Shadow Slave: The Great Hunt

[First Seal is broken.]

[Awakening Dormant power…]

And then a sensation started in his chest and spread from there. It was pure and euphoric like a warm blanket on a cold day, but alien even though the source of this power was stemming from within Atemi's soul.

And when the power had proliferated through his entire body he started feeling the change as starting from his chest his bloods, muscles and organs began to destroy and remake themselves becoming stronger each and every time.

He actively felt his body rid itself of the impurities that came with slum life and could feel his muscles expand and his frame begin to fill out; he was no longer the frail child that could be walked on and disrespected. He was awakened.

After some time his transformation was seemingly being drawn to a close as he opened his eyes while his vision was seemingly doubling, one part showing the starry void and the other showing what must have been his soul sea.

Except that this was not a normal soul sea, no this one had the same dull purple moon as the jungle and the world seemed to be tinted with an eerie dark light and the sea below was not calm instead rippling and writhing as though holding back a live creature.

The most striking feature however was the rhythmic 'thump-thump… thump-thump' that seemed to shake the whole sea and reminded him of his own heartbeat.

Looking around he saw a familiar creature suspended by a rope from a strange amethyst tree that was standing solitary on a small hillock no more than five meters away.

Is that the panther?

As he focused on the corpse something even more strange happened. It seemed to teleport in front of him and shrink down to the size of his palm and when he touched the figure a new page of runes appeared in front of his eyes.

[Would you like to absorb this creature?]

Once again without thinking he found himself saying, "Yes."

[Are you sure?]

What was the worst that could happen would take away his achievements.

"Yes."

And then the figure disappeared and he heard the voice of the spell whisper once again.

[Your memory of Tainted Tooth has been destroyed.]

"What?!" 

That is completely unfair. How can this stuipid spell just take away my memories and only absorb this creature?!

One could imagine if there were a computer monitor in front of this particular young man it would be punched in that moment. Artemi was seething.

Just as Artemi thought all hope was lost for his prospects as a young awakened spell as though teasing him spoke once more.

[Awakening Aspect Ability…]

This is what truly mattered for his immediate future at the very least.

[Aspect Ability acquired.]

[Aspect Ability Name: Hunter's Expertise.]

His eyes lit up as more and more goodies came from the nightmare spell.

Aspect: [Heart of The Hunt.]

Aspect Rank: [Divine.]

Aspect Abilities: [Hunter's Expertise.]

Aspect Description: [You can use a number of the abilities of the creatures you kill and absorb equal to the number of Wild Core you possess, increasing your strength proportionally. You will become what you hate most- a monster.]

 Now this was interesting.

Absorbing seemed to cost a memory a steep price but when used in the right situations it could completely change the course of a battle, he didn't know what it meant by the number of soul cores as it was common knowledge that all humans had only one soul core.

But it was still reality defying, a human taking on the traits of the nightmare creatures which he killed was completely unheard of and gave him a near infinite level of adaptability.

Exiting from the runes he thought about activating the ability to turn his hands and feet into claws and soon felt a tingling sensation in his fingers and toes as painfully the flesh seemed to rip away, replaced by the extremities of the path he had slain.

Looking down he could finally appreciate the transformation his body had taken as his toned olive skin seemed to shimmer with the dull purple glow.

[All power has a price.]

[You have received a Flaw.]

As he read these words a song that he had heard once passing by a grocery store went through his head, it was about building buttercups and them letting you down. 

[Your Flaw is: Weaponless]

Flaw: [Weaponless]

Flaw Description: [You cannot wield weapons]

Three times in the last 30 minutes you have broken my heart Mr. Spell. Is this why you call yourself the Nightmare Spell? I was even willing to be your friend.

Artemi didn't know when it happened but he ended up with his knees on the ground, head bent as though waiting for execution which wasn't far from how he felt.

You see Artemi had always dreamed of being the greatest spearman in all of humanity, he felt like popular culture highlighted swords much more prevalent than necessary or even fair and he as the ever contrary man wanted to use only spears.

[Wake up, Heart of The Hope!]

[Your trial is over.]

And just like that the void and its strange tapestry was gone.

—

Artemi opened his eyes with a massive yawn.

He found himself looking up at the same bland armoured wall of the police station that he had fallen asleep in; he was suddenly hit by the pungent smell of the outskirts that before he had never paid much attention to.

No ferns, no giant trees and no oppressive humidity, just the glow of the lights, the slow tapping of a dripping ceiling from the corner, and breathing?

"Well at least you aren't dead it would be a shame to kill such a pretty boy like you." A lilting voice sounded from the corner of the room.

Looking around wildly Artemis's eyes finally landed on a small mousey woman with short curly hair and soft muddy eyes, she was wearing a way too tight uniform with 2 stars on it dictating that she was awakened.

As she stretched he was quick to look away muttering something about kids these days while pulling lightly at the restraints around his wrist as though trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. Congratulations on surviving your First Nightmare, Sleeper Artemi." This time in a monotone dialect and with the air of someone who was very bored of their job.

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Got one out today. Probably none tomorrow. Enjoy your Christmas Everyone and the beginning of Hanukkah. See y'all in 2 days