A tall boy with sleek armor and flowing hair was walking through the expansive courtyard of the Bright Castle. The sun reflected in his eyes, sparkling like rivers of pure, clear blue water. Everything — the emerald grass, the tree saplings, the vibrant flowers — seemed to more alive near him, basking in the presence of his overflowing soul.
However, every time his arms swung forward, an eerie whisper shook the world and the bands on his wrists rattled quietly. Within his beautiful eyes, there was... indifference. Cold and unyielding, as if nothing could ever shake him free from it. As if he was a hollow deity imprisoned within a man.
He was Nico — Eternal Dawn; a lieutenant of the Bright Lord, and he was searching for Kido.
[Soul Roots] was only used to slightly help the young lieutenant, but in doing so, he could nudge her Aspect Ability more often than not in the right direction. He could sense the nature of the plant's soul, too, even if it was barely more than an idea to him. Some traits the crops would simply not be able to adopt, so he steered her away from the more ambitious ones, letting her do the rest.
At least the courtyard was fairly nice looking.
Nico glanced around at the scenery.
'On second thought, it is quite beautiful.'
He had already passed the areas which housed purposeless flora, but it was still amazing to be within Kido's ever-growing garden. Experimental Dream Realm plants had been gathered and nurtured since several years ago. Over time, molded by Kido's Aspect, they began to resemble vegetables from the Waking World. One section housed several red vines of tomatoes, another beets and carrots that seemed to have long stalks sprouting above the ground, and another still with bushels of purple lettuce.
At the leftmost corner of one of the interconnected plots, a large, artificial building made from the same stone as the Dark City was standing, its craftsmanship sloppy and out of place in comparison to the rest of the keep. Still, the structure wasn't at all ugly. It was three-stories, with intricately placed pillars and designs to keep it sturdy, and a scattering of windows on each floor that let in sunlight. Its roof was completely flat, but multiple smaller, angular canopies coveted the separate branches and larger rooms.
It was so impressive that Nico was convinced one of the Artisans had an ability to either shape or mend stone.
'Nothing I haven't seen before,' he remarked, walking across a dirt path to the steps of the veranda.
There was someone sitting on it already.
Light-brown hair, a slightly grave, slightly whimsical expression, and a pair of chocolate eyes that were trained on the field before her. Nico recognized her. It was Kido, and she was waiting, it seemed.
Hearing his steps, she looked up at him, then brushed off her dirtied hands on her light armor and stood up, revealing a set of pearly teeth with a bright smile as she greeted him.
"Good morning, Nico. It's good to see you. I really didn't expect to be one waiting for you to show up, this time."
He shrugged.
"Neither did I."
Kido cleared her throat and clasped both her hands behind her back enthusiastically.
"Did you finally learn the joys of sleeping in late?"
Nico took a look at the sun. Based on its position, it was late morning, almost noon. The sky was carpeted with clouds, and the sky seemed a dull gray.
'It seems my brief council took longer to discuss than I had thought. That man sure had a lot of flowery words to say.'
He took a step up onto the stone platform and began walking towards the front door of the building.
"No. I was summoned by his lordship."
Kido blinked.
"Gunlaug... what did he have to say?"
Nico paused slightly. Uneasiness prickled his skin like a sharp, cold wind. Something like fear entered his mind — no, wariness, rather. It was spawned by both curiosity and suspicion, and was masked, but not very well.
Kido's emotions were bleeding into him.
It seems the young lieutenant has a conflicting relationship with the Bright Lord. Whether it was outright insurrection or simple caution, he didn't know. Everyone viewed Gunlaug differently, but almost nobody saw him in a positive light.
Nico's voice replied indifferently:
"He only summoned me. I'm being... promoted. The outer settlement will now be my responsibility, it seems," Nico answered, grasping the handle and disappearing indoors shortly after.
The young lieutenant followed after him and shut the door behind her, then sighed, radiating disappointment and relief in equal measure.
"That's unfortunate. Will you still be able to continue our work?"
Nico nodded, then walked through the large, open space filled with potted plants, tables, garden tools, and other chatting Artisans before reaching another door and standing beside it.
Kido pulled out an iron key and twisted the lock.
They entered the chamber and were once again embraced by sunlight. This time, it was a small, stone room with large windows and rows of flower beds. These plants, however, were anything but decorative. They were the meager amount of Dream Realm flora from which the rest of the farm was slowly spawned, each new iteration taking on different traits Kido carefully selected.
The hostile plants consisted of thorny, blood-soaked vines, black moss that seemed to bubble angrily, large stalks with spindly stems and a gaping maw at its peak, and many more.
Both Nico and Kido stood for a few moments.
Then, Nico turned his head towards her and said:
"I have considered trying a new way to steer your experiments."
She took a step forward towards a wooden desk that was tucked away in the corner and replied pleasantly over their shoulder:
"Oh? Do tell."
He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.
"My Dormant Ability can help shape my own soul and guide others, but I have not yet tried to mix them. My essence is... more alive than yours. It's also stronger, too. I might be able to influence the potency of your Aspect by melding them together in some way."
Kido grasped a jar and hummed softly, putting it up to her face and staring at a small seed that rested at the bottom of it.
"Interesting. Your Aspect has to do with souls, so it could make sense that your essence could help change the nature of the plants, though I hardly know much about that approach."
Her eyes widened.
"If you could fuse them, would you be able to better resonate with the soul?"
Nico considered the idea again. It was logical that if his own essence infused within someone, then it would deepen his connection to them for as long as it remained and allow him to shape it easier. However, it was a tenuous connection at best. It relied on him being able to combine different essence effectively enough to bond them, pour a steady amount of new essence to replace the dissipating reserve since her Dormant Ability would be expending it, and then be able to guide all that in the right direction without disrupting her Aspect.
Well, that's why he suggested it, in any case.
"The plan was to test that on you," he replied.
She shook her head hastily.
"Yes, but what about the seed, too. There was no reason to try guiding its soul before, but perhaps you could make it more receptable to the changes by infusing it, too."
Nico had... No, he had not thought about that. It was certainly an idea — an exceptional ambitious one. One that wouldn't have been possible if he wasn't a Monster and could sustain more than one augmentation.
His brows furrowed. A seed didn't have a core, but it did have a soul. Nico had never experimented on mundane things.
"It might be possible. I don't know much more about this than you do, but I'm certain that it will be difficult. Guiding a soul other than mine is already taxing but guiding two while infusing both with essence will be exhausting, or downright impossible. I don't even know if it will work. One of my Attributes makes my essence... strange."
She grinned, hunching over the table as she poured through a stack of thin, inscribed slabs and clutched the jar in her other hand.
"Strange how?" she asked. "If we manage to use you a makeshift catalyst for whatever change we need, we could make truly extraordinary changes, you know."
Nico's demeanor shifted and he cast a glance at the Artisan's behind.
'How much can I tell her?'
He had done a pretty good job of managing to keep the rest of his abilities hidden besides his Flaw, and revealing too much about his soul might put him in a rough spot should she tell Gunlaug.
For a second, he considered not telling her anything, but then he remembered her earlier emotions. Kido has something against Gunlaug. While her allegiance to anyone else seemed shaky, he could be confident enough she wouldn't tell the Bright Lord.
"It is tangible. My blood is my soul essence. My heart is my Soul Core."
Kido's hand shook and froze, a stone tablet falling from her hand and clattering on the desk.
She turned around and gaped at him.
"Wh—what? Your blood is... essence? How can... That's just... How does that..." she trailed off.
Nico took a step forward and reached down to grasp the jar Kido had dropped and left in her stupor.
"Yes. I don't actually use essence from my core like an Awakened. I just use my Dormant Ability to circulate my blood."
Her eyes sparked with realization. Something like awe ignited in her chest. There were all kinds of Attributes, really, but something like transforming the very nature of your body was mostly unheard of.
"That's... unique."
She hesitated for a moment, seemed to consider something, then slowly grinned.
"Huh. I always knew you weren't human. A blue blood, are you? I wonder what it looks like when you bleed."
Nico scowled and pulled two chairs from the corner.
"Just sit down."
She huffed before following him.
He twisted open the jar and tilted it so that the seed dropped into his hand. When Kido reached her chair, he scooted his closer and sat next to her, then grabbed her wrist and placed the tiny object in her hand.
"Ready?" he asked.
She took a slow inhale, then closed her eyes and nodded, posture straight, stiff, and wary. There wasn't any physical sensation she could feel in the next second, but a sickening, gut wrenching squall rose deep inside her chest — her soul. A moment after that, something foreign. Something unfathomable and hungry. Something... searching.