Torren dreamt of a kingdom.
He saw a empire rise from nothing. From a bird eye view houses were built, walls were made and despite struggles a great kingdom began to show early signs of prospect.
Time slowed, stopped, and then resumed its usual pace.
The last thing he saw from this strange enlightened perspective was a small castle like structure situated on a hill surrounded by a settlement and stone walls, with one entrance and a moat surrounding.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
Torren opened his eyes and found himself in a strange room. It was dimly lit, but instead of by fire it was through strange carvings on the wall, emanating pale blue light. he found himself in a small trance touching one close to him, it felt like essence.
He again focused on the room he arrived in. it smelled of old parchment and was cluttered with scrolls and ink bottles.
'Now where exactly did I end up?'
Torren thought. The Spell places dreamers in past scenarios, he wondered exactly what kind of past he was sent to.
Suddenly, taking Torren out of his thoughts, a small ding could be heard as a tired looking older man in steel armor entered.
'hmm a sound but no bell. That's interesting'
Maybe he was being too relaxed but to Torren the man seemed to not wish him any danger, entering with a certain authority about him. Besides, the man was in full plate armor with a sheath by his side. Better to collect information first.
"Good you're here. I've just received bad news. For you and me"
The burly man said with a humorless chuckle, and suddenly he turned serious again
"We wont get sent another real Enchanter for at least a month. Sorcerers are scarce these days. Since you were learning under him you'll have to pick up some new responsibilities, I'll send someone over with the full list soon but it includes upkeep and creation of runes on weapons and armor as well as the well."
"uh Yes Sir." Torren, unsure of how the previous person acted, decided it would be best to keep it short for now and hope he doesn't ask too many direct questions.
"Oh and sorry for your loss. Another valuable asset lost hurts everyone, eccentric as he was, but I've experienced losing a teacher before." The man said, a sad look that didn't seem to match the armored man's authoritative appearance appeared in his eyes as if remembering a painful memory.
"And get some good rest because you're going to be a lot busier in the future"
And with that the rugged man left, leaving Torren to speculate and organize his thoughts for the first time in this nightmare.
'Ok, no immediate danger is good, a lot of information still missing but I can deal with that, lets take a look at my runes'
Torren focused deep within himself, focusing on the foreign seed in his soul he had felt the past few days, now grown he willed the spell to appear.
Name: Torren White
True Name: ————
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Sorcerer's Sense], [Adaptive Mind]
Aspect: [Enchanter's Apprentice].
Aspect Description: [An apprentice to a small sliver of a tiny part of sorcery. Impressive to street magicians maybe. Able to resonate slightly more with runic sorcery than others]
'Explains some of what that armored guy was saying. Better than a temple slave that's for sure but time will tell what resonation affects'
He focused harder on the attributes, he already had an idea of what they did from their names and his experiences before the nightmare but no harm in being certain.
[Sorcerer's Sense] Attribute description: You are blessed with the bloodline of great sorcerers, though diluted it still runs though your veins. you are more attuned to essence than most]
[Adaptive Mind] Attribute description: [Your mind is more malleable than most, enhancing learning, memory and multitasking]
'Okay decent decent… only two but those are high quality and definitely explain why I could start on ascension easier than Rain'
Satisfied with his runes, Torren decided he needs to gain a better understanding of this body's situation and where exactly the spell put him. Gathering courage he decides to leave this room of mysteries behind in search for real answers.