Kallen was far too injured to fight any spiders for the time being. Thankfully, he was still under siege, which meant that they were unwittingly giving him breadth to recover.
He grimaced as he wrapped his burns, holding the blade of his new sword in his mouth to give him something to clamp down on. His body was a gruesome patchwork.
Arms: Numb. Third-degree. The armor had failed there first when he'd tried to block the blast. His chest and ribs were in a similar condition.
His neck and portions of his face which had been most heavily fortified—as he had been able to direct more of the protection at the last moment—were pocked with first and second-degree burns. This had been where the water of his tideform had flashed into steam, scalding him briefly.
The legs and back portions of his armor had actually held, but the armor conducted heat, however poorly. It still resulted in lesser burns along his legs, feet, and joint areas.
Additionally, Kallen had abrasions along the length of his back and his hips where he had hit the cavern wall. Thankfully, the tideform had absorbed the majority of that, but it still hurt nonetheless.
But all of that would be mended by his magical gauze eventually. Though it was a lengthy and painful process, it paled in comparison to the pain in his lungs. They had not only been assaulted by his slamming into the wall but also by the pressure of the blast.
Every breath was the twist of a knife. Kallen had been coughing blood for days.
He was probably suffering from a whole slew of mental problems from the two back-to-back concussions, but he couldn't find himself able to care.
Despite the victory, he was extremely sour. It had taken everything, his aspect, his tideform, his awakened weapon, and armor, and still, he had been absolutely outclassed. It should have been obvious that a mere sleeper was no match for an Awakened tyrant, but it was a hit to his pride regardless.
But even more than that, it was a hit to his infallibility. He needed to be more careful. He couldn't go challenging the matriarch of the spider nest so brazenly. Sure, he had a fire-based weapon gleaned from a tyrant, but he also wouldn't have his aspect but for only a moment.
The bucket of water in his soul sea was the only chance he'd have, and that would disappear quickly. He could of course summon his tideform, but it was taking an agonizingly long time to reform itself in his soul sea.
He probably wouldn't see it for another few weeks.
That was when he'd strike.
Kallen sighed when he finished wrapping his wounds. Puddle had been no help at all, but he came to expect that after a certain point. The Leviathan was just a beast, so his intelligence was quite low in all likelihood.
Putting that behind him, he summoned his runes to check his scales. He expected to see his scales sitting at 77, ten more than he had before he'd fought the lesser wyrm. However, the number he saw wasn't that.
Scales: [157/1000].
Kallen blinked. He was only supposed to get scales for the amount of soul shards a creature had multiplied by their rank. A dormant tyrant would net him five, while an awakened tyrant would ten.
Not ninety.
He stared blankly, then closed the runes.
Kallen thought back to what the spell had said when he had killed the wyrm. It told him he'd slain a leviathan.
Hm. When I killed Puddle, it told me I killed a Legendary Leviathan. Is it because of the nature of titans as calamities themselves?
But Puddle hadn't been very calamitous.
Every normal sea creature he'd killed had been called a leviathan and gifted him scales, while the one tied to his aspect was a legendary leviathan, and gifted him more scales. But now a regular leviathan gave him more scales than normal as well.
He just wasn't sure. It didn't make sense yet. Then again, most of the 'leviathans' he'd slain so far had been extremely weak, bottom-of-the-food chain-type creatures. And they were dormant.
Kallen dismissed his runes and let out a strained breath, feeling a sharp pain in his chest. He groaned, shifting up from where he sat, now more vertically aligned with the wall.
Unable to do anything but stay in his own head, he turned his focus to Seren, particularly her flaw.
Her aspect, [North Star] implied that she was a shepherd of sorts, but her flaw directly contradicted that.
Months before, after careful observation, he had found that her flaw came in waves of rapid bad luck of sorts. Initially, she had been completely fine—they had gone months without disaster of any kind the first few months after her awakening. But in early August, a nightmare gate had opened right outside the Nightwalker HQ in the NQSC and had been followed by several others, all seemingly caused by her flaw.
Following this, nothing bad happened for a spell, but then Kallen had received an order to kill the last member of the immortal flame clan. That wasn't inherently connected to Seren on its own, but the letter had also directly threatened her should he come back from the dream realm empty-handed.
He had debated different strategies to avoid it while he waited on the solstice, but nothing he could think of would get him out of the situation, save for killing changing star. But there was still time for her to die on her own. As morbid as it was.
Ultimately, Kallen decided that he wouldn't try to connect Seren's flaw to any future disasters. Who knew if it would happen regardless of her? Certainly not him. So he wouldn't think about it. It would only serve to make him resent her, and that wouldn't help anyone.
With nothing else to do, he waited in silence and contemplated more mundane things. Things like what he would eat when he made it out of the dream realm, the friends he'd visit, and how he would be avoiding spiders like his life depended on it. The usual.
Then his thoughts drifted to his aspect, and more importantly his own flaw and why the spell had chosen it.
The naive answer to why it was [Fish out of Water], specifically, was that it was only natural for someone with a water-related aspect to receive a flaw relating to water.
But he pushed past that and delved deeper. Most importantly, what it was trying to teach him, if anything. His aspect was one that invited freedom but was restricted by his flaw.
Is it teaching me a lesson on adaptability, since water is fluid or something? Kallen shook his head, feeling as though he was only grasping a small part of the picture.
What about Seren's then? For a timid, gentle, and shy girl, who only ever wanted to help, her flaw was a cruel lesson. The more she was around, the more things fell apart. Not because she fails, but because her presence agitates fate, pulling on threads too deep for anyone to understand.
Part of the danger of her flaw was how things would go if others knew about it. It would force her into isolation, and force others to do a double take any time anything went wrong. She would become an easy point of blame in the fact of disaster. A scapegoat in the eyes of her peers.
Kallen's face contorted into a nasty scowl. Even if catastrophe followed her, it didn't matter. He would just be strong enough to deal with it. He would be the wall between her and destiny. He could take on her burden as his own.
And so in the quiet darkness of the spider's nest, Kallen made a solemn vow. Not for anyone to hear, and not for anyone to discover.
He sat in silence. The nest did not tremble, and no big revelation came. But something in his mind changed. It was clear. He had his answer. Now, he just had to survive long enough to keep his promise.
~~~
Sunny
Things had gone from bad to worse ever since that kid joined their small cohort.
Now, Sunny would be lying if he said that she was useless, far from it actually. It was strange to admit, but she was technically the most powerful member of the party… at night time that was.
That echo of hers was truly dreadful. It was an Awakened Terror and a powerful one at that. It was capable of slaying carapace centurions without so much as a second thought.
So how had her brother killed it? And why were things so much worse now!
Sunny gripped his new sword tightly. The Midnight Shard Seren had loaned to him felt nice in his hand as he tore it through carapace scavengers.
Dealing with them had become easier as time went on, and with the new addition to their party, Nephis and Sunny enjoyed a pleasant boost to their speed, strength, reaction, and endurance whenever they fought.
His aspect truly was as useful as she had said. That paired with her navigation attributes, she was a welcome commodity. But it still felt as though something was wrong. Strange coincidence seemed to happen when she was around.
Like, the strap on Sunny's pack had snapped on him recently. More Carapace Scavengers seemed to be after them now. They'd even recently run into a massive storm.
Though, because of it, he had received an echo… so maybe things weren't so bad after all? Nevertheless, it was strange. Did she have a flaw that radiated bad luck only when she was near or something like that?
Sunny stared off into the distance, watching the calm surface of the black sea. A few dozen yards behind him, Nephis and Seren lay sleeping. He sat with Cassie, noticing the strange expression on her face.
"Have you been having more visions?" He finally asked, unable to bear that look on her face.
Cassie donned a sad smile. "I had more than I told you guys about."
Sunny tensed.
"I'm afraid that by telling you, I will cause the things I saw to come true."
If something bad was going to happen, he needed to know in advance. As long as he knew what was coming, how could he not prevent it? But then, what if his preparations became the very thing that caused those terrible things to happen?
I see the problem…
He struggled with the idea of forcing the visions out of her. Either outcome was both undesirable and helpful in a way. He wasn't sure what to do. So instead, he waited for her to make the decision.
"Seren's brother…" she paused, grimacing. "I don't think we should seek him out."
Sunny stared at her. He contemplated what she said, trying to decipher what she'd seen by the way her shoulders tensed and her brows furrowed.
"What exactly did you see?"
"A few things. But what I know is that catastrophe follows him as though they are kin."
Sunny frowned. "What are the other things?"
She shook her head. "I shouldn't say."
Sunny sat back, leaning, hands against the rough. He exhaled, deep in thought. Catastrophe followed him? Yeah, no shit. His sister was basically cursed!
Well, not really. He knew he was just being superstitious. Unless… was that her flaw? Bad luck?
That was extremely bad luck—
Sunny nearly chuckled at the irony.
"What do you mean disaster follows him?" He asked, reigning himself in. "He doesn't seem like the typical Legacy type… I got a bad vibe from that Han-Li guy, but not the same from Kallenir. Or, Kallen I guess."
Cassie lingered, staying silent, and Sunny decided to continue. "And his sister is the most docile thing in the world."
"I know, but…"
Sunny shrugged. "I wouldn't stress over it. You don't even know if those visions are of the future or just possible futures, right?"
Cassie opened her mouth, hesitating for a spell before speaking: "Can you promise me something? Can you promise me that when the time comes, you will not waver, that you will banish the sea?"
He stared at her as though she had grown a second head. Could he promise that? Of course not! He wasn't a god… how could a sleeper like him banish the sea? What was she? Crazy?
"I… I can't promise something like that."
"I see." Cassie sighed and turned, it felt like Sunny had chosen the wrong answer. "Yeah. That's fair. I cannot expect something like that."
With that, she summoned her staff, using it like a walking cane as she strolled away.