Noah dreamt of a cathedral black and burned
It stood alone in the distance disheveled and eroded . Its bell tower fallen, its roof collapsed . Its walls caved in and with what looked to be sticks sticking out of it.
The Field in front of the great cathedral was desolate as if its lush green foliage was erased by an all encompassing flame. To the rear of the cathedral lay a cliff which looks to be bottomless. farther off the cliff was only inky darkness. The cathedral lay on a giant floating island .
On the horizon the sun was rising casting a bright shade of yellow across the field. Suddenly, without warning, everything stopped. Time seemed to freeze and the rising sun began to set. For a second Noah was confused by this but after a while realized that time was flowing in reverse.
The rate at which time was being reversed increased exponentially, in an instant years flew by. The field stayed desolate devoid of life then a flash of orange. Time was reversing so fast that Noah could not comprehend what the flash was but after the flash the field was full of life.
Even the church was back in pristine condition now supporting a white paint scheme with red blood like accents around the doors, floors and walls. Then people appeared and time seemed to return to normal. These people who were near the chapel wore simple robes and held religious symbols which Noah could not make out from the distance he was looking from. then a message appeared
[aspirant! welcome to the nightmare spell prepare for your first trial]
His vision melded with a person who was a little ways away. Noah stood still for a while, looking into the distance. He stared at the church for a second wondering if this was an illusion or not. Then it struck him like a lightning bolt; he had somehow arrived at the dream realm at the age of 24. After about a minute Noah Broke out of his contemplation and started to look around.
Noah noticed that this place doesn't look like any place in the dream realm he has heard about from his friends. Not that the information about this place would help. But any information would be better than none at all. The cathedral was pretty far so he had time to think about his predicament.
As he started to walk He began listing things starting with the negatives.
" First I have no combat skill so I can't defend myself. Second, I don't know the clear conditions.so there's no way to end this fast." That all he could think of off the top of his head
Then he listed the only positive he could think of" based on my rudimentary knowledge of the spell I should have some new abilities right?"
From his talk with Ashton and his cohort he knew he had some sort of status window "so how do I look at my runes" after this thought crossed his mind a window appeared in front of him it read
Name : Noah
True name: —-
Rank : aspirant
Soul core: dormant
Memories: —-
Echo:—-
Aspect name : blasphemies worshiper
Aspect description: an abhorrent being whose only reason to live is to devote its life to its false god
"Ouch the spell really know how to insult you I mean abhorrent is a pretty strong word it kind feels personal"
Attributes: (Adyr's blood) (counter)
"All together not too bad..I think. I got two attributes which must be good right? I wonder what the baseline for numbers of attributes one gets."
Intrigued by his attributes he decided to see what they did.
Description:(Adyr's blood)
[Your blood flows with a cursed beings power. As your rage increases so does your strength. (Be careful lest the rage consume you whole)]
Noah saw this and was pretty pleased. After all, any increase in strength is a good thing for a skilless aspirant such as him. The only problem is that he doesn't know how to get angry on command so the use of this attribute was quite limited. Another question also irked him "who was this Adyr the ability was named after".
His second attribute though was a whole different story
Description: (counter)
[All attacks that landed while your opponent is attacking or stunned by a parry will have a larger impact.]
This one would be even harder to use . This one will only really have benefits once Noah learns how to handle weapons and to exploit openings but As of right now he can at best swing a sword.so it was basically useless.
All in all he had two attributes that were difficult to use so not the most useful situation to be in.
He took in a deep breath trying to calm down and reiterated to himself" so no combat abilities, two attributes that I can barely control and no clear way to finish this trial."
With a nervous crack in his speech he continued " great ok so I'm fuck my only hope is that this nightmare is not impossibly hard"
His nervousness returned and his calm mindset evaporated. He could not see a way out. He was one step into his nightmare and he is already breaking down.
He was able to pull himself together before he made it to the entrance of the great cathedral. The people around just stared at him which kind of freaked him out but then one excitedly approached him and said in a happy tone
"Hi welcome back aren't you excited"
Noah looks at him with a confused expression and responds "excited? Excited for what?".
The worshiper answered his inquiry with a joyous smile plastered on his face" Don't you remember? Our first communion of the year is coming in 5 days. This is a momentous occasion"
Noah looked at him and nodded his head pretending he shared the worshiper's feelings on the matter. " yeah wouldn't miss it for the world"
They shared some light conversation on the their surrounding then they both decided to enter the church
As Noah approached the great cathedral door he noticed the pitch black shadow cast by the great doors, which was in sharp contrast with the warmth of the light outside making the doorway seem as if it was blocked by a stalwart wall of darkness keeping any light from entering its sanctum.
As they walked through the wall of shadows they entered the cathedral. The sanctum was in pristine condition. Nothing was out of place. Every detail was perfect. Not only that but the walls and ground seemed new and unmarked.
Noah was slightly unnerved at the pristine appearance. He thought it strange that a place in the middle of nowhere could keep something so free of dirt.
Regaining his composure he continued to walk forward but then realized he did not know where he was going so he let his friend take the lead.
He followed his friends throughout the day pretending to do things of minor importance so he seemed busy. As the day went on he started to piece together some parts of this religious order.
Based on what he has seen they worship one god. This god or the statue made of him looks as if he was a regular man. They also seem to be very militant. On the outside this place looks like an innocent church but as you walk further in you start to see what can best be described as religious warriors. Their armor seemed to be pretty heavy. A chainmail mesh covers the body while plate armor covering important places like the chest, knees and elbow but no closed helmet so their faces are somewhat exposed
They look like battle hardened soldiers. It's as if they have been defending this place for years. But what would be attacking a church? Maybe they Are here to kill nightmare creatures. I mean there are no protections other than the churches walls protecting us from the outside but something about this is off.
Nothin very interesting happened that day. By the end of the day they all went back to a cafeteria of sorts in which they were served food that was to put it in best terms editable. It had no seasoning at all but for some reason had an aftertaste that could best be compared to charred food. But having free food was pretty good even if it tasted like hot ass.
After their less than appealing meals all attendees would go to their living quarters. Noah was only able to find him because somehow they had his name on one of the doors.
As he entered the room he looked around. It was a pretty small room. Still top notch in regards to cleanliness but also very small. There was a bed in the back left of the room while the back right of the room was taken up by a desk and chair. The desk and the bed were touching each other. slightly above the bed and desk. Located where the bed and desk meet was a window which would let in the light when the sun was setting.
Noah took a deep inhale through his nose and out his mouth. He walked into his room and looked around him. He found his way to his bed and looked up at the ceiling.
While he was having his staring contest with the ceiling he started to think about his predicaments. All in all he did not feel in danger. They had guards in the religious warriors but also had food for what he could assume was every day so things were looking up. This might be an easy nightmare after all.
The day came to an end on a good note and as the sun set Noah drifted off into the sweet in-brace of sleep.
Meanwhile as soon as the sun had fallen two men had left the cathedral. They were trying to escape this religious order. They slipped past a few of the guards then Run for it one of them was seen. He was swarmed by the guards and taken into custody. The other remained hidden and once it quieted down, left. His destination was a great opulent city with a draconic defender and an immortal priest of the sungod.