A week after my confrontation with my parents the students that had yet to waken their Dreamer abilities came back. They had arrived late in the night, so I didn’t see any of them until morning, when Elina stormed into the cafeteria and slammed down into her seat next to me before getting any food.

“Want to kill Brax?” she asked in a way that wasn’t really a question.

“Not particularly.”

That obviously wasn’t what she wanted to hear based on the glare she gave me. She explained what had happened during her month away. In the end when she had killed the toad Nightmare, she had apparently opened her Dreamscape for a moment, but Brax had tackled her and she had lost a hold of it. If not for Professor Pure stopping her she would have tried to club the boy to death then and there, according to her anyways.

“But you killed it,” I said,

“Yes.”

“So you will get the awakening potion.”

“Yes.”

“So why are you angry? You still got the prize you were looking for.”

“Because I almost got it on my own! But then it was stolen away from me. Now we should kill him.”

I looked at her, I was unable to tell if she was being completely serious. Based on the narrowing of her eyes and the curve of her lips there was real rage in her, but that was all I could make out. I really was getting better at reading people, or at least Elina.

I’d take her words at face value for now and explain why she couldn’t do that.

“No, we still have no rulebook but regardless I am sure we will get in trouble if we kill another student. Especially now that said student has opened their Dreamscape. Every student is a potential Dreamer, but now Brax is an asset to the school, country, and humanity as a whole. In the confines of the Academy taking that resource would be a detriment without real cause as he has not killed someone else.”

I didn’t want to kill Brax, he had bullied me sure, but killing him was a leap. As of right now there would be more detriment then benefit.

Elina blew out a breath and slumped over in her chair.

“Yeah yeah I get it. I just wanted someone to vent to, not someone to lecture me.”

“So you didn’t want to kill him.”

“I’d be happy if he was dead, but no not yet.”

“Yet?”

“He stopped bullying you because you gained had a power he did not have. There is always a chance he will start doing it again now that he does.”

That was true, but regardless I did not care to have Brax on my mind, so worrying about something he might do was a waste of effort.

“When will you get your potion?” I asked.

“Tomorrow, I’ll be excused from classes for the day as well.”

“That’s quick.”

“The headmaster came to me the day after I killed the Nightmare to examine me for the potion. I don’t know how she got there so quickly if I’m being honest.”

“Hmm, depending on the time in which you take it can I watch?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“I guess, it might be during class though.”

I nodded in thanks and went back to my meal while Elina got up to go get her own.

—

Elina had been called during classes, but I asked Professor Pure, who looked even more tan and happy with his outdoor trip, if I could watch. Which he had in turn asked Elina if she was okay with it, and then here I was. The professor took us both to a separate building, which I had thought was for storage, but I saw it had a long hallway with several doors.

“We let some students use these rooms for training when they don’t want others to see them,” he explained.

“How do we permission to use one?” I asked.

“Come to me and ask, and as long as you don’t start abusing that power and bringing girls in for fun time I’m pretty lax with anyone who wants to,” he said with a backwards glance and a smirk at the girls part.

“Ok.”

He looked back forward with a huff, and Elina chuckled.

We entered an almost empty room with no windows, and only a single vent up top. Inside waited the headmistress. I… didn’t know her name. Perhaps I had heard it sometime in the past three months but I had forgotten if that was so.

“Headmistress,” Professor Pure said. “I have brought Elina Moda, and she has given permission to Monty Niko to watch her ingest the potion.”

The headmistress was standing in the center of the room and had been reading from a large tome until we entered. Unlike the Orientation where she wore a suit she now wore a simple blouse and pants with a case resting underneath one arm. She still had the body of someone who starved them self for fun and her severe face had a frown on it as she looked at me. After analyzing me she looked to Elina.

“If you do not wish him to be here he wont be, do not feel pressured.”

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Elina looked confused.

“Uh, nah, I mean no Headmistress, Monty asked as a friend if he could watch and I agreed.”

The headmistress nodded once then closed her book and tossed it to the ground.

“Alright, you can go and sit in that chair there Mister Monty. Miss Elina you will remain standing for the duration of the potions effect on you. Understood?”

“Yes Headmistress,” we both said.

Before I could go sit in the chair Professor Pure caught my attention.

“After classes today I would like you to meet me in the classroom.”

“Why.”

“Because I wish to help you with your abilities.”

My eyes widened and I nodded, then moved to the seat that was up against one of the walls. Professor Pure left to go back to class.

The Headmistress took the wooden case out from underneath her arm and opened it. A single ornate glass flask laid in the case and within the flask was a glowing purple and green liquid. The two colors did not mix but instead swirled in and out of one another giving it a shifting marbled look.

“You will take a sip of this every twenty seconds. Once it is empty you will stand in place until your Dreamscape has opened. Once it has you will do what you were taught and create something inside it to keep the connection open. After that you will return to your room for the day. The potion will cause you to sweat and cramps for a few hours, make sure to stop by the cafeteria first to grab some food and water.”

Elina glanced at me and gave a little cough. I had told her some questions that would be good to ask beforehand, she hadn’t wanted to at first but had agreed to it eventually.

“Headmistress, why will it cause me to sweat and give me cramps?”

The headmistress looked between me and Elina as if she could read our minds.

“The cramps are caused from the large amount of sweating you will do. The sweating is a combination of the ingredients used and the Dreamscape being artificially opened and the body thinking it as a danger like a common virus so it will make your temperature rise and you will sweat.”

She gave Elina a flat look, already knowing that there were more questions.

“Why do I have to drink it in sips every twenty seconds.”

“If you were to take the potion all at once your heart will tear itself apart and instead of your Dreamscape being gently opened it will be hammered open violently and it will cause long term damage. Not that the long term damage would matter much with a destroyed heart.”

Elina eyes widened and sweat appeared on her forehead. I would have been more invested in asking questions once I learned of that, but Elina looked as though she would have preferred never to have asked in the first place.

“W-what are the ingredients?” she hesitantly asked.

“Nope, that’s all,” the headmistress said and handed Elina the flask.

She left immediately without a backwards glance and Elina grimaced, looking at the bottle with apprehension.

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

“You fought a Nightmare to get it, and it’s not risking your life if you follow the instructions properly.”

“What if she messed up?”

“What if she didn’t and you waste this opportunity and are then kicked out of the Academy?”

Elina looked at me.

“Fuck you.”

I just stared at her.

“Fine, keep the time would you?” she said after a moment.

“Yes.”

She uncorked the bottle with a bit of difficulty and was about to take a sip when I stopped her.

“What does it smell like?”

“Really Monty?”

“Yes.”

She rolled her eyes and took a whiff.

“Like a rosebush threw up.”

“Like a rosebush threw up what?” I asked confused.

“Like a rosebush threw up roses of course. What else would it be? Tacos?”

Oh it was one of those things.

“Okay you can start, I’m keeping time.”

She took a small sip of the rather larger bottle and nearly gagged, but swallowed.

“Aww that is, just, absolutely horrendous.”

“What does it taste like?” I asked.

“Like compost that’s been in the sun for a week.”

“So it is likely made with a fair amount of botanical ingredients.”

“Pay attention to the time,” Elina grumbled.

“I am. Drink.”

She did so, and I continued to question her about the consistency, temperature, feeling it gave within her stomach. After around the thirtieth sip I saw a wisp of steam like light come from her head. Intent.

It was… pink. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was for some reason surprised that the fashionable girl’s Intent was pink.

“I see a wisp of Intent coming off of you.”

“Really! Where?” she asked and started looking around her body for any sign.

“Your head. Drink.”

She finished the bottle at sixty-seven sips and she looked like she was ready to throw it back up. A steady stream of pink Intent was now coming off of her and she had already begun to sweat a bit excessively.

“I can see it,” she exclaimed.

“Create something.”

“I know, I know.”

I watcher her brow furrow in a cute way as she concentrated. After more than a minute she huffed out a breath.

“Got it. Its open,” she said the last part with a smile.

Pink Intent was now coming off her in a gentle flow, but she quickly exhausted herself. She was sweating quite profusely now.

I wanted, I really wanted, to write down everything I had seen and theorized, but the sight of Elina panting and sweating like that worried me.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you to the cafeteria and back to your room.”

Her tired eyes slowly moved to me and she nodded with a small triumphant smile on her face.

—

After I had taken Elina back to her room in the dorms I went to class. There had been seven more students overall the had opened their Dreamscape while on the island, Brax being one of them.

That meant that the four teachers now had to once again run through the basics with them, and we would start the “real” stuff soon after.

As for our afternoon classes Professor Liraca, the professor from the Glass Kingdom, was teaching us about common rules and etiquette when it came to how Dreamers interacted with one another, nobles, commoners, and even royals.

I also learned that she herself was from the royal bloodline of the Glass Kingdom, and was born a Dreamer with a measure of their abilities.

I liked being reasonably polite, proper etiquette was a great crutch for me to navigate social interactions because the interactions themselves were in a flow chart method. The problem lied in that there were also a lot of undertones with etiquette that went completely over my head. I took things at face value, I understood that, but it was still difficult for me to try and think about hidden meanings in conversations.

So I could appreciate the lessons, but I didn’t enjoy them.

Once the day’s classes were over I went back to my classroom where Professor Pure waited. He leaned on his little podium and traced a tattoo on his hand with his finger. The tattoo was of ants crawling in a line, it started on one of his fingers and ran up over his knuckle, disappearing into the long sleeve shirt he was wearing. He looked to me as I entered, his gaze seeming to pierce into me.

“I heard about your journey through The Forest of Living Dreams, and I believe I can help you with your Dream.”