Arius woke up from a dream.
It was a strange, disjointed dream, one where, at one moment, he was bleeding, and at another, he met a strange figure.
He clutched his throbbing head. Late-night banquets had their downsides, but what else could he have done to announce his happiness at his wife's pregnancy?
His son couldn't attend due to academy matters. He walked over to the window; his wife was still asleep, so he tiptoed carefully, making sure not to wake her.
The window overlooked the large courtyard, where knights were training
His thoughts drifted to distant memories.
It felt like yesterday, when he was just a boy who had lost his family right before his awakening.
He hated nobility back then, hated how their petty squabbles endangered the lives of common men like him.
Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that he would sleep in the castles he once despised, married to the noblest of nobles, the kingdom's duke's only daughter.
He overlooked the soldiers from the castle. His castle,obtained after dethroning the tyrant king.
He was still not used to ruling but commanding soldiers though?, that was something he could do. His wife handled most court matters
Time passed, and winter came with it. With winter came a request for alliance and a call to arms
The cultists had banded together and laid siege to the capital of the Fleur Kingdom, where the continent's gate stabilizer was located
He answered the call
The war went on for thirty-two months. Countless perished
The cultists. Traitors to humanity,had abandoned their home, our world, in favor of realms beyond the gates.
Help from other continents wouldn't arrive; they were busy dealing with their own troubles.
Cultists from across the world had banded together under one man and orchestrated this siege using all their resources.
Their single goal was to destroy the continent's gate stabilizer and open more gates than we could possibly contain.
They planned to create an opening in our defenses and continue their operations in the resulting aftermath.
My wife had given birth to a cute little daughter. My son was now helping her manage the kingdom. And here I was, on the front lines, outside my tent a day before the final battle, video-calling my wife just to see my daughter's face
"Yo, Uncle Arius, did I interrupt something", A young man called out to me
"No, but you shouldn't be so casual, others will fault you for that."
"But it's just us here, so relax, Uncle. Your stoic face and that dark aura don't help your image, you know? Though I do admit, it's quite amusing to see other kings and princes squirm in your presence."
"So, what brings you here, young commander?", I asked the youth who was now sitting beside me
"Nothing. just checking on everyone and… thinking, you know? If someone had gone back in time and told me I'd one day fight alongside the Undead King, I would've laughed in their face. But look at us now."
I raised a brow at the mention of the Undead King title. I didn't like it, but some things couldn't be changed
"And if someone had told me that one day
the notorious playboy, the one rumored to have touched every woman he could get his hands on. the Sixth Prince of the Fleur Kingdom, the man who crashed an important delegation banquet, would lead us all in battle against traitors,
I would have had them sent to a mental asylum for treatment."
"Yo, yo, yo—dude, chill. I know you hate your title; no need to make it so obvious. And I'm a totally better man now.
See?
I'm only two-timing Cecelia now.
Nothing else."
"aye"
The night passed, and the day of battle came. The battle itself lasted six hours.
"We won?",some said hesitantly.
"THE HERETICS ARE DEAD!", someone shouted from afar, sending the crowd into celebration.
Until—
Crack!
A sound reached my ears, and I reacted before thinking. I shielded the prince who was standing close to me.
'Was it because I had a son? I don't know.'
A tentacle pierced my heart. Darkness took me, and the last thing I heard was a soul-wrenching, inhuman shriek.
I opened my eyes and found myself sitting across from the dark figure.
Nothing had changed since the previous meeting, but it felt more sinister, more ominous now.
I was starting to feel afraid, but the memories of my wife and children kept me from backing down.
'I have to go ba—'
"Send me… back."
"Send you back?, Back where?", Figure asked
It had no mouth, but if it did, I would have assumed it was smiling, enjoying the miserable expression on my face.
"To my... Home", I replied grinding my teeth with barely concealed rage
"Home?... We can't go back to home, Not anymore"
"My home. I AM ARIUS NOCTARYN, the king of Noctern kingdom. SEND ME BACK you monster!", I stood up and yelled at him
"But Arius is dead. We killed him, remember?"
"You mean you killed me."
"You claim yourself to be Arius? That is true but remember this-
You are a part of us.
We aren't a part of you."
I broke down. Tears slipped from my eyes. I wanted to see my wife... my daughter... my son…
"Why… why did you kill me?"
Oh, dear. We killed you, you and me.
And why, you ask?"
The figure was standing standing in front of me, it leaned into my ears and whispered
"Tell me. If you were starving and a delicious, nutritious, fragrant meal was placed in front of you, would you eat it, or would you question its origins? Where did the ingredients come from? How did the chef cook it?
No—you would simply devour it, just like we did. It was just survival. That's all."
It leaned back and smashed its tentacles together, producing a clapping sound.
'Now, now. we don't have time for such philosophical questions."
It leaned in again and grabbed me by the collar. Then multiple tentacles stabbed through me. I heard it say, as darkness took me
"Now, let's witness the beast."
A bird dreamt of being a man. It woke to find itself overlooking a battlefield.
Croak~
Battlefields were good. They gave food. Food made hunger go away. One day, however, it flew over the wrong battlefield.
The bird heard a soul-wrenching, inhuman shriek and fell asleep.
A wolf dreamt of a bird. A snake dreamt of a wolf. A bear dreamt of a snake. A flower dreamt of a bear.
And all of them fell asleep, listening to the same soul-wrenching, inhuman shriek.
"Oh dear, back already? But then again, beasts don't think much except for eating, sleeping, and hunting. Well, no matter. On to the last memory.
The child."
Snap
Princess Roanne dreamt of going to an academy, of meeting a dark figure, of experiencing the life of a man, and of countless beasts
The dreams were pleasant, though they always ended in death. In the dreams, at least, she was free unlike the real world, where she couldn't even go outside.
There wasn't even any grand reason for her inability to go out.
She was simply kind,too kind-the unhinged kind of kind, the sort of person who wouldn't hurt even a fly, with the sole exception of mosquitoes.
Those deserved death.
She was deemed weak, unfit for royalty, unable to fight or even take a life in such a cruel world. And so, she was abandoned in an auxiliary castle, forgotten.
She became a princess in name only. She had no maids, no knights to guard her
Princess Roanne may have grown up a loner, but she was no shut-in. She played in the forest beyond the palace walls.
And like all fantasy palace walls, this one also happened to have a hole large enough for a child to crawl through.
And one day, while playing in the forest, she heard a soul-wrenching, inhuman shriek and died.
Princess Roanne found herself sitting across the dark figure
She asked in a confused, nervous tone, unused to speaking.
"Sir… where am I?"
The figure waved its tentacles dismissively.
"Don't worry about it. Now that memory inheritance is complete, let's proceed before they start clashing."
"To make sure your memories don't clash,
we have to find a common point between them. This is very difficult to do, and if there are too many memories, it wouldn't work. But luckily for us, you only have three types of memories now."
"And the common point I have found among all living, sentient beings is this:
survival instinct. Every living being's first instinct is to survive. An animal hunts when it is hungry. A plant grows toward sunlight.
You get the idea."
Meanwhile, Rowayne's expression began to twist, one side of his face clouded with confusion, while the other held deep sorrow and longing.
"Oh its happening fast then expected"
"Well, next I will send you into the memories of the battles we have witnessed. Remember. your desires, emotions, and beliefs do not matter in the face of death.
If you want to survive, fight.
If you do not fight, you will not win.
If you do not win, you will not survive.
So fight… And return to the real world"
"Farewell, Our present", the figure said as everything started to disappear
***
Rowayne opened his eyes in the elevator.
His eyes showed a hint of numbness and detachment.
He calmly flipped through the pages of the notebook.
After he was done, He summoned his rune reader to access his gift.
It read:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~GIFT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[GIFT NAME] ~ ASSIMILATION
[GIFT TYPE] ~
Evolution- Evolvable,
Activation- Active and Passive
[Description] ~ A faint Remenant of what's once been
[Effects] ~ consumes anything and everything that has a soul or contains Mystical energy and makes it a part of the user
note- if target's will and sense of self is stronger than the user then the role of consumer and consumed will be reversed
[ASSIMILATION INDEX]
Assimilated forms ----------------------------------
Slot 1 - human male
Note - permanently fixed, crucial to core identity, unevolvable
Slot 2 - human female
Note - permanently fixed, crucial to core identity, unevolvable
Slot 3 - nightshade raven
Note - permanently fixed, crucial to core identity, evolvable
Element Affinities assimilated-------------------
Slot 1 - none
Slot 2 - none
Slot 3 - none
Assimilated concepts------------------------------
Slot 1 - none
Slot 2 - none
Slot 3 - none
Artifacts assimilated-------------------------------
Slot 1 - none
Slot 2 - none
Slot 3 - none
[Memory assimilation]-----------------------------
Arius[100%], Roanne[100%],Beasts[100%]
Others-[error][locked]
~~~~~[TECHNIQUES AND ARTS ]~~~~~
Weapon mastery
- N/A
Weapon Art mastery
-N/A
Magic mastery
-N/A
Magic techniques mastery
-N/A
~~~~~~~[PATH TO POWER]~~~~~~~~
PRIMARY PATH - mind, soul and body unity.
STAGE ZERO - Awakened
Description- at this stage one can vaguely sense soul,body and mind and their connection to one another
SECONDARY PATH
-N/A
~~~~~~~~~~BLESSINGS~~~~~~~~~~~~
NAME - BLESSING OF THE WORD
DESCRIPTION - This blessing is given by the world, to the select few of the dominant race
EFFECT - user finds it easier to progress on the path of unity
~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Noticing his injuries, Rowayne shifted forms.