Draith
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Chapter 161 - Stay A While
🕑 Added 2025-07-14 14:00:14 +0000 UTCAs I stared at the note in Bevel's analysis, I shook my head. If there was a tier higher than Dragon-soul, that was… well, I'd never heard of anyone at said tier, but maybe there was a reason Dragon-souls like Morgath Starforge left Ro'an behind.
Plus, after people reached Dragon-soul might’ve never bothered to inform the rest of us mere mortals if they Ascended further. Considering that even after I poked the interface for more details on the Pheonix tier and received nothing other than that singular note, it didn’t seem like the knowledge had been that common back when the Golden Halls had been built.
Another thing to ask Keeper about.
Whatever the reason, I had more important things to consider.
First, I needed a way to actually fix Tamrie's mana-body. Though, if I was reading things correctly, there was a bit better than even chance she'd awaken naturally in a couple years.
Looking at the data I’d gathered with our small collection of scans, something became immediately clear to me. We needed more samples. Preferably, from every ensouled in Cape Aeternia, plus a couple hundred regular citizens.
I was distracted when I caught a detail on my own status, a subtle little blinking light. It seemed I'd reached 100% progress on my Astral Form.
Clearly it hadn't been enough for me to ascend. I didn’t even have the fifth mana slot yet.
Sure, I'd been following the diagnostic's advice, adjusting each region of my Astral Form, but every time I did, it seemed to put something else out of place, which threw everything off. As I stared at the diagnostic, I glanced down at my arm, picturing the form that lay beneath. Shifting it slightly, I looked up at the diagnostic again.
A few seconds later, the diagnostic updated, giving me new advice.
It couldn't be that easy, could it?
With a few more gentle pushes, I confirmed that yes… yes, it could really be that easy.
I sat down with a thud, looking around at the room, screens upon screens filled with everything that was needed to ascend.
Then I shook my head. Excited as I was, I barely stopped myself from sitting down and immediately losing myself to the process.
Instead, I returned to the surface, giving Calbern and Bevel their results, written out on a sheet. I had one for them to give Banya too, which Calbern accepted with a slight inclination of his head.
"I… need to stay here for a while," I said, glancing back at the pedestal. "I think I'm on the verge of ascending to Pegasus."
"Truly?" Calbern asked, his eyes going wide. "And I thought Lady Nexxa was a prodigy."
"Oh. She is. Afterall, she figured it out all on her own while I'm using the tools of the empire who figured out how to make people into mages in the first place," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. "That said, no reason for you guys to hang out here while I'm mucking around."
"Can I watch?" Bevel asked, looking me up and down, as if I was about to transform right on the spot.
"If I could let you, I would," I said, ruffling her hair. "But it's still restricted. I'll come see you in a few hours, whether it works or not, okay?"
"Okay Papa," Bevel said, ducking under my hand to step forward and hug me. "Don't hurt yourself."
"I won't," I said, returning the hug.
Then they returned to the surface while I turned back to the pedestal.
As the golden swirls left me standing in the Ascension Assistance room, I once more appreciated the name. If this worked, it'd be proven entirely correct.
There was no way I should be able to ascend from a mage to a Pegasus in less than a year. Even ascending to Astral had been incredible, and that was a result of both Nexxa feeding me mana and the ritual Perth had used to summon me in the first place.
I ran a hand down my face, suddenly wondering if ascending to Pegasus was a good idea. For my personal power, it was obviously the way forward. But there’d be repercussions once others discovered how quickly I ascended. Getting to Astral in a month? Well, no one really knew that other than a small circle of people.
But reaching Pegasus less than a year after I awoke…
I wasn't looking forward to the rumors that would spread if I was successful. Especially since Nexxa had already figured out how to ascend quickly through the Pegasus tier. Then again, if I could speedrun my way up to Hydra, there wouldn’t be many threats in our corner of the world for us to worry about.
Just how soon would I be able to stand as her equal?
Even as I was engaged in reflection, I began the slow, tedious, and far too effective process of pushing my gel-like mana into place, following the diagnostics every step of the way.
I'd occasionally glance at the overall status, only to see the number flicker down to ninety-nine percent before going back to one hundred.
A few hours later, despite the desire to continue, I stopped. I'd promised Bevel.
So I pushed off the floor, blinking as I stretched. I hadn't ascended to Pegasus. My initial estimate had been a bit too optimistic. Making the changes made things a bit too pliable, which meant any further adjustments in an area would set me back more than help. Which meant that after making a change, I had to let it settle for a few hours anyway.
Still, I wasn't years away. If things kept going as smoothly as they had, I was thinking days, at most.
The next few days passed smoothly, walking the forest with Tamrie, fixing up the scanners alongside Bevel, sharing designs with Inertia and talking about flying with Tresla.
A lot of people asking me to touch up their homes. A lot of time spent creating entirely new homes along the new road stretching along the coast south of Verdant Point.
Nexxa stopped in a couple days later, visiting Bevel and I in the enchanting workshop where we were working on combining the separate scanners into a single unit. We were at the point where we could get any three of them to work together, but all six at once was still out of reach.
Picking up one of the prototypes, Nexxa tilted it back and forth as Bevel started explaining what we were doing.
I sat back, a proud smile tugging at my lips as they talked. The smile got even bigger when I got drawn in, and we spent the next few hours working together on it.
“That… wasn’t why I came,” Nexxa said as Bevel tested the latest prototype on her aunt, muttering when the jade crystal flashed and turned black.
While Bevel took the crystal over to be ‘flushed’, I asked, “Why did you come? Not that you’re not welcome to just drop in.”
“I’ve started pushing down towards my new territory. Lots of wildlife to cull, but its been going well,” Nexxa said, her hands flexing as Bevel returned, using the scanner again, the jade gaining a small dot next to it when the scan was complete. “Was hoping to get you to throw up an outpost, about halfway along the road.”
“Yeah, I can do that. Though I want to get to Pegasus first,” I said, still watching Bevel work.
“Unless there’s something you haven’t told me, I don’t think I can wait that long,” Nexxa said, crossing her arms while glaring at me. “Why do I feel like there’s something you haven’t told me, Per Per?”
“Uh… didn’t mean to keep it from you,” I said, swallowing while giving her a smile. “We’ve been making sure not to mention it. But I’m really close. There’s a… device that’s helping me. I… wow, how did I not think of this earlier. You’re a Magus Protectus too. I can show you.”
“Okay… color me intrigued,” Nexxa said, tilting her head to the side. “Show me what?”
“The Golden Halls,” I said, chuckling. “Specifically, the Ascension Assistance.”
“No fair,” Bevel said, smacking the scan crystal in my hand. “I want to come too.”
“You know I’d bring you if I could,” I said, ruffling her hair.
She pushed at my hand idly, but not with any real force, nodding.
“Well, you might not be able to come with us, but I did bring you a gift,” Nexxa said, reaching behind her back.
Bevel’s eyes lit up as shifted in place.
Then Nexxa pulled out a crossbow as long as Bevel was tall. On closer inspection, I realized it wasn’t a crossbow. It was a sort of advanced sling that would propel whatever was strapped into it.
There was just enough enchanting to retract the device with the press of a button, but it was otherwise mechanical.
It was currently loaded with the skeleton of a snake the size of Bevel’s arm.
“Whoa…” Bevel said, taking the heavy device from Nexxa while I just stared.
“What does a fourteen year old girl even need with a skull launching ballista?” I asked, shaking my head with a rueful chuckle.
“Trick question,” Nexxa replied, grinning at me. “What doesn’t she need it for?”
“Thanks miss Nexxa,” Bevel said, even as she raised the heavy weapon.
“Hey, hey,” I said, pushing it to the side so it wasn’t pointed at us. “Petal rod safety rules.”
Bevel nodded seriously, though a second later she pulled the trigger and sent the snake launching down the workshop towards Neta.
There was part of me that wanted to tell her to take it outside, but the enchanting workshop was probably the best place for her to be experimenting with it during the storm.
Neta catching the snake out of the air before bringing it back to Bevel also weighed in my adopted daughter’s favor.
A few hours later, after getting Bevel to promise she wouldn’t use the crossbow outside of the workshop, I brought Nexxa to the Golden Halls.
“So… this is the guy, huh?” Nexxa asked as we stood over Balthum
“Near as we can tell, yeah,” I said. Was still weird to see Keria’s face looking back, even if the stone had become a sort of mottled grey that none of the others had.
“You sure you don’t want me to just…” She waved a hand over the sarcophagus, sparks arcing over her knuckles. “Make him go poof?”
“We should be good, but if you want to be here in a couple days when he comes out, I wouldn’t mind the backup,” I said, checking the status to confirm that it was indeed still a couple days until he woke up.
“I’ll be here,” Nexxa confirmed, voice solemn.
“Anyway, this is cool and all, but it’s not what I wanted to show you. Come on.”
A minute later, we were in the diagnostic room, and Nexxa had a bemused smile on her face as she looked at the displays. “This is all very fancy, Perry, but the beacon gives us all the same information.”
“Not all,” I said, bringing up the section on ascending to Djinn.
“What is…” Nexxa trailed off, reading through the recommendations.
I wasn’t much better, since I hadn’t been able to get the diagnostic to tell me anything about Hydra before she’d visited.
Everyone knew that sacrifices were an important part of getting through Hydra souled. It was more well known that how mages got to Astral. Because you had to hunt and kill the sacrifice yourself.
It made for incredible stories.
Except… according to the display, there were other ways to ascend.
Nexxa’s recommended solutions included submerging herself in the eternal storm for a total of four-thousand or so hours or sacrificing a lightning dragon’s horns.
It had dozens of others suggestions, all of which were sub-optimal, since they didn’t align with her existing being.
While Nexxa continued looking through her options, I took a seat in front of one of the displays for my own ascension.
It was almost anticlimactic. After five minutes, sitting in the Golden Halls, wearing the robes Calbern had picked out for me, the ones with the flap I could never get right myself, with Nexxa poking and prodding at the interface, I ascended from Astral to Pegasus.
It was just one last push of the gel-like form into place. A simple yet profound moment as everything in my soul lined up with my body.
I felt… light. Lighter than air. Nexxa had described her ascension to Pegasus a couple times. About how she felt more closely aligned with the Storm, yet hadn't let go of her roots.
It was different for me.
There was no storm. No roots or earth or wind or other magical phenomenon.
For me it was the slow turn of an engine, before it rumbled to life. A spark, that turned into an explosion, driving pistons. The sound of squealing rubber and scorching brakes.
It was a laugh, ever so clear, as a hand brushed over a hairpin with a blue gemstone in it while we spun around the dance floor. A wrinkled face, his slight smile gently mocking me while standing firmly behind me. Ruffled hair, covering eyes full of curiosity and mischief, full of life and wonder despite witnessing so much loss. The whistle-hiss of laughter and clanking work of a brilliant and stubborn friend.
And… perhaps a little bit of storm, hidden behind the crooked smile of the woman who embodied them.
It was the sound of cloth catching wind, as sails and sweaters became the rope pulling our people into the sky.
It was even rags and oil.
As I took a deep breath, I realized the rags and oil may have been more literal than the rest. I'd forgotten one other thing Nexxa had told me about ascending.
"Do not wear clothes you want to keep when you hit Pegasus."
Comments
Druid
Something tells me Nexxa is going to be visiting the Halls of Ascension frequently if she can manage it.
Druid
As soon as I saw the chapter title I thought of Deckard Cain.
