Dark Matter Ascension

"Chroma!" Jace screamed out as he jammed his hand into the gelatinous mass, trying to rip it apart to get to her. "Hang on! I'm coming!" he tore away bit by bit, throwing the slimy chunks of the pink mass into the silvery liquid floating all around him. And as he tore, he felt more and more desperation as he did not see anything within. But the voices echoed all around – some thanked him, some cursed him, and Chroma's voice kept pulling him on as the gelatinous mass he ripped apart did not become lesser – but grew. Until it was all encompassing and fully subsumed his body.

Yet he kept tearing, screaming his sister's name – the person who he became an Aspirant to rescue. Aside from Shhiv, the only person who truly mattered to the deepest part of his being. "Chroma! Where are you!"

Her voice was distant, faint and deeper in that mass – but Jace was prevented from going forward. The symbols representing Dark Matter coalesced around him, forming a purple barrier, and ripped him up and away. He tried to fight against it, but could not.

Troxanir looked at Oblivion's Maw and saw his body – his true body – writhing. What is going on? he thought.

Then, pain ripped through his stomach. Pain unlike any he had experienced. He pulled up his System interface.

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[Soul Capacity = 87%]

[Soul Capacity = 86%]

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He watched in horror as the number began to decrease. "No! What is causing this?!" He screamed out in rage and hatred as he doubled over. "Who dares steal what is mine?!"

His Signers came over, asking how they could help, but he waved them away as he let his avatar's consciousness collapse and merged with his true body once more. The gluttonous mass that was trapped in Oblivion's Maw. He felt the infinite compression on all sides, held in check by his Astral Demon body. He could feel the pressure from below, from the Astral Verge, as others of his kind sought to enter the universe.

What is going on? he thought as he began a full Astral System scan. Ah…there it is.

An ancient node. The most basic and lowest layer of The Cosmic System. What bound him to this place. Someone had found their way into that locked-off portion of the System…and was attacking him indirectly. You impudent insect! He shoved his consciousness into that space…and saw nothing.

What?! He looked around the silvery, liquid starlight – the symbols of Cosmic and Ascended power visible off in the distance surrounding him. Something had ripped into him and torn out souls – thousands, hundreds of thousands…millions. Well…I did not know that someone was capable of that, he thought as he rebuilt his trapped form using an Astral System Skill. I'll need a means to prevent this in the future.

He looked to the mass of souls inside himself, and found a million of his passed Signers. Tasking them to internal defenses, they would be able to intercept anyone else who somehow found their way to that layer of The Cosmic System.

Troxanir returned his consciousness to his Astral Demon form, and then projected into his avatar, standing up once more. "Irritating," he muttered.

"What is, my lord?"

"Are you okay?"

"How may we serve?"

Troxanir waved off all of his Signers, "Nothing you can aid with. Your fallen fellows are dealing with it."

Jace was pulled screaming back to his conscious body. He was covered with sweat and his breath was coming to him in ragged bursts. He snapped his eyes open and saw the floating mountains and clouds up in the skies of Harkon Secundus.

Hualong looked down at him with a worried expression, "I have never seen meditation like that," she muttered.

Jace! Ollie shouted in his head, what happened?

"I…I…" Jace willed the helmet to recede so he didn't feel as stifled. "I tried looking at my inner self. But my mind was drawn to this-" he raised his left hand. "Then I went through the Starlit Sea and into a…deeper sea. It was silver, and didn't move like the gold one did. I found a pink slime." He felt his voice choking up, "Chroma. I heard her! She was in there!"

Xera's voice came over the comms, "You got a glimpse into an older version of The Cosmic System. Think of it like the ARPANET which was the foundation for the Internet, which was then the foundation for the Webnet. You were in the earliest form of The Cosmic System, which we Architects used to capture and bind Troxanir to our universe's singularity at the center."

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"So…that was…his real form?"

"Yes." Xera's voice sounded like it was a mix between pleased and worried. "What did you do?"

"I ripped into it," Jace replied rapidly as he stood up. "I tore chunks out of it trying to get to her."

"That explains it," Xera muttered. "I was detecting something weird going on with an old subroutine. A fluctuation. I think you actually hurt Troxanir's real form." She laughed, "That means we might have an alternate way of fighting him! Instead of sending you to the black hole at the center of the uni-" she cut off, then groaned. "I am an idiot! We can use…Hold on."

There was a crackle of static for a moment, and then Jace could hear Dee, Quinn, and Priam talking.

"But I don't like swimming," Greg said.

"Well it's not that bad," Dee replied.

"How does the lake stay up here without a bottom? I can see the mist forest below!" Priam interjected.

Xera cleared her throat and the conversation silenced. "Jace has made a discovery…we have a new plan of attack to bring the fight to Troxanir. And you three will be able to help."

"Yes!" Greg shouted. "I get payback on that asshole!"

"I'll need all of you to get Cosmic Infusion to (Rank 10) – Priam, you're the only one who doesn't have it yet."

Priam let out a slight grumble, "Oh. Okay just single me out."

Xera continued, "Jace discovered that Troxanir's mass, his real Astral Demon form, is embedded in the ancient Cosmic System predecessor. I'll fill you three in later, and you too, Quinn – but here's what you need to know." She took a deep breath and then spoke in a measured pace, "I can transport Dee, Greg, and Priam into that deepest layer to assault this portion of Troxanir that has become embedded – more deeply embedded than I thought possible. You can weaken him from that side, while Jace goes from Nihilethelea along with the Pulsar Coalition to assault Oblivion's Maw directly."

Greg spoke up, "How come you didn't know about this before?"

"When we trapped him to do our bidding, he was tethered to The Cosmic System. But in the trillions of years I've been alive and recompressing my thoughts, I must have forgotten that his form was trapped in the System itself."

"So we are pushing him out?" Priam asked.

"Correct."

Quinn's voice came over the comms, "Basically, what Xera is going to have you three do is dislodge Troxanir from The Cosmic System – removing him from it entirely…but only once Jace has confronted him. You can destroy his tether to this universe, and Jace can deliver the finishing blow."

Jace blurted out, "But what about Chroma?! All those people. What happens to them?"

"It depends," Xera replied. "Most likely, once Troxanir is untethered from the System, he will not choose to die to you, Jace. He will retreat into the Astral Verge…taking those souls with him."

"No!" Jace shouted. "We can't do that! I need to get her back."

"Agreed," Greg replied. "I need all my friends and family back."

Xera groaned, "I…fine. Then what do you propose, hmm?"

"What if…" Priam began, then faded for a moment before coming back. "What if Jace killed the avatar first, and then was ready at the singularity to seal it off…but we dragged Troxanir's Astral Demon body into that lower layer of The Cosmic System? We could then beat him to a pulp in there, and get the souls out."

"Possible," Xera stated. "But in that case, the souls would not stay in The Cosmic System. They would continue their natural progression – through the Astral Verge, Nethershift, Soul Realm, and into the Afterlife."

"Perfect!" Greg said. "We have Jace beat him up, then we three drag him into the System to keep him from escaping and utterly obliterate him. The souls escape, go where they are supposed to go, and then we head through the funnel to make that pipeline that you talked about."

"It…it could work," Xera said. "I'll work on isolating the section of the subsystem that Troxanir's Astral Demon form is bound to, so that he cannot infect other subsystems and remain a nuisance I have to send you to hunt down. But…yes, we can all but guarantee that he doesn't flee into the Astral Verge with his stolen souls."

Jace willed his helmet to emerge, "We have our plan then. We get to Tier 10, I go and help the Pulsar Coalition to attack his avatar, kill it, and then wait on your go-ahead to seal up the singularity with Dark Energy."

"Right!" Dee shouted. "Then we'll drag him into the System and blow him up. Get all those souls out and then send them on their way."

"To the proper afterlife," Priam replied with rising excitement. "And I can visit the afterlives when we go to set up this tunnel to let dead people come back without doing undead things!"

Jace walked over to the ledge and looked back at Hualong, who was looking at him with confusion, having only been privy to Jace's words to his allies over the comms. He gave her a slight wave, "I'll be back with more stuff to sell…thank you."

"You're welcome?" she responded, a mix between a question and an acknowledgement as Jace flung himself over the edge to the misty canopy below.

Xera leaned back and let out a deep breath of exasperation. "That was unexpected."

"I know!" Josie replied as she brought over a cup of oolong tea for her to sip on. "Exciting stuff!"

"Send word to Zzorth," Xera stated. "I need them to know the plan."

"Right!" Josie zoomed off to a console and her tentacle appendages began working the various interfaces.

Xera took a sip of the hot beverage and rubbed her temples with the two of her other hands. I've got so much more work to do now, she thought. I have to go into the subsystem, isolate and segment off Troxanir's binding program, and then make sure my other Signers can fight him there.

She turned to a console and double-checked the status of the other factions. Seems like they are all staying where I expected. Star Council is still a bit chaotic thanks to Star Father's passing, but Mizarion is taking the helm in a democratic process which is positive. Tyul is leading the Nebula Alliance in aligning more closely with the Star Council. The Negotiator has ensured that the Planetary Independence Pact members are sticking to their own devices. She let out a sigh and sipped more of the tea.

And then, she thought, there's this whole entire Astral System. Let me double check one more time…

She spent the next several hours re-running her calculations and came to the confirmation that, yes, Jace would be able to access the Astral System. Any Aspirant or Ascendant could, once they reached Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10) as a Skill. They would use Essence, harvested from slain Astral Demons as their level up currency. But actually exploring the Astral Verge, finding the entrance to the Nethershift, and going deeper would have to wait.

First, Tier 10. Then beat Troxanir. Scout with probes to gather intel. And then…we set forth to initiate my ultimate plan…and I can finally rest.