“You can’t be serious!” That was exactly what came to my mind when Master Boone asked me to construct a dream for Magus Alexei.

“He is a powerful Magus. Penetrating his physical ward is next to impossible, let alone breaking through his mental ward. No wonder you couldn’t find a person insane enough to do this.” I scratched my temple in frustration.

“I know you can do it, May. You created a magnificent dream incantation for the Atria Orphanage. Now, all the children there don’t suffer from nightmares anymore. That was beyond fantastic—creating a world of dreams for 40 kids at the same time.”

That was different. I would do thousands of jobs like Atria for free. I, for one, grew up in an orphanage. The nightmares we had to endure every night were beyond cruel. Our sorrow and pain of being alone, poor, and somewhat unwanted were delicate food for the Dark Somnus to come and stay.

Becoming Adept Level has its perks and gave me exposure to advanced ward literature. I started to construct a protection ward for the orphanage against the Dark Somnus so they couldn’t enter the dreams of the children. My calculations were that, without the nightmares, the children would be less miserable, and the Dark Somnus would lose their appetite for them. It was even designed to create hopeful dreams. It was highly advanced, yet it was a beautiful incantation and ward structure to make them feel they had hope and weren’t useless. I would definitely do that again at another orphanage.

“I’ll pay you double.” I snorted at his offer. As if…

“Regardless of his power, I’d never create a dream incantation for a comatose person. I don’t even know where to start.” I tried to reason with him.

“Triple. And I’ll give you the Daemonic Dreams.” Shut up. Now he’s speaking my language.

“It is a rare collection, possessed and protected by His Royal Highness only. How did you acquire the grimoire?” He could be lying to me just to get me to work with him.

“You can go inside my head and find it. I don’t care. But I’m in a blood contract with his sister, Maga Ramona. I’d be as good as dead if I don’t fulfill the contract,” Master Boone said in desperation.

“As always. You couldn’t settle for an easy life. Just for once.” Shaking my head, I muttered in amusement. Master Boone and all of his troubles had dragged everyone around him—including me.

“Right, so what we need is a potion to induce the comatose state, a strong-as-hell Dream Ward design, and an incantation to break through his protection wards. I believe Magus Alexei put layers of them. It’s gonna be a long haul of work hours.” I took a mental note of the incantations I needed to chant from the Daemonic Dreams. I was nervous and happy at the same time. This would become a breakthrough since no one had ever done it before.

We usually construct dreams when our clients are awake and able to let us into their minds. They lower their mental protection and allow us in to construct the world, atmosphere, all the details down to the small details. With a comatose person, we can't discuss the plan, the details, or what kind of dream they want. The worst part is, we will force our entrance into their mind without their acknowledgment. This would most likely end with their mind seeing us as a threat and attacking us. And that, my friend, wasn’t my favorite part.

While Master Boone worked his tail off to get the potion, I studied my new grimoire. This book was beyond amazing. It held knowledge about dreams, shadows, and even creating and demolishing the Dark Somnus. I still couldn’t believe I finally had it in my possession.

“You ready, May?” asked Master Boone after I finished removing the physical protection ward that surrounded Magus Alexei's body.

“Oh, absolutely. Nothing like diving headfirst into certain doom." I held the potion in my hands, bracing myself to take the hardest gulp of my life.

“I’ll be here when you wake up,” he said. I drank the potion and fell straight into darkness.

Right after I opened my eyes, I saw a layer of transparent dome before me. That must be his protection ward. The incantation wasn’t one that required chanting out loud. I just needed to cast it in my mind with down-to-perfection precision and in order. I searched and probed the dome’s surface to find its weaknesses.

When I finally found one, it was small, but it was there. I put my will into allowing myself to enter the dome. I was ready to step inside when suddenly a strong energy pulled me in. I was sucked into his dream.

It wasn’t like an ordinary walk-in-the-park job. I was pulled into a tunnel so forcefully that I lost control of everything. I tried to grab onto something to stop myself, but there was nothing there. I panicked. This wasn’t explained in the grimoire. I honestly wasn’t prepared for this.

The tunnel ended, and I crash-landed on my butt.

I saw Magus Alexei standing before me, his tall figure towering over me. A mischievous smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

“Hi, May. I’ve been waiting forever for this moment,” he said.

“Wait, you’ve been expecting me?” This was strange, and I smelled something fishy here. How did he know I was going to enter his dream?

I didn’t even know him. He was way above my level. I admired his work, but not his personality. He was an arrogant Magus, always looking down on others.

“You are here because I let you in. You underestimated me if you thought you could break my protection ward without my permission.” This didn’t make any sense. I was completely in the dark right now. Somehow this felt like a trap.

“And why did you want me here?” I asked him.

“Do you know how I ended up in my current situation?” He sat beside me. I kept my gaze on him and didn’t dare to turn away even for a millisecond. Somehow, my heart told me that this man could not be trusted.

“I fought the Dark Somnus.”

You what? You’ve got to be kidding me. I knew this man was haughty, but to challenge the Dark Somnus—there must be something wrong with his mind.

“I know what you think—that I’m a nut job.” I didn’t say my thoughts out loud, did I?

“I was fighting them when I lost the grip on my own will, and they got me.” He lost the battle. Yet his voice was full of humility, where there should be rage and anger.

“So, what do you want me to do? You want me to construct a beautiful dream for your indefinite time of sleep?” I just realized how heartless that sounded when I said it.

He took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on me. I was busy looking at my feet and didn’t want to meet his eyes.

He cleared his throat and said, “I want you to kill me.” That startled me. I turned my head to him and stared in disbelief. Clearly, something was not right inside his head.

“You want me to do what?” I needed to make sure I heard it right.

“Kill me.”

“Why?” I replied almost immediately.

“I will never wake up from this state. My brain is too damaged to stay conscious.” His voice trembled; he knew his story was coming to an end.

“I need someone to pass on my knowledge, my magic, everything I possess,” he continued. Impossible, my mind automatically responded. It was impossible unless… then realization hit me.

“You mean...?” I didn’t have to continue my sentence when he nodded.

“What!” That was a dumbfounded expression rather than a question.

“I believe you brought the dagger, right?” he meant the enchanted dagger that every Adept makes to kill themselves in the dream realm in order to wake up. Surprise, surprise! I never said it was a painless job, right?

“Hold on a second. What makes you think I was going to do that? Regardless of whether I am your heir or not.”

“So you don’t crave power.” He muttered the words to himself.

“Interesting. I always thought that my child would at least have the same hunger for magic, power, and knowledge—and would be willing to do anything to get it.”

I lost my ability to speak. His sentences did not make any sense to me.

“Oh please, I was the one who gave you to the orphanage. And I named you May, after the month you were born,” he said with an annoyed tone, as if he could read the question nagging in my mind.

“No, I don’t want to kill anyone. In a dream or in real life.” I refused his request.

“Then, you’re welcome to stay here forever. Having company for an eternal dream is quite appealing now.” I checked my sheath, only to find my dagger missing. How did he do that?

“How...?”

“I can hold you here as long as I want, unless you agree to kill me,” he said, my dagger in his grip.

“Your choice.” And then the dagger vanished.

Master Boone had tricked me into taking this job. I’ll kill him for this.

“Okay. I’ll do it,” I said. Not that I was willing to do it, but I couldn’t spend one more minute with him in his dream. This man—so-called my father—was nothing but a self-centered, arrogant, off-pitch singer, and he was doing it on purpose to torment me. I couldn’t stand it any longer. Anything but this.

I extended my hand to him to retrieve my dagger. He cut his finger and offered me a blood contract. “You promise to kill me before you kill yourself in my dream and wake up.” This thing works in the dream too? I cut my finger and let our blood mingle. I felt my will being pulled and pushed between two different minds, and I could tell that this actually worked here too.

“I promise,” I said my oath.

He gave back my dagger. It felt heavier in my grip than it used to. I’d never used it on another person because it meant killing their soul, and if I didn’t plunge the dagger into their heart when I woke up, I would die too. The dream realm was another level of complexity.

Magus Alexei stood before me, closed his eyes, and spread his arms open, ready for his fate. I stared at my dagger, tightening my grip even though my hands were trembling.

“Just do it already, May.” He sensed my hesitation. I plunged the dagger right into his heart—deep and fast. I knew a piece of my soul died the moment the dagger took another's life.

I didn’t dare to open my eyes, so I pulled the dagger out of his chest and stabbed myself. The pain was excruciating, but it was necessary for me to wake up.

I woke up with a loud gasp. Disoriented and lightheaded, I pushed myself to sit up. I saw Magus Alexei's body next to me. I stood and staggered a bit, but managed to steady myself.

I pulled my dagger from its sheath and did what I had to do. Warm, sticky red blood spurted from his chest, and his heartbeat stopped. I had killed a man.

“That was easy, right?” said a familiar voice behind me. I turned my head to see the shadow of Magus Alexei smiling at me.

This was not happening!