Dreamworms Book 1: The Advent of Dreamtech by Isaac Petrov (drm ebook reader TXT) 📕

Very good. Now,” she raises both arms at once. “Do stoke it up.”

Ximena leans back and gasps anew at the ravaging force of the emotion. It is like a fire burning her alive from the inside out. She wants to hurt Rew. She craves to tear the fucking mare to pieces. Edda’s expression is distorted in an ugly grimace of murderous hatred.

“Let it burn deeper and wider,” Rew says. “Let it fill your body and hold it there. Very good. Do embrace it until you feel like only hatred flows through your veins. Very good. That shall suffice.”

Rew gestures at Edda’s head, and the hate vanishes in a beat, leaving only exhaustion in its wake. Ximena’s body jerks forward as if suddenly released from an unknown force. What a ride, she thinks.

“What was that?” Edda asks.

“In order to dive from the wake, you shall cleanse your mind of emotions, Redeemed van Dolah.”

“I know. Elder Qoh repeated that like a parrot.”

“Alas, fear is a primitive emotion, Redeemed van Dolah. Ruled by animal instinct, not by reason. Once inside of you, it lingers like a parasite. You shall not get rid of it, not directly, no matter your mental discipline. Fear is shy at first, as it slowly creeps out of your amygdala. But it gets more daring with time as it grows, until it inevitably overwhelms your brain, and thus, your destiny.”

“Oookay, got it. Fear equals bad.”

“Anger, on the other hand—and its younger variant hatred—are a marvel of evolution. Both, together with your other high-order emotions, are the pillars of your sentience, and thus can be tamed by a strong will.”

Edda frowns. “I’m not sure I follow…”

“The human brain is mechanically simple, unable to cope with the nuisances of too many emotions at once. Thus, a potent emotion must necessarily drown a weaker one. Your fear is subdued now, is it not, Redeemed van Dolah?”

Edda’s eyes widen. “Oh, you’re right. My… anxiety is gone! I got so steamed up, that… wow!”

“Your emotions are too erratic for an apprentice of the first step—that is your weakness. But you do possess an even more formidable strength: your power of will. You must learn to use your will to supplant insidious, primitive emotions like fear with high-order emotions—like hatred.”

“Or love?”

“If you are so inclined. And yet those higher emotions are equally harmful—they must be cleansed out of your mind to pierce the wake barrier.”

“So then, what’s the point?”

“Unlike primitive emotions, high emotions can be tamed by a strong will. Thus, you must use your will anew, to dissolve any lingering emotion into nothingness. So shall you cleanse your mind, and ready it to Walk the first step of the Path of Light.”

“Right,” Edda says, her anxiety creeping back into her guts. Goahdammit. “Isn’t that asking a lot from my, uh, will thing?”

“Your will is disciplined, Redeemed van Dolah. And relentless. Do lie down on your sarc and shut your eyes.”

Edda nods slowly. Willpower, she is thinking. Can I do it?

She lies on the bed, faceup, letting her body embrace its familiar comforts. She draws a few deep breaths to relax her body and mind, like Qoh taught her what feels like weeks ago, and shuts her eyes.

And as she does so, the room disappears from the auditorium, and a spotty blackness takes its place. Ximena and her peers are watching what Edda is watching behind her lids: the darkness of night, and the onset of sleep.

“I sense fear in you, Redeemed van Dolah.” Rew’s voice comes through as if it were whispered in Ximena’s own ears. “Do rid yourself of it.”

“Easier said than done,” Edda’s voice says. The blackness becomes more grainy, like an old TV plagued with interference.

“I shall not assist you this time. Do as I say, and succeed.”

“I’ll try, yeah? But what if—?”

“If you are incapable of controlling your mind, Redeemed van Dolah, then I have misjudged your capabilities, and shall give my time to other more promising apprentices.”

Ximena feels Edda’s anxiety spiking. “At least give me a few days to practice whatever you teach me.”

“Your extensive training with Walker Qoh should suffice. Now you shall impose your will, or fail.”

“Pure sin!” A nervous crawl twirls in her stomach and up her chest. “No pressure there. Not helping.”

“I shall assist. Once. Do signal your readiness.”

Edda draws another deep breath. Ximena feels her mental effort to bring her nerves under control. Okay, that’s better, Ximena thinks. Marginally better. “Bring it on, Elder Rew.”

“Very well. Do picture with your mind a white square.”

“Oh, the purification technique!" Mark whispers to Ximena, eyes beaming. He seems to be enjoying himself. Perhaps Ximena is more sensitive than him to the psych-link, or more empathic to Edda’s distress. Or, more likely, Mark is just a dreamtech geek about to have a nerdgasm.

“A white square. All right…” Edda says.

The blackness thickens across the amphitheater, and a square appears floating over the stage. It is indeed white, but noisy—spots come and go, and the edges wave in amorphous chaos, as they usually do in daydreams.

“Very good. Do keep the square fixed in place, as you focus your will on ridding yourself of your fear, Redeemed van Dolah. Do fill your mind with a high order emotion.”

Hatred, Ximena hears Edda’s thoughts through the psych-link, or love.

Flashes of images begin to project on the whitish square in quick succession, like a film on a canvas. It’s people—mostly Hans as a baby, and also Willem, Anika and yes, even Bram. Aline also features often; shared moments of happiness—and sadness. A balmy warmth extends up her trunk and along her limbs, filling her up, pressing against her skin from inside. She feels like love streams out of her pores.

“Very good. A sharp will, indeed. Now do cleanse the square of impurities.”

Ximena feels Edda’s mental exertion as she puts her mind into cleaning the white surface. But no matter how hard she tries, impurities of thought keep tainting it like black rain on a snowy field.

“No, Redeemed van Dolah. No will in the universe