The Darkness

Also see: The Dark Order
==What is The Darkness?==
The Darkness is an ancient manifestation of Evil, looking to spread its corruption throughout the world.
The Darkness is a corrupting and malevolent force discovered by mankind some time around 1825. When it was unleashed it began a cataclysmic event known as the Dark War. To end the Dark War, the united forces of the world fought a desperate battle against the Generals of Darkness at Moontide Pass. A spell of unprecedented and unmatched power was performed, using the lives of 80% of the world's population as material cost, to create a Demiplane to seal the Darkness within. The Generals were trapped within 4 Seals, acting as locks on the Door. 
==Sealed But Not Dormant==
When the Darkness was eventually defeated by the CAF it was sealed away under Ascension Academy for safeguarding under the watchful eyes of the powerful professors who teach there. Over the years it corrupted and twisted the intentions of many students, but security was tight and the Door to the Darkness was sealed within was never breached.
=== Year One ===
Until the year of 2120 roughly. The Darkness was able to reach out to a student, Chipz, and lure him close enough to do something. Exactly what is unknown however after this point Chipz was shown with a persistent itch on his right hand- the hand that touched the Door. This encounter also sowed the seeds of doubt in Chipz' mind, leading him to distrust and actively work against the teachers until the events at the end of the year. The students at the time were guided to the seals that protected the Door by Shades and due to their intense distrust of the professors, partially instigated by Chipz' own words earlier in the year, and their own belief that their safety was on the line if they did not uncover its secrets, the students were able to unlock the security measures placed around the Door, entering a strange pocket reality that reenacted the Desolation of Moontide Pass to repair the damaged seals. Eventually the other Professors, namely Akiyama and Von, arrived at the scene are were able to seal the Door in the final moments, pushing off catastrophe once more.
=== Year Two ===
Again in Year 2 the Door was breached, though this time the outcome was much less negligible. Joseph Joko, previously corrupted due to exposure to a corrupted Keystone Fragment, was compelled to steal an artifact from Akiyama's Grove, a flute of unknown power. Once he had it, he was led to the balcony below the Main Hall stained-glass window- the location Akiyama had secretly moved the Door to. He played the flute, triggering some unknown effect and draining himself of mana.
The next morning, the afflicted- Chipz, Lila, Joseph, Professor Albrecht, Vevina, Gavin, Victor, and Augusta- awoke and found themselves within the Demiplane, in front of the Door. They were sealed within a dark rune circle with the Dark Order mark at its center, and with ritual daggers placed within reach. Joseph argued that they should use the daggers because it might break the circle, but the rest resisted. Meanwhile, the other cadets were alerted by the Barrier going off. Akiyama led the remainder of the cadets into the Demiplane, clearing Miasma and solving trials to unblock the path. But they were too late. When the Darkness saw that the rescue party was close, it forced the afflicted to channel mana into the circle, forcing the Door to open. A General of Darkness was released, and the overwhelming power it possessed forced everyone to their knees. The General fled to regain its power, defeating Von who was guarding the way out, and escaping the Barrier.
Later in the year, the Academy discovered a rift forming in the water cave when creatures began assaulting the Barrier. The professors were able to seal the rift, albeit with great effort, but they failed to find a second rift hidden away in the cave. At the end of the year, the Academy came under investigation from the Cross-Allied Forces, as Officer Kei heard rumors of a breach of the Demiplane from a few cadets during the Return to Duat mission. While investigating the Door with the Academy, several explosions went off outside. The bridge between Medical and the Museum- where the Door was previously hidden- had been bombed, and the Dorms had been set ablaze. After putting the fires out, they felt a strong dark presence on the roof of the Academy.
The Cadets rushed to the roof while the CAF secured their Ironclad and blockade the dock. The cadets found a cultist on the roof, and a massive summoning circle. She began rambling madly, broken up by bouts of crying and begging for mercy, before killing herself and summoning Demons to the roof. A large demon formed in the center, while several dozen smaller ones poured from the portals in the corners of the roof. The cadets and Akiyama battled the demons, preventing them from destroying the Barrier Crystal, and were eventually victorious.
However, with Akiyama's failures- the Breach at the end of Year One and the General escaping in the middle of Year Two- Akiyama was deemed as unfit to continue as Headmaster and was arrested for hiding the escape of the General from the Cross-Allied Forces.
=== Cari Town ===
See: Cari Town Summer and Darkness Over Cari Town
=== Year Three Part One===
During Year 3, newly instated Professor Kei began investigating he previous incidents at the Academy. After a short time, he was able to form a list of most of the Cadets involved with the Darkness. He began forming his own private circle, consisting of Aida, Chipz, and a few others, to both carry out tasks off campus that he needed done, and further his investigations on campus. Meanwhile, a conspiracy team, jokingly referred to by viewers as 'Treason Squad', began to form around Zackery, with assistance and oversight from Professor Albrecht. A small amount of overlap between Kei's Circle and Treason Squad existed, leading to information from both being mingled back and forth for some time without any direct cooperation.
A few weeks into the year, an old and former friend of Kei's, Professor Finn, was added to the Academy following his duties at Cari Town. He initially transferred to continue studying the Rune Stone, but quickly found his duties expanded as he discovered just how much Darkness there was within the Campus. Finn formally became the Defense Against the Darkness Professor, teaching spells to help train the mind and mitigate the mental attacks it and it's servants use to weaken their foes. In this process, he began building distrust between himself and many of the Cadets. Finn's suspicious activities were never enough to warrant full investigation or removal- he always had a good reason for doing what he did when required to report. He did eventually land himself stationed as Kei's assistant in researching the Barrier. A short time after this, he used some of the notes he gleaned from Kei, and his own sources, to temporarily disable the Barrier, allowing Zane and several Dark Order members inside. He played this off as accidental, but his chest of Darkness Artifacts and Research was also nearly stolen in this effort, raising Treason Squad's suspicions to a new hight.
At one point near the middle of Year Three Part One, an incident occurred which lead to Chipz and Vevina going AWOL temporarily. During this time they fled down the old tunnels used by Kei and Finn for research under the Lookout Outpost. Deep in these tunnels, they found more than they expected. The Dark Order had been operating out of these tunnels for years it seemed, conduction rituals to raise the Darkness Soldiers. Chipz and Vevina couldn't sit idly and watch a sacrificial murder, but when they tried to interrupt it they were cornered by two young Darkness Soldiers and captured. The Professors eventually arrived, springing the Cadets and they all fought off the Cult and the Soldiers together. When they exited the cave, they found the CAF Guardsmen sent to flank the back exit attacking cultists outside in a Graveyard. At this camp, they recovered documentation on the rituals conducted there, as well as a vial of Ichor, apparently used to turn humans into the Darkness Soldiers.
As Chipz later realized, this graveyard was the exact same one they had followed Von to in Year 1, where they witnessed him broker a deal with hooded figured. It seems likely that he was, in some capacity, working with the Dark Order here.
During all of this, Finn's private lessons with one cadet in particular, Risei, continued. Risei was very susceptible to the Fear spell, and Finn wanted to work with her on this. Whether it was with the intent of corrupting her, or he genuinely sought to build her resistance to the Darkness whatever the cost, is unclear. Eventually he was ordered to leverage this connection by the Darkness itself, in an attempt to weaken the seals and sew distrust in the academy.
During the final event of the Cross Core Competition, the Dark Order forces nearby, headed by Zane, smuggled themselves into the CAF-built Dungeon. At the final moment, after the Cadets were weakened from defeating the Dungeon Boss, they struck. Zane's minions flooded the Dungeon, while he and his illusion clones attacked the weakened and tired cadets. The CAF was alerted to an issue by their sprites, which reported a large number of test constructs being destroyed in areas the cadets had already cleared. They were attacking the Dark Order intruders, and falling. The Sprite lead the Professors down the dungeon, while the CAF officers began carving a second tunnel to the Boss Chamber using Earth Magic to try and intercept the Dark Order and Evac the students. Neither made it in time however. The students thankfully were able to best Zane, with Narali dealing the final blow and killing him for good. The Professors meanwhile were held up by a mature Darkness Soldier in the adjacent chamber, which they defeated.
After being given an ultimatum by the Darkness he was pushed to act. Finn lured Albrecht, Risei, and Kei into the Mana Caves so they could observe one of his tutoring lessons themselves and dispel their fears. In reality, this was a trap. He activated a ritual, aided by having an Initiate present, as well as some of his artifacts, and he pulled the four of them to the Darkness Seal. Soon after, the other Initiates were pulled to the Seal by the Darkness, along with Hoshi who clung to Chipz' leg when the transportation happened.
What followed was a betrayal. Finn stabbed Kei through the back with a Ritual Dagger, activating it. He then nearly forced Risei to maim and kill several of her classmates, drawing out the suffering for the next step in the ritual. However, this was interrupted by Hoshi. Hoshi, in extreme stress, finally manifested her powers and took a humanoid form. Her light magic was able to dispel the Initiates' bindings and loosen the Darkness' grip over Risei. A brutal battle began then, as Finn was corrupted and transformed by the Darkness into a monster. The Initiates fought for as long as they could, until help arrived.
While this was happening, the Darkness manifested a Clone of Albrecht on the surface and lead the Cadets through the process to reveal the Outer Door and unlock the Demiplane. There is some contention as to why it did this, as leading the entire school to the Door almost guaranteed it would fail to escape. Perhaps it intended for Finn to fail, as it indicated later after the fighting ended. Perhaps it knew Clone Albrecht would not be able to convince the Headmistress to only send some of the cadets down, and decided the cost to open the Outer Door for a chance at escape was worth it. Perhaps just exposing so many bodies to the Door and the Darkness directly was worth sacrificing a slim chance at escape. Regardless of why, the rest of the Academy and GMA eventually arrived at the Door, and after a lengthy battle with Finn, Corrupted Albrecht, and several dozens of the Darkness' Monsters, they were victorious and captured Finn. Following this, they repeated what Headmaster Akiyama had the year before. But they did not have his magic, or his knowledge. The task to shut the cracked Door once more required every affinity, and was a war of attrition and willpower. Several nearly mana burned themselves, and some did, but they shut the Door once more, preventing it's escape.
With Zane dead, and Finn captured, it seemed things would be settling down for a time now. However, a report came carried by Lieutenant Scott and Lieutenant Estelle a few days later. Ancestra, the headquarters of the Cross-Allied Forces for the last 300 years, was under siege by the Dark Order. An army of undead, necrotic experiments, orcs, goblins, and human bandits had besieged the capital and breached the Outer Walls. The city itself still held, but Fairy Mail was being slaughtered en mass, making getting news in and out difficult.
=== Year Three Part Two ===
=Darkness in Ascension=
Initiates, in reference to Ascension Academy's characters, refers to individuals who were used to break the seal on The Door in Year 1, or were later corrupted and initiated in Years 2 and 3. The gallery below lists the currently known, active, Initiates.
Darkness Initiates
ZVictor.png|link=Victor|Victor Heinrich Howlcifer
VevYear3AAC.png|link=Vevina Ciseris|Vevina Ciseris Miss Universe
RanaAAC.png|link=Arashi Crystal| Arashi Crystal Yurily
AugustaAAC.png|link=Augusta Anders|Augusta Anders Shanrock
GavinAAC.png|link=Gavin Lattimere|Gavin Lattimere DagurVR
File:ChipzYear3-5.png|link=Chipz|Chipz StealthRG
==Gallery ==
StealthRGChipzAscensionAcademyYear2Episode1Twitch.png|The Darkness appearing as a Shade at the start of Year 2.
Stealth May 26th 2019 8 Crystal cave bridge.jpg|The bridge leading to the gate to the Door.
Stealth May 26th 2019 9 Crystal cave gate.jpg|The entryway into the pocket realm that hides the Door.
Stealth Sept 25th 2 Mimika and The Darkness.jpg|The darkness and Amika
Stealth May 16th 2019 25 The Darkness stalks.jpg|The Darkness stalking Chipz, look closely
Darkness Prophecy.png|Darkness Prophecy
darkness soldier close (2).png|A Darkness Soldier towering over Chipz, moments before it's colossal blade shattered his shield and dislocated his left shoulder.
Door (6).png|The afflicted in front of the Door when things went Bump in the Night.
Category:Characters
Category:Species: Null
Category:Ascension Lore