The Ascension

20: Of the sea

 This was Ae-ah, the mountain of the sea. The knowledge of cold air clung to Aster's fingertips as she walked, and the anticipation of what was to come kept her from slipping into another trance of action. There was still another walk to do, and with her mind open again, all Aster could think about was Ikina's words.

Destiny, fate, and immortal star-bound gods. Was this what was guiding her life now? Or had this invisible idea always been there, watching her and waiting for her to watch it back?

She looked up at the stars like they would answer her. But all she saw was lights.

The path up Ae-ah was well worn- to a point. The first part of the trail was littered with shrines and idols along a path of pine. But it eventually came to an end at a crack in the mountain which exhaled a fog of freezing air.

The entrance was narrow and pitch dark. Aster felt her way through, surprised some godly power of hers hadn't kicked in to let her see- but evidently that was beyond her. She walked through the dark and uncut path. Senya had said this was a journey meant only for spare princes. A path meant to be walked once a generation.

It showed. There was no sense of humanity to the place. While Ae-en carried old structures that gave the impression the mountain has at one time been a park, Ae-ah was raw and uncharted. The tunnel through had tiny gaps and alternate paths leading in every direction from the main trail, and the wind in the tunnels made an odd sound, like someone wheezing weakly. When she first saw light, it was streaming from above her, through a tiny hole that obviously didn't lead outside- and when she tried to look through, she found the hole too small to do so.

The second time she found light, she had emerged out of the tunnel- and into a larger one. But it was large enough that it didn't feel like a tunnel anymore. Perhaps a chamber.

It was cast in a soft shade of blue and teal, and jagged walls of grey rock bordered Aster as she walked. There was a rough trail here, one that felt deliberate- as did, somehow, the patches of silver and blue gems that occasionally shone on the walls.

The room smelled of the sea and of ash at the same time. And overwhelming them both was the clear scent of the moss that grew on the ceiling and hung on the stalactites.

It was still dim, but the light slowly began to overtake the dark as Aster approached the end of the chamber. Here was the first true sign of human activity, an arch that led again into the darkness and carved with a series of very simple shapes. If there had once been more complicated designs on the arch, they were very long gone- all that could really be seen were shapes and the occasional suggestion of a curve.

There had been a crack on the ceiling that looked to the stars in the previous chamber, but the next one was again pitch black. Aster took a few steps forward before she realized something was strange about the place- and she kicked a rock forward to confirm. This chamber was much, much larger than the last. She whistled to try and gage the scale, and it echoed.

She edged forward cautiously, and her suspicions were confirmed when she found herself gazing down on a pool made of dark crystal and the odd sort of dark gem that lay in the middle.

This was the atrium. That was Aelen.

Aster looked about, hoping to sense Silan nearby, expecting him or perhaps Ikina to help her awake the creature below. But all she could sense was something heavy and thick and very very blue- something she thought was probably Aelen itself.

She closed her eyes, though it made little difference in this dark, and tried to determine what would wake Aelen. Senya said he had talked to Aera, and somehow it had worked. But talked? Just causally? Or was there some sort of incarnation she was supposed to know?

"Hello." She said to the beast.

And the beast awoke to greet her.

With a crackling and a crumbling, something in the ceiling crashed into the tidepool below, and starlight fell on Aster's face. Aelen rose from out of the water slowly, head looking to the stars. Like Aera, it seemed to have trouble settling on a face for itself. Its snout was sharp like a foxes, and its eyes were holes in a rock face of crystal that reflected light in a pattern that perfectly made them look human. Slowly, horns came to settle far on its long head, fused of fossils and slate with water acting as glue.

It looked to the stars. And then it surged. Everything around Aster broke as everything around her became Aelen. Veins of ore rose to the surface of its body, and everywhere, water seemed suspended like it gravity had ceased to function.

The ground beneath Aster quaked as it formed part of Aelen's back, and she ran forward as she struggled to keep her footing. But no matter how fast she could run, the great god-creature was too massive for her to reach anywhere.She took a wrong step and fell right into the pit, smashing her skull against the rising rocks and eventually falling into the the empty pit of crystals below.

She didn't die during this, and when she hit the water, she immediately swam out and found her clothes were entirely dry. A couple more boulders smashed her bones as she tried to stand up, but her recovery was so miraculous that the only difficult thing about her process of near-death was that she kept flinching.

Aelen rose and Aelen was, and soon the mountain of Ae-ah became a lovely moonlit cove. The stars were shining bright tonight, brighter still when reflected off of the watery skin of Aelen. Its animal body was naturally peppered with a few fins and gills, and embedded on its back were rocks and ancient skeletons. And the occasionally waterfall, it seemed, falling from no where. Aelen dripped, and it dripped back into itself.

It began to move, and when it became to sink under the waves, its body became an island- a glowing, beautiful island.

As the dust settle on Ae-ra, Aster leapt into the water and swam to Aelen. Its tail caused massive waves and its treading feet brought currents that dragged Aster underwater- but she eventually made it, and climbed to a small spire of rock patterned with indents of long-dead plants. She sat politely, and waited.