‘Cool.’ Mogar replied, his tone mildly annoyed. ‘Didn’t your friend tell you that as per its name, the Mindscape is all in your head? Thinking and speaking are the same.’
“I’m sorry! I mean, she did, I just forgot. This is so weird.” Friya blushed in embarrassment, not for her blunder but at the idea that the privacy of her head had been invaded without her even noticing.
‘Don’t think about embarrassing stuff. Don’t think about embarrassing stuff!’ Which of course worked the opposite.
“Don’t be so strung up, child. There’s nothing you have done or thought that I haven’t seen more times than I can count.” Mogar-Orion laughed, yet the idea that her father had just witnessed that part of her life made Friya wish to disappear.
“Okay, let’s put it this way. If you are ever to become a Harbinger, this will become your everyday life.” Those words calmed her down immediately and froze her with terror.
“Really?”
“Really. That’s why people like Solus and Morok have such an easy time in here.” Mogar nodded. “Menadion’s heir is used to share her mind while the Tyrant barely has any. They didn’t fight the flow like you are doing, they surrendered to it and swam their way through.”
“Okay. Now with your permission, I’m going to try and change this place.” Friya said. “I need to learn how to fight if I want to survive meeting your answers.”
“A wise choice, child. Proceed.” His Grimlock blade appeared between Mogar-Orion’s hands, the tip pushing against the ground as he used it like a walking stick.
Friya felt just like when she trained under her father’s gaze, her mind at ease and her body relaxing, both ridden of the earlier shame and able to focus on the task at hand.
It took her a while to conjure her equipment and a little more to cast spells like in the real world. She kept practicing until she could reproduce the Spirit Version of her Dimensional Ruler spell.
“Your time is running out, child.” Mogar pointed at the magic circles on the outside world that had lost a little less than half their power. “In a while, you’ll start weakening and everything you did will be for naught.”
“Dammit!” Friya cursed her lack of talent compared to Solus and Morok. “Okay, fine. I want to know how to reach the violet myself, how can Faluel the Hydra evolve into a Divine Beast, and how can Nalrond the Rezar fuse his life forces.”
“Oddly specific requests.” Mogar laughed while conjuring three energy spheres.
“No offense, but those are the only ones I care about. The rest of the Hydras and werepeople is none of my business.” Friya released the blue burst of Full Guard and the golden sparkles of Dimensional Ruler, stepping forward without losing one more second.
“Mine was just an observation, not a critique.” Mogar-Orion admired how swiftly Friya reacted to the combined attacks of the Rezar and the human, dodging them with ease.
In the Mindscape there was no mana consumption, only willpower. It meant that Friya could use the full scope of her powers for as long as her focus held. She tried to grab them by Blinking behind them but they were too fast.
Then she drive them apart, but the two lights would always find each other a split second later. Every wound she inflicted upon them healed in a moment. Flesh was but an illusion, they were made of pure thoughts that needed no nutrients to recover.
“Okay, this is a waste of time.” Friya sighed. “Still, it’s good to know that I’m seeing the same thing as Solus. A third trip would be useless.”
She took a final good look at the answer, noticing how both bodies bled non-stop, opening new wounds themselves as soon as the old ones healed. The only time they had stopped their infighting was when she had injured them.
“Masochism is the answer?” Friya turned toward one of the unknown spheres, glad to notice there was only one which meant a single opponent.
She restored her spells at full power and then approached the rainbow-colored sphere first.
Seven spells along with as many bursts of Origin Flames flooded the area around her, forcing Friya to use Full Guard to spot the empty spaces that formed as the formation advanced and Dimensional Ruler to Blink there and Switch places when she missed the timing.
The Faluel-answer tried to Dominate Dimensional Ruler but between her focus being already spread thin through the volley of attacks and Friya countering with her own, the Seven Headed Dragon failed.
“Okay, fighting is off the table here.” Friya had stepped back enough to stop the onslaught but not so much that the answer would go back to being a sphere.
The Dragon Eyes had already deciphered and imitated the Dimensional Ruler that now enveloped Faluel as well. Friya had no desire to discover what happened when two such spells met.
After a few seconds, the Dragon shapeshifted into Faluel’s human form. There was a light radiating from under her skin and eyes that reminded Friya of the elves. Everything else, however, was the same.
Even her aura was still of a bright violet.
“So there is a way that doesn’t involve the white core.” Friya pondered. “The question is how?”
She stepped closer, hoping that the answer would shapeshift into a Hydra first and then into the Seven Headed Dragon, giving her a glimpse of its secret. Yet the moment Friya saw that it was going straight to Dragon, Friya Blinked away.
She made sure that the other two energy spheres were inactive before approaching the last one. Her own.
“Please, be something stupid. You are me and I hate riddles.” Her prayer was seemingly answered yet she found the vision no less confusing than the others.
The figure in front of Friya was identical to herself except that for two differences. The first was the obvious deep violet core and its aura. The second was more disturbing.
Her hair was much longer than the original and each elemental streak had been twisted and knotted so to resemble a snake. They had mouths, eyes, and fangs, whipping the air like living beings and attempting to bite at their enemy.
“Does this mean that I need to become a Harbinger to reach the violet?” Every snake worked akin to an extra head with its own mana flow and spells at the ready.
“That would be even more pathetic than you already are, princess.” The other-Friya said, her voice oozing poison just like the snakes’ fangs.
“Excuse you?” Friya was flabbergasted.
Answers were supposed to just spit threats, not make conversation. Solus’ case was unique because her answer didn’t involve herself but her long-lost parents and the memories they were comprised of.
“Did I say something wrong?” The answer laughed at her. “All your life you have paved the road to your success by mooching off others. First, Lith and Quylla back at the academy. Without them, you would have never graduated.
“Then the Ernas, making up for the mess that mommy dearest made. After that, it was Lith’s turn again, forcing your way into his apprenticeship like the drama queen you are. And now it’s up to Faluel pulling you up.”
