The dawn arrived, casting a soft golden glow over the Clan's dormitory as the children emerged from their slumber. The air was filled with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension, as each child carried the weight of their bestowed powers upon their young shoulders.
Some children exited the dormitory with beaming smiles, their dreams having exceeded their wildest expectations. They couldn't wait to share their newfound abilities with their parents and bask in their praise. Others, however, wore expressions of disappointment, their dreams falling short of their hopes and dreams.
“Dad, dad, God told me I can now cultivate my inner power!!! I will split rivers and break mountains HAHAHA!!!” A bald random child screamed in the distance, extremely excited, but was quickly shut down by his father “Let’s see how strong you got!”, and a descending knock came on top of the kid’s head. Without a chance to fight back, the kid was instantly humbled and started crying on the ground holding his shining bald head that got knocked.
Among the sea of kids with the most opposite emotions, Lucien and Tomas stepped out together, side by side. Lucien's face bore traces of tears, his eyes still swollen from the disappointment he had experienced in his dream. On the other hand, Tomas radiated an air of confidence, his chest puffed out as he reveled in the power bestowed upon him.
After being snatched by Dalton, They were taken away from the crowd to meet with Artemis, who was waiting for them with a caring smile. With just a look she knew Lucien would need some comfort, and she went for it.
Lucien's heart tightened as Artemis approached, his mind flooded with the memory of his dream. Artemis enveloped him in a warm embrace, sensing his distress. "My dear Lucien, what happened in your dream?" she asked gently, her voice filled with concern.
Lucien took a deep breath, gathering his emotions. "In my dream, Mom, God appeared to me as you," he choked out, tears welling up in his eyes once again. "It was so confusing, and the dream I received... it wasn't what I hoped for."
On the other hand, Tomas was practically shining with happiness. “In mine God appeared as father!”
Dalton's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "So this is a draw," he said, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. "God appeared as the one you like the most, huh? Looks like I've got a tie in this competition, Artemis!"
Artemis playfully nudged Dalton's side, chuckling softly. "Oh, don't get too cocky, my love. You know you never stood a chance of winning, so a tie is the best you can have," she teased, her eyes sparkling with affection.
Then he started recounting his experience, How God’s place was crazy and all the weird Devices he used to decide which dream he would get.
“And then she explained my power! Hahaha I am indestructible!” and then he completed, “At least for heat and pressure hehe…” He said with a smile.
“And the best part is God told me it's related to you! So I’m certain it's super powerful!”
Dalton's face lit up with worry, and he quickly beamed at his son. "That's good, boy! You have been really blessed this time. We're very proud of you! But be quiet for now about your powers, we talk more at home okay?"
Turning their attention back to Lucien, Artemis and Dalton inquired about his powers, hoping to alleviate his distress. But instead of answering, Lucien's eyes welled up with fresh tears, his voice choked with sorrow.
When Lucien started crying loud, everyone around them stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on the young boy. In their Clan, it was a matter of great importance to know the powers of the leader's children. The random nature of dreams meant that anyone, regardless of their status, could be blessed or cursed with a terrible dream.
A bad dream wasn’t necessarily a useless one, but one that insinuated that the future ones also wouldn’t be very good because of the synergy.
As an example, if the first dream of the kid involved creating a sword and honing combat skills, then it would be likely that future dreams would continue to build on these abilities, such as increasing the speed of swings or reducing the friction of the blade.
On the other hand, if the first dream involved getting your hands to stick to things, all the subsequent ones would follow, such as getting two different objects to stick together or something similar…
The first dream wouldn’t be necessarily bad as you could climb walls and keep your grip during a brawl but it could be expected that all the next dreams wouldn’t be any better.
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After regaining a bit of his composure, Lucien spoke about his dream. "It was weird, God told me my first dream would not be related to the others, but I already know I won’t get cool stuff from you like Tomas… My first dream is some sort of vision power. When I sleep, I see things, but I don't know what they are or what their purpose is. The worst part is that I know they can't be used for battle or anything cool because God told me so. Dad, can I change it?" he asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Dalton had to break the bad news to his son. No one in the world could change the power given to him by God. Despite the many attempts that had been made through the years, they never got close to success, never. "I'm sorry son, there isn't anyone who can change that... But the good news is that vision powers can still be very useful to the clan. I know you wanted to go to battle like me and mom, but you will get used to your powers and become very important to us mixers," he said in an attempt to comfort his son.
“And the first dream not being related to the others is something I never heard about. Are you sure you heard correctly?” Dalton questioned, not believing in his son’s words. “Of course I heard correctly! And I don't want to get used to it! I just wanted to get cool powers like you, mom and Tomas! It's so unfair!" Lucien cried in frustration.
Even at their young age, the twins understood the impact that a bad first dream could have on their lives. It was indeed an unfair situation, and Lucien couldn't handle it any longer being questioned about his dumb power, so he ran away. Dalton was about to follow when Artemis suddenly stopped him.
"Let him go, he needs some time to learn to accept his powers," she said. Dalton knew that even though Artemis wasn’t one to take a lot of decisions, she was always right when the matter concerned their kids, and so he complied. You can call that a mother’s intuition.
Every first day of the year, the same scene repeated. On one side a bunch of happy kids and even more happy parents and on the other, a heartbreaking scene of kids screaming their heart out while crying with their respective parents trying to comfort them to the best of their abilities. It was a normal bestowment day.
Everything was going well, but that was not what the future reserved for today.
A piercing and frantic scream echoed throughout the Clan, freezing everyone in place as the people turned in the direction of the sound. A bright blinding light and intense heat were the first things to catch their attention, and everybody stared at the scene mesmerized.
Dalton, on the other hand, reacted quickly. He, who was a master of explosions, had a dream in his dream path that allowed him to withstand the glare of the light and witness the horrific scene unfolding before him.
In the corner of the Clan central square, three bodies lay ablaze in the middle of a huge fire, two, already lying motionless on the ground, and the third figure who was still standing, was the source of the agonizing scream. The leader, Dalton, recognized the scene immediately. It was one he had encountered before, but he hoped never to see again.
The kid had received a nightmare.
Nightmares had collateral effects and most of them could hurt the user. Of course to counteract the adverse effects of nightmares, a dream to reduce or eliminate their negative consequences would eventually be granted to build the synergy, but it takes time and effort to receive their next dream, as it was related to the mastery of their current one.
The difficult aspect of this process was that the next dream or nightmare would only be bestowed once the individual had mastered their current power. This meant that those who received a nightmare had to proceed with caution and take their training seriously and slowly, while those with dreams could unleash their full potential and rapidly evolve their powers.
Young people were always eager to receive their first dream power as a dream, because it allowed them to rapidly improve and stack dream upon dream. Being stuck with a nightmare meant slow progress, which was frustrating to the young, who desired clear and rapid results, despite the potential for greater power in the long run.
The young child, who was just ten years old, had lost control of his power - a nightmare power to release flames. The most probable cause was that the child became too excited or overwhelmed with emotions and ended up releasing her nightmare unconsciously. In the end, nothing good could come from a child losing control of their powers.
In an instant, his flames consumed his parents and himself, melting their flesh and burning their bodies. The child, who had some resistance to heat due to his powers, was allowed to endure the pain for a few more seconds before finally collapsing in a final scream.
Without hesitation, Dalton used a quick explosion to propel himself towards the burning child, taking care not to harm anyone else in the process. Moving at extreme speeds using controlled explosions, he reached the accident zone. Dalton instantly jumped into the flames, not caring about the heat due to his fire resistance, and tried to calm the boy, hoping to help him regain control of his powers.
However, it was to no avail. The child's pain only exacerbated the situation, causing him to lose control of his flames even more.
The tragedy was over in a matter of seconds. The fire died down, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.
The leader held the small, charred body in his arms, overwhelmed with regret that he was not able to arrive in time to save the child. He issued a warning to the others to be careful and mindful of their children's powers,“All of you should go home with your kids, get a good understanding of their powers and be careful to not repeat what just happened. Especially with the nightmare ones.” and announced that a funeral would be held later for the young boy and his parents.
Sadly, such devastating events were not uncommon, and every adult in the Clan had witnessed similar incidents in the past once or twice. Nightmares always involve risks, even for kids. In this type of accident, sometimes it was the child who died, other times the parents and, as in this case, both were taken back to God.