Arynthe's Story

Lie still

185 ar. 

I had never woken up that slowly before. It took me at least two minutes to find I was strapped down to a bed. 

"WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!" I screamed immediately.
"I can hear you if you speak normally," Zad's dry voice sounded from behind. 
I bent my head back and looked at him. "You," I hissed, "you betrayed me."
"Lie still," Zad ordered.

I shook my head as hard as I could, while bending and stretching my knees to drive my body back and forth over the bed.

Zad's face was a mask of steel. "I said: lie still," he repeated calmly.
"You didn't... actually... think... I would... obey... right?" I gasped, switching my technique to rolling from left to right and back. "You... betrayed... me!"
"In fact, I'm helping you," Zad said. He grabbed my shoulders to hold me still and immobilized my head with his arms. "Now you have two options. You can continue to take advantage of the fact you have to be awake for this and do whatever you think will annoy me, until you got so tired that you have to stop, or you can cooperate from the start and we can get that bloody ghost out of you. What will it be?"
"It's about the ghost?" I asked. "Dude, why didn't you say that immediately? The entire fight wouldn't even have been necessary."

I relaxed my body and placed my head back on the pillow. Zad let me go, walked to the other end of the bed and moved it so that my head entered a half sphere that was made out of a bright grey material. 

"How did you even know the ghost was back?" I asked. 
"I suspected it since the discovery," Zad explained. "You took quite a mental hit there. However, Eylire collected the evidence for me."
I was riddled. "Why didn't you just say something instead of attacking me like that? I thought you were going to murder me!"
Zad flicked a switch on the thing I was in. "I didn't know how far it'd gone," he said. "If I knew you were opposing it, I would have just asked you to come over and get some help, but I didn't know. I simply couldn't take any risks."
"I see," I said. 

Zad started typing on a keyboard. I counted the seconds in my head. I was very curious about what he was doing, but above me a faintly glowing screen told me to move as little as possible, and I assumed that included my lips. After exactly 47 seconds I felt a thin ray of some sort shine on my forehead.

"Please hold your breath," the screen said.

I held my breath. I cooperated without any questions, even though I had plenty. After more than a century of close friendship I trusted Zad, even after what he'd done to me, but that didn't mean I didn't need to know what he was doing to my brain. 

The ray stopped shining, and the screen turned off. Was Zad done already? I couldn't imagine it. I didn't feel any different, that was for sure. 

Zad moved the bed out of the sphere. "Arynthe," he asked, "why do you want to go back to Ashiria?"
"I need to take control of it again," I replied without hesitation. "I mean, they're obviously not ruling the place correctly. Everybody's better off if I'm the Mara."
"Right," Zad said, more to himself than to me. "I think we did that flawlessly."
"What did "we" do, though?" I asked. "I don't feel any different. What are you actually doing?"

Zad took a few steps distance, as if I was about to explode. He looked down at me with an expression I couldn't place. 

"What I just did is isolate the parts of your brain that make the ghost a thing," he started. "You should imagine, your brain is pretty much a computer with a very complex program in it. While you were unconscious I took over the patterns, so that I have a backup. Now what I'm basically going to do: I move the program that makes you you into a computer, erase the lines that form the ghost, and then move the new program back into your head."
"That sounds horrifying," I said. "Are you out of your mind? What if you erase the wrong lines?"
"That's exactly why I made a backup." Zad didn't seem as concerned as he should be. "Of course this isn't without risk, but the risk is really a lot smaller than it seems."
"I'm not cooperating with this!" I shouted. "This is crazy!" 

I tried to pull my hands out of the restraints, but they were too tight. But maybe I could break them? Maybe I could tear them with my nails? Maybe I could free my feet instead? I tried it all, but to no avail. All that time, Zad stayed standing there, staring down at me. I had to escape. I had to escape. His eyes were scorching my anteron. After what felt like at least half an hour, I gave up. I laid back and gasped. 

"Twelve minutes," Zad said. "Believe it or not: the ghost is destroying your perseverance. I had expected it to be the other way around."

I spat. I intended my spit to hit him, but instead it fell straight back at my own face. 

"Such aggression," Zad laughed. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you."
"You're dead," I hissed. "The moment you release me I will murder you!"
"You'll have to take my word for it: I'm not losing any sleep over that." Zad took something off the table behind him and walked closer to me. "And neither are you." 

I realized quickly what he was planning to do. I took a deep breath in before Zad placed the mask over my face. This time I'd make it to the threshold. See if that scares him off. 

"This is really childish, you know," Zad sighed. 
I shrugged. Maybe it was, but I didn't care. 
"You know you can't make it to the 20 minute threshold."
Watch me, I thought. I will make it. I'd hold my breath until I die if that's what it takes. 

Zad turned on the gas. I pressed my lips against each other and curved them into a triumphant grin. He wouldn't get me this time, I was sure of it. 

Zad walked to my feet. He released them, but before I had a chance to kick him, he held my feet tightly in his strong hands. Then he pressed with his elbow on the inside of my knees, causing them to bend, and he folded my legs over my stomach and chest. I felt the pressure building. I knew I wouldn't be able to stand it for long.

Instead of just letting the air out, I shouted: "Fine!"

Zad quickly moved my feet back to their original place, and I automatically took a deep breath. How did it work even faster this time?! It took mere seconds until I was out. 

***

For the second time that day, I slowly regained consciousness. I was no longer strapped down, but I didn't feel like murdering at all. I got up carefully and rubbed with two fingers over my forehead. 

"How are you feeling now?" Zad asked. I hadn't even noticed him standing next to the bed. 
"Honestly?" I replied. "Dizzy."
"That'll get better in a few minutes," Zad said. "I'll check you every now and then the coming days to be sure everything went well, okay?" 
"Sure," I sighed. "Oh, and another thing: this was by far the most evil thing you've ever done."
"I've done some evil things I'm not allowed to speak of," Zad chuckled. "But this is definitely in the top ten. Too bad you can't turn it back, huh?"
"Turn it back?! Never!" I laughed, and got out of the bed. "I'd rather have to deal with those memories than with that ghost!"