Cavina was exhausted, never had she ever tried so hard and yet still failed. What seemed like days of endless attempts in dreamland was just merely a couple of minutes in reality. And yet despite having spent so much time in dreamland the results never paid off. It had been a month since Cavina met Walder in her dream, ever since then she was trained rigorously every night. But her conjuring abilities were still a fraction of Walder's. Walder was crafting pyramids and skyscrapers while Cavina was still struggling to make a functioning chair.
Cavina was frustrated, she felt like she was being humiliated. Her gifted nature had led her to believe that all efforts would eventually be rewarded, not that she usually committed any. But when she did try she was guaranteed the fruit of success. Her experience as Walder's apprentice has completely shattered that mentality, a crippling and irking mark that coincided with her beliefs. Part of her wanted to quit and deny the fact that she could be bad at something, but an even bigger part inside her wanted to conquer it.
Cavina was confused, what was she doing wrong? To be fair, it was not completely her fault, Walder was not a great teacher to begin with. Whenever Cavina failed, all Walder would do is sigh and say "You're not putting your heart into it! Concentrate and think of the object." And when Cavina did that and that failed, Walder would start shaking his head and mutter under his breath. And Cavina would know by reading his lips that he was saying "She's completely hopeless."
Still, Walder continued to teach her and she endured the humiliation. She found herself going to bed early hoping to start practising on her own first before Walder arrived. Although this never helped her improve, she had the time to explore the land on her own again. It was the first time since she met Walder that she found herself enjoying dreamland again. It was like being a tourist in a foreign country, and that alone was already quite satisfying. Sometimes she would come across amazing scenery like a vertical grass field that reached the skies, or a beach that faced an endless waterfall. She would conjure herself a sheet (She still couldn't make a chair) and a chocolate-chip cookie (the only edible thing she learnt to conjure) and just sit there for hours, admiring the mystic landscape in front of her.
And then a thought came to her. For all this time she believed the expectations of the people around her was what stopped her from being Cavina. But having finally realising her thirst for success, she realised it might have been her inner need to prove herself.
For a moment, Cavina felt a sense of peace. "Maybe this is already enough. Maybe this is all I need."
Though she still practised with Walder, Cavina no longer found the urge to perfect the skill. Instead she found herself enjoying her solo expeditions more and more.
There was this one time when she was walking in a metropolis in Dreamland. There was a remarkable shopping mall that had slides connecting the top to the bottom. It peaked Cavina's interest and so she walked inside. But as she was walking there, she had a strange feeling that she was being watched. It was the unpleasant feeling she would get sometimes on the train from older men. Instinctively she quickly scouted her surroundings to see if anyone was stalking her, but no one was there.
Cavina arrived in the mall, it was more deserted than she expected. Vegetation was taking over the desolate mall and all the elevators stopped working. The shop windows were broken and the lights were flashing. Cavina didn't really care though, she only wanted to try the slide on the top. So she quickened her pace and walked up the elevators.
Eventually, she arrived. There was a door leading to the rooftop where the slides were. Cavina opened the door and saw the slides, she happily rushed towards one of them and was ready to experience a thrill. But before even going down the slide, the thrill came first.
There was a man standing on the edge of the building. He was gazing straight down.
Cavina felt an innate sense of fear hitting her. While fully aware she was in a dream, she had never seen anyone die in one. She knew nothing about the man in front of her, and had no reason to know anything more. His actions should not affect her in any way, yet just like a reflex her lips moved.
"Wait! You shouldn't!" Cavina shouted.
The man did not seem to hear her, his gaze was still dead and filled with dread. He took half a step forward and tipped his balance slightly towards the fall.
The man relaxed his body and allowed it to trip forward, he showed no sign of emotion whatsoever, as if he was just an object. The man embraced the fall.
And yet it did not come.
Cavina was nowhere near the man, but the unexpected event had triggered an uncanny spike in her conjuring abilities. In the nick of time she had summoned branches revolving around the man's legs, anchoring him to the roof.
The man turned his head and looked at her. He took a deep breath and smiled.
"You are a kind one, child." The man held up his hand and snapped his fingers, that was the last thing Cavina remembered before fainting.
When she woke up, the man was gone. The first thing she realised was that she was holding something in her palm. And when she opened her palm, she saw a pink glowing ring.
Training from that day on was easy, the ring she got made it much easier to create objects she was thinking about. Even Walder couldn't believe the transformation she was going through, when asked Cavina simply said she had broken through the wall that had held her back. Walder never asked further, but that also marked the end of their training.
"You are ready granddaughter, I have nothing else to teach you." Walder said one day.
"Are you sure? I still can't make giant castles like you."
"Your powers will grow naturally now that you've understood the fundamentals." Walder said, "for now, feel free to explore Dreamland on your own. Though from time to time I will require your assistance, so please do arrive when I call for you." With that Walder waved goodbye and went away.
It was not until a month ago that Walder returned, Walder told Cavina to meet him in Dreamapolis. When she arrived there, Walder told her that she was going to meet a boy.
"Cavina, I want you to be his mentor. Treat him well and assist him when he requires it."
"Can I ask you a question gramps?" Cavina asked.
"Please."
"Why did you decide to teach me to lucid-dream? Why teach this boy too?"
Walder chuckled. "Why, it is only natural for a man to want to share something so fascinating."
"So just out of altruism?"
"You may say that." Walder smiled and continued "Meet me here tomorrow and we will greet the boy in Dreamapolis." He turned his back against her and prepared to leave.
"One more thing," Walder said,
"Remember to bring your ring Cavina."
Ring!?
It took a split second for Cavina to react, but now it was obvious. Walder knew about the ring, and hence never asked her how she improved all of a sudden. She thought he wouldn't notice, but of course he did.
"I guess that's why he never praised me" She found it funny that it bothered her. Cavina told herself that it wouldn't matter whether or not she could master the art, for a while she convinced herself it did not matter as long as she was happy. Just like the time she joined the stand-up comedy contest, her parents told her the same thing when she came home crying. What others think of you doesn't matter, all that matters is that you stay happy. She took on the motto and stuck to it, but clearly it wasn't really true.
She did care what others thought of her. She did cry after realising Walder knew all along that she was relying on the ring. It might have been a stupid reason to cry, but she cried nonetheless.
The day finally came when Cavina met the boy. She felt an innate sense of excitement to finally meet this person, she imagined how this special boy chosen by Walder would share all her aspirations and interests and go on all sorts of adventures with her. She wanted this person to be her best friend. In fact, she needed this person to be her best friend, possibly more.
Cavina eventually encountered a lone boy walking in the streets of Dreamapolis, she could tell he was lucid dreaming based on how conscious his actions were unlike the soulless movements normal dreamers had. She wanted the boy to like her, and so she made herself as likeable as possible and prepared her charming attitude she would use on the first day of school.
"Hello!" Cavina said.
The boy squealed. Which was unexpected. Still, Cavina was certain it was just playacting. Surely this boy is not that timid.
And yet when he turned his head to face her, Cavina hesitated. The boy was ordinary looking, and by the way he was clearly not charismatic. But something about him just made her feel comfortable, something she had yet to experience.
Their first encounter went by smoothly, Walder sent Slinx back and proceeded to dismiss Cavina.
"Good job, but I believe you can do better." Walder said.
Cavina asked Walder, "What exactly do you mean?"
"You have not used the ring to its full potential. More precisely, you do have the potential to unlock the full powers of the ring by yourself." Walder said.
Walder turned to the bridge focusing sharply on it, the bridge started to deconstruct into bricks and mortar, the materials swarmed around to form a giant tornado which was sucking in more and more of its surroundings into itself. Horrified, Cavina subconsciously covered her ears and crouched. Cavina begged Walder to stop, but he was not done.
At this moment, Cavina saw an expression she had never saw Walder make, a genuine face of joy and excitement.
"All shall obey me!!" Walder laughed maniacally.
It wasn't until three whole minutes later that the fiasco ended. By this point Cavina made sure to keep her distance from Walder, but Walder insisted that he only did it as demonstration.
"If you really want to use your powers to help others, you need to be prepared to face stronger opponents who don't want to do that." Walder took a step forward, but Cavina instantly took one back. Walder sighed, "Cavina, If I wanted to I would have hurt you much earlier, my job here is to show you the grim reality and prepare you for it. Give me your ring and I will help you enhance it further."
"I trust that you are wise enough to hand it over yourself." Walder held out his hand.
Cavina knew she had no choice, but she was not going to do as she was told either.
"Of course." Cavina stood up, " But I think it's best I do this once Slinx is used to Dreamland. I want to use the ring to briefly demonstrate its powers to him first."
Walder took a minute to think before responding, but eventually he agreed. "Then it is settled, once young Slinx is capable of performing the basic skills of conjuring. You both shall hand in your rings to me so that they can be further enhanced."
"Understood."
Walder left, and Cavina waved goodbye. After ensuring he was gone, Cavina took off her ring. She pulled another ring out from her pocket, a near identical replica.
Walder was hiding something from her, he had secrets he did not want revealed. Cavina could no longer trust him.
"For once, I thought I didn't have to hide." She thought.
"Even in my dreams, I must bear secrets."