Those Who Eat Worlds, Part 2

Jamina Lightbringer kept the start of the date simple. She talked about her world while sharing dinner with Felix. The high elf ate a soup from her world, whereas he continued the diet assigned to him by eating a high protein meal. Seeing him stick to said diet while surrounded by temptation in the form of various kinds of junk food made her hopeful he could have the discipline required for what was waiting. Unbeknownst to Felix, the high elf knew all about what had happened in his time alone. Her mastery of magic including memory, and the mind more broadly, as she had learned both to protect herself and others from the forces of evil in her world. It meant that Jamina knew all about Felix Walker.

It was that knowledge which shaped her lesson. Felix needed to understand that onomancy wouldn't solve all of his problems when it came to controlling his harem. In addition, he still wasn't fulfilling the role given to him. She suspected being exposed to who he was from several timelines ago made him suffer, and that Hailey's absence made it worse by making him feel helpless in the context of Harem Hotel. Jamina wanted to comfort him, tell him that he was a good guy, and that it was all going to be okay. But she couldn't do that. They lived in a multiverse with monsters that ate worlds, and individual people who wrecked them for the sake of experimentation. Such beings threatened her world, and given the introduction of magic to Felix's world by someone as irresponsible as Kei Winters, probably threatened his as well.

None of that was something she could solve while being stuck in Harem Hotel. Nor was Felix ready to face either world, as he wasn't even ready for the idea that Harem Hotel was only the beginning of his encounters with magic. That was why Jamina Lightbringer chose, after dinner, to guide Felix to the mirror room. She lead him on with a story about fucking everyone, truly everyone, in a royal court. It was a true story, as it was something she chose to do after she buried Samuel to get through the grief of his death. However, it also let her infiltrate the royal court, as no one suspected an elven slut, and kill several unsuspecting followers of the entity that had corrupted Samuel's mind. By the time they knew what was happening, it was too late for them, as she had isolated them, and systematically taken away their base of support.

Before Felix could say anything to her, using either his normal voice or onomancy, she put in the pair of earplugs from earlier. She then cast a spell that blocked the door, and grabbed a spiral notebook she had stashed in the room earlier. After drawing a pin from the ringers of the spiral notebook, she flipped it open, and wrote in large letters so that Felix could read it, even when stressed.

"THIS IS A TEST," Jamina then flipped the page and continued writing. "I WILL NOT HEAR YOU."

The words were straight to the point, and locked off all escape from what Jamina wanted to do. Felix would pass her test, or she would break him, and then fix him so that he could. For all the humans she had failed, the high elf had never let a soul fall to the horrors of the eldritch. She could not fail Felix again the way she had as Benjamin Winters...

Hailey, after going through a mixture of bizarre cameos in other seasons, and brief interludes in other worlds that let her do little more than restock ammunition, finally found herself again in a reality she could reside in for more than mere minutes or hours. However, that reality was even worse than the world that had been trashed by The Architect. After all, it was a world where reality itself was collapsing.

The world Hailey found herself in was coming apart at the seams, as there were zones of distortion where physics didn't apply anymore. Gravity would sometimes get weaker, or stronger, with parts of the world being impassable because the gravity had become far too strong to be near, or zones where she saw objects get launched to terminal velocity. These zones of distortion in physics weren't limited to gravity, as time, and space were also affected. She saw people trapped in localized time loops where they repeated the same five seconds for eternity, doors that opened into the cold vacuum of space, a window that looked into the molten core of the planet, and so on. All of these sights showed reality itself was collapsing, as these zones seemed to be expanding by the day.

Given the context at hand, it was unsurprising that Hailey couldn't find anyone alive, and free enough of a time loop or other reality distorted zone, to help her. And while she traveled this broken world, she saw constant glimpses of a being, far off in the distance. Except it wasn't quite far off, it was more like a creature that was in another dimension while... eating this one. She didn't know how she knew, but the being she saw in the distance, that seemed to possess such immense power that it hurt to look at, she knew was responsible for this world's present state.

Beyond its collapse, the main details Hailey picked up about this world was that it was in the equivalent of the 1930s from her world in terms of technology, aesthetics in architecture, and just a general vibe of that time period. Or at least as much as one can have a vibe when everything was being steadily eaten away by the entity that had invaded this realm. So, she did what she could, and continued to explore this world. She looked for clues to what this entity was, weapons, ammunition and any messages from the demon that could get her home faster. Seeing two dead worlds was getting to her...

Multiple times in the past two days alone, Felix had felt disempowered, to the point where the title of Master once again felt like a joke. He lacked the power to save Hailey, had only succeeded at controlling Z after multiple failed attempts, and all of this had just been topped off by Jamina ignoring his power... through earplugs. It was an obvious counter in hindsight, and one he should've anticipated. After checking to see if Jamina was bluffing through trying some onomancy commands, he calmed down, and waited to see what the high elf would want to do next.

Jamina went over to the giant mirror in the room, and pressed on it, just like Z had done earlier that day. Just like twice before that day, Felix experienced memories that weren't his... at least not those of his current self. Unlike the prior times, this didn't end up being about the deep past of Jamina Lightbringer, or for that matter of Winters. Instead, it was about the experience Kei Winters and Benjamin Winters had during Harem Hotel. At first, this was an odd choice to Felix, as he could still remember that, or at least parts of it. But upon watching further, the selection made more sense, as it showed him the perspective of Benjamin Winters.

The selection of memories Jamina showed him, over and over again, pressed on two points. It started with that Felix had either ignored, or brushed aside, the many sins of Kei Winters. This ways she abused Jamina when she had power over the woman, the way she pursued Felix despite the way it traumatized Benjamin Winters for her to do so, and most of all, that she was an artificial creation of the demon. The last wasn't her fault, but rather that Kei Winters was never bothered by that fact, nor the memories of being a woman who abused her position to fuck students. Sure, the memories weren't true, but she acted like they were, and was unbothered by them, no matter how many times it was pointed out how horrific abusing her position like that truly was.

If that had been all the memories were about, Felix would've been able to chalk it up as another casualty of how he behaved in the first round. Something bad, but ultimately something that he had learned the right lessons from, and that by incorporating who he was from that time into his current self, had done a lot to make up for. But then the second point was raised, and this framing he gave himself collapsed. Felix, by choosing to accept Kei Winter's narrative about what had happened to him in high school, despite knowing it was from someone he had reasons to distrust, shattered Benjamin Winters. By choosing to trust her despite her origins as an artificial creation of the demon, and despite her behavior in how she controlled Jamina, which Felix saw himself, he had laid the groundwork... for Jamina Lightbringer. A woman who remembered Benjamin Winters, but wasn't really him anymore. As... for all intents and purposes, Benjamin Winters was dead. Buried by Felix's neglect, to the point that the man's name, despite belonging to someone who had caused him a lot of misery, was one he had forgotten from multiple retroactive reality alterations that he had inadvertently caused.

When he looked away from the memories, Jamina Lightbringer was behind him. She went right back to using her notebook to talk with him, delivering short, sharp sentences in big letters so he couldn't pretend to misunderstand it.

"YOU LET BENJAMIN WINTERS DIE," Jamina Lightbringer paused, to really let the statement sink in. "I FORGIVE YOU. I HAVE DONE WORSE."

Each statement was a punch to the gut. Each statement further drilled into Felix's failures in the initial rounds, and how horrific the fate of Winters had truly been. It would've left him despondent if it wasn't for her other statements. But even that wasn't true forgiveness, given it was his neglect which lead to who Jamina was in the present. A high elf that was willing to do anything to protect her world, and he suspected one that would find a way to torment him as well.

It was then Jamina Lightbringer approached Felix and grabbed his neck. The resulting magic shocked him, and made him crumple to the floor in unconsciousness. Before darkness overtake him, he heard her say, "See you in your dreams Felix..."

Hailey's search through the current world being torn apart by an eldritch abomination had revealed several tools with which to fix it. The first was a break open single action revolver from this world's equivalent of the Old West, except it had been modified to kill mages, and its bullets could ignore their spells of protection. It proved quite useful when she encountered the few remaining cultists that were still convinced, despite seeing their world being devoured around them, that their salvation by the hands of the eldritch being was just around the corner. It helped that, despite being a gun using black powder bullets, she could find plentiful ammunition for it by searching in corners of the world that were forgotten even before the eldritch being showed up. Whoever had made it had clearly given it many magical blessings, only some of which Hailey could identify, even with all of her considerable knowledge. A fine weapon indeed, and one she planned to keep around despite its slow rate of fire, in part to learn from the magic used in its creation.

By contrast, when Hailey found a crossbow with self replicating bolts that killed the undead, pierced armor, and could provide instruction to those unfamiliar with such a tool, she was stuck. It could've been a great weapon, if she were dealing with vampires especially, or even something like liches, but that was not the threat at hand. Undead had once threatened this world, but that was long ago. The same order which once fought them had been corrupted from within by the cultists, but it seemed like those who had made their weapons knew better. That knowledge caused Hailey to promise the crossbow that she would find a user who would appreciate its qualities, and continue the duty it had been created for.

Then Hailey found a side loading SMG with a perforated barrel, in the lineage of something like the MP18. It was the only weapon she had found that wasn't overtly supernatural in nature, but had plentiful ammunition, and was useful for fighting monsters that spawned from the various cracks in reality the eldritch monster had made in its wake. It also of course did an excellent job gunning down the various cultists who lacked magic, but were still around in part from the magical protections provided by their peers. She knew it wasn't a gun she would keep, but it would be one that got Hailey through yet another world where civilization had been destroyed by the mistakes of those within it.

The final weapon was an 8 gauge double barrel break open shotgun. Already a monstrous amount of firepower in of itself, especially given that it used smokeless powder, the weapon could also kill eldritch abominations. She found out after she blew apart a creature the entity had sent to kill her, and that none of her other weapons were able to even dent. It was the perfect weapon for the situation Hailey found herself in, however, its ammunition was rare, and the gun itself could be unwieldy. The gun was for her what an end game weapon would be in most first person shooters, given the rarity of its ammunition and because she knew... this was the gun that would kill the entity she saw in the distance. It may have been too late for her to save this world, but she could at least avenge it....

Felix awoke in a place he Jamina Lightbringer had described, but that he had never seen before. Then he heard something in the distance. Turning around, he saw men in robes enter the room, wielding ceremonial knives, too long and awkward to be used as weapons. He didn't hesitate, and immediately leaped to the weapon he had been given, and that was often taken from him.

"STOP!" Felix summoned up the onomancy voice, but realized his fundamental error too late. He didn't know the true names of anyone in the room. Once again, he was a fit, but still defenseless, eighteen year old boy without any skill in combat, or otherwise anything that would allow him to command such a group.

And yet the group did, just not the way Felix intended. Instead, a lone figured from the crowd walked out towards him. "Bring this mage to the court. They will blame him instead of us."

The voice was of Jamina, yet the figure was of a man. What was going on? Two of other robed figures removed him from the room, and brought Felix to what looked like a throne room, albeit with many other chairs strewn throughout it. In the throne room, there were many figures that looked like nobles to him, and of course, there was a man in the chair dressed like a king. But did that mean anything in this dream world? If this was a memory, he suspected Jamina was altering it to suit her purposes. When he looked at himself, Felix realized he was wearing the clothes of a prisoner. It was a reminder that he was in a dream, as the transition from one scene to another was hazy, at best, and missing entirely at worse, as if he was in a movie where the scene was cut.

"So tell us, are you an onomancer?" The king asked, his voice bearing the cynicism who had to deal with constant, irritating accusations. "Do you use your voice to command others? Or are you an innocent, caught up in the schemes of my court?"

There were many ways Felix could've answered that, many of which probably would played into the hands of those that captured him. So he chose to do something that he hoped Jamina wouldn't expect. "If I had such power, your majesty, than why am I here? How could anyone capture a man who has the power to command with nothing but his words?"

"Feigning weakness is typical for their kind," One of the men from earlier, now dressed in noble attire, replied. "He yelled at us to stop, clearly expecting to have power over us. Only lacking knowledge of our names was able to stop him."

"What would you say if you were about to be stabbed by strangers?" Felix asked. "Besides, you didn't answer the question. How can you prove I have onomancy if it didn't work? There are countless crimes you could accuse someone of if you can just claim they failed."

"We heard him use the voice of an onomancer!" Yet more of the men from earlier spoke up. "Your majesty, execute him, before he learns anyone's true name!"

The king put his face in his hands. He mumbled, and then said more loudly, "Bring in the court mage, and tell them to be ready for yet another investigation."

And the one who came in was... Kei Winters? Felix realized immediately this was a manipulation, something she would perhaps deem a lesson, by Jamina Lightbringer. After all, she had just shown him memories from Benjamin Winter's point of view, illustrating Kei Winters to be a monster. But what message was she seeking to teach here?

"He recognizes me," The person pretending to be Kei Winters said in her voice. "He feels guilty in relationship to me. Interesting."

It wasn't Kei Winters. Felix knew it couldn't be Kei Winters, because of what she was saying, but her voice sounded the same, and her mannerisms also mimicked her. The way she'd angle her body to tease him, the way she'd wink at him, and just make the promise that her body was very accessible to him, despite how attractive she was.

The actual person went over, and touched Felix on the forehead. A few moments later, they said, "This person has killed someone. Or they at least feel they have. I don't know who they are, only that whoever they see me as now had something to do with it."

"Off with his head then," The king waived his hand. "And get him out of here."

The dream then reset. Over the course hours, Felix was ran through the same initial capture and trial, over and over again. He tried to flee, but it didn't work because the castle was too complex. He tried to fight back, but sure enough, he was just stabbed. So what he settled on were different responses to either the initial capture, or at the trial. Each failure lead him to the point of death, but cut out before death could happen. Terror without pain, as befitting a dream. It took many scary near deaths to find the eventual solution.

Felix realized that if he didn't accept the culpability, or at least thought of it differently, he could fool the trial. That defense would still break down, but through many more repetitions, Felix got to the point that he could bypass this mystical version of Kei Winters. It was like fooling a lie detector, where calmness was the key trait. Once he had gotten through the trial... he woke up in the master suite.

"So he can learn," Jamina Lightbringer was on the bed with Felix. "At least partially."

"That guilt is a weakness to be exploited?" Felix asked. "Why did you get on my case about your former self then?"

"Felix, you're missing the point, "Jamina Lightbringer said next to Felix. "Guilt is both a sign of character and is also a weakness that can be exploited. That especially applies when someone suppress that guilt under a layer of denial. You'll notice you only succeeded when you accepted that you contributed to Benjamin Winter's fate without accepting all of it."

"So you put me through all of that just to make me honest with myself?" Felix asked. "I should make you leave."

"But you won't Felix," Jamina countered. "You have a double standard for women. I experienced it, as you tolerated Kei Winters doings things you never accepted Austin White doing."

"That's a lie," Felix said. "Kei was-"

"A creation of the demon," Jamina Lightbringer cut off Felix while finishing his sentence. "But you saw how Kei Winters treated Benjamin Winters, and you did nothing. You even contributed to it in one of your dates with her. And, be honest with me, do you really think she wouldn't have molested you like Janessa, if she thought it was to her advantage?"

Felix took a breath before replying. "I do have double standards, I've been over this. You know I've been over this. What, exactly, are you trying to get me to understand that I didn't learn from Felix Walker?"

"As someone who has fought the eldritch, I look for such biases as one looks for gaps in armor, because of how they can be exploited," Jamina Lightbringer's voice switched to that of a teacher. "Exploited by me, exploited by the eldritch, or even just by those far more mundane looking to manipulate you. We cannot eliminate it, it's far too ingrained in your personality, but we can weaken its effect, and make you aware of it."

Jamina Lightbringer then let the robe she was wore fall off of her body. "Enough of that. Let me show you that you don't need to miss Kei Winters, and that I can teach pleasure, not just pain..."