Single Wish: Rise Of The Omniscient Paragon

After savouring the last drop of the alcohol in his hand, the room became silent as all eyes were fixated on Dave. Dave exhaled deeply, and then he knelt on the uneven floor.

His rough hands were steady despite the slight tremor that often accompanied his drunken antics. This time, there was no trace of his usual flippancy. His closed eyes seemed to pierce through the air as if seeing something no one else could.

Corey leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. Due to how long Dave took to finish the bottle of vodka, he was forced to stand to keep himself awake. Melissa and Divine stood nearby, their faces a mix of curiosity and caution, while Old Man Poison watched with his usual enigmatic expression.

Dave removed his brown jacket which reeked of liquor, revealing a simple white shirt that was stained by time and carelessness.

"You might want to step back a bit," Dave muttered, his voice unusually sober. "This isn't a fortune cookie reading. The energy of this world is… hostile and chaotic towards the spirit world. If this goes wrong, we're all going to feel it."

Melissa took an instinctive step back, her brows furrowing. "How dangerous are we talking?"

Dave smirked faintly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "You ever hear of someone turning into an abomination or running mad because they heard and saw something they were not meant to see? Or have you ever seen somebody exploding and their souls getting ripped apart because they couldn't handle the backlash? Yeah. That kind of dangerous."

Melissa paled, but Corey remained where he was with an expressionless face, however, his violet-blue eyes were sharp with curiosity.

"Then why bother doing this ritual?" Corey asked. "Why not just wing it and perform a simple meditation? I know you can choose to do something like that to get a result from your divination."

Dave snorted, pulling out a battered satchel from his inventory. "You think I want to do this?"

"This place. Trying to perform a simple divination in this damned cursed dimension is like standing in the eye of a hurricane made of madness. The energy here is so dense, so twisted, that even trying to sense a single thread of clarity is like diving into a pit of broken glass. Without the proper anchors to the spirit realm, you'd be guessing in the dark, and trust me, we don't have the luxury of guesses in this damned place."

"I had to perform a similar ritual in the Labyrinth for us to know how to escape."

He began laying out items with care, muttering their names as he worked. "Crystals of harmonic resonance," he said as he placed five jagged, multicoloured stones into a circular pattern on the floor. "Placing each crystal in the right position is very important. Each one is tuned to counteract the chaos and horrors in this dimension. If placed incorrectly, the crystals would just amplify the madness."

Next came a small bowl carved from bone, its surface etched with intricate runes. "Spirit Vessel," Dave explained. "Bone from a Dreamstrider Beast. It holds the offering and stabilizes the link between us and… whatever's on the other side."

'Dreamstrider Beast?' Corey's eyes sharpened when he heard the name of the beast the bone belonged to. 'Does the beast have anything to do with dreams? Can it enter people's dreams or the dream realm?' Corey wondered with a bright gaze filled with curiosity.

'I'll ask him later or I'll make some findings on the beast.'

Dave reached into the satchel again, pulling out a vial of shimmering golden liquid. "Essence of Luminal Dew," he continued, uncorking the bottle. The scent that filled the air was sharp and metallic, like ozone after a storm.

"I purchased it in the Underworld Emporium. It was collected from the flowers of the Eternal Plains, but I have no idea where that is… Helps the spiritual and chaotic energies flow without burning me to a crisp." Dave lampooned as he poured into the Spirit Vessel.

He removed another item from the satchel, and when Corey saw it, he tilted his head. "Feathers?"

Dave's lips twitched in a faint smile as he laid out five blackened feathers, each singed at the tips. "Shadow Crow feathers. They act as boundary markers. Without these, the ritual would be a nice invitation for every ghost, evil spirit, rogue spirit, and horrifying beings in the spirit realm to drop in for tea."

As he worked, he continued explaining. "Divination, real divination, isn't some quick, flashy thing. You're reaching into something vast, something incomprehensible. In a normal place, you can do it with a fraction of the effort. Here, though…" He gestured around them. "The energy of this dimension isn't just chaotic, it's alive. It's like it wants to disrupt any divination that is performed in it. And if you're not careful it'll tear you apart."

Finally, he retrieved a shard of broken glass from his pocket. The edge glinted faintly, as though catching light from an unseen source.

"Personal offering," Dave said, holding the glass up. "Blood acts as the connection point. Without it, the ritual wouldn't know who to focus on. And before you ask, yes, it has to be mine. The ritual needs a seer's touch, and fortunately and unfortunately, I'm one."

He chuckled softly, and then he pressed the shard to his palm, wincing slightly as blood welled up and dripped into the bowl. The golden liquid within began to churn, darkening to a stormy red. Dave placed his hands over the arrangement, his voice dropping into a low, rhythmic chant.
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'I call upon the veiled truths… the whispers beyond the void. Guide my sight through the storm… reveal the path amidst the chaos…"

The room grew colder. The runes beneath the bowl began to glow, and its intricate lines pulsed with light. The crystals hummed faintly, and the feathers quivered as though alive.

A stack of black cards with jagged edges appeared in his right hand. They trembled, fanning out in a perfect arc. He let them fall one by one into the glowing circle, and each landed with a faint hiss.

"A broken hourglass… a crumbling stairs… an inverted spear… and a gathering at a roundtable," Dave muttered as the cards settled. His closed eyes flickered with a faint glow, and his expression was unreadable.

Within the bowl, the liquid calmed, forming a perfect mirror. The image of a castle and a golden stairs appeared. Every single individual knew what the image meant.

"The Stairs of Ascension," Dave murmured with a confused tone as he stared at the image. A second later, the image changed, and they saw a dense fog engulf the castle and a blood-red sky overshadowed the golden light of the Stairs of Ascension. The vision seemed to pulse, radiating an ominous energy that made the hairs on Corey's neck stand on end.

He looked at Divine and the others, and he noticed that they couldn't sense what he sensed.

'What was that?' Corey frowned.

"It would be dangerous, but there would be an opportunity for us to gain benefits if we can take advantage of it," Dave said softly and weakly.

The light of the runes began to fade, and the room slowly returned to normal. Dave exhaled heavily, his shoulders sagging as he slumped to the chair behind him.

"It's done," he said with a weary voice. "We've got our direction."

Corey pushed off the wall, his gaze lingering on the now-empty bowl. Despite the ominous vision, his expression was calm and curious, and the light in his eyes was one of immense calculations and thoughts.

"I guess we're going to the Azgul Fortress first," Divine mumbled, breaking the silence that filled the room.

Corey and the others exchanged glances, but none said otherwise.