The girl sat alone on a splintered bench at the edge of the slums, her presence so slight she might have been a ghost. Pale skin, dark hair clinging to her face like shadows—every inch of her spoke of hunger, of nights spent shivering in the cold. Her clothes hung in tatters, the fabric stiff with grime, and beneath her sunken eyes, bruises bloomed like storm clouds. Yet, despite it all, there was something almost peaceful about her.
Her gaze was fixed on the moon, its silver light softening the harsh lines of her face. She wasn't smiling, but there was no fear either—just a quiet acceptance, as if she had already made her peace with the world. Loneliness lingered in the curve of her shoulders, yes, but so did something fiercer: a stubborn refusal to let despair have the final word.
She didn't know it yet, but she had only hours left. Maybe that was why she looked so calm. Maybe, for the first time, she could taste something like hope.
Soon, she would be free of this place.
A dry laugh rasped in her throat.
'Nice job, Rin. Way to go, kicking the bucket without being able to do a damn thing. At least i get to see mom and everyone'
With a weary sigh, she pushed herself up from the chair, the weight of inevitability settling on her shoulders. The subway station loomed as her only choice, this city, with its sparse and distant police outposts, demanded a journey just to reach help. Her slender purse hung lightly at her side, a pitiful thing, though soon it wouldn't matter at all.
The walk was a gauntlet of judgment. Well-dressed strangers swept past, their eyes sharp with disdain, their lips curled in silent reproach. Each glance was a needle, each turned shoulder a dismissal. She kept her head down, but their scorn clung to her like the damp city air, relentless and suffocating.
"Let's just wrap this up; my back is killing me, and I'm really exhausted."
The moment her shoes hit the pavement, the city's pulse thrummed around her—horns blaring, heels clicking, the ceaseless rhythm of lives in motion. She wove through the crowd, her path unwavering, until the police station rose before her like an unyielding fortress. The door was heavy under her palm, resisting before finally giving way with a groan.
Inside, the air was thick with tension—muffled voices, the sharp trill of telephones, the restless energy of bureaucracy at work. Behind the desk, an officer lifted his gaze, his face lined with fatigue. His eyes, dull with exhaustion, sharpened as they settled on her. Confusion flickered, then hardened into something colder. A slum child didn't belong here. That much was clear in the way his mouth twisted, the way his fingers stilled over the paperwork. She was an interruption. A problem. And he hadn't even heard her speak yet.
"Can I help you girl?"
'With the current situation I'm in, not really but...'
Rin's eyes moved with quiet precision, taking in the room not as a visitor might, but as a tactician. The reinforced plating along the walls, Thick enough to stop small arms fire, but pitted with neglect, told their own story. Above, the shadowed hollows of ceiling turrets sat dormant, their barrels dull with disuse. She could almost hear her father's voice in her ear:
'Notice everything. Assume nothing.'
Her fingers twitched faintly at her sides, muscles remembering drills, simulations, the weight of tools in her hands. Every angle, every weak point, every potential threat registered in her mind before she consciously processed it. The station wasn't just a building, it was a puzzle of defenses, half-forgotten but still dangerous. And Rin had been taught to solve such puzzles long before most children learned to ride a bike.
"Oi! These damn kids get worse every damn day."
Rin turned, exhaling through her teeth. Irritation prickled along her skin.
"By the Third Special Directive," she said flatly, "I'm surrendering myself as a Nightmare Spell carrier."
The officer's face changed—instant, like a shutter slamming down. Annoyance bled into something sharper, colder. His eyes locked onto hers, searching, weighing.
"...When did it start?"
Rin tilted her head back, studying the water-stained ceiling as if counting the cracks might tally the days. "Seven," she murmured. "Maybe seven days ago."
The man recoiled like she'd drawn a knife. "*Seven days?!*" His voice cracked. "Why the hell would you wait that long?! You're worse than the boy that came before you!"
She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep for three nights straight. Didn't seem weird to me"
For a heartbeat, the room hung silent. Then his hand shot out, smashing the terminal button so hard the plastic groaned. His shout tore through the station:
"CODE BLACK IN THE LOBBY! REPEAT—CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK!"
----
The Nightmare Spell, from what she could tell, was an utter disaster. But let's rewind a bit.
Many moons ago, there was a colossal explosion that birthed the universe—
Oops, too far back.
Essentially, the Nightmare Spell emerged amidst a series of devastating natural disasters ravaging the world. Resources were dwindling, and humans reverted to their default mode:
Pillaging each other in massive wars.
After a couple of years of nonstop killing the world was starting to recover from the shitshow humans put it through. Allowing every human a breathe a sigh of relief.
'Hm... Well not really.'
The Nightmare Spell appeared, which in turn, caused millions of people to turn into…
...How should I put this.
Ah I know.
Into coffeeholic complainers that that were insufferable which didn't really scare or frighten people at the start let alone attract any attention.
The government got really worried when people began falling asleep and showed no signs of waking up.
Calling it an eternal slumber is pretty accurate as they didn't wake up for days even weeks.
It was kind of too late by then. They couldn't predict or know what was about to happen.
I mean who would have predicted that the people sleeping...could randomly die and turn into bloodthirsty nightmare creatures.
If someone did predict that. They should probably buy a lottery ticket...
Not that it would have mattered if you won it... The whole world was practically screwed at this point as militaries nationwide were almost wiped from the face of the planet.
How can you fight something that nobody has ever seen in their lives?
What saved humanity were those coffee-addicted people that survived the first trial of the Spell. Essentially these guys restored peace and a semblance of order with their miraculous abilities they earned in their Nightmares.
If you thought that humanity was saved. The Spell didn't permit such a delusion. It was only the first of the catastrophes brought upon by the Spell. But as far Rin was concerned, none of it had anything to do with her - not until a few days ago, that is, when she first started having trouble with staying awake.
For the average Joe. Being a subject of the Spell is as much of a curse as it was a blessing.
Schools were teaching kids important survival skills, like knowing when a situation might put them at risk, such as refraining from biting trees or indiscriminately eating anything they come across, and how to defend themselves against potential threats, like imaginary monsters. And naturally, if you come from a wealthy family, your chances of survival are significantly higher.
There are even those things called Awakened clans where the kids are essentially given all the things they need to survive e.g. powerful legacies, inherited memories and echoes in their first visit to the dream realm.
Without even needing to dirty their hands.
'would have been pampered too but a certain clan, kinda f*cked me'
In broad term, the more you were pampered, the better your chance of surviving and awakened.
But people such as Rin on the other hand are as good as death, most of them trying to live the next day instead of going to school and even then, school from the outskirts aren't really reputed for their education.
'good thing i got a bunch of education before i hit the slums'
----
A few moments later, Rin yawned as officers fastened heavy shackles around her wrists. Soon, they strapped her into a massive chair—an unsettling cross between a medical apparatus and something far more sinister. As her bleary gaze wandered, she spotted another figure bound to an identical contraption: a black-haired boy, pale as moonlight, his features sharp yet weary in the dim light.
She tilted her head toward him, lips quirking into a tired smirk.
"What're you in for?"
He met her gaze, his voice light but edged with amusement.
"Several counts of looking amazing."
A dry chuckle escaped her. "Same."
Around them, armed officers lined the walls, rifles clutched tight, faces hardened into masks of vigilance. The room itself was a fortress—not built to keep threats out, but to ensure nothing within could escape. Reinforced walls, a vault door thick enough to withstand a siege, all bathed in the sterile glow of overhead lights.
Rin's eyelids grew heavier, her thoughts slipping like sand through her fingers. She fought to stay awake, to keep the darkness at bay—until the screech of the vault door shattered her focus.
A grey-haired man stepped inside, his posture rigid, his face carved with the grim weight of countless tragedies. A policeman, no doubt, but one who carried the aura of a man who'd seen too much—and expected to see worse before the night was through. He checked his watch with deliberate precision, then turned his hollow gaze toward Rin and the boy.
"Names."
The word cut through the haze in Rin's mind like a dull knife. She forced herself to focus, blinking hard as she processed the demand.
"Sunless," the boy answered smoothly.
Rin hesitated, then muttered, "Red."
'Sunless… what a strange name.' Then again, hers wasn't any better. 'Red? Really?' She almost laughed at how painfully uninspired it was.
The officer's lip curled. "Sunless and Red. Strange names."
Rin tried to nod, but her head lolled forward before she could manage it. Beside her, Sunless shifted, testing the restraints with quiet frustration.
"At least I have one," he said, his voice edged with something bitter. "Not everyone gets one in the Outskirts." A yawn escaped him, and he added, almost as an afterthought, "I was born during a solar eclipse. My mom had a poetic soul, you see."
Rin gave a sluggish nod of approval. A great woman.
The officer's cold stare settled on her, waiting. She swallowed, her tongue heavy in her mouth.
"My mom liked the… color?" she offered weakly.
The officer continued.
"Do you want me to contact your families?"
Sunless simply shook his head and Rin did the same.
"There's no one. Don't bother."
"Nobody will answer"
With the last flicker of her awareness, she studied Sunless—a mirror of her own wretched state. His tattered clothes, his gaunt frame. A male reflection of herself.
The policeman hesitated, his face shadowed by something like grief before it hardened into indifference.
"Alright, you two," he said, voice low. "How long can you stay conscious?"
"Not... long," she managed.
"Same," Sunless muttered.
A sigh escaped the officer. His fingers tapped once against his thigh, impatient, resigned.
"Then we don't have time for protocol. Fight to stay awake, and listen like your lives depend on it. Understood?"
He didn't wait for a reply.
"How much do you know about the Nightmare Spell?"
Sunless frowned. Rin, meanwhile, had already drifted, her bleary gaze catching on the basement's dim lights, the cracks in the walls. Focus had always been a fickle thing for her, slipping through her fingers like sand. Exhaustion only made it worse.
"As much as anyone, I guess? Who doesn't know about the Spell?"
"Not the fancy stuff you see in dramas and hear in the propaganda broadcasts. I mean how much do you really know?"
Sunless answered before Rin can even think.
"Don't I just go into the Dream Realm, kill a few monsters to complete the First Nightmare, receive magic powers and become an Awakened?"
The old officer shook his head and looked almost disappointed.
"Listen carefully. Once you two fall asleep, you will be transported inside your First Nightmare. Nightmares are trials created by the Spell. Once inside, you will meet monsters, sure, but you will also meet people. Remember: they are not real. They're just illusions conjured up to test you."
"How do you know? - I mean, no one understands what the Spell is and how it works, right? So how do you know that they're not real?"
"You two might have to kill them, so do yourselves a favour and just think about them as illusions."
"Oh..."
"Understood sir"
The police officer looked at both of them for a second before continuing.
"A lot of things about the First Nightmare depend on luck. Generally, it shouldn't be overwhelmingly hard. The situation you're in, the tools you have at your disposal and the creatures you have to defeat should be within the range of your abilities, at least. After all, the Spell sets up trials, not executions. You guys have a bit of a disadvantage due to... well... your circumstances. But kids from the outskirts are tough. Don't give up on yourself just....yet."
"Uh-uh."
Rin looked over at sunless who was also struggling to stay awake.
"About those 'magic powers' you mentioned... you will indeed receive them if you survive until the end of the Nightmare. What those powers will be, exactly, depends on your natural affinity as well as what you do during the trial. But some of it will be at your disposal right from the start..."
Black dots were constantly circling Rins vision now as she tried her best to ignore them. She looked over at sunless and he too was also barely managing to keep his eyes open.
"Remember: the first thing you must do once inside the Nightmare is to check your Attributes and your Aspect. If you get a combat-oriented Aspect, something like a Swordsman or an Archer, things will be easier. If it is reinforced by a physical Attribute, then that's even better. Combat Aspects are the most common, so the probability of receiving one is high."
The dots around her vision doubled and her vision grew dimmer.
----
Rin was really trying not to fall asleep
"If you're unlucky and your Aspect has nothing to do with combat, don't despair. Sorcery and utility Aspects are useful in their own ways, you'll just have to be smart about it. There are really no useless Aspects. Well, almost. So just do anything in your power to survive."
"If you survive, you will be halfway to becoming an Awakened. But if you die, you'll open a gate for a Nightmare Creature to appear in the real world. Which means that my colleagues and I will have to deal with it. So, please don't die, Red and Sunless."
Already half-asleep, the world to her swirling Rin hears his words again:
"Or, at least, try to not die right away. The nearest Awakened won't be able to get here for a few hours, so we would really appreciate it if you don't make us fight that thing ourselves."
'Wow, I was actually planning to do that, but now he's ruined my plans and is guilt-tripping me.'
That last thought circled her mind before everything became black. And then, in the darkness, a faintly familiar voice rang:
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]