"Run Harley! Run!"
The winter hailed vigorously around the young man, a veil of ice fell enveloped him. In a world of darkness, the lands were being consumed by the onslaught of snow. Imprinted deep within the fabric of the atmosphere, a distant curtain of chartreuse flowed seamlessly across the starless sky. The distant green hue glistened the path forwards.
With his head down, he pushed in relentless pursuit of freedom.
His legs trudged through the dunes of snow. Soon, his breath became haggard and worn. Crippling numbness permeated through the young man's body like a plague of permafrost, sapping away his strength. Tears couldn't even swell, as his tear ducts had all but frozen.
The wind and hail began to pick up, as the dunes shifted and swept across the snowscape. The scream of the blizzard reached a breaking point, causing him to sway from the horrific cacophony of the snow and ice colliding with itself.
Through it all, he didn't stop. The voice of his father replayed constantly through his head.
'Run Harley, run. Don't look back, whatever you do! Do not look back!' He repeatedly told himself.
With a burning resolve to move, his feet moved even when he could no longer feel them. His source of fuel, the last words of his father, and a deep desire to live.
The seconds turned into minutes, then hours, then what felt to be days, but he didn't stop.
He couldn't.
Striding forward through the frozen hellscape, his thoughts became slow and sluggish.
Yet, he continued on.
His senses began to escape his grasp, one by one.
Despite that, he carried on.
Time froze over, the walking never stopped and neither did the blizzard.
Eventually, his thoughts left him one by one, leaving only a husk of a young man.
At some point, he had forgotten what he was doing and what he was. As if everything were just a bad nightmare.
That didn't stop his body from moving though.
His body began to slow. The flame of desperate desire shrunk.
A whisper of what it once was.
Eventually, the flame flickered one last breath in the endless snowstorm before being snuffed out.
Then, only then did the young man's body collapse into a myriad of shards.
The nightmare welcomed him with open arms.
===============================================================
"Sven, honey!" Her voice carried from inside the cramped kitchen into the living room.
"Yes!" A young sounding boy responded a moment later.
"Go up stairs and wake up your brother while I'm making breakfast."
"Do I have toooo?" He begrudgingly squeaked.
"Yes, you do. We're leaving to go birthday shopping for him, and he needs to be awake to get what he wants."
"Alrighttt." Lingering on the final syllable to emphasise his reluctance, the young boy made his way up stairs.
The boy trotted up the synthetic wooden planks of the staircase. In his hand, a legendary blade made of scrap materials. He used the mighty weapon to vanquish creatures of nightmares and horrors to become the hero, but unfortunately, he had been delegated to a messenger as per his mother's orders.
The boy continued to pout as he conquered the staircase and entered his brother's bedroom. Allowing light to enter the dark room, the boy suddenly got an ingenious idea.
"Glory to Valor!"
Taking a step back and charging his lunge, he raged forwards and took flight, hurdling into his brother's abdomen head first at full throttle. While falling he yelled to make his presence known before impact
"Glory!"
The boy landed head first, straight into his brother's solar plexus.
The brother's peaceful sleeping face immediately twisted into an exasperated expression, his eyes almost looking as if they were going to fly out their sockets.
A muffled moan escaped his body from the impact.
The boy shifted and rotated off his brother's stomach and exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Look, I've slayed the monster with my legendary move, Ultimate Torpedo!"
Of course, no one replied as all that was escaping his brother's mouth was his soul and a weak moan of pain.
"Mum wants you downstairs, and... oh, right. Breakfast is ready!" Just like that, he trotted down stairs proudly.
His older brother on the other hand, was still wincing and gaging from the pain. He struggled to turn on his side and lean on his arm, but eventually he succeeded, albeit struggling.
"I'm.. I'm gonna kill that little shit."
Just talking took the breath out of him.
Turning onto his back, he raised his arms and rubbed his eyes to wake himself up.
As he was doing that, he thought back onto the nightmare he had.
"They're getting worse..."
Breathing in and out slowly and shakily, Harley finally got out of bed and walked down to breakfast; still holding his stomach.
Without even looking in his direction, his mother spoke.
"Harley, hurry and eat breakfast, then get ready. We've got to leave soon for birthday shopping."
Harley mumbled in response.
"Alright."
"Good, now eat up while I help your brother with getting ready."
Simply nodding in acknowledgement, Harley took a seat and began to eat his mother's cooking. After finally finishing, Harley made his way back to his room to get ready.
Wearing a black hoodie and long black trousers, he headed back down stairs to the sight of his mother forcing a shirt onto his difficult brother, who was currently kicking and causing a scene.
Harley's expression darkened.
"Today's going to be tough isn't it."
He let out a sigh in defeat.
===============================================================
'Isn't it my birthday? Why am I the one carrying all this, half of these aren't even mine.'
Looking down to his side, Harley watched as his brother swung the baguette in his hand, as if it were a sword. All while exclaiming his allegiance to the great clan and how he would become the strongest human alive. The ridiculousness of his chuunibyou brother gave him a stroke..
'If anyone asks, I'll simply tell them that I don't know who this feral and strange boy is. Actually, better yet, maybe I'll just walk away.'
As if sensing his devious thoughts, Harley's ear was suddenly yanked, causing him to yelp in pain.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I won't think of mean thoughts again!"
"..."
His mother looked undeterred as she twisted a little harder.
"Ow ow ow, I promise, please stop."
"Good." His mother simply replied, before resuming walking. Sven hadn't even noticed the pair stop, as he was too occupied with his own endeavors to worry about 'mortals' like them, or so he says.
Wincing, Harley rubbed his throbbing ear, attempting to soothe the pain.
Careful as to not incur the wrath of his mother, He looked away into the distance and whispered.
"Not fair, you and your maternal senses."
They continued down the cement walkway, synthetic trees occasionally dotted along the path. The family all conversed, sometimes argued while making their way through an underpass. While walking, they passed under a large looming shadow. Turning to look at the monument which cast the shadow, an unknown emotion flickered in Harley momentarily. The monument was of an anvil with a sword plunged into its core.
Stopping for a moment in front of the monument, a quiet whisper left his lips.
"Valor."
Passing through the metropolis of steel and concrete, they stopped when they arrived before the metro station.
Travelling up the staircase which led up to the sky train. The family waited patiently for a few minutes before a magnet train arrived.
Inside the train, it was well lit with white light, a pleasant aroma permeated throughout the cart. The cart wasn't too busy as it was currently noon, school was to start soon in winter, so most students stayed home and prepared. The autumn sun slowly descended towards the horizon.
It didn't take long until they hopped off the train and entered the clean station. Heading downstairs to the street level, a poster all of a sudden caught Harley's eyes. On it was unbelievably stunning woman.
She had silky, silvery hair which fell down her beautiful, expressionless face. Her eyes shone like platinum, and even through the poster, he could feel an undeniable sense of power and authority. It was Lady Changing Star, the last daughter of Immortal Flame Clan. After becoming a Saint, her already global notoriety exploded. Her impossible feats were even recognised by Clan Valor's Sovereign, Anvil.
Looking at the poster, Harley couldn't help but feel admiration.
'Even if she's a princess of Valor.'
Noticing he had spent too long staring at the poster, he quickly made his way down the stairs to catch up with his family.
Even if the day had been an intense trainwreck, Harley couldn't help but smile while looking at his mother and brother. Though, that quickly changed as his brother was about to waltz onto the street while performing some ridiculous, twirling motion of heroism with his baguette. His mother quickly intercepted him before he could be hit by a PTV.
After that quick incident, his brother looked defeated in the grasp of their mother. His mouth drooped and eyes swelled up.
'Is he sulking, right now?'
Looking at him, Harley couldn't help but revel at the powerlessness of his brother. Walking past his snared brother, he flashed a dubious grin while making direct eye contact. A fire lit within him as he proceeded to flail around like a detained kitten, before being quickly and utterly shut down by their mother.
Eventually after a lot of unneeded trouble, they returned home under the shades of twilight and violet.
The family unwound for a short while before having dinner, during which was also a mission as the antics of Sven knew no end.
Staring at the chaos of meatballs being flung across the table, Harley couldn't help but laugh. That of course only lasted a few seconds before a meatball came hurtling towards his face and landing on his forehead.
The room turned silent for a moment as the meatball slowly fell off Harley's face, all while leaving a trail of sauces and mince along the way. The eyes of his mum and brother grew wide, the ensuing silence was deafening, except for the low splat of meat hitting the floor. Sven audibly gulped before accidently letting go of another meatball sitting upon his catapult positioned fork, causing another meatball to splat on Harley's face. Before it even had the chance to fall to the floor, all hell broke loose as a warzone of mince and sauces proceeded to splatter all across the dining room.
After the ensuing chaos had calmed down, Harley, Sven and their mum all laid near each other. Their bodies covered in sauce and other food ingredients, nothing was held back. As they laid there, they all spontaneously laughed in unison at the ridiculousness of the situation, it seemed it wasn't just Harley who was enjoying these moments.
After finally settling down, Harley sat up and turned around to face his family.
"I hope you know I won't be helping in cleaning any of this, as I am the birthday boy." Making sure to emphasise the last part.
Immediately after saying that, Sven sprung up and exclaimed.
"Glory to Valor!"
Before galloping as if he were riding a horse off to his room, still covered in a litany of sauces.
A look of disbelief hung on both Harley's and his mother's faces.
'The sheer absurdity of that boy never ceases to baffle me.' Harley thought before shaking his head.
After both agreed unanimously, Harley's mother got up and patted her legs. Then looked at me warmly with a smile on her face, before it twisted into something devious.
All of a sudden he had a bad premonition as a shiver ran down his spine.
"It's ok, really. Just look forward to the next month of chores, I look forward to it."
Before Harley had a chance to retort, his mother walked off.
Lying on the floor still covered in sauces, Harley shed a single tear in defeat.
'I've won, but at what cost.'
It wasn't long before his mother came back.
Looking up, expecting her to have cleaning supplies in hand, he was surprised when a small flame flickered in front of his eyes.
In her hands was a plate with a cake and a lit candle.
She crouched down with the plate in hand, and pushed it towards him.
The warm glow tickled his skin as it got closer.
His mother smiled seeing the surprised expression on his face.
"Happy birthday Harls. I love you, I hope you know that."
Looking at his mum then back to the cake, he smiled before replying.
"I know."
"That's good, now blow out the candle and go get washed after."
"Alright- Yawnnn"
Slightly caught off by his own yawn, Harley didn't wait before he blew the candle out.
"I'll put this in the fridge for you, if you want it."
"Oh, thank you."
Sitting up and making his way upstairs to wash off. He didn't fail to notice the familiar look of defeat on her face, as she stood in the mess of what was once dinner.
"Pfft." He couldn't help but laugh.
Washing up didn't take too long, even if the shower at one point had looked like a brutal crime scene of discoloured, saucy blood.
Lying on his back and thinking back on the events of the day, a shameless smile made its way on to his face.
Harley yawned again.
"Am I that tired? Today was a big day I guess, but still..."
Before he had a chance to finish his thought, he had already fallen asleep.
Harley awoke in the morning, of course against his own will. As, instead of the flying projectile of his brother's head, it was a baguette being thrust into his stomach. Sven darted off before Harley could retaliate. Instead, all he could do was lay in mild pain.
While laying down he couldn't help but notice the heaviness of his eyes, it was as if a spell of drowsiness was cast upon him.
Finally heading down stairs, the sound of the television assaulted his ears.
"Well, Dimi, as a veteran awakened yourself, who do you believe to be the strongest clan as of right now? Valor, Song or Night?"
"Well, Syclus. It's hard to know exactly and especially with the late emergence of Sovereigns. Right now though, I believe that House Night is the weakest among the three. Without a Sovereign they can not match the firepower of the other two, but who knows, they might also have a secret Supreme hiding in that boat of theirs."
"Haha, who knows. Those Sovereigns only decided to reveal their identity relatively recently, who says there's not a third one hiding somewhere?"
Sitting intently in front of the TV was Sven, his eyes glued to the monitor with eagerness.
'Isn't he eight, why is he so engrossed in the politics of the great clans?'
Turning towards the dining room, Harley spotted his mother walking to the table, a plate in hand.
But when their eyes met, her face paled as the plate fell from her hand. Before giving him a chance to react, his mother had reached him.
Her eyes moved frantically confusing Harley, who was already having some trouble processing anything at that point.
Watching her intently, she said something that confused him even more.
"Are you alright? Why do you look so tired?"
Startled and a little shook by her sudden actions, he lethargically responded
"I'm a bit tired, yeah, but nothing to worry about." But as he said that, a gut wrenching feeling settled inside his stomach. His eyes widen as well, as if finally realising something.
The worried expression on her face remained, as she felt a light tug from her side.
"Mum, what's wrong?" Sven said, seemingly scared.
Their mum looked down with a shallow mask of strength and rubbed Sven's head. She closed her eyes and bit down on her quivering lips in an attempt to hold back tears. When she looked back up to Harley, their eyes met and a horrible realization dawned on them.
The words she uttered next, made Harley's world crumble.
"I think..."
She gasped slightly.
"Harley's contracted the Nightmare spell."
A silence befell the room as they all stood still.
===============================================================
The next few hours passed in a blur, as tears were wept and screams echoed. Amidst all the chaos, Harley found himself in a spotless hallway made of titanium. An incandescent neon light illuminated above him, casting a shadow over his dull eyes.
A distant expression was plastered on his face. The reality of the situation had turned everything upside down within a matter of a few hours.
The Nightmare Spell.
The sentient plague that randomly infected the adolescent with a gruesome and sinister Nightmare Trial.
Though highly unlikely, people were able to pass their first trial; albeit those with training had a much higher chance.
Harley had always fantasized what it would be like to face his First Nightmare, but it was only that, a fantasy. But now that he was able to face it... it was suffocating, a sense of impending dread and emptiness, hollowed through him.
Endless thoughts coursed through his mind as he sat there.
'What will happen to mum and Sven if I die? Who's going to take after them when, and if I'm not here? I... I don't want to die.'
"Hello?"
'Oh God, who's going to save Sven if he walks onto the road again.'
His breath quickened as he found himself having trouble gasping for air, gripping his chest in agony.
"Excuse me!"
All of sudden a loud voice broke him out of his trance.
Harley looked up in a daze. Two large hazel eyes reflected his distraught face.
Forgetting his thoughts - and the ability to breath - Harley stared at the face close to his. She was gorgeous, with small stature and short curled sienna hair. It bobbed with every slight movement. Her large bubbly eyes screamed innocence and a cute nose rested on her face, completing her adorable package.
Harley didn't even realise his face started to burn up as he looked at her.
Quickly looking away to recover his breath... And dignity, he stood up tiredly to greet the person in front of him; who he had already assumed to be an Awakened, otherwise why else would they be so beautiful.
Stretching his hand out to shake theirs, all he got in return was a look of confusion. But as if a lightbulb finally lit up, she swiftly grasped his hand and shook uncontrollably. The sudden tug woke him up slightly, but mostly it hurt.
'How strong is this girl!?'
After that unexpected torture session, the beautiful Awakened apologized.
"I am so sorry, I completely forgot you were a mundane human for a second, but if it makes you feel better, use this lesson as a practice for when you enter your First Trial, haha."
She gave an unconvincing and shameless laugh, as if not even believing her own words.
'Shameless! She's not even trying to hide the fact that she's switching topics.'
"You're ok, aren't you? We can't be having you fall asleep just yet."
Waiting for him to respond, all Harley could muster was an equally unconvincing smile, as his eyes grew heavier. In response to his smile, the Awakened woman clapped her hands in satisfaction. As she was about to make her way to the secured room, she stopped when Harley asked, yawning halfway through his sentence.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"
"...Oh, right!"
Taking a big and exaggerated cough, she replied.
"My name is Allegra, but you can call me Awakened Alley."
For some reason winking at the end of her sentence.
"Right. Well, my name's Harley..."
He took a second to quell his inner turmoil.
"...And please look after my family if anything happens."
Her eyes dimmed. All she offered back was a silent nod, relieving him of some of his worries.
Walking through the door and into the reinforced room, Harley was placed into a secured bed, with metal straps placed over his limbs, keeping him tight.
Harley's heart tightened as he heard the quiet weeping of his mother beside him.
Unable to move his head, all he could offer them was a tired assurance he would be fine.
Casting a shadow over him, Awakened Alley began the standard procedure for preparing Aspirants for their First Trial. Her questions and answers blurred into the next, as it became harder for Harley to stay awake.
He could only glimpse a few sentences, such as.
"How much do you know about the Nightmare Spell?"
"Immediately activate the runes to check your Attributes and Aspect."
"Never trust anyone in a Nightmare Trial."
The voice became more distant with every word. Her last words made him smile slightly.
"Good luck Harley, hopefully by the next time you see me, I'll be able to call you Sleeper Harley."
The final thing he heard was a distant voice.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]