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    Our next stop was the Imperial clan descended from Alkem, the Varhana clan. They were a Ducal clan under Duke Darius Varhana, known for their wind attribute abilities. Apparently even in Alkem’s time they had a whole legacy of wind based Skills and spells, and often synergized them with their main Skill to create unique capabilities.


    It wasn’t a bloodline, because they’d never had an S-ranker, but after generations of similar abilities they had a tendency to develop powers in that vein, which was a fascinating little quirk. I had no idea you could achieve that effect without merging with a Saga.


    I’d been planning to pick up Sable and Dom, but the two of them had elected to meet us at the Varhana clan home base, a B-ranked planet called Akasha. We’d been approved for meetings with their clans but they would be a week or so out. Ostensibly because they needed time to prepare their hospitality, but Zeke told me it was more of a power play. A-rank factions had a lot of pride, and especially in their own territory couldn’t be seen capitulating too easily, even to a candidate.


    We didn’t have much information on Akasha at this point. Alkem hadn’t been back in thousands of years, so any knowledge he had of the planet was completely useless. Even the oldest living member of the Varhana clan hadn’t been born yet when he was frozen, and while they HAD already been on the planet, it had been C-rank when he went under.


    The only real reason they were welcoming him back so enthusiastically was because of a particularly powerful legacy Skill he practiced that had been lost to the clan for millennia. I didn’t dig into it because it seemed like an internal thing, and honestly I didn’t need more fucking Skills, I already had way too many if you counted subskills from DS Mastery. Still, his lack of information meant we were flying blind here, so Callie and I were waiting in the bridge to watch the initial descent onto Akasha.


    Which was what were seeing now. As we watched, the ship descended into the atmosphere, and on a large screen in front of us, the details of planet Akasha came into view.


    It was, of course, absolutely beautiful. Most high rank planets were gorgeous, which made sense given the renown needed to rank them up was as good as terraforming. Still, the strange way that stories could spread and twist, combined with the changes brought on by Ascendant materials, animals, plants, people, and even natural formations, meant that high ranked planets could be pretty unique, and Akasha was by far the most interesting I’d seen.


    Firstly, there was almost no land on Akasha. Or rather, no land on the surface. Below us, over a citrine sea of leaping waves, continents floated miles above the ocean, chunks of rock suspended in the air.


    The reason for that was pretty obvious at a glance, because among the waves, howling gales of wind raged and whipped across the surface of the planet, hurling the ocean to and fro. The continents were high enough up to avoid the waves and wind, but there were jagged mountains spearing out from the seas that weren’t so lucky. As we watched, the wind and waves pounded the dark stone, and based on the pitting and sharp lines on the rock, the water was hitting pretty damned hard.


    Alkem, who had been called up when we started our descent, entered, staring down at the planet with a conflicted expression. “The Sulfuric Sea has risen,” he said unhappily. “It wasn’t this high when I was here last. And some of the continents remained on the surface. Important land with cherished history. To abandon the caverns and labyrinths of the ruined cities in the Valkyr Wastelands, the weeping palaces of the Benretti hills. What could have changed Akasha so much?”


    “Time,” said Zeke bluntly. “Time changes everything. Even the gods aren’t totally immune to time, much less a B-rank planet. Sorry, just following up, that ocean is literal acid? Because time changing things is pretty common but that one is new for me.”


    My grandfather snickered. “I’ve seen it before. I visited this one planet where the whole ocean was made of a gelatinous bouncy substance you could sink into. It would digest anyone who fell in. Turned out the whole thing was a giant slime monster. Coastal property values went down pretty drastically after we publicized it.”


    Alkem chuckled softly. “Yes, it is acid. The Sulfuric Sea is a unique feature of the planet. It’s sop powerful the waves actually burn away the air as they crash. It creates pockets of vacuum that disturb the atmosphere, creating the powerful winds that rake the planet.


    “They were a staple of Akasha even before the sea expanded.” He said wistfully. “It’s why the Varhana specialize in wind Skills. The animals in the sea are also shockingly powerful. Fishing is a dangerous but lucrative business. Or at least it was. Who knows how things have changed with the alterations of the climate and environment. Perhaps fishing the Sulfuric Sea is no longer possible.”


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I nodded with interest, though I suppressed a small chuckle when I saw my wife eyeing the ocean speculatively. She loved food almost as much as loot, and super powerful acid fish was both.


    “So, which of these continents are we heading to?” I asked Alkem, gesturing to the screen. “Looks like there’s a fair few of them. You’ve been in contact with your family, right? How did you manage that by the way?”


    “Wishes,” answered Callie for him. “They used some of the scrolls. They paid in cash.”


    Alkem smiled. “It was quite useful to be able to reach out so simply. But yes, they told me where to go. We are looking for the highest continent. The one made of golden stone. Its name is Deva. It shouldn’t be difficult to spot.” He pointed at the display. “In fact, I see it right now.”


    I did too. Staring out at the screen it was pretty obvious based on the description. In fact, I probably should have guessed earlier, because Deva was the most opulent and majestic of the continents. However, it was also on the other side of the planet. B-ranked planets were big, but being so high up in the atmosphere we had a bird’s eye view so we didn’t have to go far before more of the world was revealed, and Deva came into view only seconds after I’d asked my question.


    My first impression, as we descended toward it, was…gold. Lots and lots of gold. Not normal gold, obviously, because mortal metal would have been crushed into dust on a planet like this, and I could see even as we approached that the metallic…stone, according to Alkem, was at least D-rank.


    It was a sprawling palatial city covered in towers, spires, and strange swirling and twisting architecture. Not twisted in a way that an architect could manage, but like someone had melted and shaped the stone itself. Some parts of it had even turned crystalline, making natural windows in the rock that were mostly covered in curtains. “Damn,” I said in a reverent tone. “Now that’s how you build a house.”


    Alkem looked similarly impressed. “Golden stone was very rare in my day,” he admitted. “Such exquisite workmanship requires abundant resources for practice. I too am impressed by the beauty of this new architecture.”


    Everyone else nodded along as we approached. Gold is normally a pretty intense design element. It’s easy to overwhelm people with it, making your whole project look gaudy and cheap. But because of the melting of the stone and the clean and sweeping lines, this whole continent seemed like one solid piece, and the style underscored the natural beauty of the material, making it seem more, for lack of a better term, down to earth.


    Which is where we were now heading, having passed through a large number of floating figures that I was pretty sure were B-rankers. Flight was possible on D or lower planets at D-rank, using Impact to push against the natural suppression of the planet, but since we’d left Callus right after hitting D-rank, I’d never been able to do it without wings.


    Except they weren’t doing that either. Not really. On closer examination I was able to see swirls of wind beneath them all, acting as a platform holding them up. While eyeballing the Impact of a continent was doable through the screen, estimating the rank of a bunch of random flying people was a little harder.


    It was kind of nerve wracking, actually. We had introductions to the Temple when we approached before, my grandpa knew Tasha and we were invited by an elder. Here, we just knew Alkem, and he didn’t actually know anyone. Sure he was their ancestor or whatever, but the connection was pretty tenuous obviously. Aside from the first impression thing we were also going in mostly blind here. Only knowing we had my grandparents and Zeke and mom along made me feel a little better about the possible risks.


    The floating people were NOT stupid enough to attack an S-rank ship, so we slid effortlessly between the buildings, stopping above a large courtyard that Alkem read us directions for off a piece of paper.


    When we got there, I was pleased to see that Sable and Dom were already waiting, and more than that, Abel was there, his old black rabbit mask back in place as he lounged in a woven beach chair, wearing a wide brimmed hat with rabbit ear holes punched out and sipping a brightly colored drink from a swirly straw.


    As we descended, the air pressure from the ship blew the dust of the courtyard up, and he had to shade his drink with his hand to stop it from being filled with dirt. He glared up at us resentfully, and I grinned, knowing from just that reaction that my mentor was the same as he’d ever been.


    I’d worried that hard training from someone like Lark might have changed him, and not for the better. Abel’s Path was already based on blood, and training from one of the most feared and brutal beings in the universe was a great opportunity, but it was a lot to handle.  Obviously I shouldn’t have worried, from his mannerisms, he’d managed to retain that charming devil may care attitude that we all knew and tolerated. Thinking about it, if anyone could handle that kind of pressure it was my teacher. Not to mention I’d been through something similar and come out of it fine, and he was way tougher than I was.


    When the ship finally touched down, we all filed out, and I had to admit, despite the increase in pressure, it was nice to be on solid ground. I’d spent so long on B-ranked planets lately I’d developed a bit of a fondness for the stable feeling of hard packed high rank ground under my feet. The whole time back on Callus I’d felt like I was walking on sugar glass.


    Abel popped up to his feet casually, ambling over, but he was blindsided by a red masked streak as Mel tackled him from the side, not that he seemed to mind. I had been approaching, but I pulled back, letting Callie meet up with me as the two lovers greeted each other. They’d been separated longer than we had, and we both understood the kind of joy you felt when being reunited with a bondmate, especially one you loved, after such a long time.


    Once they finished their reunion, Abel accompanied Mel over, an arm around her shoulder as he greeted us with a wide grin. “Hey kids, miss me? Because man do I have some stories to tell you.” I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. It was good to have the gang back together.