Dark Matter Ascension

"I am exhausted," Jace said as he finished climbing the mountain. He had Shhiv with him, but she had tired out far earlier on their hike, and he was carrying her in his arms as they crested the top-most point of yet another gorgeous world. He set her down and took a deep breath.

Shhiv grabbed his hand and pointed to a rocky outcropping near the edge, "Let's sit there." She walked him over - partly relying on him to stay stable - pushed him down and then sat on his lap as she wrapped her arms around his neck and turned to the enormous ocean. "Thanks for carrying me the last few miles. My legs are jelly."

Jace chuckled, "No problem," he replied as he pushed her gently. "Come on. I want to set up the picnic."

She stood up on wobbly legs before sitting down on the rock, and Jace tapped the bracer that his armor had shrunk down to. Activating the TPSB, an extradimensional storage space that was compressed reality, he withdrew several items. A nice blanket, some pillows, an ice chest with chilled beers, and sandwiches. Setting everything up, he popped the caps off the beer, clinked with Shhiv in celebration, and looked out upon the vast ocean.

It was a gorgeous sight. A veridian, purple, and light blue expanse. Thousands of islands spanned the tropical world that had become a popular tourist destination for many, many travelers across The Cosmic Corridor. And despite having spent the past three months going on these hiking and picnic trips almost every day, Jace never got tired of seeing the vast array of sights across the universe.

Shhiv munched on her mostly meat sandwich, "What are you thinking next, hubby?" she asked.

Jace smiled at being reminded, and he lightly spun the ring on his finger around. Made of Starheart Steel, the strongest forgeable metal in their universe. It had cost a small fortune to purchase, but that was no problem because Quinn's investments were paying off in dividends. "Well," he said as he leaned back against the rock and Shhiv ran her hand through his hair, getting crumbs in it. "I think we should look at doing a sledding trip."

"Oh! The thing that Priam talked about? Big wooden panels on sand dunes?"

Jace shrugged, "We could do that. But Greg mentioned snow."

Shhiv shivered, "I don't mind cold places…but I kind of like the idea of sledding down huge sand dunes." She grinned and scratched his head once more before pulling her hand back to take another swig of her beer. "I never thought I'd be doing this whole "travel the universe" thing."

Jace nodded as he stared at the packs of bird-like creatures – more like flying snakes – that wended their way across the skies. One of Xera's first changes to The Cosmic System was removing the limitation of forcing Civilians to be constrained to their home world or The Eternal City of Khrox. And that had given rise to a whole new series of industries dedicated to travel across the universe.

Jace took a sip of his beer and brought up one of his System screens. Hey, NICIF? Mind making sure I can get tipsy off this? He asked in his thoughts, knowing that the nanites in his body could respond.

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[Will do, boss!]

[Removing restrictions on toxins and amplifying receptors.]

[Enjoy the buzz!]

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Jace smiled as he took a long sip. "It is a nice, honeymoon, for sure."

Shhiv tapped his head lightly, "You haven't even touched your food yet." She dangled his bagged sandwich in front of him, "Come on and eat up."

Jace grabbed it from her and ripped the packaging open, scarfing down the food. "Thanks," he mumbled through a partially filled mouth.

She frowned, "Tsk. Manners. We've been working on this."

Jace swallowed, "Right, right. Sorry. Whole stree-"

""Street kids don't have the same ideas about proper eating", yes you've said that." She giggled and slipped down the rock to sit next to him, with her back against the stone. She leaned her head against the crook of his shoulder. "Where to next?"

"Great question. Ollie?"

The otter Wayfinder, Jace's companion, now bound to the fragment of the System Jace carried with him at all times, appeared with a slight pop. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with purple and pink flowers; but was a gaudy yellow. To Jace's delight and slight laughter, the otter was wearing huge sunglasses.

"You two lovers enjoying yourselves?" he asked as he snapped his little paws and a coconut appeared in his grip – a phantasmal one that looked to be a stardust-based construct. But he cracked it on his tummy and then plucked a straw from the ether and began making loud slurping noises.

"Yes we are," Shhiv replied with a little giggle. "Where is our next stop?"

Ollie waved with his paw, and a map of the universe appeared above the two. "Lots of possible destinations. I think you mentioned something about sand sledding?" Shhiv nodded and Ollie cleared his throat, "Well, you could always visit Priam on his home world. Fernaid has sand sharks you can ride behind."

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"That sounds fun! It's been…what? Two days since we saw him? And that was for just a few minutes."

Jace nodded, "I mean with his whole trying to rebuild his clan and checking in with Xera and Quinn…the little guy's been busy. Not to mention Dee-"

Shhiv let out a groan, "Don't remind me! Gah, those two are insufferable."

Ollie let out a laugh, "You two…you realize you are just the same, right? Utterly enthralled with each other."

Jace looked at Shhiv and met her gaze, losing himself in her deep, black, predatory eyes. "Oh yeah, I know." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Now…sand sledding?" Shhiv nodded, and he helped her up. "Dark Energy Mine (Rank 1). Detonate." The duo were no longer bound by gravity, and Jace used his (Soul Tether) Augmentation on his Anathema Arm to pull them into the sky above. Using the momentum of the sudden motion, he let them coast at a slightly upward angle until the mine faded and they began to fall.

Another activation of the Dark Energy Mine, and the two were eventually on the flat, sandy beaches of the resort they had arrived at. His Dark Matter and Void symbols were obfuscated thanks to his Symbol Shift power, and as far as anyone else was concerned he was just an Aspirant or Ascendant out with his partner. Which is not entirely necessary, he thought, but with Shhiv he wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

Jace and Shhiv got back to their apartment after a wild few days of sand sledding, racing sand sharks, and enjoying the desert home world of the Oslia species.

Priam and Dee came along, and the bunny boy Exarch was sharing more information about his reconstruction efforts. "Thanks to Xera's weird gene extraction, we are starting to rebuild the Westerfold Clan."

Dee reached down to the shorter Oslia and gripped his shoulder, "They got it the third time you said it, sweetness."

Priam blushed and nodded, "Oh. Yeah. Sorry. It's just so exciting! I mean, the revival of my clan? And I don't even have to be intimate with people!"

Shhiv laughed, "You're missing out." She squeezed Jace's arm as she said it.

Dee scoffed, "We don't need physical intimacy to express our joy with each other. Do we, my little rabbit?"

Jace shook his head. The two women had been quite…interesting in their demeanor towards each other. Constantly comparing their relationships with their significant others. It was fascinating, in a way, and something Jace knew to stay way the hell away from. "Everyone has their own way of showing affection," he said. A neutral phrase. Something to diffuse the slight tension.

Priam nodded, "How's Greg? I haven't seen him in a long time."

"Neither have I," Jace replied. "He and Missy were off somewhere, I think." The fellow Signer for the Dark Between Stars had been dodging his messages as well, for some reason. But Jace knew that he was alive and well thanks to Quinn, and that was enough for him.

The group reached the elevator and Jace punched the buttons for both Priam plus Dee and his and Shhiv's floor. Priam reached into his TPSB on his wrist and pulled out a rolled-up scroll. "By the way, I did some digging. Turns out we had a god who could commune with Spirits. Not sure how that can help you, but the old archives had something that Xera had not screened yet."

Jace snagged it from Priam and unfurled it. But, as expected, it was gibberish. A dead language that Universal Translation could not handle, because it was no longer spoken or written. "Any idea what it says?"

Priam nodded and tapped the top of his hat, the big, floppy brim keeping his eyes hidden. "Bloopa, can you send him my rough translation?"

A screen appeared in Jace's vision.

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[The scroll describes an Oslia deity who was skilled in Soulcraft. They were capable of recalling the Souls of the deceased back to the world of the living. But the deity died a long, long time before the System occurred as her worship faded and her powers waned.]

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Jace clicked his tongue, "Damn. I was hoping for something."

Priam squeezed his elbow, "You'll get her back."

He was, of course, referring to Chroma. Jace's sister who had died about three and a half years before. If Xera's timeline was anything to go by, he had six and a half years remaining to rescue her and bring her back. His whole reason for choosing Ascendant. He had no clue why there was a ten-year time limit for pre-Cosmogenic Merging purposes, and Xera only ever said that, "It is how the Nethershift seems to work based on scans from my fellow Architects before they went silent."

They arrived at Priam's floor, and he gestured for Dee to step off first. "See you both for breakfast tomorrow?" he asked as he stepped off.

Jace glanced at Shhiv, who shook her head. "I think we are going to get an early start," Jace replied. "We had our eyes on a neat ocean world. And, well," he gestured to the gills on the sides of his neck.

Priam nodded and gave a thumbs up, "Awesome! See you around."

The elevator doors shut and the two ascended to the top floor. The doors opened, and Shhiv pushed Jace out of the elevator. "Come on, get to that bedroom mister."

The morning came swiftly, and Jace yawned as he snuggled up closer to Shhiv. Ollie appeared with a pop, which caused Jace to go on full alert as the Wayfinder had not been doing that for months.

"Sorry to barge in. It is time. Xera has it all ready."

Jace silently extricated himself from Shhiv and left the water cube; the tile in front of their bedroom instantly drying him as he got some distance from the chamber as to not wake her up. "Did she figure out the tether?"

Ollie nodded, and Jace felt incredible joy. He would not just be going into the Astral Verge and returning God-knows when. Instead, he was going to have a means to instantly transport back to Khrox, using the TPSB combined with Void to travel across layers of reality. A voidlight tether. "But…" Jace said, knowing that there would be a catch.

"It can only work once a week," Ollie stated. "You can only do home visits weekly."

Jace frowned, "That…that is not ideal. But…it is better than nothing." He sighed and glanced back to the bedroom. "When does she need me to leave?"

"Any time," Ollie replied. "But she is ready."

Jace threw on some lounging about clothes, "Just me and you, right?"

"Like old times back on Velenar Prime," the Wayfinder replied as he swam in tight circles, creating a cascading nebula cloud in the air. "Hopefully, this time, less dismemberment occurs."

Breaking the news to Shhiv was rough, but she took it in stride and insisted that they spend the whole day indoors. Just indulging in each other's presence and company. No trip, no travel, just Jace and her.

They were laying on the couch as a movie wrapped up on the cosmoscreen, and Jace was running his fingers through her hair. "I wish it was more often," Shhiv whispered.

"I know," Jace replied as he moved his hand down to her back and pulled her in close. "You know I'll be back."

She nodded, but a trace of fear entered her voice. "I…you're strong. I know you'll survive for me…but I'm still scared, Jace. I don't want to lose you."

Jace wrapped his other arm around her and just held her close, "I will always come back to you. Surviving for you. You know I'll get out of any situation to get back to you."

Shhiv smiled despite the fear, "Survive for her…not just to save Chroma…but you survive for me. You hear?"

"Yes. I'll survive for you."