Surprisingly, the other two were able to cross to my side of the floor pretty easily. The…formation? I didn’t know what it was, but the trap floor seemed to sense directions, and it didn’t take us long to notice that crossing AWAY from the exterior door was perfectly fine, and the other two decided to take me up on my offer.

I made one of the Abyss Wyvern steaks, making sure I still had plenty for Callie and I, and cut it into strips, grilling it in a slightly sweet sauce and serving it over a high quality cloud rice. Callie had been eating well with my grandmother, and insisted on snagging ingredients to stash in the companion rings.

“Anyone want a drink?” I asked as I fished out some recent beverage options. “I have a few types of soda, some high quality juices, and this stuff is called VOLT!!, it’s an energy drink. I haven’t tried it, but it’s supposed to work pretty well. Apparently it’s like lightning in a can.”

I was wary of this stuff. Callie had passed it on from Benny, and my best friend had a nasty sense of humor. Dominic seemed like a tough guy though, so he should be fine.

He seemed intrigued, then popped the top and fell over backwards with a yelp as electricity surged into his face. “Shit!” he snapped. “What was that?” He looked into the can, but apparently saw nothing, searching the room for his ‘drink’.

“It was lightning,” I said helpfully. “In a can.” I took the empty canister from him, checking the front. “Oh, my bad. That doesn’t say like.” I paused apologetically before asking. “So, how was it?”

He glared at me for a second, then shrugged. “Kind of spicy. I didn’t hate it. I feel a little energized.”

“So, since we’re on the same team, what ARE you guys looking for?” I did my best to seem as calm and approachable as possible, which was admittedly tough when you’re a giant in edgy black armor with a horrifying demonic visage. “And have you seen any of the others around here?”

Sable shrugged. “I thought I saw someone using birds to scout nearby. Might have just been local fauna. You?”

“Just this guy.” I jerked a thumb at Dominic. “But good to know. But you didn’t answer. What is the Peaceful Mourning Wreath?” These people couldn’t be much more versed in Felicity’s lore than I was, so they must have either been tipped off or done some specific research to find her dad’s temple info.

“It was the wreath the goddess gave her father when her mother died,” said Sable solemnly. “It has a number of abilities, not the least of which is the ability to draw emotional pain out of a person, healing deep emotional wounds that otherwise might never go away. These wounds are on a layer of the soul so deep most never even notice them, but they DO effect condensing a Saga. The Wreath provides a similar service to the rebirth that was offered in the selection, but for A-rankers.”

Dominic nodded. “Which mean’s it’s fucking PRICELESS. Anything that can help an A-ranker condense a Saga is worth more than most star clusters. Power at that level tips the balance of whole factions. Most of the five faction alliance don’t have more than ten or fifteen S-rankers.”

I was well aware. The WCP were able to stand equal with the alliance because we had more S-rankers than any of the other factions. While the Wish power had almost no effectiveness at making Path or soul difficulties go away, it lowered the standard for accruing renown by a laughable amount. At the end of the day, the Path and soul were things you could only really deal with yourself, but there were fixes for them, the biggest barrier to ranking up had always been stat acquisition.

It was one of the reasons I focused so hard on stat points with my wishes. Especially now, when I had such a monumental amount of them to gather. I could get through D-rank faster than anyone else could come close to, and if I managed to become the next Wishmaster, that amount would expand exponentially.

Shaking off that tangent, I forced myself to focus. My worries about my progression speed had been substantial recently, but it wasn’t the point here.

This wreath was powerful, and admittedly very useful, but it didn’t seem like it was what I was here for. Whatever Black Sorrow wanted, it wasn’t a trinket that the Lady had made for her father when she was younger. It had to be something related to Strakkenthar himself.

“Is there anything else here?” I asked them cautiously. “Some other artifacts that might be important?”

Sable nodded. “Three total. But the wreath is the only one we can touch. The other two are infused with Strakkenthar’s power. It’s highly corrosive and will kill anyone who comes near it. The Frightlord Scythe and the Disquietude Inkstone were two of his items of power.” I hadn’t heard of those before, so I cocked my head in confusion, indicating she should continue.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Sable shrugged. “The Saga can only take an S-ranker to five hundred Impact. Once you hit that level, the soul can’t handle the strain anymore. Four other artifacts are needed to achieve godhood. Of course, the Saga is the sum total of an S-ranker’s soul and body. If it’s not strong enough to reach five hundred, godhood is impossible, but past that, more artifacts are needed to withstand the weight.”

Fascinated, I asked her to elaborate. “How does that work? And how do you know this? I’ve never heard anything concrete about the process of achieving godhood, aside from needing a thousand Impact.”

“My great grandmother was a priestess for Verdyn back when he was still alive,” she said with a shrug. “It’s why I’m here. I’m a legacy. But Verdyn was never really my kind of deity. As for the objects, basically when you reach five hundred Impact you condense your Saga into a Domain. Any flaws or imperfections in your power and your Saga can’t hold it all.” Her tone was casual, like she wasn’t literally telling me the secrets of the universe.

“Once that’s done, you create a Domain seed and imbue it into an artifact, then water it with Impact. The more perfect your Domain, the more Impact each artifact can hold. Four is considered perfect, with five artifacts being a perfectly balanced Ascension to godhood. Once divinity is reached, all five parts of the Domain combine, and the objects of power become divine alongside their god.”

I considered that. “Wouldn’t less objects mean more power per object? What if you only made three objects? Or even two? A total of three domain bases would be more stable than five right? Assuming that less is more here.”

She shook her head. “The strength of the original Domain is what establishes the seed. Your initial Saga would need to be exponentially stronger than anyone else’s. The body and soul can’t handle more than five hundred points of Impact regardless, but your Domain itself would need to be MUCH stronger than anyone has ever managed, and the Saga is the third part of that triad. It would need to bear a much larger burden, which means the deeds in it would need to be MUCH more impressive..”

My mind flashed back to a black fortress under a blood red sky. Was that why Lark had spent such a long time building and reinforcing his Domain? Why he’d destroyed all the other Vampires. He’d been able to contain a hundred S-rankers. Was the Vampire trying to Ascend with fewer than four objects of power?

While fascinating, this was something for future Shane to worry about. “Sorry, distracted. Really want to hear more later if there’s more to hear, but can you tell me about the two objects that are here?”

“I don’t know much,” she shrugged. “Strakkenthar himself died a long time ago. I was able to get some information from my family library in some old books about the Lady. She and Verdyn were peers, so she’s mentioned. Her father was before Verdyn’s time though. All I know is that those two objects contain part of his power. I’m not sure what they actually do.”

“What about Strakkenthar himself?” I asked hopefully. “I don’t know much about him.”

That seemed to perk her up. “I know a bit about him. Strakkenthar was the god of Endless Night. His Domain was based around the inevitability of darkness swallowing the world after the sun passed. His whole creation myth was about the unstoppable tide of darkness that would someday swallow all the stars in creation.”

“Charming,” I said with a grimace. But my mind wasn’t on Strakkenthar anymore. Black Sorrow’s Enshrining Darkness sounded eerily similar to that. Did the Domain seed have that much influence on her power?

Come to think of it, was that how she’d gotten the seed? Taken it from one of his artifacts? I could see how using someone else’s seed as one of your four might help you Ascend, though the exact mechanics were a bit hazy to me. I just didn’t know enough about the process. But what would she do with another? I didn’t have nearly enough information about what was going on right now, and I didn’t like it.

I didn’t even know which artifact I was supposed to take. And what about the corrosive energy? Would the stone counter it? There was no reason to send me all the way out here to die, if she wanted to kill me she could have just done it. Which meant this really was a chance to get free of the sword hanging over my head, even if it was a casual and dangerous one that I didn’t think she cared if I survived.

More and more I was seeing how little I understood about the world at large and my own situation in specific. Being D-ranked had seemed so huge and important before I got here, but now I just felt helpless and ignorant. Mastery really was where the real world of Ascendants began, and I was in the deep end.

In the end though, it didn’t matter. I was sent to do a job, to help keep my family safe. I’d get it done, and worry about consequences later. Black Sorrow being slightly more powerful wasn’t going to effect me in the short term, and in the long run…well, I’d learned quite a few things today, and I had a new goal. I wanted to create the strongest Saga I could, create a foundation for a colossal and powerful Domain, and outdo every other god who had ever Ascended.

I had a unique opportunity to create and lay the foundation for a powerful Domain by perfecting all thirteen of my pseudo Domains and merging them together into something truly terrifying. If I did it right, I might be able to do what I suspected Morgan was doing. Ascend with only three artifacts of power, a four part Domain, or even better, with only two, creating a three part Domain that my instincts told me would be the perfect configuration.

But I was getting ahead of myself. I only had three pseudo Domains finished, and I had a long way to go until my Saga. I’d need to focus on perfecting every aspect of myself before I reached that point.

For now, getting one of those artifacts and getting it to Black Sorrow would give me room to grow. So I finished my food and stood up, brushing myself off. “Alright, well, I don’t think the wreath is what I’m here for, so that’s good for our agreement. You two can work out who gets it once we’re through this. Until then, we work together.” I gestured to the grid of floor squares. “Now, either of you know how the hell to get past this? Because trial and error is going to take forever.”