The ascension

A reflection of the incident that caused the wave, this is the complex and powerful ritual that casts the souls of those that perform it into the arcana. In a sense this is death, although the souls travel to the arcana rather than the ethereal plane. Only very powerful beings, demigods, have the strength to perform it and suceed. It usually involves intricate patterns drawn into the floor, and a pledge spoken to uphold certain strands over all else.

History

The ascension ritual has existed for as long as magic has, although a lot of time passed before it was performed correctly for the second time. The original four attempted to instuct others to join them in the arcana, but it was milennia before they established which elements were important. These early mistakes usually resulted in the death of the participants, sometimes trapping their souls in other places or destroying them completely. Discanil, the god of lies, is a result of a near success.

In present times, the vauge requirements of the ritual are detailed in ancient books in some libraries, although none contain enough information alone to actually perform it. Most ascensions are performed on a significant amount of intuition and trust, devotion towards a particular value or strand pulls your soul closer to it, and makes the dimentional leap less dangerous.

Execution

The four participants stand at four focal points of the patterns and lines they draw upon the floor. These lines can be different, although always centre on a spiral shape, the symbol of the arcana, and must be drawn by the participants themselves. In turn, they make thier pledge to their beliefs. Then they may make a group pledge, and begin to chant as the lines they have drawn upon the floor begin to glow, the light starting from each person and ending at the centre of the spiral. If this light makes it all the way to the centre of the spiral, the ritual has been performed adequately, and the souls of the four demigods leave their bodies and enter the plane of the arcana. Once the light has begun to spread, there is no turning back, and a mistake will cause any one of a multitude of unpleasant concequences.

Participants

Aside from the four demigods, noone can witness the ceremony and remember it. Traditionally, the participants are alone, as they leave the material plane behind them. In the past, observers have either lost all of their memory or just some of it, and are always left with a total fear of the pattern used in the ascension.