The blue light of the smartphone screen was the only thing illuminating the darkened bedroom. Henry lay sprawled across his bed, his eyes glued to the scrolling text of the webnovel Shadow Slave. He had been at it for six hours straight, neglecting food, water, and sleep.
He finally reached the end of a chapter, set the phone down on his chest, and let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the entire arc.
"What a journey... 'Go,Lost from Light'..." Henry muttered to the ceiling. "I never thought Cassie would betray him like that. No wonder Rob kept pestering me to start this."
Usually, Henry was a creature of mainstream media. His room was decorated with Marvel posters, DC figurines, and anime wall scrolls. However, his social circle had recently pivoted toward the world of webnovels. His friends had become obsessed, constantly debating power systems and plot twists from series like The Beginning After the End, Lord of the Mysteries, and Reverend Insanity and Shadow Slave.
A dry, raspy coughing fit suddenly broke the silence of his room.
Henry bolted upright, turning to see his best friend and neighbor, Rob, standing by the doorway. Rob looked like he hadn't slept in a week—a common look for him since he'd started his engineering thesis.
"So," Rob managed to say through a hoarse voice, "did you finally finish the Forgotten Shore?"
Henry shook his head, though a grin played on his lips. "No wonder you forced me to read this. I take back everything I said,this ship is peak fiction."
Rob laughed, leaning against the doorframe. "It only gets crazier from here. You want me to give you a few hints about the next big turns?"
"You just won't leave me alone, will you?" Henry chuckled, holding up a hand. "Fine, give me the 'hype' version, but if you drop a single major spoiler, I'm kicking you out."
Rob grinned and held up four fingers. "Okay, four things to look forward to. First: if you think Cassie's betrayal was a gut-punch, just wait. She's going to pull some Aizen-level manipulation later on. "
Henry groaned, rubbing his temples. "Seriously? What more torture can Sunny possibly take? She's already ruined his life once."
"Just keep reading," Rob said mysteriously. "That specific plot point divided the entire fandom. Second: keep an eye out for two characters who are going to become your absolute favorites. They are the literal kings of 'aura.' One is called the Mad Prince, and the other is Mordret."
Henry's curiosity piqued. "What makes them so special?"
"The Mad Prince is a different breed of monster entirely," Rob explained, his eyes glowing with excitement. "And Mordret... man, he's my personal favorite, regardless of what the rest of the community says about him. He's the definition of a wildcard."
"Okay, okay, I'll look out for them," Henry replied.
"Third," Rob continued, "if you thought the Soul Devourer gave you chills, wait until you reach 'LO49.' It's a completely different breed of psychological tension. And fourth—the final one—after the Forgotten Shore, the story hits back-to-back peaks in the Antarctica Arc and the Third Nightmare. It's a long road, but it's worth every word."
Henry stretched, his joints popping. "Alright, you've sold me. I'm going to take a short nap to reset my brain, and then I'll dive back in. By the way, is there a reason you're lurking in my room at this hour, or did you just come to be a walking wiki page?"
Rob shrugged. "Just checking in. Have you actually started on our joint college project yet? Or has the Spell claimed your productivity too?"
Henry rolled his eyes. "I'm already on it, unlike some people. Are you telling me you haven't touched it?"
"Nothing! Just checking on you," Rob waved his hands dismissively. "Since we're neighbors, if you finish your part first, maybe help a brother out?"
Henry smiled and pointed toward the door. "Yeah, yeah, I'll help. Now get out. This reading stretch made me more tired than a gym session. I need to crash."
Rob waved off and disappeared into the hallway. Henry didn't even bother changing his clothes; he simply flopped back onto his pillow, pulled the blanket over his shoulders, and let the darkness of sleep take him.
******
When Henry opened his eyes, he didn't see his ceiling. He didn't see the glow of his posters or the mess on his desk.
He was standing in a void. Everything was black—not a physical black like a dark room, but a conceptual absence of light. It felt like standing in the middle of a vast, infinite inkwell.
"What a weird dream," Henry muttered, his voice echoing into nothingness.
"This is not a dream, kid."
Henry spun around. Standing a few paces away was a figure that defied description. It was a silhouette carved out of a different kind of darkness, shifting and flickering like a glitch in reality. It had no face, yet Henry felt its gaze boring into his very soul.
"Okay..." Henry said, his voice trembling slightly. "Who the hell are you? And where is my room?"
The voice didn't come from a mouth; it resonated inside Henry's head. "I am something akin to what your species calls a god. And you, Henry, are officially dead."
Henry blinked. He waited for the punchline. He waited for Rob to jump out with a camera. "You're joking, right? This is some high-level prankish dream."
Suddenly, a wave of primal, absolute fear washed over Henry. It was as if the very air had turned into lead, crushing his lungs. The figure didn't move, but the sheer weight of its existence made Henry's knees buckle.
"Kid," the voice said, colder than ice. "Do you really think this is a joke? I am an entity far beyond your comprehension. Your life on Earth has ended."
Henry shivered, the cold sinking into his bones. After several long moments, the pressure eased, allowing him to breathe again. "So... I'm really dead. How? Why? I was just sleeping."
The entity explained it with the clinical indifference of a coroner. A gas leak. A spark in the night. An explosion that had leveled his family's home while they were all in their beds. His family was gone. He was gone.
Henry sank to the floor of the void. He didn't cry—not yet—the shock was too deep. He moped in the silence for what felt like hours, mourning a life that had been snatched away mid-sentence.
"Okay," Henry finally whispered, wiping his face. "What now? Am I going to Heaven or Hell? Is there even a 'beyond'?"
"You are being repurposed," the voice replied. "You will transmigrate to a new world with a new identity."
Henry looked up, a spark of hope flickering. "Which world?"
"The world of Shadow Slave."
Henry's jaw dropped. The hope died instantly, replaced by a sheer, unadulterated horror. "So, it is Hell. You're sending me to Hell."
"Well," the entity seemed almost amused, "you are being sent directly into the First Nightmare Trial. It is the crucible of the soul. Before you go, you must choose. What will be your new name?"
Henry wanted to retort. He wanted to scream that it was unfair, that the world of the Spell was a meat grinder designed to break even the strongest men. But he looked at the shifting black figure and realized that arguing with a god was a futile exercise in ego. He had to survive.
He thought for a moment, thinking of the one name which he fond of,
"Blaze," Henry said firmly.
The figure seemed to giggle—a sound like glass breaking. "Very well, Blaze. Do you have any last words for the world you leave behind?"
Henry looked into the darkness, thinking of his parents and his sister. "If my family... if they ever come across a place like this... tell them I'm safe. Tell them I'm in another place, and I'm going to make it."
The entity didn't answer. The void began to ripple and tear. Henry—now Blaze—felt his consciousness being pulled through a needle-eye of reality. The darkness of the void was replaced by a different kind of darkness—one that felt cold, damp, and dangerous.
Suddenly, a new voice rang out—one that was familiar to him from the pages of the novel, but terrifying to hear in person. It was a cold, mechanical voice that sounded like the tolling of a funeral bell.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell.]
[Prepare for your First Trial...]
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Main Idea,I got from a reddit post,I posted a Aspect their and most likely,I will use that.Kindly give your power stones