Chapter 17: Escaped (2)
Ethan's POV
Shia fell on the floor. Holding her left wrist as if she's in pain. She gasped for air and yelled in pain. I quickly grabbed the switch for the machine blowing dimensional mist. I immediately turned it off. It's over. She got out.
The fog that enveloped the two disappeared. Luna quickly went to them followed by Cain and Sir Apollo. I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought she couldn't escape. I nearly called a time out. Victoria didn't control herself. She was not supposed to give that kind of illusion considering Shia's level of experience. She has no idea what was happening.
I went to them. Shia is still on the floor. She gasped for air once more. Until she completely woke up— It's quite a show— She instantly opened her eyes as she just woke up from a sudden slumber. She did not move nor speak. She can't even look at us. She is still in a daze.
After a few seconds, she looked at her wrist. When she found out that it's okay and there was no deep wounds as what she expected, she suddenly stood. We almost stepped back at what she did. She then faced Victoria's direction.
"YOU BITCH," she hissed.
I almost laughed. I thought she would attack her. But they only stared at each other. It seems like they are sharing a secret. Victoria raised her brow but she didn't say anything. On the other hand, I can tell Sir Apollo is quite impressed.
"Good job," he told Shia after flicking a cigarette out of his lips.
He looked at Victoria. "But dangerous," he frowned. "You should inform me if you're going that far." Victoria didn't respond.
"You can retire and rest now."
Victoria left after hearing that. She's obviously tired at what she did. Even her, she is still not used to that level of her ability. Altering someone's memory is quite a job.
In fact, we didn't expect Shia to escape from the illusion. Earlier we nearly stopped the duel because she was barely breathing. We can't lose another member just for the training. But Gin told us to wait. Funny he seems quite sure she can make it. And she did.
Shia's POV
"THAT WAS EPIC!" I almost went deaf because of Luna's voice. She seems very excited and can not contain it. Her beads clicked and clunked with her every move.
"We really thought you wouldn't be able to get out."
"Is that a good thing?" I asked without enthusiasm.
We are now here in the adjoining room of the training room. It was like a small clinic. There's a hospital bed and some medical equipment. It was really unnecessary to heal me. She just put a blue liquid on me to cleanse my memory and to eliminate the traces of Victoria's ability. There I noticed Victoria's name on my wrist disappeared.
"That was quite exciting I have to agree." She nodded her head as if agreeing with her own opinion.
[ED: I say, this girl is a Luna-tic]
I just didn't say anything. Until now I still perceived the feeling I felt inside the illusion. As if they stayed in my chest. Pain. Fear. Longing.
"Lucky, you countered her deceit."
My brow knitted. "Deceit? Wait, how did I manage to escape?"
It was not really clear to me as to what happened after I stabbed myself. I remember everything but I didn't understand how I got out. I looked at my wrist. Inside the illusion, it seems the pain I felt was real. Until now I still felt the cut that I made.
Luna stopped from arranging the syringes. "You didn't follow what she wants you to do that's why you escaped. Victoria can make you do things, thinking that it was your own decision which actually wasn’t."
"What do you mean?"
She sighed and faced me. "Victoria has two ways to use her ability. Usually, the first technique is to USE the victim. She can order you to do what she wants or to make you say all that she wanted to know. Within your mind you would think that what you are doing is the right thing. She will let you think it's your own decision but in reality, she's commanding you."
Suddenly I remember the voice. The voice that gave me the answer. I don't know why I followed it. I thought it's the only way out. I thought it's my subconscious mind telling me what to do. Fuck.
"As you follow her you’ll be gradually trapped under the illusion that she did. And that is the second technique. When she got what she wanted or learned what she needed to know, she'll just let you get trapped in the illusion."
Luna sighed. "But Victoria is yet familiar in altering the memory. Mostly because the illusion is enough to trap you inside, but you'll notice the merging of the two personages. So Victoria used a higher technique."
How cunning, Victoria.
"We really thought that you would be trapped. Your body was barely breathing. We nearly stopped the duel. But, lucky you, you went back to breathing normally. Gin told us to wait, after a few more minutes, you woke up crying in pain."
She smiled proudly at me.
"I think you countered what Victoria wanted you to do. We don't really know how, but it seems you hurt yourself instead of hurting someone Victoria wants you to. The real exit is knowing which is your own thinking and which is not."
I became quite. Luna continued what she was doing, while I'm still sitting on the edge of the bed. I did not know how complicated Victoria's ability was. I'm lucky that I escaped. A moment later Luna looked to me. Her eyes were inquiring.
"Shia?" She asked a bit hesitant. "Can we know who Lucas is?"
I did not answer.
"I mean we heard you mention his name a few times when you were unconscious. So I thought he was the one Victoria used to deceive you. That means he is important to you, right?"
She didn't know. Luna doesn’t know about Lucas. But how did Victoria know about him?
"If you don't want to answer., it's okay. Victoria's often the one who knew things."
I stiffened with what I heard.
"But you know what?" Luna's smile returned. "The very first rule of facing a deceiver is to never let her touch you. The contact is her way into your body. So we all groaned when you let Victoria get close to you at the beginning. You didn't have any experience with this, haven't you?"
I scoffed. What do I know.
"But you just proved that you can manage to survive without knowledge about certain things or help for that matter. I'm really glad you are one of us."
She stood up from the chair. "Let's go back above. I think lunch already started. This time you will join us, is it clear?"
I just nodded. But in the back of my mind, what Luna said still bothered me. Victoria. She knows everything about me.
***
Victoria’s ability and Shia’s guts. What a combination lol.