The caretaker's presence receded with the same suddenness as a summer storm. The instant it was gone they felt the First Rite surrounding them return, only now it had changed somewhat. Instead of a violent draining of energy, it felt more like a bottomless battery. At the same time, the white light was beginning to take shape in the sky. Branches of arcing light stretched out in all directions. The trunk thickened as it did so, only to take the shape of a collum or tower that reached up into the heavens.
Realizing the process was now rapidly condensing they began to channel more power into the First Rite.
None of them had missed the Caretaker's words on the energy being able to help the other sectors. If it was the case they could help other areas by funneling more energy into the process then none of them saw a reason not to.
With the crest and link, the Corruption was dulled to a manageable pain. Sharing the soul-shaking nausea made their upper limit incredibly high, and the system took the rest of the burden.
So Mark began to increase the amount of Corruption rushing through his Resistance in large quantities. Black veins began to spread among their group, accentuated by purple bruising that seemed to spread alongside the Corruption.
The First Rite moved through their crests and then burned away the dark energy; the more Mark drew, the stronger the golden light got.
Unlike before, the energy that was created in the process needed to be fed by them into the First Rite. In doing so, they could feel some distant reserves being filled. Though it was impossible to see how far those tanks were filled.
So Mark burrowed his construct into the creature below them and drew as much Corruption as he could handle. The energy was so thick it was like a physical force, burning across their skin like fire.
Outwardly, the Ghasts began to flock towards their location, only to be burned up by the First Rite.
In doing so, they unintentionally created a beacon, calling the Corrupted to their deaths.
Below them, Mark could feel the creature dying as its Corruption was ripped from it. In an attempt to survive, it had set down probing tentacles, which it used to burrow into the tarmac and connect to the grid below the city.
When it found what it was looking for, Mark forced the connection to widen and began pulling from the grid directly, using the creature as a conduit.
The level of Corruption jumped one final time as they reached their absolute limits. Mark even used a portion of the Prana to repair their corroding bodies.
Mark held them there. Neither advancing nor retreating, simply funneling the power created by their crests and Corruption into the other sectors. Mark wasn’t too certain how this would help, he could only assume that if any of the sectors managed to find their pieces they would not have to go through what the three of them had.
By now, the branches were visible from anywhere in the city and maybe beyond. It was when they reached a certain height that the effects of what they were doing came into view. The skies began to ripple gently, as though droplets had fallen into a pond. Every branch caused its own myriad of colors until the sky began to look like an expanding Borealis. It wasn’t easy to make out at this point, but it was as though the branches were crossing countless landscapes to make a connection with another portion of the system.
When the frayed fibers connected, the process reached a new height and white light began to drop down and sink into the earth.
There was a ringing across the city as the system gave them all a prompt.
Congratulations the First Rite has been completed, Tenders will now be selected randomly from the population.
Marketplace limits have been removed.
Sector enforcement had been removed.
Spatial tethers have been awoken.
As the first Sector to pass the First Rite, a sector reward will now be applied to all inhabitants.
Inhabitant reward - 10 free attribute points.
The light touching the ground began to widen as it encompassed the creature and the surrounding buildings. As it did so, the creature began to burn up rapidly and the buildings started to melt into the ground as though called back to the earth.
Then with that very material, a circular perimeter began to rise around them. Expanding as the light did and growing rapidly from just a couple blocks wide, to a colossal structure. It even approached their territory and began to pull that in too.
People on the streets shouted in surprise, while Corrupted cried out in fear.
By now the three of them had pulled an enormous amount of energy from the grid of Corruption and fed it into the system, but the crests were starting to wind down. Sinking back to their regular states. This meant that to avoid being overrun, Mark lowered the Corruption intake.
Using the last of the energy steam, Mark called [Nature control] and tried to set his abused body straight.
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The twisted muscles, bones, and flesh took some work, but they slowly began to regain their normal shape. He couldn’t fix everything as he just didn’t understand what the Corruption had done to him, but at least he resembled a human when the wings melted away. The energy that had been rushing through them like boiling steam was reduced to a trickle and then faded completely. His core had been channeling all the corruption fell silent as it sucked up the last of the surrounding energy.
The staff had begun crumbling in their hands as though it were brittle metal, breaking apart and dissolving into the light.
The disk was completely buried under the roots surrounding them, as the seed had grown to follow the light. The crests had finally provided all the energy the First Rite needed and when they had, they were no longer part of the process.
You have gained [First Rites]
One by one they were sent hurtling out of the collum of light. Jonathan was the first to go. One moment he was gripping onto what remained of the staff, and the next he was pulled backward, disappearing into the light still gripping a broken piece of the staff.
Mark was the next to be ejected, realizing what was about to happen he tried to find Donny’s unconscious form but he couldn’t see anything. The mycelium at his back had long since burned away, so when the pull came he had no way to hold on and was ripped backwards.
Light rushed around him as he tumbled through the landscape, unable to tell where he was near the floor or ceiling. He could however tell when he was approaching the outer wall because its shadow rushed towards him far too quickly. Covering himself in a construct, Mark attempted to slow his horizontal fall to a halt but the strength of the structure was too great. When he smacked into the wall it fell apart neatly and Mark twisted in the air a couple of times until gravity began to pull him down once more. Mark panicked for a second before he felt Sam grab hold of the Donny and they were both sent out.
Now that he was outside the bright light, all it took was a small amount of force to slow his descent to a halt. As it turned out, the First Rite had spat him out a good twenty stories in the air close to their last line of defense.
Realizing they must have been moved in the process, Mark looked for Jonathan or Sam, neither of whom were in the area, but he could feel they were safe.
In his search for them though, his eyes could not help but look up at the assembled structure and realize how familiar it looked.
He’d held onto the thing for a long time now, so it was not hard to recognize the shape of his staff when he saw it.
The light was being encased in a layer of white stone, the system's usual architecture coming into being. But Mark could see the shape was that of a spire growing out of the street. The minor details too small to see when it had been a staff revealed itself now. Twisting around the staff was a coiling tree that wrapped around the structure as though being supported, and in turn, it protected the building.
When the tree reached beyond the tower it came to rest where its light counterpart now vanished, as though some sort of blueprint. Mark could still see light escaping from between the seams in the bricks as though the inside were still taking shape.
When the thing stabilized the light within shot down and two sets of doors appeared on either side of the spire.
The final size of the thing was massive, easily miles in diameter. Near the bottom, Mark could see all the people caught up in the light had been similarly moved to the outside like he had.
The walls of the giant building cut through other skyscrapers, fusing them to the base of the tower.
Making it look as though structures had been built into the side of the spire.
It was awe-inspiring, stretching up above the city like a guardian deity, even as it shed light down onto the land below.
As incredible as it was, Mark couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. Looking about, Mark searched for their highrises. When he spotted them he saw one had been entirely subsumed by the process, while their HQ was partway embedded into the spire.
Diving towards them, Mark was greeted with the sight of people on the ground level screaming and shouting for joy. As best as he could tell, the light from the First rite had overwhelmed the Corrupted and sent everything nearby packing. Mark had never seen these creatures run for any reason like they did now. He couldn't tell how far this effect reached but by the looks of things it was strong enough to reach the outer edges of lower Manhattan.
The branches of the spire burned like that of a lighthouse, but instead of a focused beam, it spread out its warmth into their city.
With a rundown body but plenty of energy to spare Mark began drifting towards the top of their base. It wasn’t too far away, so by the time he got there he saw the aftermath of what had happened to their home. Destruction had torn through the building like that of a maelstrom, its internal lights having gone out. Support beams crumbled and portions of the upper levels had collapsed. Not a single intact window was visible and the outer walls looked as though they had been sanded with the number of claw marks covering it.
Mark was pretty sure the First Rite coming was the best thing to happen to the building because it acted as a powerful brace to prevent the building from collapsing in on itself.
Now that he was closer he could see the remaining three skyrises had survived with minimal damage, though they’d have to get someone in there to check how safe they were.
Lowering himself onto their rooftop, Mark didn’t see anyone around and had hoped they’d just retreated deeper into the building at some point. By the looks of it only one cherry tree had survived, the other’s trunk was snapped in half and missing, torn away by some skirmish or falling body.
Of which there were plenty up here, the ground was littered with gray flesh, that was now beginning to smoke under the light of the spire.
Making his way down the collapsed stairwell, Mark saw the steel door that had been at the top had been pushed aside, battered and full of dents, as though dozens of bodies had crashed up against it.
Floating down the gap in the staircase, Mark entered the penthouse. The main hud for their Order was in complete disarray, and again not a soul in sight. Mark was starting to feel creeped out when he felt Jonathan touch down on the level above.
Sam was still a couple of minutes out as she had been thrown out on the opposite side of the spire. Mark was clearing to path down to the next level when Jonathan arrived beside him. Molding the collapsed stone into a new staircase, he could feel another person had purposefully collapsed these areas as their Mana was still fresh inside the material. When Mark had cleared halfway he felt their will and recognized their who it was. They reacted and helped Mark open the way forward. Isabel was the first to come into view and then more familiar faces. People from their logistics team and Karter’s informants were packed into the room as well as a familiar bark that cut through the happy and relived voices. Following the sound they saw the fellow leads.
Ethel had promised to keep Karter safe, and by the looks of her broken collarbone, she had done exactly that. The man hovering over her with a concerned, yet stoic expression.
When Ethel spotted them, tears crept into the corners of her eyes, but she subtly wiped them away.
Karter on the other hand looked at them were immediate worry as he searched behind them. When they got there they immediately reassured him that Sam was on her way. At the same time, Mark sent out his construct and began healing the wounds he saw. Gibby, Terry, Andy, Ning Wei, Jude, and many more, battered but safe. The room filled with murmuring laughter and celebrations as the moonlight began to peek through the clouds.