Chapter 28 - Deep Dive

Violetta felt herself pulled into darkness along with Lady Hilda, deep into the mind of Raeyn. The sensation of Lady Hilda’s guiding hand followed and pushed her down into the strange depths of the void. It felt as if she was falling. Deeper and deeper. The void ate away at her warmth, and it was then she realized that somehow, in this strange space she saw Lady Hilda like an apparition appear over her. In this place there was neither up nor down, the woman’s bare form had become an astral body that contained her consciousness in this space.

“Relax and focus on yourself and condense yourself.”

Violetta tried and found it difficult to pull herself together. To open oneself to the Goddess Maelyn required such exercises, but to do this without a body was an entirely different experience. First it was cold, then it became icy and then with a surge of light she was able to pull enough of herself together to make a crude impression of herself in the void. A poorly defined form of her body, like the squiggling art of a child, but still she was able to condense her mind and consciousness into a form that separated herself from Raeyn’s mind.

“Good.”

Lady Hilda’s form moved and pushed her downward, a light began to emerge from above or perhaps below. Moving down was the same as moving up and only a matter of a flipped thought of perspective mattered. Was she ascending to the surface of the ocean or diving into the depths? Surfacing. Surfacing! Surfacing! The void switched to accommodate her mindset immediately.

A murky barrier appeared, and both her crude form and Lady Hilda’s glowing figure broke through. The world crystallized and shattered into a dark and strange place, tunnels running in all directions that twisted and turned out of sight. There was no true definition of size or space, focusing would shift what was large or small as if the world was through a shifting telescope. One thing was clear, this was a Gobbo warren. Raeyn’s mind took the shape of this foul dark place, and the emotion that echoed through their shared connection was one of loneliness, fear and apathy.

“Before we get underway, let me pull the threads and find her power. Would not want any surprises in the depths.” Lady Hilda’s left hand shot out small threads of light that separated and winded like snakes into the depth. One, two, three for each finger. Twisting and winding glowing like ropes, these white snakes probed the depth of Raeyn’s mind. As they remained attached, the shifting twists and pulses they sent back were interpreted by Lady Hilda as they uncovered the secrets of Raeyn.

“This one has endured a lot of suffering. Her soul is so incredibly damaged and wrought with agony that I can hardly believe this is from a Gobbo.” Lady Hilda winced in pain, “It is torturous, but I need to go much deeper, and she is fighting me with such tenacity. She is aware we are intruding already.”

She formed a mouth to speak from her squiggle-shape form, “How? She is unconscious.”

“To react this strongly suggests… yes. Her soul has been pulled and twisted, she is not a new soul, but an old one. This one has been tampered with and sealed. I can already tell that several extremely powerful curses have been placed on her. This body itself was built for suffering. Her soul is extremely resilient to any attempt to pin it down. I’ll have to go all out on her. She’s tougher than last year’s fruit cake.”

Lady Hilda seemed to sweat as her body became a mass of snakes and diffused with chain-like linked throughout the tunnels. It was appropriate such a woman have thought so much of herself despite being nothing more than a tangle of snakes in the first place. Still, Violetta tried to suppress her thoughts here, unsure of what Lady Hilda was capable of while they were linked inside of Raeyn’s mind.

The form of Lady Hilda soon reappeared, and a mass of glowing coils seized her and began to pull her through the twisting tunnels of the warren. Everything began to blur, but the sensation of rising and falling matched the rapid twists. Suddenly, Lady Hilda’s form condensed and broke through some hidden invisible barrier, taking her through and the two of them hit the ground. They rolled and fell over one another, but there was no pain which followed. The warren was gone, and they found themselves upon the central point of a theater stage. Beautiful, gilded accents lined each part of the planks that made up the floor, while the ceiling above stretched into a paint sky flanked by billowing red and gold curtains pulled into a series of long cloud-like masses.

She turned on Lady Hilda’s cue turned to face the front of the stage and saw a series of gilded seats, stacked upon one another in hundreds of layers that were pulled back and shifted with each of them angled in such a way as to focus upon the stage even as they stretched from the vast wide arc from eye-level to the heavens. A layered set of terraces of four levels was the most she had ever seen, but this strange depiction of the seating seemed to warp reality as they were lined and layered in ways that pulled each seat into its own little bubble or box. Tens of thousands of spectators could view this stage at once. Perhaps hundreds of thousands. The whole of the greatest cities could fit in this domed wonder.

“This…. Cannot be…” Lady Hilda’s body seemed to shift and contract in on itself, “This is not of our world.”

“Raeyn is a divine being?”

“In a way… this Gobbo’s life does not begin in this world. Your proof is this stage. This is not a manifestation of the mind. We are looking at a memory. A frozen memory that I have temporarily locked away because she is dreaming of this as of this very moment.” Lady Hilda’s form continued to dwindle and fade in its unnatural glow, “I cannot face it. I must not face it.”

“Face what?”

Lady Hilda’s arm raised and pointed behind; the theater shifted on its own to face where her finger indicated; to two figures on the stage. A white clad knight with a sword and a woman in black leather locked in what appeared to be a storybook presentation of good versus evil. The man’s face was obscured, but those large shoulders, that stance and the legendary sword in hand was the way a man would hold it. Opposite of him was a masked woman whose feminine assets were put on display, and with leather to accent features that she barely had. Such trite garbage. Though frozen in their mock battle, Lady Hilda seemed to not be able to face it at all. Was something off putting about this when she was a glowing astral form in the nude? It did not make sense.

“What am I looking at?”

“Your Goddess Maelyn… in BROTHEL LEATHERS.” Lady Hilda snickered and broke into a pained laugh.

“This is fake!” She immediately declared.

“It is not… this is a memory.” Lady Hilda continued to laugh while struggling to maintain her form, “The Goddess… The Goddess wore this! We will be burned at the stake if this gets out! Just where did you find this Gobbo who has come before Maelyn herself!?”

“Here.” She responded with a sense of dread washing over her, “Let me see this dream.”

Lady Hilda pulled herself back together, mentally and astrally, “I have already probed enough of this one’s mind to know how this ends. Trust me, you do not want to see this Chosen of Maelyn.”

“I will not play along. Now, can we move on?”

Lady Hilda flung out a set of tendrils and they took the shape of vaguely transparent Raeyn, “This one’s name is Vinaraeya. She does not seem to be fully aware of its meaning or of her place. She lives in the bottom of her warren and wastes away, suffering no end of torment and severe abuse. She has no possessions, no family. No friends. She has nothing. Her life seems to have been made for suffering; and she has been cursed to further bring enmity upon her head. She does not even know herself. She aspires to nothing and is afraid of the whole world. She puts on a strong front and tries to be what people want, but she is full of self-loathing.”

“Laying it on a little thick?” She chimed in.

“No. Her life is abject misery. The only people she calls friends are using her and she’s unaware of it. Glimpses of her memory show extensive walling to protect her from the real horror she endured throughout her life. Her body has healed countless scars and marks, but if they were to have healed at a normal pace - she’d have died a dozen times over. Even a chunk of her ear was bitten off, but it regrew. Each day is like its own. She will do what she believes is right even without knowing why.”

“Oh? What of the recent memories?”

“Looking for anything in particular?” Lady Hilda’s voice carried her amusement.

“Anything about my party.”

“Be specific. It is tiresome to go through memories that have not condensed themselves yet.”

“Tell me why she saved my life.”

Lady Hilda nodded, “You should see it for yourself. Consider this a favor. I expect it to be returned in due time.”

The stage fell away, and darkness replaced the world as Lady Hilda transported them to a dark room filled with eight statues… and Wilde preparing to strike. From Raeyn’s perspective, they rode on her shoulders and saw as if through Raeyn’s eyes what would unfold. Throughout everything Raeyn had barely a thought at all. She did what she did without a thought. A stray thought of Wilde killing her had been the only conscious thought to really make it through her head. She saved Violetta for no reason. With no idea. Expecting to die. Her muddled thoughts went to saving someone who showed kindness… even at the end of the dagger.

“Raeyn…” Violetta watched as the flames engulfed her and the memory faded as Raeyn lost consciousness, “I do not understand.”

“Belos’ told her to deceive you in another memory, but she puts no thought into what she does. She truly has a heroic soul, and someone is trying to break it with these curses. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I have dug through her thoughts, and she is an empty vessel right now. Do you think you can use her?”

“Yes,” she responded, “And as more than a sellsword. I owe my life to her after all.”

“Hmmph. Well, would you care to see what you are working with?” Lady Hilda teased.

“I am more than ready. Show me her abilities.”