LSRO: Chapter 361 - Identification

Weeeeee chapters are just coming

And you get a chapter and you get a chapter

And I write a book

ostensibly

~~

Chapter 24

Identification

Initially, Adrito’s mind was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Debris floated throughout it like someone emptied too much of the trash into outer space. The closer she looked, she realized these were memory fragments. Three outside presences made themselves known to her. At the very edges of her mind vision, she could feel Milaro, Nishpa, and Eugea. They watched, wanting to see what she did, to figure out if they too had any inkling of this new affinity.

To help her if necessary.

The sensation of not being alone in anything difficult she had to undertake grounded her.

This whole experience felt like it came full circle for her. There was something here they needed to know.

Slowly, as she began to sort through the fragmented memories, pictures formed. She categorized and sorted things like childhood memories, schoolwork, time spent studying with friends, and falling in love. They’d all been affected, torn apart by a force that pressured specific thoughts and recollections into Adrito’s mind.

It became clear the longer she stayed in there that it hadn’t been a puppet king on a throne. They had turned him into a puppet king against his will. Pain shot through his mind, sadness at what he’d become. If his mind could have cried, this would have been it. Quinn felt for him, wanted to help him, and that was why she was here.

You’re safe. She sent not only the thought out into his mind, but the sensation. A soothing feeling of coming home, of being sheltered, of being loved. Quinn didn’t know what had happened to the family she saw in the fragments of memories, but she didn’t think it could be anything good. Not given the damage to him, and the wreck he left behind while his strings were pulled.

She repeated her message several times and, slowly but surely, the surrounding colors changed from off greens and blues to warmer hues. A sensation of hope rippled through his mind, and he wondered if this was real, if he could truly find a way out of the hell he had been dropped into. Quinn pushed the sensation of safety at him again, lending it an underlying element of hope.

The colors rippled, turning another warmer shade, more definitive, stronger.

Adrito’s will flexed, almost dislodging her for a second. She suppressed a chuckle. She should avoid laughing in someone’s mind after they’d practically been possessed by someone else’s thoughts.

Escape was the next thought she sent to him. Gently at first. Escape and You’re safe, blending them together, hoping, pushing it gently. A spark of recognition surfaced. Not of Quinn personally, but of the concepts. And that’s when she felt it.

This foreign, strange presence, attempting to return the pressure.

Quinn frowned. She knew there was no one else in there with them, and this sensation didn’t come from any of her companions either. No, this was what they’d left in his mind to tie him to them. If she could fix this, if she could help him, maybe they could help many of the Esposians for whom treatment had been unsuccessful.

For several seconds she centered herself and breathed, sending out careful feelers to see just where that pulse emanated from. It was tricky to find, hidden away behind tragic memories. Some memories concerned the golem battle with Quinn and her team, while many others concerned the Esposian people’s plight as more and more ill members were brought to the capital. The sensation clung there like a fog and gave off the fetid stench of a swamp. If she hadn’t been ready for something to feel wrong, it would have blindsided her. 

Quinn frowned and watched the pulsing cluster of tendrils once she found it. The threads reached around, tying themselves to multiple distinct memories. He’d been under this far longer than Eugea. And he’d been fighting it less. The strands looked ingrained, and she wasn’t sure she could remove them.

She continued to send out pulses of escape, hope, and safety to his mind, soothing it where she could, encouraging the will to break free, to take his life back. 

This had been much easier with Eugea, who’d only had a short time to be under this destructive influence. And it had been much easier when instinct drove her to do something she didn’t understand.

Quinn took a deep breath and began gently picking at the seams. Where the tendrils met memories, she had to pry them away. Almost like a stitch picker used for sewing. But in this case, precision was everything. A nick to something other than the offending foreign substance could cause permanent damage. Even though she wasn’t sure how she knew that, Quinn knew it to be true.

No pressure or anything.

The whole time she sent reassurance into his brain, encouragement, and a lifeline. Picking at the strands felt hypnotic, delicate, almost like a dance. After she’d taken care of several of them, it was like they knew she was removing them, destroying them. And with each one she removed, Adrito’s presence became stronger, relief flooded it, and strength began to return. The wave of hope and desperation from him leaked through. 

That’s what she’d needed. If he was willing to fight it tooth and nail, they’d come through this in the end. Renewed vigor spun through her, and Quinn attacked each of the tendrils with precision born of determination. She would not let this Esposian die, not after everything that’d been done to his mind.

Not if she could help him.

And she could.

Slowly, his will matched her own, his drive, and his own sense of revenge. Quinn could use revenge, and she put fire behind it, encouraging him to get through this, to cast it all out for the sake of making the culprit pay. Once the last embedded tendril came free, Adrito’s own sense of desperation blew the rest of it off, and Quinn and the others were almost gently cast out of his mind.

Quinn blinked again in the bright light as it invaded her vision. Freed from Adrito’s mind, sensation returned rapidly. While she didn’t mind helping others and wasn’t averse to mind diving... she didn’t relish the return to herself afterward. Highly disorienting, it unsettled her. She could feel Eugea’s gaze focused on her, monitoring her should she need help. It felt strange to be on the other side of the help right now. Considering what she’d just been doing.

“I’ll be okay,” she said. “It just took a lot out of me.” And she realized how true that was. Considering the unbinding she’d had to do of all those tendrils. He must have been under that thing for decades at the very least. It was nothing like Eugea’s.

Suddenly, a sharp pain lanced through her mind.

Mental Chaotic Fortitude Abolition has branched off

Mental Chaotic Fortitude Abolition now possesses four distinct avenues - refining the affinity into its pieces.

1723 - Identification

1724 - Deconstruction

1725 - Dissolution

1726 - Implantation

Strength progress resumed

Please report to the Library as soon as possible to verify and establish the expanded line of advancement for these affinities.

Quinn groaned softly. Damn it! But she guessed it made total sense. After all, she’d used portions of no known ability, and instead mushed together a whole heap of them. Yet another thing for her to tackle when she got back though she’d see if she could put it off for a while.

Adrito’s groans echoed through the room, and she shifted to look at him. He was pale, even more so than usual. Their ghostlike appearance had always felt slightly unsettling, but now they’d retrieved Adrito from his stasis pod to work on him, he seemed frail and frighteningly transparent. She glanced over at Nishpa, who had pursed lips and hard eyes. Quinn couldn’t tell if it was because of his condition, his actions, or the way he was forced into it. She guessed it was probably a combination of all three.

Stepping back, she stood next to Hal, who leaned forward and whispered: “Told you so.”

She rolled her eyes and looked up at him. “Fine. You were right. Happy?”

He grinned at her. “Of course I am, little egg. See, there are still things us ancient beings can teach you.”

Quinn actually chuckled at that. “Even I, in all my twenty years of wisdom, am fairly certain you guys can teach me a lot.” She meant it, though. Between them, they were all older than the universe itself, so she had no doubt they had knowledge in abundance. Over the next few millennia, provided they survived the next few weeks, Quinn fully intended to take advantage of that.

Before their conversation could continue, Adrito stirred, his eyes fluttering open. He blinked and tried to turn his head, but gasped out in pain.

“Careful,” Nishpa said softly. “You’ve been in stasis for a long time. How are you feeling?”

He tried to speak, but his voice croaked, and he looked at the mind healer and raised a defined pale eyebrow.

She blushed slightly and waved her hand over him as she used the other to stroke his neck. A small glow shone through her fingers, and he cleared his throat, testing his voice. 

“I think...” a soft smile graced his face, “it works now. I feel like I got hit by a dragon.”

This time Nishpa laughed. “Technically, you sort of did.”

The confusion was plain on his face, and he let his gaze travel the room. It was obvious he noticed he wasn’t in a recovery ward but in a type of prison. Quinn watched as realization and understanding hit him. “Ah, makes sense.”

Hal stepped forward again. “It took us too long to realize you weren’t acting of your own volition.”

Adrito nodded carefully, wincing as he did so. Quinn watched him carefully, reaching out tentatively to check whether he was being truthful. She wasn’t entirely sure it would work, but it was worth a shot. From his aura and his surface thoughts, he regretted the truth of Hal’s words. She relaxed and leaned back against the table she stood in front of. 

“Can you tell us,” Nishpa asked gently. “How this happened?”

“You could have just taken the memory,” he said softly. “Why didn’t you?”

Hal answered. “It’s not right to withdraw memories forcibly from someone who’s already had their mind altered against their will. Where would the damage stop if we did that?”

A wave of gratefulness emanated briefly from the weakened Esposian. “Thank you. To be honest, I’m not sure how or exactly when this happened. “I received multiple visits from people who were suspect. As soon as I took the throne, actually. The blood bond ties us to it. It’s the same as the one the Furionas use, or at least very similar. I’m supposed to do everything and anything to preserve what we have. Which... I have done. It’s just...”

He paused, retching slightly, as if the words caused him physical pain and nausea. Eugea moved toward him with purpose, helping him get settled in a more upright position. They all waited silently for him, giving him time and trying not to intrude. Quinn wasn’t sure she’d handle this so well. This complete vulnerability. This total exposition of his greatest moment of weakness.

“The thing is, apparently the bond is fallible. In a sense, if I believed in my core, or with conviction, that what I was doing was definitely for my people, protecting my people — then the bond allowed me to do that. Everything I did, and I still remember all of it,” he grimaced and closed his eyes briefly. Several tears escaped even though he didn’t make a sound. Finally, he continued. “Even when I sent them to their deaths, even when I offered them up for experimentation. Despite everything, in my worst possible moments, my mind was twisted enough to believe that everything I did, I’d done to help my people, to aid them in becoming greater, stronger, and ready to step into their own powers.”

It took great effort for Quinn to clinically detach herself from Adrito’s words. The worst part of it was that she could imagine how he felt. Once or twice when Kajaro had inserted himself into her dreams, she’d felt a loss of control in her mind. It terrified her. 

“Essentially,” Adrito continued, “I knew what I was doing, but I didn’t understand why. It felt almost dreamlike, as if I were playing a character.” He sighed and lifted a frail hand to rub his eyes.

“Do you remember who approached you about this?” Hal asked gently.

Adrito frowned and was quiet for several seconds before cautiously responding. “I recall many letters. I think I kept them in my chambers in my safe.” His expression grew momentarily horrified. “That is if there’s anything left of the island.” The realization in his tone made his voice crack, and it took a few minutes for him to regain his composure.

During which, Malakai moved over to stand with Quinn. He said nothing but stood close enough that their arms brushed. It allowed a sense of calm to wash over Quinn, and she knew he projected it. She glanced up at him, giving him a small but grateful smile. 

“Sorry,” Adrito mumbled. “There’s so much coming back to me now. The correspondence I received hinted at the power chaos energy could provide us with. Which, of course, having a branch of our own species with chaos affinities, I was well aware of. Mildly interested in what they had to say, to see if it was something I could use, I continued correspondence until they hinted at destroying the gateway that kept chaotic energy at bay in the universe. I mean, I’m not stupid. I sort of like existing... or I liked it,” his expression turned to one of sorrow and loss, no doubt recalling his partner.

They gave him the space to grieve, to gather himself and continue for the moment. He rallied faster than expected. “I stopped communicating after that. I just didn’t respond. What was I supposed to say? Calling them idiots didn’t seem like the correct response. So, I just didn’t answer. Now I think about it, Korradine’s visit was only a short while after that. She was very persuasive, very dedicated, adamant even.” Adrito frowned. “I can remember that she wanted my support, that she stressed how much they needed the Esposians specifically because of their affinity inclinations, that they had to begin the destabilization of the filtration system by placing certain power anchors in specific locations. I recall all of this. And being horrified by it. But I can’t remember why I suddenly agreed with it. All of a sudden, it seemed like the best idea in the world, and the Library felt like it was the worst possible entity in the universe.”

He stopped, a sheen of sweat on his brow now, probably because of exertion. “Does that help?” He asked, his voice so soft and small.

Hal nodded and extended his aura of warmth to encompass the obviously suffering Esposian.

Adrito smiled wanly. “Good. Do you... do you know if my children are okay?” He asked so softly it was almost inaudible.

Eugea spoke up, her tone filled with conviction. “They are rattled, but okay. They’ll be most pleased to know you survived.”

Adrito closed his eyes, tears leaking freely this time. “Thank you. I’m so tired. Can I sleep now?”

As an answer, Nishpa simply pushed out a wave of magic to help him sleep.

Hal hugged out a breath. “Well, I guess that answers a few questions.”

“And only asked for ten thousand more.” Malakai said.

Quinn just wished Malakai were exaggerating.

~~

I love them all

You're all gonna hate me

hahahaha

Much love

KT