Weak.
Lucien felt weak. Weaker than he'd ever been, weaker than he had been since the beginning of his existence.
It was wrong, the entire world felt wrong, different from what he was used to. Something had changed about it. Or maybe it was him who was changed.
His senses felt dulled, only a fraction of what they were supposed to be. Even his movements had grown sluggish. He raised his wings to flap and….
Where were his wings?
…
When had he ever had wings?
Lucien's mind cleared up just enough to pay attention to his thoughts. What was going on?
With a groan, he pushed himself up. The weakness was going away, yet he was not growing stronger. No, why would he? His body had never lost its strength; his mind had simply overestimated it for some reason.
Or had it?
Lucien shook his head. What was wrong with him? His whole body felt weird to him, as if it were a stranger. But that feeling didn't last very long.
All of this had happened after he chose to bind Nightveil to his soul. The spell had even glitched out when he did that. Frowning, he summoned the runes for his attributes.
Attributes:[T???l??s], [Ember of Divinity], [The T?m??s?], [Stormborn], [Retainer of Darkness], [Eyes of the Beholder], [Fountain of Knowledge], [Visor of the Underworld]
"Huh, so thats what soulbound does." He whispered under his breath. The enchantments of Nightveil had become new attributes. But more importantly.
What the fuck was going on with his divine lineage?
[The T?m??s?] Attribute Description: The divine blood that once flowed through these veins has been tainted by the touch of Darkness.
What do you mean it's been tainted?! It's the blood of a god for crying out loud!
Was that why he felt so strange all of a sudden? Why his way of thinking had changed so drastically?
Lucien grit his teeth and glared at Goliath, "What the hell was that about?"
The stone saint slowly tilted his head, "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean," Lucien said scathingly, "That mask did something to me, tainted my divine lineage."
Standing up, Lucien came face to face with the child of Nether, "You were tasked with making sure that I bind the mask to my soul. You knew this would happen."
The goliath stared at him for a second before slowly nodding.
"You are correct. The mask was one of the few relics left behind by my maker in an attempt to pass on his lineage."
Lucien's face slackened, the anger dissipating as he processed the words. "Nether's…lineage?"
"Yes, the Daemons were forbidden from passing on their lineages, you see. The gods made sure of that."
But then, how did he receive Nether's Lineage? Did he even receive a lineage? All the mask did was alter the lineage he already had, not give him a new one. Tainted it with Darkness, as the spell said.
The goliath continued, "However, that didn't stop Nether. He was a creator of things after all. If he could pass down his lineage biologically, he'd simply have to artificially create one."
"The mask," Lucien whispered, "That's its true purpose."
Come to think of it, there was one enchantment the spell refused to translate. Lucien did find it strange how a divine relic of the sixth tier only had four enchantments. He had originally assumed that it was because of the strength of the enchantments. But if one of them held an entire artificial lineage, no wonder it was of the sixth tier. In fact, Lucien was surprised it had any other enchantments at all.
"It is but the first step," The saint said, breaking Lucien's line of thought. "You've received but a fragment of his lineage. You'll have to find the other relics and bind with them to complete it."
Lucien raised an eyebrow, "And if I refuse to do that?"
The saint stared at him for a moment before chuckling in its own strange way. "You have already taken the first step on this path, like it or not. There is no going back."
A shiver ran down Lucien's spine. "What do you mean there's no going back?"
The stone saint just shook his head and said:
"Pack your things, it's time you leave."
"Hey, answer me!"
But the goliath was already gone.
"At least I can leave now." Lucien muttered and began storing his belongings in the soul sack.
Still, what exactly had happened to him? He didn't feel any different, not physically at least. His mind had taken the brunt of it, having completely changed his thought process for a minute. Thankfully he was able to break out of that.
He felt as if his mind had been opened, as if an invisible pressure that was forcing him down had finally been vanquished. He felt…free.
As he got to the workstation, his gaze fell onto the runes inscribed onto his notebook, and a tidal wave of new information crashed into his mind. Information about the runes, what they meant, how they worked, and even the way it was connected to the spell.
The main purpose of the gateways was to inform the spell to force an awakening. The moment a sleeper activated its enchantment, the spell would activate and force them to awaken. During that process, the body of the sleeper would be taken into a space between realms to be appraised. It was due to this that they were sent back to their physical bodies, so that the changes can take place both spiritually and physically.
For once, Lucien was not overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the information. The runes had been burned into his mind by now, even though he didn't know how to speak them.
Out of curiosity, he tore one of the pages out of the notebook and inscribed the rune of travel on it.
And then, he hurled it towards the door.
The sheet of paper cut through the air, closing the distance in a split second and stopped right infront of the stone gate.
Lucien stared at the piece of paper as it floated down to the ground. Had…had he just performed sorcery?
Did he just learn runic sorcery?
Not too long ago, he could barely understand the foreign letters. And now he was able to replicate them, albeit on a much smaller scale. His piece of paper did not slip between realms after all.
The [Eyes of the Beholder] enchantment had grown much more potent after binding with the mask. But Lucien suspected there was more to it than that. For one, the mask itself did nothing to help with his capability to understand sorcery. Sure it would help him understand it, but he would still be overwhelmed with even the smallest information about them. And now all of a sudden, none of that affected him?
Binding the mask to his soul would not do that much. That only left…the lineage.
It made sense, Nether was a creator of things after all. For his lineage to help him understand these complex topics…it was quite fitting. It almost made Lucien want to find the remaining pieces of Nether's lineage. Almost.
Lucien scoffed, like hell he was going to follow a daemons plan. His mood now soured, he shoved the rest of his belongings into the sack and headed towards the gate.
The goliath was already waiting for him there, his face betraying no emotion as he guided him through the tunnel.
"So how are we going to do this?" Lucien asked, finally breaking the silence. "I mean it's not like we're just gonna fly on piece of stone all the way."
The child of Nether stayed silent and continued walking forward.
Lucien grew pale, "Can I do anything to persuade you not to do that?"
Once again, he received no answer.
Cursing under his breath, Lucien silently followed the goliath, failing to notice the shadow of a smile on its face.
That was exactly how they traversed the mountains. Lucien had grown used to it, having used this method of travel to reach his hunting grounds for the past few months. Still, he was not confident in traversing through the mountains like this. Especially through the maze of mist.
But the maze never came, nor did the river. The path they were taking conveniently skipped both of those places, and before long, they reached the edge of the mountains.
Lucien stared at the crack in the stone, wide enough for one person to squeeze through. Bright light bled through the opening, bathing the cavern in its light.
After all this while, he was finally free. As he peeked out through the crack, a sudden thought flashed by his mind.
Glancing back at his captor, Lucien asked: "Say, if I were to return with hundreds of other sleepers, would you guide us back to the citadel?"
If he could bring the sleepers of the Dark City back to Nethers Citadel, they wouldn't have to fight a Fallen Terror to escape.
The goliath looked at him strangely for a while before saying, "No, find your own way back."
"Oh come on, couldn't you help just a bit?"
"I refuse."
Lucien stared at him and sighed, "Fine."
It didn't matter, even if the goliath didn't help them, he didn't say he'd stop them. And with some luck, they could probably retrace their original route and reach the citadel on their own.
Yes, that was a better alternative than the spire.
With that, he reached out and squeezed his way through the crack and out into the real world. And instantly regretted it as the light assaulted his eyes like a pair of daggers.
It took Lucien a while to get used to the light of the sun. He had grown so used to the darkness of the mountain that the memory of sunlight had almost faded.
The first thing he did after reorienting himself, was to spread his storm sense outwards. He'd hate to be caught off guard by a nightmare creature this soon after regaining his freedom.
Fortunately for him, there were no abominations nearby. Finally allowing himself to relax, Lucien took in a deep breath of the fresh air. It had been way to long since he was outside.
Now that he was out, there was one thing he wanted to try. With his newfound control over the wind, he wondered could he fly?
Spreading his arms wide, Lucien closed his eyes. He felt the wind around him, taking in the feeling of being surrounded by it. Slowly, his will bled out of him, forcing itself on the free breeze.
Then, the wind picked up, lifting his hair up and making his clothes flutter as it grew stronger and stronger. The wind moved under him, pushing him up and forcing his feet to leave the ground. For a moment, he was weightless.
His mouth twisted into a grin, and he opened his eyes. He was flying!
And then, his concentration wavered, and the wind suddenly stopped, dropping him on the ground again. But it didn't matter; he had proven it was possible. Now, all he had to do was master it.
With a grin still plastered on his face, he began his journey through the coral labyrinth. It was time to go home.