I appear on a plain of desolation.

I sense the lack of vitality before my eyes register it in the withered, depleted husks of what might have been trees. The ashy soil is so gray it appears almost purple in the ambient light, and everything is so flat that I can see far off into the distance until the horizon kisses indistinct, gloomy clouds.

I gaze out expressionlessly, uncomprehendingly. When I first escaped the Infinity Loop, my prize was simply living in the real world, feeling the permanence of existence, witnessing the long-term effects of my actions. When Euryphel first spoke to me about ascending, I wasn’t uninterested, but I felt strongly that it wasn’t my time: I had only just escaped one world, only to be told that I would soon be spirited away to another.

Over the past two months, I began to realize that perhaps I really had overgrown my world. My existence was a tool to some, a calamity to others. Only a few people saw me for me, for Ian. Somewhere along the way I began to think of my ascension not just as something inevitable, but as a source of hope...a place of refuge, adventure, and ideally a place where I would meet others like me. A place where I might find myself.

I’m not sure what I was envisioning when I thought of the ascendant world—Eternity, as Holiday referred to it—but this gray expanse isn’t it.

I sense Holiday and Maria standing behind me and turn around.

“Welcome to Vizier’s Crown,” Holiday says. “Specially chosen by careful deliberation to be our starting point.”

“Everything here is dead, but there’s no Death energy,” I murmur, frowning.

“It’s long since been completely depleted.”

Wonderful. “You’re supposed to be our guide for the first day...why don’t you guide us out?”

Holiday sighs. “It’ll probably take longer than a day to leave Vizier’s Crown, unfortunately. Might take more than a week. Odds are you’ll die of thirst a few times before finding the way out, but that’s just how things are. I can at least point you in the right direction.”

“Ascendants need to drink?” I wonder.

Holiday steps forward over the ash. “That depends.” In a flash of red light, his body crouches like a spring, then jumps forward, leaving us in the literal dust.

Maria looks like she wants to say something, but ultimately shakes her head and steps forward. After a brief sprint, she jumps off the ground, flames jetting out behind her like bright tulips, bathing the cool palate of the badlands in shades of carmine.

While there’s no ambient energy in the environment, I find that I can still use my soul gems without problem. The riftbeast gem glows with icy thunder as I draw energy from it into myself. My eyes flare violet as I throw myself forward into the sky and chase after Maria and Holiday, their forms already reduced to pinpricks.

I was hoping that my practice might become more powerful upon entering the ascendant world, but I don’t notice anything different. I guess it’s something that will happen over time. While I’m keeping pace with Holiday, I’m not catching up. Sighing into the wind pulling at my cheeks, I withdraw all the remaining bones from the void storage with the intent to fashion a flying construct.

But...no flight focus. I collected a host of flight focuses from birds before heading off to the East, but exhausted all of them on my army of constructs and the bone wyrm when Euryphel and I returned west. I can manually pilot a flying construct, but without a flight focus automating and perfecting its movements, it’ll be comparatively sluggish.

I need an alternative method to increase my speed. Bluebir—

I freeze, remembering that my little companion isn’t going to offer further assistance. I grit my teeth and breathe in deeply, only to nearly choke on the ashy air clinging to my throat and lungs. When I collect myself, I’m no longer in the mood to innovate.

Even after a few minutes of flying, it feels as though we haven’t gone anywhere: The ground is ever a featureless plane of gray studded by black husks. I have no idea how Holiday even knows which way to go—illumination shines down evenly from above, its glow filtered by a haze of dark clouds. Without a sun by which to navigate, I wonder if he has some kind of map, something like the navigation application found on glossYs.

Suddenly Holiday begins to veer toward the ground, Maria following in his wake. It only takes a few seconds before I catch up to them and touch down on the earth. I shoot Maria a questioning look, but she narrows her eyes and ignores me. Her vitality is flagging—keeping pace with Holiday took its toll.

“Crimson Teeth, why have we stopped?” I ask.

He chuckles, a curl of honey-colored hair nearly covering one eye before he brushes it away. “I didn’t realize just how monotonous flying over Vizier’s Crown would be. The thought of doing this for the next several hours is unbearable.”

I don’t disagree with him...but he didn’t make it sound like we had another option. We need to fly through Vizier’s Crown—it’s clearly the punishment ascendants like Achemiss and Ari’s faction decided on earlier.

Holiday unfastens the first two buttons on his dress shirt and waves his right hand offhandedly. His pupils scan left and right as though reading something, though I can’t perceive what.

Suddenly a classroom materializes before us. It’s different from a classroom in our old world: There’s no glosscomp projecting the lesson on a whitescreen, nor are there rows of desks with an interior cavity in which to place personal items. The floor is composed of thin, light-colored reeds pounded into a level slab. It has no walls and only two seats; thinking about it, I’m not sure why I have the impression the room is a classroom at all.

Holiday walks over to the far end of the room and turns to face the vacant chairs, then looks at us expectantly.

This time I’m the first one to move: I walk over and sink into a seat, humoring the eccentric ascendant. Maria drags her feet and sits down in the other chair; I realize that her injuries from the previous world have healed, her body no longer covered in blistering burns. 

Holiday rolls his eyes. “Look, I know the both of you are exhausted, but remember the good news! You’re in the ascendant world! Once you get out of this hellhole, things will be much more enjoyable.” His eyes trail over Maria. “And even if you only have a year left to live...well, you could’ve easily died today. Could easily have died tomorrow, or any day thereafter. Life is messy and fraught with danger, especially for a despot.”

Maria is expressionless as she stares at Holiday, her hands folded cleanly in her lap. She doesn’t say anything in response.

Holiday rubs the bridge of his nose. “So I took the last fifteen minutes or so to devise a short curriculum on Eternity for the two of you. Like I said before, usually this kind of thing is—was—Ari’s job.

“To start, things may be a bit different here than what you’re used to in your old world. Almost everywhere in the cosmos shares the same seed of existence, but that doesn’t mean everywhere is identical. Moreover, in the ascendant world, the distinctions become...less important, shall we say.” Holiday smiles, his teeth glinting. “For instance, what would you call the power of foresight on your world?”

“Regret,” I reply.

Holiday frowns. “...Right. That’s one of the weirder names for it. And what do you call fate binding?”

“End.” Fate binding isn’t a terrible alternative name for End, but it’s almost too descriptive. The lack of ambiguity is almost...stifling.

“Just ‘End’?”

I nod. “Regret, Remorse; Beginning, End; there’s symmetry around those key ideals. They’re a bit abstract, but they work.” I didn’t realize other worlds might use other naming conventions.

“How can we understand each other?” Maria mutters, expression puzzled. “I’m speaking Luxish: I doubt you know the language, Crimson Teeth.”

I shoot her a look. “I’ve been speaking Swellish and thought you were, too.”

Holiday places a hand on his hip. “It’s a benefit of living in Eternity. Learning the languages of all newcomers and vice versa was deemed...unsustainable, so we have the Intention Matrix filtering everything we hear. It’s easy to think past it now that you’ve recognized it. Devest shi mrur, sik tuol?”

I almost nod along before I realize that Holiday trailed off into speaking gibberish. “Wait, what?” 

Holiday chuckles. “Tuo nie mrura.”

Not gibberish, but a different language. Seems like I’ve managed to turn off the Intention Matrix.

I turn to Maria. “Can you understand him still?”

She replies in Luxish: “Yes; I’m not sure why you thought disabling your Intention Matrix was a good idea.”

Obviously I didn’t do it on purpose, but it’s not worth arguing with her. “Is Crimson Teeth saying anything about how to turn the Intention Matrix back on?”

The ascendant gesticulates while saying, “Shur zie mrinarun zunsk! Tuo hetareli mux.”

Maria’s lips curl into a smug smile. “He says to not overthink things.”

I exhale sharply and look upward. I have no idea if she’s telling me the truth; perhaps she’s just playing with me. “You know, Maria, coming here isn’t the worst thing that could have happened to you.”

Holiday looks between the two of us, his hands rising up. “Eh, shmi sur...”

Maria’s gaze remains fixed on me, but I can tell her words are for Holiday. “There is unsettled business between us, Crimson Teeth. Are you unaware of our conflict?”

He cocks his head. “Nir, sheta.”

I stare blankly at Holiday, my frustration continuing to mount. “Y’jeni Maria, what is he saying?”

“Nothing important,” she snaps. “You really have the audacity to say that this isn’t the worst thing that could have happened to me? I lost my country, the foundation of my power, and above all...I’m never going to see my son again, not if I only have a year to live and I’m stuck here.” Her expression is cold as ice.

I shake my head. “You lost. You could have died. Euryphel could have imprisoned you, could have murdered Zilverna and made you watch.” I don’t think Eury is that cruel, but the point stands.

My mind returns to the vision Achemiss gave me months ago...a vision of a freshly-shattered Selejo, of the Eldemari’s distraught people storming the shores of the SPU in retaliation, their aim wanton destruction.

What Achemiss said in that dream has stayed with me even now: “I think you can imagine what happens to your mother and sister. And you should understand that things don’t end particularly well for your Crowned Prime, either.”

“You would have done worse,” I spit. “If I let Pardin be destroyed, you would have done worse. If I had lost...you may have done the unthinkable to the people I care about.”

She sneers. “I’m not so petty as to go after your loved ones in the wake of your death.”

“And what of Euryphel?”

She blinks. “Him...there were possibilities that didn’t end in his demise, of that much I am certain.”

“Hello?” Holiday calls out, interrupting our dispute.

“...Hello?”

His eyes light up. “Excellent, you can understand me again! Nothing like a good distraction to bring your Intention Matrix back up. It’s like breathing in a way—stops happening automatically the moment you think about it. But now I need the two of you to pay attention.”

Maria looks like she wants to say something, but closes her eyes and composes herself before turning back to face Holiday.

He nods his head. “All things considered, you’re both remarkably reasonable. Most ascendants would sooner dismember archenemies limb from limb, let alone peacefully sit next to one another.”

I’m not sure what Holiday is going for, but emphasizing how non-violent we are is only making me want to fight Maria more.

He looks off into the barren, gray plains, expression contemplative. “Before the language distraction, I mentioned the fraying importance of affinity distinctions. The ascendant world is the origin of affinity.” Holiday held out his hand, a red glow subsuming it. “Each of the affinities you mentioned is a segment of reality’s pattern. Now tell me, what do the two of you think the less-flashy affinities look like at our level?” His gaze is expectant.

Less flashy...like Beginning? Many Beginning practitioners lead the development of glossware, weapons, and other engineered deliverables. Some like Aunt Julia go into consulting, others into management and other pursuits...

I try to imagine a Beginning practitioner descending from Eternity. How would they fight? Would they simply artifice themselves powerful equipment and deliver judgment from within a suit or ship?

But thinking of Beginning practitioners is besides the point. I try to come up with a concrete example. “Wasn’t Ascendant Ari a Light practitioner?”

Holiday nods. “She was.”

“But she wasn’t just a Light practitioner when she descended,” I state. “She possessed unparalleled physical strength and could endure extreme speeds. She didn’t seem to use much of her affinity at all. She didn’t bother with making illusions.”

“Take yourself as an example,” Maria interjects. “I suspected you were an ascendant because your energy corroded Zilverna’s flame strike at the Fassari Summit. That had nothing to do with your being a decemancer.”

Holiday nods. “Let’s return to the first example you mentioned, a Beginning practitioner. Taken to the limit, people who find patterns and perform calculations...there’s a limit to how accurate, how quick, how good they can get, correct? What, then, is the difference between a peak practitioner, stuck at the cusp of greatness...and an ascendant?”

“Time,” Maria breathes. “Wisdom, experience. Perhaps new ideas of how the affinity can be used.”

“But something else changes. We’re not selective for no reason,” Holiday replies, lips curving into a smile.

Achemiss told Soolemar that he couldn’t ascend...It wasn’t a question of working hard enough. And from what I understand, it’s because of what Soolemar did to his body and soul.

Holiday continues uninterrupted: “Ascension is a radical return. You’ll have all the time you want to explore Eternity and tease out some of these answers. Before that, I need to explain in general how things work here.

Holiday scratches at the open air with his glowing red hand. What looks like a small tear forms in reality, beyond which I can see somewhere else. The tear reminds me of Achemiss’ lizard construct rending a hole in the sky to block Ari’s attack.

Energy condenses in my palm like oily vines. Fingers coated in talons of inky darkness, I scratch at the air...and nothing happens. Maria’s gaze move between Holiday and myself, her eyes narrowing in concentration, flames coating her fingers.

“Eternity is unlike anywhere else. It’s a place with layers upon layers of reality, though Vizier’s Crown is a bit of a dead spot—it’s difficult to pierce the veil here.” Holiday strikes out again, grunting as he pulls apart the sky with both hands until we can just barely see a world that looks like the Vermuthi desert, red sands covered by dark storm clouds.

A moment later the tear in reality collapses, expelling Holiday’s fingers. He shakes them out once and crosses his arms across his chest. “It’ll take time for you to get the hang of it, and once you leave Vizier’s Crown, you’ll be able to travel through layers of reality. Questions?”

My mind begins to swim with possibilities, imagining all the potential uses...trying to understand how Achemiss was able to tear a rift into our old world from Eternity.

“Will I be able to pierce the veil?” Maria asks.

He gives her a sympathetic look. “Someone can always carve a path for you. In reality...each layer extends until it reaches an end, but none are small enough for you to explore in a year.”

“This plane has an end?” I wonder. “I thought Eternity was infinite.”

“A single plane is like a grain of sand. Imagine all the grains of sand on a beach laid out in a single line.” Holiday replies. “This is the scale we’re talking about here. If you find someone who really thinks they’ve found the edge of Eternity they might just be insane.”

“Are many people here insane?” Maria murmurs.

Holiday chuckles. “What do you think? What are the ascendants who return like?”

“They’re recluses, eccentrics,” I answer.

The ascendant snorts. “I will say that coming here certainly doesn’t make you more normal. Time for me to ask a question: What affinity do the two of you think I have?”

“Beginning,” Maria says immediately.

Holiday’s lips part, his eyes glinting. “If I’m a Beginning practitioner, how did I fly before?”

Maria and I are both silent as we mull over an answer.

When we first arrived, Holiday launched off the ground using his own strength, then kept going forward. It didn’t look like he used any kind of item. I’ve been around so many powerful practitioners that I didn’t question it.

“I’ll admit that the question is a bit unfair. The kinds of people who are selected for descents, people like Ari and myself, need to survive punishing conditions. If you tried to descend now, for instance, you’d die.”

“You don’t have a dual affinity, do you?” I ask. Technically, he hasn’t admitted what his affinity is, but he hasn’t denied that it’s Beginning.

“No.”

The words from a few minutes ago flash through my mind: Eternity has lessened distinctions between affinities...

“Assuming you really are Beginning affinity, then you must be using something else to fly. I bet that it’s the energy of Eternity itself, the...ascendant energy.”

“Correct. But learning how to control the energy here requires practice. Currently all it’s good for is a passive defense. Standing still won’t help you learn; let’s get going again but this time, I want you to actually pay attention to what I’m doing. Maybe even try to replicate it.” Holiday turns to Maria. “Fly along as you were before, but pay attention all the same. The future is ever uncertain.”

Maria gives him a thin smile, her eyes dark, unfathomable pools. “It’s always the details that defy us.”

“Too true.” He stares off vacantly; a moment later, the wood floor and two chairs of the makeshift classroom disappear. I catch myself with my practice before I hit the ground, holding myself aloft, while Maria jets the ground with a small burst of flame and jumps upright in one fluid movement.

As Holiday starts walking forward, I can’t help but ask: “How do you know which way to go?”

He taps his head. “Beginning practitioner.”

Is that really it? “Do you have a map of this area memorized?”

“I might’ve snuck a glance at one when I realized I’d be dropping you two off here: It’s not a location I would normally frequent. And while this monotonous landscape probably looks the same to you, it is different: It’s almost impossible for me to lose my way.” Holiday chuckles. “I’d say impossible, but nothing is certain in Eternity.”

Holiday begins to skip, launching himself off the ground and traveling several feet with each stride. His vitality is normal, and visually, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Maria glances my way as we both follow behind, me gliding just above the ground and her jogging. “Can you perceive him doing anything?”

I shake my head. “No. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be paying attention to. His athletic form?” How are we supposed to observe and learn if we don’t know what to look for?

“He must know that we can’t see anything...” Maria murmurs to herself.

Holiday stops abruptly and turns around. “Dunai, you can’t see this?” His hand glows red.

“I can,” I reply. “It’s glowing.”

Holiday turns to Maria. “And you?”

“It glows red.”

The ascendant nods. “But can you see something besides the glow?”

I squint. “Can I come closer?”

“Sure.”

Holiday’s hand doesn’t look much different up close, unfortunately—red and glowy. “Can I touch your hand?”

“Look, no one can really die in the ascendant world, and my job is to get you at least acquainted with the way things work here. Do whatever you need to do. I’ll stop you if I don’t like what you’re doing.”

That’s all the license I need to start experimenting. I still suspect that ascension is related to souls for several reasons: Soolemar is unable to ascend, ascendants have powerful souls comparable to necromancy experts, and ascendants can only face true death outside of Eternity.

Even in a simulation like the Infinity Loop, where the body was inconsequential and refreshed each iteration...my soul remained constant and sustained wear over time. Similarly to then, I’m certain that my soul is inside my body now: I would have noticed otherwise, would have been unable to control any ethereal energy without it.

But at the same time...something here must be protecting souls in a way that the Infinity Loop didn’t.

As I stand there with Holiday’s hand in mine, I realize that I have very little experience working with living, ensouled people that I don’t intend to kill. Soolemar is probably the closest example I can think of, but...practicing offensive ethereal attacks against him feels qualitatively different than probing someone...normal.

I start slow, poking into his hand with a single thread of ethereal. If Holiday notices the intrusion he doesn’t say anything. The resistance is immediate: I’m barely able to move the thread past the man’s fingertip before it comes up against a tide of ethereal energy coursing through his body.

“You have a strong soul,” I observe. “Do you actively strengthen it, or does that happen naturally by virtue of being in Eternity?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I don’t do anything to my soul. I mentioned before that the distinctions between affinity lessen here, but perhaps not in the way you’re assuming: Only those with domain over Death can directly manipulate souls. If you’re looking for someone to give you more details, I’d suggest seeking out Achemiss since you’re already acquainted.”

“How would I get to Achemiss from Vizier’s Crown?” I had already been considering seeking him out, but not for information about necromancy. I want to know how he contacted Soolemar...and how he contacted me. How I might be able to contact others.

Holiday cocks his head. “He’s far from here. In case it wasn’t obvious, this location is meant to be as inconvenient as possible.”

“How long would it take?” It’s not like I have a shortage of time.

“Depends on how well you navigate Eternity, but at least three years from now, I’d reckon. If you get stuck in zones like Vizier’s Crown with scarce points through which to exit, the journey might take longer. In a place like this I might travel for days without finding a weak point in the veil I can exploit.”

I narrow my eyes. Three years...I can’t imagine how far a place must be for it to take years of traveling to reach, let alone years of travel by an ascendant. “How long would it take for you to reach Achemiss?”

Holiday shrugs. “It could take three years. Could take longer if I’m unlucky tearing through reality, could take significantly shorter if luck is on my side. Part of the point of Eternity is to be continuously unpredictable, else us Beginning types would make nice maps for everything and grow bored in a couple hundred years. Now, are you going to keep experimenting, or have you already mastered slashing a hole in reality?”

I frown but keep my mouth shut. After another half minute of probing, I manage to wiggle an ethereal energy tendril into his chest cavity. There, I realize something I didn’t expect: I can’t actually touch Holiday’s soul. It’s almost as though I’m trying to touch the holographic projection of a physical object.

I frown. I hadn’t thought about the implications of Eternity being a land of immortality before now. ‘Real’ is perhaps the wrong word to use—Ari was real. The power she no-doubt gained in Eternity was real. Her death was real.

But what kind of place is Eternity if neither body nor soul are real?