Vetro stared silently up towards Idalia, wondering if she was even alive. Surely, she has been alive and functioning, she looked younger but not childish in appearance or body, which was quite strange even for a person of her own blood. Vetro stepped closer and lifted his hand. For whatever reason he did so, it got a reaction out of Idalia, who told him, "Don't you remember the third time we met? You did the exact same thing, what do you want?"

Vetro took in her words. And her question rang out again, "What is it, gramps? Do you want to speak?" Her voice became slightly distorted, just like that... she changed into an older woman's voice, despite the age difference in her looks, and how much she seemed like an adolescent.

Vetro stuttered at the suddenness. Was he hearing and seeing correctly? This sight alone was making him queasy and wanting to vomit out his nonexistent innards, though he didn't know why the sight made him so... sick, and repulsed. His gut turned, and he swore he could have tasted his own flesh.

He tried looking at the others around but Aeneus, Guillerme and Zabulus were engaged in what seemed to be a heated argument. So no one else was 'affected' by this.

A form of knowledge rushed into Vetro's mind as he looked back at the now adult woman, aged 28 at best, judging by how she seemed like a normal woman instead of an ungainly adolescent or a feeble, wiry little girl. He didn't bother saying any words. Rather, he couldn't, as his mind was rushed with other thoughts... of questions.

Well, first of all, what does it mean to be conscious, a subjective term that has eluded mankind for quite some time? Could it perhaps mean being aware, or an understanding? Possessing the awareness of a body that isn't yours? If so, what does it mean to 'exist' as another entity? Well, this could be only explained in one of two ways.

The first is simple, to exist as one whole. Every part working, each joint connected and everything functional. But if there's another version of the same body, then does that body exist? It doesn't exist and cease to exist at the exact same time, therefore this logic leads us to another way of understanding: That we exist in several forms simultaneously.

Does this mean all bodies are connected and part of a greater whole? Well, yes. However, what does it really entail? Where's this 'invisible' body of ours, that dictates where exactly we're positioned and where are the boundaries between individuals? Why do some people exist in places with higher or lower levels of existence and other factors that might hinder their body's ability to function properly?

The answer alone eludes knowledge itself. Perhaps the answer is found within Wisdom. Maybe in Philosophy, or maybe even Science... who's to know...

Idalia looked down upon Vetro, realizing his troubles, she made sure to continue.

"Zabulus has lived with his whole existence just to get more and more of these souls, I hope you know. So If you're going to hinder my brother's progress, then please, feel free to share some of my burden. Catch me before my fall, okay?" She giggled.

'She's just like... him...'

"What was that?" Idalia said, before giggling again.

"Uh?" Vetro's eyes snapped open and met hers directly in the gaze. It made him feel awkward but, well...

"...Uhh... Uhhhh..." 'Can she read thoughts? She's probably making a game out of messing with me right now...'

But nothing was audible or spoken. Vetro glanced around at the others behind him, as his mind was telling him to move or get the hell out of the way of danger, but there was no visible hazard to see, and all movement seemed halted at a stand-still.

Nothing happened yet it felt like something might happen soon.

'No. Just tell us already. I'm not amused and you're wasting time!'

Idalia only gave a 'Hmph!' as she kept her head forward towards the discussion ongoing.

"...He can hear your voice." she mumbled, but Guillerme must have caught her word and gave her a glare. "We'll deal with that later."

After the surreal display of seeing a more-or-less serious Idalia, she went back to her happy-go-lucky demeanor, just like when her brother, and the other 3 first met her. Her expression now contorting into a smile, and even letting out a soft laughter from her chest as if finding a good joke.

As a child would do, she ran around chasing a butterfly made of veins. She had grabbed it, or thought she did. When she reached out with both hands and pulled. Yet, the insect went along with her. She squealed with glee. "That's an evil one, brother, please kill it!"

Both Guillerme and Zabulus reacted to her words, as if two protective brothers who wished to save their beloved sibling's happiness, the both of them rushed towards the vein butterfly, but the second they went in, it flew high above and away from their reach. Idalia sighed, "Oh... it got away....." she whimpered, her mood dampened by the anticlimactic ending. Zabulus crouched next to his sister, pissing off Guillerme as he stole his chance to do the same.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Hmm. Sister, did I tell you the story of a boy who fell off a tree and died? Does that sound like a fun story to you?"

"Yeah! I wanna hear about it!" She smiled eagerly.

Vetro remained quiet, observing the siblings' relationship with each other, still a little perplexed by this situation, and yet it made sense. As if he kept under a spell, or was merely daydreaming this entire conversation with them, then, the words just started spewing from his lips;

"I..."

A voice interrupted him.

"...Bonds are important things. So, remember this story well." Guillerme told Vetro as he stood to his side.

Zabulus spoke the tale, thus...

"There is no memory in his life. No light. Only pain. The boy cannot tell what the pain is; the memories are so clouded and distant, though his fear is overwhelmingly present in his soul. He woke up... not knowing who he was nor where he was, but the only thing he saw, besides the grassy plain he was in... was a tree. A singular tree. The tree then spoke to the boy, it said, 'I am the only one here.'"

The boy replied with, 'Where's the rest of the trees?' The tree laughed and continued.

'Look around. There are no others here, child. You have been abandoned by all, but I, the lone tree.' The tree said. It told him this was no longer Earth. Though the boy couldn't remember what the name meant... and wasn't sure if he had ever heard of the name Earth, even in a distant dream. 'Here, climb up this trunk, it'll take you to heaven itself!' The tree exclaimed joyfully with its limbs and branches extending out and reaching for the boy.

"But... won't I get hurt?" The child asked, hesitant at first. "What if... what if I fell?"

'.......'s 's 's...' The tree said.

"Okay... if you say so..." the child reluctantly grabbed onto the tree, a hand on each branch and made his way up and climbed slowly. Step by step, never looking back... only forward at the top...

It would take him to Heaven, right...? He thought.

'..........s.......s...........s' The tree spoke unusually loud, unimaginable words.

"What...?" The boy asked, confused.

'...........s...................s' The tree slowed down in its ascent to the heavens above, and the branches then quickly retreated back into its bark.

'Ah?'

A cold chill went up the boys' spine. And at the same time, the entire earth started shaking violently underneath. A flash of crimson engulfed the earth, tainting the tree with a blood so new, so red... so... strange.

It found peace in his innards.

"And that... is the short story of the boy who fell off a tree and died... directed by yours truly!"

"Dah... but the blood was really disgusting looking, brother." she giggled, "But I really really really liked the story! Please tell me another one!"

"One moment, one moment. I have something important to speak to my older brother about."

The both of them faced Guillerme as they stood a few steps back from the rest, not exactly trying to hide the exchange but just so it wouldn't draw too much attention.

"Listen, yeah? Keep her entertained for the while I'm going to be gone for a while."

"What do you mean? You're going to take control again? Have I finally become less important now?" Guillerme practically sneered as he said that, which, considering he had a face of only skin without lips, he couldn't properly frown but somehow... he managed to convey such emotions through those words.

"Calm the fuck down, shithead. Idalia's your sister too, as much as you care about her, I care even more."

"Is that the truth or just a facade like you, to act cool and like you've got everything together?"

"The fuck do you know about me, Guil? You spend all your time in here doing jack-shit all day, I'm surprised you didn't turn into a rotting pile spirit dust or whatever. Good thing the world doesn't work the way reality works, otherwise, this entire fucking scenario would have collapsed in on itself a long time ago."

.....

Alice found herself tending to Laz and his current condition. He hasn't been moving for a week, yet no one could explain why he wasn't dead or at least a little more alive and mobile.

Except for one, as much as it felt obvious, she still wanted to deny it.

"Why hello there, ...A...Alice?" He tried to recall her name, though frankly, he had so many memories to sift through that he just struggled at the moment to properly adapt to it all.

"Oh, it's you, Zabulus. Finally done with your whole 'dramatic monologue' routine, or, do I even need to ask, is there a proper method to this? God, and you also need to be able to pick better on who controls your god damn body, last guy almost had me lose my mind and eat him. And I do not want to end up in that body of yours whatsoever." She was helping Laz sit down as he was in a practically veiled vegetative state, he was basically comatose in a manner and shape of a log, unmoving, not quite there. Alice brought food and water up from downstairs, setting a bottle of spring water to the side for now and a baguette of bread in his lap. "And please, can you do something about him? You know just how much he means to me... and... to part of you, even! Just, snap him back to reality or... give him a memory or two, even? Just anything, please. The silence is getting too deafening, even for you..." she quietly placed his piece of bread on the table, and was halfway through finishing her plea before he realized she was still speaking.

For a time, he felt pitiful, so he replied, "Okay, but on one condition." He pointed one finger at her.

"Which is...?" She waited with a creeping feeling in her stomach.

"You will cannibalize whoever I order you to cannibalize, got it?"

Alice seemed unphased by his proposal, almost as if she expected it. In fact, she nodded along. "I will try and try my very best... to let out the urge, sir. But, will we start, shall we?" Her expression didn't shift or change a single bit, she was quite good at hiding her feelings nowadays, he thought to himself. He mentally smiled.

Alice seemed unphased. He nodded. Then began.

He placed his head on his forehead, giving a part of his memory back... in a way that allowed him to function less as a doll and more like a puppet or even more so like himself. The momentary silence didn't bother him, nor did any outside sound that made itself heard during that time. It was a nice scene, for an outsider to see. As if the three of them were as the way they looked when they first met. It didn't feel like an illusion. Or at least, that's how it was, because his mind didn't have a voice inside the echo chambers or thoughts in his head, and maybe that's just his own thinking process and just not how reality worked.