Riley found himself floating in the air, above a desolate white wasteland. Snowflakes fell steadily from the grey skies, making him shiver slightly. However, something he hadn't expected happened.
Time froze.
And then, magically, time flowed backward.
The snowflakes on the ground leapt up and flew back into the grey skies, the sun rose from the east and set in the west. Very quickly, Riley experienced all the seasons the Nexus realm had to offer—including a season of only darkness.
The white wasteland stretched as far as his eyes could see. White sand dunes collapsed on each other. Tiny lonesome human-like figures rose, dwarfing the scattered rocks.
The white bones on the ground began to move, shimmering in a white sheen as they gained life on their own accord.
Several parts of the bones slithered across the white landscape, searching for their main part and reconnecting to it as if they were attracted by some strange force.
Quickly, the bones connected themselves and formed a complete human skeleton. Time continued to flow in reverse, and pretty soon, an army was formed. When the time reversal stopped, Riley found himself in the midst of the army.
He was dressed in a white tunic, a red coat, and a belt around his torso to secure the coat. Holding a short sword in his hand, he matched alongside other soldiers. The heavy boots he wore made his movements sluggish and almost impossible. Still...
Riley continued to walk, although confused.
"I'm alive?" he questioned.
The soldier beside him, hearing this, whispered, "Not for long, boy." Riley glanced in his direction, unimpressed.
The soldier was young and fat, with an evil smirk on his face. He glanced at Riley, licking his lips evilly, as if he wanted to taste Riley's flesh.
He still hadn't lost his baby fat, which hung from his cheeks, drooping downward, making him look like a bulldog.
"Sorry, but I'm not edible, Big Fat Ben," Riley spoke, quickly losing interest in the fat soldier beside him.
Instead, he focused on the man sitting on the beautiful white horse leading them. Riley couldn't fathom what was happening or where the soldiers were marching to, but he knew one thing for sure.
The army would perish on this road.
He had magically escaped death in his former world, and Riley knew for sure that his body had somehow survived. At least he had found himself in the Nexus realm—facing his first Nexus trial.
And he now gained a chance of awakening.
Thinking back to the lessons he had in the academy, he decided to summon the runes, just as he had been taught.
He willed it in his mind, thinking of something like "System," "Info," "About me."
As soon as he thought of it, an unfamiliar runic interface hovered before him. Although the words written on it were strange to him, he somehow understood their meaning.
It felt strange.
Name: Riley Ross
Nexus Name: —:
Nexus Series: Aspirant
Nexus Soul : Dormant
Nexus items: —
Minions: —
Attributes: [Dead Time], [Mist Mark], [Doom]
"It's like an auto-translator AI is embedded in my brain," Riley mused.
However, he knew that wasn't the case.
Modern technology could not work in the Nexus realm. The Nexus realm seemed to interfere with the functionality of modern technology—some machines included—scientists hadn't figured a way around it yet.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he resumed his previous activity—staring at the runic interface—to understand his aspect.
Then something caught his eye when he got to the Attributes panel. One of his attributes was [Doom]—an inevitable end for him.
Riley's mind almost short-circuited. Compared to the aspects everyone he knew awakened, none of them—and never in the world had anyone—had an attribute related to an inevitable end—until now.
He had managed to awaken a rare attribute and then got something worse: [Doom]. Doom only had one meaning in the world—two worlds even.
It couldn't be that his luck was that bad, right?
"I'm surprised the gods actually want to be my arch-enemies," he mumbled. "I'm pretty famous."
Thinking of this, Riley lost his rhythm, stumbled forward, and pushed the bulky soldier marching in front of him. The bulky man growled, and Riley quickly adjusted his steps, gaining his balance, and continued marching.
"You better watch your steps, boy. You can't be rushing to your death, are you?" a soldier behind Riley asked. Riley glanced behind him.
There, marching behind him, was a thin soldier who seemed to sway with the wind as he marched. He smiled widely as he made eye contact with Riley, displaying a full row of brown crooked teeth.
He continued, "In a couple of days, we will all be dead." He swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "If we don't die of starvation before reaching the next mountain, the desert will kill us."
"You mean like that of the Star Gate movies?" Riley asked.
"What the hell are you blabbering!" a lieutenant walking near them yelled.
"Movies," Riley responded immediately, almost on impulse.
"Mov—what?" The lieutenant asked.
"It seems you guys are too ancient to know what the term 'movie' means," Riley said, looking thoughtful.
Then he remembered something important. Wasn't he supposed to salute his lieutenant, now that he was in the army? Riley stopped and saluted the lieutenant, who in return gave him a weird look.
His salute ended up scattering the army formation, and he was pushed forward by other soldiers. The lieutenant shook his head, ignoring Riley. He obviously had a very urgent matter to attend to because he hurried off, moving ahead of them to the commander of the unit.
"The poor boy is running mad," a soldier said.
"It's the same for us all," another replied.
"Since we lost thousands of our men to the Angels, something has broken in us. As adults, we had a hard time coping, even though we had been on the front lines for years."
"He's just a kid. All of his friends must have died on the battlefield," another soldier added.
Riley listened to their conversation, but his mind was focused on something else that caught his interest.
The Angels.
Riley couldn't believe it. They had fought an Angel—real Angels. He would do anything to see the Angels and fight them himself. He turned to the men, prepared to ask some questions about the Angels. Of course, he couldn't let go of such an opportunity.
"Halt!" the commander yelled, his voice booming through the ranks of soldiers marching.
"Halt!" His command was passed down the lines of soldiers.
Soon, a murmur could be heard from the front lines. Although Riley was not far from the front, he couldn't see what was happening ahead, and his height didn't help either.
Of course, Riley wouldn't give up. He broke away from the row of soldiers and moved beside his commander. None of them seemed to notice his arrival; their gazes were all fixed on the distant statues ahead.
The statues were of women dressed in Roman medieval gowns. They were all covering their faces with their hands as if weeping, and large wings were protruding out of their backs.
Strangely, they seemed alive and dead at the same time.
"Angels," Riley voiced out, mesmerized by the sight.
"What's the trial in this Nexus? It's not as hard as they all claimed it was," Riley mumbled. "It's sightseeing day, I guess."
"What should we do, sir? Should we proceed or turn back?" the lieutenant asked the commander.
"What do you think? We've been friends for a long time. You should know what I'm thinking," the commander replied in a monotonous tone. "They are not alive."
Sigh.
The lieutenant sighed. The sight of the angels sent chills down his spine, and he knew it wouldn't end well for them if they went through.
The last battle had thrown the soldiers' morale into the abyss. They wouldn't be able to muster up any courage or will to face any foe.
He could see it on their faces. They had given up; the battle and endless wandering in the desert had taken a toll on them.
Of course, he knew what was going on in his friend's head. Even if it meant death or torment…
They were to march forward.
"Hya." The commander grunted, kicking the horse, and soon the army descended the sand dune, heading toward the angel statues.
An ominous feeling descended on the whole army. They could all feel a weird energy in the atmosphere, but no matter how much they looked, they sensed nothing wrong. It was just a normal desert and a statue constructed by the destroyed city that lay at the entrance to the mountain path.
Riley trudged alongside the commander, who seemed not to mind the little malnourished boy. Although he was surprised when he saw the frail boy battered but alive, and seemingly not in pain, he decided not to offer him any comfort, lest he open up a wound in his heart—the death of his friends on the battlefield.
Riley smiled as he got closer to the angel statues. The ones that had been on display in the remains of the churches in what was once New York City—back in the waking world—didn't have large wings, and they looked genuinely fake—in all aspects—and Riley didn't like fake stuff.
Soon they were passing through the narrow path that twisted through the statues, he wanted to touch the angels badly.
However he felt apprehensive, and the ominous feeling in his heart grew thicker that he could feel it in his throat.As he thought of this, he looked behind him, to the beginning of the path they took, and then his eyes widened. They had been trapped.
The Angels had moved.