Rubinia couldn't help but let a sigh escape her lips as she rounded the corner into the well-lit atrium.  Light gleamed down from the bright sky, filtering through the leaves of the trees above and warming the white stone floor. 

 

Ahead, standing at the altar, was the one she sought.  He stood, gazing contentedly into the skies above.  His soft, brown hair rustled faintly in the wind, as did his long, white robes.  The golden trim of his robe glistened brightly in the light from above.

 

Alfonse turned, alerted by her footsteps echoing softly in the quiet hall. 

 

"Daughter Rubinia!" he greeted, sweeping his hands together and stepping down from the altar to the floor.  "A pleasure to see you, as always.  What brings you to our humble house?"

 

Rubinia grasped the skirts of her simple, homespun dress, and curtsied reverently.

 

"In truth, I came to see you, Father Alfonse." Rubinia replied, her fingers nervously twisting her long brown hair.  "I had some questions, and you are the only one whom I trust to answer them."

 

Alfonse smiled, and swept his hand out to the side, motioning to a small stone bench.  Rubinia sat down, and smoothed her dress out.  Alfonse sat down next to her.

 

"Please, Daughter, tell me what your questions might be?"

 

Rubinia bit her lip, then spoke.  "I have questions about the Illuminate Faith, Father.  I thought I had understood them when I first began coming to your sermons, but now I find myself questioning, and my faith wavering.  Freesouls often ask me questions about planes, spiritual travel, and many other things, and I find myself lost as to answering them.  I do not understand!"

 

Alfonse smiled.  "I understand, Daughter.  Such instances can indeed be quite trying, especially when one may question their reason for asking.  Are they truly asking to learn more about your faith?  Or are they instead asking to make your faith waver, and perhaps sway you to theirs?  'Tis little matter, though.  Allow me to explain things as simply as I can."

 

Rubinia smiled gratefully, as she watched Alfonse intently.

 

"The Illuminate Faith is one of spirituality, and the soul especially.  Many take this to mean that we must believe the dream is a separate place, and use that as a cornerstone to demean our faith.  The question of whether this is another plane or not has various answers.  Some Illuminates believe that this is another place that our souls go to.  Some Illuminates believe it's simply another plane of existence on Cloudsbreak.  Some believe it's a spiritual realm our souls travel to.  It really doesn't matter at all to the Illuminate Faith.  All the Illuminate Faith details is that our actions here can and do affect the waking world."

 

"But you spoke of the soul, Father.  What does that have to do with affecting Cloudsbreak?"

 

Alfonse smiled.

 

"It is through the soul that Cloudsbreak is affected.  The effect on Cloudsbreak is nothing so linear as my picking a leaf from this tree, and a leaf therefore falling off a tree in Cloudsbreak.  It is more that other unawakened people on Cloudsbreak can be affected by our actions within the City."

 

"I see, Father." Rubinia said, then continued, "What of the Nightmares?  I have heard of our Illuminate warriors fighting off their hordes, then rushing back to save souls trapped by the Nightmares.  Meanwhile, Freesouls mocked their righteous quest from Threshold, insulting and degrading their noble actions.  They made jokes of souls being 'tickets to the City'."

 

"The Nightmares are a plague upon the world." Alfonse said, his face falling into an uncharactaristic frown.  "Allow me to explain, as many Freesouls love to misrepresent this facet of our beliefs.  The Nightmares are parasites, and exist beyond the boundaries of the City."

 

Alfonse gestured toward the horizon, visible through the window.  "Beyond the boundaries of the City lies an ocean of chaos.  The chaos is not evil, it is merely unfocused.  The chaos is made up of the souls and spirits of everyone on Cloudsbreak.  Unlike us, they do not know how to manifest a form in this Dream.  They are not even aware of the existence of the Dream.  They are the unawakened."

 

"Within that chaos, there are beings called Nightmares.  Those Nightmares latch on to a person's unawakened spirit and drain energy from it, growing stronger.  On Cloudsbreak, this person will notice nothing as their spiritual energy is drained.  They will go on about their normal existence.  However, slowly but surely, their energy is drained.  Their life will grow meaningless, and their hearts heavy.  They will care for nothing, and their life will fall apart.  They will die before their time from a lack of spirit.  To everyone around them, it will appear as a natural death, but one that happened for no reason, no cause."

 

"We awakened Dreamers are a greater source of energy than the unawakened, and we have brought order to the Dreamscape.  To the chaotic Nightmares, we are their most hated enemy.  They long to destroy this city, and feast on our souls.  The honorable dreamers before us saw fit to build strong walls for the city, walls that the Nightmares cannot pierce alone.  Instead, they use the energy that they drain from the awakened soul to slip through the walls, and wreak havoc."

 

"Here, in the Dreamstate, the Nightmare has control of the soul.  The person's waking body is asleep, and their mind is exerting no control over it.  Thus, the Nightmare can use the energy as it will, and can feed freely.  When the person wakes up, the mind exerts its presence once again, and the Nightmare no longer controls the soul, but it is still present, and is simply lying in wait for the person to fall asleep so it can begin its sadistic torture once again."

 

"I see." Rubinia said, thoughtfully.  "So that is how the Nightmares harm the unawakened.  But how about other Dreamers?  I've often heard dreamers from your religion cursing Freesouls, and calling them murderers.  Why is that?"

 

Alfonse smiled.  "The Nightmares are parasites, but not so the Dreamers.  More often than not, that reference is mainly due to each dreamer's personal beliefs.  I cannot speak for the others you may have heard, but I can speak for my own beliefs.  As you know, I hold fast to the belief of Imprisonment.  I believe that when we find an essence, it is the physical manifestation of the bond between the Nightmare and unawakened dreamer.  I believe that by imprisoning the chaotic essence, we have trapped the Nightmare, and the dreamer's soul is set free within the city."

 

"I believe that Banishment is a cruel process.  Perhaps it does remove the Nightmare from the soul, temporarily.  However, in the process, it flings the helpless soul back into Chaos, where it might be latched onto by a more powerful Nightmare, that will drain even more energy from it."

 

"I believe Draining to be even more vile than banishment.  Draining is doing exactly what the Nightmares themselves are doing.  By draining the essence, you've drained energy from the unawakened person.  Then, you've also loosed their soul back into chaos, where it's going to get snapped up by another Nightmare!"

 

"But Father, they haven't killed anyone." Rubninia posed quietly, "Why do you term them murderers?  Wouldn't that imply that they've destroyed the person's soul?"

 

Alfonse shook his head.  "They haven't murdered anyone outright, no.  A soul is too powerful of a thing to be destroyed outright by any Dreamer, or by any Nightmare.  The Nightmares take years to drain a soul to the point where it's destroyed.  However, one never knows how weak a given soul may be.  It's possible that any essence drained might be the last bit of strength left in that person's soul, and their life is on the Drainer's hands.  Either way, if they haven't killed them, they've weakened them and thrown them to the wolves, which is just as bad!" Alfonse finished vehemently.

 

Rubinia laid her hand across Alfonse's, concerned at his demeanor.  Alfonse took a breath, then smoothed his robes.  He flashed a grateful smile toward Rubinia.

 

"Thank you, my Daughter.  I apologize for my outburst, but sometimes the recklessness with which Freesouls conduct their dreams angers even the most passive of people." Alfonse said, glancing up toward the sky.

 

Rubinia smiled, glad to see Alfonse back to his normally passive and peaceful self.

 

"Thank you father." Rubinia said, "It makes a great deal more sense now.  I am very grateful that you would take time from your house duties to aid a poor, bewildered Freespirit such as myself."

 

Alfonse smiled warmly, and replied, "We are all Freespirits at some point in time, my Daughter."  He rose, and extended a hand, helping her rise to her feet.  "Perhaps after you have become more familiar with the City, you will consider joining our family, and becoming a true Daughter.  Until then, know that we will continue Imprisoning all the Nightmares we can, to try to save the poor, helpless unawakened.  The Keepers of the Eternal Shadow will strive to keep the shadowed, chaotic beasts from harming anyone we can, as is our duty in the Illuminate Faith."  Alfonse paused, and reached a hand up reverently to clasp a small, golden medallion around his neck, bearing the symbol of the Keepers of the Eternal Shadow, as he and Rubinia walked together out of the peaceful atrium.

At first, the young dreamer sitting cross-legged on the floor did not notice Samira’s entrance.  He was sorting through a double handful of parchments and muttering to himself and Samira watched with some amusement.

 

At length, she cleared her throat and he started, looked up quickly, and flushed, “I beg your pardon, ma’am, I didn’t hear you come in.”

 

Samira grinned down at him, “No, I noticed that.  What are you doing?”

 

He scrambled to his feet, dropping several bits of parchment.

 

As she stooped to help pick them up, he said, “Don’t bother; they’re not helping much.  I thought I was taking decent notes when people were explaining things to me, but now I can’t make sense of them.”

 

“What seems to be the problem?” she asked.  With a slight bow, she added, “I’m Samira, by the way, a crusader of the Radiance.”

 

The lad bowed a bit awkwardly and replied, “Aidan of nowhere yet.  Maybe nowhere forever if I can’t figure out this Illuminate and Freesoul stuff.”

 

"I can’t really say much about Illuminates,” Samira confessed, “They don’t make a lot of sense to me, so I’ve mostly stopped listening to them.  But I can tell you about Freesouls if you like.”

 

Aidan chuckled softly, “Maybe that’s my problem too.  Please go ahead.  If nothing else, I can’t get much more confused.”

 

Samira laughed, “I’ll try not to add to the confusion. 

 

"You know that the two beliefs go back a very long way into the history of the Dream.  That’s partly why it’s kind of confusing today; so many different people have thought and written about them that there are all sorts of different versions of each belief.

 

“Quite early on in the first age of the Dream, people started to discuss what it really is.  That’s really the basis of the whole thing.  Freesouls believe that the Dream is not a real place at all, just a shared dream.  It’s an imaginary place that our minds and imaginations come to so we can interact.  Illuminates believe that in some sense, the Dream is a real place.  So some people will tell you that the difference is that Freesouls don’t believe the Dream has effects on the waking world, and Illuminates believe that it has.”

 

Aidan nodded thoughtfully, “Because if it’s not a real place, it can’t have real effects?”

 

“Right,” she replied, “Most Freesouls will grant that the things they learn and experience here have effects on their waking worlds, but those are mental effects.  You can learn something here and take it back to your shard and teach your people there.  That’s an effect, but it’s not a physical one.”

 

“So when I waken on my shard and I’m still puzzled by all this, it’s a mental effect and not proof that my soul or something was here in a different reality?”

 

Samira nodded, “Yes, or at least that’s what Freesouls will tell you.  Lumies tend to go on about their souls a lot.  That’s about the time I usually find a reason to be elsewhere.”

 

Aidan considered for a moment, then asked, “So if this isn’t a real place, just a mental construct, how do we all see it the same way?  Or do we?”

 

“A Freesoul philosopher once told me a story, likening the Dream to several people standing in a dark room, talking to each other.  They could not see each other, really, nor could they find each other to touch.  Instead, they just spoke.  One would say ‘I am a tall man, with silver hair, standing in the middle of the room.’  Then, in everyone’s minds, their imaginations conjured up a picture of a tall man with silver hair, standing in the middle of the room.  Another person spoke, ‘I am a redheaded woman, standing across the room from the silver-haired man.’  Then everyone imagined a red-headed woman standing across the room from the silver-haired man.  So it continued, until everyone had said what they looked like, and where they were standing in the room.

 

“At this point, everyone knew what everyone else looked like, and where they were in the room.  They even began describing what the room looked like.  Now, was the silver-haired man actually standing in the middle of the room?  Was the red-haired woman really standing across the room from him?  Was the silver-haired man really silver-haired?  We do not know, nor does it even matter.  All that mattered, in the context of their conversation, were the mental images that they had formed of each other.

 

“My philosophical friend told me that the Dream is like this.  We all fall asleep at night, and our minds are able to ‘speak’ and ‘listen’ to each other.  We imagine the Dream from what our minds hear all the other minds of Cloudsbreak saying.  I see you sitting here with your papers because, on Cloudsbreak, I hear your mind ‘saying’ that you are sitting here, looking at your papers.  Your mind is telling me that because that’s what you believe you are doing.  It’s this belief in perception that shapes the Dream as we see it.

 

“As far as we can tell, we all see the Dream pretty much the same way,” Samira continued, “That’s because it’s been here for generations.  We don’t really know how long, but thousands of generations.  The great Dreamwright Masters were very strong-minded and creative and persuaded their fellow dreamers to see the Dream as they did.  And ever since then, the pressure of all those minds believing that this is the way the Dream looks has served to keep us all seeing their vision.  

 

“After the Winnowing of the Dream, there were very few dreamers for many, many years, and some parts of the city changed, or fell into disrepair because there weren’t enough dreamers believing in them.”

 

“So if I believed really hard that this room was green instead of blue, I could change it?”  Aidan asked skeptically.

 

“Not unless you had the same strength of mind as the Masters.  Thresh has been a focus of whatever dreamers there were all through the ages.  It would take an enormous effort to change it.  You would have to convince many, many people that the walls truly ARE green, instead of blue, which is a great deal more difficult when one can look at them and see that they are blue. 

 

"The landscape of the Dream is mainly solidified by unconscious thought.  When you walk into this room, you do not consciously think about what it looks like.  Your mind automatically creates the room for you, based on what you know it looks like.  Even convincing yourself that it is green would be a trial.  Everyone that has ever seen Threshold has their mind unconsciously locking its perception to what we see. 

 

“There might be places out on the edges of the city where you could persuade a few people that things were different.  If you got enough people to believe strongly enough in your version of the place, you might be able to make a difference to it.”

 

Aidan’s eyes grew round as he thought about that, “That makes it a lot more interesting than believing everything is fixed forever.”

 

Samira grinned at him, “But it still would take a lot of effort to make changes.”

 

“What about the nightmare essences?” Aidan asked, “Most of the Illuminates had a lot to say about how important it was to save the souls in them.”

 

“We don’t believe the stuff about ‘mares stealing the souls of the unawakened.  As far as we can tell, ‘mares are just bits of chaos animated by random thoughts.  Usually the hostile and evil thoughts people have get picked up and twisted by the chaos into nightmares.  There’s no actual ‘being’ that’s a Nightmare.  Instead, it’s a perverted, twisted collection of thoughts that have clumped together, and seeped through the walls.

 

“The ‘mares push their way through small crevices in the City walls and attack dreamers.  They attack us because, for the most part, they are unthinking, chaotic beings.  They’re not completely aware of what they’re doing.  What signs of sentience and thought that they show are merely reflections of the few scraps of thought that are still coherent.  One never knows how long that sentience will last, though, until they revert to chaotic, destructive beasts.

 

“We collapse them to help keep the level of chaos in the City under control, and then we banish their essences back into the chaos from which they came.   My house believes that imprisoning is just asking for trouble: storing chaos in the City rather than getting rid of it.  The chaos, the unfocused thought, can damage the structure of the City.  Should too much chaos enter the City, it would fall apart before our very eyes.  Thus, we crusade to keep the city safe, and ensure that chaos will not dim the radiance of the Dream.

 

“Does that make things clearer?”

 

“Oh yes,” Aidan replied, “Nobody else explained the whole thing.  I’m still not sure what the Illuminates meant about souls and nightmares, but perhaps it doesn’t matter very much.  I understand what you told me and it makes sense to me.  I think maybe I’m a Freesoul.”