A soldier quickly sat up. His breath hastened at first, until he felt a Soothing spell work on his mind. Shapeless blobs sharpened into a familiar human form. Then a face with iridescent eyes, framed by the wide rim of a white hat made purple from the surrounding light. It took him some time to register the person’s features until he noticed the colour of their uniform, and the engravings on their brooch.
“Tribunus… You’re… What is this…?”
Pavonikos covered his eyes with one hand, “Be still, soldier. I’m not your enemy.”
When they uncovered his eyes they were half-lidded and slowly collecting his surroundings. It was to be expected of someone who was trapped in a pleasant dream - nearly 700 Blinks of a false life. A happy one. It pained Pavonikos to see the soldier’s confusion turn to bleak realisation.
“It was all a lie…” he said emotionlessly - the Soothing spell and other emotional blockers had kicked in right on time.
Pavonikos gripped his shoulder, “Not a lie. A vision of things that may come.”
The words seemed to soothe the soldier somewhat, despite the melancholy contained by the spells in his mind. Even if it was just a baseless guess or a comforting lie, it was just what he needed to hear for now.
“Will I really survive this to see those days…?”
“On my life, I swear it.”
As he began to rest in his arms, Pavonikos searched him for injuries - nothing serious and no nerve scarring either. His mind suffered from some disorientation but he’d recover fine on his own, even though the Princidaimon had burrowed deep into his Mindscape. If they had spared a moment longer, he would have been fully possessed. Memories of the other pods were fresh in the Tribunus’ mind. Those they were too late to save had fully degraded into more nerves and strange organ-like structures. All of their eyes were missing, likely absorbed into whatever they were forced to become a part of. Doing their best to put those memories aside, Pavonikos left the soldier to recover his Focus and moved onto the next pod Valerian was tending to.
Another soldier rose from the pod. The process had left Valerian completely spent. At most, he could only use his counterspell on two soldiers at a time before needing to recover. This time, he had tried to awaken three in one sitting.
“Take a break, Corvus.”
“Y-yes, Tribunus.”
Pavonikos continued with the rest of the process, first by purging the soldier’s Mindscape of any trace of the Princidaimon, then by helping restore their mental shields. After drawing more protective spells, they took a short rest.
When they opened their eyes, Pavonikos scanned their surroundings again. They and Valerian had succeeded in awakening a small group of soldiers with what little Focus they could both recover. Most of them had come from the upper Cohorts. Those that had recovered had started using Valerian’s counterspell to awaken more soldiers.
‘There’s so many of them…’
Their eyes scanned the entire room. Hundreds of pods - no -many people still lay trapped. A good portion of them were soldiers from the legion - Pavonikos guessed they were amongst the recent additions to this place. Further in the room, there were civilians. Those that hadn’t unravelled bore insignias and colours of importance. All of the ones the Tribunus had seen weren’t just Scholars or Magisters. These were people that had their discoveries and specialties proudly marked on their brooches and cloaks.
“I think they were chosen,” Pavonikos heard Valerian say as they continued searching - it was easier and less embarrassing for the soldier to speak to the Tribunus through Roya. “The soldiers here aren’t just high ranking Militii. Before the war, a lot of them used to be geniuses in their respective fields. High achievers! This one started specialising in Paradisian magic, and we’re the same age!”
Pavonikos could sense a bit of bewilderment in Valerian’s mental voice. They didn’t have to reach into his Mindscape to hear the ‘Why did I end up here?’ behind his words. The man felt like an outlier amongst everyone in this place, despite the fact that they wouldn’t have broken out of the Mind Trap without him.
That aside, the same question that bothered them since the beginning nagged at their mind: Why were they chosen? From what they knew so far from Daimons, they were learning spells from whatever creature they possessed, using their bodies and eyes to cast them. But unlike other Daimons that had been encountered, this Princidaimon seemed to be deliberate in its choice of hosts.
“Do you see a pattern amongst them, Corvus?”
“Hmm…” Corvus rubbed his chin in contemplation, searching the minds of the sleeping soldiers at random.
“There’s a lot of variety here, but most seem to have a Paradisian and Kyrusian background.”
‘Paradis and Kyrus…’ Pavonikos grew more troubled at the thought. A Daimon with access to the Eternal Library and a mastery over the veil between Magus’ faces would be a dangerous one.
“Tribunus, what do you think happened to the others?” Valerian asked.
“I don’t know, Corvus.”
They could have very well been the only survivors aside from the 12th and Gallus’ squadron. It was very likely that the latter two would have followed protocol and fled by now. It sunk in just how alone they were.
‘At least the others got out safely,’ Valerian thought to himself. The thought of his companions leaving him behind left him feeling hopeful, though he couldn’t help but feel abandoned. Why was it that he was here, someone less capable, with little chance of survival. If they were in his place- ‘No. Cast that out of your mind. I should be glad that they’re safe…’
“Corvus.”
The thoughts stopped before they overfilled his mind, “Tribunus?”
“I’m going to try to wake one of the scholars. I may need your assistance. Are you rested enough?”
He was reprieved to hear those words, “I am, Tribunus. Which one do you want to wake?”
Pavonikos pointed with their eyes. Not too far off was a Magister - from her attire, a specialist in Paradisian magic and one that managed the record keepers of knowledge transcribed from the Eternal Library. They appeared to have been here the longest, bearing poorly healed wounds that suggested she struggled and fought before being forced into slumber. Valerian could see why she was picked out - she may have some important information about that night and it was strange that she hadn’t unravelled despite likely sleeping in that pod for a long time.
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“Are you ready, Corvus?”
Valerian nodded. Peeling back the membrane covering her, the two sat beside the Scholar. They closed their eyes at the same time.
There was no telling how close another person was to unravelling until they went into their Mindscapes to see the damage. The Scholar’s Mindscape was near unrecognisable, not a trace of their own thoughts could be found here. Instead, it was a space covered in a thick haze of ultraviolet threads, tangled and moving - a common pattern that Pavonikos and Valerian had seen in others who were close to full possession - each touch, a fractional glimpse into the Princidaimon’s mind. Both did their best to avoid them; instinct and experience in their respective fields warded them away from any thoughtform they didn’t recognise.
It was difficult to make sense of the amalgam of thoughts here. The symbols were a mix of Ludcetan, bestial and other strange languages that they had never seen. In Pavonikos’ eyes, there was no cohesiveness to any of it, yet it felt all too familiar.
A sacrilegious thought arose in Pavonikos’ mind. The reason why this Mindscape felt somewhat familiar was because it felt a little like being in Paradis. As much as the idea sickened them, they couldn’t deny it. After studying that face of Magus for so long, they knew what it was like to be in a place completely filled with so much knowledge.
One tendril brushed against Pavonikos. They felt a strong tug that pulled them deeper into the haze.
“Tribunus!”
Pavonikos heard Valerian’s voice quickly grow distant. Darkness engulfed their world until their eyes snapped open again. Colours that they had never seen before flashed almost blindingly across them. They couldn’t look away nor retreat to the safety of their eyelids; here in this vision, Pavonikos existed as a bodiless observer - a feeling they had been used to during their exploration of Paradis. Their eyes adjusted and the lights took on tangible forms. It was difficult to separate them out, but this vision told them that there were a multitude of separate entities here. Daimons.
Next, Pavonikos saw a multitude of places all at once, not unlike any found on Tirra, with many kinds of strange people. The sky opened up. The land and people too. Out of them, Daimons poured out, consuming everything they were.
And everything they knew.
Pavonikos felt something grip them tight, pulling them back with some force. The vision faded from view as the outline of a spell engulfed their sight.
With one more heave, Pavonikos fell back to the other side, Valerian gripping their arm. Before Valerian could sense anything strange about the Tribunus, Pavonikos began casting Paradisian light.
“Tribunus, stop!”
He tried casting a spell to pull him out. Too little, too late. Bright light shot out, absorbed and channelled through the threads.
A terrible mistake.
The Essence Burn quickly spread. What followed was a loud screech as the final vestiges of mental shielding tore apart. The Daimon began to implode inwards to a single point, dragging whatever was left of itself away. Any signs of conscious signal were waning quickly until it could be barely felt.
Their eyes snapped open only to find a pool of ichor before them. Pavonikos’ eyes glowed intensely with every healing spell they knew, trying to mend the soldier. Whatever flesh and bone was left continued to disintegrate; the shield holding the physical form had been destroyed. It was too late - her eyes no longer had the glow of life. They too were beginning to degrade.
‘No… What have I done?’
The Soothing spell finally snapped. The full horror of the situation had started to kick in. Valerian looked down, noticing that look on the Tribunus’ face. Despair, fear and guilt. Valerian quickly closed his eyes and felt it even more strongly from within the Tribunus’ mind. A tempest of distress, blew at them but he pushed forward as fast as he could and recast the Soothing spell. The tempest began to calm.
“Tribunus! Daimons are coming!”
Before they could fully recover themselves, the look-out’s voice was heard by all who were awake. Pavonikos quickly closed their eyes, instantly seeing what the soldier had seen: five unique Minoridaimons were approaching, all medium-sized phagic-looking creatures.
No one had enough Focus to take on a small group of Daimons on, let alone ones that they had never seen before.
Pavonikos was drained. They could hardly register all of the information fast enough, let alone think straight.
“T-tribunus, what do we do?!” Valerian blurted aloud.
His stammering brought them back to reality.
“Claidys! Hurry!”
The small group assembled in one corner of the room and combined all of their Focus into casting a cloaking spell. They were invisible so long as they didn’t move or feel.
They saw the Daimons lurch into view. They crawled across each pod, scrutinising them with their many eyes and feelers as if searching for something. Or someone.
‘Me.’
Pavonikos tried to recalibrate their thoughts. They distracted themself with analysis.
‘Did the Princidaimon send them?’
The idea had lingered in Pavonikos’ mind since they started waking the other soldiers. They had expected the Princidaimon they encountered in the Crafts District would come to investigate the strange disconnect. This scenario was slightly better than the others, but still undesirable. Regardless, their plan for either situation remained largely the same: hide.
But they couldn’t hold out for long.
One of the Daimons stopped, its feelers tipped with stolen eyes pointed towards them. The group stilled, holding their breaths. It drew closer to them, waving its feelers around, almost close enough to touch the Tribunus’ face. Pavonikos remained Focus, pouring all they had to help their tired soldiers remain hidden under the cloaking spell.
It was a mercy that Valerian’s eyes remained closed, open only to Roya. He and a few others put all of their Focus into containing everyone’s emotions. But the fear was filling up too quickly. Dreams were threatening to take over again like before. His vision of Roya was going hazy and so too was his control over his thoughts.
‘Just a little longer,’ he promised himself. Even if they all didn’t have a Chronocycle to spare.
Suddenly, the Daimon stopped. It and the others quickly moved outwards. There was a muffled noise from beyond, like shouts. Then the noise of thunder and magic missile fire. All of the soldiers’ faces lit up, relieved to see the familiar cloaks and faces streaming into the room. They could hardly believe their eyes and some thought they were still dreaming. They all relaxed, the cloaking spell dissipating.
“We have to help them,” said one soldier.
Pavonikos agreed. By his order, the group joined in, fighting with all they had.
Sandwiched on all sides, the Daimons were pinned down by spells. As the dust settled, there was nothing left of them.
One of the soldiers on Pavonikos’ side came forward. They were met with missile fire.
“What are you doing?! We’re on your side!” Pavonikos yelled out.
There were murmurs beyond the smoke.
“If what you say is true, then come closer! Eyes closed,” came a voice from the other side.
Pavonikos’ group obeyed. They shut their eyes, and covered them with their hands before walking forwards.
“That’s far enough.”
They waited for a while, feeling their minds being probed. After a few more murmurs, the voice - which grew more familiar to the Tribunus - eventually said, “Open your eyes.”
They saw the Imysion opposite them. Both sides were frozen in place.
“Is this a Daimon trick?” Pavonikos asked hoarsely.
“No trick, Tribunus. We’re here,” answered Aegeus.
“Then how…?”
“You can thank Duxus Gallus for that.”
The group looked over to Gallus and the 13th. Valerian searched their faces. It wasn’t long before his eyes met with Adonis and Rufinus. He would have cried and rushed over, had it not been for the Soothing spell on his mind.
“I’m so glad, you found us…” Pavonikos trailed off, relief letting them feel the full effects of their exhaustion. They almost collapsed to their knees before the soldiers surrounding them held them up.
Pavonikos heard Aegeus’ voice call out for the Healers before sleep embraced them.