Seren landed outside the keep with a thud. He stood and quickly brushed the dust off himself.
'What an interesting fellow, that Forgotten Lord is.'
Since he had been told to report to what he assumed were officials who helped the Lord, he decided to find them. Wherever they lived.
He asked some of the creatures about where he could find Frail, and after wandering around, lost because a Husk had misled him, he noticed a building made of wood and bone on the uppermost level, known as the Ghost Level. A sign hung over the doorway, covered in scratch marks, which Seren could read. It said: "Occupancy Office".
Inside was a desk made from bone and wood, with a beast hide stretched over the floor. A skull with fire inside illuminated the room. A frail and gaunt figure sat at the desk, looking over paper. On the desk was a placard that read: "Frail. Occupant Official."
As Seren closed the door, Frail's eyes shot up to look at him. His facial features were dried onto his bones, and his lipless mouth parted.
"Hello. I am Frail, and I manage people living in the Bone Bastion. You must be new."
He sifted through his papers.
"May I have your name, good sir?"
"Neres."
He wrote some things down on the paper, using blood as ink.
"Okay, Neres. You will live in the Bone Level, which is the first one, in the building that has a black roof. Should be right by the stairs with a nice view of the sunset. Here is your proof of residency, and please head over to Tan down the path to be registered to officially live here. Have a wonderful stay."
He handed Seren a piece of paper and waved him out.
After reading his proof of residence, Seren walked down the path and saw another building, this one with a sign that read: "Registration."
Inside was an almost identical table and lamp, but a sun-bleached, gaunt ghoul was behind the desk, with a placard that stated his name was Tan.
Seren cleared his throat.
"Hello. I am Neres, and I'm new here, looking for official registration."
"Yes, yes... I'll help you withthat. Thank you for giving me your name, but what is your Rank and Class?"
"Awakened Monster."
"Give me your proof of residency."
Tan took the paper Seren offered him.
"Yes, yes... It's done."
He handed Seren back his proof of residency, now bearing a stamp on it.
"Have a good time, and find Skelly in the Blood Level. Should be a circle of dirt by the west side."
***
'I never could've guessed that Nightmare Creatures were intelligent enough to speak, let alone form complicated societies like this one.'
Seren was amazed at the level of organization within the Bone Bastion. Most of the Nightmare Creatures who live there are Beasts and Monsters, with Monsters capable of elementary speech in some form. Poor Beasts had few ways to communicate, so they were kept in less humane conditions.
He wandered around curiously, observing all the Nightmare Creatures milling around. Some were bartering for their favorite foods, some were fighting or extorting weaker ones, and others stood around, looking for an opportunity to steal.
The only order where the Forgotten Lords' minions, skeleton-like Fallen Monsters bound in heavy steel armor, eyes covered by a piece of cloth. They patrolled the streets to make sure that everybody was abiding by the rules of their host and paying their 'rent'.
Seren stuck to the shadows of the busy paths and makeshift tents to avoid trouble, all while in awe. Humans knew some about Nightmare Creatures, but this was the first time any Awakened had seen different types coexisting together.
'I could be rich if I wrote an exploration report! If only I weren't corrupted. If only I could travel to the waking world to submit.'
Seren sighed, then had a flash of thought.
'What if I can return to the waking world? Does the spell still consider me an Awakened? Maybe, as I retained by Aspect and Memories after corruption.'
To test that theory, Seren would have to find a gateway or ascend by challenging a Nightmare alone, if he were still on the path to ascension.
His thoughts had carried him towards a circle of cleared space, put off to the side, that read: "Training" in the language of the residents. Inside the circle, where haybales and planks of wood lay scattered around, and training dummies stood, beaten and broken. A skeleton stood in the center of the space, carefully arranging wooden weapons in a stack. He turned around to face Seren as he approached, even though he made no noise.
"You there. Must be new. I'm Skelly. Training instructor."
"I'm Neres."
"This place for practice. Please take test for evaluation of skill."
"What do I have to do?"
"Use all ability, and tell me what it is. I recomend job, and Nex help you find job. Show me."
He motioned towards the dummies.
"Use wood weapon. Unless yous have claw?"
"No."
Seren picked up a wooden dagger and faced the dummies. A perfect opportunity to test exactly what his Awakened Ability [Wraith] did. During his earlier testing, he had not explored what the spirit of Ghost did in depth.
Skelly snapped his fingers, and multiple of the wooden dummies came to life and began to shuffle towards him.
Caught in surprise, Seren could do none other than activate his Dormant Ability to protect his body from their falling fists, the simple wood they were made of unable to contend with his [Undead Vitality]. Seren used his Awakened Ability and turned incorporeal, slipping away.
As he turned incorporeal, he felt a tug on his soul. Seren felt the pull and focused on it. An image flashed through his mind. A ghostly figure, unidentifiable, appeared in a void of darkness. Just as he saw the vision, it disappeared. He felt himself ascend beyond incorporealness. He felt the faint rays of light from the moon fall through his skin, and the animated dummies glanced around, expressing subtle confusion.
'I'm invisible.'
Seren felt amazement. Previously, he used his [Wraith Shroud]'s enchanment [Shorud of Darkness] to turn invisible, but it only worked in complete darkness and was quite costly on his essence reserves. Now, he was using his Aspect, and it felt way more natural and was not draining his essence at all, with the addition of invisibility in light.
Just as Seren thought of his new powers, he felt the tug again, and the moon's rays kissed his skin. He had only turned invisible for a few seconds.
'Still pretty cool, if only for a limited time. An essence-free ability from his Aspect was well welcomed, as after Awakening, his Dormant one turned to devour essence. The tug was still there; he could sense it, but he felt that his essence would plummet if he called on it again.
One of the dummies picked up a wooden sword and was now threatening to knock him out. Barely managing to dodge out of the way, Seren rolled under the strike and wacked his wooden knife against the wooden golem's shins. Bouncing back to his feet, Seren held his dagger in the ineffective but very cool reverse grip and prepared to fight.
*Snap!*
The dummies unanimated at the sound of Skelly's fingers.
"Good job. Find Nex and tell to become hunter."
Skelly turned back to organizing the weapons.
Seren dashed away to find Nex. He had explored most of the bastion, so he doubted he needed a tour guide. After he got a job, Seren could find his new living arrangement and meet his bunkmates.
'Fingers crossed for nice ones.'
After wandering around long enough for the sun to rise, he found the employment center, where residents could work to provide for their taxes. No currency was used; instead, meat, leather, hides, and bones were collected to give to the Forgotten Lord and used for various purposes. Working hours allowed you to stay, and failing to meet any kind of quota placed would result in punishment.
Approaching the human-like figure behind a desk, he noticed that she had many stitches running through her body, and mismatched skin and cloth covering her body, sewn together. Long raven black hair flowed down her back, and her eyes were lifeless.
"Hello, are you Nex?"
The puppet turned her lifeless body towards him. With a shiver, Seren recognized her. She was Awakened Ria, who had gone missing from the Citadel of Clan Ghost, known as the Decrepit Sanctum, shortly before his birthday this year. Everybody assumed that she had died, but it would seem that she was puppeted.
"I am a vessel of Nex. Who are you?"
"I'm Se - Neres. And Skelly sent me here to become a hunter..?"
"Here."
She handed him a token with a skull engraved on it.
"Bring back twenty corpses of hunted prey by the new moon. Might want to start soon, it's only a few more nights before the due date."
Seren gazed at the body of Ria, her beautiful figure ruined by the scarring of the stitching she received, her vigor sapped away by the possession of her body. Mentally sighing, Seren put off meeting his roomates untill later, as the new moon was very soon, and he needed twenty corpses.