A Piece of Mind for Peace of Mind

Chloe's bound regalis was already endearing himself to her. He was so excited to be here, to be involved in the tournament - it was a little infectious if she was being honest.

But she wasn't going to participate - or at least not yet. Not until she knew for sure that there weren't any nasty strings attached. Terry (as Chloe had begun to call him) may have been endearing, but that didn't mean he wasn't a soul-parasite. Nor did it mean he wasn't intent on possessing her, or any other of a number of nasty things that he could be planning. All of his kind, too - they could all be part of the same evil scheme, and Chloe didn't have any way of knowing yet. This all smelled fishy. People didn't just, host competitions like this for no reason - they had ulterior motives.

The last time Chloe got involved in something like this, she left in an ambulance, with a piece of buckshot millimeters away from a major artery. And she loved Malara and Dalia, but they could be so... reckless, sometimes, and Chloe couldn't stand the idea of this game destroying their lives, like Chloe's life had almost been destroyed almost two years ago.

So she had to do this. For peace of mind.

Chloe and Terry had a pleasant enough conversation on the way home - about the regalia, about their home, about what they were, and a few vague comments about the "divine right" that was the grand prize. And they were guardian spirits, apparently. It sure sounded like it was all positives, and Chloe smiled and nodded along, not even buying it a little bit.

Luring Terry through the hell-portal was trivially easy. All Chloe had to do was invite him to "visit her people's realm for a few minutes." She didn't even need to assure Terry that he would be safe. He was excited nonetheless, and eager to learn.

The portal would shut behind him just as he walked in, and he would begin to hear Chloe's voice coming from within the most private corners of his mind, reverberating through his soul. Breaking down his mental barriers was simple enough, and as she burrowed her way through, she wouldn't even have needed to notice the fear on his face - she could feel it. Apprehension.

'What is this?'

So Chloe began to explain what this place was. She told him, through the link between their minds, more about hell than mere words could manage. Sights, sensations, the sublime feeling of insignificance that she first felt in the face of beings who could flex the worlds around them like extensions of their wills. It was more than he could probably process; huge ideas in short amounts of time.

And her mind buzzed with other thoughts, too. Some would slip through Terry's fingers like smoke, but others, he was able to grasp. He caught just enough that he wasn't surprised when she started to apologize. 'I didn't just bring you here to show you all that. I'm sorry I tricked you, but I have to know for sure what your people are doing here. I wish I had a better way.'

Terry would feel her searching. The more he wanted to protect a thought from her gaze or anyone else's, the more urgently it drew her towards it. His mind was completely naked to her, and the feeling of it fascinated and horrified him.

He looked for a way out. There was none, and the thought crossed Chloe's mind that she may have to kill him, if she found the wrong things, or if he came too close to escaping. And he heard that thought.

Everything he said was confirmed. And as she saw all the fear and emotional pain she'd created in Terry, Chloe started to feel her own pangs of regret.