Inevitable Ascension

Chapter 18 - Bleeding to Everlasting Life

Violina and Lux arranged another rendezvous and ended the outlandish conversation with Vexia. Ignoring the chaos in the streets, they decided to venture to their lair and restock their supplies.

The rolling hills, trickling streams and lush greenery contrasted sharply with the radiated wasteland to which they had grown accustomed. As they traveled, the moonlight gave way to the rising two suns. Staring up at them jolted Violina's nerves. She used to feel some degree of comfort when she saw the Second Sun, but now that she knew it was nothing more than Kza's instrument of world destruction, she felt only loathing.

Before long, the girls reached their humble bungalow and casually parked their mechs in the driveway as if they were QX-Steamers.

"Taloc-Mechs add an instant fifty lair-points to the house at least!" declared Lux, admiring the scene.

Violina shut off her engines and climbed out. "Definitely. Now we just need to bring the rest up to par."

Lux opened the front door and led the way inside. "So, this whole immortality business... Actually, give me a second." She then ran into the kitchen and retrieved a hefty piece of jerky. "I might be a bit on the malnourished side, so the spinach was actually a little bit tempting, but don't worry, I still went with the obviously correct choice. I mean, you know how they say spinach is a tasty way to get a bazillion vitamins and minerals? That's not really true. It's just a way. Tastiness has little to do with it."

Violina gave a shrug. "I'm not judging. In fact, you do realize you can eat chocolate chip cookies for breakfast if you so desire? There's literally no one policing that."

"Noted," said Lux, her eyes bursting with ideas for culinary adventures. "Anyway, are we really set on trusting Vexia? I'm not sure if you noticed, but she is a bit—unhinged."

Violina poured herself a much-needed glass of peach-mango juice. "Come on now, I've seen her ancient throne room! She may sound crazy, but just about everything she's said has proven significant."

Lux's skepticism suddenly shifted to astonishment. "Actually, I think you're more right than you realize!"

"Am I now?" Violina took a sip of her blissful and refreshing beverage.

"I just remembered where we first heard of the Pillar of God!" exclaimed Lux. "It wasn't on The Dreadnaught; it was from Vexia!"

Jogging her memory, Violina recalled Vexia saying something about how Enoch had loved it or crafted it or something. She couldn't help but smile in intrigue. "Very curious."

"Okay, I take it all back. Let's go find some magic immortalium minerals and let the woman inject us using an ancient syringe a.k.a. the Consecrator." Lux was so excited she spoke with her mouth full, a rare event reserved only for the most fantastic of occasions. "Oh my goodness, just think about it! When this is all over, we may very well be retired and immortal!"

"Can't complain about a deal like that, now can we?" Violina was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of immortality. Living forever was a key to her core desire, but what good was living forever if the hell of the far future was all that awaited her?

"So there might be a potential slight wrench in our plan," said Lux. "What makes you think we can find immortalium when Vexia's already looked for ages and couldn't find any?"

"Well, when she said she scoured the mines, I can only assume she was referring to the network of mineshafts we used to escape the museum."

"Ah, yes, and we found the Emblem of Kza in there," reasoned Lux. "So it was probably mined during the Dark Ages?"