Dark Matter Ascension

Jace saw the world turn black around him once more. He was floating on an enormous ocean of sparkling white and yellow shimmers. The undulating waves under him buoyed him on the surface and the stark, black sky above was a swirl with thousands of galaxies and stars.

The closest experience to this was mindscapes showing distant galaxies that telescopes in orbit were able to see. But even those could not compare to the gorgeous display in front of him.

Space had always fascinated Jace, and he would often look up at the skies with his sister and imagine a life in one of the floating habitations up in orbit. Where the richest of the rich lived. Just him and Chroma, among the stars.

He was transfixed and couldn’t tell how much time passed. The liquid under him shifted and he felt himself sink below the surface, surrounded by the shimmering light and feeling a sensation as if he were sinking into a warm pool. Able to breathe despite the feeling of being surrounded by liquid.

A new voice echoed in his head as messages appeared in his vision. A mechanical, very artificial voice.

<<<<<>>>>>

[Registering Aspirant data.]

[Jace Seren, born on August 3rd, 2042. Age, 23. Black hair. Brown eyes. 5’9’’. 145 lbs. Thin, wiry, athletic build. Technological implant in limbs from the tibia down on both legs.]

[Odds of survival estimated at 0.03%.]

[Your assigned Wayfarer will arrive in 3.]

[2.]

[1.]

<<<<<>>>>>

There was a loud pop noise next to Jace and he looked over. A sleek, long, furred creature with a squished face and whiskers swam through the liquid starlight next to him. Nebula streaked behind it in a cascade of pinks and powder blue. The animal’s eyes were like two small planets: dark blue orbs with silvery rings around the outside edge.

"Well, you are my new Aspirant." The voice was masculine and surprisingly deep for the small size of the creature, and sounded disappointed.

"I’m Jace."

"I know." The creature swam around Jace, and its sinuous body curled around him. "Well, any questions?"

"Lots," Jace replied. "What’s your name, and what are you?"

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The creature sighed, "Why do I get the dumb ones?"

"Hey, come on," Jace replied. "I’m not dumb. Just not book smart."

"I am Oliver. My friends call me Ollie. But let us make it clear, you are not my friend. I am your Wayfinder and nothing more."

"Are you a weasel?"

Oliver’s eye twitched. "A weasel?! How dumb are you?" He sounded quite upset.

"I had three years of school, all right? I didn’t study animals."

Oliver huffed and swam in front of Jace, floating in front of his eyes. "I am a river otter."

"What’s an otter?"

Oliver pinched the bridge of his small snout with his cute, tiny paws. "Carnivorous mammal. This form is the closest thing to what your culture would call a ’spirit animal’." He looked up at Jace and frowned, his whiskers forming a small arch. "Wayfinders take the form of an animal or other creature most aligned with their Aspirant. Do you swim a lot?"

Jace nodded, recalling several times when he would be swimming in the polluted waters of the rivers, looking for hidden treasures that had been discarded. Salvageable stuff. Occasionally, he would find a corpo’s body and could rip out their implants to sell to a chop-doc. "Yeah, I swam a lot. It was one of my favor-"

"There, that explains it. You like water, river otters live in water. There you go."

Jace kept silent for a moment. People like me don’t get this chance. I have to know if other people got this same chance. "Did everyone on Earth get the same choice I did?"

"Yup!"

Well, that explains it. I’m not special. He cracked a wry smile and chuckled, of course. Street people like me never get a break. Not even when a System takes over. Whatever that means. He pushed aside the knowledge that he was still just another lowly cog in a larger machine of reality and cleared his throat. "What is a Wayfinder?" Jace asked.

Oliver kept his frown and bobbed in front of Jace, "A companion. The Cosmic System assigns us to Aspirants to function as an interface between it and you. Only you and other Aspirants can see me, and I am intangible. If you go back to Earth and start talking to me, people will think you are crazy." He chuckled slightly at his joke before the stern, disappointed demeanor reasserted itself. "I will also hold any Stardust you collect."

"What is Stardust?"

"You, me…everything." Oliver gestured to the starry seas around them, his voice filling with a sense of wonder as the tone lightened. "Stardust makes up all matter. Aspirants can turn living things into Stardust and use it as currency in The Eternal City. Or they can accumulate it and then consume it to level up."

Makes sense, Jace thought. Everything in the universe that we can see is matter, I know that much from the bit of schooling I got. It makes sense that it all breaks down into the same substance. "What’s the Aspirant Trial going to make me do?"

Oliver’s voice returned to a disappointed tone. "When I give the go-ahead, you will be transported to a hazardous world and must survive for a week while there. Seven days."

That surprised Jace. "I’d imagine a multi-world, universe-spanning system would not use Earth’s way of keeping time."

Oliver waved his paw dismissively, "I am translating from The Cosmic System time to what you are familiar with. The Cosmic System knows how to adjust times accordingly for all Aspirants. The same for seasons, months, etcetera."

"Do I get any survival gear?"

"Just what you have with you. Here, I will pull up your full information sheet."

A screen appeared in front of Jace.

<<<<<>>>>>

Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 0)

Power [Class level.]: N/A

Skills: Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions.]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation.

Stardust: 0

Equipment: Messenger Bag (unidentified ferrofluid), street clothes, sliverscreen, protein bar (x3), belt knife, Runner’s Replacement.

Boons: None

<<<<<>>>>>

Oliver tutted and shook his head, "Not a good set of starting equipment. The good news is once you survive twenty-four hours, you might get a Quest. If you accomplish that Quest, then you get a Boon - think of it like a redeemable reward." He frowned, "And no need for that sliverscreen anymore. Such rudimentary information and networking technology."

Jace took a deep breath. "You said a hazardous world. Will I be able to survive there?"

"Yup! You have two Skills as an Aspirant. Universal Translation means you can understand all languages whether spoken or written. Ancient, forgotten ones? Not so much. Environmental Adaptation means that you can survive on any world connected to The Cosmic Corridor. Only alterations that a native inhabitant has. So, if you chose an ocean world and the species living there could live underwater, you would be able to as well. You cannot survive an irradiated wasteland of nuclear fallout unless that was ’the usual’ for existing inhabitants. The same goes for the magical equivalent of nukes."

"Wait-magic?" Jace clarified.

"Yup! What? Did you think that worlds only advanced upon your world’s understanding of reality?" Oliver waved his little paw dismissively, "That is arrogant to assume. Magic exists. Spells, arcane symbols, the whole lot."

Jace pushed aside the reality-shattering knowledge that magic existed, focusing on the present instead. "If this place with the Trial is connected to The Cosmic Corridor, couldn’t I just find the portal and head to The Eternal City to wait out the seven days?"

Oliver nodded and crossed his little arms as his tail wagged behind him, "Yup! Absolutely. That is generally the smart play. Most Aspirants do that." His tone brightened ever so slightly.

Jace peered at the screen and pointed at the spot next to his name, "What are these Tiers?"

Oliver swam behind him and pointed his little paw past Jace’s head. Another screen appeared with a series of level ranges. "Tiers are how The Cosmic System judges overall power effectively, every twenty-five levels you acquire earns you one Tier. Once you hit level twenty-five in your Class, you then may choose an Ascended Power and Advanced Class. Once you hit level twenty-five in that , then you may take on the Ascension Trial and become a fully-fledged Ascendant."

Which means that the weakest Ascendant would be Tier 2 overall. "Can you go past level twenty-five?" he asked, glancing to his side at his Wayfinder.

"Yup! Though it is rarely done. Most Aspirants want to get immortality as soon as possible. The max for a Class or Advanced Class is level 100."

"Is there a lock on progression? I’d imagine rushing to immortality would have some type of downside."

"Yup! When an Aspirant chooses their Advanced Class, all progression for their initial Class is locked. Same for when you become an Ascendant - Advanced Class progression is locked."

"How strong would I have to be to bring back someone that died? Before the Cosmogenic Merging happened."

"Hmm," Oliver had an inquisitive look on his face as his cheeks scrunched up forcing his whiskers to expand outward. Jace chuckled slightly at the puffed-up expression. Oliver blinked a few times, his face went slack, and his eyes went dark, pure black. "Accessing System: stand by." His voice was not filled with gruff disappointment but instead was mechanical and robotic.

He shook his head a few seconds later as his eyes returned to normal. "Tier 10 at a minimum for pre-Cosmogenic Merging deaths. But there is a time limit of ten years on that. You cannot bring back people who have been gone for too long."

"But you can’t get Tier 10 if you get your last Tier at level 75."

"Once you ’cap out’ at level 100, you are given a Tier for mastering your Class. Think of it like the cherry on top of a cake."

There’s a lot to unpack here, Jace thought. It might be a lot all at once…but it’s good to know how I’m going to get her back. "Do Tiers have a purpose other than judging an overall power level?"

"Yup! An Aspirant who is Tier 1 will have reduced efficacy against any other Aspirant or challenge rated at a higher Tier." Oliver chuckled a little, "Earth is a Tier 2 world. So, if you were Tier 3, you could return home and bullets would really, really hurt; but not kill you." He put his paw to his chin and scratched it, "Unless it was a lot of bullets. Same thing if you tried to attack a Tier 2 and you are only Tier 1 – you would find it a lot harder to hurt them."

"Good to know." Jace took a deep breath and calmed his beating heart by focusing on the flow of air. In through the nose, out through the mouth. This is it. Once I give the go-ahead…this Trial starts.

Memories of his sister washed over him. Her smile when he picked her up from the hangout that functioned as a small, community school. The time they spent walking through the city streets, staring up at the high-rise buildings. The empty promises he made her to take them both to the top of society.

I’ll get to Tier 10. I’ll become the strongest Ascendant to bring her back. Then…we’ll live at the top. "I’m ready." He looked straight at Oliver’s eyes, feeling the silent judgment of the Wayfinder seemingly searching his soul. I survived the streets. I can survive this. "Let’s go."

Oliver swam in the starlight around Jace, swirling up the motes of cosmic energy in his wake. A blossoming cascade of every color imaginable. The spectral river otter swam faster and faster until Jace was in a cocoon awash with vibrant colors. "Here we go!" he shouted enthusiastically. "Do not die on me. The last four-hundred Aspirants I have been assigned to died within the first few hours."

Wait, a few hours? Jace felt a pit form in his stomach despite filling it earlier. Is this place really that dangerous? He gripped his belt knife and drew it, holding it in front of him at the ready. "Where am I going?"

"A Tier 1 world. A place called Velenar Prime." His face shifted into one of concern, "That’s…that’s at the upper end of the Tier 1 difficulty scale." He growled and shouted in anger, "Damnit! We spent too long talking, and now we get the crappiest starting position!"

The colors stopped swirling, everything went black, and Jace felt a sensation of being sucked down a drain.