Luster was in a terrible mood.
Just a few days ago he was somewhat looking forward to the Antarctic expedition but now he was dreading it. The reason for this was none other than his newly assigned captain. The man was a demon, or perhaps the devil… whatever he was, he was simply too cruel. First, he scared the life out of luster and then proceeded to beat him overwhelmingly just a few minutes later.
'Maybe I should report him as a nightmare creature to Master Jet'
Luster shook his head.
'No, that would never work. The captain would no doubt find out and eat me before I get a chance.'
Sitting in a makeshift meeting room inside the irregular's warehouse, he took a moment to collect his thoughts before looking over at the ordinary young woman sitting across from him. She was painfully below average compared to most awakened and while she wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever seen there was something about her that comforted luster.
"What do you think is on the agenda for today Kimmy?"
Awakened Kim took a moment before meekly uttering a few words that hit luster like an awakened demon.
"T-The captain said that uh… that he has a special dreamscape training session today."
Luster closed his eyes before putting his head in his hands. He hated those sessions. Just because it was illusory did not mean it didn't hurt and oh did it hurt so much. He had already died three times to the captain, each worse than the last. The first time he had been disemboweled and bled out while watching the rest of his cohort die in front of him, the second time he got beheaded, watching his world spin before going dark and the third time he simply got tackled by the captain. That would not have been so bad if the captain didn't weigh as much as a literal mountain.
In an inaudible whisper Luster mumbled to himself in a huffy tone:
"He's definitely worse than a demon, he's the damn devil himself."
"Who's the devil?"
Luster clicked his tongue before saying in an annoyed tone:
"Who else but the Ca-"
The words died on his lips as he realized nobody should have heard him say that, and as he looked up he felt his heart stop beating for just a moment. It was the captain, who had somehow silently appeared in the meeting room, he was on the other side of the sparsely decorated room leaning on the wall, with an expression so carefree no one would ever think he was about to go into a pseudo death zone surrounded by a sea of harrowing abominations.
Awakened Kim turned and tensed at the sight of the captain as Luster rushed to correct himself:
"Nobody, nobody's the devil"
Luster looked at the captain sheepishly hoping he wouldn't question it further
Giving luster a confused look, the captain stated:
"I'm pretty sure nobody was human, not a devil"
Luster nervously chuckled before realizing that the captain wasn't making a joke. His face was completely serious, the look of confusion painting it was genuine.
'What is he even talking about, how could nobody be human'
Still thinking about the captains strange statement moments later, he thoughts were interrupted by the captain:
"I'm glad you two are already here, the rest will be arriving shortly"
Before Luster could say anything, Kim was already speaking:
"Will this be about the special training session you mentioned earlier?"
"Yes, it will be, but I want to wait until everyone is here before I explain the logistics of the drill."
The room entered a lull as the captain was a man of strange words and Kim wasn't one to make small talk with those she was intimidated by. Trying to keep a lively atmosphere and win some points with the captain and Kim, luster asked the captain a simple but semi-personal question:
"Hey Captain, what's the worst creature you've ever had to fight?"
The captain's face darkened and the shadows in the room seemed to stir, growing deeper, in a subdued tone the captain plainly responded:
"Once when I was a Sleeper, I had to fight a corrupted squid creature in the middle of an ocean that was actually a great titan. I thought I was going to die but I got saved by another monster and was able to escape."
After hearing that, Luster opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but then closed it, deciding to be quiet for the remainder of the time until the rest of the cohort arrived but not before coming to the conclusion to never ask the captain any unnecessary questions again.
***
Dorn was in a great mood.
After being selected to be a member of the Irregular Company, he had been worried that the cohort he would be assigned to would be lacking for the coming horrors of Antarctica, few truly understood how terrible and long the Antarctic evacuation was going to be and being in a poorly assembled team was a sure-fire way to die. His worry worsened when he learned that his captain was extremely young for a master and practically unknown in the government database. His fears were pleasantly dismissed when the cohort assembled for the first time.
Two frontline fighters, a healer, a ranged specialist, and two utility supports. This led Dorn to make a couple conclusions but the most important one was that the person responsible for assembling them was more familiar with the abysmal reality of exhaustive never ending combat and more experienced in surviving than most awakened were or would ever be. He was happy because his captain was no fool, regardless of his weak outer appearance, Dorn knew Captain Sunless was extremely dangerous, more so than the other captains and perhaps even more so than the dreaded soul reaper. After all he did kill 400 awakened monstrosities as a sleeper in a death zone.
Walking into the makeshift room, Dorn ducked to avoid hitting his head on the doorway and scanned the room. It seemed he had been the last to arrive.
Sitting at the table from left to right was, Samara with a cool laid-back expression, Quentin with a charismatic smile, Kim with a nervous look in her eye, Luster who was comforting her, and Belle who sat with a content grin on his face.
Dorn went and sat next to belle but before he could ask what the reason for the meeting was the captain began to speak:
"Good Morning everyone, I'm sure a few of you are wondering why you've been gathered here and well I'm here to say that it's for a good cause. After the recent training sessions I've realized that I haven't been preparing you well enough for what Antartica might throw at us and so I have devised a truly ingenious Idea to get you ready."
Dorn was sure the captain's idea was going to be good but there was something off about the captain's face, a maniacal look flickered in his abyssal eyes and a playful, almost evil grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. A feeling of unease began to settle in Dorn's stomach. Whatever this next training session was going to he was sure that it would truly test them more than ever before.
"What's your idea Captain?"
Belle's question was genuine but there was a hint of apprehension in his voice, almost as if he was afraid of what kind of idea their deranged captain could come up with.
"I'm glad you asked, so far, our dreamscape sessions have lacked a key component of what our time in Antarctica will entail and that is a true Nightmare Creature. The dreamscape can't replicate them and while I can fight you fools all day long, colosseum combat is no replacement for the real thing, so to switch things up I will be taking the role of a nightmare creature in a custom dreamscape realm set in the cold and dire Arctic. You six will have to work together to track and hunt me down before the long night settles in or risk being hunted yourself."
The mood in the room immediately took a nosedive, not only was their captain proposing another fight with him which had only ended poorly in the past, this one would be filled with numerous unknowns, most importantly of which was the captain's location. Combined with the lethal environment of the arctic and the lack of strong cohesion in the newly formed cohort this could prove to be an almost impossible task.
"Any questions?"
Surprisingly only one person had their hand up.
"Yes Samara"
Still looking calm and cool, Samara asked:
"When will this training exercise be taking place?"
Without looking at the clock or his communicator the captain confidently stated:
"We will begin in forty-seven minutes at nine sharp, use this time however you like and enter the dreamscape pods together at the appointed time, and don't wait for me, I'll already be inside."
***
"I mean, don't you think it's a little weird how he knew exactly how long it would be till nine, it's like he has eyes everywhere."
Belle gave Luster a quick glance before letting out a quiet sigh
"It's better not to think about these kinds of things, especially when it involves the captain, you should be thinking about how we're going to beat him or at least make him bleed this time."
The Cohort had gathered around the dreamscape pods 15 minutes before the appointed time, the mood was a mix of nervousness and fear with a tinge of excitement sprinkled in. Not wanting to waste any time Dorn spoke in an authoritative yet kind voice like that of a mentor hoping to steady the nerves of his comrades:
"Given the circumstances we should treat this almost like a nightmare, only the stakes are lower and the goal already stated, oh and the danger twice as high."
"Oh that's just wonderful to hear"
Chimed Belle who was obviously happy with his life choices leading up to this point.
Still disgruntled, Belle summoned a memory of a small doll which resembled what voodoo practitioners would use when attempting to curse someone.
"This will be our lifeline when we enter the dreamscape, it can point me in the direction of anybody who is connected to the doll and given the nature of the enchantment it should point me towards your dreamscape body and not your real body."
Eyeing the doll up close samara asked in a slightly unnerved tone:
"So how does it work, do we do a ritual or sacrifice some blood to it or what?"
Belle coughed awkwardly before meekly replying:
"Oh nothing so barbaric, I just need some of your hair, not that much, just a piece really"
It was then that the cohort noticed the apparent baldness of the doll. In the end everyone gave up a piece of hair although some more reluctantly than others, all except Dorn who was bald.
"Oh, don't worry guys I'll find you and if I can't I'm not that hard to spot"
"Yea we know but that's what I'm worried about, what if the captain finds you before us"
Lusters worry was valid but was quickly dismissed by Dorn who uncharacteristically cracked a joke
"If that's the case, then I'll be sure to have a legendary battle with the captain, so grand in fact that you won't need that doll to know where I'm at."
"I'll hold you to that, Dorn the Devil Hunter."
Dorn couldn't help but smile at the unofficial title given to him. The cohort chatted some more and made a few more jokes before eventually resigning themselves to their respective dreamscape pods. Taking one last look at the cohort, he confirmed that the team was ready and closed the lid of his spacious dreamscape pod. A pang of fear and sudden horror gripped his heart but was just as quickly washed away as his subconscious was pulled into the dreamscape.
The cohort dreamed of a snowy hell, with rolling plains and valleys surrounded by a ring of grand mountains.