The Path of Ascension

Matt watched the distant ruin intently as Liz carefully cut the barbed crossbow bolt out of his back.

The pain in his back was far less intense than the pain in his head.

Matt repeatedly went over the choices that they… No, that he had made to reach this point.

Their AIs were picking up a few questions and cries for help, but the ruin was still actively shooting down every satellite that orbited the planet anywhere near it. Because of the destruction, the connection to the PlanetNet was spotty this close to the runaway ruin.

All Matt could think of was the rift breaks that had taken his city by storm.

A still foggy memory flashed before his eyes. Matt was being escorted to the bus stop by his mother, whose face was still blurry. She listened to him talk about something he couldn’t quite remember. He thought it was about some show he used to watch, but he couldn’t put a finger on it after so many years.

As he watched a swarm of golems lifting up a tree, the memories continued to flood in.

After he boarded the bus with his mother, he remembered sitting with his friend, and chatting with them about more innocuous subjects that he couldn’t quite remember.

What he did remember was the scream. The horrible, ear splitting scream. Someone to his left had seen it first, and the screech they had let out at the sight was as startling as it was mind numbing. They rushed to the side of the bus, to get a glimpse of the creature that was a mix between a turtle and a porcupine. The monster seemed massive to the younger Matt, but it was really the size of a small car. It was large, but not an unusual size for a Tier 4 monster, but as a child it was huge, larger than life. The rift-rage filled monster launched a volley of massive spines at the road, directly in front of their bus.

The spines were longer than Matt was tall at the time, and they skewered a passing car as they screamed through the air. A few even punched through the side of the bus. One kid was impaled through the leg, but overall the passengers had been lucky. Matt could see that now, looking back. But at the time, he was simply petrified at the mere sight of an injury.

One of the bus tires was completely shredded by spines, but the driver was able to react in time to avoid disaster. Instead of driving to the edge of the city, where their school was, he drove away from the monsters and towards the city center. Heading for the wealthier, better defended portion of the city proved to be the right decision, as more than half of the general populace was wiped out during the rift break.

Matt remembered waiting in the ballroom of the fancy hotel they had stopped at, waiting for news. He still felt the fear that came with watching kids getting picked up after another, as their parents came and got them, with his own nowhere to be found.

Matt reached for his canteen but his hand shook so badly he needed to grip it with both hands to avoid spilling any. The water when he got it down only seemed to give the bile which was churning in his stomach a path to follow to his mouth where the taste lingered.

He remembered being a part of the group of children that were left overnight, and how they had eventually come to the realization that no one was coming for them.

That first night had set the tone for the next few weeks.

Adults had tried to dodge questions, and no one wanted to tell them the truth about what had happened.

There was more than one rift break, which led to mass hysteria across the entire capital city of planet Lilly. The monster that attacked his bus was from one of three rift breaks that had rampaged throughout that particular borough. The second rift break produced a rat-type monster swarm that had eaten everything in its path. The third rift break produced a fire elemental that had burnt down entire neighborhoods, along with giant swaths of land.

The building that he lived in was attacked by the rat swarm, and not even a single body was able to be recovered. The building that his father helped build as a civil engineer had been set alight by the elemental. Even the concrete had been reduced to ashes.

Matt watched as another group of golems rose up into the air, with some cargo he was unable to identify.

The twinges in his back were nothing to him compared to the guilt that he felt.

Matt felt numb to everything in the world, other than the massive pit in his stomach.

How many have I killed today?

The thought had been haunting Matt from the very moment he had been roused back to consciousness.

He was brooding about how many more would be killed as each second passed.

His hopes of a higher Tier intervening had been dashed as he witnessed the path of destruction widen, instead of being contained.

Even without his AI tracking the ruin’s movements, he already knew that it was headed towards the city they had arrived at when teleporting into the planet.

He hoped that whoever the Seven Suns had sent to oversee the place would be able to take the ruin out once and for all. It was a small hope, but it was the only thing that helped.

As he felt the bolt being carefully pulled out of his back, he heard Liz ask, “You good Matt?”

She rubbed his shoulder, but her normally soothing touch was no comfort to him.

How could he face the most important woman in his life after what he had done?

He had no doubts that this was entirely his fault. If he hadn’t pushed to investigate the vault, this would have never happened.

If he hadn’t insisted on powering up the ruin to get into the vault, this repressed nightmare wouldn’t be recurring before his eyes.

He was so used to rifts being self-contained, that he had gotten accustomed to none of his actions having any real consequences.

From their vantage point, they were able to see skills being used, and golems flocking to the areas where the latest victims were putting up resistance. Now, he was sure that the death toll was only increasing.

His stomach kept insisting on purging all of its contents, and it was only the complete insensibility to anything but his guilt that prevented him from vomiting.

Liz tried to get through to him again. He was unable to keep from flinching at her touch. He didn’t deserve her compassion.

“Matt, talk to me… Please? You’re closing up. Even Aster is worried.”

He looked down at Aster, who was curled up at his feet. He felt a pang of remorse, but kept their connection closed. Even she couldn’t handle the cold that he bore in his heart.

It was his burden, not hers.

“Liz... I did all of this. This is my fault.”

He half expected her to hate him, and the other half expected her to deny it. He wasn’t sure which would be worse.

Liz plopped down next to him and picked up Aster. The fox took her usual place on his lap.

She looked into his eyes with her glacier blue gemstones, but he found it hard to return her gaze. His bond looked at him with love and acceptance, while pushing both at him, along with partially formed comments of reassurance.

He didn’t deserve that either.

Liz interrupted his mental self-harm when she leaned her head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand. Her whisper barely reached his ear, “We fucked this one up pretty badly, huh?”

Matt blurted out, with more venom in his voice than he intended, “Not we. It was me.”

Camilla, from behind them, spoke before he could continue. “No, Matt. it was all of us. We fucked up. Each of us. You weren’t the only one who wanted to explore the vault. Or the ruin.”

“It...” That was all he got out before Liz jumped in.

“We fucked up, yes. But I think this one was inevitable. We just sped up the process.”

As he opened his mouth to refute her, he stopped and followed the line of logic. He was desperate for anything that would absolve him of the guilt that was boring deeper and deeper into his gut with each passing moment.

“Sure, we did input mana into the system, but remember that the golems started to glow on their own. That was even before we started contributing mana to the ruin. I think that first blow in the fight with the first golem was what started the reaction that eventually led to the ruin absorbing ambient mana.”

That made a lot of sense to him, but as much as he wanted to believe her words, it was an indisputable fact that he had sped up the process by nearly two million mana. It was his fault that this had happened so soon, if nothing else.

At this point, Aster’s wet nose was pressed into his throat. The sensation jarred him enough to drop the barrier that he had maintained between them.

He was immediately flooded with happy thoughts and some haphazardly formed words.

She had been getting better at forming her thoughts into words, rather than feelings and images, as her intelligence increased from advancing to Tier 5.

But her efforts did little to reassure him.

He was far too engrossed in watching the destruction as the ruin passed. His only hope at absolution was a higher Tier on the planet cleaning up his mess. There was at least one Tier 7 group on the planet. They had been in the group that they had arrived on the planet with.

A single Tier of advantage wasn’t huge, but it should be enough to deal with the golems. Even if the Tier 15s in the star system didn’t act, the Tier 7s should be able to avert this crisis to a degree.

With [Endurance] running with as much mana as he could muster, he checked his AI for Liz and Camilla’s mana pools, and pushed with everything he had towards them.

Camilla was startled, if the noise he heard from behind him was any indication. But he knew that Liz was still hurting, and he could care less about his secret being exposed when her health was on the line. He had more permissions to her AI, and was able to see that her leg injury would be slow to heal, as she was rationing her mana.

They wouldn’t be perfectly healed any time soon, with [Endurance] only bolstering the body’s natural healing. But they could be combat-ready in a few hours, and fully healed in a few days. He was giving them enough mana to keep their respective healing spells going. The bolts hadn’t had any anti-healing enchantments or poison, which simplified the process.

With his emotions still unsettled, Matt moved to his bag. The movement pulled at the wounds on his back with newly forming scabs. They ripped open as he shifted his weight, only to be healed over again quickly by [Endurance].

Camilla moved over and interrupted his brooding. “So... Why is my mana regen suddenly a lot higher? I wouldn’t ask usually, but this isn’t normal. At first, I thought it was just an oddity from being in the ruin. But now...”

She trailed off, but the question was obvious.

Matt tried to think of a clever excuse, but he just didn’t have it in him to keep the ruse up, so he told the truth. At least most of it.

“I have a Concept that allows me to pass mana along to others.”

He paused, and considered that she had also seen the other half of his Concept. He added, “And can push things away, but that’s a secondary function. It's a bit more...” He searched for the word he wanted. “Expensive to use.”

“And this won’t deplete your mana reserves or anything? I don’t want you to run out of mana just from trying to keep us going.”

Matt didn’t answer immediately and just watched her. Did she not do any calculations regarding how much mana he was putting into the ruin? He was sure that they had mentioned his abnormal regeneration.

Was she trying to get more information out of him by playing dumb? Matt decided that it was the most likely answer, and just nodded.

“I can put out a lot of mana. Let’s leave it at that. Don’t worry about me, at least when it comes to that. This side of my Concept is easier to use, and doesn’t drain me as much, but I can’t control who gets it yet. Only the size of the area is under my influence, so I won’t use it near others. But this will help us keep going.

Camilla dropped to the ground next to them and said, “What are we going to do? Even if the same thing would have happened with anyone else going into the ruin, we still started it. We’re culpable for what’s going on out there.”

Matt felt the weight of that responsibility fall squarely on his shoulders.

Camilla was right. They needed to do something.

Matt wanted to upload the information they had on the golems, but there was no signal in the area. Just to be sure, he checked his AI and ended up getting a ping from the PlanetNet.

It quickly grew stronger, but before he could send a message on the network, a message came through to him.

The message was a video conference and chatroom. The quality was bad, but improving.

The man spoke with a voice that sounded like gravel. Matt thought it was a problem with the connection, but as the video improved, he saw that the man appeared as if he was cut from stone. Literally. He was all hard edges and sharp corners.

“I’m sure most of you know me, but for those foreigners, I am Prince Albert, fourth prince of the Seven Sun’s kingdom. We are currently leading an escape from the northernmost teleporter city.”

The man swallowed, and his crystalline skin rippled with his swallow.

“The flying fortress is headed our way, and we have been unable to stop it.”

The chat, which was moving quickly, started to fly by with repeats of the same messages.

‘What about the overseers?’

‘What about the Tier 15’s?’

Those were the two most common questions and the rest echoed that sentiment.

The prince raised a hand, but as he was speaking to a camera, the gesture was useless. More comments and questions came pouring in.

“We are unable to get help from the Tier 15 watching over the teleporter. He has stated that this is our problem, and to that end, he had restricted access to the platform to incoming teleports only. To further complicate matters, he has captured the Tier 7 teams, and is holding them back from interfering.”

Matt and the others were shocked by that revelation.

It echoed Matt’s greatest fears.

The prince called for calm, but the chat exploded from the new information.

“We apologize for this news. We believe that this is an assassination attempt. As We are low Tier 6, sending a peak Tier 6 disaster like this is within the rules. Again, We apologize profusely for getting the rest of you wrapped up in this. To combat this disaster, We ask that all functional teams move to the designated locations, and move to protect each other. We currently are using the reserve satellites to get this message out, as the fortress is shooting down any satellites that venture near it.”

Albert raised a hand to seemingly wipe his face, but aborted the motion.

“Our final action before we retreat will be to ground the remaining satellites, in an effort to ensure that communication will remain a possibility. The satellites can make a nominal consultation hub, and ensure that information can be passed through the network. Though, it will be limited. We are transmitting the estimated crash locations now. We ask anyone able, protect the lower Tier adventurers. Once again, We apologize for the hardship that has befallen us all.”

The prince looked to cut the transmission, but paused.

Hope filled his voice.

“We have just received a message containing information about the fortress from a private source. It will be transmitted to everyone now.”

Matt looked around, and Camila rolled her eyes.

“I’m not going to out us, but it’s good information that needs to be shared. We can help people without putting a target on our back.”

Before he could think over the ramifications of her actions, the prince’s words cut through.

“Please take this information and protect yourselves. We suggest that anyone wishing to let this blow over head to a rift, and stay inside for the next few weeks. If you can hold the entrance for fifteen minutes, the rift will instance, and you will have only to contend with the rift itself. This mess will be solved either way, once that much time has passed.”

“For those that are willing and able to fight, please head to the crash sites, and we’ll distribute more information once we are no longer running. If you...”

With that, the transmission cut off, and Matt rubbed his face in his hands.

“I don’t think hiding that we did this is a good idea.” The thought of causing this and not taking responsibility made Matt’s guts roil.

Liz nodded with him but Camilla kicked his leg hard and glared at Liz who was out of her reach.

“Think it through. We fucked up, sure. But who’s to say that they won’t just slit our throats? This isn’t the Empire proper, or even a civilized place like the capital. Your status of being on The Path won’t matter for shit here. Stop being naive. There is no communication off this rock and no one to help us but ourselves”

That stung, but a part of Matt whispered that she was right, and that they could just avoid responsibility for now. He agreed with the assessment, but he also wanted, and even needed, to do something to mitigate the damage he had caused. He also had understood her jab about the capital of this vassal kingdom, being civilized. As they knew from experience, that was hardly the case.

But in the end, the fear of getting killed in retaliation won, and Matt didn’t argue with her any more. The cowardice just added to the weight of all the deaths that he had caused, but it wasn’t enough to risk Liz and Aster’s lives in the crossfire.

Liz spoke up. “The prince might be right, though.”

Seeing their confusion, she elaborated. “About this being an assassination attempt. The world is under the control of the two Tier 15 overseers. Holding back and not stopping this is one thing. You could even argue that this is a good training scenario. But not protecting the city, and only protecting the teleporter is another thing entirely. Capturing the Tier 7 teams also points to some sort of foul play. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re a part of one of the other heir’s factions, and using this as an assassination attempt of opportunity.”

Matt was genuinely shocked at the idea. “Why would siblings try to kill each other? Any death would be investigated.”

Liz shrugged.

“This isn’t tolerated in the Empire proper, but here, the titles are hereditary. So that means, if you can make sure that you’re the last one standing...”

She let the statement peter off. It was enough.

Matt just couldn’t believe that someone would let so many lives be endangered, simply for the chance at killing one single prince. He could understand the power plays, but to be willing to write off so many lives? No, that was more than he could easily stomach.

He just shook his head, while using the sensation of Aster’s silky fur under his hands to calm himself down.

The fact this was his fault, and that he brought on another instance of the same disaster that had taken so much from him, ate at him. There was just nothing that he could do about it.

I swear, I will do whatever I can to fix this. We’ll get to the landing site, and I’m sure that the prince will want to send strike teams to the ruin or something. I can help.

Matt looked to the rest of his team, judging their moods before correcting himself.

We can help. We have to help. The sooner we bring that behemoth down, the sooner the deaths of the innocent will stop.

The roiling in his stomach lessened, and he calmed down once the decision was made. It wasn’t a perfect answer, but Matt never claimed to be perfect. This was the best he could do.

He made to stand, but Liz grabbed his hand and pulled him down.

“No.”

Matt started to explain, but she shook her head.

“Matt, we need to rest and recover. You have the worst injuries out of all of us, and the slowest healing. You can’t be half as effective as usual if we want to actually help.”

“That’s true, sure. But it’s not important. I can heal just as well on the move. We need to get going.”

Camilla supported Liz’s point.

“We can’t even move right now, with the golems still patrolling. Besides, moving on foot is too slow. It's better to wait, and then fly just above the treeline, when it’s safe.”

She met his eyes, for what he realized was the first time.

“Matt, getting yourself killed helps no one. Think it through. Don’t listen to the guilt. I know where that path leads”

“The guilt is the worst part, Camilla. I… We did this. We set this in motion. This is our fault.”

“Yes, it is. But think about it more. This is a subjugation. No one here is unaware of the risks. Sure, the Tier 15 is fucking us by not letting the higher Tiers participate, but we’re still good fighters. Or at least, you three are. I’m not quite at that level yet, but still. Even at Tier 5, we can make a difference. But getting killed because we’re injured and were too impatient is just stupid.”

Liz chimed in. “We can even try and gather some people for the re-engagement as we move to the nearest gathering point.”

That reminded Matt to check for the nearest location of a gathering point, set by the prince. The plan was set in motion, and while it might not be perfect, it was what everyone else had heard. And so, they needed to follow it. At least far enough to get communications established. Other, more involved and impactful plans could follow from that. But until then, they were limited to following the majority.

The news wasn’t good. The closest landing site was incredibly far away. The nearly two hundred miles was a short trip on his flying sword, but the more Matt thought about it, the worse the idea sounded. The forest gave them cover, and they would need that if they were to move undetected.

Matt also wanted to try and rescue as many people in their area as possible. If their teleport group was representative of the average subjugation group for this planet, there would be quite a few Tier 4s.

If they didn’t get help, they would be slaughtered en masse.

Matt felt responsible for them.

This was still his fault.

“Ok, let’s rest up for the evening. It’s almost dark here anyway.”

With [Endurance] eating most of his mana, Matt paced around the entrance of the cave that they had set up camp in. During his watch, he watched as the scene outside the cave returned to a quiet normal. There was a swath of land that was absolutely devastated by the ruin’s drones, and the area in front of their cave was no exception. But the scale was completely different when compared to the area directly below the floating mountain.

Matt made plans while he paced back and forth. Even with [Endurance] helping to keep him going, he was tired and wanted to sleep. Aster had refused to leave his side, and was curled over his shoulders. It was awkward, but he didn’t have it in him to push her away.

When his shift ended, he was so tired, he hardly even took note of Camilla sharing the tent. It was a four-person tent, and was plenty large enough for two to be comfortable and not cramped. But he worried that the somewhat close quarters would make the girl uncomfortable. In the end, his tiredness won out over his concern, and he craved the climate control that the tent offered.

The next morning, he was so stiff and sore, getting out of the tent was a chore. Even with [Endurance] being channeled from the moment he woke up, moving was still a struggle. It wasn’t a perfect skill, even when expanded as it had been. It was just all they had and the best that they could get.

The skill still helped, and seeing Camilla on watch, he started to cook breakfast. The smell woke Liz and Aster, and brought Camilla back into the cave.

After they scarfed down the food, Liz spoke up.

“I think we should move in a wide, zig-zag pattern until we find people. Once we do, we can either help them if they need it, or start getting people to meet up at the crash site. Most won’t have a flying item, and we can act as messengers for the prince.”

Matt nodded at her suggestion. Getting people to group up would be a step in the right direction. There would be safety in numbers.

With the plan set, they moved to the entrance and got on the flying sword.

In wide sweeping arcs, they used the speed of the blade to cover lots of ground. The first two groups they found were Tier 6 teams, who appreciated being directed towards one another.

The third group turned out to be a problem.

It was a group of what seemed to be two parties, being chased by a swarm of the spiders that they had been ambushed by in the ruin. They were almost completely encircled by the time the group got close enough to help.

Why they were out of the ruin, was a question that Matt couldn’t answer. But the monsters glowed with the mana that they had absorbed.

Their quick movements through the forested terrain were in stark contrast to their haphazard actions in the ruin. The added speed of the spider’s attacks only added to the danger of their mana enhanced, bladed legs.

Matt dropped from the flying sword with Camilla, while Liz and Aster started to rain down attacks from above.

One of the group shouted to them, but their words were lost over the noise of battle.

Matt brought his longsword around and released a [Mana Charge], and disintegrated three of the skittering spider golems.

He saw Camilla’s mace sweep through the mass of monsters, and they started to pull back alongside the newly discovered group, as the wave of spider golems kept approaching. Their intervention pulled the swarm in two directions, which was enough to stop the other group of cultivators from being surrounded.

A mass of blood fell from the sky, and started to sweep back and forth through the backline of the monsters. Matt didn’t have the time to truly appreciate the damage that Liz was doing. But from the sound of splashing, he knew Liz was probably taking out more golems on her own than he and Camilla were together.

A wave of cold washed over him from his side, and between swings of his sword, Matt saw large shards of ice shred through scores of spider golems.

From the other group, a wave of [Earth Spikes] added to the chaos, and the ensuing carnage seemed to be enough to force the spider golems to retreat.En masse, they turned and disappeared into the forest.

After the battle, the other group came over to them. Out of the eleven cultivators, all but one was limping, and a quick scan told Matt that he was the only Tier 6 of the bunch.

He came over and put out a hand, quickly shaking both his and Camilla’s, before introducing himself.

“Geraden, Tier 6 solo fighter. I picked up these groups on my way to the meeting area. Please tell me there are others there. We need medical aid and some rest. This is the third ambush we’ve been hit with so far, and we’re almost out of mana.”

Matt took all that in, and nodded at the man. He reached into his bag and pulled out two of their clotting potions. They weren’t true healing potions, but they could stabilize an injured person for a while. He didn’t give them everything, since they only had two dozen, and these resources would become increasingly scarce while the outpost was destroyed. Crafters needed workshops and infrastructure to work properly, and that would be in short supply with the ruin destroying everything it could.

As the potions were sparingly used, Matt thanked the man for his help with the lower Tiers. The reaction he got was not what he expected.

“I couldn’t give two shits about the people. These golems are destroying the forest with no regard for nature. If it wasn’t destroying everything it touched, I wouldn’t care at all if it slaughtered everyone here.”

Matt looked closer at the man. He was wearing what looked like woven-together leaves and vines. His staff felt more like a living tree than a piece of deadwood. The man’s manufactured boots seemed like a contradiction to the nature man theme, but they were a top-of-the-line hiking and combat boot. Matt knew, only because he was wearing a nearly identical pair.

Shrugging, Matt just looked at the retreating swarm.

“Did you all see where they came from, or have any guesses where they’re coming from?”

Geraden nodded, and said, “The shits were camped out at a surface ore vein, and were reproducing. We stumbled on them, and well... We didn’t win. Let’s leave it at that.”

Matt looked to the rest of his team, and they all nodded. They had their next target.