Path to Transcendence

Julius was already heading for the glowing portal. He didn’t see a reason to wait for the ten minutes to expire. His choice was obvious. He wasn’t nervous about the warning.
His friends apparently didn’t seem as sure. They pulled him by the arm. “Hold on there,” Derek said with a light laugh.
“What? Are you guys really worried about what he said?” He asked with a tilt of his head.
“I think it would be irresponsible if we didn’t at least talk about it,” Derek noted.
“Is there really an option of us not attempting the trial?” Julius pointed out.
The silence he got in response was an answer in itself.
“See? There is no need to discuss things,” he said, and before they could stop him again, he was already walking toward the portal.
This time around, they all followed him. Even Riven and Eva were right behind him. They all entered the portal together, and Julius felt his surroundings shift. However, instead of an open plain or some cave, he found himself trapped in darkness.
He was greeted with another notification.
Julius read the notification and felt the space warp for a brief second. He didn’t bother to turn around, but spoke to Kaelther.
“Are you normally supposed to appear in this space?” He asked curiously.
“How did you know it was me?”
“I have my ways,” he said vaguely.
“If you tell me, I’ll give you a hint about this trial,” Kaelther offered.
Julius finally turned around to look at the tall man with surprise. “You can do that? From what you made it sound, there are some rules in this realm that you have to follow.”
“I have certain privileges that others don’t,” Kaelther explained.
“What kind of hint?” Julius questioned.
“Something that will help you make your next decision.”
Julius frowned. So there was a decision he had to make in the near future. That was good to know. He also didn’t mind telling Kaelther. It wasn’t like it was some grand secret that would hurt him if the strangely tall man knew. If he could get something for that, then from his point of view, it was well worth it.
“I have a perception skill that detected your appearance and used some of my other abilities to piece together enough information that allowed me to make an educated guess,” he explained simply.
“That’s it?”
Julius shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Kaelther narrowed his eyes. “You have a spatial sense skill, don’t you?”
Julius kept a straight face. “What makes you think that?”
Kaelther stared deeply into his eyes, and Julius felt his soul being inspected again. “Because there is no other way for you to detect me otherwise. To be honest, you shouldn’t have been able to detect me even if you had that kind of skill.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe you messed up?” Julius offered.
Kaelther just sighed at him, showing more signs of humanity the more he interacted with Julius.
“So what is this hint?” Julius finally asked with a grin.
“You want a hint? You barely gave me any information,” Kaelther said flatly.
“But I did give you some information. You basically figured it out anyway,” Julius said with a shrug.
Kaelther was silent for a few brief moments, but Julius remained patient and stared at the tall man expectantly.
Finally, Kaelther acquiesced and nodded. “This trial is a little different from other trials you might have taken in the past.”
“I have never taken a trial before,” Julius interjected.
Kaelther waved his hand at Julius. “Okay, then it doesn’t matter. But in a little bit, you will be given a choice.”
“What kind of choice?”
“One that could impact the direction your path will take for the rest of your life,” Kaelther said dramatically.
“That seems pretty absolute, don’t you think?”
Kaelther glared at Julius. “Take this seriously. Many of the people your age will think the same thing. Most of them will not even tap into a small fraction of this trial's potential. They will likely choose something that speaks to them or fits their strengths. This is the wrong mindset.”
Julius felt the powerful pulse of Kaelther’s presence and took it more seriously. “Okay, then what should I do?”
“That is for you to decide.”
“That’s not a very helpful hint.”
“Well, you didn’t give me a very helpful answer,” Kaelther argued.
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Julius couldn’t defend that point and nodded reluctantly.
“I would like to say one thing that you should think about,” Kaelther added.
Julius looked up. “What’s that?”
“Think about what kind of person you want to be.”’
What do you mean by that?” Julius asked with scrunched eyes.
“I assume you want to reach higher tiers of advancement? Beyond Tier 4 and 5?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Then you need to start thinking about what kind of person you want to be when you reach that stage. At your current state, you will undoubtedly reach Tier 5 as long as you survive and put in a little effort.”
Julius frowned. “How do you know that?” He had no idea how Kaelther had come to that assumption. While he had heard something similar from Cain and Freya, this man didn’t know him very well. They had literally just met several hours ago, and it had been a brief meeting.
“You soul.”
“My soul?”
“Yes, your soul told me everything I need to know about your preparedness to advance. You should, in reality, be in Tier 4 already. I am guessing this tournament is the only reason you haven’t actually tried to advance.”
“That and I want to build as strong a foundation as possible,” Julius admitted.
“Not a bad idea. But remember, at some point, it just becomes unnecessary. It is not like you can’t continue to improve your foundation in Tier 4. It takes more work, but for someone like you who has already reached the limit of what you can achieve in Tier 3, it likely isn’t worth it.”
Julius disagreed with that statement, but he didn’t voice it.
“Okay, back to the other thing you were talking about. Are you saying that I need to be mindful of being kind or a nice person?” He asked, confused by this conversation.
Kaelther shook his head and laughed sardonically. “No. Kindness is not a requirement for advancing past Tier 5. I have met some of the cruelest individuals in my life who made it to Tier 6 without any issues. At the same time, some of the most kind-hearted individuals struggle to reach Tier 4. It has nothing to do with morality. Power and improvement do not care about how nice you are.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Kaelther stared at Julius for a long moment. Letting his pulsing white eyes dig deep into his soul.
“At the end of the day, you have to be satisfied with what kind of person you have become. Only by becoming comfortable with yourself, no matter the issues that arise in your future, will you truly be allowed to ascend," Kaelther said solemnly.
Julius frowned. “I mean, I think I am pretty happy with myself.”
He didn’t feel unhappy, if that was what Kaelther might be inferring. Did he think Julius was overworking himself? Or was he trying to hint at something else, perhaps something that had pertained to the trial itself?
Kaelther nodded softly. “Then there is nothing to worry about. Just know that advancement is not just about power. There is a delicate balance that needs to be considered as well.”
“Okay…” Julius said thoughtfully. He didn’t know if Kaelther was being considerate or just being purposefully vague.
Then, just like last time, before Julius could say anything else, Kaelther disappeared. There wasn’t a single sign of spatial magic or the slightest hint of mana being used.
***
“Why would you do that?”
Kaelther turned to look at Vailon, hiding a smile. He already knew that Vailon had given Seraphyne to Julius to take out of the realm, so his friend was quite engaged with Julius’s actions.
To be fair, Julius was an excellent partner for Seraphyne. While he didn’t have a water affinity, he had a life affinity along with a powerful Life Concept, according to Vailon.
Furthermore, Julius already had a spirit and was definitely strong enough for Seraphyne to gain something out of the connection. However, it was a bit surprising that Vailon actually did it after all these years.
Kaelther would have thought Vailon would wait until another spirit mage or someone who specialized in spirits came on through.
“What do you mean?” Kaelther asked his long-time friend.
“Why would you put that doubt into his mind?”
“Doubt?”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice your magic. You purposefully planted that seed of doubt into his mind. I don’t know what you are planning. But Seraphyne is now connected to him, and she seems to like him so far. If you mess it up, I will be very upset,” Vailon said severely.
He nodded toward Vailon. He knew it would be hard for him to hide what he had done. “It wasn’t doubt… Well… Not entirely,” Kaelther said with a guilty wince.
“What was it then?”
He tapped his chin. “Call it introspection.”
Vailon crossed his arms. “Introspection? Why?”
“Have you seen his soul?”
Vailon shook his head. “A little bit, but you know that I don’t specialize in that sort of thing. Why? What did you see?”
“Destruction, death, fire, and ruin.”
“Yeah, his aura is a little unique,” Vailon said with furrowed brows.
Kaelther scoffed. “Yeah, unique is one word for it. Another one would be self-destructive.”
“It is not that bad,” his friend argued.
“Not bad? Really? No Tier 3 should ever have an aura that dangerous. Not to mention, so focused on pure destruction? It is a miracle that it hasn't devoured itself already, and even more so that he managed to gain such impressive control over it. It is no wonder he was able to withstand Cadius’s temper tantrum.”
“I will handle Cadius later,” Vailon said darkly.
He waved him off. “I took care of it. Cadius won’t do something like that again. He should know better than to do something like that, especially when it puts Seraphyne at risk.”
He tried to sound as casual as he could. But inside, he was sweating. He didn't need Vailon to go off the rails either. Unlike Cadius, Kaelther didn’t feel confident in handling Vailon. The greater spirit was powerful and very experienced. The last time he had gotten angry, half of the realm was damaged, and it took decades for it to be fixed.
Vailon settled down slightly. “Okay, so what did you do?”
Kaelther sighed in relief. “I wanted to lead him to a certain path. He needs some balance. At this rate, he will be consumed by ruin and destruction. And you know how that will turn out.”
Kaelther and Vailon had both seen what happened to people with those paths. Those who specialized in destruction traveled along dangerous, short paths. Destruction and death were not known to be fulfilling paths in life.
“I felt his aura before. I only allowed Seraphyne to travel with him because he had such phenomenal control over his aura. He also has a very strong connection with life mana. I don’t think he was in any danger of being consumed,” Vailon pointed out.
“Yeah, but have you seen that crown on his head?”
“I know that he got something out of that Challenge Rift, but with a rift like that, it shouldn’t give anything too special,” Vailon waved off his concerns.
Kaelther scoffed. “Yeah, well, think again. I just saw the thing and its connection to ruin is absolutely terrifying. It is only a small fragment of what it was before, but trust me, given time, it will become a horrifying item that will push him over the edge. It won’t matter how strong his willpower or resilience to pain is.”
“How did he get such an item in the first place?” Vailon looked disturbed now.
Kaelther shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. The real problem is that it is soul-bound, so we can't just take it away or ask him not to use it. The thing will grow right alongside him.”
Vailon thumbed his chin in contemplation. He was likely concerned about what this meant for his daughter.
“So he needs something that will help him balance it out,” Vailon said solemnly.
Kaelther sighed and nodded. “Yeah, it has to be something that will grow in conjunction with that monstrous crown.”
“That is going to be hard.”
He shrugged. “Yep.”
Vailon's eyes widened. “Wait. Is that why…?”
“Yep.”
“You know how that is going to end, right?”
“Yep, probably.”
Vailon grimaced. “Shit.”
“Yeah, shit.”