"Don't go" Lay muttered as he hugged Sera. 

Lay hit his head multiple times on the pillow. What in the world had he been up to last night? What would Sera think now? He had already made things awkward that day in Ghenjei and then he went ahead and practically trapped her last night. She would definitely think he was a ert now. He was such an idiot.

"That you are" Kris agreed, sitting on his right and applying his favourite moisturiser. "Duizzhang?" Lay asked surprised. "You, Zhang Yixing, are a particular kind of an idiot" Kris said, nonchalantly. "What were you trying to do with that woman from the club last night?" Kris asked. "I wasn't doing anything!" Lay said defensively. "Sure you weren't" Kris said sarcastically. "I wasn't trying anything I swear!" Lay protested.

Kris just gave Lay a look. Lay drew himself up indignantly. "Was she the girl you like?" he asked, his tone changing from reprimanding to curiosity. "Sera? Not really, we're just friends" Lay shrugged. If she didn't want to murder him in his dreams that is... "Friends with " Kris noted. "No" Lay said pointedly. "Just friends. There's no chance of that happening. Like ever" Lay told Kris. "But you want it to happen right?" Kris asked. "Eww... no!" Lay protested. He tried to get the thought out of his head. He slammed is head into the pillow again, trying to get it out before he went into the world of dreams.

"I am scarred for life. Thanks a lot duizzhang!" he said sarcastically. "Hey, the fact you are imagining it means you want it to happen!" Kris said. "Eww... no! I'm going to sleep" Lay protested. "Sure. Dream about your lady love" Kris said, teasing Lay. Lay immediately scowled and directly Dreamed, not waiting for Kris to reply. It was dangerous, but Lay didn't care.

-x-x-x-x-

When he materialized in the world of dreams, he was lying down. He could hear water and he guessed he must have come to Marin again instead of Ghenjei. At least he could still dream.

He got up and walked towards the riverside. He had actually missed this place. He ran his hands through the water and all of a sudden something shot up. A figure appeared in front of Lay and he stumbled back while trying to get away. Lay checked his thought process. He was definitely not causing this. So what had sent the figure here?

It was a ten foot tall winged figure. It appeared to be made from water but the way the light angled, you could tell it was made of pure crystal. He wouldn't be surprised if it was powerful too.

"You are cordially invited to the Dance Of Spring ball organized by Sir and Lady Rodriguez at the Charity Mansion in Alamoth Greens. To be held on the second new moon of Jashamir. A black tie event. A favour of a reply is requested before the first full moon of Jashamir" the figure read. Lay stared as the card then floated down to his hands and the figure disappeared down into the water with a splash.

Lay read the fancy invitation card. There was no way, this was his doing. He sat down again and continued reading the card. It was definitely fancy with silver work running along the edges. Whoever had sent it must have put a lot of effort into making the card. Lay wondered if Sera would let him attend. She had never talked about meeting other dreamwalkers. She had only told him that they exist and left it at that.

Lay suddenly wished that Sera was here. And on cue she appeared. She had a frown on her face and Lay wondered if it was because he had come to Marin and not Ghenjei like she had expected him too. 

"Was someone here?" she asked Lay directly. "Hi to you too" Lay said sarcastically. Sera raised an eyebrow. "Well, something appeared out of the water and handed me this card" he told her. Clearly she wasn't in a good mood tonight. All of a sudden, her expression changed. "The ball is early this year" she commented offhandedly, frowning again. Lay wondered if her frown had become a permanent feature of her face, but he didn't dare express it.

"Early?" Lay asked her. Sera nodded. "Remember how I told you that there are other dreamwalkers in this world? Well Sir and Lady Rodriguez are one of them. They hold the Dance Of Spring Ball every year. Every dreamwalker they can reach is invited. Usually most of them attend" Sera explained. "Did you attend it as well?" Lay asked her. "I used to. Not anymore since last year" she told him. Lay nodded in understanding and then bit his lip. Sera understood his actions. "You want to attend the ball" she stated plainly. It wasn't even a question. Lay nodded in response. Sera shook her head.

"Only if you agree to some conditions" she relented. "What conditions?" Lay asked her. "Well first things first, you need to change your appearance and second we can't Shift directly to the location of the ball" she told him. "More importantly, you can't talk with anyone there except to make polite conversation. Not every dreamwalker is as friendly as I am and you don't want to end up on their wrong side" she explained. Lay nodded. "Good" Sera said.

Sera stepped close to him with her hand raised and Lay stepped back warily. She was not going to hit him was she? Sera shook her head. "We don't have much time Lay. The ball is tonight and if you really do want to attend you will have to let me change your appearance first" Sera told him. "It's tonight?" Lay asked surprised. "Tonight is the night of the second moon of Jashamir in the Alamoth Greens. The ball is definitely tonight" Sera told him. "But... but, we're not ready! What will we wear? How will we get there?" Lay asked her. "Are you forgetting where you are right now?" Sera asked him. Lay was about to say something but then realization hit him. "Right..." he said sheepishly.

"Take this as your first lesson in illusions" Sera said as she started working. "First things first, I don't want your appearance to look extremely fake. So we go for subtle changes and then add onto it" she told him. She made a mirror appear and Lay stood in front of it so that he could watch himself. Sera started by changing his eye colour from brown to blue. Lay blinked, surprised. He actually looked very different with blue eyes. Then she changed his hair colour from dark brown to light hazel brown. She stepped back and frowned. Lay looked towards the mirror. He thought he looked good but obviously Sera didn't. She decided to change his hair colour to platinum blonde instead.

Lay had to look thrice to recognize himself. "That's better" she said to herself. "How did you...?" Lay asked incredulously. "I'll teach you the technicalities later" she said waving him off. "Now for your suit. It says black tie event, right?" she asked him. Lay nodded. She immediately changed his clothes to form a suit. Lay gasped as the suit fitted him perfectly at the first try. Then Sera raised her hand to his forehead and he felt something switch off. He looked towards her curiously. "It's a way of preventing your imagination from affecting yor appearance. I am just shielding the outer appearance from the effect of your thoughts" she explained. Lay nodded. That would be a useful trick. This way he wouldn't have to worry about his disguise slipping off.

Sera nodded as she took one last look at him. She nodded, satisfied with the change. Then she worked on herself. She changed her appearance to ginger coloured hair and her eyes to emerald green. Instead of her t-shirt and jeans that she had appeared in, she was now wearing a black ball gown. It was a slender black gown that hugged her torso and then flared into a ruffled skirt with bows around the waistline.

Lay's jaw dropped as the transformation took place within a matter of seconds. He had to wonder how many times she had done it before to be this quick at it. She now stood before him in her outfit with even the makeup done. "Too much?" she asked him. Lay shook his head. "You look good in it" he said. "Thank you" she said with a smile, accepting his compliment. "You don't look bad yourself" she said. "Don't I always look good?" Lay asked with a grin. Sera raised an eyebrow and decided not to answer it.

"Since we aren't Shifting there directly, let's have some fun with it" she said, surprising Lay. He wondered what was wrong with her. Sera was acting strangely happy and even smiling and joking. "What car do you prefer?" she asked him. "None specifically" Lay said. He was not really the cars kind of guy. "Well, let's take my choice then" she said. Sera was definitely a cars girl, he decided, looking at the car that appeared.

"Do you want to drive or should I?" she asked holding up the keys.

-x-x-x-x-