Wish upon the Stars chapter 875

Once we all coordinated stats (always good to know what your people are capable of) we headed up to the bridge to check on our progress. The Acheron, contrary to my initial impression, wasn’t much smaller than the Necromedes. Instead, it was just more twisty. Lots of hallways leading to lots of chambers, but very few of them were larger than a standard ballroom.

The bridge, obviously, was the same size as before, and it gave us an easy view out over the planet we were approaching. Which was good because it was…a lot to take in.

“That’s the biggest planet I’ve ever seen in my life,” I said bluntly, staring down at the place in horrified fascination.

It was indeed the biggest planet I’d ever seen. It was colossal, easily ten times the size of any other planetary body I’d been around. Easily tens of thousands of miles across. The whole place was surrounded by a cage of what looked like flame bars. The bars were complicated and winding, forming strange patterns that made my head hurt to look at it.

“That’s a formation, isn’t it?” I asked with a grimace. “Some kind of containment apparatus?”

My grandfather, who was standing beside me, nodded approvingly. “Yup. It’s a bit similar to the one on most ships. It suppresses the Impact on the planet’s surface. Well, it USES the Impact, actually, to strengthen the cage. And THAT is the central control point.” He pointed across the planet, to a large floating metal…well, it looked like a city.

“The space station you mentioned?” I tried not to state. “The one where all the WCP bigshots will be watching from?”

He nodded. “Pathema. It means suffering. Don’t ask me why, the Wish Curse Palace loves their ghoulish imagery. The planet isn’t exactly a fun place, but it’s not THAT bad. At least from what I’m told.”

“It’s ok,” my mother added from my other side. “I wouldn’t go there on vacation, but it’s not hell. It’s not even that lawless. They have their own sort of order. Generations of prisoners have pretty much formed their own society. The new ones just get folded in. The only real shakeup is when people get out during the succession war.”

I glanced around. My mom, Zeke, my grandparents, and the rest of my team were here. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who wanted a look at our destination. “So, who are we expecting here?” I asked Zeke after a minute. “You know all the players. The different branch heads. I’m guessing they’re all going to be here? Thirteen S-rankers? How about the old man? Is he coming?”

“Possibly,” he said with a shrug. “He shows up sometimes. He was at Eli’s, but none of us realized it until the end. He was being some E-ranker descendant for most of the meetings. Don’t ask me how, I had no idea it was happening. Gods have weird ways of concealing themselves. Even the S-rankers never noticed. Of course, sometimes he DOESN’T come. So you can’t assume. We were warned too, but it’s just impossible to tell. Makes it kind of nerve wracking interacting with anyone, but it tends to keep things civil. Never know if you’re going to snap at some D-ranker and get smote by divine wrath.”

I laughed at that, and we all waited as the ship approached the station. When we docked, we all headed for the exit bay, and when we arrived, we were met by a familiar face. I beamed at my cousin, rushing over to scoop her up into a crushing hug. “Nat!” I laughed as I spun her around. “I didn’t know you were coming. You’re not in the competition, right?”

She chuckled, patting me on the back until I set her down. “Nope. But I wanted to come watch. And I’m not the only one.” She glanced over her shoulder, and I heard Benny shout with excitement as Celine emerged from around a corner.

They were both firmly in the D-ranks, which was impressive, but not surprising, given they had been running part of a planet and had income in points. Still, I was glad to see it.

Behind Nat, though, I saw another pair of figures that weren’t so recognizable. Not to me at least. Zeke and my mom both seemed to know at least one of them. A woman who looked to be in her early twenties, and a guy who looked my age. Zeke nodded to the woman. “Allison. Good to see you. Whose this? You have another kid?”

The woman, who I was pretty sure was my Aunt, shook her head. “This is Michael. Felix’s son. He’s inside talking to dad.” She nodded to my mother. “Sasha. Been a long time. How is that psychotic brother of mine?”

Mom shrugged. “He has his good days. He’ll be coming to participate, so you can ask him yourself.”

Aunt Allison flinched, and I wondered what dad had done to get that reaction. As much as I disliked him sometimes, he wasn’t the type to needlessly harm close family. Did she just buy into his rep too much? Or had she seen the things he did back during HIS succession war. I’d heard he made quite a name for himself.

My mom, who had been at that war, just smiled lightly. “He’s mellowed a bit with age. Don’t worry.”

Zeke snorted in obvious disbelief, and Allison looked unsure, but quickly shook it off and turned to me. “And this must be Shane. I’ve heard quite a bit about you. My daughter is a big fan, and you’ve been making a lot of noise these days. Some people are saying they moved up this competition specifically because of you. After how thoroughly Aiden dominated the last succession war, another dual ability candidate makes the old timers nervous.”

I shrugged. “More time would have been nice, but I’m not too worried. I’m here to win. Any other outcome is unacceptable.”

She grinned. “Now you sound like my brother. Maybe this will be interesting after all.”

They gestured for us to follow. “The branch heads are all here. Harrison and Malachai arrived earliest. Desmond, Warren, Selina, Danielle, and Christoph are all mingling, and the lower six are keeping to their rooms until closer to the big event.”

I cocked my head, and Zeke explained. “There are thirteen branches of the WCP, one for each S-ranker. But the six lower branch heads are all relatively new. Under Aiden, the palace has seen some pretty unprecedented growth. Most Wishmasters are pretty reclusive, and they don’t have much presence, leaving the faction to fly under the radar, coasting on the old man’s reputation.

“Aiden is more…proactive,” he sounded grudgingly admiring of the current Wishmaster. “He wields his power, directly interacts with other factions, and aggressively pushes through reforms that help us expand and solidify our grasp. Most Wishmasters after the old man worked through intermediaries, like they did during their faction buildup, but Aiden runs the WCP with an iron fist.”

My Aunt sighed. “Not everyone likes that. The council is less than thrilled with his term. He’s eroded more than a bit of their power base, swaying a large number of their elders over to his side on issues. While they run the branches and are the theoretical final authority, the WCP is very top down. Aiden has gotten to the point of being able to pressure enough of the other A-rankers to sway the votes when he needs them.”

“I haven’t been keeping up with faction politics,” Zeke admitted. “But knowing him, that doesn’t surprise me. You think that’s why they have such a problem with Shane?”

“Probably. The Wishmaster’s authority comes from the ancestor.” Her terminology for the old man was much more respectful than ours. “As long as he doesn’t overstep his authority, there’s nothing the council can do to him directly. But in the past, they’ve always been able to exert indirect pressure through the elders. Candidates have private factions, but the WCP is a behemoth, and all the elders of the branch heads of the whole faction is a colossal force.”

Zeke laughed. “But Aiden is a scary bastard. And because of that, he’s swayed plenty of A-rankers of his own. Being stronger means his recruits are actual warriors, not just hollow greenhouse flowers made of wishes. At the high ranks, talents and determination matter. Paths are all about willpower and creativity.”

That made me wince. “So, basically, the branch heads are under the impression that me winning would continue to erode their power base? Are they going to have their descendants team up to get rid of me?”

“Some of them, potentially,” he said with a shrug. “Malachai would be thrilled if you were to take the seat. His oldest son, Percival, is one of the youngest branch heads himself. So your line has more power than most. Not all, of course. Desmond’s son Miles and his granddaughter Mara are two of the of the lower six. And Selina is Westley’s mother. The last two are obviously relatives of the other branch heads, but not direct line descendants. Patricia and Wendy are considered moderates, and generally lean towards the less prestigious candidates.”

I whistled. “That’s…complex. There are branches for non main line descendants?”

“By necessity,” my Aunt explained. “Building a branch is time consuming and difficult. Families take time to expand. Oftentimes, the heavily supported S-rankers will split off small groups of families from their parent’s branch. But for unsupported newbies like Patricia and Wendy, they mostly open what are referred to as “orphan branches”. Basically, they take any family in the faction with potential, regardless of pedigree. Even adopt some in. Lots of political marriages.”

“It’s a mixed bag,” Zeke commented. “They tried to snatch me up for one of those. Offered to fast track me to A-rank. Full access to as many wishes as I could pay for every day. Not really my scene.”

My mother shot him an approving look, but didn’t comment. Finally, we arrived at a large hall. We’d been traveling through abnormally tall hallways made of black metal. The hall had a pair of huge bronze double doors covered in complex imagery, but they were open. When we arrived, we were met by a man in his late thirties to early forties. He had short, sandy blonde hair going white in places and green eyes like mine.

Zeke snapped off a lazy salute. “Evening Mal, how’s tricks?”

I saw my the man’s (who was clearly my grandfather, Malachai) eye twitch. “Ezekial. How lovely. You’ve reached A-rank. Well done.”

My Uncle shrugged. “What can I say? It’s a gift.”

Malachai seemed…not annoyed. More exasperated, but I saw a fond tilt at the corner of his lips. I got the impression they liked each other. Zeke hadn’t said much bad about my grandfather, even if my mother was very clearly not a fan.

Speaking of which, the older man’s eyes turned to my mom immediately afterward. “Sasha,” he said solemnly. “If you’ve come, I suppose I can expect my son here any minute.”

“I’m not my husband's keeper,” she responded crisply. “But he did mention his plans to attend. He’s going to be entering the competition as one of his son’s representatives. It’s easier because he only has one entering.” She smiled sweetly at him, and Zeke snorted in amusement, though he turned it into a fake cough when Malachai glared at him.

“Quite,” said my paternal grandfather in a measured tone. “Well, why don’t you all come in. THe banquet will be some time later, but we’re doing passed hors d'oeuvres.

I glanced at my party. Benny, Celine, Callie, Jessie, Bethy, Abel, and Chelsea were all with us. We’d left everyone else on the ship, planning to pick them up before our descent to the planet. I was glad I’d made that call now. Because even with just these few people I had a feeling this was going to be exhausting. Guess it was time to meet the family.