Shadow Slave

Some time later, having said goodbye to her new acquaintance, Rain was in her new living quarters. She was sitting across from Cassie.

The blind seer was in a much better state than before — she was clean, at least, having washed away the blood and soot that had covered her body. There were no wounds or scars on her, either, since they had been cleansed by the miraculous white flames. Drops of blood were still seeping from beneath her blindfold, though, which made Rain feel a little concerned.

Finally, Cassie sighed and leaned back.

“It is… a peculiar one. I am not entirely sure I understand the scope of your new Ability.”

She was talking about Rain’s Ascended Ability, of course. Now that Cassie had hit a deal with the homicidal Supreme who was waging war to obliterate humanity, they finally received an opportunity to rest and have a proper meal.”

After that, Rain immediately asked Cassie to take a look at her Aspect. She had not died of curiosity, in the end, but just barely. Cassie remained silent for a few moments.

“Well, first of all, you can assign three Epithets at the same time now. But you probably already knew that.”

Rain nodded.

“Yes. So, my Ascended Ability? What can I do?”

Cassie frowned.

“Basically… it is about knowing the truth of things. It allows you to communicate with all things and understand all languages.”

Now, it was Rain who had to frown.

She really tried to hold herself back, but indignation still found its way into her voice:

“What? My Ascended Ability… is to be a glorified automatic translator?”

What kind of crap was that?

Cassie slowly shook her head.

“No, not quite. It is far more profound than that. However, I don’t really…”

She paused for a moment and then sighed.

“I think it has to do with your Attribute, [Godheart].”

Rain tilted her head a little.

That Attribute was a very esoteric one. Its description simply stated that her heart was deeply bonded with the world, and nobody — not even Rain — was entirely sure what it meant. It seemed to be connected to her ability to accumulate spirit essence, as well as to the fact that the weather sometimes changed depending on her mood.

It wasn’t just Rain’s heart that was bonded to the world — the world seemed to be bonded to her heart, as well.

Cassie remained silent for a short while, choosing her words, and then said in a hesitant tone:

“That Ability has to do with the spirit, I think. Understanding languages is merely the side effect — the true Ability is communication. You can communicate with the spirits of things, and therefore, you can know their truth and understand them. You know how a famous sculptor once said that every slab of stone has a sculpture hidden inside of it, and how he simply takes a stone and cuts away all excess parts to create a statue? Well, you’ll be able to ask the stone what is hiding inside it, and what it wants to be.”

She paused for a second and then added: “That is just a metaphor, of course. Oh… and I’d wager that it will be easier to communicate with things that you can call by their names.”

Rain was still confused.

“What is a spirit, though? What kinds of things have spirits? Can I talk to animals? To plants? To Nightmare Creatures?”

Cassie hesitated for a while.

“l am not entirely certain. All living beings have a spirit, that’s for sure — even if it takes a Supreme to know how to express the spirit through their Will. But things that are not living might have their own spirits, too. A weapon can have a spirit. A mountain can, as well. In Ancient Rome, legions were believed to have spirits of their own, too… I really cannot tell you. In fact, I’d like you to tell me.”

She smiled.

“But I don’t think that you’ll be actually able to talk to a mountain — or to a rock. Except if it’s a truly extraordinary rock, possibly. I think that in most cases, the act of communication will be no different from sensing something intuitively. That, I have a lot of experience with. It is a very helpful ability to have, even if in your case that intuition will only hint at the nature of things, not at events that transpired in the past or will transpire in the future.”

Rain leaned back and stared at the ceiling with a dazed expression.

“What a strange Ability.”

She was too confused to be either disappointed or elated.

The more she thought about it, though… The more it made a peculiar and fascinating kind of sense.

“Well, first of all… I want to be a builder, you know? So, let’s say a piece of metal can tell me about its structural integrity and whether or not it has hidden points of failure. Or if a piece of stone indeed tells me what kind of statue it wants to be. That’ll be helpful, I think. Sensing the nature of things, that is.”

She considered something for a few moments.

“Actually, now that I think about it, I’ve been dealing with the true nature of things for a long while now. It has to do with my Awakened Ability — with assigning Epithets. Assigning fitting Epithets takes way less essence than assigning ones that go against the subject’s nature. Making a sharp sword dull is more difficult than making it sharper. If I can sense the true nature of things, I’ll be able to assign them more potent Epithets. That is already a boon.”

Rain lingered for a short while, then added:

“As for my Dormant Ability… I think it will work the other way around. From what you tell me, spirit seems to have a lot to do with identity. So, by giving something a Name, I will be helping that thing develop a spirit… possibly? If so, I’ll be able to communicate with a Named thing better than with a nameless one, and it will reveal more to me.”

She smiled.

“Well, and being able to sense the nature of various things will be incredibly helpful in general, no matter what I do. It’s like divination, right? Only instead of divination, it’s communication…”

He smiled dimmed, becoming a little petulant.

“Still. I was hoping for something cool and flashy. June always walks away from frozen explosions like some kind of dashing hero. I don’t even want to think about what kind of abhorrently cool Ability he’ll receive as a Master. What am I supposed to tell him? That I can interpret many languages now?” Rain closed her eyes with an exasperated sigh.

“The Nightmare Spell is already doing that for everyone… except me…”

Cassie smiled.

“I’d be thinking about something else right now, though.”

Rain raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? What?”

The blind seer hesitated, then shrugged.

“I’d be wondering… does existence have a spirit? How high on the Path of Ascension would I have to climb to speak to the world itself? Something like that.”

Rain spared her a dubious glance.

After a short while, she said:

“Lady Cassia… Cassie. Have you forgotten what world we live in?”

Shivering, she shook her head.

“It’s the Dream Realm, the land of nightmares. Let’s hope that I’ll never grow powerful enough to hear what it has to say…”

Come to think about it, being able to sense the nature of things was a blade that cut both ways.