Dark Matter Ascension

Yroshnak, Demon Lord of Blood, looked at the gooey paste with a head, plastered to the invisible ceiling. The limbs were somewhat intact, and the helmeted head stared at him – but was surely dead…for now. He wheeled around on The Ancients, who had been observing the whole fight. "I am done. Where is my reward?"

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[Here you go. A cache of Souls of the damned, fresh from the judgement chambers.]

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Yroshnak grunted and strode to the tunnel leading out of the arena. He felt the projection fade and opened his eyes, back in his body inside his fortress upon the Blood Lakes in Layer 8. Sucking in a deep breath, he barked out an order, "Bring me food! I hunger!"

One of his servants – a lesser demon of lower Potency – scurried off. Yroshnak stood up and flexed his arm – the one that had been shorn off. A Dreamer, at Potency 1, able to put up that much of a fight? He cracked a smile. A possible new ally. Someone who I can work with.

Yroshnak closed his eyes and felt the mass of new Souls within him. One of the few Demon Lords who rose to power by only harvesting the Souls of those who had committed grave evil…he was just, in a way. And as such, he had an ongoing deal with The Ancients. When they had a large amount of evil souls who had been judged to annihilation instead of moving on through the Nethershift to whatever lay beyond, they would be given to Yroshnak and others like him.

I can contact this Jace Seren, this Wraith, and perhaps with a Dreamer augmenting my forces, I can finally move against my brethren. A dream of Yroshnak's had always been to eliminate the Demon Lords who ate any Soul. A perversion of their purpose, in Yroshnak's eyes. I will reach out to him later, once I have rested. He was an honorable combatant, only escalating once I did – minus that odd, nothingness beam.

The old adage was true, "You only truly know those who you fight." Yes…I might have an ally in that Dreamer. One who seeks the destruction of the more vile of my kin.

He stood up as his servant brought in an enormous haunch of some demonic creature – one that had grown in Potency too fast, and thus had become a monstrosity instead of a thinking being. Taking a bite out of the juicy haunch, he felt the blood and sweet-scented fluid drip down his chin.

Jace woke up on the floor of the Vault. He sucked in a deep breath, coughing slightly, as he looked around. Ollie was floating next to him, and flew over to cup his cheeks.

"You are alive! Oh, thank The System! I mean, I knew you were alive, but seeing you awake is good!"

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[Mission Success: Put on a show! Entertain your hosts.]

[Reward: Mythic (Gear Alteration) Infusion.]

[Sender: The Ancients.]

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Jace sat up all the way and jumped to his feet, instinctively reaching for his sword as he saw a shimmering in the air next to him. The two starry-cloaked figures who had been watching from the stands appeared, and one raised its hand in greeting.

"Please, do not be startled, Jace Seren, known as Wraith, of Universe 348." They removed their hoods and to Jace's surprise they were human. With brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. "We have taken a form you will find less startling and more…comprehensible."

Jace let his hand fall away from his sword, "Thanks for keeping me alive," he said with a wry, tight-lipped smile.

"We actually did not do much. Your innate nanites – NICIF, I believe you call them – and your Dark Matter Mending kept you alive despite being crushed into a paste. Well, your torso, at least." They said the last with a little chuckle.

Ollie floated in front of Jace's face and crossed his little arms, floating there and bobbing up and down. "How do you know about his Skills?"

"We are trans-reality beings," the one who had been silent stated bluntly.

The other one, the more chatty of the two, continued talking. "What they said. Your Cosmic System is fascinating."

"What do you want from me?" Jace asked, feeling on edge and a little tense given he was talking to trans-dimensional creatures.

"Oh, one or two of us show up to any Dreamer or Demon's second Vault event and onward if they tackle more. It just so happened to be an Arena encounter. One of my favorites."

The quieter one spoke softly, but in a commanding way. "We Ancients have no stake in the Dreamer to Demon conflict. We stay out of that nonsense. The shepherding of Souls through the sorting in the Nethershift is our purpose, and sending them to the appropriate afterlife."

Jace blurted out, "What about Chroma Seren? My sister? Did you sort her?"

The quieter one's eyes narrowed, and there was a pink flash before they returned to brown. "Yes, she was sorted and sent to an afterlife. I cannot share more than that."

Jace felt immense relief wash over him. "What about Arthur Seren? My dad?"

Once more, a pink flash, then a nod. "Him, too."

Jace felt a bit of wetness on his cheek and wiped away the slight tear. "Then there's a chance to get her back."

One of The Ancients, the chattier one, reached up and tapped the voidlight tether connected to Jace's torso. "Interesting. A guideline and means of transport and communication back to your home universe…tell us, why leave a fully protected universe behind? One that is fully and permanently safe from demons and Dreamers alike?"

Ollie glanced back at Jace before shrugging and responding for him. "We are trying to reach the afterlife to make a tunnel going back to our universe. Permanently conquering death and making a self-contained loop."

The quieter one's eyes widened in amusement, "Seeking a return to pre-Astral Verge times? Well, I don't see the harm in that. We will permit such a tunnel's construction." He tapped the voidlight tether as well, "This is a good foundation." He looked to Jace and his gaze narrowed. "Reach Potency 10, then reach the Nethershift. We will permit you, a living creature, through to the Soul Realm, and then you are on your own in dealing with that plane of reality and the Afterlives."

"Can you tell us more about them?" Ollie asked sounding quite eager.

The chattier one nodded, "A little bit. The Soul Realm is more akin to an ocean than the Astral Verge's Layers. You just go down the transitory reality to your universe's assigned afterlife. Those who are evil, for we have such a means of measurement, are gifted to Astral Demons for annihilation. Afterlives are filled with those who were good in their life."

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Jace frowned and felt a chill wash over him, "You feed Souls to demons?"

"Just the evil ones," the chatty Ancient replied with a chuckle. "If we were to evaluate your Soul, for instance, you would be passed through the Nethershift and not turned over for Annihilation. It used to be that those evil souls would just float in the Soul Realm, forever in a…purgatory, looking out at the Afterlife. But we pulled those evil souls back, judged them properly, and instead of having them mucking things up like in the Astral Verge, they are processed."

I mean…it sounds harsh…but if they have a means of evaluating Souls and analyzing them in an unbiased and fair fashion…it's not horrible. Jace swallowed down his revulsion at the idea of feeding Souls to demons, and resigned himself to the reality of the situation. "Thank you for the information."

"You are welcome," the quieter one stated bluntly. "We have no vested interest in you, Jace Seren, or your mission. But we may pop in on subsequent Vault visits if you decide to tackle more of our challenges."

The two cloaked figures vanished. Jace was left, with Ollie, in the Vault chamber with a reliquary nearby.

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[You have cleared a Vault.]

[Reward: Relic.]

[Open the reliquary to claim your Relic.]

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Xera's voice came over the comms, "Very interesting. We met a species of quasi-dimensional, trans-reality beings. I had theorized other realities existed…but they are so far out of our capability to reach…" she went quiet for a moment before returning. "It does not matter for our purposes. I only care about getting our universe back to it's "closed loop" state before the Astral Verge was created thanks to The Ancient's meddling."

Ollie replied, "It is good to know that they are going to be staying out of our way," he replied.

Jace thought back to the fight with the Demon Lord and shuddered, "That was Potency 8? He wrecked my shit! And we have to get past that to Potency 10!" He felt, in that moment, quite overwhelmed.

Ollie turned around and patted his cheek, "Cheer up. You got me to boost your processing speed."

"True," Jace replied as he glanced at the reliquary. "But it took a lot of energy."

"It did," Ollie replied as he scrunched up his face in frustration. "Not much we can do about that, though."

Xera replied, "Perhaps we can. I'll tinker with the Architect Engine Core, and see if we can't get it integrated somehow to increase your energy reserve."

That sense of being overwhelmed slowly calmed and quieted as Jace knew that Xera was doing her best to help look out for him and help him succeed. Taking a deep, calming series of breaths, he walked over to the stone chest and opened it.

Another Rune-Inscribed tablet was there, and as he read the words translated in his mind.

"You have defeated a Vault of The Ancients. This is the second Vault you have defeated. As such, you will receive information appropriate to a newly arrived Ancient. Locations will be translated automatically to your most familiar terminology."

The tablet shifted in his hands, and became a longer, thinner plate with different words written in the runic language.

"The Soul Realm lies below the Nethershift, and once was a place where the Souls of those who committed grave evil would reside, whilst those who were accepted into the afterlives would be free to roam or reside in those domains. One of the first actions we Ancients took upon ourselves was to instill an order. By subjecting souls to judgement using a very heavily curated series of guidelines and strictures, we were able to process evil and good. Those who were evil were given to Astral Demons that had shown themselves to be morally upright, despite the circumstances of their origin. Those who were good were sent to their Afterlife. And, we spoke with the entities who ruled those places, and helped to streamline the process. Now, the Soul Realm is a transitory space that is empty, save for the Souls of those who are "good" traveling from Afterlife to Afterlife."

"It echoes what they told you directly," Ollie commented.

Underneath the tablet was a cushion made of a pink, fluffy substance. And on top of that cushion was a metal disc. Jace picked it up, and felt it thrum with energy; the cascading pink power fragmenting in fractals and traveling across his armor. The metal disc shrank down, traveled up his forearm and settled in the center of his torso. It hummed with the crackling, pink energy before it flickered over to a golden flame.

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[You have acquired a Relic of the Ancients.]

[Relic Equipped.]

[Flame of Valor.]

[Amplifies depth of emotion related to the Valiance Emotion Source. When engaged in combat, the user's attacks and Talents will release gouts of cleansing holy fire. Adds area-of-effect to all offensive Talents or {Skills} that do not already have them.]

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"Handy," Jace stated as he tested by throwing a punch in the air, and saw a small gout of golden flames fly out from the edge of his fist. A small explosion of holy fire that would cleanse and harm others. He felt a warmth in his torso, and glancing down saw that the Relic had vanished. "The heck?"

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[Hey Boss!]

[Looks like we got a new buddy in your body now.]

[It decided to embed itself into your chest, right in your sternum.]

[Actually, it's encasing your heart.]

[Neat!]

[Doesn't look like it's hurting anything.]

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The NICIF's message was slightly disconcerting to Jace, as an object had just been sucked into his body and incorporated without him knowing the full ramifications of equipping the Relic. But, ultimately, if the NICIF wasn't concerned, he wasn't too worried. The familiar feeling of suction encompassed him, and he was launched backward, out of the Vault, and into the stone hallway as before.

"Mission accomplished!" Ollie shouted. "And you've got a Mythic Infusion. Second highest possible behind Divine! I wonder what it will do?" he sounded quite eager and enthusiastic.

"Should we use it now?" Jace asked. "We could save it and try to get five of that Rarity and go for the maximum."

Ollie pondered for a few seconds before shrugging, "It's your choice. I don't think that someone of low Potency is generally going to have these higher rarity Infusions."

An Astral System message came across Jace's screen. Crimson on black.

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[Well met, Jace Seren. Though I shall use Wraith in future communications.]

[I am Yroshnak, Demon Lord of Blood, ruler of the Blood Lakes in Layer 8 of the Verge.]

[I saw your honorable nature during our fight, and I have been informed by The Ancients that you are someone who is seeking the deeper Layers for some reason they did not share.]

[You and I are of similar bent, it would seem.]

[If you wish to descend to a deeper Layer, such as Layer 10, you will doubtless encounter Demon Lords of a more disgusting type; those who will consume any Soul, unlike me and my forces which only consume those who The Ancients give us to annihilate.]

[As such, I extend an invitation to you. If you get to Layer 8, come to see me.]

[I will upload coordinates with this message so that you may find me with ease.]

[I would revel in the chance to fight alongside you instead of against you – especially if you gain enough Potency to be at my Layer.]

[Until our next meeting.]

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Jace immediately felt distrust, but at the same time with the learning from the tablet, The Ancients themselves, and the way the demon in the arena behaved – honorably…he felt like he could trust the words. "If we get down that deep," he muttered. "I mean, I need to build this tunnel back up to our universe. But if high Potency demons are that fast and strong…" he let the thought linger as he looked to Ollie.

Ollie frowned and dipped his head to his chest in thought before he looked back up and made eye contact. "I have an idea on some Talents we could work towards. But I would guess that the higher Potency one is, the naturally faster and stronger they get. Like a flat boost across the board."

Jace nodded and pulled up his Status Screen. "Let's go ahead and use that Mythic (Gear Alteration), then on the Flame of Valor."

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[Using Infusion: Rare (Gear Alteration).]

[Target Gear: Flame of Valor.]

[New Infusion: Restoring.]

[Effect: The (Restoring) Infusion causes the equipped Gear to constantly emit an aura of healing which mends wounds of the user and those they designate as friendly targets within a radius, scaling in size and intensity based on depth of emotion.]

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Jace saw the golden aura shimmering around him, almost like the Starlit Sea minus the black morass of the infinite depths. It fluctuated in size until it settled around his skin like a film, the same as his Hero's Arena [Aura] effect. Instinctively, he knew that the two would have the same radius and intensity based upon how much his emotions were driving him forward.

Ollie clapped his paws, "That is great for survivability! Come on, let's head up to the surface." He pulled up a map that floated above the two of them. "A Vault is a few cycles' travel away, given your armor's integrated Sliver Arc and your movement speed.

Jace ascended the stairs, Ollie floating to nestle around his shoulders, and then Jace used his Void Step to get outside of the protective aura of the Runes on the tower before he took off at a jog towards the next Vault.