"Alright, after all this, the first thing you do is immediately check your runes. You just have to think about it, and they'll appear. In runes, you'll see your aspect name, and you might—or might not—receive a partial aspect ability to use. It won't be your final aspect since you get that after the nightmare is over, but it could still be useful. Don't get your hopes up though, since you might not get it at all.
There will be attributes too—they're like enchantments on you that can give small boosts or effects. So make sure to check them and see what they do. You understand?" Talion said, leaning against a wall for support as he spoke to the guy standing in front of him.
"Yeah, I understand. But why the fuck is this shit so confusing? Bullshit power system," Kaeya muttered the last part.
"Bruh, it isn't bullshit. I told you to read Shadow Slave so many times, but you never had the time for it. The only thing you were reading were some random romance manhwa or something."
"First of all! Its not some random romance manhwa, heck it isn't romance at all. And, It's not my fault Shadow Slave doesn't have a manga or anime. You know I don't read written stuff. Plus, when you really think about it, we wouldn't even be in this world if one of us didn't know about it. There's no way some random god just teleports two clueless dudes here out of nowhere. The chances are, like, insanely low."
"You're seriously saying we got into this world because I read Shadow Slave?" Talion stared at him with a dumbfounded expression, daring him to say yes.
And yes—he did.
"Yeah."
"Fuck you."
Kaeya burst out laughing in his face. Talion followed—not because it was actually funny, but because Kaeya's laugh was so contagious it got him chuckling too.
"Anyway," Talion said once he caught his breath, "let me tell you what the first nightmare is gonna be like. Listen properly, 'cause I ain't repeating this."
"Okay."
"First of all, Nightmare One is usually an illusion—a trial tailored specifically for you. It takes place in a setting from the past of the Dream Realm. Oh wait, you don't even know what the Dream Realm is, right?"
"Yeah."
"Just think of it as another dimension or something for now. Anyway, the past events of the Dream Realm are where your trial happens. You already know how to access your powers, so I'll tell you how you should move forward.
Every Nightmare One has an end goal that you need to achieve—it's your choice how you do it. Let's say, for example, in the real past of the Dream Realm, there was a guy named Alex. He started out as a slave but eventually became a powerful king. If your nightmare takes place when Alex was still a slave, and you kill him—or do something that prevents him from becoming a king—you've just drastically changed the future. That means you'll get a better evaluation and maybe a higher-ranked aspect.
The ranking goes from lowest to highest like this: Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent, and then Divine. Even Ascended is rare as hell. So your best bet is to complete the trial, obviously, but also try to change things as much as possible to aim for a high rank. Just don't get yourself killed doing it."
"No shit," Kaeya muttered.
"The best advice I can give is—don't hesitate to kill people. You'll probably need allies too, but killing gives higher evaluation most of the time. And since you're dumb as fuck, I don't expect you to come up with big brain strategies anyway. It's gonna be tough as hell, and we might not survive. So, good luck."
"You're saying that as if we're entering the nightmare any second now," Kaeya said.
"What I'm trying to say," Talion replied, "is just live. 'Cause it's gonna be hell—and dying would suck."
"True. Anyway, don't you think we should start heading to the police station?" Kaeya asked.
"Yeah, let's go."
On their way to the station, Talion cautioned Kaeya about what to say once they got there.
Both of them were from another world—two high school friends who somehow ended up here. Talion had read Shadow Slave, but Kaeya hadn't. Thanks to Talion's knowledge of the story, he was acting as a guide. Luckily for Kaeya, Talion was the type of nerd who liked dissecting power systems and lore, and he was also the more analytical one between them.
"Also, if we both wake up from the nightmare," Talion said, "there'll be an Awakened waiting to talk to us. I don't have the energy to explain the whole thing now, but just don't tell him too much about your aspect. We'll be together, but I'm not sure if we'll get a chance to talk alone after, so… just a heads up."
"Hm," Kaeya grunted. "Also, wait a sec—where the hell is this level of planning coming from? It's like you've been preparing for this since forever. Don't tell me you did some supernatural shit to get yourself teleported here—and dragged me along as comedic relief so you don't get bored or something." Kaeya squinted at him suspiciously.
Talion just chuckled. "Didn't I tell you how much of a hell this world is? I wouldn't dream of coming here. Even if I get a strong aspect, I'd still have to survive Nightmare One—and that alone is torture."
___
After walking for a while, Talion and Kaeya finally spotted a police station.
"Damn, I'm sleepy as fuck right now," Kaeya muttered, dragging his feet forward.
"Yeah, same here," Talion replied, following close behind. "That's cause we're affected by the Nightmare spell."
When they entered the station, a police officer sat behind the front desk, looking bored out of his mind.
He turned his head lazily toward them. "What do you want?"
Before Kaeya could open his mouth, Talion spoke up. "We're affected by the Nightmare spell."
He'd thought about saying the proper phrase — whatever the official report wording was — but couldn't quite remember it. So he went with the direct approach instead.
The officer's expression shifted immediately. His posture straightened as he looked them over more carefully.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his tone suddenly sharp. "When did you start showing symptoms?"
Talion thought for a second. Judging by how heavy the sleepiness had become, it was probably close to a week.
"Like a week ago," he answered.
The officer's face went pale.
"Fuck."
He slammed a button on his terminal and shouted into the mic, voice tight with urgency.
"Attention! Code Black in the lobby! I repeat — CODE BLACK!"
Hey there! Miss me? jk. Anyway, after uploading some of my earlier chapters, I finally got a clearer idea of where I want to take this fic. Like I mentioned before, I'm writing the kind of story I always wanted to read but could never find — so, yeah, I've changed quite a few things. For example, there are now two OCs instead of one. Still, Talion's Aspect will pretty much stay the same.
Just to make one thing clear — for now, I haven't decided on any ships in this story. You'll understand the reason as the story goes on, since both of my OCs' personalities will make it pretty obvious why they probably won't end up paired with anyone. That said, if I ever decide to give them some character development in that direction, there might be room for a ship later. If that happens, it would most likely be between one of the OCs and an existing female character — not a female OC.
If this is the first chapter you're reading of this fic, you can probably skip the rest of this note, since it won't make much sense.
Now, onto the main thing — the reason I changed so much. Honestly, it's to keep myself interested. I'm kind of a perfectionist, and I wanted to write a Shadow Slave fic long-term. But since Sunless already embodies a lot of traits I wanted my OC to have, I didn't want Talion to end up as a copy of him.
To avoid overlap and keep things fresh, I decided to introduce a second OC — this helps balance things out and keeps the writing exciting for me. As some of you might've noticed, the story's focus will mainly be on the personalities of both main characters and their dynamic as a duo.
Both of them are going to be pretty rigid too — they're self-aware and already have well-formed personalities. So, in the early to mid parts of the story, the focus will be more on readers discovering who they are, rather than watching them change.