Chương 20: The Dreamer, The Quiet Shadow & The Prideful Sword Saint

'Julian''Jooolian''Joeliean''Yep, it's not ringing any bells.' June really didn't know anyone called Julian.

'Who is Julian?'

'What is Julian?'

'Why is Julian?'

'How is Juli—' His thinking was interrupted by the sound of the APC door opening. It was 6pm and it was time for the transport to begin. The Bay Area, and most of the more sound buildings, were separated and turned into smaller vehicles or were being towed by massive trucks. The trucks were like buildings themselves; they made mining trucks in the waking world look like children's toys, and the buildings behind looked tiny compared to the trucks.

The APC, on the other hand, also looked different from how June imagined it; it was much larger than he expected too. It was big enough for a suburban household to fit in and then some more. Shade silently watched June admire the APC with a smug, unnoticeable smirk. She may have undermined his perception a bit too much, since that smug look was very evident to June.

He climbed up the steep steps of the APC and was surprised; the furniture was very high quality, but to juxtapose it violently, the place was also very messy. June wandered past boxes full of snacks and MREs; the amount of boxes made the towering APC feel like a piñata full of food.

Eventually Shade led June into a wide-open room with some training weapons on the side; the room looked sturdy enough that it would only crease the walls if he punched it, though he still couldn't throw a proper punch despite his superhuman ability. June knew well not to compare real life to movies, but for some reason he had the notion that he would suddenly understand how to punch properly when he got his powers.

He didn't throw many punches since or even before his transformation, but he tried punching a tree when doing tests with Fin and ended up falling over after winding back too far. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. In the center of the room was a man silently and methodically practicing katas in a slow and controlled fashion; the thin mat on the floor was soaked in sweat, enough to make a person wonder why someone would go this far to practice.

The man stopped after a while and wiped the sweat of his brow with his shirt; he wore a gi seemingly made from some anomalous, possibly monster leather, as cold wisps of air and his sweat caused steam to billow from him. His figure was thin; he wasn't much taller than June, but he was definitely well built compared to him. He gave off an aura, which was odd to say; June never thought of auras being an actual thing until he saw it for himself emanating off of this man.

'This must be Julian.' The man spoke, and his voice also seemed to carry its fair share of will, because every word carried a stinging silence, almost as if the world begged for another word from him.

"You must be Dreamer June; I will be your weapons instructor and translator." Translator? Why did he need a translator?

"Today we will test your physical abilities." Julian tossed a barbell at June; June caught it without much effort. His heightened senses made some things move at a crawling speed; most often June would have enough time to process what to do before something happened.

"What do I do with this?" Julian's face carried some amusement; his hair was an auburn color and short. Oddly enough, no matter how much he moved, it always seemed to be in the same hairstyle and never got messy.

"Crush it." June looked at Julian, then followed the orders.

'There's no way he could crush a barbell with his bare hands.' But June split it before even exerting himself. A chunk of it fell onto his foot and shattered; his foot was uninjured.

"What's next?" It came as a surprise to Julian of June's nonchalance, but in reality June was trying not to hop on his foot; the barbell really hurt when it fell on his leg. It wasn't a small one either; it was a 50-pound weight. June was more surprised that his bones weren't crushed.

"Shade already evaluated your speed; I saw some recordings too."

'They were recording me!?' June felt a little embarrassed. Julian tapped his foot; his plan for June was in shambles. He was quietly panicking. June wasn't supposed to catch the barbell, let alone crush it. That was Shade's job; Julian was going to use June's failure as a reason to inspire June to better himself and maybe even earn brownie points with June. Julian was outwardly an approachable guy; he had women and even some men lining up for his signature.

He was practically an idol at home but a stoic badass on the field. June's performance basically removed the entire choreography Julian had planned. He had a few Dreamer friends, but he himself was an Aspirant. Most Dreamers were weird people too, since they either had to be stubborn enough to refuse the world or had a screw loose in their head; that's why normal people never became Dreamers. Most people in the nightrealm were born there; occasionally, but not rarely, a person from another realm would pop in.

The only way a person was able to travel back and forth was to become a Dreamer, and Julian desperately wanted to go back. The attention he got in the nightrealm wasn't so bad, but he wanted to go back to Europe and finish his Korean lessons and one day become an idol, he was too young to be a soldier. June silently watched the micromovements in Julian's face; most people don't recognize the twitches of independent muscles, but June sure did.

June realized that people tended to react to their thoughts outwardly; most hid it behind a stone face or another reaction, but there were still micromovements at the end of the day. So Julian was going through a crisis of what to do. June watched anxiously, not knowing if he messed up. And Shade watched the two of them contently, not knowing the mental battle the two were going through.