Space tore at Bath's flesh in strange, unfamiliar ways, distending his skin and threatening to blister him inside out. The vacuum tugged him everywhere and nowhere, its infinite cold superseding the freeze of the North and South poles, the depths of the ocean.

I wonder, Bath thought, if this is what death feels like. This line of thought didn't help his frenzied state of mind, instead fanning his fear into a raging inferno. In the freeze of the abyss, Bath froze, his eyes locked onto what lay beyond. While his muscles locked out of fear, his body churned around him: flesh blued and bloated, scales cracked and rose, his organs failing.

Bath only lay frozen in fear for a moment. I'm moving forward, he realized, fear escalating even further. Now, instead of freezing him in place, it spurred him to frantic action. He forsook his dragon form, reforming his mass almost completely into little projectiles that he launched out, toward space.

In a few seconds, he was back in the atmosphere. He turned around and faced the void beyond, his incorporeal heart and mind quaking. Going out into that, for miles and miles...

A nightmare come true. The void was insidious, a thousand angry tentacles eating warmth and life.

Perhaps Black Hole is overkill, Bath thought self-deprecatingly. Maybe they should just call World Devourers Outer Space.

"Well, I did choose option two," he murmured sadly, as though trying to convince himself that he didn't need to go back into space. "We can just use whatever humanity thinks up to traverse the distance between Vast Desert and Equinox. Or, at the least, Juserin's voyager."

Even as the words crossed his frozen dragon lips, announced to the world as a breathless, garbled mess, he steeled himself to ascend. What god fears nothingness?

He knew the answer: it rang loudly within his mind, like a gong. The fake kind. And if there was anything in this universe that Bath disliked, it was being dishonest. Which, of course, was laughable, considering COTD and all that he'd done as the Dragon.

But it isn't a lie if it becomes true, Bath breathed, pulsing upwards through the outer boundary of Illudis. If I become their god, if Lisa becomes their goddess, if it's all true... Bath snorted as the last puff of air escaped his nostrils. Children fear the dark, not I. He said this last phrase like a mantra as though it would be an aegis separating him from his deep-rooted fear.

No such luck, Bath thought bitterly as he raced back to Illudis as quickly as he left, like a swimmer leaving a too-cold pool after submerging a single toe.

He continued to repeat "pick me up" phrases while he vacillated between Illudis and space. You're dusk, darkness, the Dragon, the black hole, the devourer...space cowers before the black hole. Space is the domain of darkness. Space is your domain, space is your birthright, space is...

He sighed, defeated. Space is space, damn it. As he retreated back to Illudis this time, he was now four miles out from the end of the atmosphere.

If I lose sight of this planet, he thought, I'll never find my way back.

Bath couldn't think of any reason he'd lose sight in space, at least not if he continued to regenerate his rupturing organs. Moreover, unlike a human, he could orient his eyes continuously as he moved, ensuring that he kept a pair permanently fixed on Illudis at all times.

Even so...

It's irrational, he told himself. It's irrational: you'll never be lost. Illudis is right behind you...

Another part of him screamed that he couldn't be sure. And what about if you step on a gate where you can't see the nearest planet? If you don't know where it's supposed to be? You'll be stuck here forever. Stuck in the empty abyss.

But he forced himself to go back out, relentless, angered by his own unfamiliar fear.

---

"Bath," Lisa called out, "where were you?"

Bath opened the glass window pane of the Spire from the outside, climbing in. "Hey," he replied, walking over to Lisa's bed.

Thud. He sprawled across its quilted form, arms and legs splayed wide. "I'm tired," he said at last.

"Wait, say that again, let me get my phone ready," Lisa said, a giggle rising up in her chest. "You weren't tired after making dragonleaf, nor were you tired after munching up the tortus," she added. "What the heck were you just doing?"

"I'm emotionally exhausted," Bath sighed, moaning.

"Sounds like you're physically exhausted," Lisa quipped, smirking. She walked over to the bed and stood over his stretched-out form. "You aren't wearing your uniform," she noticed. "What's up?"

"I tried something new," Bath said. Many somethings, actually. "This, Lisa, is Thaddeus."

Lisa's jaw dropped. "Holy shit," she exclaimed, "you went out as a human?"

Bath grumbled something unintelligible, rolling over.

"Wait, shit, that sounds fun!" Lisa said, pushing his side. "See, I was thinking: there's more to 'being able to do what you want' than just, well, doing anything because you can."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Bath nodded weakly; Lisa noogied his head in response. "Case in point, when we went to the beach. We startled everyone half to death and probably ruined some poor verdora's day out. On top of all that, it wasn't even fun: It was just weird and awkward." Lisa punctuated each accented word with a small karate chop to Bath's exposed, t-shirted back. "Wait, is your name actually Thaddeus?"

"Why?" he asked, grunting. "Is it weirder than Bath?"

Lisa snort-laughed. "Um, no. Well, I already have a human name, so that's one thing I won't have to worry about when we go out together."

Bath pivoted his head slightly so that he could see Lisa in his peripheral vision. "Are you implying that Bath isn't a human name?"

Lisa leaned against him. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Bath smirked, pushing her off. "Fair enough." He sat up, sighing. "Damn, I'm tired."

"You've said that twice," Lisa observed. "Seriously, why are you so exhausted?"

Bath looked at her, expression stoic, pensive. Why...don't I want to tell her? "I was practicing."

Lisa gave him an exasperated look. "For?"

"Space," he said, holding out the "s" sound. "Experimenting with movement."

Lisa nodded twice, slowly; then, a look of realization came over her features and she began to shake Bath vigorously. "Wait, why didn't you take me with!?"

Bath looked at her with alarm in his eyes. Take her with me? He didn't even want to tell her about going into space, let alone take her with. He looked away, a sense of shame coming over him which, in turn, made him clench his fists until his nails bit into the palms of his flesh.

"Lisa, I'm still experimenting a bit. I'm still not sure if I can space-proof you," he said. This was true: he was only able to survive in space because he technically didn't have a fixed corporeal body. He could supervise her, certainly, and keep her alive, much like he did when they first went through the Ritus gate and ventured onto Magnet Planet...but it would hurt; even if he kept her alive, her body wouldn't fair well in the vacuum unless he internalized her within himself.

That's what I'll do when passing through Vast Desert, Bath realized. "If you come with me, I'll just be babysitting you," he reasoned.

Lisa narrowed her eyes. "Bath, the hell? You're telling me I can be the first woman in space without astronaut equipment, wait wait wait, no, the first woman in space on a different world, without a ship...ugh, too many firsts," she said, catching her breath. "Damn it, Bath, I'm the Church: lemme go into space!"

Bath looked at her relentless expression helplessly.

"Please?" she asked, smiling sweetly. It was a fake sweet, the kind that always made him laugh. Bath looked away, trying to keep a smile off his face.

"You're impossible," he murmured.

"Can we go now?"

"Aren't you a little impatient? I said I'm tired."

"Lies~" Lisa mewled, laying down on the bed. "Ugh, fine. What else do you want to do today? We already told Dean and Juserin about Vast Desert and our imminent departure."

Bath cocked his head. "Why don't we pay some of the new city-seeds a visit, like what you did on Earth?"

Lisa's nose scrunched up. "Uh, sure, I guess."

Bath chuckled. "I never did hear about you making the rounds."

Lisa closed her eyes. "I'll let you know if the rounds here differ significantly from what I experienced on Earth."

"From what Lepochim told me, we'll be lucky if they're different."

Lisa squinched her eyes closed. "Like, it wasn't that bad; there were just a few city-seeds that were really weird."

Bath nodded. "Actually, question: is the faction system still a thing?"

Lisa looked at him as though he was crazy. "Have you been asleep the past few days?"

Bath glowered playfully. "No, but I haven't been spreading my essence throughout Whitesun. The city's too big, and I don't see the point of knowing what every sapient is doing." Plus, and perhaps more importantly, trekking across Illudis as a wolf reminded him just how pleasant being embodied was.

"Fine, then, let me explain: the faction system is huge on Illudis. Once the people behind the vanguard arrived, they began to travel all over, proselytizing. Y'know, getting entire cities of people to say the words, ‘Dawn' or 'Dusk' with intention."

"Have they started doing colosseum battles here already?" he asked.

"It's been almost a week, Bath," Lisa said. "Some verdora must already be on their third boon."

He shook his head. "You're right; of course they have."

"Though," Lisa interjected, "that isn't the main focus of the factions. They also serve as buyers and sellers of goods, the competition between the two generally keeping prices down."

"Wait; didn't we get rid of money?"

Lisa glared. "I wanted to," she said, "but you and the others voted me down."

Bath yawned innocently. That's right, I remember. "That prestige idea of yours never would have worked."

Lisa clapped her hands together. "And so, we have money, in the form of PP."

Bath raised an eyebrow. "PP isn't very important." In actuality, the kinds of stat boosts given by PP were so minimal as to be insubstantial. "PP capitalizes on the placebo effect: if people think they're getting more powerful, and they technically are by doing the kinds of actions that generate PP in the first place, then they'll think that it's the PP making them stronger." Typical false causality.

Lisa frowned. "Wait, but PP does actually make people stronger," she argued.

"By how much?"

Lisa's lips formed into a thin line. "Enough."

Bath waved his hand dismissively. "Maybe a hundred or a thousand PP will make a difference," he admitted, "but it'll take months, or years, to get enough PP to matter...if you're steadily making PP, at most 5% of your own growth will come from it alone."

Lisa grunted in grudging understanding. "I guess that makes sense. But what about people who use their own power to steal PP from others?"

Bath looked at her as though this was a stupid question. "I made the spearrows, didn't I?"

She paused, thinking. "What about people who legally obtain a disproportionate amount of PP?" she asked.

Bath smiled knowingly. "All growth is logarithmic," he replied, flicking a lock of hair spread around Lisa's head. "After a certain point, maybe the 10k PP mark, more PP have almost zero effect." From that point on, sapients will need to grow in new ways, he thought.

"Okay, enough talking," Lisa said, poking Bath's chest. "Let's do the rounds. Get your Dragon clothes on," she snarked, tugging on his t-shirt. "Wait, actually, screw that; let me first take a shower."

As Lisa sat up, Bath lay down, taking her place. She walked over to the bathroom concealed by opaque, layered, webbed crystal and turned on the water. I have no idea why plumbing works in this building, she thought, but I don't care.

"Have a good nap," she called out.

"Mm," Bath grunted weakly.

Lisa shook her head, whipping her hair out of a bun. "He never told me about the PP cap before," she muttered. "Would've been good to know." She ripped off her dress, as was her typical way of getting undressed. Bath'll just form a new one, anyway.

She kicked it to the side, by the sink, and walked over to the shower. Technically, she didn't need to shower with Bath by her side, but she liked showering, just like she enjoyed sleep.

She continued to speak softly to herself as the water streamed down over her head and shoulders, the heat aiding in her decompressing. "He's clearly uncomfortable talking about space," she murmured. "It's easier to see now with all the perception-oriented boons. He just clams up." She sighed, running her hands through her hair. "And what the heck is up with Thaddeus?" She laughed softly to herself. "If I didn't know him, I might be angry." She smiled. "He's so...bafflingly...naive."