A Dreamer's Tale

[Skyfyre]

An insistent knocking on her door roused Elizabeth from a dream she was having. Not exactly pleasant or unpleasant, but real in a way beyond the most vivid of regular dreams. She'd been in her neighbor's house, ghosting around, invisible to Mr. Sampson or the rest of the occupants. When she walked through him, she felt a weird force pushing at her yet not really impeding her. The man swiveled around, saying, "What was that?" She knew he couldn't really see her, looking around aimlessly, but still panicked and snapped back to her body.

Blinking her eyes open, she found herself in a more familiar room - her room. A few clothes were strewn about here and there, but mostly it was tidy, save for her desk, which was just littered with papers.

"Ellieeeee," the voice of her little sister whined through the door. "C'mon, wake up! Mama said you were going to take me to the market today."

"Is that so, Maya? Alright, just give me a moment to get dressed, the older girl said, sliding out of bed. She looked at herself in the mirror, holding up her messy bob of brown hair before letting it down. It was too short to really be styled fancily, but that also helped it settle smoothly too. Grabbing her outfit and shucking her pajamas off, Elizabeth got dressed in a mid-toned blue tunic with short sleeves (showing off a bit of the definition in her arms from the work in her father's forge), a brown vest, long shorts, and a belt with a pack to hold a couple of tools and trinkets.

The door to her room burst open, her little sister running in. "You done yet?" She asked while tugging at Elizabeth's arm. "I don't know why you spend so much time looking at yourself in the mirror." A statement that always dumbfounded Elizabeth. Her little sister, in her opinion, looked so much better than her, having inherited the silky black hair and heart-shaped face from their mother. She was a bit young to worry about those things, though (the sundress she was wearing, while pretty, white with beige accents, was also starting to show the signs of dirt and wear from being her 'favorite' piece of clothing and Maya practically refusing to wear anything else since she got it for her 8th birthday).

"It's not so much time," Elizabeth argued. "Not many other people can afford to have a mirror of their own." It was just a straight, long board of polished metal, not anything like the local lord, Lord Tukesh, or his family could afford, but still a nice perk of having a blacksmith for a father. Overall, their family wasn't very rich, not enough to afford some of the apprenticeships Elizabeth hoped for, but well off compared to some of their neighbors.

Looking back at her little sister still tugging on her arm, Elizabeth smirked. "I didn't realize you were so eager to help out with chores for Mom."

Maya pouted. "You know what you promised me! Next time we went out, you were going to show me the special spot where you practiced." The older sister nodded, knowing what she had promised after much begging from her younger sibling. Honestly, she would rather not have Maya know anything about that, but given the situation where she realized her powers, Maya was already well aware.

Heading out from her room, they walked to the kitchen. "Ooh, is that pancakes I smell?" Elizabeth licked her lips in appreciation; no one else in town was as good at making pancakes as her mother. Most foods when it came down to it. She'd often thought that Shelia could have opened a restaurant or pub with how good she was at cooking if she wasn't busy helping Adam run the forge and sell his works.

"Yes, dears, I thought you might want to get some food in you before picking everything up. Just because you don't have school today doesn't mean you should miss out on breakfast." Shelia stood in the kitchen, flipping the food over the stove.

"Any chance we could get some banberry sauce with the pancakes as well? To help give us the energy to get all that stuff." Elizabeth's argument was met with a playful smack to the top of her head.

"What do you think it is, last month and your birthday again?" Her mother asked, and Elizabeth shook her head sheepishly. It had been a lovely treat for her 16th birthday, but she knew they couldn't afford fancy stuff like that every day.

After digging into breakfast, she got ready to leave with her sister, their mother adding just before they left, "Grab the axe and get us some firewood along with the rest of the list, ok."

Once they were out the door (Maya at least knowing better than to talk about such things in front of their mother) said, "Can we still go to your training place? I know we have more to do now, but-"

"It's fine. We can chop wood where we need to go anyways." She cheered, and we walked through the town. It was small-ish but had big roads cutting through it, probably from ages past when it was made. Despite the current 'prominence' as just the last town Capital-side of the scorching sands that marked off the Baltonian Desert, it had once been a large city, if the architecture of the remaining ruins and Lord's manor was anything to go off of.

In the 'marketplace' (really just a large town square centered around an ancient tree, where neighbors sold things to each other and the occasional caravan or trader would set up a stall), they split up the list, going around and getting the food and other supplies the Wry household would need for the week. While there, Elizabeth overheard something that made her stop in her tracks.

"So this morning, I thought I felt a ghost walk over my grave."

"What does that even mean, Keith?" A friend of Mr. Sampson asked, looking over some of the butcher's meat.

"Ehh, it's a saying. Look, it just felt weird."

"You sure you weren't dreaming?" She tuned out the rest of their conversation, having heard what was important to her- proof that she hadn't imagined that, even if she had been 'dreaming.'

Her powers had grown even that far, no longer just Fixing things... like her younger sister's chipped tooth, which, given how the girl just fell over, might be in need of Elizabeth's help again. The little girl got up quickly, widely beaming at her from across the square, the faint line on her front teeth where she Fixed them before not visible from that far away.

Truly lucid dreams, where she could travel and interact with the town, and then somehow willing the fire away... she'd heard the tales of Dream Warriors doing incredible things, but she didn't know if that was what she truly had. What if she was actually a Forest Witch or a Blade Demon? The whole town (and also the world) would ostracize her.

At least, that was the excuse she told herself. Her powers didn't feel very 'witchy' and Elizabeth rarely ever held any blades, let alone mystical ones. The truth, which she had only admitted to one other person, was that she wasn't sure if she wanted to join the holy order.

Speaking of that person... "Lindsey!" Elizabeth said, waving over her best friend. Lindsey was a lanky girl with dirty blonde hair, hanging down straight today, a sign that she wasn't needed in Adam's forge. "How are you doing?"

"Doing good. Enjoying the break we have till school tomorrow, she breathed in the open air exaggeratedly, getting a giggle from her friend.

"Shouldn't you be using this time to get your homework done instead?" Elizabeth waggled a finger at Lindsey.

"Ugh, don't remind me. We have to go there most of the week anyway, and then they have more chores to do outside of it? At least when I apprentice with your dad, he doesn't give me metal to forge outside of the smithy."

"Would you really have a problem with it if he did, though?" Elizabeth helped her family out in the blacksmith's forge too, but she wasn't as dedicated to it as Lindsey was, part of why she wanted to explore her options and find a different job. Lindsey had always liked the idea of forging, though, and they became friends back when she (and her parents) had first checked out the Wry family shop.

"Well, no, but that's cause the forge is cool. Books are dumb, all that endless reading. No offense."

"Just because I like to get my work done ahead of time isn't bad. In fact, I'll treat it as a compliment."

"Let's not get carried away now" Lindsey said, adopting a serious pose as she looked at Elizabeth. They held the glance for a second before breaking down giggling.

"Seriously though, I think it's cool that we get to have a school in a town this far away from anything. That wouldn't have been possible a couple decades ago before the queen took the throne." Queen Peregrine Hevlon had made it a personal program of hers to educate everyone, which meant setting up schools, even as far away from the capital as their town of Waken.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess it's not the worst thing ever. Ooh, watch out," the taller girl said, looking behind Elizabeth. Even without the warning, she could sense the noble boy, a chill running down her spine at his presence.

"Mrs. Wry, to what do we owe the honor?" The snobby boy behind her said. Elizabeth turned around to glare at Margrave Tukesh, only son and heir of the Tukesh line of nobility. He was dressed only slightly better than her for an average day in town with his tunic and pants, but the embroidered noble crest was clear on his puffed-out chest. His yellow hair was slicked back, and his blue eyes gazed down on her contemptuously.

"Nothing, I'm simply out getting some groceries." Elizabeth liked to consider her a fair judge of character and that she wouldn't hold it against the boy that his father had been levying some fairly harsh taxes against a lot of the goods her family made. Not unbearable ones, but they were onerous to say the least. The fact that Margrave kicked sand in her face once when they were six, and then again two years ago, plus the way he generally bullied others and acted better than everyone though? That did make her upset with him.

He tried to trip her up as she walked past but stepped too far, almost falling down. "Wha-!?" As he was catching himself and putting himself back up, Elizabeth walked around him in a large loop, wondering why his leg had looked so odd for a moment - out really far but also scrunched up slightly. The problem quickly disappeared, so she wondered if it was just a trick of the light.

She shook it from her mind, laughing at him with Lindsey for a moment before saying, "Great to see you, but I've gotta get these groceries back home." Her friend nodded and waved them goodbye before Elizabeth grabbed Maya and headed out from the marketplace to the western forest. In the center she'd found a nice smooth rock, with a fairly level top. Scrambling up a bit, she got to the top and situated herself cross-legged, getting ready to meditate.

"Whoa, so this is where you practice? Can I see what you're doing? Can you punch fire or conjure a hurricane? Oh, oh, teleport to the other side of the forest!" Maya exclaimed.

"Ugh, I can't do those things. Stop listening to all those tall tales. Dre- Not even Dream Warriors or Forrest Witches can do all that stuff." She thought at least. The stories attributed all sorts of abilities to them, from mind reading to seeing the future to both of them, such that they'd be impossible to trick or kill if they actually had all of them.

Blade Demons too, though they tended to have more 'killy' and 'aggressive' abilities. Forest Witches had some similarities to Dream Warriors from what Elizabeth could tell, but the tales told had very different slants to them. They were all about trickery - one had to watch out about drinking any potion given by an old crone in the woods, or trading their name away for a wish with them.

"Ooh, can you use your abilities to make the axe cut trees for you?"

"In the sense that I can tell you to get started on that, sure thing!" Elizabeth said, tossing the axe off to her little sister.

"Hey! I thought I was going to get to see you do something cool," she pouted.

"Well, toss me up some firewood and we'll see." Maya grumbled a bit but went off, chopping off a few twigs while Elizabeth focused her thoughts.

She grabbed the small pieces of wood that were thrown up to her. "Seriously? Fine, I should still be able to make this work."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to Fix it."

"What? You already did that trick; can't you do something else?"

I scoffed, "It wasn't a 'trick' when it saved your life!" There was silence in the clearing for a moment as we both remembered that day.

It was stormy out, rain falling heavily all over town. Elizabeth had lost sight of Maya in the forest as the younger girl went to splash in some puddles. Even over the booms of thunder, she somehow heard Maya calling out distantly, "Help!"

Running over shrubs and through bushes, Elizabeth ran as fast as she could towards the sound of her sister's voice. She came to the river's edge, the water churning up and flowing more rapidly than she had ever seen it before. Down the river there was a slight blob sticking up out of the water. At first it just seemed like a tall rock, but then odd movement and spluttering revealed Maya's form clinging on to it, desperately trying to avoid getting swept away.

Elizabeth ran down to where Maya was but couldn't reach her that far out. Fearing she'd get pulled away too, she grabbed a long branch from the ground and stuck it out over to Maya. "Grab hold! I'll pull you back," she cried out.

Just as her sister was slipping off of the rock, she grabbed on to the branch. Heaving, Elizabeth tried to pull her back, only to find the branch starting to splinter apart as she did so, not able to bear Maya's weight. 'No, no, no,' she thought, willing the branch to remain whole with all her might as she pulled, and then, something miraculous happened: It held. More than that, the damage started reversing, mending itself as she pulled Maya onto the ground. What had been hanging on by a thin piece of bark a few moments earlier was whole and well by the time Elizabeth rescued her sister.

The stick had been forgotten moments after rescuing Maya, but by the next day, when everyone was well and safe, the two reviewed what happened, and upon practicing, found she could Fix more than just inanimate objects, Elizabeth healing the cuts and scrapes Maya had gotten being battered around by the water before grabbing the rock.

She'd sworn Maya to secrecy after that, but that didn't stop the little girl from pestering her all the time. "Look, I'm trying something new anyways; I'm going to try to make the branches grow into more wood without whatever connected them the first time." Reconnecting things had become fairly easy, but trying to make something grow out of essentially nothing, the original damaged part still lying about in the forest? That was new, and to her mind, probably a lot safer than trying to practice with her fire control here.

Focusing, she tried to grow more wood, the rest of the tree from where these tiny branches came. The energy within her came forth as she placed her hands in front of the branches, the warm energy suddenly lurching from her. It was both a new and natural sensation.

When she opened her eyes, she saw she had made a good amount of wood from each, almost spreading out to make a full round of trunk on each of the five branches but felt incredibly drained, her body shaking, and suddenly the six-foot drop down from the rock she was meditating on felt like a lot.

"Whoa. Can't do that again." In retrospect, she realized that she probably shouldn't have tried to Fix all the branches equally when trying something new. The fatigue faded fairly quickly, though she knew not to push her powers more quickly. Still, even as she moved down and focused on chopping up the wood, she couldn't help but try flicking her fingers together and making a small flicker of fire leap off them.

"That's so cool!" Maya exclaimed, reminding Elizabeth of her sister's presence and causing the older girl to groan as Maya inundated Elizabeth with further requests for 'fire magic.'.

Taking the wood back home, they got settled in for the night, Adam coming home. He had brown hair too, though his was messy and curly with a long beard of the same quality. He was a burly man, to be expected from his forge work, and very kind. He always offered a struggling neighbor a good deal on a horseshoe or some axle that needed fixing, trusting that they'd all help each other out in the end (which is why his daughter thought it all the more shame that not everyone felt the same way - some neighbors were kind, but others could be plenty greedy).

Elizabeth read some books she'd borrowed from the school, having already done her homework, and was just looking to learn more about the world. Occasionally they even had tidbits on Dream Warriors sprinkled in the history books, but little about the specifics of what they could do.

These books didn't have much new information for Elizabeth - while the new educational system gave even people out in the countryside the basic studying material, they didn't have much access to more than that. She could only imagine how grand the libraries in the capital were like, how much one could learn there. Engalia was an incredible place with so much out there, and she liked to learn more about it. Yawning, she realized how dark it was getting and got ready for bed, so she'd wake nice and early for school in the morning.

It had been a good day overall, and yet, as she slept and reached out in her dreams, she couldn't help but feel a dark presence lurking about the town. She didn't venture too close to it, but it felt like an ominous sign for the future

Spoiler: A/N:

Hello, welcome to another original story I'm writing! If you like it, please consider becoming a member on Patreon to get early access to the next ten upcoming chapters, or Kofi (just to be kind). Also consider joining my Discord to talk with others about it and my other stories. Thank you.

 

[Skyfyre]

The school was a set of small, semi-interconnected buildings. Altogether, the different classrooms and field space allotted for it made it the second largest property in the town, next to the manor Lord Tukesh owned (though still a fair bit smaller than his sprawling estate). Elizabeth got there early, taking her seat at the front as she usually did. The other students streamed in, making up most of the kids over 11 in the town, save Margrave, who had his own private tutors.

She had to assume those tutors were pretty good, given Margrave actually knew a fair bit (when he wasn't acting like a complete jerk). His knowledge outpaced the rest of the class, and only Elizabeth kept up, in no small part because of how much extra studying she did.

Lindsey took her usual seat directly behind Elizabeth, picking that spot to avoid getting called out by Ms. Wimblebee. Fredrick, a boy a few years older than her, stumbled in looking very haggard and sat beside her.

"Hey Fred, are you doing ok?" She asked.

"Oh, me? I'm like, totally fine. Just worried about graduation is all." He was looking exceptionally tired, a dangerous sign, and Elizabeth thought she felt the dark presence from her dreams in him, but shook it off. There were a couple of times she thought she had felt things while waking, but it was hardly that precise a sense.

Ms. Wimblebee entered and began the class, starting with some basic letters for the students still struggling and then moving on to more advanced topics, like mathematics and history for the better students.

"... and so much of the Last Age was lost as the final fires and fighting died down, but some buildings and ruins still remain, mostly fortresses, a testament to those blood-soaked times." Elizabeth wondered sometimes about how much of that was true. Even then, much of the knowledge of the architecture from all those centuries ago was gone, though what they had of the designs looked elegant. Besides the buildings, everyone said it was bad, though, so she knew it must be true and was very glad to live in these better times, past the Age of Swords and the civil wars that followed intermittently.

After class she went off to practice my powers a bit more, figuring out more about the fire she made. She could make it out of nothing, though it would quickly flicker out unless she put more energy and focus into it, able to direct it as she did so. That 'direction,' control over it, seemed to be what had allowed her to snuff out the flame when she needed to as well. She made sure to practice by the river whenever she did, just in case she needed another way to put it out.

The rest of the week went by similarly, going to school, practicing powers, and helping out at home or at the forge. Fredrick showed up less and less, worryingly, and by the end of the week, his girlfriend, Ivanka, was getting worried. "Has anyone seen him?" She asked by the end of the week, her eyes red with worry.

"No, I can check in on him after class," Elizabeth offered, starting to get worried. Of course, Maya dragged her away right after school, and then Lindsey had a cool piece of metalwork to show her... by the evening she hadn't checked in on him. Getting up and out that late would probably be vetoed by her parents, so she just checked in on him in her dreams, using her powers.

Traveling through the town in dreams was odd. It was like she could travel anywhere in an instant, unbound by distance, yet still feeling the spaces in between, somehow. She zoomed over to Fredrick's house, where she felt it. That bad feeling, that terrible energy she had felt pervading the town, it was centered there. It scared her, but she went closer to the house. As she did so, she saw lines, almost like tendrils, stretching out from within the house, reaching out to other houses and through them.

"What... is that?" Even as she questioned it out loud, she pieced it together. How vivid and 'real' it felt in the dream, how Fredrick had been acting the week before, so tired and drained... she entered his house (the door was locked, but that wasn't a barrier to her in the dream) and saw him in his room, thrashing about in his sleep, unable to wake.

That all appeared to be underlaid, over a seething mass of evil energy. Elizabeth couldn't call it 'dark'; it wasn't a true color (the same way it wasn't a shape or size yet felt like it was growing), but it was wrong. Deeply, terribly wrong. Elizabeth could sense the nexus spreading out over the town, and it was like putrid flesh without the smell.

"He's been infected by a Nightmare." As if drawn by her words, a tendril of thought, or whatever passed for it from the entity, reached out, extending from the Nightmare towards her. In desperation, Elizabeth pulled back, 'snapping back' instantly to her body and waking up in shock.

***

Warning the town turned up mixed results. They immediately responded, not even questioning how Elizabeth knew or forcing her to reveal her powers. In part that was because others were already infected/afflicted by it. Those closest to him (emotionally; Nightmares had some trouble with distances, but how they spread was well recorded to be primarily around feelings and positive emotional connections people had to each other) were feeling the effects already and well in reporting it.

"I can't believe how foolish he was!" Someone gathered in the town square said about Fredrick. Objectively, Elizabeth could agree with that. The most important thing with catching a Nightmare was reporting the symptoms before it became too bad. Now he was stuck, unable to awaken while the affliction got stronger. Subjectively, she could understand how deceptive and hard to pin down it was; even with her advantages, Elizabeth had missed its spread too.

They were called 'Nightmares' because they first had symptoms like the mundane dreams, simply a bad night's sleep. It was only as they persisted that the symptoms got worse. With one this bad, they'd need a Dream Warrior to come in to deal with it.

"Fear not, citizens, for I am here to save the day!" I turned around, looking for the voice in the crowd. There was no way, surely even he couldn't be- Margrave stepped forward, boldly presenting himself to the people. He was wearing even fancier clothes than he usually did, a gold cloak draped off his back to go with his blue doublet and pants, both trimmed in gold. If the topic was any less serious, Elizabeth was sure she'd be doubled over in laughter at him.

"I have recently discovered my Dream Warrior talents. While I'll soon be going off to train in their holy ways, I shall vanquish this beast before I go."

"Get lost, boy." Grumpy old man Gilbert grumbled at him. "This is serious; we don't have time for your antics." The rest of the town murmured their assent, not willing to do much more to the noble boy but generally turning away from him.

"But I really do have- argh, fine! Be that way; you'll all see soon enough." He stomped the ground and turned away, and Elizabeth saw a minor flash of fire out from beneath his feet.

Could he actually be-? Reaching out, she felt something from Margrave, though it was hard to say what it was. Did he have powers like her? If he did, she was pretty sure he was at least weaker than her, though, and that meant he'd be in danger trying to take that thing on. She wasn't sure how well even she could fight that thing.

Jogging over to him, she called out, "Wait!"

"What? You don't believe me either? I'll show you-"

Elizabeth held up her hands. "I do believe you."

"Really?" For a moment, he was caught off-guard in his confusion, looking like the young boy he was, not the arrogant noble face he usually put on. "Well, of course you do." Then, after a moment, he added, "Wait, why are you stopping me then?"

"It's too dangerous. Go to the Eastern temple and get actual Dream Warriors." Seeing his face darken in anger, she quickly added, "I understand you have powers, but you can't have been trained yet."

"What do you know?" Elizabeth opened her mouth to try to reveal her secret and convince him, but he just talked over her. "Nothing, that's what. I need to save them fast, or this will get worse. Now get out of my way." Glaring at him for a moment, Elizabeth eventually stepped to the side, not seeing another way to convince him.

Elizabeth went over to her 'training ground,' trying to think of an answer to the Nightmare problem. Fighting it head-on like Margrave seemed foolish, but she didn't want anyone to get hurt because she held back.

As she thought on the answer, she drifted off and found herself Dreaming again. The Nightmare didn't seem to reach out that far away to her, but she could still sense its presence. Everyone in town had their own presence, though she couldn't feel them from that far away. Off in the distance, though, she felt something, like a glimmer of light, a barely visible star in the night, calling from far away.

A Dream Warrior? Possibly. They weren't in the direction of the Eastern Temple, so it might have been a mistake, but Elizabeth felt something calling her to them. Racing across the land, she went towards that star, noticing how the landscape became uneven and blank as she left the forest. She could glide over everything rapidly, but as she went, it felt like she was being 'pulled' back to her body, getting harder and harder to travel away. She hadn't noticed that before, but she'd also never been as far away from home.

As she got closer, the presence got larger, burning brighter and stronger like a star itself, blinding as Elizabeth got closer. "WHO APPROACHES ME?" The presence boomed out, and she wasn't sure if it was trying to yell at her or just so strong that their voice came across that loud. Whatever the case, they perceived her mentally wincing and toned the volume down.

"Are you a dream warrior?" She gasped out, having difficulty just holding herself that far away from the town.

The voice, now light enough to reveal itself as somewhat feminine, responded. "Yes. Who- who are you?"

"I'm Elizabeth Wry, but that doesn't matter. My town is infected by a Nightmare; we need your help, please!"

"Where's your town?"

"It's by the Baltonian desert. I- ach, come quick!" With that, she couldn't take the pain anymore and was flung back to her body, waking up immediately. The dream must have taken her longer than she thought, as the sun was shining brightly through the forest canopy when she opened her eyes.

Feeling as tired as any use of her power had ever left her, she stumbled out of the forest and back home. Opening the door, she was greeted by two very worried parents.

"Where have you been?" Shelia cried out while hugging her as if to make sure Elizabeth was really there.

"Your mother and I were worried sick. With this nightmare business going on, we need to stick together and make sure we don't fall asleep before help arrives. Are you all right?" Adam asked, the bearded man looking down on his daughter with worry.

"Ye-" she tried to say before swaying slightly. "Just a bit tired- not 'tired' tired, just mentally bleh. Not sleepy."

"Ok, let us know immediately if you do feel that way or anything unusual." School was closed for the day while the rest of the town was panicking, and by the evening Elizabeth heard from Lindsey that a couple of guards at the castle were talking about how it seemed like Margrave had failed.

The Nightmare was getting worse; she could feel it like a shape at the edge of her vision, even while awake. Whatever Margrave tried seemed to backfire greatly, the Nightmare getting stronger from it. Worrying, Elizabeth left her home, heading out to the other forest, the one that led to the desert, hoping that she could get someone from there in time. Whoever she contacted in the dream must have been too far out to reach them in time.

By the time she reached the sandy edge of the desert, it was well into nighttime, which made it cool, but better than the scorching heat that would come with the day. With luck she might get close enough to the temple... to wave down the person in front of her.

She could hardly believe her luck when she saw him standing there, a tall, dark-skinned man with a weathered face, bald, and wearing black and red robes, a gnarled staff at his side. Suddenly, he was right in front of her. "What do you want?" He barked out, and Elizabeth fell back in surprise.

"Wait, are you a Dream Warrior?"

"Hmph, that much should be obvious. Yes, I'm a Dream Warrior, a Master of the Order. My name is Cain. Who are you? Not a witch, even those forest fools have better awareness and skills than you, yet there's still something..." He measured her, as if judging whether to offer her a hand up or to strike her down with his staff.

"Um, I'm Elizabeth Wry, sir," she said as she picked herself back up. My town desperately needs a Dream Warrior; we've been attacked by a Nightmare, and it's spreading fast. Fredrick didn't report the signs at first, and then Margrave said he'd fight it and-" Cain was on the move, motioning her to lead the way, which she scrambled to do and keep ahead of his long strides.

"Dammit. That was foolish. Margrave- that's the name of the young hopeful I was to pick up soon. I had other duties to attend to first, but this is an emergency. Why were you standing out here?"

"I was trying to reach the Eastern Temple to get help. I reached out to someone else, but I think they're way farther away and won't get here in time."

"It's lucky you found me at all. The Temple may be relatively close, but that's still a two-day march for a normal person. The desert would have eaten you up and spit you out if the bandits didn't catch you first. Wait." He swiveled around, looking off through the trees to some point on the horizon. I couldn't make out, but I felt the same pull on my own senses. "Someone's coming. I've only felt a force that great once before. Grandmaster Tenga," he let out as a reverent and disbelieving whisper.

He shook his head. "No, this isn't the same; he's motion and stillness all in one, beginning and end. Then this must be- oh no." His words were flat, like he knew what was coming and he raised his staff in front of him. The person crashed through the forest, not actually hitting any trees but knocking aside his staff like a twig in a hurricane. The blur rushed Cain and grabbed him in a vicious hold.

"Get off of me!" Or maybe just a friendly hug, Elizabeth reevaluated as they slowed down and she took in the action more clearly. Cain pushed at her to no avail, her arm wrapped around the back of his neck as if she was about to give him a noogie. The woman sighed and backed off and let him go, smiling brightly. It, and her presence, were like the sun, banishing the darkness, and Elizabeth knew this was the one she had called out to.

She must have sensed it too, stepping forward towards her and offering a hand. "An old friend and a new one, this is an auspicious day. I'm Dawn, a Dream Warrior." She wore similar black and red robes as Cain, but had a beige belt wrapped around them, and the fit was tighter. She was short, almost 9 inches shorter than Cain at a mere 5'3. She had wavy auburn hair, pale skin, and a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks. It was hard to place her age; she could be anywhere from 20 to 40, and it wouldn't have surprised Elizabeth.

Blinking, Elizabeth shook her hand. "Thank you for coming. I was worried you were too far away. I'm Elizabeth."

She waved it off. "Not a problem for one as strong as me. And hey, I get to see my old friend Cain too."

"Master Florian, I'd thank you for some level of decorum, please." Cain grumbled out as he straightened himself out, making a point to smooth out his robes. "Despite the fact that we trained together as Initiates you should set a good example and address me as Master Gargouth."

"You're too stiff and formal. Relax a little. As Tenga always said, 'You need to learn to take in the little moments in life.' Ease up." Master Gargouth scowled at her continued flippancy.

"He also speaks on duty and commitment. You waste your talents hiding behind the Grandmaster when you could be so much more."

"So much more? I'm already a master, and I achieved the rank far earlier than you did, bootlicking at Corrigan's feet. Congratulations on the achievement, by the way."

"Ugh. Well, we'll see who's laughing once I achieve Temple Master status."

"Is that a fact? I guess we'll see what happens then." Her stance hadn't changed at all, but Elizabeth could feel a sense of power radiating off from her in response to Cain's challenge, just leaving him to sigh defeatedly. Both in the sense that he was weaker than Dawn (which was true, though the man still felt leagues stronger than her or Margrave; Dawn was just on an entirely different level), but also in their weird banter/teasing/whatever.

To the young girl, It had seemed like an attempt to convince Dawn to do 'more' with that challenge, though she felt like she was missing a lot. The two of them clearly had a complicated history she wasn't privy to.

"Now, we've been treating our new friend quite rudely, ignoring her and all," Dawn clapped her hands, turning the conversation back to Elizabeth. "You had some people you needed us to help, right?"

"Uh, yeah, follow me." I led the Master Dream Warriors back into town to combat the Nightmare.

Spoiler: A/N:

We're starting to get into things more, and now with cover art! This is a commission piece from the talented @strawzop. I hope you're all having a good day, and don't forget to check out the Discord to hang out and ask questions about this and my other stories. If you'd like to support me, please check out my Kofi or become a subscriber on Patreon for early chapters on this and my other works, thank you.

Edit: Cover image isn't uploading right here, will try to correct later