Waking up surrounded by books haphazardly strewn all over her desk, she groaned as she rose to her feet. She had borrowed multiple books from the Archives, researching into the Hollow Saint rank.
Such people were revered in name, cursed in nature. They were capable of annihilating legions. Often revered or feared as living gods. Extremely rare through the annals of history. Granted foresight in the midst of battle. Can collapse weak enchantments by presence. Astral projection and mind-reading possible.
So far no more than five people had been capable of reaching such a rank, the five neither one in this rank showing how rare it was to achieve such a feat. 'The soul of a Hollow Saint.' She let the words settle in her, still in disbelief of what she had heard from Jarren yesterday.
Preparing herself, she felt her movements now way sharper, her reserves in high abundance and out of curiosity made her way towards the Archives. There she returned the books she had borrowed however other than that, she was there for an appraisal of her rank.
This was rare as when one was awakened was sure of what rank they were but she was torn. The amount in her body was lethally high making her think that she had made a breakthrough into the next rank but the breathe of it was lacking.
The appraisal was private and much to her surprise, she was still in the Gravechant rank. 'With such overwhelming malcore, I'm sure that it would be better to focus more on my physique rather than my malcore advancement.'
With that she left and made her way to the Scholar's Vault. Making her way towards the Knighthood section, she looked at the ingredients that she would need to purchase for the ascension into Obsidian Heart. The pure molt for it was 200 blue shards, easy for her but the subsidiaries weren't a joke.
Hollow Bone Dust came at a cost of 6,000 blue malcore shards, Voidwax Oil at 4,500 blue malcore shards and Dusk Iron Shard at 5,000 blue malcore shards. 'I'll hit the cap with these prices.' Given that she had a phone worth 150,000 blue malcore shards it wasn't the purchasing power that she lacked but the limit would curb her growth.
She had a token similar to Jarren's for half the price however even then it was way above the stipulend for her which was five thousand and the price for it would come to 7,850 blue shards. If she wanted it for a lower price then she would he forced to carry out a task for the Vault for a discount or buy the ingredients outside of the school walls like Bolyres however even this had it's own share of problems.
Authenticity wasn't concrete, with diluted ingredients like molt or sub par subsidiaries, it was more of a gamble whether she would make a breakthrough or not. For now, she chose to postpone it and execute a Vault request when they opened up.
Sure with her decision, she was about to walk out of the Vault before a voice echoed through her head. It's voice ancient, a relic of a civilization long forgotten. 'Make the purchase little one.' She looked around however no one was around her, sure that it came from the necklace, she went somewhere isolated.
"Is this the Hollow Saint?" Her tone quizzical as she looked like a mad woman. "Saint? I am far above the ranks your pitiful mortals reside. I can rid this plane with nothing more than a thought." Callista perked up couldn't help but conclude at the soul's hubris.
"How do you know Jarren?" The once boastful soul fell silent. The silence palpable before it retorted. "He is something even those above fear. He is more than he seems. Now that you have interacted with him there is no escape, only playing his game before he grows bored and spares you with death."
Callista could feel her body tense up from fear handed to her by the soul. "He told me that you were planning on assimilating and taking over my body." The silence this time lasted longer than before. "He lies and yet he doesn't. Your body is way too weak for me to inhabit regardless of how powerful you grow, even those deemed the strongest in this plane would fracture in my presence."
She hesitated. "During my spar, what happened?" The fear present had started to wear off. "Your fight with that excuse of a fighter was laughable and I couldn't help but intervene to spare both of us the hassle. As for your body, there are still some faults here and there but I should be able to repair it in a matter of time."
Recalling it's earlier statement, she went back it it. "You wanted me to make the purchase but the stipulend would render me unable." The voice let out a desperate sigh. "With me you don't need any subsidiaries, just buy the molt and I'll handle the rest."
Puzzled, she went on with her questions. "If you get to help me then what is it your require from me?" Her tone heavy as she expected some crafty or dodgy response. "Nothing more than to see through you and how this world works. Consider yourself a vessel and I as your advisor. If the pale sovereign handed me to you then it's clear that it would want me to help you with your progress."
"I might as well be entertained before I meet my end within your body." It was then that it clicked for her. Jarren had lied about the assimilation process about the soul threatening to replace her. But that also didn't mean that she would blindly trust a soul that she has just met.
"You harbour thoughts of uncertainty with me and it is expected of you. Your mind is truly a beautiful place that I'll make sure to be fitting for my grave." Realizing that she couldn't keep any secrets from it, she let out a sigh of desperation.
"So head back and buy that molt, I'll take care of the rest." She was still hesitant but now, she knew that the voice was hellbent on making her buy it. The reason for her hesitation being vulnerability. If at any point during the stage should she fall vulnerable, then her body would be easy for the soul to claim.
The soul understood this very well. "And to make things clear, I'm not just a soul, I'm a horror once worshipped and feared through the seams of reality and unreality now reduced to some chatterbox in a necklace." Conflicted, she let out a deep long sigh.
"Jarren as you know him or known above as the Pale Sovereign was a horror that came out of nowhere. No background, no history or anything and overnight he had planes at his feet. Pantheons wiped out of reality for no reason, realities devoured out of boredom and his games notorious. I was ruling it all and in the next second everything was gone."
"Those I related with extinct, my progress wavered like a dream and his smile cemented me into this cage like structure. He revoked all of my power and now here I am with my knowledge for company. I have no ill will towards you. He has already marked you as a pawn and it is my duty to see it through."
As much as she didn't want to succumb to his muses, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. "Very well but I am not his pawn." The soul let out a laughter that made her hair stand. "That is what they all say and yet he always reigns supreme. A blight that knows no defeat, only games of ruin, carnage and purgatory."
With each passing moment she hated how high the soul described Jarren and yet even she couldn't quite find herself sure of what he truly was.
"You'll just buy the Obsidian Heart molt only. Correct?" The clerk at the front couldn't believe the purchase Callista had made. Some greenhorn student was understandable and funny to laugh at but someone of her status was bizzare. "Yes." Her firm tone sealed the deal and she made her way back to her room.
Seated in a lotus like position, she began the procedure. The obsidian heart molt dripped like black ink that wished to bore through her entire body, the soul that resided deep inside her finally graced the world outside of the necklace.
The colorful sandbox was amusing however his attention shifted back to Callista. "Let's get this trivial act done with."
***
'So he chose honesty rather than play games, how boring.' Jarren's mythical eyes locked with the ritual Callista underwent in her room as he lay on his bed, his will and presence swallowing the entire world. 'Come on darling, who are you going to pick?' His eyes shifted to the horror that had graced him earlier.
For her misery to be over, she had to hand her position to one of the two ladies that he had picked. Crimson or Clomere. To offer her soul, body and existence akin to sustenance. Whoever she would pick was upto her entirely but his interest lingered for far longer than it should and she felt it.
The gaze that lurked above it all, watching her back. Judging her acts and his response was a smile that she once loathed now grew indifferent to. Ignoring it, she looked at the two options before making her choice. In her own world above the mortal plane, she sat in a throne of a horror now forgotten.
Her figure glimmering faintly as stars mourned with each breathe she took, her eyes dark and starry akin to Solon's but lacking the glimmer of liveliness that his had. They were long dead, the horror behind those eyes long given up and ticked in a game she wished to be no longer part of.
With a heavy sigh, she looked around before her existence ceased to be. No spatial manipulation or time distortion or portals, she simply wasn't there as his words echoed through her mind.
***
Opening her eyes, she admired the body she was greeted with. Once Crimson Sigil was now Obsidian Heart in a matter of minutes. The soul had retreated back into it's prison sensing another player that it had come to fear equivalently to the Pale Sovereign, the Queen of Divinity.
'I didn't think that the two would bother descending to such a low ranking world. Is it for their own sadistic games or something else?' The horror already knew with the two most feared players on the board present in one world, it was a matter of time before everything unraveled to their whim.
"Thank you for you help." Callista's gratitude snapping him out of his train it thought. "But of course. I would recommend you to focus more on your glyphwork first before any major plot points happen in this world." The soul had roamed the world, seeing the champions, Reynolds and the future of this world.
But what he feared was the amount of horrors that were present. In the same kingdom a smile mimicking Jarren's greeted him making his face pale, on the other side of the planet a queen of hunger and maw cried out, it's rage palpable from where he was.
'Just what game are you trying to play?'