Chapter Ninety-Eight: Cass Galavis, Psychopomp

Cass gazed into the Lotus chamber and watched her friends enjoy themselves.

Tami Abramov, Gwen Twymann, and Gino Caiazzo sat together on the sprawling mound of pillows upon which they had slept last night. Adam Tarrant, bleary-eyed, lay sprawled across several pillows, looking like he'd woken up seconds earlier.

"So." Cruz Arevalo sat cross-legged underneath the Lotus capsule, packing cannabis into his bong. "Last night I had another wild dream."

"You still dreaming about that golden city?" asked Gwen.

"It's the only thing I dream about." Cruz finished packing the bong, feeling around his various pockets for a lighter. "But this dream was wild." Cruz found a lighter and pointed it at Adam. "You were there. You too, Tami. And Anna Carrero, of all people. You were all sleeping, but I was awake, and I looked up into the sky over this golden city, and I saw all these trippy clouds."

"Trippy clouds?" Adam's curiosity was piqued. "Do tell."

As Cruz described the visions he'd seen in the Skaian clouds, Gwen gazed out at the rainy sky through the Frog Temple entrance. For a moment, she thought she noticed an odd shadowy figure standing in the antechamber, beyond the light shining in from the entrance hall, but then Adam erupted with uproarious laughter, and Gwen looked away.

"Hey, I think it's ridiculous too." Cruz shrugged. "I dreamed what I dreamed." He then noticed Theo Gibbons ducking back inside from the rain. "Theo! Welcome back!"

Adam looked over his shoulder to greet Theo. "Did you fall asleep on the toilet again?"

"Nope," replied Theo, shedding his raincoat and joining the circle of friends. "I was just standing out in the rain and enjoying myself." He pulled a phone out of his pocket and put it on the floor next to Adam. "Here you go."

"You took my phone?" Adam snatched up his phone and swiped across the screen to gain access. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, really."

"Theo." Adam flipped through his open applications, looking for any signs of sabotage. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Theo said. "You, however, as you can see in your PalHassle logs, have asked Cass Galavis out on a date."

"WHAT?!"

Gwen used the ensuing commotion to slip away from the group unnoticed, walking quickly across the lotus chamber.

Upon entering the antechamber, Gwen took out her phone and activated the built-in flashlight, shining it into the darkest corner of the room, revealing a motionless figure in a shadowy cloak.

"What the fuck?" Ignoring her strong urge to look away and forget, Gwen focused intently, and within seconds the shadowy haze clinging to the cloaked figure melted away, revealing the person underneath. "Cass Galavis?"

Cass, hypnotized by the living memories unfolding within the Lotus chamber, blinked and snapped back into the present moment. She acknowledged Gwen, wondering how many hours had passed. It was impossible to tell. "Welcome back."

Rum or vodka?

Anna Carrero surveyed her options in the rum section of the Wine and Spirits store before giving the shelves of vodka a quick once-over. Nothing jumped out at her. Vodka was uninspiring at best, and Anna was already intimately familiar with the rum selection.

After the apocalypse, Anna had been limited to her personal supply of Captain Morgan, and here was a golden opportunity to enjoy something completely different. She would never have this opportunity again.

Wine, perhaps?

Anna sauntered over to the other side of the liquor store, perusing her choices in the wine section. Most of the bottles were fancy brands well out of her price range, and none of the cheaper options caught her fancy until she noticed the neighboring shelves of boxed wine.

"Franzia, my old friend," crooned Anna, lifting a box of Franzia Chablis from its shelf. "It's been too long."

With her choice made, Anna approached the cash register.

"Will this be everything?" asked the cashier.

"Yeppers." Anna placed the boxed wine on the counter, readying Great Uncle Andres's credit card for payment.

The cashier scanned the wine, and the price flashed on the cash register's display. "Can I see some ID?" he asked.

Anna gave her ID to the cashier, who glanced at it for a moment before picking up a scanner.

"You scan IDs?" asked Anna, feeling a worm of doubt. "That's new."

"We've had some problems with teenagers trying to pass off fake IDs." The cashier scanned the fake ID. "But all the cards are getting chips, these days, and now it's easier to..." Trailing off midsentence, the cashier frowned at the result of the scan, looked at Anna, and said, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"What?" Anna blinked. "No." The boxed wine, despite being within reach, now seemed impossibly far away. "You're kidding me."

"I'm not kidding." The cashier tucked Anna's fake ID into a small drawer underneath the cash register. "If you go quietly, this will fade into history, but I better not see you here again. Understand?"

It dawned on Anna that she would not be able to try a different liquor store without her ID, and she asked, "Can I at least have my ID back?"

"That's rich," chuckled the cashier.

Anna could feel her blood reaching its boiling point, and she took a deep breath, keeping her hands from balling into fists. "Confiscating a person's ID is illegal."

"Are you saying you'd like to involve law enforcement?" If the cashier was trying to hide his amusement, he was doing a terrible job. "Because I think the police would be very interested in what you just gave me."

Anna exited the Wine and Spirits store without another word.

Quivering, partially from rage and partially from withdrawal, Anna stormed across the parking lot to the tree where she'd left her bike. As she faced the reality of going the rest of the day, perhaps the rest of her life, without a drink, Anna shoved the bike over, watching it clatter to the asphalt. Then she kicked the bike, which accomplished little more than stubbing her toes.

Anna sank to the ground, leaning back against the tree, her breathing gradually escalating into hyperventilation. She watched the passing traffic, hoping it would calm her down. Dozens of cars, trucks, and buses rocketed by every minute, offering a tiny glimpse of the millions upon millions of vehicles currently using the world's network of roads at any given moment. Millions of vehicles, driven by millions of people, all of whom were fated to die in a couple days.

Feverishly, Anna took off her sweatshirt, bunched it up, buried her face in the fabric, and screamed until she ran out of breath.

That felt nice.

Anna inhaled and screamed again, and then a third time after that.

When she was done, Anna touched her neck gingerly, wincing at the rawness of her throat. "Fuck this. If I'm not getting drunk, then I demand something better."

A possible solution occurred to Anna. It required help from a friend, of course, but Anna knew someone nearby who would likely be available and willing. He was only a short bike ride away, and convincing him would not be difficult.

"Okay, this is happening." Feeling wind in her sails once again, Anna got back onto her bike, pedaling swiftly away from the Wine and Spirits store. "Hello rock bottom."

"Cass, what are you doing here?" asked a bewildered Gwen. "How long were you watching us?"

"I'm not sure." Cass yawned, still returning from her trance-like stupor, stretching her arms and legs. "I drifted off. Memories are easy to get lost in."

"Memories?" Gwen blinked, feeling an inexplicably strong urge to get as far away from Cass as possible. "Theo was just outside messaging you with Adam's phone. So why are you suddenly here? This doesn't make any sense."

"You really don't remember everything that's happened?" Cass regarded Gwen with curiosity. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't envy you, but no one really knows they're in Eden until after they leave."

"Um." Gwen took a step back from Cass. "Look, I don't think Cruz invited you, and to be honest, you're creeping me out."

Cass made no move to stop Gwen from leaving. "Can I ask you one thing before you go?"

"Fine. One thing."

"Where are we?"

Gwen frowned at Cass. "Are you wasting my time? What kind of question is that?"

"It's a simple question."

"We're hanging out at Cruz's."

"Are you sure?"

"Okay, goodbye." Gwen turned away from Cass and nearly walked face-first into a sealed wooden door. "What…?" Looking around the room, Gwen realized she no longer stood in the antechamber of the Frog Temple. Somehow the entire room had changed around her, and she had not noticed. "…the fuck…?"

The new room in which Gwen and Cass found themselves was small and cramped, filled with shelves of food supplies and kitchen equipment. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all made of a greenish wood. Daylight shined into the room through a small circular window in the back wall.

"Do you know where we are?" asked Cass, stepping aside as Gwen passed her to inspect the window.

Gwen looked through the window, gazing at the glittering emerald ocean outside. Hazy memories of the high seas lapped gently against the shores of Gwen's consciousness, and she was surprised to learn that she actually did know something about this new place. How could that be? "We're in the galley," Gwen said, slowly walking back to the wooden door. "I used to come here when I needed a break."

"A break from what?" prompted Cass.

Gwen opened the door and walked into the galley beyond, which bustled with activity. Turtle Corsairs ate and drank together at the tables, filling the room with mirthful and profane conversation. Several of the corsairs acknowledged and greeted Gwen as she walked by, but no one seemed to notice Cass, who followed close behind.

Cass observed two corsairs engaged in an arm-wrestling match. Mounted on the table, pointing inward, inches away from either contestant's hand, were two very sharp knives, positioned so that whoever lost the match would be able to celebrate the loss with a newly acquired stab wound. "You have interesting consorts."

"They're a raucous bunch," Gwen found herself saying as the glimmer of resurfacing memories struck a deep chord. She headed for the nearest ladder and began to climb. "Am I dreaming?"

"That's fair," replied Cass, following Gwen up the ladder. "Not wholly inaccurate."

Gwen reached the top of the ladder and crawled abovedecks, breathing deeply to fill herself with the smell of ocean. A stern wind filled the green triangular sails, propelling the Viridian Wind forward at a satisfying speed. Each time the Viridian Wind crested one wave and splashed into the next, sea spray misted pleasantly across the decks like a light rain.

Thousands of feet above, massive glittering crystalline prisms floated impossibly across the sky like slow clouds, catching the light of Skaia and refracting it into a beautiful ever-shifting iridescent haze.

Closing her eyes, Gwen took a moment to relish the warm skaialight and the gentle caress of the wind on her face.

Cass emerged from belowdecks, gazing in wonder at the brilliant rainbow-in-flux sky. "Do you remember any of this? Seems difficult to forget."

Gwen opened her eyes, glancing around the deck of the Viridian Wind, watching the crewmembers go about their work. Looking beyond the activity on deck, Gwen gazed across the gentle waves to the distant horizons and initially saw no coastlines. When she looked down the bow of the ship, the direction in which the ship was traveling, the situation changed.

In the near distance, there approached a small island of lush green jungle ringed by a beach of fine white sand. Despite the island's idyllic beauty, Gwen felt discordant memories at the edge of her mind, memories which did not want to be touched. "For a dream, this sure is vivid," Gwen remarked, looking up the Viridian Wind's mainmast at the crow's nest.

"I've had dreams which are more vivid than my waking life," said Cass.

"Well, I'll just have to ask the real Cass about them when I wake up." Gwen grabbed hold of the mainmast rigging, beginning her climb towards the crow's nest. "If I'm dreaming, doesn't that mean you aren't real?"

"That's a stretch. Why wouldn't I be real?" Cass waited several seconds before following Gwen up the mainmast. "Why should the contents of a dream be any less real than the contents of a day?"

"Because dreams aren't real." Gwen looked away from the crow's nest above and focused on her hands, breathing deeply as she continued her vigorous climb. "This is all just a chemical reaction in my brain. When I wake up, it will be gone. And so will you."

"When you wake up?" echoed Cass. "You say that like you aren't already awake."

"I'm not awake, I'm dreaming."

"You seem awake to me," Cass observed. "You're aware of who you are, you're making choices, you're participating in a wonderful conversation, and you're climbing a huge mango tree."

"Oh fuck." Gwen realized she was no longer climbing the mainmast of the Viridian Wind. Instead of rigging rope, her fingers now gripped wooden branches and tree limbs. How had she not noticed the shift? Skaialight shined through a gap in the tree canopy, warming the back of her head. "Why does the world keep shifting?"

"You tell me," Cass replied from a lower tree branch. "You're the one shifting it."

Gwen reached the top of the tree and poked her head through the leaves, gazing across the treetops at the glittering emerald ocean, where the Viridian Wind was anchored offshore. The corsairs had set up camp on the beach, clustering their tents around cooking fires. Even from a distance, Gwen could hear faint music and laughter.

Beyond the camp, further down the beach, Gwen's house was visible behind a sand dune. Without thinking, Gwen began to levitate, letting go of the mango tree and floating away, gliding effortlessly through the air towards her house.

Cass jumped off the mango tree and flew after Gwen, soaring across the treetops and over the corsair beach camp.

Gwen came in for a landing in front of her house. The moment her feet touched the sand, she followed the little concrete path to her house's front porch, opening the door while Cass made landfall close behind.

"You might want to take this slowly," Cass suggested, hurrying over to the front porch.

Gwen stepped into her house expecting the front hall, but instead found herself standing inside what appeared to be a news room.

The Wrathful Veteran, sitting in the middle chair behind the news table, spoke to a camera, broadcasting a revolutionary message to the people of Derse. Gino sat in the chair to the Veteran's left, looking less like he was listening to the Veteran and more like he was waiting for an opportune moment to interrupt.

Sitting in the chair to the Veteran's right was another Gwen.

Immediately Gwen turned around, hoping to return to the beach, but it was too late.

Cass entered the news room, closing the front door behind her, and the beach was gone. "Don't worry, you can always go back," said Cass, looking around the news room. "This is new. Where is this?"

"Duskfall." Facing the news room once more, Gwen stared at herself, at the identical Gwen sitting next to the Wrathful Veteran. She walked up to the news table, waving a hand in front of Memory Gwen's face to no effect. "Why am I seeing myself in third person?"

After a silence, Cass surmised, "This memory might not be pleasant enough to relive, but it seems important enough to review."

"How many of you know someone who was taken away to the Silent Dungeon for speaking their mind?" asked the Wrathful Veteran, continuing his message uninterrupted. "We are finished with raiding supply stations. There will be no more protests, no more rallies. Instead I offer you a simple promise: by the week's end, the Queen's head shall be mounted on a pike in Greenflame Plaza."

The Veteran was oblivious to the fact that Memory Gwen, sitting next to him at the news table, had just discovered blood seeping from her nose.

Cass and Gwen noticed, too, and as Gwen tensed up, Cass asked, "Do you remember?"

"I think I'd rather not." Gwen resisted the urge to look away as Memory Gwen's nosebleed intensified.

"All support for the war on Skaia will be withdrawn," declared the Veteran. "All military personnel currently engaged in conflict will be afforded the choice to come home and live their lives on their own terms. The Amethyst Tower will be demolished. The Silent Dungeon will be liberated, and all who were imprisoned will receive-"

Choking on her own blood, succumbing to convulsions, Memory Gwen collapsed face first onto the news table, bleeding profusely from her nose, mouth, ears, and eyes.

The Wrathful Veteran froze in horrified disbelief while Gino leaped from his chair and frantically hurried over to figure out what was wrong.

"Gwen, wake up!" screamed Gino, his clothing saturated with Memory Gwen's blood. "Wake up!"

Silently, Gwen watched herself die.

Anna's legs needed a break.

Her bike ride to Downingtown, combined with her early morning ride home from Cruz's house, amounted to roughly sixteen miles.

By the time Downingtown West High School appeared in the near distance, Anna ached all over and sweated profusely. "People do this for pleasure?" she muttered to herself between breaths, careful to avoid drifting into the road.

As she approached Downingtown West, it became plain to Anna that the school day had just ended. West's doors were open, allowing hormone-saturated rivers of backpack-toting humanity to flow into the waiting school buses and parking lots. Even from a distance, Anna could hear the cacophony of hundreds of overlapping voices, each voice trying to be louder and more obnoxious than the others.

Anna turned onto Downingtown West's access lane, biking past the long yellow line of school buses. Upon reaching the sidewalk surrounding the school building, Anna dismounted her bike and wheeled it through the throng of departing students.

Tami Abramov emerged from the main entrance, carrying a violin case.

First Anna saw the violin case. When she picked Tami out of the crowd, Anna immediately stopped walking to avoid crossing paths with her, earning glares from several students who nearly bumped into Anna's bike as a result.

Without noticing Anna, Tami stepped onto her bus, chose a seat, and sat down, waiting to go home, barely visible through one of the bus windows.

Anna remained rooted to the spot. "Good to see you, Tam," she whispered, staring from a distance at Tami's bus window. Anna wanted to give her a hug, and more, but now wasn't the time.

The Tami sitting on that bus was not yet Anna's friend.

After accepting the last few stragglers, the school buses closed their doors and began to depart one by one. Anna watched them go, refusing to take another step until she lost sight of Tami's bus. She wheeled her bike past the main entrance and around the side of the building, away from the parking lot, heading towards the athletic fields. On the way, Anna passed a clump of bushes growing near the football stadium, and she paused to stash her bike within.

The final buses rumbled away.

Anna continued on her way, watching members of different sport teams congregating on their respective practice fields. Anna looked from group to group, searching for Gino Caiazzo. Almost immediately, she spotted lacrosse players, but realized upon closer inspection that she would not find Gino among them, because Anna was looking at the girls' varsity team.

Rolling her eyes at the outdated binary gender divide across the various sports teams, Anna muttered, "2009," and continued her search. Within a minute, after walking past the baseball fields, Anna finally located the boys' lacrosse team, but once again, she could not find Gino.

"Where are you?" Frustrated, Anna turned away from the athletic fields, heading back towards the school building. "You always have stick-and-balls practice on Fridays."

Gwen Twymann emerged from the school's gymnasium entrance, wearing her lacrosse gear.

"You play stick-and-balls, too?" Anna watched Gwen join her teammates on the field, regarding her with mild surprise. "Gwen Twymann, swinging sticks to pluck flying balls out of the troposphere for points. Sensational."

While mid-sentence, Anna glanced over at the nearby football stadium, and in a flash of quick memory association, she realized where she could probably find Gino. "Of course. You're picking up from Cruz, aren't you. Why didn't I think of it before?"

Sure enough, as she approached the football stadium, Anna saw Cruz Arevalo standing in the shadows underneath the stadium bleachers. And he was not alone. Gino Caiazzo shared a fist bump with Cruz before parting ways, stepping out from underneath the bleachers, focused so intently on avoiding the nearby security cameras that he did not see Anna waiting in the parking lot.

"Hey Gino."

"Jesus fuck!" Gino actually jumped in surprise, snapping into a comical faux martial arts stance, relaxing when he recognized Anna. "What are you doing here? Don't fuckin' sneak up on me like that."

"Sneak up on you?" Anna raised an eyebrow, avoiding Gino's question. "You're the one sneaking around the cameras. I'm just standing in a parking lot."

"They're really cracking down this year, and Cruz has to be careful."

"Selling cannabis on school grounds is an odd way to be careful, but Cruz does get points for being bold and lucky." Anna, remembering the number of times school officials used drug sniffing dogs to sweep the hallways and lockers, could only imagine how Cruz had managed to avoid getting caught for so many years. "Are you about to get stoned? And may I please join?"

"Sure," Gino replied, "but I won't be lighting up until after practice, so you'll have to wait a while."

Anna didn't think so. "Are you sure you want to play lacrosse today?"

"If I miss another practice, I'm benched for the next five games, which is practically the rest of the season." Gino started walking towards the athletic fields. "So, yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"You're pretty sure," echoed Anna, falling into step alongside Gino. "But are you absolutely one-hundred percent sure you don't want to skip practice? And invite me over for the evening?"

"Oh." Gino came to an abrupt halt, finally on the same page. "Usually you text beforehand."

"Spontaneity is the name of the game," said Anna. "Live as if the world will end on Monday. And if the world doesn't end on Monday, I foresee many additional sessions of stick-and-balls practice in your future. Take it from me, though, the world is definitely ending on Monday."

"I really shouldn't." Gino glanced back at the athletic fields. "I can't get benched, not for the rest of the season. This is my last season of lacrosse here."

"It's your choice, just make sure you consider what I'm offering versus what they're offering."

Biting his lip, Gino considered how he could possibly get out of practice without a penalty. When a viable idea presented itself, he said, "I'll be right back," making a beeline for the gym doors. Hollering over his shoulder, Gino added, "Ten minutes! Don't go anywhere!"

Gino disappeared into the gym, reemerging in full lacrosse gear less than three minutes later, jogging across the baseball diamond towards his team's practice field. Along the way, he caught sight of Gwen on the neighboring practice field, waving to her.

Neither lacrosse team had begun their drills yet, allowing Gwen to run over for a few seconds to say hello.

Anna watched Gwen and Gino talk, but could not hear what they said, so she decided to make up her own words. "Hey, I think you're pretty cool," Anna said for Gwen, before replying on Gino's behalf with, "I am pretty and cool! And it's pretty cool that you think stuff about me."

Coaches' whistles began to shriek, heralding the onset of practice, prompting Gino and Gwen to exchange temporary goodbyes before reporting to their respective teams.

Gino's team threw themselves into a rigorous gamut of warmup exercises, switching to pushups after completing a round of jumping jacks. Once the pushups were complete, the coach blew his whistle, Gino's team stood back up, and the coach ordered them to get running. Gino and his teammates threw themselves into running laps around the perimeter of the practice field.

Patience wearing thin, Anna glanced back at the bushes where she'd stashed her bike, wondering if Gino was full of shit. Should she leave? She wished she'd checked the time when Gino said ten minutes, because surely ten minutes had already passed.

A sudden commotion disrupted the boys' lacrosse practice. Gino had stopped running.

Standing awkwardly on the edge of the practice field, Gino removed his helmet and coughed loudly, clutching his stomach. As the lacrosse coach grabbed some water and hurried over to see what was wrong, Gino doubled over and vomited.

The lacrosse coach did not seem very enthused about getting flecks of puke on his shoes.

After admonishing Gino for trying to practice while sick without saying something, the coach dismissed him, and Gino wasted no time hurrying back to the parking lot, where Anna had just retrieved her bike from the bushes.

"Now then," Gino said, breathless as he rejoined Anna. "Where were we?"

"You were about to skip practice and invite me over, but then you went to practice anyway and made your mouth all gross."

"That does ring a bell. Consider our bells thoroughly rung," chuckled Gino, making his way across the parking lot towards his car, gesturing for Anna to follow. "Shall we?"

"Up to you." Anna accompanied Gino across the parking lot. "You're not ringing any of my bells until your teeth are thoroughly brushed."

Waves curled from the emerald ocean as they approached the shore, crashing into the soft white sand.

Forward surging water reached hungrily up the beach towards the dry sand, hoping to claim more territory for the sea, and regardless of how far it reached, every wave experienced the same outcome. Without exception, each wave lost its forward momentum and receded back into the emerald ocean, preparing the beach for the next wave in a mesmerizing cycle.

Cass watched the waves, wondering how far each wave had traveled before arriving on this beach to fully manifest.

Faraway storm clouds coalesced slowly over the distant open ocean, obscuring the horizon where the emerald ocean touched the rainbow sky. A solitary bolt of lightning streaked through the distant rainy haze. As the wind shifted, Cass looked at Gwen, wondering if she had moved yet. She hadn't.

Gwen had not spoken since reviewing her death. She stood on the wet sand at the edge of the waves' reach, observing the distant storm clouds. With the arrival of each new wave, the wet sand swallowed more of Gwen's feet, and it was not long before she was buried well past her ankles.

Cass rested back against the seaward facing wall of Gwen's house, content to bask in the skaialight. Beaches in dream bubbles were no less satisfying than beaches on the physical plane. The notion of eventually leaving Gwen's bubble came with a strong hint of sadness, because at least here the sky was colorful and bright.

A dark and empty sky awaited Cass back home. And a lot of work. Project Harvest needed to spread its wings and fly. Assuming Atrex and Elunes had not already killed each other.

Cass took a deep breath, focusing once more on the ocean swells, pondering how much easier Project Harvest might become if Gwen decided to help.

Finally, Gwen moved, dropping her gaze from the distant thunderstorms, focusing on the seawater surging past her legs, over her buried feet.

Sensing an opening, Cass stood up and walked over to Gwen, remaining on the dry sand. "I think your planet is beautiful."

"My memory of it certainly is," murmured Gwen, reaching down to touch the oncoming water of the latest wave, feeling the power of the ocean flowing between her fingers. "But it's only a memory."

"It's more than just a memory," said Cass. "You're still alive. You didn't vanish just because your bodies died."

Thunder growled on the distant stormy horizon, and Gwen swirled her fingers around in the receding water. "Everything feels just like it was."

"Might as well be," agreed Cass. "The brain doesn't distinguish between experiences in the dream state versus the waking state."

Gwen lifted one of her feet, liberating it from the wet sand. "I don't use brains, anymore."

Cass's immediate response was laughter, before her filters kicked in and she apologized. "Sorry, the way you said that was really funny, and it's not something I've ever heard someone truthfully say until now."

Despite her gloom and inner storms, Gwen enjoyed a chuckle of her own, but then the moment passed, and her thinking quickly resumed. "Is this all there is?" she asked. "Will I be living in my own memories for eternity? I think I'd prefer nonexistence after the first five million years."

"I don't know." Thinking about eternity weakened Cass's knees. "I don't actually remember the last time I've ever looked that far ahead."

"No one does, really, American culture is terrified of death and dying," said Gwen. "Everyone's busy arguing over whether or not we have souls or if consciousness continues after the body dies. No one bothers to consider the far-reaching consequences of post-mortal existence. Will we eventually fade away, or do we remain in this form forever? How long do we endure? Earth will disappear. Our sun will disappear. What do we do when the final stars in the universe go dark?"

"I think existence has one Constant," declared Cass. "Everything is always changing, and nothing ever stays the same for long." She cleared her throat uncomfortably, eager to talk about something, anything else. "I doubt we'll be stuck in a single form forever, but I don't really know for sure. Why don't we take a little break from the existential dread?"

"How?" Gwen watched her liberated foot sink slowly back into the wet sand. "The only thing I have left are memories. And eternity."

"Existence isn't lonely when you have company." Cass extended a hand to Gwen. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Come with you?" Gwen regarded Cass's hand with skepticism. "Where?"

"Our Home."

"What is Our Home?"

"You'll see."

After a silence, Gwen freed both of her feet from the wet sand, took a step back from the sea, and looked away from the distant thunderstorms. "Okay," she said, taking Cass's hand.

Together, Cass and Gwen rose into the rainbow sky, leaving the beach far below.