Master Naeve of the House of Night had somehow found himself on sleeper duty on a sunny spring day. Reports from upper management said that a member of the Black Water clan had awakened and was currently at the Awakened Academy, probably revealing every little secret he knew for whatever reward they had promised him.
Naeve sighed. It probably wouldn't amount to much, but he still had to take the kid to their NQSC stronghold to assess him before sending him back. With their standing as a great clan teetering on such fragile balance, they needed all the help they could get. Or more accurately, they couldn't let potential help fall through the cracks of the system and end up in servitude to Valor or Song.
Politics.
Though he felt it a tad beneath himself to personally check out a sleeper, it had been upon his uncle—Saint Bloodwave's request.
The sleeper compound hadn't been hard to reach. Naeve knew several awakened that worked here, and when he explained his situation, he had been told where Sleeper Kallenir was staying, and so he visited the dorms first.
Naeve drew heads as he walked through the academy. He was a master—and though he was double the age of these sleepers, they doubtlessly found him attractive. It was obvious when you were in the presence of a superior awakened just by looking at them.
He had aimed to draw as little attention as possible, but Kallenir hadn't responded to his message on his communicator.
Naeve searched the dormitories, sighing when he'd found nothing. He made his way to the training facilities next, assuming that perhaps the boy was practicing or training. It was there that he found a trail of wet footprints leading out of the room in the opposite direction he had come from.
A member of the Black Water clan, fresh out of their first nightmare… he probably wanted to test out his aspect. Naeve nodded, that made sense. And so he followed the footprints.
As soon as he entered through the door of the water training facilities, an pillar of water shot up from the middle of the rightmost pool. Naeve watched as the young man under the water rocketed back, slamming against the wall of the pool—his right arm bending in the wrong direction.
As he moved over and hoisted the unconscious boy out of the water, he caught sight of a training dummy across the end of the pool, shred to pieces.
How did a sleeper…
~~~
Kallen
Kallen awoke strapped to a medical apparatus. He groaned as white light assaulted his eyes, closing them and trying to reach his right arm up to cover it. His right arm wouldn't budge.
Glancing down, he saw that it was strapped to a bed. His head throbbed as he tried to piece together what had happened.
Something something I broke my arm and now I'm in the medical ward.
Kallen scanned the room, his vision still blurry from the bright lights overhead. The walls were white and lined with beds that hooked up to complicated medical equipment. He was lying in such a bed.
"Easy, Kallenir." Came a voice to his left. "You did quite the number on yourself a few hours ago."
Kallen turned his head, wincing through the stiffness in his neck. There was a man standing nearby. Maybe just in his thirties, he was handsome, his eyes a beautiful indigo color—similar to Kallen's own. There was a mysterious air about him, despite his gentlemanly appearance.
"Please don't call me by my government name," Kallen said.
The man chuckled softly. "I'm sorry?"
Kallen stirred in his bed, a sharp groan escaping him as his right arm shifted. "Ah, just call me Kallen."
"Of course." The man nodded giving a warm smile. "I am Naeve. Master Naeve of the House of Night. And you, Kallen, were testing your aspect, I assume? That's how the training dummy ended up in pieces?"
Kallen blinked, his mind slowly catching up. "Yeah. I guess I was. Something about a shrimp… well I probably shouldn't divulge too much."
"I've got time," Master Naeve said. He gave another warm smile. "And from the looks of it, so do you."
Sighing, Kallen let his head sink against the pillow, staring at the bright light above him. "Yes I was experimenting. I just didn't think it'd backfire so hard."
"Experimentation is good," Naeve said, his voice calm and reassuring. "It's how we learn. But it's also important to know your limits—or at least have someone nearby who can reign you in when things go sideways."
Kallen winced, more from the truth of the man's words than the pain. Naeve was so… honest. Genuine. Strangely, Kallen didn't feel slighted by the way the man talked to him—chided him as if he were a child. Kallen truly had done something stupid.
But why is he so nice! It short circuited his brain. Kallen wanted to make some snarky comment at the man. He wanted to deflect the blame with a joke or something, but he couldn't bring himself to.
"Yeah," Kallen admitted. "I didn't think things through."
"And what's the most important thing you learned?"
"That I can punch harder than a shrimp. Hard enough to break my own arm I guess." He closed his eyes. "Does that make me stronger than myself, or weaker than myself?"
Naeve laughed, a rich, warm sound that made the sterile room feel a little less cold. "A valuable lesson, though, perhaps not the one you were hoping for. "Still, I'm impressed. I've never seen a sleeper do something like that right out of the gate.
A flare of pride bloomed in Kallen's chest. "Thank you."
"Regardless, you only need a little guidance."
"Guidance," Kallen raised a brow. "From you?"
Naeve nodded. "If you'll have me. Nightwalkers are always looking for promising young sleepers and awakened."
"Do you… do you know my grandfather then?"
"I do," Naeve said. "He's a good man."
Kallen hummed in agreeance, though he said nothing further of the topic. Their conversation had quickly reached a standstill, but Naeve seemed eager to be on his way—despite his kindness, he was apparently a busy man.
"The medical center of the academy is one of the best around, your arm should be good to go by tomorrow. If you will, we nightwalkers have facilities better equipped for aquatic aspects."
"I'm sorry," Kallen said, "But what about my sister? I'm not just—"
"I have already met with her and offered her the same thing. You were out for a while. And while great clans do not typically poach sleepers from the academy, you receiving a true name after your first nightmare is a telling sign that you have potential."
~~~
Kallen had been given until the morning after his arm healed to gather his things. Naeve had left shortly after their conversation, leaving Kallen alone with his thoughts. The man's pleasant demeanor left an impression, but he was too tired to dwell on it for long.
As the hours passed, his body strangely exhausted from the healing aspect ability that was used by his arm, he had gone to his dormitory and passed out, following a short visit to Seren. She hadn't been informed of the specifics, but she'd known that he had hurt himself somehow.
Thankfully, Naeve had smoothed things over with the academy bigwigs, but they probably still resented him a bit for his reckless lack of consideration for himself and their property.
But the most strange thing, was how fitfully he slept following the incident. When he lay in his bed, each time he closed his eyes, he felt a strange pull, like the tide tugging at his consciousness. At first, it was subtle—a faint pressure in the back of his head. But as the night wore on, it grew stronger, more insistent.
By the time the academy had quieted and all the sleepers had turned in for the night, the pressure had become nearly unbearable. Kallen sat upright in his bed, hands pressing against his eyes as he tried to steady his breathing. The room spun around him, and for a moment, he thought he might be sick.
But as suddenly as it had found him, the pressure shifted and his vision blurred.
When his sight cleared, he was no longer in his dorm.
Kallen floated in the dark, cold embrace of the ocean. The water around him was deep and still, a faint light shimmering from an eel that swam by. Strangely, he was cognizant of his surroundings, despite the lack of light.
Below him, the ocean floor stretched out, a vast expanse of sand and rock dotted with strange, ancient structures. And there in the distance, was the source of the pull—a massive, crumbling temple. Its once grand pillars were broken and lined with seaweed. Coral grew in groups around its base.
Almost unconsciously, Kallen swam toward the temple, the pressure in his head lessening as he grew closer. The pain was a compass, he realized.
There were several carvings etched into the temple, runes and depictions of dangerous nightmare creatures alike.
He reached out to touch one of the carvings, but the pain in his mind exploded.
Kallen jerked back, his heart leaping into his throat. It felt as though he'd been struck by lightning. Quickly, he realized that even looking at the runes was painful.
Then, a voice bubbled from within his own mind.
"The first of the seven titans," the voice echoed. "Prove your reign. Subjugate insubordination."
Before he could question what any of that meant, A shadow shot from inside the temple, skewering him before he could react.
Blood gushed from the wound. Kallen's hands shot down to tear whatever had struck him out of his stomach, but the moment he tried, he woke up.
Sitting on the bed in his dormitory, Kallen grabbed for his stomach before taking a heavy breath and realizing what he'd seen was nothing more than a dream.