Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she sniffled a nod and walked down the hallway to the double doors that opened into what was normally the Administrator’s office. Stepping though the doorway, a disorienting feeling made her mind reel. It was her consciousness beginning to stir.

The slow realization that she was dreaming made her happy at first. Happy that none of this was real, and happy that she was about to wake up from the nightmare. However, as she caught sight of the scared and frightened people scattered around the expansive hall, Kaitlyn felt a strange desire to fight against her stirring consciousness and stay sleeping. The inexplicable feeling told her that she needed to see as much of the dream as possible.

That it was important.

No longer in the driver’s seat, her perspective of the dream became somewhat third person, but still sort of first person. It was hard to describe. Kaitlyn felt like she was barely clinging to the dream against the pull of her rising conscious and that soon she would be forced into the waking world whether she was ready or not.

She took steady strides forward, her dream-self confident in its destination. Moans from the injured and quiet whispers found their way to her ears. Scanning the room, Kaitlyn saw that Cynthia, no longer just Administrator in her mind, was standing around a raised map talking with several people in hushed voices. One of those people was Taylor, a close friend of Cynthia and Kaitlyn’s mentor since before she passed the Selection.

‘Focus! Find Mom, you stupid dream!’

Kaitlyn could care less about the Administrator and some Warrior, she only wanted to find her mother and make sure she was ok before waking up. It was a strange desire, as if what happened in a dream actually mattered. Nevertheless, Kaitlyn was operating on a subconscious impulse, avoiding thinking as much as possible so as to avoid shattering the precarious balance she was currently holding between sleeping and waking.

Dream Kaitlyn saw her friends and began making her way over to them, despite Kaitlyn’s faint conscious urging. Noticing her, Taylor looked relieved and started to wave her over before changing her motion and pointing to the left, over by the fireplace. Dream Kaitlyn followed the motion and saw a group of injured, lying motionlessly under blankets and heavy bandaging. Brutal intuition rose up from within her like a creeping vine, coiling its way around her heart. Her eyes scanned the injured people until they landed on the form of what could be a short, skinny woman underneath a pile of blankets.

‘Mom!’

Dream and Conscious Kaitlyn merged at that moment as she bolted towards her injured mother, uncaring for the possibility of shattering her dream state. Having only shortened the distance by a few meters, the dream began to shake unstably. No, not the dream.

‘It’s the hall!’

The realization came too late, or maybe it came right when it was supposed to, whichever it was, the moment it dawned on her, the beautiful, vaulted ceiling above her vanished; disintegrated completely in an instant.

Sunlight replaced the shadows, the smell of smoke and death that wafted in behind it contrasting starkly with the perfect, cloudless day. The room was strangely silent in light of the sudden development. Things were happening so quickly that the survivors crowded in the hall were simply confused. That is, except for the Warriors.

“Kaitlyn, assume a defensive perimeter!” Taylor shouted from across the room while she moved to gain a better position, “Protect the civilians at all costs!”

Warriors from all around the room quickly stood to their feet with their weapons already drawn. Less than five seconds after the disappearance of the ceiling, several dark shapes descended from the sky, their features temporarily obscured by the sudden burst of sunlight. One shape in particular seemed to draw the hate filled gazes of the Warriors, this shape taking the initiative to lower themselves closer to the ground to be seen more easily.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Luca Bryson! You son of a bitch! Have you completely lost your mind?!” Cynthia roared, “Attacking the Order is one thing, but you’ve murdered hundreds of civilians! Innocent villagers that you used to call friends and neighbors! For what?! You’ve become the very thing that you hate! You’re only perpetuating senseless violence and death in the name of some perverse crusade! Stand down, now!!”

Having gone low enough to escape the glare of the sun, Luca Bryson, the leader of the Rogue army, became visible to those in the hall. A balding head stood out under the sunlight; harsh dark eyes that held insanity and resolve in equal measure looked down on those below. Wearing a light armor similar to those used by the Order in combat, Luca’s gear had the same color scheme as his army: matte grey, similar to brushed steel without the metallic sheen, accented with traces of a red as deep as blood. A transient thought passed through the periphery of Kaitlyn’s mind upon seeing the armor, a faint recognition that her dream couldn’t place.

The voice that Luca spoke with was neither deep nor soft, but it resounded in the large hall all the same, “Scum of the Order, whatever you think you know about my intentions, I promise you that you know nothing. This attack was neither the opening of a crusade nor some long-held desire for revenge. I made my peace with my past long ago.” Saying so, Luca made a motion with both arms and several long spears of heavy looking stone formed in the air around him, held in place by the control of his Authority.

Kaitlyn’s hatred filled voice echoed out from among the gathered Warriors, “Then WHY! Why kill my father?! Why destroy the village?! What was the point?!”

Luca turned his head towards the sound of the anguished cry and sent the dozen spears of stone he had formed around him hurdling downwards at speeds approaching supersonic. Facing such deadly missiles at almost point-blank range, the Warriors had little time to utilize their Authorities to mount a defense, relying instead on their weapons and the strong physical enhancements gained by every Warrior to withstand the barrage and protect the civilians around them.

Several Warriors were unable to withstand the assault and were buried beneath the avalanche along with the civilians that had been relying on them for protection. Cries of terror rang out from the survivors while the Warriors placed their lives on the line to keep them safe. At last, the sound of crumbling stone ceased, leaving the Warriors that remained sweating and raggedly gasping for air.

“BRYSON!”

Cynthia had reached the limit of her self-control and large spheres of fire and molten rock had begun to form around her in rapid succession, launching themselves forward at speeds that made Luca’s volley look like spitballs in comparison.

Luca and his Rogues found themselves at a disadvantage in the enclosed space and had to retreat outside of the roofline to avoid the fiery rain of death that rose up to greet them. If they thought it was going to be that easy to retreat however, they were sorely mistaken. Even as they pulled back, several of Luca’s men were unable to dodge or defend and were decimated by the deadly projectiles, screaming as they were incinerated in a blaze of agony. Cynthia rose into the sky surrounded by a haze of scalding air and continued to utilize the barrage of meteors to push the attackers back and away from the exposed keep, expanding the blazing air around her to act as a shield for the keep. The people within remained safe, the effects of the controlled blaze kept in check by Cynthia’s precise control over every aspect of the heat.

The world around Kaitlyn began to feel faint and distant, growing further and further away by the second. All of the stimulation from the dream in her half-wakened state was too much for her to withstand. Forcing her mind to turn towards her mother one last time, she was met with a horrifying sight: the fragmented remains of Luca Bryson's stone spears weren't lying still.

The dream continued to fade and, as she watched in horror, the stone seemed to come alive. Moving akin to a liquid, it renewed its assault on the surviving villagers like an insatiable plague; engulfing the healthy and injured alike, consuming them.

In the final moments of her lucid dream, Kaitlyn watched in terror as the tide encroached on her unconscious mother while she was helpless to stop it.

"NOOOOOOO!!"

With a start, Kaitlyn woke up from the nightmare as if struck by lightning. She shot up to a sitting position while her scream caused whatever was moving her to grind to a startled halt. Finding herself soaked in sweat, and breathing like a mad woman, Kaitlyn felt like she was trapped by some sort of constricting menace. She fell back and began to struggle, arching her back in and out while flexing her arms to gain some room for movement.

"Wha--?! Kaitlyn?! Oh, thank the stars! Huh? Wait. Hey! Whoa, Kaitlyn, calm down! They're just blankets! Relax!" Aiden's relieved voice shouted at her from overhead before bursting out into laughter, "You look like a deranged caterpillar."