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The Dreamwalker walked the corridors of her mind, marveling at the relative order and structure he saw there. So she had control of her dreams, her wants, her needs even in sleep. This was somebody who didn’t spend time in flights of fancy.
 
But her dreams were also vivid, full of detail and color. He realized he could drown here, if he wasn’t careful enough. Ayame had a certain skill weaving imaginary worlds in her psyche, at a time when she didn’t have the most control. He’d seen what she could do – his vast powers were somehow dampened here, like he could only influence the dream, and not the dreamer. At his best, he knew he could control whoever’s dreams he walked into, and they would be none the wiser when they woke up. He had tried earlier to rip off a portion of her Zen garden wall, only to find the wallpaper overlain on a stone wall. Seemingly flimsy roses in the garden danced and sparkled in the sunlight, staying corporeal even as he commanded the mists of her mind that made up all these to dissipate. If anything, the defiant roses bloomed.
 
Donghae wasn’t lost, but he also knew he’d been walking around long enough without catching sight of the dreamer. He could never go back to where he came from, with the rapid changes in Ayame’s dream. He also didn’t have the advantage of The Fishes capabilities – they had to stay behind in the real world when they couldn’t get past Ayame’s semi-conscious membrane. It was the first time in a long while that they couldn’t accompany him in the Dreaming, but the old skills easily came back to him.
 
He presently reached the end of the dreamhouse, a covered veranda that looked out to a breathtaking view – a horizon of clouds with the occasional mountaintop peeking every now and then. If there was an ocean, or land beneath the clouds, he couldn’t know it. The house was perched on the edge of a cliff, right next to a raging waterfall plunging to immeasurable depths, as all Donghae could see looking down were clouds and sprays from the falls. There was nowhere to go but across the delicate-looking bridge that spanned the falls, to the other side.
 
He reached the other side soon enough, knowing he was nearer to seeing Ayame as a facsimile of a puppy-sized Dusky scampered up to meet him, tail wagging and yipping. He knew this was just a representation of the daemon dog – the real Dusky would not even disdain to remain in the same room with him. Besides, Dusky’s mind-reading abilities did not include the hazy portion between sleeping and waking that was his domain. He followed where the happy pup led him...
 
Lying in his bed, Donghae opened his eyes, as Ayame’s dreaming stopped.
 
>>>
 
Ayame woke up with a start, bothered that she’d dream of Donghae that way. The disturbing thought was enough to wake Dusky up.
 
“Bad dream?” he asked groggily, catching only the tail-end wisps of her mind before they both automatically stayed out of each other’s heads.
 
“Not a bad dream, really,” she said, which was true. “It was just disturbing,” she admitted before she urged Dusky to go back to sleep.
 
Dusky obliged, but not without giving Ayame an eye before he went back to sleep, after he was convinced that she was alright.
 
It was true that she’d noticed Donghae long before she knew he was one of the Fifteen. She was a fan of the boyband disguise they had – hot idol stars which stage was the world. They worked the entertainment industry like magic, and were loved like crazy by their myriad fans. Including her.
 
Which made it all the more awkward that part of his task was to wander around in her head while she was asleep, dreamwalking as they call it. As dreams were wont to go, she had no control over it, and she usually stopped a disturbing dream or two by waking up. But one of these days, she wouldn’t be able to wake up from a dream. Not to mention that she had allowed Donghae to dreamwalk in her sleep if they were to establish effective teamwork. Why she even thought it would be easy was beyond her.
 
But what made the dream weird wasn’t so much because of Donghae being in it, but rather, it felt like a memory more than a dream. A dream would only be true in the moment the dreaming occurred, with snippets of scenes that may or may not have meaning or reason, and the dreamer wouldn’t even think to look for a reason while dreaming. So why did it feel like one of those memory-dreams of hers where she’d see a person and know them, when she had never met them? Why did her dream self understand a lot of Donghae’s references to her family, and about them not agreeing to the marriage? What marriage? And why would she even think that when she was dressed in a slayer’s funereal black uniform?
 
She shook the last fogs of her mind, learning to ignore the mental aftertaste when she had these episodes.
 
Ayame smiled, watching Dusky sleeping on his back, all four paws up in the air, tongue lolling out of his jaw. It had taken him awhile to get used to the idea of sleep since it had taken them awhile to discover he could do so in his corporeal form. His ether form apparently did not require it, but it was good for his well-being when he did get to sleep as it also stopped his mind-reading abilities from functioning, giving him much-needed rest.
 
She looked at the clock. A few minutes more and it would be time for her patrol. She got up to prepare.
 
>>>
 
She was surprised to get out of the Suzumi House and find all Yeoldasos up and about in their slayer uniforms. The confusion must have shown on her face because Yesung explained, “We also have our own locations to patrol, too.”
 
She had mistakenly assumed that the Yeoldasos didn’t handle anything other than special missions. And then again, patrolling could mean a special mission, too. She gave a nod before she her heels and walked towards the gate, Dusky hovering beside her. She looked to her other side though, when Donghae matched her stride.
 
“I’m on patrol with you starting tonight,” he said. “Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun will continue with Kisure.” The twin fish were nowhere visible. Ayame figured they were comfortably tattooed somewhere on his body.
 
He was talking again. “But why aren’t you in uniform?”
 
“I can’t go around where people can see me looking like I’m mourning.”
 
Donghae did a double-take. “You’re not invisible?”
 
Ayame wondered just how much information her profile contained that he had to ask her about things he could have read off her profile. “No, I’m not. That’s why I was allowed to wear normal clothes when going out on patrol. I only become invisible once I draw the spirit weapon. Didn’t it say so on my profile?”
 
Donghae frowned, wondering where that part of the profile went. Because he definitely did not read about it. “Uh, I haven’t reached that part yet. Why don’t you just tell me about it?” They reached the gates.
 
“That would be rather difficult. Wearing the uniform, I mean.” She watched as Donghae opened a portal for them to Augure, and Dusky started wrapping her in his time barrier. Ayame adjusted her high collar around before continuing. “People would think I’m talking to myself and consider me somebody crazy lost in the night.”
 
A cool wind greeted them as they stepped out of the portal, onto an area Ayame easily recognized in the southern part of Augure.
 
>>>
 
“Again,” Donghae called from his perch as he watched Ayame fire the spirit arrows from her spirit bow. He had to keep himself from scratching his brow, keeping the impending headache at bay. But from where he was sitting, it was getting ridiculous, the way her spirit weapon changed every training day. It was throwing all his training plans awry, and he had yet to see her draw the same weapon twice.

It has been a week since Ayame moved in and started training with the Fifteen.

Ayame calmly drew back the bowstring, and let the arrows fly. She wasn’t even facing the target yet the arrows hit the bulls eye. He had to give her points though, for having great control of all her weapons. It may look haphazard, but there actually lay the strength of her sprit weapons – an enemy would expect her to be doing one thing, yet get an entirely unexpected attack.

But it still didn’t give him a grasp of her strengths and advantages. And it was a dangerous situation where teams were concerned.

He joined her down the field. Dusky and the fishes joined them, too.

“Have you ever drawn the same weapon twice?” he asked.

“Uh, yes. All of it at least twice, but more than twice would be this, the Sig, the sword, and the lance.”

Donghae scratched his cheek. “You have no control over what weapon you draw?”

Ayame shook her head. “Dusky and I have tried analyzing over the years what triggered the spirit weapons individually, to no avail. So I just learned to use whatever I draw.”

“Any new weapons in the arsenal lately?”

Ayame shook her head again.

“Then it’s safe to assume you have the complete arsenal at your disposal. Can you come up with the list, and the weapons’ characteristics? I’d have to be the one to study it, and come up with the appropriate strategies when you draw a particular weapon.”

Both her and Dusky blinked.

“All 500 of them?” It was Dusky who asked.

It was Donghae’s turn to blink. “How come it wasn’t in your records?” He realized it was a stupid question as soon as he asked. Her records did mention “Various” where the spirit weapon was mentioned. It was not necessary to indicate the actual weapon especially where written records were concerned.

“Five hundred?” He asked in wonder.

“Dusky keeps tabs. I don’t. I mean, I can’t, especially for those I rarely draw. The only common factor the weapons have is that I draw the ones I need in each battle. It’s a race trying to learn what I could of the weapon as I use it, but I get the hang of it. Since Dusky automatically monitors what happens during battle, he’s the one who can tell and remember what I’ve done.”

“All five hundred?” Donghae asked Dusky. Every time he mentioned the number, he couldn’t help but be overwhelmed. But challenged with the task. Finally, an endeavor worthy of a Yeoldasos.

Dusky merely nodded.

“Okay…how about we start with weapon one?” Donghae braced himself, wondering how he would even remember all five hundred. He figured with Aurum and Argentum, they’d remember all five hundred between them.

>>>

Ryeowook swept into the dining room to find Donghae reading. He did a double-take. Donghae reading was an anomaly.

“Uh, everything alright, hyung?” he asked the elder.

Donghae looked up from his seat, rubbing his eyes. “Just studying Ayame’s 500 spirit weapons – and cross-referencing it with real-world weapons. Seems that she can only draw a spirit weapon that she’d seen at one time. When we show her an obscure weapon, both her and Dusky says they have no idea how it works. Of course, the Fishes and I realized showing Ayame the new weapons may also give her an idea for a new spirit weapon, so we stopped it.”

Ryeowook nodded his head. Everyone knew by now about Ayame’s peculiarity. Even Yesung shook his head in amazement, as no sage manuscripts recorded a slayer, or anyone for that matter, who can draw various spirit weapons in the double digits. Before Ayame, history recorded that the highest number of spirit weapon types that a single slayer has drawn was five, and that was only under adverse circumstances. Shindong had taken it upon himself to negotiate with Intelligence Division to open up Ayame’s records – and they weren’t surprised that those rated a higher than Top Secret classification. The records were eventually made available to Donghae, but it didn’t contain anything that he had not already known from Ayame and Dusky.

Ryeowook finally voiced his silent thoughts on the whole Ayame matter. “Are we sure she’s not an elite level slayer?” 

True, in terms of experience, knowledge, or even power, Ayame was nowhere near their levels. But she was introducing a maverick element into the Yeoldaseos by the fact of her powers, weak it may be.

Instead of answering, Donghae’s eyes lit on the platter of food Ryeowook had been carrying in. “Is that for me?”

Ryeowook rolled his eyes, detecting the starting whine Donghae used to act cute. And most often used when avoiding answering a question. “Ah, no, supposed to be mine.” And as always, he couldn’t resist the woebegone expression on the elder’s face. “Ah, hyung, how old are you again? Here, we can share.”

He set the platter between them, taking the seat across from Donghae. The Dreamwalker had gone back to studying after munching on the snacks.

“How can I help?” Ryeowook asked, also studying the manuscripts laid out infront of Donghae. The elder looked up, appreciating the offer, but unsure about how to use Ryeowook’s abilities.

“I know you can conjure ether forms and shape shift – but these are spirit weapons – their properties differ from the real-world counterparts.” Donghae said aloud.

Ryeowook only smiled patiently. “Yes, hyung, but you forget the basics – the reason why spirit weapons take a specific form is because we use those forms to launch the type of attack. You cannot use a crossbow to slash, nor can you use a sword to shoot. What effect the spirit weapons have after the attack launch will differ depending on the wielder, but you can be pretty sure the delivery will be the same.”

Donghae stared at Ryeowook. Yes, he had forgotten that principle. He had been focusing on the results of the attack when he should first look into how Ayame used each weapon type. “Huh, thanks for reminding me. How about this then: in Ayame’s next training, maybe you can let her use entangler shaped to a specific weapon. Dusky here has listed the weapons’ capabilities so maybe you can study the form. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about what weapon she’d randomly draw but focus instead on training her capabilities with a particular weapon, and the strategies for our pairing.”

“Sure, hyung – it will also give me opportunity to study about 450 other forms for entangler. And maybe Bada,” Ryeowook said, referring to his shape shifting spirit wolf who had the ability to merge with Ryeowook’s weapon and enhance its attack and defense capabilities.
 

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