Adulthood

The sudden revelation brought the mood down for a few minutes. Sunny silently drank his champagne, thinking about what Neph had just said. It made a lot of sense, in a dark and disturbing way. It also shed some light on how the Spell chose its victims.

He doubted that a Seed of Nightmare, no matter how small, could bloom in just any soul. It probably required fertile soil to take root… of course, in this ravaged world, there were plenty of broken and traumatized people whose souls could nurture a Nightmare Seed. It had been even more so fifty years ago, when the Spell first appeared.

Had the collective anguish and torment of those lucky few who had survived the Dark Times summoned it from whatever hell the Spell existed in, ushering the rise of the First Generation of the Awakened and everything that followed?

He did not know, and doubted that he would find out anytime soon, if ever. Nevertheless, there was another interesting hint in what Nephis had explained to them.