Toxicity had laid out the supplies for the ascension ceremony along with Cala and once everyone dozed, they rose together. The land was shaped as their beings entered, bending and blooming to life with the influence of each in attendance. Toxicity called for her father, her voice whisked away in the void as it traveled deep and far away before a light came bursting forth. Blinking away the light, Toxicity's mismatched eyes fell upon her father's frame, as strong and tall as she remembered as he looked upon her. "Father, I have come to introduce you to your yearling grandchildren. They have each completed the three sermons and now ascend to see you through their own eyes and faith." Her heart beat, full of joy as if none of the clashes with her siblings had ever happened. "Children, introduce yourself to your Grandfather Archon Abraxas."

Archon appeared when called as if awakening, though there was no sluggishness- no sleepy drowsiness in his being as he came forth. The time passed as if in a blink and it was nearly hard to imagine the woman before him was his daughter all grown up. He could see her pride and determination as she stood before him, though there was something else beyond those mismatched eyes. It was not time to dwell on that, however, as Toxicity spoke of introducing him to his grandkids. Archon's chest swelled with love and admiration as Toxicity spoke of the three sermons he had taught her when she was young. She beckoned her children to come forth and Archon waited patiently, his ghostly eyes sharpening and becoming whole again as he sought his mortal form with which to meet his progeny. "Talk" "You" Think

Sharp eyes followed each little detail of his mother's preparations, flicking between the thoughtful precision with which she and Calamity assembled the ingredients and offered up the finished concoctions for their consumption. This was it, their time had come to ascend to their destiny as they'd always been meant to. The wraith glanced to his faintly glowing sister as they both felt the drowsiness pulling at their muscles, tugging insistently at their minds in tandem towards sleep and the next world. Laying his cheek upon his forelimb, the mauve tinted yearling let out a long sigh as he fell into the grip of sleep and was transported somewhere strange. Vague shapes drifted into focus, retaining the fuzzy and intangible quality that marked them as being the product of the spirit realm. Two toned gaze flitted from one place to the next, desperately drinking it all in and committing this strange new experience to memory. It was similar to when he dreamed, but there were odd little quirks that didn't fit with the machinations of the subconscious. Then, his mother was standing before him, the outline of her body smudgy like a rippling reflection in a pond. Before her, a form materialized only partially from the air. Striking blue eyes were the only aspect of the tangentially canine form that he could pin down, the rest seemed to flutter and fade from one moment to the next. "Children, introduce yourself to your Grandfather Archon Abraxas." Toxicity's voice was as strong as in the mortal realm, though there was an airy quality that he recognized as relief, perhaps even excitement? The weight of their reality seemed to have fallen away from his mother, and he felt a great deal of relief himself to see the tension eased from her ephemeral shoulders. Waifish frame swaying under the influence of Somnium's strange physics, each step was intangible and alien. He could not feel grass or soil beneath his paws, though he was certain that was what he saw each time he looked down. Drawing himself alongside his mother, he leaned against her shoulder for comfort and felt none of the familiar pressure or weight to put him at ease. "Grandfather, I've heard so much about you from mother. My name is Pontifex." he crooned with typical solemnity and softness, expression stoic in direct competition with the strange turmoil that raged in his mind. Narrow skull dipped towards the ground in a soft bow to one of the holiest figures he knew of, wondering if God himself was lingering somewhere and watching them. "speech" BURN BRIGHT LIKE THE MIDNIGHT SUN

Modesty watched with keen interest as her mother and Cala laid out each of the ceremonial implements with interest. After drinking the concoction, she had laid down alongside her family, eyelids growing heavier with each deep breath. She slipped into Somnium with ease, just like opening her eyes after blinking, a new world began to shift around her, the only solid thing, the ground beneath her feet… or was it?

Her mother called their grandfather forward and the girl was consumed with awe at the way he took shape in front of them. She allowed her brother to step forward first, making his introductions, while she basked in the peacefulness of this place. Awe and pride filled the yearling girl as she took her turn in stepping forward. “I am Modesty,” she introduced herself with a dip of her head, her tail waving welcomingly behind her. She made space for Faith to step forward, her gaze drifting to this other world that surrounded them with intense interest. Just what was this place?

“Speech”

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July setting fire to the sky

speech

Faith watched her mother with the same rapt attention she always had when being showed a new ceremony but there was a sluggishness in her, her body visibly deflated. The usual joy she had felt for learning something new from her mother was somewhat muted. Of all her siblings she seemed to have taken the departure from the shrine the hardest. Somehow out of all of them she seemed to be the most likely to have her faith shaken... Maybe ironically.

Still, she couldn't help the excitement she felt when the notion that finally, they would meet Archon, willing herself to fall asleep as they all settled down. Sleep would tug at her just as it did her siblings and they would drift off, Faith twitching awake to see an unfamiliar landscape and yet she could feel the comforting warmth of her brother at her side. She rose, not feeling the usual clinginess of sleep on her limbs as she lifted herself from sleep. Faith tipped her head back, mouth agape as she listened to her mother's call echoing off ethereal landscapes she couldn't quite seem to force into focus. Then something approached, she felt him more than she sensed him in any other way, her dual-toned eyes narrowing as she pinpointed the blue gaze that approached them.

In her own turn, she would join her siblings, stepping forward and lifting her own voice surprised by how loud it sounded in her own head when it felt so weak in her chest. "And I am Faith."

Art by Asphodely