There was that disembodied feeling again, but it was different this time. Actually, what did I mean by 'this time'?

Something wasn't right. I couldn't remember why I was here. Where was here, even?

Where was my damn body!

What amounted to my current perception of the world shifted. It almost felt like it was... glitching? No, maybe breaking down was a better word. Why were my thoughts instantly drawn to a game term?

Images of a woman in a suit filled my mind. Wait a minute... I wasn't in a game, but I was in something close to it, I remembered.

It was still fuzzy, though. Something had happened to put me here, but I couldn't remember what. Wherever I was, though, it was real--I knew that much. What happened at this moment mattered, and right now something felt terribly wrong.

[Dominator Demon failed to posses target.]

[Possession counter reduced to 30%.]

The textbox appeared before me. Things started to get a little more clear. My name... it was: no, I couldn't remember it.

[You have been put under the effects of the Mindscape spell.]

Despite my earlier observation of the world changing in odd ways, I couldn't really see, or at least I didn't think I could--it was an odd sensation to explain--at least, not until the entirety of reality started to rush back over me, mercilessly and without end and without fair warning.

Sensations filled me. Cold, pain, sickness. I didn't remember why at first, but I could tell I wasn't doing too good.

Then, as if the world itself was reaching out to assuage me and my concerns, I felt arms holding me up. I could see a beautiful face. I heard the crackling of a quaint fire.

My pain faded. Reality solidified for the first time in what felt like my own personal forever.

No. I was sick, I remembered. I somehow knew that I should be in a lot more pain right now and at this very moment.

[Mother's Love Buff Applied: For the next day your discomfort from finding your footing in this world is further reduced; this effect is doubled and reapplied when you are in your mother's arms.]

The concern drifted. Things felt... better now. They were more right. It was calming. Maybe nothing was wrong at all. I'd been worried for nothing.

A textbox appeared.

[Possession counter increased to 40%.]

What did--

[The effects of the Mindscape spell limit your perception of certain notifications.]

Instantly, whatever thought had been brewing was cut off.

"Honey, he's awake," the beautiful woman above me spoke in a calm, sing-song tone; it was so comforting.

[Possession counter increased to 50%.]

Strange, I felt oddly indifferent at the notification. Why was it even bothering me with something so insignificant?

I watched as a strong hand touched my mother's face.

"I told you he'd be fine," James said. "Your healing has never let us down before, my love."

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Magic? That's right, my mother was a mage--and my father was a... warrior, right?

Funny that I would know that. I must have still been a baby, judging by the way Viessa was holding me. I shouldn't know much of anything, should I?

Eh, well, no big deal I guess. I did feel pretty at home; something told me this kind of family was what I'd always wanted.

I'm glad I had gotten to give the same kind of love to my own daughters, when they'd been born, even if I had never gotten it in my own childhood.

[Possession counter decreased to 40%.]

Wait, a minute. How could I have daughters if I was a child?

Images of the woman from before reentered my mind. I could see her mouth moving, but I couldn't hear the words. I reached for them, with frustration building against my brow, but I just couldn't grasp the sounds.

The more I failed, the more I felt the vision slipping away. Not just leaving my focus either, it was like it was being locked from me by some force.

[Possession counter increased to 45%.]

No, this was wrong. My mind wasn't working right. I wasn't who I was supposed to be.

Why was I so small?

My father leaned over and smiled down at me.

"You're going to be okay, son."

I felt my panicking chest calm somewhat. So what if I couldn't remember some woman in a suit?

[Possession counter increased to 50%.]

Not like she was important to me, not like... my daughters. The concern returned. No, I should not have ever forgotten them. Why had the memory slipped from my mind? Again!

Rage filled me. No, this body wasn't mine and something that wasn't me was inside my mind, I could almost feel that as truth now--and the fact that I hadn't before terrified me as much as it infuriated me down to my very soul.

[Possession counter decreased to 30%.]

I tried to struggle from my mother's grasp.

A look of concern filled her face and, while it did threaten to capture my attention for a moment, I refused to let it overtake my anger.

"I think something's wrong," Viessa said.

For a moment, the world around me agreeing with me almost pulled me back into the illusion--almost made me lapse in my absolute belief that I was right, but not quite. I wouldn't let the feeling go so easily, not this time; the fact that this wrong reality would try something so underhanded as shifting its tactics from merely comforting me only made it seem more insidious.

My father looked from my mother back to me.

"No, he's fine. Isn't that right Castien? You're just stretching after being so tired for so long," James said

[You have been put under the effects of the Soothe spell.]

[Possession counter increased to 40%.]

Maybe... he did seem certain, didn't he? His eyes were so calm and confident and--no, they weren't. Not anymore; those were not the eyes of the James I knew--those eyes had been taken from him, I suddenly remembered, as the force of the traumatic memory broke through whatever spell had taken hold in my mind.

[Possession counter decreased to 30%.]

Then and there, as if responding to my thoughts, the deep brown eyes that James had once possessed turned to an empty, dead grey.

An absolutely, horrifyingly and souless grey.

[Possession counter decreased to 20%.]

it was a grey that made me remember almost everything.

This wasn't James. I was pretty sure my father in this world was dead--or, at least, I hoped he was after what he'd experienced, for his sake.

My tiny eyes drifted up to Viessa, or rather, the thing that looked like her. If that wasn't James then, I realized as my skin began to crawl where she held me still so lovingly, then that was not my mother in this world either.

It had to be something, or someone, else.

"Honey, don't be afraid, it's okay," Viessa's voice began to warp disgustingly; it became deep and echoing to a point that I could feel it vibrating throughout her diaphragm, but it was not quite masculine.

Then it became altogether inhuman and her eyes took on the same souless hue as James'.

"You can rest here," the terribly wrong voice said.

[Possession counter decreased to 10%.]

[Possession attempt nearing critical failure.]

[Rolling for Mindscape termination.]

[Failed.]

[You have fallen under the effects of the Mindscape spell.]

The world shifted once again; this time it broke off into a noxious looking grey smoke that was whisked away soon after, whipped on and into an unnatural wind that smelled of a familiar rot.

The moment I felt the change, I tried to hang on to the horror I felt, but it too began to fade as my body broke apart as well.

The last feeling I felt was simply more horror at the fact that even my own seemingly physical form was just another part of that strange, black fog.

I could feel myself become less corporeal and more ethereal as my consciousness departed whatever magical--or, perhaps, mental--construct that my mind had been forced into for the sake of this warped illusion, before even that feeling too was stolen from me against my will.

I felt it leave. I felt everything leave me, but there was nothing I could do to stop, or hang onto the memory of, any of it.

My body became a gust, my memories were reduced to mist, and I worried for the sanctity of a mind left by fate to be pulled on nothing but a foul breeze.