Elizabeth returned to the void, only this time it was not as dark as before. A myriad of stars burned in the gloom, and between them, innumerable threads of silver light were drawn into an intricate, unfathomably complex web. It was beautiful in a way that felt almost sacred, like the universe had been taken apart and re‑stitched in front of her eyes.
'This…This is the inner working of the spell.'
She had seen interviews where Awakened tried to describe it, and had also had looked at paintings by Awakened artists who dedicated their lives to capturing this exact sight. She had even glimpsed something similar once, when she used the Dreamscape. They all came close, some closer than others, but none of them had ever matched the raw, living majesty of seeing it with her own eyes. In here, the light felt alive. She allowed herself a small moment just to stand there and take it in.
"Congrats, sis. You made it."
Elizabeth tore her gaze away from the luminous net and looked to the side. Her brother's illusion was there, as always… only, for some reason, he seemed a little more solid than before. He looked Less like an imaginary ghost, and more like a person with flesh and bones.
"One hell of a nightmare you went through, huh?" he said, grinning. "Oh, if you don't get at least an 'Outstanding' appraisal out of this urggg...I swear, I'm tearing this spell down myself!"
He punctuated the threat by throwing a playful punch toward the floating net of light. Elizabeth stared at him for a few seconds, then smiled softly.
"I missed having a friendly voice in my head."
Her brother blinked, then his expression twisted into anger.
"I bet you did!" he snapped. "That bastard… what it did to you was unforgivable! If I had been there, I would have taken it apart piece by piece for daring to lay a hand on my little sister, god or not!"
She let out a quiet chuckle. Knowing him, she had no trouble believing every word. He truly would have fought one for her.
A moment later, she suddenly felt something settle on her shoulders. Instinctively, she flinched and turned, eyes snapping down to the hand resting there.
"Wha—"
Before she could finish the word, his voice cut through her confusion.
"I am proud of you… truly."
Elizabeth looked up. His familiar bright smile was painted across his face, the same one he had always reserved just for her. His green eyes glowed, deeper and more vivid than ever before, like twin gemstones catching distant starlight. For a moment, the breathtaking web of stars and silver threads faded from her awareness, eclipsed entirely by that smile.
Then, before she could understand how she had felt his touch, before she could make sense of why he had seemed so real...
He vanished.
'What… was that? Did he just touch me? Why did it feel so real?'
[You have received a Memory: Drop of Ichor]
The warm, resonant voice of the spell rolled through the void, scattering her thoughts and pulling her back to the present. Her nightmare was not over yet, she was still here for a reason.
[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]
[A child of the sea, aboard a ship meant to seal a forbidden offspring of two deities, was tricked and broken to commit a sin. Realizing it, the child of the sea sought revenge, and through it, taught a god how to hate.]
[You have slain a supreme beast: Guardian of Disaster.]
[You have slain a sacred beast: Disaster Born.]
[You have achieved what was deemed impossible.]
[Final appraisal: Glorious. Your might is unending.]
Elizabeth let out a long breath.
"Glorious?"
She had never even heard of such an appraisal, but then again, nothing about her nightmare had been normal. Most people faced Nightmare Creatures, monsters twisted by corruption and forced to walk the paths opposite to Ascension. Yet she had faced beings walking toward the true path of Ascension itself. She had survived a demigod… and killed it. Of course her nightmare was different, nothing was 'normal'.
'Then again… it might be too much to expect the spell to be normal or everything to always be the same.' To humanity, it was still a calamity, and calamities were not known to be predictable.
[Dreamer Elizabeth, receive your boon!]
Something within her shifted, it was subtle but unmistakable. It felt as if a shackle had been released.
She was an Aspirant no longer.
[You have been bestowed a True Name: Siren of the Last Haven]
Her eyes went wide, almost comically so. She, Elizabeth Hale, had received a True Name.
'Ha! Even Tessie doesn't have one yet!'
She truly hadn't expected to be granted a True Name from her very first nightmare. But as she replayed everything that had happened, everything she had endured and accomplished, indignation rose to match her shock.
No, she deserved it. After all of that, there was no way she wasn't getting a reward like this after all of it. Although a True Name wouldn't make her stronger compared to a normal Aspirant, everyone knew what it meant to have one. It showed promise of talent, and potential. To receive one was to be counted among those with a future worth anticipating.
[Your aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve aspect?]
'Is the sky blue? What kind of question is that?' she thought, rolling her eyes.
"Yes."
[Supreme Aspect Ocean Maiden is evolving…]
'Wait. It was already Supreme? Then if it's evolving, that means—'
[New aspect acquired.]
[Aspect Rank: Divine]
This time, the words didn't simply register in her mind, they slammed into her core. For a moment, her entire being shuddered, as if those few runes had shaken her from the inside out.
'Divine!?'
She blinked rapidly, expecting the letters to change, to dissolve into something more reasonable. They did not.
'…I'm starting to like difficult nightmares… a little.'
If the spell was giving her a reward like this, she would endure a lot worse if it meant better rewards. She had earned so much from this nightmare, two sacred memories and a supreme one from a single nightmare… and now this. She almost laughed.
'There is no other Sleeper as loaded as I am.'
Her gaze slid to the aspect name.
Aspect Name: [Avatar of Skies]
Already buzzing with excitement, she called her runes and focused on the new description.
Aspect Name: [Avatar of Skies]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Description: [You are a being built for one purpose, to become the physical body of a god. Designed to be the perfect vessel. But when the god who was meant to inhabit you died, you remained an empty husk. To regain purpose, you began to devour the heavens, hoping to fill the emptiness with the endless skies and seas.]
Innate Ability: [Unending Source]
Ability Description: [For as long as you are under the skies or next to the seas, your power shall be as unending as they are.]
'That's… that's amazing!'
It was cryptic as always, but this time, she understood quickly what it meant. She had been crafted to bear the full might of a god, of the Storm Goddess, no less. Although that point of her aspect was interesting, but that's not what made her heart race. What mattered to her was the innate ability that came along with the aspect. as long as she remained beneath the sky or near the sea, her power would not run dry.
Was there even a place in the world without one of those?
Even deserts had a sky.
Which meant she was walking around with a permanent buff. A constant, supporting hand on her shoulder, shoving her forward. In a fight, that kind of advantage was absurd. This was a Divine Aspect, through and through. Just its innate ability alone turned her into a weapon built for endless battles. She knew there were many Aspects in the world, but she couldn't recall ever hearing of an innate ability this outrageously strong. She might very well be the first person in history to obtain a Divine Aspect.
She felt giddy at the thought.
[The first seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers…]
Something inside her stirred, as if a limb she hadn't used in years suddenly twitched. Power welled up from within, but it was not the physical kind of strength of flesh and bone. It was something deeper, it felt as if her soul was being shaken awake, and infused with strange new energy.
Her thoughts sharpened, the wild excitement from before settling into a calm, clear focus.
Then the change reached her body.
Heat seeped into her muscles, bones, organs, and veins. Her entire being reshaped itself, slowly at first, then faster, reinforcing every part of her as if reality itself were rewriting what a "body" meant. She had never felt anything like it. It felt alien and intimate at the same time although slightly painful. It was a sensation she knew she wouldn't forget anytime soon.
It was almost addicting.
However, the warmth and heat continued to climb, hotter and hotter, until the pleasant burn crossed a threshold and turned into raw pain of being melted alive.
"Urghh!"
She clenched her jaw, a groan forcing its way out as the agony intensified. Her vision blurred, then split, the void around her tilting and shimmering.
'Wha—what is going on?'
Was this normal? People always said the best part of a nightmare was the rush they would feel when getting stronger. No one had mentioned feeling like they were being taken apart, melted, and rebuilt. So why was she in so much pain?
Her surroundings twisted, then washed over with blue. For a moment, the pain fell away as her gaze locked onto a colossal blue sun hanging above her.
Still slightly dazed from the pain it took her another moment to understand where she was.
Her soul. She was in her soul sea.
Mist the color of deep water drifted around her, thick and slow. The sky stretched in a clear, endless blue, without a single cloud in sight, only that blazing blue sun pouring its light down onto her soul-space. It didn't look much like the stories she had heard, but she didn't have time to dwell on the differences.
Something else was happening.
Next to the sun, droplets of water were coalescing, drawn together by some invisible force. With every droplet that merged into the growing sphere, the pain tearing through her body surged.
'Just what is going on!'
The small, dense sphere finally stopped drinking in more water. It began to glow, brighter and brighter, until she had to squeeze her eyes shut. In the same instant, the pain evaporated, leaving behind only an echo of it that speared through her being.
When she opened her eyes again, a second blue sun hung in the sky above her.
'What just happened?'