Lucien saw a vast open field littered with bones of past humans. Among the bones lay the shattered remains of stone statues. Above him, dark clouds gathered, lightning flashing every second. In the sea of clouds, something had carved a hole that spanned dozens of kilometers. Even the stars above had been extinguished, and the clouds did not dare tread into it.
The ground below the hole fared no better, if one could call it ground. It seemed whatever carved the hole in the sky, carved through the planet's crust. There was nothing but endless darkness, streaked with ever-present lightning.
A pale blue moon hung in the sky, peeking through the dark clouds. The wind howled around him, and lightning struck, illuminating his face up for a moment. Then it returned to the sky in reverse, lighting his face up again. The moon fell below the horizon, and the sun streaked across the sky like a meteor. The storm clouds stayed as time moved backward, and seasons flowed in reverse. Rain turned to hail, tornadoes formed and dissipated, occasionally the clouds would converge around a point, and a massive bolt of lightning rose from the ground and returned to the sky.
Eventually, the skeletons began rising and reforming into what they once were–inhabitants of that land. The broken stone sculptures mended themselves, and the armies of men and stone marched backward. The ground shook as a stone giant walked by Lucien, its body marred with hundreds of tiny scars. Time slowed as the giant went farther into the horizon, then stopped and resumed flowing naturally.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
Lucien found himself crammed in a tent with no space to move. He looked down at himself; he was in an older body, armored head to toe. A standard issue sword lay sheathed between his legs, his gauntleted arms resting on its pommel. All around him, his fellow soldiers were in similar positions. He could see two guards standing outside.
He took a deep breath in. 'This…is not what I expected. At least I'm not at sea.'
He shuddered; the dark sea had enough water for him. He did not need another. Shaking his head, he decided to check his runes. Effie had told him that his runes would reveal everything he needed to know about himself.
'Runes.'
Name : Lucien
True Name : -
Rank : Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories : -
Echoes : -
Attributes : [Ember of Divinity] [The Tempest] [Stormforged]
Aspect : Storm Warrior
Aspect Description : [You are a warrior of the goddess of the black skies, you respond to her call and you die for her ideals. A simple foot soldier with no noteworthy accomplishments.]
'Well that's….better than nothing.' He couldn't help but be disappointed at his aspect. Only a foot soldier, really?
He sighed, hopefully his attributes would be better.
Before he could open his runes again, the soldier beside him nudged him. "It's your shift."
Luciien stared at him in confusion, about to open his mouth to ask him what he was talking about, but then he noticed the flaps open and the two soldiers from before walking in. Another one of the soldiers began walking towards the gate from the other side of the tent, glancing at him briefly.
Realizing what the soldier meant, Lucien got up from his seated position and carefully made his way outside. Lightning flashed as he took his position; thankfully it wasn't raining yet. Once he was certain he would no longer be disturbed, he began studying his attributes.
[Ember of Divinity] Attribute Description : "Deep within your soul, an ember of divinity shines, almost ready to erupt into a radiant flame."
[The Tempest] Attribute Description : "You have inherited the lineage of Storm God."
[Stormborn] Attribute Description : Back before the fall of the gods, there existed a race born of Storm God, a portion of her divine tempest that split off and became its own being. All storms consider you one of their kin, for you are their only remaining successor.
'Okay, that is a lot better.'
The first two attributes aligned with what his mother had told him right before he entered the nightmare. It was the third one he was curious about.
A fragment of the divine tempest that split off and gained individuality. Is that what his mother meant when she said they were direct creations of Storm god?
Above, lightning flashed and fell, arcing through the sky. Hundreds of tents were illuminated for an instant. There must have been thousands of soldiers like him, and they still failed.
'Effie said I needed to change something in the nightmare, and that the time reversal at the beginning was the hint.'
He looked up at the hole in the sky, wondering just what he could change about the fate of these people. He thought back to what he had seen at the start of the nightmare: the massive armies of man and stone and the stone goliath.
'No way, that thing's got to be at least an awakened, maybe a fallen. There's no way I can beat that.'
But what else could he do? He could not see any other way to alter the course of the war.
He scoffed, wasn't the nightmare spell supposed to be fair? Why the hell had it put him in an impossible situation?
The soldier beside him began fidgeting with his armor straps, he could see beats of cold sweat swelling on his forehead.
The soldier sighed. "When do you think the battle will start?"
'Why's he asking me that? It's not like I know the future, oh wait…'
Lucien shrugged. "I don't know, it could start tonight for all we know."
"Right," the soldier replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I'm just a bit nervous about this. You must have seen a lot of wars right?"
'Oh gods, did I have to be stuck with the talkative one?'
"I haven't," he said, "this is my first one."
"Oh." He went silent for a moment, following Lucien's gaze to the hole in the sky. "I still can't believe our goddess did that."
Lucien stifled a sigh, 'For the sake of- wait, that's actually useful information.'
"What do you know about it?" He glanced at the boy who stared at the hole in amazement.
"Only that it was caused when the Great Mother battled the demon from beyond the sky." He sighed wistfully. "Did you know that the battle lasted for four months? They never stopped to rest during the fight, and in the end the daemon ran away from our goddess."
"A…demon?" Lucien asked, he had never heard of such a being. To fight one of the seven gods for months was no easy feat.
"We don't know what it was, but some of the elders remember seeing a pale man with terrible dark wings that blotted out the sun. When he arrived, a wave of darkness had covered the skies." He shuddered at the image. "We thought he had come to kill us, for daring to be the kin of a god. But then she came and fought him and his army of stone men all by herself."
Lucien frowned. If the goddess had really fought in this area, how was it still standing? He had heard stories of her from his mother, and if she had truly fought here, there would be nothing left in the area. That hole was too small of an impact for a battle of that scale.
When he was shown the future, he had seen quite the number of human bones on the battlefield. But now after seeing the sheer size of their army, that number was all too little. Did their army survive? But the stone giant had managed to breach their army and go through them, presumably to the city they were supposed to protect.
"I'm just worried," the soldier said, breaking his line of thought. "What good will a sword do in a battle against stone creatures?"
It was at that moment that another soldier walked up to them. "Everyone has a vulnerability, even the stone children."
He was more decorated than them, his armor was thicker and a lightning bolt insignia was carved into it. A deep blue cape flowed from his shoulders, and he held a halberd in his hand. He looked to be in his mid twenties, with a full beard and a scarred face. He wore neither a smile, nor a frown.
"Look for the gaps in their armor, they wear it for a reason. They may be stone, but they are still fragile."
"Sir, yes, sir!" The soldier beside him saluted with one arm behind him and the other in front of his heart.
Lucien followed the gesture, but did not speak.
"We will be leaving within the hour, tell your captain to prepare for the march." He said to the younger soldier, handing him a letter.
"It will be done General!" The younger soldier bowed and hurriedly entered the tent.
The general sighed. "The excitable youth huh, they will be the first to fall."
Lucien remained silent. He had no room to talk, he himself was only fourteen.
"What, no response?" He raised an eyebrow. "We've both seen our fair share of wars, you either wisen up or you die."
Lucien frowned, why did everyone assume he was a veteran?
"You don't talk much do you?" he said, looking over to the next tent. "I'll leave you to continue your shift then. May the winds be ever in your favor, soldier."
Lucien nodded in response and watched as the general walked away. Once he was certain he wasn't coming back, he unsheathed his sword and looked at his reflection.
'Ah, no wonder they think I'm a veteran.'
He looked like an older version of himself, with shorter graying hair, a beard, and a patchwork of scars all over his face. One scar in particular had cut deep and ripped off a chunk of his face.
Moments later the youth returned and took his position again. One by one each of the soldiers within began pouring out, and the tent was taken down in little time. Their commander— a broad shouldered man carrying a battle-axe, stood in front of the battalion which had arranged itself into a square formation. Beside them, the other battalions had entered the same formation.
He stood with his chest pumped forward, and gazed at the men he was responsible for. "Men, the stone army looms just beyond the horizon, we will clash tomorrow and the war will officially begin."
"They outnumber us three-to-one," he sighed. "To top it off, they have a goliath."
A wave of dread washed over the formation, some clutched their weapons tighter, others used them to keep their balance. The young soldier from earlier gulped, his face paling as he looked over to Lucien.
Lucien himself was lost in thought, there was no way their army could win. Those were insane numbers, each soldier would have to take down 3 stone children just to even it out. And that was without considering the goliath.
"I know the odds seem to be against us," the man raised his axe. "But remember, we are the ones blessed by the Great Mother, the storms are ours to command and they shall fall to the might of the Stormforged!"
As if on cue, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking his axe and remaining there. The metal axehead began glowing with lightning and arcs could be seen jumping across its surface.
Across the open field, dozens of bolts of lightning fell on the weapons of the captains and generals. The darkness of the night was chased away for an instant as the world exploded in a cacophony of thunder. Lucien couldn't help but be in awe of the spectacle. Maybe they could win the battle with that firepower.
"So let us march! March towards the intruders who sullied our land and spilled our blood! We shall bring them death and avenge our kin."
A war horn sounded from the front, and the army began marching towards the hole.