"Holy shit, something like that exists??"


    Earth must have been living under a rock. Well.. Beats living on nothing but a rock in the middle of fuck knows where I guess..


    "Sure does Vince~ It''s been a secret for a very long time now though. Naturally, being the Queen, I was able to gain a lot of.. Forbidden knowledge. So I know a thing or two, hehe~"


    "Well well well.. It''s good to know you''ve always been cheeky your highness"


    "Oh stop~", Fellabee teased out as she sat on my head.


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    "Alright, alright. I''m in on this plan. I can''t really think of any other way we can find the answers just by talking about it. How exactly are we gonna do it though?"


    Fellabee squirmed a bit.


    "Uhhh.. It''s a bit hard to explain.."


    I took Fellabee off my head and held her in front of my chest.


    "I''m listening~ C''mon, give it a try!"


    "Alriiiight, I''ll see what I can do~", Fellabee said, wiggling her body.


    She stood up. Thin strands began to materialise above her head. Soon, they formed into a brilliant crown atop her head.


    "What the hell?? Where did that come from?!", I said, startled.


    "The same place our clothes came from??", Fellabee said with a bit of shock.


    "Huh.. How''d you figure out how to do that?"


    "The same way I access the internet.. But wait, didn''t you make our clothes appear Vince??"


    "No..?"


    Silence filled the air. My stomach began to contort as the sudden realisation dawned on me that something else was also occupying our bodies.


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    "Do you think it can, I dunno.. Take over our body at any moment?"


    "Maybe.. I mean, it clothed us without asking. Though I''m not complaining. If anything, it''s kind of well mannered whatever it is.. If it''s even sentient at all??"


    "Huh.. I guess you''re right. It could be some non-sentient thing. Not knowing is kinda creepy though.."


    "Yeah.."


    What else could we do.. We were stuck with it. It could probably see, hear, maybe even feel everything we both could. For a moment, I wanted to be back in that room. Locked inside, away from all this chaos and fear.


    And then I remembered the madness. The ever pervasive downfall that drenched and soaked my innermost securities. I won''t ever allow myself to defile who I am in that way ever again.


    It was creepy for sure. We have no idea what kind of thing is "inside" us. But, holding onto this idea tightly would send us both mad. If we fixated on it, we might lose sight of what really matters.


    "Well.. It still beats paint moving and talking rats", I said, trying to convey a nonchalant tone.


    "You idiot", Fellabee replied with a hand to her forehead.


    "I mean think about it. Okay, there''s some creepy people following us around everywhere we go, but maybe they can protect us? I''m pretty sure we were as good as dead before whatever the hell happened to us that got us here. And now we''re able to pull shit out of our ass like we''re David Blaine"


    "Speak for yourself Vince~ Last I checked, only I can do the impossible~"


    "Who the fuck is David Blaine", Fellabee added, muttering imperceptibly with pouted lips.


    "Ha! We''ll see how long that lasts Fel~"


    "Hmph. We''ll see how well you can pick it up. Then you can talk big~"


    I did a respectful martial arts bow.


    "I''m here to learn from you, wise one~"


    Fellabee burst into laughter.


    "You silly boy.."


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    Fellabee folded her arms and enlarged her upper stature.


    "Alright, let''s get down to business"


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    And so the lesson began.


    I sat my ass down on the barren ground, preparing to be enlightened as Fellabee''s class commenced.


    She began by weaving what I could best describe as a chalkboard into existence.


    "Wait, did you weave that thing in based on my world or did you have something like that there??"


    Fellabee smirked.


    "Oh we have way more sophisticated teaching tools than this. This one''s for you Vince."


    "Ouch.. Low blow Fel.."


    "Low blow?? I got wings you know! I''ll show you a low blow!", she said as she hurled the chalk toward my nether region.


    I couldn''t help but laugh at her silly antics.


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    After we settled down, Fellabee returned to her studious demeanor.


    "Okay, let''s start with how to access the internet, since it''s the fundamental required to go into each other''s minds"


    She briefly paused. Studied my expression. Then continued.


    "Let''s start with the alleyways. Spaces between places where gaps in reality lie."


    "Gaps as in?"


    "Mmm, like when you see a loosely woven blanket. There are kind of "holes" or gaps where the "stuff" isn''t. And in our case, these gaps or holes seem to lead to places. Or at least, they do now.."


    I nodded in acknowledgement.


    "Makes sense, makes sense. Nice analogy Fel~"


    "Silly, don''t make me shy. I used to be a Queen you know! I had to explain things to people all the time. And I got to learn a lot from people who could explain things super well too, you know?"


    "True true, still, don''t sell yourself short-"


    "What do you mean short? Huhhh??"


    Fel rushed up to my face and waved her chalk around.


    "Feeeel, you know what I mean!"


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    "Okay, imagine your brain. Between the neurons and synaptic terminals; let''s say the tree trunk and the branches, there are spaces between the places like alleyways. As you go from the trunk to the branch, eventually you reach leaves. If we imagine a forest with really close trees, there''s spaces where the wind blows."


    As Fellabee was speaking, she began to move her hands extremely fast. She conjured up pictures of a sprawling network of tendrils and filaments at multiple scales to help me understand.


    "Are you following along?"


    "I''m mostly following, keep going"


    Her analogies really helped. I didn''t really know much about the brain per say. Being taught things by her made my heart tingle..


    Fellabee''s wings wiggled as she began her next motion.


    "Now let''s imagine that through these places where the wind blows, there are especially narrow spots. These are contrasted as we reach the outside of the forest. There''s this wide open plane out there. Lots and lots of space for wind to blow. At this horizon in the brain, specifically here-"


    She pointed to a dark, sponge-like texture she had drawn, labeled the "outside of the forest".


    "What we want to do so we can connect to the internet is to follow the flow of the wind. Think of it like hopping on a leaf when the wind blows especially hard. If we catch the right leaf, at the right time, it''ll take us through the gaps. And eventually, we''re going to end up at the right place. Well.. It takes a bit of steering the leaf. But you get the idea, right?"


    "Yeah. Actually, I kinda thought it''d be a lot harder than this to understand it. You''ve explained it so well Fel.. I''m really impressed!"


    Fellabee looked at me, a little stunned, then puffed out her chest.


    "Of course I did! I got taught by the best of the best~"


    "I think you''re also just good at explaining things Fel. I never would''ve been able to come up with analogies like that.."


    Fellabee, frowning, threw chalk at my forehead.


    "Hey! Don''t talk shit about yourself. I''m not with you cause you''re an idiot. It usually takes people a long time to understand this stuff. Give yourself some credit, okay??"


    "Okay, okay.. Thank you Fellabee, really."


    Fellabee patted my head and rubbed where the chalk had landed.


    "Of course Vince"


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    "Alright. Since we can''t use the Linker anymore."


    We looked briefly at the pitiful pile of junk it had been reduced to.


    "We''re gonna have to rely on this theory to carry us through this next stage, Vince. If we make a mistake, uhh.. We might be screwed. So, let''s go over the details a few more times.."


    My stomach curled a bit when she said those words. I never felt good being relied on. I hated letting people down..


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    "Alright, something really important. Coming back from diving into each other''s psyches is.. Challenging work. At worst, we might be in a coma for life. There''s also actually no written way on how exactly we get back to "reality", hence it''s forbidden.. But what kind of reality are we in now anyway.."


    The sky bled with abandonment.


    "Well, look at the bright side. At least we''ll be together in that coma!"


    Fellabee grinned, a mixed expression filling her face.


    "That almost sounds like a paradise, if we could live there.."


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    "These golden veins.. I hope they don''t impede the ritual.."


    "Are they a bad thing?"


    "I''m not sure.. That depends on whether or not we can bleed honestly.."


    "Wait what?!"


    Without warning, Fellabee stabbed a very fine needle into my vein. In that moment, I saw my ancestors. They told me, "She''s gonna kill you, wake the fuck up".


    Coming back to my senses, I expected pain. I even winced. However, no pain ensued. Meanwhile, a fine stream of gold traveled up the needle.


    "Bingo! Looks like we can do this Vince!"


    "Holy hell you scared the shit out of me!!"


    Fellabee patted me gently.


    "There there. I can kiss it better later."


    "Alright..", I said, frowning slightly.


    Fellabee looked over to the robed figures that had silently witnessed everything.


    "Hey, loyal followers. If we''re unresponsive for more than 12 hours, do whatever you can to wake us up, okay?"


    The robed figures stood silently. Not a single speck of gold hummed.


    <b>OBEY</b>


    The robed figures nodded compliantly. Then lending a knee, they bowed with a sense of deep respect.


    "Huh, they listened", Fellabee said, riddled with surprise.


    "Once a Queen, always a Queen I guess~"


    "Sillyyyyy. You might be right though."


    Fellabee smirked as she looked down upon the figures above her.


    <b>? ? ?</b>


    Fellabee held the delicate needle with extreme precision. A single mistake would require restarting from the very beginning. And who knew how hard it would be to clean this golden liquid coming out from us..


    "You know Vince, it''s times like these that I''m really glad I had an interest in esoteric stuff like this.. Without it, maybe we wouldn''t be able to ever leave this place.."


    I looked to Fel with a sense of comradery in my heart.


    "Me too Fel.. There were all kinds of weird esoteric ideas in my world too. Without being so interested in them, maybe I would never have been able to meet you.."


    Fellabee''s hands glided across the surface of my skin. A careful stream of gold rested itself upon my arm. Her skill and grace in this moment was breathtaking.


    Over time, a kaleidoscopic pattern was formed between our arms. It was a dazzling sight to behold. From where the needle had entered our skin, to where our arms met, not a single part of the pattern was disconnected. We had to keep our arms incredibly still during this process. It was actually quite challenging..


    "Now, I want you to close your eyes Vince, and repeat after me"