Jasper wasn't entirely sure how he got himself into this situation, just a few minutes ago he was on the verge of being eaten by a terrible monster, and not to long before that he had awoken from a terrible nightmare, and now he was sitting die by side with a strange man who seemed to just appear from thin air wearing a standard issue military uniform and some type of long distance rifle slung over his shoulder. The man was nice enough so far, he had introduced himself and even offered some food which Jaasper accepted with little hesitation. The world may have gone mad but he would be damned to turn away food when it was offered.
Wolfing down a piece of synthetic meat the could see Damian's amber eyes staring off towards the doors, as if waiting for something to happen, swallowing the rations he tucked his knees to his chest before speaking,
"I'm sorry if this is rude, sir Damian sir, but how did you do that? Appearing from thin air I mean." His voice was meek and quiet with only a wisp of curiosity
The man seemed human enough but who knew what kind of monsters now walked their streets, for all he knew this man could be the cause for all of the strangeness in the world as of late.
"I doubt you would believe me even if I told you." The man's voice was deep and more than a little coarse yet he couldn't help but hear the pleasant undertones of care seeping through.
"Even so, I would like to hear it, it's not every day you meet someone so strange…" after a moment Jasper went pale before hurriedly adding on,
"Only if you want to of course sir, I would never demand anything of the good man who saved me." Sweat ran down his nervous face as he continued to stare at the man,
Damian smiled before he spoke, apparently finding something amusing about how he was reacting,
"Well where do I even begin, at first I was one of the infected, after a few days I fell asleep and woke up in an endless white desert in the middle of a never ending war. I spent days fighting on the battlefield with only a spear and shield to help me through, as well as some armour of course. Then I accidentally got my arm torn off by the enemy commander so I laid a trap for the enemies and ambushed them, before rushing over to finally claim vengeance on the enemy who stole my arm from me."
Pausing for a moment to judge Jasper's expression morph with a mix of shock and suspicion with each moment he chuckled softly before continuing.
"When I eventually got close enough to challenge her to a fight I ended up becoming a living pin cushion, but in the end I managed to accidently trick her into slitting her own throat, I found myself in an endless void filled with silver stars and constellations for a time, got given my ability which is what you saw me use and when I woke up again I was back in reality but with all my powers I had gained as well. Now I'm traveling to an evacuation shelter and heard you screaming from outside the theatre so I came inside and helped you out by killing that Demon which was about to eat you."
Damian could see the man's expression, it was priceless! The young man's face was locked with his jaw hanging wide open, the expression of shock plastered all over his face, his eyes were wide and he could swear to see a faint trail of mucus starting to drip from his nose… had he gone too far?
The man continued to stare at him for some time before eventually speaking again, his voice was weak as if he was straining to speak,
"Y-y-you awo-oke from a stra-ange nightm-mare too s-sir? I thou-ght it wa-as just a-a bad d-dream."
Now it was Damian's turn to look shocked, his keen eye scanning over the young with a look of confusion and pity, how had a man like this managed to survive such a terrible experience alive, from what he know of the young man, Jasper was a coward through and through, surely someone like that wouldn't be able to survive the trial? Pausing for a moment and shaking his head, he looked at the man and spoke,
"If you came back from a nightmare yourself, why didn't you try to defend yourself by using your Aspect ability or any memories? Or are they not suited for combat?"
Jasper looked stunned and as he spoke,
"Wait, what do you mean by an Aspect Ability? And how could memory help me? Is thinking of the past somehow going to stop me from being swallowed?
Looking at the man it was now Damian's turn to be stunned, how had he managed to survive without using any memories? He had to use the Broken chain, without it he surely would have died a few times over,... what else did this kid not know about his new self? Looking back at the door, amazed that nothing had tried to break through yet he looked at Jasper as he spoke.
"Okay listen, since coming back to reality have you had a chance to look at your… Runes yet, you know the floating symbols which tell you stuff?" Damian didn't really know what to call the floating symbols but he felt like that name worked well for now.
Jasper raised an eyebrow as he spoke,
"Runes? Sir did you hit your head when you woke up or something or better yet are there any medications you should be taking, I may not look like much but I am…was a psychology student so I know a thing or two about those who see things that aren't there?"
Damian let out a soft snort, the kid had a sense of humour he'd give him that, but now he needed to find out what the kid could do.
"Just listen to me, you should have been able to access them during your nightmare but I guess not everyone figured out how to do it on their own. What you need to do is focus on yourself, or more accurately your personal sense of self, feel yourself and wish to examine it and they should appear. When they do read them out so we can both understand what you're capable of alright?"
Jasper looked away and flushed his face, he wasn't entirely comfortable with "Feeling Himself" in front of this man but if its what it took to gain magical powers then he gladly would, laughing softly at his own joke, making Damian raise a brow he focused inward, trying to feel the inner most parts of himself and force them outward and suddenly before his very eyes a collage of symbols he did not recognise but could somehow understand appeared in front of his eyes.
"What the fuck?! How is this even… what the.." His confusion never fading he began to read of what he saw,
"Okay from the top it goes…
***
Name: Jasper
True Name: -
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Saturation: 0/1000
Memories: [Blacked Sky],
Echoes: -
Attributes:[Fool] [Kinetic] [Storm Child]
Aspect: [Storm Herald]
Aspect Rank: Awakened
Aspect Abilities: [Lightning Shroud]
Flaw: [Momentum]
***
Once he had finished reading off his runes Damian stared at him with intensity, but he paid it little mind, he was still rattled by the idea that he had apparently gained supernatural abilities without ever realising it! The voice he had heard before had whispered something to him a few times but he was too out of it to really understand what it had been saying. That being said he was more than a little annoyed, why of all things did it have to insult him by calling him a fool?
Staring at him Damian nodded and spoke again, "You see the parts that are in square brackets im guessing? Try focusing more deeply on them, Start with your Attributes and work your way down that should tell us more about what you can really do. Once we do that, you can summon that memory of yours."
Not paying much attention to that final sentence he did as he was told, it was strange to focus on them, it felt wrong, like this type of formatting shouldn't exist in such a fantastical ability,
Attribute Description:
[Fool]
[Whether by luck or ignorance you stumble through fate unscathed. The world laughs at you but fortune is never far behind]
[Kinetic]
[The faster you move the more powerful you become]
[Storm Child]
[Storms see you as one of their own]
Moving on from his attributes he continued to read,
Aspect Description:
[A lesser fragment of the first storm, you move from place to place carving a path of destruction in your wake in hopes of reconnecting with what made you so great to begin with]
Aspect Ability Description:
[Lightning Shroud]:
[You coat yourself in a shroud of lightning ]
And finally he reached his flaw, he read it quickly first before swallowing and feeling fear take over as he read it outloud, hoping that what it said was not true,
Flaw: [Momentum]
Flaw Description:
[Your power can only be used whilst in motion]