Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

[Malcolm Tent]

Leaving the Hermetic Hall was an interesting experience. I could feel the eyes of Elodie on me. I hadn't felt anything on the way in, but now that I knew what to look for, it was clear as day. I glanced back, not having any eyes to meet but feeling something as I stared into the sky, then continued on.

The Hermetic Hall had been functioning in the Chasm for millennia, and I was pretty sure, based on what Shayla had told us, that it was MUCH better defended than it looked. I'd thought them collecting god artifacts was some kind of holy mission at first, and that might be true, but I was pretty sure it was something else, too. Bait. Under the suppression of the chasm, no one above A-rank could exert power this deep into the ring continent. Given the sheer numbers and Elodie's power, the Hermetic Hall was basically unassailable.

I wondered how many people had attacked the hall hoping to steal god artifacts. How many forces had gathered and smashed themselves on the rocks of Deveskane's fortress unknowingly. I had a feeling the number wasn't small. I doubted there were many factions capable of challenging the hall at all, though I also doubted any groups that had been around very long were willing to try it at this point.

Fishing it the blaze of heretic fire that I'd been given at the temple, I set our heading, then settled in to check on my friends. Chloe, Brad, and Dayna were all out with me on the road, and I was concerned I'd been ignoring them all in favor of the mission. This was a stressful place to be, and I wanted to touch base at least.

Brad and Chloe were, unsurprisingly, fine, but Dayna was acting odd. I fell back to walk beside her, curious what was going on. "You alright?" I asked her.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "This entire trip is…complicated. First I thought I was betraying Verdyn by working with you, and I made peace with that, then I found out I WASN'T betraying him, and I kind of made peace with that. But after a certain point, the back and forth kind of underlines an issue I'd been avoiding thinking about."

"Your freedom," I nodded. "But you work for Bethy, right?"

"I do," sighed the elf. "And I can never repay her for her kindness. But the thing is, she doesn't WANT me to repay her. She just wants me to LIVE. And that's the one thing I'm not entirely sure I know how to do. It was easy to write that off when I was just your tour guide, but returning to the Lodge, taking a stance, talking to Mama. It makes me wonder if I can't have more. Be more. And then I feel disloyal for thinking that and then I feel disloyal for feeling disloyal because I know Lady Bethany WANTS that for me and then I feel disloyal for THAT because part of me still feels like a supplicant to Lord Verdyn."

Whistling, I shook my head. "That sounds like a lot. Trying to be one thing while feeling like you should be trying to be something else. Maybe you should just…stop trying? Just be. See where it takes you."

She seemed thoughtful, which I thought was a good sign, but I wasn't able to follow up because I suddenly felt a MASSIVE surge of fearful warning. I froze in place, my eyes darting around as I scanned the area. Danger Sense was going INSANE. Ever since Gehenna, my Danger Sense, as an actual living being, had been able to filter out the minor annoyances more than it previously had, and I only really got hit with blasts of actual Danger.

This was more than that thought. Something terrible was here. I glanced around, searching for any possible danger and finding nothing. Waving a hand, I pulled the others into my Domain, then incarnated Sammael, Mephisto's Waltz, and Azazel, wincing at the extra strain. Three incarnations was a LOT, even if I only planned on it being momentary.

Without hesitation, I beat my wings, vanishing in a blaze as I flashed forward through space…and the area I'd just been standing was consumed in a rain of cutting energy.

Flapping again, I pushed myself further away even as I glanced back to see…"Oh come on!" I bellowed in outrage. "How is it YOU again?" I vanished again in another burst of fire, snarling in fury as I took in the implacable form of CLARENT, the swordmaster from the shallowing where we'd gotten the damned arrowhead.

Unfortunately, rather than answer he just tried to cut me in half again, forcing me to dodge. I cursed. He was strong, I'd forgotten HOW strong. I could tank those cuts with Mornax, but that would leave me a sitting duck, and I wasn't confident in my ability to resist long term.

I was in shock. Clarent had plummeted into the void a few weeks ago, and I hadn't expected to see him again anytime soon. How had he gotten here? How had he found his way out of the far reaches of the Void at all? I'd been led to believe it would take him ages to get back. And I couldn't recreate what we'd done last time and even harder to beat him any other way. Brad had done away with him easily out on the Void Roads, but without access to those circumstances, it was going to be tough to beat him in a straight fight.

Luckily, I had another option. We'd been making our way inward, heading deeper towards the vortex, and the deeper we got the more the suppression affected us. All of us. I was a C-ranker, which meant at our current depth, where A-rankers were barely functional, only a B-ranker could threaten me. Clarent, of course, WAS a B-ranker, and rather than risk my life and my Domain fighting him head on, I was determined to lose him and make my way deep enough into the ring continent that no one above my own rank would be able to exert power.

At the same level, I wasn't afraid of anyone, so I doubled down, flapping my wings like crazy and letting Azazel guide me, pulling me toward specific spots in the sky as I flashed forward at my fastest pace, flickering back and forth in bursts of dark fire.

I made a note to consider Mephisto's Waltz as my second template. Sure, it was technically just a specific application of Mephistopheles destructive fire, but Life Nova was a subskill too. More mobility couldn't hurt at least. I was so wrapped up in the thought that I almost missed a dodge, and I cursed in pain as a sword slash tore a hole in one of my wings. As soon as it did, I went into a spin, my flight interrupted as I spiraled down towards the ground.

Another flash of Black Flame had me on the ground, and I folded my wings as I started to run, spamming the waltz every step as I bolted deeper into the continent. I could feel the suppression increase, and I was pretty sure we'd entered B-rank limit territory, but that wasn't enough to help. Azazel was whispering in my ear, guiding me along, and I cursed and followed his path until I came to a massive cliff. I stopped at the edge, looking down. "Are you fucking high?" I demanded of my first minister, despite him being inside my head right now. "I can't even see the bottom of that thing!"

The canyon in front of me was DEEP. So deep. Deep enough that all I saw at the bottom was blackness. Looking closer, I could catch a slight strip of shining light, but I had no idea what it was. I didn't have time to wonder though, because I got an intense warning from my Danger Sense. Cursing, I dove forward, turning in mid-air as I plummeted into the canyon to watch Clarent stop at the edge and stare after me. I watched him for a moment or two, then turned and aimed into the canyon, putting my hands out like a diver to increase my speed.

I felt another warning and waltzed again to avoid a slash, but before long, I'd gone so deep I was sure he couldn't see me. The darkness around me as I fell got deeper and heavier in a way that couldn't be natural.

Below me, in the distance, I started to catch sight of a thin strip of glowing light. It looked like a hair almost. But as I fell, it got bigger, and closer, and wider. And I realized that it wasn't a hair. It wasn't even thin. It was a HUGE glowing river. Some kind of massive waterway formed of what looked like liquid moonlight. As I fell, it got closer and closer, and I realized that it had looked small because it was SO far away. In reality, it was less of a river and more of a big strip of sea.

Grimacing, I turned my attention to one side, triggering the waltz again, and tried to spread my wings to steer. The big hole in one of them made it tough, but between the two movement techniques I managed to reach the wall of the cliff below where I'd jumped. I clung to the almost sheer black rock face, squinting down at the water below suspiciously.

I felt something from it. Something dangerous. Almost like heat, except it wasn't physical. I had a strong suspicion I didn't want to fall into that stuff. I was also half expecting Clarent to follow me down, he didn't seem like the type to give up easy. I was watching so closely, getting so lost in the whirl of the moonlight water, I almost missed the shadow. Almost. I managed to trigger the waltz and move aside at the last second as a colossal B-rank dolphin erupted from the river, razor sharp muzzle slashing open the cliff where I'd been hanging seconds before.

Staring at the cliff, I barely managed to pick up traces of vibration. Glancing up, I couldn't see through the darkness, but a brief flash of Dantalion let me get a vague impression of what was happening on the wall. Blades. Clarent was using swords to scale the wall, stabbing his way down. And I was in an even worse position now than I had been up there. If he reached me I'd be a sitting duck, and I didn't think Gehenna would do much good down here.

I stared at the wall where the slash sat. That was a nasty cut. Very nasty. These were sturdy cliffs. I reached down into my belt and withdrew the Tale of Nine Cats. I gritted my teeth, watched the water, and waited.

A shadow loomed, then exploded out, and I dodged, whipping my arm back to bring the lash down. I grit my teeth as the pain scored my back, and I felt a vague connection form. But not enough. Rinse. Repeat. Dodge and lash. It hurt. It hurt SO much. But I kept going. I heard the clang of the swords in the cliff getting closer, but I ignored it. Dodge and lash.

Finally, the connection solidified. The dolphin poked its head from the water, eyeing me suspiciously. I held out a hand and it rose closer, then, after it confirmed I wasn't going to try to attack it again it offered me its nose. I climbed out onto it, getting down to wrap my arms around it, and then released the hold on Sammael, Azazel, and the waltz. I focused entirely on Mornax, and on Leviathan to be safe, and then called them both.

The last thing I saw as the dolphin turned and dove into the water, carrying me away, was Clarent dropping the last few hundred feet toward me, eyes hard, sword drawn. Then the massive river sea swept me and my new companion away, and all I could see was blinding moonlight.

 

[Tiny_Dragon]

Here is my late reaction to learning about Overgod. "Muhuhahahaha! The path to ascension will never end! All hail the Holy Grind!"

Clarent is giving me T-1000 vibes

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I rode on the dolphin's back for an hour. It was wild, dramatic, and if I hadn't been in Mornax, I'd have suffocated. Finally, I felt the sense of Danger vanish, and decided to come up for air. I reached for the link between me and the dolphin (who I decided to name Croissant for reasons that had nothing at all to do with missing Bethy or my other friends) and pushed him to resurface.

We surfaced from the moonlight water after a few more minutes, and emerged onto the bank of…well, a bank. Or a beach maybe? It wasn't exactly a big expanse of space. More than anything it looked like someone had bashed a dent in the bottom of the cliff and left the dust to settle at the base into some kind of sandbar. I hopped down, letting Mornax fade away as I turned to regard my new friend. "Thanks for the help, bud," I told him solemnly. Croissant the dolphin screeched in concern, but I just smiled and waved him off. "I'll be fine. Just be careful and stay low. I don't want you to get got by that sword bastard."

Croissant, snorted derisively, but then gave me a playful splash and dove back into the water. I grimaced as I wiped the liquid off my bare skin, noting the distinct burn where it had touched. Without Mornax I wasn't meant to be touching…whatever this stuff was. Luckily it was just a dash, and my body refinement had been moving apace, so it started healing almost immediately.

I watched him leave bitterly, sad to see my new friend go. I'd have to be careful with that Tale of Nine Cats in the future. It wasn't a one way connection. I genuinely regarded Croissant as my good friend now. The pain I'd endured had bonded us together tighter than I was bound to most of the subordinates I didn't know very well.

Turning away from the water, I took in the spot that I'd landed. There was a small crevice in the rock, almost a natural cave, and it led into the darkness of the cliffside. I called out the others. Dayna, Deanna (who had emerged during our flight because Chloe was afraid) and Brad. Along with them, I summoned Dan and Oz, hoping they could help me figure out what to DO.

"So, we can go into the cave or try to free climb it," I said bluntly. "But to be honest, I don't like the feeling I get from the cliffside. Also, I feel…trapped. Like my clothes are too tight."

"We're deeper in the vortex," Dan informed me. "The suppression has reached the limits of C-rank. As someone at the halfway point, you shouldn't be affected yet, but the deeper we go from here the closer you get to actual weakening."

I grimaced, but nodded. "Fair enough. Just means Clarent has no shot at taking us out anymore. So, what can you tell me about that cave?"

Dan looked into the darkness critically. "I get a strange feeling from it," he said slowly. "But I can't gather much information. Whatever is in there is too high ranked. The vortex suppresses active effects, but the inherent quality and Impact of items is still the same. To quote an idiom I heard during my research at one time 'a starving camel is still bigger than a horse'."

That was unfortunate. I turned to Oz. "How about you? Any idea what could be in there? You getting any danger vibes?"

He shook his head. "Nothing specific. It feels…dangerous. But not in an active sense? Maybe potential danger. Like there's risk but we won't necessarily come out the worse for it. The kind of risk that comes with reward."

I chuckled. "My wife is a bad influence," I said dryly. "Because hearing that makes me determined to go inside. You guys heading back into the Domain or coming with me?"

"That's a quality pit," said Brad with the tone of a professional appraiser. "Not too wide, but deeper than you'd expect, and very evenly worn. I'd love to explore it, I bet there's all kinds of treasure inside."

"I think you might be making assumptions based on personal experience," I said with a wry laugh. "But fair enough, Deanna, Dayna?"

Dayna rolled her eyes. "Don't ask stupid questions," she said simply.

"I'm coming too," Deanna said with interest. "I'm intrigued by the sensations I'm getting from this place."

I sighed after getting the final nod from Oz. "Alright, looks like this is a team effort. Look alive people, we have no clue what's inside. Danger and opportunity are great, but the danger is still there. I don't want anyone getting killed for no reason."

The demons would be fine, and would promptly return to my Domain. Probably. I had no clue what would happen to Brad, and wasn't excited to check. He SHOULD respawn the same way, but it seemed stupid to assume. Just to be safe, I activated Mornax again, taking the lead position. Under C-rank suppression, it was impossible for anything to hurt me down here anyway.

Stepping into the cave, I was immediately met with…more cave. It was just a normal rock corridor. I frowned, advancing forward. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing squared. Finally, the cave opened up, revealing a large chamber with a huge decadently engraved black stone door. On the front of the door was a massive engraving of a skull, its eyes blazing with eerie red light.

As soon as we stepped into the cavern, the red light blazed, and a menacing voice boomed. "Welcome adventurers, to the Tower of Zand!"

"Nope," I said immediately, turning to leave.

"WAIT!" shrieked the skull in a panic. "Please don't go! There's treasure in me! Riches beyond your wildest dreams! And more! We have…scones!"

I stopped, turning to raise an eyebrow at the skull door. "Scones?" I said dryly.

"And jam?" it offered desperately. "The butter's gone bad, even through the stasis, but the jam is very fresh."

I sighed, heading back into the chamber. "I ask, you answer, then MAYBE we go inside. And don't lie to me. I can TELL when people lie. Or…you know. Doors. I can just sense falsehoods so don't even think about it."

"Don't worry, I can't lie!" it chirped happily. "My name is Drexel!"

"Nice to meet you Drexel, I'm Solomon," I said politely. "Now, I have some questions. First of all, you said you're a tower? But…this is a cliff. We're underground. Towers are traditionally built…you know…up."

The skull sniffed, despite having no nose. "Obviously the tower existed before the cliff. I was buried under rock and dust, for millennia have I lain dormant, finally awakened by the arrival of the chosen few! Rejoice, travelers, for your fortunes have turned, within me lies the great treasure of the god Emperor Zand! Long did he reign and mighty was his power, across the vast planes of the galaxy did he roam, gathering treasures beyond mortal imagining, and today, you have the chance to receive these treasures!"

"This is starting to feel depressingly familiar," I sighed. "We have to take a test right?"

"NO," boomed Drexel. "You have only to take a te- oh…yes. That's right. How did you know?" He sounded a bit put out.

I shook my head. "Look, we aren't really looking to get caught up in something like this," I said apologetically. "I get it's your purpose or whatever and you feel like you need us to come in, but we have a quest to get on with, and we can't really stop."

"B-but the treasures!" he protested as. "The Great Zand requires a successor! If you pass, great wealth will be yours. Weapons of mass destruction, unimaginable elixirs, priceless artifacts! We have a Continuum Ant Nest, a Lamp of the Eternal Djinn, and even a Cosmic Phoenix Cinder!" He pled.

I stopped. "I'm sorry…" I said slowly, turning around. "What was that last one?"

"The Cosmic Phoenix Cinder?" he asked excitedly. "Truly a wondrous artifact. The Cosmic Phoenix was a unique creature who burned with a spatial flame. Nine Nirvanas did it undergo, and nine worlds did it birth. Though only an ember, the Cosmic Phoenix Cinder has the unique property of strengthening and enhancing the world or Domain of gods and mortals alike! Of course, it must be integrated with the body, but there are many methods to infuse a physical being with such power."

My mouth went dry. That was…a lot. I wasn't sure about the mechanism of S-rank, but I DID know that a large portion of it was dependent on Domain strength. I was strengthening my body with the Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art to prepare it to merge with my Saga, and that fusion would have some affect on my Domain. I wasn't sure what kind, but I WAS sure that bigger and stronger was better for Domains. Especially stronger. Lark was known for his absurdly powerful Domain, but his method for strengthening it was pretty much impossible to copy.

And this wouldn't just be a one and done. If I used this to condense a template, the Cosmic Phoenix's flame would be PART of me. I would potentially have a method to continuously improve the size and quality of my Domain beyond what anyone my rank should have.

I glanced at Oz, whose eyes were gleaming, and whistled internally. Risk and reward indeed. My first minister knew what he was doing.

Turning back to the skull, I cleared my throat. "I have questions," I said tentatively. "First, will this tower lead to the surface? Second, if we pass, will I be required to STAY? Third, I already represent a god, will this interfere with your master's inheritance, and fourth, what does that inheritance entail and what are my responsibilities?"

Drexel's eyes pulsed excitedly. "Oh nothing too restrictive. You can indeed exit to the surface from the top of the tower, you won't be required to stay, and inheritance is a strong term. Rather it would be correct to say that Zand simply wishes you to keep the name of his ancient enemy and usurper in mind on the off chance you have an opportunity to avenge his downfall. It probably won't come up anytime soon!"

I squinted at it suspiciously. "And what about the tests? I assume they're very dangerous?"

"Moderate danger," it assured me. "Reasonably extreme at most. No real risk of death. You might be horribly maimed, or perhaps go insane, but that'll be the worst of it!"

"Comforting," I said acidly. "Give us a moment, please." To my surprise, the lights on the skull actually dimmed, and I looked at it suspiciously for a moment before turning to my friends. "Ok, so…I kind of need that Cinder. Anyone against going through this tower to get it? Because…yeah, I can't DESCRIBE to you how much I need that thing."

The others looked dismissive. "We told you we were coming along already," Dayna said with a snort. "You don't need to explain to us."

I grinned at her widely, knowing she couldn't see my face, I also gave her a thumbs up before turning back and approaching the door. "Drexel!" I called, my voice buzzing with confidence and power. "I want to attempt the trial in your tower. Will you permit me entry?"

The red eyes blazed to life, brighter and stronger than they had been before. "HEARD AND WITNESSED!" it howled triumphantly as the doors began to grind open. "Heard and witnessed by this humble spirit. Enter challenger, and beware, for within lies the makings of your doom, or of your ascension!"

Both doors stopped when they were parallel to each other, creating an empty, open dark space that led into the tower. Turning to confirm with my friends, I nodded to them and then stepped forward, ready to enter the tower and undertake the trial. I had a feeling this one was going to be a doozy, but I had another feeling too. A bubbling, rioting excitement in my gut. If I could pull this off, this would be a turning point in my life that I would never forget. And so I vanished into the darkness as the door slammed shut behind me, and the trial began.

 

[Tiny_Dragon]

LOOT! *heavy breathing* We must get all the loot.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The inside of the tower was dark. Not the kind of dark you see when you turn out the lights, or even the type of dark you saw in the Void. This dark wasn't an absence. It was a presence. It was like a terrible monster looming behind me with fangs bared. A suffocating blanket of blackness crushing down on me like some sort of abyssal gravity.

I reached into myself, calling for Zagan, pulling the power of my purifying flames of life through me as I incarnated the great demon into my body. My hair flickered to life with green flame, the flickers of cleansing fire driving back the unnatural darkness just as easily as I had hoped they would, illuminating the space around us so I could see where we were. "Drexel?" I called in annoyance. "Traditionally during tests you TELL people what you're testing."

There was a pause. "Do you?" asked the curious voice of the tower spirit. "How novel. I suppose that must be a recent development. Well, I suppose if that's how things are done now, I'm not in a position to argue. Very well. Welcome to the first grand game. This one is called 'enemy'. The rules of enemy are simple. One of you has been replaced, swapped out for a simulacrum while the real thing has been put in stasis. To get them back, you must discover the identity of the enemy. You have ten questions to ask anyone in the room determine who it is. If you fail, you'll be ejected, and the taken prisoner will remain for eternity."

"You could have mentioned that," I frowned. "Tell me the parameters of the questions." I was very careful not to ASK for them. I demanded he tell me so he couldn't take that as my first question.

Drexel's chuckle filled the darkness. Outside the pool of light from my burning hair, the dark remained, and in the flickering green firelight, the expressions on my friends faces were eerie and distorted, the whole thing giving the bodiless laughter a menacing and threatening air. "Clever," Drexel said cheerfully. "You didn't ask. Alright then, the rules for questions as such."

"You may ask a question of any of the participants. The participants don't have to tell the truth, but they can't lie twice in a row. When you finally select the enemy, everyone aside from that person must unanimously agree that they're the suspicious one. Should you choose the WRONG target, that person will join the captive in stasis, and the process will repeat. Once only one person remains, the doppelganger will transform into a monster and attack. Oh, and you can't ask them if they're the doppelganger directly."

I grimaced, but nodded. "Alright, that's all I need."

He went silent, and I turned to look at the others. "Alright…here's the deal. I'll ask the questions, you just need to answer. Don't say anything except to respond to things I ask, and DON'T answer a question with a question."

They all nodded their understanding, and I started looking back and forth. Dayna, Deanna, Azazel, and Brad. Dan hadn't come along, which was kind of a blessing at this point. One less potential doppelganger to eliminate. I turned to the others, looking around suspiciously. Questions. Ten questions to figure out who was the fake.

I should have been able to cross off Azazel immediately, and probably Brad, given they were my demons, but something about this oppressive darkness had sealed my access to my Domain. Zagan I could access through incarnation, but with Azazel and Brad already OUT here the blockage from the dark force was preventing even that much communication. Whatever that stuff was, it was strong.

Shaking off the thought, I focused on the task at hand. Questions. What should I ask? I squinted around at my companions. Should I ask something only I would know about them? Or maybe some kind of general knowledge question? Instead, I turned to Brad. "What…is your favorite color?"

"Clear," he answered proudly. "Because there is no sight more glorious than the absence of substance contained within a pit!"

"Ok, it's not you," I said, immediately turning away. It was impossible for anyone to answer a question that stupidly and NOT be Brad. I turned to Azazel next. This one was tougher. Azazel was wise. He knew basically everything I knew, and more, but that made it even harder to come up with a question. "How many demons attend the court of Gehenna?" I asked slowly.

He blinked at me. "Seventy two," he answered after a moment of hesitation. I assume he was trying to figure out if there was some trick.

Nodding, I moved on. My eyes locked on Deanna. "What…is the name of my best friend?"

She smiled confidently. "Benny," she said with confidence. "You've known him since you were a child."

"Absolutely correct," I said with a wide smile. " Except I never told Deanna that. It's her."

The others glanced at her in surprise, but none of them argued. Announcing their decision to believe me. Her eyes went wide. "Wait, what? NO!" She lunged forward, but froze midair like a paused image on a screen. Before our eyes, she faded from existence, and she was immediately replaced by another Deanna, this one sleeping peacefully.

Around us, the darkness fell away, revealing a wide open space with stone floors and an extremely wide spiral staircase climbing the wall starting nearby. "Awww," said Drexel's. "You figured it out."

"It wasn't too hard," I admitted. "The obvious strategy would be to use up all my questions asking them two at a time. After I used one on Brad and Azazel, that left me two questions for each person. I said I'd eliminated them, but who knew if I was telling the truth. So the common sense move would be for the doppelganger to be honest for the first question and save their lie for the second. So rather than worry about whether it's true or false, I just asked the doppelganger something they shouldn't have known. That way, even the true answer gave them away."

As I explained everything, I began to steadily search the nearby area, calling Dantalion into me as I did. Something was wrong. Drexel was…different. Outside he'd seemed excitable and friendly, almost desperate for companionship. He'd reminded me of Shayla, actually, and that had put me at ease. But regardless of how easy that had been for me, Drexel's attitude just not had been radically different.

The voice that had responded to my questions was mocking and sadistic. He'd put on a show of being cheerful, but there was malice behind his words, and he'd taken Deanna without any mention. Then I thought back to Azazel's warning earlier. Risk and reward. These trials weren't difficult. The risk was probably coming from something else.

All of this information led me to a few conclusions. First, Drexel's reasons for wanting us here weren't what he'd said. I hadn't scented any direct lies, but he'd clearly been misleading me. Second, Drexel had to follow the rules of this tower just like we did, but there would almost definitely be some way for him to exploit them to his advantage later. Thirdly, Drexel had some means of gathering information about us.

He'd known EXACTLY what item to mention to draw me back when I was leaving, and that doppelganger had been far too aware of the details of my life.

The question was WHY would he want us here? What purpose did us going through the tower have for him? I thought back to everything he'd said. I couldn't think of any obvious loopholes. You'd think I'd have been more paranoid after the Roland thing, but he just seemed so…goofy and harmless.

Super competent badasses like Roland were suspicious, but I had a blind spot for goofy idiots. Bethy, Brad, so many people I knew fit into that category or were at least adjacent to it. Drexel had known that. Had figured out what buttons to press to get us in here.

"Drexel," I said slowly. "I still have seven questions. Your rules didn't mention the questions not being effective anymore after the game. I can ask anyone questions. And they can't lie more than once in a row. That includes you. I never thought to ask earlier, in fact, I think you made SURE I didn't think to ask. What is the name of the enemy that was responsible for the fall of Zand?"

There was a pause, and then the ground began to rumble. At first I thought it was an attack, but after a moment I realized what was happening. The tower was LAUGHING. "I already told you that, Shane. My name is Drexel."

Grimacing, I summoned my staff, preparing to fight if necessary. "This is a trap," I said flatly. "Is there really a Cosmic Phoenix Cinder here? And is there really a Cosmic Phoenix Cinder here? I'm asking twice." I would be able to scent the lie on whichever answer was inaccurate. I was really hoping there was.

"Oh of course," he said happily. "And yes, as I said. I never lied to you. For instance, it WOULD be correct to say Zand would want you to keep in mind the name of his usurper IF you had the chance to avenge his downfall. Because my name is how people summon me. You would be unable to obtain vengeance without it. Of course, you don't HAVE that chance, so keeping my name in mind would be extremely unwise for you at this juncture."

I frowned at that. "Ok, but we've been using your name for ages, why haven't you shown in up in the flesh?"

"I'm bound to the tower," he sighed. "You have to think my name OUTSIDE to release me. That's why I'm giving you such simple tasks. Once you're done and you get your prize, you'll carry me outside tucked into your dense little minds, and then I'll be free."

I frowned at the tower around me. "Who exactly are you?"

"Why, I'm Drexel," he said happily. "Your friendly dimwitted tower spirit. Or maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm something very old. Something awful. Maybe I'm a whisper of dark dreams in your waking mind. A seductive purr of evil desires in the back of your head. Maybe I'm a terrible god who you've unwittingly begun to release on this universe."

"That first part was a LIE," I hissed angrily. "So I'll ask again. WHO ARE YOU?"

"I am Drexel, the Mindplague," he cackled in a gleeful voice. "A god of corruption and deceit, trapped in this buried tower for eons uncounted. I am the darkness in the mortal heart. The sickness you hide from the world behind your mask of civility. Your minds will carry me from this place, will spread me once more to the worlds beyond. And the best part is that you have no choice. You are all my hosts, and you WILL transmit me."

I glanced around worriedly. This was my last question. "How?" I asked simply.

"You're carriers," he answered casually. "Anyone who learns my name becomes either a carrier or an infected. Infected can't spread the influence, so I didn't bother turning any of you. Once yo leave, I'll spread to anyone connected to you. You don't need to meet them face to face, even karmic connections will do."

My blood was ice. This was BAD. I'd gotten us infected with some kind of divine mind virus. And the worst part was that it wasn't even my fault this time. I'd love to berate myself for my greed or whatever, but honestly it had probably saved our lives and the lives of our friends. If we'd turned around and left we'd have spread the virus anyway, since we'd already learned his name. I wasn't sure why he'd wanted us to go through the tower at all, unless he'd been concerned we might die attempting to scale the cliff and wanted to make sure we made it safely back to the surface.

The question was, now that I knew all this what the hell did I DO about it? Because whatever it was, I'd better come up with the answer fast. Otherwise we were either going to be stuck here forever or potentially dooming the universe. Neither one seemed like my kind of party. Which meant now I needed to outwit a god. Fantastic.

 

[Hyperion47]

Woah,this turned on it's head in a flash.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Drexel's haunting laughter echoed through the tower. "Your faces!" he chortled sadistically. "I can see your little minds running rampant inside your thick skulls, desperately searching for a way out. I'm a GOD, children. You don't beat gods. You don't outwit them. You just submit. It's easier that way."

I frowned at him. Because that was the wrong tone. He wanted us to leave willingly, wanted us to spread his mind virus. He should be cajoling us, tempting us, trying to get us on his side with lies and false promises.

Mocking and bullying us in these circumstances didn't make any sense…unless he didn't have a choice.

Which is when I remembered where we were, and what the Lady had told me. Even gods couldn't run amok in the Chaos Chasm. That was why she'd sent me. Drexel being sealed in this tower was one thing, it meant his power couldn't extend outside, and that made sense. Drexel being sealed in this tower inside the CHASM was another. It meant even within the tower, he had the same limitations as anyone else.

He was bluffing because he didn't want me to notice that and fight back, because he knew that we had a real chance to break his influence.

I grinned nastily into the dark. "Bullshit," I said bluntly. "Dayna, come here."

She stepped up next to me as I triggered Zagan, laying a hand on her shoulder. But not JUST Zagan. I reached into Gehenna and called forth another friend. Genesis Burst. A soul healing, purifying demon whose bailiwick overlapped almost perfectly with this situation. Sammael was next, boosting me further. I didn't use my staff's boosting skill because I knew that C-rank was the limit here, but within C-rank I wasn't someone to mess with.

One of the drops of phoenix blood inside me, condensed from the power of life nova, roared to like, kindling like accelerant as it ignited under the fires of Zagan, and I felt the power pour through me, racing through my veins as I let it build and build and then pushed it firmly into Dayna's body.

She stiffened, but didn't move away or make a sound. Drexel was less sanguine. "What are you doing? Stop that!"

In my head, I saw an image. A black miasma of suffocating darkness like the stuff that had weighed down on us earlier, concentrated around Dayna's brain. As the flames struck the miasma, there was a sound like water hitting a ripping hot pan and a wail of hate and anguish. The miasma roared and expanded, puffing itself up like it was trying to ward off a natural predator.

A second drop of blood ignited, and the fire roared higher, burning back the darkness as it snarled and screamed and hissed.

"Stop this," Drexel screamed with a dreadful howl. "Decist immediately. You've no idea what you're doing! You'll regret this!" The miasma exploded again, expanding to triple the size, and I gritted my teeth, igniting one drop after another until all six were blazing, temporarily boosting the quantity of flames by an enormous degree.

The Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art wasn't just a simple modifier manufacturer. It was more than that. It was the process of BECOMING a phoenix, of altering myself at a fundamental level. And a phoenix was more than just a fiery bird that liked one kind of flame. They were creatures of primordial fire, manifestations of the endless blaze. I'd seen that. FELT that. A phoenix's affinity for its flame was more than just a gift or a knack. It was an EMBODIMENT.

Finally, the last of the darkness was blasted away, leaving behind not even a speck of black visible in the spiritual vision I was somehow accessing. Dayna stepped back, her eyes glowing green with fiery exultation, inhabited by the lifegiving spirit of Zagan's purifying fire.

"I feel…whole," she whispered, flexing her hands. "My doubts. My unease. They're gone. I have a clarity of purpose I haven't felt in quite some time."

"Oh…oops," I said sheepishly. Technically speaking most forms of emotional trauma were minor soul damage. That was why my cousin Felicity had her soul scoured by the repeated emotional torture her dad had put her through. Genesis Burst was a soul healing technique, so it made sense it would cleanse things like negative emotional buildup. "That'll come back once the fire fades," I assured her. "Sorry about that."

She snorted. "Hardly anything to apologize for. I appreciate the surcease, temporary as it may be."

I nodded, then moved on to the others. Deanna, Brad, Azazel, one by one I burned them clean of the Mindplague.

"How dare you!" howled Drexel as I turned and headed back for the door. "You can't leave! Stop that this instant! I refuse to allow it!" I smirked as I approached the door, staring to push it open and walk back out, heading up the cliff instead…but I froze.

The door. The door was part of the tower, and Drexel controlled the tower. But I could open the door fine…which meant he wanted me to leave. I stopped, stepping back, and the voice cut off. "Something is wrong," I said slowly. "That was too easy. Rank or not, he's a god, gods are bullshit. He should have some form of response, some backup plan. Screaming impotently at us is too…mortal. Not to mention this door shouldn't be opening. What did you do?"

"Nothing at all," he said saccharinely. "You've beaten me. I'm completely outmatched. I can't stop you from leaving, and can only allow you to have your way, stranding me in this tower for eternity as I lose my only chance to escape."

And that was when I noticed it. He was lying. OBVIOUSLY lying, I could SMELL him lying. And he didn't care. But I hadn't smelled a lie before. I went back over his explanation in my head, considered it carefully, and my blood went cold as I realized what he hadn't said. The Mindplague had infected us, and all of us had been carriers instead of actively infected. All four of us. But there were five people in this tower.

"Chloe," I whispered. "Chloe is infected. She's a full host. The kind you can possess. You made sure you'd have a backup plan. You made sure we would bring you out even if we noticed something was wrong."

"Did I?" he asked innocently. "That doesn't sound like me. Far too sneaky. I'm a very straightforward deity."

I sneered at him. "Whatever, I figured it out, I'll just cleanse her like I did the others."

"Maybe," he said spitefully. "Or maybe as soon as she changes forms the contagion will erupt and you'll be forced to fight her to the death. You were right, I AM weakened here, and it WAS too easy. But in a host…well, that's more than just a matter of simple addition."

Deanna went pale. "What did you do to my sister?" she snapped.

"Why, I gave her a GIFT," he cooed. "She'll be so much stronger now. So much more. She won't be dependent on some parasite living off her body, stealing her life, her family, her purpose."

"First of all, we're not letting that happen," I told him bluntly. "Second of all that's not how she sees Deanna, and third of all, YOU would be that parasite. Like if you're going to try to undermine people's self esteem and be an evil manipulator you could at least be consistent."

He sniffed in annoyance. "You know, I really dislike you. I'm going to enjoy using that girl's body to crack open your chest and chew out your still beating heart." He said it mildly, like he was announcing that he liked the weather. But there was an undertone of malicious glee in the statement. He had us, and he knew it.

I closed my eyes, blocking out his mockery and Deanna's panicked shouts. There was a way out of this, there had to be. I went over the facts. Chloe was currently not in ascendance, and Deanna had been cleansed. The two of them counted as separate people to the Mindplague, but only one of them could have the body at a time, so Chloe was in a state of limbo where the plague hadn't been initiated because she wasn't in control of the body.

If Chloe emerged, she would be in charge of the body, and the Mindplague would take over her body, essentially allowing Drexel free access to the world at large. We'd be at the VERY least seriously inconveniencing the universe, if not outright dooming it. I mean sure, the other gods would probably deal with it…and then I froze.

Other gods. Chloe was possessed, she'd been infected with a fragment of hostile power. In order to cleanse her I would need to call her out, and then she would be strong enough to fight back and not ALLOW me to cleanse her. Purification wasn't what we needed in this situation. SEALING was. Restraint. My eyes lit up. "Let's go," I told the others. "I know what to do. We can save Chloe."

I hoped. Deveskane was probably our best chance, and even if we couldn't fully fix her, the sealing artifact at the Hermetic Hall should at least be able to stabilize her until we could find something more permanent.

"He's lying," gloated Drexel. "None of you can disperse my Mindplague. Not the TRUE Mindplague. Carriers are in a dormant state, but trying to cleanse me in the fullness of my power is futile. Especially once you leave this place. Exiting the Chasm will restore my true strength, and then you'll see what I'm really capable of."

I squinted at him. I wasn't lying. But he seemed to really believe that. I was beginning to suspect I had overestimated exactly how much information Drexel had been able to glean from us. His "mind reading" was seeming more and more like a parlor trick. I debated throwing Deveskane in his face to see his reaction, try to figure out what he thought of the idea, but I didn't trust him as far as I could throw this tower. Better to just end this interaction.

Kicking the door open, I waved to the others as I addressed the evil god. "Sure. Lying. That's me. We're all doomed, I'm gonna go cry about it."

"Wait!" he sputtered. "I mean, no, don't wait, I mean…this is a VERY frustrating interaction!"

I flipped him off as we walked away. I wasn't sure if he knew what the gesture meant, but I figured a big bad mind god would be able to figure it out. Once we reached the beach, I called for Croissant again, and the huge dolphin surfaced within minutes. We all climbed onto his back and I directed him back in the direction we'd originally come from. Clarent might be there still, but we had bigger fish. Both to fry and on our actual team now, so I wasn't really worried about that.

Once we were far enough away from the tower I explained my plan. Deanna, who had been silently staring into space during the ride (which was much slower because we stayed above water the whole time, I was NOT putting her back into my Domain until we got this whole godplague thing taken care of) lit up at the explanation, clearly hopeful that my solution might be a viable option.

Once we reached the mark on the wall where Croissant had tried to slash me open, I said goodbye to my Dolphin friend again and we began the slow climb to the top of the cliff. From there, we retraced our steps back to the Hermetic Hall. As the building came into view, I felt something in my get unclench, I just hoped they would be able to help Chloe. And more than that, I hoped whatever price they demanded was one we could afford to pay.

 

[SilverEagle2121]

@Malcolm Tent just an FYI, you labeled the threadmark for the last chapter as 1094 when it should be 1095.