image [https://i.imgur.com/ayyNjwG.jpeg]

It was just after Arkhe had finished talking that everything went white again. I was just about back on my feet, too. Lucky for him too, because I was about to give him an earful.

When things cleared again, I was lying in bed, same as before. I didn’t even try to chalk it all up to a bad dream, though. It was too strange for that. It was far too real.

Adding to the reality of the situation was this wild pain in my left hand. When I looked down to check it, I noticed a faint red glow emanating from the underside of my palm. It was the stone. It was now inside my hand, illuminating my skin and shining in the darkness.

Despite the throb in my hand, I had to keep myself quiet. I didn’t want to wake our most capable guards, after all. It was tough, too, because after going through an experience like that, all you want to do is scream, shout, or, at the very least, talk to somebody.

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Later on, I found out that Mr. Underbrook and Renna were going through much the same thing as I was. One significant difference though was that Renna, upon reawakening in the comfort of her cell, found herself in the possession of something that had not been there when she had gone to bed. She held in her hand a large, rusty key. Other than having materialised from seemingly nowhere, the key was apparently quite unremarkable. But there it was, in the palm of her hands.

That was the first time Renna used her abilities. Well, it was the first time for any of us. Renna’s gift was that of conjuration—the ability to bring forth something from nothing, to envision anything she could in the mind’s eye and give it reality. Naturally, such a skill would take her years to master. This, however, was the start of a new chapter, for her and for all of us. It was an awakening.

Bewildered as she was, Renna did have enough sense in her to try what I imagine most in her position would do. She used the key on her cell door. Lo and behold, it was a perfect fit. Renna had successfully pulled the exact key she needed straight outta thin air. A miracle; a true work of the divine.

The mover, the Archivist, the Navigator and the Dreamer. Those were the titles Arkhe had bestowed on us. It didn’t take long to work out which one of us was the Dreamer, though.