Seven dreamt of a vast city.
The city was old-fashioned, although very lively. One that you would see only in high quality paintings. A radiant moon bathed its streets in the ghostly, pale light.
Suddenly, the moon fell over the horizon. The sun rose from the west, streaked across the sky and disappeared in the east.
Seven realized that he had suddenly fallen inside his first nightmare, and he was seeing the time flow backwards!
In an instant, hundreds of years flew by. The city suddenly started shrinking at rapid speeds, the houses un-building themselves at a rapid rate until only a large prairie remained, surrounded by high slopes.
A vicious feeling assaulted Seven's mind as he was struck with many emotions all at once. He saw three armies surrounding the prairie, everyone had a hollow look in their eyes.
A moment later, the two other armies were gone and his vision suddenly retreated backwards. He saw an army walking backwards between two high slopes in a slightly narrow road.
Time slowed, stopped, and then resumed its usual pace.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
Seven suddenly took in a deep breath, feeling the oxygen fill his lungs.
As he exhaled, he realized that his body did not feel as light as before. His steps seemed heavier, as he observed his body, he realized that he was clad in some steel armor.
"Hey kid, are you alright?"
As he registered the commanding tone of the man, Seven looked towards him. The man was very tall, and he was clad in a similar steel armor just like his. He was holding a shield and a spear in his hands as he looked at Seven with a judging gaze.
"Yes. I am alright."
His simple words were enough to divert the man's attention forward. Seven quickly analyzed everyone around him. He was in the middle of a moving army, marching along with the other soldiers.
'This is all too sudden! I did not even display any signs of the spell infecting me. Was it because I was in the dreamscape?'
Seven clutched the spear and the shield that were in his hands. He quickly arranged his thoughts and focused on the road ahead. He had fallen into his first nightmare, so he needed to take it seriously. Nightmares were no joke, although it was said to be fair trials, it only had a 50/50 chance of survival even if you are trained vigorously from the day you could walk.
Fortunately, The House of Talents also prepared them for their first nightmares if they were ever infected. This included survival skills and some extensive knowledge about the dream realm and its history.
Currently, they were walking between two high slopes. The road was narrow, but not that much. It could contain ten humans walking alongside each other with some distance between them.
'I should check my runes first..'
Name: -
True Name: -
Rank: Aspirant.
Soul Core: Dormant.
Memories: -
Echoes: -
Attributes: -
Seven's already foul mood got even worse.
'No attributes? How is that even possible?' He thought bitterly.
Aspect: [Where is my mind?]
Aspect Description: [Your mind has no center.]
"..."
To the onlookers, Seven currently looked like he was staring at the ass of the woman right in front of him. Although in reality, he was just staring at the runes.
'What does that even me-' His thoughts were cut short as he sensed a gaze on him. He looked up, and saw that the woman in front of him was giving him a nasty glare over her shoulder.
'Did I do something..?' He stared back at her with a dumbfounded expression.
The woman's gaze did not linger on him much, with a scoff, she focused her attention forward once again.
"What was that about?" He muttered to himself.
"You should control you gaze kid, it is unbecoming of a knight of your caliber."
Seven looked at the man, deducing that he was looking at the woman's back withing realizing what he was doing.
'Anyways... The situation is quiet dire. From what I have seen in the beginning, there will be three armies that will be colliding soon enough, if everything goes according to that. But all of their gazes looked weird.'
Every first nightmare had one nightmare creature residing within it, so there was more to the three armies clashing.
Could it be a mind attack? That was the most possible outcome, but to infect that many people, that nightmare creature would need to be a very high ranked one.
'What the hell is a terror doing in a first nightmare..?' His expression turned even more grim, but he schooled it once he saw that he was gathering attention of the people around him. He did not want to be mistaken for a rookie, the knights seemed to have a high opinion of him.
Everyone in the army was a mundane one. And from the cloaks they wore, he deduced that they were most likely subjects of the War Goddess. With their numbers, they could easily slime a dormant terror.
But what if it was an awakened, or even a fallen terror? If the three armies did not gather their strengths to fight it, they would be absolutely cooked!
A sudden sound pulled him out of his thoughts. The ground shook as howls suddenly shook the silent march of the army.
"Defend the sides!" A man shouted as he saw several nightmare creatures rushing down the slopes. The monsters were taller than the average human, and had a very humanoid appearances. They were extremely skinny, and their fingers ended with sharp nails, faces looking like disfigured humans.
"These are dormant beasts! Corrupted subjects of the heart god! Kill them all!"
Under the leaders command, the army immediately moved and brandished their shields to protect the formation. Seven took his position amongst the others too, ready to thrust his spear towards any creature that descended upon them.
'These look like dormant beasts, they aren't numerous enough to trouble an army brandished with enchanted equipment.'
Still, it was his first time facing an actual nightmare creature with his life on the line! He had hunted plenty dormant beasts in the dreamscape, but never one in real life.
He breathed in an out, steadying his stance as a beast approached them. The beast cried out loudly as it charged towards their formation, its fist flew to throw a swing towards several shields at once. The force of the slam was enough to send the three defenders rallying backwards.
But at that very moment, the others immediately thrusted their spears towards the creature and pinned it in place, the monsters did not even have the time to thrash around as Seven discarded his shield and leapt forwards, gripping the spear with both hands, and thrusting it upwards with ferocious force, piercing the skull of the abomination.
[You have slain a dormant beast: Spawn of Soul Skinner.]
Black blood spurted down his visor as the spell announced his very first kill. Seven couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle. It was his first time killing a real nightmare creature!
But it was not over!
The whole army was still defending against the attack. Not every defense method was as successful as theirs, and they suffered some losses. Broken bodies lay on the ground as people shouted commands.
"Gather! We are moving!"
Seven, with a few other soldiers immediately went to assault another abomination. This one was currently dominating a group of other knights.
'But not for long!'
As Seven's group advanced, the knights raised their spears and everyone threw theirs almost at the same time. The skinny beast let out a pained scream, but it was cut short when a battle axe flashed down and severed its head from its head.
The killer was the woman that was walking in front of Seven a few minutes ago.
"Under my lead!" She shouted to Seven's group. The group immediately formed a formation along with Seven as they began to advance to help the other teams once again.
The army surged forward under her command, steel boots crushing blood-soaked soil as shields locked and spears rose once more. Across the narrow road, scattered skirmishes erupted and died in brutal flashes. Some squads holding firm, others buckling under the beasts' savage strength. The slopes echoed with howls and war cries alike, the air thick with the stench of blood and shattered bone. Though the first wave had been broken, more shadows still moved above.
And Seven, he felt something he had not felt for many years.
Excitement!