Day was thrown over Nephis' shoulder just as quickly as any of the other Sleepers. He let out a loud grunt as he slammed into the mat beneath, and then sighed and lifted himself off of the ground slowly.
Day painfully dragged himself out of the ring as the dissonant chatter surrounding him bounced off of his scrambled mind. If Day was disliked before by the effervescent Sleepers, now all they had nothing but hatred for him.
"He lost so fast…"
"Is he really any better than any of the other Sleepers? To think he has a True Name."
"What a joke! He couldn't even contend against Changing Star for a second."
Day quietly walked over to the doors of the dojo and watched from a distance. He didn't plan on leaving, but he wanted to be one of the first people out of the door the moment class ended.
When every other Sleeper had been tossed over the rank one's shoulder, Caster stepped up to the ring and defeated Nephis with a bang by using his remarkable Aspect Ability. The plan he had to defeat the rank one crossed Day's mind, but that was mostly because he wasn't paying much attention.
All he was thinking about as Nephis was thrown to the floor was that this would be another reason for the Sleepers to hate him.
Day couldn't help but notice that Caster was still barely able to defeat her even with his terrible speed, so perhaps he was safe? Probably not, after all, they were all teenagers.
And teenagers were certainly a hateful bunch.
When Awakened Rock dismissed the class, Day made his way to the locker rooms and sat in the corner as people fawned over Caster for his triumphant victory.
Caster seemed discontent with their vivacious chatter, and even displayed disgust at a fellow Legacy who disrespected the rank one. Day was surprised at first, and then quickly became more than annoyed at how long it took for Caster to explain it, but when he did, Day's jaw dropped…
Because Nephis was a part of the Immortal Flame Clan, and to boot, she was the sole daughter of Broken Sword and Smile of Heaven.
Immediately after hearing that, Day felt less bad about losing so easily, but there was another reality that was realized in his racing mind shortly after.
'Didn't the Immortal Flame Clan…'
Before Day could continue to contemplate, Caster interrupted his thoughts and solemnly explained that Nephis was the only survivor of the shattered Immortal Flame Clan.
Day's heart sank for the girl. He could only imagine what her life must have been like, for her to be so powerful and well-trained despite having gone through the tragedy of losing both of her parents and watching as her once prosperous clan burned to ash.
'I guess I can't hold any hatred for her… If she's better than me, she's better than me- After all of that, maybe she does deserve her True Name.'
After learning that shocking information, Day left the locker room with a new outlook on the rank one.
"..."
The next few weeks passed by in a blur. Day stayed true to his word and trained diligently every single day. The only positive social interaction he had during that four week period was at breakfast, lunch and dinner. During classes, all he received was scorn. Everyone acted ignorant of his presence, and avoided him like he was a plague. The only one who didn't was Awakened Rock, but Day wasn't blind, he could see that the man wasn't particularly fond of the True Name bearer who didn't understand the basics of how to swing a weapon correctly.
Day consistently sat at the table of outcasts and talked to Cassia, the blind girl. There was one time during that four week period where Cassia asked him why nobody ever talked to him at lunch, considering he had a True Name.
Day just gave a funny remark in a silly voice saying that they were scared of him because of the amount of food he ate, effectively dodging the question and keeping up the blind girl's mood.
During that four week period, he learned a lot about the girl. He asked her about her family, about her aspirations, about her school life, everything that he could. Not a singular time did he ask her about how she felt about her blindness, and he did everything in his power to avoid talking about the dream realm. He dodged all of the questions about himself, thinking it too boring for a conversation. All he cared about was making sure that her life was peaceful and full of light until the inevitable day came when she would have to brave the Dream Realm.
After class, he spent a few hours each day silently practicing the techniques Awakened Rock was blessing them with on the wooden dummies lined up against the walls. He was also certain to keep a consistent workout routine even past just his class and after-class practice.
He had settled on using a spear for his training. That seemed like quite the peculiar choice, since the Spell seemed to love blessing its victims with swords, but Day had realized something crucial during that four week period, that he practiced every single day, even at times up until the mornings.
He really could create anything, as long as it stayed in his hand. The intricate sword that he created on his first day at the Academy that made him pass out was too much for his fickle mind to handle, but the simplistic design of the spear staff and the small, sharp blade was perfect for Day. He spent a sizable amount of time learning about the spear by asking around and studying replicas of the weapon that the Academy could provide him with.
By the end of the four week period, the spear he could make was certainly nothing special, being near the strength of the measly sword at the most, but it was a weapon. A weapon that took almost thirty seconds to conjure, but a weapon. If it got destroyed, he could get it back. He would need to survive, and he fervently hoped there would never come a time where he lost the conjured weapon in the middle of a battle, but he had an infinite source of weaponry if that happened and he escaped. That was a blessing.
After that time, he was able to avoid passing out when he made it. He was even able to shake off the dizziness after a few moments. This result was born by him slowly learning how to make the different aspects, such as the base and tip, individually, and practicing it until he could do so without getting dizzy. Then, he combined them into a full picture and created a spear.
Another thing he practiced creating was the sphere. He was trying to minimize the time that he could conjure it.
By the time the four week period came to a close, he was able to make it in four seconds. After that quick two second jump from the first few hours, his progress considerably slowed down. When it started to become especially noticeable, he cut the time in half that he spent working on the sphere; thinking it more important to perfect his lifeline.
Another thing plaguing his mind were the unknowns of what the Nightmare Spell had given him, but so far they hadn't shown up in his day to day life.
The Remnants of Kindness were one of those things. It stayed permanently planted at zero. He wasn't too worried about it, but he couldn't help but wonder what they really were each time he checked his runes.
The other was his flaw, which hadn't shown itself a single time. It was quite terrifying at first. He wondered if one day it would suddenly pop up and be a detriment to his life, but he stopped thinking about it after the first two weeks when things became especially busy for him.
Overall, he learned a lot.
That still wasn't able to prepare him for the dream realm, however.
When the day of the winter solstice came, he was unbearably tired. It was just like when he first entered his Nightmare. In fact, it was the exact same. He had no idea where he would end up. He had no idea if he would find any companions…
And even if he did find companions, who was to say he could even trust them?
At the very least, Day could feel proud of himself even if he died knowing that he tried his absolute best even under the baleful gazes of his fellow Sleepers.
That day, everyone was in low spirits. The cafeteria wasn't bubbly and loud, and nobody really seemed to have an appetite. The buffet was completely untouched and filled to the brim with delicious, fresh food.
Day didn't have a giant appetite, but he wasn't going to miss out on a good meal before he entered the Dream Realm. The first time, it was out of his control, this time, it wasn't.
When he walked over to Cassia and sat down, the girl really seemed to be in lower spirits than usual.
He tried to cheer her up, but it was to no avail. He probably didn't have much mirth in his tone, after all, he wasn't in a particularly good mood himself.
Midway through breakfast, Cassia looked over to the boy sitting at the end of the table and wished him happy birthday. Day was sort of surprised at first, since they hadn't talked a single time before from what he knew, but he followed in her lead and quietly wished the boy a happy birthday as well.
Day spent his time after breakfast practicing the techniques taught to him one final time in the dojo, this time with the spear he conjured out of his light. He didn't care anymore if someone saw him. So what if one or two people noticed him? It wasn't like they could spread the news to all of the Sleepers before they all split up, and he wanted at least some practice with his spears just so he could confirm that he could keep it sturdy even as he swung it. Something that he quickly learned was true. He expected it, but it was still a relief.
In the afternoon, Awakened Rock led the Sleepers and kindly introduced them to a row of people that the world called the Hollow. This introduction didn't seem to be a scare tactic, but rather something to motivate the Sleepers, but this had the opposite effect of what Awakened Rock may have expected.
For Day, the display that wasn't meant to scare them was the most effective of all at doing just that. There was a looming sense of dread that was creeping up his spine and threatening to explode in a maelstrom of emotion, but Day bit his lip, staying quiet as Awakened Rock spoke, while also staring solemnly at the people who were once likely full of life and hopefully facing tomorrow.
Whether they had a smile on their faces or not, it didn't matter, because now- They would never smile again. That fact was something Day hated. He hated the cruelty of the Nightmare Spell.
Even if he couldn't change the world... He had to help in some way. To prevent this fate from befalling more innocent souls.
Thirty minutes later, the Sleepers were all being led to their pods. When Day arrived, he traced his fingers along the pod with a deep frown lining his fair face.
"At least I trained diligently… All that's left is to dream, something I've done before… And something I can do again."
He stepped into the pod and leaned back. Then, he closed his eyes.
When he did, the Spell's dreadful, charming voice echoed in his mind.
[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Day!]