It all happened on a full-moon night.
In the depths of the outskirts, a young boy could be seen passed out on the sidewalk, huddling beneath the rays of the full-moon. At first, no one batted an eye, as such a sight was not uncommon in the outskirts. However, as the boy refused to stir after being prodded, thoughts of him being possibly infected by the nightmare spell were raised. As such, the police were quickly notified.
As the police arrived to the scene, they rushed to escort the sleeping boy to a bunker. Since failing to succeed the first nightmare resulted in a monstrosity, they wasted no time relocating the boy.
Deep within the vault of a bunker, the unconscious boy was placed in heavy restraints. After successfully securing the boy to a safe place, surrounded by policemen, a beautiful woman walked in.
"What do we know of this kid?" She said.
"He's not found anywhere in the database, Master Jet." One police said.
"I see." She nodded. "Well, that's not really surprising. It's true for many people in the outskirts." She replied somberly.
Master Jet turned to inspect the sleeping boy. Appearing no older than sixteen, the boy looked to be quite malnourished; certain areas of his body were showing bone. He had black hair and dark brown eyes, and rather short in stature. All this was expected for a person growing up in the outskirts, however, there was one thing about him that did stand out to her.
Carved onto the side of his neck was a symbol. A single line drawn down the middle, with two lines protruding out, reconverging back at the end. If Jet were to speculate, it looked like a crude depiction of a dangling bell, however she knew that likely wasn't it.
"Have you found anything else about him?" She inquired again.
"Uh yes." One spoke up. "There is something else…"
The policemen brought Jet's attention to a table outside the room that was keeping the sleeping boy. On the table, were several vials of dark red liquid, some full and some empty.
Jet couldn't help but grimace. Picking up a vial, she looked closely at the contents inside.
"Is… this… blood?" Jet remarked in slight disbelief.
One of the policemen nodded. "Yes, we've confirmed it to be blood. Furthermore, we found injection marks on his right leg. It seems that he had been injecting this into his bloodstream."
Jet frowned in confusion. "Maybe he was losing blood? There are blood banks that provide this sort of thing. We can't assume he had bad intentions."
"That is true." Some conceded. "However, that is not our concern…"
Jet frowned. Looking around, disturbed looks were plastered over the face of the policemen, as if they were confronted by some terrible truth. Eventually, one managed to come forward.
"It's definitely blood, master Jet." Someone assured her. "However, it doesn't seem to be the blood of a human. It's not the blood of any animal either."
Hearing this, the implication became very clear; it was the blood of a nightmare creature. A barrage of questions rang in her head; how he got this blood, and why he was putting it into himself? She knew that life in the Outskirts were bad, but this situation was simply beyond her.
Jet scrounged her brows. "I see. I'll inform this to upper management. I'll also be watching him in case he fails the first nightmare. If he survives, I'll be asking him a few questions."
As Jet explained her intentions, a look of relief washed upon the policemen's faces. Even though they already knew she would be watching over the young boy, hearing it firsthand was still very assuring. With nothing more left to discuss, Jet reentered the vault that was holding the sleeping boy, whilst the policemen remained outside, keeping watch.
There was no way to know how long his first nightmare would last, assuming that he'd even survive it. First nightmares generally last for a few days, depending on the trials that were given. Regardless, Jet was resolved to stay for as long as it was required, not only to stop the possibility of him turning into a monster, but also because she was curious.
However, to the surprise of everyone, towards the end of the night, as the full moon finally parted out of view, the young boy finally stirred.