The burning light of Lauri's soul dimly glowed, subdued by a vast shadow stretching across its circumference. Lauri lay on the grass of this space blankly staring up at the light of his soul, he had been here for a while. The space – even with the devastation done to his soul – was a nicer scene than where his real body was. Blinking, he turned his head away from watching his soul to the seemingly endless grassy field.
"How do I fight this… What would you do, Laurence?"
Lauri's already glum expression grew darker
"Ha, haha. Like you'd ever have been put in this position in the first place."
Falling silent, Lauri closed his eyes.
Opening them again, he stared at an unfamiliar ceiling of the room Oryx had brought him to. First, they had taken something Oryx had referred to as an 'elevator' and ascended some floors. Then, Oryx led Lauri through empty hallways until they reached a particular room.
This was Lauri's bedroom.
Turning away from the bright light that shone down from the ceiling, Lauri's eyes rested on the window next to his bed, an image of a field, rows of grassy hills and a beautiful blue sky.
Lauri could tell this window was fake. The screen flickered every few minutes, but most importantly, Lauri could not sense the sun.
Lauri's eye twitched, raising his hand, a replica of Lauri's knife dropped into his open palm. Twisting his hand, Lauri drove the knife into the flickering screen. The image immediately ceased as the screen cracked, replaced by static for a few seconds until the screen went offline.
Leaving his knife lodged into the screen, Lauri looked around his room with a sullen expression.
It was smaller than his own bedroom back in the village, with a small wardrobe for clothes, a desk and chair and the bed he was lying on. Lauri felt a small sense of claustrophobia begin to creep in as he took in more of his surroundings, his sense allowed him to slightly perceive the rooms next to him. The rooms seemed to be identical, with two others resting in their own beds.
Lauri pulled on the sleeves of his shirt as he pulled his knees tightly into his chest. Lauri had an opportunity to change out of his torn rags into some nice new clothing that had been laid on top of his bed. Although Lauri didn't want to lose his old clothes, they were ragged and blood stained, it was a wonder he hasn't changed them when he returned home.
The new clothes were pristine, white with blue accents, a t-shirt and some loose fitting pants Lauri didn't know the name of.
'How long have I been here…'
The question of time had been on Lauri's mind since he had woken up the first time. How long had he been unconscious for after fainting, a few hours? a day? Days?
Shaking his head, Lauri clenched his fist.
'It is still night at least, I can still feel the boost Brightest Night gives me during the night. Which is interesting to note that I get the boost even when my surroundings are lit by something other than the sun…'
Scowling, Lauri tried to take his mind off his current environment.
'Thinking about it, didn't the voice say something right as I collapsed? I don't remember… Maybe the strings will have something for me.'
Appearing from his chest, the strings of light quickly formed into the air in front of Lauri's face. As they formed the information Lauri was looking for, Lauri's eyes widened.
Surprise took over Lauri's emotions, he was so surprised he couldn't help but quietly whisper his thoughts aloud.
"Wh- What, what is this?"
The strings had changed, new sections appeared before Lauri's eyes.
Name: Lauri
Authority: Seraphim of Eternal
Soul: Dormant
Rank: Risen
Imprint: [Luminescent Helper] [Her Aegis]
Hollow: --
Hallowed: --
"Authority… Son of the Last Sun… Hallowed… What does this mean? I don't even know what 'Hollow' is, and it's throwing new words at me… What is Authority and Son of the Last Sun, how... Quaint? I wonder if anything else has chang-"
Choking on his words, Lauri held his throat.
"Wh- What the hell is that?"
Title: [Lightbearer's Oath]
Title Rank: [Primordial]
Blinking, Lauri rubbed his brow in shock.
"What, where has my Title gone? And not just that, my Innate Talent is different as well."
Innate Talent: [Last Dawn]
Lauri traced the words with his eyes as he spoke them.
"Lightbearer's Oath replaced Second Seraph… Last Dawn replaced Brightest Night… No, no, it didn't."
Flexing his fingers, Lauri slightly nodded his head.
"Brightest Night is still active, the strength it gives me is still there. Maybe my new Innate Talent… Absorbed it? Ugh, this is making my head hurt. There's so much text for the description of my Title and Innate Talent as well, who writes all this nonsense."
Title: [Lightbearer's Oath]
Title Rank: [Primordial]
Title Description: [Dawn ends by the swift blade of Night. Dawn shines brightly, bringing the Night to his knees. Light and Dark, Shine and Shade. End waits for them both. Her final words resonated through the worlds, touching the soul of her Last Seraph. The Last Son of Dawn is left to fend for himself.]
Now sitting cross-legged, Lauri squinted at the text as he tried to comprehend it.
"Dawn ends by the swift blade of Night… I guess it makes sense. Night replaces day every well… Day, except. Wait no, dawn is when the sun is rising, so surely dawn replaces the night… Unless it's not talking about the concepts."
Lauri's eyes focused on the personification of Dawn, 'Her final words'.
"Dawn is… Female? A woman?"
Tonguing his cheek, Lauri shook his head.
"That hurts my head too much, it's so damn vague. Next."
Rubbing his hands together, Lauri excitedly checked his new Innate Talent. Lauri's Title had risen from the Awakened rank to a new unheard-of Primordial rank, Lauri wondered what new powers he would gain to aid on his path of vengeance.
Innate Talent: [Last Dawn]
Innate Talent Description: [Bearing the final wishes of a dead god, her final words affect you to the core. By the light of Day you gain the power to harness the remnants of your once benefactor allowing you powers one could deem, strong.]
Lauri's eye twitched.
"It's- It's- So damn vague!"
Throwing his hands into the air, Lauri fell back into his bed. Covering his eyes, Lauri tried to process even more of the new information.
'Bearing the final wishes of a dead god… So this power was gifted to me by a god, a dead god, a dead god who was my benefactor… So that's official, it's referring to the Goddess of Light. Dawn or whatever it keeps referring to her, does she have multiple names?'
Uncovering his eyes, Lauri looked back to the strings.
'It has capitalised various words, I thought it might have been a typo, but looking back on it. Dawn, Light, Shine, Day. Hmm, then that would mean Dark and Shade are referring to someone. Another god?'
Lauri blinked.
'Ah, that bastard Yang's master. Of course, he manipulates shadows – or darkness – his master, is the God of Night? God of Darkness? Which one sounds cooler-'
Shaking his head, Lauri scowled.
"That's the least of my concerns, trying to make them sound cool, tch."
There was one more line of text that was different, between the description of his Title and his Innate Talent. Another line had appeared in the strings, and it read:
Divinity: [Wield the power of Dawn and suffer the consequences of your mortal hubris.]
Lauri's expression brightened.
"Wield… the power of Dawn?"
Lauri's eyes glowed.
"The power of Dawn… The power of a god."
Covering his mouth, Lauri's shocked expression gave way to a large, satisfied smile.
'I'd like to see Yang compared against the power of a god!'
Lauri couldn't help but laugh at this realisation. For a few moments, his excitement was unstoppable, until something occurred to him.
"That shadow…"
Lauri's expression grew cold as he remembered Yang's shadow, but not just any shadow, not the one that followed Yang's every movement. The shadow hiding behind Yang's eyes, the one that he had used to subjugate Lauri's soul.
"Is that, does… Does Yang have a Primordial Title… Is that what his Divinity is?"
Falling silent, it took Lauri a few moments to compose himself. Slapping his cheeks, Lauri focused.
"I'll face that hurdle when I get to it, light beats darkness, right? Right? Whatever, now how do I use this 'Divinity'? I'd like to give the power of a God a test run before I throw my life away."
Before Lauri could try anything, a woman's disembodied voice spoke.
"All Sickly- I mean, all Risen individuals on campus gather at the cafeteria for dinner. After your dinner, you will be informed of upcoming events."
Lauri tilted his head.
"All Risen? That includes me, but Sickly? That's the second time someone has referred to me as Sickly. I wonder what it means… Wait."
Scowling, Lauri put his head in his hands.
"What is a 'cafeteria'?"