[Flaw: Doomed to Knowledge]
[Flaw Description: To shine your light on those astray, you must know where to cast your radiant glow, thus, this knowledge will find its way to you. A Herald of Light has no choice but to submit to this destiny. A failure to serve their grand purpose will result in their light being stripped away.]
'Shine my line on those astray…. Does that mean helping, in some way? What are the conditions? What does it mean to "shine my light" on people in the Spell's eyes, exactly? I failed to properly save that little girl and keep her entirely safe… but I guess I didn't have the flaw yet? Ugh, I don't know, I'll think about the intricacies later.'
Moving on to more important things, Day looked at the second to last sentence of his flaw's description once more.
'Herald of Light? That's one of my attributes, isn't it? They are obviously woven together somehow… Damn it, why am I trying to understand something conjured by the Spell so fast? Read now, contemplate later.'
Day put his hand on his chest and took a deep breath.
Memories: —
Echoes: —
'No weaponry for me, I guess. Maybe I can use my saved up money to buy a sword or something. Another thing to figure out later, I suppose.'
Attributes: [Impenetrable Will], [Dawn of a New Day], [Herald of Light].
Aspect Ability: [The Guiding Light]
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Abilities: [Light Formation.]
Aspect Ability Description: [The light that was hiding deep within your dormant soul can now be summoned into existence and used as a tool.]
'Unbelievable…'
Day couldn't help but be bewildered by just how shocking this entire situation was.
He really was as average as a person could get, but this was far beyond what any awakened had ever dealt with in history, therefore, it was an unbelievably heavy burden. How was he supposed to move forward with such insanity always following him closely behind?
'By being secretive, I guess.'
That was what Day abruptly decided he needed to do. He wouldn't go around telling the world he had a Divine Aspect. That was probably a death wish. He was worried about even sharing that he had a True Name, but he had a feeling that nobody would be particularly inclined to brutalize a sixteen year old boy because he did something worthy of the Spell's note.
So he wasn't going to hide in the shadows completely. Who would ever do such a thing after being granted a power that could cause so much change?
Or well, he didn't know if he could cause change, but he knew who would do such a thing:
'An idiot, that's who.'
Snorting from discontent, he started to read his attribute descriptions.
[Impenetrable Will] Attribute description: "Your will has a particularly high potential to influence the world, and rings ever more true than even the most powerful of wills, thus, it is the closest anything could ever be to impenetrable."
'That one is still the same… Doesn't matter.'
Day had already been granted more than enough, and it was far from over.
[Dawn of a New Day] Attribute description: "Nothing, not even the most dastardly, insidious darkness of the deadliest Nightmare Creatures can devour your shining light completely."
'Thanks for stating the obvious. Light can't be completely swallowed by darkness. Shocking revelation.'
'Unless it could? Anything is possible, I guess. The thought is still sort of stupid.'
Snickering, he adjusted himself and sat on the warm floor.
'Still, I can't help but think that this probably means it's much more potent than other light abilities… That's an interesting premonition. I'd be shocked if it was any other way, though.'
Deep in thought, Day tried to unravel the intricacies of his attribute descriptions to no avail.
'Perhaps there is something I can't grasp just by reading these runes. It is a Divine Aspect, after all. I'll certainly figure it out later. I just hope I don't get thrown over a boat for not understanding completely… No- It'll be fine. If I go to the Academy, I'll certainly have time to work things out.'
Sighing, Day started to feel like there were way too many unknowns for his liking, but he didn't really get to choose what the Spell showed him.
'Onto the next.'
[Herald of Light] Attribute description: "To swallow those who wish upon others ill, light heeds to your call and bends to your will. "
He had finally arrived at the attribute that was mentioned in his Flaw's description.
'Isn't this the same thing as my Aspect Ability? No… This one just says light, my aspect ability says the light that's hidden within my soul. Is there a difference?'
'Another unknown. Alright, for now-'
[Wake up, Harbinger of a New Horizon!]
Suddenly, the light from his soul sea became stronger until it enveloped him completely and rendered him unable to see.
"..."
Day opened his eyes, but when he did, he didn't feel tired in the slightest.
He felt full to the brim with life.
'That was abrupt… Was I on a timer? Doesn't really matter, I was struggling to understand everything fully anyway.'
'That really was quite the experience… '
Day was, among other things, happy. His trials weren't finished just yet, but he had survived, and to him, that was all that mattered currently.
Though, getting a True Name and a Divine Aspect weren't too bad either.
He tried to rise, but was immediately met with a resistance he couldn't break past. He tried again, but then gave up and looked down.
'What the… Oh, that makes sense. I was put in restraints."
Looking around, he locked eyes with a person sitting in a small red chair in the corner of the room.
She was small in stature, but her violet eyes were suffused with a rather scary intensity that made Day feel like she was peering into his soul.
A few moments after she locked eyes with Day, he saw her eyes suddenly soften, and she did the last thing he expected her to do.
She stood up abruptly, smiled brightly, and spoke in a cheery voice:
"Welcome back, Dreamer Day! How was your Nightmare? Did you have fun?"
Day was bewildered. Did she really just ask a Dreamer who had just arrived back from their first Nightmare if they had fun?
Day put on a frown and spoke in a monotonous voice:
"I had the time of my life."
She spoke once more, almost like she couldn't tell by his tone that it wasn't as good as he said.
"Awesome! Always good to see someone not come out depressed! So, there are a few things I have to go over. Umm, to be honest, this is my first time doing this, so pardon me if I'm a little bit bad at explaining. Anyways! You have two options, one, you can go home, or two, you can go to the Academy. Either one works, but I'd recommend the Academy, especially if the place you live doesn't have very extensive training grounds. "
'Is she actually dense…?'
She paused for a moment, then grinned.
"Though, you seem like the rich type, pardon me if I'm wrong."
'The heck is she talking about?'
Day, sort of annoyed at this point, spoke with a tinge of malice hiding underneath his calm demeanor.
"You are wrong."
"Oh. Umm… Sorry about that, I do that with every new person I meet so they will be more fond of me If I'm correct… Ah, why am I explaining this? It doesn't matter. So, what will it be? Home, or the Academy? The Academy is free of charge, of course!"
'I think this is the worst type of person I could have possibly met the moment I woke up from my first Nightmare.'
'At this point, take me- Wait… No. I retract that statement. '
Suddenly, the woman's antics didn't seem half as bad as before, so Day gave her a straightforward answer.
"The Academy."
"Grrreat! Let's get going then, shall we? Oh, ummm… Actually, I need to call for a PTV to come and get us, the average Awakened doesn't have a PTV waiting outside for them wherever they go… Not that I'm average, though! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but my Aspect Ability is of the Ascended rank. Pretty freaking cool, right?"
"Absolutely outstanding."
"Ugh… Dreamer Day, you really are a bundle of joy, aren't you? You are so different from your name. No matter… Everyone warms up eventually once you talk to them enough!"
' Why is she vocalizing all of her thoughts?'
Day sat for the next few minutes in silence as the Awakened girl with violet eyes stepped out of the room. When she was about to leave, he tried to stop her to ask her a question, but she said, "Just hold on a minute!" happily and stepped out without letting him speak.
'Dealing with this woman is a rollercoaster of emotions…'
When she stepped back in, he was bitter.
"Ma'am, can you untie me?"
She practically jumped in shock and then immediately scrambled over.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry! I totally forgot! Um, please don't tell my manager about this."
"Awakened have managers?"
"Haha! I got you! I don't even have a manager!"
"Oh."
She continued:
"I'm an Awakened, silly, and I'm not even half important enough to have someone overseeing my every move. Not that I'm not important, of course! I'm um… I'm important."
"I'm sure you are."
"Right? At least someone can see my greatness. All my Awakened buddies tell me that I'm crazy."
"I'm sure you are- I mean, uh, that's certainly not true. You are a very demure person. "
The violet eyed girl nodded in approval.
"You aren't so bad after all, Dreamer Day. Nobody ever sees how amazing I am, but you are different."
'I don't think I said you're amazing…'
"The PTV is coming in a few minutes. There was a driver pretty close by, so they're on their way. Shall we go? It's quite the nice Day, Day. I think it'll be fun to get some fresh air after your Nightmare."
"Oh yes! By the way, I'm Violet. Haha, funny, right, I have violet eyes and my name is Violet. Don't even mention it! I'm sick of it!"
'Did she not just…'
Turning around, the petite woman named Violet started to practically skip out of the room.
With his renewed vigor, Day lifted himself out of bed and followed.
The streets of NSQC in his area were bustling. There were children holding toys, women and men alike holding shopping bags. It made for a lively scene, something that Day was somehow struggling to fully comprehend after his dire Nightmare.
He got used to it quickly, though.
He was nothing if not adaptable.
Violet was standing a short distance forward waving at him and hopping with a big grin on her face. She opened the door and gestured for him to get in like a butler from the internet, and even closed her eyes.
"You coming, Buddy-o? We gotta get going! If we go fast, you can make it to the induction ceremony a little bit before it starts, then you won't need to wait at all. That'd be great, the Winter Solstice isn't too far from now, you know?"
'That's not very butler-like…'
Though, Day couldn't help but admit that she was right. The Winter Solstice was only a few weeks away. He really couldn't waste any time.
"Yeah, I know. I'm coming."
He walked up to her and gave her a passing glance as he stepped inside. She shut the door behind him. It felt sort of odd, being treated with even a semblance of respect by someone who survived so much more than him already, but he wasn't going to forsake it, even if she was merely joking.
Rather, he was going to embrace it with open arms, because the chances were that from this point forward there wouldn't be many people at all treating him with genuine respect. Unless he gets lucky with some nice companions in the near future.
When people found out about his True Name… Perhaps they would, but not people above him. They wouldn't care, most likely.
Not unless he actually did something worth noting.
As Violet stepped into the PTV as well and sat down, Day leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He wasn't tired, in fact, he was full of life, but he was taking the usual route he took with people when he didn't want to speak.
Acting like he was tired so they would leave him alone until he was ready to talk.
Day thought back to his Nightmare as he closed his eyes.
'Audrey… I hope that in the final moments before the Nightmare ended, she felt at peace.'
He did have a few passing thoughts about Jacob. He was still rather ashamed, but he wouldn't let him gnaw at his mind too much. At the end of the Day… Jacob no longer had to suffer anymore either.
There were still a few things bothering him.
'The Devourer of Hope and Envien. '
The creature had appeared out of nowhere a moment after Envien screeched and let go of the rope, like it was waiting for a signal.
They were so drastically different, with one of them being a humanoid and one of them being… Ugly, so Day was confused. From what he understood about Nightmare creatures, Envien had to have been a mimic, but Day had never heard of a case like that before. Two Nightmare Creatures of different species working together to kill people. He thought they were ravenous, mindless beasts who just chased after their victims, unceasing until they died or their prey was torn apart.
'They were seriously just working together…? They had to have been of different species. The Devourer of Hope wasn't a tyrant, and I don't think tyrants can even birth Awakened Devils, so Envien couldn't have been one either…''
'Why didn't Envien himself just attack us? Why did he wait until the very end and then betray us? Was he just weak, or was there something more… Something that had to do with the Devourer of Hopes power, possibly? '
Day was a little afraid to embrace the thought that just maybe, Envien did it on purpose, that maybe… The mimic wanted to give them the hope of escaping and then take it away at a moment's notice.
A chill ran up Day's spine.
'I felt it, when the Devourer of Hope focused its sights on me. All of… what made me me was being taken away, my mind being shattered under its influence. Such a powerful, insidious ability…'
'When I think about it though, after my first seal was broken… I felt fine. Perhaps the effect the Devourer of Hope had on my mind was fixed along with my bruised and broken body, and that was why I felt so terrible, and then suddenly felt so much better. I guess that's a nice thought, to think I'm just naturally sunny enough to go through such a drastic change in personality and feel fine after everything that happened.'
'My ideas on trust and selflessness… They didn't really mean anything in the end, did they? In the end, even the most honest actions or words still aren't guaranteed to have any meaning.'
That was what the Spell was. A benevolent entity with an equally large capacity to cause suffering. It gave, but also took all the same.
Day spent a few more minutes thinking back to his Nightmare, but there was nothing else that he wanted the answers to that he could even begin to comprehend. He had no information on the canyon, no important information on who the Children of Helios truly were…
'I guess that place is just a replication of a distant past after all, isn't it?'
Day realized it was time to move on from the contents of the Nightmare itself in place of what lies ahead. His Divine Aspect, the implications of his True Name, the meaning of his flaw… That was what he had to explore from now on. He wouldn't forget Audrey or the truths he felt he had learned in his Nightmare, but he wouldn't let Envien, the Devourer of Hope, Jacob… or anything that hurt him plague his mind any longer.
'Good job, Day. You survived… just be happy with yourself.'
Despite the fact that he kept his eyes closed from the moment he stepped in, the social anomaly Violet didn't seem to take a hint. She spoke to him the moment he shuffled even an inch.
"Soo, Day, what do you think of this PTV? Isn't it pretty cool? I like it! Feels real bourgeoisie, you know?"
"Do you even know what that word means?"
"Nope! It just sounds fancy, so I'm using it."
Day placed his hands on his lap and leaned forward slightly, looking the grinning girl in the eyes.
This was going to be a long ride…