Sell you a Bridge chapter 360

July 15th 2016 Scala ad Caelum, 6:00 PM EDT

I  double checked every single theory and finding I was able to derive  from looking at Scala ad Caelum in the Outer Body trance. Years.  Decades. Centuries of time. I did it over and over and over again.  Making constructs more and more complex, polishing my void skills to the  apex of what I could achieve. Which was the problem. What I could  achieve.

Outer Body let me use any of my abilities at  maximum efficiency and without restraint. I could practice my most  powerful spells in my most powerful state. But it only allowed me to  access my own abilities. I couldn't simulate any abilities I didn't  have, which meant I couldn't practice creating a new world. I didn't  have the X-blade, or the forge of worlds, at least not yet.

Truth  be told, I could have left hours ago, but I was stalling. I couldn't be  lied to, not even by myself, which meant that deep down I knew I was  forcing myself to shoot for perfection with my void magic as a stall  tactic because of how scared I was of what was coming. Sadly, I was as  good at void magic as I was going to get with the tools I had on hand,  so that meant it was time to get this started.

As one last  necessary step, I flipped through my phone. I still had points, and I  wanted to make sure my friends would have the best possible chance. I  only got one shot with this. I needed a way to help them in case of  emergency. I couldn't give them all armor or special weapons, that would  require too many attempts and I only got one email a day. I didn't have  the juice or experience to create them from scratch, not until I  manifested my full powers.

Eventually I settled on an  option, and clicked it. There was, or course, a knock at the door as my  points drained away, I walked over and opened it, picking up a box. I  turned to the others. "It's time guys. I can't put this off anymore.  With everyone on their own things are going to be tough. In light of  that, I decided to pick some of these up." I opened the box and removed a  small brown cloth bag.

I opened the drawstring and took  out a single white bean, about the size and shape of a kidney bean. I  tossed it to Zee, who was absolutely exhausted from running Haste for me  in the Outer Body trance for literally hours. She looked like she was  about to fall over, and I would have used it as another excuse to put  this off if I hadn't just thrown her an answer to the problem.

She  ate it without any hesitation, trusting me completely, and as she did I  saw her eyes widen. Purple lightning filled her irises and spilled out  over her skin as every single bit of fatigue melted away and every ounce  of magical energy funneled back into her. She looked at me in shock.  "Senzu bean." I said as an explanation. Then rattled the bag. "These  babies can fix any injury short of straight up death, they remove all  fatigue, and restore all energy." I snorted in disdain. "Acai berries  can kiss my ass. THIS is a superfood."

Wally looked  fascinated. "Hey, if there are any of those left over after we finish  this can I have some to study?" He seemed excited by the possibility of  having such an amazing product to examine. Honestly, I wasn't sure how  much good it would do him considering I was basically bullshitting  reality with my power, but I didn't see why not.

"Sure." I  said with a shrug. "But don't skimp on using them if you need them. I  have enough here for everyone to get three and if you die because you  wanted a good project for the science fair Artemis would castrate me  with a rusty ice cream scooper. I can get more later for you, so be  safe."

He nodded at that. "Of course. Gotta be alive to do  research." Artemis, who had been watching him closely as he answered,  nodded smugly. Poor bastard.

Everyone took their senzu  beans, I kissed the girls good luck, and then I turned to Donald and  Goofy. "I know I'm not your boss, but I have a request. Namine and Kairi  are the most vulnerable. The two of them have WAY less combat training  than the rest of us, with Namine spending so much time in that castle or  whatever and Kairi being unconscious for most of Sora's time growing.  Can each of you go with one of them." I looked at the blonde and the  redhead. "I don't mean to look down on your two, but your auras show  substantially less combat power."

Kairi looked a bit  peeved, but Namine shook her head. "It's fine. We know how important  this mission is. I'm sure NEITHER OF US." She said meaningfully with a  glance at Kairi. "Would be so petty as to endanger the WHOLE MULTIVERSE  because of our wounded pride."

The redhead chuckled  sheepishly but said nothing as Goofy approached her and Donald lined up  behind Namine. I turned to my daughter. "Be safe Rana. I love you." I  pulled her into a hug, pulling back to kiss her on the forehead. I said  my goodbyes to everyone else, hugged Artemis and Jim, and then we all  went our separate ways.

Taylor and Jim had worked with  Tommy to make maps for everyone so we would all know our destinations,  since I'd taken such a long time and Jim WAS the world's greatest thief.  So with everyone prepared I was able to head for the big fight. I had a  plan for how to do this, and the first step was to draw as much  attention as possible.

I used void step to vanish from the  building and appear on the roof of another further up the mountain with  the largest castle. As I appeared, I saw the massive cloud of horrible  aura that looked like Barbatos mixed with a dread beast shift and the  beast's enourmous head emerged from atop the building, scanning the area  until it's blood red eyes came to rest on me.

"Whelp." Barbatos intoned. "We meet at last." I'd expected his voice to be a booming roar, coming from such a massive  maw but it was much more...insidious. Like whispers in the dark, or  dead leaves over a ruined grave, or chains on the floor of a basement.  It was raspy and hushed and intrusive and...wrong. It was the most  terrible thing I'd ever heard in my life.

So  I rolled my eyes. "Six out of ten. The dragon was already scary, the  voice is just trying too hard. Diminishing returns Barbie." I swear I  saw one of his eyes twitch when I called him that, and I just grinned.  "I can call you Barbie right? I mean, we're such close pals. We share  everything. You even want a share of my powers."

Barbatos snapped his jaws at me, the thirteen horned crown of his massive black draconic head gnashing in anger. "MY  POWER! My multiverse. It was always mine. You're just a thief. I  created it, nurtured it, pushed it to grow. Those worlds would have  died. Should have died. If not for me. They're mine, by right and by  might, and power over them is my DUE! Who are you to steal that from me?  Who are you to deserve it? A stupid ignorant child."

I  heard the lie in his voice, the lie in his heart, and I smiled  unpleasantly at him. This was what I was best at. Finding the weak  points, digging into them. For most, like The Drowned, I felt bad. But  not for this...abomination. Everything wrong with the dark multiverse  was because of him. He'd perverted the natural order, not to save  anything, but because of his own pride.

That  was his weak spot too. His pride. "Yawn." I said dismissively. "All I  hear are excuses. I was chosen by birthright, chosen by the Dark  Multiverse to be the Endless it needed. Because you couldn't get the job  done. Because you just left it to rot. You act like this big scary  mastermind, but we both know what you really are. You're just a bad  dog."

His  eyes flared with incandescent rage, but I didn't let him interrupt. I  just kept talking. "Oh, does that make you mad? I bet it does. Because  you know it's true. You were never an 'integral part of the multiverse'  like you tell yourself. You were a pet. The World Forger fed you scraps  because he needed to get rid of them, and you snapped them up gladly  like the animal you are."

I  knew all this because he knew it. Because he feared it. These were the  truths under the lies he told himself, the things he secretly hated and  feared about himself, and feeding them back to him was so easy. So I  kept doing it, and I watched his aura fracture as the mad rage built. He  was almost there. Almost ready to abandon his post and chase me.

"But  the scraps weren't enough for you, were they Barbie?" I drawled  poisonously. "You wanted more. Wanted to be important. So you started  keeping them. You called it hiding worlds, but we both know what it was.  You were just burying bones. Hoarding them away so your owner didn't  take them from you. And once you had enough of them, you lashed out at  him. Literally bit the hand that fed you."

I  laughed at the trembling dragon scornfully. "You think that makes you  clever. That it makes you superior. Like taking advantage of the fact  that you were so completely nonthreatening to him that he couldn't even  be bothered to put up his guard makes you impressive? You bit your  owner, and then curled up on your yard full of buried bones like some  kind of king of mongrels."

"Be silent!" He hissed venomously. "Shut your pathetic mouth you whimpering little mayfly. You know not of what you speak."

I  scoffed. "Don't I? Then why am I here Barbie? Why do I exist? You've  had the Dark Multiverse under your sole control for eons, and all it did  was waste away, was rot an moulder where you left it. You were so  pathetic that even the multiverse you MADE from the worlds you stole  didn't want you. A rabid mutt with no place to call his own. That's why  you came after me. Because I'm actually going to DO something, actually  going to accomplish something with your failed project."

Pitch  black flame began to curl from the dragons mouth, cracking and burning  the space itself. I made a mental note to NOT get fucking burned by that  shit. Ouch. Barbatos was shifting, was on the edge of the castle ready  to lunge for me, and once he did the game would be on, and I would have  to move my ass or get it fucking bitten off. That was fine, I flicked my  eyes to a corner of the castle and made a minor effort of will to cast a  small spell before I finished riling him up. He was too pissed to  notice.

I  just needed to put the cherry on the cake. "But don't worry." I said  with a saccharine sweetness. "I won't just toss you out. I like dogs.  You can come curl up at the foot of my bed and I can feed you scraps  like your old master. I'll even take you for walks and play with you."  Unfurling my wings, I readied myself to move, and grinned up at him  maliciously. "In fact, we can play a game right now." I spread my arms  in invitation. "What are you waiting for Barbie. Be a good dog. Fetch."  Then I stepped through the void. I was just barely fast enough avoid the  TORRENT of black flame that consumed the building before Barbatos  roared and hurled himself off the castle, taking to the wing and  hurtling towards me. Step one complete. The chase was on.