Ascended Descended

Only a few applicants had entered the Vein when his name was called. Kaiden stepped forward, heart pounding in rhythm with the stillness that now held the square in its grasp.

No drumroll of fate accompanied his march into the unknown.

No whispered awe or gasps of surprise punctuated the moment.

The sound of sturdy boots striking cool stone, each step echoing in his mind, and the heavy breath he hadn't realized he was holding until now.

Before him yawned the Vein — a cut in the world so deep it felt like it could swallow memory itself.

Its edges were thin and jagged, adorned with crystalline formations that caught and fractured the meager light.

Each glint whispered secrets buried in an abyss that did not welcome visitors.

With a deliberate breath, he crossed the threshold.

And in that instant, the world changed.

The silence struck first.

Not calm. Not peaceful.

But the heavy, oppressive stillness of a sealed room with no exits.

It pressed inward from every direction, wrapping around him like wax paper on skin, tight, translucent, suffocating.

The air didn't breathe.

The ground didn't echo.

Even his thoughts felt muffled, slowed by unseen tension.

Yet inside that claustrophobic hush, something stirred — fear and exhilaration, twinned in the dark.

Then came the pulse.

A slow, deliberate thrum beneath his feet.

Like the earth was breathing in reverse — drawing in, not exhaling.

He crouched low, pressed his palm to the Veinstone floor.

It vibrated.

Not in rhythm.

But with thought.

[ Kaiden ]

"...Looks like you are awake."

It wasn't a question.

The Vein was definitely listening.

The crystalline walls shimmered—turquoise bleeding into rust, like veins of memory fossilized in glass.

They didn't reflect light. They reflected moments.

Faces flickered—wide-eyed children, gasping, crying, kneeling.

Breaking...

Then gone.

He took one step.

A puff of mist hissed from beneath his boot. It curled around his calf like a serpent — cold, affectionate, possessive.

Kaiden flinched. But didn't stop.

Two steps.

The mist thickened. It wasn't mist at all.

It was thought — manifest, clinging.

Whispers followed.

You're not enough.

You'll never earn points.

He left because of you.

Kaiden's breath caught.

He knew that voice.

He was two, nearly three. His father's back. His silence. The door closing without a goodbye.

Not a memory, but...

A Rejection.

The Trait didn't protect him — but it did remind him there was always a part the world could never reach.

The thoughts recoiled as if they'd touched something sacred, forbidden.

He didn't stop walking.

But another flicker came.

A Regret.

He was six. Nik was late. Dinner was cold. He burned the tea. Nik smiled anyway. But Kaiden knew the smile was for the wrong thing.

Nik had smiled and said nothing.

But Kaiden had felt it.

He hadn't been enough.

Still, he walked.

A Desire.

He was five. Sick. Lying in bed. Nik was preparing to leave for a long job. Kaiden had whispered to himself:

"I wish he'd get sick too. So he'd have to stay."

And then he'd hated himself for it.

The Vein drank that thought greedily.

Kaiden bit his lip until it bled.

He placed a hand on the wall. It hissed with æsther.

A fracture of light spread outward from his touch.

[ Kaiden ]

"...I'm not here to relive it."

"I am here to move forward..."

"Not back!"

The Vein shifted.

The trench narrowed until both his shoulders scraped glass-veined walls. They hummed with æsther, sharp and vibrating.

He didn't bleed.

But the stone scraped like it resented that fact.

He ducked low — into a crawlspace barely wider than his frame.

The walls pulsed with æsther emotions — rage, despair, fleeting joy.

At its center stood a slab of Veinstone, faintly glowing violet.

Kaiden didn't touch it.

Not yet.

He sat. Cross-legged. Still.

And breathed.

Not deeply.

But deliberately.

The kind of breath Nik had taught him — not with words, but with silence.

The kind of breath that did not flee fear, but refused to move until purpose found it.

Stillness.

Not the absence of motion.

But the presence of choice.

Then he moved.

One palm. One breath.

Touch.

The world vanished.

A shriek tore through his skull — feminine, childish, distant.

Then another — laughter, cracked and manic.

Kaiden didn't scream.

He held the stone tighter.

And through the chaos, a window opened.

Numbers emerged.

[ HEART ]

[ Æsther Residue Veinstone ]

Durability: 50/50

Market Value: Nil

Grade: Uncommon

[ PASSIVE ] +0.001 WIL (if held through full Vein Trial)

Note: Uncatalogued crystal formed from millennia of æsther sediment. Touching it syncs emotional memory with localized æsther consciousness. No combat value.

[ Kaiden ]

"Will?"

A pause.

Then his lips curled.

"Identify works in hell too, I guess."

Most would have left it behind. It wasn't glowing. It wasn't rare. But Kaiden looted everything.

Not because of greed.

Because the system had blind spots.

And he meant to see through all of them.

He reached behind him, two fingers slipping beneath the stitched hem of his waistband.

Touched a sliver of void-wrapped cloth.

Voidspace pulsed.

He pressed the Veinstone into the fold. Just enough.

[ HEART ]

► ITEM STORED IN VOIDSPACE

► Passive Applied

► Hidden Attribute Unlocked: Will Power (WIL)

[ Kaiden ]

"...A hidden attribute?"

"Well, that's new."

The fog recoiled.

Slightly.

The weight on his chest lifted.

Not gone.

But noticed.

Kaiden opened his eyes.

Something stood across the chamber.

Not beast. Not man.

A figure — glimmering, indistinct.

Built of mirror fragments and colorless light.

It tilted its head.

Not hostile.

Just... curious.

It mimicked him, raising a hand, still and hovering above the stone.

But it didn't touch.

It clenched its fist — and something cracked behind Kaiden's ribs. Regret. Doubt. He couldn't name it, but he felt its fracture.

Kaiden blinked.

The figure bowed.

[ Kaiden ]

"You're not my past."

"You're what I could be."

The being nodded.

And whispered — not in words, but in the stillness between echoes:

Stillness... Not yet deep enough.

Then the mist parted.

A path opened.

Not forward.

Up.

A stair of shimmering light waited.

[ Kaiden ]

"...So that's the kind of trial you are."

He stood.

Still breathing.

Still whole.

Still Kaiden.

But something deep inside — beneath his Trait, beneath the Stats, beneath the System—had shifted.

He didn't smile. Didn't celebrate.

He walked — because walking forward was the only vow he'd ever truly kept.

Because this was only the beginning.

And somewhere deep within the stone, the Vein whispered:

You may pass.