"Lunaris Feng…"

"Lunaris Feng!"

Luna lay asleep in one of the Sect's quiet rooms when the dream came. But it didn't feel like a dream.

She stood now in the middle of ruined stone halls of what remained of a once-grand castle. Moonlight filtered through the broken ceiling, casting pale light across the shattered floor. Crumbled columns leaned like tired guardians, and firelight flickered faintly in the distance.

In this dream, she was older. Her reflection in a shard of polished steel showed the truth. A streak of white ran through her black hair like a scar carved by time. Her eyes, though still full of shadow, held a depth that hadn't been there before. They had seen too much—seen people live, seen people die, seen the world burn again and again.

There was a sorrow in them. Not a fresh one, but the ancient kind, born from surviving too long.

She wore armor unlike anything she'd ever seen before: black and white plates shaped like scales, too organic to be metal, too cold to be bone. It hugged her frame like a second skin.

At first, Luna didn't understand what she was seeing.

Was this a vision of the future? No. Her visions didn't work like this.

"Master Lunaris!"

Just as she began piecing together her surroundings, a hand grabbed her and yanked her behind a broken pillar. She staggered, nearly stumbling over a loose tile, and turned sharply to face her would-be assailant.

But it wasn't an enemy.

The woman had dark hair, brown eyes, and a sun-kissed complexion now covered in ash, blood, and soot. Her robes, once elegant, were torn and charred, stitched with constellations and shimmering thread that resembled stardust.

That single detail told Luna everything she needed to know. She was inside the Astral Vigil Sect. And the woman who had risked herself to pull Luna out of sight was a member of this place.

"I need to lead you out of the castle," the woman said, her voice strained with urgency. "The Dream Lord has fallen at the hands of the others. We must leave for the Divine Realm immediately."

Luna's mouth moved against her will.

"What about my sister?"

"Lady Lena has chosen to stay behind. She intends to hold back the others and buy us time. She'll retreat to the Mortal Realm with the Sea King once the path is clear."

Luna's gaze drifted toward the destruction behind them.

The once pristine white floors were now cracked and broken into shards. The towering pillars had been shattered in half, scorched black by fire or some greater force. Above them, a gaping hole in the roof revealed a swirling cosmic sky, lit with violet clouds and distant stars that shimmered with unnatural light.

Luna longed to ask what had happened. What exactly tore this place apart? But like so many other dreams, she had no control over herself. She was trapped in her own body, a passenger watching through a glass pane. She could feel the weight of every moment, but her will was not her own.

Boom!

An explosion rocked the ground nearby. Another section of the wall collapsed, sending chunks of marble and flame into the hall behind them. The shockwave rippled through the ruins like a living thing.

Screams echoed. They were distant but close enough to chill the bones. The clang of weapons and the screech of twisted magic roared like beasts fighting for dominion.

Chaos had overtaken the Astral Castle. And its inhabitants were now fleeing in scattered directions. Those who could not fight were rushing to the Mortal Realm, the Divine Realm, or anywhere not already consumed by war.

The odd woman and Luna rushed out of the grand chamber and entered a corridor that teetered on the edge of collapse. The walls were torn with jagged holes, and the bodies scattered across the floor offered all the explanation Luna needed.

'Gods!'

She bit down on her lower lip until it bled. Every corpse she passed was tinted a pale, eerie blue, as though each soul had been claimed by hypothermia. And worse, their faces were frozen in horrific expressions of people who hadn't realized they were dying until it was far too late.

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They pressed on, stepping over the fallen without a word. Eventually, they reached the lower ends of the crumbling castle. This part of the Astral Vigil had been designed like a dungeon, with rows of locked cells stretching along the corridor's sides. But at the far end stood a sealed stone wall.

Without hesitation, the woman pressed her palm against a sigil engraved on the surface. A faint shimmer passed through it as she channeled her essence. The wall responded with a soft tremor and opened, revealing a hidden passage.

They moved quickly through the narrow tunnel and soon emerged into what appeared to be a private library. Shelves carved from obsidian stone rose from the floor to the ceiling, stacked with glowing scrolls, bound tomes, and enchanted artifacts that pulsed with latent power.

The air was thick with ancient energy, and the silence here felt sacred and untouched by time.

The woman turned to the older Luna, her eyes solemn. "This is where the Dream Lord developed his enchantments… and studied the Creator. Everything you need to know is in this place, Master Lunaris."

The woman stated it plainly.

After giving the room a quick scan, Luna nodded at her. "Thank you, Ada. But this place is underneath a collapsing castle. All of this… It's useless to me."

Ada smiled. "Do not worry. This room relocates to the Shadow World once the conditions are met." She walked to the entrance and joined her palms together in a gesture of prayer. "Remember, chaos must first reign if we are to rebuild the world."

Luna seemed to understand what she meant and turned away from the door just in time for the entrance. Ada, and the secret passage faded away like mist.

Silence returned, and seconds started to feel like seconds while she started going through the ancient inscriptions. Most of them were in runic writings, very similar to the one she had once seen in the temple many years ago.

It was strange, looking through older eyes. However, the gap in experience between them proved a problem because she wasn't capable of translating the inscriptions, while this older self could.

But then, as Luna did her best to memorize the inscriptions, her older self paused reading and turned to the darkness as if she had felt the second presence.

She remained still for a moment, then smirked and muttered something in Mandarin.

"I am curious about how this is possible. But you should stop spying on me, Luna. You're terrible at hiding."

'How did—'

She didn't finish the thought. Because suddenly, she felt a force so overwhelming that her entire soul gate flared, raging as it tried to protect her from the sheer magnitude of the strange power.

The entire dream shattered, and Luna jolted awake.

She gasped, her body convulsing violently as if gripped by a seizure. Her limbs trembled uncontrollably, her core aching as the aftershock of the soul attack surged through her veins.

When the convulsions stopped, her body dropped into a stasis-like state. She remained frozen, unmoving, for what felt like thirty minutes before the pain finally began to fade.

Slowly, she lifted herself upright until she was seated on the bed. Her head throbbed with such unbearable pain that her vision swam. She couldn't even think straight.

She sat in silence, her dark eyes scanning the room with a haunted stillness. Her pale face was soaked in sweat, drops running down her chin like she had been resting inside a furnace.

Then, when she finally gathered enough strength to speak, her voice came out in a weak whisper.

"What the hell? What the hell was that?"

"A Singularity. Being in the Dreaming was affecting your memories."

A distorted voice responded. It came from all directions, though Luna quickly realized it wasn't external. It echoed inside her mind.

"A Singularity?" she echoed, her brow furrowing.

"Your visions will no longer be in sync. You do not possess future sight, so believe me when I say… what you saw was a dream of the past. An awakened memory."

Luna blinked, confused. "But I looked much older. What do you mean, a dream of the past? How do I have a memory of an older self?"

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Before the bit of Oblivion could reply, Luna was pulled out of the moment by a soft knocking at her door.

She gathered what strength she could, dragging herself upright with effort. One weak step at a time, she made her way to the door and slowly reached for the metal knob. The door creaked faintly as she pulled it open.

On the other side stood a gentleman. He had slick black hair, warm-toned skin, a sharp, pointed nose, and eyes as blue as the clear sky. But what stood out most were his narrow and slightly pointed ears.

"You look pale, Lady Lunaris," he observed.

"Pale? I'm always pale..." she muttered dryly.

He smiled faintly. "Call me Raiden," he said, bowing with respectful grace. "I'll be your Watcher for the next two days as you adjust to the Dreaming's rules."

He then walked past Luna, and she closed the door behind them. She tried her best to hide the fact that she had survived a possible life threat from herself.

"You're a Qi user," she said, skipping any need for pleasantries. If he called her Lunaris, then he clearly knew what she was.

"Yes," he replied. "I'm also on the path to divinity. I'm a Third Gate—and from today onward, I am your Watcher. Which means you'll be under my wing."

"When will I meet with the Dream Lord?"

"Not soon. He has other things to worry about; there is a Titan that he has to take care of."

"A titan?"

"Yeah. They're like these all-powerful creatures that often try to enter the dreaming. Only those of the Saint Class are obligated to fight them."

"I am guessing saints are like fourth gate ascenders?"

"Typical guess. But you're quite wrong. The Saint Class, as you will learn, is an Ascender with the ability to perform full-blown sorcery. Communicating with Essence to influence the world is very difficult, you see." Raiden explained. "You and Miss Anna seem to have figured it out somehow and, therefore, are requested to begin your journey to Saint Class immediately."

"Saint Class? How many classes are there in general?"

"Well…here in the Astral Sect, there is the Beginner Class, Knight, Saint, King, and Emperor. The Dream Lord is of Emperor class since he's a Visionary. Different sects have different orders, but this sect only has five classes."

'He's mentioning it so openly. They know.'

Deep down, Luna didn't know how to feel about this.

"Anyway, I will let you regain your strength. You receive your junior uniform in an hour."

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