Tony sat in silence, waiting to hear the low rumble of the stone slab to his chamber open. If Serketzi was monitoring his attempts to communicate and actively blocking them, he was sure that some form of punishment for trying to get a message to the outside was coming.

Minutes turned into hours before a system message got his attention.

Warning: You are currently suffering from the following Debuffs

Fatigued, Adrenal Burn, Lingering Stress, Exhausted

You must Rest to recover. Failure to do so will result in worsening condition.

"Tell me something I don't know." Tony grumbled.

Maximus's Tags tumbled out of his inventory and into his waiting hand. He flipped the engraved, bone-shaped piece of metal over between his fingers, surprised that "Seperation Anxiety" hadn't been on the list of conditions he was suffering from. He missed his dog.

Despite the lonely ache in his chest, he was glad that he hadn't summoned his familiar. The thought of what the Padinus people would have done to him sent a shiver down Tony's spine. When Jorogu had first met the pup, she thought he was a snack, with his current size and bulk, the Padinus may have thought him a feast. The dull throb in Tony's chest started to swell with anger as the vision of his familiar, scared and alone, flashed through his mind. He needed to get out of here, as long as he got out alive, nothing else mattered.

Tony put the tag back into his inventory, where it was safe, and climbed up onto the straw mat and pulled the itchy wool blanket over his tired and battered body. While it took far longer than when there was a massive dog resting his head along his body, sleep did eventually claim him.

"You sure know how to keep a guy waiting," a gruff and familiar voice sounded.

Tony's eyes snapped open to the Elysian fields and coast of the Ascendant: Online launch screen, minus all of the text and branding. He shot to his feet, standing in the middle of a plot of hip high wheat and turned in the direction of the voice to see Demnas standing not ten feet from him.

"Am I dead?" Tony asked.

Demnas chuckled before answering, a sound that Tony didn't think the god was capable of making, "No, not at all. You've just finally been asleep for long enough that I could make a connection with you. You're really bad at resting, you know that?"

Tony eyed Demnas. He wasn't sure if this was really him or some trick played by Ignacious, The Archon, or the Slave Collar. He'd never seen the god outside of his armor without his features being marred beyond recognition. Demnas still retained impressive height, standing at least a head taller than Tony, he was wearing a simply patterned white and gold sarong around his waist, displaying a chiseled upper body that made Gerard Butler look small, his eyes were still the same intense piercing blue, the hair and stubble on his face was strawberry blonde, the mess of hair on his head defied gravity - the top sticking up and forward at every percievable angle while the sides and back laid smoothly against his head.

"Yeah, noted..." Tony grunted.

Demnas cocked his head at the Ascendant, "You don't believe that it's really me? Can't blame you I guess, Sparky."

Tony narrowed his eyes at the god, requiring no further convincing that he was the genuine article, "But you're dead... how are you here?"

"Did someone forget that I was a God?" Demnas asked with a wistful grin, "Death isn't the end. Ignacious knows how to keep Ascendants dead, but he could never render true death to another God. There is more beyond this existence, but Ignacious's way of "killing" keep the keys to what's beyond closed off and since we, as gods, have not passed on, no new gods can be chosen."

"And?" Tony asked.

"And?" Demnas's face twisted with frustration, "that means that for millions upon millions of people across the universe, life comes to a complete halt. Gods of crops, fertility, far more crucial things than Ascendants, go without successors. Their domains are empty, no essence flows to or from them. If the gates to beyond remain closed, Ignacious won't have to do the dirty work himself, life will end on its own."

"Why didn't anyone tell me that from the start?" Tony demanded.

"How many dead gods have you met, Antonious?" Demnas quipped back, "the point is, that unless someone found a way to get a message out from the land of the dead, there was no way anyone could know."

Tony shrugged and rolled his shoulders. All the information Denmas had just given him was a lot to take in.

"Well, if I'm going to help with that at all, I need to know how to get my Dread Knight class back." Tony said after a moment of thought.

"Your what?"

"My class. The Archon decided that I wasn't worthy or... whatever, so my Dread Knight class 'fell.' I lost like... nine talents a bunch of Attribute points and got knock offs and forced berserking as replacements." Tony explained.

Denmas's face turned a delightful shade of crimson fury.

"That stupid-puffed-up-pretentious-bundle-of-too-many-eyes-and-wings-son-of-a-bitch did WHAT?" Denmas shouted.

At least I'm not the only one who feels that way. Tony thought.

"Look." Tony said as he opened up his character sheet, flipped it around and pushed it over to Denmas.

The formerly living God of Ascendants took the sheet in his hands and pored over it with a scowl before his eyebrows shot up, "I thought you said you lost points?"

"I did."

"From where?"

"I lost five from all my Attributes." Tony answered, a note of annoyance present in his voice.

"Oh... nice." Denmas answered.

"Nice? Really?" Tony huffed.

"Yeah. Nice. Your stats are a lot higher than what mine were at your level. At level 16 my highest stat was Spirit at 22, but..." the god trailed off, looking at the Artifacts section of Tony's sheet, "that collar's got to go and you need to attune to the Pauldron of Vengeance. The Doomed King's Helm will probably come back when you earn your class back, but the Gjoll Stone Amulet is only gone because the Slave Collar was forcibly attuned."

"Attuned? What? So was the Pauldron not supposed to activate on its own?" Tony's head was spinning.

"Yes... hoo boy... you got all the way to here without knowing about attuning?"

"I guess?"

"What did you think the Essence Stat was for?" Denmas asked, shoving the sheet back over to Tony.

"I don't know, I thought it was just some static measure of overall power?" Tony asked more than answered.

Denmas sighed, "You're half right. Essence represents your innate Essence Pool which you can use to attune to Artifacts and fuel Ascendant-specific Talents. I could go into Essence Theory, but we don't have that kind of time. When you wake up, just focus on connecting your Essence trait with the Pauldron of Vengeance. Good Luck, kid."

"Wait, what?" Tony said, before Denmas could answer, the colors of Tony's dream began to bleed and run together - smearing into darkness.

"No wait!" he screamed. He had so many questions for Demnas that he needed answers to. Why had he sacrificed himself for Tony, what did being God of the Ascendants mean?

How the Hell was he supposed to help anyone while he was stuck in Serketzi's Palace?