Spellscribed: Resurgence by Kristopher Cruz

this prison, your father would have done it centuries ago." she countered. Though she was derisive, Anna could see a hint of fear in her face. "Though, the idea of being slowly malnourished until dead is a particularly gruesome prospect too."
    "So…" Endrance said, his stance ready for conflict. "Where do you stand? Are you going to help, or are you going to get in my way?"
    Valeria's rigid posture almost entirely melted, her pose relaxing as she looked at her son with tearful eyes. "Endrance, my son, I am not against you. I used you, yes. But I was not entirely without heart. You were supposed to be released from the Bastille within a few years, once your father took control of the warden and restored the empire. You would have been brought into their society."
    Endrance's eyes narrowed, but he had a more urgent priority than discovering Valeria's long term plans. "Whatever. We will have plenty of time to talk about this - if I escape and survive." he growled. "Now tell me what you know about the Bastille."
    Valeria looked around the room, and flicked a hand. Endrance and Anna felt a moment of disorientation as the room they were in was replaced with a more comfortable chamber of the same size, but filled with cushioned chairs encircling a round table in the center. The thin layer of water still coated the floor of the room, surprisingly, but the furniture sat easily on top of it.
    Valeria pulled out a chair and sat herself, looking at the two expectantly. "Well then, let's have a seat." she said. "I want to be done with this and get you out of my way as quickly as possible."
    Anna sat, setting her shield on the table. "What could you possibly be working on in Endrance's head that's more important than his survival?" she asked. Endrance noted Anna had not set down the spear, but instead kept a casual grip on it.
    Valeria sighed. "Every mage has her projects, you should know." she said. "And since I was forcibly retired by my demise, I have had nothing to do but use that bit of volition I have to further my spell designs." She turned to Endrance and tilted her head. "Don't worry." she said. "While it is above your ability, nothing of it is dangerous to you, inherently."
    Endrance waved a hand. "I don't want you rummaging around my head, even if you're locked in the mental equivalent of the basement. Get on with it and let's finish this."
    Valeria nodded. "You're remarkably astute, my son." she said. "I suspect you only have a four months left before you starve to the point you could no longer effect an escape, unless you have my help."
    She held up a hand and snapped her fingers. Kaelob, in his younger less insane form, appeared sitting in the chair next to hers. "Let us begin." she said.
    "Ooh, that was fun." Kaelob admitted, patting his hands together. "I've never been yanked quite like that before."
    "She's just demonstrating her control over things within the subconscious part of my mind." Endrance stated flatly. "You've been a pain in the ass, running away like that."
    Kaelob was grinning wildly. "Oh I know. What fun it is to be able to still best you even after I'm dead." he declared.
    Endrance grumbled to himself. "Looks like I've got a bit of house cleaning to do once this is over."
    "You’ve got a lot of everything to do when this is over." Valeria observed. "If you want to have a chance of beating my corporeal form."
    Endrance sighed. "We need to continue on then. Pressing concerns first, then we can sort out the who-kills-who later."
    Anna sat back as the three began a heated discussion of their situation. In her perspective, the idea that Endrance was actually just arguing with two parts of his own mind inside his head while trapped naked in a glass bubble that was slowly starving him to death was just a tad bit on the side of insane, but she loved him and would do her best to help ease his burden. Of course, she was just another part of his mind, but when Anna's impression was running it, it might as well be