Isaac clenched his fist, trying to find the source of the voice. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time - Isaac couldn’t pinpoint it to an exact location. Not that there were many exact locations in this endless black void, anyway. A yelp echoed across the expanse as Lynn seized up, her face trembling. Babs and Reed frowned, but kept their composure as they scanned their (lack of) surroundings. Kieran did the same as well, while Mackenzie strode forward, tilting her head to speak upwards.
“Identity yourself,” she simply demanded.
Arrogant laughter drowned out Lynn’s hyperventilating. “My name is Harburg. Remember that, for it’s the name of the man who broke you.”
“Fascinating,” Mackenzie answered. “Now reveal yourself so I can kick your ass.”
“I’ll be the one doing the ass-kicking here,” Harburg answered. “Only in a metaphoric sense, as you’ll see.”
All of a sudden, everything froze. Isaac had been looking upwards, searching for Harburg’s voice when the freeze took him. It wasn’t the chilly, cold kind of frozen, but the kind where a movie on the big screen suddenly pauses due to technical difficulties. Neither Isaac’s arms nor legs could move, nor his fingers, nor his mouth or eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Kieran stood next to him, looking just as frozen. Presumably, Harburg had done the same to the whole group of six.
“So much of cultivation centers around physical domination,” Harburg explained, almost in disappointment. “So much of life centers around the body. But a human is not just a body. He is body, mind, and spirit. With just a body, we'd be plants. With merely a body and mind, we'd be animals. It's the soul that separates us. The soul allows us to Understand. Yet why do we only learn how to punch harder or memorize arithmetic? Why do we never strengthen ourselves by examining our own souls?”
Isaac realized that, though he had been so frozen he wasn’t even breathing, he did not feel the urge to gasp and sputter for air. Between that and the mental talk, Isaac realized he was dealing with another cultivator specializing in an Illusionist Art. This man was just a more powerful Jackson.
“Because a sharpened soul poses a threat to the system,” Harburg continued, as if he was speaking from experience. “Nothing is more indomitable than the human soul. The trifecta of man, led by the soul, poses the most serious danger to the ruling class. The Restorationists are made of people who have trained their souls. In contrast, the souls of military dogs are little more than dull, rusted blades.”
A mirror popped into existence right in front of Isaac, his own strained expression looking back at him. He suspected everybody now faced a mirror.
Harburg concluded his speech. “One by one, you will all face your own dark mirrors, as well as those of your comrades. You will all experience your own and each others’ loves and wants, fears and desires, dreams and despair. Suddenly facing all your baggage is the worst experience in the world. Second to that is that baggage being exposed to those closest to you. But let’s begin, shall we?”
The mirror in front of Isaac now displayed Lynn’s reflection. Isaac could imagine her squealing in fear, but then he lurched forward. As he flailed his arms, he tumbled through the sky - the black void gave way to air and clouds and rolling hills far beneath him. His stomach lurched, the wind whipped at his face, and then he was standing alone in a majestic room, with no sign of the other five cultivators.
Red carpet served as the room’s floor, with golden-framed paintings of military leaders and politicians hanging from high walls. As Isaac caught his breath, he realized that meant he could breath - he immediately took a step forward and sighed in relief. No longer frozen, Isaac tried to take greater stock of his surroundings, only to realize two things. One - upon wiping his face, he realized he was wearing a maid uniform, black silk fabric and flats and white frills and socks and everything. After briefly pondering how everything in his life could have possibly led to this moment, Isaac tossed the hairband away and took another step, only for another jolt to hit him.
Second realization: thousands of emotions, memories, feelings, and reflections went through his body like a lightning strike. His hands felt clammy even though they weren’t, he hyperventilated even though he knew he was calm, and the mission, dear Skyfather the mission, he was gonna die gonna die gonna die gonna die gonna die-
Deep breaths. Based on what Harburg said, these must be Lynn’s feelings. She was really this scared about the mission? I guess she didn’t really want to sign up for the military in the first place. But why is eye contact the scariest thing in the world? And why do I want to vomit every time a person talks to me? How come, despite all of that, I fall in love with every person who makes eye contact and friendly conversation with me? And why do I want to see both Demetrius and Reed take their clothes off?
Their captor spoke truly about how much damage this would cause. Isaac vowed to try, but how could he go back to seeing Lynn the same way now that he had basically lived as her?
And according to Oksana, Harburg should only be Circuit 2A. This seems far too strong for such a low level. There has to be a weakness. He must've specialized in this to the detriment of his other skills. I bet he'll be easy to take down physically. I just need to escape this illusion.
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A plate of cake suddenly appeared in Isaac’s hands. He instinctively knew Mackenzie gave this slice to him and, not wanting to share with his eight siblings, he would go eat alone in a downstairs storage room rarely used. Except Mom used - no, Lynn’s mom, not his. It felt tough to keep the two separated, but the uncomfortable roiling feeling in Isaac’s stomach never appeared in the memories of his own mother. That feeling could only have belonged to Lynn.
And then Isaac was in the storage room, ready to eat this cake, when Mom came in. She wore the same maid uniform as Isaac and had similarly faded blonde hair, but she had bags under her eyes and a weariness in her voice.
“Lynn, dear, you got some cake?” Mom asked, her voice a mixture of exhaustion and gentleness.
Perhaps this wouldn’t be like the other times. “Yeah, Mackenzie snuck some out for me,” Isaac answered in a carefree tone.
“That’s nice of her,” Mom said. “Did she teach you how to cultivate today?”
This would be like the other times. Isaac dabbed his mouth nervously. “Uh…n-no, she didn’t-”
“LYNN!” Mom grabbed Isaac around both collars, dragging him away from the cake. She tossed him to the ground, the plate falling and breaking behind him. As Isaac rubbed a bruise on his shoulder, Mom stared down at him.
“We have been servants for the Cartwright family for three generations!” she exclaimed. “That Mackenzie girl has been teaching you cultivation on the sly - this is our chance! This is our chance to escape from servitude! If you become a cultivator, you can join the military and rise through the ranks and make all that money. You have to, Lynn, you have to. Otherwise, your children will be stuck as servants, as will theirs. You’ll have doomed us all.”
Mom hauled Isaac back to his feet. “You love me, right?”
Isaac swallowed and gave an exaggerated nod.
“Then why do you hurt me? Why do you hate me?”
“I-I don’t-”
“Then why aren’t you a cultivator yet?”
Isaac didn’t have an answer for that.
The vision/memory/illusion ended and Isaac found himself frozen in the black void once again. He felt like an earthquake ripped through him - the life of someone else had been stapled on to him, then violently yanked away. Had he been able to move, he might’ve vomited. But he couldn’t imagine how poor Lynn felt. He never knew she grew up like that. But now, everyone did.
Focus, Isaac. Going off the fight with Jackson, we must be stuck in some sort of illusion space right now. I just need to focus on my surroundings and find the odd thread, something that sticks out like a sore thumb, something undeniable real.
None of that could be found in the black void. The only thing in there were the mirrors, which now displayed the dour reflection of Reed. With apologies to Lynn, this one was going to hurt even more - Isaac didn’t have the right to know Reed’s closest secrets. Nobody did.
The same feeling as before arose as the black void gave way to sky. Right as it did, Isaac noticed a weakness in the illusion - he regained the ability to move just before the void transitioned into another illusion. It was just for a split second, but he took a step closer to Kieran. Since he was the person physically closest to him while within the void, Isaac could think of no other options - perhaps, if the two linked up, they could work together to escape.
But then he was flailing his arms and falling once more, doing somersaults in the air, and then landed rightside-up in what could only be as majesty. Isaac thought the Cartwright mansion where Lynn's family served as maids seemed majestic, but the Reed mansion in Acushet simply radiated power. Tall spires and towers rose into the sky, a giant castle connecting them all. Thick stone walls surrounded the home, with artillery guns now pointing outwards where archers once stood. Isaac stood in the middle of a long lawn - it led all the way to the castle, a flat plain of green, perfectly-cut hedges lining them. He could smell the relaxing scent of flower beds; he heard laughter from tennis courts on the other side of a nearby hedge.
Isaac stood right in front of a statue that looked nearly identical to Reed. The only difference could be found in the upper parts of their bodies - Reed slouched, while the statue stood triumphant; Reed usually frowned or gave dull smiles, with this statue's smiling face shined with youthful confidence. But besides that, the resemblance felt uncanny, right down to their small frames. Along the foundation, Isaac saw a plaque which read:
THE SAVIOR OF MAN - VIOLA REED
Isaac certainly thought Viola was a hero, but then Reed's thoughts flooded in. Viola Reed was certainly not a hero. The cold eyes of her face statue followed Reed whenever she walked past it; a gigantic painting above the family's hearth had the same affect. Isaac tried to resist Reed's thoughts and memories, but they refused to stop. Hibiscus Reed looked identical to Viola Reed - some even suggested she was the hero's reincarnation. So why wouldn't Hibiscus train with the same intensity as Viola? Why did Hibiscus have few interests beyond watching movies? Why did Hibiscus not care about cultivation? Why did Hibiscus seemed so withdrawn and sullen?
If skittishness filled Lynn, then alienation filled Reed. Everything felt gross and nasty - other people, other things, she herself most of all. Her hair seemed too oily and she really needed to shower and brush her teeth and change her clothes and change her bed but that all took energy she didn’t have. Cigarettes were gross, staying in bed was gross, but here she was, feeling like all the negativity of the human experience was condensed into the singularity known as Hibiscus Reed.
Harburg had essentially grafted the Reed experience onto Isaac, right down to being her, the dismayed way she looked down at herself. Isaac separated himself from Reed's feelings, looking for any peculiarities in the illusion, but a pleasant voice immediately pushed his psyche away.
"Hibiscus!" Karin called out.
Hibiscus instinctively smiled as her older cousin arrived. Compared to Hibiscus and her own younger sister, however, they were far closer. Giddiness rose within her; Karin wore a purple sundress and twirled in the lawn. She was only a few years older; Hibiscus thought he was so much prettier than himself, but since she looked like Great-Aunt Viola while Karin looked like any other wealthy woman, Hibiscus drew far more attention among the family. That made a lot of people jealous, but not Karin. She never concerned herself with the opinions of family.
"What are you up to today?" she asked, paying no attention to the big statue of Viola looming over them.
Hibiscus just shrugged and gave her a wide smile.
"Nothing."