"Can a person be born without a soul? A spiritual core is located in the deepest part of the soul, the root of a person's very being. Therefore, it is logical to presume that a person who did not possess a soul would naturally not possess a spiritual core as well."
A sigh of muted despair escaped Laude's lips as he gazed at the faraway Emerald Sea. Beautiful as Windell Temple's view of the distant sea was, it did little to soothe Laude's bitter heart.
He had come up with dozens of theories about why he could not detect his spiritual core, and over the last year and a half, he had eliminated all of them... except one.
He turned to Belladonna and said, "It all makes sense now that I've had the time to properly go through all the facts. There is nothing left to test. Everything points to only one deduction."
I don't have a soul.
Living things possessed souls, but when they died, their souls would depart for the land of the dead. There, they would be judged by the Lord of Hell and prepare for their next life after their accumulated karma was accounted for.
Had Heavens destroyed his soul? Had they stolen it from him? Or had it been cast down to Hell by the Heavens as punishment for his insolence?
In the end, what they had done to his soul did not matter — what mattered was that he was left bereft of it.
"I've always believed in myself and my ability to do anything I desired. That, and the idea that anyone could achieve their dreams, so long as they kept on trying. It all amounted to how much time and effort one put into making a dream come true."
"But now... I see that there are things beyond our reach. That there are limits to what hands made of dirt and clay can accomplish. There is naught for me to do but accept that I have been bested. No matter how determined I may be, even I cannot make something from nothing," said Laude ruefully as he directed his gaze up to the sky.
'What a cruel lesson... Even if the Heavens wanted to teach me a lesson about humility, they should not have done it like this. I am not so arrogant as to need such a painful lesson, right?'
Belladonna struggled to find the right words to say. If Laude's theory was correct, then not even the Elders would be able to help him with his spiritual core. Suffice to say, Laude would be doomed...
Devoid of a soul, yet still alive. Forever denied the mercy of death...
Stuck in a perpetual state of undeath, Laude would endlessly roam the Earth as an immortal, he would be damned to witness everyone he loved die and turn back to dust before his eyes... along with anyone else he ended up befriending in the future.
It was a punishment Laude would not wish on anyone, not even the people he hated the most. Such a macabre destiny was far, far too cruel for even the lowest scum on Earth.
Laude wanted to cry at thought of the fate that awaited him, but he couldn't even manage to force the tears to come out. He was too distraught to even manage such a simple thing at the moment.
And then, without any warning, the previously clear and sunny sky above Windell Temple began to change. As if in response to Laude's lamentations, the sky turned foul as dark, brooding clouds condensed and stirred above the old temple.
Both Laude and Belladonna jumped up from their seats when they noticed the sudden turn of events and glanced at each other before they turned tail toward the temple. Neither of them desired to tempt fate by remaining outside. The last thing either one of them wanted was to feel the wrath of the Heavens...
Laude, in particular, scuttled like a frightened rat as if his life depended on it, screaming all manner of obscenities at the turbulent sky, which seemingly only made things get increasingly worse.
A muffled roar from something within the growing storm echoed across the mountain range, which drew the attention of everyone in White Dew Society. And in response, all five Elders immediately appeared out of thin air in front of Laude and Belladonna before they turned their attention to the raging storm.
The five Elders quickly surrounded both disciples and began working in unison, constructing a large ring out of paper talismans for them.
Alnus gravely said, "You are NOT to leave the ring! Remain still and do NOT speak! Have I made myself clear?! Not a single word!"
Far above everyone's heads, a loud crack of thunder reverberated across the sky and a loud, furious voice said, "...WHAT GALL! YOU DARE DEFY THE WILL OF HEAVEN?! BE DES—"
But before the irate voice in the sky could finish its judgment, it was mysteriously silenced. Soon after, the storm above Windell Temple began to swirl and coalesce into a tremendous finger pointed directly at Laude and Belladonna.
A stifling invisible pressure enveloped everything in the mountain range as if the world itself had been told to be quiet. The sound of the howling wind, the heavy rain, the cries of terrified beasts across the mountains — it all faded into nothingness when the finger emerged.
"...What virtue is there in a starless sky? We have chosen you... and We demand an answer, Laude."
A voice that could not belong to either a man or woman whispered softly in Laude's ear, sending chills down his spine. It was so close he could feel the heat of the person's breath on his ear.
"...Find us the answer, Laude. We await you and the answer... at the end of the world."
And then, a crooked streak of divine light, a powerful lightning bolt, came out of the massive finger and struck an old peach tree not too far away from where Laude stood. It thoroughly destroyed the poor tree, leaving it a pile of ash except for...
A small tree branch about an arm's length long.
Laude reflexively flinched at the sight of the lightning bolt in terror and closed his eyes as crouched into a ball. Unfortunately for him, the little branch flew in a beautiful arc across the air and neatly struck Laude square on the head.
"Aaah, mercy, mercy!! I didn't do anything this time! I swear on my mom, I didn't say anything!" cried Laude pathetically until he cracked open an eye and saw...
A relatively unharmed tree branch sitting right in front of his feet.
Laude let out a dumb croak of surprise as he curiously inspected the tenacious little branch.
There was a short section of charred wood near the bottom section where it had once been attached to the trunk of the peach tree, but aside from that, it was completely pristine.
'Perhaps it was just a lucky fellow. Then again, is anything ever simple when it comes to the Heavens? Did they leave this for me to have?'
He picked the tree branch up expecting something to happen but found himself disappointed when nothing occurred. Still hopeful, Laude gave the branch a couple of test swings to see if that would cause it to react, but it remained nothing more than a simple tree branch...
"So it was just a lucky tree branch, then. What a pity," said Laude in a low voice," And here I was hoping that'd be something nice..."
Belladonna, who was observing it over Laude's shoulders, said, "When the Heavens leave something behind, it is rarely useless, Laude. That much I know for certain, despite my meager knowledge..."
"She's right, my boy," said Alnus as he and the Elders converged on them, "There are no coincidences when it comes to Heavens. ...And they rarely speak plainly when they do."
When Alnus asked if he could examine the tree branch, Laude handed it over and the Elders huddled around Alnus as they discussed something among themselves in private. Their little group session went on for a couple of minutes as they performed their tests until they returned to Laude and Belladonna.
Alnus had a perplexed expression on his face before it cleared up into a gentle smile and said, "Sorry about the wait. Here, this belongs to you, my boy. Keep it safe."
He handed the peach branch back to Laude and said, "Make no mistake; this is a gift from the Heavens to you. I won't make any wild guesses, but it should be safe enough to assume that the Heavens gave this to you for a purpose. Whatever that purpose might be, though, is beyond our ken."
The old man keenly stared at Laude and said, "By chance, did the Heavens speak to you? Did you hear anything during all that commotion? Or did you notice anything peculiar, so to speak?"
Laude's eyes popped open in surprise and he warily replied, "I did... hear something, sir. A voice whispered in my ear and said—"
Before Laude could say anything else, Alnus covered his mouth and said, "Whatever the Heavens said to you is none of our concern. It is a matter between them... and you. Never reveal to anyone what the Heavens told you today nor of your... unique connection to them, my boy."
"Do you understand? There are some in this world who would go to any length to exploit and use you to understand why the Heavens have such a keen interest in you. They would do anything that would help ease their way past the Gates of Heaven. Anything. These people have no bottom line..."
Deception. Betrayal. Blackmail. Murder. Torture. Sacrifice. Destruction. Chaos.
By all accounts, these terrible people, these... rogue cultivators were undoubtedly evil in the eyes of the world, but the evildoers in question thought otherwise.
Although they had their own different goals, all rogue cultivators were cut from the same amoral cloth. They concerned themselves not with the human concept of morality and instead followed the precepts of nature itself — there was only what needed to be done and nothing else.
To them, there was no greater evil than not following their own heart. They refused to bend to the laws of Man and only heeded what the Heavens willed...
In any case, Laude swore that he'd never utter a word of what transpired today once he grasped the type of fate that awaited him if a rogue cultivator ever found out about him. The last thing he desired was to suffer endlessly at hands of an amoral madman in some remote, hidden crypt...