'Okay, now that we've sorted that whole situation, we should get going. Ego, that's your cue!'
Ego: "You don't need to shout. I'm in your head!"
'Just move us already...'
Ego: "Fine. Here we go."
My body moved at the command, crawling out of the hole.
Alter: "Do you have to narrate everything we do?"
'It's a force of habit, and I don't think I'll quit anytime soon. Anyway...'
With Ego controlling the body, I was moving much faster than when I was controlling it.
'Wait! Why is that? He only just existed for a few hours, and now he can perfectly control a body he's never controlled before. What sorcery is this?'
Ego: "I don't know. It just felt natural."
'I guess my movements were based on how a human would crawl instead of how an actual caterpillar walks. But you're basically me, so you should be doing the same, shouldn't you?'
Ego: "I don't really know myself. It's like the natural instincts of this body just came to me. Kinda like a download of info."
'Huh? Where would you even download information like that, though? You know what, never mind. Just keep walking. You're better at it anyway.'
Ego: "I forgot to ask. Where are we going?"
'I honestly don't know at this point. If we just head deeper into the forest, we'll reach the end of it. Eventually...'
'And make sure to head East. It's the opposite direction of the river.'
Ego: "On it, boss!"
With Ego having full control of the body, there wasn't much I could do. I reminded him to eat as we went to get some energy while we moved. Hours went by, and I felt bored just watching through Ego's perspective.
'I didn't realise it at first because I was the one controlling the body, but my life is really boring.'
'Hey, Alter?'
She'd been so quiet this whole time; I thought I should talk to her.
Alter: "Yes?"
'Whatcha doing?'
She sighed. 'Why did she sigh at me? I just asked a simple question.'
Alter: "Well, if you must know, I've been monitoring everything in our mind, going through memories, reorganising your mental scape. That sort of thing. Now, if you'll just allow—"
'Wait, mental scape? What's that?'
I could feel her annoyance. 'I probably should have kept my mouth shut. Curiosity killed the cat. Good thing I'm a caterpillar.'
Alter: "The mental scape is the 'control centre' of your entire mind. It determines a lot of the things that happen in your mind."
'And you're reorganising it? Why, though? And what kind of things does it determine?'
She was getting more aggravated by the moment.
Alter: "I'm reorganising it because it's a mess! For some reason, your entire mind is out of order! For some reason, our thoughts are randomly leaking to who knows where! Your mental image generator is cut off, and I've been trying to get it online!"
I felt as if she was dealing with something and was directing all the stress towards me. Although, she was probably under all this stress in the first place because of me.
But I couldn't help what my mind was like. I couldn't do all the things she was doing to my mind. I was just focused on surviving day to day.
Alter: "I've only now found a way to separate our indirect thoughts from each other because your mind didn't understand the difference between direct and indirect thoughts, and I did not want to hear your constant narration of every single action we take!"
She panted as if she was out of breath. She then took a deep breath and let out a relieved sigh.
Alter: "So, please, let me work in silence."
'Um... okay?'
There wasn't much I could have said to that anyway.
Alter: "Thank you. If you need anything else, just call."
She returned to her normal calm self and faded from my senses. 'I definitely will not be doing that again.'
Left alone to my own devices, I sat there thinking to myself.
'Everything is so different now. I have someone to control my body and someone to monitor my mind. I feel left out...'
'No! No! No! Blank, don't think like that! They're just doing their jobs. It doesn't matter that they're better at it than me. They have super important roles to ensure our survival, and I'm grateful for that. I just have to find my place in this new system of ours, and then I'll be satisfied.'
'Ego is the personality dedicated to the body. It seems he has a natural aptitude for adapting to unfamiliar forms. There might be more to this than just natural instincts. I need more information to be clear.'
'Alter is next. She's the personality dedicated to the mind. From what she told me, she has full access to all of my mental capabilities. She also seems to treat this mental scape thing like it's a physical space. I'll have to wait for her to fully explain this later.'
'And last is me, Blank. I'm the personality dedicated to the soul. I don't really know what that means for me, though. I haven't found any of my capabilities yet, and thus far, I seem to be the mediator between Ego and Alter. To be honest, I doubt they would survive without someone to stop them from arguing.'
'Maybe there is something I'm missing. Let's start from the beginning. What is a soul typically used for? In most cases, a soul is the most supernatural of the three. It is heavily tied to spiritual power and spiritual entities. It also has connections to being the source of life or the powerhouse of a being.'
'The soul is also a reflection of an individual, manifesting in different ways depending on the user's personality and individuality. This helps a soul be judged in the afterlife.'
'In a normal world, that would be just that. However, I'm not in a normal world.'
'I'm in a magical world, as far as I can tell, and the number one selling point of a magical world is the magic. So, applying the fact that I'm in said magical world, that means souls are much more fantastical than in a normal world.'
'Here, a soul could be a magic source. Meaning I must be in charge of the body's magical capabilities!'
'But wouldn't Alter be better suited for that than me? I can barely sort out my own mind. How will I be able to single-handedly use magic?'
'Ego and Alter were given their roles because they perfectly fit them, so I must have been as well. I just gotta go step by step, starting with... uhm... let's see. To use the soul, I'd have to find and access it. But I don't know where to begin with that...'
'I guess I'll have to try and see what I can do.'
Ego: "Oi, kid! Whatcha doing there?"
I heard Ego's voice ring in my head.
'Huh? What are you doing here?'
Ego: "It's night time, and I just found a place to sleep, so I'm putting the body down for a good night's rest."
I was stunned at his words and checked to see if he was pulling my leg. Sure enough, it was night time. He had found a hole in the ground as our resting place.
'Have I really been thinking for that long?!'
Ego: "Volume! And yes, you have. I was actually wondering what happened to you and Alter. You guys suddenly disappeared from my senses hours ago."
While I was checking out the hole, I answered him.
'Oh, I think Alter has something to do with that? And good job on finding this nice hole for us. Luckily, it's very spacious.'
Ego: "It's got nothing to do with luck. I used my mandibles to dig this hole."
'Wait, you can do that with those?'
I admired the craftsmanship. Although it was just a simple hole, it still must have taken effort to dig.
Ego: "I don't really know, but I did remember that ants and termites eat wood and dirt to build their homes, so I just took that philosophy and applied it here."
I paused.
'Did you say... eat?'
Ego: "Scarfed it all down. And people say you can't work and eat."
'You mean to tell me you ate all that... dirt?'
Ego: "Oh, come on, don't give me that. Animals do it all the time, and if you didn't notice, we aren't exactly human."
'That's not the point! Do you know how unsanitary forest floor dirt could be? Creatures left and right leave their droppings everywhere here!'
Ego: "You want to talk about unsanitary? Then what about that time you ate a freshly killed carcass?"
I gasped, offended.
'That is way different from this situation, thank you.'
Ego: "Uh-huh? How exactly? Because last time I checked, you were perfectly happy gobbling up tiger spit, raw meat, and lots of blood."
'Um... well... It just is, okay!'
Ego: "Face it, kid. We lost our humanity the day we got to this world. Human decency in this situation will only get us killed."
Alter: "Impressive. You actually said something of value. I guess even you have half a brain."
Alter suddenly chimed in.
'Huh? When did you get here?'
Alter: "Just now. I noticed the body was resting, so I gave the mind rest as well."
'So we're asleep?'
Alter: "Yes."
'Then why are we still here?'
Alter: "Meaning?"
'If we're asleep, shouldn't our consciousness have faded into like a dreamland state or something?'
Alter: "Yes, and we are. What do you think this place is?"
'I don't know? A copy and paste of the void.'
Alter: "Oh, right. I didn't explain that yet."
She cleared her throat.
Alter: "You see, as each of us rules over a part of this being, we all have our own domains. Ego's domain is the physical world itself. That's why when you are with Ego, you can feel the physical world around you, and in other domains, you cannot."
'Is the split domain thing the reason we couldn't sense each other's presence?'
Alter: "Exactly! It also separates our memories and perspectives. Otherwise, we would be overwhelmed with constant information about what the others were doing."
'So that's why I don't know what happened with both of you in my absence?'
Alter: "Yes. The domains make sure to separate these worlds so that they don't overlap, which could cause a lot of problems. Maybe."
'Maybe?'
Alter: "Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure what will happen if they do, but since they are separate, it can't be good."
'Okay, so keep domains separate, or else. Got it!'
Alter: "Good. Now, as I was saying, my domain is the mental world. There is too much going on in there right now, so I won't get into the details."
I remembered the conversation we had shared earlier. If she said it was a lot, then I believed her.
Alter: "And lastly, Blank's domain. This should be the domain connected to the soul and should be the dream domain. When our consciousnesses all inhabit this domain, we are in a state of rest."
'So this is what I'm dreaming of? Huh? I don't know what I expected, but I pictured my dreams to be a lot worse.'
Alter: "It seems that your long exposure to the void has influenced your dreams to the point that they are constantly empty."
'Makes sense. But do you think it's going to be like this forever?'
Alter: "Probably not forever. But for the foreseeable future, definitely."
'I guess there's nothing I can do for now. Ego, you still there?'
Ego: "I was just waiting for you two to finish nerding out."
Before Alter could respond, I interrupted them.
'How about we play a game?'
Ego: "What kind of game do ya have in mind?"
'Anything that we can play here.'
Alter: "Might I suggest a game of chess or checkers? I could simulate a board game of your choice. I just got the image generation function running again. Although it's quite fragile at the moment, and I don't want to overwhelm it."
Ego: "I should have known you'd pick chess of all things."
Alter: "And what's wrong with that?"
Ego: "It's boring!"
Alter: "Chess is one of the most complex and challenging games ever invented!"
...
The two were bickering. Again.
I sighed.
'What I would give to have my old life back.'