It took them until the early hours of the morning to finish the chain. By then, the army had already woken up and started falling into formation. The stone giant had advanced further during the night; it was almost upon them.
It was almost a hundred feet tall, and even then, it dwarfed everything nearby. Inside the desolate plainland, it stood out in stark contrast.
Lucien wanted to go through with the plan right there, but the general stopped him before he could throw down the chain.
"Wait, I'll lure it here with my battalion." He stood up and glared at the giant, "We only have one shot at this."
Lucien nodded, and the general left. A veil of silence fell upon the two storm soldiers, and Lucien used this opportunity to finally take a look at his new memory.
He summoned his runes and concentrated on the memory. An image of a sleek glaive appeared before him, along with a few lines of text underneath.
[Stone Spear: This spear, crafted by Nether, is the most basic polearm granted to his army of Stone Children. Where others see beautifully crafted stone, Nether only saw a failed project.]
He frowned. A basic spear made by Nether. Who was Nether? If the spell had found it necessary to translate his name, it must have been for a reason.
He glanced at the soldier dozing off beside him. He could not exactly summon the memory without alerting him, and he was in no mood to deal with the questions that would inevitably follow.
In the distance, he could see Arondil's battalion shoot at the giant to gain its attention. The rest of the storm army fought the stone children just as they had for the past two days. They watched as more and more of their brethren fell, but the giant was getting closer and closer until…
BOOM!
A massive bolt of lightning fell from the heavens and struck the giant, causing a giant crack to go down its face. In front of the giant, Arondil leaned on his polearm, purple blood drenching the area around him.
"That must be our signal." His companion stood up and began pushing the end of the chain over the chasm.
Lucien took a deep breath and sheathed his sword. 'This is it, the one chance I have to change this fate.'
He watched as the chain of bodies fell down the hole and into the storm clouds below. But something wasn't right. They waited in silence for the lightning, but nothing happened. Below them, deep blue lightning flashed ever so often, arcing tantalizingly close to the chain, but never once touching it.
"Why isn't it working?" The young soldier said, looking down the hole. He turned his gaze to Lucien and grabbed his shoulders.
"You said this would work!"
Lucien stared at the trail of bodies, red blood flowed out of their wounds, but without a beating heart, it wasn't pouring out fast enough.
"Answer me!" He shook his shoulder again.
Lucien stared into the young soldier's eyes. He could see the fear and desperation etched into them as if he were reading a book.
"I'm sorry." He muttered, and white sparks began forming around his hand. The soldier looked down in surprise as a white light illuminated their face.
And then the spear appeared, its grey stone visible only for a moment before it moved and reappeared behind the back of the soldier, dripping red.
The soldier made a gurgling noise and stared back into Lucien's eyes as if asking 'Why?'
Without another word, Lucien dismissed the spear, leaving a hole inside the soldier's chest. A hole that bled profusely, as his heart continued to beat in vain.
The soldier stumbled as the strength left his body, and Lucien grabbed his hair. Holding him over the edge of the hole, Lucien watched as his blood poured onto the chain of bodies, painting them red. Thunder rumbled, and Lucien let go, allowing the unnamed soldier to fall inside.
[You have slain a Dormant Stormforged, name unknown.]
[You have received a memory: Storm Blade.]
Down, at the end of the chain, red blood flowed off the bodies and lightning arced from the ever-present clouds to meet it. The blue lightning struck the red blood, turning it purple, and the roar that ensued shook the world.
Lucien stood above ground, bow in hand, as the ground shook angrily. The clouds above him darkened, and the hole began glowing a deep, ominous purple. The lightning from underneath rode the chain of bodies, getting stronger with every corpse.
Thunder roared from above as Lucien activated the mechanism of the bow. And lightning fell from above just as it rose from below. The world went silent as the two bolts of lightning met, or maybe it was just Lucien's ears bursting; he could not tell anymore.
Turned out, he wasn't immune to all forms of lighting. He could not even scream as his body locked up, his fists clenched around the bow and arrow he held. His vision was replaced with a curtain of violent purple. He did not even notice when his feet left the ground, or when his armor burned off, leaving his torso to take the brunt of the damage.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to move, one arm at a time. He no longer knew what was ahead and what was behind. Eventually, he managed to hold his bow in front of him. Repeating the harrowingly painful process, he raised his other hand and nocked an arrow.
His muscles screamed in pain as he drew the bow back; he could feel them start to tear. But it didn't matter. His body here was temporary, a fabrication of the spell; sacrificing it to alter the course of history was a small price.
As the bow reached its apex, the pain dimmed, and he could suddenly see again. The unholy amounts of lightning had been drawn away from him and into the bow, but it could only hold so much. His arms felt like they were on fire as he held the arrow in place. His bow had already started to disintegrate, layer by layer it turned to dust.
Lightning was a volatile force of nature; it did not like to stay still. It itched to be let loose, and lashed out violently when it was restrained.
'Just…a while…longer.' It took inhuman amounts of effort to even think of a coherent sentence. He had to end it soon.
He was already facing the Stone giant, somehow looking it eye to eye. And so he raised his bow towards the ominous glowing eyes and fired.
BOOM!
In an instant, it broke past the sound barrier, two bolts trailed behind it as it soared through the air, one connected to the clouds above and the other to the clouds below.
Both the storm and the stone army fell to their knees below, and blood leaked out of their ears. Lucien was suddenly glad he could no longer hear.
The arrow of lightning lit up the world, shining brighter than the blue sun for a moment as it hit the stone giant, shattering its face and piercing through its skull.
[You have slain an Awakened Terror: Stone Goliath.]
[You have received a memory: Stone Armorsuit.]
Lucien did not have the chance to relish in his victory; no longer connected to the twin streams of lightning, he began falling at an alarming rate.
But then something rose up behind him, and a suffocating dread filled his chest. He glimpsed a dark figure with wings like a raven flying up to the sky and spread its wings.
He screamed in agony as his eyes exploded and a sharp pain assaulted his mind. His very skin began peeling off; he could feel his bones crack underneath. Was that how he was going to die? So close to victory?
It was then that the spell whispered.
[Wake up, Lucien! Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal…]
The pain disappeared all at once, and Lucien found himself elsewhere. An endless black void surrounded him, and millions of stars shone overhead. Between those stars, countless strings of silver light were woven into a beautiful and inconceivably complex net, forming various nexuses and constellations.
He had been told about this place, the space where your performance in the nightmare was evaluated.
'Is this the true form of the spell?' Lucien pondered, staring at the stars above.
While the spell appraised his performance, he had enough time to think back to what had happened. He had managed to kill the giant, an awakened titan; no wonder it was so massive. If the remnants of Storm's lightning hadn't been there, he would never have been able to kill a titan. Was that the fairness of the spell, he wondered.
As if summoned by his thoughts, the spell spoke again. In there, the spell sounded different, older, and heavier. It was as if it held the weight of the universe.
[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]
[A foot soldier of the storm army survived the impossible. Felling both humans and monsters, he defiled their corpses to channel a god's power. He ruined a conspiracy and invited the wrath of a daemon. Yet, through it all, he survived.]
[You have defeated twelve Awakened Beasts: Stone Soldier.]
[You have defeated two Dormant Stormforged: names unknown.]
[You have defeated an Awakened Terror: Stone Goliath.]
[You have done the impossible!]
[Final appraisal: Glorious! Your sacrifices hold infinite weight.]
Lucien could not help but smile; he had done it. He had survived his first nightmare, killed a titan no less. Yes, glorious was the word he'd use to describe it.
[Dreamer Lucien, receive your boon!]
[You have been bestowed a True Name: Hour of Calamity.]
He froze—a true name. No one in the forgotten shores had one, not even Effie. Not even his mother. Not many people received a true name, and he had gotten one in his first nightmare.
The spell did not wait for him to process it.
[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]
For a moment, Lucien considered denying it, just to see what would happen. In the history of Awakened, no one had done that. But he was not stupid enough to gamble with his life, and on the forgotten shores, you needed all the help you could get.
"Yes."
[Dormant Aspect Storm Warrior is evolving…]
[New Aspect Acquired.]
[Aspect Rank: Divine.]
"..." Lucien stared at the words in awe. Divine was the highest rank one could get. The pinnacle of power.
Was he still in the nightmare? Was this some cruel punishment laid by the winged creature?
No, it was reality, and he had hit the jackpot.
[Aspect Name: Storm Herald.]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Description : [You are a fragment of the Cosmic Storm, a stray bolt of lightning that fell through time. You bring abrupt change to the world; whatever you touch is forever scarred.]
Innate Ability: Wild Hunt
Ability Description: You can claim the soul essence of any being killed by you. The amount gained is randomized.
Lucien stared at the words in silence. With that aspect, the chances of his survival on the shores had skyrocketed. A divine aspect directly related to storm, with an innate ability that made it easier to saturate his soul core. It felt almost too good to be true. There had to be a price; there always was.
[The First Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers…]
Lucien felt something waking up inside him, and a warmth began spreading from his chest. He fell to one knee; it was not a painful sensation, nor was it unpleasant. Rather, it would be better to say it was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
It felt as if he was being filled with some strange form of energy. As if something had been sleeping inside him, and it was finally waking from its slumber. This new energy permeated through his entire being, filling every last corner with its might. His emotions became clearer and sharper.
He felt as if a star was being born inside his chest, thrumming with energy. Waves of heat radiated from it, reaching his stomach and shoulders, then his arms and legs, and then his hands and feet. Under that heat, his bones, muscles, organs, and blood vessels were being rebuilt and revitalized.
He was being reborn. He felt his muscles getting stronger, his bones getting denser; he felt better than ever before. It was euphoric.
Moments later, the heat died down, and a vast coolness replaced it. It washed over his body like a tidal wave, cleansing away all the aches that had accumulated from living on the shores. Then it moved up, reaching his brain, and finally his eyes.
His vision doubled and overlapped. He could see the blackness of the void, but also something else.
Dark clouds hung overhead, and a turbulent sea lay under his feet. Above him, a lonely star shone in the darkness, illuminating the sea with a deep purple glow. It had no defined boundary, and lightning lashed out at regular intervals.
Lucien frowned. From what he knew, a soul core was supposed to be white and calm, not chaotic like his. The sea was supposed to be tranquil, not violent.
Around his soul core, three spheres of light were orbiting it. One for each of his memories. He had not gotten the chance to look at his newer memories yet.
The spell spoke again, pulling him out of his soul sea.
[Awakening Aspect Ability…]
Lucien got up on his feet and waited.
[Aspect Ability Acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Name: Thunder Manifestation.]
Lucien summoned his runes. Although the ability name was enough of a hint, he wanted to be sure of what his ability was. However, as he scanned through his runes, something made him screech to a halt.
Name: Lucien
True Name: Hour of Calamity
Rank: Dreamer
Storm Core: Dormant
Storm Fragments: [92/1000]
'Storm Core?'
Was that why his soul sea was so different? He had a Storm Core instead of a Soul Core, and it needed Storm Fragments. What did that mean? Could he not absorb soul cores like everyone else did? Was his aspect possibly…unique?
More importantly, how did he already have nearly a hundred fragments? He had killed a total of 15 beings, two of them being dormant humans and the rest being Awakened nightmare creatures. He had no idea how that had gotten him to ninety-two.
He shook his head; he'd think about it later. For now, it was time to look at his aspect ability.
Memories: [Stone Spear],[Storm Blade],[Stone Armorsuit]
Echoes: -
Attributes: [Ember of Divinity] [The Tempest] [Stormborn]
Aspect: [Storm Herald]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Ability: [Thunder Manifestation]
Aspect Ability Description: [A violent storm resides within you, its destructive power is yours to command as you see fit.]
He frowned. What did it mean by storm? The lightning? The rain?
At that moment, a new set of runes appeared, and the spell spoke again.
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a Flaw.]
[Your Flaw is:...]
"...What?"
A/N:- Looking for any beta reader/editor volunteers.
Psst, join the discord server.
https://discord.gg/bxWxBjpT4p