Alusha felt weak and exhausted as they placed the child wrapped in silk blankets in her hands and she looked down on him. The little boy that her husband and her had decided to be named Darius laid there fidgeting as it looked at her. The moment they placed the child in her arms the baby stopped crying and seemed to be satisfied.

She looked up at her husband Erio and couldn’t help but smile and cry as she could give him a son. Her husband was an important person in the merchanting field and as she gazed on his smiling face, she couldn’t help but feel truly blessed. She looked down to his neck and saw he was wearing one of the necklaces she had made herself that had the rune of the God of Karmic Luck and Intuition on it. She wasn’t sure that he truly believed in what she told him of her dreams, but he supported her and never forbid her from talking about it.

She was truly happy as she the fatigue finally took hold and she started to fall asleep. The moment her eyes closed she found herself in the courtyard again and surprisingly she saw the person she met so long ago sitting once again at the edge of the fountain. He looked at her and smiled and she couldn’t help but smile back.

Alusha stepped toward him and then faltered and then fell to her knees to kowtow to him, but with in a moment he was there bringing her up to a standing position still with a warm smiling expression on his face. She couldn’t help but be happy with his touch as her whole body seemed to warm with it. She didn’t know what to say, but she wanted to thank him for giving her purpose and meaning along with a healthy boy.

“It is alright Alusha I understand your feelings and I wanted to congratulate you on the birth of you son.” The deity she knew as Mercer said. “Your son has received my blessings, but I am here because of all the work you have done on my behalf. Please receive my blessing to you and know that I have appreciated what you have done. I know your faith is true, and even though I do not answer all your prayers I do hear them. If you so wish it I will through you share my words and doctrines, but regardless I wish to give you a blessing for what you have done.”

Alusha’s eyes widened as she saw his hand move to be placed on her forehead and suddenly a river of warmth entered her and with it came knowledge and understanding. She had been blessed with the ability to heal with a touch those souls that have done good in their lives. She knew that with a touch her god would judge those and though her would heal those worthy and following the right path. She also knew that she could now see those worthy of the healing touch briefly.

“I will place my doctrines at the base of the statue here in the garden of dreams for you to see. I do not dictate what you do with them, but want you to understand these doctrines are who I am.” Mercer said as he took his hand off her forehead. “I have given you the ability to heal those that are weary and sick but have taken the right path in life. Some have taken a darker path and why they can still turn to the right one. That is something they must decide themselves. Alusha take care of young Darius and lead him down the right path, because I have faith in you that you can.”

Alusha felt wonderful as his hand left her head and she heard his words and then as she looked up, he was gone. She stood up and almost staggered toward the statue in the bond and etched on the base were words and she looked at them trying to understand there meaning.

“In everything there is flaws, but in those flaws the unique beauty or ugliness is seen. Just as a holy man can cause chaos to others based on his actions. A criminal can cause harmony through a misdeed. A person must understand what their actions will truly do to those around them and not just what they will receive or lose because of them. Even good intentions can cause horrible consequences if you force your views on them and judge in doing so, but if you let them discover their own path then the consequences lay with them and not your intentions.”

Alusha read the doctrine and started to memorize it. She wanted to make sure it was correct before she wrote it down when she woke up. She still felt the energy inside her and after memorizing it she woke up the baby laying in a small cradle next to her. She looked at little Darius and smiled and felt blessed by so much knowing that she must achieve for her family and the person that blessed them.

____ _____ _____

Jerald leaned back and really marveled on how exhausting entering the dreams were. It really didn’t matter how long he was in them it seemed it took the same amount of energy to dream walk. So, he wondered how long he could stay and how much could he move around in the dreams. It was something he should find out, but he had to enter the dreams to give Alusha the doctrines that he had created.

The first doctrine he tried to sound a little mystifying, but he felt he was a little long winded instead. The other seven doctrines he had created seemed a little more practical but who knows he was a rookie at this anyway. He knew he was bound to make mistakes and must correct them the best way he could.

He also could now feel two solid bons to Alusha and Darius now and even a few signs of other bonds that had to be the small necklaces that Alusha had given out. He looked over the information on both and found they were both in good health. He could only smile, but then he frowned because he remembered he had so much to learn still. The few faiths point he earned from Alusha weren’t very much in consideration to everything that he needed to raise the level of the altar. He always was a preparation type of person, so he put aside Alusha and Darius for now and started to study.

Time was something he didn’t understand enough and when he discovered that in the sanctuary, he could manipulate it he felt truly stupid. Currently the sanctuary was sitting at ten times the speed of the portal world he had connected too. He reversed that and at first, he set it to match the time of the world he then changed it to 25 times of the world. That meant for every 25 days in the sanctuary only 1 day happened on the world where Alusha and Darius were.

This wouldn’t be ideal in many ways, but he wanted to learn and understand his sanctuary, so it was good option for now. So, he lost himself in learning about the sanctuary and over the next 100 days, which was only 4 days world wise. He discovered so many things that he could do and why the need to make UC, spiritual units and faith points was so important. He also learned the makeup of the races more clearly and how his race humans were so far behind in every aspect.

Jerald truly wanted to give humanity a chance, but he knew personally how horrible humans could be. He also knew how horrible all the races could equally be, and he decided to choose the humans as his first persona that would descend to the world. He had a few thoughts on how to do this, but first two things had to occur. The first was that he had to solidify Alusha and Darius in the sky kingdom, and second he had to create a follower to watch over his sanctuary while he was gone.

The first part he could do over time since the time difference now between the sanctuary and the world, but creating a follower wasn’t as simple and was quite costly. He had now gotten use to all the tabs on the interface and he brought up the follower section.

The interface of the follower’s section was simple like the others, and it had its tabs for the both creation, development, evolution and tracking. The creation was unlike a normal persona development and more like a seed. The pool of souls was like the seeds because in the pool of soul’s different souls constantly battled to survive. There were some that were stronger, and they would take much less spirit units to retrieve, and then the weaker ones that would take more spiritual units but would be bonded much tighter to the him.

Jerald didn’t really want to give up a lot of spiritual units, but to be honest his first follower had to truly be willing to follow him. He knew they would be trustworthy, but would their soul truly seek his best interests, or would their soul only do what was necessary and ordered. He watched the swirls of souls only able to get the root information, and wouldn’t truly know until he summoned and bound them. He ended up not choosing by the power of the soul, but by his instincts and luck.

He watched the pool for a long time before he picked, and he winced a little as he saw a truly weak soul being pulled from the pool. 4 spiritual units were taken by the follower, and as the process played out the soul would be drawn to his sanctuary where the 4 spiritual units would be integrated with the soul to stabilize it.

The process took almost 14 hours, and he figured that was because it was lacking so much spiritual energy. When it was finally done the information from the soul was finally given to him, and he brought it up.

Origin Name: Zigesti Betrovin Coratis Venu

Name: None

Sex: Female

Race: Demon

Class: Elemental Succubus

Current Soul Level: Level 0: 68%

Loyalty: 100%

Affinity: 84%

Mood: Grateful

Jerald frowned because he was clear what a succubus was, but unsure what an elemental succubus is. He knew he could speak to the soul and he focused on it and thought.

“Speak of yourself and what is your origin!” He said.

A soft voice responded in a respectful tone. “I am Zigesti Betrovin Coratis Venu of the Venu clan. I was once a courtesan of the demon imperial palace, but in the games my side lost, and my demonic soul was ripped asunder. I was an elemental succubus that was raised to serve and extend the bloodline of my master.”

“What is an elemental succubus?” Jerald asked.

“Elemental Succubus are concubine that are used to strengthen the spiritual and bloodlines of our masters. Our bodies channel the energy with in them and returns it in a more natural and pure state. By nature, we are not powerful, but are only are used to enhance our master’s capabilities.” The demoness said.

Jerald had some reservations to a demon working for him, but then again, he had himself picked demon bloodline as one of his bloodlines. She would be 100% loyal too, and her affinity was good. He didn’t know what an elemental succubus would look like or what talents and abilities one would have either.

“You have been summoned to become my follower, and to support me in all things do you understand?” Jerald said.

“I understand and am willing master.” The demoness said. “You saved me from my soul scattering and being consumed. I will follow master’s will.”

Jerald almost choked at the comment, but took in a deep breath and went to the interface where he would create the persona for the follower. He thought about hand crafting the persona, but he didn’t know enough about form, so he decided on allowing the succubus to build her form. The only parameters he set was that she had to have a human form and that she had to prioritize on what was best for him and his sanctuary. He also added the restrictions that she could not harm directly or indirectly those important to him.

Jerald could only hope for the best when he started the process and the demoness started to create her body, abilities and talents. The moment he started it he felt the bond appear in him and felt a tingling feeling on his skin. The tingle sensation only lasted a few moments before the succubus started the process fully.

Jerald turned away from the process when he felt a tug on his mind and when he checked to see what it was, he felt a prayer whispered to him. He immediately thought it was from Alusha, but it wasn’t instead it was from somewhere else in the world. It was still in the sky kingdom, but it was on another floating island and as he narrowed the tug, he zoomed in on it and he saw a small girl about ten or eleven years old with dark hair and muddy brown eyes. She was dressed in rags and she looked like she was starved as her body was thin and weak looking.

He saw that she was clutching one of the medallions that Alusha had made, and she was halfway between wakefulness and unconsciousness. He frowned and the moment the girl fell still and went unconscious. He made a move and entered her dream.

_____ ______ _____