Sunny dreamt of a mountain.
It dwarfed other peaks of the mountain chain, cutting the night sky with its sharp edges. A radiant moon bathed its slopes in the ghostly, pale light.
On one of the slopes, the remnants of an old road stubbornly clung to the rocks. Here and there, weathered paved stones could be seen through the snow. To the right side of the road, a sheer cliff face rose as an impregnable wall. To the left, a silent black sea of nothingness indicated an endless fall. Strong winds crashed into the mountain over and over again, screaming in powerless rage.
Suddenly, the moon fell over the horizon. The sun rose from the west, streaked across the sky and disappeared in the east. Snowflakes jumped from the ground and returned into the embrace of clouds.
In an instant, hundreds of years flew by. The snow retreated, baring the old road. Cold shivers ran down Sunny's back as he noticed human bones littering the ground. A moment later, the bones were gone, and in their place, a slave caravan appeared, moving backwards down the mountain in the clamor of chains.
'OK, now it should start the trial.'
But against all odds, time continued to flow backward.
Sunny watched as the slave caravan ascend the black mountain, a group of soldiers unload their prisoners from cages on carriages.
Going even further back, he saw the soldiers ravage a black temple, capturing its priests, killing their guardians and chaining its followers as slaves.
Day and night continued to flow backward another thirty times, the scene stopping before a temple as black as night, the light seeming to be captured by its shuttered windows.
The shadows seemed to prostrate themselves before the majestic lightless temple.
And finally, the time stopped.
'What the... Wha... WHAT? WHY? HOOOooooow!?'
Sunny was freaking out. This wasn't the trial he was supposed to face!
Looking around, he realized he was in a room of the black temple with six other children who, like him, were wearing black tunic and appeared to bear the mark of a black serpent that began at their bottoms and ended at their necks.
In front of them, a priestess was kneeling in prayer before a small statue, which he couldn't see because it was obscured by the silhouette of one of the six children who had placed himself before him.
The room was shrouded in complete darkness, yet he could see as clearly as if it were broad daylight.
'OK! OK! OK! Calm down and look at your runes before you take down every God you know by naming them one by one.'
Sunny immediately concentrated and thought about words like "status", "myself" and "information". Indeed, as soon as he focused, shimmering runes appeared in the air in front of him.
Without wasting a second, he immediately started reading the runes.
***
Name: Sunless
True name: -
Rank: aspirant
Soul core: dormant
Memories: -
Echoes: -
Attributes: [???], [Shadow weave], [spark of divinity], [Shadowspawn], [the Heart]
Aspect: [Empty Chalice]
Aspect description: [You bear a sacred chalice, a receptacle for lords; however, your chalice is empty and worthless. You are a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention, fated to serve as a means of filling your chalice.]
***
"..."
In that moment Sunless went completely mad and declared war on both the divine and the profane.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
***
Name: Sunless
True name: -
Rank: aspirant
Soul core: dormant
Memories: -
Echoes: -
Attributes: [???], [Shadow weave], [Spark of divinity], [Shadowspawn], [the Heart]
Aspect: [Empty Chalice]
.
.
.
[???] attribute description: -
[Shadow weave] attribute description: "you have inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage. Your shadow has been altered, becoming deeper and darker."
[Spark of divinity] attribute description: "every fire starts from a spark. Somewhere deep within your soul, a radiant spark shines with divine light."
[Shadowspawn] attribute description: "you were born from the shadows. Shadows recognize you as one of their own. As one of their kin, you possess their traits.
However, many of your traits are now sealed."
[the Heart] attribute description: "you have inherited the lineage of the Heart God."
***
Sunless stared at the runes again and again trying to supress his anger.
'I don't even know what to say... seriously! Can i at least call this 'Shadow Slave'?
We are no longer off-scrift, we are OFF-F*** YOUR MOTHER-SCRIPT!!! What is this!? Why do i have Shadow weave!? Heart lineage? And what the F*** HAPPENED TO FATED!?
I don't even want to talk about my aspect. Which chalice? What the hell should i fill it with? And WHO IS THE FU**** THAT PUT THIS CUP IN MY A**!!!?
My chalice may be empty but my nuts are more than full, that's sure!'
Thinking about it calmly, however, by reading his runes he could finally clarify some questions related to many changes compared to the original timeline.
First of all [Shadow weave], which should have been Broken sword's death, but now he found himself in possession of it, for some unknown reason.
Although this don't explain why that guy is alive or the immortal flame clan is still falling.
Then, there is the Heart lineage.
The only person he could think of who possessed it was Asterion, but it's impossible!
That one is literally 'Moonwalking' on the moon right now.
But also no, since he is fixed on stalking the Earth all the time.
Maybe.
Could Asterion be his father?
Maybe, that would explain his disappearance.
But that would ruin who he is!
Sunless, him, was supposed to be a nobody who rose from nowhere, not the usual main character with a mysterious dark past.
[Shadowspawn] is more a premium edition of [child of shadows], although now is potential is currently limited for whatever reason.
He doesn't even want to think about his aspect and what does it mean [???] where fated should have been?
'Whatever! I've come this far and have no intention of giving up now. i have to accept it!
This isn't the world i knew it. But this make me just pissed off enough to shape it like i want.
If this is my will... who dares to stop me!?'
A light of determination blossomed in his black eyes.
Sunless was ready to face the trial.
His attention was drawn back to the young girl kneeling in prayer before the statuette, which he assumed was Shadow God, given the setting.
The priestess was heart-breaking beautiful. Her frame was slender and delicate; her black eyes, almost hypnotic, shone like two pieces of obsidian; her long, silky hair reached her hips and were as black as the night sky, giving it a dark glow; her lips were a pale red, and her skin was flawless and pale, as if untouched by the sunlight.
She wore a light black tunic that left her shoulders, upper neck, and back open; her skirt reached above her ankles, which, while not revealing much, further accentuated her beauty.
It was almost impossible to look away from her.
Turning to him and the other six children, the priestess spoke with a gentle and melodious voice.
"Young shadows, today is the day you will be judged as to whether or not you are worthy of learning the sacred ritual of our cult to pay homage to our God. I am Thene, the great priestess of Shadow and observer of your trial."
'Ritual?' Sunny thought, stunned by the beauty 'it won't be...'
Rising and nodding for them to follow her, Thene continued: "Follow me, young shadows, do not be afraid."
Sunny and the other six children who had a more childish behavior than him, followed Thene outside the room along a long, open corridor who it did not let in even a single trace of light.
Meanwhile, he noticed that he didn't seem to possess any other abilities other than being able to see in the dark.
'I guess [shadowspawn] isn't that different from [child of shadows] without all those traits.' He though with a sigh.
Fortunately [the Heart] seemed to give him more vitality, and who knows what else it could offer him?
The eight of them walked for almost two hours in absolute darkness, during the trip the priestess often taking turns, retracing her steps, circling around as if was wandering through a vast labyrinth.
All the halls and corridors of the temple were the same. Dark, poorly decorated, and made of fine marble.
Meanwhile, Sunny often noticed the other children continuing to get lost and stray from the group.
Every now and then he had to hold their hands to keep them from getting lost.
Sunny soon realized that he was the only one who could see in the dark, and after a while, the other six continued their journey staying as close as possible to him.
Looking at the six children clinging to him, Sunny thought with a satisfied smile: 'Of course! Through heaven and earth, i alone am the honored cockroach one.'
They continued walking for another hour.
'How much longer do you want to walk WOMAN!? Here we start getting bored of all this stupid wandering!!!'
Sunny was starting to get irritated but held back the urge to point it out.
After a couple more steps, Thene stopped in front of a large door guarded by two statues that seemed alive, turned towards the children and approaching him, Thene bent down until she looked him in the eyes and with a motherly smile asked him: "Young shadow, why did you choose to help the others when by remaining the only one you would have win over them?"
'HOLY SH**, I BUGGED THE TRIAL!' Sunny tought taken aback.
But almost immediately calming down, he replied with a semi-awkward voice: "I... I didn't do it for any ulterior motive. Simply, when i saw that they were moving away, i helped them... because i wanted to. It was instinct, nothing more."
Hearing his answer, Thene smiled brightly, take his hand with kindness and the two of them headed toward the large door.
The other six children stayed outside and were later escorted elsewhere by other priestesses.
Words were meaningless, because it was clear to everyone who the winner was.