I'd half expected Zeke to be waiting to discuss the happenings at the  circus when we got there, but when he wasn't I mentally berated myself  for the thought. Zeke wasn't all knowing. His stats were insane, but he  couldn't be listening to everything happening all over the planet all at  the same time...probably. Even if he could processing all of it would  be hellish and it didn't seem like his kind of thing anyway. Too much  effort for no real reason.

Instead he was sitting on the  couch with Cass, watching some show I'd never seen before about goblins  or something. It was animated rather than an actual video, and I'd never  seen it, but that wasn't really important right now. I nodded to Cark  who went and plopped down next to his sister on the couch, the wolves  following him up and snuggling with the pyrokinetic and his sister as  they watched tv together.

When that was done I nodded at  Zeke, who had noticed the byplay. I gestured for him to follow me out of  the room, and despite raising an eyebrow in wry amusement at the  request, he stood up to follow me out of the room so we could talk. I  was pretty sure with his Perception he could tell how agitated I was. I  was also fairly positive it was the only reason he didn't hassle me  about calling a meeting with him our of nowhere like that.

When  we made it into the next room he raised an eyebrow. "Damn Shane, you're  jittery as hell. You look like you've seen a ghost." His tone was  light, but his face was concerned. He knew I wasn't exactly panicky,  especially lately, and seeing me so shaken had him worried. At the very  least it seemed like he wasn't aware of the other candidate on Callus.  If he knew about her the reason for my distress would be obvious.

I  stared hard at him for a minute, not even paying attention to Callie  entering the room behind me and stepping up to my side for support, at  least aside from taking her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. "I ran  into someone...unexpected." Are you absolutely sure there's nothing you  wanted to warn me about?" I was fairly sure he had no clue, but I needed  to check. Despite the geas I'd always been sure he would warn me if  something really bad happened, despite some pain. If that wasn't true I  needed to know. I wouldn't blame him, but it would change the way I  acted going forward.

He just gave me a blank look. While I  was sure a B ranker could lie to me if he chose, I knew Zeke pretty  well, Skills or stats aside, I could tell when he meant something. He  had no clue. I breathed a sigh of relief. He just squinted at me in  confusion. "You know I can't say anything specific to you kid, but I  can't think of anything specific I would need to mention. If I could  mention anything. Which as you know I can't." He spoke deliberately as  he said that last bit, making it clear he was answering without  answering.

Now that I knew he hadn't hid it from me, I was  free to move on to my next emotion. Annoyance that my B ranked guardian  hadn't even detected one of the other candidates showing up on this  supposedly safe planet. "Today we went to the circus to scope out the  Jerks and learn what they were doing. We spotted and followed them, only  to find out they were meeting with a hooded figure. A figure who  proceeded to grant them a wish right in front of us. Though Callie  couldn't see the sparks apparently."

He nodded absently at  that last bit. "Oh that, those are a bloodline side effect, Only other  Wish users can see it. As for the rest...I have no idea Shane. There  shouldn't be another candidate here. They must have shown up recently.  Their guardian is probably shielding them. I haven't been actively  searching or anything, so that isn't a shock. Not that I'll start now.  But if they're using the Jerks it doesn't sound like they're actively  trying to kill you."

Which was reassuring, but only up to  such a point as I could find out what she DID want. I threw up my hands.  "What the hell is the point then? Why even engage with me? What is she  planning?" I couldn't see what she had to gain by doing any of this.  Maybe some kind of a resource grab? But why come to a tiny planet like  Callus to challenge me, and why not actually seek me out? None if it  made any sense.

He shrugged. "She might be trying to box  you in. No telling if she even knows who you are. Taking over the local  branch could be an attempt to flush you out. Hell, maybe she's trying to  prove you unfit. There are more ways than dying to lose the candidate  selection. Your old man is still alive and he lost. If she can  completely take control of the branches on your home planet she might be  able to get you stripped of your qualifications. Of course I don't  actually know, which is why I can mention any of this. Once again, I  can't give you direct help without violating the rules."

I  exhaled in relief. I knew that Zeke would find some way to help without  tripping up his geas. Sure it wasn't exactly a dossier, but I didn't  care. He was still on my side. I could learn more about the other  candidate, I knew where she was and what she was doing, which could very  well be more than she knew about me. Even if it wasn't I was at least  prepared for her. Still, there was plenty left to handle. I knew he  wouldn't be able to tell me anything specific but I figured a direction  was doable. "So, if you were me, what would your next move be?"

That  got a wide smile from Zeke, who seemed happy I'd asked the right  question. "Well now. I can't give you any advice, but thought exercises  are well within my rights. Of course, if you happened to listen in as I  talked all of this out to myself I couldn't do anything about it. This  isn't for you though, just thinking out loud. So feel free to ignore  me." I couldn't help but grin at the tone of almost malicious glee in  his voice as he said that, clearly enthused about the chance to screw  with the geas.

Of course I knew he still wouldn't be able  to say much. If it was easy as pretending I wasn't around he'd have done  it ages ago. I was pretty sure he would still be paying a price, I just  hoped it would be a smaller one. I waited for him to continue, and the  deep breath he took to prepare himself made me pretty sure this was  going to hurt him more than I'd like, but despite feeling terrible I  didn't stop him. I might be in real danger, my friends might too. Zeke  was willing to suffer a bit to keep us safe and I had to respect that.  He could handle it.

He focused on me, and I saw the mark  I'd seen before start to glow again, though his face didn't change. "If I  were you I would look into the current political climate in the WCP  around here. I would consider that one E ranker taking over one  territory wouldn't be nearly enough to sway anything like the Rajak  branch. I'd wonder if perhaps the current situation might be  advantageous for some larger party that might have a bigger impact on  the branch as a whole, and impact that might allow this new element to  benefit."

As he spoke, his voice got tighter, more  strained, and his teeth began to grit, clearly starting to suffer from  the same pain as before, though seemingly less severe. Despite the  obvious discomfort though Zeke didn't stop. "I might also point out that  your new friend obviously had to tell some of her new allies about her  abilities. It might be necessary to reach out to a faction yourself to  counter that influence." He grimaced in pain, finally stopping his  speech as the geas called his words to a halt for violating the terms of  his deal.

Despite that I gave him a grateful smile. I  knew how rough this was for him, but he was doing it anyway and it had  definitely paid off. I personally would have never considered allying  with a local faction. Telling my friends was one thing, but the idea of  outing myself like that was completely absurd. However, in this  situation the reasons for it being so stupid were somewhat mitigated. I  couldn't be pressured by higher level Ascendants because of Zeke, at  least not E rankers, and I could find someone who could actually protect  me from F rankers.

That wasn't to say it was a certainty.  I'd have to see if I found a faction worth trusting, I definitely  wasn't going to just randomly confide in some people I didn't know to  get out of danger. That would just be shooting myself in the foot later  on down the line. It wasn't important, we could figure that out later.  For now I caught Zeke by one shoulder and Callie caught the other. As  the geas faded he dropped like a puppet that had his strings cut. His  body had been wracked with painful spasms and he'd been putting his all  into resisting it, having nothing to keep him standing once the tension  was gone.

I panicked a bit. "Zeke! Are you alright?" I  hadn't expected even an oblique hint like he'd given us would have done  this much damage. I felt a flash of guilt. I'd known he would get at  least a bit hurt doing this, but I hadn't stopped him. I turned to  Callie. "Help me get him over to the chair over here." We carried my  Uncle's limp form over to the big overstuffed armchair off to one side  of the room, setting him down gently, though not gently enough to avoid  the loud groan of discomfort as his aching body made contact with the  surface of the seat.

My Uncle gave a  painful chuckle once he'd caught his breath. "I'm fine kid. man, Eli is  such a dick sometimes. I should have known he would make the punishment  for violating the geas unbearable. He's still pissed about that Void  Ravager I left in his closet when we were in the C ranks. I don't know  what he's so fussy about, it's not like his face didn't grow back after a  year or two." He saw my expression and snickered. "Don't take things so  seriously kid. When you're as old and powerful as we are a bit of pain  just keeps things interesting. Eli isn't some dastardly traitor or evil  sadist, this is just how we interact."

I  blinked. I hadn't actually considered that. I'd thought Zeke was a  victim of my dad who he'd tricked and taken advantage of, but he was  right. The mindset the two of them had was so divorced from mortality  that I literally couldn't comprehend it. I couldn't imagine inflicting  that kind of pain on Benny, and I knew he'd feel the same. Still, I  noted with discomfort that I was much different than I had been as a  normal person. Who knew how far that would go. I gave him a worried  look. "How much of that is-"

He  cut me off. "Recursion? Who knows. You'll find as you get older you try  not to ask that question. Those of us in the higher ranks are fighting a  constant battle with our legends to maintain ourselves. Looking back  and seeing how much ground we've lost isn't a healthy way to live.  Ascendants aren't mortals kid, we aren't even really human. For better  or worse we're all just the heroes of our own story. But stories skip  over a lot of things. They cut out the boring parts. Same with us, we  lose the uninteresting parts of who we are."

He  gave me a sad look."You need to decide which parts aren't important to  you, and hold onto the ones that are. It's the best any of us can do.  But as for the parts that are gone? Don't dwell on those too much. I've  seen people a lot more powerful than you lose themselves second guessing  the person they've become. Being an Ascendant means power, but it also  means weakness. We are what they make of us." And with that ominous  declaration he rolled over and went to sleep. I stared down at him  uneasily. I had a lot to think about.