Kahli fell further and further. She knew if she did nothing, she would tumble to the ground and die. It was a pivotal moment. Her newly activated skill [Seismic Sense] would soon be forced to offer her choices. All she had to do, was nothing.
----------------------------------------
And there Kahli was, in the endless void.
She braced mentally to hear the obnoxious, self-assured voice of the big jellyfish echoing in her head. She could imagine it just droning on over and over again about how time isn't real and was immaterial and material and how the fact that none of it made sense to her meant she just didn't understand time at all, and the whole thing would've been just so obnoxious.
But the big, obnoxious jellyfish never appeared, and its gloomy voice never seemed to emanate into her psyche. Yes, Kahli was now just alone with herself in the void.
She didn't know how she felt about it.
It was dark in infinite, and it was cold, too.
And it was so still. And, for the first time Kahli was also noticing just how silent it was. The experience was dreadful, and almost... haunting.
Kahli looked down at her big left foot. She'd just have to move on past this and not take it seriously, focusing on the pain caused by the lack of the big jellyfish as opposed to relief at the creature's absence was a little too perturbing to her in this moment.
There were her scenarios. Her sweet, sweet scenarios. Kahli would run through them all and then she would leave this wretched place forever, and-
Well, hello there, thought-spoke the big jellyfish as it appeared out of thin air before her. Sorry I'm late. I lost track of time.
Kahli didn't know what to say, or more aptly, what to think. Did this stupid jellyfish just tell her that it lost track of time? Was this not the very same jellyfish that constantly went on and on to her about how time was not real, that it was no object, that it was inconsequential? And here it was, admitting to her that somehow it had mismanaged something that wasn't real to the point that it had failed to appear in front of her at its intended time? Was that even a possibility? Was this entire area, this entire endless void not a place devoid of time?
Well of course it is, thought the jellyfish.
Kahli felt entirely too embarrassed, realizing that the big jellyfish had mentally heard all of her thoughts. How dreadfully obnoxious.
That's what they call me, they call me the Incredibly Obnoxious Jellyfish.
Really?
Of course not, Kahli, I was being facetious.
Kahli decided she wasn't going to humor this big jellyfish any longer. She focused her energy and looked down at the three [scenarios] under her big left foot.
[Scenario 1]
Kahli fell further and further through the air. Her ears popped. She wondered for how long she could fall before hitting the ground. She felt paralyzed, and that's because she was. The stress of the situation had activated her freeze response, that often not talked third corollary to the fight or flight feature. And Kahli could truly do nothing but fall, fall, fall.
Or could she? That was ridiculous! Just because she'd picked the first scenario didn't mean she should just keep falling! That was ridiculous! She couldn't do that to herself or Froufrou. Even though Froufrou might've been some sort of an evil little monster summoned to destroy the world, Kahli didn't think that meant that Froufrou deserved to die due to her own inaction. Especially considering that FrouFrou was essentially Kahli's pet.
Kahli summoned up her big rock and started kicking. Only, this time, she kicked with as much force as he had when first attempting to rise to the air! After all, if it had worked in small increments, why would it not also work in large ones?
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
[You're taking damage]
Kahli screamed in agony as she looked down to see that her worst imagined timeline had come true. Her legs had collapsed and snapped under the extreme pressure. She was hopelessly doomed!
She couldn't move either leg, which meant she couldn't kick the rock. With a terrible feeling in her throat, she watched as she fell, fell, fell, and then she was about to hit the ground. It zoomed up so close to her face in a horrendous blur and-
[You died]
[End Scenario]
Kahli would've gasped if she could've moved in this strange, timeless void.
Well, that was an interesting one, wasn't it? thought-spoke the jellyfish.
Interesting is not the word I would use, added Kahli. In fact, I feel all twisted up inside and nauseated about ti just thinking about that whole [scenario]. At least it won't be the timeline I pick... But wow, I wish I'd never had to see it!
Yea, I agree there, it was dreadful. Pretty tough to watch. Well, on to scenario two, then!
[Scenario 2]
Kahli kicked herself higher and higher into the air. She could feel the wind rushing around her head and body as she got closer and closer to where she'd fallen from.
Eventually, she saw Lloyd. He was... talking to himself?
Kahli was interested in what he was saying, because a good bit of it seemed pretty underhanded but also pretty informative of his plans. She decided to start listening in, kicking faintly in the air in order to keep herself suspended in about the same space save for a slight wavering between falling and rising.
"Bwa hah hah HAH hah HAH! Now that Kahli and her little doomsday pet are dead, completely disintegrated by my amazing white lightning, I am unhindered and unobligated! Yes, I sure did think that as long as someone as suspiciously capable as her and her weird little tentacle monster were around, I couldn't really end the world. Well, I couldn't do it without risking a sort of self-inflicted doom or gloom, but now that they're gone I see that I was always meant to destroy this world alone, acting solely on my own, for myself, by myself! Yes, this is the way to be, the way for me!"
Kahli laughed a little under her breath. It was, for some reason, so funny to her that Lloyd's weird little self monologue had included a rhyme at the end. Why was he putting so much effort into talking to himself? Did he think anyone was listening?
Of course he didn't.
And then a cold shiver shot through Kahli's spine. He was intentionally saying all of this stuff with nobody here. But why?
Was it because he didn't think that he'd be able to say them in front of people at all for any reason? Is that why?
No, no, that wasn't why. Lloyd was far too comfortable lapsing into this strange little soliloquy. He was not ashamed at all regarding how absolutely ridiculous he was acting. And with that in regard, Kahli racked her brain. Why was he doing this? And he was still going, too! Why? Dear Theseosus, why?
Then, as if by divine interjection, a thought figuratively echoed through Kahli's mind (as opposed to the literal echoing of the big jellfish's thought-speak in Kahli's head) that grabbed her like a vice. It was a thought that could not be ignored.
He was practicing.
"Yes, yes, that's right! So now that I've gotten rid of her and her little pet for good, I'm going to do the next logical thing, of course! If they were still alive, I'd chase after them in order to destroy them or to ease them over to my side, but with them dead and gone as dust in the wind I'll be destroying this world shortly. I order to that, I'll be opening huge Gates all over Gifflenberg! BWA HAH HAH HAAAAH!"
Gates? Gates, again? Lloyd was going to open them?
Was Lloyd planning on editing something, kind of like how Hauff had talked about back when Kahli was introduced to the Council?
This seemed different, Kahli noted. It seemed like Lloyd thought opening the Gates themselves would be, in its own way, a terrible and wretched act that would destroy the world of Nomachiato.
But how? How would that do so? Kahli's understanding was that the real damage was what could be done to the universe by opening a Gate. Not what opening a Gate would do to a world directly just on account of opening it!
And yet, here he was, levitating, cackling, and generally just getting really excited about this situation. What was it with sinister people wanting to open these Gates? Were Gates ever opened by someone benevolent?
Kahli suddenly felt very... introspective. Was she benevolent?
She thought about her life, and shuddered. No, she was definitely not benevolent, but what was she?
She wasn't sure.
[End Scenario]
Wow, thought-spoke the jellyfish. That was a bit of a doozy. A whole scenario derailed by your own introspection.
Derailed? Kahli felt a boiling pot of rage simmering for the jellyfish. That was fascinating! That was like, what, the equivalent of five therapy sessions in a couple of minutes that don't even count against my real experience of time?
Yea, well, I know what I saw.
Can you even see anything?
I don't know, Kahli, is experience immaterial like time is?
Kahli wasn't going to keep entertaining this silly jellyfish. She looked down at her big left foot. Time for the next scenario, she figured. What would this bring? It was the best path forward - did that mean that in this scenario, she was going to defeat Lloyd somehow?