Aelon found himself sitting next to Lyra in the cafeteria. The air was laden with the aromatic scents stemming from the foods of the surrounding sleepers.
After finishing his food, the black haired boy peered over to Lyra's tray, which was already finished. With a curt nod in her direction, he stood up, and put his tray awayIamgenuinelygonnakillmyself.
Gazing at the floor, still perturbed by the masses, Aelon returned to his quarters, to get ready for his next classes.
Grabbing a change of clothes, since it would be combat class, he made his way over to the classroom, and an almost empty classroom greeted him, with Instructor Rock gazing at his communicator, failing to notice the boy's presence.
Solemnly, he sat down, and awaited the arrival of the other students.
Not before long, Lyra arrived as well, sitting next to him. With her, multiple other students came in, they seemed to have had a conversation with her, and were glazing her with compliments.
"I cannot believe that you are not a Legacy, and got a true name after your first nightmare? You're amazing Lyra!"
She in return smiled at them, but the smile she gave the boy, wasn't like the one he remembered from back when they were children. Lyra now rarely smiled at all, so it was apparent to Aelon that she was just faking it.
To her fortune though, the boys she was talking to did not know that and took that for granted. After a while of conversing with her, they turned around, and sat in their own space of the room, making Aelon's flaw ease up.
"A-are they your friends?"
"No. They don't possess any value to me. I was just trying out my sleeper ability."
'Come to think of it, in all our weeks here she always managed to seem to be able to avoid the conversation about her sleeper ability, and flaw...'
"You are wondering how I managed to avoid conversation about my aspect."
In shock, Aelon looked up, but her eyes were facing the other direction, staring at the boys from earlier.
'Did she read my mind?'
"Not really. I cannot directly read minds, but I can feel other's intents and thoughts. Your thoughts aren't concrete things after all, they shift and turn, almost being formless."
"S-so even if I thought something false on purpose, you'd feel that I want to think something false?"
"Somewhat like that."
'That... that's crazily overpowered... I understand now how she was able to defeat Caster. If she knew his attacks beforehand, she would be able to counter them even without sensing them, or being fast enough to match him.'
He still wondered what her flaw was.
Now Lyra's purple eyes turned towards him, as if gazing into his soul.
"I'll tell you when the time is ripe."
Once Aelon had gained knowledge about her sleeper ability he felt incredibly... naked around her. Not in the literal sense of course, but it was like every single thing, every single intention, was exposed to her.
'This is creepy.'
Lyra's expression didn't shift in the slightest, and she just stared into empty space, attention now diverted inwards.
"Wait... my sleeper ability! Can I try it out with you today? I still haven't figured it out quite yet..."
The black haired girl nodded.
...
Since Aelon brought the topic of her aspect up, Lyra was staring at her runes.
Name: Lyra
True Name: Dreamreaver
Rank: Dormant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: [Rose Thorn], [Uncracked Carapace]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Child of Hunger], [Unclouded Mind], [Steel Will], [Fated], [Mark of Divinity]
Aspect: [Heartbound]Aspect Description: [The heart is the cradle of thought, desire, and will. You perceive its echoes where others see only faces. Whether you nurture them or consume them is yours to decide.]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Innate Ability: [Soulmate's Bond]
Innate Ability Description: [It is a sorrowful thing for a heart to walk without a companion. You may bind your heart to another, intertwining your souls and allowing them to share what lies beyond the reach of ordinary perception. Through this bond, the strengths and mysteries of one heart may find expression within the other.]
Aspect Abilities: [Mind's Glimpse]Aspect Ability Description: [Your gaze reaches beyond words. By focusing upon another, you may perceive the shape of another's thoughts, intentions, and state of mind.]
Flaw: [Hollow Heart]
Flaw Description: [No heart but your own may ever stir your emotions. The happiness, sorrow, fear, and love of others shall forever remain distant, leaving you imprisoned within yourself.]
Her eyes lingered on the final line of her runes longer than the others.
'Aelon. If I told him about this, he would think differently about me. I cannot allow that.'
Due to her flaw, Lyra hasn't felt a single emotion that stemmed from other's emotions. If someone praised her, it did not make her happy. If someone insulted her, it did not anger her.
Her original emotions didn't change in the slightest though, they were just internal now.
That meant, that if she liked someone, it was solely because that person appealed to her, not because she wanted to satisfy their emotions or anything else.
Now that she had a clear perception of her own mind, she knew.
In the orphanage, and now, she liked Aelon.
Was it weird, because he was younger than her? Probably. It wasn't anything problematic though, societal norms just always portrayed men as having to be the older ones. As far as she knew, he only saw her as an older sister this far, but Lyra wasn't in an urge to change that. She did not care what others thought of her love, neither did she really care what Aelon thought about it. All she needed at the moment was his presence.
Even though she didn't look it, she also entered the Academy at a slightly lower age, than the others, fifteen to be exact. Girls usually entered puberty earlier, so it went unnoticed.
The beautiful boy next to her stood up, when the instructor called them to self study, meaning that most would spar, or practice their own abilities.
"I think my sleeper ability works like a buff and a debuff... I'll try out the buff first, okay?"
In response, Lyra only gave the boy a curt nod, and readied herself.
The moment his aspect activated, she felt it, her soul... felt stronger, as if the roots of it in the world grew deeper.
And then, when she activated her sleeper ability, she felt a huge influx of intents influx into her mind.
The thoughts of everyone grew immensely clearer, and she felt herself being able to mind read completely now.
A little stunned she looked at Aelon, whose thoughts were rushing in patterns similar to 'Did something bad happen?' 'Did anything change?'
"It worked. My aspect ability grew stronger... by a lot."
Aelon's eyes widened in realization. "So, the debuff version would probably make it weaker, right? Let's try it out. I think my innate is enhancing the sleeper ability strongly here, making the effect even stronger."
...
With the souls of everyone in the combat class augmenting him, Aelon felt immensely strengthened, and so did his sleeper ability. He already reasoned it before, but it seemed it was directly proportionate to the enhancement received by his innate.
When he activated the negative version, he felt a warm feeling arise from his soul core, and Lyra apathetically stared ahead, activating her aspect ability.
"It's not working. I mean it is... but my soul feels so weak that it can't sustain any aspect ability."
'I can negate aspect abilities? Wait... with the amount of people in this room, it makes sense.'
"Let's go outside." Lyra said, sensing his thoughts, as he had already deactivated his ability.
With a nod, Aelon followed her, and activated the debuff ability once again.
"Yes. I feel slightly weakened, but my ability is almost functioning as same."
"I see..."
'Yeah I was right... in a solitary enviroment, it's practically useless. I cannot use it to strengthen myself either, since I don't have any other aspect ability.'
Only two days left until the winter solstice.