Children of The Stellar Severance

"Take pride in your survival, mortal. You have endured the first trial that broke many before you. Through hardship, you were forced to change, to evolve, to harden. Now, your journey begins—the discovery of your Aetheric Pathway. Trial completed," proclaimed the voice of the Ethereal Nexus, its tone resonating with both finality and a sense of profound purpose.

And with that, the once nightmarish room crumbled around me, its fragments dissolving into nothingness. I was left suspended in a realm of endless hues—a purple expanse that felt like both nothing and everything all at once. This was the Aether Realm, the cradle of all possibility, where the threads of existence intertwined and power whispered to those who dared to listen.

The glowing runes of the Ethereal Nexus shimmered within the periphery of my vision, their ancient wisdom revealing the foundation of my new reality.

Name: Samuel Solis

Pathway: Eternal Dreamer

Order: Awakened 

Affinity: Spacetime, Dream

Pathway Abilities (1/7): Cosmic Reverie 

Soul Abilities: Dream blade

Acquired Abilities: N/A

I was left stunned by what I saw. During my awakening, I had felt the raw intensity of the powers coursing through me, but seeing them displayed so clearly by the Ethereal Nexus solidified their existence. It made everything feel undeniably real, a tangible confirmation of what I now wielded.

Eternal Dreamer. The pathway name echoed in my mind. It felt as though this trial had been crafted specifically for me—as if the challenges, the torment, and the revelations were all tailored to draw out the potential that had long been buried within me.

I had taken the first step—I was now Awakened, the first rank on the Divine Pathway, a journey that would shape my very existence.

Focusing on my newfound affinities, I watched as new runes etched themselves into my view, offering a deeper understanding of my abilities.

Spacetime: Time, an elusive force, now bends to your will, ready to be shaped as you command. It stands at your beck and call, ever waiting to be unravelled or twisted. Space, too, longs for your touch, eager to stretch or collapse in response to your desires.

Dream: A cryptic force, elusive yet profound. The boundary between imagination and reality blurs, granting power over what is, what was, and what could be.

I writhed with excitement as the newly formed runes shimmered in front of me. This was it—the moment I had both feared and longed for. I had spent so long feeling ashamed of my genetic mutations, knowing from a young age that my family's renowned affinities would most likely never align with my own. But this—this was something else. Too much power, too much potential. Just one of the affinities alone would have caused a massive stir. Yet here I was, blessed with three.

Most affinities were contained, specific, and focused. Take Time, for instance. That wasn't just an affinity—it was a force of nature. I had never met anyone who could claim Time as their domain. Among the stars, I had encountered many with Space affinities, but even those were much narrower in scope. I knew of one person with a Warp affinity, someone who could bend points of space to create portals or displace objects. But that was it. They couldn't tap into the full spectrum of space itself, not the way I was beginning to. The implications were staggering, and my mind raced as I realized the extent of my newfound abilities.

And then there was Dream affinity. I couldn't even fathom what it truly meant. The more I thought about it, the more my mind twisted in confusion. But one thing was certain: it had already shown its effects. I recalled the recent fight, the words I had spoken in the heat of the moment. They didn't feel like they came from me—at least, not from the part of me I understood. It was as if they simply needed to be said, as if the words had a purpose beyond my own will.

During my awakening, I had experienced a shift in how my dreams interacted with the trial space. I wasn't sure if that interaction would extend to the material universe—if I could influence the physical world like I had just done. The very thought of it both intrigued and terrified me. I had only just begun to understand the scope of what I could do. The time manipulation, the power to halt the flow of time, felt like it was only a fleeting echo of what I was capable of. It had come to me so naturally during the awakening, but now, in the wake of it all, I understood how difficult it would be to wield that power again at this stage in my progression.

Still, one thing was certain. The reason I had been able to use these affinities with such precision was simple: my recent awakening had unlocked insights that flooded in with each passing moment, expanding my perception, my understanding of what was possible. These insights had initially felt clear, like beams of light cutting through darkness. But now, they were slipping away—blurry, distant, hard to grasp. It was as if the very nature of their clarity was fading with each breath I took.

I knew that most people experienced the ease of wielding their newfound abilities immediately after awakening. It was a natural high, a surge of raw potential that seemed to make everything feel possible. But for me, the rawness was mixed with something else—an unsettling understanding of just how fragile this power was. The more I tapped into it, the more I realized how difficult it would be to maintain. 

I focused on the runes, reading them with a sense of growing understanding—pathway Abilities (1/7): Cosmic Reverie. Time, space, and dreams—these forces are now intricately woven into the very essence of your being. No longer separate, they are at your command, tied together like a tapestry that spans the fabric of the universe. Time bends at your will, space stretches to accommodate your desires, and dreams, once elusive, now bow to your influence. Each ability feeds into the other, a seamless flow of power that you can call upon, shifting the boundaries of reality as you see fit. The very laws that govern existence have become malleable in your hands.

Time, the first and most tangible of these forces, was both a gift and a challenge. It was the river in which all things flowed, but now I had the ability to change its course. Slow it, speed it up, or even halt it for a brief moment. The ability to control time meant controlling the rhythm of existence itself. But I knew that each manipulation of time came with a price. There were consequences for altering the flow, for breaking its natural cadence. Time couldn't be fooled for long.

Space was the next. It was the vast, unyielding canvas upon which all things were placed. With my new abilities, space was no longer a constant; it was malleable. I could stretch it, compress it, or bend it, collapsing distances between points or creating vast expanses. It felt easier to control than time, but no less dangerous. Space was boundless, and its manipulation required precision. A misstep could unravel more than just the dimensions around me.

Then there was Dream. The dream affinity, the vaguest and most ethereal of the three, was more challenging to grasp. Dreams, I had learned, were not just fantasies of the mind. They were fleeting glimpses of what could be, whispers of reality just out of reach. There was a power in dreams, a pull that connected the realms of the real and the imagined. But the more I tried to understand it, the more it eluded me. I couldn't explain it, but I could feel it—a potential that I wasn't yet able to fully control. It was a force that could shift the boundaries of what was real, but its power was slippery and hard to predict.