Changing Star.

"Looks like the induction ceremony is about to begin," Asher said as he followed Sunny. "Hey Asher, why are you following me?" Sunny asked in a cold tone. Asher tilted his head in confusion. "I have nothing better to do," Sunny sighed as he took a seat at one of the corner tables where they found a girl blankly staring at the table. 'Pale blond hair, big blue eyes, and an exquisite face. Yep, that should be Cassie.'

Asher didn't like Cassie much. After what Cassie did to Sunny, he even loathed her, but she was an important character in the story. He knew he had no choice but to befriend her. More importantly, he needed Cassie to not utter a word about his attributes as she could see them.

As Sunny pitied Cassie, the latter was currently looking at Sunny's attributes. Then she turned to Asher to read his.

'N-No w-way…'

Hastily, she averted her eyes from Asher's, leaving him to frown in confusion. 'She just read my attributes. I know they're unusual, but why does she seem so frightened? Is it because of my [Flame of Anomaly] attribute, or is it just shock? Damn it! I can't make sense of this seer!'

Asher's thoughts were interrupted when THE ROCK came into the room.

"I am Awakened Rock. Sleepers, welcome to the Academy."

The hall fell silent after Rock's announcement. The Rock continued to explain stuff about nightmares and the dream realm. This was all old news to Asher as he continued to fidget with his fingers.

"That is all for today. Next, follow the instructions sent to your communicators to find your assigned dormitory. Once settled, you may proceed to the cafeteria for some late supper. There will be a round of interviews after that, to prepare your suggested curriculums. Get a good night's rest. Your training starts tomorrow."

With a relieved sigh, Asher rose from his seat and stretched. "Finally!" he exclaimed, his words tinged with impatience. Sunny, his companion, cast him a glance before shaking his head in resignation. "I'm off to the dorms. See you never," he quipped, earning a chuckle from Asher, though there was a hint of hurt in his voice. "You have quite a sharp tongue, my friend," Asher retorted. Sunny scoffed as he departed without looking back.

"I should go as well," Asher said to himself as he glanced at Cassie. "Do you want help getting to the dormitories?" Asher asked with a frown. Even though he hated her, it was still against his morals to not help a blind person. Cassie didn't respond, thinking he wasn't talking to her.

"I'm talking to you, Miss Blondie," Asher clarified, prompting Cassie to look towards him with surprise evident in her expression. "O-Ok.." she stammered.

Asher grabbed Cassie's hand, making Cassie flinch. "Asher," he introduced himself.

"C-Cassia, a pleasure."

______________________________________________

As Asher stepped into his room, a sense of relief washed over him. Closing the door behind him, he let out a long sigh. "Finally," he muttered to himself, the tension of the day slowly melting away. With a sense of anticipation, he made his way to a comfortable spot and settled in.

"Now," he said aloud, a hint of excitement in his voice, "I can finally look at my memories."

He summoned his runes.

Name: Asher.

True Name: Echo of the Abyss.

Rank: Dreamer.

Soul Core: Dormant.

Soul Fragments: (0/1000)

Memories: [Stoneblade], [Veilskin Vesture].

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Eidetic Perception], [Flame of Anomaly], [Aetherial Harmony], [Nimble Intellect], [Spectral Sight], [Soul Veil], [Dreamspawn], [Photographic Memory].

Aspect: [Celestic dictator].

Aspect Rank: [???].

Aspect Description: [You are one that commands the wrath of gravity, a cosmic power that can bend spacetime. Born of foreign skies and whispered secrets, your existence is a profane enigma, a disruption in the natural order of this world. Yet, within your touch lies the allure of the forbidden, a tantalizing promise of boundless power waiting to be unleashed.]

Innate Ability: [Gravitic Resonance]

Ability description: [With your innate connection to the fundamental force of gravity, you possess the ability to perceive the subtle fluctuations in gravity with unparalleled sensitivity, allowing you to sense the presence of massive objects, detect disturbances in spacetime, and even anticipate impending gravitational anomalies.]

Aspect Ability Name: [Gravitic Nexus]

Aspect Ability Description: [Control gravity around you.]

Aspect Legacy: —

Flaw: [Emotional Amplification.]

Flaw Description: [Every feeling, from joy to sorrow, is amplified threefold.]

"Now, let's look at Stoneblade first."

Memory: [Stoneblade].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Tier: II.

Memory Type: Weapon.

Memory Description: [It's a sword made of stone tougher than diamonds.]

Memory Enchantment: [Dull]

Enchantment Description: [While its edge may fail to slice through a leaf, its force is imbued with unexpected strength, capable of shattering bones and rending flesh with each impact.]

"That's broken! No wonder it only has one enchantment even though it is a tier 2 memory," Asher exclaimed as he gave a swing to the stone sword which was surprisingly light. Asher's special eyes, allowed him to see enchantments that normal Awakeneds can't. "Aren't my eyes similar to Blood Weave?" Asher shrugged as he opened the runes for his other memory.

Memory: [Veilskin Vesture].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Tier: VII.

Memory Type: Armor.

Memory Description: [Veilskin Vesture, a haunting relic forged from the essence of the grotesque Skinwalker, embodies the twisted amalgamation of flesh and illusion. Born from the macabre rituals of those who sought to emulate the monstrous being, this armour embodies its nature, shifting and morphing like the malleable form of the Skinwalker itself.]

Memory Enchantment: [Formless], [Protean Disguise], [Lost Appetite]

[Formless] Enchantment Description: [The armour's sinewy tendrils writhe and coil around your body, forming a grotesque second skin that adapts to your every movement. Through the arcane arts infused within its fibres, you gain the ability to mold the armour to whatever shape you desire.]

[Protean Disguise] Enchantment Description: [Allows the Veilskin Vesture to assume the appearances of those whom the wearer killed and automatically reverts the user back to himself after an hour.]

[Lost Appetite] Enchantment Description: [The wearer feels lesser hunger.]

(A/N: If you think this is too OP, Damn right you are! It's a tier 7 memory! Plus, it won't effect him that much, trust.)

Asher grimaced at wearing the armour. "Yuck, I look like a meat blob. I feel like gagging." He was extremely surprised to see that the active enchantments didn't require any soul essence to function. Well, maybe that's the compromise on why he only had three enchantments on a tier-seven memory. He didn't plan to use [Protean Disguise] any time soon as that would just be messed up.

Also, every time Asher uses [Formless], he feels a slight migraine that lasts up to 5 seconds. The intensity and the time of the migraine build up the more he uses it. It was to be expected; otherwise, even Asher would have found it hard to believe that the memory was only awakened. To make the armour less grotesque, Asher combined clean tendons to make the armour look like a red version of the puppeteer's shroud.

Feeling somewhat akin to Venom, Asher remarked, "Much better."

Due to meticulousness in making his armour presentable, Asher missed dinner! Not that he looked forward to eating some synthetic meat. He checked his watch and grinned, 'My appointment with the Academy personnel is near.'

Suddenly, a searing pain gripped Asher's head, causing him to double over in agony. "Shit! This is worse than I expected," he cursed aloud, enduring the intense pain as his body convulsed uncontrollably. His eyes turned bloodshot as some foam started coming out of his mouth.

When the ordeal finally passed, Asher was left with bleak eyes, silently vowing, "I'm never using it that carelessly again."

_________________________________________________________________

It was the next day, and Asher found himself in the cafeteria alongside Sunny and the ever-quiet Cassie in front of him. Surprisingly, there was some okay food to eat; it actually felt like school lunch, which was normally horrible. Nevertheless! It was edible food. But there was one thing that Asher found amazing.

"Yummm! This ice cream is immaculate!" Yes, Asher was eating synthetic ice cream which was somehow better than the actual one, and the one to recommend the god's gift was none other than, "Cassie! I think I might have fallen in love with you!"

Cassie blushed slightly at the unexpected remark, waving her hand in denial. "Surely you jest! I was only returning your favour for walking me to the dorms."

Asher chuckled before turning to Sunny. "How was your appointment?" he inquired. Sunny shrugged nonchalantly, taking a bite of his food. "You shall see soon enough."

Suddenly, a large screen hung on the wall of the cafeteria. The crowd immediately gathered at the screen. Sunny quickly found his name at the second-lowest, right before Cassie looked for Asher's name for the sake of it but was interrupted by Asher himself who patted his hair. "Don't worry, my flower boy! I see that you are very weak, and I swear to protect you!" Sunny snorted as he thought, 'This bastard actually thinks he is stronger than a divine aspect holder like me.' He continued to look up the ranks to see Asher's, and to his surprise, Asher was 3rd! Sunny's mouth widened as he dropped his spoon from what he saw.

'This bastard next to me is the 3rd strongest here!'

An outskirt rat like him, outranking a legacy is simply unheard of! Yet, the crowd paid minor attention to it as they all looked at the first place.

"How… how can this be?!"

"I'm not seeing things, right?"

"What kind of a monster is she?!"

Asher, feigning surprise, muttered under his breath, "Damn," catching Sunny's attention, 'At least, this bastard didn't get a true name, if he did I might have yelled mine out!' He mused as he directed his gaze to Nephis, who was talking to Caster.

"Lady Nephis. I am Caster from the Han Li clan. I see that your trial went well?"

Nephis seemed to be a little bit perplexed by the question. After thinking for a while, she smiled brightly and shrugged.

"It is what it is."

Caster awkwardly returned the smile.

"I see. I am very glad that you returned unharmed. Uh… not that I doubted your abilities."

Nephis calmly nodded before getting up with the coffee in her hand. As she began to walk in a particular direction, all eyes in the cafeteria followed her, Asher's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he watched Nephis make her way toward his table!

Nephis took her place right beside Asher, her demeanor as cool and collected as ever. The crowd held its breath, waiting for an exchange of words.

.

.

.

.

A few seconds passed as the crowd expected Nephis to say something. And then, in a moment that could only be described as straight out of a rom-com, Nephis turned to Asher with a stoic face and dropped the bombshell line: "Can I sit here?" Cue the collective gasp from the audience as they mentally screamed, 'You're supposed to ask that before you sit down!'

Asher tilted his head in visible confusion, "Uhhh, S-Sure, I guess..." Asher replied, his voice echoing awkwardly in the silent hall. Nephis nodded as she got back to drinking her coffee.

Sunny looked at Asher with a "fuck you" look, as he realized he just lost his quiet school life, his perplexed expression mirroring the audience's confusion. Caster's discomfort added a sprinkle of unease to the mix, like a pinch of salt in an already awkward situation.

'Why the fuck am I even here...' Asher cried internally.

The crowd's widened eyes and hushed whispers painted a picture of collective intrigue and surprise as if they were spectators at a thrilling drama unfolding before them.

"Why is she sitting in that corner?"

"Who is that guy?"

"Are they both in a relationship?"

"What the hell are you talking about? That lowlife from the outskirts doesn't have a chance with a beauty like her!"

"Now that I look at it. He does look sickeningly cute. Maybe he does have a chance."

Rumours immediately began the moment Nephis sat next to Asher, who simply sighed at his predicament. Sunny tried not to pay attention, but the normally noisy hall was way more earsplitting than normal, making it hard for Sunny to ignore the noise. Even Cassie, typically quiet and composed, appeared unsettled by the sudden turn of events. Amidst the chaos, Asher remained visibly stunned, trying to make sense of Nephis's unexpected actions.

Nephis was not an extremely cold person or anything. She just really sucked at conversing with people and was equally if not more introverted than Asher. So, it was extremely strange for Nephis to do what she did. 'Why is she acting like this?' Asher's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Nephis staring at him with her striking grey eyes.

"I am Nephis, I see that your trial went well?" She asked with a smile.

Asher and Sunny almost spat blood as they both had the same thought, 'She basically said the same thing as Caster!' Even Cassie, who overheard their conversation, couldn't help but stifle a giggle.

Asher coughed, trying to maintain his composure, "Ahh yes! It went well."

.

.

.

"I am Asher by the way.." Asher added with a bit of awkward chuckles.

"I see. I am very glad that you returned unharmed." Nephis continued after taking a sip of her coffee. Asher used every fibre in his body not to laugh. While Sunny clamped his hand over his mouth to stifle any chuckles. Nephis, bless her soul, seemed to be trying her best to converse!

"Oh no! After the nightmare, I am extremely traumatized," Asher added, his voice tinged with mock seriousness.

Nephis frowned, clearly thrown off by this unexpected deviation from her previous conversation with Caster. She silently pondered her next words, her brow furrowed in concentration. Fortunately, most of the crowd couldn't hear their conversation over the loud buzz of rumours swirling around them. Asher shook his head with a smile, which seemed to snap Nephis out of her thoughts.

"Could I ask a question? It may be a bit rude, though." Asher asked bravely, to which Nephis simply nodded. "Why exactly did you choose to sit next to me?"

Nephis then tried her best to show a bright smile as she replied, "Because we are similar."

Asher blinked, unsure if he should laugh, cry, or start writing his memoir titled "My Awkward Encounters with People Who Are Way Cooler Than Me."

Suddenly something clicked in his mind as the smell emanating from Nephis felt familiar, 'I see.. She meant that we both are dreamspawns.'

And just like that, the saga of Asher and Nephis began—a tale of mismatched conversations, awkward silences, and the occasional 'we are similar' dialogues. Truly, a match made in social purgatory.

[A/N: I would appreciate power stones and I would also like to know if you actually found the conversation with Nephis and Asher funny.]