"In less than a month, you will be summoned to the Dream Realm. Some of you might think you're well prepared. You're wrong, The Spell is merciless and cunning. The moment an Awakened starts thinking too highly of themselves… they die. I've seen countless Sleepers like you lose their lives. I've seen Masters die. Even Saints aren't guaranteed survival."
The tone in the room changed — a subtle chill ran through everyone.
I won't lie, I was a little scared too, but i didn't let it show.
"In the following four weeks, we'll do everything we can to increase your chances of survival. You'll receive training from the best instructors in the world. But don't let that fool you — in the end, whether you return from the Dream Realm alive depends on one person: you. The responsibility to survive is yours, and yours alone."
He paused for a moment, scanning the crowd.
"You're not children anymore. It's a shame, because you should be. But the Spell decided otherwise. You've all been through your first Nightmare, so you already know what it's like. Your parents, your teachers, your friends — they can't help you anymore."
'I don't even know what it's like, though,' I thought.
Sure, it was good that I didn't have to experience the First Nightmare with no powers. I wasn't even sure I would've survived it.
But it still would've been useful to at least know what kind of horrors to expect.
Not that I was volunteering to try it, even if I could.
"Now," Rock continued, "let's talk about the difference between Nightmares and the Dream Realm…"
"Most people know what Nightmares are — they affect the real world. You were all warned before entering your First Nightmare that, should you die there, a Nightmare Creature would cross into reality."
I already knew everything he was saying — but I still listened carefully.
Partly to refresh what I knew. Partly because… well, fear has a way of making you pay attention.
___
After the speech was over, I used the communicator they'd given us to reach my room.
The room had everything I needed. Clothes with the academy's emblem were given, which were exactly my size. I was obviously planning to wear them — no way was I surviving in this police-issued tracksuit forever.
After changing into my new clothes, I sat down on the bed, legs crossed, and summoned my runes.
I couldn't exactly test my abilities right now, so the only thing I could do was check the memories I'd received.
The first one was Pain Eater.
Memory: [Pain Eater]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Armor
Memory Description: …
Memory Enchantments: [Pain Eater]
'Wait what? An enchantment with the same name as the memory name? Weird.' I quickly opened its description — the name alone told me nothing.
[Pain Eater] Enchantment description: "This armor provides physical augmentation based on how much pain you experience while wearing it."
Okay… I guess that's good?
It was surprising that I'd received an Awakened memory — which meant I'd killed an Awakened in my Nightmare. But, thinking about it, the chances were probably high since I'd received a Divine Aspect.
I checked the other two memories.
The cloak was Dormant rank; it just made me quieter while running or walking.
The Sword of Vengeance was Awakened rank. It did two things: it increased the pain inflicted depending on how much I hated the target, and it made wounds bleed a little more than normal.
After I was done checking the memories, I just flopped onto the bed with a thump and exhaled.
'I hate all of this.'
I'd been ignoring a lot since the ceremony — heck, since morning. Worrying, being scared, overthinking.
But the biggest and most disturbing thought was this:
I had to kill Nightmare creatures and, eventually, other humans.
That was inevitable. Thinking about killing them didn't really bother me — I didn't know them, after all. They could die or suffer for all I cared. But to kill them, I had to hurt them. To hurt them, I had to inflict damage. Which meant fighting.
Am I capable of doing that?
Maybe with my [Aesthete] attribute… but could I really?
I'd always tried to stay out of trouble. I thought it was because I feared the aftermath more than the fight itself. But, truthfully, I had no experience fighting. Would that change? I didn't know. But it had to.
Still, the thought was disturbing. I'd never hurt anyone seriously in my life. I thought I could do it, but I wasn't sure I actually could.
After lying there for a few minutes, thinking about it, I decided I should probably take combat classes right away.
Not only could I copy others, but it would give me real experience.
Fighting in front of others would still be tough, though.
'I hate myself.' I groaned.
I cared way too much about other people's opinions. It was annoying. But I couldn't hide from it this time — this was life and death. No… more than that. Life and eternal suffering.
Because I'd been given a blessing… or a curse.
I summoned my runes and stared at the source of my current dread.
Return by Death.
Having the chance to repeat things until I got them right was cool enough, but the "death" part was a real pain. Literally.
All the thinking made my appetite disappear. I just lay there on my bed.
My life had been ruined.
My eyes started to get watery, a few tears even sliding down my face.
'What the fuck?! You seriously can't be doing that right now.'
Was it warranted? Could I even allow myself to cry?
This was pathetic. Crying like a weakling… borderline— I don't know. Gay?
That was a bad joke. But I could never take my sadness seriously. Whenever I got angry or sad — or both, since they usually came together — my brain split into three parts:
One got sad. The other got angry. And the third just made fun of the other two.
Never mind, there was a fourth one, too — making sure none of the others went too far.
There's no one here.
That was true. So could I just let my pathetic side out? This wasn't exactly an easy situation to go through, right?
My heart felt like a black hole. Or maybe the opposite — like something was tightly gripping it and wouldn't let go.
I bet if I tried to talk to someone right now, my emotions would be a complete mess.
It was just based on self-observation from similar situations, though none on this level.
You don't exactly get teleported to another world every day.
I sighed out loud.
"What should I do?" I asked the empty room.
Logically, the first thing I had to achieve right now was to not be scared.
Of what?
Fighting, for one.
Pain? No, that was impossible for now.
How do I stop being afraid of fighting? By fighting, of course. Combat classes would fix that.
But… would I be able to fight at all?
The temptation to just go out there and do something completely outrageous was high. I wanted to destroy my image so I'd have nothing left to protect — then I could prepare freely.
But that was just my emotions talking. There was no way I'd actually do something like that. It would only make me regret it later.
___
Soon, it was time for me to meet the Academy personnel.
I wasn't in any condition to talk to another person right now, but I still had to.
On my way to the office, I even seriously considered saying yes to psychological counseling… but that would mean giving away information about myself. So, that was a solid no.
When I reached the small office, the questioning started almost immediately.
After I refused the counseling offer, the other questions continued.
"Would you mind telling me the type of Aspect Ability you received? As in — combat, sorcery, utility?"
'Wait, mine's a utility type, right?'
"I don't really get it yet," I said, "but I think it's a utility type."
"That's alright. Are you able to directly deal damage with your ability?"
'Didn't I just say it's utility?'
"No."
The questions went on like that.
From what I remembered, there was a lie detector in the room too, so I had to make sure not to lie.
Judging by my answers, they probably thought my Aspect was low-ranked, so when the question came —
"Do you have a Dormant Aspect?"
—I simply nodded.
The interview ended soon after, and I left for my room.
By the time I got back, I felt completely drained. My brain felt like it had just gone twelve rounds in a boxing match and lost spectacularly.
I barely managed to reach my bed before collapsing onto it. Sleep came almost immediately.
Thanks for reading.
I am quite intrested in knowing your thoughts on this chapter particularly.
You know Talion did some real deep thinking here, which he is supposed to do regularly. But that was the first time him doing it in this fic. So what i mean to say is, you will see these types of scenes pretty regularly. He wont just let his thoughts run rampant afterall.