As the morning sun bled into the room, Merlin got up and freshened himself, he then made his way down, as he arrived at the food distribution point he noticed a few more guards, they were probably in the look out for him.
'Guess I caused a ruckus in the palace, too bad for them because I'm leaving today'
'But the question is, should I head back to hunting, I'm pretty sure that bastard demon is probably still lurking around the area, I'd love to avoid him if possible'
Merlin thoughts kept wandering as he ate quietly still maintaining a simple illusion, when he finished, he got up and walked away.
After walking for a while and confirming he wasn't followed, he made his way to a shop that stood near the walls, he moved to the side of the shop and placed his hand on the wall as he phased through it.
'Why pay entrance fee when you don't need an entrance, sigh... I have inevitably become a fraud'
Merlin emerged from the other side of the wall and made his way towards the outer settlement, as he got there unlike the last time, he could now see a little hope in the eyes of the people, there were some who were even eating the meat provided.
'Looks like it has started huh, I can't afford to waste too much time'
Merlin walked towards the last place he had met with the cohort so he could greet them again, as he got there, he met only Cassie who was seated fiddling with her fingers.
As he walked in, She was startled and turned to his direction, she smiled to him and said.
"Hey Merlin, good morning"
"..."
As he was quiet she explained to him.
"You see.. it's only your runes I can't see, so as someone entered into the room and I couldn't see their runes, I was sure that it was you, or maybe a nightmare creature haha"
Merlin nodded along to her logic, but as he was about to reply her, his mind went to the latter end of her words as a mischievous smile formed on his face.
"..."
"U-Uhm... Merlin are you still there?" Cassie's voice noticably dimmed.
"..."
"Uh.. is anyone there?" Her voice was laced with creeping fear.
"Hahaha, I'm here Cassie, Morning to you too" Merlin deciding not to bully her decided to laugh out loud at the spectacle.
Cassie who had been teased proceeded to pout and answered him.
"You.. really, is it because I said nightmare creature.."
Merlin laughed again at her expression then apologized.
"I'm sorry Cas but you brought that one on yourself, how was your night tho"
"It was fine, compared to sleeping in the labyrinth and under a mental tree, it's peaceful" Cassie spoke with a smile.
"Yeah it sure is, by the way, where's Sunny and Nephis, I'd like to see them before heading out" He asked as he sat opposite her.
"They're out serving food to the people in the outer settlement, thanks for the meat too, I heard that you hunted them" Cassie faced him tracking his breath with her ears.
"Yeah no problem there, I hunt, they share, we all help each other, that's what friends are for.." He replied.
Cassie stayed quiet for a while fiddling with her fingers before she asked him.
"Hey Merlin, why carry all the weight alone, you can ask us for help you know, I may not be able to help but atleast Sunny and Nephis can help atleast, so why do it alone"
Merlin breathed silently as he thought for an answer, he always asked himself the same question but as he never had an answer he would always kill the thought whenever it came up.
'Why huh...' he thought.
"Honestly Cas, I don't know, I guess since it's only me then I won't be scared of mistakes, and even when I make some, I know I'm the only person to take the blame, maybe it could also be the fear of my flaw, fear that if I postpone my urge to help so I can do it later when I'm stronger or when it matters more, but by then I won't be able to feel the urge to help anymore..."
He took a breath then continued.
"In the end humans are creatures that act on desire, is mine fear?, or maybe guilt?, I don't know.. but atleast it's worth trying something"
Cassie listened to him and after a while she spoke up.
"So you're pushing yourself now because you're not sure if you will do so in future right, it's good but Merlin... don't push yourself too hard and don't forget to rest too, the future is not here yet so don't be anxious"
Merlin chuckled after hearing her then he replied her.
"Yeah thanks a lot Cas, and please take your advice too, the future isn't here yet so stop being anxious"
Cassie flinched a little at his reply then nodded right after.
'Hopefully this kid would end up on the good side this time'
As they finished talking, Sunny and Nephis walked into the room.
"Hey Sunny, Hey Neph" Merlin and Cassie greeted them as they walked in.
"Hey" they replied.
Merlin spoke up first.
"So I'll be heading back to hunting, I've already gotten the stuff I need, is there anything you guys want to say"
Sunny asked almost immediately.
"How long are you going to stay?"
"Four to five days, maybe less" He answered.
"Can I come with you to hunt?" Sunny asked after thinking for a while.
Merlin chuckled before answering.
"No need to follow me Sunny, if you want to hunt, on the other side there's the dark castle area, there's a free reign of abominations for you to kill, and it's nearer, just don't get yourself killed tho, and don't enter the building you see through the front door"
Sunny paused to digest what he said then nodded.
Nephis simply looked at him and asked.
"You said you reached the area of the crimson spire, how was it?"
'As expected, a very Nephis like question'
Merlin chuckled inwardly then answered.
"In total it's horrible, it's almost overridden with beasts, most likely cases are Fallen standing at the top, I haven't encountered any corrupted yet tho, they're ranging from beast to tyrant or so I've seen, but, I'll try to reduce their numbers best I can"
Nephis nodded then continued.
"You're doing this because you know right?"
Merlin smiled and answered.
"Yeah, you do your things and I'll do mine, in the end it's just same goals different methods"
Merlin then got up from his seat, ruffled Cassie's hair and said.
"See you later guys, and tell Effie I dropped by"
He then walked out of the tent.
Sunny walked towards where he sat, Cassie still had her hand on her hair and Nephis walked to sit beside Cassie, as he got there, he saw a Makeshift rucksack, similar to the one he used in the labyrinth, but inside where glowing crystals, soul shards.
"Hey, I think Merlin left something" Sunny said as he opened the bag to see fifteen awakened soul shard inside and a letter.
Sunny picked the bag and said to them.
"Well what's here is fifteen awakened shards and a letter.."
Nephis looked at the rucksack in his hand and the letter, while Cassie had a light smile.
"What does the letter say Sunny?" Cassie asked him.
"Well it says 'If you're reading this letter it means you found my gift, please don't forget to return it to the owner... Okay I'm joking, I haven't had time to say this yet but you guys might as well be the only family I have left, so at least as the big brother it's my responsibility to take care of you guys, and when I'm not around you guys should trust each other, trust means a lot so if you're trusted please don't betray it either. And Neph please explain your plan thoroughly to Sunny, he's good and all but he's a little slow to catch up, and Sunny beware of the stone saints, those guys are efficient killing machines, if you have the chance to kill one do so, if you want to hunt them call me, but if you encounter one switch to Plan B, and lastly Cas, if you need help with your visions please come to me, right now my chances of survival are pretty much based on what you can and can't see, plus I kinda know a thing or two about visions, and finally, as for my full abilities, it's called magician, it includes divination, danger premonition, paper daggers, damage transfer, flame jump/control, air bullet, paper figurine substitute, bone softening and illusion, I've shared everything I have, I already have a rough idea of what you guys can do, but still it's best to share that knowledge with each other to end pointless suspicion, I'm counting on you guys, good luck P.S burn after reading.'"
Sunny took a deep breath after he finished, for a while no one said anything, then Sunny decided to break the silence.
"Looks like we have a lot of talking to do.."
Nephis looked at the paper and replied.
"I guess we do..."
...
Merlin who had left them earlier now stood at the outskirts of the crimson spire, and a few distance away was a fallen beast that he was planning to hunt.
'Let's see... Paper dagger check, Flammable items around check, Figurine substitute check, sniper check and finally echo check'
He moved carefully until he was on top of a rock, he changed his sword to resemble a classic sniper rifle, he had seen pictures of it in his past life and now was a good enough time to put it to test.
He balanced himself above the rock but just enough to hide his position, he looked through the scope of the rifle, the memory did not possess the zoom ability of a regular sniper, but as the beast was not far away he didn't necessarily need it, infact he could just use his fingers or the desert eagle but where's the fun in that.
Looking through the sniper, he aimed at the eye of the fallen beast, and with a bang, the beast lost his eye, a classic blinding move, a coward move but who cares it's what his pathway's made for.
The blinded beast wailed and started trashing wildly, he flame jumped into the view of it's second eye holding two playing cards, with a swish he threw the cards as they blinded the second eye, the blinded fallen beast dashed towards his location, but he had already flame jumped away, from above his echo smashed into it, sinking it's fangs and claws into the beast, in a matter of seconds the beast turned limp and the spell echoed in his ear.
[You have slain a fallen beast, Ashen crawler.]
[Your soul grows stronger...]
Merlin walked to the fallen beast, the fished out the soul shard and playing cards and went ahead to collect the meat for his later use.
As time went on, Merlin continued hunting the creatures he could kill, and he kept scouting the area until the night came, as the dark sea rose, Merlin made his way to high ground, there were a few awakened nightmare creatures on the hill, but with his echo, he killed some and chased the rest off.
On the hill, Merlin was sitting on the ground, in his hands were bunch of fruits he got from the tree, he also had a few pieces of meat that he had cooked previously layed on a paper on the ground.
'I am a lost boy from neverland, except with me there's no peter pan...'
His thoughts were busy wandering about, as he chewed on a piece of meat, suddenly a thought came to him.
'Hey, why don't I just go for a swim, I got the figurine substitute by the way...'
But he quickly banished that thought, knowing his luck, he would probably be substituted into the water again or squidward would come for his ass even outside the water.
"Haa... nothing to do, should I just fly back.. nah, that's just suicide with a long description"
Suddenly he had an odd idea...
'Hey I got the aspect, the cloak and the castle, all that's missing is the honorific name... Hehehe'
He put a finger on his chin as his thoughts ran wild.
"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era.. No.. that's not it"
"Attendant Of Mysteries from another world... That sounds like an anime title"
"King of space time won't work, something tells me not to even try that.."
..
.
"Hmm... Child of Change... That's ties to my attribute"
"The Wandering Miracle Magician.. yeah this points to me.."
"Blessed of the Spirit World... For my Door aspect legacy"
"Dreamer Cloaked in Mysteries.. Memory..."
"And lastly... The Soul traveling through Dreams and History.. for my abilities"
He paused and recalled it in his head.
'Child of Change
The Wandering Miracle Magician
Blessed of the Spirit World
Dreamer Cloaked in Mysteries
The Soul traveling through Dreams and History' (A/N Courtesy of GreyChaos)
After recalling it a few times, he recited it out loud and waited, after a second, he heard murmurings in his ear but the words were completely blurred, learning from his predecessors, he went into his soul sea, sitting on the chair he saw one illusory red light glowing not far from him, as he touched it, he could see himself from above as he recited the name.
Immediately, the castle in his soul sea stirred as gray fog from outside flooded in, it shook for a while then stopped as all the gray fog rushed towards him, or rather the Cloak on his body, the Cloak absorbed all the fog and as the last of it entered, one of the gray globes floating atop him shattered, his soul core shattered.
An intense pain flooded his chest as he was forced out of his soul sea, as he regained his body, he clutched his chest in pain, forcing himself he summoned his echo to keep watch, and a moment after he fell unconscious.
Merlin woke up with a pain in his chest accompanied by a banging head ache, remembering last time, he summoned his runes which now read.
Name: Merlin Hermes
True Name: Attendant Of Mysteries
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: [791/1000]
'Fuck... Are you that wicked, it's one thing if it's equal exchange, but trading a soul core for simple long distance communication that's fraud.. all my efforts wasted.'
Merlin looked at his runes with tears, he felt weak and helpless, as he held in his emotions, he dove back into his soul sea, now there was only one globe above, but on the side was a box he hadn't seen before, as he looked into the box, he saw a bunch of soul shards, lots of cooked and raw meat, paper figurines and playing cards, a bunch of soul devouring fruits and a few other things.
'No way.. please tell me it is'
He quickly exited his soul sea, brought out all the shards in his possession and went back in, as he looked into the box, there were no shards in it.
'Hell yeah, I just got a free route to my soul sea, I wonder if I can bring people too...'
As he had the thought, he immediately looked up and saw his echo hanging upside down from the roof.
'Maybe not... But who cares, I got a lot of plans for this, one soul core is a small price'
He excited his soul sea happily, immediately he put the transcedent shards in his soul sea and proceeded to absorb the rest till there was nothing left. After gritting through the pain of forming a new core again, he summoned his runes again.
Name: Merlin Hermes
True Name: Attendant Of Mysteries
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Monster
Soul Fragments: [11/2000]
Memories: [Cloak of Mysteries], [Formless], [Siren's Bracelet]
Echoes: [Spire Messenger]
Attributes: [Fated],[Mysteries],[Mark of Divinity]
Aspect: [Child Of God]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Ability: [Magician]
Flaw: [Apathy]
Flaw Description: [The stronger you get the more of your humanity you shed until you become a being of only divinity.]
After a while, the sun peeked through the night sky, and the black sea retreated, and now Merlin was prepared to hunt again, this time with a smile on his face.