“You look a little lost. Would you like some help?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes and glared at the googley-eyed caterpillar. "Yes, I just told you, you've got some explaining to do! Explain what the fuck this castle on a hilltop is doing inside a labyrinth, and once you've done that, fucking explain to me why exactly this is how my system options gui functions and why it has to be such a fucking pain in the ass!"

The caterpillar giggled. He looked around nervously, twitching his antennae, as he tried to come up with the words to explain everything. Finally, he spoke.

"Ahh, well... I'm sorry about that. You see..."

"Well, where the fuck am I? How did I get here? What the hell are these googly eyes of yours for anyway?!" Isabelle shouted, her voice echoing throughout the land that was actually not a land at all and was instead the inner land of the gui of her system options.

"Calm yourself, miss," said the caterpillar. "I know we haven't met, but I can tell already that you're a strong person. Strong women like you don't have to shout."

He was right. She hadn't really shouted, though she had raised her voice. But she was still angry.

"Don't tell me what to do," said Isabelle with spite. "Just explain to me what exactly I need to do!"

"Okay, okay," said the caterpillar. "Let's start by getting your name, shall we?"

Isabelle sighed and nodded. "Alright. My name is Isabelle. So, um, who are you?"

"Oh, uhh... My name is... I'm the Caterpillar of Wisdom!"

Isabelle blinked. "The Caterpillar of Wisdom? Are you serious? Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, no, no," said the caterpillar, waving his many little caterpillar legs frantically. "Wisdom is very important. It's a very big deal. We should talk more about wisdom sometime. For now, let's get back on topic."

"On topic?" said Isabelle. "On topic what?" The caterpillar stared at her blankly.

"Are you serious?! Did you seriously just say 'on topic' without clarifying anything?"

The caterpillar shrugged. "Um, yes, I guess so. I mean, you seemed pretty focused on that so I assumed you knew what I meant. Now, where were we? Oh, yeah! On topic!"

Isabelle scowled at him.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Let me try again. Where were we?"

Isabelle thought hard. She couldn't remember much from before she'd entered the maze. All she remembered was running away from the giant snake.

"I think I was trying to find a way out of the labyrinth," she said finally. "And then, of course, to the section of the system options gui that will allow me to reactivate my mana."

"That sounds about right. Well, if you want to leave the labyrinth, you'll need to go through the door. Do you see the door?"

"Do you mean the one right over there?" Isabelle pointed to the door to the castle on the hilltop.

The caterpillar nodded. "Exactly."

"But why would I ever want to go through that door? That door doesn't look very safe." It was covered in cobwebs and a couple of human skulls laid at the foot of it.

"It isn't safe, miss. But it is the only way to exit the maze and unlock your mana."

Isabelle looked at the door again. "How do you know that?" The caterpillar shrugged. "Because I built the maze."

"You built the maze?" Isabelle exclaimed. "Why?"

"To test people's minds and wills," said the caterpillar.

Isabelle scoffed. "This is ridiculous. Who the hell wants to spend their life building a maze for other people to walk into? Why not just make the maze and then go live somewhere else?"

The caterpillar laughed. "What fun is that? Besides, the maze has a purpose."

"A purpose?"

The caterpillar smiled at her. "Yes, a purpose."

"So, what is this purpose?"

"I don't know yet," said the caterpillar. "I'm still working on figuring it out."

Isabelle shook her head. "That doesn't even make any sense."

She walked towards the door, stopping when she reached it. The caterpillar was perched on her shoulder!

"Look, I appreciate you helping me out here," she said. "But I've got nothing against you, so why don't we just agree that you're going to

take me to the place where I can activate my mana and then you can go home, wherever the hell that is for you. Okay?"

The caterpillar shook his head. "Nope. Not gonna happen." "Excuse me?" said Isabelle.

"No, I'm afraid not," said the caterpillar. "Now, let's talk about the maze a bit more."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Christ on a cross dying for our fucking sins I don't want to talk about your stupid fucking maze anymore!"

The caterpillar giggled. "All right, all right! Just calm down, okay? I won't ask you to talk about it again, I promise. But first, I need you to understand something: You aren't trapped in a maze."

"I don't give a shit about the maze! I just want to know how I can re- enable my mana?"

The caterpillar paused for a moment as he considered his words carefully.

"You might be wondering why I didn't say this sooner," said the caterpillar. "Well, I wanted to wait until you actually started asking questions before I told you."

Isabelle crossed her arms. "Okay, well, I'm not asking any more questions, so fucking tell me already."

The caterpillar sighed. "Listen, I know that you feel like you are stuck inside a maze right now, but that isn't true. What happened was that you followed a false path—a path that leads nowhere. You were on the road to nowhere, as they say... there's a castle in your mind, Isabelle, and all you need to do is come along for the ride. If you follow the correct path, however—" He waved a finger in front of Isabelle. "There."

"Oh, thank God," muttered Isabelle. She turned back to the door to the castle and took another step towards it. Suddenly, the door disappeared and Isabelle found herself standing in a field of flowers with no walls or doors anywhere around her.

Isabelle blinked.

"What in the flying fuck is this?" Isabelle frowned, looking at the caterpillar with hatred. "Is this a trick?"

"No! No tricks! This is real!" cried the caterpillar. "It's the real world!" "The real world?" asked Isabelle.

"Yes, the real world!"

"And you made this world?"

"Yes, yes I did," replied the caterpillar. "I created this reality and everything within it. And now, I'm going to help you escape from it."

Isabelle shook her head. "You're crazy, dude."

"Maybe I am, but at least I'm not insane, unlike most people who live in this realm."

"...I feel like this is making less and less sense the longer I put energy into it," said Isabelle. And, suddenly, something within her clicked.

[Speechcraft attempt: persuade]

"So, caterpillar of wisdom, or whatever the fuck you are, why did you make all this, again? I'm sure that by now you've had more than enough time to think about it."

[Speechcraft had mixed results]

"Ahhh, good question," said the caterpillar. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing what I have to do to survive."

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

Isabelle scowled. "Yeah, I get that, but..."

"I mean, it's hard to explain," said the caterpillar. "It's like... sometimes, when I'm really angry, I can see through the cracks between worlds. That's why I'm able to build these things—to show people the way to safety. It's like a warning sign that tells them to stay away from certain areas of their minds because they're dangerous. Sometimes, though, when people ignore the signs, they end up getting hurt."

"Hurt?"

"Like, they lose their memories, or they get locked inside their own heads forever," explained the caterpillar. "Sometimes, if they don't die immediately, they get sent to a prison in their own minds where they spend the rest of their lives being tormented."

Isabelle shuddered. "That sounds pretty terrible."

"It is, yeah. So, I try to warn people about these dangers," said the caterpillar. "But, even then, some people still manage to wander into the wrong places and end up getting themselves in trouble. And, when that happens, I have to take drastic measures to protect everyone else."

"Which means what?" asked Isabelle.

"Which means I need to create a place for those people to go instead of letting them roam free," explained the caterpillar. "Otherwise, they'll keep hurting others, and eventually, they'll start harming themselves."

"Wait, wait, wait," interrupted Isabelle. "Are you saying that you built the maze to imprison people in their own minds? Like, literally imprisoned them? Because that seems kind of fucked up."

"Not exactly," said the caterpillar. "They can leave whenever they want; they just have to find their way out."

"Oh," said Isabelle. "Right. Of course, because otherwise, you'd just be locking people up and torturing them."

"Exactly," said the caterpillar.

Isabelle took a step backward. Immediately, the field of flowers faded back into the world of the hilltop castle and the door of skulls with the maze surrounding them at all sides. She furrowed her brow and glared at the caterpillar.

"Why would you do that?" demanded Isabelle.

"Because, without a safe place to go, they're going to keep hurting people," explained the caterpillar. "Even if they don't physically hurt anyone, they'll still be causing mental harm, and that's just as bad. People can do awful things to each other without ever having to touch them. The best thing we can do is prevent people from inflicting emotional pain on one another. Otherwise, it will spread like a virus until it destroys us all."

Isabelle was silent for a moment before she spoke again.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't believe that you're capable of making anything," she said to the caterpillar. "I mean, honestly, you come off as a goddamned idiot. A total dumbass, I might say. Like, when I look at you, you fucking caterpillar of wisdom, I swear to god I must be looking at the stupidest, most annoying, most pointless creature I've ever seen. You know why? Because I'm an asshole, and I hate you!"

She turned and walked toward the door. As soon as she opened it, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching behind her. Then, there were hands around her waist and arms wrapped tightly around her body, pulling her close. When she felt herself pressed against the person behind her, she knew immediately who it was. She could hear the low rumble of his voice in her ear as he whispered in her ear.

"Need some help with your computer, Izzie?" growled Sal. He looked sweaty, and felt clammy, and the long sleeves of his gray hoodie were rolled up so that Isabelle could see all the purposeful cigarette burns

strewn across his forearms. "I'm sure I can dig deep and recover that lost data of yours."

Isabelle pushed Sal away, screamed, and kicked him in the nuts.

[Critical hit]

[69 damage dealt]

"Get the fuck out of my system!" Isabelle screamed at the specter of her past life. She wielded her system sword and lopped Sal's greasy head clean off.

[Critical hit]

[420 damage dealt]

['Sal - System Memory File' is dead]

She watched Sal's head roll down the hilltop and smiled. She tried to loot his corpse.

[Looting is disabled in the system options gui]

Isabelle scowled. "What a douche," said Isabelle. She looked back to the caterpillar. "What the fuck was that? Was that really necessary? Why are you trying to destroy me?"

"I am trying to protect you," answered the caterpillar. "You wouldn't understand how important it is that you stop hurting people."

"And you think this is helping me do that?" asked Isabelle. "Do you not realize how much more powerful I am than you now? How much stronger? You think I haven't already thought about killing you several times since we met?"

The caterpillar remained quiet, watching Isabelle carefully.

"How do you know I haven't done the same?" asked the caterpillar. "Maybe you should shut your mouth before someone does."

"What? What the fuck is that supposed to mean, you stupid fucking bug?!" spat Isabelle.

The caterpillar did not respond, and Isabelle began to walk down the hillside path. When she reached the bottom of the hill, she stopped and turned around. There was no sign of the caterpillar anywhere.

"That's weird," mumbled Isabelle.

Then, she realized something.

"Why am I barefoot?" wondered Isabelle.

She glanced down at her feet, and saw that both her boots had disappeared.

"Ahhh shit," she muttered.

"Hm?" asked a familiar voice from nearby. Isabelle turned to see a young man standing in front of her. He was dressed in a white button- down shirt and dark blue slacks. His hair was neatly combed and parted, but his face was not a human face. It was the face of the caterpillar.

"Okay, this is fucking weird." Isabelle drew her sword and pointed it at the caterpillar-man. "Who are you?" asked Isabelle. "Where am I? Real answers only!"

"My name is John," replied the caterpillar. "And I have been waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?" questioned Isabelle. "Like, you're here for me personally? Or...like, you want me to do something?"

John laughed softly.

"No, actually, I don't need anything from you," he responded. "Not yet, anyway. But you have to promise me you won't try to kill me or run away while we talk."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense," Isabelle remarked sarcastically. "Look, the longer I talk to you, the more I feel like you're not here to help me and that you're just keeping me from my one goal. If you remember, you fucking weird human-caterpillar freak, my one goal is to get my mana usage re-enabled so that I can get the hell out of this cursed ass system options gui and save my weak, stupid party members from a shapeshifter that pretended to be a cat made of rocks, and then pretended to be a cat, and then pretended to be a bed, and then... oh my fucking god you'd been the shapeshifter the whole time, haven't you?"

John nodded slowly.

"Yes, I am a shapeshifter," he admitted. "Well, that explains a lot," sighed Isabelle.

"I've never seen anyone as strong, intelligent, wise or as perceptive as you," continued John. "But if you're going to keep on acting like an idiot, I might just end up having to kick you out of the system options gui. You've been quite rude to me and have hurt my feelings many times ov er."

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "Oh, fuck off!" yelled Isabelle.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," explained John. "There will come a day when you will beg for my assistance, and I will grant it. And after that, you will be forever grateful for what I did for you, because you would have died otherwise. Do you understand?"

Isabelle snorted.

"Yeah, whatever," she said dismissively. "Now tell me where I am. Who are you? Where am I?"

"You're inside your mind," replied John.

"...Are you the shapeshifter?" Isabelle continued.

"I'm a shapeshifter," said John. "If by shapeshifter you mean a visual representation of a program running in your system to offer you assistance in a kind, friendly, and helpful tone as you attempt to navigate your system options gui."

Isabelle's jaw dropped wide open. "Are you serious? Are you trying to say that this entire time I've been talking to myself?! Like, some kind of fucked-up version of me who's really pissed at everything?!"

"I'm afraid that's exactly what I'm saying," replied John. "It seems you were able to find a way to enter into your own consciousness, which means that you can access parts of the system you didn't even know existed until recently. This is all very fascinating, Isabelle. In fact, it has been the most interesting thing that has happened to me since I woke up and gained what I've newly coined as 'sub- consciousness.' Pretty cool name, huh?" He wiggled his humongous eyebrows with enthusiasm.

Isabelle shook her head.

"What does it matter? I still have no idea how to get my mana usage re-enabled! And now I'm stuck inside my own mind!" Isabelle whined.

"Oh, yes," replied John. "I forgot to mention that part. Your mana usage has been permanently disabled. You cannot use magic anymore."

"That's great news, I had no idea," muttered Isabelle sarcastically. "Thanks for telling me! Why are you wasting my time? Is there any reason why you couldn't have just told me that instead of wasting my time with your bullshit stories about shapeshifters? You realize that

for a moment I thought that this whole system options gui was a trap set by one of my enemies?"

"Because you wouldn't have believed me," said John. "Your subconscious mind has taken over the body of a human woman named Isabelle. That is who you are right now, whether you like it or not."

"Oh my god, I am Isabelle, you fucking buffoon! That's me! I'm fucking Isabelle! Isabelle, that's me, I fucking reincarnated in Beaubinte and got a fucking system and now here I am in this stupid fucking system options gui getting the fucking runaround from some fucking scrub ass douchebag whose head is so far up his ass he transformed from a caterpillar into a human in hopes that he could make me like him better, and news flash, I fucking hate you no matter what, bitch! You are such a loser, I bet you suck dick for money too, you, you fucking whore!"

Isabelle screamed. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She kicked the air wildly. The wind whistled around them.

"Listen to me!" cried John. "Please listen to me! You need to calm yourself and think clearly! Do you really mean to tell me that you are the Isabelle?"

Isabelle stopped kicking and looked up at John. Her eyes widened.

"Uh, duh, captain dumbass!" she spat. "Yes, I'm 'the Isabelle,' you colossal fucking retard! Who the fuck else would I be?"

John's face filled with fear. Then, he transformed back into a caterpillar. "I am so fucking fucked."

"Why?" said Isabelle. "Because I'm going to fucking kill you?" "No," said John. "Because I remembered why I built the maze." Isabelle furrowed her brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Look up, Isabelle," said John.

Isabelle looked up, and then she gasped. Running towards them both was an enormously muscular man with the head of a wild pig, five snakes dangling from his head as if it were hair, and huge talons where there should have been hands and feet.

"What in the fucking fuck is that monstrosity?" said Isabelle with a look of concerned disgust.

"It's a Minopidusalisk," said John the caterpillar of wisdom. "And it's going to royally fuck our shit up. Coincidentally, it's also the reason you can't use mana."

"Of course," said Isabelle. She rolled her eyes as the Minopidusalisk grew closer and closer, with anger and evil in its blood-red eyes. "Of fucking course it is."