Soren adjusted the lamp so its pale light fell directly over the table. The four Divine Ichor Cards shimmered faintly against the metal surface, their engraved sigils reflecting thin lines of silver and blue. Clyde leaned closer. Up close, the cards felt less like objects and more like sealed laws—small pieces of something ancient and precise.
"These are Divine Ichor Cards," Soren said quietly. "Fragments of divine law left behind when the Moon Goddess fell. Each one contains a complete sigil pattern capable of merging with a human's Lunar Sigil during Baptism. When the two combine, the result is an Astral Card."
He tapped the table gently.
"Think of it like this. Every human is born with a Blank Lunar Sigil inside their heart. It is unfinished. Incomplete. Baptism is the process of engraving a divine sigil onto it."
Clyde stared at the cards.
"And these are the sigils?"
"Yes."
Soren slid the first card forward.
Its surface was a deep midnight blue that swallowed most of the lamplight. Thin silver lines spiraled inward across the card's face, forming a tightening vortex around a single engraved eye. The eye itself was hollow, like an empty pupil carved directly into the metal.
"This," Soren said, "is the Abyss Divine Ichor."
He rotated the card slowly so the engraved vortex seemed to twist beneath the light.
"The Abyss sigil governs gravitational law. Its structure mimics the collapse pattern of singularities—natural distortions where mass compresses space itself."
Clyde blinked. "You mean… black holes?"
"Similar," Soren replied. "But smaller. Far more controlled."
He placed the card flat again.
"When fused with a Lunar Sigil, the bearer gains control over localized gravity fields. At the New Moon phase, the power is subtle. They can increase the weight of objects, pin opponents to the ground, or lighten their own body enough to leap impossible distances."
Clyde imagined someone suddenly weighing ten times more.
"That's terrifying."
Soren nodded slightly.
"At later phases, Abyss bearers learn to distort entire areas of gravity. A skilled one could collapse stone walls inward or suspend multiple enemies in the air."
He paused.
"But there is a danger."
"What kind?"
"Gravity manipulation strains the bearer's skeletal structure. If their Astral Card cannot stabilize the distortion field, the pressure rebounds inward."
Clyde frowned.
"What happens then?"
Soren's voice stayed calm.
"The bearer becomes the center of their own gravity collapse."
Clyde slowly leaned away from the card.
"Right."
Soren moved it aside and pushed the second card forward.
This one glowed with a soft amber light. Its sigil looked more mathematical than mystical—interlocking triangles and geometric arrays arranged around a circular core. Small runic symbols lined the edges like instructions carved into metal.
"This is the Alkahest Divine Ichor."
He tapped the outer ring of symbols.
"The name comes from ancient alchemy. 'Alkahest' was believed to be the universal solvent, capable of dissolving any substance."
Clyde studied the triangles.
"So this power melts things?"
"More accurately," Soren corrected, "it breaks molecular bonds."
He pointed to the central array.
"The sigil restructures matter by disrupting the forces that hold atoms together. At the first phase, an Alkahest bearer can dissolve toxins, neutralize acids, or weaken metal structures."
Clyde raised an eyebrow.
"That sounds less flashy than the gravity one."
Soren gave a faint smile.
"Alchemy wins wars quietly."
He continued.
"With training, Alkahest bearers can decompose stone walls, disarm enchanted artifacts, or purify corrupted ichor. Many Lunar Sentinels rely on them during Hollowling hunts because they can dissolve the hardened bone structures that protect a Hollowling's heart."
Clyde's eyes widened slightly.
"So they're basically anti-monster specialists."
"Exactly."
Soren paused before adding one more thing.
"But Alkahest power is unstable. If the sigil overreacts to the user's emotions, it may begin dissolving materials indiscriminately."
Clyde looked at the card again.
"You mean… everything?"
"Yes."
"Even their own body?"
Soren didn't answer.
He simply moved to the third card.
This one shimmered silver-white and vibrated faintly on the table. Clyde could actually hear it if he leaned closer—a thin humming tone, like distant glass singing in the wind.
"This is the Echo Divine Ichor."
Its sigil resembled a crescent moon composed entirely of overlapping wave patterns. Each line looked like a soundwave frozen mid-motion.
"Echo bearers control vibration and resonance," Soren explained.
He tapped the table once.
The sound echoed softly through the room.
"Every object vibrates," he said. "Stone. Flesh. Air. Even bone."
Clyde swallowed.
"At the New Moon phase, Echo users manipulate sound waves. They can amplify whispers into thunder, shatter glass from across a room, or silence footsteps entirely."
"That sounds useful."
"It becomes more dangerous later," Soren said.
He pointed to the layered wave patterns inside the sigil.
"When the Astral Card strengthens, Echo users can target vibration frequencies inside solid matter."
Clyde blinked.
"Meaning?"
"They can rupture internal organs without touching the body."
Clyde leaned back immediately.
"That's horrifying."
"Yes," Soren said calmly.
"But Echo bearers are also invaluable scouts. They can send vibration pulses through walls and detect movement like sonar."
"So they can sense enemies through walls?"
"Correct."
Clyde stared at the card longer than the others.
"Okay… that one's scary."
Soren finally lifted the fourth card.
The moment he touched it, the air felt slightly colder.
This card glowed a soft violet light. Its sigil was far more intricate than the others. A circular ring of tiny constellation-like dots surrounded a vertical infinity symbol. At the top center rested a six-pointed star engraved with delicate precision.
"This," Soren said quietly, "is the Hollow Star Divine Ichor."
Clyde leaned closer.
"The sigil pattern is rare," Soren continued. "It was discovered only a few decades ago in the ruins of a collapsed lunar temple."
"So nobody used it before?"
"Very few."
Soren traced the constellation ring with a finger.
"This sigil governs perception beyond ordinary sight."
Clyde tilted his head.
"Meaning?"
"Hollow Star bearers develop Hollow Eyes."
He gestured toward Clyde's face.
"The first phase allows the user to see hidden phenomena invisible to normal humans. Residual ichor in the air. Concealed spell structures. Hollowlings disguised as people."
Clyde blinked.
"So I could spot monsters walking around normally?"
"Yes."
"And cursed objects?"
"Yes."
Soren paused.
"Even microscopic molecular structures."
Clyde stared.
"So I could… see atoms?"
"Not exactly," Soren said. "But close enough to analyze material weaknesses."
Clyde folded his arms.
"That still sounds less combat-focused than the others."
Soren nodded slowly.
"Hollow Star bearers rarely fight directly."
"Then what are they for?"
Soren's expression grew serious.
"They are seekers."
"Investigators. Trackers. Analysts."
"People who uncover truths hidden beneath the world."
He tapped the small star engraved in the sigil.
"The later phases of Hollow Star are not fully understood. Records suggest advanced users can see through illusions, detect lies through micro-expressions, and observe the spiritual damage caused by corrupted ichor."
Clyde stared at the card again.
The constellation ring seemed to shimmer slightly.
Something about it felt… familiar.
"So these four are the only options?"
"For now," Soren said.
"There were originally thirty-two Divine Ichor sigils, but most were lost when the Astral Cataclysm ended."
Clyde slowly looked at the four cards laid across the table.
Gravity.
Alchemy.
Vibration.
Perception.
Each one carried a completely different philosophy of power.
Soren folded his arms.
"When a Divine Ichor Card merges with your Lunar Sigil during Baptism, the two combine into your Astral Card. That Astral Card becomes the core of your existence."
He paused.
"It cannot be replaced."
Clyde took a slow breath.
"So whatever I choose now… stays with me forever."
"Yes."
Soren pushed the four cards closer to him.
"Choose carefully."
The lamp flickered.
For a moment the sigils seemed almost alive beneath the light.
Clyde's gaze lingered on the violet constellation card.
The Hollow Star.
Clyde stared at the violet constellation card, unable to look away. The ring of tiny stars engraved on its surface seemed to shimmer under the lamplight, each point reflecting faint motes of silver as if the card carried a fragment of the night sky itself.
"I pick the Hollow Star Ichor," he said quietly.
In his mind he added, If I choose this one I don't need to do much, and I still get the thirty pounds.
Soren raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure?" he asked calmly. "Once you choose, there is no turning back."
Clyde nodded.
"Very well," Soren replied.
Soren placed his hand over the Hollow Star card.
The moment his palm touched it, the metal surface shuddered violently. Thin fractures spread outward across the card like branching constellations, each crack glowing faint violet. The sigil etched into its surface began to pulse, responding to Soren's touch as though awakening from centuries of sleep.
Then—
A blinding violet flare burst outward.
The card lifted into the air, rising slowly above the table as if gravity had loosened its hold. The sigils engraved across its surface began to move. The outer constellation ring rotated slowly clockwise. The vertical infinity loop turned the opposite direction. The six-pointed star at the center pulsed rapidly, beating like a distant heart.
The movements accelerated.
Faster.
Then faster still.
Soon the symbols blurred into streaks of violet light, the spinning sigils forming a miniature storm of energy hovering above the table.
With a final shimmering pulse, the card collapsed inward.
What remained was a swirling violet orb no larger than a fist, its surface moving like a galaxy caught inside glass. A deep hum radiated from it, low and distant, like the echo of something ancient breathing in the void.
Soren caught the orb gently before it could drift away.
"It's awake," he whispered.
"The Hollow Star recognizes you."
He lowered the orb into a bowl carved from Lunarglass.
The bowl itself was ancient, its surface cloudy with faint veins of silver that shimmered whenever light touched them. Inside the bowl was a strange liquid mixture known as Lunar Water, water gathered during rare moonlit storms when lunar ichor briefly condensed within rainfall.
Mixed within the water drifted strands of Lunar Essence, a pale silver vapor that never fully dissolved. It curled endlessly through the liquid like living mist, twisting and reforming in slow spirals.
The moment the violet orb touched the mixture, the bowl began to thrum like a heartbeat.
The liquid vibrated violently, sending ripples across its surface as if something inside it had awakened.
"Take that knife," Soren said, his voice steady and composed.
"Drip a few drops of your blood into the solution."
Clyde's pulse quickened.
Still, he obeyed.
He picked up the thin ceremonial knife resting beside the bowl. Its blade was narrow and slightly curved, the metal faintly engraved with tiny lunar runes.
He pressed the tip lightly against his fingertip and made a shallow cut.
A bead of blood formed.
It fell into the mixture.
The reaction was immediate.
The liquid hissed sharply as though something inside it had been burned. Purple vapor erupted upward in spirals, filling the air with a strange metallic scent. The colors inside the bowl began shifting violently—purple, silver, black, then back to purple again.
Each shift was accompanied by faint whispers.
Voices that did not belong to man.
Nor god.
They sounded distant, like echoes carried across an endless void.
Clyde's skin prickled.
Soren watched the reaction carefully, his eyes focused on the liquid's shifting colors.
"Your blood binds the Divine Sigil to your Lunar Ichor," he explained quietly. "Without it, the sigil would reject you."
The mixture continued to churn violently.
After a few seconds Soren lifted the bowl and poured the unstable liquid into a mold carved from Moonstone Quartz. The mold itself was shaped like a perfect sphere, its interior engraved with hundreds of microscopic sigil channels designed to stabilize the Baptism process.
The liquid hardened almost instantly.
Within seconds it formed a solid orb.
Its color resembled that of a dying star—deep violet mixed with faint streaks of silver that glowed softly beneath the surface.
Soren lifted the newly formed orb and turned toward Clyde.
His expression had grown serious.
"Prepare yourself," he said in a deep voice.
"Once I break this orb, the fluid will baptize your body. It will rewrite your current Lunar Ichor frequency. Your task will be to gather those scattered frequencies and harness them."
He looked directly into Clyde's eyes.
"If you succeed, the Hollow Star shall be yours."
Without another word—
Soren crushed the orb in his hand.
CRACK.
The sphere shattered into fragments of violet light.
Immediately Clyde's body convulsed.
His muscles tightened violently and his breath caught in his throat. A freezing shock tore through his veins as the Baptism energy entered his bloodstream.
He fell to one knee.
Thousands of murmurs flooded his mind.
Voices layered over voices until they formed a deafening storm of whispers trapped between dimensions.
His Lunar Ichor—the invisible essence flowing through every human body—erupted into chaos. The energy inside his veins scattered wildly, tearing apart the stable flow that had existed his entire life.
It felt as if a storm had been unleashed inside his body.
"Soren—something's wrong!"
Soren stepped forward immediately, his voice cutting through the chaos.
"Listen to me, Clyde!"
Clyde's vision blurred as the whispers grew louder.
"Absorb the Lunar Ichor," Soren commanded.
"All of it."
"Force it back to your heart."
"And like I said—harness those frequencies."
His eyes hardened.
"If you fail, the Hollow Star will consume you."
Clyde clenched his teeth.
Sweat ran down his temples as his body trembled violently.
Inside himself he could feel it.
Threads of silver energy racing wildly through his veins, scattering like frightened birds.
He forced his mind inward.
Into the storm.
One by one he grabbed those threads of Lunar Ichor and began dragging them back toward his chest.
The whispers grew louder.
Then slowly—
They began fading.
His breathing steadied.
The chaos inside his body began to align.
His heartbeat slowed until it matched the pulsing rhythm of the Hollow Star energy spreading through his veins.
Deep within his chest something began forming.
His Blank Lunar Sigil—the dormant symbol every human carries—reshaped itself under the pressure of the Hollow Star's power.
Lines of violet light carved themselves across the sigil.
The constellation ring appeared first.
Then the infinity loop.
Finally the six-pointed star.
The two sigils fused together.
A final pulse of violet light rippled across Clyde's skin.
Then silence.
Clyde slowly stood.
The transformation had taken hold.
He could feel it.
His Lunar Ichor now resonated perfectly with the Hollow Star sigil, constructing a new structure within his essence.
His Astral Card had been born.
His eyes opened.
Normally they were a deep midnight blue.
Now, for a brief moment, they burned violet.
Constellations flickered across his irises like fragments of shattered starlight. Through those eyes he could see things that had never existed in his vision before.
Heat signatures glowing faintly through stone walls.
Tiny currents of air shifting through the room.
Residual traces of life energy drifting like dust in the atmosphere.
Then the violet glow slowly faded.
His eyes returned to their usual blue.
But deeper now.
Older.
Forever touched by the Hollow Star.
Soren exhaled slowly.
He stepped back, studying Clyde with quiet awe.
"You are now an Ichorborn of the Hollow Star."