Darkness. When I died there was only darkness. In that darkness I lost all sense of time. I was - am in a state of twilight awareness, like a night of bad sleep drifting in and out of consciousness. Then there was a light. I regain a feeling of awareness of myself, and upon gaining that awareness I fall, yet someone catches me. From the mana emitted, it must be my contracted earth spirit, but how did it catch me so softly? I open my eyes, and I see a young woman standing before me, shocked. 

“I am… alive?”

The girl in front of me must be scared. If I am alive, did I become undead? More importantly, how did a random mage get in here? This location is supposed to be top secret and guarded by the Empire. Well, I did get stabbed by a prince, but I don’t think the empire would let just anyone come here. After all, they do highly value my creations, even if they don’t value me. About to question the mage, she suddenly asks me a weird question.

“Are you the Divine Crafter?!”

Divine what? I am certainly not any sort of Divine. I go to deny it but a voice from behind me once again speaks before me.

“She is, and she is my master.”

I look behind me, and there is a woman I do not recognize holding me. Yet the mana wavelength coming from her is that of my contracted spirit. Sensing my confusion, she explains

“It is I master, your contracted Earth Spirit. Do you remember your promise to us? To help us achieve spirit king status and human form? Your crystal coffins worked, and we five have since gained human forms.”

Tears start to run down her cheeks.

“We thought we lost you. Before your soul dissipated, we, in spirit form, placed your soul in this last crystal coffin. All the other coffins worked as intended, letting us take the form of a mage with a compatible mana wavelength. But yours never did. We tried to let all different kinds of people try to revive you, but nothing ever worked. Eventually we decided to try to not only seek out those with a compatible wavelength, but of a similar one as well. After 1,000 years of searching, this girl finally answered our dearest wish.”

Turning to said girl, my earth spirit, or more accurately, the Spirit King of Earth suddenly gains an aura of nobility despite her tearstained face.

“You have helped us immeasurably. Any of the high grade spirits here will be willing to make a contract with you. In fact, since you succeeded, you may make a pact with a spirit of each of the five elements. The only cost will be to keep this place, and my master’s identity a secret.”

Finally, a pause. Taking advantage of the paralyzed girl’s shock, I can finally interject my own thoughts!

“Woah there, hooold on. What do you mean 1,000 years? How did this mage get in here? And what happened to the empire? More importantly, why did they kill me!?”

“Master, like I have said, you have been in stasis for 1,000 years until we could find a mage who could activate the crystal coffin. The empire on the other hand, is no more. Before you were killed, the previous emperor was poisoned, and the princes tore the continent apart in the following war of succession. That war lasted 133 years, continuing on through generations, each generation weaker than the last until the princedoms gave up on uniting the continent and settled with what they have, declaring themselves independent kingdoms of the empire. We assume you were killed since whoever you backed would become emperor, so the princes you haven’t met banded together to kill you. Of course, the ones who came were annihilated.”

Well, that sounds terrifying. More importantly…

“Does that mean I am free? I can-, I can leave?”

The Spirit King of Earth closes her eyes and smiles at me. 

“You are free master. You are free to follow your dream, explore the world, and open up your shop once you find the perfect place. You don’t have to worry about being commanded or branded a traitor. You can finally have the ability to choose for yourself.”

I feel tears begin to well up. All my life I have been shackled by the empire. All my life I slaved away making weapons and armor for the very nobility that took me away from my family. 

“Let's go. Let’s see the world!”