Dream Realm Clarifications

Dream Realm + Nightmares: 

The Dream Realm is mysterious and mostly unexplored. It is also dead. There is no life out there except for the Nightmare Creatures, corrupted ecosystems, and now humans. But it wasn't always dead. The explorers can tell that once, a long time ago, the Dream Realm was home to several primitive civilizations. There are a lot of ruins buried in its soil.

Dream Realm is much bigger than Earth, It is not consistent in terms of star geography. Different regions had different stars and constellations, as well as a different number of moons. While the sun seemed to be the same, its behavior was highly unpredictable.

The Nightmares are based on Dream Realm's history. They are replicas of past events, somehow reconstructed from the depths of time. There are four main differences between the Dream Realm and the Nightmares:

Nightmare seed:

Seed of Nightmare is a vile manifestation of the Spell that grew in the Dream Realm and eventually blossomed, opening a Nightmare gate to the real world for the Nightmare Creatures to enter. It is the thing that Awakened was supposed to seek out and destroy by challenging the Nightmare contained within.

One of the things that differentiated Seeds was their Category:1

• Category Two Seed would blossom into a Category Two Gate, and contains a Second Nightmare. If an Awakened challenged it and passed the trial, they would become a Master.
• If a Master challenged a Category Three Seed and survived the Third Nightmare, they would become a Saint.

Citadel:

Citadel is a human fortress in the Dream Realm built around a conquered Gateway.

Each Citadel was a settlement — some were small, some large enough to house thousands upon thousands of the Awakened. The population of the three Great Citadels was even higher, with hundreds of thousands of humans visiting them every day

Gateways:

A Gateway is a special portal that serves both as an anchor for Awakened entering the Dream Realm and as an exit point for those wishing to leave it. It is different from a Gate.

Once Sleepers reached a gateway, they would be able to escape back to reality and become Awakened. Their core would evolve, and receive a second Aspect Ability. After that, they would return to the Dream Realm each time they fall asleep.

Death Zones:

Death Zones were regions of the Dream Realm populated by Nightmare Creatures of the three highest ranks — Great, Cursed, and Unholy.