08-18-2014, 12:30 AM
Even if he had looked back, he'd never have seen anything. All was black. The ground beneath him was no longer ground, he felt nothing. He was awash in utter sensory deprivation, senseless, but wasting no time on those worldly concerns. He began counting, if only to keep his mind occupied, while he considered the woman he'd just met. She had a name - likely that meant she was a Dreamwalker like himself.
Mina.
The name was familiar - in that vague, was she that friend of Kasumi I met at Manifesto last week kind of way. Her face, too, seemed to be one he'd seen before, but never up close. She was an artist, in the Dream, perhaps she was in the waking world as well. Had he seen some news story about her? A clip on Huff Post? He knew his own outlets had never run a story on her - at least none his EIC's had run past him first.
By the count of fifteen, Takeo felt his feet touch down. The darkness parted like a thick fog, revealing a small but austere sitting room. Two chairs angled slightly toward one another, but also facing him. Elzbeth sat in the left, eyes boring holes through his own, with a large goblet in one hand. Her left leg uncrossed itself from the right beneath her dress, and she motioned to the seat opposite her.
Takeo took a moment tilt his head and look down the length of his back. He wore a simple shirt, black as usual, and his normal flexible black pants. He was shoeless, weaponless, and showed no signs of the painful tumble through the ravaged gallery of twenty seconds prior.
He moved to his assigned chair and sat without rebuke, calmly calculating the amount of time his body must have been asleep. It was almost impossible - the rules here did not work the same as on Earth - but he thought he'd been Walking for maybe an hour. Elzbeth broke his focus, "Tell me what you learned."
"Yes, Sensei."
Takeo's brow drew down, in consideration more than frustration - though he felt both. It had been an odd experience, though no more odd than many he'd had in this place. "I met a young ... artist, Mina Veleros--"
"Valerius,"
Elzbeth corrected.
"Valerius,"
Takeo agreed. "I introduced myself. She showed me a drawing of facial implants. She called them Godsworn."
He paused to examine Elza's reaction. She had none, other than to take a slow drink from the goblet - she often behaved as though she lived in the Dream. As though that drink offered her any refreshment, any nourishment. And, for all Takeo knew, it did.
"That is all I remember. The dream became a nightma--"
he stopped, a sudden revelation. "She's not a Walker."
Elzbeth subtly shook her head in affirmation. "That was her dream. Just a normal dream."
Elza nodded. "You pushed me into her dream."
His jaw slowly set. "Her nightmare."
Takeo was furious, though he'd never show it to Elza. She'd warned him about entering others dreams, and especially their nightmares. He could've been killed! Not just here, but on Earth - for good!
"You needed to experience it once."
It was her only explanation. No apology, no sympathy. Yet, as usual, her stoic indifference was somehow a comfort to him. She was immoveable, and he envied her for it. "You could not change her dream, could you?"
Takeo thought a moment, letting his anger cool. "No."
It was hard to believe, but it was true. He'd had no control, and that innocently dreaming girl had shoved him out of harm's way. Even against Elza, he was able to exert some sort of resistance. Something. But in there, he may as well have been paralyzed.
From nowhere in particular, a mirror suddenly stood before them. Takeo looked at Elza's reflection through it, but her face was quickly replaced by that ominous field of stars in an even more immense expanse of blackness. Dreams. Normal, deadly dreams.
"Find her."
Edited by Takeo, Aug 18 2014, 12:31 AM.
Mina.
The name was familiar - in that vague, was she that friend of Kasumi I met at Manifesto last week kind of way. Her face, too, seemed to be one he'd seen before, but never up close. She was an artist, in the Dream, perhaps she was in the waking world as well. Had he seen some news story about her? A clip on Huff Post? He knew his own outlets had never run a story on her - at least none his EIC's had run past him first.
By the count of fifteen, Takeo felt his feet touch down. The darkness parted like a thick fog, revealing a small but austere sitting room. Two chairs angled slightly toward one another, but also facing him. Elzbeth sat in the left, eyes boring holes through his own, with a large goblet in one hand. Her left leg uncrossed itself from the right beneath her dress, and she motioned to the seat opposite her.
Takeo took a moment tilt his head and look down the length of his back. He wore a simple shirt, black as usual, and his normal flexible black pants. He was shoeless, weaponless, and showed no signs of the painful tumble through the ravaged gallery of twenty seconds prior.
He moved to his assigned chair and sat without rebuke, calmly calculating the amount of time his body must have been asleep. It was almost impossible - the rules here did not work the same as on Earth - but he thought he'd been Walking for maybe an hour. Elzbeth broke his focus, "Tell me what you learned."
"Yes, Sensei."
Takeo's brow drew down, in consideration more than frustration - though he felt both. It had been an odd experience, though no more odd than many he'd had in this place. "I met a young ... artist, Mina Veleros--"
"Valerius,"
Elzbeth corrected.
"Valerius,"
Takeo agreed. "I introduced myself. She showed me a drawing of facial implants. She called them Godsworn."
He paused to examine Elza's reaction. She had none, other than to take a slow drink from the goblet - she often behaved as though she lived in the Dream. As though that drink offered her any refreshment, any nourishment. And, for all Takeo knew, it did.
"That is all I remember. The dream became a nightma--"
he stopped, a sudden revelation. "She's not a Walker."
Elzbeth subtly shook her head in affirmation. "That was her dream. Just a normal dream."
Elza nodded. "You pushed me into her dream."
His jaw slowly set. "Her nightmare."
Takeo was furious, though he'd never show it to Elza. She'd warned him about entering others dreams, and especially their nightmares. He could've been killed! Not just here, but on Earth - for good!
"You needed to experience it once."
It was her only explanation. No apology, no sympathy. Yet, as usual, her stoic indifference was somehow a comfort to him. She was immoveable, and he envied her for it. "You could not change her dream, could you?"
Takeo thought a moment, letting his anger cool. "No."
It was hard to believe, but it was true. He'd had no control, and that innocently dreaming girl had shoved him out of harm's way. Even against Elza, he was able to exert some sort of resistance. Something. But in there, he may as well have been paralyzed.
From nowhere in particular, a mirror suddenly stood before them. Takeo looked at Elza's reflection through it, but her face was quickly replaced by that ominous field of stars in an even more immense expanse of blackness. Dreams. Normal, deadly dreams.
"Find her."
Edited by Takeo, Aug 18 2014, 12:31 AM.