***

Accessing AC Center 035 for Ascension…

Warning! Conversion Orb not found!

Ascension is not authorized!

Attempting to contact nearest [Moderator]...

[Mod 303] Located!

[Mod 303] an Ascension by an unauthorized subject is being attempted at ACC 035. An error has also occurred, as the Ascension process has become unstable. Please assist immediately.

My mind is fire, magma rolling through my katra channels and being dumped into my body and core. I can feel as the katra is ripped from me and then shoved back into place, over and over, stuck in a endless loop of pain.

I can feel the System message in my mind, see it, but it is unfocused.

My body feels like it is being melted and rebuilt, over and over.

If I don’t stop this… I’m not going to make it.

There has to be a way to stop this before it kills me.

I focus on the system message. Ascension… permission… granted?

Permission for subject to Ascend confirmed!

Warning! An error has occurred and the Ascension process has become unstable. Conversion Orb missing!

The pain doesn’t stop, instead, it intensifies. I can feel the bonds that hold my body together eroding. The Gray katra that has interwoven itself into my bones and flesh being ripped out and shoved back in, tearing me apart.

No… not now. I can’t…

Gray consumes me, the pain smothering all thought once again.

***

There is an expanse of black a far as the eye can see, in all directions. The ground is covered in a thick, low hanging mist.

Laying inside a glowing pool, mist billowing out from it’s edges, rests the scarred body of a boy who has faced many tribulations. He floats face up, not moving from the center of the pool.

Kardin of Amia.

Suddenly, a light flares off in the darkness, and out walks a figure. They wear white flowing robes, covered in flower print, holding a parasol over their left shoulder and spinning it idly.

Mother walks slowly up to the pool, looking down on Kardin. She smiles sadly down at him.

She stands there, waiting.

She suddenly looks up as another light flashes from across the pool. This one a mix of fiery light and cool lavender.

Purple eyes flare to life in the darkness, the massive form of Adrize shifts with in the darkness. The dragon leans forward, till it’s massive scaled face is lit by the light from the pool.

Mother smiles at the dragon, “Hello again, Great One.”

The dragon’s purple eye’s on past Mother, ‘Why are you here?’

Mother motions to Kardin, who lays unconscious in the pool, “The same reason as you, of course.”

The dragon rumbles in thought, but does not say anything else.

Another flash ensues from the darkness, this one a malevolent red and black.

A figure emerges from it, walking up to the edge of the pool. It wears robes of black and dark red, screaming skulls imprinted on the fabric.

Mother scowls at the figure, “You are not welcome here.”

The figure turns, its face lighten up by the light from the pool. It is the same face that Mother wears, the face of Karla.

Only this one has unnaturally, red pulsating eyes. It grins back at Mother, revealing pointed canines. “I’ve have as much right to be here as you, sister.”

Mother glares back at the Demon, and takes a step toward her. “You should not be here, you are trapped. I will not allow you to taint him.”

The Demon laughs, “Oh, so naive, you are! If you think you can hold me at bay indefinitely, then you are mistaken. And you’ve no choice, for as long as you are here, I am allowed a say in the matter. After all, we do share a soul, sister.”

Mother’s hands are trembling in barely controlled rage, but she stays silent, pointedly ignoring the Demon.

Another light flare within the darkness, this one a brilliant gold and silver. Out from it walks a creature.

It is coated in the same armor as Kardin, but only this one is formed from both bone and iron, runic engravings of gold embedded into the armor.

It’s face is obscured by a nightmarish helmet. The helmet is that of a sharp toothed skull, with a black abyss in it’s eye holes.

He stops short of the pool, to the left of Mother and the right of Adrize. He looks at both beings with a silence that caused unease.

“Who are you?” Demands Mother in an angry tone.

The creature, for it hardly seemed a man, focuses its black gaze upon Mother.

The jagged and pointed teeth of the skull open an inch, a white fog billowing out and a hissing voice slithers from between the pointed teeth, “Obliteration.”

The one word reverberates with a power that could be felt to the bone, causing even Adrize to flinch. Mother takes an involuntary step backwards, her knuckles going white on the parasol.

The Demon looks curiously at the creature, showing little reaction it it’s declaration.

The creature chuckles, a hissing, grutal and unpleasant thing, and then falls silent. Its gaze goes back to Kardin, its form eerily still, not even seemingly breathing.

The Demon bows deeply to the creature, saying, “My, my. It is a pleasure to meet one such as you, Elder God.”

Adrize scans the darkness, ‘I believe that should be everyone. Shall we begin?’

“Not quite everyone,” A tired voice says from the darkness, out walks an old man, leaning on a gnarled wooden staff. The old man wears torn and rusted armor, and his grisled face is set in an stern expression, his eyes glow with an electric blue, swirls of gray mixed in.

Vicar looks at everyone present, nodding to himself.

The Demon smiles back at the old man, who looks far worse for wear before his death. The Demon’s fingers twitch and it speaks in a slow tone, “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Old Fool.”

Vicar glares at the Demon, “While we may have unfinished business, monster, this is not the time, nor the place.”

The Demon turns back to Kardin’s still form, looking at the old man out of the corner of her eye.

Mother looks at the exhausted form of Vicar, “I thought you dead.”

Vicar looks at Mother, his expression inscrutable, “Despite what you may think, you are not privy to all the goings on within the Gray. Like you, I managed to survive by giving into it. Only, I kept myself whole, unlike you.” He looks pointedly between the Demon and Mother. “I may not have the pull you do, but I can say that I have done far more to help heal him than you.”

Mother stiffens and then glares at the old warrior. The Demon does the same, its expression bordering on murder.

The Elder God hisses, drawing everyone’s attention.

Vicar nods at it, “Yes, let us begin.”

They all look at Kardin, who floats face up within the center of the glowing pool, Gray mist pouring over his form. His Gray and black hair floating in the water around his head, like a halo.

‘We beings of power have gathered here to witness the Ascension of Kardin of Amia,’ Adrize rumbles. He waits a few moments, then speaks again, ‘A rare opportunity has opened itself up to us. The Ascension Orb normally required for the Ascension is missing, and currently, the Kardin will die without our aid.’

The Demon looks at Adrize impatiently, “Just get to the point already, you overgrown lizard.”

Adrize’s gaze snaps to the Demon, and a extreme amount of pressure smashes down on all those present. Both Mother and the Demon crumple to the floor. Vicar leaning heavily on his staff and groaning in pain.

The Elder God doesn’t show any sign of noticing the pressure, idly standing quietly and watching Kardin’s still form.

Adrize’s words rumble across the landscape like thunder, ‘While I may not be the most powerful here, putrid thing, but I can still tear you limb from limb. Have you forgotten my threat already?’

The Demon glares at adrize, straining out through her lips, “No, Great One.”

The pressure eases up slowly, and the Demon and Mother quickly climb to their feet.

Vicar groans and straightens, limbering out his muscles. He looks up at the dragon with unease, but doesn’t say anything.

Adrize ignores Vicar, ‘The Gray Katra has already built a temporary Ascension Orb, but it is unstructured, and we must give it the rigidity it requires.’

The dragon’s massive frame shifts, sending plumes of the white fog into the air, curling around him. Adrize looks at all of them silently, then speaks, ‘Shall we begin?’

Vicar nods, The Demon following suit. Mother glares at her detested enemy, and then eventually nods. The Elder God only lets out a hiss.

Immedatilty, the water around Kardin begins to roil.

From deep within the glowing water, something twists its way up and to the surface. Several long cloth strips of Gray katra wind themselves over Kardin and into a tight ball hovering a foot above his heart.

The cloth continues to rise up from the depths of the pool, twisting tighter and tighter into a ball. Soon, the cloth stops rising from the pool, having compacted into a smooth, crystal like, ball of Gray katra.

It hovers in the air for a moment, before splitting open. Blooming like a lotus flower, made out of crystalized Gray katra.

‘Who is willing to go first?’ Adrize booms, looking at all those present.

Mother immediately steps forward, a moment before the Demon. They scowl at each other, but the Demon steps back, bowing her head and flashing a murderous grin.

Mother glares at the Demon, but continues forward.

She steps tentatively into the pool, and strides through the glowing, knee high, liquid to Kardin’s drifting form.

She looks down at him sadly, her hands twirling the parasol faster. She reaches out her left hand to stroke his hair, but hesitates, and stops short, instead letting it fall to her side with a sigh.

‘You must imbue it with a concept with a phrase,’ Adrize rumbles, staring intently at Mother.

Mother brings her left hand up and gently cups the crystal Gray lotus in her hand. She brings it down and close to her face. She breathes into it, muttering barely audibly, “Architect of Quintessence.”

The crystal lotus closes a few inches, glowing a bright pinkish white for a moment, then fading back to Gray.

Mother gently sets the lotus down in the water, moving swiftly back to the edge of the pool.

Climbing out, she glares at the Demon, looking rather smug.

The Demon laughs, “My turn!”

She steps forward, hoping into the pool and quickly wading through the water towards Kardin and the crystal lotus hovering next to him.

The Demon scoops it up, grinning down at it eagerly. Holding it in her left hand, she brings her right hand up.

Twisting her fingers around, she points them down at the lotus, saying with a triumphant glance at Mother, “Harbinger of Monsters.”

A drop of blood wells up from the Demon’s finger, landing in the center of the lotus.

The crystal flower curls up on itself a few more inches, pulsing with a dark, bloody red. The murderous light quickly fades, and the Demon sets the lotus down next to Kardin.

Walking out of the pool, Vicar steps forward, his staff clunking against the obscured floor.

He steps into the pool, walking over to Kardin’s still form.

Standing over the still boy, Vicar looks down at him with sadness written on his face.

The old man grunts, nodding, as he looks at the many scars Kardin bare’s upon his arms and the long one down the side of his face.

Scooping up the crystal flower with a slightly shaking hand, the warrior holds it up to eye level.

Glancing at Kardin once more, Vicar takes in a deep breath, the slowly exhales. His eyes crackles with electricity as he speaks, “Adversary of The Final End.”

The lotus sparks with blue electricity, flashing neon blue and curling a few more inches into itself, now very close to shutting.

Vicar lets the lotus go, letting it hover gently above the water. Wading out of the pool, he sighs contentedly.

The ghost of the old man looks glances back at Kardin, but clearly stops himself from turning around. Leaning heavily on the staff, he looks over at Adrize.

In a gruff and tired voice, with a bow, he mutters, “Make sure he fights to the end, Great One.”

The dragon nods its large head in accent after a few moments of thought, “My word is bound, he shall have the strength to fight till the very end. You may rest now.”

The very air seems to be infused with electricity at Adrize’s declaration, power humming to the bones.

Vicar smiles sadly, and he starts to glow Gray. His legs start to seemingly bleed of all color, moving quickly up his body. Soon, the only color on him is his blue eyes and the Gold mark on his hand.

He looks up at the black sky, and his lips move in silent words.

Then he seemingly unravels into innumerous strands of Gray katra, twisting off and away into the blackness above.

It is silent for a few moments, before Adrize shifts forward.

The dragon’s massive head hovers over Kardin, looking down on him. Draize stays like that for some time, before seemingly to finally come to a conclusion.

Adrize moves to the floating, half shut lotus of crystalized Katra, breathing upon it. Words rumble from the dragon in a grutal version of a barely understandable language.

“Dominator of War.”

The lotus pulses with a mixture of bright red and purple, closing till nearly shut.

The light fades quickly, Adrize drawing his head back.

All look to the creature neversouly, but it does not say anything, only stepping forward and into the pool.

Wading through the glowing water, the Elder God stop before Kardin’s unconscious form.

It scoops the lotus up in a clawed hand, bringing it up to its faceplate.

Studying the crystal flower for a few moments, the creature cracks up its massive, pointed and jagged teeth.

A cool mist billows out in a cloud, hitting the lotus. A strange, alien and horrid language soon follows suit, but meaning flows from the words, "Unfaltering Heaven Piercer."

The words reverberate across the empty landscape, the creature’s voice seemingly shaking the very fabric of reality. The fog roils in the sudden pressure and explodes outwards, leaving behind a completely black floor.

The crystal lotus flashes a bright, blinding green at the Elder God’s strange words, closing completely and fading back to Gray.

The Creature lets the closed bud of the the floor hover out of his palm and back over to Kardin.

It slowly floats down over his heart, before slowly sinking into his chest with a shimmer of Gray light.

Adrize nods, looking unsurely at the Elder God. ‘The Ascension Orb is complete, and has integrated with its host’s Artifact and katra.’

The Elder God wades out of the pool, not bothering to give anyone so much as a glance before vanishing in a flash of golden light.

The world rumbles, and Kardin’s sleeping form sinks under the water, moving towards the depths of a pool that shouldn’t be that deep.

The gathered beings slowly vanish into the darkness, the meeting over.

***

Cereus looks at the massive crack in the side of the mountain, a miasma of black and white fighting each other inside it and crackling with white hot electricity.

He sighs, muttering bitterly, “Just my luck, it’s close to bursting at the seams and I’m not ready.”

The swordsman scratches his chin, looking at his forces arrayed around him. “At least I got the psion killers,” he says, looking at a unit of 10 feet tall, red crystal golems.

A living undead soldier runs up to him, the undead’s eyes glowing the same amber as Cereus’s. He stops and salutes with a fist to his heart, back ramrod straight. “Sir, we have readied the bone constructs for battle. Your mount is also ready.”

Cereus nods absentmindedly, looking at a system notification that has just popped up in front of him.

A successful Ascension has occurred!

Subject: #[email protected]!$#ERROR

Location: AC Center 035

AC Orb Status: Not Functional

The Dark Swordsman massages his forehead, “This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?”

He suddenly looks up as a massive pillar of searing white electricity explodes from the dimensional breach, decimating the surrounding landscape and foliage.

Cereus immediately starts running in the direction that the living undead came from, yelling obscenities.

While he is moving through hordes of undead, he grumbles under his breath, “I hate today.”