Jeremiah was shocked to find that he woke up like a normal person would if they were sleeping in a normal bed in a normally large chamber. He looked around to see that only he and August were awake. August was tinkering with this small disc, sitting upright in his bed. Jeremiah assumed, knowing that August had the ability to turn pocket junk into a revolver, that the disc turned into a table or something when it hit the ground.
"Good morning," August said, without even looking up.
"Morning."
"Hi, guys," Dylan said, getting up out of his bed. Jeremiah hadn't realized that Dylan was awake. He was probably one of those people who just sat there, trying to go back to sleep in the morning. Jeremiah and August followed suit and the three sat down in the center of the ring of beds. August was still tinkering with his small disc--he reminded Jeremiah of the cashier from his dream. That brought Jeremiah's concerns to mind. "Did anyone else dream of something--like a wolf, say--teaching them how to use their Destined powers?"
August spoke up first. "A robot that looked like it was made of construction vehicles, like dump trucks or bulldozers, taught me how to make heat-seeking missiles and small automatons."
"Small automatons?"
"Like one that would, say, brush your teeth for you, or do your homework. Simple things."
It sounded pretty not simple to Jeremiah, but Jeremiah compared it to what he could do, and it sounded like making small automatons had a similar complexity level. Jeremiah spoke up. " A pitch-black wolf the size of a horse taught me how to create shadows and teleport between them." August made a face for a second, then shrugged like creating shadows seemed reasonable.
"A giant bipedal frog named Oceanius punched me in the face multiple times, then taught me how to turn water into ice, then water again. He tried to teach me how to make clouds, but his huge, pearly eyes were too distracting." Dylan said this with a voice like he was describing what he ate for breakfast. August smiled, holding his now-finished disc in his hands. He then set it on the ground. Just like Jeremiah had predicted, it expanded into a picnic table. Then one of the girls woke up, groaning sleepily.
"Oh, nice bench. Was that there last night?" Tamara asked with a yawn. August shook his head. "I've been awake since..." He took another disc out of his pocket, looked at it, then put it back in his pocket. "5:00." Jeremiah was shocked. "You built a pocket watch?"
"Yup," August said, smiling. "I'm working on your guys' watches. What's your favorite color?" Jeremiah thought Flicker the giant wolf was strange, but August flat-out baffled him. Eden flew out of the Eden Hole(that was Jeremiah's official name for it now), bearing cinnamon rolls and orange juice. She looked at the picnic table like she was pleasantly surprised it was there, then placed the nutritious breakfast on it. She landed gently on the ground and nodded to the boys.
Eden walked over to Heather's bed first, then snapped next to her ear. Heather awoke immediately. Eden did the same to Belle. She then explained that there would be a variety of foods served to them for every meal, but they would always contain the vitamins that they needed. "Like the mothers that put vegetables in desert?" Heather asked, still a bit sleepy. Eden smiled. "Yes, but they won't have that tainted taste. I'll see you teens in a bit." With that, Eden floated back into her Eden Hole, leaving the six to enjoy their cinnamon rolls and orange juice at the table.
"So we three guys dreamed of a bipedal frog, a horse-sized wolf, and a Tonka robot teaching us how to use our powers. How about you guys?" Jeremiah asked, realizing how ridiculous all of that sounded. Belle spoke up first. "I sword-fought a samurai woman for the entire night. When the sun rose in my dream, I woke up here, completely refreshed." Belle shook her head with bewilderment.
Heather smiled. "My dream wasn't as intense as Belle's. I chatted and drank tea with a nice lady that had the coolest dress I've ever seen. It was made of vines, giant flowers, and fern leaves. She told me all about my powers and gave me a book. I'm not sure where it is." She patted her pockets, frowned, then took a large book out of nowhere. "Ah. There it is."
Jeremiah found himself staring at Heather's face, then chided himself. What the heck was he doing? Luckily, he didn't miss anything that Tamara said. She talked about a bespectacled dragon telling her how "There is fire, everywhere, as long as there is air." She then talked about how a brown dragon fought and chastised her throughout the night. "'You fight like a man,' he said. 'FIGHT LIKE A DRAGON!'" Tamara seemed happy to be chastised by an impatient brown dragon.
Jeremiah turned his attention to Heather's book. "What's in there?"
"All kinds of crap," she laughed. "How to make alloy plants, how to give plants special properties, PLANT LANGUAGES--Did you know that grapes speak Celtic?--this is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" It sounded pretty awesome to Jeremiah, but he wondered if he could go up to his Uncle Lenny's grapevines and have a conversation with them in Celtic. Then he wondered what kinds of plants had which personality trends, or if tomatoes wanted to learn how to skateboard. Jeremiah
he was way too into this.
There proceeded to be a small talent show--Jeremiah teleporting around the table through people's shadows, Dylan freezing his orange juice into a ball, then melting it from the bottom up, Tamara catching fire, Belle juggling with chainsaws, and Heather making topiaries out of plants from the ground. The moment Heather finished her brilliant sculpture of a flaming Tamara, something that was not Eden leaped from the Eden Hole.
It was a man--A big, burly hulk, wearing a flannel jacket over a white t-shirt, as well as some blue jeans. Jeremiah wondered what store sold that size--He barely reached the hulk's waist. The man had a beard and long hair, both reaching past his ribs. The hulking man spoke.
"I am Portcullis, master of the earth," He growled. "And I am not your friend."