Lec dreamt of the vast expanse of space—an amazing black canvas, covered in tiny white dots.
The view was so beautiful that he almost forgot his situation. 'Focus, idiot, your life is on the line.' Glancing around his current location, his expression shifted into one of confusion. "What is this place?" Muttering to himself, he'd walk around the decrepit place.
Grey plates of steel were falling apart at the seams, revealing the wiring that lined the walls underneath. The hallway he was in had a reinforced glass window showing what Lec assumed to be the night sky...but something was wrong...very, very wrong. "Where the hell is the ground?"
Hesitantly walking towards the glass window, Lec's mouth would slowly open, hanging agape at the sight in front of him. He was in space! Even better than that, he seemed to be in a spaceship!
Struggling to contain his excitement, he'd walk along the long window of the hallway, admiring the sight. He had always wanted to go to space, the final frontier.
Humanity had long since abandoned the idea of space travel after the wars of the old era, not to mention after the spell appeared. 'Just another reason to hate the damn thing...'
"I-I'm in space...I'm in space! ....What?"
Confusion quickly took hold of the young boy's mind, and that confusion quickly turned to pure and utter dread.
Lec may not have been the most knowledgeable person on the Dream Realm and its landscapes, but through all the novels and webtoons he's seen on the topic of the Awakened and their various escapades, not once had he seen anything about a space-like environment in them.
In fact...
"The Dream Realm is supposed to be full of ancient environments, right? How does a place that has such high technology even exist here!?"
'Don't tell me!'
But before he could question his situation for even a second longer, an almost imperceptible change began to occur...the flow of time was...reversing?
Soon, the once imperceptible time reversal became impossible to ignore. The hall that seemed to be falling apart slowly began to be reconstructed, the metal plating of the walls regained their shine, and covered the wiring like they probably had, all those years ago.
In that very instant, hundreds of years flew by, and the spaceship was suddenly filled with life. Human life!
As time slowed and returned to its usual pace, Lec could only stare in shock as dozens of men and women in lab coats went around and about the once-abandoned ship. A few of them stopped to greet him with pleasant smiles, calling him by his name.
His shock was so immense that he almost didn't hear the familiar chime of the Spells voice.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]
"What is this place?" Muttering to himself, he'd attempt to move, but his body overshot the place he planned to step to by a wide margin. One step. That was all it took to send him careening halfway down the hallway, a wall rushing toward his face at an extremely alarming speed. Although it seemed like it wasn't just his movement speed that got enhanced, his reaction time appeared to have been enhanced as well.
Skidding to a stop, he'd look down at his feet in shock and shake his head, the advice given by the old officer replayed in his mind.
'The first thing you must do once inside the Nightmare is to check your Attributes and your Aspect.'
"Alright then, let's see what I've got." Ignoring the strange looks he received from the passersby for talking to himself, he willed his 'status' to appear for the first time.
Name: Lec.
True Name: —
Rank: Aspirant.
Soul Core: Dormant.
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Knight of the Wind], [Mark of Divinity], [Living Cure].
Aspect: [Chaos Vessel].
Aspect Description: [Your body is overflowing with a strange energy, yet through science, it has adapted and acclimated to your biodata, giving you control over it, as little as that control may be.]
'Interesting.'
Lec stared at the runes for a few moments before tilting his head. "What a strange Aspect, is it like energy manipulation?"
He could already imagine himself shooting out all sorts of blasts, challenging nightmare creatures with energy constructs, and protecting the innocent with glowing shields. Of course, this was all wishful thinking in the end.
…He knew exactly how this was going to end for him.
Although the Aspect he had acquired seemed powerful enough, in the end, it could most likely do nothing to make up for his severe lack of skill in anything combat-related. Even if it was strong enough to make up for those lacking qualities, he wouldn't even receive his Aspects' ability until he completed the Nightmare.
'And me actually surviving through this has a less than zero percent chance of happening…' A somber look couldn't help crossing his face, but very quickly it was replaced with a grin, his eyes gleaming with defiance. 'Well, it doesn't mean I won't try.'
Lec was an idiot, but he certainly wasn't a fool; he knew that, despite how friendly the atmosphere of the ship was, a Nightmare was still a Nightmare at the end of the day. So that's why he was currently examining everyone walking past him.
They looked human, but he knew that they ultimately weren't…they couldn't be. They were simply illusions that the spell made to test him. 'Well, I ain't falling for it! Try a different strategy!'
But even with that, it was really hard not to see them as real. Despite only arriving here a few moments ago, this has already been the nicest he has ever been treated throughout his entire life…well, the second nicest he's been treated. The store lady who showed him the chilly dogs was still number one.
Sighing, he looked back at the floating runes and began observing his attributes. He had no clue how to use his Aspect in any meaningful way for now, so the potential abilities his Attributes could give him would have to be his saving grace.
[Mark of Divinity] Attribute Description: "You bear a faint scent of divinity, as though someone briefly touched by it once, a long time ago."
[Knight of the Wind] Attribute Description: "O brave knight, swift as the wind!"
[Living Cure] Attribute Description: "Your blood purifies any invaders, leaving you free of all illnesses."
Lec's eyes gleamed with amazement. 'All of these Attributes sound incredible.'
Although the one the young boy mostly focused on was the [Knight of the Wind]. Even though it didn't help much with his lack of any combat abilities, none of his Attributes did, really. The thing that gave him a smile on his face was the fact that he may be able to evade any threat…hopefully.
Your speed mattered a lot in a fight, almost as much as your strength did, so if he were able to dash in and out of combat while delivering attacks, that could be very useful. In spite of the fact that the description sounded cool, it was also awfully vague. The only thing having him guess that it was a speed ability was his body feeling lighter, as well as the latter portion of the text.
Other than that, the other two Attributes he had been given were rather interesting as well. The ability to resist all biological illnesses yielded a lot of benefits, especially for someone with nonexistent health care like him.
The other Attribute seemed equally as interesting yet didn't seem to offer any immediate benefits. 'Mark of Divinity, huh? Does that mean I'm related to a god?' Lec had heard of the gods from the novels he'd read, but didn't know much about them other than the fact that there were six of them.
All in all, he had decided to shelve the mysterious Attribute for a later date, assuming he'd live that long.
Finally staring up from the runes, he'd continue his assessment of his surroundings. 'I don't seem to be in any danger for now, so it'd probably be in my best interest to explo-'
But before any further thought could proceed, a soft voice called his name. A voice that he recognized.
"Lec?"
Turning around with his eyes slowly widening, it was as if it were a dream come true, or a Nightmare. 'H-how could she be here? WHY IS SHE HERE?!'
In front of Lec was a young girl who stood about a few inches taller than him, her eyes were blue like the open skies, and her long blond hair went down her back like a silky road. Yet despite the kind look she gave him, Lec could only stand there motionless, his brain struggling to compute the sheer impossibility of what was happening.
'N-no, it's an illusion crafted by the spell.' Those were the thoughts running through his mind, yet in his dazed state, he struggled to believe them. Tears were already starting to form at the corners of his eyes.
Tears of joy...