At first all he could see was darkness. He had burrowed deeper and deeper into his own mind, following the instructions to the letter but all he could see and feel was pure unadulterated darkness. Confused, he nearly panicked thinking he might have done something wrong before he sensed the uncanny connection. Suddenly the darkness surrounding him wasn’t threatening at all; in fact it felt intimate, almost as if it was a part of him. He instinctively realized that in here, nothing would ever attempt to hurt him and the strangeness he felt before was just him unaccustomed to the process.

Lowering his guard he searched around in anticipation. It was as if he was in a disembodied body, floating around in a never ending darkness. But it didn’t take long for a ripple to occur, an invisible wave that reverberated throughout the dark veil. A bright light suddenly appeared from afar, cutting through shroud of darkness like hot knife through butter. Filled with apprehension he didn’t hesitate to float towards it. He had a feeling that beyond the light there might be clues that could answer many of the questions he carried ever since he had repossessed this body. But what he never expected was that it would raise more questions than he could care to admit.

The bright light abruptly panned out like a nebula swallowing and catching him by surprise. Screeching to a halt, shielding his non-existent eyes he felt a mental shift in his senses and he knew he had arrived. Lowering his hands and then looking around, what he saw was enough to stun him to silence.

All around him was an expanse of clouds, the sky and the mirror-like floor alike. It seemed endless and boundless that for a moment Lukas felt like he had arrived in another world filled with nostalgic silence, infinite peace and the slowly ever-changing clouds under the perfect blue sky. It felt so familiar to him that his eyes couldn’t help but be filled with wonder like excitement as he looked around, drinking it all in.

But then he observed an extremely shocking scene. The seemingly endless expanse was actually halved into two. One half of it was bright like day, a mysterious light illuminating that part of the world. He could see the cerulean blue sky tinged with golden clouds and its visage perfectly reflected on the rippling surface under his feet. But on the other side, darkness spread like eternal night, lit only under the silver light. The once perfect sky was now littered with faraway twinkling stars with a silver river that meandered and shone through the pale clouds. It was almost as if his soul altar was sundered in a half, day and night co-existing within him all at once and all at the same time.

He couldn’t believe that this was his Soul Altar.

He had never expected such an impossible scene, his mind struggling to comprehend as he walked directly above the line of demarcation. What it all meant he had no idea but if he knew that if he explored further he might get to understand exactly what was going on.

After a short while, it didn’t take long for him to arrive at what seemed to be the horizon of the endless expanse. There, perched on the very line that connected the sky and its mirror he saw three huge towering figures radiating such might that it took a while for him to adjust and make sense of what he was really seeing.

Standing in front of him on an enormous archaic pedestal stood 3 colossal statues that loomed over skies like the heavens. They seemed almost alive, their very torso covering the floating clouds. The 3 figures were so gigantic that Lukas felt almost like ant in likeness. But the deeper underlying mysterious connection he felt with them was the only thing that rooted him on the spot with awe instead of fear.

Each of the three statues emanated its own majestic aura but Lukas was inadvertently drawn to one on his left. It was like he was trying to see through a clouded screen as he couldn’t make out its finer features; all except that it possessed large panned out wings that took half of the sky on its side. Its left hand held what seemed to be a sword of fire while its right hand stretched high above with a brilliant sun floating on it. This appeared to be the source of light and warmth that shone on other half of the endless expanse, directly splitting it in the middle. For a lack of a better word, due to its divine aspect Lukas had no choice than to name it the Angel Statue.

Turning to his right, to the side of the sky covered in boundless darkness, Lukas witnessed another large figure about the same height with the Angel statue, standing still in an unending silence. Its finer features were also obscured but Lukas could make out a behemoth of what appeared to be an astute half man and half beast.

The top half seemed to be of a stunning figure of a man with his hands cupped in front of its bare chest holding a soft shining light gleaming under the starry sky. It was as if the silver light shimmering between its hands was a star, possessing its own pride as it twinkled under the dark night. The rest of its body from waist down was even further obscured and all Lukas could tell was that it was a long tail, possibly that of a snake which confused him even further.

The last Statue, the one that towered above them all, not just in height but in its grandeur was that of godlike robed figure so vague that Lukas struggled to spare any spare details. It stood tall surrounded by a glittering mist with its hands outstretched almost as if it was praying to the heavens. Above it a halo of seven stars swirled and floated with their own light between the two worlds. His heart couldn’t help but tremble with awe looking at such a huge figure. He aptly got the sense to call it a Godly Statue since only a God could possess and exude such a holy inviolable authority.

Bewildered Lukas shook his head. Even if he knew soul altars were meant to be shaped in various forms and they were heavily influenced by many factors Lukas was sure he might be the very first human in the Continent of Lush to posses such Grandeur within his soul.

Mulling on it further, he was sure that such a thing was definitely caused by his reincarnation. Though he wondered if the Godly Statue within his soul altar might be a mark, a sign or a clue to whoever had brought him to this world. His old world had no notion of magic, much less a soul altar so he didn’t have any further knowledge he could reference to.

Looking around he further reasoned. Since his previous host was a mage of light then the angel statue on the left of his soul altar can be explained though further than that he couldn’t tell. He stared at the half a man, half a beast figure and had inkling that the star might be the addition of his own elemental gift; possibly something that he brought over from his previous life on Earth (he did descend from stars after all). Making further conjectures, he looked up at the mighty figure and the only thing he was left with was that the robed figure might be the very God or the cosmic being who brought him here. He had no idea why it existed in his soul altar but somehow he knew that one day, after he survived long enough and got stronger, he might get his questions answered. Thus when all conclusions were drawn, it meant that he possessed two possible elemental traits within his body and a Godly statue of unknown origins.

Curiously he laid open his intentions and he instantly felt a resonance to his Elemental Light. He repossessing the body might explain the connection but any attempts he made to connect with his elemental star fell down the drain. He couldn’t feel any kind of connection or resonance. If it wasn’t for the fact that he could feel the towering ancientness of the man-serpent statue holding the Star in its cupped hands he might have thought there was something wrong. But after giving it more than a few more tries he gave up. Despondently, he reasoned that he might be trying to reach for more than what he can handle. He barely mastered his current element, so trying to wield more might just be foolish. But there was still a part of him that clearly thought otherwise…

Getting back to his real goal in the first place, the meditation art had given him instructions on how to enter his soul altar. The next step was to visualize it and then summon the image into his mind palace where it will then be used in refining his mana and increasing his own cultivation. Looking around it dawned on him that his soul altar was huge. There was almost no end to the boundless domain and the 3 giant figures seemed to be the Lords and the Gods of the empty heavens. He found it daunting, almost impossible to capture all this and then somehow keep an image of it in his mind palace to cultivate.

Then an idea caught his attention. His meditation art might have wanted him to visualize his whole soul altar but if he only chose a part of it at first, it might do the trick. The results would be less potent but it would act as a good starting point for him, especially when he was still getting used to the notion of cultivation.

His next choice was made almost immediately. The most notable thing in his soul altar was the Godly statue that stood above all else. Since it seemed to exist in tandem inside his soul altar he might as well start from the highest point.

The next thing he did was to cross his legs and sit on the mirror like surface in his soul altar. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes before fully focusing on the Godly statue, tracing its features, religiously following the adjoined instructions, trying to imprint The Statue into his mind palace.

But he never expected for what came next.

At first it was immensely difficult. He was trying to imprint a godly figure into his conscious mind so he did expect some challenges. But this was on another level. He was not even close to recalling some of the features not covered by the glittering mist when he felt as if a hammer was smashed into his head. He felt his mind getting pulled and stretched, an immense pain erupting inside of his skull almost as if hooks were pulling his brain apart from the inside. He gasped as he tried to hold on but he quickly became weak and within five minutes he was forced to close his eyes. His mind was numb and he sensed his real body back in the cottage perspiring like he was directly placed under the hottest sun. It was torture on an imaginable level and so he began to have doubts on whether his decision to start with the Godly state was correct or it was just him trying to bite more than he could possibly swallow.

As his eyes closed whilst taking some huge deep breath, his mind automatically tried to remember whatever he had tried to capture within those few minutes of pain. The results were very surprising. Although he didn’t quite grasp the Godly Figure in his soul altar, its awe and majesty was deeply imprinted in his mind palace. He saw a very hazy figure, almost like a shadow or a mist a soft wisp of mind might just blow it away but somehow it stood stubbornly. Taking a few steps further level he got out of his soul altar, summoned the imprint in his mind palace and the changes were so immediate that it surprised him.

He could feel the surrounding mana was instigated around him. It churned and then almost as if he was a vortex, charged towards him, directly to his mind palace the moment the hazy figure was formed. He felt light headed, his fatigue fading away so quickly almost as if it wasn’t there. He snapped back to reality, checked himself in wonder and then feeling nearly fully invigorated he delved right in to imprint the hazy statue again. If just a hazy figure could cause such noticeable effects then if he imprinted a clearer one the benefits it could bring to him would be boundless.

For the next few hours he was like a mad man, the intoxicating feeling of mana, power and authority which were now beginning to radiate from the figure slightly influenced him in a way. All the years he had used to meditate in his old world started to bare fruits as it brought such a laser focus that he continued the circle of imprinting and visualizing countless times without tiring. But as much as it brought him results he started noticing that his progress was getting extremely slow on how much longer he could imprint the godly figure. The next two hours only increased his time from ten minutes to fifteen and he started sensing the subconscious warning signs from his mind palace and his body at the same time. He needed a lot of energy for imprinting and as much as visualizing helped him recover ultimately it couldn’t save him from the mental exhaustion that accumulated within a few hours together with the fatigue that had started spreading to his whole body.

He knew his mental fortitude was increasing alongside his mental power but he had to slow down. Pangs of hunger started to show up and it didn’t take long for him to finally stop, stifling his excitement and cutting off that incredible feeling of being connected to mana and his soul altar.

Exhausted, he was just about to think of his next step when a knock interrupted his thoughts. If his guess was right, he was just about to have a reunion with someone he kind of dreaded meeting in the first place.

The genius sibling who got to enter the Inner Court directly after Awakening Ceremony and a Chosen apprentice to one of the seven Chromas of the Cathedral of Light; Ariandel from the House of Raydore, his current blood sister.