Ascending Saplings

********************

Blake Nightingale

The instant that the eerie combination of Vigor and my Ether, tainted with a touch of death from my Sigil, touches Bonfire's flesh, pain flows through my arm into my mind. The sensation is agonizing, and it feels as though I am trying to push beyond a burning hell surrounded by razors, each cutting into my hand and forearm. It's almost like I'm dipping my arm into an endless abyss, allowing the beings in the depths to gnaw on me.

And as I do so, I realize something, another spark, still exists deep within Bonfire's body. His heart has ceased, his eyes have sealed, but he is not yet perished. Instead, a feeble, barely burning flame yet lives.

Gritting my teeth, I push further, reaching for that transient ember not yet snuffed out. My Ether and Vigor penetrate deeply into his body, reaching for his heart. For all Priests, which was Bonfire's first Sigil, the core of Ether is in the heart. Heat and hearth come from the centermost organ, traits aligning with the radiance of a Priest. And even if Bonfire stepped off that path to embrace fire, merging Priest with Scholar, that core would not change locations.

And it is only that core which remains. I can sense a tiny bit of heat from it, the remnants of the man's skills during the previous battle. Just thinking of the fight, no the smackdown, gives me chills. That Nahullo was barely trying, and he was dominating all of us at once. We were barely able to hold it long enough for reinforcements. If not for Blightraven… I'd already be dead.

If not for Bonfire, I'd be in his position right now.

I grit my teeth as I reach for his core, pushing all of my spare Vigor into his heart to restart it as my Ether performs the motions of Bond. It takes a few moments for his heart to pump even once, just as it takes me almost a full minute to find his soul. But finally, I catch a glimpse of a soul, and I yank it with all my mind despite its heavy resistance.

The dead, those who do not form into ghosts or apparitions, are difficult to pull into the realm of the living. And Bonfire is so close to death, his soul is already floating away, heading down before he even kicks the bucket. So the only reason I can pull him is because a connection remains as he is not entirely dead.

As the right one both beats his heart and pulls his soul, my left hand gradually removes the giant arrow from his chest. Blood barely even trickles out of the wound with how low his blood pressure is. Almost a full minute passes as I try not to worsen the injury. I'm no doctor; I'm just a girl who's seen enough death.

Eventually, I can coax his soul into his body again without completing Bond. It's not all that much more demanding than pulling a ghost toward me because he isn't entirely dead yet, a thread still connecting him to his cooling body. However, I don't want to turn him into a ghost bond to me, a being forced to serve me, so I must be meticulous. First, his heart beats one per minute, then it goes to twice, then thrice, and so on until it reaches twenty times per minute, the bare minimum.

All the while, I force the Vigor I've had saved from fighting and killing Plagued and Motherbound into his body. Wounds mend as blood regenerates. I dip Ether into this Vigor as a gray smoke fills the man's veins, having him recover at an incredible pace. While this happens, I feel a sense of hollowness, but I continue. Finally, the man on his way to the Gate Of Death is slowly pulled back to the surface.

I smile as I hear him gasp for air, his head pulling up an inch or so from the hard stone. Not particularly the impossible I was hoping for, but not that far from it. The combination of Ether and Vigor works quite well together. Why is it outlawed so?

I don't know but for some reason... I feel... tired. So... so ti--

***********

My eyes flutter open to the sound of flesh hitting dense rock, and frantically, I twist around to figure out what's happening. Weren't I just in the fog? What? Is Bonfire fine? What about Skychaser? I was going to try and save him next.

Sitting up with a palpable weakness in my limbs, I see Bonfire being crushed under the foot of a Nahullo. Not one clad in armor, but one that is obviously powerful, adorned with a plethora of blades and a hand crossbow, a rarity among the northerners who favor hard steel.

The hard rock of Starkbluffs is scorched and blackened, the telltale sign of Bonfire going all out. But what surprises me most is a dozen corpses around the fallen pyro, the once fair skin of the Northmen, now turned as dark as charred meat.

I try to stand, help, and save Bonfire, who is bloodied and mocked by the Nahullo who defeated him. But I cannot. My weakness stops me from even sitting up entirely upon the rock I was placed on.

"How do you like it now, human? You speak such grandeur, but you all eventually fall to the Legion. Come on, speak! Let me hear you beg for mercy as I end you! None of my comrades deserved the death you gave them! Pleugh!"

The Nahullo spits on Bonfire, the liquid snuffing out the small flame rising from the man's hand pierced by a dagger. I look around for anything to help, but only one thing is nearby. Beside my body is Skychaser's, the dead Bado peaceful in his slumber now that the arrows have been removed.

As my eyes are pulled to him, I feel a kind of attraction, not romantic, but deathly—a morbid sense of curiosity as my Ether stirs. An idea comes to me, the impossibility from however long ago flowering again. I can barely so much as raise a finger, but with eyes staring at the dead Bado, I push my Ether toward him.

My Ether twists and condenses as I breathe out of my mouth, a fog of Decay coming from me as the Nahullo continues to beat Bonfire. I don't know what happened earlier, but I must focus on the now. I need to find a way to save us.

I push the fog of condensed Ether toward Skychaser's corpse, connecting the two of us through the swarthy gray fog. And once I feel the other side of Decay, the skill I made upon the road trip here, I disregard everything it stands for. The fog that takes life and Vigor to deliver it to me is inverted.

Ether and Vigor funnel through the thin funnel of gas connecting us. Concentrating, I join the two on the other side, creating the thing that seemed to sap me of my strength, my Ether, and most likely, my life.

That's why it's outlawed. The combination of the two takes away lifespan, ripping vitality and time straight from the Abbot to give to another. That's why Bonfire healed so quickly. He gained my life as I lost it, never to be returned.

But at this juncture, with Bonfire beaten, Skychaser dead, and myself paralyzed in weakness, I have no other choice but to gamble. To reach for an impossibility, hoping for Absolution. But, unfortunately, what I'm about to do is more likely to kill me than anything else. Still, hopefully, before my lifespan runs out, I can save Bonfire.

In every direction I can see, the stone steps of Starkbluffs are barren. It seems we escaped somehow but could not regroup with the others. So, I am alone as I reach for this impossibility.

Bond roars to life as I grasp for a connection within Skychaser's body, only to find none. But I don't take that for an answer. The man is dead, returned to the Underworld, but so was Silas months ago. All it took was a little impossible trip to physically bring him back.

But I don't need to do that at all. Skychaser's body is right here. I just need his soul. I don't know where Bado, or frankly, any other race goes where they die. All I know is that they also go to the Underworld. That doesn't mean I can't still try to rip him up from Death.

All the Ether in my body, even as stagnant as it is right now, funnels to the dead man with impossibility in mind. If I can't sense a connection with what I put in earlier, then I just need to use more. I just need to try harder.

I close my eyes, ignoring Bonfire's beatdown in front of me as the Nahullo enjoys torturing the man who killed his team. Instead, I focus inward and on the dead Bado. With darkness for the senses, I gain a better idea of the situation in Skychaser's body, one that depresses me but only gives me greater motivation.

He is missing his heart, the javelin-sized arrow removing the thing entirely from his body. Bonfire lost organs, but none as vital as the heart. I don't think I can bring him back to life, that's in the realm of Gods, far beyond mere impossibility, as he is already dead, but that doesn't mean I can't borrow his strength.

I delve deep into his corpse, my combination of deathly Ether and lively Vigor checking every single part of his body just to find nothing. But an area still remains in his wings.

Gritting my teeth as I push forward, the difficulty in controlling Ether outside my body and inside another's magnitudes above what I typically do. My mind enters his steely black wings. I sense a remote connection, a threat of significance so minuscule I can only detect it with every fiber of my being working harmoniously.

And the moment I sense it, I dive onto it, the sounds of Bonfire's suffering rapidly approaching an end. I weave my Ether into Bond around the connection as I try to rip the soul up, but there is a grand resistance, a being far beyond me that seems to stop my actions.

I don't know who or what it is, but I don't stop. I keep pulling, yanking, and tearing with my Ether and mind. Even as I feel myself touch upon the edge of saturation, I keep going. If I stop now, I am wood for the chopping. Unable to move, I will simply die to this Nahullo.

And as my Ether reaches such a volume that I can feel the temperature drop, a sound comes from the Nahullo beating Bonfire to a pulp.

"Hmm? Is that one not dead? I thought you were carrying corpses through the rockies, but it turns out one of 'em was alive. So let's leave you alive to watch this. How about that, you pyromaniac?"

Steps crunch toward me, the Nahullo deciding to kill me before Bonfire now that he noticed me. I ignore him, pushing even more Ether into the thin connection railing against whatever is keeping me from pulling the soul beyond the gate.

And even as an oversized hand clasps around my throat, I don't pause, my flesh beginning to melt from the overuse of Ether. Bonfire was willing to die for me, so I am eager to do the same.

A child from the son, one bereft of any love until the double digits. I just can't help it. Call it a flaw or a trait; if someone is willing to do for me, I will return the favor.

The pressure from the hand grows, and my breathing stops as he closes my airway, a mocking voice tempting me to open my eyes and break my concentration.

"Come on, I know you're awake. Let me see your eyes before you die."

I refuse. And as the grip tightens, the pain and anxiety of suffocating reaching my mind, I pull even harder. Upon death, we shine the brightest.

Just as I feel the final moment of my brain working without air, I open my eyes to stare at the Nahullo. His hair and skin are burnt, and third-degree burns cover his rough skin. But his eyes are just as crazed as mine, the loss of friends, a familiar feeling to me, eating at him.

The second my consciousness darkness, propelling me into the endless abyss where I too will be jettisoned down into the Underworld, I pull with every last aspect of myself. And just as the twilight encloses a phantasmal door of bones in my vision, I feel something break, a snap from deep within.

And the next thing I know, the Nahullo is gone, the pain is gone, and the dark is replaced with the disquieting air of The Cabin.

Almost unbelievingly, I step forward, my toes unable to comprehend what's happening even if I know the phenomenon. My hand reaches out toward the book as it opens, displaying words I never thought I, an orphan from the swamps, would see.

Congratulations, Ghostsguard. You have displayed an overwhelming pure resonance to the aspect of the Harbinger. You have performed an Act of Absolution in your attempt to overcome your own limits. You brought yourself to your very limit. And then one step further. Again and again, until your very body began to collapse. But within that collapse and stress, a diamond emerges from both you and your Sigil. And so, may your Ghostsguard Sigil shift into a purer form, for you, the soon-to-be Harbinger, have performed,

The Harbinger's Absolution.

You have prematurely resonated with a future step along your path, and as such, your current Sigil shall shift its Absolute Form to match it just as it shifts to better match you. It will never be the same again, and neither will you, Ghostsguard. Like an old ghost awakened from millennium-long rest, your Sigil shall now be more powerful, more vibrant, and purer.

From the Ghostsguard you once were, now, you are the Heraldic Ghostsguard. One who ignores the cycle of life and death. A woman who prefers to impose her own.

With this new form, your Sigil shall grant a new strength. A new aid to you in your long journey. One that is premature yet effective.

Your dedication has pulled something to the surface. You herald those from the deep into the world of the living. Dead they are, living you are, yet something in between you become. With your banner as it is now, only one may join you from the deep. Raise your banner high, and legions will cross to join you.

The form of your Sigil shall now be revealed to you, as it is more pure and effervescent than ever before.

I reach forward and touch the Sigil imposed onto the page. I didn't have the time to look at it last time, but when I became a 4th Sigil, it was a tree mirrored above and below ground, a man sitting on both sides. But now, it is entirely different. It now resembled a pit that goes through the entire world as beasts crawl in and undead crawl out.

Shaking off the oddness with my joy of gaining an Absolution, I can hardly imagine my new skill. Can I bring people back to life? Probably not; that is not at all what it hints at. It more so hints at something similar to what I was given last time I read the tome, Ghosted, my form of Adrenaline Surge. But at the same time, it speaks of legions, so which is it?

A personal skill or something else? I don't know, and there is only one way to find out.

I let my mind enter the Sigil as I am brought back to reality, pain screaming its way into my body the whole while. My eyes open to a translucent yet solid figure, one that resembles Skychaser that is stabbing a claw into the back of the Nahullo's head.

Skychaser, or his ghost, I'm not sure yet, yanks the more significant figure backward as an audible shock resounds, sparks and smoke rising from the pale figure. The Bado then brings a wing down as the Nahullo punches him off, but as Skychaser tumbles, a lightning bolt comes from the wing.

A blast of electricity that leaves me shaking alongside everything else going on internally stops the Nahullo as he falls unconscious. I can see Bonfire's eyes wide open through my haze as Skychaser turns to me, the see-through man nodding before fading into nothingness.

But as he fades, I feel a tendril connecting us, letting me sense the Bado's soul as he tumbles back into the Underworld. I want to study and learn more about this skill, but reality hits me.

My body begins convulsing, the trauma of using Ether far beyond my limit hitting me like a thousand diseases at once. I slam into the ground as I shrivel up. I can vaguely see Bonfire crawling over to me before collapsing beside me as he searches the Nahullo's body.

The whole time he does, he speaks, croaks coming out from his throat as he tries to keep me conscious.

"You... gotta stay awake... don't... fall asleep... Let me find... something to help... just... hold... on."

I try to grasp his voice as the cold and heat bear ruthlessly advance into me, my flesh turning to blood as I feel my nails fall off. Shaking, I listen with all my might, trying my best to stay awake. Bonfire gains volume as he struggles, all the while telling me what happened.

"Focus, Blake. We got away from the Councilmen. You're strong... stronger than most... Come on! I think Blightraven did something, and I took the opportunity to run with you and Skychaser. They got to have one! How can Sentinels not have one! Fuck! We're miles south of where you passed out two days ago. I've been looking for the others, but can't find them. Hey! Stay in there...!"

My vision swims as the pain takes over, Bonfire's words fading out. I can't... hold on. The dark begins to take me once more, but just as it does, light enters my body in the form of an abyssal liquid.

Heat fills my whole body, the Concoction or Serum Bonfire found amongst the Nahullo evaporating the Ether left in my flesh and bones. Agony, even more hellish than before, makes me scream as everything goes white.