I stared at my Glass, reading a message from Pursius. ‘Here’s the deets. Don’t show SIGIL. They’re expecting Nyx.’

  I plugged in the destination he sent me. It was a motel near Bastion’s wall, with nothing around it familiar. Was there a rift near there? Guess I’d have to figure out what was going on when I showed up later tonight.

  As for what I wanted to do until then? Check out my Innate Trait, Dream Stride. I’d made no progress on it so far. I’d even found more use from Will Wire hitting light-switches when I didn't want to get up then I had my own Innate Trait. Tragic, really.

  I’d tried to use it at night, but as soon as my eyes closed, I was out without any discernible effects. Definitely didn’t stop the nightmares. If it did that, though? SSS-class trait, easily.

  The way I saw it, I needed to use it on someone who was sleeping. Now, sneaking up on Kali was impossible. She’d detect me almost immediately, and I wasn't exactly stealthy in the first place. That, and it’d probably be considered an invasion of privacy. That just left me to find a sleeping person out in the wild.

  Bastion had some weird laws and cultures. With it being the convergence point between literally dozens of different worlds, there was a lot to figure out. Some things were frowned upon across time and space, though. I wasn’t such a slag that I’d break into someone’s home just to test Dream Stride out.

  Hence why I was here, on the southwestern fringes of Quetzl. Things were more rundown, fitting the rest of Aegis’s vibe. And yet it was still part of the ‘party’ sub-district. Bars lined the roads, alleys steeped in darkness, and stumbling drunks staggered from one place to the next. Not to mention the scents of stale beer that plagued the surroundings.

  It was closer to the proper part of Aegis with towering structures, casting constant shade across the entire section of the city. Alleys here in particular were dark, with even the bioluminescent algae that were in full bloom across Bastion incapable of clinging to some of the dank paths. Years of trash and bile piled up, all washed and mixed together by the near-constant storms that plagued Bastion.

  Cars moved up and down the streets, the drivers carefully watching the sidewalks for stumbling drunks. At any point, a drunk might stumble out into the street. With the poor lighting? It was a disaster lying in wait.

  If the inner sections of Quetzl were party, then the south-eastern sections were where the alcoholics went to spend their Meal Chips and wages in a never-ending cycle of escapism and depression. Not my kind of place, but it had what I needed. Probably.

  Signs of gangs were scattered here and there. Graffiti lined the walls, and the mood of the entire area was much more sombre. People kept their eyes to themselves as if scared of seeing something they shouldn’t. Yet another reason to come here for this. No one would care much what happened in the shadows.

  I wandered around the streets a bit before finding what I was looking for. A drunk lay in an alley, pockets already stripped clean by the looks of it. That was fine, though. I wasn’t after anything but his dreams.

  I checked the alley loosely for threats and made my way over to the man lying in a pile of filth. I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him a bit further into the alley, stuffing him behind an overfilled trash bin. Where he belonged.

  I stared down at the slobbering guy's face. Now what? Chant an incantation? “Go. Go. Dream. Stride.”

  Nothing happened except blood rushing to my cheeks. How could Bombastic Bowman bear to say that every time he used a Skill? Truly an iron will. A man like that could easily hit S-rank. I looked around just to ensure I was fully alone. All good. No one would ever know.

  How was this supposed to work though? Did I… just stare at him with intent? Make eye contact? Neither of those felt right. Was I supposed to know how to use it? Was there some kind of Warden’s Guide to Everything I missed?

  A few moments passed. I hesitantly stretched out a hand to his face. Maybe it was activated by touch? I tapped his feverishly hot forehead-

  ~ ?? ~

  I collapsed to the ground. My body swayed around unsteadily like I was high on something. The alley vanished entirely. Instead, I stood just outside the door of a familiar bar, one just down the street from where I found the drunk.

  The bar had a slightly washed out look like someone painted it in watercolor. The surrounding area up and down the street appeared black and white as if something leeched the color right out of the space. The style of the buildings around was like an artwork, only the artist changed mediums with every addition. It was a confusing mass of color and sound that I could taste.

  The black and white swirled together, disappearing into a dark fog just beyond the headache-inducing zone. From the fog, twisted architecture—unnatural and inhuman—stretched out. The fog- it gave me a bad feeling. A bit of a similar vibe to miasma.

  I pushed myself up to my feet-

  My limbs tangled, throwing me back to the ground. My brain writhed in head-pounding confusion. I looked down at my hand- paw? Why did- Oh no. A sickening sensation pulsed through my stomach.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I twisted my head, feeling incredibly uneasy when I saw my body. My inhuman body. Four legs. A tail. Black fur. I barely held back a miffed laugh--assuming I could even laugh like this in the first place. Cat-like grace, yep? OS really didn’t mess around with descriptions.

  I slowly moved my limbs, trying to get used to them. I slowly managed to lift myself up not on two, but four legs. My tail, sticking straight out with black fur raised, swung around unsteadily. I hesitantly stretched out a paw and stepped down. I was now a pitch black cat. How did things end up like this? Was the Miix rubbing off on me?

  Speaking of, how did Pursius do this every day? It took a while to get used to my new limbs- hours? Days? Years? Time felt weird here, as if it didn’t flow like it should. It was hard to tell how much, if any, had passed.

  I felt so very weak and small. Everything was so much taller than me like I was an ant living in a giant’s world. My limbs lacked the muscle mass of my human form, instead maxing out in agility.. I doubted I could even try to fight like this if push came to shove, let alone win.

  The dreamscape tossed and churned violently. The trembling scene shifted entirely into something new. Now, there was no bar. I found myself standing in an dark office building that could’ve been anywhere within the city.

  The dark fog crept toward me, pulling at me as the colored area moved further away. I stood up swiftly and scampered across the dreamscape office on unsteady legs. The colored area kept the reaching darkness away, so I needed to stick close to it until I figured out what was going on. The faint unfinished vibe covering everything lifted. It was still wishy-washy, but I could almost ignore it now.

  I carefully crept under a table, hiding between its legs. A man stood in the middle of the colored space. The space moved when he did. I guess it made sense. If this was his dream then of course it’d all be focused around him. I was just an invader in this space.

  The man laughed maniacally as he stared at a pop-up box floating in the middle of the air. “I’ve been chosen! Awakened! I can’t believe my luck… That’ll show them! I’m not just some old drunkard.”

  So it's one of those dreams? I stared at the man, my whiskers twitching uncomfortably as he rubbed his hands excitedly and stretched out to interact with the ‘OS’. Not what I was expecting. Only one percent of Bastion's total population was chosen by the OS, though, so I guess it wasn’t surprising that he would dream of it. Awakening as a Warden was the ultimate chance of a better life.

  I’d seen enough. This was just a test, so I didn’t want to stick around for long. It was… I didn’t know… maybe useful? In, like, super niche situations. It was… yeah, I was reaching real hard. No clue how this might be handy in practice.

  How was I supposed to leave anyway? Did I- I don’t know, did I have to touch him again? That was how I got in here in the first place, so maybe? It wasn’t a great idea, but I had nothing else at the moment.

  I crept out of safety, walking unsteadily toward him. “Mew!”

  “Huh?” The man’s eyes snapped to me. The OS pop-up vanished, and the space trembled like it’d been hit by.a minor earthquake. “What’s a kitten doing here?”

  Kitten? I was a cat. A full-fledged cat. A wild predator, capable of tearing any opponent to shreds. How dare he call me a mere kitten? What a slag.

  I stopped a bit far from him, staring at the man. He looked different from how he did in reality. More handsome and well-built with his beer belly entirely gone. Instead, he had massive, swelling muscles. Was this how he saw himself? His ideal version of himself?

  The dream world shook even rougher. The confusion on his face faded and the shaking dreamscape settled. Glimmering greed replaced the confusion, drowning everything else out. He stretched out a hand. “Come here, kitty, kitty.”

  I hesitantly approached and tapped on his outstretched hand with my paw. Nothing happened. So it wasn’t touching to get out of here? How else should I-

  “Mrow!” I cried out as the man lunged at me. My limbs tangled together when I tried to dodge, throwing me to the ground. He grabbed me by the scruff annd easily hauled me into the air. My small feline body twisted, my tail twirling out. He slowly choked the life out of me with one hand.

  My claws flashed, digging into the man’s arm in an attempt to make him drop me. Blood splattered into my fur. He possessed an inhuman strength, though, resisting my feral attacks. My oxygen cut out more and more.

  “Real meat! I’m going to eat good tonight!” The man laughed grotesquely and he brought his other hand up to my neck-

  Crack!

  ~ ?? ~

  I stumbled backward, falling into a pile of trash. The repugnant scent of rotting gunk overpowered my nose. Agony raced through my head and I felt phantom hands gripping my throat. They squeezed tightly- ever so tightly-

  “Ugh.” A groan escaped my lips. I pushed myself back up, rubbing at my neck. My hands shook slightly as Ebonshroud instinctively rose from beneath my skin and formed a small dagger.

  I definitely had my neck snapped there. I- I died. Again. On the bright side, at least I got out of the dreamscape… surely there’s another method to leave than that, though? If not…

  I stood up unsteadily, getting used to two legs and two arms again. The man was still passed out behind the bin with a filthy smile on his face. “Fwesh kitty.”

  For a moment, an overwhelming urge to stab the guy until he stopped moving coursed through me. I barely held myself back and brushed off trash from where I’d fallen. The dagger faded back below my skin. All across my body Ebonshroud flicked the gunk away.

  I stepped away from the drunk, heading back out to the city’s streets before I could do something impulsive. After a block, I managed to suppress my mood enough to walk steadily once more.

  Dream Stride seemed… kinda useless. Or, at least, not as useful as Ebonshroud. Granted, I’d had Ebonshroud since I was born. Dream Stride was brand new. I just hadn’t figured it out yet.

  Maybe I could use it to gather information? Or I could implant ideas into someone’s subconscious with it? I wasn’t all that sure. Even implanting subconscious ideas would be hard with my form limited to a cat…

  Maybe I should ask Pursius for some tips? No- he’d think that was weird, right? Ugh…

  Regardless, Dream Stride was weak. And almost completely useless to me at the moment. Then again, initial Traits tended to be weak from what I read. And I had Ebonshroud. Ebonshroud couldn’t be put on the same level as Dream Stride at all.

  Take Obsidio, for instance. Kinda weak to begin with, but if he kept at it and evolved his obsidian trait? Maybe increase the durability and sharpness? It’d be a force to reckon with. Still wasn’t sure how to do all that, though. I’d have to figure all of that out as I went.

  No one said it’d be easy. Although being awakened was like winning the lottery, it didn’t guarantee a life of prosperity and strength. There was a reason seventy-five percent of Wardens stayed as F-rank, at least according to the Bureau’s numbers.

  Well… whatever. It was a much-needed experience, if nothing else. I checked the time and called a cab. Just an hour until I needed to meet up for the rift raid. Surely there was enough time to stop for a cup of coffee, yep? There was always time for coffee.