Sunny was kind of flabbergasted. How could one ever live with a flaw like this?
The Venerated Awakened had told him that "The spell may be cruel, but it is never unfair"
How is this fair? Flaws were the bane of every Awakened and even every sleeper, and now he might have to shoulder all of them. Would he have to avoid everybody, every human, in order to not catch wind of their flaws? Would even that not be enough?
Sunless considered himself a selfless man, enough so that he even momentarily considered the flaw as a good thing. He could rid many people of their greatest struggles....
But he didn't want to suffer, with no control over his fate.
This just couldn't be it...he took a closer look at the wording.
"Your nature...compels..."
The spell didn't use 'Your aspect..' or '..forces..'
Maybe that meant his flaw would 'compel' him and not directly force him into taking another's flaw. He just had to hope that was the case.
If that was it, then it would actually be great; else, he would be forced into hiding from the rest of humanity in fear of ever even encountering any group of awakened.
"Let's let fate decide what to d-"
[Wake up, Lost from Light!]
Sunny was back in the real world.
Never had the Altruist from the Outskirts ever missed Earth so damn much. The fear of death had not yet left him, though.
All the terrible injuries and cold disappeared in an instant; the relief almost compelled him to scream in joy.
But Sunny's jubilation stopped in an instant. In front of his shackled self was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had raven-black hair and striking azure eyes. But he was more concerned about her demeanour. Her outfit hinted that she was an Awakened.
He kept his eyes wide open as he looked at her face, but there was no sudden effect on his body yet. Sunny quickly checked his runes. There was no new flaw present there.
Only now could he fully feel relief and... appreciate that woman's face.
"What are you looking at?" The Awakened woman asked him in a humourless voice.
"The vast hemispheres of flesh attached to your chest."
Sunny didn't even notice the words that he had spoken out loud before it was too late.
His already red cheeks were slapped even redder.
"Are you awake now?"
"I-I am really sorry. That was an accident, please forgive me for my obnoxious behaviour..." He sounded in the most polite tone he could find.
'Why did that combination of words have to escape my mouth! She probably thinks I am some creep now, damnation!'
"...Alright. Just don't speak everything on your mind the instant you see a girl. You can manage at least that, right?"
The woman said, not at all hiding the bit of contempt in her eyes.
"Before everything else, Congratulations on surviving the first nightmare, Sleeper Sunless."
"Yes...Thank you."
"I am Ascended Jet. You can call me Master Jet. For the past three days, I was on watch duty for your First Nightmare..."
-----------------
I got to learn a lot more about the world from Master Jet. Inspite of the crude wording which I used on her initially, she treated me pretty well. It appears she found some camaradire in us both being from the Outskirts.
Apparently she had already heard about me. One of my speeches had seemingly gone viral on the Network. It was a fraction of a day's worth of fame but it enough to intriuge the Master.
She gave me a lot of valuable advice.
Before I knew it, I was already sitting in her PTV on route to the Awakened Academy. I also felt greatly curious about her Flaw. But I didn't ask.
I didn't want to take even a bit of risk.
Master Jet already told me three big pieces of advice.
First was to refuse the 'Psycological counselling'
Second was to go to the Wilderness Survival class.
Third was to cooperate with others.
My ability to share Flaws would be a ludicrous benefit in the latter...if it worked as I intended and I could find trustable friends.
Also worth a mention is my shadow. It has apparently gained consioussness and can even work as a scout. Yeah, absoulute insanity like this has now become very common in my life.
Soon we reached the grand gates of the Academy.
Master Jet patted me on the shoulder, gave me some encouragements and left. I already missed her a bit, but I knew I should not become too much of a burden. If I wanted to be a true altruist, I had to learn to survive on my own and perhaps even lead others in the future.
That is why I tried to greet and exchange pleasantries with the first girl I met before entering the Academy.
The beautiful girl with porcelain grey hair ,who looked to be out of this world with her hearphones, simply ignored my awkward gretting and left, as if not even noticing my presense.
'Damnation!'
I suppresed my temporary frustation. After all, I still had a whole month of training at the Academy left to do, and hopefully a lot of socialising as well.
I could make up for this humiliation ten-fold with my eloquent speeches.
-
-
-
I failed. Now, I wasn't a bad talker. It was just that I was really fated to a lot of bad luck.
Everyone wanted to talk and everyone wanted to socialize, just as I did. But because of my unique Flaw and cicumstances, I could only give people preachings about my ideology and my past.
"Working for humanity's betterment should be the goal of all of us blessed by Awakening..."
"Lets work in tandem, for we are all the children of god, and it is in human nature to help one's family..."
Despite my eloquence, whenever I tried to educate people on Altruism, they gave me strange looks and left.
Apparently, just as luck would have it, a cult which focused on Alturism was growing rapidly.
And least to say they didn't have a great reputation. Altruist cultists were called crazy, mad and even depraved.
How could fellow Altruists be "depraved" was beyond me. Maybe they were just fradulents just like Hero.
Of course, that meant my reputation hit rock bottom as well. Especially after the rankings were announced.
It seems, with the information I had provived the inquirers, I was second-last. Only before a girl named 'Cassia'.
But more shockingly, the top contender had a True Name just as I did:
Nephis. True Name: Changing Star
And it was the same girl who had brutally ignored me earlier. But seems she was just as good as ignoring others as she had ignored me.
Caster- who looked to be the leader of the Legacies, who were basically nepotism-powered human weapons trained since birth to excell at being Awakened, seemed to approach Nephis but was given a cold shoulder. Though she did bother giving him some emotionless small-talk.
'Why am I feeling a bit jealous...'
I quickly slapped my cheeks to pull myself out of that deep well of depravity.
Now, as an newly-made outcast, I had no choice but to go sit in the corner of the large cafetaria which people were avoiding for some reason.
There was a beautiful yellow-haired girl with azure-blue eyes sitting on the furthest table, but surronding her was an aura of 'death'. I really didn't understand why I felt that strange feeling of 'death' and why others ignored her too.
I quickly approached her, not out of pity but rather just that she was the only person I felt I could talk too...
'Damnation, when did a become so ...pathetic!'
I quickly dispelled those thoughts of inferiority
"Hello, lady, I am sunless. It seems I will be sitting on your table...for a good while... so I think it would be proper to exchange greetings. What might be your name?"
I tried my best to mimic the high-society english I had learned.
The girl let out a chuckle at my attempt. Only then did I notice her face. Her visage seemed to be draped in a great degree of melancoly. Her eyes also looked very lacking in focus. Why?
"Nice to meet you, Sunless. I am Cassia"
The girl said with a pleasant but slightly strained smile, unfortunately, her face was staring a lot above where my mouth was.
She was looking a lot higher than where my face should have been. It was like she was guessing where the sound had come from.
Then it hit me,
the girl was blind.
Insane, did she really survive the First Nightmare without sight? No, that must be impossible. That must mean she recieved this after conquering the first trial.
Is being blind her Fla-
In an instant, I noticed the girl's eyes suddenly loosing their dullness. An expression of great shock had just begun to form on her face.
While I immediately closed my eyes?
There was only pitch black all of a second.
Huh?
I couldn't open my eyes...no... they were already open. I just couldn't see.
Then even that pitch black dissaperared. I simply couldn't even feel the sense of sight.
Foreboding, horror, terror and myriad other emotions flowed throw me in an instant.
A moment later, I felt the cold floor hitting sharply against my back and the food and utensils in my hands fall all over my body. I also heard Cassia gasp audibly, in an instant my hearing had already improved quite a bit.
There was nothing, absoulutely nothing in front of my eyes, just a bunch of noises in my ear and some acheing in my back. Was this how Cassia lived?
Did her Flaw get transferred over to me?
Was knowing another's flaw the condition to activate my own?
Was I stuck like this for the rest of my life?
Tears...I had tried my best not to cry, no matter what situation was thrown at me, especially in the outskirts. But now I felt a couple of them pricking at my eyes.
I forgot all about my Alturism in that instant. I grew selfish once more.
'...no..please...I don't want this flaw'
-
I felt a bright, almost burning sensation hit my pupils.
Sight...Light flowing throw my eyes had never looked so beautiful.
It seems my sight had returned. So, I can turn my flaw on and off at will? This is great!
I was forgetting someone...I immediatly turned my gaze over to the shell-shocked girl.
"Sunless...What the hell did you just do!
...I saw...I saw again.
...but now I am back in darkness...
Damn it, what the hell is even h-happening. Am I hallucinating or s-something...I just had to lose my eyesight and now m-my sanity too...d-damn it a-all."
Cassia looked flabbergasted to say the very least. I could see the hints of jubillation leaving her now dull eyes. Her face was contorted in a grimace, a disgustingly viseral one, while the sweat flowing down her neck hinted at her confusion.
I felt a level of guilt I had never felt before. I had given sight to a blind girl and taken it back, and now she was suffering because...I took it away.
But these emotions felt unnatural...my general shock with the events had simply been washed away by this heavy feeling of grave guilt.
....[Your nature comples you to....
Why did I remember those lines?
I have something much more important to do, look how much this girl is suffering. I have to help her. I have to help her. I must help her. I must help her. I must help her.
I sat down on a chair, took a couple deep breaths.
And embraced Cassia's Flaw once more....