Ascension

How many years had passed since I last set foot in the Natural History Museum --- the Cathedral of Nature?

Walking down the once familiar streets of South Kensington, I asked myself. The answer, however, was less straightforward than I anticipated. Perhaps it was due to the side effects of memory transplantation, several answers popped up in my head: ten years ago, 50 years ago, three centuries ago, or even 18,568 years ago --- long before the grand Victorian structure was built.

I looked up the museum; its Victorian Spires appeared to combine with the image of a Genatian palace, or of a Kexteran signal tower. Memories of my predecessors certainly had came back to haunt me.

I shook my head to drive the illusions off.

“Good morning, Lady Constance. I am glad you arrived on time.” Kante noticed me, and came to greet me.

“Good morning, Kante. How was the reunion with your colleagues?”

“They have long returned to the embrace of the azure sea. But their offspring, and the offspring of their offspring still remember me, and greeted me with more passion than this old man can handle. Even the Regional Grandmaster came to welcome me personally.” Kante’s eyes were filled with happiness. “He even handed over the latest catalogue of Earth’s goods as a token of goodwill. I am sure Archon Indigo and whoever succeeds me will find it very useful.”

“It was a shame that Archon Indigo couldn’t travel here.”

“Indeed.”

“Then it’s down to us buying him a bunch of souvenirs!” Reina suggested cheerfully through an AR window.

“You can do your shopping after the mission, Reina. For now, we need you to hold the fort on the Charon.” Archon Burgundy reproached her.

“Why only me?” Reina protested.

“Rah’tanians are capable of parallel thought, due to them being a collection of sentient fungal colonies. On top of that, they also have a lot of tentacles. Because of that, only Sage Reina and me can operate dozens of ships at the same time. But I am needed here.” Emerald, in Paddington’s body, spoke with a kind anime boy’s voice. Why he chose that voice pack was beyond me.

“Well, Kante had a reason to meet with his mates too. Kante, have you acquired the required supplies for the ceremony?” I asked.

“The Corporation had promptly supplied them. ‘Even if we had to pay triple the price, we bought them off the Elves’ hands!’ was what the Regional Grandmaster said.”

“Excellent. And Amber, are you ready?”

“Are you ready, Connie?” The enchanting Elf returned the question.

“Of course.”

I looked at my companions. Even without mind-reading, I can see they were excited but anxious. It was a dangerous procedure, in a foreign world, on one of their dearest companions, after all. Yet, determination was what dominated their expressions; they trusted me, and I must return the favour.

With renewed resolve, I walked up the staircase. There, where the statue of Darwin once stood, now had an altar on which the Flower of Yggdrasil was placed. The large, glowing flower, flickering between a crystal-like transparency and a solid purple, bloomed wildly, as if it was inviting me to a brave new world.

Amber had started to sing in Elven language, waving her staff and dancing gracefully. The ritual had begun. I closed my eyes, and offered my prayers to the otherworldly flower.

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The Rite of Ascension --- the ritual designed and perfected by generations of Archons of Lavender --- was in essence a ritual designed to communicate with beings composed of pure energy and to channel their power. Those beings, who perhaps can be called gods, live in a dimension of pure energy and condensed information, making ordinary ways of communication impossible. It was only after the 125th Archon of Lavender attempted telepathy that a line of communication was established.

But of course, that was but the first hurdle to clear.

The 125th failed to convey his words before his brain exploded from the rapid flow of information. The successive Archons attempted to different methods to mitigate the flows of information, but none were successful until Elisabeth came around. And her solution was simple: if her body cannot sustain the stress of communion, then she just needed to do it using her soul and return to the body later.

However, once her soul left her body, an enormous energy storm from the portal swept it aside. Under the powerful energy storm, the nanomachines within her body decomposed due to a lack of strong signal, and her body died as life supporting organs were destroyed.

But I had found the solutions.

One came from a surprising fact that Amber noticed. Despite their vastly different origins and purposes, the Rite of Ascension was similar to Elven Ceremonies, at least in practice. Both involve opening a rift to another dimension, attempting to make a connection with the formless energy there, and divert the energy to our world. The only difference was that the Elven Ceremonies allowed a much lower throughput of energy, which would prevent the energy storm from happening.

The other issue was that a nanomachine-infused body will decay in absence of the soul, which was fixed by having Emerald take control of the nanomachine and maintaining it until my soul returns.

But why did the ritual have to happen in the Natural History Museum?

“To reach the gods, one must be clad in prayer.” I could hear Elisabeth say in my mind. Prayers and faith were apparently used as a procedure to separate the soul from the body, and places of worship would be the best places to perform such procedures.

“But I am an atheist. I cannot pray to gods, but here, in the Cathedral of Nature and to Mother Nature, I will pray.” I whispered. “Now, gods, do you accept my prayer?”

To my question, the otherworldly purple flower’s answer was a light: a white, blinding light, driving my consciousness away, to a paradise far, far away.