I dreamt of a nightmare..?
The dream was blurry. Although I could tell it was nothing pleasant. Familiar faces, death, fear.
A body that had received severe damage.. it looked as if someone had feasted on it..
The scenery changed, I saw an arena. The arena was populated with people who were chanting "Glory." They looked like mindless beasts that only knew how to scream. It was a creepy sight.
People were tied to wooden planks that went up high. Those.. were not people. They were corpses. Crows flew on top of the arena, and then..
They descended to feast upon the corpses.
Then suddenly everything went blank.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
'What..? What the helly..?'
I was laying on soft mattress, hot blanket covered me, shielding me from the cold. Slowly sitting up, I looked around. I was... inside my own room?
My room looked the same. The small bed was in the corner of the room, there was a big ass wardrobe that I had never been able to fill up. And a desk that I always did my homework on.
Sunlight shone through the curtains of the window. It seemed that it was morning.
I slowly made my way up to the mirror and took a look at myself. I was still the same. As I checked the calendar of the wall, I realized that this day was the day I had realized I had gotten infected.
However unlike that time I did not feel tired. I somehow felt more energetic than usual.
But I knew something was wrong. If everything was a dream.. why had I heard the spell? And why did the spell sound so boyish and effeminate..? It also spoke to me with such fondness..
'Ridiculous..'
Concentering I muttered a few words, and finally summoned my status window.
***
Name: Vera
True Name: -
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: -
Echoes: -
Attributes: [Timeless One], [Eyes of ???], [The Way Of the Sword].
Aspect: [Deliverer.]
Aspect Description: [What is your dream?]
I narrowed my eyes at the aspect. What kind of aspect description was this? I tried to activate it by focusing, nothing happened. However when I tried to move I felt more faster than I was.
'So it enhances my speed.. neat.'
With that out of the way, I decided to check my attributes.
[The Way Of the Sword] : You are familiar with all kinds of swords.
A smile appeared on my face. This attribute would be very useful in case the spell gave me swords of different shapes. It is a pity I did not have any swords on me currently.
[Eyes Of ???] : ??? has gifted you their eyes.
I blinked.
'What is this..? Who is this question dots?'
Compared to my other attribute this one was short, I did not get how it worked either as I tried to activate it in case it was an ability that needed to be activated, but nothing happened.
With a sigh of disappointment, I concentrated on the other attribute. New set of runes appeared before me.
'This is new..'
[Timeless One] : Time seems to have taken your side, or perhaps has not.
Attribute Traits: [You are too slow!]
It was my first time seeing an attribute with a trait, no it was my first time hearing about it too. The description was vague and I could not get the meaning behind it, so I concentrated on the trait.
[You are too slow!] : Fast.
'How.. concrete..'
That was one short description. It seemed it also gave me a speed boost.
'Dang.. the spell has gifted me too much speed.'
Indeed it had, I felt much more faster than my mundane self. It felt a bit weird, but I supposed I would get used to it.
As the runes closed, it was now time to learn what was going on. I was supposed to be in my first nightmare, however I was still in the real world. Or perhaps I thought I was in the real world. I looked at the watch, school would be starting soon.
Even if it would be safer to stay here, I felt like I needed to learn more about my situation. I changed into my school uniform and had my breakfast in the kitchen. So far, everything felt real, to my sense of touch to the taste of the omelets I made.
I picked up a knife and hid it in my boots, I also made sure to cover up the sharp parts so it does not hurt me.
As I left the house, everything felt normal. Pedestrians were hurrying to their jobs and kids were walking in groups.
But I had a bad feeling about everyone that passed by. Their eyes felt hollow and they moved like their movement had no meaning behind it.
'Creepy.'
***
I soon reached the school, the billboard remained the same "Star Academy." The academy was big and had many facilities inside. If you were a newcomer you could have been lost inside. But as a student who has lived half of her behind these walls, I knew my way around it.
As I entered the class, I felt everyone stop what they are doing and stare at me with hollow expressions. I felt something gnaw at my chest, but it lessened when they finally turned to what they were doing.
I took my seat, and classes went by rather fast. It was as if the flow of time had doubled and everything flew like a river. The last lesson was sparring like always. I had clad myself in white robes and took my wooden katana.
The girl that I had sparred with a few hours ago was going to be my opponent once again. I did not know why the instructor was always pairing me up with her, I was much more skilled and physically stronger.
Once we took our stances, I looked into the girls eyes. They were hollow too. But..
But it suddenly changed into a more feral look. I felt my breath become more shallow as the aura that emanated from the girl resembled a predator.
In the blink of an eye the girl was in front of me, bringing her sword down to smash it against my skull. I narrowly avoided it with the speed boost I gained from my attribute and aspect, if not for those I would have had my skull crushed right there.
More importantly, what the hell was happening right now? Why was the girl so much more stronger than before? The way she moved did not resemble a mundane human, but more of a beast. Don't even get me started on her strength! She would have killed me right there if that attack had landed.
I was starting to regret my decision to come here!
The girl moved once again, I immediately lifted my arm and brought my sword down to strike her. But my strike was met with no resistance as it hit nothing. Sweat trickled as I sensed a presence behind me, but I was not fast enough to react to it. The wooden sword crashed onto my side, and broke into pieces due to the force of the swing.
The collision drew a loud pained scream from me, I clutched my side and turned to look at the girl with anger. But the moment I turned to look at her a fist connected with my cheek like a hammer and sent me flying to the floor.
I grumbled as I fell, my jaw hurt. My palms were sweaty, and the deep sense of unease that gripped my body seemed even more prominent.
All of a sudden I was flipped over. The girl sat on top of me, when I looked to the side, I saw the instructor. A smile came to my face as soon as it disappeared. The woman was not doing anything to intervene and was looking at me with hollow eyes.
That was when I felt another hit connect with my face. I brought my arms to protect myself, but the fists that kept coming ignored my defense and pounded onto my face ferally.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Blood trickled down my nose trills and mouth. The punches finally stopped.
But..
I felt my breath grow heavy, and as I tried to swallow, I found myself unable to. Something had gripped my throat.
It prevented me from swallowing.
"H-hah."
My chest trembled.
I gripped my shirt, slowly wrinkling it in the process. There, I could feel the beat of my heart.
It was fast and loud.
I could not breath.. The girl loomed over me had a sadistic smile on her face as she choked me.
'Sorry.. mom..'
No..
What was I apologizing for..?
Who was I apologizing for..?
I buckled my leg, the girl did not seem to be paying attention. Reaching out to my boots.. I grabbed something. And then suddenly swinged it in full force to lodge it deep into the girls head.
Blood sprayed from the wound.
She was still staring at me with wide eyes. However life had already left her eyes, her grip on my neck waved and softened.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Dream puppet.]
***
I lifted the girl off me, breathing heavily. I was drenched in my own sweat, my hair clinging to the sides of my face. It seems that I was in a dream..
Was it a mind attack? If it was, how was I going to leave this place..? What was the rank of the creature that had trapped me here..?
A cold sensation washed over me as I thought.
'If it can produce awakened beasts... even if they are just dream puppets..'
No.. she did not want to think about it. She needed to find an safe place first and think clearly.
I sat up, then realized that I was not alone in the dojo. The instructor was there.. and there were several other students too. All which stared at me with wide feral eyes.
That was then I understood.
"I am cooked!"