Sell you a Bridge chapter 359

July 15th 2016 Hall of Worlds, 10:00 AM EDT

We  decided to rest in the hall before we entered. We weren't sure it was  safe, but these doors seemed to be extremely obscure and old, and from  their auras they hadn't been touched by anyone in probably millennia at  the very least, so we all agreed resting here should be fine, and would,  in the end, be much safer than storming Scala ad Caelum tired. We slept  in, safe in the hall because literally nothing lived here and this area  was so remote no one else came through, and then prepared to enter.

"Alright,  everyone knows their part?" The actual ritual for forging the X-blade  was complicated as hell. Master Yen Sid had passed it to Mickey, who had  taught it to Zee, Jim, and Sindella for redundancy, but I hadn't  bothered learning it since I was going to be otherwise occupied.

Because  I would be USING the world forge while they were performing the ritual,  it was decided I should focus on my own tasks. We were also waiting  until the last second to form the weapon because the damn thing would  tip off EVERYONE that we were there, and the whole sneaking in thing  kind of lost its effect if you sent up a warning flare hours before you  actually enacted your plan.

Zee smiled at me, reaching up  to pat my face. "Your compulsive worrying is showing. Relax. We've got  this. You've got the hard part anyway. Trust us to do out part."

I  had my armor on and Thanatos in my hand, but I still felt vulnerable as  we lined up in front of the door Taylor's gift had pointed out. I  stepped up and pushed it open. The others followed me through, and we  found ourselves standing...in an empty classroom.

I'd been  expecting some sort of dark wasteland, but this room was nice. Black  and white tiles floor, huge sunlit windows to one side, wall full of  books. It looked like a nice place to laze away an afternoon. On the  table near the window there was even a chess set, though it was covered  with dust. It looked like it had been in the middle of a game.

Checking  the aura around us, I made sure we weren't being watched at the moment,  and then sighed with relief. "Well, we seem to be ok for now. " I  turned to Taylor. "Can you pick up the trail to the world forge?" I  wanted to take advantage of the lead we had before being discovered here  to find the place and start the process. I'd also be opening up my aura  sight in a minute to start my process of analyzing this place.

He  shrugged. "Let's find out, shall we?" We all walked to the window to  look out, and  before any searching got done, we all had to stop and  look over the majesty of this place. I opened my aura sight to  experience it fully, because THIS was Scala ad Caelum, the stairway to  heaven, and it was everything I'd been promised.

Mountains.  No, that was wrong, mountains were made of stones, these were soaring  spires built entirely from buildings. Hills covered with towering  skyscrapers reaching up into the atmosphere. Several of them were capped  with massive castles thinner on the bottom and built up to expand  outward and all connected with cables that looked like they might carry  trolleys or cable cars.

But the most amazing thing was the  magic. It was...perfect. I'd seen void magic before, void constructs  built in or on the void, but this was different. Scala as Caelum WAS the  void. The magic was woven into and through the emptiness between  worlds, physical and non physical at the same time. It was like looking  at a tree that had complex calculus formula inside it, but not carved,  just naturally formed in the rings, except the tree did and didn't exist  at the same time and was always falling in the forest and no one could  ever start or stop hearing it and-

I got slapped. "Ow." I  said on reflex, touching my cheek. Then I looked at Artemis, who was  glaring at me. "You've been standing there staring into space for about  twenty minutes and you weren't responding to anything we said. Also  don't be a baby, your face is covered in metal." She shook out her palm.  "Even with all the bloodline power I could manage that hurt."

Shaking  my head to clear it I grinned at her sheepishly. "Thanks." I said. "I  wasn't ready for that. I don't think anyone will ever be ready for that.  I'll be fine looking again now that I know what to brace for. I  just...that was insane. It felt like stepping in a puddle and falling  into water so deep the pressure crushes you. I wasn't at all prepared."

I  could see how my path had led me here though. My power had been  steering me toward this all along. Or maybe I had been steering myself  subconsciously. Regardless I was uniquely suited for this. Scala ad  Caelum was built in the void, but it wasn't JUST a void construct. It  was a ghost. Or half of one anyway. Both a spirit and a material  existing in two states at the same time, formed by imagination and pure  intent.

My Deception energy wouldn't help me with this,  but everything else about me was basically tailor made to understand  this place. I was glad too, because I would be fucked otherwise.  Assuming I could have just figured out the void engineering on the fly  because of the grimoire had been the height of hubris. If I hadn't been  what I was I could have studied this place for an eon and never made any  progress.

But I was. And I was here. And my implant was  even now categorizing and collating the data I'd seen and cross  referencing it with my void knowledge. I would enter Outer Body as soon  as possible, but at the very least I'd have a head start. Taylor looked  at me expectantly, and once I confirmed I was lucid he pointed up at the  biggest castle. "It's up there. Right at the top. Not sure why we  expected different."

I grimaced. I wasn't either. I'd  figured it was hidden or something, but that made way too much sense. I  glanced up at the castle, braced myself and then triggered aura sight  again...and almost passed out. I slammed my aura sight shut. "Fuck." I  said succinctly.

Everyone turned to look at me. "I thought  the dreadbeasts escaping in the city forever was a bad sign, but I  didn't expect it to be THIS bad. There's a fucking void dragon up  there." I paused. "Sort of. I'm pretty sure it's also a vessel for B who  must not be named." That got a brief giggle from Zee, who loved those  books, but everyone quickly sobered.

I just shrugged  though. "It's fine. Means we need to figure out some way to bait it  away. As the future Dark Endless of deception, I happen to be a master  baiter." I winked, getting eye rolls and small smiles from most of them.  It was fine. We'd been expecting resistance, the void dragon wasn't  ideal, but it didn't change what we needed to do.

Mickey  cleared his throat. "I think our bigger worry will be the others. The  Organization should all be here, and probably some more of the bat god's  servants. The issue is that the ritual for the forging of the X-blade  will either need to be set up ON that castle, or scaled up to expand the  range. Since there's a dragon up there I suspect it will need to be the  latter, but that means we're going to need to split up. The circle is  going to need to be huge which means we'll be pretty widely dispersed."

That  wasn't ideal. At all. Most of my team still had the single attack save  from the voo-dont dolls, but Zee and Drea had both used theirs. The idea  of all of us going our own way was...terrifying. Zee stepped up next to  me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Hey. We've been over this before.  Trust us to get things done. Besides, you're a master baiter right? So  you'll be pulling all the enemies to yourself. Everyone has been  training their ass off. They'll be fine."

She was right. I  couldn't be on top of everyone all the time. We'd trained and bled for  this. I'd just have to change the plan. "Alright." I said unhappily.  "But we aren't launching the attack until I finish studying the  structure of this place. No reason to be in danger for hours while I sit  and do nothing. I'll tell you when it's time." They all agreed, and I  sighed in relief. I'd finish my preparations and then I'd make sure none  of those fuckers touched a hair on any of my people the best way I knew  how. Shock and awe. That dragon was guarding the forge, which mean I  had to bait it away long enough for them to perform the ritual and make  sure I was in place to use it when the time came.

I  walked back over to the window, staring out at Scala ad Caelum, and  started to deduce. I took in everything with my aura sight, processed it  with my implant and added it to the foundation of knowledge I'd built  with the grimoire. Zee stepped up next to me. I didn't look away from my  work, but I also didn't resist as she took my hand. "It's ok to be  scared you know." She said softly.

Keeping  my eyes focused on the city, I chose not to respond. "I'm afraid." She  said. I turned to look at her, kind of speechless. Zee was...a force of  nature. I knew from the bond she got scared, but even her fear seemed  somehow less scary than most. Like she barely acknowledged the emotion.  "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you Morgan. I saw what that did to  my dad and...honestly when I think about it I don't know if I'd be any  different."

Ah.  The fear wasn't just of me dying, though she had tons of that. She was  afraid of what she would become if I did. I smiled and leaned down to  lay a kiss on her forehead, then I flicked it. She yelped, rubbing her  head. "You're an idiot. You aren't your dad. You'd never do to Rana what  he did to you, and if you even tried Drea would kick your ass. Not to  mention that I'm the one who should be worried, I have the whole  semi-phenomenal nearly cosmic power thing going on."

She  glared at me. "You also have the whole, not thinking things through  thing going on." She deflated. "But you're not wrong. I just...this all  feels so final. Like the end of something."

I  pulled her against me tightly. "It is the end of something. It's the  end of the bat god. The end of the dark multiverse. The end of all the  trouble he brings to our lives and all your worries. After this is done  we can retire to the new world I'm making, I'll put in a second  Shadowcrest for you, on Destiny Islands, you'll have a paradise to relax  in."

She  smiled softly at me and leaned up to give me a lingering kiss. "Make  sure it has a waterslide." She said tenderly. I burst out laughing and  she joined me seconds later. Of all the things I'd expected her to say  that hadn't been one of them, my girl always knew how to surprise me.  With one last kiss she headed back over to the others, and I returned my  gaze to Scala ad Caelum. I had a lot to learn, but I'd get it done, and  then it was time for all this bullshit to end.