The Magician 44

The next few days was a wild ride of tuning up a few lives of people that had once, still did, matter to the young mage. Most of it was handled by others but there were a couple he wanted to handle himself. The hardest ones to face were the ones he faced the hardest.

Iliyani and Cray received the most help and were the two who remembered the 'kind young stranger' the most clearly, even after Jay Cotton merged with the archer. Reuniting Duran with a Wick free of the parasitic nature it had once fought so valiantly and failed to repress was the most draining but worth it, even after Reese stole his friend's attention away again. Untangling Dustin and his two boy's fates were the easiest and most emotionally warming. But after that, he was done.

He was tempted to spend some time untangling the affairs of his own heart but Keita's actions after re-merging with Harley started to scare him. She seemed more distant and colder by the day, at least in the missives she deigned to send him. Too much time had passed for her and their bond had grown weak. There was a growing sense that if he didn't get about his own climbing business, she would find 'uses' for him to serve.

The more optimistic part of his heart wanted to believe she was showing him some 'tough love' to get him motivated but he didn't really believe that wholeheartedly. More than anyone else, her repeated and unhappy head butts with Gnarly had left her with an obsession to outdo and undo the ancient cosmic horror. In so doing, Orison wondered if 'the kaleidoscope' was somehow contaminated by the far seeing terror.

"Do you really need to do this now, Pops? This is one of those do or die kind of things and you have a lot of gas left in the tank before you got to do something that far out." Jammers watched his dad go into the ritual space that had been a project several months in the completion.

Orison said, "I need to do this for two reasons. One I'll never say out loud least I help it come true just by saying it. The other is for you. Succeed or fail, you'll get valuable information to use in your own climb... There's a third, maybe, but that depends if my path to them is still preserved.

"My soul's age is 240 in personal years. I'm physically thirty-six. This deep trance ritual will put me in a preserved state for a period of three astral years outside and 729 inside that will physically and spiritually age me another three. 243, 39, 729... sound familiar?"

Jammers didn't really know what to say.

He settled for, "Well, if I see you in three years, we celebrate. If you're... gone, I hope you're future endeavors are successful, whichever 'gone' it... might be."

As Orison was about to walk into the ritual space beneath the world will's heart gem, something that would pass ownership to his son once he was 'gone', a woman's voice called out.

"Wait. I know why you are doing this and... I won't stop you. Perhaps you are right to fear it. My main soul is nearing the transition to tier seven. That's something Greater Reality doesn't allow unless it has a purpose for you. That purpose is eroding my mortal heart away. That and time," Keita's avatar said.

Warily, Orison said, "Not that I'm ever unhappy to see you, in spite of being a little scared, but what are you here for?"

She said, "I don't know if you succeed or not but I do know that you won't die in there. I have two with me that would also... not die, at least... Before you even ask it of me, I swear on my true name that I am here as a mother. I'm not here as anything else.

"I don't know the outcome but I do know it provides a chance. It's a risk they want to take and it doesn't interfere in what you are trying to do in any way that I could see. I have come to ask first before I fetch them."

The mage rubbed his temples and said, "Who are they and why do they want to do this?"

The first was Corvinus. While he had been contracted to Atamus, he had not aged. Unmoored from anyone that he had known but not possessing any particular quality to grab someone's attention, he hadn't fared well after Atamus abandoned him. Despite apparent youth and ability, he had poor qualifications to be a climber and very few years left of the allotted time Greater Reality gave tier two existences.

From the relatively large amount of time that he had spent with his part-time living artifact, he had learned enough to becoming living armor, if nothing else. After that, he could grow with his contracted owner and climb that way. The only problem was that it would take longer than his lifespan would allow.

The second was Cole. The bastet 'Weasel' had skimmed through being a mentally broken cop and the emotionally breaking early years as a beast kin thanks to Daniel's help. Sadly, that meant his awakened understanding gained while being a companion of Orison's in previous branches of events was not returned.

With most of Duran's care towards the guy being a mostly overzealous misunderstanding by Orison, he had been left to aimlessly drift between all the VIPs around him. He wanted to make a pact with the mage in the hopes of acquiring some kind of path for himself.

"No... Jammers, get Cole in touch with Cat. A round of being a pact contractor and shadow with her will be just as effective and less risky. See if Atamus can be guilted into taking care of Corvinus. Tell him I'll forgive him if he does a good job of it." the mage said.

Looking frustrated and worried, Keita added, "Then take some artifacts with you that have the potential to wake up a spirit. I've brought several."

Orison ignored her and went to step into the ritual space. Keita's form shimmered and was replaced by Harley. The girl tossed an armful of stuff in after him. The mage, artifacts and a few people who had unfurled from spacial containment, became trapped inside of the ritual area together as it activated.

***

Somewhere else, in the void beyond the edges of structured reality, a 'flying saucer' was making a long and dangerous trip. Within it, a much more elaborate setup for a ritual was already activated. In the highly reduced time space, a figure could be seen. It was as if he was frozen in time but he was merely running at the slowest reduced time possible.

In what might have been thousands of years, had it been within structured reality, the young mage took a little break from absorbing and condensing concepts. As it was his custom, whenever there was a tenth of a percent drop of integrity on the ship, he'd make a round. The most important check-up would be on the three coffins, made as a combination of the one the ex-dracolich had made for him in the maze and the one that had held his mother's original body.

Inside one, Daniel's sleeping form roused.

From inside red silk boxers, a psychic sending came from an obscene and unnatural looking bulge underneath. "Four and Seven of Seven have established connection. Keita was not fooled by our deception but seems to have reached a compromise with who she was and what she is becoming."

With dark lines running down his face, Orison said, "How so?... And, could you stop being whatever it is that you are right now, Five? I have a habit of looking where I'm talking. No matter which way I go, I don't want Danny's first sight to be me talking to or silently staring at his...boxers."

Sensing Five's reluctance, he sighed and stared at a point on the wall.

Five continued, "Mimi is within the other ritual but she's bound by so many oaths, her soul is covered in them. She's leading the inhabitants of the ritual space down a route of lives that lead to an extreme dislike for all things outsider but they're receiving law comprehension guidance in return.

"Keita has started to build her anti-outsider force and this will be one of many such operations... They aren't being brainwashed but they are being subconsciously conditioned to lean towards certain views heavily. It's fine. Free will hasn't been violated."

While waiting for Daniel to get his mind organized and finish enjoying a little play time of desperately begging Five for a wake up relief of floating kidneys, the young mage mentally sifted through the list of artifacts and people in the other ritual space that Five gave. Keita was an artist at finding souls that wouldn't shine on their own but held remarkable potential when guided and given some supernatural help. It was a sad thing, in Orison's mind, that she planned on turning that ability and resulting gratitude into an army building motivation tool.

It was a somewhat disturbing though. But with their current position, they were watching things that had technically already happened. They just had a way to intervene at any point during the process, if only once.

By request, Five didn't share specific details. There were plenty of things that could cause him to be moved and desire to intervene but he wanted to be free of his sentimental connections, treat that as the past life that it was meant to be for him. There was no better filter than a poker faced, shapeshifting esper.

Five said "I've reviewed the ritual and surrounding events. Within the escape routes and backup plans in place, there are some exceptions of nil survival chance. The artifact Regen, a chakram produced from the undead kingdom ritual circle, will bond with the spiritual mark you left on Four. It does not possess enough spiritual integrity to switch bonds or survive transition to pact shadow with Cat. It is the same scenario with Corvinus.

"Bebba Larsdottir's grandfather becomes nil survival after refusing to take any escape route, save as your pact shadow. His refusal stems from Babs' advice to trust no one but you. There's no acceptable alternative that possesses survival chance greater than twenty percent.

"Amos, after refusing to accept the alternate fate of being Gan's eldest son, will still live with Oleander for several decades before the greater aspect that consumes Herne attempts to recapture him. There is a greater than ninety percent chance that he will pledge to serve you as a familiar at any point beyond the second decade, after their child has reached adulthood. The remaining alternative is something that he'd prefer nil survival over.

"All other notables meet the minimum prerequisite of being able to reincarnate and not succumb to a, as you have previously defined, 'fate worse than oblivion'. You may choose to intercept any or all of these at a time point beyond the second decade of the birth of Amos and Oleander's child. The earliest point of capture by the greater aspect, at a chance percentage of less than one percent, takes place after the ritual ends."

Orison sighed. "In for a penny, in for a Pound. I'll take them all. We'll set the retrieval point for as late on material world time as possible. Since it's their last life together, they should get as much of it as events allow."

Five processed that and projected over the sound of Daniel's tearful cries of relief from the waste retrieval closet, "Since separation is one month prior to ritual end, thirty-six years within the material world, retrieval time will be set at optimal success. Fourteen years of fugitive status may prove to add some motivation for improvement in Amos' abilities but within acceptable emotional fatigue parameters."

As Daniel and Five finished 'finalizing plans' in said closet over the next couple of hours, the young mage pondered the odd couple. It was a match made in hell that fit the two of them as near perfect as reality allowed. He accepted his friend and the shapeshifter as they were but he experienced some guilt laden relief that they'd be parting ways with him soon. Without really wanting to, he began to see a kind of twisted logic in the investment of the enchanted ballistics grade boxers, however.

Shaking himself mentally of the dark thoughts he'd rather wish he hadn't had, Orison composed the general message that all of the four charity cases would receive. After handing that over to Five, he prepared himself for the personal ones. There was only one who had questions and that was Grandpa Booger.

"So, it's completely erased or choosing to be your pact shadow and still facing being erased if you fail to overcome your... 'big crunch'. Same deal if your taxi breaks down too far away from your destination," Birgir said.

Orison responded through the powerful psychic link between Five and Four of Seven, "That's it in a nut shell. Don't forget the absolutely sh*t chances of ever returning to that reality. It's a clean slate start... assuming we make it. That's why I'm only reaching out to the done of the done. Re-rolling a fresh life where you're at is preferable I'd think."

"Then why are you doing what you're doing?" Babs' sharp gramps asked.

The young mage mentally shrugged. "It's too painful to watch the people I care about from a distance, being happier in lives without me. It's too much to see the woman who's showed me the most love, slowly twist into a puppet for Greater Reality. I'm a bit sick of being wrapped up in other people's crap while I can't even take a short breath without having to worry about another Gnarly plot too.

"Most importantly, there's a decent chance of overcoming upper limits. I chose a path that cut tier seven and up, off the possibilities. I'm not willing to sell my a** to Greater Reality, anyway. Instead, I'm trying to find a way around that.

"I'm not convinced that you have to bend the knee or become a reality yourself to get to their level. If I'm wrong, I'm probably going to get zeroed. Whether I just silently collapse into myself and disappear or violently explode, I don't know. Could be both or something else entirely."

Birgir was a decisive and stubborn man. He had already threw his lot in with Orison before he even knew it wasn't really an option unless it was dire. In doing so, he had MADE it dire, slightly forcing the young mage's hand. Considering the cunning of the man's granddaughter, it wasn't off the table that it was intentional.

"This pact shadow thing sounds kind of... clerical. Got something a little more active and field oriented?" Birgir asked.

The young mage made a pained expression the man couldn't actually see. "Grandpa Booger, if I get myself erased, or a number of other bad endings, you have a better chance of at least surviving in soul as a pact shadow."

The man cleared his throat and said, "So, about that field operative position."

Orison didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "If you were a spiritually oriented entity of some type, I could contract you as a familiar but you're not."

Birgir chuckled. "You just throw me that line, young man. I'll show you that even an old geezer like me can have a few tricks up his sleeve."

"Your funeral if you mess it up, Grandpa Booger. I only got one shot at this," the young mage muttered as he 'threw the lines'.

Several hundred years worth of buffer between his location and his rescues were eaten up in a timeless moment. Whether it was Keita's kaleidoscope, signs of Gnarly scheming or even the more minor manipulations of First Family members in the know and Mimi, it was a train wreck in the making. Orison was saddened over the lengths he had to go to reach out a helping hand to a couple of needy souls without getting dragged into ever increasing levels of complex BS.

He activated the second part of the forgotten plan he had formulated while still in the First Family control room inside the maze. The first entirely relied on the two versions of his son he had saw when passing through the maelstrom barrier between the very young reality and the completely mature one that had housed the drama of his current life. When his avatar woke up in the flying saucer as his main form woke in the second reality, he knew he had succeeded in passing the first large hurdle.

If he had been willing to go it alone, he could have stopped right there. But, it was his turn to not let his son and other loved ones down. Discovering the truth about his origins and dealing with the opportunities Yev had represented had nearly derailed everything but the show was back on track. His father had turned out to be a useful addition to the plan anyway.

After Daniel and Five were prepared, he pulled the trigger that would cause the maze itself to invalidate the current branch of events. He informed it of two things. The first was how Gnarly had been using it as an avatar factory. The second was all the information he possessed on his current path.

As the maze jettisoned itself from its resting place in the lower dimensions, Jammer's session within had been reset. As a reward for his information gathering, he was allowed to manipulate the First Family control room into doing a mass summoning on Amoril and Beta Prime. Its awesome calculation power had already been put to work on figuring out the trajectories of connected lives and sent that information to the only mind large enough to run the simulation, the Seven series shapeshifters.

Through a series of events that Orison couldn't even begin to comprehend, Jammers had become 'endless' and was following his own path. Everyone that he had ever known had been cut free of their physical connections with him because he had never technically been in that reality by its own physical perception. Lastly, the remaining hard cases that couldn't be deviated into spiritual survival or escape a fate they'd rather not survive underwent a second round of adjustments in the younger reality.

Despite all that, he still ended up having to accept two living artifacts and two familiars. Doing his best with the help of Daniel and the Seven series, he down shifted their personal importance to him as low as he could. After all, there was still a chance of failure and oblivion on his end.