Nix (I)

The following days were pretty uneventful.

I focused on doing some studying since I knew I was going to go back to doing school work once we returned home.

It was finally time for us to leave. I felt a little said since I wouldn't be seeing Noor for a long time and I would never admit it, but I would also miss Hecate… just a little bit though.

Donellan could tell I was a little reluctant to leave, but he told me that we would visit the capital more often from now on.

As for the two 'friends' I made, we agreed to stay in contacted through letters.

Johannes mentioned they would be holding a banquet for his thirteenth birthday, which is a special day celebrating his coming of age. He said he'd make sure to send out an invitation, and insisted I attend.

Not being able to refuse, I agreed. I was glad to go home however since I also missed my room there.

On our way back, Donellan told me that we would be stopping by the same place again to see Ms.Levinseon another time.

I started to feel a little nervous at the thought of having to revisit those nightmare's I experienced. But I knew it wasn't something I could avoid and I had to face it if I wanted this body to get better.

Upon seeing us again, Ms.Levinseon didn't waste anytime and wanted to proceed with the second examination immediately.

This time however, Donellan was present since he wanted to make sure everything was ok and nothing would go wrong. I laid down on the bed.

"Now I am going to need to dive into your subconscious again since I couldn't do it properly last time. Now this isn't going to hurt, but you will feel a little uncomfortable.

The purpose of this examination is to see if there is anything in your memories that might help us find the cause of your weaken body since there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you physically." She said her tone sounding serious.

She then turned to Donellan in order to be sure he was also consenting this treatment. Donellan looked at me and gave me a small smile and nodded for her to proceed.

"Now I am going to need you to close your eyes, and free your thoughts of everything." She put her hands over my head and called out "Nella" and proceeded with the examination.

I didn't feel anything for the first couple of seconds and then I felt some slight tingling. This continued for ten minutes until she let go of my head.

I opened by eyes and noticed that Ms.Levinseon was frowning.

"It appears that something is blocking me from entering your memories.

Which worries me because it shouldn't be hard for me find what's hidden when I call out to Nella."

Nella who was beside her spoke out for the first time since I've seen her. "I think this might be a mental blockage that was inflicted on the boy." She said softly.

The moment Donellan heard this, the air around him became heavy. I looked up at him and could tell he was angry.

Confused I asked cautiously "what is a mental blockage?"

In the novel, there was no talk about mental blockage, at least none that I could remember.

Of course in a world with magic and alchemy, things like physical attacks were common knowledge but not many people knew about mental attacks since they were rare.

So considering how limited this information was in the novel, I was bound to be curious especially if this was something that made even Donellan angry.

Ms. Levinseon looked at me and sighed.

"Mental blockage is a form of attack or more like an assurance policy. It insures that the person who has been afflicted with the mental attack cannot be healed easily.

It is also a means of hiding their trance as well. Not many people know about mental attacks so there aren't a lot of people who can reverse them.

This means that this was done to you intentionally but we have no way of knowing how or why." She turned to look at Donellan who still had a solemn look on his face.

This left me deep in thought. Who would do this to me and when did this even happen? Also for what reason? What purpose would they have to attack a harmless child?

I wondered to myself.

"Is there a way to um… break the mental blockage or try to get through it?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes there is a way but it won't be easy. This would require more power, I'd have to use Nix." She mumbled the last part to herself.

"Who is Nix? Is he the other familiar you were referring to last time?"

"Yes he is. I'm glad you remembered. Nix is the other familiar I have. His power works essentially the same as Nella except he extracts things that are hidden even deeper in the subconscious. As you can tell from his name, Nix means night and can also be referred to as darkness and he ventures into the darkness to bring it out." She explained.

Wow, that's an amazing power, I thought. This world really is impressive.

I turned to Donellan and I could tell he was mildly impressed as well.

"If.. if he is able to find out what is wrong with me then I would appreciate the help immensely. No matter how painful it might be, I want to find out what has been afflicting my body. So please, if you can help me, I'd appreciate it." I said with an almost pleading tone.

No matter what is it that happened to this boy, I would learn to deal with it.

I've been through far worse and then some, so I understand pain more than anyone. Of course the dreams that I had experienced were traumatizing, to the point where I had difficulties sleeping alone now, but now that I can confirm that these dreams are memories that were hidden away either intentionally or unintentionally, I want to recover them.

The only way I can move forward, or rather, the only way Simuel can move forward is by facing his fears.

This isn't something I'm doing for myself but something I'm choosing to do to help him. It's the least I can do considering how I've taken possession of his body.

For what reason, I don't know, but if it was to help this boy's tormented soul, then I would. Without hesitation.

Seeing the look of determination on Simuel's face made both Ms. Levinseon and Donellan feel mixed feelings.

Ms. Levinseon admired the boy's courage and couldn't help but want to do something for the boy. She also felt a little bit of pity for him considering how he was so young but had to deal with a lot.

Feeling her master's conflicted heart, Nella spoke to her telepathically.

"Master, it's not like you have to help this boy. You don't have any obligation too. You know how much of a toll it takes for you to use Nix's powers." She said softly.

Although what she said seemed rather cold and heartless, Nella only said it out of concern for her master. She cared for her and didn't want to overexert her body.

Ms. Levinseon smiled at Nella. "Don't worry, I am well aware that this isn't something I have to do. But I can't help but pity the boy. For some reason, I feel inclined to help him. On top of that, how great would it be to have 'the' Donellan Grey owe me a favour." She said laughing to herself.

Nella looked at her and turned to the boy in question. She could understand where her master was coming from.

Just by looking into his surface level memories, she could tell the boy was lacking in care and affection. On top of that there was a certain air to him. As if he's experienced pain in the past and is now used to it. She couldn't help but frown.

"Well, if this is what you want, I won't oppose. Do as you wish. You know Nix will be on board with anything you ask."

"Right."

Ms. Levinseon turned to Simuel. "Young Master Simuel, if this is what you want then I won't oppose. Before that, have you been experiencing any pain or anything out of the ordinary?"

Simuel seemed to hesitate to answer but decided that lying wouldn't be beneficial for him right now.

"I haven't been experiencing any physical pain, however a couple of nights ago I had a nightmare. It didn't seem real at first, but the pain I experienced in the dream felt very real. The dream almost felt like a memory."

Donellan who had been standing by the side grew even more concerned. The air around him got even heavier than before.

Even Ms. Levinseon started to feel the pressure.

"Lord Grey, I understand your feelings, but could you please control your anger. I won't be able to do my job otherwise." She said sternly.

Donellan looked at me and I gave him a reassuring smile, mentally telling him I was ok. He then retracted his aura and the air felt lighter.

Ms. Levinseon sighed in relief almost unconsciously.

"Do you remember what you saw in the dream?" She asked carefully.

"Yes, I remember feeling like I was being tied up and bound to a metal bed. There were two people present. A man and a woman.

The man had a scar on his left eye and the woman was wearing a green dress.

For some reason their faces were rather blurry to I couldn't see much of their appearance. The man put his hands on my forhead and red light was coming from his hands.

All of a sudden I felt searing pain, like I was being burned and it was extremely painful. This went on for awhile until I finally passed out. Then I woke up"

The room went silent for awhile.

Ms. Levinseon looked so serious it startled me for second.

And Donellan looked even scarier.

He hadn't said anything for awhile but the first words that came out of his mouth was:

"Green dress?"