The Ascension

Love among ruins

Haveninkout, or as it was sometimes shortened to, Haven, was a large but separate city. While all people were united as one large group under city government, most of the day-to-day life of a citizen was concerned with smaller communities.

Hundreds of ancient religious sects and traditional clans thrived in small, multi-home complexes. Two people from different sides of the city could be easily have nothing in common bar language and city of residence. The country of Stemale was openly hostile towards immigrants, and those that made it in all seemed to gravitate towards Haven- meaning there was a district for each country in the world, and then sub-districts for various cultures within that country.

The city itself matched the messy diversity of its inhabitants. It was lain in a mountain valley originally, and the common entrance was through a carved arch and into a narrow and square valley where red houses rose up like tiers, carved right into the side of the mountains. From there, the city opened up, though many homes were still carved right into stone. Some were even underground, their entrances marked with cheery circles of flowers and a helpful sign to watch one's step.

"The altar of Lailana will be there." Senya said, pointing to a spire of rock in the distance where stairs could be seen circling to a dark pit.

"Quite a walk then." Wren said almost cheerily. He regretted the tone of voice immediately. Now was probably a time to try and tackle Senya's angsty issues before anything got desecrated. "Uh. Nice city though." He tried.

It was not helpful. Senya had a quiet determination to him as he walked the smooth paths of Haven, occasionally glancing back at the approaching altar with a sort of resolve. He did not care how pretty the city was.

"I'm hungry." Wren said. "Let's find somewhere to eat."

"Sure, fine." Senya said without much emotion.

"It's not like the altar's going anywhere." Wren said brightly.

He had hoped eating might clear Senya's mind, and if not, Wren might think of something else to distract him with. But actually finding a commercial eating place took at least an hour, and by then Senya had become visibly bothered, frowning and speaking only to complain.

It reminded Wren why he didn't have a crush on the other boy anymore, which was good because it allowed him to clear his head. Depression. That seemed to be what Senya had, though it was something Wren had never really heard about. He knew the word, as many do, from some long forgotten time. But Baased, despite its scientific progress, had rarely noted any sort of mental health as important.

Depression was something where you failed to care about anything, Wren thought. Except Senya clearly cared about killing himself, but that probably was some kind of side effect. Something had triggered this- well, obviously releasing the monster from Ae-en had. But there was something else.

Senya ate his portion of soup in ten minutes, and Wren was only halfway done when he decided to act. He grabbed Senya's gloved hands in a friendly manner.

He looked into Senya's eyes and leaned forward. "So. You're depressed. But that doesn't mean you have to anger any gods! We can work-"

"I'm not depressed Wren. I'm pissed off."

"You're mulling around, not eating, and trying to kill yourself! That's essentially what I infer is a class A case of depression."

"I'm not depressed. I'm wrathful. I was meant to die."

"Why did you bet on dying this much? Shouldn't you be thankful your life was spared? Ikina saved you. You have a second chance millions of others never earned."