1 Chapter I: The White Mountain

My lungs burn from every strained breath I take; like a pincusion pierced by a thousand frozen needles. White blankets of snow cover everything in my vision except for the dark canvas of the sky.

I gaze up briefly for at the skies for any stars; however, I am only greeted with a black canvas with only white particles being that of the snow flying in the wind. It's not like I know astronomy anyway. My body heat leaks akin to water from a cracked jar and is slowly replaced by the unforgiving cold.

Every step I take makes my body creaks in protest as my joints have already become frozen. My severe lack of cold equipment doesn't help me either. With only a worn t-shirt, slacks, and some old trainers, it's no wonder I am freezing my balls off. The only silver lining to the cold is that it numbed the pain coming from my pierced right shoulder. I glance at it briefly only to see a frozen, black arrowhead sticking out of my shoulder surrounded by a big red stain on my previously pristine t-shirt.

It was my carelessness that got me shot with the arrow. On the one hand, it helped me to get my ass moving. On the other hand, it hurts, and it hurts like a bitch with every slight motion I take. If I were a fantasy protagonist, maybe I would've broken the arrowhead and removed the shaft from the back. However, I am just a highchool student and not a fantasy protagonist. I have neither the skills nor the knowledge to ensure that I don't bleedout if I remove the arrow.

The crunching of snow being beneath my feet and the howling of the blizzard were the only sounds that pierced my ears; yet, I am not alone. No, never alone. As soon as I start to slow down, They will catch up to me for they may be slow but they are relentless and are not hindered by the cold. I knew it deep in the recesses of my mind that nothing good will come from getting into their hands.

Thus, I climb, climb, and climb until I reach the top of this mountain; until I reach the end of this nightmare. Maybe, this fever dream is the result of reading too much Shadow Slave, even my dreams resemble the Nightmare Spell trials now; hell, I was even greeted the same as Sunny was when he entered his first nightmare. I chuckle in derision at my far-fetched conclusion. Although, I pay the price shortly by coughing up a mouthful of blood. My lung's probably in tatters right now.

However, it is all a nightmare and nothing more. I will wake up soon enough. Even the pain is but a trick my mind is playing at me. I will wake up soon enough in my bed, get a warm shower, eat breakfast alone like always, and go to my normal highschool, and then return and check if any new chapters of Shadow Slave have dropped.

As I was busy with my own thoughts, my foot slipped over a loose stone and I tripped. It wouldn't have been that much of a problem in any other situation, but I am climbing over a very steep mountain and my body is hardly moving due to the bone-penetrating cold, so it is safe to say that I don't have the capabilities to catch myself.

Thus, I fell and rolled down the steep, rocky, white mountain. Every sharp rock bit into my skin like a shark's teeth as I unceremoniously descended down the mountain path. I only stopped when I hit something. The first thing I saw was a frost-bitten skull staring at me with its empty eye sockets before tens of swords slashed down at my prone body. Even though I thought I was numb from the chilling cold, their swords were able to re-introduce pain back to my system as cries of excruciating pain escaped from my frost-ravaged throat before everything went black.

And I found myself standing right where I started the nightmare.

"What? This can't be! How?" I yell with a horrified look on my face as I observed my surroundings. It really was the base of the mountain. How can this be? Didn't I just die? Why didn't I wake up? Why am I back at the beginning?

Suddenly, a familiar voice rings out in my head as a blue window appears before my vision:

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]

[First Trial goal: Survive the undead horde and reach the top of the frozen mountain.]

Even though it there was a blizzard raging around me, a sheet of cold sweat coated my back.

"I'm in the Nightmare Spell....," my knees gave up from shock and I fell on the snow covered ground. Horror and despair coursed through my veins at the realization of my situation.

Some people may snort in derision at my mental state and call me a coward. I would've done the same if I was not currently living the scenario. It is always easy to laugh at people behind the safety of your phone screen.

Meanwhile, as I was in my catatonic state, the ground behind me cracked open and from the cracks emerged skeletons decked out in ancient black armor and worn out swords, shields, spears, axes, bowss, etc. The clacking and clanging of ancient metal on bone awakened me from my stupor as I gazed in horror at the undead horde rising from the ground infront of me. As far as my eye could see, a veritable army of undead monsters arose from their slumber.

The experience of being pierced by tens of hundreds of swords still fresh in my mind, I hightailed out of there through the only path open to me: up towards the peak of the mountain.

As I was running up the slope, I heard an eerily familiar whooshing sound from behind me. Giving in to my primal instincts, I hit the deck just as a black arrow was about to pin me on the shoulder. Quickly scrambling up from the ground, I looked back at the hord only to be greeted by another arrow that pierced right through my eye.

"AAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHGGHHHAAAAA!" I yell like a madman as blood gushed out of my pierced eye socket. Unfortunately, the arrow had somehow missed my brain, so I am still conscious to the pain. However, that was quickly remedied as an skeleton that was decked out in an ancient suit of black armor came and stood over me and, with machine-like efficiency, brought down his maul on top of my skull - crushing it. Then, everything went black.

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHA! Hah, hah, hah....," I panted as I grip cover my eye that had been pierced. Looking around, I was back to where I started again. Moreover, my eye was restored although it still hurt the same as when it got pierced.

Again the familair voice of the Nightmare Spell rang in my head:

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for-]

Not even waiting for the voice to finish, I am already rushing up the mountain before the undead cemetary behind me awake from their slumber.

I climbed up the mountain as the blizzard raged around me. Using both my hands and feet as much as I could, I utilized every ounce of strength in my body to escape the undead horde behind me.

However, due to my rush to reach the top, I failed to realize what long exposure to cold temperatures had on the human body - especially the extremities.

Thus, when I was trying to raise myself over a vertical slope, my hand that was holding the edge of the slope snapped at the wrist like the hand of a porcelain doll. While I was falling to my death, I looked at the site of the severed hand to see it completely blue and frost-bitten. The cold had numbed all feeling from it that I hadn't even realized I had lost my hand. Soon enough, I met the hard rocky ground with a SPLAT! Then, everyhting went black.

When my vision got restored, I was back to the base of the white mountain again. Soon enough the Nightmare Spell's voice range in my head and shortly after, the undead began to arise again.

I have to start moving, frostbite be damned, lest I get butchered. Thus, I started my fourth attempt to climb the mountain. This time, I tried my best to warm up my hands as much as I could after using. However, this tactic slowed me down exponentially. Oh, if only that was all my problems were going to be.