Elizabeth now lay in bed, watching a show as she yawned. She had put on a show so boring that she knew it would help her sleep.
'Dang… this show really is my insomnia remedy.'
She had not felt this close to sleep since the Nightmare Spell had taken her. Now that she thought about it, when was the last time she had actually slept properly?
The sun had already set, leaving her looking like a woman in her mid-thirties. Her clothes had been a problem until she found some old ones in her mom's room. She did not hesitate to help herself, wearing the most comfortable ones she could find.
She felt herself being drawn to sleep before her communicator vibrated.
'Ugh, who the hell calls at this time.'
She thought of ignoring it for a moment, then realized that the only contacts she had registered were Mael, Jennifer, and Tessie. Of course, her family would never contact her, they never did, so it had to be Tessie.
She strained herself to get up from her sitting position and reached for it, and like she expected, it was Tessie.
"Yeah, what's up," she said while yawning.
"Liz! I did it! I got you the sponsorship! Heck, even your deal managed to pass through!"
Elizabeth yawned again. "That's… great, Tessie, but mind if I catch some zzz's?"
The other side was quiet for a moment before Tessie sighed.
"Fine, I'll make this quick. Before you fall asleep, can you look over the list of Memories I'll send and choose the one you like? You get an extra pick for a Dormant one. Select it and I'll bring it by tomorrow."
Elizabeth nodded to no one. "Sure, sure, I will."
Before she could cut the call, Tessie continued, "Also, tomorrow there will be someone to verify if you truly have a True Name."
That snapped Elizabeth out of her drowsiness instantly.
"Someone will come to check?" she repeated.
"Yeah, I believe you, but the House of Night wants to be certain. Those bastards, after working with them for years...they still don't trust me."
Elizabeth frowned. How exactly would they confirm if she had a True Name?
"How… exactly does that process work?"
Tessie chuckled. "Oh, nothing too crazy. A True Name is heavily related to a sense of self and the soul. You just have to say it out loud, and the person will be able to tell if it's real or not."
Elizabeth felt relieved. She had been afraid someone would read her runes and see more than they should.
"… Okay, sure. I'll send you a list of the Memories I want."
"Great, good nigh—"
Before Tessie could finish, Elizabeth had already cut off communication.
She hurriedly opened the list of Memories Tessie had sent her, trying to get it done as fast as possible so she didn't lose the drowsiness.
'Oh wow....'
The list was quite long. At a glance, she could already see more than fifty Memories, and as she looked through more, she estimated there were around three hundred. This had to be the selection pool for sponsored candidates, Otherwise there was no way this was the full amount of memories a great legacy clan had.
She scrolled through a few. Each Memory had a short description of, its rank, tier, and enchantments. The enchantments were detailed, explaining exactly what the Memory did so she knew what she was picking.
After scrolling for a while, she found a few she liked, most of them were weapon types, and few others were echoes, but she sighed.
'I already have a solid arsenal of weapon type Memories...but maybe an echo...'
She shook her head. What she needed right now was armour, with a flaw like hers, she didn't really want to wander around the dream realm naked until she killed a nightmare creature that gave her an armour.
She scrolled again and found a few she liked, but one attracted her gaze more than the others.
Memory: [Broken Promise].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: II.
Memory Type: Armor.
Memory Description: [The armor of a knight who could not keep his vow to the love of his life. The only thing that reminded him of her was the very armor he wore when he first saved her.]
Memory Enchantments: [Knight's Honor], [Broken Promise].
Enchantments:[Knight's Honor]
Enchantment Description: [When fighting a monster stronger than you, fear does not take root in your mind, your mind is constantly cleared of any doubt.]
Enchantments [Broken Promise]
Enchantment Description: [When you make a promise and uphold it, the armor becomes more durable.]
'Not bad… not bad at all. But is this really the best armor?'
Out of the three hundred Memories, only thirty were armor type, which was disappointing, but she understood why. Armor was more valuable than weapons, it was the core of survival for many awaken. People kept good armor for themselves and sold what they deemed useless.
That was why the one she was looking at was the best she had found among the others.
She selected it and added it to her cart.
'Now for a Dormant Memory…'
Dormant Memories were not known for their power, but that did not reduce their usefulness.
'What do I lack…'
She thought for a few seconds, trying to figure out what would help her survive the Dream Realm the most.
'A tool type… preferably storage...but they are quite rare.'
She searched for it, but there were none, she sighed in disappointment.
'Then… a charm?'
She looked through the charm selection but none of them were good, suddenly her eyes widened.
'How… was this even sold?'
Memory: [Destined Death].
Memory Rank: Dormant.
Memory Tier: I.
Memory Type: Charm.
Memory Description:[Once worn by a worshiper of Shadow, known for their luck and ability to avoid death.]
Memory Enchantment: [Death Sense].
Enchantment Description: [Detects danger and senses when something near the user dies.]
'This is exactly what I need.'
It was a shame she could not get a storage Memory, but this was better. In two months she would enter the Dream Realm, and being able to sense danger was essential.
She added it to her cart and sent the list to Tessie.
Luckly the feeling of drowsiness had not disapeared, she layed in her bed feeling drowsiness consume her, she set her communicator aside, and for the first time in what felt like forever, she let sleep take her.
********
In the morning, she woke up in the body of a ten year old.
'So… it really is random.'
What she had feared had happened.She had already started to suspect since last night when she had looked like a woman in her mid thirties, unlike the night before when she looked closer to fifty.
'Meaning… there's a chance I could wake up as a baby.'
Shivers ran down her spine.
How would she fight in the body of a baby? Right now the best solution she could think of would be to have to rely on others or find a way to fight as one.
She kept wracking her brain as she took public transport to the port.
A few people seemed glanced at her with worry. At first, she thought it was because of her baggy clothes, but then the gazes started to shift into something else, something she recoginzed.
'…Are these creeps actually attracted to a kid?'
The looks of some people around her were full of desire, as if enchanted by her.
'I dare them to step forward...They won't even know how they died.'
Then she slowly noticed something odd, there eyes where unfouced as if they where not complelty aware that they had been staring to long. As the number of gazes increased she noticed something else, wether it was a men, a women, young, or old, They where all staring at her to the point it made her uncomfortable.
She frowned, already starting to get ideas of why.
She summoned her runes and reread one of her Attributes.
[Siren of the Sea].
'Sea sirens possess unmatched beauty. Their allure draws all beings toward them…So that's what's happening.'
She never really liked this Attribute. Not only did it put her in danger, now it was causing another problem for her.
'How annoying..'
She sighed and pulled her oversized hoodie lower over her face, and slowly, the gazes faded.
A few hours later, she arrived at the port. Tessie was waiting for her at their meeting spot, next to a red haired woman with a strange aura around her at a glance she could tell she was an a awakened, but the slight pressuer she felt from her told her she was not an average one.
"I am here." She said, Tessie nodded while giving her a strange look then pointed at the woman next to her "Liz...this is Master Leeve, she will be the one who checks if you truly have a true name."
'So… she's an Ascendant.'
She raised her hand intenting to shake hers only for the woman to look at it and tilted her head.
"You will die."
Elizabeth was taken aback.
Tessie was quiet for a moment before sighing. "That's not why I brought you here, Master Leeve. Please focus."
Leeve blinked, then blushed heavily. "Oh, sorry....I didn't mean to say that."
Her expression shifted again turning colder. "I meant what I said. With a flaw like that, she will end up helpless in the Dream Realm. Hence, she will die."
Elizabeth frowned and looked at Tessie. "…Is that some sort of flaw?"
"Not...exactly," Tessie said.
Leeve sighed, and her expersion shifted again as she smiled brightly. "Can we just do our job already? I want to sleep."
Her expression shifted again, filled with anger. "Yes, yes, Joy is right. We should finish this quickly."
Elizabeth watched as the woman argued with herself getting more confused by the second.
Tessie sighed and touched her shoulder. "Ignore her. Just tell her your True Name and she'll confirm it, then she will leave."
Leeve went quiet. Her expression became aloof once more. "Yes, that's right."
Elizabeth sighed. "Well, my True Name is—"
A small pressure descended upon her. She looked around and found herself in a red dome that surrounded them.When she looked at Leeve she noticed a faint glow in her eye.
"Continue."
For some reason, it got harder to talk, and she felt like she had to push the words out hard to be able to talk.
"My....True Name is Siren of the Last Haven."
Leeve closed her eyes briefly and then smiled.
"She did not lie."
The red dome vanished, and Elizabeth felt the pressure disappear.
"She truly has a True Name as a Sleeper," Leeve muttered, then smiled widely. "Who cares, she'll die anyway."
"Yes, yes, she will! hahahah..."
Before she could spiral into another outburst, Tessie tapped her shoulder.
"Now that you've confirmed it, you can leave," Tessie said.
Leeve nodded and walked away, before she started sprinting for a moment before slowing down again.
'What a weird woman…'
Elizabeth made a mental note to avoid her if she ever saw her again.
"She's right, you know," Tessie said.
Elizabeth turned to her.
"With a flaw like yours, turning into a random age every morning is dangerous...you could really di-"
Tessie ruffled her hair not wanting to finsh her sentence. "..I thought you'd at least keep yesterday's appearance every time you regressed, that would have been more manageable."
Elizabeth had thought the same but a flaw was meant to be inconvenient, it was never easy to find a way to deal with it.
"It is what it is, Tess. I'll find a way....I have to."
Tessie nodded and smiled, tapping her shoulder.
Warmth flooded Elizabeth's soul.
[You have received a Memory.]
[You have received a Memory.]
"These are the Memories you picked."
Elizabeth summoned her runes and saw them.
"Thank you."
"The shards should arrive when you reach the academy."
Elizabeth nodded before being pulled into a hug.
"Take care, okay? I'll be busy this month, but contact me if you need to."
Elizabeth smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."
She readjusted her bag and walked toward the entrance.
"Well… I'll see you later."