There was a small town situated in a valley between two vast mountains, the smallest of the two reaching well over 15,000 meters high, with the larger one being nearly a quarter larger. The town held a population of around 150,000 people, being one of the smaller towns within the kingdom of Veria. Within this town, a young man who appeared to be around 19 could be seen, he was quietly sitting on a log, staring blankly at the space in front of him, lost in thought.
The young man could be viewed as handsome, but not extraordinarily so; he had skin the color of milk chocolate, a face with sharp features, a pointed nose, sharp sword-like eyebrows, long straight black hair, deep, swirling blue eyes that seemed to almost suck the soul out of those who were brave enough to stare into them, and lips perpetually kept in a straight line of disinterest, as if showing disdain to the world.
This young man was named Torus, and he had come here to ponder on the events of the past day and where it had all gone so wrong.
~The Previous Day~
Torus snapped awake as if any other day, scrambling to get changed after finding himself to have woken far later than he had meant to after a long day of training. Quickly dressing, Torus rushed out of his house, not forgetting to give his step-mother a hug and a kiss; Torus shuddered at the thought of what had occured the last time he'd forgotten to do so. Sprinting through the village, Torus quickly arrived at the 'Martial Hall'; this was a place for those who had yet to awaken their God Seeds to come and train in preparation for the future that awaited them.
Entering the hall, Torus was unsurprised to find the inside to be a veritable sausage fest; this was due to the long-known fact that women were less likely to awaken a combat-type God Seed. Walking quickly through the crowd, duckin and dodging attacks, Torus finally came to a halt in front of his master. Torus's master was a woman whom appeared to be in her late 20's, she had long beautiful black hair that came down in gorgeous strands, a face free of wrinkles with thin eyebrows, chocolatey brown eyes that felt as though they could cause one to melt, a thin nose that added a noble-like air to her face, and lips that were pulled into a smile so beautiful it could almost cause someone to fall into a daze; and yet, staring at this woman Torus could feel nothing but a bone-chilling fear.
Torus took in a deep breath, feeling relieved at his making it on time and hopefully avoiding whatever tortuous punishment his master had concocted this time. That was, until he heard the words that came out of his master's mouth, "I see you still haven't managed to get rid of that bad habit of yours of sleeping in, huh Torus. Maybe my punishment last time wasn't enough for you, well instead of 500 laps around the building why don't you go ahead and run 1000; maybe this time the lesson will stick!" Torus could feel nothing but dread at these words. This was what caused Torus' reaction toward his master to differ so drastically from other's, he knew the truth; behind that sweet smile hid the mind of a sadistic woman.
Torus knew better than to attempt to argue with his master, letting out a long suffering sigh with shoulders drooping, Torus was quick to head toward the entrance of the building, preparing himself for the torture of his muscles that was sure to follow. The building was a decent amount larger than the average building considering it's need to hold so many people; for someone who hadn't awakened their God Seed this was a reasonably difficult area to run around with just 200 laps; for someone who had awakened their God Seed this was a far-cry from their peak, such that they could easily lap the city well over 20 times. Torus prepared himself, doing stretches to warm himself up before Torus began to sprint around the building at around 70km/h.
It was about an hour later when Torus had finally come to a stop, breathlessly he stated, "Finally, I've completed all 1000 laps. Are you going to teach me something now, master!" Torus exclaimed, excited at the prospect of learning something related to fighting, but really just excited to do anything besides running. His master gave him an appraising look, before eventually giving the smallest of nods, turning to begin walking away.
Torus was stunned at this behavior, having no idea what it meant, before the voice of his master rang out with a tinge of amusement and playfulness hidden behind the stoic facade, "Are you coming? I thought you wanted to train, but if not I don't mind ending things here for the day." this one sentence sent a jolt of shock through Torus' mind, before he hurriedly replied whilst chasing after her retreating figure "Coming, Coming!" It was with this sentence of panic and surprise that the master-disciple pair headed back inside the entrance to the Mercenary Hall.
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Currently, it was late in the afternoon and yet still a pair of figures could be seen, seemingly fighting one another. One appeared to be a slightly short female while the other was the figure of a broad-shouldered man who stood at a height of around 1.96 meters (around 6'4). What was surprising about the scene was that the short woman seemed to be easily defeating the much larger male, almost manhandling him; yet, whilst still managing to keep an air of grace around her. Finally, the spar appeared to have come to an end when the man was flipped upon his back with the woman lying overtop of him.
These pair of figures were obviously the master-disciple pair of Torus Thrio and his master, Sofia Lenor. Torus was struggling beneath his master, feeling both saddened with himself and anger at the situation he found himself in; it was thanks to this anger and shame that something happened, something neither Sofia nor Torus could've ever predicted. His Seed bloomed, and with it the world as he knew it changed; his hearing seemed to amplify manifold, he seemed to be able to smell even the moisture in the air, his eyes could see the smallest of details as if he were viewing the world in high definition, and as if he could taste the air. Torus felt amazing, as if he were the strongest in the world; a feeling bubbled in his chest that he felt needed released, and without conscious effort, he reared his head back and roared to the heavens.
Yet, what Torus was not expecting was that along with this increase in strength was something else, as if a bestial instinct was fighting for control of his body. Torus fought the feeling off to the best of his ability, but through a combination of inexperience and the shock caused by his newfound senses, the bestial instincts were quick to overpower him.
And with that, Torus lost control.
~Sofia Lenor Pov~
Sofia was shocked, feeling dazed at the sight in front of her; how had her precious disciple ended up like this? She had never seen someone who awakened their Aspect so thoroughly lose control of themselves, sure some people had brief periods where they would become power-hungry directly after awakening, but to so thoroughly lose control themselves like this? It was almost completely unheard of.
Before Sofia could continue to try to comprehend what had occurred before her very eyes, she felt as if the eyes of an apex predator had begun to stare her down. Shuddering in discomfort at the feeling, Sofia focused her attention back over to her disciple wherein she found her eyes widening in shock at the sight before her. Where before had stood the handsome youth that was her disciple now stood what appeared to be a beast in human form, with sharp canines, long claw-like nails, wolf ears a top its head, a tail poking out it's backside, and crouching in a position as if ready to pounce on its prey.
The beast gave her an appraising look while sniffing the air in her direction, before its claws seemed to retract and the look in its eyes changed; no longer did it view her as an enemy, it now instead held a gaze of animalistic desire. This did little to dissuade Sofia of her feeling of discomfort, and instead only worked to increase it. Sofia decided she had waited long enough, quickly rushing toward the beast in preparation to knock it out, hopefully bringing her disciple back to the surface. Rushing forward, Sofia expected to be able to easily trounce the beast, it was after all in the body of her disciple.
Yet, when her fist was just about to connect with the beast's face - who was clearly shocked at the speed of the attack if the look on its face was any indication - the beast bent its spine in an unnatural way, dodging underneath the incoming attack while swiping at Sofia's midsection with its claws. Sofia's eyes widened in surprise, yet she did not panic and instead took two quick strides backwards far faster than the beast could ever hope to follow, appearing around. Sofia was now viewing the beast in front of her as a serious threat, her expression changing from it's perpetual smile into a deep frown of concentration.
The beast let out a deep snarl of frustration at its target managing to escape its attack; no longer feeling like waiting for Sofia to prepare to attack, the beast launched itself at her. In just four quick strides the beast had reached her, extending its claws in preparation to attack her, now viewing her as a threat worth eliminating. Sofia reacted to the attack instantly, sidestepping the incoming swipe from the beast and punching her hand out, fingers pressed together. The attack pierced the beast's chest, and using that as a hold Sofia swung her hand down, smashing the beast into unconsciousness. The attack Sofia had used where she had managed to pierce the beast with her nails revolved around her Aspect; Sofia had a rather unique aspect, one of sharpness.
~Torus Thrio Pov~
Torus awoke with a killer headache, feeling as if he'd just woken from a day-long nap. Looking around, Torus was shocked to find himself within what appeared to be the nurses office of the Mercenary Hall; quickly jumping up Torus began to search himself for any injuries, unaware of the incident that had occurred after he'd lost control. Yet, before Torus had the chance to even jump up, he was stopped by the pain that lanced through his body coming from his stomach.
Just then, a bright screen popped into existence in front of Torus, this caused his eyes to widen and his body to instinctively bound backwards back onto the bed. Along with the screen came a robotic sounding voice, “Hello user, and welcome to the Aspect Evolution System.”