Renevere Mars: Part One

Episode 5: The Wakeful Dream

Ren could only make out the silhouette of the choppy haired man above her before his hand forced her head back under the water again. She was laying back, nape of her neck smashed against the edge of a water basin, body bound and unmovable. As her head sunk under the water, strong fingers clasping her throat, she had to fight the overwhelming urge to flail, to gasp in gulps of water. She fought against the hand, though she knew it would do no good. Beyond the water surface was the rippling shadow figure. He had a sharp jawline and shoulders wide with muscle. She could not resist against him, he was far stronger than she. His outline started to blur and her body started to drain away from her, like she was becoming nothing more than the water that filled her nose and throat. Just before she was gone, the grip on her throat loosened, only just enough for her to rise up again out of the water an inch. His single eye glinting grey in the sharpness of the surface air. She gasped in oxygen, an action measurably more painful than drowning. It bubbled and chugged down her throat, mixing with the water that regurgitated from her airways like vomit, acrid and stinging. She choked only long enough to get a single breath of air before she felt his fingers tighten down again.

Once more she was pushed under. But she wasn't really. She wasn't really in this place, she wasn't really being drowned. She knew that. She'd done this before, been here before, hadn't she? And she knew this man, trusted him even... This reality was woven, and all she had to do was pluck away at the threads...

She opened her eyes, revealing the ceiling of a small, dimly lit room. She was laying on the cold stone floor, and her head hurt. As she squinted, a figure moved into view standing above her. Duren gazed down at her through his one, near colorless eye. She tried to lean forward but her head pounded and she winced. A smile flicked across Duren's face, though she didn't know quite why.

"Remember when I said you might regret asking me to train you?" he said.

She smirked, remembering well. He smiled more fully in response and held out a hand. She took it firmly, pulling herself from the floor, though her headache had not receded.

"I fell off the chair?" she asked, looking at the place where she'd been sitting when Duren had placed her under the Wakeful Dream Cha.

"Yeah, interesting... I think you pulled yourself out halfway. Hit your head pretty hard." He leaned forward onto his toes a bit to see the top of her head more easily, though it was hardly necessary. He was considerably taller than Ren already.

"It's fine," she said, touching the spot where a lump was forming.

"You've improved. Your time is impressive now. You're ready for the next step."

"Yeah, I think I am," she said with a determined glint in her eye. It she'd started her training with Duren, and in that time they had focused on honing the skill she already had; her ability to break paraphysical cha. But in order to be a successful warrior, she would need more than to escape them, she would need to learn to cast them. That was the next step of which Duren spoke, and it was about time too. At first, they only met to train individually once or twice a week, but for the past week they had met almost every day. She'd worked hard to perfect her ability to break through the forced reality. She'd been tested in many different scenarios, and finally she'd mastered it.

"You deserve a break, and so do I. Believe it or not, I can't just cast these all day," Duren said, moving to the door of the small room. It was more like a cellar than anything else, in the basement of the Academy. It was used for storage and was cluttered with boxes, but it had served its purpose as a quiet place that was never occupied. Ren followed Duren to the door and up the narrow set of stairs.