Eon walked into the police station with a tired look on his face. He took note of the walls which were reinforced with metal and the turrets which were on the ceiling. He couldn't help but feel a growing sense of unease as he glanced around the building.
'They're probably there to defend against the nightmare creatures. That must mean it's quite common for people to die and become monsters.'
Eon couldn't help but wonder if a shot from one of those turrets would be enough to kill him should he become a nightmare creature. The last thing he would want was for people to die just because he failed the trial.
As he reached a front desk, a woman who was busy organizing some documents turned towards him and offered him a kind smile.
"What are you doing here little boy? Are you lost? Do you need me to call your parents?"
Eon ignored the 'baby voice' in her tone and spoke without hesitation.
"As demanded by the third special directive, I am here to surrender myself as a carrier of the nightmare spell."
As if triggered by Eon's words, the woman suddenly became alert but a hint of doubt could still be found on her face.
"Are you sure you know what you're talking about kid? This better not be a prank of some kind. Where are your parents anyway?"
The smile on her face disappeared and was replaced with worry and skepticism as though she was silently hoping he was just joking.
It sounded stupid but Eon could imagine there were idiots out there who would prank call police officers about having the nightmare spell. So Eon understood that she would be doubtful. He felt bad for her but he didn't have time to waste so he decided to speed things up.
"No this is not a prank. I've been having this sleepiness for about a week now. I've read books about the nightmare spell from the public library so I know enough about it. The nightmare spell conjures illusions where I need to pass the trial. Immediately I enter, I need to check my aspect and see if I can use it for combat. Also, I'm an orphan and my guardian is busy."
His words seemed to erase all of her doubt immediately because she hurried pressed a button on her terminal and yelled into it.
"Attention all available officers! CODE BLACK in the Lobby! I repeat! CODE BLACK!"
Eon couldn't hold back any longer so he decided to let sleep embrace him.
"Hey if you don't mind, I'm gonna pass out now."
And with that he collapsed to the floor.
If Eon was awake, he would have seen the police officers scrambling around as they strapped him to a torture/medical bed and tried to contact an awakened. But instead of their panicked voices, he heard a voice ring in his ear.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell! Prepare for your first trial…]
Within the realm of the Nightmare Spell, Eon dreamt of an island in the skies… or was it a village hidden in the leaves of a forest, or rather a society of people in a heavenly land.
"What the Spell is going on."
Eon looked on in disbelief. The Nightmare Spell seemed to be glitching. At one moment the landscape was an endless desert with a blazing sun, in the next, he was suddenly so deep underwater where no light could ever hope to reach. It was as though he was being quickly shuffled through random locations. The spell couldn't even seem to determine whether it was day or night, raining or snowing.
"I think I'm gonna be sick"
Just before Eon could pass out from motion sickness, reality seemed to simultaneously bend like plastic and shatter like glass. Eon's mind couldn't comprehend what he was seeing so he unconsciously shut his eyes as a self defense mechanism.
When Eon opened his eyes again, he was sprawled down on his back on top of a roof. It was as though that weird occurrence had never happened.
The first thing he noticed was how clear his mind was. The sleepiness that had been plaguing him for days had disappeared.
He stood up energetically and assessed his environment.
"There's no time to waste. The first thing I have to do is to investigate my surroundings."
The sun was high up in the sky indicating that the time was around midday. Around him, there were other buildings of similar height. Below these buildings was a bustling street filled with people and carriages drawn by horses. The side of the street was lined with shops selling all sorts of things from fruits and baskets to swords and clothes.
"Based on the environment and clothing on the people, I seem to be in a sort of medieval setting.
They don't seem to be worried about anything and are just going about everyday life. I also don't see any nightmare creatures so I should be safe for now."
Seeing that he wasn't in any immediate danger, Eon sighed with relief. Based on how the nightmare spell seemed to have been malfunctioning, he half expected to be tossed into a battle with reality warping unholy titans.
"Oh right, I need to check my runes."
Eon excitedly tried to summon his runes. He was curious to see it's contents. He mentally prayed to whatever god that was around that his aspect should be useful and combat related.
He remembered the manhuas and novels in past life and thought of the words 'system activate', 'status', 'stats window', and 'open'. As he did so, a set of shimmering runes appeared in front of him.
Eon had never been good at decoding foreign languages, but the meaning of the words were somehow being translated in his mind as he saw them.
"This is so cool. It's just like a system from anime. I wonder what cool abilities I'll get."
Eon scanned through the runes and quickly found the one describing his aspect.
As he did, the smile on his face faded away.
"What in the actual fuck?"