Consent is very important.

Not just in the context of intimacy, of course, but in all aspects of social interactions. Without consent, it was almost certain that at the least, one party involved would be inconvenienced, incensed, or infuriated; unpleasantness all around. It might even lead to conflicts. Violence in the worse of cases.

Receiving an invitation to leave their peaceful corner in the multiverse would have intrigued the entity somewhat. But being yanked so brusquely away from their place had miffed them more than a little.

Granted, the entity could have rebuffed the pull and send the beckoner words harsh enough to leave a searing brand on their brazen soul; they wouldn’t resort to assault just yet. As tempting a thought as it might be.

The fact that someone managed to reach them, however, was far more interesting. For this multiverse was essentially sealed. A call of this magnitude would have been used to direct at a specific name, a targeted summon. One designed to reach beyond the veil.

Since all major entities knew to avoid the barrier, every bit of the summoning magic had converged onto them: the future owner.

Might as well see whoever ignorant enough to do such a thing – inviting powers from the outside. And so, they let themselves be taken.

Arriving at an enclosed space underground, they found the one calling out to them no longer alive; only a flicker of its soul remained. Focusing their phantom sense of perception at the weakened soul, the entity could feel rage. Hatred. Absolute loathing to whoever offended its minuscule existence. It called to them. Demanded them to do… something.

They weren’t too good at picking up cues from souls’ wavelengths. Especially ones they could barely… hear, for a lack of better words. Even after sending the other souls back to the cycle, the entity still had troubles feeling the beckoner. The thing was fading.

Briefly turning their attention to other presences in the dank, dour chamber of stone, the entity was stirred by a sense of familiarity. Had they seen something like this in the past? Had they been here before? Or was it the fact that these creatures were similar to their original form? It could be anything, really; a side effect of the departure from their home.

Introspection would have to wait, however; the crystalline vessel would break in a few moments at the rate their presence was being transferred into the thing. As amusing as the idea of prancing about in the physical realm in a complete body, they didn’t want to actually damage the multiverse so soon after obtaining possession of one.

A bit of care would be prudent.

Cutting off the transfer, they left only a bit of power inside the crystal. This would be the first conversation they had with sentient, minor creatures of the physical realm; a suitably stylish entrance was necessary.

Shattering the vessel with flair, they watched the humanoid lifeforms for a few seconds before assembling their new, fleshy body. It was an easy thing, forming a vessel with organic functionalities; so easy, in fact, that the process had already begun before the entity remembered they hadn’t chosen their appearance.

There was no need to panic, certainly, but using a blank-state, bare-bone, completely basic look without any distinguishing feature would not do. Most of their identity had been discarded for the sake of privacy, but the entity’s sense of self was wholly intact. They weren’t about to show up to their new home as a side character; to fade in the background like a piece of furniture.

Seizing the beckoner, they extracted the most recent memory of its appearance to take for their own. Since the soul had had the gall to call them into the physical realm, it had to provide them with basic amenities at the least. Just a small concession for the illicit summoning.

Executing their command, the vessel immediately took a new shape.

As their body transitioned from inorganic to organic matter, the entity felt slightly disoriented. A strange thing for they were almost certain they had inhabited a vessel with a similar structure before. Yet it felt different. Foreign. Everything inside seemed wrong despite the outside being very much the same; it would take a bit longer to control their new limbs properly.

Suddenly, the soul in their grasp flared up; resonating as if it managed to regain some pieces of its broken self. The trigger wasn’t seeing its own face, however, but something else. Someone had uttered a name. The recognition calmed the beckoner’s soul greatly. They couldn’t help but let out a laugh. It was still seething with hatred, but the feeble thing’s wavelength had become more cohesive.

“Ashling? Was that your name…?” the entity shifted their gaze to the speaker, thoughtful.

They supposed taking on the beckoner’s name would be alright. The entity no longer had one, and the soul’s mortal identity was as good as gone. More importantly, Ashling, or more precisely – Caleb Ashling, didn’t sound too bad; saved them the trouble of coming up with a new one.

“Halt!” the armored humanoid at the front of the group bellowed as they took a step forward. “Baron Ashling, stand down and explain your presence!”

Quite a bit taller than everyone else in the uninspired welcoming committee, the speaker looked like to be a male of its species, similar to the vessel they were occupying. He had a head of steel-grey hair and a face marred with scar tissues and wrinkles. His full-plate armor looked to be of a much higher quality than the rest of the armed men as well; a little more bulk with regal accents without being gaudy. Very good mix of style and purpose.

Raising an eyebrow, they swept their gaze on everyone then back to the one who posed the question and opened their mouthpiece to reply. They paused at the feeling of smooth skin against their hand when they placed it on their hip. Looking down, the entity realized they were as bare as a hairless newborn.

Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue. But seeing everyone else with coverings – clothes – on, it felt a bit inappropriate to be the only one naked. So, they poked around in Caleb’s soul a bit to pick out a presentable outfit.

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Based on a significant presence in the young man’s memories, a raven black jacket of smooth hide hugged their torso snugly and fine feathers puffed up from the collar, framing the back of their neck with a layer of comfortably soft padding. In the place of open sleeves and breeches, they twisted the fabric a little, weaving them closer to their wrists and ankles. Finally, they enhanced the boots with sharp, pointed tips instead of keeping the original motif of a raven’s skull.

The garment in the soul’s recollection was also sleek and fashionable, but they preferred something less flowy, tighter around the thin, lanky frame of their vessel.

A tiny, nagging sensation tugged at them as they shifted and swayed, testing the fit as the sounds of weapons being drawn filled the chamber. It was suspiciously similar to an alarm; yet weak and distant. Like the type of warnings that people ignored because it was most likely something insignificant.

“That’s better,” the entity – who also went by the name of Caleb Ashling for the moment, flicked their head to the armored man. “As for your question. I don’t know. How about you tell me what’s going on, instead?”

Hardening his gaze, the man regarded Caleb silently while the military forces entered battle formation and surrounded them properly.

“Impudent brat! Duke Heinricht isn’t someone you ca-”

“Excuse me. We’re talking here.”

From the voice, Caleb guessed it was a male. They weren’t completely sure; the ambiance distorted sounds a bit. Whatever it was, the person also seemed to be more important than the rank and file in the room. Their armor was a touch better, but not to the degree of this man called Duke Heinricht.

“How dare-” the pestering one spluttered. “A mere baron has the gall to talk like that to his betters! I-”

“Can you get to the point?”

While the interrupter shook with fury, Duke Heinricht’s eyes were still fixated on Caleb. Calculating. “I see your father failed to teach you proper manners…”

“Enough, Marquess Julius,” having had enough of the long-winded guy, Duke Heinricht raised a hand to forestall any response and addressed the entity directly. “What are you?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m the one asking questions here, Baron Ashling. Or whoever you are.”

“And who decided that?” They tilted their head, unimpressed.

Brows snapped together and a dangerous glint sparked in his eyes; still, the Duke made no move. Caleb had no clear idea on whatever these ranks of duke or baron meant, but Heinricht looked to be fairly capable. Not the type to charge head-on into danger, for sure. That said, he also had the vibe of a beast coiling to strike; fists gripped tightly against the hilt of his weapon with his stance lowered.

They hoped the duke would choose to avoid combat. With the assimilation process cut off rudely by a certain soul, they couldn’t have a proper read on this multiverse’s limits. Something might break if they weren’t careful.

It appeared someone else was also not looking forward to a fight. From the side, a smaller humanoid creature with blond hair stepped up to the duke and made a supplicating gesture; its features looked to be that of a female of the species.

“Please, we shouldn’t be too forceful,” she beseeched the Duke Heinricht then whispered something as she lifted her head to an angle that obscured everyone’s but the man’s view of her face.

Others shifted uncomfortably while the duke’s expression transitioned from severe to thoughtful then back to intense and cold.

“If you would allow me, Duke Heinricht?” finally, the woman spoke in a low tone and the duke nodded; they both turned to face Ashling.

“At last,” they muttered; eyes rolling a three hundred sixty into the sockets then back out.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am High Priestess Sose,” clasping her hands, the woman made a small incline of her head and looked them in the eyes. “How may I address you, good sir?”

Wearing something that could be described as a ceremonial garb of white accented with gold, she was a head shorter than Heinricht. Which still put her in the upper part in height compared to the average of those present. Definitely half a head taller than Caleb’s vessel.

“Since they have called me Ashling, let us use it. Caleb Ashling is the name.”

“Caleb Ashling? That’s…”

“We’re not the same, if that’s what you’re asking,” the entity tilted their head.

“I… I see,” her gaze flickered as faint whispers broke out at the back of the group. “Can you tell us what happened to him?”

“You can find that out yourself,” they smiled lightly. “How about you answer my question since introductions are finished, hmmm?”

“Someone. Something dragged me here. Against my will.” Not technically true since they let it happen, but a little lie wouldn’t hurt. “And I want to know why.”

Everyone backed off slightly as Caleb channeled a bit of power into their speech; someone choked. They didn’t expect such a physical reaction. The amount of push was tiny. Wasn’t it?

“This is the site of a grand summoning ritual,” Sose shuddered, but held her ground; she gestured to the platform they were standing on. “We have called six heroes here to seek their aid. You, however… You are the seventh. An anomaly.”

“Ah… and?”

“We also want to know who you really are. And your intentions.”

Caleb could already tell a conspiracy was brewing. Literally. They knew about the fancy summoning circle underneath. If things were something as simple as that, why hide it?

The entity peered into the original Caleb’s soul to evaluate the situation as they thought it over. Even with a part of them meddling in the physical realm, the process of assimilation would still carry on without any issues; they could try seeing how ordinary creatures fare in this realm.

It certainly couldn’t be as complicated as their prior circumstances.

“How about this…” a smile crept across Caleb’s face as the decision was made. “I’ll follow along with these… heroes of yours; hear your pleas; then decide what I would do afterward.”

“That isn’t what we asked, Sir Caleb,” the tall woman deadpanned.

“Life can be disappointing.”

“You could be dangerous.”

“Your hero spiel might be fake.”

“It was supposed to be done later, but…” she muttered to herself. After a short pause, Sose swiveled around to a group of people and addressed them. “There is a way to see for certain. Please, esteemed heroes, think of the phrase [Status] in your mind and look at your title.”

Blinking blankly at the revelation, Caleb scoured the multiverse’s database with haste. And found a system was indeed integrated into the energy framework. They had no entry, however; must have been the result of that interruption. Internally sighing, they tuned their senses into the network. Might as well apply Caleb’s old entry to themselves. Then the entity noticed the alert. Remembered it, to be exact.

An intruder had been detected. It was them. They were the intruder.

Had they invested more power in this physical form, the alert would have prodded their senses with more force than the buzzing of a harmless insect. So careless. Caleb needed to be more attentive.

Scrutinizing the system, they found out the [Status] thing had a tagging structure and the old entry had put Caleb into two classes: [Stormbinder Elementalist] and [Blood Mage]. There were other things of note as well. Such as levels, attributes, titles, affinities, etc. Emotional clamor broke out as the heroes mused over their destined glory, but Caleb hardly noticed the excitement. They were too busy testing things out.

Basically, this was the type of system that encouraged personal power; one would gain a few attribute points and assignable points on level up based on their classes.

Groundbreaking.

Wondering who had implemented this between the creator and the prior owner, Caleb quickly selected a few rounded numbers in place of the ones the previous Caleb had possessed and changed their species from [Unknown Construct] to [Human].

“There you have it, Sir Caleb. Do show us your [Status],” the priestess calmly stated and waited for them to act.

Sose widened her eyes slightly when the ornate panel popped into existence by Caleb's side; surprised even though she had seen those of the heroes close by. As for why, they couldn’t tell. Hers and everyone else’s attitude softened marginally after confirming Caleb was indeed also a [Hero], though. They didn’t back away when Caleb strode forward. Most of them, anyway.

“Now then, shall we go?”