Wish upon the Stars chapter 486

The next few days were hectic. Well, they felt like days, with the  weird timeshift in this place (or whatever was causing it) I hadn't  regained access to my wishes. Still, I'd been doing some serious work on  my forms, both Belial and the new one I had in development, and I felt  stronger than ever. I managed to snag another flag, Gabriel got one,  while Adrian got the last two, but he hit two flags after me, allowing  me to just barely eke out a victory and collect the gold key piece.

I  wanted Callie to take one, but she refused, making it clear that she  was worried about what was coming and that since I had far less in the  way of stats she wanted me to maintain my soul advantage. After the  seventh round we all received a message from the temple in our heads,  letting us know that after another ten hours the soul crushing stairs  would open directly into this level.

Based on what we'd  been told about the stairs being a passage between illusion and reality,  it made sense we'd walk them ourselves instead of some portal door  leading us to the base, but the unique nature of the transition had side  effects I hadn't anticipated.

First, the key pieces were  soul artifacts, and since we would be making the shift to the physical  along the steps, once we boarded the stair all the key fragments would  manifest in reality. It would make all the key holders targets, gold,  silver, and bronze. It would also give me a chance to pass the silver to  Callie, but we were expecting to be attacked at each of the ten levels.

So  here we were, gathered in a dark field (after Bethy and Callie said  their tearful goodbyes to Biscuit) waiting for the stair to descend. Now  that the competition had ended, the teams had mostly scattered, and the  different factions had split off to their original groups. Benny and  Jessie came to join us, along with Gabriel, Chelsea, Nat, Perit, and  Valk. My sister looked a bit sullen, probably at not getting any of the  flags.

The teamwork thing had been unnecessary, but it had  worked for Adrian at least. He'd gotten the silver key fragment this  time, and probably at least one other time too. He'd have at least one  gold fragment and probably one or two silver, which meant I was bound to  fight him during the climb. "You guys get caught up on what the stairs  entail?" I asked Benny, Jessie, and Gabriel.

The crusader  nodded. "We did. I'd been planning to drop out, but since there are  going to be twelve temples, I can just focus on conquering one myself.  Sadly I suspect most of the competition will be cleared out in the key  fights."

"That's not the biggest worry." I said firmly.  "Keep an eye out for Bloody Billy. We still don't know what he's upto,  and no one was able to find him. He doesn't seem exactly stable, so  having the patience to drop out of the race and wait on the stairs  descent instead of trying for the flags means he must be really  committed to this plan."

Glancing around, I studied the  crowd of Ascendants. At the end of the fifth trial, we were currently  looking at around two hundred people remaining, but I didn't see Billy  among them. He had to be nearby, the stair was the only possible way to  the temples.

Callie took my hand, squeezing it  reassuringly. "It'll be fine. Just keep that Eye of Revelation peeled.  If he gets close you'll notice him. I doubt we'll see him this early  though. Chances are good he'll wait until the last second to rush the  steps. While attacks are definitely on the table, I'm betting on the  steps themselves it'll be a bit tough to concentrate on fighting, what  with the whole emotional and mental torture thing we'll all be going  through.

I cursed. "We're going to get ambushed on the  fucking platforms. I guess our best bet is to absorb the energy in  shifts. Let the others fend off any attacks, then switch on the next  platform. There are ten of them, so we'll all get five platforms of  uninterrupted absorption, as opposed to just a tiny bit from each of  them." I glanced at my sister and cousin. "You guys down to play body  guard if we trade off?"

Chelsea looked uncertain, but  eventually nodded. "We could do that. It does seem like the smartest  move. This might be our last chance to get some more soul refinement and  break our last shackle all at once. The heart shackle needs to be  broken before we leave, and we'll need to focus on digesting what we  learn from passing each section if we want to have the best chance."

That  was true. I suspected the amount you gained from the stair varied from  person to person. TIme to heal and focus and prepare would be integral  to passing the next section after completing a tough one. Bethy squealed  with excitement. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I love ambushes,  there's so much strategy and preparation involved. I hope Billy tries  to get us. I'll let my kitties eat him all up!"

I laughed  at that. "Speaking of the animals, Randall and the cats, are they going  to be going through the same tempering we are? Because I'll be honest,  I'd rather not be standing next to a bear the size of a bus as it's  tormented by unfamiliar and alien emotions."

Jessie  glanced over at her ursine companion. "That does sound bad. Buddy, we  might want to think about sending you back out before the stair." She  paused. "No I don't think you're a teddy bear. I know you can fight and  aren't just for hugs." She rolled her eyes. "No I love your hugs.  Wait...honey? Where the hell did you get the idea to ask for honey? What  do you mean you saw it in a book? You can't even read!"

Our  resident vampire burst into a fit of giggles, throwing herself onto the  bear's giant fluffy back. "Awww, it's ok buddy. I'll hug you. You're  the biggest softest fuzzy wuzzy I've ever seen, yes you are." She cooed  to the bear as the grabbed on and squeezed him tightly.

"Pretty  sure he's suffocating." Said Benny dryly. "Either that or he's taken up  interpretive dance. If it's the latter, I feel like it needs work. His  moves are a little spastic.

Bethy rolled her eyes. "Don't  be silly. Randall loves my hugs. Don't you buddy?" The weakly jerking  bear wheezed slightly, and Bethy let him go with a sheepish grin. "Sorry  buddy. But you're a big boy, and you've been in F-rank for ages. I  figured you could handle a simple hug."

The bear threw  both front paws up in an offended 'what the hell?' manner and Jessie  burst out laughing. Bethy just pouted.  I decided to steer the  conversation away from the subject, and back our original topic. "I  think sending Randall back might not be a bad plan. I'm not even sure  how he got this far. How did he get through the maze and the forest?"

Jessie  just shrugged. "He came with me. We're bonded, and I don't think the  temple counts him as a separate entity." She paused, rolling her eyes  and glancing at the bear. "Yeah, I'll lodge a complaint. That said, this  next part will be rough, and you don't have the BEST temper." Randall  reared back in outrage, throwing back his head and roaring his  disagreement. Jessie just raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that showed me."

The  big bear chuffed, looking away in a clear indication that he didn't  want to talk about this anymore. Jessie walked up to give him a hug of  her own, laying her head on his side. "I'm sorry bud. You know I want to  bring you with me, but I don't want to put you through something like  this. You're not equipped to handle this. I don't think you've even  broken your mind shackle. If animals CAN break the mind shackle."

He  grumbled but eventually nodded somberly. Jessie gave him a peck on the  nose then closed her eyes. Randall gave her one last sad look, then  dissolved into golden sparks. Callie stepped up and put an arm around  the shoulder of our forlorn healer. "It's ok sweety. He'll barely notice  it. We think there's some kind of time speed up happening in here. He  won't even notice you're gone."

The smaller blonde sniffed  lightly. "I know. But I get so worried about the big goon. And I'm so  used to having him around. He's big and cute and funny and he always  makes my day better."

Callie's eyes fell on me, giving me a  soft smile. "I've been there. Got one of those myself. Albeit slightly  less hairy. So...why don't you introduce the others to Callen  and...Chelsea was it?" She gave my sister a warm smile, extending her  hand. "I'm Shane's girlfriend, Calliope. It's really nice to meet you.  You can call me Callie, or Nightstrike, which is my cape name." When  Chelsea reached out to take her hand, she pulled my twin sister into a  tight hug before letting her go.

Chelsea, for her part,  looking kind of dazed. Nat stepped forward. "And I'm Shane's cousin  Natalie." Nat actually did shake hands. "On his dad's side." My sister's  eyes lit up as she realized she was talking to another family member,  and she shook back enthusiastically. I introduced the others, giving her  the cliff notes on who they were.

She seemed a little  shy, but happy to be there."I'm Chelsea Anders. It's really nice to meet  you all. Thank you for being so welcoming." My friends had clearly  picked up my vibe and decided to go with it, trusting that if I was  happy to include her it must be for a reason. Callie was the only one  who knew the circumstances of my mom leaving me behind, I'd told her in  the woods, so the others were just following my lead, for which I was  grateful.

Sadly, the whole first  meeting between my sister and friends, was going to have to wait,  because we were all interrupted by the sudden darkening of the sky  above. Much like when the flags lit up, the sky had gone black, but  unlike before, this didn't seem quite as pointless. Before it had been  an aesthetic choice almost, but as the cold wind whipped the air around  us into a frenzy and the dark clouds moved in, all I could think was  'shit is about to go down'.

In  the darkness, a pinpoint of light appeared, a golden spark almost like a  star, and as we watched, it began to expand. Around the descending  light, the clouds that had rolled in swirled in circles, creating a  guiding tunnel for what it could now be seen was a slowly growing golden  staircase.

I  felt a sense of pressure just looking at it, and as it got closer, my  knees bent slightly, soaking up the increased force on all of us. As it  slammed into the ground at last, there was a loud boom that shook the  earth beneath our feet. Suddenly, after a second, the pressure lessened.  On me. And Callie and Callen. A few others too, and it took me a second  to realize that it was giving the members of the winning team an  advantage.

Which  was exactly when a bandaged form blurred out from between a group of  suppressed members of the other team and set foot on the stairs. He took  a step, then another, then another, and around the fifth step slowed  down to a crawl. The rest of us bolted for the stairs, hoping to catch  up, and the race to the top was on. Of course, that was hardly the  biggest issue. No, that would be the fact that above Billy's head, four  pieces of bronze key had materialized. I had the sneaking suspicion that  him getting any of the keys would be bad. We needed to catch up.