The Dream Sanctum: The Eternal World Read Free

reaction. If you agree with them, they want you because you make
them look good. But if word got out that you disagreed with their theories, I
have no doubt that most of the Sanctum would agree with you without question.”
    “When it comes to much of the Sanctum’s
population I have my doubts as to whether they can comprehend any words more
than three syllables long, and this presents certain complications as I uncompromisingly
refuse to dumb myself down for them,” Kwin muttered.
    “Understanding is irrelevant, that’s the
beauty of fame,” Alastor smiled. “You’re pretty, you’re immensely popular and
you sound smart, and that’s all it takes. Frankly, if we wanted to really mess
with them, we could call for a meeting in Golden Capital. We’ll invite them,
give them the front and center seats, then propose our findings right in front
of them. They’ll be forced to either acknowledge your brilliance there or come
out against you in front of everyone in the world.”
    “If you honestly expect to cheer me up by
making me imagine a number of people experiencing the most humiliating shame
and rage they’ve ever felt in their lives as the result of a move that is both
needlessly underhanded and entirely vindictive…” she paused for a moment, then
a familiar, malicious grin broke over her face, “then I must say you know me
very well. We’ll make the arrangements later.”
    “And if I said I was just joking?”
    “Then you made a mistake in telling me. Don’t
worry; it will be delightful.”
    “What sort of research have you been doing?”
Kai asked Alastor, hoping to stay on a subject that would keep Kwin calm while
still sating his curiosity.
    “Oh, it’s fascinating stuff!” Alastor said
brightly. He walked over to his desk and grabbed a stack of papers that were
covered in his sloppy, hasty handwriting. Kwin, looking all too eager to accept
this excuse to change subjects, took a breath and sat cross-legged on the floor
with the others.
    As Alastor sat down to join them, Kai picked
up one of the loose papers. It was titled “Occupant-Reliant Universe Theory,”
and was covered in notes and scribbles from both Alastor and Kwin. Lindsay took
the page from his hand and he looked down to see that their notes spanned
multiple notebooks, sticky notes and other pages stuffed hastily into large
textbooks.
    “This is incredible… all this is yours?”
Lindsay asked, looking in amazement at the piles of papers and books before
them.
    “It is,” Kwin said nonchalantly, though she looked
quite proud of herself. “It’s a mixture of theory and research on a number of
subjects. As it happens, research surrounding the Sanctum in general is quite
rare. The field of history is the most popular, and it only just became so in
the past few decades. World exploration stopped at the Sanctum’s borders, as we
all know, and its psychological effects are all but completely unexplored.”
    “I don’t understand how people can be so
content to know so little about a world like the Sanctum,” Kai mused. “I mean,
it’s so much more amazing than the real world, and people think it’s just about
as old, so why wouldn’t people want to learn more about it?”
    “Because the Sanctum’s current community of
‘scholars’ and philosophers is more concerned with appearance than actual
work,” Kwin sniffed. “They put on robes and carry around books they haven’t
read so they can pretend they’re more enlightened than the poor, ignorant
masses of the rest of the world. It’s really quite archaic.”
    Alastor nodded.
    “Beyond that, I think people are just content
to let a dream be a dream. They can go in whenever they want and do incredible
things, so why waste precious sleep time on boring things like research?”
    “Well, their loss!” Lindsay said cheerily,
then turned back to the page. “What exactly is Occupant-Reliant Universe
Theory?”
    “I’ll let Kwin explain that one since she’s
the one who came