“I can’t believe that worked.” I told Zeke after we got back to the inn. We’d gotten Felicity a room, and the list of regulations she had to follow would be passed down tomorrow at the first day of the actual conclave, which would begin following the end of the games. “I expected him to fight it. Craygen is like his Benny, right?”

Zeke shrugged. “I told you, the WCP isn’t made up of good people. Aiden is just as big of a bastard as anyone else in power. More, honestly, how do you think he beat Eli out for the job.”

“I guess I just expected…” I trailed off. “Not that.”

My uncle chuckled. “You expected someone like Eli. Someone cold and ruthless and necessary. But Aiden wasn’t ever that type of person. Oh don’t get me wrong, he can BE ruthless, but Aiden is more…”

“Wild?” I offered, thinking about what I’d seen in the mans eyes.

He nodded thoughtfully. “That’s one way to describe it. Aiden Wyndham is like a force of nature. He’s charismatic and vicious and cheerful and…unstoppable. He’s like a storm that sucks up everyone who crosses his path and flings them out into the open sky. Sometimes you have wings, and you could consider it a boost. Sometimes you hit the ground. And sometimes a fucking house lands on top of you.”

“That last scenario would be for his enemies?” I asked cautiously.

Laughing, he shook his head. “Those would be his friends.He’s indiscriminate. He just…does adventure at things and it works out. For him. And often for no one else. Not that being his enemy is safer, he goes through things more often than around them. Eli scares people, and in a world where Aiden didn’t exist he would’ve been Wishmaster. But Aiden TERRIFIES people.”

“What is his second ability?” I asked in cautious amazement. “Nobody has ever told me what it is.”

He shrugged. “Hell if I know. It’s hard to tell, what with stored attacks being possible, plus we’re pretty sure everyone who’s seen him use it is dead. One of the major benefits of being a candidate is being able to play things closer to the chest since you don’t need the renown. I imagine most people find your powers incredibly confusing.”

“That’s…actually a fair point.” I admitted. “Anyway, I’m just glad everything worked out. Having an extra C-ranker during this conclave will be nice. I might be crazy but-”

“Nope.” He cut me off. “You’re not. Storm’s brewing. Everyone can feel it. The bigwigs are just convinced it won’t be enough to shake their tree. I’m less convinced. Everyone has been in a relatively peaceful universe too long. They’ve forgotten what its like to have rivals and counters. New gods are here to level the playing field, and I’m worried.”

I shot him a concerned look. “Should we bail? Try to do the questioning remotely and leave?”

“Won’t work.” He said with a sigh. “Besides, there are no gods here, but Lark is still around. Him and Arble are enough to deter most sane people. Arble is fucking OLD. He’s got a lot of reputation, and he’s supposed to be strong. I can’t tell you how strong, he hasn’t been active in ages, but I suspect the list of the top ten S-rankers universe-wide doesn’t take into account people like Arble.”

I thought back to the Hallow. I still couldn’t see the point. Burning people up? Maybe turning them into monsters? It wouldn’t do anything at a meeting with nearly ten S-rankers, at least two of whom were demigods.

Shaking off the thought, I sighed. “So…what do we do about Felicity? Can we fix her? I have some ideas for how to attempt it, but I’m not sure they’ll lead anywhere. Do you know how to reverse…what is it called, actually?”

“Grinding.” He said with a grimace. “Willpower grinding. And there are ways, but none you would have access to. If it was reversible everyone would do it. That spiritual calming belt Benny has might help. Or it might not. Grinding doesn’t damage the soul the same way use does. It’s more like scarification.”

I winced. “That really does sound horrible. But if it leaves damage instead of taking chunks I might have an idea of how to handle it.” Zagan could purify a lot of stuff. If she had soul scars or whatever it might help. It seemed to repair at least some soul damage when I used Life Nova, though that might have just been a temporary euphoria from energy rejuvenation.

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“Be careful of the conclave, by the way.” He said after a moment. “The Deathwish Pope is a cagey fucker. He’s Black Sorrow’s favorite disciple, which should tell you what a deeply unpleasant person he is.”

I paused. “Speaking of which, we’ve been spending a lot of time with Chelsea. If Black Sorrow finds out-”

“It’ll be handled.” He said bluntly. “First off, we’re in the middle of a war and you two are related to HALF of the current six reigning gods. The old man and the Revenant aside, The Emperor and The Queen won’t tolerate internal dissent during such a crucial time.”

That made me feel a bit better but, “What about when the war ends?”

“What about it?” He laughed. “These are gods, Shane. They don’t do anything on a rapid timescale. I wouldn’t be surprised if the war goes on another fifty years. By that time, at this current rate, you might make S-rank, or have become the Wishmaster. You think she’s going to be able to touch the reigning Wishmaster?”

I laughed. “So…it’s future Shane’s problem? That’s why you guys have stopped being careful about it?”

“Oh we haven’t.” He said bluntly. “If she finds out, it won’t be an immediate problem, but we’ve still been keeping it under wraps. I’ve been with you constantly since we’ve gotten here. Have you forgotten what my Path is?”

Pausing, I thought about it. “I don’t KNOW what your Path is. But I know it’s something about…wait, can you MASK secrets with your Path?”

“I can do a lot of things with my Path.” He said with a chuckle. “So can you, as you seem to have started realizing after your training with your mother. But yes, I’ve been masking yours and Chelsea’s identities. There are S-rankers who could easily penetrate that mask, but luckily none of them are here, and my Path is unusually strong because of all the time I spent in B-rank.”

He winced, and a slight flash on his forehead revealed that the information he’d given me had tripped the geas, which meant it was probably important.

I filed it away like I had a thousand comments that still didn't make complete sense, another piece of the puzzle I was sure would click later. Enough drops of water would fill an ocean, albeit VERY slowly.

“My parents spent so much effort keeping our secret.” I said tiredly. “Fucked up our lives so badly. If Black Sorrow finds out, wasn’t it all for nothing?”

Shaking his head, he shot me a sad smile. “You’re thinking of this the wrong way. You had almost twenty years to grow up and learn what you needed to learn. To get strong and build connections. You’re not unique or anything, but you’ve grown into a promising candidate, and that’s its own form of protection. No secret stays secret forever.”

“I guess I hadn’t considered that.” I admitted. “But is it wrong to want to be safe? To want to hold onto what I have now?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really do right or wrong, as I mentioned. But if I thought it was a bad idea, I wouldn’t be helping. I’m not saying you send Black Sorrow a family holiday card, I’m saying that eventually the truth will out. Our job isn’t to make sure it never happens, it’s to make sure you’re as valuable and powerful as possible when it does, especially with the additional lead the war gives us.”

“Did you always know it was going to come to this?” I asked quietly. “Did my parents?”

That got a bark of bitter laughter. “Kid, your journey has been far from normal, even for a candidate. None of us knew how fast or far you’d fly. Your girl killed a god, you helped uncover a plot to start a divine war. We passed any definition of normal ages ago. But opportunity and danger are often bedfellows. Being so noteworthy, and the war itself, have given you a chance you might not have had before. Take advantage of it.”

“But no pressure, right?” I said dryly.

He rolled his eyes. “What are you, stupid? ALL the pressure. Pressure is how you grow. And you have. I wouldn’t say you’re the strongest E-ranker I’ve ever seen, but you’re definitely not weak. Even at less than halfway in and with your stats distributed evenly, you’re a threat to an upper level combatant like that Albert kid. There are better Ascendants, but he wasn’t bad.”

“Yeah, who is the Iron Body Sage anyway?” I asked in exasperation.

“S-ranker.” He said shortly. “Follows the Path of Might. And yes, its possible to base a Path off a stat, but it’s rarely done because it requires ABSURD specialization.”

I blinked at that. “You mean like Jessie has? Because if she has an easy Path, that might be a good idea to mention to her.” It wouldn’t help with Benny’s Path, but sadly, barring this new and fairly intriguing concept, Paths weren’t something you could give advice on.

“Possibly.” He shrugged. “Mention it to her, it can’t hurt. But anyway, Iron Body is a physical monster. His Path is mostly about punching out anything, even things that can’t be punched. He’s not the most powerful S-ranker, but he’s probably the strongest in terms of raw physical might. You saw earlier that muscle isn’t everything though.”

I nodded, happy with myself about that. Mornax hard countered Albert’s physical power, at least until he figured out the trick. The fight would have been easier if I had more ranged options, and I added that to my list of possible forms, but still, I was pretty damned satisfied with what I’d done.

Standing up, I shot my uncle a grateful smile. “Thanks, Zeke. For everything. Keeping our secret, staying with us, you’ve been there for me when no one else has. I’m still hoping Benny will be my best man, but would you want to be one of the groomsmen at my wedding? It wouldn’t feel right without you standing up there.”

He swallowed heavily, looking away as he cleared his throat. “Sure kid. I’d like that.”

“Plus Stella is going to be a bridesmaid.” I continued with a smirk. “And Callie wants to make sure she has someone to dance with.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re not funny. I know you think you are, but you’re wrong.”

“Wonder where I got that from.” I said snarkily.

He nodded sagely. “I think that’s obvious.” After a pause he said. “It was your mother.” We both snorted, chuckling at the absurdity. I pulled my uncle into a hug, saying goodnight and heading down to check on Felicity, who was being settled in by Callie and Bethy. Chelsea, Celine, Cark, Abel, Mel, and Jessie were all discussing how to help her, and I didn’t see Benny.

I had nothing to add right now. I was tired and sore and I had a big meeting tomorrow where I got to be interrogated by eight of the most powerful people in the universe. I needed some sleep. I stripped off my armor and collapsed into bed, exhausted

This whole ordeal had been crazy, but I was sure it would pay dividends. I’d be one step closer to D-rank after all this, one step closer to reaching the gates of real power, and I couldn’t tell if I was excited or terrified. Closing my eyes, I drifted off to sleep to visions of winning the competition, and wondering what kind of Wishmaster I’d be.