What villainess am I?

Chapter 6 - Magic's Shadow

My words are simple: See, Touch, and Hear.

And so I begin.

See, touch, hear. See, touch, hear. See, touch, hear. See, touch, hear.

And so I see it go, my mind slipping into sleep. My vision focused as a tool, my mind stripped to touch, and my body prepared to hear it all. The fog of my mind slipping in and out of thought, the touch of the god splitting my sleeping self. I grin; I'm asleep. I realize, and so I am lucid dreaming. Though it is a bit more complex, I suppose. I smile: it doesn't matter; I reach out to touch Janet's soul. All that matters right now is my work.

One might wonder how you can tell; that is a fair question, as lucid dreaming is often confused or misinterpreted. My test is a simple one: to move my body. The human body can freeze up when asleep to avoid causing damage to itself, and it has been a boon to confirm if I am sleeping.

Janet holds me close to her chest, her face solemn,d̷̘̒͐ê̶̤ͅļ̶̻̔e̴̢̺̐̀c̵̤̗̿t̴̲̖͒͛a̵͖̚ḅ̵̡̿͆ḷ̵͂̋e̸̯͎͋. I reach to touch her soul, and it acts in kind. I smile as the soul pulls me in, and the world around me falls into her vision as if myself, w̵͋ͅè̶̺͔, is no longer there. The feeling seared into my mind of listless wandering hangs in my heart -c̶r̷a̷w̵l̴s̸ into the fore, ğ̶̪r̵̥̈ȃ̷͔b̵̥̈́s̴̘̈́ at me. I pull away, my vision still following with my body- I try to wake up. W̷̡̒̋͗ẹ̴̻̈́͝ ̶͇̼̞̊w̶̮͂̊a̷̬̔k̷͔̃̆̉ḙ̸̮͋͘͝-

I wake without issue; Janet still holds me as when I was asleep, and I am with information to begin further testing. My sleep-like state seems to drawl; however, when dream and reality start mingling. I have to be careful not to stay asleep too long until I am ready.

For some reason, I have this itching feeling I am missing something. And I mean that quite literally; my flesh itches as I try to remember, my skin crawling with the slightest touch. It reminds me of Him, his too-long face, the fleshless head, his unnatural walk. I cringe at the memory, the fear still crushing. I wonder how I felt free from horror at the sight of his murder, yet he still holds the greatest admiration. I shake my head as I wake properly; my mind is listful, and I must not let it drown me in conspiracy.

As I contemplate, I note a burning sensation; I assume it is magic. It wells up within my lungs before becoming expelled with an outward breath, but with an intake of breath, I feel the burning grow. Controlling how I breathe seems to change it; ah, but that is enough of that.

Today is a big day, after all. I will attempt to use my soul while asleep to touch someone and to see the effects. How exciting!

---

Waking up, I blink my eyes a few times; it's time to get ready for work! My turn to take care of our little prince- oops, I mean Lady; I can't get that wrong. "We have to show our respect and superior blah blah blah," Janet's voice running through my mind.

"Tch, she's always so boring," I complain a little, not too much since she can hear through the walls (Janet says it's impossible, but she can't hide how her eye twitches when the others are talking about her). Whatever, if I get to work with the cutest little Lady in the North, who am I to complain? I chuckle to myself, getting ready for work.

As I finish my apron, one of the others busts in,

"Alice! Janet and the Ma'am are calling all us, you too! What's taking ya so long?" "This apron is a pain! THREE, THREE sets of frills, who designed this?!" The other girl, a pretty little thing, rolls her eyes and runs up to me, taking my hand and rushing out, "No time to fix it then; the Ma'am wants you now."