After what felt like an eternity of waiting in the darkness, he heard footsteps. Leon continued to pay attention to every little sound as his sight was useless right now.
The doors sounded once more and someone entered. He couldn't make out who they were in the darkness of the cell.
"Are you the chosen one?"
A voice asked. The voice sounded dreamy, it was a girl's voice.
It sounded peaceful, almost as if she had sung a song and not asked him a question.
Leon snapped out of his dreamy thoughts.
'Focus Leo!'
He inhaled deeply and answered.
"Good question, let's see... I'm in chains, been hungry for days. Am I the chosen one?"
There was silence for a while.
"Unlock his restraints. And you, if I confirm you are lying, I will burn you alive."
Leon smiled, even if it wasn't visible in the dark room. His little gamble had worked. Now he just had to deal with the sun kingdom folks who think he's chosen by the sun god.
He could hear the shackles drop, his hands moved up, as though a mountain had been lifted up.
He weakly tried to stand.
"Try anything." the female voice said calmly, "And you won't make it past the next step."
The girl moved outside, and Leon slowly limped behind her.
'Save it. The golden giant hasn't arrived yet.'
Soon, he was walking in the same narrow corridor. He looked around, and this time, he could see many other cells.
As he was walked past them, he noticed that some had prisoners in them who were weak and skinny, almost as if they would die soon. While the majority of them were empty — the empty ones were even more horrifying, dried blood stains covered them, and the stench of blood assaulted his nose.
He looked at the person leading him. She was a girl almost Leon's height, but had an air of authority around her. She had black hair and wore a simple white dress embedded with fancy patterns. She walked forward with two other guards behind her holding spears.
He couldn't see her face due to him facing her back, but when she turned to look at the cells, he saw that she had a small frown on her face and quickly turned away as if avoiding the sight of the cells.
It didn't feel like she was afraid or ashamed — just disappointed.
Leon did not waste much time studying the prison, he tried to summon his runes. This time, it worked.
Shimmering runes appeared in the air in front of him. He stared at the words and although he did not know this ancient language, the meaning behind it was somehow clear.
Name : Leonar
True Name: -
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: -
Echoes: -
Attributes: [Fated] , [Oath....
He did not bother reading further, as his gaze focused on one line:
Aspect Name: [Keen Insight]
Aspect Description: [You possess an abnormally sharp perception of living and non-living beings. By observing them, you can instinctively read their movements, intentions, emotional states, and behavioral patterns.]
Leon's expression grew dark.
He had not expected a broken aspect, or even an overpowered one, but he at least wanted something useful.
'Observe? Read them? Great...I'll observe how I die.'
Although he thought this aspect wasn't worse than Sunny's aspect, he still felt it was still useless for combat.
'How do I get out? How am I supposed to fight?'
Leon's mind raced, he closed his eyes. He felt lost, he had some hope for his aspect, after going through the effort of unlocking them, but they felt small and pathetic.
His thoughts didn't have much time to grow as he was led into a room. Two luxurious chairs stood at its center, a table between them filled with food and water.
The room smelled of incense instead of blood, a lie built to pretend the dungeon below didn't exist.
The girl sat down and gestured for Leon to sit down. He took a seat opposite to her.
The girl looked at the guards that escorted them.
"Leave us." she said in a calm voice.
The guards lifted their heads as one of them spoke.
"But...My Lady--"
The girl simply lifted her gaze from Leon and stared at the guard. The guard's posture shifted, as he bowed down and left.
She looked back at Leon only to find him shamelessly stuffing himself with all the food he could. She widened her eyes slightly for a quick second but soon calmed down and sighed.
Leon looked up,
"What?"
The girl closed her eyes.
"Nothing, please continue."
Leon continued eating at a reasonable speed, he needed time to think on what to do next. The girl seemed to be an important figure to the kingdom, so he had to play his cards right.
At that moment however, Leon suddenly stopped eating.
'Wait....What if its poisoned?'
The girl opened her eyes and saw Leon's hesitation as she leaned forward to grab one of the pieces of bread on the plate and put it in her mouth and began chewing.
"Worry not, none of the food here is poisoned."
Leon narrowed his eyes as he stayed silent for a moment. This was a huge slip up. If the food had actually been poisoned then he would be dead by now.
He still didn't think her actions could justify if the food was safe. After all, the bodies of awakened were different than that of sleepers, so they should have a tolerance to poison.
He looked down at the food again and sighed.
'Well, if it is poisoned...I have already eaten too much. Oh well...'
He began eating again and the girl closed her eyes again.
After he was done, he grabbed a cup of water wiping his face.
"I can sense you have many questions. Do ask."
The girl opened her eyes, her green eyes were steady, framed by black hair and the silver tiara resting on her brow.
She picked up a glass of water. Her fingers tightened around the cup, knuckles paling, before she spoke.
"Greetings....Chosen. I am the princess Aurelia of the kingdom of the sun god."
Leon narrowed his eyes.
'Princess huh...Alright stay neutral, don't provoke her'
"You must already know my name considering you locked me up no?"
He said raising his voice. Leon's eyes twitched as he let the words slip.
Aurelia looked at him and lowered her head slightly.
"My apologies for the stupidity of the kingdom guards. They seem to have mixed you up with another prisoner."
She paused.
"No, mixed up wouldn't be right. You seemed to have completely replaced the person we had initially caught. Though not big, but there are similarities between the two of you."
Leon's breath stopped for an instant.
'Replaced?'
"Worry not. The original person has been found dead."
Leon felt his mouth grow dry. He thought that this could have been a set up by the royalty, but the person was found dead? This all made no sense.
Aurelia then took out a spherical piece of white marble, that was engraved in runes all around the thing.
"A miniature version of the Verity Runes. It works the same, it recognizes the flow of the world, and confirms if your words resonate with them or not."
As she said that the runes on the marble glowed yellow.
A warmth hit Leon that made his entire body relax. The warmth came from the sphere on the table, it made him feel safe. Leon's body straightened slightly as he continued observing the sphere.
"Are you an outsider?"
Leon looked up at the princess who asked him the question, but his eyes soon widened noticing the dark expression on the princess.
His body jerked up as he thought he was dead, but she just remained still with her gaze fixed onto him. He forced himself to calm down as a sharp pain hit his chest
"Yes."
Of course he was an outsider. This whole kingdom was a manifestation of the spell.
The sphere dimmed and shone a bright yellow, engulfing the entire room in its radiance.
As the pain in his chest disappeared slowly, and the light had dimmed, he looked up at Aurelia and what he saw...was simply not what he was expecting.
Aurelia's entire expression had changed from the murderous stare she gave him. Right now, her eyes were widened and her lips were parted. She continued to stare at the sphere as if it was a defective product.
"How..." she muttered
"How did you enter? No. How did you even find the kingdom?"
Leon was confused at the question but the sphere forced him to answer.
"I don't know. I had fallen asleep and the next thing I know, I was inside the cell."
Aurelia's eyes narrowed as she didn't move her gaze away from Leon. Silently sizing him up.
"Are you really the chosen of the sun god?"
Leon tensed up, this was the question he wanted to avoid the most. If they people found out he wasn't the chosen of the sun god, things could get ugly.
The sphere forced him to answer.
"No."
The words hung in the air, as Leon looked at Aurelia with a tense expression, he silently looked around the room trying to find any exit routes.
Aurelia noticed his behavior and sighed.
"Don't worry chos-- um... may I know you name?"
"You can call me Leon."
Leon's tone was calm, but he was anything but calm. He was silently panicking.
She nodded and continued.
"Don't worry Leon. I will not imprison you again just because you deceived the royal jury."
Leon slowly nodded as every muscle in his body had tightened up, ready to run at a moment's notice. But the sphere had grown into a bright yellow again, which made him loosen up a little.
"It seems even you do not know what is happening. But I must say, you are impressive."
She raised her head again and this time stared at his chest.
"It also looks like you are an Awakened...."
Pausing, she studied Leon intently.
"No...this is.."
Aurelia's face shifted in confusion.
"Aurelia....I would appreciate it if you could stop interrogating me now that you know I'm not a criminal." Leon said in a hurried tone.
Aurelia looked up at his face as her eyes widened slightly.
"Right. My apologies Leon."
Leon almost noticed a small smile on her face.
"I think I owe you an explanation on where you are, but please go rest for now. We can continue this conversation later. Right now, you might be a very important asset to this kingdom."
Leon was then led out the room by one of the guards who escorted him here.
He thought it felt weird. The guard that held him in chains earlier, now led him into a guest room.
'How quick things change.'
But that is why he was so nervous right now. Leon's head started paining the moment he had entered the room, and it just grew the more he tried thinking and analyzing Aurelia.
Leon was subconsciously using his aspect the whole time. Every single word he said that got him here, was because his mind and intelligence were elevated by Keen Insight.
'So my aspect wasn't completely useless.'
Which is also why he had a gnawing doubt creep at him.
'This all feels too easy...'
He was imprisoned just a few hours ago, he was set to be executed perhaps just a couple more hours ago. And yet now, the guards were leading him to a room with a comfy bed?
'This could be a trap...'
Before his thoughts could wander further, the guard opened a door.
He then entered a room which looked pretty plain. It was made out of black stone bricks and had a singular bed in the middle with a small circular table beside it.
There was a single window beside the bed, and another door inside, which led to a tiny bathroom.
Leon sighed and got on the bed and wanted to check on his attributes but he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the hard mat. The overusing of his aspect had tired his mind faster than he could notice.
***
He woke up the next morning groggily.
'Time to go to work....Maybe get some chocolate on the way?'
He opened his eyes and noticed the singular door in front of him, and around it the eerie stone bricks.
'Right...'
He wasn't in home anymore, if he ever called it one. He didn't have to go to work. Now he just had to clear a death trial by the system created by a demon.
'No, I think you say it as daemon'
"Morning..."
A voice called out beside him which startled Leon.
He immediately turned to find Aurelia beside him sitting on a chair, which wasn't there in the room before.
"Aurelia...What are you doing here?"
Leon asked while his body tensed up.
She looked at him for a while before smiling.
"Apologies Leon. It's just that outsiders like you...are never seen in this kingdom."
She got up and moved towards the window, gesturing to open it.
"In fact, you are only the second outsider to this kingdom."
'Second outsider? Is this kingdom isolated?'
The window opened as fresh air rushed in to envelop the entire room. Leon looked past Aurelia to find the sight of the kingdom. It looked just like in his vision.
"Aurelia."
She looked at Leon who called out her name and smiled brightly.
"I would like to see the kingdom. If you don't mind of course"
Aurelia's smile grew brighter and she closed her eyes and nodded.
"Of course. It would be my honor to show you around."
Leon's eyes twitched.
'Well...Shit'
If he was shown around the kingdom by some random guard, his chances of escaping were high. But if the princess of the kingdom was involved, it meant that she would be surrounded by guards everywhere.
But her smile was the most unnerving part. Why was she smiling at someone was a prisoner just hours ago?
Most importantly, he needed to find a way out of this kingdom as soon as possible before the titan arrived. He also needed to clear the nightmare.
The objectives of nightmares were always vague and unclear. If the objective of his nightmare was to kill the titan then...
'There is no way I can kill that thing...Maybe escaping it will do the thing.'
"Thank you"
He said while nodding his head.
"I'll let you get some breakfast. I'll need to make some preparations before you see the kingdom though, so please don't mind."
He nodded. Even though the titan threat was looming above his head, he clearly saw the titan break the wall when the sun was setting, or perhaps rising, so he was safe for now.
Leon then had a shower inside of the small chamber built into the room. Surprisingly, the water was hot, which refreshed his body.
This was also the perfect time to check his runes which he did not have the opportunity to for a while now.
Name: Leonar
True Name: --
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: --
Echoes: --
Attributes : [Fated], [Oathbound], [Veil of Forgotten Truths], [Omen of Insight]
Leon froze as the steam from his body went up. He stared at the one singular attribute which was perhaps..no it was definitely the reason his nightmare was this hellish.
'Fated...'
Fated was perhaps the worst, and at the same time the best attribute to have. He knew that if he was fated, it means that everything that was unlikely to happen, would happen with him.
'I need to get out of this hellhole quick...'
He focused on the rest of his attributes.
Attribute: [Omen of Insight]
Description : [Your mind is innately drawn toward truth, patterns, and forgotten knowledge.
The more you explore, uncover secrets, or gain genuine understanding, the clearer and sharper your mind becomes, and the more difficult it is for mind attacks to work on you.]
He raised an eyebrow reading it, and just stared at his runes for a while.
'So...I am morbidly curious?'
He shook off his daze as he continued to the next one.
Attribute: [Oathbound]
Description: [Your power is bound to the vows you swear, and the vows sworn in your presence.
While an oath remains unbroken, your physical abilities, essence control, and Aspect potency are enhanced.
The magnitude of this enhancement scales with the difficulty, danger, and personal cost of the oath, regardless of who swears it. Breaking them will also lead to similar consequences.]
Leon widened his eyes. This attribute was perhaps the only possibly way to damage someone. He just needed them to swear an oath and make them break it.
'But is the backlash really that severe?'
He then read the last attribute.
Attribute : [Veil of Forgotten Truths]
Attribute Description: [Your memories of future events, hidden truths, and destined outcomes are constantly being sealed by Fate. Knowledge that would distort the natural flow of causality is gradually erased from your conscious mind.
However, nothing is truly lost.]
Leon froze as he read it, he read the runes again and again. His head snapped up as he tried to recall every bit of knowledge on the novel.
'I...I can't remember?'
***