Jaclyn Grath

Diary Entry, The Third of Xar, 206AC: ... I still haven't forgiven Mother for making me go with Sir Brejkin on the diplomatic visit across the Glass Sea. Shekh Yatu is quite handsome though, and his influence through the Reshi is greater than any other Shekh before him. Tonight his sister Arinta is returning from a pilgrimage with a new champion that will be joining her on her journey to Astoria. The poor girl was married off to that dreadful Southern Prince to establish good relations between our two peoples. I'll pray that the gods give her strength, but Brejkin assured me that the Reshi would be very accepting of 'The Southerners' particular brand of worship' I'll write you about our meeting tomorrow.

Diary Entry, The Fourth of Xar: That crimson haired vixen from the Southern delegation was all smiles last night when Arinta's party returned to Malehal plaza. The reason for her obvious joy was the Daemon-kin with colorful eyes accompanying her party, Brejkin almost choked on his honeyed beer when he laid eyes on the beast. The woman accompanying the Western delegation was staring at him the whole night, of course I may have been too but I wasn't as obvious, and they hadn't clothed him at all throughout the night. Yatu said it was traditional for the Shekhs and their honor guard to examine a new champion. He seemed to be carved from some sort of stone, each part of his features almost meticulously set to be perfect and as attractive as possible. His skin was unblemished with tanned to a coppery hue that contrasted with his long silvery white hair. Why did the goddess choose to make all Daemon-kin so unearthly attractive? Even the Angel messenger the castle sometimes receives couldn't match up to Arinta's champion. Oh I almost forgot about the big Astorian that was traveling with their party, unlike the demon-kin he was unabashedly ugly. He had a long crooked nose that had healed wrong from multiple breaks, and a scar that ran from the top of his forehead down to the opposite corner of his chin. At first he seemed to be trying to hide himself from someone, but as the night went on he accompanied an old woman to her tent. Arinta stood next to the demon-kin clutching his hand in her's throughout the night, another of the Reshi's traditions I suppose, though her champion seemed to want to be anywhere but standing next to her. I hope Yatu knows what he's doing with allowing him to guard his sister. I'll send more prayers to the goddess for her safety.

Diary Entry, The Eleventh of Xar: I haven't been able to write you in some time with the busyness of preparing for the return trip. The Gryphon's Fang and her crew have been ever reliable over the last few days so there's really nothing to write about them this time. I've been spending most of my time in my quarters with Arinta, she asked me to help her with her understanding of the common language. At first having her champion standing over us made my body shake with nervous fear, and I wasn't calm until Arinta asked him to stop staring at me. When I asked her why she was so trusting Ari told me that she'd made a contract of sorts with him. "Hex is sworn to protect me until my marriage, Baba's magic will help keep him in line anyway." I was skeptical of her words until the harpy attack that evening, four of the oily feathered creatures emerged from the murky fog taking two crewmates off the ship before anyone had time to react. Everyone except for Arinta's Hex that is, he held two of the harpies by their scrawny necks like chickens! They squawked in protest, but he only replied by bashing their heads together until they burst like overly ripe fruit. I was sick leaning over the ship's stern for the rest of the evening after seeing that.

The strangest thing was what Hex said after he'd dealt with them, "Too weak." those words remind me of Sir Reginald back home, they both have that same strange stare. I shouldn't compare one of The Chosen with a demon-kin, but the longer I watch Hex the more similarities I notice. Like how he'll often stare one person down for an odd amount of time, as if he's looking at something only he can see. The Chosen have power from the blessings the gods gifted them, Hex while impressive still doesn't have a god backing him: Demon-kin are barred from the power of the gods' blessings after all.

Diary Entry, The Fourteenth of Xar: I've taken to sketching Arinta's champion while she practices her pronunciation of certain Astorian phrases. He's clean shaven, with an heart shaped face, high cheekbones that perfectly complemented the way he seemed to be sculpted from some god touched stone. Arinta's guards all walk around the ship shirtless as per Yusra's orders, and Arinta sees no reason to change that while she studies in my quarters. I managed to finish most of the sketch, but for some reason I could never get the more important details down. Once Arinta had finished and left all I had to show was an outline for a man with a strong jaw, but he was missing everything else. His eyes, nose, mouth, and ears had all vanished even though I knew I'd been painstakingly sketching for the last three hours. It looked like someone had gone over and erased the finer details the moment I looked away.

Diary Entry, The Eighteenth of Xar: We entered Mermaid Bay territory last night. How could I tell? The singing started last night, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Some of the poor sailors have already given in to the mermaids songs, and Captain Robbers (funny name, but a sweet jolly man with rosy cheeks) was forced to place three in the brig already. Arinta's party seems to be doing alright well Hex is more standoffish than usual, but the rest of them seemed to be doing well enough. I'll send extra prayers to the goddess for them.

Diary Entry, The Nineteenth of Xar: The singing stopped sometime in the early morning while I was sleeping, but the screams that replaced it frightened me awake. The screaming woke all of the ship's inhabitants up, and everyone was running about in a panic trying to find the source of the screams. When Hex came climbing up the ship's starboard side holding a struggling mermaid by her tail fin our questions were answered. Yusra was all cold cackles, and Reshi congratulations towards Hex who stood as still as a statue while he stared down at the mermaid. Arinta spoke with the Captain about how best to hold their most recent treasure until they both decided on keeping her tied to the ship's mast while Hex guarded her until we reached the Southern port. The mermaid was beautiful, almost exactly like the sailor's tales back home, with bright hair the color of sunshine and pale skin that held a glittering hue to it. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue with a bewitching light behind them so intense that Captain Robbers had Hex cover them. It was strange seeing Arinta's Champion watching the mermaid so devoutly, he seemed to take in her every detail; Could a mermaid's beauty attract him? He barely notices Arinta, and she's arguably more beautiful. That mermaid might cause more trouble than she's worth, and I'll have to talk to Ari about all of this tomorrow.

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Hex

[ Discovered: Eranna (Reborn Song-weaver) Enlightenment process (Stage 1) 20% closer to completion, finding connections to the worlds of gods old as well as new will decrease the amount of time until Enlightenment is gained. The >Stat menu< has been unlocked should the Player wish to look over their status and/or— ]

Maybe it was rude to skip over the system, but I was wasting time reading things I could vaguely recall from the Exile's memories. With a thought the system showed a new screen in front of me.

[ Status: Demi-Immortal ]

(Note: True Immortality will be unlocked after the necessary Enlightenment cap)

[ Title(s): Arinta Yatu's Champion ]

>Name: Hex ???<

>Age: Unknown, approx 20 "seasons" of age.<

[ Post-Enlightenment Stats (Enlightenment Lv 1) ]

HP: [ Rank/ Lv unknown due to The Player's extraordinary healing factor. ]

MP: ??? Lv. EX.

STR: 450 Lv. SS+

AGI: 500 Lv. SSS

INT: 150 Lv S

SPD: ?? Lv. EX

PER: 200 Lv. S+

Enlightenment gained : Lv 1

Post Enlightenment abilities:

>Heir of the Starlight throne < The Player has become The Abyss made manifest in the mortal realm, allowing them to draw on the Abyss for power. The Player's Cosmic Alignment has unlocked the sub-abilities: Abyssal flames, Cosmic chains, and [ Error, the alignment ability is unavailable due to world constraints finding replacement ability. ] >Insatiable Hunger< selected.

> Twice Born ( Fate-touched. )< Due to multiple world assimilations the Player has unlocked the ability to switch egos should they experience extreme trauma. The available egos are: The soul fragment from beyond the >error information locked< Damien, or Below ancient combat god, and First King of the Cosmos.

> Heir of Chaos. < The Player's body, and soul have been bound to the Chaos Engine allowing them to draw from the source of the Cosmos' destruction. With the Engine's power the Player can wield an energy that destroys everything in their path. [ Note: System advices against use near civilians, and/or companions traveling with the Player. ]

> Fate Piercing Sight. < With the proper Enlightenment the Player can see into the highest planes of the Cosmos allowing them to see the moments when Fate is directly attempting to influence their life.

[ Note: The Player's past abilities, along with any gifts given to them, have been engrained into their being removing them from the ability list. The use of the abilities is still unlocked for the Player's use, however the system's assistance will be limited to the abilities listed above. ]

"Is it broken? I didn't ask to see what my stats would be." My phantom companion laughed dryly before answering me with unexpected mirth in his voice. 'This is what happens when you take it off of auto, don't worry it happens more than you'd think. I'll fix it for you, but maybe you should pay attention to your friend over there. She's been saying something in Infernal while you were looking through the system.' As if on cue she spoke, and her words sent an involuntary chill down my spine. "You opened the way for him Hex, Omega will use the path you paved to take The Cosmic Throne. His vanguard will be in the Third Realm before long, they will offer you a chance to join them. Take it Hex, this world has no love for you." I felt her gaze despite the cloth covering her eyes, and the way she spoke made me feel like her suggestion was worth some merit: The system stopped that line of thinking with a short message.

[ Lv 3 Compulsion spell negated due to the >Twelve Path Eyes< gift. ]

[ Alert! Due to activation of Emergency mission >Omega's Heralds< the Player's Enlightenment level has increased, along with strengthening their Cosmic attunement. ]

The message was followed by the image of a scale with two labels on either side of it; the right label read 'Order' in an Infernal rune, but the left only had a symbol. Damien explained it for me with more than a bit of malice in his voice. 'Omega, the system is telling you that he may have some influence over your attunment; And that's just a nice way of saying how the other gods will see you. If you're more aligned with Order they may treat you with a little kindness, but the moment they even think Omega has his eyes on you they won't hesitate to try and kill you Hex.'

I waved the image of the scale away alone with his words before I gave Eranna my attention again. After I removed the cloth covering her face I saw the glassy look in her eyes as the strangest smile appeared on her face. "You're looking well for a little godling thrown to Below." When she spoke there was another voice behind her words, and it had jarred me hearing her light voice echoed by some old dragging baritone that still seemed eerily familiar. I took a guess and spoke to Eranna, and her passenger...or benefactor? "Why did you send a prisoner godling to the mortal Realm Bygone? That's quite a few Cosmic laws you've broken, considering how quickly you threw me to your betrayed brother." That last bit drew a fry chuckle from Eranna's mouth that was completely Bygone's voice. "I didn't do anything child, no young Eranna just found her way out because of what you did. You went from Death's gate to shaking the foundation of The World Below. You've attracted the attention of so many, but only a few know how to properly find you: Xerilla would be the best way to—"

I cut the old god off with a raised hand before I asked him the only question I needed answered. "Could you find her like you did me?" Eranna closed her eyes as the Bygone pondered over my question for a moment, and when her eyes opened again the light behind them was vibrant again. "Uncle says we'll find him in at the forest center like always, and he should know where to find your mother by then." 'No answer, just another—"

[ Sub-quest, Finding Xerilla activated. The Player will be given additional information once they've touched Astorian land.]