For nothing came out.
It was a strange feeling. His powers not acting as an extension of his will. It was clear that some entity had interfered with his apostles.
'This confirms it.'
He thought.
"I guess it's just you and me for this one, buddy."
He spoke to the goliath next to him.
Looking around, the assortment of disassembled dolls sparked a feeling of horror into the air. Though to the only sentient doll in the hall, it was but a strange sight.
Looking past the mountain, Aldric began to move around in a circle. Testing the mobility of his new body. Running through the monotonous warming-up routine he used to complete before he was infected by the spell.
The change in balance resulting from missing an arm was jarring to experience.
Though, that was not the only jarring thing.
As his body fell into a practised routine, he ruminated.
'I need to get used to this body as soon as I can while exploring this island.'
He thought.
A nudge in his mind made him question how he would escape the dark island situated in the bottom of an abyss.
An answer he did not have.
The stress from the uncertainty and the overall chaos of the situation simmered deep within him. Controlled but still exerting pressure on his mind.
Observer's POV
Aldric was not infallible.
From an outside perspective, Aldric's adoption of his identity seemed flawless.
Immediately kicking into gear by training for his first nightmare. Familiarising himself with a world different from his own. Calm in leaving behind his previous life for a new one filled with blood and horror.
Some would have wallowed in despair. Others might have told people like Nephis or Sunny of their knowledge.
Anyone else would have crumbled, but not Aldric.
He was a sword. Forged in the depths of his first nightmare. Tempered by the terror of the Forgotten Shore. Tested in the mysterious Phantom Verge. And now lost at the bottom of the world.
It was alien-like. The strange sociopathic ability to perfectly adapt to his surroundings and abandon any previous bonds. A mind completely focused on its own goals.
Almost alien-like.
---
Main POV
Fifteen days had passed.
With no sun to convey the passage of time, the awakened made a crude estimation.
Aldric's stay in the nightmare spell's rendition of the Ebony Tower consisted of two things.
Training and planning.
Training his mind to connect to his new vessel. As jarring as it was for him to need to do it, it had to be done.
Using his dormant ability of generating darkness was a barbaric method to navigate his body. Constantly pouring darkness through the doll to control its movements was not a feasible solution long-term.
The source of his darkness was finite.
He could not even strengthen himself with essence while fuelling his body with darkness.
Only through learning and understanding the intricacies of the doll's creation would Aldric be able to channel his own essence through it.
There was no version of himself that would be able to fight against the perils he would soon face in the Kingdom of Hope while burning through his reserves of darkness like fuel.
And for that, he would have to learn diamond weave.
Besides, he would not be able to move like a true Stone Saint. His blood would not flow; his heart would not pump. Understanding diamond weave would be the only way to utilise the full potential of a body created by a divine smith.
Only his own essence would be able to bring the doll to life. Not a plume of darkness.
Moving from the underground level, Aldric had spent much of his time exploring the first two floors of the past version of the tower.
The cold obsidian halls were in much better condition, each floor adorned with furniture and belongings that were not lost to the testament of time.
Though, it was clearly abandoned.
Aldric often thought about the timeline surrounding this nightmare. With Hope, the Daemon of Desire, chained in the Ivory Tower, how did Nether and his island fit into this?
Had Nether already determined that siphoning the divine flames of the Sun God was not the correct path to creating life?
A myriad of theories and ideas came to his mind as he thought about the relationship between the two Daemons. Their nature as well as their end.
Knowledge that the young man did not know.
The first floor remained the same.
The same stand holding smith tools, all masterfully crafted from black obsidian and silver. The stone wall with mysterious schematics cut into it.
There were strange devices forged from silver and black steel, some of which are kind of astronomical instruments. There were also mundane things, like chairs, tables, and even something that resembled a very long bed. All of it was perfectly preserved and immaculate, with not a speck of dust anywhere.
Though, it was there that the similarities stopped.
The second floor did not scream with wisps of chaos and corruption. It was eerily cold and silent.
Aldric knew what was meant to be there. The trap laid for anyone that dared to infiltrate the lair of a Daemon.
A trap that even Weaver could not avoid.
'It's clear that Nether abandoned the ebony tower, but he left no trap, nor did he place the tower under a stasis spell. Did he return later on?'
'Is this before or after he waged war on the gods?'
The lack of context was worrying for Aldric. He did not know whether the Daemon of Choice would suddenly appear and dispose of him as an intruder. Or even study the strangeness of a doll randomly coming to life.
Though, he was sure that he was alone.
Even though he had never met a divine being, the aura of one would not be so hard to detect.
'Why didn't the spell just make me a soldier like Kai?'
He complained.
From the Daemons, his new body and being on an abandoned island at the bottom of the world. It was getting to him.
And such, Aldric focused his entire being onto looking forward. Doubts and anxiety had no place for someone in his situation.
That was all he could do.
For now.
Spars with Bael made up half of his day, while the rest was made up of siphoning as much knowledge as he could about diamond weaving from the schematic etched onto the walls.
Materials and equipment were not in short supply. The first and second floors held webs of diamond strings and schematics to glean knowledge from.
Though, most of it went over Aldric's head.
While he had his own intrinsic understanding of diamond weave, Nether had completely gone past that. It was as if a toddler who just began to understand the concept of numbers looked at a PhD student's math theorem.
Systems, rules and concepts completely alien to him. And as intelligent and brilliant as he thought himself to be, his lack of knowledge would not allow him to understand what was in front of him.
Overlapping the very basics of what he understood with the complex diagrams would be his only way of moving forward.
It was enough for Aldric to begin learning how to control the vessel that was crafted with diamond weave. When not using darkness to fuel his movements, Aldric could now consciously control most of his body; however, the immense concentration it took doused his happiness.
To bring the marble shell fully to life and not just move it, Aldric would have to completely and subconsciously control his body. Only through this could the sterile doll look and act like a true being, like Saint.
Though, he made a massive amount of progress. What would have taken some months, he accomplished in days.
A certain attribute subtly guiding him.
'The bastard didn't even leave notes.'
It seemed to be the case that Nether was adverse to writing down his thought processes. There was not a single annotation or journal that would be useful to study.
Perhaps the system of sorcery that the enigmatic Daemon created came naturally to him. As it might have for Hope with runic sorcery.
'Is this the next path of my development?'
Aldric knew very well that a divine aspect was not enough. A powerful aspect ability would not do it. Even a divine lineage was lacking.
The obstacles that he would face could not be overcome with complete reliance on what was given by the spell.
In the same way that Sunny learned Weaving without the assistance of the spell or that Nephis learned the sorcery of True Names in her third nightmare.
As annoying as it was to constantly use Sunny and Nephis as benchmarks, it was all that Aldric knew. He was not ignorant of the fact that the supremes had likely done the same thing with decades to grow into their powers.
Although Aldric was not idiotic enough to not see the benefits of having someone else to learn from, it felt as though his pride and ego eroded every time something like this happened.
As if he were a vulture, scrounging off the remains of a true predator.
Subconsciously, a seed of anger and vitriol slowly bloomed within his heart.
A seed born from a moment of weakness, nurtured by an environment of anguish. One that would have remained inert days prior.
'Is that all I am? Just a loser copying from someone else?'
His heightened emotions spiralled his thoughts to something that ate away at his mind these past few days.
It was slow and steady, errant thoughts forming into strings of negative lines. Feelings of inadequacy in isolation.
Without understanding diamond weave, he couldn't even fight to his full capabilities. Aldric could not sleep or eat. Like the embodiment of a living statue, his humanity was lost.
And that was beginning to fray at his mind.
A mind that wouldn't rest. A stomach that was empty. A heart that wouldn't beat.
'Can you even count this as living?'
He thought desperately.
Proving his point even further, as the doll-like body did not react to his anguish.
No beating heart or sweaty palms. No wide eyes or erratic breathing.
Not even a frown.
Just a cold, empty husk.
Aldric had reached far. He really did.
Nobody could say that he didn't. But it felt as though the first obstacle that he could not cut with his blade or destroy with darkness found him.
As much as he did not want to admit it, this second nightmare was affecting his mind. To an extent that even he did not know.
It seemed that [Tranquil Core] was not as powerful as it seemed. Activated in short bursts during battle or in high emotions, it was capable of completely calming one's heart.
It was perhaps the greatest reason as to why Aldric achieved so much so soon. Not held back by trauma or fear, his arms did not buckle during battle. Even when faced with mind-shattering horrors.
Though, in the midst of insanity, it was not enough. It could not calm a mind that slowly stressed subconsciously all day. The mind needed to reach a certain level of stress before it was drenched in a calming wave.
Slow and often. His mind was eroding.
[Tranquil Core] would not save Aldric this time.
The environment was nothing new to him. Neither was the extreme isolation. With Bael beside him, he should have been fine.
Slowly consolidating power, learning a new system of sorcery. Readying himself for the true challenges of the second nightmare.
Everything that Aldric had been through since the day the nightmare spell infected him had been a showcase of overcoming adversity. Actively walking through hell to further his goals.
But this problem could not be solved through willpower.
STEP
STEP
STEP
The reflective obsidian wall refracted the nascent light emitted by the lamps on the ceiling, lighting up the empty room.
An eerie sight looked back.
A doll cut so sharp it looked to be made of black glass met the wall. It's vacant gaze unyielding. Blank, there was some form of features. A small mouth forever remaining slightly open. A sharp nose sculptured. It was androgynous, neither masculine nor feminine.
If you were to look deeper at the doll, patterns of interlocked adamantine-like strings made up its surface.
With an arm webbed out of darkness making up its left arm, it hinged tightly onto the shoulder.
The only things that looked alive were a pair of crimson flames burning within its eyes.
Though to anyone looking, the inner turmoil of the man within did not exist. The vacant visage betraying not a single emotion.
CRACK
In a fit of rage, Aldric punched the obsidian wall.
Flashes of memories punctured through his mind.
The utter dread he felt in completing his first nightmare. Constantly worrying how he would defeat such a monstrous worm.
The feelings of isolation as he rotted at the boundary of the Hollow Mountains. Losing his mind while battling nightmare creature after nightmare creature, trying to find his way to something familiar.
The agony of losing his entire arm, bisected horrifically by the [Underworld's Torment].
Exhaustion and mental fatigue as he charged against the swarm of the Crimson Spire. Facing uncertainty in the battle against the [Dark Sea's Firstborn].
The certainty of death looming over his head while trapped in the temple of the Phantom Verge. Waiting for his cohort to die of essence drainage, fuelling the awakening of an unknown monstrosity. Well beyond the rank of Corrupted.
Images, feelings and thoughts flashed through him. All just as horrific and gut-wrenching as the last.
"I was fine with all of that! But this?!"
He shouted. The pitch and sound of his voice sounding stiff and artificial. Missing all the traits that made up human speech.
CRACK
CRACK
SHATTER
Repeatedly punching the wall, his anger grew and grew.
The calming effect of [Tranquil Core] washed over him like a wave. But he ignored it. Fighting against the feeling of his emotions being numbed.
"DAMN IT!"
He knew it was just a matter of time before he mastered diamond weave. Enough to control all the nexuses 'that governed aspects of his new body like breathing or smell or touch.
He knew that going into the second nightmare, a non-human vessel could have been chosen for him by the spell.
But logic was lost to him at the moment. After all, he was thinking of the now.
Losing what made him himself, what made him human was the final tipping point.
He was not selflessly selfish like Sunny. So hellbent on survival that he would sacrifice everything that made him himself.
From shadow dance to shadow shell, Sunny's powers leaned heavily on having a nebulous sense of self. Devoid of emotions like pride or ego.
In a similar but different way, Nephis was a vessel of change. True to her name, she did not care what form she took.
But Aldric was not like that at all.
Being himself, that was all that he had left.
He knew change was inevitable; in fact, he welcomed it, but only on his terms. He wanted the autonomy to make his own choice.
The freedom.
Any human in the Kingdom of Hope would have been fine, just not a dull husk of marble.
In a strange new world where death was always trailing behind you. With a goal as grandiose as his own, sacrifice was all he did.
But this was his bottom line. The one thing that was his.
And that too was gone.
A red spark came to life.
---
A shower of red sparks manifested itself like lightning. Emanating from Aldric like a wave. Coursing through his system, all he could register was a familiar feeling.
Focusing his attention to guide his essence along the pathways of his face and down to his entire body, the dull mask of marble came to life. A flesh-like layer incorporated onto the marble.
The slightly opened mouth widened, drawing breath. Its visage formed an expression of anger and agony.
Spreading slowly down his body. To his torso and limbs. It looked strangely human-like.
Just like Saint.
This time, it felt different.
A plume of darkness surrounded his skull, blooming into a mask of curly strands. Waving in the air as it extended, luscious locks of darkness gleamed in the dark with specks of red littered through it. Flickering in and out of existence.
Unknown to him, a familiar red originating from the rift in his soul core and now developing deep within his soul sea ran through the veins of the diamond weave. Fuelling and altering it.
Forever.
For where the spark of divinity rested within the children of Nether, a different spark rested within Aldric. One of his own making.
"I am the First-Class Singularity!"
He peered at his broken reflection.
"My name is Aldric!"
His visage multiplying through all the cracks, showing a myriad of possibilities. An alien face filled with utter contempt was reflected back.
"I am..."
*****
Thanks for reading.
A slower chapter focused on his mindset and mental state. Aldric is going through genuine hardship. We'll see where he goes after passing this hurdle.
Just to clarify, darkness only allows him to move his body like a puppet. It does not animate the doll into a more flesh-like from like Saint. Though it seems that something might have changed...
Man, I loved reading the abilities you guys wrote up. Thanks for the inspiration. You're gonna have to wait and see what I've got.
Shout out to Angel_Of_Damnation, aadi_raj, Heavenly_Demon27 and others.
Till the next one.