Connection

Simon burst out of bed, rushing to grab Gideon and continue with the new information he'd been given. He stopped before he'd gotten the covers off, seeing his friend sleeping with his face pressed against the desk, a thin dribble of saliva pooling beneath his chin. Simon had nearly forgotten that he was sleeping here while they worked, ensuring they didn't waste a moment.

They had been so committed that they hadn't left the room since they had begun. Food was being delivered to their door, unwashed bowls and plates slowly piling up in the corner. A part of Simon wanted to break from their isolation to see Sonia again but decided it was unnecessary, Hethoria had said it'd be a few more days till she finally woke up. He needed to finish the spell by then.

Quickly getting dressed, Simon stretched briefly before trying to connect to his amulet like Hethoria had said. He'd let Gideon rest until he was needed, he was clearly even more exhausted than Simon, having pored over several rather hefty tomes in search of potential solutions. Hopefully, he'd be able to share the good news with him when he woke up. He cleared his mind, removing all thoughts other than the amulet. There was a certainty in him that he would succeed in his first attempt, he knew it.

It didn't prove so easy unfortunately. Hethoria had said it wouldn't but Simon had held on to a deluded sense of self confidence. It would require as much work as everything else had so far. While Gideon still slept, Simon continued his ministrations, trying time and again to clear his mind.

He was finding it remarkably easier to focus today, the revelation of Sonia's recovery alleviating his mind of much of its built up stress and allowing him unbridled clarity. He was only now aware of how poor his mental condition had been, days of anxiety and exhaustion piling up together. His relief was so palpable now that it had wiped away the exhaustion too, though he was sure that was temporary.

Perhaps it was this that made his repeated failures feel so much less frustrating than they usually did. Instead of a gradually building fatigue, he felt light.

If Simon's estimations via the window were correct, Gideon awoke around noon. He wiped away the saliva and yawned as he stretched awake. Blinking sleepily he looked at Simon sitting on the floor.

"Is my presence so unappealing that you prefer the company of silence? And here I thought we had some real chemistry." Gideon teased. If grogginess was affecting his wits, he didn't show it.

"So why didn't you wake me? If you say you wanted to let me rest, I'll be very upset."
"I wanted to let you rest."
"Oh, that's very nice of you. But I am very upset." Gideon pouted slightly.

"Don't worry, I wasn't going easy on you. Look." Simon held up his medallion in front of Gideon's face. Gideon peered closer, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, trying to determine what he was missing.

"I'm sorry Simon, what am I meant to be seeing?"
"Nothing in particular. Sorry, wasn't really thinking." Simon pulled the medallion down again. "The Goddess talked to me again last night. She told me what we were doing wrong."
"She did?! What did she say?" Gideon leaned forward excitedly, almost topping off his chair in his eagerness.

"The medallions don't just serve as conduits for the magic, they're protection as well. Apparently they're needed for the highest level of magic or the brain automatically shuts them down to protect itself. If I can focus on it like I do with a spell, it should allow me to create the portals. From there we can continue like we have."

"That's an incredible discovery Simon, but are you sure she isn't lying? She was pretty annoyed at you last time you know. A jilted lover has some very sharp fangs."

"Almost certain. She's not a very good liar, pretty much wears her emotions on her sleeve. Praise her a little and she'll be over the moon, insult her and well, you don't want to know. She called you 'a little too little' to have been told by the way."

"Didn't know she thought so highly of me. It's nice to be loved." Gideon grinned at the air above him.

"Oh, and Sonia's going to be fine."
"Simon. You really should lead with that."

Gideon had decided to look over more books while Simon worked on the medallion. While they now had a potential solution in sight, he felt it was best to see if he could find anything else to help.

The rest of the day passed very similarly to the past few. They worked until the night, focusing on their respective tasks with feverish fervour. Gideon had failed to find anything in yet another book, with only one left to search through. Simon had similarly failed to form the connection he was looking for with his medallion. Despite this, and despite the encroaching time limit, both felt more hopeful than when their work first began.

Simon spent the night repeating his actions in the dream, this time under the guidance of Hethoria, who was growing more and more flustered at Simon's failed attempts to reach the medallion. She saw it as a failure in her teaching and could not let it stand. Unfortunately for her ego, Simon woke without having achieved his goal.

It was the sixth day now, and they had yet to make any inroads toward their goal. Both men woke at dawn, working without words. The last book proved useless as well, so Gideon opted to join Simon with own personal attempts to connect with his medallion.

The two sat in silence opposite one another, their eyes closed and focus falling on the weight around their necks. More hours passed and still no progress had been made, noon came and went and the day wore on. 

It was at sunfall on the sixth day that their progress began. Gideon had broken the silence with a satisfied yelp, jumping and kissing his medallion in joy.

"It works Simon, it works! She was telling the truth! I can feel it!" Gideon grabbed the less jubilant Simon by the shoulders "I'll teach you it, I think I know how. Why don't we show Hethoria that I'm not so little huh?"

Gideon immediately began to tell Simon his process. He explained that the trap was similar to magic, it was very easy to focus on the wrong thing.

"You don't focus on the medallion itself, not how it looks, not where it sits against your chest, nothing like that. Don't think about the weight of it either, it's all the wrong thing." Gideon pointed to where the chains wrapped around his own neck. "Think about that, how it feels where its wrapped around you. That's it. You're trying to connect with it, right? So think of where it connects to you!"

Gideon's explanation was exactly what Simon needed. Following his advice proved exceptionally easy, and showed results within the hour. Simon had been focusing on the coil around his neck for minutes, trying to follow Gideon's advice to ignore the feel of the individual links and instead focus on the whole.

Trying to focus on the greater whole was proving difficult, fundamentally an entirely different process than focusing on the details of magic. It was only when Simon attempted to reverse the focus between his brain and his body that he found the solution. Whereas focusing on the body allowed one to cast magic more easily, the opposite was true here. By focusing on the mind, the physical sensation around his neck dulled and allowed him to perceive it as a greater whole.

This served as the push he needed to solve the problem. Seconds later he felt the presence of a small string pulling down on heck, the full weight of the medallion pulling down on it. Their celebrations were brief, however. They still hadn't properly begun on their initial work and they both knew they would need to redouble their speed if they were to have a chance.

Hethoria proved suitably petty in the dream, calling Gideon a variety of offensive names and terms, clearly upset at being upstaged. Nonetheless, Simon now having learnt how to connect with the medallion, she encouraged him along the first steps of the spell.

At the end of the seventh day, Simon had opened a portal to the roof, it was small and could only fit a head, but it was exponentially an improvement than what had come before.

And so it was that they woke on the seventh day fuelled by the vigour of hope.

A knock on the door signalled the usual arrival of their food, though it was earlier today than usual.

"Leave it there!" Simon shouted back.

The knocking came again.

"I said, leave it there!" Simon was louder this time
A shout responded this time. "If you buffoons force me to knock one more time, I will break it down. Now open!"

The voice was Orion's. It was perhaps the first time Simon had heard it in nearly two weeks. Confused, but heeding the threat, Simon ran to the door and swung it open wide.

Orion's frustration was evident, but he was strangely serene despite his earlier threats.

"Good. Sonia is awake."