The Last Nightmare

Nate dragged himself forward, every step a battle against his own failing body. His breath came in ragged, uneven gasps, his wounds pulsing with dull, persistent pain. His muscles screamed in protest, each movement sluggish, uncoordinated. Exhaustion gnawed at the edges of his consciousness, threatening to pull him under at any moment. But he couldn't stop. He wouldn't.

He had survived. Somehow, despite everything, he was still standing. That thought alone should have brought relief, but all he felt was an overwhelming numbness. How many times had he come this close to death? He had lost count. Every time, he pushed forward, clawing his way past the brink, only to face another impossible fight.

His hand trembled as he reached for his Status Display, willing the familiar golden rune screen to flicker into existence. His vision blurred for a second before the text sharpened into focus.

---

Name: Nathaniel Veran

Title: Sword Heir

Core: Dormant

Bloodline: Dormant Bloodline

Physique: Dormant Physique (Verge of Awakening)

Attributes: Dormant Attributes

Abilities: Dormant

Skills: Dead Man's Reversal, Sword Mastery (Novice), Phantom Steps

Equipment: Selis, Sword of Eternal Night

---

Nate stared at it, his mind struggling to process the words. His physique—verge of awakening?

His chest rose and fell in uneven breaths as he tried to grasp what that meant. He didn't feel any stronger. If anything, he was barely holding himself together. His body was battered, bruised, and on the verge of complete collapse. And yet… deep inside, there was something stirring. A shift he couldn't quite define, something beneath his skin, in his blood, waiting.

Was it the battles? The near-death experiences?

He exhaled sharply. No point thinking about it now. It didn't change his immediate reality—he needed shelter before his body failed him completely.

Forcing himself to move, he pressed forward, each step heavier than the last. The landscape stretched before him, bleak and lifeless. The ground was scarred, blackened as if it had once burned under a fire so intense that nothing ever grew back. Deep fissures split the earth, some narrow, others wide enough to swallow an entire building.

Everything about this place felt wrong.

The air was thick with dust, dry and suffocating, clogging his lungs. There were no sounds—no wind, no distant calls of life. Just silence. A silence so profound it pressed against his ears, making the world feel unnervingly hollow.

Then, in the distance, something came into view.

Ruins.

A city—no, the remnants of the city. Or what was left of one.

"What happened to this city?"

Massive ruins stretched out before him, a graveyard of stone and history. Once-great towers lay in shattered fragments, massive structures reduced to skeletal remains. The walls of old buildings were cracked, crumbling, their surfaces covered in strange, weathered inscriptions. Symbols he didn't recognize lined the streets, etched into fallen pillars, remnants of an ancient civilization long forgotten.

The city wasn't just abandoned. It was violated.

Something had destroyed this place. Not slowly, not over time, but with violence.

As he ventured deeper, the scale of destruction became more apparent. Massive streets paved with intricate stonework were now littered with debris, their once-grand designs fractured by time and whatever calamity had befallen this city. Towering statues stood, half-buried in rubble, their faces eroded beyond recognition. Arched bridges stretched over dry riverbeds, their once-elegant designs now crumbling under the weight of neglect.

Nate's footsteps echoed eerily in the silence. There was no sign of life, no remnants of those who had once lived here—only the wind, whispering through hollow corridors, stirring up the dust of forgotten history. Who had built this place? What had destroyed it? Questions circled in his mind, but he had no answers.

His grip tightened around Selis, the familiar weight of the blade grounding him. He pushed forward, forcing himself to ignore the unsettling sensation.

He passed what might have once been a marketplace—a place where people gathered, where life had flourished. Now, it was lifeless. Stalls stood in half-ruined disarray, their wares long turned to dust.

How long had it been since anyone stood here? Since the last voice echoed through these streets?

Nate's stomach twisted.

He needed to get out of here. But first, he needed rest.

He wandered for what felt like hours before finding shelter—a collapsed structure that still had part of its walls intact. It wasn't much, but it was enough.With the last of his strength, he stumbled inside, sinking against the cool stone,exhaustion slamming into him all at once.

His fingers fumbled through his pouch, pulling out the last of his food—remnants of the meal Elena had given him back in the dungeon. Cold. Stale. But it was something.

As he ate in silence, his mind drifted.

Who built this city?

And What destroyed it?

The dry bread crumbled in his mouth, barely registering against the exhaustion that weighed down on him.

His gaze flickered to the crumbling walls, the broken streets outside. A part of him wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. But another part—one shaped by instinct—told him there was something here. Something waiting to be found.

He would explore in the morning.

For now his eyes grew heavy, his body no longer willing to fight against the inevitable. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Nate allowed himself to close his eyes.

Darkness took him.

—

Four hours passed before he awoke, his body still sore but no longer on the verge of collapse. The rest had done little to heal his wounds, but at least his mind felt clearer. He forced himself upright, stretching his limbs despite the discomfort. The ruins still loomed around him, silent and unmoving.

He couldn't stay here.

Pushing himself to his feet, he took one last deep breath before stepping back into the ruined city. If there was anything of value here—supplies, shelter, answers—he needed to find it before moving on.

And so, with weary steps and renewed determination, he ventured deeper into the heart of the ruins, unaware of the secrets waiting to be uncovered.