The Nightmare Spell

# [This is the old wiki. This wiki is no longer being updated. For the up-to-date wiki visit https://shadowslave.fandom.com/wiki/Shadow\_Slave\_Wiki]

The **Nightmare Spell**, commonly called The Spell, infects young people, usually around sixteen to eighteen years old. After being infected, those chosen by the Spell experience an overwhelming desire to sleep. Once they succumb to this feeling, they are transported to the First Nightmare.

It appeared in the world a few decades ago. Back then, the planet was just starting to recover from a series of devastating natural disasters and subsequent resource wars. No one knew what the Spell was, what powers it possessed, and how to fight it.

> *"Who said it was a coincidence? People often tend to forget that the Spell has a mind of its own. It sees all and hears all. And it really loves to play with fate. If there was someone among those hundreds of people tasked with killing me, the chances of me having a fateful encounter with them in the Dream Realm would be all but guaranteed. That is how the Spell always does things."* -- Nephis to Sunny, Chapter 285 Kill Order
>
>

The inside of the Spell looks like the celestial equivalent of a neural network. For this reason, it is often debated that the Spell is alive. The best answer, people had come up with was that there was no way to know. The Spell was neither alive nor dead; neither sentient nor mindless. It was more of a function than a creature.

## The Nightmares

The Nightmares are trials created by the Spell. They are populated by both monsters and humans, which are considered to be illusory. Each Nightmare contains a central conflict that has to be resolved for the Nightmare to end. These conflicts are believed to be reconstructions of events from the ancient history of the Dream Realm.

Once infected by the Nightmare Spell, that person will experience constant fatigue and sleepiness and eventually will fall into an unnatural slumber, with no sign of waking up. When the infected die in their sleep, their dead bodies will turn into monsters called **Nightmare Creatures**.

### First Nightmare

**First Nightmare** is the first trial prepared by the Nightmare Spell to test the chosen *Aspirant*. First Nightmares are unique, because each of them is tailored individually. That's why only a single Creature can appear. Typically, this single creature is usually an Awakened Beast or Monster. Sometimes, a Demon appears and very rarely, a devil appears.

The Spell did not randomly choose the role an Aspirant would play during their First Nightmare. It was apparent from the fact that the bodies they inhabited in it, while different, were very close to their real ones. However, the actual principle of how the Spell chose these roles and the events of the Nightmares were largely unclear.

The first thing one must do once inside the Nightmare is to check the Attributes and Aspect. According to Master Jet, the main challenge of the First Nightmare often turns out to be the environment. That is why she encouraged learning wilderness survival in the Academy.

### Second Nightmare

Starting from the **Second Nightmare**, things become much more dangerous. These Nightmares are not tied to an infected person. Instead, they are born in the **Dream Realm**. While the **Seed of the Nightmare** is growing, any number of Awakened can attempt to conquer it. Conquering the second nightmare will give the successful challenger another Aspect Ability. These awakened are titled **Masters** from then on until they conquer their Third Nightmare. No Awakened of the Ascended rank is allowed to challenge these Nightmares.

### Third Nightmare

Just like the Second Nightmare, any number of awakened can challenge it. Similarly, no awakened at the level of **Saint** can challenge it, however, **Awakened** rank carriers can also challenge it. The Spell rewards these challengers considerably, even turning these awakened straight into Saints. Normally, awakened would fill up their soul core more before they challenge a nightmare. Due to this, Saints who skipped becoming a Master are usually physically weaker compared to other Saints. So far, humanity has managed to conquer up to the Third Nightmare.

## Gates

Hunting down Nightmares was the main responsibility of the Awakened. However, from the *Second Nightmare*, should the challengers all die or fail to find the *Seed of the Nightmare* before it matures, a Gate will open in the real world, letting through countless monsters. Other Awakened will be forced to withstand the onslaught in the real world, but there will be massive destruction or losses among the civilian population.

Opening Gates were something that every person on the planet feared. It was also the *second disaster* brought upon by the Spell after the initial appearance of the Nightmare Creatures. The main difference was that, in that initial wave, there were only dormant beasts. However, Gates had ranks of their own, and any type of Creature could potentially step through.

## Nightmare Creatures

Just like humans ascend toward divinity, Nightmare Creatures descend toward profanity. Their corrupted Soul Cores also have seven Ranks of power:

* Dormant
* Awakened
* Fallen
* Corrupted
* Great
* Cursed
* Unholy

A measure of power that is based on the quantity of one's Soul Cores. Unlike humans, who can only ever possess one Soul Core, Nightmare Creatures can possess many. This is another measurement of their power called a Class. There are seven Classes of Nightmare Creatures, ranging from having one Soul Core to having seven:

* Beast
* Monster
* Demon
* Devil
* Tyrant
* Terror
* Titan

Each class gives the creature unique qualities:

* Beasts are dangerous and strong, but mindless.
* Monsters are much more devastating and possessed some rudimentary, warped form of intelligence.
* Tyrant can create it's own minions.

## Languages

> *"The Spell is not a translator! Do you think it has the time to express the intricacies of human speech? Let's say you're seeking shelter in a ruin and find an inscription that reads "certain death ahead". There are thirty words for death in the rune language! Just by knowing the runes, you'll be able to deduce what kind of danger there is!"* -- Julius to Sunny, Chapter 25 Wilderness Survival
>
>

The Spell communicated with humans in one of the dead languages called Rune language.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 1 Nightmare Begins
2. ↑ Chapter 15: Shadow Slave
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chapter 23 Dreams And Nightmares
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 4 Mountain King
5. ↑ Chapter 218 Shadow Dance
6. ↑ Chapter 2 Slave Caravan
7. ↑ Chapter 19: Crossing the Bridge
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 44: Cassie's Dream
9. ↑ Chapter 28 Training Montage