The school was a set of small, semi-interconnected buildings. Altogether, the different classrooms and field space allotted for it made it the second largest property in the town, next to the manor Lord Tukesh owned (though still a fair bit smaller than his sprawling estate). Elizabeth got there early, taking her seat at the front as she usually did. The other students streamed in, making up most of the kids over 11 in the town, save Margrave, who had his own private tutors.

  She had to assume those tutors were pretty good, given Margrave actually knew a fair bit (when he wasn't acting like a complete jerk). His knowledge outpaced the rest of the class, and only Elizabeth kept up, in no small part because of how much extra studying she did.

  Lindsey took her usual seat directly behind Elizabeth, picking that spot to avoid getting called out by Ms. Wimblebee. Fredrick, a boy a few years older than her, stumbled in looking very haggard and sat beside her.

  "Hey Fred, are you doing ok?" She asked.

  "Oh, me? I'm like, totally fine. Just worried about graduation is all." He was looking exceptionally tired, a dangerous sign, and Elizabeth thought she felt the dark presence from her dreams in him, but shook it off. There were a couple of times she thought she had felt things while waking, but it was hardly that precise a sense.

  Ms. Wimblebee entered and began the class, starting with some basic letters for the students still struggling and then moving on to more advanced topics, like mathematics and history for the better students.

  "... and so much of the Last Age was lost as the final fires and fighting died down, but some buildings and ruins still remain, mostly fortresses, a testament to those blood-soaked times." Elizabeth wondered sometimes about how much of that was true. Even then, much of the knowledge of the architecture from all those centuries ago was gone, though what they had of the designs looked elegant. Besides the buildings, everyone said it was bad, though, so she knew it must be true and was very glad to live in these better times, past the Age of Swords and the civil wars that followed intermittently.

  After class she went off to practice my powers a bit more, figuring out more about the fire she made. She could make it out of nothing, though it would quickly flicker out unless she put more energy and focus into it, able to direct it as she did so. That 'direction,' control over it, seemed to be what had allowed her to snuff out the flame when she needed to as well. She made sure to practice by the river whenever she did, just in case she needed another way to put it out.

  The rest of the week went by similarly, going to school, practicing powers, and helping out at home or at the forge. Fredrick showed up less and less, worryingly, and by the end of the week, his girlfriend, Ivanka, was getting worried. "Has anyone seen him?" She asked by the end of the week, her eyes red with worry.

  "No, I can check in on him after class," Elizabeth offered, starting to get worried. Of course, Maya dragged her away right after school, and then Lindsey had a cool piece of metalwork to show her... by the evening she hadn't checked in on him. Getting up and out that late would probably be vetoed by her parents, so she just checked in on him in her dreams, using her powers.

  Traveling through the town in dreams was odd. It was like she could travel anywhere in an instant, unbound by distance, yet still feeling the spaces in between, somehow. She zoomed over to Fredrick's house, where she felt it. That bad feeling, that terrible energy she had felt pervading the town, it was centered there. It scared her, but she went closer to the house. As she did so, she saw lines, almost like tendrils, stretching out from within the house, reaching out to other houses and through them.

  "What... is that?" Even as she questioned it out loud, she pieced it together. How vivid and 'real' it felt in the dream, how Fredrick had been acting the week before, so tired and drained... she entered his house (the door was locked, but that wasn't a barrier to her in the dream) and saw him in his room, thrashing about in his sleep, unable to wake.

  That all appeared to be underlaid, over a seething mass of evil energy. Elizabeth couldn't call it 'dark'; it wasn't a true color (the same way it wasn't a shape or size yet felt like it was growing), but it was wrong. Deeply, terribly wrong. Elizabeth could sense the nexus spreading out over the town, and it was like putrid flesh without the smell.

  "He's been infected by a Nightmare." As if drawn by her words, a tendril of thought, or whatever passed for it from the entity, reached out, extending from the Nightmare towards her. In desperation, Elizabeth pulled back, 'snapping back' instantly to her body and waking up in shock.

  ***

  Warning the town turned up mixed results. They immediately responded, not even questioning how Elizabeth knew or forcing her to reveal her powers. In part that was because others were already infected/afflicted by it. Those closest to him (emotionally; Nightmares had some trouble with distances, but how they spread was well recorded to be primarily around feelings and positive emotional connections people had to each other) were feeling the effects already and well in reporting it.

  "I can't believe how foolish he was!" Someone gathered in the town square said about Fredrick. Objectively, Elizabeth could agree with that. The most important thing with catching a Nightmare was reporting the symptoms before it became too bad. Now he was stuck, unable to awaken while the affliction got stronger. Subjectively, she could understand how deceptive and hard to pin down it was; even with her advantages, Elizabeth had missed its spread too.

  They were called 'Nightmares' because they first had symptoms like the mundane dreams, simply a bad night's sleep. It was only as they persisted that the symptoms got worse. With one this bad, they'd need a Dream Warrior to come in to deal with it.

  "Fear not, citizens, for I am here to save the day!" I turned around, looking for the voice in the crowd. There was no way, surely even he couldn't be- Margrave stepped forward, boldly presenting himself to the people. He was wearing even fancier clothes than he usually did, a gold cloak draped off his back to go with his blue doublet and pants, both trimmed in gold. If the topic was any less serious, Elizabeth was sure she'd be doubled over in laughter at him.

  "I have recently discovered my Dream Warrior talents. While I'll soon be going off to train in their holy ways, I shall vanquish this beast before I go."

  "Get lost, boy." Grumpy old man Gilbert grumbled at him. "This is serious; we don't have time for your antics." The rest of the town murmured their assent, not willing to do much more to the noble boy but generally turning away from him.

  "But I really do have- argh, fine! Be that way; you'll all see soon enough." He stomped the ground and turned away, and Elizabeth saw a minor flash of fire out from beneath his feet.

  Could he actually be-? Reaching out, she felt something from Margrave, though it was hard to say what it was. Did he have powers like her? If he did, she was pretty sure he was at least weaker than her, though, and that meant he'd be in danger trying to take that thing on. She wasn't sure how well even she could fight that thing.

  Jogging over to him, she called out, "Wait!"

  "What? You don't believe me either? I'll show you-"

  Elizabeth held up her hands. "I do believe you."

  "Really?" For a moment, he was caught off-guard in his confusion, looking like the young boy he was, not the arrogant noble face he usually put on. "Well, of course you do." Then, after a moment, he added, "Wait, why are you stopping me then?"

  "It's too dangerous. Go to the Eastern temple and get actual Dream Warriors." Seeing his face darken in anger, she quickly added, "I understand you have powers, but you can't have been trained yet."

  "What do you know?" Elizabeth opened her mouth to try to reveal her secret and convince him, but he just talked over her. "Nothing, that's what. I need to save them fast, or this will get worse. Now get out of my way." Glaring at him for a moment, Elizabeth eventually stepped to the side, not seeing another way to convince him.

  Elizabeth went over to her 'training ground,' trying to think of an answer to the Nightmare problem. Fighting it head-on like Margrave seemed foolish, but she didn't want anyone to get hurt because she held back.

  As she thought on the answer, she drifted off and found herself Dreaming again. The Nightmare didn't seem to reach out that far away to her, but she could still sense its presence. Everyone in town had their own presence, though she couldn't feel them from that far away. Off in the distance, though, she felt something, like a glimmer of light, a barely visible star in the night, calling from far away.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  A Dream Warrior? Possibly. They weren't in the direction of the Eastern Temple, so it might have been a mistake, but Elizabeth felt something calling her to them. Racing across the land, she went towards that star, noticing how the landscape became uneven and blank as she left the forest. She could glide over everything rapidly, but as she went, it felt like she was being 'pulled' back to her body, getting harder and harder to travel away. She hadn't noticed that before, but she'd also never been as far away from home.

  As she got closer, the presence got larger, burning brighter and stronger like a star itself, blinding as Elizabeth got closer. "WHO APPROACHES ME?" The presence boomed out, and she wasn't sure if it was trying to yell at her or just so strong that their voice came across that loud. Whatever the case, they perceived her mentally wincing and toned the volume down.

  "Are you a dream warrior?" She gasped out, having difficulty just holding herself that far away from the town.

  The voice, now light enough to reveal itself as somewhat feminine, responded. "Yes. Who- who are you?"

  "I'm Elizabeth Wry, but that doesn't matter. My town is infected by a Nightmare; we need your help, please!"

  "Where's your town?"

  "It's by the Baltonian desert. I- ach, come quick!" With that, she couldn't take the pain anymore and was flung back to her body, waking up immediately. The dream must have taken her longer than she thought, as the sun was shining brightly through the forest canopy when she opened her eyes.

  Feeling as tired as any use of her power had ever left her, she stumbled out of the forest and back home. Opening the door, she was greeted by two very worried parents.

  "Where have you been?" Shelia cried out while hugging her as if to make sure Elizabeth was really there.

  "Your mother and I were worried sick. With this nightmare business going on, we need to stick together and make sure we don't fall asleep before help arrives. Are you all right?" Adam asked, the bearded man looking down on his daughter with worry.

  "Ye-" she tried to say before swaying slightly. "Just a bit tired- not 'tired' tired, just mentally bleh. Not sleepy."

  "Ok, let us know immediately if you do feel that way or anything unusual." School was closed for the day while the rest of the town was panicking, and by the evening Elizabeth heard from Lindsey that a couple of guards at the castle were talking about how it seemed like Margrave had failed.

  The Nightmare was getting worse; she could feel it like a shape at the edge of her vision, even while awake. Whatever Margrave tried seemed to backfire greatly, the Nightmare getting stronger from it. Worrying, Elizabeth left her home, heading out to the other forest, the one that led to the desert, hoping that she could get someone from there in time. Whoever she contacted in the dream must have been too far out to reach them in time.

  By the time she reached the sandy edge of the desert, it was well into nighttime, which made it cool, but better than the scorching heat that would come with the day. With luck she might get close enough to the temple... to wave down the person in front of her.

  She could hardly believe her luck when she saw him standing there, a tall, dark-skinned man with a weathered face, bald, and wearing black and red robes, a gnarled staff at his side. Suddenly, he was right in front of her. "What do you want?" He barked out, and Elizabeth fell back in surprise.

  "Wait, are you a Dream Warrior?"

  "Hmph, that much should be obvious. Yes, I'm a Dream Warrior, a Master of the Order. My name is Cain. Who are you? Not a witch, even those forest fools have better awareness and skills than you, yet there's still something..." He measured her, as if judging whether to offer her a hand up or to strike her down with his staff.

  "Um, I'm Elizabeth Wry, sir," she said as she picked herself back up. My town desperately needs a Dream Warrior; we've been attacked by a Nightmare, and it's spreading fast. Fredrick didn't report the signs at first, and then Margrave said he'd fight it and-" Cain was on the move, motioning her to lead the way, which she scrambled to do and keep ahead of his long strides.

  "Dammit. That was foolish. Margrave- that's the name of the young hopeful I was to pick up soon. I had other duties to attend to first, but this is an emergency. Why were you standing out here?"

  "I was trying to reach the Eastern Temple to get help. I reached out to someone else, but I think they're way farther away and won't get here in time."

  "It's lucky you found me at all. The Temple may be relatively close, but that's still a two-day march for a normal person. The desert would have eaten you up and spit you out if the bandits didn't catch you first. Wait." He swiveled around, looking off through the trees to some point on the horizon. I couldn't make out, but I felt the same pull on my own senses. "Someone's coming. I've only felt a force that great once before. Grandmaster Tenga," he let out as a reverent and disbelieving whisper.

  He shook his head. "No, this isn't the same; he's motion and stillness all in one, beginning and end. Then this must be- oh no." His words were flat, like he knew what was coming and he raised his staff in front of him. The person crashed through the forest, not actually hitting any trees but knocking aside his staff like a twig in a hurricane. The blur rushed Cain and grabbed him in a vicious hold.

  "Get off of me!" Or maybe just a friendly hug, Elizabeth reevaluated as they slowed down and she took in the action more clearly. Cain pushed at her to no avail, her arm wrapped around the back of his neck as if she was about to give him a noogie. The woman sighed and backed off and let him go, smiling brightly. It, and her presence, were like the sun, banishing the darkness, and Elizabeth knew this was the one she had called out to.

  She must have sensed it too, stepping forward towards her and offering a hand. "An old friend and a new one, this is an auspicious day. I'm Dawn, a Dream Warrior." She wore similar black and red robes as Cain, but had a beige belt wrapped around them, and the fit was tighter. She was short, almost 9 inches shorter than Cain at a mere 5'3. She had wavy auburn hair, pale skin, and a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks. It was hard to place her age; she could be anywhere from 20 to 40, and it wouldn't have surprised Elizabeth.

  Blinking, Elizabeth shook her hand. "Thank you for coming. I was worried you were too far away. I'm Elizabeth."

  She waved it off. "Not a problem for one as strong as me. And hey, I get to see my old friend Cain too."

  "Master Florian, I'd thank you for some level of decorum, please." Cain grumbled out as he straightened himself out, making a point to smooth out his robes. "Despite the fact that we trained together as Initiates you should set a good example and address me as Master Gargouth."

  "You're too stiff and formal. Relax a little. As Tenga always said, 'You need to learn to take in the little moments in life.' Ease up." Master Gargouth scowled at her continued flippancy.

  "He also speaks on duty and commitment. You waste your talents hiding behind the Grandmaster when you could be so much more."

  "So much more? I'm already a master, and I achieved the rank far earlier than you did, bootlicking at Corrigan's feet. Congratulations on the achievement, by the way."

  "Ugh. Well, we'll see who's laughing once I achieve Temple Master status."

  "Is that a fact? I guess we'll see what happens then." Her stance hadn't changed at all, but Elizabeth could feel a sense of power radiating off from her in response to Cain's challenge, just leaving him to sigh defeatedly. Both in the sense that he was weaker than Dawn (which was true, though the man still felt leagues stronger than her or Margrave; Dawn was just on an entirely different level), but also in their weird banter/teasing/whatever.

  To the young girl, It had seemed like an attempt to convince Dawn to do 'more' with that challenge, though she felt like she was missing a lot. The two of them clearly had a complicated history she wasn't privy to.

  "Now, we've been treating our new friend quite rudely, ignoring her and all," Dawn clapped her hands, turning the conversation back to Elizabeth. "You had some people you needed us to help, right?"

  "Uh, yeah, follow me." I led the Master Dream Warriors back into town to combat the Nightmare.