Chapter 9: First Dream

"I wonder what they dream?" Lhyna said as she thought about her three new proteges. "I suppose it's time I take a look." She came down as a beam of light and first filled Mosor's head.

Mosor's dream consisted of her free falling in an endless sky, before she hit a bed of clouds. The silver wolf, Lhyna stared from an adjacent cloud, and Mosor blinked as she saw her.

"Are you Lhyna?" Lhyna nodded. "But you seem realer than normal, like, most dreams aren't as vivid as you."

"I'm no dream, I am simply a visitor, a spectator. Consider it part of my magical psychic abilities."

Mosor raised an eye, and said, "Psychic dream abilities amounts to spying. This is my private thoughts, Lhyna." She paused and remember her vast power. "Not that I'm saying I wouldn't have let you in..."

Lhyna mentioned, "I have to check up on all... How many was it? Three of you, then there's like, several other teams."

Mosor said, "Got it, that means we aren't the only ones with the diary. Can you at least tell us more about it?"

"That's cheating," Lhyna said.

"Yes, but it's my dream, and if you're going to invade, you should be politer," Mosor said, challenging Lhyna.

The moon goddess grimaced. "I could tell you a few things. Basically, two of you have unlocked your qualities. But each quality is intertwined with the other two. The third quality is the final bridge between Empathy and Willpower. Only one of you represents it."

"Kyofi," Mosor said. "We're trying to discover it, but we can't." Lhyna stared at her blankly, and the clouds rose up as Mosor felt herself absorbed. She screamed as she soon fell into an infinite void of blue until remembering something.

"It's not Kyofi. It's Ahmond, isn't it?" Mosor fell on a soft cloud. Lhyna jumped down to grace her.

Lhyna told her, "Ahmond is probably a correct answer, yes. But in truth, many people could be used for the third quality. Also, it's not technically the third, but only one quality. Different teams started with different qualities. You started with Empathy."

"That means it doesn't matter which quality we start with." Lhyna gave her a quick wink as she figured it out. "Because others represent different qualities, I can ask anyone to unlock the book."

Lhyna said, "I'm not known for my powers over others subconsciouses. But I do think I should be."

Mosor looked down. "I don't think there's much to this dream. I think it was going to be a normal falling dream."

Lhyna told her, "How about we switch that up?" She cast a magical light that covered the entire area. Mosor retreated from the Flashbang, but it swallowed her as she went into the next part.

"I'm naked!" Mosor said. "Wait, I'm always naked, why is that bothering me right now?" She looked at the scene ahead.

It was a ballroom and Mosor walked around. She noticed that there were three figures, center stage, in absolute brightness.

"Lantorn, it's great to see you." Lantorn turned her head to stare at someone walking to her. It was Arber.

Mynt came up by her other side, and said, "I'd concur." Party guests mingled around them, drinking fancy, sparkling sodas. However, Mosor noticed they were all the same three figures. It was all Lantorn, Mynt, or Arber, and the scene kept repeating.

"This is different," Mosor said, as she walked around. She tried to avoid the dancing trios, before going up to Lantorn.

"Mosor?" she asked, as she stared at Mosor. Mosor stared at Lantorn. Both turned their gazes away.

"It's only a dream," both said, and their eyes widened. The other guests stared, and the entire ballroom turned completely dark except for moonlight seeping in it.

"You aren't a dream," Mosor said as Lantorn came to the same conclusion. "I think our dreams have merged."

Lantorn got into an aggressive posture as Mosor still felt confused. What point was violence in a world without actual feeling or anything? Mosor repeated Lantorn's posture, and prepared for any attack.

"Let's make this more interesting," Lhyna said. Around the ballroom, came an expanse of darkness.

"World of Nightmares, anybody?" Lhyna asked. "Rules are simple. First one to fall out of the ballroom, into the shadows, will be getting horrific nightmares for a week."

"You are not benevolent at all, are you?" Mosor said. But she approached her adversary, who was as fast as she was.

Lantorn sauntered over to glass windows. It was baiting, and Mosor knew it. Still, the match had to end some way.

Lantorn got flat on the ground. She then rolled over in an almost submissive position, and lolled her tongue out.

Mosor growled and ran towards her, but Lantorn shot up. She jumped onto Mosor's back and pinned her down. Mosor struggled to figure out a way to escape the position, but Lantorn straddled her back.

"I think this will hurt." Lantorn slapped Mosor on the face, but it didn't cause any actual pain. Lantorn kept slapping, with no damage revealed.

"How am I supposed to win if she won't tire or anything?" Lantorn tried using dream powers to open up a hole in the ground. Didn't work. Make a pair of wings. Didn't work.

"Dream magic relies on strong imagination," Lhyna said. "Making it the most unique of the magics, compared to, say, the nine more typical magics. The only other problem is that it's the only magic that can be truly cancelled, like I did for the match."

"That's because she's probably using psychic magic to override our dream magic," Mosor told Lantorn.

Lantorn slipped back and pushed on the backs of Mosor's legs, but Mosor bucked her in the face, whipped around, and gave a slap to the head.

"At least we still can use force on each other," Lantorn said. At the rim stood Mosor, and Lantorn bumped chest to chest with Mosor. Both attempted to push the other.

Mosor got down low to lower her center of gravity. But her paws slid across the floor and she felt one go over. Mosor stood up, and Lantorn slipped underneath her, but Mosor got a type of mount.

Mosor bit down on the base of Lantorn's tail and yanked it up while sitting on her back. It wasn't useful, but it gave her time to conceive a plan. A tailbar had been traditional in canine combat. It could flat out break someone's tail.

But in this instance, no pain, it was a useless tool. She clung to it, knowing she wasn't risking loss if she kept it up.

Lantorn took a few steps forward, intending to jump over into the darkness. Mosor shook her head. "What are you doing!?"

"It's first one to fall, right?" Lantorn asked, and Lhyna nodded. "I think that first to fall might be you if you're on top." Lantorn jumped and flipped herself over, and Mosor felt herself consumed by darkness.