A teenage girl with long raven hair sat across the room with her eyes closed. Her legs were crossed and her arms rested motionlessly on her folded knees.
She drifted across the vast darkness of her consciousness, looking for the Trace Rune.
It was quite difficult, considering the state she was in. She had bruises on her beautiful, pure face, and even more bruises were beginning to heal on her arm. She did not feel like giving up though, so she continued giving it her all.
The vast chasm of darkness welcomed her like an old friend. She felt safer, away from the clutches of reality, but she also knew better. She knew that the freedom she felt was nothing but an illusion, a fleeting one at that.
Once she connected with the Trace Rune and activated the system, her freedom will be gone, and suffering will begin all over again. She had thought about it for quite some time – what she would do with her abilities that is – and the answer is always the same.
Even though she knew the freedom she craved came at a cost, she really did not care anymore. The world can go screw itself. And that ghoul along with it. She hoped for miraculous powers that would help her in her search for freedom.
And possibly something else.
The darkness was calm and soothing, she even forgot what she was looking for. She drifted in the vast expanse of her consciousness, but did not find anything in the end.
The Noise felt like a distance reminder of her existence. She somehow found solace in it. Hearing the Noise – no matter how feint it was – meant you are alive, even if you lose yourself to your own mind, you can always anchor yourself back to the world with the Noise.
She continued searching and searching, after what seemed to have been an eternity, she finally found something in the darkness. It looked like a rift in the fabric of her consciousness, assaulting her mind with a screams and cries of the distant past.
As she floated closer to the rift, the Noise got even worse. He mind was reeling in pain, but it did not matter. Nothing did. Not when her salvation was that close. Her body shifted slightly, responding to the assault.
She finally got close enough to the rift and realized that the rift was not actually that, but it was a long string or thread, that floated silently in the darkness.
It was earthreal and breathtaking, its mere sight capable of sending one's mind into a frenzy. But she remained unfazed, because she knew what she had to do. She reached out to the rune and grabbed it with all her will, and watched as something else happened.
The rune began to rearrange itself and form intricate patterns that should not be transcribed by mere mortals, but she found herself understanding them just fine. It was as if her mind had known them somewhere. As if she had seen them in a distant dream.
Or nightmare...
The ancient symbols weaved them into existence and she watched the whole process occur. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen – and she had seen quite beautiful things.
Even the pain from the Noise subsided a bit, leaving her thoughts muddy and hazy from the pain. She focused on the symbols in from of her, dismissing any form of distraction in her mind. She faintly heard screams around her, but did not even spare a single glance. Just continued with her form.
The symbols finished weaving in front of her and so she relied on her mind to translate them for her. After reading no more than four lines, she almost fell to the ground. What she read was simply unbelievable.
The runes read:
Host: Nyx
Title: Angel of Desolation
Rank: Commonality
Tier: 5
Potential: [Transformation Ability]
Attributes: [Scarred] , [Stalwart]
Abilities: [Voice of Cataclysm]
Affinities: –
Soul Core: Dormant
Essence: 0/2000
Vigor: 12%
A soft sigh escaped her lips. As she was attempting to process all the information, she heard another voice in her head. It was smooth and melodious, almost enchanting.
[You have awakened your abilities and accessed the Weave. Do you wish to summon all the runes?]
***
It was chaos all around the room. There was a lot happening, so much that the three women who guided them were forced to activate their abilities. They even called for reinforcements even though there was a Gentry among them.
That is how grave the situation was.
More than a dozen awakened had succumbed to the Noise, and Corrupted monsters were wrecking havoc in the not-so-spacious-anymore room. It felt like the walls were caving in.
It seemed Master Rossa had failed to explain the gravity of the whole situation, and let them figure it out themselves. A lot of the newly awakeners had already failed to suppress the Noise, and when they came into contact with the Trace Rune, the Noise became unbearable.
The Trace Rune is not just a manifestation of the Eplialtic Weave, it is also a scar left behind by the Nightmare, and also the source of the Noise. Humans have asked themselves for the longest time where the Noise came from, but no one really knew.
It was pretty common knowledge that the Noise original came with Chaos Creatures, but no matter how matter they killed, the Noise did not stop. It only got worse. Until a few experiments were done under a single theory: what if the Noise lived in the mind of every single being?
The experiment was indeed successful. It was determined that the Trace Rune is not just a scar, it is also the source of the Noise. The echoing sounds of one's Nightmare.
It was later concluded that is important as much as it is dangerous. The Trace Rune contains echoes of the distant past buried deep in one's mind, and all the secrets that come with them. That is precisely how the Nightmare survivor's mind is capable of translating the ancient symbols.
Gentry Rossa did not specify that getting that close to the Trace Rune was dangerous, and the chances of becoming Corrupted are inevitably high. She had probably assumed that it was common knowledge, but she failed to account for the fact that in the world they lived in, not everyone could afford even that level of knowledge.
And so more that a dozen awakened lost their sanity to the Noise, and their lives to her hands. The burden of their deaths would rest heavily on her shoulders, for as long as she lived.
It was not that she had never been forced to do it before, it was just that it was the first time a culling of that magnitude had to take place. More still were losing their sanity to the Noise, and even more awakened lost their lives.
It left a bitter taste in her mouth, knowing very well how much they needed newly risen Commonalities in the desperate fight agaist Chaos and its creatures. She was probably in a lot of trouble.
There were still a few dozen awakened focused and unmoving on the floor. They gave her hope because she knew they had not easily succumbed to the Noise, but her hope was shattered immediately when the Corrupted stopped attacking her and went for the awakened instead.
She tried protecting them with all her might, but she still lost a startling number of Commonalities each moment, and more were succumbing to the Noise.
She had never seen so much chaos and blood in that room before. Being a Gentry had allowed her to be arrogant, and now she was overwhelmed. She looked around the room and frowned.
Less than a dozen awakened remained on the ground motionless, unaware of the calamity all around them. That is the most dangerous thing about clarity, you lose the perception of the world around you. Her assistants were bloodied and battered – they were mere Commonalities after all – and they would not be able to protect them much longer.
So she made a choice.
She was going awaken them whether they managed to unlock their abilities or not, and send them to the next trial.
***
Luke was still processing the runes he had just seen, when three more appeared at the very end.
Soul Core: Dormant
Essence: 0/2000
Vigor: 8%
He had somewhat of an idea what the last three runes meant. His soul core was still dormant considering that he has not killed a single creature since awakening, and so has not accumulated any Essence.
The Essence had a count, so he reasoned that is he reached [2000/2000], he would awaken his soul core. Whenever that would be.
The goal felt so far away, he was starting to doubt if awakening his abilities was a good idea. He still has not backed down on the running away part though. He was definitely leaving that place after accessing his ability.
He was still silently drifting across the silent expanse of his consciousness – unaware of the world around him – when suddenly, he was jerked out by some powerful force. His whole body shuddered as he was forced back to his senses.
He bolted up, and rolled a few meters across the floor. He opened his eyes and winced when the bright lights assaulted his eyes. He looked around and paled.
He was still confused, but when he saw the chaos all around him, his mind just went blank. Dozens of monsters were engaged in a fierce battle with the three instructors. He saw pools of blood everywhere. Mangled bodies littered the floor, belonging to both the creatures and the awakened.
'What the hell happened here?'
Somehow he knew exactly what had happened, but his mind chose to remain ignorant for one simple reason. He was immune to the Noise, and thus incorruptable. He did not really need to understand the logistics of Corruption.
He just needed to find a way out.
He had to survive no matter the cost.
He looked around, searching for a way out. His vision was still blurry, but he was able to see that attempting to go through the door was suicide. He would have to transverse the entire spacious room filled with Corrupted monsters, and he still had no idea how to use his Ability.
He saw something else in the room though, behing where he was currently kneeling on the floor. It was blue and spherical in shape, it almost seemed like it was moving. Before he could comprehend what he was seeing, something violently grabbed him by the arm and shoved him into the blue rift in space.
And then he was someplace else.