Subconsciousness

“That’s a bit much, don't you think?”

Nia slowly opened her eyes. “I’m not dead?”

Before her was a large three-dimensional wire-frame representation of a well-proportioned female body. Like a hologram. Several places on its chest and body were blinking in an angry red.

“Congratulations. You sustained major damage to the lungs and the heart, and some of your ribs have broken. Qiin even got part of your stomach with that second stab.”

“What?” Nia slowly rose. “Who are … you?” It was like looking at a mirror image of herself, only that the mirror image had three dimensions and was moving on its own.

“Me? I am you. Sort-of. I guess, I am your subconscious. Or something like that.” The other her shrugged and touched the hologram of the body at various places. “Let’s see, I’ve already shut down the heart and the lungs. We should shut down the intestinal track as well for now …”

“What? What are you doing?”

“I’m doing my best to heal the damage you’ve accrued. Really, couldn’t you’ve dodged or something?”

Nia gave her other self a look. “Really? Do you expect me to have eyes in my back?”

“You could’ve. You got magic, remember?”

“With long, song-like incantations. I know. Very practical. And I don't even know a song for that.”

“Is that so?” The other Nia gave her that incredulous look. “You’re aware that you've been strengthening yourself several times now without that crap?”

Nia gave a long suffering sigh. “It’s something I had time to figure out …”

“It’s something you deigned to figure out, because you had no other choice. If randoms A through D didn’t get to you, you wouldn’t have that ability now. Face it: You’ve been too lazy to work on the magic you’ve been given. I bet you'd want this point-buy-system or innate access to all sorts of powers like you’ve read in most of those Isekai-Light-Novels. Or maybe a button like in most games. With a little cooldown indicator.”

Her other self was brutal. And she wasn’t completely wrong. “Yeah, I would've like that. But it’s too late now to learn the old-fashioned way.”

“No it’s not too late.” Her other self sighed theatrically. “Read the fucking room, Nia.”

She blinked at her other self and looked around. There was no room. Still, there was also no light to go to. Unless her other self was that light. She hazarded a guess: “I’m not dead?”

“Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner!” The mirror image shook her head. “Really though. That you ran around as a zombie last time and then miraculously revived, should’ve clued you in already.” The other Nia turned away from the hologram and pointed a finger at her. “Let me spell it out for you: You can’t die by being stabbed!”

“What? But … the heart. The lungs. There’s no way …”

“How can you acknowledge the magic inside you and still forget it all the time? We’re not bound by the rules. Not anymore at least. Unless you believe them to bind you, and I for one refuse to let that one rule bring doom to us both.”

“Wait.” Nia stared with wide eyes at her other self. “I’m only dying as long as I believe I am dying?”

“If that would be the case, then you’d be dead long ago. After fleeing that temple. Sorry, I am your subconscious, your survival instinct, and also your soul, I guess. I refuse to die like this, and we both need to agree to it. All we have to do now is to fix your body.” She slapped the hologram’s leg.

“But how?”

“Figure it out. I can’t do everything for you, and it would be best if you manage it, before the council and your friends get the bright idea to burn your body.” She looked away and whispered: “That would be a hassle to fix.”

“Wait! I can’t even be burned to death?”

“Didn't you listen? We're not bound by the rules!”

“What about old age?”

The smile on her other self sent a shiver down her … well, it couldn’t be her spine. But the sensation was similar. “Why are you assuming that we age?”

Nia couldn't help but stare at her other self. “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.” Why was her other self's grin so … predatory? “Anyways.” The grin faded on the other girl’s face and she seemed serious once more. “Now, get a move on. I don’t think you should stay unconscious for much longer. I sense tension out there.”

Nia sighed. “Fine, I’ll try,” she said and stepped past her other self toward the representation of her body. That she had been able to move and speak had to be some sort of miracle. There was so much damage … she had to repair the heart first, probably. Then make sure that her arteries didn’t leak, put her lungs back in order and her stomach back together, making sure that the acid was inside it and not somewhere in her body. The broken rip could wait.

“You’re thinking of an anatomy model of the human body in a doctor’s office,” her other self commented. “The approach is valid, but I have to note … you’re not a doctor.”

“I know that I’m not a doctor!”

“I know that you know!”

“Then why are you disrupting my thoughts?”

“Two things: One, you would’ve done the same.”

Nia rolled her eyes. Was just her inner self such a smartass, or had she been annoying her fellow summonees like this for quite some time? Or her colleagues in her old body? That could explain a lot.

“Focus! Don’t think of your past!”

“I am trying to focus. You interrupted me!”

“I did. Because you were looking at this the wrong way. You still try to be sciency. That’s not how your magic works.”

“The word’s scientific.” Nia shook her head, a wry smile on her lips. “Anyways. If I can’t use my scientific knowledge to solve this, then how?”

“Think back on how you strengthened yourself. You mimicked the song’s effects in directing the magic within you. Does that work on any scientific principle?”

“It’s energy that strengthens my muscles.”

The other Nia had this disappointed look on her face. “How do muscles normally produce force?”

“Well, they burn sugar …” Nia stopped. She had only bits and pieces of knowledge in that regard. There was something like ADP and ATP that were involved, and … certain Ions?

“There are gaps in your knowledge. And our magic fills those gaps. It works in those gaps. You’re focusing on what you know far too much.”

“Then … I can’t heal myself by trying to focus on cell division?”

“Focus on the things you don’t know. What stops cell division in the heart after a certain point? How can you re-enable it? You have no idea, and that’s where magic comes in. With it, you simply do!”

“I’m not even sure, if it stops completely …”

“Now you’re thinking correctly. Fill those gaps with your magic and have it do the work!”

Nia frowned but set to work. She imagined her magic rushing to her heart, providing energy, stimulating cell-division, repairing the damage according to the blueprint—in the DNA. She wouldn’t give up science completely. Her other self didn’t say anything, but the hologram responded. Splotches of red turned slowly yellow and then, after an agonizingly long time, green.

She continued that treatment with the rest of the damage, and soon there was only the stomach wound left. Ignoring her knowledge of entropy and the reason for osmosis, she coaxed the acid back into the stomach, and then made it heal itself, too.

“Congratulations. You even reached level two of doing magic.” The other Nia clapped slowly.

“Level two?”

“Yes. Overriding reality. Ignoring what should be and imposing your own rules. That will be fun.”

“Then I can do everything now?”

The other Nia laughed. “No, silly. Magic has its own rules. Have fun in recuperating all the energy you used just now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, you’ll be hungry. Very hungry.” The hologram vanished, and Nia felt a strange pull. “Do come and visit. But next time, without such grave wounds, please.”

Before Nia could say anything to her other self, she was yanked out of there, and a moment later, crashed back into reality.