Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Every memory (33)

Lucia who had blacked out found her vision return in a field of flowers on an island floating in a vast blue sky. On the opposite end of the island where a man made of fog stood, the flowers were wilting and storm clouds started to spread into the sky. Lucia glanced at the flowers at her feet and saw a scene of her winning a small prize for the first time in high school. She realized that each flower held a memory in it. 

"Is this my inner world as they call it in novels?" Lucia asked aloud as she focused her attention on the fog man.

"Yes, and yours is quite bland compared to most that I've seen. That wizard fellow at least had a whole wizard tower five times bigger than this full of his memories, thoughts, and desires. Though I suppose you did this to yourself. You tried to keep your world bright despite being betrayed, back stabbed, and losing your loved ones. You cut away the parts of your inner world that had to do with them. No wonder you haven't become a vengeful person. However, it also means you don't have many memories to defend yourself with either. This will be easier than I thought." The fog man sneered as he used some fog to make a long sword. 

Weapon in hand, the fog man started to approach Lucia confidently. Each step he took caused the flowers around him to wither. Lucia felt a sense of loss with each flower that withered. 

"Stop destroying my memories!" On instinct Lucia created a quarterstaff with her mind and charged forward to stop his advance.  

The staff and sword clashed and the battle began. The sword swung in from the side which Lucia parried it and lunged in with a stabbing motion. The fog man dodged to the side and swung the sword down. Lucia knocked it aside and swung down at the fog man's shoulder. Fog man was forced to retreat back out of the staff's range. Lucia noticed that rather than fighting with her, the fog man seemed more focused on stepping on as many flowers as he could. Lucia started to panic as even if she could block his attacks, she didn't know how to stop him from destroying her memories. Lucia started to focus on pinning him to the corner of the island that he'd already killed. Neither side had landed any definite blows yet. They were parrying, blocking, dodging, and deflecting constantly.

"Yawn, you really aren't that good at melee combat are you?" The fog man mimed yawning with his free hand as he ducked under one of her swings and into another patch of flowers. 

"Dang it!" Lucia was frustrated as she maneuvered around to keep him from advancing any further that way.

Lucia managed to get him close to the edge of the island and made a low swing at his legs to try and trip him. He jumped over her staff so Lucia ran forward and shoved him while he was mid air off the edge of the island.

"How troublesome." The fog man complained as he fell. Lucia watched till he was out of sight, but she didn't let down her guard as she stepped away from the edge. Suddenly, Lucia heard a thud sound and she spun around to see the fog man standing where he first arrived here.

"Why couldn't you fall into the abyss and stay there?" Lucia grumbled.

The fog man chuckled, "Your abyss was built for one person and it's already full."

"For one person? Oh right... Probably my ex boyfriend..." Lucia's shoulders sank. 

"He's the only person you resent and hate? Really?" The fog man teased.

"Hey! He's the one that traumatized my body and almost destroyed my mind. He's a silver tongued devil!" Lucia argued back. "He is the one that turned me into a paranoid ball of anxiety. You can't trust anyone but me he said... Even if I hurt you, it's for your sake he said... It was all bull crap!" Lucia trembled at the memories. "And I was the naïve good hearted fool that fell for it."

"Ah, he was trying to turn you into a puppet with mind games. I see." The fog man glanced at one of the flowers. "It looks like in the past you were quite the out going person who would greet even strangers with a smile on the street."

Lucia looked troubled and depressed. She used to be a confident and sunny person, but now she was wary and timid of almost everything, the total opposite of her past self.

"So what woke you up? Normally people who suffered as much as you did would either become puppets or commit suicide?" Fog man asked curiously.

"Jay and my mother... Even though I'd ignored and had a fight with them under my ex's influence, they still came to find me. They woke me up from the haze..." Lucia realized that she'd really wronged Jay. 'Jay just went through her own traumatic experience, and gave me a little attitude. I really jumped the gun there... I'm still so stupid...'

"Well you abandoned your friend, and your mother is dead so guess you lost your emotional supports too. Though I'd like to meet your ex." The fog man said with a wicked grin. Lucia glared at him in response. "When I meet him while controlling your body, I'll have you beat him black and blue, pull out his tongue, and hang him by his toes from a tree. Then we'd cut off his..."

"Stop!" Lucia interrupted. "Even if he was cruel, I already took my own form of revenge on him.." 

"What?  You mean sending him to jail for a few years for the abuse you suffered at his hands? Pathetic!" The fog man leered at Lucia. "You're weak minded, no wonder he wanted to make you a puppet."

"I was back then because of how society raised me. If I run into him again, and he bothers me first, I won't mind beating him to death. However, I will not torture people like you!" Lucia asserted as she started to walk towards the fog man.

"Humph, he tortured you so why can't you torture him?" The fog man asked as he readied his sword.

"I do not like to hear people scream, it hurts my ears. I do not like to see people pleading for mercy, it hurts my eyes. And... I do not want to loose what's left of myself, it would hurt my heart." Lucia stopped to grip the spot where her heart was. Then she got into her combat stance.

"Well no matter, soon this body will be mine. Then we can go seek vengeance for you and you'll see how sweet it is to torture the person you hate!" The fog man smirked and they started to battle again.

For countless days and nights they fought inside Lucia's inner world. Lucia discovered that when she stood by the withered flowers then the memories would return. It was a constant back and forth of destruction and restoration. Whenever the fog man started to gain the advantage, Lucia would find a chance to shove him off the island and focus on restoring memories during that brief time she had. Plus, no matter how the fog man tried, Lucia always managed to avoid being pushed off the edge of the island. Finally one day, the fog man lost his patience. 

"Fine! I can see your defense is stronger than I estimated. You adapt quickly to new situations, a little too quickly... However, pain is always the best way to break a person." The fog man snapped his fingers and Lucia felt a mountain of pressure suddenly press down on her in the form of mana.

"Wha- what did you... do?" Lucia gasped for breath as she felt herself being crushed by mana. 'It feels like I'm trapped under a car.'

"It's the mana from the Millennium Ice Seal. The seal stores mana from nature, that's how it can last so long. It seems to have been about a century outside. So this should be enough to weaken you while I capture your mind." The fog man smirked as he slowly walked through the flowers and destroyed them.

 Lucia tried to use her quarterstaff to help her stand, but that was as much as she could muster. She felt the mana being absorbed by her body rapidly as she rose from a tier 6 to a tier 7. However, the pressure was still too strong for her to withstand.