Contrary to popular beliefs about saintesses.

Sylvara came from a small province of the Durran Kingdom to the east.

She grew up in a family of modest means, and experienced similar things as every young girl growing up in the world of Arleria....

Up until her eighteenth birthday.

The designated day when she and others born in a similar year in the kingdom would undergo their awakening soon came.

Sylvara awakened the extremely rare affinity for light and the skill Light Blessing.

This brought attention to her for a girl from such a modest background in a small village, and since those with the affinity for light were as rare as precious gems..... Her life and the life of her family began to change slowly.

Marriage proposals from nobles and their heirs alike began to flood the Thorne’s small home with never-ending barrages of gifts.

Her friends weren’t really her friends anymore, and they were either now with her seeking benefits or acting as messengers from influential families that want a direct line to her.

It was all still manageable, that was, until the royal family of the Durran kingdom caught wind of the existence of a person born with an affinity for light.

Sylvara’s family was suddenly made nobles and bestowed a small territory in exchange for allowing the royal family to take charge of her.

Her family did so without much pressure from the royal family... her parents happily sent their daughter out to these strangers who seemed to understand Sylvara’s state better than they did.

That was the last time anyone heard from or saw the girl Sylvara Thorne.

Sylvarra arrived at the palace as discussed.

She was taken deep inside the palace, past where even imperial guards are allowed to go though.....

Until she was led inside a particular chamber by the king himself.... And there, she was met with an old lady who looked half-step in the grave, but she could instinctively tell that the person was incredibly powerful...

More powerful than anyone she’s ever seen or heard from in all her life.... And this person was greeted by the king as the saintess.

Sylvara was confused as to what was going on.

This old saintess, after observing Sylvara a little, took her hand and said, smiling.... ’You are one of us now.’

Sylvara did not quite understand what that statement meant exactly... she thought it was metaphorical, and she would be joining some sort of organization the saintess had running.

After all, she was the saintess.... The face of the holy sea, and the voice of goddess Arleria herself. Though she appeared so old for some reason, even though it’s said the saintess never ages and only changes first names....

But Sylvara thought nothing too weird about this. Maybe with this new group, she would form a better connection than her estranged friends and materialistic family.

She didn’t realize just how right she was at the time.

The saintess..... Saintess Yuria, as she was addressed, led Sylara all the way back to the most beautiful and magnificent place Sylara had ever seen in her entire short life, the Holy Sea. Wonders she couldn’t quite put to words were laid before her eyes.....

With existences who should be able to bring down even one of the strongest Kingdoms of the four, the Durran kingdom to their knees, walking leisurely through the street.... Well, more like flying.

Sylvara was put through an attentive year of full education on everything, secrets, traditions, oaths, order, everything..... She was made to learn everything as if she were being prepared for a role....

And Sylvarra, at that point, could already understand they were preparing her for the role of saintess, but this also confused her because she had no saintess power whatsoever.

She hadn’t even felt the goddess’s presence once in her life... not to mention interpreting her will or exercising the goddess’s authority.....

But she was still taught all the secret processes.

That’s when Sylvara began to understand the process might not be as straightforward as she had assumed.

And she was painfully right.

On the day before her ascension to become the saintess, the most powerful man in the Holy Sea, someone she had come to see as a father figure... came to her to inform her of the process she would have to go through to carry on the touch of the saintess.

To say that Sylvara was horrified would be an understatement...

She was informed that not only would her appearance be physically altered to appear like all the saintesses before her...

She would also have to take the other previous saintess’s right from the very first... into her.

Suffice to say.... It was a tough pill to swallow for Sylvara....

But after spending an entire year with these people who treated her better than even her immediate family ever did..... Sylvara felt like she owed them that much....

That was, of course, after she was explained to about the multiple benefits of doing all this, and how nothing changes about her personality and memories basically except her physical appearance.....

That it would still be entirely her, but she would have also become the saintess. But they forgot to mention one important detail, or they intentionally omitted it.

The next morning, the holy sea celebrated the renewal of their saintess. And the former saintess Yuria had disappeared from the world of Arleria....

But not completely though.... Because along with Yuria..... Several other saintesses had now taken up residence in Sylvara’s mind.

At first, it was manageable, but as the process called ’inheritance of power’ progressed, the louder their voices in Sylvara’s head became, becoming progressively unbearable.

There were benefits as well, like offering sage wisdom and secrets to the new saintess; they also guard her mind from external vices... but it was torture.

Sylvara spent more than two years going through this torture as she grew stronger at the speed of light.... But the stronger she became, the worse the noises in the head became....

She sought a solution to this far and wide, and after failing, she settled properly into her saintess duties and began her responsibility of ushering heroes for all four Kingdoms....

But on her last run....

She met someone.... Someone who made the voices stop.