Welcome to Gaia! ::

Babylon was of the opinion that the first Knight Night had been about as successful as he and Hvergelmir could have hoped it to be. Counting on knights to all show up to something was like herding cats, but they'd had a good turnout.

It had been worth the effort, was what he was getting at, and now he had a lovely message from some newbie page of Saturn asking to meet up! So, bonus! Babylon loved meeting pages, and he loved pages who were able to put themselves out there and try to get information and get involved. After all, the best defense against willful corruption was a strong support system!

(The best defense against forced corruption was, of course, transcendence.)

He arrived at the park with time to spare and began looking around for the page. He didn't think he'd actually met this Aaru before now, but that wasn't a problem. He'd figure out who he was looking for.

For example, maybe it was the redhead hanging out on the darkened playground, wearing what honestly amounted to a bizarre amount of purple for anyone not sworn to the service of Saturn? That seemed likely.

"Hey," said Babylon, hurrying over. "Aaru, I presume? Babylon. I got your letter."

"'Course," replied Babylon, offering Aaru a firm handshake. "No problem. I said to ask me stuff and I meant it. I've been at this a long time, figure I'd better make myself useful."

"Anyway," he continued, finding himself a seat on the climbing structure, "What can I help you with?" Aaru's message had been vague, asking only if Babylon would be open to answering some questions. "This is about transcendence, right? We're all still figuring it out for ourselves, but I'll try to fill you in on what I know."

He tapped his right cheek, indicating the glowing lines that his growing beard partially obscured. "You want to know about the bioluminescence, right?" he asked. "Everyone does. So go ahead and ask."

Babylon raised an eyebrow at Aaru's probing finger, but otherwise made no attempt to deter him from going right on in and poking him in the face. The lines did not feel perceptibly different from the rest of the skin, but at the same time, the light didn't dim when touched like blood rushing from the area.

"We call it transcendence," he said finally, as Aaru pulled his hand away. "As to the why, you'd have to ask someone smarter than me. I'm a knight of Mercury, but I don't do science." Mistral had mentioned wanting to do an in-depth research project on the subject - maybe she would turn up a better explanation than what he had to offer.

"As for the how, though," Babylon continued, "as far as anyone can tell, it has to do something to do with connection to your Wonder - or homeworld, in the case of Senshi." He thought of his own experience, and of what he'd witnessed on Maia, tried to draw conclusions from there. "You have to complete... a task, a service. It differs from person to person, but it requires a lot of work and dedication. Perks are pretty nice, though. It's the only guaranteed safety we have from corruption. Bit of a neat power boost."

He considered the candle. "Hot wax is always nasty in a fight," he suggested. "Honestly, I've seen far worse as far as page weapons are concerned. Snowballs. Rings. Fake flowers. Don't worry too much about it, because the only thing that's going to change it is time and experience."

Holding his lantern up demonstratively, he asked, "Would you believe this used to be a glowstick?"

"You almost certainly will," answered Babylon, hard-pressed to name a knight whose weapon hadn't changed at least slightly. At the very least, he expected it to grow more ornate and marginally more deadly. "And your magic will kick in once you're promoted to squire. You'll get the aspect of Saturn and a personal spell."

He tilted his head towards the page. "Why are you so interested in transcendence?" he asked. Aaru didn't seem like he'd known about the whole no-corruption-ever thing, so that didn't seem like a motivating factor. No, it seemed more like a general lust-for-power thing...

"You know," said Babylon, "If someone's got you scared for your safety, you can talk to me about it. I have, uh, experience with Negaverse bounties and psycho obsessive generals."

Babylon nodded, still a little bit confused but feeling as though he was starting to piece things together. Had Aaru somehow gotten it in his head that the transcendent among their number were the officers, the leaders? "You don't have to be transcendent in order to make a difference, in order to lead, even," he said, trying uncomfortably to dispel that notion. So what if so many of their leaders were? That was pure coincidence. Leadership and transcendence were both the natural result of hard work, but they in no way necessitated each other.

"Besides," he added, "Everyone I know who's transcended has come to it in a different way. There's no set protocol for it..."

He sighed. There wasn't a set protocol, but there was a common thread. "Your Wonder's a good place to start," said Babylon. "Go there. Work to restore it. Speak to your ancestor if you have one. Look for your memories if you don't. Wonders react to service. Transcendence comes from service. With great power comes great responsibility, as they say."

God, had he really just said that? He was such a ******** nerd.

"That's really the most valuable thing you can do for yourself right now," he concluded, nodding. "Pay attention to your Wonder."