A sea of boundless blue skies.
Beneath them, a patchwork of islands floated in the air, laid on the backdrop of velvety darkness like a beautiful mosaic. Some islands were verdant and green; some were desolate and empty, and some were covered by ancient ruins, the weathered stones overgrown by moss.
All of them were bound by colossal iron chains that rattled loudly as the islands rose and fell, hovering above the abyss, a scattering of pale stars shining somewhere far, far below them. In the center of the mosaic, an ugly wound gaped, a vast tear in space where nothing but emptiness remained.
A lone island soared above that tear, seven torn chains hanging from its slopes, a beautiful white pagoda standing on its surface in a mantle of clouds.
The kingdom of Hope.
Suddenly, the sun rolled backward, soon disappearing behind the eastern horizon. The skies darkened and then were illuminated again as a radiant moon streaked across them, swift enough to turn into a blurry trail of light. A moment later, it was day again, and then it was night once more.
Aldric was lost in the metaphysical distortion of time. Viewing what was and what would be.
The skies grew torn between light and darkness, time flowing in reverse with terrible speed. Aldric watched as the islands beneath him slowly changed their shapes, as ruins rose from the ground and assembled into unwavering structures, as the stars burning in the abyss grew brighter and brighter, new ones igniting each moment, until the whole void was suffused with a furious white light.
One after another, fallen islands rose from that annihilating light, the chains that had tethered them to the rest of the mosaic repairing themselves. Soon, the tear in its center was no more, and instead, a vast ashen wasteland of scorched isles appeared in its place. The Ivory Tower descended from high above, taking its place at the very heart of the wasteland.
An instant later, the ashes were no more, revealing a breathtaking aerial city that sprawled across dozens of islands, all of them connected to each other by arching bridges and overflowing aqueducts built out of pristine white stone, with vibrant flags fluttering in the wind and sparkling waterfalls flowing into the abyss below.
His position began to slowly descend, accelerating as if he were in free fall.
Past the line of clouds.
Past the floating islands connected by chains.
And deep into the abyss below.
His heart sank to his feet while his brain felt as if it was in his stomach. Even his awakened enhanced visual acuity could not distinguish anything that he saw; pure darkness with specks of stars littering his peripheral vision.
After a few moments, those same specks grew and grew. The gaps between them growing smaller proportionately.
Aldric knew exactly where he was headed. After all, he had completed this very same journey before.
As the stars now became a sea of divine flames, a singular rift devoid of light revealed itself.
Déjà vu itched at his mind.
'To think I would return here so soon.'
Just as he began to continue the thought, his mind blanked in darkness.
---
You never truly value something until you lose it.
Sight, touch, limbs – these were all things that every creature took for granted.
Aldric's mind focused as he reeled from the jarring shift in perspective. The nightmare spell working to find a suitable vessel for his spirit.
A strange feeling of weightlessness pulled on Aldric's form; whatever that was. Though he felt nothing but empty space below him, something taut strained to carry his weight. Suspending him in the air.
Though, that was not what was on his mind currently.
It was the feeling of his entire world becoming wrong in a singular moment.
He could not feel.
He could not move.
He could not see.
While the majority of Awakened were content with their level of ascension after returning from the dream realm, that was not the case for everyone. Like any distribution curve, there would always be overachievers.
Decades ago, that was in the form of Masters and now it was in the form of Saints.
With the exponential increase in the number of Masters, the second nightmare had become a well-studied and tested phenomenon. Gone were the days of Immortal Flame being the first human to conquer a second nightmare.
While knowledge was limited to Awakened society, methodologies and stratagems in challenging a second nightmare were well documented.
However, while this was the case, this did not mean that everybody would choose to try their luck.
One of the most important characteristics of a second nightmare was the adoption of a vessel. In the same vein that the nightmare spell administered an aspect that was tailored to each aspirant, it would continue in this trend when finding a vessel.
It was commonly reported that those adept in combat would find their identities in serving a similar role.
Though Aldric knew that he was a unique case.
From his subtle connection to the void, his repeating association with the last child of the unknown and all the way down to his mysterious origins.
Knowing of the kingdom of Hope and its denizens, Aldric knew the possible vessels that could harbour his soul.
But this... This was not one of them.
Before the feelings of dread and loss took root, he began to channel essence from his dark cores. Where his new vessel began or ended, he did not know.
Neither did he know if this feeling of paralysis and numbness was temporary or not.
Aldric could not feel his body. He could not feel blood rush through his veins, and neither could he feel his heartbeat.
Just cold emptiness housed his soul and mind.
It was only a combination of his intuition and keen senses in the darkness that allowed him to determine his spatial alignment.
In his attempt to channel essence throughout his new body, familiar pathways vanished into oblivion. Replaced by an unknown system of chains and gates.
If the pathways which soul essence traversed in a human's body could be compared to the ever-expanding roots of a tree, originating from a singular seed, then his current vessel felt like an intricate and decorative armour of chain mail. Made up of complex interlocking patterns that changed in different areas.
It felt as though the soul essence was traversing a maze. Completely and utterly alien.
The feeling of dread began to grow.
Operating the new body with his essence was the only hope in moving whatever body he had inhabited. So while it was clearly not human, essence was the ubiquitous energy that moved the world.
Surely, it would move him.
'Calm down... It's just a matter of time until you get the hang of it.'
Aldric reassured himself.
Focusing all his faculties on the task, he pumped and filtered essence through the vessel with the skill and efficiency well beyond the realm of an awakened.
With his senses majorly hindered, the passage of time alluded him.
Whether it was an hour or even a week, Aldric did not care.
He was completely focused on the task at hand.
Every now and then, his limbs would shift and move awkwardly. As if they were being controlled like a marionette.
The body was not a single monolith of intricate chains; each layer contained numerous and varying systems.
From what he could only assume was the skin of the vessel to what could have been the ligaments and joints or even the blood. Each aspect of the vessel was commanded by different systems of infinitesimally small chains.
Chains that had long since become familiar.
The very same interlinked chains that made up the ebony tower.
Diamond weave.
Trying to channel essence through a series of different and complex pathways that he was not familiar with was extremely difficult, but not impossible.
Though a singular part of his body was the most important.
His brain.
While it was the head that contained the most complex chains that he had ever seen. Systems that controlled senses such as sight or hearing came to life. Memories and thought processes.
Small victories would sporadically appear as Aldric administered essence through the correct pathways.
In his successes, sights of darkness met his eyes, and silence met his ears.
Though with his vision enhanced in the darkness, Aldric could see a large hall in front of him. With him in the centre. With the lack of control of the vessel, his head was tilted towards the ground, and what he saw stunned him.
A mountain of corpses.
Static dolls stacked upon each other like a house of cards. All with him suspended at the precipice like a messiah.
A sea of detached limbs, disconnected torsos and singular heads.
It was as if he was dangling on a single thread, about to fall into the depths of hell.
In his moments of extreme focus fuelled by [Tranquil Core] and [Insight], Aldric did not think of how impossible his actions were. To be able to commandeer such a complex vessel of sorcery in such a short period of time. It was utterly baffling.
It was his most recent attribute, [Visionary], that expanded his mind and developed an instinctual understanding of what it took to interact with the sorcery of a Daemon.
It was in the same vein that Sunny would not have a single chance in attempting to understand weaving without the forbidden lineage of Weaver.
When trying this out on the outer layer of diamond weave on his skin, gaining the sense of touch would grant him a cold, glossy-like feeling around the boundary of his body. Exposed to the open air.
When succeeding even deeper within himself, he could feel a pool of cold and inert liquid resting inside of him. Shifting and pumping at the touch of essence.
It was here that he learned what he was.
And what he was missing.
An arm.
He could only remain silent at the revelation. Not a single solution coming to mind
It was a system of trial and error. Repeating the iterative process over and over again. Though with each iteration, patterns began to emerge.
While gaining a singular sense within his new body was becoming easier and easier, it was brutally difficult for him to maintain all of them at the same time.
It was as if he were attempting to focus on a breathing exercise while counting his heartbeat and trying to listen to his own blood rush through his veins.
Each could be completed individually with enough focus, but attempting all simultaneously was simply too hard.
Iris was the only person he knew that could complete such a monumental task. An awakened with the perfect ability of splitting her conscience.
'I'm in the body of one of Nether's children...'
'A broken one.'
He concluded with a strained thought.
Though that did not settle the feeling of helplessness.
It should not have been this much of a struggle to operate a Stone Saint. A race of beings created by a divine blacksmith. Their bodies were a marvel of genius and ingenuity. But this was not it.
Aldric thought of the body that Sunny would currently be inhabiting. A shadow being that was completely different in physiology from a human. Though, Sunny had adapted within a moment.
Taking a break from commandeering his broken body, Aldric took some time to think.
Entering his soul sea, the familiar wash of color brought much-needed comfort.
Remembering what he had learned surrounding the creation of Nether, Aldric knew that the Daemon bestowed upon them a spark of divinity. Creating life from the lifeless.
'It must instinctively allow them to control their statue-like bodies as if they were flesh and blood.'
He thought.
A spark that he was missing.
And without that spark, he would have to take control of the body by intimately filtering his own essence.
An endeavour that would take a long time.
---
THUD
CRUMBLE
CRASH
After getting the hang of moving his limbs and joints, Aldric had simply shifted too much. Cutting the threads that suspended him in the air.
Like a crash dummy, he dropped through the stack of dolls. Crumbling the tumultuous stability that kept the pyramid of dolls steady.
A hysterical laugh rang in Aldric's mind.
This was the first sound he heard in a long time. The silence of the darkness etching at his mental stability.
Like a newborn calf, Aldric struggled completely to stand on his own. Crumbling under his own weight consistently.
THUD
His body bounced off the ground like a heavy rock, speaking much of his newfound durability. All without a shred of pain.
Though, having only one arm did not help his balance at all in this case.
Seeing a doll arm beside him, he reached for it and used it as a crutch.
"Bael."
Aldric spoke out. A pool of darkness surrounding his feet, his apostle came out.
The instinctual and habitual act of moving darkness near his feet to summon his apostle brought forth an epiphany.
'Why on earth did I not think of that?!'
He thought with hesitant excitement.
In his own body, the darkness that boosted Aldric's strength only remained beneath his skin. Wrapped around him like a cloak. It was simply not in his nature as a human to be able to circulate true darkness deep within his body.
Though, in this newly acquired body, darkness travelled deep into the core and spread everywhere.
He lifted his legs while pushing off the ground with his hand, all in a single smooth motion.
Standing upright in a slightly shaky stance, Aldric was now more like an injured athlete going through physiotherapy. Getting used to the changes of their body.
It made sense to Aldric. Darkness was what Sunny's Shadow Saint thrived on. As well as it being the associated elemental force of Nether.
While dangers of the consumption of darkness came to mind, he did not care in the slightest. At least right now.
Looking around through carved eyes, a large staircase flowed upwards ahead of him.
Focusing true darkness around his eyes, ruby flames lit up in a pair of empty sockets.
Beside him, Bael looked keenly at his master's new appearance. A small flicker in the scarlet flames around his helm indicated him being pleased with how similar his master looked like him.
With the large number of mysteries surrounding his situation, Aldric focused on what he did know.
Pulling on his soul, Aldric summoned his second and newly formed apostle.
With darkness pooling at his feet once again, only this time was different.
For nothing came out.
***********
Thanks for reading.
My god the supreme fight is peak plus the lore drops. Insanity.
Any ideas for Aldric's ascended ability? Be creative.
Angel_Of_Damnation: ...
Till the next one.