Bri

Skye's POV

The first thing I noticed was the dark. It surrounded me completely, but I didn't mind. I was warm enough here. I closed my eyes, only to realize that they were already closed. That or I couldn't move. My senses came alive. I shot up in the pitch black darkness and squeezed my hands into fists. I could move freely here, but where was here? I stared in the darkness around me, trying to make sense of where I was and what I was doing here. I couldn't see anything. I began walking around and I didn't run into anything. I put my hand out trying to find a wall but there was no wall. Frustrated, I began to run around.

"Save your energy." I recognized the female voice within my mind. I turned towards the source and I tensed. A woman in her mid-thirties stood before me. She had beautiful brown locks that reached her shoulders and her eyes were a big dark brown. The smile she shared with me was tentative and she gripped the sides of her plain white toga until her knuckles turned white. A hundred questions zipped through my mind, but I held them at bay. Quietly, I sat cross legged on the floor facing my mind's intruder. Her eyes never left me as she also sat before me. She seemed so awfully familiar. Some foreign vague memory tried to resurface. Her face staring down at me.

"Do I know you?" I asked the woman in front of me. She smiled sadly at me.

"Not really."

"That implies that I might." I pointed out. Who was she and how was she so familiar to me? I could've sworn I'd seen her somewhere before.

"Yes, it does." Was her simple response. I waited for a moment before realizing that she wasn't going to elaborate. Did it even matter who she was? She's the voice residing in your head. Isn't that enough? No.

"Why did you reach out to me all those months ago in Nexus?" Perhaps I could figure out who she was by finding her purpose.

"Because you are the only one who can stop him." I knew who she was talking about. The one we had a deal on.

"Once I become a Demigod, you mean."

"Mmm, yes." She hummed and another overwhelming feeling of familiarity and safety struck me. Another in my life used to hum at me just like that.

"How did you know about me? And how could you reach me in the Nexus, City of Gods?" Questions started to pour out of me and the woman tilted her head and giggled sadly.

"I've known of you for such a long time, and I reached you in Nexus because that is where I am held."

Held? I automatically looked at her wrists: nothing. I then looked at one of her ankles that was poking from underneath her dress: an iron cuff. I followed the chain with my eyes, but it disappeared into the blackest of hues.

"Wait, how can I see you?" I asked as I realized that I could in fact see her when I couldn't see anything else.

"We are connected in mind." Her quiet voice never stuttered. And a glimpse of my past hurled itself into my brain.

Two voices, one male and one of the female sitting in front of me.

"Please, I'm begging you!" Her words carried her fear into the wind. "We are connected in spirit."

"I have no connection to the boy."

"You have a connection with me." Her big doe eyes looked at me from above. "And I have loved you ever so, Lord Jasper."

"Because of your love, and our connection, sweet child: I'll protect the child of yours." Tears fell from the woman's eyes onto my face.

The memory faded as quickly as it came. The woman seated in front of me looked worried.

"Are you alright?" Her voice held no fear at this time. Confusion gripped me like the iron cuff on her leg, but I shook my head slowly.

"I'm just...confused." I told her honestly. There was no way I could keep a secret from a being who could literally read my mind.

"I am held captive in the Nexus and when you entered the realm of Gods, I used the last of my strength to combine my mind with yours." She paused and added, "It was the day I had been waiting for."

She thought that was the only thing I was confused about. Or maybe she knew what I was confused about and simply ignored it.

"How did you know I would be coming?" I asked. She smiled sweetly but it still didn't reach her eyes.

"I am very smart." She responded nonchalantly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It wasn't an answer and she knew it. Demanding probably wouldn't work on her.

"Fine, then." Keep your secrets, woman. Some day I will find out the truth. "So, where are we right now?"

"In the recesses of your mind." She answered. She looked around. "It's very dark in here." I thought I saw a tear slip down her face, but I couldn't be certain.

"If I'm in the recesses of my mind, how do I get out?"

"Just like any other place, if you have a desire to leave then you leave." She glanced back at me. "If you have the strength for it." She added.

"Is this where you stay as you fill my mind with your nonsense?"

"I prefer guidance." She nearly glared at me, until she saw the smile playing at my lips. "Yes, I sit in here, perfectly safe." She patted down her clothes which didn't look rumpled at all. For some reason, relief flooded through me. I was glad that she was safe. But what did it matter to me anyway?

"What is your name?" I still didn't have anything to call her. It was annoying.

"You can call me anything."

"Stray."

"Not that." Stray huffed and glared at me.

"Technically, you're following me waiting until I give you a bone or some water." I replied snarkily. "You are a simple stray."

"I don't like that." She muttered. "Bri. You can call me Bri."

"Hello, Bri." I stuck out my hand. "I'm Skye."

"Hello, Skye." She smiled her first genuine smile and another faint memory was triggered.

She was looking down on me smiling so happily.

"Hello...Skye." She whispered before she kissed my forehead. She rocked me back and forth, repeating my name until I fell asleep.

This can't be right. I have a mother and she was no magic user. She died when I was thirteen. Whatever these feelings were, they bothered me. I shook my head to clear it and looked around the recess of my mind.

"So, I can get out of here if I want to, but only if I have the strength to?" I clarified.

"Yes." Bri nodded her head as well.

"How did I get here in the first place?" I wondered out loud. Bri answered slowly.

"You were in the Land of Demons and for some reason you picked a fight with Bal Shadowend."

The memories came rushing back. Sophia guiding me to a tavern, introducing myself to Bal, and Jacqui materializing out of thin air.

"Bal was trying to call Jasper and Jacqui didn't want him to." I let my memories sweep around me. "They whispered in a corner and Bal..." Rage filled me as I remembered what happened. "I'll kill him!"

Bri grabbed my arm and some of my rage left me. Why was I so worked up about the way the Demon Lord looked at Jacqueline?

"Why?" Bri asked.

"Because he's a pervert." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth.

"What makes you think that?" Bri questioned easily. As if it were such an easy answer.

"He was looking at her like he only wanted her for..." I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"He was looking at who?" Confusion laid across her face.

"Jacqueline. He was looking at Jacqueline like he only wanted her for intimate purposes." I couldn't hide it now. At least not from Bri. Bri's face lit up in understanding the moment I implied it.

"She is quite beautiful." She smiled knowingly at me.

"Enough." I shrugged Bri off of me and turned away, feeling my ears go red. I changed the subject. "So, I punched him and he wiped me out. All I remember is watching his lava hand spear through my chest."

"Yes, but the worst damage he did was to your soul."

"What?" I stared at Bri curiously.

"When you use mana, you are using the magic power of your soul. You could say your soul becomes another living weapon at your disposal." Bri paused for a moment and sat down. I sat beside her and she continued. "If you aren't strong in your beliefs, if you question your very soul, your mana becomes weak. Your magic then becomes weak."

"What are you saying?" I feared the answer.

"When Bal broke your magic shield, he was literally breaking your soul into pieces."