A few months later, another great mistress of the arcane arts crossed her path. Alice approached her cautiously, but the woman quickly earned her trust. She really did know a lot, and more importantly, she knew how to use what she knew. She was modest. Honest. She recognized Alice’s abilities instantly, and even admitted, openly, that the girl’s talent might surpass her own. That one simple sentence, so deliciously flattering to a teenage ego, was enough to win Alice’s heart.
When the course ended, they didn’t part ways. Quite the opposite. Their connection only deepened. For the first time in a long while, Alice felt she had found the confidante and teacher she deserved. With each meeting, she regretted more and more that they hadn’t met sooner. Thousands of questions were finally answered. The exercises gained clarity now that there was purpose behind them.
Months passed in study: cleansing the aura, the house, the surroundings. Meditation became a morning ritual. Then came energy accumulation. Channeling. So many new things. So many possibilities. And it all seemed to rest on a perfect balance, or so Alice believed. She was learning new energy manipulation techniques, and in exchange, she shared the things the Not-a-Doctor had taught her. She listened to tales from faraway, exotic lands, and told stories of the mysterious man who had vanished from her life.
The months flew by, but for the first time in what felt like forever, she could call this chapter happy.
“I’ve finally found my path,” Alice said to herself every morning. “Now everything will be all right.”
The bliss lasted… until the woman introduced a new form of cleansing. She called it “memory cleansing,” a process involving light hypnosis designed to foster deeper self-understanding and unlock hidden knowledge. And like everything the self-proclaimed mentor suggested, Alice accepted it without a second thought.
She lay down on the sofa, let herself drift into a trance, and followed the woman’s voice obediently. She felt no fear. Her mind offered no resistance. It simply sank deeper and deeper into a comforting darkness. Her body relaxed completely as the warm, calming voice guided her through the currents of her memories, replaying scene after scene. And with each one, she descended even further into herself… until, finally, she lost all sense of who she was.
“Everything I say now, you will forget,” the woman said in a satisfied tone, preparing to deepen the hypnosis.
Alice, unaware of anything unusual, lay still, listening intently to the spoken commands. And then—something strange happened. She suddenly found herself in a room where no sound could reach her, completely alone. A wave of overwhelming sleepiness washed over her. Without questioning it, she lay down on the floor and tried to drift off, but the moment her heavy eyelids closed, she felt a touch on her shoulder. Someone was shaking her, trying to keep her conscious.
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She opened her eyes. Standing before her was a tall woman with dark brown hair braided into a thick plait. Her eyes were calm, but her tightly pressed lips betrayed irritation.
“Who are you?” Alice asked, staring at the figure more closely.
The woman looked… painfully familiar. And yet, when Alice tried to focus on her face, it seemed to disappear. Of course, she saw her clearly, but at the same time she couldn’t recognize her, couldn’t retain any features. She looked into her eyes, shifted her gaze to the nose—but the eyes were already gone from memory. The whole face slipped away like water, refusing to be named.
“She’s calling Him,” the woman said, ignoring the question. “She’s using you as a channel.”
“What are you talking about?” Alice was still lost, still trying to make sense of this.
“You’ve handed her your subconscious on a silver platter. She has full access to your knowledge. She wants to summon Him, and she’ll do it through you.”
A flicker of understanding sparked within Alice.
“You’re lying. She would never do something like that.”
“Then check for yourself,” the woman said, turning to leave.
Alice jumped up and chased after her. The woman conjured a door right there in the room, stepped through it without even glancing back. Alice ran after her, crossed the threshold, and saw, just a few meters ahead, a little girl curled on the ground, writhing in pain. The child stood out sharply against the surrounding darkness, glowing with her own light, a light that flickered and dimmed with every passing second. Terrified, Alice rushed forward. All around her, voices echoed: commands barked in every direction.
“What is she doing to me?!” the girl—Alice’s subconscious—screamed through tears, clutching her little head with both hands. “She’s hurting me! Please, do something!”
Everything became horrifyingly clear. Alice pulled the child into her arms, holding her tightly, but there was nothing more she could do. She didn’t know how to pull her body out of the trance. She had no idea how to protect herself from the one she had trusted so deeply.
The child kept screaming, and the pain she felt soon reached Alice as well.
“What do I do?! What do I do?! Oh God. Oh Jesus…” Alice sobbed, cradling the child. “Help me, please! Someone, help me!”
I shouldn’t be calling out to anyone right now, she suddenly thought, her heart pounding. Any being could answer such a cry, and not every being could be repaid. But then again… who else could she turn to? He didn’t hear her anymore. He had cut her off. In the end, she had no choice but to try and face it alone.
The child’s cries grew even louder, though Alice hadn’t thought that was possible.
“What is she doing to you?!”
“She’s breaking through the blocks by force,” answered the mysterious woman, who had somehow reappeared at Alice’s side.
“Your subconscious is fighting back, trying to defend the most private, sacred corners of your mind. Even under hypnosis, some doors stay shut. But if that bitch manages to open them, your subconscious will be scarred forever.”
