Epsilon jolted upright, his breath ragged and shallow. His chest rose and fell in quick, uneven bursts as a cold sweat clung to his skin. The echoes of the nightmare still pulsed behind his eyes—a tangle of shadows, whispers, and fear that felt too real to be a mere dream. His heart hammered against his ribs, each beat a frantic reminder that he is awake.
Blinking rapidly, he glanced around the dimly lit room. The soft glow from the streetlamp outside casted long, distorted shadows against the walls, and for a moment, they seemed to move. He swallowed hard. Just a trick of the light, he thought. But his fingers griped the damp sheets, as his pulse gradually slowing as reality settles back in.
'What was that?'
It felt too real to be a Nightmare, except, it was all like a dream. Was it a vision? But even then, he felt that it had already happened. He could still feel all those terrible emotions in that vision, but most importantly, he could remember what he did to his little sister.
He quickly moved over to the trash can near his desk, as he vomited inside of it.
That was certainly no vision, they were memories. Memories that did not belong to him, and yet, he felt as if they were his own. Although he couldn't tell what it was, he felt like there was an invisible wall blocking him from fully believing that they were his, despite him very clearly remembering that it happened.
But when he thought about it, nothing inside it made sense. He didn't have a sister, he didn't live in the NQSC before today, he didn't even recognise the voices of his supposed parents.
And yet, the memory of it all was there. A hint of realization appeared on his face, as he turned his head towards his flaw.
Flaw: [Curse of Libra]
Flaw Description: [As you pass Judgment, the greatest sins of those you punish will be engraved into your mind as if they were your own.]
'So that's what's going on.'
His flaw did this to him. These memories belonged to someone else, his flaw took them, and modified them to put Epsilon at its centre, making him be the one who performed that terrible deed.
But if that was true, then whose memory was this? Whose place had he taken? According to his Flaw, it must've been someone he had punished recently...
'Bors!!'
Epsilon initially thought that he needed to kill said target for the Flaw to take effect, but it seems that wasn't the case. Any kind of 'Punishment' would work, whether it was telling someone off for making a mistake, or beating them up for being an idiot in this case. Once he fell asleep, the memories of their greatest sin would end up in his mind, and Epsilon would experience them fully as if they were his own.
This was the true nature of his flaw.
'But if that's true, then why didn't it work when I killed those Nightmare creatures? I've killed one or two of those, won't that fill the conditions?'
There were still some holes he had yet to figure out, but his understanding of it began to grow.
But more importantly,
'Bors is a murderer?'
And at such a young age too.
This school was more dangerous than he would've thought.
'Should I report it to the police or something? Who am I kidding, they won't believe me...'
Well he can't just let him walk around freely either.
**
The next day came swiftly, and with that, Epsilon had to make a choice. He only had 2 weeks left before the winter solstice came, so he needed to choose what classes he would take in that remaining time to prepare.
In the end, he settled on the combat class like everyone else, but that was only for his first week. On the second, he would switch to the wilderness survival course.
If he could master the basics of both, then his is survival rate would increase a hundred fold. At least that was what he hoped.
Since their group was very small, they ended up getting shoved into a much bigger group that was already experienced. The educators said that they would learn faster that way so it was all good.
But before that, it was time for breakfast. He missed supper yesterday, so he was starving like hell. He was actually even craving some synthpaste.
The cafeteria was as grand as you would expect, and of course it was crowded with many other students that were desperate for food. Strangely, once the students saw him, they instantly cleared a path letting Epsilon get a hold of his delicious serving.
'???'
He thought that they were just being kind, but they were clearly trying to not make eye contact with him. But he was too distracted by his food to notice.
"Bacon... eggs..."
He could remember the bread and water that he thought was a blessing in those dungeons of darkness, so seeing this simply made him go rabid. He wasn't a complete savage beast though, he would obviously find a place suitable for him to go wild.
There were many tables with their own groups formed around them. You could already tell right away who was popular, who were the losers, and who were the people that no one wanted to associate with.
He saw the boy and girl from yesterday in the popular side. Right away, Epsilon stayed away from them because of embarrassment. On the loser side was Bort. He appeared to be staring daggers at him, but he didn't make any moves other than that.
On the unsociable side though...
'Emma?'
There was one other girl there too, but the two didn't really talk to each other. Emma appeared to be eating peacefully by herself, but she looked quite a bit upset. Once she saw Epsilon though, her face brightened.
Sitting in front of her, he asked,
"You okay?"
"No..."
She raised her hand, and pointed at a large screen that was hanging on the cafeteria wall. There were several students around it, with their faces filled with both excitement and awe, as they gazed upon a list of names that looked to be some sort of ranking?
[#1: Gracia | True Name: Smile Of Heaven]
[#2: Anvil Of Valor]
[#3: Wuxing Galahad]
[#4: Ki Song]
[#5: Sylas]
'A true name...'
Epsilon thought that Nero was the first, but it looks like there was someone that had earnt it even before them in their first Nightmare. And that name too, looked very familiar.
Where had he heard it again?
Either way, there was another name he recognised on that list.
'Of Valor? A direct family member of the Valor clan?'
To think he was going to school with such royalty. The awakened Academy really is prestigious.
As his eyes continued down the list though, Epsilon finally saw what made Emma so troubled.
[#1893: Emma]
[#1894: Cassius]
She was basically dead last aside from that other fellow. Epsilon struggled to hold back his laughter, as Emma then punched him in the shoulder.
"It's not funny!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.."
Finally relaxing, Emma then continued.
"Its all because of that stupid interview... Hang on, how come your name isn't on there?"
"Interview? I think I missed that actually."
The rankings only looked to display the strongest sleepers in order. Since utility Aspects weren't optimal for combat, all of them were guaranteed to be placed in the lower end. If it was about who had the highest chances of surviving the dream realm though... Emma would actually be quite high. Finding safe to drink water was difficult, so being able to produce it readily was a great ability.
Anyhow, Epsilon devoured his meal sloppily. He couldn't help it! It was just so tasty.. He'd go back for seconds, if it wasn't for...
Epsilon could hear heavy footsteps approach him from behind. Slowly turning around, he was met with a tall, athletic boy with spikey dark brown hair, with yellow pupils. He was also wearing the schools uniform like the two of them.
"Uh.. can I help you?"
He smiled,
"Your the white demon right? Fight me!"