Ascension Chapter 2

Reunion
Mycel looked around himself searching for the two warriors, only to see nothing but broken buildings and corpses. Mycel then became bombarded with more voices yelling in his head giving him a severe headache, until one voice spoke over the others alerting him.

“Mycel.” The voice called out to him, causing him to look around again, quickly spotting a tall, tan skinned elf. He had long messy hair, with brown eyes, with tattered rags for clothes.

“Dad?” Mycel questioned confused

The man approached Mycel, and tried to hug him, going directly through him.

“Well…I’m just glad you can finally see me.”

“Finally?”

“I’ve always been with you Mycel, I never left your side; you’ve been so strong for so long. I’m nothing but proud of what you've become.”

“I love you dad.” Mycel said as a tear rolled down his face as his black aura around him disappeared

“I love you too, I just wished I could’ve been apart of your life a little longer.”

“Yeah, the Ascension took you at, just like they tried to take me out right now.”

“All they see is the mission, I was a member when I was younger. I left it behind once I was ordered to hunt down a thief who would later become your mother.”

“Wait…you worked for them?”

“Yes, I was raised in their temple and became a warrior myself within their ranks. So, once I broke away from their order, they sent warriors after to me. We were on the run when you were an infant, but I didn't want that life for you anymore. So, once we settled down in a decent village, I left you and your mother behind, and eventually they caught up with me.”

“I just remember your head being brought to our front door by one of them to scare mom.”

“Yes, they planned on killing your mother and taking you to the temple, but my dying wish was for her to live. Thankfully they respected it and allowed you to live a life free of them.”

“They took you away from me, all I had were mom's stories of how great you were. I always thought about you… especially when mom got sick. She told me to just let her go, but I knew you wouldn’t let her; I joined the Trinia bandits to try and get enough money to get her medicine.”

“I know son that’s why I’m proud.”

“But what I’ve been sending back home hasn’t been enough, I don’t know what to do.”

“What are you talking about son? You’ve always had the will to control your destiny, but now you have the power to control others.”

“I don’t know how to control this power; shit I can barely walk in a straight line.”

“That’s because your adapting to your new form…you've never let anything defeat you before son; you were chosen by that shard to carry this power within you.”

“Half the time I can’t even think straight though; with all these damn voices.”

“Those are the fallen souls and spirits of my world son; remember you aren’t alone. I can block out their voices for you, and we can learn how to control your power together.”

“I need to get home first though; mom’s last letter didn’t sound good.”

“Maybe you can use your power to visit her.”

“How?”

“Well as a wandering soul, I just focus on another soul and once I lock onto them, I can appear beside them.”

Mycel then closed his eyes and thought deeply about his mother back home, as a cluster of voices began to fill his head again.

“I can’t handle this.”

“I’m with you, let me guide you to her.” Mycel’s father said before walking inside Mycel causing the voices dissipate allowing Mycel to only feel a warm inviting energy from afar.

“You feel her?” The father asked now in Mycel’s consciousness

“Yes.”

“Now remove yourself from where you are and only focus on her and being with her.”

Mycel closed his eyes tightly as a black hole formed underneath his feet causing his body to quickly sink into the hole vanishing. Mycel then opened his eyes as he fell through another hole slamming into a valley. The ground trembled underneath the force of his body leaving a small crater where he stood. Mycel then stepped out of the crater, as he gazed upon old stones of his small house on the edge of the village, he stood in. He continued to walk forward when he felt something hit his arm from beside him. He looked over and saw a small group of elven guards in battle formation, as the one in front reloaded the crossbow in his hand.

“What the hell do you want monster?!” The lead guard stated as he finished reloading his crossbow

“I live here.”

“I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen you around here before!” The guard exclaimed with his crossbow aimed at him

“I’m Mycel Kintera, my mom lives in the house in front of me.”

“Mycel?! You’re about four hundred pounds too big for me to believe that story.”

Mycel looked closely at the guards to find a familiar face but couldn’t recognize any of them.

“You need to leave, before this gets bad for you.”

Mycel decided to ignore the guards further on and began walking again when they all fired arrows at his body with each one snapping apart on impact.

“Take him down!” The leader said throwing his crossbow to the ground and throwing a bottle from his pocket at Mycel creating a bright flash of light blinding him.

The leader then unsheathing his sword while charging forward, with the other guards behind him following his action. The leader swiped his blade against Mycel’s arm, with the tip of the blade breaking off from the force. The leader was shocked that the attack caused no form of damage, when a black energy began to form around Mycel.

“Fuck off!” He roared causing large black tentacles to form from the aura and slam down on the guards crushing them against the ground. Mycel then felt a strange sensation as he saw their souls being ripped out of their bodies by the tentacles and absorbed into his aura.

“You’re learning.” Mycel heard his father’s voice in his head

“I didn’t mean to do that though.”

“But now you know you can, now let’s see your mother.”

Mycel walked up to the front door of the house in disbelief of how small the doorway was now in the eyes of his new form. and pushed it open to see his mother on the ground unconscious. Mycel quickly pushed himself through the small doorway smashing through it and wrapped his hand under her head.

“She’s not breathing!” Mycel stated in shock

“Save her.” His father’s voice stated

“How?”

“Reach out for her soul and force your strength onto her.” His father’s voice stated causing Mycel to quickly shut his eyes and focus on his mother.

He felt her warm spirit with his aura quickly wrapping around her and brightening the energy inside her. Suddenly his mother’s eyes opened once again with air rushing to her lungs.

“I almost lost you.” Mycel said as he held her head against his body

“Uh…who are you?” His mother asked confused

“I’m Mycel your son.”

She looked up at his massive size, and powerful physique in confusion before asking

“How long was I dead?”

“No, I found a shard of Merconas, it turned me into this after some Ascension warriors killed me.”

“Killed you?”

“Yeah, my group got ambushed by them we didn’t stand a chance; so, I held on to the shard because you always told about how Merconas shattered the orb of life to separate the spirit world from us. I remember the tales of how just one shard of the orb could consume the wielder into a deity.”

“So, you’re the bridge?”

“What bridge?”

“The bridge between the spirit realm and our own.”

“I think so, but I don’t know why it altered me physically.”

“Merconas shattered the orb of life, to create a barrier between life and death. The orb is the foundation of our world’s evolution. So, once you bonded with the shard you must’ve evolved into this new form.”

“The peak of evolution… I can learn to appreciate that.”

“Well… this is certainly a lot for one dead woman to take in.”

“I saw dad.” Mycel blurted out

“What?” His mother asked unclear about his statement

“I can see him in this form, he’s attached to me.”

“Let her see me, force my presence through you and your energy.” The father said in Mycel’s mind

Mycel followed his orders with his black aura appearing as his father’s spirit began to push himself out of his body revealing himself to the mother.

“Lexaris?” She said with tears in her eyes as he stood in front of her with the same black aura of Mycel

She rushed in to touch him, but her hands went through him, making her fall to her knees from the rush of emotions.

“Nelkita… I wish things were different; I wish we could’ve spent more nights in the forest doing battle drills, I miss your smile, and I crave your touch. Not a moment goes by that I don’t miss our hunting trips.”

“I-I thought I…I would never see you again.” Nelkita said with tears rolling down her face

“I was always here, and I always will be; you did a wonderful job with our son, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I know it’s been hard fighting off the infection, but our son still needs you on this side. We almost lost him today to the Ascension; I’m trying to be his guide on this side but he’s in a whole new world, and he’s going to need something to keep him anchored.”

“You always had the good ideas.”

“Just like you always had the good heart.” Lexaris said before faded off back into Mycel’s body with Mycel dropping to one knee gasping for air

“I’m kind of new to this soul stuff, so I have to hold my breathe when I do stuff like that.” Mycel said with sweat covering his body

“Thank you.” Nelkita said grabbing Mycel by his waist and pressing her head against his stomach.

Just then a powerful explosion occurred in front of the house causing the front portion of it to collapse, with Mycel shielding his mother from the falling ruble.

“Come on out!” A deep voice called from out the house.

“Go through the back, I’ll handle this.” Mycel said before walking out of the house with his eyes locked on the large figure standing from a distance.

He was very tall, with dark skin, dark brown eyes, and strong burly physique. He had a large black mohawk, with the top dyed yellow; His face was chunky and bruised from previous battles, with a chin patch of black and thick mutton chops. He wore armored boots, with baggy black pants, with a blue and yellow shirt, along with a black sleeveless jacket. His forearms were wrapped in gauze along with the massive blade he strapped on his back. He carried massive hook blades on his waist, holstered inside his thick utility belt.

“So, I’m Justin Palters, and I’ll be your opponent for the evening… I was honestly on orders to hunt down an ogre around here, but I heard all the commotion and just couldn’t resist helping out the locals.”

As Mycel got closer to Justin he noticed the Ascension emblem on his chest, causing his black aura to grow stronger. Justin then quickly threw another pellet from his utility belt at Mycel surrounding him in a dark green chemical gas. The chemicals began to burn Mycel’s eyes and skin, quickly melting his skin off. Mycel then stomped on the ground with enough force for the gas to disperse around him. His skin quickly began to heal back to its natural form, leaving Justin in shock. Justin’s eyes flowed with blue energy causing a dark blue energy to surround him quickly forming into thick samurai armor. His entire body was covered in the armor, including his head, which was covered by a helmet with long curved horns on the front.

“They don’t call me the Armored Ox for nothing.”

Mycel then leaped forward and tried to punch Justin who attempted to block with his hook blades. Mycel’s fist shattered the blades and smashed into Justin’s face throwing him nearly a hundred feet away from him. Justin tumbled back onto his feet and reached for the blade resting on his back as spirit hounds charged out of Mycel’s aura towards Justin. Justin quickly swiped his blade into the spirit’s causing them to disperse.

“I call it the soul eater.” Justin said with a smirk; Mycel then created large tentacles from his aura and had them extend towards Justin.

“Now!” Justin yelled signaling for large golden energy chains to wrap around Mycel from behind, restraining him.

Behind Mycel was a small, slender elven woman in all black clothing, with curly purple hair, and golden colored eyes. Runic symbols were carved underneath her feet as the chains were launched from her wrist.

“Ha, good shit rook, the chains of Varia are unbreakable; as long as you can stay focused on their energy.”

“Just hurry up fat ass and cut this fucker head off.”

“Just hold him still rookie.” Justin said before charging forward with his blade in hand

Mycel then stomped on the ground again in frustration this time causing large spikes of black energy to shoot from the ground surrounding him.

“Rook!” Justin yelled as he saw the spikes impale him through the stomach, and head.

Mycel’s then broke free of the chains and covered his hand in a massive amount of dark energy before throwing himself forward once again. Justin blocked his attack with his blade, with Mycel then overpowering Justin and throwing him into the ground. Justin tried to lift his blade up to attack, but Mycel landed a devastating punch to his head. Justin saw his armor was already cracking from just one blow from Mycel.

“I’m going to rip all of you apart!” Mycel said before wrapping his hands around Justin’s head attempting pressuring his armor to shatter. Justin could feel his armor was on the verge of collapse; and reach in his belt to grab another pellet. Mycel noticed him reaching for the pellet and threw Justin away from him. Justin dropped the pellet in his hand from the hard fall, he then reached for a stone in his pocket; as Mycel barreled towards him again.

“Reditus.” Justin then vanished, with Mycel then slamming into the ground and striking it repeatedly in frustration. Each blow deepened a crater beneath him and shook the entire area; with the buildings of the village beside him being badly damaged from his assault.

“Stop Mycel!” His mother shouted, as she returned to his side

Mycel laid on his knees as his mother attempted to wrap herself around his torso.

“I failed.”

“No, you didn’t you got one them; and now they know what you’re capable of.” She said before coughing rapidly

“Are you okay?” Mycel asked concerned

“I just need medicine; we ran out in the village.”

“Where do I need to go?”

“Rusceldern Village; it’s in the middle of the Geltona forest.”

“I don’t have a spirit to lock onto.”

“I can help guide you son.” Mycel’s father stated resulting in Mycel vanishing in front of his mother.