[IC] Sweet Dreams! Rescue the DreamWeavers

[Felono]

We enter a clearing in a forest to see a small village with buildings that lined up along the sides of the cobblestone streets. There were about two dozen different buildings in this area with residents going about their day. Said residents were multicolored animals with star markings somewhere on their body. Overlooking this peaceful little scene was a castle of modest size. The highest tower had a giant telescope coming through the roof, the lens pointed towards the sky. Inside that tower was an astrology room of sorts. The stone walls were lined with various clocks depicting different time zones. There was a tall, beak masked cloaked figure using the telescope. Said figure was shaking his head in disappointment. "This can only end in disaster..."

The wooden door creaked open, and a yellow penguin squeezed his way in with a tray of tea cups and a kettle. This little guy was wearing a top hat and a monocle, and his white, feathery belly had a star mark over it. "Um...sir?" He said cautiously. "Your tea is ready". He waddled his way over to the man and set the tray down. "Honestly, how can you drink tea at a time like this?

"It helps the nerves, Hermes..." The tall figure took his cup and poured himself some tea. The sweet smell alone was enough to help him loosen up a little. "And in this time, we could use the help. It might be our last chance".

"Oh don't say it like that! You're Morpheus, son of the great goddess Nyx! If anyone can brighten this bleak moment, it would be you!". The penguin servant fixed his drink while he spoke, and then he gave Morpheus a serious look. "So what are we going to do? This is the last remaining quadrant. All the Nightmare Army would need to do is send a few troops over to claim this forest, and we would be gone. And if we're gone, who knows how Earth will cope with not being able to get a good night's rest".

"That's enough, Hermes" Morpheus said in a commanding voice. He took a sip of his tea, and regained his composure. "We're left with no other choice. Mother told me never to use this unless the situation was severe..." The beak masked man took a look out the window to see the treetops of the surrounding forest. Just beyond the boundaries of these woods were dark, stormy areas. An evil energy rose from those areas like steam, and gathered in the sky to form deep crimson clouds. "And this situation is of the upmost severity". Morpheus walked over to a framed picture of a map of this world and took it down to reveal a hidden safe. After dealing with the safe's many locks, he pulled out a small wooden box, and handed it to Hermes. "We have to summon the Champions. Go to the Dream Pool and take four dream souls to become our new Champions".

The small penguin looked at Morpheus for a moment with a shocked look on his face. "My, that's a heavy responsibility to give to me. I swear I won't let you down!" Before he could make his way out of the room, his superior stopped him.

"Also...don't tell anyone else about the medallions or that we're summoning the Champions. The villagers are happy with their normal lives...lets not panic them with this".

"Yes sir!" And with that, Hermes ran out of the room and made his way through the castle.

"Good luck, Hermes..." Morpheus went back to looking through his telescope, which was set to Earth. He was currently looking at California, the clock for there saying that it's a quarter past three.

[KiltmanBagz]

How many days had it been since she last got a decent nights rest? It was hard for her to say. All her days had blurred together recently. Did her last debate event happen last week or last month? The drag of bad sleep was string to pile up on her. How was she going to get through this school year? Was she actually going to have to drop out f the debate club?

Well, from a reasonable stand point that would be the logical solution, When it came to doing this she enjoyed it was unlikely that Maria would relent. She was just as likely to stop participating on the debate team as she was to stop helping at animal shelters. Besides, her team needed her. Having to find a last minute replace meant for one event was one thing, but leaving her team hanging for the entire year was unthinkable.

Not that even that would do her much good if her sleep didn't get any better. She was hardly holding it together now in the last few minutes of her last class of the day. Lucky it was just a rather basic geography class. While nothing she was terrible interested in, it had never been a subject to cause her much trouble either so her occasional moments of drifting off due to fatigue weren't all the great of a problem here.

Though, normally, she was better at making in through the school day than this. Perhaps she had spent a little to much time working on her latest project for debate, or maybe she should have started that paper for English sooner. If only the books her mom and her read would be ones she also had to read for class. That would make keeping up with English a lot easier. Well, regardless of what the particular cause was, She was fading fast.

Just a few more minutes, hold out. Sleeping in class was to disrespectful, and she was sure sleeping now would be just a rotten as sleeping later. maybe just closing her eyes for a second couldn't hurt...

it was like a trying to swim in a rushing river of oil, all the fears expressed in the nightmare she was having. Ever worst thought she had ever had made more real than any dream she had in her life baring down on her at once with the crushing weight of a certainty that rarely ever was nice enough to be present for a nice dream.

Fitfully she twitched at her desk as the nightmare attacked her in her sleep.

Until a very odd thing happened. For a second, the nightmare paused, and ten began to fad altogether. Maria, well the dream version of Maria, felt a very strange pull on her body as if she was being lifted and moved to someplace new. She saw a bright light and what looked like a figure of a...a...golden penguin? A voice, loud but pleasant spoke. "You have been chosen"

With a slight start caused by the final class bell ringing, Maria woke. She realized she had dozed off and quickly composed herself and prayed to god that no one had seen her do something so embarrassing. She gathered her things and began for the walk home, still pondering the oddity that had been her little dream just now.

[Felono]

School had ended a few moments ago, and most of the student body had left a while ago. However, at the school's pool, the girl's swim team was having their daily meeting to train themselves. Most of the girls looked incredibly exhausted as they lazily drifted in the relaxing water. One of the members, standing tall in her one piece team swimsuit, looked at her fellow teammates in confusion.

"Hey hey hey, what's all this?! If you all want to laze around in the pool, you can do that at home. This is our time to train!" She folded her arms and continued looking down at the others.

"I'm sorry Kates" one of the brown haired girls spoke up. "I'm just exhausted...I haven't been able to get a good nights sleep in weeks..." The others seemed to groan in agreement.

Katie blinked. "Don't tell me THAT'S what this is all about. Do you actually believe in this 'epidemic' crap?" She had to cool her head for a moment, so she dipped her feet into the pool. "Honestly, the news will make a big deal out of anything". The others looked at the girl with lazy eyes.

"...Don't you find it the least bit odd that a good majority of people around the world are having trouble sleeping?" the team leader finally spoke up.

"Maybe a little. But I'm sleeping alright, so I don't see why you all can't do the same" Katie said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Stop using your computers and phones before bed, and don't eat anything past eight. We'll all be good to go in no time".

"Well alright..." The team captain grabbed the edge of the pool and looked at everyone. She began to speak in a inspiring way. "Everyone take a ten minute break, and then we'll start the training proper".

---

After stepping out of the little village, Hermes made his way through the surrounding forest. He inspected the trees around him, as if he were looking for something. "Where is it, where is it..." He took off his hat to wipe the sweat off of his brow, then he stuffed the box with the medallions into it before putting it back on. The Wisp Forest was a place of tranquility with the sounds of nature enhancing that feeling. However, the little penguin wasn't too fond of this place. Sure it was peaceful, but the wisps that live here can be annoying, like flies. Just as he thought that, a group of light orbs floated gingerly through the air, and past Hermes's head. They had a sound like low breathing and left a trail of sparkles. Well, they seem to be heading somewhere, so maybe they won't stop to bother the little guy.

A few more minutes, and he finally found what he was looking for: it was a tree with a symbol marked into the bark. The symbol resembled the American flag, and it slightly jutted out. Hermes looked around for a few moments to see if anyone else was present before he pushed his flipper down on it. The symbol made a clicking sound as part of the tree swung open like a door to reveal the stairwell hidden inside of it. The cautious servant took one more look to see if anyone was around, then he stepped into the tree and closed the door.

The climb down took a while, and it got dark the further he went. After what seemed like ten minutes, Hermes finally arrived at his destination: the Dream Pool. He walked through the opening at the bottom of the stairwell and walked out onto a marble crafted platform. Above him was the underside of the island he calls home, while below him was a dimensional void that seemingly went on forever. In the middle of this platform is a pool of shallow water sitting still and undisturbed. He still had plenty of time before the minds of people would begin to appear before they were sent off to some part of the island. Probably in response to this thought, he let out a soft yawn and stretched his little arms.

"I suppose a short nap won't hurt any" he thought to himself. With renewed hope for the Dream Realm, he took off his hat and pulled out a few items: a pillow, a sleeping bag, and an alarm clock. He set the clock to midnight and took off his monocle, then he curled up in his little sleeping arrangement before closing his eyes and letting sleep take him for a while.