Morena did not stop practicing.
Stopping was not an option. Fear could make soone cautious, it could even make soone clever, but if she let it slow her down too much, then all it would really do was leave her weaker than the others around her.
So she adjusted instead.
From that night onward, she cut off any ditation that went too late into the evening. She grew more cautious to avoid finding trouble; no longer trying to sense beyond herself in the later hours of the day, and absolutely not going outside.
If sothing beneath the Tower reacted more strongly at night, then she would not give it that chance again. At least not until she understood what it was.
The dreams faded shortly after that.
Not entirely, but enough that she could sleep without waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweat. The feeling of being watched never fully disappeared, either, but it dulled until she could think around it.
More importantly, her Matrix continued to form.
Each ditation cycle, the shape took shape more clearly. The faint lines that made up its shape no longer trembled as much when she pulled in elental energy, and the flow around it had beco much smoother than before.
It was no longer just a loose structure; it was becoming real.
By the thirteenth day after Varra’s class, Morena could feel the change even outside of ditation. Her thoughts felt sharper, cleaner, and the pressure in her mind that once ca after each session had lessened greatly.
She was close.
Close enough that every ti she looked inward, she could tell the final step was near.
A few days later, Morena noticed that the tower was odd, not the tower itself, but the people in it. As she walked down the third-floor corridor, she noticed sothing she would have usually ignored if not for her own recent experiences. Several apprentices looked tired.
Their faces were pale, their eyes seed distant, as if their minds were half elsewhere. One girl stood outside her room with a cup of water in hand and stared at the wall for several seconds before realizing what she was doing.
It could have been nothing.
But after what she experienced, she no longer believed in convenient coincidences.
She made her way toward the common lounge on her floor, the sa place where she had studied with the others before. She had no class just yet, but she wanted to see if this strange mood in the Tower went further than a few tired faces in the hall.
She found Ren there first.
The boy looked miserable.
His hair was a ss, his eyes were dark around the edges, and he was sitting with both elbows on the table as if his body was too tired to support itself properly.
Elara sat across from him, looking much better than he did, though not by much. Her hair was neat as always, but there was a faint stiffness to her expression that made Morena think she had not rested well either.
Liri sat beside her, and the mont Morena saw the girl’s face, her own expression shifted slightly.
Liri looked shaken, nothing noticeable, just slightly uneasy.
But sothing had clearly gotten to her.
As Morena approached, Ren looked up and gave a weak smile.
"Morning."
He sounded half-dead.
"You look terrible."
Ren let out a dry laugh.
"That bad?"
"Yes."
Elara sighed and rubbed at her temple.
"He kept waking up in the night. I could hear him moving around from down the hall. I thought he was going to co knocking on soone’s door and beg to sleep on the floor like a child."
Ren frowned.
"I was not going to do that."
"You looked close."
Morena shifted her attention to Liri.
The girl had not spoken yet, but she looked as if she wanted to.
"What happened?"
Liri hesitated, fingers tightening around the edge of her sleeve.
"I had a strange dream."
Ren blinked.
"You too?"
Morena’s eyes narrowed.
"You both did?"
Liri nodded slowly.
"It felt... weird. Like I was there, but not really there. I kept seeing stairs that went downward, and these stone walls, and there was sothing at the bottom, but I couldn’t see it properly."
Morena felt the faintest chill run up her spine.
"I didn’t see stairs. Or, no, maybe I did. I don’t know."
He rubbed at his face, frustrated.
"It was hard to rember when I woke up, but I know I saw so sort of hall, and I rember waking up feeling like sothing was... watching ."
Silence settled over the table.
Elara looked from one to the other, clearly trying not to let her nerves show. Morena’s thoughts were already spinning a tale of their own.
’Two of them.’
If it were just Liri, that could still be a coincidence. If it were just Ren, then perhaps it would an little. But both of them at once?
And not just any two apprentices. Ren had only recently begun to sense elental energy properly, and Liri was the most naturally gifted amongst their little group.
"When did it start?"
Liri looked at her.
"Last night."
Ren nodded.
"Sa."
Elara frowned more deeply.
"I didn’t dream of anything."
Morena glanced at her.
"Did you sleep well?"
Elara went quiet for a second before replying.
"No. I woke up twice, but I didn’t see anything. It just felt..."
She paused, as if annoyed that she could not explain herself properly.
"Unsettling."
Morena leaned back slightly in her chair, crossing her arms as she thought. At first, she thought maybe she was special, maybe it had to do with her specifically, but it was clearly not just her being affected.
That should have made her feel better, but it did the opposite. If sothing beneath the Tower was reaching out, and if it was no longer limited to just her, then that ant the situation had changed.
Or worsened.
Liri spoke again, voice quieter this ti.
"Do you think it ans sothing?"
Before Ren or Elara could answer, Morena did.
"Probably."
Ren looked at her, clearly hoping for reassurance and imdiately regretting asking when he did not get any.
"What kind of answer is that?"
"I don’t know what it ans yet, but I do know it is not normal. At least, nothing having to do with Wizards is."
Elara looked around the room, lowering her voice slightly.
"You’re saying sothing in the Tower is causing this?"
Morena t her eyes.
"I’m saying I don’t think it’s just in your heads. I had a similar dream as well, earlier."
Ren groaned softly and put his face in his hands.
"Great. Great. First, the execution, now haunted dreams. Wonderful place."
Elara gave him a sharp look.
"Would you stop whining? What if they hear you?"
Before he could complain back, the faint buzz from their badges sounded, signaling the start of the next free class.
Morena stood first.
"Co on."
They followed without much complaint, though their pace was slower than usual. The four of them joined the rest of the apprentices flowing through the halls, and as they made their way toward the classroom, Morena noticed that Ren and Liri were not the only ones affected.
Others looked the sa. Tired. Distracted. Uneasy.
By the ti they entered the room and took their seats, the atmosphere was wrong in a way that had nothing to do with the lecture itself.
Varra noticed it imdiately.
The mont she walked in and reached the front of the room, she stopped. Her eyes moved across the students slowly, reading the tension in their faces with one glance.
She did not begin the lesson at once. Instead, she asked a question.
"How many of you slept poorly?"
Roughly half the room raised their hands after a mont of hesitation.
Varra’s expression did not change.
"How many of you had dreams that did not feel like your own?"
The room went still.
Then, one by one, more than a dozen hands rose. Morena did not raise hers but instead simply watched Varra.
For the first ti since Morena had t the woman, Varra was very interesting; her magic, her power, her knowledge. All of it was new to Morena, and she wanted it, but she also feared her; after she killed the student, that fear only deepened.
Varra let the silence hang for a few seconds before speaking.
"Listen carefully. What I am about to say is not part of today’s lesson, but it is more important than anything I would have taught you."
"So of you are forming your Matrix. Others have only just begun stabilizing their structures and feeling elental energy. During this stage, the mind is more sensitive than usual. That is normal, because of this, your mind wanders very easily. Influenced by outside sources."
’So this is normal. She knows what the outside source is.’
A murmur almost rose from the room, but Varra’s gaze cut through it before it could beco sound.
"Do not try to investigate the feeling, and do not linger on it. Stop diating when you feel it, and do not pry deeply. This is a warning; it is not sothing apprentices like you should try ddling with."
It was less of an explanation and more of a warning; she knew what was influencing them in this delicate state they were in, but told them not to try to figure out what it was.
Others weren’t happy to hear this. After all, who would be happy with sothing ssing with your mind and then being told to leave it alone? Morena, on the other hand, didn’t particularly care; she had no plans to pry anyway.
"The Tower is old. Older than most of you understand. There are parts of it that are not your concern. If sothing stirs beneath your awareness, then ignore it and continue your training during proper hours."
Varra’s gaze passed through the room once more, and when it reached Morena, it paused. Then she continued as if nothing had happened.
"Those of you who are close to forming your Matrix are to exercise more caution than the rest. Sensitivity draws attention. That is all you need to understand for now."
For now, so there was more.
The rest of the class was spent on theory, but very few people were truly focused on it after that. Varra still taught, and everyone still took notes, but the room no longer had the sa rhythm as before.
When the others began to gather their things, Varra spoke once more.
"Morena. Stay."
Morena said nothing, simply remained seated until the room emptied and the door shut behind the last apprentice.
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