Part Two
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Earlier on, after I'd miraculously defeated the "alpha," I managed to get a good look around Migo Tavern. Q-Tip even thought to give me a tour, which was where I found a nice, cozy square room beside the kitchen. Just walking into it, it felt like the perfect place to stow away the blacksmith's daughter's unconscious body. I had my men tie her up and put her in there while I drained her memories.
Before I did anything, I looked at her, lying there helplessly with copper curls carelessly sprawled around her pale body and the knots holding her limbs together. As I stooped down to keep her mind close, I noticed Q-Tip watching, suspiciously intrigued. I glanced up at him, questioning his curiosity.
"Is that what you did to Caelan, Sir?" he timidly asked. "Migo's previous leader?" Quickly, I thought back to the moments before "Caelan" had me knocking on death's door. I scanned my memory and I couldn't manage to fins anyone who looked remotely like Q-Tip in the tavern. I looked up at him, asking him my question with an analytical look. "No, Sir," he shook his head. "I come here often, but I didn't go last night because I had work this morning." I nodded, and put this piece of information in the back of my mind to free up space for Oddisya's memories.
I pressed my nails into my palms and focused my vision on her mind. Rapidly, I felt my eyes heat up and I could even see rays of their light illuminating Oddisya's hair to a bight orange. A faint click sound rang in my ears, and I found myself disjointed from my body. Instead, I was floating in a small, circular and familiar room with memory slides speeding around me in circles. I looked around and the breeze from the motion calmed and I went up to a slide.
Normally, I'd only take the ones that felt like they had any significance to me and discard the rest, an act that took less than two or three minutes. A few seconds even if I simply erase the person's mind and keep nothing for myself. Later on, if I took something, I'll play it and gather what information I can from it.
With Oddisya however, an insanely huge chunk of her life felt as though every second had some importance, plus a extra few moments here and there. Hungry, I dived in, expecting the swift motions I was used to. On the contrary, her slides seemed to operate on a completely different control system than the hundreds, possibly thousands, of minds I've wiped. When I tried to save a slide, it simply enlarged and played right there and then. Other slides saw this as an invitation to join a party and soon I was swarmed by dozens of memories yelling over one another. None of the slides allowed me to control anything. And when I tried to leave, more slides appeared and played. They quickly had me entrapped in this impenetrable circle.
Abruptly, I was jolted back into my own being. Blinking, my vision slowly returned and I looked up and saw Q-Tip with a hand on my shoulder. His eyes darted back and forth with fear as he backed up and gave me room to breathe. After a moment of thought, I reached for my sack and flipped through the poems. Q-Tip tensed up and quickly stammered, "S-sorry, Sir, but you were spasming and I wasn't sure what to do!" Focused in on my task, I paid him no mind and pulled out a poem called Enter. One that I'd only ever read once, never fully understanding its meaning.
Enter my eyes, step and look through my gaze
Give my views a chance, give them a place
I only asked for the best for me, you, him
Her, it, we--no one deserves this treatment
Enter the cruelest, gruesome place we've ever laid our eyes on
And please release those trapped within themselves and in others arms
