Swirling clouds rushed by James’ face as he felt the wind whip along his exposed skin. The clouds were dark, smoky, and unformed. He felt in them something like the potential of an untold story. Looking down, James expected to see the ground rise under his rapidly falling body. However, as he looked, all he could see was a sea of swirling blackness.

Reaching forward he willed the smoke before him to solidify into the form of the world in his mind. Suddenly, he found himself approaching a large grassy hill at a seemingly uncontrollable speed. Thinking quickly, he formed the last of the smoke he was falling through into a pair of large white featherless wings that rapidly slowed his fall.

A gout of dirt and grass was flung up as he landed much too fast on the grassy hill.

Surprisingly, he found himself on his feet by the time he came to a standstill. Tucking his wings behind him, he stood upright. Taking a moment to take stock of his surroundings, James wondered what was going on. It seemed to him like he was experiencing a particularly lucid dream. He had experienced lucid dreaming before, but never like this. It had always felt like a dream and he didn’t really retain his waking memories. But at this moment, James had full cognition and all his memories. He was even aware of how weird the dream had been so far and the fact that he had just fallen asleep in his apartment at home.

Thinking on himself asleep in his comfy pajamas back home, he realized he was standing under this grey sky completely unclothed.

With a thought he condensed something like thought into reality around him and formed it into a simple white toga. When faced with the unknown, one might as well look good doing it. he thought to himself as he took a moment to finish forming his wings to look like two large white dove wings. “This must be what dream weaving feels like.” he muttered as he turned back to the gouge of dirt he left on the hill with his abrupt landing. With a thought, he began filling it in with dark streaks of smoke that seemed to coalesce from the air around him, reforming the dirt and grass he had just removed with his landing.

Admiring the now unblemished hill, he was taken by surprise when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Turning quickly, he saw standing near to him an old man with jet black skin and long locks of grey hair spilling down to his waist. Above a full black and silver beard was a surprisingly youthful face under heavy laugh lines. The older man was looking at him with a smile on his lips.

“Well, you have surprised a very old man. A full awakening before the eclipse? I guess it is possible, but I would very much like to know how you managed that.”

James found himself at a loss for words, so he simply blurted out the first thing he thought.

“Who are you? Where are we?”

Smiling warmly, the man took his hand and began walking down the side of the hill into a shaded forest that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Once the man turned, James took more notice of him. He was broad and strong despite his age, but this was mostly covered up by his heavy stoop and the billowing silver toga he was wearing. To his surprise, he also noticed that the man had a large pair of what looked to be crows wings folded on his back.

“Here, follow me. I guess you could call me your mentor.” The man said while waving his hand in front of him creating a path down into the forest for them to walk on, formed from clouds of black mist. “I was the one who left you your inheritance. Though, I guess these walks of ours could be considered the real inheritance.”

Understanding at least a part of what was going on, James felt a little more confident as he began to follow this man down the path that was forming in front of them.

“So, you are the one who left me that note? Are you a [Dream Weaver] as well?”

Stepping now onto a cobbled path that led into the young trees at the edge of the forest, the man picked up his pace a bit.

“I am. As was my mentor and his mentor before him. We have found that this is the best way to pass skills and treasures on to the next generations. We are currently in your dream space and I am using the skill you just received, [Dream Walker], to invade your dream and share this time with you. Regrettably though I must leave soon, we are at the maximum amount of my ability for today. Someday, if you survive long enough, you will know how intensive it is to walk into someone’s yesterday or tomorrow dream, let alone dreams like these with many generations separating you from me.”

Looking around, James saw that they had stopped in a large clearing surrounded by massive evergreens with a small circle of standing stones occupying the center.

“Please don’t die during the awakening.” The man said, looking serious for the first time since James saw him. “Today is going to be a dangerous day. Please do your best to stay alive. If you make it to tomorrow, next time you sleep come meet me here. Just think of these stones and you will find yourself here. I’m not too worried about you though, I saw how you manipulated the dream when you arrived, and I have to say you have much more potential than any student I’ve taught before. Maybe even myself.”

Saying that last thought more to himself than James, this unknown man began to fade into a swirling cloud of black smoke. As he was dissipating, James thought he heard him warn one last time to be careful.

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James woke up in a start from his dream to the sound of his alarm blaring. After his mentor had left, his memory of the dream grew foggy. He did remember spending what felt like days flying around the landscape weaving lakes, trees, and mountain ranges into existence. He had even started crafting a small fortress to call his own. He remembered that clearly as he had been torn from the dream while putting the final touches on the barracks and training grounds.

After abusing his alarm and a sufficient amount of groaning, James got up to begin his day. Like most Saturday mornings, he got ready to go to church. Most people thought it was strange to go to church on a Saturday, but that’s how he was raised and had never known any different. It felt almost silly with his current circumstances to go to church, but faith and habits are two hard things to break. Dressing in one of his few nicer shirts, and packing a bag of gym clothes with the hope of making it to the gym after, he grabbed a bowl of cereal on the way out of the door to go wait for the bus.

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The bus was empty besides a tired looking driver, so James took it upon himself to try weaving here in the real world. Concentrating on his empty hand in front of him, James tried to picture a small bird in his hand. With the image firmly in his mind’s eye, he began willing his creation into the world.

Immediately, he noticed a sudden and extreme drain on his energy and a fierce burning in his muscles and mind as oily black smoke bubbled from his fingers. In less than three seconds he released his concentration as he nearly fell out of his seat. His head felt like it was on fire, his skin felt chilled and feverish, and he had managed to sweat through his shirt.

After his swimming eyes came back into focus, he looked down at his hand and saw what appeared to be a fistful of bird scraps. It looked like what was left when a bird made contact with a semi-truck at highway speeds. The chunk of meat and feathers dripped blood from his fingers down to the floor as he sluggishly tried to comprehend what happened. He hadn’t tried to weave anything like this in his dream last night, but he had made grass and trees which were very much alive. Pondering on this, he failed to notice when a young college girl got on the bus at one of its many stops.

“What the fuck is that! Did you just kill some bird?” Yelled the obviously distraught girl.

The shrill yell brought James back to the present. Looking up at the frightened girl he quickly decided what to do. Without hesitation he put the bloody pulp into his bag and concentrated on willing his creation out of existence.

“What do you mean?” He asked in a calm voice as the bus driver jerked the bus into park and began to get up from his seat. “Are you ok?” James asked as the blood on his hands returned into wisps of smoke. The plan might have worked had he not been sweating profusely still and looking half-drunk from exhaustion.

“What the fuck? No, you creep.” She said as she backed up towards the door she had just entered through. “Mister, I think you should call the cops. He’s got dead animals in his bag.” She said to the driver as she got off the bus and began quickly walking away.

The driver, an old Hispanic man, came up to James and with a frown and said “Son, I’m going to need to look in your bag.” Handing it over quickly, James tried to quietly catch his breath as the man looked through his gym clothes.

“I don’t know what that girl was talking about, but son, you can’t react like that with pretty girls. Getting all sweaty like and… Well, you’re bound to freak a girl out like that.”

James’ mind stalled for a moment as he stared open mouthed back at the driver. Once his brain kicked back on, he tried to defend himself.

“It’s not like that. I was sweaty before I saw her. I’m just a sweaty guy.” He rapidly babbled as the driver looked at him disapprovingly.

“Ok son, ok. Just don’t make any more trouble.” Said the driver, handing back his bag as he walked back toward the front of the bus.

Adequately humiliated, and feeling like he had just been worked over by an angry biker gang, James quietly waited for his stop. As he did, he couldn’t help but consider just how bad his low charisma stat may be for his life going forward.

He got off at the stop nearest his church and walked the last quarter mile before plopping down in a back-row pew. Taking stock, he didn’t know how his seemingly exciting morning turned into a circus as quickly as it had. He settled in as others began to take their seats around him. The normally packed back row didn’t fill up this Sunday. Partly due to the much smaller crowd in this college town church during the winter break, but mostly due to people giving the large sweaty college guy a wide berth. As the sermon started, the exhaustion of his failed weave caught up to him and he found himself in a fight to keep his eyes open. A fight that by the close of the service he lost.

Waking abruptly to someone shaking his shoulder, he found himself looking at an angry looking middle-aged man he didn’t know leaning over the pew in front of him.

“Service is over kid. If you’re gonna fall asleep during service, you might as well do that at home. Good on you for at least having the grace to snore quietly while the pastor was speaking.”

Embarrassed and frustrated, James got his stuff together and thanked the man, leaving as quickly as he could to avoid embarrassing himself any further.

Character Name: James

Character HP: 5/5

Character Level: [1] EXP:(1/100)

EXP Pool: + 0

Character Title: [Dreamer]

Character Race: [Human]

Character Age: [22]

Character Stats: (1-20)

Strength: [15]

Dexterity: [8]

Constitution: [13]

Intellect: [16]

Wisdom: [11]

Charisma: [4]

Luck: ???

Character Class: [Dream Weaver]

Character Sub-Class: [Empty]

Character Professions:

[Student] Lvl. 1 (87/100)

[Steam Master] Lvl. 3 (240/10,000)

[Empty]

Character Skills:

[Weave]

[Dream Walker]

[EXP Bonus] (X1.15)

[Skill Transfer]

[Steam Proof]

[Heat Resistance] (X1.3)

[Steam Release]

[Steam Powered]

Character Equipment:

[Sweaty Church Clothes]

[Old Family Bible]

[Gym Bag]

[Gym Clothes]

[Bus Pass]

[Phone]