The Ascension

Ascent

The foothills of Ae-en were like mountains in their size, but were relatively short and gradual in their curves. Many towns lay nestled in their rock, carved out, in a cave, or resting in the valley between two rocks.

Ae-en, it turned out, was a lot like this. A great stone mound, reminiscent of the rock piles in the graveyard of Aio. From a distance, it looked just like one, a large and flat-topped hill made entirely from stone. A few straggles of forrest poked through crack on the surface, but the top was bare.

But they were still very far from Ae-en when it first came into sight.

"We climb to the top?"

"I'm not sure." Senya admitted. "It's- Well, I've never really considered what you're supposed to do at Ae-en. Arrive at it. Scale it makes sense."

"I was expecting more of a snow-capped peak. This shouldn't be impossible." Wren said. "Ikina will appear to us then, and then it's... off to the ocean? She'll tell us when the time comes."

But as they continued to walk, the matter of Ae-en seemed more and more- ridiculous. It was a very large mound of rocks. But it went beyond very large- a few hours after they first caught sight of it, it was dominating the skyline. The cracks on the surface were fissures, and the trees had to be hundreds of feet tall.

"This is going to be impossible." Wren concluded, another hour in as Ae-en seemed ever further away. They had found the city of Aen-sa, carved into a vertical cliff, and used the last of Wren's money to buy more food. They sat in a small bakery for a late lunch.

"Ikina spoke to me, in the woods. And back in Baased. They may appear again."

"Personally? Sh- They never did that for me." Wren sounded upset, and protectively touched the feather from them in his coat pocket. "Silan...ah did come for me though."

"I saw Laila."

"So we were all visited by a different deity." Aster took a steady drink of her tea. "We should establish anything of note that occurred, then, in case they tried to turn us against each other."

"Why would they do that?" Wren asked quite earnestly.

"You and Senya. The sea and the earth. They might have tried to pit you guys in some way?"

"Lailana didn't talk to me. She just was wandering around. Nearly scared me to death though." Senya looked with anticipation towards Wren.

"Silan... talked with me. I don't know. It wasn't anything special or suspicious, just typical god talk. Told me to finish my quest and all at mount Ae-en." With his turn over, he looked now to Aster.

She was quiet. "Ikina is odd. They told me things which I am unsure were based in reality. And they seemingly tried to convince me to- meet a friend of theirs, I suppose."

"A friend? Can gods have those?"

"I couldn't understand what they were talking about. But nothing scary in the regard that you two have anything to fear." Aster shrugged.

"So you're really the truly chosen one, huh?" Wren sighed. "Here-" He announced suddenly, and gripped her hand. Then he took out his pocketknife and drew a sharp line across her palm.

Aster let out a yelp of pain and withdrew her hand to examine the bloody cut. "Why would you do that?"

He was deadly silent for a few seconds, watching her palm. But it continued to bleed. "I... don't know. Ikina chose you as their charge, that's all. I was first. Ikina heals you, but I..." He trailed off. Her hand was still bleeding.

"You still have Silan, Wren. No need to freak out. You still have an entire god supporting you."

"I don't like Silan. I want to be with Ikina." He was still watching her palm. "Sorry. Though. That was super terrible of me."

"I'm not forgiving you, but I'm moving past it." Aster licked the wound clean. It wasn't very deep, and would heal with time. Or even sooner, most likely. She didn't need an extra sense to know Ikina was watching this. Letting her be hurt to provide an example.

But that was over now. They set out for Ae-en again under the ever growing dusk. At least here the sky was wide and the stars were glowing- the only thing getting in their way was the imposing form of the sacred mountain, made of nothing but shadow before night had fallen anywhere else.

It was nice here, temperate and warm. Scaling Ae-en was considered a proper holy pilgrimage, but it wasn't overly common, and they walked a silent and deserted path to its base.

Here, where a single house and a signpost stood, the mountain was more like an impenetrable wall. On either side it stretched on, and it rose through the sky and coated the area below it in only blackness.

It was not cold, even in the shadows, but everyone was too tired to continue very far up. A little bit up the very first trail, they decided to stop and make camp in a small cave. It was pitch black and deep, but they put their sleeping bags near the entrance and huddled together regardless.