Kevin Curry
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Psychoprotective 17
🕑 Added 2023-02-06 15:01:01 +0000 UTC[Sasha Nein, M. Psi, Psychonauts Agent]
The first thing Sasha noticed about Tanya’s mental world was… it was like Ford’s. The castle that Tanya had designed was shattered, the pieces still more or less in the right place if you ignored the fact that large cracks split the structure into dozens of pieces. These cracks were even in the sky, glowing with a malevolent golden light as it pulsed in time with the sound of bells keeping a beat.
In addition to those disastrous traits, there were also wounds in the sky, fissures that seeped blood in mid-air. Hopefully that was a metaphor and not literal intracranial bleeding. He sent a missive to his Scientist archetype to break out the brain scanner as he executed the backup plan.
The castle though… Milla didn’t quite understand the concept well enough to provide a good translation, but Tatemae castle, as the kanji on the top of the gate revealed it to be, was named after a concept what society expected of you, a public face or facade.
He would not be surprised if that other, hidden castle that she had mentioned was properly named Honne instead of True. They were linked concepts, after all. Ones that a non-native would struggle to properly understand. Fortunately, Sasha knows a smattering of Japanese, and had read a paper from the University of Kyoto relating the subject matter to psychic archetypes.
As expected, Mary’s astral projection followed Sasha inside Tanya’s mind, staring in horror at the condition of the place. “Oh no, oh no. What have I done?” She muttered, nearly panicking at the sight.
“This is your one chance to leave, Mary.” Sasha said, putting as much authority and warning in his words as could fit. “Turn back, and watch over Tanya’s body… or come with me, to see a Psychonaut at work.”
Mary seemed baffled at the choice. “You’re… not going to kick me out?”
Sasha chuckled. “There’s no time to waste arguing. Really, you shouldn’t be in here at all.”
“But it’s my fault!” Mary said, tears forming in her eyes. “I thought… that if she remembered…”
Sasha raised his eyebrow. “You mean you saw someone who couldn’t remember killing thousands of people… and you thought it was a good idea to make them remember that?”
Mary clutched her head. “It sounded like a good idea at the time…” She whined. Truly, the difference between a reincarnate that died at 18 and one who died in their thirties was no more apparent than now.
Sasha was fairly certain that Tanya was just skilled enough at lying to pretend to not remember her atrocities, but it would make Mary more pliable if she believed that she caused this more directly. “We need to find the source of the disturbance. Tell me what happened as we go.”
Mary flew behind him as he ran at full speed through the castle. “I wanted to prove that I had a nugget of wisdom from my past life!” Mary began. “Tanya volunteered to help me look.” The room in front of them was filled with airborne Deep Regrets and explosive Personal Demons, although Mary didn’t seem to recognize those from the lessons. “What are those!?” She asked, although she launched a volley of PSI blasts that dispatched half of the regrets at once. The explosives that the regrets carried dropped down, detonating half of the demons.
“Personal demons.” Sasha explained. “They are a manifestation of aggression and self-loathing. Fight them from a distance.” They were also what happened when you tried to fill an archetype with a PSI blast rather than anything substantial. Not particularly useful, but there was educational value in being able to summon arbitrary mental enemies. He split his Agent Archetype off, the black of his mental projection completely separating and manifesting an inked drawing of himself while leaving his projection extra bright and without shadow, and both of them started PSI blasting the tiny bombs.
After Mary easily dispatched a Panic Attack that suddenly appeared, as they do, they continued on. Unfortunately, despite the shattered castle, the entrance to Yomi Castle, as the kanji on the door revealed, was still sealed well enough that they couldn’t enter through the front door… mirror. “This way.” Sasha said as he prepared to fight through even more hazardous mental entities.
There was an entire firing squad of Bad Ideas accompanying the next set of demons and regrets, which made things difficult, but Mary’s fire support carried the day without too much issue. Fortunately, whatever mental defenses Tanya had erected to protect Honne castle had lapsed with the shattering of Tatemae, so it was an easy walk through the magic mirror to reach the other side, collecting figments on the way to stay fresh.
Unlike the previous castle, Honne castle was intact, although there were leaks of blood in certain spots. The first room encountered was a kitchen stocked with a dizzying array of food, reflecting the one they passed while getting here. Japanese bentos sat next to potato pancakes, a tower of chocolate and rice crackers looking over a simple coffee grinder. There was a mental entity there, preparing coffee.
“Who are you!?” Mary asked aggressively.
The entity, taking the form of a voluptuous woman with teddy bear ears on top of her head, turned around with a tantalizing cup of coffee, fully prepared despite her not being finished with her task. “Oh!” Mary paled at the woman’s face, which twisted into a fiercely protective anger. “Sioux!” She growled. “You will not harm the Major, Bloody Valkyrie!” The woman’s shape started to grow and mutate, the bear-like characteristics intensifying.
“Calm down, Miss.” Sasha said, standing between the woman and his charge. Bloody Valkyrie? Well, he supposed that Tanya’s side in the war was unlikely to have called her ‘The Devil of the Rhine’, so it made sense that her side would have a different name for Mary, as well.
Mary interjected: “That’s the Devil’s right hand!” She whispered fearfully.
“We’re not here to hurt Tanya, Miss.” Sasha said. “We’re here to help her.”
The bear-woman hesitated. “...Dr. von Schugel?” She asked, squinting at him.
“I don’t know who that is.” Sasha said quickly. Was that the name of the scientist he saw with his clairvoyance? “I am Agent Sasha Nein. You are?”
“Corporal Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov, 203rd Imperial Aerial Mage Battalion.” She replied crisply, her bear mutations fading back to the minimal amount she started with. “I’m the Major’s adjutant, and assist her in all things.”
One of the stories Milla shared about Tanya prickled Sasha’s memory. “Would that happen to be shortened to ‘Visha?’” he asked.
“That’s ‘Corporal Serebryakov’ to you.” She said, annoyed.
“Of course, Corporal.” Sasha demurred. “As you may already know, Tanya’s in quite a lot of pain right now, and we’re here to help mend it. Do you mind if we take a look around?”
“The Major would say that this is a restricted area, and all unauthorized personnel should leave, either voluntarily or with force.” Corporal Serebryakov recited. But then she hesitated. “But she doesn’t like using the type 95, so if you’re here to stop her…” Type 95? That’s interesting… “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” She eventually said, before vanishing.
Behind her, the coffee grinder had something very peculiar… a purse tag. Did she like coffee that much? Or was it associated with the memory of what was likely her best friend, to keep such a thorough copy with her? Sasha collected it nonetheless. Even with Milla’s mental energy bolstering his strength, he’d feel better about his chances if he had some emotional energy to boost his attacks with.
“What’s this weird thing?” Mary asked, picking up a skewer of some kind of fried dough. She ate one of them. “Ooh, it’s sweet!” She proclaimed, before continuing to eat it.
Sasha split off his agent archetype again, sending it to collect additional baggage tags and report the location of baggage. “I believe this is a collection of memories of food.” Sasha said for Mary’s benefit.
“Don’t eat the dango.” Corporal Serebryakov said as she re-appeared. Sasha’s Agent Archetype reported zero baggage, but two additional tags, and rejoined Sasha without another word. Idly, he double-checked the keyring of tags to confirm all three were present. “The Director was quite clear that you cannot be allowed to access Tanya’s memories.” Who was the Director? “So it’s time for you to leave.”
The manifestation transformed, a rifle with bayonet manifesting in her hand as her uniform changed to one of the aerial mage flight suits that Sasha saw in Mary’s mind. Sasha immediately used a shield to block the PSI blast, as powerful as Tanya’s usual ones, shot out of the rifle. Mary roared as the shining telekinetic aura erupted around her, firing off a volley of blasts that shattered the Corporal’s barrier and allowed Sasha to follow up with a pinpoint blast of his own, discorporating the mental entity temporarily. “Unfortunate.” Sasha said as he strode forward to what his archetype reported as an open entrance to Yomi castle.
They did have to fight through a few dozen censors, personal demons, and a judge to get to that mirror, but that was hardly worth mentioning for a psychonaut.
Yomi castle was awash with blood, soaked with the smell of rotting corpses and gunpowder. Explosions sound out in the distance, and the ground trembled in their wake. “Now this is what I expected from Tanya’s mind.” Mary said.
“Hurry along, now.” Sasha said. “If we’re lucky, we can siphon some emotional energy before engaging the nightmare entity currently controlling Tanya’s actions.” Insane laughter echoed through the halls before a larger explosion than normal followed it. After a few turns in the halls, Sasha walked through the curtain of blood that separated them from the room.
Inside was a classroom, a lecture hall barely distinguishable from any other college class. In front of the class was a model city, surrounded by toy soldiers and other pieces of equipment. He noted a particularly large quantity of artillery among the props.
Mary recognized the model. “Arenne!” She said, walking to the site of the massacre she had previously mentioned.
Sasha’s attention was instead drawn by the cowering memory vault, hiding underneath a specific desk. Given that there were many better hiding spots, Sasha surmised that Tanya had sat there, once upon a time.
When Mary approached the model, a massive quantity of personal demons were dropped on their heads from Deep Regets, who followed it up with more conventional bombs. After they shielded themselves from the detonations and blasted away the mental entities, Tanya’s voice rang out from what appeared to be speakers attached to the ceiling. “Orders from HQ.” She began. Her voice was distorted, as if relayed through a radio. “The Operation is a go. The city of Arenne is solely occupied by enemy forces. Neutralize: Every. Enemy. The captured Imperial soldiers have been brutally murdered by the Francois Republic. There’s no need to hold back. Bring down the hammer, GLORY TO THE KAISER!”
As Tanya’s voice went, the toy artillery started bombarding the model town. Fires started and spread rapidly, as calculated fire achieved maximum saturation.
A different voice, a male one, commanded the speakers now. “Begin pursuit.”
Tanya’s voice replied back. “Copy that. Pixie 01 requesting target.” Briefly, Sasha recalled Tanya saying that she hated fairies and pixies of all kinds, refusing to back down on that stance even after Lili cried.
The voice returned. “HQ to Pixie. The remaining enemy mages are serving as a rear guard. After the rear guards are neutralized, the artillery will begin another bombardment. Try to keep it under ten minutes.”
Tanya’s voice did not waver from the pure professionalism, but the ground trembled with the next word. “This is Wing Pixie. Mission Acknowledged… We’ll do our best.”
A third voice, full of passion and without radio artifacts muddling it, shouted in objection to those words. “Commander! I beg you to reconsider! If we kill them…”
Tanya’s voice was even icier without the radio’s distortion blocking it. “If we kill them, enemies of the Empire will be taken out. That is a good thing.”
“But!”
“Second Lieutenant Grantz.” Tanya’s voice softened a bit, quieter, but still sharp enough to stab in Sasha’s heart to hear. “Haven’t you shot the Francois Republic’s light mages and crushed enemy skulls in the trenches?”
“Well, yes, but-”
“They’ve proven themselves to be soldiers of the Francois Republic. There are no more common citizens in the city anymore, there is nothing to worry about.” Sasha suspected that the person she was speaking with couldn’t properly hear her tone and emphasis, but with the odd clarity of this memory… Tanya had thought about this day a lot. “I know how you feel.” Tanya continued. “I was forced to make a choice in a similar dilemma too. But no matter what you choose, people will die.”
Grantz remained silent at this point, but Sasha suspected it was less because he was quiet and more to do with Tanya not remembering what he said next. “If you don’t shoot, you will get shot.“ The conviction of those words… Well, he knew it would be bad… ”Above all, it’s an order. Here, let me show you how it’s done.”
The silver figurine among the toys fired a PSI blast to the city, creating small explosions that were proportionately quite large. After each shot, Tanya’s voice came out, higher pitched and slightly maddened, like a girl wanting her parents to watch her do a handstand. “Like this. Are you watching, Grantz? You do it like… this.”
Eventually, Grantz, as the memory named him, begged Tanya to stop. “Commander! Please-urk” a meaty thwack interrupted his plea.
“I will pretend I didn’t notice your mutiny just now. Now, pick up the gun, it’s time for business.” Finished Tanya’s voice before the silver figurine charged into the city with the other toy soldiers.
It was a fascinating memory. Sasha’s never had the chance to examine a war crime from the perspective of the criminal before. But… her wording. Was it a war crime? Were there really prisoner executions? Or was the line about ‘no common citizens’ a lie she was instructed to repeat? How could generals possibly think that would fly? There was context missing.
“Monstrous!” Declared Mary. “How could she command such an atrocity and declare it good!”
Sasha hummed. “It didn’t sound like she was in charge.” He observed. “She was ordered to attack, and she did.” Sasha took out a cigarette, lighting it and giving it a good inhale. Ah, he needed that. He walked to the vault, kicking it open and retrieving the… “What is this?” It didn’t look like anything he had ever seen.
“...I don’t know.” Mary replied. “I know Mr. Janitor’s mind had a weird binocular thing, but my mind just had folders.”
There was a second object in there, with a metal connector. After a brief search, he found a matching socket on the thin screen, although he had trouble inserting it the first two times, which turned into a more familiar sight: a slideshow. It was in full color, but he tapped the screen with a finger and it moved to the next slide. “Hm, interesting.” He said. How did this work? Well, it was a mental construct, so that wasn’t in question, but if it was reality, how would it work? “Apparently, the legal basis for Arenne was penned by Tanya herself, as an assignment when she attended… Officer school?”
Mary immediately corrected him. “Tanya von Degurechaff graduated Berun’s War College as one of twelve knights, earning her the least title of nobility. I have read up on what Albion managed to gather of her service jacket.” That did explain why she had a ‘von’ in her name.
“So would you call this an early part of her career?” Sasha asked. It probably wasn’t. Wars didn’t typically open with war crimes, after all.
“...More of the middle.” She admitted. “She did something very early in the war that earned her the Silver Wings Assault medal. That one’s usually only given posthumously. Then,” Mary started counting on her fingers as she rattled off a rough timeline. “-she earned her title fighting on the Rhine front, left for War College, came back with the 203rd, spearheaded the invasion of Osfjord, killed a lot more of my countrymen, including my father, moved to fight the Francois some more… then Arenne. I’m a little fuzzy on what she did, beyond killing Francois, between Arenne and the war erupting in the Southern continent, but that’s where I came in.”
Sasha hummed at the list. “Well, let’s move on.”
The next room in the blood-soaked corridors was blocked by a door that was tarnished silver, with a symbol in the middle. “This is probably where she won that medal.” Mary concluded.
The area past the door was a hospital room, the stench of antiseptics thick. Like before, there was a model of a battlefield on a table. On the bed was a tote bag, weeping the same as any other emotional baggage. He quickly attached the tag, channeling the emotional energy into himself in preparation for the battle ahead.
Boredom. Tension. Trepidation. An image of a dozen men approaching. Fear. Begging. Terror. Horror. Panic. Despair. Resolve. Resignation. Acceptance of Death. Desperation. PAIN.
Before Sasha could fully make sense of the emotional snarl, Milla’s mental energy being the only possible explanation how he was able to withstand the power of the built up emotions so easily, the model battlefield played the memory.
“Theatre-wide warning from Cherubim Leader!” Came a grainy, patchy voice, like a radio with significant interference. “Confirming a large number of bogeys coming near! Norden control to all aerial units on standby! Commence Air Defense Guerrilla Warfare!”
Mary gasped. “Norden was the first battle of the war… She was there?” She carefully examined the battlefield. “Father was there, too…” Reading between those lines, Mr. Sioux clearly survived that battle.
Tanya’s voice rang out with equal amounts of radio interference, which did actually make sense, if you considered that she’d be hearing that interference along with her own voice. “Confirming large-scale border transgression of Alliance sorcerer units!” The static intensified. A fearful whisper, independent of the static: “Their target must be… me!”
Immediately, the toy soldiers on the model started approaching the lone silver figure. Instantly, the scene zoomed in as both Sasha and Mary were shrunk and inhabited the memory in its entirety. Tanya’s voice remained unnaturally clear, despite the loud radio static that accompanied it. Her panic was easily discernable. “Mayday! Mayday! Fairy 08 to Norden control! Requesting Emergency assistance! Sensing group of enemy sorcerers the size of a company! They’re rapidly drawing close!” One thing that Sasha noticed was that Tanya’s voice was at an even higher register than the previous one. It was subtle, but there was a growl to her voice in the Arenne memory that was missing in this one.
The radio static eased. “Norden Control to Fairy 08, give us a sitrep!” But she already- Ah, communication troubles. Of course.
“Enemy contact!” Shouted Tanya’s voice in a panic, desperately repeating her report. “A company-sized unit of enemy sorcerers are currently infiltrating!” The darkened shadows of flying men, about a dozen of them, closed in on the memory-Tanya’s position.
“Norden Control, roger. Hold your current position and commence delaying combat.” Hold position? Combat? Outnumbered Twelve to one?
Tanya’s panicked voice seemed to agree. “Great difference in combat strength! Requesting reinforcements! Requesting permission for an immediate withdrawal!”
Mary scoffed. “The Devil of the Rhine laughs at ten to one odds.”
Sasha hummed disapprovingly at her bombast. “This was likely her very first taste of combat. She’s terrified.” Mary seemed to think about his words rather than dismiss them.
“Unable to grant permission at this time.” Came the emotionless words of the radio. Sasha noted that radio discipline had faded away. Was it because that was how it happened, or was that her recalling the events imperfectly?
“IF YOU WANT ME TO DIE, JUST SAY SO!” Shouted Tanya, although he doubted that she actually said that. Thought it, perhaps. Memories were like that. Mary flinched, realizing her previous error.
“Conduct delaying combat until friendly rapid reaction force arrives.” The radio voice ordered. “ETA 300 seconds.” Five minutes with a dozen grown men trying to kill her? He sympathized with her previous statement.
“TO HELL WITH THAT!” Shouted Tanya’s voice. “Norden Control, I will show you a fight until the very end!”
The pause was probably less dramatic in reality, but it stretched on as Tanya’s words echoed with conviction “...Roger.”
The fight began. Tanya’s PSI blasts were even more powerful in this life than the next, as she killed one of the enemy soldiers with it as well as juked around the air to avoid return fire. There was always a casual elegance in Tanya’s levitation, where even when she performed feats that would ruin any possible sense of balance, she transitioned between motions and positions as smoothly as any figure skater. There was none of that elegance here, as she jerked through the air violently as if pulled to and fro like a giant playing with a doll. Or someone put on the spot to perform a full figure skating routine after just learning how to not fall down.
Tanya’s voice continued, panting and babbling as she fought with her life on the line. “Even if I am a little girl, it’s natural that they won’t go easy on me! Everyone should know that it’s the blind belief in altruism that’s the real danger!” That statement did make significantly more sense with the knowledge of her being a mental adult… but how old was she at this point? He suspected that it was… very young. Was she even as old as she was now? She looked younger… “Doping with magic interferences!” Oh no. “Increasing reaction speed! Blocking sense of pain! Fully opening magic power circuits!” Was she… drugging herself? He’d argue against it… but she was put in an impossible spot.
Her voice dissolved into the maniacal laughter, all reason having vanished in the rush of whatever neurochemical cocktail her ‘magic’ doped her up with, as the sky in the memory started to rain blood. The soldiers decided to settle the battle with close-quarters combat, which was a poor move on their part. Tanya’s strength, augmented with the hysteria she imposed on herself, tore through four men using the very same telekinetic blades that she nearly killed Ford with, whatever shields they could muster as protective as paper before the berserk girl.
Tanya seized the body of one of the shoulders, and activating some kind of suicide technique, detonating the pocket watch-like device that she had been clutching when she had been activating her berserk state. As her body fell down to the ground, darkness encroaching on the memory, Sasha noticed the man’s radio falling just next to Tanya’s body, his severed arm still clutching it. “Lieutenant Colonel Sioux! We’re at our limit!” came a faint voice from all around, just barely on the edge of Tanya’s hearing. Mary gasped in shock. Wasn’t Sioux her last name, in her last life? Was that her father?
Another, slightly clearer, voice replied. “We crushed the spotter. Break away!” Mary let out a strangled cry at that voice, utterly baffled as to how to respond. Sounds like she recognized it. The darkness of unconsciousness enveloped the mental realm.
The two of them were ejected back into the hospital room, but there was now a representation of Tanya, thoroughly bandaged. There was a shadowy figure, wearing a nurse cap looming over the girl. “You’re awake?” The shadow asked with a kind voice. “Good. You’re going to be fine, girl. No permanent damage, you’ll be back in the air in two weeks, right after they give you that fancy medal.”
“...medal?” Tanya’s pitifully weak voice said.
“Yep! Act surprised, but they’re going to give you the Silver Wings Assault Medal. You’ll be the first one to receive it while still able to serve in decades! The youngest, too. Then again, they didn’t let nine year olds serve in the army back then. And we have magic medicine now.” The shadow scoffed. “They probably shouldn’t let you serve, but it’s not my call on whether or not you’re fit for duty, sadly. I just clean the patients” The shadow continued to do… something to Tanya’s body. She clearly didn’t remember exactly what routine medical task was happening during this conversation. It doesn’t matter. After about a minute of silence, the shadow stood up. “That’ll be it from me. You should get some more rest, dear. Good night!”
The memory ended with one last murmured whimper from Tanya, her words choked with tears. “...Do I really need my left arm?” Before everything reset.
Sasha would like to say that he expected literal war memories to be at least this terrible. He won’t, because that would be a lie. Witnessing this… it was enlightening, to say the least. Also nauseating. And horrifying.
Mary was literally gagging, with the only reason she managed to avoid vomiting was that mental projections could not do so.
“You know, I never noticed that before.” Came Tanya’s voice from… behind! “Was the good Lt. Colonel your father, Sioux? Was the voice announcing my likely death the same one that told you that he loved your fantastic gift of a gun that he could use to kill Imperials even younger than you are?” Mary sobbed at Tanya’s taunt. “It was a very nice gun, to be fair. You have excellent taste in murder implements. Going into the killing business professionally was your best decision. I should know, I’m a bit of an expert on the subject.” With each sentence, Mary slammed her own head on the ground, trying to distract herself from the cutting words of Tanya’s violent thoughts.
The entity that wore Tanya’s face was… horrific. Her hands were wicked claws, and her forearms and hands were coated with constantly dripping blood. She wore the tatters of a flight suit, barely decent, and she bore butterfly wings of tarnished silver. Embedded in her chest was a beautiful clockwork contraption in shining gold, a cross separating four distinct mechanisms, all circled with a golden three-wing design. Sasha’s instincts as an engineer immediately identified the wings as heat dissipation, which was not particularly useful when it conducted that heat into flesh. More importantly, was that what he thought it was?
The most noteworthy aesthetic adjustment, however, was the cracks. Cracks riddled the entity, the edges reminding him of cracked masonry. Golden light shined from the cracks as well as her eyes, the cracks closer to the clockwork device shining brighter than the ones more distant. It wasn’t even clear that her body parts were attached with matter, or if she was a bunch of fleshy chunks floating in the shape of a girl. The largest single crack, if one ignored the one the device was implanted in, was on her head, right where she identified the origin of her headache: specifically, the right orbitofrontal cortex, associated with feelings of guilt and shame.
“I can’t kill you here… but there’s also no reason to keep you around.” The Devil of the Rhine said, decapitating Mary’s projection with her claws. Mary screamed and dissolved, her projection rocketing back to her body. The entity turned to Sasha, her glowing golden eyes filled with bloodlust. “You, on the other hand…” She gestured, and nightmare tendrils erupted from beneath Sasha’s feet, pulling him downward.
Psychonauts were, fundamentally, explorers. He didn’t resist being pulled into the nightmare realm, because even if he was to be ejected from Tanya’s mind, he would have more information than he had before.
Well, there was also the backup plan, but that was Milla’s task. The scientist archetype that he left behind in his body did not report any complications, so he assumed it was proceeding as planned.
The Devil of the Rhine attacked relentlessly at a blistering pace within the arena that was the nightmare realm, but like all Panic Attacks, she was vulnerable to the Time Bubble psychic power. It was not an easy power to develop, most Psychonauts preferred using confusion grenades to deal with them, as even if it wasn’t as effective, it still worked. The Devil of the Rhine moved about twice as fast as any Panic Attack, but when slowed, that just put them at the speed of a regular censor.
As he deflected and struck out at the incredibly durable hostile entity, scenes and sounds of Tanya getting maimed, killed, suffering in poverty, starving, and otherwise just played increasingly horrible alternate results of the injury he had just witnessed her sustaining. Her literal nightmares, presumably. She’s got a lot of them, from all reports.
Eventually, he wore the entity down enough to force it to retreat, his astral form tattered from the superior fighting skill and strength of his enemy, but intact. Without the support of Milla’s mental energy, it would likely have defeated him.
Suddenly, he felt another inflow of mental energy. It was new, unfamiliar to him, and very large. After a moment of analysis, he relaxed. It was Mary, who was presumably convinced by the Scientist that it was a more useful means of assisting than jumping back in.
His archetype sent him a missive, confirming his guess. Mary instantly comprehended the technique after it was explained that earnestly praying for his success would be sufficient for the mental energy to flow. It was why the Vatican’s small cadre of psychic agents were so terrifyingly powerful, even if they were relatively new and had little in the way of institutional experience.
Still, with the Devil beaten back, Sasha moved on to the next traumatic memory. The room was a bedroom, spartan but functional. The model battlefield was instead some kind of structure, with the distinctive silver figure standing with one other, larger figure in some kind of concrete lot adjacent to it and enclosed with fencing. The sandbags set off to the side with figures behind them twigged a spark of recognition. It was a weapons testing range. The giant X that the silver figure was standing on was… ominous.
There was emotional baggage here as well, a sobbing jewelry box. That was a new one to him. It did explain why that tag looked more like a lock, though. Despite the power of the emotions, Milla’s support easily managed it for him as it was mixed with the mental energy the two girls were sending him.
Frustration. Anger. Frustration. Curiosity. Joy. Relief. Surprise. Suspicion. Anger. Resignation. Fear. Panic. Hatred. Spite. Shock. Defeat. Horror. Pain. Euphoria. Resignation. Relief. Disgust. Resignation.
With that buffet of emotions finally processed, Sasha turned his attention towards whatever that flareup of emotional energy triggered. “The type 95 testing is discontinued?” Tanya’s hopeful voice rang out from the bed. An image of her appeared, wearing a custom-fitted uniform, as she smiled with glee at a letter. “I’m still in the Instruction core, too! This is amazing!”
From the model facility, a completely different sentiment was echoed. “This is a disaster!” Turning his attention to the scene change, Sasha observed the model as the scene progressed. “Doktor, can’t we stop this? We’ll be blown away with the testing field.”
A new voice replied to her inquiry. “Ah, sacrifices must be made for science to advance.” Normally, Sasha would fully agree with that sentiment. But that tone… “Besides, I’m here with you, so you’re not alone.”
“I’m a soldier, not a scientist, Dr. von Schugel.” Tanya said dryly.
“Then it’s an order, Sorcery Second Lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff.” The voice harshly responded.
There was a pause. “...Beginning magic flow to the Elenium Type 95.” Tanya said mechanically. The pair of figures were surrounded by rings of energy as the device channeled the powers Tanya commanded. Ah, that was the thing the ‘Visha’ projection mentioned. At least he’ll get some answers about that, even if the context he did have was… not promising.
“There is no need to worry.” The madman said cheerfully. “Success is guaranteed! I had a divine revelation the other day.” He barked out a laugh. “If we are to both pray to God for success, then those with faith will be saved!” What kind of scientist would say such a thing? Disgusting.
Tanya gaped in wide-eyed shock before taking the only sane response that was possible. “Halting the test! Activating safety mechanisms! I’d rather face court martial!”
“I disabled the safety mechanisms!” The fanatic proclaimed. “Don’t be haughty! Let us accept God’s doings into our modest feelings.”
“Like hell!” Tanya shouted back. The energies surrounding the scene built up to a greater and greater scale.
“Let us pray together!” The lunatic yelled, ignoring Tanya. “You too, have met God before, haven’t you!”
“It’s going to explode!” Tanya shouted. “It’s not just my mana anymore!”
The scene… paused. Noise behind him prompted Sasha to turn and see the mental entity that Sasha saw in Mary’s mind stand before another Tanya. The one she called ‘God.’
“You planned this!” Accused Tanya. “You’re the one who convinced that madman to get me killed!” She sighed. “Well, enjoy your hollow victory. Oblivion awaits.” Victory?
“You have not died yet, Tanya Degurechaff.” God said. “After much debate, I have decided to bless the type 95 as a relic. It will allow you to feel My favor, with words of prayer flowing along with the miracle of the orb, so that you can believe in My Light.”
“So you’ve come up with a new scheme, Being X.” Tanya replied. Sasha didn’t think Tanya had it in her to be this flippant against something so obviously powerful. Then again, memories did have a striking tendency to edit in the things the person wished they had said, rather than what they actually said. “If I want to live through this cruel world, I have to use this cursed orb.” Tanya cackled. “What a scheme! It’s like fairness has been struck from the world in a single blow!” Tanya took a deep breath. “What about my body, then?”
“You have been saved by My favor.” Being X replied. “Now go, and spread My name.”
The scene on the model restarted, the energy detonating. The terrain was devastated, but the two figures in the center of the destruction were unharmed. “It is a miracle!” Announced Dr. von Schugel. “Degurechaff! You have praised God as well! Show us! Show us the miracle!”
Tanya groaned in aggravation, but acquiesced to the implicit order. “Starting orb…” She said, as unenthusiastic as Sasha had ever seen her. A shining light emanated from the air around her, to many awed voices calling out in prayer and the miracle.
Tanya, on the other hand… started forming the golden cracks, only a few on her chest and one on her face, that were sported by the Devil of the Rhine. “The Lord’s miracle is great!” She cried out, overjoyed as her eyes shined gold. She started to sing, with a voice that Sasha could only call angelic. “Praise the Lord, in His name the highest of honor…” Dr. von Schugel danced with the tiny girl he had nearly killed, smiling and singing along.
The scene devolved into rapturous partying as they celebrated what could only be a genuine miracle, a true wonder weapon granted by God. “Mein Gott in himmel…” Sasha whispered, horrified before wincing at his ironic exclamation of shock. “So that’s the source of mind control…” The only good news to that disaster was that the source of it was surely gone, if it was tied to that… Type 95. But the damage… was already done.
Well, this was exactly the kind of thing that roused the Psychonauts to war. There was no nation that led this atrocity, but… there was at least an enemy to fight.
Sasha walked on, freely spending Mary’s near-endless supply of mental energy to obliterate any mental entity that dared impede his travel. Was she drawing from Being X as well? It was a good name for the mysterious entity, in Sasha’s opinion. Stripped of religious iconography, it indicated them as exactly what they were: an existence of unknown nature.
When did she first meet it? That clearly wasn’t the first time. Was it… their first death? Did Tanya enter her second life with the full knowledge that an entity with tremendous power had it in for them, specifically? Milla mentioned that she thought it might be the case…
Sasha was beginning to understand why Tanya was so paranoid. When even people you knew well could have a ‘divine revelation’ and do something beyond all reason… With the enemy being fully capable and willing of using outright mind control…
Well, the result would look something like Tanya.
Comments
Chris Larson
A very useful word for Sasha in the future: Maltheist - The belief that the divine does exist but it is of negative and hostile disposition, aka"God exists but he's an asshole".
