The Dream Sanctum: The Eternal World (3 page)

“All right. Let’s start with one of the easier
sections, like the relationship between neocortical gamma waves and conscious
activity. Of course, as you must already be aware, a gamma wave is a neural
oscillation that typically operates within a range of twenty-five to one
hundred hertz, though forty is the most common. This neural activity is most
common in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive functions
like complex cognitive behavior, personality expression and decision making.
The fascinating part is that this electrical activity is typically absent in
the minds of most normal dreamers during all phases of the sleep cycle, but
still present in the minds of lucid dreamers. This implies a causal connection
between cortex activity and dream awareness, possibly one that can even be
externally influenced. I personally think the possibilities for treating mental
disorders are promising, but don’t let me babble on, what do you think?”

Lindsay was silent for a moment, the
expression on her face showing that she was attempting to process this information
with all her might. Kwin looked at her expectantly until, finally, Lindsay
relented.

“Oh, fine. I’ll leave it to you geniuses to
do… whatever it is you do with that jumble of words,” Lindsay sighed.

Kwin only smiled, clearly enjoying her small
victory, and set the papers back into the stack.

“Right then,” Alastor said jovially, “last one
to the pool sits shotgun with Fred on the ride home!”

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than
the other three rushed by him in a mad scramble downstairs.

E
lla returned home later that
evening, looking exhausted but pleased to be home. As she walked into the
manor’s game room, Alastor scooted to the side to give her a spot on the couch
next to him. On the other side of the couch sat Kwin, who was deeply immersed
in a comic book. On the floor in front of them sat Lindsay and Kai who were in
the middle of a heated racing game. After just a minute, Lindsay thrust her
fist into the air.

“Yes! Three wins for me, zero for you.”

“Don’t get too confident yet, we’re going best
of seven,” Kai said.

“What? You said best of five!”

“That was before you beat me three times.”

Lindsay pushed Kai over in response as he
laughed.

Alastor set aside the tablet he had been holding
and put his arm casually around Ella’s shoulders.

“So how was your trip, sis? Are all your
friends still as annoying as I remember?”

“Oh, it was awful,” Ella answered
dramatically. “They have no idea what the Sanctum was so I decided to have
normal dreams for the few nights I was there. I didn’t remember how boring they
were until I got into the Sanctum. Oh, Alastor… I think there might be
something terribly wrong with me.”

“That does sound serious,” Alastor replied,
putting his hand to his sister’s forehead. “Ah, yes, I see the problem. You
look and feel completely normal. That just won’t do.”

“What can I do? Is there a cure?” Ella asked
desperately.

“They say laughter is the best medicine, and I
saw it on the internet, so it must be true.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever laugh again,” Ella
sighed, putting the back of her palm to her forehead.

“Nonsense, I’ve always known how to make you
laugh. Just watch.”

Alastor sat up on the couch and held Ella from
behind with one arm while tickling her mercilessly with his other hand. Ella
shrieked and struggled, instantly falling into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.
A minute later Alastor released her, and the siblings began attacking each
other with the couch’s thick, oversized pillows. From the side, Kwin sighed and
calmly set aside her book with an expression that said she was quite used to
such interruptions.

The fight only got worse as Ella accidentally
struck Lindsay in the back of the head with one of her pillows, causing the
younger girl to jump into the fray. Kai moved out of the way, choosing to sit
next to Kwin and watch with her.

“Tell me, Kai, what does it say about the
company I hold when I consistently feel like the oldest person in the room?”
Kwin said quietly.

“That you have good taste in friends,” Kai
answered simply, and Kwin smiled.

“Indeed. Ella is a welcome addition to our
group, even if I am slightly surprised at how similar to Alastor she is. Every
time I see her I expect to be met with Elvia’s quiet, logical demeanor, but
instead I see… well, that.” She nodded over at Ella, who was laughing so hard
she had developed hiccups. “If I’m to be completely serious, however, I
wouldn’t have it any other way. Alastor is my best friend in the world, so
getting to know someone so much like him can only be a good thing.”

Despite her feigned disapproval, Kai could see
that she was thoroughly enjoying the fun. As the battle before them went on,
however, she stifled a yawn. She stood up and the others stopped fighting to
look at her.

“It’s gotten too late for me to continue
babysitting you children, so I’m turning in for the night. If our plan is still
to meet on the Coliseum fields, please don’t keep me waiting for too long. Kai,
will you join me?”

It seemed more a demand than a request, but
Kai was happy to oblige. He had to admit, he was still honored when Kwin
invited him anywhere; she completely ignored the vast majority of the Sanctum’s
populace, and even then she liked spending plenty of time alone. He wasn’t sure
if he would ever get used to it, even if he was one of the few people who had
the privilege of meeting her in the real world as well.
I imagine most people in the Sanctum would faint from joy if they were
offered the chance.

Kai and Kwin departed to their separate rooms
with Lindsay’s assurances that she would be close behind following them down
the hall. Kai wasn’t sure how much he believed her, as only moments after he
closed his door did the sounds of pillow fighting resume.

It didn’t take long for Kai to fall asleep,
and he traveled swiftly to the small field that surrounded the Coliseum.
Unsurprisingly, Kwin was already there, and she smiled at him as he approached.

“I thought I might make sure the area was
clear before we unleash Ella onto the world, but it looks like I don’t need to
do anything today.”

She looked around the field, and Kai followed
her gaze. The field was completely empty, save for two people on the opposite
end who appeared to be taking a walk along the forest’s border. Upon noticing
Kwin’s arrival they waved and started to make their way over, but Kwin simply
shook her head and they turned back to their original path.

For a few moments there was silence as Kai and
Kwin looked around the field. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, mostly
because Kai knew that was what Kwin preferred, but he also wanted to take
advantage of their time alone. He rarely got the opportunity to talk to her
one-on-one anymore, and he missed it. He found that when they were all together
Kwin often avoided discussing personal matters, but she let her guard down
around him. It was a good feeling – that she trusted him enough to do so meant
a great deal to him.

Kai’s mind wandered, and he thought about what
they might try to teach Ella that day. He had never seen her do anything more
than simply exist inside the dream world, and he wondered if she could ever
match up to Elvia. He remembered Elvia’s brilliant skills with her sword, the
flash of flame that always announced her appearance, her silent demeanor that
was always broken whenever Lindsay was around…

“Hey… can I ask you something?” he asked. At
Kwin’s nod, he continued, “I’ve been thinking about Elvia a lot lately, and I
was just wondering if you thought… is it weird that I miss her?”

To his surprise, Kwin shook her head without
hesitation.

“Not at all. I feel the same way myself. We
may tell ourselves that she wasn’t real and that she never existed, but that is
all irrelevant. She was a good friend to us all and someone we spent many
months with. It is fitting that we should miss her given the relationships we
built with her, and anything less would be an insult to her memory. However
illogical they may sometimes seem to be, our feelings should not be dismissed
solely because they are feelings. In short, whether she was real or not is
immaterial. She was a friend to us, and that is all that matters.”

It was a comforting thought, and Kai
immediately felt better, though some of his concern was replaced by guilt.
Since Elvia had disappeared for the last time, he had tried to avoid thinking
about her, worrying that feeling sad about someone who never existed would be
strange. He owed her much more than that.

“On a completely unrelated subject, what do
you think about Alastor’s idea to confront the Sanctum’s sad excuse for a
research institution in the Golden Capital?” Kwin asked suddenly.

Kai looked at her.

“Are you asking for my opinion?”

“I am. Do you find your opinion unworthy?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just… I’m so
accustomed to being the one asking you. You’re the one with the answers.”

“Occasionally I deign to request the opinions
of my inferiors. Just for amusement, you know,” Kwin said indifferently, but
then laughed. “Don’t be so surprised. You’re smart, you’re my friend, and I
trust you. I appreciate getting a second opinion from you.”

Kai would never admit this to her, but he felt
a swell of pride upon hearing those words.

“Well honestly, I think it’s brilliant,” Kai
replied. “I mean, I don’t know much about them, or the situation… or anything
about this, actually. But I do know they’re giving you trouble, so you should
get them back. Do it like only you can. Public humiliation seems right up your
alley. Make them feel so ashamed they’ll be scared to ever fall asleep again.”

Kwin grinned widely in approval and patted him
on the arm.

“Yes, you are a good friend indeed.”

Before either of them could say anything else,
Lindsay and Alastor arrived, followed closely by Ella, who crash landed
spectacularly face first. Lindsay gasped and ran to her side as Alastor doubled
over with laughter.

“I told you we should give her more than ten
minutes of flight training!” Lindsay shot at him as she helped Ella to her
feet.

“Don’t be silly, she’s great at flying! It’s
just the landing bit that needs work, but that’ll take some time. She has a hard
enough time walking,” Alastor replied, still chuckling.

“That didn’t hurt at all!” Ella exclaimed
happily, and Lindsay looked torn between her concern for Ella and confusion at
the fact that she currently seemed overjoyed to have crashed face first into
the middle of the field.

“All right, let’s get started, Ella,” Alastor
said, gesturing at Ella to stand next to him. “We’re going to start with
movement, like running and flying and teleporting and all that good stuff.
Essentially, before you start on anything else, you want to make sure you’re
comfortable with your body and your abilities here in the dream. If you aren’t
comfortable enough to move around, you aren’t good enough to carry a sword or
set things on fire.”

Ella looked disappointed, but continued to
listen as Alastor continued.

“This is the same sort of lesson I gave Kai
and Lindsay way back in the day. You can fly, even if your landing is really,
truly awful – don’t look at me like that – but now we should work on more than
just flying in a straight line. That’s why I’ve reserved this entire field for
your practice!”

“Oh, that’s so sweet! You reserved the entire
field just for me?”

“Technically, no. But I invited Kwin here to
glare at anyone who tries to come close, and that’s essentially the same thing.
At any rate, here’s how we’re going to start.” Alastor turned to face the field
and clapped his hands twice. Ten massive rings appeared in midair at various
points at heights over the field, and above each one was a number. “It’s an
obstacle course! Just fly through the rings in order. Take it slow at first
while you get used to your wings, you’ll want to work on being agile before you
focus on speed. Well, go on!”

Ella looked absolutely delighted, and she is
quickly in the air, supported by a pair of sleek, black wings. For a split
second Kai almost thought he was looking at Elvia again – that is, until Ella
collided with the side of the first ring and fell to the ground.

“Don’t worry, we were all there at some point!
Keep trying!” Alastor called, then turned to the others. “I don’t think any of
us were ever at that point, but let’s be encouraging. You might not think it,
looking at her knocking into things like a moth near a light, but she is
brilliant.”

Soon enough, Ella soon passed through the first
ring, and though she overshot the second ring, she seemed to be getting the
hang of flight relatively quickly. Kai remembered his own flying lessons and
smiled as he recalled Lindsay getting stuck in a pile of feathers as she
attempted to give herself wings. All credit to Ella, she appeared to have her
method down already.

This went on for ten minutes, Ella’s friends
shouting encouraging words at her as she flew, and Kai noticed a definite
improvement. Alastor seemed to notice as well, because he stepped forward.

“All right, now you’ve got the hang of it,
let’s make it a little more difficult!” he clapped his hands again and the
rings vanished, appearing in completely different places. This time, however,
they were also noticeably smaller.

Ella looked concerned for a moment, but darted
forward anyway. Fitting through the smaller rings was harder, but she didn’t
miss a single ring.

“See? I told you, she’s great,” Alastor
remarked proudly. “Let’s hurry this up, I’m getting bored.” The rings changed
again, and Ella gave a shriek of surprise as one appeared right in front of
her. Once again they had become smaller, and this time Kai wasn’t sure how
anyone with wings would be able to fit through them.

“Alastor, how on earth am I supposed to–?”

“Hang on, I’m not done.” With another clap of
his hands, the rings burst into flame. “The fire challenge! Now all you have to
do–”

“Alastor!”

“Oh, all right, fine. You passed the first
test. Get down here.
Carefully
.”

Ella’s landing was unsteady, but she managed to
land on her feet instead of her face. She looked incredibly pleased with
herself, and Alastor beamed at her.

“Great job, you’re on a roll. Now we can
practice teleporting. That’s truly advanced stuff, but you’re a genius, you’ll
get it. Come with me and I’ll show you the best way to…”