It was a boundless land of winter which stretched endlessly in all directions. Snow-covered plains gleamed beneath the pale light of a cloud-shrouded sky. Blizzards raged across the frozen horizon. Even though Maya wasn't physically here, the icy tendrils of the blizzards seemed to bite into her very being.
Her breaths came in short, ragged gasps, visible in the frigid air. The cold was so absolute, so relentless that it pierced through every fiber of her being. Her thoughts grew sluggish, and for a terrifying moment, Maya thought that she would shatter under the weight of this frozen domain.
What... the hell... she panicked, her legs trembling beneath her. What i-is... this?!
She turned her head slowly, barely keeping her legs from giving out. She stared out into the distance, but her eyes couldn't pierce the veil of white; she turned her gaze upward only to be met with the same sight.
There was nothing here. Just eternal frost. Eternal snow. Eternal winter.
But as a few moments went by, Maya's panic slowly ebbed away... replaced by a strange feeling. Even though this place felt like it would freeze any human being to their death in mere seconds, Maya felt like it was somehow... strangely familiar. Despite the roaring blizzards and the raging storms, she found it... peaceful. Almost serene.
Then, slowly, reality dawned on her. This place wasn't hostile. It was within her. It was this cold because that was her nature. The raging blizzards, this vast and frozen landscape; it was... hers.
She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Then, quietly, she willed this strange realm to accommodate her.
As though the world itself bent to her command, the winds stilled instantly. The blizzard halted mid-sweep. The swirling snowflakes hung suspended in the air like frozen diamonds. The tempest that had threatened to swallow her whole, now stood frozen, as if time itself had stopped.
Silence reigned.
Maya looked around again; a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
Alright... she mused, beaming. I can get used to this. This is so awesome. To be honest, that Soul Sea was a bit dull.
Maya looked up at the boundless sky shrouded in clouds.
I don't see the new Core though, she thought, frowning slightly. I'm pretty sure the Spell announced that I formed a new one...
Anyways, first things first, she reminded herself, shaking her head and looking ahead.
Then, she summoned her runes:
Name: Maya.
True Name: Veil of Ashes.
Rank: Dreamer.
Winter Core: Dormant.
Winterbound Fragments: [364/1000].
The Rank's the same, she noted. Winter Core— yeah, that's what the Spell announced. What does that even mean...? I guess I'll have to ask Arcadius. He probably has some idea.
Her gaze shifted to the strings which had previously shown her soul fragments. She noticed that it had changed to Winterbound Fragments.
That's certainly something. Wait a second... this number's kinda off. I should only have three hundred and fifty-four fragments. Where'd the other ten come from? I'm sure I didn't absorb the shards from those Scavengers.
A thought struck her. Do I get fragments with the kill now? Like how Sunless gets Shadow Fragments? I think? Yeah, maybe that's it.
A sudden realization dawned on her. Oh, so that's why Arcadius hasn't been absorbing shards from his kills... I see, I see.
Maya nodded thoughtfully, though a flicker of something akin to guilt tugged at her conscience. She felt a bit cheap, to be honest.
A lot of her soul fragments— or Winterbound Fragments, as they were now called— hadn't come from her own kills. If they had, she wouldn't be anywhere near as strong as she was right now.
In truth, she'd been harvesting shards from the corpses of the Nightmare Creatures that Arcadius slaughtered.
Ever since his 'transformation' at the base of the Knight's statue, Arcadius had seemingly lost all interest in soul shards. And it had seemed downright stupid to just leave them lying there. So, she'd taken them for herself.
At first, guilt had gnawed at her, but she'd quickly made peace with it. The shards made her stronger, and strength was the only thing that mattered in the Dream Realm. Survival took precedence over morals and 'the right thing.' Those ideals could take a backseat for now.
She looked back at the runes:
Attributes: [Spawn of the Forgotten], [Fated], [Thoughtless], [Otherwalker], [Sliver of Profanity], [Glacian].
The last two were the ones she had apparently acquired during her 'transformation'. Also, her [Otherwalker] Attribute had evolved. But at the moment, something else held her attention. She noticed something weird, [Thoughtless].
That Attribute hadn't been there before. It had been [Iron Spirit], an Attribute that granted her immunity to all kinds of mind and soul attacks— a vital safeguard in the Dream Realm.
She frowned and focused on that one first. The loss of such a potent defense was very much concerning. But what exactly did [Thoughtless] do?
[Thoughtless] Attribute Description: "You stand where minds falter, untouched by illusions or whispers. You are immune to all kinds of mind attacks."
Maya's jaw dropped and she stared at the runes in disbelief. What the actual hell? she thought indignantly. I straight up lost the immunity to soul attacks? How is that fair?!
She had never been forced into a situation where that Attribute was outright useful, but still... being completely immune to soul attacks was an overwhelming advantage to have in the wild outreaches of the Dream Realm. Why had that been taken away from her?
Goddamn Spell, Maya thought bitterly. Why'd I even get it in the first place if you were just gonna take it away, huh?!
She lingered on the loss of such a potent defense for a while, before shifting her focus to something else. It was not like she could do anything about what had just unfolded.
Sliver of Profanity, huh? she considered, pushing her grief over losing [Iron Spirit] away and looking at the first one of the new Attributes. This must be what Arcadius meant by 'the profane one.'
She read the description and covered her face with a palm. No divine affiliation and now this? What am I, the devil incarnate?
She shook her head slightly and continued:
[Glacian] Attribute Description: "You are Glacian— a being of frost and resolve, where thought solidifies into unbreakable certainty. No whisper can sway you, no shadow can fracture you. The void, vast and hungering, finds no purchase here; its grasp falters before the cold permanence of your will. The storm of doubt freezes at your feet, silenced by the frostbound sanctity of your existence."
"Damn," Maya muttered, a touch smug. "I have no idea what any of that means but it sounds... cool. I guess I can live with that."
She was stupidly grinning at the new Attribute even though she had no idea what it meant or did. But she quickly suppressed her joy, and moved on to the next set of runes. Looking at them, her expression turned a bit sour:
Aspect: [Winterborn Sentinel.]
Aspect Rank: Cursed.
Maya's face contorted in a grimace. She had been quite bitter at the end of her First Nightmare. Even though she'd killed an Awakened Tyrant as an Aspirant, she hadn't realized a Divine Aspect.
After being bestowed a True Name, she had been almost completely certain that her Aspect would evolve into a Divine one. She'd been disappointed and disheartened when that didn't turn out to be the case.
But she quickly made her peace with it. Or that's what she was trying to do.
Her Aspect was very powerful in and of itself, even if she didn't have the ability to form multiple cores. It had kept her alive for three whole weeks in this hell and she hoped that that would continue to be the case.
She was pretty sure that Arcadius had a Divine, or rather, an Unholy one. She'd guessed that maybe that was why he was killing so many Nightmare Creatures. Because he was eager to form a second Core as soon as possible.
Well, Cursed has gotta be better than Unholy, right? I mean... that just means he's more profane than me. Maya thought, reassuring herself through falsehood. Anyway, it looks like Arcadius and I are not ascending towards divinity but rather descending into profanity.
Maya scratched her head, confused by the things that had unfolded as a result of her 'transformation'.
But what exactly does any of this mean? Have we been Corrupted? But that can't be right. Corruption overwhelms your sanity, doesn't it? Wasn't that what Sunless's Third Nightmare was all about? But I feel completely sane. And so does Arcadius... well, as sane as that lunatic can get.
She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind and took a look at the [Otherwalker] Attribute's description. That turned out to be the same, so she didn't pay it any mind. She focused on the runes representing her Aspect. She wanted to check if its description had changed or not:
Aspect Description: [Wrought from frost and exile, you are an echo of a world that never was. The Sentinel walks unseen paths, neither bound by this reality nor born of it. Frost clings to your steps, a harbinger not of salvation, but of inevitability. You are winter eternal, untouched by flame, unyielding to chaos.]
That's the same, Maya noted. What about my Innate Ability?
Innate Ability: [Vanishing Thread].
Innate Ability Description: [In the quiet between moments, you become but a shadow to the world. The very air forgets your shape, the light hesitates at your edges. When you are still, it is as if you are neither here nor there, as if your presence were never meant to be.]
Okay, that's the same as well, Maya thought, sighing in relief. She had become rather dependent on her Innate Ability. It had saved her from getting noticed by humans and Nightmare Creatures alike. It was a boon in this hell.
If I ever have to become a spy or something, I'd be awesome for the job, she thought in amusement. Then, she continued studying her runes:
Aspect Ability: [Promised Storm].
Aspect Ability Description: [The Winter within you harbors the breath of an ancient, unyielding frost— a relic of primal storms, fierce and boundless.]
Maya's eyes narrowed. Huh...?
Her Aspect Ability had not changed but its description had been altered. Before, it had read 'Your soul harbors...' but now, it read 'The Winter within you harbors...'
Wait a minute... does that mean I no longer have a soul? she thought, panicking slightly. Was my soul destroyed?
It made sense. Her soul core, which was supposedly the visual representation of her soul, was destroyed and her Soul Sea was replaced by... this place, whatever it was.
Maya gulped, her throat turning dry. Okay, let's calm down... She tried to gather her thoughts, took a deep breath and considered the situation again.
Is it really that bad, though...? she thought, growing slightly more relaxed.
She recalled that she had lost the immunity to soul attacks. But now, even that made sense. If she didn't have a soul anymore, soul attacks were something that she was automatically immune to, even without an Attribute.
So, she concluded that she was right. Her soul had indeed been destroyed and replaced by something else.
Maya had no idea what that something was. Apparently, it was 'the Winter'. But she was just glad that she had survived despite her soul collapsing.
Maya also noticed that a different string of runes showing Winter's Burden was not there anymore. She had come to the conclusion that that string of runes told her how potent her summoned blizzard could be and how much area it could encompass.
It had grown quite strong as of late but she avoided unleashing it completely— at least until she was forced to do so. Which she never had been so far.
I guess I completed it, huh... Maya thought. The blizzard is as powerful as it can be.
She moved her gaze up towards her Memories. Come to think of it, even her Memories had been behaving differently ever since the 'transformation'. When she had summoned her sword earlier, it had woven itself out of a shimmer of frost and not out of the motes of light like it did before. It also had an icy sheen to it. That was new as well.
Memories: [Arcane Keystone], [Nightcarver], [Venom's Kiss], [Crown of Stillness].
Her Memories were nothing special. The Nightcarver was a decent sword which was an Awakened Memory of the Second Tier. She had gotten it during her First Nightmare after tricking and killing an Awakened Monster, Eclipse Wyrm. It was a curved longsword with a single, razor-sharp edge. She didn't really know how to use it, but she rarely depended on her skills to kill monsters.
The Venom's Kiss was a slender, double-edged dagger with a shimmering emerald blade. It was an Awakened Memory of the First Tier. This one had also come from her First Nightmare. After getting a good weapon like the Nightcarver, killing an Awakened Beast hadn't been too difficult.
Finally, there was the Crown of Stillness. It should've been the best Memory— well, one that could actually do something, at least— in her arsenal, considering that it was an Awakened Memory of the Fifth Tier. The final boss of her First Nightmare had been an Awakened Tyrant called the Eidolon Fiend.
The Tyrant had enthralled an entire village using mind attacks. Maya had discovered that liberating the villagers from the Fiend was actually her objective.
Luckily, she'd had some defense against mind attacks even as an Aspirant in the First Nightmare. She had managed to break free of the enthrallment and had even helped some other villagers to do the same. Some of them had been proper Awakened.
After that, they had killed the Tyrant together. It hadn't been too hard, because the Eidolon Fiend had had really weak physical defenses.
She had received the Crown of Stillness for that kill. However, it was entirely useless for her. The Crown of Stillness was a charm Memory that blessed its bearer with a decent resistance to mind attacks.
However, Maya was completely immune to them. So, this Memory held no value whatsoever to her.
But she'd had other plans for it. She had been planning on trading the Crown of Stillness with Changing Star when she saved the trio from the Soul Devourer. Well, at least, that had been her plan until she'd learnt about Arcadius, though.
However, she was no longer sure if she would be able to do that. Arcadius seemed hell-bent on not messing with the three Sleepers in any way. And he didn't seem like the type to be convinced too easily.
Who cares? I'll just ask Arcadius to trade me some of his Memories for this one, she thought. With how many monsters he's been killing, he's bound to have an armor-type Memory, right? At least, I hope he does. I haven't had proper clothing in like forever.
Maya had mostly avoided the Nightmare Creatures during the short time she had spent in the Dream Realm. She had killed some, but sadly none of them had given her even a single Memory. That was kind of annoying but there was nothing she could do about it.
Finally, she read the runes describing the Arcane Keystone. She wanted to know if the Ranks of her Memories had changed as well. After confirming that they had, she concluded that that was the reason why her Memories were behaving and looking different. Then, she moved on to the last thing she wanted to do.
Her Flaw. She suspected that it had changed as well. Because she remembered using her powers after she woke up, but she hadn't felt the usual searing rage and fury at all.
Flaw: [Ragebound.]
Flaw Description: [Fueled by your powers, the storm within you rages unchecked, tearing through all— yet in the harmony of kindred echoes, its fury wanes.]
She considered the altered description of her Flaw for a while. After a while, she sighed.
I guess I had to team up with him sooner or later, she thought. So, Arcadius is the 'kindred echo,' huh? In his presence, my Flaw will disappear. Maybe his is somewhat similar as well? Honestly, I hope it is...
Maya was a rather prideful person, so she despised making requests of or asking for help from someone. That's why she hoped that Arcadius also had a good enough reason to team up with her because she would hate to plead with the lunatic to let her join him.
As she was thinking this, she registered some footsteps close to her. She retreated from her... Winter? and looked in the direction where the sound was coming from. There, she saw Arcadius walking toward her. It looked like he had finally returned from his daily check up on the trio.