I grasped the large ballista bolt impaled on my chest, my gauntleted hand could barely close around its circumference. The bolt, covered with glowing ember runes, passed right through my body, embedding deep into the ground beneath me, nailing me in place. I stared at my obviously fatal injury for several seconds, slowly processing the scene. Wait…why do I have this thing sticking out of my chest? Wasn’t I supposed to be in class?

The more I tried to pull the enchanted bolt out, the more blood flowed through the hole on my chest plate. My bright red blood laced with minute green sparks, the last traces of my magic, heavily contrasted with the metallic blue sheen of my armor. Not so blue anymore with all the dirt and muck splashed on it.  Curiously, I didn’t feel any pain at all. Just a bit of numbness and discomfort.

Magic? I thought hazily. Why was I thinking that I had magic?

“Too tired, too sleepy,” I said, barely managing to form the words as blood rose up my throat. Or at least my mouth moved to speak. I did not actually intend to speak.

A dream? I tried to say to no avail. I couldn’t move my mouth this time.

I was wearing armor while skewered through like barbecue and I couldn’t feel any pain. A dream was the only explanation. But I am aware that I am in a dream, which shouldn't normally be the case. Maybe I was beginning to learn how to lucid dream since I normally wouldn’t even realize that I was in a dream until I had woken up. If so, then show me a handsome guy, maybe like Jeffrey from Econ 101. Or chocolate cheesecake with strawberries on top. I was fine either way.

I looked up to see if I could least dream what I wanted since I was already straying from the path to success by sleeping in class.

Nope. No handsome guys or cheescakes. Too bad.

Instead, the severed head of a gigantic demon lay several meters away from me. It looked like a werewolf mid-transformation, its human features somewhat discernable, with the coiling horns of a ram on both sides of its head. Assuming this head used to be attached to a body with humanoid proportions, then it probably stood at about fifteen meters tall. Its lifeless eyes stared at me. Violet blood soaked the ground beneath it.

This was certainly unlike any dream I had before. Dreams about getting late to class, or missing an exam, or getting stuck in an elevator were my staple. A nightmare? But I wasn’t even feeling scared or disgusted. Weird.

I tried to turn my head to survey my surroundings, but couldn’t. I didn’t quite get the hang of lucid dreaming yet, I suppose.

“Is this it? I guess this is it,” I said again without planning to.

“Lady Lorica!” someone shouted.

I tried to search for the voice, this time, my body following me as I looked around. I gasped internally. 

Death surrounded me. I was in the middle of a great battlefield. More accurately, I was in the middle of where a great battle had just ended. The bodies of dozens and dozens of monsters scattered around. Most of them were at least a couple of times larger than a full-grown man, bloated, decaying and revolting. Punctuating the inhuman stuff, that I didn’t even know I was capable of imagining, were humans. Knights in the same blue armor as I was. Pitifully few, and all dead. What the hell, brain? Where did you get this dream?

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“Lady Lorica, stay awake! Focus yourself!” someone shouted.

A pile of dead monsters to my right moved. One of the corpses flipped over, revealing a blue knight apparently not dead as I had earlier written them all off. He struggled to get out from underneath the pile  using only his right hand. His left hand looked like it was ripped from his shoulder socket. Bits of bone and flesh poked out from beneath his left pauldron. He managed to pull himself out and staggered towards me.

“We won, Lady Lorica, all thanks to you,” the knight said. Slowly but surely he navigated his way through the dead bodies.

“Gavin…that’s good to hear,” I said. I named this guy Gavin? Cheesy.

“Lady Lorica, the others are coming. Don’t close your eyes.” He knelt down beside me and took off his helme

Holy hell, he’s handsome. He looked a bit young for his strong, deep voice. But old scars that ran across his right eye show that he has matured in battle. He also had a fresh gash across his forehead that was bleeding, covering half his face in blood. Meeting handsome injured knights in the battlefield was my new thing? This is a whole new level of the damsel in distress fantasy. Repress those thoughts! 

“I want to sleep,” I said. I gave up trying to control what I was saying and just laid back to watch the show.

“My lady, focus on my voice. I’m just here by your side.”

“Tired…it's too much. It was stupid to think that someone like me can do it.”

 "You are the hero of mankind, Lady Lorica." He took my hand in his. " If there is someone who can do it, whatever that it might be, it is you."

"That's...that's not what I meant." My voice was becoming weak.

“Hush. Conserve your strength,” Gavin said. He gazed at the setting sun.  “The others will come soon. Soon, my lady.”

Heat passed through my hand as he tried to transfer his energy to me. I snorted and said, “That’s not going to work.” I slowly closed my eyes.

“My lady, don’t give up,” Gavin said, his firm voice cracking slightly, which was kind of cute. He shook my hand. “Don’t sleep, you always told us not to let you sle—”

Darkness enveloped me.

----------------------------------------

I awakened with a start, jerking straight up, hitting the edge of the table with my stomach. Some of my classmates, whom I barely knew, stared at me and then went back to fixing their things. I slept through the entire session.

“Are you okay?” Alex, my red-headed seatmate said. She stared at me, grinning, as she folded her laptop and tucked it under her arm.

“I guess,” I said, rubbing my stomach. “Although, ouch.”

“Did you stay up late last night binge watching again?”

“No, I actually went to bed early. I'm a model student, you know?”

Alex rolled her eyes, not buying it. “Lucky you that you slept in Professor Fitch’s class. Like he always says, he doesn’t care if students sleep in his class –”

“Because I’m the one wasting my tuition,” I finished. I whipped out my cellphone and opened the front camera. Fortunately, my hair was not messed up when I slept on my table. I brushed away a few strands from my forehead. “I had this weird dream.”

“While you were sleeping awhile ago?”

“Yes. I dreamt I was dying or something.”

“Morbid much? Why were you dying?”

I stared at Alex, my brows furrowed. “I couldn’t remember it,” I said truthfully. “I just remembered dying.”

“We’re just freshmen. Don’t let college get to you this early." Alex headed to the door. "Let's have lunch. You're just hungry.”

"I guess so", I said as I followed her.