Waking up in a cold sweat, Levia looks around frantically assessing his situation and surroundings, only to notice he was back in his decrepit shelter.
Breathing a sigh of relief he slumps back still shaking due to his recent 'nightmare.'
"Glad it was just a Dream"
Levia didn't dream very often so having a nightmare was especially out of the normal for him.
Recalling the memories in vivid detail, Levia shuddered silently.
"Something must be wrong with my head lately."
Levia can't really put his finger on it but he's just felt off lately, like there's a bigger picture but it's just out of his view, leaving him frustrated. His new nightmare especially left him feeling off.
Still feeling deeply unsettled Levia decides to try and fall back asleep, with the hope that things are clearer when he wakes.
Laying in his bed, questions and flashing images floated around in Levia's mindscape, making it incredibly difficult to rest.
"Whatever that thing was, it was wrong.. very wrong. I felt that I could almost feel its emotions… if that's what you could even call them."
"Deep resentment, anger and envy flooded my mind when I saw the horror, and I could tell that It isn't my own feelings, but it's feelings instead."
However, finally exhaustion gets the better of Levia.
The Enticing sirens' song of sleep luring him in, causing him to fall back asleep.
***
Levia awakens from a sense of dread and foreboding, His eyes snap open.
Laying atop a calm sea, a sea so black that you'd think there was empty space under you. Was Levia.
Surprised by the fact that he wasn't sinking and instead was laying directly on the water, had given Levia a faint sense of what was happening.
Looking around for a moment trying to understand where he was, Levia found out he was in a flat plain, only water for as far as the eye could see.
Looking a bit more Levia's eyes centered on something in the distance, immediately getting up Levia made his way over.
Levia felt as though his every move was being watched, making him incredibly paranoid. He knew though, that what he felt was from under him, directly in the abyssal ink of the stil sea.
Studying him, watching him, the presence was overwhelming yet at the same time unnoticeable, making Levia feel as though it was dying.. whatever it was. Not wanting to find out Levia quickly made his way over in the direction of what his eyes perceived earlier.
Step by step, seconds passing by, feeling as though time was slowed down, Levia grew increasingly paranoid, fear setting in the closer he drew towards the spot he saw earlier. Close enough now to make out an orb-like object floating just above the water's surface.
Reaching just in front of the orb, getting to make out details he wasn't able to see earlier.
The orb itself was an almost transparent yet voidal black sphere, looking like the water he was standing upon, and on further inspection Levia noticed a ghostly green chain locked tightly around the orb, emanating a feeling of dread, and Envy…
Without even realizing it, Levia had reached his hand out and placed it upon the lock. Instantly snapping out of his trance only to see a deep crimson eye with abyssal black slits staring at him from inside the sphere, fear taking over Levia stumbles over and lands on his back staring up into the sky, his breathing delayed and raspy.
Trying to get control of his emotions, Levia once again stands, finding the demonic eye had disappeared, and with it the ghastly chain with which was holding the orb in place.
"Levia Ashton, Congratulations for your awakening."
{You the proud descendant of the Leviathan have awakened your Lineage Blood, Receiving the System of Envy}
Do you accept [yes] [no]
"Wha… What the hell? "
"What's going on, isn't this an awakening? "
"Aren't I of impure blood? I thought only those of the pure blood could awaken"
"But now it's all starting to make sense"
Levia was slowly starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together, before getting interrupted by yet another disembodied voice.
{Levia Ashton, the race of Leviathans is running through your veins, diluted through generations, yet running strongly through your body. You have been chosen to inherit Leviathan's will, and with it the system of Envy}
{If you accept you will gain}
*The system of Envy*
*Serpent's heart*
*Basilisk Blood*
{If you refuse however, you will be swallowed by the lightless sea and perish, forever to be part of the abyssal currents}
"They're not giving me much of an option here.. are they?" I'd honestly expect no less from this cursed world"
"But I won't give it the satisfaction of killing me, not after all I've lived through, all of my struggles."
"None of it was to just die like an insect, I won't let it take me"
" I… I accept"
And with those words something inside Levia's mind was freed, and with it came unbearable pain. Pain unlike any he's experienced before.
Levia's blood felt like it was burning and bubbling as if he was in an oven, his skin was tearing and breaking down over and over healing rapidly over this process. Feeling his skin being replaced and healed over, a thin layer of scale like steel being placed under his tearing skin before healing over, his bones breaking and twisting over and over repairing themselves even stronger than before.
"Aghhhh, fu… fuck, this is torture"
"I.. I can't let this win… I need to make it through this…"
"We can't let this be the end Levia, don't lose consciousness or you'll die"
"Willed by these thoughts, Levia pushed on"
And In the end his heart, feeling as though pierced by a sword forged of magma, boiling and burning as it went through, his heart fundamentally changing over this process of suffering and torture.
Screaming out in agony, a symphony of pain and suffering echoing across the vast empty expanse of the lightless abyss, to be shortly silenced, his vocal cords being strained to the limit in his screams.
After what felt like an eternity the pain finally stopped, only exasperated breathing could be heard throughout the expanse. Tears having left a trail across Levia's face, and his clothes being torn from the process neither of which worried Levia, as he was just glad it was over.
{Congratulations Levia, you have successfully completed the first trial, and received all of which was offered}
"Fi.. first trial?"
"Damn system, didn't tell me about what would happen"
This was nothing like Levia had read about awakenings before, it was fundamentally different, he heard that others felt themselves being enveloped by a warm and comforting light whilst awakening.
Levia however, was overcome with excruciating pain, and a trial? In which the trial part still seeming to confuse him.
Not giving him time to rest or think, a surge of new and alien emotions and feelings surged deep in Levia's mind causing him to close his eyes and squeeze his head, in a futile attempt to make them stop.
Deep seated feelings of resentment and rage, hatred and malice, and most importantly Envy. Flooding Levia's mind like a tidal wave crashing down upon it. These feelings belonging to that of the owner of the crimson eye were overwhelming and crushing, breaking down Levia's mind further snapping it and molding it, changing him, altering his thought process, his thinking.
Thinking back on Levia's life, every hardship, every injustice and all the unfair treatment since such a young age was all a weight crushing down on him. Never experiencing the warmth of a family or friends, not knowing a home cooked meal or a heater. Always having to fend for himself caused him to always be envious of others, yet he pushed these feelings down, bottled them up never to see the light of day.
With all of these alien emotions crushing down on him, all of his old feelings resurfaced, finally it all went blank.
"How envious"
***