“Where did the paper and pen come from?” I asked Cystella.

“From his Dreamscape, but he didn’t take them out if that is what you are thinking. He created them in his Dreamscape and was able to manifest a copy of it in the real world.”

“But he was able to effect other people with it. Does that mean when creating the paper and pen he was able to put in such complex thoughts or is it so detailed that it can effect the world like that?”

“A bit of both were definitely put into it when crafting it in his Dreamscape, but its more than that. For a Wit like Ravik’s there needs to be several dozen different items that contribute to the paper and pens abilities.”

So then two items could actually work with one another for a greater whole within the Dreamscape? That was intriguing, but I felt as though things would get messy quickly. Someone didn’t just have a singular use for their Wit. In fact based on the books I had been reading there seemed to be many different things a single person could do with their Dreamscape.

Professor Pure had spoken about how a cook could increase their strength, but if the situation didn’t call for it but instead of just their cooking power then they should be able to only access the cooking power and not the strength power. The opposite should also be true.

I thought about my Dream. It wasn’t a specific goal like become a doctor or rule the world. It was more of a lifestyle goal. I wanted to take things apart and put them back together. To make things, living things better. Like the toy I had loved so long ago where I could change out its arms and legs, but more, more complex, more interesting then just having a monsters arm.

Even more complex than watches. I wanted to learn everything about the human body, about the different Nightmares anatomy and physiology, take them apart and learn about their insides. I wanted to be able to change out my own body like the toy I once had, I wanted to be able to make a watch out of living material.

If someone could see the images I was creating in my mind they would back away in fear.

“The limitations on his Wit, such as him speaking each rule that he made before it glowed or having to say Detain each time. How come he didn’t just stay silent?”

“One of his own rules for his Wit. When a Dreamer is crafting their Wit they have the chance to make it more powerful than the sum of its parts. However it is not free, we commonly call them “Locks” such as you need to unlock a safe before accessing the money inside. There are other words for it too, condition, rule, contract, payment. If he didn’t have the paper and pen, and didn’t have the laws, and didn’t have to speak, and could just summon chains to hold us down, then they wouldn’t have been strong enough to do so.”

I nodded, Cystella had literately started to sink into the ground when she had been fighting against the chains hold.

“However by having those Locks he could not only make the chains much more powerful, they also were inescapable. We had no chance to dodge or run.”

“Why couldn’t he say something like “Women cannot breathe,” or “You all will die.””

Cystella looked at me like I was and idiot for a moment, them smiled.

“Almost had me thinking you were dumb.”

I had intentionally asked those questions despite already guessing the answers, but I wanted to get a real Dreamers opinion on it.

“I don’t know his Wit in and out. I only saw as much as you did, but even though he said “No one is allowed to use Stygoscript.” It doesn’t mean that we truly couldn’t use Stygoscript, it just meant that those that did would be Detained. I also don’t think he can create a rule that says someone cannot do something natural such as breathe, when he said women cant move I was not Detained until I actually took a step. I believe that is a combination of both the Locks he placed on his Wit and Ravik’s own personal Dream.”

I sat back in the cushioned chair of the train compartment and thought. I had guessed such a thing myself when I had been writing my questions earlier.

Deciding I had asked enough questions for the moment I took out my notebook and began to take notes of what I had learned. This was not my first question session with Cystella since we left The Forest of Living Dreams.

I had to wait for two days as both myself and Cystella were questioned by Sergeant Brightstrike. Professor Alyci didn’t question us at all because apparently she could see the entire thing from up on the mountain.

However once we left the valley I had begun my crusade to understand. Cystella had apparently thought I would only ask a handful of question then leave her alone. She was of course, wrong. She still didn’t have anybody that she talked to, and unless it was in academic pursuit she wouldn’t go out of her way to speak.

That was fine with me. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of intruding on one of her conversations in order to question her, so it was convenient that she had no friends.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Of course the moment I tried to ask about her identity as a Skulker she had told me to go away.

I probably shouldn’t have said Skulker but instead Imanar or Child of The Sun. Next time.

—

The non-Dreamers students would still be out for a few more weeks, so when we got back it was just the eleven of us. The kid that had turned to stone was already being taken back home to his parents.

So we were given the next two weeks off. If we wanted we could even leave for multiple days to visit family. I spent the first week attempting to create synergistic items within my Dreamscape. I was still wary of going too far ahead in case I ended up like the boy turned to stone. So I decided to make something to go along with the river stone, something that would dissolve within my Dreamscape quicker should I mess up.

Instead of a flat river stone I made a spherical metal ball. When creating it I put into it the idea of momentum. Increasing in power with movement. Rolling down a hill. Once it was finished I had it be placed on top of the giant river stone, where it began to roll around the rim of the stone, always only a foot away from falling off the edge.

There is no such thing as a real perpetual motion device in the real world, however I was starting to look at my Dreamscape differently. It was a place for Dreams to come true, for the unimaginable to become real. I needed to start applying that logic, or lack thereof, into my creations.

It was difficult to say the least, but by tackling it as one would unexplored lands instead of re-exploring lands and expecting something different, I was able to complete the metal ball. It made me wonder if those that did not need a logical explanation for these things had an easier time of creating their Wit.

The metal ball did not add as much strength unlike the river stone, but I could tell that the more I moved the faster and more force I displayed. Lastly I was able to use both at the same time, I attributed it to both objects being right next to one another in my Dreamscape and both of them increasing my physical capabilities.

After the first week however I decided to do something that I had been putting off for months. Especially after my time in The Forest of Living Dreams I felt that I needed to do this.

So for the first time outside of when we went to the Forged Order’s headquarters I went into the city of Zuva. Once again I was amazed at how much a city could change in only a couple of years. I had never gone outside much as a child. Crowds have always been, overwhelming, I had gotten better at handling it over the years, especially once I was sent to Eichlin. However as a child my parents had used that fact to leave me at home as much as possible.

Back then I had been thankful and happy that they would do that for me. Now I knew it wasn’t for me at all. I moved from the busy market streets to the residential buildings for the upper middle class. The buildings were decidedly Solarian, flat roofed, swinging doors instead of sliding ones. Mostly made of stone slabs or bricks.

It was the neighborhood I grew up in. My great grandfather on my mothers side had defected away from the Coal Empire as they started to decline and the rebellions had gained momentum. However within the rebellious Sun State, Empyreans were treated terribly, even though many of them had been living in the area for generations.

So my ancestor had displayed himself and his family as Solarian as possible. It had helped his business quite a bit. My family had their toes dipped in quite a few different businesses but their largest was owning and exporting Green Eyed Spider silk from his farms.

I stopped in front of my old home. It looked exactly the same, a bricked reddish brown three story home, flat roof, milk white door, a small garden out front. My hand rested over the face of my watch and I let the ticks ground me.

It was the weekend so I knew that more likely than not they were at home. Knocking on the door I only waited for a few seconds before a young Solarian woman of around twenty opened the door.

“May I help you?” she asked.

She wore a maids uniform and I smelled food from the kitchen nearby.

“My name is Monty Niko I was wondering if my parents were in at the moment.”

I had been expecting the girl to not know that my parents even had a child, but instead she looked at me in surprise.

“R-really? My apologies for my rudeness Mr. Niko, I had no idea you were coming to visit. Please wait here as I inform Mistress Niko.”

Normally it would be proper to let me in the sitting room, but as I didn’t show proof I was who I said I was or the fact that I didn’t inform them ahead of time made the young woman cautious.

It took a two minutes and fifteen seconds for the girl to come back, my hand still rested on my watch-face to control my emotions.

“Please come in, if you will wait in the sitting room I will make you some tea,” the girl said, opening the door further and ushering me inside. I kept my shoes on, which was the Solarian way, and went without prompt to the sitting room across from the kitchen. There were two couches, a love seat that was new and a oval table.

I took the familiar couch on the left knowing that my parents preferred the other one. The young woman brought me some tea with honey in it, but the way my gut was churning I couldn’t bring myself to drink it yet.

She asked me a few polite questions, and I got the impression that she knew a bit about me and was more curious then scared. I didn’t know how to feel about that. I had expected that if my parents did ever speak about me it would either be dismissive or bad.

When the sounds of shoes on wood echoed in the lower floor I felt myself stiffen and the only thoughts in my head were that I should either flee or curl up and let the comfortable feeling of my watch keep me safe. I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and rested my hand on my watch once again.

It was only then that I looked to my parents. They were… older. Both of them had similar builds, short and lean, so much that I remembered others saying that they sometimes looked like siblings.

But my mother, Grace Niko, had a more square jaw, her hair curled more, and her eyes were a lighter grey than mine or my fathers.

My father, Botan Niko, had a more narrow face, thin, with a small pencil mustache that looked ridiculous. His eyes were the same shade as my own, a mid tone grey.

Both of them had grey that I didn’t remember in their hair, wrinkles on the corners of their eyes and my father had gotten laugh lines on the sides of his mouth. There was slightly more jowls on my mothers face than I remembered and she looked to have gained a bit of weight, but still had a relatively slender build.

“Monty…” Mother said, her face inscrutable.

“Mother, Father. I have some things to say.”