After Events of The Games:

I walked into the therapist’s office, yawning and stretching from all that work I had to do earlier that day. She was already behind her desk and putting papers into order while sipping on tea in a mug that said “Positivi-Tea” with a tea bag on it.

“Good afternoon, Gryft,” Doctor Mantis said brightly. “I’m sure that nightmare dispelling spell worked just great?”

“I’m working with the magic therapist on it, but it’s mostly working,” I reported. “No more dreams about being dissected.”

“That is wonderful to hear,” she said, scribbling something down.

“So doc, do we still need to do this whole… memory dive thing?”

“Yep,” she said, rather chipperly. “You’re not getting out of therapy this week!”

“Every time I come here, I wonder why I need you,” I said, dropping the act. The therapist leaned forward in her seat.

“Because, Gryft, you’re cracked inside. And it’s my job to help you line up the pieces again to see the full picture of who you really are.”

“Should’ve become a poet with that amazing talk,” I grumbled. “Whatever anyone told you, I’m not some soul in need of saving, or broken in some way, or looking for redemption, or whatever other garbage you might’ve thought of. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“Interesting…” Doctor Mantis said, scribbling something on her clipboard.

“So this session is over, doc. It was nice talking while it lasted.” I said, getting up and heading for the door.

“You do know you try this at least once a month, right?”

“Well I think I won’t need any more.”

“Not yet,” she said, not looking up.

“Try and stop me.”

She held up a hand and casted a flash of magic at me. My vision went dark and I faded from consciousness. She was calling me back to my memories, and this time forcing me into my deepest ones I kept locked away.

*   *   *   *   *

We appeared in my mindspace, disorienting me. When I shook my head and looked around, Doctor Mantis was there doing her shiny hands and glowy eyes thing. It just means she was sorting through my memories, but we had already seen them all. Or at least all the ones I’d let her have.

“So, how much are you going to let me in this session?” she asked. “I can only see as much as you want to show me.”

“Get new lenses, doc,” I said. “We’re in my mind, so nothing to hide.”

“Well, that’s a lie,” she smiled, rolling her eyes, “You’ve got more secrets than you let anyone see. I just don’t know what.”

“Nothing else to show,” I insisted.

“Fine then, can we go back to the beginning of your violent behavior?”

“Maybe we can save it for another day, doc?”

“Come on, I want to know where it began,” Dr. Mantis insisted. “The sooner you open up, the less of these sessions we need to have.”

“Yeah, fine,” I mumbled. “Let’s go.”

The scenery around me changed and warped as the therapist changed the memory, and we were in my childhood home. It was one of those memories I had hidden from her intentionally. 

“When is this?” Mantis asked.

“A few decades after my father’s death,” I said.

Through the hallway, my mother walked in with a human man. He was about her height, and wore a warm smile on his face. 

“At some point, my mother looked to remarry, and she settled on this human who I knew for a short while as my stepfather.”

“Oh,” the doctor said, covering her mouth. 

“It’s hardly often that humans get to live in The Village with their partners, with only a handful that do it, but my mother wanted my father up here, and he was allowed by The Temple for whatever reason. Of course, he was a father enough to me, not like the one I had before, but I had something more. I had…” My voice trailed off as I let the scene in front of us unfold.

“Come on, kids!” called Mom in a laugh.

“Gryft, Mina, we’re going out!” said my stepdad.

From down the hall, I flew in, now looking more like a teenager. I looked as moody as I remembered, which actually makes sense in hindsight, being my memory and all. I had rather long swept hair that went over my eye. It was a look.

Behind me trailed a young girl, about age ten, who had some red hair like her dad that ran down to her mid back. And like her human father too, her skin was pale and eyes green. On her abdomen was a scorpion tail like Mom’s, and like mine. She was Mina, my stepsister.

“Mommy, daddy, where are you going?” she asked.

“Date night, sweetie,” Mom said. “Your big brother Gryft is going to look after you though.”

“Of course I am,” sighed my younger self. 

“Cheer up Gryft,” smiled mother. “And don’t burn the house down while we’re gone.”

The memory froze and faded away, fleeting and brief. Doctor Mantis looked visually upset at it though.

“Hey, what was that?!” she demanded to know. “You never mentioned anything about having a sister!”

“Stepsister,” I corrected. “Besides, you never asked.”

“Well, tell me more,” she said. “You took me there for the root of your violent actions, so if we keep exploring, then-”

“I said no!” I growled, stomping the ground. I could feel the air around us tense, and something weird started happening.

“Gryft, calm down,” Mantis said, moving her hands around to try and gain some sort of control over my mind I guess.

“I am calm,” I said, chest heaving, definitely not calm.

“Gryft-”

“Hold on,” I said, holding my own magic up. “Maybe I can-”

“Wait no, you’re not experienced enough to-”

As I tried casting a spell, something happened, and I mean something really odd happened. There was a large flash of light, and I heard sounds akin to glass shattering, and Dr. Mantis was gone, along with any of my memories we were viewing. Echoes of voices were all around me, and I couldn’t pinpoint who was talking. I didn’t know where I was in my own mind, and I had lost my therapist. Just great.

*   *   *   *   *

I had been searching through my memories to find Dr. Mantis. I had tried to cast a spell to end the therapy session, but it went wrong. Obviously. So now I had to look through my assorted memories to find the doctor before she landed in a memory she wasn’t supposed to see. Or worse, before she starts poking around my exposed mind.

After a bit of searching, I found her. And oh boy, it was definitely something she wasn’t supposed to see. I dove right into the memory, and I was in an alleyway at dusk. I whipped and searched around, and saw Mantis at the end of it, staring at a figure. It was my nearly adult body, crying over the body of a woman. It was too dark to see who. The doctor looked shocked and scared.

“Hey, buddy!” shouted a man at the entrance of the alleyway. Four humans were at the front of the alleyway holding weapons. I remembered it well. Too well. 

“Fella, you’re out pretty late!” said another.

The four men laughed and started approaching my figure in the dark. I would have warned them to back off if they would’ve listened. But like I keep saying, it was just a memory. I passed my rage-filled eyes and grabbed Doctor Mantis’ arm. I wiped the memory just after she saw a man’s throat get slashed, spraying blood through the air.

We were back in the black blank mindscape void that was between my memories. Though, Doctor Mantis still looked distressed.

“We need to go back,” she insisted. “Let’s see the full memory!”

“No,” I growled. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“Gryft, I’m here to help you through your problems,” the doc said, waving her hands and trying to pry open my memories. “You need to let me in and share…”

“I’m giving you one warning, doc,” I groaned, straining to keep her from seeing everything again. “Stop poking around.”

“Why won’t you-”

“Ok, get out now,” I growled. 

Suddenly, I heard her give a yelp, and I felt her vanish from my mind. Her spell wore off, and I felt myself return to consciousness. When I opened my eyes, the doctor was laying on the floor with a small hole in her pant leg, and my tail coiled around her leg. 

“Ah shit,” I mumbled, picking her up. “I’m sorry doc, I really didn’t mean to do this one.” I used teleportation magic to take us to the hospital.

*   *   *   *   *

A few hours later, I was let into her hospital room. Mantis was laying down in a bed with a nurse next to her. She gave me the rundown that because my poison wasn’t fatal, she should be back on her feet in a day or so. The nurse let us be alone together

“Gryft, we need to talk,” she said.

“It’s ok, I can find another therapist,” I said. “It’s for the best.”

“No!” she exclaimed. “I want to go further into your mind, but you won’t let me. To make progress, you have to open up, but we’re plateauing here.”

“I can’t let you in,” I said, shaking my head. “Look what happened this time. I lost control.”

“I don’t care that you stabbed me,” she laughed. I hated how little she cared. “I care about my patient, and how they’re doing.”

“You see how I’m a monster now?” I asked harshly.

“Hey, don’t blame yourself,” Dr. Mantis said sternly, still shaking a bit. “Nobody’s a monster. I don’t know your full picture, but if you open up I can put the pieces together.”

“You won’t like what you see,” I said, standing up and walking out of her hospital room. I put up a hand to say goodbye. “Get well soon doc, see you next week.”