"Trust me," said Now. "I'll be with you the whole way." "What are you going to do?" asked Isabelle.

"I'm going to follow you, in case you run away or lose the path," said Now. "Don't worry, though. I'll keep up."

"What? I'm not running away," said Isabelle

"No, I know you're not," said Now. "But it will be good to have backup."

"Backup?" asked Isabelle. "What does that mean?"

"Like a friend to help you when you get into trouble," said Now. "A guide who knows more than you do."

Isabelle started to feel a little suspicious of this dragon. How did she know that Now had her best interests at heart? Was there any way she could try and discern it herself? Or possibly with her system?

[Clarification: You can make a wis+int check against Now to see if you can gauge his intentions.]

That sounded good to Isabelle.

[Calculating]

[...]

[Your wid+int check failed]

[...]

[You get 1 more attempt due to your high wis+int scores. Would you like to try again?]

[Y/N]

Isabelle thought yes.

[Calculating]

[...]

[Your wis+int check had mixed results]

[You can tell that Now thinks that he is doing something helpful for you, but you can't gleam much else]

Hmm. Well, if Now thought that he was doing the right thing for Isabelle, then Isabelle figured it ought to be worth the risk in exploring the floating stepping stones before her.

She took her first step onto the stone. It seemed to be made of some kind of clear crystal. At least, it glowed with a soft light of its own. The blank expanse of sky around her materialized into a bizarre, tropical landscape.

"Okay," said Isabelle. "This is strange. Where are we going?" "Wherever you want to go," said Now.

Isabelle looked down at her feet. She wasn't sure what she expected to find underfoot, but there was nothing there. There was no ground beneath her but the crystalline structure of the stepping stone.

"What am I supposed to do when I get there?" asked Isabelle. "Just find out," said Now. "That's the point of the journey."

Isabelle was starting to feel a little uneasy. Maybe it hadn't been a great idea to agree to this vision quest thing.

"Maybe I should just leave," said Isabelle.

"You can't return to your old self," said Now. "Not if you want to live happily."

"Live happily?" asked Isabelle. "Why would I want to do that? Also, is it even possible to live happily in Beaubinte?"

"There's a difference between being happy, and just going through the motions," said Now. "You need to be passionate about what you're doing to find true happiness."

Isabelle looked around at the weird landscape below her. It was beautiful, but also strange. It was almost like a dream. Every time she tried to focus on one aspect of it, the feature seemed to bubble and ripple and change into somthing else entirely.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter," said Isabelle. "I'll figure it out when I get...wherever I'm going."

"That's the spirit," said Now.

She took another step across the stepping stones. This one felt different from the others. As soon as she put her weight on it, the entire structure seemed to shift. The ground beneath Isabelle disappeared, and the crystalline stepping stones began to move.

"This is crazy," said Isabelle. "Am I going to fall and die?"

"No," said Now. "Trust in the process. You're safe. And you won't fall without me to catch you."

"Okay," said Isabelle, trying not to sound too dubious. "So where are we going, already?"

"Like I said, anywhere you want to go," said Now. "As long as it's in our world."

"That's not much to work with," said Isabelle, noting that the 'world' she was looking at seemed more like hallucinations in a lava lamp than anything material.

"It's everything," said Now. "We have all of creation to choose from. It's practically unlimited."

"Well shit," said Isabelle. "You never said that."

"I didn't think you'd want to know beforehand," said Now. "This is meant to be an adventure, after all."

Isabelle was starting to get a little worried. Even though Now seemed to be trying to help her, she couldn't be sure that she was getting the whole story.

"All right," said Isabelle, taking another step. "Now, would you be comfortable at least explaining what you mean when you say this 'vision quest' is supposed to help me know myself?"

"Sure," said Now. "You see, Isabelle, there are many different types of intelligence. There is wis, and there is int. Wis refers to the ability to understand abstract concepts; like morality, or reason. Int refers to the ability to apply abstract ideas, in order to solve practical problems. But sometimes these two aspects of intelligence are separate. In fact, they're usually separated by a great deal."

"And how does this help me?" asked Isabelle, growing impatient.

"Intelligence isn't all about being smart, you know," Now said. "There are other things to life. Like, say, emotional intelligence. Someone with a relatively high int score isn't always necessarily a genius with emotional intelligence. You see, we all have blind spots in our minds and our mentalities. These blind spots are things we don't know, or are afraid to know. They're things that we're not comfortable facing because they might threaten us in some way, or make us feel bad about ourselves. They're things that might make us unhappy. So we avoid them, and we pretend they don't exist. We hide them away in our subconscious. But that's a mistake. Because those things aren't necessarily bad. In fact, some of them might actually be wonderful."

"So what you're saying is that my problem is I don't know what I'm doing," said Isabelle, feeling quite irritated at Now. Who did this

dragon think he was, twirling around in the air like a fairy? It almost felt like he was insulting her or insinuating that she wasn't very bright.

"I'm sorry," said Now. He stopped twirling in the air and hovered near Isabelle. He hung his head. "I can see you're getting irritated. I didn't mean to aggravate you."

"Good," said Isabelle. She took another step.

This one was the biggest yet. It was almost as if the world had become larger. Isabelle could feel it expanding out beneath her. Suddenly, the stepping stones were so far apart that she felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff.

"I'm glad you feel good about that," said Now, as if reading her mind. "But now, I believe it's time for the second stage of your vision quest."

Isabelle took one last look at the land below her. Everything looked different, somehow. She thought she saw mountains, and oceans, and forests. She saw the lights of cities.

"Are you ready?" asked Now.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"No," said Isabelle.

"Of course," said Now. "You don't need to be ready. Just do it."

Suddenly, Isabelle found herself falling.

"Fuck! Fuck this shit! I never should have come here!" said Isabelle.

"Take a deep breath," said Now, in a calm voice. "Remember, you can stop any time."

"Why would you tell me that?" said Isabelle, looking up to see if there was something above her. There wasn't. "What if this isn't real?"

"You'd be surprised at how easy it is to fool your senses," said Now. "Your brain doesn't have a perfect memory. In fact, sometimes it's a lot worse than that. Your brain just makes things up. It creates fantasies, based on past experiences, but those experiences rarely even happened in the first place. And that's just how it is. The only thing that matters is you. You decide what's real, and what's not. If you really want to quit, then just close your eyes. That'll be fine. Otherwise, I suggest you take a few more steps."

Isabelle looked down at the ground rushing toward her. It was terrifying, but it was also kind of cool. She took deep breaths, and before Isabelle knew it, she was hovering just over the rocky ground below.

"I can't believe I didn't die!" she said, laughing.

"It's all in your mind, Isabelle," said Now. "Dying was never a risk. Now, are you going to keep walking?"

Isabelle looked up to see five crystal steps apparate in front of her. "Yes," said Isabelle. "I'm going to walk across these steps."

She stepped on the first one, and then the next, and the next. Her body started to grow heavier. She felt like the steps were moving under her. Before long, she was on the third step. She could feel the weight of the world pressing against her.

"Hey," said Now, suddenly. "Hold on. I've got an idea." Suddenly, Isabelle found she couldn't move forward. “What the fuck are you doing to me?” asked Isabelle.

“You’re too heavy with emotional baggage to go any further at this time,” said Now. “But I think it would be much better if I helped you lighten the load. You see, the only way to find yourself is to let go of everything else.”

Isabelle felt like Now was trying to break her. She felt like she was fighting to stay conscious.

"Isabelle," said Now, in a low voice, "I have a proposition for you. Would you like to join me in the realm of the dead?"

Isabelle shook her head. “This has got to be some sort of a fucking trap. Realm of the dead? I thought this was a fucking vision quest! I don’t want to fucking die!”

“You won’t die,” said Now. “You can’t die in the realm of the dead, and nobody can hurt you there, either, because they’re all already dead. Well, they can’t hurt you physically, anyways. Really it’s safer than being in the land of the living in a way.”

"No!" said Isabelle. "I don't want to fucking die! You're lying! This whole thing is a fucking lie! I don't want to go to the afterlife! I don't want to join you! I don't want to die!"

A wave of dizziness washed over her. She felt like she was going to pass out.

"You don't have to die, Isabelle," said Now. He smiled. "In fact, you could live forever.”

“That... just sounds like even more of a fucking trap,” said Isabelle.

“The Overlord’s system grants immortality. Why couldn’t yours?” said Now.

“I guess that’s fair... but didn’t he mod his system to all hell?” asked Isabelle.

“Well, I mean it was pretty fucked up, yeah,” said Now.

“He also had a whole army of dead people’s skeletons,” said Isabelle. “So does that make him a bad guy?” asked Now.

Isabelle laughed. "It made him annoying, that’s for sure. But I'm starting to think there's no evil in the universe. We've been conditioned to think that, but it's bullshit. No matter what we do to each other, we're still just human."

“I’m not a human, I’m a dragon,” said Now. “But I agree. Humans are just humans, people are people, et cetera et cetera. Still, though, wouldn’t you like to be immortal?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” said Isabelle. “I don’t want to end up a severed head stuffed in a burlap sack, used as somebody else’s inventory and accepting gift horses in exchange for false promises.”

“False promises!” asked Now.

“Oh, yeah. I told him if he saved my horse I’d get him his body back, but that shit is definitely never happening.” Isabelle smirked.

“Isabelle, that’s terrible. That’s horrible. I think you should tell him. How can you do that and not feel any remorse for lying to him?”

“I just don't. I don't feel bad at all. I'm a liar sometimes. Maybe my entire life is just one big lie. Everything I say is a lie. Everything I do is a lie. So why am I supposed to feel bad when I tell a lie? Maybe this is how liars feel all the time. I mean, they're probably telling themselves lies about how they're different from other liars, but we're all the same, aren't we? I can see why they'd get so sick of themselves. And if what I was saying about evil being a farce is true, then really I’m not doing anything wrong by lying, so why should I feel bad? I'm only lying to myself. I'm only lying to everyone else, who doesn't even know the truth. Isn't that how most lies work? Aren't all lies just half truths? If I was ever a person who was always telling the truth I think I would probably be the biggest fucking asshole in the world."

Now sighed. "Isabelle, I understand where you're coming from, and I think you're absolutely correct, but I don't think that's what you're going to find in the realm of the dead. Also, it’s an awful and

manipulative way to treat someone who’s agreed to help you. I think you need to consider your actions very carefully before you go off on your own again, or else you might do something you'll regret for the rest of eternity."

Isabelle snorted.

“What? This is a serious conversation! I’m trying to talk some sense into you!” said Now.

Isabelle shook her head. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. You're acting like I'm going to go off on a murderous rampage if I don't get my way, just because I got angry one time."

“You very well may! In fact, if you actually think about your life in Beaubinte thus far I think you’ll find the most consistent character trait you’ve exhibited has been taking any and all opportunities to kill the shit out of people!” Now shouted.

Isabelle scoffed. "You're talking about that one time I fought a bunch of warforged kn the palace, aren’t you. And I was fighting them because they were going to kill me!"

“Oh, come on, Isabelle, you know those warforged deserved it! That was a good fight, I liked that one. Those bastards attacked you first. You had every right to defend yourself.”

Isabelle laughed. Even when Now was mad at her, he apparently couldn’t keep from somewhat seeing her point of view. He must’ve really been a part of her psyche after all. And that made Isabelle trust him a little more, too.

“Glad you think that, Now. I really do think that. But there are people you don't have the right to kill, even if they deserve it. There will always be people who don't deserve it. And it's never worth killing someone just to prove you're right. Well, usually. Well, okay, sometimes you just have to kill somebody, but that’s irrelevant really.”

"So you're saying you don't have the right to kill me?" Now asked.

Isabelle shrugged. "If I wanted to, then I'd kill you. If I didn't, then I wouldn't. What's that? You think I'm bluffing? Fine. I'll kill you. I'll kill you now and get it over with."

"And what if I refuse to die?" asked Now as he opened his jaws, flames dancing around his tongue like it was a sparkler.

Isabelle grinned. "Then I'll still kill you." "No. I won't die," said Now.

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. But I'm still gonna try to kill you. It just means I'll have to try harder."

“You actually want to do this?” asked Now. “You want to have a mind-duel with me right now?”

“A mind duel?” asked Isabelle.

“Yup. This is a mental realm. So all that matters is your mind, not any weapons you may or may not have in your inventory,” said Now.

“Well shit,” said Isabelle. “Why do I still have the Overlord’s Black Steel Hammer slung over back, then?”

“That’s only a mental projection of the Overlord’s Black Steel Hammer,” said Now. “Any power it has is purely do to your own implicit biases and assumptions.”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow.

“Don't ask me, I’m not a fucking mind reader, I’m just part of your mind that you’ve closed off and made look like a dragon. I don’t know why it's there or how it really works either. I just know there is a physical object there that has a certain amount of power, and you can make it do whatever I want. The hammer has no inherent magical powers of its own. It just has a connection to you through your subconscious. You're the one who has to wield it. If I tried, it would just slip through my scaly claws.”

Isabelle nodded. "That’s pretty metal.”

Now shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyway. If that's the case then you could probably kill me with your bare hands if you wanted to."

Isabelle blinked.

“What?” asked Now.

Isabelle smiled.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” asked Now with a quiver in his voice.

Isabelle chuckled. “Isabelle, you’re scaring—”

Isabelle leapt forward and wrapped her hands around Now’s scaly neck, tightening them into a murderous vice grip.

“Fuck you, you fucking dragon!” she screamed.

“What the fuck?!” Now rasped as Isabelle squeezed his throat.

“I can kill you, you motherfucker! And I will kill you before I let you drone on and on about feelings and the subconscious ever again!” she screamed.

Isabelle pressed her thumbs against Now's neck, digging them deep into his scales. They were so hard, yet so slick. She could feel them grinding together.

“Stop acting like you’re better than me, you fucking imaginary flying lizard! You’re a fucking figment! You’re a fucking construct of my own imagination! You can’t fucking hurt me! You can’t do anything but exist in the fucking darkness between my ears! You can try to kill me, but you won’t succeed because you’re nothing more than a fucking fantasy that I made up!”

Now coughed. Blood dripped from his lips as he gasped for air.

“Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you you fucking bitch!!” said Isabelle. She let go of Now. He rasped and heaved.

“Oh my gods, I thought you were actually going to kill me,” said Now.

“I still could.” Isabelle smirked. She backhanded Now across the face. “Dirty fucking slut.”

Now blushed. “That... awakened some things in me, I think.

Isabelle grinned.

“You're welcome.”

“So... um... do you still want to go to the realm of the dead and lessen your emotional burdens or not?” asked Now.

“Sure, let’s go,” said Isabelle.

“Great!” said Now. He breathed a ring of fire in the air that quickly formed into a deep, dark portal. “Alright, step on in!”

Before Isabelle stepped in, she looked deep into the portal. She saw disembodied souls floating around in swirls, moaning in either agony or ecstasy. The closer she looked, the more dread she felt.

Was this a good idea?