NOVEL NEXT Chapter Three Hundred Eighty One
The next morning, we all got packed up, ready to leave and prepared to set off. Cass was sobbing uncontrollably, hugging each of us in turn and begging us not to go, and I wasn't the only one whose heart broke as the little girl started promising not to feed her vegetables to the wolves anymore if we would stay.
I...hadn't been thinking about Cass when we decided to leave, but now that I was it tore my heart out. We'd been like her new family since we rescued her, and she was desperate to keep us from leaving. I wasn't the only one who thought so either, because she was so heartbreaking Zeke finally spoke up.
"You know...I could use an assistant." He said casually. "We're going to be waiting around in space for literal months with nothing to do. I mean sure, there will be other people around, but doing all the menial labor on my own isn't my style. Maybe if Cark wants to stick around I can pay him in advice or something. Give him a few pointers. He's not part of your pavilion so there's no conflict of interest there. As long as he commits to never joining."
Cark looked hesitant, but I could see the eagerness too. He was part of a faction here, but he spent more time around the house than anything, trying to be there for Cass, and Burning Fist had taught him a bit, but the guy wasn't like...a mentor. Not to mention he didn't need to quit the faction. In fact, training under Zeke at ALL would be a hell of an education for later. Leaving Sage would suck for him, but he spent more time around the house than he did with her.
Finally, he looked over at Cass, staring at him with big shimmering eyes, and nodded, taking off to call Burning Fist and gather his stuff. As he ran off, I turned to Nat. "Ok, so I never bothered to ask but...how are we getting off planet? I've never left before so I don't know how it works."
She shrugged. "Varies based on distance. There are ships that can transit between worlds, but they're mostly system locked. Anything bigger or more powerful needs to be made by a high ranking Inventor, which obviously makes them extremely rare. Even ones who focus on control when they reach Intermediate have trouble staying focused on singular projects for long. For something across the cluster I expect they'll use a Waywalker."
At my confused expression she chuckled. "Waywalkers are long distance teleporters. One of the clans has kind of a monopoly on the industry. Shipping and transportation often depends on stability, so having an organization with a standardized power that allows transport across space is key. They do a lot of work with the Merchant's Guild."
That sounded awesome. "So they just...tear open space? To anywhere? That kind of spatial power must be insanely expensive stat wise. How do they have so many high ranking members?"
She shook her head. "Nah, they use anchors. Send them to various planets and then connect the space between their current location and the anchor to open a portal. For a system level jump a D-ranker can manage. Cluster level would be someone in the C-ranks. Past that it can get dicey. Cross galaxy transport is extremely hard to arrange. The higher ups at the Waywalker Convergence aren't really interested in being people's ride."
Zeke snickered from where he was sitting on the couch watching Cass play with Jin (the wolves were coming along with us because the Moonsong Glade would be a perfect environment for them to grow). When he noticed us looking at him he smirked. "They really don't. We took a Waywalker here when we first came over from the Empire. Your Grandfather's branch is in Empire territory. This absolute ass named Charleston was our transporter. He was an A-ranker, but given our affiliation we were of similar statuses. Huge prick."
Everyone just stared at him in terror, remembering the power they'd seen in the arena and then imagining mouthing off to someone STRONGER than that. He didn't seem to notice. Finally Cark came back out with a bag, wincing slightly. "I'm good to go." It occurred to me that while they didn't seem super serious, telling your girlfriend you planned to take off for another star system out of the blue was probably not a fun conversation. I didn't envy him that, but I wasn't going to poke at it.
We all headed out to the car to drive to...wherever we were going. Callie knew, apparently, and told Jessie, before sitting in the back with me. "You ok?" She asked quietly. "I know you've never been off world."
I smiled at her attempt to ignore her nerves by focusing on mine. I could feel her nervousness through the bond, and I knew what she needed, so I just smiled and said. "Yeah it's going to be a big change. I'll miss a lot of people here." I put an arm around her shoulder. "But I'm taking all of my favorites with me, so I think I'll be ok."
Her shoulders relaxed a bit as my words sunk in, but I knew it would take more than that to make her feel better. She was leaving her mom, her uncle, the only place she'd ever known. I'd been steered toward solitude, at least looking back on my life, so leaving with the only people I cared that much about was nostalgic but not sad. Callie hadn't had the luxury of that kind of mindset.
I mean sure, I'd miss Maria, Stella, Ian, and plenty of other friends, but I wasn't leaving behind a piece of myself. Not like Callie was. She'd called Amelia last night to say goodbye, and I'd held her after they hung up as she cried her eyes out, but she wanted to do this. Leaving home sucked, but it was important, especially to someone as independent as Callie. At least this time she was doing it with her mom's blessing. And she'd told me she called Alexander and demanded he stop by and check in regularly. She hadn't cried after saying goodbye to him, but she'd been sad about it.
We talked a bit over the drive, keeping each other distracted so we weren't thinking about the trip. The closer we got to the Waywalker departure point the less sure of myself I felt. I knew that was just fear of the unknown though so I ignored it and focused on talking things out with Callie. We weren't the only ones nervous, of course, and after a few minutes Benny came to sit with us, bringing Celine with him.
Since Jessie was driving Celine passed the Skill crystal to Callie as she sat down. My girlfriend stashed it away and then glanced at Benny. " You doing ok? This is probably pretty scary for you too right?"
He sighed and leaned back. "Yeah. Leaving my family sucks. I mean Jessie is leaving Maria too, but they weren't really official and it's not the same. Not just her either. My parents are here. I know intellectually I haven't seen them since we visited home, and traveling further is just more of the same. But it feels like a bigger deal."
I clapped him on the shoulder. "We'll be back, man. And we'll have stories to tell and souvenirs to give them. I can even give them abilities if they want." It would be too noticeable to start doing that to everyone as I was now, but when we came back I'd be stronger. It would be much less of a problem.
He smiled at that. "That would be nice." He still sounded sad about leaving, but Celine squeezed his hand and we lapsed into silence.
Before we could talk more the car slowed down. Callie took a deep breath. "Alright...we're here. Is everyone ready? Have everything you need?"
Benny snickered at that. "Yes MOM. Let's go." Celine pulled him up as she stood and the two of them headed outside. We all filed out after, and I was surprised to find us outside of an arena.
Zeke nodded. "Smart place to put it. These things all have decent protections on them." We headed inside and made our way down to the ring, where Midknight, Asteria, and surprisingly Frostbite were waiting. Rime was there, and we nodded to our former bodyguard. It would have been nice to take her with us, but our contract didn't extend that far. Not everyone wanted to leave the planet after all.
Asteria smiled as we approached. "Ah. Our champion and his party. Welcome. I trust you're all prepared to depart?" At our nods she gestured to one side. "Please take your positions." She tried very hard not to look at Zeke, presumably out of fear, which seemed to suit him fine.
We all lined up where she pointed, and she stepped forward, laying down a small stone with intricate carvings all over it. Tapping the top of the stone, she created a spark, which flooded the runes across the rock's surface. There was a flash of light, and then, before our eyes, the air CRACKED.
There was a shudder in space, and my head swam a bit as I watched the world itself tear apart, prying reality open until there was a portal sitting in the air in front of us. As it had opened, I'd been able to see the fluctuations of unstable space in the cracks around the edges, but now that it was open it was just a...hole.
Like looking at a window with no frame, on one side was one place, and on another a second. It was weird looking at the portal, because the portal itself was two dimensional and flat, but it was showing three dimensional space on either side. Zeke looked bored, but everyone else seemed shaken by the ability. It was a pretty impressive sight, I had to admit.
Asteria pointed at the portal. "Your path to the Moonsong Glade lies through there. The Glade isn't QUITE revealed yet, though it's accessible enough for them to arrange accommodations. You'll be dropped off on the floating city established outside the Glade while you wait for the other tournament winners and their teams. You will not be provided with a return trip, and will need to arrange that yourselves."
That kind of sucked, but it also made sense. This was an open tournament. There was a net benefit to the Unity from all the publicity, but once the winners left, it was hardly their problem. We were nominally members of the Unity, but only junior members. It wasn't worth paying for us to come back without some sort of benefit to them. Granted, I could probably have arranged a trip for some wishes if I wanted to pay, but we had a next destination after the Glade, so there was no point.
Frostbite looked mildly annoyed, but she was an E-ranker, and Asteria was the one who made decisions. I was guessing our ally had tried to lobby for better treatment and got shot down. Someone as strong as Asteria had probably met plenty of candidates, and while we theoretically had amazing potential, not all of us lived up to it.
Staring through the window, I saw a sprawling, massive city, with a night sky background somehow far too close to be believable. I reached down to grab Callie's hand and she squeezed back. I felt her nervousness and excitement in equal measure through the bond. With one last look around at the planet I'd spent my whole life on, I gave the others a short nod, then Callie and I stepped through the window together, emerging for the first time in the wider universe. As the others stepped through behind us and the window closed, I couldn't help but grin as my heart pounded. The sadness had mostly faded, all I could feel now was the anticipation. Now was when the adventure really began.