Rin dreamt of a forest.
An ancient, towering expanse of shadow and leaf, the kind that existed only in memory now, the deep, whispering woods that had stood long before axes and borders carved the land into something smaller.
Above, the moon flickered behind shifting clouds, its pale light waning as snowfall spiraled through the air. Each time the clouds thickened, the cold bit deeper, as if the night itself resented the intrusion of warmth.
Beneath the canopy, Rin wandered, her boots sinking into layers of moss and decay. The forest breathed around her, alive in its endless cycle—great trunks collapsing into earth, saplings stretching upward in their place. Time moved strangely here, years passing in the space between heartbeats, the world remaking itself over and over.
'There should be something profound in this', she thought. 'Some grand realization about life, or how fleeting it all is.' But the moment slipped away, unclaimed. She was only seventeen, after all. Let the philosophers sigh over mortality. Right now, all she felt was the cold, the quiet, and the weight of the woods watching her back.
Rin's gaze snagged on a flicker of light through the trees—golden, insistent, pulling her forward like a moth to a flame.
Step by step, the glow sharpened into the outline of a campfire, its flames licking the air in unnatural, stuttering motions. They curled backward, rewound, as if time itself had stuttered. The firelight spilled over the surrounding trunks, painting the bark in molten hues, before—
A pause. A breath held.
Then the world lurched forward again.
**[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]**
'Of course'
Sensation rushed back into her limbs, sharp and unwelcome.
Cold
Not just cold, but a knife's-edge chill that sank into her marrow. Each exhale hung in the air, a ghostly mist that lingered too long. Her throat burned with every swallow, raw from the frozen air.
The fire crackled nearby, its warmth a taunting illusion. It did nothing to blunt the deepening cold, a cold so profound it felt alive, gnawing at her with teeth of frost.
'Goddamn it all. Why is it this fucking cold?'
"Oi, Rin. You zoning out again?"
A voice snapped her back to the present. Rin blinked, startled to find unfamiliar faces watching her with varying degrees of amusement and concern. She smoothed her expression into an easy smile, pushing down the unease curling in her gut.
"Ah, sorry. Just thinking about the cold," she said, surprised at how naturally the foreign words left her lips. "It's freezing out here, isn't it?"
The man who'd spoken, broad-shouldered, with a scar cutting across his brow, shrugged. "Cold as balls," he agreed, rubbing his hands together. "But at least that mission's finally over. Hell of a way to end it."
Mission? Her pulse quickened, but she kept her tone light, her posture relaxed. Around her, the others stood in clusters, their dark, old-fashioned clothing blending into the winter gloom. They moved with the ease of people who knew each other well, comrades, maybe even friends.
'Or something far less friendly.'
She studied them more carefully now. The way they carried themselves, loose but alert, hands never far from weapons, eyes sharp even when they laughed. These weren't just colleagues. They were dangerous.
And she was standing right in the middle of them.
'Play it cool. Figure it out. Don't give yourself away.'
Rin tucked her hands into her sleeves, mimicking their posture, their cadence. But beneath the act, her mind raced.
'Who the hell are these people?'
And more importantly
'Why do I feel like I'm the only one here who doesn't know?'
The five figures surrounding her each carried an air of lethal competence, their casual stances belying razor-sharp readiness.
The first was a lithe blonde, all wiry muscle and lazy grins. His fingers danced near the kunai at his belt—not fidgeting, *waiting*. A predator's patience.
The second loomed like a stormcloud in dark armor, his greatsword's hilt jutting over one shoulder. His gaze, sharp as the blade he carried, scanned the treeline with methodical precision.
Then there was the woman—raven-haired, graceful, her cloak swaying as she murmured to a skittish mare. But the way her hand lingered near the dagger at her hip told Rin everything. This one had blood on her hands, no matter how gentle her touch.
And the twins.
Emerald-haired mirrors of each other, their laughter bright but their eyes calculating. Their matching outfits hid weapons, no doubt. One kept glancing at Rin when he thought she wasn't looking.
Five killers. Five potential threats.
And they all acted like they knew her.
Rin forced her shoulders to relax, fingers brushing the kunai at her belt. She'd handled blades before, even if her most vivid memory was slicing her palm open with a rusted knife in some back alley. Not exactly inspiring.
The carriage at the edge of camp caught her eye. Heavy dark wood, a canopy of shadowed fabric. Something about it prickled the back of her neck.
Focus. Assess.
She exhaled slowly, reaching inward, and the Spell Runes flickered to life before her, glowing lines of ancient script she shouldn't understand but did.
---
Name: Rin Lunar
True Name: —
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant.
Memories: —
Echoes:—
Attributes: [Essence Pathway], [Genin], [A Shadow's Friend]
Aspect:[Heavens Eyes]
Aspect Description: [Right now, these eyes are useless. Just like any others. Except these happen to be rarer.]
---
'Oh, fantastic.' Rin nearly laughed. 'Eyes that do absolutely nothing. Truly, a gift from the gods.'
She resisted the urge to groan. Just my luck.
The blonde tilted his head. "You good, Rin? You've got that look again."
She flashed a grin. "Peachy."
But beneath the casual reply, her mind raced.
'Play the part. Watch. Learn.',
And if it came to it
'Be ready to fight'
Rin barely suppressed an eye roll as she mentally echoed the Officers words in a mocking, gravelly impression:
"The Nightmare Spell isn't an execution..." Oh, brilliant. Truly comforting. Because what I really needed in a world crawling with nightmare abominations was a pair of rare, useless eyes and a pat on the back.
Before she could spiral further into sarcasm, the armored man barked across the camp:
"Rin! Quit daydreaming and get your ass to the carriage. We're moving."
She flicked the runes away with an irritated twitch of her fingers, thankfully invisible to the others, and muttered under her breath, "Prick. Hope you're first on the monster buffet."
"Rin, you say something?"
the man grunted.
She beamed up at him, all wide-eyed innocence. "No, nothing at all."
Smoothing her expression, she fell into step beside him, her movements deliberately light. The raven-haired woman glanced up from securing the horse's harness, offering a small smile.
"We'll be home in a few hours," she said, "assuming no problems."
The armored man gave a gruff nod. "Weather's been clear. Weird, honestly, not a single monster sighting."
Oh, you idiot. Now you've doomed us all.
Rin kept her face carefully neutral, even as she internally cursed him. 'Definitely dying first.'
Just as she leaned in, hoping to catch more useful details, the blonde's voice slithered into her ear, dripping with faux concern:
"Rin, you alright?" His smirk was all teeth. "Homesick already?"
She forced a laugh, sweet and hollow. "Just admiring the scenery."
'And plotting how fast I can stab you if this goes south.'
Rin looked up and smiled stupidly, something she was meant to say to herself came out of her mouth:
"Who am I."
Rin felt the blood drain from her face as the words left her mouth. The blonde's smirk faltered for half a second, just long enough for her to realize how badly she'd screwed up.
A beat of silence. Then—
The armored man let out a booming laugh. "Gods, she's finally lost it!" He clapped her on the back hard enough to make her stumble. "Too many nights sleeping with a knife under your pillow, kid."
The raven-haired woman sighed, rubbing her temple. "Ignore them. You're just exhausted." She shot a glare at any who smirked, expressions which shifted instantly when met with the gaze "We all are."
The twins, ever in sync, chimed in with identical grins:
"Who are you? The embarrassing little sister, obviously."
"The one who trips over her own feet during drills."
"The only person dumb enough to ask that after a mission."
Their teasing was sharp but familiar, the kind only siblings, or people who'd fought together for years ,could get away with. Rin forced a laugh, her pulse still hammering.
Close. Too close.
The blonde studied her a moment longer, then shrugged, his smirk returning. "Guess the clan's shadow finally broke you." He leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper only she could hear: "Or maybe you're just better at acting than we thought."
Her breath caught.
Then he winked and sauntered off toward the carriage, leaving her standing there, cold sweat prickling down her spine.
'Oh, I am so unbelievably fucked.'
She moved to the carriage with a long face For a fleeting moment, confusion flickered across his face, sending a jolt through her chest—but then it vanished, replaced by smooth comprehension. The tension in her shoulders eased.
"Wow, okay so you really were diving into the deep stuff back there, huh?" He leaned back, fingers laced behind his head. "So, you're Rin. Second child of the clan head, fresh off your first mission—reconnaissance, went flawlessly, brought back intel that actually mattered. And let's be real, you're itching to prove something to dear old dad."
A pause. A grin.
"Of course, we should address the elephant in the room—he doesn't see you as his daughter. Not really. Your brother? Oh, that's his pride and joy. Your accomplishments? Just background noise. And speaking of your brother… let's just say he's not losing sleep over your well-being. Toxic family dynamics, am I right?"
He sprang to his feet, striking a dramatic pose as if unveiling divine wisdom.
"Which is why I get why you're asking these questions. I mean, who am I? Existential crisis central over here. But hey sometimes you got to answer in the simplest ways… I'm Greg. And I like to think I'm a pretty cool guy."
'This motherfu—' She bit back the words. 'Nope i should thank him, he just handed me everything.'
Her expression remained impassive. "I see. That was... enlightening."
"Pleasure's all mine. Only the best advice from yours truly." Grinning like an idiot, he propped himself against the carriage, oozing misplaced confidence.
The driver cracked the reins. The horses surged forward, and with a sharp.
SNAP
The plank beneath Greg gave way. He hit the dirt in a rain of splinters, dignity in tatters.
He scrambled up, dusting himself off with forced nonchalance, though his smile had turned brittle.
Without so much as a backward glance, the woman barked over the clatter of wheels:
"Oi, Greg! Quit fucking around and get back in!"
'How did she know he was being an idiot? Hmm, I suppose it's a silly question considering he probably consistently behaves like this.'
"Sorry Lisa, this stupid old carriage broke by itself. I swear!"
Lisa didn't even turn around. "Uh-huh. And I suppose the wood just accidentally gave out the second you leaned on it like a drunken idiot?"
Greg opened his mouth—then shut it, wisely deciding silence was his best defense.
'Alright we got another name, Lisa.'
Greg cleared his throat, straightening his posture with exaggerated dignity.
"Ahem—I mean, I meant to do that," he declared, voice wavering just enough to undermine his bravado. "It's a—uh—classic warrior technique. Make your enemies think you're weak. Lull them into a false sense of security. Very advanced stuff."
The more he spoke, the more absurd it sounded, but he barreled on, undeterred.
Rin arched a single, unimpressed brow.
"Right."