Capítulo 17: Trapping Void
Robert Reynolds was sitting in the waiting room nervously. He had been sober the whole day today and he could feel the discomfort all around him. To distract himself from the voices, he concentrated on the TV that was playing the news.
On the screen, a man in a strange yellow-crimson costume was waving his hand at a burning building and all the fire was sucked into his palm.
[ The announcer's voice narrated over the video: In a subversive move, the Indian government has created a mutant oversight and law enforcement agency run by mutants called Trisul. With this, India has joined the ranks of the minority of countries that have embraced the mutant populace. With China showing similar tendencies, experts are debating the effects of the Asian giants' decisions in the region.
A so-called Indian-American expert came on the screen and gave his opinion on the matter: They are creating a mascot out of that mutant. The people consider this Surya guy as an incarnation of the Sun god, and the government is complicit in spreading these superstitions. The country is taking backward steps by letting these mutants run amok pretending to be god's messengers.
Now we go to Professor Charles Xavier who will talk about the sociological impact…]
"Mr. Robert? You can go in now. Please follow me." While Robert was focused on the noise from the TV, the receptionist's voice sounded.
Robert looked around the place as he walked. The therapy wasn't going to be done in some quaint little place as he had imagined. It was in Savant's office in Savant Technologies. Walking past the crowd of corporate drones, Robert was led to the executive elevator.
Entering the office through the unnecessarily large doors, he saw the kid who wanted to treat him sitting behind a desk. And behind the kid was a wide view of the skyline. Robert felt a sense of déjà vu as he unconsciously walked into the room toward the glass wall separating the skies and the office.
"I see that you like the view from up here." Robert woke up from his reverie with Savant's voice.
Robert nodded, "Yeah, it looks great. Makes me want to jump up and fly."
"Don't we all want to be able to fly? But not all of us are lucky like those superheroes."
Savant's words struck a chord with Robert and he nodded. He then sat down on the sofa in front of Savant and looked at him, "So? How do we start?"
"Why don't you start by telling me how you are doing recently?"
Robert thought for a moment and sighed, "I don't want to admit it but I feel like I'm going insane. I hear voices in my head and I always feel like a dark shadow is following me everywhere I go."
Dr. Strange who had been listening to the conversation in an invisible state was shocked and then scared. If Savant hadn't contacted Robert when he did, they wouldn't even have noticed that the Void was starting to wake up. He was still a bit skeptical about Savant's claims about the Void coming back but now he knew it was the truth.
"Do you talk with the voices in your head? What do they say?"
"There is only one guy who speaks. He is a psychopath, a monster. He wants nothing but to kill and cause destruction. He keeps talking about all the ways he will torture me when he revives. Also, he keeps telling me that I can't keep hiding forever. Recently, he started appearing in my nightmares too."
Robert's voice was miserable. The pain and frustration he had been through could be heard in his voice very clearly. He suddenly clutched his head in pain while talking.
"It is starting to scream. Fuck! My head is going to burst open!" Robert shouted.
Savant turned to the place where Dr. Strange was hidden and nodded. Dr. Strange quickly cast some spells while Savant calmed Robert.
"I'll use a new form of hypnotherapy to silence the voice in your head Robert, try to calm down and relax your mind as much as you can and look into my eyes." He started instructing.
Now, if it was Robert who had the power of Sentry, connecting to his mind telepathically would've been impossible for Savant. But right now, when Robert was subconsciously making himself ordinary and the Void persona was thrashing about in his mind to be let out, Savant could connect telepathically with Robert quite easily.
As soon as a mental corridor was formed, the Void persona of Robert seemed to have found a way out and jumped in. Although it had just woken up, Void thought it could quickly erode the mind of the dumbass who used telepathy on him and Robert.
Robert fainted in exhaustion and Dr. Strange came out to help him up and monitor Savant's mental condition. He was prepared to teleport Savant into a remote dimension at a moment's notice.
As soon as the Void appeared in Savant's mind it looked around. This was an unusual mental space. Except where it stood, everywhere was a rolling dark mass of water. Although it was confused, Void walked to the black liquid to find a way out and take over the mind of this person.
The moment it touched the liquid, Void reeled back into that open space and screamed. "Aaargh! What the fuck is this? What place is this?" After a while of cursing. It finally calmed down, it had figured out what that liquid was. It was all random information.
The moment Void touched that thing, its consciousness would be overwhelmed with all kinds of useless information. To get rid of that pain caused by the overloading of consciousness, Void had to parse that useless information and make some sense of it or it would just become a burden on its mind.
Void grimaced while looking around. It didn't know how big this place was. Even at its peak power, it would take some time to get through all that. Right now, Void just didn't have the power or the capacity to get too far.
"I know you are listening. I'll tear you apart piece by piece when I revive. I'll kill all your loved ones in front of you." Void started to threaten Savant. Since it couldn't get out in the short term, Void had a simple plan, it would keep trying while harassing Savant mentally.
Only if it knew, even its threats and curses were information that contribute to the increase in its current prison's thickness.
Robert was unconscious on the sofa with Dr. Strange standing over Savant, staring in worry and anticipation, his hands glowing with arcane symbols.
Savant opened his eyes and looked up at Dr. Strange. "Red capes are the coolest." He spoke the lame password they had set up as the first safety precaution. Dr. Strange nodded but he didn't let his guard down, still staring with concentration.
"Do you have a spell to project a person's mental space?" Savant asked.
Dr. Strange cast the spell and a kind of magical hologram of the Void's current condition was projected. Strange's mouth twitched looking at the Void, who was once a menace that took all their efforts to seal away, struggling and cursing.
"Your ability can be scary. You could become a library of the whole universe. Only, there needs to be someone who can process everything to make out anything comprehensible." Strange suspected that Savant could process some useful stuff from all the things he perceived.
Strange didn't even think of the possibility of Savant being able to process that ocean of useless information. Wouldn't that mean, Savant's mind could theoretically replicate reality then?
Robert slowly opened his eyes and sat up. His head was still hurting a little but the voice was gone. He heard Savant ask, "How are you feeling?"
"Much better. It is gone, I feel so much lighter. I feel like I can float out of this place." Robert was ecstatic.
"That's good. But this is only temporary. You still need treatment or it will come back. I can tell you that it is a representation of your negative persona so only by treating yourself to a healthy mental state can you rid yourself of that darkness. Now, let's talk about your childhood."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"How was it? Did he do anything weird?" Lindy Lee could see that her husband looked different. Almost like the one in her hazy memory of happier times. But she was still worried. She had wanted to go with Robert but he had convinced her to go alone. He didn't want her to see that side of her he had said.
"I'm fine. I feel better than ever before. He is really good at this. I have to visit him twice every week for a year or two and I'll be better." Robert consoled his wife. It had been a long time since he had seen his wife with such a clear and sober state of mind. He could feel all the guilt bursting out.
Robert loved her a lot, there was no doubt about that. He had only avoided her all these years because he couldn't face her and he was scared of what he was becoming. He had more than once thought of telling her to let himself go and go find a better life. But he never could, despite knowing it was selfish.
He remembered Savant's advice. He had to repair his relationship with his wife and communicate and share his thoughts more with her. She was a blessing for him who stayed by his side through the hell he had made their life.
"Do you want to go out on a dinner date with me tonight? I can afford a fancy place with the money I got." Robert said while hugging Lindy. And Lindy nodded desperately with tears in her eyes, as if afraid that the dream will end and she will wake up if she didn't agree fast enough.
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Author here. I've been reading your comments and some of you have really nice suggestions. Just don't be upset if I don't use those, I have a story in my mind so can't change it much. Some still aren't able to get over the name thing but I hope the story is good enough to ignore that.
Anyway, your comments are much appreciated. Shows me how much you all are invested in this story.
Don't forget to throw them stones. Use trebuchets, hands, or cosplay as David and slingshot those stones on my face. But keep them stones coming.
Enjoy friends!
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