Hi, I wanted to make a change in the direction of the story, so here's the first plot point (no pun intended) we're going to be on the first lord's POV this chapter.
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(Arhan's Pov) / ——— —— — —— — — —— — —— — —- -
Image of Arhan:
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It was winter solstice.
That meant that they were going to enter the dream realm.
To be fair, Arhan was scared out of his wit. He could very well spawn in a death zone or next to a gateway.
If he didn't make it our from the dream realm, the academy had promiseda stipend for his family, that DID make the pill a bit better to swallow, but accepting you're own possible death was a very difficult .
"No, I can't jix it." He repeatedly told himself.
He and his friends were led to the Pod Room, where the Teacher showed us what could happen if we died.
"Those a Called Hollows, They're sleepers of Awakened that died in the dream realm but didn't in the waking world. They're only a bundle of flesh burdening the living."
At that last sentence, a Black-haired girl shot the teacher a sharp glare, and he stared sweating bullets.
'What's up with them ?' Arhan swiftly questioned himself before switching his attention back to his very possible death.
He had made quite a few friends at the Academy, they were all standing behind him. It seems he had become the De-Facto leader of the Cohort.
Cohort wich had a total of 5 sleepers.
Arhan, a Blood boy with blue eyes who usees a sword. His aspect was named "Steel Blood". A Sacred Rank aspect that allowed him to Eat swords and devour the Previous' owner's memories. It also aided him in his swordplay. His flaw being that for every Sword he eats, He could lose himself in the memories of the owner and fall into madness. His dormant ability being [Flame of Doubt], a doubt that led him without fail in his life. A supernatural intution.
Stella, with the Transcendant Aspect "Key of Stars", allowing her to unleah short range teleportation. Her Flaw being an increased chance of falling into madness. Her innate Ability being [Door], increasing her affinity with Space-related Arts.
Dorian, With the Ascended aspect "The Forge", a support aspect that, obviously, helped his forging skills. His flaw being that for every sword he forge breaking, he suffers pain. Dormant ability being that he could feel the current durability of every sword he forged.
Korathos, nicknamed Kora by his friends. With the aspect, "Beasts of Profanity", a supreme rank aspect that allowed to mimic the body parts of any nightmare creatures he eats. Flaw is that the anything he eats, no matter how delicious will have the taste of maggots, piss and shit.
And finaly, Audrey, who has the ascended aspect "Psychologist", allowing her to act as a... Psychologist. She's the mental support of the group.Flaw undisclosed to the rest of the group.
Arhan was the captain and Kora the second in command. They were a powerful cohort, above all but Ridiculous Cohort's (I'm talking about you main cast).
(An: Sorry for the info dump.)
Anyways, they all hoped to appear in the same area. And hopefully, one documented by explorers and that they learned in their classes. The chances of surviving somewhere undocumented was Astronomically low.
"Good luck kids. Don't die on us, we already have enough expenses going in" After a few not-so encouraging words, the teacher let them choose their pods—Pods that could very well be their coffins.
Arhan entered His pod. And it felt kind of good, almost as if you were floating in goo. The goo were nutriments so that they wouldn't starve to death while being in the dream realm.
Closing his eyes, he let himself be taken by sleep. Yet, just before he fell asleep, he heard a cry, a desesperate cry left behind by a being greater than himself. It was a cry for help, a cry of sorrow, pain, hatred and regret.
"What in the actual Fu—" before he could even finish cursing, everything went dark.
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Arhan woke up on top of a clay floor surrounded by a sea that looked like diareha water.
It was the dead of the night, and he could see nothing exept for rolling shadows battling underwater.
Just the shadow from these beings had him already shaking in his boots. There was only a singular sea that he knew of. And that was the storm sea. If he was there, then he was cooked. There was no way for any sleeper to survive in the storm sea exept if they spawned in some inhabited island.
He was clearly not on one.
Arhan wept. He was still a child, and the thought of dying of thirst or starvation while being alone, surrounded by a boundless sea was a terryfing thought.
He didn't want to die, no one did. Just the mention of death could already get him a scolding from his mother. He was terrified. His Sacred aspect would go to waste, and humanity would lose an extremly strong warrior. He regretted not being there when his sister gave birth, instead choosing to study. He should've spent more time with them, he should've experienced more of life.
Arhan wept for the entire Night.
However, when the first ray of sunlight hit him, he saw something he had never thought possible.
The Sea. It…Retracted. Almost as if someone had flushed a toilet; All of the water got absorbed by something unknown.
Arhan understood quickly.
This was not the StormSea. There had never been such documented phenomena in everything that he studied, and this shouldn't have been overlooked. So, either this is a never-seen before event in the history of the Dream Realm, or This was another sea.
His Dormant ability, [Flame of Doubt]. Flared suspiciously at the thought. He knew it deep inside, this was something else.
He tried to think of the map of the Dream Realm. And it hit him.
He could be behind the Hollow mountains.
The moment the thought took root in his mind, it refused to leave. His [Flame Of Doubt] tried to warn him without rest.
He wanted to reject it, He didn't want to aknowledge such dangerous thoughts. But, in the end, he had no choice but to accept it. His [Flame of Doubt] was hardly ever wrong.
He was in deep shit.
" Well, it is what it is. " after saying Man's Iconic "It is what it is" pose, he decided to explore. He needed to find help. There was a really low chance for him to spawn here alone, there must be other.
Half of him wished for his friends to be here, the other half wished for them to have directly spawned near a citadel. They would have the best of both worlds if there was a citadel nearby and they all spawned near it.
Tough, he didn't have any delusion of the area being safe, he had seen shadows of being in the sea, and he knew that even a singular graze from one of their attacks would have obliterated him.
Climbing down from the now-recognised statue, he saw his first nightmare creature ever. A crab. A really, Really ugly crab.
It had 4 ugly legs, and stood upright like a Centaur. It's maws were full of teeth and it had two massive claws.
However, for Arhan and his [Flame of Doubt], it seemed doable.
He was a Sacred Rank aspect holder, with his aspect being almost fully offensive.
He had eaten Two blades, Two memories. With one Supreme one that he had eaten during his first nightmare.
Another ability of his aspect was that he could "Summon" the sword even after having eaten it, tough the sword's rank being the same as his.
He summoned the first sword he had ever eaten, the one that he had still not digested. That sword, that sword was the reason he survived his first nightmare and unlocked a Sacred aspect. A sword from a swordmaster of old.
He didn't know what had taken hold of him when he decided to eat it.
(AN:Kind of? a flashback?)
He had awakened in the body of the son of a fallen noble, yet his situation was more than precarious.
He was desesperate. His clan had made enemies with an Ascended. His family was only a fallen noble family, the strongests in the house being his uncle, his father and his mother.
His father had told him once, that their family used to rule the continent. A glorious past of a Steel-blooded Family. A Clan aknowledged by the War herself.
He only took it as the rambling of a mad man, someone who wanted to paint his family as a something far greater than it ever was. He even showed him a sword that was "500 years old yet could still cut the world".
How could a Fallen Noble's sword be such a treasure.
He had shaken his head and prepared an escape, yet the ascended came earlier than expected.
Arhan's father went mad. He shouted
"I will take action myself and correct this world full of sin and wrongdoings! I am a great knight who passed down the blood of Karavan; I will judge you!.
I am a great knight who hunted the evil dragon, an iron-blooded guardian who defends the kingdom! I cannot tolerate injustice. I will judge the sinful Swordmaster who comes soon. I am the righteous watcher who inherits Karavan blood!"
The father wore an old helm like a trainee knight's and declared it a golden helm bestowed by the king. He called his rusted armor the mithril armor given by the patron deity, and the old dull wooden training sword he held proclaimed a blade that had cut dragon scales.
He got beheaded in a singular hit.
Arhan tried to escape, but it was too late. The Ascended was closing on him. He was going to die.
That was until he heard a Voice.
「Eat me.」
He too went mad from stress. He ate the sword, and his nightmare ended.
He returned to reality with a Sacred aspect.
(End of the info-dump like flash back)
The sword was called 「DragonSlayer., and it was a Greatsword like those from comics.
Arhan summoned the still-not digested sword and prepared for combat. He decided to take the Crab by surprise.
First, he had the high ground. The logical choice would be to bait the crab, jump on top of it and plunge his sword into its shell. That's what he did.
The crab didn't Stand a chance.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger]
"Oh my fuckin go— Uh, I mean By the Dead gods." He had killed an awakened beast as a Sleeper. That was insane !
Even tough that was a surprise attack, that meant that he had the ability to kill one in a direct confrontation; Tough it would surely be harder.
[You have received a memory, Azure Sword]
[On this Forgotten shore, Only steel Remembers]
He had received a memory, AND IT WAS A SWORD. This was a new mea—No, a new swordstyle for Him.
Altough, he didn't finish digesting 「DragonSlayer.」, so he'd have to put off his meal for later. For now, He had to search for High-Ground of the night and preferably, a Gateway.
"Time to get going." After encouraging himself, he decided to find a landmark. Gateways were more likely to be there.
Looking at the horizon, he did see a massive tree.
" Tree, Here I come"
The tree was his next destination.
(End of Chapter)
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Hi guys. I was sick most of the day so I couldn't write much.
to clarify, since G3 didn't expand on The First lord, I had to.
So you could say he is my OC.
And yes, if you noticed, he is based from Arhan Karavan from "Sword-Devouring Swordmaster", a very good novel wich is one my main inspiration along with HK and SS for this Fanfic.
Next Chapter will be on Zero and his encounter with The First Cohort. They will be important character later on.
Thanks for all the support, Peace out. Also, please point out the occasional spelling mistake
WN sometimes delete or scramble letters for no reason at all. PEACE.