Ascendants

Raiden Alaric

96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101.

I exhaled sharply, shaking out my arm like I could fling the pain away. As if that would work. But at this point, I was willing to try anything short of cutting it off. Every muscle from my fingertips to my shoulder burned like I'd tried to arm wrestle a boulder and lost. Badly.

Why do I have to increase this daily...

Chronos, the ever-so-kind and merciful mentor, watched from the sidelines with all the enthusiasm of a bored god. His arms were crossed and he looked unimpressed.

"Not bad," he said, which, coming from him, might as well have been a standing ovation. "You're slow, though."

I turned my head toward him. "Slow? I just threw a hundred of these things in a row. My tendons are staging a mutiny." I lifted my wrists and shook the heavy anchors strapped to them. "Oh, and I still have these on. Both of which I'm wearing because you said so, and you won't let me take them off."

I could have sworn I heard him stifle a laugh. "Well, once you reach the speed I want, those will be nothing more than jewelry."

That's basically how you're treating them now.

"So," I said, rolling my shoulder, "did you take care of what you needed to do yesterday?"

Chronos nodded. "Yes. And today, we are heading out."

I frowned. "Where?"

"Oh, now why would I ruin the surprise?"

I leveled a deadpan stare at him. "Because your surprises consist of either pain or me learning to hate the most mundane tasks. Do you have any idea how much I dread putting on clothes? This anchor affects my clothes. It feels like I'm getting heavier every week."

Chronos remained silent and motioned for me to follow.

—

We arrived at what looked like an abandoned parking lot with overgrown grass, cracked asphalt, and nature trying to reclaim the space. Well, almost abandoned. A few high-end cars were parked near the far end of the lot, Ferraris, Bentleys, and Aston Martins.

I thought this while being driven in a Rolls-Royce.

I had tried to get Chronos to take the truck, but he wasn't having any of it. He quite literally dragged me into this car like a parent stuffing their toddler into a church outfit. And don't get me wrong, I like these cars. I just feel like if I so much as breathe on the upholstery wrong, I'll owe someone my soul.

I glanced at the leather seats beneath me, then at my feet. So far, I estimate that I've accumulated $435 in debt just by existing in here.

Once we parked, I noticed the surrounding space light up as a few sigils on the ground activated. I blinked and pointed at them.

"Uh, is that something we should be concerned about?"

Chronos barely spared them a glance. "Those just keep the car clean. No dust, no dirt, no bird droppings." He gestured toward the collection of expensive vehicles around us. "For obvious reasons."

Ah. Rich people magic. Got it.

Across the parking lot, a portal shimmered at the entrance of what looked like an abandoned building. The structure was a relic of a bygone era, with weathered brick walls that were cracked and overtaken by creeping ivy. The large, arched windows, once proud and clear, were now clouded with grime. Some were shattered completely, leaving jagged edges like broken teeth.

The roof sagged slightly in places, with wooden shingles that were warped from decades of neglect. On the side, a rusty iron fire escape clung precariously, its twisted, half-gone steps leading to nowhere. The entrance was framed by massive, intricately carved wooden doors with surfaces that had been dulled by time.

From the faded, peeling signage barely clinging to the facade, I could make out that this place used to be an old A.A. meeting hall, probably left behind in the 1800s. The architecture screamed of the past. A mix of late Victorian and early Gothic influences, complete with decorative cornices and crumbling stone gargoyles perched on the corners.

Chronos reached into his coat and handed me a palm-sized... thing. It looked ancient, some sort of weird device with a crystal embedded in the center.

"Hold on to that and walk through," he instructed.

I turned the thing over in my palm, giving him a dubious look. "And this is supposed to stop me from getting torn apart by space-time or something?"

Chronos let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Oh, for the love of everything that is holy."

Before I could react, he grabbed me by my shirt.

I immediately panicked. "Hey, Chronos, what are you—"

And then he threw me.

"YOU MOTHERFU—"

My words were swallowed the instant I hit the portal, replaced by the bizarre, gut-wrenching sensation of falling through something that shouldn't exist.

—

Reality folded in on itself. One second, I was mid-air, hurling insults at Chronos. The next? I wasn't sure if I was moving forward, backward, or inside out.

It was like being yanked through a too-tight rubber tube at lightspeed, except the tube was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. My stomach twisted violently, like I had just gone from a dead sprint to a full stop in the blink of an eye, though my body hadn't gotten the memo yet.

A wave of nausea punched through me. A rollercoaster drop compressed into a single second. My insides felt like they were lagging behind. As if they'd been left at the starting line while the rest of me had already crossed the finish line. My brain struggled to catch up, and for a terrifying moment. My arms, legs, and head felt like they were moving at different speeds; my arms were up in the air, my legs were sinking, and my head was somewhere in between.

A violent whiplash followed.

My neck snapped forward and back so hard I thought I was about to headbutt my spine. A buzzing sound invaded my ears alongside a weird, electric numbness that spread through my limbs. It felt like a complete neural short-circuit. My skin tingled as if I had been dunked in static, and my muscles spasmed involuntarily.

I hit solid ground with a slam, my face smacking into something cold and uncomfortably hard. My body sprawled out like a marionette with its strings cut while I could still feel the nausea twisting in my gut. My vision spun as if someone had shaken my brain like a snow globe.

I groaned, barely able to move. "Chronos, if I survive this, one day I'm gonna punch you so hard you'll need your own portal to find your teeth..."

As the ringing in my ears dulled to a low hum, a new sound started creeping in.

"...llo... ello... ear... can you..."

The distortion faded, replaced by a clearer voice.

"Oi, are you okay?"

I forced my eyes open, my vision still swimming as my body tried to remember how to exist in one piece. A figure crouched next to me. A woman in a lab coat who watched me with the casual curiosity of someone who had seen far worse things land at her feet.

Her seaweed-green hair was a tangled mess, like she'd been running her fingers through it for hours. Thin, circular glasses rested crookedly on her nose, just barely hanging on. While dark bags clung under her deep purple eyes, making it look like she hadn't slept in days. A black choker circled her neck, and her lab coat was a complete mess, wrinkled, slightly frayed at the sleeves, and stained, most notably with a fresh, very obvious coffee mark. Under the coat she wore black scrubs and a red t-shirt.

In one hand, she held a flask filled with... water? At least, I hoped it was water. But given that it was smoking, I wasn't making any assumptions.

I blinked sluggishHer neck was adorned with a black choker; her lab coat, however, was wrinkled, frayed, and stained, especially with a noticeable coffee stain. She just... stared at me. Her expression held no concern, no curiosity, just expectation, like she was waiting for something inevitable. She swirled the steaming liquid in her flask, tilting her head slightly.

"Any minute now..."

I frowned. "What are y—"

And that's when my entire stomach decided it had had enough.

I violently threw up everything I'd eaten in the past twelve hours, splattering it across the cold floor. My body made noises I didn't even know it could make.

Between my suffering, I heard her sigh, as if she had just checked off an item on her daily to-do list.

"There it is..." she muttered, crouching lower. Then, as if this situation wasn't already weird enough. She nonchalantly dumped the hot liquid next to my freshly created biohazard area.

I watched, still recovering, as the clear liquid met my... contribution to science. Within seconds, the acidic substance bubbled, fizzed, and then vanished completely. The floor was spotless, no stain, no smell, no damp spot left behind.

I dragged the back of my sleeve across my mouth, still gasping for air. "I... don't even know... where I am."

She hummed thoughtfully, watching the last bit of residue dissolve. "So, since we've gotten past that phase, who are you? And how did an unawakened kid end up in my lab?"

I blinked at her, barely registering what she said before my brain caught onto one very irritating detail.

Unawakened.

I ignored the spike of irritation bubbling up, because, yeah, okay; I was unawakened. But did she have to say it like that? Instead, I lifted the small device Chronos had given me, holding it up for her to see.

"My mentor handed me this, said nothing, and then threw me through that portal."

Her gaze locked onto the device. In an instant, her expression changed. Her deep purple eyes widened behind her glasses, the exhaustion in them replaced with excitement.

"By any chance," she asked, her voice suddenly way too eager, "is your name, Raiden?"

My brows furrowed. "Yes..."

Before I could even process her reaction, she beamed, full-on, face-lighting-up enthusiasm. Then, without warning, she grabbed my hand with both of hers, holding it in a firm, almost desperate grip.

"Oh, my goodness! I've been waiting to meet you since yesterday! Tell me, what's your experience been like while trying to awaken? What did you feel when attempting to gain insight for your revelation? How long have you—"

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A barrage of questions hit me at a breakneck pace. Each one stacking on top of the last before I could even register the first.

Still recovering from portal whiplash, sudden vomiting, and a scientist's overly enthusiastic greeting. I could barely keep up.

Yeah. This was shaping up to be a great day.

—

A familiar voice groaned from behind me.

"Ugh, Selena, let the kid sit down at least." Disappointment dripped from Chronos's tone.

Selena, apparently that was her name, paused mid-question, her excitement morphing into sheer annoyance. She leaned her head to the side, peering over my shoulder at Chronos like a cat spotting a particularly irritating dog.

"Did you not tell him he was going to experience side effects from entering the portal for the first time? Especially since he's unawakened?"

I turned to Chronos, my face a perfect portrait of outrage. "SIDE EFFECTS?!"

Chronos gave me the guiltiest wry smile I had ever seen. "That... may have slipped my mind."

Selena's expression darkened. "Are you kidding me?With a sudden tug, she pulled me near, treating me like a valuable treasure she'd just found and wouldn't let go of. "What would happen if my experim— patient got seriously hurt?"

I blinked. "Huh?"

Chronos waved a lazy hand. "Oh, don't be dramatic. No one has ever died from using the portals unawakened. The first time."

I stiffened. "The first time?! Hold on, she was about to say experiment, what did she mean by—"

Selena ignored me completely, still glaring at Chronos. "I swear, I can never tell if you're serious or just pretending to be stupid."

Meanwhile, she continued gently patting my head, like I was some skittish cat she had decided to adopt.

Chronos exhaled in exasperation and finally pried me out of her arms. "Regardless, it's time for introductions." He gestured between us. "Raiden, this is Dr. Selena Brighton. She's a researcher for the A.A."

Selena reluctantly released me, adjusting her glasses before smiling brightly. "And this is Raiden Alaric," she announced, as if I wasn't already painfully aware of my own name.

I sighed, still processing the fact that I had been manhandled, thrown through a portal, and apparently used as a test subject all before lunchtime.

Yep. Fantastic day so far.

—

When Selena finished petting me, and Chronos seemed eager to leave, he finally got to the point.

"So, essentially, from what I've gathered," he began. "You've had three moments where you should have awakened, but you never gained a revelation."

Chronos raised his index finger. "First, your fight with those three students. I felt fluctuations in your aura, signals that screamed 'this is it,' but nothing happened. My first assumption was that you needed a deeper understanding of your aura itself, hence the meditation. Which, to be fair, helped to an extent. I can see it's more refined now, no longer flaring wildly like dry ice dumped into water. But it still didn't trigger your revelation."

He lifted his middle finger next. "Second, your fight in the competition finals. You got so immersed in the battle, I was certain it was going to happen. The build-up, the raw emotion, the pressure, textbook conditions for an Awakening. And yet..." He gave an exaggerated shrug. "Still nothing happened."

Then he raised his ring finger, the silver of his wedding band catching the dim lab light. "Third, when I taught you the punch. Your switch-up in trying to compete with me showed the biggest surge in your aura yet. By all accounts, that should have been the moment. But again—" He flicked his hand toward me like he was tossing away the conclusion. "Nada."

I frowned, arms crossed. "So basically, I've had three 'should've been' moments, and you have no idea why it hasn't happened?"

Chronos smirked. "Oh, I have plenty of ideas." Then he motioned to Selena, as if presenting her like a contestant on a game show. "Which is why I brought you here, to be studi— " He cleared his throat. "—checked out."

Selena, who had been silent until now, clasped her hands together and grinned.

"Oh, don't worry," she said cheerfully. "I'll be very thorough."

Somehow, that didn't make me feel any better.

Is she... drooling?

"Alright," Selena said, far too enthusiastically. "Take off your shirt."

I immediately recoiled, throwing my arms over my torso like I had just been caught naked in public. "Ma'am, I'm a minor."

Selena rolled her eyes. "Relax. I'm not a sketchy person." Her tone was not convincing. At all. Especially when she looked at me like a starving dog eyeing a perfectly marbled T-bone steak.

I instinctively started backing up, but of course, Chronos was right behind me, blocking my escape.

"Now, now," he said, ever the enabler, "don't be so shy."

I glanced back at Selena. Big mistake.

Drool was creeping out of the corner of her mouth. Her fingers were wiggling in this deeply unsettling way, like she was about to unwrap the world's best present.

My survival instincts kicked in. I needed to get out. I tried to pivot, but before I could get around Chronos—

SNATCH.

She grabbed my wrist. "HELP! I'M BEING ASSAULTED!"

My scream echoed through the lab as Selena cackled like a mad scientist who had just secured her next test subject.

As she wiped a bit of drool from her mouth, Selena tried, and failed, to reassure me.

"Oh hush, no one can hear you. There's nothing to worry about. I'll be gentle."

"That phrasing does not comfort me in the slightest!"

Before I could protest further, she yanked my shirt off, effectively muffling any more complaints.

I barely had time to react before Chronos grabbed me by my pants and dragged me over to what looked like a hospital bed, though calling it that was being extremely generous. He plopped me onto it like a bag of groceries and spoke in his usual nonchalant tone.

"Calm down. She's just going to do a check-up and take a peek into your Aether Realm, just like I did."

I blinked at him. "You didn't think to lead with that before throwing me into a portal that led to a shady-ass lab?"

Selena crossed her arms, looking mildly offended. "Oi, my lab isn't that shady."

I slowly turned my head and pointed to the wall.

Lined up in neat little rows were multiple clear containers filled with liquid. Inside them floated various body parts from... I don't know what they were, to be honest. Next to that, someone had covered a long steel table with surgical tools and test tubes, some still filled with... something. And just beyond that, various ritualistic-looking items filled an entire wall, ranging from a simple, innocent-looking candle... to an ornate dagger with a dried dark red stain on the blade.

I turned back to her, deadpan.

Selena followed my gaze, then sighed. "...Okay, maybe a little shady. But I have no intention of harming you."

My eyes flicked toward Chronos, gauging his reaction. He wasn't concerned. At all.

And then I remembered the Oath of the Open Heart. If Selena had any ill intent, Chronos would have already been affected by the oath's restraints. The fact that he wasn't, and was still perfectly at ease, meant she was telling the truth.

I exhaled, forcing my shoulders to relax. "Alright. What do you need me to do?"

Selena's eyes sparkled. "Well, for starters, I want to inspect your body and your Aether Realm. Typically, abnormalities preventing an awakening are tied to someone's aura, rather than their ability to gain a revelation. But with your case..." She trailed off, already analyzing me like I was a specimen under a microscope.

Her gaze shifted to my chest, scanning it like she was searching for something hidden beneath the skin.

"Jeez, Chronos, what did you have this kid do? His physique is incredible..." she muttered, absentmindedly poking at different muscles as if testing their density.

I twitched. "Uh, can you not—"

Her attention suddenly snapped to my wrists. "Anchors?" She lifted one and turned it over, her eyes narrowing. "Why do you have two on him?"

Chronos remained silent.

She inspected the device more closely, then froze.

Her deep purple eyes widened slightly as she turned to look at Chronos.

"...Chronos."

He immediately averted his gaze.

Her head turned toward him painfully slowly, like a rusted gear grinding into place.

"...Why do you have it set to increase one pound per week?"

Chronos refused to meet her eyes.

Selena's voice grew more clipped. "And why is he at thirty pounds right now?"

Chronos still didn't meet her eyes.

Selena grabbed my other wrist, her brow furrowing even deeper. "Why is this one doing the same thing?"

The room fell into dead silence.

My eyes, along with Selena's, were now both locked onto Chronos.

The slow, horrifying realization sank in.

He had been increasing the weight weekly. And he had been doubling it.

Sixty pounds total. SIXTY. POUNDS.

A muscle in my jaw twitched.

I glanced over at the ritual knife sitting ominously on the table. Then back to Chronos.

"...Hand me that knife."

—

Soon, Selena finished her inspection, concluding that there were no hidden sigils on me or anything unusual about my physical body.

She reached over to a display near the bed, tapping away at it with practiced efficiency. Then, reaching beneath the monitor, she pulled out a cable with a crystal affixed to the end. Without hesitation, she held it over my chest and pressed it against my solar plexus.

A chill ran through me the moment the gem made contact, sending a faint shiver across my skin.

Selena continued working at the display, muttering to herself as streams of data flickered across the screen. After a few moments, she turned to me.

"All right, I want you to meditate. I assume Chronos has taught you how to do that?"

I nodded and adjusted myself into a lotus position on the bed.

Closing my eyes, I focused inward.

I breathed, tuning out the world around me, letting my awareness settle into the familiar rhythm of meditation.

Chronos's aura-feeling method was conceptually simple, yet devilishly difficult to perform.

I pictured a cup sitting on a table in an empty room.

The cup was me, my body, my vessel. The water was my aura, slowly filling the space within.

At first, the flow was faint, a single drop landing at the bottom of an empty glass.

Drip.

The more I focused, the steadier the flow became, moving from drop by drop to a trickle, then to a pour.

The sensation of my aura became clearer, coursing through me, brushing against my muscles, and circulating through my limbs. Unlike before, when filling even the bottom of the glass had been a struggle. I could now feel it moving easily, flowing with more control and steadiness.

Something still felt off, though. The cup was filling, but only about three-quarters of the way, like it had a limit that shouldn't have been there.

I frowned slightly, focusing harder. This always happened.

Selena and Chronos, meanwhile, moved into position. I didn't open my eyes, but I felt the slight shift in weight on the bed as they both sat down beside me.

"Alright, we're going in," Selena murmured. Her voice softer than before, less excitable, more serious.

I felt a hand press against my back, Chronos. A second, smaller hand rested lightly against my forearm, Selena.

Aura flared from them both, barely perceptible but steady, syncing with my own.

"Just keep focusing," Chronos said. "We'll handle the rest."

I inhaled, focusing once more on the cup, on the way my aura flowed.

Then, as their energy intertwined with mine, I felt something shift.

I recalled the last time Chronos had done this, the strange, disorienting pull of another presence stepping into my Aether Realm. I hadn't known what to expect. But now, I knew exactly what I was looking for.

I focused, picturing the door I was supposed to open for Chronos and Selena.

The world around me faded into silence.

—

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the lab.

I stood in my usual spot, complete darkness stretching in every direction. No floor I could see, but somehow I wasn't falling. Just me and empty space that went on forever.

And the door. Always the damn door.

The last time I was here, it had been kind of exciting. Now? It just felt... heavy. Like it was waiting for something I couldn't give it. I'd tried opening it myself plenty of times during meditation, but it never budged. The only time it ever cracked open was when Chronos knocked from the outside, and even then, I couldn't actually go through it.

The thing was huge and looked older than dirt. Stone that had seen better centuries, covered in carvings that glowed faintly blue. The symbols looked almost familiar, like I should know what they meant, but my brain just couldn't make the connection.

I stepped forward, the void beneath my feet feeling solid yet weightless at the same time.

Reaching out, I placed my palm against the surface.

Cold.

This was a chill that seeped into my skin, curling around my bones like whispering fingers.

I swallowed hard.

This door... was mine.

It had always been here, buried in my subconscious, waiting to be opened.

But no matter how many times I had stood before it. No matter how much pressure I had been under, no matter how close I had come to awakening. It had never moved. Not once.

I ran my fingers along the engravings, the glow pulsing faintly under my touch.

"What's stopping you from opening for me?" I muttered to myself.

The door said nothing.

But for the first time, I had the unshakable feeling that something on the other side... was listening.

A whisper of pressure curled against my senses, faint yet undeniable. I exhaled slowly. Chronos said he would knock. So, I stood there. And waited.