Brainwash

393 AC - His eyes are a strange color, as if gold had been spattered into his irises. I take a look at his medical record: Baptiste Sanschagrin, 68 years old, farm worker stationed at the Farm, tasks include watering crops and handling Sap… He was complaining of increasingly invasive dreams and parasitic memories which, according to him, "weren't his own". I examine him through my Irises, and I see that the phenomenon could indeed be consistent with Remanence. But this Baptiste hadn't gone through the Yzmir initiation. He had no affinity with magic whatsoever. Drawing from the Empyrean was not something he was capable of. Furthermore, the symptoms were not strictly identical. There was no erratic character to the Aether that was spreading through him.

It was as if the doors of inspiration had opened wide in his mind, creating a natural but enhanced pathway. But the assimilation hadn't been completed. I call Silk, who climbs up the patient's back and then places his thoracic legs on either side of his head. The old man seems ill at ease, but just swallows. It's strange. It's the exact opposite of what happened to the victims of the Hungry One. Luckily, the memories weren't yet completely grafted onto his mind. With a few cuts here and there, it should be possible to remove these intrusive memories, like using a scalpel. I drain them off as Saskia secures them in a container. It turns out she was right: Exposure to Sap did have undesirable effects in a few individuals.

MOYO