The snow fell in heavy, silent drifts over the jagged spires of the Song Clan's palace. Inside the grand training hall, the air was warm and smelled of polished wood and sweat. Two young warriors danced across the mats, the rhythmic clack-clack-clack of their wooden practice swords echoing against the high vaulted ceilings.
From the shadows of the periphery, Arjun watched them with a gaze that was far too heavy for a simple servant. Clad in the drab, functional uniform of a palace worker, he held a mop in one hand, but his mind was busy dissecting every foot placement, every shift in weight, and every flawed parry.
Internally, he was drowning in a sea of silent despair.
Arjun was a transmigrator—a soul from another world dropped into the the Shadow Slave universe. He had arrived years ago, possessing the same age as the legends of this generation: Nephis, Sunny, and Cassie. He had spent his entire life preparing, training his body until it screamed and studying the lore of this world until he knew its secrets better than the Sovereigns themselves.
Yet, the Spell had never called him,he got never affected and he is still a mundane.
'When you prepare for a whole life, but you never even receive the chance to attempt the climb... what is the point?' Arjun thought bitterly.
In the beginning, he had been brimming with hope. He expected to be infected by the Nightmare Spell at the same time as the others. He waited for the fever, the whispers, the invitation to the First Nightmare. It never came. He watched from the sidelines as the "Forgotten Shore" became a legend, as the "Second Nightmare" happened, "Fall of Antarctica" stained the snow red.
The most recent announcement had been the final nail in the coffin: The Changing Star had ascended to Sainthood. She was now a Saint, a transcendent being of pure light, and her ascension and so powerful that seers across the globe had lost their ability to perceive prophetic visions.
Arjun frowned, his knuckles whitening around the handle of his mop. "It feels like I'm stuck in the past. What was the purpose of my transmigration? To be a nameless piece of canon fodder?"
The two warriors in the center of the hall suddenly stopped, their sparring match concluded. They were breathing hard, their faces flushed.
"Nice spar," one of them remarked, wiping sweat from his brow. "But we can't afford to linger here. Lady Nephis has become a Saint—the strongest Saint in history. We need to progress, and we need to do it fast if we want to survive the coming troubles"
They gathered their gear and left, their conversation fading into the distance. Arjun walked toward the center of the mat to begin cleaning the scuff marks and discarded training equipment. He let out a long, ragged sigh.
"And here I am," he whispered to the empty hall. "A cleaner for the Song Clan. A janitor with the most extensive knowledge of the future in the palm of his hand."
He knew what was coming. The Domain War was looming on the horizon. The arrival of the Dreamspawn was imminent. Sunny's exploration of the Weave was a secret only Arjun truly understood. He realized, with a start, that even though the world had changed,people forgot about Sunny, his memory of the "story" remained unaffected,he still remembers the devil of Antartica. He was a walking library of forbidden knowledge.
'I thought about announcing the truth of the Spell's origin once,' Arjun mused, 'but I'd rather not have my brain shredded by the Song of the Fallen.'
"Still brooding over the fact that you aren't infected?"
The voice was like silk and honey, dripping with a seductive, dangerous charm. Arjun turned immediately to see the Beastmaster standing behind him. Even though he suspected her of using mental influences, he couldn't deny her staggering beauty.
"What else should I do?" Arjun asked, his voice flat. "Nephis and I are the same age. She had that terrible propaganda film made about her—the worst movie I've ever seen—and now she's a Saint. Meanwhile, I'm mopping the floor."
Eubin, the Beastmaster, tilted her head. Her eyes were piercing. "It is a pity. Your Awakened parents trained you well when you were young. They were loyal to the clan until the end, dying in the trenches of Antarctica. EvenMother is curious about you. She released you from the influence of her domain to see if the Spell would finally take hold, yet you remained... mundane."She paused for a moment,she spoke." Are you feeling drowsy?"
Arjun blinked, rubbing his temples. "Yeah. I've been feeling exhausted for a few days. So what? It's not like I'm going to get infected now. I'm well past the age of the first trials. You know how the statistics work."
Eubin stepped closer, her gaze lingering on his face. "You think being infected is a blessin. It isn't. Every day, we fight for our lives in a nightmare that never ends. People die easily. They break. You are safe here, hottie."
Arjun's eyes flashed with a sudden, furious fire. He dropped the mop, the clatter echoing through the hall. "At least you don't need protection from others! Have you ever felt utterly powerless to change things? To protect the things you care about? Have you ever felt like you were standing still while the entire world moved forward without you? Don't lecture me on safety. I would face a hundred deaths if it meant I had a chance to actually do something."
The Beastmaster's playful smirk faltered. Her expression softened into something resembling genuine sadness. Arjun realized he had snapped at a Transcendent, and he immediately facepalmed, his anger cooling into embarrassment.
"Sorry," he muttered. "I shouldn't have gotten angry."
Suddenly, he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around him. Eubin pulled him into a tight hug, her scent of wild jasmine and ozone filling his senses. Surprised, Arjun slowly returned the embrace.
"It's okay," she whispered into his ear. "I don't truly understand your feeling, but don't worry. Everything will work out. I'll be there for you, at least."
Eubin waited for him to say something—a thank you, a joke, another outburst. Instead, she felt his weight slump against her. His breathing slowed into a deep, heavy rhythm.
Her eyes widened in shock. "Don't tell me... right now?"
In the darkness of his sudden slumber, a crystalline voice shattered the silence of Arjun's mind. It was a sound he had waited his entire life to hear—a cold, mechanical chime that felt like a needle stitching into his soul.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell.]
[Prepare for your First Trial...]
Arjun's subconscious mind reeled. 'Holy crap. Finally.'