Ascending(Prologue)

Alena took in a deep breath as the violent winds around her fluttered her embroidered robes. Thunder cracked and rumbled. The sky was filled with clouds, lightning flashing within. Right above her was a large hole in the clouds that was wreathed in clouds. The winds pushed her up towards the swirling abyss. She braced herself for the lightning that was to come. The first lightning strike struck suddenly and Alena was illuminated in golden light. She gritted her teeth and said in her mind, "99 more."

"98"

"97"

"96"

...

"3"

Alena was on the verge of passing out. The only reason she had been able to withstand it was because of the lightning's body tempering properties. Her body of flesh and blood was turning into one of a higher realm's. The blood running through her body became silver and it even had slight healing properties. The bones seemed crystalline and impossibly hard. Her pale creamy skin became strong enough to withstand blades.

"2"

The lightning left fern patterns across her smooth skin. Her elegant robes were now in tatters. She couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.

"1"

Alena gritted her teeth.

"0"

She was whisked up by the raging winds into the abyssal hole in the clouds, the lightning gone from the clouds. The thundering faded and only the howling of the wind could be heard.

A figure on a distant mountain was watching with a smile as Alena's body ascended into the clouds, "So she's succeeded."