Dusek sat, posture rigid, his eerily pale eyes unfocused as he concentrated on the task at hand. The air before him shifted momentarily, long streams of what appeared to be glowing smoke pulling faintly from his skin, curling forward in serpentine tendrils. Fingers of the glowing haze thickened, swirling into a slowly rotating vortex a few inches above the rough hewn surface of the table. The smoke whirled quicker as Dusek's pupils narrowed, going to pinpoints, his eyes though unfocused were nearly as brilliant as diamonds.<br/><br/>And then, the glowing curls of fog stuttered like a dying candle flame and dissipated as quickly as they had formed. Dusek shuddered out a breath and hunched, as if in pain. Attempting to make a psicrystal was taxing at best, and his continued failures were draining him. His usually pale skin was almost ghostly, damp with sweat. He stroked a shaky hand through his dark hair, a color somewhere between mouse brown and dark grey, trying to slick those beads of sweat away.<br/><br/>Standing after a moment, he had to admit he was getting closer to being able to shave that part of himself into physical form. As he stood, he heard a gentle whisper of something through his window, and then he sunk into darkness, vaguely aware of his legs buckling and a slight dizziness before he fell into unconsciousness.<br/><br/><div align="center"> * * * </div><br/>Dusek awoke in a cell, not moving right away. Instead, he simply took a moment to observe his surroundings, those crystal blue eyes flicking around his cell, the only part of his body that moved.  A good, long time passed by before he moved, making his way carefully to his feet. His  hand curled experimentally, elegant fingers swirling the air. He seemed to pull in on himself for a moment, gathering the power necessary to animate the lock on the door of his cell.