Later when things had settled down Gwin was now seated in the living room surrounded by his family. He had his communicator in his hand as he began typing.
{I had to fight a dormant demon snake. It was awful but luckily I had help.}
His family looked from his communicator to him in increasing shock as he began giving them a watered down version of what had happened. Even that was horrifying to hear. He told them about how huge the snake was and the other tribesmen. He told them about the arduous run and the giant tree. He mentioned how the other guys had gotten picked off without giving too much details so his younger sister wouldn't feel sick. He then told about climbing the vines with the sword in his mouth and the final plunge towards the snake. He deliberated telling them about how he was swallowed but eventually decided to.
As his final words played on the communicator he was met with silence. His sisters seemed like they were going to cry again and his mother look like her heart was hurting as she grasped her chest tightly. His dad eventually broke the silence.
"Why don't you go get a shower now?"
Gwin nodded and paused before he left. He debated telling them his flaw but eventually decided against it.
'Surely they already realise right?'
He avoided that conversation by heading to the bathroom. Once inside he finally was able to take in his appearance. That in itself was a shock too.
He had changed a good bit. His hair which used to be a plain brown was now black on its ends with deep and rich brown roots. His pupils were golden and carried a mystical glint to them. He opened his mouth to check and was greeted by sharp teeth. He had already felt the inside of his mouth shortly after waking up and knew the spell had decided to keep his new fashion statement, or maybe his aspect made them like this. Instead of looking roughly grinded they now looked natural and smooth.
His jaw and nose had become much sharper too. His freckles had almost completely disappeared from his face yet just enough remained to accentuate them. All in all, he was very handsome and oddly beautiful, he might even be able to pass for a woman if he had longer hair. Not only was his face good looking but even his scrappy frame had received improvements. His muscles had some added definition to them now. His shoulders, which had already been wide from his height, were even wider now. If he scowled at the mirror he looked quite scary even.
The mix of his golden eyes, dark hair, and sharp teeth gave him a primal presence, like he was an animal turned human. It would be hard to make friends though, although maybe that was for the best. He needed people to think he chose not to speak, not that he couldn't. It was better to keep them guessing about his flaw that way his (eventual) enemies would waste time trying to find it out.
With his new appearance fully taken in he decided to address something that had been bothering him. He summoned the runes.
*****
Dormant ability name: [Chimera]
Ability Description: [The Heir of all beasts has the right to plunder what he sees fit from his slain enemies.]
*****
'What does my dormant ability even do? Also….! I need to check my memory!'
He hurriedly dove into his soul see. He turned to face the crimson moon in the sky and the small orb of light orbiting it. After a moment of concentration the orb of light disconnected from the moon and began floating towards him. When it reached him it expanded into a whirlwind of white sparks and formed a round cylinder case. It was as large as his hand and was made from ancient black wood. It was covered in many fine metal engravings depicting branches, children, and an old woman. Runes formed in front of Gwin and read
Memory: [Kiss of Kesh]
Memory Description: [Long ago the world was encompassed by an unending sea. From this sea sprouted The Herald of Tomorrow, Kesh. Under her loving embrace all things knew peace and happiness. Her kindness was not limitless as a grave act of selfishness tore her love away from her people and sentenced them to despair.]
'Kesh, huh…How did a snake become a disciple? Well whatever, I wish it would have been more clear what it does!'
Gwin inspected the memory further and discovered he could open the large cylinder by twisting it. Thankfully his fake arm travelled with him into his soul sea and the spell acknowledged it. The top twisted off of the memory revealing a flat plain of smooth…cream? Gwin did not know what he was really looking at right now. Curiously he dipped his finger in it only for it to pass through harmlessly. He was just a soul right now after all, not his physical body.
He struck a dramatic pose and held his hand out.
'Kiss of Kesh! Heed my call and come forth!'
A whirlwind of white sparks formed over his hand and a moment later the case was in his real hand now. He twisted it off just like before and cautiously dipped his finger into it. As soon as the tip of his finger was submerged he drew his finger back in shock. The tip of his finger had become stone. He looked at it in horror.
'What the hell! What kind of memory hurts the user! Was it a poison? I'm so tired of becoming stone…'
In his panic he noticed that his finger cracked.As he expected his finger to fall off he closed his eyes in horror only to feel a crisp crack and hear something hard hit the floor. He opened his eyes over to see his finger was fine and a stone shell lay broken on the floor.
'I'm so confused right now'
It was clear his memory served some kind of purpose but it was unclear for the moment. Memories were like that. Unless one possessed a specific aspect or attribute that let them identify it, most awakened had to figure out what their memories did through trial and error. It was gonna take some time to discover what his memory did but when he did it would be an invaluable asset to him.
'Kiss of Kesh! Your purpose has been fulfilled, dismissed!'
The memory returned to his soul sea in a rain of sparks. He then turned his attention to his aspect ability.
'I've only ever slayed one thing so, what do I do? Just think about it?'
He struck another dramatic pose.
'CHIMERA!'
He focused on the creature he wanted to become. The image of white scales and deadly jagged blades flashes in his mind. A moment later he felt a profound change. Watching himself in the mirror he saw as his skin became lustrous and formed itself into scales. They were pale white and marred with black stripes going down them. Large claws grew at the end of his fingers. The transformation was limited to his arm for now it seemed. A large dark jagged blade emerged from his forearm. Gwin winced as he looked at the change despite the fact it didn't hurt. It was entirely unsettling though. He could feel the change in his arm. His muscles had gone through a similar yet entirely different upgrade again. He felt like he could crush steel in his grip. He felt incredibly strong.
'Why is the sink getting closer?'