"What drives a person to seek Ascendance? This immortal existence inevitably leads to conflict followed by death. Name one person who has made the climb with their hands still clean. Go on, I'll wait." - Toven the Deep, Path of the Endless Wave.
~~~
There were about a thousand other places Layla Breeze-Walker wanted to be right now as she attempted to smash a spider to paste. For the life of her, she couldn't remember why she let Jogen talk her into this idiotic plan.
‘Come on Breezy let's go steal the Praxis sect's master holo slate. It has all the training knowledge of how to become an Ascendant.’ Idiot Jogen. I could be at home right now but no. I’m in a nest of spiders. I hate spiders.
Layla shuddered. The things were disgusting.
Swatting away some webbing, Layla cleared her view of the vent she was trying to investigate.
"Move over Breezy, I can't see."
"Shut up Twitch," Layla hissed quietly. "You are going to get us caught."
"Don't call me that Breezy. You know I hate it."
"Well, you shouldn't act like a turd bucket, and I wouldn't."
"Turd bucket, really Breezy. That's the best you got."
"I thought taint hammer was a little too eh, on the nose."
Jogen popped Layla in the thigh, and she almost squealed aloud. He'd frogged the crap out of her leg. Layla moved quick as lightning, flicking Jogen on the ear, causing him to curse, rubbing at his ear while she rubbed at her leg. She briefly thought about kicking the big oaf in the sack.
"Hooker!"
"Skank," Layla shot back.
The two looked at each other then snickered as Layla made room for her best friend. She could never stay mad at him. The two had been thick as thieves, literally, since the event that stranded her on this god's forsaken rock when Layla was 8 years old. She could barely remember the faces of her parents now or the life she had before coming to Golar. She couldn't even remember why they came to this planet in the first place.
The image of a bloody cobblestoned alleyway flashing through her mind. The cries for her parents fell on deaf ears as the street inhabitants rushed from the scene, not wanting to get involved. A little girl, standing alone, lost as the only people in her world disappeared. She was alone, all alone in a world full of monsters and unchecked violence. No one to save her. A sinking feeling of everything spiraling out of her control causing her to take a sharp breath.
Jogen nudged her, causing the nightmarish visage to fade away.
"You, okay? Did you see it again?”
Layla cleared her now very tight throat, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a slip."
"I'm not going anywhere Breezy. You know that. I would never leave you."
"I know Jogen. It was just a slip. Get off it now. I told you I'm fine."
"Good, planes only know what you would do without me. I'm the brains of this duo," Jogen said brazenly. Layla slapped a hand over Jogen's mouth. His attempts to distract her being a little too loud.
Layla spied through the vent to see the Praxis Clerk look up as though he had just heard something. The two held their breath. The Clerk shook his head when he didn't find anything. They both watched the old librarian shuffle some papers around on a wooden counter in fright as he prepared to close up the Praxis sect library for the night. Layla sighed in relief when the old man finally made his way to the entrance killing the lights as he stepped out of the door. Layla released her grip on Jogen's mouth.
"More like the freaking idiot of the duo. You almost got us caught, you knob lover." She said with a sigh.
"Are you sure it's here?"
"Of course. Have I ever been wrong?"
Layla raised an eyebrow at the statement. "Last week you swore up and down that Bradberry's Inn kept their money in a barrel in the back office. There were no credits in that barrel."
"Who knew old man Hames was such a pervert? Leech swore to me that he kept the goods there. How was I supposed to know that his ‘goods’ were so questionable." Said Jogen with a smile.
"You weren't the one that had to hide in the barrel full of dirty panties."
"That was so epic."
Layla scowled at her partner.
"Come on Breezy. That was hilarious."
"Humor doesn't put food in our belly or pay our rent. I'm not sleeping on the streets anymore Twitch. I reject."
She watched Jogen wince at the reminder of their rent coming due. Deciding to drop the subject, Layla said, "Did Leech tell you where they keep it? You know if we are caught in here, we are dead. We can't be running around trying to find this holo slate."
"Don't worry Breezy, we are going to make this happen. But yeah, he said it was in the back behind a locked door. Are you sure you can crack the door?"
Layla scoffed, "Have I ever not produced? I always deliver and I haven't found anything yet I can't hack into."
"Ya ya ya. Calm down cyber lord. You swell that melon anymore and you will get stuck going through the vent." Said Jogen chuckling.
Layla smirked, "Mhmm, you know what's up."
Jogen's chuckling cut off as she socked him in the side, "My head is not big."
"Whaaa, that dome has its own orbit-.” Layla raised her fist again, and Jogen cut off with a quirky smile.
"I know where you sleep Twitch,” threatened Layla.
Jogen threw up his hands mockingly, "Oh, I know where you sleep."
The two trailed off smiling. The sounds of air moving through the ducts impregnating the quiet of the building. They stayed that way for a time. The mix of fear and excitement rising in Layla's stomach.
"Do you think even if it's there that the information is on the slate?" Layla said quietly. The tone of her voice sounded unsure to her ears.
"If the information exists then it's going to be in there." Jogen reached out and rubbed Layla's shoulder, attempting to reassure her. "Breezy we will find it. Even if it's not on the slate, we will find the information on your parents’ death."
Feeling reassured, Layla nodded. This was the last lead they had on what happened in that alleyway years ago before Jogen had found her. Part of her didn't want to know. She had Jogen, and he was all the family she needed. Another part, a fractured part, needed to know.
"Plus, even if we can't find the information here. The holo slate will give us a way to become an ascendant. If we can become ascendants, then there is no way we won't be able to figure out what happened."
Layla shrugged off his hand and smirked, "You just want to become an AAC fighter."
"Hey now! Breezy you know I want to help you. But becoming an AAC fighter would be pretty awesome right. I'd look good in those uniforms." A wide smile splitting his face before he continued, "plus you would make an excellent towel girl."
"Why you little—" Layla punched him in the side again, but it didn't stop Jogen's grin. She couldn't help but smile too at his antics. His amiable attitude and jokes always brightening her mood.
"When does the first patrol come through?” She inquired.
“Fifteen minute intervals once they start, according the information I got,” Jogen said.
The two waited in silence for the first guards to roam within. Hearing the entrance doors click shut again, the duo made their move. Popping open the vent, Layla and Jogen dropped down noiselessly to the counter. Their dark cloaks billowing out. The pair moved like wraiths through the stacks of digital slates and ancient tomes. This was only an outer branch of the Praxis sect, so most of the books were only electronic copies, making the need for a massive structure obsolete. Most everything was digital now days and could be experienced on the full immersion holographic slates or holo slates. The library was still a decent size building, nonetheless.
The stacks opened up into an expansive sitting area. A central door was visible in the back, with a gate and waist-high walls restricting access to the site.
"Is that the door? It doesn't look very secure. I mean anyone could jump over those rails and wouldn't even have to go through the gate." Jogen frowned.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"There's probably a barrier, you idiot. You know, all powerful ascendant beings who can fly and smash small Jogens in a single pound."
"Oh yeah, that makes sense. I guess we're going to have to go through the gate. Looks mechanical, you think you can pick it. "
"Do I have to do everything around here? I feel like I'm having to do everything myself. Actually, do you even do anything?"
"Why do you wound me so." Jogen dramatically clutched his chest. “The pain.”
"Pain in my ass more like it." She scoffed at his antics, walking past him towards the gate.
"Hey, I told you earlier Breezy I'm the brains of this operation. You are like the uhm… my clever sidekick. I get the jobs and you help me with the little stuff."
Breezy ignored Jogen's ramblings and paused in front of the gate. The gate looked normal, but she couldn't know for sure. She didn't see any glyphs or wires running anywhere, so she decided to chance it. Praxis was a very arrogant sect, and for a good reason. They admittedly owned this city and several others if rumors were to be believed. She had a feeling that they were just arrogant enough to not put any real effort into securing things that already had layers upon layers of protection.
Pulling out her picks, she squatted down, and within thirty seconds the gate’s lock clicked. Checking her wrist unit, she saw that they had seven minutes left to get the slate along with whatever else was valuable and get up back into the ventilation.
"And that is why you're more like my servant or the help than a sidekick."
Layla turned her head to look at Jogen incredulously.
He smiled patronizingly as he pushed open the gate.
Affecting an aristocratic pompous voice, Jogen said, "That will be all Ms. Breezewalker. Please take out the trash before you leave." Then he patted her on the head as he passed by.
Layla reached for him, but he moved out of her grasp, snickering all the while.
"You will pay for that, you meat tenderizing knob licker."
"Language, Ms. Breezewalker. Language. I won't tolerate a potty mouth in my household."
Rechecking her watch, she saw that another minute had passed.
"Be quite Jogen. We are running out of time and someone is actually working here."
He mimed zipping his mouth shut and gave her two thumbs up. Layla looked at the access panel and began to center herself. She needed to work fast. Layla touched the panel to see what kind of software she was working with. Recognizing that it was a generic security access point, she reached into a pouch in her cloak and pulled out a flat metallic disk. Layla gave it a kiss and held it an inch away from the panel. Letting it go, the disk snapped into place magnetically.
The disk was actually a device. It was something she was very proud of. She designed it herself for a job a few years back where they needed to gain access to a shop to steal back something she had pawned. The shop had an adaptable network shielding she had never encountered before. It would close any hole she managed to breach in the system instantly. She thought it was almost like a living thing.
Inspiration hit her while she was watching a holo tube vid on how things work. The video spoke about these proteins and enzymes called porins that organically made holes in the cell while not causing any damage.
A week of programming, three cases of energy drinks, and a delirious mad-genius fugue state later. She had created something beyond the next level. She called it her 'spare key.' She still wasn't sure how she figured it out or why it even worked. She tried to reproduce it but never could. Either way, it worked. It only opened a hole in the barrier, though. She had to do the rest.
Pulling up the holo app on her wrist unit, she ran an unlocking script, and the door clicked. She pulled her device off the panel and slipped it back into her cloak pocket..
"Done." she said, calling to Jogen.
"Smooth work Breezy. You really are amazing."
"I know, you can praise me later. Grab the slate and I'll search for more valuables."
Jogen nodded, motioning Layla to lead the way. Layla pushed open the door, expecting to find tomes of banned knowledge and chests of valuable artifacts. Instead, she found a room full of what looked like junk. The piles of old rusty odds and ends confused her. None of it looked valuable at all.
It was like someone had collected all the things in the attic of every old person she’d ever met and threw it into piles. Nothing but nicknack touristy things that clearly looked fake and only had value to the owner. She stood in the doorway dumbfounded.
"What's wrong?" Jogen asked over her shoulder.
"What the dog humping planar crap is this? This is a junk closet if I've ever seen one," Layla said. Frustration evident in her voice..
"Damn, Breezy I promise you this is the room. Look there in the back."
He pointed to a desk where a slate sat.
"That has to be it. Let's just grab it and go. It's worth more than anything here anyway. We will figure something out about the rent."
Layla shook her head. No, there had to be something of value here. She just had to find it. It wouldn’t be here otherwise.
"Grab the slate and go play look out while I search through this garbage. I know there has to be something worth credits here."
"Fine but if you aren't out in two minutes, I'm dragging you out. Tick tock."
Jogen grabbed the slate and disappeared through the doorway.
Layla walked to the middle of the room. Items were strewn around the area haphazardly. There was no logic to it that she could see. A crate of ancient rusty-looking armor lay to one side. A statue of a house cat smirking looked interesting but not valuable. She closed her eyes and decided to leave it up to lady luck.
"This pile it is. Come on, baby, mamma needs a new pair of shoes. Show me where the good stuff is. She started to kick things out of the way, but a feeling of ominous fear rose up inside her guts. Her danger sense was going wild at the very thought of miss treating anything in this room.
She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was pretty sure that this junk was not actually junk. Despite the unclaimed baggage appearance, these items must be something important. Most likely more important than she could fathom.
"Why do the guards come by every fifteen minutes to check a library? That's pretty odd, right?" Layla mused aloud.
As a feeling of unease settled around her shoulders, she decided leaving was the intelligent course of action. She didn't want any part of this. Just as she was about to turn tail and run, her eyes fell on an old touch screen tablet laying on top of a shield rapped in plastic by the wall. She couldn't take her eyes off the old dusty thing.
The world rippled. It was the only way Layla could explain it. The room full of junk came in and out of focus before she found herself standing in the center of a colossal hall of white and jade green stone. The size was difficult for her mind to accept. It was all too big. Way too big. Outside the center of the floor was hazy darkness contrasted with white and jade columns. She could sort of make out figures there.
“Weak. How did this pitiful thing come here,” came a voice that sounded like groaning iron.
“It’s just like you j̶̠͎͂̌̓͝͠ͅa̸̳͊̀̆̇̈́͒͘g̷͚̞̩̃́̌̄͆͊͝o̶͈̳͉̙͖̓̿̐̍̏̈́̿ͅn̵͔̹͚̆͆͝ạ̸̳̞͌̈́̈́͂̚ͅt̶̟̪̟͆̍̽ẏ̸̜͇̻͙̳̜̈́͝a̴̧̻̰̿̇͋̔͂̕ư̵͇̦̝̗̩̘̑̓́t̸̺̬̮̆̿͋͑͐̐̆ȍ̵̧̳̼͗͗̑̓͠ to not pay attention, tsk,” insinuated a voice that was like thunder.
The sound of the name caused her to cough. Flecks of blood stained the floor.
“Stuff it you decrepit sow,” boomed back the first voice.
Layla jerked back and forth between the voices as they continued to bicker with each other. Many voices began to speak. All with inconceivable sounds that her mind barely comprehended. Each word felt like a physical blow to her body and soul. She shouldn’t be here. Why was she here? Their every syllable uttered stabbing down with a thousand needles inside her brain.
This place wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. Something moved in the shadows, and she caught the edge of— Her vision went to white static for a moment, and she found herself on the cold stone floor. What had that been? Layla felt her mind start breaking at the impossibility that glimpse had held.
Layla put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes. Trying to block out the voices, but it was no use. They struck her bones like a tuning fork reverberating through her body and mind.
"She must choose."
"She must choose."
"She must choose."
She didn’t belong here. Wiping some wetness from either side of her face, she looked down to see blood cover her hands. Where her eye’s bleeding. Something was wrong with her body. Layla didn’t know what, but she could tell something terrible was wrong with her.
She had to leave. Standing up, she searched for an exit, but only shadow forms loomed over her like mountains. A pressure built in her chest. It was like someone was trying to blow up a balloon inside her rib cage.
Just when it felt like her chest was going to burst, azure and red light exploded from her breast. The light coalesced into a tall, athletic framed female in white robes. Her long hair was like a deep blue ocean wave fanning out across her back. Red lightning flashed through the blue strands at random intervals. A warrior. It was all that Layla could think when she took in the woman.
The woman turned to her. A strong feeling of déjà vu struck Layla. The woman’s icy blue eyes looked around the hall as though they could pierce what was hidden in the shadows.
Looking back at Layla, she said, “You shouldn’t be here. There are too many and you are too weak.” Then the woman kicked her in the chest.
Layla felt the kick impact her, and the world fractured. She was falling. The blackest of voids surrounded her. She could not hear. She could not see. She could not feel. She—
She blinked, finding herself holding the tablet.
"What just happened," she said.
Looking down at the ancient paperweight in confusion. It had fine cracks in the corner of the screen. It even had a power cord for charging it. Nothing used power cords anymore.
"How old is this thing?, better yet when the heck did I pick it up." She was confused. One second she was at the edge of the pile of spooky crap, and now she was almost at the wall.
She looked at the tablet again. It was a novelty item at best and worthless credit-wise. No, she had enough techno junk cluttering her room. Layla looked around with a feeling like she had forgotten something but it passed quickly.
She moved to sit the item back down, and her right foot bumped into an object. She heard a click and looked down to see the lid of a black wooden chest banded in silver lying open. Inside was a blue crystal shard laying on a bed of red velvet. Silver metal wire wrapped around the crystal piece. An attached chain of black metal wreathed around the shard, making Layla think it might be a necklace.
"Now that's what I'm talkin about.” Looking down at her wrist unit, she almost peed herself. Three minutes. She grabbed the chain and slipped it under her cloak and around her neck. Tucking it into her shirt, she sprinted out the door closing it behind her. Seeing Jogen at the gate to the enclosed area, she raced over to him.
"You're cutting it close. Find anything good?"
She grinned widely and flashed Jogen the crystal as they started running towards their exit.
"Sweet baby gods. Nice find Breezy. Do you know what it is?"
"Nope and don't care. It's worth enough to get us to next month at least.”
Jogen jumped and clicked his heels together in excitement.
As they made it back to the front of the building, Jogen sprinted ahead. Flawlessly moving from the ground to the counter and into the opened ventilation grate like a parkour master. Jogen dropped a hand down and Layla jumped and snagged it for the assist. Legs disappearing into the hole with the grate closing none too soon as the patrol sect members' voice was heard entering the building.
Twenty minutes later, the two dropped down from the rooftops a few blocks away from the Praxis sect campus. No one the wiser of the pair's nightly escapades.
"Successful night if I don't say so myself. I got the slate and we found some loot." Jogen patted himself on the back like his he did all the work.
"You do realize that all you did tonight was talk shit and keep me company?"
"The secret to becoming a famous leader is delegation my dear Breezy and… ample amounts of stolen credit." He said with a wink.
She laughed and bumped him with her shoulder, "Ample stolen credit, huh? You certainly don't lack that." She sighed, and her stomach rumbled, "Can we get noodles on the way back? I could really go for a pork bowl."
"I'm feeling charitable tonight. I suppose I can buy a meal for the needy."
"Keep running up that tab. I owe you quite a bit from tonight. I'll have to think of something special."
"I'm looking forward to the attempt, Ms. Breeze-Walker." Jogen said with a wink.
"I'm sure you are, taint master. Now shut up and buy me dinner."
"Fine, fine. By the way, what is that cord hanging down from your cloak?"
"What are you on about?" Said Layla in confusion.
Looking down, she found a white power cord hanging out of one of her more oversized cloak pockets. She reached in and pulled out the old rachetity tablet.
"What's that?"
"It's just an old piece of tech I found rummaging around in that junk. I could have sworn that I put this down while I was in the room. How did it get into my cloak?"