A Cataclysm of Thought

Lack of Flux

What day was it?

Tristan lost track of the time. There hasn't been any flux lately, the commonality in which the persona of consciousness could discern the passing of time. It wasn't good, he needed to speak to somebody about this.

The Mind today was... odd. The clouds were omnipresent; swirling dark nimbus clouds permeated the sky, the sun was nowhere to be seen. The archipelago that encompassed the Mind was different today as well. The seas were still undulating, but the waters were inky and black. The ground was cracked and dry, like stone bark on a dead tree.

Tristan passed his favorite tree upon the rill, his spot retained its life, however the color was drab and faded. 

He's losing his passion.

"I'm truly sorry this is happening, Tristan." said a voice behind him.

Tristan turned around and saw a being that emanated a smoky aura, it poured from his persona and pooled in the flaky, black ground. "Greetings, Malphas."

Malphas sighed, more of the inky smoke poured from him, "Why am I here? What's the purpose of a persona such as myseslf? I only bring sadness, lethargy, I'm a hindrance."

Tristan regarded Malphas with critical eyes, why was this persona here? Surely it had something to do with his person, his Charge, in which he was the warden of. 

"Malphas, where are the other personas?" Asked Tristan, his face betrayed fear and sadness, "Did they abandon us here?"

Malphas shrugged, he looked at the tree and gave a melancholic chuckle. "It's my fault isn't it? Why the Mind is like this? I wasn't summoned here by any outside stimuli, nobody has died in our Charge's family or friends, so why am I here?"

Tristan looked into the distance, not even lighting graced the dark nimbus. It was odd, the sky didn't even move with any wind. This place was just dead. 

"Perhaps you're supposed to be here," said a familiar voice, "All of the personas are meant to keep the Mind in balance, to ensure that everything inside is working together in respect to each other."

Nate stepped out from behind the tree. The color returned a bit, but not a whole lot. "Why is Malphas here? For this long?"

Tristan shrugged, "I don't know exactly, the Mind has completely been twisted as of late."

"Isn't it odd that he has stillness and serenity, somehow Malphas shows up?" 

Malphas turned to the persona representing logic and sneered, "Look at the sky, it's black, void of clarity. The ground, flaked and dead and dark. The seas, oily and thick. This isn't serenity, this is misery." he walked away from the two and dissipated. The Mind retained it's dismal state however. Tristan shivered in fear.

Conscious nothingness. 

"Malphas had a point however," Nate said, "But what?" she turned her head to the sky in thought. Tristan mimicked her gesture, and then he noticed it.

"Malphas didn't know why he was here, right?" Tristan said, Nate only turned her head to him. "But look at the sky, still and serene yet cloudy. Our Charge feels conflicted, confused."

Nate's face brightened in realization, "But the stillness would indicate something too wouldn't it?" She stood from the tree and walked to the cliff face dropping into the black seas. 

Tristan followed and pointed the waves out, "The seas are black as well, but look, they're moving too at least, thick and meddled like porridge."

Nate contemplated, "His thoughts are..." she scrunched her face in confusion. "His thoughts aren't clear."

"But his thoughts are there nonetheless." Tristan finished. An idea suddenly came to him. The wind picked up as Tristan fished his pockets for something. He pulled out a silver ring. It was one his Charge's grandfather gave to him. He threw that into the ocean and watched as the ripples brought life to the dying waves. The clouds above started to stir.

I need something more.

Nate pulled a letter out, it was creased and worn but the words scrawled on were still readable. "I see what you're doing, here, take this." She handed Tristan the letter somebody special gave his Charge and set it aflame. The smoke rose to the sky and the clouds stirred viciously, a monsoon picked up.

Waves crashed against the cliffs and winds whipped at the two personas. Nate shielded her eyes from the wind as her hair danced in mania. "I don't understand! Why isn't the sky clearing up?"

Tristan crouched, it was getting harder to stand, "Clear skies won't be a process that takes overnight, dear Nate," he retreated to the center of the island, far from violent waves. "We should expect company soon,"

Lightning struck arced through the sky and struck the ground, a being came from the blast. He wore ancient greek armor, Spartan, Tristan thought. Without hesitation the being came at Tristan, slashing his blade at him carelessly. 

"Jordas!" Tristan exclaimed, "We haven't seen you in so long!" 

Jordas said nothing and continued to attack Tristan. He slashed, but Tristan dodged. Nate had fled the fighting and was nowhere to be seen. The skies and sea continued their violent and dark chorus of thundering waves and cataclysmic lightning

The fighting went on for days, but who could say for sure? Tristan was cut and bloodied by the time Nate stepped to his rescue. 

"Why, Jordas? After all this time, why now do you decide to show up?" Nate argued.

Jordas grunted through his helmet. Tristan collapsed in a bloody mess but nevertheless looked at him with those eyes ever-understanding. 

Let me understand why you do this.

Jordas thrust his sword into the ground. The skies stopped swirling as it started to rain.

"Look at the mind!" Jordas shouted, "Who do we have to blame? There's nothing we can do to fix it!"

Tristan was speechless but somehow Nate said what Tristan needed to say, "So why take it out on Tristan? If there's nothing you can do about it why do anything?"

Jordas huffed, "I was sick of Malphas's shit so I decided to change the song." 

Tristan stood up after a minute. His cuts would leave scars, scars he'd carry with him as a nasty reminder. 

Nate continued, "There's always something to do about it."

Tristan found his voice, "Remember -  energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed."

Nate was taken by surprise, not that it made sense, but how it was having an effect. The waves calmed to a strong yet calmer roll back and forth, the clouds however still let up the rain.

* * *

Days later, Tristan awoke. His body was still recovering with his buckle with Jordas, but the Mind was recovering. It was different  though, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There were mountains now, which at the top one could see for miles. Nate took it upon herself to make it her "spot," like how Tristan had his tree.

This was an important teaching point for Tristan. His host was recovering nicely based on the environment. The field in which Tristan fought Jordas still bore marks and stains of blood. Tristan didn't know if it would heal with time but the best thing Nate said to him was to just carry on. 

For a while that's what Tristan tried his best to do.