[Wake up, Torrent of the Silent Waves]
The Nightmare Spell whispered — quiet yet firm.
Shade's eyes tweaked as he inhaled deeply. His chest rose with a breath, each of his eyes settling on objects around. Steel beams stretched against the wall and pipes ran from one corner of the room to another.
Dust and grime coated the floor. The scent was foul, and his muscles twitched with discomfort. A soft sigh escaped his parted lips as he muttered his distaste.
"Same old, same old." He shook his head and pushed himself from the corner of his bed, landing cleanly and resting the feel of his new body.
Immediately, he stretched and began recalling the last moments of his First Nightmare — the space between the Nightmare and reality to be precise.
He was in a dark, empty, and ominous environment that felt dear to his heart. Each sensation, emotion, and feeling were familiar yet far away. He was assaulted by them all, but overwhelmed by none. Putting a name on the place was easy…
…his Soul Sea.
Stories described the Soul Sea as a quiet ocean, illuminated by a radiant star — a visual representation of one's Soul Core. This was common knowledge to most, and nobody claimed theirs to be any different.
…so was he the first?
'Mine's weird.' He mused, pondering the possibilities.
Was it the rank of his Aspect? A special Attribute? Maybe the Aspect itself. Shade had no idea; moreover, he barely had the time to read his runes before being thrust into reality — it felt like his own emotions rejected him, and he'd been too tired to resist.
Wanting answers, he focused on his runes:
Name: Shade.
True Name: Torrent of the Silent Waves.
He got his True Name after beating the First Nightmare. It wasn't surprising, but it definitely felt satisfying — after all that effort, it would be a shame if he hadn't. A major letdown.
Rank: Dreamer.
Resonance Core: Dormant.
Resonant Impacts: [0/1000].
Once again, Shade was confused. According to everything he's learned, this should have been a 'Soul Core', and the stat below should've read 'Soul Fragments'.
Yet his stats referenced 'resonance', not 'Soul'.
'Did I get a faulty spell? Is it mistranslating things? For the Gods, it better not be.' He clicked his tongue with a tinge of dissatisfaction before continuing his read.
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Unfortunate, but expected. His First Nightmare had no enemies, so he couldn't obtain either of those.
According to the unofficial rankings that society made up, Shade's was what people called a 'Mental Nightmare' rather than a physical one.
Mental Nightmares were less harmful, but equal in difficulty — or rather, it required a different kind of person, and some intelligence to back it up.
Shade's was especially difficult, as it targeted his weak points.
Attributes: [First Sense], [Mark of Profanity], [Iron Will], [Hollow Crown].
The moment his eyes sat on the word 'Profanity', his body tensed. Was it corruption? No, he'd have felt it—or perceived it. It had to mean something else. Especially since he gained it on top of an already excessive list of Attributes.
Concerned, he focused on the description of [Mark of Profanity].
[Mark of Profanity] Attribute Description: [You have been cursed.]
'Ah.' Shade's jaw clenched, though mostly out of concern. It sounded like a ticking time bomb with an unknown explosion.
The Spell had been generous when rewarding him, sure—but who wouldn't be worried if they received a nice present that promised something bad in return?
'Great.' He sighed, furrowing his brows.
Maybe he was looking at it wrong.
Perhaps some powerful Nightmare creature had 'Blessed' him, and the word 'Cursed' was just their twisted way of expressing it.
Either way, there was no use in obsessing over unknowns. He took a deep breath and focused on the rest of the stat page:
[First Sense] Attribute Description: [Any sense of danger shall not pass you by. At the sword point of any threat, you are thoroughly warned.]
[Iron Will] Attribute Description: [At the dispense of character, your heart's capacity and power have risen. The emotion within you is well beyond the comprehension of others, immense, but only a spec in comparison to your evergrowing heart.]
[Hollow Crown] Attribute Description: [You are crowned by -unknown- with divine potential.]
Most of the attributes remained the same, but the last attribute changed. Previously, this '-unknown-' had merely taken interest in him—granting him 'high' potential. Now, he was 'crowned', and allegedly held greatness in his future.
In Shade's heart, he felt gratitude for this unknown entity—after all, this Attribute sounded quite useful. Nodding his head in agreement, he continued:
Aspect: [Soul Breather].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
The corner of Shade's lips curled. He already knew this—taking a peak before returning to the real world—but the reality truly sat in as he read it once more.
"Divine…" He whispered.
His Aspect was truly Divine, a rank never seen before. It was theoretically possible, but never seen in practice.
He chuckled with fading excitement, his face scrunching to suppress a grin. After a few moments of satisfaction, he focused his undivided attention on the Spell's ominous runes once more:
Aspect Abilities: [Ocean of Emotivity].
Aspect Ability Description: [Your soul houses a reservoir of deep, untapped emotion. Release this gift as you please.]
'But what does it do?' He pondered, narrowing his eyes to achieve deeper knowledge. No further words appeared, so he naturally gave up. 'Isn't it supposed to explain?'
Shade shook his head in disinterest but eventually cleared his mind. Once again, there was no use in complaining about unknowns, he'd simply have to figure it out—and quite frankly, he was still quite happy about the rank, so he couldn't stay negative for long.
Innate Ability: [Empathic Surge]
Innate Ability Description: [Your soul can fuel you with the extremity of an emotion, often for a task your physical body cannot undergo on its own.]
He raised a brow as he scanned through. It was neat, and from the title of each ability, he could infer that his Aspect was based on emotion.
This came as both a positive and a negative surprise. On one hand, emotions were incredibly potent, even more so as Nightmare Creatures increased in rank. On the other, it felt lacking in raw strength, as though its effect on his physical body was minimal.
Regardless, he'd make it work—even if it meant abusing Memories and Echoes. There was no way he'd let himself fall into the supporting role of a cohort either—he wanted to be strong, not somebody who helps the strong out.
In the end, fighting for your life with your own strength was better than living in the hands of another's, and that was exactly what Shade wanted. He yearned for the strength to live peacefully—and if peace was impossible, he'd get strong enough to make it possible.
That was simply his will.
With that, he gently slid up the window and felt cold air collide with his skin. As Shade's eyes quickly adjusted to the light, distant runes appeared like a carrot on a stick, dangling in front of a pig.
Each rune scattered around before softly aligning themselves into a series of words—words that Shade once again failed to comprehend.
Flaw: [Branded Burdens]
Flaw Description: [For every imprint you make on another's soul, you must first feel it yourself.]
—
—
—
Authors Note:
- I am the author of Riftwalker, and the reason I started this is because I felt that my other Fanfic was kinda mid, so I decided to retry.
- Please respond to this and let me know about anything I can improve, add, or maybe even suggestions for the future.
- Was this chapter satisfactory?
- Should I continue?
---> Overall Feedback <---