I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

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The Balance of Body and Mind

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I'm lying on my bed, my head where my feet should be. High Muge- no, future High Muge Enre-hep stands behind me, his hands hovering near my temples. I need to remind myself that Enre-hep apparently isn't the High Muge yet.

Enre-hep has finished moving his belongings from his home in the desert to Al Mipedim, and we're about to start my training.

Enre-hep's voice is very quiet as he says, "I want you to close your eyes and slowly take a deep breath..."

I close my eyes and open my mouth to inhale.

"Through your nose," Enre-hep corrects. "Breathe in through your nose."

I close my mouth and continue breathing through my nose.

"Now slowly exhale through your mouth." Enre-hep continues.

I slowly let out the air in my lungs.

"Breathe in, breathe out, slowly and steadily."

After a few moments, I feel Enre-hep's fingers press against my temples. I shudder a little, but the touch doesn't trigger a memory from me.

"I will now try to search your mind," Enre-hep says. "I will not teach you how to defend against me at this time. Simply relax and learn what it feels like for someone to search your mind."

I kind of already know, Enre-hep.

Enre-hep chuckles. "Mind readings you have encountered before were not subtle, so your mind was able to latch onto what they saw. I will not be that direct."

How will I know when you've started?

Enre-hep grins. "You were born in a country that no longer exists on Earth. West Germany, if I'm reading you correctly."

What? I didn't feel anything!

"Relax," Enre-hep repeats. "When your mind is busy, it will miss the signs."

I start the steady breathing again and try to let my mind go blank. Some time passes, and I don't feel anything.

"You had a white stuffed bear with red paws as a child," Enre-hep notes.

How did he-? Relax... Just try to feel how he's doing it.

...Why do I feel like playing chess?

"Your favorite strategy in an Earth game called 'chess' is the Four-Move-Checkmate." Enre-hep presses his lips together. "It looks like quite an interesting game, I may need to craft a board for myself."

Wait a second...

...Bubbles.

Enre-hep raises his eye ridges. "You once read a book about the physics surrounding soap bubbles from cover to cover three times in a row because you couldn't think of anything else to do."

Drawing.

"Sketch, guideline, outline, shading-" Enre-hep blinks, then laughs. "You're manipulating what I'm finding."

I open my eyes and smirk. Is that good?

"You're getting ahead of me, actually," Enre-hep sighs. "Learn to sense first, then you can start interfering."

I sigh and close my eyes again.

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It's later in the day, around time for dinner. The Danians have shipped over everything they need to set me on the road back to my healthy body. Today is the first step of the process.

I stare at the row of wooden mugs filled with frothy thick liquid. "...Is this honeybeer?" I ask hesitantly.

The mandiblor across from me tilts his head. "What's a honeybeer?"

Ah, right, honeybeer was my nickname for it. "Is this the drink that, er, Danians create with their second stomachs?"

The mandiblor nods. "With our crops, yes."

Joy to the freaking world. "Am I supposed to drink all of this?" I ask with some alarm. There's got to be three or so gallons of the stuff here.

"Just as much as you can," the mandiblor replies. "There is a lot of sugar in these, and you'll need all of it for later, but we don't expect you to drink all you need in one sitting."

"This is going to replace all of my meals for some time, isn't it," I groan as I lift up a mug.

The mandiblor grimaces apologetically. "Yes, I'm afraid."

Ugh. Well, bottoms up. I tilt my head back and pour honeybeer in my mouth-

...Way. Too. Sweet.

I'd completely forgotten how sweet this stuff is. It feels like a kick in the mouth. I gag and sputter, covering my mouth just a little to late.

I have to hand it to the Danian. Most people would show at least some reaction to being sprayed with this stuff. He, however, doesn't even flinch.

"Sorry," I mutter as I wipe my mouth.

The mandiblor takes a cloth from the table and wipes his face with it. "Apology accepted."

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Enre-hep sits across the table from me, staring intently at his hands.

I've learned what to look for when sensing an intrusion into my mind. The exercise now is to learn how to sense it while distracted. So while Enre-hep stares at his hands, I'm busy copying a page of nonsense writing to another piece of paper.

There, I felt something. I underline the nonsense word I'd been copying when I sensed Enre-hep's presence in my mind.

When I'm done, I hand the paper to Enre-hep, who studies the page. "You sensed thirteen intrusions?" he asks.

"I think so," I mutter.

Enre-hep picks up my pen and starts scribbling on the page. Then he shows me what he added. "These five, I've circled the words, I was not touching your mind, and these seven that I've crossed out are intrusions that you missed."

...Yikes, I didn't do well at all.

Enre-hep pulls another prepared page of nonsense from his stack of paper and hands it to me. "Again."

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After this is done, I'm never touching sugar again.

It's been a week since this gorging on honeybeer has started. Of course, "honeybeer" is the wrong nickname. There's no alcohol in these.

I choke a little on my fifth mug, and I cough as I set down the mug. "I can't-" Another cough. "I can't drink any more than that."

"Very well," says the mandiblor.

As he cleans up, I lean back in my chair and hold my stomach. "How long is this going to go for?" I groan.

"The next step of the process will proceed in ten days' time," the mandiblor states.

I groan again and close my eyes. I can already feel my heart racing from all this sugar. It's a familiar sensation now. Ugh, eating like this would make any normal person obese within a month, maybe even less.

The Danian suddenly says, "Ah, I was to tell you that I will not be a part of the next step. A team of controllers will be helping you instead."

And now my heart is racing for a completely different reason. Controllers are the Danians who specialize in using parasites to infect and assimilate other creatures. I pray that the next step doesn't consist of what I think it does.

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Up next: The Nightmare Team

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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