Percival stood in the middle of a barren wasteland. His eyes watched into the distance. He glanced around himself. Surrounding him was nothing but what seemed like sand, rock and dead bushes.
Where am I? He couldn't help but feel as though the nothingness around him was somehow connected to him. It felt familiar, as if a whisper from a past dream, or a previous life.
In the distance, Percival could make out a tree, it stood tall; as opposed to everything else around him, the tree wasn't lifeless. It's branches hung like draping curtains. Their leaves huddled together, giving the tree volume.
That is the only living thing here.. apart from me. That is where I need to go.
Percival walked, faster than an average pace, enough to where he seemed to almost jog. The closer he got to the tree, the more he realised that it wasn't just in the distance, the tree itself engulfed half the wasteland. He was still so far away from it, but from Percivals perspective, it was about the height of a normal tree now.
Percival walked for what felt like hours, his feet starting to ache, he had one goal in mind.
Reaching the bottom of the tree, he noticed the roots sticking out of the ground were double his size. The tree was monstrous, it reached taller than anything he had ever seen in his life. These shade that came from the tree seemed to spread like a virus.
He circled the tree, finally coming across a box, half buried under the sand. The box was long, it would have been about double the size of Percival if it was stood upright.
Plastered on the top of the box was a symbol. It was a shrouded figure from a side on view, hunched over. In this figures hand, a scythe, which touched the ground. Seemingly as though it was more a walking stick than a weapon. From the side on view, the cloak covered most of his face; through a small cave in the hood, a red glow in the position of an eye could be made out.
Percivals heart raced, he hadn't seen something like this before. Then it came to him. The familiarity of this place.
He recalled standing in this wasteland, 2 dozen bodies scattered around him. Lifeless, silent bodies with holes punctured through their hearts. From the holes grew cracks, seemingly spreading like disease.
He stepped back, both shock and confusion flooded his head. He recalled what he had done to Larlock in the bar, and suddenly the dream had become that much more real for him.
His hands shook as they grasped the cold metal lined wood of the box, hesitantly he reached towards the clasp that held it shut.
His fingers, though trembling, managed to lift the lock without much fight. As he opened the box, his eyes hit the contents. A single item inside.
The wood stretched out from where it begun, forming a curve towards the top half. From the curve, seemingly embedded into the wood, an almost crescent moon shaped blade stuck out both ends. The light that shone off the stainless steel metal reflected, giving flare to the sharp, smooth edge of the blade. Its tip glowing a shackling black.
This weapon, the one I wielded in the bar. The one I held onto in the dream. Perhaps it was never a dream, but a glance into a future i hadn't known yet.
Percivals eyes, now glued onto the weapon that faced him, seemed as though they were going to burst out of their sockets with how wide they had become. After his realisation passed, he took a deep breath. Words forming in the cracks of his mind.
Hold your gaze.. towards the future in front of you..
"I understand".
Percival reached his hand towards the wood, his palm open, waiting to be interlocked with the opportunity in front of him. Now that I've awakened my ability, I'm sure I'm going to come across those creatures Alastair mentioned. I could never dream of holding my own against something like that.
As much as I despise the future that I've seen, if I don't take this weapon, then I'm helpless. I'll be left to fend for myself again.
It's about time I learn to fight back the fate this world has in store for me.
His hands wrapped the wood, seemingly etching himself into the weapons design. His fingers wrapped tightly, his palm, sat sturdy. He lifted his arm, the scythe with it. Turning around, he found the world around him starting to crack, small crevices formed throughout the desert wasteland, but he stood still. Unwavering to the coming force.
His eyes, which shone a glistering green hue, now began to shift. Red filling the green as if being coloured at the hand of something else. They did not glow, but his eyes were now a dark crimson red. That of which could be compared to blood.
...
Percival awoke, his eyelids opening slowly. He felt something welled up inside of him, something powerful. Had that place been to decide if I wanted this power? Or if I wanted to let it go?
Glancing around the room, he landed to the kind looking Alastair that sat right beside him.
"Lad.. it's good to see you're okay, you weren't hurt, more like, your body fixed anything that had happened to you. I understand you must be confused. Or perhaps you don't recall what happened. That's normal. But I'm going to explain to you, what your ability is, it's name, what it can do, and how you should wield it".
"I remember everything that happened, like I'm seeing it right in front of me". Percival pointed towards his eyes, making it clear he was not lying.
"You mean to tell me.. you remember your awakening?.." Alastair's eyes spoke words he could not. He was stunned, almodt speechless
"The fact that you can recall the awakening at all, is proof enough of how special you are. The ability you posses is something that has only ever been wielded once in the history of our kind.
"Soul shatter.
"That is the name of your ability. You posses the strength of a bull, the speed of a cheetah, the raw energy of a monster". Alastair paused thinking on his next words carefully
"The scariest power you possess is the ability to shatter somebodies soul. If you pierce through their heart with the tip of your scythe, you shatter their entire being. This is a power you must wield sensibly. The soul of an awakener when we die, is taken to a paradise, on the other side of the world as we know it. Whether they have done good or bad, they will be given the afterlife of a hero. However. When you shatter a person's soul, you shatter their existence. They no longer reside within this world or the afterlife".
"You mean.. Larlock no longer exists?".
Alastairs voice arose, quiet, dull. "That's right.
"The advantage to your ability however, is that you are the one and only person, who can fully extinguish the life of the creatures we face. When you pierce their souls, they no longer come back in another form.
"However, the last person who was recorded to have the ability you possess, joined forced with the other side. She almost brought about the complete destruction of awakeners as we know it. The world around those in the past, became a shell. Ravaged by unseen beasts, countless millions of people were killed, both human and awakened.
"A lot of awakeners will view you as a catastrophe because of what this woman has done. They will try to kill you just because of what ability you posses.
"You have a great responsibility within you. Etched into the road of your future. Is that something you're prepared for young lad?"
Envisioning the wasteland once again, Percivals eyes met with the countless dead bodies scattered around him, the blood forming rivers of red. His gaze met that of Alastairs.
"Whether I can fight or not, whether i am ready to take the leap or not, I will learn. I will fight for the world I was born into. On that, you have my promise sir!"