Instead of appearing before the religious leaders of the world, Aaradhya returned to his abode to contemplate, regroup, and recoup his dwindled mental faculties. He went straight into his room.
'I'm finally done,' he put the finishing touches on a three part venn diagram that he drew up on a large piece of poster cardstock. One of the three circles was titled "Problems", another was "Solutions", and the third was called "Theories".Spread throughout the sections as other titles were the words, "Cult, Assassins, Assistance, T&L (for time and luck), and Assistance which was at the center. He started off his mental recap with the most striking of Problems.
'I was nearly killed because assassins were sent after me,' he frowned as he examined the chart. He only knew that he almost died at the beginning of the day thanks to an after summary report that Mrs. Lagrange got her hands on. Apparently, a group of about twenty repelled into his quarters after climbing the far side of the mountain that was just a sheer cliff face. All of them had turned to dried out husks that, as the honor guard reported, had blue handprints on different parts of their bodies.
'I received unseen assistance just before the attack. It was coincidentally timed. I believe it came from a follower called Prath. The man showed up at my father's request around two hours ago. By my estimations, he shouldn't have been able to get to my father on such short notice unless he was prepared,' Aaradhya closed his eyes and sighed.
'My problem with that is how did he know that there would be an attack on the main peak, a place where I am supposed to live like a god,' he opened his eyes and looked at his theories.
'According to the reports from the honor guard, Prath was indisposed, or rather, attacked by some unseen party. My best guesses are that one of the Champions somehow grew their body to that of an adult or has an ally capable of wearing other peoples faces, or both could be true. Today's events could also be the work of one or multiple Champions working together to aid me since I am in uncharted territory regarding the original story. I do have Death's notes to guide me but there is no way that the others would know about that unless they received something similar,' Aaradhya crossed his arms and came to a solution that required time or luck.
'I can ask the other three Champions if they were involved in today's matters during the first trial that the Gods set up to regulate this world. I can wait for that time period or actively search for them if I'm starved for answers,' Aaradhya weighed his options and realized that it would practically be impossible to look for three people out of roughly 6 billion people. He refocused onto the problems that he faced.
'Then there is the fact that I actually nearly died in a bombing,' the memory of being in the saferoom flashed before his eyes. The surprise, anxiety, and fear, printed onto his mind just as if he were in that moment just before the bombs went off once again. Before he lost himself to the past, he managed to reign in his emotions.
'In, supposedly, the most secure location on this island, I was nearly killed while some of my servants needlessly perished,' he looked at an underlined statement that he knew was for a fact.
'People that I am not aware of, betrayed the faith and tried to have me killed, not once but thrice,' he counted the fire that occurred when he was still under the effects of Eternal Rest. He still wanted to know more about that, about the Grand Elder that caused the flame and the stranger that helped get him out of a place that was strangely flooded with lost souls and raging spirits according to what his father said and what the Elders revealed.
'I don't have reason or just cause but I can assume that the first elder's faction is responsible for the attempts on my life. I should have some trusted people look into their finances. It would be as clear as day that they hired assassins. But on the off chance that they were not the one responsible, it would still be good to have that type of information,' Aaradhya grumbled about the matter and thought to himself. An ancient proverb came to mind.
'A local snake is more powerful than a distant dragon. If I am wrong and the first elder's faction is not responsible and it's someone else, all of the plans that I have for the Golden Horns will come crashing down. I would struggle to deal with the open backstabbing and undermining. So far, they have not proven antagonistic,' he calculated potential losses and wrote off going after the First's faction even though part of him thought that it would help his father consolidate power.
'That doesn't change the fact that the assassins got their information from someone,' he thought back to the statues that he had seen in the underground cathedral at the end of the journey out of the caves and cracked his fingers.
'I have seen one elder on the outer council turn to stone and I have seen another at the bottom of a basin, crushed against the walls of a naturally forming tub. Though it may be possible for all of this espionage to have been the work of just two elders, I am more inclined to believe that they were working under orders or possibly even under subtle manipulation. Usually, it only takes one comment to put an idea in someone's head and one move to set people on certain paths,' the image of a worm-man came to mind. The words "...man in Yellow robes...", also flashed through his thoughts.
'I could ask Woad or the man in yellow if they know anything about the traitor or traitors in my midst,' he placed a finger on his lip and shook his head side to side.
'That would require asking them directly and as far as I know, they answer to one of the Champions or an as of yet unknown third party. I also doubt that the man in Yellow would sit down and speak with me. He can take out ten, nearly superhuman, soldiers within a few minutes and turn them to stone,' he shuddered at the thought. He had been looking through the Spirit Guide's Handbook, Marimo's autobiography, and the Sensory Development Chronicle but he hadn't found a hint as to how such a feat was accomplished and it left him shaken. No, he did find a small excerpt in the autobiography that Marimo wrote that explained that lost souls could basically suck the soul energy out of the living once their souls were exposed to the Verdant.
'There must be a trick or condition that has to be met for the man in Yellow to take out the souls of so many people at once,' Aaradhya realized that he had to be on the right track with that thought.
"The other Champions and I are still new to this world so if I use myself as reference, they should not be capable of directly influencing the souls of others unless there are very specific conditions met. That must be the case for any allies that they could find...", that was what he told himself until he realized a singular point that made the thought moot.
'Ah, the Shepherds are one of if not the singular wealthiest religion in the world thanks to their accumulative assets and followers so I can accomplish things that the other Champions might see as impossible,' Aaradhya realized that he had gotten off track and consulted the venn diagram.
'The assassins knew about the tunnels which means that whoever planned to kill me thought about everything. The tunnel plans were probably acquired due to the need for finding the altar that I would be placed in. My awakening and the conclave being called was probably the only thing that really set this antagonistic party's plans astray and even then, my demise was almost assured if not for a third party helping me, the people that I am assuming are associated with one or multiple of the Champions,' Aaradhya frowned deeper than he had in a while.
'The only way that each variable could have been accounted for is if otherworldly foresight or omniscience is at play. It may very well be the case considering the Reisaku character. Is there someone with future sight that was not within the original story that is part of the Ghosts,' Aaradhya leaned back to take in the whole chart.
'I was nearly killed by someone who can either plan better than me or can see the future, full stop. Since I have not been wrong before, I can assume that there is someone else that is not a champion that can see the future,' his eyes glued to the corner of the chart.
'If I were to go with my omniscient master of the Ghosts theory then there is a possibility that whoever they are, there are limitations to what they can see. The unknown doppelganger that got me away from my mountain peak and Woad, for example. Neither was something that was accounted for. The man in yellow also counts, considering the force of ten that he took care of,' he chewed on the inside of his cheeks and narrowed his vision onto one particular point that he wrote.
'The Gods cannot directly interfere with any of the Champions but that doesn't mean that they cannot interact with us. As I'm looking at it, everything that has happened was stuff that occurred around and not to me,' he placed a finger on the point.
'Theory, one or multiple of the Gods orchestrated today's events. If so, it's possible that one or all of the other Champions were given a quest to assist me if they had the power to do so,' Aaradhya turned the poster around and looked at bullet points that he couldn't quite fit into his venn diagram.
'What if I wasn't the target of today's events and everything was done to get rid of the guests of the Shepherds? My Divine theory posits that the Gods are involved. The easiest way to indirectly affect a Champion would be to kneecap their support systems. The easiest way to do that for me would be to make the Shepherds public enemy number one,' Aaradhya nearly chuckled but he scoffed instead.
'Kill them all and let us deal with the aftermath. It would certainly ruin all of the information that Death prepared for me as well as my plans to turn the cult into an upstanding force of good,' he sighed heavily.
'If the guests died on our property, under our watch, things would not work out at all how Death has planned or how I would like,' he put the diagram down and looked up at the ceiling. He thought about what had to be done before the Shepherds could leave the island.
'There is some internal fracturing that needs to be taken care of before we present a united front against outsiders,' he concluded.
'I also need to make sure that they don't expect anything that Death warned me about. I cannot handle ritualistic killings,' he hadn't seen any yet but he knew that the cult that he was a part of now sacrificed someone or sometimes even multiple people once every month. Solutions, he looked at the diagram with puffed cheeks as he clung to the air that he exhaled.
'I'll have to make sure that my father gets things changed over time despite how much I know that I am.going to hate the rituals. I can order a direct shift in how we approach future rituals but the discontent that will appear will cause more issues that I want to deal with,' he knew his power within the Shepherds. He was their Lord, their God, and as far as he was aware, he was killing his portrayal of a divine child. The problem that was most glaring when it came to interacting with a Death worshipping cult was that people usually signed on because of the death part. If he, as their Lord, suddenly said that he didn't want to do that part, the people would follow, but reluctantly.
He raised his hand and snapped toward the two servants that were waiting by the door to his bedroom
"Vivaan, Neela, what do you think about today's matters," he wrote toward the man and woman who always followed Mrs. Lagrange to either side of her. Vivaan, a lanky young man with green eyes, bronze skin, and an eyebrow piercing immediately dropped to a knee and hyperventilated out of pure joy. Neela, an uncommonly tall woman with dark black eyes that resembled an abyss and had thick braids in her hair, soft patted VIvaan's back and rubbed it in circles. She spoke first since he was overcome with joy.
"My lord, I feel as though the attack on your life will not be the first, so I am sure that today's matters have just been postponed until a later date," Neela did not raise her gaze to meet Aaradhya's as she skimmed the notepad. She only looked back up when she heard a small throat clearing sound.
"The Assassins. Do you think that they would have claimed my life had it not been for the timely interference from the man in yellow robes," Aaradhya asked.
"No my Lord. Madam Lagrange and the rest of us would have laid down our lives to ensure that you would get through the ordeal safely. We would have used the corners of the tunnels to trade one of our lives for one of theirs," Neela bowed her head and spoke calmly.
"Neela and I could at least take out two my Lord," the man called Vivaan got control of his excitement and boasted.
"Have you all been formally trained," Aaradhya was actually interested in the lives of the servants that made a life for themselves on the island.
"Yes my Lord. All of the staff know Mors Contracto, the fighting style taught to us by Madam Lagrange," Vivaan looked like an excited puppy as he readily told his lord everything that he knew.
"It's not that different from Krav Maga my lord, it just involves a lot less extraneous movements and incorporates more elbow and knee blows," Neela elaborated.
"I would like to learn this combat style. Have the faith's best fighter agree to be my teacher," Aaradhya put some quick thought to it and understood that he needed to know how to fight. If the later trials went anything like was described in the original novel, he needed to at least know how to defend himself.
"That would be mistress Anila with her twin brother Kanjan being a close second," Neela said.
"Tell me more about those two," Aaradhya asked.
"They are the children of master Vasuman and the grandchildren of master Prath and madam Lagrange. The last I heard, they had joined their father and grandfather in being keepers of the tombguard. Soldiers that only answer to the High Priest and you my Lord," Vivaan answered the question with a bright smile plastered to his face.
'Hm. So those two that I saw really were child soldiers huh. I guess a cult would need to start them young to keep the faith going. Make impressionable youths feel important and powerful. Give them authority and they will never want to leave when they get older,' Aaradhya felt a sour taste fill his mouth and a ringing in his ears.
'There is a lot about this cult that I am going to change,' he nodded to himself and crawled off of his bed.
"I am ready to join the meeting with our guests, one of you go ahead and inform the Grand Elders that I am on my way. And get my Palenquinn ready. I can't very well walk inside myself," Aaradhya grabbed the worm that had wiggled itself to where his kidney would be and placed the worm in his palms as he walked to the indoor garden and waterfall. Vivaan and Neela played rock paper scissors to decide who would go. It was Neela after a tense game of best of three.
'I have to make an impression...', Aaradhya frowned as he tried something that he had only experienced once in the reception hall of the airport.
'I need to show that the Verdant is under my command or that I can at least control it better than everyone else that is present,' he cleared his mind and thought of his soul as an egg which, according to Don Marimo's autobiography, was the best visualization method. The Verdant was supposed to be boiling water that caused his soul to expand while his intent or focus was the pot that contained it all. He needed to feel the heat that inundated his body and allow the egg and water to reach a cooked state while boiling, which would be the verdant that he could control. After he thought as far as that, the Verdant swirled around his body and thickened. He sensed the flow and directed it within the framework of the pot that he had constructed around himself. All of the Verdant within arms reach slowly came to a halt as it attracted more and thickened to the point where it felt like water on the skin.
'This is what I need to do. Gather the Verdant and display it,' he felt the worm tug at his spiritual body and create threads as it slipped through his flesh. Instead of trying to catch the worm, he commanded the Verdant to swirl. Like a leaf caught in an updraft, the worm floated up on a green wind. A blue thread clung to the air where the worm flew.
'Interesting,' with a smile, Aaradhya controlled the Verdant and blew the worm through and around his body to create a net of spiritual energy. Like a caterpillar on a vine, the worm was capable of coiling around and traversing the thread. The moment Aaradhya stopped thinking that his spirit was an egg since he looked more like a roller coaster for the worm, the blue thread fractured and floated back into his body. It looked like petals falling in reverse while he was the tree.
'I wonder if I could control my own spiritual energy to move like that,' with less time on the clock, Aaradhya got back to thinking that he was an egg but this time he imagined that his soul was shaped like two eggs stuck together.
His spiritual energy naturally inflated toward his back and ballooned away from his body, creating a standing shadow of blue and hazy spiritual energy. The Verdant flowed and disrupted his control as it flowed though the shadow at his back but he imagined a shell as sturdy as iron, one that couldn't crack or break connecting the two eggs. The Verdant solidified on the shadow and thickened until it looked as though there was a green tinted haze around his shimmering body and back.
Aaradhya smiled and changed the two connected eggs into two separate eggs. His spiritual energy floated away from his body and created an orb that he surrounded with Verdant. He turned the orb into a hoop at his back and stayed with that imagery. By the time he was done, he had realized that his worm was on the hoop. Taking his creature, Aaradhya shaped the hoop with his bare hand and carved immaculate detail into its surface.
The entire time he let the Verdant boil around the egg that he had created. Blue aqueous light poured out from the center of the hoop while a thick emerald, almost neon, glow visibly solidified. Anyone could see the dharma wheel that he had forged out of spiritual energy and Verdant.
'This is good but not enough,' Aaradhya realized that it was not enough to just have an object made of pure spiritual might, he needed vestments.