"Fi... fiction!? Are we really in fiction, right now?" Frey asked, more shocked each second he passed in that place.
"Ehm, not exactly, fiction only begins from the surface of the Platonic Sea" Lum corrected him. "For the moment, we are located in the space between the two worlds."
"We... are we in a void? Non-existence? But how come we are still alive in this case? Life cannot exist without anything around!"
"Oh, that's a smart remark, maybe you're not just a bunch of muscles after all" Lum scoffed as Frey took on an indignant expression. "For your information, everything here and in the Platonic Sea is influenced by Imagination. Your mind must have assimilated this place to a marine area of the Primary World and, with Imagination, created a similar environment as a survival reflex"
"I don't understand, is it really possible to modify reality like that, just by thinking about it? And then you said that it was me who made the environment livable, so that means you can't? What do you do when I'm not here?"
"Hey, one question at a time" Lum pointed out.
Frey was a little embarrassed and immediately calmed down:
"Sorry" he apologized.
"It's nothing" the fairy forgave him. "So to answer your questions: yes it is possible to modify reality with imagination or reflections, and yes I can do it, but not to the point of creating an environment from nothing, there is no than the beings of the Primary World who can do this. When you're not there, I'm simply thrown back into the Platonic see, sometime into a random narrative"
"Okay, that explains a lot. But then why can't humans do that?"
"No idea, to be honest. Maybe it doesn't work in the Primary World? There is no way of knowing."
With these words, Lum made a candy appear out of nowhere which she savored for a minute. Maybe she wanted to show him that she wasn't lying? In any case, just after that, she started talking again:
"Anyway, getting back to the Primary World and the Platonic Sea, they are both the creations of one and the same person"
"Who ?" Frey asked, having a little difficulty imagining a being who would be capable of such a thing.
"God, basically"
Frey wasn't as shocked as he should've been in this situation: when you thought about it, it made sense that such complex things were created by God, after all, who else could have done it? However, he was far from remaining unmoved by this revelation:
"God exists ? Wow. I can't even imagine all the religious problems that this would create if it became known. Besides, speaking of that, how do you know all that?"
All creatures who have managed to escape from their story know this, it's a bit as if a memory suddenly resurfaces within us. Well, God is just a name people gave him. From what I know, God's name is actually Ei. Also, there are plenty of characters with the title of god or God in the stories, but there is no connection between them and Ei, so don't pay attention to them."
"I see, I can pretty much understand so far."
"If you understand, please stop interrupting. So to come back to it, the Platonic Sea is not really made up only of fictions, but also of all the concepts and laws invented or discovered by the humans of your world, the Primary World, as well as all the sensations and thoughts that they had. To tell the truth, it would be more correct to speak of the immaterial world.
An immaterial world?" Frey was beginning to regret having studied acting rather than quantum physics.
"This Sea works in a very simple way: the more complex a creation is, the more in-depth it is and takes up space. On the surface there are the sensations and a little further down the thoughts, which form the 'Single Layer'. Then come the tales, stories and stories for the next hundreds of meters, it is the 'Narrative Layer'. Approaching the bottom, we find all the theoretical and demonstrated concepts. It is the 'Conceptual Layer', or Complex Layer if you prefer."
The poor man's head was about to explode from all this new information. Everything he knew had been called into question in just a few minutes, and he felt like everything he had done so far was for nothing.
What was the point of becoming an actor or comedian if, in the end, all these stories and all these characters really existed somewhere?
What was the point of overcoming all of life's difficulties if you could just retreat to another world where you would live happily ever after and never have to do anything? Knowing that ultimately, even the world we lived in was just a drop of water in the great cosmic Whole?
"Is there anything else?" he asked, pale as ever.
"I think that's about it" Lum replied. "Wow, it was longer than I thought."
Frey sat against the railing of the Ark and covered his face with his hand to try to calm himself.
"It's crazy" he said. "Talking to a fairy and all that was already crazy, but this is just ridiculous. I know this is all too complicated to be just a dream, but I can't figure out what's going on."
Frey only knew how to expose himself in front of someone he had literally only known for two days, but he could no longer contain himself:
"How is something like this possible? I'm pretty sure this world goes against at least fifty laws of physics. And then, why me in particular? Is it a coincidence or is it intentional, decided by someone else? Is it just my spirit, or was my body transported here too? I…I… I…"
Frey felt like tears were about to escape his eyes when Lum took him in his arms:
"Sshh, don't worry" she said, patting him on the back. "I didn't realize how scary it could be, so sorry. But here and now, we are safe, the Ark is just like a boat that links the Platonic Sea and the Primary World, there is nothing dangerous here. We'll stay here quietly until you can leave like last time, okay?"
She let go of Frey and he felt strangely reassured, was it because of a special power? Was Lum simply good at comforting people? He decided not to ask questions and move on:
"So coming back to Imagination, is there a particular method to use it or do I just need to think of something specific enough to make it appear?"
"Excellent question" Lum replied, looking relieved that he was no longer brooding. "You just have to imagine something precisely enough and normally, an image should appear in your head, we sometimes call it 'Imagining'. After that, you will just have to modify certain parameters of the Imagined thing and then you can translate it into reality by relaxing your concentration."
"Oh, a bit like a Photoshop of the mind?"
"Eh, more or less... can you remind me what a Photoshop looks like again?"
Frey held back laughter but couldn't contain a small smile, which caused a displeased pout to appear on Lum's face.
"Basically, Photoshop is an application for editing images" Frey explained. "You see how it is?"
"Yes, I have already seen a lot of digital in the different stories" Lum replied, slightly displeased that he thought she was as ignorant as he was.
"You speak as if you have already visited quite a few stories… have you ever been to the very bottom of the Platonic Sea?"
Apparently it was a sensitive subject, because Lum had a sad look and looked away slightly:
"No, never. Even when flying at full speed downwards, I always end up stopping before reaching the depths of the Narrative Layer" she replied. "The one time I went a little further, it went pretty badly"
Another subject she didn't seem ready to discuss. Frey did not take offense and asked:
"Um… the Narrative Layer?"
"Oh come on, I literally mentioned this five minutes ago! Simple Layer, Narrative Layer, Complex/Conceptual Layer… At least try!" Lum scolded him.
"Forgive me for not being able to remember the whole history of the world in fifteen minutes. In short, is there a simple way to get off the Ark and get back up easily afterwards? I would like to see how this imaginary species of water works more closely"
"I can carry you down there and then bring you back if you want" Lum offered, proudly showing off his translucent orange wings.
"Yes, that would help me a lot."
Lum grabbed Frey by the waist and they began to fly away, Frey particularly enjoying the sensation of feeling his feet lift off the ground.
"You're really heavy, lose some weight!" Lum complained as they began to descend towards the water.
"Hey, it's just muscle" Frey replied, annoyed. "And besides, I'm pretty sure the problem is coming from you, seeing as you struggle even with wings"
"And your problem is that you don't know how to fly"
Without any further warning, she dropped Frey into the water. Even though they were only two or three meters from the surface, the surprise made it so Frey could not prevent some water from entering his nose and mouth.
"Pffttwa, don't do that without warning, you dumbass!" Frey shouted.
"Hahaha, you should have been nicer" Lum scoffed. "So, what does it taste like, dozens of human thoughts mixed together?"
"It tastes like salt water, and I could definitly have done without it!"
After saying that, he began to feel emotions and sensations that weren't his own: anger, excitement, happiness, and even pain. He began to sink more without even realizing it.
"Frey! Come back, it's dangerous!" Lum shouted
But he had already arrived at the level of thoughts, and no longer heard anything other than these same thoughts, which were resonating in his head without any form of coherence. But even though the oxygen was no longer within reach, he felt no pain or sensation of lack of air. Suddenly the thoughts stopped, and a distinct voice rang in his ears:
"I told you you'd come back here eventually, right?"
It was the voice of the black creature that had appeared in the mirror, and it now seemed clear that it was not going to leave him alone.