I didn't go to sleep or dream diving right away. I first took a look around the academy grounds for any hidden places suitable for Violet. I found nothing secluded enough. As the academy is a supernatural place, it has many means to detect and locate people. Only self concealment is possible. Trying to seal off an area to hide yourself is impossible with the various magical and occult wards.
So I do what is obvious. I make my own space. To accomplish this, I became ethereal and phased into the ground. I went 3 kilometers underground and then used my sack to suck up a bunch of earth. Now I have a huge circular room with a 1.5 kilometer diameter.
"I like this. Since Violet and I have to design a teleporter anyway. We'll build it too. We can use it to teleport from the academy to our little hideout."
Phasing back to the surface, I decide to play with some heroes tonight.
"Let's patrol around and see what the night shift heroes are up too."
It didn't take long to come across a patrolling hero. Using some telepathy I found out her identity. She is the hero Twilight Purr. She's a supernatural black cat shifter with an affinity for darkness magic. She's a young hero at 20 years old, but she has a good track record. Getting to class 3 is no joke. Class 3 is where you encounter enemies that can actually be called powerful. A regular leaguer is class 5. She's actually quite tall at 1.85 meters with raven black hair, yellow eyes, and pearly skin. I take my sandman form to follow her as I see she's tracking someone.
"Let's see what's got the cat's tongue."
A few blocks of following Twilight Purr and she stops at a house. The door is ajar. She partially shifts her hands into claws and walks cautiously inside. I go inside myself whilst invisible behind her. Bloodstains are found along with the bodies of an assumed couple that was living in the house.
Purr walks upstairs as she hears rustling. I go up with her. We find the culprit in an empty bedroom. Purr doesn't hesitate and jumps the culprit.
The face is shown to be a man, and he doesn't let himself get run over by Purr. He uses his superpower to cover himself in metal blades.
"I've heard of this guy.", I think to myself.
He's the class 3 powered criminal, Omni-blade. A serial killer that's been eluding capture for a few weeks. His blades can take any form and can cut through most mundane things. His fighting skills are recorded to be impressive too. Twilight Purr is an upper class 3 pro hero, so she should be able to handle the guy herself.
Watching the fight, Purr is better at martial arts than Omni-blade. Purr's claw arts are too strong for his blade arts. So he pulls back and just starts to barrage her blades from his body; which are instantly regrown. Purr demonstrates impressive agility as her approach is only delayed. Now back to a melee, Purr starts inflicting little wounds all over him. The wounds pile up and he's subdued once he loses his hands. Purr ties him up with some darkness chains and calls someone to transport him.
I felt like talking to her so I reveal myself.
"Hello Twilight Purr, I'm most impressed with you performance and restraint. You took the time to subdue him rather than just kill him. It is unfortunate the two couldn't be saved though."
She whips her head back to me, "Oh, you startled me for a second there. Yes it is unfortunate, they'll be properly cared for though." She ended with a small frown.
She had a melodic voice that made me wonder if she ever sings. She continues, "You're that unknown that helped Sunstorm deal with Sandworm. Your name is Sandman, right?"
I a little surprised she knew my name, "How do you know my name?"
"Some children you've visited saw you on TV, so they recognized you. The hero association found out through them. The word trickled down to me. You've gotten a little famous.", she explained.
I smiled, "I'm glad I made a good impression on the children."
She asks, "What are you. Even Magi had checked up on the children, but they found no sign of your presence."
I chuckle, "I'm a dream Twilight Purr. A dream of all the good things. They couldn't find anything..., because I'm supposed to be there. It's like trying to find water in water."
I pondered over my own answer. "I'm supposed to be there", I think. What a world.
She thinks over my answer, "Then what was that you turned into? The Dark being shrouded in a shadowy cloak with the black sack."
I answer, "That was Bogeyman. Who I also am. Bogeyman is a dream of all the bad things. He gives bad people nightmares of their wrongs. He also helps Sandman keep dreams safe."
Before she can ask another question, I disappear leaving only some golden sand. This leaves her bewildered and looking around.
"Hm, got to be mysterious to be Sandman.", I say to myself once more.
I visit a couple of dreams to gain some Ima before heading back to the academy. Children dream of the most magnificent things as always.