The World Outside The Shell<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chapter 12<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The familiar comforting sound of the waterfall became a distant echo as time slowed to a stop. I watched the air shimmer until a flash of bright light transported me to another place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri said, \u201cWelcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The room was decorated with blooming flowers, with spare furniture and a similar size to the cottage inside my shell. I waited for my eyes to adjust as the white light of the sun pool faded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri said, \u201cOf course, you are the first person allowed into my world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The walls were lined with wood panel shelves filled with scrolls. I looked for a window or door to the outside world, but there scrolls were stacked floor to ceiling<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, \u201cIs this your study? The place where you translate the maps?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri said, \u201cNo, this is home. The scrolls are a record of my time in this world.\u201d
I said, \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri said, \u201cI have no memory of life before awakening in this world. I think you are the same?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri said, \u201cThe world is my creation. I traveled around the known lands for over a thousand years, and everything in this place is a creation of my imagination, but also very real. I wanted another mind to enter this place, to challenge me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, \u201cAm I real?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri said, \u201cYes! I tried for hundreds of years to bring another mind into this reality. The floods are caused by our competing world views. I need you to balance the forces of creation with a map we can agree on before a thousand years of history is erased from the scrolls.\u201d She stepped close and pulled me into a long embrace, crying with the release of emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, \u201cSo the world outside is your creation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri nodded and pointed to the stacks of scrolls and pulled one down to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, \u201cAre these old maps of the world?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lady Ri said, \u201cThe map I\u2019m holding is the current landscape. I made mistakes when there was no other mind to challenge me.\u201d She removed her cloak and stood casually in the center of the room, dressed in a simple travel outfit, without a royal crest or other signs of her status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I walked around the cottage, opening scrolls and returning them to the shelves, while noticing how each world was a different landscape. I soon became frustrated and said, \u201cSend me home. I refuse to live inside your dreams! I watched you command people from the first day I arrived in the marshlands. I will not be another mindless companion.\u201d
Lady Ri said, \u201cI cannot.\u201d
I said, \u201cWhy?\u201d
Lady Ri took my hand and said, \u201cBecause I am inside your dream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, “And you were with me in previous lives? So who is the OTHER?”
Lady Ri said, “I visited you many times in previous lives.”
I said, “And the OTHER?”
The world dissolved into a cloud of blue pixels. I stood facing Lady Ri in a white sphere of nothing, wearing the same green robe. I noticed the change was in my clothing, I was wearing the white robe.
Lady Ri smiled. “The Gromm was a fool and lost his way in this temple, as you recall during our first meeting. I hope you will not lose your way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, “And the OTHER?”
Lady Ri said, \u201cIn this world, there are secrets I have not discovered. I hope you will stay with me, Tamm, to find the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n