Tab had gathered us all together in a circle—along with the rest of the crew. She was on Raathgur’s shoulder, with Qasven nearby. The three of them looked disheveled for ... seemingly obvious reasons. Any other time I might have commented, but not right now.

Raathgur stepped into the center of the crew. From his shoulder, Tab used her amplification magic and finally spoke. “This is it, what we've all been waiting for. According to Xania, there are ships that can get through. The threat is not anything beneath the waves, but the fog itself."

Qasven nodded and said, "According to Kavtagro's writings, it is only our own soul that decides if we are worthy to enter. Of course, what that means remains to be seen."

"I'm not fucking worried," Tab said, somehow shaking off the nervous tension that had infected the entire ship. "If sailboats and traderships can get through, then so can the mightiest pirate crew on the Wild Seas!”

The circle-dragon crew let out a couple emboldened shouts.

Tab took this momentum and only became more animated. “If there's anyone who needs a rowboat, speak now! Because we are going through that damn fog!”

This seemed to be enough. The rest of the crew let out war cries. While the mood was still tense, it did seem that the speech had stripped away any uncertainty.

Raathgur turned and began barking orders at the crew, sending them to their posts. When he was finished, it was him, Qasven, Tab, Xania, and I left together over the bow.

I looked over the edge and asked, “Should I use my bow maiden magic?”

Qasven stared at the Fog for a moment and then slowly shook her head. “I’m not sure what awaits us in there, apprentice. But I have a feeling that navigation and speed will not be factors at play. So focus on your connection ... to the World, to Kavtagro, and to your crew.”

Raathgur frowned at her. “You really aren't worried about something sinking us?”

Qasven shook her head. “This is a doorway, meant to be entered. All of Lilly’s journey has been a progression of lands that become less and less juxtaposed to what she has told us of the values on the mainland. What's more, the Captain's maps are more recent than our own, and they've been far more accurate. Showing islands gradually moving toward the continent since the time our maps were left for it. There are even islands that have merged with it.”

Raathgur furrowed his brow. “So you think Kavtagro meant the lands to eventually become one.”

Qasven again shook her head. “Kavtagro is merely the messenger, the facilitator. No, this feels like the design of the World, that goddess most enshrouded in mystery.”

Raathgur’s reaction seemed unsure at best. Though he'd culturally practiced sorcery for his position in the Arch, I had the sense that all of this being so real and tangible was a leap for him.

Qasven took his doubt in stride. "Lilly and her family were singled out by the World for their need to grow. So why not entire civilizations? If it's true that she’s no sort of chosen one that the World pays special attention to …”

“Definitely not the chosen one,” I mumbled offhandedly.

The level of my assurance must have come off strange because Qasven, Raathgur, Tab, and Xania just stopped to stare at me for a moment.

"I-uhm-met the chosen ones," I said, looking down at the deck. Remembering meeting Caid and Mystery at the University. Along with their little band of friends who had gone out to defeat dark lords.

“Annoying, peppy, bland but ... nice ... I guess," I forced myself to admit. "But yeah, Qasven's right. I'm ... just a person here."

Qasven nodded, looking more assured in her point.

I wanted to just leave the matter there, but a part of me was still as concerned as Raathgur.

"Speak freely, Lilly," Tab said and glanced around as if to indicate that nobody else was listening.

I forced a deep breath. "If we're all just normal people here, then ... what if the World decides we aren't worthy? What if I haven't grown enough? Or what if I wasn't supposed to bring you all with me? I could handle going in by myself ... but with this many people on the ship?”

Qasven nodded, seeming to take my point in stride. “If that were the case, I don't think the World would have let us get this close."

Raathgur grimaced. "I think that Lilly has been more than honest about everything that has happened. But also ... about her own mental state." He put a hand reassuringly on my shoulder to show that none of his words were meant to cause pain. "I'm just worried that we are putting a lot of faith into a ... singular person believing they spoke with a god."

Qasven smiled. "Yes, Lilly could have suffered some heat-related hallucination. But in that case, wouldn't that simply mean that no deity cares what we do?”

Raathgur scratched his chin and turned to study the approaching fog. By now, it had cast its shadow over us, the winds becoming colder, harsher. The first bits of mist washed over the deck of the ship

“Good enough for me,” Tab said, her nonchalance like a sword cutting against the Mist. "In for a penny ..."

Raathgur shook his head and said, "You've said that many times, and I still don't know what it means, Captain."

"Oh, just that ..." Tab turned away from the mystical force towering over us. "... we've come all this way. For something that really matters to all of us. So ... by this point ... fuck it."

Raathgur blinked a few times, taking a moment for the words to sink in. He turned back to stared at the giant wall soon to envelop us. He clenched his fist and nodded. "Fuck it!"

Qasven's lips curled into a sultry smile, emitting the sort of perverse power only a sorcerer could. She then looked at me meaningfully, let her eyes roll back in a sort of surrender, and said, “Fuck it.” Almost as if she were telling me the secret to everything.

I ... wasn't quite sure I understood. I opened my mouth as if repeating her tone would help me understand but ... the words ... wouldn't come out. Nor could I say them like Tab or like Raathgur. As if they were fundamentally opposed to everything I knew how to be.

Until Xania took my hand in hers, tearing away from everything else to look into my eyes. She squeezed my hand in hers and said, "Fuck it."

I swallowed, joining my other hand with Qasven. Who, in turn, joined hands with Raathgur. Who closed the circle with Xania. All while Tab grabbed the end of one of his head-tendrils. Only with all of us together, did I manage to whisper the words.

"Fuck it."

Like the mantra had been a starter pistol, Tab immediately turned on her heels and barked, "Full sails ahead!" Setting the crew to work as the muggy fog washed over us.

I kept a firm grasp on the hands of my crew ... my friends. Even as the fog became so thick that I couldn’t see them at all. The sounds of the ship, the wind, and the ocean were swallowed in an instant. Dripping humidity already sticking to my clothes and skin. Then both hands in my grasp dissolved into mist.

So that I found myself alone in the piercing whiteness.

-O-

A great many minutes passed.

I dared not move in the white nothingness that surrounded me. All I could hear was a gentle breeze and the waves beneath me. Even though my feet were bare, I could no longer feel the smooth planks of the ship beneath them. Only a sheet-like ground that sank beneath my weight.

There was only this cloud and, for the moment, nothing else existed.

I shivered a little, despite the warmth. The absolute solitude of this place made me feel uneasy.

At least, until I saw a figure appear.

I could tell at first only that she looked semi-human, about my height, with reddish brown hair. As she glided closer, I could make out her pale, freckled skin; horns jutting out of her hair, and a cow tail swishing behind her.

She was … me?

I moved a little, expecting the reflection to move with me as in a mirror. However, the doppelgänger did not move at all. She merely floated closer until we were just a few feet apart.

By then, it was … difficult … to look at her.

My gaze locked on each of her features that made me uncomfortable with myself. It almost nauseatingly intimate, seeing another version of myself.

The reflection, however, stared at the floor nervously. Like she was hiding some pain that I did not share. That difference between us made the reflection feel less like ‘me’ and more like ‘her’. At least enough that I was able to process the situation at all.

“I’m ... Lilly,” I said, making my voice as gentle and safe as I could. I wasn't sure if introducing myself to myself was dumb, but it at least made me feel some sense of normalcy.

The girl finally glanced up and replied, “I … I’m not sure who I am. I know that you’re Lilly … and I’m ... also Lilly. But I’m not you. I’m not just ... a person. I'm … a place? I’m … the World?”

The World?

I had expected some godlike entity on a throne, certainly not a reflection of me who somehow seemed even more confused as to why she was here.

“Like … the world that I live in?" I asked, realizing only now how confusing all these terms had become. "With all the kinky magic and people from other worlds? All spirited away by a weird goat god?”

The reflection put a finger on her lip thoughtfully for a moment and then nodded. “A ... part of it? I am the part of the World that is Lilly. You may think of me as the Lilly of the Fog.”

Aside from the fact that my clone got a way better title than I did, I still didn’t quite understand. So I tried to pose my question in a different way. “I’ve only lived her for a year. So how can the World be me?”

Lilly of the Fog shook her head. “The World existed before you, but there was no Lilly of the Fog until you came. I am ... just a tiny piece of the World. Your piece."

I nodded a few times, trying to piece it all together from this girl who was clearly as confused as I was. "So ... there's a Daava of the Fog? Aamalyn of the Fog? Namali of the Fog?"

Lilly of the Fog nodded. "A piece for every soul.”

My brain felt like it was breaking by this point, but I persevered. “Okay … my next question is what is happening to the crew of my ship right now? Are they meeting their own doppelgängers?”

Lilly of the Fog grimaced and replied, “I ... think so? I … I don’t know for sure. I knew the answers when you were not in the Mist. When I wasn't ... just me. But now that you're here and I have a shape, all the answers have become blurry. I’m … I’m sorry.”

The Lilly of the Fog grabbed her head, as if the questions were causing physical pain. Her eyes welled with tears that immediately began to flow down her cheeks. She seemed ... so lost and so confused. So like me and yet so entirely different.

For the life of me, I couldn't comprehend how this being had been the same one to decide to pull me away from my family. And yet, I couldn't help but kneel beside her and rubbed her back to try and soothe her. “I’m ... sorry this is so confusing for you. It’s confusing for me too.”

Lilly of the Fog sniffed and wiped her eyes with her forearm. It took her a little while to get her breathing under control. Then, after another moment, she let out a small smile. “I remember when we were trying to leave Tab’s island. We were so angry, we kicked the water to try to kick the World. In a sense ... I was trying to kick myself ... wasn’t I?”

Despite myself, this made me smile a little. "That's far above my pay grade."

This, in turn, made the Lilly of the Fog let out a small giggle.

After another moment, I finally had to ask the question. The one that had been following me ever since I'd been stranded on the Wild Seas. “I know you don't have all the answers. But do you know why we were brought to the Wild Seas? Away from our family?”

To my surprise, this question did not seem confused the Lilly of the Fog as much as the others. Instead, she began to tremble. It took another moment before she was able to reply, “I think so.”

"You're scared." I took a breath and asked, “Why?”

Lilly of the Fog mumbled the reply, not daring to look up. “Because of … what caused all of this.” I could hear her teeth chattering even as she hid herself away from me.

I had to withstand a wave of my own fear. I took several deep breaths. Again, seeing her as different than me even in this small way made it easier to pretend to be a little braver than what I actually felt.

"But if I help you ... us ... can I go home?" I asked.

The Lilly of the Fog faced me, swallowed forcefully, and whispered. "I ... don't want to stop you. The Mist lets me ... you ... decide if you are safe to the people of the continent. You know you are safe to them. So you may pass."

I drew a breath of overwhelming relief, but it was followed by ... something else. I didn't want to ask, but couldn't stop myself. "What about the thing you need help with?"

The Lilly of the Fog kept her gaze locked on the ground. "It will still be here. I ... don't know how to handle it on my own."

I blinked, entirely clueless about how to handle this news. I could really just leave? Just like that? Go home, put this entire chapter of my life behind me? It sounded too good to be true; so why wasn't I jumping at the chance?

Lilly of the Fog turned away from me to look out over the emptiness. And, for just a moment, I saw a look I recognized. Not from myself, surprisingly enough but ... from Xania. When she'd tried to say that she didn't know how to handle loving me, when ... it was my entire mission to leave her behind.

Taking a heavy breath and resisting my every instinct, I touched her arm and asked, “I can't just ... leave you like this."

The Lilly of the Fog looked up at me, almost hopeful for a moment. But the she sent a frantic glance at somewhere deeper in the Mist. As if I'd suddenly made facing whatever was inside real for her. I understood, she needed help, but no amount of help would make it easy. And I also understood that, if she was anything like me, maybe she needed a little help to be brave.

Swallowing a certain trepidation I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Would it make it easier if ... you held my hand?”

The Lilly of the Fog looked at me almost hopefully. But, with a twitch I knew well, she shook her head. She was refusing to be an emotional burden. Sure enough, she whispered, "I can be brave."

I had to resist the impulse to laugh at my own stubbornness. But I knew how to handle another version of me. I raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you sure? Because it would make it easier for me if you did."

At this, the Lilly of the Fog finally relented. Squeezing my hand in hers with a level of force that might have hurt ... just about anyone else. Hand in hand, we rose and began to walk deeper into the fog.