Wish upon the Stars chapter 986

We made our way through the bleak rocky landscape pretty easily. Not that I expected trouble with Aiden around. I was sure my grandparents were tougher, given my grandpa was a demigod, but something about having the ACTUAL Wishmaster on hand in case of trouble was, admittedly, soothing.

When we reached the edge of the rocky entry path, though, that was when the place got really interesting. The first thing we ran into was…well, mist. A lot of it. A huge wall of mist. And it was mist I recognized too. “Is that the spatial mist given off by infinity crystal?”

He waggled a hand. “It’s similar. I erected the mist myself. Well, actually it’s closer to an ash cloud than mist. But that means I can do this.” He waved a hand and the mist (or smoke I guess?) shifted slightly, forming a small tunnel. “After you,” he nodded to us. We all trekked inside, and when we emerged from the other end of the cloud, we all came up short.

“Ok, now THIS is what I call a godworld,” I said approvingly. “This is…beautiful. How big is this place?”

Wishworld was, in a word, paradise. I couldn’t even figure out why at first. It was just a world. Trees, grass, clouds, mountains. It looked mostly normal, just better. I had to stare for a minute or two before it really clicked though. Colors. And shape. They just felt…more. Like every tree, leaf, and flower was just…idealized. Perfect. They weren’t the same, exactly, but they were all more…them than they should have been.

Aiden nodded. “It’s always jarring the first time. And this isn’t even the actual Wishworld. This is the outskirts. The whole place is built in layers, kind of. Anyway, this was the old man’s pet project for a few millennia apparently. He was obsessed with the theory of forms and its possible application in formation building. Which, by the way, this whole world is. Not that you’ll see it at your level.”

“What’s the theory of forms?” I asked him as I looked around. “And what does it have to do with…this?” I gestured to all of it.

“You ever seen a lamp?” He asked dryly.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I’ve seen a lamp,” I said in annoyance. “What kind of question is that?”

“The important kind,” he said solemnly. “Just answer when I ask something. You’ve seen a lamp? Nod if yes.” I nodded. “You’ve seen more than one lamp?” Another nod. “Ok, were they different?” Again, I confirmed. “Perfect. So if those lamps weren’t the same as each other, how do you know they were lamps? How do you know any lamp you see is a lamp? Lamps can vary wildly. The range of what is and isn’t a lamp is pretty vague. So how do you look at some strange, barely functional experimental lamp and just KNOW it’s a lamp?”

I paused. “I mean…there are specifications, I guess?”

“Are there?” he asked archly. “What makes a lamp? Is it a stand with a bulb? But what if it has two bulbs, does it stop being a lamp? What if there’s no bulb at all? What if it’s an oil lamp? What about old style lamps like the one on the WCP logo? Those are all lamps, but they don’t have the specifications you mentioned. When you saw that lamp outside, did you know what it was?” 

I frowned. “I mean…yeah. I guess I did.”

“Theory of forms,” he said again. “The idea that all objects of a certain type have an archetype. A primal version of that object that is THE definition of what it means to be that thing. Somewhere out there is a lamp from which all other lamps are modeled. The ultimate lamp. The pinnacle of all lampness.”

I looked around in awe. “So these are all archetypal trees? But there’s so many of them.”

“They’re not,” he admitted. “But they’re based on the concept. The old man decided that if there’s an archetype that shares features with all derivates, that you should be able to reverse engineer something that might not be PINNACLE of form, but approaches it. Deducing the traits of lamps until you could make lamps that are like…ninety percent more lampy than normal lamps. He spent centuries on it. Studying various trees, lakes, grasses, all trying to create evolved forms. Not perfect, just…better.”

My dad hummed. “I think this came from the concept of the library. And I THINK it’s where he got the idea to perfect the Wish power to create the three times multiplier. Evolving his own ability until it became its most perfect form. Or close enough.”

“So Wish…it’s the Archetype? The original ability?” I asked in wonder. “Or at least, the old man’s attempt at creating it?”

Aiden nodded. “That’s what I always suspected. Iteration after iteration, he refined it until it was as perfect as it could get. That’s why changing it at all ruins it. It’s his life’s work. Or at least, it was MOST of his life’s work. It was complete in its present form a while ago. It makes you wonder what he’s working on now? Is he still tinkering? Or did he accept it was as good as it would get and move on?”

“He’s not the type to accept limits,” my dad snorted. “If he hit a wall, he’s not done. Just biding his time.”

They shared a wry smile and a nod, then looked back out into the paradisical world. “You said this isn’t the REAL Wishworld,” I commented. “Where is it? Where are we going?”

He nodded up, pointing into the sky. “The Wishworld connects to a lot of places. The core of the world needs to be central, and because of the shaping it tends to warp and twist at the edges. Best central spot is up there.”

I hadn’t noticed it because of the clouds. It sat on them, floating innocuously. But I noticed something odd. There was no shadow. Actually, come to think of it, nothing here had shadows. There wasn’t even a sun. The light was just kind of omnipresent. But the building he pointed out, once I saw it I couldn’t unsee it.

Black. Not like black as night, or even the void of space. Black as the soul at your lowest point. Black enough that not only did it eat the light, the light nearby that it DIDN’T eat seemed dimmer from proximity.

The building was massive, too large to comprehend it properly, and once I saw it I wondered how I could have ever missed it. But I had. And now I couldn’t see anything else.

“That,” Aiden said with a grin. “Is where we’re going. The core of this world. Or at least the place where the core is kept. THAT is the Wish Curse Palace.” He said the words with such emphasis and weight that I knew he wasn’t talking about the faction. This wasn’t a headquarters. The Wish Curse Palace wasn’t just a group. It was a place. This place. The REAL WCP. And seeing it like this, I had no idea how I could have ever assumed anything else. Because I couldn’t imagine not knowing that this was the real deal.

My wife was gaping up at it. “Wait…the Wish Curse Palace is a LITERAL Palace? I thought it was just one of those noun verb noun organization names everyone seems to be so fond of for some reason.”

Bethy was gaping up at it. “That is SO cool. How do we get up there? Do we have to climb a rope? Did you bring a grappling hook?”

“Bethy, you realize like half of us have wings, right?” I asked her dryly.

She raised an eyebrow at me. “You can’t fly up to a giant spooky castle, Shane. There’s probably gargoyles protecting it or something.”

“Lightning elementals, actually,” Aiden said. “But yeah, aerial approach is a bad idea. I told you, this whole world is a formation. Trying to forcibly go anywhere you aren’t cleared to access is a very poor decision. If you want to access the Palace, you need an invitation.” He gestured grandly up at the colossal building. “So please, come on in.”

There was a shift in the air, and the ambient light brightened, and for brighter, and brighter, and brighter, until it reached critical mass and exploded into a shower of golden sparks that shot up towards the Palace, leaving behind a seven colored trail of light that slowly built itself along the route to the clouds the palace sat on as it shot up into the sky. Bethy gaped at it. “Is that…a rainbow?”

“Of course,” he said proudly. “The rainbow path is the only way to connect the ground and sky and enter the palace. It’s part of the formation, so it bypasses the defenses.” He stepped forward, feet touching down on the rainbow light, and it rippled under his foot like water around a dropped stone. Despite that, his foot found purchase easily and he stepped up onto the path. “Stick close, though. The defenses won’t touch anyone on the path, but Wishworld has been around a long time. There are a few things up there that aren’t part of the formation.”

My dad snorted. “Oh gods, I forgot about cousin Jessica’s birds. They’re still alive?”

“Yes,” Aiden said shortly. “And they’re much bigger now. Plus they had hatchlings. Those fucking scavengers are deadly. I still don’t know what Jess was thinking. What convinced her that something named a ‘Scythian Torment Vulture’ would make a good pet?”

Dad shrugged. “She was always a little odd. Had a penchant for darker wishes. Remember the zombie mountain?”

“Ugh,” Aiden said in disgust. “It took so long to kill it. Didn’t help they kept burying people up there. You’d think after the third legion rose back up they would have figured it out. I mean, really, she didn’t call it a zombiFYING mountain. I still say they had no clue what they were doing. They got lucky with that forest fire.”

I just shook my head as we followed behind them, letting them chat. “You good?” I asked Callie as we fell behind and let everyone else get some distance. “This place is wild.”

She grinned at me. “I think maybe you’re projecting a bit, love. I’m fine, how bout you.”

“I…might be a little nervous,” I admitted sheepishly. No matter how many gods I meet it never stops being crazy, but even beyond that…this is the one who started it all. The guy my bloodline comes from.”

“He’ll love you,” she said casually. “Or he’s an asshole and you should ignore him.” She shot me a wild grin before saying semi jokingly. “If he’s mean to you I’ll have my dad beat him up.” I could tell that she didn’t mean it (Atlas was dead anyway), but still loved being able to say it. I just laughed and put an arm around her, leaning down for a kiss.

When we reached the top, Aiden led us to a large black door in the wall. A snap of his fingers opened it, and he whistled once. In front of us, a new figure appeared, some kind of tiny imp. It looked like a demonic baby almost, but meaner. It had horns and dark blue skin and sharp fangs so packed into its mouth it couldn’t close. “Darius,” Aiden said dismissively. “Bring them to their rooms. They’ll be staying close together. I have to escort the kid to see the big man.”

The imp bowed, then gestured to everyone else. I turned to my friends and family. “Alright all. Get settled in and I’ll catch up with you soon. I have a meeting to get to. Wish me luck.” And with that, I turned away and followed Aiden off into the dark hallway. I hoped I’d been telling the truth just then, and that I’d be back soon. Or at all. Oh hey, my paranoia was back. Fun.