Date: 03-08-2023

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except OCs and other changes from canon. Also, any resemblance to real people is not intended. This is fiction, after all.


I was tired. Very tired.

Leading a branch of a secret organisation, doing my normal job, and staying with a goddess for half a year as a handmaiden of sorts was sucking up my time and energy like nothing else.

Well, up until that point, anyway.

Finally, I managed to get some time off to go out.

Something was nagging at me. It felt like something was encroaching on my Domain.

As if the walls of my Domain were paper and someone still used a wrecking ball to break through it.

It was only a "nagging" feeling, because it wasn't happening anywhere near me. In fact, it was about halfway across the world, yet it was still strong enough to get my attention.

At first, I could ignore the encroachment. It being a small feeling in the back of my mind together with the fact I was busy being a "handmaiden", made it bearable.

However, that was only the case for the first few days. It went on for a month, continuously. A month! You try getting tickled by a feather continuously for a month and not breaking down in unstoppable laughter. Except, of course, this was more irritation than a tickly feeling, but the point still stands.

I couldn't leave though. It wouldn't do for my lady to be left alone down here with her "husband". Both my lady and her "husband" would be livid with me and I didn't want to see them angry. You never want to see powerful people angry.

When the time came to leave, however, I still couldn't go check out the encroachment. I still had work to do for the "leaders" of my faction and my part of the organisation to uphold.

It was about a week or 2 later that I could finally get some free time to check out the disturbance.


I appeared in some forest. Not very magical or otherwise interesting, except, of course, for the fact the being encroaching on my Domain was nearby.

It didn't take me long for me to find him.

The boy, for that was what he looked like, was in an open field in the forest, sitting completely still. Despite that, he seemed to be reaching out with his magical energy and circulate it inside his body simultaneously. Some impressive control, especially for a kid.

I saw a bunny hopping into the area that the boy's magical energy was reaching out to and saw it "touch the creature. It continued unimpeded. I could tell that this magical "field" was a sensory field.

Normally, entering a field like that would give away your position -and possibly intent- instantly once entered. However, for me it was child's play to hide myself from its effect. So I did.

This kid interested me. Not only does he have some incredible control over his magical energy, but he also has enough of it to cover quite a wide area for sensory purposes. And all of that, when he doesn't seem to be older than 10.

Additionally, he was the encroacher. I wanted to see with my own eyes how he encroached on my Domain that easily and hopefully prevent it in the future.

So, I sat back, hiding in the treeline. Waiting for him to bring his wrecking ball to bear again.


He sat still for hours. In my boredom, I started studying the flow of his magic. What was he trying to do? One of my other personas wanted to know. Since there was nothing to explore at the moment, I let her take the wheel. My body shifted slightly to accommodate the new personality and I started studying more intensely.

About an hour into my study session, he started to move.

He slowly stood up, grumbled something I could not hear, and proceeded to stretch his muscles.

When he was done, he suddenly shattered. He was encroaching on my domain again. I could feel it. This time, however, since I was so close to it, it felt like the magical equivalent to a punch in the gut.

It only took me about a second to recover, despite the suddenness of the event.

I shifted my persona -and my body with it- and tried to follow him, only for me to be blasted back through a couple trees. It didn't really hurt that much. He would need to do a lot more than push me to hurt me, but it still felt like a slap in the face.

He was encroaching on my Domain and then had to audacity to kick me out! The nerve!

In my anger I tried to get in a couple more times, with more of my power backing every attempt. It didn't work. I got blasted back every time.

After about the fifth try, I started calming down. More specifically, my other personalities yelled at me for being a dumbass and told me to stop.

I let one of them take over. Maybe that persona could find a way to follow him in.


Only a couple minutes of trial and a lot of error later, he suddenly reappeared, "shattering" into existence. It was like the air turned into glass, split into diamond shapes, fell off of him, and then turned to dust. All without a sound or any indication that it was going to happen.

Of course, this got me another metaphorical punch in the gut.

That wouldn't deter me, though. At this point, I was exasperated. I needed to know how he was doing this and I wasn't inclined to do it the nice way either.

So, I tried entering his mind.

Reaching out with my magical energy, I "tapped" his brain.

There was resistance, but nowhere near the level of resistance that his "shattering barrier" -as I dubbed the barrier stopping me from following him- gave. So, I pushed through.

He was screaming. Me breaking his mental resistance must have been incredibly painful.

I kept pushing.

I felt something snap.

And that is when I knew, I fucked up.

Instead of resisting me, his mind started to pull on me instead. It was dragging my power into his mind, and me with it.

I tried to resist, but the pull was stronger than I could handle.

The strain made me scream out in pain as well.

Everything became blurred as I desperately tried to cut off the flow of power, but whatever was in his mind wasn't letting go.

For what felt like days, but was probably only a couple minutes, I struggled in pain and in vain.

Until it pulled me in completely and everything became black.


I woke up, feeling phantom pains throughout my entire body. Trying to move my arms, I realized that I could only barely lift them.

Giving up on trying to move for now, I took a look around, as much as my head would allow me.

The first thing I realized is that I was certainly no longer in the forest, as I was surrounded by unending smooth white. There were no holes, no obstructions, and -surprisingly- no light source. Despite that, the area was clearly lit up.

I tried teleporting out, but my magic wouldn't react -and wasn't that an unknown and scary feeling-, so I decided to use my more "standard" senses to check if there was anything around.

Turning my head this way and that, I could not see or hear anything but white and silence. 'Am I dead? …No. If I were, I would be formless and unable to think.' I mused. 'That means I must have been transported somewhere. Now, how do I find out where this place is?'

Deciding to have a look around, I stood up without issue and began walking around a little, only to realize I could move now. The moment I did, however, I collapsed again.

I realized that I could only move effectively unconsciously. That thinking about doing it stopped me from doing it. If this was also the case for my magic, then I would not be able to use most of it in this weird space.

After desperately trying to make any of my magic work -and failing-, I gave up on thinking things through and just mindlessly walked around, hoping to find something.

I did not notice my persona shifting, either.


After some time of random wandering, a door suddenly appeared in mid-air and started opening.

Behind the door was the boy. Except he looked taller. More mature, too. He walked in. He closed the door. The door disappeared again, without even a seam visible where it used to be.

The "boy" looked me over -something that seemed to be out of general interest instead of checking me out- and started speaking.

"Who are you?"

Normally, a simple enough question to answer, but I wasn't inclined to give anything to -who I assumed to be- my jailer, so I just stared at him angrily.

Despite my reluctance to answer, he continued.

"Very well. I suppose it was rather rude of me to demand a name before giving my own. It's….."

He paused, thinking.

"David Dekker. I would say 'nice to meet you', but I just had one hell of a headache that I suspect was your fault…."

He gave a rather pointed look in my direction. 'Hey! I did not expect that either, you know!'

"I am not sure what you were trying to do, but I doubt that this was the outcome you were going for. If you were, then I really wouldn't know what your plans are."

He seemed to think about something.

"Anyway, do you know what situation you are in right now?"

"You locked me up in here." I replied, accusingly.

"Well, in a way, I suppose, but not entirely." He said vaguely. He didn't seem bothered by it. Either that, or still in thought. He was hard to read.

"Explain." I demanded.

He lifted up one of his eyebrows as if to say 'really?', then sighed and answered regardless.

"From what I understand, you tried to do something to my mana. My….ability didn't like that. It captured you and isolated you in it. Since it is my ability, it is technically…." He clearly articulated the word, "me that captured you, but, since I don't have control over all its functions, it was also out of my hands. So, yeah, that."

'An ability that is his but he doesn't have control over? Sounds like a beast-type Sacred Gear. However, if it was -and I am inside of it- I would have met the beast by now. So, a beast-*like* Sacred gear then? Not sure what those could be, though.

Anyway, that isn't important right now. Right now, I need to have this kid let me out. I *would* have tried to kill him, but my magic isn't working and he clearly is in control of this place, if the door is anything to go by.

Another option would be to threaten him with retribution from my faction, but my faction does not care enough about me to do anything if I disappear. Not like I could get a message out anyway.

Alright, third option: stall for time and find a weakness.'

"And what do you plan to do to me?"

"that depends." He replied. "I would prefer if we could cooperate, considering you are inside my mind right now, but I can understand if you don't want to. Oh! And before you ask: No, I don't know how to get you out. I should be able to undo something my 'ability' does, but I don't know how yet. Something to look into." He started mumbling at the last sentence.

'Well, that's just great. So I am stuck here for the foreseeable future. Might as well make myself as comfortable as possible while I am here. Let's see if I can get something out of this.'

"If I cooperate, will you let me out as soon as you find a way to do so?"

"Probably." He immediately answered, stopping his mumbling. "As long as you don't try to kill me the moment you get out. That, and preferably tell me what you were trying to do. Might actually help get you out earlier, in fact."

"I thought you did not know how to get me out? Now you are claiming that I can get out earlier if I tell you. Which is it?" I reply angrily. Was he threatening me?

"What?" He looked to be in thought. "….Oh! No, no, no. That was not a threat. What I meant was that, by understanding what you did, I will have a frame of reference to start searching for, thus making it faster to get you out, potentially."

"That…." I deflate, "makes some sense." I subconsciously shift into my "teacher" persona, drawing a surprised look from the boy's face. "Fine, I will tell you."

I proceeded to explain how I am a personification of, amongst other things, magic itself and that, by extending my power outwards to tap magical structures, I can tell how they work.

He nodded along in understanding, which surprised me. Mortals do not generally consider it possible for anything to personify magic. Instead, they believe it is simply something to be used and nothing more.

After I finished with my explanation, his eyes seem to suddenly dart all over the place. After a couple of seconds of that, he sighs.

"Too many options. It will take a while to find the right one, assuming there is one in the first place." He states.

"But!" He continues, snapping his fingers. "we can at least test some things."

As he says that, the door appears again, out of nowhere. 'This really *is* his mind, isn't it?' I conclude.

This belief is reinforced when he beckons me through the door and I finally see more than just a blank, endless void.

I walk out into a big, open-"air" -as it is still completely white- area with a bunch of distinct white blocks floating around. In the center -relative to the floating boxes- is a small, round area filled with futuristic looking computers, with a swivel-chair in the middle of it.

Looking back, I see that the area I was just in, was also one of these boxes. It must, however, be internally expanded, as the box is roughly 2 by 2 by 2 meters in size and I certainly moved more than that when I arrived.

During my musings on the workings of such space expansion, the boy moved over to the center and sat down on the swivel-chair.

He motioned me over, pointed next to one of the computer and said "Please, have a seat."

An eye-blink later and a comfortable-looking armchair appeared in that same spot. One moment there was nothing there, the next the armchair appeared.

After taking a seat, he spoke again. "Sorry for the late arrival of the chair. I'm still figuring out how things work around here. It is the first time I entered my mindscape, after all."

I gawked. 'First time!? How can someone have such a clear and structured mindscape and only *just* have entered it for the first time? It takes *years* of carefully categorizing all your thoughts, memories, emotions, and knowledge to even get a semi-stable mindscape! This kid is not normal.'

He apparently noticed my dumbfounded expression, as he tilts his head and says "Why are you surprised? Doesn't everyone have a mindscape?"

'This kid.' I sigh. "Well, yes, everyone has a mindscape, but only those who took years to specifically structure and categorize everything in it, will have a mindscape that does not shift and twist at all times. I have yet to even see a twitch that was not intended here. How?"

My interest is thoroughly peaked. Not only does this kid have the capability to just casually disregard the boundaries between dimensions, he also has a completely stable mindscape! 'He is not even 10 years old! Wait, is he? He looks older here. Around 30-ish, I think? That actually makes things even weirder.'

Unknowing of my thoughts, he answers the question. "How? I don't know. I have always had a structured mind. Always made an effort to categorize things to stay calm. Maybe it is because I am autistic?" He starts mumbling. "It is pretty well-known that autists' brains are wired differently….."

He starts typing on one of the computers -that turns on instantly as he turns towards it- and one of the boxes "pulses", like a slow heartbeat, growing brighter and dimmer in a set pattern.

The sounds of mumbling and typing continues. He seems to have completely forgotten I am sitting here, so I clear my throat.

He jerks, the typing stops, the box returns to its normal, non-pulsing state, and he turns to me with a wry smile. "Sorry, I got a bit too occupied with my thoughts. Needed to get them in order and all, you know?"

'I see. If this is his default response to new information, then the structure of his mind makes a lot of sense, although I have no idea what this "autism" is. Something to ask later.'

Most of my time, until this point, was occupied with my duties for the Greek pantheon, the Khaos Brigade, and serving in the underworld, so recent medical developments were not something I came across much.

"Maybe we should continue with trying to get me out of your mind, hmm?" I tried to get us back on track.

"Oh! Yeah, of course! Let's start with introductions and how your powers work, and work from there." He said, turning his chair in my direction.

I indulged him, for now, not realising that I would be here for far longer than I would have ever anticipated. "I am Hekate, Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, and boundaries. The powers I used to enter your mind are as follows…."

It was the beginning of a lot of discoveries and adventures, and I would not give it up for anything.


AN: Remember when I said I was looking for a job last time? Yeah, I found one and it sucked up most of my time. Learning the ropes takes a while and I have a lot of responsibilities. Hence my lack of updates.

This chapter, I tried to do something I was planning to do for certain characters: A chapter written from their perspective, with an element of mystery on who the person is, until it is revealed at the end. It took me quite a while to do this, as it never felt quite right. At some point, I decided "now it's enough, just post it already." I hope it does not disappoint.

For those who like flaming, I would like to point out that only constructive criticism -which I define by having a component that tells me what I did wrong and how to change it for the better- will be responded to and/or used. If you only tell me that my story sucks, then I am gonna ignore you from now on, as it is not productive for either of us and you can choose not to read a story if you don't like it.

There were some people that pointed out the cruelty of David for letting his sister get taken and his camp-mates die. I would like to mention that I try to write my characters with flaws. David's main flaw, at the moment, is that he does not consider anyone else truly 'alive' yet, as he only knows them from stories. His secondary major flaw is his paranoia, on account of the power-players that he knows are around and are likely to either kill him or manipulate him if they get wind of his potential. This is not to say that what he did was 'good', but it should explain why he did -or didn't, as the case may be- do this.