Chapter X: Meet the Oracle

Cassie never believed that she would have ever survived her nightmare. Even now, after all her suffering in the trial, she believed that she was still trapped in it.

The Spell took away her vision as if someone had decided that she had not suffered enough as it were.

This has been literally a death sentence to her, because her disability made her basically useless in the dream realm. She heard what they were calling her: Walking Corpse.

With no one willing to even talk to her, she was certainly going to die when they entered the next month.

She couldn't even remain with her parents since, with her being blind, she poses more as a financial burden than anything and she abhored to let her parents suffer for her sake.

Thus, she came here and was going to walk to her death in the next four weeks.

While she was stewing in her pessimistic thoughts, she was surprised when a weight fell next to her on the bench.

"Is it alright if I sit here?" The voice seemed to belong to a male, and from its pitch, he was about her age. What was he doing, sitting next to her?

"Y-yes..." her voice came out soft and broken from hours of staying silent.

'Come on, Cassie, this is pathetic,' she berated herself.

"I'm William," the owner of the voice introduced himself. From the direction of the voice was coming, Cassie believed William to be quite tall.

"Cassie...," she replied as she turned her head towards his direction. However, there was something you need to know about Cassie; even though the Spell took away her vision, it in turn gave her the ability to see thing normal people can't: some glimpses of the past and future and the ability to see someone's Attributes. It also gave her an affinity for foresight.

So, when she cast her eyes towards William's direction, her ability activated. In the darkness of her vision, shimmering runes came into existence.

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Attributes: [Fateless], [Eidetic Kinesthesia], [Adaptive], [Living Undead], [Monarch Beyond the Grave]

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She was shocked into silence. Usually, the people she used the ability on had one, two, maybe three attributes, but this guy had five - each weirder than the next. However, there was one attribute that she focused on much more than the others.

"Fateless....." she muttered unconsciously before immediately shutting her mouth with her hands. 'Cassie, look what you did! He's going to get angry that you peaked at his runes!' She closed her eyes - a remnant reflex from the time when she still had vision - and prepared herself for the worst.

However, the angry yelling or the physical abuse she awaited never came. The only thing she heard was an exasperated sigh.

"If you are going to look at someone's runes, at least be discrete about it," he asked in a low warning tone.

"I-I'm sorry!" The blond haired girl immediately apologized out of fear and embarrassment.

"You don't need to apologize. I would've done the same if I were in your shoes; although, I would've made a better job of hiding it," he replied nonchalantly, which confused the blue-eyed oracle. This is not the reaction she expected to come from as a result of her mistake.

"You're not angry?" she asked in her demure voice with her cheek tinted red from embarrassment.

"Not angry, no. A little miffed, yes," he replied nonchalantly, "it was going to happen sooner or later if we remain in the same building. Anyways, if you keep what you saw a secret, then I'll keep my mouth shut about your ability. Deal?"

"Yes."

"Pinky Promise?"

This incensed the pretty girl, "I'm not a child."

"Hahaha...Sorry, I was just messing with you."

"It was not funny," she complained, her cheeks puffed in indignation, while unbeknownst to her, the pessimistic voice in her head became fainter and fainter until it was fully gone.

"So, now that we know each other a bit," started William after finishing his laughing session, "why don't we make another deal: How about we form a team if we meet in the dream realm?"

This came out of left field for the blind girl. He wanted to team up with her?

"Why?" she asked, unbridled with curiosity as to why he wanted to team up with a dead weight like herself.

"What do you mean 'why'?" he sounded as if he found her question confusing. "I could use someone with your abilities to help me in the dream realm. Simple as that."

"But I am blind and I'm useless in a fight," she added self-deprecatingly, her bangs casting a gloomy shadow over her face. Suddenly, she felt a big, cool hand grasp her shoulder in a comforting grip.

"Now, now, no need for all the depression, alright?" the Sleeper boy admonished before taking his hands off her shoulder, "The Nightmare Spell may be a bitch but she is a fair bitch - mostly.

She gives almost as much as she takes. I know that from experience. So, if it took away your sight, then it gave something almost as good, I'm sure."

She heard a dull thump, most likely William hitting his chest with his fist, "Plus, I can fight for the both of us if the need arises."

She could hear the slight quivers of uncertainty from his words but she could also hear their honesty. "You're an idiot," she said in a fit of melodic giggles.

"Maybe you're right," he replied with a soft chuckle, "So, we have a deal?"

"Why not? It's not like I am swimming in offers; yes, we have a deal," Cassie agreed, and after a bit of fumbling, they both shook hands to close it off. For some inexplicable reason, she felt the premonition of death that had hanged over her head since she awakened had strangely vanished. Her heart also felt lighter knowing that even if she enters that horride realm, at least she would have someone with her - if they meet there, that is.

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Unbeknownst to the two teenagers, in the weave of fate shook slightly as a thread was silently cut and merged with another seemlessly before returning back to its natural stillness. However, the surroundings of the weave that were still for uncountable eons became turbulent ever so slightly.

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After finalizing the deal, Cassie and William went chatted about random things like what their lives used to be before awakening; although, William made sure not to give anything damning about him - he had a role to play and he will play it until it remained viable.

"So, you were quite the fencer before..... you know?" the white haired boy inquired with curiosity.

"Yes, since many children get infected by the spell sooner or later, the school I went to arranged a course for the students to get trained by some governmental sanctioned awakened. I just happen to be talented with the rapier," she explained with enthusiasm before deflating like a balloon, "or rather used to be."

"Don't be like that," encouraged the guy, "there are millions of different memories in the nightmare realm. Maybe one of them will allow you to have some sort of eye sight."

"I can only hope I guess," she sighed softly. It was at this moment that Sunny decided to enlighten them with his divine presence as he came and sat down at the far end of the bench.

"I'm happy you found your way to the Cool Sleepers' Club Sunny," greeted the white haired young man. However, the dark haired short boy didn't even acknowledge him as he was busy studying the Sleepers in the hall.

'He must've met Caster just now. Poor guy, even though everything he says is the truth, no one will believe him. Well, mine is even more unbelievable so I have no say in this.' While William was busy with his thoughts, he felt his tracksuit sleeve getting pulled by Cassie.

"Who's he?" she asked quietly as to not be heard by their other bench-mate.

"Who? Him?" the cerulean eyed youth brazenly pointed to the other with his thumb. "He's Sunless, a fellow outskirts kid. He's harmless."

Sunless bristled like a cat who's tail has been stepped on when he heard the word harmless but before he could retort, the chatter in the hall went silent as a tall, extremely buff man in dark blue uniform came onto the stage.

William had to admit that Sunny was right to suspect some promiscuous relationship between this man's mother and a bear-like nightmare creature in the novel. He was not only tall but also buff as all hell.

The man scanned the room for a bit, focusing a bit too intently at their bench before moving on and speaking, "I am Awakened Rock. Sleepers, welcome to the Academy."

All the people in the hall listened without letting out a peep.

"In less than a month, you will be summoned to the Dream Realm. Some of you might think that you are well prepared. You're wrong. The spell is merciless and cunning. The moment Awakened begin to think too much of themselves, they die. I've seen countless Sleepers like you lose their lives. I've also seen experienced Masters lose theirs. Even Saints are not assured to survive."

'Yadda, yadda, yadda...,' the young Lich King already muted out Awakened's speech since he knew what he was going to say before he said it like how they were going to enter the Nightmare Realm after a few weeks, how the they were not going to get help from family and friends, and how they were not children anymore but Sleepers due to the Nightmare Spell's botched selection algorithm. Safe to say he had read all of this before and his memory was good enough to remember the gist of it.

Nightmares and the Dream Realm may have they same origin but they can't be any more different. Nightmares like the first one were like single-player dungeons with stories that were usually designed with the player's level in mind. However, starting from the second nightmare that one can get into from Nightmare Seeds, the spell provides Co-op options for cohorts of awakened to enter it.

The Dream Realm on the other hand is the open world through which Awakened could be attacked by nightmare creatures of all ranks and classes. Theoretically, it is possible for someone to meet an Unholy Titan on their first time. Some may even mimic humans that long lived there - or at least that's what is believed from what ruins have been explored and excavated.

All that aside, another important difference between Nightmares and the Dream Realm is that Nightmares and by extension Nightmare Seeds that were not conquered in time were akin to ticking time bombs that will let loose the creatures in them into the real world. The creatures in the Dream Realm, however, can't pass into the real world easily unless they enter through a gate.

As the pseudo-lecture continued as he fought off a rising yawn, 'What do they serve for supper here?' he wondered absent-mindedly.

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A.N: How was the dialogue between Cassie and William.

Was it too corny?

Any advice on how to improve?

Finally, have a nice day!