The mont I entered the room, a chill ran down my spine.
I was seated on a narrow, cold bed, my wrists and ankles bound by thick, rough straps that bit into my skin. The mattress beneath was hard and unforgiving, leaving my back aching imdiately. The air slled faintly of antiseptic mixed with damp stone, a combination that made my stomach twist. One of the guards stationed there stood in the corner, his face shadowed and unreadable.
He finally moved toward , his boots clicking against the stone floor. When he spoke, his voice was low, calm, almost bored.
"Listen up, kid. You probably don't have much experience in real combat, judging by how you can afford a cushy place like this as your likely grave."
I blinked. I wasn't sure if I should have been insulted or intimidated. I opted for neither, letting him continue.
"There are countless horrors in that Nightmare," he said, pausing as though savoring the words. "But just so you know, Nightmare creatures aren't the only terrifying things there."
I stared at him, leaning forward slightly, trying to asure how serious he was.
He yawned, almost lazily, rubbing at his eyes. "I'll cut the speech short. Humans are the most terrifying thing there. So if it cos down to your life or theirs… just know that only one of you has a family back ho."
My stomach sank.
"What?"
Was that supposed to be my last advice? My last words before entering the abyss?
I didn't have ti to argue. My mind went blank as the world around dissolved, replaced by darkness and the dissonant hum of sothing unreal.
[Aspirant! Welco to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
When I awoke, I was lying on grass — except it wasn't normal grass. The blades were black, glinting faintly in the strange, unnatural light of a sky permanently hung in night. I pushed myself up, eyes scanning the surroundings.
Next to stood a horse. At first glance, it looked ordinary. But a slow, creeping realization hit . Hairless. Completely hairless. Its pale skin stretched over lean muscles, nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air. My stomach churned. A hairless horse? Really?
I blinked, shaking my head. Setting the horse aside for a mont, I took in the rest of the scene.
I was in a garden, but not a garden that belonged in any normal world. The plants were black, red, and dark purple, twisted into unnatural shapes. So had thorn-like appendages that quivered as though alive. Others dripped a viscous, dark sap that glimred faintly under the blackened sky. Every step I took seed to crunch against brittle leaves that whispered under my boots.
Encircling the garden was a fence of black iron, jagged and rusted, giving off an aura of nace.
And beyond it lood a castle that made the rest of the Nightmare feel small. Massive. Towering like it had been carved from the void itself. Its walls were jet black, and the windows shimred in a sickly purple. A single, gargantuan red glass window dominated the center of the façade, shaped like a watchful eye. Its gaze felt alive. The sheer size of the structure was intimidating — it could easily fit a million people inside, yet I had no idea who would need such a fortress.
I forced myself to focus and opened my aspect interface.
[Aspect ability: halfing vampire]
I let out a bitter laugh. "Haha, very funny, Spell. Really? Now you're mocking for my looks too? Great."
[You are a creature that has angered the wrath of sun god]
I groaned. Fantastic. I already had a god after from the start. Perfect.
[You are under the protection of moon god and she protects you from sun gods wrath as long as you are under her domain]
I blinked, processing. "Okay… so I have a god chasing , but another one is protecting ? Alright. Guess that's… sothing." I rubbed my temples. Vampires in novels always ca with sun-related headaches, and now I had to survive a Nightmare while avoiding a literal god's wrath.
[Attributes]
Hopefully these were useful. I scanned them quickly.
[Undead]
[You are an undead most undead creature's view you as one of their own and won't attack you unless provoked]
"Useful, I guess," I muttered. A whole category of enemies I didn't have to fight? That was… actually comforting. Except, of course, that I was technically dead. Always fun.
[Mark of divinity]
[You bear a faint scent of divinity, as though soone briefly touched by it once, a long ti ago.]
I scowled. "Rare, but useless. Great."
[internal logic]
[Complete Control over your own blood]
What the hell does that even an?
The mont the words settled in my head, sothing cold and electric crawled along my skin. It started as a whisper in my bones and widened until it filled my chest — like soone had turned a whisper into an ocean and dumped it inside . I could feel my heart, yes, but more than that: every tiny river and rivulet of blood threaded through . Each warm bead, each pulse, each capillary beca a line on a map I suddenly knew how to read.
I forced my focus inward. At first it was chaos — an endless, panicked current — but then I found the rhythm, the small spaces between the beats. I tried the simplest thing: slow it down. Concentration tightened in my jaw, and the world around seed to lurch as if soone had pressed their thumb on ti. My pulse dulled, my limbs felt heavier, colors dimd at the edge of my vision. It was exhausting in a way that mattered: not just physical, but like soone drawing on a precious reserve.
After a breath, I pushed the other way — speed it up. The sensation flipped. Warmth surged through my veins, quick and bright. My hands trembled. The room seed to rush past as if wind had been let loose inside my arteries. It wasn't just control; it was an intimate kind of violence against my own body, a command that answered without question. I felt powerful and terrified all at once.
Neat trick, I thought, wiping sweat from my forehead. Useless, but neat
I sighed, gazing at the garden and the castle beyond. The world was beautiful in a horrific, twisted way — darkly symtrical and terrifying. The air slled faintly of iron and decay, as if the Nightmare itself had exhaled onto the landscape.
I ran a hand through my hairless horse's coarse skin. "Alright, then. Let's see what kind of Nightmare we're dealing with."
Every muscle in my body tensed, my senses on high alert. The grass beneath seed almost to shiver, the shadows between the black-and-purple plants stretching unnaturally long. The air humd with anticipation, as if the world itself was watching , waiting.
It was cold, it was alien.
And there was no turning back.
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