Without giving Raven time to process the information, the voice spoke again.
[All power has a price.]
[Your soul is prone to Corruption.]
"Huh, corruption," he thought.
[Wake up, Wandering Blasphemer!]
The void spun and disappeared.
***
Raven opened his eyes.
The armored ceiling of the police station's vault hung above him. It wasn't really aesthetically beautiful, but to him, it was the most majestic sight. Only now did he realize how much he had missed this bizarre world.
It was safe and familiar. There were no monsters or guards... well, at least officially. There was no constant fear of a torturous death.
It wasn't his home. Still, it was safe at least.
In addition, Raven felt incredible. The heat of the desert that made him sweat all the time in the trial was gone, taking with it all the pain that his wounded body had been enduring. His feet and wrists were not in agony, his back had forgotten the bite of the whip, and he could even breathe without inhaling sand particles.
What a blessing!
The sudden disappearance of pain, coupled with the new vitality that permeated his body, almost made Raven cry.
"I really survived!" he thought.
He slowly looked down and then froze.
On a plastic chair placed beside his reinforced medical bed sat a beautiful woman.
She had short brown hair and green eyes. Her flawless skin was smooth, supple, and as white as snow. Raven, being from the modern era of celebrities, wasn't impressed at all by her beauty, but he had to admit the beautiful stranger was nothing short of striking.
The woman seemed to be in her late twenties. She was wearing a black robe with flashy patterns on it and a uniform underneath it, with black leather boots.
She was looking at the screen of the communicator in her hand, clearly bored and sleepy, with dark circles under her eyes.
Raven almost missed the fact that there was an insignia on the woman's robe. There were three stars on it.
'Three stars, huh,' he thought, distracted. 'Three stars means a rank 3 Orbiter... huh... yeah. Wait. A rank 3?!'
But before Raven could fully digest the meaning of this rank, he realized that the woman was staring at him, too.
"What are you looking at?" she said, not a hint of humor in her voice.
Raven replied with all honesty.
"Your robe."
The lady nodded and said, "You will get one if you join the academy. In any case, since you're awake—welcome back to the real world. Congratulations on surviving your first trial, Stargazer Raven."
Stargazer Raven.
That was how people would address him now. It felt strange to have a title put before his name. Still, it sounded cool at least.
The beautiful woman stood up and approached the reinforced medical bed. With practiced moves, she began to undo the restraints holding Raven in place.
He felt something when the woman was undoing his restraints, Raven felt her soft hands, supple chest, and her face in a very weird way, as if he was touching them but he wasn't. His face went red immediately; his heartbeat was racing.
"What is this? A new sense," he thought.
When the woman had undone the restraints and sat back in her chair, he relaxed a little; Raven couldn't feel them anymore, his new sense seemed to have a range limit.
The woman continued.
"I am Spectral Lyra. You can call me Ma'am Lyra. These past two days, I was on watch duty due to your trial."
"So rank 3 was Spectral," Raven thought, as he asked, "Ma'am Lyra, I have a question."
"Go on."
"Why would a Spectral be put on watch duty? Isn't it... below your pay grade?"
Lyra gave him a deep look.
"You're sharper than you seem. Recently, there were a lot of rifts opening in this area. Most of the local Orbiters are either wounded or occupied with the clean-up. Or dead. It's always like that close to the Lunar Year."
She opened the final restraint and took a step back.
"Plus, there's not a lot of Orbiters who, like me, directly work for the WOA. It's by far the least lucrative or glorious career one of us can choose. Would you abandon wealth and fame to work abysmal hours and risk your life fighting orbit creatures, fueled only by altruism and a sense of duty?"
WOA, also known as the World Orbiter Association, was basically the united world government of this world. And Ma'am Lyra seemed like a civil servant slaving away from nine to five to Raven.
Raven wanted to say something formal, but for some reason, he looked straight into Ma'am Lyra's eyes and smirked.
"No, why would I slave away? Instead of being rich and famous."
She stared at him with a humorless expression. Raven felt like he was facing the Desert Reaper again; a chill ran up his spine.
But instead, Lyra smiled.
"See? I was right, you are smart."
Then she took out something from her uniform pocket. It looked like a black writing pen.
"This is a corruption inspector." Seeing a puzzled look on Raven's face, she explained, "Failing the trial is not the only way to become an orbit creature. Our souls are prone to corruption. The higher your rank is, the more corruptible you are."
"So that's what that means. I will become a monster if I get corrupted," Raven thought.
Ma'am Lyra took Raven's right hand and pressed the black pen on his wrist, and with a beep, he felt a sting on his wrist.
"Twenty-five percent of corruption!!!"
Raven's eyes dilated. 'What!!! When did I get corrupted?' He hadn't realized that somewhere along the way in the first trial, he had been corrupted by something or someone, and he didn't even feel anything.
Lyra gave him a look.
"It's not bad. You will just show signs of madness. But don't worry, I will cleanse your soul with an artifact."
Raven sighed with relief.
"Ma'am Lyra, what is corruption? And how did I get corrupted?"
Lyra smiled and said, "I forgot you are from the outskirts. Corruption basically comes from the orbit you consumed and the singularity realm. The first signs of corruption are madness and loss of rationality, and if you succumb to the madness, you will become a half-monster, half-human with no rationality, just a mindless monster."
For a second, Ma'am Lyra had a serious look on her face.
"My advice for you is to take care of your mental health, as someone who is also from the outskirts as well."
"This is more serious than I expected. Corruption, huh!" he thought.
Raven nodded.
"Thank you, Ma'am Lyra. I will take your advice to heart."
Lyra chuckled and said, "No need to thank me, this is basic. Go and wash up; you have that trial smell on you. I'll meet you in the cafeteria and continue the official protocol."
Raven nodded and stood up.