A sudden sense of exhaustion and weakness filled Sorin. His surroundings shifted and his viewpoint narrowed.

  Something akin to a bubble popped, and when Sorin came to, he realized he’d been dreaming. A steep stone staircase lay before him and behind him. He was halfway up, and soon he would need to come to a decision.

  The Goddess is fair in that the Goddess always exacts a price. But can I even afford the price of vengeance for my parents?

  That wasn’t even considering the greater health problems that plagued him. As a physician, he knew full well how ragged his wounds were. A wish was his only chance at survival.

  My savings can only bring me so far. Every wish has a cost that goes beyond wealth and possessions. To change one’s fate, one had to reciprocate in turn. Lady Nurture only helped those who helped others. Hers was a positive cycle that continued without end.

  There were others like Sorin. Some were resting on the stone steps as they considered one last time if wishing was truly in their best interests. Others limped up the steps on their only good leg, not daring to stop and lose their momentum.

  Millions of humans had been displaced during the wars following the merger of the seven Shadow Continents with the main Pandoran Mainland. Ten times more demons had been similarly affected.

  Thankfully, the Theocratic Wars were finally over. There would be no major upheavals—only plain old human selfishness. It was also fortunate that Nurture had won the struggle. Nurture looked out for the little guys. Nurture cared.

  A jubilant cheer rose as a man with a missing pant leg pranced down the steps. Sorin recognized him as an amputee, but his leg had regrown. The skin on his leg was pink and healthy like a young baby’s.

  All it had cost him, by the looks of it, was a little lifespan. His hair was grayer than normal. His wrinkles had deepened. But that smile told Sorin the man considered it a more than fair trade.

  Should I settle for lesser wish? Sorin considered as he thought of the steep cost awaiting him? Should I settle for answers instead? His uncle Reeves was undoubtedly responsible for his parents’ murder, but a little confirmation would go a long way.

  It took Sorin the better part of three hours to climb the last half of the steps. The journey aggravated his wound and filled his lungs with fluid. Fortunately, Gabriella’s training is coming along nicely. It shouldn’t be a problem for her to drain the fluid if I pass out.

  Soon, it was Sorin’s turn. A smiling priest led him down a stone hallway to one of the ten main altars of the Temple of Nurture. The room smelled of wood smoke and mildew. The ashes on the altar had been hastily cleaned, but a small pile of dust could be seen not far from the doorway where the novitiate who’d cleaned them had stumbled on their way out.

  “Remember that every wish has a price,” warned the priest as he shut the door behind Sorin.

  “Thank you for the warning,” answered Sorin. The clergy was good that way. The results of making a wish were unpredictable, but the priests made sure that everyone was aware of the risks.

  The room was well lit despite the absence of torches and mana lighting. Shadows kept the walls and hugged the larger objects in the room, including the altar of nurture, which took the form of a stone dais in the center of a crystalline pool of water that rippled endlessly.

  Water was everywhere. Water was formless. Water gave as much as it took away. As the mana crystals he tossed into the pool melted and joined with the altar, a soft and caring voice spoke out.

  What do you wish for? Use words or your heart to speak it out. The cost is as much as you’re willing to spare. The results will be proportionate.

  “I wish—”

  Sorin’s voice trailed off as he suddenly remembered himself. A veritable ocean of crystalized wish fire had filled the mountain temple and was encroaching on Pandora’s Box. Madeline, gave Sorin a brief look before turning her attention back to the glowing box that seemed lost within its own alternate reality.

  “Hope was wonderful while it lasted,” explained Madeline as Sorin walked up beside her. “Unfortunately, it was a meager thing that could only be offered to the desperate. Take you, for example. The cost you paid through both karma and wealth was far higher than what you’d have needed to pay had the cost been averaged out over more wishers.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “I don’t regret how things turned out,” said Sorin.

  “That’s only because your gamble paid off,” said Madeline. “Most didn’t. Ninety-nine percent of wishers didn’t, to be exact on a cost-averaged basis.”

  Sorin nodded his head towards Chronos. “His imagined future is unusually optimistic. Does he really expect Hades and you to bend the knee?” Sorin was nowhere to be found in his imagined future, but that was nothing strange. As far as mighty gods were concerned, Sorin was a bug that could be squashed at any time.

  “Truth be told, I expected his ideal future to take place in the Nexus,” said Madeline. “I don’t believe for a second that he has Pandora’s best interests in mind.”

  “You sound like you’ve been there,” said Sorin.

  Madeline smiled. “Not personally, no. But I’ve heard some things. Things that are at odds with Chronos’s idealized retelling.”

  Sorin sighed as he watched the crystalline wish-fire wear down the tarnished gold glow on Pandora’s Box. He did nothing to stop Madeline. It was currently in everyone’s best interest to escape the box’s control.

  “I liked your vision of the future,” he admitted as he sent another stream of corruption into Pandora’s Box to hasten the process. “It’s too bad it’s still a scam.”

  “Think of it less like a casino and more like an insurance policy,” answered Madeline. “Good or bad, everyone deserves a future of their choosing, one where one’s starting point doesn’t matter quite as much.”

  “Lenders will never take a losing gamble,” countered Sorin. “Likewise, Pandora will never accept anything less than a profitable venture.

  “I’m not asking the realm to be selfless,” answered Madeline. “I’m just asking it to be a little more sensible.”

  Sorin could sense Madeline’s sincerity. Her intentions rippled out from her like an ocean of hope. Through that ocean, Madeline would elevate the entire world.

  “It’s regrettable,” said Sorin, shaking his head. “Your dream is not consistent with the essence of Pandora.”

  “Then what is the essence of Pandora?” asked Madeline. “You’ve yet to make your statement, and Pandora’s Box is on the verge of awakening.”

  Sorin stared at Pandora’s box bit longer. Chronos, he noticed, was no longer distracted. His own Rebirth Authority was infiltrating Pandora’s Box concurrently with Madeline’s Nurture Authority.

  He sensed a weakness in the box that hadn’t been there previously. I see now. Hades ‘died’ to return to Pandora’s Origin and attack it from within. He’s not opposing Madeline and Chronos but cooperating with them.

  “I will not be making a statement,” Sorin decided. “Not a verbal one, at least.” Sorin held out his hand and made a fist. The corruption he’d infected Pandora’s Box with twisted. The laws of the realm distorted and weakened.

  Madline, Chronos, and Hades immediately pounced on these flaws and began folding them into their own. Sorin likewise sent streams of corruption out into the void to claim what he could. A blurry projection of Pandora’s overall law structure appeared in his mind.

  I’m sorry, thought Sorin as he expanded his influence further. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you left me with no choice. I don’t want to leave, and I’m even less willing to let these three have their way with you.

  Without his interference, one of the three futures he’d seen would come to pass. Neither of them were good for the people of Pandora. And neither were they good for Pandora either.

  Is it Hubris to think that I’m the only capable of doing the job properly? Maybe. But at least I’m honest about my failings. He had no vision for the future, no grand aspirations to transform Pandora. What he knew was what he didn’t like. He’d settle for making sure those things didn’t materialize.

  The four them conquered Pandora’s outer laws on thread at a time. Once they took over a significant portion of these outer laws, they were able to infiltrate the core of Pandora where Pandora’s Box was rooted.

  Dominion, Nurture, and Rebirth struggled for supremacy. As for Sorin’s Nemesis Authority, it didn’t seem particularly compatible with Pandora’s Laws. His powers remained limited despite the many laws that now aligned with his will.

  The laws of Pandora hated him as much as they loved him. They repelled him while simultaneously asking him to stay.

  I just wish I knew what my Authority did, thought Sorin. He wasn’t like the three old monsters he was competing with. He didn’t have centuries of experience to fall back on.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to figure it out. Once their conquest reached a tipping point, Pandora’s Box stirred. It first tried to reclaim control over Pandora’s Laws. After failing to do so, it let out a cry for help—the stars in the night sky night sky dimmed as the natural forces of Pandora came to bear.

  Tendrils of the river Styx reached through the void and attempted to drag them into the Underworld. Commanding them was Nyx, Lady of the Night, one of the few remaining titans on Pandora.

  Laws were forcefully ripped away from Sorin, Madeline, Chronos, and Hades. The progress they’d made was coming undone.

  Yet before much of the authority could be rippled away, an explosion rocked Mount Olympus. A beacon of sinister blue light lit up in the city beneath them. It originated from the Hyde Clan, where Persephone and the others had ascended to Godhood.

  A scorching sun and a chilly silver moon appeared in the night sky, pushing it back. A crimson river split off from the River Styx and altered its course. The sky shattered as Life and Death overlapped, revealing a grinning man in a black and white suit. He winked at Sorin as he landed, top hat in hand and ready for anything.

  “One sabotage of the realm’s laws of Life and Death, as ordered,” said Hades.

  “Stop showboating and get to work,” snapped Chronos, finally opening his eyes. “An hour will pass by in the next ten seconds. Time Slow.”

  A shimmering clock face overlaid itself with Pandora’s Laws and synchronized with Pandora’s flow of time. A gentle ticking noise confirmed that the two were locked together. A cacophonous noise filled the night sky as Chronos’s command to effect and slowed time 360-fold.

  Sorin and his three companions didn’t hesitate to pour the bulk of their authority into the realm’s weakened law structure, setting the stage for one final confrontation, winner take all.