It was the last day. [1]The solstice would be upon the cohort of sleepers in a couple of hours, everyone felt the drowsiness fill their strong bodies with weakness, the doubt sown into them growing stronger as they grew more tired.
All but one person.
Kade was bright-eyed and walking with a pep to his step. The tiredness that wore down other sleepers was suppressed by [Never EndingFury].
It was what Kade gave off to his close peers, such as Dawn and Cassie. But it was somewhat manufactured, because while unlike everyone else he was happy to go off into the dream realm.
Because of his flaw. [Battle Lust]
'I should of never underestimated it!' Kade growled inwardly, his bright smile. though a twitch at his brow betrayed him.
In reality, his entire body had been itching for violence, like a craving that surged past common sense and reason. At the back of his mind clawing at his sanity.
He was strong enough mentally to somewhat resist it, but he had his limits. And if the winter solstice happened any later he might have gone insane.
Spares and such only slightly helped, his flaw demanded true violence, the same one that he had experienced in his fight against Caster. Something that he couldn't afford to do.
The academy had not overlooked the drastic fight he had caused; they had been aware of the chaos but decided not to punish him, a single time when he was off the hook.
'As soon as I enter the bloody dream realm I'm tearing into the next thing I see, Nightmare creature, or sleeper!' Kade promised. The impulse seemed to only slightly halt at his vow. It was one of the measures he had come up with halting it from taking over.
And trying to replace it with a different itch, like the nicotine he got from smoking. It had resulted in Dawn and Cassie being somewhat concerned with the drastic increase in his habit. Nephis seemed to only send disapproving looks, while Sunless avoided sitting next to him.
Something about "not wanting to stink like a walking ashtray."
Kade really couldn't understand that since the street rat had smelt like shit the first time they met. And he had not been improving too much in that regard.
Either way, it would finally be over. Soon he would leave the false hell that was being tied to this academy. And among the crowd of forming sleepers, he stood out like a sore thumb.
They were following the instructor's rock. The bear-like fellow with the atrocious name, the mood was tinged with tension and unease of the sleepers. All marched together before they were sent off to fend for themselves.
Dawn eventually found Kade, she walked quickly to his side, grasping Cassie's hand in her own. The blind girl looked quite distraught. Kade could see the dried tears still lingering on her expression.
The three linked up silently. Kade's gaze stuck to Cassie.
'She really isn't taking this well...' The sight pricked Kade slightly, a tinge of guilt for his desperation to go off to the dream world, where instead Cassie had dreaded the day ever since she had awoke from her nightmare.
Trying to cheer them up the normal way felt inconsiderate. So Kade didn't.
"Are you scared?" Kade spoke, his voice dead of playfulness like normal.
Cassie for a second clutched onto Dawn's hand tighter, responding quietly.
"Yes. Very..."
Kade answered. "Of course you are. But right now, you're safe. And whatever happens in there… me and Dawn will be with you."
She reminded him of himself. before the cage matches, before the chaotic life of the outskirts. Back when he was just a kid, scared and alone, with no one to stop his father from throwing him to the wolves.
Seeing someone fall to such a fate rather than rise past it as he did was unacceptable.
Dawn responded by bringing Cassie closer.
Cassie nodded, taking their words to heart. She seemed somewhat calmed down, but one could tell there was still plenty of anxiety built up. It was a thing that Dawn and Kade could not address, only she could after experience the dream realm firsthand.
'I've got to get my mind off this whole thing...' Kade sighed, thinking about only increasing the draw of [Battle Lust], he didn't want to suffer his fortitude being broken through before he hit the solstice. He could imagine the catastrophe already.
Summoning his shimmering blue runes, Kade occupied his mind with his own status.
Name: Kade
True Name: [Heart of Chaos]
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: 2/1000
Memories: [Oblique Beads], [Rings of The Ravaged]
Echoes: [Byakko the Mighty]
Attributes: [Scarred], [Vigilance], [Anchored], [Throne of Victory]
Aspect: [Unyielding Asura]
Aspect Rank: [Sacred*]
Aspect Ability: [Never ending fury]
Aspect Legacy: [Stairway to Heaven]
Flaw: [Battle lust]
The familiar runes were nice to see, it was a measure of his progress after all, a memory of the steps he had taken after falling to the spell. And with the solstice coming up, it was good to quickly go over his status.
First was his memory. [Oblique Beads] The monk beads that he had received from slaying the broken devout. The healing enchantment was a powerful one at that. It had saved him from certain death before, but the drawback was still immense.
[Prayer recharged: 4 Days]
It had been more then three weeks since he had used it, and it still was unavailable to him. So he had to play it safe until the cooldown wore off, and even then he should use it sparingly.
'Just have to not die before then..., Simple, easy in fact'.
Then was the mystical tiger Byakko. The oversized death machine house cat would prove to be a great ally to have in the dream realm if he decided to exit his soul when he was needed, Kade didn't know if the lazy tiger would. He could only hope that it had some self-preservation being tied to his soul and all.[2]
After that was his newer attribute. [Throne of Victory]
Attribute Description: [The Asura rampages in the lower realms, using the bodies of its victims to forge a throne to rival the heavens, itself manifesting divinity.]
Enemies Defeated [514/10,000]
'I've barely made a dent in it...' From the number shown, it seemed like the spell was picky about what it attributed to the score. He had only gained another two. It seems like only his fights against Kurt and Caster. The fights where he had put his life on the line.
Hopefully, in the dream realm he could increase that number a fair amount; divinity seemed like a special attribute. After all, only Changing Star and Sunless had it. Mostly Changing Star. 'I'll just have to see what Sunny is capable of soon.'
It had to be better than his placement as the second lowest-ranking sleeper. Kade doubted that the little street rat would have such pride if he was actually that weak.
Kade broke out of his thoughts with a quick tug on his coat. Dawn indicated to pay attention. And now that Kade did, he came back to his surroundings.
The crowd was now gathered at a section away from the sleeper pods they were supposed to head to. They entered a deserted floor, to a gallery illuminated by the fading sun.
There were rows and rows of people with weirdly blank faces; they all looked calm and peaceful, yet behind their expressions was no spark of humanity or personality. It was a blank, empty well where identity painted an individual.
'Creepy...' Kade mused.
Instructor Rock, who had led the sleepers, looked at the empty people with solemn eyes.
"There is a reason I brought you all here. Look well and remember. Some of you may know who these people are… For those of you who don't, they are called Hollow."
He gritted his teeth.
"Each one of them was once either a Sleeper or an Awakened. Some of them were weak, and some of them were strong. Some were even incredibly powerful. All of them have perished in the Dream Realm."
'All souls dead, huh? It would have been me against Kurt if I didn't have [Anchored]. The fact alarmed him; after all, he was on the teetering edge of his soul being killed by the shadow knife. That kind of attack would be more devastating to Kade than physical.
He could walk those ones off much better.
Instructor Rock glanced in the direction where Caster, Nephis, and Kade stood.
"So don't die out there."
The stern words carried weight, but Kade's snark flared back to life, a defense against the gravity of it all.
'Sure, I'll just magic myself to immortality.' He was good, but clearly, the awakened bear man overestimated him. Along with the other sleepers present.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Half an hour later, the Sleepers had been led to their personal rooms and were preparing to enter the pods.
In one of the rooms, the blind girl, Cassia, was helplessly trying to orient herself in the unfamiliar space, touching the walls and strange pieces of machinery with her hands. Tears were streaming down her beautiful, doll-like face.
In the other room, proud Legacy Caster was staring listlessly at the floor. repeating a soundless phrase on his lips like a mantra, commanding his body to not tremble. Anger, determination, and fear mixing together into one.
Somewhere else, Changing Star Nephis, the last daughter of the Immortal Flame clan, was looking down at her hands. Underneath her skin, soft white radiance was slowly growing brighter and brighter. Her face was contorted in a grimace of harrowing agony.
Stored in a room far darker than his peers, he was sunless, talking like a crazy man to his own shadow, arguing with the shapeless shadowing apparition for a few seconds before hesitantly stepping into his pod.
His eyes were sharp, ready for danger.
In a distant room, a young sleeper moved with rigid, hesitant motions. He bit his lip as he climbed into the pod, forced to silently accept the trials awaiting him. Not able to say a word about his fate, for he was silenced.
And in the place where the sunlight's rays shined through the small window was Dawn. Gazing distantly at the medical pods' screens containing data and measurements yet to activate. Clenching her fist as she hopped into the machine, feeling the strength of her grasp as the pod closed.
He lit a cigarette and took the deepest breath he could manage, exhaling smoke that quickly filled the small room. All the while, his fingers scratched at his thigh, unaware he was drawing blood.
Careful not to damage the delicate machinery, he climbed into the pod with tense precision.
'That was the last cig I will get in a while...'
Was that really what he was thinking about right now!?
The pod door hissed shut above him, sealing him in. Claustrophobia set in. Tight, suffocating, and oppressive.
"This is going to be a hell of a time," Kade muttered.
Then, he let go.
[Never Ending Fury] dispersed.
The drowsiness he'd kept at bay crashed into him like a tidal wave, dragging his consciousness under.
All the sleepers united together in their tombs, left to their own individual darkness as the spell whispered. Tailormade to their newest victims.
[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Kade!]
[1] I've decided to move the schedule up to the day of solstice rather than one before it.
[2] Im going to change his ascension thing to be vague as to grow alongside Kade rather than drawing rank from Kade's strongest kill.
Gives me more freedom in writing.
Also cause my dear reader Azi Kan annoyed me into doing so lol.
Your welcome😭