I fell and landed directly on the spikes. Nothing. I didn’t feel anything. The blades weren’t hurting me. I couldn’t believe it. I was alive. I laughed. I laughed and laughed in pure bliss. Partly because I was happy to be alive but mostly because of the huge amount of stress that was on me within the last 2 hours made me pretty much go all Coocoo bananas crazy for a bit.“Ooookay” the voice muttered. I stopped laughing, and snapped back to reality. I was hopeful that this guy would get me out so this whole ordeal in this strange world would end.“Whelp your right I guess I guess now I should send you back to the world kiddo” suddenly the room began to distort and I was back to the darkness. Standing in front of me was the figure . The figure pointed behind him and a blue portal appeared. I was about to enter but then I remembered I needed to ask this guy a few questions.

“Wait” I said, “Before I leave I need to know some stuff like for example what’s your name and who are you” the figure smiled. That I knew for a fact because a mouth along with glowing yellow eyes appeared on his face. I admit I felt kinda intimidated by his look but I suppose it wasn’t all that strange when compared to the weird tree monster thing I dealt with a while ago. “My name is bob and I am a dream spirit we are basically all mages who die in their sleep” There was an awkward pause as he finished his sentence “oh....that sucks” I said trying to cut the silence. “Yeah it was pretty much me being in eternal darkness and my atoms slowly piecing themselves together To create me all the while I could feel the whole thing and you describe that as merely sucking?’ Bob said, now floating, “no my child it did not suck nor is is it sucking currently, it blew.

It blew then and it blows now being eternally lonely and only getting talked to for a single month per year” I was begging to feel the angst rubbing off of bob at the point and I really didn’t feel like talking about his loneliness and I walked over to the portal.

Just as I was about to reach out with my hand Bob Screeched: “What Am I fighting for?!” While suddenly gravity and the laws of physics were completely screwed over and I began to float. At least that’s what I thought at first. Then I remembered that this was a dream and I should technically have control over it.

Slowly I fell back to the ground. Meanwhile Bob was having a mental breakdown and was saying something about how he’s sorry for something and he wanted to see her again. At this point I was getting way too sad and figured that he just needed his own time alone and I entered the portal.

Suddenly I saw a steel ceiling. I was back on the bed. I got up and took my helmet off and rested it on the pillow. Then I looked around. Beside me were other kids who like me at one point, were also wearing helmets and in beds. The table that was once filled with weappns was not there at all. And in the front of the building Zhou stood there. Well not stood per day, more like sleeping while standing which was pretty weird.

I snapped my fingers to try and get his atttention. Nothing. He was still sleeping. I got off the bed and walked towards him. I snapped right into his ear. Zhou woke up with a start and looked at me with mild confusion “Strange usually all kids wake up form their dream spirits at the same time wait what was your dream spirit?” Zhou asked, putting a hand on my shoulder that felt so strong I couldn’t raise my leg to walk away. “Bob” I replied.

Zhou cursed under his breath. “Damn he probably did the weird dojo thing on you and did the whole security guard routine.“ I nodded. Zhou sighed. “Well Bob is one of the tougher dream spirits for newcomers. Typicallyt new agents survive the first fight with bob because he tries to see how people react After that he makes a second fight where he improves and takes advantages of your flaws. All plasma mages begin with the same flaw, the unwillingness to kill. I take it he has broken that threshold for you yes?" I nodded. Zhou briefly disappeared in a flash of lightning then reappeared with a brutworst in his hand, which he then proceeded to cook with the lightning crackling out of his fingers. When he was done he began eating "Lovely....and although he doesn’t kill you....he tries to see if he’s beaten you by figuring out how you functioned during the first fight. This is the reason a few....newbies don’t survive." He said in-between bites of his brutworst. Finally he finished and cleared his throat. "They’d win the first challenge but lose the second one and would die sleeping and become dream spirits themselves.

“What a very....lengthy dialogue” I said in response. “Yes I tend to talk a lot regarding that fellow oh and did he smile to you?” I nodded “Sure he did what’s wrong with it.” "Well when a dream spirit smiles at you they are paired with you until either of you die so now Everytime you go unconscious you will have to battle him in brutal combat. On the bright side after a year or two he stops making dreams that can kill you and switches to training instead"

“What?!” I said holding my hair and absolutely freaking out. I would have to spend two years of constant combat whenever I sleep?“ it’s true although he only attacks if you go to sleep not if you are rendered unconscious. You'll probably get to chat with him or something, but at that moments your dreams are most fragile so dont be surprised if some other spirit comes to your dream. The instructors are supposed to tell you to not ask them their name as it’s been so long for them since they’ve been human. They go into hesterics for a bit and have a mental breakdown. They symbolize you as a true friend if you were nice to them. They truly are strange creatures.” As Zhou finished I was pacing around the room wondering if there was anyway I could get rid of Bob.

I remembered the strange conversation we had in the dream. I also remembered that I can control my dream if I am willful enough. Could it be possible for me to kick bob out of my room tonight when I dream? I sure hoped so. suddenly there was a beeping noise, small at first, though over time it grew louder and louder and more and more bit crushed until it sounded quite loud. It was grating on my ears so I covered them to quiet out the absaloute abomination on my ears that was the beeping noise. then, almost as quickly as it had began, the noise stopped. When the strange noise stopped, there was a series of rapid clanking noises. I looked around. All the kids on the beds woke up and screamed in shocks as their helmets shot off of their heads and noisily clanked onto the pillows. All of this happened in complete and perfect unison.

“Ah so it is lunch time!” Zhou boomed heroically, “Go out and eat your lunch children” Zhou said before dissapearign in an explosion of sparks! With a sigh, I walked out of the room, and into a metal hallway. I noticed that on the right wall was a blue luminescent arrow that smelled delicious. Like honey and roasted meats. The word 'cafeteria' was neatly printed on it. I decided to follow the arrow.

Eventually I came across a a pair of two doors. I entered the doors and my own nose was practically assaulted with a powerful barrage of delicious smells. I felt every part of my body down to the very last molecule be overwhelmed with pure joy and hunger. My mouth actually began watering. And It took quite a bit of energy to not burst into tears of joy from the smells of the amazing food. From the top of my head, what I remember smelling was Crisp bacon, banana bread, Roasted turkey, steak tartarre, garlic, and caramel chocolate. a few other food smells that were unfamiliar to me.

I entered the cafeteria and iteit looked better than it smelled. The walls were ata cloudy white and there wasbwas a window that gave a breathtaking view of the other buildings and the glistening water that looked like a stream of diamonds. Some people were eating foods I recognized like steak or roasted turkey, some people where eating food that while looking foreign I could tell where at least normal and not strange in any way. But the overwhelming majority of people were gorging down on foods that looked out of this world. There were eggs with flaming yolks that when devoured would explode into a slightly smaller yolk and would keep exploding unil nothing remained, there were strange purple drinks that would scream as people drank them, almost like they were alive.

There were fish that when sliced open, had organs made entirely of cookie dough. A group of young men in the front were holding what looked like an ouroboros with dozens of redored cups underneath where the head met the mouth. A man stood across from them, with a bandana around his eyes. He took a deep breath and pointed his index finger directly at the head. A needle shot out of his nail and scraped right through the head, and once it fell, a clear liquid rushed out of both ends and into the cups. "We've got vodka for days!" The man with the bandana said. My face made a 'O' shape and my mind went blank for a bit, unable to comprehend the amazingness of the food. Eventually I noticed that the women giving out the food were all rather strange. They were twins, no triplets, no, quadruplets?

Yes definitely quadruplets. There were four of them. They appeared to look the exact same. They all stood at a mighty 8 feet tall or so. They were angrily bickering with eachother so fast it sounded non human. While they were talking food appeared to float onto my tray at a rapid rate. They were psychic! Before I could thank themIthem felt myself being lightly pushed to the side of the tray. I just watched the quadruplets bicker at eachother. While food was being magically transported to my tray. Eventually I managed to get a bit of what the argument was. One of the girls had apparently drained the others bank account while the other two were arguing at them to stop arguing and keep serving.

The girl who got her bank account drained was furious and she attacked one of her other sisters by mistake and broke three of her fingers. That sister in turn had called to her other sister to attack her other sister. Now all four of them were bickering, all the while still serving food with their minds. It was amazing.The only reason I could get it was they were so used to serving food that it was basically second nature to them. The fact that they could also move the food with a mere thought proved my point. When I had enough food, which was honey poured on a roasted turkey, I left the line and looked for a table to sit at. I scanned my eyes, looking for any familiar faces that i could recognize.

Eventually my eyes landed upon Clara. Finally, a familiar face. I wondered how she was doing since we separated, and I walked over to her. Unfortunately, someone was sitting in the seat in front of her. It was a boy glowing brown hair. Excuse me dude I have to sit with my sister. The boy turned his head over to me and I noticed he was actually a she, and her violet eyes flashed briefly and I felt like I had the worst headache in the world, and fell to my knees. "Ah fuck sorry. Disease magic is a doozy" she said, sounding very british and in a way that made it sound like she had done it before. My headache stopped abruptly. "I may look like a boy but I’m not ok?” she said.“Your British?” I asked confused as to why a British kid would be in America. Comprehension flashed against her face and she cursed under her breath.

“No.....no I’m not British I just like speaking in a British accent at times. And if I was british it wouldn't matter since Lazarus recruits anyone. she said now speaking with an American accent. For some reason, I felt like that girl in particular was highly skilled. She wore a red trenchcoat and the way she moved and talked with an air of superiority, like she felt she was better than anyone and everything, giving off completed tonal whiplash to how she was acting. For some stupid reason, I ignored that however. "Well can you get out I need to talk with my sister” I asked the strange girl. She nodded before stepping off the table and vanishing into the faces of everyone else in the cafeteria that I just noticed stretched for miles!

“Hello Clara” I said. Clara slowly raised her face and turned to me, her hair draping over her bloodshot eyes! “ So...what happened with you?” I asked worried for her. Even though we were twins I always felt like an older brother to her. Clara Well I was sent to this huge room that reeked of sulfur along with some other kids. In the middle of the room was a fire breathing lion” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing a “fire breathing lion?!” I said just a bit too loudly. The entire cafeteria fell dead silent for a bit and out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed the people from the boat looking at me with intrigue, while the older people who weren’t from the boat were looking at both them and me with humor. Clara moved her hair out of her face and frowned at me. Eventually, the sound of people eating and talking returned and once I was sure no one was looking at me, I turned to my sister.

Clara continued “ As I was saying we had to go and incapacitate the lion. And I was dreading the entire thing like everyone else was, only at least they managed to awaken their powers on the island and could use them at will, I had only gotten chased by giant flies for the entire thing. I didn’t even know what type of mage I would be. Plasmeus wanted me to be put back on the isle so I could learn my powers, but Hollyhocks refused and just said I was going with Necrosis-“ “Why’d she say that?” I interrupted. Clara shrugged and continued, “Once It was my turn to face the lion, It somehow broke free of its chain and bit through my arm.” I gritted my teeth at the mental image of what she was describing. “And then my birthmark began to feel searing hot and then ...” And then what?” I asked, desperate to know what happened. There was a long pause before my Sister replied. “And then the next thing I knew, my arm was mostly healed though still in bad shape and he lion was very, very, very, very VERY dead!” She exclaimed, “And seeing it made me feel surprisingly calm, happy even. Not really from the gore but from the act of destruction itself. And that terrified me.” She said, her voice now unnaturally low. Her eyes looked bleak. It was clear to me at least that whatever she had saw of the dead lion, that it scarred her severely.Seeing her in such a sensitive position was so odd to me That I couldn't even comprehend it. Strange as it sounds, this was the closest I had seen to her being sad. I asked her what happened after she killed the lion and she just said that a woman on a creature

After that I’m pretty sure both you and me went through the same things with the table as long as a bus and the dream spirits right?” I nodded. Suddenly, a hand grasped me by the shoulder. I turned around to see snidely.

Snidely looked at me and sneered. “ Well look who it is” he said taking a bite out of a croissant at me. “ I’m pretty suprised to see you over here on the building. Here I was hoping you never were here but yet you managed to show up. Snidely snorted. “What do you want with me” I said lazily, not really caring to hear him speak. Snidely, didn't respond, instead he dissapeared with a faint pop, making me yelp in shock, reappeared at my side, and slapped me with a spoon. people around us were begining to stare. b could hear the bones in her jaw shatter like a glass wall being struck with a cannon, as Clara's face struck the table, before smashing the floor. Snidely's knuckles were a heinous white and hhe turned back to me.

Anger bubbled inside of me. Was he calling me an idiot? The same person who just days prior was talking to me about alien babies? I couldn’t believe it. I decided to get some payback on him. I shot out a weak blast of lightning at him, no bigger than a hairbrush. The blast struck him directly in his face and he began shuddering violently and jumping around for a few seconds. Clara smirked.

When he finally stopped Snidely looked at me and scowled. Then he disappeared and reappeared right in my face! The sudden act had confused me greatly and I was not prepared as he punched me directly in the cheek. I fell out of the chair and hit the hard ground with a thud. Snidely began trying to kick me but since I was already used to being attacked by him, I was prepared and I grabbed his leg and slammed it into the table.

Snidely howled in pain and teleported again. I got to my feet and looked around for him. Nowhere. I couldn’t find him. I finally thought he gave up when I managed to see him standing way at the back of the cafeteria stretching and limbering himself up.

The moment our eyes met he began running at me in quick bursts of teleportation to gain momentum. The sudden teleportations made me cross eyed and by the time it took for my eyes to adjust it was too late and he was in front of me and threw a punch at my face.

Luckily thanks to my light speed reflexes I managed to grab his hand. The friction created from his teleportations had managed to light my hand ablaze. Although I had somewhat fire resistance the attack still hurt like hell. That being said, I was still in better condition than snidely. When our hands collided he felt full recoil as all that energy he used hit him full force and sent his body rocketing into a window.

He slowly fell down on it and hit the ground. The window was full of cracks although there slowly seemed to be less and less of them. Were they regenerative windows? Maybe. “ Oh what’s this?” Came a feminine voice from my left. I turned to see Serena. She looked at me and snidely with eyes of pure confusion.

I quickly explained that Snidely had called me and idiot and so I rightly shot him with a zap of lightning. Then he attacked me for no reason and the both of us ended up hurt. Serena frowned and muttered something about me being biased. Then she got up and ordered me and snidely to follow her. Me and the now standing up Snidely regretfully did so. We followed her out the cafeteria and into the Hallway.

After many and I do mean many, hours of going up stairs and elevators eventually we came to a room marked: “Plasmeus the punishment master” me and snidely gulped in unison. Serena said something about wishing us the best of luck before walking away. I turned the handle of the door and entered the room. Inside we’re hundreds upon hundreds of military photos and medals.

The room was hexagonal in look and in the middle sat Plasmeus hunched over a desk reading a book. The ceiling was covered with some weird yellow slime. In the middle of a room was a desk were Plasmeus sat. He was reading a book as big as my head and was writing little notes in it.

He wore nothing at all on his upper body. It was at this point I noticed he was quite muscular like a football player. He wore some jeans. Plasmeus looked up at us and frowned. “ I saw what you were doing on the cameras” he boomed. I shuddered.

I opened my mouth and was about to protest but plasmeus silenced me with a clear of his throat that was so loud it made me genuinely deaf for a few seconds. I could hear absaloutely nothing. Not even my own rapid heartbeat. Plasmeus got up and phased through the desk over to us, “ Oh no I’not ready for this. Your not catching me” Snidley said confidentially before teleporting onto the ceiling. Snidely let out a cry as when he teleported onto the ceiling, the slime had wrapped around him!

I just stood there in awe for a moment before snapping to reality. “ Let him go” I said to Plasmeus. Sure I didn’t like snidely but no one deserved this. Plasmeus iignored my order and said: “ pretty near right? It’s called “Lethal Liquid” Plasmeus boomed. ”Its like acid to magical creatures and if a mage is in it it seeps away their magical ability and stamina temporarily It can even fully take away a persons magic, though that takes about two hours”

“Your taking away his magic?!” I asked visibly alarmed. Plasmeus shook his head ”Don't worry Luke, He’ll regain his abilities almost instantly once it subsides.” Plasmeus reached under a drawer and pulled out a water bottle. He chopped the cap off and splashed water all over the Lethal-Liquid, causing Snidely to fall into Plasmeus’s arms. The instant Plasmeus caught him, Snidely howled as if he was burned and leaped out of Plasmeus’s hands and Crashed into the ground. And I couldn't help but smile.

Looking back at the ceiling, I noticed the slime began growing smaller and smaller, making a low gurgling noise as it did so. The noise got fainter and fainter over time until the slime vanished from my view entirely. “ Luckily for little snidely here, Lethal Liquid can only be stopped with natural water not made from a magical being”

I rolled my eyes and Plasmeus started talking once again, “ Anyway I was about to tell you two your punishments. It appears to me that you two hate eachother greatly and so naturally the best punishment would be to have you be with eachother for a few days. But since that isn’t very physically demanding I’ll just have you run all around the island”.

My heart sank when I heard the punishment. “ The island?!” me and Snidely cried out in unison. “But we’ll die!” Plasmeus nodded his head vigorously before saying: “Well yes sure but only if you two don’t cooperate. I’m basically forcing you to work together” Snidley was about to turn around and leave before, swift as lightning, Plasmeus stared at him with an icy stare and he was wrapped in a crackling ball of flame right before my eyes and sent crashing through the door and into the hallway! I could faintly hear the screams of other people in the hallway.

I began wheezing uncontrollably and backed up against the wall a wall. At least I knew he wasn’t dead, he was just converted into flame much like that other boy was with Zhou. which that I think about it, would mean he would be dead but only temporarily. Still pretty scary though I must admit. Plasmeus flicked the ball of electricity and sent it rocketing through the wooden door and presumably out the building and into the island. Plasmeus turned to me and raised a finger to my nose. Fear spread across my brain like wildfire. My entire body was begging for me to love but I just couldn't move, as if I was a bug stuck in tree sap. All I could do was plead. “Wait please do-“ I was cut off as my body was converted into lightning. I couldnt even feel my flesh distort and turn into lightning. I was nothing, I was just...lightning. And that is how I Luke Sarid, had died...momentarily.