Chapter 1 Nightmare Begins (1/2)

Chapter 1 Nighton a rusty bench across fro a cup of coffee in his hands — not the cheap synthetic type slum rats like him had access to, but the real deal This cup of plant-based coffee, usually available only to higher rank citizens, had cost s But on this particular day, Sunny decided to pa to an end

Enjoying the warmth of the luxurious drink, he raised the cup and savored the arori the cup of coffee an intense look, Sunny sighed and forced himself to drink soet his money's worth — taste buds be daht a piece of real ? Well It's going to keep me awake, at least"

He stared into the distance, dozing off, and then slapped himself in the face to wake up

"Tsk What a rip-off"

Shaking his head and cursing, Sunny finished the coffee and stood up Rich people living in this part of the city were rushi+ng past the se expressions Looking haggard in his cheap clothes and from the lack of sleep, unhealthily thin and pale, Sunny was indeed out of his place here Also, everyone see thee bin

ReadNovelFulluess that's what three full meals a day would do to you"

The cup round Sunny rolled his eyes in exasperation, walked over and picked it up before carefully putting it in the trash Then, with a slight grin, he crossed the street and entered the police station

Inside, a tired-looking officer gave hilance and froith obvious distaste

"Are you lost, boy?"

Sunny looked around with curiosity, noting reinforced armor plates on the walls and poorly hidden turret nests in the ceiling The officer, too, looked scruffy and mean At least police stations re to you!"

Sunny cleared his throat

"Uh, no"

Then he scratched the back of his head and added:

"As demanded by the Third Special Directive, I ahtmare Spell"

The officer's expression instantly changed froain, this ti intensity

"Are you sure you are infected? When did you start showing syo?"

The officer became visibly paler

"shi+t"

Then, with a hurried motion, he pressed a button on his terminal and bellowed:

"Attention! Code Black in the lobby! I repeat! CODE BLACK!"

The Nighto Back then, the planet was just starting to recover fro natural disasters and subsequent resource wars

At first, the eence of a new disease that caused ue and sleepiness did not attract a lot of attention But when they started to fall into an unnatural sluovernments finally panicked Of course, by then it was already too late — not that an early response could have made any difference

When the infected started dying in their sleep, their dead bodies turning into hting the world into complete chaos

No one knehat the Spell hat powers it possessed, and how to fight it

In the end, it was the Awakened — those who survived the first trials of the Spell and cae Arhtmares, they restored peace and created a semblance of a new order

Of course, it was only the first of the catastrophes brought upon by the Spell But as far as Sunny was concerned, none of it had anything to do with hio, that is, when he first started having trouble with staying awake

For an average person, being chosen by the Spell was as much of a risk as an opportunity Kids learned survival skills and fighting techniques in school, on the off chance of being infected Well-to-do families hired private tutors to train their children in all sorts of martial arts Those froacies, wielding inherited Memories and Echoes in their first visit to the Dream Realm

The richer your fa an Awakened were

But for Sunny, who had no fa for food instead of going to school, being chosen by the Spell presented no opportunity at all To him, it was basically a death sentence

A fewwhile several police him in restraints Soon he was fastened into a bulky chair that looked like a weird mix between a hospital bed and a torture device The room they were in was situated in the basement of the police station, with thick ar vault door Other officers were standing near the walls, with autorim expressions on their faces

Sunny did not particularly care about the he could think about was how much he wanted to sleep

Finally, the vault door opened, and a gray-haired police like sos in his life After checking the restraints, the policelanced quickly on his wristwatch and then turned to Sunny:

"What's your na to concentrate, then shi+fted uncomfortably

"Sunless"

The old policee na, but found hie about it? At least I have a naets one"

After another yawn, he added: