Nico stood stupidly for another minute before hiding again and opening his runes. The next thing on his to-do list was the strange messages from before. 'A soul was offered.'

Name: Nico

True Name: Anima Rex

Rank: Dreamer...

His attributes didn't add anything, nor did they mention 'souls.' turning his attention to his true name. 'Anima Rex' He etched the runes into stone and examined them. They were similar to other runes he studied in the academy. 'Anima' could be translated into motion or spirit. The rune itself was similar to the rune for 'being.' Rex was more straightforward, meaning 'king.'

"Spirit King," Nico said aloud. Carving the name into the stone, the spell suddenly translated the runes.

'King of Souls.' Nico stared at the words momentarily before reversing the runes again. 'interesting.' There probably were no separate words for 'soul' or 'spirit,' but the order changed the meaning slightly.

'It also matches my ability to merge the birds. I can't merge living things, but souls. That's why it became a monster.' King, while simple, meant a few things. Leader, tyrant, and control were some of those meanings. A bitter feeling rose in Nico's mind as he thought about his nightmare. With the answer to one question came another.

'What if I try to merge myself?' The squawks of the birds became few, and Nico peeked out to see they had picked the bones bare. Nico wanted to leave the area as soon as the birds left but didn't know where.

'That root tyrant could pop out of nowhere.' The delight of his kill died, and he remembered where he was. 'The damned Hollow Mountains,' Nico sighed and summoned Whispering Reed. 'Since that dinosaur is dead, it might be safe to head into its territory,' Nico thought. However, he would quickly curse his younger self for such a stupid idea. What happens when there's a power gap? A power struggle.

Harrowing nightmare creatures of fallen rank with who knows how many cores dueled for control of the free land. Dormant and awakened beasts were supposed to be the most common type of nightmare creature, yet far more fallen were popping up. Nico was nearly seen on several occasions and found himself stuck in a killing zone.

His survival hung by a thread that was constantly under threat of being cut. Nico was forced to look to the skies without any hope of finding other manageable creatures. It was depressing to think he needed to jump off a cliff every time he needed a meal. He observed the feathers in his hand.

'A little help. How much did you see?' Nico wondered about the means that Rio used to see what he needed and get a specific memory made. The feathers vanished in a rain of sparks, and Nico clenched his fist. Approaching them in groups was suicide. He needed to lure one away and take them out quickly. The scheme was simple.

He threw Backstabber away, letting the memory clatter on the stone. The blood-smeared weapon attracted a lonesome bird. The beast approached the memory with curiosity; once it caught a whiff of blood, it greedily pecked at the scythe.

Nico jumped from above and plunged Whispering Reed into the bird's head. Before the bird could make noise, Nico twisted the blade in the brain. With a moment of shuddering, the bird wobbled and collapsed.

[You have slain…] Nico ignored the first sentence and waited. Then, his heart skipped a beat. [A soul was offered.] As soon as the words appeared, Nico felt power flow into his soul.

Nico hastily cut into the bird's body and found the shard. Another moment he cut imperfect slabs of meat, pulled various feathers, and hurried away. Greed would be a killer during this process, and Nico didn't want to linger too long.

Another bird, following the smell of blood, found the sprawled out bird, and squealed in glee, devouring its brethren. Nico was not able to witness the repugnant action.

Moving carefully through the mountains, he washed the blood from the meat and feathers before heading to his shelter. His current residence was the cave that hid him from the first Cinereous Seeker.

It was small, only allowing him to sit cross-legged, and rested on the border of two territories. This position allowed him to watch the numerous fights occurring and hunt the birds eating the victims. Strangely, there and then, something would scare off the birds, and slither from the darkness to retrieve the shards. The birds only returned when the creature was long gone.

From what Nico knew, nightmare creatures didn't need shards for growth, since killing was how they evolved. 'There are always outliers.' Terrors and titans were powerful beings who defied normal conventions and possessed strange abilities. Fear grew in Nico's heart as he thought about how powerful the creatures in the dream realm truly were.

He carved up the meat and wrapped his slices in cleaned feathers. He stacked the meat at the end of the cave and contemplated. The meat would last him two days at most if he was eating two meals.

'Pretty good for my first hunt,' Nico nodded, satisfied and looked outside. A cloud cover was forming, blocking the sun. He sat cross-legged and absorbed the shard.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

'Awakened shards are amazing,' Even one made him feel stronger. The dust blew away, and Nico slimed to himself. His growth was both instant and faster than normal Awakeneds. Out in the distance hung the chained isles. They were his only hope. Traveling deeper into the mountain range would only bring misfortune.

The sun dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky black. Nico covered himself in feathers, forming a layer of soft warmth. The brown noise of wind whistled then and there, and one could almost forget where they were. But then they'd remember. He had a sustainable situation here and was living not much worse than in NQSC. However, hidden horrors could suddenly appear and turn him into another corpse for the seekers to pick apart.

Yawning away his joyful thoughts, Nico closed his eyes. There was torrential rain that night, with water washing down every surface of the mountains. The thunder nor the lightning was what Nico woke up to, it was the gnawing feeling in his mind.

He sat up and looked outside. There was a flash of movement. Nico barely had time to react before a pair of cold, slender hands were squeezing his neck. Panic set in, and Nico struggled furiously against his unseen attacker. Claws poked his neck, and he felt a warm stream flow down one side.

Nico kicked and thrashed, but the iron grip held firm. Instead of uselessly moving, Nico used the last of his calm brain cells and reached out. Feeling the head of his attacker, Nico slammed them into the wall with as much force as he could create. The grip loosened and Nico tucked his legs in and kicked the creature off of him.

The sparks of Whispering Reed illuminated the dark hole and Nico saw his attacker. A pale skinned creature with hollow sockets for eyes, rows of sharp teeth, and a slim whiptail. Nico lunged, trying to end the fight, but the wound on his leaning hand caused him to falter. The creature moved back in time and counter-attacked. A deep gash appeared on Nico's shoulder. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the creator and pulled it closer, pounding his head into the thing's face.

'Go to hell!' Nico pulled the creature again and repeated his headbutt. The creature was disoriented, and Nico picked up his blade and stabbed it in the neck. He pushed it out of the cave into the swirling storm.

Struggling to its feet, the creature held a hand to its bleeding neck and lashed out, trying to bite Nico's hand off. Nico backed up to dodge and slipped on the wet ground.

'Crap.' The creature tackled into him and flashed its teeth at his neck. There was a metallic shriek as the creature bit down on Whispering Reed. Using the momentum of their fall, Nico cut the creature through the skull. There was a loud crack and the body laid dead on top of him.

[You have slain dormant monster, Night Marauder][A soul…] Nico pushed the body off of him and laid in the rain. The cold water was relaxing and washed the stinking blood from his body. 'I may just drown out here.’ Nico thought to himself before he dragged his body back to the dry cave. He leaned against the wall, facing the opening.

His wound wasn't deep, only painful. Heaving a long breath, he laid Whispering Reed on his lap and watched the opening. Nico didn't sleep the rest of the night, and was relieved that nothing else appeared at the end of the night. Pulling himself out of the cave, he cut out the creature's shards.

‘This is beyond gross,' Nico thought, holding in his food and looked at the Marauder's arm with apprehension, then threw it off the edge along with the rest of the body. 'Let's stick to chicken.'

Nico bandaged his shoulder with a long feather and slung his weaved sack over the other. He waited a full hour before moving, letting the Seekers clean up the Marauder's body. The chained isles lay before Nico. Safety was so far out of reach.

Descending the mountain was dangerous in its own rights, with no coherent system of paths if it had any at all. Nico was forced to shimmy across a blade thin ledge on multiple occasions. Whenever he was on a trail, he couldn't stop looking over his shoulder, fearing that an abomination would appear.

Hopping down, Nico slid on a deep groove in the ground left behind by the root nightmare creature. The metal remains of the challenger were still there. Nico rummaged around through the metal and found a large piece. He held Whispering Reed up and slid the knife across the metal.

'No damage,' Nico said, looking at the shell wide-eyed. He expected the metal to be strong, but the results put into perspective how strong the dinosaur was. He searched around, found a sharp piece, and stashed it in his bag. Leaving the remains, Nico began to ascend the next mountain.

Nico was sweating in the humid air, with the sun beating on his back. The place was devoid of wind, leaving Nico to wallow in the heat. Nico didn't know what was worse, traveling at day or night.

In the night, the weaker nightmare creatures roamed, with hidden powerhouses picking them off. In the day, only the birds and the stronger nightmare creatures were out.

'I prefer daytime. At least I can see whatever is trying to kill me.' Nico needed shelter. The sun left far too soon, and the waning light made him anxious. Following the sound of water, Nico found a large cave mouth.

'W-what is that thing?' Laying in the water was a massive fish creature. A fin with spines rested on the surface of the water, with the rest of the beast hidden below the dark water. Nico almost wanted to turn back, but the dark was far worse than whatever was in front of him.

He slipped inside, hugging the wall. There was plenty of cover in the form of stalagmites and stalactites. Then his flaw went off. There was a deep pain in his thigh, and he fell to the ground. The fall echoed, and the water rippled. A large paw rose from the water and the monster climbed out. Its body was akin to a dogs, with fish features and slippery fur.

'By the Spell!' Nico dashed to the cave entrance, however he didn't get far. The awakened monster was upon him before he made it five steps. Nico turned to block the beast with Whispering Reed, the blade whistled, but the monster swatted the sword aside and crushed Nico under a paw. Water dripped from its whiskers as it studied Nico for a moment. Then it concluded that he was food and opened its mouth.

Nico stabbed the monster in the leg with his sword. The monster roared and slapped Nico away like a ragdoll. Nico rolled and managed to sit up. The monster looked at him with rage and prowled closer, as if terror was its revenge for wounding it. Nico retreated back pathetically, but there was only a wall behind him. His body was in too much agony for him to think, and he raised his arms to defend himself.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. Suddenly the monster was gone, replaced with a veil of black. Nico stared at the surface for a moment, and the faint silhouette of the monster became visible. Nico turned his head and smiled like an idiot. "Gen!?"