"Are you really okay with horror?" Lucas grunts as he hands me the money for the tickets.

We've just finished discussing which movie we're going to see after arriving at the theater. It's a pretty cloudy day, the clouds overhead thick and dark enough that I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be able to see if it weren't for the lights of the city around us.

There's more of them here in the middle districts than back in the lower districts, and I've noticed something else. I felt a little bit more energetic, a little bit stronger, before we entered the brighter areas.

Do I gain strength in darkness, too? Am I beginning to notice this sort of thing because of my training? Have I always gained strength in darkness, or is it something that developed because of my training? A power that awakened on its own as I begin to grow stronger, myself.

"You like horror," I say. "And nothing seems interesting to me from the genres I do have an interest in, Lucas. I'll just avoid looking at the screen."

"You'd make a terrible vigilante or Sivalshi Guardian," he mutters.

Does he know?

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I know you probably want to be a Sivalshi Guardian," he grunts. "As much of a fan of the Patron as you are. Hell, I know you probably want to double as a vigilante once you find out if you got the security job or not. That's probably why you were wondering about only focusing on martial arts and shadow-walking as prep."

Oh. He just knows I'd find those jobs appealing. Thank goodness, I'd wondered for a moment if he somehow found out that I'm training in preparation to potentially become a Sivalshi Guardian. Right, there's also the fact that he probably wouldn't be able to learn it directly, either. Not if the Patron hides information from people.

"To be blunt with you," he says. "It's a bad idea. A security job, too, but it's not as bad as vigilante or Sivalshi Guardian. For those, you'll definitely face horrible things, things straight out of horror movies. You'll have to kill at times, and there will be blood, gore, and other stuff. You're a pretty bad fit for that, I don't think you can handle it."

Could he be right?I don't really think so. There's a pretty big difference between a movie that's designed to instill a sense of fear or terror in someone and getting into a fight with someone who wants to kill me.

Or who I'm trying to kill. I'm not sure how easy the latter will be, but if the Patron has faith in me, then I'm going to do my best to follow through.

"There's a difference between movies and real life," I tell Lucas, slightly annoyed that he has so little faith in me regarding this. "Besides, I don't even know how I'd go about becoming a Sivalshi Guardian, and, uh, I'm pretty sure it'd take at least a couple of years of intense training to manage that. Sure, I can teleport, but it's pretty limited and that's about it."

"Yeah, it is," he says. "Don't go looking for a way to become a guardian, even after you're stronger. You'd just become a slave to-"

He clamps his jaw shut, probably realizing that his comment would lead to another argument between us. That's progress.

"Two for the movie we discussed," he says. "Then buy the same food as last time."

"Back in a minute," I tell him, then approach the ticket counter.

After buying the tickets, we head inside and get the tickets checked, then I order us each the nachos and soda combo, because I'm pretty sure that's what we ordered last week, but I can't remember for certain. Lucas doesn't complain when I return with them, so I'm going to assume I ordered right.

We make our way to the appropriate theater, another employee making sure we've paid for this one, then Lucas and I take our seats at the back of the theater.

"So," I say. "Why is there a second person checking our tickets when we enter the theater? They already have the one doing it outside."

"Some people like to sneak into movies they haven't paid for," he answers. "Sometimes after finishing the one they did. Some people sneak past the first checker to avoid paying. So some theaters hire additional people just to ensure the views are paid for."

He stuffs nachos in his mouth, which probably means he's done talking for now. Just in case, I wait for the movie to start playing, eating my own nachos and drinking my own lemonade while waiting. Once the movie starts, I put earplugs into my ears, then close my eyes and lean against Lucas.

This way, I won't hear what's going on and won't be terrorized by the sounds. Deciding to rest a little, I pull my hood up and bury my face against Lucas. A few minutes pass before Lucas's arm wraps around me in that comfortable manner he did last time. Just like then, he probably hasn't realized he did it.

With the lights dimmed in here, I notice the rise in my energy, the slight increase to how strong I feel. Yes, I'm definitely getting stronger in the dark. That brings up my earlier question, though: have I always had this ability and it's only becoming more noticeable because my strength and energy levels are increasing, or is it something I've developed because of my training?

I definitely drift off because at some point, I find myself surrounded by darkness. Not a blanketing kind of darkness, but more of it's just dark here. Too dark to see. Instead of leaning into Lucas the way I was, I'm also standing, something prickling against my feet. My bare feet, as I'm naked here. The air is a little chilly, too, sending goosebumps across my body.

This is a lucid dream, right? I don't think I've ever had one before. If I have, I don't remember it.

Can I control things in lucid dreams? Focus, I try to visualize a lamp on a table, the lamp lit up. A moment later, one appears before me. Yeah, this is definitely a dream. What's going on here?

The light of the lamp illuminates the area around it, revealing something green growing out of the ground. That's the thing that's prickling my feet. Kneeling, I reach down and feel it with my right hand. Is this grass? There's none here in the lower districts, so I haven't seen it for real before, but I have a vague, distant memory of a picture or video or something that had grass in it.

Standing once more, I take around me. All I can see is the grass, only the stand, lamp, and myself here beside it. Looking down, I examine my body. This is definitely based on my real one, as much as I hate it. Aren't dream selves supposed to reflect our ideal version of ourselves? Why does mine look like me?

Being scrawny as heck isn't exactly my ideal self. Lean and toned, that's how I want to be. A couple of weeks of training isn't enough to give me that build. Heck, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to have noticed a difference in my body yet. Sure, I've gotten a little bit stronger and faster physically, but it'll probably take some time for my body to show those changes.

So far, the only real change is that I actually am starting to have an increased libido. And in just two weeks, I've noticed a difference in my dick size. To be honest, I noticed it while showering after training yesterday because I was pretty hard and needed to take care of it. I didn't, not at the center. When I got home, I took a shower to take care of it somewhere warm, and I measured it because it seemed a little bigger.

Back when I started training, I was 6.1" long and 1.6" thick. I'm now about 6.3" to 6.4" long, having grown roughly a quarter of an inch in half a month. Lucas said that during the growth spike, a power user's dick can grow up to half an inch a month. Am I hitting that? What will my final size be? Since he said that our final size is between eight and nine inches long and at least two inches thick, I'm sure I've gotten thicker down there, too.

That's kind of weird, though. Didn't he say it depends on how often and regularly we use our powers? I can barely do anything with mine, so it shouldn't have grown this much already. Or does how much we can do also affect it? Does something else affect it, too? Is the fact that I'm training at the optimal for power growth the reason I'm hitting what he said was the upper limit of growth?

Yes, despite me having forgotten plenty of what he told me, I remember what he told me about what I should know about power users, back when we met. I'm an eighteen-year-old guy, of course I'd remember being told that being a power user means I get a bigger dick and have wonky biology.

Huh. Now that I think about it, I'm hard in this dream. Was I already hard, or did I get hard because I was thinking about the only part of me that's not in need of improvement?

Whatever the reason, I should figure out what's up with this dream. It's so… bland. Why is my first lucid dream something so plain? Why does it involve grass? Why am I not in the form of my ideal self?

Something catches my attention. The shifting of shadows at the edges of where I can see. Perhaps if I summoned orbs of light?

Just as soon as I think that, orbs of light fill the air, scattered about. Each orb is the size of an orange and emits a pale yellow light in a radius of about ten feet. It's enough for me to see that the grassy field extends for awhile. This dream is probably an outdoor one.

Looking around, I spot what looks like playground equipment. There aren't any parks near where I live, but I remember hearing about them and their playgrounds. I walk toward it, moving some of the orbs of light with me.

Swings, slides, some sort of construction that's probably meant for children to play on, a round platform with bars on it that I can't understand the purpose of, and a few other things. This is definitely a playground, right?

Focusing on the swings, I will one of them to move, and it shifts forward a little, then swings back. I nudge it with my mind some more, playing around with the swing a fair bit, watching other things without being obvious about it. There's something here in this dream with me, and with the fact that powers exist, I'm going to guess that this isn't completely a dream.

Not mine, anyway. Whatever or whoever else is here with me, they've caused this. A power user? Or a beast that managed to make it onto Sivalshi's back without being noticed or caught by the guardians? Something that's been slumbering for awhile?

I walk over to the swings and take a seat on one, keeping my feet planted firmly on the ground, moving the swing back and forth just a little by bending and straightening my knees. Eventually, I manage to see what it is that's here with me.

It's a shadow. Literally a shadow that's moving around on its own. For the most part, it's keeping out of my light, but every now and then, it enters, allowing me to see it.

Is this a power user trying to scare me? Or the form of some creature that's connected to my dream self?

"Hello," I greet my dream companion.

"Hello?" A voice speaks into my mind.

It sounds male, not much different from someone my age. Young, but not a child. It sounds hesitant, uncertain. An image flashes in my mind, a vision of two people approaching each other, saying 'hello', then shaking hands before giving a hug. An impression of greeting. A question.

Did I just get asked if I was performing a greeting? Either it's a powerful child or it really is some sort of creature.

"Yes," I respond, just a little bit hesitantly.

"Yes?" It asks, then an impression of affirmation, a vision of a child nodding their head.

I nod in response to that, so that the other can tell it's confirmation.

"Yes," it responds more certainly this time.

"I'm Kieran," I say. "That's my name."

"Name?" It asks. "Identifier?"

Its last question comes with the sound of several names echoing in my head, followed by people introducing themselves. So it does know some things already, then? I'm starting to lean more towards a beast that's loose nearby than a child power user doing this.

"Yes," I answer. "My identifier is Kieran. What's yours? Do you have a name?"

If it's a child, it will probably answer this one easily. Most children I've seen like to tell people their names.

"My identifier?" It asks, and several moments pass. "I am nothing. Maybe something. Perhaps Shade? Memory bad. Shade old? Young? Uncertain."

An image forms in my mind, a young man my age, though 5'9" rather than the half-foot-shorter height I have. He's lean and toned, his hair black and eyes bright green. His skin has a light tan to it, something that's not common here on Sivalshi's back due to the turtle's tendency to stay in cooler areas. Just like me, he's completely naked, and he's just as hard, though bigger. I don't think he's supposed to be a 'better me', though. The image is accompanied by an impression of warmth and happiness.

In the vision, the man reaches forward and places his hand on a shadow, one which has taken the form of a wolf made of pure shadows. Nothing as vague and undefined as Shade seems to be. The wolf of shadows leans into his hand the way a dog would lean into a friend's.

"Nox named Shade," Shade tells me. "Friend. King of Shadows. Kieran… Master of Shadows. Young one. Younger than Nox. Descended of Nox."

Descended of Nox? Did he just show me an ancestor of mine? How long ago did he know Nox? What does he mean by 'King of Shadows'?

"I'm not really a master of shadows," I tell him. "My skill with them is pretty low. I can't even manipulate them. Right now, all I can do is move between them and get stronger in them, and the latter's something new to me."

"Master… future ruler?" Shade asks. "Am wrong?"

There's an impression in my mind, one of a circlet of black metal, set with black and grey gems, then it transforming into a crown. A throne made of stone as black as night. Crowds of shadows… are they bowing to it? They're shadows on a black stone floor, yet I'm getting the impression they're bowing to the throne. A deep sense of respect and loyalty.

"Ah," I say. "I think you mean 'Prince', Shade."

"Hm," Shade muses for a few moments. "Prince of Shadows. Master of Shadows. Both are you, you are both. Master Kieran. Master of Shadows."

I think it meant to say 'Prince Kieran' the first time. This is starting to make my head spin. Who was Nox? He just looks like a normal guy. Why does Shade think I'm his descendant? Because we both have black hair and green eyes and powers dealing with shadows?

Does 'King of Shadows' just mean someone who has control over shadows the way Lucas has control over light? Or greater control than that? It would explain the term. Someone who's a master at commanding the shadows can be considered their ruler, and a king is a ruler.

Then to that comparison, I'm just a prince of shadows, someone who has some authority with shadows, but not actual control yet.

"You can just call me Kieran," I tell Shade. "I don't feel like a prince or master or anything."

"I am Shade," Shade tells me. "What like?"

The broken question is followed by an impression of animals, an inquiry, a sense. I can tell what he's trying to ask.

"My favorite animal is the wolf," I tell him.

"Like Nox," the shadows making up Shade shift, coalescing and rising, taking on the form of the wolf I saw in the vision he'd sent me. "Nox like wolves. Liked wolves. Shade became wolf for Nox, but Shade can become many things. Shade is sleepy. Strength not recovered. Must rest more. Goodbye, Master of Shadows. We meet again."

The dream fades away, and I find myself waking up to Lucas gently shaking me, the lights in here on. It's blinding for a moment, and I notice him saying something, his lips moving, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. I push back my hood and pull out the earplugs.

"Oh!" He says. "I was wondering how you managed to fall asleep despite the noises that were probably disturbing to you. I guess that explains it."

"It doesn't hurt to come prepared," I tell him.

"No, it doesn't," he says. "The movie ended a few minutes ago and you weren't waking up. I thought something was wrong."

My dream with Shade either didn't start right away, or time in the dream was slower than time in reality. That was… strange and slightly surreal, to be honest. I just got contacted by an ancient shadow… thing. I'm not sure what it was, but I know for certain my brain didn't make it up.

"Thanks for being concerned," I tell Lucas. "I was… having a weird dream."

"I'm glad you're okay," he sighs in relief. "Let's head somewhere for lunch. I want to eat before training."

"Alright," I say, then stand and stretch.

Lucas does the same, and I can tell that despite his concern for me, he's still grumpy. His worry just overrode that for a bit.

I'm going to be ordering for us at the restaurant for sure.