Chapter 130: Abide by the rules
Daubutim stared at the gray cloud that spread out to cover the entire ceiling. As it began lowering, his fear vanished as his training took over. He prepared his cards, getting ready to defend himself. He absently hoped that the cloaked and hooded guard Gelwin had sent him would be nearby.
'If you make any wrong move, little bastard, I'll crush your mind and get what I need the hard way,' Uxin'tar hissed, the horrid voice echoing along the edges of his mind.
The pressure increased, and Daubutim felt his consciousness compressed further. Slowly he lost his hold on his cards and finally couldn't hold back a strangled gasp. All he could do was struggle to keep his consciousness from dissipating.
'This odd protection you have somehow gotten won't save you from me!' Uxin'tar hissed, the words echoing dully in Daubutim's mind.
As the pressure increased, he struggled, focusing all of himself inward. The world had turned a dark gray, and he barely felt his back against the bed. Instead, the dullness seemed like a blanket around him, threatening to drown him out. Whatever Uxin'tar was doing was agitating it, causing it to spread and thicken beyond anything he had ever experienced.
Slowly, Daubutim felt the tiny seed of fear that he'd always carried, that he might one day remain in his dulled state, unable to ever return to full consciousness.
He screamed in the confines of his mind, trying to pull even further inward and away from the dullness. It felt like he was both compressed together into the smallest point he could and, at the same time, pushed against a wall.
'How can you do this! You only have a few pathetic cards, none of which should grant you a mental barrier! No! This is impossible! A trick! I will know where Gelwin is, and you will tell me!'
Uxin'tar began screaming in his mind, an insane hatred waving along with it.
Daubutim felt like he was shoved into the center of his mind, surrounded by a gray cloud of roiling nothingness that threatened to swallow him while at the same time holding back Uxin'tar.
Feeling the pressure against the clouds, he was stunned when vague images began forming around him. Unable to understand what he was seeing, he watched how a young man moved through a tower, which he instantly recognized. It was a sorcerer's tower, and although he'd never been to this one, he knew it was the most important one. It was the tower where a handful of the most powerful sorcerers had been living. The young man stood before a hallway with a door at the end. As the image became clearer, Daubutim saw the thick carpet of dust.
A dull droning, almost like a voice, hummed around him, but he couldn't make out any of the words. The young man scowled. Although it lasted for only moments, Daubutim could sense that, in reality, hours passed as the young man stood there, glaring at the door. Finally, he clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and turned away.