A Mental-Scape of My Creation

Sat beside the sleeping Savina, Rio was almost finished changing the bandages on Savina's arms. Glancing at Savina's sleeping face, Rio still felt troubled. "Elenwen, is Savina going to be ok? I just… You know. She's been asleep for days."

Tearing the bandage with her teeth, Elenwen nodded. "I'm sure Savina will be fine, Rio. This is just how her body is going about healing itself and besides. Her body is replenishing its mana reserves at a much higher rate than I anticipated. It can't be long now until she wakes up. Then you three can go about saving the continent, or whatever you kids get up to these days."

Putting the bandages down, Rio turned back to Elenwen. "Tell me, why doesn't Savina like you? Whilst it's true I've never met any other witches, you've been nice."

"I'm pretty sure I know her reasons." Finishing changing the bandages on Savina's legs, Elenwen exhaled. "But that's not my story to tell I'm afraid. You can ask Savina. But I doubt she'll tell you. I personally don't blame her, witches from other covens..." Standing up, Elenwen collected the bandages, placing them on a tray. Picking the tray up, Elenwen looked back to Rio. "They are truly something to hate and fear." Leaving, Elenwen moved downstairs.

Turning back to Savina, Rio stood up walking to the window he looked outside.

~~

Hearing voices surrounding her, Savina opened her eyes. "What…" Picking herself up, Savina didn't recognise the dark area she found herself in. Attempting to create a fireball to illuminate her surroundings, Savina was unable to cast her magic. Stood in the pitch-black space, Savina called into the darkness.

"Hello! Is there anyone here!"

A wave of nausea passed through Savina as she was alerted to the presence of something behind her. Turning around, Savina instinctively reached out for her fire, to little avail. Two red eyes pierced through the darkness.

Taking stock of her situation, "Are you, did you bring me here?"

The creature made no attempts to speak, Savina took a step backwards as she felt mana beginning to form around the creature.

"Hey now, I'm sure we can talk about where I am and who you are."

Five skeleton hands appeared out of the darkness, lurching towards Savina.

Putting her arms up to brace for the attack, Savina's foot caught on something. Falling backwards, Savina grit her teeth.

Jolting upwards, Savina looked around. The room was filled with the soft sounds of burning which came from the fireplace to Savina's left. "This place looks familiar."

"I sure hope it does."

Savina smiled, recognising the voice behind her, Savina turned around.

"Nama!"

Sat with one leg crossed over the other, Nama winked as she took a sip from her cup.

"Where have you been!"

"About that." Placing her cup onto the saucer she held in her other hand, Nama put it to one side. "Yeahhhhhh, I'm sorry about that. I kind of got in trouble with bringing you back as my Champion, so I got blocked from accessing the Stream." Sighing, Nama continued. "But all of that doesn't matter now. Because I'm back."

Looking at where she had come from, Savina stuck a thumb at the empty air. "I have two questions, what was that and why can't I access my magic?"

"Where you came from?" Crossing her arms, Nama lay further back on the couch. "Well, I summoned you here. This is a mental-scape of my creation. We Divine use these to directly communicate with our Champions. This can usually only be done when the Champion is asleep or unconscious, although a God can force their Champion to come here if an urgent matter arises. Also, the reason why you can't use magic." Nama tapped her temple. "This is all inside your head."

"Huh, I see… So what do the red eyes have to do with this mental-scape?"

Squinting, Nama repeated Savina's words. "Red eyes? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I woke up in a dark area and there were these creepy red eyes, and then there were these hands made of darkness."

Hearing this, Nama held her chin. "There is a chance that something could have tried to latch onto the connection that I've made between our minds. Although it will have to have been something powerful, do you know what that could be?"

Patting herself off, Savina sat in an empty seat. "No? We're staying at Elenwen's house, but I doubt she'll have anything to do with that."

"Elenwen. That name sounds familiar. She's a Witch, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. Last of the Coven of Binding."

Nama nodded. "I've heard of them before, they have the strongest sealing magics in the entire continent, if not the world. Their power to seal is supposedly strong enough to seal gods… They disappeared roughly. I don't know, eighteen, maybe twenty years ago. But it's unimportant right now. I have something important to tell you." Clasping her hands together, Nama beamed a smile at Savina.

Confused, Savina leaned forward slightly. "And that is?"

Nama joined Savina in leaning forward. "I can unlock your Champion skills now. I know you saw on the system that your skills were locked, but now that Rigus has finally agreed to relinquish the lock on your skills, you'll finally be able to use the powers befitting the Champion of Knowledge."

Hearing this, Nama had piqued Savina's interest.

"Powers befitting the Champion of Knowledge, you say. I've only seen a few of Iseul's Champion Skills in action, and they seem strong. What powers would you be able to give me?"

"I only know a few of the skills that you'll unlock for certain. Of course, the skills that each Champion gains from their own Gods are different. Such as how the skills Iseul has as the Champion of the Hunt will be different from the skills you will get from being my Champion. But even the skills the previous Champion of Knowledge acquired will be different compared to the skills you will acquire. A lot of it is to do with mental state."

"Mental state?"

"Mhm, mhm, mental state. I'm sure you'll figure it out as you head north to get the next member of your party."

Even more confused, Savina lightly rubbed her hands together. "What do you mean by that Nama? Why do you keep saying such strange things?"

"Oh right." Laughing, Nama stood up. Clapping her hands, a crystal ball appeared between her hands. Peering into it, Nama smiled, passing the ball to Savina. "So, do you know where you are going next?"

Catching the ball, Savina eyed it with confusion. "Uh yeah. I'm going to try and get in touch with the Demon Lord Api."

"Api? Wait, isn't that one of the seventeen Demon Lords contracted with the Demon King? What could you possibly get from interacting with him."

"Api's connection with the Demon King is exactly what I want. I need to ask Api why the Demon King is preparing to wage war on Ruoroa."

Smiling, Nama rubbed her cheek before holding her hand out to Savina. "Well then. I won't take up much more of your time, Savina. Now that we're able to freely talk. If you ever need me, I'm only a message away."

Standing, Savina took Nama's hand. "Thank you, Nama."

The room around Savina began to fade away. Familiar voices rang in Savina's ears as Savina opened her eyes. Blinking as her blurred vision began to come into focus.

Seeing Rio, Iseul and Elenwen stood around her. Savina couldn't help but smile.

Clearing her throat, Savina spoke. "Hey, guys, what did I miss?"

"Savina!" Rio knelt beside the bed. "You had us so worried. You've been asleep for almost a week."

Walking behind Rio, Elenwen grabbed Rio's head with one hand, shaking his head. "You were the only one worrying. I told you, Savina was just recovering from mana exhaustion. Speaking of, how do you feel, Savina?"

"I feel." Moving her arms, Savina flexed her fingers. "Sore, extremely sore. Like somebody has been beating my entire body with a stick. I've only seen mana exhaustion before. I'm going to do my best to never repeat this." Savina lightly chuckled."

"We can only hope. If you push your body that far again, you might wind up causing permanent damage to your body. You were lucky to get away with just those scars." Elenwen added.

"Scars?" Looking at the bandages covering her hands, covering her arms. Savina pouted as she reached up to her neck, feeling more bandages.

"I'm afraid so. Whilst you were asleep, I studied your body. How your magic acted was, strange. The damage your fire did was superficial, the fire only damaged your skin. Since I wasn't there, I can't be absolutely certain, but I believe you subconsciously protected your body even whilst in this enraged state. Your ability to manipulate magic is quite impressive."

"Being complimented by a Witch." Savina dryly chuckled. "I guess I can write that off of my bucket list… But seriously, are there other things I should be careful about on account of my mana exhaustion?"

"Um. Yes actually." Pulling a mana potion out of her robes. Elenwen held it out for Savina. "Drink this whilst I explain."

Taking the vial of blue liquid from Elenwen, Savina pulled the cork out, proceeding to drink from it.

"Put simply, Savina. During my examination of your body, the superficial scarring on your skin wasn't the only thing I noticed." Elenwen hesitated, taking her hat off. Elenwen fiddled with it for a moment before continuing. "Savina, when you became enraged, your mana became erratic. The mana currents in your body are in total disarray... If you use your violet fire again before you have fully healed. It could cause permanent irrevocable damage to both your body and your mana currents."