Red didn’t return the man’s pleasantries, staring at his extended hand in silence. This didn’t seem to bother the sage, though, who retracted his hand and smiled.

“Are you aware of what lucid dreaming is, Red?” the elder asked.

The youth shook his head. Although he was still cautious, he wouldn’t refuse information offered to him for free.

The old man nodded as if he already expected this. “Well, you see, every living being dreams once they go to sleep. The issue, of course, is that most dreams are a jumbled mess of memories and feelings, with little sense or reason to them where one is more of a spectator taken along for a ride. They have little control over what happens and, in fact, most of the time they are not even aware that they are in a dream.”

The sage drew his finger over the table as if writing something. He then looked down at the wooden surface with a pondering expression.

The elder continued. “A lucid dream is when one is aware that they are within a dream. That awareness affords them a certain amount of control over their dreams, and they can manipulate what happens in it.”

Red frowned as he heard those words.

The sage looked at him. “Ah, of course, you must be wondering what this control entails. In most cases, lucid dreaming only allows someone to be conscious and make their own decisions in the scenario presented to them. In some other situations, however, lucid dreamers are able to control every aspect of their dream, creating their own reality to do with as they please. I would consider it a spectrum, and I presume you must be one of the former cases as of right now.”

The youth considered the old man’s words. “Can what happens in a dream affect someone in the real world?”

The elder’s smile widened, seemingly happy that Red decided to ask questions of his own. “In most scenarios, that doesn’t happen. However, in the end, it all depends on the contents of your dream and how faithfully your mind is able to recreate contents from memory. Some powers in this universe transcend pure barriers of reality, and lucid dreaming can be a double-edged sword in this scenario… Let’s just say, for instance, that recreating the image of an archdemon in your dreams can be very dangerous for your mind.”

‘Archdemon…’

Red heard the term before. Such demons were considered as the rulers of the Infernal Realm, and the fact this old man was aware of them helped the youth contextualize the kind of information he might know.

“Now, the next question you might be wondering about is how you are dreaming of a memory you never experienced before. Is that not correct?” the sage asked.

He seemed able to read Red’s mind. The youth nodded in agreement.

“Dreams are part of the realm of souls.” the elder said. “Though few have delved into its intricacies since the birth of our realm, it is common knowledge that the contents of one’s souls can wildly affect the kind of dreams we have. This means that one’s soul connections in real life with other people may bring them to experience someone else’s dreams.”

Red frowned. “What connections?”

“Many kinds. Souls can establish natural and forceful connections between two individuals. A pair of lovers, a parent and their child, a master and their thrall, a reincarnation and their past life - all of these can create invisible connections between souls where one’s dreams might pour into another’s sleep.”

This didn’t make matter any clearer, and the sage seemed to guess this by Red’s expression.

“It seems that doesn’t ring any bells for you.” the elder said. “I would suggest that you could be a reincarnation of my disciple, but I can’t sense any celestial energy in your soul… In which case, I’m afraid that I am also at a loss. How many dreams have you had in his body?”

Red hesitated. “… None.”

His dreams in the underground never happened in this person’s body. In fact, as far as he knew, every dream of his happened in a different person’s body, and the only interaction he had with a blue-skinned celestial was as someone else. He didn’t know if the person who attacked him in his dream back them was the same person he was right now, though.

“None?” The sage seemed surprised. “That seems strange. Who did you dream of before this?”

“… Armored soldiers. I was taking part in a war.”

“A war against armored soldiers? Can you describe it to me?”

Red did as much. He didn’t tell the specifics of his dreams, but he told the elder about the desert-like environment he found himself in back then, as well as the endless wall he seemed to be defending. He did leave out the part where his possible disciple tried to kill him, though.

“I have never heard of such a place before.” The sage shook his head. “However, I think I understand what might be happening…”

Red was surprised by this, and his eyes squinted as he waited for the old man to speak.

At this instance, however, the elder showed some hesitation. “Tell me, Red, did you meet my disciple in any of your dreams?”

The youth didn’t respond, but his silence seemed to be enough confirmation for the man.

The sage sighed. “A war? This foolish disciple of mine. Such barbarism goes against everything I ever taught him, so why did he…?”

He trailed off, looking over at Red.

“None of this is your fault, so I shouldn’t throw my complaints at you.” he shook his head. “In truth, I feel rather compelled to help you, but I’m nothing more than a construct in your dream. My real self will not know of this interaction, and if we meet here again, I will have forgotten everything you told me… There might be a way to help you out there, though.”

The youth was on guard as soon as the elder said this, but he decided to listen to him at the very least.

“There is a way to communicate with me if you so wish.” Master Grey said. “There are some caveats to this plan. I’m uncertain if my real self is still alive out there, or if the place where you reside is somewhere that I can reach, but I feel like it’s worth a try.”

Red frowned. “What way?”

“It’s simple.” The elder drew something in the air. A complex symbol formed wherever his finger passed, made out of blue light. It seemed to form the image of an eye. “Conjure this symbol with your third eye. I will be able to sense you if you do so.”

“… My third eye?”

The sage stared at him in confusion. “Are you not aware of how to use your third eye? I’m certain you are not a celestial, but I can feel that you have opened your third eye all the same.”

Red was about to say something, but he fell silent once more.

The elder seemed to notice his hesitation. “I’m afraid it will be difficult to teach you how to use your third eye if I’m not there in person, in which case, this is something you will need to figure out yourself. The process itself is not entirely too difficult, so I’m sure you will be capable of achieving it on your own.”

The youth didn’t know where this confidence in his skills came from, but he didn’t protest it.

“There is, however, one last thing I need to warn you about…” The sage hesitated. “This symbol I taught you is something that only I should be capable of responding to. Even if I were dead, this is something no one can replicate or intercept… Or so I’d like to think.”

Red frowned at this.

“I don’t know how much time has passed since this dream or what heights other celestials have achieved since then.” He said. “I can’t in good consciousness claim that my skills remain supreme since that day, and that no one would be able to steal my symbol for themselves.”

“You mean someone like your disciple?” Red asked.

The elder gave him a helpless smile. “Someone like him might be capable of achieving that one day if he reached my level, yes. Of course, I would like to think that he would never do something like this, but time moves ever forward. Not even the Celestial Emperor is immune to its changes.”

The youth shook his head. “It seems to me that I should never use this symbol of yours if I prize my own safety.”

“You are not wrong.” Master Grey nodded. “However, sometimes we are left with little choice. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you don’t know the way forward, I would advise you to use this symbol to ask for help. Even if someone has indeed stolen it from me, at most they will come to be aware of your presence and location… That in itself can, of course, be disastrous, but it won’t spell your immediate doom.”

“You don’t present a compelling case.”

The sage smiled. “Maybe so, but it’s the only help I can offer for now, and I want to help you, Red.”

“… Why?”

“Because you remind me of my disciple.”

The youth didn’t know how to respond to this. Before he could say anything else, though, he felt the table in front of him tremble. The whole space started to shake, and Red felt as if it this entire dream was on the edge of a collapse.

“It seems our time here has come to an end.” The elder shook his head. “I tried to keep this space stable for as long as possible, but at the end of the day, this is your dream and not mine.”

‘He kept this dream going?’

“This is goodbye forever for us, Red.” the sage said. “If you ever do find my real self… Tell him to not give up on our purpose. Master White entrusted his dreams to us before he left, so it’s our duty to see that through to the end, no matter what happens.”

There was a certain melancholy in the old man’s words. It seemed this conversation with Red had clued the old man on things that might have happened after his time, and what he worked out didn’t bode well for his well-being.

Before Red could say anything else, he felt his vision blur.

The dream collapse, and only darkness remained.

…

The first thing the youth heard was a muffled boom.

His eyes shot open, and he found himself staring at the roof of a cave. He sat up in a hurry, looking around himself in confusion.

“It’s just a storm.” Aurelia said. “No need to worry yourself too much.”

“A storm…?”

Red pondered these words, the interaction with that man still fresh in his mind. He heard the sound of thunder and blowing wind from outside, as well as the pitter patter of rain hitting the forest ground.

“… How strong is this storm?” he asked.

Aurelia scoffed. “How would I know? It’s just a seasonal storm. Seems normal for this time of the year.”

As the woman said that, an idea started to form in the youth’s mind.

“I want to try something.” he said.