A powerful herbal odour woke me instantly. I looked around, disoriented, both by the sudden smell and the sudden awakening. For a second, I thought I was back home and the magical world was a dream, but then someone clicked their fingers in my face. I could focus again on my surroundings and see that I was still in the same room as before. The old man was clearly the one who woke me and did the snap as the others were about a meter away from us. My shoulders slumped as I realised that I was still trapped with people who had used mind magic on me.

“You going to mind control me again to tell you what you want?” I remarked sarcastically with a tone of defeat. Everyone else looked surprised at what I had said, and the old man burst out laughing.

“What?” I asked, feeling like I had missed something.

“I think you have the wrong idea of who we are and of what mind magic is.” The old man replied with a chuckle as he passed me a cup of water. I looked at the cup distrustfully, as who knew what was in it.

“How do you know I drink the same liquids as you?” I challenged with mistrust.

“Because you are not the first Lost I’ve encountered.” He answered cheerfully. “Besides, you need to drink, as your body hasn’t had any liquids since your revival.”

I still felt a little queasy on the topic of my death, so I decided to ask one of my many burning questions.

“Who are you? All of you.” I asked, looking both at the old man and the party behind him.

“I guess introductions are in order now that we can understand each other. There are some who call me Tim. Tim the Enchanter.” He responded with intensity and, for some reason, an explosion. I turned from Tim to the party, waiting for their response. While I waited I took a sip from the glass. Yep, tasted like water to me.

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“I am Alex, the catkin here is Emma and the Earth golem here is Terra for short as his full name is too hard for me to pronounce.” The man explained. “I am an adventurer, Emma is a healer, and before you ask, no she wasn’t the person who revived you, and Terra is a mage here at the Magic Tower.”

“I am Sam. Short for Samuel. I am… was a student before I died and arrived here. I suppose I am not anything here. Nothing but lost, confused and mildly outraged at the use of mind magic.” I told them while making sure to keep my distance. “Speaking of mind magic, would you care to give an explanation?”

“Of course,” Tim replied. “Let me begin with the Elements. There are 21, what we call, Base Elements and theoretically 191 Combination Elements. Most of them are too unstable for use in a spell but that is getting into theoretical spell crafting. Back on topic, mind magic is any magic that uses the Mind Element. This can range from simple illusions to making a new mind from scratch. The mind magics that you have been subject to are: Revive, Deaden Pain, Tongues and Calm.”

“Revive is mind magic?” I questioned, my shock clear on my face.

“Of course it is.” Tim chuckled. “You have to remake and/or repair, depending on what you have available, the body, soul and mind with Revive. There is a reason so few people can use it. You’re lucky to be alive right now.”

“But why use hostile mind magic like Calm on me?” I asked him with a look of mistrust and anger. “Actually, it’s still active, isn’t it? That’s why I am taking this so well. How long have I been under this?”

“The whole time.” Alex replied with a sigh. “As for why we used it, it isn’t as hostile as you seem to think it is.”

“Oh yeah.” I challenged. “If forcibly altering my mental state isn’t hostile, then what is?”

“Forcibly changing a person's point of view is hostile. Calm is an Elemental Emotion spell. All it does is guides your mind away from emotions that are too strong. It can’t stop them if they are too strong, as we saw when you fainted. It tries to keep you calm while leaving your personality intact. If what it is trying to do goes against your personality or nature, then the spell breaks. I would know this as I keep the spell active on me most of the time.” Tim asserted. As the spiel went on, I gradually began to feel better. I couldn’t tell if I was calming down or Calming down.

“Could you release the spell, please?” I requested, not holding onto the hope that they would actually do it.

“If we release it, then you will fall to panic as you have just lost everything. Calm is keeping you in a state of shock, stopping you from fully processing all of the implications of you being here.” Tim responded with a sigh.

“Ah.” I expressed.

“Ah, indeed.” He repeated. “So, with that out of the way, do you still want me to break it?”

I hesitated for a moment as I was thinking it over. I would have to deal with it at some point, so what better time than the present?

“Please break it now, thank you.” I maintained.

“Ok. Just don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.” He cautioned.

He reached out towards me with his right hand and grasped something I couldn’t see. As he crushed whatever it was, I could suddenly feel the anger, the outrage, the grief and the loss that had been held back. I broke down into tears, weeping for all that I had lost. I had no home anymore. No family, no friends and no certain future. All I had left was myself. I was alone.