Ascendant

Dakota feared his button for the future. The ominous title of Demon Lord under his name encouraged him to keep his head down at first.

When the button flashing Quest appeared. He simply ignored it. He ignored it every day.

The next two years saw the Whisper's prophecy come true.

Humanity changed.

People Ascended.

Well, maybe one in a thousand saw Ascension.

People were touched. Different. All over the world. The experience was different for most people. They remember seeing a mirror of themselves. Or some entity or monster gave them something. Or they were killed but then woke up a moment after they did not realize they fell asleep.

Media was pretty hot on it as an anomaly. It was trendy for people to tell these exaggerated or messed up stories.

One in a thousand. And among those maybe more than half claimed to receive something from a monster or a demon.

Maybe one in every ten thousand developed Ascension. A kind of ability or talent.

Some learned to read instantly. Or were a couple times stronger or faster. Others learned they could spit acid. Some learned they could manipulate stones or water. Fire or light.

Some people learned to put their hands on a person and heal them. That one wrinkled a lot of noses. Rumors about magical healing causing different diseases are always common since even one Healer could rival a hospital in an area.

There is a famous family in Germany that could apparently transform their bodies into a kind of lycanthrope. Becoming part beast. Werewolves.

Others found even more strange abilities. Like telekenisis. Manipulating items at a distance. Or feeling the emotions of people around you.

One girl in China was famous for being able to make animals and even plants do what she wants them to.

The first reaction was fearful. Several reasons kept the ascended from being hunted out of hand. Either by wealthy do-gooders, corporations, or the governments of the world.

The most common kind of Ascendant is barely more than a normal human. Like a slight gift. Something off about them.

Quite a few influential people became Ascendant.

Even more Ascendant were recruited. By different governments or corporations.

All Ascendant could sense each other. The more powerful Ascendants could trace each other from far away.

At first it was pretty chaotic.

Now it has been explored. The normal person gives off almost no ambient magical energy. Grade F.

However, grade E, D, and C tend to have double or even more ambient magical energy. Kind of like how the area near a fire is hot even before you touch the fire.

These grades tend to slightly enhanced abilities at E rank to definite supernatural power at C rank.

The grade B and A are at the top of the measuring methods. These folk are powerful. Capable of creating real chaos in a city or even rivaling a company of soldiers.

The S grade was assigned to those that could not be measured. Their power exceeded measurement. They were the new arms race. The most famous celebrities.

They were all. Just different. Typically it was considered that any Grade needed 5 to 10 of the grade before it to rival or subdue that individual.

The S grade was loose. As their abilities tended to be very odd indeed. But the SS and SSS classes are considered the most powerful.

For those among S rank who are just in another league compared to others. Only three known SSS ranks exist.

The former grade school teacher Theodric Edward of the U.S. who can supposedly manipulate matter.

A young man in China named Zhaou Zheng. A martial artist who has such incredible physical enhancement that he went on live TV and broke an armored tank and sent it flying with a casual flick of his pinky.

The third is a French woman who can manipulate any and all liquid she desires to. She is the most in the media. She famously made waves on a beach on a resort island for surfers. She also took the moisture from a tree and created an ice sculpture of the tree with the water all in the blink of an eye.

The Mana Density Exam is used to measure the ambient magical energy a person emits. From this measurement the grade is derived.

These wondrous talents. Would likely still be hated. Or at least popularly persecuted if not for one simple fact.

The Rift Stones.

The Rift Stones are little black stones. The condensed mass of the creatures that did not survive Ascension.

Most were some kind of animal or plant. Some few were human. These little black stones form shadowy pillars near them.

Larger stones form more rifts.

The stones cannot be moved or broken until these rifts are removed.

A normal person can walk right through the rift. As if it were only a shadow.

For an Ascended it becomes a gateway. A gateway to pocket planes of existence. Where the Rift Stone that was once a creature lets its power build a new home for its spirit.

These stones would likely have been mostly ignored. Unfortunately, when a gate is used. Be it by a person on purpose or by an Ascended animal by accident, The rift stone begins to crack.

If it breaks. The often horrific beasts inside escape and are released onto our world.

The ocean has become a more dangerous place. South America has seen ogres and goblins living and hiding through the continent because of one famous A rank stone breaking.

A little sand and ice bar, not even a full island North of Russia saw Elves. Man sized creatures with incredible powers.

They have been acknowledged as their own nation and use their powers to grow their island and keep it hidden and safe.

In Africa various animals Stones burst and it is a daily struggle in some places to compete or defend against monstrous insects.

Some smaller countries in the middle east, africa, and south america have seen regime changes because of support from Ascended.

Most of the world honors the Ascended and their efforts to defend against the Rifts and the beasts inside that escape.

This expensive endeavor is supported by the Mana Stones Ascended pull out of the Rifts. Sometimes worth millions of dollars.

Mana Stones can be used to make incredible items. And are becoming the most common and safest form of electrical power in the world.

The smallest creatures in a rift when killed become a small Shard of mana. Larger ones become fist sized Orbs. Each Orb can be used to power a large town for a couple of days.

Private companies called Guilds compete with Government agencies across the world for these Rifts for that reason.

Riftborn creatures and Ascended are not affected by mundane weapons like normal people.

The ambient Magical energies emitted by these creatures protect them from many different things. Like blasts from a missile. A C rank creature can be shot point blank.

Their Mana density is such that the bullet or knife cannot pierce their flesh. The heat and concussive force of a blast can throw their body. But not destroy them.

It requires the Ascended to defeat the Riftborn.

A bullet made from Mana Stone found within the Rifts can be used to harm these creatures. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to refine even a small amount of Mana Stone to be used as a weapon. Though possible. It is far from being cost effective. Or even a realistic possibility since a single bullet wound could be healed a moment later by some.

All of this may yet be a foot note. Except people are still experiencing the Ascension process. Maybe a couple hundred people in the world every day.

New Rift Stones are always being discovered.

Recently, in Dakota's home country. In the U.S.A. the state of Florida had a C rank stone that was being monitored publicly by the government, break. Thousands of man shaped rats, Wererats. Escaped.

These beasts breed quickly and are slightly stronger and a lot faster than most humans. Worse yet, they have roughly human intelligence and often travel in groups.

They did not try to stay and fight. No. They scattered all around. A new pest in the world.

The guilds gained a lot more freedom to act in the U.S after that. From recruiting to managing Rift Stones. The government just could not afford another greater stone breaking and too few Ascended desired to work for the U.S. government where pay was great but not as good as the Guilds. Not to mention the lack of acknowledgement.

The guild always advertised who they put in a Raid. So locals and people all over the world knew who to be grateful to.

Guildsman had become more popular than movie stars and athletes in most public circles.

The U.S. Bureau of Enhanced Creatures B.E.C spent most of it's time policing Ascended who abused their talents to break the law. Depending largely on convicts to clear Rifts. Often given obscene sentences like a thousand years and offered various amounts of time off their sentences for a certain amount of gates being cleared.

The world of Humans was not done changing. Dakota knew this. He was not certain he was ready for it. He was not sure any one really was.

One thing he was certain of. He was tired of his daily grind.