The Ascension

15: More death...

 Aster probably swore, but left her thoughts at that. Wren actually and quite definitely began swearing, but within moments he was crying- and it felt quite dumb to him, crying, because he had been unhappy in Baased. Too many expectations. Too little freedom.

But now he couldn't expect to come home. And it hadn't been his home, had it? His distant parents, his antagonistic brothers, and a society that regularly sent children out to their death... But he could never return to it. It was bad to him, not awful, and perhaps if it was still standing he might have been content to travel the world and never return to it. He'd never return, but at least he would always know-

Well. It was ashes now. Thousands were dead. His room only existed within the confines of his memory. His old paintings, the ones he had hoarded since he had learned to paint, were gone now. Once he had won an award in school. He had no physical proof of that award anymore. Did it matter? Would he ever need proof that a teacher thought he had been a good student when he was twelve?

No. But it wasn't an option anymore. His freedom, as limitless as it was able to be perceived, was slightly smaller with a whole country off the map.

"I-I never asked Ikina... about this." Aster said. Her voice was shaking. Wren, if he hadn't been equally distraught, would have been shocked. "I never asked what that creature is. What was going to happen."

"Why hadn't we heard? Someone should have come running to us, sometime in the last weeks, shouting about the mountain that burned down a whole country." Wren said. "There's no way no one knew."

"Ikina wouldn't have allowed you to meet them." Aster said bitterly.

"They told me to send us here." Senya said. He didn't seem very emotional about the events before him, which could have been anticipated, but still angered Wren.

"Why do you let yourself become controlled by the gods like this?" Wren snapped.

"We would have had to come here eventually." Aster said, looking at the ground.

Senya ignored Aster's attempt to calm the conversation. "We're all puppets of the gods. I've just accepted it before you two have."

"...If Ikina ordered you here, does that mean you see them now?" Aster said after a pause.

"Of course." Senya grumbled. "Look. You wanted to understand why I want to die. Why I shouldn't have lived. And now you're living it."

"Yeah, I know, I guess I..." Aster was suddenly distracted from the fear in her heart- and the ever decreasing amount of it, as truthfully she wasn't grieving nearly as much as Wren- as she began to spin around in one spot. Ikina was here. Watching. Of course they were. But why wouldn't they show themself to her?

Wren then started to cry, just falling to the ground and letting out a few weak sounds before full on sobbing. He tried to say something, at some point, but his words were indistinguishable.

Senya was blank faced. Aster was increasingly empty-hearted. And Wren was emotionally incapacitated. How long were they going to be standing here like this?

The deer creature yawned with a rumble that shook the earth, and the inside of its mouth glowed teal beyond its black teeth. Then it stood up- stretching first and causing a few miniature earthquakes- and disappeared.

Wren still had tears on his cheeks, but he joined Wren and Senya in staring.

"I'm not really sure what's happening." Senya said after a moment. He looked over to Aster. "Where do you want to head next?"

"There's nowhere really left. Or, nothing left to do, I suppose."

"We'll figure it out." Senya's total dismissal of Wren was noted by Aster. His hand suddenly finding hers was even more notable.

"...I feel like we should rest." But Aster wasn't feeling sorrow. Her home was burning, and she couldn't find herself caring. Her dad was dead, and she didn't care in the slightest. Wren was crying, and she had trouble maintaing empathy.

She sat down, still clutching Senya's hand- and then it sunk in. He wasn't holding her hand because he liked her. He was doing it because Ikina was here.

And as soon as she had that thought, she felt cold again. An actual, true cold that stung her bones. She whipped her head back and saw something behind her, and around her, in crystal colors and in gold. It flickered in and out of her sight too fast for an image to truly settle. But the energy it- they, as it was truly Ikina- gave off was frightening. Her heart had never beat so fast.

There were feathers, and there were scales, and there was a being. Unlike their gods, they were barely six feet tall. They had hair mixed with feathers that circled their head like a mane, and from there they had two pairs of wings in changing, but always opposite, colors.

So much about them seemed to be pure flux. Their sex, their colors, their expression. It was hard to really say if there was a true form to be had- rather, just a collection of potentials.

They shook and flickered until they settled into a human shape. A man like Aster remembered from her childhood, in a black suit and tie and gold hair. But now, gripping Senya's hand, she could see their veins that extended every which way on the planet.

A noise from Wren indicated he could see them too.

"Welcome, all." Ikina said, blinking. "If you were wondering, there is no grand design to this world." They made a soft sort of noise like the end of a laugh. "That was Aera. But if I was to clear your confusion any more, I would probably say too much."

"Why did you let Baased burn?" Wren lashed out against the sky god.

"Oh. I do not control Aera. It seeks to do its ancient role of destroying the sea. And it found its way to the nearest ocean-worshipping country, I suppose. Odd how these things can interpret old commands. Either way, it's not like you can count on me to interfere in these matters."

"You chose me. You chose Aster. And you know we're from Renen! Why wouldn't you think about that before letting this thing destroy a whole country?"

Ikina tilted their head. "There's still a good nine others. It may sound silly to you, but I can't go about 'playing god' to please one human out of billions."

"Well- We're not going to listen to you anymore, okay? Like we'll trash your altars, and burn your idols, and defy your every order..." Wren started to get ramped up on his anger, but then looked around and realized he was the only one upset.

"I don't live off the worship. If you wanted to kill me, you'd be best killing the entire planet."

"Doesn't it harm you then, letting Aera destroy a whole nation? If you live off their lives, then..."

"Yes." They paused for a while. "Aera will likely continue to rampage, killing millions and weakening me. I designed it- and it's aquatic equivalent, Aelen- as a finality device."

"So it's not just about Renen for you. You want everyone to die." Wren had calmed his anger down, but he still sounded very bitter.

Aster was calm. "Why are you letting yourself die?"

"Senya's the one who woke Aera." And then Ikina smiled, and Aster was hit with a sense of 'seen before'. She had heard him laugh before, and heard those words 'It is, it is'. A meaningless phrase to recall now. A confirmation of nothing.

And then Ikina did laugh, just once, and they disappeared. They left a trail of energy, and Aster suspected they were still watching- but now hidden, truly.

To say there was no plan of this planet was a falsehood for sure. And if Ikina was trying to die, they wouldn't have chosen her for an apprentice so recently. So they were being cryptic. Messing with her head.

For what purpose? If Aster had to guess, the answer would be 'for no reason at all'.