No, it was definitely a bad idea.

Still, Isabelle stepped into the darkness beyond the portal and vanished. She was just too damn curious.

----------------------------------------

"

Wow. This place is really dark," said Isabelle.

She stood in the middle of a long hallway. The walls were lined with doors that were all tightly shut.

The ceiling was high, but the lights were dim. The only source of light came from a small, white glowing ball floating down the center of the hall.

"What's with the orb?" asked Isabelle.

"Why don't you try and find out?" said Now. "This is a journey of self- discovery, after all."

She walked down the hall, peering behind each door. Each room had a different color on the walls and floor. Some rooms had blood splatters, others were covered in dirt, or mold, or mud. There was even one room that was covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Where are we?" asked Isabelle. "Where aren't we?" replied Now. Isabelle rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, the orb began to float upward. It turned red as it moved. It floated above Isabelle, and then disappeared into the darkness above.

"What just happened?" asked Isabelle.

"It brought us to the realm of the dead."

"Weren't we there already?" said Isabelle with a scowl. "I already went through the portal."

"You cannot safely pass through to this side without a guiding light," said Now. "That was your guiding light."

"I thought you were my guide!" said Isabelle.

"I'm your spirit-soul guide. That's a lot different than a guiding light," said Now matter-of-factly.

"What a bunch of bullshit," said Isabelle.

"Come on, Isabelle. You don't mean that," said Now.

"Yes I do!" said Isabelle. "This is all just a crock of bullshit! You said yourself, it's all imaginary!"

Isabelle stopped walking. Her heart thundered in her chest.

"Please try and take this situation seriously," sighed Now. "It takes a lot of spiritual energy to sustain your passage here."

"Okay, well, let's get this over with, then," said Isabelle. She picked up her pace as she strode down the hall. Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps behind her. "Who's there?!" she screamed.

Isabelle spun around, ready to fight. But no one was there. "Hello? Who's there?! Is anyone there?!"

Isabelle looked around. She saw nothing. The hallway was empty.

"Oh come on, Now," Isabelle grumbled. "If you were trying to scare me, you would have done a better job of scaring me."

"I wasn't trying to scare you," said Now. "I wasn't even walking! I'm a flying dragon!"

"What?" exclaimed Isabelle.

"I can fly," said Now. "I just chose not to. Why would I want to walk when I can glide through the air instead? It's way more efficient."

"Who cares?" Isabelle rolled her eyes.

"It's a metaphor, Isabelle," said Now patiently. "The steps you heard were, I mean. It was an echo of your subconscious. Not unlike me, but it wasn't me. It was a metaphor."

"What? A metaphor?" Isabelle paused. "So what does that mean? Are you saying we both can fly, but that we choose not to?"

"Not exactly," said Now.

"Yeah, exactly," replied Isabelle.

Now smiled and laughed.

Then, Isabelle heard the footsteps again.

"Are you absolutely sure that's a metaphor, Now?" Isabelle asked. "Yes," he said.

"Because if it isn't, I'm going to be pissed off."

"Okay," said Now. "I'll prove it. Just sit still for a moment." "Why?" asked Isabelle.

"To prove that I wasn't the one walking," replied Now. "I'll show you by doing a loop-de-loop!"

"And how will that prove anything?" asked Isabelle. "Just trust me," said Now.

The room darkened as Now did a perfect 360-degree spin. His wings flapped powerfully, and then he glided back to where Isabelle was standing.

"See?" said Now. "Wasn't that fun?" "I didn't think so," said Isabelle.

"Well, I thought it was pretty fun," said Now. "It looks like you'll have to learn the hard way, though, Isabelle. And I'll be honest with you—if you don't stop making fun of me, I won't help you. We're supposed to be a team, remember?"

"We're not a team," said Isabelle. "Why the hell not?" Now was shocked.

"Because you're not real," said Isabelle. "By your own admission, too."

Now crossed his arms. "Just because I'm imaginary doesn't mean I'm not real, Isabelle. And just because you're real doesn't mean you're not imaginary."

"How can you be real if you're imaginary? And how can I be imaginary? I'm real!"

"It's a paradox, Isabelle," Now explained. "I'm both real and imaginary, and you're imaginary and real. It's impossible to prove one or the other. I'm both, you're both, you are me and I am you. I am a paradox, and you are a paradox. But we're not mutually exclusive. You're still real, and I'm still real, even though we're both imaginary."

"So, what you're saying is that you're imaginary, even though you're also real? Is that what you're saying?" asked Isabelle.

Now shrugged.

"That's ridiculous," said Isabelle. "Just admit that you're imaginary. I don't care if people think I've gone crazy and lost my mind, my life has been enough of a crazy shitshow to excuse it at this point. I'm tired of trying to figure out your logic. Just make yourself go away."

"Fine," Now said. "You're right. I am imaginary. But that just means I'm more real than you are."

Isabelle turned and walked away. Now followed. They continued their trek down the hallway.

"You know," said Now, "you aren't very nice at all."

"I've had a really long day," said Isabelle. "Hell, I've had a long reincarnation. And I've hardly even been in Beaubinte! What has it been, two weeks? A month at most? And I've lived an absolutely crazy life! It's ridiculous! And I haven't gotten even five minutes of a break the whole damned time, and the only time I did was when I meditated! And then I just got harassed by a dragon spirit the whole time I was meditating! And now you're doing the same thing! I can't get a damned break!"

"Well, maybe it's just a case of the blues."

"How can you say something like that?" Isabelle was incensed. "You're a fucking blue spectre! You're supposed to be understanding!"

"I'm not the Blue Spectre, Isabelle, I'm a blue dragon that's actually a fragment of your own soul," Now corrected. "The Blue Spectre is the only spirit who can say that they're the Blue Spectre. I'm nothing but a hologram, and the fact that you call me the Blue Spectre is the reason why I can't tell you whether or not I'm real. That's the irony of being a hologram."

"Well, you're a huge asshole for saying all that," said Isabelle. "Who the fuck is the Blue Spectre? No--don't answer that. I don't want to fucking know. I feel sick just thinking about it."

"So, you've finally come to your senses," Now remarked. "Good for you! I was beginning to worry that you were going to be stuck like this forever."

Two thundering footprints echoed through the hallway. "Okay, you can't tell me you didn't hear that," said Isabelle.

"Oh, no, I heard," said Now with a sigh. "I guess it's too late now. I'm real, Isabelle, and I'm going to show you."

"What?" said Isabelle. "What the fuck are you talking about? I've seen your face. You're the same as you've always been. I'm not falling for this shit again."

An ear-splitting explosion rattled the walls and shook the ground. Isabelle fell over, face-first.

[-1 hp]

"Hey!" Isabelle glared at Now. "I took damage from that!"

"I'll show you, Isabelle," Now said. "I'm going to let loose the full power of the Blue Spectre, and you're going to see me for who I truly am."

"So you're the Blue Spectre?!" Isabelle asked, incredulous and annoyed. A lot of emphasis was being put on this 'Blue Spectre' business, and she'd never even heard of a Blue Spectre before talking to Now!

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"No, Isabelle, I am not the Blue Spectre," said Now. "But I can become his conduit. Just as the entire universe is contained within and without me, so too is the Blue Spectre."

Another thundrous boom rattled the hallway and shook the ground, sending Isabelle tumbling back down just as she'd started pulling herself up.

[-1 hp]

"Oh, shut up! Just leave me alone, okay?"

"But I'm real. I'm real, Isabelle. And I can prove it." Now had a crazed look in his eyes.

A loud, echoing boom sounded within the temple. The walls shook violently, and the ceiling cracked. A tremendous amount of wind rushed into the room, and the walls and floor began to collapse.

"No, Now," Isabelle shouted. "That's way too much power, and you're gonna kill yourself!" She reached out her hand and grabbed hold of Now, trying to pull him to safety.

"No!" Now replied with a laugh. "No, I won't. I can't die. But you're too weak, Isabelle. Too weak. It's time for me to be free. This is my chance, Isabelle. I'm going to show you who I really am."

[-2hp]

Now's lips curled in a smile. He reached out his hand, and the entire temple began to crack.

"Now wait, Now!" Isabelle shouted. "Stop! Don't do this!"

She tried to grab hold of him, but he was too far away. There wasn't enough time.

The entire temple began to shake, and the walls crumbled. The floor gave way, and Isabelle fell into the hole.

Her screams reverberated throughout the endless expanse, but there was nothing she could do to save herself.

[-3 hp]

Isabelle hit the bottom of the pit, and everything went black.

----------------------------------------

Isabelle opened her eyes. Nothing. All she could see was nothing.

"Now what?" Her voice was faint, and it took a lot of effort to speak.

"Well, that went well," Now chuckled. "Not bad for a hologram, eh?"

"Yeah, well, you still have a problem," Isabelle said, sitting up and rubbing her head. "A serious problem. You might be a sadist."

"Well if this isn't a case of the pot calling the kettle a piece of cookware I don't know what is," said Now.

"Sorry, what?" said Isabelle. "What did you say?"

"I said," Now said, "rather, I implied that I'm only acting in a way that mirrors your own sentiments and choices. After all, I am a visualized abstraction of your psyche."

"Oh," said Isabelle. "So...that's why I got hurt? Because you're using me as a mirror?"

"Well, yes and no," Now replied. "I can't exactly control how you deal with things. I can't predict your every reaction. It's not really possible for me to understand you in any meaningful sense. Also, it'd be more like you using me as a mirror. Remember, I'm the conduit. I can be the conduit for you, I can be the conduit for the Blue Spectre, I can be the conduit for the universe if I want to. For I am Now."

Isabelle watched as the dragon's blue skin rippled and faded into a celestial map. Suddenly it looked as if Isabelle was looking at an infinite, undulating image of space and the stars and galaxies crushing and exploding against one another in a brilliant symphony.

"Yeah, I get that, I guess," said Isabelle. "But, like, don't you think that's just a little bit...creepy?"

Now did a double take. For a second, and only a second, his celestial appearance faded back to blue scales.

"Like, you're taking a bunch of crazy ideas you've had and trying to sew them together into meaning something," Isabelle said bluntly.

"You're quite right. I am taking these very notions and using them to create something new. New, yet holographic, life. And I'm doing this because I need to experience what it would be like to be a complete person. As I said before, I'm not real."

"Well, you're not very convincing," said Isabelle. "And also, I don't buy it."

"Okay, fine," Now replied. His celestial body shriveled and faded and he was once again a small blue dragon. "You really didn't think that was convincing? I thought it was very cool. And deep. You know, deep like the pit you fell into when I unleashed my infinite power upon the hallway?"

"It wasn't very deep," Isabelle replied. "Hell, I only took three points of damage to my hp. Do you know how irrelevant that is to me, considering how high my stats are? Really, I was just scared that you were going to blow up my brain or something."

"You're right, I probably would have," Now said. "...if I could have, I mean. See, the issue with me being a part of your mind is, well, blowing up the place wouldn't do me any good, I'll put it that way. Infinite as my consciousness may be."

"You're really creepy," said Isabelle. "I mean, you're like a weird cartoon character, except the whole time you're talking, my brain keeps telling me that you're not what you seem."

"I'm a hologram, Isabelle," Now said. "If you can't handle me being a hologram, then maybe I shouldn't even be here. I don't appreciate

this anti-hologram rhetoric, to be honest, and frankly, I'm offended. I think you should apologize."

"Apologize?" Isabelle scoffed. "For what? That's not even possible. I'm sorry that you're a fake hologram, but that doesn't change anything. You can't just take out your anger on me because you're less than you want to be."

Now looked at Isabelle with his large golden eyes and smiled. "Finally, you've learned something!"

"...I have?" Isabelle frowned. She didn't think she'd learned anything at all. If anything, she felt like this whole ordeal was making her stupider by the minute.

"Of course you have! Oh thank the gods!" Now teared up as he flew towards Isabelle and embrace her in a spiky, dragony hug.

"Ew, stop it!" said Isabelle as she pushed him away. "You smell like brimstone and churros."

"Churros?" Now asked. He cocked his head to the side and looked at Isabelle. "You don't know what churros are?"

"No, I don't know what churros are, I've never heard of them. That's why I said you smelled like them," Isabelle replied sarcastically. "Why?"

"They're delicious," Now replied. "A sort of fried pastry that they made in Valencia in the universe of your past life. They have chocolate and cinnamon and sugar on top, and then they dip them in a sort of sweet, salty sauce. Mmm. I do love a good churro." Now started rubbing his scaly underbelly and licked his lips with his serpentine tongue.

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Now. So, what does this have to do with anything?"

"Well, you see..." Now paused for a moment and his eyes became unfocused as he stared off into the distance. "...I've been thinking about things a lot lately, and I've come to realize that there was a reason I was so lonely when I was in your mind. It's not because I couldn't feel empathy. No, I felt everything you felt. I was just so disconnected from everyone else and everything around me that even though I knew what they were feeling, I just... I just didn't care. It's like, when I was fully with you in your mind instead of separate like this, it was just... it was impossible for me to care about what other people thought and felt! And yet at the same time, I was horrified and disturbed by it! I could scarcely believe it!"

"...Okay?" said Isabelle. She wasn't sure why Now thought she cared what he felt. As far as she was concerned, he was just some stupid hologram. "Doesn't sound like that much of a revelation. Are you done with your little lecture?"

"Not quite," Now said.

Isabelle blinked, and she was standing in the dark hallway again. It was like none of the explosions had ever happened. Like she'd never fallen into the pit.

"Right," said Now. "Just a few more steps." Isabelle sighed loudly and continued onward.

As they continued, the hallway became darker and darker. Eventually, the hallway ended at a large door with a skull on it.

"So is this the entrance to the realm of the dead?" asked Isabelle.

"Yes!" said Now. He smiled. "How'd you guess?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes and sighed. "So now that I've walked through the portal to the realm of the dead, and I've walked down the hallway of the dead and see my 'guiding light,' I'm now standing in front of the door to the realm of the dead."

"Correct," said Now.

"Do I actually get to go to the realm of the dead when I open this door? Or will this door just lead to another portal, and that portal to another door, and so on, until I finally end up in some other realm?"

"It's a shortcut, Isabelle," said Now. "Once you open the door, you'll be taken directly to the realm of the dead. There's no need to go through all of those other doors."

"Why didn't we just go to the realm of the dead automatically through the portal anyway?" questioned Isabelle. "Like... We're already here, right? I don't understand why I'm just being met with another stupid doorway."

"Because, Isabelle," replied Now, "if you want to enter into this realm, you must leave everything behind. This realm is filled with, among other things, all of your memories and experiences, all of your emotions, all of your fears, all of your hopes, and all of your regrets."

"Great," said Isabelle. "Sounds like fun."

"You can't see the realm of the dead in its entirety," said Now. "That would be terribly inconvenient. There are dead souls floating around everywhere, it's very creepy and obnoxious. So you'll be able to see only a small portion of it. But, if you want to enter, you must leave everything behind that was once important to you."

"Like... do you mean I have to take everything out of my inventory?" asked Isabelle skeptically.

"All attachments, Isabelle," said Now, "Loved ones, lovers, friends, cherished memories of the past, emotional milestones--"

"So do I have to take everything out of my inventory?" asked Isabelle.

"I think, Isabelle, you'll find that your connection to the people around you is much more important, and often much harder for people to give up, than just a few paltry posessions that only--"

"Look, if I have to give up so much as one item out of my fucking inventory I am not taking another goddamn step, Now," said Isabelle. "I don't give a fuck about the realm of the dead. I don't fucking care about the realm of the dead. I do not have all my life to go wandering around with you talking about dead people and imaginary metaphors. Is that clear enough for you?"

"Perfectly clear, Isabelle," replied Now. "Goodbye."

"Wait, now wait, now!" shouted Isabelle. "Now wait just goddamned--"

Now slammed the door behind him, leaving Isabelle alone in the dark hallway. Isabelle looked at the door angrily. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Then she sighed.

"Did my own subconscious projection just ditch me to go hang out with dead people?" Isabelle asked herself.

----------------------------------------

"Fucking bullshit dragon... what the fuck kind of a name is 'Now' anyways..." mumbled Isabelle under her breath. She blinked, noticing she was standing by the side of the airship, leaned over the edge staring at the clouds.

"Dragons," said the voice of Tahsi Junior.

"No, it was just one little dragon, floating around and telling me about my subconscious or some shit," grumbled Isabelle.

"Dragons!" said Jopher.

"No, I already said, it was just one dragon..." said Isabelle.

"Isabelle, there are fucking dragons in the sky right now," said Ryzer.

"Ryzer, what the hell are you--" Isabelle looked up and her jaw dropped. There were four dragons soaring through the air right

towards their ship! Three of them looked young, but one was clearly an adult. It was larger than the other three, and had a red and black coloration to its scales, which contrasted against the grey of the sky.

"Isabelle, I think they mean us harm," said Tahsi Junior.

"No shit," said Isabelle. "And to think, Now wanted me to give up my fucking weapons."

"Sorry, what?" said Tahsi Junior. "...Nevermind," said Isabelle.