[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
That was the first thing Alice heard as she regained consciousness. A strange yet familiar voice—the voice of the Nightmare Spell. Yes, she was now inside her first nightmare. She had never imagined this would actually happen to her, but now that she had the opportunity, she couldn't simply give up. This was her chance to change her life and her sister's.
Her dream began in a barren wasteland. Not even trees dared to grow there, as if it were sacred ground where nothing was allowed to exist.
The winds howled, violent and relentless. The trees surrounding the area swayed furiously, and the thunder rumbled like the heavens themselves were screaming, cursing anyone who dared set foot on the desolate plain.
Then, the sun rose… and unexpectedly, it set almost instantly. The moon took its place, only to be replaced again by the sun. Alice quickly realized what was happening: time was flowing in reverse. She had heard about such occurrences in reports before, but witnessing it with her own eyes was an entirely different experience.
As time rewound, structures began to rise from the once-empty land. At first, only ruins appeared. Then, flames erupted, lighting up the night sky with blazing intensity. And finally, the lost city revealed itself.
At its center, a massive temple stood tall amidst the flames. But as the fire vanished, its full grandeur was unveiled. The city was no less impressive—massive black walls surrounded it, and within, houses worthy of the Legacies stood proudly. The kingdom reminded Alice of an ancient version of the great Bastion, home of the mighty Valor Clan.
Suddenly, Alice was no longer herself. She felt as if she had been placed inside the body of another girl, someone around her own age. The only visible difference was the hair—while Alice's was straight, the girl's was slightly wavy. But covered in dirt as she was, maybe it was just an illusion.
"At least we have places to bathe… It smells awful here."
Maybe it was the girl… or the city itself. Something definitely reeked. And, of course, Alice had ended up in one of the kingdom's filthiest, poorest areas. If only she had been born into a wealthy family instead…
She sighed and stood up, brushing the dust off her clothes.
"How strange."
Waking up in the middle of a grimy street, in a place that stank of decay and misery… It was as if poverty followed her wherever she went.
— Hey, watch where you're going! – a man shouted as he bumped into her.
"Watch yourself, idiot. I'm practically an Awakened now!"
Speaking of which…
Now that Alice had the Nightmare Spell, she had special abilities as well. And she knew she would put them to good use.
There was just one problem—she didn't quite know how to access them. But that wasn't a huge issue. With all her experience reading webtoons and listening to explanations from other Awakened, she had a pretty good idea of how to figure it out.
Closing her eyes, she thought of clichéd words like "status" and "information." Instantly, shimmering runes appeared before her. They were written in an unknown dialect, but somehow, the spell translated them for her.
Name: Alice
True Name: —
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Sacred Vessel], [Half of a Whole], [Battle Master]
Aspect: [Servant of War]
An Aspect… Alice actually had one now.
Unfortunately, it was still dormant. But that could change after this nightmare.
She would have loved to examine her Aspect further at that moment, but standing in the middle of the street, staring into thin air with a grin on her face, would probably make her look insane.
So she left, searching for an area with fresher air—or at least a quiet place where she could be alone.
Beyond analyzing her Aspect and attributes, she still needed to figure out what challenge she had to overcome to clear this nightmare.
"This is going to be a hassle… But I think I have an idea."
The flames consuming the city… It had to be connected. But how?
Was she supposed to destroy the city? Or was something else trying to destroy it, and she had to stop it? That would be ridiculous! How could someone who wasn't even a true Awakened stand against a creature powerful enough to annihilate an entire city? The spell had to be playing tricks on her.
Hiding in a relatively cleaner alley, Alice summoned the runes again to analyze her information. She examined them for a moment before focusing on the listed attributes:
Attributes: [Sacred Vessel], [Half of a Whole], [Battle Master]
Her attributes… Alice was quite impressed with them. Not only did they seem powerful, but there was also something strange about them.
As she focused on the first one, her suspicions were confirmed.