บท 54: Chapter Fifty-Four: Ascending

~Pov Jantyr~ (Third person)

Jantyr yearned for peace, in the midst of war. His obscene ability to perceive everything associated with his worshippers tortured him dearly. Under the track of several hours, he witnessed the death of thousands he cared for.

They were detailed, even now, he clearly remembered each death, each thought, every injury. The pain they felt, as they passed; it wasn't some vague memory, buried deep within his mind.

As the orcs breached the city, Jantyr had been seized by fear. 'No more!' he had thought. A hasty decision was put to action without consideration. Like many times before, Jantyr bestowed his power upon his worshipers.

Many gained tremendous power; the burden of said power, would later on consume them. Numerous would subsequently die within minutes. In the end, the power granted by Jantyr was inefficacious.

Thereafter, following their unintended sacrifice, Rolf emerged from the rubble. He was in a severely weakened state. Already botched from before, Rolf was in an even worse shape than earlier. Despite that, he fought the surviving orcs in the city, laying down his life in the process.

With one ordeal over, another came to be seconds later. Every instinct Jantyr had screamed at him, warning him, corrupting his mind with alien thoughts. The Jasmine he cared for became a monster in his eyes, a creature deserving death.

Her very presence went against the world's will, it was unforgivable. A powerful energy radiated from Jasmine, it was suffocating, drowning him in unpleasantries. He could feel the scent of death, a dreadful realization, compelling him to harm her.

Only through conviction and the memories the two shared, provided Jantyr the strength to combat the hatred and despise he felt for her. Then, like nothing happened, they disappeared. Along with something else, leaving Jantyr feeling vulnerable.

When the war finally concluded, Jantyr was at a loss. He had lost so much, in so little time. The swift change made him clueless about his future plans. What was he supposed to do moving forward; He did not know. But one thing was certain, he had to ascend again.

(First Person)

The momentary gain of Faith Points from the war had been tremendous. In my current position I held nine-thousand-five-hundred FP, more than enough to ascend.

Like every time before, I focused my energy into myself, forcing the energy to strengthen me. It was a slow and tedious process that served my link to the outside world. The connection between me and my devotees was cut, as I felt ethereal energy enhance my very being.

Slowly my mind went blank and at some point I lost consciousness.

…

"Ugh" I grunted, as I felt my body ache, not in a way I was used to, more like a thousand ants crawling over me, building their nests inside me. Yet it didn't hurt, it felt comfortable.

Their thoughts, wishes and feelings were constantly streaming through my mind. But now I felt it affecting me, my very being.

I could see the world around me, not in a normal way, not an overview of an area. It felt third dimensional, I had a 360 degree view of everything around me. The weird thing was, all I could see was a cloud, filled to the brim with different elements related to weather and thousands of mountain peaks in the distance. Surrounding me.

I was also on a mountain, it was completely covered in snow on one side, the other lava flowed. The two sides met in the middle, where a beautiful climate formed, The harmony between climates allowed trees and flowers to flourish.

That was the place I stood, actually stood. I could see myself. I was a faceless, humanoid cloud, completely white, lacking any weather influence. I was just a pure, humanoid cloud.

Suddenly I felt my head itch, as I heard. "All merciful, great god, please keep Alberto safe, he's all that I have left.", "Dear Jantyr, please end this fight.", "All powerful Jantyr, please keep the people safe, they fought valiantly till now, the sound of their struggle never ending!"

Hundreds of different prayers rapidly came. The severity of the prayers made me remember what was happening. I quickly regained my bearings and checked on my worshippers.

The world was still clear to me, despite my new circumstances, even clearer than before. I could see them so clearly all their flaws shone through. Only seconds had passed since I ascended.

That's when I saw Lenart running with Jasmine in his hands.

"We need to burn her in the flame from the kingdom of undeath. Disintegrating her mortal flesh, for her to become a true Lich!" I heard the floating skull proclaim and scuffed, like hell they would.

"Lenart" I reached out, connecting to him.

"Yes?" he said out loud, confusing the floating skull. The thing I wanted to destroy, just from seeing it!

"She doesn't need to burn her flesh, here's what you'll do!....." I said, explaining the second part of the evil ritual.

I explained the ritual Lenart would have to make, with great detail. At some point he looked slightly disgusted, but he didn't complain.

With my job done, I watched with slight amusement, when Lenart told the floating disgrace to pick up one of the Falken corpses.

After some minutes they reached the city, without any second thoughts Lenart entered and rushed to the mansion. He passed the destroyed village, witnessing the great calamity they had gone through.

In the middle of the journey Lenart noticed Rolf laying dead on the ground, surrounded by five orcs, while some more destruction in the distance indicated another one. He spared no time in mourning his friend and continued forward.

When he entered the mansion, he quickly reached the library. He moved so fast, no one noticed him, or the flying skull. They entered the library without problem and then Lenart approached the secret room Jasmine had made.

Jasmine had made a room specifically for rituals in the library, hidden from everyone but her deity and herself. There she had already set up a specific ritual. It lacked the ingredients, well only two ingredients. The ritual had already been made. all the carvings in the ground indicated such facts. Every ingredient was in place, except for two. A sentient sacrifice and a Flesh rich Lich.

Lenart placed Jasmine in the middle of the circle that made up the ritual, and the skull placed the human on its clear location, the only marking lacking ingredients.

Then, without any warning, Jasmine Grabbed a Knife and brought it up to her heart and stabbed herself.