MAZE - The Endless Quest

“How is she?” Thalion asked.

Neria, who had just left the brig, was taken aback by the presence of the commander, “Sir! She’s… Ok, I think. If we have healers specialized in mental afflictions, it could be good for them to take a look.”

Kaela rubbed her eyes, “Ok… I’m not trying to accuse anyone, but what the fuck just happened? I asked you all to talk to human and see what you could find out and got a dozen of reports of pained screaming coming from here. We don’t torture people, you know that, right?”

“Of course we know that!” Skyler gasped.

“Do you? Because someone recorded what they heard and it sure as fuck looks like someone is begging for mercy,” Kaela stared the elf down.

“Maybe you should’ve used the soundproof bubble, Hera,” Flint suggested.

“Oh yeah, because making sure no one heard us here would make us look innocent. Besides, I was worried about Kimmy, the last thing in my mind was hiding the yelling,” the Empress huffed.

“I don’t think anyone expected that kind of reaction,” Helena put a hand on Hera’s shoulder, trying to calm her friend.

“Everyone calm down,” Thalion sighed, “I also received that report. But I don’t believe any of you would engage in something like that. Especially considering everything you’ve seen.”

“Yeah,” Vash pointed to a room on the other side of the corridor, “Can we talk in there? I think it’s better if they don’t hear us.”

Thalion nodded along with Kaela as the two walked towards that room. There was supposed to be a guard stationed in there, but due to the high number of prisoners, they were all in the cargo hold, making sure the humans were not causing any trouble.

“Crimson, Viper, stay here. Let me know if anything happens and make sure Ashley stops talking. At least until we come back. I’ll keep Sun and Robin out so you can move around more freely,” Hera told the Spymaster just as she summoned the court members.

“Will do. If anything, I’ll just have Viper disagree with her about something. That should give you a couple of hours,” Crimson replied, getting an eye roll from her brother.

Hera ended up as the last to arrive in the room to the side. There was only a single chair, but no one took it, it was already too crowded as it was. To make sure their conversation wasn’t heard, the Ophidianite also triggered a soundproof bubble around them.

“Ok. We are here. Now explain what is going on,” Kaela commanded.

“First the screaming,” Neria spoke up, “We were not torturing anyone, because of course we weren’t. But, it’s related to the mind control. The spell, or effect, or whatever the fuck is it, is doing that. Once the person starts to push back against what is trying to tell them to believe, they get a sharp pain in their head. Or at least, that’s what we think is happening.”

“How do you know?” Thalion asked.

“We don’t, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. The woman that broke the mind control earlier. Ashley, she is a very logic person. And I mean that she is the kind of person who breaks everything down to logic. So if you say ‘the sky is blue,’ she is the type to look for things that are blue and compare to see if that statement was true or not,” Neria continued.

“Why is that relevant?” Kaela had her arms crossed and an annoyed expression on her face. Hera also noticed the bags under her eyes. Maybe someone woke her up to deal with this.

“Because that’s how we might have figured this out. When Hera’s court was taking over the power plant, they argued with Ashely. And after that, she got a headache. It was weaker than the one Kimmy is having, from what she told us. But that’s probably because Ashley has a couple of skills that protect her from mental attacks,” Neria continued.

“Her sister, Kimmy, was the one yelling. She is also a logic person, but not as much as Ashley. When I started asking her about things, Ashley pressed a few topics and bam. She got the same headache,” Hera added.

“So that only happened when Ashley pressed?” Thalion asked.

“Correct,” Neria nodded.

“Then why the reports say the scream keeps stopping and starting?” Kaela frowned.

“That… is what we are trying to understand,” Hera sighed.

Skyler pulled her tablet, “I made notes about everything that happened there. I can send them to you since they are pretty extensive, but here is the order of events. First, Hera asked if Ashley was mind controlled. The human denied that. Then Hera asked about what the guild was telling them about us. During that conversation, Ashley started to poke holes in some of the statements made by the guild. Kimmy joined the conversation to defend the guild, but as Ashley pressed, the headache started. Neria stepped in to heal her and she calmed down. But she was still unconscious for a few minutes. After waking up, Kimmy was disoriented and unable to remember the details of the conversation they just had. Ashley asked the same questions again, and the headache restarted. Neria healed her once more, a couple minutes went by, and Kimmy woke up. Every time she suffers from the headache, they become stronger, she takes longer to wake up, but she is also able to remember more about the conversation.”

“Are the headaches truly dangerous or just painful?” Kaela asked.

“They are more painful than dangerous, but that doesn’t mean they are harmless. Pain can be traumatic, and honestly, I wouldn’t put past the guild to be using that as a failsafe,” Neria sighed.

“What do you mean by that?” Thalion frowned.

Neria glanced at the Harmony Guardians, unsure how to explain everything. But Helena raised her hand, “May I?”

“Please, this is super confusing,” Vash sighed.

“Right. For starters, here is what we know about this mind control. First, we don’t know if it’s a spell, a skill, an item, or what. But I’ll refer to it as a spell just to make it easier. We know that this spell preys on the fears that already exist. The doubts that are already there. It’s more of a mind push than a mind control. Second, we know the people affected by it don’t know they are under its effects. And the ones that are able to resist have to hide that or be a target of harassment.”

“Everything I’m saying going forward is based on assumptions. We don’t have true knowledge of anything, but for the purposes of this conversation, I’m going to speak as if those assumptions are correct,” Helena paused to take a deep breath, “We think the spell is working the same way a cult would operate. It figures out what scares you and shows you a world without that fear. But, just like a cult, there are things that can happen that will make you doubt if this is the right path. In a cult, when that happens, other cult members are supposed to punish you or convince you to forget those doubts. The spell can’t compel others to calm you down. If it did, that would go beyond the simple ‘mind push.’ It’s beyond the scope of the spell in question. However, it can punish. Those are the headaches.”

Kaela blinked slowly, “Am I the only one confused about all of this?”

Roan shrugged, “I know what the words mean, but that doesn’t mean I get what they are saying.”

Thalion rubbed his eyes, “So, the spell targets the fears, and makes it easier for you to accept someone else’s opinion. But, when you start to doubt that, you get a headache in order to what? Stop you from questioning? How does that work? Wouldn’t the pain make it more clear that the line of thought is something important?”

Helena nodded, “This is where the analogy breaks a bit. Yes, in a cult, those doubts would be heightened. But imagine that you think about something that seems harmless and all of the sudden you get a massive headache. And unlike what happened here, that was a onetime thing. Do you think you would remember what you were thinking about, or the worry about the headache would be enough to make you forget.”

Kaela snapped her fingers, “So in this case, the punishment is a distraction?”

“Exactly.”

“Then how the spell is broken? You mentioned the woman is getting headaches, but she is still under its influence,” Thalion asked.

Helena shook her head, “That’s the part we don’t know. Ashley was able to snap out after one headache, that we know of, at least. Kimmy had several but is still trapped. Maybe it’s about how susceptible you are? Or the skills they have.”

Kaela looked down, “Ok. I’m saying something bad. What if we don’t heal her? Let her ride it out.”

“We tried that. At Ashley’s request,” Neria sighed, “I kept an eye on Kimmy, but it came to a point where the pain was too much. If we let her continue, there was a decent chance of this developing into a serious trauma. Then again, it’s not like this whole thing is a better option.”

“Then, what next? What can we do to help her break out of the mind control?” Thalion asked.

“Honestly, we don’t know. Ashely keeps insisting that Kimmy needs to realize how the guild is wrong, but she freaks out when her sister gets a headache,” Vash sighed.

“I’ll call a couple of healers. Some of them can numb pain, maybe if we are able to just stop the pain itself, it will work,” Thalion suggested.

“Right. I’m going to see if there are-“ Kaela started talking, but the commander quickly interrupted her.

“You are going to bed. I know beastmen are resilient, but you haven’t slept since the battle. Go rest. That’s an order.”

The Scoutmaster looked at Thalion with a confused expression before saluting him and walking away. Just as she crossed the door, Hera could swear she saw a smile on Kaela’s face. They all finished talking with Thalion and soon, they were back at the brig. Thankfully, Viper and Crimson were able to calm Ashley down. Instead of frantically pacing beside her sister, she was just sitting by the bed, staring into Kimmy’s face.

“Are we… really being mind controlled?” the woman asked.

“Of course we are not. Stop talking crazy!” the man on the other cell yelled.

“Shut up Greg! I’m not talking to you,” Ashley turned back to Hera, “Are we?”

“From what we can tell, you, specifically, are not. Your sister and Greg is a different story.”

“But… that’s the exact kind of thing that you would expect from an opposing army. Saying that my side is in the wrong and we are being controlled,” Ashley looked away.

“That’s true. And I can say that we wouldn’t do that and that we are nice, but you have no reason to trust me. But let me ask you this. Is your mind clearer now than it was before? Can you notice any signs of things you did that don’t seem like you?” Hera asked. The weeks of therapy with Vulcan gave her some insight into this kind of conversation.

“I… Maybe,” Ashley shook her head, “No. There are things I did that I would never do. I… I think I called a kid a monster… Fuck me.”

“For what is worth, it wasn’t entirely your fault, at least I don’t think so,” Hera said.

“What about my sister? Can you help her?”

“I don’t know. We still don’t know how you snapped out of it. We have theories, but no concrete evidence,” Hera continued.

Ashley looked at Kimmy then stood up, walking towards the bars, “People were asking how I stopped that mind control. I also don’t know, but if it’s going to help my sister, just tell me what you want to know. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Everything?” Hera raised a single eyebrow.

“Everything. Everything I saw in the city, what the guild told me. Fuck, if it’s going to help, I’ll even tell you about the last time I wet the bed.”

Hera chuckled, “I don’t think we need to get that personal, but,” she glanced at Skyler, who was holding her tablet with a list of things they could try to figure out, “We do have some questions in mind.”