Thomas would start to make his way to his barracks. He is still a little sore but has mostly recovered from his injuries. He would walk and look around the current scavenger base he was deployed at. The base he is currently staying at isn't anything too fancy, with some decently built buildings made of wood with a few shops and some blacksmiths.
Thomas would make it to the entrance of his barracks. The barracks aren't anything fancy. It's a massive wooden building with some windows around it that let some light in. To summarize it, it's a very basic-looking massive cabin. As Thomas walked closer to the door, he heard a lot of yelling.
"Oh crap." Thomas thought to himself.
"I forgot that today is Wrestling Wednesday."
When working as a scavenger, there is nothing you can do besides hunting for monsters or getting your tools and clothing repaired and nicely cleaned. So, to keep themselves entertained, they would hold wrestling Wednesday, where they would wrestle and compete for money. You were allowed to bet on matches, allowing a way for scavengers to make some extra money.
Thomas would slowly move his hands toward the door, shaking in fear. Panic would consume his face. As Thomas slowly opened the door and walked in, a wooden chair flew past him and hit the wall behind him.
"HELL YEAH!" one of the men yelled.
Inside the cabin, there were two rows of 16 bunk beds facing each other. Each bunk bed would have a small desk with a chair in between, allowing scavengers to write letters to home. At the center of the cabin was a giant pool of men watching the current wrestling match that was going on at the center.
One man would look up and see Thomas at the doorway.
"HEY, IT'S THOMAS!" he would yell.
He would walk up to Thomas, show him a big smile, and then give him a nice slap to the shoulder. Thomas would slightly bend down in pain and bite his lip as he tried to contain it.
"H-hey Barren." Thomas would stutter.
Barren was a massive bald man with scars all over his body. His most prominent scar is one that goes right down the center of his face. Currently, Barren is wearing nothing but a white tank top and some jeans.
"Oh crap, I'm sorry Thomas I forgot you just got back from Dr. Matthew."
"It's alright, Barren, don't worry about it. I'm doing a lot better now anyway, and I'm mostly healed."
Barren would gently pat Thomas's shoulder.
"That's good to hear. I'm happy you're doing a lot better."
A giant smile would appear on Barren's face.
"Barren has always been a good guy," Thomas thought to himself.
"There have been many moments where I have nearly been killed by a monster but would be saved by him…However…"
A sad expression would fall over Thomas's face.
"However, I bet he has gotten half of those scars because he's been protecting me…"
Barren would look at his face with a confused look.
"What's wrong, Thomas?"
"It's nothing, Barren."
Suddenly, Barren would start smiling again and would smack Thomas's shoulder again.
"OOH, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, THOMAS. It's very common for scavengers to be injured during battle, so don't stress about it."
Barren would let out a huge laugh while Thomas was bending over in pain again, grabbing his shoulder.
"How about we go and watch some guys wrestle, Thomas? Who knows, maybe you might get lucky with your bets this time."
"I'm not sure about that one." Thomas chuckled.
Both Thomas and Barren would go back to the massive pile of men and watch the guys wrestle. Both of them would laugh and enjoy their time. In a flash, a few hours would go by, and nightfall would appear.
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" Barren yelled.
"It's time to head to bed, so let's call it a night. If you won or lost any bets, come to me in the morning."
Slowly, one by one, everyone would head back to their bunk beds. Thomas would hop into bed, but instead of falling asleep, he would wait. He would wait as one by one, they would fall asleep. Slightly past midnight, Thomas would get up from his bed, and he would slowly tiptoe towards the door.
With each step, a small creaking sound would be made, and with each sound, he would carefully look around to make sure no one would spot him. He would slowly open a door and take a small step outside.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, Thomas?"
Thomas would quickly turn around to see who it was. It was too dark to see who it was, but he could hear them start to approach him. With each step, sweat started to pour down Thomas's face, and his heart started beating faster and faster, as well as his breathing.
"CRAP, CRAP, CRAP," Thomas thought to himself.
"I was so close, why did I need to get caught right here at this moment?"
"If they see me and turn me in to a captain I'm screwed. I'll get in serious trouble for sure."
As Thomas was busy thinking about all of the worst possibilities, the man would walk into the light. It was Barren.
"Gosh, Barren. You were about to give me a heart attack."
Thomas would put his hands on his knees and breathe, a sigh of relief.
"What are you doing, Thomas?"
"Oh, uh, I'm just going out for some fresh air."
"Really? That's it? You were sneaking out for some fresh air?"
"Yuuuup."
Barren would glare at him, but no matter how hard he looked, Thomas wouldn't break.
"Fine, if you're going out, just don't do anything stupid or get me in trouble."
"Yeah, of course, thanks, Barren."
Thomas would slowly walk outside and slowly close the door.
"Phew, that was a close one," Thomas thought to himself.
Thomas would quickly start running into the center of the scavenger base until he reached the library. The library was a worn-down building. Since the most basic guidebooks on The Shining were extremely expensive and gatekept, people never really used the library, and so it slowly transformed into a worn-down storage filled with knowledge.
Thomas would go to one of the windows and put his head up against the glass while cupping them with his hands to try to get a better look inside. With the visible moonlight, it looked like there was no one inside.
He would position his body for a heavy punch from his right fist. As he slowly backed up his fist, he would inhale and let out a heavy breath, and then, with all of his might, would punch and shatter the glass. At that moment, Thomas's body would freeze entirely.
He would look around, hoping that the sound would wake nobody up. After a few seconds, Thomas would hop into the library. For not being touched for some time, it was still extremely organized; however, there was a lot of dust. Thomas would slowly walk around and look at each of the bookshelves, wondering which one he should take.
He would eventually make his way to the second floor and would continue to look around.
"Which one should I take?"
"There are so many, yet I don't know which one is the best. Since it took so much effort to get here, I want to make sure I get something that's worth it."
While walking around, a closet covered in chains would catch his eye at the end of the hallway. He would slowly walk to the closet. He would watch each of his steps since the only light here was any cracks in the walls that let any moonlight in.
When he reached it, he would grab the lock at the center and pull it with all of his might, but it was no good. He would pull more and more, but the chains nor the lock would break.
"Damn it."
"What now? I can't leave not knowing what's inside. I bet there is something totally awesome in there."
At that moment, when Thomas said that a dark energy would cover the chains and they would fall off. Thomas would look at the scene, confused, but would take advantage of the weirdness and quickly open the closet. Inside, there was nothing but a book. Thomas would grab and bring it up to his face so he could read it.
"Mystical arts? What's that? Is it some variation of The Shining?"
"From what I know, The Shining is only composed of Elemental Cultivation and the Book of Guidance."
As he would flip open the book, he would slowly start to read it.
"Mystical Arts are the ability to communicate and borrow power from the gods. To gain the ability to use the Mystical Arts, you must perform a ritual for the god of your choosing, and if they deem you worthy of their power, it will be granted to you, and there is the possibility they could communicate with you."
"Interesting..."
Thomas would flip through pages until he would see many different symbols with the names of gods underneath them. There was a symbol of a twinkling star, and underneath, it read God of Hope. There was another — a symbol of a tree — and underneath, it read Goddess of Life.
"Now I see, it looks like each symbol represents a different god, but how exactly do I perform the ritual it talked about at the beginning of the book?"
He would flip to the next page, where there would be a long paragraph explaining how to perform the ritual to see if any gods deem you worthy.
"I see. So step one, engrave the symbol into the ground. Step two, drip some of your blood at the center. Step three, kneel at the center and get into a praying position. After all three steps are completed, you will be able to know if you are deemed worthy or not."
"That's weird. For a ritual that could possibly grant you a power from a god, it seems awfully simple. However, I'm going to have to find a way to engrave the symbol into the ground, but I can't carve the symbol since I don't have any weapons on me."
Thomas would walk around, and he would see massive sheets of paper on a table.
"Jackpot."
Thomas would go up and grab a piece of the paper. He would then grab the pen that was on the desk. He would drag the huge piece of paper onto the floor, where he would draw the symbol for the God of Hope.
He then would slightly bite his finger and let a few drops of blood hit the center. He would kneel and go into a praying position. After a few seconds, nothing would happen. Thomas would slightly open one of his eyes to see if anything had happened, but nothing did.
"I see. So it looks like the God of Hope didn't deem me worthy."
Thomas would go back and grab another piece of paper, and this time, he would make the Goddess of Life's symbol. He would carefully draw the symbol and would repeat the process. The same results as the last ritual.
"Twice in a row? How strict are these gods? Well, to be fair, you are applying to receive some of their power."
Then suddenly…
"HEY! Looks like someone broke into the library!"
"CRAP!"
"They're on to me… this isn't good."
Thomas would quickly grab the book and quickly skim through the pages until one caught his eye.
"The God of Existence? Sounds familiar, but I don't think I've heard too much about this one."
The symbol for the God of Existence was a simple eye with a weird pattern in the iris, where there are four triangles around each side of the pupil facing out. Thomas would quickly grab another piece of paper and start to draw the symbol. As he drew the symbol, he could hear some people walking on the first floor.
As Thomas drew the symbol, he could feel sweat pouring down his face, and his face was full of anxiety.
"Damn it, calm down, you need to focus and get this over with."
Thomas would finally finish the symbol and quickly take a bite of his finger.
"OOUCH! I accidentally bit too much."
At that moment, Thomas would quickly cover his mouth, but sadly, it was too late.
"HEY! I think I heard someone upstairs!"
Thomas would drop some blood at the center, but he would make a bit of a mess. He would quickly get into his prayer position, but like the other two, nothing would happen at first.
"THERE HE IS!"
Thomas would look up and see a bunch of scavenger guards running towards him.
"It's all over… I'm screwed…"
"I'm such a moron. I should've never done this. I should've never gotten myself into this stupid situation."
At that moment, huge amounts of dark energy would come from the symbol and completely cover Thomas.
"What the…"
As Thomas looked down, he realized that the symbol had changed, and there was an actual eyeball there, but it looked exactly like the symbol.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"
Out of nowhere, the dark energy would suddenly disperse. Thomas carefully looked around, trying to understand his situation.
"Am I.....in a church?"
"What happened? How did I end up here?"
"Was I deemed worthy by the God of Existence?"
Then Thomas would feel a tap on his shoulder. As he looked behind him, he would see a strange man.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Thomas yelled.
Thomas would jump back in fear for his life.
"Me? Oh well, I'm Somnia! Nice to meet you."
"Somnia?"
"Yup!"
This man is wearing a nice black three-piece suit with a large black trench coat, along with a nice top hat, as well as a black cane, and a black mask with a certain symbol on it.
"HEY! That symbol," Thomas yelled.
"That's the same symbol on that eye I drew for the ritual!"
"Ritual? OH! The blessing ritual!"
"Wait... You know what that ritual is?"
"Yes, because I too performed it as well."
"I'm so confused. What exactly is happening right now and WHY AM I HERE?!"