Time to wake up. Shouldn't be hard to make this dream area again after she's seen it, so I abandon the remnants of the dream world and bring myself to her short term memory like I usually do. Home sweet home. I plug myself into her senses and an unexpected scene surrounded her.

The area was black all around with tiny dots of light piercing the dark like stars. Floating in the darkness above, seven small blue light crystals bobbed up and down unnaturally. And right above Celestine's body, an enormous black crystal could be seen reflecting the light off the small light crystals. It was dead silent. The only thing that could be heard was Celestine's breathing.

She reached for whatever it was she was laying on, and felt nothing. She moved her hands behind her back and there was no surface for her to be laying on. Genuinely freaked out now, she twisted her body around and started spinning. She was not tied up, she was not laying on anything, she was floating. With her spinning, we saw what was below her. More black with star-like dots and a gray metallic disk embedded into the floor below.

"U-um, Novos? Is this still part of the dream?" She asked aloud, waving her arms to try to stop her spin.

Sounds of talking could be heard a distance away mumbling something, but it was too far away to make out.

How do I respond to her now? I could just speak to her in the same way the system voice I made did, but I can't make the gestures to convey meaning. And she still doesn't know English. Guess this is time to try another old trick of mine. Basket-case powers, activate! I manipulated her perception of the real world and overlaid the white translation square in front of her. This was another thing I used to do with my time on Earth. If you were to give an ego enough of a personality and a visual representation, it was possible for them to manifest themselves in your vision when awake. They would be like holograms, but they could interact with the environment how they saw fit. Things like sit on your bed or walk around beside you. Made long drives more entertaining when you had an ego sitting in the passenger seat to talk to. With this ability, I could manifest the translation square.

Also, sorry if it seems like I am just pulling these abilities out my ass. There was really no reason before to mention them sooner. There's no more of my random abilities, I swear. There's no magic on Earth, after all. All I used to do is play with my head enough to where this stuff just sort of happened. And because I know the basics on how they work, I can make it work now. There were even online communities that focussed on this kind of mental reprogramming back on Earth. I'm sure you could find them if you looked hard enough.

Anyway, to communicate with Celestine. I would speak with my voice in English and translate on the square to her language.

"Huh? Where's momma?"

There was just enough light to make out what she wore. She was wearing something similar to what the acolytes were wearing. The difference was the color. It was a pure white robe tailored to her size. Also, at some point when she was asleep someone, "Hey! Who stole my underwear!"

I took control of her mouth and shouted at the source of the voices, "Hey! Which one of you changed her clothes?! Where the hell is Sylvianna? Hey! Answer me, " The voice I spoke with was her own, but I hoped my use of words from another language and my sudden angry tone would make it clear it was me speaking.

The wall opened up to a group of people dressed in their acolyte robes. Most were blue and black. One was solid black, one black and yellow, and the one leading was black and white. Do the robes signify some kind of ranking?

"We are sorry, Lord Novos. We were hoping to finish the ceremony before she had awakened." The voice of the woman in black and yellow spoke, but it was hard to tell with how dark it was in here if it was the same woman.

"Ceremony?" I asked with Celestine's mouth.

"Normally the ceremony to connect the heart to the gods is done at the age of twelve. But because little Celestine has been given your blessing, the head priest has been called and decided to have her ceremony early, so that she may be of more use to you."

Let me have my mouth back! What do they mean "Lord Novos"? What did you tell them? The thoughts of Celestine were echoing in her head, directed at me. The words were even appearing on the translation square. This girl is scary.

I erased the words and wrote my own.

Not my problem! Let me talk! So hurtful. Where did the awe-inspired little girl in the dream go? Fine! I'll lie. Now let me talk!

That's still lying. LET. ME. TALK!

I relinquished control of the mouth and she barked out angrily, "Where are my clothes!?"

"Don't worry, dear. Everything's in the other room. I'm the one who changed you." The one who spoke was Sylvianna. She was the one wearing the fully black robe. Relief flowed over Celestine like cold water at hearing her mother's voice.

"Couldn't you have left me with my underwear?"

"Any article of clothing except for the robe is only a hindrance. Don't worry, after the ceremony you will be able to wear whatever you want under it."

Seven people in black and blue robes entered the room and each stood under one of the floating light crystals. They each held black crystals wrapped in chains, like miniature versions of the giant one above Celestine.

"W-what's this ceremony thing?" Celestine asked.

"You would know if you paid attention during church services." Sylvianna said plainly. Ah, if Celestine doesn't know, then I won't know either. But from what they've said, this is probably some kind of ceremony that allows you to use magic... maybe? Is that what the robes represent? Their magic ability? Is that why Sylvianna's is black? Because she has very poor magical ability? The most I've ever seen her do is magic to make things light up.

The man in black and white robes stood at the entrance of the room beside Sylvianna and didn't say a word. He closed the wall behind him and the starry scene of this room and the illuminating floating crystals were all that gave the room illumination. The woman in the black and yellow robes approached Celestine's head. She lightly touched her shoulders to stop her spinning and made her look up to the great big black crystal.

Then every acolyte began chanting at once, each other speaking a unique phrase. Then the woman in black and yellow began to talk over them, hovering her hand above Celestine's forehead. "We call to the great gods to bestow your gifts upon this child who has been gifted prematurely by your kin, young god Lord Novos."

Hey, Novos, is it bad if this goes on when you're not a god? Celestine asked in her head, the words appearing on the translation square to give them their full meaning. Mastering silent communication when awake, check.

She's probably worried because of the ceremony/ritual thing. There's probably a reason children only go through this when they are older. There's also the addition of Me being in her head. How does this ceremony change when one or more souls inhabit the body? Three things could happen. The ceremony works, nothing happens, or we die.

If I die, I will hate you forever.

No.

"God of light, Lumos! We call on your wisdom to guide her path in darkest night!" A beam of white light shot from the black crystal the acolyte to the right of the woman in yellow was holding. It was like a laser beam and entered the big black crystal above. "God of fertility, Aphrodite! We call on your creations to test her life and bless her descendants for eons to come!" Another beam of light, this one bright green, emanated from the next acolyte's black crystal. "God of sustenance, Fames! We call on your energy to nourish and to empower this child's body until her dying breath!" Which may be soon if my existence screws this up. A red beam of light entered the black crystal from the next acolyte. "God of the cosmos, Sagan!" You might be recognizing some of these names. Well, the names they are actually saying are really stupid sounding when translated, so I am using a little creative licence here. Like how I called the god of the cosmos Sagan? Ehh? Ehhh? Crap, what did she say about the god of the cosmos? I wasn't paying attention. A blue beam of light entered the crystal from the next acolyte.

"God of decay, Mortuus! May you reclaim this form when her spirit no longer has use for it and protect her as she enters the next life." A black beam of light entered the black crystal. Black light? How does that work? "God of earth, Messer! May your world support her and be her foundation as she continues this life with the machinations of your kin." A brown light entered the crystal. "And God of flame, Iroh! Warm her soul in the cold of night and in the trying times ahead." And an orange beam of light entered the crystal. Not so much a rainbow, these beams of light. But somehow they, all together, made the black crystal above turn bright white.

The acolytes continued their individual chants and the lights grew brighter. Celestine was crying right now, eyes wide open with nothing she could do. Depending on the will of the gods, she will either survive this, or she will be killed as far as she knew.

How does this ceremony thing work anyway? They can't actually be calling on the power of gods, so does this crystal do something to the magic? Do the black crystals in the acolytes hands gather some kind of celestial energy and then sending up to the black crystal? Then what does the black crystal do with it? Unlock Celestine's ability to use magic? Or does it bestow magic onto her? I'm going to have to force her to read some of the religions books her mom bought for her so that I can try to understand this stuff...

And then came the pain. Oh god the pain. A beam of light shot from the big crystal and blasted right into Celestine's chest. Her eyes clamped shut and all I could hear is her screaming. The pain was so great I couldn't shut it off if I tried, and I tried because I could feel it myself. It felt like every bone in the body was being broken at once. Every inch of skin was being ripped open. Every muscle was being pulled apart at the joints. And everything else was on fire. In between her gasps for breath, in between screams, we could hear the frantic shouting of acolytes as they tried to understand what was happening. This was not normal, obviously. A splitting headache, like someone took an axe to het head, made her clutch her head, and more screams of agony. Then, silence. And the pain was gone.

Did she pass out? I could still feel about in her head, so she didn't die... Nothing was out of place. I entered her unconsciousness and listened in to what was being discussed.

"LET ME HOLD HER! GIVE HER BACK!" I could hear Sylvianna's cries as, I suspect, someone was holding her back.

"Sylvianna! Quiet! We don't know what happened. We must examine her!" The voice of the charcoal-eyed man shouted at her. Was he one of the acolytes that chanted?

"I don't care! CELESTINE! TINA! BABY! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

"Jorald, hold her still!"

"I've never seen a robe like this before." The sound of an elderly old man spoke and everyone in the room went silent.

"Head Priest, something clearly went wrong, this is just a malfunction of some sort."

"If something had gone wrong, then the robe would still be pure white. It succeeded. This must be the work of Novos."

"CELESTINE!"

"Young Sylvianna, hush. The child is fine. She is merely asleep. Dianne, carry her to the medical ward, same room as before. Let her rest there. Jorald can examine her then. I need to write a few letters. When she wakes up, Sylvianna can take her home."

Well, that's good. Guess I need to return to the dream world and face Celestine now.