Alliance

Arven brought Slinx to a quiet place to ensure they wouldn't be disturbed, they walked in awkward silence until they reached an arcade. The arcade was situated near the school just across the street, it used to be popular with students and would be packed with students during these hours, but with every batch of graduates bringing away another group of loyal customers, the arcade would find itself struggling to make ends meet, a brutal contrast to its glory days. Nowadays only a couple of people remember the arcade's existence, even fewer care to visit. The two of them entered the arcade, and sure enough it was virtually empty. They sat down at the snack bar, only a few mouldy looking bags of chips remained on the shelves, the seats were covered with a thin layer of dust and no staff was to be found.

"Let's get to business, shall we?" Arven interrupted the silence.

"As I have told you, Walder is a dangerous person, and I believe it is to the best of both our interests that you assist me in sabotaging his scheme."

"How do you know Walder?"

"He was a friend of my grandfather, they were sworn brothers."

"Now I'm confused, you claim that Walder is a dangerous person and yet he's your grandpa's friend?"

"He was, until he went mad pursuing those goddamn rings."

Arven pointed at Slinx's hand, " That thing on your hand wields power we are not capable of controlling, I have seen the horrors and the catastrophic disasters that thing can create if in the hands of a dictator. And I believe it isn't something you should mingle with."

Without warning, Arven attempted to snatch the ring off Slinx, with quick instincts Slinx narrowly dodged the tackle.

"Hey what the hell!? What do you think you are doing? And who in the hell do you think you are?"

"It's for your own good, it's deteriorating your ability to dream. Like how a crane makes you rely on it to walk."

"Well first of all that was stealing. And Second of all, what you said is just blatantly false. I have lucid-dreamed numerous times before getting this ring. " Slinx stood up and was ready to leave.

"Then would you at least allow me to show you what I mean?" Arven caught Slinx by the hand, his eyes determined and concerned.

"Dream with me, Slinx."

The words confused Slinx. "I beg your pardon?"

"Close your eyes Slinx. Let me show you something in dreamland."

"You expect me to go to sleep right now? It's not even 5pm yet!"

Snap!

He did not know why, but Slinx felt a sudden sense of dizziness and fatigue. His eyelids were being squished downwards by the immense temptation to sleep. They fought gallantly, but it was a lost battle. Slinx felt every muscle in his body relax and collapse, first his legs, then his body, and finally that tiny voice in his head screaming out of fear and confusion of what sorcery Arven had just used on him.

.....

When he woke up again, the mysterious and perplexing atmosphere of dreamland was there to greet him.

Slinx looked around, he was lying on the cold smooth concrete floor of an artificial structure. There was a round table with two chairs, on the table was a jug of water with two glasses. But aside from that the cubical room he was in was vastly empty. There were no windows that allowed him to see outside nor was there any clock on the wall indicating whether it was night or day, just dim light provided from the recessed ceiling light above.

The only door connecting to the room opened, Arven walked out of it.

"Took you long enough. Now come, everyone else is waiting."

"Whose everyone? And where have you brought me to?" Instinctively, Slinx stood up and stood in a fighting stance. But both of them knew Slinx was incapable of defending himself. He had no idea how he would wake up nor how to stop Arven from making him fall asleep if he somehow did manage to wake up.

"Relax Slinx, I have no intention in hurting you. I'll bring you back to the arcade once this is over." Arven gestured to Slinx to leave the room.

"You're still after my ring aren't you? Don't think you can just steal my ring while I'm trapped in this dream. We go to the same school I warn you!" Slinx started swinging his hands in front of Arven's face, hoping that he would somehow be able to scare Arven if he thought Slinx knew martial arts.

Arven rolled his eyes, "Must I also force you to come with me?" He pointed a finger towards the ceiling, and simultaneously Slinx felt his feet leave the ground. Panickily, Slinx swung his limbs like a drowning child while levitating in mid air.

"Let me down you bully! Fine, I'll walk by myself!" And before he could react he plummeted towards the floor and landed on his butt. Arven couldn't help but grin, but did lend out his hand.

"Could've given me a heads up first…" Slinx cussed as he accepted Arven's hand.

The two exited the room and walked along a long corridor. It was designed in a very cybernetic and futuristic manner that gave this cold yet calm vibe. The corridor had long oval-shaped windows which gave hindsight of its surroundings. Slinx curiously looked through the windows and saw vast open spaces designed in an equally cold and artificial manner. To Slinx's surprise, there were quite some people in the space unlike the mostly empty streets he saw in Dreamapolis. They seemed to be staff members and were operating the various vehicles and machinery inside. Slinx would have stopped to take a closer look, but with Arven on his back he dare not do that.

They finally arrived at the end of the corridor, they entered a meeting room where six other people awaited them.

"You're late, Arven." one of the six said in a distant tone. It was a woman who was seated at the edge of the oval-shaped meeting table, indicating she was the leader of this group.

"My apologies Galina, I should have taken Slinx's confusion into account."

"So this is Slinx huh? Weird, he doesn't really look that smart or capable. Did Walder actually just randomly choose some kid to possess the ring?" said one of the other members who had the appearance of a teenage girl, she looked similar in age as Cavina.

"That might be for the better, anyone with enough intellect or knew more about Walder's intentions would probably be less obedient." said a man who appeared to be in his thirties wearing a suit and glasses.

"Now there, I think we should be a bit more welcoming to our guest. He has had quite a lot of information to swallow having just recently learnt about the truth of Dreamland. You must be feeling very confused and tired, Slinx." a soft spoken lady spoke up for him, Slinx blushed the moment his eyes were met by the heartwarming smile from the beautiful lady.

"Hera's right. We have invited Slinx here today to ask for his assistance. Please do take a seat, Slinx." Galina gestured at one of the vacant seats.

"We are informed that you are in possession of one of the Dream Rings, is that correct?" Galina continued.

"Errr… Yes. I got the ring from Walder."

"And do you know what exactly are the powers of the ring you wear?"

"I…" Slinx felt the need to lie, but there really was no point given how easy it would be to expose it.

Arven interrupted, "I think it is best that we don't tell him, Galina." He walked towards Galina and whispered something into her ear, only for Galina to stare sternly at him and shake her head. Arven looked disappointed, but he quickly brushed it off and continued, " It is in our best interest that you surrender the ring to us before we reveal its purpose to you, Slinx."

"And why should I? Just because you claim Walder is the bad guy and you're the good guys? I mean you basically kidnapped me here!"

"We are sorry that we resorted to such barbaric ways to bring you here. But it was necessary for us to evaluate whether you are a threat to the alliance." Galina said.

"Slinx, as you might have heard from Walder, we are descendants of the Tavats. Our ancestors mastered the skills of lucid dreaming to create a utopia." Arven said.

"But they soon realised that the land they created was not the true utopia they desired, even when their every wish was fulfilled, a hole of emptiness remained in their heart." Hera said.

"And so for generations, our people have regulated the gates to Dreamland manually. Ensuring people don't spend too much time in Dreamland, but also not too few." said the teenage girl.

The man in the suit relayed, "This peace and order we maintained for centuries is now being threatened by Walder. His monopoly on the rings will almost certainly bring catastrophic effects."

"That is why we ask for your help, Slinx. Your ring can lead us to the other rings scattered across the globe. We want you to see that we are much better keepers of the rings than Walder will be." Galina said. "I know it is hard for you to trust us immediately, but I am certain that through time you will see from our actions that we are far less ruthless than Walder is. That is why we did not steal your ring, we respect you and leave the decision to you." Galina said as she gave Arven "the stare". Arven kept his head down and said nothing.

"Our purpose for today was just to let you be aware that there is a far bigger community protecting Dreamland. We will continue to keep close contact with you, and whenever you are ready, officially invite you to our team as we search for the rings." Galina stood up from her chair and walked towards the window.

"I think this is enough for today. Thank you for joining us Mr. Wilt. Hopefully we will see you soon. Arven, please escort Mr. Wilt to the exit."

And with that Slinx's short encounter with the alliance ended. As he walked down the same hallway, he found himself deep in thought. The people he just met seemed righteous and noble, yet it was entirely possible that they were actually evil crimelords who managed to build a base in the dream realm. More importantly, the way they spoke of the ring seemed to imply that it was far more dangerous than what Slinx had expected. A tool built for malice rather than something that aided the wearer's ability to lucid dream. What exactly were these rings for?

If Slinx had met the alliance before meeting Walder, he probably would have joined them on the spot. He wanted to belong to a community, a group which recognised him as an equal and praised his successes.

Arven and Slinx walk past the long oval-shaped window again, and again Slinx peaks outside.

But meeting Walder has changed his priorities. More specifically, meeting Cavina.

This time, Slinx gets a closer look at one of the items the staff were working with, it was a ring.

Walder's voice rang in his mind, "Help me find what lies beyond ring number one, and I'll turn you into a man even Cavina would go mad for."

"Arven," Slinx said,

"Hmm?"

"I think I've made my decision."