The Ascension

Aila wasn't aware of the consequences to her act of aggression, and she wouldn't feel sorry for the Inaris if she was.

Her attack methods, how she uprooted the tree, and beat down the guards of the dominant clan, became a large story within the town of Aros, and slowly spread beyond.  It also made its way to the Magistrate, the Mercenary's Union, and the primary source of information within the town, Underground Black.

"Mistress, a report has been filed by one of Aros' guards." A Black Guard put a scroll on the table. The Black One waved him away, while her sister picked up the scroll and read it.

"Interesting." She said softly. "The massive fluctuations of elemental essence you felt were caused by the girl who brought in the flame wolf. She brought three more in, and a stone bear. When she left the plates with Rirn, one of Inaris' elders beat Rirn, and stole them." She grinned.

"What makes you so happy, sister?" The Black One asked. She seemed a lot more tired recently, which made the Seer a bit more concerned for her health.

"She destroyed their gate, which we found out from an earlier report, but this one says that they were forced to pay compensation to Rirn. They had to sell a large number of their slaves to make up some of the losses." The Seer said with a wide smile.

"That does show how low they've fallen." The Black One said. She looked out the window. "You'll need to light all the lamps in your room tomorrow, sister. There will be an eclipse."

"Eclipse?" The Seer looked at her in concern.

"Don't worry. It won't kill me. I'll just be a bit weaker for a while." The Black One sighed. Her affinity with dark elements had taken a toll on her body, and if she was lucky, she would survive at least another two years.

The cost of being the Black One of Underground Black was a shorter lifespan, but not for the reasons they expected.

* * *

"You came right to my house?" Aila said angrily and ran outside. The iron tusked boar eyed her hungrily until her fist impacted its thick skull.

At the moment her fist struck, Aila felt two things. There was a slight recoil as though her fist struck metal, which she didn't expect. The second was the metal denting from the impact.

The boar slid backwards, tipped over onto its side, and rolled two or three times due to the sheer amount of force. Aila had already learned several lessons during battle. She didn't allow her surprise to overwhelm her senses, immediately withdrew her sword from its sheathe, and dashed forward.

The blade slid into the unprotected underside of its neck and jaw, scraping the metal plates as it passed, and went into the brain of the beast. Aila held up the sword in front of her eyes with a bit of surprise as the blade snapped off, and remained in the boar.

"Well, fuck me sideways."

* * *

"Hey, Rirn!" Aila said as she hauled the boar past his stall, but stopped after a few steps. "Oh, I almost forgot to drop these off for you to sell. I'll be back later." He rolled his eyes as she dropped off two thick tusks on his counter.

"I won't be here when you get back, little lady. There is an eclipse later today. Most people will be holed up in their homes due to the thick gloom that settles on the town when it happens." Rirn said quickly, but looked at the two large tusks she dropped off.

"Okay, well, put them away, and sell them when you have a chance. We'll split the profits, just like the plates." She shrugged, and picked up the handles before walking off.

"Sigh, that girl has no fear at all. I don't know if that is arrogance, or just ignorance." Rirn said. In reality, it was ignorance. It wasn't an insult on this world to be lacking information, not to mention that Aila was outside the norms for everything.

The eclipse would show that truth quite easily.

* * *

With a large leather pouch in her hand, and the metal core going into her belly, Aila left the smith's shop with the agreement that he would sell the meat for her so he could buy the bones.

The bones of an iron tusked boar were rich in high grade iron, and could be easily made into high quality, and valuable weapons that many people would want.

"How strange. Is the eclipse so frightening?" Aila asked herself quietly. Everyone, including the guards at the gate, had closed up the doors and windows of their workplaces, and their homes. She was alone in the main square when she saw the moon cover the sun, and the area grow dark.

"Oh. This isn't just the darkness from an eclipse. It's being flooded with dark elements that have seeped into the ground!" She licked her lips and sat on the ground.

Immediately, the entire area that had been covered in a thick gloom that was thicker than fog, but it was a black colored fog that could not be seen through. Aila felt great hunger when she looked at the mist and started to actively pull it in.  She also sucked up the mottled black, the death elements, that flowed out from the ground, and a nearby source.

The act was so powerful, it attracted the attention of the Black One.

* * *

"Sister! Do you feel it?" The Seer ran into her room, and was surprised to see her sister at a wide open window, holding her arms spread wide. She could see some dark mists seep out of her skin.

"Sister?" The Seer asked tentatively.  She was frightened to see the sinister energy seeping out of her beloved sister.

"She's absorbing it! She's pulling out right out of me so powerfully that I can't resist!" The Black One said excitedly. "She's so strong, sister!" She turned back a bit. "I have to meet her!"  The Seer sighed, and hoped the guards would do their duty.  Once her sister began to deteriorate, their look and behavior had changed considerably.

"I'll get a few Black Guards for you. There's still an eclipse out, and it's dangerous if the graveyard is affected."

* * *

"I don't think I've ever seen the air so clear during an eclipse, or after. Or even the night." One guard said as they escorted the Black One out of Underground Black and into Aros.

Underground Black was a large compound with almost half of the town sectioned off, and protected by walls as high as the outer walls of the town.

"Normally the dark elements continue to persist until the next morning. The light doesn't have enough time to push the dark elements down. The gloom even overwhelms the night in Aros, but no one knows why." The Black One said.

"She's ahead, Black One." The other guard said, his sword in his hand. When they got to the square, one lone person was sitting on the stone, and the gloom rushed towards her in a torrent.

"So comfortable." The Black One said as the elements were pulled out through her skin even faster than before. As she approached, the elements moved even faster as though it reacted to their approach. "Don't approach her." The Black One sat down in front of Aila, and waited. She let the elements get sucked out of her body, and the suction grew stronger as though she had the attention of the young woman in front of her.

That possibility scared her a bit.  No one could channel the elements like this.  While her thoughts veered left and right, she could feel her body grow lighter, and her strength increase.

When the thick gloom of the eclipse was almost gone, Aila opened her eyes.  The absorption didn't stop, which revealed the level of her control. The guards stepped back a step when they saw her eyes. They looked completely black, as though they were the color of the gloom itself.

"Interesting." Aila said, her voice vibrated with the new power she absorbed. "Why are you filled with death elements like a corpse?"