Dream a Little Dream

Since Drew had been transported into this world he had not had a single dream. He didn't think anything odd of it since he didn't dream frequently anyways, but there was a reason behind why he hadn't dreamed up until now.

Dreams were something rare and sacred in this world. The reason behind this has been lost since the ages of old, but the respect given to them has remained until the current date.

The reason why dreams are so few and far apart is due to the fact that dreams only occur when a god is trying to reach out to you.

This is something that is commonly known in the world, though the original purpose remains a secret.

And as Drew awoke in a different place than when he went to sleep he was royaly confused.

"Where the hell am I?!" Drew asked no one in particular.

His surroundings were eerie and seemed to change ever so slightly as he spoke. Headstones grew out of the ground to heights that towered over skyscrapers and millions of different rituals were depicted upon them for departing the souls of the dead.

It respected every religion that people believed in from Lyre and not once was this rule not obeyed as even occult-like rituals were etched into these sacred stones.

Drew stared around him and felt horror as he saw what looked to be flying angels with skeletal wings flying in and out of the tombstones with what looked to be ghosts.

He felt overwhelmed as he realized that he had never had a dream so lucid before.

That was when he noticed it.

Or more accurately it would be that he noticed her.

It was a 50-foot-tall woman sitting on a throne of some sort of sleek black steel that absorbed the light around it and turned it into a cool mist that seemed to liven the dead spirits just a little so that they could be fully conscious of their send off into the afterlife.

The thing that was most shocking over everything that surrounded him, however, was the sheer beauty that was depicted by this giant woman.

She was perfect.

Not a detail was off as she looked to be carved out of delicate marble and polished to perfection.

Her eyes were a deep black, as was her hair. She wore a long and flowing robe that was made out of some sort of indescribably silky material. It was so smooth that it looked like black ocean waves as she gently moved her fingers in a delicate manner to help the angels who struggled to carry the souls that had more weight to them than the average ghost.

Drew was in shock from all that was surrounding him. It was so much to take in that he had almost gone silly from the sheer insanity that was this place.

After a few moments of gawking at the Giant Lady, she finally turned to stare at Drew with eyes that seemed lightly amused despite her cold demeanor.

"Interesting... You are born under my sign and blessed with my blessing yet I have no record of your name in my book of chosen," The lady spoke clearly, yet not with the force expected from such a large being.

"You are such a peculiar being..."

"Your soul is almost impossible to read without me using most of my observative power," She said in a wondering tone as her eyes began to turn into whirlpools that seemed to see right through Drew's very being.

She looked at him intently for what seemed like an eternity before nodding in acceptance.

"You are worthy of being my chosen," She said simply and firmly.

"What boon do you wish to be granted upon this Grand Remembrance?"

'I have heard of that phrase before!' Drew thought while trying to remember where he had learned it.

'It was in the church. The Nun's mentioned it,'

'And a boon of some sort? An additional blessing in addition to the one I already possess...'

An answer soon weaseled its way into Drews's mind and he spoke an answer that was both entertaining and daring though didn't seem to be something that he would have thought of on his own...

"I wish that you would choose my power, Lady Oleander, It would be an honor to be blessed with something that the goddess of death sees fit for me," Drew said while guessing who she was based on the information given.

The goddess seemed intrigued by his answer and thought for a short moment before snapping her fingers loudly.

"Then so be it,"

"You will be blessed with a skill that belongs to only my chosen,"

"I grant you the skill [Rememberance]. I hope you will make me proud, my chosen,"

After she finished those words Drew woke up in his Shack and felt a pain that was indescribable throughout his body.

---

It was a long day after he had that strange dream. He had gained a new skill so that was proof enough that it was real and though the skill seemed cryptic it was gifted to him by a goddess so it couldn't be useless.

-

[Remembrance: Lv: 1]: The dead shall be honored and with their image burned into your mind they will be honored always and forever. When you send off a spirit to the afterworld you gain positive reputation points with creatures that reside within death's domain.

---

'It seemed rather simple. I help send the dead off to the afterlife and ghosts and other creatures that are similar to them will like me more. The only confusing thing about it is that there are no explanations on how to level the skill up or what effect the reputation points have exactly,'

'Though all will probably be explained to me in due time,'

Drew took a deep breath and thought about all the things that were active issues and goals to accomplish and deal with.

'The Cardinal is most likely going to be a nuisance if I don't find a way to deal with him soon, though killing him is out of the question as that would pretty much guarantee my reputation with the church of Bram would plummet and I would be a sworn enemy of them, or something of the sort, as long as it follows video game logic that is,'

'The only realistic way to deal with the Cardinal would be to deal with my bounty which can only be done by following Atun's wish and helping the church recover that artifact of theirs,'

'To do that I have to find that Sebastian guy and figure out how to outwit him or else he will end up skipping town and getting the sacred artifact would be nearly impossible if that ended up happening,'

'Another issue I have is that I don't have any real armor, from what I have learned from the training manual, simple leather armor could make the difference between death and life so it is a must that I get some sort of armor to help improve my chances of survival,'

'Learning more skills would be rather wasteful at this point since I haven't even really practiced or understood the fundamentals of most of my current skills and improving the skills that I am proficient in would take a long time since the upgrade requirements are so damn high,'

'That's most of what needs to be done in the immediate future. I better not get too ahead of myself or I could over plan and make things more difficult than they need to be,'

'Oh, wait for a second! I still have the search function on the system now,'

'Trying to test the limit of its knowledge should be the first priority right now, if it has a large amount of information then it could become a great asset during the coming challenges,'

'System, What happened to me while I was dreaming?'

[Today is the day of the 'Grand Remembrance'. This is the day that is said to be the start of the existence of this world. The reason why you had dreamed was due to the tradition that gods take part in when this event takes place. All gods will choose a handful of individuals that they think are worthy and will give them a blessing of their domain and name them a 'Chosen'. In addition to the naming and selection of the 'Chosen,' there is also the event where each god is allowed to grant one humanoid being a small fragment of their divinity. These humanoids are given a unique title and position underneath their god which resembles a position similar to that of a 'child' of said god making them referred to as a 'Demigod'. Does that answer your question, Drew?]

'It seems rather convoluted and over complicated but I get it,'

'It is an event where the gods bless the mortals underneath of them and show their 'love' towards the people who give them their faith,'

'Kind of like a charity where the Rich people give the poor people money and therefore earn their support,'

[That is one way to put it]

'The System seems more conversational than before...' Drew thought as he noticed the personality of the AI had evolved slightly to become more empathetic and had gained the ability to better converse ideas so that it could be digested better by himself.

Drew began to process the new information he had compiled and decided it was time to try and track down the conman. If he could accomplish that then he would be stress-free for the most part.