The ascent flight from the lower sky of the Chained Isles took some time—a few days by his calculation. However, after three days, he finally left that place.
The Black Steel Crow spread its wings, letting the fresh night breeze caress its feathers. The lightning that surrounded its body disappeared.
Ash, for his part, couldn't help but feel happy. Finally, after almost a year, he had returned. He had spent about seven months in the Forgotten Coast and about four months to leave that place and reach the Chained Isles.
He felt like a new man.
Observing the Chained Isles, Ash noticed an enormous metal armor hanging beneath an island, held solely by a chain wrapped around its leg.
If he remembered correctly, that was the Sun Prince with whom Cassie fought in her nightmare, crashing Noctis's ship against him.
Sitting on his echo's back, his gaze traveled across the numerous islands connected by different chains. He observed the island where there was a titanic iron hand, another where a damaged ship lay, then another with a forest burned long ago.
There were also two other empty islands, nothing more than wastelands of dead earth. Then there was his objective: the sanctuary where the portal was.
Using his sleeper ability, he thought of Sunny.
Fortunately for him, she wasn't anywhere in the Chained Isles or anywhere in the dream realm in general. That meant she had returned to the waking world.
Deactivating his ability, he ordered his echo to head toward the sanctuary.
Letting out a screech, it began to fly over the islands. Using electromagnetism, he could tell when an island was beginning its ascension phase, so he avoided them quickly by taking another island.
It took him about an hour of slow flight to reach the central island where the sanctuary was located.
The crow landed on the ground.
Getting off the crow, he sent it back to his sea of souls. Although for a moment, he could have sworn he saw a look that said: "Finally, this idiot doesn't need me," or something like that.
"Strange."
His echo was truly peculiar—more self-sufficient than other echoes and possessed personality.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he raised his face, observing a beautiful moon, as well as a sea of stars adorning the night sky.
Ash began to walk, listening to the sound of running water.
From what he knew, Noctis's sanctuary was the home of the ancient Western Sorcerer, as well as an eccentric. At some point in the past, it was a refuge that accepted all those tired of the combat between Solvane and Sevras.
At some point, Noctis started a war against the other Chain Lords, killing them. And with that, the Demon of Hope, imprisoned for a thousand years, was freed, marking the beginning of the War of the End.
However, Ash thought about how Noctis could have killed the other immortal Chain Lords if he didn't possess the knives that carried their deaths.
He must have received some kind of help from someone or something to do it. Something with enough power to ignore the immortality granted by a true God.
"Did Weaver help him?"
Weaver was the Demon of Fate. He could have seen the future and intervened to ensure Noctis killed the Chain Lords with some of his help, but why would he do that?
Feeling a headache coming on, he decided to file that thought away for another time.
Stopping at a stone post, he observed a bell which he rang.
After waiting a while, he heard a whistle in the darkness of the night.
Soon after, he walked along the path leading to the sanctuary.
After taking a brief, bored glance at the sanctuary, Ash walked toward the altar, completely ignoring the black knife.
Entering a park, Ash approached the pool of crystalline water, stepping onto the path that led to the altar island.
After walking for a few seconds, he arrived in front of the white altar beneath a tree.
Extending his hand, he touched the altar. The white marble was cold to the touch, but Ash felt it.
His vision filled with light, followed by a slight dizziness.
The next moment, he was inside his sea of souls to receive his new ability and be able to freely use his essence.
---
Just like his first nightmare, Ash felt something inside him awaken. He felt this strange power awakening from within his soul, rather than from an external source. It was a pleasant sensation that ran through his entire body and transformed it.
He could feel his energy circulating throughout his body, transforming and strengthening him. It was a sensation similar to what he experienced each time he received a soul fragment, only a thousand times stronger.
Ash closed his eyes, letting himself be guided by that sensation.
After what could be considered a long moment, Ash felt complete. Slowly, that sensation faded away, and he felt his mind much calmer than before.
Ash exhaled slowly and opened his eyes.
He could feel his body with new energy. He felt stronger, faster, more agile. He felt like he was surrounded by mist but without actually being in it.
While Ash reflected on his new strength, he heard a strong, clear voice as if resonating everywhere.
[Aspect Ability Awakened...]
[Aspect ability acquired.]
[Ability Name: Ghostly Body]
Ash blinked upon hearing his ability. Immediately, he invoked the runes.
Name: Ashfall
True Name: Dream of Oblivion
Rank: Awakened
Class: Monster
Soul Core: [2/7]
Soul Fragments: [414/2000]
Four hundred fragments—that was all he had managed to gather in his months of travel, which disappointed him. He had at least expected to have around a thousand of them.
Ash observed his new ability.
Aspect Ability: [Ghostly Body]
Ability Description: [You can detach yourself from the material world and move freely between the material]
Ash frowned upon reading those runes.
If he based it solely on the ability's name, he could literally become a ghost. He could float, pass through people, or even weapons. It was like being intangible.
Snapping out of his thoughts due to the spell's voice, he heard it.
[Awaken, Ashfall]
The next instant, in his sea of souls always covered in mist, a flash of light occurred.
When he opened his eyes again, he was inside the capsule he had entered almost a year ago.
Immediately, Ash used his awakened ability.
Feeling a kind of detachment, he stood up, completely exiting the capsule. Not only that, but he could even float and move freely without the need for a foothold.
Although the amount of essence that action consumed was quite large.
He calculated that if he used it continuously, he could last about ten full minutes. And if used in short intervals, he could last a few hours.
Ash summoned his armor, realizing he had been naked.
While the armor was weaving itself, Ash looked at his appearance. He was now nothing more than a kind of humanoid entity covered in ghostly gray mist with barely any human features.
"This is terrifying," he thought to himself.
Just as he was about to decide to stop using his ability, the door opened and a woman wearing a white coat entered.
The woman looked around the room, looking at the empty capsule with confusion. However, upon feeling an unsettling chill, she raised her face slightly and, when she did, her eyes widened with terror.
Ash let out a sigh, deactivating his awakened ability, returning to normal and feeling once again how he was tethered to the material plane.
Ash cleared his throat, feeling it a bit scratchy from not speaking with another living being for months.
His echo didn't count because it couldn't speak beyond emitting metallic screeches.
"Uh... hello? I'm sorry for scaring you, miss."
The woman, upon seeing that he was no longer a specter pulled from the worst nightmares, managed to calm down a bit and recover her professional composure.
"Sleep... Awakened Ashfall? Sir, are you awake?"
Ash nodded.
"I think so. I've been asleep for at least about ten months, after all."
The doctor or nurse smiled, looking at him with an expression of relief and happiness on her face.
A few moments later, she said with sincere joy:
"Welcome back to the real world, sir!"
---
Since Ash had awakened four months after the massive awakening that occurred in the Forgotten Coast, there were no other awakened ones on the day he did, so the process had been quite fast.
He simply waited about twenty minutes before his interview.
Ash was guided to a room where he would have his interview.
Upon entering, he observed a man with a cordial and pleasant appearance, with a professional smile on his face.
"Good evening. My name is Tet, and I will be your interviewer today, Awakened Dream of Oblivion," said Tet without looking at the open file.
"You can call me Ashfall, but some call me Ash... though Awakened Ash, I suppose that works now."
The interviewer nodded, noting something on his tablet.
"I'll ask you a series of questions about your experience in the dream realm. The purpose of this information session is to enrich our growth in this regard, as well as to know how to better help you in the future. Any information you can provide could be useful for future dreamers in their own trials, but of course, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"I understand. I can say what I know," Ash responded.
"Well, I suppose I fell into a place we call the Forgotten Coast," said Ash.
The interviewer's eyes widened slightly.
"You come from the Forgotten Coast? The same one where hundreds of awakened ones came from a few months ago?"
"Yes... it's a dangerous place—or well, it was."
"Can you specify?"
Ash was silent for a moment.
"Well, I was in the final battle against the Crimson Spire, fighting on the front lines. Combat, fighting against the abominations to reach the spire. When I arrived with other sleepers, the Crimson Spire was collapsing due to the falling sun. When everyone left, I tried to leave but couldn't—the portal had been destroyed, and with it, the spire. The Forgotten Coast, upon losing its sun somehow, became a dark and lonely land." Ash paused, cutting out a lot of information.
"In the end, I don't remember much. Maybe I lost my mind a little before coming back to myself. I found a portal and used it to return," he concluded his account.
The interviewer nodded, adding information to the tablet.
"If you participated in the battles against those nightmare creatures, how many have you killed?"
"Hm. Well, I lost count after number one hundred."
The interviewer was surprised by that for a moment before continuing with the interview, asking him other types of questions, which he answered.
After the interview, he had to undergo a series of medical and psychological tests, followed by an extensive interrogation.
After a series of long tests, Ash finally had time for himself. He had returned from the dream realm around dawn, and it was sunrise when all the tests they had to do were finished.
The only thing left was to decide which citadel he would go to.
In his last meeting, he had been with a government awakened one who informed him about his duties as an awakened one, as well as receiving the status of a Sixth Rank citizen.
His file had been marked as Strategic Asset. An important rank since it represented humanity's future.
Of course, if he wanted, he could have obtained the highest status, but he decided not to.
First, he didn't want to be marked as SS. Second, he didn't want the clans trying to convince him to join them.
And finally, he didn't have much interest in meeting the group. If the news became public that there were only five currently, and if there was one more and they saw his name, they would look for him.
So he stayed with the S designation. There were at least a dozen awakened ones with the same designation as him.
Right now, all eyes were focused on someone else: Shifting Star and her faction, the Fire Guardians.
Holding back the urge to laugh, Ash decided it was time to enjoy a good meal from the cafeteria before going to request asylum at the academy until he gathered enough money to buy his own house.