I stared at it.
Flaw: [Four Humors.]
Flaw Description: [Your body is made up of four parts: Blood, Mind, Energy, and Essence. You must choose one to consistently dissipate. The quarter you chose will start to recover naturally once you choose another to decrease.]
I stared at it a bit longer.
Then my head started to hurt--Why was my flaw an entire paragraph?
I massaged my temple, trying to get around the complexity of my flaw. Has anyone ever gotten a flaw as complex as this? I couldn't think of a single one.
Though it might be because the only flaws that were public knowledge weren't so serious. Flaws were the achilles heel of many awakened, so it made sense that I've never heard of a flaw so complex. I almost felt bad for those awakened.
Except now I was one of those unfortunate awakened. I bit my lip, wondering how I'd gotten something like this in the first place.
Sure, it seemed complicated but it wasn't that bad. I had just had to choose one and change it every now and then. Nothing hard, right?
…while lost in thought the spell suddenly punched me in the face with a new set of runes.
[Select the humor which will start to deplete once chosen.]
[Failure to choose within time will result in blood being depleted.]
Seeing the words "blood" and "depleted" in the same line started to make me panic so I tried to choose another as fast as I could. [Mind] and [Energy] seemed far too important for me to function without so the only one that was left was [Essence]. Soul essence wasn't necessary for me to live with unlike the rest, but let it be known that I hated having to choose it.
Essence was the basis for letting me use my aspect, memories, and potentially echoes. Having low or no essence would make the integral part of me being awakened irrelevant.
I pulled my hair. I really didn't want to do this but I didn't want to know what would happen if the other three were depleted instead.
[Dreamer Vincent, select a humor.]
Out in the waking world, I wasn't in any sort of dangerous situation. So, having [Essence] being depleted wasn't a major problem. I sneered at the runes. "Fine. I select [Essence]."
The spell didn't even give me a second to rethink my choice when it displayed a new message.
[Wake up, Vincent!]
***
I woke up to the afternoon light. The sun had made three quarters of its way through the sky, causing the sunlight to strike the surface of my bedroom at an angle.
Nothing in my room was different from how I remembered it from before the first trial. Though there were two stark differences. One was the thick black straps that wrapped my body, making me pose similar to a mummy in a coffin. Even though I was awakened now, equipped with superhuman physical abilities, I felt like getting out of these binds was beyond me.
The second difference was the strikingly beautiful woman wearing a dark blue jacket sitting next to me. Multiple zippers lined her jacket, and I got the sense they were there for practicality not as a fashion decision. A dark knife was strapped onto her left tricep. She sat back on my personal desk chair. With her arms crossed in front of her chest, one leg over the other, and her spine inhumanely straight--she struck me as a person who didn't tolerate nonsense.
My eyes went up to her face and I felt a cold chill run down my back when I met her icy blue eyes. They weren't like the eyes of a living person, they seemed to contain no life in them as if she was undead. Her pale complexion and jet-black hair presented a contrasting yet harmonious paradox.
Then I realized something big, simultaneously the black haired woman seemed to flinch when she saw my expression and raised a hand.
"You're Master Soul Reaper, Jet!" I shouted. Soul Reaper's eyes went slightly wide and her pose became more relaxed. She shifted uncomfortably before muttering, "..thank the spell you have some manners."
"I remember you, you were with Mongrel during that day with the nightmare gate-Huh? What do you mean, 'manners'?" I asked innocently
"Don't worry about it too much. It is just that I had the chance to supervise two people with the nightmare spell before, both survived fortunately. Though, they lacked decency." She said both irritation and humor displaying on her beautiful face.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry?" I couldn't imagine how barbaric the people Soul Reaper Jet supervised for her to feel irritated. Though I heard that Soul Reaper was already bad-tempered in the first place, so her remarks of the other two people might not have been accurate.
Soul Reaper chuckled, "Again, don't worry about it. Why don't you catch up with your father before we leave. Take a shower before you leave by the way."
She got up from my chair and leaned over me to click on a device that was situated behind my bed frame. Immediately the thick black straps that contained me reeled back into the metal device. A snapping sound was heard as the metal device turned into a small rectangular prism that Soul Reaper put into one of her jacket pockets.
I got up carefully, my joints sore from being strapped and forced to stay in the same place for so long. If my time spent in my first trial had been carried over to the waking world, I would have spent roughly a day and a half in the same position.
I was basically like an old, creaky door.
After massaging my body, I followed Soul Reaper out of my room. The second I took a step out, I heard a rumbling from down the stairs to my right. I saw my father scramble up the stairs, lightly moving Soul Reaper to the side to embrace me in his arms.
I gasped. One, because my father had shoved Master Jet to the side but also because he'd never been so affectionate with me before.
I patted him on the back, and he let go of me, breathing heavily with a complicated expression on his face. After noticing my gaze, he seemed to get over himself and he started to fix his attire and expression to something more neutral.
He turned to Soul Reaper Jet behind him, "Sorry-sorry, I pushed you like that Master Jet. Thank you for helping my son live." He bowed his head slightly, showing how grateful he really was.
"I didn't do anything--the reason Vincent survived was because of himself." She replied nonchalantly, but she glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow. I smiled back, letting her know nothing was wrong.
My father and I weren't generally as affectionate as other families were. We never hugged, shook our hands or even gave each a pat on the back. We didn't have many common interests either so we never really talked leisurely to each other, unless it was about being awakened.
It must be weird for other families to see a father and son look so distant from each other. But it was simply how me and my dad were.
My father hugging me now was a rare action, something that hadn't happened since childhood. It shocked both me and him.
I'm sure it must have shocked Master Jet as well. I could imagine her seeing my father who seemed calm while I was in the first trial, but now he was the spitting image of a doting father fussing over his child.
Soul Reaper went downstairs, letting me and my father spend some time talking with each other outside the door to my room. Eventually his frantic stuttering turned into his more tranquil self. He told me to take a shower and that he already packed my duffel bag for things I would need for the Awakened Academy.
I dropped into the shower and turned the valve into steaming hot water. I let out a breath and my shoulders dropped in relief. Though my real body had never left the waking world, the mental fatigue I had gained from being in the Ironclad Ants den still remained. The hot shower both loosened my sore joints and released the stress built up by the first trial.
I left the shower with a white towel wrapped around my waist. While drying my hair with another smaller towel I thought about what I would do next. The Awakened Academy was obviously going to be the place I would be in. But what would I do there?
What courses should I take? Should I do more survival focused classes that improve my practical physique and knowledge, or should I take it easy?
The Winter solstice was only 3 months from now and that meant the first official nightmare. It was going to be easier than my first trial, after all I had to do was go and find a citadel.
Though there was still a chance that I could end up in the same situation as the Forgotten Shore Awakened from 2 years ago.
While pulling my jeans up my leg I took a peek outside between the slits of the curtains on my window.
Master Jet was leaning against the side of Personal Transport Vehicle, otherwise known as a PTV, a lollipop in her mouth. Seeing that she didn't show any signs of being irritated yet, I decided I could take a bit more time in fixing my hair when I saw something that made me freeze mid-movement.
"It is just that I had the chance to supervise two people with the nightmare spell before, both survived fortunately. Though, they both lacked decency."
Jets words rang in my ears. I didn't know about the first person she supervised, but I had an idea about the second. Actually, I knew who he was- very well.
I threw on my brown sweater haphazardly and ran down the stairs. I ran past the kitchen where my father was cleaning dishes. My right hand grabbed the straps of the duffle bag, and I said a quick goodbye to my father, before lunging out the front door.
Standing in front of the walkway to my front door was Ford, a radiant smile that showed his white teeth. His spread his arms wide intending to be welcoming, "Vincent, I knew you'd survive-"
I kicked Ford in the shin making him fall to his knees in pain, I grabbed his collar. "Ford, who supervised you?" I said with no emotion in my voice.
"Ah, so you're wondering if I've seen the magnificence of Master Jet—"
"What did you say to her?" I said cutting him off.
Ford stayed silent.
I whispered under my breath, "What did you say?"
Ford didn't say anything, his mouth a thin straight line.
"Did you say anything about her-?" I didn't say the word out loud, fearing that Master Jet could hear me.
Ford got up slowly, his eyes narrow with a serious expression. He put two hands on my shoulders and looked down at me from his tall height.
"What shouldn't a man confess his love to a beautiful woman?"
I looked at him with my mouth wide open.
"She's Soul Reaper Jet, the mad master that the government sends on their most dangerous missions. She's literally murdered thousands of nightmare creatures stronger than her." I was practically hissing the words.
"I like women with a bit of temper."
"She can kill you in seconds."
"Did I stutter?"
I let go of his collar, finding myself dumbfounded by Ford's stubbornness when it came to his irrational attraction towards lethal women.
"Is something the matter?" I heard Master Jet say as she stopped leaning against the PTV. She took out the lollipop from her mouth, there was no candy on the end.
Ford put his elbow on the top of my head and made his voice deeper. "Oh, don't worry Master Jet, we're just catching up on what happened in our nightmares!"
I nodded, feeling Ford's elbow digging into my scalp. If Soul Reaper wasn't here, Ford would be six feet under the ground.
Jet looked between us and turned to the PTV. "Get in." She said simply.