LSRO: Chapter 360 - Affinity Guide

Yep! I said there were more coming

2025 is ending as hectically as it's been the entire damn year.

Sincerely unimpressed

~~

Chapter 23

Affinity Guide

Quinn blinked. First at Eugea and then at the memory of the affinity she’d instigated. She hadn’t thought about it in a while.

Mental Chaotic Fortitude Abolition.

Sure, she’d created it, so of course she knew exactly what it did. Except she didn’t. Or at least, she wasn’t consciously aware of what it did. She hadn’t been when she’d engaged it. But here was Eugea looking positively whole and everything. So, apparently she’d done something right. 

“Hi Eugea,” Quinn said softly, racking her brain to see if she could remember how she’d helped. She vividly recalled helping the ailing Esposian upon her visit to Ishiposa Isle, just before Adrito attacked their party. When she notated everything she could remember about the affinity, it took her an age to get down the details about it. Even now, most of that memory was like a haze. She’d originally completed the healing while in a sort of trance, accessing portions of her abilities that she wasn’t even aware of possessing.

Did Uncle Hal really expect her to repeat it? Did they all think she could do it?

Even if she theoretically sort of realized what it was she’d done, she was hesitant to try it again. Not on someone it could harm. Especially not on someone who might not have been acting of their own volition after all. She took a deep breath, and then another. It was useless speculating when she could just ask, and then she realized Eugea was speaking to her.

“... so much better. It’s made things easier.” Eugea beamed at her, all the while multitasking by placing some strange sticky round circles on Adrito’s skull. It reminded Quinn of EEGs used to find seizures.

“Sorry,” Quinn shook her head, trying to get herself to focus better. “I missed some of that; my brain went into overdrive.” She didn’t feel the need to explain that she had almost panicked.

Eugea gave a knowing smile and repeated herself. “Even though I’ve never been able to figure out quite how you released me from that infinite control loop, my ability to channel my own powers has been so much better. It’s made things easier... like you cleared things up for me.”

Quinn nodded, vividly recalling her affinity and what it could do. She still didn’t think she’d been aiming to do anything specific other than pull a willing mind back from the control it was under. Sure, it was far more complicated than that. But the gist of it remained the same. Plucking a mind from something that had intertwined itself with it had been instinctive and difficult.

“I’m glad it worked. But the one thing I am certain of is that the subject has to want out of their situation. That’s why I couldn’t help the others. They have to want to be released. Not just allow me to, but actively work toward it. If we can’t convince Adrito to agree that it’s something he wants, I won’t be able to do anything.”

Eugea nodded, and Nishpa spoke without turning around. “For what it’s worth, Quinn. I think it’ll take minimal coaxing from any of us to make Adrito want out of the mindscape he’s currently in. From the pieces of the loop I’ve witnessed... I wouldn’t wish that on even my worst enemy.”

Quinn looked around the clinical room. It reminded her so much of a hospital, of the place she’d woken after the car accident. A shudder ran down her spine, and she sighed. If they were going to do it, she needed to prepare herself. There was a couch on the other side of the room, and she walked over to it. “I need to center myself and get in the right headspace for this. In this specific case, I don’t think just accidentally falling into the headspace I need is a good idea.” She chuckled dryly.

Eugea winced, and Milaro chuckled, but the rest of them just watched her as she moved across the room.

Nishpa waited for Quinn to settle before she spoke. “I’m getting his mind prepped, amenable to the suggestion that we can help. I assume that’ll be what you need?”

Quinn crossed her legs and got herself into a comfortable position before answering. “Eugea was desperate to be rid of the cycle they forced on her. That desperation and absolute need to get out of it was what helped the link stick. It’d be advisable if we can bring him to the same state.”

Nishpa pursed her lips. “I can try. He’s in pretty bad shape. Now that we’ve finally stopped imminent death, he’s lost.”

“Find him, and convince him he’s desperate to get his own mind back.” Quinn shrugged. “Otherwise, I have no idea how to do this. Even with Eugea’s healing as a guideline, I need to recall the experience and go over it in detail. If I can’t manage to recall the specific twists I took, it’s all moot anyway.”

Leaving them to do what they needed to, Quinn centered herself and closed her eyes. Bringing about a meditative state was easier said than done when sitting in a foreign place. It lacked the steady hum of the Library, the faint beat of her heart amplified as it was through the Library’s foundations. While she could still feel the Library in the back of her mind, and if she wanted to, could even access the comings and goings from here, it didn’t feel the same.

It was colder, less personal, and still brought her memories of danger from their previous foray here. Quinn pushed all the distractions to the side, bringing up the memory of when she healed Eugea. Why Hal hadn’t thought to inform her of this prior to their arrival she didn’t know, but she’d be asking him about that later. 

She remembered walking through the odd town, the floating isle. All of its buildings reminded her of Tudor England, all of its people wary and hesitant. In hindsight, their expressions showed definitely how much they didn’t want her there. How much they didn’t want any outsiders there. And given that they were Esposians...

Quinn frowned, not sure why she hadn’t noticed it back then. She moved to the infirmary Eugea had been in. The blank, hopeless stares of all the victims except for her. Eugea, even though her stare was mostly vacant, also showed a need -the need to be free. A want that translated into desperation, already fighting at the blockage to no avail. But the others, they’d already given up. If Adrito had too, she had no way to save him.

Next came the sound of Eugea’s mind and how it pleaded and begged. Quinn followed their progress as she fell forward to help the Esposian. She saw her mind click over, run rapid-fire through different affinities to find those most adept at mind healing. But nothing matched the frequency to dive in between the waves of interference. Her mind, acting on autopilot, grasped several affinities and cut through. But it didn’t just sever control. It had to replace it.

Quinn wasn’t quite sure how she’d done it, nor how she’d kept Eugea sane in the process. She suppressed a groan because she knew she should have listened to the Library after all and spent far more time with this when she had the time. Developing a new affinity meant there was some need for it, and now she was floundering.

She felt the seat next to her depress as someone sat down. From the faint smell of trees and mint, she knew it was Milaro and immediately relaxed. How he knew exactly when she needed him, Quinn still hadn’t figured out. Slowly, so as not to blind herself in the white light, she opened her eyes.

“Stuck?” was all he asked.

She nodded dejectedly. One of these days she just needed to take the Library’s advice and do as she was told instead of running around trying to mark all the things off all the lists. “I know more about how this works, but I still only know things theoretically. What if I destroy his mind? What if I do more harm than good?”

Milaro watched her, his eyes serious. She knew he was taking time to figure out how best to phrase an answer to her question. “If we all just did what was safe, there would be no Library. There would be no knowledge. There would be no practically proven theories.” When he saw that didn’t work, he sighed and tried a different approach. “Adrito’s mind is already weakened, has been in stasis for a long time, and if we do nothing at all, it will fade into nothingness and ultimately kill him.” If you do this, he stands a chance of living and perhaps healing from what he experienced. From what was done to him. If you don’t take this risk, he will die. There’s no doubt about it. If you do, we might also get some answers far quicker than we’d get them otherwise.”

Quinn nodded. She understood where he was coming from. It all made so much sense. But at the same time, she didn’t like the idea of someone’s mind being in her hands. The brain was so fragile. Tiny neurons firing with magic made it even more volatile, and she wasn’t sure she trusted herself. Even if it appeared Milaro did.

“I get it.” She said, determination steeling her. Cracking her neck from side to side she held the vision of Eugea in her mind from just before she’d dove in to save her. It was easy enough, and yet that euphoric feeling from when she realised her theory had worked stole over her. Eugea was quite obviously uninjured. She’d come back stronger than ever.

Maybe, just maybe she could help Adrito, and show Nishpa and Milaro something - to see if the affinity aligned with them too.

“Okay,” she said and pushed herself up to standing. “I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“That inspires such a wealth of confidence,” Milaro quipped at her.

It forced a chuckle from Quinn, and she couldn’t help grinning. She knew she could repeat it if she had the same set of circumstances. Coming to rest next to Nishpa and Eugea, she waited until the tiny Furionas Fae looked up at her. “Well?” Quinn asked.

“He’s about as ready as he’s ever going to be,” Nispha said, but her voice held no conviction whatsoever.

Milaro’s eyes grew distant for several seconds before he focused his gaze back on Quinn. “She’s right. I’m not sure he has the same level of desperation, but it appears this isn’t a way he wants to keep existing. If all you can do is free him from the hold on his mind, I believe it would be a mercy.”

“Okay then,” Quinn said and moved forward, flexing her fingers. She’d definitely try to avoid mercy first, but it’d do in a pinch.

A shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see Uncle Hal, his face in as kindly an expression as she’d ever seen him.

“Do you remember when I taught you? The books I gave you? The faith I have in the fact that you created your own affinity?” Hal’s tone held a seriousness, a gravity that she’d not attributed to the current situation. 

Quinn nodded, not entirely sure she trusted herself to speak.

“And do you remember the guidelines you wrote? The how-to for other people who might eventually be born with your new affinity?” He continued in the same vein, his eyes never once leaving hers.

Quinn ran over all of it in her head. She remembered him sitting her down; her pouring over the books in front of her, learning from all the other healing books to help her build her own guidelines. She’d really only just begun it then, but there was something there. And all the while Hal had made her feel safe, made her feel like she could do anything. This time when she nodded, she felt conviction as she did so. “I remember.”

“The only thing that’s changed since then is that you are stronger. So much more than I thought you’d be, so much more than anyone out there knows you are. You’re going to change the universe, little egg. One step at a time.”

Quinn felt herself blush. She didn’t do compliments. But this one... it tickled something like pride in her core. “Got it. I can do this.”

“Yes, you can.” Hal stepped back and let her have direct access to the ailing Adrito.

As she moved closer and placed her hand on his forehead, Quinn felt a level of confidence she’d never had in her life. A pep talk for the ages. She scanned the mind in front of her, and let her affinity guide her.

~~

See - the affinity thread is being tied off!!!

REASONS!

Go brain

Much love

KT