Nephis had spent nearly a week awake, refusing to fall asleep and enter the Dream Realm until she was on the verge of passing out. After spending so long in the Forgotten Shores, she was somewhat reluctant to leave the waking world.
Eventually the exhaustion and her responsibility of checking up on Lucien made her sleep. She had brought her sleeping pod into Sunnys home, keeping it in the underground room near his own pod.
The others had already left to return to their Citadels, leaving her alone as she laid down inside the pod. The glass door slowly closed in on her, just as the sleep finally claimed her.
A moment later, accompanied by bright light, Nephis' spirit body appeared inside the gateway.
As soon as she materialized inside the citadel, a heart wrenching scream filled her ears, startling her. In her surprised state, Nephis looked towards the source of that scream and froze.
Lucien was kneeling on the ground, clutching his right arm at the shoulder tightly. His skin was dangerously pale, as if he had lost entire liters of blood in one go. His right arm had turned entirely black, she could see some of his essence flowing through it.
No, that wasn't an arm, it looked too different, too unnatural.
As Nephis watched, the entire arm disassembled, turning into a mass of black tentacles. Almost instantly the tentacles converged back together, forming the arm once again.
Her gaze followed towards the periphery of this new arm and Lucien's flesh, where the black arm was still biting into it, grafting itself onto Lucien.
Wasting no more time she rushed forward, holding out her arm as white flames began pouring out.
The white flames washed over Lucien's body, slowly returning the colour back to his skin. But it could do nothing for the arm. Maybe if she had arrived before he had attached the arm she could have done something, but now as the prosthetic was being integrated onto Lucien's body, she could do nothing.
So, she sat down beside him and waited. As the time passed, the arm began calming down, having successfully grafted itself on Lucien's body. As this happened, Lucien's pained expression slowly relaxed, and his breathing calmed down. At that point, he was simply asleep.
Lucien opened his eyes to four purple suns, floating on an ocean of black water. He stared at the dark clouds above for a long time.
Reluctantly, he raised his right arm up, and stared at the foreign black appendage. This was the arm that Nether had left behind, it fit him perfectly as if it was made for him. With his knowledge about the tenebrous daemons' other plans involving him, it was very likely for that to be true.
'Let's hope he left behind some useful enchantments in this arm.' He thought with a sigh and summoned his runes.
Name: Lucien
True Name: Hour of Calamity
Rank: Awakened
Class: Devil
Storm Cores: [4/7]
Storm Fragments: [94/4000]
Memories: [????? Blade],[????? Armorsuit], [Silk Yarn], [Iron Warbow], [Bone Arrows], [Starlight Pendant], [Damnatio Memoriae], [Jade Stinger]
Remnants: [Mictlans Demise]
Echoes: - [Crimson Mantis]
Attributes: [T???l??s], [Ember of Divinity], [The T?m??s?], [Stormborn], [Retainer of Darkness], [Eyes of the Beholder], [Fountain of Knowledge]
Aspect Legacy : Decree of Creation
Decree of Creation Mastery Level : [1/7]
First Edict : Learned
First Relic : [Claim].
Second Edict : Unearned
Third Edict : Unearned…
Frowning, Lucien sat up, there were three things to address there.
First, his new prosthetic arm did not show up in his runes. That meant it wasn't an attribute or a new memory, it was simply something he had picked up and grafted to himself. He'd need to find its abilities on his own then.
Second, he had received a new memory, the [Jade Stinger]. Looking up, Lucien summoned the new orb of light down to him. Inside there were three throwing knives seemingly carved out of jade. They didnt look very special, apart from the white liquid coating the tip of the blades.
That was the poison that the Fallen Devil used to hunt its prey, it was also the posion Lucien used to immobilize the monster.
Staring at the new memory, Lucien summoned the runes describing the memory.
Memory Name : Jade Stinger
Memory Rank : Ascended
Memory Tier : 4
Memory Type : Weapon
Memory Description : [In the darkness of the Hollow Mountains, the last child of the -unknown- began their experiments on life. What once used to be three different beasts, had merged into one, and promptly discarded. The Ciphrus were the first of these unholy spawn, a taste of what would come in the future.]
Enchantments : [Toxic], [Unending], [Flexible].
Enchantment Description :
[Toxic] : This memory is coated in deadly poison.
[Unending] : As long as there is essence left, this memory will not be depleted.
[Flexible] : This memory can change its size.
'So that thing was one of Nether's experiments.' Lucien realized, no wonder it looked so…wrong. Nether had been experimenting on life long before he made the Stone Saints.
This was only his second ascended memory, and the enchantments didn't disappoint. A nearly infinite amount of poisonous weapons, who wouldn't want that? And its ability to change in size meant he could make it as small as a needle or as big as a claymore.
Granted, a giant throwing knife wasn't the best weapon to wield in melee.
And finally, the Third thing. The spell had been whispering about it ever since he killed the Fallen abomination.
[Your Aspect Legacy has been unlocked.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
He had been putting it off until the end, he wanted to claim the new relic when he was awake.
Speaking of which, he should probably do that. Before he passed out, he saw Nephis' cleansing white flames descending upon him. She should be out there right now, waiting for him.
With that, he left his soul sea and returned to his body. He was half expecting the pain to blind him as soon as he returned, but thankfully it was already gone. His body felt normal, just a bit sore. Well except the arm, that still felt like someone had attached a foreign object to him.
Groaning, he pushed himself off the stone floor and sat up. He stared at the prosthetic arm that moved so naturally under his command. Its once purely black appearance was not marked with bright purple cables. He flexed his new arm a few times, trying to get a better feel for it.
"How are you feeling?" Nephis asked from the side, she had been sitting there waiting for him to awaken.
Lucien turned to face her and shrugged, "Can't complain."
Nephis nodded and then glanced pointedly at his new arm, "How did that happen?"
Lucien sighed, "Long story, lost it in a fight against a Fallen Devil."
"A Devil?" Nephis frowned, Lucien had fought Terrors and won, but a Fallen Devil had managed to wound him so gravely.
"I made a stupid decision," He said, "But I don't regret it."
He had gained something far more valuable than his arm in that battle. To finally unlock his Aspect Legacy, an arm was a small price to pay. Besides, he replaced it almost immediately.
Something else struck him, why was Nephis here again? She had returned to the waking world, she could choose to be anchored to a different citadel and escape these forsaken lands.
Opening his mouth, Lucien voiced his thoughts, "Why are you back here? I expected you to have chosen a different citadel."
Nephis stared at him for a few seconds before saying : "I am not going to forsake you to live here alone. I will stay anchored to this citadel for as long as I need to. No one deserves to live like that."
Lucien stayed silent for a few seconds, not knowing how to respond to that. Eventually he furrowed his brows and said "You're throwing away your chance at getting stronger by doing this."
"So be it." Nephis shrugged, "I will not abandon my allies, it's distasteful."
'That's the same explanation she gave to Sunny before forcing him to leave her behind.' Lucien realized.
A few moments of silence passed by before Lucien suddenly asked, "How is it outside? How are the others doing?"
The shadow of a smile crept up on Nephis' face, "They are doing well. Cassie has anchored herself in the Chained Isles, she has become the temporary leader of the Fire Keepers. They are the survivors of the Forgotten Shores who were still willing to follow me. Kai has anchored himself in Bastion, he's living comfortably there. And Effie…well, she's preparing for her second nightmare. She was worried about you, by the way. If you have anything to say to her or the others, I can bring your message to them."
Lucien couldn't help but smile a little, "Tell her I'm doing fine, and that I'm looking for a way out of here."
Then, realizing Nephis had skipped someone, Lucien asked, "What about Sunny, you didn't mention him."
Nephis' expression instantly soured, and she frowned, "Sunny…is missing. He hasn't returned to the waking world for nearly a month. He was last seen in the Chained Isles, Effie and Kai are currently on their way to look for him.
Lucien frowned, what had Sunny gotten himself into this time. "Did something happen between him and the others?"
Nephis hesitated for a moment, "He…seemed to have a falling out with Cassie. They don't talk anymore."
Sunny had done something like that before, disappearing for months after a heated argument with Nephis back in the Forgotten Shores. Lucien had seen Nephis' memory of the Crimson Spire, he had a vague understanding of what had happened there. Cassie had told Nephis of Sunny's True Name, and that had allowed Nephis to exert some level of control towards Sunny.
From what he understood about Sunny, he was someone who valued his freedom above anything else. After what happened in the Crimson Spire, he couldn't blame him for creating distance between them. But Kai and Effie had never wronged him, so why them?
Something about that didn't add up.
If he could, he wanted to help, but what help could he provide? He couldn't possibly find these Chained Isles and help look for Sunny. As it stood, there was nothing he could do about it.
As the silence descended again, Lucien turned his attention towards the runes describing his aspect legacy.
First Relic : [Claim]
"Claim." He whispered, staring intently at the runes. A moment later the spell whispered to him.
[You have Received an Aspect Legacy Relic.]
[You have received The Memory of Nothing.]
Lucien frowned, the spell didn't classify the relic? That…had never happened. The spell always classified the things it bestowed, memories, echoes, even the unique remnants.
Did a Legacy Relic fall into a different category? One the spell did not have a name for?
Confused, Lucien summoned the runes describing it.
Name : Memory of Nothing
Rank : Awakened
Tier : 1
Type : Tool
Description : [In the beginning, there was nothing. From nothing, came something. Something could become anything. And anything encompassed everything.]
Enchantments : [Shapeless]
Even the runes didn't classify it. There was something off about this. Moreover, the description of this…relic was incredibly vague, it reminded him of the description of Damnatio Memoriae. Both of those descriptions were incredibly vague and yet filled with a ton of information.
Pushing that information to the back of his mind, Lucien focused on the practical aspects of the relic. It was an awakened relic of the first tier, he had almost expected it to be tier four because of his status as a devil.
But perhaps its rank would increase when he unlocked more of his aspect legacy, there were seven edicts after all.
It's class probably had to do with his own, when Lucien became an Ascended, the memory should also ascend with him.
As for the enchantment…
Lucien's eyes flashed red as he focused on the singular enchantment.
[Shapeless] : The Memory of Nothing has no shape, and as such it can only adopt the shape of others.