“Master Ruthorn, I think I know who I’d like to test my mental manifestation with,” Piet said when we had sat down at the large stone table in the middle of the room.

“Well, why don’t you ask Tim then if he agrees?” Ruthorn replied.

Piet turned to me with an awkward look before asking me

“Tim, we’ve taken the lessons of mental manifestation with Master Ruthorn, but we’ve actually never tried it out yet. We don’t know if it works since we haven’t met any human beings from Gaia like you before. What would you say if I’d ask you to be our teacher to assess whether we are able to apply what we have learnt from these lessons?”

“What exactly is a mental manifestation?” I asked him in return.

“It’s a method developed for use in battles. We would use it to deter human actions that can be harmful. Sometimes we must stop their actions but we don’t want to use a weapon, so we would use this method instead. I’ll try and explain it. First, I would enter the subconscious mind of the person to find out what he’s most afraid of. After that, I’ll manipulate his mind by making him see certain images that I want him to see, similar to a hypnosis. I’ll create these images from his individual fear, which means that every aggressor would see a different image. There’s no disguise needed in this process as I only pick images from the aggressor’s thoughts and project them onto the figure in front of him in the most realistic way,” Piet explained.

“That sounds interesting. Let’s try it!” I said to Piet and turned to look at Hepf.

But instead of Hepf, right in front of me I saw a huge tiger that was snarling and roaring with anger. Its eyes looked so fierce as if it was craving for my blood. The big stone table and its surroundings in the room had now miraculously transformed into a wide and empty environment covered in a dark haze. Seconds later, a giant bug appeared out of nowhere and flew through the dark clouds. I could not believe my eyes when that bug turned out to be the biggest cockroach I had ever seen in my life. Its horrible musty smell invaded my nose and when it began to flutter, its pungent odour made me nauseous. At the same time, the tiger roared so loudly that I thought my eardrums would burst. And then both creatures leapt at me.

“Aaaaaaargh!!” I cried out loud, flinging my hands up to cover my eyes.

“Tim! Tim!” I heard a voice calling my name as I was lying on the ground.

“It’s over, you can open your eyes now,” Piet said gently.

I opened my eyes and saw both sitting in front of me on the floor, patting me consolingly on the shoulder. I was sweating and my heart was beating like a drum.

“We’re sorry to have frightened you,” Piet and Hepf said.

“Ne … never mind,” I said slowly while still recovering from the terrifying shock.

“I have to admit; even though you had warned me about the test, it still scared the hell out of me, and I could have suffered a heart attack and died,” I slowly got up and went back to the stone table.

“We’ve used this method in the war against Vlad’s armies in the past,” said Ruthorn, when all of us were seated again.

“In that war, we didn’t use any weapons to kill, but our opponents, tortured by their own imagination, eventually perished at their own hands,” he added.

“What? They really died?” I asked, still in shock.

“Even if our creations weren’t real and only happened in their imagination, they really existed in the minds of our attackers,” Ruthorn explained.

“Even though the battle between us and Vlad’s army took place a long time ago, I know that this great war will stay engraved in the memory of the people in your world forever. In the battle, each of Vlad’s soldiers saw their own enemies, some might have seen a huge giant, some might have seen a figure with numerous arms and hands brandishing deadly weapons. Others might have seen a fierce animal. In the end, death or survival depended on what each soldier was combating with in his own imagination. If someone imagined seeing a rowel that could cut a body into two pieces, he would be killed as he had imagined,” Ruthorn described in gruesome details.

“How could this be possible, it’s so incredible!” I interrupted.

“This is the art of mental manifestation. It’s a skill that activates the enemy’s subconscious mind and turns it against him. The true intention of this skill isn’t to kill anybody but only to teach them a lesson. If they wouldn’t imagine the worst things they could think of, they wouldn’t suffer the worst ending, either,” explained Ruthorn.

“Thank you so much, Tim, for allowing us to test our skills on you,” said Hepf.

“Could you please help us to evaluate how realistic it was?” Piet added.

“I think you did very well, but I have to admit that confronting me with that giant cockroach almost gave me a heart attack!” I admitted with a brave smile.

“Well, what I’d like to know is are you really afraid of those tiny insects? I can’t imagine how they could possibly harm you,” said Piet.

“That’s true, I could feel that you reacted much stronger to Piet’s cockroach than to my tiger,” said Hepf.

“I honestly don’t know why I’m so frightened of cockroaches,” I replied.

“Master Ruthorn, do you think I can learn to master the skill of mental manifestation, too?” I turned to ask him.

“Of course,” he replied, “but you have to pass some basic lessons first because there are several degrees of learning. Compared to your world, the lessons of mental manifestation are similar to taking a university degree; you must pass pre-school, elementary school, and secondary school first to gain the basic skills as foundation to take those lessons,” explained Ruthorn.

“The first and most important lesson you have to learn is the soul language which we use to communicate among each other.”

“If that’s what it takes, then I’ll study soul language first,” I firmly expressed my intention.

“Oh! You are very enthusiastic!” said Ruthorn. “And if this is your intention, I’m ready to teach you.”