Chapter 83: Mind Over Matter

“Lyra step back.” Gicae grabbed Lyra and pulled her away from the cell.

The metal figure bit down on the iron bars and began to pull which caused the entire room to shake ominously.

The figure suddenly stopped and stepped back, “Just kidding...you...are not...very appealing.” he said before he cackled wildly.

“His own...flesh and blood...cut his flesh...and spilled his blood…” The figure slammed its head into the ground repeatedly. “O’ how...ironic...O’ how...tragic...O’ how...tragically ironic.”

“His own flesh and blood?” Gicae thought back to the stone altar decorated with blood stains. “Did Ira’s family do something to him?” He asked.

“You want to...find out?” The figure dragged his teeth across the ground. “Then...bring me something...Something...good...Something nice...Something special...Something I want...Something he wants.” The Figure answered.

“We’ve already asked you what you want and you have yet to answer.” Lyra said.

“A...pastry...bring me a...tasty pastry.” The figure demanded.

“Let’s check upstairs.” Gicae said before he and Lyra began to leave.

“A small...pastry.” The figure said with a harsh laugh.

The two went back to the ladder only to find out that it had become a door. Gicae opened it up and found themselves in a kitchen. A faceless woman was chopping the air above a cutting board as she hummed an energetic tune.

“Sebastian...be a dear and bring Siegfried to the table.” The faceless woman turned and spoke to a sword that was placed in a chair at the dinner table.

“Sebastian...be a dear and bring Siegfried to the table.” She said again before going back to chopping air and humming her tune.

“Check the cabinets.” Gicae said as he ignored the scene.

Lyra nodded and opened up the cabinets only to see it full of bottles labeled with skulls.

“Sweetie, be a dear and pass me the poison.” The faceless woman turned to face Lyra while the cleaver in her hand trembled.

Lyra looked at Gicae who nodded, so she grabbed a bottle of poison and handed it to the woman.

“Thank you, dear, there are snacks in the cabinet over there if you want something to eat before supper.” The woman pointed to a broken cabinet before she opened the bottle of poison and began to pour it on the cutting board. “Only the best food for my Siegfried.”

Gicae opened the broken cabinet and saw three pastries, each one a different size. One large, one medium and one small.

The large pastry began speaking first, “Is it already time?”

“It sure is...they grow up so fast.” The medium pastry sniffled.

“Goodbye, Father. Goodbye, Mother” The small pastry said.

Gicae picked it up before signaling to Lyra.

“Are we going to see Ira? I can’t wait!” The small pastry said.

“Take care of my boy!” The large pastry said before Gicae shut the cabinet.

“I trust you.” The small pastry said.

Gicae ignored it and he and Lyra exited the kitchen and arrived in a familiar corridor.

“Is Ira really down here?” The small pastry asked with a nervous voice.

“Gicae, I’m sure you noticed but something awful must’ve occurred. The poison, the altar, the dagger.” Lyra said.

“It may become clearer the deeper we go, but the danger will increase tremendously. I think we should travel to the end in one go, if anything happens, I’ll send you away first.” Gicae said as he resolved to find out Ira's origin.

“I-I trust you, but this place is scary.” The small pastry said. “...Um, is Ira really down here?”

The two ignored the pastry and arrived at the iron cell again. The metal figure sniffed the air heavily before its mouth opened.

“Give it...to me.” He yanked the chains like a rabid dog. “Give it...here...I won’t...bite...you.”

“That’s not Ira!” The small pastry yelled in a panic. “You lied to me!”

“Tell us what’s the fastest way down into his mind?” Gicae asked.

“Give me...the pastry…” The figure growled.

“You lied to me...but I forgive you.” The small pastry said.

“I don’t trust you, once you send us to the deepest part I’ll give it to you.” Gicae declared.

“...Fine!” The figure barked as it turned its head to look at the floor.

“Death is an unmovable fate for those like me. The panic and fear I feel now stems from my body’s stubborn sense of self-preservation and I choose to deny its call. It would be naive to think that I could escape what is absolute. Do not cry over my death, Father. Do not weep for me, Mother. As a mortal, I can only accept death whether I like it or not, but I refuse to beg for my life. I welcome that endless sleep as much as it welcomes me.” The pastry soliloquized in a high-pitched voice.

A hatch appeared on the ground outside of the iron cell.

“Give it...to me or I...won’t open it.” The figure said.

Gicae tossed the pastry over to the figure who caught it between its teeth.

“I accept my fate.” The pastry said.

The figure opened its mouth and took a bite causing blood to splatter. After some loud chewing, the figure exhaled in satisfaction.

“You...just can’t...beat that taste.” The figure nodded toward the hatch and it opened up.

Lyra took a peek only to see a murky black liquid at the bottom. “What’s down there?” she asked.

“You wanted to...skip everything else...and get to the bottom...right? Well...that’s the way...but what’s...down there...is...way worse than me.” The figure laughed wildly as its chains shook.

“Why would you tell us that? What if we decided to kill Ira after seeing that it was too dangerous?” Gicae asked.

“...Because if you...killed him…and I mean...really killed him...then it would...come out…No one hates...dying more than him...” The figure laughed with palpable ferocity as it pulled on the chains.

Gicae stared at the metal humanoid and felt a sense of dread wash over him. Lyra placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke.

“Come on.” She said.

Gicae nodded before he jumped into the black liquid below, Lyra gave one last look to the chained figure before she followed him in. As they plunged into the liquid they fell in only to find themselves standing upright in a creek located in the middle of some forest.

“This…” Gicae couldn’t even finish his question as he looked around. Everything was covered in a grey and black layer, including Lyra and him. There was no hint of color in the surroundings. The trees were petrified while the soil looked like black glass. Somehow, the trees would burst into vapor before falling to the ground as pieces of metal. Lightning shot out of the ground and into the sky and then turned into water which fell to the ground like rain.

“This must be a projection of the Black Forest Ustia and the others spoke of.” Lyra uttered as she watched the strange phenomena take place.

A skeleton of a rodent began to assemble itself layer by layer. Organs, muscle tissue, skin, fur, and then it was a squirrel. It hopped around before it paused to survey its surroundings before picking up some of the black glass-like soil and eating it. It’s head spun around 180 degrees to face Lyra and Gicae while its mouth hung open. A bolt of lightning emerged from its feet and caused it to disintegrate into ash.

“There.” Gicae pointed to a wooden building not too far away.

“Let’s hurry and then leave here as soon as we can.” Lyra said.

They hastily made their way to the building while doing their best to avoid the hazardous surroundings. As they grew closer, they noticed cracks in the air with an ominous look about them. Then they noticed...another set of people walking toward the cabin from the opposite side of the forest. Upon closer inspection, the people were identical to them.

“A reflection?” “A reflection?” Both of the Gicae’s spoke.

It was clear who was real as the second pair vanished after he spoke. Gicae blinked a few times as if to see if it really happened, but he couldn’t be sure. Lyra was silent as they moved closer to the wooden building. She had nothing to say, or rather she had too much to say. So many things were occurring that were outside her comprehension causing her to feel fear yet somehow intrigued her beyond belief.

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They arrived at the wooden building which was surrounded by thin obsidian-like trees. A sound akin to a piece of fabric being torn was heard from the rips in space around the building.

“We can leave if you deem it too dangerous.” Gicae said.

“I’m ready.” Lyra nodded.

Gicae opened the door and the two saw what was inside. A silhouette made up of black mist stood in the center of the room while fissures appeared in the air around it. The mist-like silhouette slowly turned around to face Gicae and Lyra. Two bright yellow orbs stared at them blankly. The space around it began to bend and all light was sucked into its body creating a foreboding feeling.

"̸̷̛͢G̷͘͢͡o̶͘͜͝ ͟͞á̸̛҉w̧͘͟a̢̕͟͝͝y̸̡͞͞͞.̴̢́͢"̸̴͘͞ It spoke, but there was no way to describe its voice. It went beyond what could be comprehended. It took a step forward and blinked in and out of view before arriving in front of Gicae in less than a second and reaching out.

“Lyra!” Gicae’s third eye began glowing and Lyra was sent away before she could react.

An incorporeal hand lightly touched Gicae’s arm.

…

Lyra took a deep breath as she came to her senses. Seeing her do so, the Valkyries were the first to move and raised their hands with the intent to heal Gicae in order to pull him out. Just as they were about, the container holding Ira exploded and a massive explosion of formless energy engulfed the room, sending everyone flying backward.

“Gicae...Where’s Gicae...” Lyra coughed as she climbed to her feet.

“Over here.” Ustia stood up and dusted herself off. She went to flip over Gicae only to see his arm was gone.

“What happened to his arm?” Thessia asked in shock.

Everyone looked at Gicae only to see that his arm was missing. There was no blood or sign that it was severed. The only thing that was there was an exposed shoulder on the right side of his body. There were no wounds or scars, it just looked as if never had another arm in the first place.

“Lyra what happened?” Ustia asked.

“...We were in the Black Forest.” Lyra slowly stood up as she looked at Ira who was still unconscious.

“He has memories of it?” Myr asked.

“No it...we were inside of it...and then something stopped us.” Lyra tried to recall what it said, but a sharp pain tore through her skull. She clutched her skull as hissed through her teeth. “I can’t remember what it said.”

Ustia began to heal her and only after several minutes passed did her face show some relief.

Gicae had woke up and looked at his missing arm before speaking with a bitter face, “His mind is more complex than anything that exists in this world.”

“What does that mean?” Thessia asked.

“Any injuries we received while inside of his mind shouldn’t have affected my physical body. At most I would receive backlash from overdrawing my psychic energy…” Gicae mumbled to himself.

“Explain it properly for us, Gicae.” Lyra said with urgency.

“You don’t understand it? His subconscious mind altered reality...Listen to me, that fact alone makes him one of the most powerful and most dangerous people in the entire world. Even if he never came to control it, the potential for it is always there.” Gicae trembled as he ran his remaining arm over his empty shoulder.

“Then we have to deal with him here.” Lua drew her sword and took a step toward Ira.

“Stop!” Gicae shouted in a panic.

Lua halted her steps and looked at him with a questioning expression.

“You cannot kill him unless you’re confident enough to deal with what will come out and believe me, I doubt all of us would be able to survive what would come out.” Gicae said with a grave expression.

Lua looked at the defenseless Ira with unwillingness before sheathing her sword.

“We’ve already established it, but whatever he is it isn’t anything that has been in this world before. Additionally, he does have a relation to the Black Forest. I can’t be sure of his involvement but from what I’ve seen he isn’t the direct cause.” Gicae stated.

“What do you mean you can’t be sure?” Kesver asked.

“Like I said, his mind is complex. Instead of memories playing out directly, they are represented by objects, people, and places. Each section of his mind led to different areas that could be reached by performing a certain action. If I hadn’t bypassed a large portion, we would’ve learned more about him.” Gicae then began to think about the things that they missed.

The weirdest thing in Ira’s mind was the placement of pastries, they appeared to be some source of comfort to him. As strange as it sounded, if they had stayed in the first room with the giant talking pastry, maybe they could’ve used it to get Ira’s mind to lower its guard.

…

Ira sat at the table with a small boy, both of them held some playing cards in their hands.

“So...why do I have to talk about fish again?” Ira asked.

“If you don’t have the card you say that and I fish one from the deck.” The boy explained.

“Oh, ok.” Ira nodded.

“Are you finally ready?” The boy asked.

“Sure–” Ira said before he vanished.

The boy sighed and dropped the cards, causing all of them to vanish. “And I just had taught him the rules.” He clapped his hands once and darkness enveloped everything.

…

Ira blinked a few times as he regained his consciousness, for some reason, he had the strangest feeling in his head. A sense of incongruency, the same feeling one might get from coming home only to notice small adjustments of their belongings.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” Ira climbed to his feet and looked at the broken crystals at his feet.

“You agreed to help us did you not?” Kesver asked.

“Where is Avery?” Ira shook his head as if to get rid of the feeling in his mind.

“She’s safe and unharmed.” Lyra was the first to say.

“So you convinced her to let you bring me here? Where the hell is this?” Ira looked around.

“She didn’t want us to take you and fought with us, but she suffered no injuries, small or large.” Kesver said.

Ira looked at Kesver as if searching for the slightest hint of a lie. His eyes were attempting to peel away his expression layer by layer for the smallest sign of dishonesty.

“We’re on a small island. It’s been our home for the past one thousand years. If you were wondering why we brought you here, it’s to show you the Storm Wall.” Lyra said.

“What happened to your arm?” Ira looked at Gicae.

“I attempted to look in your mind.” Gicae stated.

Ira’s expression slightly changed before it shifted into smile. “I really don’t like you.” He said with a laugh.

“Will you assist us with the Storm Wall or not?” Myr asked.

“Yeah, I’ll give you a hand…” Ira nodded before he looked at Gicae, “No pun intended.”

“Thank you.” Lyra said.

“Yeah, but if you do one more thing I don’t like I’m going to kill a few of you.” Ira grinned. “First, I’m going to kill one of you three.” He pointed to the Valkyries.

“Then I’m going to kill you.” He pointed to Kesver.

“And lastly, I’m going to kill you, you nosey fuck.” Ira’s face twitched a few times as he looked at Gicae. The floor beneath him cracked under the strength he unknowingly exerted.

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