Shadow Slave: Heir of the daemons

[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]

[The forgotten slayer has brought a change to the world, that will never change. He brought forth a myth, branding his achievement a legend of old. Even after such an event he didn't stop, but followed his heart, finding and praying to a similarly cursed being.]

[You have slain three dormant humans, names unknown]

[You have slain one dormant beast: labyrinth's wolf]

[You have slain one dormant monster: labyrinth's snake]

[You have slain two awakened beasts: Labyrinth's warden, Labyrinth's Shadow]

[You have slain two awakened monsters: Labyrinth's Almagamation, Labyrinth's Guardian]

[You have slain one awakened terror: Labyrinth's Prisoner (cursed)]

[You have received the ********* god's Blessing]

[You have achieved an unheard score]

[Final Assessment: Unprecedented. Your path may be as glorious as the fate that's resting upon you]

Seeing the recollection of his nightmare, Ray couldn't help but be proud of his achievement, while also feeling weird about this, as nothing like this should ever have been possible.

It was already crazy enough, that Ray was able to kill awakened nightmare creatures, but he even bested them in direct combat.

The only thing, that made absolutely no sense to him, was the blessing Ray received. He had no recollection of doing anything of worth to one of the gods, and weren't they supposed to be dead anyway?

Ray couldn't help but remember the moment in that alley, that must've been the decisive factor, but what was it?

Pulling his mind away from these thoughts, he knew that the important parts were still in front of him, after all, he still needed to receive his Aspect.

[Dreamer Ray Brown, receive your boon]

Ray was ready, he knew with the achievement he made, the rank must be quite substantial. The next moment though, something happened that he didn't know was even possible.

[You have been bestowed a True Name: Lost Witness]

Ray was gobsmacked, he knew with the evaluation from the spell, the reward would have to be good, but a true name was never what he could have envisioned.

One had to know, that a true name was something completely different from the normal rewards one might get, it symbolized an achievement on the scale, that even the Nightmare Spell had to acknowledge it.

But even then, the rewards had to keep coming.

[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]

Ray was confused why this was even a question, without thinking about it, he answered "yes, of course".

[Dormant Aspect Unknown Slayer evolves…]

Ray was anticipating the result, this was the moment where it really mattered.

[New Aspect acquired]

[Aspect rank: Divine]

"…" Ray could now truly only look on in disbelief.

[Aspect Name: Herald of *********]

"Okay, what the heck is going on here?!" shouted Ray, as really couldn't make sense of this anymore. He received a true name, something that not even all Saints had, AND received an Aspect of a rank, that wasn't even known till this day.

At least this was how Ray saw it. He was naturally elated, but also gravely concerned about what could happen, if information about this came out.

After calming down, a few minutes later, Ray sat down and summoned the runes, showing his Aspect.

Aspect: [Herald of *********]

Aspect Rank: Divine

Aspect Description: [You represent a being, which should have been forgotten from this world. You were acknowledged by two beings who were forced on this exact path, though, both are forgotten and long gone, you are still here. Now your existence will either bring oblivion or awareness.]

Innate Ability: [Coming of Oblivion]

Ability Description: [You are to decide over oblivion and awareness. You have the gift of taking memories, memories who are given up on or were subdued by you. You will have to make the decision, the Herald of ********* must take back memories or spread them over the world.]

He was glad, that he sat down. This was a lot to digest. The gravity of his Aspect Rank was already pressing down on him. Divine, the highest rank anything can be in this world.

Ray, would have been mire than happy to receive an Ascended Aspect, such a rank was already very rare and fought over by many. Higher aspect would definitely be groomed by the biggest of Clans out there, to become one of their main forces. But…

This right here was no mere Transcendent, no. It was not even Supreme, it was fucking Divine.

If the major clans would fight over a transcendent Aspect bearer, then what would happen to someone with an even higher Aspect?

Ray made up his mind, to make sure he and his aunt were safe, he would never lightly reveal his rank to others. If need be, he would rather take it to his grave. That is of course, as long as he doesn't find comrades he can actually trust.

What came next was already told to him by his aunt, it was time that his soul core was formed next. And as if to respond to his thoughts, the spell spoke again.

[The first Seal has been broken]

[Awakening dormant powers…]

Following these words, Ray felt an energy coursing through him. It felt crazier than he expected though.

It was as if some flood gates were opened, as the masses of a seemingly new energy rushed through him. Even then, Ray knew this was no foreign energy, but it was rather the purest of energies that he ever felt.

The energy flowed through every fiber of his being, it started with the normal pathways, before then going through his Bloodstream, entered his Bones and continued forth.

While this was happening, he felt his whole body be cleansed thoroughly.

After his whole body was filled with this energy, Ray started to feel a sudden warmth in his chest, indicating the start of the forming of his soul core. It felt incredible, before today he was only ever told how it would feel, but now he firmly grasped this feeling. For Ray, this was a rush, like never before.

His eyesight became better, and his surroundings seemed to change.

The space he was inside changed. It all filled with a light fog all around. In the sky, there was now a weird star. It continuously faded out of existence, and blended right in.

Looking at the star in the sky, Ray knew it was the representation of his Soul core. But, it was also there, that his confusion started again. His aunt always told him, the soul core was supposed to be like a super bright sun, bringing light into everyone's soul sea.

He could only attribute this difference to his Aspect rank being so special. This was the only reason he could come up with right now.

Now that he looked again, he also saw two smaller light spheres that were close to his fading star, those were the memories he received over the whole nightmare. Them being the [Oblivion's Thread] he got right at the start, and another one, that being a memory called [Guardian's Shackles]. He didn't notice it back in the labyrinth, but considering how it was going at that time, it was no surprise.

Before he could take a more concrete look at both of them, the spell spoke again.

[Awakening Aspect ability…]

This was the moment, that most probably decided his future as an awakened person.

He waited with bated breath, and from his perspective, the moment it took for the spell, to awaken the ability, was like an eternity.

[Aspect Ability acquired]

[Aspect Ability Name: Fade]

Seeing it, he pulled up his runes again to take a look at his new addition to the aspect.

Name: Ray Brown

True Name: Lost Witness

Rank: Dreamer

Faded core: Dormant

Fading fragments: 40/1000

Seeing this, which once again showed differences to how it was supposed to look like, at least from how he was taught it should, Ray was just too tired now, to still be surprised. With this mood, he continued reading his runes.

Memories: [Oblivion's Thread], [Guardian's shackles].

Echos: —

Attributes: [Traceless], [Nullborn], [Spark of Divinity], [Heir of the demons].

Aspect: [Herald of *********]

Aspect rank: Divine

Aspect Abilities: [Fade]

Aspect Ability Description: [Your presence is never fully constant, changing in- and out of existence at will]

"That… seems, strong. Does this mean, that I'm intangible?" The Ability Description brought forth another wave of confusion for Ray, he was naturally happy about such an ability, but also wasn't sure, about how it would work.

The spell was always known for it's unpredictability, so Ray, once more, just gave up trying to comprehend the whole thing. At this point, he wanted this to end, he was tired from everything that happened, but the next part will be the worst… the flaw.

It took merely a few seconds before the next thing came.

[All power needs a flaw]

[You have received a flaw]

[Your flaw is…]