After avoiding death and ascending to a new realm, Winter was utterly lost for words. Not only had he ascended and been given a chance to live again, he had also gained the ability to grow stronger.
Winter looked around him and saw… well, nothing.
'There is nothing around?'
He thought that he would be transported to the Soulrealm and have to find his way to an altar to return to the mortal realm. But right now he was in a void, and what was even more disturbing was…
'Where the hell is my body?'
When he thought about it, it seemed as if he was not moving, standing still in an empty space. Frozen in time and space…
Winter had very little knowledge about the Soulrealm and how ascension worked, since he only ever talked to people when he absolutely needed to.
Interrupting his thoughts, the familiar voice of the Soul Curse echoed in his mind…
[Born from ice and forsaken by the gods, hated by fate itself, the Frostborne prevailed…]
'What?' Winter thought.
'What the hell is a Frostborne?'
Ignoring his confusion, the Curse continued.
[Commencing ascension…]
'Oh, cool.'
Then a wave of pain exploded throughout his entire being, as he felt a new body forming around his soul. He looked down to see an icy blue fire swaying slightly in the place where his chest should have been. The ember exploded into fiery sparks and started weaving his body into existence.
First his bones, then his flesh and organs. As he felt his skull forming, his vision blurred as his eyeballs solidified into shape. After regaining his vision, it felt as if hot rods were being jolted into his pupils.
His flesh looked like his body was burning, but in reverse…
"Not cool!" he shouted, his tongue and vocal cords burning with his sudden outburst.
'Why does it have to hurt this much!?' he thought, gritting his teeth.
After enduring the pain of ascension for some time that seemed like an eternity, the Curse, now speaking as if satisfied with his suffering, resounded throughout the desolate void:
[Ascension complete…]
'Finally.'
'Was it just me, or did the voice just now seem… excited?'
Winter couldn't put his finger on it. The voice was beautiful, yet unnatural at the same time, making it hard to discern certain tones…
'I swear it was happy, though.'
After the pain subsided, Winter started to examine his new body, and to his pleasant surprise, it was different… in a good way, at least.
His skin tone had become darker, and his body seemed fuller, no longer looking like a rotting corpse.
'At least I'm not as pale as before,' he thought, a smile making its way to his face.
'Wait, how do I go to the Soulrealm then? Or am I already there?'
He was extremely confused about how this whole Soulrealm thing worked. But that was not really an issue… yet. He would figure it out soon enough anyway.
Then he remembered that when someone ascends, they gain mystical powers akin to the innate affinity of their soul…
'How do I see it?'
Almost instantly, after the thought crossed his mind, lines of shimmering runes appeared before him, startling him a little.
'What the hell is this?'
The lines of runes were unfamiliar to him, so he had no idea what they meant. Gleaming through them, he noticed a familiar rune near the top of the lines.
'A snowflake?'
As soon as he noticed it, he felt a vague feeling of understanding welling up inside him. The runes started to look less unfamiliar, and he suddenly gained a grasp of their meaning…
Name: [Winter]
Soul rank: [Taintless]
Attributes: [Frostborne soul], [Forsaken]
Soul Aspect: [Frostborne]
Aspect ability's: [Ice coduit]
Soul origin: ["Born from ice and forsaken by the gods, hated by fate itself, the Frostborne prevailed…"]
'Okay, that's a lot of information.'
"Born from ice and forsaken by the gods…" he murmured, his voice melancholic.
'Figures.'
After averting his attention to the runes [Frostborne], he concentrated on them, and a new line of runes appeared below:
[Encased, entombed and frozen in ice, the Frostborne had come to existence, without any source… The gods were insulted and its soul was banished from the Soulrealm, and left behind by fate itself]
'I… don't know what this means!' 'What is this supposed to mean?'
Winter was extremely confused. Without sufficient knowledge, he was unable to make any conclusions, so he was left without answers… for now.
'Frostborne, huh?'