What were dreams?
Constructs of a sleeping mind that treats the subconscious imagination as reality?
A muddled state of mind brought by sleep, where one experiences a world crafted by their imagination as reality?
Then what were the dream demons?
Were they also constructs of mind given form?
Gaining ability to jump from one sleeping target to another and then controlling them.
Or in some cases, weakening them, making them crazy, before taking over their body?
Both of these things were hard to define. No, they were close to impossible to define. The current world's technology might be super advanced, but the mind of an individual, as well as dreamscape still remains a mystery to most.
Hence, with the expensive drugs and treatment that were given to Luvi as compensation, His body healed in a few weeks without worry.
And although his white star body can only accept a few of the expensive drugs, they still had enough variety to heal his body completely, only leaving horrific scars on his body, which made him look like something closer to a burn victim.
In three weeks, Luvi was completely healed. But that was only the case for his body, his mind, which was occupied by the Dream Demon was still not right.
The scans proved that the mental activity of Luvi was below normal activity levels. But it was still not as low as someone who is in a coma.
Which meant, there was a chance he might wake up one day. And in case of having any mental problems?
One would only know this when Luvi wakes up.
*****
Drifting in the void, the little boy Luvi only had a book in his grasp as he slept peacefully, abandoned in the void of his subconscious.
"What have you done, Kuluvi!"
"How dare you… how could you… she was our…"
In this void, there were times when some past memories drifted by, causing the young Luvi's body to tremble a bit. But that was it, none of these memories succeeded in waking him up.
"Your mind is muddled, you are not fit as a Prathan…. Go, live your life as a Civilian and never look back."
A heavy voice of a man that rarely spoke. A man who chose his wife due to her genes and not love, even the children were carefully trained, as if he was training some soldiers.
"This is Leppo snake bile, not as poisonous as its poison, but still lethal to humans."
Memories of the past, some sad, some rad and some depressing. Memories that defined Luvi and made him what he is today.
Which finally caused Luvi to wake up from his sleep. Finding himself in the void with the book in his hand.
"..."
"What a fascinating place." Became the first words that Luvi spoke after waking up.
Holding the book in his hand, he looked around his library of memories, finding the experience a tad bit entertaining.
"Thank you Gift, if not for you, I might have really lost it." Luvi said, looking at the book in his hand.
His mind was clear of the things that happened before he found himself in this state. "So, did I die?"
Luvi wondered. Death held no terror for him, he was just bored most of his life and only lived to prove to the world that he can become a superhero.
He might not care about honor or have any pride as a student. But that was due to the circumstances. A defense mechanism to deal with the struggles of his life.
But deep down, he wanted to become a superhero and be acknowledged by others. And thi gift from the future was the perfect tool for this.
Of course, the problem was, he might have lost his life in an attempt to hide his uniqueness in the world. It might have been better to use the last resort and activate the dome mode of the shield.
But out of pride of his own, Luvi didn't do it until the end. He wanted to show the world how good he was. It was the opportunity for him to flex.
'Though, none of that mattered considering he didn't even know if he was dead or alive.'
It was then that Luvi noticed something odd in the library of memories.
"What is that?" Beside the floating images and the book in his hand, there was something else in the library.
A river composed of clouds was moving silently below his body.
For some reason, this weird felt alien to him. A feeling that Luvi couldn't explain properly, but he knew, this river didn't belong to him.
And as if to answer the question, the book in Luvi's hand trembled a bit. "Hmm?" Confused, he opened it up.
But the pages unfurled on their own until stopping at a certain technique.
Dream Demon Spirit Body(F): Nightmare Avatar; Ability and form dependent on the individual's true nature; Avatar can walk through the dreams of those closer to the main body; Avatar is able to change between real and unreal; Avatar can use other techniques practiced by the practitioner.
Drawbacks: Nightmare Avatar can only act in reality if it has devoured enough dreams; The nightmare avatar lives on the user's lifeforce; Madness; Unintended Dream Walking.
Requirements: Healthy physique that can sustain the Nightmare avatar and clear mind to offset madness. Those with any mental problem are not recommended for this technique.
Familiar line and a technique Luvi wanted to practice for a long time. A technique which might match his giant physique.
'But what does the river below me have anything to do with this?' Luvi was confused.
For one, this was the first time the book did something on its own, as if to answer some question. Showing that it might have some sentience.
Which would not be odd, considering its origin.
But the second problem was, why show this technique to him now. Luvi doesn't possess any of the required material to build this.
He was in a world of his mind, there was no way for him to find the blood of his family members as well as other materials.
Not to mention, the core material which was the essence of the dream demon itself.
"Wait…"
Luvi looked below him, trying to unravel the mysteries of the river on his own, but he didn't see anything, but he did feel something. "Its the essence."
"And it's already flowing in my body."
Luvi was confused how this happened.
He has the book in his hand and hence knows the secret on how these serums really worked. Majority of ingredients are always auxiliary ones, not actually having much use besides making it possible for the core ingredient to be digested by the body.
But looking below, there might be no need for other ingredients. The book which saved him from the trap of Dream Demon who had thrown him in a past memory, has somehow devoured this dream demon and let it flow in his body independently without any side effects.
'The book is asking me to study this technique, meaning I might not be dead.'
"I can't practice without getting out. Take me out." Luvi ordered, wondering if this would work.
Sadly nothing happened.
'Hmm.'
"Can you please, take me out?"
There was still no change. The book remained the same, showing the technique to Luvi, as if asking him to study it.
"Guess, there is no other choice."
Luvi silently picked up the book and was surprised to find that there was not much needed to do for body movements.
One might even say, the technique itself was closer to a mental training technique of a mage, than a body training art.
******
In an unknown corner of the world, a young man was enjoying the setting sun, when an old man covered in sweat entered the balcony and bowed to the young man.
"Did you find out who was promoting these techniques?"
"... Sorry master, we are trying. But the perpetrator is hiding too thorou…" These were the last words of the old man who was cowering under the eyes of the "young master", before his body was turned to dust and disappeared from sight, making the balcony silent once again.
"Go back and reflect on your mistake." The young man said, before turning to the setting sun, looking at the horizon to calm himself down.
Then he called for another one of his assistants.
"Forget about finding these people, ignore it for now. Focus on the war efforts. Distraction and depletion of resources is our main goal."
"Yes Elder!"
*****
"I am sorry, but I won't be able to come to the party today."
With dark lines under her eyes as well as a depressive atmosphere around her, Rose was not feeling too well these days.
Some people even thought the reason she was like this was because of what happened to Luvi that day in front of the whole world.
An incident that became a sensation and made Luvi a star. A man who was able to fight off and kill a blue star hunter, as well as deal with so many enemies all at once without any actual field experience on the surface.
With his achievements in that single video, the eyes of many were opened and some even researched Luvi's actions and motives when he fought against the cow beasts, finding it bizarre over how good Luvi was compared to them.
Making them reconsider their opinion of them. And many among them also felt a hint of inferiority when comparing themselves to Luvi, who was considered a wastrel by many people.