5 Aspects

Sleep was avoiding Cassie. For a while, she lay silently, lost in thoughts. In this rare moment of respite, memories of the past few days flooded her mind, but exhaustion was her ally, keeping serious thoughts at bay. She was warm, full, and relatively safe. For now, that was more than enough. 

Although she couldn't see, her aspect and other attributes tried to compensate. 

[ Attributes - 

Sharp Mind: You possess a strong mind needed to bear the strain of the secret knowledge. 

Gifted in Arcane: You are naturally attuned towards the arcane and with effort it will reveal its secrets to you.

Blessed One: Those who receive the blessing of the Storm God will not that their spirits be shaken by the harms of flesh and bone.

Aspect: Night Oracle

Aspect rank: Sacred

The Oracle, blessed—or burdened—with the gift of foresight, peers into the tapestry of fate. 

Aspect Ability- 

Revelations: In the dark depths of one's mind's eye, those with attunement to fate have the curse and gift to peer at the secrets of others and witness visions of events they can't change. 

Flaws: Wound for wound and sight for sight. For divine sight you have been given your mortal sight has been taken. ]

Those were her abilities, Sacred rank aspects were rare and in terms of growth potential second only to those with Divine ranks like Sunny and Nephis which were considered to be borderline myths. The mind of a Scholar gave her enhanced cognitive abilities allowing to her easily handle the amount of information an ordinary mind would find hard to. She still wasn't sure what Gifted in Arcane fully entailed but her last attribute as far as she knew gave her the ability to think uninhibited by physical distress. 

Needless to say, Cassie's abilities filled more of a supportive role than that of an active combat one and that meant she couldn't survive the Dream Realm on her own. Her mind flashbacked to the moment she entered the Dream Realm, naked in the storm with only her staff and bottle. Luckily she landed on the corals otherwise the black sea might have cut her life short, but the threat wasn't over yet. She couldn't see anything, hearing was all she had admitted the rain beating on her body. 

Amidst the hundred noises of rain, raging sea and storm, Cassie heard another noise in the dark after her arrival. Strong clicking noises along with scratching noises of something big trying to make its way towards her, but her mind remained calm as she backed away and swung her staff behind her to get a feel of the surface. She continued to do so until she felt the staff touch nothing and knew that she was standing on the edge. 

Cassie's attribute kept her calm but it didn't solve the impending death that was approaching her. What could see she do? Use the staff to create wind to push back the monster. But with that came the counterforce and potentially falling to death. 

Fight it directly? Once she had been a talented fencer but those skills depended on sight and it was taken away from her. Alas, she could think of nothing so in her rationale and could only accept death, or take a gamble. She stood her ground and raised her staff like a spear, she didn't what the monster was but if her blind strike somehow hit a vital spot she could still survive. 

Cassie lunged forward with trust from her staff but was thrown by the attack of the monster and managed to only save herself from falling into the raging sea. 

'This isn't going to work.' Cassie thought and considered jumping into the sea. She was blessed by the Storm God after all, maybe the storm would be her saviour.

Cassie steeled herself, ready to jump risking life and all but then she saw something in her dark vision that stopped her from doing so. A golden luminescent crack appeared in the black space, and a sizzling sound emitted from it before it disappeared. Cassie's heart skipped a beat, as she heard a loud thud, then the light came back and pretestened itself in human form. Glowing blue runes which were only visible to Cassie, showing attributes and abilities presented themselves beside the glowing figure, the effect of Revelation. 

[ Attributes -

[Dreamspawn]: "You are born of two worlds, belonging to both, but welcomed in neither. Your soul exists on the edge between nightmare and reality."

[Nephilim]: "There once were terrible creatures born of an unholy union between the divine and the profane. Nephilim were the most beautiful, and the most harrowing of them all."

[Flame of Divinity]: "Your soul is aflame with the light of divinity."

[The Fire]: "You have inherited the lineage of Sun God."

Aspect: [Light Bringer]

Aspect Rank: Divine

You are a creature of light that was banished and doomed to exist in the darkness. You bring radiance and warmth to wherever you go, but with it comes indescribable longing. ]

All those attributes and aspects pointed to one person Cassie could think of, the number 1 of the Academy: Nephis. 

"Are you alright?" the figure asked softly. 

Since then Nephis had protected her despite circumstances making Cassie more of a burden. Even as far as giving her a sixth-tier awakened armour which enactment made the wearer less likely to draw enemy attention. Sometimes Cassie was able to forewarn Nephis about an enemy before the encounter but she had no control over it.

Cassie's awareness came out of these thoughts as heard the rhythm of Sunny's breathing change, indicating that he soon be giving in sleep. But Nephis, ever vigilant, was guarding the camp, her stillness making her seem like a statue. 

Sunny sighed, then he spoke quietly: "Hey. Can I ask you a question?"

Nephis with her indifferent response suggested she remembered his ability to see in the dark.

"Sure."

Sunny hesitated. "I thought you Legacies come into the Spell with a whole inherited arsenal of Memories. I mean, that's supposed to be your main advantage. How come you only had three?"

Nephis was silent for a few moments.

"I only had two. The rope came from Cassie."

Cassie silently listened. She once had been curious about it but never directly, she didn't feel like prying into the secret of someone 

"Oh. I see."

Realizing her answer wasn't an answer, Nephis thought for a while and added:

"We lost most of our Memories when my father passed away. The ones that remained were sold one by one over the years, to keep the family afloat. This sword and armor came from my First Nightmare."

So that's how it was. The fall of the Immortal Flame clan might have been more thorough than Cassie had thought. Still, something about it didn't make sense.

"Surely, with your clan's reputation and standing, there were other ways to make money?" Sunny asked. 

Without any strong reaction, Nephis simply said: "There were other reasons."

Then, she unexpectedly asked, "Can I ask you a question in return?"

Sunny swallowed. "Yeah, go ahead."

"How did you know that I'm a Legacy?"

"Simple. I heard Caster mention it. He was scolding other Sleepers to make them treat you with respect," Sunny answered. 

Some time had passed before Sunny gathered enough courage to ask the question that he wanted to ask. Sunny looked at Cassie who still pretended to be sound asleep. 

"Can I ask another question?" Without waiting for a response, he continued: "Why are you burdening yourself with her?"

Cassie immediately Sunny was referring to her.

"Why? Wouldn't you?" Nephis in turn asked. 

Sunny gritted his teeth, his Flaw pushing the truthful answer out of his mouth.

"No," he answered and a tremor ran through Cassie's heart. But she expected it to be so, it was a rational thing to do so when ensuring your safety is utmost. 

Then she waited for Nephis' answer. 

After a few moments, Changing Star simply said: "Because I want to."

That was not the response one expected to hear. One would be pretty sure that Nephis would either lecture Sunny about virtue and compassion or disclose some obscure way to make Cassie's seemingly weak Ability incredibly useful. But truly it was simply because she wanted to.

At that moment Cassie became sure of one thing, between Nephis and Sunny, she could only trust Nephis.

*************************

In the morning, Sunny and Nephis were the first to get up. While the sun was rising and the sea was retreating, they made a fire and began preparing a simple breakfast. With Cassie still asleep, they did not talk to each other much. It was like the last night's conversation did not happen. However, after some time, they somehow ended up discussing the plan for the next few days. Nephis had some ideas.

"With what you told us about scavengers crowding to the west, the logical step would be to start moving east as soon as we can. Of course, north and south are also acceptable, but that won't put as much space between us and the enemy."

Sunny nodded, agreeing with that logic.

"We have explored to the east a little, but not enough to confidently make it to the next high point in a day. That's why the best course of action would be to spend today scouting a path to that group of cliffs over there and move the camp tomorrow."

He sighed.

"Do you have any idea where we are? Would there be a human Citadel to the east?"

Nephis shook her head.

"I've never heard of a region that fits the characteristics of this place. In any case, we have to move to find out more. We'll either find a Citadel, encounter an unconquered Gateway… or die. East is as good of a direction as any. Plus, it's the safest because there's a horde of monsters to the west."

At that point, Cassie suddenly sat up straight. Her eyes were wide open, and her face was a little pale. She looked nervous and excited.

Nephis frowned.

"Cassie? What's the matter?"

The blind girl turned to them and smiled.

"A… a vision! I had a vision!"

Changing Star stretched her hand, as though prepared to summon her sword.

"Are we in danger?"

Cassie energetically shook her head.

"No, it's not that! People… I saw a castle full of people!"

She smiled at pointed with her finger.

"I don't know how far it is, but I'm sure that it's in that direction!" 

Sunny and Nephis looked at each other, not knowing whether to be glad or petrified.

Cassie's small, delicate finger was confidently pointing west.

A silence emerged, the smile slowly disappeared from Cassie's face, replaced by confusion. Feeling the sudden tension, she asked:

"Uh… what's wrong?"

Sunny sighed.

"No, nothing is wrong. It's just that that direction is the one we wanted to avoid."

After some thought, he added:

"That's where I came from yesterday. There's a lot of scavengers down there."

The blind girl's face fell. "Oh."

Nephis, who was quietly listening to them, gave him an indecipherable look and finally spoke:

"Tell us more about the castle."

A shadow of the previous excitement returned to Cassie's eyes. With a serious nod, she began describing her vision.

"I dreamt of a vast, ruined city built of weathered stone. It was surrounded by tall, impregnable walls. Various monsters were wandering its narrow streets. In the centre of the city, the was a hill, and on that hill stood a magnificent castle."

She smiled.

"But there were no monsters in the castle! Instead, it was full of people. I think… no, I'm sure that they were Awakened. Some were guarding the walls, some were going about their lives without a care in the world. There was food, safety, and laughter!"

'Well, that sounds great.'

If this castle existed, then all of their problems would be solved. Sunny cleared his throat.

"Did you see anything else?"

Cassie frowned, trying to remember. Then, her face cleared.

"Yes! I saw four of us going through the gates of the castle! That means we will make it!"

"Wait? Four?" Nephis furrowed her brows. "But there are only one three of us."

Cassie pursed her lips. "But in my vision, there were four of us. You, me, Sunny... and... and some boy with purple eyes."

First, there was confusion then a shocked expression appeared on Sunny's face and both Nephis and Cassie took note of it.

"You know something about this?" Cassie asked.

Sunny helplessly answered, "I might know who the purple-eyed boy is."

Nephis opened her mouth to say something but Sunny was quick to cut her off.

"Before you say something, let's set some boundaries before we start travelling together. I disclose information at my phase, If you don't want to accept it then I'll just leave. Deal?"

Nephis and Cassie looked at each other before Nephis looked at Sunny and said, "Deal."

Sunny sighed, "Alright, all so about this guy. His name is Kayden, he has a secluded camp not far away from the giant statue. He also has bombs. Yeah, you heard me bombs which can kill scavengers easily, which makes him dangerous and part of the reason I ran from him and would like to stay away. So can we just go without him?"

Cassie shook her head. "No, all the main components of the vision need to be met, otherwise I don't know if we can make it to the city."

Sunny gritted his teeth. The fact that Kayden knew his flaw made him incredibly dangerous, and if he made it to the city and spread that information, consequences were unimaginable for Sunny.

'But you can't survive the Dream Realm alone.' That's what his teacher at the Academy had taught him. If we were to abandon this group, chances of survival were even lower.

As Sunny fell into deep thought, Nephis made up her mind and said, "Then we need to go get him. Then we will go west."

Cassie agreement with

'It's two against one.' Sunny thought and sighed, "Go ahead. Persecute the minority."

********************

As the group approached Kayden's camp, the air was thick with tension, each step echoing their uncertainty. Sunny's heart pounded with apprehension as he sent his shadow ahead to scout.

The shadow slipped through the darkness like a ghost, silently weaving between trees and brush until it reached the outskirts of the camp. It observed the area meticulously, searching for any signs of danger or the presence of explosives.

To Sunny's surprise, the shadow found no trace of the deadly explosives or soul shards. Bewilderment flickered across Sunny's face as he relayed the information to Nephis and Cassie, who exchanged concerned glances.

Before they could contemplate the implications further, an explosion shattered the eerie silence, sending shockwaves through the forest. Nephis instinctively summoned her sword, her eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of danger.

"We need to move, now," Nephis urged, her voice tense with urgency.

Cassie, her expression troubled, spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper. "I see him again. The boy. But this time, he's standing in a pile of many destroyed bodies under the shadow of a giant."

'Giant?' Sunny's mind raced as he recognized the location Cassie described. 'The giant statue.'

"That's where the scavenger horde is," Sunny said.

Nephis looked at him and said, "Then lead the way."

'Curses.'

They hid as they spotted scavengers scattered like frightened prey, leaving behind a haunting silence broken. The clearing revealed a harrowing sight—a landscape strewn with broken bodies and remnants of the scavenger horde, with Kayden seated amidst the chaos, cradling a large, pulsating soul shard in his hands.

Sunny's jaw tightened as he took in the scene, his mind racing with questions and concerns. "What happened here?"

Soon Nephis got there with Cassie and she instead saw a growing pulsating violet sitting cradling the bright white orb. The blue runes appeared beside the figure and they read-

Attributes -

[Untethered]: "Your existence defies the threads of destiny, leaving you adrift in a sea of uncertainty, where every step forward feels like stumbling in the dark."

[Fractured Mind]: "The labyrinthine corridors of your thoughts lead to dead ends and hidden traps, a fractured landscape where clarity is a fleeting illusion and confusion reigns supreme."

[Flame of Chaos]: "Your soul is aflame with Chaos."

[The Chaos]: "You have inherited the Mad God's lineage gifted with ludicrous abilities."

[Cursed One]: "You are cursed by fate for rejecting it, misfortune will plague your existence."

Aspect: [ Unkown]

Aspect Rank: [ Unkown ]

Cassie soon found that she couldn't decipher his Aspect or its rank.