Chapter 25: Essence of a Dream

  Iris said thoughtfully, “Your survival chance was previously a miserable 1% — and that’s with one eye generously closed. Now I’d estimate it at at least 8%.”

  “I really appreciate your motivation, Iris, but this is the only path I can take,” Darek replied in a monotone voice — the same tone he always used whenever Iris tried to give him “helpful” advice.

  “And how exactly did you imagine this working?” Iris asked.

  “Simple. I open a dreamgate, look for a dream essence, come back, use the compass and the internet to gather the remaining ingredients. That all goes hand in hand with training, and if I’m lucky, I’ll find more useful stuff when I finish the dream. Then I just brew the potion and seal the Tyrant. And tada — Solara is saved, nobody suffers, and I can sleep.”

  Iris couldn’t help but stare at Darek’s optimistic thinking in disbelief.

  “4%,” she said dryly. “And dream essence isn’t as easy to obtain as you might think. Yes, you can acquire it by traversing, completing, or dissolving dreams — but not every dream contains such an essence,” Iris explained.

  “The major advantage is that even ordinary dreams can have one. That means you can leave a dream at any time if you consider it hopeless. The only requirement is this: the older the dream, the more firmly and qualitatively the essence can form and solidify over time. And that increases the chance of obtaining one.”

  “Mhh… then why didn’t I get one when I completed Sorus’ dream? It doesn’t get much older than that…” Darek asked, puzzled.

  “I’m not entirely sure about that either. Ultimately, these essences strengthen the stability of the dream itself and can, as you could deduce from the sealing potion recipe, also improve and qualitatively alter the souls of living beings. I assume Seraphis absorbed the dream essence after completing the dream in order to even possess a strong enough soul for your pact.”

  “That makes sense,” Darek said thoughtfully.

  A faint hesitation washed over him, followed by a subtle shudder as he remembered the pain he had endured during the reshaping of his soul.

  Iris continued, “Aside from that, 600 years isn’t truly old… and you’re underestimating this a little. So far, you’ve completed exactly one dream — and on top of that, a forgotten one. Luck absolutely played the leading role there. Skill and ability weren’t even supporting actors. No, not even that. ‘Useless’ would be the correct term for all your contributions besides luck.”

  With every word, Darek’s expression grew more serious until he looked almost angry.

  “Wait — no, even ‘useless’ would still be a compliment,” Iris continued, so absorbed in her explanation that she failed to notice Darek was seconds away from entering his soul mirror to personally beat her senseless before allowing Seraphis to finish the job.

  “I got it, Iris. You can stop now,” Darek said with a dark look.

  Iris suddenly realized the situation she was in and laughed awkwardly. If she had arms and hands, she would have scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

  “He-he… right, uhm… what am I even saying? I didn’t accomplish in 150 years what you managed in a single day.” A hint of fear crept into her voice as she glanced at the sleeping Seraphis in the soul mirror and hoped Darek wouldn’t get any stupid ideas.

  “Let’s drop it and get started.”

  Darek was still sitting against the wall on his bed. He closed his eyes and entered his soul mirror.

  He found himself once more in the endless expanse. It still felt deep and strange — like the depths of the universe itself — intertwined with a silver shimmer that ran through everything. All of them were there: the pillow, Seraphis, and Iris. She floated weightlessly before him, her gaze slightly skeptical, as if unsure whether Darek might still hold a grudge. Even the compass floated nearby, though it looked slightly out of place.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Maybe I should try getting some furniture in here. If this place fills up, not everything can just float around aimlessly,” Darek said half jokingly.

  He looked at his pillow, on which Seraphis was sleeping as usual.

  “Seraphis, sorry to disturb your sleep. I know better than anyone how annoying that is — but we’ve got work to do.”

  Seraphis opened his eyes and, as always, radiated joy at seeing Darek. He propelled himself through the soul mirror toward him and coiled around his neck.

  Darek nearly groaned under the weight as Seraphis dropped himself onto him, almost pulling him forward. The last time Seraphis had done that, he had been half the size. Now it felt like an anchor chain around his neck — where before it had been comfortable, like a heavy but warm scarf.

  “If you keep growing like this, we can’t continue like this,” Darek said, his voice trembling from the strain, while Seraphis simply looked at him contentedly.

  Darek extended his right hand toward the pillow, closed his eyes, and focused on sensing the Soulbound. He recalled the feeling and aura that had emanated from the door before and simply followed his intuition.

  He felt a tingling sensation.

  It felt as though he were holding a fishing line between his fingers. Every small twitch, every impulse beneath the surface, every thought urging him to move — he could sense it all, and yet he allowed nothing. Not pulling too hard. Not loosening his grip. Every reflex tried to assert itself, and he subtly countered them, holding firm before they could betray him. The anticipation pulsed like water beneath the surface — still to the outside world, yet internally charged and unpredictable.

  Until it happened.

  A humming filled the soul mirror. A small black, rotating hole appeared, shaking the entire space. It spun so fast it was hard to perceive. Suddenly everything collapsed inward. For one second there was nothing.

  Then a door unfolded before him.

  The dreamgate.

  “Got it! That wasn’t as hard as I thought, haha!” Darek shouted, motivated. Seraphis hissed excitedly with his tongue stretched out.

  Iris, however, looked absent, as if she didn’t understand anything. She needed a moment to collect herself before speaking.

  “So this is the dreamgate… You told me you fell asleep and landed in the forgotten dream through this.”

  She looked irritated, still captivated by the sight of the gate.

  “Yes, that was the simplified version. I didn’t want to complicate things unnecessarily,” Darek said, shrugging casually, hands slightly open as if there was nothing more to be done about it now.

  “I’ve never seen something so beautiful…” Iris said softly. “The aura radiating from the door — so deep and familiar — it’s pulling me in. I feel like I’ve rediscovered something I’ve always had.” She paused. “Wow… Darek, this gate is incredible. This is definitely not normal. It’s not just a passage into the dream world — it is the dream world itself. I don’t know how to describe it… it’s simply beautiful.”

  Darek and Seraphis looked at Iris in confusion and raised their eyebrows in perfect sync.

  “Are you sure dream beings don’t need sleep? I think a nap would do you good right now.”

  Darek stepped toward the gate and was about to enter when Iris suddenly had a thought.

  “Yes, this should work. Wait, Darek… maybe you’ll understand it like this…”

  Darek turned around, confused, wondering what Iris meant.

  If Iris had a mouth, she would have smiled mischievously.

  She said one word:

  “Compass.”

  Darek looked even more confused.

  “What exactly do you mean by that?”

  “You don’t seriously want to start inside some random dream when we don’t even know what’s going on there. Next thing I know, I’ll catch you doing something reckless and ‘two-eyed’ again. And even if everything goes well, you’ll probably wander off somewhere and land in another forgotten dream. You clown — this time we definitely won’t get that lucky again.”

  “Get to the point,” Darek said, visibly unimpressed by the mockery.

  Iris’ eye widened, almost greedy with anticipation.

  “Ask your compass about the dream essence.”

  Darek touched his chin, pondering Iris’ idea, and soon reached the same conclusion.

  “Alright… you’re right.”

  Iris looked pleased — though that feeling didn’t last long.

  “But…” Darek continued, “if you mock me like that one more time, you can imagine what happens.”

  Iris didn’t even need to look at Seraphis to notice that the serpent was slowly licking his lips with his forked tongue.

  Darek raised his hand, and the compass flew toward him.

  “Let’s see.”

  He closed his eyes and focused his energy into the compass.

  “Dream essence.”

  A strong red line shot out like liquid fire and raced straight toward the gate. But the moment it reached it, something unbelievable happened.

  The gate — which until now had shifted its form, aura, and appearance in a chaotic, unpredictable rhythm — suddenly froze.

  It held still.

  It continued glowing with vibrating, unbroken energy, yet it felt heavy and powerful, as if it had made a decision.

  The air around Darek seemed to crackle, as if the entire dream world was holding its breath while the gate revealed its final form.

  It was as though it had chosen which door it would open.

  Darek’s mouth hung open in disbelief.

  All he managed to whisper was:

  “Whoa…”

  Iris, meanwhile, looked prouder than ever.

  “Do you understand now what I meant?”

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