The Dreamwalking event started out interestingly. The first competitor entered the dream of three dream slips but perhaps got over confident because the third slip suddenly awoke and had to be lulled back to sleep.
Dreamwalkers had to be able to walk an entity's dream and not wake them out of their sleep. They should be able to manipulate, control, drive, and even create the dreams of others. There were many talismans, potions, herbs, and even trinkets that could help an individual go undetected in the dream of another.
Hazel thought about each and prepared herself as the competitors had their turns.
"Look at her. She is so smug! She thinks that she will win this."
Adam Ambrose spared a short glance to Rosa. "She is going to win. Everyone sees this, and if I find out that you had anything," He looked to her mother who was sitting at the judges table. "I mean anything to do with Zeal making an attempt on her life you will be stripped of everything you hold dear." He looked to her, deep purple fire in his eyes. "Do you understand me!?"
Rosa broke out in a sweat and licked her lips nervously. "Of… of course Uncle Adam. I would never do anything to her now." She tried to smile but failed. "I better prepare myself. It will be my turn soon."
He merely turned from her and said nothing else.
The competitors were finishing quickly with the vast majority only getting to the second dream slip and waking the third almost instantly. They all came out of their trances complaining about how strange the dream slip brain was. Rosa shook her head.
"Evidently none of them even tried to research the creatures before entering the dreamscape with them." Granted her mother had told her long ago about these vermin and had given her a pile of information to study but they were all idiots for going in absolutely blindly. She was sure Hazel had studied every available document on them by now. She probably even knew more about them than she did.
The only other person who had the same amount of information as she had was the fool who woke up the third dream slip in his arrogance. He was of the Ambrose family and actually explained his slip up to her. She made a mental note and had begun preparing herself.
"Our next competitor is Miss Rosa Ambrose."
Rosa smiled and walked slowly and gracefully to the stage. She hated that they believed in Hazel so much that they always saved her for last. At least she was going next to last this time. They understood that she was Hazel's only true competition here.
She laid back on the chaise lounger and closed her eyes. She quickly entered a meditative state but she calmed herself and made sure she understood her surroundings before she made a move. She stepped forward and went to see the dream slips.
A dreamwalker has the option of walking the dreamscape naturally created by the collective consciousness or they could walk their dreamscape, provided they connected it to the collective consciousness properly.
Rosa lightly walked across the collective consciousness dreamscape and came to the dream slips and she almost lost her meditative state. The dream slips were only connected to the collective dreamscape by the thinnest of threads and only one of them. No wonder they woke up so easily.
She calmed herself and prepared the talisman and trinket she had brought. They appeared in her hands and she meditated on both. Invoking their uses and causing her dreamscape aura to fuse with them.
Her talisman was a small piece of the brain matter of a dream dragon. They were powerful highly intelligent beings that used to rule the collective consciousness dreamscape. This tiny piece of brain matter had becoke naturally encased in a fine layer of jade after the creature died.
Her trinket was an item made by an ancestor many centuries ago. And, as all good trinkets did, it had become more and more powerful over the passing years.
She finally felt as if she were ready and she went directly into the third dream slip. The one that kept waking on all of the proficient dreamwalkers. She was ready for the oddness of its brain and found it to be a bit calmer than reported.
Dream slips had a different way of perceiving the world than humans did and their minds reflected this. First they saw in multiple light spectrums. Secondly reality was their dream and the dreamscape was their reality. So their brains actually perceived reality as something odd and wondrous. When your personal perceptions said something else looking through the eyes and mind of a dream slip could be disorienting.
She handle three slips with ease and the fourth, she may have become over confident. The fourth slip was older and more powerful than the first three and it had a much stronger view of the world than the others did. Rosa was not prepared for this and when she entered the slip's dreamscape she was briefly shaken. She recovered quickly but this was enough for the slip to sense her. It to awhile for it to find her and because of this he couldn't just automatically kick her out.
When she was kicked out her soul body was slammed back into her physical body and she was disoriented for a long time. Seeing this Adam Ambrose pursed his lips and stopped himself from shaking his head.
When it was finally Hazel's turn she went to the stage with the chaise and laid down. She oriented herself and went over everything she had observed about the others and everything she knew about dream slips. When she was ready she dreamwalked to the slips and entered the sixth dream slip first.
She was a powerful dreamwalker by now and all dreamscapes welcomed her with an embrace. She smiled as she passed through the layers dividing reality and dream. The dream slip was very powerful, as she had expected, and its dreamscape was odd in that it felt dense and the light was oppressive. Other than that the oddity was manageable. She walked over mountains of light and seas of turbulent air where large creatures swam-flew through vast basins and trenches within the ground. She kept walking and observing.
The two mistakes of the other competitors was moving from weakest to strongest dream slip and not finding the natural connection that they all shared and using that connection to move to the next dream slip. This made for a more smooth transition and allowed the mind to properly adjust to something so very foreign.
It took Hazel a bit longer because she did not rush and she allowed things to naturally find her. This is what it meant to be a seer. You merely saw what came to you, what was presented to you. You did not actively seek. When she sat up on the chaise everyone was stunned. She stretched a bit and looked to the judge to see if she could leave. The startled judge took a moment but eventually nodded.
There was a four hour break to allow the competitors a chance to recuperate. Everyone was talking about Hazel. They were all seers. It was hard to talk about one without them knowing so they had gotten over that concern long ago and spoke freely about each other, unless they were plotting. That, of course, is a different thing.
"Miss McGonagall is a very powerful seer."
"But is she truly the fatetress?"
"Of course she is. I have already spoken to my dream slip, and you know that she is the most powerful of the ones we had in the competition. She said no one entered her dreamscape but she did dream of the new fatetress."
The seer talking set back smugly as if they had provided the most important news of the day. The others continued looking blankly or in confusion towards him. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Miss McGonagall melded into the dreamscape. She and the dreamscape were one and the dream slips could not differentiate and since the dreamscape is their reality they interpreted her presence for what it was. She is the fatetress that can control the dreamscape."
There was silence as everyone thought about what this person, who happened to be an elder and one of their more powerful dreamwalkers, had said. Adam especially listened. He became angrier every time he thought about how Rosa most likely ruined their chances of having Hazel join the Ambrose family.
Hazel was a bit surprised at the lack of attempts on her life. Just as she thought this she was about to drink something and paused. Something was wrong. What was it? She put her glass down and immediately felt at ease. She looked to the glass and shook her head. Had Rosa tried, failed, and this was a clumsy second attempt.
Her mother entered as if she knew something was amiss. She looked down at Hazel's glass and frowned.
"You're not drinking? It is your favorite."
"My discernment warned me against it."
Minerva McGonagall raised and eyebrow and went to reach for the glass just as Montague McGonagall entered.
"What is going on?"
"Someone is trying to kill your daughter."
The final event was a mere formality. Everyone knew the winner of this year's competition and they had to admit that they wanted to see Hazel's dreamscape as well.
Many of the competitors could not develop their dreamscapes at all. Others developed rudimentary dreamscapes. Rosa and her cousin developed good dreamscapes but they were mentally exhausted after.
Then it was Hazel's turn.
Everyone had stopped breathing when they felt it. Hazel had simply closed her eyes and called all their soul bodies to her. They were gently brought up as a group, as spectators. There gasps were for many different reasons. Some because the space was so big, some because it was beautiful, some because they felt the power of the collective consciousness dreamscape. All of them seemed to be in awe.
When they were finally brought back to their physical bodies many had questions but none could speak. They all just looked at the little girl on the stage. So unassuming and so powerful.