A few minutes later, Miguel was dressed in a clean, police-issued tracksuit and walking toward the cafeteria. Master Jet was already there, sitting at one of the tables with two trays of steaming synthetic food in front of her.
"Help yourself," she said.
Miguel glanced at the food. Cheap gruel—nothing too different from what he used to eat back in the outskirts. He sighed. Somehow, he'd expected his first meal as a Sleeper to be a little more special.
Still... food was food. He sat down and started devouring the gruel like a starving man.
Jet raised an eyebrow, then spoke.
"Alright. Are you almost done?"
Miguel nodded, mouth still half full.
"Good. Then I'll start. As per protocol, I'm required to inform you of a few things. Mostly just formalities." She paused. "First off, about your Nightmare..."
She gave him a sidelong glance and let out a soft sigh.
"You're entitled to receive free psychological counseling. Whatever you went through in there, there's no shame in asking for help. Your mind's just as important as your body—it deserves to be taken care of. Are you interested?"
Miguel scoffed lightly and shook his head.
"Not really. Sounds like an excuse to dig into my head. I'd rather keep all that to myself... at least until I'm strong enough to survive any ambush."
Jet raised an eyebrow but didn't push. "As you wish. You can talk to me, though. Was it very hard?"
"It wasn't that bad. The hardest part was getting through the damn trial without being able to sleep properly."
Jet leaned back. "Fair enough. So... what happens now?" Miguel asked. "What else do you have to tell me?"
Honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to do next. The winter solstice was just a few weeks away.
Jet nodded thoughtfully. "That's pretty much it. There are a few more things related to your family, but..." she trailed off, glancing at him, "I read your file. Doesn't apply."
She looked at her communicator and grimaced.
"Still, I've gotta say—your timing sucks. You don't have much time to prepare. First of all, you're free to do whatever you want. No one's going to force you to make a specific decision. If you want, you can spend the next weeks partying until the lights go out."
Miguel chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, no. Not my thing. Besides, I can't afford to slack off. The Spell's going to try and kill me every damn second—I need to be ready."
"Wise choice," Jet said, nodding approvingly. "As a Sleeper, you're entitled to enroll in the Awakened Academy. You'll get food, a place to stay, and access to a variety of prep classes. It's already late in the year, so you won't learn much... but it's better than nothing."
She paused for a moment, then added:
"More importantly, you'll get to meet the people you'll be entering the Dream Realm with. Some of them might end up being your closest companions."
Miguel leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"Sounds like a decent place to figure people out, huh?"
Jet smirked. "Yup. A place full of kids dying to know everything about you."
Miguel stood in front of the massive, seemingly indestructible red gates of the Awakened Academy. The place was less a school and more a fortress—an entire city within the city. Its towering alloy walls, deep moats, and oversized turrets created a deadly air-suppression dome that could fend off even colossal Nightmare Creatures. Or so they claimed.
Snow fell in slow, lazy flakes around him. The world was quiet. Cold.
Besides Miguel, only two others waited at the gates.
One was a tall, slender girl around his age. She had strange, silver-white hair cut short and neatly parted, with calm gray eyes and an aloof look that said "don't bother." She wore the same police-issued tracksuit as him and had no personal belongings. A pair of old-school headphones sat on her head, music playing as she ignored the world.
The other was a small boy with messy black hair and sharp black eyes. He wore the same tracksuit, also without belongings. For a moment, Miguel could swear the boy's shadow moved on its own before syncing back to him.
On the way here, Master Jet had given Miguel and the black-haired kid three pieces of advice:
Don't reveal anything about yourselves.
Join the wilderness survival class.
No one survives the Dream Realm alone.
Typical cryptic mentor stuff.
Without saying a word, the silver-haired girl walked toward the gates. Shaking off any hesitation, Miguel followed her. The black-haired boy trailed behind.
Inside, the building was wide and brightly lit. Miguel, the black-haired boy, and the silver-haired girl were led to a massive hall. Over a hundred young men and women—Sleepers, just like them—were already gathered, waiting for the induction ceremony.
Everyone looked nervous. Excited. Terrified.
Miguel wasn't in the mood. The Nightmare had taken a toll on him—physically, mentally. He drifted away from the crowd and sat on a bench in a quiet corner, hoping to ride out the ceremony in peace.
Then, a voice beside him.
"Hello? Is someone there?"
Miguel frowned. "Yup. Can't you see?"
"No."
He turned and noticed the girl next to him was blind.
"Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to insult you."
"Nah, it's fine," she replied, losing interest in the conversation as quickly as it had started.
Miguel sighed. "Cool. We're off to a great start."
From his quiet corner, Miguel had a clear view of the commotion happening near the center of the hall.
The black-haired kid—Sunny, if he remembered right—had just been slapped by some girls around Miguel's. Everyone was staring at him like he'd grown a second head.
Apparently, the kid had a thing for saying whatever popped into his brain. No filter. No tact. Just brutal honesty.
After a few minutes of awkward exchanges, he gave up on socializing and made his way to Miguel's corner, plopping down next to him and the blind girl.
Miguel raised an eyebrow. "Why are you acting so weird? Was your Nightmare that bad and this is your way of coping?"
Sunny shrugged. "Not really. I'm just telling the truth."
Miguel narrowed his eyes. "Why do you care so little? I know we're childhood friends, but that was a long time ago."
Sunny looked at him, confused. "You really don't remember? I'm Sunless—but everyone calls me Sunny. Back in the outskirts, we were like brothers."
Miguel rubbed his temples. "Damn. The Spell really did a number on my memory. It's all foggy. Guess I'll think of this as getting to know you again." He offered a small smirk. "Name's Miguel, by the way. Nice to meet you. Again."
A few minutes later, small groups started forming across the hall.
The silver-haired girl still sat alone, music in her ears, completely unfazed by everything. No one dared approach her.
Off to the side, a boy with brown skin and dark straight hair—maybe a Legacy, judging by the way he carried himself—was surrounded by curious onlookers. Typical.
But far away from all that noise were three people: Miguel, Sunny, and the blind girl, whose name Miguel still didn't know... because he hadn't worked up the nerve to ask.
Sunny groaned. "When's this damn ceremony gonna start?"
As if summoned by his frustration, a towering man in a dark blue uniform appeared on stage.
The dude was massive. Like, unnaturally massive. Sunny leaned over and whispered, "Do you think his mom hooked up with a bear?"
Miguel snorted. "Bears went extinct, dumbass. But I see your point."
The man—Awakened Rock, apparently—ignored the whispering and looked over the crowd with the kind of gaze that made people sit up straighter.
"I am Awakened Rock. Sleepers, welcome to the Academy."
Silence.
"In less than a month, you will be summoned to the Dream Realm. Some of you think you're ready. You're not. The Spell is merciless. The moment an Awakened gets cocky, they die. I've seen Sleepers like you drop like flies. I've seen Masters fall. Even Saints aren't safe."
He let those words hang in the air like a blade.
"For the next four weeks, we'll do everything in our power to give you a fighting chance. You'll be trained by the best instructors alive. But don't get the wrong idea—whether you live or die depends on one thing: you."
Miguel could feel the fear creeping into the room. Most of the Sleepers were looking at each other, their bravado cracking. Except for the Legacies—they just looked bored.
"You're not kids anymore," Rock continued. "Which is a damn shame. But the Spell chose you, and that's that. Your parents, your teachers, your friends—they can't help you now."
Miguel and Sunny shared the same silent thought:
Haven't had any of those in a long time.
Most of Rock's speech went in one ear and out the other for Miguel. He already knew the important bits. The rest was just dramatic fluff.
Finally, Rock concluded:
"That's all for today. Follow the instructions on your communicators to find your dorms. Once you're settled, head to the cafeteria for late supper. There'll be interviews to help finalize your curriculum. Get some sleep. Training starts tomorrow."
Miguel stood, stretched, and looked over at Sunny. He gave him a nod before turning toward the exit.
All he wanted now was to crash. A real bed. A proper nap.
God knew how long it'd be before he got another one.