Damien stared at Merak like a deer caught in front of an approaching light wielder.

  "My turn?" He frowned in confusion and then protested. "But I didn't do anything!"

  "Are you sure about that?" Merak cocked his head with eyebrows raised. "Then the power flare of soul and life energy in your previous world wasn't of your doing, then?"

  "Uh—Umm—" Damien stammered. "That wasn't me."

  "The actions of your alter ego, whatever they may be, are still yours, Damien," Merak said in a scolding tone. "Learn to accept it."

  Duly chastened, Damien nodded.

  "Now," The Ascendant continued. "My second reason for being here, same as Keilan here, is to warn you of the impending danger you are in."

  [The Herald?] Gray said while he drifted up to hover face-to-face with Merak. [How close is she?]

  "Closer than I'd like," the black-haired ascendant said. "Far enough that it isn't an immediate problem, yet."

  "Hold on," Damien interrupted, drawing the eyes of both Ascendants. "What are you both talking about?"

  "The effects of your light show back on your home planet didn't just end at your Star system, it went beyond that, drawing the attention of the Cult of Order."

  "Uhhh," Keilan said. "I don't see what the problem is. Order is good, right?"

  [Pfft!] Gray snorted in derision. [No cult is good or bad, it's all about advantages. The cult of Order, which takes their authority entirely from the Throne of Order, is the equivalent of the city guards in your mortal cities, except their self-proclaimed jurisdiction covers the entire cosmos.]

  "Order is perhaps the strongest pillar of reality," Merak added with obvious distaste, "which, unfortunately, grants it more authority over reality than anyone would like."

  "What does this have to do with me, then?" Damien asked, still confused.

  "When you summoned those pillars, you weren't just drawing from the ambient essence. Damien, you were drawing from their origin planes."

  The memories of that day came to him then, somewhat difficult to parse through. What he remembered was an influx of power, more than he'd ever tried to wield before. He remembered feeling like he could, with a wave of his hands, erase the souls of the Solarian Pillars that had been arraigned against him. He remembered fighting with barely a care for his physical body. After all, abundant life flowed through his veins. What damage could he take that he couldn't heal from?

  "Yes," Merak said with a knowing look that instantly snapped Damien back to himself. "The effects of drawing from an origin plane. You feel like nothing in reality could even hope to challenge you."

  Grimacing, Damien nodded in agreement. He saw now the reason why he'd lost, or a major reason why. His soul had already been struggling to contain those essences, and his excessive use of them, to the point of idiocy, hadn't been doing it any good but had only served to hasten the soul exhaustion that had later left him too tired and dried up to wield any essence. Damien felt like giving himself a knock on the head for that.

  "Fortunately for you, your feelings were right," Merak interrupted his introspection. "Essences drawn directly from their origin planes are pure compared to the ones in the ambiance, which have been filtered from all the cross pathing done with all other essences. I will tell you now that, truthfully, had you turned the full use of those essences directly on the true form of the Spirit King you'd fought, you would have killed him."

  Damien's eyes widened, and beside him, he heard Keilan gasp.

  [Origin planes are where those essences were born,] Gray explained. [And as such, they are of extremely pure quality, with another advantage...]

  "The passive will of a Celestial," Merak completed.

  Damien shook his head with his right thumb raised to press against his throbbing temple. "Can you explain that?"

  Merak nodded and then continued. "The origin planes aren't just the birthplace of those essences, they're also the dwelling, the territory of the Celestial that rules them."

  "Thrones and Seals," Damien murmured.

  "Yes," Merak nodded. "The presence of the Celestials Aspects in their territories grants those essences, already pure, a greater weight to their effects."

  "Which is why you said I could have killed Solaris with it," Damien realized.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  [Yes,] Gray said. [Which is where the Cult of Order comes in. Openings like that are exponentially harder to control and, unfortunately, are prone to a more powerful effect than intended.]

  "I don't get you," Damien said, which was followed by an agreeing nod from Keilan.

  "What your minder is saying is that where a simple ambient drawn essence could wipe out a city—" he looked pointedly at Damien. "—an origin drawn one could erase an entire star system."

  "Again," Keilan said. "Isn't that a good thing? They protect against disasters like the ones Damien could have caused. By the way—" he turned to face Damien, "—how did you control those essences from destroying our entire solar system?"

  Damien shrugged. "I don't know," he said truthfully. "From the little I can piece out, I don't think I had any issues controlling both essences."

  At the claim, both Gray and Merak narrowed their eyes at him, and a glance seemed to pass between them before they both nodded, seemingly accepting his word as it was.

  "Anyways," Merak said. "Had something like that occurred in some of the more powerful nations or clans, the cult would have left it as it was and trusted the sovereigns there to deal with it. Your case, on the other hand, is different."

  "Because of the location where it came from?" Damien guessed, eliciting a nod from Merak.

  "As far as they're aware, there shouldn't be a being capable of opening a tear through reality around that area, and they would have been right. An Ascendant would have been detected the mere instant their auras were unleashed; talk less of expanding their will to tear a hole through reality," Merak explained. "Only a few Divine Kings could have been capable of accomplishing such a feat, and none of them had been in that area, which left the small community of Spirit Kings and a greater number of Spirit lords who, realistically, shouldn't be able to do such a thing."

  Damien nodded, understanding. The only reason he'd been able to do that hadn't been through the piercing of reality, as Merak had explained. What Damien, or Daimen, had done had been more internal, a release of something that had then called to the essence beyond.

  "The Adjudicator investigating the anomaly, Kairen Kord—" Merak said, and then followed it up with an eruption of blue energy from his hands that spread out in a wave, disappearing from Damien's senses just as it crossed the walls of the room they were in, "—is getting close, faster than I predicted."

  "What happens if she finds me?" Damien asked with concern.

  [Then war starts,] Gray answered while Merak nodded in agreement. [I do not fully understand the reason why your existence needs to be kept a secret, but what I do know is that it would be a bad idea for The Adjudicator to find you.]

  "She wouldn't be capable of recognizing what your existence means, but the higher-ups, The Transcendent Lords, certainly would."

  [Have the Sapphire lords been made aware of this new development?] Gray said to Merak.

  "Yes," Merak nodded. "So have the Emerald Lords."

  "Sapphire lords? Emerald Lords?" Damien frowned in confusion. "I assume the Emerald represents the nature element?" Damien asked, getting a nod from Merak. "What does the Sapphire represent, then?"

  "Oblivion," The young-looking Ascendant replied, and then his eyes brightened, morphing into twin orbs of blazing blue energy that gave off the feeling of an end, an absolute one. Beside him, he felt Keilan shiver and his expression turned sheet white. Damien couldn't blame him, seeing as he also felt the same.

  "Oblivion, just like Destruction, is a great affinity that embodies the essence of the end, but unlike Destruction whose end isn't final, Oblivion's is."

  The subtle weight Damien was feeling soon died down, and then Merak continued.

  "It isn't a secret that there's a schism between the Grand Celestials, with evidence of a battle that has now left hundreds of Celestials Sundered," Merak said. "While we don't understand it, those of us serving under the Grands can feel it, the antagonistic divide between the fundamental pillars of reality. Another talent might receive a more cordial welcome after their identity has been fully parsed out, but you, Damien, would be instantly killed the soonest a shred of evidence points you toward relating to any of their opposition."

  Damien nodded, raising his thumb to massage his temple again. His mind was struggling to parse through all the information he'd just gotten in these past few hours.

  "What am I to do, then?" He asked, eager to be done with this all. He could feel the weight of it all bearing down on him, and he knew that sooner, he'd either succumbed to it or become something else.

  "Unlike your brother, whose ability to do much has been blocked," Merak said. "You are different. Your feats have surely marked you as worthy, and because of that, reality will soon begin pitting you against other worthy. Both of You."

  The ancient being turned to Gray. "You have to hasten whatever plan you have, they'll need it, especially if they're to make a good showing in the upcoming tower climb."

  [I understand,] Gray nodded.

  "Uhhh," Damien said with unhidden irritation. "We're both here, you can talk to us directly."

  Merak turned to him, and to the man's credit, he managed to look apologetic.

  "Both of you are going to be participating in the upcoming tower climb, an event that is sure to draw participants from different corners of the Galaxy and even beyond."

  [While the climb is an easy way to set down your rank amongst the other talents of your generation, it's also one of the fastest and more beneficial ways to smoothen your path towards Spirit King,] Gray continued.

  "Don't blind them to the information that it's also a way for the existing powers to scout the participants for future recruitment, and also, to mark their characters and determine who is more likely to cause problems in the future," Merak said with amusement in his eyes.

  [Well, that too,] Gray nodded.

  Instantly, the amusement died down from both their faces, and Merak turned towards Damien and Keilan. Damien, especially.

  "You want to become someone whose freedom is respected?" The man's intense gaze pierced into Damien, seeing into his deepest needs. "Start by being someone to be feared. The tower climb is the first step to accomplishing that."

  [A feared wielder is one whose freedom is never contested.] Gray added, getting a nod from Merak.

  And just like that, the black haired ascendant began dissolving into tiny blue twinkling lights. Before his face vanished, he did the same thing the previous person that had dissolve Infront of Damien had done.

  Seriously, did they have a school for this?

  "I'll be seeing you soon, Damien," Merak said. "Hopefully for a non urgent situation."

  And then the man disappeared, his transformed twinkling lights vanishing into thin air, leaving both Damien and Keilan to stare at the empty place space he'd once occupied.

  "Well," Damien stood up. "Time to get to training."