Elizabeth was on her fourth plate, devouring the food with the single minded focus of someone who hadn't eaten in days. She'd noticed, over the days, that her appetite only seemed to grow with her age, she felt like she could eat a buffet alone. an unfortunate habit, but one she wasn't about to complain about while enjoying five‑star cuisine.
She sat alone at her table, watching the other Sleepers cluster together in small, excited groups. Their laughter and chatter filled the cafeteria, bright and unburdened. Most were comparing interview experiences or bragging about the classes they'd chosen. Combat class dominated every conversation. Sorcery, however, was conspicuously absent in there conversation.
A small smile tugged at her lips. 'They're so young and naive,' she thought, pausing with her fork halfway to her mouth. Then she chuckled softly. 'We're the same age…'
Not that there was anything wrong with choosing combat, she had chosen it too. But the way they dismissed everything else, as if swinging a sword was the only skill that mattered, reminded her painfully of who she had been before her first Nightmare.
Back then, she'd believed strength was simple. Straightforward. Something you could hold in your hands. But the Nightmare had stripped that illusion away. She had seen what sorcery could do, what it could create, how it bent reality, and how it devoured the unprepared, and could bind a demigod. She had learned, brutally and irrevocably, that ignorance wasn't harmless. It was a blade pressed to your throat, and not knowing the right thing at the right moment could kill you.
She finished her fourth plate and eyed the buffet again. A fifth plate called to her with buttery, fragrant temptation. When would she ever eat food like this again and for free at that? But after a moment of internal struggle, she pushed her tray away and stood.
Indulgence could wait. The interviews couldn't.
The hallway outside the cafeteria led her to a long line of Sleepers waiting outside a single office door. Elizabeth blinked.
'Do they only have one interviewer?'
Either the interviewer possessed a highly specialized skill set meant for these evaluations, or the Academy was criminally understaffed. Elizabeth dismissed the second possibility almost immediately. A place like the Awakened Academy didn't lack personnel or funding. If anything, they hoarded both.
Which meant whoever sat behind that door wasn't just an administrator, they were someone the Academy trusted to sift through the next generation of Awakened.
Judging by the sluggish crawl of the line, she estimated at least thirty minutes before her turn.
'I should've eaten another plate,' she thought with a quiet sigh.
With nothing else to do, she watched the Sleepers shuffle forward one by one, disappearing into the office and emerging minutes later with expressions ranging from relief to confusion. Boredom crept in, and instinctively, she summoned her runes.
She had already reviewed her Memories and enchantments during the voyage, especially the ones she'd earned in her First Nightmare but she still found herself drawn to them whenever her mind wandered. They were comforting in a strange way. Familiar. A reminder of what she had survived.
She focused on one Memory in particular, and its runes shimmered into existence.
Memory: [The Pinky of Rethen]
Memory Description: ["Your very existence is a mistake," said the goddess of black skies. "You are nothing but an insult to what we had." Rethen looked upon his world, his reason to live, the very essence of his being. "Oh, Mother," he whispered. "Why do you not love me?"]
Memory Enchantments: [Liberator], [Conduit]
Elizabeth focused on the enchantment, and new runes formed before her eyes.
Enchantment: [Liberator]
Enchantment Description: "Anything stabbed by this blade shall be cursed and die. True freedom is death."
Enchantment: [Conduit]
Enchantment Description: "Carries a fragment of Rethen's will."
She finally understood why Rethen had been especially wary of the sword he created. It had been meant as the key that would free him from sorcery, yet she had used it to destroy both his harp and him in the end. It was unfortunate that the Memory was a one-time use, but it could still save her life someday. If she ever encountered a Nightmare Creature she could not kill, she would use the blade to curse it to death.
She dismissed the runes and summoned another Memory.
Memory: [The King's Glory]
Memory Rank: Supreme
Memory Tier: I
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [For his might shone brighter than most, for his courage was inspiring, for his fame was sung across the world, for his people he was a saint, for his enemies he was worse than a devil. Behold the king of the giants, the Guardian of Disaster.]
A familiar ache tugged at her chest as she studied the runes. She pushed it aside and focused on the enchantments.
Memory Enchantments: [True Heart]
Enchantment Description : "Anything you shoot with this bow shall hit the target your heart wants to hit."
She knew this one well. She'd used it before. Despite her nonexistent archery skills, the enchantment guided her aim flawlessly. As long as her heart desired the target, the arrow obeyed.
Could she even miss? Sometimes it felt as though the enchantment crowned her the greatest archer alive.
She chuckled softly, remembering how drained she had felt the last time she used it, nearly to the point of fainting, it wasn't something she could use everytime.
Her attention then shifted to the enchantment she had never tried.
Memory enchantment: [Titan]
Enchantment Description: "You can increase the size of a projectile shot with the bow indefinitely."
When she first read it, she had widened her eyes in disbelief. The enchantment was absurdly powerful. If the size could truly be increased without limit, she could theoretically fire arrows as large as houses, or even the size of a skyscrapers.
'But that would consume an insane amount of energy,' she thought.
She had already experienced the toll of using [True Heart.] The cost of using [Titan] would be unimaginable. Especially now, as a Sleeper, she possessed very little soul essence. She could not even circulate it on her own.
She snapped out of her thoughts when she realized the line had moved. A few moments later, it was her turn.
Inside the office, man sat behind the desk, and one glance told her he was Awakened. His presence had weight, it was subtle, but unmistakable.
'So they really did bring someone specialized. Someone with a Memory or aspect ability for Lie detection, maybe?'
Like she had guessed, the academy was not lacking in personnel. They simply needed someone who could verify truth from fiction with absolute certainty.
The man looked up, studied her briefly, then smiled.
"Welcome, Sleeper…" he said slowly, his voice dragging expecting her to finish his sentence.
"Elizabeth."
He checked his communicator. "Sponsored by the House of Night, correct?"
She nodded.
"Good. This won't take long. I already have your file, but let's confirm a few things." He tapped his screen. "It says here you possess a True Name. Would you mind telling me what it is?"
"It's Siren of the Last Haven" she said simply.
The man paused, then smiled broadly. "My, my. Two Sleepers with True Names in a single generation....The future is looking bright."
Elizabeth frowned at that.
'There is another one with a true name?...could it be that short sleeper?'
While she was in deep thoughts, the man wrote something down before looking at her again.
"Would you mind telling me what category your Aspect Ability falls under, combat, sorcery, or utility?"
Elizabeth pondered for a moment. "I believe it falls under combat."
His fingers danced across the communicator with shocking speed. "Would you mind explaining what your Aspect does?"
Elizabeth went quiet, weighing her options. How much should she reveal? How much could she? she could not give them nothing as there was rewards such as shards that would be given to her depending on how much she shared about herself.
Half a minute slipped by in silence. The man didn't rush her; he didn't even shift in his seat. He simply waited, patient and unblinking, which somehow made the decision feel even heavier. In the end, she chose to reveal her Aspect, though only in broad terms, carefully leaving out most of the details.
Finally, she exhaled. "I can control water," she said.
"Would you mind elaborating?"
"Yes, i would mind."
He nodded and continued writing. If the rejection bothered him, he didn't show it. "Is your Flaw.....related to your appearance, specifically looking older than normal?"
She frowned slightly, then nodded.
"Would you mind explaining it?"
She thought for a moment before smiling. "It is easier to explain with a riddle. What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening? That is essentially what my Flaw does."
The man blinked, then nodded and wrote something down. He asked no further questions.
"Thank you for your time, Sleeper Elizabeth. That will be all."
She stood and left the office.
A short while later, she arrived at her dormitory. Opening the door, she looked at the spacious room before her. The room was spacious, clean, and surprisingly comfortable.
"Not bad at all," she murmured.
Then she noticed the three Academy uniforms neatly arranged on her bed and sighed.
'Why did they even ask about my Flaw if they already had an idea of it?'
Unfortunately, they hadn't accounted for the randomness of her transformations. Most of the uniforms would be useless.
Except, perhaps, the middle one.