Sleepless Dreamer (1)

Drowning was not as peaceful as it seemed.

There was a time when his teammates asked among themselves which death was better: drowning or being burnt alive?

Honestly, either were terrible choices. Hope would know since he partially experienced both just now.

Well, he was still in the drowning process.

Hope opened his eyes and felt himself being submerged in cold water. The blue luminescence flooded his vision as well as a thousand of clustered bubbles from his plunge swirled around and fleeted to the surface.

He tried to move his arms up to swim, but his body refused to respond. 

Ah. Hope had probably broken all of his limbs. Either that or every ounce of strength was drained with the only movement he was capable of doing was with his eyes. 

His eyes flitted to his right arm and saw that it was completely mauled; portions of his flesh gone with glimpses of white bone visible between the torn muscles and tissues. His blood seeped out of his arm like vapor; its red threads rising towards the surface, tails flicking behind as it sailed high above. 

However high the surface was he did not know. He felt himself sinking further and further into the abyss. The distance between him and the beast thickened as his body weighed him down like a rock inevitably descending into the waters. He hoped he was able to do some sort of damage to that damned beast. 

Something was better than nothing after all. 

"Mmmph!"

Hope squeezed his eyes shut and felt his lungs about to burst. He was running out of air with each passing second. An incredible pressure suffocated him. The breath he knew he could not take stressed his heart as if it were in death's grasp.

He tried to hold on for as long as he could…

Until he couldn't anymore…

Hope exhaled and then involuntarily inhaled, choking as water flooded into his mouth. It was now pain that grabbed hold of him; his throat, his lungs, his heart.

It was all painful.

So painful.

Where was the comfort in all this again?

Hope was drowning. He was truly dying in this Nightmare. Yet somehow that word felt unreal to him despite the ripping agony. The fear of death was absent, but the thought of being trapped buried in the deep was something worse than death. 

Then a voice whispered through the depths. 

The Spell's voice rang like pearly bells.

[You have slain an awakened demon, Fire Hound.]

[You have received a Memory…]

Hope slowly looked through the narrow slits of his eyes and felt the waters tremble. The atmosphere had changed. It seemed that the luminescence had pulsed around him in alertness. One moment it was dark, then the next it was light.

Like some unknown presence was making its way towards him.

There was a low, yet thrilling sound when the Spell spoke again. 

[Your presence is made known to a distant god.]

[A god is alerted of your trespassing.]

[A god finds a soul in her waters.]

'Wait…wh..a.t…?'

[Heart God is shaken by your intrusion.]

[Heart God identifies no divinity in you-]

The waters trembled again.

[Heart God is threatened of your presence.]

[You have corrupted the waters belonging to the Heart God.]

[You are an Interloper.]

Before Hope could react, his vision slowly engulfed in black. Once more the pain vanished from his body, and he was met with darkness yet again. Ah. Was this the peace that people mentioned? Hope felt like he vaguely understood it now and was ready to embrace it.

And yet, before he succumbed to his eternal slumber, he heard a soft whisper in his ear.

[You have acquired Tears of Sorrow.]

[One of your Attributes is ready to evolve.]

[Wake up, Hope! Your nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal…]

***

"Haacck! Haaack!"

Hope heavily gasped and instinctively clawed the air as if he were breaking through the surface. He flipped to his side and coughed repeatedly till he felt his throat become raw.

Was he back? Was he finally awake?

Was he alive?

Hope continued to gasp for air as he hunched over on the ground.

Well, the pain felt very much real.

"Huff…huff…"

He was alive. And yet for some reason, that didn't thrill him. 

'Never again…do I want to get involved…with gods, angels, demons or whatever…' Hope thought. 

Hope groaned and laid back on his back. His chest rising and falling as he slowly regained his normal breathing. The pain slowly began to subside as if it were all just an old memory. That Nightmare was more than he could have imagined. Usually, people would have spent a day or two in their trials. Some rarely less than that. Although Hope didn't know how long he was in there for, he doubted it was even six hours. Maybe four? No. Less than that. 

Not that that comforted him in the slightest either.

"Sigh…"

Well, he finally finished his First Nightmare. Success, he supposed.

It was always best to finish any problem given as soon as possible so one could have the luxury of living without worry again. Well, until the next problem occurred. In which Hope now had a different and difficult future awaiting him. 

He was graduating into becoming a Dreamer. And eventually an Awakened. The path of becoming the strongest for humanity. That was if he didn't get a crappy Aspect as well.

'Mm...' 

Although he must admit, he never really dreamed of becoming an Awakened.

Sure, they get special treatment, but that may also qualify them to do more work. The food was a plus. But Hope was perfectly fine with the plain meals he had. The thought of a feast with a number of strange added ingredients sounded unappealing. He probably might be able to get a better room with higher ceilings, luxurious furniture glossed with expensive oil and set with perfumed flowers. Or something along those lines. But they were all the same to him as long as they had a window. And he didn't mind his stiff mattress. He usually slept on the floor anyway during his missions. 

Hope continued to have these thoughts as he lazily laid on the floor. As his body started to finally relax, he realized he was staring up at the night sky. Or at least he thought he was. He recalled that any clear night sky in the waking world were rare so where exactly was he now?

Hope slowly sat himself up, grabbing onto his right arm in which faint traces of the beast's afflictions still throbbed. Once he looked up, he realized he was sitting on a dark sea that stretched over the horizon. 

Hope paused as he absorbed the scenery. The water was like a black mirror shimmering with a myriad of stars at its wake. Their celestial threads faintly woven together like some web-like tapestry made him feel as if he were inside a night's cocoon.

The clearest view of the night he had ever seen.

He felt incredibly small under the foreign constellations of deep space as his gaze traveled around. The infinite reflections that seamlessly overlapped showed no signs of entrance.

So, he was still completely at the Spell's mercy before he could return back to the waking world. 

Hope crouched then carefully stood up, still feeling light-headed, and realized he was also back in his soldier uniform from before he entered his Nightmare. The familiar black camouflage pattern and vest were as just as he remembered. Gloves check. Shoes check. Thankfully, his whole body was back intact too. No more burned marks. Broken bones. Torn flesh. Hot slobber.

[You have received a Memory: …]

'Huh?'

[Ashen Shield]

'Ah a memory.'

"…"

'Wait– a memory?' 

Hope blinked at the achievement. 

He...really did kill that damned beast after all.

Tsk. He only had hoped to leave some critical injury to it, but to think that his plan worked even beyond that surpassed his expectations. Its screams and brutal jaws were still fresh in his mind. Hope subconsciously touched his shoulder where the beast bit into as well. 

Was that all he needed to do to wake up from his Nightmare?

Kill the damned beast?

But another thought intruded his mind. Hope also remembered that the Spell had mentioned a god while he was drowning. Something about him trespassing…?

Hope blinked at the thought. "What exactly...happened back there?"

As if ignoring his question, the Spell moved on with his appraisal:

[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]

[A priest who didn't belong ventured through the dark catacombs while in the hands of the enemy. Through seeking the truths of the past, he put it upon himself to find the Heart God's Tears—]

Hope frowned at its words.

'Wait that's not-'

[—Nothing could stand in his way. Even as to put his own hand into the maws of a savage beast, he obtained his goal in the end.]

"..."

'Well yes but that's not-'

[You have defeated an awakened demon: Fire Hound.]

[You have defeated an awakened human: Knight of the Heart Templar]

!!!

Hope began to speak. "Hey I didn't kill-"

[You have obtained the Heart God's Tears.]

[You have crossed the unknown where no unblessed should have passed and intruded on the forbidden sanctum of the Heart God.]

[You have corrupted the Heart God's Tears.]

[Final Appraisal: Exceptional. Your will is exemplary.]

"..."

A bitter taste filled his mouth. 

He paused and looked down at his hands. The memory of the knight before he was pulled into the beast's jaws crossed his mind.

Did he really kill the knight? It was not like he directly stabbed the guy or anything. But was he indirectly responsible for it? Was it almost like when the first priest had died because of Hope's silence? But that priest died by the elder's spear and the old man surely gained something from that. The beast could have gained something when it killed the knight as well…

Hope's frown deepened.

He didn't know what rules the Spell went by to give him that achievement. For all he knew, it really had a dark sense of humor. And...

He was unblessed...?

[Dreamer Hope, receive your boon!]

Hope blinked absentmindedly from the Spell's words.

Right. This was the moment every new Dreamer waited for when they completed their First Nightmare: their Aspect. The driving factor that would determine their position in society. Their so-called golden ticket as people described it to be.

However, the Spell began with a different appraisal…

[You have been bestowed a True Name…]