[Your Flaw is: Sacrificial Will.]
Lucien frowned at the name; he was not a sacrificial person by any means. He summoned his runes to get a better picture.
Flaw Description : [Your creations demand a blood price.]
His creations…Anything he made would require a blood sacrifice. Does that mean his makeshift weapons back home would no longer work? How far did the Flaw extend? Would it demand a cost the next time he improvised on the battlefield like he had with the human chain? What determined the cost? Was it the scale of the creation or the usefulness of one?
He had too many questions, but too little time. He could feel his consciousness inside the spell start slipping; he was waking up.
[Wake up, Hour of Calamity!]
Lucien opened his eyes to the roof of his hut, and slowly a smile crept up his face. It was real; he had survived. He had beaten the nightmare and returned to the real world. He did not know whether to cry or laugh. But he had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.
His body had been sufficiently restrained while he underwent his first nightmare. His limbs were tied together with rope fashioned from the hair of multiple nightmare creatures. His torso was tied to the piece of hide that counted as his bed.
He couldn't blame his mother for tying him up. He knew what happened to those who died in their first nightmare; they would turn into a nightmare creature. Tying him up was necessary for the safety of everyone who lived outside Gunlaug's castle.
There was no one in the room with him; his mother was probably out hunting for food. It was still early in the day, and the false sun was still high in the sky. He had a few hours before she came back, and so he dove into his soul sea.
The purple sun shone brightly in the overcast sky of his soul sea; three spheres of light orbited it. The sea itself had calmed down since the last time he was here; it was tranquil and unmoving. Above him, purple lightning arced out of the sun in slow motion. He summoned the first memory.
One of the spheres orbiting his soul core floated down to him and dimmed, revealing the sword inside. It was the same one he had originally used in his nightmare, down to the very last detail. The blade was made out of dull gray metal with a thin fuller; it had a hand-and-a-half handle with a constellation etched onto the crossguard. It had a diamond-shaped pommel and a simple black leather grip.
Curious about the description, he summoned the runes describing Storm Blade. The familiar words appeared in the air around the weapon.
Memory : [Storm Blade]
Memory Rank : Awakened
Memory Type : Weapon
Memory Description : [And the Stormforged raged against Destiny's scheme, refusing to be a pawn in their divine game.]
Stormforged, that was what the spell called the soldiers of the Storm army. He had not paid it much attention before, but he could not help but notice how similar it sounded to his attribute, Stormborn.
Why were they called Stormforged, while he was a Stormborn? Was there any difference between the two?
The rest of the description was even more confusing. It told of the Stormforged defying Destiny's scheme; was that a result of his intervention in the battle? The Storm army would have died if he had not killed the goliath.
'Something tells me it's not that simple.'
Sighing, he summoned the second new memory. The blade floated back to his core, and another sphere floated down. The light dimmed to reveal a suit of armour made almost entirely out of stone. Plates of stone overlapped to form the torso of the armour, the bracers were made of a single piece of stone, and so were the pauldrons. The boots were made of multiple pieces of stone. Below the stone slabs was the padding, made of a dark material that contrasted nicely with the gray colour of the stone.
Memory : [Stone Armorsuit]
Memory Rank : Awakened
Memory Type : Armour
Memory Description : [When Nether made the first Stone Goliath, it was, in some ways, a failure. A terror it may have been, but it was much too weak. A single strike made the entire cavern tremble, but it also ruined its arm.
Yet, it was still a terror that held command over the lesser stone children. Ones that had been discarded by the daemon. One by one, they lunged at the goliath, their bodies melting as they touched the alabaster skin. Hundreds of stone children melded into the giant, thus forming this suit of armour that persisted even after the giant perished.]
There it was again, that name. Nether. The spell called him a daemon, not a demon. He remembered what the young soldier had told him. The goddess of storms had fought a daemon with giant black wings that blotted out the sun.
A being capable of creating something like the Stone Goliath and the Stone Children. Someone who had made artificial life. A terrible godlike being. Now that he thought about it, didn't something similar emerge from the hole after he killed the goliath? He had barely taken a glance at it before his body began rapidly dying. Was that what a daemon was?
He shuddered. If the spell hadn't pulled him out of the nightmare, he would have died there. Turning his attention back to the armour, he thought of putting it on. The memory vanished from the sphere instantly and reappeared on him.
As soon as it materialized, Lucien was pushed to his knees by the sheer weight of it. It made sense for something made almost entirely out of stone to be that heavy. With a shake of his head, he dismissed the armour.
'Yeah, I'm not using that anytime soon.'
The sphere containing the armour returned to the storm core as Lucien stood up again. Standing there, he hesitated for a moment before summoning his first memory, the stone spear. He almost expected it to be drenched in blood when it materialized in his hand.
The spear was made entirely of the same gray stone as the armour. The spearhead tapered from the shaft into a singular, sharp point. At the other end of the polearm, a second blade was attached. It was smaller than the main blade but just as sharp. The spear itself was incredibly aerodynamic; the blade attached seamlessly to the shaft, giving it an almost needle-like appearance.
It was lighter than he had expected for something made entirely out of stone. He could maneuver it around pretty easily. Spreading his legs apart, he took a stance he'd seen Effie take hundreds of times and tried to emulate some of her moves.
The end results were sloppy at best. His attacks did not flow into each other like Effie's did. After each strike, he had to take a moment to adjust the position of the blade. He nearly fell trying to emulate one of her moves.
Shaking his head, he dismissed the memory and watched it float back to his core. 'I should ask Effie to teach me once I find her.'
Barely any time had passed in the real world while he was in his soul sea. The sun was still high up in the sky, and he was still alone in the room.
He sighed, 'Maybe I should try to cut myself free.'
White sparks formed around his hand, and the Storm Blade appeared in it a moment later. Twisting his wrist, he began carefully sawing away at the ropes that bound his legs.
He was halfway through cutting the ropes binding his arms when his mother returned.
A loud gasp alerted him to her presence, and he turned to face her.
"Hey mom, how have you been?" He greeted her with a forced grin.
Her look of surprise morphed into one of relief and joy. She hurried over to him and began untying his binds, "I should be asking you that. How was your nightmare?"
"It wasn't too bad." He said, dismissing his sword. "I just had to channel divine lightning to kill an awakened terror."
"A terror?" She frowned, undoing the knot tied around his torso and finally freeing him. She waited for him to sit up before pulling him into a hug.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She said gently, pulling away from the hug.
The visage of the winged demon flashed through his mind; just one glimpse had nearly killed him. He shuddered and shook his head.
"No, not really." He turned back to face his mother, "I have some questions though."
She had not missed the look of fear that flashed past his face, but she didn't pry further. If he didn't want to talk about it now, she would wait until he could. She nodded at him, "Go ahead."
"Do you know who Nether is?" He asked.
Aletta flinched, "Where did you hear that name?"
"The spell mentioned it, called him a daemon." Lucien said, raising an eyebrow at her reaction.
She took a shaky breath in, "The Daemons were mysterious beings that came out of nowhere. We don't know much about that, only that there were seven. Nether was a being of great power, nearly rivaling a God in strength. He was the Daemon of Destiny and the ruler of the underworld."
Seeing how she was visibly uncomfortable, Lucien decided to change the topic.
"Speaking of the divine," He grinned, a real one this time, "Wanna guess what rank my aspect is?"
"....A Divine aspect?" She whispered out as if she was afraid of saying the words. Her eyes widened in shock, and her jaw hung open. A divine aspect was unheard of. In all her years, in both her lifetimes, she had never seen anyone with a divine aspect. She stared at her son, he had Storm's lineage, his soul hadn't been tempered and retained the spark of divinity, and now he had unlocked a divine aspect. Her son was destined for great things, but such destiny came at a cost.
'Why? Why did it have to be him?'
She knew why; she had known ever since the day she returned to the real world that her son was different.
Lucien's grin faltered at the pained look on his mother's face. "Is something wrong?"
She shook her head and schooled her emotions, "No, I'm just surprised."
Lucien didn't buy it, she knew something he didn't. But he also knew how stubborn his mother was, so he did not ask.
"Anyways," He stood up, "Do you know where Effie is? I can't wait to try out my aspect."
His mother glanced towards the sun that had begun its descent and said, "She should be back from her hunt by now-"
"Great," He cut her off, "I'll go find her then."
She sighed as he ran off. Sometimes it was easy to forget he was still a child. A smile crept up her face, she could worry about his destiny later.
Lucien headed straight for Effie's hut, which wasn't difficult to find even among the dozens of makeshift hovels. While it was mostly identical to the other huts, only hers had the skull of a canine nightmare creature hanging above its door.
"Effie, open up. It's me." He yelled, banging at the door harder than he had meant to.
The door groaned under pressure as his fist hit it. He grimaced; he'd yet to get used to his new body.
"Lucy?" A voice came from inside, "You're really back?"
"Yeah, I'm back." He paused for a moment before adding, "Don't forget to wear a memory."
He had been flashed once before, and the teasing that followed. He did not want to go through that again.
A dim glow briefly lit up the inside of the hut before she opened the door. The memory manifested just in time, a short white chiton that left little to the imagination.
"Do you have no other memory that you can wear?" He sighed, she had no shame.
"Oh? Does it excite you?" She grinned, twisting her body suggestively to show off her curves.
"Not right now." He said quietly, the image of Nether was still burned into his mind. Just remembering how he looked was enough to make him shudder in fear.
Clearing his throat, he turned away, "Let's go somewhere else, I want to try out my aspect."
As they walked, he filled Effie in on his nightmare and the aspect he received. Her reaction was much like his mother's: disbelief and shock. He chose not to tell her about his true name, Hour of Calamity. It was an ominous name, one that promised catastrophe.
They found an open area far enough from the settlements and stopped there. Effie waited with a spear in hand as Lucien brought up his runes to take a look at his aspect again.
Name: Lucien
True Name: Hour of Calamity
Rank: Dreamer
Class: Beast
Storm Cores: [1/7]
Storm Fragments: [92/1000]
Memories: [Stone Spear],[Storm Blade],[Stone Armorsuit]
Echoes: -
Attributes: [Ember of Divinity] [The Tempest] [Stormborn]
Aspect: Storm Herald
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Description: [You are a fragment of the Cosmic Storm, a stray bolt of lightning that fell through time. You bring abrupt change to the world; whatever you touch is forever scarred.]
Innate Ability: Wild Hunt
Ability Description: You can claim the soul essence of any being killed by you. The amount gained is randomized.
Aspect Ability: Thunder Manifestation
Aspect Ability Description: A violent storm resides within you, its destructive power is yours to command as you see fit.
Ever since he returned from the nightmare, he could feel a slight buzzing within him. A silent humming in his veins. It was everywhere and nowhere all at once. Every moment, something thrummed within him, spreading to every inch of his being in an instant, and then disappeared.
Lucien closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, and focused on that feeling. He could feel his blood pumping in sync with it. Focusing on that feeling, he waited patiently, getting accustomed to the rhythm. His breath slowed down to align with it, and as soon as it thrummed through his body again, he pulled.
The buzz exploded outwards, encompassing his whole being, and the sound of lightning filled his ears. The very world seemed to be holding its breath; everything slowed down.
Lucien stared at himself in awe, a thin layer of purple lightning wreathed his body. In front of him, Effie was twirling her spear slowly. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that he was moving faster, much faster. He felt stronger too, much stronger than even his new dormant body.
Now that he had activated his dormant ability, controlling it had already become second nature to him. The layer of purple lightning thinned and then disappeared as it was absorbed back into his body.
The flow of lightning inside him had become louder than before; he could control where it went as easily as he could control a limb. He raised a hand towards the ground, and a bolt of lightning shot from his palm and struck the ground.
'This is what the spell meant when it said there was a storm residing in me.' He stared at the blackened ground. 'So it is lightning after all.'
It didn't surprise him that his aspect was heavily connected to lightning, especially after considering how he had beaten his first nightmare. His innate ability was harder to test out unless he killed something. He suspected it was the reason behind his stupendous amounts of storm fragments.
'That only leaves my attributes.' He looked at his runes again.
Attributes: [Ember of Divinity] [The Tempest] [Stormborn]
'My resistance to lightning probably has to do with either [The Tempest] or [Stormborn]. But which one? And what does the other attribute do?' He closed his eyes and tuned out the inherent buzzing of power in his veins.
But he found nothing, no new feeling that stood out within his body. So he spread his senses outward in one final attempt. And there it was, the very same buzzing that was inside him, was also outside. A faint hum was standing right in front of him, and a louder and more violent hum was right above him.
He opened his eyes. The closest thing to him was Effie, and the buzz was coming from exactly where she was. He did not know much about the human body, but he was aware that it contained some amount of bioelectricity.
'Is that what I'm sensing? The electricity in her body?'
"Can you move a bit to the left?" He asked, paying close attention to the electricity he sensed.
Effie raised an inquisitive eyebrow, but did as he said. And sure enough, the hum moved with her.
Lucien smiled, 'I'm never going to get ambushed again.'
He looked up into the dark clouds that had begun gathering, lightning would flash ever so often, and his senses would flare up.
"What's with that face? Don't tell me youre excited now!" Effie remarked, and his smile vanished instantly.
"I'm just figuring out my abilities." He grumbled and summoned the [Stone Spear]. "I want you to teach me how to use a spear."
Effie grinned, "You should have led with that."
Lucien gulped, watching her approach with a menacing smile. 'Have I made a mistake?'