Jasmine found herself walking into the Temple of Sol alongside Neladrie, who was the cleric that had examined her the last two times she had been to the temple.
If the Temple of Zefree was impressive, then the Temple of Sol was simply extraordinary.
In front of the temple stood a statue of the sun radiating faint energy, which reassured Jasmine and made her feel protected. It was odd to feel the statue's power in such a dim state, but it only made sense as midnight was fast approaching.
Something else she had never seen until just then were the golden flowers that glowed with faint golden light and helped illuminate the temple's entrance like small shining stars in the night sky. She had seen the flowers in the small garden space on each side of the walkway before but had never actually seen them glowing. Naturally, that was because she had only been to the temple during the day before and thus could not differentiate the light golden glow from actual sunlight.
The temple itself loomed above Jasmine, but it did not feel like a giant monstrosity wanting to engulf her. Instead, the various sun adornments, which also glimmered with feint sunlight, gave the massive cathedral building a feeling of wonder and sparkling beauty.
Walking into the temple proper through a massive doorway held by white runic chiseled pillars, Jasmine yet again gazed at the praying area of the temple. And even though the place was empty of Sol’s venerators, the area was still filled with rows of comfortable looking wooden benches.
The inside of the temple was also filled with more adornments of Sol, such as shields, banners, and hanging pots filled with more of the golden flowers found outside. Most importantly, all these golden adornments reflected the warm and soft sunlight emitting from a much larger sun statue at the front of the praying space. These reflections caused the whole temple to glitter with almost magical rays of golden light as they illuminated it.
Above and between the golden glittering pillars that held the cathedral together were large golden-stained windows. The windows seem to be shattered into many pieces, each reflecting yellow, orange, and red light or a mix of the three. During the day, Jasmine knew that the large cathedral windows would let in large amounts of the sun’s light, which would then filter through the multi-color pieces and bathe the entire place in beautiful, warm colors.
Walking toward the large statue, Jasmine felt the same presence as outside but stronger, which only helped make her feel much safer and protected as a tinge of hope also wormed itself into her consciousness.
Walking past the statue, Jasmine and Neladrie passed through the door, giving a quick hello to the priestesses at the reception area before heading into the inner temple.
The pair walked into the ritual room, and Jasmine found that everything looked prepared and ready to go, which made her feel like the whole night had been planned in preparation for this moment. Neladrie, feeling Jasmine’s apparent displeasure at the sight, spoke up in a calm, respectful, but straightforward voice to let Jasmine know that whatever assumptions she was having were simply untrue.
“I just want to make sure you know that I did not have a ritual waiting just for you all this time. Though your condition interests me, know that you aren't that special in the grand scheme of things. I have so far merely wished to help you as whatever ails you is clearly affecting those around you, and I know you do not wish them any harm. So, before leaving to get you, I ensured preparations began for the ritual.” Then, pausing to motion for Jasmine to approach the ritual circle, she continued. “All that is required of you is to sit cross-legged at the center of the ritual. From there, I will begin the process. Do not worry; there is no danger in this. The ritual will simply manifest a visual replica of your soul so I can clearly see if it has been infected with something.”
Jasmine, wanting to get this over with, approached the ritual circle.
To her surprise, the ritual was much smaller than the one she had seen for her checkups, and the whole thing could fit inside her room. However, as Jasmine looked at the intricate lines and runic words, she was amazed to find the shining, almost entirely sparkling white metal known as Mythral. And as if that wasn’t enough, she also noticed Adamantine's light sky-blue color. The whole inlaid ritual was mainly made of these two precious metals. The only reason she even knew of them was due to her books and because Rose always made them pass by Keeper’s Keeper when they were out and about in the city. The large store had dozens of mythral and adamantine items for sale, which made Rose’s mouth water at the thought of wielding or wearing any piece of equipment made of the two metals.
After her initial surprise and her mind swirling with thoughts about the immense wealth inlaid into the floor, she gently sat down at the center of the ritual as if her mere touch was going to somehow depreciate the precious metals.
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Neladrie watched Jasmine examine the ritual circle as surprise appeared clear on the young girl's face. From how the girl was acting, it seemed Neladrie’s worst fears about a possible backlash from the curse would not come true. Otherwise, the girl wouldn’t be so calm and collected. In all honestly, and contradictory to her earlier words, Neladrie was actually looking forward to the results. She had just told Jasmine those things to hopefully alleviate the girl’s worries. Truthfully, Jasmine’s issues still puzzled her, but it was better to act like everything was fine and she was in control.
So, after seeing Jasmine sit still after examining the ritual, Neladrie prepared to end this mystery once and for all.
Neladrie stood in front of the small ritual circle inlaid with precious metals, and after telling Jasmine to relax and take slow, deep breaths, she began.
Though she didn’t need it, Neladrie began to draw the runic words of the soul spell she was about to chant. The words would transform and become a runic circle themselves, further empowering the words of power from her chant. She often skipped this part of spell casting, but soul magic was highly advanced, and she was actually nervous for the first time in what felt like forever. After all, this wasn’t a divination or a simple check-up ritual in which the ritual circle itself would do the heavy lifting. In fact, the ritual circle in the ground was only there to project a creature's soul by maintaining the connection from the incorporeal soul through the body and manifesting it into the corporeal realm.
Having completed the runic circle, which glowed with a deep green light as it spun, Neladrie began the chant.
“With ancient magic, let the whispered chants reality bend;
As summoned forth from the soul's deep end, the mind’s eye extends;
And in the ether's grasp, mysteries be explained.”
As the words came forth and the mana rushed from her soul, it passed through and was empowered by both the words of creation and the deep green circle before flowing toward Jasmine. The mana, finding its caster’s chosen target, put into effect the magic it was called forth to produce, and it enveloped Jasmine in a deep green aura before suddenly rushing into her.
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A second passed, and then two as Neladrie watched with held breath.
Then, in a rush of power that caused Jasmine’s hair to flutter, the ritual lit up with white and blue light as Jasmine’s soul image manifested above her head.
Neladrie, seeing the soul, released a gasp and watched intently as she tried to piece together what she was seeing.
Jasmine’s soul was a fake. Or rather, her real soul was being held prisoner by something.
To understand what was going on, one would have to study souls, which Neladrie had, in fact done and was qualified in her field of knowledge. So, she could say with certainty that souls did not work like Jasmine’s fake soul was operating.
The fact was that sapient mortal souls were simple in nature yet complex in their ability to allow growth. A soul had one job, which was split into many parts. The most important of these parts was a soul’s ability to draw in mana, hold and refine it, and then release it. To accomplish this, the soul was split into an outer shell and the inner core. Mana was drawn from the surroundings into the soul's outer shell, and from there, it would enter the inner core, where it was held and refined before being released back through the outer shell.
However, where the inner core could hold the refined mana, the outer shell held the more diluted mana. As such, when a creature pulled on its refined mana, it could dilute it before it was channeled through its body, allowing it to slowly and less painfully refine its body.
The problem with Jasmine was that Neladrie couldn’t see the clear division she would be able to see with someone else.
Something had somehow covered Jasmine’s soul with another artificial soul. This other artificial soul was performing the basic job of a soul but not to the same extent. This fake soul was drawing in the mana, but it would release it immediately instead of refining it or holding it for a few seconds like a commoner’s soul would.
Neladrie wasn't sure how Jasmine looked so healthy and fit after years of this, as even normal mortal bodies were refined just a little bit through this passive soul cycle. This refinement took years for commoners but would end around 16 to 20 years of age, regardless of species. That age gap was when a creature's body was naturally refined and would gain the maximum resiliency for its species. So, any mortal without access to this refinement would be much weaker than usual.
If Neladrie had to guess what was responsible for Jasmine’s healthy and vital life so far, she would guess it was due to her actual soul. Somehow, her real soul could still give her energy and keep her healthy all these years. Neladrie wasn’t sure how it happened, but that was the only thing she could think of.
At the very least, with the image in front of her, Neladrie could rule out the curse theory she had devised, though Jasmine’s predicament wasn’t that far off. Whatever had entrapped her soul with this fake one had very much imprisoned Jamine’s true self, and both the soul and the entity responsible were the reasons for the oddities around the girl.
The issue Neladrie still ran into was Zefree. There was no way the goddess wouldn’t have noticed this thing affecting her clergy inside her own temple—unless she did notice and was in cahoots with whatever was causing this. That thought alone caused Neladrie to shiver even within Sol’s own temple. Whatever was strong enough to force a god to submit and play along was an entity any sane mortal would fear.
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Feeling a loyal follower's fear through their soul connection was expected. After all, to overcome fear, one must first face it head-on.
The issue came when he felt that this follower was within his temple.
Fear? While in one of his temples? That was something Sol simply couldn’t accept.
He was the God of the Sun. The God of Protection. His light brought Courage and Hope to those in need.
What could cause fear to anyone while in one of his houses of faith?
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Neladrie felt it. The connection to her god tugged, and she felt her body fill with warm energy as her god spoke.
“Child of Light. What causes such fear within you while you are protected within my walls?” The god spoke firmly but caringly, with evident worry in his tone. However, Neladrie also felt the intent behind those words. Her deity was ready to form a crusade against whatever entity could be responsible for the issue.
Neladrie soon explained to Sol about Jasmine, the issue with her soul, and Neladrie's belief that Zefree could be compromised.
“Do not worry about the goddess. I can assure you that she is not compromised. On the other hand, we cannot help Jasmine any further. Tell the girl that if she wishes to find answers, she must head to the Magus Empire. The empire has some of the best researchers for everything related to souls.”
With that, Neladrie felt the god’s attention leave her, though thankfully, she still felt his warm embrace and reassurance.
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Jasmine heard Neladrie’s chant and then felt a rush of wind that caused her hair to flutter about. A bit annoyed, she was about to open her eyes and complain when she suddenly felt sleepy. It was an odd thing, almost like she had been awake for days on end and had just now been allowed to rest.
Her body felt heavy and tired; her heart slowed, and her thoughts waned as she slowly dozed off into deep sleep.
She woke up an unknown amount of time later to someone calling her name. The voice sounded familiar yet so far away.
“Jasmine! Jasmine! Wake up!”
The faraway yells were followed by something nudging her shoulder, something she swatted at in an attempt to fall back into that wonderful sleep. Sadly, whatever it was-was unrelenting, and the nudging turned to pokes and prods, drawing her back to consciousness until something finally snapped, and she opened her eyes.
Jasmine stared into deep golden eyes as her memories rushed back, and she remembered who and where she was. So, blinking away the sleep, she began to stand with the help of Neladrie.
Finally, on her feet, Jasmine looked at the cleric with confusion and interest clearly wanting to know what had transpired during her nap. The cleric, understanding, began to speak, sympathy exuding from her like an oil fish oozes oil.
“I have bad news and good news. Which one do you want first?”
Letting out a sigh, Jasmine answered, “Bad news.”
“Well, the bad news is that something is going on with your soul, and though I do have enough knowledge to tell you that it is not a curse, I can’t confirm much else.”
Hearing that, Jasmine’s shoulders drooped, and a clear look of defeat overcame her face.
Neladrie, seeing her, gave her a weak smile before continuing. “On the other hand, I can tell you there is hope for you yet.”
Upon hearing that, Jasmine’s face shifted to one of hope, and she couldn’t help but intervene in excitement, “Really! Oh, thank the gods!” And she rushed to embrace Neladrie in a hug.
A few seconds passed as the cleric took the unexpected and awkward hug before Jasmine realized she was hugging a High Cleric and let go as her face flushed with embarrassment. For her part, Neladrie just gave the young girl a beaming smile and continued with her explanation.
“Now, even though we can’t help you with much more, I have it in good faith that you must head to the Magus Empire. There, you will find those who can help you with your current predicament.”
“Hmm, I see. Do I need to leave now, or can this wait? I mean, it's not like stuff is being set on fire by whatever is causing my soul issue, right?” Jasmine asked, a bit worried that she would have to leave Rose behind.
Neladrie, smiling at the question, answered with a bit of humor. “Though, that particular scenario seems off the table. I would suggest going as soon as possible.” The cleric's face then turned serious as all the wit left her, and she continued with a sobering tone. “Jasmine. All things aside, your soul is something you should not trifle with. I hope you take this seriously, or I must remind you of all the things you have experienced so far. Things that have clearly affected those around you. I understand not wanting to leave your home, but I would hope you put your safety and the safety of those around you above anything else. So, as a B Ranker, a High Cleric, and someone who does not wish harm to befall anyone, I advise you to set out to the empire as soon as possible. If you lack the funds, simply ask and I will personally make sure that you make it there. Am I understood?”
Jasmine, taken a bit by surprise by the sudden change in attitude and also trying to process everything Neladrie said, just stood there in silent contemplation. Then, a minute or so later, she met Neladrie’s eyes and responded.
“ I understand, High Cleric Neladrie. However, it is late, and I would like to get some sleep. I promise to broach the subject tomorrow with the orphanage and will let you know my decision.”
Neladrie, seeing Jasmine had taken her words to heart, gave her another beaming smile before answering. “Very well, how about I escort you home then?”
A question Jasmine answered with a simple nod.