Almost a week had passed since Aerith or more precisely, the reader had been reincarnated into the body of the young lord of a kingdom. That much time had passed since he had being returned home to his family and he had spent most of that time recuperating.
He learned a few things.
The kingdom he was from was called Derna and his father was the ruling lord there, who went by the title— Lord Altruso Zannek. The reason why Aerith had woken up in a strange and unfamiliar land was because of the coup that happened.
Apparently the ruling lords father received divination from a god that the throne was his, or perhaps that was the pie everyone was just foolish enough to believe. And the young lord was the cripple son of the ruling lord, born with a weak body constitution. His bones were like jelly when he was born, even the physicians promised he would not make it. But Aerith was clearly too much of a bastard to let them get their wish.
His uncle attacked the kingdom and clashed with his brother, he failed to claim the throne— rather unfortunately for him. But not before he had some thugs kidnap the young lord to a secluded area. On the way a battle had occured and the crippled young lord managed to get away where he in quote "got lost" and found himself in the strange town where he experienced his first beating.
Aerith suspected that the original crippled lord had died from exhaustion and allowed his soul to take over. The young woman who fought to protect him was one of his fathers slaves who had a sworn loyalty to his family. She tracked him to the crowd.
After he had awakened whatever ability he had, he had passed out but he managed to return home, half dead. He would have died from so much blood loss, had the witch from earlier not intervened.
He found it hard to believe that somehow she was alive. But somehow she was. He had stayed in his room, recovering all the time, his body felt the way any body should and in more ways refined.
But that was the least of his problems.
"That damned disfigured one, this is not what we agreed on." He thought to himself. But then again they never really agreed to anything since she did not give him a detailed explanation of what he was going to experience.
He stared at the screen hovering before him, he had some experience with something like this because he was originally a programmer. There were runes hovering before him, with words.
[Status]
Name- Aerith Zannek
Rank- Blank
Enima Point- 0/100
Attribute- Light
Title- Lightcatcher
Title Description- Reborn as one of light, shining without blemish. Light shines and shadows recoil. They are a beacon that can never be dimmed.
Aerith gulped down nervously, no matter how many times he read the message it did not sit well with him at all. The description seemed well explained and vague all at once, but it could not mean anything much- right?
He proceeded to access the enchantments that came with the the title, his face grew paper, losing all it's colour.
[Title Enchantments]
Shadowless- as light reborn you bear no shadow.
"How's that helpful in any way? Sure I don't have a shadow but does that actually mean anything more?" He asked himself. He had tested the theory many times by standing by the window and allowing the sun to bath him in its golden radiance and every time, they had been no shadow.
It was like he was a mirror through which light passed through, or so it seemed at first. Aerith also performed a series of tests that soon proved otherwise, he ordered one of his servants to stand in front of his and observed if their shadow would be cast over him. Their shadow laid bare on the ground, this lead him to the assumption that as long as the sun was not on him his shadow would not exist.
His second test was a bit different, this time he put himself before his servant and stood before the sunlight. If he really was transparent in the light it would pass through him and cast his servants shadow right on the ground. To his surprise his servants shadow was nowhere to be seen, the areas where Aerith's body covered were without shadow. It was then he realised that his ability made him reflect his own shadow as light itself, but that was just the most logical theory he could work with at the moment.
But just as he had said many times over, he said again. "What use is a shadow anyway."
Then came the more trouble some enchantments of his title.
[Title Enchantments]
Hope's Shackles- The pleas of mortals bind them like chains; to ignore suffering is to invite divine punishment.
His heart doubled it's metronome, he flicked a bead of sweat off his eyebrow. The air smelt a bit pungent as his eyes stared at the words before him. His breath trembled.
"This has to be a joke, right? Just what did that woman do to me?" He clawed at the blanket of his bed and mumble inaudibly. "This is not a power, it's bondage. And I won't be tied to it."
He wished he could stop reading. The more he read on, the more sickening it made him feel to the stomach. His heart tightened till he could feel it aching.
[Title Enchantments]
Eyes of Revelation- before the light all is made bare, not as they seem but as they truly are— flawed, fractured, ugly.
Aerith's breath caught. The words didn't just float before him; they pressed into him, heavy and cold, as if branded across his heart. For long moments he could do nothing but gasp. His eyes widened, unblinking, as though some unseen hand held them open.
"It's just words," he whispered hoarsely. "Just words. Then why… why am I afraid?"
The enchantments one after the other seemed to be like a price he would pay for his power, a power he had yet to even use. The penalty he had paid already gripped him in fear, he wondered if the penalties would remain the same if he grew stronger or if they would also grow more gruesome.
Aerith sank in his bed and groaned inwardly. "I am so fucked with this." And it only grew much more worse from then on.