Wanderer

Arino was not new to strange dreams due to the abominations that hid outside of Acoria, his village, but this dream was different. There was a deep quarry with a humongous skeleton in it, like something of his nightmares. Or a nightmare creature. An ineffably deep hole sat in the earth some distance from it, whilst a mountain range stood around it.

It seemed to be breathing. A white fog would come and go from the surrounding peaks with the day and night cycles, very quickly. He watched the quarry filling up when he realized this wasn't normal, he was watching time flow in an unfamiliar direction.

Debris stacked on the land where the quarry once was, and he saw it speed up even more, until the debris was like a shattered mountain. After looking closely, he saw the miners moving the debris start to slow down and begin to move in the right direction.

[Aspirant! Welcome to them Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your first trial…]

'Where am I? The ruins?' He knew these weren't the ruins, but the sight of nothing but rubble couldn't help but bring the thought to him. The ceiling above him was reinforced with wooden beams, and in front of him, a tunnel stretched out. Every dozen meters or so, a torch rested in a brazier showcasing the shadows of the jagged walls.

Arino's tunic was stuck to him with sweat and clay made from the dust, and his feet hurt like nothing else. Fractured wooden sandals were lightly bound to his feet with leather. On his back was a torn bag, and at his side a short dagger with a single unfamiliar rune inscribed on the base of the blade.

He was confused by the lack of tools that he saw the other miner's carrying, and even basic saferty gear, but it came to him. He wasn't one of them. He didn't know his role here in any way, he tried to awaken from the fruit, but that cry that knocked him out was strange. 'It was like the interactions described by the elders with the Sacred Wanderer, but they never mentioned the agony She brings.'

Arino was not going to waste his time in this strange world by thinking without acting, so he decided to move forward. There was nothing to point out which way was out, so he just went the way he was facing when he awoke.

The walls of the tunnel were luckily quite wide, as Arino was not used to enclosed spaces. Back home, the catacomb's were all but avoided by him. Unfortunately, the cold aura of death seemed to be just as palpable here as it was there, if not more intense.

He wished very deeply that his bag was not so torn, and perhaps filled with tasty food and water. It had been hours that he was aimlessly walking when he started hearing a strange noise. It was like something dragged through the cracked walls of the tunnel. After stopping to listen for a moment, he felt a strange pull on his subconscious, and as if it was instinct, he took a step back.

The moment his foot reconnected with the ground, it's previous location ruptured and a revolting insect the size of his forearm jumped out and bounced from the ceiling towards Arino, metallic pincer's glinting in the torchlight.

Again, he felt a pull, and he tried to raise his arms in resistance but the way those mandibles looked left the feeling that he would lose a hand or even both if he did so. Despite the fear, it was that or lose his neck.

Pain shattered the illusion that this may have just been some scary dream, and he did his best not to look at his left arm where it originated from as he tried to move his head to the left. The bug flew past him, but not without a sharp leg slicing his cheek.

The insect landed on the floor behind him, and as he turned with his dagger now in hand, he felt another tug on his mind and swung out with all his might. Instead of fulfilling the fear he just killed himself with that reaction, he felt his blade connect and the insect shimmered and disappeared. Instead of it's previous location, the bug was sprawled out on top of the dagger.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Shimmering Silvershell.]

[You have received a memory: Silver Guard]

It was that same strange but familiar voice from earlier, and he had received something from killing that beast? At least the voice seemed to use the same ranks and classes Acoria taught it's young.

After the adrenaline passed through him and he felt his sweat start to cool, he thought on the strange pull on him earlier and the ease with which his blade killed the Silvershell. Were there more?

As he thought on himself and his connection with the words the voice uttered, he suddenly saw strange runes encompass the center of his vision. Luckily, it was the common dialect of runes taught in his childhood.

Name: Arino.

True Name: -

Rank: Aspirant.

Soul Core: Dormant

Memories: [Silver Guard]

Echoes: -

Attributes: [Wanderer], [Blessed of Stone], [Vile Spawn].

Aspect: [Lost Wanderer].

Aspect Description: [Not all who wander are lost, but this one certainly is. Wanderer's never offer much, never last, especially when they don't even know where they're going]

Arino would have been happy to finally have an Aspect, but seeing his name above such a pessimistic Aspect description was disheartening to say the least.

He looked past the runes at the beast he had killed, 'I will not give into such a weak destiny. If the elders believe in me enough to send me to the Tree, i should be strong enough to handle any "trial" thrown at me. Or at least go down violently.'