Loki read the description of his aspect twice, then a third time out of disbelief.
The first of the Great Old Ones… The Lord of Mysteries…
He let out a slow breath.
"So this world truly isn't the world I read about."
Loki's tone wasn't shaken. If anything, he sounded relieved at the revelation, he wouldn't want to live in a world he read about in a book. The Gods and Daemons were already beyond reason, how worse could it get if you add another group of god like beings to the mix. They were all dead anyway.
"This world just keeps getting better and better…" he muttered under his breath.
The existence of The Great Old Ones meant the world was not just more dangerous then then original, it was also a lot larger. The Dream Realm would have seven more regions each more treacherous.
"It figures," Loki muttered. "I wasn't planning on having an easy life anyway."
His eyes drifted back to the runes.
The Lord of Mysteries.
And now, apparently, Loki's new patron.
He nodded to himself, accepting what had come his way with a shrug, then continued reding.
Innate Ability: [The Bug.]
Ability Description: [Your very nature denies fixed outcomes. You can perceive threads of future possibilities and when in mortal danger an error would be produced but nothing comes without a cost.]
"Huh.....a cost, well this isn't ominous at all" Loki said to himself quietly.
He could understand the last two parts of the description, one should allow him to see future outcomes and the other sounded like a passive ability that only activated when he was on the brink of death though that too required a cost and for all Loki knew the cost could be worse then death. Like producing an error that might save Loki from the jaws of a Great Titan but the cost would be losing all his memories. The thought made Loki shudder.
What he couldn't understand was the first part of the description, but Loki had a faint feeling that it was somehow related to fate. Suddenly the spell's voice rang in his head.
[Your attribute has evolved.]
[You have received a new attribute.]
[You have received a new attribute.]
Without waiting for Loki to check his new attributes the spell continued.
[The first seal has been broken.]
[Awakening Dormant Powers.]
Something stirred inside Loki. Heat bled outward from the center of his chest, a dull ember at first which slowly turned into a warn fire. It washed through him in slow waves down his spine, into his fingers, up his throat and all across his body burning away all the fatigue and weakness Loki had felt.
His muscles tightened, then unwound. His lungs expanded as if they had been too small. His heart felt newly forged, each beat striking with quiet clarity.
The heat rose until Loki felt weightless, hollowed out, filled again. Strength threaded through him. Fear the constant companion lingering at the back of his mind since he came into this world dulled. It wasn't gone, but it was no longer a chain.
His vision blurred.
Suddenly he was standing somewhere else.
A vast, endless sea of mist stretched in every direction, silent and unmoving. The ground beneath him wasn't water or earth, just a grey barely there substance that accepted his weight without effort. Above him hung three grey sun's, their light soft but cold.
This was his Soul Sea and somehow Loki was already a Demon but he wasn't too surprised he had slain a whole town after all.
Upon looking closely into the mist Loki noticed shapes moved in the fog. As Loki approached, the mist parted just enough for him to glimpse faint, incorporeal outlines. He recognized none of their faces clearly, but he didn't need to, they were the people he had killed.
Loki looked up at the grey sun's. Small orbs of faint light drifted in slow circles around them, his Memories, he recognized only three. He could also see Tom sleeping within one of his cores. Looking at the cat without realizing a thin smile appeared on Loki's face.
Just as Loki was thinking about exploring more, the Spell's voice pulled him abruptly out of his Soul Sea.
[Aspect Ability acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Name: No Threads Attached.]
Ability Description: [You can create spiritual threads and give them different characteristics. They might cling without being felt, pull without being seen. They might store force and stretch towards all things. You could also manipulate the spiritual threads of living beings and turn the into different types of marionettes.]
The name of the ability was a little strange, Loki thought. The description tho was simple enough. He would figure the rest out once he was back in the walking world.
Loki still wanted to know about the new attributes he received so he summoned his runes.
Name: Loki.
True Name: The King in Yellow and Black.
Rank: Dreamer.
Class: Demon.
Spiritual Core: Dormant.
Spiritual Fragments: [167/3000]
Memories: 5
Echoes: 1
Attributes: [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Mysteries], [Perfect Form], [Cipher Soul], [Unbroken]
Innate Ability: The Bug.
Aspect Ability: No Threads Attached.
Focusing on the three new attributes Loki summoned their runes:
Attribute Name: [Unbroken]
Attribute Description: Your Mind and Soul tempered by pain and reshaped by impossible forces, can now endures what would unmake lesser beings.
Attribute Name: [Chiper Soul]
Attribute Description: All runes, sigils, divine markings, corrupted glyphs and magical languages you see are translated into a single universal language only you understand.
Attribute Name: [Perfect Form]
Attribute Description: You can use the full potential of your body.
"Not bad" Loki muttered, but then he though about the description of unbroken, his mind was indeed tempered by the seed of evil but what about his soul, and the part about being reshaped by impossible forces gave Loki the creeps.
Something was definitely wrong, Loki thought he was forgetting something.
While Loki was thinking the spells voice echoed through the void one again:
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a flaw.]
Flaw: [The Pure One.]
Flaw Description: [The Whims of a child, you live with the unpredictable curiosity of a child, following instinct over logic most of the time, wonder over restrain. This purity makes you unpredictable but it also blinds you to danger.]
[Wake up! The King in Yellow and Black.]
----
Pov Change:
The police outpost stank of metal and sweat.
Rukana sat on the edge of the reinforced table or what used to be reinforced idly kicking her heel against the dented steel. Every time her boot tapped the surface, the frame groaned like it might collapse.
Everything in this place felt fragile and breakable.
The officers at this place did their best not to look at her.
And she did her best to make that difficult. When one of them tried walking past her to bring reports to the Commander, she reached out lazily and hooked her finger under his collar. He froze, his blood thundering in his veins.
Rukana grinned, sharp and amused.
"What do you think you taste like?" she asked with genuine curiosity. "Chicken? Mutton? Something gamey?"
The man made a sound between a squeak and a prayer.
She tugged him closer, opened her mouth slightly just enough for him to see her sharp teeth, then let him go.
He stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over his own legs.
Rukana clicked her tongue.
"Tch. Relax. If I wanted to eat you, you wouldn't have seen it coming."
That was a lie, if she wanted to eat someone she would absolutely give them time to realize.
----
The Commander cleared his throat from the hallway, voice steady only on the surface.
"Master Rukana. The Aspirant's condition is unchanged. He is still unconscious."
She didn't bother turning. "He either wakes up," she said, "or he turns into a screaming pile of shit and I butcher it. My job is gloriously simple."
A pause.
"…Yes, my Lady."
"No need to look so grim," she added lightly. "If he dies, I'll clean up. If he lives" she shrugged one elegant shoulder "well, that's more interesting."
The Commander wisely chose silence.
Rukana shifted her gaze to the reinforced chamber door across the room. The boy inside, Loki had started his first Nightmare almost three days ago, by all rights he should have been dead by now. Not everyone from the outskirts was like her sweet little angle Jet.
Right then an officer burst through the hallway, pale and stuttering.
"L-Lady Rukana! He, the boy— he's— he's waking up!"
She rose, her expression brightening with genuine delight.
"Finally."
She wondered what he'd taste like.