Awake

In a room far beneath the Academy City.

The panel of one of the sleeping pods that awakened and dormant humans used to facilitate their journey into the dream realm opened.

Immediately, a miasma of darkness spilled out of the sarcophagus. As if it were an overflowing basin, it covered the ground of the room with a shallow layer. However, there seemed to be something wrong with the pool of darkness. 

Shifting and turning, it did not look to be inanimate. Like one would expect an element to be. It was alive. 

As a single collective, they swayed and coalesced. 

GRASP

A firm grip could be heard, grabbing the metal handle inside the pod. 

With that, the darkness traversed back to its origin, finding refuge within the lone figure.

Coming out was a young man. Somewhere between the early stages of adulthood. His demeanour and aura spoke of maturity and experience; however, his elastic and nubile face spoke of youth.

Standing close to six feet in height, the full stature of the man came into view. Adorned with black and silky curly hair, with a few highlights of alabaster white streaks. His hair was glistening and healthy. Almost ethereal in its radiance and shine.

His physique was proportionate and athletic. Not enough weight to hamper his agility but more than enough muscle to exert considerable strength. Wire broad shoulders and a thin waist. Looking like an inverted pyramid. This was the very physique that many men aspired for. 

Developed and defined muscles, holding such little fat that his veins were visible under his skin. They looked like a taut cable. Ready to snap and exert force.

His face was symmetrical, almost more so than a model. With chiseled and defined features. He emanated masculinity and handsomeness. With a slight dent in his cheeks, hollowing his face further.

Caramel dark skin glistened in the lightened room. With no imperfections or flaws. 

The young man opened his eyes to the artificial, mundane lights. 

A galaxy.

An entire galaxy was encapsulated within his iris. A darker than black iris, with a myriad of white specks scattered around it like stars. It was majestic but unnatural as well. Alien almost.

INHALE

EXHALE

"So this is what it feels like to be an awakened."

A voice with a steady vocal tone spoke out. Having a deep weight with hints of youth scattered within.

Moving around and feeling his muscles tense and contract, it was as if he had been reborn. Burned in the depths of the dream realm and forged anew. 

Meeting his reflection in the glass door of the pod, Aldric took his new appearance in. 

Running a hand back through his hair, he noticed all his minor imperfections and asymmetry disappear. 

"Damn, I look good."

A cheeky smile spread on his face.

Before he had been infected by the spell, he was swimming in mediocrity. Slightly boosted by his passing of the first nightmare, he gained some standout features. Enough to put him within the top mundane humans. 

But his awakening was completely different. It seemed that now, compared to legacies like Nephis or Caster or anomalies like Kai, he was not lacking at all. 

But something was amiss. Something was there that should not have been. 

The white streaks. The faint vertical crease between his eyebrows. The exotic eyes. 

"DAMMIT!"

He shouted.

Aldric punched the reflection, staring back at him in pure vitriol. Shattering the reinforced glass into broken shards. 

Panic rushed through his system. His failsafe was completely gone. 

'That was my only way to fight against that damn flaw!.'

Feeling bouts of anger and resentment in equal amounts, his mind was in chaos.

With the scars and injuries one gained during their first journey to the dream realm not reflecting onto their body, Aldric hoped that the physical representation of his flaw would not persist onto his newly awakened body.

'I can't even rely on this for my second nightmare.'

Gaining an entirely new body after ascending was no longer on the table. One that was missing his obvious flaws and future ones. 

Wiping the shards of glass that failed to puncture his hands away, he looked for anything to take his mind off of his current situation. 

And that was a sudden knock on his door. 

He looked down at his body, noticing his lack of suitable clothing. Quickly summoning his [Silk Robes], he opened the door.

"Awakened Aldric!, It's lovely to see that you've awoken."

An elderly doctor spoke in a voice of kindness and relief.

It seemed that not everyone had the luxury of waking up from their dream.

"Thank you for the warm welcome."

Aldric responded. His body language was subconsciously emanating his lingering anger.

Luckily, it had gone unnoticed.

He was glad that the first human he met in the waking world in such a long time was calm and amicable. It was nice to arrive to such warm words. Especially for someone like him, with no one to return to. 

"You look different from your file here."

The old man scrutinised his appearance while staring back at his hand-held screen periodically. 

"You know... Spell stuff."

Aldric muttered in response. 

Accepting the answer as it was, the doctor spoke.

"We'll run some tests on you, and then you're free to go. I know that they have begun interviews for some of the recently awakened, so be prepared for that."

The old man advised him. 

"I appreciate the heads up, sir."

He responded with gratefulness. 

Aldric was surprised at how calm the old man was. Over 150 newly awakened suddenly returning to the waking world would shock any system. Especially one that expected the majority of its newly awakened to arrive in the first week after the solstice. Not afterwards. And especially in such numbers. 

'I guess he just has the experience to stay calm.'

His calmness could not make up for the lack of resources, though. All hospital rooms were taken, so all medical personnel were doing mobile tests. 

Once the doctor had completed the basic health assessment with a nurse aiding him, Aldric was given a clean bill of health. His obvious change in appearance raised some eyebrows; however, while it was rare, it was not unprecedented. To have changed appearance after interacting with the spell. 

Given the small time he had to kill while they ran their tests, Aldric entered his soul sea. It was time to see if something he had felt was true. 

Avoiding the familiar sight, he looked down. 

He was right. 

The potency and size of his soul increased. The deep well that he concluded represented his soul was now much deeper and wider. Beneath the clouds, it was good to see. Observing the amount of dark figures lingering within his soul, it was a lot more than before the siege. 

Aldric was close to restoring his soul to its previous state. Before he had turned Bael into an apostle. 

What he had done still did not make sense to him. For someone like Sunny to create Shadow Saint could be explained through his link to Shadow God, with his domain of death. However, Aldric did not have any divine lineage to speak of. 

Just himself and his divine aspect. 

It raised many questions. Ones that would remain unanswered for now. 

Just as they completed the final test, which concerned his soul essence.

Supposedly, not all awakened have uniform soul essence pathways. There are always asymmetries; however, some cases can result in a negative effect on awakened. So there are rare conditions surrounding it. It is understood that it relates to a person's condition before they became a sleeper. The only known method to fix such cases was to challenge the second nightmare and ascend. Which was more easily said than done.

Thankfully, Aldric was all fine.

A knock rang out inside the room. 

It was time for his interview.

********

Thanks for reading. 

Hope y'all are doing well. 

Not much else to say so enjoy y'all weekends. Till the next one.