The Fall of the Society

Chapter 54: Acsended

     After a long while of nothing but the sound and motion of the boat passing quickly across the water, the sun had begun to set, and the boat slowed to a stop. A moment later, Sid reappeared beside Rose. "Will you help me?" he asked her solemnly. She nodded and moved to Maldion's feet. Sid handed her what appeared to be a belt but was rather heavy, indicating for her to place it around his ankles. He also placed one around his fallen friend's torso. Together they lifted him and gently lowered him into the water, where he slowly sank beneath the surface and the glow radiating from the sheet he was wrapped in gradually began to fade as he disappeared. The two said nothing for a short while before Sid turned and returned to the helm.

     Rose followed him this time and watch as he set the vessel back in motion and they were soon rocketing across the waves once more. "What haven't you told me?" she asked him.

     Sid smirked, contemplating how to answer the question. "You are going to have to be a little more specific with a request. That is far too broad of a question as there are centuries of knowledge that I obtain and have not shared with you."

     A grimace crossed Rose's beautiful face in the setting sun. "Why the interest in me? And I want the full truth, not just that I am what you call a phoenix."

     "You are a very distant relative of mine." His statement nearly knocked her off of her feet. "Being a phoenix is a trait that is passed directly from mother to daughter, sometimes lying dormant for generations if only a male is born into the family. When a male inherits the trait, it will pass to the next born female. However, the powers will never manifest in that child. If she has a daughter, the abilities will formulate and eventually, and to varying degrees, surface. Therefore, there are large generational gaps between instances of a phoenix being born."

     Rose stared at him. "Should I call you grandpa?"

     The two laughed for a moment, "No. I will throw you from the boat." He waited a moment before continuing. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

     "Why am I so important to your current mission?" she asked him quickly.

     A frown crossed his face in the low light, "I am not going to tell you that now, but you will know soon enough, I promise."

      Though she had expected this answer, she still found it annoying. "What all can you tell me about Scion? How did he gain so much power?"

      "That is a lot longer of a story, and just to be thorough, I will start from the beginning I have found." He paused and listened to the waves for a moment. "The powers that now reside within humans was not derived from humans. In the beginning there were two races upon this planet, the humans and a much more powerful race. They were very similar to humans, so maybe there was at one point a common ancestor. These beings all possessed powers much like heroes of today, but they were also immortal. For a long time, they ruled over the humans. Any time a human civilization became too powerful they would destroy it, usually in a huge flashy show of power. This caused a lot of early humans to refer to them as Gods, or demons. In a lot of aspects, they were not far off. The name they used when referring to their own race was the Ascended. Scion is the last remaining pureblood Ascended to exist."

     "What do you mean when you say he is the only remaining pureblood?" Rose asked.

     "After a long time at the top, something happened, causing the so-called gods to no longer be able to procreate within their own populace. I have discovered a couple of theories as to what happened but only one of them truly holds any weight. There was a god named Ethatoleas, and he was a very gifted scientist. He was not fond of the oppressive nature in which they kept the humans, and often spoke out against their treatment. Ethatoleas wanted to work toward a future that was beneficial for both races. I believe he created a toxin, that only affected Ascended when his attempts at diplomacy ultimately failed."

     "If they were immortal, why is he the last one left?" asked Rose. "Also didn't you tell me you were immortal?"

     Sid smiled at her, his signature smile coming back for the first time in what felt like forever. "Some of them fell to infighting, but the rest were hunted down." He glanced over at her, "I am immortal because I am almost pureblood Ascended. Fortunately, my mother passed some of her human genes to me. The story I told you about my birth is true, but there is a slight variation as to why my mother left. It is something I found out centuries after my birth. My mother was a first generation mix between a human and Ascended. Unfortunately for her she was attacked by my father, who was pureblood, and he forced himself upon her. His goal was to produce an heir. At the time the Ascended had a rule that pureblood Ascended could only breed with pureblood humans. The mix breeds were looked down upon by both races, so most of them tried to hide their heritage, which was not difficult as long as they didn't develop evident powers."

     "My gestation was rapid, which is likely why I was so deformed at birth, but my mother managed to escape from captivity long enough to flee to the monastery in which I was born. She then fled without giving them any information as to my heritage. This act I originally thought was because she did not want a deformed child, but it was to keep my father from finding me. He would have absolutely killed me had he found me as I was not exactly heir material at the time. Time would pass, and eventually my father found my mother and forced the truth out of her. I was not as worried about people tracking my actions back then and he eventually deduced from rumors that I was his lost child." Sid paused once more and thought for a moment. "He wanted me to return to his home with him and help to reclaim the former glory of the Ascended. I told him that I would not help to enslave humanity. This was not the answer he wanted to hear, so he resorted to trying to force me to go with him. He was stronger than me, but my healing capabilities kept me in the fight and I eventually outlasted him. I forced him to tell me all about my mother and it was then that I found out what had happened. As far as I know, I was the only person ever born from a pureblood Ascended and a half blood human. This ancestry gave me a certain power that no human or Ascended had ever had or hoped."

     "Is that why your healing abilities are so far beyond anyone else's and you are able to use it to increase your other physical powers?" Rose asked interestedly.

     "Yes and no. My healing powers on their own were more powerful than anyone else that has ever had the ability to regenerate, but I am referring to something different. Whenever I slay an Ascended, I can absorb their powers, not their abilities, but the power that resides within them," Sid told her. "When I killed my father, I absorbed his power, which pushed me to a new level of strength. Somehow the remaining Ascended realized my existence and they began hunting me. This was the downfall of a great number of them, and with each I finished, I grew stronger. The numerous failures that were amassed by the Ascended started to drive the remaining into hiding. They began to seek new ways of increasing in powers, either through human experimentation, such as what Scion is doing, or by merely enslaving humans to act as an army for them. Neither of these sat well with me and I began to hunt them rather than wait for them to find me."

     "Given how you have been treated by humanity, why do you have so much determination to save it?" Rose asked him curiously. "Or were you driven by the quest for more power?"

     Sid glanced over at her, "Humanity needs to decide its own fate. The result will likely be the same, but it will be their own design that brings them down rather than an external force. As for a quest for power, I have never met anyone that could stand before me victorious, so to search for more power would be redundant. I have dreamed of meeting my equal, finding someone that will eventually be my downfall. At the same time, they will have to wait until I find Scion and finish him first."

     "What became of Ethatoleas?" inquired Rose.

     This time Sid's eyes lit up with a bit of excitement. "I think you will find his story very interesting, as his legacy has impacted your life greatly."