As Kayne sleeps, he dreams of loss. It begins with Kayne back home, he is surrounded by every familiar face: his parents, his childhood friends, and even his new companions. The house is full of laughter, love, and warmth but something appears a little off. The corners of the room are dark, unrealistically so. They're so dark in fact, that they're pitch black, like a small void. Suddenly, darkness encircles all of them, Kayne summons his chains and pointlessly thrusts them into the darkness. The shadowy torrent doesn't react. Everyone's faces are full of fear and despair, even their bodies are trembling. Thousands of black hands latch onto everyone he cares about. The hands drag them in and devour them all. Out of nowhere, Christina's heartstone appears and repels the shadows but only for a moment. In the end, even the jewel is preyed on. Kayne is left completely alone. He awakens to a new day at a familiar campsite and on a familiar stoney ground.
"You're a violent sleeper, you know that?" Byron remarks.
"You were tossing and turning like crazy and then you even screamed. I've had some bad nightmares but I've never slept like that. I heard about night tyrants? Terrors? Terrors. It's a symptom some people get after a really bad event. I'm not saying that is what you have, but what I am saying is that I'm here for you if you need to talk to someone. I also won't tell Jess about this so don't worry, she slept through your screaming so do not concern yourself. I am the only one that knows for now."
'He's chatty today.'
Kayne shrinks, he feels exposed. He shakes his head and throws a hand in the air:
"Don't concern yourself with it, it's just a silly dream."
Byron raises an eyebrow and then relaxes his face and nods:
"Okay. I made a pot of coffee since I figured one of you two would be getting up soon, give me a chance to pour some for you in these wonderful rock bowls I carved while you all slept. I did it because I noticed we were heavily lacking in cups, among other supplies. And here you are, one small rock bowl of coffee. I did use half of my water for this, so we have to deal with finding more soon."
Kayne finds Byron's gesture very considerate. Maybe Byron is much kinder than he thought, or maybe confronting death has invited growth. Kayne sips on some of the hot coffee. The coffee fills his belly with warmth, shaking off some of his emotional frost:
"Thanks Byron."
Byron, not quite hearing what Kayne said, asks:
"What?"
Kayne:
"I said thanks."
Byron:
"Oh. No problem, we still have more if you want some."
Kayne:
"I wasn't just talking about the coffee."
Byron, sits silently for a minute. He is starting to accept that Kayne isn't some heartless prick who lazily slept through his awakening.
'There is much more to Kayne, I didn't realize it before but something happened to him. I don't know what, but it happened recently. I kinda feel like an ass for how I treated him until now. I don't like seeing people like this, not for the obvious reasons of course. It's because, hmmmm. It's because I feel useless. I know there is nothing I can do once someone is broken, that's why I trained with the intent of awakening in the first place. I want to stop seeing people devastated by the rift creatures. Not assuming that is what happened to Kayne, just that he's similar to what I've commonly seen. I still remember visiting my mom for her work in a medical center as a healer, so many painful expressions and scared voices. Now that I remember it, a common complaint, even after being healed, was nightmares.'
"Hey Kayne, if we're going to fight together and potentially die together, let's get to know each other a little bit better."
A woman's voice responds:
"I think that's a great idea."
Jessica, who is now awake, pounces on the idea to get to know the people she's stuck with. She notices the handmade stone bowls and grabs one to make herself a bowl of coffee.
"Well Kayne?"
Kayne:
"I don't see why not."
Jessica starts:
"Hi guys, as you already know I'm Jessica. My full name is Jessica Lightbringer. I am the eldest daughter in the Light clan, as you all probably have heard, we lead the Guiding Star faction. I was trained ever since I was a little girl to be an aspect. I was always going to be one, a secret kept by the big clans is methods to guarantee a child to inherit an aspect, mine is no exception. You should know this, shouldn't you, Byron Arcborn?"
'What are two heavy hitters doing with me? The Light clan? They are called "humanity's chosen," everyone born into that clan has been a powerful member of Eurasia's militant front. Many of them are lords of orange and red zone fortresses. The Arcborn clan is a major clan from the pre-modern Asia region. That explains his aspect, the main family specializes in arcane magic which produces exceptional healers and powerful mindbreakers. If I remember right, mindbreakers are employed across the globe to help enforce the law. They can dig memories out of targets, it's scary stuff.'
Bryon:
"Wow, you got me. And here I thought I was stuck with two newbies. That explains how you made it this far without even a scratch… and also the powerful light aspect. I have to hand it to you, you live up to your family's reputation. You are a demon on the battlefield. So what about you?"
Byron asks, turning towards Kayne.
"I'm just from some small suburban green zone town in pre-modern India. My name is Kayne Welyn. Nothing special about me."
Byron laughs:
"No problem with that, you said pre-modern India right? So did you hear about the green zone that was updated to orange over there? The update came out just a few hours before the choosing ceremony. First time a zone has been inflated in a while."
Kayne:
"No, I didn't hear anything about this."
Byron:
"Oh. It was pretty bad, I heard a lot of people died. Some aspects even."
Kayne:
"Nope, didn't hear a thing."
'Weird, I definitely would have heard about it. What did he say? A few hours before the choosing ceremony. Wait! I never made it to the choosing ceremony. If they got here from the ceremony, then how long was I unconscious in that pool? I remember they were already present when I woke up. I'm shocked to be honest, I had no idea I was out for that long.'
"In any case, let's keep making progress. We still have no idea how to solve the first trial. All the enemies thus far have been plant based so it is probably related to plants. So that's something."
Kayne's crew explores the end of the corridor and uncover nothing of substance. The only thing that was unordinary was the stone altar. It is crude, but the masonry resembles the mantle from the beginning cave. They wander around for a few hours until Kayne comes up with his hypothesis.
"Hey guys, I have an idea."
Jessica:
"Yeah?"
Kayne stands for a half second to collect his thoughts.
"I think we need to bring the Aetherite to this altar. It's like being a torchbearer for the olympics. How are we supposed to leave if we don't power the exit?"
Byron nods with approval.
"Makes sense to me."
The team spent the day traversing back to the start again. All of them are now comfortable walking across the narrow chain, granted they have a chain rail to assist them. Kayne picks up the Aetherite crystal to toss into his bag.
[ Hmmmmm, not bad, incarnation. You've managed to figure the objective out pretty quickly. Not that you three weren't expected to plow through a measly tutorial trial. Nonetheless, since we're connected for now, go on and ask a question. ]
"Who are you?"
[ A bold question, but fair… You see, we are the gods of this infinite realm. We need each other's power to restrain the flaws, as a figure of speech, to speak with humans. That is why we are together to communicate with you, though, I won't deny that each of us could directly communicate but the untamed powers will extinguish a fragile soul. Your kind has not evolved enough to receive any kind of direct narrative other than the aspects we gifted you. Granted, I use "your kind" loosely…. We are excited to see how your species develops. Well, we must attend to other matters, farewell incarnate. ]
After that, Kayne could sense that the connection was severed. He still has no idea what an incarnate is or why he could be potentially significant enough to be directly aided by whoever he is speaking to. All he knows is that they claim to be very powerful, powerful enough to create the Aether, which to his surprise it is supposedly infinite.
'Why do these gods speak to me? I never heard of the gods of the Aether, I wonder if it is a well kept secret or if they are completely unknown to others.'
Remembering the idea of an infinite place Kayne laughs. It is kind of humorous to Kayne because it reminds him of a legacy video game. The trio set up camp near the beginning pool and went to sleep with the same night watch rotation schedule as last time.