— Somewhere in the void
After Jodye Trill aligned with the world’s fate, his consciousness was instantly transported to another space. This feeling was indescribable. Here, he felt and looked just like he did back on Earth in 2057 a.d., despite being able to tell that he was currently only a spirit body. This was a first for him. Jodye slowly rationed that his current appearance should be that of his host soul.
“So then am I Jodye Trill: the host soul, Joseph Trilleck: the main soul, or am I somehow both? Perhaps, because I retained my memories of the past, my main consciousness remains fused with the host soul? So confusing,” thought Jodye Trill, “It should be that this is the form of my host soul, due to me retaining my past experiences. Ultimately, I am already someone else.”
This line of thought felt correct to the current him.
Jodye was currently standing on top of a 200-meter large golden platform, with a sizeable runic diagram shining in white aura light, illuminating this zone. This diagram was difficult to see properly through the light, but it looked to depict some otherworldly winged creatures.
“The Platform of Destiny…” Jodye marveled at the scene in front of him.
“There’s so much power here. It feels like I’m being suppressed by a force field that grows stronger with each step,” thought Jodye Trill as he searched all around. Eventually, he found nothing. After pondering for a couple of minutes, he had the idea to activate his Mind’s Eye. Upon acting on this impulse, the scene surrounding him instantly changed.
Directly in front of Jodye, in the center of the platform, there were four elders in grey robes, on either side of a giant and mystical looking, crystal gate. The gate looked to be made out of divine materials and released a ridiculous amount of pressure. There was an elaborate runic inscription in the form of hieroglyphs drawn on the two doors of the gate. It looked like a story made of hieroglyphics. On the other side of the gate was still more of the destiny platform, but Jodye could now vaguely sense that this entrance leads to a different space. It almost felt like the gate was summoning him…
As soon as he probed this gate with his spiritual sense, his mind shook, as he felt something crack and break apart inside his head. The spiritual energies in the area started rushing into his spiritual body, as he closed his eyes to focus on absorbing this energy with his Mind’s Eye. After the power stopped flowing into him, Jodye was no longer affected by the pressure here.
If there were someone else here with Jodye, they would notice that he now released the same level of pressure as the giant gate. In fact, he felt an intimate connection with this gate. This feeling was so strong he even knew that he couldn’t open this gate even if he tried. So instead, Jodye focused his attention to the mysterious elders in hooded grey robes. They all had long grey beards and seemed to be identical, though their faces were all hidden by the endless nothingness of their hoods. The elders all just stood there, immobile and silent.
“So far this is very different from the books,” thought Jodye Trill as he stared at the hooded figures. Nothing that had happened thus far matched his expectations, which made him feel bittersweet. Regardless of how different his experience was compared to others, he’d have to be a fool to not realize he had just gained some type of benefit.
“Eight elders…but there should be up to ten artifacts…strange,” after thinking up to here, Jodye Trill then felt a realization hit him. “Senior’s, would you happen to be related to the Heavenly Fate artifacts?”
Two white flames suddenly glowed in the shadow of all the grey-robed elder’s hoods, exactly where the eyes should be. They all looked towards Jodye in unison. The young man was frightened, as he suddenly felt several mysterious powers lock on to his soul. This feeling was hard to describe in words, but if compared to his previous life he felt like a gerbil in a small cage surrounded by all the bad kids in class. Suddenly, all eight elders disappeared and reappeared standing two meters away from Jodye in a tight circle.
“Pharaoh’s Soul!” spoke the eight elders in unison, which made the air between them and himself shake as if it wanted to collapse. Their voices together sounded very melodic. It was like they were singing a song that could tear him apart. This weird contrast caught Jodye off guard. Suddenly, the eight grey robed elders vanished. However, standing in front of the vast, mystical gate were two human-shaped white light figures. Their thoughts were being transmitted directly into Jodye’s mind.
[Fated one. ] [To possess a pharaoh’s soul is the same as inheriting the love of the Nova.] [Your destiny is beyond this world’s fate.] [Thus, the lower eight guardians of fate cannot affect your destiny.] [You can not see their artifacts, as they do not have any that will align with your soul.] [We are the guardians of the holy artifacts.] [You may choose one of the two Holy Artifacts of this Gaea Life Star.] [You may choose one of the three Godly Artifacts of this Gaea Life Star.] [Your karma is bound to this world!] [Choose wisely.]Jodye found himself absolutely flabbergasted. What damn pharaoh’s soul, what guardians, and what life stars? Could this be related to the mystery surrounding his unique soul?
“This should definitely be the case,” thought Jodye. Maybe he could finally find some answers here.
“Seniors, can you tell me what a Pharaoh’s soul is?” asked Jodye Trill.
[The Pharaoh God soul can only be possessed by descendants of the original members of the Nova God clan…or the reincarnations of true Nova Gods] [Having a god soul in the vessel of a hero means you are a fallen god…] [Descendant of the Nova…] [Child of peerless destiny…] [Scion of the light…] [This is all we can tell you.]Jodye closed his eyes, and took a brief moment to process this information, filing it away in his mental workspace and storing it in a new cabinet, for later contemplation. After this was done, he opened his eyes growing excited again.
“So then, there are actually a total of thirteen guardians and artifacts on the platform of destiny?” Jodye Trill was surprised, this was information that wasn’t even recorded throughout the hundreds of thousands of years of research available in the libraries back at home.
Right after he finished speaking, the two figures of light slowly faded into nothing revealing two items releasing white glow behind them, and three items in the back of those that possessed a scarlet golden glow. Jodye’s eyes lit up as he rushed forward, immediately bypassing the sword and bracelet releasing milky white light, stepping right past them to look at the three free items surrounded by scarlet-gold light, which was being emitted by the runic diagrams drawn on the artifacts.
On the left was a T-shaped amulet with a looped upper half. Jodye was surprised because in his view this amulet was clearly an ankh, a symbol from an ancient civilization of his former world. The Ankh amulet was near the size of his own head. In the middle, there was a giant violet black, and ancient looking tome, covered in law runes, about the size of little Jodye Trill’s real body. On the cover of the book was a circular symbol of a flood dragon swallowing its own tail. The tome was taller than himself, and it gave off a desolate and mysterious aura, that seemed to want to suck him in.
On the right, there was a spectacular looking half-crown. The front of the crown was a winged uraeus, and attached to the crown was a royal blue cloth with golden stripes fluttering despite the lack of wind. Jodye was utterly dumbfounded as he recognized this from his previous world as well. He was confident that it was near identical to a nemes headdress crown worn by the ancient pharaohs of Egypt. Merely, it was far more dazzling. The headdress gave Jodye a feeling as if it was calling his name. He was dazed for a moment before turning his attention back to the giant ancient tome in the center.
“An ouroboros..” Jodye Trills eye’s sparkled as he stared at the symbol on the front cover of the ancient tome for a moment more. The wolf boy had been pretty adamant about Jodye selecting this grimoire.
Jodye was no fool, and he had some suspicions as to why that could be. The most excellent reason should be the difference between fusion and synchronization. However, could Jodye subdue that combat soul and force a fusion? No doubt the soul flame was unwilling. He had confidence in the strength of his soul. Then Jodye remembered those green and black flames. He suddenly lacked confidence.
After taking some time to consider, Jodye followed the method recorded in ‘Sage Art Volume I: The Host Awakened,’ sinking his spiritual perception deep into the tome in front of him. Suddenly the world around him seemed to melt away as if it was swiftly replaced. He was now standing on a small platform with an Ouroboros symbol on top of it. Standing in front of him was a human-shaped, scarlet-gold, fiery figure of light, floating there with his hands folded. Then Jodye heard the mysterious voice of the fates again.
[A question, fated one.] [The others are far more compatible for you.] [You only cannot imagine what you will obtain.] [Nor can we divine it.] [Why is it that you have chosen this Grimoire, fated one?]“The voices in my head told me I should!” shouted Jodye Trill without a hint of shame. These ‘others’ the fates spoke of were surely the other two scarlet golden artifacts. There was a moment of silence before Jodye felt that melodic voice in his soul once more. This feeling was a bit wonderful and made him feel like dancing.
[To establish compatibility with a fate artifact, you must awaken a Combat Soul. ] [We will tell you nothing of the functions of this artifact. ] [We will provide no assistance in the establishment of the link. ] [If you are unsuccessful, we will immediately eject you from this zone.] [You will never be able to obtain an artifact of fate. ] [Do you still wish to continue? ]Jodye frowned. Nothing that happened here was the way it had been described in the books. He was beginning to doubt the credibility of this world’s authors. He also didn’t enjoy being threatened very much, but what could be done about it? Fight with fate? This was literally a dumb idea. Putting aside the fact that he was speaking with some alien life form, this wasn’t even the physical world!
Why did it seem like the guardians of fate disagreed with his decision? Could it be that the wolf boy was really trying to trick him? He somehow didn’t feel that to be the case. It was almost as if… it was the guardian who was afraid. At any rate, he had already been made aware of the inherent importance of this decision by that mysterious voice in his head.
This being the case, Jodye Trill relaxed his face and nodded his head. However, the struggle that he was anticipating all this time was destined to not occur. Immediately after giving his consent, the symbol on the ground radiated a violet light and a couple of wolf howls sounded. Jodye felt a weak link establish in his mind. Baffled, he had no time to react before he felt his consciousness start to fade uncontrollably.
But before his spiritual body could fade away, a sapphire crystal gem floated out from his glabella releasing a blinding light. After the light faded, Jodye found himself facing the same artifacts once again. However, this time there were only two artifacts with the scarlet-gold light behind them. The center artifact was gone.
Jodye Trill stared in shock at the destiny star that floated silently in front of himself. Before this moment, he had actually gotten so accustomed to it floating quietly behind him that he had forgotten about it, like a shadow.
“This must be the special function of the fate gem after rebirth!” Jodye Trill thought to himself, before turning his attention back to the front as his eyes lit up. “So then, the next one should be my own choice.”
Jodye now had a faint image deep in his mind. With his Mind’s Eye ability active, he was able to feel that there was somehow a new space behind the center of his brows, or at his glabella. Inside this space was a small ancient tome, floating serenely in the void. When his perception touched the book, new information appeared in his mind.
‘Cosmos Revolving Grimoire’
‘Chaos force baptism in progress: 13%.’
‘Serenity Force baptism in progress: 5%.’
‘Calamity Force baptism in progress: 7%.’
‘Synchronization with Host in progress: 1%.’
‘Guardian 1: Cosmos Devouring Sky Wolf47Cosmos Devouring Sky WolfCombat soul of Jodye Trill. True soul of Sylvester Sylknarius Tricko, heir to the great Sephiroth of Anubis Great World. Consciousness and true form unlocked., Compatibility rating: 57%.’
‘Guardian 2: Mighty God Jackal, Compatibility rating: 33%.’
Jodye Trill exclaimed in surprise, “Are these new guardians my combat souls?”
