Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

The last of the supplicants left the church premises around 11:15 p.m. All the priests then retired to their respective apartments in the priest quarters, which was situated on the same expansive property as the cathedral.

The priest quarters comprised a long, ground-floor building that housed the Pope and the thirty-two clergymen who handled the affairs of the Church of Serenity. In Priest Rio's quarters, he paced restlessly around his bedroom, deeply disturbed. It was almost midnight, and he profoundly feared the consequences of both action and inaction.

Although he had earlier resolved to report the brewing chaos to the Pope, he felt a surge of fear, hence his reluctance to inform the pontiff of the insidious conspiracy. He went to the toilet and opened the tap at the sink. He then put his head directly under the tap, allowing the rushing, cool water to pour over his head.

He retreated his head and turned off the tap. He felt significantly calmer and more confident. The tap procedure was his proven method of self-soothing, a ritual to boost his flagging confidence. The bald priest then headed out of his apartment towards the Pope's private residence.

Pope Sarr sat on a plush sofa in the cool, well-lit ambience of his living room. He silently thanked the Goddess for the marvel of technology that helped man to cool off after a stressful day. A soft knock came from the door. His Eminence was not going to answer the door himself; he was tired and had no intention of exerting himself any further.

"Usher yourself in, Priest Rio," a voice conveying a gentle, paternal embrace escaped the Pope's lips.

Priest Rio was utterly bewildered, wondering how the Pope always knew who was behind the door, despite the apparent absence of any surveillance device outside or inside the apartment.

"Your Holiness, I'm deeply sorry to disturb you at this serene hour. But I have an urgent matter to report to you," Priest Rio paused, wanting to carefully study the Pope's reaction to his words.

The Pope remained perfectly composed, savouring the cool ambience.

'Goddess, please welcome my soul into your divine kingdom if this mission turns out wrong,' Rio prayed silently in his thoughts.

"Your Eminence, something happened tonight at the confession booth, and I received information that the Unds have infiltrated the church."

Although the Pope looked composed on the outside, his anger suddenly surged. He initially thought that Rio was another agent from the Liberation Force. However, he was slow to anger. So, in order not to act from prejudice, the Pope had to take action and verify Rio's allegiance.

"Rio, have you ever seen a pale lady who looks like death? People claim that this lady is synonymous with death."

For some strange reason, the Pope's voice carried an intimidating aura that caused Rio's heartbeat to skip several beats. The priest had not seen anything that should have made him afraid, but he discovered his anxiety rising quickly. He hyperventilated, struggling desperately to breathe. The next thing he knew, the world spiralled around him, and he fell unconscious. In his unconscious sleep, he heard a familiar voice — his own voice — talking with another voice whose identity he couldn't discern.

"Rio. Rio." The Pope's voice snapped Rio back to consciousness.

"Why did you suddenly black out?"

Rio met the gentle but icy gaze of the Pope. "I don't know, Your Holiness. But I swear I had seen myself fall asleep."

"Who are the infiltrators hiding in our church?" Pope Sarr asked, finally deciding to work with Rio. He had verified a few moments ago that Rio was indeed loyal to the deity, the Goddess of Serenity. He also verified if Rio was a living being and not a remotely manipulated reanimated corpse.

"My lord, I don't know who they are. But I got the information from a lady who came to give a report to the imposters but was unfortunate enough to meet me, thinking that I was one of them. She reported that only a few priests remained outside of their control, and that most of our priests now work for them."

Pope Sarr interjected, his voice firm. "No servant of the Goddess would work for those filthy, blood-sucking aliens. We have been walking amongst reanimated corpses; that's the truth."

A chilling sensation ran down Rio's spine upon hearing the Pope's grim deduction of the situation. Priest Rio then relayed the rest of the alarming information that had accidentally been relayed to him: the number of supplicants who physically attended the mass today, the expected three hundred percent increase of supplicants on Tuesday, and the enemy's sinister intention to assassinate the Pope and Clinton Roger with accompanying chaos.

"My lord, I'm scared that the enemy would come after me when they realise that I'm not on their side. My lord, how do we deal with this matter? There are a great many enemies around us, and we don't know how to confirm who has not been snatched to the other side."

Pope Sarr gently rose to his feet. His gaze averted from Rio, who had remained on his knees since falling unconscious.

"Rio, do not fret. The Goddess has a way of defending her faithful. How was it possible for such a silly mistake to be made amidst a meticulous, insidious operation that happened right under our noses? That's the work of the Goddess.

"What I want you to do is to go back to your apartment and have a good night's rest." The Pope walked to a table at the opposite corner of the room. He picked up a dark beaded rosary from the table and handed it over to Rio. "Take this rosary; it is a sacred artefact connected to the Goddess. Take it with you to your bedroom, and your safety is assured."

The ambiguous phrasing subtly deceived Priest Rio. He assumed that he was given a sacred defence item that would protect him from a possible attack that night. Rio jubilantly returned to his apartment, relieved that he had reported the conspiracy and that he would now sleep peacefully.

Pope Sarr listened intently to Rio's fleeting footsteps. When he was sure that the priest had gone far, he knelt down and removed one of the four rings on his left hand — the ring on his little finger.

The dark, sinister-looking ring was the Banishment Ring. A ring packing an array of spells that could rival the immense power of an Awakened Transcendent. The spells had the potential to go toe-to-toe in a fight against the power from the Pillar of Calamity rank.

He placed the ring before himself, on the floor of the living room, and chanted a secret incantation. A dark green rune array circle appeared around him, glowing ominously.

"Sealed artefact, cage of eternal slumber, take my vitality in exchange for coming to life. Manifest in your primal form, a battle is nigh," Pope Sarr made the final, resonant incantation.

A scrawny, rugged, dark-skinned boy with long, unkempt hair, draped in tattered rag clothes, appeared for a second behind him. The Pope didn't fail to notice the sudden, chilling presence. He didn't dare look back. He remained in his pious position, offering fervent prayers to the Goddess.

Pope Sarr had unveiled a terrifying trump card that he would use to efficiently and safely dispatch the alien attack on Tuesday.