Precisely, Viraa chimed in. As I have stated, klevonians are designed to seek power to evolve. Upon evolution, they become pneumarians. To reach that evolution, a klevonian must die naturally while possessing enough power to trigger their metamorphosis – studies indicate this to be an EQN of 360 million at minimum. Throughout history, few have achieved this on their own by spending their entire lives betraying others and accumulating power. But with Rabae, it was first discovered that not only do klevonians possess the capacity to evolve, but, at the time, the only way to do so was through receiving ascension marks, a process pneumarians dubbed "blessing".
"So, ascension marks are a way to grant, or I suppose, 'bless', klevonians with far more power than they get in their lifetime naturally, mostly ensuring their evolution to pneumarian and becoming part of the pneumarian society," Avarice summed up. "I applaud you all for the perfect system and incentives for receiving ascension marks. I managed something similar where I'm from."
"Raina, you said some received their marks against their will. Wasn't that like giving an enemy a loaded gun?" Za'Fia questioned.
"A loaded gun? You mean a spirit arm?" Raina looked lost and confused by her question.
"She's saying, wouldn't the klevonians just band together once they receive the power-ups," I clarified.
"Ah, that's not an issue," Raina confidently replied. "As a safety precaution, all pneumarians install a feature that prevents klevonians given an ascension mark from attacking a pneumarian from that Crest's bloodline."
"Viraa should've mentioned that as well just now," she said with a playful tilt of her head as she smiled at me. "Hello, Viraa. It's been so long."
I blinked, surprised she heard Viraa.
"I snuck some of my energy to you a moment ago," Raina confessed. "Viraa and I shared energy eons ago, and since your energy is largely comprised of hers, you didn't have to share with me."
Invasive as always, Viraa remarked almost sulkily.
"You're one to talk," Raina laughed. "Did you ask for her permission before residing within her?"
Just continue, Viraa said flatly.
"You haven't changed much," Raina commented before continuing. I got the sense they were rivals of some sort. "Anyhow, as mentioned before, klevonians would later be forced to receive ascension marks, which caused the Klevonian Army to kidnap young pneumarians. Even after the Celestial threatened to step in, these kinds of actions still nearly started minor wars among factions within the two forces. The treaty Viraa proposed, and ultimately succeeded in officializing, prevented pneumarians from adding new klevonians to their Crest unless it was one born within the Crest. In return, the Klevonian Army would stop kidnapping our young. This worked for a while, but then she left, and I became Ryfi Theos."
"Uh oh," Za'Fia remarked sarcastically.
Hm, Viraa grunted, understanding where this was going.
"You denunciated the treaty, didn't you?" Tymon said, accusingly.
That's unlikely. She'd need the Ryfa Pakt's agreement, Viraa stated. Whatever she's done, it wasn't done officially.
"I do still want peace between the nations, but I also understood that for Pneuma City to continue to grow and prosper, we need the klevonians, and, if left unchecked, the Klevonian Army's numbers would eventually grow to the point that they vastly exceed our own," Raina said.
"Our?" Michael voiced.
"To be clear, Chimera Crest or not, we're not here to join you in some age-old war," I declared. "We have no obligation to die or take anyone's life over something we have nothing to do with."
"Duly noted," Raina answered, undeterred by my statement. "But as I've said, I do not wish for war. If avoidable, I will continue pursuing the best path for my people and the most peaceful alternative. I've said one of my concerns was the klevonians' numbers exceeding the pneumarians. Seeing as the total number of klevonians rests over 23,000 and grows compared to the 19,000 pneumarians, you can see I was correct in this. So, admittedly, to moderate their numbers in a way that'll still benefit Pneuma city yet present a voice of peace, I wanted to abolish the treaty and make it a klevonian's choice to accept a pneumarian's mark. Our offer would come with the new lifestyle that had slowly been incorporated into our lives. There were perks and incentives – the benefits of ascension marks, such as insured survivability, and extra benefits, such as impressive income for them and their families to live comfortably. Remember, even klevonians of Pneuma City during the treaty were comfortable enough to stay after evolving. I tried explaining this to the Ryfa Pakt of that time. Still, he outright refused the idea, saying our kinds shouldn't intermingle and that the klevonians of Pneuma City were brainwashed, having been forced into acceptance by our temptations. He said I was afraid of what would happen once our numbers are surpassed in population."
"Were you?" Tymon inquired, to which Raina hesitated before answering.
"Wouldn't you be?" she replied.
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Fun fact: Surge - A passive cintracy that can give the user's spirit energy the qualitiesof water and grants them limited power over the element in general.
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