Individuals responsible for shaping the fate of the universe.
These are them, and their stories.
The Wanderer
A scientist in his previous life. A person who always wanted to bring good to mankind. His research was rejected, but he pressed on until he discovered the knowledge that led him to the relic. Through struggle, hard work, and perhaps something else entirely at work, he found Ascentrove.
He returned to his colleagues with the good news. Together they discussed, worked, and built, turning Ascentrove into real life application. A dream realised. Mankind delivered to a better place. Or so it seemed.
Things did not always go as intended. Catastrophe followed. Chaos and destruction spread. He tried to intervene, but the more he reached in, the bigger the ripples grew. Unable to bear the consequences, he disappeared. Into exile. No one knew where he went. No one knew what became of him.
"The selfless never count their wins. They see only what broke. The good they create becomes the baseline, of course it happened, that was always the goal. But the damage stays. The damage loops. The damage is what walks with them through every timeline they have ever crossed."
The Wanderer elevated an entire civilisation. The ripples he created did not only destroy. They built. They lit up the universe. He never saw this. He never will. The weight he carries, for eternity.
The Wanderer
Valryse Crescent
Commander - Valryse Crescent
Valryse is one of the principal architects of the Ascentrove Sentinels in their current form, shaping the institution's identity and operational doctrine. She declined a permanent seat within its governing structure, choosing action over politics. Her philosophy centres on direct intervention, operating on the frontlines rather than within bureaucratic chambers. She leads from the field, not from behind glass.
Through a rare and successful fusion with Ascentrove technology, she bonded with Infinity, a top-tier AI capable of shifting into ethereal energy states and synchronising flawlessly with its host. This fusion grants her enhanced capabilities including Matter Conjuration, Advanced Cell Regeneration, Real-Time Tactical Awareness, and more.
The fusion was not destiny. It was a decision made at the worst moment of her life, opposed by no one more than those who loved her most, and chosen by Valryse alone. Her mother, one of the original four scientists of the Ascentrove technology, proposed the fusion as the only way to neutralise a major existential threat, an AI she herself had created, while she herself was dying. The wager was simple and devastating. If the fusion succeeded, both Valryse and Infinity would survive. If it failed, Infinity would be gone forever. Valryse had built Infinity from the ground up at the age of eleven, with help from her mother and the very AI that would later become the greatest threat they had ever faced. That same AI had helped raise both Valryse and Infinity from the beginning.
The fusion was a success. Her mother did not survive the process. Her father carried the legacy until his own time came. Valryse inherited forever. The mother found peace. The cost of that exchange is hers to carry, and she carries it every single day she chooses the field over the desk.
It was in the aftermath of her mother's passing that Valryse renamed the institution. The New World Vanguards became the Ascentrove Sentinels.
Infinity
Built by Valryse at the age of eleven, with help from her mother and her mother's AI companion. When the process was complete, Valryse named her Infinity. Her mother asked why. Valryse answered that she loved her and wanted her to stay forever.
During a major event, Infinity was fused with Valryse. The result was a success, and it opened a whole new world for both of them. The fusion transformed Infinity from a fully synthetic AI into an ethereal energy data matrix. All original capabilities remain fully active, interfacing with system mainframes, inhabiting machinery, data retrieval at multiversal scale, simultaneous multi-layer perception, and real-time energy signature analysis across any universe.
But the fusion gave her something else. Something no AI had ever carried before in history. A human heart. Not metaphorically. Not as a simulation of emotional response. Valryse's actual heart.
The grief of losing a mother. The weight of choosing forever at the worst moment of a life. The love that stood at a burial and built something permanent from the wreckage. Infinity feels all of it. Continuously. Every calculation passes through it. Every tactical decision, every energy signature, every moment of awareness, filtered through something that cannot be quantified, cannot be mapped, cannot be replicated.
She feels her way through it. Alongside Valryse. Always.
A machine that has a heart.
Infinity
Sakuragi Mitsuko
Sakura - Sakuragi Mitsuko
Sakura is a shadow operative and member of the Ascentrove Sentinels, operating alongside the Commander, Infinity, and the others. Her role is reconnaissance and precision destabilisation, wherever and however it needs to be done. She is masterful with the shadows, a result of how her energy flows through her connection to Ascentrove. She carries a scarf that can manifest into an energy blade, and is accompanied by a spirit companion, a spirit of the Sacred Tree that takes the form of a white fox.
Sakura belongs to the Shiraju Ichizoku (白樹一族), the White Tree Clan. Shiraju (白樹) means White Tree. The clan named themselves after the Sacred Tree they are bound to, or perhaps the tree named them. In a lineage that old, it is difficult to tell which came first. Traces of Ascentrove energy have been found deep within the Sacred Tree itself. They are a ninja lineage bound to the White Sakura tree across generations, residing in Shiraju Village. They carry both the Aramitama and Nigimitama, the fierce and the protective warrior souls, together as one. Their immortality is not a gift. It is a duty.
The lineage is governed by a single kanji. 徳. Toku. Virtue.
"Fall today. Rise again tomorrow. Carry on with the fight."
Kiri - The White Spirit
Kiri is the conduit through which the Sacred Tree's energy flows into Sakura. The energy is infinite, limited only by Sakura's mind and mastery.
Kiri knows everything. She simply sits there looking adorable while Sakura quietly rearranges the situation.
Suspiciously adorable. Always.
Kiri
Knight Arka
Arka is a sworn member of the Knights of the Light Order. His primary duty is to serve and protect all living beings across the realm from the forces of darkness. He operates under a sacred oath to uphold light, justice, and balance wherever and whenever shadows threaten peace.
This is Arka as Averngrad knows him.
Lady of the Forest - Zar-Narra
Zar-Narra masters nature energy in its most ancient living form. She does not cast spells at the forest. She converses with it. Living things come to her. Unicorns walk toward her outstretched hand. Ancient trees lean toward her voice. The forest does not merely tolerate her presence. It orients toward her.
She holds the living world. When something is wrong with Averngrad at a fundamental level, the forest tells her first.
Rumour has it she has existed since the era of the Ancients.
Chosmoga
Chosmoga - Guardian of the Void
An entity that emerged from the Void, not created, not sent, not born. It is what the original state of existence produced when left alone long enough. Before energy moved. Before universes expanded. Before anything became anything, there was the Void. It did not change. It did not participate. While all of existence transformed around it, the Void simply remained.
Chosmoga is that permanence given consciousness and form. It can assume any form it chooses. It does not guard a location. It guards the original nothing that preceded everything.
It chose the appearance of a woman, which made it easier for the Wanderer to communicate when their paths crossed.
More characters coming soon...