Before leaving we decided to get lunch. The place Heidi took us to was a yakiniku restaurant owned by an old Empyrean couple. The customer base was also mainly Empyrean, but there were a few Solarian here and there.

“I love this place,” Heidi said using her tongs to flip over the slices of beef on the grill. “I’ve been going here ever since I was a little girl. The owners are great, even when I didn’t have any money they would still give me some food.”

No money? She was a noble, and while this restaurant was more expensive than the average place around here, it wasn’t wallet breaking. I made a noise of affirmation, not knowing what words to say.

“Y’know, I’m surprised you asked me to come along. Even if it was a smart decision,” she continued.

“Why?”

“Well, you and Elina of course.”

What?

“What?”

“Everyone knows you two are a thing.”

Who the fuck was everyone?

“We are not a thing.”

“Really?! Why not? She’s really pretty, and has this whole self assuredness about her.”

Elina definitely was pretty, I had noticed that from the beginning, but I didn’t want to pursue a relationship with her. It wasn’t that she wasn’t attractive. There was a much more simple reason.

“Elina is the first friend I ever made. I don’t want to ruin that friendship by trying to make her my girlfriend. If someday I break up with her then I would have no one, but if I break up with a different girl, then I could still have a friend to confide in.”

Heidi’s hand froze where she had been picking up a piece of perfectly cooked meat.

“Monty… that is so sad.”

“What? How?”

“You’ve never had a friend before coming to the school?”

“N-no,” I stuttered. “But now I have Elina, and I believe Melanie is starting to become a friend as well.”

“That’s great then… How is Melanie doing?”

She was squirming in her seat, pushing the meat she had put in her rice bowl around with her chopsticks.

“Good. Why?”

“Well… We’re sort of childhood friends, but we haven't been talking recently,” she said, giving me a look to see my reaction.

“I see. That makes sense.”

“It does?”

“Yes, you both have similar hands.”

She looked down at her calloused and scarred hands.

“Oh, yeah. We got into a lot of fights with other kids when we were younger. I wish I had a way to make these go away, they are not ladylike at all.”

I shrugged.

“Callouses are useful for those who do physical labor.”

“Yeah, but we’re Dreamers. With enough time our bodies won’t need to develop callouses as Intent will make our bodies more than durable enough.”

I hadn’t thought of that before.

“Perhaps you could make a Wit that smooths your hands and makes scars go away.”

She gave me a lopsided grin.

“Maybe, but that’s not a part of my Dream. It’s not good for the Dreamscape to have unnecessary clutter.”

Professor Pure had said the dividing your Dreamscape into Rooms helped to separate the Wits into their complete forms, but he hadn’t said anything about unnecessary clutter outside of the Mind Palace’s.

“How so?”

“Well the Dreamscape’s entire purpose is to turn one’s Dreams into reality. By making things that are not relevant to ones Dreamscape along side your fully functioning Wit’s is like diluting wine with water. You might have more liquid but the quality has been downgraded. It makes it more difficult for those with narrow scoped Dreams to have a wide range of abilities.”

“Why have the teachers not taught us this yet?”

“Because they don’t want to weigh you down with the thought that you’re weakening yourself. No one is going to be a fully developed Dreamer by the end of the year. In fact its also unhealthy for a Dreamer to ever think that they are fully developed, as then they stagnate.”

“What if your Dream is to be a king? Then is there not an end to your Dream? A final level where you are supposed to stagnate?”

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“Hmm, I guess if you go by the letter, then yes, sure. A Dreamer becoming king could be the end, but if their Dream is to be a king. Then once they become one, should they not try and make themselves the best version of a king imaginable? Should they not create Wits that will aid them in ruling a country after they take the throne?”

I liked her answer.

What was the end of my Dream? Was it after I dissected every living organism in the Layers? No. Was it once I understood all there was to know about animals and plants? No. Was it when I created a new life-form from my own abilities? No.

But the talk of a Dreamer wanting to be king did put a thought in my head. I knew what my Dream was. To dissect, understand, and manipulate living organisms; but what was my goal?

If someone’s Dream was to be an architect, what would their goal in that be? To me the logical answer would be to make a masterpiece of engineering. A perfect blend of form and function. Which was impossible as perfection itself was impossible.

I looked down at my hand not holding my chopsticks. I opened it, then closed it. Then, I tried to only close my pinky, I couldn’t. My ring finger would move sympathetically with my pinky. My hands were very nimble due to years of working on small mechanical watches, but they were not perfect.

Eventually my mind will begin to deteriorate with age, my heart not beat as strongly, my blood-vessels harden, my skin become thin and brittle. I put down my chopsticks and pressed my thumb to the tendons on my wrist, feeling them move as I applied pressure.

“Monty.”

Could I make a perfect body? One where my heart never stopped beating, the liver break down any toxin, the eyes see with any level of light.

“Monty.”

To do that I would need to research not only humans to a deep extent, but also Nightmares who have such functions.

Heidi grabbed my shoulder, I hadn’t noticed her stand up.

“We’re leaving,” she said simply.

There was still plenty of food on the table.

“Why?”

“Because the Cheshire family is approaching and I don’t want to drag innocents into anything if things get messy.”

Heidi walked to the counter and handed the woman there a few bills before walking out the front door. I of course followed. She quickly turned down an alleyway.

There was a few trash cans, a bike, and a few doors to what had to be small apartment homes.

“Almost all Cheshire scions abilities revolve around plants. When I first heard of this I thought they were a peaceful family, but they are not. Their family rose to power due to the war, and they were a key part in that war.”

“Does them not attacking the students drive a wedge between the Dreamers of the Sun State.”

“Three years is a long time. A lot of students get over their grudge, and its not like they attack everyone.”

“They don’t?” I asked, just as four shadows darkened the alleyway.

“How do you think they get their information on other students? I bet there are a lot of the non-Dreamers and even a few of the Dreamers that report to these guys from our school.”

“Lady Brightstrike I would prefer if you didn’t talk about us as if we were not here,” said one of the newcomers.

There were two boys and two girls. All around or a few years older than me. The one who spoke seemed to be the oldest. His blond hair close cropped to his head and his eyes were a dull brown. He had skin so deeply tanned it reminded me of Ravik’s, and he had a arrogance about him that was palpable.

A bright yellow haze began to flow off Heidi. Her face cold.

“You can leave then.”

The buzz cut boy was speaking again, but I tuned him out when I realized it was just banter. Why were they attacking students was the question I still had. Perhaps it was to vet potential assets to their family, but you could do that without attacking them.

It reminded me of Brax, illogical in a way I couldn’t understand, but I wanted to. Money? No, the Cheshire family was rich, and as children, we were not. Perhaps to instill fear of them in the Dreamers of the future, but that was counter productive in the long term, and like Heidi said, with three years in the school a lot of those feelings may fade.

It all came down to power.

They would need to gain some sort of power from this. As golden light condensed around Heidi’s arms I got my theory. They gained knowledge, the greatest power in the world. As children we were young, still figuring out our Dream and how to create abilities. Even with all the professors telling us to be careful about letting other learn of our Wits, we were not the best at applying that.

They have spies in the school that tell them the description of students and when they leave campus, but that is not all they can be used for. They can learn the students Dreams, even their Wits if the student isn’t careful.

These guys could be to test the students who’s Dream they suspect, or perhaps the opposite, test to see if they can learn anything about the unknown students’ abilities. The Cheshire family’s abilities were already general knowledge, they dealt in plants. So sending their scions out to harass the students of the R.D.A. is only a benefit to them.

Too powerful to be punished, no loss in power, and gaining knowledge of future Dreamers Wits that can be used against them if necessary.

“This is a crowded part of the city. Any fighting could injure civilians,” Heidi said, her arms still glowing.

“It’s a good thing you went into this alley then.”

They were still bantering…

“I believe they wish to learn of our abilities,” I said to Heidi, ignoring the four Cheshire kids.

Heidi had her mouth open, probably ready to continue the banter with the opposing group, but she paused.

“Why do you say that?”

“Its just a theory. The other one is that they attack students just because it makes them feel good about themselves.”

I examined the four others for any reaction to my words. The bald guy and one of the girls next to him held their smirks, but the two others behind them did an almost imperceptible shuffling of feet, glancing at the older boy.

Was that an indication of me being right? Or was it their impatience on wanting to beat me. Maybe even just how subordinates looked at their leaders.

“Monty Niko right? You seem pretty smart,” the lead man said.

“I am.”

I could confidently say I was above average intelligence.

“Not humble though. I won’t insult your intelligence, yes that is one of the main goals for us today, but I will we don’t need to beat you two to do so. Give us your notebook and we will leave you be.”

Of course they knew. I had never made it a secret that I wrote in my notebook all the time. While I didn’t broadcast what I was writing in the notebook, only Elina and the professor knew, and perhaps Melanie. It wasn’t a leap in logic to connect what we were practicing to what I was writing.

The mans eyes glanced downwards, and I realized I had unconsciously felt at my jacket pocket where I kept the notebook. Shit.

“If you’ve done such thorough research then you should know what my Dream is. I have never tried to hide it,” Heidi said, the glow on her arms becoming brighter.

“Yes. Heidi Brightstrike, recently adopted into the house a Brightstrike. Who has the childish Dream of wanting to be a hero.”

“Yes,” she turned to me. “So don’t worry Monty I won’t let them-”

I was yanked off my feet by a thorny vine that had sprouted from the ground.