The wind whistled past my face, a cold chill soothing my nerves and releasing all the tension in my shoulders.
I opened my eyes to see the surface of the Great Plains below me, whizzing past in a dark green blur.
"We should really do this more often." I heard Eternity say next to me. Her eyes were closed and her ghostly pale hair flowed behind her, a smile played at her lips.
I also smiled, we were getting some rest from our grueling trek through the muddy plains instead opting for riding on top of the flying wolf-wyvern echo which Lorelei called 'Dusk.'
The dark wolf's forelegs which took on the form of bat wings flapped up and down, accelerating the giant beast and the cohort forward at an astonishing speed. Though it was nowhere close to the speed it moved when we were fleeing from the Moonlight Surge, giving us time to enjoy the flight.
Lorelei looked back at her comrades and responded to Eternity, "I'm only doing this at night since the Moonlight Surge awakens when the sun sets, and even then it's a great compromise on my part. I assume you all will take responsibility if the spell's assessment of me is affected negatively." While her words were dry, there was a light-hearted look in her steel blue eyes as she watched the rest of us cool down.
Regardless, Lorelei was quite insistent on making things more difficult for all of us in exchange for the spell giving us a better reward at the end of the nightmare. I suppose it was the mindset of a Legacy child, after all their worth was decided by what abilities they possessed. Your abilities decide your standing in the world, and I imagined that one person gaining a powerful aspect a cut above the rest could mean them becoming a dominant force that makes their clan rise to stardom.
That was how the Great Clan Song rose to power, Saint Ki Song's abilities were an enigma and various rumors floated around awakened blogs ranging from ice, mind, or blood manipulation all the way to the wildest theories being related to reanimating the dead. Still, every single one concluded that she came to power with a powerful ability and not because of history or a special bloodline like the members of the Great Clans of Valor and Night.
If her abilities were related to blood manipulation…did that mean I have potential too? My aspect ability, [Blood Purge], was no doubt an offensive ability of high proportions. While Ki Song likely had a better blood ability and a higher mastery at that from decades of refinement not to mention being a saint, it had to mean something that they shared an ability type right?
Aspect abilities related to blood were rare, and almost all of my abilities and a few attributes were blood-like. I brought up my runes for a minute to study them.
Aspect: [Slaughter King]
Aspect rank: [Supreme]
I failed to hold back a smile while looking at my aspect's rank. Supreme. I doubted that even Lorelei had an aspect the same rank as mine.
Aspect description: [Enemies spilled your blood hoping to weaken and kill you, not knowing that they were bringing themselves closer to death. Hail to the Emperor of Red and Tragedy.]
Besides blood, stuff related to blood, and more stuff related to blood--my aspect used words such as "King" and "Emperor." The spell, from what I knew, was very intentional when it came up with its descriptions and I could theorize three possibilities why it formatted my aspect descriptions as such:
First, the aspect description came from my first nightmare and in there, I both infiltrated an ant colony and killed the Dormant Terror, [Ironclad Ant Queen]. The term "Emperor" could mean literally that I was a conqueror who took down enemy rulers. It would also mean that I would do the same in the future.
However, something like that seemed too improbable as that meant I was supposed to take down the long established systems like the government or the legacy clans, and gods forbid the Great Clans.
No, no, stop being stupid, Vincent. The aspect could mean conqueror but that didn't have to mean I would overthrow decades long regimes. The spell was strange, but not outlandishly crazy.
Anyway, the second meaning of my aspect: "Slaughter."
Rather, the mastery of slaughter. I didn't need to become the king in the sense that I was going to rule people, but rather I was the king when it came to slaughter. The best.
That…that wasn't the brightest of conclusions. However, all it meant was that I was a good fighter who subdued threats the best, maybe better than anyone. My aspect ability, [Blood Purge], was damn good at it too. I just hoped that it was limited to nightmare creatures and not…people.
The third potential meaning was even more dreary.
[..Hail to the King of Red and Tragedy.]
Whether it was my or someone else's tragedy, I have to come to terms with it.
I'll become the king of slaughter.
Of death.