Taint, part 3

Before her was a vast countryside, filled with rolling green hills and forests surrounding them, no civilization in sight. So, she thought. This was her mind. Massive, and…empty? Maybe this was a part of her currently dormant mind, which would evolve and change without her knowledge while she was awake. Stepping out from the ruins she had created, onto the soft grass, Sierra decided it would be interesting to try hurting some of this world and see what would happen. She imagined a pentagram on the ground, cut in the grass. Inside the circle, which she could have easily stood in with arms spread out, she conjured a pillar of flame, charring the ground. As expected, she could feel a faint spike of pain throughout her body.
So why hadn’t she felt anything when she destroyed the dungeon?
“You’re thinking quickly, dreamer,” said a man from out of nowhere, who was suddenly standing by her side. He might have been tall; Sierra couldn’t judge, didn’t care. His fedora, worn and aged, looked more weathered than he did.
“Who’s the one who had that hat first?” she asked.
“It’s all…a dream.”
“Then who are you?”
“Not part of you.”
He stepped back a few paces, pulling out four playing cards. Sierra saw they were the King, Queen, Jack, and Ace of Hearts. With lightning speed, the man threw the cards at her.
Back to manual breathing, full control. Inhale. Wind, obeying her, pulling the cards together into a near-paradoxical shape, one end on top of the next card, whose other end was on top, so that they joined perfectly. Exhale. The cards, spinning together above her head, whistled with sheer speed.
Inhale. Direct the wind with a flick of the hand, making the cards spiral to the man. Exhale. Intentional dissipation before contact, only to be brought back by the wind in a vortex, coming around behind him and slashing him to bits.
Returning subconscious control, Sierra stared as the man turned to dust; his hat drifted to the ground. Picking it up, she decided it looked nice so she put it on. It did nothing good for her long black hair, but this was a venture in her mind. She had no reason to care about things like that. Suddenly, everything looked different. It was more faded, turning into black and white. She removed the hat, tossed it up into the air, and brought a bolt of lightning down from the blue sky. The ash settled on the grass a few moments later.
“So you didn’t like the gift?” another man said.
“Where are you from?”
“We’re a parasite of the mind,” the man said. “It’s amazing you’ve lasted this long without breaking—no, being broken.”
“But don’t parasites want the host to live?”
“Oh, we don’t care if you live. By the time you’re lost, we’ll surely have infected at least one other, and they will be conquered much more easily.”
Full control one more time. Inhale. Pull to the point of equilibrium. Power. Intake all the power. Slide back into body. Exhale. Rain, hail, lightning falling from the sky. Over in a distant region, the taint was not affected. Inhale. Electricity, flowing from everywhere and nowhere, tearing at the parasite. Pieces, flying off, everything else traveling to another spot in the mind. Exhale. Every remaining scrap of power released into mind. Shudder.
Inhale. Earth quaking, throwing her from side to side. Chasm opening. Exhale. Fall in.