System Programmer Chapter 22: Improvised Therapy

"Joshua, please calm down. Let's go to your soul world first." Catherine gently told him.

Joshua nodded and vanished. She followed him, made a table appear and summoned some coffee. She handed a cup over to Joshua who drank it one go. Afterward, he let out a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. Even his soul projection was covered in sweat, he really wasn't going well.

"Now, why don't you tell me what happened," Catherine asked.

The situation that had occurred was extremely bizarre and Joshua had a hard time to find the right words to describe it. Still, after a few minutes, Catherine was able to get a global picture of the event.

"This s.h.i.+ning light you saw was most likely a trap," she said," I was doubtful about this shock therapy you suddenly added, but it might have saved you in extremis."

"Right… s.h.i.+ning treasures don't just appear…"

Seeing Joshua like this, Catherine couldn't help to feel sad for him. Joshua hadn't talked much about his personal life, but she knew he valuated logical thinking above everything. Whatever was happening must be pure torture for him. She estimated the best way to help him out would be to help him recover his rationale.

Catherine was no psychologist by any means, but she had learned a little trick from Joshua. Whenever he wanted her to realize something, he would ask her leading questions until she arrived at the conclusion. She decided to try this method out on him, although she wasn't sure where it would lead them.

"Joshua, when did you start having those irrational thoughts?" she started.

"I believe the first incident was the one with the T-Rex. In other words, today."

"And did anything unusual happen today?"

"...There was the earthquake and then we found this area."

"Indeed, now this area is rather surprising, don't you think?"

"No kidding, there is a fake sun & sky which I can't explain. Also, there are gigantic runes in the ground, helping the land grow. Furthermore, it's full of animals and even freaking dinosaurs. Who knows what else we'll find as we continue."

Catherine bit her lip, there was an answer right in front of him and he didn't reach for it. No matter, she would have to help him out more.

"Joshua, do you remember what Damien told us?"

"His spirit went crazy as they were reaching the ruins… We're getting close to the ruins aren't we?"

"I believe so, yes."

She saw his look grow sharper and silently rejoiced. Joshua slowly smiled and started to laugh, although it sounded a bit forced.

"Oh man… How did I not realize this? Well, actually that's the whole issue, isn't it?"

She nodded. Joshua let out a sigh of relief, grabbed Catherine's hand and gently kissed it.

"Thanks, honey. Really thank you for clearing my mind."

"Just to make sure we're on the same page, can you tell me what you have concluded?" she asked smiling.

"This is the part where I tell something ridiculous and you yell at me. Unfortunately, I've got nothing this time."

"Well, if you've got time to joke you must be doing a little better, but more seriously?"

"I appear to be under some form of mental manipulation.Through some unknown method, something or someone is messing with me. It started when we entered this area, and will likely grow worse as we progress."

"Good. Now, we should look for a way to prevent this from happening again. Do you have any ideas on what to do?"

"We ask for Eric's advice since he's the most knowledgeable about mental spells. Then I do something apparently stupid but actually genius based on his advice. Next, something unknown happens. For the last step, we profit of the situation."

Catherine sighed and laughed at the same time.

"This course of action has more holes in it than cheese, but I agree with the first step. Let's consult with Eric."

Eric had already gone to sleep but considering the seriousness of the situation, Catherine woke him up. She told him to open a mental conversation with her, as she didn't want to talk out loud. Once he had done so, she explained the entire situation. The mage was very attentive to her explanation. After she had finished, he remained silent for a few minutes, clearly in deep thoughts. Finally, he spoke.

"I do not know how Joshua is being affected, but there are several things we can do to find out. Usually, with a mental attack, the victim is exposed to some form of hypnotism. Normally, this is done by sneakily affecting one of your senses. Such an a.s.sault can be visual, auditive, olfactive, gustatory or tactile. I believe it's likely something has been targetting Joshua like this."

"I see, is there a way to locate the cause of the attack?" Catherine asked.

"The problem is that it can literally be anything, therefore, I would recommend Joshua doesn't exit his soul world for the time being. I'll try to help you locate the source tomorrow."

"Very well. Thank you, Eric. That will be all for now."

Eric saluted them and returned back to his sleeping spot. After hearing his explanation, Joshua was much calmer.

"Damien said he heard some strange music before his Hydra went bananas, but I don't remember hearing anything like that," he told Catherine.

"Maybe the music is not the only way that can be used to a.s.sault you? It won't be easy to figure out."

"Indeed, I'll follow Eric's advice for now and stay in here until I find the answer."

"I think you should rest a bit. You've been quite agitated due to those events and could use a break."

Joshua nodded.

"You're probably right… I'll have Luna wake us up should anything weird get near us."

Joshua made a bed appear and laid down on it after wis.h.i.+ng Catherine good night. To make sure nothing went wrong, Catherine materialized a chair and sat near him until he fell asleep. Seeing him dozing off a few minutes later, she was relieved. She smiled and gently caressed his cheek, an innocent smile formed on his face.

Seeing him like this, she realized the two of them had a really bizarre relations.h.i.+p. She had come to think of Joshua as some kind of otherworldly scholar, impressing everyone with his ingeniosity, yet seeing him like this, she almost had the impression to be his mother. That thought made her laugh.

Being from a n.o.ble family, Catherine had the opportunity to meet a lot of well educated young men at various festivities. Most of them were charming, but she could tell they were mostly interested in her body. Also, their conversations were quite boring. Enter Joshua, a man who is literally living inside her mind. Not only did he show no interest toward her as a woman, he was never boring to listen to. He accepted her childish dream as it was the most natural thing in the world and told her his similarly utopic dream in return. Perhaps that's why they got along so well, they were both dreamers.

Seeing Joshua was sleeping peacefully, Catherine left him alone and went to sleep herself. As for Joshua, he was dreaming. It was the kind of dream that didn't make much sense but was pleasant to have. He was back on Earth and Catherine was there with him. For some reason, their roles had been reversed and she was now his spirit. He showed her around his world and she could witness tons of technical marvels. Joshua resumed his job as project leader of Luna. Time pa.s.sed, Luna was a worldwide success and Joshua got promoted and became the new CEO of the company when the previous one retired. He made Catherine his second-in-command and they spent their time running the business and creating dumb new stuff that sold for millions.

Then one day, there was a zombie invasion. It sort of came out of nowhere. It didn't last very long though. You see, by that point in time, everyone had a Luna chip in their brain. Joshua, therefore realized he could get rid of all the zombies by having their chip explode. The dream ended with Joshua saving the world and Catherine baking noodles for some reason. Well, it's a dream, dumb stuff happen in them.

He woke up, much refreshed. He didn't remember much, but he knew it had been a pleasant dream. It was now time to get serious, he would never forgive someone who tried to mess with his mind, he had fought too hard to remain sane in the past. He pulled out Luna's records of the day before, from the moment the earthquake happened until he came back to camp running in a panic. Remembering what Eric said, he looked for any kind of pattern that could have troubled him. He looked for hidden visual patterns, weird odors, stuff he touched and bizarre sounds. He had also eaten the T-Rex and checked if there wasn't anything unusual in its meat.

A while later, Catherine came to check up on him and told him they were resuming the journey. As they had previously discussed, he nodded and remained inside while Catherine and Eric would be on the lookout for mental attacks. Since he was stuck in here until he found a solution, he was very diligent in his work as he checked every nook and cranny of the records. This process took him a few hours.

Early afternoon, Joshua smirked looking at the data.

"Clever little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds," he said.