I was weightless, suspended in a void, with vast pilrs of color that made up the clouds of far-off nebue appearing to stretch far beyond, toward infinity. Once again, I found myself back here, back within the Cerebellium.

  This dream, if I can call it that, has pgued me for years. Without warning, I’ve found myself drawn to this pne again, and again. Not always am I drifting in the vast openness of its space; sometimes, I would find myself in various and interesting environments. Like the time I’ve visited Castle Two Peaks, a name I’ve given it myself. I had woken in the void, like I had just now, but not so far off an isnd could be seen. On that isnd, as the name implied, was a rge castle built alongside a mountain with two peaks.

  Its structure was old and weathered, and as I drifted closer, I assumed it was abandoned. An assumption I would be correct on, as when I had finally touched down upon this floating isnd’s surface, I could not find any sembnce of life. At least, nothing present. It was clear from the onset that this pce had once been lived in, just not for a long, long time.

  As to how such a structure, let alone an entire isnd and mountains, ended up here, I had no idea. From what I’ve learned from Shaed, the Cerebellium is a reality that connects to what he referred to as the “collective subconscious.” Material objects, things with mass, aren’t typically capable of surviving within this realm, as there are no ws in pce to keep them here; therefore, objects from our physical realm tend to… violently end themselves.

  At least, that’s what would happen if there isn’t what Shaed refers to as a “mote of materium” in pce to protect them. Essentially, as he described it to me, this is when one fttens a region of space-time to form a protective pocket in which one can stay. Basically, renting out a parking spot for a time.

  Even I’m still scratching my head a bit on this, but I think I get the idea.

  So, why do I keep coming here? I have no idea. Even my fellow headmates, whom I’ve grown accustomed to, don’t exactly know either.

  “Well, I have ideas, I just don’t know if they’re sound or not,” Rational huffed. “When we spoke to Shaed, back in Johanneson, we needed that magranium pilr.”

  Truth snorted. “While true, I doubt that’s not the only reason. Remember, Shaed is imprisoned, we’ve most likely needed that pilr as sort of like a phone used in prisons visitors use.”

  “So you’re suggesting that getting to this realm is far easier on our own?” Rational asked. “I guess, seeing as we’re here now, that could be the case, but the question I’m stuck on is this. How are we doing this?”

  “Bh, bh, bh!” Fury harrumphed. “It doens’t matter why were here, or how we’re here! I just wanna know how to get out!”

  These three have been stuck with me ever since that night in Johanneson. Or really, I’ve been trapped with them. Well, if I’m truly being honest with myself, as Truth always tells me to be, they’ve been with me my whole life. Little goblins in the back of my mind, as I liked to call them, voices either egging me on, putting me down, thoughts, and sounds that everyone may have. It’s just that mine are louder and seem to have a mind of their own.

  I thought I was crazy, and well, I still kind of do. Except, as time went on, and I’ve got to know these three, or really I should say myself. We’ve agreed. I, Luna, the main pilot as we dubbed this, am the one whose purpose is to drive this meat suit I call a body. When I’m in the driver's seat, these three, like kids on a road trip, need to sit down and shush. Only when called upon are they allowed to speak openly, because whenever we all start squabbling at once, things get messy.

  Like now, unlike the real world, or the material realm, I should say, it’s easy to suppress one’s thoughts. However, here, in the “subconscious realm” where your mind is ever expanding, and so forth, there’s no door to shut on these doofusses.

  “Hey!” All three of them barked.

  Exactly, there’s no privacy to be had here. So, I guess you could say that’s one good thing about these random dreams where I end up here. Coming here, let me meet with these three, pn things out, and align our goals. Or at least, as aligned as I could get.

  Normally, I would have to communicate with the three by writing notes. It was cumbersome, required a sembnce of trust, but it worked. I used to spend nights writing letters in my journal, like to a pen pal, but in reality, they were to myself. Or at least, an alter ego of myself. It was a trick I once tried with Varis, and since then, I have spoken with Truth. Then Rational, and Fury, well… I don’t tend to bother her too much.

  “As you should,” Fury grumbled.

  But now, now we’ve been having these group meetings in this void perhaps… once a week now, I think? I’ve sorta lost count after about the fifth one.

  “It’s been roughly twenty eight visits now, Luna,” Truth said, “Started about two years ago and about once a month, around the twenty fifth of each. I wonder if there’s a corretion with the dates…?”

  Well, that answers that then. This is why I’ve come to like them, despite my initial apprehension. After the events that had happened, it was mostly those two who had kept me in check. Truth with well, speaking the truth and ying things out straight for me, and then Rational, who helped me parse and cope with how things were.

  Fury, well, as I said, I never bothered her too much since then. She’s been sort of my helper when it came to what I’ve been bottling up. She’s helped me let loose and release the baggage of what I’ve been carrying, and well, despite my anxieties toward her. She been a boon in that regard.

  “Look at her,” Rational mused. “She’s actually showing us some gratitude.”

  “Shut up,” I mumbled. “I’m just going over everything that’s happened as of te.” I huffed and kicked back, allowing my avatar to flip in space. In the Cerebellium, as stated before, there is no material matter; I technically don’t have a body. Though, as Shaed taught me, you can create an “avatar” of sorts, a projection that you can use to mimic having a body. For mortals like me, such a trick is useful when trying to stay sane here.

  “Always so mean to us,” Truth huffed. “Why is that?”

  I smirked as I slowly back-flipped through the air. “Because when I do say something nice, the impact is greater, duh.” I chuckled as both Truth and Rational feigned a gasp.

  “Well then, now I know to never take what you say to heart.” Truth grumbled.

  “Attagirl,” I said with a thumbs up. “Now,” I puffed my cheeks, “I wonder if Cereb is around?”

  “You ask that every time,” Rational said with a sigh. “What makes you think they’ll answer us now?”

  “Because I’m curious, that’s why.” I forced myself to swing the opposite direction, slowing my momentum in space before bringing my spin to a stop. “Ever since that night, we hand’t spoke.” I bit my lip. “I’m worried Shaed did something to them, you guys remember how panicked they were, right?”

  I sensed Truth’s nod. “Yeah, I do. Shaed did say something about them having woken up.”

  Rational sniffed. “Perhaps he put them back to sleep or something.”

  “Or killed them!” Fury growled. “I could never trust that guy.”

  “I doubt that,” I said with a shake of my head. “We’re technically part of Cereb, or so Shaed said. I doubt he’d harm them.” Silence fell over us.

  After a moment, Truth took a deep breath. “Not to change the subject, but what we should be honestly discussing is–”

  “Ugh, not this again!” Fury groaned. “You guys are going to piss me off if we keep going over this.”

  “Then go behind your door and shut up,” I said, crossing my arms. “Go ahead, Truth.”

  I felt Truth’s warmth, and they muttered a thanks before continuing, “What happened to Venra?”

  Rational tensed. “Is it safe to be mentioning his name here? Shaed said speaking that could be dangerous.”

  Truth hesitated. “Right, uh, what I mean is, you know… that guy we requested help from?”

  My jaw set. “I don’t know,” I said quietly. “I haven’t heard anything from them since. Whenever I try to reach out to them, I get no response.”

  Rational nodded. “I can vouch for that… but what bothers me is the time dition between us. Time here supposedly runs faster than the material pne. Ages must’ve gone by for them since we st requested help.”

  Fury snarled. “Perhaps something happened to them? It was foolish of us to rely solely on an individual to help us.”

  I nodded. “True, and that’s why we reached out to Mr. Rosewall,” I said, and sighed. “As much as it bothers me to rely on others, he’s been fantastic.”

  “Agreed,” Truth said, “But are we confident he’ll pull Mother out of here?”

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But, he’s been keeping them comfortable. As long as he can help buy us time and ease her pain, we can focus on getting her out.”

  Fury snorted. “And how would we get her out?”

  “Well, by research, for one,” Rational said, “Venra made it clear that their kind is familiar with this realm, remnants of their people are scattered about Enora. Surely we can dig through what’s left and find something.”

  “So you want us to become archeologists?” Fury asked.

  I shook my head. “Not entirely, but I do agree with what Rat is suggesting.”

  “Rat?” I sensed Rational’s frown, though I ignored it.

  “There has to be something stored away; catalogued knowledge,” I said, “We’ll dig through what we can, good old-fashioned research.”

  Truth groaned. “But we hate researching! God, if only the internet was a thing here.”

  I smiled sheepishly. “I understand that, but we gotta do what we can.”

  Rational chuckled. “Well, look at you, sounds like you’ve put some thought into this.”

  I nodded. “Well, we’ve been at this for far too long now. Something needs to be done.”

  Fury huffed. “That’s something I can agree with… are we done here now? These monthly meetings are boring when we’re stuck floating like this.”

  “Want me to hand you some jingling keys or subway surfers?” Truth joked, and Fury groaned.

  I snorted and shook my head. “Quiet you two, I’d say we’re done here. There’s not much to really discuss. Just remember, stick to our agreement, if I need any of you I’ll tag you in.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Rational said, “As of now, the Lunar Council is adjourned.”

  You ask me how I feel… how I feel, tsk. What am I even supposed to say to that? You know exactly how I feel, Venra! You knew this would happen, and yet… and yet I went along with it knowing as well.

  ImmortanJoJo