Shattered Stars

Training

Gravel crunched under my feet as I wandered aimlessly within the fog. A strong pine scent tickled my nostrils.

After some time, the mist around me thinned and receded, as though I had begun to repel it. The white haze glowed faintly as it continued to expand away from me. An endless forest of pine trees hugged both sides of the gravel path, forcing it into a straight line that went off to infinity. All the trees were identical and spaced apart evenly from one another. They stood petrified in silence.

I stopped walking, my breathing clamorous compared to the calm of the forest. Something was off. The world had a quality of flatness. Nothing made shadows, and everything was lit equally from all sides. A lazy scan of the sky told me the sun was missing.

Blue text resolved itself in front of me.

<- Lucidity: 95% ->

The number incremented every few seconds, and with each increment I felt more awake. What was happening?

<- Lucidity: 100% ->

It hit me; This was a dream. The familiar icons and symbols popped into existence in my interface. The time icon showed the real-world time, 4:18 AM. The seconds ticked in slow motion.

<- Default Dream Protocols Active ->

A new "Dream" icon prompted me to explore the capabilities of the dream world. Hundreds of options whizzed by as I scrolled down the list. Some would've made me blush if I were still human.

What do I do now?

As though the dream had heard me, memories of recent events appeared to the forefront of my mind. I had gotten new upgrades and Neval had told me to take advantage of my new lucid dreaming capabilities while I had the time.

I might as well be productive.

I eventually found a "Combat Training" category, which had a drop-down list of hundreds of fighting styles and martial arts, most of them foreign. I was torn between the multitude of options until I arrived at the bottom of the list. "Personal Fighting Style". Its description read "Creates a fighting style based on your personal physique". Perfect.

As soon as I confirmed my choice, dozens of models of my body flashed before me, each one posing differently from one another. Each model was a blur as it switched rapidly between poses.

<- Initiating Anatomical Analysis ->

<- Compiling Optimized Techniques ->

After a minute, the models blinked out of existence.

<- Preparing Accelerated Heuristic Training ->

My feet remained planted on the ground while the scenery rushed by me at supersonic speed. Everything blurred into lines that streamed away from the center of my vision and changed colors from green to brown.

The speeding scenery halted abruptly. The room was Asian style with thatched bamboo walls. Thick wooden support beams gave structural integrity to the ceiling. To my right, a couple racks held various types of swords, from daggers to katanas. A scent of fresh-cut wood permeated the room.

What do I do here? I squinted at the soft light pouring in from one of the opaque windows.

Black dust seeped through the walls. I leapt to a side of the room where the dust wasn't as dense. The grains congregated in the middle of the room and built on top of each other. It wasn't clear what they were building until the dust stopped leaking from the walls. The object was a fuzzy image before it sharpened into a grey form that was otherwise identical to myself: an eight-foot dragon, two arms, two legs, wings, a tail, and even a mane.