"Remember, those legacies have gold spoons in their mouths and can be very annoying. Try not to bother them too much. Don't let them push you over either. Anyway, get in there. Your introduction should be starting soon." She put down her shades and was about to drive away before she looked back at the two men.
"If you don't die, we can stay in touch. Just ask for me." She gave them both one more look over before driving away, leaving the two of them staring at the bumper. She had given them both the talk about not trusting them with their powers and flaws and given them both the most useful piece of advice. Go to Wilderness Survival.
"Well, I guess we should make sure we aren't late huh?" He turned and could see past the imposing open gate. He imagined that any other time of the year there would be plenty of people leaving in and out of the school. Only since it was so close to the winter solstice you had to be greatly unlucky to have only finally gone through your first nightmare now.
"Yeah we should," Sunny replied, looking annoyed at him.
'Ah as much as I want to mess with him I forget he has to respond, even if it's a random question. My bad bro.' He thought.
They notice a pale skinned, silver haired girl with headphones listening to music on her own by the entrance. Nepthis. Changing Star. Many names but the fearsome girl really just looked like a lonely girl on her own in the world.
Someone eventually arrived to bring them into the prestigious school for the young awakened.
Each building in the smaller compound was made of metal, all meant for efficiency and easily defendable. They were brought to a large room with around one hundred other Sleepers who all were as unlucky as the three of them.
Nephis found her own corner of the room with a chair and sat listening to her music. Most likely the last Nightingale album before Kai got stuck in the dream realm. He was tempted to go introduce himself but that would be very strange if he randomly did that. She would probably assume he was an assassin or something crazy so he decided to sit off to the side and watch as Sunny ran around embarrassing himself.
It was actually quite impressive how much punishment the small creature could take. He must've gotten a dirty look from basically everyone in the room and, at like, two handfuls of slaps to the face for his rude comments.
He even got to witness the first legendary gaslighting of an entire generation of Sleepers as Sunny made the biggest fool of himself. Really, if he didn't know any better, he would've believed the little guy had absolutely lost his mind. Little did they all know he was telling the truth.
"Can you believe this guy? He must've lost his mind, there's no way he came from the slums and was able to do anything but barely survive, right?" One of the Sleepers talks to him as if they've been buddy buddy. Will couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey, man. You know what these mean right?" He tugged on the collar of his jump suit and jerked his thumb at both the insane divine shadow and the nephilem. "We all come from basically the same place. Who knows? Maybe he did do all of it. All I know is he survived without any other help, and I know how hard that is."
Will turned to look at the person. Just some guy with curly hair looked at him mortified that he was talking to someone else from the city edges. "You should worry more about your own survival than some words of a couple city rats."
Will left the guy who immediately started gossiping about how deranged and disgusting people from the outskirts were. Will could only laugh since they didn't know just to what extent the three people who seemed to be from the lowest rungs. He counted Nephis because she was technically super poor now, even though she could also be the most legacy of the legacies.
Finally, he found the other person he was looking for and that was Cassie. The blind girl was sitting on a bench by her lonesome. She was like a doll, with a pretty dress, pale blond hair, large beautiful blue orbs looking at nothing because she could see nothing.
Watching from this end, he could see Sunny now starting his charade in gaslighting Caster, the poor legacy didn't know just how easily he fell into the small ones trap.
"That guy is funny ain't he," He couldn't help but talk to the sad oracle-to-be. She had this air about her. She felt without a shadow of a doubt she would die when everyone was dragged into the dream realm. Even though he knew otherwise, he couldn't exactly tell her so. Cassie tilted her head just a bit, waiting for someone to respond before she realized he was talking to her.
"Oh. Oh yes. He does seem to have an imagination or to have a few screws loose." She covered her smile with her hand. So prim and proper, just as he expected.
Sunny finished with his fun and he looked quite pleased with himself. Seeing Will waving over at him, even his slightly irritating acquaintance couldn't put his spirits down. The three of them sat in relative silence, Sunny didn't want to keep pushing his luck with his flaw, Cassie felt a bit awkward or shy and Will was content with the both of them feeling uncomfortable. He had no problem sitting in silence until it was broken by the start of the induction ceremony.
A unit of a man stood up on stage in a blue uniform doing a once over on all the Sleepers present. Seeing the tall, wide shoulders hulking figure reminded him of Coal. That thought sobered him up a bit, making him just a bit sad.
The man on stage was Awakened Rock. He told them about how unfortunate it was for them to only have the month to prepare for their journey to the dream realm. They would have four weeks to do the best they could to prepare themselves for the inevitable.
He gave his talk about the basics to expect from the dream realm. The difference from it and nightmares, how seeds worked and the gateways to get home once they all end up there during the winter solstice. All things he knew from the novel but was a good refresher nonetheless.
At the end of Awakened Rock's speech, he gave them all a curt nod before sending them all off.
"Use your communicators to find your rooms, a late supper for you all will be prepared shortly. Get some rest before your interviews, and godspeed." He said the last part almost sadly as he looked towards the corner with Will, Sunny, and Cassie.
Will assumed that he knew exactly what their matching jumpsuits meant and it wasn't a fashion statement. He also guessed that he knew about Cassie because her parents probably already reported her file to the staff.
For all intents and purposes, the group sitting at that table together were the 3 people most likely to die the fastest once the winter solstice did finally happen.