Chapter Seventeen.

The tiniest flicker of white fire floated above my palm. This is a major accomplishment and to anyone who says otherwise— I will fight you with apocalypse magic. Shani had quickly recovered from her earlier obscene display of power and excitedly jumped straight to teaching me about fire magic. I was excited too, until I proceeded to almost kill us both by exchanging the air in her room for ionized plasma. We’re practicing outside now.

My primary problem is— as usual— trying to narrow down the scope of my magic so that it’s actually usable and fighting my subconscious the whole way. In simple terms, magic is like writing calligraphy and I am a regular fountain pen that someone has hooked up to a firehose of pressurized ink. There’s just no meaningful control to be had until I learn to dial back the ‘pressure’ a bit.

To continue with the calligraphy analogy (because I’m invested in it at this point) magic on Haven requires three primary elements; Substance, Will, and Knowledge. To cast spells, you need the Substance— the writing equivalent being your pen and paper— which makes up the actual manifestation of the spell (the Ideals). You need the Will— to control the Substance and make it actually do anything. And finally you need Knowledge, because having a pen and paper with the will to use it means nothing if you don’t actually know how to write. So long as you can reach a balance point between these three then magic is in your future. The balance part is the tricky bit.

‘But Ray!’ I hear you ask. ‘How come you can already cast two spells so (relatively) well, yet you’re struggling with this one??’ An excellent point, to which I respond thusly;

I have absolutely no idea.

I will just say that I’m weird and move on to rejoicing over the tiny victory that is the candle-flicker above my palm. Which in my distracted inner monologue, had grown dangerously dim.

Aaaaaaand it’s gone.

Sighing, I held my head in my hands for a bit to rub away a returning headache from the continuous use of magic.

“Hey, you’ll get it.” Shani said, touching my shoulder as she stood up. “You’ve had the Ideal for a day, give yourself some time. Speaking of time, I need to get back to the core. See you at dinner!"

With a happy wave, she left, leaving me alone with my frustration on the observation deck.

I don't know how much time I have, Shani…

My timeline was nebulous, even to me, but I knew that every second I sat here was one that Dezzahn was up to something. You don’t give an ominous speech about “challenging the armies of the surface” if you’re planning on staying down, sipping tea and whiling away the centuries. More importantly… my [Blightlings].

I had to know what happened.

My stomach felt sick thinking about it so I usually shied away but it was always there, gnawing in the back of my head. The uncertainty of their fate hurt worse than if I’d actually seen them die. I needed closure, and if I just so happened to take that closure from Dezzahn’s bloated corpse? All the better.

“Ray? You alright kid?” Leigh asked, startling me with his sudden appearance.

“Yeah, sorry just… Lost in thought.”

He looked at me consideringly, but in the end he let it go.

“Alright then, I won’t pry. Listen, there’s a couple things I want to talk to you about.”

I cocked my head curiously, which he took as permission to continue.

“I know more about [Kindred] than most people ever will. Most of it is fairly… situational, given your kind’s general fluidity, but some of it is relevant. For instance, I know the ‘first molting’ is usually an event of significance to the whole community. I also know that it usually takes years, if not decades, before it happens to most. Waking an Ideal— while important and significant— is not nearly enough to trigger the ‘first molt’. That takes something a bit more special, and I don’t think a kiss from a pretty girl counts.” Leigh gave me a salacious wink while I successfully fought down a blush.

“Now, I’m asking this as your guide and because I’m trying to help you, but can you tell me what else happened last night?”

Thinking about it for a moment, I didn’t really see a reason not to tell him. He might even have more information to help me figure out what exactly was going on.

“I unlocked something called the ‘Contender’s Path’. I’m not sure what it does exactly, but I’ve noticed my spells seem stronger.”

Leigh’s eyebrows did their best to climb up through his hairline.

“‘Hark ye common men, a Contender walks among us.’ That explains a lot.” He said with an incredulous chuckle.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I wondered how exactly the ‘deal’ you made with the gods worked to keep them away, but if they put you on the Contender’s Path then that explains it all. I couldn’t imagine the gods willingly limiting themselves like that without some kind of fuss, but for a Contender… No direct interference for another player on the board.” Leigh mused.

Does that mean… damn it, they got me. Again.

“I have a feeling you’re about to tell me I got exactly what I asked for, and I still got screwed somehow.” I said bitterly.

Leigh snapped his fingers and pointed at me with a nod.

“Being a Contender means you’re in competition for one of the Ivory Thrones; either to carve your own from the Godpeak or push someone else off theirs. Thing is, there’s only so much space at the top and the second option is the much easier of the two, so most on the Path tend to focus on killing as much of the competition as they can. The way it keeps your 'deal' is that the gods’ Oaths toward the game prevent them from directly acting against a contender until they are challenged for their individual position, to keep everything fair. At least as fair as challenging a god can be, anyway. It's also one of the fastest ways to gain real power, as every step forward on the Contender's Path increases the weight of your presence on the world. Each step increases your Authority in the eyes of the system and reinforces everything you do in relation to everyone else. You just have to survive long enough to use it.”

Yep, I got 'got'.

It made sense if I looked at things from their perspective, I suppose. Some random kid showing up with apocalypse powers making demands in exchange for not wrecking the place isn't gonna exactly make a lot of friends, and I might have been a little upset at the time, which didn't improve my manners. I imagine that any god-like being would chafe under a binding oath in those circumstances, so why bother when they can just fold me into the existing system? The ones who acknowledge my unwitting 'service' like Erranos get to reward me and the ones with pricked pride get to laugh as they screw me over. And now…

Now I'm just tired.

Play the cards you're dealt. I got what I wanted, and it'll even make me stronger as I go. I'll just add 'psycho god-wannabes' to my list of potential opponents.

“If you don’t mind, what is the name of your Path?” Leigh asked, curiously.

I shrugged.

“[Sojourn Beyond the Stars].”

Ribbons of gold-veined cosmic light burst off my skin, spilling into the air like oil on water. The world rumbled around us, a shockwave spreading through the magic in the air that actually caused our ship to stumble in its mechanical steps. The phenomena passed as quickly as they came, and left me sitting wide-eyed in front of Leigh, who looked surprisingly less impressed than I thought he would.

“Yeah I’d have picked that one too, from the sound of it.” He said with a chuckle. “Path manifestations are always powerful— because it’s pulling a version of yourself that made it to the end— but it seems like you had something a bit special if it can ignore the fact it doesn’t actually exist yet. What was the other option?”

“I’m… not sure if it’s a good idea to say that one out loud now, actually.” I said with a nervous smile.

Pretty sure we’d all die if the Monolith-me showed up, even as just a partial version.

Some alarmed shouts were already ringing out from around the ship as the crew tried to identify what had caused the brief disturbance. Leigh eyed them with a frown.

“Probably for the best, now that I think about it. Actually, we should make ourselves scarce for a bit.”

Nodding hurriedly, I stood and followed Leigh as we ducked back into the ship’s maze of corridors and headed back towards our rooms. He waved somewhat tiredly at me once we got there and announced he was gonna try to get some more sleep before quietly bidding me good day with a final word of warning.

“Best keep you being on the Path between the two of us, kid. It won’t work forever, but the longer you can stay on it without getting found out, the better.” He said seriously. I gave him a quick thumbs-up and he shut the door with a weary grunt. Honestly, with all the activity today I should have been utterly exhausted as well, but instead I still felt a surprising energy flowing through me. The urge to keep doing something was ultimately too strong to ignore, so instead of following Leigh’s plan of an afternoon nap I decided to explore the ship some more.

The network of passages was surprisingly dense, although given the size of the Duchess it probably shouldn’t have been. It was a little claustrophobic, with the designer’s aversion to adding windows seemingly anywhere outside the observation decks. I could understand the reasoning behind that choice— the Duchess was definitely built as a warship— but it didn’t alleviate how cramped the lack of natural light made everything feel.

I’d just about given up finding my way to the core room when my slightly enhanced senses picked up a vaguely familiar voice echoing towards me. Curious, I followed the sound to its source, which turned out to be a grate leading to the apparently nicer quarters of the ship’s paying passengers on the deck above. The feminine voice got clearer as I approached, but I couldn’t quite place the voice’s owner until a surprisingly descriptive grunt replied and jogged my memory.

Hey! It’s that guy from yesterday. What was his name… Cade? Sounds right.

Curiosity resolved, I immediately turned to leave rather than get caught eavesdropping, still feeling a little guilty about the last time when I’d listened in on Leigh. However, the woman’s next words stopped me cold.

“A Contender on the ship? Do you think it’s him?”

Really?? Come on, not even my luck is that bad.

An unsure-sounding grumble came from Cade before the woman spoke again.

“Well the only other option on board would be the girl and that… thing in the core. Nobody else fits. But how could—” Another grunt from Cade interrupted her, and she sighed. “No, I still haven’t seen anything. The Ether is so… silent now, like a heavy blanket stifling the world. I haven’t been able to reach the others in days and I— I’m worried, sir. What if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not, Sera.” Came Cade’s gruff reply.

“Alright.” She eventually said after a deep breath.

The two of them moved on, footsteps clanging off the metal deck above me while I stood frozen in the hallway, my mind whirling as I tried to process what I’d overheard.

What were they saying about the core, and Shani? Did they already figure me out? It almost sounds like they’re after me specifically…

Questions with no answers continued to do the rounds in my head. I briefly debated waking up Leigh, but indecision kept my feet rooted in place.

“Oy, Mister Mage, Sir?”

Forcibly dragged from my spiraling thoughts by the polite voice, I looked up to find one of the ship’s marines— recognizable by being some of the only people on the ship in any kind of uniform— standing in the hallway.

“Sorry, do you need something?” I blurted, stepping to the side in case he was looking to get by.

He shook his head and bowed slightly at the waist.

“Apologies for the interruption. I’m Corporal Tibbs, sir. Some of the lads were looking to do a bit of sparring this evening since things have been so quiet. We’ll be meeting down in the hold about two bells after dinner, ‘an you’re more than welcome to join in, if you like.”

Quiet!? This has been quiet?? Holy shit what is a normal run like?

“Uh… sure? Thanks for the invite.” I said, somewhat incredulously.

“Nothin’ to it sir. Men are happy to see a mage willin to put themselves on the line when things are rough, and you’ve done right by the Duchess so far.” Tibbs said, his tone surprisingly respectful. “By your leave, sir?”

“No, go ahead.” I said quickly, waving him on with a slightly bewildered expression on my face. Tibbs nodded politely and quickly disappeared into the corridors, leaving me standing somewhat confused with my thoughts.

Did… did I just join up for a fight club?