Jasper was staring at his new friend with a strange expression on his face, just a few moments ago he had slowly watched the birds bleed out in order to heal his remaining wounds before putting them out of their misery so now having one of those taking up residence in his soul seemed a little wrong to him. Especially considering how chill the little guy was about the whole situation, in fact he was even readjusting himself to be even more comfortable on his arm as if he didn't just die a horrible death just moments prior.
Jasper focused on his runes in order to get a better look at how much stronger he had become after absorbing the shards from the creatures he had slaughtered,
***
Name: Jasper
True Name: -
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Saturation: 101/1000
Memories: [Blacked Sky], [Devourer's Sight]
Echoes: [Squawking Hawk]
Attributes:[Fool] [Kinetic] [Storm Child]
Aspect: [Storm Herald]
Aspect Rank: Awakened
Aspect Abilities: [Lightning Shroud]
Flaw: [Momentum]
***
As he looked over his runes he couldn't help but be amazed by how much he had grown just from this fight alone, the shards from the awakened beasts were twice as potent as those from dormant ones, he decided he would keep this information to himself when he next saw Damian, he didn't want to admit that he may have been wrong about dreamers after all. However his attention was more closely drawn to his new echo as he focused on the little guys runes to get a better look at what he was capable of,
Echo: [Squawking Hawk]
Echo Type: Beast
Echo Core: Dormant
Echo Attributes: [Feather Weight], [Cunning]
Echo Description: [The last survivor of the bumbling fool which destroyed its life.]
That last bit seemed a little uncalled for! What the fuck did that even mean? Was the spell actively making fun of him? Did it have a sense of humour?
All these questions flooded his mind as he tried to make sense of the words he had just read, it was so strange to see something like this in the seemingly all powerful and all knowing powers of this strange system they had found themselves beholdent too, if this was the case did it mean that it was somehow alive in some twisted way?
Trying his best to ignore the obvious implications of such an idea he instead focused back on his new friend simply resting on his arm, its razor talons coiled around his arm unable to pierce the armour which made it the perfect place to rest for now, its feathers lacked any dirt or markings of having lived in a forest its entire life and even the wounds he had caused it seemed to be all but healed. This sight was doubly weird as he could still see the original lying butchered at his feet, so that posed the question was the one on his arm the real one or simply a recreation of the original, it was impossible to say since they now knew the soul was a real tangible thing, could this be the creatures soul which had come to live in his own for whatever reason?
Well whatever this echo really was didn't really matter at this point as he had other pressing issues to worry about, first things first he had to come up with a name for the little guy, they would probably be traveling together for the foreseeable future so it was only right to give the guy a name.
Jasper spent way too long trying to think of a good name, not wanting to rush into anything he decided to save it for later with a disappointed sigh and focus on something else for now, using the nearby materials he decided to create a small fire in order to cook some of this fresh meat. Using some nearby sticks and the living foliage for kindling he managed to get a small fire started using small stones to keep it contained, not wishing to burn this forest to the ground just yet.
He spent the next while cooking the meat on a makeshift stand he cobbled together by using nearby sticks, rocks and using the vine like appendages as makeshift string to hold it all together, he had learned a lot of survival techniques from his parents when he was younger, they had always wanted to venture out into the dangers of the world and explore the once beautiful world in order to understand it better so they had taught him how to survive as well.
He plucked the feathers and removed the harder materials before preparing the carcasses for cooking, he planned on using the skin of the birds and the vines to create a small bag or two in order to store his supplies, he would have to find a source of water as fast as possible but he would only be able to do that once he was ready to leave his temporary camp.
He spent hours preparing himself for the travels ahead of him, making use of every resource at his disposal in order to maximise what he could carry with him, his craftsmanship was far from perfect but it would have to hold for now, staying in place for too long would only attract other predators to the area so he knew his time was limited.
His new companion spent the time looking over the area, keeping an eye out for new threats as well as taking its time to find and eat whatever small insects it could get its beak on, happily trilling as it feasted on the less fortunate creatures who wandered into sight. Jasper watched the little guy with a smile on his otherwise bloodied face, he had tried to wipe the mud and blood clear but his skin was still stained by their presence, the little guy just seemed so happy compared to the rather anxiety inducing environment of the dark forest, its short shrills filled the air with much needed life which lessened his fear of this strange place.
Jasper would have been lying if he told himself he wasn't absolutely frightened at the moment, what little routine and normalcy he had come to understand and accept had been ripped away from his as he was thrown into a second nightmare, but he knew this time was different than the last, he was in his own body and he had been much the same as he was in reality yet the differences were also present. The small aches of hunger and pain he had accumulated over the past months had disappeared once he woke up here, it was almost like he was a copy of himself and not the original yet he knew that wasn't right either, it was more likely that his soul had come here separate of his body but at the same time it acted the exact same as his real body, it was a strange situation to say the least.
He also had reason to believe he wasn't the only one going through this, Damian had talked about the possibility of a second trial taking place at some point in the future for those who had managed to survive the First Nightmare and that more would follow after that, it was just that they had no way of knowing wheen it was. If it was just based on either time or the level of ones soul saturation then Damian would have been taken a while back yet that had not happened, something else must have caused this, he wished Damian luck in surviving his new nightmare, whatever or wherever he had found himself this time he hoped they would see each other again when they awoke, hopefully stronger than ever before.
The bird flew up onto his shoulder and puffed his chest out as he seemed satisfied at his latest triumph over what seemed like a very small worm he had dug out of the ground, Jasper simply smiled as he pulled the meat of the fire hoping that he remembered how to prepare it properly, taking his first bite his body was immediately taken over by unimaginable stimulations as the meat tickled senses he never knew possible. He had tasted real meat before but never anything as good as this, he tried and ultimately failed at stopping himself from stuffing his face with the remaining morsel of food in front of him.
As he ate he locked eyes with his echo who he could swear was drooling at the sight of the food, which was especially odd considering that he was staring at his own corpse hungrily,
'Would it be considered ethically wrong to feed the little guy just a bit of himself? He seemed to want it but at the same time wouldn't that be classed as cannibalism or something.'
Not wanting to face this strange question he simply looked at him and spoke,
"Ive decided, from now on you name will be Jackie, how does that sound?"
Jackie turned to him and let out a small screech in delight right in his face before making himself more comfortable on his shoulder, his soft feathers caressing the side of Jasper's neck with a comfortable warmth radiating from underneath their surface as he continued his meal for the night, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.