The next morning, Asher slid into his seat in Advanced Dream Theory, still tired from the previous night's training session. He noticed Kira across the room, dark circles under her eyes matching his own. Their secret practice had run later than intended, both of them pushing their abilities until exhaustion forced them to stop.
Professor Stanley strode into the classroom, his usual casual demeanor replaced by something more serious. The holographic display behind him flickered to life, showing a series of dark, twisted landscapes that Asher recognized all too well from his own dreamwalking experiences.
"Today," Stanley began, his voice grave, "we're going to discuss something that's been increasingly reported in the dream logs. Those of you who've been monitoring the lower levels have probably already encountered them." He gestured to the images. "The Void Spaces."
Asher felt a chill run down his spine. He'd encountered these spaces during his supervised dreamwalking sessions, but he'd also seen them in his private, unauthorized explorations – though he'd never reported those.
"These aren't ordinary nightmares," Stanley continued, bringing up new images. "They're organized. Structured. And they're spreading." He pulled up a chart showing dream pattern analyses. "Over the past six months, we've recorded a 300% increase in these anomalies."
Kira's hand shot up. "Sir, last week during my monitoring shift, I noticed something strange in these spaces. The usual dream manipulation techniques didn't work properly."
"Excellent observation, Ms. Kira." Stanley nodded approvingly. "These Void Spaces operate under different rules. Traditional dreamwalking methods are less effective there. Which brings us to today's practical exercise."
The classroom lights dimmed, and the dream inducement pods emerged from their wall compartments. Asher's stomach tightened. These group sessions were always tricky – maintaining his cover while still performing adequately was a delicate balance.
"You'll be working in pairs today," Stanley announced, "exploring a controlled simulation of a recorded Void Space. Your objective is simple: identify the nightmare's core and attempt containment. Do not, under any circumstances, try to eliminate it. Observation only."
The class began breaking into their usual pairs, but Stanley cleared his throat. "I'll be assigning partners today based on your recent performance metrics." He began reading names, and Asher's pulse quickened when he heard: "Chen and Morris, "Derek and Maya, "yuno and Steven, Asher and kira pod three."pl
Kira caught his eye as they moved to their assigned pod. After last night's training, this would be their first time dreamwalking together. Asher knew he'd have to be even more careful now – in the dream space, power signatures were harder to disguise.
They settled into the dual pod, electrodes attaching automatically to their temples. "Remember," Stanley's voice came through the speakers, "this is a recorded nightmare. It can't harm you, but the emotional resonance is very real. If either partner shows signs of distress, initiate emergency protocols immediately."
The pod's canopy lowered, and Asher felt the familiar sensation of the dream induction field washing over him. Beside him, Kira's breathing had already steadied into the rhythmic pattern of someone entering the dream state.
As consciousness began to fade, Asher took one last look at his partner. In the pod's dim light, he could see those strange symbols from her energy manipulation briefly flickering around her temples, responding to the dream field. He quickly suppressed his own power's automatic response, ensuring his transition appeared normal.
The last thing he heard was Stanley's warning: "The nightmare you're about to enter was recorded three nights ago. The dreamer... didn't wake up."
Darkness enveloped them both as they plunged into the Void Space, unaware that their midnight training session had only begun to scratch the surface of what lay ahead.
Inside a seemingly decent neighbourhood appeared. Asher appeared on the streets. It's clearly morning but the street lights were on full swing Asher stood there for some minutes trying to decifer what this dream is about.
He lingers for a while then took of. Moving around the streets proved easier than expected. In hand was his dagger in case of an unpredicted attack even though he wouldn't know what would be.
Kira on the other hand moved freely almost boastfully waiting patiently to spot the nightmare or Asher. She couldnt believe they were placed together for the first dream state. Some thing chunned inside of her but she tossed it aside.
There it stood a large amusement park. She walked briskly into it. Surprisingly all the rides her eyes set upon were in motion. "This has to be a girls nightmare" she mouthed openly.
Beyond the roller coaster stood Asher surveying the amusement park with precision loo king for weak points or some give away of some kind that gives away the nightmare. "Its definitely got some thing to do with an amusement park for sure " said Asher with full amusement.
Asher has always being the kind with the 6th sense. Things people over look, the smallest details , facial expressions. All of it he takes note silently without Alert.
Just as he makes a turn at a candy stall there stood Kira who was startled to see Asher. "Look who it is" said kira "I was just about to shout out your name". Asher smirked and walked closer "you found anything yet?" He asked.
"Not really" came Kira " the thing is so confusing, one thing I know for sure is its a girl's nightmare. Asher moved forward after taking a look around. "We should go out of here for now " he said without looking back.
Kira followed without delay. She stumbled behind but made it eventually. They walked for an hour with nothing to use as guide except streetlights with red horns and confetti, houses that were decorated as if it were Christmas with bakeries all around. Strangely no cars only bikes.
This picked Asher's interest but he never made a remark