DREAMBOUND

Minds of the Prophecy (Part One)

POV: Saku

The library was our usual sanctuary, a place where we could delve into our studies or just relax away from the hustle and bustle of campus life. I walked in, spotting Shoji already settled at our favorite spot, a cozy corner by the shelves. He had a cup of coffee in hand and his notebook open, as if anticipating our conversation.

"Morning," I greeted him, sliding into the seat across from him.

"Hey," Shoji replied, looking up with a curious expression. "What's up? You sounded urgent."

I took a deep breath, still trying to sort out the jumble of thoughts and images in my head. "I had this... dream last night. Or maybe it was more of a vision. It felt so real."

Shoji leaned in. "What happened in it?"

I recounted the dream in detail, describing the crystal-clear underwater environment, the deserted stone city, and the mysterious glowing symbol on the stone slab. Shoji listened intently, his expression growing more serious as I spoke. When I finished, he was silent for a moment, lost in thought.

"Saku," he said slowly, "I had a dream just like that. Last night."

My eyes widened. "You what?"

My ears started ringing, thus the shock that flooded my head.

Shoji nodded, looking as bewildered as I felt. "Yeah. I was underwater, too. It was this beautiful, clear place, and there was this ancient city, totally empty. And then there was this stone pedestal in the middle, with a glowing symbol. I touched it, and everything started to glow. Then I woke up."

A chill ran down my spine. It was exactly the same. "What does this mean?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't know," Shoji admitted, leaning back in his chair. "But it's definitely not a coincidence. Maybe there's something more to this."

We sat in silence for a moment. It was strange enough to have a dream so vivid and realistic, but to share the exact same dream with someone else was beyond anything I could rationalize.

"We need to figure out what this means," I said finally. "It's too weird to ignore."

Shoji nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but where do we even start? it's not like we can just search 'shared underwater city dreams' online and find answers."

I thought for a moment. "Maybe we should start by looking up the symbol. It seemed important, and it might give us some clues."

Shoji pulled out his notebook and started sketching the symbol from memory. It was intricate, with swirling lines and geometric shapes that formed a pattern. When he was done, he slid the notebook over to me.

"Does this look right?" he asked.

I studied the sketch, my mind flashing back to the dream. "Yeah, that's it. It's perfect."

Shoji took a sip of his coffee and leaned back, deep in thought. "Okay, let's see if we can find anything about this symbol.

We spent the next few hours poring over books and searching online, trying to find any reference to the symbol. It was slow going, and the more we looked, the more elusive the answers seemed.

As the morning wore on, the library began to fill with more students, and the quiet solitude of our table was broken by the hum of voices and the clatter of footsteps. But even with the distractions, we kept at it.

Finally, Shoji looked up from his laptop, his eyes wide with excitement. "I think I found something."

I leaned over, my heart pounding. "What is it?"

"It's an old legend," Shoji said, his voice tinged with wonder. "About two people sharing the same lucid dream at the same time. According to this, it means those who experience it are somehow connected on a deeper level, able to explore dreams together."

I felt a shiver run down my spine. "So what does that mean for us?"

Shoji closed his laptop and looked at me, his expression serious. "It means we're part of something much bigger than we realized. And we need to find out what that is."

Suddenly, Shoji glanced at his watch and groaned. "It's 8:20. We have class in ten minutes."

I snapped out of my reverie, the reality of our schedule crashing down on me. "You're right. We should get going."

"We'll have to pick this up later," Shoji said, his voice tinged with frustration as he closed his laptop.

We hurriedly packed up our things, shoving notebooks and laptops into our bags. The library, once a haven of discovery, now felt like a race track as we sprinted towards the exit.

"Let's meet up after class and keep looking into this. There's got to be more we can find." Shoji said, out of breath as he and Saku are midway to their class.

I nodded, adrenaline still pumping through my veins. "Definitely. We'll figure this out."

"We need to figure out how to control it," Shoji said, his brow furrowed in concentration. "If we can learn to harness this ability, imagine what we could accomplish."

I nodded in agreement. "But first, we need to understand how it works. We can't just dive in blindly."

We arrived at our psychology class just in time, slipping into our seats as the professor began the lecture.