The tears that had rolled down his cheek had already dried up leaving two lines on his face.
The great-swords that were in his hands dragged on the ground as he ran forwards causing sparks to fly on the bone white floor, the skulls that were in his way were simply stepped on as if they weren't there
A benefit of having his body back, the body that he had forged in this trial.
His pupils narrowed as he saw the giant stretch out its arm, white tendrils of mist flowed out from it and began to flow in his direction. Despite being made entirely of mist, Kaelen felt that letting it hit him directly would feel like being hit by a truck.
Sucking in a breath he felt the flame that made up his organs blaze making the water in his body steam and flow through his air channels for veins, as the pressure built and he felt his legs dig into the ground cracking it
Then, he was bursting forwards faster than before weaving through the tendrils that hit the ground, impaling it
If one got directly in his path he swung the swords and cut it through
Unfortunately or fortunately one of the pillar tendrils that he cut down had extended a bit further before being separated from the main branch
The mini-tendril had shot at him and managed to pierce his skin and suddenly he was aware of the titans ability
The titan seemed to suck the life force from his body and with it went his stamina and energy in general.
As his eyes shifted to the bones lying around he had decided instantly that he was not going to let another one touch him
Now that he was close enough the titan it had raised its leg and brought it down
Just as it did Kaelen drew in more air and the moment the foot started coming down he leaped into the air, both the swords disappeared back into his soul sea to rest amongst his cores
He had the arms of an awakened tyrant after all, why would he not use it?
The claws dug into the creatures leg and at that moment more tendrils began to appear flowing towards him, but he was moving too fast for it to catch up
He began moving up with great speed as his mind thought of a way to kill it.
As he crawled up, and the mist had sprayed onto his face—it was fortunate that the titan's 'blood' didn't seem to have any effects on him, so his climb was uninterrupted.
The Titan shuddered.
From the porous craters in its skin, dozens of white tendrils erupted like a nest of disturbed vipers.
Kaelen parried the first, the impact nearly shattering his forearms. He sheared through a second, but the third caught him full in the chest.
The blow sent him reeling, his claws tearing free from the Titan's thigh
He was about to fall.
Would the impact disorient him?
No, he couldn't let that happen—the titan would just instantly step on him and he would die
He bent forwards trying to grab onto something but there was nothing
Then there was something
In that moment Kaelen had shuddered as it appeared out of thin air, it definitely did not look like something that was an ally though
It was large, about the size of a full grown lion
'Another nightmare creature?' He thought preparing to claw at it but before he did, the creatures eyes and his met
There was something there that he could not quite understand.
Was he experiencing fear?
No, it was something else...
'...Familiarity...?'
As he was lost in his thoughts the creature lunged forwards, it clamped one of the massive clawed forelimb around his calf. It gripped it so tightly that the armor dented slightly
He watched it turn its gaze upwards and then it started an ascent
It sprinted straight up the side of the giant, its six legs moving in a blur of terrifying efficiency.
Kaelen was pulled onto its back as if he were riding a horse, one of its two tails wrapped around his waist, keeping him from falling.
The creature bypassed the lashing tendrils with a sickening, predatory grace, hauling him back up into the climb he had started
They had managed to just reach above the titans' waist.
The white tendrils suddenly whistled, whistling through the air with a greater speed, the beast Kaelen was riding simply weaved through each tendril
Just as they had reached the midsection of the titan the air seemed to be displaced
Despite the white radiance, there was a large shadow that fell over him and the beast.
Kaelen had been thinking for a while now about why this particular titan seemed to be so weak but he had soon realized that, that was not the case—it was just that the titan was not a being that relied on its plain physical strength like most did
Its ability was to trap the mind in a replay of their ideal life and suck the life force out of them
That was why it could no longer affect him, the spell had told him, after all
'You have gained an absolute understanding of life.'
Of course he did
Kaelen had been forced to relive the worse parts of his life and come to terms that it would never be how he wanted—that all he could do was push forward and try for a better future
That was also the first step of his aspect legacy, which seemed to do with the aspects of life.
'Which is what this creature is.'
This creature was the first relic he got from his aspect legacy
Well, he would have enough to think about for now; he needed to deal with the gargantuan hand that was about to swat them like a fly against the titan's stomach.
In that instant the creature stopped its climb and twisted its body in a swing—using its tail that was holding it, the beast swung Kaelen like a ragdoll out of the way of the titan's hand.
He felt the gravitational force scream through his spine as he was launched upwards and was forced to soar like a human projectile—below him, the titan's hand slammed into its stomach and Kaelen could tell instantly that, that attack would have hurt like hell
Maybe it might not have crushed him but it would have stunned him
As he reached the apex of his arc, he looked down, trying to find the beast, but saw nothing, not even a stain of blood on the creature's hand, as if it did not even exist.
Kaelen collided with the Titan's upper chest, his hands clawing for purchase and he forced his claw in like a knife, and he saw the titan's head growing closer and immediately began his ascent again
'This thing is surprisingly weak... well, it doesn't have a source of power anymore.'
He was that power source a few moments ago
Again he was forced to dodge all of the tendrils, but just as he was reaching closer to where he wanted to be, the mist tendrils coalesced into a fluid-like form that looked like it had far too much durability.
But it wasn't a problem again
The beast materialized in front of him again, lunging at the mist, its claws and jaws shredded the solid fog—its black saliva seeming to melt the mist as well, rendering it to nothing more than wet paper
With the path cleared, Kaelen surged upward. He leaped over a pulsing vein the size of an oak tree and hauled himself over a final, jagged ridge of bone plate.
He finally reached the shoulder.
For a few seconds Kaelen was silent, the creature didn't even turn its head to look at him while the beast kept the tendrils from rising towards him.
"...How long have all of you been stuck here rotting away?"
He had come to a realization about this nightmare.
How long had the guardians been here in this trial, waiting for someone to kill them...?
How many had failed before him...?
Tens, Hundreds, thousands of people
Kaelen had puzzled all the pieces together based on all the information he had been given.
"I'll give you your ending, rest now and again..."
He summoned both the swords now and jumped—his swords digging into the creatures featureless face and started to slide down cleaving the titan
He let out a soft smile—"Thanks for letting me see her again."
The gravity brought him down, and he began a lethal, high-speed descent. He leaned back, his feet skidding against the giant's skin as his blades acted as bloody skates, carving twin, jagged furrows down the Titan's face and neck.
The mist screamed. The ethereal tendrils surged forward in a frantic swarm to intercept him, but the six-legged horror was already there.
It was a chaotic blur, leaping across Kaelen's path and snapping its jaws at the air. It tore the mist into ribbons, its black saliva dissolving the ghostly filaments before they could touch Kaelen's skin.
When he had reached the chest, he was intercepted by a stray tendril that was thicker than the rest; it coiled around the swords and held them in place, causing a sudden stop of momentum and causing the sudden jerk that nearly tore his shoulder off.
He groaned and let got of one sword, preparing to summon the claws of flame but before he pulled it out of his soul the beast started to charge forward but instead of ripping the tendril apart it leaped and grabbed his leg and the violent tug hauled him downwards tearing the tendril and aiding in the vertical plummet
They flowed with the blades causing violent lines that caused the life force from the creature to escape before it could heal
The creature's back legs, all 4 of them, gripped into the titan's stomach, and they had stopped right where the creature's navel would be. There was an explosion of mist as the creature exploded
It seemed he had caused enough damage to kill the dying titan
[You have slain an awakened titan: Lost Life.]
[You have received a memory...]
He was flung back and the beast aiding him had disappeared back to wherever it had been and Kaelen rolled on the ground but when he opened his eyes
He was not in the cracked room.
He was in another white space
He woke up with a groan
'This place is...'
The place he was standing in was the same as the place he had been at the start of his journey into the nightmare—the endless white space that had once had the door in front of him but now there was another thing in its place
"You're that being, aren't you—The First Breath?"
The impossibly handsome man looked up from the ball of shifting colors he was holding. Kaelen was expecting some blank, emotionless tone—some serious reason he was called here—but there was nothing but a soft smile on his face
"That is a title of mine, yes."
Kaelen's eyes narrowed—"Not your true name?"
The man chuckled—"No... I never had one of those, actually."
"What...?"
"The True names are tied to oneself—I was never my own self, just a manifestation of the good in the void that managed to crawl out."
Kaelen looked at him with a piercing gaze—'He isn't attacking, is he not an enemy?'
It was a natural reaction that Kaelen could not hide
"I'm not an enemy."
Kaelen took a few steps back—"You can read my mind?"
"I actually used to be able to read everyone's mind—everything's mind too, but never mind that little one—why don't we use our limited time together to answer your real questions?"
"Why is it limited time?"
"Well, this is just a remnant will that you're talking to—I've been dead for eons and what little bit of myself remaining is dissipating."
"...Then how?"
"How did I bring you to this world?"
"I was a being beyond the power of every being in the world—this little task was not difficult to do."
"So that nightmare you made, what was it for?"
The being seemed to pause for a while and responded with something odd
"You know, when i crawled out of the void, I created everything, even the flames of desire."
"...So are you the gods' father or...?"
"Well, I'm glad your humor has returned. wait... am I?" The being paused with a confused expression
"I think you are."
"I suppose so... anyway!"
He clapped his hand
"After I created everything, I got a bit lonely so I created life."
Kaelen paused, trying to comprehend what the being was saying.
"...So those guardians in my nightmare were your creations."
"Yes..." He said with a wistful smile. "It was nice for a while; everyone was happy—life was thriving as my own creations made their own... but not everything lasts forever."
"..."
"The void called me back. No, that's not right—it took me back."
"What do you mean?"
"The void needed to be ever-changing—that was an absolute law before any of the other absolute laws. I escaped from that cycle, and it took what it lost back."
Kaelen remained silent allowing the Being to talk, to reveal this story he had not even read as a reader
"When I was pulled back, everything I created was taken back too—all of it was lost again. But I managed to rebel a little."
"What did you do?"
"I preserved the flames of desire."
That single sentence had immense implications—it means the gods were born because he had kept the flames alive—because of his action, everything that happened, happened
"So why the hell am I here?"
"...I called those who had decided to kill themselves here for eons; i placed them in the trials so they could succeed and inherit my power."
'...!'
"Yes, you have the same powers that I did—well, you will have to grow your strength."
"So those guys in the nightmare aren't actually real, right?"
"No, the six you had killed were my first lot of creations after my little pet."
"Pet?"
Just as he said that, the beast that had been with him materialized again and sat besides Kaelen before its eyes landed on the void-born
It seemed to pause for a second as if it could not understand what was happening, but when the realization hit, it ran over to him and started to rub itself against the being's legs.
'So he made it...'
"Yes, your aspect legacy will give you rewards each time you increase your mastery—and each reward is a creation of mine—you will learn its use in the future."
"Wait, wait, wait, so those guardians were real?"
"Yes, when I was absorbed they were too but I managed to keep some of their essence and put it into creating the trials for my challengers."
"...Then what's my purpose? What did he call me here to do?"
"There is no reason really—just so I wont be forgotten eternally like I had been."
"That's all?!"
He had to go through all of those trials for what, so this old thing would be remembered...?
"Well, it's not a bad thing, no? You were set to die in your world, but I gave you the chance to gain power, and all I asked for was an inheritor of my power, and you get a new life."
Kaelen looked at this being like he was mad
So because he had committed suicide, he was thrust into a nightmare, was given the chance to become a god and was getting the inheritance of the first existence as a Aspect Legacy
"Yeah, that's pretty much it."
Kaelen let out a sigh
"You have a very weird way of wanting to be remembered..."
It was so odd. All of these things—all of those trials—were made just so he wouldn't be forgotten. Well, in a way, it made sense
Being dead was better than being forgotten, after all—a man dies when when he is forgotten
He began to dissipate into the air, or was it back into the void?
Well... it didn't matter
"Thanks for the second chance." Kaelen said
"You're welcome."
And then... it was over
[Wake up, Kaelen; Your Nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal...]