Damn it, damn it, damn it…
My mind kept on doing gymnastics to try to come to terms with the ruthless reality that I was infected with the Nightmare spell. Even if I was inflicted with the spell, I should have felt symptoms hours before I was sent into a trial! I hadn't even felt a drop of exhaustion when I was on my bed, thinking about being awakened. Did the Nightmare spell somehow ignore the incubation period for me? I really didn't appreciate the courtesy of the spell to make an exception for my half-hearted wish.
Wish…I've heard the Nightmare spell works in odd ways, but only for certain individuals. Like the Great clans or certain popular awakened, like the recent awakened from the Forgotten shore. They all had unique circumstances before and after being inflicted with the spell. So was I like them?
The idea didn't excite me all that much, if anything it made me dread my current situation even more. All of them survived through the skin of their teeth with a large amount of sacrifice.
Bile started to rise up my throat, threatening to spill out my mouth. The sight of the dark tunnel in front me made me swallow the burning bile down my throat reluctantly, making my eyes sting with tears. I couldn't vomit or cry right now, not when I was in a nightmare. Especially when my life could be at risk.
I rub my eyes, and run my hands down studying what I had on me. Nightmare spells made awakened possess the body of a resident of the Dream realm. That potentially meant that the body I possessed had items that could help me or give me clues to what my situation really was.
The first place my hand went to was where I assumed a blade would be, my waist. The way my heart skipped a beat when my hand touched the hilt of a blade made me feel joy I've never experienced before. The blade exploded into blazing sparks and I heard the voice of the spell as it informed me:
[You have received a memory! You received Moribund sword!]
The smile that was plastered on my face immediately came undone when I looked at the state of my clothes. They were shredded, barely covering my upper half. Whatever remained of the tunic I had, which must have been gray at one point but now had been seeped in mud, didn't provide any feasible defense against whatever abomination resided in this tunnel.
What worried me the most was the way the clothes were ripped, it was as if they were slashed and cut by a sharp blade. Were my enemies equipped with blades? If so, I wouldn't stand a chance against them considering I had no experience with the sword.
I shook my head, turning my attention to the next most important thing, the memory.
Memory: [Moribund Sword]
Memory description: [This sword was used against harrowing nightmare creatures. Though it is close to destruction, it will continue to honor its duty to those who wield it till its last swing. This sword deals extreme damage when it slashes an opponent's weak spot.]
Swings: [15/15]
…Excuse me? What sort of damned description was that? First, it was my aspect, now the only memory I had access to was this trashy sword? If there really were nightmare creature that used swords here, I might as well go and beg them to kill me already.
I summoned the memory, and it weaved its pathetic form from a constellation of sparks. Looking at it closer, the blade had lost what shine it once had and sparks ran through it like spiderwebs. The blade wasn't even secure in the guard, I found it hard to believe the blade would survive even with the limit of swings I could make.
I sighed, dismissing the memory. It wasn't exactly ideal that I didn't hold a weapon in a place where nightmare creatures could easily attack me, but I had to conserve the swings. Based on the description, I would be able to fatally wound a nightmare creature if I simply hit their weak spot. If I survived long enough to find out that is.
I finally decided to walk down the tunnel. In the waking world it was advised that when you were lost, you stayed in one place so that rescue could find you easier. Though, most likely, it was probably a fact that no one would be coming to save me here.
My heartbeat rapidly increased the farther I got from the green glowing mushrooms that lined the wall of the tunnel. I was in total darkness for a moment, and I was almost convinced I should go back to the safety of the mushrooms when I saw light up ahead.
Again they were mushrooms. While I wanted to sit and bask in the glow of the fungi, I decided to continue moving. Again and again I reached a spot of total darkness that once again led to a collection of luminous mushrooms. It almost seemed like the pattern would never stop, but I did.
When I reached the 8th set of mushrooms, I finally conceded and sat down. The initial burst of adrenaline I had when I started the nightmare was gone, leaving my head blank and my legs tired. Just as I was starting to get the will to get up again, the sound came.
It was a loud and long squelching sound, the sound that would come from moving in mud. I scrambled to my feet immediately, looking left from where the sound came. It took a while for the source of the sound to enter the proximity of the mushroom's illumination, but when it did, I almost fell over.
It was the gigantic version of a worm. Serpentine and pink, I could see the muscles under its damp skin rippling as it slithered forward slowly. The striking difference between it and a normal worm, besides its obvious size, was the crimson red shell that covered its front. The shell twisted around the front of the worm like an unbloomed rose bud.
I could have ran, but I knew that I couldn't have this thing continuously after me in a place like this. The mud made my movements slow, and it drained my stamina a lot when I moved. The stamina drain was even higher when I tried to run. Anyway, the nightmare creature was alone, and I needed the fighting experience if I was gonna survive.
I summoned the Moribund Sword into my hand, while it weaved itself into my hands, I faced the goliath worm in front of me. The worm stopped, seemingly feeling my bloodlust, and it raised itself like a cobra. I held the sword in front of me with both hands, until my knuckles went white.
The worm lunged at unprecedented speed not befitting its size. I pulled back and instinctively swung my sword, and it bounced off the shell of the worm with no effect. The worm crashed into me unbothered by my sword, making me fly back.
Swings: [14/15]
My vision had turned blurry from the impact but I could see the snail thrashing around as it attempted to gain stability. Its mouth opened revealing a gaping toothless maw, its inside a black void. It made a sound I couldn't decipher and in the next moment it swallowed the Moribund Sword from the ground.
I stood there frozen, seeing my only chance at victory taken away so haphazardly like that. I barely registered as the worm rose above me and swallowed me whole.
I finally reacted when I felt the inside of the worm start to become more tight. It was contracting, trying to crush me while I was still breathing inside it. I tried to fight back, clawing at the surface of the worm's slides but the insides were too slimy, letting my fingers find no grip. There was a horrendous smell that filled the inside of the worm, making every breath more laboring and painful. My lungs burned as the gas filled my lungs, I grew weaker with every grudging breath.
I tried to not scream and cry, knowing that it would not help and only hinder me. But soon enough I wouldn't have even had the strength to do them if I wished to.
The worm had become more still and relaxed as it continued to contract, feeling less and less resistance from me. My arms were stuck to my sides and my hands were close to my neck, as I tried to prevent the slimy inside from touching my face. The worm was so tight now that I felt my ribs start to contract under the force.
Near my feet, I felt liquid seeping into my boots. I recognized it as gastric acid from the stomach of the worm. It started to melt through my tattered boots. It eventually reached my feet, and I felt it corrode through my skin. I couldn't even feel the pain, there was barely any oxygen inside the worm, I was losing consciousness.
My life flashed before my eyes, and it settled on thoughts of Mongrel. The masked swordsman was fearless and even in the most unfair scenarios, had become victorious. I'm sure he could have gotten out of this. He would have used his sword. He would have used that sword to slash this worm into ribbons, it would be nothing to him. Even if he was given a flawed memory like Moribund sword, he would win.
An illogical idea popped into my head.
I found new sudden strength filling my muscles as I sat up. The worm hadn't expected the powerfully abrupt movement, so it easily gave away the space I needed. Instead of trying to go outside the mouth of the worm, I pushed in further. My hands shot out into the pool of stomach acid, the acid burned through my skin thoroughly, but I kept on digging until I felt something.
The grip of a blade.
I pulled my skinless corroded hand back and the Moribund Sword revealed its full length from the pool of acid. I moved my hand so that the tip of the sword pointed up, as the worm attempted to crush me again, the sword's blade pierced through the Worm. The worm trashed about from the sudden pain, it rolled around like a falling boulder.
I wasted no chance. I put my other hand behind the back of the sword and pulled, shredding through the worm's body in a circular arc. Viscous clear liquid gushed out the laceration, but I continued the path of the blade.
The worm kept on thrashing about with the same amount of force I used to drive the blade further through its skin. The struggle continued between me and it, until the worm finally went slack as I separated it into two halves.
The grip I had on the Moribund Sword was gone and I dropped it onto the tunnel ground. It disappeared into blazing white sparks.
Swings: [13/15]
I was still inside the worm, with only my feet outside of its corpse. The inside was much more spacious now with the worm dead, giving me an energizing breath of fresh air.
[You have slain Goliath Worm!]
[You have received a memory! You have received the Essence of Dirt!]
I couldn't even react to the words of the memory as I was losing consciousness, my attention diverted somewhere else. From my place in the worm, I spotted a dark figure approaching the carcass of the dead worm. It didn't look humanoid.
I'm dead, I thought to myself as I felt the figure pick up the carcass of the worm with me in it.
Then I blacked out.