Enchantment: [Lord of Ash]
Those words floated below the runes describing Lucien's newest memory. A singular enchantment for a tier one memory. Lucien would have been disappointed if it wasn't for the fact that he could see the vague outline of six other enchantments beside it. He couldn't quite make out what they were, the runes were too garbled for that.
That confirmed his previous suspicions. This new memory, or remnant as the spell called it, would not stay tier one forever. Or at least, would not only have one enchantment.
This wasn't the first time he was faced with such a memory. Both the Stone Armorsuit and the Storm Blade acted similarly. They increased in rank when Lucien himself ascended in rank and they increased in tier when Lucien awakened a new core.
The Remnant, however, only increased in rank upon gaining knowledge about the past. It only stood to reason that it could rise in tiers too. He was not sure how he was going to achieve that though.
Pushing those thoughts into a different corner of his head, Lucien continued to study the runes.
Enchantment Description: [All that is sand shall bow to your will.]
"Huh," He breathed out, that was simple enough. Just plain sand manipulation. In a desert, that would be deadly. Coincidentally, that was exactly where he was!
It was then that a stinging sensation suddenly made itself known on his face. Lucien frowned and looked up.
Ignoring it, he returned his attention to the daggers, allowing himself to relax into the grip. He had never used a dagger before, but he had seen other hunters use them sometimes. Still, mere observation was not enough to fully understand how to use a weapon.
However, what was a dagger if not a shorter version of a sword? Two of them in fact.
Lucien held the weapons up and was about to perform a few practice strikes when another stinging sensation interrupted him.
"Ok, what the hell is going on out there?" He exclaimed, dismissing his memory and glaring at the veil of clouds above.
With a scowl marring his face, he closed his eyes and forced his consciousness out of his soul sea.
Nephis dashed across the room and caught Lucien's body before it could fall to the ground. Near instantly cleansing white flames spread from her hand, covering his body, looking for any injuries to heal. But there was nothing to fix, Lucien was perfectly fine.
She frowned. Whatever that sand had done to him, it wasn't something she could fix. That is to say, it wasn't anything physical.
At the same time, a noise from the outside drew her attention, and Nephis' blood ran cold. She didn't need to go outside to know what it was.
A deathless had come, all that commotion had managed to attract one of them. Wasting no more time, she dragged Lucien's limp body behind the stone pedestal. She needed him to wake up, otherwise they were both dead.
And so, left with no other choice, she raised her right arm and slapped him across the face. Lucien's eyes twitched in irritation, but he did not wake up.
A hint of annoyance made its way into her eyes as she raised her hand and struck him again. This time Lucien's face twisted into a snarl, but still he did not wake up.
In front of them, a long shadow fell on the stairs and Nephis raised her hand again, this time turning it into a fist.
She struck again, but this time her fist never made contact. Lucien's hand blurred and grabbed her wrist, stopping her fist centimeters away from his face.
Now wide awake, Lucien glared at her and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Nephis forcefully turned his head towards the stairs where the legs of a black skeleton could be seen descending.
Lucien's eyes widened, and the gravity of their situation sunk in. Time slowed to a crawl, a thousand thoughts flashing by his mind.
They could not fight the deathless, that was certain death. They could not simply run past it either, through a narrow stairway, it would catch them before they could slip by. That only left one last option, to make a new exit, and break through the ceiling.
But how? It would take too long to break it normally.
Unless…
There was sand all around him, leaking from the cracks and crevices in the ceiling, accumulating on the floor. With his new memory, it just might be enough.
Time slowed to a crawl, and he summoned Mictlans Demise. Lucien was expecting the memory to build itself out of white sparks of light, like he had seen hundreds of times before. But it seemed the Remnant had yet another surprise for him.
Something within him festered and golden sand flowed out of Lucien's chest, right above his storm core. The sand flowed down his arms like a snake, and solidified into the shape of the twin daggers.
'...' Lucien spared a split second to stare at the blades, taken aback by how swiftly the sand flowed out of his body. But he did not have time to ponder on that.
Pouring essence into the memory, he commanded the sand, and the white grains around him responded. On the other side of the room, the deathless soldier finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Its hollow hateful eyes fixed themselves on the two awakened.
Lucien struck towards the ceiling, and a pillar of sand burst forth, following his movement, and the already weak stone ceiling shattered, revealing the night sky. He wasted no more time and dismissed one of the daggers to grab Nephis.
The deathless was almost upon them, and the commotion would surely bring even more to their location. And so Lucien ran, pouring all of his essence into his dormant ability.
It wasn't until he had put a few dozen miles between them that he stopped, and looked back. Behind them, was nothing but dunes of white sand, and scores of deathless fighting on those dunes.
None of whom seemed to be interested in them.
Lucien finally allowed himself to release a sigh of relief. But it was to early too relax, the night was still young, and the sun had yet to rise. Until then, they had to find shelter.
But that was easier said than done. All around them was nothing but white sand. No structures stood out among the sand, and in the darkness of the night it was even harder to find them.
As they continued onward, guided by the light of the stars, more and more sand greeted them. Until, something rose in the distance, something that seemed entirely out of place in the desolate desert. The branches of a tree greeted them, it's deep coloured leaves dancing in a non-existent wind. If he squinted, Lucien could see something hanging from its branches like fruit.
Strangely enough, there was no deathless fighting around it, in fact they seemed to deliberately avoid it. It was like an island of peace in a sea of conflict.
Something about that tree kept the deathless away. Or maybe it was someone. In his experience, nightmare creatures only avoided places where there were stronger monsters present.
Lucien's eyes pulsed red as they gazed at the distant tree, and information from the past flowed into his head. The onslaught of information made him stumble and a throbbing pain encompassed his brain. Information of a sacred tree, of two sinners, and of a dead gods curse.
Nephis turned to him, an inquisitive eyebrow raised in a silent question.
As the pounding in his head weakened, Lucien was able to think again. He shook his head and gestured to the tree.
Without another word exchanged between them, the two of them began moving towards the sacred tree.
Moving through the battlefield of deathless beings was no easy task. One wrong move, and they could attract their attention. And if that happened, nothing could save them. Still, they persevered, moving slowly, and stopping if a deathless was fighting nearby, until they moved somewhere else.
A part of him was concerned that the tree would be no different than the Soul Devourer, but as they got closer, Lucien couldn't sense any trace of corruption from it. Neither could he sense corruption from the two beings nailed to its white bark.
By the time they reached the tree, the sun had already risen, and the deathless had returned to the sands. In the light of the incandescent sun, they could finally see the tree in its entirety.
It's bark was as white as ancient bone, unmarred through the passage of time. Two weathered skeletons were nailed to it, like a sacrificial offering. Crimson leaves hung from it's branches, striking a great contrast against the blue sky. The shapes hanging from it, that Lucien had thought to be fruit, were instead skulls. Tens of thousands of them hanging from the beautiful branches, fastened to them with gleaming threads of black silk.
A spring of water formed a clear pool in the great trees shadow, an oasis in the middle of a desert.
As they approached, one of the skeletons moved its head and stared at them with its hollowed eyes. It's teeth, which were locked in an eternal grin, suddenly moved.
"My, oh, my, would you look at that, a Stormforged travelling with a Nephilim."
The other skeleton slowly turned its head towards its companion, "Have you gone blind? The boy has too much divinity in him to be a Stormforged."
"And yet, the stench of that god is undeniable." The skeleton tilted it's head, "That's quite interesting, don't you think?"
The second skeleton didn't reply.
Lucien frowned and turned to Nephis, "Can you smell Storm God on me?"
Nephis blinked in surprise and took a moment to respond. "What…does she smell like?"
"Good question," Lucien said, looking up at the skeleton who spoke first, "So, what does she smell like?"
It was the second skeleton who responded, "Like calamity,"
"And the sea," the first one chimed in.
Then, the skeleton paused and raised his head, as if smelling something. "My, oh, my, is that a Daemon I smell?"
The second one looked down at them, his voice deep and full of rage:
"Can't you smell whose stench that is? They're of Weaver's, you fool!"
"So they are." The first one said, staring intently at Lucien, as he knew something his companion didn't.
"Anyways," His gaze returned to its usual hollowness, "What brings two young souls like you here?"
Nephis spoke first, "We are-"
"Have you seen a woman, about yea tall, with unnaturally blue hair, and the ability to turn into wind?" Lucien interrupted, flying up to meet the skeleton face to face.
Slightly taken aback by the boys over enthusiasm, the skeleton tried to lean back, only to be stopped by the accursed trees bark.
"As a matter of fact I have. In fact, you will not find anyone more informed than the two of us in this desert." His skeleton grin seemed to grow wider, "Just take us off this damned tree and we will tell you all we know about her."
Lucien's expression froze, and an old feeling crept up on him. A feeling he often felt when dealing with Sunny. Was…was he being scammed?
Raising a singular finger he said, "I'll be right back."
With that, he slowly floated down to Nephis.
"They're swindling us." He whispered to her, receiving a nod as an answer.
"Do we have any other choice?" Nephis said, her eyes never leaving the two skeletons. Then, she suddenly walked forward and said:
"We only need one of you, who do we pick?"
The second skeleton strained to free himself again, and then roared:
"I am Azarax the Mighty, the Plague of Steel, King of Kings, conqueror of a hundred thrones! Choose me, and I will not just grant you information about her, but also guide you to her! In this hell, you will need a powerful guide!"
Sparing him a glance, she turned to the first one, "...What about you?
The first skeleton answered in an aloof tone, "Me? Oh, I am no one. Just a humble slave."