Chapter 3: The Origin of Convergence


Uiharu sighed, the week leading up to Friday was filled with monotony. Classes remained the same, with little she could do in them, work at Judgement was filled with minor cases thankfully, but on the whole it was boring. Therefore, she was looking to training with Aki, perhaps this would prove to be the proverbial break she was looking for.

"Uiharu, you alright?" Saten asked Uiharu during their lunch break.

"Oh yeah, thanks for your concern Saten. I'm just looking forward to the afternoon's training with Aki," Uiharu answered.

"I see," Saten said. "How long do you think you will be; remember, we have curfew, and we do have that assignment that due Monday."

"I know, and to be honest, I don't know how long the training will take," Uiharu replied. "However, I don't think it should take too long, maybe an hour or two perhaps?"

"Well, good luck with your training, hopefully it goes well," Saten said. "I'll be sure to either have some dinner ready for you or leave some leftovers in the fridge."

"Thanks Saten," Uiharu said. The rest of the school day went rather slow for Uiharu, the daily grind wearing on Uiharu's excitement. But when the bell rang, Uiharu gathered her things and after saying her good byes to Saten, walked to the park where Aki was waiting for her.

As she walked, Uiharu saw several students who were walking about after a day of school, and noticed a fair number of them showing off their ability to those close of them. She grimaced; having an ability that wasn't taken seriously even by her and then seeing others flaunt their abilities wore her down. It was like a subtle if unintentionally sign that every other high level esper was saying 'fuck you' to her. Perhaps that how Skill-Out felt about espers, only to a more extreme reaction.

She mulled over her performance at Judgement, and that was where it really stung. She hated feeling useless, but compared to Kuroko and Konori, she was exceedingly vulnerable in the field, because she simply lacked any means to properly defend herself. Thus her Judgement comrades treated her like one might a fine vase; keep her in sight but make sure it wouldn't come tumbling down. Uiharu hated how everyone felt she needed…codling. It aggravated her to no end, but what could she have done about it?

Shaking her head to pull her thoughts out of that self-encircling anger, Uiharu knew that with Aki's mentorship, she could possibly not have to rely on others to keep her safe in the field. Heck, she could even be the one doing the saving, that be great!

"Hello Uiharu!" Uiharu was pulled from her thoughts by Aki's voice coming from the park. The park wasn't much, just a patch of grass, trees, with a paved walkway with benches along the path next to a river to give a calm relaxed feeling of nature away from the super-built up high rise that made up Academy City.

"Ah, hello Aki!" Uiharu replied, running down to meet Aki, who was sitting on a bench overlooking the river. Aki was wearing her overcoat this time, and gave her the look of a young scientist.

"Hello Uiharu, how are you doing today?" Aki inquired politely.

"I'm a bit anxious to be honest, my classes seemed to go by very slowly for me," Uiharu admitted. Aki lightly giggled.

"It's fine to feel anxious, but today is mostly determining the extent of your ability," Aki replied. "So that way I can begin planning on a way to improve your ability. So first, take ahold of that glass over there."

Uiharu glanced at the bench and saw the glass, filled with a clear liquid that was producing a bit of white smoke. Eyeing the glass wearily, Uiharu took ahold of it, before letting it go due to the sudden burning sensation in her hands.

"Ow, what the heck is in there?!" Uiharu shouted. Aki quietly hummed.

"Alright, so you can't handle holding a insulated glass of liquid nitrogen, but that is to be expected," Aki commented, before turning to Uiharu. "Well, since it was painful for you to hold that, try holding this ice cube."

Uiharu noted that the ice cube didn't even seem to melt in Aki's hand, wondering how before remembering that Aki could do what she could do. She took a hold of it, and noted that while she could feel it, it wasn't painful at all. She kept ahold of it before Aki smiled.

"Okay, so you can keep water frozen, although we would need to do more experiments to test how low of temperatures you can handle, but it's a good starting place to begin at. Now to test for how high you can go, take that glass of water, and I want you to get it as hot as you can before it gets too hot for you to handle or you can't get any higher."

Uiharu held the glass, and began imaging the water was like in a hot pot. While she concentrated on the task of increasing the water's temperature, she decided to ask Aki a few questions.

"So, how hot and cold can you manipulate stuff?" Uiharu asked the crimson redhead. Aki shrugged.

"Well, before an incident, I could between 200 and 500 kelvin," Aki answered.

"Um, what's kelvin?" Aki raised an eyebrow before seemingly realizing what Uiharu meant.

"Oh, I guess for most people kelvin isn't that useful, I tend to forget," Aki began. "But to explain, the Kelvin scale is not unlike the Celsius scale, except 0 Kelvin is absolute zero, whereas 0 Celsius is the freezing point of water. In addition, the Kelvin scale is mostly used by scientist when describing the temperature of objects beyond a certain point, where we lack any sense of scale to compare to."

"Oh, such as what, and what's absolute zero?" Uiharu asked.

"Absolute zero is a theoretical by currently physically impossible temperature that would defy Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, because you could determine both the location and the velocity of atoms. Since you can only know one or the other, you can't reach absolute zero, as least until the introduction of espers, but there hasn't been an espers yet to achieve absolute zero. The coldest temperature ever recorded was 100 picokelvins, or 0.000,000,000,1 of a kelvin, and that took a lot of work to achieve and it was for a very brief moment."

"As for your first question, we start ignoring Celsius and Farenheit and focus solely on Kelvin with temperatures above those produced by nuclear weapons at 0.1 milliseconds after detonations, such as the core of the sun, which sits at 13,600,000 degrees Kelvin. I mean sure you could convert Kelvin to your choice of measurement, but since most scales use Kelvin, it's easier to work off of those numbers."

"So what are 200 and 500 kelvin then?" Uiharu asked, not having any sense of scale. She also peered at the water, and noticed little air bubbles forming where her hands were gripping the glass.

"So 200 Kelvin is about -71 degrees Celsius, where the coldest temperatures in a permanently inhabited area were recorded, and 500 Kelvin is just shy of the ignition temperature of paper," Aki answered. "And it seems you have reached a boil, so let me put in this thermometer and see if you can go higher."

"Okay, so you are pretty powerful then," Uiharu commented. Aki shook her head.

"Not really, after a certain incident, I dropped from Level 4 to Level 3, and my power suffered quite a hit," Aki said wistfully. "With that power drop, I was let go of from the research group studying my power, because once it was discovered that trying to regain my power cause diminishing returns, they deemed the research a loss and canceled it."

"I didn't know espers could lose their power permantly," Uiharu said. "I mean I know of Capacity Down, but once it's off or destroyed the espers can regain their full potential." Aki nodded.

"It's not common, especially amongst Level 3 or higher espers, but usually its due to traumatic experiences," Aki explained. "But anyway, it appears you peak at the boiling temperature of water, so you can stop for the moment."

Uiharu nodded and dumped the water out onto the grass, before turning back to Aki.

"So Uiharu, if the freezing and boiling point of water is what you start out at, then it might be easy for me to increase your ability, but I will say, it will be very technical and involving a lot of study. Are you sure you want to continue?"

"Yes Aki!" Uiharu stated without giving it too much thought. She wouldn't lose the opportunity to not rely on others for her own protection! Aki nodded.

"Very well, then take this notebook and begin studying; it was mine notebook when I was studying manipulating the temperature wavelength of objects. We'll see each other Monday after school to see what you understood. And here's my phone number, in case you need to reschedule because of a case with Judgement," Aki stated. Uiharu took the phone number and quickly punched it into her phone, before handing Aki her number.

"Here's my number, its only fair to give you mine if you are giving me yours," Uiharu said. "And I will call if something comes up; I promise!"

"I know," Aki replied calmly. "Anyway, remember to read that notebook and take from it what you can." Aki began to walk away, leaving Uiharu excited to read the notebook.

"I will!"


Across the globe, in a quiet German Alpine town in the middle of night, a woman was walking down the street. She wasn't like the native Germans; instead of blonde hair, she had snow white hair, instead of alabaster skin, her skin had a youthful tan, and instead of the common blue eyes, her eyes were crimson red. She walked with purpose, knowing where she was heading.

Walking past a beer hall where young men were getting drunk and making fools of themselves, she approached a Gothic house that stood outside of the town's church, walking up and knocking on the door.

"Wer ist da?" came a very imperious sounding voice from the other side of the door.

"Es ist Rubedo," replied the woman in her Italian accent. She could hear the shuffling of a chair and the approach of footsteps, before the deadbolt was unlocked and the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was an older man. He was tall and slim, with a gaunt face with his hair taking on a platinum gray and combed to the left and back. He wore a black trench coat with a white tie, giving the older man an aura of power. The woman normally wouldn't take an older man seriously, but this man was one of perhaps five men she wouldn't want to anger.

"It's been a while Rubedo," the man said in English, and Rubedo noted how disgusted the man was with speaking in the tongues of his enemies.

"So it has been Maximillian," Rubedoreplied. Maximillian narrowed his eyes at the Italian woman.

"So what do you want Albedo; did your master Aurelous send you to gather more forbidden texts from me, or is this a private matter?" Maximillian asked. Rubedo shook her head.

"No, my teacher Aurelous has been missing, and in fact the Vatican were hunting him down. For some reason they lost the trail in Academy City," Rubedo answered, surprising the German. "No, this is a matter between Magnus, Nigerdo, Citrinitas, and myself."

"Oh, so what are four of the five students of the most renowned Alchemist wanting with little old me?" Maximillian asked sarcastically.

"We are seeking the means to elevate me to a higher existence," Rubedo answered bluntly. The German smirked, before chuckling darkly.

"Oh, and what possible reason do you think you could give me to elevate you to that level of power?" Maximillian inquired. Rubedo gave the German a fanged smirk, show casing her canines, which were longer and sharper than a normal man's.

"Because with this power, we seek to reshape the world in the image you had for so long desired," Rubedo pointed out. "After all, weren't you involved with the Schwarze Sonne Society?" Rubedo waited a moment for the German to respond, only to be surprised with herself getting lifted off the ground, a sensation of someone strangling her being the only thing she felt. Looking at Maximillian, she saw his hand and eyes glowing azure.

"You four dare to mock me?!" Maximillian hissed out. "You dare foolishly blunder through and attempt to seek the true lords of this world, making a mockery of my moment of greatest achievement and failure, and to what end?!"

"We wish to bring about a new age, one where your lords ascend from their isolation and take their rightful place as the Lords of this world!" Rubedo gasped out. She felt the grip around her throat let go, falling to the ground.

"So, you which to bring the seven princes from their exile hmm?" Maximillian asked, seemingly wanting an answer, but it wasn't to be. "It is impossible for them to ascend, because unless you plan on killing god, their existence on Earth would be rejected. The society learned this early on."

Rubedo's eyes widened. She thought the entire purpose of the Schwarze Sonne Society was to bring the 7 Lords onto Earth!

"Then what was your goal?!" Rubedo asked. Maximillian chuckled.

"It was to gain their favor, to turn the tide with our Occult knowledge, and imposed a new world order. I succeeded with gaining the favor of one, but before I could spread the favor further to my disciples and gain the favor of the other 6, that damn English Magician came and ruined everything! Had he not intervened, this world wouldn't be this mire of bullshit and hypocrisy it is today!"

Rubedo shuddered at the mention of Maximillian's new order. No one, not even herself, could not but feel a cold shill at the thoughts of the horrors Maximillian was willing to commit for his lords. But while he was to be feared for his zealous opinions towards his lords and his work, he was a well of information.

"Then could the four of us manage to gain one of their favors?" Rubedo inquired. The German rubbed his chin.

"Yes, but the price is usually quite high, as that was the biggest barrier to the Society's goals," Maximillian stated. "However, if you offer a generous gift to a particular lord, then you could easily gain the power you are seeking."

"What exactly do you mean?" Rubedo asked, and she felt like her soul was being examined.

"You could become a Lesser Demon Prince of one of the Lords, my vampire fraulien," Maximillian explained to Rubedo. "You could easily take on the likes of a near Magic-God with that power. What then happens afterwards would be up to you, but hear this, you aren't the first to try this, and any misstep, mistake, or failure will see you consumed by the Lords for failing them."

Maximillian waved his hand, and the azure glow returned, but instead of strangling the vampire, a number of tomes came forth.

"Here, these are the tomes you will need, and remember, don't fail the lords, for if they don't take care of you, I will personally come after you, and not even you, my vampire fraulien, will be safe from my powers." Rubedo nodded, understanding the threat.

"Then good, you have what you need, contact me only when you need to. Goodbye Rubedo, and may the Dark Lords favor you," Maximillian said, before returning back inside. Rubedo, with the tomes in hand, began walking out of the German city. She grabbed her phone and dialed a number. And the third dial, the call was received.

"What is it Rubedo, did the Totenkompf give us the tombs we needed?" asked a regal sounding voice.

"Not exactly Magnus," Rubedobegan. "We need to talk."


Author's Note: Well now, Uiharu's ascent has started, and I think I did a better job with it than I did the first time. And we meet Albedo, the Italian vampire, meeting a future recurring character, Maximillian. You guys can guess what Maximillian is, but he won't be showing his full potential for a while. His role is akin to Aleister's; a very powerful character whose motives and goals are unknown to those around him. But there are a few points I want to get to before I get to the reviews.

First, all the Alchemists that are going to appear will have unique alchemic abilities, they won't all be the same. Rubedo, due to being a vampire, will have blood-related powers, Magnus will have a pseudo Ars Magna, and the two Persians will actually use combo-alchemy, so they will be a bitch to write, but fun to read.

Second, Uiharu won't blitz from Level 1 to 4 as fast as she did. She will take a bit longer to level up, and her personality will take a more gradual shift, but there will be sharp shifts at times, mostly due to the interference of outside forces. That said, expect inner-Dark-Uiharu not too long.

Now for the few reviews!

-RPGPersonna: yeah, Uiharu hates being the third-wheel in times of conflict, and Aki will be helping her. As to your question about Touma, yes he will, but only in a few cameos during what could be described as the science path (the main flow following Uiharu), but when magic gets involved, oh yeah, he will be making an impact. And thanks for pointing out that bit about Kakine. It will surely fit into this story, though how has yet to make itself clear yet.

-Sora93232: Thanks, glad you're liking the story. And I have a better handle on how to deal with Uiharu's ability growth, trust me, it will be worth the wait.

-Firedusk: Also glad to see you are interested in this story, and there will be a bit of changes, more development, more character growth, less multi-angle chapters, greater chapter focus, etc.

-Guest: Touma will appear (like I stated above), but for Aogami, he won't be the Rank 6 Level 5 esper; I haven't decided how it will work out, but what I do know is that it will be an OC, and the ability won't be 'flashy'; it will be a lot more subtle than the other Level 5 espers.

Well, that's it for now, until the next chapter, where we continue building up Aki's and Uiharu's relationship, see the dark side of Academy City take interest, and meet two devils in the mask of men appear, please read, follow, favorite, and review, and I'll see you guys next time!