Dreambreaker: Chapter 5

"Dreambreaker: Chapter 1" 

"Dreambreaker: Chapter 2" 

"Dreambreaker: Chapter 3" 

"Dreambreaker: Chapter 4" 



The ascension of the elevator to Malasi's clinic was silent. Kalar didn't know what to hope for, but the scenarios he dreaded and his past had produced a raging daemon that ravaged his psyche. He was nearly hyperventilating by the time they reached the proper floor. He hesitated before exiting the elevator.

         “Come on. Everyone's waiting,” Shkerqi said in an encouraging tone.

         Somehow, Kalar moved forward. He entered the clinic and found everyone sitting on the extra beds conversing in hushed voices. Malasi was talking on her Wimcard and grinding something with a mortal and pestle. Everyone turned to Kalar as he entered. He froze, but before he could turn and run, Fuybek spoke up.

         “She's not well. She needs serious Psychic readjustment.” Fuybek said, in a voice tinged with horror. “No, I'm not strong enough.” he replied to a thought that had just formed in Kalar's mind. “Yes, I'll call her now. And please stop with the guilt. This is nothing like that time.” Fuybek looked pointedly at  Kalar before looking at the Wimcard screen on his arm.

         Shkerqi turned his attention to Kalar. Kalar blanched. His secret, dark burden, was exposed, like an eel speared and drug from its black nook.

         “What...” Shkerqi began. Bodhi quickly wove a Consciousness form, nodded in a knowing way, and turned to Shkerqi slightly shaking her head to silence him. She knew, now, too. Kalar boggled at the violation of his most private and most shameful actions and memories. He sat down hard on the floor, numb.

         “Fuybek. The Colony hasn't dismantled you yet. Interesting,” came a voice from the holographic bust floating above Fuybek's arm.          

         “Yunhi, are you familiar with the mental effects of Nikyry?” Fuybek asked.

         “Quite. It's something I experience every time I have to be around large groups of people.” came the reply.

         “Ah, I see you haven't lost your acerbity while in isolation. No, not in the figurative sense. In the literal.” There was a beat of silence from Yunhi.

         “Where are you?”

         “In Shalagal. Here's a locator.”

         “I'll be there in within the hour.” The holograph hastily dissipated.

         “She's excited,” Fuybek said in a monotone to Kalar. Kalar didn't say anything. He was still catatonic.

         “The Colony isn't seriously considering dismantling you, are they?” Sumili asked Fuybek, concern in his voice. Fuybek looked at Sumili and tilted his head to the side.

         “Why are you going to that monastery? That question is somewhat irrelevant. I don't know what the Colony is considering. I'm estranged.”

         Sumili looked at Fuybek with an odd mix of apprehension, shock, and something like disdain. Everyone's confusion about the interaction led to an awkward silence that stretched.

         Jhaqoh nudged Akyiko in the silence.

         “Oh, Kalar, I fixed your coat. Also had it washed. You should have that shirt washed too...” Akyiko said, handing Kalar a garment that didn't look like it had just been used for blood-soaked rags. It looked brand new.

         “Thank you,” Kalar mumbled, looking at Akyiko briefly. Akyiko smiled with his eyes at him, but Kalar was shrugging on the coat over his stained undershirt.

         “Well, I'm hungry. Is anyone else hungry?” Akyiko said to dispel the awkwardness. General murmurs of agreement followed.

         “Kalar, are you hungry?” Bodhi asked gently.

         “No, he's not. He feels like vomiting. He wants to be left alone. He...” again Fuybek's  microspeaker cut out abruptly under Kalar's Metal form. The robot was lucky that was all that was disabled with his form.

         “It's OK, Kalar. I know this is a stressful time for you. I still love and accept you, but you need food to keep your strength up. Here, just take a deep breath...” Bodhi's words had a soothing effect on him. His tension eased visibly. A dark tenor of acceptance settled in his mind; resignation.

         “Honey, I don't think he likes it when you use...” Shkerqi started, but Bodhi shushed him quickly.

         Heaving a heavy sigh, Kalar said, “Sure, food sounds good.”

         Looking around, Kalar suddenly realized the distinctions among them. Sumili and Fuybek were robots; they didn't eat because they harvested light for energy. Shkerqi was a lithoid; from what Kalar understood, his food was like the life down in the mines except more mineral and less metal. Jhaqoh didn't breathe, but he probably ate anything that glowed, as long as it wasn't mock-fluorescent life, which actually had the same composition as Kalar, Bodhi, and Ashtas. Akyiko could probably eat what Kalar, Bodhi, and Ashtas ate, but certain organisms provided him with the specific nutrients that he needed better. Of course, Bodhi and Kalar were like the robots in a way; they didn't need to eat at all for energy, but with all that had happened in the past day, they hadn't had a chance to absorb their nutrients from the soil. Eating would more convenient.

         Malasi must have assessed the situation much as Kalar did, for she started directing people through translated instructions.

         “You,” she said indicating Jhaqoh, “you can find a restaurant...” she consulted her Wimcard, “here.” Jhaqoh brought over his Wimcard, they pressed them together briefly to transfer the map, and he left the clinic.

         “You,” this time indicating Shkerqi, “come here.” Again, a transfer, and he left. Bodhi and Akyiko were also given maps. She must have sensed the tension that Fuybek caused because she sent him on a series of errands to collect supplies from around the cavernous city. She smiled at Kalar after he left and returned to her tedium.

         Sumili had volunteered to go with Fuybek on the errands, which left just Ashtas and Kalar with Unanda. Ashtas' long serpentine form was coiled up half on the bed and half on the floor next to the bed. His soft, fin-like tail was gently stroking Unanda's hand. Kalar sat next to her on the other side of the bed and also took her hand. A panel on the wall above her head showed lines of jagged peaks whose significance was lost on him.

         “She's such a bright student, and such a good person,” Ashtas began. His voice was choked. “We've been working together for several years now. She was doing a study on the similarities among forms of different Ways. She even transposed a few of my own Wind forms into Metal forms. Something I hadn't even thought to do.”

         Kalar was impressed by this piece of information. The paradigm everyone learned was each Way was separate. Sure, similarities in forms existed, but because of coincidence, not function.

         “She was going to reach the Revelation decades before the average person. I think,” Ashtas swallowed, “I think her kindness played a major role in that. She always helped out those who were struggling. She spoke the hard truths out of compassion.” Ashtas stopped, his voice was thick with emotion. Kalar could see he was remembering something.

         “One of her friends was struggling in one of my classes. Out of arrogance, I told this student that she needed more supporting classes before she could take my class. Unanda came in later that day and laid down the law. She told me I was going to tutor this other student; that I was going to find a method that worked for her. I was mad at first, but she did make me realize my laziness and my elitism.” Ashtas smiled sadly at this.

         “I know she's going to be changed because of what happened, but if she can work through it, if we help her get beyond it, I know she'll be even stronger still.”

         Kalar nodded at this, his attention still on Unanda, but said nothing. Silence stretched on. Unanda breathed steadily. Thoughts whirled in his head; thoughts about the web of influence of every individual's actions. His actions had done this to her, and yet Ashtas had said “we,” “if we help her.” His idol, someone he admired, was impressed by the woman lying incapacitated before him, and his idol trusted him with her recovery. Something inside Kalar changed; he decided to stay with Unanda while she mended. It was a weighty decision, imbued with all the guilt and gravity of the past. As soon as he had made this resolution, he could feel the burden pressing down on him. But somewhere in the back of his mind he felt he had entered a fight for redemption, giving him a distant glimmer of hope.

         Kalar inhaled to speak, and after some hesitation, “I'd like to meet this stronger Unanda.”

         Ashtas smiled, a tear in one big blue eye, “You will.”

         They said nothing more. Malasi came to check on her. Tapping on the panel above Unanda, she checked the history of the rows of spikes, squishing them together and highlighting trends. The healer sighed. She checked Unanda's eyes and secretion bag and paused, closing her eyes. Healing forms settled on Unanda's body, and when they dissipated, Malasi wiped away a trickle of oily sweat.

         “I hope that Psychic healer gets here soon,” Ashtas' and Kalar's Wimcards said for her in a worried tone.

         Slowly, people started returning. Shkerqi was the first to return, but he waited to unpack his meal until everyone returned. Bodhi returned next, handing Ashtas and Kalar hardpaper boxes and cans of juice. Following Shkerqi's precedent, they waited as well. Akyiko returned soon after with a woven bag tied to his back. String natura unwove the bag and deposited it in front of him. Jhaqoh spidery, black form appeared in the doorway some time later. He carried nothing.

         “Was your restaurant far?” Akyiko asked Jhaqoh and he settled next to Akyiko on the empty bed.

         “Yeah, but what do you expect? Not a large population of people like me around here.”

         “Didn't have anything you wanted?” Kalar said in reference to Jhaqoh's lack of food.

         “No, I exchanged nutrients and wastes with a live bulbtree at the restaurant. I don't like the bottled stuff,” Jhaqoh explained.

         Kalar had forgotten that vacoids exchanged nutrients with their plants. He remembered that bulbtree sap could be bottled and used at a later time, but had heard it wasn't as good.

         “Well, I guess we're just waiting for Sumili and Fuybek,” Bodhi commented. Suddenly, she looked like someone poked her with a sharp object. “Malasi! I'm so sorry! We didn't get you anything!”

         Malasi waved her off, “I sent that Fuybek out to pick something up for me. He seemed an impurity. I'm just glad he decided not to translate my thoughts.”

         Relieved, Bodhi turned to Shkerqi, “Do you think we can start eating?”

         “Sure, but I'm probably just saying that because I'm really hungry.”

         General murmurs of agreement started the meal, which lifted the mood considerably. Kalar's meal looked unusual, but not inedible. Beside a fresh salad of vegetables he thought he recognized, there were two portions of lumps, cooked and covered in a sauce, one yellow, one orange. Everyone else was eating with wild abandon, making remarks about how unexpected or delicious his or her food was. He took a few bites of the orange melange and found it delicious with a fresh spicy taste. The yellow one was sweet in a floral way with a dry texture.

         Between bites of his meal, Kalar asked, “Bodhi, what is this? Did you get the same thing?”

         Bodhi was similarly engrossed if her meal. “No, I got pink stuff and yellow stuff. I don't know what it's called, there isn't a translation.”

         Kalar set down his tongs, and held his Wimcard over his box. He took a picture and circled the three portions of his meal. After image searching the dishes, a curve of possibilities told him what it most likely was.

         “Well, the salad is just a salad, nothing too unusual. The vegetables are just a local variety. The yellow stuff is a dessert made from nectar and flower petals and mashed, baked tubers. This orange stuff is the fleshy stems of orange cacti burnt slightly with local spices.”

         “Have you ever thought of writing for restaurants on the infomesh? You'd be good at it,” Bodhi stated matter-of-factly, staring at the food on the end of her tongs as she bit it. Akyiko snorted and chuckled.

         “The salad is 'ungrals,' the dessert is 'kaarkatl' and the cacti dish is 'ktishktish,'” Kalar said, hoping to make up for his unappetizing description by using the local names.

         “See doesn't that sound much better?” Bodhi said. They continued to converse as they ate their meals. Fuybek and Sumili returned when nearly everyone had finished eating.

         “Here you are, Healer,” Sumili said to Malasi in her native language, handing her several bags of supplies and food.

         “Yes, we got everything on your list. Apologies we weren't gone longer,” Fuybek replied flatly to questions that weren't asked. He also spoke in Ungshiin.

         “How is she doing?” Sumili asked as he sat down next to Kalar.

         “No change really. Malasi used more Healing natura on her, but nothing has happened.”

         “Well I thought...” he trailed off as a figure entered the room.

         Yunhi was tall, smooth and pale, with four hoofed legs and two thin slender arms. She had no hair anywhere on her body, and except for the transparent bracelet on her wrist, she wore nothing. She scanned the room and stopped on Kalar and Ashtas. She turned to Fuybek. Fuybek looked at her. She arched the skin above an eye, and stood in shock as she stared at Unanda for a stretched moment. Wisps of Psychic natura touched Unanda's head. Kalar noticed the tension in Yunhi's neck and face.

         She can't do it, Kalar thought. She's not strong enough to heal her. She needs one of these talismans.

         Yunhi turned to him and scowled angrily. She held out her hand. “Give them to me.”

         Kalar handed her the talismans he had borrowed from the Library. Yunhi took them and eased. The room was silent; no one ate. No one spoke. They held their breath, waiting, watching.

         Finally, Yunhi's form stopped. She looked at Fuybek. Fuybek looked at her. Finally, they looked at Kalar.

         “What?” he asked, completely confused.

         “You're coming with me. No I didn't, yet, and I'll explain in a moment.”

         Psychic natura entered his brain, and the room blackened.

         Then he could see Yunhi in the nothingness. “Where are we? What's going on? Where did everyone go?”

         “We didn't really go anywhere. We're about to enter Unanda's mind. There, we are going to talk to her and help her heal her own mind. I've done what I can from the outside, but through the miracles of evolution,” she waggled her fingers at this, “face-to-face conversation is still one of the most powerful forces. That and sexual intercourse, but experts strongly frown on that at this juncture.” She furrowed her brow. “Well, here we go.”

         Suddenly, they were floating in a vast, gray space. Kalar thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to face it, he saw nothing.

          “We're in. This is Unanda's mind, below her unconscious mind. It controls her basal functions. This is the best place to enter her mind because it establishes our presence as normal and won't be as much of a shock to her. We'll work our way up into her unconscious, and then we fight. Oh, and as this is something like a dream, you can't use natura here. Well, let's get moving, shall we?”

         Kalar was overwhelmed, “We're in her mind? Why am I here? I can't use natura?”

         “Listen, you talking all the time is going to be pretty annoying for me since here I can't shut you up by responding to your useless questions before you voice them. What you need to know: find Unanda, talk to her, help her realize she's out of Nikyry. End of discussion.”

         Kalar was taken aback by Yunhi's words, and felt frustration rising within himself. She had no right to talk to him like that, he thought to himself. Kalar opened his mouth to say something, but before he could say a word, the gray faded to black and pressed in on him like a fog. He felt like he was wading through neck-deep water, turbulent water that resisted his movements but didn't make a sound.

         “We're in her lower unconscious mind. Be alert and be careful. Finding her conception of her self is key to clearing up this muck,” Yunhi said and waded away from him.

         Something nibbled as Kalar's hand.

         “Yunhi! There's something in here!” he yelled after her in panicky tones.

         “Of course there is! That's why we have to find Unanda's conception of herself,” Yunhi shouted back.

         Kalar tried running, but he tripped over a snag in the soft ground and went under. He tried to stand again, but couldn't find the ground. He struggled frantically, trying to find the surface. His lungs quivered, desperate for air. He yelled for Yunhi, but he didn't sound like he was underwater. He took a tentative breath, and found he could breathe.

         When he focused his eyes and saw daemons. Millions of daemons clawing and biting each other and swarming toward something. The turbulence of Unanda's unconscious mind whirled him around in eddies and zigzags, but it spiraled him closer and closer to a larger gathering of daemons at the vortex's center.

         “That looks like where we found Unanda,” Kalar said, and began paddling towards the mass. An adolescent Unanda raced past him, screaming as daemons chased her. Daemons tore at the misty visage of the Grand Central School and other memories of Unanda's childhood. Then he was in the dense cloud of daemons, swirling around her as they had been before in Nikyry, but she was different. She was rotting, decaying, warped and mutated almost to the point of disintegration.

         “Unanda!” Kalar screamed. The semblance of an eye opened partially and looked at him.

         He was there with her. He grasped her and shook her.

         “Unanda!” he yelled again. Both her eyes opened and focused on him.

         “Go away,” she whispered. “Let me die.”

         Yunhi appeared, “She has little power here; we need to get to the upper unconscious.” Yunhi looked around wildly while Kalar held Unanda.

         “It's going to be OK, Unanda. Stay with me. This is all just in your head. You have control over it. You can make these daemons go away with a single thought. Just one thought, and it will all be over.”

         Unanda looked at his face, but her eyes glazed and unfocused a little, “I want them here, to kill me now.”

         Yunhi grabbed Kalar's wrist and pulled the two of them forward. The world expanded from a turbulent ocean to a tempestuous sky with dark funnel clouds that, when illuminated by the frequent lightning looked like the faces he had seen in Nikyry.

         Legions of daemons still clawed and destroyed the artifacts and landscapes of Unanda's mind. The melting buildings of Meqiyoha crumbled into a boiling, black sea, bordered by a beach, but instead of sand, there were trillions of tiny shieldbeetles crawling over each other. Furniture, faces of friends, shops, favorite vacation spots, former houses, and befriended animals all drooped and boiled into a  gray muck that the waves of the dark ocean gobbled greedily.  Kalar looked down at Unanda; instead of disintegrating, she was wounded from head to toe and bleeding copiously.

         “OK, not to sound too urgent, but we're in danger here. In the lower unconscious mind, connections aren't made as quickly as they are here. And by connections, I mean daemons chewing our faces off,” Yunhi said, scanned the dizzyingly motile landscapes.

         “Unanda, do you see that soup can over there? You have power over it. Make it come here,” Kalar said, attempting almost entirely successfully to sound assertive and authoritative over his mounting nervousness.

         “I'd rather... make the daemons... come,” Unanda said. At that, all the daemons stopped their random destruction and began flocking toward the three of them.

         “Uhh...uh...OK, Unanda, you got your wish; they're coming this way. Do you think you could maybe make them go away now?” Yunhi said, sounding alarmed and raising the volume sharply on the last word of her question.

         “No... I'm ready... to die,” Unanda choked, coughing up thick masses of blood. One of her eyes exploded in a mass of oily, black blood.

         Panicking, Kalar thought fast, “Unanda, you made them come. You have control again. What happened was terrible, and... and awful and I'll never understand how horrible it was, but it's over now. Unanda, you have to listen to me. Send them away. Send them away, Unanda, and we can help you get better.”

         Yunhi picked up a large branch and swinging it around wildly at the beasts. One of them caught it and yanked it from her hands, pulling her forward with a grunt.

         “I just want the pain... to stop,” Unanda rasped.

         “It can stop! We can make it stop, and we can help you make it stop. But first we need you to send them away.” A daemon grabbed Kalar's arm and was yanking him away from her.

         “Kalar! Help!” A daemon had Yunhi by the haunches and was dragging her away. Kalar punched the daemon that was pulling his arm and grabbed Yunhi's hand.

         “Unanda! Take us to a safe memory, the time when you felt safest! Please!” Kalar shouted.

         Unanda looked at him, weary, and sighed. She closed her eyes.

         “UNANDA! HELP! PLEASE! UNANDA!” Kalar screamed.

         The world shifted slightly, but in which direction, Kalar couldn't say. Suddenly they were in a house lying on a bed. Books and clothes lined the walls, and the giant bed took up most of the space. The light in room was low; Unanda was being held by and enormous looking man, who was mumbling unintelligibly in a low voice.

         “I feel so small,” Kalar said looking around that the bed and the man.

         “Quick thinking on your part. I'm glad this memory is still here. I guess it works from the outside in,” Yunhi said, looking at Unanda with her father. “Uh oh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.”

         “Why?” Kalar asked and looked at the giant man. His bronze features had decayed, revealing a frightening face with razor teeth and evil glowing eyes.

         “People are usually corrupted first, and any memory they're in is usually corrupted as well. She'll be fine as long as she doesn't...”

         “Don't say it!” Kalar whispered. He turned to Unanda. “Unanda?” he asked tentatively.

         “Hmm?” she murmured. She looked like she was falling asleep. An increasingly terrifying hand was stroking her hair.

         “See how safe and warm you feel? You truly are free,” Kalar was doing his best to keep the nervous pitch out of his voice.

         “Yeah, I guess.” she mumbled, her eyes still closed. A few cuts and scrapes closed on her arm, and some dried blood flaked off.

         “Good, good, but we need to go now. Let's try going to a memory where...”

         “Where it's a festival at your play school,” Yunhi finished. Kalar looked at her, alarmed.

         “Is that such a good idea? Won't there be lots of people?” Kalar whispered furiously.

         “Not important ones. It's an early memory, it'll probably...” Again, the world shifted.

         “All right children. Today is a special day. Does anyone know what day it is today?” An enormously tall woman with mottled yellow and orange skin and five limbs like Akyiko was standing in front of a huge classroom her face was blurry and her clothes were exceptionally nondescript.

         Unanda was sitting a table with squares of colored paper and craft supplies in front of her. Children with blurry faces were sitting around the same table and around similar tables. She looked very excited. Her injured and bloody face was quite a contrast to the pure joy she was showing. She was violently waving her arm in the air, splashing dark, oily blood on the children, the tables, and the paper.

         “Yeah, Unanda. What day is it today?”

         “It's the day we give cookies and candies to the people we care the mostest about because it's the day that we say that we care about people and tell them we love them and stuff!” Unanda said in one breath.

         “Very good. Today is Healing Day.” The teacher wrote “Healing Day” on the panel at the front of the room. Pictures of children laughing, holding hands, eating cookies and hugging their parents appeared on the panel and slowly faded.

         “Today we are going to make bags to hold all of the treats you are going to get.” Time skipped forward jumpily as Unanda cut and glued scraps of paper.

         Yunhi and Kalar knelt down next to Unanda. “See Unanda, you're free now,” Yunhi said gently.

         “I'll be done soon,” Unanda said absentmindedly. Then she was done. She was running around the room, delivering little packages to each of the bags.

         “What should we do now? She seems to be feeling a little better,” Kalar asked Yunhi as Unanda shrieked with glee. Dried blood was flaking off of her skin and more cuts were closing.

         “Well, her childhood memories seem to be intact, which means we have a child. We need to find a memory of her as an adult where she's happy. I'll work the rest there.”

         “So a memory where she's alone...”

         “...Because important people have probably all been corrupted. And probably one that she doesn't even know she has. Generally, mind corruption typically occurs in one of three methods; from the core to the crust, from the crust to core, and randomly. This corruption seems to be the second. If we can find an uncorrupted memory from her adulthood close to her core...”

         “...She has a chance,” Kalar finished. They looked at Unanda. She was talking to a girl and pointing to a boy who seemed to be crying.

         “... Because this is Healing Day. Didn't you hear the teacher? You help heal people. Not giving him a cookie is not love, and it's not nice. Now give him one. I know someone helped you make enough. You gotta be nice to people or people are going to be mean, and nobody likes when people are mean.”

         The girl mumbled an apology and handed him a cookie grudgingly. He took it and ran away, and as he ran away he faded. Unanda watched him go and thought a moment. With a shocked look on her face, she turned to the girl, and Unanda's face softened as she looked her in the eyes.

         “Hey, I'm sorry I was mean to you. I had to say something for him. Here, here's one of the extra cards I made. It's my favorite, see, it has a kitty.” The animal's large eyes and scales glistened cutely.

         “Thanks!” the girl smiled brightly and faded as Unanda turned to Kalar and Yunhi.

         “Well, that was interesting. I haven't thought about this day in years. And,” she paused and time rolled backward and forward, the people dancing like puppets, “it's still there. I...I might actually be safe...” She shuddered as she sank to the floor.

         “No Unanda, I know what you're thinking. But let's move on. Let's go to your adulthood. When is a time that you felt happy but haven't thought about that day since it happened. And something where you were alone or with people you didn't know,”

         “That's a strange request,” Unanda started and closed her eyes. The world shifted to a laboratory somewhere, or what once was a laboratory. Daemons were clawing and biting the walls and ceiling, as well as all the furniture.

         “No, no, try again,” Kalar said. Another shift: the remains of an orchard of ferroid trees. Another shift: the wreckage of a theater, and another: the eerily dark interior of a floatshop.

         “Oh, uh, let's try to stay away from memories where you are or will soon become floating,” Yunhi said.

         “Oh, I know, I haven't ever thought about this, I think,” Unanda said as she said down on the train. She smiled. Her face filled out and took on a healthy glow. She reached in the large satchel she was suddenly carrying and put on headband earphones. She pulled out her Wimcard to listen to music. She folded up her Wimcard and clipped it to the edge of her bag.

         Kalar and Yunhi were looking around frantically, looking for any sign of a daemon or decay. Kalar thought Yunhi must be used to experiences like this, but he was really enjoying these insights into Unanda's mind, at least the parts that weren't infested with the spawn of the Realm of the Greater Spirit of Darkness.

         Unanda was now chatting with two people on the train; their faces were blurry, and their conversation was more tones than words. Unanda laughed, and the setting faded.

         “I don't remember anymore from that day,” She closed her eyes. “I know what comes next, I think.”

         Amidst streets of boiling sulfur and a park forest of burning trees and acrid smoke, the glowing eyes of her captors watched. Even in the swirling sky, the eyes watched.

         “That's enough; isn't it time to wake up?” Kalar asked hastily.

         “Well, we need to deal with Ashtas,” Yunhi said.

         The world shifted. They were back at the ruined laboratory, but this time Ashtas was there. Or at first glance it might have been Ashtas. Nothing remained of the kind and gentle man; his shiny and smooth skin was replaced by needle-sharp denticles. His twisted and putrefying face held nothing but malice.  He was coiled around Unanda, slowly tightening his grip. The sharp barbs on the end of his tail slid up Unanda's leg and under her dress.

         “Unanda, don't open your eyes. Let's go back to the Healing Day in play school, all right?” Yunhi said as her breath caught in her throat.

         Again, the familiar shift and they back in the brightly colored classroom. Unanda's shepherds heaved a sigh of relief.

         “All right children. Today is a special day. Does anyone know what day it is today?” A familiar, vague giantess asked.

         “Well, he seemed pretty... enthusiastic,” Yunhi said .

         Kalar breathed the kind of relief laugh people do when they realize they're out of danger. “What are we going to do? We could try to find a memory that's uncorrupted, but how long has she been working with him?”

         “Almost ten years. And I'm sure all the good things he remembers are going to be things she would rather forget.”

         “What if we just make him go away while she recovers?” Kalar felt heartless for suggesting it. He knew how much Ashtas wanted to help her get better.

         “I have a slightly better suggestion. I can't block all the bad stuff she thinks she remembers about him, but I can block her from recognizing him. At least until she sees him as something positive. It'll just be easy. I just need produce a discriminated prosopagnosia and phonagnosia unless the memory is associated with a lack of fear or negative emotion.” Yunhi began mumbling to herself.

         “So we're going then?” Kalar asked.

         “Yeah, here we go.”

         The room floated away, and the clinic in Shalagal replaced it.



"Dreambreaker: Chapter 6" 

"Dreambreaker: Chapter 7"