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LOCATION: VOSS TOWER, 20TH FLOOR
CITY: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
DATE: JUNE 16, 2025 | TIME: 8:00 AM
Mallory barely had time to uncap her pen before Elliot Voss turned from the window and pressed a button on the matte-black panel embedded into the corner of his desk.
A hidden mechanism whirred to life.
From the ceiling, an 80-inch LED screen descended in near silence.
One word appeared across the screen in bold white letters on a dark background, pulsing softly like a heartbeat:
ASCENSION
Voss stepped forward. His voice was calm, but charged with conviction.
"We stopped evolving a long time ago," he began.
"Not just biologically, though even there we've stagnated, but in ways far more consequential: spiritually, ethically, intellectually.
Technologically, we've soared, sure. But our core instincts haven't changed in twenty thousand years.
We fear that which we don't understand.
We crave endless power.
And we believe the world is marked by scarcity rather than abundance."
He let the silence hold.
"We hoard what we don't need.
We dominate when we should collaborate.
We measure success by how much we control,
Not by how much we uplift."
He shifted his stance.
"Even in our comforts, we are lost.
Ask someone what they're striving for, truly striving for, and the answers are either vague, selfish… or borrowed."
He turned to face her fully now.
"Humanity's compass is broken. And yet we keep following it deeper into the wilderness, without ever questioning where it leads."
Then, with quiet intensity:
"The Ascension Framework is a correction. A recalibration. A personal framework for growth, purpose, and transformation.
It is a new operating system.
Not for our machines,
But for our minds.
For our bodies.
Our choices.
Our evolution."
Mallory exhaled, not realizing until that moment she'd been holding her breath.
She reached for the bottle of water beside her notebook and took a long sip.
Her mouth was dry. Her pulse, a little fast.
This wasn't one of Voss's usual briefings. It sounded more like a manifesto.
Still, she remained silent. Focused. Trusting it would all come together, the way it always did.
But a part of her had already begun to believe.
Not because of what he said.
But how he said it.
Like a man revealing truths carved into the bedrock of reality itself, Elliot Voss continued.
He tapped a second button on his desk.
The screen shifted, revealing a new diagram: three interlinked circles, each one glowing faintly.
Above them, a single title pulsed in clean white type:
THE THREE PILLARS
"I call it the System," Voss said. "It's a complete overhaul of the human experience. Physically, mentally, and existentially. These three pillars will form the foundation of our individual evolution."
He gestured to the first circle. It pulsed brighter, displaying a single word:
COMBAT CLASS
"The Combat Class emerges through action. Through adversity. It's how we respond to challenge."
He moved slowly as he spoke, hands clasped loosely behind his back, the screen casting pale light across his face.
"Every human has dormant capacities. Instincts and abilities waiting to be awakened. Some of us are protectors. Some attack head-on. Others strike from the shadows. Some heal. Some lead. Some inspire."
He paused.
Then, with a slight smile:
"Yes, this is about physical combat."
Mallory raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying this system is... like a video game?"
Voss chuckled softly. "The System," he corrected. "Not just a system. And yes, there are similarities. But we won't be holding controllers."
He turned to face her directly.
"We'll be playing with our entire being."
He paced once, returning his gaze to the diagram.
"The truth is, human bodies were made for real, physical challenge. For movement. Exercise alone isn't enough. We need adversity. We need consequence."
He tapped a button again. The circle expanded, showing faint silhouettes. Stylized archetypes moving through stances and combat forms.
"The System gives people the trials they need to awaken," Voss said.
His voice softened.
"Ancient tribes understood this. They had rites of passage, rituals that marked the transition from dependent child to contributing member of the tribe. Ceremonies with actual meaning."
Voss continued, his voice still tender but resolute.
"At some point, we got away from truly testing ourselves. We traded challenge for comfort.
But working to feed yourself and keep a roof over your head, that's not the same as standing between your daughter and a charging boar, hell-bent on having you for dinner."
He let his words settle.
Then he continued. "Imagine a new paradigm."
The screen pulsed as two archetypes flickered into focus.
"A tired single mother who stands her ground to protect her children might unlock a Guardian class.
A kid from the streets who never gives up, who hustles every day just to survive, might become a Rogue."
Voss turned to Mallory, his gaze steady.
"The System doesn't care where you come from," he said. "Only what you do, and why you do it."
He turned back to the screen and tapped the second circle.
It began to glow again.
PROFESSION
"Professions are where we bring further purpose to our daily lives. Our contributions. Builders, creators, thinkers, shapers, organizers."
"This is where you find deeper meaning in construction, design, invention, instruction," Voss said. "Right now, our world squanders that potential through bureaucracy, inequality, and burnout.
All of it conspires to limit our contribution. The System reverses that."
He paced slowly, the diagram pulsing behind him like a living idea.
"Imagine a world where everyone finds a calling that both fulfills them and uplifts others.
Administrators who shape communities.
Scientists working not for profit, but for progress.
Artists with platforms to create and bring joy.
Engineers with endless tools to design and improve.
Educators treated as innovators and sages.
No bureaucracy to stall them.
No red tape to dull the edge of their passion.
Just cause. And creation."
Mallory nodded.
This part… this made sense.
Still bold. But clearer.
She could see the scaffolding now. The outline of a world she hadn't dared imagine, rising in front of her like the bones of a cathedral.
Voss turned again, eyes alight with conviction.
"The System absorbs the empty functions of business. The middle management, red tape, the gatekeeping, and replaces them with true direction and adaptive feedback. It provides a true Path. Not a job, but a purpose.
Advancement won't be blocked or handed out by gatekeepers anymore," he continued.
"No more managers who don't see your true worth, or who refuse to promote you because of some personal or political agenda. No, progress will be automatically recognized. Advancement will be earned. Directly. Transparently, and authentically."
Then came the final circle.
RACE EVOLUTION
Voss paused long enough to let the weight of the words settle in the air.
Then he continued.
"Race Evolution is the culmination of everything.
It cannot be chosen. It cannot be bought.
It is not inherited like a trust fund.
It is earned.
Through harmony. Through self-awareness.
Through alignment of self and purpose.
This... is where true Ascension begins."
The screen shifted. A glowing silhouette of a human figure appeared, evolving in real time.
Bones subtly reinforcing.
Eyes and ears flashing gently as senses sharpened.
Energy pathways lit up beneath the skin, pulsing red and blue like vital and neural ley lines.
The entire being radiated transformation.
"We all start human, obviously," Voss said. "But we don't have to stay bound by our current limitations.
We can evolve by choice, by action, by intention.
As people grow in thought and in conduct, their physiology will change.
Stronger bodies. Enhanced cognition. Heightened perception.
New modes of awareness.
Possibly even pathways of evolution we haven't yet imagined."
On screen, the figure's eyes flickered with awareness.
Its form shimmered. No longer just stronger, but more.
As if humanity were remembering something ancient it was always meant to become.
Mallory's voice came out barely above a whisper.
"Are you talking like… a post-human?"
Voss smiled. "Yes. But not less human. More. Always more. A deeper version of who we've always been, or who we've always meant to become. Some will walk further down this path. Some won't. But those who do will be able to redefine the limits of possibility."
Mallory stared at the image, heart pounding, mind spinning.
She felt it viscerally.
This wasn't theory.
This was real.
And it hit her.
Her eyes widened as it dawned on her. She turned to Voss, breath catching.
"Wait... the nanomanufacturing," she said. "The biotech. The longevity research... It's all connected to this, isn't it?"
Voss beamed.
Of course she saw it.
His protégé, intuitive and incorruptible, had connected the dots before he even reached the crescendo of his exposition.
"Yes," he said, laughing warmly. "It's the culmination of a vision I've carried since I was twenty. A way to break humanity out of the evolutionary rut we've been stuck in for millennia.
A way to level the playing field for all eight billion people on this planet, and give every one of them the tools to rise."
Mallory sat back in her chair, the gears behind her eyes turning like clockwork.
She could feel it in her bones.
This wasn't a dream or a pitch.
It was a beginning.
And Elliot Voss had been building toward it for decades.
He returned to his desk and pressed a button.
The screen reset to its original pulsating logo:
ASCENSION
"The Three Pillars work in harmony," he said. "Action. Purpose. Transformation. And when the world awakens, they'll learn what it means to rise.
The System will meet people where they are, and give them everything they need to succeed.
The possibilities are limitless..."
He watched her for a moment putting the pieces together.
"But the real marvel will be seeing what people can do naturally, once they no longer need nanites to do it for them," he said mysteriously.
He chuckled lightly. "Anyway. I'm getting way ahead of myself."
Mallory's eyes lifted. Nanites? LikeNanobots?
It was all beginning to make sense.
The thread behind the pattern.
Every company he'd founded. Every eccentric pivot. Every long-odds bet.
They weren't just business plays.
They were investments.
In R&D. In his vision. In true progress.
Not for profit.
But for purpose.
And now…
She understood why.
Why the boards had never seen it coming. Why they'd resisted, even as Voss built an empire out of research and development.
Not for market share. For humanity.
Voss raised an eyebrow.
"You've gone quiet. Questions?"
She looked up, voice low. "This is global? Everyone, right? Eight billion people... all starting from the same baseline?"
His eyes gleamed, filled with certainty and something more.
"Yes," he said. "No titles. No inherited wealth. No politicians. No trust funds. When the System activates, everyone begins in the Tutorial. The same introduction. Given the same tools. After that... it's up to them. They will climb as high and as far as they wish to."
Mallory lowered her pen, breath catching in her throat.
"There are a lot of powerful people who are going to try to stop you."
Voss smiled. The smile of a man who had already factored every possible objection.
Every threat.
Every betrayal.
"That's why we're not telling them," he said. "Not yet, anyway."
He pressed a button on his desk phone.
"There's more to discuss. Starting with how we launch this thing."
As his assistant stepped in with a fresh latte, Voss leaned back in his chair.
The previous one sat untouched.
Cold.
And Elliot Voss was not in the mood for cold coffee.