Prologue[]
The Academy is silent.
Until it is not.
“Return.”
A loud booming sound suddenly echoes throughout the concrete walls of the looming Academy, students grasping at pillars and screaming with sharp voices as the structure shakes, a bright violet light shining from the Great Hall. The silence is swallowed by the pleading cries of first years and alarmed orders of teachers.
From where the light originated from, a black haired boy watches through a crack in the doorway with wide, dark eyes. Six familiar figures fade from existence, right in front of the keystones that gave them their strength, the island’s beloved Wardens transforming into little white lights and spirits the color of their element, flickering off to their respective areas just as fast as they appeared. The Keystones dim and shudder, and the boy runs away, fear guiding his limbs to an exit.
In the same room, a seventh, darker figure allows themselves a wide, victorious grin.
“Reawaken.”
The floors tilt and the building shakes, the screams of hundreds of wizards rising as the Academy falls, no longer suspended by magic they took for granted. The rocky edges of the floating island slide into place at the crater just underneath, sharp ridges slotting into deep grooves and the ground trembling with the sudden change. From around the island, wizards, merlings, fairies, slimes–anyone that inhabited it could feel the earth quiver and see the large cloud of dust rise from the center, dark clouds slowly circling towards where the Academy once floated proudly.
“Revolt.”
Back in the hall of an Academy long since evacuated, six trainees stare at the empty space their mentors once stood in, horror etched into their faces. They turn to the Keystones, waiting for a power to save everyone, but the circle of gems disappear in a flash, scattered away. The figure turns to them, and they can only shrink back.
Nearby, an Academy Keeper is strewn across a bloodied floor, snapped golden chains and scattered blue dust of what was once an amulet next to his fallen body.
At the edges of the island, a thin violet layer begins to rise.
The barrier goes up.
The world is forever changed.
“Restore.”
The Restoration of the Wardens[]
Lane raised an eyebrow as he watched his friend do somersaults across the park, something Chase had been obsessed with doing—or at least trying—for the past week. The kid sighed. Even in his dreams, Chase was still like...this.
The redhead halted briefly and began rapidly somersaulting over towards Lane, stopping just before his friend.
"You're, uh, getting...better at those," Lane commented. Does it really count, though? Lane thought to himself. This isn't even the real Chase.
"Yeah, in a dream, it's pretty much a walk in the park!" Chase giggled in response.
Lane squinted at the comment and its associated pun for a brief moment, before rolling his eyes and walking away.
"Hey, wait up!" Chase piped, somersaulting after his friend at a horrifyingly fast pace.
Not too far away, a blonde haired boy wearing a hood was kneeling down in the grass, staring at the area around him in confusion.
It's so bright here.
Lucas got up from his knees, wandering around with no particular goal in mind until–
"Ow–hey, watch it!"
The boy froze from where he stood in the shade of a tree, holding his breath with wide eyes. A couple meters away, two boys were walking–well, one was walking and the other was... somersaulting–and chatting with each other, one of them with bright yellow hair and an annoyed look on his face, and the other a redhead with a wide grin.
Lucas stepped a little further out from the tree to get a closer look, but the yellow-haired boy whipped his head in his direction, meeting Lucas' yellow eyes with his own brown.
...Whoops.
Lane's brow furrowed. "He's new," he muttered to himself.
Chase stopped mid-somersault, now doing a handstand. "Hm?"
Lane subtly jerked his head over to the hooded blonde trying to hide behind the tree.
Chase looked over much less subtly and quickly skedaddled on over to the tree, still doing a handstand. "Hi! You look friendly! My name is Chase!" Chase chirped, shifting out of the handstand and onto his two feet again. "What's yours?"
Lane facepalmed.
"Um..."
Lucas shrunk back, scratching the side of his face awkwardly. "I'm... Lucas." He turned to Lane, blinking expectantly.
"Lane."
Lucas nodded, mouthing the names to himself to remember them. "Lane and Chase." He glanced between the two boys, the confused look coming back to his face. "...I don't know you guys, do I?"
Before either of them could answer, a sudden sneeze echoed from a cluster of trees nearby, a really pretty blue-haired girl stumbling out of the trees with her nose in the crook of her arm. The girl lifted her head and saw the three boys, blinking in surprise.
"...Hello?"
Lane turned to look at the girl and blinked. He then looked back at Lucas, back at the girl, then at Lucas again. Something pink caught the corner of his eye and he turned to Chase, who was turning increasingly red while rocking back and forth on his toes. He followed the redhead's gaze over to the blue-haired girl and raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"H-hi..." Chase stammered.
Hm, Lane thought to himself, Odd dream. For a moment, Lane considered forcing himself awake, but he had never seen the redhead at a loss for words, even in his dreams. You know what, I'll stick around for this.
The girl shot the red-faced kid an odd look, eyebrows furrowing. "Um... Who are you people? And what are you doing in my dream?" She glanced around at the park trees, confusion mounting even further. "And where are we?"
Lucas blinked once again. This is a dream? Why would I see people I don't recognize in my dream?
"Park!" Chase blurted out. "A park parked near our homes. Lane and me."
"Your dream?" Lane asked. "This is my—wait why am I arguing with dream people?"
"Me? A dream person? In your dreams," Chase added, missing no beats.
Lane lightly clonked Chase over the head with a knifehand.
"Hey!"
The girl stared incredulously at Lane. "But I'm the one dreaming here–who even are you three?"
Lucas waved, looking nervous. "I'm Lucas. Are you sure this is a dream? I really don't think we'd be seeing people we don't know if we were dreaming..."
Lane and the girl both turned to Lucas with an incredulous look in their eyes.
"You have no idea what sort of insanity can happen in a dream."
Lucas didn't look any less doubtful, but nodded slowly regardless. "Right."
"I'm Chase!" the redhead chirped, waving at the tall, blue-haired girl, yet seemingly unaware that his cheeks were still pink.
The bluenette nodded with a small smile and waved back. "I'm Samantha."
She glanced at Lane, about to ask for the blonde's name, when a large bush not too far away started rustling. The four of them tensed, and Lane carefully trudged forwards, glancing behind the bush and then jumping back from surprise. He then shook his head at himself for being startled in his own dream, and looked back down at the new stranger.
Dim, scarlet-tinged eyes stared back from behind the bush, some mix of an unreadable wariness and odd curiosity- an expression that remained unchanging while its owner, a cyan-haired boy giving off an odd chill, extricated himself from behind the bush in complete silence.
Lane stared at the boy—who also had a single green and brown maple leaf in his hair—blinked, turned around, and walked back over to Chase. Chase looked at his friend, then at the scarlet-eyed boy, who had captured the attention of the new group. "Hi! I'm Chase!" the boy piped. "What's your name?"
He received no response, aside from a silent, neutral stare.
"I'll just...put the intros to rest with you, then," Chase awkwardly added.
Lucas peeked out over Chase's left shoulder, relieved to see that the rustling was just another new person and not... a nightmare. He waved at the cyan-haired boy with a small smile. "I'm Lucas."
From the other side Samantha popped out, Chase jumping and turning bright red at her sudden proximity. "And I'm Samantha!"
A pair of eyes were once again staring at Lane expectantly–two pairs actually, since he'd never had the chance to introduce himself to Samantha either.
Samantha smiled and the boy nodded, seeming to pocket away the information for later. With the motion, Lucas managed to catch sight of the leaf woven into the boy's hair and stepped forwards, reaching out.
"Hey, you have a leaf stuck right... there!"
He plucked the browned maple leaf out, flicking it away into the grass and turning back to the stranger with a smile.
Rolling his eyes, Lane quietly walked away, leaving Chase glancing back and forth between him and Samantha, unsure of where he should go. Whatever, he'd just hang out with the real Chase in the day instead of a bunch of dreamed strangers.
Sitting up in his small, plain bed, Lane rubbed his eyes and looked at the white blinds covering the nearby window. No light was peeking through the gaps, meaning one thing.
It was still nighttime.
Seems like he had an hour or so left of sleep. Maybe he'd even get a new dream this time. So the boy closed his eyes and began dozing off.
Lane’s alarm went off, jolting the boy awake. And somehow, he felt even less rested than when he woke up a little over an hour earlier.
Harmony. Dammit.
Lane pressed his hands against his face in frustration, then forced himself out of bed and down the hall to get ready for the day. 20 minutes later, he said his goodbyes to his parents and walked outside and over to Chase's house, where the boy, against all odds, was actually outside and ready for school. ...well, he had forgotten to brush his hair, but that was a Chase constant.
"You're out early," Lane commented.
"Well, I didn't really want to get schooled by my mom this morning," Chase shrugged, heading down the worn, white and brown front steps.
Lane opted to ignore the pun, turning to walk down the street. "Well, while you're awake, let's just get to school before you somehow make us both late."
Their local school wasn't anything special. It was small with a limited amount of teachers, and more than enough students to overwork the majority. It wasn't anything like the Academy once was, or at least, that's what last year's history class implied.
At the front of said school was a black haired teenager with a blue streak in his hair, a blue sleeveless racing jacket, ripped jeans, and red sneakers. Next to him was a kid slightly younger than him, with brown hair, and orange racing jacket, and jeans that were still intact.
"Man, what took you guys so long?" said the older one. "It felt like we were waiting for hours."
"A single second is a minute to you," Lane scoffed.
"Hey, what you see is what you get!" Chase chirped. "Ansat's just a guy who loves adventure!"
Lane rolled his eyes. "And he apparently hates waiting for short periods of time."
"Damn right." said Ansat. "Anyways, me and Ben were thinking about ditching school to go spray paint Lamplight."
"By that he means him. I'm totally fine with staying here." said Ben.
"Yeah, we're staying here," Lane responded flatly, grabbing Chase by his left arm and pulling him inside the school.
"Whatever." said Ansat as he followed Lane.
To be completely honest, the day was just more of the same. Except, Lane couldn't stop his mind from wandering.
Who were those people?
He knew Chase of, course, but the other three in that dream...? He was sure he had seen none of them before. But the brain can't generate completely new faces during dreams, right? Maybe they were just amalgamations of faces he had seen before?
He looked over to his left at Chase, who was staring into space, per usual. Although, he could swear, the redhead was blushing a little.
Maybe he's thinking about that girl. Lane quietly chuckled to himself. Yeah, right. As if he was actually in that dream. But...who were those people.
He looked to his right at Ben, staring intensely at the young genius. Maybe he was one of the faces amalgamated...?
Ansat, who was walking to Ben's right, noticed Lane's expression.
"Hey, everything alright? You're looking more boring and glum than usual." he said.
Lane snapped back to reality. "I'm fine," he whispered, redirecting his attention to the blackboard, where the teacher was now wiping down a very long series of math equations. Lovely.
Ansat just wiped his wet hands on his jeans.
"Hey, you can tell me. Whether I understand or even care really depends, but I'll listen."
"Ansat, sit down," the teacher tiredly sighed. Almost immediately, the final bell of the school day rang. "Or not," the teacher muttered to himself, his voice drowned out by the rustling, footsteps, and voices of students beyond ready to leave. Lane nudged Chase with the back of his hand, bringing the boy out of his extended daydream. Chase looked up at Lane, who tilted his head towards the door.
"Oh!" Chase haphazardly started shoving his supplies in his backpack and quickly shoved his arms through the straps, now ready to leave.
"Huh, you're usually among the first out of your desk, Chase," the teacher commented from his desk, putting on his glasses. "And somehow, Ansat's still the first out the door," he added, nodding towards the doorway.
"...call it a weird dream," Lane responded.
"Ah—um..." Chase shook his head. "Never mind, it's silly..." the boy quietly murmured. "You'd probably just laugh...but it was a dream too..."
Lane stared at his friend with a neutral, analytic gaze.
"Lane, no—"
"Long blue hair, glowing green eyes, tall?"
"You said you'd stop doing that!" Chase exclaimed.
"Yeah, so I did this thing called 'lying'." Lane shrugged.
"You're gonna make me feel blue," Chase mumbled, looking away.
"...right, okay." said Ansat, folding his arms. "Look, me and Ben are gonna go get chili dogs, when you guys get done with your philosophical conversation, we'll be in Lamplight."
Chase turned to follow them, about to take a big step in a cartoonish pose towards the leaving Ansat and Ben. "You know what, yeah, let's do tha—"
Lane grabbed his friend's shoulder and pulled him back. "Hold on."
"Qué?"
"Your dream. Who was in it? Besides the girl."
"Samantha. Her name was Samantha. At least in the dream...she's probably not even rea—"
"Focus."
"Okay, okay. There was you, a blonde kid named Lucas, a cyan-haired boy named...uh...actually I don't think he said his name. Anyway, why?"
"Nothing." Lane looked down the street at Ansat and Ben. "Guess we're getting chili dogs now."
Chase didn't look particularly satisfied with the answer, but his attention quickly shifted over to the duo down the street. "Hey, we gotta catch up!" Chase exclaimed, dashing after the two.
"Guess you could just leave me in the dust too," Lane grumbled to himself, following the redhead at a walking pace.
In an unknown spot between Firefly Forest and Dyno Dig Oasis, a blonde-haired boy was seated on a worn couch in the living room of an isolated cabin, staring absently at the wall with an untouched breakfast right in front of him.
Chase. Lane. Samantha. Lucas repeated the names in his head, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion.
And the cyan-haired boy.
He'd taken the leaf off the stranger's hair and the dream just ended abruptly, leaving him to wake up when it was still dark out, and worse, struggle with going back to sleep.
They said they were dreaming too. Can people share dreams?
Soft footsteps rose from the hallway, and Lucas looked up.
"Dad?"
There was a tired "Morning, Lucas," in response, punctuated with a yawn. Then, a yellow gaze flicked from the blonde to his plate and back again. With a light jest, "Last time I checked, there wasn't anything particularly offending about your mother's cooking."
A middle-aged man sat diagonally from the boy, tiredly rubbing his face, consequently ruffling greying blonde hair—which, most likely looked exactly like his son's only but a few years ago—and sighed gently. "Bad dream?"
Lucas smiled back with a similar tiredness. "...Something like that. I just have a lot on my mind."
Keeping his father's earlier comment in mind, he began to pick at his food, taking small bites every one in a while, still distant. After some uncomfortable silence, he inhaled sharply, looking up. "Actually... I was wondering if it's possible to... dream of people you've never met before?"
"Made up people? Certainly possible." The older blonde stole a piece of pancake, earning a light-hearted, "hey!" from the younger, and a laugh from the former. However, the small moment of cheer quickly died out, "Well, if you're talking about real people, on the other hand, if you were psychic, most likely. But the last time I checked, you're not." Then, under his breath, the man added, "Thankfully."
Lucas lifted his eyebrow, having heard that last part but deciding to not comment on it. He stared thoughtfully at his half-eaten pile of pancakes, before looking back up. "So if a psychic... dreamed about me, would I dream about them too? Even if I don't know them?"
"...if they're dreamwalking, yes." He paused, sighing, "There's...multiple types of psychics. Some tell you the future, others can tell you the past, and there are a few capable of things...that can make you quite uncomfortable—" A nervous laugh, "—like dreamwalking." A pause. "Lucas, if you think someone—"
"What about multiple people?" Lucas interrupted, eyes shining with interest. "If someone who can dreamwalk does it to multiple people at once, would I see other people too?"
"That would...imply multiple people are dreamwalking..." The greying blonde said with a blink, effectively confused.
Lucas frowned, too deep in thought to notice his father reaching out to steal another piece of his pancake. "So, I can only see multiple people in a dream if all of them are dreamwalking?"
Before the older man could respond though, a sharp voice came from the doorway.
"Abner Herolight!"
Lucas met his father's despairing look before turning back to the doorway.
"If you even think about taking a single bite out of my son's breakfast then you can bet I'll be shoving a whole lot more than the end of a broomstick up–"
"Morning, Mom! The pancakes are really good!" Lucas quickly interrupted, cutting off whatever vulgar sentence the enraged, red-haired woman was about to say.
"Oh, Lucas! You liked them?" The woman turned to stare adoringly at the boy while Abner secretly scurried out of the room with a silent 'thank you.'
"...Of course."
The back door to the cabin creaked open and slammed shut, a muffled sound of innocent whistling starting from right behind it and slowly fading off into the distance.
In a less-than-well-known region of Lamplight, pale blue hands draw the curtains shut, a tail lashing behind the figure as they stand at an angle to the glass, to avoid being seen from outside. As they did so, they caught a glance at two children walking down the street, and they shook their head, walking back over to the worn old sofa with a sigh, planning to stare off into space for a bit.
"DAD!"
...or not, seeing he wound up flinching so violently he fell off the couch.
"パパ...?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" He sighed as he got back up, at first struggling to regain his balance by standing up too quickly and nearly falling over. The curse of being an ungulate; Having to walk crouched. "なんだ、ミズちゃん？"
A young bluenette offered a meek smile, "I was wondering if I could play outside?"
"Oh... sure."
A sound came from the front door, sounding eerily familiar to a knock. It rapped twice on the wooden surface before the sound vanished.
The blunette's father crashed to the floor again out of fright, leading to the girl casting a concerned glance. However, the man comedically gave her a thumbs up from behind the couch to let her know he was fine, and with a light sigh, 'Mizu' walked to the door and opened it.
Felix peeked inside from the doorway as 'Mizu' opened it, "Hey, you guys wanna hang out?"
Samantha blinked, glancing around for the other people Felix was talking about, then just shrugged at seeing no one. "Sure!"
"Great! You pick where to go, because we have no clue where to go to." Felix said.
Samantha blinked. "Oh, alright. If I'm being honest I don't... know where to go either–"
A conversation from her earlier dream suddenly popped into the bluenette's mind.
"And where are we?"
"Park! A park parked near our homes."
"...Actually, do you guys want to just walk around town? There's this park that I saw a picture of last night and... I guess I just wanted to find it?"