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

this plane,” she stops walking, and looks back at him, “you know where to find me if you change your mind. For you, Will, I’m always open for business.”

Twenty

A Mirage of the Mind

The dream forest rematerializes in perfect fidelity around an irritated-looking Edda. The same leafless birch trees surround her, slightly separated from the space where a magnificent white marble column stands alone. Even Rew is still there, staring at her with her blank eyes while standing in the same bramble bush as before, thorns be dammed.

“You can see now, Redeemed van Dolah, how much you still must Walk to reach the end of the Path of Light. You are far from ready to resist dream violence.”

“Violence…” She shakes her head and puts a hand over her chest, while shooting an indignant glare at Rew, “Goah’s Mercy, that hurt!”

“Piercing flesh, even dream flesh, does indeed signal due pain to the nervous system. And yet, you must learn how to stand firm against violence directed at you, and also how to use violence to impose your will over others.”

“You mean, I have to, what… fight?”

“Fight.” Rew seems to relish the word. “A generic, yet accurate denomination of the set of actions required to achieve mastery over violence.”

Edda blinks slowly, and then draws a heavy sigh as she shakes her head. Ximena feels her unhappiness. Physical violence, even in dreams, is so… uncivilized and dirty. Edda is not hesitant though, nor afraid. She will of course do whatever needs to be done—anything to reclaim the power to persuade. “All right,” she says. “I’m ready for the lesson.”

“Very good, Redeemed van Dolah. There are two principles, two core concepts of the Third Step that you must grasp deeply if you intend to impose your will over others.”

“I do.” Her eyes beam. “I really do.”

“Only a mind disciplined enough to master both concepts can hope to prevail in the conflict of wills. You do have a disciplined mind, Redeemed van Dolah.”

“Yes, I do.” She smiles expectantly.

“Now you shall apply your discipline to internalize the two truths of permascape violence until they are as ingrained in your being as breathing. Do focus on my words now, Redeemed van Dolah, and interiorize them.”

“Shoot, mensa!” Ximena can now feel through the psych-link what it means to be a teacher that has mastered not only the art of teaching to others but also the art of learning from others. Ximena can feel how Edda’s mind settles into a quiet state of hungry attention, ready for absorption; ready to feed.

“Truth number one, success in permascape violence is all about pain. A true master of violence maximizes both the capacity to inflict pain to others as well as the capacity to sustain pain from others.” As she speaks these words, Rew begins to float out of the bramble thorns and towards Edda.

Edda takes a small step back, but then shakes off the sliver of fear and raises her chin.

Rew stops right in front of Edda, and the alien head tilts down until her two white unmoving eyes meet Edda’s. “Do give pain, do take pain; and so shall you impose your will.”

“Sounds…” Edda swallows thick, dream saliva, “painful.”

“Indeed.” Rew slowly, almost tenderly, raises both arms and extends them towards Edda’s own arms. The appendages at the end of Rew’s hands wriggle eagerly towards Edda’s skin. Ximena almost recoils when contact is made. Those appendages are cold to the touch, and sticky. They close around Edda’s wrist with astonishing strength.

“Ouch!”

“Indeed.” Rew begins to stretch Edda’s arms. Slowly. Edda tries to resist, but she feels a sudden wave of weakness, and must give in to Rew’s inexorable stretching.

Rew keeps pulling Edda’s arms apart, ever more, in the same slow motion, until her body forms a perfect cross.

Edda’s eyes widen, her breathing quickens. “Elder Rew, what are you—?!”

Rew continues pulling farther. Ximena jumps in her seat as she feels the sudden pain in her own joints.

“Stop, stop,” Edda says, eyes widening, breath quickening. “Stop!”

“I shall not, Redeemed van Dolah. I shall rip your limbs apart. And you shall take the pain without piercing the wake.”

“What?!” She cries out in agony. “Stop, stop! Please!”

The screams go on as the psych-link’s pain filter kicks blissfully in. Oof, thank Goah! Ximena keeps feeling Edda’s pain inside her own shoulders, but now just as a subdued, warm pressure. Mock pain. The real pain must be… hard to bear, to put it mildly. And indeed, growing waves of wakening ripple across the dreamscape, ever deeper, ever wider.

“Do not fear, Redeemed van Dolah. Until you do learn the discipline of pain, I shall stabilize the dreamscape for you.” The waves begin to subdue with Rew’s words, until it quietens to a subtle turbulence, never quite going away. “Now you shall not pierce the wake,” Rew says. “I shall not allow any undue interruption to your mastering of pain. You are welcome.”

Edda keeps screaming and begins cursing. Ximena blushes at the words. It seems civility is one of the first victims of agony. Mark and others are laughing loudly at Edda’s colorful expressions. It is a strange, unsettling sound combination: laughs of amusement and cries of torment. Ximena feels sick to her stomach.

“Do ground yourself in the pain, Redeemed van Dolah,” Rew says. “Do embrace it and follow it to its true source. Do feel how your dream body slowly tears; do listen to it, accept it into you.”

Edda’s screaming continues unabatedly, her body twirling from both arms stretched beyond their natural span. Ximena doubts she can even hear Rew’s instructions over the excruciating agony. Edda’s thoughts swirl like her mind is short circuiting, like she is going mad.

“Something is not right, Redeemed van Dolah. Your heartbeat has quickened beyond the healthy in a human. Do absorb your pain into your mind, away from your body, before it does break.”

Edda’s cries are guttural, primitive; spit and snot mix down her chin; her eyes wander without seeing. Ximena hears inside her the slow rip of tissue