"Welcome back, sleepy head. Did you enjoy your experience?"
"...?"
The mischievous voice of a little girl wakes up the man lying on the ground, Vex. He rises up and rubs his head with his remaining arm.
"My experience? Why are you being cryptic…!"
Now becoming fully cognizant, as if the fog from his head has cleared, Vex's eyes open wide as recent memories flood his mind. Shinash smiles with a teasing smirk, reaping the fruits of her labor with pleasure.
"Oh, so you remember now? Your cute face tells me so."
"What the heck was that all about?! You pushed me into that portal, and I ended up–"
"Inside of Aisha's dream. I must say that idea just came to mind and the results did not disappoint. Watching you and Aisha was very amusing! You two make such an adorable couple, don't you think?"
"Tch, stop doing everything that comes to your mind! Especially if it involves me! That experience was horrible, I was behaving nothing like myself. It's like I had none of my memories within her dream…"
"That's to be expected. Since you are inside of Aisha's mind, the way she thinks of you subconsciously will override your true self."
"I can't believe that I ended up flirting with her…I even encouraged her to eat people–including me! Absolutely repulsive."
"Relax, it was just a dream."
Shinash closes her eyes and waves her hand dismissively.
"If it was 'just a dream', then why didn't you show up instead? Let's see how you'd feel if your character were assassinated."
"Watching you from here was way more entertaining than me getting directly involved. Besides, I don't think my big brother would be too happy about me interfering with someone's dream–especially a dream that he induced."
"...you have a brother? There are more of your kind?!"
"He's the god of dreams. When he's watching a person's dream, he hides his presence so that he can observe without interfering. I'm sure that I spotted him somewhere in Aisha's dream. He may have been one of the many people she ate…anyway enough about him. You should stand up, right in that spot."
I'm just going to ignore the little smirk she made when she mentioned her brother being eaten…I don't need to become concerned with their family dynamic.
"You know, I should be able to easily stand up if someone didn't gobble up my entire arm."
"Hmm, fair point. Here, I'll help you."
Shinash offers her hand to Vex. He stops his struggle and accepts her offer. Despite being in the form of a child, the goddess's strength was more than enough to swiftly bring the adult man to his feet.
"So, are you satisfied enough to send me back to my world? Or at the very least cough up my right arm?"
Snap!
Zing!
"???"
Vex's soul suddenly glows, radiating with light in a manner that is no different from a twinkling star. Just as instantaneous it happened, he returned to normal at the same speed. Unsure of how to feel, Vex observes his body in bewilderment.
"What…what did you–"
"I granted you with the power to enter into a person's consciousness as you are now, but without needing me to permit it. It's limited in its functionality such as…eh, it's better for you to figure it out yourself. Consider it a gift from me as thanks for amusing me. It's been eons since I've seen something to that degree."
"It's not really a gift if you force it on me. What makes it any different from a curse?"
The last thing I need is another "gift" from a deity. I want the goddess to take what she gifted me back!
"A god undoing an action is like admitting to being wrong. I'd even give up my immortality to see you make that happen–hopefully my ability will help you accomplish that."
Hmph, these deities seem more like egotistical maniacs…
"Heh, you and I think similarly. I'm glad Aisha has taken a liking to you, I can see why."
"I hope it's not because you both enjoy eating me…"
"Then I won't shatter your hope."
Without any indication, Shinash lightly yawns and lies down onto the ground.
"So what now? Are you just going to sleep at a time like this?"
"Nothing much else to do until Aisha fully wakes up. I could just go to another person's mind for the time being…I know, how about–"
"Not a chance in hell."
"I'm just teasing you of course, it's not like I can enter your consciousness in the state that you're in anyway. Wake me up when Aisha is conscious again. Try not to think too loudly, okay?"
"..."
The childlike goddess closes her eyes and softly slumbers at the feet of Vex.
If I have no choice but to be cursed, then I might as well use whatever I'm given to my advantage. I'm not exactly sure how useful Shinash's ability is nor if I should even trust it…but whatever it takes to get rid of curses once and for all….
Whatever it takes…
"How ironic. I'm starting to sound like her."