Chapter 0

There are Gods among the trees below.

Beings who walk without flesh among the smoke. All around us, as the blood boils and the flames rise higher, I can hear their laughter.

Voices, loud enough to make me wish I could scream, silent enough to seem a whisper.

They know I’m here.

They know I’m still alive.

[CRITERIA MET]

[UNIQUE TITLE: GREATER FAMILIAR – GRANTED]

[UNIQUE TRAIT – BLOOD BY BOUND – GRANTED]

[LEVEL UP]

From the center of the storm, as thunder roars and multicolored flames dance, the dead cackle.

The longer I listen, though, the more I understand.

[CRITERIA MET]

[UNIQUE TITLE: WITNESS OF BABEL – GRANTED]

[CHAOS LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION – GRANTED]

[LEVEL UP]

Their laughter is like ten thousand words, each tumbling over-top one another, cascading as if a dam giving way to the oncoming flood. Thoughts and images all wrapped up among a language no mortal should ever know.

[CRITERIA MET]

[COMPLETE – ACCESS GRANTED]

[STATUS: AFFLICTED]

[HIDDEN AILMENT – LESSER INSANITY]

I can hear them, as they shout.

They wanted this to happen.

They’ve wanted this for a long time.

Centuries… millennia… they’ve watched on in silence, waiting patiently.

Yet, that's not the only thing they howl: hidden beneath their glee, there is surprise.

It was not meant to happen here.

Not today.

It’s whisper as much: to themselves, to each other.

Not today…

[ADDITIONAL CRITERIA MET]

As pleased as they are, I can hear the concern growing. All around me, their wonder is turning to suspicion, is turning to outrage.

And yet, still: they laugh.

"Trespasser."

The word repeats like an endless mantra, as they reach for me.

Hands in the smoke reaching atop one another as their accusations only grow. Voices ushering in a gift I do not wish to receive.

"Catalyst."

[COMPLETE – ACCESS GRANTED]

[UNIQUE TITLE: HARBINGER – GRANTED]

[AFFLICTED AILMENT ADVANCED – INSANITY]

I understand it now, what I’m seeing. They shout the answer, filled with pride. Happy to show the consequences of this foolish bargain.

Blood was paid.

Power was granted.

So, it must be given.

As heat and flame. As force.

We are still rising.

Higher.

The laughter turns towards something worse, as they fail to reach us. Their hands fall short, back down to the flames by which they emerged: writhing in fury.

How dare we flee? They ask, they shout.

They curse.

[UNIQUE TITLE: ENEMY OF CHAOS – GRANTED]

[AFFLICTED AILMENT ADVANCED – GREATER INSANITY]

Higher and Higher, as this power spreads, it rises.

So far, that we’re above the world, and beneath us… beneath us, is everything.

[UNIQUE TITLE: ASCENDED – GRANTED]

The fire, the voices? They’re furious we’re escaping. Enraged beyond belief, that their own actions are carrying us away: that the flames they’re so proud of can’t touch us.

It’s a kind of hatred that doesn’t need language.

Only purpose.

[CRITERIA MET]

[AFFLICTED AILMENT ADVANCED – MADNESS]

[UNIQUE TRAIT – UNSTABLE]

Brimstone and multicolored flames, heat billowing out in all directions: they take whatever can be taken.

But not what they wanted.

Not us.

We’re leaving them behind, surpassing the clouds until there are no more clouds.

Only cold.

The air is thinning.

It’s kept away from us, but I can feel it. Freezing cold, burning heat- back and forth. We’re still not stopping, even as the lights are changing.

The sky isn’t blue, but black.

I don’t know if anyone has ever been this far out.

The edge of the world, the border between reality, and nothing.

Or, everything?

There’s no right answer.

Go far enough, and there is no below. No up, or down.

Everything just is.

[LEVEL UP]

[CRITERIA MET]

[TITLE ADVANCED - GREATER ASCENDED]

[ADDITIONAL MENU ITEMS - UNLOCKED]

Everything is, until it’s not.

When weightless turns heavy.

I think I’m falling… we’re falling.

Will I remember this, when we land?

Am I even able to remember what I think, now? Have I already forgotten everything but the last, and don’t realize it?

I don’t know.

[LEVEL UP]

[ADVANCED CRITERIA MET] [!]

[PENDING]

Strange thoughts.

They’re always there, I think. Hiding in the background of every day. Their uncertainties keep creeping back in.

Endlessly.

Even when I try my hardest to fight them off. To redirect, adjust, explain when possible… I do try, you know.

For some time now, I have been.

Part of me makes that effort: to fight, to stand my ground and resist. That I throw my head back and shout.

But, I can’t.

My voice is only a whisper, and the ground I used to stand on

It’s gone.

Maybe, it was never there

Ah

The fall, though: that’s here.

[CONSOLIDATION OF TITLES]

[STARTING - ASSESSMENT]

[DIVINE BEAST, LEVIATHAN, CALAMITY, GUARDIAN, ENEMY OF MANKIND, GREATER FAMILIAR, WITNESS OF BABEL, HARBINGER, ENEMY OF CHAOS, GREATER ASCENDED]

[PENDING]

Faster and faster now, as the wind screams.

No longer is that air cold

We’re held within rush of heat and smoke billowing. The clouds are back, then gone, then back again

Layers giving way as we plummet.

My eyes are open as we approach the end of this journey, and they have the answer to one question

It seems the ground does exist, after all.

[CONSOLIDATION OF TITLES – COMPLETE]

[…]

[ACCESS DENIED] [!]

[CONFIRMATION – PENDING]

[RESTRICTION – LOCK IN PLACE] [!]

[TITLE EXCEEDS CURRENT LEVEL]

[RESTRICTION – SECONDARY LOCK] [!]

[0/100] [!]

[RECONFIRMING - CONFIRMED] [!]

[RESTRICTION – LOCK IN PLACE] [!]

[SERVANT OF THE WORLD - PENDING] [!]

[PROGRESS 0/100] [!]

[PROGRESS 0/100] [!] [!] [!]

[PROGRESS 0/100] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!]

[PROGRESS 0/100] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!]

[PROGRESS 0/100] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!] [!]-