A servant was waiting for Henry at the centre courtyard when he returned with the hero in tow. The servant guided him into the dungeons, a network of interconnected passageways below the pace. A room was specially furnished for this occasion. Inside, Rayne, Ani, and Vishara waited for him.

  “Are you hurt?” Ani asked, running up to Henry, running her hands all over his body.

  “A bit but I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Do you think I would lose?”

  “No but…”

  “But?”

  “While you were dealing with the hero… Vishara had told me a few things about the hero. I got worried after hearing it. You’re strong but the hero’s fortune is… absurd.”

  “True, but I’m the one standing in the end. I’m alright. The hero, though, is… well, he’s doing a lot worse than me.”

  Ani looked at the unconscious hero who was slung over Henry’s shoulder like a sb of meat. “He doesn’t look very impressive and even less inspiring for a hero.”

  “It’s even worse when he was conscious.”

  There was an altar in the middle of the room. A chair was pced on top. It was not a throne or anything fancy as such. It was just a simple wooden chair. Henry reckoned a child would easily break that chair. However, upon closer inspection, there were markings all over the chair and Murux was infused into it.

  Henry gnced over to Rayne, confused.

  “What?”

  “Isn’t this all a bit too… eborate?”

  “We are trying to dabble the mind of the hero.”

  “I held an object and that’s all it took for me to become your… pything. Is all this necessary?”

  “You broke me free of my hold in just an hour or two. So, yes. This is all necessary if we want the hold to st. And we don’t even know if this would work.”

  “Only one way to find out,” said Vishara. “Put the hero on the chair.”

  Henry did as he was told without any question. “No ropes or anything to tie the hero down?”

  Vishara simply smiled and snapped her fingers.

  The markings on the chair glowed ominously. The markings wriggled and began to move. They crawled from the chair and up onto the hero’s body, coiling around him like snakes constricting their prey.

  “For someone who was against the idea at first, you sure are enjoying yourself.”

  “I’m still against the idea but I do relish tormenting the hero. Besides, I get to kill him if this doesn’t work.”

  Henry raised an eyebrow. “We did not agree to that.”

  “We didn’t but what else are we to do if it doesn’t work? Cut him loose and send him back to town?”

  “Imprison him?”

  Vishara snorted.

  Rayne did too.

  Henry rolled his eyes. “Why isn’t that possible?”

  “Say we imprison him. Until when? Forever? Indefinitely?”

  “Until we find another way to—”

  “Stop, Henry. Just stop. This is not a joke or some farce. If this doesn’t work, we will go with my initial pn and that’s final. No discussion.”

  Henry sighed. “Fine.”

  “Good.” Vishara nodded in satisfaction. “Now, let us begin.”

  “Just us?”

  “Are you waiting for someone else that I don’t know about?”

  “I mean, what about your servants and… advisors?”

  “What about them?”

  “Don’t they need to be here?”

  “What for?”

  Henry decided it was pointless to keep questioning. So he dropped the subject right there. It wasn’t as if he was looking forward to having her servants around. If anything, he was gd it was just them in the room. Spared him the hassle of hearing her servants’ constant remarks of how he was being rude or impudent to their Mistress and whatnot.

  Vishara turned to Rayne. “My dear descendant, if you will?”

  Rayne glowered at Vishara. There was no warmth in her eyes but that was only a given considering the person in front of her was the reason for her current state. She would not have been exiled from her cn if it wasn’t for her ancestor. Although, Rayne also knew she herself was partially to be bmed for her own downfall. No one forced her or maniputed her into reviving her ancestor. It was her own idea and that idea led to her undoing.

  That was the past, Rayne convinced herself so. She held her anger at bay and focused on the task at hand. She held out a cube that was carved out of a special wood. She brought the wooden cube close to the hero. Vishara stood beside him with a knife in hand. Once Rayne nodded, Vishara drew a tinge of blood from the hero’s cheek. She then dripped the blood onto the cube.

  The blood then seeped into the cube. And silence ensued.

  “...That’s it?” Henry asked.

  “Were you expecting something more?” Rayne returned the question with a frown.

  “It certainly didn’t feel this simple when you were doing this to me.”

  “You’re not the victim this time, so of course things are much simpler in hindsight. But for the hero, I’m sure he’s in a huge inner turmoil within his realm of consciousness.”

  “How long before will we know the result?” Vishara inquired.

  Then, right on cue, the hero snapped his eyes wide open. His eyes were bloodshot and his body was shivering as if he was thrown naked into a chilly night. He gazed around him, hyperventiting. The moment he registered Henry in his view, he lunged at him— or at least he tried. The markings kept him in pce, binding him firmly and tightly to the chair. He struggled but to no avail.

  “Damn you!” the hero roared. “What have you done to me? Where is this pce? What kind of sickening bondage is this?!”

  “D-did it work?” Ani asked.

  Rayne stepped closer to the hero, her hand spyed out in front of him.

  The hero shuddered and shrunk from Rayne. “Get out of my head…” the hero growled, gring at Rayne as he retreated but he didn’t move an inch.

  “It didn’t work?” Vishara mused.

  Rayne gestured for the hero to look right.

  The hero, in spite of his bloodshot gaze, looked to the right as he was instructed, much to his chagrin and rage. “W-what is this!? What have you done to me?”

  Rayne gestured for the hero to look up and he did, albeit with some resistance and a face full of reluctance.

  “It worked,” said Henry.

  “To some extent,” Rayne added. “It’s not complete. I can only control his body, not his mind.”

  “Then we’ll need to destroy his mind,” Vishara said without an ounce of hesitation.

  “Release me from this accursed bind, you wretched fiends!” The hero snarled. “Or you shall face the righteous fury of the divines!”

  Vishara furrowed her brows in disgust. She gazed at Henry for an expnation.

  “Yes, he is this… embarrassing.”

  “All the more reason to destroy his mind.”

  “You will do no such thing!” the hero continued to shout. “Unhand me, this instance!”

  “But how do we destroy someone’s mind?” Ani asked.

  Vishara smiled and directed her gaze towards Rayne.

  “Why are you looking at me?”

  “I’m looking at the right person for the task.”

  “What makes you think I can?”

  “Given your thirst for knowledge, going as far as to uncover the secret of your ancestry, it’s likelier that you would know rather than you would not know.”

  “Rayne, is this true?” Henry asked.

  Rayne tutted. “Yes,” she admitted. “I have learned something like that… I pnned to do it to you back then but… I was too eager to show you off first, which was probably my biggest mistake.”

  Henry smiled wryly. “Was? You don’t think so anymore?”

  Rayne turned her face away from Henry. “What do you think?” she grumbled in a low voice.

  Henry wanted to tease her some more but now was not the time for that. “So, how do we do this?”

  “I have to enter his mind,” Rayne said and pced her hand on the hero’s head.

  The hero tried to shake her hand off by filing his head around but the markings extended to his neck and kept his head in pce, preventing him from moving around. The hero’s resistance didn’t st as his gaze turned empty and his whole body went limp.

  “Just like that?” Henry asked.

  “Quiet. I need to focus.”

  Henry shrugged and kept his mouth shut.

  Vishara and Ani also remained silent. The former crossed her arms and watched with great anticipation.

  The suspense didn’t st long as Rayne snapped out of her trance just a minute ter.

  “Damn,” she muttered.

  “I’m guessing it didn’t work?”

  “I can’t get into the core of his mind. There’s a barrier.”

  “Are you absolutely certain of your failure?” Vishara asked.

  Rayne scowled but she didn’t show it to anyone. “This is still probable. I just need assistance.” She turned to Henry. “Yours.”

  “Me?”

  “I’m looking at you, am I not?”

  Henry sighed. “How can I help?”

  Rayne said nothing and simply grabbed onto Henry’s hand.

  “Whoa there, what are you—” Before Henry could finish asking, the world around him blurred and spun around as if he was thrown inside a vortex. When everything came to a stop, he was no longer in the dungeon. He was in a vast space, a huge pin. He could see hills in the distance and also forests. The sky was as bright as midday but he saw no sun.

  “This is the core of the hero’s mind,” said Rayne who was standing just beside Henry.

  “Already?”

  “Why are you surprised?”

  “Not surprised. I was just expecting something more.”

  “Such as?”

  “I don’t know. Such as… you know what? Forget about it.” Henry gave up. This was reality, not some fiction he was reading. Things wouldn’t always be so bespectacled and convoluted. “Anyway, what’s next?”

  Rayne pointed in a certain direction.

  Henry followed her finger and found a small and lonely cottage amidst the vast pin. Henry took a whiff of the air. “I smell nothing.”

  “You can't actually smell anything. You will smell something but none of it is real. This is just the hero’s mindscape. This is all in his head.”

  “Okay… So, what now?”

  “We go kill the hero in this… pce,” Rayne said and strode towards the cottage.

  Henry hurried after her. “That’s all? Sounds simple enough.”

  “It certainly sounds simple but it won’t be easy. It’s not a matter of physical strength here and don’t expect your powers to work exactly the same as they would in reality.”

  The door of the cottage swung open as they got close enough. An old man in armour stepped out, a knight. Age did not seem to have weakened the old man as he walked with a dignified gait and vivid gaze. A greatsword hung on the back of the old knight.

  “So you two are the intruders of the hero’s mind,” said the old knight.

  “And you are?”

  “Lionel Crane, that is the individual who I am imprinted from.”

  “Oh, this is… bad,” Rayne muttered.

  “How so?”

  “To be able to imprint themself onto someone’s mindscape is not an easy task. It takes tens of years or at least that was what I have read.”

  Lionel drew his greatsword and pointed it at Henry and Rayne. “You two have ten seconds to make yourself scarce of this pce or be destroyed.”

  “Save your ten seconds,” said Henry. “Let us just get on with it.” And he lunged with his fist raised.

  The old knight swung his sword in response.

  Henry saw the gigantic bde coming and spun to the side.

  The old knight shifted the trajectory of his bde mid-swing and chased after Henry.

  “What the fuck!?” Henry blurted out and dodged low. The bde streaked over him. Henry took a deep breath and retaliated with a bzing shout.

  Lionel reeled his sword back and cut the fmes in half as they rushed at him.

  “Okay… that’s a first.”

  When the fmes died out, Lionel unched himself at Henry. The greatsword was bigger than the old knight himself but he swung it around as if it weighed nothing.

  Henry leaned back and barely avoided the bde, but his cheek suffered a shallow cut. “Ouch,” he winced. He took a few steps back away from the knight and clutched his cheek. He felt something wet and warm. “He cut me…”

  “Like I said…” Rayne stepped forward and joined Henry by his side. “This won’t be easy.”