Chương 129: B2. 19.1 - A Serious Talk With Myself

"Wha-what time is it?" I groggily asked, blinking my eyes to get used to the darkness. Actually, it wasn't that dark. And the light wasn't only from our Cores. Staring towards my feet and out of our makeshift shelter, I could see that it was no longer nighttime. Then I looked at Deen. Her golden locks stared back at me; she was facing the opposite direction. Was she still asleep? Who talked? Come out of there, a voice in my head sang in a messy tune. Breakfast is ready!

"She's here…" I muttered. About time that she showed up. Part of me still wanted to sleep. It was surprisingly comfy sleeping this way, even though the ground was hard, but I had a lot of questions to ask her. I scooted downward, wriggling like a reversing worm to get out. The branches made no sound as I shoved them out of the way. I stood up and dusted myself. The dirt and leaves that fell off my clothes remained mid-air as I left our negative five-star hotel and looked at my surroundings.

Meager streaks of sunlight found their way through the trunks of the trees to reach us. It was a peaceful scene, even though everything was frozen in place. There was no sound. I couldn't smell anything. The entire world was paused. I turned around, feeling weightless while at the same time hampered by some sort of force. It was like I was trapped in jelly, though my entire body was light as a feather. Having experienced this a few times before, it no longer bothered me.

Someone was sitting on a log about ten feet away from our leafy and branchy accommodation. She held a stick with a marshmallow at the end, holding it over flames that weren't moving.

"Spooky Erind. Uh, good morning? I don't know if that greeting's appropriate if time doesn't flow." She turned to me. A mask covered her face. It was half-white and half-black, with a broad smile cut into both sides. Golden rays radiated out of both eyeholes. Ancient cracks—cobwebs of darkness—marred its surface. The mask burst into a shower of light, fading away to reveal her face. Which was my face, with a few minor differences. Maybe not so minor.

Spooky Erind's burning ruby eyes were like lasers firing through her ghostly white hair, lazily flowing about her head as if blown by nonexistent wind in slow motion. The polished, marble-like skin of her cheeks reflected the fire and the sun's rays. Her outfit was very out of place for the outdoors. She wore a fitted black suit and pants threaded with golden lines arranged in geometric accents. Underneath the suit, she had a white dress shirt and a black tie.

And on her shoulders settled a snowy fur coat as if clouds surrounded her; it trailed the ground, spreading as a white puddle over the brown earth. A heavy gauntlet made of interlocking plates of gold wrapped her right hand. The fingers of the imposing metal glove curved into wicked claws, which made it awkward to hold the stick.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Cooking breakfast, Spooky Erind cheerily replied, her red eyes glowing brighter. Aren't I nice?

"Marshmallow for breakfast?" I chuckled, walking towards her. If you eat marshmallows in the morning, as your first meal of the day, then it's breakfast.

"Can't argue with that logic." I sat on the ground opposite her, staring at the marshmallow wrapped by the flames.

"Is that even getting cooked? It's not browning or anything." It'll cook eventually. Here. You hold this. Spooky Erind stood up and handed another stick to me. There were four plump marshmallows on it. I didn't see where it came from. It's your breakfast.

"Okay…?" I stared at the stick. They looked like a marshmallow, but I was certain that Deen and I didn't bring any food. Maybe Spooky Erind conjured it for this dream world. Would I still have this once I returned to reality? You want to find out? Spooky Erind asked, reminding me that she could read my mind.

"No! Don't leave! We've barely talked." Spooky Erind broadly smiled as she pointed the marshmallow stick at me. Did you miss me? It was eerie watching her speak, a disconnect between her moving mouth and the sound, which wasn't really coming from her since her voice directly popped inside my head. Miss meyoumeyoumeyou—"Honestly? Yeah… I guess so." I somehow truly missed Spooky Erind. After telling various lies and differing versions of stories to different people, I appreciated the freedom whenever I was with her.

I didn't need to have my guard up because my mind was already open like a book.

"You can read my mind. You know I'm telling the truth." She melodramatically put her free hand to her chest. Is that so? I'm really touched that you feel that way.

"And it kinda felt like ages since we last met. How long ago was it again?" Time? You're asking me about time?

"Whoopsie. Oh yeah, time is meaningless to you. It was just several days ago, yet it felt like such a long time had passed." Probably because you've just been up to a lot. Busy, busy, busy, pretty little other me.

"There was just so much nonsense going on…" I said, drawing out my sigh.

"The world just wouldn't let me be. So annoying." Spooky Erind replied, You're not being completely fair with the world.

"Alright, alright… This time, it was mostly me looking for trouble." I admitted to myself that a lot of shit would've been prevented if I simply stayed in my condo and ignored everything. But the main character shouldn't do that, or there'd be no show. Did you have lots of fun?

"I guess I did." I stared at the marshmallow on my stick, zoning out in deep thought.

"Probably the most fun I've had. Yeah, I can't remember any other time I had this much fun ever. Stressful. Annoying at times. But very fun." The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. And that's what is important.

"We need to talk." Spooky Erind grinned. I grinned back at her, knowing what she found funny.

"Hey, I said that line from movies. And I thought you were going to say that we're already talking. Starting with the usual—Am I dead?" That got a laugh from Spooky Erind, even though she knew I had thought of saying that from the moment I saw her. She should also know that I intended to entertain her so she'd be more willing to talk. Don't worry. You're not dead. Surprising, given the reckless stuff that you've been doing. Good thing, too. Our existence continues.

"Meyoumeyoumeyou," I sang as I swished the marshmallow, parting the flames. You've been busy making friends. Spooky Erind jabbed her golden thumb at the tiny hut of leaves behind her. I didn't even know if it counted as a hut.

"Yep, I took your advice. I kind of didn't want to, but here we are. Got Deen on my side. Kelsey and Myra as well." Not wanting to delay any longer, I swerved to the serious topics.

"So… about Kelsey. How do I deal with Keke, the Adumbrae inside of her? Or are you not going to help me with that because you don't want to sabotage a fellow Adumbrae?" Spooky Erind shrugged. I can't help because I don't know how.

"You're an Adumbrae. You should know how to get rid of one. Ah… You're worried that I'll use it on you or something." I'm not going anywhere because you and I are one. We're inseparable. Also, Keke is a potential friend. My advice still stands—make friends. I sighed.

"Fine. Keke's here to stay. And also, you. Let's talk about what Keke said. Don't bail out on me, okay? Don't just disappear to avoid my questions." We have all the time… if time isn't passing. To highlight her words, Spooky Erind grabbed a handful of fallen leaves and threw them. They didn't float down. It's nice to have this bonding moment, where there is no moment. I won't cut it short. I also missed you… me…

"Meyoumeyoumeyou. There. Now, back to Keke. She was spouting stuff that I'm just a reflection. Like, we humans are reflections. I suppose she's saying that the Adumbrae dimension is reality. Adumbrae are the real, uh, persons? Not sure what to call you. And this world is just a reflection of reality. Is that true?" Spooky Erind raised a brow. Does knowing the truth change anything? I pointed at Spooky Erind.

"Aha! You're doing that evasion tactic! The next thing, you'll ask me about what I mean by reality. Or if I even care about this dimensional stuff." Do you? I already knew the answer to that.

"No." I stared at the marshmallow that was still the same color as before while wondering if I was sure of my answer.

"Yep, I really don't care about it. It's probably better if you leave me wondering if I'm real or not rather than outright say that I'm not. I'm not going to wonder, anyway. Like, I'm quite fine with being a reflection. I'm having fun with my reflected life right now." And that's what matters, said Spooky Erind with a smile. Doesn't it?

"Oh, don't try to wiggle your way out of this. What do you want with me? What's up with—" I gestured at the forest on pause around us "—all of this? You seem to do things differently from Keke. She's just having fun messing around, experiencing stuff. That's my read on her. In contrast, you seem to be on a mission in our reflected world, whatever." Spooky Erind stood up and nodded. I want to keep us safe. Me. You. That's the mission. I made a face at her.

If Spooky Erind was going to make it agonizing to pull answers out of her ass, so be it. The important thing was to keep her talking. She'd probably give me some useful crumbs for my effort eventually.

"That's like the basic mission of every living thing," I said.

"I may not be afraid of death, but I also don't want to die. Keke also didn't want her existence here cut short; that was why she fought back. I feel that you have something different in mind. An actual goal beyond survival." Yes.

"Which is…?" For meyou not to die. I tightened my grip on the marshmallow stick. Then I relaxed. I wasn't going to let Spooky Erind get a rise out of me. Moving on.

"Are you taking over my body?" I bluntly asked. You mean our body? I'm already in here.

"Oh, come on," I pointed at her gauntlet.

"That thing is slowly bleeding into the real world and—" How do you know which one's the real world? I snorted.

"My reflected world. I don't care if it's real or not. What I'm saying is that your gauntlet thingy is forming on my hand. That's what's happening, isn't it?" You don't want this? Spooky Erind raised her gauntlet, pouting with fake hurt as if I had rejected a heartfelt gift. It looks really cool. You can't deny that. And it has many uses, like you can scratch your back with it.

"Yeah, it looks awesome. But I don't want something like that permanently welded to my hand. Super obvious it's not normal. People will call me out on that. I'm already having trouble hiding the growths on my palm." They're just jealous that they don't have a backscratcher. Spooky Erind waved her gauntlet. I fought back a smile; I had thought of it as a golden backscratcher.

"That's not it." I tried a different question.

"What happens if your whole glove materializes on my hand in my world?" You can scratch the skin off your back. These claws are very sharp. Though Spooky Erind was bullshitting me, she indirectly confirmed it'd eventually happen. I followed up, "Then you'll take over my body after that? I have patches of skin that become like yours." Spooky Erind wrote in the air with her finger as if conducting a choir. Sing it with me! Meyoumeyoumeyou!

"Meyoumeyoumeyou," I joined in with a random melody, my cheeks raising in a half-smile.

"Wait… Me and you. You and me. You mentioned that your actual goal is for meyou not to die. Not just… you." Spooky Erind clapped her hands like a toddler. Of course, there was no sound as her left hand hit the metallic palm of the gauntlet. I could feel waves of joy emanating from her. You finally understood something!

"If a seeded human dies, I assume that the Adumbrae is fine," I said.

"The Adumbrae won't also die in the other dimension, or else Keke would've fought me to the end. If I were an Adumbrae, I wouldn't even come here if there was a chance I'd die. Adumbrae eat other Adumbrae all the time on Earth." That is quite common, Spooky Erind said, shaking her head.

"I don't claim to know the thought process of an otherworldly identity, but it doesn't seem like a good gamble to come to this side if there's a very large chance of my death. The Corebrings are here, the BID, other Adumbrae. The end of the Adumbrae War should be a signal enough not to do it. But… Adumbrae keep coming. Which leads to the conclusion that Adumbrae aren't affected if the reflection dies." Spooky Erind swayed her head from side to side, her white hair following her movements. Affected.

That encompasses a broad category of… stuff. Some are affected, and some aren't.

"There are negative consequences for an Adumbrae if a reflection dies?" Depends on how you define negative.

"Oh, come on! You're just—" I bit my tongue. Spooky Erind was egging me to waste time. I didn't know how long until she'd decide to leave. Get back on track.

"Alright, then. I don't care about the other Adumbrae. Let's just focus on you. On us. What'll happen if I die?" I'll be very sad. But I also expect it to happen at some point. You're the reckless girl, aren't you? Less reckless now compared to before.

"I'm being prudent. Sometimes. Other than being sad, what are the negative consequences that you'll experience if I die?" Spooky Erind tapped the side of her cheek with a claw. If you must know, I'll also die.