Chapter Thirty-Two

All day, Cierra found herself thinking about the trio she had met in the ream realms, and all the new information she had gathered. The idea that she was special, that she alone had multiple powers, made her feel something she hadn't expected: excited. There was danger in the dream realms, and she tried to temper her excitement with reality, and the reality was that despite how powerful she might be, she wasn't strong enough to keep everyone alive when it counted. She had failed Freya's warriors and the skogkatts; if she failed Nora, Lonnie, or Hans, that would have real world consequences. If something happened to them, it would be no one else's fault but her own.

She wondered briefly if they, much like a member of the military, would stand on some strangers porch and have to deliver the news.

During her jog after the gym, she lost herself, picturing ways she could try to bring down the tree creature: chopping up its limbs and leaving it helpless or setting it on fire like one would kindling. This continued into her calculus studies at home, imagining different ways she might dodge an attack from the centipede monsters or how best to flip them over. Sidetracked, she would YouTube videos on how best to dodge incoming attacks and how to throw the best punch, and then practice in her room, standing in front of her desk.

Vaguely, she wondered how much convincing it would take for her aunt to pay for boxing or jiujitsu classes. She remembered once, years ago, she had tried to join karate classes. There was center near her elementary school and sometimes they would drive by and the kids would be in their white robes and various colored belts. Cierra had wanted to be one of them so bad, but when she had asked her aunt and uncle both of them had shared a look and turned her down.

"You could get hurt fighting, even if it's just in a class," Uncle Trev had said, her aunt nodding in agreement.

Seeing her face drop, her aunt had quickly offered to enroll her in basic self-defense courses, but Cierra had turned them down. If there weren't cool robes involved, with colors that changed depending on your skill or wooden and cement blocks to break, it just didn't sound as fun.

In the present, she regretted her choice. Self-defense classes would probably make a world of difference for her now.

She thought about it, maybe that could be her in. She could take self-defense classes and then slowly convince her aunt and uncle to allow her to learn something similar but more attack orientated.

That night, Cierra tried something different. She put the sword in her closet in the top storage area instead of taking it down and putting it in bed.

Finding out that she could summon the sword to her side the other night was a potential game changer. If she was able to call on the blade without having to physically have it on her person, it would be a huge advantage in both real life and the dream realms. She could stop worrying about someone finding her sleeping with the sword, or accidentally cutting herself in her sleep, and she could potentially have access to many different items whenever they were needed.

She grinned thinking about it. What if she was her own personal inventory? With a few more items, and some practice switching between them, she could be her own powerhouse. In her mind, she was imagining herself like a character from a video game, switching out weapons as she needed them: bow and arrow to daggers to long sword. If it worked, she planned on sharing her plan with Goldie and the others tonight.

The only problem was she clearly needed more items. One long sword wasn't going to cut it if she wanted to be a one-woman tank.

As an experiment, she also committed to memory a kitchen knife. It wasn't the best weapon in the world, but it would due for the time being. What if she could, with a little effort, pull in real world objects into the other world as well? What might happen if she was able. To bring guns to a nightmare fight? That had to ensure instant victory, world wars had been won with guns, they had to at least put a dent in the 'stopping nightmares' effort.

Cierra's hands shook with anticipation, her heart beating hard in her chest. She hadn't been this excited for something in who knew how long. It still scared her, the idea of losing in a fight or not being able to heal others in time, but now, as she got ready for bed, there was an unexpected wanting to get back to the dream realms.

Her and Cid were the first to appear in the clearing, and where the flower pile they had made before, now grew a single golden sunflower, half as tall as Cierra herself. The leaves growing up the stalk were wide and drooping under their own weight, the outline tinged in silver, or white, Cierra couldn't tell.

It looked as though it was almost vibrating, and stepping closer, she could make out a visible aura around the whole plant, as though it had too much energy to stand still. Entranced, she reached out a hand to touch it, wanting to know what such energy might feel like in the palm of her hand.

"Just who I wanted to see," a familiar voice called out in front of her.

Blinking, Cierra looked around. She was no longer in the clearing, instead standing in the abandoned home from before. Looking around, she immediately saw Cid, clearly just as confused as she was, lips curled and body low.

Turning around, she came face to face with Goldie, whose eyes were still closed.

"I thought we were going to meet with everyone?" Cierra asked surprised, "And that the gold flower meant 'wait?'"

Goldie nodded, "Typically yes, but in this case I was hoping to get the chance to see you alone."

"Why?" Cierra tried to sound nonchalant, but her high voice gave her away.

"Moving forward, I want you to remember not to blindly trust those around you," Goldie responded, somberly. "Not everyone has the same goals, and not everyone would benefit from you learning more about yourself."

Cierra swallowed hard, "Who shouldn't I trust? How can I know?"

"I can't tell you that, nor can I always guarantee that I'll be around," Goldie stepped towards Cierra, "You will need to learn how to protect yourself. You need more than moving a few feet and healing; you can't heal if you are die from the attack."

Goldie stepped forward again, and part of Cierra wanted to step back now, to keep Goldie out of her personal space, but she didn't she stood still eyes and mouth echoing a hard resolve.

"I can do more than heal," Cierra summoned the sword in her right hand, and positioned herself in the fighting stance Silva had taught her, "I can fight."

Goldie laughed, amused, "Yes, that's one thing you'll need, the resolve to fight." Her tone took on a sharp quality, "Another is the will to kill. Do you have that? The ability to take a life before it takes yours?"

Cierra stood silent, sword falling back to her side.

"Right," Goldie said, stepping back. "It's good that you hesitate, no one should ever be eager to kill." She paused, "However, you need to be able and willing to protect yourself. As you become more known here, you'll become more wanted."

"Why?," Cierra asked, "Why will people come for me?"

"Not just people," Goldie sighed, "And not just here. There are more things happening in the dream realms than you can know now, but we're going to prepare you." She looked at Cid, whose tail flicked impatiently on the floor, "Both of you."

"Tomorrow I will meet with the others and tell them of a plan to send you each off for special training, something that will suit each of your capabilities."

"Why are you telling me this now then?" Cierra interrupted.

"Because I cannot look after you all the time, you need to know you are special and for that reason, you are not safe. If I said this in front of the others, they would protest being separated, it'll already be a fight with Nora," Goldie pursed her lips, "Everything is a fight with her, from the moment she came here."

"You and your Skogkatt—"

"Cid," Cierra interrupted. Goldie raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Sure. You and," She paused, eyeing the tiger, "Cid, will go to a trusted friend of mine for training. I trust them to help you keep a low profile. They'll teach you not only how to fight, but also increase your mental stamina. You may hear things that disturb you while you're there; don't hold these words too close to your heart."