In the bunker of a NQSC police station, there was a boy taller than average. With his blue eyes, he watched as officers restrained him and strapped him to a bulky chair that looked like a weird mix between a hospital bed and a torture device. As they moved around him, the air currents flowing through the bunker caused his reddish-brown hair to sway slightly. That boy had a name: Arthur Leywin.
Minutes later, the room was occupied by only two people: Arthur and an officer. The latter was explaining procedures and protocols, offering a few pieces of advice along the way, while the former did everything he could to stay awake just a little longer.
'As I wait for sleep to embrace me, I can't help but think about how I ended up here,' Arthur thought.
***
It had been a normal day at school, until suddenly it wasn't. Alarms started going off everywhere: from his classmates, from the teachers, from the school itself, and finally from his own communicator.
EMERGENCY ALERT
EMERGENCY ALERT
GATE ACTIVITY DETECTED IN YOUR PROXIMITY
ESTIMATED TIME: 7 MINUTES
EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY
That was the first day Arthur felt fear and helplessness. He couldn't stop thinking that it could very well be his last day alive if something went wrong.
Fortunately, there were a couple of Masters nearby, and they cleared the gate before it could get out of control. One of those Masters was his father. After the protocols were completed, the first thing his father did was come to see him, and that was the day Arthur realized that, at any moment and without being able to stop it, he could lose him.
The exhaustion on his father's face when Arthur saw him walking down the hallway was unmistakable. His eyes reflected monsters, terrors no human should ever have to witness, and the moment he looked at Arthur, that exhaustion faded, those terrors stopped mattering, replaced by unconditional love for his son.
Coincidentally, that was also the day Arthur realized that being weak in this world was a sin, and that if you wanted to protect something, you had to be strong. From that day on, the way he perceived the world changed, and he began living with a purpose: to protect his family.
From that moment forward, Arthur's routine changed. He started training more than any legacy, more than anyone else. In the mornings, he went to school, and during classes he learned how to make connections, how to relate to people who might have potential.
One of them turned out to be a girl named Cassie. Their parents worked together, and through that connection, their families grew close.
She was a bit shorter than Arthur, with charming blue eyes and blonde hair that fell down her back like a waterfall, along with a smile that seemed to light up the world.
He got along well with her. They trained together, and at first their sparring matches were more even than he would have liked, but as months and years passed, his talent began to make a difference, and from that point on she no longer had much of a chance. His father, a Master of great renown within the government branches, said Arthur had even more potential than he did.
Over time, training became part of Arthur's daily life, nothing exceptional. He went to school every morning like any other kid his age, paid attention in class, performed well, and met expectations.
He didn't stand out much or draw attention to himself; he preferred to stay unnoticed. While many worried only about passing exams or what they would do on the weekend, he used every free moment to learn something that might be useful later.
You could say he was obsessed.
Arthur read everything he could get his hands on. Survival manuals, old records of secured zones, reports of failed and successful missions that his father left around the house without realizing it.
He listened to the stories his parents told at the table, tales that were just work anecdotes to them, but that he analyzed carefully, memorizing mistakes, decisions, and consequences. No one ever forced him to do it; he simply understood that knowing those things was better than ignoring them.
Some afternoons Arthur trained in a forest on the outskirts under the supervision of his father or a Master they hired. These weren't heroic or extreme training sessions; they were about learning how to orient himself, ration supplies, stay calm when things didn't go as planned, and recognize his own limits.
Other times, he trained in combat, first with his father and later with other Masters who were willing to correct him when they could. He wasn't looking for flashy techniques or recognition, only efficiency and consistency.
Even so, not everything revolved around training. Arthur had friends, went out with them, talked about normal things, and took breaks whenever he needed them.
Cassie was the one he spent the most time with. They trained together, but they also talked about school, their families, or anything trivial. She had a calm way of observing everything, and even when she noticed that he pushed himself harder than necessary, she never pressured him or asked unnecessary questions.
At home, life went on. Quiet dinners whenever his parents' work allowed it, simple conversations, and shared moments that didn't need to be special to have value.
His parents never asked him to be strong or to shoulder responsibilities that weren't his, and he never fully explained why he trained so much. There was no need. As long as they were together, that was enough, and for his parents and his sister to be safe, Arthur would do whatever was necessary.
Over the years, that routine became normal to him. Studying, training, resting, living together. He didn't see it as a sacrifice or anything extraordinary; it was simply the most logical way to live in a world where things could spiral out of control at any moment.
A world where, from one second to the next, a gate could open right in front of you, and if there wasn't someone strong nearby, you wouldn't see tomorrow. Protecting his family wasn't a promise or a vow; it was a natural consequence of everything he did.
And like that, almost without realizing it, that path brought him here.
When Arthur came back to himself, he was still strapped to the "bed". The officer had finished explaining the protocols and watched him in silence as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He felt the accumulated exhaustion of the past few days, heavy and constant, but there was no anxiety or panic, only a sense of calm.
He didn't know what awaited him on the other side, but he did know why he was here. And for now, that was enough.
With that final thought, the world went dark, and from that darkness, a voice echoed.
"[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]"