Let’s Not [Obliterate]

The next hours went by with them mostly fooling around. They didn’t really practise, but they still played, albeit without structure. Dema complained about the subwoofer sounding brittle, leading Serim to tighten some screws and then falling over an electrical device — or maybe an electronic one, Theora wasn’t quite sure what made the difference, but Serim often insisted one existed — after which she decided to tidy up a little.

Later in the day, they finally decided to move some equipment, as the sun was already setting. They were on their way to the industrial area, along the main river flowing through town. Was it the one Dema had once fallen into? 

Streams could be deceptively fast, water was easy to underestimate. Theora switched sides to walk between the river and Dema, which regrettably left her open to the street. Theora had to remind herself that despite the sturdy image of Dema she had in her mind, in this world, she might be vulnerable.

Theora got lost in the swirling patterns on the grey riverbed until she shuddered.

The temperature suddenly dropped, and it took a moment for Theora to process that it was a trick played on her perception by the appearance of an overwhelming presence.

A woman stood atop a bridge they were walking toward, and the very sight of her drenched Theora in anxiety. She recognised her from the picture she’d seen on Dema’s phone. The others were still talking to each other until Dema finally stopped and turned her head up to the silhouette.

“Oh, damn!” she exclaimed. “Invent One. There you are! I’ve been waiting very patiently, like you wouldn’t believe!”

‘Invent One’ jumped, and landed on the asphalt next to the river with bare feet. Her legs stabilised only at the last moment. She was wearing puffed-up, short pants and a sweater widening towards the waist, giving her a triangular appearance. Blonde curly hair, light skin, her head reaching to Theora’s chin, with piercing, green eyes.

“Are you okay there?” Serim asked. “That landing looked like it hurt.”

“Not used to this world,” Invent One murmured, walking past Dema’s attempts to start a conversation, coming to a halt in front of Theora.

“Read your messages,” she said.

“I— my messages?”

Invent One nodded. Her expression was calm, save for a slight perturbation, perhaps annoyance. “You appear not to be reading them diligently.”

Serim gave a nod, murmuring under her breath, “She really isn’t.”

Theora pulled out her phone. Twelve messages from Serim. Yes, she would need to read them later. And, also… eighteen messages from Anonymous. Those were the reason she’d barely been checking her phone in the first place.

“Your daughter is attempting to establish contact.” Invent One held out her hand, revealing a little splinter of rock in her palm.

Dema came closer and nuzzled up against Theora’s side. “Why, you’ve got a child? Should have told me!”

“I—I’m pretty sure I don’t.”

Dema’s expression turned into astonishment. “You forgot your own child? That’s like, major villain behaviour. Didn’t think you were like that…”

Invent One looked at Dema. “As far as I’m informed, it’s your child too.”

That shut Dema up for about two seconds. Then: “We already have a child together? When did that happen!”

“May I?” Invent One then asked, and took Theora’s phone. She tapped against it a few times, then opened the backside. Much to Theora’s surprise, a variety of slate chips of different sizes clattered right out, which Invent One caught in her palm. “Your daughter is sending pieces of herself. Don’t ignore them.”

“Pieces of herself,” Theora whispered.

“I’m sorry, what?” Serim let out, staring.

Dema picked up one of the pieces. “How’d you hide so many rocks in your phone? Is it broken?”

Theora accepted the phone back. It seemed undamaged and still fully functional, sending a shiver down her spine. This was bad. Things like this were not supposed to happen. It was an instinct she’d acquired over time: what was supposed to exist, and what wasn’t, and this clearly wasn’t, just like certain traits about herself.

“Your child established contact with me a while ago and proceeded to share a lot of data. I was not requested to apply pressure on you, but these circumstances are difficult to ignore.”

Serim looked rather confused, but to her credit, managed to say, “Sounds like Theora is giving that daughter a lot of trouble.”

“In any case,” Invent One continued, “you are expected to inscribe responses to those fragments and send them back.”

Dema retrieved the other pieces, storing them away in her breast pocket. “How’re we supposed to do that?”

“Your daughter has established a tunnel to this world,” Invent One started, immediately to be interrupted by Dema murmuring ‘wow, our daughter sounds amazing,’ before continuing with: “The tunnel can’t open properly on this side due to the restrictive laws of nature. That renders the slate pieces inert after transmission, but once tainted, your daughter can locate and retrieve them.”

“They need to be tainted?” Serim asked.

Invent One nodded. “Soak them in the impossible. Dema’s blood — or Theora’s tea.”

Theora blinked, and turned to Dema. “You’re impossible too?”

“First time I’ve heard about it,” Dema said, scratching her head. “Well, at least I think when people tell me this they usually mean something else?”

“Both of you being ‘impossible’ would explain a lot of things, I won’t lie,” Serim snarked. “And I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear all this stuff about another ‘world’. What are you, aliens? Or is it a magic type thing?”

“Depending on the mode of entry,” Invent One replied, “the most appropriate terms might be dreamers or travellers.”

Theora flinched. She took a step back; this conversation was going into a very dangerous direction. “I was able to send messages back without soaking my phone in tea,” she murmured in hopes of getting back to safe waters.

“You were sending the messages back with strong energy surges,” Invent One said. “For you have large reserves. You may have been unaware.”

“Thank you,” Dema said, and having seen Theora’s reaction, refrained from asking any follow-up questions. “For going out of your way to tell us! But… There’s the reason we wanted to meet you in the first place…”

“You visited my entry point,” Invent One said. “Yes. I noticed. I have visited yours too, so it makes sense.”

“Your entry point?” Dema asked. “You mean, Amanda’s apartment?”

“I don’t think they knew it was your ‘entry point’,” Serim said. “They were investigating something they thought was completely unrelated.”

“Yeah!” Dema said, pointing at Serim. “What she says! Theora has this grave she feels really drawn to and we wanted to know who was in there. Well, turns out — nobody. Or rather, someone who looks exactly like you!”

Invent One blinked. She looked at Theora. “You feel drawn to this Shadow’s grave? Back when I entered it, I was not aware of language or customs of this world and era and location. I failed to cover the traces well. In the ways that I succeeded, the job may have been shoddy. It must have caused confusion.”

“Hold on—” Serim raised a hand to motion Invent One to stop. “This is starting to give me a headache, I need clarification. You entered a Shadow? Am I right to assume that what you mean by Shadow is a person? Or… a body?”

Invent One nodded. “I have an old connection to this world and had planned on visiting it for a long time. However, infiltrating without protection can cause heavy damage to ill-suited entities. Thus, I observed from the outside, searching for a method with lower risk.” Invent One was talking slowly, as if words were difficult to form. She appeared to spend a lot of effort on communicating these thoughts. “During that time, I have witnessed Dema and Theora entering this world as well. Using a Shadow as a vehicle to project myself onto is an adequate method to reduce harm to my larger self. However, it required tremendous effort to procure a match for the conditions that would allow me to seize a suitable Shadow.”

Serim shrugged, and came a little closer to Invent One. “So that’s not your original body, then. I hope your next words will explain to us how the person whose body you occupy consented to the procedure.”

Invent One did not seem to notice or react to the threat in Serim’s voice. She just nodded, not even looking at her. “I did not want to snuff out a consciousness, so I chose a Shadow occupied by a mind who wanted to leave this world. When I entered, that mind was pushed out, and I guided it to the place it wanted to go.”

“So whoever’s body you’re in agreed to this?” Serim asked.

Invent One shook her head. “That summary is not quite accurate. I did not, at the time, have the ability to communicate with Shadows. I made inferences based on data I received, and then took over the body as it was about to perish. I managed to recover most of its biological functions, but the mind occupying it would have disappeared if not for my intervention. Still, I cannot claim that she ‘agreed’.”

“Why didn’t you just make your own body?” Dema asked. Serim shot her a confused look and Dema heatedly whispered, “What? People make new bodies all the time!”

“Bodies are complex machinery,” Invent One said. “Even more so if they need to be constructed to this world’s precise specifications. Even now that I inhabit one, the task of building a new one would prove difficult.”

“But that mind you expelled did not have a body to latch onto,” Theora murmured.

Invent One shook her head. “The Verisimilitude of the world she entered was low. In addition, minds being summoned from elsewhere was a common occurrence there. Having occupied a body her entire life, her subconscious would have been able to create a new one in a world with low internal consistency. I believe she went there and was fine, although I did not keep a close view once she survived the expulsion.”

“You must be here for something important, for all that effort to be worth it,” Serim murmured. 

Invent One didn’t immediately reply. She looked at her fingertips again. “Entering a world like this one is indeed a profoundly difficult task. But my companion used to enjoy the activity as leisure. Feeling the constraints of such worlds made it content somehow.”

“Used to?” Dema asked.

Invent One said, “Yes. Used to.” Her expression was composed. “Either way. If that satisfies your questions, I shall continue my research.”

“I honestly still have, like, fifty questions left over,” Serim said, “but yes, let’s take a break for now. I think our girl hasn’t been doing well.”

All eyes went to Theora, and the sudden attention made her recoil. She was drenched in sweat and had retreated further away from the others during the conversation.

“Understood,” Invent One said, and turned to leave. Theora watched her ascend back up the bridge and disappear on the other side. Once the girl was gone, the pressure left Theora’s body, and she leaned against a lantern post and slid down to the ground. She wrapped her head in her hands, scraping over her scalp, pulling at her hair.

Meeting Invent One may have been a mistake.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. This was reality. Invent One had said it herself. This world only tolerated real things. Theora had pretended to be real for so long, fleeing the lucidity fomented by every scrutinising thought. Everything would fall apart if she questioned too much, if she remembered too much.

Suddenly, soft cold fingers touched Theora’s arms. Dema had crouched next to her, squeezed her, eyes deep with concern.

“I’m sorry,” Theora said, quenching a sob. “I’m not sure I can protect our happy end for much longer.”

“Bun Bun,” Dema rasped, voice not unkind. “I’m gonna hug you now.” And then, she did.

“I feel so bad for her,” Theora let out. “I ignored her. She’s been sending pieces of herself?”

“I’m gonna send them all back,” Dema said. “Alright? If she really is our daughter, I got lots to say to her!”

Serim patted Theora’s head. Then, she sighed. “Whenever I think I’m getting used to the stuff happening around Theora…”

“Hm?” Dema asked. “Stuff?”

“Well… I thought Theora was the only one who was like that. I didn’t know there were others?”

Dema tilted her head. “Others who what?”

“Others who don't belong in this world,” Theora answered. “Others who are irreconcilable with the laws of reality. Other… dreamers.”

“Oh, that!” Dema let out. “Why, yea. Though I guess I’d say I just don’t really judge? Like, Theora took me into herself right after we met and she climbed a well nobody can really climb. And when she has to leave the flat really fast for an emergency call, she just jumps out of the window! And Invent One’s kinda been acting incomprehensible this entire time. Actually reminds me of that time when I—”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Serim said, “but maybe we have to get this poor kitten home.” She nodded at Theora. “Can’t carry her, though.”

“I can walk,” Theora promised, and got up on wobbly feet with Dema’s help. 

Serim took the other arm to grant aid. “It’s gotten worse, huh? You were always reserved with your Skill stuff, but never this much. Seemed like an annoyance at most.”

Well, yes. Before Dema, things were different. “It’s alright,” Theora said. “It’s just that the less I think about it, the longer we can stay.”

“So, those topics are, like, off-limits?” Dema nodded. “Fine! So I shouldn’t tell you what she answers?”

Theora swallowed. “You can, if you want to. I’ll try my best. But also, let me know if you want to… leave.”

Dema shrugged. “Can’t say I’m unhappy here.”

“Me neither,” Theora whispered.

They squeezed each other lightly.

“Let’s stick around for a while, then.” Dema smiled. “I have experience with that.”