I Received System to Become Dragonborn

This Trial was testing her emotions! That was the only conclusion Aesa could draw from everything that had happened so far.

She was not someone who easily became overwhelmed by sadness or anger. Her heart had always been cold and calm, much like the element she wielded.

She had learned to suppress her feelings so thoroughly that even the most terrible situations rarely managed to disturb her composure.

That change had begun after the disaster that had destroyed her kingdom.

She had lost her husband along with countless others she had known. In the end, she had been forced to kill them herself to free them from their suffering.

It was an experience that had left wounds deeper than anything physical, and afterward, Aesa had deliberately made herself colder and more detached.

She had wanted to become that way.

She believed that if she could distance herself from her emotions, she would never again become overwhelmed by them.

She would be able to think rationally even when everything around her collapsed. She would be able to make the best decision in any situation without allowing fear, sadness, anger, or attachment to interfere.

That was the person she had chosen to become.

Yet now, those emotions were surging through her with an intensity that felt completely unnatural.

Aesa knew that what she had seen was not real. Erend, Eccar, and Sylven were only illusions created by the Trial. She understood that there was no reason for her heart to react so violently to their suffering.

But it did.

The sadness felt deeper than it should have been. The anger burned hotter than it normally would. Even the thought of watching them die caused something inside her chest to tighten.

There was only one explanation: The Trial was amplifying her emotions.

It was taking feelings she had spent years suppressing and forcing them to the surface until they became impossible to ignore. It was making her feel everything she had deliberately tried to bury.

For Aesa, this was almost like her worst nightmare.

She had spent so long trying to detach herself from her emotions so she would never again lose control because of them. Now the Trial had turned that very detachment against her and forced every suppressed feeling to become stronger.

And Aesa had a terrible feeling that this was only the beginning.

If the Trial could make her feel this much from seeing Erend, Eccar, and Sylven in danger, then there was no telling what it would show her next.

Aesa gritted her teeth and slammed her fist into the ice again.

The impact sent another web of cracks across the surface.

"Calm down. I have to calm my mind if I want to survive this Trial. Whatever I see right now is only an illusion. It doesn’t matter even if I see them die. They aren’t real."

She repeated the words inside her mind as though they were a spell.

She tried to force herself to believe them. She tried to push away the sadness and anger and return to the cold state of mind she had always relied upon.

They were not real. Erend, Eccar, and Sylven were not really there.

No matter what happened to them inside this Trial, they would be alive outside.

Aesa slowly rose to her feet.

She looked around the frozen landscape again and waited.

She knew the Trial would come for her again. She just did not know how.

The answer appeared soon after.

Three figures stood in the distance.

Aesa immediately recognized them.

They stood together on the frozen plain just as they had before, but something was different this time.

They were no longer smiling.

Instead, they looked at Aesa with expressions she had never expected to see from them, disappointment.

Erend stared at her with a cold and accusing gaze. Eccar’s expression was heavy with disappointment. Sylven looked at her as though he could no longer understand why she had abandoned them.

Aesa’s eyes narrowed. "What?"

The three said nothing. They just continued staring at her.

Their silence irritated her. Aesa felt anger beginning to rise again as she walked toward them.

"What are you looking at me like that for?"

There was still no answer.

Aesa approached faster.

"You aren’t real."

The three figures remained still.

"You three are just illusions."

She continued walking toward them until she was almost within reach.

Then they disappeared.

Their bodies dissolved into countless particles of ice and scattered into the wind.

Aesa stopped. Her fists tightened.

She closed her eyes for a moment and forced herself to breathe.

"They aren’t real."

She opened her eyes.

The three figures had appeared again. This time, they stood farther away.

They were still looking at her with the same disappointed expressions.

Aesa’s irritation grew. She walked toward them again. They disappeared.

Then they appeared somewhere else. She approached. They vanished.

They appeared again.

Each time, their expressions remained the same, disappointed and judging.

As though they blamed her for something she did not understand.

Aesa’s breathing became heavier.

"They’re not real." She repeated the thought. "They’re only illusions."

But her emotions refused to listen.

The more she told herself that they were not real, the stronger the pressure inside her chest became.

Her anger and frustration rose with every appearance and disappearance. The Trial was forcing her to chase them while making sure she could never reach them.

Then she saw them again. This time, something was different.

The three Dragonborn were standing beneath the same pale sky, but dark shapes had already emerged from beneath the ice.

The tentacles!

Aesa’s eyes widened. "No..."

The dark-blue tentacles erupted from the frozen ground and pierced through their bodies. A few seconds later blood spilled onto the icy surface.

Their bodies trembled.

Aesa stopped with a stunned expression.

She knew what was happening. She knew they were illusions and none of this was real.

But her heart still reacted as though she were watching the people she cared about die in front of her.

The three Dragonborn struggled weakly against the tentacles.

They looked toward her, tried to raise their hands, with their eyes fixed on her.

None of them spoke this time. They simply looked at her.

Then a second later their bodies went still. The tentacles released them.

Their bodies fell onto the ice one after another and they did not move after that.

Aesa stared at them.

The three bodies lay motionless on the ice with blood spreading beneath them.

For several seconds, she could not move. She had not saved them this time. She had not even tried.

The Trial had shown her their deaths and forced her to stand there and watch because her emotions were overwhelming.

Aesa’s hands trembled. She clenched them tightly.

"They’re not real!"

The words came again. But this time, they felt much weaker.

"They’re not real..."

She stared at the three bodies. Her breathing became increasingly unsteady.

And the Trial was only getting started.

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