Keith sat at the river bank. While it was hard to accept that his appearance had changed permanently, he could still come to terms with it. He could also still force himself to believe that he had miraculously been healed by some form of divine intervention.

…

…

But no one would ever be able to immediately accept having a voice in their mind. Who would want some creepy robotic artificial intelligence reading their mind?

“Correction Host, I am not something as primitive as artificial intelligence. To be called as such is an incorrect. I am… I have no name. Regardless, I am a manifestation of your ability.”

“Right…”

Even though he’d read books before on awakened abilities. This was a new one; there were no records of abilities like this. Why was he the lucky one?

Inherent Skills were the norm nowadays, they were discovered nearly a hundred years ago, with their existence and the discovery of gates to other realms, magic was discovered as well. Nearly everyone had Inherent Skills. They were ranked like realms from E to SSS-Rank. Naturally, and Inherent Skill meant that someone was born with an ability. Whether it was making things float to them, or something that allowed them to shapeshift. There were all kinds of Inherent Skills. There was no limit to them.

What made Inherent Skills different from Martial Arts and Magic was the fact that they didn’t impose a drain on stamina or mana. Well… from extreme repeated use they could cause one to become a bit out of breath and mentally exhausted, but they would have to consistently use the skill repeatedly, and rapidly in a short amount of time. This was null and void if the skill was a passive effect though, since it would be active at all times.

Although rare, there were people that didn’t awaken to some form of an Inherent Skill, even if it was E-Rank and nearly useless. This was because they could be inherited just like genetics. However, they couldn’t be artificially implanted. Keith was one such person. Or at least he thought he was. He thought he would never become an Awakened.

“So what are you?” Keith asked, feeling as if this situation was surreal.

As far as he knew, this was his inherent skill…. But then again, everything that had just happened left him numb. He didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“Host, I am a part of you. Tentatively, I will regard myself as a part of your soul since I am fused with it. If you die, I will dissipate into nothingness as if I never existed.”

“I see, and then… what is your purpose?”

“My purpose is to make you, in earthen terminology, a monarch.”

“Monarch,” That word grabbed Keith’s attention.

“Yes, Monarch, a ruler is needed. You are the most compatible. You, who are of noble blood, have the latent potential to accomplish my mission left to me by my previous master.”

“Ha,” Keith laughed dryly, however, even if his face wasn’t perpetually frowning, he wouldn’t be smiling.

“I am no noble. I was cast out long ago. You chose the wrong person. I hate my bloodline. Those people do not deserve to be called nobles.”

“My apologies Host, I have misspoken. I have been with you from birth, I know everything about you. You are correct. Those people are trash and not deserving of their titles. But the noble blood I referred to wasn’t theirs. I am talking about my previous master, who is also your ancestor.”

As the females voice resounded through his head, Keith could have sworn that she no longer sounded monotone. When talking about her previous master, her voice seemed to contain raging emotions. She sounded zealous and devout. Perhaps this voice had a personality? Maybe they were a living person before they became what they were now?

“Host, let me rephrase my wording. Even if you weren’t a noble, you would still be chosen. I have been with you from the moment you were born; I AM your inherent ability... well at least a part of it. This is all thanks to your ancestor.”

Keith scoffed inwardly, “Then why didn’t you appear years earlier? I wouldn’t have suffered nearly as much.”

“All will be explained when you learn about your power.” The woman sounded smug, which made Keith grit his teeth in anger.

“Since you have no name, I will call you Elena. Don’t call me Host, it sounds weird.” Keith said while trying not to sound annoyed. He felt as if he was competing to win a verbal debate against Elena in his mind. As for why he chose that name, there was no reason. It was the first name to pop into his mind.

“As you wish Master, I too like the name Elena; it has a nice flair to it.”

The more he spoke to this woman, Keith grew even more convinced that she was not emotionless and had independent thoughts as well as a lively personality. The emotionless robotic voice had all but disappeared. It must’ve been a façade.

“Speaking of which, who was your previous master, Elena? Rather, who is my ancestor?” Keith said suspiciously.

“My previous master was aloof from the universe. He was far too busy to interact with others. Hmmm, on Earth I guess you humans would call him Anthrus, the Divine Monarch of Life and Death.”

The moment the name resounded, Keith swallowed involuntarily. Originally there used to be a debate about whether God existed. But after the realms came into existence, this question was answered. There were records of mortals who grew so powerful they ascended and became known as Divine’s.

They were semi-immortal. As long as they weren’t killed by sickness or from injuries, they would live forever. They were essentially Gods. Their power was unfathomable. Most Divines mutually agreed they had responsibility to make sure that the universe was balanced because of the power and longevity of life they had. Of course there were many who also didn’t believe this and used their power for personal gain. There were no such things as pure evil or good. After all there was the saying, “The path to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

Among the records of the Divines, there were four who were the most powerful. They were known as the Four Divine Pillars. They were Anthrus, Anastaya, Erados, and Syana.

Anthrus was the most mysterious of the Divine Monarchs. It was unknown how strong he was. All that was known is he took his job seriously. He was the epitome of the Grim Reaper from legends. No one knew exactly what he did, but one thing was for sure, anyone that had ever angered him didn’t live long.

Anastaya was the Divine Monarch of War, Weapons, and Blood. It did not mean that she loved war and fighting, but she made it her mission to prevent needless combat that had no valid reason. Despite her overwhelming power, it was said that she governed blood because she cherished familial ties through blood. Her dream was that no family would ever have internal disputes that lead to bloodshed as long as they had the same blood.

Erados, he was the Divine Monarch of The Elements, as well as light and dark. Fire, water, wind, earth, lighting, light, and darkness, he had absolute control of them. They were the basis of all realms. If they were disrupted worlds would become unstable.

Finally Syana, she was the Divine Monarch the most loved and at the same time the most hated. She governed Judgement, Order and Law. Where there is chaos there is order and vice versa. Although chaos was inevitable, she made sure there was enough order in the realms. From order arises civilization. If there is only chaos, then there is only destruction.

No one knew what happened to the Divine Monarchs. Records state the four vanished without a trace. There were still Divines even to this day as any mortal can ascend. Despite Erados being the Divine Monarch of Elements, there were many Divines that governed fire. There wasn’t a limit to how many rulers there could be for a given universal law.

When Elena said who her master was Keith had a sinking feeling.

“Elena, what happened to Anthrus?”

“He died along with the other four pillars. Anthrus, Anastaya, Erados, and Syana, they all died hundreds of years ago. Why do you think the realms and other planes of existence are all so chaotic right now? It is not supposed to be so easy to travel to other planar realms.”

“I see… What happened to them?”

“I am not authorized to tell reveal this. You’re far too weak. But, when you gather enough power Anthrus left behind a message for his descendant. It holds knowledge not recorded in history.” Elena said seriously.

Although he was still confused, Keith began to understand. The pieces were beginning to fall into place. Although there was much that he still didn’t know, he had a suspicion this creepy woman would be with him for a very, very long time to come.