Chapter 4

Like any life – Ludwig's also had found his end. Unlike his thoughts suggested, he wasn't found out. The way of his murder was successful, and the police believed that they were all 'random' murders of the 'street', having no relation to each other.

He had a life full of happiness, he had a well-build career as a therapist with several masterworks, a wife and child, his wife being a lawyer that worked for the 'evil' side, to be specific, for the criminals, while his child grew up in a home full of love and had a lot of independence and privacy. He followed his mothers' steps and became a criminal lawyer, but he also took a part of Ludwig and learned the way of therapy to understand humans better, it worked well for his job as a lawyer, so he didn't mind it.

In comparison to all the other things that happened in Ludwig's life, his wife was truly one of the common ones. They got to know each other through friends during their university time and reconnected later on in their thirties when they realised that among all the friends, they were the only ones to not have married.

There wasn't much love among them, if they were honest, but they liked each other's intellect and the talks between them, especially since the other side didn't judge them on their work career, as they had pretty similarly frowned upon work of fields. The comfort of each other's presence brought them many well felt years.

…

It was the deathbed of Ludwig, he had lived a long and great life, so he didn't regret anything and had his soul leaving his body. He looked at his wife that has as many wrinkles as the deaths he caused, and then he looked at his body, which was just as wrinkly as hers.

Both of them were smiling in their sleep, just that it was the last for Ludwig. He felt his soul lifting away from the plane of existence, drifting into the dark universe. His soul wandered all around and he saw other souls flowing next to him now and then, as if they flickered in and out of his sight. He flied long and saw many different planes of existences.

They weren't planets, but more like large lights all around the universe that indicated sentient life, at least that was his guess, for he saw the same light from where he left. Some lights were smaller, while others lighted up like huge lightbulbs.

Ludwig's soul drifted for a long time, as he felt his soul flicker too, he thought that maybe, his soul was exhausted and about to break down into its core. Maybe, that was the so-called soul cleansing, where he would lose all his memories and his 'self'.

Right at this point, when the outermost layer of his soul shattered, several different shards of souls glowed brightly, showing different views and memories. They were all different, but one thing connected them all – they were the murders he had committed.

These shards glowed brightly and became a mantle all around his soul, weighting heavy on him, while also giving him a secure feeling. The power of the universe seemed to not have sensed something and put in greater strength, he suddenly felt his emotions stirred.

His desire to kill stemmed solely from liking it, not from a fanatic sensation, so the power found it hard to make a decisive blow that would shatter all the desire away. The shards never stopped glowing and whenever a part of the desire shattered, the shards would glow purer and stronger, reviving that part of his desire and letting him continue.

The power of the universe slowly stopped attacking, having 'registered' that Ludwig had been cleansed, even though that wasn't the case – it seemed that the universe only registered the damage he suffered, not what he had recovered.

Ludwig was very confused, he was conscious when all this happened, and felt the great power of the universe, but he also felt that the power had not used any strength on him at all, barely supressing him a bit. It didn't think that he had any way of defending himself, so it didn't pay him any attention. This, in turn, let Ludwig wander the universe once more.

He saw different souls flicker and some of them shattered, when he was in front of one of the largest light bulbs he saw, he looked at it deeply and wondered what a world this big would look like. At this moment, a soul flew out of it.

Ludwig saw it flicker and shatter faster than others, it seemed that this soul was weak and young, so Ludwig went to the soul and took some of those shards, viewing them. He wasn't sure why, but the universe just let the shards dissipate on their own, not fully destroying them.

Getting to know this, he viewed the soul-shards of different people all around this large light bulb. However, when he had touched the young soul that was shattering very fast and read their memories, suddenly, he was pulled.

A string attached to the shards pulled him with the shards. The shards had slowly dissipated but the memories stayed with Ludwig, so he slowly understood the situation. Yet before he could even think of doing anything, his soul was already entering the large light bulb.

…

On a large stone square, many young men were sitting around meditating and healing, they had wounds all over their body. To the side another batch of young men came, having much more severe wounds. The young men meditating opened their eyes and peeked, getting a shock about the many that died in the last test.

This was the test to become a trainee-steward of the nomadic Stardust family. Everyone present was an orphan, one way or another. They had been picked up by servants of the family and were allowed to stay if they promised to participate in this test.

Yet barely anyone who participated would survive – the exam was much more difficult than one would imagine. Many hurdles had to be crossed, until one arrived at the final exam, which was one where they had to fight bare-handed with a demonic beast. The family was special in that they would send their teenage children away from the family, letting them adventure throughout the world and then set up a branch where they feel at home.

This procedure ensured many years of prominence for the Stardust family, making them a middle-sized family with considerate wealth. They were still no match for the large families, not even some of the other middle-sized families, but their way of living ensured that they would never die out, while they also got a strong intelligence network.

The teenagers of their family needed protection and assistance, and this was often in the form of a steward. So, they would train and invest a lot into their stewards – with the intention of making sure that their children were safe throughout the journey. Once the steward helped the children establish their own branches, they were allowed to either leave and live on their own, or join the branch they established, becoming the elder of that branch.

With this system, they had succeeded many times, and even if the stewards left, they still would receive the status of honorary elder and get a connection with a strong family, although they would have to fight for their benefits, it was still better than sole cultivators.

Still, all the work and difficulty were only lucrative to orphans, not talented individuals, making the test a hell ground where many died.