Sunny eyes fluttered open, the first thing he was met with was a white ceiling of the police station.
Sunny blinked a couple more times before looking back on his nightmare 'I really survived...'
He suddenly herd a voice, "What are you thinking about?" he turned to look in the direction of the voice, only to spot a beautiful young woman with deep blue eyes and raven black hair.
Sunny quickly countered with a question of his own "Who are you?" she smiled, "It's Jet, Master Jet, now it's not polite to ignore someone when they asked the question first."
He just blinked at her, then narrowing his eyes at her before replying, "I was thinking about how I survived, and you're a master?"
Sunny was originally going to lie more blatantly by saying he was thinking about his family, but considering that she was a master and probably had detailed information about him he thought better of it.
"I am indeed a master" Jet nodded in affirmation, she was saying all of that while unclipping Sunny from the bed, that they had strapped him too. Sunny spoke.
"Master Jet? I have a question."
"Go on."
"Why would a Master be put on watch duty? Isn't it... below your pay grade?"
Jet gave him a dark look.
"You're smarter than you seem. Recently, there was a lot of Gates opening in this sector. Most of the local Awakened are either wounded or occupied with the clean-up. Or dead. It's always like that close to the winter solstice."
She opened the final restraint and took a step back.
"Plus, there's not a lot of Awakened who, like me, do whatever in there power to keep the world running, even if they don't work directly under the big powers of the world. It's by far the least lucrative or glorious carrier one of us can choose. Would you abandon wealth and fame to help around for hours and risk your life, fueled only by altruism and sense of duty?"
He looked Master Jet right in the eyes and smirked.
"Of course not. "
A smile split her face.
"See, I was right. You really are smart." She paused then continued, "I will tell you more once you have a shower, you reek of nightmare..."
As she said that she moved away from the bed that Sunny was still laying on and walked towards the door, Sunny followed shortly behind.
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Sunny was now soaking in the shower, feeling the hot water move down his body, 'This feels good' he was bathing in the waters warm embrace. Sunny moved his head summoning his runes.
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lightless Soul
Rank: Dreamer.
Death Core: Dormant.
Death Fragments: [12/1000]
Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Broken Soul], [Unblemished body].
Aspect: [Soul breaker]
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Abilities: [Soul Control]
Aspect Ability Description: [If you can make contact with one, one's soul is yours to reign.]
Innate Ability: [Soul eye]
Innate Ability Description: [You can see the Souls of others.]
Flaw: [Lifeless]
Flaw Description:[You are Dead]
Sunny let out a low sigh, 'I can't believe this... What does it mean I am dead?'
Sunny turned his thoughts inwards, looking upon his soul core, 'lt's broken?' Sunny gazed at his cracked soul core.
'So that's what it means when it said, I am dead?' Sunny suddenly thought of an idea. Sunny walked out of the shower and over to the towel and wrapped it around his waist moving towards the mirror that had a few supplies, and among those supplies was some scissors, without hesitation he turned it against himself and cut his arm, Sunny stared at his arm slowly bleeding out, it hurt way less than what he thought it would.
As soon as Sunny put the scissors down it healed instantly, and in a second it was completely gone. His essence felt drained a little faster but not too much, turning his attention to his soul sea his essence didn't regenerate it continued to leak with a little more essence gone, then there should have been.
'Damnation... so it is able to heal my wounds completely but at the cost of my essence, what happens once I run out? I am already dead aren't I?' Sunny sighed in dejection.
Sunny decided to take a look at his two new attributes,
[Broken Soul Description: Your soul had been broken once you died. But spite kept you alive, your soul does not move, it is untouched, slowly leaking what should have been your blood, only death can make it sway, a reminder of the beginning. Now you have to pay with your choice of decay.]
[Unblemished body: Your body regenerates at unnatural speeds, but at the price of your sole.]
Sunny was speechless, mouth agape as he read the description, 'That explains why my soul is not regenerating any essence and why it is also leaking it... and my body seems to regenerate wounds, simple enough.'
A sigh escaped his lips, his flaw was about to get hard really quickly, Sunny put his police issued clothes on and headed for the door to find Master Jet.
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Master Jet was waiting for him at one of the tables, with two trays full of steaming synthetic food in front of her.
"Help yourself."
Sunny glanced at the cheap gruel, which was not so different from the stuff he used to consume in the outskirts, and sighed.
Somehow, he had expected his first meal after becoming a Sleeper to be more lavish.
Still, it was food.
He sat down and began to wolf down the gruel ravenously. He was very, very hungry.
In the process, his thoughts began to wander. Sunny stole a glance at Jet and wondered. 'What aspect would she have? how did she survive with her flaw? What is her flaw?'
"What are you thinking about?"
Sunny choked on the gruel. A second passed without him saying anything.
"nothing much just how discussing this food is," he finally said.
Jet gave him a nod in agreement.
"Alright. Are you almost finished with your food?"
Sunny nodded.
"Then I'll begin. As per protocol, I am obligated to inform you of a few things. It is mostly a formality, witch I have been instructed by the government to say if I want to keep doing the things I am doing. First of all, concerning your Nightmare..."
She glanced at him and sighed.
"You are entitled to receive free psychological counseling. No matter what traumatic experience you have encountered, there is no shame in asking for help. Your mind is as important as your body… it's only right to keep it healthy. Are you interested?"
Sunny shook his head. Jet shrugged and continued:
"As you wish. You can also talk to me. Was it very hard?"
How could he answer?
"It was simultaneously much worse than I expected and exactly as bad as I expected."
Sunny decided to give her the truth.
She nodded, satisfied with that explanation.
"That's a good attitude. I won't pry any further. Us outskirt rats are way more resilient than people think."
Sunny looked at her in surprise.
"Master Jet... you grew up in the outskirts?" She grinned. "What? You can't tell because of my exquisite manners and polished exterior?"
He blinked a couple of times, surprised. "I couldn't tell at all." After thinking for a while, he added, "Are there a lot of people like us among the Awakened?"
Jet's smile disappeared.
"No. There's not. In fact, they can be counted on one hand."
As expected. Odds were really stacked against people like them. That made the accomplishment of her attaining ascension even more exceptional.
'One day, I'll be a Master too. If she can do it, why can't I?'
"So... what happens now? What else are you obligated to tell me?" Sunny had no idea what he was supposed to do after leaving the police station. The winter solstice was just several weeks away.
Jet leaned back and answered, "That's basically it. There are some additional hoops to jump through, mostly having to do with your family, but... well. I've read your file, so I know it doesn't apply. The only thing left is to decide how you will be preparing for your first journey into the Dream Realm."
She looked at her communicator and grimaced.
"I must stay, your luck is exceptionally bad. There's not a lot of time at all. First of all: you are free to do what you want. No one is forcing you to make a certain decision. That is to say, you can choose to prepare on your own, or not prepare at all. Party until the lights go out."
Sunny was not very well versed in partying.
"However, I would advise against that. As a Sleeper, you are also entitled to enroll in the Awakened Academy. You'll be provided with food, lodging and a wide choice of preparatory classes. This late into the year, you won't be able to learn a lot. But it's better than nothing."
She was silent for a few seconds, then added, "More importantly, you will get acquainted with most of the people who will enter the Dream Realm with you. Some of them might become your companions for life."
'And some may end up trying to end that life once we're inside the Spell,' Sunny thought, reading between the lines of what Master Jet had said.
"So, what do you say? Do you want me to take you to the Academy?"
Sunny thought about it. Finally, he looked down, at his empty tray, and made a decision.
'Free lodging and food, you say?' a small smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah. I want to go to the Academy."
_____________________________________________________________________
Sunny was looking up at the large gates of the Awakened Academy, he was standing still with a beautiful girl with silver hair, that was put to one side. She had headphones on and was also in police issued clothing just like him. He glanced her way then quickly looked back at the gate.
______________________________________________________________________
"Since we both come from the outskirts, I'll give you three pieces of advice. Whether you listen to me or not is your business."
Sunny turned his head, waiting.
"First: once you're registered in the Academy, they'll offer you psychological counseling again. There will also be a valuable reward for sharing your experiences in the Nightmare and the details of your Appraisal. You'll be able to receive a soul shard, maybe even several of them."
He frowned.
"Are you trying to convince me to visit a psychiatrist again?"
Jet shook her head.
"No. I'm telling you to refuse."
Surprised, Sunny raised his eyebrows.
"Why?"
There was a pause before she answered.
"You're too green to understand, but out there in the Dream Realm, Nightmare Creatures are not the only danger. Once you grow powerful enough, humans will become an equal threat. The less they know about your Aspect, the better."
So that's how it is.
"The easiest way to defeat a powerful Awakened is to use their Flaw. That's why young fools in the Academy are encouraged in various ways to share the details of their Aspects. I'm not saying that the government will leak your information, but once two people know a secret, it's no longer a secret. And there's a lot of people working for the government."
That made a lot of sense.
"Thank you, Master Jet."
She gave him a nod.
"Second: there will be a lot of courses to choose from. All types of combat training, deep dives into Nightmare Creature categories and vulnerabilities, basics of various types of sorcery, artifact study and so on."
Sunny gulped. Actually, he was already agonizing about what weapon to train with. Four weeks was not enough to master a weapon, but at least he would have a basic understanding of it.
"Disregard all of that. The only course you have time to attend is Wilderness Survival."
He blinked.
"What?"
Jet glanced at him.
"It's different for city kids, who learn all sorts of useful things in school and from their tutors. But we don't have that advantage, do we? What was the biggest threat to your life during the Nightmare?"
Sunny thought about it. His nightmare in short was gruesome, he had died, again, and again. Trying to kill an awakened tyrant while other awakened creatures were trying to kill him, and succeeding. His flaw wouldn't allow him to die, so out of spite, he swore he wasn't going to die until he killed them all, the most painfulness way he know how... through the soul.
"The Nightmare creatures." he answered Jet.
Jet looked shocked at his answer, 'just how bad was the creatures in his nightmare?' Jet pondered on this but in the end dismissed it, it wasn't her problem.
"Well any way besides that, unlike those city kids that get educated in survival in the wilderness us outskirts kids had only learnt to survive in the outskirts. Do you know how to start a fire? How to build a shelter out of the materials that you are given?"
Realization struck Sunny like a sledge hammer, she was right he knew none of these things. Sunny gritted his teeth, how did he miss that?
"This is as far as I go," she said, looking cheerlessly at the walls of the Academy. "I've already notified them. Someone will come fetch you in a while."
There was something dark in the depths of her icy blue eyes. Sunny suddenly felt a cold feeling spreading through his body.
"What's the third advice?"
Master Jet glanced at him, then sighed.
"Remember: no one can survive in the Dream Realm alone. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Try to get along with your peers, even if they don't treat you well. It might save your life."
______________________________________________________________________
Eventually the gate opened and Sunny finds himself inside the walls of the academy.