Wraithwood Botanist

I could suddenly feel my nearan networks and could see a visual representation of the nearan pulsing through it. Once I focused on one, sounds would appear or disappear depending on how I allocated the neara. I could heighten my senses and taste and even increase focus depending on how I utilized my mind. I solved a calculus problem in my head and found that I could write the numbers in my head with picturesque clarity and work through them with ease. I could even recreate memories of past battles and remember what I did.

After a while, my head experienced a splitting pain, so I released it, and the world sped up, flooding my senses once more.

Once I tested and trained my nearan channels, tuning my ability to allocate resources, I activated the second stage of mental shielding. It blasted my mind twice as hard, making me grit my teeth, but I also grinned when I accepted those sounds and sensations and made them disappear, one by one, sending them into the endless void until I was once again in a state of silent blackness. Who knows how long that went on, but at some point, I started to dream.

I didn't know that I was dreaming at the time. Everything just switched outside of my nearan control, and I could suddenly create pictures in my mind.

It was hard to explain, but I could create vast forests, make snow, and build buildings from scratch with my thoughts alone. I filled the forests with plants and beasts and then tested my creativity by going through my memories, bringing out past foes—the colossus in the Fourth Domain, the omoxilian, and Brindle. Finally, when I couldn't believe how intricate this power could be, I brought my dad into my dream and had a conversation with him.

"What is this?" I asked.

He shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Guess you wouldn't. Any guesses?"

"I'll give you mine if you give me yours." He paused and said. "That came out wrong. If a man ever tells you that, kick 'em in the balls and strangle them. I'll help you hide the body."

I giggled, wondering if my dad was actually there. As soon as I wondered that, he dissolved.

"This is a dream…" I whispered.

I whipped my hand, and all the plants in the forest came to life, writhing and twisting, poking out and retracting, all like wandering reapers on the hunt. I could control the forest and its plants and do whatever I wanted. And when I used them, everything I did looked natural.

"So this is the power of dreams…" I sat down and closed my eyes, listening to the sound of birds and a gurgling stream I made to increase the serenity. And somewhere in that doze, the world disappeared again—

—and I woke up.

Kline was pawing at the barrier when I opened my eyes, and when I saw his concern, I released the barrier. He rushed up, rubbing his body on my nose until I sneezed.

"Are you concerned or vindictive?" I cried. "You little shit."

He yowled.

"Oh come here." I held him against my chest and slept for another hour, waking up to see orange sunlight peeking through the cracks in the bearskin flap.

"What time is it?" I muttered. I checked the clock, and the time was six p.m. on the day after I began.

I must've slept after finishing… I thought. I didn't question it too much. I cleaned myself up and walked out like a zombie, getting swarmed upon entering my house.

"How are you walking?" Cassain asked. "You should be resting?"

"Huh?" I asked tiredly. "I'm fine. That wasn't the Helix. It was the Reaina Elixir."

Felio's eyes panicked. "You really shouldn't be standing."

"Relax…" I sat down at my table and closed my eyes. "I know I need to rest. I think… I'll veg out for a couple days. Just… eat and do nothing."

"Oh!" Felio left the room and returned with some soup. "If that's the case, I'll take care of you. Let me heat this up."

I loved Felio.

"Okay…" I watched her cook for a few more minutes and then blacked out.

I weaved in and out of consciousness for three days after that, always waking in a foreign world before my dreams fragmented and I returned to the real world. It was as if I couldn't unlock that feature again because my brain was too tired. This continued until the dreams stopped coming, and I was draped in comfortable black velvet and drifted off.

I woke to find Kline snuggled on me. Felio was beside the fire with Aiden and the rest of the guards, feeding the needy lurvine.

"Are you… awake?" she asked nervously.

"Uh… yeah," I said.

"Oh, thank goodness," she said, clutching her chest. "How long have I been out?"

"A few days," Felio said.

I tried to sit up, but I was too weak.

"Don't force yourself," Cassain said. "I was shocked you were still standing after taking that. Most people are out for weeks."

"Weeks?" I asked. "You would've thought he'd warn me."

"There's no need when there's The Guide," Asail said.

I checked my guide for information on the Reaina Elixir. Sure enough, it had that information front and center.

"Oh…" I groaned, collapsing on the bed. "That means I'm gonna be dead after the helix."

"Probably," Felio said with a concerned frown.

"Stop sayin' it like it's a bad thing," Aiden said, leaning back in his chair. "With any luck, you can just skip the winter. This place is cold."

"It's already snowing?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, buckle up," I said. "We're probably gonna be huddled in here all day."

"Say it like it's a bad thing," he mumbled, smiling as he took a swig from his flask. Back to Druggie Charmer. I looked at Felio. "Can I have some soup?"

"Certainly!"

Felio fed me, and we spent the rest of the day talking. I recounted my experience, and Cassain and the guards listened with rapt attention when I told them I did Mental Shielding training and achieved a mental breakthrough. They asked if I still could control neara. I told them that I wouldn't even try. The thought of thinking about anything was out of the question. I felt like I sprinted twenty miles, and even walking five minutes could permanently damage my body. So I took it easy. Two days passed like that, then three. Only on the fourth day did the scabs on my brain heal, allowing me to think normally again. I then waited another three days before I tried testing things out—but when I did, I was amazed by what I experienced.

It all started with testing illusions—which required high processing. I summoned tiny Greek soldiers on the countertop and had them salute me for practice. It was a small thing, but Felio saw it and giggled in delight, making me blush and start laughing along with her.

"You like that?" I asked. "Check this out."

Soon, I was creating little battles with them, imagining the Battle of Troy, and Cassain, Aiden, and the rest were standing around me.

"This looks so complicated," Felio said.

"Nah… this is nothing," I said solemnly.

Cassain and Aiden's faces stiffened as they recounted the last time I used illusions. I realized I messed up when Felio's mood shifted as well, so I quickly changed the subject.

"You know, I got some inspiration when I was dreaming the other day," I said. "And I want to practice. Do you mind if I recreate some of my memories for you? Of course, you would all have to agree to keep it secret."

"You're so paranoid," Felio said with a slight smile. "You're acting like other people could just survive this."

"She's right," Asail said. "If anything, you're just gonna scare the mistress."

I frowned. "Yeah… I probably shouldn't."

Felio panicked when she saw me second-guessing herself. "No! I wanna see!"

"Come to think of it, none of it is positive," I said.

"But it's all your story!" she cried.

I paused and reflected on that.

"I want to know more about you," she said.

Suddenly, I felt Aiden's rapt attention as well. He was kind enough not to speak, but he was interested. I asked him anyway. "You too?"

"Yeah," he said.

I looked between Felio and the guards. "So… what do you want to see? I'm not sure I can even do this, but I'll try my best."

The three looked around at each other, unwilling to be the person to take the plunge. Finally, Cassain smiled and said: "I'm not sure about the others, but I'm curious about your first day."

I smiled wryly and then took a deep breath, chuckling as I looked at the floor. "Okay… I can try."

I laid on the center of the floor with Kline, backpack splayed on the ground, and then the entire room shifted to the place I woke up. It was the exact location where I built my village, but it was summer, and the grass was still in bloom. There were also no tree houses or baths or fire pits. It was grass and moss and vegetation. And despite there being walls in my house, it didn't look or feel like there were any, so my audience could see an endless expanse of summertime forest.

"Wow… so this is what it looks like in the summer…" Felio said with sparkling eyes.

"Don't start smiling," I said grimly.

Suddenly, that blue ripple washed over the trees. It was too bright and dense as the original, lacking the subtleties of the barrier, but it still got the message across well enough to make Cassian tense.

I then sat up, acting out the scene, and that's when the reapers came, blooming out of the ground, sticking to Kline—who didn't play along with the skit.

He raised his hackles in the real world and jumped back when he saw the reapers, lifting his claw to strike. I activated Moxle Dilation, grabbed him, and threw him onto the bed. It all happened so fast, and it left my audience bewildered, scared, and chuckling insanely.

"Let's just create clones," I said, holding him against my chest. I created clones of Kline and me, and then I truly began, showing the reaper attacking Kline, followed by my desperation as I cut him free with my knife. And then I showed the chase—

—and that's when the difficulty began.

Running forced me to create illusions every second, constantly shifting for areas that were expansive. It was like an animation of sorts, constantly shifting.

My mind couldn't handle it, so the details in the distance turned black, and the details in the world started scrambling. It felt impossible—

—but I wasn't done.

I activated Mental Shielding and took all the excess things in the world—Kline and the bed and the house and my audience—and made them drift away. All my superfluous thoughts about creating things and trying to practice illusions… I left them to drift away. And soon, once I disconnected from the world, I started to dream while I was awake—

—just like in my dream.

The world grew larger—more accurate and detailed—and I felt like I was there again. I felt my heart racing as I jumped over ground cover, weaving past bushes and avoiding endless reapers, and then I recreated the "survival mode" screen I got as I burst through the area.

Without thinking about Felio or the story, I showed them the plan screen, and then memories came to life in illusions in rapid succession. The Diktyo River—almost drowning—the souls within it. Then, picking the water sack plant and running from the River Guardian as it passed through the forest, and then how I ran into the wisteris bush and slowly succumbed to poisoning.

My head was throbbing, but I was desperate to continue, so it sped up, showing me limping through the forest without a shoe, almost dying, moving back toward the reaper, slurry in hand, trying to make it before I succumbed to the poison and died.

I wanted to show them the ending so badly—I wanted to relive it.

But I couldn't.

My brain shattered, and I blinked away, bombarded with sights and sounds that were much worse than Mental Shielding training. I realized my group was yelling.

"Hey!" Aiden cried. "You can't just stop it there!"

"Mira…" Felio whined.

"I'm so invested…" Aiden said.

I looked up and the guards were looking at me. Everyone had their arms tensed on the table, leaning in, frozen and tense and waiting. They were all into it, but when Cassain and the guards saw my expression, they yelled, "Mira!" and I blacked out again.

So that happened. When I woke up, Felio was lying beside me in bed, afraid and trembling slightly, and all the guards save Asail were asleep in the guardhouse. They were probably taking shifts watching over me. Aiden was gone, and I realized what happened.

I have a long way to go… I thought.

I suddenly realized that with enough processing power, I could recreate anything I saw—I could dream while I was awake. It was powerful—but I couldn't even last five minutes with an illusionary area the size of my room. I had a long way to go, indeed.

Just as I thought that, I remembered being connected to that nearan fungus, in that dark void, staring at the blooming plant. It contained an awakening for mana, aura, and neara communication. I thought about having three and a half liters of the Helix of Annihilation that contained that plant—and thought about the effects.

I swallowed nervously. I had a long way to go…

Or not.