The world turned to darkness before Seren's eyes. Shortly after arriving at his small apartment in NQSC and consuming the Soul Shards, thus saturating his core fully, he briefly went over his plan to survive the night against his family, who were most likely waiting for him to appear in the citadel.
'My [Child of Ghost Walker] Attribute definitely is my weakness. While it does let me become dead silent after night has fallen, it stems from my mother. She can sense where all her children are using this Attribute. Not great for me. My other Attribute, [Deathly Nature], lets me survive longer without food, drink, and sleep. Useful for staying awake.'
It had been four days since he last slept, but drowsiness was catching up to him. By using his Aspect and Attributes, he would turn invisible using his [Shroud of Darkness] enchanment of [Wraith Shroud] and quickly leave the area of the gateway, find a place to hide, and then return after a few hours. Leaving the citadel is suicide, as Graveyard has more than a few Fallen creatures, mostly Monsters or Demons, which is way too dangerous for Seren.
'Then again, it has been four days since my last visit, and a few weeks since the incidents, so maybe they'll forgive me.'
Not likely. His family was not the forgiving type, once banishing his older brother for two weeks because he insulted their father.
***
Seren woke up to see the familiar sight of the towering church-like structure that was the citadel of Clan Ghost. The gateway was the massive altar in the far back of the main hall, and additional rooms had been built outside the citadel to house the Awakened. Steel fence gates surrounded the hill on which it was built, but Nightmare Creatures rarely ventured up the hill to the citadel, as it was heavily fortified.
When Awakened were absent, the Queen's pilgrims would stand guard and ward off most who dared venture close. Clan Ghost had more of the Queen's dead servants than most other clans because the citadel has an ideal forge for manufacturing memories, which Clan Ghost gifted to the Queen.
'Now is not the time to marvel at how important our position is to the Queen. I need to hide before someone notices me, and I get used as "New Memory practice"'
Seren instantly stood up and attempted to run, but a familiar voice stopped him.
"Seren. So glad to see you return safely. I was worried that those mundane friends of yours had kidnapped you and taken all your stuff!"
Seren slowly turned to face the voice midrun. It was his older brother, Awakened Lex, and his wife, Awakened Fern. He saw his old best friend, Awakened Chir, standing behind them, as well as his sister, the one he had ruined the marriage of, Awakened Sephra. She was almost identical to him, but her hair was longer and mostly black. She wore a suit of priest robes, which boosted the power of her healing Aspect. However, while Lex, Fern, and Chir had menacing faces, Sephra avoided eye contact.
'She must still hate me.' Seren felt a pit in his stomach.
He had never intended to hurt his sister like this. He had only heard a rumour about Master Kan for Clan Blade, but it was enough for him to know that he was not a good husband for his dear sister, so he lured a powerful Nightmare Creature from the Graveyard, a Corrupted Devil named Soul Scavenger, to Clan Ghost, to the formal caravan that Master Kan was with. The awakened guards were overwhelmed by the Soul Scavenger's deathly powers, but Master Kan had boasted that he could defeat Corrupted Nightmare Creatures in his sleep, so Seren was confident that, if Master Kan was indeed all that he said he was, he should be able to defeat the Devil with ease.
Instead, Kan tried to flee to the waking world, leaving his comrades to die. But one of the Abilities the Soul Scavenger possessed tied souls to the area for easy scavenging, so he couldn't flee and died quickly.
Even though Seren had proven that he was a fraud, his family and clan were very disappointed in him. Apparently, his sister was marrying him not out of love, but because his mother forced her to, to deepen the connection with Clan Blade. So when his mother found out that he had lured a powerful monster to her way into Clan Blade's resources and privilege, she was livid at him. Seren tried to say that the Devil had chased him, and he accidentally stumbled upon the caravan, and the Scavenger took the easier, not fleeing prey, trying to blame it on his uncle, Ascended Wyle, who was supposed to take a cohort to kill the thing a week prior, but neglected to do so.
Despite this evidence, Saint Laeli said that Seren should've "Let the Scavenger kill him, and not the representatives of Clan Blade", and tried to kill him. His father then stopped her and proclaimed that Seren transfer to a new citadel.
But his father had not arranged plans yet.
So Seren had to spend more nights in fear of his family.
"It's been four days since we last saw you, Seren. How have you been? Horrible, I hope, you murderer." Chir approached Seren and punched him in the gut. Seren activated his [Undead Vitality] Ability to resist the powerful blow. Chir's Aspect greatly increased the force of his attacks, and his punch could've shattered his ribs. Even so, Seren stumbled backwards. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sephra wince.
"I didn't murder anyone! If Master Kan had been truthful about his claims of being a powerful master, he wouldn't have died!"
Awakened Lex scowled and attempted to push him down to a nearby pew, but failed.
"You claimed that you were the one to lure the Soul Scavenger to the caravan."
"If my uncle actually did his job and killed the fucking thing, then Kan wouldn't have died, would he? But noooo, Master Wyle is useless."
"Don't you dare insult my brother's name in my presence!"
Lex and Chir instantly froze and straightened at the sound of the commanding voice that resonated through the hall. Sephra turned towards the voice and dipped her head respectfully.
"Hello, mother."
Saint Laeli strode into the hall, wearing her elegant black and silver dress that she received from her Third Nightmare. Lex, Chir and Fern all bowed.
"Greetings, Ghost Walker." They said in unison. I copied their bow.
Laeli nodded at her daughter but ignored the other Awakened, who sighed in relief. She stormed straight towards me, and her fierce presance caused me to shiver in fear.
"My brother is a great man, one who Awakened like you should look up to, not insult! How dare you call him useless, you fiend!"
Before Seren could blink, he was flying across the room. He barely had time to activate his Dormat Ability to prevent his spine from breaking upon impact with the wall, let alone activate his Awakened Ability to phase through the wall. He hit the wall at incredible speeds, and Seren heard the wall break under the pressure. Luckily, his spine was intact, so his mother must've held back. He has seen her shatter a Fallen Monster's skull with her fists alone, and it had been a thick skull.
Seren groaned and struggled to stand. He looked up and saw his mother standing over him.
"Isn't there anything I could do to get everyone to forgive me?"
His mother gave him a cold smile.
"You could apologise to Clan Blade for killing one of their Masters and let them kill you, so you may die as a Legacy of this clan."
His mother's chill whisper filled his ears. Seren opened his mouth to protest and ask about anything else, anything but death, when a shrill horn blew, followed by an amplified voice yelling.
"WE'VE GOT A NIGHTMARE CREATURE APPROACHING!"
Nightmare Creatures normally avoided this area like the plague, as the many defenders, as well as its resident Saint, were well-equipped to deal with any threats, so seeing one approach is uncommon.
His mother smiled.
"You can start by killing that thing."