The realm of the night is believed to not be a true, physical subspace organized under the plane of existence, but rather an illusion created by the mind in the form of dreams. However, more research in this field is strongly advised as recent advancements in Somniology prove that dreamscapes can indeed act as both a projection of the mind (ie. chemical reactions of the physical brain) and also as a pseudo-subspace within the Psyche (ie. a partial projection within the subspace). This innate ability seems to be similar to an authority, though it is unknown whether it is indeed a form of authority or what kind.
So far, out of the three predicted authorities (same as all complex subspaces), the authority over construction may be the true identity of all dreamscapes. Of course, the authority must be yet claimed seeing all conciousnesses have the ability to dream.
In layman's terms, dreams may be affected by reality, and reality may be affected by dreams, though in what form they manifest is unknown.
* Somniology Report 2447 by Reason Gandersson, Royal Head Guard and lead researcher of the Somniology department of the Avangardian Spells, Skills and Sciences Institution (A3S)
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Under the tranquil moon, hidden from the light beneath the thin veil of the tent, only one of the three dreamed that night.
Ayn found himself in a blank domain, an empty canvas to be filled. However, before he could process his location, unknown information and emotions began to spill forth from within himself, an infinity of paint filling the canvas in bloody patches. Exploding and imploding across the dreamscape.
He struggled to maintain his sanity as a piercing pain continued to pry his skull apart, the empty void now filled with, colours, chaos and unheard screams.
“Calm down,”
The hero heard a mysterious female voice echo throughout the realm, a soft but commanding tone breaking through the noise. Her command somehow paused the carnage, though the realm was still devastated with colours, including himself.
A girl walked in from an invisible corner, an impossibility in space. She wore an adventurer’s attire, with an eyepatch and various equipment. They were tethered and ancient, relics of the eons past. An old spirit in the body of eternal youth, she was similar in appearance to Ayn but slightly older.
“I take it that this is your first time?” asked the girl.
“F-first time?”
She waved her hand around as if feeling the weight and viscosity of the atmosphere.
“To be… someone of your kind, and to be a hero… I believe it’s just you and me” said the girl, “It’s a bit ironic if you think about it.”
“W-what? What do you mean?”
“I’m not here to tell you what you are, or to tell you what you should do. I don’t want you to find out what you are,” said the girl, ignoring his question, “You’ve got a precious second chance, spend it peacefully.”
“Then why puzzle me? Why are you here?”
“I’m here to give you some small pieces of advice. First, don’t hang around the heroes too much. The smell of death hangs around them. Second, don’t try to find out what you are. Third, if you truly must, try to find me.”
“Wait, what’s your name?”
“...You’ll have to find that too, but I’m hoping that you’ll never have to reach that point,” said the girl, “Have a good life, Ayn.”
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As the trio trod the soft path, the sun happily illuminating the earth in soft embrace, Sivrit watched Ayn’s troubled expressions. He seemed wary of something, perhaps of Reginn or the World Beast. They had already finished their breakfast, prepared by Sivrit and they would enter the city not long after.
“So Ayn, you said you were the 94th hero right? I’ve always wondered about this, but did you actually meet the Goddess?”
“N-no, but I did meet a divine being, probably one of the children of the Goddess.”
Reginn pondered the implications of such statement. Of course, everything could change in two thousand years, but surely the Goddess still chose the heroes herself -- he couldn’t ever imagine his younger siblings taking up such an important mantle for themselves.
“That’s still amazing… So did they give you any special talents or anything?”
“No, I was born with a talent so…”
“Wow, you’re a natural talent holder?!”
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“Y-yeah, it’s not too amazing though.”
“Well, what is it?”
“It’s called ⌈The Call⌋, but even I’m not sure what it is exactly… I mostly use it for boosting my ally’s stats though.”
“So it’s a multilayered talent, huh?”
“Hm? What’s a ‘multilayered talent’?” asked Reginn.
“Well, a multilayer talent is just like a normal talent, but it has multiple aspects of it, such as a magic-type with multiple spells or technique-type with multiple techniques. They usually work together to accomplish a specific goal though.”
“Types?” asked Ayn.
“Hm? Oh, I suppose talent typing wasn’t a thing back in the day. In this era, you have to register your talent to the government and they type it into four types, ‘Physical’, ‘Magical’, ‘Technical’ and finally, ‘External’. Let me explain"
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Talent:
Special abilities granted by the world, the divine or other sources. Only a few are born with talents, shaping legends and the course of history. They can be realized at any point in one’s life. Learned abilities such has magic and techniques and given abilities of talent balance the power spectrum of the human world.
Physical Talent:
Imagine having the colossal strength of a giant, the true pyromancy of the Sonosian phoenix or impenetrable platinum skin. These are all signs of a physical talent, manifesting itself as either a permanent or activated passive of the user’s body. By technicality, Reginn’s unique antimana body would fall into this category, but as a construct, it is unclear whether he qualifies.
Magical Talent:
Tiers above 3 are reserved only for the most powerful sorcerors, but magical talents allow you to go further beyond into the territories of the divine. Time manipulation, true matter creation, and information destruction all fall into this category. This type of talent tends to be the most destructive.
Technical Talent:
The origins and the source of techniques are unknown, honed and passed down from generation to generation. It is speculated to originate from ‘spiritual energy’, or another external source such as mana, but one thing’s for sure: it’s the counterpart of magic. Magical and technical tend to be similar in appearance, but techniques are exempt from the limitations of magic and is also much harder to master. Mostly manifested in a single attack, though its strength varies by the user’s stats.
External Talent:
Talents originating from forces beyond this world such as the subspaces or the imaginary space. However, these forces are still manifested as a physical change, technique or a spell. Therefore, most external talents are dual-typed (eg. External-Magical, External-Technical). The rarest type of talents, usually only granted by the divine.
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“Subspace? Imaginary space? What does that mean?”
“Hm? You don’t know?”
“S-sorry, but I’m actually just a farmboy who lived the most of my life illiterate…”
“Ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound condescending. It’s just that it’s my first time talking to time travellers, you know?”
“Time travellers?” asked Reginn
“Yeah, I mean, you guys found yourselves in a foreign time, in a foreign setting, right? Don’t worry, as one of the members of the Council of the Royal Gladiatorial Academy, Sivrit Kaine is at your service!”
“...Hmph, humans sure are strange these days.”
“About the subspaces…”
“Oh yeah, well… I’m not sure how to explain it clearly myself because I can’t tell how much you know already… Well, when we get to the church, I’m sure I can find someone far more knowledgeable than I!”
The three continued to chat away, though Reginn mostly remained silent. The hero was far too focused on absorbing all available information from the mana in the air, reading its stories and tales. However, there was simply not enough context and these localized events meant nothing to him. Hopefully, he would find at least one of his siblings in the capital of Avangarden, Cadra, the perfect city.
“Wait,” interrupted Reginn, stopping the group in their tracks, “I sense something within the capital.”
Sivrit was surprised to see that Reginn was able to sense the capital even from around a hundred paces away, and scrambled to think what could’ve disturbed the ancient hero.
“What is it?”
“...Demons.”
“Demons? Ah, I suppose back in the day you wouldn’t be so welcoming to them, but the times are different now! It’s one of the great benefits of the decreasing tensions between Sonosis and Avangarden,”
“Sonosis? The demon kingdom?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Nowadays, the heroes don’t even battle demons anymore, but mostly powerful criminals and organizations.”
Reginn maintained absolute focus, counting the exact number of demons within the city, but gave up after the thousand mark. This was worse than he thought. However, there was no use arguing or revealing his emotions to these humans.
“...I suppose that’s good.”
Before they entered the church, the hero gained but one task to complete.