyone under the sun, but the higher up they are the more likely you get called on it.”

“Then can’t he just call me on every name and hope he gets lucky?” I asked with concern. Not that I was planning to use any names I wasn’t sure of, I had plenty of friends even among the high rankers. But still, there was a lot of room for abuse. And if one of my sure things decided not to back me, it could seriously damage my case.

“Nope,” he said with a wry grin. “Because it’s meant to illustrate good judgement as well as connections. If he challenges you on an endorsement and it turns out to be reliable, HE takes as much damage to his reputation and standing in the case as you take if he catches you in a lie. Which makes every challenge as risky as calling an endorsement to begin with. Of course, you can challenge HIS endorsements too, but as the one doing the accusing, he’s less likely to take the risk.”

I knew that the point of this was to flex the power and connections of the potential Wishmaster, and that it was supposed to be a layup for me to set a good tone. There was a reason that no one in my position had ever lost a challenge. But I was pretty sure THIS time wouldn’t go so smoothly.

We arrived at the door to the council chamber sooner than I’d have liked. I closed my eyes, calling Sammael into my body and relaxing as my wings spread behind me. I just felt more secure with all the extra power. Not that it would help if shit broke bad, but it gave me confidence, and that was no small thing in this kind of situation. Pushing the door open, we followed the catwalk we’d taken before to the platform overlooked by the towering chairs.

This time, we weren’t alone. Devon stood beside me, his mother behind him with a cold, peaceful look on her face. Apparently she was his legal representative. I didn’t know if that was good or bad.

On the one hand, she might curb some of his dumber stunts, but if he LOST he’d be executed via soul destruction, and there’s no way she’d risk that, so she was damned motivated to win this. Joy. I faced the council. “You have been summoned,” Desmond boomed. “For a matter of propriety. Your character must be entered into the record, and then you will state your case. Do you both accept the necessity of these proceedings?”

“I do,” we both said in unison. Devon turned to glare at me, but I ignored him. He wasn’t worth the attention at the moment. I had bigger fish.

Nodding, Desmond turned to me. “As the defendant, you may be the first to declare your endorsements. You understand the rules of this phase of the process?” I nodded, and he smiled slightly, looking pleased. “Very well, you may begin.”

“I claim endorsement by Celia and Nicholas Anders, S-rankers of the Church of the Red Revenant, Elijah Wyndham and Sasha Anders-Wyndham, Ezekiel Cavendish-” I listed a bunch of people I trusted. Sebastian, Fade, Alanna, Killian, all people I knew would support me if I claimed endorsement. When I got to the end of my list, I hesitated. I didn’t claim any gods. While I was reasonably sure the ones in my family would support me, they were far too unpredictable. The only god I was SURE would back me was Atlas, and I didn’t even know if he counted, seeing as he was dead. But there WAS one big fish I could call on. “I claim endorsement from Morgan Lark.”

Devon’s head snapped over to glare at me. “Objection!” he snarled. “I challenge! You’re a liar! There’s no way trash like you has the Vampire’s support!”

Desmond frowned, but nodded. “Challenge has been given. Satisfaction must be provided. Summon the character witness.” His voice was austere and regal, as impartial and implacable as a moving glacier…and nothing happened. He turned to glare at the other councilors. “I SAID summon the character witness!”

“But like…do we have to?” Warren asked. It was only the three former Wishmasters here, and Warren was the youngest. “He really doesn’t like to be disturbed. Like I’m not scared of him,” he hurriedly insisted. “But also, I’m kind of scared of him. Last time someone in the WCP pissed him off was Felix. Do you remember what HAPPENED to Felix?”

“No one ever proved that was him,” said Cristoph patiently. “Or even that anything happened at all.”

Warren glared at him. “I heard him SCREAM. We all heard him scream. For WEEKS. He kept begging us for help!”

“Yes, but it might have been a prank. We never even found him.” Cristoph dismissed.

“THAT WAS WORSE!” shouted Warren. “We looked EVERYWHERE. We used WISHES! We didn’t even find a body!”

Desmond sighed. “I’ll do it,” he said impatiently. Standing, he reached into his robe and pulled out a scroll. Breaking the seal with his thumb, he tossed it into the air. The world pulsed as it unfurled, and I realized that this scroll was WAY stronger than one of mine. I suspected this came from an actual council member. 

He muttered a few words, and the scroll in front of him sparked with purple flame and then exploded. A column of fire shot into the air, and within moments it condensed into a familiar figure.

Morgan Lark, the strongest S-ranker in the universe, the unstoppable beast of blood who had battled a young god to a standstill from below the divine threshold, stared down at the chamber.

Lark was terrifying. This was a man who could fight S-rankers ten to one, could pin down a hundred enemy combatants his own rank with his Domain, and barely break a sweat. “Desmond,” he said mildly. “I was about to have breakfast. You’d better have a good reason for this.”

He nodded. “Apologies, Morgan, we called you for a matter of great importance. Our fledgling Wishmaster is on trial, accused of falsifying his succession war results and colluding with the Void. He has named you as an endorsement, and has been challenged.”

“Hmm?” Lark said with interest. He turned to glance at me, and I felt my blood all freeze in my veins at even a distant simulacrum of a look from him. This felt…different than last time. Whether because he wasn’t holding back or because I was now powerful enough to perceive this kind of pressure, I had no idea, but this didn’t feel the same as last time I’d met him.

“Hi Bethy’s dad,” I said cheerfully, forcing myself to wave. “Sorry to interrupt your morning.”

He stared at me. Hard. For a minute. Then two. Then threw his head back and burst out laughing. “I can see Elijah in your bearing, at least a little, but the attitude is pure Nicholas. I heard you gave my baby girl her first real job? Not sure you thought that through all the way, but I appreciate the sentiment. Bethany never has anything but good stories to tell when she calls home about her adventures with you.” He glanced at Desmond. “He has my endorsement. Don’t call me again.”

Then the flames just…went out. Desmond frowned, and I got the impression that hadn’t been supposed to happen. I was pretty sure he’d thought he was going to have to dismiss the projection. I sympathized. Morgan might be less effervescent, but he was every bit as frustrating as his daughter.

Speaking of whom, I owed Bethy a thank you. Her good stories about us to her dad had probably just saved my ass. Or at least, delayed its descent into the fire. They had NOT been so fortunate for Devon, however. I turned to see my cousin’s face shift to a deep crimson. Before he could speak though, Desmond just shook his head. “You have accused and been refuted. I impose upon you, the first sanction.” Above Devon, a phantom image of a stamp with a familiar skull and lamp design manifested, and before my cousin could object, it slammed down, crushing him into the platform. I turned to glare at Crell, who looked just as shocked as I was. Apparently that had been covered in a LATER section of the charter. We really needed to finish that thing after this statement.