"So, what did you choose for your champion Det?"
"Why should we tell you? And leave our domain please," Death frowned as they watered floating plants that bore entire worlds instead of fruit.
"Don't be like that. We should be working together. You know as well as I do that if Rhea doesn't win, that little demon will. At least there's a chance for either of us to win if we work together."
"We are fine with the circumstances, Lie. Even if they are more than you bargained for. We will not join forces with you. We actually wouldn't mind an extended vacation," Death said. They oversaw and orchestrated the demise of entire multiverses with a flick of their wrist as they pruned one leaf after the other. Gods and Demons of Death and of the Apocalypse acted upon their master's orders as the fallen leaves disintegrated, knowingly and not as they brought ruin to worlds that needed to end for the sake of the souls living within them.
"Fine. It's not like your choice is better than mine anyway. It's probably the worst out of all of our settings and that's why you don't want to say anything," Life, smug as any Goddess could be, walked away with a confident smile.
"Wait...", Death exclaimed. The 13th cosmic leaf fizzled out slowly as Life turned toward it and as Death's shears nicked the stem.
"You tell us yours and we'll tell you ours," Death said with a straight face. Their inattention allowed this thirteenth world to flourish once more, and even grow past its previous limits.
"On three," Life smiled victoriously.
"Before or after," Death asked.
"Please. During! We are not mortals," Life replied. They both counted down and said what they promised to say at the same time.
"Northern India. We sent the details", Death said with a smile that was not a smile.
"Southern Africa. You should have already marked the souls that will be coming in soon," Life said with complete confidence. They both nodded at the others' preparations.
"Good choice. You plan on having the mortals fight over your chosen one, simultaneously achieving his goal of being a war god or relative immortal since that chaotic atmosphere wouldn't be enough to kill him in most scenarios. Very good but if your chosen is not careful, we will claim him for the penalty time that we've all discussed," Death said in admission, and gave Life a warning.
"You too, very well done Det. Going with the old faith religion instead of your usual impartial indifference. Granting your little servant with individuals who would fanatically throw away their lives for their beliefs and empower him. Such a waste of life and potential though," Life said with a frown of legitimate disapproval before vanishing beneath a pillar of light. She worried about her chosen hero's future since he may not be smart enough to take advantage of the perfectly dangerous setting. Death, in response, returned to their gardening.
"This weed is rather resilient. Perhaps there is something to be gathered from the mortals within," And so, Death removed the tree with an un-snippable leaf and placed it in a flowerpot, a cosmic cradle, if one were to be completely accurate. The water Death used to feed the plant could only be described as a fluid rich in broken and irreparable souls, or people who have never found their core belief. Once life developed to be complex enough to hold a soul, Life would get involved and give people their roles but until then, Death would be a simple gardener.
"Hey Rhea?"
"Lie, I do not have the freedom to indulge you. My work has become troublesome with the introduction of new variables. So, go bother Death again," Reality spoke while interacting with what looked like a waterfall of paperwork.
"I'll be quick so just hear me out. Okay," She said with a light smile that could bewitch anyone. Rhea looked at her with a sprinkle of understanding, sighed, and then snapped his finger to stop the flow of time.
"One second...", he said tiredly.
"Can you see if my champion is going to die? I know he is kind of stupid so I'm worried," she said with a hopeful glint in her eye.
"So far, every reincarnator that has asked for eternal youth, immortality, or anything similar has, can, or will die. And not just the human ones either," Reality replied sharply.
"But...", Life started but was cut off.
"I know what you are going to say. Those so-called true Immortals are only still alive because of the mess we all caused the last time we let that little demon join us in creating something new. They will still die even if the dates or methods are not definite or inscribed in Death's tomes. It might not be in this cycle of eternity but eventually they will perish...", Reality was the only God that could still see absolute future events, things that were cemented in time. Things out of time also had a due date but that was a little bit more troublesome to look into due to the little demons' interference. Big G made it so since nothing could be done when all of the Gods stepped over each other's toes. Thus, all of the other Gods, aside from Reality, could only see a usually biased future that was subject to their influence and power and that was only when they didn't allow Fate to have free reign over everything.
"You shouldn't treat all of your champions like they are 'the one'. Even your first cannot escape from Death's management," Rhea attempted to start time back up but Life held his fingers.
"That didn't answer my question. Do you not want to answer or is your age finally catching up to you? If it is, are your eyes going bad," Life glared.
"I do not need my vision to know if your champion could satisfy your dreams," Reality avoided her question in the best way possible and answered with a cryptic message that either meant yes or no.
"I don't care, so how about you stop avoiding the question and tell me if my champion lives at the end of this game," Life blinked in astonishment and thought, Did he really think that would work?
"Does anyone listen to their elders anymore? The judge balanced the game to make it fair. I cannot see anything that involves the champions and I can only interact with them when I'm allowed. The best that I can do is provide times and dates where we can involve ourselves with our heros," Rhea said with a sigh of regret. He pulled a piece of paper from the waterfall of parchment beside him and gave it to Life.
"What is this? I know what this is but, why," Life looked at paper in confusion
"Reality, you didn't," She looked at the old God in shorts, sandals, and a salmon colored polo with concern.
"I did, I had no choice. Look at what that demon tried to pull. It was the only way to contend with an absolute loss scenario," Reality compromised himself to put his champion in a position that would result in an immediate win once enough time had passed.
"Impossible, how is such a background fair," Life echoed the exact same thought Rhea had.
"Not necessarily. You have felt what I have been up to, my preparations are not solely limited to my own champion so we might have a chance of snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat," Rhea said with a mysterious smile.
"What do you mean, might? Since when did you start believing in the possibility of other outcomes different from what you have decided?"
"Since I started seeing the results of what could come from my oversight. The souls used in this game are the result of my mistake…", Rhea then put up a single hand and said something astonishing, "Five years. We will get one of the three chances that the judge has promised us. We can use this time to make sure that the game becomes flawless."
-Back on Earth.-
"Am I awake again? I feel stiff? That's not the right word. This feeling is more akin to paralysis but to a lesser extent," Aaradhya woke up with a grumble. He tried to move but all that reacted was an unintentional twitch of a finger. His body felt numb and rubbery. He wanted to see why he couldn't move but it was too dark to make out anything.
"No," a little chime rang out.
"Yes," Aaradhya waited for the confirmation chime, but nothing came.
"Arent you forgetting something," the little bell that accompanied each notice rang out a little bit too late.
Aaradhya waited to lose his consciousness but he remained alert and aware of the abyss and mists around his person.
"Did you think this would work, Leno? We both know Death's Sleep stays active until the end of a full restoration. I don't know how you managed this but If I were to hazard a guess, you are locked in the automated assistant or maybe you have somehow managed to squeak by as a fragment deep inside of the abyss in my soul? I respect your knack for self-preservation. However, I am afraid that you've just signed your death certificate...", Aaradhya frowned at this petty move. The notice flashed in the dark behind his eyes..
"Looks like my guess wasn't unwarranted. He really has influenced my assistant. Or maybe the personality it will develop later on will use Leno as a launching point," he opened up the system settings and turned down every slider related to the freedom of the automated assistant.
"Yes. Now before I go back under, show me what's new," he examined the backlog of notifications that waited for him.
"Good achievements. Hm, now I'm interested. How long was I out," Aaradhya checked his system display for any information he could to see how long he was unconscious, but nothing stood out as a clue.
"It must really be a hidden feature to tell time like the fourth hero. There's no absolute setting after all. Bah, I shouldn't think like that. I doubt with how specific these options are, that there wouldn't be something. Though, now that I think about it, the setting may be related to the blessing display," thankfully, he had the time to focus on the task at hand with him being an invalid at the moment.
"There has to be something to streamline my search. A search bar, or maybe a question mark that works as a
"Hm. This Leno guy really is trying everything isn't he. It's only his memories yet that part of me already has a severe dissatisfaction with being erased from my soul. I'm pretty sure the representative takes the automated assistant and gives it more of an AI advisory position rather than a task manager huh. By the sound of it the second option is just a search bar that autofills based on predictions. Do I want something that learns, or something that feeds my habits? I'll take you up on the first option then. Serve me well," Immediately after his choice, a solid white bar showed up at the top of his vision with a spyglass and microphone icons to its left and right respectively.
Aaradhya focused on the spyglass icon and mentally typed in, "Options for visualizing blessing time trackers related to various states." A list of about 12 dozen options rolled out. Time between the last soul or echo collected and now, time for how long a soul has been controlled, time for how long the user has been asleep, time for… Aaradhya read through each one to find what he wanted. From there, it was smooth sailing. He changed everything he could think of since he now didn't have to search through the settings little by little. By the end of his simple and not over the top in any way whatsoever, optimization, his system resembled a world class DJ'S soundboard where everything had a specific and interesting purpose.
"And done," his thoughts flickered as the last few neurons keeping him awake shut down. After who knows how long, Aaradhya woke up once again but this time, it was a natural and uninterrupted process. His brain might have shut down but his soul was as active as ever as a small chime followed his consciousness.
Aaradhya did not hear, nor was he even aware of, several people that surrounded his person at all times of the day as he was briefly woken up at set intervals to hear his notifications. He found the loophole that Leno used to wake him before his passive sleep was up. Thus, in the brief moment that he was awake, he heard a few things even if they were muffled.
"What," a man raised an eyebrow to a fellow guard beside him.
"I said, do you think our lord will wake up soon? The priest said it should be around the time since color has been returning to his face over the past day or two," a rather young boy reiterated.
"Don't check. We do not have the right to look at the young lord. Be patient, there will be a sign," an aged and unintentionally gruff voice huffed from across the room.
"Should I get the high priest to check if he isn't busy? He should know since he shares a divine and earthly connection to the lord," a third youthful and feminine voice asked.
"Recruit, you go since you are so impatient. And be quick," the gruff leader sighed with audible indecision for a long minute before he commanded the boy to head out.
"It's been almost two weeks since I last woke up. Hah, If that's the case,
-SOUL SANCTUARY lvl.1
*RESOURCE: Bank.
Simple Creatures: 7/100.
Advanced Creatures [Average intelligence]: 2/10.
Superior Creatures [Similar Intelligence]: 0/1.
*PASSIVE: String Master (10x Buff Multiplier limit)- Multiplies the physical, mental, and spiritual strength of a personally controlled undead by the proportional amount of spiritual investment.
*ACTIVE: Eternal Rest (10x Base Regeneration [100x Max Regen])- A hibernative state where the body, mind, and soul enter a regenerative sleep.
*ACTIVE/PASSIVE: Tether (0 Tethered Subjects [1 Total Subjects])- Force a connection to a soulless biological entity and control it like a marionette OR connect to the soul(s) of another living being to form a binding and symbiotic connection of thought, emotion, and power.
*ACTIVE: Soul Splinter (~.09% Increase to power [1x Activations])- Split a soul and reinforce existing soul tether strings. Can be used to forcibly empower the hold over any creature, living or dead. OR expand the number of soul strings available for use at the cost of the soul being permanently used up. Reactivating the skill more than advised results in a forced
[Classes]:
[Skills]:
-Soul sense (Early Beginner): Sense, store, and mold Spiritual energy and force.
-Spirit walk (Early Beginner): Travel along or through ambient spiritual or consolidated soul energies or soul force.
"How unexpected. I learned every base component of Leno's blessing except for the
"One, how can I adjust my Soul Sense? And two, are there any ways to reduce the impact of Leno's assimilation," the help center directed him to information that would either directly solve or assist in his objectives. Unlike an automated assistant that would prompt him unsolicited, the help center gave every option after it was asked. It did so without filtering through specifics based on prior searches or inferences. The only problem was that every solution required him to purchase something else first.
"I see paywalls exist even in fantasy worlds. I guess the only thing I can do is purchase what I need," The help center merely told him to purchase an expansion from the store to expand its database as there were no found results for either of his questions. It instead provided a list of every single book or comprehensive list of techniques that Aaradhya could learn, with the spirituality-based ones at the very top. He opened the store and clicked on
"The first may help me purge Leno's useless influence but the latter may actually be useful in the long run. Above all, it should keep me busy until I can forcibly adjust to this kind of life," he arranged the documents into folders.
"I should be able to see the echoes or souls that are connected to me should I return to that world of fog within myself. The one problem being, I don't know what I did to get there either time that I have gone to the world of fog and darkness. There is no guide within the story that was given to me. Meaning Leno never figured out how to activate the [Eternal Rest] other than passively," he calmed his emotions and entered a very focused state. Once he bought the handbooks, general information about the spiritual world floated around in his brain. The most basic introduction, however, made reference to a Fog Sea within the body, and a primal ocean outside. Right now, even through closed eyelids, he was seeing the spirit world and the glowing that came from ripples and tides of the world's ejections. As for why he was within the fog sea before he was born, he made some quick and neat inferences.
"From what I can gather, I was within the body that was chosen for me by Death. Unable to breach naturally, I slowly met the requirements of my [Eternal Rest] perk. Being conscious while on death's door is probably what awakened my Soul sense," as if to say he was on the right track, the glowing world around him shifted into an even less definable mass of light. The green and yellow lights in the distance shattered into pieces then swirled uncontrollably as packs of red tried to enter the glowing blue and green sphere that surrounded him. The red lights quickly shaved and burned away, getting swept up in the tornado.
"How does any of this work? Do I open my eyes or not? I am already suffering from a headache, I fear that I might lose my mind if I were to observe more," he tilted his head down just a little bit to look at his own chest. He could just barely make out a sapphire flame with a golden ring just where his heart should be. In his mind, he reached toward this flame and in the blink of an eye, he descended into a dark abyss, almost as if the flame split apart and swallowed his consciousness whole.
Back out in the physical world, his healthy color paled to a ghastly sheet of blue and purple, almost as if all of his blood had been drained. He was no different from a corpse in every way except, his body didn't rot or collapse. Once again, he allowed himself to embrace death in a sweet dream as he dove into the abyssal spiritual well that was his soul.
First, the light of the world outside of himself vanished and gave way to a near endless expanse of darkness. After what felt like falling forever, a multicolored mist washed over his body and gave form to the world inside of his mind and soul. After drifting for who knows how long, Aaradhya harmlessly splashed down into an ocean of darkness that glittered with miniature azure grains of sand underneath the inky surface. He had consciously used his [Eternal Rest] perk so instead of falling out, he entered this space and instead of letting himself get excited at success, he rushed toward where a sapphire light rose up from the depth and pressed against the thin veil separating the fog and the ink below.
A golden light clotted around the rift that appeared like blood would for a cut. On the fog side of the rift that he created by entering his own soul realm, a green light fizzled and rose up to create a long tunnel of mist around the crack. Emerald particles clustered around in this minty mist as they mixed and dispersed into the lighter green and yellow fog all around. For some reason, his mind flashed back to when he pulled his mother's echo together to use her body. He frowned as the typhonous swirl seemed more akin to a natural disaster as it slowly chipped away at the fractured abyss. The golden light, seemingly the physical manifestation of the deepest parts of his soul staunched the wound and gradually pulled the tears close.
"I used my tether and splinter perks when I wasn't prepared and suffered for it while trying to utilize mothers echo. This is the exact location where I connected to mothers soul. Hm, but it seems that this is not Leno's doing at the very least," Aaradhya touched the glass-like crack in the ground and frowned. A golden light, similar to the color of his own body in this world of fog, rested between the fog and Abyss almost perfectly.
"What an Interesting ecosystem. The white fog seems to pervade everything without limit as the base spiritual source of nature. The different colors all represent some sort of state that none of my purchased books can describe. Yet this golden light seems to be vastly different, if not superior since it's blocking all of the mists from entering the abyss down below. Furthermore, does that mean the form I currently see of myself is just a conscious projection of my soul and this golden light and abyss below hides my true form," Before he could contemplate or rationalize his internal environment, blue soul-light immediately flooded towards his locations and when it did so, a pillar shot out of the abyss and crystalized over the golden wound. The entire tornado of mint green deepened to a thick and almost viscous green liquid that washed over the blue. The golden crystal held strong as a stalemate kept both surging tides in check. The slightly green and yellow fog dispersed as what appeared to be snow drifted down and cleanly washed away everything. All that remained was a golden platform similar to a scab and even that was quickly washed over with a dark liquid.
"Very interesting. The green preys on the blue, and the whitefog indiscriminately wipes all of it out, The gold seems to be unshaken by it all but the blue serves as some sort of allied force," he sat down near the recently closed rift, opened his system inventory, then clicked on the spirit guides handbook. Though it didn't possess the exact knowledge he needed to understand what just happened, it did have similar pieces of information.
"I might as well spend this time productively," golden wisps hovered just around his head like a scattered halo for a moment as they sank into his golden body.
The words…
"Spiritual Realms and what they mean to you," exploded across and burned into his mind. Following that burst of info, a new tab loaded in under the inventory screen. A journal tag specifically tied to the inventory animated itself to a hologram of a book. A page flipped over to a tech tree on spirit realms. At the very bottom of this tree: "Emergent Fog". The tree only showed an orb with chaotic gray and white swirling liquid. Three separate curls of green, blue, and red danced in the orb with wild abandon.
"I assume this means that the abstract information that Big G gave us on the original story can be translated into the system once we buy the relevant unlocks and experience or observe the events described in the text. If so, it might be worth it to just buy the training manuals of things I might not even touch in the short term. Though, that's a decision for after I see how this data is formatted," Aaradhya clicked the dot and it split into a pie chart with four different animations. Only three played but all four were encompassed by the fog.
"Emergent Fog: The DeFacto term for the world beyond the veil of life. This is the most dangerous incarnation of any spiritual realm, in that all things are equal in their evaluated worth (Based on a scale Death set)," the fog in the background of this graph shifted as gold lettering printed onto the screen.
"A succinct beginning and end to the description. These slivers of light must be the forces that exist within the fog. Sadly, this description only seems to contextualize what I have seen in relation to the information in this handbook," Aaradhya spun the pie chart with muted expectation as it landed on another color other than a silvery white.
"(Green) A spiritual particulate given off by life-giving planets and some organisms that developed a filtration system for the fog. It provides enlightenment and spiritual understanding to the living by dispersing the experiences and understanding of those who have died, fostering a roadmap to life and growth before it comes to be... ", the description ended there but after half a second, gold lettering extended the description.
"As a Spirit Guide, you can harness this particulate in the physical world and forge a bright future for generations to come. There are several ways to approach this grand task, but each way has its benefits and drawbacks. You can generalize (Click Here) or specialize (Click Here) if you have an approach in mind," Aaradhya's finger unintentionally hovered towards specialize but he pulled his hand back.
"I will see if there are options for what I had in mind later," he swiped the chart to the side.
"(Blue) This is the essence of one's soul. The blood and breath of one's life beyond the pale. All living things generate this essence to some degree, but most let it go to waste as it dissipates. Some can harness this rich essence and stabilize a life for themselves within and outside of the veil. Excessive care should be taken before any steps are taken down this path since... "
"Interesting. The text looks as if it should continue but, ah wait. I get it. This is sort of like a research journal in a game. That makes this easier. I should just have to buy the other two training manuals and I'll get the rest of what's missing," Aaradhya nodded. As soon as he came to this understanding, the tech tree expanded.
"Developing Waters," opened up directly above the Emergent fog orb that split into four different sources. The green orb shot up as a silver branch spread into the fog surrounding the screen and connected to an emerald symbol. As for the blue orb, the line branch extended out but didn't connect to anything as fog continued to obscure it.
"Ah, so it works on what we understand or can infer about the information we possess...", a wave of instant euphoria hit him like a truck all of a sudden. The boundaries of his vision slowly collapsed as his immediate surroundings sharpened up.
"My time is up. Fair enough. I've been conscious for far longer than I thought I would be. When I wake up next, I'll look at the last sliver in the pie chart and focus on what I can do to improve... myself...", he couldn't fight back against the wave of exhaustion that consumed every fiber of his being. His soul fell into a deep slumber, following his body and mind.*POP*, the golden light making up his body sunk into the abyss.