Wish upon the Stars chapter 2 pt 1

The trip to my Uncle's office wasn't long, but it seemed to take more  time than I felt it should have because none of us spoke. I was trying  to come to grips with the fact that my drunk Uncle was a Deacon of the  WCP. Even out here in the boonies we knew what a Deacon was.  Specifically the strongest person at a branch, and the leader of that  particular Wish Curse Palace. I didn't know what rank you had to be to  become a Deacon, mostly because I hadn't known much about ranks before  becoming an Ascendant, but considering how powerful the WCP was I was  betting it wasn't low.

I  considered my text. No information. I was convinced he only sent it  because he knew I would recognize the masks anyway. I'd been seeing  those things in his workshop for years, painting them was basically all  he did when he was home, which looking back wasn't nearly as often as he  should've been. I'd always just figured he was out at a bar or  something, but to know he'd been down here lording it over a small city  full of super powered criminals was kind of crazy. Finally we came to a  solid looking wooden door in a building much further into the city and  the two goons in the masks stopped.

They  gestured at the door, but when we went to walk inside they put an arm  out and blocked Benny from going. The taller of the two spoke. "The  Deacon only requested you. He stays." I opened my mouth to argue but was  cut off. "He stays! Don't worry, he'll be safe out here with us and you  can meet back up with him when you come out. The Deacon isn't someone  you can see just because you feel like it. You have an invite, he  doesn't." His voice was firm but not unkind, so I just nodded, looking  uncertainly at Benny.

My  best friend leaned against the wall and booted up his scan ring. "Don't  worry so much man it's fine. Go on in. I'll just chill out here and  catch up on my email, maybe play some tower defense games or something."  He winked at me reassuringly and after a brief pause, I nodded and  turned to open the door. I half expected them to get it for me, since  the door was so nice I was reticent to even touch the thing, but the two  goons just took up positions on either side of the entrance facing out,  so I could only open it myself and head inside.

To  my surprise, the space inside was familiar. Not in the sense that I'd  been there before, but rather in the sense that it reminded me of  somewhere I went often. It was like a much bigger and more lavish  version of my Uncle's workshop. Plush dark red carpet with a workbench  off to one side on a plastic mat that would catch wood shavings or drips  of paint, with bench itself covered in hanging masks that had yet to  dry or were finished and were just waiting to be used.

Off  on the opposite corner was a large dark wooden desk, and behind it sat  the familiar rumpled form of my Uncle. Sitting on the desk in front of  him was a single bone white mask, with no eyes or mouth, and the Wish  Curse Palace logo painted across the front. When he saw me he gave a  lazy nod and gestured for me to take the seat across from him. It was  jarring seeing him in this setting. Zeke was not what anyone would  consider a leader. He was a relatively good looking guy in his early  thirties with a permanent five o'clock shadow, rumpled black hair, and  bags under his blue eyes.

His  clothes were pretty much constantly wrinkled and distressed, though  never actually dirty, and he smelled almost constantly of whiskey and  cheap pipe tobacco, despite me having literally never seen him smoke.  When I sat down he gave me a pleasant smile. "Hey kid. Little late to  the party, guess Eli was really dragging his ass on this one. Still,  better late than never. I'm guessing you have a lot of shit to ask.  Might as well get that out of the way." He gestured for me to ask my  questions, but honestly I kind of froze. There were so many, but I knew  the one I had to ask first.

I  braced myself for the answer. "Is my Dad the Wishmaster?" Despite my  own powers and the craziness that had ensued that was the thing that had  always been on my mind, because it was just so...unbelievable. What  were the chances of that? That my father would be an arch criminal who  ruled over the entire universe (or at least a portion of it) and I'd  never even noticed. Was I that dense? Even with me being a kid and never  seeing him you would think I'd have picked up something. Some sign or  hint.

Zeke  grinned. "He said you would ask that first. Short answer is no. Long  answer is also no, but he was a candidate like you are now. Elijah was  one of the top contenders for the position, but his cousin Aiden was the  one who ended up getting it. Aiden gets his ability from both sides,  that happens sometimes, dual abilities, but it's stupidly rare. The  current Wishmaster is considered kind of a monster even by the standards  of the Palace. Most people think he's the strongest we've ever had."

I  don't know exactly why but that dragged a sigh of relief out of me.  Criminal I could handle, but I didn't think I could deal with having  missed my own father being one of the Unlucky Thirteen. "So...the  candidate thing, does this mean the WCP will provide me with anything I  need? Like I know that black card doesn't make everything free or  anything but does being in the...what? Line of succession? Give me a  discount or anything?" If I could get that obfuscator for nothing I  would be pretty psyched for it. Even more so if I could do the same with  other things I needed.

Zeke  just laughed. "That's always one of the first questions candidates ask.  No. If we did that it wouldn't be a competition between candidates, it  would be a competition between the branches. Being a candidate does give  you access others at your level wouldn't have, but you still have to  pay for everything. If you can't build your own reserves with a wish  power you don't deserve to inherit the Palace. As both your Guardian and  a Deacon I am entitled to intervene if your life is in danger, but only  against threats more than two ranks above you, and only until you reach  E rank or leave the planet."

I  cursed. Yeah, that would have been too easy I supposed. But I had to  ask. "What if I don't want to win? Like this whole thing is kind of  presupposing that I have any desire to be the Wishmaster. What if I  decide to just bow out now? Is there some sort of rule forcing me to  participate? What if I lose?" Not that I was sure I wanted to quit. I'd  had more fun in the last day or two than I remembered ever having had in  my life. But I wasn't a fan of the idea that I was being railroaded  into competing in this thing. Another thing occurred to me. "Also why  aren't you competing?"

Zeke  just shrugged. "If you lose you lose. I told you your old man was a  strong contender, and he's fine. You can always quit if you like,  there's no real downside to it if you don't want to take over the  Palace, though I will say you'll lose your access level and working your  way up the hard way will take ages. As for why I'm not competing? I'm  not part of the Palace bloodline. Your dad and I were best friends  growing up, sort of like you and Benny. He brought me up with him as he  Ascended and left you in my care because he trusted me."

I  suppose it should have shocked me that my Uncle wasn't a blood relative  but it was honestly the least surprising or relevant thing I'd learned  lately. Zeke had raised me, and not having the same bloodline didn't  change that. I sighed heavily. "I...I think I want to try. It seems like  it could be amazing. So what do I need to know about this competition  anyway? Is there some kind of rule? Because they didn't state any one  the scroll or whatever, and what was the deal with that? Did it give me  powers?"

Zeke  seemed pleasantly surprised by my quick acceptance. "No, it didn't give  you powers, just awakened the ones you already had. People's abilities  can awaken at any time really, some get them young, some when they're  older. The Wishmaster contract just uses a spark of the current  Wishmaster's power to jump start your abilities early. The rules are  pretty simple. Basically there's nothing you aren't allowed to do except  change your power enough that you can't grant a wish. Abilities can be  altered a few different ways, but if you lose the power to grant wishes  you lose your qualification."

He  laughed at my shocked expression. "I won't get too far into it, it's  not something you need to worry about at your level. Cliff notes is  there are two major ways to change a power. In order to rank up you need  to hit a stat cap. For I rank the stat cap is ten. However what stats  you gain those stat points in can affect how your power evolves.  Doing it that way though you always get a version of a wish power, just a  more custom tailored one. You can also synergize skills with your power  to fundamentally change it. That doesn't always make it incompatible  with the wish archetype but that's another conversation."

I  opened my mouth to ask more but he cut me off. "No. No more. I can't  give you too many answers on how to progress. Partly because it would be  an unfair advantage and partly because it'll just distract you for the  moment. Worry about rank ups later. Just take my advice and don't  synergize any skills in the first few ranks, give yourself time to  figure out how things work before you try to reinvent the wheel. You can  always do it later. Other than that just go out and work on granting  wishes. Your power is your biggest asset right now. Use it."

I  nodded, understanding from his tone that we were done. When Zeke  sounded like that he wouldn't budge. We were finished with this  conversation. I got up with a sigh, so many more questions that would  need to wait until later. But as I turned to walk out Zeke called for me  to stop and look back. "By the way. We can't give you the obfuscator  but reserving it is no problem. It'll cost five million, and we'll hold  it until you can afford it. Good instincts to come looking for one by  the way, more than a few candidates have been killed or imprisoned  because they didn't think to hide their power."

With  that he turned his chair, effectively dismissing me again. I strode out  through the door, nodding to the two goons as I passed. I walked right  out onto the street and Benny caught up, clearly sensing my mood and not  bothering to talk, just walking next to me in companionable silence.  Sometimes having a best friend is pretty great. As I walked I felt my  brain whir through everything I'd been told, everything that just  happened. I had so much to learn and so much growing to do. Despite the  craziness though I had a direction to go in, and I couldn't help but  smile. Time to go grant some wishes.