[Twenty-sixth year of the Nightmare Spell: The Present]
"...ope…ur…ht!"
"Hope! To your right!"
"..!"
Hope jerked awake.
Cold air. Smoke. Screams. A taste of iron and mud. The world slammed back into focus, rippling at all his senses to catch his mind up to this hell.
A loose term, really. A comforting one as much as it was a curse. Everything was called hell these days. The endless somber skies, the squawking paunchy sergeant, the cold wintry nights, or the sweltering hubs. Hell.
But tonight was different. It was as if Hell spat out its vermin.
A silhouette skittered through the fog to his far right. Its shape, with too many limbs and glowing bug eyes, pounced toward him and—
Bang!
Bullet landed first.
Reflex made him pull the trigger despite the drowsiness. Although, his backward steps were less tactful; his foot had caught on a corpse's twisted arm. He frowned at the dismembered parts at his feet, kicking aside a rolling head. There were plenty of those around too.
Right, they were being ambushed.
Kieeeeeeeeeek!
And there were more where that Nightmare Creature came from.
Across the wasteland, screams and gunfire rang out. He could barely hear his teammates through the noise: 'On your six!' someone said. 'Convoy Seven to Command! We've lost contact with Escort Two—' 'Hold the front!'
Somehow for a moment, Hope drifted off. Trading this for a sweet, numbing slumber. How could he be so careless? It was a fool's mistake to make on the battlefield.
Although, he supposed he had a good excuse for it…
He clenched his teeth beneath his masked helmet, blinking against the drowsiness.
'Ah dammit. Of course I'm infected…'
He didn't think much of it at first. Soldier life wasn't of course easy and demanded his undivided attention, whether it was being on active grounds or patrolling behind stone walls. Periods of four hours of sleep or thirty minutes. Maybe even ten.
This routine more or less worked for him.
So, it didn't occur to him that, at the beginning of the day, him feeling sleepy would forebode the chance of having his First Nightmare.
It wasn't simple fatigue he was fighting.
This drowsiness was as if 'something' was shackling his mind.
And at the most inconvenient of times.
Tonight was like any other night, or was supposed to be.
The constant travel between land and sea was the usual side duty Hope took on. He and his team were assigned to escort artillery to the port of Acheron. From there, fortified cargo ships called Arks would ferry the equipment to Quadrant III: Asia, their primary trading partner.
There were six Quadrants in total: North America the first; South America the second; Asia the third; Africa the fourth; Australia the fifth; and Antarctica the sixth.
On paper, the future of Quadrant I seemed more likely doomed. Sea levels rose, swallowing the east and south alive where hundreds of their most populated cities resided. And compared to other continents, half of Quadrant I had already sunk into the ocean, Europe being the first Atlantis of their age, so they say.
But it sounded worse than it was.
People were thriving to the best of their new abilities, making extraordinary progress compared to life a decade ago. Two decades were unrecognizable.
Blood had greeted at every doorstep. There were stricter laws and certain roles to play. Death if anyone disobeyed. Only a number of people were permitted in settlements, but even then their hunger ate their brains alive.
But with new regimes and promised Awakened warriors—even with Masters now—civilization wasn't impossible anymore. In fact, few cities were already returning to normal.
Well, Hope wasn't sure what 'normal' was compared to life before the Spell.
And if people had enough currency, they could board the Arks to the next Quadrant.
A luxury not many had.
But the main problem now was this annoying Category Two Gate that opened in the middle of their convoy.
More than half of their vehicles had been destroyed, which left four from the head of the march with Hope's team and fellow soldiers.
It all happened in the blink of an eye:
Tearing through reality like a spatial wound, the gate's edges bloomed colors that hurt to even look upon. It first growled like the belly of a titan before it roared them off the trackway downhill. 70% of their soldiers dead. Convoy Commander dead. All of them now lay comically as corpses do. Some reaching for their brother-in-arms, others frozen mid-writhing in the mud, down to their graves or up for borrowed time.
But what Hope didn't understand was why they took this route in the first place.
Whether the change of route was in the best interest of Command, their odds weren't in their favor. Why the pressure to take this route? How could they make a mistake in finding the safest trajectory for this mission? Artillery wasn't cheap. Their technology wasn't that rusty was it? Something wasn't adding up. And it wasn't like many of them trusted their
The questions were beginning to tire him, somehow encouraging the Spell's whisper even more: Sleeeeeep.
'Shut up.'
Hope couldn't think about that now.
Now, it was time to act.
He gripped his knife's edge and let its cold sting smile on his palm.
It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep him conscious.
Kieeeeeeeeek!
Out of the shadows another monster, unfortunately bigger, resembling a crab with stone-like carapaces, lunged toward him. He recognized it: an awakened beast.
He tossed the blade as he shot between the crevices of its armor.
It screamed, reaching out with its large pincer that could snap a man's body like a twig. But it dropped with a heavy thud onto the marshy floor.
Tink. Tink.
A clicking sound came from his rifle. He didn't need to think what that meant. His body responded like the trigger itself. He tossed the magazine where it bounced off a man's blown off torso, then slapped in the last ammo from his chest rig.
Him and every other soldier openfired at the wave of monsters.
Only the first wave…not even the second and they were hanging by a thread.
The gates always let the Nightmare Creatures out in waves. The first wave was mostly dormant beasts. Hundreds, even thousands with a sprinkle of awakened beasts, poured out. The second wave, though, was completely charged with the awakened class.
But the other piling odds was this fog eating at their sight for a quarter of a mile. The gate's appearance also disrupted their GPS signal. They don't exist anymore.
All a far cry for help.
Grrrerskhkss…
Somewhere above, the Category Two Gate was still bellowing its pained screams. It sounded like the fabric of space being carved alive, or some other entity finding its ugly voice.
Ah how ominous…What was it, 5 minutes? 10? The second wave would be coming soon.
Dormant beasts would be fine, doable even, if hundreds of those monsters hadn't used them as stepping stones.
Even if by some miracle they got through the second wave, they'd have to deal with the Guardian of the gate. Who the hell knew what type of monster they'd deal with. A Devil? A Titan? The situation was long out of their hands the moment the gate appeared.
They would have to do it the classic way:
Bulldoze through.
Once the first wave began to die down, Hope quickly stood up and looked to his team.
"Hey! Regroup whoever we have left and fall back. GA-014, take the lead and cut through the left flank! Reset course and find the damn trackway!" It was time to get the hell out of here.
Bang!
A monster's head burst from his gun. He spoke louder when his team didn't respond.
"Move it!"
He could hold a bit on his own since there wasn't as much. At least not yet.
His team hesitated as they watched him but then stood up and shouted at the rest of the soldiers to fall back.
GA-014 barked to the soldiers: "All Vanguard units, on me! We're pushing left hard and fast! 012, take the Rear Guard."
"Rear Guard! Cover the lead vehicle's six!"
They fell into tight formation and arced through the mud as Hope fired the last stragglers. But already the gate was rumbling to heave the next wave. No no no no. Why couldn't it stomach the bastards just a bit longer?
He finally heard the engines roar to life.
His teammates started to shout to him:
"Team leader!"
"Hurry!"
"Get back to the convoy!"
'Well obviously.' He thought as he pulled the trigger.
He shot another crab-like beast.
'To hell with being a martyr.'
Hope threw a grenade at a horde before sprinting back towards the last vehicle, just in time to grab the rear as they drove off.
It was lucky enough that the simple grenades and bullets worked on these dormant beasts, but the effect would only lessen when the rank of each monster increased. It was all about luck on the battlefield.
Well, at least more so for average human soldiers. They couldn't always rely on the Awakened cohorts.
Now would be a good time as any though.
BOOM!
A loud explosion reverberated behind them. Hope held tight onto the rail, feeling the cold wind hug his bones and turn his fingers numb. He looked up to see his two teammates kneeling on the roof of the carrier as they continued firing at the chasing monsters. There were also a few other soldiers on top of the other vehicles spewing bullets from their guns as well.
Hope was about to give another order when the world suddenly blurred.
Everything became hazy, images blending into one foggy mess. Even the sounds became muted.
The supernatural drowsiness came back with a vice for his sanity. He could feel its claws on the back of his mind, whispering again. That sweet slumber.
He slowly felt detached from the world, his grip loosening.
His mind was emptying like a hollow shell.
It was all almost peaceful enough to give in. To let go–
Boom! Boom!
Suddenly his whole body shook violently.
He promptly tightened his hold and found themselves clashing through the flank of monsters; bodies flown aside or simply runned over, crushed under the weight of tires.
Kroooaarr!
Hope brought up his gun and shot at the monsters climbing onto the hatch. These monsters appeared to be more of a hound-like creature. Hairless bodies with toned muscles throughout their limbs.
But they were only dormant beasts. Easily subdued with just the right number of bullets.
Their pitchy cries rang out as he and his team pierced their necks and bellies, dropping them one by one like a pebbled trail.
The convoy picked up speed when they found their way back on the trackway again. The monsters still gave chase, but the distance slowly grew bigger and bigger.
And after what seemed to be an eternity, the roars echoed far off into the night.
Hope looked back and saw the horde vanish behind the slopes.
Finally, they escaped.
"Sigh…" Hope rested his head against the rail.
The next thing to do was to report back to Command of this now dead zone area and have one of the Awakened cohorts handle the situation. It wasn't his problem anymore to deal with them. 'Leave it to the experts', they would say.
"Team leader…?" A girl's voice spoke overhead, GA-012. Probably wondering why he was still hanging back on the rear. A moment of rest.
'Yeah yeah I'm coming…' Hope tightened his grip, fingers cramping from the hold.
"Contact Command for assistance." Hope spoke. He felt his words had begun to slur. "Report back the incident and the coordinates of the Category Two Gate-"
"Team leader, we're not getting any response over the COM channels." His teammate interrupted. But this time in a lower tone.
"..." Hope paused. Then he quickly climbed up the rear and stood with his teammate on the roof. He glanced at the other soldiers who were catching their breath on the other carriers, unaware of GA-012's warning.
"What do you mean no response?" Hope said low so the others wouldn't hear as well. They were far from the gate weren't they? A distress signal would even suffice.
"No one is responding…?"
Hope sighed. He shouldn't have asked twice. It was a stupid question to ask if he had heard it the first time.
His other teammate GA-015 returned from aiding the other soldiers, his feet lightly crossing towards them. "Maybe we're still within range of the Category Two Gate...That could be damaging the transceiver, Team leader."
'Highly plausible…'
Hope paused. "Four vehicles. Three cargos remaining." He murmured to himself.
It was against orders to open the cargo, but at this point, they might need to use the cargo ammunition if they crossed another horde.
Or not. But it was best to prepare for the worst. He would like to survive.
Hssssssst...
Strangely, Hope thought he could hear a sea of whisperers hissing nearby. He shook his head from the noise.
Was it because of the Spell? It couldn't be from the gate, could it? Not this far. Besides, only Awakened could hear this sort of Call from the gate. Something that they described about being lured by a Nightmare seed on the other side.
Hope was anything but an Awakened so it shouldn't apply to him.
He glanced at the other vehicles banged up.
Of course, the front head of the march, or what was left of it, was worse. But the other two cargo vehicles were in such bad shape that Hope wondered if any of their artillery were damaged. He'd like to know that there wasn't any possibility in which they could detonate because of it.
Pieces of sharp metal were pulled back. Streaked claw marks dragged across the side doors that were deep enough to probably…
'Not good.'
"Check the vehicle for any salvageable ammunition, extra rifles, or crates of frag grenades. Any damaged artillery must—"
Clang!
"T-Team Leader!?"
"Team Leader!"
Hope's leg had buckled.
He collapsed to one knee and struck the stock of his rifle to balance himself.
No. No. No! He couldn't sleep now.
Voices from his teammates arose but were intangible to him. They were muffled, soft like when one's head was underwater. He had an idea of what they were saying.
The only sound he heard clearly was his heart. It drummed in his ears as he forced his eyes to regain focus.
"Check on the cargo…Now…"
Hope didn't know why, but he had a feeling that they should do so this instant.
It was more important than him struggling to stay awake.
In his peripheral vision, one of his teammate's silhouettes paused but then gestured for the other to follow and climb down the vehicle.
Hope recalled that his other teammate, GA-014, was at the head of the march helping guide the course and probably checking on the rest of the soldiers in need of aid.
Not that they could do much anyway.
The medical vehicles were at the rear of the convoy before the Category Two Gate appeared so full treatment wouldn't be offered until they reached the port's Naval Base.
Hope bit down on his lip till he could taste the metallic blood liquid on his tongue.
None of this should have happened.
Hope wasn't one to drown in his emotions, and he didn't feel particularly emotional now either. He was indifferent to his work because it was simple and repetitive. As far as he knew, these types of missions go smoothly.
But why not this one?
From the odd route they were assigned by Command to the lack of awareness and consideration of weather conditions that affected the performance of their march, it seemed as if something else had been put into play. But what...?
'Move…' An instinctive voice whispered.
Hope tiredly went to reach for his blade again but then recalled when he tossed it hurriedly aside back at the battlefield.
'Shit shit shit-'
Maybe he could use a gun to wake up?
'Wait. The hell am I thinking?'
Hope staggered to his feet and looked down at his two teammates opening the rear of one of the cargo vehicles.
Their voices suddenly rang out as if something truly alarmed them.
Was the damage that bad inside? His teammates weren't ones to be easily startled.
But Hope lost the urge to speak and to understand them anymore through his mind's haze. Their voices were nothing but a soft buzz in his ear as he glanced down at them blankly.
Step.
Part of his mind said he should check.
Step.
What was down there?
Ste-
Hope's body began to sway. He felt his feet awkwardly shift to one side and then…air.
Nothing but gravity accompanied him.
For a few moments it was free fall, his body weightless like dust in the wind.
Then, pain shot through him. Hope felt the urge to scream.
But no cry came out. The feeling itself vanished just as it came.
Everything went black. Numb. Silent.
Before Hope could even process what just happened, a voice resounded somewhere in the void:
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]