Chapter 119: Dream Merchant
Sunny had turned on his projector and put on the bizarre film, much to Hugo's surprise.
He did not know his friend had a fascination with movies and more than that, this one was about the Forgotten Shore.
Hugo did not know what to feel about this, considering that era of his life was a very traumatic time, but he didn't say anything and simply watched.
His previous nervousness disappeared entirely when he watched the movie.
The movie opened with a young Nephis, her silver hair spilling across the carpet as she played. Her father sat nearby, studying a map. When she reached for a broken sword, he snatched it away, preventing her from cutting herself. Then came a quiet conversation about the Awakened and humanity, instilling a sense of justice into the young changing star.
Time passed. Nephis grew up, portrayed as a jade beauty. She entered the Academy, and a training montage followed, she demolished everyone in her path. The only one she couldn't beat was Caster, a handsome young man with noble bearing. The film hinted at budding romantic tension between them.
Then Hugo was introduced...
Hugo was the secondary romance male lead for some reason! Which was absolutely ridiculous as he and Nephis had no romantic feelings whatsoever.
He was portrayed as a young man that came from the outskirts for some reason, the type of character who rose through the social ranks to prove himself.
In other words, a Prodigy.
More than that, he and Caster were rivals for some reason, both competing for Nephis's love during the academy.
He was played by a masculine young man, which was also inaccurate considering Hugo had never looked that masculine in his entire life!
Sunny was introduced shortly after, played by an actual thirteen-year-old child, clumsy, naive, and with a punchable face.
"At least they got something right!" Hugo said, laughing at his friend.
"Shut up" sunny said, although he wasn't angry... Which made Hugo nervous.
If he wasn't angry, then that meant there was something worse about him in the movie!
The next scenes showed Nephis's journey to the Dark City and that Sunny and Cassie were a burden to her, with only Hugo being the useful one.
Also, they made his Aspect, the Omnitrix, a curse that transformed him into a beast that he had gotten on the Forgotten Shore instead of his actual Aspect!
They wanted to set up a romance plot that would basically need Nephis to kiss Hugo to lift the curse, which was ridiculous! More than that, they made Hugo an edgy character who constantly complains about the fact that he was a monster...
"At least they got something right" this time it was sunny who said it, leaving Hugo with no retort.
The movie continued, with Hugo cringing more and more as he watched. Despite the tense suffocating atmosphere, there were moments when Sunny's character became comic relief. He also developed a catchphrase, "Are you crazy?!" But that wasn't nearly as embarrassing as Hugo's role!
Eventually, they made it to the ancient city and met Effie. She was introduced as a tall, attractive and was played by an athletic actress. She was all brawn and no brain, which Hugo thought was a complete injustice to the huntress.
Effie was playful, yes, but that had never made Hugo think less of her—not at all. He respected her as a fierce warrior and a skilled Ascended, even back on the Shore. But this movie completely threw that out of the window.
"This movie is very misogynistic, like seriously who made this garbage?!" Hugo cursed the producer for this absolute dumpster of a movie.
Sunny was simply smiling through it all, enjoying his suffering.
The second act took place in the outer settlement, dedicated to Nephis and Hugo's heroic deeds, expeditions into the Dark City, and altercations with Gunlaug's forces. For the most part of the movie, it was dedicated to the genuine respect and camaraderie that blossomed between Nephis, Caster and Hugo, with them becoming a trio—which was also completely inaccurate. With the handsome male leads as her right and left hands, Changing Star successfully united the people of the outer settlement, reminded them what it meant to be human, and with the power of camaraderie, she convinced Gunlaug to stop his evil schemes and join them. This act ended with Hugo summoning his divine ship and transporting the Sleepers to the Spire.
The third act showed the Siege of the Crimson Spire, the heroic stand of the warriors of the first line and Effie, Kai's battle in the skies with the Spire Messengers, and Neph, Hugo and Caster fighting back to back, slaying dozens and dozens of Nightmare Creatures together...
"Alright what the hell! This didn't even happen!" Hugo shouted. "We literally nuked the abominations and barely did any fighting! Who wrote this garbage?!"
Sunny shrugged with a grin on his face. "Hehe."
Hugo resisted the urge to transform into Heatblast and burn Sunny's house and continued watching.
Eventually, the sea suddenly receded and the sun attacked both Nightmare Creatures and humans. Salvation came from Sunny and his loud bell. The remaining Awakened arrived at the Crimson Spire and Hugo decided to stall the Fallen Terror, who had recently evolved, while Nephis and Caster led the rest to the Gateway. Hugo battled the Terror and in a last-ditch moment, he sacrificed himself as he grabbed Nephis, Caster and Sunny and threw them to the Gateway, saving them while he continued fighting the Terror, with his last line being:
"I should die as I lived, like a monster."
And nephis reassuring him with:
"No! You were never a monster! You a re hero!" Before kissing him and lifting his curse.
The last shot was Hugo walking out of the tower with a tear, encouraging him that humanity must never give up...
"..." Hugo reached for his Omnitrix.
"Hey hey! Wait, you bastard! This was an important documentary! Don't do anything rash! " Sunny said, suddenly sweating.
Hugo really wanted to go to the producer's house and give him a piece of his mind, but he stopped himself. It was just a silly movie made for propaganda's sake...
Looking at it, Hugo was really annoyed by a lot of stuff.
The mischaracterization of him and his friends, the inaccurate scenes, the inaccurate power system and most importantly, the ridiculous romance!
There was even a romance between him and caster that was blossoming, what the hell!
'Like I barely spoke with Caster back then!'
It was ridiculous.
"What even happened to that guy?" Hugo asked, remembering that he did actually exist. By now, he thought that he would be with the group considering he did help them a lot.
Sunny shrugged. "Me and Neph beat him up on the Spire and almost killed him before he ran away into the Gateway. He's back with his clan now, but I don't know much beyond that nor do I care."
So he had survived... Hugo was glad that he did. He was just a child back then...
"Wait, why did you two attack him ?"
"He was sent by the great clans to kill Neph."
"Oh... Well that's dark." He sighed, looking at the time. "I'd really like to stay a while longer, but I have some stuff to take care of and this movie has really rotted my brain."
Hugo needed to go to his job now, he had a responsibility now.
"Alright, just stay in contact."
Hugo left the house after wearing his government uniform.
For transport, he transformed into XLR8 and crossed NQSC in a few minutes, reaching the government building and detransforming, which got him more than a few odd looks.
He would've taken public transport, but that was too bothersome considering how many people recognizes him.
In the government building, he noticed a few other Awakened there, going about their lives.
Some were filling reports for Memory transfers gone wrong, others complained about soul shard scams and various other stuff.
'The daily life of an Awakened, huh...'
Strangely, Hugo found both the daily life of a mundane person and that of an Awakened to be both strange and distant...
He could not understand how some people lived without killing Nightmare Creatures, transforming into aliens, or going on insane adventures.
Perhaps this was a side effect of his Flaw, who knows.
Going through the elevator, Hugo went to the last level, where his office was.
To his surprise, it was not Soul Reaper or Wake of Ruin that greeted him when he got there, but instead it was the second Saint of the government, the Dream Merchant.
Saint Thane was an androgynous person of undetermined age in exquisite silk garments. The Transcendent had a hypnotically beautiful face, but for some reason, it was plastered with an unreasonable amount of makeup, and a genteel, almost effeminate bearing.
The Saint was dressed in ridiculously colorful silken robes and looked like a parrot that had taken a bath in a tub of face powder.
Hugo knew about Saint Thane more than he did about Wake of Ruin, as the former was, like all other Saints, a very popular celebrity in the waking world. He was the creator of the Dreamscape, the most popular game in the gaming industry.
Hugo had played the game as a mundane—the version meant for non-Awakened—but he had never tried the Awakened one, which was apparently the real deal.
"Ah, Paragon of Purity! It's great to finally meet you, young man! Cor told me all about you!" The flamboyant Saint said with a cheerful smile, as he shook Hugo's hands with enough force to rip them off.
Hugo smiled hesitantly, unused to someone so powerful acting this friendly.
"The pleasure is all mine, Saint Thane. It's an honor meeting you, and I'm glad I get to work alongside you."
Hugo's role in the government was a government agent, but due to his importance and abilities, he was placed directly under the dream merchant, similar to how wake of ruin had jet as his assistant of sorts.
"Right! Cor did tell me about that. Worry not, young man, with you under my wing, you'll become a Saint in no time. Oh, and before I forget, bring out your communicator for a moment." The Saint said, bringing out his own communicator which was adorned with all types of accessories and colors.
Hugo himself only raised his watch, which made the Saint confused.
"Ah, my communicator is actually my watch. My Aspect is pretty useful, you see." Hugo said, hoping that he didn't ask for any more details.
"Ah! How fashionable! Using your Aspect as a communicator is absolutely fantastic!" He said, before putting his communicator above Hugo's watch, transferring something.
The Saint had just transferred him his contacts and...
"?!"
Checking his account, Hugo noticed a substantial amount of credits and contribution points suddenly appear in his account.
"Saint Thane, I think you just made a mistake. There's a ton of credits in my account!" Hugo said in a panic.
That was the most amount of credit he had ever seen in his life!
He did not want to rob a Saint—that did not sound like a good idea.
"What are you talking about, silly? That's your paycheck for killing the Corrupted Tyrant when the Category Three Gate appeared. Did you think the government would make you do charity work?"
"No... I just didn't expect it to be this much..."
He now had enough credits to buy a PTV, a house, and have a lot of credits left!
The government truly spared no expenses...
"Well then, I'm sorry to leave this conversation like this, but I happen to have a business meeting soon, so I think I'll take my leave."
"Oh, Saint Thane, wait, before you leave..."
"Hm?"
"Actually, I have a small request," Hugo said with a hesitant smile, he was already asking for favors. "Could you perchance help me forge an ID for a friend of mine?"
"An ID? Well that shouldn't be a problem... Your friend will just need to fill out some documents. Contact Awakened Kazuha—he should help you with the paperwork. Now bye-bye!"
With that, the Saint disappeared into the elevator, leaving Hugo alone on the last floor.
'What a nice guy.'
Hugo went to his office and contacted the government agent known as Awakened Kazuha, discussing the necessary procedures with him and after little persuasion, Hugo got what he wanted.
On his computer appeared a file with the name:
Name: lugan
True Name: ---
Rank: Ascended
Affinities: Water, Mind Hex
Age: 25
Status: Independent Master
With a smile on his face, Hugo sent the file to the official website of the House of Night, who were looking for recruitment.
It was about time he put his Spirit Body to good use.