Temporal Anchor — First Checkpoint selected.
In the dream that has remained with me from the moment I could remember, I saw the ground filled with skulls, with water running through the empty eye-sockets like tears.
Now, the skulls were no longer on the ground; they were now in a field, vast and seemingly endless, grown like stalks of wheat, and among them were the souls of the dead in countless numbers.
I found myself looking for my family among the dead as I run through the field, but the dead were endless.
Mum... Dad... Mel... Aurora... where are you?!
I ran through the endless dead, and despair filled my heart... was I never going to find my family... was I going to do this alone?
I ran and ran, maybe for even years, and I saw the faces of millions of dead, but I could never find those I love.
Slowly, my feet came to a stop, and I understood the truth.
I was running to the past, and I would never see the way forward in the past. I needed a new past, and only someone like me can create a new past.
Someone like me...
I looked at the endless field and closed my eyes, severing my consciousness from this place.
This dream was not a warning. It was a memory of a place I would go back to.
∞
"Up, up, lazy cur. Elric, I say, wake up!"
Ah, that familiar voice and the simple message that no longer meant a single thing to me.
I thought I would wake up screaming, but I think a part of me has forgotten how to scream. How much can one heart take?
I lay flat on the cot with a blue status light pressed against the inside of my eyelids and my sister’s recorded voice calling me a lazy cur, and I did not move, as I saw the message that burned into my mind.
[World Quest]
[Stop The Pale Matron From Rising]
This notification made my heart stop beating for a moment, and I grabbed the silver orb out of the air and silenced it. I had hoped that when I returned to the first temporal checkpoint, I would have access to this world quest, even though I was here primarily to hunt demons.
The rewards for beating the first world quest had multiplied my powers, and what would happen if I kept beating this quest and returning over and over again? Would it be possible that I may gain extra checkpoints or be capable of using all my Titles at the same time?
The ramifications for this were stunning, but first I reached down the bond before I let myself think of the possibilities here before me.
Aurora was there, and despite the fact that she was not breathing, I could still feel a faint echo of her presence inside me, and I knew that she was fighting to remain by my side.
She had kept her promise to me that she would not die, and now it was time for me to keep my own.
I looked at the familiar tent and heard the sound of the activities outside it, and I pressed down the disquiet in my soul before I touched my beating heart that was no longer dead.
"No more," I promised myself, "I will not be chained again by anyone or anything."
With this thought held firmly in my chest, I called upon my status screen.
∞
[ Name: Elric Voss]
[Age: 16 ]
[Titles: Heaven Beast Tamer (Mythic) ]
[ Available Titles: Lightning Arcanist (Legendary), Storm Bearer (Legendary), Demon Slayer (Epic), Death-Consort]
[ Anima Depth: 90 (Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial]
[ Domain: Fractured — The Stillness of the Storm ]
[ Domain Radius: 15 → 41 metres ]
[ Disciplines: ]
Lightning Edict: 86 → 96 (Legendary) — Broken-Celestial
Loom of Lightning: 89 → 101 (Epic → Legendary) — Broken-Celestial
Lightning Tribunal: 89 → 98 (Legendary) — Broken-Celestial
Heaven’s Verdict: 51 → 88 (Epic) — Broken-Celestial
Stormstep: 49 → 79 (Epic → Legendary) — Broken-Celestial
[ Attunement Skills: ]
Lightning Resonance: 111 → 119 (Arcanist) — Epic
Force Resonance: 72 → 90 (Arcanist) — Rare → Epic
Darkness Resonance: 10 → 74 (Adept) — Rare
Death Resonance: 0 → 51 (Adept) — Unique
Fire Resonance: 0 → 32 (Acolyte)
Water Resonance: 0 → 27 (Initiate)
Earth Resonance: 0 → 41 (Acolyte)
Air Resonance: 0 → 35 (Acolyte)
Space Resonance: 0 → 2 (Initiate) — Epic
Staff Resonance: 70 (Adept) — Rare
[ Auxiliary Skills: ]
Endurance: 119 (Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial
Observation: 100 → 108 (Arcanist) — Rare
Concentration: 99 → 106 (Arcanist) — Rare
Anima Sensitivity: 99 → 107 (Arcanist) — Rare
Demonology: 105 → 110 (Arcanist) — Registered
Meditation: 89 → 94 (Arcanist) — Uncommon
Marksman: 80 → 84 (Adept) — Uncommon
Inscription: 90 → 97 (Arcanist) — Master Engraver
First Aid: 57 → 62 (Adept)
Cooking: 16 (Initiate)
Cartography: 6 → 44 (Acolyte)
[ Celestial-tier Skills: ]
Mortal Shell: 112 → 119 (Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial
Titan’s Marrow: 64 → 90 (Adept → Arcanist) — Unique — Broken-Celestial
Hollow Avatar: 97 → 104 (Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial
Lightning Incarnate: 94 → 101 (Arcanist) — Broken-Celestial
Soul-Forge: 89 (Adept) — Broken-Celestial
[Soul-Vessel: Stone Origin Shell — Complete — Evolving]
[Laws: Lightning Law Shards (9/9 — Complete)]
[ Heavenly Bond: Moon Fox — 10% → 19% ]
[ Stored Essence: 75,000 / 500,000 — Fifth Earth Gate ]
[ Blessings: Anansi Web (Consumed) | Death’s Favor]
[Soul: Welded — Condition: Stable — Scarred]
[New Trait: Soulscar — The weight of the dead lingers. You carry the memory of every soul you have taken.]
∞
There were so many changes here, but I had learned to focus and cut through the noise, centering on what was important, and figuring out the rest as I went along.
The first was my Anima Depth. I was surprised that there was no growth in my soul, but then I realized that this must be because of what I had done in the last loop. I had frozen my soul and had been alive only due to the vitality I had gained from the field of skulls.
However, my domain had grown, and I thought that perhaps I just needed to stretch my soul with decent spellwork, and my Anima Depth would move from 90 to something higher. The fact that my domain had grown only revealed that my soul may not have shaken off the coldness of being a Death Titan.
I had gained no new disciplines, but they had all grown to great heights, as three of them had crossed into the Arcanist Tier. However, what was shocking was my attunement skills.