Luciel noticed he hadn't died yet.
"Obviously."
He'd be stupid to think otherwise. But the problem was that he had arrived at another mysterious place.
He found himself standing in a vast, silent expanse, like an endless void. The only light came from his own body, its wisps of radiance dancing around him. The air carried no scent, no temperature, not even a prickling feeling. It was the emptiest place he had ever seen.
'I just want to go back, man.'
He palmed his face with both hands and ran them down—
'Wait.'
Why didn't he feel anything?
'Where's my hands?'
He glanced down and audibly gasped by the sight. His torso was non-existent, including his legs and arms. Well, not entirely non-existent — there were faint wisps coursing through where his body should have been.
'Just one fuckery after another.'
Luciel calmed himself and analyzed the situation.
He hadn't died, for one, and he just met a crazy old man in a supposed dream… he was certain that everything pointed toward one direction: he was in the midst of awakening.
Near-death experience, trauma, especially to the soul, were considered common catalysts for awakening. And if his knowledge hadn't betrayed him, this was his Soulscape, and his mission was to find the Encore to truly become an Awakened.
He realized the gravity of the situation instantly. After all, he had brushed up on his knowledge about Resonators for a year just for this moment.
'I'm about to be a Resonant…'
Luciel was a Resonator, but he wasn't a Resonant. A Resonant had their own unique Stanza, which was the complete and observable expression of a Resonator's supernatural capability, and the backbone of every Resonant. What he had been recently was a Dormant — those who had Echo Essence but didn't have a Stanza due to inaccessible Soulscape and Encore.
In short, his dream had come true. He had just cursed his life for being unjust and sickening, and now the heavens finally decided to gift him a catalyst to change his life from ordinary to extraordinary? What luck.
He was euphoric, but at the same time, he felt dirty being a pawn in this game of life. If the gods were expecting Luciel to thank them, then they didn't understand him enough. He earned it, fair and square, and no one could steal it away from him.
Nonetheless, he needed to get out of here. Since the Encore wasn't about to come out to greet him like a friendly neighbor, he had to find it himself.
Luciel scanned the darkness of his soul thoroughly, slowly treading toward a random direction. He reacted to any modicum of disturbance in the air, any ripple in the black waters beneath his incorporeal feet. Yet no matter how hard he looked, the Encore continued to evade him. It went on for… who knows how long. He'd already lost count of time.
He figured just walking around wouldn't work. He needed a trigger.
Maybe that old man had something to do with it.
'Curses. Do you not want me to awaken, crazy old man?'
Luciel couldn't help himself letting that geezer catch a stray, especially when the old man switched to a whole other language as he said goodbye. Those words meant nothing to him, yet somehow it struck him deeply.
'Ah!'
A sudden revelation slipped into his mind. The sword that the old man had given to him — it definitely had something to do with this space.
With a solution in mind, he emptied his mind, leaving nothing but the image of that beautiful blade.
He imagined the glint of the blade would carve a path for him within the abyss. As the image settled into place, his radiance gathered along the line of his intent. The wisps around his body stretched forward like silk. The black waters rippled once more, then calmed into a smooth dark mirror.
Luciel studied his reflection, invisible yet glowing. The mirror held his glow with perfect clarity, and the void held his gaze with equal patience. He stared until the silence started to stare back.
'If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.'
The waters seemed to receive his sentiment. It trembled and released a single ripple that traced a thin line across the surface. Brightened by silky strands of light, the path surged forward like a cut of moonlight, leaving behind notes of tranquil water as they pointed deeper into the void.
The scene was so ethereal that Luciel wished he had a camera to capture it.
He stepped forward, slowly following the lit path. With each stride, another line of moonlit water unfurled ahead of him, and the darkness parted like curtains. It continued on and on, until a hum grew in his ears.
It carried the familiar sound of steel and heat, one that he had the chance to experience in a rundown smithy. It was unmistakably the sound of that sword.
After some time, Luciel finally slowed.
The path ended at a circle of still water. The silk of light curled toward it and spun around a single point inside the dark.
'The sword.'
There it was.
A vertical line rose from the center of the circle. The light spiraling around his body escaped from him and ran toward the sword. It clashed with steel multiple times before coating the blade, then the hilt, then the entire circular surface.
No matter how long Luciel studied it, he could not deny its excellence. It was simply an artisan sword of the highest caliber.
The moment of truth was upon him.
Feeling nervous, he swallowed hard before stepping into the circle. The hum became louder and louder, as if urging him to take the sword and leave already.
'Not that I don't want to leave, so relax.'
Luciel shook his head.
With total confidence, he reached out to the sword. His fingers closed around the grip perfectly, feeling as though the sword was made just for him. The leather sat comfortably in his palm. The balance settled at the center of his hand.
It felt complete. He felt complete.
In one decisive motion, Luciel pulled, freeing the blade from the ground.
The waters immediately shuddered and stilled again. The hum vanished into oblivion.
He held the sword at his side and stared at the steel.
'Is it over?'
Then, the still water beneath him sunk.
'Why did I even say that?'
Luciel tumbled and almost fell to his backside, but he acrobatically landed and distanced himself from the circle.
He lifted his gaze, holding his sword close like a once-in-a-lifetime treasure.
A point of light rose from the center where the water retreated. It hovered at waist height, small and concentrated like a miniature star, yet he felt like it carried supreme authority over the whole Soulscape.
'That's… my Encore.'
It looked exactly like a small, newborn star the size of a football. Cinders appeared to flicker around it. They drifted into orbit one by one, each one circling the star like the Sol system.
Luciel tightened his grip on the sword and studied the star. It was bright red, but its glow was dim. It burned without heat, constantly shifting between faint and vivid. The cinders were barely keeping the star alive.
It looked unassuming, and not at all impressive, but he had never cared about looks. In fact, he felt the same tingling intuition from the star as he did from the sword — inconspicuous but exceptional through refined lenses.
And also, he had to defend his own soul. If not, who else would?
Just then, the star suddenly compressed into a coin-sized orb, then immediately shot out what seemed to be weird letters and texts.
'Are those… runes?'
A completely mystifying scene unraveled right before his eyes. The small rune-like letters doused in flames started to form sentences, rearranging themselves like solving a puzzle.
Luciel rubbed his eyes in bewilderment, unsure if this was his imagination or reality.
However, the most inexplicable thing wasn't this — it was the fact that he could understand the runes. He had never studied them, nor had he ever interacted with them. Yet the moment the letters were shaped, comprehension was automatic.
After a while, the runic fire stopped moving. Luciel could only stare at them in disbelief, partly because he could understand the runes, but more so because… he had never heard or seen anything like this before.
The runes read:
Name: Luciel
Soul Aria: [Agnihara]
Soul Chorus: Symphony No. 1 — [Scarlet]
Soul Resonance: [First Movement]
Soul Embers: [0/250]
Soul Bridges: [Flameborn], [Soul Conduit], [Ember Eyes]
Soul Verses: [Divine Fire]
Relics: [Dawn]
Luciel swallowed. He stared at the list and read it again.
'What… is this?'