Leucosia was an Elder Priest of the Nightmare Spell, she was one of the few able to reach Transcendence with it's help and as such, was much closer to it than most others.
She had lived for a long time, witnessing many things in life, the death of her close friends, the snowballing growth of the Spell and as of now, the tension before what she imagined would be the biggest war in existence.
As a simple Transcendent that didn't even have an Aspect specialised in combat, she didn't expect to be summoned for any kind of task in the near future other than the one she had always given her everything for, spreading the influence of the Spell.
So imagine her surprise when she was given an unexpected task by It.
[You have received a Memory: Tiny Dancer.]
She suddenly jolted awake one night under the sound of the Spell, it's neutral voice bringing to attention the new presence in her Soul Sea.
She focused on it's name to better understand what she had been given, so when the string of runes summoned itself in front of her a small shiver ran down her spine.
[Tiny Dancer: And after his voyage through the universes, the man looked back, yearning for more. So when the Spell proposed to take him in his domain he simply let it do so. from the realm of War to the domain of the -Unknown- he would cross worlds once more.]
While shocked by the description Leucosia was in simple awe at something else, the weave of the Memory.
It was unlike everything she had seen before, while the Spell helped in creating memories and sometimes offered them in certain circumstances, it's weave had never looked so... mighty.
The structure of golden threads was gargantuan both in size and complexity, much more than the Spell she knew. Much more than any short advancements could allow. She couldn't even fathom what each thread was meant to do.
Leucosia did not know what such a thing meant but a sense of duty filled her being as she summoned the Memory to observe it. Much to her confusion when the Memory was summoned, a transparent box appeared in her hand.
Inside it a man was moving like a blur, or at least it would seem so for a normal person. Even as a non-combatant, Leucosia perception as a Transcendent allowed her to easily observe what the man was doing.
As the name [Tiny Dancer.] indicated he seemed to be performing some kind of dance with a piece of wood.
'Stabbing, slashing, blocking... it's a sword dance.'
Or maybe it was supposed to be one? Even with how soft she looked, Leucosia had her fair share of battles so how could she not see? This was a joke of a sword dance.
But as she looked, something else became apparent the man was... improving. And it wasn't like he was improving by a small margin either, the more time passed the more intent he put behind the sword and the finer his movements looked.
'He's growing, this is interesting...'
And the way he smiled while dancing, she was reminded of a certain High Priest she knew that always had a sword at his waist, no matter the situation.
"The time dilation is probably around 200 times or so?" She did not know exactly but it certainly seemed to be around that area, it meant that after around two days or so... a year would pass?
She also observed how he didn't need sustainance but still seemed to grow, truly the Spell was incredible to create such a construct. May it's influence spread vast.
Giving a small prayer, she left the Memory on her crafting table, next to other projects, the man inside served as good eye-candy after all, both in Body and Soul.
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'I can't look away...'
Two days had passed since Leucosia summoned the Memory, while simply serving as a distraction when she would get bored during her weaving, she had started to stray from her purpose of making memories as the High Priest had instructed her to, her gaze often focusing on the man dancing on her work table.
In just about a year or so, the man had went through qualitative changes both in Body and Skill, his Soul stayed... quite big.
His hair would have reached well past his shoulders had he not started to cut it short, and that simple act was so majestic.
He somehow learned to cut without the need of an edge, Leucosia had heard of Aspects allowing supernatural cutting powers, but the man's own didn't even seem to have fully awakened. So this all was simply a result of his prowess.
And as she watched him build the foundations of his swordsmanship, she was the first witness to what she could call one of the most beautiful thing she had ever laid her eyes on.
The idea that the man inside wasn't a living being but just a Memory seemed so... wrong.
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'What?'
After five days of watching the man, Leucosia started to bear witness to a phenomena that seemed impossible, the Memory was... destroying itself!
The rate at wich it did wasn't big enough to cause damage as [Tiny Dancer.] seemed to have a self-recovering function, but even then it was something that definitely didn't happen the first day she summoned it.
Did the man's sword dance have a real effect on the Memory? Was he not simply a construct made by the Spell but a real human being?
'But why would the Spell send one to my Soul Sea...!'
She was one of the few beings that knew how to weave in all of existence, the man was trapped inside a Memory and seemingly trying to get out.
It was sent to her, to confine him.
Leucosia was his jailer.
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'I should go eat something but... what if he escapes? surely I can't let such a thing happen...'
It had been ten days since she summoned the Memory, Leucosia did not even blink as she fixed her gaze on the man, his dance was possibly the most beautiful thing she had seen in all of existence.
Being the only entity able to look at it she played not only the role of jailer but also observator. She had noticed the way the man's Soul pressed on his body, while his movement didn't slow down, along with the time dilation, it wouldn't take more than three more days or so until his body became limp and unresponsive.
She had to witness his last moments.
'Another one—!'
A thread of the Memory was,suddenly cut clean and Leucosia hastily recovered it reconnecting both ends, those were the kind of wounds that a self-recovering function could do nothing against.
More than that now she didn't even hope to retrieve the Memory in her own Soul Sea, afraid that a stray stroke would hit her Soul Core. She didn't wish to experience that crippling pain even again.
She had tried to do so two days ago, to accelerate the self-recovery of the Memory only to wake up in a world of pain, for the first time she saw what an enemy and not an observator would see in his swordsmanship.
Death.
I love you therefore I will kill you, I love this world therefore I will kill with it's help, I love my friend therefore I will kill those that stand against them.
Under the years of isolation he had spent, part of his brain surely became twisted in a mild manner, his madness was easy to explain in only five words.
'I love, therefore I kill.'
Too entranced in his own sword dance, the man inside didn't even seem to see the changes on himself, too preoccupied with honing his swordsmanship to levels unheard of before.
Leucosia didn't notice the change with herself either. Too entranced with the man she hadn't eaten in a week or so her frame slowly thinning itself of any fat she had before her metabolism started gnawing on the rest of her body.
As a Transcendent her will was unparalleled, unfortunately it was laser focused on the man dancing in the tiny transparent box in her room.
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Madness, that was the only way to describe both Lucausia and the man's attitude. As of now he had become a whirlwind of steel, gaining more momentum as time passed
She had finally understood why he could cut the Memory, he was instinctively using his essence in his every move, and while this would have completely drained a person that wasn't even an Awakened as she could see with him, the Memory itself kept him fresh.
So he danced, each stroke suffused with all the essence in his being, wich was completly refilled with each moment. And with each of those came a new cut on the weave of the [Tiny Dancer.]
At this point Leucosia didn't know, she could have surely let the man destroy the Memory and kill him as he got out, for all his power he was still a mundane, and his essence wouldn't be refilled anymore.
But at the same time, it also meant interrupting his growth. So she focused on connecting the cut threads, the process was draining and only became more taxing on her essence and mind as time passed.
After all connecting the threads required finesse and an unsurmountable amount of essence to put them back into their place in the vast structure of this memory, but Lucausia persevered.
Like that a total of 18 days passed.
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'Hah it's here...' Leucosia held her breath as she looked at the man, another beautiful thing about his dance was how varied his sword dance was.
Each 7 katas had 7 different strokes, combining into a sequence of 7 moves that could all be performed from 7 different positions. She knew the number was impossibly big, for that matter each of the sword dances were so varied because the possibilities were so big.
But right now the man inside was in the process of performing a move that should embody them all, at least that's what she thought. While Leucosia had never been a fan oof swordsmanship she was possibly the biggest fan of the man in the box.
Her own Tiny Swordsman...
'—!'
It was coming, somehow even through the box, the world around them seemed to sing his praises as he performed the last of his sword dance, the structure of the Memory she had been desesperately trying to hold together collapsed on itself, cleaved by an infinitely sharp edge.
And so, the world welcomed his descent.
Stepping out of seemingly motes of light as the Memory crumbled, the man had a smile on his face. Still sword in hand he looked around until his gaze fell on Leucosia.
Her heartbeat accelerated at this simple action of his, but she knew he wouldn't allow her to live, after all this time it was impossible for him to not have known he had a jailer.
Even though she knew she would won, Leucosia didn't raise a hand to strike him, simply smiling back at him as he looked at her.
"Now aren't you lovely miss?" His gaze held no animosity, he simply talked as if he was taking a stroll in the evening, noticing a particularly good looking tree, yet his hand moved with a speed no mundane human had. A small tear left Lucosia eyes as the wooden sword approached her neck smiling she told him.
"So are you."
Like that, Baldr First Nightmare ended
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WOOOOOO! End of the Nightmare, Won't get Baldr perspective of the last 9 other years but the shift I'm character will definitely be felt.
Can you tell my favorite character of the Pmoon Universe is Hong Lu??
Next chapter will be the appraisal and I can tell y'all... I'm cooking
Fun fact, the total different sword dances possible is like approaching 5 Trillion, an insane number I know.
Baldr Flaw will lwk fuck him up but that's alright!