Milo stared at three freshly made graves laid side by side in the dirt. His parents had a closed casket funeral for obvious reasons. His sister meanwhile was missing, but at what point does a child go missing in the middle of a gate opening and survive? Chances are her body was just fully devoured or dissolved before the Awakened could even reach her body. The funeral had long been over, almost everyone else had gone home.
Some of his relatives insisted on staying with Milo, he could tell they find it weird he hadn't shed a tear, but Milo had sent them off by saying he wanted a few private moments with them.
Now that he had that private time, he had no idea what to say. Where did he even start? Did he apologize for his absence? Did he thank them for what they had given him? His fathers parting words appeared in his mind. The warmth they brought was amplified by his flaw, it was the only comfort he had in this moment.
It's not like he could be sad for too long anyway. After the initial shock of his parents death had disappeared, sadness came and went. Milo could feel it rise in him, a breath hitched, a tear fallen, a shaky hand. Yet it never stayed long enough to let him sob, or to let his entire body shake. It was like his very soul had forgotten how to grieve.
Milo tried his best to force it. To force himself to feel sad, to force himself to sob, to force his body to shake with frustration, yet it all came up empty handed.
Even now, he couldn't force it. In fact, the emotions seemed to be stamped out harder the more intense they were. All he could do was sit their and stare.
"I'll make it up to you guys. I'll become the kindest soul their is mom and dad, I'll be strong enough to protect others. I'll climb the Dreamscape ranks and meet Queen Bee for you Lucy. If I'm lucky I might even beat her." Milo murmured with a light smile. With that, he sat up and took a deep breath.
Milo spent the remaining time he had helping his relatives pack his family's things and to pack his own belongings and prepare for the Awakened Academy.
That all led Milo to now, standing at the gates of the Academy. They were certainly daunting, and as the bridge to cross lowered, Milo found himself unsurprisingly optimistic. He took small note of the ten other Sleepers who were joining at the same time.
Most seemed to be from the same background as him, one or two seemed to be legacies considering their attitudes. One especially looked strange with her pale white skin and crimson eyes. The same legacy suddenly turned to face him, and Milo quickly dodged the look.
He saw her scrutinize him out the corner of his eye for a moment before turning back towards the gate. Milo tried his best to ignore it, and his Innate Ability certainly helped with the process. Emotions like self esteem and worry? Not a problem, they got thrown right out the door.
'It actually has much more uses then I thought.'
Things like that plagued Milo much more then expected, he found himself talking more, helping more, participating more. His everyday life had significantly improved thanks to most of what held him back disappearing. Training was much more productive, trying new things felt fulfilling. All his embarrassment had been shed away.
However, Milo had been prone to more accidents, caution had also been shed away. He didn't have a gut feeling anymore, he didn't have an instinct to tell him a bad idea was a bad idea. By all means it was a double edged sword.
Regardless of, Milo was sure it wouldn't be too bad. It wasn't like he could fret over it much longer before it was forcibly removed either way. The Sleeper part of the compound was smaller then Milo had expected. But it was still sizeable, and most of it was likely underground like most buildings nowadays.
Milo was led to a hall with a huge crowd of Sleepers. Milo could roughly estimate maybe eighty in this crowd? Milo found himself a seat within the venue. It was isolated enough, and Milo felt like lounging around before he started working hard.
'Since when was a little rest such a bad thing?'
It never was! That was the best part!
Milo rested his head on his crossed arm. Luckily, he had been fortunate enough to be here just mere hours before the induction of all these Sleepers occurred.
Milo then heard something to his right, he looked up to see that same legacy from earlier that had scrutinized him. She was looking at him again with that same look, only it seemed to have more disdain in her eyes. The sound was her bumping into a chair...
'What is this lady's deal? Actually, its none of my concern. I don't need to worry about it.'
Milo's Innate Ability had failed to make him notice that the chair had nearly broken from the small impact of her bumping into it.
The rest of the wait went on without a hitch. Eventually a tall man in a dark blue uniform appeared on stage.
"I am Awakened Rock. Sleepers, welcome to the Academy."
***
Milo heard as Awakened Rock went through the difference between the Dream Realm and the Nightmares. Milo had already heard about it from the streams he would watch of Awakened Dreamscape creators recounting tall tales, but it was still helpful to know that he could run into an Unholy Titan and implode before his body registered anything.
'It's better then dying a slow and miserable death, right?'
Milo then found his dorm and signed up for his classes. He dabbled in a bit of everything along with leaving some free time in the afternoon for personal training. He didn't plan on using his prosthetic in combat class. As helpful as it was, it was also limited, he was better of learning how to fight without it, then spend his free time experimenting with its limitations and applications.
'Stick to your routine, learn your limits, don't waste a second. Shouldn't be too hard.'
Milo started to unpack his belongings. Things such as clothes and journals and merch. He paused when he came to a framed photo of him and his family, they were all gone now. Milo had let his relatives keep the rest, this was the only one he kept. Mostly because it depicted all of them, smiling with joy at a theme park.
Milo smiled once again, he could feel the bitterness enter and leave his mouth. He could feel the sadness begging to be let in only to be stomped away by his Innate Ability.
'It would be better if that thing worked faster.'
After he finished unpacking the rest of his belongings, Milo sat down on the dorm bed. A sweet sense of relief washing over him, this was his home for the time being, he better take full advantage of it.
***
The next few weeks became a routine. Combat classes in the morning, Nightmare Creature Biology and Runic Language Study in the afternoon, evening time was used to his own discretion, mostly testing out the prosthetic and fighting with it.
He had learned the habits of other people in fighting. He had discovered his own negative habits and how to fix them. It was difficult adjusting to fighting without an arm, but his memory of the cabins seemed to come back with each improvement he made. He was reinforcing and solidifying the memories he spent into the cabin, the subconscious was becoming the conscious.
However, with those memories also came memories of his suffering, a negligible consequence thanks to his Innate Ability. Milo still felt off about the Innate Ability. Sure its benefits were many, but Milo had a feeling its drawbacks would come to bite him later, of course this anxiety was dismissed quickly.
Milo had also observed something else, and that was that legacy girl, otherwise known as Eva... she was unpredictable, in both behavior and combat. Especially in combat.
Milo had seen the way she fought in combat classes, and it felt unnatural, not like it was a strange style, but rather that she was a stringed puppet dancing to someone else's whim. She was a bad fighter, her stance was unnatural and rigid, her hands always gripped the hilt of her weapon much too hard. Yet she never got hit.
Milo had often been paired up with her in sparring, which he found quite humorous. Her fundamentals were so bad she was being put up against someone without an arm. Even then, Milo couldn't land a hit on her, it was those same rigid exaggerated movements to get out the way. This led Milo to an unexpected conclusion.
'She has some sort of foresight.'
Milo had put much thought into it, so much thought that even when he was sparring her he was still thinking about it.
Milo quickly threw out a thrust, his choice of weapon had been a short sword twenty-four inches in length. Milo needed something he could wield with one hand normally without worrying about weight, it was just a replacement for now until he found a more suitable one. Being versatile also played a part in it, you weren't guaranteed to get a weapon you want, and at best you could get a blacksmith to craft one, but that was expensive. Milo didn't have a lucrative background, and despite it all, he couldn't bear to sell anything his family owned.
It was just too precious to him, a part of him was relieved the reason didn't have to do with grief.
He also discovered the limits of his prosthetic, or limits he had set himself. Five minutes, five minutes was all he had before the prosthetic starts to heat up. That small flame from within grew larger and larger. Milo had pushed it to ten minutes, by then the heat was becoming uncomfortable, and a visible glow had appeared on the prosthetic itself.
The more exertion placed onto the prosthetic, the faster it heated up. Five minutes was the limit with exertion, Milo also tested it once without just for a control experiment. He doubted he'd ever have it summoned without putting exertion on it.
The actual capabilities seemed ridiculous, it was incredibly durable for one. Milo had decided to take one of the swords used in combat classes, and swing it against the prosthetic. It was like smacking a shovel against a rock, the vibration made his entire arm feel strange, the prosthetic was only left with a light scratch.
It's sharp fingers could also do something pretty neat, they could conjoin and become a very large sharp knife in their own way. Milo had tried it out on an apple he snuck out of the cafeteria from lunch. It pierced through without a problem, and he didn't even have to bother with the cleanup.
'Truly revolutionary technology... is it even technology? This thing feels like that old communicator my grandpa had for years that never broke. It's outdated but it still feels so reliable.'
Milo quickly returned to his senses as Eva threw out a slash, Milo blocked and redirected the motion. Milo then grabbed Eva's hand and tripped her over his foot. Whatever was keeping her from being hit seemed to finally fail as nearly tumbled to the ground. Milo secured his grip and made sure she didn't hit the ground entirely.
"If you grip to your weapon too tight on instinct, you won't be able to adjust in time." Milo instructed with a soft smile, helping her back to her feet. Eva didn't say anything, just nodded half heartedly before readying herself again.
'She's willing to learn, and that's never a bad thing.' Milo also readied himself.
The two exchanged controlled blows, Milo had already gotten a basic gauge of how to fight her without getting hit. Just stay overwhelming, whatever sense or foresight allowed her to predict attacks didn't seem to actually be able to control her body entirely. Essentially, she had a limit to how much she can handle.
Milo never pushed her too hard, though he found himself exerting more effort each time they sparred. She was improving steadily, it might not be enough for when the Winter Solstice arrived in six weeks.
Milo kept the pressure, with Eva narrowly dodging or blocking each attack. Milo raised an eyebrow as he noticed a change in her grip, then he smiled.
'She took my advice.'
Her grip wasn't as tight, it was looser, and it was definitely affecting her ability to block. She lost some holding power, but she would adjust soon enough.
Soon enough, the combat class came to an end. The two exchanged a polite bow before heading out.
Milo changed back into the clothes he had brought, a sigh escaping him. The rest of the classes were just note taking, Milo returned to his dorm for a quick break. He looked at the bed, he felt tired... and not in the good way.
Unfortunately, any emotion that wasn't good was stamped out. So, as usual, it disappeared, and Milo stepped back out.
'Actually, I never even checked out that memory.'
Milo decided to review the memory's abilities before he trained.
***
Eva stared at her runes once more. The more she looked at them, the more ridiculous they seemed... worse she wasn't "Eva", and yet she could barely remember her own name.
Name: Eva
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: [0/1000]
Memories: [Stone Blade], [Stone Shield] [Proof of Cooperation]
Echoes: ---
Attributes: [Destiny's Favor] [Stone Shell]
Aspect: [Destiny's Choice]
Aspect Rank: [Divine]
Eva didn't even bother glancing at her Aspect Ability, it would just be a headache to, quite literally.
'Just what am I going to do, only six more weeks and I've barely learned a thing... I could always ask him for help.'
Letting out a sigh, Eva stepped out of her dorm and started walking to the training area, there would be little problem with interfering since so much of the plan had changed already, right?
***
Milo had found out what the prosthetic was supposed to be.
'A shield, its essentially a very powerful shield.'
It was essentially a get out of jail free card, that was what Milo had deducted as he stared at Sleeper Allison, who was shaking her hand from the vibration of her blade hitting his prosthetic. Despite her combat oriented aspect of controlling the blood in her body, allowing her to strain herself much harder then most.
"That's one hell of an prosthetic you got there Milo, why don't you use it more often."
Milo shrugged. "I'd rather use it sparingly, you never know what Nightmare Creature you might run into out there in the Dream Realm, what if it destroys the prosthetic in one fell swoop and I only have my right arm? Either way thanks for following my request."
Allison smiled and shook her head. "It's no problem, I'll see you in Runic Study."
"See ya." Milo replied, dismissing his prosthetic. He would have to wait at least five minutes before it would be at full capacity again. He had only summoned it for two and a half.
'It seems to follow a pattern of requiring double the time used for recovery. Shouldn't all of this knowledge just come with the Aspect? This feels backwards, its an extension of my own body for gods sake why can I use it like I please?'
Milo almost let out a groan of frustration before the feeling disappeared. Then he felt another presence in the room he turned around to see...
"Eva? What're you doing here?" Milo was surprised, she had never shown up here before.
Eva looked around. "Teach me how to fight."
She demanded it, didn't even sound like a question, not even a please-
"Sure, why not?" Milo pointed towards the weapon rack. "Grab a weapon."
As Eva did so, Milo had one question in his mind. 'Teach her? How? In the hell am I supposed to teach her?'
Milo quickly turned and hid a sigh, then he turned back around and noticed her grip.
'It reverted...'
Milo felt his Innate Ability go to work as all doubt emptied out of his mind. He grasped the short sword he had.
'What a fool I was to worry, what's the worse that could happen?'
After all, bad habits took time to break. Surely she would improve with more time just like she already had
What a fool Milo was to think that was the case.