On the path of every Awakened, something new appeared from time to time. It was a natural process of immersion into the world, into the real world, which operated according to different rules than those to which ordinary people were accustomed.
Garet knew this better than anyone else. From the moment he became Awakened, he learned something new about himself, his powers, or the world and its monsters every few hours.
It all happened gradually, first the first monster, then meeting Xir, the Thosnspire, Melisa, the forge, and finally Korona, who taught him a lot.
Now, an important moment in his evolution had arrived—the First Anchor, as well as a multitude of things unknown to him all at once.
The First Anchor made him stronger as a being, basically improving every aspect of him: energy, physical strength, and the power of his abilities.
Sure, it was useful, but the real value lay in a Sigil.
Each Sigil consisted of five parts: Anchor, Zenith, Dusk and Dawn, History, and Wish.
All parts were unique to each Awakened, even an Anchor, because the Zenith Grid was different for each Awakened, and therefore, the properties hidden in the Anchors were also different.
However, unlike the Anchor, Zenith, Dusk, and Dawn, which were determined independently of the Anchor, the History and Wish were always different and were influenced to varying degrees by the Awakened themselves.
Garet created the First Anchor, and he had Zenith with Dusk and Dawn, but he created the History himself and chose the Wish.
There were differences here as well.
The Genesis Core forced Garet to define his Wish by expressing his desire and thoughts in a single line that would reflect his will. He had complete control over this process.
The History also depended solely on Garet, and he had control over it, but he did not know when exactly the History was created or what was included in it.
[History of the Sigil - Saving Fruit.]
A mechanical voice sounded in Garet's head, revealing this part.
[Saving Fruit
Your fruit, full of energy, came to you with great difficulty; you practically died for it. However, that did not prevent you from giving the last part to an unknown, wounded soul. Was it an act of kindness or an attempt to silence your conscience?
In the end, the purpose of your intentions was irrelevant, because what mattered was the result — saving a life.]
Garet's eyes widened as he read the lines of symbols.
For some reason, the History chose to be created around this moment, rather than his meeting with Korona or his battle against the Stone Groug.
This was both the problem and the advantage of the Histories. They depended on Garet's actions, but he had no control over which event the Sigil would decide to turn into History. In other words, unlike the Wish, Garet had an indirect influence on the History, and the final outcome did not depend directly on him.
But what did Sigils do, and why were they so complex to create?
Like everything related to the Genesis Core, Sigils made the Awakened stronger, but in a unique way, thanks to their complex creation system.
This made each Awakened even more different from the others and, to some extent, significantly reduced the importance of luck and talent.
The Wish was the pure will of an Awakened. The History was a reflection of the events an Awakened had gone through, whether it was a journey, a battle, or saving someone. All of this was mixed with Zenith, Dusk, and Dawn, and the Zenith Grid was unique to each individual, resulting in a previously unseen outcome.
Obviously, in Garet's case, with the Wild Awakened having an unusual Dusk and Dawn, the differences became even stronger.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
With an active tremor, many symbols filled the circle hovering in front of Garet, creating a pattern of a figure holding some object in front of the face of a hovering jaw.
It was Garet's First Sigil, reflecting mainly his History and Wish, because these two parts were always different from the other three.
[Sigil - Taste of Death was created.]
Again, Garet got something dark, even though that wasn't his goal.
"Maybe my Zenith and urge are influencing this? Damn, I hope this Sigil won't cause any problems. Taste of Death? I don't want anything to do with death!"
Perhaps if Garet had heard himself from the outside, he would have realized how ironic that sounded.
In just a few hours, he had not only witnessed a murder but participated in another and committed it, as well as helped another being escape death. From the spectrum of life and death, he had dealt with death enough today to say such a thing.
[Taste of Death (First Anchor Sigil): One of your abilities now has an additional feature that requires preparation but guarantees extra power, like the taste of a fruit whose sweetness must first be sampled. When faced with death, the passive part of the effect will be revealed, which may save your life or, conversely, cause you to rush straight into the arms of death.]
Whether Garet wanted it or not, it was now his Sigil.
A combination of five factors, each of which was significant, led him to this result.
If another Awakened with the same Zenith and Dusk and Dawn had been in his place, but had chosen a different mission and received a different History, or at least said a different Wish, then his First Sigil would have been different. Perhaps the differences would have been insignificant, or perhaps they would have been fundamental.
Whoooooosh.
The Sigil disappeared in the First Anchor, forever imprinted in the first star of his Zenith Grid. The next step was to reach the Second Anchor, but Garet had no idea what he needed to do to achieve that.
The next time Garet blinked, he found himself in the real world.
A fallen leaf fluttered before his eyes, reaching the ground.
"I see..." His gaze fixed on the leaf. "I saw it before it all started. So... It all took less than a second? How strange, and most importantly, my Sigil, I know what it does!"
Confusion gradually gave way to excitement at his new power as Garet approached the nearest tree and light flashed across his eyes.
"One of my abilities? Hah, as if I have so many that I could get confused!"
The black sun soared between Garet's hands as it split into two streams, forming the Sun Seal on his hands.
He struck the tree just as he had the first time under Xir's supervision, but this time there was no flame blast.
The First Sigil trembled as a red circle formed in front of Garet's fist with a slight delay.
Then, a devastating explosion tore through the tree trunk, knocking it down amid charred splinters and wisps of black smoke.
Steam rose from Garet's hand as he stared in shock.
"Not bad, not bad at all..." he muttered. "I didn't think I'd say this, but how do I reduce the power?"