The skies over the Basin of Life darkened as Kethuru the Almighty
battered against His weakening prison, sending manifestations of Himself
through and into the mortal realm. As the Trials of Ascension have been
met by mortals seeking to claim the mark of each of the Nine Seals, the
Soulless God has been probing the cracks in His prison, horrible
manifestations of His alien will sent to seek out those who dare to seal
Him away.

As Avechna the Avenger formed the Staff of Ascension from the weakening
Seals, mortals across the Basin formed into separate groups, ready to
champion their friends and companions. His many eyes appearing across
the Astral Plane as He began to break through the last defenses of His
prison, Kethuru the Almighty began to invade the twelve Astral Spheres
without mercy. As Sohei Visaeris, marked by the Seal of War, snatched
the Staff of Ascension with the support of the Tainted City of
Magnagora, hundreds of nightmarish monstrosities began to manifest and
congeal from the dark astral currents and assault all of the mortals
wandering the Plane.

A noble and brief effort was made by Glomdoring who, lead by Kaervas
d'Murani, twice marked by the Seal of Nature, managed to snatch the
Staff several times. Yet for each time they managed to grasp the Staff,
it soon fell from their grasp, overrun by nightmares both alien and
mortal.

At the end of the Trial it was the combined efforts of the Holy City of
New Celest and the Nature Commune of Serenwilde that won the day, lead
by four sealbearers: Admiral Forren Shervalian, once marked by the Seal
of Justice and now the Seal of Knowledge, Moon Priestess Galaphyrae,
marked by the Seal of Harmony, Seneschal of the Serenwilde, Zia Talnara,
marked by the Seal of Beauty, and her husband, Warden Sojiro Talnara,
marked by the dark powers of the Seal of Death. Many times the Staff was
lost, to the hands of both Visaeris of War and Kaervas twice of Nature.
Yet in the end it was the companionship of Harmony, Knowledge and Death,
each of whom passed the Staff between them to ensure it was not lost,
that took the day.

After several long days of fighting, it was Sojiro of Death who held the
Staff of Ascension. As the energies of the staff exploded in his mortal
hands, he tapped into the deep energies of the Nine Seals and reached
high above, climbing towards the Immanidivinus and the Threshold Abyss.

And left behind him were those of New Celest and Serenwilde, those who
fought for him, watching in awe. One of note, having fought long and
hard alongside the one marked by Death, was the one having Ascended by
Life, Ilyarin.

Unseen to mortal eyes, wrapped in the blissful energies of the Nine
Seals, Sojiro sought to cross the Threshold Abyss, to find he was not
alone. As the horrors of Kethuru became aware of one who sought to seal
Him, one who sought to undo His escape as another had before, Sojiro
fled. Shimmering with sublime power did the Bearer of the Seal of Death
flee through veils of previously unseen and unknown energies, and so the
Herald of Magnora gave chase.

Tremors shook all of Creation, shuddering roars chased by splintering
booms that sent shockwaves of light burning across all of reality. And
so did Sojiro, wreathed in the sublime energies of the Nine Seals, meet
Avechna the Avenger above the Basin of Life. Together they turned their
energies against the looming Horror, and thus Kethuru was sealed once
more. Even still, as Avechna returned to His watch and Sojiro faltered,
Kethuru the Almighty raged in anger and hate and hunger against His
prison bonds.

And so Sojiro, marked by Death, fell. Vanishing between the folds of the
planes, both his existence and consciousness quickly fled. Yet
impossibly, clinging to the leaking energies of the Nine Domoths, he
found new life.

Thus rose Shuyin, True Ascendant! Having pierced the Veil of Death and
found life, he found his place within the Domoth lands, alongside the
same man who dared to champion his cause on the Astral Plane - Ilyarin,
the White Inferno, the only mortal to have tasted divinity since
Marilynth, having survived His own sacrifice by clinging to the energies
of the Veil of Life.

With the Domoth Realms shattered and open to those with enough divinity
to seek them, the only two Ascendants stood watch as demigods began to
struggle amongst themselves to claim the latent energies of the Nine
Domoths, joyously reveling in their own newfound knowledge.

Penned by My hand on the 19th of Dioni, in the year 199 CE.