‘Wake up. You’ve been sleeping for two weeks now.’

‘Huh…?’

Sofis gradually opened her eyes, finding the same darkness of the structure before she had slept. The others were sleeping soundly still, drifting about in their dreams. The area was the same as before, everything just as she remembered. Though she couldn’t possibly remember every single detail of the hall before she went into her slumber, she was positive that nothing’s changed.

Except one thing.

Sofis didn’t really recognise the person in front of her, or rather… what seemed like a person. On one hand, her eyes were registering the figure in front of her as a human being, yet on the other hand, her intuition was whispering that it wasn’t so. She was indeed seeing a person, or so she was led to believe by her logic. The irrational intuition just wouldn’t seem to go away despite every bit of evidence that stood before her.

What was she even doubting? This was supposed to be a simple observation. Had she really slept for so long that her mind had been all jumbled up?

‘Sofis, look at me carefully.’

She rubbed her eyes. Before her was a short man, or perhaps a boy, dressed in robes that didn’t belong to the treasure hunters. In fact, he was dressed in clothing unique from anything she had ever seen. He was wearing a grey hooded shirt, the fabric comfortably wrapping around his slender body. The appearance seemed to be like wool, but it didn’t look as warm or fuzzy. It was too neat. His trousers, too, fit him well, being made of a blue fabric that she couldn’t even fathom the origin of. His shoes were coloured black with white bottoms, but had a shape that resembled nothing like the footwear she was used to seeing. His whole appearance didn’t scream extravagant wealth, but anyone with good eyes could see these were fine clothes, perhaps worn by some noble in a faraway kingdom. Her linen robes, made by the best local seamstress she knew, seemed like rags in comparison.

‘You have good eyes, judging people first by their clothing before their face,’ he said.

She flinched. She didn’t look at him too creepily, did she?

‘But that’s exactly what you’d do, honestly. You did the same to the treasure hunters when you first met them back at the Academia. Practically eyed them from head to toe, making quick judgement about their character and habits from your observations. You thought they looked like beggars compared to the scholars all around you. That short meeting alone was enough to make you think twice about this expedition. Well, in the end, for the sake of the story, you still went with them.’

Huh? The boy somehow recited her first impression of the treasure hunters as if he was living in her mind. It wasn’t that the band had a good first impression of her as well, but it was still something she wished she had sole ownership of knowing, especially when everyone else was in the same room at this moment.

But what did he mean by ‘the story’?

‘So, what do you think of these ruins so far? Neat, isn’t it?’ He brushed off the dirt on the ground before he sat down.

She looked at him in bewilderment. ‘I… actually have a question.’

‘Go ahead. You’re supposed to start speaking by now.’

‘Who exactly are you?’

‘Who do you think I am?’

‘That’s not an answer.’

‘But that is my answer. You’re probably confused, but in time, you’ll understand who I am.’

The boy was being unnecessarily mysterious. For a moment, all she did was to stare at the ground or around the hall, unable to think of any proper response. Just as the boy said.

That’s when she noticed the vegetation in the area seemed to be slightly more luscious than before. She could’ve sworn even the fastest-growing vines wouldn’t climb up the arms of some of the treasure hunters that fast.

‘Anyway,’ the boy finally broke the silence. ‘Are you looking at the plants right now? For a scholar of Academia Historica, your eyes seem to just wander everywhere. Daydreaming and simply focusing on random things have always been your habit. From the moment you stepped into these ruins, your mind had been dancing around the stones, detailing and architecture of this place. Which, I must say, is quite nice. A cute detail about you, even.’

She shrunk back a little at his words. His narrow eyes were focused completely on her, his body leaning slightly forward as if she was being examined as well. If anything, the boy was the creepy one at this point.

‘How do you know these things about me?’ she still managed to say, maintaining her composure.

‘Uh, how should I put it…’ He tapped the ground rhythmically to pass the time as he seemed to go deep in thought. ‘I just know, I guess?’

Sofis was quite positive she was talking to a lunatic in her dreams.

‘Oh, this isn’t a dream,’ he said, perfectly reading her mind once more. ‘Remember what I said about you sleeping here for two weeks? It’s real. Or at least that was approximately how long I waited before I returned to observe you once more.’

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Even if he claimed that this was reality, there was no other logical explanation other than this scene being a dream. The boy practically knew her as well as herself. She might as well be talking to a mirror.

Somehow, imagining the boy as another version of herself made her slightly less tense. This was just a dream. She just had to wait until it was over.

‘Ehem…’ she cleared her throat. ‘I take it that you supposedly know everything about me, including my deepest thoughts? Because you just know?’

‘Yes. Do you want me to bring up the memory of that one time you choked on ink because you mistook it for medicine?’

‘Wait what—’ She did not want to remember that case of embarrassment.

‘I just know.’

‘Mm, anyway,’ she said, quickly bringing herself back. ‘Given that you know everything about me, I take it that you also have the power to know everything about the others?’

‘Naturally. I can’t really prove it right now, but I do know.’

‘Are you some kind of creature in these ruins? A… thing that exists here?’

If so, she wanted to study him.

‘You want to study me?’

‘Oh, right. Of course you can read my thoughts. I’ll just say everything in my mind from now on, perhaps.’

Perhaps—

‘You’ll say everything in your mind, right?’

‘Right. Mm.’

‘So you want to study me?’

‘Yes.’

‘You can only know as much as I reveal to you. It’s impossible for you to study any further than that. Things that I do not disclose now are either simply because I haven’t thought of them yet, or you have yet to discover them yourself.’

‘Perhaps. But you will answer my questions, won’t you?

‘Sure, I guess. Your questions will all be within expectations, after all.’

‘To have a subject of study that can respond to any of my queries will be quite interesting. No primary source is better than one alive.’

‘Well said, scholar. Now, ask away.’

‘Who are you?’

‘I already answered that question.’

‘Sigh… Next question: why are you here?’

‘Because I want to. I can come here as often as I want.’

‘How can you even get here?’

‘This world is mine. I don’t need a reason to be here. When I want to dive into this world, just as you indulge in your own fantasies, I am here. In fact, the thing you’re talking to is just a character, an idealised version of me who exists, fictionally, in this world.’

‘I don’t understand. Does that mean that it is you who built these ruins?’

‘Mm… Technically, I did create this temple. It’s still very much incomplete, though. When you see all of what I need you to see, that is when it’s complete.’

‘What do you need me to see? Assuming your words are all true, you are the one who built and made this… “temple” complex only for the sake of being discovered. For such a structure, there should’ve been some further motive other than leaving it to be abandoned for later people to explore. Even the smallest artefact discovered had some purpose in life before it became an artefact.’

‘But I did make it to be like that. The place is not as old as you think. Sure, it’s over a thousand years old, apparently. But for me? That’s just a speck of time I used to conjure up the place. The moment this temple was created, it was already in ruins. I never imagined it as a structure by itself, only the shadow of a fake glory in some unknown past that I did not even bother to create. I just don’t have an image of it in its “completion”, if you get what I mean.’

‘I… do not. It doesn’t make sense. I have a thought, but since you can read it anyway, here it is, in your face: I think you’re practically speaking nonsense.’

‘Ouch. But this is why I created the world, this temple in the first place. For you and these treasure hunters to explore. And as the definition of the temple goes, it is a structure dedicated to me. In fact, the entire world is my temple, for it’s the house in which I reside… sometimes, when I feel like it. In fact, I am continuing my craft as we speak, and you will have no awareness until you see the finished result.’

‘And what am I supposed to see?’

‘Whatever I conjure up for you to experience and study. Dragons, caves, unicorns, elves, dwarves, fiery dungeons, robots, floating islands and platforms… Whatever I feel like creating for you.’

‘I have never heard of these things.’

‘Now you have.’

‘Are these things only native to the ruins?’

‘I… guess? I intended them only for your eyes to see. The world practically revolves around you, Sofis. Simply because I want it to be so. Like it or not, you’re the main character. There’ll be places that do not even exist for my reality, yet they do for yours because I imagined them to be so. Just for your enjoyment to have. While these places are fiction for me, they will become reality for you, or at least to your awareness and understanding. What you see, what you hear, what you feel here will all be dictated by me. But you won’t be aware of that until I make you aware.’

‘Whatever you say. This is only a dream of my own conjuring.’

‘As I said already, this isn’t. This isn’t your imagination or your daydreams, Sofis. You are awake. But you must soon sleep as well. I’ve already prepared something new for you and your band.’

‘And what will that be, pray tell?’

‘You’ll see. But time’s almost up, Sofis. You should sleep.’

‘And I will wake up soon.’

‘You will. Perhaps by the next time I return to observe you.’

‘Goodnight, whoever you are.’

‘Night, Sofis. As a scholar of Academia Historica, you are about to witness history in its fullest. I created all the history there is necessary to know in this world, after all. Oh, and by the way, you are definitely much more talkative when you believe the conversation here only belongs in your fantasy of mind. Just like me.’

No dream had ever ended this naturally. As the boy began to fade away from her sight, her eyes also began to blur. It was quite a relaxing dream, albeit a very nonsensical one. Still, it was quite entertaining to engage in conversation with someone who seemed to know her well. A bit too well, perhaps. But she would return to reality soon. She hoped such a dream would later repeat itself, but as dreams went, she’d probably forget much of it by the time she woke up. She shouldn’t put much thought into it.

‘I really haven’t checked in on this story for two weeks now, haven’t I? Man, shouldn’t be procrastinating on writing, of all things.’ The boy uttered one last sentence before he completely disappeared from sight.

Dreams were always ridiculous events.