What the fuck?

“Wait, hold up, what?” I immediately sit up and then turn to face her. My confusion is for sure appropriate for this situation. So why is she giggling at my expense, why can’t she be more sympathetic to my situation? Also how is this even possible?

“It's simple, I am a witch with a very intimate knowledge of herbs and plants with magical properties. As for ‘giggling at your expense,’ well I don’t really come across humans that aren’t hostile, so your relaxed reactions are refreshing to me.”

My confusion dissipated and my anger returned alongside a hint of sorrow; that's right those bastards let their ignorance dictate their perception, ignorance alongside pride and greed are the three fatal flaws of humans. I knew this from my interactions with others throughout my life, everyone is led by at least one of these emotions and sometimes even all three.

“It's like they treated you the same as me, but from your memories I can’t see any encounters like mine.”

“Stop that and how can you see my memories?”

“Sorry, I can’t help myself. I don’t really interact with others on the regular. Don’t worry though, the psychic connection will soon fade away,” she said with a slump to her shoulders while looking down. Why is she disappointed with her creation? This is the most mind blowing thing to me and she perceives failure where I see perfection?

“You’re not disappointed that it’s temporary?” she asked inquisitively.

“No, although it would be weird with someone else always in my head. Wait, why can’t I hear your thoughts?”

“That’s because you weren’t trained to manipulate life energy.”

“Life energy? Like magic? I guess that makes sense, can you tell me exactly what that potion did to us?”

“Basically it copied the language skills that we each possessed and then transferred and stored them in the other's mind. It did the same to our most vivid memories and experiences. However, it only gave a partial copy to our most recent thoughts varying between 1 and 4 days. Lastly, there are two side effects; as you know, it temporarily creates a psychic connection but that atrophies after about 21 hours and the base of the potion was the blood of ouroboros, it awak….” I cut her off.

“What of ouroboros? Will I get sick? Am I going to become a demon too? Was that your plan? Make me like you so you won’t be alone?”

Slap!!!

“Is that what you think? I just want to use you? I guess you’re no different from those people you curse for being ignorant.”

I was humbled. I am a hypocrite. How could I say something like that to her? She has been kind to me and even established a method for communicating. Meanwhile I am just my cynical and skeptical self, judging everyone while distancing myself. How can I ever make up for saying that to her?

“You can start by apologizing and promising to never jump to conclusions without getting the necessary information.”

“Wow you are a strong woman.” I caught her off guard, her whole demeanor changed. She didn’t buckle under my harsh words but now she’s speechless? “What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t call me a demon or she-demon or witch or any other slurs but instead acknowledged me as an equal. Thank you, no one has been that kind since I woke up in this place.”

My heart is aching now. I know what she has endured. I want to make up for it in some way even though I was not responsible for her plight but it isn’t my place. If I tried to help her it would only be perceived as me trying to make myself feel better. While it’s partly true, I still want to be there for her. I need to come up with a way to low key make her feel accepted and appreciated. I was lost in thought.

Zoning back in for a moment, I see those enchanting eyes again, she has an appreciative smile on her face. She does look like a goddess, seeing her in the light provided by the candles I find myself wondering how a creature this beautiful survived the discrimination it was subjected to. She really is strong.

The appreciative face she displayed was gone now. She looked down and her cheeks looked a little more red than usual. Is she blushing? That’s when I realized, it was now my turn to blush. “I told you to stop that, my thoughts should be private.” I also looked down.

“I’m sorry, it’s not something I can just block out.”

**** to change the subject and get rid of this awkwardness I asked, “Can you tell me more about the second side effect?”