The First Age

Although their topic shifted to the current matter at hand, nostalgia continued to shadow Nikolai's expression. The Atharim was in his past as well; talk of the gods back then was as much a myth to the members as Zeus and Hera or Odin and Frigga were to Nikolai and Marcus. At the time, Nikolai's studies were consumed with real world dangers: the creatures of nightmare. The Atharim had their own prophecies, which were probably as much nonsense as any other religious group. Nik's view of the world was never angled toward religion, or any higher power watching over them from above. In fact, an old bitterness rooted in his gut whenever he contemplated it. Religion was not for him. But the Atharim, well they had their eccentric members. People rumored to do nothing but study ancient lore like the hidden scholars they were. Those people likely believed the tales; people like the current Regus. His predecessor, Wilhelm, never seemed that tyrannical. But perhaps he was.

"Yes that is what they believe. I suppose it makes a sort of sense. If you recall any mythologies, the gods seemingly performed miracles."
Nikolai lofted the water bottle, highlighting how arms of the power carried it to him across the air. Then his lips curled into a chilling smile. "They were seemingly immortal."
He knew how young he looked; that he hadn't aged in thirty-five years or more.

"I don't remember if they claimed those things of story actually happened, and I don't care if they did. If any of them ever actually lived, well, they are long dead now. Beyond even my reach."

Marcus listened, mind seizing on each word, holding it up, examining every facet, every permutation. There was a...cadence to Ascendancy's voice, the register deeper and quieter. Contemplative. He drew a bottle to him, as if viewing the action from the perspective of a person without the Force. Godlike indeed. Immortal. The word called to him, a sweet siren song.

Malik stirred at the thought. It was not a vain dream. This man was in his 60's and yet appeared in his 30s. The potential there. If holding the Force itself did not make one immortal, then perhaps there was another way.

But Ascendancy went on, that tone continuing, as if he were trapped somewhere in his mind.

Projection. Ascendancy was not merely imagining, extrapolating. Imagining affected speech, halting and sped up one after the other, as the mouth struggled to keep up with the mind as it spilled forth, overflowing the brim, and then paused as it waited, for the mind to continue its computations and speculation, for the cup to slowly fill again.

This was methodical, a man at a well, patiently turning the windlass to bring the cool bucket up from the depths below. It was mining a vein of gold or silver.

"I don't remember...."
The projection confirmed.

Marcus' eyes widened in surprise, unable to keep himself from interjecting. "You were one of them,"
he said with a touch of awe. Of course. Extrapolation made that clear. They had hunted him for over 40 years. He had been one of them.

Knowledge seemed to emanate from this man and Marcus hungered to pry it out of him.

"You are a clever one, Marcus. Nobody else puzzled it out. Michael knows, but only because I told him."


A stretch of the arms and Nikolai slipped his jacket from his shoulders. While at it, he pulled the tie from his neck and loosened his shirt collar. Being dusk, he was unlikely to be seen by the public any more this day, and his executive staff knew he had retired for the evening. His appearance was always pristine and perfect. This moment of relaxation was probably odd to witness.

"I was one of them for a short time. Long enough to get the damn tattoo though."
He was rolling up his left shirt sleeve.

"And long enough to learn that the world is teeming with the stuff of nightmares. Theirs is rather a noble cause, if they would forget their zealotry and remember it."


The forearm he showed Marcus was puckered with five long, sick scars. By torturous design, the claws missed the two major arteries of the forearm. Dreyken were infamous for toying with their prey. They knew how to exact pain without endangering life.

But it wasn't scars he was showing Marcus. It was the broken lines of black ink that he demonstrated. "A snake eating its own tail: a symbol for eternity. For no beginning and no end. They all share the symbol in one form or another. A source of pride for them."


He rolled the other sleeve to match. When he killed the Regus tonight, he wanted the man to see apollyon's symbol of the slain beast in the flesh.

Ascendancy stood and rolled up his left sleeve, showing Marcus the tattoo even as his words confirmed his projection.

A serpent, twisted, biting its own tail. He knew enough of mythology- though he was going to immerse himself in it now that he knew that it could hold keys to his power- to know that his was the symbol for eternity. Indeed, this one held a twist in the middle exactly like the infinity symbol.

Five scars ominously tore up the serpent, though. He stared at it. Something about it called to him. He hungered to know....everything. It gnawed at him, now. The connection to the past, to power, was too hard to resist.

Ascendancy did not want to destroy them, for which Malik was glad. The loss of such a fountain of knowledge- the untapped potential for power- would be unconscionable. He raised his eyes and looked at the Ascendancy, face partially hooded in shadow.

"What will you do with the Atharim?"

Nikolai allowed Marcus to study the tattoo for some time before crossing his arms and resting again. His body was still weary, like he did an extra half hour of laps in the pool. He was comfortable, guard lowered, and relaxed. Only in private was he ever so informal. Marcus was in an exclusive club now to witness it.

He had plans for the Atharim, but there was little to gain in sharing them with Marcus. The Sigma should be distanced from the society anyway, as it was, involving him at all was out of advantage rather than mentorship.

"They need to be broken and remade, but that is a task for others."
Such as the girl he mentioned before.

A quiet ding alerted him to a message from the outside.

Nikolai pushed to his feet and grazed a workstation wall, summoning the image of the caller to the air. It was a Barrier Preator agent.

"They've breeched the outer walls, Ascendancy. Three individuals. Two male. One female. What are your orders, sir?"

Nikolai answered, "Make sure they are funneled here. Stand ready to intervene if necessary. The Sigma and I will be waiting to greet them. And Agent, lose as few men as possible. Nobody besides them needs to die needlessly today."


The screen winked out and Nik turned back to his advantage. "Be ready."


He was not fully recuperated from the monument yet, but this should not require such a feat as strength as that. All would be well.

He would sleep well that night.

((Continued at Into Erebus