Two Hours Later

  Aster has only just settled back into his reading when Lena calls for him from downstairs.

  He descends to find the living room empty, Anathi nowhere in sight. His bedroom door, however, is closed.

  "How’d it go?" he asks carefully.

  Lena leans against the counter, arms crossed. "Better than expected, actually. Her parents didn’t know about the Astral Plane, but they always sensed something was wrong. A sangoma told them she was cursed when she was young, and she believed that her whole life. So confirming it isn’t too much of a stretch."

  Aster exhales. "That’s… something, at least."

  Lena nods but hesitates before continuing. "The hard part was telling her there’s no known cure." She glances toward the closed bedroom door. "But she took it worse when I told her that this affliction is what killed her parents and younger sibling."

  Aster closes his eyes, sighing. "Damn."

  "Yeah. She locked herself in your room after that. Give her some time."

  He nods. "Thanks, Lena. I know I don’t mean any harm, but… being a guy in this situation makes it harder for her to trust me." He runs a hand through his hair. "She barely even talks to me."

  "That’ll take time," Lena says softly. "But you’re doing better than most would. At least she’s listening now."

  Aster leans back against the counter, exhaling. "So… have you thought of any way we can actually fix this?"

  Lena pushes off the counter and moves toward the kitchen, setting up another pot of coffee. "You already know—Void Wyrms are almost impossible to cure. But, like how you survived, there are ways. And just like your case, it’s impossibly complicated."

  Aster watches as she sets the kettle on. "But there is a way?"

  Lena hesitates before nodding. "My family has an item that, in theory, can remove the Void Wyrm curse."

  Hope flares in Aster’s chest—until she raises a hand.

  "But," she continues, "it’s the only one we have. There have been deaths where it could have been used, but the elders chose to save it for something… more important."

  Aster frowns. "Why?"

  Lena pours water into the plunger, letting the coffee steep. "Because it has another use—it can remove a cultivator’s power entirely. It’s mainly used as a punishment, a way to spare someone from execution by only crippling their cultivation."

  Aster’s stomach twists. "So, it’s a last resort for criminals?"

  "Exactly. The elders wouldn’t waste it on a child. In their eyes, losing one out of a hundred potential cultivators is acceptable if it means keeping an item that could remove a Celestial’s power one day." She gives him a sharp, bitter smile. "Why use something that valuable on an infant?"

  Aster stares at her, disgusted. "That’s… inhuman."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Life just isn’t all that valuable on the Astral Plane." Lena shrugs. "It takes you twenty-one years to just start cultivating, the chance of you reaching the level of Celestial is one in a million. Why waste an item like that on a person that only had a one-in-a-million chance to become someone deserving of it in the first place?" Her voice softens. "Well, that’s what my dad said when I begged him to get it for my friend..."

  Aster’s expression softens. Despite everything, Lena still has a good heart. He doesn’t understand the Astral Plane fully yet, but it’s clear that life outside Galamad must be brutal.

  He exhales. "Okay. So what’s our move? How do we get it?"

  Lena sips her coffee before answering. "My family won’t use it for themselves, but they’d be willing to sell or trade it. But the items they’d accept in exchange? You could count them on one hand."

  Aster’s jaw tightens. "How much would it cost?"

  Lena hesitates. "...Twenty million Faith."

  Aster nearly falls out of his chair. "You’re joking."

  Lena’s expression doesn’t change.

  "So what then?" he asks. "Stealing it?"

  “No, nothing that drastic yet.” Lena steps forward, her voice shifting to something more serious. “Anathi has time. Two years, maybe, before the Wyrm enters chrysalis. But that’s only if we handle things right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Lena taps her chest. “You’re acting as her guardian now, right? That has consequences. On the Astral Plane, intent shapes fate. Guardianship, even informal, threads your lives together. If that connection deepens—through emotion, routine, or symbolic acts—your luck will start merging. Your Faith pool will become accessible to the Wyrm again.”

  Aster freezes. “That’s… what? It’ll start siphoning from me?”

  “It’ll try,” she says. “You’re a cultivator. You’re saturated with Faith. If it gets a taste, it’ll latch on. You’ll both spiral.”

  He paces, anxiety rising. “So what do I do? I can’t just abandon her.”

  “You don’t have to. But you need to be smart. You need to make the connection artificial. Legal.”

  He stops. “Legal?”

  Lena nods. “You need to create holding trusts. Open accounts registered to shell IDs that exist only to store Faith—structured like a custodial bank. Set them up as ‘guardians’ of Anathi’s Wyrm. Route money into those accounts, not from you directly, but from guild contracts or investment proxies. That way, the Wyrm has Faith to feed on. Not yours.”

  Aster blinks. “So I make a fake parent… for a parasite.”

  “It’s not perfect,” she admits. “But it works. It’s how powerful families manage curses in bloodlines—treating them like dependents on a payroll. You’re not bonding your fate to hers. You’re signing her over to a legally dead company that exists to feed her Wyrm.”

  He stares. “That’s... brilliant. And horrifying.”

  “It’s basic Astral estate law.” She shrugs.

  Aster shakes his head, already mentally scribbling through logistics. “Alright. So I need to clear the debt, fund the trust, build two workshops, and earn ten million Faith before her chrysalis stage.”

  Lena smiles thinly. “Basically.”

  He rubs his temples. “Gods.”

  "We have time," Lena reminds him. "With the right course of action, it gives us time to either find another method or acquire something valuable enough to trade for it."

  Aster lets out a slow breath. "And both options rely on me getting stronger."

  Lena nods. "Exactly. You need to focus on cultivation, combat, and making enough Faith to sustain yourself. I have the paperwork that’ll let you take out a bank loan using my signature. That should be enough to settle Anathi’s debt and buy materials to start taking on contracts with the Artificing and Alchemy guilds."

  She gives him a small smile. "My family can help get you a good deal on an alchemy bench. Yani can do the same for Artificing. The materials, though… you’ll have to find those yourself."

  Aster slumps back in his chair. "Great. Just great."

  Lena smirks. "Hey, don’t get discouraged. You have a path forward. That’s more than most Void-Cursed ever get."

  Aster sighs, then nods. "Alright. First, the bank. Then the loan shark. Then I’ll get my workshop sorted and start taking contracts."

  "That’s the plan," Lena agrees.

  They spend the next few hours refining his roadmap, making sure he has a solid plan for the next six months. By the time Lena excuses herself around 5 PM, Aster has a clear direction.

  After seeing her out, he makes dinner for Anathi. When she still doesn’t leave her room, he simply places the meal outside her door, knocking lightly before walking away.

  He doesn’t expect her to say anything.

  But as he heads upstairs, he hears the quiet scrape of a plate being pulled inside.

  A small step, but a step nonetheless.

  Smiling to himself, Aster gets ready for his evening classes, unable to shake the thought that maybe his inheritance has something he could use to trade with.