Ascention

Author’s Note: This is the final part of Farren’s journey through a limbo world where everyone is trying to reach the peak of a mountain but has a rope tied to their ankle. You likely shouldn’t start here but instead with Part 1.
For all who have stuck with me through this long story I hope you enjoy the last chapter. Let me know what you thought of the story. And as always thank you for reading!

After debating with Teekola for the better part of the morning about who should be the first up the mountain, Farren conceded to Teekola’s stubbornness. By the time the sun was shining straight down into the hole they had made for themselves to protect them from the wind, Farren had agreed to go up the mountain first. He hugged the big man, and since neither one of them knew what was going to happen at the top, they once again assumed it’d be the last time they saw each other.
“If we do get the chance to meet again we should,” Farren said to his old friend.
“Agreed,” Teek said, nodding his dark head.
The bright, midday sun reflected off the white snow of the mountain. After a few hours of climbing, Farren looked up to gauge his progress up the summit. The sun hadn’t dipped to the horizon, and it was hard for him to tell how far away the top was. It seemed like the light of the sun hadn’t fallen below its highest point. As he stood looking out for the clouds below him, he realized the light seemed to be coming from every direction. The cold of the mountain faded away, and he felt like he had finally thawed.
As he turned, he noticed a white-haired man in a Hawaiian shirt standing next to him with a childish smile painted on his face. “Congratulations,” he said. Farren recognized the face immediately. It was Merc. Two other people in less brightly colored clothes were behind him. One held a crooked staff and had white robes while the other had a long beard and had an eye that was stitched shut. They both gave him a solitary smile and nodded their heads in acknowledgment.
“Is this the top?” Farren asked, there was still white light from every direction he looked.
The man with only one eye stepped forward. “Farren, you’ve Ascended.”
Farren nodded, he’d been ascending the mountain for days and was unsure what point the guy was trying to make.
“No, it’s not just that you’ve ascended the mountain. Wod means that you’ve ascended to godhood,” the man with the crooked staff explained.
“Godhood?” Farren asked, confused. “I’m immortal now?”
“You’ve been immortal since we put you on Olympus,” Merc said. “What we’re offering you, more of forcing upon you is the opportunity to commune with the fabric of reality in a way you have never done before.”
“Commune with the fabric of reality?” Farren’s face still had his face twisted in confusion.
Wod, the short bearded man, sighed a heavy sigh and stepped towards Farren. Out of nowhere, the man produced a spear. Before Farren could react, the man jammed it into Farren’s chest.
Confused Farren reached for the explosion of pain, but his vision and senses were fading fast. He felt himself fall to the ground, but the impact seemed like nothing to him.
The men were speaking above him, and the one in robes said, “You could have warned him.”
“It’s faster this way, and he’ll understand more than we can explain,” came the voice of the bearded man from a distance.

Farren’s senses were gone. The black void surrounded him — the one he’d faced a dozen times over. There was nothing, and there was everything. The darkness pulled his consciousness in every direction. He knew, from the many times before that he could never fill it.
Panicking from the expectations of the past Farren anticipated the uncomfortable expansion the void would thrust upon him. Except it never came. This time something was different. He could fill the dark void. Visions and understanding bloomed from his mind, and he understood.
As he expanded to fill the emptiness, the blackness of the void faded. He had visions of countless worlds, and he knew each person on them. Then he knew each animal, plant, and eventually each molecule. His mind was aware of all things. Before he would have never been able to hold it all in his mind this time, he felt connected to more than just his memories. He knew everything there was to know and so much more.
Once his mind connected fully with the environment around him, he searched for people he knew. He saw Gesa being held a gunpoint in a dark alley giving her purse to a hooded figure. An explosion of blood scattered out of her back as she fell to the ground as the man ran away.
He saw Teekola laying on a pad of thatched grass sweating profusely from a fever. Numerous family members that loved him surrounded the bed he was on. They were singing and chanting around him as he passed from the world he was suffering in.

Then Farren reached out for himself finding the world and time when he had died. He saw himself standing at the curb of a bustling street corner eager to cross when given a chance. Lights and cars flashed in front of him, and the city was chaos. A girl and her brother were next to him, fighting over a stuffed bear behind him. His awaken mind knew the girl, but the Farren who was waiting at the curb knew nothing about her.
The brother yanked at the teddy bear, ripping it from her grasp. He flung it into the street, and the girl chased after it knowing she’d won the contest with her brother this time around. As she stepped into the street, the brakes of a bus screeched. Farren, the one waiting at the street corner, dropped his briefcase and grabbed the girl pushing her back onto the curb. The bus didn’t stop, but neither Farren had expected that. There was the thud of a skull on glass followed by the screams of innocent onlookers. The air smelled of burnt rubber as the bus finally halted over Farren’s dead body.
Finally knowing how he died Farren let his mind scatter and expand into infinity. Once he’d touched every world he could, Farren began to collect enough pieces of himself to return to the men on the mountain leaving bits of his consciousness as anchors to the many worlds he had seen. With his ego collected Farren projected himself in front of the gods that he’d been speaking to.
Standing in front of Merc, looking at his colorful Hawaiian shirt, Farren smiled. Wod jabbed his spear at Farren again, but this time Farren manipulated his being and let the spear pass through him not harming him.
“Quick learner,” the robed god said. Farren now knew his name was Sues.
Farren nodded. They were all astral projection of their former consciousness. They’d integrated with the universe, and instead of being dispersed into the infinity like others they’d held their egos together.
“This world was just a waypoint for my spirit, wasn’t it?” Farren asked the group.
The three gods nodded in unison. “We nurtured your consciousness from your mortal death into this world where you could experience immortality and the expanse of reality.”
“The black void,” Farren said for clarity, although now he knew the name was unimportant.
“Most mortals show no promise in their ability to Ascend, and we let their consciousness go back into the universe to be used by future life. But you and all the others in this world showed something in your life that indicated you might be capable of more.”
“I just saved a young girl from being hit by a bus,” Farren said.
Wod nodded and Sues chimed in, “You took on the impossible task of bringing the child to safety, not worrying about how it would end for you.”
“It was vain but heroic,” Wod with wise admiration in his voice, “You took on challenges you couldn’t handle your entire mortal life. So we gave you this afterlife as a chance to continue.”
Sues said, “You didn’t disappoint. Merc knew we had something when you asked for the biggest rock. So we gave you the mountain.”
“It was quite clever,” Merc said with a smile.
“And now you must figure out what to do with your eternity,” Wod said.
Farren took some time to think, although he knew time was not a concept that was important to him anymore. “I want to stay here,” the white light that had surrounded the men faded and he was on top of the mountain looking at the clouds below him and the blue sky on the horizon. He could see Teekola hiking to the summit but knew the man couldn’t see them.
“You’ve Ascended from this world,” Wod said, “there are countless others you could influence.”
“I want to stay here and nurture these people until each one Ascends on their own.”
The men standing in front of him looked flabbergasted. “It’s impossible,” Merc said.
In a warry voice, Sues explained, “While everyone showed promise no one seems to be making the progress you did. You’re the first one to Ascend, and we don’t suspect more than a dozen will ever succeed.”
Farren felt a strange feeling from behind him, and he turned around. A man with short curly hair stood in front of him and smiled a compassionate smile. He wore orange robes danced lightly in the wind of the mountain top.
With a small chuckle, the man addressed the group of gods. “Have you all learned nothing of our friend Farren. He only chooses impossible tasks. While he’ll only be able to influence them from a distance, he will put his all into it.”
Farren’s eyes went wide, not knowing the man who’d come to encourage him.
The god in orange looked at him, “I’m Sid, and I’ve been watching your struggle up the mountain for a while now. Your ability to refuse to stop at the face of all adversity impressed me, and I came to wish you only the best.” With a brilliant light, the man left. However, Farren felt that his compassion remained.
Turning back to the three gods, Merc said, “It is an interesting problem to solve. I’m eager to see your results.” Then he ran into the air disappearing in the distance.
Without much from the other two Sues was struck by a lightning bolt and disappeared while Wod folded into the light of a rainbow. Farren was left alone at the top of the mountain and knew the location of every single traveler on the planet. Along with their rock, rope length, and distance from the peak.
Farren’s mind searched out one traveler in particular. He felt her from a distance and transported himself there. Looking over her shoulder, Farren saw a map in her hand. She’d carved lines and textures of the terrain into a thick piece of tree bark.
Leaning on her rock in the afternoon sun, she traced the points she had explored for the day onto the wood. Farren knew Gesa’s map of the world would be integral to leading everyone to the top of the mountain. He smiled down on her from his location between the fabrics of reality.
Gesa looked up from her work and looked around. She gave a confused look but smiled. Farren searched her mind to see what she was thinking. She had just realized that there was now a god on her side, and there to help others through their struggle of ascending to the top of the mountain.