Oswin smiles at Declan and walks over to a vacant table, taking a seat. He momentarily glances at Sokar and a look of realization comes across his face. Alice looks at the man and turns back to Sokar.

“Oh! Sorry Sokar I gotta take this, I’ll talk to you later okay?”

“Y-yeah”

Sokar only barely manages to choke out those words and keep a cool exterior, but in reality his body is still in a dire amount of pain and his mind is panicking, knowing he heard the spirit of the jade speak moments ago.

That voice was the Spirit! It talked about a World Essence. I was supposed to be looking for those but I have no idea what one is. Could one really be this close to me?

Sokar slowly scans the Cafe looking for something that could be the World Essence the Spirit was talking about. His eyes stop wandering as he notices Declans face, one filled with horror. He follows his gaze until he comes to a lone man sitting at a table, Oswin.

Who is that guy? Why does Declan look so scared of him? Is it one of-

Another flash of pain hits Sokar and his senses are sent into disarray.

I need to get out of here… I have no idea how long this pain is going to last.

Sokar leaves money for his tip and drink and slowly gets up, walking quickly to get out of the cafe. Momentarily his eyes meet Oswins, and the pain begins to flare up once more. Sokar manages to make it out of Cafe Lustrous without drawing too much attention to him, and he begins to inch forwards back to his apartment.

“The third inheritor… Will you be the one?”

The voice again reverberates inside Sokars head and the pain begins to overtake him. He barely manages to stay conscious he opens the door to his apartment. Finally he lets himself succumb to it and his mind slips away.

Ugh… I passed out after I got back home.

Sokar opens his eyes, and as he looks around him shock fills his face.

Huh? This isn’t my apartment.

Quickly looking around, Sokar takes notice that he can’t see anything. A ball of light forms above his right hand, illuminating the room he’s in. The newly lit room reveals itself to be made of stone and empty except for a single door.

If I had to take a guess, this has something to do with the Jade. It’s not the first time something like this has happened, although this time was considerably more painful. I don’t think anything dangerous is gonna happen, but I should be on guard all the same.

Sokar stands up and walks to the door. He waits a moment before opening it, readying his mind for what might be on the other side. Finally he opens it, revealing on the other side a pristine street with rows of buildings bordering it on both sides. The area is empty except for a single girl waiting opposite of Sokar. Her eyes temporarily meet his but she then quickly shifts them down towards the ground as if out of embarrassment.

Well this is definitely different. I’m starting to get too used to stuff like this, at this point I’m expecting weird stuff to happen to me. I should talk to that girl and see what’s going on, she looks like she’s waiting for someone. I want to think about what happened at the Cafe, but right now I should focus on this.

Sokar walks through the doorway towards the girl who’s still staring at the ground, while he’s walking towards her he looks at the street below him and his face fills with shock.

Is this...Gold? That’s pretty impressive, whatever this place is, it’s gotta be pretty well off if it can pave its streets with gold. Wait, that’s not important right now! I need to ask the girl about where I am.

“Hey there! I’m a bit new here, well to be honest I’m not too sure where here is. I was wondering if you could tell me where I am. Ah, Sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Sokar”

The girl doesn’t answer at first, she only tilts her head up slightly to look at Sokar. Her face is slightly flushed red and she begins to talk.

“I- Well, You see… Um… My name is Eve.”

She looks back towards the ground, avoiding any eye contact with Sokar.

Is she mad at me? I did just come out of nowhere and started to talk to her, that’s pretty creepy.

“Sorry, Eve. I approached you out of nowhere and came on a bit too forwards, that was rude of me.”

Eve instantly looks up and begins to talk right away, though she still avoids making eye contact with Sokar.

“No! You weren’t rude at all, inheritor. In fact, I am the rude one. I should have responded with more than just my name and I should have answered your question right away. This place is a place entombed inside your essence. You’ve been called by the emperor, he wants to meet you face to face.”

She called me inheritor, that’s the same thing the spirit called me before, that means she, no this place definitely has something to do with the jade. She says this place is entombed in my essence, that’s the thing Felix talked about. Wait, if this place is in my essence does it mean this place is inside of me? Seriously, this stuff just keeps getting weirder. Maybe this emperor guy that wants to meet me will tell me what’s going on, though I expect I’ll just have more questions after meeting with him.

“So, do you think you could point me towards where the emperor is? You look like your waiting for someone, so I’ll be on my way after you tell me.”

“Ah yes the emperor is th- Wait! The person I was waiting for was you! It’s my job to lead you to the emperor, please just follow me.”

Eve quickly begins to head off staring at the ground now with a red face. Sokar follows closely behind her, looking at the sights around him.

The roads are paved with gold and the buildings are made of stone, that’s a pretty stark contrast, I should ask Eve about it.

“I’ve been wondering about this road, it looks like it’s paved with gold. But that can’t possibly be true, right?”

“Yes it is! It was paved recently in preparation for your arrival.”

Just in preparation for my arrival, huh? Am I really that important...

The two continue to walk forwards, eventually arriving at a bustling main street, filled with people.

“Inheritor, I ask that you don’t stop walking as we go through the main road or else you might be overtaken and we won’t make it to the emperor until nightfall!”

I’ll be overtaken? I’m not sure what that means, but it definitely doesn’t sound good.

The two begin to walk down the main road, Sokar looking nervous as he looks back and forth, worried about what may come.

“Eve! Bring the inheritor to my shop, he’ll enjoy it for sure!”

“Mommy, is that really him?”

“He looks just as cool as I thought he would, wow…”

“The boys a bit too scrawny for my taste, a week with me and he’ll bulk up!”

“He’s got bandages on his right hand, was he in a fight!?”

“It must have been quite an enemy if it could harm our inheritor! I bet he messed up the other guy for sure!”

The two manage to push their way through the crowd, but as they walk forwards, Sokar looks back for a moment.

All those people know who I am…? I was confused before, but now I really don’t know what this place is.

The two continue to walk, coming to a colossal stone gate with walls spreading out on both sides, blocking out any view to the other side.

Woah, this is huge! What could be on the other side?

“Well… This is as far as I go. It was a pleasure showing you around. The emperor is on the other side of this gate, you simply need to open it and you’ll find him on the other side.”

As Eve finishes talking she turns around and begins to walk away from Sokar and the gate.

Eve… I really didn’t get to know her that well, but as far as I could tell she was a good person.

“Eve! Thanks for showing me here, if I’m ever in town again I’ll be sure to stop by and come see you!”

In town again, is that even the right thing to say in this situation? I don’t know where I am, or if I’ll ever actually be back.

Eve continues to walk away, acting as if she didn’t hear what Sokar had heard, but if one were to look at her, they would see a joyful smile on her face.

Well… all I need to do is figure out how to open this gate so I can meet this emperor guy.

Walking towards the stone gate Sokar plants both hands forwards, and begins to push forwards, but his efforts are fruitless and the gate doesn’t move in the slightest.

Well, that was to be expected. If I could move a giant stone gate with just raw strength I would be a monster. I guess it’s time to rely on Greed.

Focusing his Ka, Sokar creates two hands of Greed about the size of his body. Both hands rush to the gate, pushing with all their force. The gate begins to open and Sokar quickly rushes through the opening.

Well that wasn’t too hard, though now my ka is completely tapped. If this guy has any bad attentions I won’t be able to defend myself. Even with the new amount I still run out too fast.

On the other side of the gate is a peaceful scenery, grass covers the ground and flowers are spread out in a neat and orderly manner. A stone church sits within the peaceful scenery, looking as if it’s just as natural as the greenery.

Well, I’m gonna guess the emperor is in here.

Sokar heads to the church, and as he enters he’s greeted by a shocking sight. An emaciated corpse sits atop the church altar, with sunken lifeless eyes that stare endlessly forwards. The corpse's mouth begins to move, and an archaic voice echoes out.

“Welcome, Inheritor.”