The endless staircase did wonders in helping me forget my unease. It continued on and on, twisting throughout the building and leading steadily upwards. If stamina were a thing in the mind scape, I’d be already wheezing like a dying man. The climb also helped to recover some of my essence.
However, some stray thoughts slipped through. How smart was the parasite? The idea of it being sentient and able to act logically was scary. Worst of all, I still didn’t know what it actually was. Sarvad had referred to it as the ‘parasite’ but much of it was still a mystery.
Finally reaching the end of the staircase I walked out onto a platform overlooking the castle. I was so high up that the red sky was only an arm's reach away. No wind blew, underlining the strangeness of this place.
But that wasn’t important. The only thing that mattered was Sarvad standing, with his back to me, at the edge of the platform.
He looked better than the last time I had seen him. Gone were the ragged, stained clothes, replaced with loose, white pants and a shirt. Still without shoes, as I noted.
His hands were raised and a mist of hazy, purple mental essence was gathered above him. A soft sound hit my ear and I realised that he was humming a song. It was an upbeat melody, similar to the one played by the street musician in Seran.
My anger had continued to stew throughout the entire climb. The only reason I hadn’t exploded was because of the slight chance that he hadn't betrayed me. Maybe everything was just a misunderstanding and he hadn’t been using me to get his revenge. But my anger had reached a boiling point.
His copies had attacked me, he tried to stop me from finding him, and now he was standing here without a care in the world. The pity and guilt I felt for his situation evaporated. I didn’t know what happened to twist him into this form but no matter what had happened, it didn’t justify his actions.
I wanted to scream and shout but I held myself back. This was an opportunity to quickly end it all. He was standing precariously close to the edge. One simple push would end it. Was it coldhearted? Yes. Was it justified? Maybe. Would it potentially allow me to live? Yes.
Killing to survive wasn’t new to me. I had slain the sandworm because it had tried to end me. I had killed the mercenaries because they had tried to end me. This wasn’t any different. Just someone who I had known a bit longer.
With my mind made up, I started sneaking toward him, trying to be as stealthy as possible. He didn't show any reaction to my approach, too focused on his task. With only a couple of steps separating us I decided it was time to strike.
Suddenly, Sarvad moved and grabbed my wrist which was in the process of rushing toward his back. Caught off guard, I couldn’t stop him from pulling me forward. Already off balance from my strike I staggered. My foot didn't find solid ground and if not for the hand that grabbed the back of my armour I would have plummeted toward my doom.
"Did you know that if you die in here, you'll be gone forever?" Sarvad asked in an all too casual tone that stirred my anger even further. "A simple slip of my fingers and there will be no more Vindict." I felt his grip around my neck loosen. Fear broke through my anger and panicking I called out, "I thought we had a deal! You helped me push out the parasite and I would find you that woman.”
"Yes, that were the broad strokes of our agreement, weren't they?” He responded. “Well, I had a little time to think and I concluded that I don’t need your help anymore.”
The grinding of his teeth could be heard and his words gained a twinge of anger - an emotion I had become very familiar with over the last several hours.
"Do you know how it feels like, to watch your body be puppeteered by someone else and having no control over its actions?! I sat here, only able to watch as you dragged my body through the filth.” The twinge of anger turned into a fire and hatred started to fill his voice.
“They promised me power as a reward for the endless pain. They said I was special. That all the sacrifices wouldn’t be for nothing.” Craning my neck I was able to see Sarvad’s face. What grabbed my attention wasn’t the anger but the singular tear rolling down his cheek.
“I gave it my all. I endured everything they did to me. But the only reward I got was a cell in the dark and a stranger controlling my body. Like a carved-up marionette.” He took a deep breath in an attempt to center himself, but it obviously didn’t work.
“You shouldn’t exist,” he stated. “The only two outcomes should have been me or the parasite taking control. None of the tests indicated that another consciousness would appear.” A sad chuckle escaped him. I almost felt sympathy for Sarvad, but the fact that he was threatening my life made it easy to push away. Still, my curiosity won over my anger.
“What went wrong?” I cautiously asked. Sarvad laughed like a madman. “How should I know?! I was just the test subject. Nothing more. That last day is a blur but I remember everything else clearly. What happened before and what happened after. Waking up in that cell, realising that I have been lied to.”
“Then you freed me. Hahaha, I was ‘free’. No, I wasn’t, you goddam liar! My cell had only gotten slightly bigger from your naivety. But I was generous. I scared off the parasite with the last of my power and only asked you to help me take revenge. The only reason you still exist is because of my generosity. That was a mistake.”
He took a deep breath and managed to calm somewhat down. His facial expressions relaxed and his grip tightened. “Traveling inside your mind was enlightening. Here, inside the mind scape, you get a thorough look at the personality of the one in charge of the body. Reading your thoughts made me come to a realisation. You would have never gone along with my plan. Your morality prevents it.”
His tone was cold as if he were stating a simple fact. The sheer callousness of his words made me freeze. “How can you talk like that?! I don’t know what happened to you but whatever revenge you are planning isn’t okay.” The things he had spouted when seeing that woman made me sick.
Instead of answering, he simply ignored me and continued his monologue. “If I wanted to get my revenge then I would have to remove you. My takeover was supposed to go smoothly, but the Administrator showing up threw me for a loop. That gave the damn parasite a chance to catch me unaware.”
Suddenly, his grip loosened. I let out a yelp when I dropped forward, only to be caught by him. “Enough talking. Now, are you going to relinquish control or do I have to drop you?"
Both sounded like very bad options that I didn’t want to happen. According to Adam, relinquishing control would allow Starved to become a User. When I had met him for the first time some of his bad qualities had already been apparent. He was cocky, even a bit condescending. But I had brushed it off. Why think about the negative attributes of someone who just saved your life? I shouldn’t have trusted him so blindly.
My first response was to give in. Sarvad had won. There was no way to save myself but to relinquish control. That was my instinctual response. But this wasn’t the first time I was in a life-or-death scenario. Not even the second time. No, if I wanted to get out of here I needed to think logically.
Maybe Sarvad was bluffing about me dying in the physical world if I died in here? Trusting him on anything was a dumb idea. But did I want to risk it? No, I didn’t. He would just drop me. Drop me… Something about his actions didn’t make sense. A sense of suspicion filled me.
I replied, "Why haven't you dropped me already? My death should give you the status of User, shouldn’t it?”
It was a gamble. From what Adam had said, removing me would give the Former User the ability to become the User. Sarvad certainly knew this and possessed the ruthlessness to kill me. Then why didn’t he do it? Something was preventing him from doing it. My death wasn’t a viable option.
Silence greeted me and for a moment I feared that I had gotten it wrong. Then the hand holding me over the edge roughly pulled back and my body tumbled across the roof. I slid to a halt and quickly got back up.
Sarvad was standing across from me with an impassive look on his face. The mental essence was still gathered above him and he effortlessly continued manipulating it.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“You are smarter than I thought,” he neutrally stated. “The forceful power transfer to become User isn’t instantaneous. During this time ADAM enters a passive mode, severally weakening its capabilities. A perfect opportunity for the parasite.” My former companion scoffed. “The only way to avoid this is if you give up your position. That flaw isn’t my making. ADAM had one job, to complete the task they gave me. And it failed.”
I wanted to interrupt and ask what task and who ‘they’ were, but he silenced me with a glare. “ADAM was supposed to be revolutionary. It was the reason they picked me. But look what good it has done me. It’s a failure, one that you stole for yourself. It's funny how you are not only a body stealer but also a mind scape thief.”
Throughout his entire monologue, he had stood still but now he started pacing back and forth, gesticulating wildly with his hands. The urge to interrupt him was there but I stopped myself. If Sarvad liked the sound of his voice that much then he could continue. It gave me more time to figure out how to get out of this mess. To my disappointment, I didn’t come up with many good ideas.
I tuned back into Sarvad’s rant when something important seemed to show up.
“ADAM wasn’t supposed to be like this. I created it but afterward, it started changing itself. Great for making it stronger against invaders, but not so great when it comes to predicting its actions. But that doesn’t matter. Once you transfer your power to me, I’ll become the User and make everything go away. It is truly in your best interest.”
“And what if I don’t?” I objected. “If you kill me the parasite takes control and you die as well. This is a stalemate.”
Sarvad chuckled. “It truly isn’t. Your submitting will just make the process quicker. Once this here is ready.” He pointed at the mist that had condensed into an orb of mental essence floating above him. “The parasite will be driven back. It may be a primordial power but it isn’t used to combat in the mind scape. Oh, and please stop building up mental essence behind your back. It's quite obvious."
A mist quickly spread across the platform as I crushed the mist bombs I had materialised behind my back. But instead of immediately rushing him, I started moving to the side. I hadn’t expected him to notice, which meant that I had lost the element of surprise.
"Please stop with this useless resistance. It's pathetic," Sarvad continued his monologue and took a confident step forward. I could sense the corners of his lips lifting into a smile. "I mean, mist? Are you serious? Here is a bit of free advice for you."
He turned towards my exact location and took another step forward. "That doesn't work on real people. Maybe you’ve already discovered your ability to sense your immediate surroundings. I, and every other entity with a soul, have the same ability. The whitecoats at the institution called it ‘mental sense’ or ‘inner sense’. Your tricks are worthless in here.” A vicious grin spread across his face. “Do you want to see how a real powerhouse fights in here?"
Before I had the chance to respond, a wall of essence slammed into me and everything went dark.
"Here, take another bite of that steak. It's absolutely amazing," Pecta said and followed his advice by cutting up a sizeable portion of the meat and biting down on it. I took a look at the private room of the restaurant we had rented and smiled. It had been a good idea to stay in Seran and start our own business. No more monsters or bandits, just simple work. It had taken us a while to get rich but we had done it.
All of life's comforts were now ours, especially the food. Still, looking at this luxury I frowned. Shouldn’t the guards be looking for us? We had lied about me being part of that caravan and by now they should have gotten a response from the Merchant’s Union. Furthermore, how did we get rich? Something wasn’t adding up. The world around me started flickering and changed.
My claw effortlessly moved across the instrument and the crowd cheered. I slowed down to let the music build before suddenly spiking it. The onlookers went wild.
It was sad that we had to flee from Seran but this was definitely worth it. The city that we found ourselves in was much more accepting of monsters than the rest of the Kingdom. Here I had pursued the art of music and was making good money from my street performances. I still remembered the street musician that had inspired me to do so. Looking around to see the people cheering made me smile.
I waved at them before continuing to play. Then I stopped. This didn’t make sense. I was plucking the strings of the instrument with my claw. The claw that had effortlessly cut through stone. No, this was all wrong.
Whatever Sarvad had done to me wasn't working. This illusion tried to imitate scenarios that were to my liking but it lacked realism. It was subtle but once you focused on the inconsistencies it became obvious.
I stopped moving and the smile slipped from my face. Sarvad thought he could trick me with this shitty illusion. The crowd had stopped cheering but I didn’t care. What gave Sarvad the idea that he could control my life? Everything around me started shaking and the people were beginning to disappear.
Cracks in the world started appearing around me. Another being that wanted to end my life. A person that didn't have the excuse of just being driven by instinct. A person who I thought of as at least a decent living being. With the mage it had been obvious that he was evil and didn't care about life, but Sarvad? The illusion around me flickered for the last time and shattered.
An explosion of essence erupted from my body and cleared away the rest of the mist. Sarvad had already turned back to the edge of the platform to continue preparing the essence orb. Now he spun toward me with a look of astonishment on his face. "What the hell!? How did you-" Before he could finish his sentence I rushed him.
This time I made sure to position myself properly when swinging at my enemy. Despite the unexpectedness of my attack, Sarvad managed to dodge and stumble to the right. After being hit by the illusion I had dropped my dagger but it didn’t matter, as I swung my fist at him. My former companion managed to raise his arms to block and was sent flying.
Luckily for him, his earlier dodge removed the threat of falling off the edge. Despite this, I noted his sorry state as he tried to get up. He was covered in a plethora of wounds, with new ones continuing to open. I felt the mental essence buzz around him like a swarm of angry insects. The backlash from the failed illusion was hitting him hard.
Somehow he was still holding on to the orb of essence floating above us. Not for long, I promised myself. Without much thinking, I materialised a rock inside my free hand. With a quick motion, I pulled back and threw it.
Sarvad had no chance to react as the rock hit him square in the chest. In the physical world that would have resulted in several broken ribs. This wasn’t possible in the mind scape but I didn’t need it to be. The rock had accomplished its goal.
With a final pulse the essence orb dissipated. Sarvad had lost his concentration and with it his only chance to defeat the parasite without my help.
Now it was my turn to chuckle as he slowly got up and stared at his hands in disbelief. “You wanted to take me out? Well, I’m taking you with me,” I grimly stated. “Your only choice is to abdicate your position of Former User. Then I will become a User and save us both. You-“
My demands were interrupted by a scream of rage. Sarvad was sprinting toward me with hatred in his eyes. He was in front of me in an instant. Unable to stop him I watched as he punched me in the chest.
I stumbled a couple of steps backward. Was that… it? The punch had barely fazed me. Sarvad pulled back for another punch.
Suddenly, a tremor ran through the fortress and the emotionless voice of Adam resounded across the platform.
“Hostile action from Former User directed at Probational User detected. Probational User is a higher status than Former User. Activating Protocol 15: Chains of Retaliation. Requirements:
- a direct attack from someone of a lower status directed at the Probational User
- target must be below 15% mental essence
This protocol is not designed for the complete elimination of threats. Error. Not enough mental essence. Processing… Area around target saturated with mental essence. Mental essence will be used for activation of the protocol.
Sarvad backed away and looked into the sky in shock. "What do you mean Protocol 15? There are only 12 Proto-"
Suddenly, the entire fortress started shaking and all I could do to prevent myself from falling was to crouch down on all fours. Sarvad managed to keep standing, but his head kept wildly spinning around, looking for threats.
That's why he was the first to notice the twelve small holes that had started to form around him. He immediately tried to escape by creating wings out of mental essence but it was already too late.
His feet hadn't even left the ground when chains started shooting out of the openings and wrapping themselves around him. Despite his fighting, they continued to move like living worms and binding him to the spot. His frantic gaze met mine. He opened his mouth but before he could say anything a chain wrapped itself across his face.
It only took three seconds for his entire body to be encased in a cocoon of chains. Then the entire section of the platform where he was standing started to sink into the depths of the fortress. When it disappeared, the platform restored itself. No sound could be heard.
I watched the entire process unfold with a mixture of shock and emptiness. Sarvad deserved everything of what just happened, no doubt about it. Maybe even more, as he wasn’t even dead, according to Adam. He was better off than some of the other people who had tried to kill me.
Despite that, I couldn't bring myself to feel happy or satisfied. The betrayal still stung.
The worst part about it was that on some level I could understand his reasoning. He was narcissistic and a bit insane, no doubt about that, but would I have reacted any better? Wasn't one of my worst fears being trapped in my own mind and watching someone else pilot my body? Could I honestly say that I would have done something different in his situation?
I was interrupted from my inner thoughts by the flapping of wings. Looking up, I saw five not-angels floating in front of the platform, all looking at me with an intelligent gleam in their eyes. Slowly I stood back up and looked at them individually.
"Did you see what I did to that guy? Because I'm not afraid to repeat the process five more times," I stated in a cold voice, completely bluffing since none of the conditions for Protocol 15 were met. Only their wings moved as they continued to stare at me. Then all of them simultaneously lifted their sword arms and started banging them together. It took me a while to figure out that they were clapping. Then they all disappeared.
For a second I stood there frozen in confusion before rushing to the edge of the platform and looking down. All the other monstrous creatures had also disappeared leaving only the defenders that had reverted back to copies of me. Again I was left with confusion and unease. Not even Adam’s voice, informing me that I had become a User managed to cheer me up.