The King’s words echoed far and wide, filling the boundless sky with the weight of the new reality he proclaimed for Lucy.

  Dream Knight.

  As Lucy inspected her armoured form in the ice mirror, bringing her sword, her “Ideal,” up to her face to observe the blue aura that seemed to flicker in time with her heartbeat, she knew that despite this all being with a Dream, there was no denying the truth of her new existence.

  She was a Dream Knight.

  Admitting this to herself elicited a deep breath, exhaling the stuffy warmth of her doubts and inhaling a familiar, nostalgic air that had disappeared from this world for so long, carried back to her at last by a new wind.

  “The attire you now don,” said the King as Lucy gazed into the mirror, “is your Higher Reflection. It will augment your resilience, your strength, and your unshakeable identity no matter the Dream you are in. It is not simply clothing, nor armour, but the very virtue of how you appear before Dreamers, enemies, and yourself. Together with the Ideal you hold in your hands, it is the manifestation of your spirit that makes the duties and triumphs of a Dream Knight possible.”

  Lucy looked at the King as she felt the grandeur of his words, then returned her gaze to the mirror. The wide azure cape at her back flowed with magnificence; a Dreamer might see it waving in the distance and immediately feel relieved and inspired by its heroic image. She reached up and touched the circlet on her forehead, the sun-shaped insignia naturally drawing attention to her face, as if she were someone that people naturally looked up to. It was an embarrassing and ironic thought, given what she remembered of her past life, but with how Lucy looked now and how she felt looking this way, this new self-image didn’t seem out place. Now, more than ever, she felt ready.

  “Now that I’ve accepted and gotten everything,” Lucy said to the King, “am I going to start?”

  “It is true that you are now in the full form of a Dream Knight,” said the King. “However, there is still one highly important decision you must make, as well as some information I must share with you. Might I ask you to please bear with me?”

  “Of course,” Lucy said with a smile. Although the King’s voice was still even and patient in tone, it was clear that their dynamic had shifted, so that the King sounded like a trusted advisor speaking with a knee bent to the ruler of this realm. It was a bizarre dynamic to Lucy, but she decided she did not dislike it.

  “Just as there are countless variations in individuals,” said the King, “so, too, are there countless variations in Dream Knights and their methods. To better understand one’s self, every Dream Knight is aligned along three Axes, each representing different ways in which a Knight processes and handles encounters with friend, or foe, or obstacle. At the outset of every Dream Knight’s journey, they must define their initial qualities by selecting the degree of their alignment along each Axis.”

  Lucy took this all in with slow nods. This sounded a lot like allocating stat points at the start of a video game, when one was building their character avatar. Except, in this case, she was building herself, which was a quaint thought given that such a thing wasn’t possible in the waking world. How different her life would have been, if she could define her own characteristics exactly as she needed them…But Lucy shook her head, for there was no use dwelling on her past life now that she was being reborn anew. Now was the time to consider what was ahead of her, and to understand it fully.

  “What are the three Axes?” Lucy asked.

  “Excellent question,” said the King. “Allow me to illustrate.”

  Slowly, he raised his robed arm up toward the mirror. Lucy gazed at the mirror, which still seemed unchanged as her reflection—her new reflection—stared back at her. Then the mirror grew horizontally in both directions, so that it was now far wider than it was tall. Now, instead of just one reflection, Lucy saw three of herself: one on her left, another on her right, and the last in the middle. There came the sound of glass breaking, sharp but gentle, and the single wide mirror split into three, each one housing a reflection of Lucy.

  The King gestured for her to look at the left-most mirror. Here, Lucy’s reflection weaved in and out of a variety of environments, whether it was thick forest, tumultuous sea waves, or a raging sandstorm. Wherever her reflection looked, a pathway to a different setting appeared, as if she were calling forth entire new worlds she had envisioned.

  “This is the Axis of Ideation,” said the King. “It is the ability to quickly and freely create new ideas. One might use it to construct novel inventions, apply out-of-the-box thinking, or devise new routes of travel or escape. In confrontations, they excel in evading danger and harnessing the element of surprise.”

  As Lucy mulled over the King’s last remark, she looked at her reflection’s demonstration again and noted how she did appear to be dashing and weaving through obstacles at a break-neck pace faster than what one could possibly expect from a knight wearing full armour. If she were to liken this to role-playing game attributes, Ideation was like a “speed” stat mixed with an “intelligence” stat: the ability to be both quick of foot and of mind, finding new paths both literally and metaphorically before one’s opponents could even hope to catch up.

  “Please bring your attention now to the centre mirror,” said the King.

  Lucy obliged, taking in the full, proud form of her reflection in the centre mirror. In stark contrast to the Ideation reflection’s frenetic pace and ceaseless shifting of both body and environment, the reflection in the centre mirror was all but still save for slow, deep breathing. Her eyes were shut with a stoic frown, her hands wrapped firmly but calmly around the handle of her Ideal, its blade plunged downward into the ground. This reflection exuded stability and patience in a statuesque manner. Behind her defined figure, the world appeared to be a nauseating cacophony of constantly-shifting colours and forms. But as Lucy’s reflection stood unflinchingly, the chaos behind her gradually abated, clearing up like clouds after a storm as their garish colours were replaced with the serene azure of the sky.

  “This is the Axis of Understanding,” said the King. “It imparts individuals with a great capacity to weather the most arduous of trials, connect with and understand others on a deeper level, and analyze every detail in a given situation. In confrontations, they endure the longest, for they attain knowledge of their opponents’ attacks and how to withstand them.”

  So, Lucy thought, this Axis was similar to a Defence stat with perhaps some Wisdom and Charisma mixed in. The King’s description called to mind the valiant Paladin and Knight classes in role-playing games, and her reflection’s immovable stance in the mirror certainly evoked those archetypes. As she took in every detail of her reflection’s stalwart pose and patient, dignified expression, she began to feel a sense of both awe and comfort. Perhaps this was close to how she had always envisioned a knight to be.

  “Please bring your attention now to the final mirror, on your right,” said the King.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  After taking once last glance at her reflection of Understanding, Lucy looked to the rightmost mirror—and almost doubled back. Her reflection vaulted forward and swung her sword with such violent impact that it looked as though she meant to burst through the mirror and clobber Lucy herself. The mirror itself even had what appeared to be deep, black cracks running along its surface. However, shortly after the reflection’s sword swing, one of those “cracks” moved and writhed about before fading into a dark purple mist. Then it was clear to Lucy: those “cracks” were some type of monster or enemy. Her reflection continued slashing at the foes with the same thunderous fury, causing all of them to fade. The resulting visual, of the cracks leaving the mirror one-by-one, made it seem as though her reflection was forcefully freeing itself from a cage.

  “This is the Axis of Rebellion,” said the King. “Alignment with this Axis empowers one’s abilities to resist influence and manipulation, stay true to personal goals and convictions, and oppose any obstacle or enemy who might obstruct that. In confrontations, they are the most lethal attackers, for they pour every ounce of strength into vanquishing opposition.”

  Lucy regarded this reflection with a great stillness that bordered on uncomfortable stiffness. It was quite clear that this Axis corresponded to an Attack stat, alongside a kind of all-around Resistance stat. At first, this Axis didn’t catch her in any particular way; her gaze wasn’t fixated on the reflection the same way she had been for the Axis of Understanding.

  However, as she watched her reflection slash down more of those wriggling black opponents, she locked eyes. Her reflection’s gaze was intense and clenched in controlled rage, as to be expected, but there was also a remarkable, unexplainable gleam. Seeing this, Lucy’s entire body began to tremble, and she envisioned herself being there in her reflection’s place,smashing down everything in her way with conviction, righteous wrath, and glee.

  Glee?

  She supposed that it did seem fun to be an unstoppable fighting machine, cutting down anything and everything that dared get in her way. If she were to put all of her stats into this Axis, she could easily cut down everything, absolutely everything.

  “Lucy?”

  The King’s voice jolted Lucy back to the present moment, where she realized she had been staring intently at the mirror in silence for some time. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into her. While that stat spread would most likely be an option if she really wanted to do it, it didn’t really mesh with how she usually played role-playing games, or even how she might imagine herself as a knight. She grabbed her head with both hands, bewildered as to how her mind had led her to even conceive of such an idea.

  “Are you all right?” said the King, leaning his head in slightly to express concern.

  “Y-yes, I’m fine,” said Lucy, attempting to regain her composure. “Just thinking about how I’ll, uh, align myself with these Axes.”

  “I see.” If the King still held any suspicion, it did not show in the even tone of his voice, but perhaps in the silence that followed. A moment later, he said: “Now would be a good time to ponder, for you are now familiar with all three Axes. I must also mention that alignment along these Axes serves another purpose: determining the Feats within your arsenal.”

  “Feats?”

  “Yes. You may know that in the waking world, a ‘feat’ is an ability or accomplishment that an individual has demonstrated. This may be a feat of strength, or a feat of complex problem-solving. Feats are noteworthy, but always within the bounds and limitations of reality and what that individual is capable of. However, in Dreams, the very nature of Feats is different.”

  He gestured down at Lucy’s feet, prompting her to gaze at the cloud platform she stood on. All at once, it clicked in Lucy’s mind.

  “So in a Dream,” said Lucy, “I can do any Feat, as long as I will it to be that way?”

  “Your will is one half of it,” said the King. “The other key factor is the degree of your influence on a Dream. Every Dream exerts its own influence on the entities within it, forcing them to fit within the confines of the rules, laws, and physics of its Dream world. Here, the world permits you to do as you please, for it is your own Dream. However, other Dreams will limit your abilities so that you match the expectation of what you are to the Dreamer: a young woman, or however else they might perceive you.”

  “I see…” said Lucy. This was starting to feel rather abstract and complex, so she asked: “So, for example, if the Dreamer doesn’t see me as a knight, then in their Dream I won’t be wearing this armour or holding this sword? Because the Dream changes me to match the Dreamer’s expectations?”

  “Yes,” said the King, “that is what would happen in normal circumstances. However, Dream Knights are special entities to the collective unconscious. When an individual becomes a Dream Knight, their presence becomes known to all in the collective unconscious, albeit as a very faint impression, like a new myth or legend that has yet to surface amongst conscious society. As Dream Knights rescue Dreamers, their influence on the collective unconscious grows, thus allowing them to exert more of their will in any Dream and resist the limitations placed on them by Dream worlds.”

  Lucy regarded all of this information silently and gave a deep nod. This sounded like a reputation system in a role-playing game, which made sense for knights as they were often lauded as mythic and well-remembered heroes. But instead of this reputation, or influence, opening up the gates to different guilds and factions, it opened up the gates to do practically anything in each Dream world.

  “This is where a Dream Knight’s alignments along the Three Axes come into play,” said the King. “Each time you rescue a Dreamer, you will have the opportunity to further your alignments to a certain degree. This is how you, as a Dream Knight, grow your influence. Each time you update your alignments, you will have the opportunity to select a new Feat to add to your arsenal. Your options for new Feats will depend upon your current alignments.”

  “For the Feats I choose not to take,” said Lucy, “will they still be available as options next time I update my alignments?”

  She stood waiting for the King’s response, telling herself that it was right to simply let the question out without a second thought. Everything the King had been describing sounded like stat systems in a role-playing game, and these “Feats” sounded like spells or abilities. Losing the opportunity to gain certain abilities was always a primary concern in those games, so Lucy wanted to make sure she wasn’t locking herself out of important options as she expanded her arsenal.

  “The Feats available to you will never permanently vanish,” said the King, evoking a quiet sigh of relief from Lucy. He added: “However, your alignments at the time of Feat selection will affect what is available to you in that moment. Each Feat corresponds to one Axis, occasionally two. So, for example, if a Feat is heavily associated with the Axis of Rebellion, and your updated alignment moves you sufficiently far away from a focus on Rebellion, then that Feat will become unavailable until you are primarily aligned with Rebellion once more.”

  Lucy pondered this for a moment, then asked, “Primarily aligned? Is there a main Axis based on my alignments?”

  “That is correct. When allocating one’s alignment, it is highly recommended to emphasize one Axis more than others. This will become the Primary Axis. Not only will the Primary Axis grant you additional benefits and enhancements in regards to the capabilities and Feats bestowed by that Axis, but it will also greatly define your identity and influence as a Dream Knight.”

  “Could I choose to go with a more balanced alignment?”

  “A balanced alignment is certainly a valid option,” said the King. “However, it is not recommended. Many of the most powerful Feats require a strong alignment along a particular Axis, so spreading yourself across all three Axes locks out the upper echelon of Feats.”

  “That makes sense,” said Lucy, recalling how this was the same reasoning against a balanced character build in most role-playing games. Sure, one could have access to the medium tier of physical, ranged, and magic skills, but it was usually better (and cooler) to specialize and unlock the highest tier of flashy and powerful skills.

  “That is not the only reason,” said the King. “All individuals have a tendency toward certain temperaments and ways of thinking. There is no human soul who is perfectly balanced, and attempting to be so inevitably leads to a great degree of disconnect and distress. The collective unconscious can sense this discord, and the result is a Dream Knight with muted influence, to match their shattered and inhibited identity.”

  “I think I get it,” said Lucy, remembering the three mirrors, and imagining what an unfocused mess it would be if all three had been combined into one mirror as a single reflection. “A Primary Axis helps define a strong identity, and you need that to have strong influence.”

  The King nodded. “Your understanding of alignment and influence is solid. Deciding on a Primary Axis, as well as your overall alignments across all three Axes, is the final step in your christening as a Dream Knight. With it, your initial influence over the Lattice of Dreams will be defined, and you will be able to walk the countless varied grounds of Dreams as yourself.”