ASCENT

Seraphim ASCENT is the first installment of the main Project SERAPHIM series.

Synopsis
''"The truth is, this is already Hell." ''

After waking up in the morgue of an abandoned sanitarium, Rey has only a toe tag to her name and no recollection as to how she got there.

In a country staggered by a global war called the Long Winter, she will also find herself in its capitol now reigned under martial law by a totalitarian government, which alters the personalities of some of its citizens with what is known as the Permutation Regimen.

As a result of this regimen, riots have stirred the city by a group of activists calling themselves the Vorpals, orchestrated by a man named David Wednesday and his friend, Enid Lyall. They are also helped by a government employee, Tejinder Wakeman, who is caught in the middle of a conspiracy that may compromise the life as he knows it.

Though her memories are fractured, Rey finds that her connection to various people she does not seem to remember having ever met. What more, if she has any hope to uncover her identity, she must follow a trail that she can only venture with the help of the Vorpals.

They say that time heals, and the truth will set you free. But as Rey draws closer to that truth, she learns that she is linked to both sides of a blood-spattered coin, and her role in it all will beg to question if her answer is a skeleton she wants digging out of the closet.

Part I
In the year 2056, the first trial of the twin cybernetic creations made by the Niflheim Research Facility goes up in literal flames when Subject FREYJA destroys her brother, Subject FREY. Despaired, the mother and father donors, Drs. Undine Stransky and Lucas Coffey, are forced to make a decision: Either evaluate Subject FREYJA’s psychosocial abilities, or process her for termination. Unable to fail her daughter-creation, Undine goes forth with the evaluation for the next year. However, when FREYJA reveals signs of tampering and the director of the project has concluded to terminate the subject as a failure anyway, Undine is granted aid to help FREYJA’s escape with an out-of-state researcher, Dr. Jonathan Quayle.

Nine decades later, in the capitol of the Western Order (Engelus, Nevada), the blind Archiver, Tejinder Wakeman breaks into the city surveillance network to find that the civil unrest regarding the Permutation Regimen has resulted in a full out riot on the streets. He is then drawn to the abandoned Renaissance Sanitarium when he notes that some of the city’s patrol unit has been dispatched there. Drawn by a song that’s playing within the sanitarium, he prepares to investigate, only to be attacked by a deranger, a psychotic failure of the permutation.

Also drawn to the song and the sanitarium are David Wednesday and his childhood friend, Enid Lyall, when David sees the units dispatching to the Renaissance in his apartment. Despite the city under martial law and a strict curfew being set, he and Enid both head to the sanitarium, where they discover blood drops and signs of a struggle.

Not long before their arrival, a woman wakes up trapped inside a morgue, with only a toe tag to her name and no recollection of how she got there. The tag gives her only her one clue as to who she is: ''Rey. ''With only that knowledge in mind, she ascends from the morgue and is assaulted by a deranger, which is dispatched quickly by her own skills. A brief memory flashes, and she realizes that she must be a soldier of some kind. Upon realizing this, however, the city officials discover and fire on her. Wounded, she ventures deeper into the sanitarium.

Split up, David and Enid both take separate routes through the Renaissance. Enid finds Tejinder holed up in a storage closet, while David discovers Rey in a hospital room. Their meeting is cut short when they are discovered by the armed unit, but not before Rey hides and David is taken away. Enid and Tejinder arrive in time to find Rey hidden under a bed. They agree to go to the Permutation Clinic, where Enid needs the Archiver in order to breach and Rey tagging along with a need of unfinished business to contend with at the clinic.

There, David is being tortured by the chancellor of the Western Order, Gregory Tremond, and loses functionality in both his legs. Crippled, Enid and Tejinder find David after Rey had gone her separate way. Tejinder aids in Enid’s rescue attempt of her friend, having his own personal agenda in mind — because he is part of the underground cyber-organization known as the Vorpals, just as David and Enid are.

Meanwhile, Orion Gideon, who currently works for Tremond, just arrives in the capitol upon orders of the chancellor himself. During their meeting, however, Rey cuts them short and open fires while guised as one of their guards, killing the chancellor and nearly wounding Orion. The two give chase through Engelus, where Orion has Rey pinned but chooses not to kill or turn her in for his own reasons.

Part II
One week later in San Diego, California — Aiden Winters, a private investigator, is meeting with his informant who has recent information regarding Orion Gideon. His recent whereabouts reveal him to be in Engelus, Nevada. Determined to find this man, the private investigator is Engelus-bound, but not before he discovers a photograph nearly a century old planted in the seat of his car.

On the outskirts of Engelus, David Wednesday and Enid Lyall have been laying low, with their organization being held responsible for the assassination of the chancellor. Unrest becomes more rampant in the city, and Tejinder Wakeman is under investigation after being suspended from his work at the surveillance tower. He meets with his brother, Tamas Wakeman, a crippled teenager who reveals to have powered exoskeletons to help him walk and drive thanks to a researcher in the Eastside Republic, Theora de la Vega.

After recovering from her fever, Rey awakens to find herself in the care of an Irishman. For reasons unknown, she is quick to rebuke his goodwill and the man soon leaves. She wanders the city, and is hit by a car going 60MPH, who turns out to be Aiden Winters. Somehow, though, the woman is able to walk away nearly unscathed, just as she did when she had jumped out of the top of the Permutation Clinic the week prior. Despite his attempts to help her, Aiden is shrugged off and Rey ventures into the streets again. She then runs into a fuse jacker and her dealer, Camilla Rose and Delta Selwyn. Rey is then drugged by Camilla, and proceeds to have a psychotic trip when she becomes more aware of her surroundings, sensing the presence of synthetic figures under cloaking devices within the city. She runs, and eventually bumps into Tejinder and his little brother, before collapsing.

Knowing that the city is in danger with a Battle-Brave weapon somewhere in it, Tejinder Wakeman is headed to the Reactor of Nuclear Applications to try and prevent a Second Cataclysm. He and Rey enter the reactor, leaving behind Tamas to try and exit the city while Engelus is on lockdown in the wake of the chancellor’s assassination. This proves to be fruitless, when they discover that the Battle-Brave isn’t in the reactor like it should be, but already in the city. Their only option left is to run.

After meeting with an old friend and colleague at the patrol unit building, Aiden Winters is on his way out of the city to pursue his investigation on Orion Gideon. He is then caught in a crossfire when synthetic soldiers are deployed within the city walls, slaughtering civilians and armed patrol officers as well. He barely escapes with his life, and runs into Tejinder Wakeman and Rey, the latter who Aiden recognizes from the photograph. Upon showing Rey the image, she suffers a mental shutdown. Before the Battle-Brave can erupt, the three of them successfully flee the city.

Back on the outskirts, Orion Gideon had been attempting to track down the Vorpals, expecting them to lead him to someone he is looking for. After attempting to dupe Enid Lyall, his plan backfires and she ends up taking Orion hostage in their safehouse. Tied up, Orion is subjected to a truth serum, where he is forced to give them most of his personal details but unable to provide them with too much information. He appears to have a shutdown when trying to give them too much. Drained by the serum, Enid helps Orion outside where they are then contacted by the posthumous chancellor, Gregory Tremond, who seems very much alive. As he goads Orion, Engelus erupts into what will later be known as the Second Cataclysm.

Part III
Words

Part IV
Words

POV Characters

 * Rey
 * Tejinder Wakeman
 * Enid Lyall
 * David Wednesday
 * Orion Gideon
 * Aiden Winters
 * Colonel Helena Lyonene
 * Faye Elms