Chapter Sixteen: Questions

"You DIED?" I nearly screamed.

Okay, maybe I actually screamed… But cut me a break, okay? Just this once? You'd probably scream, too.

"Turns out, you're not the only one the assassins came after," Cruz went on to explain, taking a small hit off his joint. He offered it to me, but I didn't take it—I was still pretty confused. "I made a batch of pot brownies and had them with the imps that were chilling at my place. I was just minding my own business, blasting some tunes, and then this Dersite guy busts down my door and throws a knife at me…got me right through the throat. Hurt like a motherfucker. Next thing I know, I wake up here. Been here ever since…"

"So…you died," I repeated myself, a bit less shouty this time.

"No, I just used up a life," Cruz answered. When all he got in reply from me was a blank stare, he was quick to clarify. "God damn it, I keep forgetting-"

"Yes, I know, you keep forgetting how my sprite is a fucking psychopath," I grumbled. This wasn't the first time I'd heard this spiel.

"Well, actually, from what Cass has been telling me, your sprite is actually a pretty cool dude."

"Cool dude?" I didn't even go through the trouble of arching an eyebrow—both of them shot up my forehead. "Cool dude? Do I need to remind you how he completely melted the fuck down and tried to skewer me? And wait, what the hell is Cass doing with my sprite?"

"Well, the poor guy's been through a lot, apparently," Cruz shrugged in reply. "Cass says he won't talk about it, but your sprite is dealing with some really fucked up mental shit. But yeah, you should probably talk to Cass sometime in the near future…from what she's been saying about your sprite, you might have yourself some competition."

"Competition? With Cass?" I tried to hide my disbelief, but I don't know how well I was able to. "He's a goddamn sprite. He's an emotional wreck of an undead dream self. He has wings. Everything below his neck is covered in feathers. His hands look like fucking eagle talons. He probably doesn't even have a dick, anymore! He's not exactly romance material."

"Hey, man, all I know is what I've heard from the others," Cruz held up his hands in mock surrender. "You and Anna have both been off the grid ever since we got here, barely contacting the others. Cass hasn't heard a peep from you in ages; she keeps asking me how you are."

"She's never online when I am!" I protested. "It's not like I've been deliberately ignoring her, you know; you have no idea what kind of shit I've been going through with my fucking consorts. And now she's hanging out with the winged feathery psycho…"

"Yeah, your sprite went nuts and freaked out on you," Cruz rolled his eyes as he spoke. "But that was, like, forever ago, bro! A lot's happened since then, while you've been incognito."

"We're done talking about this," I interrupted, putting an abrupt end to that topic of conversation. We'd gotten off on a pretty big tangent, anyway, and I wanted to get back to what I'd originally been asking Cruz. I also didn't really want to keep on discussing the matter of possible shit between Cass and my Sprite—that shit would never work, but it would drive me crazy if I kept thinking about it. "What did you mean, you used up a life?"

"Oh, right…man we got offtopic, there," Cruz chuckled. "Okay, uh… How can I explain this? When your waking self kicks the bucket, your dream self slowly starts to suffer from the same wounds that killed your main self. But if another Hero kisses your corpse, your consciousness will be permanently transferred to your dream self, and your healed dream self becomes your new, permanent body. It revives you."

I blinked once. "Okay, how high are you? Really?"

Cruz gave another shrug. "Hey, bro, believe me or don't believe me. Or rather, believe Gwen or don't believe Gwen, since she's the one who told me about this shit. I think it sounds pretty whacked out, too, but that's just the way it is. No real sense in questioning it, you know? Not when you know it works."

"Okay… Okay, so some Dersite asshat nails you in the throat with a knife…you die… Okay, so who went all necro on your corpse?"

"Necro? Dude, you only have to kiss the dead person, not fuck them…" Cruz's expression gradually morphed into a very thoughtful one, even as he was speaking. When he turned his attention back to me, he gave yet another shrug and said, "You know what? That's a really good question. I dunno who went to first base with dead waking self me. Only way for someone to reach my body is to go through the seven gates…and I know for a fact that no one's been planet-hopping, lately… Hm, now I'm really curious!"

"So, I guess… I mean, if you've become your dream self, now, that means your dream self can't do any of those crazy 'dreamy' things, anymore?" I asked. "Like flying?"

"Well, I'm the Sage of Space, bro," Cruz chuckled. "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find another way to fly when I get better at using my Aspect. But until then, I'm pretty much grounded."

"Okay, then… You're sure you're alright?"

"Never been better, bro!"

"I'm gonna disagree with you on that last one, but you do seem to be okay… I think I'll take that hit, now…" I reached for Cruz's joint, holding it to my mouth and taking a deep hit, exhaling it towards the ceiling. When he offered it to me a second time, I declined, though. "No, man, I don't want to get too high before I see the Queen," I explained to my friend. "That would probably be awkward."

"Valid, bro," Cruz nodded in agreement. He then extended a hand, and we fell into a hybrid handshake/hug. "Well, good luck to you on your adventures, man. Tell the Queen I said 'sup."

"Yeah, will do," I stepped back towards the window, sitting back on the windowsill. "I'll be back sometime soon, and we can talk if you need to… I've seen some pretty fucked up shit, too. Trust me, I can relate."

"Aight, dude, you better head on out. Peace and laurels!"

And with that, I let myself fall backwards out of Cruz's window almost like a scuba diver falling off the side of a boat, plummeting headfirst down towards the streets for a few seconds before righting myself and soaring back up into the skies. I flew across countless golden rooftops, around towers, spires, and steeples, across wide-open squares and boulevards, leaving Cruz's dream tower behind me.

Eventually, a new dream tower appeared in the distance, and that's what I aimed myself towards. I knew its occupant would be awake here—her sleep patterns were not difficult to predict. Funnily enough, I heard the sound of music growing louder as I approached this tower, as well…she must be playing her ukulele, again. And while Cruz was pretty good with his guitar, Tami was considerably better, and she could play many other instruments besides guitars and their smaller cousins.

In an earlier conversation with Dream Cruz, during one of our escapades on the golden moon, he'd suggested that our titles and corresponding powers were meant to challenge us…but in Tami's case, her powers seemed tailor-made for her. I mean, I don't really know the full extent of what it meant to be a Muse of Life…but come on, just the fact that her class is 'Muse'…it just fits so well. How is that a challenge? Okay, I'm done now.

Just as I'd thought, Tami was resting back on her bed, playing some kind of Russian-sounding music on her ukulele. I don't know if it was an actual song, but it definitely sounded like it was…and if it wasn't, then it should have been. Have I mentioned that Tami is really good with instruments?

"Can you do the Tetris theme, too?" I asked as I lighted atop one of her windowsills, peering into the red dream room. Without even reacting to my arrival, Tami seamlessly segued into the familiar melody of Tetris. "Wow, I didn't think you'd actually do it," I remarked, actually much more impressed than I was letting on.

Tami gave a small shrug. "It's an easy thing to play."

"So if I then told you to play Free Bird-"

"Don't push your luck," she scowled at me, gradually changing out of the Tetris theme and returning to whatever tune she'd been playing before. She strummed along for a few seconds, but then she lowered her instrument and muttered something under her breath. "Well, you've just ruined my rhythm, so now this is the part where you tell me what you wanted."

"I just wanted to say thanks," I answered, unfazed by my friend's grouchiness. To be honest, I think I'd feel more concerned for my own personal safety if Tami started talking nice to me. Usually when she smiled or complimented someone, it was the precursor to a hellstorm of Fuck You directed at whoever was unfortunate enough to incur her wrath. But these episodes were few and far between, and I was one of the only people who could get away with pushing her buttons. Theo could, too, though Theo rarely exploited this advantage, due to a chronic case of being a nicer person than me.

"Thanks?" Tami arched an eyebrow, lazily strumming her ukulele again. The resulting sound was a harsh, dissonant chord that didn't quite seem to make the journey down my ear canal without getting snagged on a few corners.

"Yeah," I nodded. "You know…for the whole 'Lifey' thing you did for me."

"Oh, that," Tami wrinkled her nose, making her nose stud glint as it passed through the light shining through another window. "You got blood all over my carpet."

"Yeah, uh…sorry, I think? I would've stopped by to thank you sooner, but I haven't been able to wake up here ever since the…you know."

"Understandable," Tami nodded slowly. "I fixed you up as best as I could, but healing really isn't my specialty. Your dream body still needed time to recover from the stab wound, and my room needed time to recover from the blood all over my carpet. Luckily, these rooms seem to clean themselves every time we go to sleep, but the fucking smell didn't go away until just last night. I guess the same can't be said for your pajamas," she gestured at the dried bloodstains that marred my Prospit shirt.

"Hey, these don't smell like anything! I can't feel the stains, and they have no smell anymore, but the color left by the blood just won't wash out," I could only shrug. "We don't have changes of clothes here. What do you want me to do, fly around shirtless the whole time?"

"Unless your name is Gino Caiazzo, the shirt stays on."

"…so, I was gonna head down to Prospit and see the Queen after this," I decided to change the subject, as I usually did when conversations started involving Gino. "I just stopped by to ruin your rhythm and say thanks, but you're welcome to join me if you want."

"Sure."

I blinked once, already about to say goodbye and fly back out into the sky. I hadn't expected this answer. "Sure? You…actually want to come out and do something?"

"Yes. I can be social when I choose to be. I'm assuming Cruz isn't joining us?" she asked. "I mean, if he's his dream self, now, he probably can't fly anymore, right?"

"Did everyone know about this but me?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Tami stood up and attached a shoulder strap to her ukulele, slinging it across her back. "Should I even bother to ask if Anna is with you?" A single glare from me was all the answer Tami needed. She gave a single nod. "Still butthurt after last year, I see. You ever going to move on?"

"I have moved on."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"A year ago, I would have happily shoved her face into a hot stovetop," I shrugged, backing out through the window and floating just outside. "Now I just don't talk to her. I'd call that an improvement, wouldn't you?"

"I'd call it the curious case of the boy who thought he was the only one to have a crazy ex-girlfriend and a douchebag friend," Tami retorted as she followed me outside. "Turns out, though…he wasn't. It's actually a pretty common occurrence."

"Yeah, hardy-fucking-har—why am I bringing you with me, again?"

"Hey, if you didn't want me along, you wouldn't have invited me in the first place."

"Wouldn't have invited you, yeah…so can I un-invite you?"

"Nope."

"Well okay, then. Looks like I'm in this shit for the long haul."

Thankfully, it turned out that I wasn't in that shit for the long haul. I think this was Tami's first real adventure on Prospit that took her more than a stone's throw away from her dream room. By the time we reached the base of the colossal golden chain that linked the golden moon to Prospit, she'd fallen completely silent. It was almost comical for me, seeing that look of wide-eyed wonder on Tami's face.

Flying, it seemed, could be an utterly magical experience even for the most acidic of sarcastic people.

"Pretty cool, huh?" I said to her. She didn't even answer me—she was too busy watching the streets and spires zoom past below.

Eventually, we reached the giant golden chain that linked Prospit and its moon, and we started shooting upwards, following the chain away from the comfort of the golden moon and into the emptiness of the void between planets. It was a peculiar feeling, really…we were in the medium's equivalent of outer space, but it was almost…dark and bright at the same time. Dark because it was space—there weren't even any stars here, for crying out loud—and bright because we were still extremely close to Skaia. We were flying toward Skaia, in fact; at the moment, Prospit rested between Skaia and the golden moon.

I'm not quite sure how long it took for us to travel the distance between Prospit and its moon. When I'm my dream self, I always have a lot of difficulty keeping track of time. If I had to guess, though, I'd say we were cruising through space there for…an hour? Maybe two? I think we could have gone a lot faster, but that would have tired us out. We weren't in any rush.

I mean, maybe I should have been in a rush, because I had no idea when my waking self was going to wake back up, and I might end up back in my dream room before I even made it to the White Queen. But again, I'm my dream self right now. Problems like that don't occur to me when I'm my dream self.

We arrived on Prospit right at the place where the other end of the golden chain was anchored. We did not land there, however—it was still a fair distance from the chain to the throne room, so we kept right on flying. The streets below were abuzz with snow-skinned Prospitians, thousands of little white figures pointing and whispering. As we made our way towards the regions on the far side of Prospit, Tami finally broke her silence.

"This is like something straight out of Peter Pan…" she murmured, almost too quietly for me to hear. "I've always wanted to fly…"

As we continued on our way to the throne room, we ended up stopping to check out some of those massive golden towers that existed exclusively on Prospit and not its moon. There were eight of these towers total, set apart in two groups of four. The throne room was right in front of one of these tower-foursomes, but this was the other group of four. I'd lost count of the number of times I'd tried to get a good look at them from my dream room—all I could really see from the golden moon was a bright, white light on top of a spire of golden-yellow.

Up close, the towers looked more or less exactly the same as they'd looked from a distance, save one small thing…

"Hey, check this," I motioned for Tami to come over. I was examining the sizeable glowing orb at the top of one of the towers. Even though it was difficult to see through all the white light emanating from the orb, I could see a distinct symbol engraved into the sphere's surface. It was a simple symbol…a circle with a dot in the middle, and a curved line spiraling inward from the outer circle into the central dot.

"What is it?" Tami squinted as she peered into the light. I pointed out the symbol that I saw, but she just glanced back at me and raised an eyebrow. "…and?" she asked, obviously thinking there was more to my observation than what I let on.

"Just thought it was interesting, is all…" I shrugged. "I mean, I see these towers every night when I dream, but I never know what they are or why they're here, and just seeing them up close… And then-"

"They're prototyping towers, where the data of any and all pre-entry kernelsprite prototyping is received by both Prospit and Derse," Tami interrupted me. When I gave her a look, she just shrugged. "If you had finished that thought, I would've said something probably relating to how surprised I was that you didn't know what a prototyping tower was, and then you would've said something about having a small dick, or a sprite that went bonkers, or something along those lines. Figured I'd just cut out the middlemen and interrupt you with the actual answer."

"Okay, Miss Emo-Mozart-Who-Knows-Everything, what's the symbol mean, then? Huh?"

"It's the symbol of the Death Aspect," the corner of Tami's mouth tugged up slightly into a smug grin. "This is Cass's tower. And this tower…" we floated over to one of the adjacent structures, "…is Gino's. See the Mind Aspect symbol? And over here, that's the symbol for the Breath Aspect…and finally, the Light Aspect. These towers represent the Derse dreamers… Makes sense, I guess, for the White Queen to live under our towers instead of these ones. Whew, how does it feel getting bitch-slapped with all that pointless knowledge you thought I couldn't bitch-slap you with?"

I just stared at Tami, and all I could really think of to say—and in my defense, this is dream me we're talking about—all I ended up saying was, "…I don't have a small dick…"

"You're welcome."

I'll admit, that one caught me off guard. I was expecting some kind of verbal coup de grâce, not…you're welcome. "What did I just not thank you for?"

"The comeback I had for 'I don't have a small dick'," her ghost of a grin grew slightly wider. "I decided not to say it. It probably would have crossed the line, even for me. You're welcome."

"Let's just go…" I took back off into the sky, heading in the direction of the other four prototyping towers, the very tips of which we could see in the far distance. I think I could just chalk this whole thing up to one of those many times when I push Tami's buttons, only to have it blow up in my face. And yet… And yet, I always kept coming back to push more buttons. Maybe I've just got a little masochist inside me, who knows?

"So what was the whole deal with your sprite?" Tami ended up asking me a few minutes later, breaking the silence once again. "I kind of zoned out every time Cruz tried explaining it to me, and you know how he gets when he's stoned."

"What's it matter to you?"

Tami gave another shrug. "It doesn't really, I'm just confused. I don't listen to gossip, most of the time, and the others have been saying weird things about it."

"Okay, uh…" I took a deep breath.

You remember that time when I was chatting with a friend, heard that noise, turned around, and found the dead body of my dream self lying on the floor with his throat slit open? With my throat slit open, rather, seeing as I am my dream self at the moment… Well, I remember that time, too, and I really don't like talking about it.

Even so, I knew that despite what Tami said, she really was interested in the situation with my sprite, and giving her a few juicy little details would most likely get her off my back. "…so I was gonna just go ahead and drag the body downstairs and outside, and…I dunno…bury it, I guess… I just wanted it out of the house. Then a goddamn imp attacks me as I'm going down the stairs, and the body of dead Dream Me falls into my eaglesprite and becomes… Me-sprite, basically."

"Well, your dream self obviously isn't dead," Tami pointed out. "Did you ever find out if that dead dream self was a future version of you, or just from a doomed timeline?"

"No idea."

"That's really interesting… I mean, just that there's like a sprite you floating around, somewhere."

"Well, a sprite version of me mixed with an eagle, yes," I muttered. "So there's this big flash of light, and my sprite takes one look at himself and completely freaks the fuck out…" I absentmindedly touched a finger to the thin, somewhat reddish line on my face, just below my left eye. "He attacked me, gave me this scar to remember him by, and left. He eventually comes back later and helps me get to my first gate, but then he just up and leaves again, and I get to go through this whole thing without a guide. There. Satisfied?"

"Well you know why he was probably all messed up when he woke up?" Tami asked me. When I didn't answer, she went on. "Okay, let me put it to you this way. You fall asleep, you wake up on Prospit. But if your dream self dies, you don't wake up on Prospit. You wake up reliving your past memories in a dream bubble."

This time it was me whose interest was piqued. "Dream bubbles?" I echoed.

"Yeah, they're these things that Gino and Cass managed to get the outer gods to create for us," Tami did her best to explain. "Gwen told me about them. They exist in the Furthest Ring—the consciousness of your dream self will relocate to a dream bubble after the death of its body, and that is where you will go when you dream. And if both you and your dream self end up kicking off, then apparently you'll be stuck out there permanently, drifting around the Furthest Ring, subject to the whims of these outer gods… And it'll take a while before you even realize you're dreaming. Or dead."

"So…okay, then, so how do you know I'm not in a dream bubble right now?" I asked my friend next. "Maybe this conversation we're having right now is just one of my memories! Are you-"

"Can it, Shyamalan, you're not dead," Tami grunted. "Your dream self—or at least the version of your dream self that became your sprite—was probably in one of those dream bubbles before you yanked him out. And time, as you know, has no meaning in the Furthest Ring; from your sprite's perspective, he's probably been dead for a long while. And the sudden snap back to the living world…it's probably how newborns feel when they're first pulled out into the light. Blinded, deafened, assaulted on all sides by their own senses…"

"I mean, yeah, I guess that makes sense," I couldn't help but frown as we continued flying towards the Prospitian Palace. "Still, though… From the shit my sprite was saying, getting blasted by his own senses didn't seem to be the issue. He just kept shouting at me, going on about his memories, and something that Cass did to him, and some other crazy shit. Yeah, that's it…that's what was weird—he didn't really seem dazed or confused, or anything like that; he was just…angry. Angrier than I think I've ever been my entire life. Angry, and in denial, as if he couldn't accept the fact that he had become a sprite."

"I guess each person reacts differently," Tami shrugged. "We can't exactly look this shit up on Wikipedia, you know—I'm sure your sprite was just unused to being alive. Dream bubbles are most likely comfortable places to exist in, and any kind of transition back to the physical plane from the afterlife is bound to be uncomfortable—SHIT!"

Tami swerved suddenly to avoid flying face-first into a giant, golden clock tower. By now, the other four prototyping towers were very close by, so Tami and I ended up sinking down to what appeared to be Prospit's Grand Boulevard, which ran up to the very gates of the Prospitian palace. Members of the Prospitian Royal Guard stood atop the battlements surrounding the palace, as stoic and still as the white and gold banners that hung from the walls.

There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of Prospitians gathering on this street. Word seemed to travel fast—one carapacian sees a visiting Hero, tells his or her friends, and suddenly the entire population of Prospit is aware of our presence within minutes. At least, that was how it seemed.

"So this is where the White Queen lives, then?" Tami nodded to the citadel up ahead, ignoring all of the nearest Prospitians' attempts to touch her, forging straight ahead through the crowd, which opened up before her.

"Certainly looks that way," I remarked, making my own way through the crowd of Prospitians.

We made our way up to the gates of the palace, but they remained shut. A guard called down from the ramparts. "Halt! State your business!"

"Seriously?" Tami and I ended up saying at the exact same time. Sparing a brief moment to glance at each other and have a quick laugh, the two of us simply rose up off the ground, floated up into the sky, and soared over the gates, coming back down to a rest on the grounds within the palace while the royal guards manning the walls watched us with their wide, midnight-black eyes.

We walked down a path lined by golden trees, up to the entrance doors of the actual palace, which was guarded by four tall, hulking members of the royal guard. As one, they barred our way with their spears. One of them started to speak, but Tami brushed right past the guy even before he had a chance to talk.

"Muse of Life, here, coming through," Tami said, brushing right past the burly door guards and straight to the doors, pushing them open with a single shove. I'm certain the guards recognized us as Heroes, which is why none of them bothered to pursue Tami as she strode past them into the main hall.

I made my way after her, mumbling something along the lines of, "What she said," to the guards as I followed Tami inside. The doors boomed shut behind us.

We found ourselves in a long, golden—I know, something gold on Prospit, big surprise—hall with mane smaller corridors that branched out into other parts of the palace. There was a white carpet on the floor that ran from the entrance to the giant doors at the other end of the hall, which were open. The whole place was lit by a combination of Skaian light, either shining in through windows or reflected inside through the use of positioned mirrors, and common torches. I also passed a few lanterns that were lit by what looked like some kind of luminous grist.

Prospitians crossed this main hall as they moved through the smaller corridors, going about their various duties. Many of them stopped to look at us before hurrying off on their way, whispering fervently to their fellows.

Together, Tami and I walked down the white carpet to the open room at the other end of the hall, and we weren't too surprised to find ourselves in the Prospitian throne room. There was a single step not too far up from the door, which was the level most of the throne room existed on. The two thrones themselves rested on an elevated tier at the back of the room, on a red velvet carpet. They were large, uncomfortable-looking stone chairs with a gray/light gray chessboard pattern covering their surface area.

The throne on the left was empty, and I suspected that it was there more for symbolic reasons than practical ones; the White King apparently spends all his time on the Battlefield fighting the Dersites, leading the Prospitian armies, and doing other Kingly shit. The throne on the right, however, was not empty.

"Welcome to the Golden Keep, my Heroes," the White Queen spoke to us, her mouth curving into a small, composed smile. "Your presence in my home honors me."

"Uh… Your Highness," I found my words and was able to manage an awkward, stiff bow. Tami nodded her head slightly, but that was it. "I'm here to, uh… I mean, the reason I came is to… I needed to talk about-"

"I know why you are here, my Knight," the White Queen turned her dark gaze over to. I've mentioned this before, but I've always liked how even though the Queen can be difficult to directly look at, her eyes were not. Her gaze was the only thing you could look at for a while without having your eyes ache. "I visited you on the Moon when the White Guardian informed me of your brush with the Dersite agents. Alas, you had fallen into a deep sleep and would not wake. What I do not know, however, is why you have come, Muse. What is it that you seek?"

"Me?" Tami actually looked around the empty throne room before pointing back to herself. "Oh, I'm not really here for anything. Just along for the ride. No special purpose here."

The White Queen seemed to dissect Tami with her dark gaze until my friend started fidgeting slightly, uncomfortable under the scrutiny. "Your words give away deeper meaning than you intend, child," the White Queen observed. "Yours is a quest of utmost importance, but you do not believe it to be so. You believe your contribution to the ultimate reward is a negligible one. Come closer, my Muse, and hear my words."

I tried to take interest in studying the ceiling, and later my red dream shoes, while Tami stepped up to the Queen's throne and proceeded to have a short, hushed conversation with the monarch. I tried to listen to what they were talking about for a few seconds before giving up and returning my attention to my shoes. When Tami stepped back next to me, I could tell that there was something there that wasn't there before, some kind of doubt in her eyes.

Before I had the chance to think on this, the White Queen addressed me. "As for you, my Knight, I fear the most I can offer you is a humble apology… I did not believe my Dersite counterpart would be capable of attacking our Heroes in their own towers."

"Yeah, what's the deal with that?" I asked the White Queen accusingly. "I thought there were supposed to be, like, these rules in place. Rules that keep the Dersites from…you know…doing shit like assassinating the Heroes' dream selves? Pardon my French, but what the hell happened there?"

"I told you once that this is a flawed incipisphere," the White Queen reminded me. "Not necessarily an infertile one, but a flawed one nonetheless. There are some things that should not be, that are. And there are some things that should be, that are not. The Black Queen of Derse's instinct to break the rules and order your death, for instance, is but one small example of the many things that are flawed with this session."

"But why is this session flawed?" I pressed on. "What did we do wrong?"

"There is no right or wrong in paradox space—everything simply…is," the Queen explained. "If blame were to be leveled at anyone, it should be leveled at the one responsible for the destruction of countless universes, like yours. He is a demon, said to be indestructible. But you will not fight this demon, for that is the purpose of another group. You and your friends have another purpose, which your Hero of Light is already well on her way to figuring out."

"And you can't just tell me what it is because…?"

The White Queen's smile widened by a fraction, and I'm pretty sure she would have raised an eyebrow if she…you know…had eyebrows. "The ultimate reward of this session is an end that you and your friends must achieve, and you must do it on your own. On a more practical note, however, I am not supposed to give you any details of your futures—doing so would only result in you making different choices and decisions than you would have had I remained silent, which in turn could potentially lead to a doomed timeline. And I assure you, you do not want to exist in a doomed timeline."

"Okay, okay, well maybe this is one detail that you can give me," I held up a hand, deciding that now was a good time to bring the conversation round to what I originally wanted to know. "When that Dersite guy tried to kill me, he had a ring. And it wasn't like yours—hey, where is your ring, speaking of which?"

The Queen pulled the small necklace chain around her neck, pulling it from the top of her clothing to reveal a small golden ring, adorned with eight glowing white orbs. "I only wear it during times of need. It causes less problems when I meet with my subjects in my most basic form."

I wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but ultimately it didn't really matter. I went on. "…yeah, like I was saying, the ring this Dersite had wasn't like yours; no glowy orbs, or anything; just a plain ring. And it was black, too; the ring was black. This guy was able to shrug off any kind of attack that I dealt him using my Aspect…and then he started to use my Aspect. A normal Dersite dude using my own goddamn Aspect against me. I mean, I thought I was the only one who could use it, apart from my consorts."

"The Hegemonic Brute was in possession of a dark ring," the White Queen explained. "They are yet another example of the flaws this incipisphere bears. They were created from a very special substance, unique only to this particular incipisphere."

After the White Queen finished speaking, and it became clear that she wasn't going to add anything to that, I held up a hand and made a 'get on with it' gesture. "…and? Anything else you wanted to say, there? Like what the substance is or how it ended up here? Or why those rings fucked with my Aspect, pardon my French again? Anything along those lines?"

The Queen smiled sadly, shaking her head once. "Forgive me, my Knight, but that is knowledge the Heroes must discover for themselves, for reasons I have already given you. The best comprehension comes with self-discovery."

I closed my eyes for a moment, willing myself not to explode. For someone who was supposed to be on our side, the White Queen sure knew how to be unhelpful. Despite my best efforts, though, I could feel color rushing into my face, which always happened whenever I was annoyed, frustrated, or angry. I took another deep breath, thanked the Queen for her time, turned around and stalked back towards the entrance.

As I went, the White Queen held up a hand, gesturing for me to linger a moment. "My Knight, I apologize if I seem to be deliberately unhelpful. I would like nothing better than to assist you on your quest as much as I could, but that is simply not an option. However, if you insist on unraveling these mysteries, I would recommend you speak with the Witch of Light."

"Yeah, I'll do that…" I muttered, pushing my way through the doors and out into the hallway. I then turned over my shoulder, and parted with, "Oh, and the Sage of Space says 'sup, by the way."

Tami offered the Queen a quick nod before hurrying off after me. "Geez, Mister Anger-Management, wait up!" she called over to me. She finally caught up with me at the gates of the Golden Keep. "Man, you need to chill out."

"Oh, fuck off," I snapped, jumping into the air and flying over the gates. "All I wanted were a few straight answers, okay, was that really too much to ask for?"

"You heard the Queen," Tami soared up into the sky right next to me, following me up, up to the tops of the four prototyping towers that rested behind and over the Golden Keep. "She wasn't supposed to tell you—it could've caused a doomed timeline."

I lighted atop the glowing orb that capped my tower. Engraved into the surface of the orb was that familiar crashing wave symbol, formed from three curving arcs, almost like a warped rainbow. That was the symbol of the Force Aspect. My symbol. This tower, along with its counterpart on Derse, held the data of the Roman eagle that ended up getting prototyped with my kernelsprite.

"I know, Tam, I know…" I sat down on top of my tower, resting my elbows on my knees and massaging one of my temples. "I just need to vent for a sec… I mean, I'm just fucking sick and tired of reacting. That's all we've been able to do lately—react, react, react! Reacting to this game, reacting to my consorts—now the Dersites are trying to assassinate us, and what can we do about it? Jack shit, that's what! Kinda makes me wish I was a Derse dreamer, you know? If this shit went down on Derse, I'd be shoving my Bowie down the Black Queen's throat before she could even say 'Blah Blah Imma Huge Bitch'."

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to be stuck on Derse, right now," Tami quietly said to me when I finally calmed down. "Things are getting really hairy out there."

"I assume the Derse dreamers are getting assassinated, too?"

"No," Tami shook her head. "No, Cass told me the Dersites already tried that. Now they're probably going to launch an all-out assault."

Author's Note

Hello, readers! In light of recent Homestuck updates, I felt the need to give a little clarification concerning this story. Mostly this is due to the unveiling of the 'master classes'; the Muse, and its unconfirmed active counterpart. Now, I already introduced one of my characters as a Muse a long time ago, well before the update revealing the existence of the canon Muse class, and I do not know how much of a problem this will cause with canon - I already had a clear idea of what a Muse was able to to, and this idea may be different than whatever Hussie has in mind. So really, the point of all this is to reiterate that I had the plot and elements of this story planned out long ago, and I am not trying to shit all over canon. This is just a rare case in which I accidentally used a canon element that hadn't been revealed yet. Maybe I'll be able to rework my idea of a Muse to fit the canon one, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy!

-TheAmateur