Inheritance of Fate

Ardyn was surprised as he felt his consciousness fade from his body and appear in the spiritual world of the elder. He had lived inside the sect as a servant since he was born, working his way to maturity in order to be selected as one of the eligible souls to ascend onto the path of spiritual supremacy.

Looking around the weird land he saw a great tree. it grew large and it's leaves bore many unique types of fruit. but in the center of the tree was almost a diamond, it was easily visible despite the rest of the foliage in the way. A grand sword was able to be seen inside the gem-like fruit

"Would the disciples who haven't fully formed their spiritual presence please stop being distracted with my world and ready themselves for the procedure?" The old man spoke out, causing Ardyn and when he actually bothered to extend his presence beyond mere vision, multiple other orbs of what he could only believe to be spirits, shudder in embarrassment.

Trying to say sorry was a weird experience. since he didn't technically have a mouth he couldn't get any words out. so he focused on emulating the forms of the other disciples that didn't get distracted with the unique experience of being in soul form and began to create his body.

the process was definitely an experience for him. feeling his shape slim and condense, his colors changing and his form becoming more distinct. Looking around he saw he was around the middle of the pack when it came to the creation of his spiritual form. so when he felt his feet touched the ground he still had to wait for some of the stragglers to finish up.

"I'm sorry for the distraction Master." Ardyn said when he had finished, bowing to the old man that had allowed them into his spiritual world. "I was just distracted by the grand tree over there." only after Ardyn finished apologizing did he realis that no one else was speaking, meaning he spoke out of turn...

A blush of embarrassment slowly formed on his face while the old man gently smiled. "Seems our new batch has an eye for quality. that is my Yggdrasil Bough. a spiritual artifact I cultivated throughout my years on this earth. and it is the key to our sect's future."

"Why is that Master?" another one of the disciples asked. this one was a girl, she seemed curious about the man, and the young man beside him. It was the young master's turn to speak up. everyone could see the pattern of a blade flowing across his immature soul. a far cry from the formless souls everyone else had.

"The Yggdrasil bough can grant an inheritable boon to one's spirit. My father used the majority of his life to grant me and my children unique talent with the sword." he traced the blade pattern across his spiritual body as he did so.

"My son is correct. The spiritual energy of the world has been waning ever since the demons decimated our precursors. It is the duty of the entire sect to find a way to restore the spiritual energy of this world, before the demons come and finish the job."

So he was finally unveiling the secret of the demon scourge. they found many ruins and shattered artifacts of the precursors. Ardyn remembered when he was first allowed in the sect headquarters. the precursor castle it was built atop of was magnificent.

"We have been studying ways to self propagate spiritual energy instead of taking it from the air around us. My entire generation's goal was to study if the Yggdrasil Bough could truly grant an inheritance. We will use this and my son's spiritual insight to advance our sect and ensure our survival."

The young man smiled, he was basically being given the keys to the castle for being born. but with these insights. At least Ardyn understood why he had the position of young master. he was truly the best of the disciples and their key to defeating the demons when they returned. "I hope that we will not fight over petty position and will work towards a great future."

Ardyn could definitely tell that some people were getting annoyed by the arrogance. but he could accept this position. The young master was given many privileges because hid duty was written right into his soul. the would not be able to escape the fate he was born into.

Now follow me." The elder stated with a curt turn before walking off. that explanation had been short but had given many things for each person to think about. As they walked through the Elder's spiritual world, they marveled at what they found. Grand statues of swords, one large structure that seemed to take strands of spiritual power and turn them into flame. Ardyn had heard of spirit elements before, but seeing a spirit flame refinery was a sight to behold.

However, all this marveling came to an end when the procession of disciples stopped in their tracks, coming up to what could only be described as a grand structure: the spirit crucible. Everyone was told about the spirit crucible. it was usually the core of any spiritual world. where one could turn spiritual power into soul.

"This is my spirit crucible. and here is where I will reinforce your souls into a powerful base to begin your journey. To show you how it is undertaken I will have my son undertake the process first." he waved to his son, who frowned.

"Dad, I know I'm the future but don't make me the spotlight of this whole event. you don't want to stifle the wills of the other disciples." the old man only laughed at that and pushed his son forward. The young man let out a yelp as he almost flew into the crucible, which then compressed down upon him and spiritual energy began to flow towards it.

"Interesting, this is different than my spiritual energy." Was all the man said as everyone watched the process of the young master spiritually awakening and gaining a soul powerful. enough to conduct the spiritual refining.

It took about five minutes but the young man stepped out again. Everyone could feel an oppressive aura coming from his form. the aura seemed to separate him from his father's world by a fine, barely noticeable line. "Father, I saw memories of someone else... what happened?"

The old man beamed at this. "My son! you have inherited a lost soul, congratulations!"

"Lost soul? you hadn't taught that to me before."

"That is because it is extremely rare. to inherit another soul speaks volumes to your talent and future ability. even I was not lucky enough to inherit a soul on the path of reincarnation." As the man said that almost everyone gasped in surprise.

And of course, Ardyn was getting jealous now. the other male disciples were too. the young master was getting almost everything handed to him on a silver platter by birth alone. his father didn't help him, it wasn't a disparity from the rich and poor, it was basically adding insult to injury with how far apart the young master was to everyone else.

"Now the rest of you begin the ritual, I need to begin teaching my son." The elder almost dragged the young master off. Ardyn could barely catch the view of the young man frowning. Seems he wasn't all that excited to get doted on by everyone. But Ardyn was sure that he would be treated as a servant like before.

An hour passed without incident. the spiritual energy would flow from the world they were in and help refine the souls of the new disciples. Ardyn was finally brought to the crucible. he was one of the last disciples to be refined and he hoped that he wouldn't be given a lesser portion because of his placement.

The imposing structure looked even more intimidating up close. He could see the places where the grinding and refining would take place, and he already felt like the process would be extremely painful... but looking at everyone else with their soul arua, he clenched his teeth and entered the machine. beginning the process.

What he felt when the refining began was... unique. it wasn't painful, but like he was being added to. his very existence growing in size and power. that didn't add long though, as random thoughts began to enter his mind. A deluge of concepts, images and words were flowing through his mind and it was almost overwhelming.

Though as he felt his presence evolve and grow one statement seemed to be repeating in these thoughts: The "inheritor of lost fate." He could tell that whatever was thinking that was not referring to themselves or himself... was this the reincarnation inheritance the elder was talking about? Ardyn could think no more as he lost consciousness from all these thoughts overwhelming him.