"A new Door has opened within our realm."
The Heavenly Council sat at the roundtable, discussing matters of the Kaelbru, the Central Country of world Algora.
Alqautori remained silent and listened with a keen ear.
This was the information he had been waiting for!
"I've heard." Another powerful man responded. "The one in Vethil? That's an Unguarded village... let them rot."
Grunts of approval sounded around the table.
Alqautori however, clenched his fists in anger.
Yet, he held his tongue.
"King Genesis gave us orders. They are not to be saved. Focus our strengths on the villages and towns that matter." A new man said, a deadly aura emanating from his body.
Alqautori did not dare speak out against them. Many of the men and women at the roundtable were of the Third Starpath. A few were even of the Second.
He however, was a mere Fifth, one of the more common Starpaths that a Starblessed can awaken.
But he listened intensely, either way, hoping to make a difference.
Vethil. The village to the North East...
Silently, he made the decision to himself.
Just wait, commoners. I will do what I can to help.
———
"So, you're finally awake."
Sona opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back. However, he did not lie on a bed bed, but rather on the floor of what he believed to be a temple.
An old man leaned over him, holding a cup to his mouth. Its contents smelled terrible and bitter.
"Here, take this."
GULP
...
"Augh!"
Against his will, the man poured the liquids into his mouth. It tasted as horrible as it looked, making him choke.
"What in Algora is—"
Sona's words were suddenly cut off, as he felt a strange reaction taking place in his body.
The old man flashed him a squinty-eyed smile, clearly proud of himself.
"Works wonders, doesn't it? I call it, Elaleom's Juice."
Sona was hardly listening to the man. He was unable to, after all, as he was too focused on the changes taking place in his body.
It started with what he believed to be the unseen. He began to feel more energised.
Not only that, but his senses felt like they were being enhanced with every passing second.
He could hear chatter in the distance.
Smell scents which sources were hundreds of meters away.
Then came the physical. His muscles felt as though they were beginning to swell. It wasn't a painful process, but rather a weird one. By the time it was complete, his body looked nourished once again, and his muscles were more defined.
"Great heavens child..." The old man whispered beneath his breath as he started noticing the changes. "What are you—"
Next was the hair.
Sona's once dirty brown hair began to grow. It was as though time had passed in an instant, yet only for him.
However, as the hair grew down to his shoulders, some of the strands began to lose their colour, turning to a mixture of white and brown.
Even his eyes changed. The once dull blue was now an unnaturally vibrant orange.
It was as though he were a new person.
But the changes did not end, until finally, a system of understanding filled his mind.
One that came with great power.
———SONA NAMELESS——
STARPATH: First
SIGNATURE: Nameless Sovereign
CURRENT RANK: Flame (1/10)
TRIAL: Unavailable (Locked until 90% Starcore progress.)
STARCORE PROGRESS: 10%
ABILITY LIMIT: 3
——ABILITIES——
SHROUD OF DISAPPEARANCE:
Coat your arm in an essence that causes any attack to disappear upon contact. The attack will return to its original position before ending it's motion.
———
What in god's name...
"Boy..." The old man said with disbelief in his voice. "W-what are you?"
...
Sona struggled to take in the new information that had spread through his mind. His changes surpassed the physical.
Deep down... Resting within his stomach was a new organ.
No... It's always been there.
My Starcore. Entering the Door has led to my awakening. The rumours were true?
It was said that all humans could enter into a Door of Sin, and a natural scene would take place which leads to their awakening.
For Sona, it was being fed the juice by the old man.
But there was more to his circumstances than just a regular awakening.
The Starpaths were ranked in rarity. Most humans awakened paths seven or six. They had potential, but at the beginning of their paths, they weren't much different from their original selves.
Sona's awakening, however, was different.
He was of the First Starpath.
Chills ran through his body.
A First Starpath Starblessed... It can't be?
Sona did not know much about the world of the Starblessed or the Doors of Sin; however, one thing was certain to him.
The lower the number of your Starpath, the rarer it was. Of the few names he knew, ranked amongst the strongest humans in the world, there was only one Starblessed that was of the First Starpath.
King Genesis. The man who has been locked in the Eternal Door for almost a decade.
Why me? This doesn't make any sense.
"Have you come to save us, then?" The old man asked, acknowledging that Sona had ignored his question. "Will you free us from our shackles?"
The words drew Sona from his thoughts and questions. Finally, he took in his surroundings with his newly enhanced senses.
He was right. The location he was in was clearly a temple. A large one, which stretched to heights that would have previously been too far for his eyes to see.
Statues and murals adorned the location, but mostly, the area was flat and made from smoothed stone.
But two things stood out most to Sona.
First, was the lack of colour in the world. Everywhere was greyscale. Shades of black and white. It was as though the world within the Door knew no colour.
Second was the raised stone platform at the centre of the temple, with four staircases leading towards it. A bright light shone from the top, but Sona was unable to see what it was.
"Save your world?" He said in a questioning tone, "Save it from what?"
As he asked the question, the old man's face suddenly began to sweat. His previous smile quickly shifted to a look of disdain, as though his soul had been haunted.
"From the Colours, my boy. You look strong. Please, save our dying world from the Colours!"