Prologue
The boy was running, running from something he did not know, but he knew it was something he would not appreciate meeting. Up ahead stood the smallest speck of light, but no matter how hard or fast he ran, it did not get larger showing any signs that he was getting any closer to where the light lay. Behind him, inky shadows darker than the dark trail he was running down were making hissing noises and slithering towards him gaining speed every time he pushed himself to run even faster.
The light began to expand and he heard a deep booming voice called to him, "Hurry my boy! Lest the darkness reach you I cannot help you any longer! Hurry!"
Just as the first rays of light seemed to reach him, he felt the first slimy arm wrap around his foot and he tripped, falling face first against the ground. "No! Do not give into the darkness, my boy! Always remember the light!" the voice called again before more black, inky tendrils began to wrap around his legs then his waist. A terrified shriek left him as he was dragged back to mingle with the world of shadows.
"Tom! Tom! Are you alright, Tom?" It was a girl, someone younger than him, but through his disorientation, that was all he could make out. He gave a whimper and tried to push away the arms that tried to coax him back to sleep. "Tom, please. It's me, Cara," the voice said again more insistent this time. For the first time, his eyes registered the dim room he was in. Dim, but not dark. His eyes focused on a girl who was kneeling down in front of him with a concerned expression in her big, hazel eyes.
Tom rubbed at his eyes and gave Cara an apologetic look. "I-I'm sorry. I just had another-"
"Another nightmare? It's ok, though you've been getting those a lot lately," Cara muttered as she glanced to the side then looked back at him. Too many nightmares… She was beginning to get worried. "You're lucky I got to you before you could wake up Emilio or Lara. I think Emilio was going to douse you in cold water this time."
"Oh, um… Thanks?" he said not sure how else to respond. He had heard the boy was going to wake him up with some crude prank, but he didn't know it would be to that extent.
Cara gave him a soft smile which made Tom relax and smile back. She always seemed to know just what to do. "Go to sleep, Tom. I'll sleep here with you, okay? I'll make sure no bad dreams come to get you," she teased and punched him lightly on the shoulder.
Tom retaliated with a light punch of his own before he lay back against the floor mattress. He watched Cara lie down next to him and could hear her soft breathing right beside him. "Goodnight," she mumbled sleepily as if she couldn't wait to go back into dreamland.
"Night, Cara," Tom replied softly before closing his eyes to meet the darkness behind them again.
2: Chapter 1: Creepy Shadows and Unwanted WarningsChapter 1: Creepy Shadows and Unwanted Warnings
​Ambroise stood on the edge of a high up building somewhere in Tokyo, Japan. He had a small cell phone in his hand with the words 'Mission Update: Track down suspect Rogue, capture it, and bring it back to HQ' glowing brightly on the screen. Another mission update… And he thought he was going to catch a break for once. Just survey the city and the odd wonders of Japan. As if sensing his thoughts, he felt the phone vibrate with an audible 'buzz' in his hand and he furrowed his brows as he looked back down at the screen. 'NOW!' read the new message on the little screen and the boy rolled his eyes and sighed before stuffing the phone back into his pocket. He watched over the busy night time streets of the booming city. There were flashing lights everywhere, cars honking and speeding away on the road, and people everywhere on the sidewalks, in the buildings, and even in the small, dark alleys in between buildings. It was a perfect place for tourism and business. It was also a perfect place for someone, or something, to hide in plain sight.
His trained eyes eventually caught the distinct, black aura of a Rogue before it flickered back into hiding, but it was enough. Ambroise leapt down from the building and controlled the water vapor in the air around him to take him swiftly to the ground in a flurry of cool mist. He was glad he was in ghost mode right now; otherwise he'd probably have been mobbed in amazement by the citizens of Tokyo. Even if the Japanese were known for their odd trends, he was pretty sure seeing someone jump from a fifty story building and float down with a cool mist as if he did it every day would top the list. Ambroise began to push past the crowds of people until he saw it again. A black emanating aura that was quickly hidden away again. It was coming from a lanky pizza delivery guy, but the thing that was off about him was that odd, predatory look in his eyes. Again, no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with that, but Ambroise knew exactly what that meant.
He clenched his fists and stood still for a moment waiting until he felt someone walk right through him as if he weren't really there. Ok, good, the use of the mist had taken away his ghost mode. He experimentally swiped his hand through a nearby lamp post just in case before darting off after the pizza guy. He rushed through several people, the more keen bystanders wondering why they had just encountered a strong gust of cool wind, but it wasn't like Ambroise would stay long enough to explain. He caught up to the imposter in no time and felt himself solidifying out of ghost mode as he roughly gripped the pizza delivery boy's shoulder and yanked him into the nearest darkest alleyway he could find, all the while hearing a couple surprised exclamations behind them.
As soon as they seemed safely hidden from sight, the pizza delivery boy suddenly decided to turn on his ugly outfit. Ambroise watched as his pale skin suddenly looked slimy and became coated in a black oily substance. His acne-ridden, goofy face became sharp and slick and his hat suddenly turned into a black headset like piece that attached itself to one side of his now missile-shaped head and wrapped around to a useless mouthpiece. His other clothes and props slunk into his slick, oily, nimble body and Ambroise quickly pulled away when some of the residue began to crawl up his arm. It was an Evangelos. A lowly messenger of the Nether World.
"So you found me, Dream Jumper," the Rogue said in a voice that sounded like a disgusting bug clicking its pincers. Ambroise would have shuddered if he hadn't gotten used to it by now.
"Yes. I have, and I know of the message you were told to carry to Commanding Rogues, Luxurian, Fraener, and Hubris."
The Evangelos studied him for a moment with its pitch black eyes before giving a raspy laugh. "You speak of the message, yet you do not know the contents of said message, foolish captain."
"Which is why I'm here," he countered as he drew a small, jagged dagger from his belt. "I am here to ask you nicely to tell me what the message is you carry."
"Asking nicely doesn't always work," the Rogue spat as it bounced back and forth on its feet restless to get going already. "Now is that all you want little boy? Cause I don't got all day!"
"Well how convenient, because my other choice was rather a quicker choice anyways," Ambroise said before charging with a blinding speed. The Rogue didn't even have time to react before he was pushed back against the wall, one arm trapping his torso while the captain's other arm held the dagger up ready to slice off his head. Oily residue splattered the captain and the surrounding trash cans and brick wall, but neither seemed to care anymore. "What is the message you carry?" he asked again, his tone becoming steely.
The Rogue gave his raspy laugh once again. "You will never make m-" His last word was choke off as Ambroise moved his arm up and practically crushed it against the nether creature's neck.
"What are you supposed to deliver? I can stay here all day if you'd like, but I'm sure you have a deadline to make hm? So speak up and be quick about it."
The Rogue coughed and gasped, but he managed to use the little air he had left to choke out, "Alright. Alright! I'll… I'll tell you. Just loosen up a bit, won't ya?" The last words came out in more of a squeak, but Ambroise got the message.
He pulled his arm away slightly and looked at the Rogue expectantly. It twitched uneasily for a moment before its voice suddenly took on a deep, rumbling tone of voice and his eyes flickered red as he said, "Prepare your troops and be ready! We will take over the realm of dreams soon enough and finally we shall no longer be treated as just lowly bad dreams!"
​Ambroise furrowed his brows at the message, but didn't have time to think about it as the Evangelos suddenly sent out a series of clicks right after he finished repeating his obtained message. Immediately, several other nimble black bodies began to surround Ambroise and the Evangelos in a circle. The captain glared at the Rogue he held, a triumphant glint now lighting those now pitch black eyes as he was surrounded by its brethren, before tossing his dagger up into the air and commanding, "Ryuu! I could use some help here!"
A light blue dragon seemingly made of ice landed on his shoulders. The little dragon surveyed their surrounding enemies warily before hissing and growling at them. Ambroise gave the barest of smiles and moved his hand up towards the neck of his captive, black claws shooting out in place of his nails. "You know, I was about going to let you go, but then you just had to call in your little reinforcements."
The Rogue wheezed out a laugh and grinned eerily. "Whatever it may be, that aura of that Rogue hiding within you is still yet to be unleashed. It will not be long before our rebellion stirs the darkness within you and you may be forced to work alongside me yet, Captain Ambroise," it spat out as it tried to wriggle away from his grasp.
Ambroise narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Lies. That's what he wanted to think even though he knew it was true. To think he would ever work for that mad man…'No, focus Ambroise. You have to focus…' The Rogue's grin widened as if knowing it had struck a nerve, but before it could make another comment, the captain swiped his claws and cleanly sliced off its head. The Rogue melted into a puddle of black liquid and for a moment there was only silence.
​Ambroise looked up and around at the Rogues that now surrounded him and he grinned wickedly, fangs peeking out from under his lips. "Come on! Come and get me!" he challenged and was immediately descended upon by a wave of black. He shifted into his more preferable animal form, a wolf, and snapped and clawed at the enemies alongside his loyal draconic partner, Ryuu. Together, they fought off wave after wave until they realized too late that they had underestimated the numbers that had come to aid their now fallen comrade. That single Evangelos.
3: Chapter 2: A Meeting of ChanceChapter 2: A Meeting of Chance
Stupid. Disgrace. Outcast. Useless. These were the words her father had used on her before she was kicked out of the house. She couldn't believe it and yet it had actually happened, and so quickly too. She clenched her hands into fists as feelings of anger, disbelief, and hopelessness filled her as she roamed the empty desolate streets of a random town not far from her own. Her father had literally kicked her out of the house and threatened to kill her if she ever wanted to come back. Didn't even bother to let her gather her belongings…
Amaya sighed and continued along the road of the town and was glad the moon was out tonight to provide her some company and light. "This place is like a ghost town," she mumbled to herself and shivered slightly from the dark's cold temperature. "And I wish I had at least brought a jacket or blanket with me to keep warm…"
She walked through the town aimlessly and thought back on the more pleasant things that had been happening. In her dreams, she kept constantly seeing a boy of about 16. He had striking silver hair with blue wavy highlights, deep blue eyes, and a handsome face, but when she awoke, the image would only stay for seconds, so she made sure to keep pencil and paper on her bedside table so she could sketch out his face from what she could remember before it went away. She still wondered what it meant.
'And I just decided to leave that behind too,' she thought sullenly before a wave of tiredness hit her. She figured it would probably be a good idea to find a place to sleep for the night. Amaya glanced around at the houses and even though the town seemed abandoned, she felt it would be wrong to just barge into some random house and decide to fall asleep there for the night. 'It's kind of like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. What if there are people here? Then that would be just rude…' she thought to herself though finding at least some amusement for the moment with the thought.
Eventually, she decided to sleep in the alleyways and tried to look for a comfortable one when she saw a dirty, white pillow at the end of a particularly dark alley. She tilted her head to the side and wondered what it was before walking over. When she had gotten closer, she could see that it was not a pillow, but a ball of fluff, and the dirt was actually what seemed to be splotches of black oil that made the fur seem to stick out on end. Confusion colored her face as she knelt down by the ball of fluff. Was it breathing?
Slowly, she reached her hand out and placed her hand on a relatively clean spot and stifled a scream as the ball of fluff suddenly jerked away. She watched in shock as she saw a large, silver wolf uncurl from his position right in front of her, glared at her, and then growled softly in annoyance. She smiled uneasily and slowly rose, wondering how long she could run for before this beast took her down. "Um… Hi there. I'm really sorry for waking you up…" Her voice trailed off as she noticed the silver wolf's deep blue eyes, but the glint of annoyance in his eyes made her fear overtake her sense of reason. "Please don't eat me," she squeaked out as she backed away a couple steps. This was not the way she wanted to go out.
The silver wolf seemed to catch onto her fear, but instead of lunging at her like she expected, he moved to sit and tilted his head, the glare in his eyes quickly fading. Amaya took a couple more steps back thinking the wolf was just sizing her up before he decided to eat her. "I'm really not that tasty," she insisted. "I've been malnourished for a day at most, but still! You wouldn't get a good meal out of me."
The wolf rolled his eyes which made Amaya stop and think. Did he actually understand her? "Wait, you're not going to eat me?" she blurted out.
He stared at her for a second as if rethinking his decision before shaking his head. She relaxed and felt herself give a relieved smile. Well there were still worse ways to die. 'Like starving to death on the streets,' an annoying voice in the back of her mind whispered.
She waved the thought away before slowly kneeling down in front of the wolf again. He regarded her with curious eyes that seemed to glint with amusement before bowing his head and nudging it against her arm. "Hm?" She looked at him in bemusement and slowly raised her hand to pet him. The wolf instantly leaned his head against her hand and she felt her smile return. "You sure are dirty… What happened to you?" she wondered as her hands brushed against the parts of his fur that were slick with the black oily substance. She froze as she suddenly felt a small, cold object attached to the wolf's neck by a small piece of string, so that it was more or less hidden from plain view. The wolf didn't seem to mind as she parted his coarse fur and revealed a jagged, silver dagger.
​Amaya leaned back and gave him an odd look. What on earth? "What's a dagger doing attached to the neck of a wolf like you?" she asked lightly before moving to try and slip off the string. Immediately, the wolf backed away and gave her a protective glare and even a warning growl for good measure. She held her hands up and gave a nervous smile. Okay, so the dagger was off limits. Noted.
As the night went on, she found a couple other things on the wolf. His long, silver fur hid the wounds he had gotten from a recent fight it seemed. Only the areas closest to the wound were red with blood, but all the same she felt like she should take care of him while she still could, not like there was anyone else to anyways. The deepest ones seemed to be on his neck near his chin and several raking wounds on his sides, but the wounds looked like they had been inflicted by someone wielding machetes as claws. Why would anyone intend to harm a creature like this?
Amaya was now leading the wolf through the town trying to see if she could find a pharmacy or a clinic. Her hand absently scratched behind his ears and under his chin as they walked. She sighed softly as her eyes kept trailing over his wounds whenever they weren't looking for a place with medical supplies. "Who or what would do such a thing to you? You're such a good wolf, aren't you?" she murmured comfortingly. The wolf would sometimes growl softly or lick her hand in response, but otherwise kept quiet.
Eventually, they found a small clinic that still had a couple supplies left and running water. Amaya was going to give the wolf a quick shower, but he was reluctant to comply and she wondered why until they got into one of the rooms and had the wolf leap up onto the bed. One moment the wolf was there, but when she turned to grab some medical supplies and turned back towards the wolf, a boy of about sixteen sat in the wolf's place. She was so surprised that she almost dropped the tray she was holding, but maintained enough composure to not exactly do it. He was placing a hand against his head as if trying to ease off a headache, or maybe he was just tired. His eyes were half-lidded, but he could still see that the irises were a striking deep blue. He had silver hair with wavy blue highlights and his body was well-toned. He wore a torn dark blue shirt with torn black pants and a black belt hung from his waist with a number three on the buckle.
She saw the boy turn his weary gaze towards her and she saw his lips twitch in an amused smile. It took her another moment before she realized she was staring at him. Heat flooded her face as she looked down at the ground and walked over holding a couple alcohol wipes and rolls of bandages. She offered them up to him and she felt him take them from her hands. "Thanks," he murmured in a grateful tone.
"Yeah, you're welcome," she mumbled back not bringing herself to look up at him. It was just too embarrassing.
She heard the boy shift slightly on the bed before he said, "Sorry for the surprise… But I wasn't sure what to make of you at first. Are you a Lost One?"
The question made Amaya look up at him in puzzlement. "A what?"
"Ah," the boy placed a hand to the back of his neck and he gazed down at the bloodied wipe in his other hand. "A Lost One… Someone who has been abandoned whether by government, family, foster home, etcetera…"
"Oh," she replied in a small voice. "Well, I guess.. My dad kicked me out of the house. He said I was useless because I wasn't smart or good enough at academics like my brothers… All I do is draw all day and daydream he said, but what's the harm in that?" Her voice turned bitter at the last couple words and she wondered in the back of her mind why she was telling him in the first place. She also wondered how he would even know she had been kicked out, but then again she was wandering the streets alone of an abandoned town. Go figure.
"Well there is none. No harm that is," he replied almost wistfully, "The stuff of daydreams is what can power future generations' worth of hope. Daydreams are what make this very Reality entertaining."
Amaya found herself looking back up at the boy and he gave her a small smile which seemed to light up his face despite his oil smudged features and torn clothes. He didn't seem to match the quiet, cold wolf she had met just earlier. She felt herself give a small smile back which quickly turned into an awed gasp as the boy lifted his hand and a small water lily of ice appeared above his palm. Who was he? She found herself wondering as she watched the little water lily shift into a prancing horse which raced around them before it burst into a small whirlwind of snow that blew out the window. "How did you do that?" she found herself asking, "And how did you turn into a wolf? Are you a werewolf? … Who are you?" Before she could stop herself, dozens of questions popped up into her head. This boy was too confusing… Too mysterious. There were so many things that didn't seem to be normal about him.
The boy gave a patient smile as if knowing she would come to these questions eventually. "Have you ever thought of a world after death where everyone's dreams reside in various lands of wonder?"
The question stopped her short and she tilted her head to the side wondering where he was getting at. "Well, I've heard of heaven and hell, if that's what you're asking."
"No, I mean something beyond those basic principles. How about a world where all dreams come into being and are made true?"
"Well… Then no, not really. Why?"
"That is where I come from. I am like… One of the Sand Man's loyal servants, if you will. I am a Dream Jumper."
"Wait, what? So… You're dead? And the Sand Man's real?" she found herself asking not able to keep down all the questions that kept popping up.
The boy laughed softly and smiled that charming smile again. "Oh, yes. Of course the Sand Man is real. He's actually a very humble and caring man, and to answer your other question, yes. Technically, I am dead."
Without giving herself permission, Amaya found herself slowly reaching up a hand and lightly poking his arm. He seemed as alive as her though. She could see him breathing softly and could feel his warmth under her touch. "Then why-"
"Does it seem like I'm alive? Oh, there is much you mortals do not understand… Yes, I am a spirit of the next world, but we can have as much life as you," the boy interceded smoothly as if he's been over this before.
​Amaya now gave him a slightly agitated look. Was she somehow going through some script he had practiced? "Who are you?" she asked.
"Like I said before, I'm a Dream Jumper. I help keep the peace and balance between the good dreams and bad dreams," he replied simply.
"No, I mean your name," she tried again.
"Oh, well, my name's Ambroise, but some of my friends call me Ren," the boy replied as he turned his deep blue irises to her own.
4: Chapter 3: Bad ParentingChapter 3: Bad Parenting
"Ambroise," Amaya repeated thoughtfully before taking a step back and looking him over again. "I've seen you before… I've been trying to sketch you from what I remember in my dreams," she found herself saying suddenly before she could stop herself. She made a face at herself for seeming to be so loose tongued around this boy, but he didn't seem to find anything odd about it, but gave a small smile in amusement.
"Really… Mind showing me?" he asked suddenly switching to a dead serious expression. She's been seeing him in her dreams. Well, he can't say it's the first time this has happened to those like him but to be so prominent that it'd stick?
"Well… That's the complicated part. I-I left it at my house. I never really got the chance to take any of my stuff before I got kicked out," she said quietly, trying not to mumble.
​Ambroise's expression softened and he nodded. "So, how about let's go back and take a look hm?"
​Amaya looked up and gave a shake of her head. "Oh no, we don't have to do that. Besides, my dad wouldn't really appreciate it if I came back-"
"Nonsense," he interceded smoothly. "You have the right to collect at least some of your belongings right?"
​Amaya felt herself look away feeling abashed before quietly replying, "Right."
"Right," he repeated before moving to get up from his place on the bed. "Then let's go."
"Bu- Wait! You at least need to clean yourself up first," she said trying to find ways to stall time and it was true. She eyed the black spots of the oily substance still all over his clothes and in his hair and not to mention he didn't necessarily smell like the cleanest person. Ambroise gave her an odd look before giving a small smile and he raised his hand, snapping his fingers. As if on his command, the water vapor in the air began to condense back into its liquid form and began swirling over his features until he was cleaned spotless. Amaya felt her jaw drop at how quickly that had just happened before she turned away mumbling how it seemed he could just control the water whenever he wanted. Seriously, was he a mage or something?
"So… Mind leading the way?" he asked breaking her out of her thoughts. She turned to glance over at him before nodding and she moved to walk out of the clinic. When she made it out onto the street, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure he was following before following her earlier footsteps back to her home town.
It took about an hour or so of awkward silence before they made it to her house, lying near the outskirts of her town. Well, the only words that had happened between them went something like, "Say, I never caught your name."
"Oh, it's Amaya." And then, it seemed another chance at introductions or any actual conversation had died afterwards.
​Amaya had Ambroise wait back by the forest as she silently walked over to her house, noticing the car wasn't in the driveway meaning her dad was working late again. 'Better hurry,' she thought anyways as she tried the front door. Locked, of course, but it didn't hurt to try. She then moved over to the side of the house and tried to look for the oak tree that stood next to the upstairs window of her bedroom and quickly found it. She glanced back and noticed Ambroise watching her silently and glancing around and she hoped she would not fall as she began to scale up the tree. A couple minutes of climbing later, she was scooting on the branch that reached out to her bedroom window and she looked over at the lock on her window. Unlocked, thankfully. Sometimes she was glad that she could be so absent-minded.
Slowly she inched closer and when she was sure that she wouldn't slip off, she reached her hand out and moved to slowly slide her window open, hoping she wasn't waking her brothers or her mother. As she slipped inside, she heard a car drive up to the driveway and she hurried to climb into her room, nearly face planting her desk as she did. She silently glanced around and moved to hurriedly grab her jacket, the sketch of Ambroise, and some money just in case. The car door slammed and she heard the front door unlock. Amaya's hands were trembling as she tried to wrack her mind for anything else that she might need before clambering back over to the window trying to keep it quiet, but as she did, her foot slipped on one of her pencils on the desk and she sent a couple things clattering to her bedroom floor.
Footsteps were suddenly heard thundering up the stairs and the door to her bedroom slammed open just as she leaped over to the waiting tree branch. She risked glancing back and saw her father standing in the doorway furiously. "Damn it! I told you to stay away from my house, you useless piece of human waste! I thought I told you if you ever come back here again, I'd put a bullet through that dumb head of yours!" he screamed, his face turning red from his anger.
'Goodbye to you too, dad,' she thought glumly as she hurried to climb down the tree, pleased that she didn't make a wrong step or trip and fall the rest of the way. She moved to run over to Ambroise waving her hand as she put everything in her pocket. "Ok! Run! My dad's coming after me!" she screamed and before she knew it she was running past him. At her asking, she heard quick footsteps behind her and the sound of multiple shrill voices screaming and yelling at each other as if in argument and in protest. All the noise must have woken everyone else. 'Sorry,' she thought knowing they wouldn't hear her as she continued to run.
Eventually when she glanced back, she blanched at the sight of her dad quickly gaining on them by riding one of her brother's bicycles and carrying his shotgun. Given any other circumstance, she was sure she would have burst out laughing, but right now, it was just plain terrifying. No, the gun probably would have made it terrifying either way… She still wondered how he got the thing in the first place.
Suddenly, she saw her dad kick the bicycle away into the grass and he moved to bring the shotgun up and aimed at Ambroise. Her eyes widened as she yelled, "Ambroise! Behind you!" The boy gave her a confused gaze and turned to look back, but he wasn't moving fast enough. Why wasn't he moving away from the gun's aim? Without thinking, she felt herself stop and run back and moved to push Ambroise out of the way right when her dad pulled the trigger. A harsh shove hit her abdomen and she felt herself stumble and fall backwards landing harshly in the grass. Immediately everything became blurry and she faintly heard someone crying, "No!" while someone else was cursing and yelling harshly. She could feel something warm and wet begin to spread all over her shirt and it became harder to breathe. She felt like she was slowly being choked, no, drained of everything in her being.
She heard sounds of a struggle, but within seconds the harsh yelling ceased and suddenly there was someone hovering over her. Amaya felt a pair of arms gently wrap around her and she didn't even have the strength to wince from the excruciating pain. For a second, her eyesight came into focus and she saw Ambroise looking down at her with worry and regret. "I'm so sorry," he murmured lowly. "I didn't think this would-"
She silenced him with a weak smile before asking in a hoarse whisper, "My father… Is he-"
"I knocked him out, but he's not dead… I'm so sorry," he said as he bowed his head.
Somehow she found the strength to place her hand against his cheek and she weakly shook her head. She didn't want him to worry over her like this, even if they had only just met. "No… Tell me… After death," she managed to choke out feeling her breathing quickly dying on her and everything became blurry again, but she still felt his strong, comforting arms around her and she could hear his steady voice, but for a second, she thought he didn't understand until she heard him start to say, "It's called the Dream World. It's… It's a place filled with so much wonder and excitement." She heard him give a little chuckle before continuing on. "You'll really like it, I bet. Everyone and everything there never ceases to amaze you… " She noticed his voice trail off and for a numb second she thought she had died, but then she felt a hand brush against her cheek. "I'll send my sister to escort you to HQ. Her name's Demetria… I'll see you there."
'I'll see you there,' she thought back before she finally took her last breath.
5: Chapter 4: What a Wonderful WorldChapter 4: What a Wonderful World
Amaya was met by an unsettling cold darkness. She had no sense of time and she drifted through pitch black for what seemed to be an eternity. 'So this is what it's like to die?' she wondered solemnly before she saw the faintest dot of light in the distance.
Her eyes immediately went to the dot of light and she soon felt solid ground under her feet again catching her off guard and she stumbled a couple steps forward nearly tripping. She took a moment to steady herself and then she glanced curiously over at the dot of light again. She tapped her cheek thoughtfully before she began to walk towards it. 'The irony since they usually tell you to walk away from the light, but I guess that's usually before you die,' she thought to herself.
As she got closer to the dot of light, it gradually grew bigger until it began to encompass everything around her. The sudden brightness caused her to flinch and she closed her eyes for a second as a warming feeling took over her, but left as soon as it came. When she opened her eyes again, she was in a calm field with tall grass that reached up to her knees and swayed to the breeze lightly tickling her legs. There were flowers of every kind spread out across the field. It seemed like it stretched on forever, but no, wait, what was that? She squinted her eyes and noticed at the very edge of the field lay the faintest outlines of various buildings.
"Ah, you must be Amaya?"
The voice startled Amaya out of her reverie and she turned to meet a woman with long wavy dark brown hair and calm, green eyes like the leaves of an evergreen tree on a calm spring day. She was wearing a traditional Japanese kimono a shade of green that matched her eyes, a number two embroidered into the sash, and she noticed a white flower was tucked behind her ear. It kind of looked like a white bird of some sort, the way the flower was shaped.
It took Amaya another moment to remember that the woman had asked her a question and she nodded. "Oh, um, yes. I'm Amaya."
The woman smiled a friendly smile directed at her. "It's nice to meet you Amaya. I am Demetria. Ambroise's sister."
Amaya nodded before smiling back at the woman. "Nice to meet you too. So… You're supposed to be escorting me to HQ?" she asked curiously remembering Ambroise's words to her before she died.
Demetria nodded. "Yes. We will be holding a captain's meeting so that we can be familiarized with you and so that we can assign you to a captain right away. Most likely Ambroise since he is the one who found you. Now come along, Amaya. We should get going. Mustn't keep everyone waiting now."
Amaya barely nodded in response and began to follow Demetria towards the far off buildings in the distance. Now that she thought about it, she still couldn't believe she was actually dead. She placed her index and middle finger against a spot on her neck and could feel her pulse and when she placed her hand over her chest, she could feel her heartbeat. She felt bemused by it all, but then again, maybe everyone went through this process, wondering how this was all possible to begin with. Then another thought hit her: How was everyone back home taking her death? Her dad was probably arrested by now for murdering her while the rest of her family mourned for her, most likely. She grimaced slightly at the thought wondering why her dad had to find her so useless in the first place. So useless to the point to want to remove her.
"You seem to have a lot on your mind," she heard Demetria say quietly startling her out of her thoughts again.
Amaya sighed softly before answering, "Yeah… Guess I'm just trying to get used to the fact that I'm dead…"
"Well, I'm sure your family knows that you are in a better place now."
"Mhm. I'm sure they do," Amaya agreed in a small voice before another thought hit her. "Hey, isn't there a way I could just go back home?" she questioned hopefully.
Demetria gave her a sad smile before shaking her head slightly. "You would only confuse them if you did since they've already seen your Reality body."
"Oh… So I would be like a ghost," Amaya noted as something Demetria had just said popped out at her. She noticed the woman about to reply before she quickly decided to ask, not wanting to stay on the subject for longer than they should be. "Wait, what do you mean by my Reality body?" she asked remembering something Ambroise had said before: Daydreams are what make this very Reality entertaining.
"I mean your living body," Demetria answered as if it was obvious before she seemed to catch on. "Oh, we refer to your world of the living as Reality since in this heaven, even the good dreams of every living thing comes to life, so I guess it doesn't necessarily fit to the mortal's definition of reality here."
"Really? What do you guys have here then?" Amaya asked giving Demetria a curious look.
The woman smiled wistfully before asking instead, "What is the oddest dream you've ever had and you've wished to go back to it ever since?"
Amaya bit her lip thoughtfully before replying, "I had a dream a long time ago that I was riding my bike on an odd trail through the forest. I was all alone, but it was peaceful in a sense. I felt like I was looking for something.. Possibly someone. Or maybe it was a place. But soon the trail began to go down a slope, and I couldn't stop, so I ended up falling down the hill. And then I was surrounded by tall green plants and ferns, and I began searching my way through it when I woke up."
"Hm…" Demetria seemed lost in thought before she looked like she just had an 'Ah-ha!' moment. "There actually is a path similar to the one you described in one of the nearby forests to the headquarters."
Amaya gave the woman a long look before she finally uttered out, "Really?"
"Yeah, but we've actually had weirder things happen… Like horses that fly across the sky that trail rainbows behind them or fish that can sing and dance."
Amaya tried to picture what Demetria had suggested before she burst out laughing. Now that was something she really wanted to see. Then more of Ambroise's words came back to her: You'll really like it, I bet. Everyone and everything there never ceases to amaze you… The thought made her eager to see what the headquarters had in store and it didn't take long for them to finally reach the outskirts.
As they neared the first couple buildings, Amaya already began to notice all the various things, people, and creatures the Dream World had in store. She stopped and stared as she saw a cowboy race by riding a brown Pegasus, but before she could stop and wonder Demetria was pulling her along. Amaya then began to notice the buildings. The ones that lay by the outskirts were simple homes, huts, or farms, but the closer they got to the center, the more modernized and intricate the buildings became.
At one point, she remember passing by a huge building the size of football stadium with a gothic feel to it and the words 'The Great Library' written across the top of the wooden double doors. Amaya could only begin to wonder how many books the building contained, but once again before she could rush in to check it out, Demetria kept her on task. And then a couple minutes later they arrived at the central hub of the whole place. Three words: It. Was. Amazing.
Amaya stared around in shock as Demetria let her gawk at the sights in complete awe this time. They were now standing in the center of a huge circular plaza which seemed to be the center of HQ. The circle was split up into seven different sections and each section had its own mosaic design and color. The first was a golden yellow with an image of a golden cloud with a number one within it. The second was ivy green with a mosaic of the odd orchid that Demetria had tucked behind her ear, a white egret orchid as the woman had mentioned earlier as they walked, with a number two below it. The third was a navy blue with a large tsunami wave symbol on it about to crash down on the number three. The fourth was a light gray with an anvil and hammer crossing it with a number four in the corner of the hammer. The fifth was a bright orange with a tribal style sun on it with a number five in the center. The sixth was a calm sky blue with a white crescent moon on it and the number six occupying where the rest of the moon would have been. And the seventh was a blood red with an image of a vulture carrying a spear and a sword in each set of talons with a number seven across its chest. She couldn't even begin to imagine how long it had taken to design and make the whole plaza's ground design but she soon found herself gaping at everything else that lay on top of the plaza floor.
There were dozens and dozens of stands set up and around the plaza selling various different things from simple hot dogs to fried dragon jerky, from regular jewels and trinkets to magical charms and weapons. Then there were the people and creatures standing by the stands. The vendors ranged from humans like her to bears who resembled lumber jacks or sly lizard men who tried to trick their customers into fake wares and outrageous prices. There were countless types of birds and other flying mammals carrying messages or items in need by others, walking lamps and floating torches that were not needed yet since it was still daytime(but then again there were a couple well-placed luminescent lights here and there that gave the place a sort of futuristic feel to it), sorcerers and witches who flew by on brooms, people driving flying cars way above their heads or speeding by on hover boards or riding mounts of every different species.
Then if she looked past the main plaza, she noticed the buildings and their fatigues were made to match the sections they were built in. Such as the one that was under Demetria's squad, she assumed. The section of the circle that was ivy green with the white egret orchid and a number two on it lead to a dirt road where hundreds of camp sites and cabins lined up along it. There were also a couple lumber mills and farms, but what caught her eye were the numerous gardens that sprouted the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. Even the porches of the nearby houses and stores in the sector had hanging pots filled to the brim with lilies, tulips, or the occasional cherry blossom tree or fruit tree stood tall and proud bursting with the season's pickings.
When she turned to look to the next sector, the one with the tsunami wave and number three symbol on it, she noticed the ground changed from grass and dirt to fine white sand like the kind you would find at a perfect beach with a white gravel road in the middle. The buildings also stuck more to the theme ranging from random fish shops to quaint beach houses, and the other sectors went on like this, matching what the themes specifically entailed. There were blacksmiths within the anvil and hammer sector and the training grounds (it seemed) with the vulture sector. One thing that also stuck out was that it seemed in the back of every sectored area, there was a large mansion or institution. Each was colored according to the sector's color theme and had the symbol on a flag that flew high over each building in all its glory.
But the first sector was slightly different. Instead of a mansion or institution, a castle stood, and she figured it must be because it was the first squad, the top squad, and there for the one that would hold the most grandeur.
Finally, Amaya began to come back to her senses, but still felt a lingering sense of shock and awe from this place. It seemed this place really had everything. 'Now I wonder where the flying pigs are,' she wondered sarcastically, but as if on cue, she noticed a couple kids and teens fly by laughing on a group of them causing her to laugh and watch them fly off.
"Having fun?" she heard Demetria ask with her own laugh.
"Yes! This place is- It's just-" Realizing she had no words to describe it, she just waved her hands in the air gesturing at all the wonderful things that surrounded her.
"I know. I know. It's just beautiful… But we must hurry. We can't keep the other captains waiting."
"Oh, right, right," Amaya answered as she began to trail after Demetria again through the crowd towards the first sector where the large castle lay. As they walked down the golden cobblestone street, Amaya glanced around at the various inns and hotels that seemed to populate this sector. "What does each sector stand for?" she found herself blurting out before she could stop herself.
"Well, each captain and their lieutenant are a C.E. of an aspect found in Reality."
"And… What does C.E. stand for?" Amaya asked hesitantly.
She saw the woman smiling patiently as she answered, "C.E. means Celestial Embodiment since we technically could be considered the gods and goddesses of such aspects and the mortal humans have even based off much of their lore and myths on us."
"Really? So… Demetria… You're like that one Greek goddess. Demeter?"
"Precisely. I am the second squad captain so the second sector is my specified area technically. I am the C.E. of nature, more like Artemis or the god Pan."
Amaya nodded in understanding before she guessed, "Is Ambroise the third squad captain?"
"Yes, that would be correct."
"So… Is he the C.E. of water then?"
"Mhm. He has power over all of the water in the world in all its forms: solid, liquid, or gas."
'So that explains how he could do all those things earlier,' Amaya noted as she said simply, "That's impressive."
"It is."
After that, Amaya realized that they had entered the castle and she didn't even notice, but now that she took a good look at the interior, it was amazing. It was like any old medieval styled castle with the grand tapestries and carpets, the elaborate torches, and there were even guards, though not all of them were human to her curious interest. Demetria continued to lead her through the castle, up a grand stair case, then down a couple halls and a couple more flights of stairs. Amaya quickly lost track of where they were going, but she soon noticed their final destination: a set of grand double doors, the handles fitting together to create the first squad symbol, the golden cloud.
When they reached the doors, two bear guards reached to pull the doors open to reveal a small modest meeting room where a long oval table stood. There were currently six people seated at the table. The set up kind of reminding her of the knights of the roundtable as she noticed the seating arrangements: three on one side, two on the other, and finally a single man who sat at the head. He had a kind composed atmosphere, but he also emitted a powerful, regal air about him, as if he was used to being the leader and knew how to correctly be one. He had sandy blonde hair and mellow golden eyes that emitted a soft glow and glinted with his wisdom. At the moment, he was wearing a formal golden pinstripe suit that complemented well with his eyes.
"Ah, Captain Demetria, my dear," he said then with a relieved smile. "We were beginning to think that the two of you were never going to come."
"Oh, of course not Captain Takis," Demetria replied. "She just wanted to stop and take in the sights of Reverie Plaza."
"Ah, that plaza is a beautiful site as well as the busy central hub of our headquarters, but where are my manners?" Takis gave Amaya a warm smile before he stood and gave her a little bow. "Welcome to the Dream World, Amaya Hanshou. I am the first squad captain, Takis, but many like to refer to me as the Sand Man."
6: Chapter 5: InitiationChapter 5: Initiation
"Um, nice to meet you, Captain Takis. I'm Amaya Hanshou," she replied shyly. She could feel all their gazes boring into her and she didn't know what to do. When Demetria left her side to take her place by Ambroise, Amaya felt like she'd die again of embarrassment. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't just possibly stand there the entire time, could she? Takis seemed to sense her uneasiness and he smiled warmly at her. He made a gesture with his hand and then there was a chair appearing at the table across from him.
"Please, sit down Amaya. I apologize for the slight inconvenience."
"Oh no. It's alright," she said quietly as she gratefully settled into the chair. She noticed it was made of fine golden sand, but it didn't irritate her like normal sand would. It just stayed in place providing a comfortable seat for her. She was impressed.
Then as she looked back over at Takis, she noticed for the first time a large lump of sandy fur lying next to the captain. On closer inspection, she realized she was staring at a sleeping lion and her eyes widened. "Is that a lion?" she asked just to make sure her eyes weren't tricking her.
She earned some odd looks, but she tried to ignore them as Takis answered, "Yes. He is my Spirit." The man proceeded to lightly pet the lion stirring the creature awake. "Alfonsus," he coaxed. "Alfonsus, awaken. We have a new recruit."
The room was silent as the lion growled softly in protest. Another couple of minutes passed and one of the captains, a guy with short, spiky black hair and dark brown eyes ( his irises were rimmed by a bright orange making it look like his eyes were burning coals) said, "Huh, looks like another dull Dreame-"
His statement was cut off as the grand lion lifted his head and Amaya gave a soft gasp as his bright golden eyes looked directly into hers. Her feeling of awe and shock continued to grow as she heard his deep, rumbling voice resound in her head. 'Welcome, Amaya Hanshou. I am Alfonsus, loyal Spirit to Takis.'
'Thank you, Alfonsus,' she answered, unsure how she was supposed to comprehend all of this. By the looks she noticed on the others, Amaya could tell they could hear their conversation for the moment. Could they read minds? Or maybe the lion was projecting their thoughts? He seemed to have enough power to do that.
The lion blinked once before bowing his head in a gesture of respect. 'I sense a very strong Spirit about you, Amaya Hanshou. She will help you through great times of need and will aide you to become an excellent Dream Jumper.' Amaya wasn't sure what else to say, but she could sense the anticipation heavy in the air. What was she supposed to say? She panicked for a second, but Alfonsus quickly continued on seeming to only be focusing on her. 'Amaya Hanshou, are you willing to take the oath of a Dream Jumper? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to keep the balance between the dark and light, the good dreams and the nightmares? Will you protect those who mean the most to you and many more?'
Amaya wasn't sure how to respond. She had just died and now here she was being offered a place here with all these protectors and guardians. It seemed so sudden. So quick. Did all recruits go through this? She struggled for an answer until she suddenly felt a sense of belonging wash over her. Was this place unfamiliar? Yes. Was she still shocked and surprised by everything? Yes. But would she back down just because she didn't know if she should take an offer like this? No.
'I'll prove my dad wrong,' she suddenly thought with determination. He had treated her like she was nothing, but here was her chance to prove otherwise. She could show her potential and hoped that she wouldn't mess this chance up. Finally, Amaya felt herself nod as she replied, 'Yes, I am willing to take the oath.'
Alfonsus began to purr in satisfaction, the sound filling the room, and he brought his bright golden eyes back to meet hers. Amaya then could feel an adrenaline rush go through her and there was suddenly an excited energy in the room, filling it, making everyone antsy to know what would happen next. The lion's purrs quieted down to a low hum and then he suddenly lifted his head to the sky and roared. The sound was like thunder as it not only echoed in the room, but across the land. Vendors and citizens looked up anticipating the new arrival, the plant life bloomed and thrived to his call, and the Dream Jumpers that awaited her looked up to the sky in excitement. Never in most of their times as Dreamers have they heard the noble lion choose. The newcomer was special. He or she would bring change to the world or play a huge role in what was to come, but what would that be? They could only wonder.
The rest of the meeting went by relatively casually despite what the noble lion Spirit, who now rested peacefully beside Takis again, had done. For some reason, Amaya felt like she had just been knighted and the thought made her want to smile, but she suppressed it as best as she could. She sat quietly as Ambroise continued to debrief the others of the mission and his encounter with her. When Takis asked him why she was kicked out, she noticed the boy seem to falter and the words left her lips before she could stop herself. "My… My father thought I was useless. He said I was hopeless because all I did was draw and daydream all day." She felt a lump form in her throat as she persisted on, struggling to talk around it. "He said why couldn't I be good in my academics like my brothers? … Like Annie." The last two words came out in a soft whisper that even some of the captains didn't seem to catch, but she caught an understanding look from Takis while Ambroise seemed miffed about something all of a sudden. Was it something she said?
"Ah… Then we will indeed welcome you with open arms, Amaya Hanshou. There are many Dream Jumpers here who have also faced the same situations of abandonment as you have, and the fact that Alfonsus has bestowed his approval upon you must mean that you will indeed work hard as a Dream Jumper, now won't you?"
"Yes, of course, Captain Takis," Amaya answered confidently.
The first squad captain smiled encouragingly before he proceeded to ask her, "Alright, now for the matter of your squad assignment, which one would you like to join?"
"Squad three," she said without hesitation surprising everyone, even herself. But then again, why not? He was the only one she knew at this point so might as well, she guessed. She noticed Ambroise giving her a calculating gaze before he offered a small smile and she felt herself return his smile with her own.
Takis nodded before he moved to get up. "Amaya Hanshou, you are now officially a member of squad three under the command of Captain Ambroise. Are you content with this decision?" Amaya glanced around before nodding. "Excellent. Well, I guess that concludes our meeting. Everyone is dismissed."
At the captain's command, everyone moved to get up. She noticed the guy with eyes like burning coals look at her suspiciously. She looked back at him with puzzlement, but before she could say anything, he felt with the others. Left with a bemused feeling, she moved to get up, but right before she actually did, she felt the chair begin to dissolve from under her and then there were a pair of arms catching her before she could fall. She looked up to meet the deep blue eyes of Ambroise and she suddenly felt heat begin to rush up to her cheeks and she quickly looked away.
The boy gave a little laugh of amusement as he moved to help her stand and she glanced around to find that it was only her left with Ambroise and Demetria. "That was a very rare occasion," Ambroise noted with a hint of impressment. "You should feel honored. There have only ever been four others bestowed by the approval of Alfonsus like that."
"Really? Who?" Amaya asked curiously.
"Well, there's Captain Takis himself and then Lord Sullivan…" Ambroise trailed off and gave a look of disgust and Amaya gazed at him in confusion.
"Lord Sullivan? Who's-"
"The ruler of the Nether World… It's like the opposite of the Dream World," he explained vaguely as he moved to walk out ahead. Amaya glanced at Demetria before they both walked after him.
"What's so bad about him?"
"He was proclaimed the leader about five decades ago after he overthrew the old one… You see, after Alfonsus showed his approval of Sullivan, the guy started to get all arrogant and proud of himself because he thought he was all special now. He even had the nerve to go up to Takis and said that he wanted to challenge him for the first squad captain position which was promptly refused, of course. I cannot imagine what the place would be like if he ruled… All of this beauty would probably be turned to nothing and the era of good dreams would cease to end…
"But anyways, he went to the only other place where he could become number one. The previous ruler of the Nether was already weak from millennia of ruling over the wicked dark dreams and dealing with their unpredictable nature so Sullivan took him out easily.. And ever since, the Rogue activity has been increasing," Ambroise explained as they walked.
Amaya nodded before she decided to move onto another subject. "So who were the other two?" she asked curiously.
"Ambroise and Cara," Demetria answered beside her and Amaya looked at the woman with slight surprise and noticed a hint of… warning? She decided to push the thought away as only more questions popped up. Did she really just happen to choose the squad where another chosen one would be? That had to be more than coincidence. Then a thought struck her.
"Wait, who's Cara?" At her question, she immediately noticed Ambroise's expression darken and he glanced away as Demetria gave him a sympathetic look.
The older sister sighed as she began, "She-" but was cut off as Ambroise interceded steadily with, "She was a good friend who died protecting her allies on a mission."
By his tone of voice, Amaya could tell she was someone who was close to him. She moved to gently place her hand against his arm and said gently, "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have asked-"
"No, it's alright," Ambroise said bluntly cutting her off. "You didn't know what you would be getting as an answer." The boy promptly tried to give her a bare smile, but when he failed he just sighed heavily and looked away again. "I'll… I'll go ahead and wait for you guys in Sector Three," he amended before he disappeared in a flurry of snow.
Amaya felt dumbstruck, her hand still trying to grasp at the snow that flitted about where he was just standing seconds before. What had just happened? Was it something she said? "Don't hold it against him," Demetria suddenly said as she placed her hand on her shoulder. "Cara's death was a really painful loss for him and he still finds it hard to talk about the subject. We'll just take our time getting back and he should be fine by the time we do, okay?"
Amaya felt abashed before she looked back at the woman and nodded. "Okay," she replied softly before they continued along. The rest of the way passed by in silence, but most of it was made up anyways as they passed by the bustling Reverie Plaza where Amaya found herself lost in the amazing sights once again, but that one thought still poked insistently at her mind: Who was Cara?
7: Chapter 6: GreetingsChapter 6: Greetings
When they reached the gates guarding Sector Three's large institution, Amaya began to hear the soft, gentle voice in her head. 'Why are you so sad, Amaya?' it asked.
It took Amaya a moment to figure out it was inside her head and another to just infer it might be her Spirit, but could it? That quickly? She decided to try and not think too much about it and fidgeted with the sleeve of her collar as she wondered if she was really that sad. After another moment, she realized she was sad in a way and she knew why. 'I miss my home. My Reality home, and it's really frightening being dead… And it seems like I keep saying the wrong things in front of Ambroise without meaning to,' she replied softly.
She heard the voice laugh and then it said confidently, 'It is alright to miss your Reality home and it will be okay. You are just going through a lot and it will take time to get used to everything. As for your friend, I am sure you will be on better terms with him soon. '
Amaya smiled as her and Demetria approached the double doors of the institution which seemed to be made of white marble. The building was tall, so tall that she couldn't even see the top as it disappeared above the clouds in the sky infinitely, and she began to wonder just how many people there were. The rest of the building seemed to also be made of white marble with the occasional altercations by blue gemstones, such as sapphire and aquamarine, to make overwhelming designs that circled the building. Above the double doors was the squad symbol, a huge tidal wave about to crash down on the number three. After another moment, Amaya simply said, 'Thanks… By the way, I never caught your name.'
'My name is Meian,' the Spirit whispered.
'Nice to meet you, Meian,' Amaya replied just as quietly.
"So, how does everything seem to you so far?" Demetria asked as she held the door open for her.
"Amazing and thank you for your kindness so far," she replied with a small smile.
The woman smiled back at her as she said, "You are very welcome. Most everyone is very hospitable to newcomers so you won't have to worry about a thing."
"Oh… I should probably say this now, but I'm not very big on the whole 'greeting' thing."
"That's fine, but it's always better to have at least some friends."
"Well, I do. I have you."
"And my brother," the woman added in. "But I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends. It can't possibly be that hard."
"Ha… I think it can be for me," Amaya mumbled quietly. She noticed the woman giving her a thoughtful look before stepping into one of the elevators. Amaya followed then realized they had just walked through the entire lobby, doubling as the whole first floor, of the place and she hadn't even noticed. Before the elevator doors closed, she caught the bustle of humans and other creatures alike running about while others relaxed on the numerous couches that were set up. On the walls were intricate mosaic designs by the same blue gemstones as the outside of the building and there were even a couple large water tanks up against the walls that had several sea creatures swimming about in them. Amaya squinted her eyes as something caught her eye in one of the tanks. Was that a-?
Her thought was cut off as the metal doors to the elevator closed shut and they began to ascend in the building. She glanced over to the button panel and noticed that it was a little keypad instead of rows and rows of buttons like she expected, but then again, considering how tall the building was, all four walls of the elevator would probably have been covered by the buttons. Currently, the display showed the number twenty-five typed into it.
The ride went by in silence, but there wasn't really much to say at the moment. When they reached the twenty-fifth floor, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Waiting on the other side was a girl who looked about sixteen with light blue eyes and blonde hair. She smiled brightly as she noticed Demetria first. "Captain Demetria! How are you?"
Amaya noticed the woman giving a patient smile as she ushered her out of the elevator with her. She busied herself with studying the hall and the different doors that lined it too scared to say anything at the moment. "Hello Raz, I'm doing fine. Thank you. How about you?" Demetria replied.
"I'm doing great!" the girl piped then she seemed to notice Amaya for the first time and she beamed. "Oh my gosh! You must be the newbie right?! You're so cute!"
Before Amaya could react, the girl had pulled her into what must have been her idea of a welcome hug. She found it kind of hard to breath with the tightness of the hug and wondered if this too was something all recruits had to go through. Well, recruits to this squad. "Um… I'm really not," she squeaked despite herself. "And nice to meet you too…"
"Raz, stop yelling," a familiar voice remarked making Amaya jump and look around. A second later, Ambroise appeared in another flurry of snow with hidden irritation in his expression. "You're scaring her."
"I-I'm not scared. Just confused… As usual," Amaya spoke up before she introduced herself, still sounding choked and out of breath but unsure how to tell Raz that she was dying in her welcome hug of death without offending her. "Hi. My name's Amaya."
The girl's eyes brightened at the name and she suddenly tightened her hug. "Amaya? What a nice name! Nice to meet you!"
Ambroise gave her an apologetic look before he looked at the energetic girl with scorn. "You can let go of her now, and don't be rude. Introduce yourself to her at least."
"Oh, right," the girl said letting go of Amaya, dropping her to the floor. "I'm sorry. My name's Raz, Raz Adeline."
"Hi…" Amaya repeated in a daze as she tried discreetly to gasp for air. She tried for a smile too, but she was too shocked to do much of anything.
"Great… Now she's traumatized," Ambroise mumbled as he moved to help her up.
"Ah… I'm not traumatized," she said as she smiled gratefully, sort of, at Ambroise as he helped her up. "No one's ever greeted me like that before so it just took me by surprise."
"Well, you should always expect more from Raz Adeline," he said as he glared at the girl again. "And you. Did you even finish all of your work I assigned you earlier?"
At his question, Raz gave a sheepish grin and began to play with the edge of her shirt. "Well, you see. What happened was-"
"I don't want any excuses, Adeline. Did you finish all your work or not?"
The girl sighed dramatically before she replied. "No. I didn't." When he narrowed his eyes, Raz held up her hands and quickly said, "Bu- Wait! It wasn't my fault! It was-"
"Ugh… Can you please just go and finish whatever you haven't finished?"
"Bu-"
"No buts!" Ambroise snapped making Amaya jump and Adeline cringe in growing fear. "I want you to finish your work immediately or I will make you do that much work tenfold, understood?"
"Ah, yes," Raz squeaked before rushing off.
Beside Amaya, Demetria laughed softly and moved to ruffle her brother's hair. "Ok, Ambroise. She's gone. You can relax now."
The third squad captain glared lightly at his sister before running a hand through his now disheveled hair. "God, can you please tell me again why I accepted her into my squad?"
"Because she works well with the sea mammals."
"Right," Ambroise muttered before turning to Amaya. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay, but um, she's not going to do anything else to me, is she?" she asked worriedly.
He gave a small amused smile and replied, "I'll make sure she doesn't."
Amaya sighed in relief. "Thanks. So where are we going now?"
"To one of the meeting rooms. You should get to know your superiors and in this case it'll be my lieutenant, Emilio, and me."
"In that case, I should be getting back to Sector Two," Demetria suddenly said. She gave an encouraging smile towards Amaya before she whispered, "Good luck and hope you have fun being a Dreamer, Amaya."
"Thanks," she whispered back and then the woman was gone like a whisper in the wind. Amaya noticed a couple flower petals fluttering to the ground where the woman had stood just seconds before. How did everyone keep doing that? She tried not to think too much about it as she just followed Ambroise until they stopped at a door marked 'Meeting Room 5.'
"You have more than one meeting room?" she asked curiously.
"Of course. Sometimes assigned groups need a quiet, isolated place to discuss things before they go off on missions or maybe they just want to hold meet ups and such like what we're doing now," he replied as he opened the door for her. She nodded at his explanation and smiled at him as she walked in. She heard him close the door behind her as she looked around the room.
It was a simple room with a single window that showed Reverie Plaza as its view, a rug with an ocean design on it, and a glass coffee table with three couches that surrounded it. Sleeping on one of them was a boy who looked a year younger than Ambroise (fifteen then maybe) with black hair that spiked up in disarray, but the orange that highlighted his hair made it look like a fire was dancing around on his head every time he rolled around. His face was angular like an elf's and he seemed about as tall as Ambroise. At the moment, he wore a simple black t-shirt and jeans, but the one thing that stuck out was a red watch around his wrist that looked like it was glowing.
"Hey, Emilio, wake up," Ambroise called as he walked over and shook the boy's shoulder.
"Huh? What? I did not fall asleep. Someone knocked me out," the boy mumbled quickly as he lazily raised his hands up in an innocent gesture.
"Sure they did," the captain countered sarcastically before sitting down on one of the couches and glancing over at Amaya expectantly. She tilted her head to the side before realizing he was waiting for her to sit as well and she went ahead to do so, on the last couch that was unoccupied. They waited a moment for the other boy to finally wake himself and he yawned loudly before sitting up and rubbing his eyes when he noticed Amaya and his fiery amber eyes brightened. He grinned, turning on his fiery charm as he liked to call it.
Ambroise rolled his eyes as he gestured over to the boy. "Amaya, meet the lieutenant of squad three, Emilio."
"It is such a pleasure to meet you," the boy said smoothly. "And my, oh my, do I feel lucky being in the presence of such a beautiful girl."
Amaya felt herself blush a little at his compliment wondering what he was trying to do. After another moment of the awkward silence, Ambroise leaned back against the couch and cleared his throat. "Okay! Now all pleasantries aside, I want to know if you have any questions that you want to clear up, Amaya," he put in shooting Emilio a look who merely grinned and shrugged. Ambroise rolled his eyes. Ever the foolish.
Amaya turned her gaze to the captain and tapped her cheek thoughtfully. There were a lot of things she wanted to ask, but what to start with first? She bit her lip before finally asking, "What exactly is a Spirit?"
"Spirits are a part of our souls. They are strong auras that manifest into our loyal, faithful partners, but not everyone gets them. Most of the time, it's the Spirits who choose when the Dreamer will meet them, so some may obtain them immediately while others may never know who their Spirit might be if they even have one at all. Most of the time, they start by talking with you," Ambroise explained.
"Yup, but not all of them are as hot as my Borvo," Emilio piped up with another grin. He raised his hand with the red glowing watch and then suddenly the watch wasn't a watch anymore. In its place coiled a snake with blood red scales and bright yellow eyes glinting with trouble. The snake curled up his master's arm before draping over his shoulders. He lifted his head and glanced at Amaya before flicking his tongue out at her in greeting.
Amaya smiled uneasily. Borvo looked like he wanted to roast her then eat her, and it didn't help when he opened his mouth and a puff of flames shot out. Subconsciously, she scooted closer to Ambroise's couch. "U-um, hi there, Borvo," she greeted in a small voice. When the red snake gave a halting hiss, she realized he was laughing.
"I think Borvo is scaring Amaya," Ambroise stated as he moved to pull out a small dagger that was attached to his belt and Amaya felt her eyes immediately go to it. It looked oddly familiar.
"Is that the one-?"
"That you saw attached to my neck when I was a wolf? Yes," he answered. Amaya felt herself suppressing a look of annoyance. How did he always seem to know what she was about to say? "This dagger is my Spirit, but this is only his dormant form. He usually likes to be in his active form, but he wanted to wait until he could be formally introduced to you," he went on before moving to hold the dagger out to her, the hilt side facing her.
Amaya looked up at the captain and at his reassuring smile. She bit her lip before taking the dagger gently in one hand and then gasped as she felt cold scales instead of metal in her grasp and then there was a small dragon curled around her arm lifting his head to look at her. He was beautiful with a body that seemed to be made of ice, but his scales were still an overall opaque frosty blue color, and baby blue eyes that glowed brightly with a playful aura. The horns that stuck out from his head were like ivory deer horns or tree branches. He looked like the baby of those traditional Japanese dragons you would always see in the tapestries and paintings. "You're so cute," she noted softly as she moved to pet the little dragon. His body emitted a pleasant cool feeling to the touch.
Ambroise smiled. "He says, 'Thank you.' His name's Ryuu."
"Ryuu… Nice to meet you. I'm Amaya," she said as she scratched at the softer patches of scales under his chin and neck. She gave a little laugh as the little dragon began to purr from her touch and she could feel the sound vibrating through his whole body. Then she noticed something from the corner of her eye and she looked up to see frozen words floating in the air before her and she gasped in surprise. 'Nice to meet you too,' they read.
She smiled down at the little dragon and then felt his violet tongue lick her cheek. "He likes you," Ambroise noted. He sounded impressed again. "It usually takes a while for Ryuu to get used to the newcomers, but he seems to like you almost as much as he likes me already..."
"Uh, Ryuu," Emilio suddenly called. "I think you should run before Borvo kills you for stealing his spotlight."
Amaya watched as the little dragon tilted his head and looked back at Emilio and she followed his gaze. Borvo was gone, no longer curled around his master's shoulders. She began to wonder where the snake had gone when suddenly she felt Ryuu letting go of her arm and he was soaring towards the ceiling just as the red snake shot past Amaya making her jump for the third time that day. The red snake fell to the floor at his vain attempt to get to the dragon who was now circling around the room in the air.
"Sheesh, sorry about that," Emilio said pulling her gaze back to him and Ambroise. The lieutenant was rubbing the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly. "How embarrassing.. Borvo has a teeming rivalry with Ryuu because he always scares people while Ryuu charms them. I guess it makes sense and you could chastise me to try and control the guy, but honestly? He's harder to tame than he looks. He'll try to burn off my hair, especially if I get in the way of his goal to destroy poor Ryuu up there."
"Oh, it's alright. I guess I can understand that," Amaya replied suppressing a smile thinking how that would look and somehow found it funny. Emilio's hair already had a fiery appearance but if it was actually engulfed by the real thing… She shook the thought off and looked over at Ambroise who was watching Ryuu glide around in circles and she got his attention again as she asked, "So, what do Dream Jumpers do?"
Ambroise tilted his head to the side thoughtfully before he answered, "Dream Jumpers, or Dreamers for short, do as the oath you took suggests. We keep the balance between dark and light and protect others, especially those who are closest to us because without them, we would not have the friends we would need for support and comfort."
Amaya nodded. "So how do you keep the balance?"
"Did anyone tell you about us captain and lieutenants being CE's?"
"Yeah… You're the CE of water while Demetria is nature and I'm guessing so on and so forth with the others."
"And I would be the CE of fire which makes the three of us the main trio in the balance," Emilio inserted proudly.
"The main trio?" Amaya questioned confusion knitting her brows.
"Eh, I'll get to that later," Ambroise amended. "Currently-"
"And always will be."
The boy ignored the comment from his lieutenant as he continued, "Takis is the C.E. of all good dreams and all the light and good in the world right? And Lord Sullivan in the Nether is his opposite. He represents all the bad dreams, the nightmares, and all the bad in the world. Because of these warring natures between the Dream World and the Nether World, we need to keep the balance so too much bad won't let the world fall to ruin."
"And so that too much good won't leave the world in a boring charade," Emilio remarked.
Ambroise rolled his eyes as he went on. "So we need to keep the balance, most of the time by eliminating Rogues since they prey off of the fear and bad in people's minds and as a result, still end up creating more. Emilio?"
His lieutenant nodded at the indication and moved to create a ball of flame in his cupped hands. As soon as it formed, he crushed the fiery ball then spread his hands as far apart as possible and the ball of flame had turned into a long stream of ash that now floated between his outstretched hands. Amaya's jaw dropped at the display. These people could manipulate everything! After another moment, Emilio began to move his hands through and around the ashes until he had sculpted a towering figure, at least eight feet tall. He had made it so the creature had glowing red eyes and a bulky frame. It looked like it could easily crush a car into a cube if it wanted to.
"That's a Rogue?" she asked timidly.
"Yes. Well one of them," Ambroise replied. "There are seven main types and each usually follow the seven Commanding Rogues under rule of Lord Sullivan."
"So, there are only seven of them?"
"No. There are seven main types. There's probably hundreds of thousands of different subspecies, but we've only ever really had to focus on the main seven."
Amaya nodded feeling like she was in a classroom in the middle of a lecture, except the lesson wasn't all that boring. "Dreamers keep the balance by taking out Rogues… So it's kind of like you guys are a pest control service."
Ambroise arched a brow at the comparison and Emilio, still holding the ash sculpture, burst out laughing and he placed his hands up to cover his face to muffle it, but it wouldn't stop. The ash sculpture was still standing. "Oh man, can you imagine that, Ren? Us running around in those ridiculous outfits with those silly gas guns trying to take out inky, black mice!"
The captain rolled his eyes, but smiled at the statement. "Yes, that would be a sight to see," he noted as he glanced back over at Amaya. "But nonetheless, I guess you are right in a way, but I'm surprised no one's ever actually come up with that analogy before. Hm, very interesting."
Amaya felt herself give a small smile; a part of it was because Emilio's laughter was beginning to get contagious. "Thanks, I guess," she replied lightly then remembered something else that had come up earlier. "So the main trio?"
"Oh, right. It's kind of like rock, paper, scissors. Water beats fire, fire beats nature, and nature beats water, but in the sense that it keeps the whole balance. Take a forest ecosystem for example. The plants take in the water to fuel themselves. When there's a forest fire, it might burn down some of the plant life, but then rain will sometimes fall to distinguish it and replenish some of the water systems, or the humans will go to put it out with water. But what if in the case the fire goes out of control? It will consume the entire forest and burn it down to nothing. Maybe the heat will even evaporate some of the water and therefor deplete water sources, even if it's only in very small amounts.
"So, the main trio of fire, nature, and water has always been a consistent partnership between three Dreamers, and it is our job, the main trio's job, to keep the balance in nature itself while also doing their normal job which would be everyone else's focus on keeping the balance solely between the light and the dark."
Amaya slowly nodded at his explanation and felt her mind beginning to whirl again. She was taking in too much information most likely, but she wanted to know more. This was all too fascinating. "So… You three are a big part in keeping the balance… If you guys are so important then why is Emilio only a lieutenant?" she asked slowly so she could keep control of her bearings.
"It's never always high ranking Dreamers. In fact, most of the time, the main trio usually begins as regular Dreamers and they work their way up to captain and lieutenant ranks. So we weren't always in these positions," he replied.
"Oh… I see," she said simply before she turned to look out the window then realized that the daylight sky outside had already disappeared to the darkened version of night. There were millions of stars dotting the sky despite the bright illumination from Reverie Plaza, but she mainly noticed how bright and calming the moon looked in its first quarter phase. Just beautiful.
Her attention was pulled back as Emilio yawned loudly and moved to stand, stretching out his arms as he did. "Well, she can ask all the questions she wants later, but I want to get some sleep." And then the boy suddenly straightened as if he remembered something and his amber eyes seemed to glow for a second as he grinned excitedly at Ambroise. "Hey, Ren. You're still having that party going tonight right? For Amaya."
Amaya felt a wave of confusion wash over her and she looked over at Ambroise to see if he would help her out. If he could clarify for her. She received a small smile from the captain before he nodded over at his lieutenant. "Yes, I'm still having the welcome party going."
"Awesome! You're parties are always the best!"
"What? But you're always saying they're a horrible splash… Or something along those lines."
"Pft, I just say that to tease you. Honestly I thought you would have known me by now," Emilio said as he gave Ambroise a mock look of exasperation and placed a hand over his heart.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just go get your beauty sleep, Emilio," Ambroise countered.
The fiery haired boy grinned before bowing, and the ash sculpture that was still there disappeared suddenly as he did. "I'd be pleasured to go ahead and do so." And then he was out of the room, his malicious little red snake following after him as he did, risking one last glare at the little dragon who was now gliding back down to settle on his master's shoulders. Ambroise gave Ryuu a little smile and moved to scratch the dragon under his chin making him purr.
"So… You're really holding a party? For me? You don't have to, really," Amaya found herself saying, but she silenced herself as he turned to her with a questioning look.
"Oh, but of course, Amaya. What kind of captain would I be not to hold a welcoming party for you, especially when you have also had the honor of receiving the approval from Alfonsus himself." The captain gave her a warm grin as if anticipating his upcoming party. "Trust me. You're going to have fun."
"Um, okay. I trust you, but would you mind telling me how I'm supposed to know where to go for the party?" she asked quietly.
Ambroise's grin turned to one of embarrassment as if he couldn't believe he had overlooked that one little fact. He placed a hand behind his head before he went on to explain the fundamentals of shared dreaming and dream parties. A host created the dream and its setting like how someone would create a private chat room. Both had the same options. The host would either send out mental invitations or receive requests from others to join their little dream party and the host would either reject or approve. He seemed to make a point of how it was all voluntary and all you had to do was plant the idea or thought in your head as you fall asleep: I'm going to so-and-so's party. After that, you'd hope that the host would accept you for the night's festivities.
Amaya still couldn't believe they were capable of this, but she guessed considering they were indeed, Dreamers, they could have mastered every way of dreaming in whatever way they pleased. She felt like all they wanted to do was awe her into oblivion right now.
As she moved to leave, she felt Ambroise stop her with a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him with a curious look. "You know, I actually did get you something as a little welcome present," he said with a hand behind his head as he handed her a slip of paper. She glanced down at it. Directions to her assigned room… Or apartment. Living space. Whatever. She really wasn't sure anymore and anything seemed good at this point. She felt so tired.
"Oh, you shouldn't have," she said quietly as she read over the directions again.
Ambroise flashed her another warm smile before he moved to pat her shoulder and walk ahead. "I'll be seeing you tonight then. Your present's in your room by the way," he called back to clarify. She stared at the slip of paper in her hand before she turned to try and thank him, but he was already gone. How did everyone keep doing that?
8: Chapter 7: Welcoming PartyChapter 7: Welcoming Party
As Amaya followed the instructions up to the seventy-fifth floor and to her room which was somewhere down the hall on the right side, Meian's voice spoke to her again, 'So how do you like everything so far?'
"It's nice, but I'm still a bit homesick… but as long as I have you here I think I'll be okay," she responded in a quiet whisper confiding In the Spirit.
'I'm so happy you already have so much trust in me.'
Amaya smiled at the Spirit's statement and when she reached to the open the door, the Spirit had one more thing to say. 'By the way, when you wake up, there's going to be something here for you.'
"Really? Can you tell me what it is?" she asked curiously as she walked into the little apartment-like space and noticed the key hanging on a rack by the door.
'Nope. You'll just have to wait until morning.'
"Okay…" Amaya said feeling a bit disappointed as she turned to lock the door before she began to wander around the apartment. There was a small kitchen off to the side while the living room took up a good portion of the apartment with a couch, a wave patterned rug, and a simple T.V. hanging on the wall, and then there was the one person bedroom with a bathroom connected to it. The place seemed more or less empty except for the traditional furniture, but she guessed she could add a couple more things later if she had the time. As she looked again into the bedroom, her eyes immediately went to a pile of things on her bed: a sketchbook with a folded note on top and sets of various art tools lay neatly next to it. She felt a bright smile reach her lips as she walked in and moved to look through everything. Pencils, paintbrushes, pens, markers, he had gotten everything for her. She felt tears well up in her eyes and she quickly moved to wipe them away as she moved to pick up the folded note. "This is the nicest thing anyone's done for me," she whispered to herself before she read through it:
Hey, so I took a look at the sketch of me you had tried to rescue from your house and I really thought you had some talent. As a result, I thought I really should get you something that you could use in your free time and to make you feel welcome here in the Dream World. I know this place is a big world, but you'll feel accustomed to it soon. See you tonight at the party!
-Captain Ambroise
P.S.
There's a couple sets of default clothes in your closet that everyone's issued. Don't worry about wearing something fancy when you go to sleep. When you get to the party, I'll explain to you about how you can change appearances and so on.
She read over the note a second time with soft eyes and then moved everything to her nightstand. Just as she did, another folded up piece of paper fell out from between the inside cover and the first page of the sketch book. She picked it up, unfolded it, and then found it to be the sketch of Ambroise. She gazed at it for a moment, noting all the smudges and imperfections, before placing it back inside the sketch book. He had saved it… but why?
Amaya walked over to the closet. She looked over everything before picking out a simple light blue pajama set and climbed into the bed. She sighed softly as she glanced out the window at Reverie Plaza one last time. She still couldn't believe she was here and that she was technically dead, but she couldn't complain. The whole place was just beautiful and he was right. It never ceased to amaze her. After another moment, she finally closed her eyes to welcome sleep with one thought in mind, 'I'm going to Ambroise's party.'
Ambroise stood in front of one of the many full body length mirrors that occasionally lined the large party room. He smoothed down the jacket of his silver tux that matched his hair and fixed the black tie in place. Why did those things always have to seem so complicated? After a couple minutes of fidgeting around with his outfit, he got the first entrance request. A small screen appeared before him like a hologram and he read over the request: 'Captain of Squad Two, Demetria,' requests entry to 'Welcoming Party' hosted by 'Captain of Squad Three, Ambroise.'
Below the message were two options in the form of buttons at the bottom of the screen. One read 'Accept' and the other read 'Reject.' He tapped the 'Accept' button and a couple moments later his sister stood in the middle of the large ball room and her white night gown quickly shifted into a simple green party dress. Her white egret orchid was tucked behind her ear as usual and her hummingbird Spirit, Pip, hovered over her shoulder gazing around at the party room with a curious interest. Ambroise looked up as he noticed movement from the ceiling then noticed Ryuu glide down from one of the ceiling ledges to greet them.
He watched the little hummingbird and dragon seem to exchange a couple words before turning his gaze to Demetria who was walking over to him. "You have outdone yourself as always, brother," the woman said with a small smile.
Ambroise smiled back and bowed his head in response. "Thanks, sis," he replied back and then moved to tuck one of his hands into his coat pocket. When he withdrew his hand, a small ice water lily grew in its place and he added the last touch to his attire.
He took another once over around the ball room just to make sure everything was good and intact. The room was large and dome-like, but provided plenty of space to move around. There were several tables set up against the walls filled with food and drinks for everyone to enjoy. There was a stage set up against the back wall with an empty drum set, microphone, turntable station, and so on. Tapestries hung all around depicting formal party scenes or images of ocean creatures. The floor was made of white marble along with the walls and at regular intervals stood high reaching windows that showed out to a moonlit forest. A couple of them even opened out to balconies in case anyone needed the fresh air.
Just as he was moving towards the center of the room where an empty table lay, another request appeared before him, but by someone he had grown to know as rather irritating. 'Blake Alistair, The Summoner of The Half-Masked' requests entry to 'Welcoming Party' hosted by 'Captain of Squad Three, Ambroise.' A muscle in his jaw worked as he again wondered how the guy always seemed to know he was hosting a party when he noticed the side bar pop up next to the screen. It was a little chat box. The name at the top read 'Blake Alistair' with a green circle next to it. The message he had sent read, "Come on, man. I can play a sick bass. So let me into the party won't ya?"
Ambroise narrowed his eyes at the message before he replied back, "Sorry, Alistair, but I already got someone on bass. Maybe try a party in the Nether hm?" He tapped the 'Reject' button and the request was gone. Moments following Blake's request, several began to pop up and circle around him. He scrunched his brows together as he noted this was most likely going to be a long night and went off to the side as he began to accept and reject the entry requests. He was glad Ryuu was always the one to greet everyone cheerfully while he worked to bring people in and keep the unwanted ones out.
He occasionally glanced up and noticed the increasing amounts of people filling the ball room, but there was one person missing. The reason why this party was even happening in the first place. Where was she? Had she somehow forgotten the instructions? Or maybe nerves were keeping her up? He could understand why considering the billions and billions of people who roamed around in the Dream World. But then, he found it. He glanced around and read the request over once, then twice just to make sure it was the right one. It was. He tapped the 'Accept' button and called Demetria over to hand off the invitation duty temporarily to her before rushing off to where he had set her to appear.
Amaya seemed to drift through the darkness of dreamless sleep for a good hour or so, but she couldn't quite tell. Seconds felt like minutes, but hours felt like seconds… Ok, so she had no meaning of time here. At one point, somewhere in the back of her mind, a thought broke through reminding her that she had a Dream party to attend, but then why wasn't she there yet? Why was she still just floating through here? Through this thick black realm of her mind where no dreams touched?
As if reacting to her endless questions, she suddenly felt her tilting towards a stand and then solid ground greeted her feet. She could feel the gentlest of breezes rustle through her hair and the smell of the outdoors reached her nose. A second passed and then she found herself standing by the railing of an outdoor balcony. Her eyes widened in awe as she gazed on at the seemingly endless forest outlined by the illumination of moonlight.
"Beautiful isn't it?" a voice suddenly asked lightly next to her and she jumped away in surprise. She glanced over to see Ambroise dressed in a silver tuxedo that matched his hair and his face was set in a calm expression. His hair glowed softly under the moonlight and his deep blue eyes seemed to be contrasted by the glow somehow. She suddenly felt self-conscious realizing she was still only in her light blue pajamas and she tried to act casual as she leaned her elbows forward against the railing, but missed it by that much and almost tripped forward. She felt hands grab her by the arms to help steady her. Of course. She was always so clumsy. "Nervous?" his voice came from directly behind her and she jumped again at his closeness.
When she turned to look back at him, he had taken a step back giving her room and was glad the low light didn't show too much of her blush. "Y-yeah," she replied quietly, but then realized how true it was. She was nervous, remembering how many people she had seen earlier out in Reverie Plaza and imagining all those people and probably many more attending a party just for her.
"Well, you'll get used to the company soon enough," Ambroise reassured before looking her over as if remembering she was still in her pajamas. "Ah, now for another lecture eh?" he joked lightly before continuing on. "Depending on the dream and your position, Dreamers have the ability to manipulate certain aspects of the dream.
"Like for instance, I am the host and therefor the initial Dreamer here meaning I can change the immediate surroundings and larger aspects while you are the guest and not the one who controls the actual dream, but you are still pretty independent. You can give yourself things, change your appearance, clothing, and so on, but we tend to only change things in order to fit the current situation in the dream or to keep something in the dream in check.
"And right now, it seems you are in need of a change of clothing."
At his blunt statement, she gave him a long look, but only saw his serious expression, but wait? The low light had been hiding it. The barest glint of amusement in his eye. She decided to brush it off and waited for him to continue on. Yes, she did need to change into something better for the party, but how? Well then again… What would she wear? She tilted her head to the side and suddenly imagined herself in a simple red dress. Her hair needed to be brushed back she was sure and why not maybe add on white elbow length gloves? It didn't hurt to seem formal from time to time.
"Er, Amaya? Amaya, did you hear me?" Ambroise's voice suddenly broke through her thoughts, but she noticed the amusement was more prominent in his tone.
"Hm? I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" she asked feeling abashed as she looked back up at him.
"Actually I think you already just did what I was telling you to do. I was saying, Dreamers usually just have to imagine the change and it will happen," he repeated for her and she tilted her head to the side before noticing a snug tightness around her forearms and hands. She took a step back from railing and looked over herself then with awe. The dress she had imagined had taken the place of her pajamas and the snugness around her arms were the white gloves.
"Wow, okay," she mumbled out dazedly. Did she really just do that?
A soft laugh made her look up again and she noticed the faintest of smiles playing along the boy's lips. "You look ravishing, Amaya. Now, I believe everyone is still waiting for the guest of honor. Ready?" he asked lightly as he walked over to the glass door in the high reaching window placing his hand on the knob but not turning it yet as he looked over at her expectantly.
She nodded as she walked over still feeling a clinging anxiousness and it only grew as she saw the seemingly hundreds of people that had come to attend. She could hear the chatter through the glass and the excited dance music in the background. She could see the impossibly large room was lit by a large chandelier that hung high up in the middle of the ceiling and the occasional torch on the wall that helped brighten the darker corners of it. She gazed over all the decorations and intriguing features of the room and she bet she probably looked like a child looking in on a candy store. And then there was the ice sculpture that stood tall in the center of the ball room. It looked like a huge towering tidal wave had been frozen in place right there and the words, 'Welcome Amaya Hanshou' were etched into the middle of the wave.
"You did all of this?" she asked as she turned to Ambroise still with wide-eyed awe.
"Yes, I did," he replied simply.
"You didn't have to… But this is all so amazing. How long did it take you to prepare this? No, just… Thank you." She was beginning to stumble over her words. No one had ever been this nice to her. At a loss of what else to do, Amaya turned to him and smiled with all the gratitude she could muster.
When his smile brightened at the sight of hers, she suddenly realized how nice he looked when he smiled. Another moment passed and she realized she had been staring again and she turned back to the door. "Ok, ok… I think I'm ready," she amended.
The young captain's face then turned to one of mock seriousness and he bowed making her feel self-conscious again but his next statement made her feel more at ease. "As you say, O great guest of honor and remember to have fun." And then he opened the door and the noise reached through full force, surrounding her as she walked through and she barely remembered to say her thanks to Ambroise as she did. The chatter ranged from whispers to shouts and laughs, but as she passed by almost everyone turned to her with welcoming smiles and greeted her just as light-heartedly. She had never felt so welcome. Gradually her nervousness lifted and her smile was ever present, and her cheeks were hurting by the time she got to the center of the room where the towering ice sculpture stood. She didn't even say much to everyone else, but they were being so nice to her… She decided to just accept it and looked up at the ice sculpture in curiosity.
Up close, it was so tall it literally looked like a tsunami wave was about to crash down and swallow her, but it didn't seem as intimidating with the welcoming words etched into it. She read them over a couple times with a small smile before she remembered Ambroise had done all this for her. A little more gratitude never hurt anyone right? But as Amaya glanced around, she saw that he was nowhere to be found among the crowds of people that surrounded her. Where had he gone? Before she could think too much on it, a familiar voice brought her back. "Hey! Well if it isn't the beautiful girl!"
She turned to see Emilio flashing her another one of his usual charming grins. His hair was slicked back now and Borvo lay draped comfortably around his shoulders glancing around at the festivities before flicking his tongue out at her in greeting. She gave the snake a small, nervous smile. He still looked like he was ready to roast her… She shook the thought off and glanced back to the Spirit's master.
The lieutenant was dressed in a red formal button up and formal black pants. She noticed his top button was undone revealing a tattoo of the third squad symbol just above his right collarbone. As if noticing where her line of sight laid, his grin widened and he asked, "I know, cool right? I have another one right here." And he turned his head to the side and pointed to a number '3' that was tattooed behind his left ear in an intricate flaming font.
"Wow," she said with a small smile. "Very nice."
"I know. Andreas, the captain of squad seven, is actually a really good tattoo artist so if you ever want one, you should stop by and let him know."
"Oh, well I'll keep that in mind, but I don't think I'd really want one anytime soon," Amaya replied politely.
Emilio shrugged with an 'oh well' look on his face. "Well, it's your loss I guess."
A moment of silence passed between them before Amaya looked up suddenly remembering something and asked, "Hey, do you know where Ambroise went?"
"Ren?" Emilio asked scratching the side of his head in a thoughtful gesture. "I'm not sure really. You could try to find Demetria or Ryuu and ask them, but I think he's just taking care of the last remaining entry requests to the party."
She nodded at his answer as she felt her mind begin to whirl. How many people did he invite to the party and how many more happened to chance on the party and decided to join? She could never imagine anything like this happening to her in Reality and it all made her feel very small and foreign to it, but at the same time accepted and welcome. The feeling left her confused, but happy.
"So, how are you enjoying the Dream party so far?" the lieutenant suddenly asked her drawing her out of her thoughts once again.
"Well I just got here… But I think it's all really amazing, and I still can't believe Ambroise would do something like this for me. I couldn't believe it if anyone would have done this for me in fact."
Emilio's smile widened at her words. "Well, Ambroise is one of the best people at heart you can ever meet, even if he doesn't seem like it sometimes, and he always knows how to make a good party turn to an excellent one."
As if on cue, his voice was suddenly echoing across the room and everyone turned towards the stage. The young captain of squad three stood there holding a microphone made of ice that shouldn't have worked, but somehow did as he repeated his words. "Hello? Hello? Can everyone hear me?" When he got no answer, he furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side. "Can everyone hear me or are you all just staring at something behind me?" he joked as he turned around and only saw the band behind him who just shrugged and looked at each other as if to say they didn't know either.
When Ambroise turned back, he had a look of mock exasperation as he glanced around at everyone. "Ok, seriously, can you guys hear me or not?" No noise from the crowd. "Is… Is this thing not working? Hello?" Amaya had to admit, he put on a pretty good act as he tapped the microphone and then it crumbled down to a pile of snow at his feet. A blank look then passed over his features, but everyone still remained silent, though many smiled as if they had seen him do this before.
"Oh no, oh no," the young captain was muttering as he frantically clumped the snow together into a tight snowball. When he stood up again, his look suddenly turned mischievous as he tossed it at a random person and then there was suddenly snowballs firing at everyone from every possible angle and the reactions ranged from excited laughs to horrified screams to a combination of both. Amaya personally was one of the ones laughing in amusement as snowballs barraged her and everyone around her. Just as quickly as they had come, the snowballs stopped and the remaining bits of snow also disappeared though not without leaving an aftertaste of cold air behind.
"There we go. That's what you all get for lying to me," Ambroise shouted out his voice still booming even though he had no microphone now. He received several replies of 'We're sorry!' and 'Please don't do it again,' but it all ended in laughter. Ambroise smiled as he continued on holding up his arm and Ryuu was gliding over to perch on it, looking over everyone suspiciously as if telling them he would hunt them down if they did anything wrong. It worked as his master repeated his question of, "Can everyone hear me?" and this time received several affirmative responses. Well, it could have been the little dragon staring them down or the impending threat of another one-sided snowball fight.
"Great, now I'm sure most of us know what this party is for right?" No answer once again. He furrowed his brows. "Really guys? None of you know why we're here?"
"To enjoy the food?" someone suggested innocently making a good part of the crowd laugh.
"No, you glutton! To welcome Amaya to the Dream World!" Emilio shouted next to her and Ambroise's smile returned.
"Right you are, Emilio. So let's make her feel welcome, shall we?" The young captain gestured around the room and he was met by encouraging cheers in response and even the guests around Amaya began to smile welcomingly at her again and she barely caught their repeated greetings and so on through all the noise.
"Great!" Ambroise's voice boomed then through all the commotion. "Now that that's all established let us continue the party!" He received more excited cheers again, but they died down as the music picked up again, but this time it was slower, mellower and the volume of the chatter around her quieted in response to the music.
Amaya then began to notice how the crowd around the center table began to thin out as people began to dance and the conversationalists began to walk off to the sides to give room for the dancers. She looked back to the stage and noticed the band had shifted to playing more orchestral instruments to produce the slow dance music, but then also took note of the absence of the host of the party on the stage.
"Hey, have fun, alright?" Emilio suddenly asked her and she turned to him just to see him walking off with the others off to the sides. She felt lost suddenly among all those groups and pairs dancing along to the music and she was about to walk off to the sides when a voice came from behind her making her jump and turn around to face the source of the voice.
"Ah, sorry if I scared you," Ambroise said tipping down a top hat made of ice in an apologetic gesture.
"Oh, it's alright," she replied quietly as she looked up at him. The ice hat shaded his eyes a little from view giving him a sort of mysterious look, but as he tilted it back up and offered a gloved hand, her heart picking up its pace as she anticipated his next five words.
"May I have this dance?" the boy asked as the ice top hat he was tipping up dissipated to a flurry of snow and bits of frost clung to his features making him look like a mystical prince of winter. A handsome one, she had to admit. As he offered his gloved hand out to her, she felt herself smile and nod. She gently took his hand, ignoring the fact that she in fact had never danced before. It couldn't possibly be that hard, right?
In one easy motion, he pulled her close enough until their bodies were mere inches apart and she tried to keep that one thought out of her mind as he placed his free hand by her waist and she placed her own on his shoulder. Ambroise smiled encouragingly down at her as he began to sway slowly to the music and she slowly followed his lead.
After another moment, Amaya looked up at him feeling the cold that still clung to him from his little earlier show. "I never got to thank you," she said then with a soft gaze and gratefulness clear in her tone. "For everything. You were the one who brought me here instead of leaving me to survive on the streets back in Japan.. You were the one who explained everything to me when I had endless questions and the gift. I love the gift. Thank you so much for that... And for throwing this party too. I never thought anyone would ever care enough to do this for me."
She watched as his smile brightened making his face all the more charming and her thoughts blanked at the notion. Why didn't he smile all the time? It was a beautiful trait of his. That charming smile. She quickly shook the thought off as he said, "I'm glad you enjoy the gift. I hope to see many more pictures in the near future hm? And anytime. Your words bring me a feeling of great appreciation. I thank you for that."
"Uhm, you're welcome," she said simply not knowing what else to say. He seemed so formal most of the time she suddenly noted. She wondered why. Maybe he had grown accustomed to acting this way.
Her thoughts broke off as she suddenly stumbled in her step as she seemed to trip over something. Amaya gave a small cry of surprise as someone suddenly bumped into her and the momentum helped in bringing her downwards towards the floor. She embarrassingly pulled Ambroise down with her and scattered the people and other creatures around them. Raz was the first person to help them.
"OHMYGOSH! Are you guys OKAY?!" she cried as Amaya noticed her hand hastily slip into a pocket on her dress and then she pulled out a white handkerchief. She gazed at the girl in confusion and it only deepened when she handed it to her.
"You uh... Have a little something right here," Ambroise suggested brushing his thumb over the right side of his jaw as he moved to sit back.
Amaya sat up and tilted her head to the side not liking how everyone was staring at her. She wiped the handkerchief over the indicated spot and it came away with a small blue and white speck of icing and her cheeks burned as her embarrassment seemed to begin to drown her. How did that get there at all? "Oh, uhm, I'm so sorry, Ambroise... I think I'd actually like to go get some fresh air so... I'll see you guys in a moment." She hurried to get up feeling very self-conscious as she hurried off to one of the empty balconies.
As soon as she heard the glass door close behind her, she could hear the music slowly pick up again and the sounds of chatter resumed. She gazed out longingly at the moonlit forest that stretched out before her wishing she could run away instead of face the impending crowd again and just wake up later back in her bed when the party was over.
She looked up as she heard the sounds from inside intensify momentarily as the glass door behind her opened then closed. Before she could turn around to see who it was, his voice was already right beside her. "You know, I should be the one to say I'm sorry. I should have been watching our surroundings. I shouldn't have just let you trip and fall over like that."
Amaya turned her eyes on the young captain. The moonlight seemed to make his silver hair glow again and the blue streaks in his hair seemed to come alive rolling like ocean waves as the wind lightly blew through his hair. His features were more defined and sharp under the low light, and then she realized she was staring at him again when he arched a brow in questioning.
She quickly turned to look back out across the forest. "It's okay... I'm just naturally clumsy. I can be like a black cat surrounded by broken mirrors. I'm nothing but bad luck," she said mumbling the last bit without meaning to.
"Hm... Well Alfonsus seems to think otherwise, and so do I. You're not all bad luck. You can't be," the young captain replied gently.
She turned back to him and gave him a small grateful smile and he returned her smile with his own. That dazzling smile... But then a small dot of red on his neck caught her attention and she furrowed her brows feeling confused again. "Ambroise? What's that on your neck?" she asked lightly as she remembered she was still holding the handkerchief in her hand.
"Hm?" Ambroise questioned back, but stood still as she pressed a clean spot against the red dot on his neck and dabbed a couple times. When she pulled her hand away, the two glanced down at the handkerchief in her hand and saw a dark red blot. They both shared looks of surprise and dark puzzlement. Blood.
Ambroise's eyes darkened into seriousness and he glanced up at her. "What does it look like?" He didn't have to clarify.
She moved to dab at his neck again until she saw a small needle sized hole as if he had been injected with something. "It looks like a needle had gone into your neck," she noted relating her thoughts out loud.
She watched as he turned his gaze out to the forest this time. His expression showed that he was clearly lost in thought and after another moment, he looked back at her. "That fall you took earlier... It must have been used to cover up something. I must have been injected during the sudden commotion."
Amaya's eyes widened at his conclusion. Would someone really do that? As if reading her thoughts, he moved to gently take the handkerchief from her hand and placed it against the needle sized hole on his neck. "This is most likely all they plan on doing tonight. So stay calm, pretend this never happened, okay?" When she nodded, he went on. "Alright, great. I'm going to go back inside and look for Demetria to see if she can help patch me up. Stay out here as long as you want, but don't forget to come inside to have a good time."
"Okay, thanks," Amaya replied quietly as she watched the young captain walk back inside with the handkerchief still placed to his neck. She turned back to look at the endless forestry that spread out under and before her and again she wished she could run away into its peaceful confines until she was supposed to awaken the next morning.
Among the crowds of the calm, the peaceful, the excited, and the drunk, there stood two who had begun to trigger the grand scheme. That grand scheme would hopefully soon begin to develop and bloom into the chaos that the twosome's lord had planned to start since the beginning of his dark regime in the Nether. One of them now was standing near the back of the room, dressed in formal blacks, but he had a headset around his head and a hand pressed against the earpiece as if waiting for a message. He waited and waited and while he waited for what seemed to be an eternity he watched his partner go about socializing with the others, her blonde head bobbing and weaving between the numerous amounts of people that had attended Amaya Hanshou's welcoming party.
And then it finally came. That deep, rumbling voice of his lord; feared yet revered by all who loyally followed him. "Did you fulfill your mission, soldier?"
"Yes sir. I did, Lord Sullivan. The triggering agent for the Rogue has been planted," the man said punctuating his statement with a nod even though he knew his lord couldn't see him.
His lord's next words were then punctuated with a pleased smile. "Good. Well done then, soldier. I trust you to come back awake and alive in the morning."
"Yes sir, but…"
"Yes? What is it, soldier? Spit it out."
"Didn't you say you were going to issue us our next objective as soon as we were done with this one?"
"Ah, yes, that's right. Good memory, soldier."
"Thank you, Lord Sullivan."
"Now then… Ah, that's right. Here is your next objective, soldier. Do you know of a man by the name of Jihad Bratcher?"
"Yes, I do… What is it you want me to do exactly?" A sense of fear was beginning to enter the man now. Jihad Bratcher was an elite covert informant and supplier to the Dreamers, but held his offices in the Nether for reasons no one seemed to really know. Only few really knew what he truly did and fewer knew where he set up his works, but almost everyone knew he was not someone to be tampered with.
He heard his lord chuckle lowly in his earpiece and he froze at his next words. "I want you, soldier, to bait Jihad Bratcher. He will be playing a major role in my little games. I hope you know what I expect you to do and I also hope you know what lays in store for you should you fail, of course."
The man tried to push away the fear and nervousness that was now persistently nagging his mind, but he forced the words past the knot in his throat. "Yes sir, Lord Sullivan."
9: Chapter 8: Corruption of BloodChapter Eight: Corruption of Blood
The rest of the party went by in a blur.
Ambroise remembered the rest of the night going by dancing, chatting, playing, serving, and kicking the drunken guests who had begun to cause trouble during the event, but as it all went by, he began to feel a growing sense of sudden weariness. It was like a large, warm blanket was smothering his mind trying to coax him to sleep, but if he did, then the dream would collapse without its proper host and thus, he fought against the feeling. He was grateful when
Ryuu would sometimes give him a little blast of ice cold water to the face to keep him awake, but god it was getting hard.
Finally it got to the point where he had set the curfew. The party was to end at seven in the morning and when the time finally came, he was ushering the persistent ones to leave and watching the more obliging ones fall asleep. He was leaning against a wall now about to nod off to sleep when he heard footsteps approach him and he looked up. Demetria and Amaya were walking up to him, both with weary smiles. They were the last two he needed before he could go to sleep and wake up back in his room, but he was still bemused by why he was so tired. He was usually still wide awake at this point, left to clean up the party before going off himself, but tonight, the party just seemed to drain him. So... Tired…
"You look like you're about ready to pass out, brother. Are you alright?" Demetria asked now that the two girls were directly in front of him.
"Yeah. Yeah… Guess this particular party must have tired me out especially quick this time," he replied smoothly, but both girls looked at him skeptically and he kept trying to reassure them until it seemed Amaya had finally had enough.
"Do you think this could be an effect from whatever was injected into you?" she asked looking between the two captains.
Brother and sister exchanged an unsure glance before Demetria replied, "It could be. It seems likely at this point, but we still don't know for sure, so I guess we'll find out when we wake up."
The two girls turned to Ambroise as he spoke up. "Well, if that's the case, then you two go along and sleep first, I'd rather not have the dream collapsing on you."
Judging by the look on Amaya's face, he could tell she was already having new questions popping up left and right, but before she could get any of them out, his sister murmured something to her and the two went off to find a place to fall asleep. He looked over them as the two settled down into makeshift beds made by chairs pushed up against each other and then a couple minutes later they were gone. He yawned loudly, but didn't bother to cover it up with his hand as he walked down to the center of the room and noticed out of the corner of his eye, a small figure gliding towards him. A familiar cold weight settled on his shoulders and he smiled tiredly over at Ryuu as the little dragon sprayed his face with a mist of cold. "Alright, buddy. Mind taking care of all the water and ice in the room while I clean up the rest?"
The little dragon nodded dutifully before moving to latch onto the ice sculpture first and gradually the large wave and its welcoming message melted away into a miniature snow storm which quickly subsided to mist. Ambroise watched Ryuu dart around for a moment before walking around to burn away the remaining bits of trash and food and straightening tables and chairs with a flick of his wrist. After he had cleaned up about three quarters of the room, his exhaustion began to get the best of him again and he collapsed into a chair and leaned his head back. Sleep sounded so good right now, but he still needed to do that one table… And the stage… His eyelids felt heavy and he sighed in resignation. Maybe closing his eyes for a minute couldn't hurt…
He awoke to the feeling of scales brushing against his face, but he was reluctant to open his eyes. He had just woken up so it made sense as to why he'd still be feeling groggy and all, but that scaly feeling…
He sputtered fully awake when he felt a stream of cold water hit his face and he glared up at the face of his Spirit. The little dragon smiled innocently and the young captain rolled his eyes moving to sit up and wiped the sleeve of his night shirt over his face to wipe off the water. After a moment, Ambroise yawned softly and fell back against his pillow not wanting to get up yet and threw his arm over his eyes to shield it from the light, but as usual he felt Ryuu's stubborn nose nudge against his arm urging him to hurry and wake up.
A couple minutes of this passed until Ambroise finally lifted his arm away, but when he opened his eyes, the light was more blinding than it should be. He furrowed his brows and shielded his eyes with his hand as they slowly adjusted but when he moved his hand away, the light was still too bright as if he were staring down headlights. The feeling eventually began to bring on a nagging headache and he sighed before moving to place his pillow over his head. Ugh, it was like the party had sapped out every bit of energy which hasn't happened since he had done it the very first time. He was worn out, way too sleepy for his own good, and the headache was only making things worse.
Ryuu whimpered in worry and pawed gently at the pillow trying to get Ambroise to show his face again. 'Master,' he pleaded gently. 'Master, are you doing okay? I'm sorry for spraying you with water, but you need to wake up. You have to teach classes and everything today… Master?'
A long moment of tense silence passed but a small feeling of relief passed through him as the boy finally spoke up again, though he sounded awfully wearier than he should have been and his words then again weren't all too reassuring. "I'm sorry, Ryuu. This headache's killing me."
'Then you should get up and walk around. Wake yourself up, Master Ambroise. Please. I do not like seeing you like this.'
A sigh sounded before Ambroise moved the pillow off of his head. He squinted against the too bright light and moved to get up and off the bed following the little dragon's advice. He nimbly walked around his bed and attempted to go towards the door, but right as he reached out to grab the doorknob, his headache suddenly intensified and he flinched back away from the door as if it was on fire.
As if on clue to his reaction, his mind suddenly opened up and began filling his pain-filled conscience with long forgotten memories. He grimaced and barely registered the worried growl and croon from his Spirit who was already settling on his shoulders and looking at him with concern and determination. It was as if the little dragon was trying to tell him to snap out of it, to fight against it, and to pick himself up again. The torrent of wild emotions that barraged his mind eventually made him collapse to his knees and clutch his head in mental agony. All the happiness, all the pain, all the damn raw emotions! He couldn't get any of those memories or thoughts out of his head! He couldn't stop all the feelings that rushed to him. The passion. The heartbreak. The pain. The loss. The elation. It was all… too… much! He couldn't help but groan in frustration and grip his hair tighter ready to pull it out. The memories and thoughts were too vivid. They were coming too fast and he was still not ready. He may never be ready and being forced to recount like this was quickly draining his already drained body and put him in a weak state. He wasn't ready. He might as well never will be and through his own mental prison of madness one thought managed to break through. The injection.
Amaya woke up feeling well rested like any normal day despite having technically stayed up the entire night at the Dream party, but even then she covered her mouth as a small yawn escaped her lips. She sleepily moved to sit up stretching her arms high over her head to get her muscles moving from their stiff positions and glanced around. The gleam of a sword leaning against the wall in the morning light immediately caught her gaze and her expression brightened with excitement as she got up and went over to it. "Cool," she breathed out as she moved to gingerly pick it up, careful of the sharpened blade. It was like any traditional Japanese katana except the blade was black as obsidian and an engraving of a full moon could be seen on one side of the black blade while another engraving was on the bottom of the hilt. She moved to grab the sheathe, wrapped in black and white silk, before sitting down on the edge of her bed and running her fingertips over the engraving and looked over the hilt. The hilt was white with black and white winding ribbons about three feet long tied to the top. She moved to carefully grab the hilt and held it out and liked how it didn't feel too heavy but not too light at the same time. She had never really held a sword before, but she could already tell that the sword was made perfectly balanced for her.
After a good long while of admiring the sword, she slipped it into its sheathe and asked softly, "Was this my surprise?"
'Yes, I'm glad to see you like it,' came Meian's calm voice.
"I love it. Thank you, Meian," Amaya replied with a smile.
'You're welcome, Mistress Amaya.'
Amaya continued to absently run her hand over the sword's sheathe marveling at the expert craftsmanship for another moment before her Spirit spoke up again, but worry carried through in her tone. 'Mistress… Something doesn't feel right.'
"Hm? What is it, Meian?"
'I can't quite put a name to it… Maybe you should go out and see if anything's going on?'
"Hm… Yeah, I guess," Amaya replied as she moved to lean the sword against the wall with a small frown of confusion. Meian sounded really worried. She gave a look of wonder and bemusement wondering what could have gotten the Spirit so worked up. She left her room not minding she was still in her sleep wear and closed the door behind her, even forgetting to bring her keys to lock it behind her. That was the least of her worries at the moment. She had to find out why Meian was so worried.
Then she heard it. A far off pained groan. Amaya furrowed her brows and began to walk in the general direction of where she had heard the sound but again wondered why Meian was making such a fuss about it. She heard another groan but it seemed quieter this time. Amaya frowned a little. How could that be? She could have sworn she was moving in the right direction. 'He's muffling it,' came her Spirit's gentle voice, but Amaya's confusion only deepened. He? Who was she leading him to?
Eventually, Amaya made it to the end of the hall and looked around. She hadn't heard another sound since the last one… Where was he? Where was the person she was supposed to find? Then it came again. That low, stressed moan of pain and Amaya whipped around to face the door that was at the very end, on the right side of the hall to be exact. She bit her lip and fidgeted with the sleeve of her shirt as she stood in front of the door. She could begin to hear another stifled groan as if he was trying to muffle the sound against something. She listened again and the tone of the voice suddenly seemed familiar to her. So, so familiar…
"Ambroise?" she found herself calling gently without her permission. No answer. She called in once more then again and she was beginning to get nervous. What was going on? Was he okay? Another muffled groan, this time followed by a worried croon. Ryuu.
She hesitated for another second before she finally turned the knob and somehow wasn't surprised to find that it wasn't locked. She slowly peered in and the cleanliness and organized air of the room was the first thing that hit her. The second was the scent that filled the room in a subtle manner. The calming scent of a salty sea breeze on a clear day accompanied by the faintest hint of crisp, spearmint. Her nerves calmed a bit at the smell that filled the room before she noticed the silver-haired figure on his knees with one hand clutching his head and the other pressed against his mouth. He was struggling with something she couldn't see. She acted without thinking and hurried to his side moving to place a hand on his shoulder in a steadying gesture. "Ambroise? Captain? What's wrong?" she asked worriedly and looked to Ryuu who merely looked back at her with his own concern and alarm. He didn't seem to know what was causing this either. But how could his own Spirit not know what could be wrong either? What was going on? And then she stopped as she caught the small white bandage on his neck and her eyes widened.
The injection from last night's party. It must be the cause but what did it do? More questions whirled through her head like how did the bandages follow him out of the dream but knew those could be saved for later. "Ambroise, what's wrong?" she tried again as she switched to grip his shoulders and could feel his tense yet shaking frame. She was answered with another muffled groan and she was beginning to panic. What was she supposed to do? She looked to Ryuu again asking if he knew and the little dragon only shook his head solemnly before he tensed and looked to his master in alarm. The little dragon then looked to Amaya and began waving his paws around frantically and pointing at the door, but she only looked on in puzzlement. What was he trying to tell her? Before she could ask, she suddenly felt a pair of hands roughly grab her by the collar of her shirt and lift her up off the ground, constricting her neck and cutting off her air supply. She gasped but no oxygen filled her needy lungs and she looked down at Ambroise and froze in place.
His irises were no longer their usual deep blue but a dark blood red. His lips were twisted in a spiteful sneer and if she could, she would have tried to run away right then and there. Now she knew what Ryuu had been trying to tell her, but it was too late now. She stared at the boy who could not be Ambroise, her vision blurring with lack of oxygen. No, this wasn't her captain, it couldn't be, this aggressive monster, and yet it was all there. His bright silver hair and everything else that belonged to him except those blood red eyes.
"Ambroise," she managed to choke out gripping his arms even though she knew it wouldn't help her position. "Please."
The young captain didn't seem fazed by her weak plea nor did she expect him to be, but it was worth a try. As she struggled for air, she caught movement behind Ambroise and she remembered there was someone else in the room. A little roar rang out and then the little dragon was on him, wrapping around his neck and pawing at his face, not wanting to hurt his master but wanting to snap him out of it somehow. She watched as Ambroise merely grinned keeping his death grip on her unaffected by his Spirit's attempts to faze him until suddenly Ryuu paused and growled something out as if he was trying to talk to him. The young captain paused and his murderous expression faltered. His now bemused dark red eyes flickered to Amaya before widening and his grip on her shirt loosened enough for her to finally breathe.
Sweet, life-giving oxygen poured into her lungs like a water dam flooding and she gasped and panted hungrily gulping as much of it in as she could. She felt his grip on her collar further loosening and his frame began to shake a little again. Ryuu growled again and Ambroise clenched his jaw before finally letting go of Amaya and she fell to her knees feeling dazed as she still tried to regain her lost oxygen. She faintly registered the captain gritting out an apology while he struggled against himself again and she heard the little dragon trying to still get through to him before he let out a surprised yelp.
Amaya stayed on her knees for a second and when she was sure she would most likely be okay, she looked up to see the young captain had collapsed against the ground. He was unconscious. She bit her lip as she crawled over to him and timidly opened one of his eyes as Ryuu leaned over to observe as well. The red in his eye was quickly receding away and his usual deep blue hue replaced it revealing itself once again like a blooming flower. Was he okay now? But… what just happened? Could a simple injection really have caused all of this?
After seeming to have recovered from the initial shock of the morning, Ryuu left to fetch Emilio who came rushing over with Borvo curling around his wrist. His eyes had widened at the scene, Amaya still looking a bit shocked herself but she was still by Ambroise's side wanting to keep him from attacking anyone else in the case he could have woken up again. The lieutenant had noticed red but faded marks by the base of her neck where the young captain had momentarily tried to strangle her and he then looked to the ice dragon on his shoulders with a worried look. He had heard what the Spirit needed to tell him but it was still hard to believe… The lieutenant then had promptly moved to help lift Ambroise up with Amaya one arm over each set of shoulders and they half-dragged, half-carried him to Sector Two as best as they could.
Along the way, Emilio explained the reasoning of their destination. Demetria's lieutenant, Ismat, was the best healer there was, hence her title as C.E. of medicine and health. The little trio accompanied by Ryuu gliding behind and Borvo slithering after had run into Demetria along the way who had looked upon her dear brother with surprised eyes before quickly directing them to the medicinal ward of the sector.
Now Amaya and Emilio stood with Ambroise poised between them looking over the medicinal ward before entering the sliding glass doors. The place was huge. It was like taking a sports stadium, growing it out ten times, putting a roof over it, and then converting the entire inside space into a fully functional hospital. It boggled her mind how such a large building could possibly be able to fit into only Sector Two alone and resigned to just thinking that physics had no specified boundaries here in the world beyond Reality. The waiting lobby itself was equal to the size of any large fancy hotel check-in lobby. The lobby was filled with the ferns and potted plants and waiting coffee tables and chairs that you would find in any traditional hospital except at a grander scale. The walls were some sort of pristine white material and the floors were something close to a polished tiled marble.
A young man and woman worked at the immaculate front desk on opposite sides shuffling through various papers or looking over patient files on the various holographic monitors that floated around them. It was like a scene right out of a sci-fi movie except instead of the monitors displaying flight controls for some complicated starship, there were pages and pages of different types of information displayed everywhere. Amaya was still awed by it all, wondering if she could ever get used to this. 'Probably not,' a small voice said in the back of her mind. She couldn't even help but notice how the endless nurses would come up with new files for the two front desk workers and they'd take them with only a grateful smile before continuing on with their own business.
Amaya was so caught up by the ponderous hospital that she barely noticed when Emilio started forward and she hurried to catch up before they risked stretching out the unconscious captain between them. The young man was the one who looked up while the woman kept on working. Up close, the male front desk worker couldn't have looked older than sixteen. He had neat black hair that was cropped just below his ears and short bangs that barely reached his brows. His amber eyes lit up with curiosity at the arrival of another potential patient but his voice was small and uncertain as he spoke as if he didn't talk to people often. "Ah… Hey Lieutenant Emilio and um…" He trailed off as he looked to Amaya and furrowed his brows. A new arrival?
Amaya gave a small, friendly smile as she introduced herself. "Hi. I'm Amaya Hanshou. I'm new to squad three."
"Oh.. Yeah. I've heard about you.. Welcome to the Dream World," the boy replied with a small apologetic smile before he looked to the unconscious captain between them and the anxious Spirits that hung around them. "I'm guessing you're in need of Lieutenant Ismat's assistance?" he asked quietly and Emilio grinned and nodded.
"Yeah, that would be right, Cael. Mind getting her for us?"
"Sure… Of course," the boy replied as he slipped off his chair and disappeared behind a door on the wall behind the desk. Amaya blinked. Wait, there was a door there? She tilted her head in bemusement and curiosity as she stared at the wall behind the desk. It looked like one solid, white wall but when you paid close attention you could make out the faintest outline of a hidden door. Huh, interesting.
Her attention was brought back to the situation at hand as Cael emerged with a woman who looked slightly older than Demetria, maybe late twenties or early thirties. She had kind brown eyes and a gentle smile and there was a motherly aura about her, but Amaya could tell she could be strict if you rubbed her the wrong way. Ismat's gentle smile fell away to concern and calculation as she moved around the desk and caught the unconscious captain hanging between Amaya and Emilio. "Oh my… Please come this way," she said as she waved her hand in a 'follow me' gesture and walked ahead down one of the many halls in the hospital. A couple turns and Ismat finally stopped in front of a room that didn't have files or monitors stuck on the door. She opened the door to the room and gestured inside. The two tried to keep Ambroise up as they hefted him along and laid him down on the simple white patient bed. Amaya quickly glanced around and noticed a window, bedside stand with a vase of flowers, chairs –for visitors she assumed-, and clear glass cupboards along one of the walls filled with medical supplies and various other technologies she's never seen before, but obviously far more advanced than any currently existing in Reality.
"Do either of you know what may have caused this?" the woman asked then and Amaya looked back to the squad two lieutenant who was flickering her gaze back and forth between her and Emilio. She was about to reply when Emilio piped up first.
"Oh, I can't really help you there Ismat… Sorry."
Ismat nodded and looked to Amaya questioningly. Amaya bit her lip before nodding. The lieutenant nodded back before turning back to Emilio. "Emilio, would you please let us talk alone?"
"Yeah, yeah. Sure," the boy replied as he gave Amaya an encouraging smile before leaving the room dragging Borvo and Ryuu with him.
A moment of silence passed between the two after Emilio left before Ismat went to check Ambroise's pulse. As she placed her fingers to his wrist, she asked absently, "What happened?"
"I-um… I'm not sure exactly," Amaya started in a quiet voice. Another minute passed when Ismat finally let go of the young captain's wrist and wrote something down on the clipboard that had been lying on the night stand. After jotting down a few other notes, the lieutenant turned back to Amaya then with a gentle smile and she was struck again by that motherly aura.
"It's alright," she coaxed gently. "You don't have to try and figure out why it happened, but rather how things happened."
"Oh, yeah, of course," Amaya stuttered out and fought back the feeling of embarrassment that wanted to surface. Of course she didn't have to try and tell her what seemed to have caused it all. That's why they brought him there in the first place. "He- Captain Ambroise was hosting my welcoming party last night and while we were dancing something happened." She fidgeted uneasily with the sleeves of her shirt as she went on, "I was pushed down and ended up fleeing in embarrassment and Ambroise followed to see if I was okay and then I noticed a small red dot on his neck.. It looked like something was injected into him.." She paused and looked up to the lieutenant who suddenly seemed to be studying her intently. It was all Amaya could do not to at least shuffle from foot to foot.
"I remember the party last night. It was quite a lovely affair though the disturbance was uncalled for… But what happened this morning? Assuming everything else happened then after the party because those marks on your neck were not there last night," Ismat noted then with worry.
"Oh…" Amaya trailed off, her mind going blank of any other thought for a moment. Had he really hurt her that badly? She tentatively reached up and could still feel small spots of heat and the faintest curves where Ambroise had tried to choke her earlier this morning. She looked down and nervously played with her fingers. "Well… I was in my room when my Spirit told me something was wrong and when I left I heard groaning coming from his room. It sounded as if he was in pain. So I went over to his room and knocked first, but the only answer I kept getting was his muffled groaning. I opened the door and saw him on his knees on the floor. Maybe… could an injection really cause him that much pain?" she found herself asking then looking to the lieutenant with her own worry and concern.
Ismat in turn only smiled gently in reassurance. "If something was injected into his system, we'll find out soon enough when we run the tests, but it would help if you wouldn't mind telling me the rest of what happened?"
Amaya felt her cheeks flush and she flickered her gaze to the floor before bringing it back up to the woman. "Right. Of course." She looked over to Ambroise's unconscious figure and noted, despite last night's and the morning's events, how peaceful he seemed in his sleeping state. Slowly, she went on, "I knelt down to see if he was okay and tried calling to him and even Ryuu tried to help but nothing would work and then suddenly Ryuu started gesturing to the door frantically as if he was telling me to run away, but I didn't understand. Not immediately.
"A couple seconds following Ryuu's warning, Ambroise suddenly lunged at me. He grabbed the collar of my shirt and pressed against the base of my neck… He- he was trying to choke me…" She trailed off with a slight grimace before shaking her head. Actually saying it out loud now, it somehow made the action seem ridiculous. Like it was impossible it had even happened in the first place. "I looked at him then and noticed something." Amaya paused to look up at Ismat who was looking back at her expectantly, her brows knit together as if in deep worry. "His eyes, they weren't blue. They were red, like a deep blood red color. I felt… Afraid," she admitted. "I thought… I thought I was going to die, again, by the hands of whatever Ambroise had become."
When Amaya stopped, Ismat gave a slight frown and asked gently, "And then what happened? It seems by the way you're describing him, he might as well have had the intent to kill, but if that was the case you wouldn't be here to begin with."
"Ah… Well Ryuu came in to save me.. He jumped onto Ambroise and began to distract him enough to make him let go of me, but he only snapped out of it when his Spirit seemed to say something to him. I was struggling to breath for the moment…" She trailed off again biting her lip. "It took me another moment to get myself up again and then I noticed Ambroise was on the ground unconscious and Ryuu was trying to get him up but he wouldn't respond… so I went to get Emilio."
When Amaya looked back up, she noticed the woman's face was set in deep concentration and lost thought and she began to wonder what she was thinking. Could she possibly know? A feeling of puzzlement entered her then as Ismat went to a cabinet, grabbed out a tray and began laying out supplies on it before pulling up a cart that had been by the far wall and parking it next to Ambroise's bed. She set the tray on top and grabbed some rubber gloves and slipped them on before picking up a strand of strong material and tying it tightly around his bicep. Amaya watched curiously then as the woman picked up the clipboard and conjured it into a floating holographic monitor with several wires hanging down from it. The couple notes she had jotted down earlier were now on a small virtual notepad on the corner of the screen. Amaya found herself staring. This place never ceased to surprise her, she couldn't help but notice again.
Ismat ignored it for the moment and turned back to the tray. She picked up a needle and made sure the point was sterilized before poising it against the artery in the middle of his arm and paused. She looked up then and gave Amaya a small apologetic smile. "I'm sorry… You're free to leave and wait now, unless you wouldn't mind helping me here for a second?"
"Oh no, it's fine… and sure," Amaya replied as she walked to the other side and after a moment, gently placed a hand against his shoulder and the other on his chest with enough pressure to hopefully stop him from flinching or do anything else if it did happen. Ismat nodded and smiled before carefully inserting the needle into his arm and began drawing out blood into the little glass chamber. Amaya stopped and furrowed her brows when she noticed his blood seemed a lot darker than the usual blood red and Ismat seemed to notice the same, giving a small frown.
When the needle was full, Ismat slowly pulled out the needle and quickly picked up one of the wires from the monitor where the end held a small container. She opened the fiber glass container and slipped the needle in and as soon as she closed it, the needle began to disintegrate leaving only the dark blood to flow up to the monitor. Amaya gaped not believing what she just saw.. again. She heard Ismat laugh a little as she set the container onto the cart and picked up a cotton ball and a large securing bandage and promptly placed both where she had drawn the blood out of his arm.
Amaya watched the lieutenant work before looking up at the monitor as it started to beep softly and a quarter of its screen was suddenly taken up by the zoomed in image of flowing blood. The blood sample from Ambroise. Ismat looked up too as the sound of the beeping reached her and she furrowed her brows when she seemed to notice something and began murmuring notes to herself as she reached up to tap the virtual notepad to enlarge it. She hurried to type down several more notes before tapping another empty part of the screen and several charts that were supposed to show and monitor his vitals came up but all showed zero. Amaya looked down at the wires and assumed he still needed to be hooked up in order to be able to get his vitals checked.
When Amaya heard Ismat begin to mumble things again, she looked back up to the screen and took a closer look at the blood monitor. At first, she didn't notice but then her eyes eventually found it. There were the smallest bits and pieces of black residue floating through his bloodstream like stray pieces of trash in a river latching onto his blood cells. As soon as the two made contact, the blood cell turned a shade darker like it was being corrupted. She swept her eyes over the monitor and then to his vitals as Ismat hooked him up. His heartbeat sounded a bit too frantic and his blood pressure seemed stressed considering how that particular chart kept blinking orange in warning. Suddenly a low groan escaped the unconscious captain and both girls looked back up to the blood cells that were in the process of being corrupted. They seemed to be rebelling against the foreign black substance, but Amaya couldn't quite exactly put into words how though.
She turned back to the lieutenant as she sighed and turned to face her in turn. "I'm sorry Amaya, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," she said in a gentle voice. "You can wait in the lobby if you'd like or I can send a message out to you later."
"Oh yeah, of course," Amaya replied as she stole one last glance at the blood monitor. "I think I have some other things to do since I'm still new here, so a message would be great. Thank you." Her eyes flickered over the ongoing scene of Ambroise's inner battles… She shook her head, still feeling disbelief and shock, and left the room barely having registered the woman's "You're welcome" just before she walked out the door.
10: Chapter 9: Disturbance of MindChapter Nine: Disturbance of Mind
Several Hours Later
Amaya looked up from her 'Dream Jumper's Guide for Rookies' pamphlet when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She hurried to skim through the section she was on before looking back to the messenger – she couldn't help but notice the Squad Two insignia embroidered into the sleeves of her shirt – who had come holding out a small scroll to her. Amaya smiled and thanked the messenger as she took the scroll and unrolled it to see Ismat's simple message:
I've managed to find a way to stabilize Ambroise's blood and immune system against the foreign substance that attempted to corrupt his body. He should be fine by tomorrow. If you'd like, you can come visit and I can also explain to you what had happened.
-Ismat
Lieutenant of Squad Two, C.E. of Medicine and Health
Amaya read over the message a couple times before she looked down to her rookie pamphlet and decided to take it with her before leaving the break room she had been in in the squad three building. She made her way to squad two, thankfully remembering the way to the medicinal ward, and kept her pace reasonable and steady though sometimes did find herself rushing through thicker traffic or particularly slow bustling crowds. Guess she was just that eager to see how he was doing. When she reached the ponderous hospital, she went up to the front desk where Cael turned to her with a warm smile. "Oh, hey, um, Miss Hanshou. Are you… are you here to visit Ambroise?"
Amaya smiled back at the boy and nodded. "Yeah. What room is he in?"
"Floor 3, Room 312."
"Thank you," Amaya replied fervently before glancing around and pausing. Last time she was here, she had been following Ismat to the assigned room and she remembered she had been lead out by asking a nurse for directions to the entrance, embarrassingly enough, and now that she thought about it, she didn't have the faintest idea where she was supposed to go. She bit her lip and turned back to Cael who had gone back to shuffling through the patient files. "Um, Cael?"
"Yes, Miss Hanshou?" he asked as he looked back up to her curiously. Why hadn't she gone off yet?
Amaya absently played with her fingers and could already feel her embarrassment getting the best of her. "C-could you possibly tell me how to get to Room 321… please?" she added in as a quick afterthought.
The boy gave her a look of understanding before giving a light smile. "Yeah. There should be elevators along these halls," he said pointing to the two halls that lead off from either side of the front desk. "Take one of them up to the third floor and then you can follow the chronological numbers of the patient rooms from there."
Amaya smiled in abashment before nodding and thanking the boy again before setting off. As she walked along and made her way up in the elevator, she noticed how Cael had seemed to be more confident when he was giving directions than when he was greeting her. Maybe he just took pride in the fact that he worked here and could help others by doing so… or she could always just be overthinking it.
Before she knew it, she had walked down the hall and noticed the room numbers were in the 330s and she felt a feeling of puzzlement come on. Wait, room 312… She looked up and down the hall. The way she had just come had the numbers increasing while the way she was headed had the number diminishing. Guess she should keep going. There were a couple turns along the way as she went by, but she was glad each hall's set of numbers were labelled clearly and she eventually made it to Ambroise's room. Room 312. She noticed the folders on his door had a deep blue tab in it whereas the others didn't have a tab at all to begin with and she wondered what that could mean. She shook her head to clear the superfluous thought before knocking on the door. "Hello? Is anyone inside? This is Amaya Hanshou."
"Yes. It's Ismat. You may come in," the woman's calm voice called from inside and Amaya went ahead to open the door. Her eyes immediately went to the floating holographic monitor that still floated above his bed reading out his current vitals. Ismat was by the cupboards putting back and organizing a couple supplies but she stopped and looked back as Amaya came in. The woman greeted Amaya with a small smile and she returned the gesture before looking back over at Ambroise. He didn't seem as tense or strained as before. His expression now one of more peaceful sleep, but she noticed from the blood monitor that the black residue was still running through his blood.
"Don't worry Amaya," Ismat's calm voice spoke gently then and the girl turned to face the woman. Ismat offered her a gentle smile before walking over and placing her hand on her shoulder as if to reassure her. "From my calculations, everything should be flushed out of his system soon, but as soon as he's awake and well, we can release him. But you can still stay with him until then."
Amaya nodded at her explanation. "Thank you for helping him."
The woman smiled gently before she tilted her head to the side and her hand glided up to the base of Amaya's neck. "Hm… And one more thing," the woman mused as Amaya felt a cooling sensation wash down her neck and what ache that might have been there before was gone. Amaya stood there for a moment wondering what just happened when Ismat pulled her hand away with another gentle smile. "Well, you may stay here as long as you like but there will be nurses coming in to check up on Captain Ambroise on occasion, alright?"
"Yeah, alright," Amaya replied with another nod before she watched the woman go. Only when the door shut behind her did Amaya pull up a chair by Ambroise's bedside and got a better look at him.
Like before, she was hit by how calm and peaceful he seemed now. The tension that had stuck with him earlier was long gone now, his internal battles calmed for the moment. Amaya bit her lip as she looked up to the monitor and noticed his heart rate had calmed as well, not beating at its rushed pace from before. She sighed softly, her eyes skirting over the simple bandage that now covered the injection site on his neck and again wondered exactly what had happened to him. She had completely forgotten to ask Ismat… Maybe next time when she came in.
Amaya wondered how many more surprises would pounce at her before she would finally get used to all of this. Probably a lot more considering the vastness of the imagination and wonder that the Dream World held but then how about its apparent counterpart? Now that she thought back on it, she did remember Ambroise mention something about the Nether World and its tyrannical ruler, Lord Sullivan… Ugh, there were too many things she had to take in and it felt like she hasn't had enough time to get used to any of it. With that thought in mind, she grimaced lightly before placing her arms carefully on the edge of Ambroise's bed as if afraid to wake him up and lay her head down on top letting her mind wonder away into working out the complications of everything…
Amaya lay in the grass in the midst of a peaceful forest. She smiled at the tranquility of the forest enjoying the quiet, calm air but her reverie faltered when a deep sense of foreboding entered her. She frowned a little as she sat up wondering what was about to happen when suddenly a particular silver-haired boy was there kneeling down in front of her. "Ambroise," she whispered. "How are you here? You're all better?"
The boy smiled lightly before shaking his head. "All will be answered soon enough… but first things first, where are we right now?"
Amaya tilted her head to the side before she replied, "Why we're…" and trailed off just as quickly, her voice dwindling with her sudden confidence. She looked around and began to realize she had absolutely no idea where they exactly were. She felt like this place was important to her somehow, but now that she thought about it, she couldn't put a name to where they were or how they had gotten here in the first place. She stuttered and scrambled for an answer for another couple minutes before she finally gave up and shrugged in abashment.
Ambroise laughed quietly as he gestured around them and then suddenly the forest had switched from spring to winter. The trees were barren now and the ground was covered in a fine layer of snow. There was even a gentle snowfall drifting down onto them and Amaya couldn't help but notice the way the frost clung to the young captain's features sharpening them into a crystal-like focus. She was mesmerized for a second before the cold hit her and she found herself leaning towards Ambroise shivering lightly, towards the only source of warmth now in the frozen landscape. "H-how d-did you d-do that?" she chattered and looked up as he gently wrapped his arms around her and sighed softly in relief as she felt his radiating warmth begin to surround and seep into her.
"As you may have already figured out, it doesn't make sense that I could have just suddenly changed a forest from spring to winter with just a wave of my hand. The very effort would have drained me of everything I had and I might not have even been able to have covered as much as I did… But, we aren't necessarily bound by the laws of nature here… So tell me again, where are we?"
Amaya furrowed her brows uncomprehendingly for another moment. They weren't bound by the laws of nature here… She closed her eyes and savored in the warmth for a moment before it hit her. "We're in a dream," she whispered out.
"Yes, that would be correct," Ambroise answered, a smile to his words.
"Wait, but, how?" she asked her confusion deepening as she looked up at him. He looked back down to her, that light smile playing on his lips and suddenly she noticed how close they were, huddled up together against the cold. His deep blue eyes seemed accented heavily by the frost frozen spikes of his silver hair that hung down and around his face. His lightly tanned skin having the same contrast against his bright silver hair.
"Er, Amaya?"
His words broke through her thoughts and she looked up at him with a questioning look. He gave a soft laugh as he murmured gently, "Did you hear what I said?"
That gentle tone of voice… It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside for reasons she could not put a single finger on at all. She just wanted to melt into his comforting warmth and stay there forever. 'No, Amaya, focus,' a small voice hissed in the back of her mind and his question came back to her deepening her embarrassment. "Oh… I'm sorry. C-could you repeat that?"
Ambroise gave her an odd look which only seemed to make it worse for her. How long could she have been staring at him if she had been at all in the first place? She bit her lip and looked down as he responded in that gentle tone again. "There are many odd concepts in dreaming that you have to learn to understand. Like the first: The laws of nature don't apply here… The next that applies now, and to almost every single time you lucid dream from now on as a Dreamer, is that it will almost always be impossible to tell how you got there or where you are. There are those special occasions where you might be able to tell, but it rarely happens since dreaming can be such a wide concept."
Amaya nodded slowly at his explanation not believing she had missed that much while she had been occupied with other things. She looked down again to hide her face as her cheeks flared in further embarrassment and then she thought back to his explanation again. Many odd concepst… Wait- "Lucid dreaming?" she piped up again giving him a curious look. "You mean to say it's possible?"
He arched a brow but he nodded. "Well considering you're doing it now too, of course it's possible. You'll find that it's much easier when you begin training as a Dreamer and in no time, you'll enter a state of lucid dreaming every time you go under."
She glanced back up at him gaining a new perspective on dreaming. To be able to lucid dream whenever you wanted… She couldn't imagine the things she would end up doing as a Dreamer. She was about to give him a small smile of wondering before It came back again. That deep sense of foreboding. Her eyes dimmed in confusion and fear as she looked up at Ambroise before her eyes widened as she noticed a tall dark figure behind him. The boy looked back at her with his own bemusement before he froze at the next words that were spoken disrupting the peaceful air of the wintry forest.
"What the hell do you think you're doing huddled up with my daughter like that huh, you frosty freak?"
No, it couldn't be. Amaya's eyes widened in horror as the looming figure clarified through the snow as her father wielding his shotgun. She was about to scream at him to back away but Ambroise was already moving. He shoved her -though not too harshly- away into the snow just as he turned around to meet the barrel of her dad's gun. She cried out in protest as she heard the click of the trigger and everything seemed to suddenly slowdown from there. She saw Ambroise's eyes sharpen and darken into focus as he rose up his arm to shove away the barrel of the gun that had been pointing at his head. The loud 'crack' of the gun broke out and echoed and she noticed blood splatter, but thankfully not as much as she had expected. Her relief was quickly washed away as she noticed Ambroise struggle down onto his hands and knees, his panting coming out in frantic puffs of fog. Her dad raised the barrel to his head and pulled back the hammer. Amaya cried out in desperation pleading for her dad to stop. No! This couldn't be happening! It was just a dream… It was just a dream! She clenched her teeth and frantically tried to influence the dream as she remembered Ambroise could so well at the party. Make her dad go away. Make Ambroise go away. Anything! But why wasn't it working? Could it? Did she not have enough power to do so much of anything yet?
She watched tensely as the two faced each other for a moment before her father raised up the gun's aim to his head again. Amaya was about to cry out again but then suddenly the scenery changed and a sense of vertigo overcame her. She looked up, fighting back the nausea, and then looked around. Ambroise was gone, but her dad- She froze as she looked up again but this time into the barrel of her father's shotgun. She had become the target now. "I'm sorry sweetie," he grumbled out lowly, "but we just can't have useless people like you running around." She clenched her teeth and looked down as she heard the click of the gun and then everything went dark. She never remembered hearing the blast of the shot or feeling the impact of the bullets, but then again death might have just taken her away too quickly this time…
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