A frail-looking young woman with pale skin and dark circles under her eyes with long raven-black hair was sitting on a rusty bench across from the police station. She was cradling a cup of coffee in her hands — not the cheap synthetic type slum rats like her had access to, but the real deal. This cup of plant-based coffee, usually available only to higher rank citizens, had cost most of her savings. But on this particular day, Rain decided to pamper herself.
After all, her life was coming to an end kinda 51% she lives 49% she dies.
Enjoying the warmth of the luxurious drink, he raised the cup and savored the aroma. Then, tentatively, she took a small sip… and immediately grimaced.
"Ah! So bitter!"
Giving the cup of coffee an intense look, rain sighed and forced herself to drink some more. Bitter or not, she was determined to get her money's worth — taste buds be damned.
"I should have bought a piece of real meat instead. Who knew actual coffee is so disgusting? Well. It's going to keep me awake, at least."
She stared into the distance, dozing off, and then slapped herself in the face to wake up.
"Tsk. What a rip-off."
She turns to the other side of the rusty bench where her brother sunny was sitting he turned to face her sighed and spoke in a disappointed voice.
«Told you it wasn't worth it gosh»
She was irritated that she was getting scolded by her brother and spoke in an harsh tone.
"Whatever this was definitely not worth the saved up money, you should have just became a normal awakened you know and gave me a life of luxury but instead your stuck, as an aspirant because your flaw made you bodyless and is now lurking in my mind."
She threw the full-cup and she missed the bin by a wide margin and fell on the ground. Rain rolled her eyes in exasperation, walked over and picked it up before carefully putting it in the trash.
She hears sunny speak in her mind again.
«Good luck, I'll try my best in assisting you in your first nightmare.»
She hesitated thinking about how to properly respond to Sunny's words of encouragement.
«I know you would sunny, your the best brother as you say.»
Then, with a slight grin, he crossed the street and entered the police station.
"I guess this is it huh"
«Indeed, good luck to you, and technically me»
Inside, a tired-looking officer gave her a quick glance and frowned with obvious distaste.
"Are you lost, girl?"
Rain looked around with curiosity, noting reinforced armor plates on the walls and poorly hidden turret nests in the ceiling. The officer, too, looked scruffy and mean. At least police stations remained the same wherever you go.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"
Rain cleared her throat.
"Uh, no."
Then she scratched the back of her head and added:
"As demanded by the Third Special Directive, I am here to surrender myself as a carrier of the Nightmare Spell."
Rain thought to herself thinking how easy that was realizing that she didn't need to practice her lines all day.
The officer's expression instantly changed from irritated to wary. He looked the young woman over once again, this time with piercing intensity.
"Are you sure you are infected? When did you start showing symptoms?"
Rain forgot and decided to ask sunny for help.
«Sunny, when did i start showing symptoms again?»
She doesn't hear his voice until a couple seconds later when she was about to just give a rough estimate.
«Say it was a week ago that's when you started showing symptoms, rain.»
She thanks sunny in her mind and spoke in a somewhat calm voice.
"Uhh like a week ago or something?"
The officer became visibly paler.
"Shit."
Then, with a hurried motion, he pressed a button on his terminal and bellowed:
"Attention! Code Black in the lobby! I repeat! CODE BLACK!"
***
The Nightmare Spell first appeared in the world a few decades ago. Back then, the planet was just starting to recover from a series of devastating natural disasters and subsequent resource wars.
At first, the emergence of a new disease that caused millions of people to complain about constant fatigue and sleepiness did not attract a lot of attention. But when they started to fall into an unnatural slumber, with no sign of waking up even days later, governments finally panicked. Of course, by then it was already too late — not that an early response could have made any difference.
When the infected started dying in their sleep, their dead bodies turning into monsters, no one was ready. Nightmare Creatures quickly overwhelmed national militaries, plunging the world into complete chaos.
No one knew what the Spell was, what powers it possessed, and how to fight it.
In the end, it was the Awakened — those who survived the first trials of the Spell and came back alive — who put a stop to its rampage. Armed with miraculous abilities earned in their Nightmares, they restored peace and created a semblance of a new order.
Of course, it was only the first of the catastrophes brought upon by the Spell. But as far as Sunny was concerned, none of it had anything to do with him — not until a few days ago, that is, when he first started having trouble with staying awake.
For an average person, being chosen by the Spell was as much of a risk as an opportunity. Kids learned survival skills and fighting techniques in school, on the off chance of being infected. Well-to-do families hired private tutors to train their children in all sorts of martial arts. Those from the Awakened clans even had access to powerful legacies, wielding inherited Memories and Echoes in their first visit to the Dream Realm.
The richer your family was, the better your chances of surviving and becoming an Awakened were.
But for rain, who had no family except for sunny who was living rent-free in her mind but she didn't mind, she actually liked having a companion and even though sunny didn't have a body, he still tried his best in protecting her like whenever rain was asleep he would take-over of her body to protect her while her mind is asleep to give her resting time.
***
A few minutes later, Rain was yawning while several policemen were busy putting her in restraints. Soon she was fastened into a bulky chair that looked like a weird mix between a hospital bed and a torture device. The room they were in was situated in the basement of the police station, with thick armored walls and a formidable-looking vault door. Other officers were standing near the walls, with automatic rifles in their hands and grim expressions on their faces.
Rain did not particularly care about them. The only thing he could think about was how much she wanted to sleep.
Finally, the vault door opened, and a gray-haired policeman walked in. He had a seasoned face and stern eyes, looking like someone who had seen a lot of terrible things in his life. After checking the restraints, the policeman glanced quickly on her wristwatch and then turned to Rain:
"What's your name, kid?"
Rain blinked a few times, trying to concentrate, then shifted uncomfortably.
"Rain, but my friends call me rainy or rani."
«You don't have friends though?»
The old policeman raised an eyebrow.
"Rain, that's a strange name."
"Shut up"
The air was awkward very, very awkward infact, rain needed to find a very convincing lie to tell the officer.
«Damnation, sunny i was supposed to say that to you.»
"I- i, i have Schizophrenia i was supposed to say that to my illusions."
«Rude»
The policeman just sighed after hearing her explanation.
Rain yawned and decided to add a reason on why she's named rain.
"It's because I was born during a thunder storm. My mother had a poetic soul, you see."
That's why she got this weird-ass name and her older brother was called sunless... Whether it was the result of poetic imagination or simple laziness, she did not know.
The old policeman grunted.
"Do you want me to contact your family?"
Rain simply shook her head.
"There's no one. Don't bother."
For a second, there was a dark look on the policeman's face. Then his expression turned serious.
"Alright, Rain. How long can you stay awake?"
"Uh… not long."
The policeman sighed.
"Then we don't have time for the full procedure. Try to resist for as long as you can and listen to me very carefully. Okay?"
Not waiting for a response, he added:
"How much do you know about the Nightmare Spell?"
Remembering everything her brother sunny told her about the nightmare spell she decided to just say everything she already knew.
She started to say everything that she knew about the spell from A-Z but she obviously left out some of the more important stuff that an ordinary slum rat should ever know, it somewhat impressed the police officer so he just decided to say one last thing.
"If you survive, you will be halfway to becoming an Awakened. But if you die, you'll open a gate for a Nightmare Creature to appear in the real world. Which means that my colleagues and I will have to deal with it. So… please don't die, Rain."
Already half-asleep, Rain felt a bit touched by the policeman's words.
"Or, at least, try to not die right away. The nearest Awakened won't be able to get here for a few hours, so we would really appreciate it if you don't make us fight that thing ourselves…"
«Yeah what the officer guy said»
«Whatever.»
With that last thought, Rain finally slipped into a deep slumber.
Everything became black.
And then, in the darkness, a faintly familiar voice rang:
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]