As Veronica read the three names she instantly noticed something strange. The writing style changed, it became more artistic for some reason. Also this section included an author's note, the like non of the previous path's had.
'On the stage of life the performer dances to the music of the choir, and in the dark the audience claps or boos to their liking.
The question is who's in control of the act, the person who moves, the person who sings or the person who claps?' Or maybe non of them, because all of them are an integral part of the artistic performance!'
Veronica read through these few sentences half a dozen times, but they just felt like an insane person's ramblings. She even began to think that the person who wrote this book is from the Lunatic path.
Shaking her head a bit Veronica read on, but what the author said next made her jump out of her bed and start pacing around her small room. Eventually she stopped, her breathing uneven, and her eyes just continued to stare at the first sentences after the Dancer name.
Hereby I write this message to a specific person from a different world! I don't know exactly when you shall read this, but I have two advices for you!
Trust your heart more than yourself, since it knows more than you!
Be aware of any missing memory, he already knows about the theater, but he can't get it until he reaches the last order! You have until then to disappear fully!
Also, a footnote – The watch is more than you think it is! It's one of the Artist's legacies, one that should've been lost at the end of the 3rd Era! Use it as best as you can!
Good luck!
From a friend! :)
Possibly the scariest part was the smiley at the end. Veronica knew exactly that nobody in this world had any idea what emoticons were, which could only mean one thing...
"Whoever the author of this book is... They know about me, about where I came from and even what my world is like... But... How?! I thought I was the only one here? Did someone else got transmigrated before me?... But that doesn't explain how that person knew about me in the future!"
Her breathing was getting more and more erratic. She felt her whole worldview shattering apart. Slowly she sat down in front of the door and just stared at the open book on her bed.
Her whole body was trembling from terror, but there was something else, something she shouldn't have been feeling... Excitement!
After sitting there for who knows how long, she finally calmed down enough to pick up the book again. She was still terrified to look at the previous message, but she was fine enough to read further.
The next part talked about the Dancer, Vocalist and Soundless paths. It said that they are considered cursed because the orthodox churches heavily discriminate against them.
Using the author's words:
'Many people say you choose your friends and enemies with your path, but if you are one of the unlucky fools who became an ascended of one of the cursed paths... Well, you just turned the world against yourself, so... Good luck!'
This was something Veronica already learnt a bit about, but it still felt strange to read about her own path like that. She still couldn't really comprehend what this entailed. Will the orthodox religions actually hunt her just because of her path?
It was confusing, mostly because they done this crusade for no apparent reason. It was pure discrimination without cause!
There was only one religion which was fully accepting towards the Dancer and every other path. The Unbroken were special in this, just like in many other things.
After reading this message a few times as well, she decided to read more about her own path.
It seemed like the Dancer got a balanced upgrade to their soul body and physical body, but they also acquired a huge amount of flexibility, reaching the levels of peak human.
After reading this Veronica made a few moves with her arms and wrists, her joints were closer to jelly than actual bone connections. No matter what position she put herself in, it was always somewhat comfortable.
This was the physical body upgrade that the book talked about, but her strength, agility and stamina increased too. The word the book used was a really great description of her current strength, peak human. Not quite above the strongest or fastest human, but definitely close to them.
The next part talked about that the Dancer acquires the ability to know, and able to perform every known and unknown dance.
For a moment she thought about all the dances she had learnt. Weirdly enough she was incapable of forgetting them.
After that the book said a few words about the ritual dances, but just like with other paths, it didn't go into details.
Then finally she reached the part, that interested her the most... The future of her path...
'This path is a special one. At the beginning you would think that its mostly physical and its power is related to mobility, but later you will realize the real strength of the path, lies in the arts... I won't spoil everything, just know that there is a reason for it to be feared by the others!'
Well, Veronica was definitely hyped to the later orders of her path, even though it said basically nothing about what her future orders would hold, that was exactly why it sounded so great. Her mind just couldn't stop imagining her future strength.
She spent the next several minutes daydreaming, then eventually she read about the second to last path. The Vocalist it was called and the name was very accurate.
This path mostly gained upgrade to their soul body. As she read more the whole path became very interesting. They had beautiful singing voices and learnt how to play every instrument.
People of this path also unlocked something called Vocal Divination and a few ritualistic magics. Strangely enough that was all the path gave.
Their symbolic color was orange, just like the clothing of a church's choir or the instruments musicians used. It also made Veronica remember the color on the theater and in her iris.
She tried to think of any reason for them to appear there, but had no real theory to go on. Eventually she turned back to the text and read everything again.
It seemed a bit lackluster compared to other path's, but when Veronica read the author's note of this path, the reason became obvious.
'Reading about its abilities the Vocalist might seem weak at first. It's true that this is probably one of the weakest 8th orders, but as you go on your power will only be held back by your imagination... They have such a beautiful voice!'
The last part was a bit strange, but it did make Veronica remember something... or more like someone. There was that strange woman in one of her dreams, who seemed to detect her presence even while she only dreamt of her.
Veronica remembered her voice that in and of itself sounded like a beautiful melody. She would've done anything the strange woman asked of her without question.
"She was probably from this path's higher order! But why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?... Hmm, did I have another dream about her that I had forgotten?"
She thought about it for a while longer, then decided to let it go. Her eyes instead travelled to the last of the 15 paths... The Soundless.
She only read a few sentences before she had to stop because of surprise. This path literally crippled the ascended by taking away their ability to talk!
"Well, it is called Soundless for a reason... What a strange path..."
Veronica read on. Luckily they seemed to get a lot for this sacrifice. They learnt many different types of divinations and ritualistic magics. Also the ascended of this path are less likely to get noticed by people and they can understand every language!
Their symbolic color was strangely enough any five or more color, but most people used rainbow because it was easy to remember. This was the color of for example a theater's seats, where the audience sat!
There were no thoughts on this path's future, but that's probably only because the author forgot to write it. Speaking of the author, their last note at the end was very ominous.
'Ever felt like someone was watching you on an empty street? Or maybe feeling like your room was a bit too quiet? Are you really alone, or you just too weak to notice the person sitting right next to you... I hope you have nice dreams!'
Now that Veronica was truly creeped out and very tired, she closed the mysticism book and put it back into her wardrobe. She then proceeded to turn off her light and try to go to sleep.
Unsurprisingly it took a really long time for her to fall asleep, but even when she did nightmares tormented her every moment.
Eventually after a horrible night of sleep, Veronica woke up in the morning, or at least she thought she did... it was actually well into the afternoon already.
But when she was about to get anxious she remembered that Suze gave her the day off. It was sunday anyway so there wouldn't be as many customers.
With sleepy eyes, Veronica left her room in the hopes of taking a nice calm bath. The opposite of what she had last night!