By the time Genesis finished explaining her dream to Charlotte, her friend's jaw was hanging open.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Charlotte. "Mirna actually decided to make you her successor?"

"She did," said Genesis. She looked down at her hands, wondering what it would be like to conjure light or fire or something from them. She felt no different, which made sense-Mirna had said she'd have to do some kind of Awakening ritual to unlock her powers.

"Why would she do that?" Charlotte asked. "I thought she didn't like you."

Mantra is about halfway convinced that Gabriel is telling the truth about a Multiverse-ending catastrophe that is on its way, but she's determined to be wary. The adventurers retrieve Gabriel's "Time Capsule" and travel into the future of a different timeline. They observe the crucial battle being fought their by heroes from two different universes uniting to overcome a resurrected god bent on destruction. The Time Capsule's monitoring equipment detects that there are not two parties involved in the faithful battle, but three. This is a mystery of the utmost importance, because finding out who or what the third force is may mean the difference between victory and the Multiverse's collapse.

The work on the papers and other ideas had brought me near the end of my freshman year, and that was the time to plan next year’s classes and, ideally, to declare a major. Since I couldn’t progress on the goals within dreamwalks, I tried to figure out what classes would help me in other ways.

I was a freshman in college when I heard the news on TV that Hiroshi had died. They called him video game entrepreneur Hiroshi Yamamoto, who clearly had to be the man I had been dreamwalking with for the last three years. Sure enough, he was present neither in World of Dreams nor in the studio. So I figured that was over and I was on my own now. I’d learned a lot; enough to be dangerous, but I wasn’t planning to use my power to steal, kill, or worse.

Herren was there as the leader to introduce me into advanced training, and I got my new room and all. But it was advanced training in name only, because the first thing there, intermediate trainers I’d worked with before were back, putting me into practicing level 3, 4, and 6 dreamwalks properly, using the isolation of the privacy chamber to let me hover on the edge of sleep.

Lilith and Shar'li, their hearts heavy with concern, sat across from Elizabeth. The room, bathed in the soft glow of the candles, seemed to mirror the flickering shadows of their emotions. The two succubi keenly sensed the lingering sorrow in Elizabeth's eyes, a pain that no amount of vengeance could truly erase. The loss she had endured had carved a profound void in her heart, and while she had managed to reclaim a semblance of justice, the wounds were far from being mere scars.

In my dream that night, I found my game and entered it, finding myself in a weird, featureless body which was waiting for me to define it. I was a vaguely woman-shaped cloud. I wasn’t able to move the body, but I could basically see it from any angle. On the computer I would have been choosing colors and sizes for aspects of my body, but here, after a little experimentation, I just forced my own body image onto the character, and she became a virtual clone of me.

Umberto didn’t respond to my note. I guess I wasn’t too surprised. Elissa never interacted with the notes I left in Tommy’s game; it was Tommy doing so, though he thought my responses were coming from Elissa at first.

As we ventured through the bustling streets of New York City, the towering Empire State Building and the iconic Chrysler Building rose above us like giants of glass and steel, their mirrored surfaces reflecting the city's chaotic energy below. The air was filled with a symphony of honking horns, bustling crowds, and distant sirens, bouncing off the towering buildings and creating a cacophony of sounds.

Oh my, Tommy thought upon awakening. What did I do last night? I kind of remember getting up and walking around, and yet, it didn’t seem like I was doing it.

While getting dressed, he saw the note next to his computer. Wow, Tommy thought. The amulet really works! Or more likely, Sarah’s gained control of her powers but just needed to be encouraged to visit other places, which was what I hoped for by lying to her about the amulet.

I managed to come back with the 3 coins to make 4 coins total. I took them to a gold buyer and got a total of $1830 for them. I bought some first aid kits, and extra supplies of the kinds I think Tommy might need. Gauze bandages for covering wounds and antiseptic to clean them, forceps to extract bullets, and alcohol to clean them. This only cost a tiny portion of my money.

When I next returned to the dream, I pulled the pad out of the pack and was glad to see I’d established communication. But I was confused by the content of the message. “Dear Sarah,” the message began. “I’m Tommy. I’m also in high school. I named my character Elissa.”

So somebody responded, but it’s somebody else who visits here like me and not the girl herself. And it’s a boy. Being a girl here might feel strange to him.

Chapter 2: The New World

A loud beeping noise could be heard echoing throughout the room. Groaning, Mahiro reached her hand out from under her covers so she could hit the top of her alarm to get it to shut off. After a few attempts, she managed to succeed and breathed a sigh of relief.

Mahiro sat up and stretched her arms above her head while letting out a large yawn. Rubbing her eyes she still felt a bit sleepy, but she knew that she'd have to get up anyway.

"Well, I guess it's time to start the day."

I had a bunch of weird dreams last night. In one I was a man wearing overalls who jumped a lot. In one I was flying a spaceship, and in another driving a car. In real life I’m a 15-year-old girl in high school and I haven’t even started driving, but I didn’t have any trouble in the dream. But those were more normal dreams. The dream played out and I experienced it.

As the years passed in our secluded mountain sanctuary, time seemed to slip through our fingers like grains of sand. A decade had passed in what felt like the blink of an eye, yet the peace we had enjoyed was now tinged with a sense of unease.

Our recent excursion into town had brought unsettling news – rumors of a cabin with signs of demon activity. It was a stark reminder that even in our remote refuge, danger lurked just beyond the horizon, waiting to disrupt the fragile tranquility we had fought so hard to maintain.

With time running out, the team prepares themselves for a rematch with Xenos. They have a few tricks up their sleeves, but they know they’re walking into the devious villain’s trap. Are they ready for him?

Chris and his little cousin Lydia, now stuck in each other’s bodies, struggle to deal with the change. And Chris soon learns that the super-powered dangers of Faraday City look a lot more menacing from the perspective of a defenseless young girl!

Craving recognition for his exploits as Prodigious Girl, Chris makes a terrible blunder that unknowingly draws both him and his young cousin into a deadly trap set by the body swapping villain!

Chris always dreamed of being the kind of superhero who could inspire people. But between fighting crime as Prodigious Girl and then having to dress as a girl in his off hours, he wasn’t exactly living the dream. Even less so when his latest thrilling escapade was to babysit his little cousin for a weekend. But when a cunning body-swapping villain sets his eyes on our young hero(ine), Chris finds himself in far more danger than he expects! (A tale of Faraday City.)

As we continued our preparations for the battles ahead, Adriana and I recognized the importance of honing my skills with Lucifer's Scythe despite the inherent dangers it posed. With that in mind, we crafted an imitation scythe to serve as a training tool, allowing me to familiarize myself with the weapon's style and techniques.

Is Late Better than Never?
by Lily Rasputin

Chapter Three

I glanced back at the open door behind me, then looked at Becki again, torn about what I should do.

On the one hand, there was no way I was schooled enough in Maddie’s life to even pretend that I could carry on a lengthy conversation with someone who knew her, intimately it seemed, without them catching on that something was wrong. One the other, it would be a fairly efficient way of obtaining valuable information that I likely wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.

The Other Side of Me – Part 30
by Lily Rasputin

“I don’t want Charlene’s memories! Or her fucking personality quirks!”

I paced back and forth in Jackson’s lab, my arms crossed petulantly over my chest while Jackson, Shelly, and Katie stood off to one side, well out of my path, watching me with sympathetically weary faces. Remaining silently supportive as I ranted about this potential new wrinkle in my interdimensional dilemma.

Gary and Leah get persuaded to join in when their friends decide it's time to make a dramatic New Year's Resolution - one that involves the transformation booths that have become common where they live...

(First time here, encouraged by magicshoppe to join the contest.)