BAND-AIDS

Caspian had been running for a while. Somehow he was now in a forest dragging his feet through layers of snow. He hadn't seen any of the young Him's for a while now and he couldn't be more glad.

It wasn't like he was scared of his six-year-old self, it was just the overwhelming number. He had tried facing them off one-on-one and it was easy enough, but then more came and more after that.

Running was his only option. The thing is he had no idea where he was running to.

He was smart enough to realize that he was in some sort of mind hex, who cast it he had no idea but he was very sure that he was the target. Killing him in here would most likely give the caster free reign over his mind and body– which was currently in a calamitous state.

There was no way he was letting that happen.

He wasn't sure how just yet but he was certainly going to break out of here, and the first way would be by understanding the relationship between the terrain and his mind.

Right now he could only guess that he was on the surface level of his subconscious, which was why his foe seemed so powerful with their overwhelming physical numbers.

From what he had read– in braille, of course, mind hexes can be used on Knights of any grade, but all it took was a strong enough emotional reaction from the subconscious to break the spell.

Everyone had scars with band-aids placed over them. But Caspian wasn't afraid to pull his.

He soon whipped his head to the side, he couldn't possibly hear it but it was his mind so it felt like a twig had snapped somewhere not too far. All he saw were two purple gems glistening under the pale moonlight and it was enough for him to buckle and run in the opposite direction.

There was no way he was facing these things again.

Often times one would only lead to a couple hundred, fighting them was nothing but pure foolishness.

So he ran and ran as the chuckling behind him only grew more and more dire. Sometimes one of the demon children would leap out of the trees, lunging right at him, but Caspian was quick enough to evade.

Sometimes a kick and a proper punch were enough to stop them but with how much of his speed attacking the Demon children

cost, Caspian just couldn't risk it, so instead he decided to just keep running.

Those purple eyes had haunted him for what felt like days. He knew exactly where to go to end up deeper in his subconscious but the demon children made sure to keep him from his goal.

Makima was smart he'd give her that.

It wasn't hard for him to figure out what she had done. She first handed him a pseudo core she had constructed out of her own Will and then handed it over to Caspian to absorb. When he had come face to face with the red Calamitous Will that slumbered inside the torn mountain's natural obsidian ore. She immediately took control of her Will and formed an array with it.

An array designed to take over his mind. It would have worked if the Red Will wasn't so aggressive and… if it didn't belong to him.

He was well aware of that fact from the moment he came in contact with it, in fact, it had been trying to get Caspian to wield it right from the moment he got close enough to it.

His dreams in the cave and the strange atmosphere he had been perceiving.

How exactly his Will had gotten there was another question. One he knew the government knew the answer to.

He knew he was a walking Frankenstein mentally, a mix match of personalities and memories. He had managed to live above it, not really bothering to scratch too deep.

The pain was suffocating. What was the need for reliving something like that?

But right now he didn't have much of an option, if he wanted to leave here alive he needed to set his mental barricades ablaze.

"Shit shit shit."

Caspian cursed as he ran across the forest. There wasn't much he could do but run, after a while the horde would dissipate only to return a couple of hours– or what felt like hours later.

He couldn't explain this phenomenon and really didn't care to.

It didn't take long before Caspian was hidden from the legion of purple-eyed Hims once again. He was hiding behind a massive bolder trying to piece together some sort of plan.

He could already tell he was on to something with how actively the horde of young boys would get whenever he neared certain places.

It was obvious he was being kept from something, but it was his mind nothing here could hide from him for too long.

He soon broke out from behind the rock in search of an entrance to a deeper part of his mind.

Based on nothing but speculation Caspian assumed that his subconscious was divided into layers and structured in a way that each level only led him deeper into the mountain's underground base.

He wasn't sure, but he felt like he had something to confront in each of the levels, pulling off some band-aids.

With that he mind he kept on going, Makima couldn't keep him away from his trauma for too long.

After a while, Caspian finally stumbled upon something.

"Well, that's new."

He said staring at the appalling statues of frozen creatures.

He walked in their midst petrified by their presence. Their strange limbs and black hides curled in imposing shapes.

Not long after he could her muffled screams.

He whipped him from side to side trying to discern the location the screams spawned from. He followed it and led him deeper into the forest of frozen corpses.

Soon he could see a blue lake glistening from below as moonlight bathed it.

Out in the distance, standing beside the lake was the silhouette of a woman. From what Caspian could see standing behind one of the many trees that bordered the lake, the lady was dressed formally with a black pencil skirt and her brown hair tied neatly into a bun. She had a cigarette in her hands burning idly as she gazed at the lake.

The scene would have seemed relatively normal if it wasn't for the child chained and gagged beneath the lady.

'…I remember this'

Caspian muttered as he stared at the lady with dark eyes.

Soon she plunged the child into the freezing water. Caspian watched in horror as his five-year-old self sank.

He had no idea when his body moved. The next moment he was dashing through the snow nearing the scene.

He knew what awaited him down there but he couldn't just stand there and watch a child drown for hours.

He dived into the lake, and soon after he was surrounded by darkness.