Andie’s Dream swung its blade at her with the speed and force of a sideways guillotine – giving her only a second to respond. The first half of the second was lost to a still panic. The other half was lost to a not-so-still panic, to flailing around for something – anything – that could help her get out of the way. There was nothing of the sort to be found – at least, not within her reach. Dyllan’s shield could have stopped the blow, and maybe Andie could have blocked the brunt of it with her Courage… but right now both of her swords were a scarf, and Dyllan was still far below her.
All she could do was close her eyes, brace herself for impact, and wait.
And wait.
And wait, and wait, and… what was taking so long?
Hesitantly, Andie’s eyes started to open. First the right, then the left. Her posture began to relax. She was now in the outskirts of her mindscape, far away from the structures clustered at its center. If she drifted any farther out, she feared that she would be ejected from the place. When she looked back in the direction she’d come from, she saw a straight line of obliterated stations between her and her Dream – which was now far enough away that she had to squint to see it. Each of the train stations had been destroyed in the same, specific manner. Blown apart in a cone-ish, ring like shape, as though a giant lead baseball had been knocked through them at Mach death. She also couldn’t help but notice that the wreckage was smoldering with traces of a particular shade of brilliant orange flame.
Gears started to turn in Andie’s head, and dots began to connect. A crafty smile grew on her face as she reached out toward a basketball sized piece of rubble that floated next to her – likely having hitched a ride on Andie’s straight-line roller-coaster ride. She gave it just a gentle tap with the knuckles of two of her fingers. She only felt a light impact, even lighter than it should have been. Like two feathers brushing up against each other in a slight breeze. The sound was similarly light, a quiet puff like a gentle exhale.
The shock wave, however, in spite of what touch and sound told her it should have been, was truly mighty. The chunk of rubble was almost instantly reduced into a cloud of dust sprayed out across the sky.
A note from the author:
Andie should have known better than to doubt the powers of an awakened dreamwalker.