Slinx could not help but zone out as he walked along the seemingly endless corridors of the United Dreamland Alliance.
'What a stupid name.' He thought to himself.
As grandiose as their name was, Slinx has come to learn the surprisingly minor influence they have on the dream realm. Galina once claimed that the UDA was the sole authority of Dreamland and had full control over the decision to grant anyone permission to enter Dreamland, but having spent over 3 months of dream-time (or around 72 hours of regular time) working for the UDA Slinx had yet to see this happen. He would pass by control rooms with monitors and staff members surveilling the dream activities of ordinary people. Aside from the occasional switching between cameras, the staff rarely touched any buttons and just sat around. He was tempted to ask but Galina had specifically told him not to interfere with the staff and focus solely on his training, and being the rule-abiding person he was he never doubted her authority.
His training was done under the scrutiny of Arven and Max, one of the six who held a seat at the high table. It was unusual for a newbie to be instructed by a member of the high table, let alone two. But Arven insisted on training Slinx personally, and Max just so happened to find him intriguing.
A normal training session would start with a meditation session, this was done to cleanse the mind of any excessive thoughts which distracted the process of manifesting objects.
'Conjuring objects is one of the basic skills that all lucid dreamers acquire,' Arven told Slinx, 'It is the fundamental technique which must be mastered before one can develop new abilities as a lucid dreamer.'
Slinx faintly remembered having a similar conversation with Cavina the first time they went to Atlas Fair, but there were still many questions left unanswered. Up to this point, he was led to believe that one could only create objects with their willpower if they were wearing one of the dream rings. However, this was apparently a lie. Max was constantly creating drinks for himself and never once did Slinx see him wear a ring. When he asked Max how he was doing it, the carefree man with a brawny physique just laughed and said 'If you want it hard enough you'll get it bro! Just put your mind into it.'
Oddly enough, it was a good piece of advice. Albeit his boisterous and sometimes narcissistic personality, Slinx had to admit that Max was a master of conjuring. He would always show up in one of the 50+ cars he had in his arsenal (he would apparently drive them in the hallways) and would be wearing fancy cybernetic gadgets heavily inspired by the latest tech products in the real world. The gadgets looked cool, but Slinx suspected that they didn't have any real function given their creator's seemingly shallow understanding of electronics and technology.
In Slinx's eyes, Max was wasting his conjuring power on irrelevant materialistic desires. After all, it takes willpower to create objects. And once you reach your limit, you lose your memories, definitely not a good move to just waste it on decorations.
'This might be a bit rude, but shouldn't you be more cautious with how much willpower you're consuming Max?' Slinx asked about their first training session.
'Will power? You mean 'resolve'?' Max gave out his iconic laugh, 'Relax dude, this is barely requiring a fraction of my resolve to create.'
'But aren't you scared that you might someday run out of will... Uhh… resolve? You'll lose your memories if you do one day.'
'What are you talking about dude? Your resolve is like body strength, as long as you're getting good rest and food it'll regenerate in like a few hours.' Max snaps his fingers, a whiteboard appears next to him. Max proceeds to draw diagrams on it. 'You see this Slinx? This is you, your body is filled with energy called 'Ariki'. This is the life force which runs in the veins of all living creatures. Without it, your body is nothing but an empty shell.'
Max proceeds to draw three lines connecting to the stickman figure that represented Slinx. 'There are three basic things you can use Ariki for. First, you can use it to sustain your resolve. In other words, using your willpower to temporarily overcome any physical or mental obstacle beyond your normal capabilities.'
'This ability is not limited to lucid dreamers or the dream realm. In fact, we often use this subconsciously in everyday life. Like when you're on your last set of bench presses but you're muscles are almost about to give in, your determination fuels you to push through and finish the set. That there is a prime sign that you're a living soul capable of using Ariki, no machine can move solely on willpower when their batteries are depleted.'
'Sure… And what does this have to do with conjuring?' Slinx asked.
'A little patience would help, I was about to explain…' but then Max suddenly stood up, 'You know what? Probably best I showed you instead, you seem like the sceptical type.'
Following Max's lead, Slinx found himself walking out of the UDA headquarters gazing upon a dense urban city. The skyscrapers formed a skyline that was nearing the clouds and stood so close that no gaps were visible.
'Slinx, who do you think built this?' Max asked.
'Our collective subconsciousness?' Slinx said.
'I wish it was that easy,' Max held his hand out, causing dust and blue smoke to appear. Eventually revealing a brick which formed in his palm.
'Slinx, this city was built. Brick by brick.' Max said.
'What? How!? It would take decades… no, centuries just to create a fraction of this even with modern-day technology. Are you telling me someone envisioned this hundreds of years ago?'
'First off, time runs much slower in Dreamland, around 30 times faster. And secondly, I never said it was built by humans. This city was built by the Tavats.'
'The Tavats…who were they exactly? Humans?' Slinx asked.
'If you call them humans, then we are not even monkeys. Ancient tribes like the Mayas and Atlantians probably had an average Intellect of 200, and even they would've probably stood no chance against the Tavats.'
It was quite strange for someone as prideful as Max to talk in such a humble manner, but given the scale of what they were witnessing it was just natural to feel small and insignificant.
'Slinx, you may have thought that the process of conjuring objects happens in an instant, that things like this can be made just by thinking about it and having enough Ariki to make it. But as you probably have observed all these widgets I have on me don't actually work. Just like drawing a picture, you have to be able to create every little detail for your vision to come to life.'
'And that takes resolve. Slinx, I don't know about you, but many lucid dreamers think that conjuring is an effortless skill one just learns naturally. If you don't have the patience to train your resolve and create things that actually function, then I would advise you to leave.' Max said.
Those words left their mark on Slinx and were the words that kept Slinx going despite how ludicrously intolerable the training became. Three months in his admiration for the UDA had pretty much vanished, Max and Arven were the only reasons for him to return.
Well, them and of course, Cavina.
It felt like an eternity since the last time he saw Cavina. Whenever he went into Dreamland now, he would automatically spawn at the entrance of the UDA. He suspected whether this was Walder's doing or the UDA's, but either way, it would not matter. What mattered was that Cavina was never around, and there was nothing Slinx could do to even reach out to her. It was strange that Walder was not contacting him as well. It had been a week since Slinx met up with Walder and agreed to do his dirty work for him, Walder simply said 'good' and turned to leave. When Slinx asked how they would contact once Slinx retrieved the rings, he simply said 'I'll come find you once you've got the rings.'.
On the brighter side, Slinx felt like a heavy burden had been released from his shoulders. He had focused all his attention on his training during these three months of dream time. It was tough, but it also came with a sense of accomplishment and pride now and then. Slinx felt amazing when he was finally able to conjure a working battery, a huge step up from the clay figures he made on day one. It was proof that his hard work was paying off, and slowly but surely he was earning his autonomy in this world where everything was possible.
People usually reminisce about things only when they have come to an end, perhaps it was his intuition's way of telling him that it was time.
'Alert! Emergency type C18! Status: Code Red!' A loud, high-pitched alarm sound spread quickly across the hallway, Slinx immediately covered his ears.
'All members of the high table are to report to the meeting room immediately. I repeat, all members of the high table are to report to the meeting room immediately.'
'Vroooom!'
The irritating sound of the alarm was topped by the prideful roar of a car engine. In front of Slinx was Max, driving his favourite car, the 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429, with Arven in the backseat.
'You heard the announcement Slinx! Hop on in' Max shouted.
'What is this all about?' Slinx yelled back.
'What's this about? Our months of training of course!' Max proceeded to hit the brakes and bring the vehicle to a violent halt, Arven almost rammed his head into the front seat.
'This is it! They've found the ring. Now they're gonna send us on a retrieval mission.' Max exclaimed. He slammed the car door open and practically pulled Slinx into the vehicle.
'Show us what you've got eh Slinx?' Max said.
Slinx could not believe it, his intuition was correct. He could feel his heart beating at an accelerating pace. The first thing that came to his mind was the deal he made with Walder. It seemed like it was ages ago, yet he still vividly remembered the words of mockery Walder had bestowed on him. This was it, it was time for him to fulfil his part of the deal. Betray the alliance, and retrieve the ring.
'It's showtime.'