Chapter 3

"My Ralf You will be entering spirit halls in but a moment, there to receive enlightenment with regards to your destiny. If you're presented with some choices there, you may choose.

Ellia stopped abruptly and shook her head ."My dear, choose whatever you want, just be sure to listen closely to the voice of the spirit and follow your heart."

Rolf nodded despite his confusion. He felt his consciousness slowly blurring with his mother's soft words, as if he was disengaging from the world. When he woke up again he found himself in front of a magnificent altar.

From his position in this arena, the altar that was thousands of meters around made him feel as insignificant as an ant.

The surrounding were made mostly of silvery-grey stone that glowed faintly, and when he scanned his surroundings he was shocked to see stars upon stars in the sky, seemingly so close that he thought he'd be able to pick some if he just stretched his hand. Both the arena and the altar itself were floating in the starry sky.

The huge area put immense stress on him, causing his heart to beat uncontrollably as he didn't dare look around even once more. He made a beeline for the altar, crossing the entire arena and scaling thousands of stone steps to arrive at the entrance. Were it not for his stamina and endurance that he'd trained just like any other child in the mountains, he'd long since have collapsed. He didn't stop for a moment since he started running, feeling like the arena filled his horizon and his surroundings moved in tandem with him. It was like the entire area would crumble the moment he stopped, falling into an endless abyss.

By the time Ralf arrived at the altar's entrance, his breath had grown ragged. His heart was threatening to jump out of his chest, and it took a while for him to calm down before reminding himself of Ellia's words as he raised his head and looked into the altar.

The altar wasn't a something ordinary, instead surrounded by a circle of pristine, jade-like white stone pillars. At the middle was an stage with three Spirits atop it, all in different postures and positions.

There were supposed to be six statues on the altar, each representing different abilities. The more Ralf could see, the more abilities he would be able to evoke with his enlightenment. With his extraordinary memory Ralf could make out three he had now.

Extraordinary aura, bestowing epic strength.

Current of Life, giving him the power to heal.

Wind's Swiftness, increasing his speed and agility.

This rendered Ralf slightly disappointed. He'd already wished for the blessing of wisdom in his heart, believing real men needed to be intellectuals. Still, it was good enough that he had these three choices, since his mother had wanted him to have more than one. Ellia hadn't told the clueless boy that more than half of those who went through this ceremony only saw empty altar.

The boy walked towards the altar, trying his best with wide eyes to find the blessing of wisdom, but this altar and everything that accompanied it wasn't real. What would be the result of his efforts? The only effect was that the three statues he could see were starting to blur in his hesitation.

"You want more abilities, don't you?" A voice suddenly sounded in Ralf's ears. It caused him to jump and looked around frantically, but h saw nothing. The voice had come abruptly, it's cold robotic tone evoking a chilling fear within the boy.

"Who-Who are you?" He plucked up his courage, shouting in a trembling voice. His words resonated within the place, the strong echo shocking him once more.

"It doesn't matter, I won't appear again. Strictly speaking, I'm your other half, hidden within you," the voice answered.

"Impossible" Ralf denied with resolution. His mother once told him his soul was extremely pure, and there was nothing that would taint him. His fear dissipated in a couple of words, the initial confusion and surprise fading as the courage of a mountain youth set in.

The voice ignored his comment, continuing, " Now go, choose whatever you want."

The altar before Ralf lit up once more, revealing three more statues. Apart from the blessing of wisdom were elemental compatibility and nature's advocate. The former was pivotal in a magician's training, allowing them to communicate with the exhaustion of their powers. It let them cast a couple more spells than other magicians of a similar grade, strengthening one's advancement. The latter allowed humans to know more about nature, increasing their stealth and speed in complicated terrain as well as strengthening nature spells. It also gave one poison immunity. Enlightenment had given Ralf six abilities.

"This. This is-" Rolf was rendered speechless, his little head in a mess of confusion. The only logical explanation for everything was that everything was an illusion; how else could everything to be so different from what his mother and the book said?

Still, despite everything, the boy didn't forget his own purpose. He walked towards the statue of wisdom, reaching forward to touch the feet of the spirit This was significance of the ceremony, having the seeker bow before their spirit with humility.

The moment Ralf's hand touched the statue, a sharp crack resonated within his mind. It was like the entire world became lucid and clear to him, giving new meaning to the words he'd read in the magic book, Wisdom allows people to see the world more clearly."

All the other statues disappeared the moment he touched the statue of wisdom. The ceremony should have ended here by right, but the altar didn't disappear yet. Ralf glanced around nervously, seeing a new statue emerge on the altar.

The statue had its arms crossed in front of his chest, the head tilted to the side looking sullen but focused. What made her different from the other statues was that she didn't seem tangible, instead made up of shadow.

'Could this be another ability?' Ralf tried his best to recall, but couldn't think of what this statue represented. Even the magic book had no records of this statue, but he could still recognize it as one belonging to Garcia.

"Don't you want another ability?" The voice sounded again.

"What is it?" Ralf paused, announcing, "I don't want to give up wisdom."

"You can call it truth. It allows you to look at the world from another perspective, and at the end of the path you might see other things."

"Other things? What are they?" He asked out of curiosity. Silence was his only answer.