Chương 4: Sleep

"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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Chương 5: Enter

Through the darkness, Aldric saw a scene almost frozen in time. A massive chasm etched on the earth. Leading to depths unknown. It seemed that even light could not travel through it. A gaping cavity that scarred the landscape. The weird thing was that Aldric could tell he was not watching this in person. It played like a movie in his mind.

All of a sudden, Aldric first noticed the sky flickering from night to day at incredible speeds. Like a flickering LED. It reminded him of the tale from Nordic mythology. The two wolves said to chase the sun and moon respectively. This passage of time was not limited to the sky. The limited fauna on the barren tundra disappeared only to return a second later. Like a sick cycle of life and death. Even the chasm was slowly patching itself together at a snail's pace. It made sense because of how slow the natural erosion of rock is.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a colossal pyre made of bones. He could barely make out the type but could notice the varying shapes of skulls as nightmare creatures. As the pile shrank due to the reversal of time, he could see some human shaped skulls at the base. Acting as a sick foundation for the monument.

In the blink of an eye, he noticed a behemoth of a worm journey from the far edges of the landscape toward the chasm. He could see the gargantuan worm fall into the chasm in reverse. At the same time, all the surrounding rubble knitted itself in mid air and closed the massive chasm. Leaving a smooth small mountaintop empty. Like nothing had happened.

He surveyed the barren tundra with full attention. He could tell that even if there was no life on the surface, the landscape had an ominous feel to it. His instincts told him there must be creatures of unknown origins under the surface. Like an ant hill.

Then time stopped for the last time. Aldric felt his soul sink from the sky he was viewing the scene from straight down through the mountaintop.

----------

"Are you listening boy". A rough voice spoke.

"Yes. I am sir." Aldric responded instinctively.

His eyes adjusted to the boundless darkness that surrounded them. They must have been in a large cavern, Aldric theorised. The only source of light was the primitive torch that the man held. Before taking in his surroundings more, he noticed just how well his eyes adapted to the dark. Almost scarily so. Like he could see much further than what the torch lit up.

The middle aged man in front of him stood tall and strong. Adorned in a mix of animal furs, he looked very rough and primitive. With straw like black hair combed into a bun, he had visible dust and mud covering his body. He was extremely pale. Pale like he had never seen the sun in his life.

Aldric was brought out of his observations by the man talking.

"Tonight is the night that you undergo the initiation. You have shadowed me for over 20 hunts. You may return with any creature you think could feed the tribe. If you succeed, you will have completed the initiation. As a reward for your efforts, you will join the ranks of the hunter troop. Should you fail, may you return to the earth's cold embrace."

Aldric suddenly felt a spike of bloodlust aimed at him. He had never felt anything like it in all his training.

"Should you return to the tribe alive without a kill, then I will feed you to the insect colonies myself. Do you understand boy?" spoke the man resolutely with a manic look in his eye.

"Yes..... Yes sir" exclaimed Aldric in fear.

"You have until the fat of this torch completely burns out." The man said while handing the torch over to Aldric.

Suddenly, he turned the opposite way and maneuvered through the darkness like a fish in the sea.

Now left alone, Aldric calmed his breath and surveyed the surroundings for any dangers.

"All clear." He exclaimed.

He looked down and observed himself. Adorned in the same type of clothing as the hunter man, he focussed on how he felt. He could tell he was the same height and had no abnormalities or defects. One thing he could tell was that he was much lighter. Not skinny by any means. He was still lean but lacked a lot of the muscle mass he trained hard to achieve.

On his waist, there was a 20-inch weapon covered by a leather sheath. He removed the sheath and looked at it. It was a long sharp tooth sculpted into the shape of a dagger. Aldric was relieved to be armed in this unknown cavern.

With the coast clear, Aldric could finally view something. Something that would determine his destiny. His aspect and his attributes. He understood that his aspect would evolve should he perform adequately in this nightmare. And he aimed to do so. However, He was aware of the importance of his aspect even before its evolution.

The best example of this would be Sunless. His aspect "Temple Slave" evolved to the divine rank. This unprecedented boon could have given him an aspect like Shadow Lord or Prince of Shadows. However, he received the aspect Shadow Slave. An amazing aspect, full of potential and utility. However, he was still a slave. Causing Sunless endless grief.

That's part of the reason Aldric trained so hard. For the nightmare spell to respect his efforts and place him in a body fitting his capabilities. Aldric did not want to be described as a "useless wretch".

"Enough". Aldric exclaimed as he calmed his racing thoughts.

"The moment of truth."

"Status"

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