Nyla’s eyes flashed with anger and through gritted teeth she inquired, “Precise number.”

“Seven hundred and forty-three thousand Explorers, among their number were, five hundred and twenty-five Explorers at the Heroic Rank, two hundred and ninety….”

The numbers faded to a dull droning at the edge of her mind, and she closed her eyes, reciting the mantra of her creed within, and for the first time the words that had given her so much strength in the long years felt so meaningless, and her mind could not leave the singular image of that monster on the beach.

The details of his appearance in the ill-fated events were branded in her mind. He had dropped out of the sky in the body of a mortal, but only those who had never been mortal before would be deceived by his appearance. He was perfect, and the one thing that every mortal was not, was perfect.

Those eyes seemed to contain the void and yet filled with such a stark curiosity as if he was a child where everything was new and yet he seemed to know everything at the same time. He was both filled up and yet still empty.

A hand that touched her face and where she was expecting coldness, she was met with warmth. He did not breathe, the entire time he stood in front of her he was not breathing, he should have been cold… yet his hands held a warmth that drove away ten thousand years of pain and sorrow from her heart.

The hand of a butcher of men, but also a protector of life.

His Beauty made the mind filled with fire and also chill for nothing in existence was supposed to be this perfect or beautiful.

Two opposing natures living inside a single being, yet they did not cancel each other, they seemed to be in harmony, breeding something greater than the sum of their parts… light and darkness as one, becoming something greater than either could ever be… this was…

Her mind went cold and Nyla shook, as fear filled her mind and she unexpectedly released a small whimper of fear, uncaring about the gaze of astonishment directed towards her by the Ruler of Stone Reach.

What she had been contemplating was heresy. It was almost like thinking Ascendancy and Calamity could become one.

Suppressing these thoughts with everything inside her she looked up, “Take me to the Divine Ascendant, we have much to discuss.”

R

Seven hours later, Nyla, whose presence was almost like a ghost drifted through the mighty Castle that was Stone Reach, her mind was blank and she was clutching a paper in her right hand.

Like always she found herself in the Crescent Garden, a work of art that combined flowers, flowing pools, and delicate animals to create a picturesque scene that represented peace and harmony. The reason she had stayed at Stone Reach and had never requested a reassignment for the greater part of seven centuries was due to this garden.

Nyla sat here for another hour before she carefully opened the note passed to her by the Divine Ascendant. As always no one had ever seen their appearance, even a Temple Maiden like her who had seen hundreds of Ascendants in her lifetime had never seen the enigmatic Divine Ascendant.

She had knelt before a large metallic grate when she responded to the summoning of the Ascendant, and then she had narrated everything that had transpired, including the being she had seen on the beach, and the events that had previously occurred when the Explorers at the beach were able to gain Aura despite their usage of tools only.

Nyla had expected that her confession should have brought a small measure of peace, but her recollection of the event only made what happened seem more complex and confusing, so many things were not adding up, and the silence of the Divine Ascendant for hours did not help matters.

A small piece of paper had been slipped through the grate, this turned out to be the only reply she had received, and now hours later, she slowly peeled back the paper and stared at it for a while confused for it held only a single line.

Eyes seek the ring, as giants of gold and blood wander the castle.

The Divine Ascendant had always been a strange being, but this cryptic message only added to her confusion,

“Nyla, can I see that paper?”

A voice sounded just ahead of her position, and she looked up, startled, and there he was. He had only said a few words to her at that time on the beach, and she was now ashamed in her discovery that she had not repeated those words during her report to the Divine Ascendant.

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She had asked him, “Are you the one responsible for this?”

He had replied, “I am, now I collect.” before bringing his hand to hover above her heart, “You should know inside yourself who I am.”

Sheer panic seized her heart, the answer to all her questions had been right in front of her all this while, yet a part of herself had been blinded from the truth.

Her body was frozen in place as she looked back to the being who stood a few feet away, his back resting on a green tree with red flowers. His features complemented the scene as he appeared to be the perfect form of life, the essence of all her worship.

He no longer looked like a boy but a man, taller than most, he did not lose any of the charms of youth but instead, it had been elevated, most especially in his eyes and voice.

At first, his eyes were like a dark pit leading to the Abyss, yet it was filled with a mysterious sort of flame, and now that feeling had taken shape, for golden spots like stars glinted in that darkness, it was… mesmerizing.

Despite all these, nothing held her attention more than his voice, the sheer majesty and power inside them yet still wrapped in a harmonious tone that felt like one was listening to the best

sound under the heavens.

“Thank you,” he said as he smiled, and Nyla found out that all these while her mind had been occupied, but her body was obeying his words.