The throne room really could be described as a palace only worthy of gods and immortals. The throne, exquisitely crafted from gold and studded with jewels, was surrounded by pristine white marble tiles, showcasing the immense wealth of the owner, stood in front of a waterfall that filled a lake with cristal clear water, revealing countless golden carps swimming here and there making ripples on the suface of the otherwise still lake. What really drew the eye though, was that at the center of such a serene scene, was a young man with mesmerizing, golden iris's, with a pattern of different shades that seemed to be constantly changing. He was dressed in pure white robes with seams sewed with golden thread that accentuated the beautifully smooth and pale skin. With that slight smile of his, he was so handsome and charming, even straight men would have no choice but to look twice. The light refracted off the waterfall behind him, forming a rainbow above his head giving the impression of a halo. What really gave away this fantastical setting as something paranormal was that if one looked closely enough, there was a person, tiny in comparison to the man on the throne, standing in behind an equally tiny table. The teenaged boy had his head lowered and eyes averted in apparent respect. However, the exposed tips of his ears were visibly red.
"So now will you sign this, if you please?" A magnetic voice reverbrated through the room.
"Yes, sir Immortal. I'll do it immediately , sir Immortal!" The boy said quickly, eager tho please the 'sir Immortal' in front of him. He grabbed the sheet of paper and the pen that had appeared out of thin air before him and signed his name awkwardly in the only space available on the sheet full of foreign scribbles. He must have been very exited, as his hand shook constantly while he was writing, causing him to spill some ink. He was obviously very inexperienced with writing using a quill, as every time he dipped the quill in the ink that looked like liquid gold, he would bring up large blobs that gathered on the tip. That meant that whenever his hand shook, drops of ink would come flying off, staining the page.
By the time he finished, he was already starting to fade, and for the first time since he arrived, he looked up without immediately looking away again. Then, the immortal looked down at him and smiled sincerely.
"Good luck."
The boy responded by blushing a deep red and opened his mouth to say somthing. He hesitated for a moment, before finally going through with it.
"Actually… you've got some dirt on you're face."
"…" Before he could find anything to say the teenager had already disapeared.
Shaking his head, he looked at where the boy had signed the paper. The sight that greeted his eyes made hime feel a pain in his heart; splashes of ink were all over the table, quickly eating through it.
"This really makes me want to cry. Don't you mortals know how to treat something valuable with care!? That ink is made from the virgin blood of Karma, The Godess of Reincarnation!" He had a gentle look in his eyes when he mentioned her name, but they were quickly filled with anger. It was amazing how the handsome face from before had turned into something that would induce nightmares. "Damnation! You mortal, I will curse you're soul to forever recieve retribution in the 18 layers of Hell!"
He disappitated the illusions he used to fool the teenager, revealing he and his abodes true appearance. His skin turned as black as charcoal, his ears grew pointed tips, and his pure white robe turned into a golden breastplate.
"I can't believe I was tricked into wearing this Cursed Item." He said, looking down regretfully at the armor. "I can't even take it off too change into something more comforterble. At least I have the Willpower to resist its soul drain now, but it still restrics my strength, and how dare they use my beloveds name to fool me!" After venting some of his anger cursing at Them, he looked around agian and relished in the feeling of home. Marble had turned into obsidian, water turned into lava, carps turned into dragons, swimming happily through the glowing liquid.
Summoning the contract that the boy, no, Julian J. Thompson , had unwittingly signed, he quickly read through it. It was written in divine text, which only ascended beings could learn and read, so it was no wonder Julian couldn't understand it. It was lucky he hadn't asked him about it, afterall his race had a rather annoying trait: he couldn't lie. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather he physically couldn't. When he didn't find what he was looking for, he read it again. And again. And again. Until he realized he had read it over 100 times.
This time tears really did come to his eyes.
All the statements saying things like 'Signing this contract gives the contracter full rights and ownership of the mind, body, soul, spirit and other possessions of the contractee, Julian J. Thompson' in the small print at the bottom of the page of the contract (You know, just in case), had been masked by ink. In fact, every statement that was harmful to him had been stained. Fearing the worst he looked back at where Julian had signed originally. By now the ink should have done it's magic and bound the soul to the contract, after all souls are Karma's Domain.
"*sniff* This made me think of a memory from before I Ascended and awoke my bloodline, when I was still a child. I was born on what we call a third world planet that wasn't very well developed. My parents were commoners and took every job they could from the nobles to afford to go to school, and they always came back home late at night and left early in the morning, meaning I spent very little time with my parents, but those times were precious… They really cared about me alot. Anyway I was always bullied back then, because even though I had a very good combat ability, I coudn't fight back or I would cause truable for my parents who worked for their noble houses. But I just couldn't understand why they were born into noble houses but not my parents. They couldn't have been saints in their previous reincarnations; after all they were so cruel to me, whereas my parents were so kind. One day I couldn't hold back my curiosity and asked my parents. Father just hugged me and said 'The heavens aren't fair!'. I thought I understood back then, but that was just me being naive."
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There it was. Büjicci Saldéno, Favored by Fortune, Fate's Chosen. His True Name plus two Primordial Blessings. When even one is almost unheard of, two of such magnitude? Simply outrageous! Since The Creator split Themself apart to create the realms, its rulers, and all life in them, Fate has only chosen one soul before! And when that soul incarnated as a beast, it almost destroyed a whole realm. It took the Ascended from all the realms working together to subdue it! And to be favored by Fortune itself! As far as he knew it has never happened before! At least he wasn't bessed by time…
The heavens really weren't fair, unlike the great System who valued hard work before anything else.
"Where did he say he was from again? Earth? I really must see what kind of place it is to be able no nurture a soul of this caliber."
"Ow!"
The sudden feeling of pain in his soul woke him up from his thoughts. He knew what this pain meant. It was the backlash of his barrier being broken. A barrier crafted from various unique materials including a portion of his soul was not broken easily. It could only mean one thing.
"They have found me!"
He summoned his soul-bound weapon from the storage granted by the System, Inventory. He carressed the string inbetween his fingers, the familiar sensation granting him comfort.
"It's good to see you my friend. At least you will be by my side forever and won't betray me."
The bow buzzed in response. It could talk, but for some reason, ever since the accident, it preferred not to. It could change into different forms, but the bow was definately his favorite.
"*sigh* I know we don't have chance with my strength restricted, but I can't give up without a fight."
It didn't take long before the intruders were standing before him.
He took a moment to use the skill Analyze on them and several windows came up in his vision.
Name: ???
Job: Goddess of Justice
Level: ???
Titles: ???
Race: ???
???
Name: ???
Job: Angel of Death
Level: ???
Titles: ???
Race: ???
???
Name: Karma
Job: Goddess of Reincarnation
Level: ???
Titles: ???
Race: ???
???
Ah, with his level and skill levels lowered by the curse, he couldn't see much. Oh well, he only did it by habit anyway…
Wait, Karma?!
He looked at her again, this time actually paying attention to how she looked, rather than just to fulfill the condition, in line of sight, for the skill Analyze.
"Karma?" His voice cracked.
She turned towards him, her eyes showing conficting emotions before finally settling on determination.
"I'm sorry… No! I'm not sorry! My husband would never devour innocent souls to sustain himself, no matter how desperate! That attack damaged your soul! Don't you know what that means? Maybe if you weren't so stubborn and asked me for help… Now look what you've done!"
"I… Fine!"
He drew his bow, forming an arrow of golden flames…
"Ah!" He exclaimed in surprise, as when he released, instead of launching the arrow at his target, the bow morphed into a rope, winding itsway up his arm until his whole body was constricted.
"Why?" He cried out in sorrow, "Why is everyone against me?"
"Your wife is right." A gruff voice rang in his mind. "There is a reason the System took away all your Titles and Blessings safter that event. You're not the same person anymore. I hoped you would recover, but it's already been 100 years!"
"Then what about you two?" He spat directing the qeustion at Karma's companions, "Whats you're excuse?"
"You think devouring souls so that they can never reincarnate is just?" the goddess asked casually.
"What, is it not obvious? If you grab the souls before they can even go to the underworld to be judged, how will the evildoers go to hell? And how will those heroes get a taste of paradise before they reincarnate? My Master is furious. If it wasn't for the fact he still has a few centuries worth of backlog to catch up on, he would have come here himself. Those Restless Souls couse a lot of trouble in the mortal realms, especially on those planes where the mortals don't know how to deal with them. The Reapers are being payed overtime!"
He frowned at their obvious ridicule, but before he could comment on it, Karma was already talking.
"Enough! At the very least, when he was my husband he was a hero! And he saved many mortals by choosing to recieve that injury instead of avoiding it! More than he has devoured, anyway!"
"But that wasn't him! You said it yourself…" Justice muttered, though everyone here had senses sharp enough to hear her.
"Just finish him already, who's going to do it?" Everyone turned to Karma. She was clearly reluctant, but in the end she accepted.
"Fine."
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Karma was in her pocket dimension staring in regret at the soul in front of her. Maybe… Maybe if she had put her foot down… no, it was no use wallowing in her sorrows of the past. Only a tiny speck was glowing golden as it used to; she knew because she often looked at her husbands soul using her skill Soul Sight, back before he was injured and started avoiding her. The rest of it had turned into a dark, rotten lump of soul. Sighing for the hundredth time that day, she decided on what to do.
Using one of the skills the Job, Goddess of Reincarnation, granted her, Flame of Karma, she burnt the rotten parts of the soul, leaving behind a pure, golden speck, unharmed by the flames. Karma looked at it hesitating, before bringing the ethereal flame back to the soul. As it burned, the golden colour faded, leaving it a pure white colour, untainted by the world.
"It will be better that way." She convinced herself, "Having thousands of years of memories is not good in a mortal body. I left just enough of his essence there that he might regain them when he's strong enough."
However, that did little, evident in the way she sat there in front of the misty white soul. She sighed again; the pitiful soul was so weak that the spiritual pressure from the æther of most places in even the mortal realm would crush it. It was already starting to disappitate now the last remnants of divinity had been removed. She searched her memories for a suitable place to reincarnate him until she finally found one: Earth, a planet so lacking in æther, that even the system couldn't reach out to people there. Decision settled, she clapped her haands and the soul vanished.
"Goodbye, my dear husband. I look forward to when you can stand next to me again."