Ramarro the dreamer

  Suddenly Cole stood on a dark field of volcanic rock. Rivers of lava flowed on either side of him, the searing heat almost too much to bear. The tops of mountains exploded in the distance as lava fountained into a sky saturated with ash.

  “We need to talk, Cole,” Ramarro said.

  “This seems like a nice place,” Cole said.

  “I’m not in a pleasant mood,” Ramarro said. “We have all the time I need. You would be astonished by how long I can make a second last.”

  “And at the end of it you’ll die,” Cole said.

  “Debatable,” Ramarro said. “I can make you suffer.”

  Pyroclastic explosions erupted around Cole. Lava splashed dangerously close. As the dazzling glare faded and the blistering heat subsided, Cole found he was encased to the waist in warm, black stone.

  “I can torture you to death in a million ways, Cole,” Ramarro said. “Across a billion landscapes. How long before you break?”

  Cole sensed power radiating from Ramarro and realized the torivor was still trying to get free. He was buying himself time with this conversation.

  Once again, Cole reached for Ramarro with his mind and found the increasingly familiar location of the torivor’s nexus with little trouble. Penetrating the nexus first, then mangling with all his might, Cole fell out of the dream state. Volcanic rock gave way to the courtyard of the quaking, crumbling castle.

Chapter 33