Shadow Slave: Eternal Dawn

His Memories buzzed wildly around his Soul Cores like tiny fireflies, but one burned brighter and larger than the rest.

Nico draped his consciousness further into his Soul Sea, distancing himself from the outside emotions and calling down his Echo from under the tree's canopy.

The leaves seemed to rustle slightly, and he noted that the tree seemed slightly slumped today; its branches were drooped as if a powerful wind had passed through and scattered its leaves. Nevertheless, the Echo descended from above like a divine blessing, pushing away a carpet of fog that hovered above the water as the essence that encircled it shimmered faintly, fading away and revealing its... figure?

Infront of him, where the giant, desiccated shaman with flesh like charcoal and ancient garments strewn from leather and fur should've been, was... empty space.

'What?'

Nico stared in bewilderment for a moment, then focused and willed the towering Devil to appear with a thought.

Again, nothing.

He took a moment to think, then leaned into his soul sense. Sure enough, four radiant nodes lit up like flames in his senses, and he realized the source of this incongruity almost instantly.

The Barrow Wraith Shaman simply didn't have a host to possess at the moment.

Wraiths, after all, were invisible and intangible ghosts. The only reason the shaman had appeared in the body of the hunter was because, according to its description, it was imprisoned there by some outside force, alongside others of its kind.

He did wish he could see its true form, though.

Nico reached out, attempting to feel where the Echo's soul nodes were, when a sudden voice spoke within his head:

[Transform Echo into a Spirit?]

He froze.

'The Spell? Why's it speaking? What's a Spirit?'

His eyes gleamed in realization, and he summoned his runes.

Aspect: [World Tree].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Description: [You are a powerful spirit of heart — always hungry, always growing, always reaching.]

'So, I can turn it into something like me... Will it have an Aspect, then? No, probably not... will it become something like my description says, instead? A spirit fused with heart, or whatever that means.'

He paused, then said:

"Yes."

The Spell replied:

[Not able to perform a transformation.]

[Echo does not contain a spirit.]

[Transform Echo into a Specter?]

Nico felt his frustration swept away, then replied, again:

"...Yes."

[Not enough Soul Fragments to perform a transformation.]

[Soul Fragments required: 233/400.]

Exhaling deeply, he walked through the intangible soul of his Echo and rested against the trunk of his... Soul Tree.

'I never did really think about naming it, I guess.'

He figured the name he'd thought of on the fly was good enough, anyways.

'So, I can turn my Echoes into two different things. Spirits and Specters. What does that even mean? I have to sacrifice my own Soul Fragments — a good amount of them — to create one, too.'

The Spell had only given the names of the things he would be creating, not their purpose, so he wasn't exactly certain, but he had seen both names before. A Specter seemed the clearest.

He peered at his runes:

[Specter] Attribute Description: [In the divine crucible, nothing becomes something, and all becomes one. Spirit, soul, flesh — nothing separates your being.]

From the way the Spell phrased it, it seemed like his soul and spirit were both melded to his body in some strange way. Enough so that his Soul Core, usually existing in a separate plane of existence, was both tangible and visible to the naked eye. But at the same time, that didn't make any sense, either. The Spell had already said the Echo didn't have a spirit, so how could it create a Specter without one?

He crossed his legs and closed his eyes.

'What did the Spell mean when it said my Echo doesn't have a spirit, anyways? They are supposed to be faithful copies to the original. The only difference is that... that they aren't sentient.'

It all clicked.

Spirits were the things that made living things, well, living.

'But... if even the Spell can't create spirits from nothing, then how can I?'

His mind wracked at the thought but settled onto one string of runes he'd pretty much ignored since the very first day he'd received his runes. It had always seemed inapplicable then, but now? 

He sighed and focused.

Innate Ability: [Sacred Fruit].

Innate Ability Description: [Fruits born of the soul bear life.]

It seemed that a fundamental part of his Aspect had the ability to spawn spirits of some sort. But not the Spirits the Spell offered to create for him?

What even was the difference?

As varying thoughts swirled around in his head, his eyes opened slightly, peering up into the cool, lifelike canopy of his Soul Tree above.

'So, the Spell is using my Innate Ability when it creates Specters. In doing so, it creates a spirit and fuses it with body and soul. After that I can transform the Specter into an actual Spirit Creature — whatever that even means.'

He looked down at his tan skin and then waded a few fingers through the glistening waters of his Soul Sea.

That was his theory, anyways. It seemed that once he got the rest of the Soul Fragments it required, he'd find out.

'That's if I even want to. It might just end up delaying the formation of my Demon core without any real benefit...'

***

Nico spent the next few hours meditating under the canopy of his Soul Tree. The faint rustle of leaves above calmed his taxed mind like a soothing melody, and the gentle firmness of its trunk on his back grounded him.

Outside, however, he remained still on the slab road that split the outer settlement in two.

He earned plenty venomous stares, too. Each scrappy passerby that saw his calm, unbothered posture had a simmering wrath about them. They loathed the injustice of it all. How could one of the lieutenants of the Bright Castle be so content as to idly relax alongside them?

Such mockery wasn't just inhumane — it was evil.

Only, what they didn't know, was that Nico was only in one place because he was trying to condition himself against the merciless nature of his Attribute and Flaw combined. If he couldn't handle living among them as is, how could he begin to do anything else important?

This time he spent was to condition his mental state, resisting the relentless cleanse of his Flaw.

He felt the stifling burden they felt and tried to subjugate it.

But, even he had his limits.

"I need to get out of here," he grumbled to himself, then stood up and summoned the shaman into existence.

A cloud of white sparks rushed into existence, swirling and collapsing into an empty space next to him before vanishing without a trace.

He glanced at the inconspicuous pocket of air next to him, then gave a suspicious mental command to the Echo.

Instantly, it seemed like a fog was flowing into his head. This one, however, seemed to only clear his mind. The incessant emotions that had turned multitudes stronger after he returned from his Soul Sea quieted down gradually as the hex grew in strength.

Eventually, they almost faded entirely.

'So, the thing can suppress my Attribute but not my Flaw.'

He exhaled with relief.

'Should I go for a hunt?'

The sun had long since passed its zenith, but several more hours were to come before dusk, and he had just enough time to go find a hulking Awakened Monster he had spotted during his last scouting mission. Today, he would also receive a soul shard from the Bright Lord, so he could potentially earn a staggering six fragments in one day.

He thought for a moment, then began down the winding path, descending down to the base of the hill before disappearing into the winding corridors of the Dark City.