Jace materialized in his basement, near the stairway, with the astrologer still over his shoulder.
He turned the valve on the wall, which lit the basement up, then walked to a particular steel table and dropped the astrologer on it.
This was the same table that Edward the psychopath used to cut and experiment on his victims, but Jace had no intention of doing such things.
He removed the astrologer's hood and robe to finally see his appearance.
He had blonde hair and an innocent-looking, clean-shaved face. Though the guy looked young, Jace could tell that he was in his mid-twenties.
Jace continued to search the guy for other things. He found some basic ritualistic ingredients along with a silver knife, a crystal ball that astrologers used, and about 70 pounds in cash.
He also took the ring on the astrologer's finger, which Jace believed to be a sealed artifact.
Taking all the things, he set them down on the study table nearby.
On the right side were shelves filled with various chemicals and drugs. Jace picked up a particular bottle among them and made the astrologer drink it while he was still unconscious.
This was an oral sedative that would make him sleep, and with this, the astrologer should not be able to wake up for at least 5 hours.
Jace did not know exactly what he was going to do with this man. What he did know was the fact that finding a Beyonder from the door pathway was almost impossible.
'Perhaps this guy is from the Abraham family...' he wondered, but that begged the question of how he was even alive. Then again, it wasn't unheard of, as 'Dorian Gray', 'Fors Wall's' teacher, was a sequence 7 from the Abraham family and he seemed fine most of the time.
Jace decided that if this man was indeed from the Abraham family, then it would be a good time to make some connections with them.
Nonetheless, he kept his thoughts aside, walked to his desk, and sat in the chair. It was time to divine about the sealed artifacts he had just gotten.
He picked up the gray ring first. It looked simple enough, and he performed a dream divination.
The ring corresponded to a sequence 8 Telepathist.
Wearing it would grant the user incredible observation skills like a Spectator, as well as the ability to read the body language and surface thoughts of people.
The downside was that after a certain amount of use, the user would get a headache, and become unable to focus on particular things, and their thoughts would wander around.
'So it basically gives ADHD, huh?' While Jace found it amusing, he had no use for this artifact.
However, it was a good artifact, so he decided to keep it in his collection anyway.
Then, he pulled the black glove from his pocket—this was the one he had 'stolen' from the astrologer at the beginning of the fight.
It looked quite similar to the 'healing' glove he had that came from a sequence 8 Doctor.
Jace had a feeling this was going to be good. He set it on the table right in front of him and started performing divinations.
The result... surprised him!
It was an artifact that corresponded to sequence 7 'Nightmare' from the Sleepless pathway!
The glove gave the user the ability to use every power of a 'Nightmare' except for one, meaning it had the powers of the 'nightmare state', 'Dream Invasion', and 'dream shaping'. The only exception was 'nightmare limbs,' which was a physical transformation, so it wasn't included.
Other than that, it also gave use of two poems from its sequence 8 'Midnight Poet'—one to 'tranquilize' people, the effects of which were similar to the 'placate' of a Psychiatrist, and the other was 'lullaby,' which could be used to put multiple people around to sleep.
Though he doubted he would actually use a poem in a fight...
The side effects were significant as well, but manageable. While using it, the user would feel really sleepy but wouldn't be able to sleep. The same went for a few hours after the user removed the artifact. The user would also occasionally have nightmares while using the 'Nightmare' glove.
Jace picked up the glove in his hand. "This is pretty good..." he muttered.
But...
While the artifact was a good one, Jace wasn't sure if he should keep it with him.
It was because the Church of the Evernight Goddess strictly controlled the Sleepless pathway.
That was one of the reasons there were no independent or wild Beyonders of this pathway.
This was also the reason why Jace had never 'read' or heard about an artifact from the Sleepless pathway, likely because the Church of Evernight took care of its Beyonders and never let the Beyonder characteristics get lost.
Nonetheless, Jace performed a divination with the silver pendant on his wrist. "Keeping this artifact with me will lead to danger," he muttered seven times in ancient Hermes.
The pendant rotated counter-clockwise, which meant 'no,' it will not.
'Does it mean no one is looking for this?' Jace wondered. But to confirm it, he performed more divinations and reached the final decision that he could keep it with him.
While his divinations weren't absolute like 'klien' and the gray fog, they were still pretty good for his sequence, but he would still have to be cautious.
He looked at the glove in his hand with a smile. He was excited to keep such a peculiar artifact with him.
It likely wouldn't be of use in a fight, and managing the side effects would be a pain... but it had some interesting abilities.
His smile froze. He turned his head back to the person lying on the steel table behind him, and then he turned to look at the glove.
'Technically... he is sleeping, right?' he thought as he put the glove on his right hand.
After putting it on, the effect was immediate. He felt really sleepy, but for some reason, he knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep.
But resisting sleepiness was something he could handle, so he turned his chair around to look toward the sleeping man and used the power of the glove.
His head fell backward as it rested on the support of the chair, and his soul separated from his body.
Jace stood up, but everything felt different. He looked at his hands in amazement; they were glowing dimly with a soft luminous light. He looked around; everything seemed a little blurry and dark, and the lights appeared dimmer than they actually were.
Regardless, he kept his excitement aside and looked at the astrologer on the table... and there was a problem.
Jace was supposed to see an oval shape of light or something in the astrologer's body, as the oval light represented the astrologer's dream, but there was nothing.
Meaning, while the man was sleeping, he wasn't dreaming about anything.
But that wasn't a problem. Jace used another ability of the glove, 'Dream Invasion'. This power allowed the user to intentionally pull the person before him into a dream, and that is exactly what happened.
Soon, his body moved towards the astrologer as his vision and sensations dulled and turned dark, as if going to sleep... but the next moment he opened his eyes, everything was different.
Now he sat in a bar. It was the Bravehearts Bar, to be precise. Jace was in 'Jake's' appearance. He looked around; for a dream, it looked quite real.
It was evening, and there were sounds of people whispering and talking around on tables while the bartender was serving another person a drink.
By now it was obvious that, since it was Jace who created this dream, it was also him who chose the place.
Jace, meanwhile, looked beside him.
There sat the blonde young man with a young with blue eyes and naive-looking face.
He sat there with a drink in his hand that seemed like whiskey, and he swirled the glass as he stared at it absentmindedly.