Chapter 3 path for the sages
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Somewhere in the space in between.
Astrada travels across the Mandelbrot, landing in a realm called the spirit world after her battle with the Great White Eye. She looks around at her surroundings and notices that the place she floats in has no sense of up or down, and that any normal direction, let alone distance, is completely unnatural & bizarre.
" So I've finally made it to the realm of the spiritual and whispers beyond, far removed from everything else in Mandlebrot." Astrada's body fully mends all of her extra wounds from the battle.
While flying through the endless space of the spirit world, she takes in the world's details with great clarity. Astrada, at the scene in front of her, glimpses its extreme beauty, despite having no sense of direction whatsoever, a mix of colors mashed together like an oil painting.
Almost immediately, she senses a dense fluctuation of hollow energy nearby and flies at high otherworldly speed across the spirit world's endless expanse.
Finally, Astrada comes upon what appears to be a massive blue forest of large ethereal trees, interconnected and forming a floating purple cloud atop their canopies. She looks around for a moment, then smells the scent of a powerful creature lurking atop mountain-sized canopies in the Distance in front of her.
Astrada raises her hand, ready to summon her grimoire and release an attack, then slowly stops mid-motion.
Her beautiful, multicolored eyes glance towards the treetop. See the outline of a massive, glowing, ten-tailed fox-like creature with feathered arms and hind legs, its tail melodically swaying back and forth.
A second later, Astrada hears the deep voice of a woman say to her, "Have you come to the spirit world seeking refuge from the outside reality, or are you here to take as so many have tried to do before?" The nomadic deity is silent for a moment, then responds softly to the voice.
"I'm not here to strip you of anything. I want to coexist with your species. learning the ways of spirits, as to understand more deeply the fundamentals of our multiverse, and learned from the outside that you would be able to show me." Her tone was sincere.
"Mmm, very well. But first I must gaze into both your soul & mind as the spirit world makes up all forms of information from the past, present, and future." The feathered fox jumped down from the canopy it stood perched atop.
Astrada now sees the creature in her entirety. The ten-tailed fox stands 35 meters tall, with glowing purple fur, unique geometric patterns across her body and tails, and a profound, sweet scent that wafts through the air around the feathered being.
"You may call me Shoki, and I am the guardian of this area in the spirit world. Despite having no sense of direction, we feathered foxes can follow hollow energy trails that give us a sense of course on where to go for directions." All ten of her tails wag slightly with particles shaking off of her.
"Very well, shoki. peer into my soul and examine what you think about me." Astrada dissipates her grimoire from her hand and opens her arms up, outstretched towards Shoki.
Shoki slowly walks towards Astrada, her calm, light purple eyes gazing directly into the nomadic deity's mind and soul.
When peering deep into her spirit, she sees a swirling vortex of thoughts and emotions around Astrada's astral projection—a mixture of both good and bad stringed together.
"Your spirit is terrifyingly beautiful, Astrada, and yet carries a sense of warmth that I can't fully describe. You must have known about the spirit world for some time now, seeing as you recently had a battle against a monarch and almost immediately came directly here from outside of Mandlebrot." Shoki, in her ethereal form, continues to float through Astrada's mind and soul body.
After some time, she comes upon Astrada's soul sanctuary, which is the innate domain of a person's inner soul.
The feathered fox guardian begins reading through the thousands of experiences and emotions that have led Astrada to this point in meeting Shoki, and slowly unravels the true intentions Astrada desires for herself and why she's here to find the spirit world.
Shoki finds that deep inside her soul, Astrada wants nothing more than to create a home of her own to spread her knowledge of the universe to those like her. Alongside her true goal of forming a new race of beings called sages. Nomadic people who travel across the universe of Coin-World, showcasing their way of life to all things living and beyond.
going even deeper into consciousness, Shoki sees a desire even more intimate than Astrada, creating her own race of people. She wants to have a family.
"You want children of your own, young deity?" In a curious, but gentle tone.
Astrada thinks to herself and says without hesitation, "Yes, I do."
Shoki leaves the soul sanctuary of the nomadic deity and returns to her physical state. Now, she's reduced herself to a more anthropomorphic form, standing on her hind legs with clawed hands and slight alterations to her figure.
A long robe wraps around Shoki as she turns around to face the forest, her voice still calming and gentle.
"You may spend five years' worth of time here gathering knowledge of the spirit world and experiencing the ways of life, but be aware that not all feathered foxes like myself are so kind to outsiders, especially those who cause trouble and spread nightmares, whom I'd like to call dream stealers."
"I will lead you to my home and may meet with the rest of my clan of tailed foxes, and while exploring, I will teach you to develop & fully mature your soul sanctuary, including learning the creation of dream-based hollow energy manifesting abilities."
Astrada follows Shoki, the two traveling hundreds of miles across large open fields, deep into one of the many floating islands in the spirit world, which are the size of continents.
"From here on, you understand us as many others have tried, and we will see how the trials of the dream will accept you." Shoki lands on the platform. Placing both of her paws into these slotted holes activates a barrier that opens the gate leading into the home of her people. Astrada walks in behind, and the gate closes.