A new age of Divinity: Theomachy

Captivity

Beth's head was forcefully being held in a barrel of water, making it impossible for her to breathe. What made it worse was that this wasn't just fresh water, but salt water. Any time she opened her eyes, they burned and stung, making whatever this was worse.
"Five... four... three... two... one." Her captor pulled her out of the water by her hair "Wow, over two minutes under the water, hot damn! Take it from someone who can hold his breath for a while, that is damn impressive." He clapped and asked himself "Alright, what to do next? You failed your last mission from mother Athena, so your punishment should make sure you know never to let that happen again..." He looked around at the weapons on the wall and got an idea "Ooh, I think I have an idea." Beth tried to get up, but he grabbed her by the back of the neck, and threw her down onto the rack "I will be back in a few minutes," He told her while locking her down "Just need to get my text book on human biology."
Beth groaned and looked around at the room she was in... or for all she knew, lack thereof. She could literally see and hear nothing, it was as if they had just brought her to some empty void. From what she knew that should be impossible, so this was clearly some kind of torture chamber. She pulled at the shackles that bound her, but all she managed to do was hear a metal clanking.
"What the hell is this?" She asked herself while struggling against her shackles "All I wanted was for them to leave me alone, now... whatever all this is." She heard the door open behind her again and she was turned around to face her torturer "Oh great, what now?"
"Oh, I am so glad you asked. Sorry to leave you in suspense, but I had to freshen up. Let us get this underway." He positioned the rack so she was completely vertical. "I have three spears here, so I will... choose a few non vital organs of yours. Sound like fun?" Beth was about to argue but he just shoved a, clearly worn, sock into her mouth "Now, I am also going to heat these up to cause as little long lasting bleeding as possible... but the heat will cause much more pain than I am sure you have ever been in," He explained while lighting a hearth and heating the tips of the weapons "Now, I am going to remove your Spleen, Appendix, and your Tonsils by order of Dreama and Athena herself." He took the spears out of the hearth and said "Alright... time to get started." He took the sock out of her mouth and forced a metal dental gag in, and then began his work, seemingly unaffected by her hours of blood curdling screams of rage, terror, and unimaginable agony.

Some time later in the camp

It had been about four months and there was still no evidence of Beth being anywhere around the camp. At this point, most had just figured she had gotten tired of the camp and left, so only a handful of people were looking for her now. At this point, even her closest friends had all but given up on finding her. In his sleep, Nate could seemingly hear some semblance of her thoughts and this reminded Eden of something she had been meaning to ask him. The next morning, she came out of her cabin, and saw Nate. Before Beth had gone missing, he had seemed at least somewhat rested after sleep, but now? He looked like he had only been able to sleep maybe half an hour, if that.
She walked up to him at the breakfast line and asked "Hey, are you okay?"
He groaned and rubbed his eyes while mumbling "Well, I was stuck hearing Beth screaming bloody fucking murder all night, so no. Not really."
"Oh, right... that reminds me, do you have dreams when you are asleep?"
"Eden, you know I love you, but what the Hel are you talking about?" Nate asked while getting breakfast with a surprising amount of coffee.
Eden got her usual and replied "Well, I was just thinking that since you read minds, maybe you do it unconsciously at night, or when you are asleep." The two sat down and Nate very clearly almost passed out into his food, which gave Eden an opportunity to lightly slap him, which snapped him back to reality "Did you hear anything I just said?"
"Something, something, subconscious mind reading, right?" Nate replied.
"Yeah, sure. We will go with that," Eden sighed "But I am just curious because truthfully, if you have the abilities you do, would you just see into other peoples' minds?"
"Eden, I don't know, and I really don't care. I haven't been able to sleep soundly in almost half a year! If I can dream or not isn't on my list of priorities," He told her while eating "But if I'm gonna be honest, your question may have already been answered, because for the past few months, for like three or four hours a night I'm haunted by Beth screaming! And I don't think I would dream about my best friend, who's been missing for months, being tortured by something or another."
"Hm, yeah. I suppose that would be true. Have you had any luck tracking her down-"
"No!"
"Do I want to know?" Kenneth asked as he sat down with them.
"Nate is having trouble sleeping."
"That has been going on for a third of the year."
"Yes, I know, but I was also curious, so I asked him if he ever has dreams."
"Well, of course he has dreams. He has always wanted to be a writer since we have known him."
"Wait, how the Hel did you know that?" Nate asked.
"You talk in your sleep. A lot," Kenneth replied.
"Why are you in my cabin?"
"You also have a tendency to put your thoughts into other people's heads and I thought it would have been Beth but usually it is me. Is that because you trust me the most?"
"Shut... up."
"Anyway... what I meant was that I wondered if he was having his own dreams or if he just unconsciously saw into other peoples'."
"Huh, that is actually a good point," Kenneth replied "Did you come to a suitable conclusion?"
"Yeah, I think we've figured out that since I can hear Beth's screaming constantly, and I don't think I'd be dreaming about my best friend suffering, so no! I don't think I have my own fucking sleep dreams!"
"Nate... sh..." Eden rubbed his arm to calm him down "I am sorry, we should not have messed with you like that. We can see that you are incredibly stressed out right now." She stood up and pulled him into a gentle hug, putting his head to her shoulder "We are going to find her some time soon. All we need to do is keep looking and we will find her."
He nodded and just sat there, completely silently, then asked "If I can hear her thoughts... would I be able to pinpoint where she is? Or at least figure out how far away she is in comparison to us?"
"I would not be surprised, however that seems like a very advanced technique. Would your mind even be able to withstand doing something like that?" Kenneth replied.
"Do we really have a choice? If I can't do it, then we have to go back to looking the old fashioned way, and as we've very clearly seen, that ain't getting the job done."
"Okay, alright. Look, if we are going to do this, maybe we should ask Mikayla if she knows a spell that may reduce strain on his body, or maybe even enhance his already existent power?" Eden suggested as she stood up with Nate "Because, Nate... you are already under immense strain as is."
"I guess you're probably right, but if she dies, then this whole thing will have been for nothing," Nate reminded them.
"My God! Do you ever have something non depressing to say these days?" Mikayla asked while walking up to them "Seriously, you're more of a downer than Hayden, and that bastard's a death God's son!"
"Yeah, but his best friend isn't missing and probably getting tortured," Nate said.
"Yeah, well the person he's in-love with is!" Mikaya shot back, crossing her arms.
"What? No! He's not in love with her, she- oh, nevermind, we'll get back to that later," Nate told her as he looked over "Oh, by the way. We need a bit of a favor."
"That being?"
"We need a spell that would either protect or enhance Nate's mind," Eden explained "He's going to try to use his mind reading ability to find Beth."
"How the shit is that supposed to work?" Mikayla asked.
"Hel if I know," Nate replied "But I'm getting her back whether you help me or not... however I think I need your help."
"I may have a spell like that, but it's only gonna keep you from having an aneurysm. Basically, you'll be in a Tarturus level of agony, but you won't die."
"Guys, are we sure that is a good idea?" Eden asked "If Nate has the equivalent of a nonlethal brain aneurysm, could that not seriously disable him for a while? At least mentally?"
"Eden, do you have any other ideas?" Kenneth asked pointedly.
"No, but I just do not want to see my friend be put under that level of both physical and mental pain."
"So, you're fine with Beth going through that, but not me?"
"What!? No, no, no, no! That is not what I mean, but Nate, if you do this and it does cause as much damage as an aneurysm, that could absolutely destroy your mind, which is the key to pretty much everything you are."
"I don't care, Eden! I'm not gonna be who I was again until Beth is back, so fuck off, and let's do this!"
It was clear that Nate was not going to stop until he got a chance to try, so Eden sighed, and replied "Fine, but it may be beneficial to ask someone else about this technique? Maybe someone who knows Heimdallr and possibly knows about this kind of technique?"
"Yeah, you're probably right," Nate sighed "Freya or Eir would probably be our best bets."
"That's true but why would they help us hurt you? Where would we even find them?"