Ch26. Mind-link

The ships were anchored near the ruins of the Old Valyria as the group of thousand magicians left the ships, levitating each other to the ground. Only the ordinary sailors stayed on the ships as guards.

The group was approaching the half-crumbled city walls when suddenly Thomas screamed an order.

"Halt!"

And the entire battalion stopped at once.

"Ward experts forward!" He shouted. "Others create a camp! Chop-chop!"

The mages were not a common mess of a medieval army that was so common in this world.

The army here consisted mostly of conscripted peasants and half-competent knights led by most-of-the-time fat lords that wouldn't be able to hunt a ferret.

The problem was, the army was not an army in this world. The closest thing to trained soldiers were knights and mercenaries and even then the sad truth was that mercenaries had better morale and more skill in fighting as a unit than even the knights.

Yes, lords had some trained soldiers. But the numbers and actual ability to form a single unit moving as one were pitiful.

Because of that, Irene decided to create 'games' and 'sports' in Belserion Institute that would teach the students these things. And while everyone knew they were basically getting military training disguised as a fun past-time activity, nobody complained. Not in a world where conscripting 'peasants' is the norm. In fact, Irene was astonished that the students were downright happy about it.

The battalion of mages moved like a well-oiled machine. They weaved magic to even the terrain, set up magically expanded tents and even created a wall of earth around the camp. All of that in a little over ten minutes. Irene looked quite smug about it.

After the camp was created, it was time for defenses. A perimeter ward was set up and a few alarm charms thrown all around the surroundings. Due to most warders working on the magical defenses of Old Valyria, the people transfigured rocks into animated puppets. Hundreds of 'rats' entered the surrounding forests while the skies were filled by flocks of 'sparrows'.

Even the ground was hardened whenever possible to prevent an attack from under the ground.

Seeing the mages for the first time in action, he turned to Irene.

"You overdid it." He deadpanned at her.

"Maybe a little, dear." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "But at least they are efficient!"

Bellatrix snorted at that.

"Well, time for... that." Thomas concluded.

"Yes. That." Irene sighed unhappily.

"Finally!" Bellatrix beamed.

...

Oberyn observed the warders that analyzed, probed, and somehow tried to dismantle the wards.

Apparently, they could very well walk past them. There was no actual protection preventing intrusion. But with the problem was the state of the wards.

One of the magicians told Oberyn the wards are problematic because the layers were smashed together from the inside and now there is only one layer of mumbo-jumbo of wards squeezed into a single wall encompassing the entire city, doing who-knows-what who-knows-when in reaction to yet another who-knows-what. They could very well be activated the second the group walks in and only attack as they were leaving.

Basically, the wards lost their intended function when they were compressed together like the ingredients in a sandwich but unfortunately, this didn't disable them, only made them more unpredictable, therefore dangerous. The protections also were not 'traditional' wards, instead, it was more akin to a barrier, or so was Oberyn told. Basically, the warders had problems with it.

He smiled as he saw his youngest girl flailing her arms around in exasperation as Ellaria gave her worried glances.

It pained his heart but he long ago accepted the fact his little girls saw the Iron Islands as more of a home than Dorne. Even Ellaria's threats, begging, or ultimatums didn't help.

We will be proud battle mages! Or so they exclaimed and didn't budge.

With a sigh, Oberyn shifted his gaze and spotted Thomas and his two wives standing a little way off the working warders, watching blankly in front of them with indifferent eerily similar expressions.

He approached them, curious about some things.

"Yo." Oberyn greeted them and instantly flinched when three sets of eerily similar blank eyes snapped to him at the exact same time in the exact same manner.

"Yes, Oberyn?" All three emotionlessly uttered together, completely in sync as Oberyn gulped.

"I-," He decided to ignore their newfound weirdness in pursuit of answers. "Why did you leave the protections to the warders?" He asked, believing it was just an unnecessary loss of time.

"Experience." The three deadpan eerie voices resounded together. "We-" The trio stopped as they saw Oberyn wince. They blinked and their bodies stilled for a second before Oberyn saw something astonishing. Both Irene's and Bellatrix's eyes dimmed into a soulless husk while Thomas's brightened.

"Better?" Thomas asked, still with emotionless indifferent voice while Irene and Bellatrix were quiet just lifelessly staring forward.

Oberyn nodded but as he did so, he remembered where he saw those eyes.

Lys.

When he traveled with Second Sons, his friends once dragged him into a 'special' brothel where the women would fulfill any requirement.

That's where he saw those soulless eyes. They were the eyes of broken individuals lacking their minds. Just puppets moving along with the wishes of their owners.

Thomas noted his horrified look and emotionlessly spoke.

"Don't mind Our bodies." Seeing Oberyn gulp and nod, he continued in the same even tone. "We can't do everything by Ourselves. The magic users of the Belserion Institute have to get real experience."

"Huh?" Oberyn asked as he already forgot his question due to the shock his mind received at seeing the lively women he came to see as his sisters with the eyes he could only compare to the most broken toys of most disgusting pleasure houses of Lys.

"What... exactly are you... doing... right now?" He asked Thomas in a disturbed tone, noting the blank deadpan look he received.

"Mind-link." Thomas's emotionless voice reached his ears as his shoulders sagged. For a second, he actually thought... Nevermind.

"Wait a second, We will disconnect Ourselves." Declared the eery toneless voice of Thomas and Oberyn watched in surprise as Irene winced and furrowed her brows, Thomas groaned and started rubbing his forehead as Bellatrix lips twisted into a goofy pleased grin.

Both Irene's and Bellatrix's eyes brightened and the women he knew were back.

Seeing Oberyn's look Thomas decided to elaborate.

"Sorry, disconnecting is painful as heck." Thomas took a deep breath.

"What was that?" Oberyn exclaimed.

"Our bond. It connects us. You are already familiar with the emotional connection." He smirked

"Am I?" Oberyn asked.

"We use it during sex..." Thomas's smirk widened.

"A lot..." Bellatrix beamed happily.

"The high-pitched screams were due to it..." Irene deadpanned as if it was not obvious.

"We share everything we feel through the bond..." Thomas elaborated.

"...we feel each other's emotions, love, joy, pleasure, orgasm, and even happiness..."

"...and pain!" Bellatrix's face again showed that goofy grin.

"That is not disturbing at all..." Oberyn trailed off. "Anyway, you looked kinda in sync there... just emotionless."

"Ah, yes. The bond takes us three and..." Thomas started.

"...makes us into one being..." Irene followed.

"...with one mind." Bellatrix ended.

"Sorry, for weird talk..."

"...it is due to the echoes of the connection..."

"...we still hear each other's thoughts."

"I see." Oberyn decided to agree, weirded out but was still curious. "How does that work?"

"Ladies, will you..." Thomas started.

"Yes." Irene nodded

"Sure." Bellatrix agreed.

"... let me talk?" Thomas finished. "Oh. Thanks."

"We better distance ourselves to weaken the link." Irene said and started walking to the right while Bellatrix just pivoted on her heel and walked off to the left.

"Well, to explain it, we are three different people. Three bodies. Three minds. Three sets of thoughts. By using the emotional connection, we are still three different people with three minds, we are just connected emotionally."

"What we did previously thought was more like a final state though. We were completely merged. Our three minds and three sets of thoughts all joined together into one, creating a new state of being. That was not Thomas Cair, Irene Belserion, and Bellatrix Black. That was... Us. In that state, we cease to be individuals, and instead, we are an... entity? A new being. No longer three but one. Anyway, this also dulled our emotions, hence the deadpan look." Thomas tried to explain.

"That's weird." Oberyn blinked incomprehensibly.

"You have no idea." Thomas gave him a knowing look. "Since we first merged, it ceased to be me, her, and her. We became, how to describe it? Whole? No. Parts of a set? Maybe?" Thomas pondered. "Well, while we were merged, our minds literally became one. That's why we are so at ease with each other." Thomas smiled but seeing Oberyn's confusion he decided to elaborate further and more in-depth. "There is nothing we wouldn't do for the other. We know every moment of each other's life. We know the toys we played with when we were younger. We know the food we hated. We know each other's darkest desires and deepest secrets and we also shared the things that brought us immense joy. We saw each other's worst fears and most hopeful dreams. We know everything the other does and share it." Thomas shrugged in a 'what can you do' notion, his face in resigned expression as he had no idea how to describe it further.

"Like the Seven-Faced God?" Oberyn asked, not quite understanding.

"No. I-, What?" Thomas blinked in bewilderment. "Don't compare us to something creepy like that." He deadpanned.

"What I saw was pretty much a lot creepier!" Oberyn proclaimed dryly. "Why do you even enter such a state if it makes you emotionless."

"Because we crave being one." Thomas showed a wistful look. "We know how it feels being one being." He smirked. "Since we merged the first time, we became a lot more intimate for example. We crave the contact and crave the connection. We can't help it. Having our minds joined into one is intoxicating, really."

"Then why aren't you permanently joined, then?" Oberyn quipped sarcastically..

"Ah, the crux of the problem..." Thomas sighed. "Because it is wrong. It feels wrong. Our minds might be joined and enjoy it but our existences certainly do not. Deep inside, in our 'root' we are still three different existences mashed together." Thomas shook his head in indignation. "That is far from natural, you see? Hence, the feeling of wrongness is as overpowering as the sheer exhilaration at being merged."

Oberyn nodded and Thomas continued.

"We will never become one. That is impossible as we are three. And to be honest, we are happy with that."

"Then... why do you even merge together if it feels wrong?" The more he listened to Thomas, the more confused he was. It's good. It's wrong... heck, couldn't they make it simpler for him?

"Because it is damn useful." Thomas stated, amused. "We share everything in that state. For example, right now, Irene rewired her magic sensing through me. Instead of her mind, it is mine that feels everything she would otherwise feel."

"Yes, but why?" Oberyn's eye twitched in annoyance, not understanding.

"Processing power." Thomas simply stated.

"What?" He asked, baffled.

"Everything you do needs the processing power of your mind. Or the brain. Whatever you call it. Irene's senses are strong. And while she can use them passively and it comes naturally to her because well... they are hers. They still take a lot of processing power from her mind. After all, she could sense the entire continent if she really put her mind into it, and that was in a world filled with magic."

Thomas started pacing around.

"Every move. Every little sway of grass in the air. Every action of everyone in the range has to be processed when using these senses. The needed processing power is enormous, you see... If she gives her magic sensing to me though she can use the processing power she gains from it for other tasks such as analyzing," Thomas spread his hands in the direction of the barrier. "the barriers in front of us. Or creating new spells or… well you get the idea."

"So... you can sense the entire continent right now?" Oberyn asked, interested.

"Oh, no, I can sense at most this island. Anything more would fry my mind. These senses are not mine, you see. I do not have enough strength to use them yet. But using even minuscule amounts helps to develop my own senses and improves my processing power tremendously. As I said, we do it because it is damn useful." Thomas said smugly but then his smile widened, interrupting another question of Oberyn by pointing his finger at the ward. "Look, they managed to break it. We should go."