He opened his eyes at the sound of a door opening, but he saw nothing, just darkness.
"It's time" He heard someone say.
He recognised the voice, it was Frida, the head maid of his residence, she was a strict elderly woman, but was also a good person.
He didn't say anything, just closed his eyes again as he heard the movements around him.
Today was the day of the awakening ceremony, an event where young kids at the age of fifteen would discover if they could become Dreamers and enter the Tower of Dreams, where they could pursue for strength, fortune, winston and more.
Today happened to also be his fifteenth birthday, so he was qualified to participate in the annual ceremony.
"I"ll picking you up, master"
Frida's voice came from his side, more close than before
He only smiled at that.
"Alright"
He prepared his neck and waited for the gravity to pull his head down a little before forcing his head up again and resting it in the warm mass that appeared at his side, in any moment he felt anything touching his body.
Dove Abaddon was a boy known as 'The cursed child', born with a frail body that lost its strength and senses.
Well… he did have other names, but they were more… means.
When he was younger, he could run and play like any other child, but, as he grew older, he started to lose his vision and sense of taste, them his body started to lose strength as pain overcome from time to time while he lost his sense of smell and, slowly, he lost his mobility and sense of touch, and now, at the age of fifteen, he could only hear the things around him, speak and feel things from the neck up.
He was deadwage, it was for sure, but, for some reason, he was kept alive by the people around him.
Well, not like he would complain about it, even if the life in the residence was boring most of the time, his time with Frida was nothing more than delitifull, she was practically his grandma at this point.
As he was taken to a new room (if the sound of opening doors indicated something), he heard the sound of water meaning he was in the bathroom and soon would be bathed.
The whole process was made in silence, as always.
He was soon dried and dressed, a hood falling in his head.
He felt like a doll.
"Do you think I'll become a Dreamer?"
Dreamer, a person capable of going to the Tower of Dreams, a parallel dimension where one could be anything or anyone, and bring whatever they got from there to the real world.
The Tower of Dreams was an incredible place, he heard, full of life and wonder, it doesn't end and one can't really die there.
But being unable to die wasn't good, as each 'death' would make you spiritually weaker, but that only in the better cases.
In some cases, a person that keeps dying in the Tower of Dreams can become a Nightmare Beast, a creature that will attack every living creature on sight.
That was one of the risks of being a Dreamer, but also one of their works.
Natural Dreams Rfts, also known as Rifts, were places where too many emotions were packed together, it could make a rift in reality and create a pocket dimension where dream creatures could live.
But sometimes these emotions can generate a Nightmare Rift and monsters could come out of it and attack people in the real world.
The Dreamers job was to enter these Stances and verify if they are Dreams or Nightmares, and if they are Nightmares, to break them down to prevent any casualty, even though they can die for real there, since a Rift can only be accessed by physically entering it.
Dove didn't want to be a dreamer to explore Rifts or fight for his life, all he wanted was to see and feel the world, even if it was just in his dreams.
But doubted he could become a Dreamer.
Frida didn't respond for a while, but he soon heard a chuckle.
"Of course you will" She said "Just like your mother was, and, with this heart of yours, I know you'll be a great Dreamer"
He didn't respond to that, as much as would like to.
According to Frida, his mother was an outstanding Dreamer, someone that could bring a smile to the saddest person alive.
But he was the reason such a person died.
He was the cursed child, how could he receive such a blessing?
With that they returned to their silence.
Dove sometimes liked it, as it gate time for him you think, but he normally hated the silence.
He now knew the exact sound of his heart beat and many other sounds he didn't want to know.
He sometimes heard too much when people around him forgot that he still could hear.
It didn't take long for him to be brought to the car.
Along the way Frida told him about things he should be wary of and what he should do when he entered the tower.
"You should stay in the training grounds for a while" She said "Train as much as possible, ask as many questions you want and make sure to leave only when the instructors say you can leave, many young ones get their first death by overestimating themselves, you must not be one of them!"
She was confident that he would become a Dreamer, Dove could feel a smile in her words, and who was he to make her stop?
Dove noded in response, having heard her warnings more than once.
Frida loved to tell her adventures in the Tower, and he grew up hearing them, trying to imagine all the fantastical things she described to him.
He felt the car stop.
"We arrived" Frida announced.
His ears nearly exploded with the amount of noise that bombarded him the moment he was taken out of the car.
He had never left the house since he was little, and the house was in a secluded place with only nature around it, so he never heard more than the sound of nature, like birds and crickets.
But now he could hear so many people at the same time, he could hear animals, cars, motorcycles and so much more!
The city was too loud!
"Why is everything so loud?"
He could feel a headache forming as he became dizzy.
"People talk mindlessly in the cities" Frida explained as she put him in his wheelchair "They don't care about how much noise they'll make as long as they are sure they can be the first to be heard"
"It 's stupid!" He said.
"I know" She said with a chuckle.
He could only pout and hope for it to stop as Frida pushed him through the storm of noise.
Spoilers: It got worse.
As they headed to the eye of the tornado, he started to notice something.
The more they went, there were more young voices around him.
He still could hear adults, but less and less.
They stopped at some point, the sound of movement came to his ears.
"Servants aren't allowed from here" Someone said, a guard, he assumed.
"My master is unable to move without assistance" Frida said behind him.
"And who might be your master?" Said another.
He could hear disdain in their voices, it irritated him and he couldn't help but open his mouth.
"Her master if Duke Abaddon"
He said it loud and clear, to make sure he would be heard like the people of the cities like you do.
The atmosphere instantly dropped, the noise stopped and he instantly felt multiple eyes on him as whispers started to reach his ears.
It made him uncomfortable, but he stood proud.
He was Duke Dove Abaddon, son of Duchess Irene Abaddon and head of the house by law, how could he let himself falter with just a few stares and whispers?
So he held his head high even though he just wanted to go home.
"Y-You may pass!"
The disdain was replaced with fear as Frida pushed his chair.
But not without hearing one of the guards say "Monster Duke".
They walked in silence for some time before Frida talked.
"You didn't need to do this"
He smiled at that.
"I know" He said "But didn't you just say that people in the cities like to be loud? It's like the old saying, when in Rome do as the Romans do"
"Where did you even hear that?"
"Somewhere!"
There was a pause, then both started chuckling.
They continued in their way, stopping at some point, stares and whispers following along as he heard more warnings from Frida, whose voice was now more at his level, meaning she had taken a seat.
But it was only an hour later that something happened.
"Welcome to the awakening ceremony!"
A loud male voice made itself present, making Dove wince.
"Today is the day you all will discover if you have what is needed to become a Dreamer!"
The man then started a long speech about the merits of being a Dreamer, how they can be better and how they will achieve grandeur in the future.
While all this was being said, he could hear Fridas foot hitting the floor, a thing she always did when she was irritated.
"Such a waste of time" She muttered "How can he give the same speech every month?"
He nodded in agreement, it was, indeed, a waste of time.
He never thought someone could speak so much about the exact same thing, and he didn't think Dreamer sounded like a word anymore.
"Without further ado" The man finally said "Let the ceremony begin!"
He could hear Frida muttering a 'Finally' under her breath, making him giggle quietly as the various family names were called.
The noble families usually are called first, depending on their prestige on high society, and the comum folk, also known as commoners (as old fashioned as it sound in this era of technology, I mean, this hole 'noble hole' thing is old fashioned) goes after, being called by the numbers they received in the entrance.
He wasn't surprised by the fact that his name wasn't among the first to be called, but he knew Frida was mad about it, if the tapping sound by his side was of any use.
"Pretentious!" He heard she say "All of them! How dare they make the head of the Abaddon family wait!?"
"It's ok Frida" He said "It's not like I've done anything to deserve prestige, I live most of my days in a bed"
"But you still deal with the territory's affairs!" She hissed "You're the one who makes decisions even if it is me giving the final order! The duchy would already have fallen if it wasn't for your choices!"
"And that's only in the duchy" He said back "I have no prestige out of my territory, and even in it it isn't so go and both of us know why"
Abaddon was the biggest producer of food, drink and military force of the country, so Dove has a pretty important hole in the country.
But not many were willing to admit it.
Even most of his subordinates that have seen him in action thing is just a stroke of luck, and Frida knew it.
So the tapping sound became louder, making Dove sign helplessly.
It was a long time later that his name was called.
"Abaddon!"
The place became silent once again as he was brought to wherever he was supposed to be, feeling the temperature drop with each of Frida's steps.
When they came to a stop, he could feel a blizzard forming.
"Frida, please"
He knew Frida would make a scene, as she hated how people acted around him, but now was not the time.
He heard a not very lady-like grunt coming from behind him that made him hold a chuckle.
Frida was very strict, but sometimes she would throw manners out of the window.
"I'll be putting your hand on the Artifact, Master" Frida declared.
He nodded in agreement, but didn't feel a thing, even though he could hear Frida moving around him.
The Artifact was supposed to be an object that contained the power of Morpheus, the God of dreams, it was said to be a present that the God had gifted the mortals in order to awaken their potential to be Dreamers.
He was wondering what would be the Artifact appearance when something happened.
He felt warmth.
It was so sudden that he instinctively opened his eyes, something he didn't do as much as he used to.
Then he saw.
It was a sphere, a crystal one, inside it a purple moving meter moved like mist while multiple tiny white dots moved around, but he could see the form of a hand in front of it.
And he felt the warmth from that hand.
His hand
He could see this sphere, and he could feel its warmth.
He was amazed by the fenomenon, and was ready to ask many questions.
But then a golden light shot out of the sphere, imprinting something in his hand.
A dragonfly.
A creature he only saw once in his life, and the creature that fascinates him the most.
"How beautiful"
It was all he could say, completely mesmerized.
And how could he not be?
Abaddon was also known as The House of Dragonflies.