Damien watched from behind half-closed eyelids as the world outside his window stirred from its rest. The sun had yet to rise high enough to shine light directly into his room - the warmth on his face was what normally woke him up each morning. However, there wasn’t anything normal about the dream from last night, and he’d been awake ever since it ended. He rolled away from the window and buried his face in his pillows. [i]‘What the hell was that dream, anyway?’[/i] Damien thought as he took a mental inventory of what he could remember. He had never been adept at recalling his dreams, yet the details of this one stood out with unusual clarity. [i]‘CosmoNET. PhyKnight. A competition to become Champion of the Earth… and an insistence that it’s all “real.”’[/i] He’d never had a dream like it before - as far as he was aware - and he wanted to dismiss it as just an odd dream, one that he’d remember for a few days before he forgot it altogether. He swung his feet over the side of his bed and sat there a moment, pushing away thoughts of the dream in favor of thoughts of a shower and breakfast. As he did every morning, Damien jumped in the shower before the water was warm, letting the frigid water shock his body completely awake. As the water heated up and he went about his normal routine, his mind wandered back to the dream, and CosmoNet. That peculiar knight, almost tangible as he described the CosmoNET, was unlike anything Damien had experienced before. He wondered briefly what would happen if he jumped back into bed and returned to sleep. [i]‘Would PhyKnight return so soon? He did say he’d visit me again, in my next dream.’[/i] The thought sent a shiver up Damien’s back, causing his arms to erupt with goosebumps. He realized he wasn’t ready to give an answer, not yet. He stood still for a few heartbeats, breathing slowly, the shower water pouring down onto his head as his thoughts raced. Then, he knuckled his forehead roughly with a fist, berating himself for thinking seriously about a dream. [i]‘Why is this bothering me so much? It was just a stupid dream.’[/i] He shut the water off, stepped out, and resolved not to give himself another opportunity to think about the dream for the rest of the day. --- After a quick breakfast, Damien grabbed his duffel bag and took off for the ice rink, intent on occupying himself with hockey drills and practice until he collapsed on the ice from exhaustion. His parents commuted to the Naval Shipyard together each morning, meaning he had free access to his father’s truck, most of the time at least. The drive was uneventful, and parking plentiful. The club was in it’s off-season, meaning the rink wasn't busy in the morning - he’d have plenty of room to run some of the more intense drills, which suited him just fine. Damien saw there were a few people on the ice as he exited the locker room, his skates in one hand and his bag in the other. He immediately recognized two of his teammates, working on passing drills on the far side of the rink, and he started towards towards them. Having a few friends to practice with would not only be enjoyable, but they’d help keep his mind from straying to thoughts of the dream. --- The moon hung above the trees in his yard as Damien sat on the stairs of his front porch, loosely holding a beer in one hand, his elbows propped up on the step behind him. His muscles stretched and ached with his movements, the lingering aftermath of his earlier hours of strenuous activity. He had run himself ragged on the ice, constantly moving from one exercise to the next, rarely stopping for water or to catch his breath. Single-minded in his approach, he hadn’t had the time or the energy to ponder the dream. The rest of the day was spent with his teammates and was mostly uneventful, up until the early evening when they met up with a few other friends for a small campfire gathering. Overall, it was a pleasant, albeit uneventful, day. Now, slightly buzzed and bored, Damien’s mind began to wander once more. He mulled over PhyKnight’s message again, wondering at his subconscious’s creativity in conjuring up such a vivid and enthralling dream experience. Not for the first time, Damien wondered if he’d return to the same dream when he fell asleep. He admitted that the idea intrigued him, and without anything better to do, he decided it was as good a time as any to test it out. His earlier protestations and attempts to forget the dream had obviously failed, after all - what harm was there in seeing if the dream would continue? If it didn’t, at least he’d have something to laugh about in the morning. --- Damien stood motionless, encompassed in ubiquitous darkness, when he suddenly realized he wasn’t alone. Across from him, PhyKnight stood equally still, as if he’d been waiting the whole day for Damien to return. Damien couldn’t determine the distance between them - PhyKnight appeared close enough to touch one moment, only to appear as if he stood a dozen yards away in the next. The abrupt proximity changes sent Damien reeling, and he took a single step backwards. The azure knight chose that moment to break the silence surrounding them. “Have you made your decision, sir Reid?” The knight asked, as still as ever. The question hung in the air, awaiting his response. Damien took a deep breath and swallowed, suddenly nervous. His weight on his back foot, he resisted a sudden urge to turn around and run. [i]‘When have I ever backed down from a challenge?’[/i] Damien thought, suddenly agitated. [i]‘This is a dream, after all. Isn’t it?’[/i] He wasn’t so sure, anymore. He shifted his weight again and took a step forward, returning to his original position. “I’m in,” he stated emphatically, and realized he meant it. He felt compelled to see what would happen next, exactly how far this dream would go. Then Damien noticed PhyKnight was gone without a trace, and he was alone in the darkness once more. Without warning, Damien felt as if he, too, had winked out of existence. His mind shattered in the wake of the pain that followed, leaving him unable to form a thought. He couldn’t scream, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. There was nothing but the pain, and the darkness. --- The first thing he was aware of was a feeling of fullness - too full, in fact. It was as if someone had inflated him with air and his body was ready to burst from the pressure. He could hardly breathe due to the pressure on his chest compacting his lungs. His heartbeat felt strained, like his heart was clenched in a vise. His eyes watered, and his head throbbed. He opened his mouth a few times, gaping like a fish out of water as he tried to speak. Then, he sank to his knees, fists beating the glass panel in front of him in desperation. He had to get rid of the pressure, somehow, before he burst open in a morbid impersonation of an overfilled water balloon. “Can’t… breathe…” Damien managed choked out, pounding the glass a little harder. It was difficult to determine the surroundings outside his prison through his watery eyes. ‘How did I get here, anyway? Where the hell am I?’ The thoughts came unbidden, and with them a surge of uncertainty and panic. He struggled to stand and managed to get off his knees, hands flat against the glass as he leaned into it. He noticed a shape moving towards him, vaguely humanoid through the glass, and was relieved to hear a voice call out. “Be calm, Damien. You are in no danger.” Although the voice was muffled, Damien thought it was PhyKnight. He hit the glass again, harder than before, and felt the crack before he saw it. The pressure was getting more intense - as unbelievable as that was. His whole body began shaking, and he clenched his jaw in an effort to keep his head still. “Get… me… OUT!” he bellowed through his teeth. His vision narrowed as the pressure compounded further, and he groaned as his breath was forced from his lungs. Damien heard PhyKnight call out, but noticed his head was turned away from the panel separating them. He was speaking to someone else. “Keep them away, I’ll have to contain the release.” Damien watched as a faint, bluish-white light descended from above his enclosure, surrounding it completely. Already trapped, it infuriated him that PhyKnight was entrapping him further, surrounding his cage with another. He wanted out, wanted to somehow get away from the unbearable pressure inside. Suddenly, the pressure compressed into a single point in the center of his chest, and Damien suddenly felt he could get rid of it. “I SAID, LET ME OUT!” he yelled in fury and flung his hands out to his sides, pressed against the sides of the tank. With the motion, the pressure point in his chest exploded in all directions, and he felt the energy erupt out of his body in one massive pulse. The glass in front of him was vaporised in an instant, and within a heartbeat the structure surrounding him split and bent outward as the energy ripped through it. It rushed away from him, a giant ripple in the air. Yet as soon as it connected with the dome of light, instead of surging right through it, the energy dissipated on contact. Within moments, there was nothing left. Damien sank to his knees, gasping. With the pressure gone, he was left with a substantial headache and pain in every muscle in his body. He closed his eyes for a few moments as he attempted to catch his breath. He heard PhyKnight approach, and opened his eyes to glare up at him. Damien was surprised to see the knight without his armor, but he didn’t dwell on it long. PhyKnight extended his hand, saying, “That wasn’t what I expected. Let me make sure you’re all right.” His outstretched hand pressed against Damien’s forehead, and with it Damien felt a subtle flow of energy wash into him, diminishing the aches in his muscles and the throbbing in his head. Additionally, he noticed a portion of the energy flowing into him formed a pool, though where it was collecting, Damien didn't know. As the pool grew, Damien felt a slight pressure build in his chest, at the core of his being. He flinched away from the contact, breaking the connection. PhyKnight drew his hand back, a curious expression on his face. “That's quite an uncommon ability,” he mused. "You'll have a distinct advantage early on..." Damien missed the rest as PhyKnight trailed off and moved past him, intent on examining the damage to the tank. Now that he was no longer trapped in the tank, Damien stood up and finally got a look at his surroundings. There were at least two other people nearby, and more tanks, exact copies of the one he had destroyed. “Where am I?” he asked no one in particular. He didn't care who answered, so long as they did it soon. He couldn't convince himself this was just a dream anymore. Not after what had just happened. [i]'What the hell did I even[/i] do, [i]there? What's wrong with me?'[/i]