Solar Mage

Chapter 77: Second Lock

Despite there being no such killing intent directed at me, my body freezes over just from my mind's panicked imagination, heavily warning of the dangerous killing intent that simply doesn't exist.

"Oh no, I was just–"

The killing intent– it's just too powerful–

No it fucking isn't get a fucking grip on yourself. God, these fragments are so rowdy these days, who do they think I am? An amateur? I'm sure all of my memories were shared with them so they should know what I'm like.

Martha swiftly places her hand over my mouth, and carries me in her hands like I were a princess.

"Don't talk Arthur, you haven't recovered yet."

She says, with her warm, kind eyes, melting away the encasement of fear that surrounded me.

Carrying me like this huh? This is quite embarassing, I'm not a toddler anymore– but, for some reason, the warmth from her chest feels quite nice...

Martha continues, with her

"I'll make sure to tell doctor William about this. I'll have him check up on you more often and secure you to a safer room so that you don't accidentally get lost again, and get injured!"

What? No! I don't want to see William anymore than I have to!! If I'm going to be confined in an inescapable room for god knows how long, I might miss all the events that occurred the day that I started my journey!

I try to speak, but with her hand blocking my mouth, all that could be heard is indiscernible, muffled noise.

"Calm down Arthur, trust me, this is for your own good. I can't have you getting lost again, what if I didn't find you, or a potentially dangerous person came into the clinic without permission, and took you away seeing your face and condition?"

What kind of scenario is that?!?! And I don't need comments on my appearance right now, let me go!!

As I continue to struggle, though making no progress, Martha keeps a tight hold of me, as if she were just carrying a wooden log, light and motionless, without struggling in the slightest. She looks at me with sorrowful eyes, filled with tears, while continuing to ignore my flailing.

"If I had not found you, you would have gotten lost whether you wanted to or not. Because you were so afraid, and in such an unstable mind, you might've avoided my nurses and physicians, actively running away from us who are just trying to help you, and bled out, dying a terrible death. Arthur, I know that this whole experience is very scary for you. You carry the weight of a mind that sees more than most could fathom. You can turn a blind eye, but you will never forget and live in the bliss of ignorance. That is why you already know that the two most likely scenarios for you after this are either death, or having to live with a body that can never wield a sword ever again. Even still! You should not give up and throw your life away just because one of your paths has been blocked, you have numerous talents other than just swordsmanship! There are so many people who love you regardless of whether you had talent or not! So please, don't give up, and let me take you to our clinic's most secure room, where you will be monitored 24/7. Let's beat this illness together."

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She puts on a bright smile, while I continue to freak out inside my head.

NOOO!! DON'T SAY SUCH HORRIFYING THINGS WITH THOSE HEARTWARMING EYES! IT MIGHT ACTUALLY MAKE ME BELIEVE YOU!!!

"Thank you for understanding, Arthur."

WHAT!?!

I finally notice my head, that had already been nodding in agreement since she began talking.

NOO!! I'VE ALREADY FALLEN FOR HER TRICKS!!

My body freaks out, moving around wildly, trying to escape from her grasp, while my attempts at screaming for help fail, muffled by her hand's tight seal.

"MMPHMMFFPHHMM!!"

Martha lets out a sigh, her eyes dropping down as if disappointed.

"Haaa... I didn't want to have to do this Arthur, but if you keep being so difficult, then with the authority given to me by Headmaster Darkfallen, I will use force if necessary, in order to keep you safe from yourself."

She reopens her eyes, suddenly changing from her loving, warm eyes, to the fierce stare of a nocturnal in the night.

What the hell? Is she really going to kill me?!?!

Frozen in fear, and unable to look away, I maintain direct eye contact with her as she makes no sudden movements.

Okay... it looks like she isn't going to do anything as long as I don't make any more movements. But damn, she has such a frightening stare. I think I almost peed myself.

I begin to calm down as my view of her becomes less and less visible, though still unable to feel any stronger control over my fear-stricken body.

Yeah see? She isn't so scary, I was just imagining it like before, I'm just imagining it–

My eyelids begin to slowly, ever so slightly, drift downwards feeling a fatigue and weakness all over my numb head.

Wait, this taste–

My eyelids spring open once more, seeing her calm warm eyes above me clearly one final time before my eyes start to fall once more.

Badengrat, she fucking drugged me with a sleeping pill– Non-hazardous plants, section 2b...

***

I open my eyes, and calmly raise my upper body up to a 90 degree angle, without the use of my hands.

She made some good points in her speech. If I had heard those words from her at this point in my past life, I might've gotten the motivation to start anew, without the need of a Sage System. I think I might've become a scholar, or maybe a philosopher.

Continuing to keep to myself, feigning ignorance of the room around me, I raise my hand up from my clean, weirdly textured, yet comfortable blanket, and stare at it, and discreetly, myself.

It has been three hours since I've last been awake, meaning it should be around noon right now. My hand, stained with the blood from my cough, is clean, my bathrobe has been replaced by some thin, loose clothing that I've seen other patients wear before. This room is unfamiliar to me. Where am I?

I finally look up, and carefully examine the gray, metal room around me, but there is not much to see.

How dull, everything in this room is lit up by reinforced magic lamps, no sunlight or any windows leading to the outside either. The only thing in this room other than this bed and the metal walls, are the reinforced glass windows that line the entire room. Oh boy, Martha wasn't kidding when she said she was going to put me in the most secure room. This place is not going to be fun to live in, it's more like a jailhouse if anything. I need to get out of here quickly, where is William the one time I need him?

I search around the room, feeling stares directed at me, but unable to see through the thick opaque windows.

What the hell kind of a patient room is this? How is this place meant for a recovering patient? This feels more like a room you would quarantine someone who had a deadly, and terribly infectious disease into, so that they wouldn't spread it! What do they think I am? An animal?! I was poisoned, not infected!

After successfully processing the information, the hunger in my stomach and the thirst in my throat finally reached me, striking unexpectedly, and the feeling lingering.

"Ah, what the hell is this situation? I want some food."

I slowly lift the blankets off of me, and turn my body to the side, my legs dangling from the height of the bed. Without seeing any shoes, I jump off without a second thought, the cold metal floor pulling the heat from out of my warm body.

How chilly. But at least it's making me more awake, the effects of the sleeping pill are not yet all gone.

Treading across the cold iron floor, barefooted, I make my way up to the black iron door, the one and only entrance and exit in this viewing room of confinement.

As I approach the door, new, obstructed voices begin to sound behind the dark, opaque windows.

I knew my senses were right, there are people watching me in the room beyond this one.

Why are you being so relaxed? How are you so sure that you weren't captured by the Arcanus Cult, or another Evil?

Like falling asleep, I suddenly find myself in my Mind's Realm Library, standing still, I close my eyes and without expression, wait patiently for the voice to continue, deep in concentration.

You know nothing of the true nature of your so-called friends, so deluded, believing that you have reached omniscience just because you've read books for a mere ten years? You don't have your magic, and have only recovered half of your pathetic self, barely even being considered an Advanced Rank. You don't have an infinite number of lives, you are neither omniscient nor omnipotent and you've failed in both of your lives. Just accept that fact, and let me take over, I will get you, us, out of this situation.

In my infinite domain of knowledge, the corrupted fragments of my mind piece together with each other, all becoming one, except with my central mind. With their combined influence, their voices ring forcefully throughout my head, desperately trying to break through my first lock and enter my central consciousness. But like arrows to a fortress wall, my mind does not crumble, another voice already occupying the attention of my central fragment.

"You carry the weight of a mind that sees more than most could fathom. You can turn a blind eye, but you will never forget and live in the bliss of ignorance."

Haha, how funny, the irony being that we've never spoken or seen each other up until this point, yet, she's struck the arrow right on the bullseye.

In my Mind's Realm, I walk away from the central projection of thoughts, down to the edge of my library where cracked ground separates my library from the shadowy islands that surround me. As I walk up to the edge of the edge, like a hall of mirrors, shadow-like versions of myself emerge almost exactly as I do, their numbers numerous, each that I can see in my line of sight, colored differently from the next, all staring directly at me, mimicking my arrogant smile.

But unlike Martha's perfect analysis, your argument was quite lacking, I am almost ashamed that your minds are even related to mine. I will admit you almost had me, almost had me thinking I was going to go deaf after all that ringing! Hahaha...

I am certain, not everything that I do is with complete certainty, but out there, there is an equation that makes sense of anything, and everything. If you don't get a definite answer, that simply means you have not included all the factors. Despite how difficult it would normally be to find all the factors and substitute them into the equation, for a situation as simple as this?

Thanks for being so stupid, my fragments, you definitely live up to your title of being fractions of my power. I'll use this second lock well, and get rid of all of you soon.

As a last display of mockery to them, I wave my hand without looking back, their islands drifting further from my island, into the darkness as a metal chain wraps around my library, the two ends coming together and forming a tight, second lock.

Walking back to the central platform, I stand still, a blinding light flashing, the next thing I know, appearing back in front of the metal door.

Ten Seconds.

A short lasting smile appears on my face, as I walk up to the door, and knock.