Runeblade

The weight, the power that pressed down on him from every angle, burning away at his inadequacies and threatening to shatter him at the slightest turns; he knew what it was. What it represented.

Her station. Her existence.

Kaius pressed himself low, prostrating as he pressed cold obsidian tight to his head. There was only one thing the unknown woman could be.

Another ascendant.

He heard his team do the same. Porkchop, he knew, had recognised what she was in the same instant that he had. The others had either followed their lead, or reached the same conclusion when they felt the simple supremacy that wafted off the woman in waves.

It would be hard not to — not when it shook him to his very core. It was oppressive, choking his control on his Resources — like all it would take is a little Will, and their very souls would gutter out.

"Oh please, stop that!" the ascendant sighed. Kaius stiffened at her displeasure.

"By the boundless, the newly integrated are so fearful. You—"

He felt something almost physical jab him in the chest, a prod that rolled through his entire body like a jolt of static.

" —face me and speak. I abhor sycophantism at the best of times. I'm here to guide you through this challenge, not terrorise you."

Gulping through his bone-dry mouth, Kaius forced himself to rise. It was only through force of will that he kept his back straight as he met the woman's pure white eyes.

She raised one angular brow — as if daring him to speak.

"Apologies, ascendant—"

Kaius regretted his words the second they left his lips as the pressure surrounding him seemed to sharpen. A naked blade, angled directly at his throat that was primed to slaughter him where he kneeled.

The ascendant froze, the very air in the room growing cold. Kaius's breath fogged as the sweat on his forehead froze. The naked blade drew closer, a strength beyond strength setting its grips on him.

He didn't breathe, he didn't move — even his very heart stilled as the blood in his veins thickened like treacle.

Time grew unmoored, the moment hanging for what could have been millennia. There was only the woman seated on the divan and a piercing gaze. Her eyes, as large as the moon fallen from the sky, peeled him apart from the skin — inspecting every grain of his being. It was a judgement, and an end.

Six black dots appeared in lunar fields, voids that promised to swallow him whole.

Kaius grabbed his knees as he felt himself become unmoored.

Her mouth opened, and the world moved to her demands. Space shook, and Kaius felt an unknowable Truth descend.

"Ascendant. You speak of something you by rights should not know. An aged and broken world like this, hanging by a stable thread to the initial stage is a rare thing, but not unheard of. For the foundation to be so thoroughly ruined, as this one was? Rarer still. For said world to progress to the next stage, so suddenly, with no proceeding cultural, technological, or magical development having occurred? Nigh unheard of. For the method of progress to be amongst the most uncommon?"

The ascendant paused, her nails gauging out the fine carvings of her divan as space cracked with equal ease. Kaius quavered.

"Nothing is impossible — but is it likely? No. And now I have two babes, standing before me with Heroic classes and the Kingslayer honour, speaking of Ascendants. Something does not add up. You will explain."

Kaius's eyes remained frozen, sucked into the endless depths of white and black. How could he speak in the face of such might? What could, or even should he say? He knew too little! Had they broken some taboo, or could the ascendant be an enemy of Ekum?

If he had stumbled into some dispute between gods, or broken some rule at another's urging…what could he even say if the woman demanded their death, even for simple unknowing involvement in schemes beyond them?

The world went grey as cold terror overflowed within him, saturating every fibre of his being. He couldn't even speak — the blade was too close, the weight of power a boot on his throat, choking off his voice.

"You are afraid." It was a statement that cracked through the room with the force of a lightning strike.

As quick as it had appeared, the pressure that drowned him vanished, and the eyes larger than mountains vanished. Kaius flopped back gasping, hearing the dull thuds of his teammates collapsing behind him.

There was no outrage at their treatment — no scorn or anger within him. What could man hope to do in the presence of a god?

The ascendant seemed to frown with curiosity, her white eyes staring in a direction he couldn't comprehend.

"Not of me — at last, not just. No, you haven't just heard of my kind — you've met one. Who?" It was a demand, one he couldn't fathom denying. She wasn't finished. " —and how? No one can break the integration locks, and the only ascendants allowed are designated guides and…the Watcher."

She seemed to come to a realisation, kicking her legs off the side of the divan to dangle free as she sat up straight.

"Possible — even likely. After so much time, would it really be a surprise? So many are commanded to sacred duty as a punishment — what would one of those layabouts do after so many years?"

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The ascendant tilted her head. Somehow, despite her eyes being expanses of featureless white, Kaius felt her gaze on him. It was dispassionate, yet curious — like he was a strangely coloured insect who had stumbled across her path.

"Whoever you have met cannot see in here — a Crucible is a private space, beyond the bounds of Watchers. A necessity, considering what they are designed to nurture. I will request again, explain."

Her request pulled at him with the implacable might of a river-current — drowning him in the simple pressure she exuded unconsciously. He doubted she meant for them to feel it so intensely — not after he'd felt the weight that Ekum had flexed like a warhammer, and not after feeling her earlier threat.

Still, regardless of his discomfort, he was not so much a fool as to ignore a god's request twice.

"I…I was born a scion in exile, to a lost house with a completed legacy, and got stranded in the second layer of the depths two years before my class selection. Shortly after I was joined by my companion." he inclined his head towards Porkchop, who was watching quietly.

Every sentence came haltingly — his fear constant that a single wrong word could lead to their annihilation. From her earlier words, it sounded as if it was at least suspicious — if not taboo — for them to have already met one of their enigmatic kind. He could only hope it wasn't outright criminal.

All the while, the ascendant watched on silently, expression inscrutable as it was ferocious.

"We battled our way out, after discovering honours. The phase change came." Kaius paused, weighing up how to explain their encounter with Ekum. "We were brought to a void as time seemed to freeze — he was waiting for us, as powerful and indomitable as you are now. He only told us a little about what the integration meant if we did not progress it further — and that we should reach the fifty-first layer before we leave the second tier. I know he fudged our champion rewards a little, but he said that was the extent of it. I swear."

Kaius felt a cold grip on his heart as the ascendant stayed silent after his explanation. He nearly collapsed when she finally moved, tilting her head.

"You speak the truth. Interesting — and within the bounds of a Watcher's allowances." She grinned, showing off a mouth of carnivorous teeth. "Bastard got very lucky, didn't he"

"Regardless, my curiosity is satisfied. Thank you."

Warmth and sheer joy erupted in his chest as her pleasure saturated the room — he could have wept, if for the madness of it alone.

Curiosity? Curiosity?! He was but a mote of dust before a god — one whim or wish from annihilation!

The pressure vanished, utterly. Kaius could breathe fully once more. She had been wielding her power with intention — no doubt 'gently' by some godly standard. A half smile crossed the ascendant's face.

"Apologies — the signs pointed towards something much more serious than the reality of the situation."

That, at least, confirmed that he hadn't been imagining things when he'd felt her physical judgement. Kaius felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck — they'd come close to death — before even challenging the Crucible properly, no less.

The ascendant continued, either ignorant or uncaring of his flash of discomfort. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Xenanra, proprietor of this challenge of remoulding and rebirth, and — as you have surmised — an ascendant. I am here to guide you, provide information, and assist where it is reasonable to do so. I founded this Crucible as a way to aid those who live like I had lived, who grow as I grew, and fight as I fought — and for my own personal reward, of course."

Kaius froze at her words. Grow as she grew? What could she mean by that? Even more, he struggled to believe a god of her power could ever lower herself as to beholden herself to their questions. As if she were a mundane court scholar, in the employ of a duke!

Yet as sacrilegious as it felt, she had offered — and he needed answers.

Steely conviction flooded into him, a steady hand of encouragement that flooded across his bond with Porkchop. He looked back into his brother's eyes, finding support waiting for him.

"Go on — she seems genuine, at least."

Kaius nodded, turning back as he caught the ascendant covering her mouth in amusement.

"Thank you for your consideration, Ascendant. May you tell us why you are here? My limited knowledge is that you are above even what I know as gods — why oversee something like this?"

Xenanra laughed, the sound closer to shattering glass than vocal expression. Kicking her legs back onto her floating divan, she fell to the side — propping herself up on an elbow.

"Do you really think I am here in my full capacity? This is just a small fraction of my whole, I promise you. Far unlike the Watcher — the integration requires their undivided attention, albeit without active intervention."

That caught his attention. Not so much that the ascendant could split herself like the system had with its class guides — it was an understandable capacity for a god. No, it was that Ekum couldn't do so — why would the integration need him, but not his active engagement?

Regardless, if Xenanra was only partially present, it cemented one thing — she was utterly beyond him. There was no appreciable difference to her fragment of a power to Ekum's completeness. While there could be tiers to ascendant strength, it seemed likely that both of them simply eclipsed him so utterly he had no reference to tell their differences.

"As for why I'm here? I already told you — I designed this crucible, as a method to those who walked the same path of struggle I once did. It's a minor burden, and a good way to whittle away the millenia — besides, I always loved to guide the young." Xenanra continued, noticing but not commenting on his reaction.

"As for what this place is, we can go into greater detail on that matter later. For now, part of your reward for even making it inside is information. Not complete, not even close, but I can explain far more about the state of the greater universe than you will have ever had the opportunity to here — especially considering the dire trajectory your world has taken."

Kaius's heart thumped in his chest — this was opportunity. So much had been lost over the millennia — what might have been otherwise common knowledge drowning in a sea of time and struggle. He didn't plan to waste this chance.

"Ask her about other realms!" Porkchop urged.

He didn't have too — the ascendant simply looked between the two of them, smiled, and shook her head.

"Yes — other 'realms'. Those exist, but so do other worlds — ones both similar and vastly different to your own. The System spans across many, but not all, of those worlds — and more are included in its reaches by the day. The Grand Endeavour, the great quest! Its purpose is noble and valued, but one I cannot share — the information would only harm your development. I can, however, tell you that the integration has a point and a purpose. It is no random cruelty, but a bitter medicine for the best of all."

Ardor filled Xenanra as she talked, a wave of conviction that swept Kaius away in its tide. He could feel her sincerity, an honour and duty that made his heart beat with adamant strength.

"Beyond that.. I can also tell you one thing. Part of that purpose is the development of powerhouses — the cultivation of apotheosis and nurturing of would-be ascendants. It is a cruel path of burden, plight, and bloody fingers desperately clawing for the next handhold; a path all four of you have handedly stepped on to — even progressed, some!"

Kaius froze, staring at the ascendant in shock. They had what?!