The Demon's Mage 22 Mind Games

"Where am I?"

"Who am I?"

"No, I'm Bai Qi."

"..."

"..."

"But where am I?"

Bai Qi couldn't feel anything, as if his mind was no longer connected to his body, just floating around in a lucid dream, dis...o...b..bulated, disconnected, disoriented.

"This feels somewhat familiar."

"Did I die?"

"No, I don't think I died."

"Would I know if I died? I would, wouldn't I?"

* 'You didn't die' *

Suddenly Bai Qi felt a tug on his mind, and it felt if he was rushing lightspeed through the s.p.a.ce his mind was trapped in, merging back into his body, and Bai Qi woke up with a gasp, sitting up.

Though he wasn't awake.

In front of him was the thing, floating, with the d.a.m.ned toothy smirk, it's sharp white teeth glinting against the dark smoke it surrounded itself with. It looked like it was expecting something, as its grin grew wider, waiting.

Bai Qi suddenly groaned, as his head started to spike in pain, causing him to double over, and almost pa.s.s out. As if sharp nails of magma were being driven into his head, the pain throbbed, eating away at his brain, forcing Bai Qi to clutch his head, not being able to think about anything, except for the intensity of the heat burning his thoughts away.

* 'You can't pa.s.s out again, you know, you already did that once.' *

Bai Qi looked up pitifully at the thing, as he curled up into a ball clutching his head, pulling at his hair, wishing for the pain to just stop.

But it wouldn't. For the next few minutes, the pain just a.s.saulted him, the headache coursing through his body, making him spasm, and his mouth froth, unable to control his saliva.

* 'You depleted your magic stores, you know,' the thing said. 'It's always so fascinating to watch it happen.' *

"Make … "

* 'What was that,' the thing asked, its smirk still glued on. 'I can't make out what you're saying' *

"Make it stop," Bai Qi whimpered out, gasping for breath.

* 'The pain?' *

"Yes," Bai Qi croaked out. His throat felt restricted as if it was drying up with every word he was saying. The pain racked his head, firecrackers going off, and Bai Qi could barely think straight.

* 'I can't' *

"Ple," Bai Qi said, though his words got cut off once again by a spasm, pain stabbing at each one of his nerves, one by one. "Please," he begged.

* 'I can't. It is the price you must pay for pushing your mind to the extreme. I have no control over it,' the thing said. 'You're lucky to be alive, and if it wasn't for the mage giving you a potion, the pain would have been much greater.' *

"It would have been better to die," Bai Qi whispered out hoa.r.s.ely. "Less painful."

* The thing grinned. 'Buckle up. The pains only gonna get worse' *

And it did.

For an hour.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Time was just merging for Bai Qi. Each moment felt as if it could last infinitely long, all blurring together into the past, as each wave of pain brought him back up, gasping for breath, hoping for the pain to stop, until even then, he lost the hope, just accepting the pain, hour after hour, minute after minute, moment after moment.

And then nothing. As quickly as the pain had come, it faded away.

For a minute, Bai Qi was stunned. The pain had receded without warning, and Bai Qi lay there, not knowing if torture he had gone through was truly over.

He slowly got up, into a seated position, his eyes bloodshot, as he looked up to that thing, and tried to talk.

His voice cracked, hoa.r.s.e, from the screaming during the torture, though Bai Qi could barely remember when he started screaming, or when he stopped.
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* 'It is finally over,' the thing commented. *

"What was that," Bai Qi croaked out. 'Where am I? Why can I see you?"

* 'One question at a time,' the thing replied, smirking. *

"What happened?"

* 'You pa.s.sed out' *

"How"

* 'You depleted your mental strength, your core reserves' *

"That doesn't mean anything to me."

* 'I'm as surprised as you are,' it said. 'I didn't expect you to pick up how to split your concentration so quickly. Unfortunately, it came with some consequences.' *

"Consequences?"

* 'You pushed your mind to the extreme, and your mind shut down.' *

"Where is this place," Bai Qi said, waving his arms. He turned around, but he could see nothing. Under his feet was the ground, and there was gra.s.s if you could even call it that, stained black, made out of shadows. He couldn't see anything past a few feet, except for that thing, which just lazily floated in front of him, illuminated somehow against the darkness. "How are you in front of me?"

* 'You pa.s.sed out. Your mind manifested here, and I happen to be a part of you,' the thing replied dryly. 'It's not that complicated.' *

"You never did explain what you were."

* The thing's grin grew wider, showing its full set of glistening white and sharpened teeth, 'No can do, little mage. We had a deal.' *

"What deal," Bai Qi asked, exasperated.

* The thing remained silent. *

"Tell me"

Still nothing.

Bai Qi sighed. "How long was that?"

* 'No idea.' *

"Useless."

He looked around, still nothing.

'Why am I still here?"

* 'You are an idiot, aren't you. You pa.s.sed out.' *

"How do I wake up then," Bai Qi asked crankily.

* 'Drawing a blank on that one too.' *

"So I'm just trapped here with you?"

* 'Afraid so' *

"This sh*t sucks."

Bai Qi sat in silence for a few minutes.

"This is boring," He said, as the first hour neared.

* 'Would you like to fight?' *

"Fight? Who?"

* 'Me of course.' *

Bai Qi laughed. "Why would I?"

* 'I'll let you out of here.' *

" … "

* ' …. ' *

" … "

* ' … ' *

"I swear to whoever's upstairs, I'm going to kill you."

Bai Qi jumped up and pulled an image of a fire burning across his hand, forming at the tips of his fingers. As he did so, his arm got engulfed in flames, though they felt mildly warm to him, as they danced alongside his arm. He started punching out wildly, trying to get his punches to connect with the thing, as it just grinned and floated away, just out of his reach.

* 'Oh,' the thing commented, as it floated around, 'You learned a new trick. I'm impressed.' *

"Shut up, and let me hit you," Bai Qi yelled, as he continued to punch out.

* 'You need to move faster. Try using the wind attribute.' *

"Shut up, shut up, shut up."

* The thing grinned and accelerated. 'Focus wind to your feet and your back, imagine it flowing around you like last time, but instead of controlling it to glide, try pushing yourself forward.'

Bai Qi's face hardened, but he followed that thing's advice and tried to push himself forward. However, as soon as he did, the split concentration caused the flames on his arm to dim, and flicker. The sudden push forward, as well as his attention, moving back to his arm, Bai Qi stumbled over his legs, and fell face forward, face landing firmly on the ground.

* The thing's mouth opened, displaying his full row of teeth, as it laughed at Bai Qi's expense. 'You won't be able to reach me at that rate.' *

Bai Qi glared at it. He looked at his arm, then looked back at the thing, before a bulb went off in his head. He started to formulate a plan.

* 'The thing tilted his head, looking at Bai Qi. 'Yes you are a mage, why would you try physical attacks. Long-distance is a good idea.' *

Bai Qi looked confused. He looked at the thing, unsure of what just happened.

* The thing floated closer until it was in front of Bai Qi's face. 'Don't tell me you forgot that I'm in your head and can read your thoughts.' *

" … "

* ' … ' *

" … "

* 'You did forget,' the thing said smirking. 'You never ceases to amaze me of how much of an idiot you can be.' *

Bai Qi started to form fireb.a.l.l.s and began to throw them at the thing, as it floated around, weaving back and forth, up and under the fireb.a.l.l.s, it's s.h.i.t-eating grin plastered on its face.

"Stay still you coward. "

* 'This is getting quite boring,' the thing commented, as it yawned. 'You'll never get anywhere without planning.' *

"Then stay the h.e.l.l out of my head."

* 'It's not like I wanted to be here.' *

Bai Qi caught his breath, stopped throwing fireb.a.l.l.s, and focused. He channeled the heat of the flames, and aimed his hand at the thing, trying to bring up the feeling of pushing the flames out into the body of the thing.

* The thing tilted his head again and smirked. "Yes much better, instead of throwing fire and trying to hit me, burning me directly like that ant you killed back then.' *

Bai Qi's face fell, as he glared at the thing. "He wasn't an ant."

* ' But he was,' it said, p.r.o.nouncing each word separately. *

"He wasn't, he had a life just like me," Bai Qi said.

* 'And what a life it was, dying by your hands because, if I recall correctly, you found him an annoyance.' *

"I didn't kill him, you pushed me to."

* 'How quaint,' the thing replied, rolling it'd words. 'A murderer, hands stained with blood, trying to push the blame to a creature who holds no true control over his body.' *

Bai Qi roared, as he fervently started throwing fireb.a.l.l.s again, and burst flames across his arms again. He leaped forward, applying wind to push him forward, racing the fireb.a.l.l.s flying by his side. "Shut up, shut up, shut up."

* 'Oh much better. Use that rage, kill me.' *

Bai Qi kept trying to hit the thing, and the thing kept nimbly dodging, lazily floating around, mocking him.

* 'This is getting a bit repet.i.tive, and the time draws near for you to leave,' the thing said, as it suddenly accelerated towards Bai Qi. *

Bai Qi stopped in his tracks, as he suddenly felt a sharp pain stabbing through his chest. He looked down in horror and saw one of the tendrils of smoke surrounding the thing's body go through his chest. Blood started to seep out from the wound, as Bai Qi started to feel his throat tighten, coughing out, his lungs feeling restricted, as he could feel his body starting to go limp.

* 'Ah, it seems I missed your heart. Forgive me. It has been a while, and I am not quite as familiar with the anatomy of a human.' *

Another tendril of smoke stabbed out, and went cleanly through his body, as if it wasn't there, and wrapped around his heart. Bai Qi could feel the beating of his chest, louder and louder until that drumming was roaring in his ears.

* 'Time to wake up little boy,' the thing whispered. 'I had fun today.' *

The tendril pulled out from his chest, and along came with it his heart. Bai Qi looked at it in horror, as it pulsated, in and out, in and out. It slowly stopped beating, the world dimming around him, as he gurgled out blood, and slipped back into the darkness.

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