The Hidden World

Part 6: Crossroads

Ernie Hudson was starting to sweat. His cellar was filled to the brim with creatures, each one more horrifying than the one before it. "That's an Abyssal. Haven't seen one of those in ages," he thought to himself as he looked at a particularly large and grotesque-looking entity, slowly backing away from the intruders. The creatures were 'outsiders', with one notable exception. Among the monsters stood a bespectacled middle-aged woman dressed in a business suit. By appearances alone, she was in no way terrifying; still, it was her that inspired the most fear in Edmund. The woman stepped forward and grinned. "I've finally found you, you old fool. If only you had agreed to work for me... Killing you is such a waste!" As shadows started to gather around the woman's feet, Ernie raised his hands. "I'm done. Let's stop this!" he yelled and soon the woman, alongside all the outsiders, disappeared. Ernie was panting as he looked at the two only people who were actually in the room. "I have to admit, your magic has grown rather terrifying, Sarah."

Sarah grabbed the energy drink on the table next to her and took a long sip. It had been a month since she had visited Jasmine's apartment and figured out what her magic could be like. It had been a rocky road, but now she finally felt that she had confirmed that the idea was, indeed, good. "So, tell me, what did you see, exactly?" Sarah asked as she set the drink down on the table, feeling refreshed. "Well, as I saw it the room was filled with monsters. I mean, there was even an abyssal in here!" Ernie said. "Woah. I don't think I've even ever seen one. You looked just about ready to piss yourself," Jasmine retorted from across the table. She had joined Sarah's training sessions quite early on and had proven to be a huge help. As it turned out, behind her playful façade hid something of a genius when it came to matters of mana application. Ernie huffed and crossed his arms. "It wasn't the abyssal that made me want to quit, by the way. Your old boss also appeared and frankly, I find her to be more terrifying than a hundred abyssals combined. You should know," he said as he made his way to the table and sat down. It was Jasmine's turn to raise her hands in defeat. "You got me. That bitch scares the bejeezus out of me!"

Ernie smirked, as he had finally managed to shut Jasmine down. He then turned to Sarah and took a more serious expression. "So let's sum up all we know about your magic thus far," he said, as he reclined in his chair. "I must admit, I would've never thought about the approach you took. That's why I was so hesitant when you told me that you wanted to create illusions." Sarah nodded. "I know. And it's not like I can exactly take all the credit for the idea, as that Helena woman was the one who set me on this path." "Oh, don't be so modest. You're the one who came up with the idea to influence the brain of your target rather than the enviroment," Jasmine interjected. Ernie nodded and continued: "That's right. While it's true that due to the complexity of the spells affecting one's brain you can only hypnotize a single target, but this also affords you with much more drastic effects." Sarah surpressed a smile. In reality she was extremely proud about her magic, but didn't want to show it too much, lest she would be viewed as needlesly smug. "Indeed, though I was pretty surprised when I found out how the illusions actually work." Everyone agreed. As it turned out, the illusions Sarah created acted as a mere framework. The target's imagination then filled them out; in the latest test Sarah instructed Ernie's brain to imagine the most terrifying things he could fathom, and that was why Ernie saw the room the way he did.

"While I think that imprecision might be a problem, we didn't see any such effects when we tried out my ideas, did we? Frankly, I think that the more simple your illusion is, the better the effect will be," Jasmine asserted, gesturing with her hands. "Remember, you don't need to make your opponent shit themselves, you just need to neutralize them." "For once, we wholly agree. I feel that the best way to utilize your power is to continually make slight suggestions to your opponent and then knock them out," Ernie said, looking at the entryway into the cellar. "Drat, there's another spider's web. I swear, whenever I get rid of one another one appears." He got up from the table and grabbed a broom. Sarah could hear him muttering about creating a plant specifically for eating spiders, as he continued his futile attempt to keep his basement clean. "That's the que for us to leave, methinks," Jasmine said as she got up. "C'mon, I'll walk you home."