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

[Malcolm Tent]

I thought Belsara might attack me for a moment, her eyes lit with incandescent rage…and then it passed, and her smile, which hadn't actually changed during the dangerous moment, warm and inviting. "Why, what a peculiar question," she said airily. "Though I suppose hardly a surprising one, considering the obvious resemblance. Very well, why don't you all sit down. Calliope, darling, would you like something to eat? I have these DIVINE finger sandwiches I can whip up."

She didn't seem to care that I hadn't mentioned Callie's name, and with a flick of her fingers, she conjured a pair of chairs behind my wife and Terry, knocking into the backs of their knees and depositing them in the seats. In the blink of an eye, a cup of tea appeared in one of Callie's hands and a plate of tiny sandwiches with the crusts cut off in the other. Terry got tea too, but it just appeared in the air in front of him and he had to fumble to keep it from spilling all over him. But hey, at least she wasn't biased.

Callie watched warily, scooting her chair over so it was next to mine, instead of behind me where she'd ended up due to my protective stance. She took a sandwich, biting it gingerly, but her eyes lit up as she offered one to me. If Belsara wanted us dead we'd be dead, and poison would be pointless, plus my Danger Sense wasn't warning me about the sandwiches, even if it WAS going apeshit right now.

I took the offered sandwich and bit into it, impressed by the depth of that flavor despite only really tasting cucumber and cream cheese. "These are amazing," Callie gushed. "What's in them?"

Belsara preened, and I frowned internally. I didn't think Callie was as aware of the danger here as I was. Possibly because she wasn't IN any danger from Belsara, but I didn't think she could sense my emotions through the bond if she was this relaxed. Which meant Belsara could not only SHUT the bond, she could probably tinker with it. That was VERY bad.

"The secret is finely chopped watercress mixed into the cream cheese," Belsara said modestly. "It was my daughter's favorite summertime snack as a child. I'm so glad you like it."

Callie swallowed hard, her face apprehensive. "Your daughter…Alara?"

Hot rage swam through Belsara's eyes. "My lucky star," she said roughly, her teeth clenching like she was in incredible pain. "Dead too soon because her failure of a father couldn't be bothered to pay attention."

I blinked at that. Right. Alara had been presumed dead when we found her. Even Atlas hadn't expected her to come back. I tried to decide how smart it would be to tell Belsara that…but unfortunately my wife was having a very different experience right now, and she didn't have that reservation. "But Alara's not dead!" she said excitedly. "She DID die, but there was an accident, and she came back as a vampire!"

Belsara, who had been taking another casual sip of tea…froze. Now, some people would use that term to mean that she went very still, but that wasn't what happened. Belsara FROZE. Not into ice, but almost in time. In fact, everything that wasn't US froze. It was like the world just stopped. "What did you just say?" she asked calmly.

"Alara is alive!" Callie gushed. "She was in stasis for a long time, so she's still pretty young, too. She ended up sealed in the Chaos Chasm!"

Belsara's hands shook slightly, the only sign of disturbance on her serene face. "That is…you're telling the truth. I can hear your honesty," her voice was shaky, despite the complete lack of facial expression, and I couldn't say I blamed her. I didn't even HAVE a daughter yet and the idea of something happening to her broke my heart. Maybe my premonition of doom didn't take this into account? Maybe things were turning around.

"What happened, exactly?" I asked her slowly. "Between you and Atlas? What happened to Alara?"

It wasn't too big of a leap to assume she and Atlas were an item if she was Alara's mother, not that I'd had much doubt before. But the sheer MALICE she expressed when talking about him gave me a not so nice feeling.

"My daughter was always daddy's little princess," she said in a shaky voice. "Ever since she was a little girl, she was Adam's pride and joy. I loved how close they were, of course. We were a family. But we were never his first priority. Not really. You see, Adam hated the Void far more than he loved either of us."

Callie looked confused by that. I didn't blame her. Atlas was an attentive father, even to Callie, who he had adopted later in life. He doted on Alara too. But then, if this story was going where I thought it was, maybe that was the point. Maybe he'd lost his family because of his hatred and tried to change. It would explain why he was so resolute about claiming Callie as his after giving her the archangel trait. "How did Alara die?" my wife asked in a small voice. I could tell she had never considered the question before. Honestly neither had I until today. I knew Alara, and she was still around, so I never bothered to ask.

"Treachery," she said coldly. "Adam was blinded by his hatred and trusted someone he should not have trusted. My husband was always far too emotional. We drifted apart after that, I'm afraid. I never could forgive him for letting her die."

That was truth, I could smell it. But it wasn't the WHOLE truth. I could almost feel the unspoken words behind that statement. The tragedy, the anger, the betrayal. How had she gone from that situation to this one? How had she been shattered and then trapped here? I somehow doubted she was the kind of god that any old divine being could destroy. And she had been very careful just then to change the subject when the fallout came up.

If I had to guess, I would have bet that Atlas himself had killed her. And I was willing to hazard a guess that she wasn't exactly blameless in that incident.

But I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't tell Callie, not with the bond being interfered with, and if I said something out loud she would probably just kill me. So I decided to play along until we could get out of here. "Well, I'm sure you're excited to see her once you're free," I said cheerfully. "I'm sure she missed you terribly."

Her face shut down, going blank. "Perhaps," she allowed. "But who knows what stories her father has been filling her head with? After I lost my lucky star, I was inconsolable." She reached out to take Callie's hand. "I'm afraid I did some things that I regret. You're going to be a mother soon, Calliope, surely you can understand my pain." She lowered her eyes in shame. "I'd love nothing more than to reunite with my daughter, but I'm not sure she would want to see me."

Callie, being one of the kindest, most empathetic people I've ever met, naturally melted. She squeezed back, offering Belsara a comforting smile. "I think you're underestimating my sister," she said softly. "When Alara came back, and found out that dad had adopted me, she didn't hesitate to embrace me as part of the family. If you're truly sorry for the things you did and work to change, I'm sure she'll forgive you. Family means everything to Alara. And I'm sure dad will be happy to see you too-"

"No," Belsara snapped, breaking the spell (metaphorically, I was almost positive). "I refuse. He can't be trusted. It was his fault. I warned him his crusade would end her life, and he ignored me. It was his fault she died. I wouldn't have needed to betray him to the Void if he had kept her safe!"

And there it was. I had kind of figured it would be something like that. Callie's face went pale, and she tried to pull away, but Belsara's hand clamped down on her wrist like an iron vise. I didn't hesitate, I blurred forward, calling on Bennu, pushing him to S-rank, flooding my body with as much power as possible as I funneled that five colored fire, now enhanced by my new flame, into and through my Domain, hurling the power into a seal designed to clamp down on Belsara and hold her long enough for us to escape.

I made it five inches before I froze in place. I raged against the binding, throwing every ounce of power I had at her, but it wasn't enough. Not at A-rank. Even with the boost, I could only barely breach the S-rank threshold. She was a god, even if only a fragment, and even my grandfather was helpless to do anything. I screamed and twisted and pulled, calling on every demon I could think of, but the solid hold of a god's Domain was beyond my power.

Callie, for the first time since she saw I was ok, looked afraid. "What are you going to do to me?" she whispered.

Belsara reached up with her other hand, cradling my wife's cheek. "Oh my child," she crooned. "I'd never hurt you. You OR your baby. Blood of my blood. I can see your spirit, how strong and beautiful it is. All I could ever ask for in a child. Alara will forgive me in time, I'm sure, but you said it yourself, she'd do anything for family. For her new little sister. I won't return you to Adam. Won't let him twist you the way he did her. Won't let him fail you. You OR your daughter."

"So…you'll let me go?" Callie asked hopefully. "You won't hurt anyone?"

"Of course I won't," she purred comfortingly. "I won't need to. After all, you're going to be a good girl and come with mommy, aren't you? I'll take you somewhere wonderful, where you and the baby will be safe."

My mouth was full of blood, I was clenching my teeth so hard they had cracked, my bones were groaning under the strain as I hurled every ounce of power inside me against the hold of her Domain. I couldn't let this happen, I couldn't let her take my wife, take my baby. My blood was blazing, all my bloodlines ignited, my soul was screaming, my demons were raging, Gehenna boiled inside my skin to explode into reality and rain down hell on anyone who threatened my family. I was blazing with more power than I had ever even considered possible…and it did nothing.

Callie turned to me, tears in her eyes, and I could see the trust, the love, the faith she had in me. I heard her whisper through the bond, telling me to find them. To be safe. That she loved me.

And then the house was gone. The table was gone. And both of them were gone. We were alone, kneeling on hard brown stone in the library, everyone except my wife, and the goddess who had stolen her.

The seal was gone, the fire erupted, and I screamed in loss and unbearable agony as I drove my fists into the floor, smashing through the stone as I unleashed every ounce of stored energy I'd failed to use to save Callie into the rock below. I punched, and I punched, and I punched. The energy faded, the power left me, my hands shattered, but I kept punching, like I could smash my way through the floor and into a tunnel that would take me to her.

A hand landed on my shoulder, then the other, my grandparents comforting me, but I never looked up. I fell forward into the crater I'd made, into the slurry of my own blood and the dust of the shattered stone, and I started to cry. That was the last thing I remembered before the darkness swallowed me. Mercy at last.

 

[SilverEagle2121]

Eh. I have to say, I do not like this chapter and how it ended.

 

[Quenster06]

I've never been fond of the "abduct someone close to the MC for dramatic tension" trope. Most often it takes away a character I like and twists them in some way against the MC, which is frustrating story telling for me, personally. Malcolm writes well, so I'm hoping it doesn't last long or result in a depression spiral.

 

[Vongrak]

I think the frustration of this sort of thing comes with the whole "Callie had one job and it was to not run into danger... and thus she immediately ran into danger". I'm not saying it's out of character in fact it's incredibly IN character. Still kind of frustrating though. The kid should change things. It doesn't because well, changing habits is hard and Shane was RIGHT THERE and needed help but... yeah.

On the other hand, I'm mostly ok with it because we have a really good reason for Callie to be both kidnapped and safe... ish. Alive at least. There's long term risk with corruption and whatnot but if acted on swiftly it shouldn't be a problem. The real concern would be this taking too long and missing out on seeing the kid growing up and repeating the cycle of absentee parents. Though if that did happen I think I really would be annoyed. Shane has tried so hard to avoid that for his kid and it's not really his fault in this case.

Anyway, point is, I don't like it for obvious reasons but it's not a bad narrative decision and I'm ok with it as well.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"Shane," Benny's voice washed over me, but I didn't pay attention. My eyes remained locked on the ceiling, staring up at a single spot on the stone like it held the secrets to the universe. Or a universe. Any universe but this one. "Shane," he said again. "I need you to respond, man. Say something. Anything."

I didn't move. Didn't speak. I just stared. "Damn it Shane," snapped my sister as she stalked over and grabbed me by the breastplate, yanking me upright. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.

"Who knows," I said dully. "What have I ever done? Really? Callie's gone, Chelsea. A fucking GOD took her. I don't even know where. I've been trying to use the bond, but it's been shut down. I can't find her. My wife and unborn daughter just got kidnapped and I have…nothing. No leads. No heading. No idea where to go. So what am I doing? Nothing. I'm doing nothing. Which is all I'm good for."

It wasn't reasonable. I should be getting up, getting ready to charge off on another quest. I should be preparing to go punch a sun or something until it told me where she was.

But I couldn't. I couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't BREATHE. She was gone. Callie was GONE. Not in the sense of being missing, we'd been away from each other before. But I couldn't FEEL her. Her soul and mine were constantly connected. Even if the bond was closed, I could still feel it pressing against my spirit, but I didn't. I was alone. Truly alone for the first time in years.

And I couldn't deal. Callie was my heart, my motivation, the source of my strength. I could sit through literal torture if I had her, had done so a dozen times. But this…I didn't know how to do this. How to process her and the baby being gone.

"Shit," my grandfather muttered. "He's in a recursive loop."

My grandmother sighed. "There's a reason people don't usually have soulmates. Not that I suspect it would be much better without the bond. She's carrying his child. Can we break it?"

"From the outside?" he said warily. "Maybe? But given how wrapped up their souls are I wouldn't want to try. Better to have him do it." He knelt down in front of me, grabbing my chin and jerking it up to meet his gaze. "Shane, you need to get up. It's a lot, I know. Your stats are heavily wrapped up with Callie, nullifying your bond unbalanced your recursion. You're spiraling. You need to pull up if you're going to find her."

I froze. That was…right. Find her. I should be finding her. Callie was ok. She was just lost. I needed to find her. I staggered to my feet, heading off…somewhere. I'd figure it out. I started to call Dantalion, but my grandfather's hand cut me off. "Whoa there," he said quietly. "Calm down, kid. I get it. It's scary. But we both saw what happened. That crazy goddess won't hurt your girl. She WILL hurt you if you push things. Which means we need to do two things. One of them is obvious, and the other won't take much thought. What are we doing? Think it through."

I clamped my eyes shut, forcing my brain to work. It wouldn't. So I triggered Piece of Mind. And again. And again. I filled my mind with parallels, with noise that could distract me from the pain and the fear.

My eyes opened, calm and rational. "We need to find out where she went," I enumerated. "And we need to learn more about Belsara. The second one we can solve by going to find Atlas. What about the first?"

"Judgement," he said immediately. "Belsara might be able to mess with your link, but there are deeper ties than skills. She won't be able to block your Karma. Especially not to the baby. That's your blood. Judgement CAN help. But that's just a direction. We need more than that. We need Atlas. Which means we need Alara. Unless you plan to make the trip over the Void Roads down to the Chasm again. I'm sure she had some method of contacting him."

I nodded quickly. "Yes," I said in relief. "Yes. Alara. She can help." I forced myself to focus, trying to shake off the fog in my head. "Shit. Recursion can BACKLASH? Why the hell didn't anyone tell me that?"

"Because most people don't build their recursion around material things," he said wryly. "Paired Ascendants aren't common. But it's not just you. It's obviously to a much lower extent, but you see similar spirals from swordmasters who lose their sword, or tamers whose bonded companions die." At my glare, he held up his hands. "I'm not comparing your wife to a pet or a weapon, Shane, I'm just telling you how the mechanism works."

"Sorry," I said after a moment. "I'm just…my blood feels like it's on fire. I need to be doing something. Anything. This isn't enough. I already wasted who knows how long spiraling-"

Benny cleared his throat. "About an hour," he informed me. "Wasn't that long. I don't…" he trailed off. "Shit, man, are you ok?" He sounded unsure of himself, and not at all like the Benny I knew, but I understood. Seeing me break down like that must have been weird for him. Hell, it was pretty weird for me and I'd been the one doing it.

"Not really," I said bluntly. "But I'm filling my brain with noise to make it easier to focus. Kind of glad I didn't manage that Perception balance yet. This would be way worse if I couldn't distract myself so easily." I turned to Terry. "Look, I need to go. With Song of Arcadia and Celestial Fabrication working together I should be able to get those timepieces going soon. Is it ok if I have yours delivered later?"

"Of course," he said firmly. "Family first. Go take care of it. You've gotten what you needed."

Nodding, I turned to my grandmother. "Speaking of going, can the Acheron get us back to the battlefront faster than the trip here? I need to get in touch with Atlas as soon as possible."

"It makes more sense to consult Judgement first," my grandfather pointed out. "We're in the Holy Dominion as we speak, and his lodge is nearby. In fact, we might not even need the ship to get there." He glanced at Terry. "Can we borrow the Starcannon?"

"To TRAVEL in?" he said uneasily. "I mean, maybe? I guess your Domain should be capable of withstanding it. Are you really that concerned?" At my sharp glance he shook his head. "Of course, my apologies. Yes, you can use the cannon." He shot me a sympathetic smile. "It'll get you where you need to be fastest. We use the cannon to launch flame fragments into nearby stars to test them. It's a complicated process, but barring a Domain like Nicholas's, I wouldn't recommend using it as a means of transport. I was simply concerned for your safety, I'm well aware of what's at stake."

Nodding, again, I let him go ahead, leading us toward this 'Starcannon'. I frowned at my grandfather as we walked. "Ok, what did he mean seeding stars?"

"The Starcradles aren't just called that because they make fire," he said as we hurried along behind Terry. "Those spheres you saw ARE stars. Or at least prototypes of them. They're suppressed to that state by the formation, but the actual manifestation process involves firing those small flames, called 'Starseeds' into nearby stars. If the seed takes root, it begins to convert the star, consuming its flame as it alters its core properties. Then it's harvested with the formation and condensed into an orb like the ones you've seen around."

"So, we're about to climb into a cannon that can fire small seeds of flame at a high enough velocity to drive them into the heart of STARS in neighboring systems?" I asked cautiously.

He nodded. "We are. Unless you'd rather take the long way."

"No, the cannon is fine," I said immediately. "But we need to be ready to head back as soon as we're done. Can we have-"


"Your grandmother meet us there?" he cut me off. "Of course. I was planning on it. Our arrival and consultation with Judgement should provide enough time for them to arrive to pick us up, and if not it should be close."

Swallowing hard, I nodded. I was having trouble processing everything, even with all the parallels running to distract me. I had shifted tactics to try to improve my response times, stacking my parallels to have them all repeatedly run through each thought so I could process them faster. It seemed to help a bit, grinding away some of the fog the distraction wasn't doing much about.

I didn't care too much about the cannon. If my grandfather thought it was safe I was sure it was fine. I just needed something to latch onto to keep me going.

My grandmother followed behind us, her face pinched with worry. "Nick, are you sure-"

"He'll be fine," he assured her. "My Domain is more than up to the strain. And it IS the fastest way there. I can exert control as we approach and land us safely, but the distance will pass almost instantly."

She frowned. "If it were anyone else I wouldn't allow it," she said bluntly. "Even I wouldn't be confident, and you know how much I've researched stellar travel. As a Demigod, you should be up to the task, but be careful. I want our granddaughter and great grandchild safe as much as you do, but not if it costs Shane his life. Urgent but not reckless, Nicholas. Please."

His expression, which started so resolute, softened a bit. "I know," he said quietly. "I won't take any stupid risks. But I WILL help him get his family back. If it was you, or Sasha…I don't know what I'd do, but it wouldn't be safe, that's for sure. With me there, he'll be better off."

She stepped forward as we came to a stop. Wrapping her arms around me, she pulled me into a tight hug. "She's going to be ok," she murmured into my ear. "They both are. And so are you."

I squeezed her back, then stepped away while she hugged my grandfather. "Watch out for him," she warned him again. Then she turned to Terry. "Can you set the vectors to pass Delraune? Nicholas can derail their passage easier than he can slow an atmospheric descent."

He nodded quickly. "I can do that. Should I adjust the parabola? With a Domain descent it should be feasible to curve the shot. Would cut down on deceleration trauma, even with a Domain to soften the blow. I'll have to rework the flight path slightly to account for the curvature, but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

"Too long," I said bluntly. I called out Dantalion, triggering the staff to push him to S-rank. He emerged solemnly, and I didn't even need to speak for him to know what to do. A jerk of my chin and he followed Terry off towards what I assumed was the control room for the cannon.

Speaking of which, the doors to the room we'd arrived at opened not long after they left, admitting us into a huge metallic chamber. The rooms was in the shape of a cylinder, and looking up the barrel I could see a faint gleam of light. It was WIDE too, almost a mile across at the widest point.

"Be safe," my grandmother said as my grandfather led me to the center of the room. She stepped out and he manifested his Domain around us. I waited for a moment or two, and felt Dantalion return to Gehenna. I tapped his shoulder to tell him to get ready, and we prepared for launch. There was a countdown, off in the distance, almost out of earshot, and then, with an almost physical roar, the room dissolved into a sea of fire.