Shadow Slave: Rainy Days

[Prepare for appraisal...]

Rain found herself in a space between dream and reality. It was an never ending black abyss, illuminated by a plethora of stars.

Connecting those stars were platinum light strings, woven into a unfathomable and mind shattering net. What she saw made her eyes sparkle like they had never before. The sight was just to beautiful - but scary at the same time too.

Rain did not know why but she understood the meaning of those countless strings- at least to a certain degree. She instinctively knew that those strings were important, more important than they let on. Those beautifully woven strings held this whole place together after all.

Rain thought about the meaning of those strings for a little while longer, but in the end she didn't come to any result, so she just forgot about them- there was way more important stuff to do on second thought. For example, thinking about what the fuck just had happened at the end of her Nightmare.

'Who in this damn universe is the dream god, or forgotten god ? I don't even know ! And why did that god help me ? I mean I'm happy but WHAT ? This must be a good thing right ? And why did it say disgusted by your connection to the storm god- does that mean that they don't like eachother ? And my Terranaut Attribute got destroyed because of that ! But speaking of Attributes, I also got a new one after obtaining the blessing.', Rain thought with a mix of emotions, before summoning her runes.

Attributes: [Destined] [Mark of Divinity] [Forbidden Ancestry]

Rain wanted to look deeper into her new [Forbidden Ancestry] Attribute, but the spell was done with its appraisal, and had decided to interrupt her by speaking up once more.

[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]

[A young woman explored the depths of the Ocean. Teammates that cherished her fell by her own hands. Mentally unstable, she entered the sealed temple of the forgotten god and prayed for its help. The god was asleep, and yet they listened.]

[You have defeated a dormant human: John.]

[You have defeated a dormant human: Iris.]

[You have defeated a dormant human: Mark.]

[You have defeated an awakened devil: Snark.]

[You have received the Dream God's blessing.]

[You have achieved the impossible!]

[Final appraisal: wonderful. Your self-perseverance truly knows no bounds.]

Rain felt pretty proud at seeing the final appraisal, she had done a lot for her own survival after all. So seeing someone praise her resilience to die, made her happy. Maybe this appraisal would make her Aspect evolve into an ascended one, or even transcended one. The chances of that were pretty high, especially because she had been blessed by a god.

[Dreamer Rain, receive your boon!]

Rain grinned because of the runes in front of her. No more Aspirant, but a Dreamer- that's what she now was.

[You have been bestowed a True Name: Final Wish.]

Her jaw dropped down to her knees. Never would she have imagined receiving a true name, since it was something really rare, something not even every Saint had. This officially made Rain one of the awakened with the most potential- especially since she obtained it in her First Nightmare. The name Final Wish also had a nice ring to it, so Rain was even happier with having obtained one.

But the rewards did not stop coming.

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

'Of fucking course. Who would say no to that !?', she thought answering with a yes.

[Awakened Aspect Guide is evolving...]

[New Aspect acquired.]

[New Attribute acquired.]

'Wait, why did I get an Attribute too ?'

[Aspect Rank: Divine.]

Rain's brain stopped working for a moment.

[Aspect Name: Dream Walker.]

'W-w-wait, did it say Di-Divine ? There's Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent, Supreme, Sacred and Divine. Did i just get the highest rank an Aspect can have ?'

Rain touched her forehead, the information way too much for her to take in. A Divine Aspect would mean that she would get really strong, no ?- At least if she survived long enough.

Confused, yet excited, she instantly summoned his Runes again. But before looking at her new Aspect, she looked over her Attribute list.

Attributes: [Destined] [Mark of Divinity] [Forbidden Ancestry] [The Dream]

'[The Dream] is new, so I actually got another Attribute. I can't wait any longer, let me see what they do.]

Forbidden Ancestry: [Your reek of a forbidden lineage, giving you a connection with the Dream Hod and its children, the Daemons.]

'Who are the Daemons now ? The children of the Dream God ? And I've heard forbidden multiple times now- did the Dream God so something bad do be forgotten ?'

Rain's mind was just filled with more and more questions. Not finding any answers, she just decided to read the runes of her newest attribute.

The Dream: [You, who were abandoned by the solid land, the deep ocean, and the never ending sky, are welcomed and cherished by the ethereal dreams.]

'Uhm .. is this good or bad ? I can't really tell what this is supposed to mean. Does it just tell me that I have a deeper connection to dreams ? I'll think about it later. I want to look at the good part now.'

And so she moved her eyes a little bit lower, till they landed on the runes describing her Aspect.

Aspect: [Dream Walker].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Description: [You are a wanderer of dreams, silently stepping through them by invading minds, controlling and shaping them. As one who steps through dreams, you are bound to live through sweet dreams- but also Nightmares. Since you exist in a space out of reality; you are forever detached to the real world, a world you long to live in.]

'I kinda have a bad feeling about this. First abandoned by solid land, deep oceans and the never ending sly, and now detached from the real world ? That ... doesn't sound that promising.'

But it was still a divine Aspect so it couldn't be bad, right ? She would surely get a really strong power or something like that.

Innate Ability: [Dream Vision].

Ability Description: [Gaze into the eyes of another to feel their emotions.]

'Wait, isn't that, like really good ? Emotions tell a lot about a person, or I could theoretically also tell if someone lies at me. But there could also be consequences of feeling a other persons emotions ...'

Overall Rain was pretty happy with her Aspect. Only the most important thing was left now- her dormant ability. This would probably decide her date. If it was strong, she had a higher chance of surviving, which is the most important part for her.

And a Divine Aspect was surely about to give her a nice ability, so Rain was even more excited that she normally would've been.

[The First Seal is broken.]

[Awakening dormant powers...]

Rain suddenly felt a weird pressure in her chest. It wasn't painful or unpleasant, but she couldn't truly describe it. It was like something sealed off activated from inside, like something was waking up from a deep slumber.

The energy coursed through her whole body, and then, she instantly felt ... superior to say it simply. Her thoughts got clearer, and when it felt like a miniature star grew inside her and released heat through all of her body, her body strengthened too. Her body was completely getting rebuilt. First her bones, then her organs and then her muscles.

She wasn't just a malnourished girl in her teens. She was now someone who could now even beat the strongest of bodybuilders in sheer strength.

After some time had passed, the weird heat in his chest started to disappear, before coldness washed all over him. The coldness washed over Rain's body, making all the wounds she took over the years of her hard life disappear. And then, the coldness moved up, reaching her brain and, finally, her eyes.

Her vision suddenly started to change.

She now stood in a weird place with light pastel colors, all swirling under her. But what really made her eyes pop was the large core in the sky.

If Rain could describe it with one word, it would've been chaos- just chaos.

Rain knew that this was the Sea of Soul. But wasn't it supposed to look differently ? The sea of soul, or rather the core was supposed to be burning with a bright light, filling the Soul sea with a warmth, and not whatever it was right now.

There was also a sphere of light orbiting her weird core. It was her Memory, the hunter's lure. The sight made a small smile appear on her lips, the hunter's lure was her first and only Memory after all.

But before she could explore more, it had finally happened, the spell spoke once more.

[Awakening Aspect Ability...]

'Oh god, please be useful. P L E A S E be useful !'

Rain hoped to either get a really strong fighting Aspect, or maybe a useful utility one, but what her ability came out to be, she had never in her wildest dreams expected.

[Aspect ability acquired.]

[Aspect Ability Name: Dream Eater.]

Rain instantly summoned the runes again. Her eyes quickly scanned down, but she then stopped because she saw something weird described by the runes.

Name: Rain.

True Name: Final Wish.

Rank Dreamer.

Dream Core: Dormant.

Dream Fragments: [0/1000].

'Wait what ? That isn't normal.'

And it indeed wasn't normal. Rain had only heard of Soul Cores and Soul Fragments, so her having a Dream Core and needing to obtain Dream Fragments was something completely new and unheard off. Did that mean that she was unique ?

This would also explain why her soul sea looked so weird.

'Does this mean that I progress differently from others ? Wait, isn't this actually great ? I don't need any soul shards, so I don't need to acquire them or share them with others. She could also just save up all of her soul shards, since they were often worth a lot of money, meaning that she could earn a lot in that way.

But she also had no idea on how to obtain these Dream Fragments, so she wasn't too excited yet, but she had high hopes.

Memories: [Hunter's Lure].

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Destined], [Mark of Divinity], [Forbidden Ancestry], [The Dream].

Aspect: [Dream Walker].

Aspect Rank: Divine

Aspect Abilities: [Dream Eater].

Aspect Ability Description: [Enter the mind of any living being and make them submit through breaking their mentality.]

'Is this what I think it is ? A mental attack ? Not many can fight back against those kinds of attacks.'

[All power has a price.]

[You have received a Flaw.]

[Your Flaw is: Sleeper.]

When she read what the effects of her flaw were, her heart literally broke down.

Flaw: [Sleeper].

Flaw Description: [You cannot wake up.]

'W-what does this mean ? I- I can't wake up ?'

Her dark thoughts were cut off by the spell though, as it spoke once more.

[Wake up, Final Wish !]

Her vision blurred, before finally growing dark.

Normally, any sleeper would've woken up now, but not her.

[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Rain!]

In the next second, Rain found herself drowning in water- she was back in the Dream Realm. More specifically in a place called the Forgotten Shore.