In a place far away from the collapse of heaven an unnerving man cloaked in white stood on an untouched mountaintop, overlooking the Lavlick mountain range, a forest of natural stone monoliths, spanning multiple countries and over a thousand kilometres in length from their western to eastern side.
The sun blazed high in the sky, partially obscured by snow, as the man looked out into the distance, a raging blizzard was swirling around him, his robe billowing in the dancing winds.
A golden crow's mask adorned his face, its design similar to a plague doctor's. His skin was fully covered with an assortment of black and gold silks, and over them, there lay a pristine white priest's robe with a modified hood attached to the back.
The robe was something that the man had picked up on his travels, its design eerily similar to one worn by the Avis church's higher up's, the only difference being the cloak-like opening at its front which seemed to have been personally cut open by the masked man.
Suddenly, in the distance, a flying crow came into view, its wings battling against the harsh blizzard. The bird's body was black like obsidian, and its eyes golden like the sun. The resilient bird was the masked man's companion, Muninn.
"Hey, Jin." It said as it landed on the man's shoulder, shaking off what snow it could from its ruffled feathers.
"It's right up ahead, only about half an hour of flight at most."
"Good." said the masked man now known to be Jin, his lips curling inwardly as he brought up his arms behind his head in a stretch.
"Let's get going then."
He then sprung forwards and jumped off the mountaintop, doing a flip over his back for an extra bit of flair as he was dragged down by gravity, sharply rushing down a steep drop on one of the mountain's towering cliffsides. The winds were still surging around him, lifting his robe up above him in a dramatic manner.
Muninn flew behind him, diving as fast as possible.
Moments before hitting the ground, Jin's body and clothes condensed behind his golden mask as a black cloud of ink-like smog spewed out from it, his descent instantly coming to a halt.
With his mask at the forefront of the pitch black cloud Jin started rising into the air, gliding upwards as if he were a spark from a campfire being shot off into the wilderness, his companion in quick pursuit.
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He flew for about a half-hour, forcibly keeping his gaseous body together even in the raging blizzard, a singular mountain appearing below him, the same one he had been climbing for the past month.
The Godspire, the largest mountain in the entire world, so large in fact, that it had many smaller mountains budding out from it, like the hair of a colossal giant. It's peak piercing far higher than any man made structure possibly could.
The pair flew up the cliffs of the mountain, slowly crawling higher and higher, the wind and snow battering them from all sides.
Eventually, they reached the top, the highest peak in the world, and, the location of one of the seven holy gates.
The seven holy gates were special divine monuments, each connected to the heavens in some way.
Transcendence, the gate at the peak of the Godspire, was a gate created by the god Avis, made for his followers to be able to cultivate their powers and help strengthen his divine kingdom.
It was also something of a garden, one where some of his sacred beasts were kept.
For years, Jin had been searching for this gate, a heavily kept secret held by the church, in order to transcend his current power. With it currently being at around the same level as the church's third rank, a Stargazer.
But now, he had finally found it, only one last stretch remained, the guardians of the gate, those being the aforementioned sacred beasts.
The instant Jin finally reached the peak of the mountain, the blizzard and winds stopped, the air turned calm and serene, and the snow was replaced by golden autumn foliage. It was as if he had entered a place separate from the rest of the world, far removed from the land below.
As he turned solid, Jin started walking, carelessly flailing his arms while moving towards the center of the peak, Muninn trailing behind him. He noticed trees and flowers that dotted the mountaintop, glimmering in amber hues of sunlight. In the center of the small forest was an altar, a hundred meters wide at most.
The altar was carved out of ancient stone, ashy gray in colour. Embedded deep within its floor stood a grand golden gate, towering above all the trees surrounding it, an ethereal pressure exuding from it.
Around the gate, there stood two gigantic guardians, standing so still that they could be mistaken for statues.
On top of the gate, a third guard was perched, its head scanning the surroundings in a constant search.
The three guardians were similar in appearance to doves, they had shining grey feathers that reminded Jin of angels, and short but lustrous golden beaks and talons which were sharp enough to pierce diamond.
The doves looked over, they towered over Jin by multiple magnitudes, looking down on him as if he were an ant which was only there to be plucked off the ground.
They had noticed him…