Karma

"To dare invade the soul of someone I am overseeing, you've become even more daring than you were in the past," the holy aura continued.

"Divin-"

"That's enough," the holy aura cut off Celestial Soulrend.

The temple soul silenced instantly, and once more John was shocked. Even a powerful soul like that was cowed by the holy aura.

"You were unaware, or I'm sure you would have never dared to do so. This formation of yours is truly not bad, you must have spent a terrifying amount of resources and time on it. It's thanks to it that I am willing to come out in the open, so I won't be too hard on you."

"It's thanks to this formation that I've been able to linger on for so long as well. But my time is soon coming to an end," responded Celestial Soulrend.

Silence filled the air before the holy aura continued. "I see you've yet to find a successor, even after all this time, and you refuse to take someone like him even with your soul on the verge of collapse," said the holy aura.

"Unfortunately this world has regressed so much over the years, that not a single suitable candidate has shown up throughout the eons. As for this boy, his soul is quite strong, but I'm sure you know that it's not suitable for my soul arts," Celestial Soulrend responded.

"True. However, there is one in this world who is suitable. You will train him, and prepare him for the war to come."

"War? So it hasn't ended? A pity," Celestial Soulrend responded in a raised voice, and John could clearly hear the gravity of the situation in his words. Clearly this war was something even they were intimidated by.

"It has only been a momentary respite, but before long they will reappear," stated the holy aura. John had no idea what war they were talking about, but it sounded quite serious.

"Who is this boy you speak of? Is he the same one mentioned by this boy here?" Asked Soulrend.

"That he is. Even you will be impressed by what you find" responded the holy aura's voice.

"War? What war?" John couldn't help but interrupt. Although he knew it wasn't his place to talk here, his curiosity got the best of him.

"Boy, this involves secrets you are unable to bear the burden of. In fact, you already know too much," Celestial Soulrend said to John.

"Let me guess, it has to do with Karma," John responded, slightly in a mocking tone. He was sick of hearing about Karma, as he had never experienced it yet, but it was continually used to keep him in the dark.

"Boy, you have no idea-" Celestial Soulrend started to speak with slight anger in his voice, but was once more cut off by holy aura's voice.

"It's fine. He'll have to learn sooner or later that there are forces in this universe more terrifying than he can imagine. The sooner he learns, the greater his odds will be."

John suddenly felt an incredible power from the holy aura wash over him, more powerful and profound than anything he had felt before. He wanted to ask what was happening, but before he could speak, he started to see many faint translucent lines appear in his vision. The thin white lines appeared to snake towards him from every angle, and they all entered his body.

"What the hell? Is this Karma?" John asked, trying to cut the lines off his body, but no matter how he tried, he was unable to interact with them at all. The lines started to become more solid in appearance, with one line in particular growing brighter and more powerful. John was horrified to find that an ever increasing sense of danger began to envelop him from that particular thread.

Before long, he felt as if he was being stared at by the very universe itself, and he had never felt so small in his life before. Although he was unsure of exactly what was going on, John was convinced that he would meet with death eventually if this was allowed to continue.

"These are the threads of Karma which you have invoked."

Snip!

The brightest line, which was giving John the greatest sense of danger, was suddenly snipped. The line faded into nothingness, and John felt the creeping sense of doom suddenly vanish.

"And this particular line I just severed was the Karma you had just invoked by learning about the war."

"What?" John blurted out in shock. He had only learned that there was a war, not even when it was fought, who was involved, or what happened. Merely the knowledge of it was enough to attach a thread of Karma to him that he was unable to bear.

"If this thread was not cut, sooner or later, a calamity would befall upon you. If you have the strength to withstand it, then Karma can be ignored, but as you are right now, just this little bit of Karma will be your end," the holy aura's voice explained.

"If Karma is so amazing, then how did you just sever the thread?" John asked. Although he was sure it was much more complicated than he could ever imagine, he still had to ask. If he could learn this power, then maybe he could control his own Karma, although he doubted this was possible.

"Boy, there are only a few people who have ever managed to do what was just done. Do not think interfering with Karma is such a trifling matter," Celestial Soulrend spoke up, and John could hear some anger in his voice. Clearly he had upset Celestial Soulrend slightly.

John took in a deep breath of cold air.

'It seems as if Karma is even more terrifying than I imagined.'

The power that the holy aura was using vanished, and he was once again unable to see the threads of Karma attached to him. He was still sweating from the feeling he had just felt.

He stood there in silence for some time, and Celestial Soulrend and the holy entity didn't speak as well. But based on his understanding of them, John was sure that they had begun to communicate directly between each other to avoid invoking more Karma on himself.

All of a sudden, the holy aura's voice spoke up.

"My time is up. Soulrend, you know what to do."

In an instant, the holy aura vanished, leaving John alone once again with the soul of Celestial Soulrend.