Seren sat with his mundane friends at the park, watching the sun set. His friends were happily talking about their exciting day together, but Seren could barely manage to force a smile. While the day had been full of joy for Seren, night was approaching, and he would soon return to the Dream Realm. To the citadel of Clan Ghost. To his family, which had dishonored him.
In his heart, he knew what he had done was right. He was saving his sister Sephra from marrying that fraud of a Master from Clan Blade. But to his surprise, his Clan turned on him when he expected agreement. His mother, Saint Laeli, the Ghost Walker, head of Clan Ghost, vassel of the Great Clan Song, and master of the citadel where his gateway resided, had nearly killed him in rage, only to be stopped by his father, Master Hedge. He proposed that Seren be dishonored, his tether to the gateway transferred elsewhere. That was three weeks ago. Each time he went home, he had to use a combination of his Attributes and Aspect to avoid his family and clan members by hiding in the dark expanses of the Ghost citadel. If his family found him, they would senselessly beat him up, and he was running low on money to pay for rent in the waking world, so he could not afford a doctor's appointment. Luckily, his Dormant Ability allowed him to take the punishment and even fully recover, so he wasn't all too concerned.
What he was concerned about was how long it was taking for his father to take him to a new citadel.
His mother could do that easily by asking a member of her cohort, but she didn't, probably because of spite. Seren had considered running off into the surrounding wilderness, but the citadel of Clan Ghost was in a region of the Dream Realm known as the Graveyard, and powerful abominations of the Awakened, and even Fallen rank, were common, and while he fought an Awakened Demon before, as a Sleeper, he had a full cohort, and he was the only surviver.
At least he got a cool echo.
While strategizing his plan of survival for the night, as his brother had found his old hiding spot, one of Seren's friends, Ruby, tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look at her and saw that she was giving him a wrapped-up present.
"Happy Birthday, Seren!" His friends chimed in.
Seren blinked.
'I had totally forgotten that today was my eighteenth birthday! Now that I think of it, my friends were being unusually nice, for my friends. I just hadn't noticed, as I was too busy thinking about how I would survive the night.'
"We all chipped in to buy you this present," Ruby said, smiling.
Seren smiled and opened the gift.
Inside was a box containing a handful of soul shards, along with a vial.
"You guys got me Soul Shards? And a Memory? Thank you!"
'This should be enough Soul Shards for me to fully saturate my core! Now I can find a new cohort, challenge the Second Nightmare, become a Master, and regain honor with my family!'
Seren touched the memory, and it disappeared into sparks. He heard a ghostly whisper from behind his ear.
[You have received a Memory: Soul in a Bottle.]
Seren dove into his soul sea to check out the present his friends got him.
Name: Seren
True Name: —
Rank: Awakened
Soul Core: Awakened
Soul Shards: [195/200]
Memories: [Silver Wind], [Wraith Shroud], [Grave Skull], [Bonemerang], [Soul on a Bottle]
Echos: [Graverender]
Attributes: [Child of Ghost Walker], [Deathly Nature]
Aspect: [Ghost of the Past]
Aspect Rank: Ascended
Dormant Ability: [Undead Vitality]
Dormant Ability Description: [Your body has the vitality of the undead. Use the spirits of the dead to strengthen your body and soul to enhance physical ability and recover from damage.]
Awakened Ability: [Incorpeal]
Dormant Ability Description: [You have attained the spirit of a ghost. Use it to turn incorporeal for a short time.]
Flaw: [Cursed from the Grave]
Flaw Description: [You are destined for corruption]
Seren concentrated on his new memory, [Soul in a Bottle]. It manifested in his hand as a small jar on a cloth necklace, with shimmering flickers of light inside.
[Soul in a Bottle: A cursed spirit trapped a hero's soul in this bottle. While holding it, the wearer feels their soul's power restored.]
'An essence regeneration charm? Quite useful, considering his Awakened ability [Incorpeal] used tons of essence, and the [Silver Wind]'s enchantments used quite a bit as well. The silver wind was a sickle made of silver that his mother had gifted him after his awakening, around the time of his fifteenth birthday. It's was very precious to me, as it is an Awakened Memory of the Fourth tier, which had an enchantment [True Strike], which could hit incorporeal targets, and [Ghost Blade], which bypassed the armor of Nightmare Creatures of the Awakened rank and Devil class or lower, and it had proved very useful in the past three years.'
'Of course, [Soul in a Bottle] could help all of my memories, which have active enhancements of their own.'
[Wraith Shroud] is a suit of leather armor, which has simple paldrons and a leather cape made of fine black silk, and thin armor coverings made of gray silver, which matched his dull gray eyes and silver hair. It was a gift from his clan before the solstice, and it was an Awakend Memory of the Third tier, and its enhancements were very helpful, with [Spirit Guard] enhancing his mental and soul damage resistance and [Wraithful Stride] allowing him to turn incorporeal using essence, which now makes his Awakened Ability cost less essence, and of course, [Shroud of Darkness], which allowed him to turn fully invisible and incorpeal in darkness or shadows.
[Grave Skull] is his most valuable memory yet, as it is an Asended Memory of the First tier, which he bought after awaking with a few useless memories. It was a skull on a bracelet, and its only enchantment [Keeper of Graves] gave him a high resistance to death-based attacks, which was very useful, as many of the Nightmare Creatures around the Graveyard used such attacks.
[Bonemerang] may be his weakest memory, but it holds a special place in Seren's heart, as it was his first memory, and Awakened one of the Second tier, no less. It was a boomerang made of bone, and its enchantment [Quick Summon] allowed Seren to summon and dismiss the [Bonemerang] way quicker than his other memories, which was very useful in fights, especially since it was his only ranged weapon. [Death's Grace] curses creatures struck with a random curse, mostly blinding or poisoning them.
Seren's most prized possession of all is his echo, [Graverender]. He had killed the Awakened Monster, which was a wraith in a black cloak with a scythe, by chance, and at a high cost. The four-foot-tall Monster was one of Seren's closest allies.
Echo: [Graverender]
Echo Type: Monster
Echo Core: Awakened
Echo Attributes: [Incorporeal] [Grave Reaper]
Echo Description: [A servant of the one who rules the dead against Shadow's will]
[Incorporeal] allowed Graverender to travel through walls freely, and [Grave Reaper] gave it the ability to infuse deathly energy onto its scythe, which could be thrown. The curse it applies prevents the creature hit from healing in any way, while dealing cumulative damage, bringing them closer to death.
Seren realized that his friends were waiting for a response from him, and he quickly spoke.
"Thank you, guys. I'd love to stay, but it's late, and I need to get to my Sleeper Pod before I fall asleep."
"Imagine being Awakened: couldn't be me."
His friends laughed, but Seren just walked off, preparing himself to flee the moment he appeared in the citadel.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Seren!"
Seren waved goodbye as he walked into the darkness.