Awakened

For similar terms, see Awakened (Disambiguation).
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The **Awakened** are people who have passed the first trial of the Nightmare Spell and established a connection with the Dream Realm. Each of them possesses an Aspect that has special powers and a way to enter the Dream Realm to seek out and destroy Nightmares before they create a Gate, thus protecting the real world. The word "*Awakened*" is also sometimes used to describe all carriers of the Nightmare Spell as a whole.

**Note**: Nightmares are trials given by the Spell. To conquer it one must find the Seed of Nightmare inside before it matures and create a gate in the real world (Refer to the Nightmare Spell). *Awakened* should not be confused with the Soul Rank of the Soul Core (Soul Core Rank, Awakened).

Awakened is also known as "Children of Weaver".

## Aspirants

Those who are infected by Nightmare Spell and yet to pass the First Nightmare are called "Aspirants" by the *Spell*. These people automatically challenge the First Nightmare when they first fall asleep after having been infected by the Nightmare Spell. They are given Attributes and start off with a Dormant Rank Aspect without the Flaw or Aspect Ability. The Aspect can rank up after the trial is over, depending on the appraisal the Spell gives. At this point, a True Name can also be given, though this is incredibly rare. The Dreamer awakens their Aspect Ability and is given Flaw in exchange for the power he/she received.

## Awakened Rank (Hierarchy)

The power of an Awakened is commonly measured based on the quality of one's Soul Core. The first five Soul Ranks, when applied to humans, have colloquial names in human language:

## Connection to Dream Realm

For the Awakened, visiting the Dream Realm was not exactly equal to good sleep, but it was somewhat similar. Mental fatigue still accumulated gradually, but it was easy to remove by meditating or sleeping on the other side of the Gateway.

One couldn't just enter the Gateway immediately after appearing in the Dream Realm. Awakened had to wait several hours before being allowed to use a Gateway again. The exact time they had to wait was slightly different from person to person, but in general, it was somewhere around ten hours.

There is a change in connection to the Dream Realm and the Waking World after *Ascension*. The **Awakened** establish a connection with the Dream Realm by anchoring themselves to a Gateway. **Ascended** expand on that connection, making them less tied to the Waking World, and thus capable of traveling between the two at will. **Transcendent** exist in a state of perfect balance. They are connected to both worlds in equal measure, which makes them independent of Gateways. In a sense, they are the Gateway, so they can even bring another person with them on their travels. However, the balance is broken once a person becomes **Supreme**. It shifts, tying them to the Dream Realm instead of the Real World.

## Hollow and Lost

Only Awakened below the Master rank can become *Hollow* or *Lost*.

* Hollow
* Lost

**Hollow** — people whose souls were destroyed, leaving an empty body behind.

Usually, when a Sleeper or an Awakened perished in the Dream Realm, their soul is destroyed and the body dies with it. But if not, they become a ***Hollow***. This is when their physical body still lives on even when their soul has died leaving just an empty husk of a body that still lives.

There are instances when a *mundane human* can become a Hollow outside of the Dream Realm. There is a very small chance of a powerful soul attack creating a *Hollow*. Beings capable of dealing with *direct soul damage* are very rare and almost never happen.

See also: List of Known Hollows

**Lost** — people whose bodies had somehow destroyed or died in the real world, leaving their souls stranded in the Dream Realm.

There weren't a lot of them, since most of the time the soul perished shortly after the body had, but there were some. They will be stuck in the Dream Realm unless they can become a Master.

See also: List of Known Losts
## Awakened Designation

The government and the powerful Legacy clans keep track of every Awakened in the world because of the following reasons:

* Every Awakened technically has a duty to respond when a Gate opens near their location. They are given a *special communicator* for this purpose. In exchange for all the privileges they receive, they are expected to protect this world from the Nightmare Creatures.
* Newly Awakened are monitored because everyone wants to recruit the best of them. Talents need to be nurtured, but first, they need to be recognized. The most promising Awakened receive a mark, usually *SA*, or simply *S*, on their file.

 SSA (SS)

Only 5 were marked as SS from all the Sleepers that returned from Dream Realm in the last few years, namely Awakened Athena, Awakened Kai, Awakened Cassia, Awakened Seishan and Awakened Sunless.

## Terminology

### Spirit Body

Souls, just like bodies, could heal with time. It was mentioned that damage dealt to the spirit body of an Awakened will not affect their actual body unless severe enough to be permanent.

Soul wounds were not permanent and healed naturally over time.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chapter 0 The Nightmare Spell
2. ↑ Chapter 1295 No One Knows
3. ↑ Chapter 2 Slave Caravan
4. ↑ Chapter 1 Nightmare Begins
5. ↑ Chapter 15 Shadow Slave
6. ↑ Chapter 16 Rebirth
7. ↑ Chapter 23 Dreams and Nightmares
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Chapter 17 Three Simple Words
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Chapter 368 Aster, Song, Vale
10. ↑ Chapter 595 The Saints Are Coming
11. ↑ Chapter 504 The Right People
12. ↑ Chapter 387 Withered Flowers
13. ↑ Chapter 398 Master of his Trade
14. ↑ Chapter 779 Unmoored
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Chapter 367 Fog of Time
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chapter 360 Broken
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Chapter 435 Listening to Nothing
18. ↑ Chapter 29 The Last Day on Earth
19. ↑ Chapter 506 Silent Witnesses
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Chapter 364 SS Class Awakened Sunless
21. ↑ Chapter 363 Citizen Sunny
22. ↑ Chapter 416 Hanged Man
23. ↑ Chapter 523 Made Eternal
24. ↑ Chapter 888 Vanishing