Wish upon the Stars chapter 978

Dinner with Ariel was really nice. She was an extremely warm and welcoming person, and Holly and Serah both adored her. But despite that, throughout the entire meal, I couldn’t help but notice Callie was…distant. I’d expected after contributing her flicker to the flames of eternity she’d be excited or energized. Instead she seemed mostly out of it. Isaac, once we finished eating, offered us a room at the tower, and we accepted, so after we finished eating we headed out for a tour, and spent the rest of the day ooh’ing and aah’ing over the various amazing angel amenities.

When we were finally ready to go to sleep, we headed down to our room, and once we were inside, I went ahead and triggered Murmur, boosted to B-rank by my staff. Once we were as secure as we could get, I turned to her with an expectant smile as I pulled off my mask.

She pouted at me. “What?”

“You seem off,” I told her bluntly. “Ever since our meal with Ariel. Or rather, since we saw the flames of eternity.”

Her face twisted into unhappiness. “It’s not going to be enough,” she finally said. “I mean, I’ve been excited about all the power. The weapon. The legacy. It’s all pretty amazing. But it’s all about the Void. During the war that’ll be huge, but after? When we become gods I’m going to be totally pidgeonholed. You’re so damned versatile and I’m this one trick pony. And it’s not even my trick.”

Walking over, I flopped down on the bed next to her. “Ok. So…fix it. You’ve got the tools to do anything you want. So, what is that? New move? New path? Hell you could build a new skill from the ground up. Want to wish for something as a baseline?”

“No,” she said firmly. “I don’t. I’m already…I have my path. I know where I’m going. I just…I need to do more with it.”

I didn’t speak. She seemed like she was onto something, and I didn’t want to knock her off the scent. I knew that expression, that moment of inspiration that was slowly dawning. It was the same one I’d seen on her face back when we’d first left Callus, when she’d stared out into the Abyss and it had stared right back.

She held up her hand, and an orb of fire flickered to life. Blue black flames just like she always used. She stared into them, searching. Then she shook her head and closed her eyes, letting the fire go out.

I raised a brow, but knowing where she was going, I decided to follow. I wanted to see where this went.

Between one blink and the next, we were standing in her temple. It looked mostly the same. Big, empty, kind of dark. She strode past the pews, the stained glass, all the way up to the altar where her sword hung suspended. Gossamer. She grabbed it, then tossed it over onto a nearby bench as she raised both hands, conjuring a roaring bonfire of black and blue flame on the altar itself.

Walking over, I sat down at the nearest pew, looking on with interest as she circled the flame. “You have a plan here?” I asked casually. “Not to rush you, just kind of interested in where your head is at.”

“I have a few,” she said slowly. “My first idea is atavism. This flame used to be the flame of the void, right? Like he added to it to make the Heretic Fire. So what if I do…this,” she turned and grabbed Gossamer, and then just started hacking away at the fire. It took me a second to figure out her objective, but I watched with interest as she tried to…I guess cut away the blue parts.

I was pretty sure that wasn’t how atavism worked, but she was on the scent, so I just waited. Ten minutes. Twenty. She was standing in front of the fire, flickers of blue flame littering the ground, her face soaked with sweat.

“This isn’t working,” she said angrily. She slammed her blade into the ground, then stalked away, pacing unhappily. “Damn it. I need to think. I thought being in my soul space with the sword would let me brute force it. But I need to try something more…esoteric.” She walked back to the altar, reached down, and picked up the bonfire.

It floated above her hands, molding into a sphere, and she carried it gingerly into the center of the church, then held it up above her head. Slowly, carefully, she pulled apart the hands cradling the flame, and as she did, it grew.

Or rather, it stretched. As she pulled her hands further apart, the orb got thinner and more diffuse, expanding until I could see through the space between the tongues of flame. When it reached its largest form (about the size of a small shuttle), she stopped and stared up at it. Then she condensed it back down.

She pushed smaller and smaller, until it was about the size of a pinpoint. Then slowly expanded it back out. Small, big, small, big, she kept expanding and contracting it, gathering speed as she did.

It took me a second to figure out what she was trying, but once I did I blinked in surprise. The fire wasn’t…cohesive. I mean it was, but it was still distinct. The blue and black parts of the flame didn’t MOVE the same. The faster she expanded and contracted it, the more the two flames began to become distinct. Blue fire, black fire, they were slowly separating…until finally she snapped out a hand and closed it around a spark of black, letting the whole thing go out around her.

Panting, she held up her palm, opening it up to reveal…a butterfly. A very small, very black butterfly made of onyx flame. She stared at it for a moment…then rolled her eyes and blew on it, letting it just go out like a candle.

She slumped down into the nearest seat. “What was that about?” I asked her gently. “You got it.”

“It wasn’t right,” she said morosely. “Conversion rate was absurd, and it just felt…stilted. Hollow. It WAS the fire of the Void, but I realized I didn’t want that.”

I shrugged. “I mean, you have a research direction at least, right? You don’t need to fix it today.”

She shook her head. “You don’t get it. I’m basically helpless right now. Against any normal person I’ve got nothing. I mean, my sword I guess, but that’s just a weapon, and I still need more training. My work with Alanna and Fade has really slowed down. I need something new. Need to innovate. I didn’t realize until I was forced to face the possibility of a bunch of angels just like me how…unprepared I am. How specialized. I haven’t been this helpless since I first got my powers. At least with shadows…”

She froze. Her eyes, previously flickering with frustration and annoyance, narrowed. “Shadows,” she said slowly, coming to her feet. “Shadows. Shadows on the wall. What kind of shadow does darkness cast?”

Hurrying back to the altar, she manifested the flame again, leaving it to flicker and dance. She snatched up the sword and…stabbed it into her feet.

I yelped, coming to my feet to stop her, but she ignored me. I forced myself to calm down, to trust her, as she slowly and methodically sawed at the ground around her shoes. One foot, then the other. Then, both of her hands cloaked in blue black fire, she leaned down and shoved them INTO the ground at her feet.

She pulled. And pulled. Her hands, which had sunk into the shadows, began to resurface. I hadn’t realized she still had those powers. Or maybe she didn’t. But I was transfixed. Clasping her fingers as she pulled was another pair of hands. Not shadows. Just blue gloves. She pulled, and as I watched, another person began to emerge.

Heaving the other form (one almost identical to hers in size and shape) free of the ground, she set her down, and then dusted off her dress with a satisfied grin.

The figure across from her was…her. But not. Blue hair with black highlights instead of the reverse, black eyes that got lighter and faded to blue in the center. Blue wings with black undertones. Even the dress was the opposite.

Callie raised her sword, and the other figure raised hers, a bright blue blade. “Nice to meet you…my shadow self.” She purred.

There was a flicker, and Callie BECAME the blue haired girl, who vanished completely. Squealing happily, she twirled in place, her ballgown spinning as her sword whipped the air, leaving trails of bright blue fire with barely any black.

“Ok…nice makeover,” I said slowly. “But maybe tell me what just happened?”

She beamed at me. “Shadows,” she said confidently. “They were always my ability. And sure, that changed when I got the fire, but they’re still THERE. Just different. Shadows became the Abyss became the Void became the Heretic Fire. But fire still casts a shadow. The shadows cast by the heretic fire should be different, right? And then I considered my problem.

“I had power that would only work on the Void, and I wanted power that would work on everything else. Then I got to thinking of my shadow clones.” She was so excited she was practically vibrating in place. “I heard a story, a long time ago, about a type of monster. A monster that mirrors its originator perfectly, becomes the opposite of everything they are. A shadow self. A doppleganger.”

She gestured down to herself. “Might I introduce you to my shadow self. Calliope Wyndham. Adherent Archangel. It even changed my Shadow Manipulation ability. I…I think this a pseudo-Domain. I can feel the pressure on my Chronicle. But it’s still me. Still my power. More my power maybe.”

“Adherent Archangel,” I mused. “Adherent to what?”

She hummed with interest. “You know, that’s a good question. I don’t know. It just felt…right. Adherent feels like the opposite of Heretic. Like this version of me is searching for something to believe in, instead of rejecting those beliefs. Maybe it’s the story Isaac told us, about angels searching for their bonds. I’ve found mine already, but maybe I’m still looking for something else.”

I laughed, then opened my eyes and emerged from her soul space, scooping her up and tossing her onto the bed. In the real world, she was still in her Adherent form, her hair still bright blue with black highlights, and she laughed as she flopped down on the comforter.

“You feel better?” I asked as I laid down next to her, propping my head up on my palm.

“I do,” she said with a long, happy sigh. “I feel…new. Different. You kind of inspired me with all your nonsense forms. Though I suspect I’ll stick with just the one.”

I shrugged. “Well, not everyone can be as cool as me. It’s fine to know your place.”

Jaw dropping, she smacked me on the chest. “I can’t believe you said that to me. Just for that, you have to spar with me tomorrow. And I’m not holding back.”

“Alright,” I told her with a wry smile. “But if you’re going to throw down with the Wishmaster, you’re going to need a boost. I’ve been raking in the points lately. You have to use all my scrolls. I’m already ahead, this is the only way you’ll keep up.”

I felt a surge of warmth and adoration through the bond, and I tried not to let it show on my face how smug I was about it. She just rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said with a sigh. “But don’t come crying to me when you regret it.” Despite the grudging agreement, I could see the glow of happiness and contentment in her eyes. I leaned down to pull her into a kiss, and then there was no more talking for quite a while.