Chapter 25: Ascension

The days rolled by, autumn became winter and soon the preparations for Yun’s ascent to the Heaven rank were all in place. At the top of the mountain there was a great tree growing, one that stretched and seemed to bridge the sky and earth, with bark etched with thousands of marks and sigils that only had one reference point, the Book of Creation. With each passing day the mana that swirled round the mountain and propagated the area became thicker and thicker, until the people living in the mountain could not help but worry about being noticed by the stone soldiers. As the days went by and there were no attacks they worried less and less about it. They could only assume that they had somehow managed to avoid the ire of the hivemind.

Cleo thought otherwise, and dreaded each time a lookout walked into the hall, fearing that this time might be the day when she finally hears the words ushering in the terrifying apocalypse for the people of Biqiril. Law, on the other hand seemed completely unconcerned. It was something that she could not understand, and even when he asked her what he was thinking he would simply obfuscate her with talk of glyphic properties and the language of the Book of Creation. It was interesting, and she often learned things from him, but she still did not know why he simply did not seem to be afraid of the executioner's axe that hung over their heads.

The more she worried about it, the quicker the days went by and the faster the mana built up to the point where the mana was almost forming streams of fluid that rippled and flowed down the mountain. Every day she would ask Law if it was time and every time he simply responded with “Soon enough”. It was infuriating and yet for some reason she did not mind as much as she would normally.

Then one day it all changed and the stones began falling into place. Cleo met Law in the hall as usual, but Yun was late. Very late. Normally he and Louisa would be last down to the hall of the group, but they would not usually be more than half an hour later than everyone else. Yun was not one for missing breakfast, and they stopped serving food after an hour of service. Today however, neither he nor Louisa had shown up by the time the tables were being cleared. It screamed of oddity to Cleo, and seemed to make Law excited.

Law turned to look at Cleo. “Today’s the day,” he said. He was fidgeting more than normal, but he did not pull out his Book or some sort of creation to fiddle with like she normally saw him do. Instead he stood up and began to walk to the exit of the hall. About half way there, he turned back and shouted “are you coming, Cleo? Or are you going to miss the event?”

Cleo started and quickly followed him. They walked up through the halls and round, through the main construction hall and out onto the platform they had arrived at the mountain on. Laurence purposefully strode out of the dock and up to a small stairway that Yun had made through their time in Biqiril. It was a simple affair, sharp stone with a set of runes that prevented slipping through the use of matte surfacing and a fire glyph that made sure neither water or ice could form on any of the steps. The stairwell climbed all the way up the mountain to the very peak, although the peak no longer truly existed. In its place was a flat floor and the giant tree that had been planted and scored.

Beneath the tree sat Yun and Louisa. Yun had his back against the bark of the tree and was facing the rising sun, completely oblivious to the cold wind that was making his mate shiver profusely. Louisa turned when she heard someone come up the stairs and smiled when she saw Law and Cleo.

“Welcome! You’ve arrived just in time. Did you notify Jim and Winoa?” she said, her voice quiet in the whistling wind.

“I did, they should be here soon,” Law replied.

As he spoke there was a clamouring from behind them. Cleo turned and saw Winoa rush up the stairs, followed more demurely by Jim. They were both excited, but Jim was taking his time. He was not prepared for the weather, so every step was laborious for him. The wind whipped up as the level of mana increased around Yun. More and more, mana infused wind rippled around them all, centering on Yun and wrapping around them all in a spiral. Wispy clouds began forming above them slowly obscuring the tree branches from those below, but the morning sun lit the clouds and gave them a rosy-golden tint. He breathed in the mana clouds and as he breathed out, the clouds split and coiled around his head and formed a crown that capped the mountain and spread through the sky. Yun was like an emperor over all he surveyed as the crown of mana grew and connected him to the world around him.

Cleo and Law both stood and watched as the world began warping around Yun, bringing him closer and closer to divine creation itself. It was amazing to see, but Cleo could not shake the feeling that there was something wrong. She turned around and gazed out into the surroundings. From here she could see the swamps that spread round the feet of the mountain range and the wasteland of the stone soldiers in the far distance. She moved closer to Law as the feeling within got worse and worse, gripping his hand tightly she could not tear her eyes away from the wasteland.

Law, on the other hand was staring at Yun, watching his brother ascend and looking for hints to help with his own ascension. Every-so-often Cleo would hear him mutter something about density or pressure, but she could not pay attention. There was too much fear writhing around in her intestines for her to feel anything other than abject terror at what she desperately hoped was not coming. An hour went by, and the mana became denser, but the more time that went by the more Cleo could not get rid of the existential dread that had been building up within her. Her palms were clammy, and she gripped Law's arm even tighter than she had been before, but she did not remove her eyes from the skyline.

Yun reached the next stage of whatever he was doing when she finally saw a sign. Through the membranous veil that covered the mountain there was a burst of cloud on the horizon. It looked like a stampede was coming from the wasteland, but they were still a long way off. Cleo clenched Law's arm as hard as she could and looked at him, her face pale white with fear. She knew she could not intervene with what Yun was doing so she leant on her toes and whispered in Law's ear, “Oh Babel, Law, the golems are coming. I can see them on the skyline. It looks like there's thousands of them”.

Law turned and looked at Cleo, his eyes wide with barely contained excitement. A big grin slowly spread across his face and he said “Don't worry. This is perfect”. He turned and looked out at the stampeding creations that were coming closer and closer then turned back towards Yun. “Brother,” he shouted, “It's time! I'd say you have about an hour, maybe an hour and a half before they arrive. Are you ready?”

Without opening his eyes to check, Yun nodded and lifted his hands from his knees. Facing both palms away from himself he moved them closer and closer together until his arms were facing directly in front of him. A thin bar of golden energy shot down from the peak of the membranous dome and slowly began rotating round the circumference of the mana-rich region. Every time the bar struck one of Law’s pylons it changed colour to an unearthly blue before fading back to gold. It had no noticeable effect on the membrane, but seem to make the golden bar of energy slightly wider. As the bar completed its second rotation Cleo could not help but notice that the bar’s rotation speed was increasing dramatically with each completed pass. She turned to look at Law and he smiled before turning to look at her.

“Sorry I could not tell you about this earlier, but I had to set up a few things to make sure the plan went off without a hitch. I'll tell you everything when it's done. Wish me luck!” Law leant forward and held her by her hips, as he leant forward she was paralysed in shock, only leaning up to look at his face as his lips touched hers. As they did a thousand fireworks went off in her head, blurring everything and making her automatically grab him tightly. Her body seemed to become boneless as the kiss continued, but finally he broke free of it.

Looking into her eyes he whispered “I love you,” at her before breaking free of their grasp. Law nodded to the rest of them before leaping off the mountaintop to deal with some final part of his and Yun’s myriad nefarious machinations.

As Law disappeared from sight Jim laughed and said, “It seems like everyone is getting together. You want to hook up, Winoa?” Winoa did not even respond, she simply hit Jim in the arm and walked over to Cleo, still staring out into the distance with a flushed face rather than a pale one.

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