Chapter 97: Solitary Treatment

Safyr stares at the child, carefully studying her. She is set on saving her people, her family; she is just like Kayafe in that regard.

Safyr knows what her concerns will be. If it's her mind component being used to restore the others then will it just be her mind in another's body or not?

"That will work." Safyr says, "The mind component will not overwrite them; it is a mere vessel for the metaphysical consciousness. In other words, the 'you' will not be transferred unless your true consciousness is in that mind component" Relief fills the little one's face.

"There are still tens of thousands with their mind destroyed, and it will take years to fully heal everyone. It will take a lot of ectoplasm to form new mind components; fortunately, I know where to find crystallized forms of it, it will only take a few days to retrieve some." Safyr says.

The little one has proven herself worthy of respect, not just for accomplishing many things at her age but also for the willingness to go to great lengths to save her people, just as Kayafe had. This is a powerful feat worthy of a legendary point if the little one can do it without external help; however, that would also mean taking a lot longer as interference such as retrieving the crystalized ectoplasm will be considered 'help'.

She will be corrupting many evolutionary paths with this achievement, too. Despite knowing this, she does not hesitate to make this sacrifice.

"I will go now; the sooner I retrieve the ectoplasm, the sooner everyone will be able to wake up," Safyr says and extends her wing, flapping them and raising to a high where her speed won't injure anyone. It will disqualify the legendary point, but knowing the little one, she wouldn't care.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I watch as the dragon seems to warp reality, it's as if motion itself bends to her whims, and in a split second, she's gone, only the deafening roar and air rushing in to fill a void.

I walk over to the place where everyone is, an open field with the Temple in the distance. I sit down next to Yafel. It's almost like they are just sleeping; it feels like I can shake them awake.

"It's time to wake up, Yafel," I say.

With [Twin Minds], I focus on splitting my mind component. Both had been destroyed before, and only one had regenerated. I watch as a large amount of ectoplasm condenses into my mind component, causing it to grow in size and then split in half. I wince at the sharp pain, but it only lasted for a half-second. I'm going to get very familiar with that, but that's not the worst part; I have to get past the soul barrier. Whelp, if there's any time to train my [Pain Tolerance], it's now; I'm just glad I haven't gotten rid of it yet; I was very close to doing so.

I focus on my soul and start meditating. I'll need every level I can get to make sure this works, so I try to enter a state of focus for [Astral Projection] and [Pain Tolerance]. I enter my soul space with my spare mind, my primary mind watching through [Sense Soul] to guide the movement of the mind component. I open a door in my soul barrier, tether my spare mind component, and leave my soul. From my primary mind's perspective, I watch my soul component drift away from my soul, a tiny string of ectoplasm attaching me to it.

I pilot the mind component slowly over to Yafel. I drift far away from my own soul, so much so that it isn't even insight from the perspective of my second mind, yet my mind component hasn't really gone that far when I see it from my primary mind.

How would anyone be able to use [Astral Projection] without other minds? It'd be so easy to get lost and be so close to your own soul. Perhaps they send out 'feelers'? Strings of ectoplasm sent out in random directions that 'grab' onto other souls? That is definitely a way to do it. Let's see; the mind component is not able to use any skills, which means that there is no magical framework on it. This is good as it means that transplanting it will have no adverse side effects but does make it hard to use sensing skills to navigate. I can form a magical link, I think? It should make skills useable through the link.

I'll have plenty of opportunities to train, but for now, I just want my family back. My soul component drifts painfully slow but, eventually, I see a soul barrier, Yafels soul barrier. Now, how do I get inside? Surgery involves cutting open the skin to get into the body, and it seems like soul surgery is the same. I draw in more ectoplasm from my tether and form a drill, only as large as it needs to be for my soul component to barely fit in.

I approach the soul barrier and start drilling in. Pain immediately assaults me, pain that I've only felt once before, like my whole body has a million insects stinging me both inside and out while being put into a blender and poured into a pool of acid all at the same time. I double over, clenching my teeth and fists, but I don't let up. The pain increases as I get farther into the soul barrier, and I can't stop myself from crying out as waves of pain wash over me again and again. Tears stream from my eyes, and my nails dig into my palm, drawing blood; so much pain. It feels like an eternity, of nothing but pain. I scream and scream until my throat gets sore, yet the pain never ceases, it only grows worse and worse. I curl up, trying anything to make the pain less to go away yet despite my prayers the pain never stops, just an eternity of suffering. I don't know how long it took, but I finally get past the soul barrier and finally, the pain subsides.

I lay on the ground in the fetal position, sobbing. It had been much worse than just accidentally hurting myself last time. It's not a pain I am looking forward to repeating again, and I even have a reduction in how much I can feel. I don't know how long I spent just crying, but I no longer feel the sun's light.

Eventually, I regain my composure and inject the soul component into Yafel's soul, sealing up the hole in her soul barrier with ectoplasm, and then I cut the ectoplasmic tether.

I wait, holding Yafel's hand, hoping that it worked; I don't want all of that pain to be for nothing. The soul component is in her soul and seems to be adjusting. Ectoplasm is flowing in and out of the mind component doing... something. I wait and wait, and finally, Yafel stirs and opens her eyes. Relief fills me as tears threaten to spill again. I embrace Yafel in a hug, feeling her warmth; I pet her head and purr for comfort.

"Wha?" Yafel says, confused.

It worked! I can bring everyone back!

I sniff. All that pain hadn't been wasted.

"Shhh, everything will be fine," I say, still stroking Yafel's hair. I start casting a sleep spell on her; I don't want her to hear my screaming. Once Yafel is deep in sleep, I lay her back down and move over to Yafe and repeat the soul surgery after splitting my mind component again.

The pain is still unbearable and still breaks my persistent states; it still makes me curl up and clench my hands to hard I bleed; it still feels like an eternity of suffering. However, I am not just feeling it less due to [Pain Tolerance] leveling up, but I am also able to just ignore the pain better, just by a tiny amount. I can still feel the pain, but it doesn't seem to scream at me as much. I'm not sure which skill is doing that, but I'll find out when I check my notifications.

After drilling a hole in Yafe's soul barrier, I again just lay on the ground, sobbing. The pain is still too much; a part of me... a large part of me, just wants to give up. Why should I suffer like this? Why me? I don't want to feel any more pain. I don't want to do this anymore. Even with my rising ability to tolerate the pain, I still can't do it; it's just too much... Why does it have to be me?

I transfer the component into Yafe's soul and hugs the twins together for comfort, tears still staining my cheeks. I keep Yafe asleep and just stay cuddled with them for a long time. I don't know how long, but the sun had started rising, and the Guardian entered my vision, carrying a large crystal made out of pure ectoplasm.

The dragon lands nearby and walks toward me, placing the crystal close.

"Good work." The Guardian compliments, after examining the souls. "I am aware of the pain involved, but that just makes your feat that much greater."

"Does it matter how great my feat is?" I reply, hollow and with a raspy voice from screaming so much "It's tied to a cursed skill; it'll be corrupted."

"And yet you still do it; I respect you for your sacrifice," The dragon says proudly.

"Was it just as painful for Kayafe?" I ask after a long minute of silence.

"... Not in the same way." The Guardian says.

I get up and walk over to Mom, entering several states of focus with the minds given by my Diadem of the Lonely Princess.

I kneel down next to her and start the soul surgery. I curl up in pain once again, the process more tolerable yet still unbearable. I spend the next few hours snuggled against Mom and purring to soothe myself and rest from the ordeal. I cry myself dry of tears by the time I work on Dad, keeping Mom asleep; she shouldn't see her child in such pain, she would probably stop me anyway... and I would probably let her, but if I stop now I will never be able to start again. I have to make sure my family doesn't know how it's really like.

I recover from Dad's treatment faster, falling into a deep sleep. I awake with a fresh mind, and then I start treating others. My grandparents, Tana, my Aunt, Nyam, Esofy, Chyzu, the Elders, after each treatment, I return to my family and snuggle with them, their warmth helping me recover. I keep everyone asleep; I don't want nor do I need anyone to stop me. Eventually, I had to stop; my ectoplasm is very thin, most being consumed to form soul components for mind transplants.

I walk over to the ectoplasm crystal, touching it.

"Break off a piece and eat it; your soul will do the rest." The Guardian says. She is the only one watching me, the only one to witness my work.

I nod and form a small pick out of mana. I break off a piece and chew it, crunching it into dust. I choke a little as it feels like eating sand. The Guardian summons a ball of water, and I drink from it, washing the ectoplasmic dust down. I watch with Sense soul as the crystalized ectoplasm is slowly absorbed into my soul. Realizing that it's not enough, I break off another piece and wash that one down and then get back to work.

I treat person after person, day after day, week after week. Eventually, the pain of treatment became tolerable; with all of the levels I gain. The whole process becomes faster, the amount of time I need to recover becomes shorter. I don't know how many people I've treated so far, hundreds? Thousands? I don't even remember keeping others asleep; I don't remember renewing the spells on my family. Is Safyr helping me? Is she keeping everyone asleep? I don't know. I just keep treating people, week after week, month after month.

Storms blow in, world notifications of some great feat or death of a legendary monster appear once or twice; I ignore those. I just keep treating my people; I continue splitting my mind component, drilling holes into people's soul barrier, and transplanting their missing soul component.

After all of this time, after months, I just want to talk to my family again; I want everything to go back to normal. I want to desperately play with the twins again. To eat Mom's cooking again, to train with Tana, and go to Esofy's and Chyzu's Combat Academy. I want to take baths with others, go to the Lojyo with everyone. After all of this time, I just want someone to talk to; however, I am afraid. What will they say when they find out I've been keeping them asleep? Will they stop me from treating everyone? Will people try to have me prioritize others? Or not treat someone at all?

I can't afford any distractions. If people wake up now, the treatment of everyone else will be slowed. Problems will arise, more disasters will come, more things to worry about. I don't want those; I can't afford to. It's best that everyone waits until I'm done; that way, no one has to wait for their family to wake up.

I just wish I can stop crying myself to sleep. I'm so alone, being the only one walking among the endless rows of sleeping people. I'm alone, being the only one awake. I'm alone, suffering the pain that the treatment causes me.

I work, wholly lost to time, day in, day out; eventually, the pain just becomes a numbness. I am all too familiar with it; I know exactly why it hurts and how it hurts. I work with a clear mind, with a calm mind. I continue treating my people, not paying attention to who they are. The Guardian and I are mostly silent; sometimes, she flies off to gather more crystalized Ectoplasm. It isn't until I finally treated the last person that she congratulates me on my work.

"Thank you, Alysara, Blessed by the Great Spirits, Heirloom Progenitor, and Savior of the Runalymo. You have done something which I cannot; I promised to Kayafe to protect her people, the Runalymo, yet this was not something I could have done myself. You have sacrificed much and expected nothing in return. You have my deepest respect," The Guardian, in my surprise, bows to me.

Mana starts condensing into my Diadem, a rush of hundreds of thousands of mana, then millions. So much that even Safyr's eyes seem interested.

Diadem of the Lonely Princess's Benevolence(Heroic)This Diadem has been crafted to such perfection as to be a magnum opus by a master mana manipulator and one who has twin minds. In order to save her people this Diadem's creator replaced the missing mind component of her entire civilization, even at the cost of her pain and solitude. When worn grants three additional minds and mind components to its wearer. Grants the ability to make three semi-real clones made of the wearer's unique mana that can be controlled by one of the minds. Can temporarily pass a mind and mind component to someone else that lasts for a day before dissolving.