The Ascension

Early death

The two of them made their way to the edge of the city, which took a few hours. Baased was spread over a great deal of land, and was more or less in the shape of the shore it bordered.

The quest of exaltation was that of the ocean, and Silanah, but it wouldn't be enough if the city simply threw their children off the docks and called it a day. The route began on the western gate, through the mountains that covered most of Renen, and to the sacred mountain of Ae-en in the neighboring country of Aela. From there, it was assumed the child would be visited by Ikina and told the way to the deepest cave where Silanah was held. Silanah would then be awakened, granting the child's country safety and flooding the planet with a newly wondrous tide.

No one had made it to Ae-en. That was a simple fact. They all had died along the way, bodies usually missing and deaths never witnessed.

Because it was unknown what caused the deaths half the time, it was impossible for Aster and Wren to feel truly prepared for the journey ahead. Aster had a feather, now, and Wren had the supposed protection of a god currently fascinated by a clock.

In Wren's bag was the standard, a number of filling compact meals that were lacking in nutrition, a filtered water bottle, a sleeping bag, a flashlight, a pocketknife, and a book of prayers. One thing about Aster being ushered to leave so quick was that she was now very unprepared. Her pants were somewhat warm, she guessed, and her coat had a fur lined hood. But it got very cold in the mountains of Renen, and Wren was packed with enough food for one.

Aster decided not to mention this problem. The dunes beyond the gates of Baased were friendly enough, still holding paved roads, and Wren was altogether too optimistic about the situation right now.

Not much happened for a number of hours between the two of them. Then a monster tried to kill them. But that didn't happen for a few more hours, and before that could really happen, Ikina finally met with an old acquaintance.

Using the word 'acquaintance' implies a certain sort of connection though. And Aster's father, a man named Linson, was not particularly aware of a bond between him and the woman on his couch. He had never seen her before, in fact, until she opened her mouth to speak and confirmed the sort of fear he only worried about in nightmares:

"I am Ikina." She said to him. "I've removed your daughter."

"Is she okay, at least?"

"She'll be fine. But how much trust do you place in blood?" Ikina phrased her question like it was on a survey and scored on a ten point scale. Like the data would be collected and analyzed, but ultimately there was no correct answer.

"I don't care."

"Notable. She was your daughter. By genetics. If I had said that before asking, would you have had a different answer?"

"Sometimes I had figured that was the case." Linson said, but in truth he had never considered it. Ikina had come to him in the shape of a blonde man, and guided him to adopt Aster. It had been on a day when he was already at an orphanage and seeking to adopt, so he had not thought anything odd until the orphanage called the next day to check if he was still interested in adoption.

And then, of course, the odd man had come to his house and told him he was Ikina. And Linson had had little choice but wonder what his daughter was destined for, and erect a small shine in his house, just in case.

When the world only has three gods, you can't risk having more than one of them on your bad side.

"She'll be safe. And I've come to thank you for raising her for these past few years."

"What gifts can a god give?" Linson said, interrupting without thought.

"Oh, nothing but my thanks, and word that she will be alive and well."

"That's good."

Ikina seemed more pleased than Linson, and suddenly she made a quiet sort of exhale, the sort that might precede laughter.

"What is it?"

"Oh, Laila doesn't recognize her anymore."

It took a while for Linson to realize the Laila in question was likely Lailana, and by then Ikina had disappeared.

If anyone took a few moments and thought hard, they would have been able to put a few details together and realize this: On a quest to grant the sea god supreme power, the land god was probably not too happy.

She wasn't purely unhappy, of course, just protective of her interests. And yes, of course, she lacked the omnipotence that would have allowed her to recognize Aster.

She had created a fairly monstrous wolf from the shadows to attack any exalted children, and it was this creature that threw itself on top of Aster. Its jaws were open, but luckily failed to grasp the curve of her shoulder- instead, its jaws snapped shut below her collarbone, taking with them minimal blood and a whole lot of cloth.

Aster screamed right away, and flailed her arms about like she was trying to punch it in the jaw. She was unable to find a way to calm down and think rationally, but her instinct took over and did just as well: she turned her head away from the beast, put an arm up to shield her face, and tried to roll on her back so her legs might kick its stomach.

The wolf was stronger than her, however, being a manifestation of Laila's power. Its teeth found their way to the flesh of Aster's arm first, causing deliberately light bleeding. Then the wolf let go and stood calm.

Aster could smell only blood and rain and her ears were foggy from the wolf's presence. When it seemed to stop its assault, she could not feel calm, but she slowly inched herself away from under the creature.

Then, the moment she took her arm away from blocking her neck and shoulder, the wolf leapt again and gripped her so tight in its jaws that it picked her body up like a ragdoll and dragged her along the ground as the wolf retreated into the forest.

She was not dead yet, but there was a certain assumption that she would be soon. Then she felt something very precise in her neck, like a needle, but it was really hard to gauge exactly what it felt like- she was in so much pain it was generally pointless to think of anything beyond it.

Then there was something warm after the point had receded. And then she fell to the ground. And then, standing above her and bathed in blood, was Wren and his pocket knife.

Aster had a feeling she looked dead, or else actually was dead. But it was very hard for her to make up her mind.

Wren leaned over her body and checked her pulse on the side of her neck that wasn't cut open, and he found that there wasn't one. The fight had really happened too fast for him to intervene, he thought. He cleaned his knife on his jacket best he could and folded it back into its sheath. He looked back in the direction he and Aster had come from, and considered how long of a walk it was going to be to return her body.

If Ikina had really been protecting her, she wouldn't have died. So had she been lying? Or had Ikina?

Wren fixed his cap. His clothes had been a mix of pale blue and white before, stylish but called unsuited for adventuring. Now he understood why.

He took Ikina's feather back from Aster's bloodstained pocket, and found it completely clean. He turned it over in his hand a few, captured by its soft and bloodless glow, and set off down the path. He had a feeling if he tried to return Aster's body, another wolf would come for him too. And if he was going to die, it might as well be far from home.