It took a few hours for Ray to regain consciousness after this whole ordeal.
Still very groggy after the short coma, Ray sat up and leaned on his left arm, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his right, slowly making sense of the situation.
He looked around and saw that his surroundings had changed, and from what he could see, it was most likely Effie's home.
*sigh*
Ray couldn't help but let out a long sigh. This whole situation was more intense than he could've imagined. First there was pain, beyond anything he ever experienced, it felt as if his whole being was getting ripped apart only to be compressed a moment later. But then… it changed.
The whole pain receded from one moment to the next, replaced by the freest and most euphoric moment Ray had ever experienced. Regardless how refreshing it felt, his brain short circuited, completely overwhelmed with the amount of both, as well as the sudden change.
And now, here he was. Ray could instinctively feel it. Whatever happened… it strengthened him greatly. He felt as if he was reborn with how much energy his body seemed to contain.
Ignoring this new change in his body for a moment, Ray was sure that taking a look at his tunes would help more in finding out what exactly happened to him.
Then, the moment he wanted to summon his runes to look, the door opened, bringing with it the familiarly black and white armored, grey-haired girl he knew.
"Hey, what happened Nephis?"
"We didn't hear anything from you for quite a while, so we went inside. Inside, he found you lying in a puddle of your own blood, I healed you. You were passed out the whole time."
"Hmmn… that more or less matches what I thought happened. So, how long was I out?" Ray asked, raising an eyebrow in interest.
"Everything happened two years ago," answered Nephis in her normal, blunt and unemotional voice.
"Sorry? I think I didn't hear correctly, could you repeat that?" completely shocked by this revelation Ray began panicking a little, and asked Nephis in a hurry.
"That incident. It was two years ago."
"That- That doesn't make any sense, where is everyone else?" Ray felt as if the world crashed down on him.
"We are the only ones left," Nephis spoke, while looking to the side.
Ray's breath hitched. His chest tightened, and his mind reeled, struggling to grasp the weight of Nephis's words. Two years? That couldn't be right. It didn't make any sense.
His thoughts raced. He had collapsed after absorbing the shards - yes, he remembered that. But losing two whole years? Waking up to find himself completely alone, with only Nephis left? His stomach twisted, panic clawing at his throat.
"What do you mean we're the only ones left?" His voice wavered slightly, betraying the storm inside him. "Where's Effie? Cassia? Sunny? Caster?"
Nephis remained silent, her gaze slightly averted, her expression as unreadable as ever. The fact that she wasn't looking directly at him only made it worse.
His fingers dug into the bedding as his breathing grew unsteady.
"No." He shook his head. "That's bullshit."
Her silver eyes flicked back to him, her face as blank as ever. "You were unconscious. Things happened."
Ray's stomach churned. The logical part of his mind screamed at him - something felt off. But the shock was too great, his thoughts too scrambled to process anything properly.
He shot up from the makeshift bed, ignoring the lingering soreness in his limbs. "What the hell happened, Nephis?! What could've possibly-"
The door burst open before he could finish, and in stepped Effie.
"Damn it, Neph, you were supposed to keep it going longer," she grumbled, shaking her head with exaggerated disappointment.
Ray blinked. His brain short-circuited. "Wait. What?"
Effie smirked, crossing her arms. "Oh, come on, Ray. You really thought you were in a coma for two years?"
His eyes flicked between the two of them. Nephis was still standing there, calm and composed, though a tiny, almost imperceptible shift in her expression told him everything. Effie, meanwhile, was clearly enjoying herself, practically grinning now.
Realization slammed into him like a freight train.
"You-" His mouth hung open for a second before anger flared in his chest. "You're messing with me?! What the hell is wrong with you two?!"
Effie let out a laugh, slapping her thigh. "Oh man, your face was priceless! I swear, you looked like you were about to pass out all over again."
Ray groaned, running a hand down his face. His heart was still pounding from the sheer panic that had gripped him moments ago. "You can't just drop something like that on a guy who literally just woke up from the worst experience of his life."
"Hey, you brought this on yourself." Effie grinned, plopping down onto a nearby chair. "You scared the hell out of us this noon. The least you can do is suffer a little payback."
Ray shot Nephis a betrayed look. "And you just went along with it?"
She shrugged. "Effie insisted."
"That's not an excuse!"
Effie let out another chuckle, clearly having the time of her life. "Relax, big guy. You're fine, we're fine, and you're not two years in the future. That's gotta count for something, right?"
Ray sighed heavily, rubbing his temples. "You people are insufferable."
Effie grinned wider. "Love you too, buddy."
Looking up again, Ray turned to give Effie a look before speaking, "You know that I will pay you back for this, right?"
Effie felt the intensity, and very untypical for her, actually took a step back while gulping down heavily.
"Whatever, how does it stand for my hut right now?"
Breaking her silence, Nephis answered, "Nothing much, just some burn marks on the floor from me healing you, and me removing the blood."
"Good. I guess, then I'll take my leave for now," scratching the back of his head and standing up, Ray spoke those words before passing Effie, who was still standing mostly still.
"Wait!" before he could completely leave the house he was stopped by Effie, who had suddenly turned around to him and trapped his arm. "I think you owe us an explanation or at least tell us if whatever happened to you there may have any side effects.
*sigh*
"Well, I have no clue." Ray said bluntly, making the other two blink in surprise.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
Shrugging Ray answered, "I mean how would I? I literally just woke up, and before I could take a look at my runes, you guys decided to scare the shit out of me. That's why I wanna go to my hut now, after all."
Effie lessened her grip enough to allow Ray to pull his arm away, and Nephis nodded, both signaling that they were more or less satisfied with the answer, at least for now.
And with a final two finger salute, Ray left Effie's hut and made his way into his own, dedicated to find out what happened to his body.
---
'Still, that whole thing was tuff… hope nothing like this will happen again,' Ray thought as he closed the door behind him and took in the sorry sight of his hut, now branded with a huge burn mark, right in the middle.
*sigh*
"Guess I need a new carpet," Ray sighed in resignation, before going over to his bed and sitting down. "Whatever…"
And with that, he summoned his runes, to check out whatever happened to him.
Name: Ray Brown
True Name: [Lost Witness]
Rank: Dreamer
Class: Monster
Demon Cores: [2/7]
Demon Core: Dormant
Demon Fragments: 0/2000
Memories: [Oblivion's Thread], [Guardian's Shackles], [Sentinel's Embrace], [Stormpiercer], [Stalker's Spine], [Reaper's Whispers], [Featureless Mask], [Tattered Veil], [Drifting Ember]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Traceless], [Nullborn], [Spark of Divinity], [Heir of the demons], [Descender], [Touched by Oblivion]
Aspect: [Herald of *********]
Aspect Rank: Divine/Unholy
Aspect Abilities: [Oblivion]
Aspect Legacy: [Demon Diaries]
Innate Ability: [Coming of Oblivion]
"…"
"…what the fuck!? What the hell happened to me?" Ray couldn't believe his eyes. A moment that others would be proud or ecstatic to have, the moment in which one unlocks their Aspect Legacy, something theoretically innate to every aspect, but nearly impossible to unlock, but for Ray, nothing made sense right now.
'How the hell am I supposed to understand that? How can my Aspect rank have changed? And why is it fucking Unholy? This shouldn't be possible, am I turning into a nightmare creature?'
Ray's mind was in scrambles trying to reason with his updated runes, not being able to understand anything at all.
And the rank wasn't even all, he somehow managed to to get two more attributes, something that normally would never happen. But even more disturbing than the fact that he somehow received these two attributes, were the names of them.
"[Descender], and [Touched by Oblivion]? Just what was that?" the more he knew the less Ray understood. Now the only way to understand anything would be the descriptions of every change. If they couldn't help, then he wouldn't know what to do.
[Descender] – Your whole being disregards the normal order. After you experienced an irreversible, and sudden change, you walk now, not only on the path of transcendence, but on the path of descendence as well. This marks you as a singular existence.
[Touched by Oblivion] – In a moment of change, a power seeped into your being and became a part of you. Someone infused with such power should have ceded to exist, becoming part of Oblivion, but you not only still exist, but have received part of said power too.
"Okay, what am I even supposed to believe now? Basically, I am now partly a nightmare creature, and on top of that, I should have ceded to exist, in other words dying? Shouldn't this have been something good? Why are there so many drawbacks that came with this? I really hope that the Aspect Legacy makes up for this whole shit…," mumbled Ray, nearly speechless by everything that he just learned.
Demon diaries description: [Diaries and recordings left behind by demons long since gone. Beings that disturbed the natural order of how it was supposed to go. These notes tell their side of history but be warned, a demon should never be fully trusted, as they remain what they are, demons.]
And with this description, seven old tomes appeared before Ray and hovered in the air, each giving out a different kind of vibe.
Then, something Ray hadn't expected happened, [Featureless Mask] suddenly materialized without any command and began moving towards one of the books.
This one in particular looked like it was made of some glass-like material, maybe crystal? No matter what, it showed a kaleidoscope of reflections, and the mask moved towards it.
When the mask then arrived at the tome, it suddenly glowed brighter than what Ray had ever before seen. It was so bright, in the end he even had to shield his eyes from the light. And the moment Ray opened his eyes again, his eyes were met with a completely different mask to before.
[Veil of the forsaken]
Memory Rank: Ascendent
Memory Tier: 3
Memory Type: Armor
Memory Description: A half-mask woven from silver thread and ink-dark silk, the fabric shifting like liquid never remaining the same. A desceptible mask belonging to the greatest tricksters and jesters the world may lay their eyes upon. Only show what you want to show…
Memory Enchantments: [Dreamborn Visage], [Phantom's Reflection]
Evolution Requirements:
Successful tricks 0/1000
Used illusions 0/2000
Ray was kind of tired from everything that happened. He should've been overjoyed to receive this memory. For fuck's sake it was an ascended memory before he even became an awakened, but the enchantments made it hard for him to feel truly jovial.
The first was more or less useless right now as it needed essence to be used, something only really possible after becoming an awakened, and the other only brought minor uses with it. Right now, the only use this mask had fro Ray was probably style points.
Therefore, he unsummoned it for now.
Next, Ray turned his attention back to the diaries still hovering in the air before him. He tried reaching out to one, one that had an eerie vibe around it, and that looked like the front was made with blood and bones.
But when his hand was about to touch it-
*zap*
Ray pulled his hand back immediately.
"Fucking hell! What kind of legacy is this shit that doesn't even let me touch it?" Ray's irritation only grew. Nevertheless, he was determined to find out what it was with these damn books.
With a resolute look on his face, he went for the next one, a completely blank black book.
And when his hand touched it, Ray was zapped again, but this time it was more like a connection was established between himself and that book.
The book also changed slightly, now showing something written on top of it. Ray tried his best to read it, but only after trying it for nearly half an hour was he successful in deciphering what it was that was written on the cover.
"Oblivion," mumbled Ray as his fingers wished across the book cover.
———————————
As you can see, from this point on, differences will obviously appear. Consider this an AU.
If you don't like it, then just stop here.