2.09

The three heroes stood at the edge of an immensely deep pit. It was deeper than any digging effort ever done before, but that’s because it wasn’t done by conventional means.

“Do you really think this will work?” One asked. He had a crew cut, largely overweight and rippling with muscle. He stood at eight feet and wore denim overalls. He wore a white singlet but no shoes. A small goatee barely poked out from under the doughy jowls of his face and his arms were covered in tribal tattoos.

“It has to. There are no other options.” The owner of this voice wore an oversized hat that hid her face in shadow. A long, deep crimson coat danced around her shins with a collar that rose up past her chin. Golden embroidery decorated the tips of her sleeves with delicate patterns. A giant scroll was securely fastened to her back.

“It will.” The quiet redhead wore a simple floral dress and a straw hat.

The three formed a powerful trio. The brawns, the mystic arts, and the extraordinary feats of the mind.

“What if it doesn’t?” the lady with the scroll asked. Normally quite laid back, she was on edge, knowing what was down at the bottom of the pit. It was a danger she never wanted to have to face again.

“I’ll just have to punch it to death.” The giant of a man thumbed his chin and gave a huge smile. He liked it when he got to fight, and this had been the toughest one yet.

“Punching won’t work. This will. Time to fill in the hole.” The redhead closed her eyes and lifted all the water out of a nearby lake system. The muscle destroyed nearby mountains, and the redhead lifted the pieces and threw them into the hole. The lady with the scroll chanted magical seals all the way through.

“Yo, Delphine. You sure you can keep that sucker drained so he never gets out?” The towering man threw in the last of the earth.

“Yes I can. His mind may be strong, but he only thinks in one way. It won’t be too hard to handle.” The redhead ascended and flew off into the sunset.

“I’d hate to see him get back out,” the man chuckled.

“Me too. I’m not sure if the world could handle it.”

***

Gauzelle could feel her consciousness floating about through the neon colors of this mental plane.

All colors in existence shone bright, with many of them Gauzelle couldn’t quite comprehend. She could see them, but knew she wasn’t quite understanding the full picture.

Gauzelle felt herself being pulled toward something in the distance, but her anxiety was flaring up and she knew she didn’t want to visit that space.

Gauzelle’s presence tried forcing her in that direction, but she willed herself down onto the ground. A small oval of perfect green grass and a great willow tree appeared beneath her.

Gauzelle brought herself down and she felt relieved as she touched the solid ground. The presence in the distance pulled at the back of her mind, taunting her.

Hello again.

“He-hello. Do I know you?” Gauzelle’s anxiety clawed at her stomach.

Yes, but I can sense you are somehow different from the last time we met.

“When did we meet? Who are you? Where am I?”

You can sense me. You are in our mindscape.

“Listen here asshole, you need to start making sense. If you don’t, I’ll whoop your ass.”

There’s a different kind of edge to you, little one. What happened to you since last we met?

“I’ve never met you.”

Hmmm…

“What, what?”

You might be right about that. You seem similar, and yet you are different.

“Start making sense, dammit!”

You’ve changed because you don’t know who you are.

“I’m Gauzelle.” There was a deep laughter that rocked Gauzelle from within.

I think I like this new you. You’re fiery. You’ve got ambition.

“Show yourself!” Gauzelle screamed.

No. The time is not yet right. You can go now.

“Give me answers.” Gauzelle’s presence snapped out of the blinding lights and brought her back into the bandages she knew.

“You’re back,” Michael’s voice echoed through Gauzelle’s mind. He felt like he was miles away.

The images of the bright place and the words of that voice were quickly escaping Gauzelle’s thoughts.

“Are you okay?” Gauzelle looked and saw that it was the nurse from before. Her anxiety flared and she could feel her body start to collapse again, but Michael held her.

“You need to leave the room,” Michael said to the nurse. The nurse nodded and left the room.

“What happened?” Gauzelle noticed all the broken glass scattered throughout the room.

“You saw that nurse and flipped out.”

“Oh. Michael, what do you know about mindscapes?” Gauzelle now stood and was scratching her head.

“Realms made by powerful psychics. I don’t know too much beyond that myself. Most psychics that have them don’t divulge to other people the secrets about them. Why do you ask?”

“I think, I visited my own mindscape. It was real weird.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, and there was this voice. Menacing. Made Whacko Jacko seem normal in comparison.”

“What did it say?”

“It said it knew me, and that I was different from before. What the hell’s going on?”

“I’m unsure, its outside my area of expertise.”

“Can you look into it for me?”

“There isn’t much I can go on, but I’ll try.”

“Thanks. Oh, can you not mention it to the group just yet? They’ll probably get all weirded out by it and not want me in the group anymore.”

“When the time is right, we’ll both talk to them.”

Michael teleported them both back to the treehouse and then Michael left. Gauzelle just set herself back up on the lounge with a shoddy horror movie before Gauzelle heard Hunter come into the treehouse.

“Hey, where you been?” Gauzelle’s anxiety started to lessen.

“Just went out for a stroll. Met an archer who had a pet bear. You haven’t moved from the spot at all have you?” Hunter sounded exhausted.

“Nah. Wanna join me?” Hunter shrugged his shoulders and collapsed on the lounge next to her. Gauzelle tried to resist but couldn’t help herself. She put eight pencils into Hunter’s mouth before he coughed awake. He went to bed.

Gauzelle shrugged and turned back to her movie. Her anxiety never quite went away.