Chapter Nineteen: Patronage or...?

*

After reading through the short guide, numbering only five chapters in total, Aiden had a better understanding of the Paths and Mysteries and looked over the options he had available.

Paths and Mysteries both had potential power available and could augment the ways that he used his abilities. If he developed an understanding of how to manipulate his Ice Discipline freely, he could combine the power gained from either to empower his Arcana. Spirit and Arcana were two sides to a coin, so learning to use them in tandem to increase his base power was possible.

However, without his Arcana available, he had to be careful as to which he chose at that moment. Paths were similar to Arcana abilities where there was a known methodology to attain a power of an Ascended being, and it would even guide the user with the same steps taken by the being that established said Path.

All Paths started as Mysteries, a concept without an established Path to Ascendancy. Mysteries were more versatile without a known method of Ascendance, but that didn’t make them any less potent.

Of the hundreds of options, he had narrowed the list down to three.

Path of Versatility, the Truth of Adaptation. The idea that his Ice Discipline could be adapted to any form he required, whether it be hard or soft, sharp or solid. It was the method of enabling him to adapt his abilities in whichever way he needed to.

Then there was the Mystery of Crystallization, Seeking the Nebulus. His armor was made out of crystallized ice and provided him an invaluable defense that had kept him alive more than he could count. If he could learn how to add that property to all of his ice and synergize it with the property of Versatility, he could create something far more powerful.

Last but not least, he had the Path of the Absolute, the Khione’s Authority. Just from the name alone, he’d been interested in pursuing it from the beginning. He wasn’t entirely sure of what it contained, but a Greater Paragon had established the Path. It had to have some merit to it, and he was willingly to take a risk. If he couldn’t figure it out, he had Crystallization and Versatility to fall back on.

Though, with the Patron and Inquiry systems available to him, he doubted he lacked the resources needed to come to a sufficient understanding of the Path that would allow him to transcend his limitations and become something greater than before.

Someone who could survive.

With the challenges he would face, even if it was a Miscellaneous Attribute, Spirit would be invaluable. The more he learned about it, the more he regretted taking Arcana. But again, he doubted he would’ve lasted so long if he had to understand all the concepts while in the middle of the dungeon.

Mysteries and Paths selected!

Path of Versatility, the Truth of Adaptation

Mystery of Crystallization, Seeking the Nebulus

Path of the Absolute, Khione’s Authority

Confirm selections?

Yes.

No.

“Yes.” Verbally prompting the notification rather than trying to manipulate mentally worked. The three empty slots down his Spirit region on his Essence Map lit up as the changes were applied. “Wow.”

He looked over the table and observed the new images housed within those empty slots. The Truth of Adaptation continuously shifted shape and form, changing from near-water slush to almost-crystal density. The speed in which it did so remained consistent, slow and steady. He watched for a few minutes before moving to the second.

For a second, he didn’t know what he was looking at. However, the image slowly moved away from what looked like empty space to reveal a palace of crystallized ice that he could see completely through. Great statue warriors guarded the entrance, and a figure he didn’t recognize sat on the throne.

“Interesting. Who is that?” he inquired.

Can’t say.

“Of course not.”

Rather than lament the useless system team, he turned towards the third and final selection. A person stood in the center staring back at him from inside the eye of the largest blizzard he’d ever seen.

She embodied the idea of ice. Her hair was white as snow, her skin just as pale, and a sparkling diamond-like gem was embedded in the center of her forehead. Her entire look screamed demurity, but those eyes. Piercing blue orbs of barely contained power stared back at him. Despite being a Greater Paragon of Nymphs as well, Khione looked like any other human. And the longer he looked, the calmer the blizzard became until it finally stilled.

The entire landscape within the image’s slot was frozen solid, and soft snow continued to sprinkle slowly to the ground. The paragon pointed towards him, and her lips slightly moved.

But he heard the words as if she’d said them directly into his ear. “I’m waiting.”

Then the image faded into a blanket of white. No matter how hard he tried to find Khione or discern something other than just white, nothing changed.

“Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to look into the Patron system. So, how do I go about doing that?” he muttered, but a helpful prompt appeared in front of him before the words were completely spoken. “Ah, thanks for that.”

Welcome to the newly implemented Patron System!

A Patron requests your audience.

Accept?

Yes.

No.

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” No matter how he read and reread the notification, he didn’t think rejecting a Patron would do anything but burn him in the long run. He had a good idea who it might be, and that helped him calm his mind and simply say, “Yes.”

From above the Orrery, deep from the depths of the vast expansion of emptiness, an icy mist settled throughout. Before his eyes, a crystalline bridge of ice appeared that led farther than he could see.

Until then, he hadn’t ever really questioned what the Orrery was, but now that a Patron summoned him, influencing magic directly in his space, he was vividly aware of his lack of understanding. Hoping he could cure the plague of ignorance, he stepped on the bridge and started walking.

After the first step, he screamed in pain as a sharp stinging shot up his leg and over his body. Seconds later, nothing but numbness remained. Wide-eyed and scared shitless, he tried to calm himself.

How is this possible?! I didn’t think I had a physical form here, so why does it hurt so badly?! he screamed in his mind, but no answer came. He tried everything he could, but nothing worked. What is going on?

Just as fast as the pain and numbness came, it passed. Nothing remained to prove anything had ever happened aside from the single step he’d taken on the bridge.

“Is every step going to be like this? If so, I don’t think I want to meet this Patron,” he grumbled, taking a second step forward. Just as before, the same sensation repeated, but this time, it felt slightly muted and lacked the shock factor of the first time. When the ice faded and he was free to move, he staggered but caught himself from falling forward. “This… is hell.”

Looking over his shoulder, he figured he could jump back to the Orrery and the safety it provided. Clenching his eyes closed tight, he shook his head and let out a deep breath. This was a test, one he wouldn’t fail. The ice bridge and mist clued him into who waited, as did the summons he got from his Path.

Khione is waiting, and if I can’t do this much, I might as well give up on trying to protect Earth now! He clenched his teeth and forced his way across the bridge, one painful breath at a time. The farther he went, the easier things got.

In time, his body numbed to the intense cold. Step, wait, another step. Repeat and proceed. He didn’t know when it happened, but he began to crave the icy power, feeding on it to fuel his forward progression. He spent less time frozen and more time moving forward across the bridge, albeit slowly. Each step still caused him pause and shook him down to his core, he just couldn’t feel it anymore.

Then there was no more bridge. Nearly stumbling as he stepped onto an icy wasteland, he caught himself and looked up. He’d gone into a trance-like state and didn’t even realize how far he’d progressed. Looking around, he recognized the place.

Now, where is she?

He took a single step before a presence stilled him then and there, rooting him in place. “Go back. You’re not ready. Come again, and then you will be ready.”

“You… can’t be serious?” he said, barely remaining on his feet. He wanted nothing more than to continue forward and get things moving, learn and grow, then return. “No, of course you’re serious. Fine, I guess I’ll be back.”

Turning, he stepped back on the bridge and sucked in a deep breath. In the few moments he’d been off the bridge, the numbness had abated slightly, sending pins and needles shooting up his leg and across the rest of his body.

“This sucks,” he grumbled, taking another step.

He didn’t know how long passed, but he counted his steps this time around. Three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three. Instead of stepping off the bridge, he turned around and grinned.

Each step felt good. Taking a deep breath, he took several jarring steps until he found his footing and picked up his pace into a slight jog. Then, he sprinted. He pushed, faster and faster each step until he sprinted, flying across the bridge at a pace he never would’ve anticipated when he took his first step.

When he reached the end of the bridge, he stepped off and entered the icy landscape and grinned. The region only further rejuvenated him as he progressed towards the center, towards the waiting Patron.

He had to squash his giddiness time and time again. Easier said than done, that’s for sure. He kept catching myself chuckling softly, barely containing the intense feeling of energy flowing through him.

“Welcome to my domain, Aiden,” a voice as soft as snow said. “I’ve waited a long time for you.”

Just as he expected, Khione waited in the center of the fallout from the massive blizzard. She was stunning, even more beautiful in person.

However, he didn’t let that distract him. He didn’t yet trust her. Even if he didn’t know the extent of her involvement in the Games, she was still an active participant. Without much effort, he fully squashed the giddiness that came from the power buzzing through his entire being.

“What do you want from me?” he asked bluntly.

She wasn’t fazed, her unblinking eyes staring back into his. “We’ll get to that in time.”

“How about we get to it now?” He was tired of being left in the dark. He knew gaining a Patron would be beneficial—even the entity on the other side of the inquiry system said so—but he was tired of getting pushed and pulled against his will and forced to do as others bid. “You want something from me, otherwise you wouldn’t have called me here.”

“You think so?” she replied calmly. “You’re not wrong, but don’t think that you’re irreplaceable.”

“That attitude really pisses me off, you know? I’m sure you don’t want to wait any longer to get whatever you’ve brought me here for.” A vast distance of solid ice still separated them, and he idly wondered how their voices crossed so clearly. Even if he could hear her clearly, he stepped forward and began crossing the distance.

And immediately grunted as a mind-numbing pain assaulted his entire being, shaking the soul construct he used to navigate. Without any chance of resisting, he fell to his hands and knees and gagged.

Silvery-blue liquid spewed to the ground as he continued to heave, blending with the icy ground. His eyes blurred and went out of focus numerous times. Clutching his chest, he looked up at Khione in rage, thinking she’d done something.

But rather than see some smirk of amusement or any trace of superiority in her features, there was genuine concern.

“What—”

“Don’t talk. You’ll put more stress on your soul than more there already is.” She pursed her lips as he pushed himself to his feet. “I have to admit, most people wouldn’t be able to get up after experiencing such a strong soul expansion and modification.”

What the hell is she talking about?

She raised her hand and pointed towards him, and he stumbled back and onto his butt as a small fraction of that intense feeling threatened to overwhelm him again. He stared back at her, wide-eyed.

“Even so, I should’ve made you cross the bridge again. After your performance on the way back, I thought you’d integrated the Path into your soul, but I’ve miscalculated.” She tuttered in annoyance. “My apologies, Aiden. We, of the Upper Realms, haven’t interacted with mortals since the last lord sat upon Midrath’s throne. But to compare you to him wouldn’t be fair to you. An enigma amongst your kind, he was.”

As she spoke, the soul construct his consciousness embodied stabilized. Again, he pushed himself to his feet and raised his hand to steady his spinning vision. When he looked at Khione, he noticed she’d distanced herself, putting at least twice as much space between them.

Yet, she still stood in the same spot. When he looked behind them, the bridge was the same distance as when he’d stepped off it.

“Huh, that’s… something, I suppose. How’d you do that?” he asked, but before she could respond, he continued with a more immediate concern. “And while you’re answering that, what just happened? You said something about modifying a soul? Something, something, expansion?”

“Think of your journey across the bridge as a sort of tempering for your soul. To use my Path of Authority, you need it.” Again, she pursed her lips as if disappointed, concerned, or uncertain of how much information she could share with him. He really couldn’t tell, but she continued regardless. “You actually need more, but your soul is flimsy and still adapting to what you’ve taken in already. When you took a step toward me, you stepped deeper into my Domain and overloaded your soul.”

“Ah, so it’s like going to a buffet and eating far more than you should until you…” He looked down at the ground, remembering the strange substance that had come out of him. “I get it, I think.”

“You don’t, but that’s okay. In time, you will come to an understanding of Truth well enough to not have to concern yourself about soul strain,” she said, shrugging slightly. “There will be no permanent damage to your soul, luckily for you—and me, I suppose.”

“Yeah, about that. I have a lot of questions, and you seem to have a knack for avoiding all of them,” he said as he crossed his arms. “Why am I here?”

“That question has multiple answers. If you mean why I’ve brought you here, it’s simple, just as you said. I need something, and you are uniquely qualified to get it for me.”

“Something? What is this something? Also, what makes me qualified?” The more he heard from her, the more he started to grow tired of the conversation. After crossing the bridge three times, he felt impatient. “For someone so straightforward before, you seem to be holding back on me a lot, Khione. Why’s that? Are you hiding something? ‘Cause to me, it definitely seems like you’re hiding something from me.”

She tapped a foot against the ground, and the icy landscape beneath him shifted. A simple chair of ice appeared behind them both, and she took a seat. “Get comfortable. You’ll be here long enough that the constant strain of simply standing may make your soul weaker. Neither of us want that.”

Doing as she said, he raised his brows expectantly. “Well?”

“Yes, yes. Even with time halted, you mortals are always so impatient.” She leaned forward, and a table rose from the ground. She carefully placed her elbows on it and clasped her hands together, resting her chin on them. “I know most mortals are clueless, but I’ll give you a chance to redeem that bias. What do you know?”

Aiden stared dumbly back at her, waiting for a more specific question. When none came, he shrugged. “Things.”

“So nothing,” she said with a sigh. “Even if he was Emery’s Candidate, I still miss the last ruler. Can’t expect every mortal civilization to have written texts of the Era of Fear or to understand them if they did.”

“Are you crazy? You seem to talk to yourself a lot,” he said, wondering if he’d gotten a defective Patron or if Khione would lead the conversation to something useful some time soon.

“That depends on your perspective of crazy. To you, I might be, but I don’t put much stock into such concepts. Why contemplate whether someone is crazy or normal when both are subjective and easily skewed by the slightest whimsical fancy?” She rolled her eyes. “No, none of that. The best measurement to evaluate someone is in their conviction when pursuing Truth. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Seems a little crazy to me. Never really understood fanatics, but to each their own. But, for what feels like the thousandth time, what does all that have to do with me?”

“It means you have a lot to learn, therefore the chairs.” She twirled her finger in mid air, and a spiraling vortex of ice casually followed her fingertip. “Even we, of the upper realm, have a limited understanding of events prior to The Settling. The Division is fairly understood, and Elder Rune’s sacrifice—well, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.”

“Yep, I understood all of that. Totally.” He nodded. “I get your point. I might as well be completely uneducated, and you’re a wise, kind-hearted mentor wishing to teach me and fulfill my destiny… which is what exactly?”

“We’ll get there.”

“Will it take long?” he grumbled, the feeling of impatience growing distracting and frustrating. He took a deep breath and released it, knowing that Khione would be useful if he just gave her the chance. Though, she grinded his nerves into a bunch of knots and left him unsettled at her casual display of overwhelming power. “Got places to be, things to do.”

“And those things will be waiting for you by the time we’re finished here. You’ll want to hear me out if you want to survive. Besides, the longer you stay here, the more your soul heals and adapts to my Authority,” she said, grinning. “A win-win situation, if you ask me.”

“Can’t argue that,” he said, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Fine, I’m all ears.

“Good. Try to keep up…”

*

A time exists before The Settling. Little is known of it. At this time, the four realms—the mortal, upper, Faelands, and Far Realms—existed as one. The records are limited. Most of what we can conclude is just that, theories and possible explanations for sequences of events that led to this period of time.

But what’s known as truth is that the realms existed as one. The first events that are well recorded don’t come until well after The Division, an unexplained event that tore reality into different pieces to segregate the different beings.

Elder Rune is a clear indication of some higher power than no entity has achieved to this day. His sacrifice came after The Division, but that still didn’t happen for eons. The new generation of descendants of those that fought against the unknown threat and pushed them from our reality…

They were once mortals who’d become something more. Many disappeared without a trace. Others split themselves into thousands of parts, incapable of overcoming the depravity of what they’d witnessed. By shredding themselves into countless parts, their being became something entirely different. Depending on the intensity in which they shred themselves apart, they either became god or mortal. Hard to tell at this point.

What we do know is that mortals and the new generation of powerful godly beings mixed like oil and water, meaning not at all. The descendants of the Elders lorded their power in a sense of superiority over the mortals who, unlike you now, had no system to aid them in pursuit of power through Truth.

Thus came Elder Rune’s sacrifice. Were it not for him, existence as you know it wouldn’t be. His sacrifice gave mortals potential, and they grasped it with every fiber of their being. These mortals were hunted to near-extinction before they learned the ways of the system and how to use it to seek Truth. The one you have available is a pathetic disgrace compared to what Rune had blessed the mortals with.

Even now, the gods try to obscure Truth from mortals. It works, but it’s too late to undo what has been done.

That’s why I need you.

The current Era is still the Era of Mortals. Rune’s sacrifice made sure that would be the case. I’ve detailed the Era of Gods, Fear, and Change. We all currently reside within a new Era, one that’s yet to be named.

That’s besides the point.

During the Era of Change, mortals learned methods to Ascend. This enabled them to rival the power of the gods, but this Ascension is not the same as the powers that the gods possess. Theirs is a birthright, inherently obtained and grown simply by existing.

Before you ask, most immortals and paragons were once mortals.

Most.

There are some of us, myself included, who burned away our godly spark to fuel our own personal growth. I did this once I reached the extent of the power and Truth I could seek through godly means. I peered into something deeper than the existence of gods whose potential is inherently shackled by their method of creation.

Not but a spark of what once was, gods will never find Truth, only a meager and insignificant part of it.

Why is all of this relevant, and what does it mean to you?

I became a paragon after burning away my spark. Through seeking Truth, venturing into the unknown and depths of an absolute void, I felt something that pushed my understanding upward. I transcended and became a greater paragon as I am now.

I have tried, and tried, and tried to find something to push past the peak of this existence. As I am now, I can’t seek Truth further, but I know a higher level of Truth exists. Elder Rune is proof enough for me to keep trying, to pursue further.

After some digging, I found records of something. The reason I need you is to retrieve said something has to do with the Era of Change.

The mortals who Ascended banished all the gods to the upper realm and created Midrath and the throne as an absolute authority that, even today, can’t be trespassed upon without the cooperation of the one who sits upon the mountain, the one who occupies the throne.

Despite being completely mortal, the one who sits upon the throne wields more authority than any being in the upper realms.

This is why I need you.

Your conflict with the Valkyr, beings that worship Valhalla as their place of rest after life, touches upon one side of a coin. Valhalla is as they believe, a resting place for positively aligned souls. Its counterpart is why I need you.

Halla or, as your culture calls it, Hell. Negatively aligned souls rest in Halla, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is there’s something I need there.

After I became a greater paragon, the gods became fearful, intimidated by my progress and wary of being unable to control me. A large portion of them convened and agreed to steal something from me and sealed my memories of that time.

During one of the many outings into the vast expanse of nothingness, I was assaulted by a despicable creature that possessed powers I wish to never experience again. But I am thankful for it, because whatever seal they placed on my mind was partially released.

I do not know exactly what it is I long for, but I know it resides within Halla. It calls to me, pleading for me to retrieve it and fix this sense of wrongness.

This is why I need you. You must win the Games and allow me passage into Halla so I may retrieve what has been stolen.

For that, I’ll do anything.