Corvayne parked in Mister I's garage, not wanted to get soaked by near freezing rain. Spears had thought that funny he called it freezing out, given it was high 40s. As if that was a temperature that didn't cause hypothermia.
The rec center hadn't changed much, though Corvayne noted that it looked like a fresh coat of paint had went onto everything on the ground floor. One of Mister I's fishing buddies waved at Corvayne as he passed, and Corvayne gave the older man a friendly wave.
The smiling monk wasn't far behind and wrapped Corvayne in a hug.
"How are you? How's Preshe and your three wives doing?"
Corvayne laughed a little. "Bell's trying to get her sister, I mean, getting Tutu to pick up more of the slack... with the emperor and her brother bumping up their constitutions she wants to stop spending the Teru empire's budget on us. Which is fine, because Spears is sick of the two of them."
Mister I rubbed his chin. "It's likely harder then you think. Any emperor blessed with a sharp mind would see that even without their bloodline's magic power, Bell has excelled in the new world we find ourselves in. If I sat on that throne I would read the winds and tie her up to someone who will ensure the empire snatches the treasures of the world awakening."
Corvayne met his gaze and frowned, and the Monk chuckled while holding his hands up. "Banish your thoughts of betrayal! I and him likely are both thinking of you, of course."
"Bell doesn't bring it up much, I think she is worried about changing the dynamic we have..." He had thought about trying to talk to her and Spears about the next steps, including kids, and even if Bell was okay with a future where he was with both them.
Mister I hummed. "I worry not if she would take you. She would. However, you live the life of an adventurer, and her goal is to save her homeland. Would you be able to settle down? Not simply finding a good home and making it yours. Taking on the duties of an emperor means you cannot wake and decide what you wish to do for the day. I am usually careful to not give unasked for advice but do not put your foot into the swamp of politics until you are forced to."
"I love Bell." Which was pushing the clock back.
"Then if you don't want to be an emperor, you need to find some way to help Princess Bellithica replace her faded empire's old claim to power. The trouble on Tripic means they have some time."
Mister I gestured towards a second gymnasium that he had never been in. He had thought there was only one, but Mister I explained the other was mostly used for storage. He was pretty sure there had only been one. Just like he had been sure there were not gargoyles all over Old Town before.
"What's going on in Tripic? That's the collective and Wick's homeworld, right?" He did not follow the news outside of local events, and even then it was mostly to pick up if something changed so he could react quicker.
"Capital, but yes. The one that is split up into strips of city. They are calling this the great emptying. What's a little danger when you can find a place where you are not a cog in the machine? A lot of people relied on money and fear keeping those cogs going forever. That isn't including the danger of a population who suddenly has magic they were keeping for themselves."
He could agree with that. The girls came back from their field trip just shy of level 60. Theoretically, they were as strong as Argyle was. Or stronger... they had 0 unspent stat points. Or weaker, because they were not fighers and killers. Not if he could help it.
Corvayne opened the door to the second gym and saw that the stage was lit up. "If I had the option to walk into the Tower and vanish when everyone in my village hated me? I would have left and burned every bridge." He felt his mouth curl into a frown. "I'd probably never have heard Spear's perspective if I did that."
"You must find the good in the bad, and turn misfortune into fortune, even if sometimes those are hard lessons! I am proud of you Corvayne, the man you are today is better then before."
"I'm stronger but Icarriii, it feels like I'm spending a lot more time worrying-"
The monk slapped him on the back and laughed. "You know why." Then stepped back and closed the doors, leaving him in the darkened gym. Corvayne walked over to the chair located near the back wall, and sat, facing the orange-brown wood stage. Once he was settled, Wick came out of a side wing with a folding chair and sat down.
There was a moment of quiet. With his sharp eyes, Corvayne could see she looked the same as always, though clearly wearing a shield belt and subtle padding that suggested armor under her clothes. [[Unity]] was nearly barren at this distance, but Wick's strong emotions under her block gave him the faint scent of fear and paranoia, yet a tendril of appreciation and affection threaded to him. He sent guarded good will back, knowing she was uncomfortable with anything more.
He picked up his phone and dialed her, then let a shadow hand hold it for him so he could let his hands sit. He saw Wick smirked at the casual use of his power.
"Good to see you again." She said. He scratchy voice had a hint of regal delivery to it as well. His absence had been good for their Gestalt even if had been terrible for him.
"Wick. Ana." Corvayne said, giving her a nod. "Sorry for bothering you, but I've been thinking about your request for more essence specialists." Ones who were not Preshe.
"We will talk business. We need to talk business to someone who isn't dealing with that golden brat. We want to know how you are doing."
He was pretty sure she knew, because he had asked Bell and Spears to fill her in. Lady Blood Claw, oddly, was prickly about Wick in a way his girlfriends were not. He figured though that of the women he lived with, the two openly talking to her would fill her in.
"Well, Preshe's friends came over last night and are advancing faster then I thought possible. We also are going to push to have a habitat inside the Tower door... Spears is really excited for winter and Bell is trying to get her sister to take over more of the work she does. Winter break is coming up and Mosh thinks we can fit her hand maybe in two weeks."
Wick's eyes had less bags under them from this far away, he noted. She sounded less... insane then she had. "Hah. We asked about YOU and it's all about your family."
"I would say my girlfriends and my right hand woman and Preshe."
"We missed listening to you reject reality. No. We are asking, are you doing better? After us... we put you through hell."
Corvayne felt his eyes start to narrow and stopped himself from going down that road. He might not like Ana, but he had loved Wick. No, he still loved her, even if it was tainted by hurt.
"You did what you have to do to survive, and after retreating for a while I've managed to find a good place. That's why I'm here. I want to make sure we have a few folks that can boost essence."
Wick nodded. "I know you are trying not to say it, but... yes. Ones who are not your daughter."
Corvayne felt himself stiffen a little at that. "You mean Preshe. I don't want to make her feel obligated-"
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Corvayne, I'm going to record this and play this for you when she gets her first boyfriend and you are spitting mad so you can remind yourself it's just some-"
Corvayne felt himself get mad at the thought. "I would not be upset she found companionship! I just don't... I... I don't want her to feel trapped!"
Wick leaned back and Corvayne could hear 'trapped' bounce around the empty space. Wick pretended not to hear the last part. "I can imagine it now! You would be sitting in your recliner with some poor level 10 kid sitting on the sofa, giving him your usual easter island face and your shadow hands would be sharpening a knife while you ask him how school is going. You know what? Let's look at this a different way. You've spent a lot of time helping people since we split."
She stopped whatever smart ass comment she was about to add, and looked at him, lifting her glasses. It was weird now to see her without them.
Wick took a deep breath. "Wick/I doesn't regret loving you." Her posture shifts a little, straighter. It's not easy to see all the way across the gym, even with his sharp eyes. "Ana/She understands better now." "How we treated you poorly when you were with us, and how we ended up leaving you alone... We are sorry."
[[Understanding]] and [[Growth]] and [[Unity]] combine, and looking at this woman, once his lover, and her posture, he starts drawing lines between him and her and everyone in his mind. It felt to Corvayne like something is going to burst as he finally gets it.
He had been helping people because Wick had taken him in. She had known him in her past lives, often as her jailer. She told him that he had killed her before yet still helped him. Yes, he was always going to be hurt by her rejection. However, he also thought about how Wick hadn't held their cold war against Preshe when the girl needed someone who could share some of the pain of having broken parts that needed fixing.
"Apology accepted. I forgive you." He felt he meant it, and maybe he hadn't been ready to in the past, he wouldn't have meant it three months ago. But he did. He had moved on, and if not family ever again, Wick was his friend and ally.
[0%]
He felt like air all the sudden. Weight fell away as if he had opened his eyes for the first time.
"Wick, I just hit Zero percent-"
The good feeling of floating suddenly felt like he was in free fall as something else started to give.
"Wick? I need you to rewind me onto my bike, two minutes before I sat down or so. I think I'm about to nova again."
She was about to make a comment, and [[Unity]] was sure the comment would be bathroom related, but she somehow understood he was afraid of blowing something up and she stood and gestured at him, casting a spell in a flash. A second later he felt time magic jerk him, and the dark brown auditorium was replaced by gray and rainy Old Town a few steps from his ride. Corvayne felt the sloshing inside of his soul growing, and shifted to [[Vitality]] then [[Agility]] then [[Strength]] as he got onto the bike and kicked it into high speed, not bothering to get fully airborne. He skimmed the top of a parked car shooting sparks and breaking the back window as he half rolled into the turn around a drab brown building for the bay. He could feel chains inside of him snapping, then Adept power surging into his triangle, a wall of power that was tipping him back and forth internally.
[You have overcome the trial of: System Breaker!][This trial was completed by weakening it's structure.]
[Reward: Improved Adept powers, including Pacts.]
[Next Trial: Blunted Edge][Integrety 35%][Learn 5 new weapon skills].
Corvayne would have thought that was neat but he was pushing the bike over the ocean and starting to sprout black crystals. His shadow hand, still holding his phone, reminded him to keep talking. "Wick, I'm going to have a crystal blowout. I'm aiming for the sandbar north of Crater Bay. Tell Spears and Bell and LBC. See if Mosh can get going now to keep me alive."
"Shit! You fucking serious? You had better fucking call them and tell them it's not our fault, or we are going to have three women trying to kill us."
Why three again? Spikes of black material thrust out of his arm and he stored the phone before it could get destroyed, then started cycling again as he aimed his bike for the mess of sandbars. He dropped it onto the sand with a skid. Nobody else was out in the driving rain and choppy seas thankfully. He still ran as fast as he could, boots pounding on wet sand as he aimed for a rock jutting from the sandy extension of land.
A moment later he exploded and forced himself into [[Vitality]] as spikes started flying out of him like bullets, faster and faster. He forced the triangle despite not wanting to switch off [[Vitality]]. A spear moves forward. [[Agility]] brought white hot pain and barely pushed the ocean of power back. [[Strength]]. It wasn't fast enough.
[[Vitality]]. [[Agility]]. [[Strength]]. [[Growth]].
[[Vitality]]. [[Agility]]. [[Strength]]. [[Understanding]]. He felt the adept power starting to fill into his pacts even as shards erupted from every part of his body, searing twisting pain causing him to writhe and cry out. [[Growth]]. He could feel the blockages in his soul, knives unable to cut and going around the vines. [[Unity]]. He saw connections and had to force knives to not follow them, instead swirling back to erupt in the opposite directions.
[[Tower]] showed him, for a moment, the great rifts as black spires leading up into the sky. Some of them contained glowing orange lights, little torches in the distance that were friends. Some of them he had never met before.
He cycled pacts, then hit [[Love]] and saw starry eyes. He saw lightning, burning and destroying as it endlessly hunted. He saw his friends, then a stern face not far from his own, reflected as a ghost in glass looking out at rainbow clouds swirling under pink moons. A flash of silver and...
He managed to push back to [[Vitality]] before everything went black.
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile:
A black hand, almost rubbery and brimming with green energy, wiggles it's fingers then reveals a teacup, filled with steaming chocolate milk.
The Magus took a sip then surveyed the edge of a crater he was perched on . Reality around him had been told that it's air and has normal gravity, so... the cup is steaming rather then floating away in little blobs. Besides that, the normally gray moons dust is a nice pinkish color. To the Magus's mind, pink is a cute color so that's a good state for it to be in! It's contrasting with the black of space off to the sides.
He feels something give as he's sipping his tea, sort of like a string just got cut. One of his curses breaking, not the first time he's felt that. Usually it means someone died.
Instead of a sharp tug as it brought a little, currently useless, essence back, the string kept giving though, sort of like a cartoon where someone throws a weight attached to a rope off a building and the rope keeps going! He checked his feet, no rope! Very good. It would be embarrassing if he fell off his perch. A big curse going down at first fills him with satisfaction, not that anyone would ever see his smile. The flickering pink moon was empty after all, and his mask's upturned face was always smiling.
The satisfaction turns sour when he realizes, first, that the thread of power had little side thorns... this was someone with lots of curses, and the fact only one snapped...
"Uh oh! Oopsie!" The Magus said, letting his teacup float as he examined the curse that had broken, unseen hands and his useless real ones playing with the thread. What was this one? Why was it so long? It was... System something or other...
The curse of making up new curses every other year was that he sometimes forgot what ones he had already placed, especially if they were his enemies.
Perhaps curses breaking was what woke him a few months ago from a sound sleep! Little ones were just a blip, but this had felt like something big emptying out... and this matched the taste of his other curse so maybe this little thread had been a big tree at one point. When did he curse a tree? No. Tree sized. A thread the width of a planet! Attention time! The Magus pulled out a little flute and played it to signal a few minutes of focus, then paid attention to the System. The dust around him had faded to crimson, which made a nice contrast to the bright blue screens the System let him have.
Lots of exp notices for killing monsters and a few sentient beings! Bye! Doesn't matter. No level ups.
[74 messages deleted]
Hmm. Here it is. Curse of the system? Restored functions? Repairing connections?
Wait. When he was imprisoned... he had carved several thousand boosters and burned them on a curse that bound the system, crippling the Watchers and the Pilgrims who depended on the functions he had sealed to advance. The thing was overkill, because it had hit everything in the universe. He had expected from burning untold monuments that it would last millions of years, yet looking now, he sees that it had started falling apart rapidly a few months ago.
His enemies would be strong again? In the past he had rightfully worried, but... now? He had a foe somewhere that had overcome his curse. There was someone out there who could possibly face him! He grabbed his floating teacup which was spraying chocolate ice over the moon and refilled it with plasma chocolate, mixed the ice back in, and downed it in one gulp. Who DID he curse again? He managed to slip quite a few out of the containment as practice. Lots of little ones that did boring things like attempt to give the immortal it was on cancer over and over. Well, he'd just have to look.
Attention time was running out, and he shivered at the boredom he was about to subject himself to before he kept going.
The system coming back on line certainly meant the Watchers might actually attack for once. GOOD. It possibly meant he'd have to take a break from testing potential super cities to see if they were Babel material. FINE. He could have sniffed out whatever dark hole they were hiding in, if he WANTED to. If he FELT like it. He didn't. He didn't want to follow the boring threads that had been there for tens of thousands of years. There was the one that was drying up... going, going gone!
No matter! He could make the boring search fun! He had plenty of time, after all. He tossed his teacup onto the lunar surface, kicking up a little dust that was shimmering yellow and white it was bathed in light that normally signified a sunrise.
"You hear THAT? World? There's finally a real challenge! Woo hoo! Adventure!"
He looked up a the city-world opposite his perch on the moon, currently blooming with explosions as his meteors landed on the brightest clusters of lights that had wrapped around the planet. Each EXPERTLY placed meteor would turn thousands of miles of surface and miles deep stacked city into miles deep piles of magma and rubble that would wash over the rest of the world like magma. He waited a few moments for shields, or a counter attack, or am escape fleet. Hmm. Nada.
Once more, he told the system to do away with all his new notifications that stated '1 experience point awarded'.
[1.6 Trillion messages deleted]
He had a feeling, the sort of weird passing ones he had where he thought about what other people thought, that given how the world was leaking magma into space, whomever was down there might not be watching the moon, but he waved anyway. "Sorry to half-ass it, I have to go now. I have a new friend to seek out. We are going to have so much FUN!!!"