Shada was disoriented. He was standing in a clearing surrounded by fog. It was terribly quiet and it was not the floating platform he had expected.

  Looking around, Shada was startled to see a small glowing white cat. “Luca? Is that you?” It was a silly question. He could easily recognize himself after all, but he didn't understand why Luca looked like a kitten.

  “Sha Sha silly. Of cors I Luca,” the kitten said in Luca's charmingly sweet voice.

  “Why are you a kitten?”

  “Remember kittens. Kittens sof. Wan a bee kitten. So I is kitten,” Luca replied cheerfully.

  Shada shrugged and noticed he could shrug. He had a body again and looked like an old man. A grey monochrome old man, but still it was neither his new form nor his old one, but instead a reflection of his current self image. He saw himself as a ghost of a man and so here in this spiritual place he was just that just like Luca, apparently, saw himself as a kitten right now.

  He bent down and picked up Luca. It may be weird cuddling himself, but it was comforting for both of them.

  “I don't suppose you have any idea what we are supposed to do here do you?” Shada asked the happy glowing child/kitten.

  “Nopers!” Luca chirped. He was just happy to be here.

  Shada could feel the happy feelings radiating from his younger self. It was odd, he was worried and scared, but Luca was happy and cheerful. The two sets of emotions blended in strange ways: happy fear, cheerful worry, but from both overriding curiosity.

  “I apologize for being tardy, but the patch has begun to affect the System now that the Goddess has a way around the Quarantine Protocols. Unfortunately, it was a messier process than expected,” Asonia said suddenly into the silence.

  Shada turned quickly to face the nature-attuned demi-god Asonia. “Hard to be tardy when nothing has happened yet, right? Where are we and what do I need to do?” Shada asked while petting the extremely soft Luca.

  “We are at the beginning of your Path. You just have to find it,” Asonia said cryptically.

  “How do we do that?”

  “By walking it of course,” Asonia said as if that explained everything.

  “I don't understand.”

  “You are too old to really understand. Maybe ask yourself?”

  Shada was confused. Was Asonia being literal or figurative? Also he noticed Asonia wasn't as solid as normal. His voice also lacked the Divine echo he was used to.

  “Are you really here with us?” Shada asked curiously. ”You seem off.”

  “I am here and also elsewhere. Part of me is still helping the Goddess with the System,” Asonia responded matter of factly. As if being in multiple locations was just a normal day at the office.

  “I see. So your suggestion is, ask myself?” Shada asked in confusion.

  “Yes, you are right there after all.” Asonia replied.

  Shada felt silly, but he did what seemed obvious. “Luca, do you know how to get started? How do I find my Path?” Shada asked his other self.

  “Wen ya don't no wer to fin sumtum look fa it,” Luca responded sweetly, yet confidently.

  Shada didn't get it, but he started walking around the fog enclosed clearing and looking around. He had nearly walked a full circle before he noticed a part of the fog wall that was different. He couldn't tell you why, but it was clearly different.

  He felt drawn to this spot. He hesitantly entered the fog only for a literal path to appear before him with each step. He couldn't see far ahead and the fog shifted away slowly, but when he looked behind himself he could see the revealed path clearly.

  “Asonia?” Shada enquired. As he noticed the demi-god walking just behind him and to his side.

  “Yes?” Asonia responded questionably.

  “I just walk?” Shada asked.

  “How else would you travel a path?” Asonia asked in turn.

  Shada really wished Asonia would stop being vague and cryptic, it was frustrating. Luckily Luca wasn't bothered in the least. Just happy and curiously excited. It helped, sometimes, to immerse himself in Lucas's more vibrant and less complex emotions. It allowed him to feel more real, and grounded, in those moments when his thoughts wandered to dark places.

  As they walked, the path changed. Sometimes it was made of dirt, others stone, then wood, then metal, and then even things he couldn't even recognize. There were images, that would appear and disappear among the fog, to either side of the path. There were buildings, machines, and arcane oddities in various states of completion.

  “Your Path becomes clearer. Do you see it yet, Shada?” Asonia asked in the cryptic way he had spoken this entire time.

  “I see a path made of different materials and various incomplete items. I don't know what it means. Is it literal? Symbolic? Is there a metaphor I am missing?” Shada asked in frustration.

  “What do you know of Paths, Shada?” Asonia asked the first clear question of this strange journey.

  “Very little, people do not talk, or write much, about them. I know people’s Paths are related to their Prime Stats. Some people walk pure Paths, others have hybrid Paths, but no one is specific about the Paths they walk,” Shada said, explaining what he knew.

  “Paths define and enhance how you use essence. The way you use essence is your Path from a certain perspective. How have you been using essence?” Asonia asked curiously.

  “To improve my Stats and Skills via Cultivation and practice,” Shada replied.

  “True, but not the point. How? Not why, when, what, or where, but how? Stop and think. If you seek to use essence, what do you do first?” Asonia asked repetitively.

  “I use my Essence Perception?” Shada asked curiously.

  “You sense the essence. Your Skill gives you an uncanny insight into how essence works. What do you do next?” Asonia asked.

  “Use Essence Control to move and shape it…” Shada said without understanding.

  “You communicate with the Essence in order to make it do your bidding. You can use it to cast spells, but you spend most of your time doing what with essence?” Asonia continued his line of questions.

  “Developing manual spells to turn into Skills,” Shada replied.

  “Look around you. Hasn't it become obvious yet?” Asonia asked like one would ask, "Isn't fire hot?’.

  “No, I see the same thing, just a path and images all showing various…stuff,” Shada responded in exasperation.

  “You are being unusually dense for one so smart. Ask yourself again. What do you do with your magic?” Asonia asked yet another question.

  “Luca what do I use my magic for?” Shada asked in annoyance.

  “Sha Sha, make lights, an shawdas, and toys!” Luca replied enthusiastically.

  “I make…” Shada said.

  “Thus a part of your Path becomes clear. You are a Maker. Skills related to making things with Essence will develop 50% faster and be 2x as efficient as other Skills,” Asonia informed Shada.

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  “So that's my Path? I am a Maker?” Shada asked.

  “A part of it, but not all of it. You still haven't figured out how you use essence,” Asonia said as he continued his attempts to get Shada to understand.

  “How?” Shada asked. “ I already answered that. I use my Essence Skills,” Shada said in confusion.

  “How do you use your Essence Skills?” Asonia asked.

  “By…I…get help from the Guide?” Shada asked.

  “Everyone gets help from the Guide. That is its purpose. It is not how you use your Skills.” Asonia explained.

  “Could you please tell me what I am missing here? I answered your questions, but most of my answers are wrong. You keep badgering me with, how this and how tha, buthe only time anything becomes clear is when I ask Luca, and you explain. So explain,” Shada said, letting out a frustrated breath after his ranting.

  “I am beginning to think having physicality, in this realm, is making things hard for you to see clearly. Hand me Luca please,” Asonia said while reaching for the cute kitten.

  “Ok? Luca, Asonia wants to hold you, is that ok?” Shada asked.

  “Sur! Is Otay,” Luca chirped.

  As soon as Luca left his arms, Shada stopped having arms. He was in his spirit form again. An invisible, intangible, floating ball of spirit energy.

  “Move along the path Shada,” Asonia ordered.

  Shrugging internally, Shada willed himself to move forward.

  “Stop. How did you move forward?” Asonia asked firmly.

  “I just willed myself forward like always. It is spirit form one oh one,” Shada replied not understanding the implications.

  “You ‘willed’ yourself forward. Will is part of the Magical Stat. To use your ‘Will’ what did you need first?”

  “A direction? A purpose? A reason? I don't know what you are looking for,” Shada continued in frustration.

  “You said it, but used the wrong word. Not purpose, but Intent. You use Will and Intent constantly while practicing magic,.” Asonia said while trying to guide Shada.

  “You say Will and Intent like they are special. Why?” Shada asked.

  “Stats are complex concepts made up of lots of other concepts. The core concepts are called Attributes. Can you possibly guess two of the Attributes associated with the Magical Stat?” Asonia asked as clearly as possible.

  “Will and Intent? Those are Attributes linked to the Magic Stat?” Shada asked in a more confident voice.

  “They are! You use them constantly. You focus your Intent to guide your Will, which you then use to activate your Skills, which you then use to manually cast spells. You Make things with Will and Intent and you have thus unlocked those Attributes,” Asonia explained.

  “If Stats have Attributes, why aren't they listed on my Status?” Shada asked curiously.

  “There are too many. If you could see them all, on your Status, it would be more like a novel than a sheet of information. Your Path unlocked some of these hidden Attributes. In your case Will and Intent,” Asonia explained.

  “I see, is my Path making things with Will and Intent?” Shada asked hopefully.

  “Your Primary Path is Magic Maker. Others need only know you walk the Magic Paths. As I said before, you will find that Skills related to making things with essence will advance 50% faster than other Skills and will be twice as efficient in terms of Essence used. Magic Paths reduce the cost of Cultivating the Magical Stat by 50% and increase total Personal Essence by 50%,” Asonia explained the benefits of Shada's Primary Path.

  —---

  The world seemed to suddenly shift and distort. Something moved in the fog and it was out of place. Shada could instinctively tell it wasn't part of his Path journey.

  “Asonia what is that?” Shada asked, but Asonia and Luca were gone.

  “Shada, listen carefully, for time is short.” The Voice of the Goddess filled the landscape.

  A gurgling, hissing, shriek came from the direction of the disturbance in the fog. A black shape was becoming more distinct and it appeared like a jerky, fluid-like, humanoid shape was rushing towards Shada from deep in the fog.

  “Sierra? What is going on?” Shada asked in fear.

  “The local System Instance isn't just damaged, it has been partially corrupted by an agent of the Abyssal Plane. I have it isolated and quarantined, but you are my backdoor into the local System. So your Path Journey is acting as a bridge to corruption,” the Goddess explained. Each word punctuated by the shrieking gurgling screams of the approaching darkness.

  “Then smite it with Holy Lightning or something. You're a Goddess! Why are you talking instead of acting!?” Shada demanded. Then the Goddess said something that shook Shada to his core.

  “I can't…This realm belongs to you. Path Journey’s are sacred in a way I can't explain. There are rules I am already stretching to the breaking point. You must fight that which is trying to corrupt your Path. Through you it could infect the greater System,” the Goddess sounded dejected, which in her Divine Voice was a crushing thing.

  “What am I supposed to do against that thing!? I am not a warrior! I am a frickin disembodied spirit with a bunch of minor magics for Guides sake! How am I supposed to fight a frickin Abyssal creature!?” Shada shouted into the fog.

  “You cannot…not with the tools at your disposal. I can give you a boon, but Shada…it will irrevocably alter your Path. It will also limit my direct intervention in the future. This same thing may happen anytime you or Luca interact with the local System,” the Goddess said cautiously.

  “Do I even have a choice!? Give me the damn boon before that thing reaches me!” Shada demand.

  “A Choice has been made! A Chance has been given! May you stay true to your Path, dear Shada!” The Goddess's Voice filled the realm. The entity seemed to scream in agony.

  With that last word a message came from his Guide:

  “Yes dammit!” Shada shouted angrily at the Guide in his head.

  Shada mentally blinked in confusion. What? How was an essence conversion Skill supposed to help him fight?

  “Sierra? Asonia? What am I supposed to do with this!?” Shada shouted into the fog once more. No one answered.

  Work the problem, Shada thought to himself. This was supposed to help, but he didn't know how! He went over what the Goddess had said. This was His Path Journey. What was his Path? He was a Magic Maker and he had a new type of magic Essence. What could he possibly create in the little time he had!? Shada tried not to panic, but there was really only one Spell he thought he could modify quickly…Flash. What would happen if he supercharged Flash with Holy Essence? Only one way to find out, he thought.

  As the disgusting gurgling mass of blackness moved hurriedly towards him, Shada triggered Holy Essence Conversion and Essence Control. He shaped the Holy Essence into the, largest densest, Flash Spell form he could manage. He Willed his desire for Holy Light and focused his Intent on banishing all shadows. Then the Spell form collapsed and the Path realm was filled with Holy Light. For one brief golden second his entire world was Holy Light.

  When the light cleared the fog was gone and so was the Abyssal entity.

  “Is that it? Is it over?” Shada asked not knowing who might answer.

  Asonia reappeared. He looked translucent now, as if he could no longer fully manifest.

  “You did well Shada. You have found your Path and it has been modified by your Choice. The Goddess is pleased,” Asonia said in a voice more like a whisper of wind.

  “What now?” Shada asked.

  “Do you feel that you are done? Is magic all you wish to pursue? Is it the only Stat you have Cultivated?” Asonia asked yet more questions in his wispy voice.

  “I have focused on Cultivating my Magical Stat, but not exclusively. I am a spirit. It made sense to Cultivate my Spiritual Stat. I also Cultivated my Mental Stat and I needed help solving manual casting problems. With two minds, it made sense to improve those,” Shada answered. He was confused. They were talking as if an Abyssal entity hadn't just tried to corrupt him, his Path, and the System.

  “You choose your Primary Path by how you use your Essence, but all other Paths you may choose more directly. However, all Paths you walk will be influenced by that first Primary Path. You can choose to continue or stop here and return another time.” Asonia presented the options available to Shada.

  “What's the downside of choosing multiple Paths? Will there be more entities?” Shada asked.

  “The bonuses to your Primary Path become diluted amongst other Paths. A Secondary Path would reduce your Primary Path bonuses from 50% to 25% and the progression continues until the bonus is only 10% for each Path. If you choose to seek more Paths there will likely be more encounters,” Asonia responded.

  “I think I am done then. The bonuses are nice, I am not ready to reduce them yet, and I definately do not want to fight more," Shada said. His Spirit self felt abrated from the use of Holy Essence.

  “Then there is only your latest deal with the Goddess to consider. Your Path has been irrevocably altered. You now walk the Path of Holy Magic Maker. You may convert Personal Essence into Holy Essence at a 1 to 1 ratio. You also get the Holy Artifice Skill, which will allow you to make Blessed Artefacts, eventually.” Asonia told Shada.

  After reading his new information in his Guide Shada found his consciousness fading once more.