Dark Matter Ascension

Jace kept jogging through the forest under the effects of his Void Stalker (Rank 1) Skill. Undetected, he raced across the landscape; jumping from tree to tree, throwing out his Soul Tether grapple line to cross divides that snaked across the landscape. Those enormous trenches and crevasses were scattered all along the ground, and deep, far down, Jace could see a sickly, bright-green glow as some fluid bubbled away in the depths.

Breaching the edge of the forest he came to a stop and sucked in some deep breaths from his exertion. Before him was an open space – thousands of feet – leading up to enormous, two-hundred-foot high walls. Atop those deep, brown, stone structures were several metal spheres standing on poles. They were carved with some weird, runic language. A pink-on-black System screen overlaid his vision as the Astral Translation Talent activated.

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[Barrier.]

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The same word written over and over all around the crackling sphere. And it was then that Jace picked up the small sparkle of something akin to a Skill, or magic from his universe. His All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes able to see magic, the wavering, translucent barrier that extended in a huge sphere from each metal orb was coming into focus. The whole city was covered with barriers overlapping from the carved orbs on their upright poles.

Does that mean Psykinetics are close to magic? He thought to Ollie.

Possibly, his Wayfinder replied in his mind. We know that magic comes in those three types. Pure which is just raw magical energy normally controlled through a specific pattern or formula. Divine which is granted by deities acting as local administrators, and often have a cooldown between uses. And Soul, from those cultivation worlds you visited. Ollie's voice shifted tone and became a bit more confident. I believe that because you can see magic – including Soul magic – and emotions, and therefore Psykinetics, are so entwined with the Soul, that you can see it.

But its fainter, Jace thought back as he observed hulking Astral Demons patrolling the walls, holding all manner of weaponry but each carrying a melee and ranged weapon. He could also see siege equipment – most notably rune-carved ballistae which he knew translated to [Ruination] and [Acceleration]. Anti-ship weaponry, in all likelihood. They can use Psykinetics through those rune-carved items. Could we do the same?

Possibly, Ollie replied. But we would need to get one of those carved items to Xera for analysis.

Jace followed the edge of the forest line, pondering why the terrain surrounding this enormous city had not changed in the last cycle. He found his answer after a few minutes of walking, as he spied a slight shimmer around a stake planted into the ground. The runes translated to [Stability]. That's how they keep it affixed, he thought as he scanned the area around the object. I don't see anything that would care about this. No contingent effect. He reached down, grabbed the stake, and heaved.

It didn't budge. Very deep, Ollie stated bluntly.

Jace let the stake go and shook his head, Worth a try, he thought back. Looking back to the city walls, he saw a massive pair of doors that were closed. One-hundred feet high, just as wide, and carved with a depiction of…demons holding hands. But that is weird, he thought.

No kidding, Ollie replied.

Quinn's voice came over the comms, "I sent the probe over the city and a few sub-probes down when I could…Jace you're not going to believe this, but I think these are…peaceful Astral Demons. They are going about business – trading Souls as currency, mind you – but they are…living lives. I even spotted families; children Astral Demons among them. And some other species scattered about. Heck, there's even a spaceport that was hidden from my initial view thanks to the circular structure."

"So you're saying we shouldn't wipe them out?" Jace asked.

"I think this warrants investigation," Quinn replied. "You could sneak in and look around to get the lay of the land – still placing Dark Energy Mines if you want to. I…I don't know enough otherwise. Appearances can be deceiving."

Jace nodded and left the tree line, running over the landscape separating him from the wall. He reached the fortification and skirted along the outside edge, where he spotted more stakes planted in the ground labeled with the runic language. [Detection]. I hope that doesn't pick me up, he thought as he could not see the shimmer of where the magic-like effect extended to.

Going to the doors, he fired off his grapple line into the sky above and pulled himself up above the walls. Just below him, on the battlements, Astral Demons were patrolling and looking out on the landscape. He saw a few seated at a table, playing some type of dice game and bidding small vials filled with the light-blue color of Souls. That sight made his blood boil, and once more he saw the golden glow around his peripheral vision.

But Ollie stepped in and shifted his brain's chemical receptors, shutting down that sense of righteous fury and letting Jace's cooler, more rational side of thought persist and overcome the desire to free those Souls. It's just currency, he reminded himself. But even that felt disingenuous to think or say, because they were people. Literally the remnants of people's consciousness, hopes, dreams, desires, loves, fears…being held in bottles and gambled over in a game of chance.

That riotous flame in his chest, echoing back to his time spent indulging in the <Wrathblade> Class Expansion's Skill set, ignited again. And almost against his will, he drew Nethaldrim.

Crap! Okay, trying to override. Ollie's voice came through, panicked, but it was like an echo from afar, and Jace felt that flame burning inside. An anger, a fury building up as he dropped down onto the wall and began walking towards these gambling demons, brandishing his now-glowing-gold blade. Still completely undetected thanks to Void Stalker.

It's not working! Quinn, help? Something?

"I'm trying," Quinn replied. "Tell the NICIF to shut him down!"

They're slaved under his consciousness!

Jace heard the voices of his Wayfinder and Quinn, and he forced himself to halt in his stride. His whole body was tense, like a coiled spring waiting for the release of pressure. The urge to destroy these creatures, to wreak havoc upon them and free the Souls they held hostage, burned inside.

But he forced himself to stop. Despite everything urging him onward, Jace forced his eyes shut and breathed deeply. Inhale, exhale, just like his father had taught him.

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A laugh pierced his attempted meditative trance, and snapping his eyes open, he glanced to his left. Down below the walls, he took in the city of Astral Demons. A hodge-podge of all types of constructions – round, square, pyramid shaped buildings all intermingled and scattered in clusters akin to districts, with paved streets running between them. He saw child-sized Astral Demons, their horns, spines, and primary color hued skin denoting them as such at a glance – playing. They were playing, shouting, screaming as they kicked a ball back and forth towards a pair of small, metal poles set up on opposite ends of the street.

They're just people, Jace thought as he teleported his sword to its sheath. The heat within continued to stir and made him feel flush, but he was familiar with that rage. This one was different, almost like a new flavor of beverage. It was still anger, but it was not sheer wrath borne of anger like the <Wrathblade> was. This was a righteous, heroic, just anger.

But what kind of hero would he be if he slaughtered these seemingly peaceful Demons who were just trying to keep to themselves? As he pushed down the fire, the anger, and let that thought resonate through his mind, the golden glow began to fade – as if his Emotion Source of Valiance was also understanding what he saw, and rationalized, and agreed in some way. What he was being driven to do was not heroic.

"Sorry," Jace muttered as he shot off his grapple line over the city and pulled himself into space. "Quinn, what do you need me to do for these scans?"

"Get on the ground level and just roam about. Interact if you can. A Soul in a bottle if you can trade for it somehow would be valuable – we can see how they store Souls."

Jace descended to the street level and began walking amongst the demons and scattered species from other universes. Undetected, silent, and a true Wraith slipping amongst the masses. He spotted people carrying small vials into a building with a word marked atop that read as "Exchange". Dropping the Void Stalker Skill, he went inside and stood at the back of the room.

Two lines extended towards two matching windows. Both with signs. One read as "Souls for Essence" the other "Essence for Souls".

Well, Jace thought, if we want to see how this whole currency thing works, I should buy some Souls. The idea of buying people's truest self was a bit disconcerting, but he reaffirmed himself with the knowledge that he could just release the Souls upon Quinn and Xera's completed research.

Joining the queue, he walked forward a few steps every minute until he was at the front. To his surprise, behind the glass window he saw various bits and pieces of technology. And the bars that separated him from the teller were made of some type of plexiglass that one would see in a bank back on Earth – though those would be full sheets of bulletproof glass, and not bars. The person behind was an insect-person, one of those Gyanv.

"Good cycle to you. How many Souls?"

Jace glanced back behind her and saw a small, rune-covered metal panel with flickering numbers. [Exchange Rate]. "Twenty Souls."

She glanced back, "Ten Essence at the going rate." She gestured to a small, rune-covered rock panel under the window. [Essence Extraction.]

Jace willed his armor to recede and placed his palm on the rock. Ollie's voice echoed in his head, It is trying to pull away Essence. Want me to allow it?

Yes, Jace thought back. He felt a small, warm feeling in his chest and saw a slight, glinting white shoot down his arm before going from his palm and into the rock.

The woman clicked her mandibles together, reached under the counter, and pulled out two vials with ten, small, hovering blue orbs contained within each. "Here you are. Pleasure doing business."

Jace tapped his forearm to the vials, sucking them into his TPSB, before willing his armor to re-emerge and cover his arm. Going outside, he ducked down a series of alleys before activating Void Stalker once more. "Well?" he asked Quinn.

Xera's voice answered, "These are Souls, and they are trapped inside these vials until they are released. The vials appear to be made of a complex substance that is sintered dirt from the Astral Verge."

Sintering, Jace thought as his Edge of Possibility instantly made him an expert in the field of metallurgy and engineering. Making a solid mass with pressure and heat without melting it to the point of liquefaction.

Xera continued, "These vials are nothing special – you could make them now that I have the finished product and reverse-engineered the process. Keep exploring the city – I want to keep taking scans through Quinn's Celestial Observer."

Jace spent several hours traversing the city in the shadows; unseen, unheard, and fully undetected. He did not come across anything higher than Potency 1, which would have enabled them to see him. Either that, or they did not make it apparent that they had seen him.

He learned the name of the city was Richter's Repose. Named after a Demon Lord who, in the past, was very powerful for the first Layer of the Astral Verge. Potency 4. From what Jace gathered, he got tired of endless fighting, and chose to create a city. Over time, that city grew, and added more Astral Demons to their numbers; living as close to a wholesome life as they possibly could.

Souls were the currency, but these Astral Demons were not hoarding them for personal use in gaining Potency. On the whole, at least. They were just a handy form of potable currency that had intrinsic value. Just like Essence.

The demonic diet consisted of flesh and meat. And that is where some of the visiting species came in from the space port near the center of the town. Jace watched, fascinated, as starships came and went. Delivering cargo, clear containers filled with Souls that, according to random passer-by conversation, were gathered from the various streams leading out of some universe's funnels.

As for the meat, well, all types were traded. One of the locations of particular interest to Xera was the series of cloning bays that were attached to ships on the outsides of the space port. From a preliminary scan, it appeared that they were growing meat; just like how the semi-rich corpos on Earth could buy a steak from a real cow, and then take the biomass sample and replicate it.

Thus, a capitalistic ecosystem existed in Richter's Repose. Species came, traded Souls for Essence that Astral Demons willingly shed, and traded food for rune-carved Psykinetic items.

That part caught Jace's attention the most. From what he was able to gather, going by several warehouses and peering in through rooftop vents, was that rune-carving was only something that could be done by specific crafting-oriented Dreamer Classes, and Astral Demons.

As Xera put it, analyzing the data, Runes were the language of the Astral Verge. Some ancient, line-based language that was distantly-related to Earth's Nordic runes. "It is fascinating," she said whilst Jace was munching on a survival meal atop a wall, "that an ancient Earth civilization has this tiny, incidental bit of overlap."

Jace swallowed down a chunk of the food, washed it down with some water from his canteen, and then replied. "Have we learned everything you needed?" he asked, hoping for a chance to get some shut eye as he was fairly tired.

"Mhmm," Xera replied. "Runic items are classified as "Gear" in the Astral System. Since you have Void at your command, you do not really need to rely on these Runic bits of Gear. It does bring to mind an idea, though. Perhaps…" she trailed off.

Jace kept quiet as he cracked open another pouch and began eating the delicious, peach-flavored slurry. Quinn's voice came over the comms, "Xera had a question for you, and I've brought Shhiv on the line as well."

"Hi!" Shhiv said, excitedly. "Two days felt like so long. And you've got another five before you come back?" she was practically whining at the end, and yet Jace still found himself smiling as he imagined Shhiv just waiting at the door for him to walk through.

Xera's voice returned, "Yes, five more days before the voidlight tether can carry him back here. I want you both in on this conversation…Shhiv is not an Ascendant, but we now know that you do not have to be one to gain access to the Astral Verge, or the Astral System. Shhiv, I wanted to ask you, would you be willing to gain access to the Astral Verge to become a craft-focused Class? I know you are a skilled artist, given your work with Missy's cosmoscreen customization business."

Shhiv's voice was filled with pride, but Jace felt a hint of fear in her tone. He could sense it, and his grip on his food pouch tightened instinctively, exploding the container all over his armor as he unwittingly tensed. "I'm a great artist…but…Jace, what do you think?"

"Xera, what are the risks?" he asked, deathly serious and filled with a feeling of tension.

"None," Xera replied, sounding smug. "I can integrate her into the Astral System without her ever leaving Khrox. She can stay in perfect safety."

Jace felt the hackles on the back of his neck rise ever-so-slightly, "I'm concerned," he whispered. Then, he heard an enormous bang, kaboom! Looking behind, he saw huge vessels blink into existence. Bristling batteries of guns and enormous crack of projectiles made him jump to his feet, store his canteen in the TPSB, and draw his sword.