Path Of Dreams

Chapter Five: First Voyage Into The Dream Realm

Oberon opened his eyes lazily, yawned and stretched a little before finally sighing. His sleep had been rather short and he didn't have any disturbing dreams like the ones that had haunted him on the day of awakening.

Although he still didn't know the causes of those dreams and their underlying meaning, he didn't want to delve into it at the moment. All he wanted to do for now was to grow stronger, survive the perils of the void, earth and the mysterious dream realm alongside to pass the qualification assessments organized by the school.

Just then Oberon noticed something strange about his room, the first thing he noticed was the smell, it was the smell of dust and old furniture. He immediately paid attention to his surroundings after noticing this.

“Huh? Where am I? What is this place?”

Oberon asked himself as he jumped out of bed in a state of panic. He was no longer in his small apartment that he had grown used to over the years, he was not surrounded by his old working table, simple bed, small closet and many other things that made his apartment feel like home and even the wall with its peeling yellow paint was gone.

Instead he was surrounded by completely unfamiliar scenery. He appeared to be in a small room occupied with nothing but an old bed with a dirty bed spread which was layered with dust, an old wooden chair by the door side and nothing else. The ceiling was covered in cobwebs in every corner, even the corners of the room itself were not spared.

There was not a single hint of modern technology, appliances or furnishing in sight and even the room was made up of weathered wood with countless holes drilled into it, no doubt by dozens if not hundreds of insects.

“Where the hell is this place?”

Oberon thought as he looked around while making sure to not let his guard down, after all he was defenseless and knew nothing about where he was.After wandering around the room for a while, he came to a conclusion.

“I won't understand anything by just staying holed up in here and I won't make any progress in finding out why I am here or what this place is. I need to go out and see for myself if I can gather any information.”

With that he steeled himself, took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves and walked towards the old and miserable looking door. As he opened the door and took a few steps outside the room, he felt the wind blow gently against his face and the pleasant scent of flowers fill his nostrils.

After inhaling, Oberon felt strangely energized and alive, and he felt a cold revitalizing current flow through him.

“What? This is mystic essence….this place is so rich with it. How is this possible.”

Earth was once rich in mystic essence just like this, however after various legacy families and organizations came into existence, they monopolized this and built multiple runic arrays just like the one Oberon had used to awaken back at the awakening ceremony.

The purpose of these arrays were to pull essence from the air and store them, the stored essence could then be used to saturate a mystic's soul core. There were after all two methods through which a mystic could advance and grow stronger….. Hunting which was the fastest and meditation which was the slowest but safest.

Oberon put the situation of how rich the environment was in essence aside and focused on understanding his environment, he still had to know where he was and how to return home. Around him there were many such houses like the one he just came out from and just like it, they all seemed old and abandoned.

“This seems to be some sort of abandoned village, but what happened here? Why was it abandoned and who were its previous inhabitants?”

Oberon had nothing but questions and no answers which made him feel rather helpless. Looking around he saw that the entire village had nothing more than fifty such houses and no other structures that he could see for now.

“I'll check within the houses to see if there's anything that can provide me with useful information about this place. Surely there's something.”

Having made up his mind, Oberon began his search through the houses, trying to find useful information that could help him. The situation within the second house wasn't much different from the first, its interior was covered in dust and cobwebs and there was barely any furnishing within it save for the tattered bed and chair.

Moving on to the next house, the situation was not any different and it remained the same with most of the houses. Oberon sighed as he cleaned the sweat off his face.

“There's only one house left, if I don't find anything there then it might as well be the end for me. Surely without food or a water source, I'll soon grow weary from hunger and thirst.”

He brushed off the layers of dust and cobwebs on his previously white shirt and now slightly dirty black trousers, then he walked out of the house and headed towards the last of them.

Just like the rest of the houses, the last one wasn't any different. Oberon opened the door and walked in without any hope regarding finding anything that could be potentially useful. The house was covered in dust and occupied by cobwebs just as expected. There was the usual tattered bed and the chair close to the door, aside from that there was nothing else.

“Ugh. I was stupid to hope I would find something.”

Oberon muttered tiredly and turned around, about to leave, however something he hadn't thought of earlier occurred to him just as he was about to leave. He paused in his tracks with a frown on his face and then turned around.

He walked towards the bed and looked at it thoughtfully. The bed looked rather ordinary with nothing special or odd about it, however Oberon thought…

“It's a bit strange that there's only a bed and chair in every house. Almost like the previous inhabitants couldn't be bothered to furnish them properly or perhaps they had carried their belongings when they abandoned their homes, all of them leaving behind their beds and chairs.”

After thinking about it for a while, Oberon decided to put in the effort and move the bed. He went down on one knee and placed his hands under the wooden frames that held the bed together, before lifting it.

The bed was surprisingly heavy, almost like a slab of rock but at the same time not quite having the same weight a rock of the bed's side should have. He grunted as he put every ounce of strength he could muster into lifting the bed and eventually he succeeded in moving the bed a little bit to the side.

“Finally!”

He exclaimed with visible joy and excitement. Just beneath where the bed had previously been, there was a little hole. Oberon didn't waste time wondering what was inside the hole, instead he proceeded to see for himself.

Oberon carefully reached into the hole and after feeling around for a while, his fingers came in contact with something. A piece of folded paper. He immediately pulled it out and without a care in the world, sat on the floor before unfolding the paper and seeing if it contained anything of interest.

“A sort of letter, and one written in English no less.”

He muttered. He then began to read through the contents of the letter.

“Its happening all too frequently now, it can't be ignored anymore. Ever since it appeared, more villagers have abandoned their homes and carried their belongings, they're all heading there. It's an incredibly strange thing, ever since it appeared, I have always felt this pull on my mind. Like I am supposed to go there just like the others. It's driving me crazy, almost like I can't stop thinking about it. Sooner or later I fear I would leave my family behind and go there too, just like the others.”

Oberon stopped reading the words scribbled across the now unfolded piece of paper, his mind filled with almost a dozen questions.

“What's happening? What appeared? Who wrote this letter?”

Previously he had been excited that he had found a lead on what this place could be but now, Oberon's excitement was replaced with worry and perhaps an underlying feeling of unease.

“So the reason this place looks like this is because its previous inhabitants, the villagers, packed up and left.”

Oberon thought.

“Seems like something strange and unexplainable appeared around the village and the villagers were somewhat influenced by it and they ended up leaving their homes with their belongings just to reach whatever this thing is.”

After coming to know why the villagers left their homes, Oberon immediately turned his attention back to the letter and continued reading.

“Before that happens, I need to take necessary action. I am going to leave with my family and go somewhere safe, a place where the tower within the pale gardens won't have any effect over our minds and actions anymore. If you're reading this, I might very well have been successful in my attempts to flee to the east away from the west or not. My advice to you is to flee the island immediately and seek safety on other islands. Within the hole, I have left a bit of money and a dagger. This should perhaps be of help to you.”

Oberon let out a sigh after completely reading the letter, even more questions filled his mind and now he was worried. Whatever it was that had happened to the villagers, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't fall a victim to it too.

“I'm not safe here. I have to leave.”

He folded the letter with slightly shaky hands and stuffed it into his pocket before turning to focus his attention on the hole. Dipping his hand into the hole once again, he began to feel around for anything that felt like money or a dagger. After a while of feeling around, he eventually found what he was searching for.

His fingers slightly brushed against the smooth surface of something that felt like a piece of clothing or something else and the cold hard surface of a metal object hidden further into the hole. Without hesitation he reached further into the hole and retrieved both items.

“A leather pouch?”

The first item was a leather pouch and the second was without a doubt a dagger. The pouch was a rather simple one, made out of brown smooth leather and it had its mouth tied with a little piece of rope. The dagger although was not so simple.

“Really? A mystic item and a weapon at that?”

Oberon said in surprise. Mystic items were incredibly valuable tools that every mystic had a use for one way or the other, they were items imbued with essence and possessed incredible qualities like skills and attributes alongside enchantments. This dagger was one such item.

“I was thinking of scraping together my savings to buy one of these tomorrow alongside a few other things but it seems like I wouldn't have to worry about a weapon for some time.”

Oberon thought with a smile. As an orphan he lacked adequate financial support, his source of income was from the government allowance issued out to orphans like himself, even his school fees and other academic related expenses were covered by the government.

However, now that he had awakened all that would come to an end, after all the government stopped issuing allowance to orphans once they awakened their pathways and branch or when they came of a suitable age. Temporarily setting the pouch aside, Oberon focused his will on the dagger as if he could pierce through the secrets of its existence.

Just then, a familiar purple panel materialized before him, displaying information that Oberon wanted to see.

Black Steel Bladed Dagger

Rank: Initiate

Description: A flawless blade forged out of refined black steel with exceptional rune inscriptions that grant it incredible abilities.

Skills: Sharp Blade, Pierce, Bleed

Upon reading the information displayed about the dagger by his record, Oberon sucked in a sharp breath.

“This is truly incredible. A good weapon with excellent rune inscription.”

He muttered, after taking note of the inscriptions on the blade's surface. He was nothing but impressed by the quality of the weapon he had stumbled upon and he felt grateful towards the unknown villager that had left it behind.

After admiring the dagger for a few moments, Oberon wasted no time and immediately brought up the description of the dagger's skills.

Skill: Sharp Blade [Passive]

Description: The dagger's blade remains sharp and never gets blunt as long as it remains unbroken. This skill allows it to deal high damage to targets of the same rank and low damage to targets of higher ranks. The higher the target's rank, the lower the damage dealt.

Skill: Pierce [Active]

Description: Once activated, the skill gives the dagger the ability to pierce through any form of armour or hide of the same rank as the dagger.

Skill: Bleed [Passive]

Description: Any wound inflicted by the dagger immediately triggers the bleeding effect. The lower the rank of the target, the higher the duration for which the effect would last. The higher the rank of the target, the lesser the duration for which the effect would last.

After reading through the description of the skills, Oberon nodded contentedly, saying they were very useful skills granted by the enchantments from the rune inscriptions. At least with this, he wouldn't have to worry about a weapon till he increased his rank. Setting the weapon aside, Oberon then focused on the pouch that supposedly contained money which the villager had left behind.

After untying the rope that binded it and prying it open, Oberon poured out the contents of the pouch onto the wooden floor. Out of the pouch, a little pile of purple items came tumbling out, clicking against each other as they fell.

“Are these coins?”

He stared dumbfounded at the purple coins before, they didn't seem like they were made out of metal but when he rubbed his fingers against them and felt them in the palm of his hand, they did feel like metal.

“Strange.”

He muttered as he focused his will on a coin.

Dream Stone

Description: A valuable item recognized as an official form of currency to make purchases within the dream realm.

“The dream realm? How come an item that belongs there is here?”

He thought in confusion, his confusion however did not last long.

“Could this be the dream realm? Have I been dragged here because of my first skill? How do I get back?”

Oberon immediately stuffed the coins back in the pouch and in his pocket, grabbed the dagger by the hilt and rushed out of the house. He stared bewildered at his surroundings, refusing to believe he was trapped in a realm he practically knew nothing about.

“I refuse to believe this, without evidence I won't!”

He blurted out as he ran within the village, frantically looking around. Just then he looked up instinctively at the sky and saw an anomaly he hadn't taken notice of previously.

“The sky….The sun..”

The sky was pink and so were the clouds that slowly drifted along. The sun was a massive silver orb that illuminated the pink sky, far more massive than the sun Oberon knew, and it did not hurt his eyes when he looked at it.

He fell to his knees in realization as he looked at the abnormalities in a daze. A loud hum or perhaps a bellow reverberated in the sky as a behemoth of a creature cut through the clouds with its body, soaring in the sky with grace and unhidden power. A massive whale, larger than any he had seen.

“This is the dream realm?”