Sokar jumps back in shock hearing the emaciated corpse talk. After a moment he regains his composure and realizes that he’s heard the voice before.

“That voice, you’re the spirit aren’t you!”

The corpses mouth again begins to move, and it’s eyes seem to fill with a bit of life.

“Yes. we are indeed who you call the Spirit. You must be wondering why we called you here, Please allow us to explain.”

“Go ahead, I’m really curious as to what could be important enough to make me feel like my body is being torn apart.”

“Thank you. We called you here for a very simple reason, you have come into contact with a World Essence. Our wish is for you to collect the World Essences, and so for you to come into contact with one so early in your existence as an inheritor is extremely fortuitous. So it’s our request that you pursue it.”

"World Essence? I don’t recall seeing anything like that. Actually, I don’t even know what a World Essence is."

“To explain it simply, a World Essence is a manifestation of a concept. The one you came into contact with today, the Holy World Essence is the product of human faith and belief. As for where you encountered it, it was in the cafe you regularly visit. A man came in, and your new ally Declan looked extremely shocked to see him. If you ask him you will probably find the man in possession of the World Essence.”

“You could see all of that? Then, that means you also probably saw…”

“Yes, we did. It was not our wish for you to have to make a decision which you were not ready for, and we truly apologize for the trouble your inheritance has brought on you.”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I need to ask you. Is the aura coming off of me that pollutes other people’s essence, is that because of the abilities you gave me?”

“Yes. All we can tell you is that it is a result of Greed. Any other questions about your inheritance cannot be answered.”

“You don’t refer to yourself as a singular person, why is that?”

“We cannot say.”

“Why can’t you answer my question?”

“We cannot say.”

“Why are my brands Egyptian while my abilities have names that stem from the Bible?”

“They are simply the representation of what you believe represents the concepts of Greed and the First Day the best.”

“Did you know that the inheritance you gave me would eventually lead to me killing somebody.”

“Yes. If you were to live as the Inheritor, the chances that you would have to kill eventually were very high.”

“Am… I a bad person?”

The spirit is taken aback by the question and does not answer for a moment, but responds with unease in its voice.

“No. You are not a bad person, the life you took was a vile one, you have no reason to be ashamed of your actions.”

“But… The reason I killed him wasn’t because he was a bad person, it’s because he was threatening my peaceful life. Sure, I used the excuse that he was a bad person to take some of the weight off what I did, but in the end the only thing that’s true is that I took his life out of self preservation. Even now I tried to find a way out, a way of taking the blame away from me. For a moment, just a moment I thought that it was your fault that I killed him, but that’s not true. It was my choice, it was my fault. I killed him.”

Sokar looks to the ground, a look of self defeat washed over his own face.

“And that’s why I’m scared. I’m scared that if I follow what you want me to do, again I’ll find myself in that situation. I don’t think I can go through it again.”

The Spirit doesn’t respond and the church is washed in silence. Sokar stands still, believing that the Spirit is regretting that he was the Inheritor they chose. As time passes, eventually the corpse on the altar stands. Its body begins to write and morph until it eventually takes the form of a life filled young man with hair as grey as ash. Sokar looks up in confusion, and the man takes a step off the altar towards him. He reaches his hand out and grabs Sokar’s right shoulder, and begins to talk.

“I don’t think the way you’re thinking is wrong. It’s natural for you to be afraid of going back to that situation, but you need to move forwards. You said it yourself didn’t you, mourning for your past doesn’t have any value.”

The man smiles brightly and then leans in close to Sokar’s ear.

“And even though I’m not supposed to do this, I’ll give you a little gift of knowledge to keep you going forwards. Acquiring a World Essence won’t only appease us, it’ll be able to keep the people around you safe as well. People would eventually come to hurt the people around you, whether you had our inheritance or not. The only way you can absolutely guarantee that they’re safe from those influences is to gather the World Essences and improve your inheritances.”

Sokar’s vision begins to go white as the man talks to him.

“Looks like it’s time for you to go, this visit wasn’t very long was it? Next time hopefully you’ll be able to chat with all of us individually, not just me.”

Sokar jolts awake on the floor of his apartment, and his body is covered in sweat. He tries to get up, but falters slightly still dizzy from the shock of what just happened to him. He quickly closes the open door in front of him and looks at the clock, nothing that the time matches up to how long he was in what he believes to be the jade.

My Ka is still refilling from using Greed from before, does that mean my actual body was in the jade? No, don’t think about that right now. I need to focus and think on what to do, should I search for the Holy World Essence or not, that’s what I should focus on. Everything that happened to me is done, right now this is the only thing I can control.

Sokar falls onto his couch and sits in silence, arguing with himself about what answer he should choose. After intense thought, he finally reaches his conclusion.

If Alice got hurt because I didn’t stop these people could I forgive myself? Declan too, what about him? The guy who came in today with the World Essence is probably his former leader, what if they try to kill him for betraying them? The only option I have now is to put my faith into the Spirit of the jades words and believe that taking the Holy World Essence really is the right thing to do. But I can’t stop at just the World Essence.

Sokar gets up from his couch and grabs his phone, he quickly dials Declans number and waits for a response.

I’ll rip them apart at the seams and assure that they won’t be able to do anything after I’m done.

Sokars phone call gets through, and Declan begins talking immediately in a panicked voice.

“Sokar thank god you called me, I need to tell you about the guy who showed up at the cafe today! He-

Sokar interrupts Declan as he’s speaking and begins talking himself.

“Declan, I need you to tell me where I can find your former leader. I’m gonna wage war on him and his entire operation.”