Inside her room, Ain gasped for breath as she sat cross legged on the bed. Beads of sweat sullied her forehead, and tears welled in her eyes. Realizing she had lost Arman to her nemesis, to John Doe. He had slipped into Arman's dreamscape despite her attempts at barricading his thoughts. A quick mind scan gave her a clear view the false memories he had begun planting into Arman, with her at the center of a hate-filled nightmarish sequence and episodes.
She knew he's helped by others hiding in the shadows of his mind. Knew why he had been keeping quiet for the longest while; a lull to entice her and Arman into complacency, in letting their guard down assuming he would not strike again so soon. Thinking he was unable to do anything because of something as frail as mere distance.
Stupid, Ain. That was so stupid and now you're going to lose Arman to this diabolical man.
Instinctively, Ain knew what she needed to do.
Calming herself, Ain closed her eyes, focused, and once again entered Arman's mind, finding herself wading deep within an expanding pond in malevolent black mass, liquid tendrils probing, infecting her companion's memories. Distorting them with torrid, sexually deviant images and acts. Ain winced in response to the intense depravation she was seeing.
She steeled herself from going all nova and destroying Arman's mind in the process.
Ain knew she must deal with the threat with far greater finesse, with measures subtler. One that would not leave her companion comatose or worse.
I'm handling this wrongly. Ignore everything else. Concentrate on what's necessary
Focusing her attention inwards, Ain couldn't help but be in complete awe as she took in the breadth expanse of Arman's complex mind, the nook and corners leading to more memories, some cherished and brought to the front, to be frequently accessed, and others, hidden and relegated to the archives - in forgotten moments, painful incidents he didn't wish to neither recollect nor remember.
For a moment, a fleeting image of her own memories flashed in Ain's mind, reminding her of a systematic, yet circular train, starting and ending with a block of nothingness, blank yet comforting. Ain allowed herself but a few second to grasps its significance, before concentrating again on the jumbled up, haphazard manner of how Arman subconsciously organized his mind.
She spied some structured areas, those related to work, and study, things he needed to use during his university days, of procedures, rules and regulations, formulas, techniques, all held in abeyance, readily accessed as and when he needed the information.
This is for you, my dear friend.
She created a sphere of bright light which soon hovered above the structures she had targeted, then two, three, and more. Spheres which then enlarged and began to cocoon portions of Arman's memories. At the same time, Ain spied John Doe's putrid, black mass spreading to another set of memories, and she knew she would have to fortify as many original thoughts and memories still unaffected as fast as she could, praying silently there were still many left intact to protect.
Ain went to work, canvassing every memory block she discovered and placing them inside her translucent light spheres. She could see John Doe had almost completed his infection of Arman's more recent memories, presumably those with her in them. She needed time and thus moved herself directly in front of John Doe who continued to wear the guise of Dr Kendall or Canny. The woman Arman was in love with.
Still afraid to appear in person, aren't we? Why is that, John? Or should I call you chicken shit instead?
Kendall sneered at Ain's remarks, her eyes malevolent and filled with pure hatred.
you can call me anything bitch your friend is now mine he's gone would you like to a sneak peek as to how he sees you now you bitch ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
As the maniacal laughter filled the air, dense and dank, Kendall conjured forth the mental images of Ain in sexual orgies with several men as Arman stood watching. Disgust and hatred shining clear in his eyes.
She knew enough to not care, as she silently assessed the extent of the damage John Doe had inflicted on the memory blocks in their immediate vicinity. Almost everything was a putrid black mass, and she could see the tendrils inching towards the areas were still uninfected.
Why are you doing this?
why not I hate you hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate
I don't even know you.
you do know me bitch you know me you know me bitch bitch bitch
You're such a child, John. Can't even engage me in a conversation, can you? Is that why you hate me? Because I'm everything you aren't. You're both a coward and a loser
She easily evaded Kendall when her opponent retaliated with physical force, hands outstretched aiming for Ain's neck, a nasty shriek from her open mouth. A swift and sharp elbow strike to her back sent Kendall sprawling.
Clumsy too. Why don't you leave him alone?
Kendall gathered herself up, and Ain finally saw the man within the leering and hissing visage. A wrinkly, much burdened soul. Internally ravaged for unknowingly using his lifeforce to power abilities she knew was not his own. The three unknowns channeling their strength into him to tap into his diminishing cauldron of energies fueled by pure hatred. They knew but didn't care. He, too, was a victim as they had their own agenda. Kendall hissed.
why should I this is so much fun you get to watch people suffer because of you
Remaining calm and composed, Ain once again held out her right hand, creating a light sphere which she manipulated to hover inches above Kendall and Arman.
what do we have here what are trying to do with your light show bitch what a show-off
Ain answered with a sly smile as she continued focusing on the huge black mass in tainted memories of Arman's time with her. Kendall eyed her warily, her mouth agape. She then cocooned the two lovers inside the light sphere, just as she did with Arman's untainted memories.
what the hell are you doing
Forgive me, Arman.
Ain's body suddenly turned true black, darkness which then expanded in size and intensity flooding over everything in its path, the speed and single-mindedness of purpose catching John's invisible patrons completely by surprised. Two managed to flee in time, sacrificing one as their buffer, consumed by a blackness darker than the putridity they had pushed forth from within John.
And as swiftly it appeared, the storm of pure darkness was equal to the task in dissipating. Searing out everything in the mindscape leaving in its place a complete void. Ain and the sphere protecting Kendall and Arman remained hanging mid-air in a vast emptiness. She released the cocoon and the two stared wide-eyed, stunned by the destruction before them.
what have you done what have you done
Snarling viciously at her young opponent, the Kendall's persona then stretched itself, pulling her body and limbs in opposite direction and disappearing. Arman collapsed into a heap, held steady by a platform of pure light.
Her opponent gone, Ain let out a sigh, her body shuddering as the tears fell. A few moments passed before she calmed down and began a survey of her friend's vacant mind.
Get a hold of yourself, Ain. You've got loads of work to do. Now is not the time to mope.
She began her repairs, introducing a spherical lump of earth kneaded on by invisible hand to stretch into layers of undulating landscape which soon were filled with hills, valleys and plains, as rain fills up cracks in the mold. Life began sprouting in green grass carpets, shrubs and tall trees filling every crease, all crevices, with a tranquil expanse of flora, and streams of crystal-clear waters, the sound of their passages soothing, inviting, completing the make-over.
A wry smile appeared on her face as Ain brought into the lush vista all the translucent spheres where she had cocooned and protected Arman's untainted memory blocks from the reset she inflicted. By the time she's done, thousands of such spheres dotted his vibrant again mindscape, tasked with keeping the contents within intact and accessible with a deliberate probe by its owner.
Ain paused to view her handiwork, said: "Goodbye, Arman" and disappeared as the landscape began to glow with life.