Crowning Glory (In Bloom Book 2)

25: Cheat Codes

"What's going on here?" Sebek frantically looked around. "Have we awakened?"

"Nah, we're still in the dream, sorry. I mean, just look at the armor you're wearing, dude. No way you can take that into the real world with you," Idia turned to me. "Nice assassin get-up, Cassie."

Silver looked to the Ignihyde Dorm Leader in amazement, "You remembered what happened before we fell asleep?"

"Uh, it's not that. I just got a pretty good handle on what's going on, I guess you could say."

"Quick! Idia! Get behind us!" Silver ordered. He had his wand at the ready.

Sebek and I myself readied ourselves with our own weapons and magic.

"Oh, crap," Grim stood on guard, "Malleus is gonna pop up and go into his 'YoU HaVe AwAkEnEd?' spiel any second now."

Another voice sounded through, "So sorry to rain on your guys' parade, but there's no need to worry about Malleus Draconia or that wriggly black stuff right now. It's likely Malleus is engaged with pouring his resources into keeping Lilia Vanrouge asleep."

I looked around for the source of the voice, "Ortho! Where are you anyway? I thought we lost you back in the dream corridor."

From the dorm's entrance, a floating projector drifted towards us. I had seen them before in Ignihyde's workshops. Students would use them to better visualize the components of a machine.

Instead of a gadget, we saw Ortho, "Sorry for all the worry. I'm unable to join you all in big brother's dream without it causing some major problems.We'll need to talk through this monitor feed for now."

"How the...how the heck are you here?!" Grim asked in amazement. "What kind of magic are you doing?!"

"It's not magic, exactly. I'll get you all caught up on everything."

Ortho began his story on the day of the going away party. After everyone fell asleep from Malleus' spell, Ortho transmitted his consciousness through radio waves to a communication satellite. From there, he sent an SOS signal to S.T.Y.X..

"I then transferred myself into a new body and got my hands on some brand new gear," he continued to explain. "I helped to infiltrate the island that way S.T.Y.X. could analyze Malleus' unique magic."

"That's really impressive, but...how did you end up here? In Idia's dream," I wondered. "And in the dream corridor."

Ortho explained how the brain emits frequencies called theta waves when they're asleep. Normally, radio waves wouldn't be able to interfere with them. Though, with the technology available at their arsenal, S.T.Y.X. could bypass that principle.

Along with the magic analysis, they tapped into the collection of theta waves produced by the sleeping individuals of Sage's Island.

With their connection established, they could focus on any one individual they wanted. From there, they sent Ortho via adjusted electromagnetic waves to Idia's dream.

I realized, "If you're using technology to get through, Malleus won't be able to detect you."

"Right! But when I got through his barrier, he knew I infiltrated. The active combat I had to engage in really damaged my gear. I felt really bad since they were brand new and-"

"You had to fight him?!" I exclaimed. "How badly were you hurt?"

"Don't worry, Cassie. My mom's the Head Engineer of S.T.Y.X.. She's going to recover the parts and fix them up as good as new."

Idia rubbed his hands against his face, "I still can't believe mom went through my computer! I felt like I'm at minus 50 billion points psychic damage."