Chapter 7: Diagnosis

Lyra walked the halls of the hospital, feeling deeply concerned. She’d been woken by a call from a flustered dwarf nurse, telling her a strange story.

Nicole needed her and since Lyra hadn’t been able to be there for her daughter as she grew up, she wasn’t about to hesitate. Due to the unusual circumstances of Nicole’s birth and her unique magical talents, it had been necessary to shield her from magic of all kinds, for the sake of her health. Even in the present, Nicole wore gloves nearly all of the time, to avoid accidentally absorbing the magic of others.

The nurse met Lyra in the hall and was quickly directed to Nicole’s room, who looked relieved to see Lyra, jumping straight to an explanation, “I’ve got a spell lodged in my mind and it’s slowly taking over. You’re far better with mental magic than anyone I know, so please, help me!”

Lyra wasted no time and immediately began to sing. Unlike Nicole, Lyra’s magical powers were largely song-triggered and almost entirely telepathic in nature. She’d also had decades more practice. She reached out to her daughter and made mental contact.

For the first time, ever, she knew the reckless, youthful thoughts of Nicole, who took after the aunt she’d been named after, but without the constant moral struggle her aunt had with a deep, inner darkness.

However, both of them were afraid and as she looked deeply into her daughter’s mind, their shared fears and concern grew. To start with, she examined Nicole’s recent memories, to get a full understanding of why she’d been called back to the hospital, so late at night…

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Nearly an hour had passed and Lyra was still inside Nicole’s mind, navigating the currents of her subconscious. The mindscape they shared currently appeared as a stormy ocean and Lyra was behind the wheel of a red sailing ship.

The Sanguine Maiden was the unusual sailing-ship-turned-star-ship that belonged to Cha’da and it had been Nicole’s childhood home, so it was natural for it to be a strong, background image in her mind.

Mounted all around the wheel were various electronic components for controlling the ship’s flight and space-travel capabilities, as well as controls for the half-magic, half-technology magi-tech shield generator that allowed it to keep an atmospheric bubble, in space.

Above the ship were dark clouds, a manifestation of the turmoil in Nicole’s mind. The clouds were lit by lightning every few seconds and rain constantly battered the ship. The wind was fierce and Lyra was having trouble keeping the ship pointed directly into the heart of the storm.

She switched to singing a lullaby, in an attempt to calm Nicole and indirectly calm the rough sea. After a few minutes, the wind lessened and the sea became manageable.

The Sanguine Maiden crashed through a tall wave, splashing Lyra with icy water, but then, as she looked forward, she was surprised to suddenly find herself looking right into the depths of a huge whirlpool, which she’d inadvertently navigated the ship right into! However, as she glanced up, she spotted the source of the storm, around which the clouds and waves were turning: there was some kind of tiny, metallic object at the center of the clouds, clearly the source of the storm, lightning and even the whirlpool!

Knowing the subconscious importance of the ship she was sailing, Lyra quickly angled it to circle the whirlpool, preventing it from falling in. Lyra needed to fly, but didn’t dare leave the Maiden unattended, even though it had been the only way she could have gotten close enough to do her work.

As she was looking around for an option, she was surprised to see Cha’da standing beside her, dressed in a long, black raincoat that was suitable for the weather. She stepped up to the wheel and confidently took control.

For a moment Lyra was confused, but then realized what she was looking at: it wasn’t Cha’da, but rather the memory of her. The memory of the ship and the memory of the ship’s captain went hand-in-hand, for not a day had gone by where Cha’da hadn’t been at the helm, unless the ship was docked. For Nicole to remember one was to naturally remember the other.

Grateful, Lyra turned away from the wheel, certain it was in good hands, and looked upward. Angel-like wings with white feathers sprouted from her back and she leaped into the air! Based on the fact that her presence in Nicole’s mind was imaginary in nature, she was able to mold and shape the mental projection of herself, at will. It was a skill few ever mastered, and was rare even among experienced telepaths, like herself.

The wind buffeted her and threatened to knock her from the air, but Lyra persevered; the fearful wind and worrisome clouds were nothing compared to mental combat, which Lyra had been forced to engage in, many times, over the years.

Lyra was close to her target, now, and able to see it clearly, for the first time: it was no bigger than a coin and gleamed like brass, with a hexagonal shape. She recognized it from Nicole’s recent birthday party.

Lightning suddenly discharged from the coin and rolled through the nearest cloud, where it arced straight into Lyra! For a brief moment, she struggled to continue singing and the mindscape started to fade! By the time she recovered, she’d nearly fallen into the water! Flapping her wings as hard as she could, she halted her descent.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

So, the coin was protecting itself from external intrusion and the lightning strike felt like a warning shot. Still, Lyra had seen worse in her own sister’s mind, the very same Nicole had been named after. It would take more than that to keep Lyra away!

Redoubling her efforts, Lyra sought altitude. This time, instead of taking the direct approach, from below, she ignored the coin and entered the clouds. After a few minutes hard work, she rose above them into sunny, but cold, high-altitude air.

She was soon above the center of the storm and able to stare right through the eye, all the way down to the muddy ocean floor, at the bottom of the whirlpool, with the only obstruction to her view being the coin and the lightning discharging from it. She circled and waited for the right moment.

Lightning struck and Lyra dove, tucking her wings in, for maximum speed! As she approached the coin, she unfurled her wings, slowing herself just enough to reach out for the coin, with both hands!

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Nicole had been quietly laying back in bed, while Lyra sang and worked. Images of recent memories flickered through her mind, followed by a strangely-intense imaginary scene of Lyra sailing The Sanguine Maiden through her own stormy thoughts and the highly-charged thought of the spell that was entangled with her mind. She watched as Lyra forcefully made contact with the resisting spell!

Meanwhile, the physical form of Lyra had been standing at the foot of Nicole’s bed, singing a wordless lullaby, both for the sake of its calming influence and to make use of her magic. However, as Lyra finally touched the spell with her mind, her body was suddenly physically slammed into the concrete wall of the room, head-first!

Lyra stopped singing and slid to the floor, at the base of the wall, as she grunted, “That hurt.”

Nicole sat up and peered past the end of the bed, asking with concern, “You okay, Lyra?”

The troll woman leaned forward and gingerly touched the back of her head, her hand coming away covered in blood. She looked befuddled and confused.

“Concussion.” Lyra muttered, “Give me a few minutes.”

Lyra waited for her wound to heal, then stood up, filling Nicole with gratitude her birth mother was a troll, because if she’d been human, the blow might have been lethal.

“What do you think, so far? Can you get this spell out of my head?” Nicole asked.

“Don’t know yet, but I’m not ready to give up.” Lyra shrugged, “Do me a favor and meditate to keep your magic under control. That spell is part of you and it just used your powers to attack me, so I want to you to stop the flow of magic in your own body as much as possible. Did you ever learn to use your anti-magic powers?”

Nicole shook her head.

“We’ll deal with that later, but for now, meditate.” Lyra spoke with surprising strength and authority.

Nicole closed her eyes and focused.

For her second try, Lyra sat on the edge of the bed and put a hand on each of Nicole’s temples. Ustrina stared at Lyra as though curious about the gesture, but otherwise remained calm and quiet.

Lyra began to sing; physical contact was an easy way for a telepath to increase their own mental sensitivity and level of control, but it was a two-edged sword, because it also made them more vulnerable to mental attack. As with all things telepathic, the door swung both ways.

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Having been attacked magically, rather than mentally, Lyra realized the coin wasn’t strong enough for such, because it currently had its hands full just working to gain a stable foothold in Nicole’s mind.

Lyra quickly returned to her prior location in the mindscape and flew above the clouds, once more. Along the way, she noted the clouds growing less thick, as the weather improved. Even the lightning lessened. Lyra reasoned it was because Nicole was focusing her mind elsewhere, instead of worrying.

Lyra waited for the right moment and dropped from the sky like a stone, snatching the coin from the air, along the way! She held it with both hands and braced for an assault!

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Lyra’s head turned as though she’d been punched and blood trickled from her right nostril! Her head turned the other direction and the area of her left eye became one big bruise!

However, through it all, she kept singing!

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Lyra felt as though she were being repeatedly pummeled, but that mattered very little to a troll. With Nicole restraining the spell, it wasn’t able to hit as hard and it had switched to rapid-fire strikes at low-power, no stronger than a human punch.

The coin was in Lyra’s hands and she could feel immense power flow in and out of it as she plummeted from the sky. She adjusted her mind to examine the thing in detail and the mindscape shifted from that of the stormy sea to a view of millions of tiny, glowing threads, which resembled a spider’s web, with the coin at the center, like a waiting spider, though Lyra still had a good hold on it.

She knew what she was looking at, based on past experience, having long ago seen something similar, while reading the mind of a necromantically-powered rock monster. In that case, the monster had been powered by a stolen soul and the mind she’d touched had been that of a dead dwarf, constantly forced to relive his last moments, with tendrils of thought connecting the dwarf’s soul to the mind of the monster.

However, the current soul in question was that of her own daughter, filling Lyra with a terrible, motherly rage! Lyra knew anger could significantly amplify the powers of any magic-user, but she hadn’t experienced it much, having rarely been roused to such an extreme. However, since it also made precise action almost impossible, she took a moment to calm her nerves. In the end, she was still angry, but was in control, a delicate balancing act.

Another difference came to mind as she carefully examined the connections: the strange magic spell was using such a massive number of threads to connect itself to Nicole, that Lyra doubted she would ever be able to remove it without turning her daughter into a vegetable. Lyra was certain Nicole’s brain would quickly recover from such damage, but Nicole would have effectively perished, because her mind would be destroyed in the process. The only way the two would ever be disconnected was if the coin let go of her, willingly.

Lyra reached for the closest tendril of thought and gently grasped it, with surgical precision, imposing her will into it. There was resistance at first, but Lyra persisted and put all of her anger into it!

The mindscape shattered, faded like an illusion and Lyra was drawn into a black void!

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Nicole heard something hit the floor and opened her eyes. Lyra had lost her balance and was lying on the floor, unconscious! Even worse, the telepathic connection between them had been severed, but Nicole knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, Lyra hadn’t properly exited the mindscape!