The 'escort mission' turned out to be a success. No one died, Rain, her parents, her siblings, and every member of the caravan successfully arrived in the vicinity of the Dream Gate of Song. Everyone was alive, and kicking. Only somewhat shaken by the sudden danger.
Rain was comforting her parents who, sadly, didn't take the sight of a dire fight too well, easily falling into heart palpitation. And they couldn't be blamed. It takes a lot of harrowing experience to stand unmoved in the face of it. Still it was a strange sight to see a child comforting their parents. And what was even stranger is that she actually managed to kill a few weaker abominations coming after them.
And no one knows it's him who orchestrated whole ordeal so just Rain could hunt a few, even Jet who covered his actions, but she wouldn't care. Her interests lay somewhere else.
Thanks to his Bloodweave he could see the souls, which allowed him to recognize the vessels of Skinwalker just based on the notion that they looked human, and their souls were clearly corrupted. It wasn't perfect. He could go for an inspection, not even care to inform anyone, and find the vessels, then kill them.
It was still very easy to take them off guard. The imperfect part was to justify killing random people. He knew that some people are Skinwalkers, but the rest couldn't see such things. All they could see are strange-behaving humans wreaking havoc, and some people disappearing. Where's transparency in that? Wouldn't normal people think that it's an excuse to kill these people? Sadly there's no transparency, and there can't be, and therefore anyone doing dirty work has to take the burden of all bad faith. A killer…
As the result Jet priced him as a perfect ally against the foe, great friend, who she can trust her back to.
'Jet says she's going to send you for a check up in these cities…'
Cassie was transmitting information through her telepathy abilities. Sunny sighed heavily. Crazy-avatar ordered everyone to pack their things. The soldiers entered the Mimic, which in turn went back to his Soul Sea. The rest of his Shadows followed. He swiftly gathered all present shadow helpers, and departed for the mission.
Meanwhile Rain was in the camp near the Song's Dream Gate. The camp was a massive construction meant to carry out several functions: siege capital, trading depot, immigration office, observatory.
Humans were going to pass the Gate, and find a place to live in the Ravenheart. However, the climate of Ravenheart, and rudimentary agriculture that cannot be supported much by earthy technology, cannot sustain its population either. Most of the food has to be imported. That led to renewed farming in Antarctica.
Mom, and dad were still shaken, and the procedure of being allowed into Ravenheart was going to take a while. Rain was allowed to wander around. There was an abundance of things worth seeing. The Dream Gate itself was quite a thing. The constructions taking place were no less interesting. Sadly she was never going to see them finished.
The moment she entered the Dream Realm will be also the moment she will get a seed of corruption planted in her soul. If sprouted, it would open the way to being claimed by the Nightmare Spell, and if she left the Domain, these things would happen. At least that's how Teacher explained to her.
It wasn't exactly common knowledge, which made her wonder how Teacher knew the nuances. The only answer she got was 'I saw it with both of my eyes!'.
Regretfully she had to spend her last few hours in some sensible way so instead of admiring the place she decided to go shopping. There were many things on the offer. Awakened were going in, and out of Dream Gate practically all the time so they could move valuable commodities. The picture was dominated mostly by wholesalers.
She found a military shop selling military equipment. She entered, and started looking for various things that might be necessary in her future, especially she wanted to buy herself new alloy armor. The current one was already worn out after some close contacts with Nightmare Creatures. She was a bit worn out too, but in contrast to armor she was going to be alright.
Her sight wandered over different supplies. She considered looking for tools rather than directly for weapons. Normal alloy metals could still withstand, and damage the Nightmare Creatures. She knew that for a fact. However, when you finally have the access to better materials it's better to use equipment made out of them.
But even if such consideration didn't hold much weight, there's still one thing. Intensity training, tasty, nutritious diet, magical tools that vastly improved her recovery, and different things that caused her body to be slightly stronger than before. That strength had to come from muscles that grow. In short she's also bulkier, and currently her armor doesn't fit her that well.
Awakened usually doesn't have to bother with unfitting armors, because their basic equipment is composed of Memories that can change their sizes according to users' body. It's another thing Rain was envious of them. Never having to wonder what to put on.
During last few months she changed quite a bit. Being exposed to the utter absurdity of her teacher has caused her to assume a more cynical mindset. It wasn't a bad thing. Actually that part of her character caused to questioning the nature of her circumstances, and could be somehow translated into combat awareness. From understanding that conventions her reason followed are biased she could go to accepting things can go wrong a lot more easily
She made sure no one was seeing, and talked to the shadow.
"Any advice?"
"Not at all. I don't know much about mundane warfare, and armor maintenance. You'll have to figure that out on your own."
Rain was annoyed
"You craft Memories!"
"What do you think Memories are? Memories do the maintenance part on their own in the soul sea. That's how I weave them."
"Fine. I'll work with what I know already."
Over time she realized there's something strange about the way the teacher treated her. She had to become an Awakened by killing many monsters, taking their soul shards, and spending them on her. The veteran soldiers he took under his wing on the other hand were provided with all shards. He explained that the reason was that she's a disciple while they are his workers, and they accumulated their own share of feats.
She was fine with that. It's still better
On the other hand she could enjoy her special training. That training was really special. He expected her to get better with many weapons without following a single style, and approved her preference of the bow while not having that much to say about it, and not having much to teach her.
There were also those dance lessons... One of few things without any practical purposes if you won't count it was supposed to make her more adaptable, and flexible.
On top of everything there were also spars with Aiko. Nothing could really compare to battling Aiko. She couldn't remember how many bruises she received from their clashes. During those months she didn't win even once, and yet the teacher insisted on trying in breaks for Quentin's healing.
That Master ensured she didn't leave with more scars. How the hell did teacher manage to bring him? – she didn't know. It had to cost him quite a lot. Unfortunately her experience has become several times worse. Being able to recover faster means she could receive heavier training. The only ones she could compare with in this regard were legacies, though there wasn't that much information on how the kids from the clans are prepared to face the Nightmares. She was sure that if she was supposed to be raised like a legacy she would be taught in a more eventful kind of dance.
And her spars with Aiko indeed resembled a dance. A dance of avoiding Aiko's punches mostly, but nonetheless.
When compared to Aiko all creatures she went to hunt were rather easy Dorman Beast targets. In contrast to them Aiko was strong, and intelligent, and by that way more experienced. People tend to forget that despite being on the weaker side of Awakened kind she survived Forgotten Shore too. She knows the taste of fighting against overwhelming odds too. And in the end she's learning too. Aiko was growing accustomed to her tricks, and Rain had to be creative.
If Rain was to fight the version of herself from a few months ago she would destroy her tens of times. And the scary part is it's not even that she learned some tricks like a few fighting styles teacher Sunless meticulously imparted into her for skill, and reference. If she skipped those details, she could realize it's the whole way of acting that had changed.
And she hasn't even arrived in the Dream Realm yet. What would happen after establishing themselves behind the Gate? When will she hunt so many creatures? Or worse? Will she like life without all those conveniences, and entertainment from the modern world? When will be the next time she can watch a movie or look for some stupid things on the internet? Or even drink a cup of coffee? She knew the answer, but the contrast between the goals was stark at very least.
The course of her thoughts was suddenly broken by the familiar voice.
"I know I encourage making independent choices, but you're thinking about something too much. What's wrong?"
"I think about the goals for the next few years. You know. Making herself a home somewhere near an active, raging vulcano, learning your strange martial art, killing a hundred or two of deadly creatures, getting a hold on a mystical energy , mostly on my own, finally beating an Awakened human, I'm sure you'll somehow figure that out, becoming an Awakened myself, finding a working communicator, oh, and I should have mention having a cup of coffee, and watching a movie in the Dream Realm. I doubt there's an armor that will help with all that stuff. Did you ever hear about a piece that helps with coffee making? I didn't."
"I didn't either. A cup of coffee… I have a deja vu."