The angelic voice rang throughout the air, Interrupting Isle's thought flow for a moment.
His point of view was once again in the air. His head was attached to his neck.
'I'm not dead?' He thought.
His face was still covered with tears, And snot ran from his nose.
He brought his hands down from his face to his neck, Running his fingers over the smooth skin that covered the clean cut previously there.
He'd miraculously made a complete recovery.
Isle had heard about the spontaneous healing of completing one of Shattered Memories' trials from his mom.
Though, He'd never thought it actually existed. It seemed to heal by the reconstruction of cells based on their composition before they were initially damaged.
It showed Isle the power Shattered Memories exhibited. When you heard a story about its powers, It was easy to neglect just how insane Shattered Memories was.
Lucillia had told him that you'd heal most of your body as long as you finished your trial without dying. Any large scars would remain though.
He recalled the times as a child when she'd let him treat her wounds she couldn't properly medicate herself.
His mother's scarred back would always make him feel a little uneasy. Lucillia frequently reassured him that she was fine to stop him from sulking.
Isle was a tough cookie when he was on the streets, But he got much softer when he was adopted by Lucillia. His blunt and cunning side had all but vanished, Only returning when it was needed.
There were other things Lucillia said to him about Shattered Memories that scared him as a kid, Until he found out that most of it was false and only said to make him squirm.
Isle ignored her for the rest of the week out of pure pettiness.
Among the things she truthfully said about Shattered Memories. There was never any mention of alternate ways to pass trials other than finding the conditions, And fulfilling them.
Cassius could force people out of Shattered Memories by killing them, At least that was the theory that Isle had thought of.
If his theory was right, Then that meant it was technically possible for him to pass every trial easily. Assuming that Cassius was there to kill him.
Of course in reality there was practically no chance that Isle would see Cassius again in Shattered Memories, Each trial was completely unique, And selected from a different period of time.
Not to mention the fact that the version of Cassius that Isle met was nothing more than a recreation made by Shattered Memories. So even if Isle was to meet the real Cassius, And ask him to join in the next trial. Who could say that Cassius would be the same.
The only real reason that Cassius had killed him was because he found him interesting, Isle knew that. He also knew there was nothing guaranteeing that the real Cassius would find him just as interesting.
Isle had already acknowledged the power of Shattered Memories yet it still creeped him out knowing a clone of him, Or anyone he's known from any point of time could be recreated in Shattered Memories, Acting exactly the same, Down to every minute detail.
But what worried him more was how many more trials he and his friends would have to go through. If they were gonna become Ascenders like his mom they'd only go through more and more trials.
All trials would commence as soon as someone attempted to leave a ring, And climb up to a higher one, Unless that person chose to not go through one. You could choose to simply skip a trial, But you could only do it once until you pass the next trial after the one you skipped.
Skipping a trial makes your next trial much harder than before, And removes the ability to bring people with you for that trial, But it also increases the rewards you obtain.
This has led to many ascenders opting to skip as much as they can, To maximize the amount of equipment they gain.
Those who climb up the rings of hell claim the title of Ascender. There have been many Ascenders, All with different reasons they attempt to crawl their way to the top of hell.
Isle just passed the Reverie trial of Shattered Memories.
That made him a Dreamer.
Different ranks in Reverie exist, Signifying how many times you've been to Shattered Memories.
The rankings go from Dormant then Awoken, Descended, Ascended, Transcended, And Absolute.
Atleast that's what Isle had known from many different ascenders he'd met through his mom.
The Reverie trial is the hardest, As you can't bring anyone, And you won't have any real experience. Some pay ascenders for knowledge before they go themselves, But it doesn't really help a whole lot if at all.
Isle was just lucky enough that he was able to get a lot of help from Vermilion before the puppet showed up. That helped much more than any "Knowledge" could.
He finally opened those eyes of his, And lifted his head up.
When he did, All he could see were the insides of a dark, Gothic building, It was oddly comforting. As if he'd lived there his entire life or maybe it'd waited for him his entire life.
Round arches lifted off the ground to the ceiling, Torches with flames like black dahlia were spread out around the place, Lighting up every inch of the intricate corridor with a dark violet.
Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, Their candles were lit with the same ione-like flames.
Isle made some tissue's with his quantum, Blowing his nose with one, And wiping his face with another.
He recalled the announcement of his dueling with two deities and a pseudo-homunculus. Once he did, The divine whisper returned.
[…The True Homunculus entered the coffin of the Knave, And declared his intent to kill him. His will had seemed almost absolute, But he neglected the fact that no lowly mortal could ever hope to slay a god. The Knave beheaded him in an act of mercy towards the lowly Homunculus…]
"Lowly homunculus…? You won't say it to my face though." He muttered half-heartedly.
[You made a contract with Acheron, And Chained Knave.]
After hearing the whisper it didn't take much for Isle to realize that Chained Knave referred to Cassius, So the other title had to be Caeruleus'.
Isle knew Acheron as one of the Greek underworld's rivers, So he found it a little weird that it was one of Caeruleus' titles, But he decided he'd ask him about it later.
The voice also mentioned something about rewards.
A weird list of runes appeared in front of him. Words floated in the air listing most of the general info about Isle, He recognized the runes as demonic. They were the letters of Hell's alphabet.
Name: Isle Calamitas
Race: Human
Rank: Slumberer
Soul: Dormant
Mementos: [Rene Ver Mo]
Facet: [True Homunculus]
Strand: [First of Many]
Threads: Reverie and Quantums
Quantums: [Walking Armory], [Sleeper]
As Isle glanced over everything, He saw that Rene had turned into a Memento.
Memento: [Rene Ver Mo]
Memento Rank: Regalia
Memento Tier: I
Memento Class: Weapon
'A Regalia? How the hell did that dumbass even manage to… Oh right.'
While Vermilion was a bit oblivious at times, He was still a deity. Anything made with his ichor and scales would be a Regalia by default.
The reason for Isle's surprise lay within the fact that Regalia were the highest rank of Mementos. He was holding a weapon that could easily be revered as a national treasure.
The only real flaw that Isle could immediately find was its low tier of 1, Tiers went from 1 to 7. This made Rene one of the weakest Regalia, But it was a Regalia no less.
Looking closer at the runes he read the description for it.
Memento Description: […the child of Vermilion suffered without any relief from the constant change of her...]
'What type of description is that?! Quite literally what am I supposed to do with an unfinished description…'
Isle remembered Cassius referring to Rene as a "Bad girl" Which pretty much cemented Isle's idea that Rene was alive in some way.
Memento Traits: [Starving], [Schadenfreude], [Yearning Lament]
He looked over the rest of the list after he checked Rene's traits.
Whilst reading over the rest of his what caught his eye the most was [True Homunculus].
Homunculi were artificially created beings made with alchemy. They used to be things that every alchemist would strive to create. Until it was banned, and considered taboo to create life with alchemy by the Alchemist Guild.
There were many discussions of why it was immoral and why it wasn't, But the Alchemist Guild didn't budge at all.
He had vague knowledge of what a homunculus was, But it wouldn't make sense for him to have a facet like that.
Facets were supposed to perfectly encapsulate what you were. Yet Isle's Facet didn't fit him at all, After all, He's a human, Right?
Without warning he felt an unbearable pain in his head. It was like a flaming fire poker had been shoved into his brain, Then shifted over and over again in one spot. His hippocampus.
Just then, He faintly remembered the nature of his birth.