Everything having to do with Sleepers was situated in the same building. Sunny followed the instructions sent to his communicator and quickly found the dormitories, which were situated on one of the lowest levels. To his surprise, he actually got a whole room to himself.
'How extravagant,' Sunny thought, a little stunned.
Rationally, he understood that such an arrangement was not really luxurious. However, to him, who grew up wandering the outskirts, this room was like a palace. He scratched his head.
'Looks like… I've made it?'
Sunny changed into new clothes and studied himself in the mirror. Then, remembering something, he summoned the runes.
He finally had time to study his first and only memory.
Memory: [Puppets String].
Memory Rank: Acendant
Memory Type: Tool.
Memory Description: [A puppeteer wanted to escape his prison, forcing the same helplessness he felt onto others. Uncountable strings connected him to his puppets. Every puppet had its own life, its own family, its own fate. The strings of connection are sacred, strong. Even those that are unfavourable,]
Sunny made a sour face.
'That explained nothing at all.'
Summoning the memory did nt help either
It was just a translucent, thin string.
'Even if I dont know what it does it can still help.'
It was an acendant memory. No matter its effect it was strong to a sleeper, it could easily cut the flesh of awakened creatures and below.
The supper turned out to be as lavish as the dormitory. Sunny's wish to taste real meat finally came true: not only was it freely available to Sleepers, there wasn't even a limit to the amount each of them could eat! More than that, there were rice, bread, various side dishes, sauces, fresh vegetables, fruits, and all kinds of delicious beverages.
'Extravagant!' Sunny thought, steering clear of the coffee.
After building a small mountain of food on his plate, he found an empty seat and, for a while, forgot about the world's existence. As juicy, textured, perfectly seasoned meat filled his mouth, Sunny's vision suddenly was full of stars. He had to hold back an exhilarated moan.
And to think, he could have lived like that for a whole year!
'Damn Spell… why didn't you infect me a few months ago?'
He concentrated on the food, decimating the whole plate in no time. Satiated and more than a little gorged, Sunny longingly looked back and thought about getting another serving. But it was already time for his appointment with the Academy personnel.
Full of regret, he stood up and left the cafeteria.
Soon, he found himself in a small office, sitting across from an administrative worker. The worker was very friendly, and started the interview right away.
He told the academy staff iterviewing him about his aspect in a vague way. instead of telling him he could see minds, he said he had improved vision.
He did not even understand his aspect himself .
Things went on like that. In the end, Sunny shared just enough information to create an impression that his Aspect was weak, harmless and most likely having something to do with utility.
After that, he returned to his room, undressed, and went to sleep.
Early in the morning, Sunny washed up in his private bathroom and, bursting with energy, hurried to get breakfast in a happy mood.
The cafeteria was a bit crowded. After filling his plate with all kinds of delicious stuff, he quickly realized that the only place he could sit was near the blind girl from yesterday. Her table was empty, since no one wanted to be close to her.
Sunny grimaced. It seemed that the two of them were doomed to be outcasts together for the remaining four weeks. He also felt uncomfortable in the company of someone who was practically a dead person, but there wasn't much of a choice.
Losing his good mood, he sat at the blind girl's table and gave a percursory nod to the social worker who was helping her get around. After that, he tried to pretend that they didn't exist and concentrated on his food.
However, before he could finish, a sudden commotion drew his attention.
'What's going on?'
He looked up and noticed that a lot of Sleepers were gathered around the large screen hanging on the wall of the cafeteria, their faces filled with excitement and awe. On the screen, a list of names was displayed, ranking the new batch of Sleepers from weakest to strongest, most likely deduced from the results of the interviews.
Not particularly interested, he quickly found his own name near the bottom of the list. The only Sleeper who the Academy judged to be less likely to succeed than him was the blind girl. Turns out, her name was Cassia.
Caster was placed in second place. And right above him, the portrait of the silver-haired girl could be clearly seen.
To the right of it, two simple lines of text were displayed:
"Name: Nephis"
"True Name: Changing Star"
So, the silver-haired girl, Nephis, also received a True Name in her First Nightmare. To get his own, Sunny had to deal with an unholy abomination— an impossible feat that seemed to have pleased the Spell very much.
'I wonder how she had gotten hers.'
After that he just continued eating, not concerning himself with any of the commotion. Food was waiting for his stomach.
***
The Wilderness Survival classroom was spacious, tastefully decorated… and completely empty. Sunny even thought that he was mistaken, but then spotted a gloomy instructor sitting behind a wide wooden desk. Noticing him, the instructor perked up.
"Come in, young man!"
He was a lively old man with messy grey hair, absentminded eyes and a pair of bushy eyebrows that seemed to jump around on their own.
"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. Sit down, sit down! What's your name?
Sunny obediently sat down.
"It's Sunless."
Julius raised his eyebrows.
"Ah! What an ominous name. But that is good, very good. After all, we have to deal with a lot of ominous things!"
Sunny carefully looked around.
"Uh… I'm sorry, Teacher. Did I come too early?"
"No, no… you're right on time."
"Are other students late?"
The instructor grunted with incredible contempt.
"No one else is coming. Those brutes are only interested in swinging their fists and swords around. Very few are smart like you and know the true value of knowledge…"
Oh. So it was that unpopular. Sunny inwardly sighed, hoping that he won't regret the decision to abandon combat training in favor of this course.
"Say, young man… why did you choose Wilderness Survival, of all things?"
There was no point in hiding the true reason. Not that Sunny would have been able to anyway…
"The Awakened that monitored me during the First Nightmare, Master Jet, had advised me to study it above all things."
"A very wise advice! That Master truly knows what's important… wait. Did you say Jet?"
His eyes widened.
"Soul Reaper Jet? That murderous savage?! Hm. Who would have thought that a barbarian like her would know the value of intricate knowledge."
***
Nad thus his new routine had started. Every morning would be spent in the cafeteria, eating as much a whole family. After that he went to teacher julius and learned. He spent all his time there, eat in his classroom and sometimes even sleeping there. He only left to eat or sleep.
Every waking second was spent this way.
An thus a whole month passed. Today was the winter solstice and an uncontrollable tiredness plaqued his mind.
'At least I got this day off.'
Making his way to the cafeteria was uncomfortable to say the least.
'Everyone is deathly tired.'
Even the cafeteria wich was ever rustling with activity and conversations was still. Nothing except cutlery hiting against ceramic could be heard.
Even Sunny didnt stuff his face full, having no appetite.
Cassia suddenly turned her head and stared at him with her beautiful, blind blue eyes.
Unnerved, Sunny looked around, checking if someone else had attracted her attention, and, after making sure that there wasn't anyone standing behind him, asked:
"W—what?"
Cassia was silent, as though hesitating if she should reply, and then suddenly said:
"Happy Birthday."
'What?'
Sunny frowned, trying to comprehend the meaning behind her words. Then, a flash of surprise appeared on his face.
'Oh, right. It's my birthday today.'
He had completely forgotten about it. He was turning seventeen today.
'Wait… how did she know about this?'
'So she really is a prophet.' He tought, a small smile on his face.
Deciding to mess with the blind girl Sunny answered:
"Thank you Cassie. Did you see it in one of your visons?"
This time it was Cassies time to be stunned.
"Huh? What? How do you know this? Not even the academy knows."
"Just a guess." He said before standing up and walking toward teacher Julius to say goodbye.
The old man got pretty emotional when sending him off. He gave Sunny "one last tip" a dozen or so times in a row and even promised to apply for a research assistant position to be opened after the young man had become a full Awakened.
Sunny left thanking him for his time and patience.
After that, there wasn't much to do.
When the sun was close to setting, Instructor Rock gathered them in the foyer of the Sleeper Center and led them outside.
In the snowy parks that surrounded the white building, other Awakened were leading their own batches of Sleepers to the same destination. It was the Academy's medical center.
The center looked more like a shrine than a hospital. Its interior contained both highly advanced technology as well as some of the best Healers among the Awakened. For the duration of their first journey into the Dream Realm, the bodies of Sleepers would be kept safe in specially designed pods and sustained by the magical powers of those Healers if anything unfortunate were to happen on the other side of the Spell.
Of course, whether or not they would wake up in the end wholly depended on the Sleepers themselves.
To Sunny's surprise, after entering the medical center, Instructor Rock did not take them directly to the wing containing Sleeper pods. Instead, he led them to a comparatively deserted floor and then opened the doors to a spacious gallery that was brightly illuminated by the beautiful crimson rays of the setting sun.
There, they saw rows and rows of wheelchairs. In each wheelchair, there was a person with a blank, strangely peaceful expression on their face. All these people were completely silent, motionless, and still. They did not show any reaction to the appearance of guests.
They all seemed to be… empty.
In the eerie silence, Sunny felt his hair standing up and a creeping terror sipping deep into his heart.
Instructor Rock 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, some of them were strong. Some were even incredibly powerful. All of them have perished in the Dream Realm."
'Their… their souls are gone,' Sunny realized, horrified.
'If you're lucky, once your spirit is destroyed, your body dies with it. But if not, you'll become just like them. Hollow.'
Instructor Rock glanced in the direction where Caster and Nephis stood, and then added:
"So don't die out there."
***
Half an hour later, 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. His lips were moving, repeating one strange phrase over and over again. He was trembling.
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.
And finally, there was a room where Feather of Twilight, Sunnless was , sitting in the sleeping pod.
It was time to leave this world, to enter the dreamrealm.
"goodbye." He said to no one in particular.
***
In the vast echoing darkness, he heard:
[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Sunless!]