Unravel

As Alastair sat on the chair with an intrigued expression, she gazed upon the grimoire which had recently emerged before her. The Astral Codex slowly opened itself as Alastair finally saw what was within the grimoire, and the things she had seen within it were something she expected yet was surprised about. She then squinted her eyes as she started reading the grimoire.

'From what I had read, my information got plastered on this grimoire. It seems accurate from what I had known though I wonder if there are things I didn't know.' With this in mind, Alastair continued reading the grimoire as she wanted to see something she didn't know about herself.

After a while, Alastair sighed and shook her head in disappointment. There was no new information about herself, which was disappointing. What she wanted was simple. The information about her life before being enslaved or information about her parents. Those were the things she was mainly curious about.

Unfortunately, even the Astral Codex didn't have that information within them. Maybe she didn't have any parents, to begin with? Though if that was the case, where did she come from? The gears within her mind started spinning as thoughts continued to emerge out of nowhere.

Shai noticing Alastair's reaction to the Astral Codex, simply smiled and said with a calm voice. "Miss Alastair, the information within the Astral Codex is simply information confirmed by your own memories and the memories of people around you. That isn't the official Codex of your life, and it will never be one."

"So if you are curious about hidden memories, you can simply find them yourself. That is a journey worthy of your attention, isn't it?"

Alastair got out of her tranced upon hearing Shai's words and nodded. She took a deep sigh once again and replied with her soothing voice. "I apologize for that. Curiosity tends to plague me since the beginning of my consciousness. I hope you don't mind."

Shai and Soteria waved their hand as they didn't mind her curiosity that much. Alastair then continued on to read the grimoire. After a while, Alastair had finally reached the section of her first ability. And the description of her power was complex and complicated.

"Corrupt Miasma?"

"The ability to call upon the power of corruption, one can take its natural effect of rot and disintegration to break those considered to be enemies. But be warned, the ability doesn't separate allies and enemies, meaning when using it, you must be careful not to accidentally kill the people around you."

"The Corrupt Miasma can grow on power depending on how many souls you feed it. Its power will also grow as a result, and it might become uncontrollable in the future. Also, the elements within the mist are something that shouldn't be known. Therefore, the truth covered by it shall remain hidden."

"Hmm... This should be enough." Alastair sighed as she finished reading the description of the first ability. It was a long description, and she didn't want to continue treading on the power's complexity. The only thing she needed to know was how it works, and she already had a good idea about it.

"So was it useful, Alastair?" Shai questioned with a smile plastered on her face. Alastair thought about it for a short while and nodded. The information given by the grimoire was beneficial. It also warned her about how the ability could give her allies a hard time.

"Useful, I guess. Though I do have a question." Alastair had one question ever since she had heard of the grimoire and her first ability. She wanted to ask a question about it so that she could have a clear plan for her future. Shai tilted her head with curiosity plastered on her face.

"What question do you have, Alastair?" Curious about the question Alastair had in mind, Shai questioned with a calm tone. Alastair then nodded and replied. "From the words, first ability, does that mean I will have a second one or possibly a third one?"

Such was the curious thought Alastair had within her mind. If this was the first ability, she wondered about her second one and the next. She also wanted to know how to gain more abilities as it would give her a lot more choices rather than leaning everything she had on a single one.

"Yes, you are correct. You can receive a second ability, though, through certain requirements. If you are curious about it, I can tell you." Shai said with a smile forming on her face as Soteria stood up and began taking the plates out of the table. She entered the kitchen, leaving Alastair and Shai alone.

"I am curious... I want to get more abilities to give me more freedom in terms of surviving." Alastair nodded as she really wanted to get a new skill. The current skill she had was good, but it was simply like an aura effect that would affect both her allies and enemies. Naturally, though, that would happen if she had allies to begin with.

"Then, we'll start with the soul deal."

"The soul deal can be considered a summoning of a Krieger. It is a complicated task with a lot of sacrifices. For example, one soul would require to be the tunnel between the entangled and tangled. Another would be for the deal. One soul sacrifice for the deal would be 10 lives that could be possibly taken."

"Though, one random soul sacrifice wouldn't be able to work against taking a ruler's life. It operates in a balancing system. Meaning that the more important and known one is, the more their soul would be worth. Once again, for example, an average human would have 1 soul, a ruler would have tens of thousands."

"That would destroy the loophole of killing the people with the most influence through one soul."

"Such is how the exchange goes between the caller and the Krieger. It is a simple one at that so that no one would be able to do anything they want with the Materium Realms and bring trouble and chaos." Shai concluded with her short explanation about how soul deals work.

"I see... That is pretty simple. Influence and importance regulate the worth of the soul. A single dude wouldn't be able to sacrifice himself to kill ten rulers at once, which would be extremely chaotic. I didn't expect for the three beings of judgment to see that far into the problem of soul deal."

Alastair was surprised about the two giant eyeballs and the formless guy. They were beings beyond comprehension. They might have already seen her future, which might be why they wanted her. Though what was her future? There was no use in asking such a foolish question.

"Well, they have quite a lot of things which give a lot of limits to the soul deal. Though, I'd rather not speak of them as it is a long list." Shai said as she furrowed her eyebrows as she realized that she still hadn't answered Alastair's question about her abilities.

"I forgot about the explanation you wanted about your abilities." Shai sighed in disappointment towards herself. Well... The subject of the three beings of judgment was enough to distract her from the real questions. "Let's continue..."

"You can only get souls through the soul deal. The souls will be devoured by your body, and they will make you stronger. You can choose where to refine your souls. You can use them to refine your abilities, body, or even equipment. And if you are curious about why it's so cruel."

"No need to think much about it. The souls are simply lumps of Astral Energy. They don't have any consciousness, and most of the time, they go through deletion. You know... recycling materials into different ones." Shai said with a smile as Alastair silently thought within herself.

'That sounds crueler.'

Soteria then finished cleaning the plates and went back to the table. Alastair seemed to be happy with the information she had gotten from Shai. After all, she had an expression of satisfaction plastered on her face. Sitting on the chair, Soteria asked with a calm voice.

"So, did the two of you conclude on what you were talking about?"

"Yes, she had given me a lot of information. Most of them were useful." Alastair nodded in agreement as Soteria also nodded to herself. Shai then looked at the two as she had felt within her mind that she had forgotten something important. She had a lot of things to say, and sometimes, the most important ones get covered by such useless thoughts.

It would result in confusion which was something Shai didn't appreciate. After a short while, Shai realized what she had forgotten to tell. A wry smile formed on her face as she spoke in a calm voice with a tinge of worry.

"Also, there is one thing I want to say."

"It's time for you to leave this mansion."

After saying such words, silence enveloped the entire mansion. Alastair and Soteria slowly turned their gaze towards Shai, who was wryly smiling at the two of them. Their eyebrows furrowed as they didn't like the words escaping from Shai's mouth.

Alastair then took a short breath and questioned with a serious tone. "What are you trying to say, Shai? Can't we stay in this place? Why not? Is this yours? Then why the hell are were here? Is this a joke? Because it's far from funny."

It looks like that Alastair got pissed off after hearing Shai's words. Was her getting teleported into this place a sick joke to be broken apart for some reason? Soteria had a nerve on her forehead, signifying she was also angry despite acting calm and reserved.

"There is no need to worry about it, Alastair. You can only enter this place on the first dawn of every single day in the interval of seven days. After all, this place isn't a realm where the two of you should stay." A cold tone escaped from Shai's explanation.

"What are you trying to say?" Soteria questioned as Shai replied.

"This is the realm of Divum, also known as the realm of the Gods. No one without a divinity should be able to enter this place, but the two of you are an exception. If you don't leave this place, then the Gods would personally knock on this door and talk to you."

"I know that the two of you don't want any of such thing to happen. No one wants to deal with the Gods. They are eccentric in nature and are partly chaotic and annoying. Some serious and cold Gods would make you question your life choices by presenting better ones. Most broke apart when meeting them."

After hearing Shai's explanation, Soteria and Alastair looked at each other and nodded simultaneously. Soteria then stood up and spoke. "I'll take the things we need." Alastair nodded towards her as Soteria walked back to their rooms.

"Well then, we'll take our leave, Miss Shai." Alastair smiled as she also stood up, packing everything she needed to survive in the new world she was facing.

Shai found herself in shock as she couldn't believe how fast the two were on changing their expressions. A second ago, they were angry. Now they were packing without much of a talk.

'Well, I guess no one wants to meet the Gods.' A smirk formed on Shai's face as she couldn't help but think of the two visitors. Should she scare them? Nah, the three would get angry if she had done that. Shaking her head, Shai heard Alastair's voice from the second floor.

"Oi, Shai! Why am I glowing? Is this one of the features you were talking about?" Alastair shouted as she questioned her glowing body. She wasn't annoyed by it though it was a spectacular scene as her body glowed in twilight.

Shai raised an eyebrow upon hearing Alastair's words and thought to herself. 'That was fast. I can't believe that a deal is already coming in. Well, this is a piece of good news. I won't have to carry them into their jobs.' Shai stretched her body as she smiled and explained with a teasing tone.

"There is no need to be worried about that light, Alastair. It isn't anything special. It simply teleports you to your job. This is your first time, so be good with it. Otherwise, a lot would be disappointed."

"What job?" Alastair questioned as Shai answered.

"Your only one job, of course."

"The Soul Deal."