Arthur's Form floated before the luminous Veil covering the pocket world where the divine soul seed would be. It was a dome shaped shroud spanning the size of a large island and its height reached far into the skies. Within this pocket world Arthur would incarnate as a spirit being and make his way to the divine treasure.
Arthur had asked Ra why it was necessary for him to face off against these beasts if he could just float as a soul towards the seed and incarnate right before it.
"If you can't test yourself against a bunch of spirit beasts, then what will you do when you stand before demon lords?" Ra had replied.
Accumulating strength wasn't enough if Arthur could not put that strength to use. He would incarnate at the edge of this pocket world and he would move towards his goal. The gods help any spirit beast that trespassed before him.
His Astral form crossed the shroud and the world within unfolded before him. A vast plane with scattered trees and Great Mountain at its center all under a glowing white sky. The air was thick with spiritual energy that seemed to concentrate around the Mountain top. It was like the dungeons back on Terros, perhaps they were formed from the same cosmic laws.
His awareness located a small grove of trees nearby and he drifted there. The trees, their leaves glowing orange formed a loose grove through which the light of the white sky pierced.
He sensed no spirit life in the vicinity. The edges of the island had few creatures roaming about as their numbers increased as one got closer to the mountain.
This place was perfect.
Arthur had practiced this within his soul space a hundred times under Ra's guidance. Now came the real test.
He would manifest a spirit body.
Not incarnate into one. Not possess one. Create one by force of will alone.
Arthur drew on the soul energy he'd absorbed and converted, letting it flow outward into the world. He shaped it into a sphere around himself and compressed it inward, denser, tighter, until it collapsed into a core.
A spirit core.
The core pulsed. Soul energy flooded into it, converting to spirit energy, then condensing further into spirit essence, the building blocks of spirit matter.
Then the pull began.
Energy flowed toward him in waves, drawn from the grove, from the air, from miles around. The force of his Will infused into the core, acted like gravity. The world answered.
Arthur's focus sharpened. This was the critical moment.
He willed the essence to shape, the full might of his conscious will upon it.
It swirled around his astral form in a cloud of light particles, chaotic at first, resisting structure. He forced his will through it, weaving, pulling, binding. The particles began to coalesce.
Then the outline of a man appeared.
Ethereal. Translucent. A ghost given form.
But the essence resisted. For a moment, the form wavered, threatening to collapse. Arthur gritted his will and pulled, forcing the particles to obey.
Arthur pushed harder. The essence condensed, solidified. The ghostly shape grew brighter, then dimmed as it took on substance. Arms. Legs. Torso. A face.
His face.
The remaining essence surged inward, flowing over the body like liquid light. It hardened into seamless red armor with a golden hue, molded perfectly to the form, covering him from neck to feet like a second skin.
Veins of spiritual energy shot outward from the core now within his chest, spreading through the body in branching rivers creating an energy circulation system. Spirit channels filling with power. The body was now bound to the core.
Arthur's astral form pressed forward, merging with the vessel.
Soul energy flooded through it. His will suffused every part. His core, chest, limbs, fingers, spine. The body hung suspended in the cocoon of spiritual energy still drawn to the core, the process complete.His youthful face, with eyes still closed in slumber, had a golden luster, handsome to behold, with a mop of black hair upon his head.
Then the spirit core pulsed and a wave of energy rippled outward, filling the channels, igniting the system.
The body stirred.
Arthur's eyes opened.
Golden. Luminous.
*************
Olan the spirit beast.
Olan stood upon the jagged rock his gaze and awareness focused upon the mountain in the far distance. Upon the treasure that lay above it.
He had thought that he had grown strong enough. And he had led his pack to challenge the Mountain. To challenge The King upon the mountain.
He had been filled with fantasies of what power he would gain once he ate of that divine fruit. After all, there was no spirit beast stronger than him, below the mountain!
But Olan had never been so wrong in his entire existence. His entire pack had been slain. Their cores eaten. Olan had run, escaping the slaughter that greeted them. He was lucky they did not pursue him. There would have been no survival.
The spirit beasts at the slopes of the mountain were monsters! Only the slopes! How might was the king at the top?
Yet desire burned strong as he gazed upon the mountain. The Divine fruit could make him a god, a creator of his own spirit cradle like this one! It could take him to the Pinnacle of existence!
But he was too weak to conquer the mountain. To dethrone the king who had claimed the divine fruit.
Suddenly he sensed The ambient spirit energy flow in a different direction from the mountain. The energies were gathering towards a cluster of trees located not far from the edge of this cradle. He saw the whirlwind of power they formed about the cluster of trees.
Greed burned in his red eyes as he imagined what kind of spirit treasure had been birthed in that place. Perhaps a second divine fruit!
He ran without second thought towards the trees. Maybe if he devoured this new treasure, he would become stronger than any creature in this cradle. all would bow before him and claiming the divine fruit would be no effort at all. He praised the great Spirit for his luck.
The creatures that had slaughtered his pack would be the first to feel his fury! He broke into laughter from the glee that filled him at the thought of how he would rip them apart as he ate their cores.
He would be upon the mountain once more as soon as he claimed this new treasure!