Alex

It had been a few days now, and I still didn't understand how the moose had managed to sneak along with us. Even Mel had not managed to pick up that the creature was following along, something the man found very interesting. I guessed he had started planning out some growth paths for the moose, but that wasn't something I had any idea about.

Once we found my son, that would all change. I couldn't keep my head half in this world anymore. The passing days since we entered chaotic space had told me that. Some of the pain, to my surprise, had eased, but it left behind a driving need to get stronger. Out there, a baby was relying on me to do just that, and the next time I found the monster that took them, they would not find me wanting.

When we left the port and entered the rift into this black space, I had somehow expected more. From what little I had learned, it seemed like chaotic space should be a place of constant danger. Instead, so far, all it had been was black. If it weren't for the sensations of the ship itself, it would have been hard to tell we were even moving.

I had spent each of the days so far in a simple routine, one I imagine would have made my dad proud. Not that he could actually maintain one, but he loved to think he could, and who was I to break him of that illusion? I woke up, ate breakfast, and went to work on my training.

Squidlen had a room on the ship set up to safely spar, and Mel was a very willing opponent. The first day I fought him ended in a near breakdown as the violence of my attacks brought out what I had been holding in. That likely had a lot to do with more of the pain passing.

Mel had just stood there and let me wail on him, giving it everything I had until I collapsed in exhaustion. The man had known it was coming. He was the only one on the ship that I knew of who had lived through anything quite like I had. I was glad he was here to help me, and I understood why my father liked him as much as he did.

Underneath all that gruff exterior was a kind and gentle man. He was someone who had lost everything and was still trying to help those as best he could. From what I had learned, he had only just regained much of his own fighting spirit, but even before then, he had been ready to help. Now, though he was a force to be reckoned with, and he was here to help save William.

Another thing I hadn't expected was that these fights would give me real experience. As far as I knew, that hadn't been something that worked at home, but apparently, there were ways to build rooms that allowed for this. They were incredibly expensive, which explained why we didn't have one. It also explained why Dad's simulator wasn't magically able to push him above everyone else out there. It just gave him a leg up against some of his initial competition.

The fights had already pushed me up to level twenty. I was growing much faster this way than from the random things that had seemed to give me experience before. Realistically, I knew it was unlikely I'd ever beat Mel in a true fight here, but the idea of it pushed me all the more. If I could do that, I was ready for the jesters. Though I would fight them, ready or not.

"We should be heading out of the Dark Periphery soon. Once that happens, you can all see some shit you've never dreamed. Just listen to any alarm and don't question Squidlen, he's about the only man alive I'd say that for. If he told me to punch a razor devil in the face, I'd do it. I wouldn't be happy, but if that man said to do it, there was a good reason," Yorela said as we ate our lunch together in the mess hall.

"Wait, what do you mean by Dark Periphery? Aren't we in chaotic space already?" I asked, confused. We didn't get there as soon as we left the port?" I asked, growing worried. How far behind William were we?

"That's just what they call the space out here between the real chaotic space and the Spiral. It likely used to be part of chaotic space before it was cleared out a long time back, but, don't really know how," Yorela answered, taking another bite of her stew after she spoke.

"What is it really like out there then? Everyone talks about it in their hushed way, even the crew seems afraid to really describe it," I asked, not that I had prodded them for details. I might have been doing better, but it wasn't to that level. And I certainly didn't make for good company at the moment.

"So there's a superstition that talking about chaotic space while you're in it causes bad luck. I think it's bullshit, and I've never seen Squidlen remotely care about it, but most of the crew are likely only here because of how much they are being paid. They spend most voyages half scared out of their mind. And for good reason, there isn't anywhere more dangerous we could be heading," she paused to take another bite of her food.

"It's not empty out there either, like a lot of people seem to think. There are inhabited places all over if you know where to look. There are even small pockets of relative safety out there. We're likely gonna to see some of the most majestic sights beyond your wildest dreams, and to make up for it, we are gonna to see some nightmares. And if we're real lucky, those nightmares are gonna stay at a distance, but I wouldn't count on it. They rarely do." Yorela finished this statement by downing her mug of whatever she had been drinking.

That was something that had radically increased since they left as well. She had gone from the rare drink, and never during our lunches, to drinking with every meal. Being back out here was clearly hard for her in ways I didn't fully understand. I was all the more grateful for her help, and one day I'd have to find a way to repay her once we were back home. But for now, I was in no position to judge her coping skills. Mine were near non-functional.

"Yorela, get your little group's behinds to my ready room!" Squidlen's voice boomed out from everywhere suddenly.

"Yep, looks like it's about time to hit chaotic space proper. Come on, he's gonna have a bunch of yapping to do, but somewhere in it will be something important," Yorela said, grabbing her dishes and dropping them off in a tub as we left the mess hall.

Below the deck of the ship was mostly made up of long hallways that led between rooms. Each room had a locking seal on it that was used in case the ship was boarded or as a secondary defense against any effects that pierced the field that surrounded the entire ship.

That was something I had asked about the day we arrived. How could there be an above deck if we were heading into space? The answer, of course, was the usual one. Magic, or more specifically, a magical field kept a breathable environment sealed inside with us. Another magical device worked to make sure that the air stayed clean and refreshed.

There were so many things on this ship alone that I knew would fascinate my father, and normally, it would have me as well. But in my current state, all it could produce was a mild curiosity, which was still more than it had done on that first day we had been aboard. Would the wonder we saw as we moved deeper into chaotic space be able to get through?

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The moose was already in the room when we arrived. It was the only one who had beaten us there, but that wasn't too surprising as it had taken a liking to Squidlen. It seemed to be either near me or him at all times, no matter how much he seemed to dislike the intrusions.

"I've met many a blasted primal mana beast in my time, but never one quite so determined to be annoying as this damned moose you've cursed me with." Squidlen's tone didn't match his words, making me doubt how much he actually disliked the animal's company.

I, for one, was happy to have him aboard. While I couldn't quite put into words why, the presence of the moose made me feel more like this was all possible. He was here to save William, just the same as any of us, and if he could leave a planet he was supposedly so strongly tied to, to do so, that gave me some extra hope. And that was something I desperately needed at the moment. I was willing to cling to any of it like a life preserver in a storm-wracked ocean.

"Yeah, yeah, are you gonna spend this whole damned trip whining because a moose likes you?" Yorela fired back as the rest of our group joined us.

"I'll whine as much as I damn well please, it's my ship after all. Being captain's gotta be good for something!" Squidlen had grown louder with his own retort, but he had a large smile on his face, giving away the game. I had no doubt in his and Yorela's friendship.

"I'm guessing we're heading into deeper space soon?" Mel asked, floating up next to me.

"Yeah, couple of hours at most. So I've got the position your little monster entered at, but I doubt he'd still be there by the time we got there. We should be able to overtake him long before he reaches his homeworld though, but I wasn't prepared for any kind of deep run, so we're gonna have to stop off for supplies at Vidack. It's not the ideal spot, but if we wanna keep on the right path, it's our only real choice," Squidlen answered.

"What's so bad about Vidack? Is it full of chaotic space pirates?" Maud asked, excitement filling her words.

"Pirates?" Squidlen exploded in laughter. It took almost half a minute before his laughs finally died and he started speaking again. "God, I wish they were pirates. No, they're blasted card magicians. Which means it will be awful for our own abilities to interact with theirs. I hate dealing with them, so that's why Yorela's gonna do it for me. Plus, she's got a friend there."

Yorela gave Squidlen a glare so intense I questioned if there was magic behind it. "You really want me to step foot on that planet after what happened last time?" she asked, her glare somehow growing stronger.

"Fine, fine, I'll join you. Gonna need you to stay focused for the deeper run anyway, can't have you find any new entanglements planet-side." Yorela's glare finally dropped with his new promise, but only slightly.

"So, another reason I wanted to talk to all of you, this isn't the first time I've been hired to parley with the jesters to get a kid back." Squidlen's words brought me to full attention. He had done this before?

"I didn't know that. How the hell did that happen?" Yorela asked, sounding shocked.

"I still don't know the full details. But one day, someone with a lot of money showed up at a bar I was in and asked to talk. Told me the jesters had managed to get hold of a kid and they wanted him back. He gave me all the money I needed to fund the trip, and said the deal had already been brokered. I just had to bring the kid back, and they would break a planet off into chaotic space," Squidlen explained.

"Who the hell had the kinda authority fer something like that?" Mel asked, anger boiling into his words.

"No idea, and I've tried to figure out the answer to that question many times over the years. It's never gotten anywhere. Far as I knew before that moment was that only top-level Spire councils could agree to cut loose a planet. Seems I had been wrong about that, because as soon as we had the kid, the jesters had their planet," Squidlen answered.

"What happens to a planet…" Maud started to say, but her words were interrupted by a sudden rainbow of colors blanketing the room. "Uh, new question: what's going on?"

"We're into the real bits of chaotic space now. The rainbow shift is the first sign we've moved out of the periphery. It'll pass in a few minutes," Yorela answered.

I wish I had been seeing this in better times. It was gorgeous. Colors danced and blended across everything in the room. It was something I vowed to see again with my whole family.

"I feel different. Things are becoming less cloudy," Sanquar said, a note of shock in his voice.

"Different how?" Mel asked, his body turning to look at him.

"Something out here is reacting with the damage to my core. I can feel it. I wouldn't say I was healing, so much as something in there was being suppressed maybe. I'm not sure," he answered.

"Yeah, yer core is just as broken as ever, but yer not wrong. I can see some sort of magic starting ta melt away from it. Don't know what, though, not sure I've ever seen anything like it. What do ya think, Squidlen?" Mel turned back to the captain as he asked this.

"Nothing good. That's a whole new bucket of chum we've just found ourselves in, and it means our plans on Vidack are gonna have to radically shift," Squidlen answered.

"Why? What the hell is on core Squiddy?" Some of Yorela's bluster had faded, replaced with worry.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure here. It had mostly gone away before I got a good glimpse, and I wish I had realized it was there sooner to have checked, but I think that was a very specific type of gravitational mana. One I've only ever seen near one of the sapient black holes. I doubt it melted away. More likely, it was reabsorbed."

"Wait, those are real? I thought they were just stories some of the crew told to scare each other?" Yorela's worry had changed to fear.

"Everything is real out here. Everything. Alright, it's gonna take some time for it to decide if it wants to see us or not. It will decide it wants to, though, we're too tempting a treasure not to interest it. That means Sanquar here needs a new source of magic, only way we can throw it off." Squidlen put a hand on Yorela as he spoke.

It was a gentle fatherly reassurance. He was trying to tell her it would be okay without words. In my case, though, this new danger had barely registered. I had my focus, and that was all that really mattered. Squidlen would handle this part, and maybe if we got lucky, Sanquar could help us fight.

"What will this new power source be like?" Sanquar asked, sounding more curious than he did concerned.

"Hard to say, never used any card magic myself. But I got a couple friends there we can talk to. Didn't wanna involve them, but sometimes the wind blows in directions you can never expect," Squidlen replied.

"Do you think the moose could use card magic? Actually, what can the moose use? Should we find a class orb? He has the shield orb already, but that's it," Maud said, rambling a bit. I had noticed she did that when she wanted to break the tension of a conversation.

"Don't worry about the moose. He and I will figure out his path in time. I'm more concerned with this sapient black hole. How the hell are we gonna stay away from one of those?" Mel asked.

"Luck, tenacity, grit, and the fact that hell refuses to take me," Squidlen answered.

"I think a better question might be how this mana source would have ended up on Sanquar's core? I know we don't know the exact details about what happened to him, but this seems odd even by the standards of the usual things we encounter," John added.

"No idea, but this is just the kind of adventure that tends to follow me. So don't worry, I'm excited now, and nothing can stop me once that starts! This is just the type of gamble I needed," Squidlen replied.

That hadn't been the kind of answer I had expected, and I didn't know what to make of it. A look at Yorela told me it was likely a positive, as the earlier worry was gone from her face. I just hoped that this gamble paid off. William was counting on us.

If the powerful decide that your upstart faction is causing too much of an issue, there is little anyone can do to save you. What exactly they will do often depends on the faction's size and relative value. If it is considered near worthless, well, many a planet has been cut from the Spiral without just cause.

That is somehow the least of the terrifying possibilities that can await. From there comes conquest, enslavement, exile, and any number of horrible consequences once the war that the smaller faction never stood a chance at is declared. In the end, those who have the power always find a way to get more, and those without it suffer under their iron grip.

Faction Wars: A Brutal History by Melhelm VII

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