Immediately upon regaining consciousness, Aiden found himself inside a familiar place he’d only just left—his Orrery. But chaos had been unleashed.

The container holding the Essence Orbs, Cores, and Pillars he’d collected was shattered. The energy within raged around like a wild maelstrom, obliterating all substance in the strange soul realm, an unyielding torrent of energy swirling with him as the center.

“Ahhh, what… happened?”

Aiden turned around to see Leyla there. “I think Arkayan just killed me?”

She looked around and shook her head. “We wouldn’t be here if that’s the case.”

“Whatever it may be, now isn’t the time to figure out.”

What once was the Central Node was what they both sat on now. Its circular shape now glowed with a much different array it once displayed. A hundred Essence Orb-sized divots buzzed angrily, as if starving. A commanding presence demanded him to satiate that hunger, ripping him to his core with its ferocity.

Turning over, Leyla traced the circular node’s pattern. “I’ve heard of something like this before, but the experience usually isn’t so… violent.” She eyed him as if hungry, grinning while licking her lips. “You sure are something. This is definitely the process of ascension. The evolution of the Central Node…” Her eyes trailed to the storm around them. “But this? This is too much.”

“I was just thinking it isn’t enough.” Chaotic, yes, but there was a thinness to it all, a sense of non-substantiality. As though his perception had changed while the reality within this place stayed the same. Well, as much the same as it could be after being wholly dissolved into motes of angry destructive power.

“They’re the same thing. Too much and not enough. The containment isn’t sufficient for the level of power you’re trying to store. See?” She pointed out into the storm where parts of his previous Orrery’s soulscape were simultaneously forming and dissipating at once. “The old form can’t hold, and there isn’t a new form for it to latch on to.”

“How am I supposed to fix that?” Aiden growled and spun in a full circle, searching for anything that could be of use. “Why does that man never give me useful instructions before throwing me into this kind of thing?”

“I don’t remember him doing this before. I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed.” Leyla crawled slowly around the platform, occasionally licking the sparking pattern, before finally stopping. “Here. This is the foundation piece.”

Aiden stared at it. “This doesn’t look any different. And is the storm getting faster?”

“Probably. It’s going to rip us apart soon.” Leyla sat back on her heels, tapping a finger at the point she’d designated. “Quick as you like.”

“So you know what I’m supposed to do?”

“Nope. But this tastes right. It’s like it’s…” She shook her hair and shrugged. “The part that’s most you? Start here. Build outwards. And do it with purpose.”

“Everyone’s a cryptic,” Aiden grumbled but crossed to the spot. He could almost feel what she meant. Standing on the spot felt… comfortable, somehow, even though he could have sworn the moment he stepped there everything intensified to an unprecedented degree. Sharp motes of ice whipped past him, leaving bleeding lines across his cheeks and tearing at his clothes. “How?”

“Do I look like I’ve ascended before?” She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “You really think I’d have been in such a position if I’d had the luxury to ascend? Like Xenith would ever trust me with any more power than I already have.”

The shards of ice were whirling faster than ever now, the fractured pieces of his former Orrery disappearing and reforming so fast it looked like a reverse slow-motion film of a city decaying.

Ignoring the fact he was standing on a spot Leyla had licked the node to find, the hunger still pained him and caused the power to spin at greater velocity. The hundred divots shined even brighter. Desperate and without much of a lifeline to hold onto, he did all he could think of.

“Ah?” Leyla started as he grabbed her by the wrist and lifted her to his feet to stand by his side. “What?”

Rather than answer, he gently caressed her face and locked lips with hers. If he was gonna go out to a raging storm of power, he’d at least do it while enjoying himself.

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But the fragmented Orrery seemed to become… quiet, serene in front of their embrace.

The storm continued to rage just as violently, but Leyla’s eyes shone with a brilliant violet hue, a tangible aura entangling with the essence of his being as one. Whatever that mystical energy was held up as a dome against what would attempt to rob them of life.

In each rotation, the storm would press closer and closer, being rebuffed each time. However, energy seeped through the barrier, calmer and less violent, swirling around them almost with a sense of curious wonder.

It made Aiden question things that he didn’t have time to give attention to. Rather, he held a hand up to it and felt the energy flowing formlessly with a slightly emerald hue to it. Give me shape, purpose, it begged of him.

“Interesting,” he muttered, pointing at the divots around them as an experiment. Sure enough, the mote of milky-green essence solidified into the shape of an Essence Orb and slotted into the divot. “Very interesting, indeed.”

“I’m not sure about you, but none of this is making any sense to me,” Leyla grumbled, her cheeks pink and eyes stripping him. “But as long as you’re figuring things out, I’ll be waiting for more of that solution.” She pointed at the aura around them. It was already beginning to fade. “With great excitement, too,” she grinned, biting her lip.

Fortunately for him, and less fortunate for Leyla, the addition of the essence into the divot began to support the strange aura around them and caused a wash of relief to flood over him as the hunger rumbled with satisfaction.

Not letting the momentum die, Aiden took hold of the little Essence that converted through their aura dome and filled all hundred divots. The node hummed, quite lively now that he’d fed it, and shifted its shape.

Once the shape finished solidifying, he realized the process of ascension wouldn’t be so easily completed. In place of the Essence Orb-sized divots were dozens of Core-sized ones, a new intricate pattern connecting them all.

“This… might take awhile,” he muttered, though he knew he’d get no sympathy from Leyla. The process for converting the storm of essence around them into solidified Cores wasn’t as simple and required far more focus from Aiden. Yet, his previous method for simplifying things again simplified things. Cores were slotted, leaving him with one ready-to-pounce Leyla. “The consequences, consequences, consequences of my actions. The consequences of my actions, chasing me right now!” he sang as she chased after him in circles.

Regardless of the less-than-serious antics, the filling of the divots continued to progress as the energy of the Cores continued to support the strange conversion dome, which Aiden was starting to think was some kind of representation of what remained of his soul. Considering his interactions with Leyla, how that made things easier, and how their souls were bound as one…

He had questions and nobody to provide answers. And the one who might have answers, he’d made a vow to himself to give a good and swift kick in the ass.

After all the Cores were slotted, the process began again. The node flashed with a new pattern, the storm outside raged less intensely, and he had a new type of essence construct to craft and slot to satiate the hunger he felt.

All the while entertaining Leyla.

The process followed what he knew already from collecting all the essence. Orbs, Cores, and now he was completing Pillars. Something felt off to him though. Did he have so much essence the last time he looked? Could what the container held really have caused such a giant mess in his Orrery?

He didn’t think so, but it was impossible to know for sure.

When he completed the Pillars, again, the pattern atop the node changed. No divots or specific shape. Just a soft, malleable surface of emptiness requesting energy, shape, and purpose.

“Here we go again.”

*

By the time Aiden woke up, he was ready to sleep for a week. No physical time had passed, but the soul strain he'd experienced left an impression he wouldn't soon forget.

“I'm glad to see you've succeeded,” Arkayan said, a smug face grin on his face. “I knew you'd be able to handle the ascension. Congratulations!”

The visceral desire to leap forward and smack that look off his face was only held back by Aiden's powerful self-preservation instinct and an overwhelming sense of emptiness—as if his entire soul lacked an iota of power to bring to bear.

“Don't do things without telling me first.” Dizziness made it difficult for Aiden to maintain eye contact, but he endured until Arkayan nodded. He then promptly laid back on the ground, every part of him aching.

He lay there for but a moment, staring at the strange sky, until an equally tired Leyla groaned as she rose from the ground, stretching with great drama. Once finished, her hands trailed across her limbs, humming as she assessed herself.

“I see…” She looked down at Aiden's prone form. “I know why things felt odd. All my energy stores are emptied and were likely used in the ascension process.”

“Your souls are one. Did you expect him to ascend without your involvement?” The condescension in the Shadowborn's voice irked Aiden.

“Well, kind of?” Leyla tilted her head. “Seems pretty obvious in hindsight.” A violet misty static erupted forward and over an erected shadow dome. “But do you have to be so annoying about everything?”

“Yes. You are the one who is annoyed. It has nothing to do with me.”

“Little bit to do with us, though…”

“Could you argue somewhere else,” Aiden groaned. “I’ll beat you both up later. Right now I’d prefer we stick to the absolute essentials.”

Arkayan’s voice was devoid of any hint of sympathy. “Then your training shall begin.”