Once the Cardinal left Sergeant Brightstrike introduced himself to the group of Dreamers. Of course a lot of us already knew him, but most did not. He then assigned us to different squads of Forged Order.
Twenty grown men and women surrounded the four of us. All of them were taller than me, only Vit being comparable to some of the soldiers. One Champion whose armor was more intricate than the rest spoke.
“Team, take off your helmets.”
Gouts of steam puffed out and the helmets of the Champions retracted. Immediately I recognized three of them. They were my team of Champions from last time. I… didn’t remember any of their names. Wait, the short one's name was Ice or something like that. They all recognized me as well, meeting my eyes for a moment before glancing away. That wasn’t good, I was sure they had no fond memories of following me into the forest.
“I am Knight Sergeant Coles, and this is Squad Sergeant Denev. We hold a similar rank, but I will be taking point on this mission.”
The male Solarian Champion pointed to one of the pack wearing soldiers. She was a Solarian woman with short curly brown hair and a burn scar that ran up her neck and around the curve of her left jaw.
Forged Order had a slightly different ranking system compared to the normal military, and the Champions their own seperated from normal Forged Order. I didn’t know the entire system, but I knew a Knight Sergeant was just above a regular Sergeant, and Line Sergeant Brightstrike was the highest ranking Champion behind the Grand Champion.
Line Sergeants had a very specific role, to train potiential Champions, and to lead the charge in attacks. Unlike the military where the higher ranking you were the more administrative your position.
There were still officer positions within the Forged Order, but a lot of the time they were retired military or used to be Sergeants of the Forged Order.
“With me I have three Sergeant Champions, and six trainee Champions, like with you all, this is a final excersize for them until they are fully fledged Champions.”
“I too have three Sergeants, though obviously not Champions, but my other six are not in training any longer. How many of you four went to The Forest of Living Dreams?” Squad Sergeant Denev asked.
Three of us raised our hands.
“Good, during that mission the Champions were assigned to protect you, but that is not our only goal in this mission. We will obviously still help you during any life-threatning events, but all of us will be given tasks to complete. For you four this is a test, for us it is our job. What I ask of you four is that you treat us with respect, and to take this journey seriously. If any of you ever put one of our soldiers in danger due to negligence then we have permission to abandon you on the Second Layer. Do you all understand.”
Her voice was calm during her speech, but it still ended with a slight threat.
“Yes, can we ask questions about the mission?” I asked the sergeants.
“Lets do introductions first Monty,” Elina said.
“Oh, okay.”
“I am Melanie Richee,” Melanie said, stepping forward and giving a bow.
I saw Vit’s eyebrow twitch, no doubt annoyed that she didn’t curtsy instead.
“I’m not sure what else to say except that I brought cards in case any of you want to play while we are traveling.”
She brought up a good point, what do we say except our name? Should we tell them our Wits? Would they even know how Dreamers abilities worked? We had all been cooped up with one another all year, so had grown used to talking about Dreamscapes, Intent and Wits, but the rest of the world was still widely ignorant of the subject.
The soldiers seemed to be okay with her introduction though. Did I have anything that I could use to bolster their liking of me like Melanie had done with cards?
I knew I wasn’t the best at reading the room, but I didn’t think most of them would be interested in my books on Nightmares. Actually, they were an order of people whose entire job was to kill Nightmares so maybe they would be.
“I am Elina Moda. With you all here I’m a lot mroe confident going into this test,” Elina said, doing a proper curtsy, which softened the slight crease in Vit’s brow.
That was good. She used words that made the Champions think better of her.
“I am Vit Ruge. We have done ample preperations for this mission, and are still hoping to learn from you all along the way. Thank you for being here with us.”
Vit gave precise bow, then stepped back.
The eyes of twenty-two people turned to me, and I felt any ideas of what to say pop like soap bubbles.
“I am Monty Niko, I… have nothing to say.”
I saw from the corner of my eye Vit’s shoulders stiffen, he had been the only one not to stare at me. I realized the issue and gave a quick, sloppy bow.
“Okay… Well I am happy to hear that you all have made preperations. The Knight Sergeants and Squad Sergeants have been briefed on the mission, however as we are also using this for training it is only us that know what the mission is. Of course that also means we are not going to tell you certain detail of the mission, but you can still approach us with questions,” Sergeant Coles said.
I felt the eyes of the three Champions on me, but ignored them. Over the past few months I had embraced my Dream, but that didn’t mean the idea of dessecting Nightmares in front of others was comforting.
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“We’re heading down!” Mr. Rider called.
We took over several of the lifts down, stopping the commerce happening, and filled in. The Champions had huge packs on their bodies, more than twice the size of the ones we carried.
The hiss of steam and creaking of pipes was our only signal before the lift sped downwards. Despite the loud sounds of wind and clanking metal there seemed to be a tense silence that filled the lift. The Second Layer.
A change in the air was felt and our lift slowly came to a stop. That was way too soon for us to have reached the bottom of the Pillar.
“Class, come and follow us. You all are about to get your first look at the Second Layer.”
At the bottom of the lift was a large cavern, made of the same black stone as most buildings in Zuva. There was a line of several hundred people all waiting to enter. Some were soldiers, others merchants, and there even seemed to be families, no doubt coming from the city at the Pillars base. Small Sun Stones poked out of mirrored tubes up above, lighting the area.
The noise rose when the people noticed the contingent of Forged Order exiting the lifts, and when they saw the gleaming bronze buttons of the Rising Dreamer Academy students the noise rose further.
We left the area, going past a large opened steel door with four soldiers stood guard and onto a platform. Professor Liraca said a few words to the person manning the platform. He pressed a button, then pulled a lever and the platform began to move. It was mostly horizontally, but went up and down a few slopes of the natural cavern. This time we were moving for several minutes before we slowed to a stop, and before us was a large open window to the outside world.
There was a lift on the outside of the Pillar, but this one was much more protected than the one that had taken us down. With a spiked metal exterior and a few Sun Stone canons aimed downwards.
Next to the lift was a bridge that connected to… the ceiling of the Second Layer. I could see them spread across the rocky top of the sky like a spiderweb. From several points down the bridges beams of sunlight could be seen coming down from above. These were from solar farms which funneled sunlight using mirrors down so that the world below the surface could still use Sun Stones.
There were no merchants or civillians here. All of them seemed to be either soldiers or workers. A government route then.
“Come, make sure to watch your step.”
We all moved forward, and I saw the land of Nightmares for the first time. Like the First Layer I could see the gentle upwards curve of the world. Several sections of the Layer were swathed in darkness, but others had light from various sources.
I could see huge mushrooms that must have been a hundred meters around glow from the ceiling above and light the ground below. Rivers that gave off a soft light as they bent through the landscape. For a moment I thought I saw a cloud of shining light, but when it moved I realized it was a huge flock of birds, which themselves must have been huge if I could tell from this distance.
The entire place looked wild, untamed, dangerous. It was beautiful.
However, there were obvious signs of settlement. Namely where beams of light fell upon certain areas. With some trepidation I moved closer to the edge looking straight down. Icey water ran through my blood as the distance to the ground. Miles, I would spend minutes regretting my actions if I were to jump off before hitting the ground. That is if I didn’t hit an ourcropping of stone or machinery.
But below I could see the city, it was named Lower Zuva, but over time people started to call it Low Zuva, then Luva.
“Most people take Crawlers to get to the lifts that we took down, as these lifts are difficult to install. However they are getting better and better at it. Soon the Crawlers will only be used to ship materials up and down the Pillar, and one day everything will be able to be taken up and down lifts,” Professor Liraca told us.
“Now here is where we will seperate from Professor Alyci.”
The pink haired, bubbly professor gave us a smile.
“Don’t worry I’m going to be acting as recon from up above. Do you know what that means? I’ll be watching your every move from above. Don’t act up.”
With a finger she pointed to her eye then to the group of us. After that she spoke a few words to the other professors and walked towards the bridge that connected stalagtites across the top of the ceiling.
“The rest of us will be going on the lift down in our assigned teams. We will all meet at the bottom to eat some of the local cuisine, then immediatley head out of the city.”
I wondered what the local cuisine was? Nightmares were edible, at least some of them were.
The lift arrived from below, enough for more than thirty people.
“Okay first group, head on in.”
As I had gone so close to the edge and my three teamates had followed me we were the first to go down along with our Forged Order and Mr. Rider.
“How many times have you been down here Mr. Rider?” Elina asked the Champion sized teacher.
“Well, I’ve actually been to the Fourth Layer, once. Almsot died within two hours. I’ve been to the Third Layer maybe a dozen times overall, and I don’t know how many times I’ve come down here. A few years after graduating I spent four years down here for work, only coming up once every few months. Those were the years that I really grew as a Dreamer. I learned how to follow my Dream and make the world a better palce at the same time.”
“Who out of the teachers has the most experience here?” Vit asked.
“Both Professor Pure and Professor Alyci were born here on the Second Layer, but Alyci is a lot younger than he is. Not that Professor Alyci is less competent than Professor Pure, she is a genius quite frankly. Professor Pure has more experience and knowledge when it comes to survivalism and the nature of Nightmares, but Professor Alyci has some absolutley rediculous abilities.”
“Who is the strongest?” Elina asked. Growing excited at the talk of our Professors abilities.
“Me, but that’s not a fair question,” the extremely muscular teacher said, shrugging a shoulder.
“How?”
“Who would win amongst the four of you?” I asked.
“There you go. The issue with that question is that its so nuanced based on the situation. Put us all in a room where none of us can escape and I think I would win. Professor Pure might be able to match me for a while, but the other two are not built for that kind of match. Professor Liraca is not a combative Dreamer to begin with. Capable in combat, but thats not what she does. Put us out there,” the teacher waved a hand to the wall of the lift where the Second Layer was. “And I think Professor Pure could whittle me down. Professor Liraca would be able to escape in that situation, and Professor Alyci? She’d gun me down unless I knew where she was and could get to her. Meanwhile Professor Pure could probably hide from her well enough to sneak up on her.”
“So Professor Liraca is the weakest?”
“Sure, you could say that, but it would also be her to save your lives first if you are in danger down there. I don’t want you all to start ranking us based on power. As power is based on a situation and not on physical might… I am the strongest though, physically.”
Elina rolled her eyes at the bragging teacher, but he had given us some good food for thought. Professor Alyci had been able to shoot at Ravik from halfway down a mountain, and that seemed to be her job this time around as well. Professor Pure could fly with his wings, but what could the others do about an opponent that was literal miles away in the sky?
The past few weeks of training had put my mind in a more warfare frame of mind. Making me think of things based on martial ability constantly. It was interesting, but I also didn’t like it. I wanted more than to just be a weapon of war.