Thought is the advanced stage of the cognitive process. It explores and discovers the intrinsic connections and regularities of things, based on perception yet transcending its boundaries.
Humans consider themselves the pinnacle of all creatures precisely because they possess the capacity for thought, enabling them to understand the world more effectively, to learn, and to create.
When Sean and Professor X entered David's mind, they traversed a long darkness and bizarre transformations before finally passing through that vast and intricate labyrinth of thought.
Even as the wielder of the Mind Stone and the world's most powerful telepath, the two still expended considerable effort to reach the depths of David's subconscious.
A stark white building stood isolated in David's subconscious, surrounded by high barbed-wire fences. A fountain bubbled on the emerald-green lawn, exuding tranquility and peace.
This was a psychiatric hospital...
Sean looked at Professor X, who frowned deeply. With a wave of his hand, the barbed-wire fence tore open, and the bald old man strode inside first.
The interior of the building mirrored the Ronald Reed Medical Center of the real world, with one key difference: here, everything was snow-white, devoid of any extraneous color, as if wrapped in a hazy, soft glow.
"We need to find David's core personality, his truest self," said the Professor, who had considerable experience with such cases.
He had once constructed psychic cages to contain the dark personas within Jean. Though David's condition was far more severe than Jean's. For reasons unknown, he had spawned an unimaginable number of personalities.
If a normal person's psyche was a single room housing their deepest secrets and memories, then David's mind was akin to an entire hotel, with other personalities residing in separate rooms, each going about their own business without interference.
Charles aimed to locate the truest David among these many personalities, to engage in dialogue, gather more information, and address the mental struggles he faced.
"We must hurry. David has the ability to absorb others' consciousness. If he grows wary in his subconscious, we'll be expelled," Charles said, leading the way. Since, in this place, he was a psychic entity, he no longer needed his wheelchair to move.
"Nearly forty rooms... How can someone with so many distinct personalities not suffer a mental breakdown?" Sean marveled silently as he and the professor ventured deeper into the hospital's wards.
Each room housed a different personality; the elderly, children, men, women. Some appeared entirely normal, while others were markedly aberrant. Like psychiatric patients, they inhabited this subconscious hospital.
Beyond those in hospital gowns, Sean also spotted security guards, orderlies, and doctors... all of these ignored their presence, behaving like NPCs in a game, following scripted routines.
The professor pushed open door after door, searching for the real David among the multitude of personalities, but to no avail. The rows of wards contained only the fragmented personas David had split off over his twenty-plus years of life.
Each reflected David's inner world: a reclusive child clutching a teddy bear, a tattooed girl blasting rock music, a gaunt and pallid teenager... These personalities symbolized the torment David had endured, manifesting as tangible figures in his subconscious.
During his search, Sean even stumbled upon comic book characters and toy dogs.
"He couldn't control his abilities. His ever-growing psychic power tormented him, so he fractured into these personalities to dilute the pain." Charles said softly, gleaning shards of David's memories from each persona.
This young man, someone with Omega-level potential yet crippled by his own gifts, was an adopted child. Based on Sean's information, Charles might very well be his father.
"I never knew he existed... I never imagined I had a child." The professor muttered, his emotions tangled.
Charles longed to help David, but he felt powerless, even as the world's most formidable telepath, "I can't just lock them all in psychic cages or destroy them violently. That would only worsen things."
Meanwhile, Sean's eyes flickered as the Mind Stone's power radiated outward, scanning like radar. Yet within David's labyrinthine mind, the line between reality and illusion was indistinguishable.
Consciousness was like an iceberg floating on the ocean's surface. Only a tiny fraction was visible, while the true workings of the mind lay submerged beneath layers of subconscious, deep consciousness, and unconsciousness. Even the professor couldn't untangle this intricate web.
Just as they hit a dead end, chaos erupted.
A piercing alarm blared through the hospital. Red warning lights spun wildly as turmoil descended without warning.
Before Sean or the professor could react, a hulking figure appeared at the end of the hallway. The figure wore a mask stitched together from flesh and wielded a roaring chainsaw.
This horror-movie slasher materialized out of thin air, bisecting a security guard in one brutal motion. The chainsaw tore through flesh, blood gushing as entrails spilled from the gaping wound, painting the white walls crimson in a grotesque spectacle.
"This doesn't fit the aesthetic," the baffled Sean worded. For what reason did a chainsaw murderer enter the picture?
From the opposite end of the hall emerged another figure, one clad in a red-and-black striped sweater, wearing a brown fedora, his face a mass of burn scars, his right hand replaced by gleaming metal claws.
The claws scraped lightly across the pristine wall before impaling a fleeing orderly, slicing diagonally through his terror-stricken face. Limbs were dismembered with sadistic precision, straight out of a horror film.
Simultaneously, maniacal laughter echoed through the corridor. A humanoid puppet in a black suit and red bowtie pedaled forward on a tricycle, chanting, "I want to play a game..."
With each utterance, another victim vanished into darkness.
In moments, David's subconscious hospital had transformed into a horror-movie set. The killers slaughtered indiscriminately; security, orderlies, doctors... and soon, even the personalities in the rooms fell victim.
"David is killing himself... Why would he do this?" The professor couldn't comprehend it.
In this blurred realm of illusion and reality, the killers' rampage represented violent self-destruction of David's own psyche.
"Maybe he can't control it. The reason we can't find David's true personality is because he isn't here. He is likely trapped in a deeper layer of consciousness." As Sean theorized, the hospital began crumbling like an earthquake had struck.
He and the professor plummeted downward, as if gravity had ceased to exist.