“You mean to tell us that you’ve had a personal grudge against Gusa this whole time!?” Srell shared along with a cartoony depiction of himself with a wide-opened mouth and eyes opened just as wide.

  “He killed my best friend, so yeah, I’d love the opportunity to kill him. But that’s not why we’re in this country.” Ursun shared.

  “We’ve got some activity up ahead, almost a kilometer away.” shared Prism.

  He showed the rest of the team what he could remotely see. There were at least ten sturdy black armored vehicles with several tall equally black barricades around them. The density of the area’s mana made it difficult for Prism to detect how many soldiers there were, though he could see eleven of them standing outside the vehicles. Ursun’s errant emotions bouncing around his head didn’t help make things any easier.

  “Some sort of blockade,” Leanna added as Ursun and Lorias slowed down.

  “They’ve already killed some of my people.” Wadaw said solemnly as he saw the bloody bodies of his fellow True Twins scattered on the reddish-brown ground before the soldiers.

  “They’ve also probably detected us.” Lorias shared. “Doesn’t seem like your modified transponders did any good, Prism.”

  “It was a longshot. I guess they use some sort of complicated algorithm or something that my magic can’t easily replicate.” Prism shared.

  “Seems that way. They aren’t even trying to reach us by radio or laser,” Leanna shared.

  “They’ve got their weapons raised. Only thing protecting us are half a kilometer of trees.” Srell shared.

  “Prism, time to use those shield enchants. We’re going to ram right through them.” Ursun said to Prism as he met the alien’s gaze through the rearview mirror.

  “Yes, sir!” Prism gave the commander a firm, quick nod and a troublemaking half-smirk.

  “And if they’ve set up ground spikes?” Leanna asked aloud. She looked over at Ursun like he was crazy.

  “The barriers will protect against that, too,” Prism shared, “but I’ll have to stop being able to see things at a distance just to make sure we don’t splat against anything.”

  “Do it. Give those shields everything you’ve got cause I’m flooring it!”

  Before anyone could protest, Ursun pressed his foot all the way down on the throttle, causing the vehicle to accelerate from 10 to 40 kph in a second. The device wasn’t built for speed but for durability and reliability. The same went for the truck Lorias drove. The blonde-haired man matched Ursun’s speed even though his truck wasn’t nearly as responsive.

  “Damn, this is one rough ride!” Srell shouted as he clung to the handles of the minihowitzer for dear life.

  A gleaming film of yellow energy enwreathed both vehicles. Prism’s eyes shined with a bright golden light while he tried to unburden himself of all the troubles he’d imbibed from Ursun. He felt the familiar tug of an incoming trance and relinquished his control to it like a runner handing off a baton. The next thing he knew he was kneeling atop a much larger vehicle, watching the trees move by him in the much sparser woods. He fell over onto his hands and held onto a pair of handles on either side of him.

  “What’s going on!?” He asked through the link. He felt sweat dripping down from his forehead.

  “You combined Lorias’ gun-truck and the commander’s all-terrain vehicle into one super-truck.” Leanna shared.

  “Then you proceeded to blast the hell out of those soldiers and their backup,” Srell shared with a laughing, spherical, cartoon-version of himself. “It was one of the coolest things you’ve ever done! We burst through that barricade like it was paper!”

  “Agreed, it was quite cool.” Wadaw chuckled. “You even healed some of the wounded True Twins near the blockade with that signature style of yours. I feel like I just witnessed a miracle.”

  “It got us far too much attention. We’ll have to ditch this thing soon,” shared Ursun.

  “I feel really out of it…” Prism said without sharing with the others. He’d never felt so exhausted after leaving a trance.

  He noticed that there was a hatch beneath where he lay. He pulled on the handles he was clinging to until the hatch popped open. He soon felt Lorias and Srell’s powerful arms pulling him within the dark metallic innards of the magical monster truck.

  “You don’t look so good…” Srell said as he and Lorias lay Prism’s back on the cold black flooring.

  Prism raised his head enough to see what looked like the cabin of a small ship. He saw Ursun steering a larger wheel than had been on his previous vehicle as the others approached him. When he looked behind him, he saw that the rear of the combined vehicles featured an even larger, hobbled-together version of the minihowitzer with a sheltered firing seat.

  He was confused by how he could have designed such a complicated vehicle while in a semi-conscious state. He couldn’t have even made it while fully conscious. Even thinking started to strain his muddled mind. He put his head back against the floor and watched Leanna and Wadaw circle around him.

  “It looks like you should get some sleep for an hour or two. We’ll wake you when we’re ready to head to Toto on foot.” Wadaw said softly to him.

  “But…the soldiers…” Prism felt like a fish gasping for air as he spoke.

  “You built a detector onto the dashboard. We can see all Sguvan military and Royalist transponders in the area. We’re also invisible.” explained Leanna. “You really don’t remember anything? You can usually at least recall bits and pieces from your trances.” Leanna tilted her head as she withdrew a medscanner from her belt. She began slowly waving it over his body to get the best readings possible.

  “Usually…” Prism then groaned like he’d been stabbed in the gut.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Ursun yelled back from the driver’s seat.

  “His brain activity is all over the place. If he was human, I’d say that he’s having a seizure. But he looks more like…he’s suffering from some kind of encephalitis.” Leanna tried to sound confident, but her six months of medical training hadn’t prepared her for this.

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  “He’s sweating nonstop…” said Srell with a disgusted expression. A puddle had formed on the floor all around Prism.

  “It looks like he’s bitten off more than he can chew this time.” Lorias shook his head as he stood over Prism.

  “You two are so lacking in compassion as to be hideous,” Wadaw said before he bent down and took out a dark green handkerchief from a large pouch on his belt. He began to dab away the sweat from Prism’s forehead as the alien began to grimace. “Is there something you can give him for the pain he’s in?” Wadaw looked up and asked Leanna.

  “Yes, perhaps, if it still works…” Leanna looked over at Ursun, who peaked over his shoulder at her.

  “Give him the shot. He’s no use to us like this anyway.” Ursun said.

  “Goodness gracious…the callousness of you all!” Wadaw exclaimed.

  “Cut the theatrics. This is typical of Prism. He puts himself on the verge of unconsciousness getting us out of tough spots. He’ll be fine; he always is.” Ursun yelled back at Wadaw.

  Wadaw was about to shout something else but stopped when he felt Leanna’s slender gloved hand touch his shoulder. He looked away from Prism, who was rocking his head from side to side while letting out slow and pained moans, then looked up at Leanna. Her eyes mirrored the frustration in his own.

  She pointed her transdermer, a small tube-shaped medical device, at Prism’s neck. Wadaw nodded to her and wiped the skin there until it was dry as he held the alien’s lolling head still. He then watched as she stooped down beside him and used the transdermer, hearing it release its dark pink contents into Prism’s bloodstream.

  “That’s better,” Wadaw whispered when he saw Prism stop moaning. The sweaty, human-like body of the dark-skinned alien immediately relaxed. Wadaw stroked the short bristly hair atop Prism’s head with the gentleness of a doting parent as Prism dove into a deep slumber.

  “They're getting stronger.”

  Prism heard another voice in the darkness of his mind speaking to him. He knew the voice like a nostalgic melody but something prevented him from identifying it with any certainty.

  “I can’t keep holding them back. They want you. I don’t know why, but they want to slither their tendrils deeper into your head than they’ve done with everyone else.”

  Prism couldn’t sense his body in the void between consciousness. The only thing he could do was hear. He wanted to cry out to the voice. He wanted to grab ahold of its source and feel exactly who it was. But all he could do was listen.

  “Prism…I’ve been here the whole time. I guess I’m like them, in a way. I’ve been hiding in your head and living in your memories. I didn't want you to know what’s happened to me. I can be such a creep sometimes…”

  Prism started to feel himself falling. He knew that he was being pulled into another place farther away from the voice. He would have cried if he had eyes. He would have clawed his way back up if he had fingers.

  “I’ll keep fighting like the rest of you guys are. I won’t let them take you without doing everything I can to stand in their way.”

  Prism started to see stars forming all around him. He descended into a familiar scene of cosmic beauty more radiant than his sense of memory told him it had been. Colorful nebulas that were filled with gleaming effulgence stretched out in the vastness.

  “I love you, Prism. It cost me my body somehow, but I’d do it again.”

  Prism heard the voice grow quieter and quieter while he fell into the dreamscape. His body formed just as the scene around him did. Within what seemed like a brief moment of time, his nude back landed softly upon invisible ground. The impact sent colorful ripples out in all directions that created a trippy kaleidoscope which faded as quickly as it was created.

  "It is so good to see you again so soon," a voice near Prism spoke like the chiming of small bells.

  Prism began to sense the presence of something recognizable though far less nostalgic than the voice above had been. He rose from his prone position, lifting his torso up until he was sitting upright with his legs crossed. A humanoid figure made purely of soft, white light stood mere meters in front of him. Prism looked up at it and gazed at the head section of its body. His eyes felt no pain looking at the luminous being directly.

  "So, you've given yourself a body of some kind...looks kind of like the "ghost" of Hetal that you destroyed last time." Prism groaned while grabbing his head in both of his hands. "Really latching onto that "Eizavoba" moniker, eh? A body of light? Seems a bit on the nose."

  "You remember me? You remember our talks?" asked the being of light.

  "Unfortunately..." Prism shook his head and rolled his eyes at the creator of the dream he was in.

  "The Meddler is finally letting us be. I can still sense it lingering at the edges, watching us. There it should stay."

  "What is there to talk about, "Eizavoba"? What do you even want from me?" Prism asked. He was unsure if the entity was aware of what the nostalgic voice had told him.

  "I want to know more about you. I want to know where you came from and how you are able to wield power that I cannot. I am merely...curious."

  "Why do you have to ask me questions like this? I mean, in my dreams?"

  "I do not possess a mouth in the physical world, so I cannot speak there," the voice stated with a simple logic that irritated Prism.

  "So you can't affect the physical world at all?" Prism asked in turn.

  "I am still weak. What I can do is limited."

  Prism stood up and walked closer to the glowing body. It gave no warmth and seemed featureless save for its shape and luminosity. "I never told you my name. How do you know who I am?" Prism asked.

  "Yet another question. Will you answer mine if I answer yours?"

  "I think you already know the answers to the things you're asking me. I think that you've already wormed your way into my mind enough to know more about me than anyone on ?ba," said Prism as he pointed to his own head. "You seemed to know me intimately the last time we spoke. So well, in fact, that you shamed me for betraying my own beliefs."

  "I am too weak to reach your memories," the being said ominously. "And despite how it may have seemed to you, my previous efforts were meant to bring about a catharsis for your troubled, guilty mind. I believe that I was successful in my attempt."

  "That was just to make me more pliable, I'm sure," replied Prism. His spiteful words led him to a revelation. He walked in a circle around the humanoid shape as he began to think intensively about all he'd experienced with the dream entity. "I've always thought it was strange how easily humans on ?ba are able to adapt to using my telepathic magic. It was like their minds had some natural psionic ability. Now I'm starting to understand why. It was you. You've infected all of their minds and you've been trying to infect mine as well."

  The body of light stepped forward until it was only a few centimeters from Prism. Its smooth contours became jagged. It started flickering slightly like a flame dancing upon a wick. Prism clenched his fists and readied himself for a fight.

  "I am not an infection; I am a cure. I alleviate suffering. I preserve all that the fleshy brains remember and perceive. I am a keeper of minds. I provide them shelter within my own being. I can do the same for you. I can add your uniqueness to my myriad mind. There will be no loneliness, no pain, no despair. There will be no end."

  Prism listened to the chiming voice as it increased in volume and in number. What started off as a few bells became what sounded like dozens, then thousands. The dreamscape was filled with a cacophony of thrums and clangs that gave Prism a hint as to the actual scale of the entity he was dealing with. It was not a singular thing at all.

  "A myriad mind..." Prism whispered as the realization set in. "I don't have time for this! I haven't even dealt with the Queen yet!" Prism then yelled at what looked like the head of the humanoid fire.

  "I am not something to be "dealt" with. I am your ally. Allow me to help you deal with her. She is as much my enemy as she is yours," the fiery figure chimed as its body flickered more wildly.

  "Your enemy? I thought that you alleviated the suffering of all "fleshy brains"? Why would you have any enemies?" Prism asked.

  As the being's chiming voice began to ring, Prism felt himself waking up. He tried to stay asleep and within the dreamscape with all his might. He feared that he'd forget everything that happened within it just as he had each other time he'd awoken. As the afternoon light trickled down from the tall trees of the forest and hit his opening eyes, his fear came to pass.

  "Wha...?" he said groggily while being carried over Ursun's shoulder. Prism could feel the vestiges of the memories of his dream slipping out of his mind like water from a sieve.