Legendary Vampire in the Apocalypse

Dion had briefly paused before continuing to lean and put his bottoms on.

"The energy of nature is called prana, and in prana there is a particular element called Aetherel. It is what connects all entities to prana, and thus, the wider mystical reality. And it’s introduction to your being is what sparks the confluence of magi, as well as the arousal of all other dimensions."

Dion had begun to rise by that point, and a black shirt appeared in his hands.

Anastasia’s brows gradually eased, her eyes focused on him. More specifically speaking though, his torso that was being so regrettably hidden from sight.

"...By consequence of the prana in the world being so scarce and weak even for the initial awakening of a world, because aetherel is the foundation of everything despite your potent vital and soul essences it could hardly take you any farther. For you, it has been like pouring dirty water into the purest concentration of essences."

Anastasia could finally only relent a sigh, for many reasons.

Dion’s shirt had finally fallen, and he reached for both of the glasses, gesturing for her to follow.

When he had climbed up here, he had seen a balcony, and he wanted to sit there.

With Anastasia here, even if another Gnoll suddenly jumped so damningly high that it could reach them, he was willing to bet that it would die before it could touch him.

Even if it proved to be able to survive her, considering she was Destitute like him, what could it do if he helped her? The things didn’t look to be hunting in packs after all.

Dion’s eyes focused forward, hearing the click of her heels behind him, and his eyes fell to the drinks in his hands, the slosh of them, and their colour.

His eyelids fell a little lower, and his expression remained even, though a wistful quiver flickered through them.

’No wonder she left his corpse behind.’

Soon enough he had brought them to the door to the balcony, and before he could use his elbow to try open it, Anastasia slithered from his back to his front. Her pale hand reached for the door and she opened it.

His eyes rose, and he only laughed faintly, without pausing to look at the grace on her expression.

Moonlight soothed his skin, and the sight of Lulling burning stained his eyes as his ears tensed at the distant sounds of chaos.

There was a table off to the side; however, Dion directly went to stand leaning against the low wall, one of the drinks set beside him where Anastasia now stood.

"What are Vestiges?" Dion asked as he settled himself.

His voice had fallen a little lower, not making any effort to particularly make himself heard as his eyes lingered on the stars above.

He found it unfortunate that he could recognise a good number of the constellations shimmering down on them.

"These would be the simplest of all so far. They are the materialised avatars from the remains of an existence, and may take the form of weapons, garments, armour, tools, and even beings. They can be summoned and dismissed at will from the soul sea, and unless completely destroyed, they will gradually restore themselves within that same space."

’Simplest of all my ass. What the hell is a soul sea?’

"As for the soul sea itself, it is the manifestation of your soul and mind, within yourself. Should you wish to see it, I am sure you need only make the attempt."

Dion’s smile returned faintly, looking ahead of himself as he spoke, into the distance that he had travelled to get here, back at his apartment building.

He would partially see the rupture in the wall from here, between the gaps in buildings.

"Then, what about Ascents? I’ve seen the description of mine, and it’s rather extensive. Not to mention coupled with the name of it. So, while I understand the broader ideas of it, there could easily be things I might be missing because I don’t understand the concept of the construct fully."

His glass was held around its rim with his fingers, and it was hanging over the edge with his hands outstretched over it.

Should he let go, it would easily fall and waste all his effort and feeling.

"They," Anastasia began as her eyes remained on the side of his face, "are the confluence of one’s will, their desires, soul, and the experiences of their memory."

She held the glass she had been honoured with between both palms, delicately, where it sat over the flat of the wall.

"It is the purest crystallization of individuality, and the path upon which one treads to achieve the embodiment of their highest envisioning from those elements."

Dion began to think there.

Considering that his system had been in the first place somewhat overtaken by the Hanging Garden of Babylon through whatever means that it had, it likely also played a part in what had become of his Ascent.

It had made him the race of his in-game character after all.

However, with that being said, considering that she mentioned things like will, desire, memory and the others, there had be some considerable input from himself for his ascent to turn out as it had.

And he remembered the night he should have died through these thoughts.

When he had been stabbed through the torso, forced to kill Shijo, and should have bled out, the strongest feeling within him was that of helplessness.

Because he hadn’t made it on time, he killed his best friend, then because he was weak and confused, scared and ignorant, he should have died to the gnoll.

Through all of that, when he should have been dying, his most potent desire had been to be strong.

And with the concept of Ascents being born from memory, the most immediate memory was from him playing as his game character, Asmodeus, a powerful emperor with powerful vassals, whom he had spent countless hours playing with through the years.

Asmodeus didn’t have anything like an Ascent; neither were there any of these other mechanics like dimensions of being or vestiges that he had access to.

But that didn’t change that he had essentially been a part of him. Or perhaps more accurately, an expression of him.

Dion opened his system, going back once more to the description of his Ascent.