“How long do you think it will take us to get to the Central Temple?” Elizabeth had heard the Capital was many weeks away from home, yet Dawn had warned her not to take any rations. Were they going to be roughing it?

  “Not too long. It’s only 700 miles away, so about 4 hours if I push it.”

  “4 hours? Not like, 4... hundred?” Elizabeth wondered if she had misheard her.

  “Ah, might not want to push it then. Alright, let’s get started, and as we go, we can get started on your lessons.” Space twisted around them, not forming a bubble this time, but more of a tunnel on the sides, stretching out across the horizon.

  “Whoa. Can everyone do this? I’ve never done anything like it before.” Fear gripped Elizabeth’s heart as they started hurrying through the ever-shifting landscape. What if she only had some superficial abilities and wasn’t really Dream Warrior material?

  “Don’t fret. Everyone has their own talents, but anyone with one power can use all the standard Dream Warrior powers, even if some aspects will take more work than others. Though that is a good segue into my first question for you: What are the powers all Dream Warriors can use?”

  “Uhh...” That was a tough question. She had some idea of what most of them were mentioned as doing, but there were a lot of gray areas just relying on the stories, and historical books tended to skim over the details of what they could do in favor of their impact on the world. “Dream manipulation for one, that’s pretty obvious. You know more than me; if it’s a lesson, why are you asking me?”

  “Your answers give me a good idea of what your starting place is so I know what to cover. They also give me some insight into you too. Like how that ability is usually called ‘Dream Walking,’ but your name for it would also be very fitting, though I don’t think Tenga would agree with it much.” At the look on her face, Dawn just waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it or hold back; I want your thoughts here.”

  “Ah, well, healing things then.”

  “Things?”

  “Things and people. Dream Warriors can heal them.” She waited to see if Dawn had more commentary, but the woman just hummed for her to continue. “Alright, uh, Fire, we can make and control it. Then there’s this,” she gestured around to the tunnel they were walking through, which was a mistake as she got queasy instantly looking at the shifting landscapes blurred together by Dawn’s ability. “Urk,” she swallowed and stopped herself from heaving.

  “Hmm, might be a bit much. Don’t look out to the sides for now. We’ll need to train you to deal with the visual effects of Folding - that's the name of our space-warping ability - later, but we have to move fast to make it to the Capital. Try looking up. The clouds will blur a bit as you walk, but it’s a pretty clear day today.”

  “Got it. Wait, why are we going to the Gaea? I thought we were going to Central.” Her vision dropped instinctively as she talked to Dawn before she remembered to keep on looking up.

  “We’re going to stop by there before going to Central tomorrow; I need to check in with someone. The mountain where the main temple is is very close to the capital. Good job knowing its name, by the way; most people have forgotten it has a name beyond ‘the Capital.'”

  “Ah, I read a lot, and the Capital donated much of the books and teaching materials for our school program, so I was curious about it. Umm, as for other abilities, I don’t know. There are a lot of different things Dream Warriors are mentioned as doing, but it doesn’t feel... right. I can’t explain it well, but even though this Folding feels weird and all, I think I could do it some day, but the others, things like seeing the future or conjuring barriers out of thin air, don’t. Are they just tall tales?”

  “Not quite, but you’re mostly right. You missed Force, the power to protect yourself from physical blows or add to your own. That one can be used by all Dream Warriors as well. Fire, Fix, Folding, Force, and Dream Walking are the five standard powers any Dream Warrior can bring to bear. However, there’s also an Individual Ability that a Dream Walker may awaken in their lifetime, a source of greater versatility and basis for many, many outlandish stories you may have heard.” She grinned a bit, obviously thinking of some of the sillier ones she had heard of.

  “Ok. Can anyone develop more than one Individual Ability or...?”

  “No, only one, though like ‘regular’ Dream Warrior powers, they can often be used in a number of surprisingly versatile ways. Don’t worry too much about them. Despite some superstitions, many powerful Dream Warriors never unlock an Individual Ability; it doesn’t mean they’re better or worse off.”

  “Now, we’ve named off the five main abilities, but can you tell me what they do?”

  “Isn’t that pretty obvious from the names? Fire burns things, Fix fixes them, and so on.”

  “Ha! I know plenty of masters that would lecture your ears off for hours for that answer. That’s right, though, in its most basic sense." Elizabeth blushed hard at her ignorance, on full display for her new mentor. "Us Dream Warriors are experts at using our powers, training daily. We can get far more nuanced and precise with each power, to the point where certain effects or results of our powers can look like other things to the untrained eye.”

  “Fire creates, directs, or snuffs out fire. That’s it; any heat created or removed is from the fire controlled, not a separate part of our powers. Doesn’t affect smoke either, so be careful if you ever find yourself in a burning building; you might suffocate even if you can diminish the flames.”

  “Force is projected from our bodies. It doesn’t travel through the air by itself, though if there’s a connector to something you’re trying to move, like the ground, it is possible to move it by sending the force through there. This is often an ill-advised move, however, due to the next power.”

  “Folding, able to just make things come closer to you or keep them farther away. Folding is a very useful power, especially for travel like this, but remember that despite the space changed around an object or person, its properties are still the same. I could enlarge my fist to punch someone with a fist the size of their torso, but all I’d be doing would be diffusing my own force. Areas of folded space revert back to normal naturally over time, though another Dream Warrior can speed this up.” Or counter it went unsaid, but it felt right to Elizabeth.

  “Fix seems the most self-evident, but how far it can go and its reach to fixing even unliving things can give a lot of new options.” Elizabeth spoke up at that.

  “How far it can go? Does that mean it can bring people back from...”

  Dawn shook her head. “Unfortunately not. Once someone is dead, they are well and truly dead; nothing can save them. Fix could be used to restore the body back to an undamaged state, but it won’t work (though reversing wounds is a way for some to analyze how exactly a person has died).”

  “Dream Walking is one I find named the least well, because of how it extends broadly to the subconscious mind, not just dreams. Influencing people, getting a feeling off of what they are truly like, and more. We can achieve all these remarkable things with a single Ability called ‘dream walking.’ Grandmaster Tenga, however, feels that’s the most important aspect of it, historically important, and what we should focus on.”

  “Huh. I hadn’t heard of any such history to it.”

  Dawn chuckled. “Before your time- before any of our times. I’ve heard from a couple of people that it was important back long ago, in the Age of Blades.”

  The walk continued for a long time, hours passing by as they zipped across the countryside. Elizabeth didn’t learn much more, just trying to focus on not feeling sick (looking up helped, but sometimes clouds crossed their path, and even their fast relative movement was hard to handle) and continuing the quick pace that the Master Dream Warrior set. It was impossible for her to tell how much the compressed space was increasing their travel speed, but it seemed like a lot. Still, the distance they had to travel was far, and by the six-hour mark, Elizabeth was feeling tired.

  “How much further do we have to go?”

  “Still an hour or two, can’t quite compress the trip as much as I’d like with you still getting your bearings, but you’re doing a great job pushing through,” the Master encouraged.

  “Huff, yeah, actually. Why is that? It feels like I’ve got a lot more endurance now and ability to keep on going. Wait, could that be my Individual Ability?”

  Dawn chuckled. “No, no, and IA would be far more noticeable than that. Hmm, I guess I didn’t consider it a proper Ability, but it could be seen as such, though to most of us it’s just a minor side benefit. Tell me, do you know where our powers come from?”

  She struggled to think about and keep pace with Dawn. “I, guess it comes from us?”

  “Not a bad guess, and pretty much correct. Our powers are fueled by Life Energy, a term coined by Grandmaster Tenga - along with the names of our powers, most creatures of the land, and many other things, as he is wont to do. People with the ability to become Dream Warriors have a large amount of Life Energy and use that for their powers, and it’s theorized that we regenerate those stores of energy faster too, which is why many find that they have more endurance than the average person. Of course, the exact amount can be a difficult thing to measure, and part of the increase is just in the training we do, which naturally increases endurance. Still, a nice side benefit. Now come on, let’s see if we can put that extra energy to good use!”

  Elizabeth groaned as Dawn flashed her a smile and picked up the pace, the young girl gritting her teeth and trying to keep up.

  ***

  She stumbled out of the folding tunnel to see it, suddenly in front of her eyes, Gaea, the Capital of Engalia. They’re standing on a hill a slight ways away from the city, lush fields leading up to a great stone wall erected around the place. The city itself slopes upward too, showcasing another, smaller ring going up in the city, and then a final ring around the Royal Palace itself. It sticks out as a giant feature off from that distance, sticking up into the sky from the center of the city. Higher than that, however, is the mountain in the distance, backdropping the city a few miles away.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Large roads strike out from four gates leading out from the main wall, riders, caravans, and pedestrian travelers flowing in and out of the city, looking like ants from this far away. Many smaller roads branch off, especially from the Southern road, with many other paths leading into it or onto other roads visible from where they stand.

  “Alright, you did good. Now we just need to do one last little shift, and we’ll be in the city, okay?” Not giving the young woman a chance to actually say if she’s ok or not, Dawn pulls her through a very long twisted path, but one that only takes a few steps for them, leaping over the first wall, landing on a dingy rooftop in the first district, then again, hopping over three more buildings and the next wall to end up in a deserted small side street in the second area easily.

  Of course, that motion is just a bit too much for Elizabeth, and she has to swallow down some bile before she’s overwhelmed by her vertigo and disorientation. “Ah, take a minute, rest up; it’s all done now.”

  Following her advice, the girl takes some deep breaths and gets her bearings. The street is quiet, and very well made, with smooth brick roads lining all around, stone houses in pristine condition, and some nice shrubs and small garden patches lying about. Looking further down one way, she sees a fountain spraying out water in an intersection of streets, and far past the other appears to be a guardhouse and gateway to the final wall.

  In front of them stands a small inn sandwiched between two other houses, the sign reading ‘Golden Carp Inn.’

  “This will be our lodgings for the night, and where I need to meet my friend. C’mon.” Leading her inside, Elizabeth saw a cozy lounge room. The innkeeper cheerily waving to them.

  “Welcome! We have a few rooms still available. Or would you like something to eat?” Elizabeth’s stomach growled at that thought, but Dawn spoke up first.

  “If you could get some food ready now, that’d be great, we’ll need it in a bit. For the moment, though, I’d like the keys to room two-oh-four, please.” She pulled out a couple of gold coins and dropped them on the counter. “Thank you for your service.”

  “I- but that room’s already taken-” then she looked down at the coins. “Ah, I see. Well then, enjoy your stay.” She passed Dawn a set of keys, and the two of them stepped up the creaky steps to the room.

  Dawn put her ear against it for a moment, then unlocked it and burst open the door to reveal two purple-cloaked figures standing inside. One was a woman with light blond ringlets of hair peeking out from under her hood that looked oddly familiar, the other a huge man, standing over seven feet tall, with short, clean-cut black hair and a fittingly massive sword and bow strapped to his back.

  “Pera!” Dawn cried out, moving to hug the other woman. The man tensed, flinching his hand towards the hilt of his sword but stopping as she quickly glanced at him, settling for taking a step back but keeping a close eye on the Dream Warrior while the other inspected Elizabeth.

  ‘Pera’ accepted her hug after the moment of surprise ended. “Dawn, it’s good to see you again,” she said serenely. “I see you’ve brought along a guest.” There was no shift in her tone, but the question was clear.

  “This is Elizabeth Wry; she caught my attention recently and has decided to join me at the temple. I have no doubt she’ll be a fine Dream Warrior and help all of Engalia some day.” Huge praise that the young girl very much wasn’t sure she could live up to. “Say hello to Peragrine, she’s an old friend of mine,” Dawn encouraged.

  “Oh, hello, it’s nice to meet a friend of Dawn’s- uh, Master Florian’s.” She offered her hand to shake, which the woman took with a slight quirk of amusement to her lips, and Elizabeth realized why this woman looked familiar as she connected this woman to a portrait hung in her school. “You'r- you’re Peragrine Helvon, the Queen!” She scrambled to curtsey properly before the ruler of Engalia. “Your majesty.”

  “No need to stand on ceremony. If Dawn brought you here, then I know we’ll be good friends.” She took off the hood of her robes, revealing more of her angelic face and piercing, sharp green eyes better. To Dawn she said, “I worried you might not make it. Have you had any troubles of late?

  “Nothing to worry about. Nightmares vanquished and Engalia safeguarded. I have heard little from Whistal of late, so I should probably check in there at some point.” Elizabeth’s stomach decided to interrupt, growling. “Oh, we’ve been on the road all day. I’m just going to catch up with Pera here and talk about some work stuff. Why don’t you go downstairs and get some food? In fact, why don’t you take James with you? You can talk and get to know each other.”

  The large man grunted at that, seeming uncertain before the queen spoke up. “Go with her, I’ll be fine here.”

  He nodded, “As you wish, your highness.” Despite his tone being perfectly cordial and respectful, Elizabeth knew that he didn’t agree with the order, but he followed it nonetheless. Elizabeth had a million questions swirling around, but those soon were replaced by the ravenous hunger and pot of soup the innkeeper placed in front of her.

  The large man had relaxed a bit, but he still seemed rather tense, even as he ate his own bowl of soup methodically while still keeping an eye on the place. He was quiet too, not saying a word, which might have felt a little awkward but felt less so with how unbothered by the silence he was, like that was natural for him. Eventually, however (when Elizabeth was almost fully through her bowl), she broke that silence by asking him, “How do you know, uh, her? Or both of them, I guess.”

  She didn’t think the innkeeper knew that that was the queen up in her cozy little inn. In fact, given that she muttered something about Elizabeth and James giving the ‘lovebirds’ space, the owner probably thought their relationship was entirely different than it actually was (at least Elizabeth thought that was the case, though she was starting to realize how little she knew of Dawn).

  He spoke, his voice crisp and clear but low. “I’ve known... Pera since I was young. I’ve worked for her for some time. Dawn I met later. How about yourself? Few people get Dawn’s attention like you have.”

  “Well, I managed to contact her when my town was being attacked by a Nightmare, asked her for help to deal with it, and she did so. She says I have a lot of potential, but I’m not sure.”

  “It can be tough to know if you’re ready before you’ve been tested. I was worried too, once.” As he said that, it felt... off to Elizabeth. She didn’t know why; she’d only just met the guy, and while it was partially true, she thought he was the kind of person worried all the time but just good at hiding it, categorizing it as something else so he could deal with it. That wasn’t a bad thing, though, and could give her some insight.

  “How did you learn to deal with it?”

  “I focused on what mattered. Who I knew I had to protect. The rest came easy. After all, I train a lot, so it should be like second nature, something I’m betting you’ll find out soon.”

  “Right. Hey, has Dawn taken on any other students before?”

  “Not that I know of, but she does her own thing plenty. Some people have caught her eye.” 'But no one else she brought to meet the queen of Engalia,' went unsaid.

  His eyes would consistently dart back up to the room the queen and Dawn were in as they finished eating. She gave him a questioning look, and he answered, “She is my charge, I have every right to be watchful.”

  For that to be true... he had to be a member of the royal guard, possibly even its captain. Which made perfect sense in retrospect, but somehow Elizabeth hadn’t put the pieces together before that moment. “Fair enough, but she’s with Dawn; no one’s going to be able to hurt her there.”

  He nods slowly. “Yes, she is strong enough to stop anyone from hurting her.” His eyes seemed to probe Elizabeth for a reaction, but she doesn’t know what he’s getting at or expecting from her. In the end he just waited until the innkeeper in the back and said, “If you ever need to talk to Peragrine in the future, find me, James McCliff, in the royal guard. I’ll deliver any message that you need.” She nodded dumbly, still kind of amazed that all this was happening to someone like her.

  After the meal they waited a few minutes before Peragrine came down. She looked at Elizabeth and said, “It was lovely meeting you. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to cut things short; I have much to do.” James had already risen at her presence and had moved to the door, ready to open it for her. “I do hope I’ll hear from you again sometime; I’d love to get to know you better.”

  “Uh, yes, of course your-”

  “No, no, please, especially here, just call me Pera.” There was a small, bittersweet twist to her lips as she said it, like a nickname with some history attached to it. Then her face was back to its regal, serene presence, and she left the inn.

  While trying to take that all in, Elizabeth went up to the room and found Dawn, muttering to herself and thinking, before snapping her face up to Elizabeth. “Ah, Elizabeth, good. How was lunch?”

  “It was fine. Are you ok?” She smiled as she talked to the younger girl, but Elizabeth thought there was something truly bothering Dawn. She’d felt things from people before, picked up on little facts that others missed. It could have just been her growing up and getting better at seeing things, but she felt there might be something more to it, something related to her abilities as a Dream Warrior. She tried to push out with her powers to feel for what Dawn was truly feeling.

  Nothingness. Like a blank wall or empty ocean she was hitting, except... Dawn’s grin froze for a split second and then widened ever so slightly. Like she recognized what Elizabeth was trying to do and blocking her.

  “Nothing so terrible. Just something I suspected for some time, and now I know. It doesn’t change anything, though." She exhaled softly. "How did you get along with James?”

  “Uh, he was fine. Kinda intimidating, but he seemed like a good guy.”

  “Heh, yeah, he is. He looks tough, but he’s a big softie when you really get to know him. I think you’ll really lik- I think you could learn a lot from them.” She spoke like her meeting the Queen and her royal guard was truly going to be a, if not common, but regular occurrence, and it was overwhelming to the young girl.

  She snapped her fingers, snapping Elizabeth out of her thoughts. “Can you do me a favor?” The young girl nodded her head. “Don’t tell anyone about Peragrine meeting me here. She likes to keep her privacy sometimes, and aside from Captain McCliff there, some of the guards can be overzealous in keeping her from harm.”

  “Of course, though... I’ve been meaning to ask, why did she come out here to meet you?” Master Florian was an incredible Dream Warrior, but to have an audience with the Queen herself, and like that was another thing.

  Dawn scrunched up her face a bit. “Well, we’re friends. I thought that much was apparent at least.”

  “But, aren’t Dream Warriors supposed to let go of their previous attachments to the outside world? Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be questioning your orders,” she added as she realized what she had said in her curiosity.

  “Don’t apologize; questioning the way of things is good. From the lowliest wretch to Grandmaster Tenga himself, everyone should be questioned. Wisdom is gained through learning, and learning can only be achieved when you begin to question.”

  Elizabeth gulped, taking that in. “Thank you, you’ve given me a lot to think about.” It was a fairly basic fact, yet when put like that, it challenged some ‘conventional’ wisdom in a way that opened her eyes. Despite the robes, it was easy to forget sometimes that Dawn was a very experienced and knowledgeable monk at times. She also noticed that it was possibly the most serious thing she had ever heard the enigmatic Master say.

  “As for your question, I met her first after becoming a Dream Warrior, so it’s not an attachment from before. As for the outside world, a Dream Warrior is not supposed to let their attachments pull them away from their duties. Obviously we have to have some connection to the world at large, or else how could we help them? Personally, I think the Queen is a pretty good connection to feel how the world around us is doing.”

  She winked as she made her understated point. “Now, don’t let me keep you too long. I still have some tasks to do around the city, and I probably shouldn’t take you through any more Folding tunnels today. Go out there and explore a bit. We’ll leave from here in the morning.”

  With that, Dawn passed her the keys to the room and went out, leaving Elizabeth all on her own. Getting up after a few minutes of just trying to deal with everything that had happened, she looked out off the balcony, taking in the sight of the city before her. It was vibrant, bright, noisy, and so, so big. The buildings, the structures, the number of people… it was almost unbelievable to her that there could be so many people in one spot. She was really here, in Gaea, the capital of Engalia. It all felt like, well, a dream. One before she had awakened her abilities and learned how to dream perfectly lucid.

  As that thought sunk in, she let out a big “Woohoo!” At all of it and rushed out the door. She’d only have the day before going to the temple, so she wanted to make the most of the time she had and explore this great city.