Possessive Behavior

The room I was led in was sparse, nearly empty. But the bed in the corner let me know where we were.

"Great room you got there. All that lovely decor says a lot about your personality." I snarked.

Predictably, Zen was unfazed.

"Is the venue too boring for you, Mallory? Let me fix that real quick."

I wanted to reply to that, but before I could, the room around me began to shift.

Not just the room, but the air, the soundscape, the smells...

The walls melted away, and before I knew it, we were standing beneath a row of Cherry Blossom trees. All around us was a beautiful, if mostly empty countryside.

"How....how are you doing that?" was all I could force out at the moment.

"Oh, you don't like it? Japan has always been a very relaxing environment for me, but if you disagree, I'll try to find somewhere you'll be able to feel more comfortable."

Once again, the world around us shifted.

The temperature dropped significantly, and the wind picked up speed, howling and bringing freezing cold.

We were...on some kind of plateau. An old building, dilapidated and falling apart, was visible in the distance along a narrow foot path. Around us was nothing but mountains and a steep drop.

I willed myself to stay clear-headed. I had to think this through.

"This is an illusion, right? You can't just teleport...can you?"

Zen just smiled, as he always did.

"I'm not entirely sure....can I? It would be pretty strange if I could, but....you never know."

Rolling my eyes, I walked up to the edge, lifted my left foot over it, and slowly lowered it down.

I expected to hit solid ground, but only touched empty air.

"Fuck..." I muttered and returned to my previous position.

"Okay, what's going on? I shouldn't be able to go lower than your room if this were an illusion. But you can't have teleported us! At least not me, without even touching me!"

My heart beat faster. I knew he and I were currently on the same side, more or less, but still....This was absurd. Perfect undetectable deep mind reading, levitation....he couldn't also have perfect multi-target teleportation. He just couldn't.

But illusions were rarely that all-encompassing.

"Hmmm, now that is strange." Zen said, his voice even and calm.

"You're right, lowering your foot below ground level shouldn't be possible in an illusion. So maybe I did teleport us? Oh, but what if I could mess with your sense of balance? Vertigo? That could make it feel like you were putting your foot lower than you really are. Then again, you'd need a lot of control to pull that off without just making your target fall down. What a conundrum."

He lifted his finger.

"Here's an idea! Try jumping off. If you fall and die, it was teleportation. If not, it was just an illusion. Are you willing to flip that coin?"

I looked back at the drop behind me and shook my head.

"No.....no, I'm not. Just get us back to your room."

Within seconds, the familiar cloth walls returned, and everything was back to normal.

"Let us begin then." he said without missing a beat.

"There are a few avenues of training we could stroll down. But I would like to start with the simplest one. To see if you are capable, we have to test your body awareness."

I crossed my arms.

"What does that mean, exactly?"

In response, he just shook his head.

"You'll see. For now, I would like you to Possess me."

I raised my eyebrow.

"Possess you? What does that accomplish? You can't teach me anything if I have control over your body."

He let out a deep sigh.

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"Mallory. Just do it. You'll see. I promise you."

My fists clenched, but I nodded reluctantly.

"Fine. But if this whole thing amounts to nothing, I'm cancelling these sessions. Understood?"

Zen chuckled.

"Do what comes naturally."

With another eyeroll, I began focusing on him and connected our thoughts for some basic mind-reading.

I was planning to immediately push further into Thought, but stopped myself.

Time passed for a minute.

Then five.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He tilted his head slightly, as if he was confused, a state of mind I'd imagine was completely alien to him.

"I'm waiting for you to Possess me, silly."

His tone of voice really ground my gears.

"You know what I'm talking about. I'm reading your mind, and there's nothing. Not a single stray thought."

Zen shrugged, his smile never wavering.

"That is strange, isn't it? Maybe I'm clouding them. We mental types can defend against each other."

"If you were resisting me, I'd feel some kind of feedback." I argued.

"I guess you would. But maybe I am just a few leagues above you in power and skill? Or maybe I'm living up to my name and learned how to empty my mind. It could be. A third possibility would be a Soulstone of Mind. If you aren't familiar, it's a magically linked orb with much greater speed and processing power than a human brain that does all the thinking for you. Do you think I could be in possession of such a rare item? Or maybe, fourth potential reason, I just live in the moment. No need to think or plan, just going with the flow."

He scratched his chin.

"It's all very puzzling."

I realized halfway through his little monologue that this was going nowhere fast, so I decided to ignore him. He wasn't going to give me any real answers regardless.

I pushed further, connecting our minds deeper, achieving Thought.

Once again, there was nothing. Not even subconscious thoughts.

I could feel his hands lying on his pants and the weight of his jacket on my back, so it was definitely working.....just without any and all mental activity.

The more this 'Training Session' went on, the less I liked it.

Finally, I began the Possession.

My vision swam, vanished, and when it returned, I stood on the opposite side of the room.

The Possession whiplash addled my thoughts for a few seconds, but after it was clear again, I noticed right away what the problem here was.

I stood.

I didn't float.

I looked down at the body I was inhabiting, and sure enough, it was Zen.

The ratty clothes, the long hair, everything fit.

For some reason, I was also looking at the back wall instead of the front, as if he had turned around just before I took over.

I had Possessed people who could float before, and usually, all it took was either visualizing it or activating it in a way that felt natural to the body.

But no matter what I tried, I couldn't replicate it.

Suddenly, I felt something.

A strange pull in the back of my mind. It felt...unnerving, unsettling, like hearing the dim sound of alarm bells through thick class.

And it urged me to turn around.

Once I did, I stumbled back a step.

"What the...."

In front of me, I was.

But not, as I assumed, lying flat on the ground.

No.

I was hovering in the air.

My eyes were closed, and a serene smile graced my face.

I don't think I've looked this relaxed in years.

"Surprised?" I asked myself. Though...I knew who it really was.

"What the fuck are you doing?! How are you doing this?!? Was this all just a ploy to steal my body, or are you just fucking with me because you get off on it?"

Zen's voice sounded weird when I spoke. Much higher, shriller......shaky. It added to this uncomfortable air of surreality.

He opened my mouth to reply, but I had already begun disentangling from his mind, and before he could get a word out, I was back where I belonged.

I stumbled around, trying to catch myself, but couldn't keep from falling down.

Once my head stopped spinning, I looked up and stared into the smiling visage of the person responsible for all my recent troubles.

"What. Was. That?" I asked, having to keep myself from punching that smug grin off his face.

"That, my friend, my buddy, my pal, was a training lesson. I thought you knew that? Please, make sure to keep up."

I climbed back to my feet and approached him until the tips of our noses touched.

He didn't move, nor stir.

"How was that supposed to teach me anything?"

His grin widened.

"It wasn't. It was supposed to help me find something out. Though you regrettably cut our exercise short, I may be able to salvage it. Tell me...why did you turn around when you did?"

I took a step back again, my fist still ready to meet his face at any moment.

"I don't know. I had a weird feeling."

His grin shifted again, though instead of growing wider it switched to being....more genuine. Like a kid who just found a UR in their Duel Mages booster pack.

He clapped his hands together in rapid succession.

"Wonderful, wonderful! I can already see that the feeling was what I hoped it was. Good. Very good."

"....What are you talking about?"

The creep tried to put an arm around my shoulder, but I ducked out of it.

"Your potential. Some Possessors have a lingering link with their bodies once they take control of someone. And while yours is weak, the fact that it reacted to my......hmmmm, let's call it 'attention', proves it exists."

"Alright. So....If I train this, then what? I get to be more aware of what is going on around my real body?"

Zen nodded.

"Yes! Indeed. Not only that, but with enough training, you should even be able to pilot it around."

I stared at him for a few seconds.

".....While I'm possessing someone?"

"That's right! It'd be difficult, as your attention would be split between two bodies, but it would open up a lot of new possibilities for you in action, and.....!"

I waited for a minute for him to finish his sentence, but he just hovered there silently.

"....And?"

It took another minute for him to continue.

"....and...I can't promise anything, but....I think you might have the potential to push it even further."

"Further? How far? What would I be able to do?"

The Villain chuckled to himself and shook his head before lowering his voice and whispering. Despite him being a foot in front of me, it felt like he was right beside my ear.

"Far enough that even your friends at W.R.A.I.T.H. wouldn't be able to stop you."

My eyes widened.

"W-what do you mean? Isn't W.R.A.I.T.H. just a comic book thing? ....I..."

He put a finger in front of my lips.

"To be honest with you, Mallory....I didn't plan for someone like you working so closely with me....but I'm really glad it happened. Now I need to rework our training plan. I just have a feeling...." he said, and in a fraction of a second, between my blinks, he was gone. Only his voice remained, lingering in my ear.

"...that we'll be best friends forever. Same time tomorrow, bestie. Don't be late."