"I am Wren from the Valor Clan."
And then there was pin drop silence in the cafeteria, due to such sudden expressions from other people Wren felt very weird.
'Strange I wasn't expecting this.'
Wren thought his introduction would cause such a reaction but now the silence was eating him, excusing himself he left quickly from the place. While the others, were not in good condition, all of them were deathly pale from fear. Caster face was filled with fear considering his action before, his clan position will be now deeply affected.
But among all the people, only three were unfazed it was Sunny, Cassie and Nephis. Sunny understood where the confidence came from, while Cassie though a expression didn't appeared on the blind girl face, her whole mind was trembling with dread. Nephis had a deep scowl on her face which disappeared in a split second, she stared at the back of the Wren who was walking out of the silent cafeteria.
'So the Anvil has send someone to take care of me, doesn't matter he will fall to my blade same for Valor too.' Nephis thought darkly. A furious white flame ignited in her cold grey eyes.
Wren on the other hand shivered in cold.
'Strange! wasn't the room supposed to be warm?'
Wren throwed his duffle bag on the chair, and jumped on the warm and comfortable bed. Laying on it, he stared the ceiling thinking about the ruckus he created on the first day, if he was correct he needs to attend a combat class under the guidance of Instructor Rock after few hours.
'So let's check the [Prince of Darkness] attribute of mine.'
Wren stood up and went to the corner of his room which was devoid of any light source, staring at the darkness, he tried to command it to form a sword, strangely the darkness started to shift and take a form of what he supposed a sword, but it was draining his mental power at a fast rate.
'So I need both essence and practice for this, so that leaves the only option of augmentation.'
Wren once again commanded the darkness, following his command it started to wrap around his hand then to his body. Wren was filled with strength, surprised he this time gave a different type of command, soon the darkness covering his body retracted and was visible on his hand, which was pitch black. Satisfied with his new findings, Wren dismissed the augmentation and went to the bathroom for a hot shower.
***
Sunny's shadow was hiding in a corner of a large dojo. He was observing his fellow Sleepers who, under the guidance of Instructor Rock, were going through the motions of the introductory combat class.
Today was mainly dedicated to testing their general competency and abilities. After that, the Sleepers were going to be separated into groups based on their level, such as novice, advanced or expert, as well as their weapon of choice. Some would be assigned a personal tutor or paired together.
Currently, Sleepers were taking turns delivering their strongest punches to a wide plate attached to a special measuring machine. After each strike, the machine would display a number corresponding to the Sleeper's physical strength.
In theory, a machine like that was not hard to build. However, considering that many of Sleepers had combat-oriented Aspects that enhanced their might in a variety of ways, it was actually a marvel of engineering and durability.
Their technique and training also affected the final result.
Most people were getting numbers ranging from ten to fourteen. It was considered a good result, something that only the most athletic people could reach. However, a lot of Sleepers, obviously those with enhancing Aspects, were able to achieve a score of fifteen or even sixteen.
I would probably get ten or eleven,' Sunny thought, feeling a little bored.
Then he suddenly perked up, noticing that it was turn for Nephis, the second highest- rated Sleeper of their batch, to strike the plate, while the highest- rated Sleeper Wren was not present there.
The slender girl approached the machine and, without much preparation, delivered a sudden, crushing blow. Sunny wasn't very well-versed in martial arts, but even he was impressed by the flawless economy and speed of her execution.
'She had a lot of training.'
After a short pause, the machine displayed the result: sixteen. Sunny felt a bit disappointed.
'Not that impressive. I was expecting more.'
After her, Caster was the only one left. His flying fist was too fast for Sunny, the machine trembled and took more time calculating, and score of twenty one appeared. Admiring looks were thrown at Caster, he bowed and took a step back.
That is when Wren had entered the dojo, everyone threw few glances at him mostly of fear. Caster eyes were also showing a bit fear in them while Nephis was looking at him with no expression, but her eyes were burning with... Rage?
'Is she jealous or something?' Sunny thought.
"Sleeper Wren, I hope you were notified about the timings for the class. Then will you please enlighten me, why are you Thirty minutes late." Instructor Rock asked.
"I am sorry for the inconvenience, I was busy in a important call that I needed to attend."
Wren gave a slight bow, Instructor Rock was satisfied with his reason and said:
"Please give us a demonstration of your strength on the machine over there, like other Sleepers did."
Wren nodded and moved towards the machine, he took a stance and swiftly punched at the machine, the speed of Wren's fist wasn't as fast as Caster but it was without a doubt strong, the machine trembled and took longer time to calculate, then two numbers appeared.
Twenty-nine.
Everyone including Instructor Rock was shocked, their eyes widened the numbers were something they had not expected to see, sure they knew it was going to be higher than Caster considering the time it took to calculate the strength but they hadn't expected a difference this wide. Wren gave a small bow and went toward a secluded corner of the dojo.
"Impressive. Now, we will move to sparring and evaluate your general level of training. I need two volunteers to begin."
Nephis was the first to step forward and walk to the center of the ring. A couple of seconds later, a tall and extremely muscular Sleeper followed and faced her.
"The rules are simple. Make your opponent's back touch the floor or throw them out of the ring. Use whatever abilities and techniques you find appropriate."
Oh, the show is starting!'
Watching Sleepers fight each other was not only entertaining, but could also provide Sunny with knowledge of their powers.
Back in the room, he leaned forward and rested his chin on his palms.
'Go Nephis!'
And in few moments Nephis had defeated all the people excluding Wren and Caster, the other whether they were poor, rich or legacies were defeated by her in a matter of seconds.
"Next."
This time her opponent was Wren, everyone looking forward to their fight. Wren was facing Nephis, their eyes locked on each other.
"This might hurt."
'What is he going to...'
Wren suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Nephis, out of reflex she swiftly threw a punch which didn't come in contact with Wren as the Changing Star was now in mid air, her stance was disturbed and then a kick came in contact with her stomach, sending her to the floor on her back.
Nobody understood what happened, all they could see was that Wren had won and The Changing Star of the Immortal Flame Clan lost without even putting up a fight. Caster visibly gulped, as his turn was next.
Nephis stood up clutching her stomach, she grimaced in pain.
'What kind of combat arts did he used?' Nephis thought, but that didn't matter she had lost to Wren, if it was a battlefield it would had cost her life.
Caster and Wren were standing in front of each other, Caster was focusing on Wren's every movement. As soon as the fight started, Caster used his Aspect to increase his speed and send a barrage of fist at Wren, who was finding difficult to counter every attack due to it's speed.
'Looks like I have only one option.'
As soon as Wren countered the last attack, he send a powerful punch at Caster's head which he dodged easily, or it was what he had thought because Caster was still hit on his face even though he had dodged the fist. Surprised he tried to dodge an upcoming high kick, but was met the same result.
That's when Caster feeled it, the feeling of a being preyed. His eyes locked with Wren's for few moments but all he saw was the deep abyss that resided within them, without even realising Caster was already on the floor, defeated.
'What kind of monster is this guy?' Everyone thought.
He stretched his body, and left the dojo but before leaving the dojo he glanced at the pitful shadow that was hiding and gave it a smirk.
In his room, Sunny almost felled from his chair.
'Just what is he?'
***
Late at night, when everyone was already asleep, Sunny furtively entered the dojo. Looking around, he made sure that no one was there and then curiously approached the ring where Nephis and others had been tested earlier. He stopped at the center of the ring and stood there for a while, remembering how she had dealt with dozens of Sleepers of their batch before being defeated by Wren.
Monsters... both of them are monsters!" he mumbled, bitter and disheartened.
Shaking his head, Sunny left the ring and then he looked at his shadow,
"Do you agree?"
The shadow hesitated for a few seconds, then stuck out its chest and crossed its arms, trying to appear cocky, disdainful and unperturbed. However, its act wasn't very convincing.
"Yeah, you're right. Exactly! What's the big deal anyway?"
Both Immortal Flame and Broken Sword, Nephis's father and grandfather, were as monstrous in terms of power as one can get. But they still failed to protect their family from being eviscerated. So, power wasn't that important in the end. Though, he don't know about Wren's past and his family.
Sunny sighed and proceeded to the measuring machine. Making a fist, he swung it and delivered his best punch. The machine hummed for a few seconds and then displayed a single number.
Nine.
"Oh, come on! I deserve a ten, at least!"
Feeling very indignant, he struck the plate again, almost hurting his fingers. However, the result was the same.
"Damn it!"
"You need to take proper stance, you know?"
Another voice resounded in the dojo, and Sunny knew it very well. As he looked toward the direction of voice, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. The person walking towards him was no other than Wren.
"Hello Sunless, I am... Oh you know me well considering your shadow was spying on everyone in the dojo."
Wren was smirking, his eyes were shining like a kid who found a new toy to play, Sunny's throat went dry and he asked in a hoarse voice:
"What do you want from a weakling like me?"
"Ah! It's nothing I was just interested about you due to the rumors. That you are a pervert, have a Divine Aspect, killed an Awakened Tyrant with just spitting."
Sunny visibly surprised, he once again asked:
"So you are here to mock me or something, thinking that outskirt rat like me can't do anything?"
"No, I am here to help you, outskirt rat or not potential can be found anywhere. That's why I am going to teach you combat arts for these four weeks, you are something worth it to invest my time on."
Wren replied with seriousness, his answer stunned Sunny but before he could ask again Wren interrupted him.
"Here comes the first lesson, come here before I change my mind."
Sighing Sunny agreed and from then he was taught how to turn his body into a deadly weapon from Wren, time passed quickly and Winter Solstice came. During this time, Wren and him got close enough but not enough to be called friends. Sunny was still paranoid about Wren.
On the day of Winter Solstice, Wren woke up early than usual. He was feeling tired and drowsy, knowing that today would be his temporary last day on the Earth and first adventure in the Dream Realm. He took a quick hot shower, that somewhat removed the feeling of sleepiness.
He went to the cafeteria, which was full of sleepers but no one was talking. Everyone was in low spirits and seemed to be uncharacteristically introspective. There was no usual laughter or boisterous conversations only the Legacies remained calm and collected. However, even they kept to themselves.
Wren was in no mood for a meal, so he just brewed a coffee and added milk and sugar to it, he then spotted a seat which was beside a blind girl who he had met for few times. He sat near her, Cassie unknowingly flinched and asked:
"W-Wren?"
"Yes."
Every time Wren sat near Cassie, she shuddered in fear like she was scared of him, not like he was going to kill her. Wren didn't knew the reason and didn't ask her about it. Soon his student, Sunny also came to cafeteria and had also brewed coffee from the machine and sat beside him and Cassie. As he sipped his coffee, Cassie turned her head towards him startling Sunny.
"W-What?"
"Happy birthday."
Sunny frowned, while Wren was a bit shocked that his paranoid student told someone about his birthday, but not his teacher.
"Well, Happy Birthday Sunny. Quite surprising that you didn't told me about your birthday."
"Uh thanks first of all, I just remembered about my birthday now, and I didn't even told her about it."
Wren was a now more surprised, he looked towards Cassie who had just lost her interest and was lost in her thoughts. But deep down, she was shivering in fear from Wren's dark gaze. He shrugged and once again started to drink his coffee, now lost deep in his thoughts.
'A attribute maybe, no more like related to her Aspect. In these four weeks considering the information I have collected about Sunny is not enough, his Divine Aspect is mostly related to shadows similar to my relation with darkness. I need more information to use Wanderer's Eye'
After his small meal, he didn't had anything to do. He went to the Dojo and trained his muscles a bit, and performed multiple sword arts but this time augmented by the darkness all the movements were faster and stronger.
***
When the sun was close to setting, Instructor Rock gathered them in the foyer of the Sleeper Center and led them outside.
In the snowy parks that surrounded the white building, other Awakened were leading their own batches of Sleepers to the same destination. It was the Academy's medical center.
The center looked more like a shrine than a hospital. Its interior contained both highly advanced technology as well as some of the best Healers among the Awakened. For the duration of their first journey into the Dream Realm, the bodies of Sleepers would be kept safe in specially designed pods and sustained by the magical powers of those Healers if anything unfortunate were to happen on the other side of the Spell.
Of course, whether or not they would wake up in the end wholly depended on the Sleepers themselves.
To Sunny's surprise, after entering the medical center, Instructor Rock did not take them directly to the wing containing Sleeper pods. Instead, he led them to a comparatively deserted floor and then opened the doors to a spacious gallery that was brightly illuminated by the beautiful crimson rays of the setting sun.
There, they saw rows and rows of wheelchairs. In each wheelchair, there was a person with a blank, strangely peaceful expression on their face. All these people were completely silent, motionless, and still. They did not show any reaction to the appearance of guests.
They all seemed to be... empty.
In the eerie silence, Sunny felt his hair standing up and a creeping terror seeping deep into his heart.
Instructor Rock looked at the empty people with solemn eyes.
"There is a reason I brought you all here. Look well and remember. Some of you may know who these people are... for those of you who don't, they are called Hollow."
He gritted his teeth.
"Each one of them was once either a Sleeper or an Awakened. Some of them were weak, some of them were strong. Some were even incredibly powerful. All of them have perished in the Dream Realm."
'Their... their souls are gone,' Sunny realized, horrified.
"If you're lucky, once your spirit is destroyed, your body dies with it. But if not, you'll become just like them. Hollow." Instructor Rock glanced in the direction where Wren, Caster and Nephis stood, and then added:
"So don't die out there."
Half an hour later, Sleepers had been led to their personal rooms and were preparing to enter the pods.
In one of the rooms, the blind girl, Cassia, was helplessly trying to orient herself in the unfamiliar space, touching the walls and strange pieces of machinery with her hands. Tears were streaming down her beautiful, doll-like face,
In the other room, proud Legacy Caster was staring listlessly at the floor. His lips were moving, repeating one strange phrase over and over again. He was trembling.
Somewhere else, Changing Star Nephis, the last daughter of the Immortal Flame clan, was looking down at her hands. Underneath her skin, soft white radiance was slowly growing brighter and brighter. Her face was contorted in a grimace of harrowing agony
There was a room where Shadow Slave Sunless, Lost from Light, turned away from the sleeping pod and glanced down at his shadow.
Well? Are you ready?"
The shadow shrugged and didn't answer.
Sunny sighed.
"Yeah, me too."
With that, he stepped forward and climbed into the pod.
And finally, the last room where the Heir of Abyss Wren, was grinning maniacally while staring the Sleeper pod. He then stopped his absurd behavior, the darkness in his Void Heart was moving chaotically. He sighed and moved toward and climbed the pod.
'Yeah, it's time for hunt.'
***
In the vast echoing darkness, he heard:
[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Wren!]
Immediately after hearing the Spell voice, Wren found himself drowning in darkness. He was drowning in the sea made up from darkness, the Dark Sea.