Name - Anke

True name -

Rank - Dormant

Attributes - [Fated][Touched by Treacherous Shadow][Primal Talent]

Aspect - [He is Hidden]

[Shroud those you see in a veil.]

[Fated] - [The strings of fate have been woven around you by battle and silhouettes]

[Touched by Treacherous Shadow] - [You carry a hint of divinity and darkness hides you]

[Primal Talent] - [Born for the hunt]

Anke didn’t know how long he was focused on the runes. It was foreign and mysterious, but Anke felt like he understood each and every word. Their meanings came naturally or with a little thought. What’s more, he was continuously remembering conversations and sentences from a dark past, when he couldn’t move.

‘Doofus is really nice,’ Anke thought.

Suddenly a hand shot out of the water. Anke jumped back. His heart pounded and new emotions swelled.

“N-nothing?” the boy said. A perfect copy of Anke was climbing onto the boat, dripping wet. Helping the mirror beast up, Anke sat it down at the end of the boat.

The copy was wounded on the chest and legs, but those were superficial. Reaching out, Anke touched the reflection’s face, his face! The boy reflected was about five or six years old now.

He ran his finger across the soft olive skin and peered into the beast’s eyes. The boat shook slightly as Anke jumped into the mirror’s arms.

“T-thanks…” Anke said. From what little he knew, the mirror beast had fought whatever was under the waves.

Nothing pushed Anke away and lifted his fist, letting go of what he was holding. Highly legged creatures, with a clear pinkish shell, dropped onto the deck.

The sight of them made Anke’s stomach rumble. Picking up the creatures Anke shoved them into his mouth and started to chew. Their shells were beyond hard and Anke lost a tooth biting down.

Instead of crying, Anke held the pearl white tooth and laughed. Throwing it off the boat, Anke spat out the dead creature and started to pull apart the shell. Once he got to the meat and popped it into his mouth.

The fish had a strong flavor and Anke nearly choked from the sudden saltiness. But before long, he swallowed and shelled another one.

Before he could swallow again, Nothing grabbed his hand. The mirror beast tore the meat apart revealing a glimmering shard of glass.

Anke marveled at the fragment and mimicked Nothing’s gestures. Energy flowed from the shard and Anke felt power surge in his body

He noticed that Nothing wasn’t eating and shelled one of the creatures, offering it to the mirror beast. Nothing glanced at the food and remained still.

Lost as to what to do, Anke split the sea food evenly and ate his share. The meal was most needed and Anke hugged the mirror beast again before toiling away the hours.

The seven suns rose and fell, every few rotations counting the months that Anke was growing. The currents were fast, pulling the damaged boat further and further into the future. Seven to eight, eight to nine. Their pattern repeated each day. Anke grew more and more, better able to help Nothing with the black floods.

When the krill passed, he would snatch them out of the water for Nothing to kill. He wasn’t able to kill them yet.

Brushing his lengthy hair aside, Anke nibbled on the shell of one of the krill until it was mostly round.

Nothing took the shell and placed it on a board carved into the deck. Placing the shell face down, they had an equal number of white and black pieces.

Nothing arranged them in diagonal patterns and marked every other square with an ‘x’. That was Anke’s introduction to games. Of sixty rounds, Anke won none. The reflection of his face smirked and took his last piece.

“No fair!” Anke huffed. Even if he said it, deep down he knew he was horrible at the game.

Nothing had taken on the form of an unkempt eleven year old, wearing the same makeshift clothes that Anke was wearing. The thick fabric that had once been part of the boat’s sail was now wrapped around Anke’s shoulder and torso, kept together by a belt of rope.

Anke wished Nothing could talk instead of just gesturing. Although charades was fun to play, hearing another voice would have been infinitely better. Anke concentrated hard and could make out muffled voices. It was from his memories that he learned most of his words.

Nothing had literally pointed out that it might have something to do with his aspect or attributes.

“I think I should stop calling you nothing,” Anke sighed. The mirror beast looked up from their game. Anke thought for a while, trying to best describe his guardian. ‘He transformed into whatever he’s facing,’ Anke scavaged his brain for a word, but came up empty. Instead he decided to create his own.

“Beastie.” Anke settled on. Beastie only nodded and moved a piece. However, the boat shook, the pieces miss aligned.

Feeling a menacing presence, Anke looked out at the water. A dark figure floated beneath the currents, smaller than the black floods but obviously one creature.

Beastie rose and watched a massive creature rise from the waves, dwarfing Anke. The turtle glared at the damaged boat, letting out a long hiss as water flowed off its black shell.

Anke stepped back from the oppressive monster, his legs shaking. He wasn’t quivering in fear. No. ‘That thing is huge!’ Anke was shaking in delight.

Ripping a piece of bone from the boat, Anke armed himself. Beastie stepped off the boat’s bow and disappeared into the water. The boat careened back as another massive silhouette formed.

Then, the boat rose, stuck on the shell of a second monster. A long moment passed, with the two goliaths staring each other down, one with hungry rage, and the other with impassive grace.

The reflection moved first, snapping its beak out. The water frothed and churned as the leviathan moved, sending tsunamis of water in every direction.

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Anke held on for dear life as Beastie closed down on the monster’s neck. A pained cry echoed throughout the river as the monster dove down, pulling Beastie with it. Quickly and violently, Anke crashed into the water, disappearing beneath the white foam.

The boat broke into splinters of float wood and was no more. The water was brightly lit, with an endly abyss of black further down.

Anke spun in twisters of water, nearly blacking ou from the forces. Orienting himself, Anke kicked to the surface.

Breaking through, Anke gasped for air as waves toppled over him. A thunderous crack broke his ears as he watched Beastie fend off an attack. The monster pushed Beast’s back, leaving a flat pyramid of white in the river.

A moment of stillness before another clash. Anke was lifted into the air and slammed back down, at the mercy of the waters.

A claw passed beneath him and Anke stabbed his bone thorn into it. The claw raised Anke into the air, high above its head, and Anke jumped down, rolling onto the black shell. Unfortunately, he was not Beastie’s back. He was atop the raving monster.

Beastie came down on the monster, his beak breaking into the black turtle’s shell and drawing blood. The monster bashed Beastie with its head and snapped at his neck.

From the look of it, each attack Beastie landed was only a scratch, while each attack beastie took was debilitating.

Anke fell over, slipping down and rolling to the front of the shell. He caught himself before he plummeted into the deadly water and clambered back onto flat ground.

Beastie slapped the monster’s jaw away and landed a hit on its skull, leaving a deep gash. But the turtle was unfazed, and caught Beastie by the neck, and threw him down into the water.

Anke held on and felt water bash into him, trying to wash him off the monster’s back. They rose back to the surface and disengaged. Beastie’s body was worse for wear, his shell falling apart and bleeding streams of blood.

‘I need to help Beastie!’ Anke stood up and started running across the Turtle’s neck towards the head.

The monster shifted, noticing the pest. Anke outstretched his hand to beastie and acted on instinct. Beastie vanished into thin air.

The monster lost its focus on Anke, searching for the dire threat. If one looked closely, they would see the water moving. But the monster was too late.

Beastie crashed into the monster and wrapped his arms around the monster. Anke kept his balance and plunged his bone sword into the hole in the monster’s skull.

Whatever horror the bone came from was greater than Anke’s imagination. The sword slid cleaning into the turtle’s head.

Anke didn’t stop there, pulling the sword out and repeating the process several times. Beastie held the monster still, allowing Anke to kill the monster. The monster shuddered after the tenth strike, and went still after the seventeenth.

[You have slain Corrupted Monster, Guardian of the Empty Waves]

[You have received a memory]

Beastie let go of the monster and became a small figure floating in the water. The head of the monster fell like a tower and crashed, throwing Anke into the water.

The twins swam to the carcass of the turtle and Anke sprawled out onto the back of the turtle, dead tired.

Beastie showed no signs of fatigue, but didn’t move as well. Not feeling like moving, Anke summoned his runes.

Memories - [Shroud of Scales]

Rank - Transcendent

Type - Armor

Tier - III

[A garment born from an impossible feat, allowing the wearer to be one in flesh, blood, and bone.]

Anke tried to touch the runes, but was foiled again. He sat there, looking at the runes trying to figure out what ‘memories’ meant.

Once he concentrated, a storm of sparks swirled around him. Soon, shining black scales sewn into durable cloth wove themselves into existence. It was light and embroidered with silver constellations. A leather sash held the tunic snug around his waist and the cloth rested just below his knees.

Anke stood up despite his exhaustion and spun around, making the garment flap in the wind.

“Look at me Beastie!” He sang with glee. Beastie watched Anke dance around and wave his long sleeves before an armor of his own formed on him. Anke was used to Beastie’s nature, to become a copy of what he saw.

Then Beastie stood up and moved towards a crack in the shell. It jumped down and landed on soft flesh.

Anke followed and Beastie took the sword, carving out pieces of meat. Anke thought Beaste finally wanted to eat, but instead he would throw the meat aside.

After several arduous minutes of cutting, Beaste pulled out glittering shards, similar to the ones from the krill.

Beastie tossed the shards at Anke, making the latter scramble to catch the priceless boon.

“You’re giving these to me?” Beastie nodded and Anke absorbed the shard.

Crawling out of the corpse, Anke ran around the shell, letting his memory flutter behind him. Beastie moved around the edges, searching for large pieces of shell. Once he found a suitable piece, he waved Anke over.

Anke pushed the boat off the shell. Planning to swim to the boat, he waited for the boat to gain a respectable distance. After diving into the water, Anke was shocked by the sudden feelings. Unlike before where it was work to keep afloat and move, he felt like he could swim up and down the river alone. Several minutes after Anke entered the water, he felt the need for air. He moved swiftly, unhindered by his memory. Surfacing, he gasped and went back under. Catching up to the boat, Anke climbed inside with the goofiest smile.

“Beasie, I swim like the monster!” Anke reported, spraying water everywhere as he shook his head. Tying his hair back, Anke watched the seven suns set.

“I think…Anke just entered his first nightmare.” Sunny solemnly said. Surprisingly, let out a boisterous laugh. “Ha. Good one Doofus. You almost had me. There’s no…way…” She stopped talking, remembering that Sunny couldn’t lie. She glanced at Kai, who only nodded.

“You can’t be serious. He was just born!!”

“Effie, I think you should lay down, you’ve had a long day and are tired.” Jet tried to calm the huntress, but Effie was having none of it.

“My son just went into the Nightmare! How can I calm down?” Walking up to the huntress, and taking Anke from her arms, Nephis held Anke gently and her eyes ignited with white flames.

There was only the sound of breathing on the deck until Nephis opened her eyes.

“His condition is fine.” She said, handing the baby to Jet. Why she did that, Sunny found out in the next moment.

“If it makes you feel any better, one of my mirror beasts is in his soul. I can--” Effie moved like lightning, leaving a large crack in the deck of the powerful vessel. Sunny nearly lost his balance, shifting his weight to keep his footing. In a split second, he flushed his body with essence and summoned shadows.

Just like Goliath, Sunny brought Effie to a halt inches from Mordret’s face. ‘I’m protecting this psycho, what has my life come to?’ Sunny laughed at the irony. Mordret was standing with a grin plastered on his face, probably thinking about fighting Effie in her soul sea.

“Effie, we can’t start infighting, we are still in the nightmare.”

“That bastard put something into my son’s soul. Move over!” Sunny strained to keep Effie secured as she struggled against his chains.

“Effie, I am a valuable ally in the coming battles. Seven is better--” Once again Mordret was cut off. Sunny slammed his fist into the prince’s face, throwing the man to the bow of the deck.

“I hate to agree with him, but we need his strength.” Sunny released his manifestation. Effie stood to her full height glaring at Mordret with the eyes of a predator. The prince returned the gaze with one of his own, sinister and murderous.

“As I was saying before.” Mordret got up, seemingly unfazed by Sunny’s attack. “My mirror beast is with him. An ascended monster will help your boy survive.”

Effie visibly calmed down and the overwhelming pressure from her dwindled like a dying candle. A long period of silence descended onto the Chain breaker.

“Chains, Doofus? Are you trying to show a girl a good time?” Sunny’s mouth twitched. ‘Maybe I should have let them fight.’

Kai spoke before Sunny could play with the thought, turning to Mordret. “Can you see what he’s doing right now?”

Mordret wiped his face and smiled again. “Of course. He’s currently floating on the River of Time. It seems he’s beholden to the same conditions as the…Riverborn was it?”