[b][i]New Amakusa City, The Eleventh Hour[/i][/b]

Fukushu Haru was on the deck of a boat, a whaler's ship that ran on old-fashioned steam and trailed smoke through the air from three great grey smokestacks. It cut through red-orange waves lit up by an eternal sunset - Or was it sunrise? - that made it almost indistinct from blood. But blood was opaque; this isn't, and from the deck, Haru could see fins poking through the water, then the figures of sleek, smooth, darkened creatures just under the water. She would then hear her grandmother's voice from behind her.

"Haru."

If she looked behind her, Fukushu Haru would find that her grandmother was indeed there, accompanying her in this lucid dream that felt like reality, that held the clarity of awakening even though she felt the blankets and bed around her physical body as it slept. 

Her grandmother, her wrinkled face lit up by a fixed gaze that betrayed a drive that hinted at obsession, then gave her an explanation of what this all was.

"This is a small slice of the Sea of Dreams, a dimension where all that exists comes from, and all that people think goes to. In this slice, what you think, what you believe, your very self - [i]You[/i] - have formed a Private World, a world where you can Quest for one of the concepts that lurk within the depths of the Sea; an Icon, or so those arrogant bastards in the Dreamers' Organization call it."

Grandmother looked at her and said, "You're old enough to handle this; I can guide you in navigating these waters, maybe accompany you to explain what you are going to go through, but only you can get an Icon for yourself; I will not get one for you even if I could - This has to be you."

She stepped closer, a stubborn glint lighting up her eyes, then spoke, "Remember this; your parents were [i]killed[/i]. Seek out something that will take the blood of those who took them away from you [i]and me[/i]..."

Haru could see that anything she saw, except for her Grandmother, was a potential Icon, from the ship to the air to the harpoons on deck and the ropes and the sunset, water, and the blood in her veins... And the things that swam under the waves.

[@Redking0380]