Chapter 2

• "Do you want me to contact your family?"
• Sunny simply shook his head.
• "There's no one. Don't bother."
• For a second, there was a dark look on the policeman's face. Then his expression turned serious.
• "Alright, Sunless. How long can you stay awake?"
• "Uh… not long."
• The policeman sighed.
• "Then we don't have time for the full procedure. Try to resist for as long as you can and listen to me very carefully. Okay?"
• Not waiting for a response, he added:
• "How much do you know about the Nightmare Spell?"
• Sunny gave him a questioning look.
• "As much as anyone, I guess? Who doesn't know about the Spell?"
• "Not the fancy stuff you see in dramas and hear in the propaganda broadcasts. I mean how much do you really know?"
• That was a hard question to answer.
• "Don't I just go into the Dream Realm, kill a few monsters to complete the First Nightmare, receive magic powers and become an Awakened?"
• The old policeman shook his head.
• "Listen carefully. Once you fall asleep, you will be transported inside your First Nightmare. Nightmares are trials created by the Spell. Once inside, you will meet monsters, sure, but you will also meet people. Remember: they are not real. They're just illusions conjured up to test you."
• "How do you know?"
• The policeman just stared at him.
• "I mean, no one understands what the Spell is and how it works, right? So how do you know that they're not real?"
• "You might have to kill them, kid. So do yourself a favor and just think about them as illusions."
• "Oh."
• The old policeman waited for a second, then nodded and continued.
• "A lot of things about the First Nightmare depend on luck. Generally, it shouldn't be overwhelmingly hard. The situation you're in, the tools you have at your disposal and the creatures you have to defeat should be within the range of your abilities, at least. After all, the Spell sets up trials, not executions. You're a bit disadvantaged due to… well… your circumstances. But kids from the outskirts are tough. Don't give up on yourself just yet."
• "Uh-uh."
• Sunny was getting more and more sleepy. It was becoming hard to follow the conversation.
• "About those "magic powers" you mentioned… you will indeed receive them if you survive until the end of the Nightmare. What those powers will be, exactly, depends on your natural affinity as well what you do during the trial. But some of it will be at your disposal right from the start…"
• The voice of the old policeman sounded more and more distant. Sunny's eyelids were so heavy that he was struggling to keep his eyes open.
• "Remember: the first thing you must do once inside the Nightmare is to check your Attributes and your Aspect. If you get a combat-oriented Aspect, something like a Swordsman or an Archer, things will be easier. If it is reinforced by a physical Attribute, then that's even better. Combat Aspects are the most common, so the probability of receiving one is high."
• The armored room was growing dimmer.
• "If you're unlucky and your Aspect has nothing to do with combat, don't despair. Sorcery and utility Aspects are useful in their own ways, you'll just have to be smart about it. There are really no useless Aspects. Well, almost. So just do anything in your power to survive."
• "If you survive, you will be halfway to becoming an Awakened. But if you die, you'll open a gate for a Nightmare Creature to appear in the real world. Which means that my colleagues and I will have to deal with it. So… please don't die, Sunless."
• Already half-asleep, Sunny felt a bit touched by the policeman's words.
• "Or, at least, try to not die right away. The nearest Awakened won't be able to get here for a few hours, so we would really appreciate it if you don't make us fight that thing ourselves…"
• 'What?'
• With that last thought, Sunny finally slipped into a deep slumber.
• Everything became black.
• And then, in the darkness, a faintly familiar voice rang:
• Sunny dreamt of a mountain.
• Jagged and lonesome, it dwarfed other peaks of the mountain chain, cutting the night sky with its sharp edges. A radiant moon bathed its slopes in the ghostly, pale light.
• On one of the slopes, the remnants of an old road stubbornly clung to the rocks. Here and there, weathered paved stones could be seen through the snow. To the right side of the road, a sheer cliff face rose as an impregnable wall. To the left, a silent black sea of nothingness indicated an endless fall. Strong winds crashed into the mountain over and over again, screaming in powerless rage.
• Suddenly, the moon fell over the horizon. The sun rose from the west, streaked across the sky and disappeared in the east. Snowflakes jumped from the ground and returned into the embrace of clouds. Sunny realized that he was seeing the flow of time in reverse.
• In an instant, hundreds of years flew by. The snow retreated, baring the old road. Cold shivers ran down Sunny's back as he noticed human bones littering the ground. A moment later, the bones were gone, and in their place, a slave caravan appeared, moving backwards down the mountain in the clamor of chains.
• Time slowed, stopped, and then resumed its usual pace.
• 'What… what the hell is this?'
• Step. Step. Another step.
• A dull ache was radiating through Sunny's bleeding feet as he was shivering from cold. His threadbare tunic was nearly useless against the biting wind. His wrists were the main source of agony: badly hurt by the iron shackles, they sent a sharp pang of pain every time the freezing metal touched his broken skin.
• 'What kind of a situation is this?!'
• Sunny looked up and down, noticing a long chain winding up the road, with dozens and dozens of hollow-eyed people — slaves just like him — shackled to it at small intervals. Ahead of him, a man with broad shoulders and a bloodied back was walking with a measured gait. Behind him, a shifty-looking guy with quick, desperate eyes was quietly cursing under his breath in a language that Sunny did not know, but somehow still understood. From time to time, armed horsemen in ancient-style armor would pass by, giving the slaves menacing looks.
• However you judged it, things were really bad.
• Sunny was more bewildered than panicked. True, these circumstances were not like what the First Nightmares were supposed to be. Usually, freshly chosen aspirants would find themselves in a scenario that presented them with a fair amount of agency: they would become members of privileged or warrior casts, with plenty of access to necessary weapons to at least try to tackle any conflict.
• Starting out as a powerless slave, shackled and already half-dead, was as far from being ideal as one could imagine.
• However, the Spell was as much about challenge as it was about balance. As the old policeman said, it created trials, not executions. So Sunny was pretty sure that, to counter this abysmal start, it would reward him with something good. A powerful Aspect, at least.
• 'Let's see… how do I do this?'