Waking up the next morning, I felt rested and ready to go. After stocking up on scrolls, I popped to my feet, moving through some stretches to wring out any soreness. Despite the boosts from the staff and my demons, fighting so many A-rankers yesterday had taxed my body. Apparently there were limits even to my body. At least for now.
Part of the reason I had started on the path of body refining was to correct that exact issue. I’d never pushed myself quite as hard as I had last night, and it had taken a major toll, but I was pretty sure the pre-nine phoenix me would be dead. It was nice to see my improved physique visible as more than numbers on a scroll.
It had been a long time since I had pushed hard enough to have aches and pains in my physical body. I honestly hadn’t realized I could still DO that. I suspected it had to do with pushing the limits of my staff upgrade.
Closing my eyes, I appeared in my Domain, and then in front of a door in the back of my palace. Stepping through, I arrived in Callie’s vault. Angelic bond connected us directly, and I had long since gotten her permission to come and go here whenever I wanted. Not long after I stepped inside, my wife appeared, looking as rumpled as I expected from her in the morning. She glared at me cutely. “And exactly what time do you call this?”
“Noon,” I said brightly. “It’s that thing that comes after morning. You know, just because we have the day off doesn’t mean you have to sleep through it.”
“Just because your mouth makes noise doesn’t mean you have to not shut up,” she said acidly. “I’m tired, can I go back to sleep now?” Despite the bite to her words, she was more pouty than upset, and I had trouble not grinning at how cute she was in the morning. Unfortunately she could FEEL that I felt that way, which made the pouting worse, and was quickly spiralling into annoyance.
Laughing I put my hands up defensively. “I promise I didn’t wake you up for no reason. I have plans for today, I was hoping you wanted to come along. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
She glared suspiciously. “Do you actually have something interesting planned or are you trying to save yourself. Because it’ll be way worse if you’re making this up to distract me. You’ll be cooking me every meal for the next month. Plus snacks.”
“I have a plan, I swear,” I grinned. “I’m going out to look for Void cultists, and I want you to come with me. In fact, you’re the only person who CAN, because I’m going to make use of my most underutilized demon to do it, and only you and I can access his powers. Angelic bond has grown, and I should be able to give you access through that vector.”
She frowned for a second, then her eyes widened. “Astaroth?” she said excitedly. “I forgot about that one. Your perfect disguise demon, right?”
“Yup, the one I designed for my trip through the Void,” I said confidently. “Even way back then I could hide from someone a rank or two up with Astaroth, and now, at the peak of B-rank, my staff will boost his powers to peak of A-rank, anyone short of an Overgod should fail to notice anything unless they look close.”
Or anyone here at least, these weren’t actual gods after all, just fragments. While I was sure that their true forms could more easily pierce my disguise, Astaroth was a seriously well designed form, and I had a lot of faith in it.
“I assume you have some kind of lead on where to go?” she asked mildly.
“Not even one,” I chirped happily. “But I DO have access to someone who will. Namely, my divination teacher. She can definitely point us in the right direction. From there we’ll just work with Dan to do a thorough investigation.”
She let out a long suffering sigh. “Alright, FINE,” she grumped. “But you’re bringing me breakfast. Coffee from that place Winnie mentioned, and pastries. So many pastries.”
I grinned. “Alright, I can do that. What are you in the mood for today?”
Tapping her pursed lips, she started her brain, getting it revved up to start it working. “Guava,” she said after a pause. “And…dragonfruit. Oooh and loganberry. Do they have loganberry? I love those.”
“They do,” I laughed. Loganberries were a favorite of mine too, a hybrid fruit made of a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry. “Pretty good selection I know you love guava, so that one isn’t a surprise. Dragonfruit isn’t normally your thing though.” I winked at her. “Guess you still know how to keep me on my toes, even after a few years of marriage.”
Rolling her eyes, she waved off my comment. “We’re going to be together for tens or hundreds of thousands of years, Shane. But yeah, the dragonfruit thing is unexpected. I was just in the mood for it today, I don’t know.”
“As the wishmistress commands,” I intoned with an over the top bow.
She giggled, then waved me off. “Alright, enough flirting, I’ll meet you in town. Can you set up Astaroth’s disguise long distance?”
“Of course,” I nodded solemnly. “Just let me figure out who we’re using as a template. Needs to be someone who can wander around undisturbed but who won’t be questioned. Do you have anyone in mind? Preferably someone A-rank.”
She frowned, thinking it over. “There’s a teacher’s assistant I know. Natalia. She would probably be a good pick for this. She has a lot of influence. I didn’t even know A-rankers could get TA positions, so she must be connected. Plus she’s currently at her final, and she doesn’t leave the spatial departments much. I only know her through classes.”
“I’ll need an image, and preferably a voice to go off,” I said after some thought. She nodded, closing her eyes, and called on the shadows that were much less a part of her powerset these days. After a bit of tweaking, she was able to construct a model for me to use, complete with colors. After that, I called up Astaroth and used the staff to push him to tier nine before funneling the power through the Angelic Bond.
As I watched, Callie rippled, stepping back and out of space as Astaroth created a simulacrum to take her place, perfectly simulating the person she’d shown me. I could still see her, but after a moment, there was a ripple and she completely vanished from even my sight. “What the hell?” I yelped.
“Relax,” her voice rang through the vault. “I used my Adherent Fire to alter the imaginary space I’m standing in. I can do the same for you, it should make it even harder to crack this form. Think of it as stepping a layer deeper into a theoretical void I created.”
I grinned, excited to try it out, then reached for Astaroth myself, boosting it with my staff. Once I had it, I pulled up an imagine of one of the interns from the security bureau, stepping back and into my alternate space. After I manifested the copy, a surge of power flooded through the bond, blue black fire consuming the world around me. It faded after a moment, and then the air nearby took on a slightly greyish tint.
“Oh wow,” I marveled. “This is…weird.” My voice echoed strangely inside the space, but I could feel a layer of separation between this and even my previous hidden stat. “That’s crazy, Cal. You’ve been learning a lot in the space major, huh?”
She beamed at me. “Of course. Finding new ways to apply my flames has been my main focus, and I’ve been getting so many ideas. This is just the beginning. I’ve got big plans.”
“Can’t wait to see where they go,” I assured her. “But we should head out to meet up. I want to check with my professor as soon as possible.” I paused. “Maybe I should have waited to apply the disguises. It should be fine though, she’s a divination professor, if any god can see through this it’ll be her.”
I gave Callie a peck on the lips and then headed out. Exiting my Domain, I made my way to the nearby shop we’d spoken about, spending a few points to pick myself up some pastries (I got a guava of my own along with a cream cheese and a strawberry chocolate I hadn’t seen last time I was there). After that I took the platform back to Common City and met up with my wife, who was practically vibrating with excitement and all but tore the coffee from my hands, gulping it down in long, heavy pulls before scarfing down her pastries.
Mine, meanwhile, were eaten relatively slowly so I could savor them. Also, y’know, TASTE them. Once we were done, I made my way to Professor Saunders classroom. To my complete lack of surprise, she was already waiting for us when we arrived. “Mr. Wyndham,” she said cheerfully. “Please, come inside.”
Nodding to Callie, I entered, giving the professor a stiff greeting. “How did you know we were coming?”
“You told me, dear,” she beamed. “In about five minutes. Or possibly tomorrow. You’re here for help with tracking down the locations of the Void cultists.” She paused. “Unless it was about the other thing…no, that doesn’t seem likely. You’d be much more flustered. Oh well, spoilers I suppose. In any case, I’d be happy to help.”
“You…would?” I asked in disbelief. “You’re not going to charge us?”
She blinked at me. “Why, do you have something to pay me with? I didn’t get the impression you had anything I might want, but I’ve been wrong before.”
“I…” I trailed off. “No,” I said, slumping. “No probably not. So what do I need to do?”
“Why, only read,” she said with a laugh, reaching under a stack of books nearby to withdraw a piece of paper. She handed it to me, and I unfolded it to find…a map. “This will lead you to where you need to be,” she said kindly. “Though perhaps not where you WANT to be. It’s hard to say. Oh, and you might want to hurry. If you dally too long you may miss them.”
I nodded. “Alright,” I said slowly. “I’ll keep that in mind. Do you have any…other advice for us?”
She paused for a moment, thinking about the request. “Don’t turn left on streets ending in the letter M.” She said decisively. “Or only turn left. It’s probably one of those. But definitely not both.”
I thanked her, grabbing Callie’s hand and pulling her out of the empty classroom. “Well,” my wife said sheepishly. “That was weird.”
“Yup,” I agreed. “But not exactly unexpected. She’s always like that. But still, this map is going to be huge for us. I just need to find the nearest spot where one of the cultists was picked up and we can head over.”
Callie turned to stare at me. She looked at me for a moment or two before reaching out to take my hand. “Hey,” she said warmly. “Are you ok? What’s up, you seem off.”
I smiled at her. “Sorry,” I said as I tried to shake off the nonstop feeling of foreboding I’d been feeling. “It’s nothing. I’ve been feeling like something bad is coming. I’m trying not to let it get to me. No point worrying over what I can’t change.”
“Who says you can’t change it?” she said imperiously. “Whatever is coming, we’ll discover it early and expose it to everyone. Everything is going to be ok.” She squeezed my hand again, and I felt my heart warm and then loosen, the everpresent knot in my stomach relaxing just a fraction. When she said it like that, I could almost believe her.