4 years from present day: Northern Alteria
***
Two years had passed since Hector and Zeke first met. The two had learned and shared a decent amount about each other since then.
Hector taught Zeke how to fight and use dream essence effectively. He also explained how Zeke is a soul mutation.
This is when a soul is forged with such a unique quality of dream essence that it makes changes in the soul itself.
These changes however made mutant souls more akin to beasts than people.
Right now the Zeke was facing the herd of Footstomper's again at the same spot as last time.
Throughout the years, Hector would just throw him at them and ask him to survive.
Sometimes he'd have him kill one or two. He'd succeed at times and almost die on every other occasion. But today would be different. He had to disperse the herd entirely.
"Okay, let's get active!" Channeling lightning into his feet, he burst towards the approaching herd of Footstomper's.
The purple lightning disappeared as fast as it had appeared on his feet leaving little burn marks, but it had boosted his speed tenfold.
He had changed his clothes of choice since the first time he met the herd. He wore a shirt, shorts and special sandals given by Hector to conduct the lightning he produced on the surface of his skin.
With this, he didn't have to worry about burning his own clothes mid battle.
As he was mere seconds away from ramming into the herd, purple sparks appeared once more on his legs.
"Boom!"
He crouched his legs slightly and leaped into the air, however not without grabbing the two horns of the Footstomper right in front of him.
The two went a good distance into the sky before Zeke with his hands still in its horns before swinging it in a front flip at the rest of the herd.
"Bang!!!"
It struck in the middle of the herd with full force on the backs of two other Footstomper's.
This caused a crater and small dust cloud as the rest scurried away from the centre.
Zeke took the opportunity to land right in the centre of the crater, where he noticed all three Footstompers dead.
Somewhere a further distance away was Hector lying under the shade of a tree near the right mountain that formed the valley.
His clothes remained the same however his eyes hade changed. His beautiful eyes which once looked like they were a flower with two petals now had three. It was purple like the rest and gave him a more beautiful look.
He watched Zeke with a smile at his growth in using Dream essence. He couldn't help but think back to when he taught him.
'I only taught him the basics back then, who would have thought he'd grow this much?'
'To think he'd use his electrical essence particles to see for him by having them interact with the air and anything that may disturb it while he wears that blind fold.
Not to mention creating short burst of lightning under his feet to minimise damage while maximizing mobility.'
Hector never really taught anything aside from the basics and yet Zeke evolved in surprising ways.
**
Zeke was oblivious however to any of the praises Hector was giving him and was examining his surroundings.
'Footstompers are the equivalent to a novice dreamknight, however an entire full large herd could give a viscount a challenge. Lucky for me.. this is just a newborn small herd, so it's nothing special.'
Leaping out of the carter, he looked around to find the essence beasts long gone. He had finally managed to disperse the herd.
He looked back at the corpses of the beast he had just killed in one thrust. He felt really bad but Hector called the shots.
Not wanting their death to be in vain, he waited there for Hector to bring them back to the cave for consumption. That was a mistake!
"Huh?"
"Boom!!"
He felt a distortion in the particles behind him and turned to around only to feel himself get grabbed and lifted a bit high into the air ,before getting slammed down with tremendous force.
He felt painful all over and his blindfold ripped open allowing him to see the beast.
Infront of him was a four armed Salamander with a black wooden mask for a face. It's pupils were all black and it's skin was too.
He knew without a doubt that this was a nightmare and was even more sure from the fear suddenly gripping his heart.
His body had become limp from the blow and was bloody all over. The nightmares eyes were focused solely on him and it's teeth prepared to finish the job when.
"Whoosh bang!!!"
A terrifying force hit it's head causing the head to shatter as black blood spewed everywhere.
It's body went limp and fell on the ground letting go of Zeke in the process. He was in too much pain to attempt moving as acid poured out his sockets burning his cheeks.
Hector arrived shortly and looked at the dead beast for a while before picking up Zeke and placing him on his shoulder.
"Sentiments get you killed, it would do you good to remember that, haha"
Hector laughed as he carried Zeke back to the cave while joking about how Zeke almost died.
Zeke didn't know what he hated more, the pain or Hector laughing at him in the current moment.
They arrived back at the cave and as they headed towards the entrance to the lab Hector kept going.
"Man, who fights blindfolded anyway, so what if your eyes make people go insane.. it's their fault for looking. Man you are stupid haha"
He tried to answer but only a groan would come out, forcing him to endure the embarrassment.
Inside, Hector applied the strange liquid, he now knew as "cell synthesiser", on his entire body. Once that was done and he felt a bit better, he went into the shower that was built for him by Hector. He was still covered in black blood after all.
Feeling refreshed and energised, he went to Hector's office in a new set of the same clothes. He found Hector writing in his journal again with an amused look on his face.
He saw the words idiot being repeatedly wrote down and was about to shout he isn't when.
"How was your first fight with a nightmare.. Sorry I meant beating?"
Calming down for a few seconds he simply answered with a pitiful expression.
"Painful"
"Pfft hahaha!"
Hector couldn't help but laugh at the expression Zeke put on while he uttered those words.
Ignoring the man's blatant disrespect, he continued
" It was faster and stronger than anything I've ever faced, it was definitely a harbinger!"
"No.. that was a crawler or to be more specific a stage 2 nightmare."
He had become very weary at the power that thing had displayed despite how low it's stage was.
"Nightmares grow stronger the more fear you display while fighting them, so try to not be afraid mid battle."
Hector said this perfectly knowing Zeke knew but just wanted to mess with him.
"How do I beat nightmare beasts?"
"Simply kill it"
Hector spoke this as if it were the most normal thing in the world to kill nightmares.
"So how do I kill one then?"
"What do you think?"
He looked at Hector who was still reading his journal blissfully hoping for a magical easy solution.
Hector put his journal down and stared Zeke in directly into his bleak eyes.
"Get stronger?"
With that he forced Zeke out and went back to writing his journal in his usual carefree mood.
Walking back to his living quarters, Zeke was thought hard about all of his experiences with Hector.
Hector never exempt him from pain but would only save him before he died. This meant that the one time Hector is just a bit late, he would be dead.
He had grown to stop hating Dreamknights but he didn't like them either, he was just curious at times.
He wanted to see his family on top of that and knew with the way things are going, Hector might not even try to save him the next time he almost dies.
He was even more worried his sister would have forgotten him after these two years and the ones coming up ahead.
"Well, I guess that settles it, to go home I gotta become a stronger dreamknight. This will be painful, haha."
He let out a small laugh while thinking about the future, however he was determined to survive and see his family.
He got in bed and before falling asleep told himself
'Whatever happens, mom said when I become a dreamknight, I should smile and keep going forward no matter how hopeles it may appear.'
And with that, Zeke's story had truly begun.