A white ceiling slightly illuminated by the first rays of sunshine… Florence wakes up in his bedroom. For some reason, he is back home lying in bed.

“Why am I in bed?”, he asks himself.

He can feel his phone in one of his pockets. While lying on top of his phone, Florence wonders whether or not this all was a dream. Did he ever meet that kid? Did he talk to Franky? Was the best day of his life just a dream?

“Of course, it was just another dream. There’s no way a day could be as great as that…”

Heartbroken and depressed, he checks the time only to realize that his screen is broken. For some reason, its screen was more or less shattered by some kind of impact.

“So all that did happen! Then what happened to Iqbal? Where did he go?!”

Worried, he needs something to check whether or not they are in the real world. Walking out of his room to check on his siblings, he realizes that the two of them being here does not mean that this is reality. He can’t help but wonder whether or not anything is real as he cannot explain yesterday’s events.

Though his key is missing, he can still make use of the abilities that come with it. Closing one of his eyes, he attempts to make use of his relic. His vision leads him into an apartment. The two figures living in that apartment are a young woman just a little older than him and a black jackal with several red eyes. Instead of two eyes for a face, it has a third one where the space between its pair of eyes would be. He also is unsure whether or not several other marks on its body are eyes or symbols as he doesn’t have the right angle to inspect the beast.

“Isn’t that the person I saw before I passed out?”

Her hair is long, wavy, and blonde. Her eyes are brown. Right now she’s wearing pajamas and is inspecting that key of his unaware of the fact that she’s being watched. Florence can see her talking to the strange jackal and attempts to touch the key only to quickly retract her hand as if she had burned herself.

Spotting the rising sun in a window behind her, he can determine that it is the next day in the real world.

“Maybe she was the one that saved me? But what happened to Iqbal? Did she help him? Did he die?”

From the view outside her window, he can determine that she has her own garden so she’s likely in a nice neighborhood. It would be best to wait until she has left the house to act and attempt to retrieve that key of his. He wonders whether or not it would be wise to confront her.

“I’ll debate that over breakfast,” he thinks as he heads out. The only things that are open at 6 am are bakeries. However, most of them have decent breakfast options. Another option would be a fast-food restaurant open all day. He’d rather not eat something too greasy right now.

On foot, he’s experimenting with his newfound power. His sudden surge in power that allowed him to tackle a monster that can send him flying into a car without struggling with a broken arm and broken ribs was unnatural and far beyond what one could call adrenalin. Adrenalin doesn’t allow one to sweep a superhuman being off its feet with a mere tackle.

Getting into jumping position, he prepares himself for disappointment only to proper himself far enough into the air to reach over a 4-story building. Misfiring his jump, he crashes into a wall on his descent down and bounces off the building in a rather painful way. Landing on a rock, he starts suffering from back pain that quickly subsides.

The final test lies in his gripping strength. Testing his newfound strength on that rock, he attempts to crush it by using both of his hands. Completely obliterating his target after a long-fought battle, he determines that he likely has enough power to bash someone’s skull in with just one strike.

“Did she just head out?”, he asks himself as she’s nowhere to be seen. He can’t be too sure so it’s best to wait a few more minutes. Since the station isn’t that far off, he can just wait there until he feels like the time is right.

“I think now’s a good time. It’s been like ten minutes and even shopping for anything nearby takes at least fifteen minutes.”

Turning the key to the right and the left he comes to the realization that several yellow threads anchored in the ceiling and the floor may make recalling his key rather hard. However, expansion alone was enough to shred the threads. With haste, he looks for the closest corridor and leaves through the front door.

“Now I only need an address.”

Cruising down the street he obtains both address and name. All he needs to do is figure out how to get there and maybe even enter before she does. Apparently, a train ride and two buses are all that he needs to get to her home. However, the next train won’t be here until 7 am.

“Maybe… Could I jump and run all the way to the next station? Do I even have enough stamina? How much time can I spend running? What if I exhaust my powers and they don’t come back… There’s too much I don’t know about my powers to truly use them. I should just wait and take the train.”

He’s too feeble and uncertain.

He’s too unsure but he still chooses to run on top of the rails. Running at top speed, he can certainly run these twelve kilometers in just twenty minutes. Like a madman, he’s running and jumping ahead ignoring potential onlookers.

“I don’t care!” he declares with joy.

“I can do what I want!” he screams at the top of his lungs. Jumping onto the tracks, he wonders whether or not he can outrun a train. He’s certain that he can jump over a train and maybe even hang onto it without being thrown off. The looks he may get do discourage him from balancing on the tracks as that may attract too much attention.

After what felt like running a marathon, he’s more or less drenched in sweat and out of breath. He somehow avoided getting caught thanks to the early hours and lack of passengers. Though he did pass a train and receive a good amount of onlookers, he doesn’t believe that he attracted too much attention.

“But getting to her home is going to be such a drag… I don’t want to take the bus and take forever to get from A to B when I can just run.”

Still, he has to take the bus as he believes that he has taken enough risks these past 24 hours. Forty minutes on a bus and twenty minutes spent running and she’s still not home. With this opportunity, he cannot help but feel like snooping around in that home of hers.

For now, all he does is briefly take a glance at all rooms. Her entryway is rather simple and boring. The only thing of note is the mirror and things she hung up on a wall. Box shelves with a name above each one and a gem or some other item placed seem to be her wall decor. Other than that, she doesn’t seem to have any shows.

The first room he comes across is the kitchen to his right. It looks just like any ordinary kitchen belonging to any house owner. The only thing that stands out are the magazines spread all over her dining table.

“Should I really be snooping around? She stole my key but she probably was the person that at least saved my life. Maybe, the least I can do is wait outside?”

Heading back out, he heads for the closest bakery leaving his key on her dining table. An hour goes by until she returns. Since he wants to be friendly, he decides to just motion his key to slowly and harmlessly fly towards the entrance. Opening the door for her, he awaits her next move.

Right now she’s wearing just a teal wrap dress and a straw hat. Threads emerge out of thin air and create two platform sandals she can slip into. Strapping onto her feet, she heads back out and lets herself be led to his location. Not questioning his intentions nor preparing for any kind of ambush, she enters the bakery.

“I’m here,” he calls out to her.

Making herself comfortable in that seat across his, she steals one of those cream puffs of his with a smug grin. Munching away she keeps staring him up and down.

“So-”

“You know… I could get rid of you right now,” she states with that grin of hers. “You have a lot of guts approaching me like that. Do you want to end up like your little friend?”

With haste, he points his weapon at her throat demanding to know what she has done to Iqbal. Spinning on its own axis and just about ready to attack, she breaks down laughing.

“I’m sorry I was just joking. I didn’t realize how that would come across.”

Silence…

“I’m… sorry?”

“Well, I know some of my jokes can be rather crude,” he replies snarkily. “Don’t ever do that again. Also, I have a few questions so you wouldn’t mind if I ask them, right?”

“Sure,” she replies trying to avoid eye contact as she previously wasn’t aware of just how inept she is at making conversation.

“First, what happened to Iqbal? And where is he?”

“We stitched him back up and sent him back home. He’s with his parents right now so you-”

“With his parents? Where?”, he interrupts rather worried. He can’t help but feel like he has to "save" Iqbal from going through the things he went through.

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“I think you need to understand what happened yesterday first. Can you trust me with that?”

He’s rather heartbroken at the possibility that he’s not going to meet Iqbal again. It’s rather strange to be this attached to a child you just met but considering his circumstances makes it perfectly understandable.

“Fine.”

“The first thing you need to know is that I’m a Dream Catcher and that the being that you encountered is a demon. While demons secretly run around abducting humans while feeding on despair, we Dream Catchers are there to defeat demons and save people from them. We usually don’t ask for any follow-up questions as this is a thankless duty where we are expected to just forget about the people we help and keep doing our jobs.”

“So I’m just supposed to act like everything’s fine. Am I just supposed to pretend like we never met?”

She looks him in the eyes with pity and a sense of understanding. However, a moment of silence and hesitation makes her go back on that supposed rule Dream Catchers have.

“That key of yours is a relic. The last person that wielded it passed away a decade ago and this relic was lost with them. It also has the ability to track those it has connected with. If you wish for it, you can meet him again with the traces of magic you have left him.”

His eyes light up as he heads back outside. Before he could take off, she holds onto him by his wrist.

“I’ll fly you right towards him, okay? That is a lot less conspicuous than you flying around or jumping like a rookie.”

Carrying him on her back, she lets him go on his first flight. Slowly but surely, the two of them ascend above the clouds to avoid the gaze of the average person. Though it is a wonderful experience, his eyes are on meeting Iqbal again.

“A little to the right!”, he yells trying to steer her toward the target location.

Taking a deep breath, he looks down at the clouds below wondering what the world below them must look like. Starting to relax, he starts to enjoy the peaceful sensation of flight.

“I’m sure that friend of yours is your highest priority right now, but do you enjoy flying? How does your first true flight feel like?”

“It’s surprisingly peaceful… I thought it would be a little more intense and I don’t really know what else there is to say about flight. It probably would be a lot better if I could see the land below…”

“Then let’s dive under the cloud cover and just relax, okay?”

Passing through a cloud makes one a lot wetter than he had thought. Though he is not drenched by any means, he can feel the humidity making his clothes a little damp.

“We’re right above him!”

Finally, he and Iqbal can reunite and meet as often as they want to. Overjoyed, he, upon landing, nearly attempts to just waltz into the apartment building. He’s stopped by Elena as she has a plan as to how they should approach him.

“We don’t know his last name nor where he lives. I’ll check before you can jump the gun.”

Turning her arm into threads, she makes her attempt at pinpointing Iqbal. Though they have his divine key, it’s best not to use it when he can only tell the general direction, and the fact that Iqbal can see it would attract attention to them. The two of them finally spot Iqbal on the third floor lying in his bed.

Recalling her arm as to approach him through his window, she slips through a crack in the window. Forming a hand as soon as the threads that make up her hand are inside, she opens the window while turning the blinds into threads to not arouse suspicion through creaking blinds.

“I got him!”, she exclaims as she kidnaps a child. Wrapping him into ribbons, she leaves no space for movement or any way for him to scream.

Squirming and trying to free himself from her grasp, he lands in the arms of Florence. Still confused, Iqbal stops struggling yet is squirming just as much.

“It’s me! I’ll untie you right away. Just wait a second, okay?”

Freed from his shackles, the two of them can finally embrace each other while Elena lets them indulge in their strange but comforting relationship that may become some form of codependency.

“Well… what do you want to do now? It’s not like you can just take him with us…”

Their plan wasn’t well thought out and had too little thought yet too many emotions behind them.

“I’m not saying that you’re not supposed to meet again but it would be best if you part ways for today and act like you never met.”

Florence is floored as he hadn’t thought of the next step. One thing he can do is at least leave something behind.

“I just wanted to see you again and make sure you’re okay,” he says rather dryly. “We’ll meet again some other day, okay?”

“But I-”

Holding out a pinkie, Florence swears, with a gentle smile, that the two of them will meet again. Iqbal responds with the same gesture knowing that they’ll meet again. Though he wishes to talk and play a little longer, he can deal with being apart for now. For now, he’ll have to stick with just one ring from Florence’s relic that hangs around his neck.

After that little interaction of theirs had come to an end, Florence and Elena walk towards the closest bus stop as a way to head back to her house.

“I think I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Florence so… what’s yours?”

“Elena.”

Sitting across each other on their ride back to her home, they attempt to make conversation yet Elena is unable to as she still is stuck on the joke she made earlier. She’s unsure as to how to make conversation with the impression that she may come across as rude and incredibly inconsiderate.

After a few stops, a white ferret with the same red eyes as the jackal he had seen in her apartment waltzes in and jumps onto Elena’s lap.

“Nice to meet you!”, it says without moving its mouth. “I’m Prometheia, a Z assisting Elena, and will assist you from now on.”

Somewhat peppy, well-mannered, and cute… It seems like Prometheia exists as some kind of communicator with a rather fake voice that customer service would use to accommodate even the most frustrating customers. He can tell as he has dealt with plenty of customers in varying degrees of pleasant. For now, he’ll keep his mouth shut and simply listen to what she has to say.

“I’m Florence. Nice to meet you too.”

“You’re probably wondering what happened yesterday and what will happen from now on. I can offer you an explanation as long as you can keep this a secret. Can I trust your ability to keep secrets that me, Elena, and millions more carry?”

“Sure.”

“The being you met yesterday is a demon, a being of evil that-”

Prometheia is cut short by Elena as she insists on being truthful. With a finger to her forehead, she is reminded of what Elena wants her to do.

“demons aren’t just beings of evil… Most of them once were people. Few are spirits. And a handful are the amalgamation of collective despair. They’re symbols of depravity and, despite the ability to sustain themselves just by existing and feeding off of dark magic, are hellbent on dragging as many people as possible into misery to devour them when they are at their lowest.”

“Dream Catchers like Elena originally were symbols of status and power. Though most of them are powerless when it comes to governments and absolute authority, few stand at the top and control the world adjusting it to their wants and needs.”

Florence carries a bit of shock yet remains composed. Though he has every right to question the validity of these claims, after yesterday’s events, his tumultuous childhood, and his interactions within the internet world, he’s rather unfazed.

“What Elena does could get her killed not because of demons but because of people. Petty trifles are enough for someone high enough in the hierarchy to simply ask for her execution. Sure, we can use our powers in secret to heal the ill, stop natural disasters, and be used as outlets to prevent wars, but that is just a small part of what we do. We don’t get to help people as often as we’d love to. You can walk away from this conversation and act like nothing ever happened. We won’t judge you for that.”

“Helping people?”, he thinks. Maybe someday he could acquire enough power to prevent children from living the way he and Iqbal did. Maybe he could achieve even more and help children all around the world. And if he can help children, he can help anyone.

“Would that be better than being a runaway?”

Up until now, he hasn’t thought of having a future. He never had one in mind and struggled with imagining one where he could be happy. After becoming a runaway, he would just resurface as soon as he is of age and legally move out. At the end of tenth grade, he can stop going to school and live his own life as soon as he is 18. From there on, he would just work relaxing jobs that don’t put a ton of worth on being educated.

“I want to be a Dream Catcher. Even if not by much, I want to help people!”, he claims. Though he himself is unsure whether or not that truly is his calling, he wants to live a life worth living even if it means risking it.

“I see! Then we’ll get right to it! Prometheia, elements!”

Elena herself is overjoyed as she hasn’t had a partner in years. Having someone by her side fighting with her makes life so much more bearable than it already is.

“There are three fundamental elements that for our current understanding of reality is easier summed up in sciences like mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, and social science. Even though all is based on these three elements, it’s far easier to use more specific elements like atoms.”

“Should I write this down? I think she’ll stick to simple summaries, right?”

“Charge is the first fundamental element. If I were to draw a three-dimensional-coordinate system, Charge would be its x-axis. Its opposing ends are spirit and void. Spirit Charge makes up the soul while Void Charge remains an unknown that is known for negating spirit. With enough spirit charge, you can harden your body to brace for impact or even go as far as create tangible barriers projected outward.”

“I guess Charge is rather defensive and vastly unknown when it comes to a lot of its properties considering only one thing is known about its other half.”

“Power consists of Natural Power and Physical Power. Physical Power is what physics, biology, and chemistry are based on with a slight overlay into nature. It is the reason why you’re made of flesh and why nature wears away at the body in various forms. Nature is rather peculiar as most plant life is based on Natural Power yet for some reason, there are a select few that are based on something outside of the three elements. Fire, water, and more come with the usage of Natural Power. Things that carry momentum are based on Physical Power.”

“I don’t really get it but they’ll teach me more, right?”

“Magic, the z-axis of the fundamental elements, is the fundamental element of energy. Light magic radiates and is highly destructive but also responsible for positive emotions. Dark magic does the opposite taking from everything in a rather calm manner. It’s the base of all demons and responsible for negative emotions. Lots of rookies are convinced that dark magic is evil. Veterans like Elena know that light magic is far more of a risk than dark magic. No one wants to die to an overdose of it and at least you can live on as a demon when you overdose on dark magic.”

“I can make more sense of magic… It sounds simple enough. Since she talked about an axis that probably means that the elements intersect which should be obvious. Doubt we’d be able to use them if they didn’t intersect… nor would we exist.”

After a few transfers and an hour spent traveling by bus, they finally reach her house. From now on, Florence can have hope for a brighter future that he considers worth living. He may not have to run away nor worry about living a mediocre life after legally moving out.

“Today, you’ll learn how to become the Dream Catcher you aspire to be! Don’t let yourself be restrained by expectations and fear!”, she declares with grandeur.

From now on, even Florence is allowed to dream.