Capítulo 3: Preparations
On a hot summer day, the morning rays pierced through Aldric's window. The room itself looked rather bland. No sense of personality. No posters. No figurines. No colours. The room felt like it had a string of temporary visitors. None staying longer than the other.
This was fine to Aldric. He recognised that this was not his. He owned none of the furniture or the room itself. So why would he be emotionally attached to it? Sure there would be nostalgia from staying here for so long but that was about it. The room followed a simple pattern like all the others in the orphanage.
A tiny rectangular room with one window at the end. Enough room to fit a single sized bed along the wall, a cupboard, and a small desk. Given that the building was previously used as a prison, the cell like bedroom made some modicum of sense. Maybe that's why Aldric could never feel at home here. That was a thought for another day.
These past four months since his birthday were stressful. He knew that the clock was ticking. He had completely focussed on his fitness and studies. He dabbled in pain resistance training. Nothing crazy like torture. Just training while fasting. Training while sleep deprived. Training while even wearing a shock collar. All to induce similar conditions to the cruel reality that awaited him. After all, he can't refuse to fight because he hasn't eaten. He can't refuse to fight because he is in pain. He can't refuse to fight because he is sleep deprived. The downside to this was that he could feel his stress increasing. His cortisol spiking constantly.
This was rough for Aldric.
Especially with his relatively soft upbringing in the 21st century where every living standard was met and there were no threats of violence day to day. He was soft. He didn't have the ruthless upbringing one might gain from surviving in the outskirts. He didn't even have the training a legacy might have.
Most importantly, he didn't have the mindset needed to accomplish his goals. The merciless and unforgiving mindset that characters like Sunless or Nephis expressed. All he can do is hope that he adopts a similar mindset quickly enough through experience.
After all, it's sink or swim.
----------------------------
"Clack"
A spoon bounced off the surface of the synthetic wooden table in the dining hall.
Aldric felt a sudden wave of pain in his brain. Like the starting formation of a headache. Weirdly, the pain spread like a pulse throughout his whole body for a brief moment but subsided. Focussing back, Aldric shook off the stares from the kids at his table and returned to eating his breakfast. He didn't think much of it.
Later that day, Aldric prepared to go to bed. With his teeth brushed and his face washed, He tucked himself in and started counting backward from 100 in steps of 3. A common sleeping exercise.
97
94
91
Alric noticed a problem. His body was tired and ready to sleep. His mind was heavy. But his intuition told him. It told him to stay awake.
Immediately, He jumped out of bed and gasped for air. Trying to quickly catch his breath and calm down. "Finally" Aldric exclaimed in excitement as he recognised the symptoms. His initial excitement grew to fear rather quickly. It was one thing to theorise and strategise but the real deal was here.
"Damn".
His heart sank to the tip of his toes. Flashes of violent and gory scenes flickered through his mind. His breath shortened and sped up. He panicked.
"SLAP"
Aldric roughly slapped his face with both hands. He controlled his breath with his experience in meditation. Now was not the time to panic. Even so, rationally acknowledging it did not change the reality of his situation. He thought back to something he learned back home. Anxiety and excitement utilise the same parts of the brain. All it takes is a mental adjustment to rewire how you feel about something. Adventure, exploration , and power. He imagined all that he would gain from succeeding. His mood shifted slowly. However, immediately the voice inside his head recognised how temporary this feeling would be.
Without dwelling on it much further, Aldric spent the rest of the night consolidating what he knew about the first nightmare. He watched videos posted on public forums of people talking about their first nightmare. After all, hundreds of thousands of people have attempted it or more. People were bound to connect through shared experiences.
Before he knew it, the sun had risen. He wrote a note to the head caretaker in the orphanage and placed the note on her desk before she got there. Nothing depressing. Just a note to tell her he left as per the mandate. He had seen what happened to those who broadcasted their infection to the whole orphanage and how their failure affected everyone there. Enjoying his last meal in peace, he made his way to the police station.
You might think that he should go to his school. He couldn't because of the lack of facilities built for harboring the aspirants in their nightmares. The only places prepared for them are police stations. All are reconstructed with deep basement containment areas designed to withhold the nightmare creature that spawns from a failed attempted first nightmare. All in time for an Awakened to come finish them off.
He took the morning sunlight as it came and breathed in the filtered air through his lungs. Taking in the view of the bustling city one last time, he arrived at the police station.
"RING"
"RING"
Capítulo 4: Sleep
"RING"
"RING"
The receptionist looked at the young teenager who had a slightly sleep deprived face. She thought nothing much of his lack of sleep chalking it up to a late night until she saw his resolved face. As if he was prepared to go to war. Her instincts told her something was amiss but in a practiced fashion responded to him ringing the bell.
"Good morning, how can I help you today?"
"As demanded by the Third Special Directive, I am here to surrender myself as a carrier of the Nightmare Spell"
The receptionist's heart jumped and quickly questioned the young teenager.
"How..." "How long have you been infected"
"Roughly 10 hours Miss"
The receptionist exclaimed a short breath of relief but was still vigilant. She quickly pressed a button and communicated to the small mic resting above it.
"Code Red. Attention!. I repeat Code Red."
Aldric could not hear this over the announcement system in the building. He concluded it must be to reduce panic as civilians were dotted around the ground floor.
"Follow me" a deep masculine voice spoke behind me.
A middle aged man in a standard police uniform guided me towards the lower levels of the building. As we walked, he spoke in a clear voice.
"You might be wondering why you are not in handcuffs like the movies or webtoons "
"Yeah " responded Aldric.
" Well, you arrived here not too long after your initial symptoms. Following a visual assessment, you don't seem to be lying either." the man responded. He continued.
"It was responsible of you to come straight away son. People often overestimate how long they can go without sleep and try to complete last minute decisions. Causes a lot of panic seeing an unresponsive body on an insurance firm lobby floor."
"Makes sense." responded Aldric.
As they reached the last level of the building by using the elevator, they walked through a hallway of similar plated steel doors. Aldric had never seen a door so thick and robust in real life. After scanning his ID card, the policeman led him inside the last one. Inside that vaulted room, a cold feeling entered Aldric's body. Cameras were situated along the ceiling. A small bench along the wall.
Finally, the main attraction of the room. A weird human length contraption. Similar to an operation chair but tilted at a 45 degree angle. The most noticeable thing about it was the thick black restraints that were ready to be used. The reality of what was about to happen was slowly creeping back into Aldric's mind. His thoughts were interrupted when the Officer spoke.
"Take a seat on the chair."
Aldric complied.
"I am going to go through some standard procedure since we have the time. What is your name?"
"Aldric."
"Any last names?"
"Vesper."
"Okay. Do you have any family that I can contact?"
"I am an orphan. I live at the Willow Oak orphanage on Kingston Road. I informed my caretaker."
"With that out of the way, are you educated about the nightmare spell?"
"Yes sir. I attend one of the government academies."
"Perfect" exclaimed the officer.
In the corner of his eye, Aldric noticed soldiers armed in combat gear and holding assault rifles surrounding the vault door.
"Since I don't have to brief you about the spell, I can give you some personal advice. I have worked at this station for 15 years. I have been the last person that hundreds of people have seen. I know some stuff."
Aldric stayed silent. Expressing his intent to listen.
"The spell is a neutral entity. It gives and takes in equal measure. You will not have a trial beyond human capabilities. You might be unlucky. You might also be lucky. Who knows. What I will say is that you should never hesitate. You might not die facing a behemoth of a creature but because you hesitated to kill. A humanoid creature or even a fellow human."
"Do not hesitate" repeated the man with an intense look in his eye.
"I understand" responded Aldric.
"I hope so. For your sake".
As he is strapped into the contraption, Aldric has some final moments to plan. He concluded that there was no way he could predict the scenario he would be placed in. Neither could he predict his aspect due to how closely related it is to the scenario. He would have to go in blind and adapt to the situation. But not completely blind.
What he knew about the ratings of the first nightmare was at the front of his mind. Knowing that you are rated based on surviving the nightmare as well as your achievements. What people didn't know was that the spell reward was based on how far you went to defy the fate of the body you were inhabiting and if you succeeded.
He was resolved to fight against the fate that he would see at the beginning of the nightmare. After all, this theory of his can be supported by the spell showing every aspirant a time lapse starting at the end of the scenario to the beginning. Showing the future that fate intended for the body they inhabited.
Aldric aimed to try his best to defy fate. After all, isn't that what he represents? An unaccounted for change in this world's future.
"Good luck young man" said the policeman as he left. Closing the vault door behind him. Leaving Aldric alone with his thoughts in the cold room.
"Lock in."
"You got this." Aldric repeated.
Inhale. He closed his eyes.
Exhale. Darkness washed over him.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]
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