A stone arch stood in front of him, unassuming in every aspect except for the shimmering runes carved into its surface. The same runes the spell used. Around the arch, a ring of ruby dust lined the ground. All signs of weathering stopped at that line.
Lucien had a theory about awakening. Over the years he had learnt how people awakened with the help of the spell.
Their dormant powers were unlocked as soon as they left the first nightmare. But to awaken, they had to enter the dream realm in their spirit form and then return to their bodies.
Why was it so? What was the catalyst that forced awakening? If it was just merging back with their physical self, they would awaken the moment they left the nightmare.
But that's not how it worked. They had to enter the dream realm and return via the gateway.
Simply returning to their physical selves was not the catalyst. Neither was the atmosphere of the dream realm. Lucien would already be awakened if that were the case.
No, it had to do with the gateway. Something about returning to their physical bodies through the gateway facilitated their awakening.
But why? What was so special about these portals to the waking world? And why were there so many? Every citadel had a gateway. Somehow, Lucien doubted people from the ancient past had gone around building portals.
Well, maybe Nether would, daemons were peculiar creatures after all.
The mystery of gateways would have to wait. For now, he had a theory he wanted to test.
If it was the gateway that jump started awakening, and not returning to the waking world, then could he possibly awaken?
Could simply touching it force him to awaken?
Staring at the gateway, Lucien couldn't help but feel excited. Slowly, one step at a time, he walked to the arch, and placed a palm over its surface.
The world disappeared and Lucien was transported to a familiar place. The same black void he had seen at the end of his nightmare greeted him again.
Above him, the myriad of stars lit up the void. Countless ethereal strings of silver light connected them, forming an inconceivably vast tapestry.
Lucien's heart was beating faster than ever. His theory was right, he was awakening. A grin split open his face just as the spell's voice spoke.
[The Second Seal is broken.]
[Awakening Dormant powers.]
Something was festering in his Storm Cores. An ethereal heat spread out from all three of them. The energy was circulating through his entire body, changing it, making it stronger.
It was as if he was receiving thousands of storm fragments at the same time.
Spreading his arms, Lucien welcomed whatever changes that were coming his way.
Every fiber of his being was soon full of the mysterious energy. The familiar euphoric feeling overwhelmed him, washing over his mind like a warm wave.
Breathing in deeply, Lucien quietly drunk in the torrent of changes happening to his body.
Beneath the physical changes that his body was undergoing to become better, stronger, more perfect… was another, subtle, but equally incredible change.
His soul was changing, evolving even. It was getting more potent by the second. It was like a new puzzle piece had been added to its rightful place. He had gotten one step closer to becoming complete.
Soon, the pulsating waves of heat retreated, replaced by a wave of soothing coldness.
The process was over. He had awakened.
Lucien shuddered at the feeling of storm essence running through his body. As an awakened, he now had the ability to control essence. He could feel his muscles and bones brimming with newfound power.
It opened up so many new possibilities, Lucien could spend hours just speculating. With the ability to control essence, he could make things far beyond what he had made in the Dark City.
But even more importantly, he could activate the enchantments of his memories. His combat power had exploded into a whole new realm.
'I wonder, will I be able to hunt down Fallen abominations by myself now?'
As a dreamer he would often hunt awakened nightmare creatures on his lonesome and win. Now that he had climbed up a whole new rank, it only stood to reason that he could hunt monsters of a higher rank, right? He would have to test that out later.
The spell spoke again, it was time for the real reward.
[Awakening Aspect Ability…]
[...Aspect Ability Acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Name: Storm Reign]
'Interesting name,' Lucien summoned his runes.
Name: Lucien
True Name: Hour of Calamity
Rank: Awakened
Class: Demon
Storm Cores: [3/7]
Storm Fragments: [459/3000]
Attributes: [Ember of Divinity] [The Tempest] [Stormborn] [Retainer of Darkness]
Aspect: [Storm Herald]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Innate Ability: [Wild Hunt]
Aspect Ability: [Thunder Manifestation]
Aspect Ability: [Storm Reign]
Flaw: Sacrificial Will
He focused on the runes for his new ability.
Aspect Ability: [Storm Reign]
Aspect Description: [All storms bow to you, their one remaining leader.]
Lucien frowned, what's that supposed to mean? Could he simply control all manner of storms?
What did it even mean by storms? A thunderstorm is only one of many types of storms. A blizzard could be considered a storm.
There were many things that constituted a storm. The clouds filled with millions of tiny droplets of water. The howling winds that ripped its way through the world. And finally the roaring thunder that he was familiar with.
Could he control all of those? Or was it limited to just lightning? Could…could he fly?
Before he could go off on even more tangents, the spell whispered again.
[Wake up, Lucien!]
And instantly the black void full of countless bright stars and silver threads disappeared.
Lucien was unceremoniously flung back into his own body, that had fallen to one knee at some point. With a stupid grin on his face, he allowed the storm essence inside him to surge. Tendrils of lightning lashed out from him, striking the stone walls of Nethers Citadel.
This new feeling of power was unlike anything he had felt before. His body shuddered in anticipation of what he could do now if he fully unleashed his prowess.
"Are you quite finished?" A voice interrupted him, breaking him out of his almost trance-like state. "If you haven't noticed, we're in a closed room."
Lucien blushed in embarrassment, "Right, sorry forgot about that."
Schooling his face, he turned to the stone goliath silently standing beside him.
"So, what do I need to do before you let me go?"
His companion slowly raised his hand and pointed towards the workstation:
"See for yourself."
Frowning at the vagueness, Lucien walked up to the wide table. The purpose of the tools left behind by Nether still evaded him. But there was something else apart from them. Three items in particular caught his eye.
A beautifully crafted prosthetic hand lay on the stone workbench, seemingly made entirely out of thick black threads. Somehow, it still managed to capture all the details of a normal hand. Well except the clawed fingers.
Beside it was a simple storage sack. Lucien only said it was simple. In reality, it was anything but. Made of the same black fibers as the arm, it looked like someone had torn off a piece of the night sky and fashioned it into a bag. Red runes shimmered ominously around the opening, as if stopping something from getting out.
Finally, there was a mask. Well, half a mask, it only covered the eyes and the nose. This too was made of the same dark strings, but there was something different about it. Every once in a while, the strings would pulsate with an eerie red glow. There was a rhythm to it, like a heartbeat.
Out of the three items, the bag and the helmet were the only ones he could use right now. Unless he fancied amputating his own arm.
Something told him a Corrupted Tyrant wouldn't bring him there to open a bag, so it had to be for the helmet.
Placing his palm over the cool stone surface, he turned to face his abductor:
"Is this why you brought me here? For a mask?"
Goliath scowled and spoke with sarcasm dripping from his voice: "That is a soulbound relic left behind by my creator. I apologize if it is not grand enough for your highness."
"Soulbound…" Lucien looked at the helmet in a new light. Soulbound memories were some of the rarest out there. Only a handful of people ever managed to get one. And he was looking at one right now.
Slowly, he reached out to touch the mask, afraid it would crumble under his fingers.
It did.
The moment he touched the mask, it shattered into a million sparks of light.
[You have received a memory: Nightveil]
Instantly, he opened up the runes describing the memory.
Memory: Nightveil
Memory Rank: Divine
Memory Tier: VI
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Description: Faced with the terrible truth, a daemon made a choice to defy the world. If his blood was forbidden, then his creations would have to do.
Lucien forgot how to breathe for a moment as he stared at the runes. A divine memory. It was a divine memory.
'What the hell?'
Now it made sense why Nether had commanded the Stone Goliath to bring him here. With his hands still trembling he summoned the memory.
As the mask materialized over his face, he waited for something to change, maybe he'd be able to see something he normally wouldn't.
But nothing happened. There was no change.
Frowning, he summoned the runes again.
Memory: Nightveil
Memory Rank: Divine
Memory Tier: VI
Memory Type: Tool
There, right in front of his eyes, the runes changed, and a new set of runes rose up.
Enchantments: [Eyes of the Beholder], [Fountain of Knowledge] [???] [Visor of the Underworld]
Lucien stared at them silently for a while. He could see enchantments now? Was that a passive effect of the mask?
Focusing on the enchantments, he expanded their runes one by one.
Enchantment: [Eyes of the Beholder]
Enchantment Description: [Allows the user to see sorcery.]
Sorcery? That's a term he hadn't heard before. He could only speculate what it was. His eyes slowly gravitated to the gateway and the runes carved into it. Was that sorcerery?
Something about the runes had changed after Lucien equipped the mask. Or was it the other way around? He felt like he could almost make out a word or two. Turning to the goliath, he asked:
"Hey, question. What's sorcery?"
The stone goliath stared at him for a moment. "It is the act of imprinting your will on the world in some way, shape, or form. There's 3 types of sorcery: runic, weaving, and naming."
Lucien pointed at the gateway, "So that's runic sorcery then?"
"..." his captor stayed silent for a while. "I think? I'm not very well versed in sorcery."
"Huh," Lucien breathed out. This enchantment helped him to understand sorcery then. He moved on to the next enchantment.
Enchantment: [Fountain of Knowledge]
Enchantment Description: [Lets the user gain insight on the inner workings of machines and organisms.]
That was even more vague. What was it with the spell being so infuriatingly vague?
Scoffing, he turned to gaze at the bodies behind him and allowed a little bit of essence to trickle into the memory.
As soon as he did that, something in his vision changed. New information about the human body was shoved in his brain. Information he hadn't known before.
As the onslaught of information was pouring into him, he made the mistake of looking at the stormforged bodies. Even more information began pouring in and he almost lost his balance.
Gripping the stone table to stabilize himself, Lucien groaned softly. His head was starting to hurt from all the new information.
Having learned his lesson, he shut the enchantment down before opening his eyes again. This time no new information came flooding into his mind. Heaving a sigh of relief, he tried to look at the next enchantment but…
Enchantment: [???]
Enchantment Description: [???]
There was nothing there, no information at all. The spell refused to tell him anything about it. Was he just not allowed to look at it?
Come to think of it, for a divine tool of the sixth tier, it didn't have many enchantments. And the ones it did were…not enough? He wanted to say weak, but that would be a lie. They were strong, but were they divine?
Lucien had a feeling that the rank of the memory had to do with the mystery enchantment more than the rest.
Choosing to ignore it for now, he moved on to the final enchantment.
Enchantment: [Visor of the Underworld]
Enchantment Description: [This mask grows more potent with each new observation.
Observations: [5674/6000] ]
…
That…was a large number. And someone had mostly filled it out.
Something told him this was the enchantment for soulbinding. He turned to the stone goliath.
"Am I right in assuming that you will only let me go once I successfully manage to bind this relic to my soul?"
The goliath's face muscles twitched in a botched attempt at a smile, "Why, of course."
Lucien had to fill over three hundred observations. How the hell was he supposed to do that in the hollow mountains? There had been no nightmare creatures on the way here!
He sighed, he was going to be here for a while…