While the system message that was zapped into my head didn’t magically stop me from sobbing or remove my deep, dismal feeling of worthlessness, it did manage to shock me out of my stupor. I opened my eyes, somewhat expecting Ephesis and the dungeon to be gone -- after all, the blade hadn’t connected -- but he remained, a bewildered expression on his face. His blade of light curled around my neck as if a glorified child’s toy.

Much more notable, however, was the new addition to the scene.

There, standing directly next to Ephesis, was a… thing?

It was vaguely humanoid, at least. The shape was right. Instead of flesh, however, it seemed to be constructed of glowing purple energy with no semblance of joints, digits, or even facial features.

“Is this your doing?” A tinge of worry spread across the oh-so-assured priest’s face. Before I could answer or even figure out a question of my own, light spilled forth from Ephesis. Radiant lances shot forward, on course to turn the purple figure into a pincushion.

In my current state, I could only loosely bring myself to care, but I still winced right as they were about to connect. As it turned out, I needn’t have. Every one of them bounced off harmlessly.

What… What the hell is going on?

As if keen to explain without explaining, the figure walked over -- bounced over, really, as its motions were sort of comically… sproingy? -- and gently patted me on the head. Its “hand” was strangely soft and fuzzy.

The figure extended a limb to me, seemingly intent on helping me up, and too baffled to do anything else, I accepted.

“What are you- What is this?” More lances of light shot out from the high priest, this time half aimed at me. Much like the last batch, however, these, too, failed to do any damage.

Shell shocked, I let the figure start to lead me away. After a single step, the chains of light which bound me snapped.

Just barely, in whatever minor recess of my mind was still functioning, I spared a thought for the four bodies bleeding out on the circumference of the spell circle. As my memories returned to me in force, however -- the gods, Suds, all of my time in Sylum -- I tamped down the urge to save them.

I was right. It’s not real. None of it’s real. I couldn’t help but break out into an ugly sob once more, though this time out of sheer, soul-deep relief.

My newfound conviction somehow wasn’t enough to dispel the vision, however, and as my purple companion and I retreated out of the room, Ephesis raged impotently behind us. A dozen spellforms flew out only to be diverted or splash against us without effect. Walls of light shot up, all of which we walked through effortlessly. Golden fists attempted to punch us back, shattering on contact.

Bit by bit, the shouting grew quieter and quieter as we walked away, ultimately unimpeded despite the high priest’s best efforts.

Part of me expected some horrific twist. Maybe this was just one last way he was messing with me before reeling me back in.

But no.

After a time, the normal dungeon environment started to shift, black obsidian giving way to gray stone. Up ahead, thick iron bars shot up from the floor, along with an accompanying door that looked like it belonged to a jail cell.

I’m in some sort of fake jail?

I thought perhaps that it signaled I was trapped inside, but as we reached the door, it swung open, admitting us exit.

A stone staircase lay beyond, going up and up into the heights above us. At the behest of the figure which pulled me onwards, we began to ascend.

As it turned out, the cell I’d just left was one of many. Another set of iron bars popped up to our side, and through the gaps I spotted asphalt and metal, burnt rubber and flickering flames.

Another flight of stairs, another cell. Cracked, dusty earth.

It’s a dungeon, I realized. Not the fantasy type, but the much more mundane version. Except instead of housing criminals or even monsters, it seemed that each cell locked away one of my worst moments.

We passed them one by one, until I stopped even peering into them. The sheer horror of everything was starting to wane as my body ran out of the requisite chemicals, replaced by an all-pervading numbness. Even so, however, I’d had enough trauma already without having to catalog what was kept down here.

And then at last, it was over. Instead of another cell, a thick metal door lay before us, once again swinging open without a touch. Freedom was in sight, and the moment I was out of the dungeon, I was intent on collapsing to the ground and staying there for the next year or so.

I was depleted. Done. Frankly, on top of that, even having escaped Ephesis, I was feeling a deep, all-pervasive self-loathing. I wasn’t sure that was the sort of thing I even could recover from, except maybe with years and years of extensive therapy. Who even cared about skills or magic or whatever? I stepped through the door, and-

Trauma Suppression: Re-enabled!

“Oh. Neat.”

A fog lifted from my mind in both a figurative and a more literal sense: An actual visible purple haze surrounded me before rushing backwards through the dungeon door.

Trauma Suppression has reached level 14!

Trauma Suppression has reached level 15!

The door slammed shut, but seemed to have trouble doing so. It bulged outwards for a moment as if having trouble digesting its traumatic meal. With a thunderous boom, a few cracks formed in the metal, letting off a purple glow.

That feels… ominous.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the end of things: A series of chains abruptly materialized from the ground, shooting up and encasing the doorway in a metal hug. A ridiculously massive padlock appeared in the center of the mess, sealing the door with a sense of finality.

Now, there were a lot of questions I had. A lot of things I could be focusing on, too. As my mind shifted back to its default state, however, one thing took precedence over all the rest.

“Man, did I really say all of that?” I felt myself flushing, embarrassed even if nothing but my new purple friend had seen me. “Please. Just end it.” That was so melodramatic! Is that… Is that what I’d really be like without the Trauma Suppression skill?

I paused at that, remembering the hollow, worthless feeling I’d felt deep in my bones. Second by second, it was getting harder to remember, erased by the skill and buried deeper and deeper within my psyche.

Okay. Actually, maybe this bears extra thought at some point. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea that feelings like that were lurking somewhere deep down. The cracks in the doorway weren’t particularly comforting either.

Not now, though! I felt fine! Totally completely absolutely fine! A little frazzled, but otherwise okay, right? And frankly, there were much more important things to be focused on at the moment. Right? Right?

I let out a very normal and well-adjusted laugh and then did my best to move on.

Let’s start with the freaky dungeon, then? Am I allowed to ask what the hell was up with that?

Almost out of reflex, I tried to identify the door with God’s Eye. It came as something of a shock when it actually worked.

Dungeon of Tragedies (Locked)

The Dungeon of Tragedies is a mental manifestation of your Trauma Suppression skill. All suppressed trauma is stored here and locked away for you to interact with at your leisure.

Beware! While the dungeon remains unlocked, Trauma Suppression will be disabled. Exiting the dungeon and relocking it will toggle the skill back on.

Face your past and grow stronger!

There was a good bit to unpack there. In particular, the part where it said “at your leisure” had ended up being a massive, flagrant lie. I was feeling completely fine now, but I recalled not being so thrilled with my impromptu visit as it was happening.

Well, maybe I’ll just be keeping that one shut then. No biggy. It sounded like it was totally nothing to worry about as long as I just kept it shut tight! In fact, there really wasn’t any sense in even thinking about it further.

The door to the dungeon was only a small part of the larger whole, the rest of which I was much more interested in. I was in some sort of building, the walls of which were formed of glowing purple bricks of much the same hue as my bouncy friend. We navigated through a series of elegantly decorated hallways until we were spit out into an open area with equally unnatural purple grass spread out beneath us.

“Um. What the hell?” I gazed upwards at a perfectly black sky, even darker than the deadlands’ sky had been before Hexauara had been freed. The only other features of note were the grand, palatial building behind me and a short wall that poked out of the ground a few meters ahead.

The palace was the familiar purple, though an oily-black sheen was layered atop it. The wall took the darkness one step further, black like the surrounding expanse. Instead of being purely dark, however, thin lines of purple zagged across it, reminding me of nothing so much as a web of neurons or perhaps bolts of lightning. The wall surrounded the building we’d come from, and atop it, I caught sight of more featureless purple forms walking about.

“So. Do I get some sort of explanation for all this, or am I supposed to just figure it out for myself?”

As if waiting for that very comment, a notification popped up.

Congratulations! You have learned your first Legendary skill!

The Stygian Citadel

A custom mental fortress skill created and used by the dark goddess Hexaura. This skill provides a visualization of all mental-related skills, offering new options to interface with them as well as empowering them.

Furthermore, the Stygian Citadel is permanently enshrouded in darkness, hiding it from any prying eyes.

Effects

All mental spells and skills strengthened. Mental spells can be cast through the citadel.

Greatly improves your ability to notice any opposing mental effects or attempts to access your mind.

Enshrouds your mind, greatly increasing the difficulty for others to sense or interact with it, including when you cast mental spells of your own.

This skill is adaptive. Compatible skills may be integrated into it, unlocking new options.

Currently integrated skills

Mental Resistance (Citadel Walls)

Trauma Suppression (Dungeon of Tragedies)

Mental Magic (Mindling Defenders)

Dark Magic (Shrouded Barrier)

This skill is a dependent skill. It depends on: Mental Magic, Dark Magic.

Its level cannot exceed the average of these two skills.

Achievement unlocked: Legendary

Gain a Legendary skill.

+50 Prestige

Well, that was certainly more of a description than I’d ever gotten from a skill. Then again, that was probably to be expected from a boon from a god. If I wasn’t misreading it, it sounded like this wasn’t just any boon, either. This was a skill Hexaura used herself.

Presumably, she had it at a slightly higher level, but still.

I turned to my fuzzy purple pal, taking him in once more. “So that makes you a ‘Mindling Defender’ then?” At least, that’s what I was assuming based on the integration part of the notification. “Um. Thanks. Good stuff back there. Really enjoying not being tortured and all that. Although, do I need to thank you? Aren’t you, like, part of my mind?”

It didn’t deign to answer the question, but bobbed its head in acknowledgement before wandering off, seemingly done escorting me now that I’d been pulled from my traumatic funk.

All right. Bye then. As the mindling left me, I turned my mind more broadly to the rest of the fortress.

“So, I have a cool little mind space now.” Did this change things for me?

Well, probably not on a day-to-day basis, but actually, kind of yes! Save for my recent foray into my trauma dungeon, I had no idea what might happen with the “new options” of the skills that got integrated, but the basic effects were enough to make me happy I’d gone through with using the skill shard. Having my mind be harder to find was an undeniable good, and being able to better notice any attempts to read or alter my thoughts was equally reassuring. It seemed that Hex had given me something very suited to my worries.

While not thrilled with her exact execution of everything, I decided I’d have to thank the goddess if I ever saw her again.

Can I try it out, then?

Save for the dungeon, which I admittedly had little desire to play with right now, the other integrated skills didn’t seem particularly interactive. A wall. Some defenders. A barrier.

Still, it had said something about casting my mental spells through it, hadn’t it? Despite the fact that my body presumably wasn’t my real body, I tried to reach into my mana core and cast Sense Minds.

Surprisingly -- or, I guess not that surprisingly considering that was the entire reason I’d cast it -- the spell seemed to resonate with the structures around me. A pulse of black-tinged mental mana shot out from the palace, rushing through the walls and rippling out into the greater expanse beyond my mind.

Okay. Neat, if a little weird. Can I see what happened, though?

If I closed my eyes, I could feel a vague sense of everything within the fortress, but it was a touch hazy and imperfect. Preferring to use my own two mental-eyes, I climbed a nearby set of stairs until I stood atop the dark citadel wall.

One more time. I cast Sense Minds enjoying the visuals of the spell rippling out.

From my vantage point, the effects were more obvious as I spotted the ripples break against a purple orb in the distance.

If Sense Minds is sensing it, then it’s probably, well… a mind.

Was it Verin? Or maybe Emin? Hopefully the skill integration hadn’t taken too long -- I wouldn’t want to worry them, and besides, we were all supposed to go out drinking later for the second half of my birthday.

I focused on the mind, hitting it with God’s Eye much like I had the dungeon door. It was with some surprise, then, when neither of my initial guesses were correct.

Suds

Mental Magic: 0

Mental Resistance: 43

Suds? Ignoring the fact that I could apparently see his levels in mental skills now -- admittedly, cool -- what was he doing here? I doubted he’d randomly showed up in the park, which meant I was probably back in the house somehow.

How long have I been out of it, exactly?

I had a few more things in the mental space that I wanted to poke at, but checking back in with reality suddenly became much more urgent to me. Once I’d figured everything out with Suds, I imagined I could always jump back in here, after all.

“Okay. Quit. Exit. Leave. Mental powers: deactivate!”

Would you like to exit the Stygian Citadel?

I confirmed the prompt, and the masses of purple and black surrounding me faded away.

When I opened my eyes once more, it was to the much more familiar sight of my own bedroom ceiling. On uncharacteristically shaky arms, I pulled myself up from where I lay in my bed, scanning the room. There, sitting at a desk in the corner, was Suds. Presently, he was busy reading a rather thick book of some sort, but on sensing me start to move, he swiveled his head my way.

“Good! Not dead. Would be a shame if we put all that effort into you to have you dead already.”