the fellowship of the thing The Fellowship of the Thing - I'm bored. Let's mess around! (Retired)

[Spren of Kindness]

Martin nods.  "See you later."

Then he heads into the forest.  He needs to scream.

[Channelknight Fadran]

Ayia tucked Tvora into bed, then pulled the covers over herself and cried herself to sleep.

[EchoOfThePlanes]

Quote

I'm going to pretend I didn't tear up just now.

The flow of thought begins to stem, eventually ceasing, ending Remembrance's song of mourning. The various colors on its "hide" slowly melt away to white as it lowers its head in respect. A small thought, very quiet, makes its way to no one in particular.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadow shall spring.

Her Chaos remains. Perhaps...

[Spren of Kindness]

Quote

...renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.

Well now I'm tearing up again.

Martin finds a decently sized tree, leans against it, and screams.  Quietly.

[EchoOfThePlanes]

10 minutes ago, Spren of Kindness said:

...renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.

Well now I'm tearing up again.

Quote

Don't cry Echo, don't cry, don't cry.

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

Quote

I'm torn between posting my thing and letting the moment continue...

 

[EchoOfThePlanes]

7 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

I'm torn between posting my thing and letting the moment continue...

Quote

Good point. Hmm... Is it a sort of flashback like the last one?

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

Quote

No. It’d be happening in real time.

 

[EchoOfThePlanes]

52 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

No. It’d be happening in real time.

Quote

Ah, interesting! Well, not that I'm in any authority here, but I say that we need some cheering up.

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

Quote

I'm assuming we'd just be timeskipping to the next day or something, but that doesn't really matter.

Edit: GET OVER HERE, NULL

@Negative_Null

Edited May 24, 2021 by Channelknight Fadran

[Negative_Null]

2 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Edit: GET OVER HERE, NULL

Quote

Since you insist... we'll do it this way, for fun

The god Null walked through his Nexus, if one could be said to walk within the boundaries of their own mind. He had been busy investigating into the strange new gods that seemed to be appearing, and oddly, had found whole sections of Existence that seemed to behave oddly compared to the ones he and the Council controlled.

That was the main reason he had sent Foundations to investigate the Fellowship, but each had come back, defeated in their own way. Patch had lost the girl in that strange "mindscape," Chrysler had taken an arrow to the chest during some fool siege and was being healed, and Vale seemed to be under some kind of shell shock, which was odd for one who had seen as much as he had. 
He had sent out a general summons to his Foundations for a new investigator for the Fellowship, at least until those two could return. Most were busy on other assignments they couldn't return from: Jay on Siren, Selia presumably in the Cosmere. He hesitated to send out those who had responded, unaware as he was of the situation. 
Stasis was a young Foundation from a universe filled with superheroes, which is why they refused to give up the moniker. They had unique powers but were also the newest of Null's Foundations.

Crimson was an assassin who for years had hunted extraplanar threats. He was skilled and crafty, but he was certainly less suited to investigation than to assassination.

Moria Smedry was unpredictable at best, and far from the most observant of the Foundations. She was reliable, however, and perhaps the most likely to find herself within the group thanks to her charismatic personality.

Quote

Choose your own adventure! Who joins the Fellowship?

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

Quote

I... do not care. They all seem awesome. I like Stasis and Crimson best.

 

[xinoehp512]

On 5/21/2021 at 10:48 PM, Tani said:

Wait. It doesn't suck color still, does it?

Quote

It does not.

 

[EchoOfThePlanes]

3 hours ago, Negative_Null said:

Choose your own adventure! Who joins the Fellowship?

Quote

Crimson would interact very... interestingly with Remembrance, as Remembrance could technically be considered an extraplanar threat.

 

[Spren of Kindness]

Quote

I think Crimson would be cool.

 

[Negative_Null]

Quote

Well that's enough for me!

Crimson Vaughn pressed a button on his wristband and stepped through a portal to... well he wasn't totally sure. But Chrysler had placed a tracking glyph on the girl Andante's person and he was able to track that. The portal should open a few feet behind the girl, and Crimson could hopefully introduce himself before getting shot. Scaly skin and yellow, reptilian eyes sometimes made people confuse him for a monster. Which he supposed he occasionally was, but not for those reasons.

@Condensation

[Mist]

On 5/20/2021 at 8:23 AM, Mist said:

Ember looked around for who he could see, about to walk over to them and ask if they would like to come, as Fadran suggested. 

As he watched Tvora, he was somber, feeling the significance of the moment, despite not knowing her.

After a little while, he turned and went to his tent that he had set up, and laid down for a tired night's sleep.

When he woke up, he started setting up a fire, but when he noticed no one else awake, he just created one. As he sat near it, he looked around and saw a scaly... something. "What are you?" He called as he lept up.

[Channelknight Fadran]

Quote

Alrighty, I'll post my thing tomorrow morning. I suggest you go read the last one if you haven't already.

 

[Negative_Null]

34 minutes ago, Mist said:

As he watched Tvora, he was somber, feeling the significance of the moment, despite not knowing her.

After a little while, he turned and went to his tent that he had set up, and laid down for a tired night's sleep.

When he woke up, he started setting up a fire, but when he noticed no one else awake, he just created one. As he sat near it, he looked around and saw a scaly... something. "What are you?" He called as he lept up.

"My name's Crimson. I'm told to look for a... Fadran. Do you know that name?"

"As to what I am, worry not. Replicans are rare even where I come from. Think of me as just an oddity."

Edited May 25, 2021 by Negative_Null

[Enter a username]

On 9/19/2020 at 3:44 PM, Enter a username said:

The strike team from the Curse of Death arrived. Enter grabbed his sword, but one of the members used their own to knock it out of his hand. Another one attached a ribcage-like device to Enter's chest and flipped a switch. Enter screamed. A gemstone set into the device started glowing. The strike team took the device and portaled away. Within seconds of showing up, they were gone.

Quote

Anyone ready for this to come back up?

[EchoOfThePlanes]

11 hours ago, Mist said:

When he woke up, he started setting up a fire, but when he noticed no one else awake, he just created one.

Quote

By the way, Remembrance doesn't sleep due to its discorporate nature. Though I'm not sure it would understand exactly what you just did there, so it won't say anything to anyone. 

 

11 hours ago, Negative_Null said:

"My name's Crimson. I'm told to look for a... Fadran. Do you know that name?"

"As to what I am, worry not. Replicans are rare even where I come from. Think of me as just an oddity."

Remembrance witnesses the arrival of Crimson from outside human spatial dimensions, which warrants a burst of curiosity. It contains the curiosity to its local area, only perceivable by Crimson and Ember. The air around the pair begins to ripple and warp. A faint glow begins to pattern the rippling air, eventually taking the form of a giant serpentine figure. It rears its head, which is bristled in what seems to be feathers. It does not have skin, as its "body" is made up of a white-blue energy. Along with the figure comes a presence, a presence that speaks to the minds and hearts (or equivalent organs) of the pair.

Curious... You are new. Not of this universe. 

Edited May 25, 2021 by EchoOfThePlanes

[xinoehp512]

9 hours ago, Enter a username said:

Anyone ready for this to come back up?

Quote

Weren't we going to do a thing?

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

Quote

Sure! But first...

Thing #2

Spoiler

Fadran shut the tent flaps and sat down, taking a deep breath. Finally; some peace and quiet. Some time to get practicing.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, mentally shutting off his senses to focus on his mind’s eye. He could technically turn off his senses manually via use of Illusion from Drakefell, but that would take more concentration than it’d free up. Instead, he fell into an old meditative habit to clear his head.
Clear your mind: step one for approximately 92% of all magical abilities. In any case, he’d become rather good at it over the years.
From there, he focused on entering his mind’s eye: materializing inside his head. He remembered the sensation of entering a Mindscape with Nath and tried to replicate it. Straining his mind, he pictured with every inch of his conscience him entering his own Mindscape.
Ethereal… material…
Connection.
Fadran cried out and fell over, a burst of pain shooting across his entire body from his head. He brought a chair down with him, clutching his temple and grunting subvocally.
It hadn’t worked. No; it had, but only for a moment. He’d been knocked out immediately upon entry. Was that his own mind’s defenses trying to keep out intruding magic, including his own? Was it just a reflex to save him from killing himself out of the strain?
It must’ve been both; in a sense, anyways. There was probably more than one barrier keeping him out of his own head. He’d have to figure out which ones came first, and determine if they were concentric or intertwined. From there, he could come up with a method to breaking the pattern and into his own Mindscape.
Great. Fadran stood up. Cool, just… take a break first. This isn’t gonna be easy.

Queen looked up at the shout. Was that Fadran? Concerned, she went over to his tent, lifting the flap. “Are… Are you okay?”

“Hm?” Fadran looked up. “Oh! Queen. Hi, uhh…” He pulled himself to his feet, kicking away the pieces of the broken chair. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

Queen raised an eyebrow. “I’m not blind, deaf, or stupid.” She sat down on the ground. “What’s going on?”

“I’m working on something,” Fadran replied simply. “And I am alright. It’s just proving to be a… bit difficult. And painful. But mostly just difficult.”

“Any way I can help?” Queen asked, still concerned.

“I’d love to say yes, but the answer is probably not.” Fadran scratched his head. “It’s one of those… self-improvement thingies that you really have to have that personal feel for, y’know?”

Queen nodded. “Can I at least stay with you?”

“I… guess you could.” Fadran shrugged.

“If you think I’d be a distraction or a hindrance in any way, just let me know. I’m fine with leaving, but I’d like to be with you.”

“No, it isn’t that. I can concentrate well enough with people around—even people like you.” He grinned, but the smile soon faded. “It’s just that it might be hard for you to watch. Or anyone to watch, really.”

“I’ll be fine. Just… whatever it is you’re doing… be careful, yeah?”

“I’ll do my best.” Fadran sat down beside her, figuring that standing up probably wouldn’t be the best way to begin this kind of thing. As an afterthought he took her hand gently, then closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

Queen clung to his hand tightly, placing her other hand on top of his and resting her head on his shoulder somewhat cautiously. Not knowing what he was doing made it difficult to know what she could do.

What barriers were there?
Fadran kept his consciousness on the edge between the Mindscape and the physical world. After only one entry attempt, he was already aware of the point at which he subethereally crossed over into the mind’s eye. Bearing that in mind, he could easily maintain a distance balance near indefinitely, assuming nothing external did anything weird to him.
He mentally approached the first barrier: the place at which he’d been kicked out earlier. He hadn’t been going in with an overt regard to his own safety; rather, he had been trying to get the feel for entering a Mindscape. He’d been able to find the barrier, but it had kicked him back too quickly for him to read.
Had that a contact-triggered barrier or a force-equivalent barrier? Depending on which one it was, he could determine which of the many barriers were supposedly around the edge of his Mindscape.
He inched forwards and touched his mind to the defense.
Connection.
Another burst of pain, and he fell out of his mind. He released a yell and collapsed backwards, breathing heavily.

Queen flinched at Fadran’s cry of pain, clutching his hand even tighter. She hated not knowing what was going on, but she’d still be there for him no matter what it was. She was not letting go of his hand.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Fadran took to steadying his breath. “Ugh… perfect.”

Queen looked at him questioningly, her still-present concern evident in her eyes.

“So it’s reflexive, then.” Fadran said aloud to himself. 
His mind’s defenses were more subtle and significantly less violent, designed to probe an intruder and determine its nature rather than eject it right away. If the initial defense was that reflexive, then it must be designed to maintain his own well-being: instant ejection to prevent damage, and a spark of pain to warn him from going any further.
So he knew what his mind’s first defense was. But if it was initially self-preservative, then getting around it wouldn’t be quite so easy; and the implications of having such a front-lined defense were that any further barriers wouldn’t be self-imposed. He would’ve expected that if his own defenses were keeping him out, then they’d be the first for him to meet. If he wasn’t triggering his own set of barriers, then what would he be trying to penetrate?
Not enough information. First, he’d have to determine the nature of this reflexive reject system and try to get around it; from there, he could try to find out what lay beyond it.
“This might take awhile,” he muttered.

“Could you explain to me what it is you’re trying to accomplish?”

“It’s a secret.”

"Okay." Queen forced herself not to pry. "Still nothing I can do except be here?"

“Unless you’re secretly a neuroscientist and you can explain the logical processes of a magical mind?” Fadran shook his head. “No. Probably not. Thanks for asking, though.”
He closed his eyes again and reentered the state of hyper-consciousness (he’d decided to call it that because it sounded cool). If his initial roadblock was a self-preservative effect, then how was he supposed to circumvent it? Willpower and stubbornness probably wouldn’t get him anywhere; in fact, it was probably only contributing to his inability to enter.
Perhaps circumvention wasn’t the solution? What would this reflex be protecting me from? Fadran wondered, approaching but not quite touching the barrier. Mindscapes are probably incredibly difficult to create without proper training. Nath said that most mortals couldn’t make one even if they tried… so would it be a power requirement that I’m protecting myself from?
Is it possible that by trying to create a Mindscape… I could die from the strain?
Fadran’s eyes squeezed tighter as he tried to come to a conclusion. Should I even be trying? The Fellowship needs me. I shouldn’t—. He took in a deep breath and tried to relax. No. If Nath thinks I can do it, then it’s at least worth a try.
He opened his eyes. “So… spoiler alert. I might die in the next five minutes.”

Queen stared at him in alarm. “Don’t you dare. You die, and I will become the main antagonist in this story. That’s a promise.”

“I… will try not to die.” Fadran tapped his fingers against his knee. “Nath seemed to be under the impression that I could withstand the strain—though I don’t know to what extent he could measure that in another person.”

Sighing softly, Queen looked away. Why do the men I fall in love with always insist on being so dangerously noble? Her leg started to bounce, like it often did when she got anxious. She forced it to stop, holding her foot down on the ground. Do I trust Nath? With his own life, sure. But Fadran’s? Queen felt a sort of helplessness. It was his choice, and if he trusted Nath enough, maybe she could, too. “Alright. Just… If you ever get to a point where you’re more than 90% sure that you’ll die, promise me you’ll stop?”

“I’ll stop if I’m seventy percent sure.”

Queen took a few calming breaths. Why is he more calm than me? He’s the one who might die! “Okay. I’ll… be here.”

“Alright.” Fadran pecked her on the cheek and returned to his meditative position. “Wish me luck.”

Queen forced a smile onto her face. “Good luck.”

Fadran entered his mind’s eye once again, but this time he didn’t have any intention of meeting the barrier. Right now, he needed to find a trigger: an off switch of sorts. How was he supposed to turn off a reflex?
In regular practice, the only way to pull off such a feat would be consistent training, but that could take months or even years to do. He needed a quicker way to get this figured out; it wouldn’t be very helpful if he hit his thirtieth birthday before breaking the barrier only to find that he couldn’t maintain the stress of forming a Mindscape. If he was going to get this done, then he’d need to gauge the difficulty level as soon as possible.
He needed a better read on this reflex. A consistent read. This isn’t gonna be fun.
Fadran created a mental anchor just outside the mental zone of the barrier, Forging a Bond to his own mind and stringing his mentality to it. With luck, he’d be able to stay inside this state even after hitting the barrier.
Well… let’s get reading.
He touched the wall and was immediately shoved back, but didn’t get blown out of his mental state. Fadran felt at it again and again, recording every feeling that coursed through him on contact. It was his own mind, after all: he could read it quite efficiently.

Queen wasn’t about to watch him struggle again without doing anything. She mirrored his position, entering her own mind and searching for her Bond with Fadran. Finding it, she resisted the temptation to try to see what he was doing. I need to trust him, and try to help him, even without knowing what he’s doing. She wasn’t quite sure of what to do, but she tried to send some of her strength, willpower, and courage through the Bond.

Strength washed over him.
Ah. Thanks Queen. Fadran smiled in the physical world, but in his mental state, he was still grinding away at the barrier. Beat after beat of pain coursed through him, but being a protagonist, he was pretty good at ignoring that.
He was beginning to get a good idea about how this reflex worked. It was a comparative engine, just like basically anything else in the brain. It could read his own strength level as he pressed it against the barrier and compare it to the power requirements of maintaining a Mindscape. In other words, his own mind didn’t think he could handle it.
Could I even enter without dying immediately? Would I be able to explore the ramifications and possibilities safely?
Fadran exited the state and gasped, clenching Queen’s hand as the pain grew worse. He could actually feel it now, and it didn’t feel good.

Queen stopped the flow through the Bond as she felt Fadran’s grip on her hand grow tighter, unable to focus on that at the same time as she was present in the physical world. As she opened her eyes, she could instantly see the pain in his. “Are you okay? Will you be okay?”

“Ahhh—ck… I’m fine.” Fadran sucked in a breath and held it for a second before exhaling. “But my brain is at least fifty-one percent sure that I’m going to die.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Queen asked, “Was I any help at all? Could you tell that I was trying to help? If so, what else do you need?”

A realization dawned on Fadran. “What I need…” But could she provide it? Maybe? “I don’t… know if you could help with it. But you might.”

“What is it?” Queen looked at him intently. “I can at least try.”

Fadran was still contemplating the possibility. “I’m… pretty sure it wouldn’t kill you.”

“Flicks and twirls, Fadran, just tell me what it is already. We might as well both risk our lives.”

Fadran crossed his arms. “I just need to confirm one more thing before I can tell you, alright?”

Queen sighed in exasperation. “Fine.”

“Alright.” Fadran held up a hand. “I’m gonna break into your brain again. That okay?”

She didn’t have anything to hide from him anymore; not like she had the first time. Not that that had been a bad thing for him to find out. “Go right ahead.”

“Do you think you could sort everything power-related into one bit that I could leaf through?” Fadran frowned. “That sounded weird.”

“My brain is now a library. Good to know.” Brains are weird, Queen thought as she entered hers, doing what Fadran had requested. It actually made it easier to think of her mind as a library and its contents as books. Before long, memories, personality traits, and emotions associated with power were all in one ‘aisle’ in the library of her brain. “Now it looks like a library, and it is all ready for your perusal.”

Fadran smiled. “You’re the absolute best.”
He placed a finger on Queen’s temple, then closed his eyes and pulled on their Bond. It wasn’t hard to enter his cognition: they’d been connecting a lot recently.
As promised, Queen’s mind was incredibly organized. He didn’t have to shuffle through a pile of misplaced thoughts in order to find what he needed; he didn’t even have to dig around in an organized pile of misplaced thoughts. It was all… set out.
Not bad, he thought, impressed.
He started sorting through the bits related to Queen’s powers. It would’ve been nice if she had alphabetized things, but well… that wasn’t really how thoughts worked. In any case, it didn’t take him long to sort through the gist of it. From there, he could get down into the nitty-gritty to find…
…
Nothing.
Scraps.
Fadran pulled out and dropped his face into his palm. Well there went that possibility.

Queen’s heart sank as she figured out what Fadran’s disappointment likely meant. “I… take it that it won’t work?”

A quiet moment. He didn’t know what to say, until…
“Wait a minute.” He raised his face out of his hands. “Wait, actually… no. It did work. In a… wraparound, backwards sort of way.”

Queen’s confusion was evident enough in her face that she deemed a vocal response unnecessary.

“Would you like to visit my homeworld?” Fadran asked, seemingly at random. “The Iconar Collective?”

“Well, yeah, but… why? And why are you asking me this now?” Queen still looked confused, but now impatience was added to the mix.

“Because that’s the only place I can think of where he would’ve gone.”

“Who?”

“Icona.”

Also I guess I summon Nath for Mindscaping stuff...

@Nathrangking

Edited May 25, 2021 by Channelknight Fadran

[EchoOfThePlanes]

Quote

You gotta stop doing this to me, mates. Again, I applaud both of your writing skills.

Hey Nath, out of curiosity, does your character utilize a form of magic for his psychic abilities, or is it psionics?

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by EchoOfThePlanes

[Nathrangking]

2 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Sure! But first...

Thing #2

  Hide contents

Fadran shut the tent flaps and sat down, taking a deep breath. Finally; some peace and quiet. Some time to get practicing.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, mentally shutting off his senses to focus on his mind’s eye. He could technically turn off his senses manually via use of Illusion from Drakefell, but that would take more concentration than it’d free up. Instead, he fell into an old meditative habit to clear his head.
Clear your mind: step one for approximately 92% of all magical abilities. In any case, he’d become rather good at it over the years.
From there, he focused on entering his mind’s eye: materializing inside his head. He remembered the sensation of entering a Mindscape with Nath and tried to replicate it. Straining his mind, he pictured with every inch of his conscience him entering his own Mindscape.
Ethereal… material…
Connection.
Fadran cried out and fell over, a burst of pain shooting across his entire body from his head. He brought a chair down with him, clutching his temple and grunting subvocally.
It hadn’t worked. No; it had, but only for a moment. He’d been knocked out immediately upon entry. Was that his own mind’s defenses trying to keep out intruding magic, including his own? Was it just a reflex to save him from killing himself out of the strain?
It must’ve been both; in a sense, anyways. There was probably more than one barrier keeping him out of his own head. He’d have to figure out which ones came first, and determine if they were concentric or intertwined. From there, he could come up with a method to breaking the pattern and into his own Mindscape.
Great. Fadran stood up. Cool, just… take a break first. This isn’t gonna be easy.

Queen looked up at the shout. Was that Fadran? Concerned, she went over to his tent, lifting the flap. “Are… Are you okay?”

“Hm?” Fadran looked up. “Oh! Queen. Hi, uhh…” He pulled himself to his feet, kicking away the pieces of the broken chair. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

Queen raised an eyebrow. “I’m not blind, deaf, or stupid.” She sat down on the ground. “What’s going on?”

“I’m working on something,” Fadran replied simply. “And I am alright. It’s just proving to be a… bit difficult. And painful. But mostly just difficult.”

“Any way I can help?” Queen asked, still concerned.

“I’d love to say yes, but the answer is probably not.” Fadran scratched his head. “It’s one of those… self-improvement thingies that you really have to have that personal feel for, y’know?”

Queen nodded. “Can I at least stay with you?”

“I… guess you could.” Fadran shrugged.

“If you think I’d be a distraction or a hindrance in any way, just let me know. I’m fine with leaving, but I’d like to be with you.”

“No, it isn’t that. I can concentrate well enough with people around—even people like you.” He grinned, but the smile soon faded. “It’s just that it might be hard for you to watch. Or anyone to watch, really.”

“I’ll be fine. Just… whatever it is you’re doing… be careful, yeah?”

“I’ll do my best.” Fadran sat down beside her, figuring that standing up probably wouldn’t be the best way to begin this kind of thing. As an afterthought he took her hand gently, then closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

Queen clung to his hand tightly, placing her other hand on top of his and resting her head on his shoulder somewhat cautiously. Not knowing what he was doing made it difficult to know what she could do.

What barriers were there?
Fadran kept his consciousness on the edge between the Mindscape and the physical world. After only one entry attempt, he was already aware of the point at which he subethereally crossed over into the mind’s eye. Bearing that in mind, he could easily maintain a distance balance near indefinitely, assuming nothing external did anything weird to him.
He mentally approached the first barrier: the place at which he’d been kicked out earlier. He hadn’t been going in with an overt regard to his own safety; rather, he had been trying to get the feel for entering a Mindscape. He’d been able to find the barrier, but it had kicked him back too quickly for him to read.
Had that a contact-triggered barrier or a force-equivalent barrier? Depending on which one it was, he could determine which of the many barriers were supposedly around the edge of his Mindscape.
He inched forwards and touched his mind to the defense.
Connection.
Another burst of pain, and he fell out of his mind. He released a yell and collapsed backwards, breathing heavily.

Queen flinched at Fadran’s cry of pain, clutching his hand even tighter. She hated not knowing what was going on, but she’d still be there for him no matter what it was. She was not letting go of his hand.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Fadran took to steadying his breath. “Ugh… perfect.”

Queen looked at him questioningly, her still-present concern evident in her eyes.

“So it’s reflexive, then.” Fadran said aloud to himself. 
His mind’s defenses were more subtle and significantly less violent, designed to probe an intruder and determine its nature rather than eject it right away. If the initial defense was that reflexive, then it must be designed to maintain his own well-being: instant ejection to prevent damage, and a spark of pain to warn him from going any further.
So he knew what his mind’s first defense was. But if it was initially self-preservative, then getting around it wouldn’t be quite so easy; and the implications of having such a front-lined defense were that any further barriers wouldn’t be self-imposed. He would’ve expected that if his own defenses were keeping him out, then they’d be the first for him to meet. If he wasn’t triggering his own set of barriers, then what would he be trying to penetrate?
Not enough information. First, he’d have to determine the nature of this reflexive reject system and try to get around it; from there, he could try to find out what lay beyond it.
“This might take awhile,” he muttered.

“Could you explain to me what it is you’re trying to accomplish?”

“It’s a secret.”

"Okay." Queen forced herself not to pry. "Still nothing I can do except be here?"

“Unless you’re secretly a neuroscientist and you can explain the logical processes of a magical mind?” Fadran shook his head. “No. Probably not. Thanks for asking, though.”
He closed his eyes again and reentered the state of hyper-consciousness (he’d decided to call it that because it sounded cool). If his initial roadblock was a self-preservative effect, then how was he supposed to circumvent it? Willpower and stubbornness probably wouldn’t get him anywhere; in fact, it was probably only contributing to his inability to enter.
Perhaps circumvention wasn’t the solution? What would this reflex be protecting me from? Fadran wondered, approaching but not quite touching the barrier. Mindscapes are probably incredibly difficult to create without proper training. Nath said that most mortals couldn’t make one even if they tried… so would it be a power requirement that I’m protecting myself from?
Is it possible that by trying to create a Mindscape… I could die from the strain?
Fadran’s eyes squeezed tighter as he tried to come to a conclusion. Should I even be trying? The Fellowship needs me. I shouldn’t—. He took in a deep breath and tried to relax. No. If Nath thinks I can do it, then it’s at least worth a try.
He opened his eyes. “So… spoiler alert. I might die in the next five minutes.”

Queen stared at him in alarm. “Don’t you dare. You die, and I will become the main antagonist in this story. That’s a promise.”

“I… will try not to die.” Fadran tapped his fingers against his knee. “Nath seemed to be under the impression that I could withstand the strain—though I don’t know to what extent he could measure that in another person.”

Sighing softly, Queen looked away. Why do the men I fall in love with always insist on being so dangerously noble? Her leg started to bounce, like it often did when she got anxious. She forced it to stop, holding her foot down on the ground. Do I trust Nath? With his own life, sure. But Fadran’s? Queen felt a sort of helplessness. It was his choice, and if he trusted Nath enough, maybe she could, too. “Alright. Just… If you ever get to a point where you’re more than 90% sure that you’ll die, promise me you’ll stop?”

“I’ll stop if I’m seventy percent sure.”

Queen took a few calming breaths. Why is he more calm than me? He’s the one who might die! “Okay. I’ll… be here.”

“Alright.” Fadran pecked her on the cheek and returned to his meditative position. “Wish me luck.”

Queen forced a smile onto her face. “Good luck.”

Fadran entered his mind’s eye once again, but this time he didn’t have any intention of meeting the barrier. Right now, he needed to find a trigger: an off switch of sorts. How was he supposed to turn off a reflex?
In regular practice, the only way to pull off such a feat would be consistent training, but that could take months or even years to do. He needed a quicker way to get this figured out; it wouldn’t be very helpful if he hit his thirtieth birthday before breaking the barrier only to find that he couldn’t maintain the stress of forming a Mindscape. If he was going to get this done, then he’d need to gauge the difficulty level as soon as possible.
He needed a better read on this reflex. A consistent read. This isn’t gonna be fun.
Fadran created a mental anchor just outside the mental zone of the barrier, Forging a Bond to his own mind and stringing his mentality to it. With luck, he’d be able to stay inside this state even after hitting the barrier.
Well… let’s get reading.
He touched the wall and was immediately shoved back, but didn’t get blown out of his mental state. Fadran felt at it again and again, recording every feeling that coursed through him on contact. It was his own mind, after all: he could read it quite efficiently.

Queen wasn’t about to watch him struggle again without doing anything. She mirrored his position, entering her own mind and searching for her Bond with Fadran. Finding it, she resisted the temptation to try to see what he was doing. I need to trust him, and try to help him, even without knowing what he’s doing. She wasn’t quite sure of what to do, but she tried to send some of her strength, willpower, and courage through the Bond.

Strength washed over him.
Ah. Thanks Queen. Fadran smiled in the physical world, but in his mental state, he was still grinding away at the barrier. Beat after beat of pain coursed through him, but being a protagonist, he was pretty good at ignoring that.
He was beginning to get a good idea about how this reflex worked. It was a comparative engine, just like basically anything else in the brain. It could read his own strength level as he pressed it against the barrier and compare it to the power requirements of maintaining a Mindscape. In other words, his own mind didn’t think he could handle it.
Could I even enter without dying immediately? Would I be able to explore the ramifications and possibilities safely?
Fadran exited the state and gasped, clenching Queen’s hand as the pain grew worse. He could actually feel it now, and it didn’t feel good.

Queen stopped the flow through the Bond as she felt Fadran’s grip on her hand grow tighter, unable to focus on that at the same time as she was present in the physical world. As she opened her eyes, she could instantly see the pain in his. “Are you okay? Will you be okay?”

“Ahhh—ck… I’m fine.” Fadran sucked in a breath and held it for a second before exhaling. “But my brain is at least fifty-one percent sure that I’m going to die.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Queen asked, “Was I any help at all? Could you tell that I was trying to help? If so, what else do you need?”

A realization dawned on Fadran. “What I need…” But could she provide it? Maybe? “I don’t… know if you could help with it. But you might.”

“What is it?” Queen looked at him intently. “I can at least try.”

Fadran was still contemplating the possibility. “I’m… pretty sure it wouldn’t kill you.”

“Flicks and twirls, Fadran, just tell me what it is already. We might as well both risk our lives.”

Fadran crossed his arms. “I just need to confirm one more thing before I can tell you, alright?”

Queen sighed in exasperation. “Fine.”

“Alright.” Fadran held up a hand. “I’m gonna break into your brain again. That okay?”

She didn’t have anything to hide from him anymore; not like she had the first time. Not that that had been a bad thing for him to find out. “Go right ahead.”

“Do you think you could sort everything power-related into one bit that I could leaf through?” Fadran frowned. “That sounded weird.”

“My brain is now a library. Good to know.” Brains are weird, Queen thought as she entered hers, doing what Fadran had requested. It actually made it easier to think of her mind as a library and its contents as books. Before long, memories, personality traits, and emotions associated with power were all in one ‘aisle’ in the library of her brain. “Now it looks like a library, and it is all ready for your perusal.”

Fadran smiled. “You’re the absolute best.”
He placed a finger on Queen’s temple, then closed his eyes and pulled on their Bond. It wasn’t hard to enter his cognition: they’d been connecting a lot recently.
As promised, Queen’s mind was incredibly organized. He didn’t have to shuffle through a pile of misplaced thoughts in order to find what he needed; he didn’t even have to dig around in an organized pile of misplaced thoughts. It was all… set out.
Not bad, he thought, impressed.
He started sorting through the bits related to Queen’s powers. It would’ve been nice if she had alphabetized things, but well… that wasn’t really how thoughts worked. In any case, it didn’t take him long to sort through the gist of it. From there, he could get down into the nitty-gritty to find…
…
Nothing.
Scraps.
Fadran pulled out and dropped his face into his palm. Well there went that possibility.

Queen’s heart sank as she figured out what Fadran’s disappointment likely meant. “I… take it that it won’t work?”

A quiet moment. He didn’t know what to say, until…
“Wait a minute.” He raised his face out of his hands. “Wait, actually… no. It did work. In a… wraparound, backwards sort of way.”

Queen’s confusion was evident enough in her face that she deemed a vocal response unnecessary.

“Would you like to visit my homeworld?” Fadran asked, seemingly at random. “The Iconar Collective?”

“Well, yeah, but… why? And why are you asking me this now?” Queen still looked confused, but now impatience was added to the mix.

“Because that’s the only place I can think of where he would’ve gone.”

“Who?”

“Icona.”

Also I guess I summon Nath for Mindscaping stuff...

Spoiler

You have reached the Mindscape help hotline. Please leave a message after the sound of new universes being born and I'll see what I can do.

@Channelknight Fadran