“Puny!”
I looked up as the bellow echoed through the jungle, the depth of the sound causing the foliage to shake around us. I grinned as I saw the gigantic white-furred figure through the trees; blunt and vaguely terrifying Rainmaker might be, but I really did like the cunningly dense Elder. Looking around, I could see smiles on the faces of my friends as well, other than Cad, who had dropped into a fighter's stance with the head of his hammer back over one shoulder.
The hammer did not seem bother Rainmaker at all as he leapt into the air to come crashing back down through the canopy in front of is. Pulling leaves from my hair as the ground shook with the impact, I spoke with exaggeration to make sure our newest companion knew not to attack.
“Elder Rainmaker! It’s good to see you again. And-” I looked around for Borr, but did not see the Elder’s shadow anywhere. “Where’s Borr? I realise we weren’t around for that long but I’ve never seen you without him before.”
“We’ll have time for that after we’re done with important matters of law and things. Where’s my fruit?”
With a small flourish and a bow, I pulled the sack and the Thousand Year Pineapple from storage and held them out to him; it was a little awkward holding them both in the one hand, but I had not wanted to include the pineapple with the other fruit, given how much the Elder seemed to enjoy them.
Darina, who was finally starting to calm down, had decided she wanted to try to upsell the fruit. Stepping forward, the apprentice bowed deeply and spoke, her voice polite.
“Honoured Elder Rainmaker, we have succeeded in appeasing Elder Flame Ever Dancing, and in so doing we have obtained for you a replacement-” Darina began to gesture at the Thousand Year Pineapple in my hand, but when she looked, her arm already starting to gesture, she saw that the fruit in question was gone, and was in fact already half-way inside the fruit-loving Elder’s mouth. - “Uh, yes. We have also obtained a number of special fruits grown and cultivated by the Alchemy Association, each of them a variety that may not ever occur in nature.”
“There is more of you now than there was before; I know you humans breed fast, which is why it’s okay to smash some, but this it too much.”
Taken aback by the assumption that we had somehow spawned a fully-grown man in the weeks since we left, I stood with my mouth slightly open as I tried to process how the Elder thought humans reproduced. And why it was apparently okay to smash them.
“With deferential correction, Honoured Elder Rainmaker, Cad is no product of any of our union, but rather an emissary of the Alchemy Association who is journeying back to my home with us.”
Cad, who had put his hammer away at the first mention of Elders, gave a bow of his own, but it went ignored as Rainmaker’s attention remained locked on us.
“Oh. Well, I guess the most important thing is that you have fruit for him too?”
“They’re in the bag, Rainmaker. Should be fourteen, which with the pineapple, makes three for each of us.”
“I can count, Puny.”
The comment was pointed, with a touch of growl to it and I dipped another bow, wisely – I hoped – choosing not to say anything.
“No we have the important matters of states done, what’s an alchemy association? You said they make fruit? Can I get an alchemy association?”
“Pardon me, me right-honoured Elder, but the Alchemy Association is an affiliated group of individuals looking for further the bound of alchemy and-”
“Too long. Use less words, or I’ll smash you, Almost-Not-Puny.”
Cad looked at me with a look of sheer panic, but seemed to calm down – marginally – when I shook my head; I hoped to convey that I did not think Rainmaker would smash him for such a thing, but if I was being entirely truthful, I was not so sure.
“-Uh, they make a lot o’things, yer Massive Elderness. But there’s only th’one, m’fraid.”
I saw Darina wince a little when cad used my own personal honorific, ‘Elderness’; it was not – strictly speaking – a proper form of address, but it had worked out for me so far, and it seemed Cad had picked up on its use when we were speaking with Flame Ever Dancing.
“Bah, then I’ll make my own. Fruit is too good, but if it can be better it would be irresponsible not to do what we can. Tún! TÚN!”
I had to cover my ears with a wince as Rainmaker’s voice switched to the thunderous roaring the thundering apes used to communicate, and from where I suspected they got their name. After a few short moments of, the Elder sucked in another deep breath, an impatient look on his face, but thankfully another ape came crashing down through the canopy; this one was a little smaller than many of the adult apes I had seen, only barely taller than Rainmaker’s own twenty-foot height.
“What is it, Boss? I was this close to being able to see the future, I just needed-”
“Never mind your dirt-tasting mushroom, Tún - I have a more important job. You are now our official alchemy association. You’re in charge of making fruits better.”
“But, Boss... you really need to try these mushrooms, they’ll alter you whole-”
“I’m not eating dirt, Tún. You can’t trick me!”
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There was a pause in the deafening back and forth and I quickly interjected before it could start up again.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but you need more than one person for an association. And the name alchemy association is already taken.”
“You see the effects my mushrooms are having, Boss? They’ve allowed me to transcend language! How else could this human know what I was saying?”
“Bah, he understands everyone, dirt-tasting soup or not. But he has a good point, if we use the same name, people will get us confused. You're not the head of our alchemy association anymore, you’re the head of the Fruit Association!”
“... Yes, Boss.”
Tún did not sound all that excited about the idea, but seemed to resign himself to it as he slowly knuckle-walked away. I did not bother to offer any further impediments to the Elder’s plan, as it seemed he had made his mind up, and as... simple... as he made himself out to be, I knew it was at least partially an act, and I did not want to risk pissing him off.
“So, you’ve founded a new... association... and we’ve all paid up on our tax. I guess we should just be off – we still have a long way to go.”
“What? No, you should stay. Borr should be ascending soon, it should look impressive.”
“Did you say he was ascending? Like, to the next plane up?”
The subject of ascension had not come up a great deal; academically, I knew it was what happened at the end of the Pinnacle stage – at least for the most part – but I had not met anybody so close, at least knowingly.
“Where else would he ascend to, the top of the mountain? You can’t ascend to a place you already are.”
Rainmaker’s voice was openly mocking, but I just about managed to stop myself rolling my eyes at the Elder’s words.
“You’re totally right, Rainmaker; I should have thought before I said anything.”
Grunting like a boulder falling, I received a nod of acknowledgement.
“With appropriate awe, it is rare for an ascension to be witnessed – I have never been present for such an event, though my brother has been.”
I thought I caught a whisper of jealousy from Riffa as she spoke about her brother, but it was tough to tell given the general lack of expression. The risi said they did not like to lie when stating their tones and meanings, but I wondered how they handled hiding one intent behind another.
“In reluctant confirmation, our brother’s tribulation was a remarkable sight, though I would have perhaps preferred to be slightly further away...”
“Wait, your brother ascended? Did you have a second brother?”
“In confusion, I have only a single brother, though Riffa has two.”
“So, you mean Raaf? But if he ascended-”
“Enough talking! You talk so much, Puny. Sometimes it is better to listen, because friends are not always around forever.”
For the first time I heard sadness in the Elder’s voice and I realised that if Borr ascended, Rainmaker would be losing a friend; it was not the same as death, but from the perspective of those left behind, the loss might be similar. Especially if you had known them for potentially thousands of years.
“Follow me, we’re going to gather with a clear view of the mountain.”
Without another word, the huge white-furred being turned and walked off, not waiting for our response. After a glance around at my friends, and receiving a mixed bag of nods and shrugs, we hurried after him, following through the trees until we reached a recently cleared patch of jungle, which was occupied by dozens upon dozens of colossal apes, their gazes locked on the distant peak of the mountain.
Finding a place to sit on the stump of one massive tree, my companions and I sat down and waited. I kind of wished I had known Borr was up there when we crossed the mountain; we may not have been that high up, but we could have made a detour to say goodbye, at least in theory. Though, from what Reff had said, it was not the best idea to be that close to an ascension, and from the term tribulation, I gathered the event could be somewhat violent.
After an hour or so of sitting in silence, staring up and waiting, I had lapsed into meditation, trying to cram as much Praxis into my Exemplar as I could, running what I knew about time, and about my abilities through my head, trying to think of new uses, implications and even trying to compress time around my limbs without moving. It did occur to me that I may be prematurely ageing my limbs – if only by seconds at a time, but given that my lifespan was probably measurable in centuries by that point, I was not too worried.
“Well, if this isn’th’mostborin’-”
I looked up as Cad started to speak, my attention pulled away from my little lotus-posed frog, but almost before he had begun, he was interrupted as a wave of something pulsed through us. The pulse caused my Core to resonate, like a struck bell and I felt my Path jump forward by a whole percent as it began to absorb my Praxis. Upon the mountain, there came a spark of light in a hue I could not name and then that spark became a storm as the sky fractured along lines of that same light and a silver orb appeared, the lines of mysterious light running in and out of it as they began to ripple and surge faster and faster, even as a sound like the world screaming reached us, the vibrations causing the ground beneath us to thrum. Feeling my bones begin to move in sync with the earth, my vision blurred and as I blinked, trying to focus, a heavy weight pushed down on me, similar to what I had felt from Flame Ever Dancing when we had first entered their territory, but without the directed attention. Instead, it felt like being deep underwater.
Gasping as if short of breath, though I was in fact having no trouble breathing, I felt myself fall from the stump and slide to the ground, staring with vibrating eyes up at the mountain as the lines of unnamed colour bent and curved in their motion back towards the silver ball, curling like ribbons before being pulled in tight with a blinding flash and the crash of world-shaking thunder.
Momentarily stunned, I lay waiting for my ears and sight to clear again, relieved at least by the absence of pressure and the strange vibrations. After a minute or so, I could see and hear again, and looked around to see my friends picking themselves up, though the apes around us seemed somewhat less affected.
“So, wow. Is it always like that?”
“Yer blasted right, wow, Sparky! T’was a quality light show if ever I saw one!”
“With solemn confirmation, our brother’s Ascension was much the same.”
“It looked different to the ones I have seen before.” Turning to look at the apprentice, I raised my eyebrows in question.
“When I have seen an Ascension before, the lines caused more damage, and did not bend back in like that. That was a comparatively gentle tribulation.”
“That was gentle? I nearly phased through the stump.”
“In polite correction, I do not believe that to be possible, Hunter.”
“Thanks, Riffa. Good catch. Anyway, if that was-”
“BORR!”
Wincing at the booming voice, I turned to see Rainmaker vanish in a massive spray of dirt; looking around, I found him with his arms wrapped around a much smaller figure, smaller than Reff or Riffa, though still much larger than I was. The figure looked similar to Rainmaker himself, though on a smaller scale, and with different colouring; where the Elder we knew was white furred with black skin, this new figure had golden-brown fur and pale skin. And it was apparently Borr.
Rising to my feet in shock, I felt my friends do the same, though Cad was just looking confused. I started to walk over to ask what was happening, but there came a cacophony of bestial shouts, roars and hoots as the gathered thundering apes began to congregate around the pair, bouncing up and down in excitement and causing the ground to shake once more.
“With voiced thoughts, it would seem the thundering apes have another Elder.”
I looked up at Reff and it all clicked in my brain; were Apexes, and Elders, “just” people who failed to ascend, or was there more to it? If it was that simple, surely there would be more of them? All I knew for certain, was that I have a lot of questions for Walker the next time I saw him.