I ended up visiting the Inverse--that subconscious-like underside of the Hero Hub. I appeared in the shadowy double of the <Observatory> and walked out to see a familiar face.

"It's good to see you again, Fainn," said Narlivs as she quickly hooked her arm in mine and pressed her bosom against my arm.

"Hey. Good to see you too… How has being Svilran's subconscious been?"

She nuzzled my arm, a beautiful smile gracing her equally as beautiful visage. "It has been less frustrating than usual," she said as we walked toward the <Infirmary's> double.

"And that's because?"

"Because--this kind of intimacy is no longer unique to the Inverse. Could you really not figure that out?"

I chuckled. "No, I could. I just liked hearing it."

"You should tease her like that. I welcome it."

"Making her say emotional stuff? That'll be fun. It'll enrich my dream life for sure."

Narlivs squeezed my arm a little tighter, and I enjoyed that sweet warmth.

"Anyway, Narlivs, as you can imagine, I have some questions and need to do some snooping."

"Business or leisure—I am always willing and able to speak with you, Fainn."

"Thanks, so, our new guest—Kanae."

"Yes. She still sleeps."

"It'll be nice if we catch her while she's dreaming."

"Do you wish to break down the boundaries and speak with her, Fainn?"

"I don't think so. I just want to make sure everything is normal with her. Considering the circumstances… I don't want to make any assumptions."

"Prudent."

"Maybe needlessly so. Anyway, parasites?"

Narlivs pointed my eyes to four different spots on the land. I squinted and could barely make out phantasmal forms.

"As you can see, four Parasites are currently feeding on our Hub. They are small fry, however. I can also confirm no Parasite is near the Infirmary."

"Well, it's more points for us… Speaking of, Narlivs, can we build Resource Squares down here?"

"We can," she replied, her tone a little more serious. "But the exact effect they'll have is a mystery. We won't know until they are built."

"I see…"

"I would also like to point out that the bottleneck we're currently experiencing due to the Resource Points is one we will most definitely feel with the Inverse Points. The Inverse and access to it are an incredible privilege. It is also a complex and unexplored realm. Developing was not meant to be easy, nor can it ever truly be easy... That is the information I recently received."

"So, that might explain the scaling... One point per Parasite..."

"For now. It is susceptible to change in the future."

"My mind is ready to get frustrated."

We were in front of the <Infirmary's> double.

"One last thing before we go in there," I said. "Svilran—how does she feel about the prospect of having already seen one of the evils that escaped from Earth?"

"She is concerned," Narlivs said, standing before me with a smile.

"And you?"

"Our fighting the forces that escaped was inevitable. Svilran may not have realized just yet, but we from Earth are all bound on a deeper level." Narlivs made a silver thread appear, and I watched as one end wrapped around her finger and watched as the other split into multiple strands. One of those strands wrapped around me. "'Earthbound'—that is one strand that binds us. We who share that origin will always have a certain karmic pull between us. Beyond that strand are many others that tie us together. Shared pasts, shared preferences, mutual opposition, fear, and feared—all of these interactions are strands that connect us. Their pull might be weak, but in a reality of trillions--where the majority share no such pull between them--one will eventually see that pull's effect… Those who are bound are guaranteed to come together when infinity is reached."

I digested each word as she said them, but she must have noticed I was having a little difficulty.

"An example. Let's say you roll a die six thousand times. It is very likely all sides will be rolled one thousand times or thereabouts. But what if the die is weighted so that one side is rolled more than the others? That is what the karmic pull does--it biases causality."

"Whoa, hold on. That sounds heavy. Our meeting people is controlled? That sounds like things are predetermined."

"Nothing is so black and white, Fainn. All is a little grayer… Meetings are not predetermined, but sometimes they are biased to occur more easily than the random interaction. In fact, you already experienced this and actively asked for biasing to occur."

"I asked for it—oh. The wishing…"

"That's right. When Svilran made the first wish, she biased probability by petitioning the higher forces of the Imaginal Realm. Does thinking of that situation make things more understandable?"

"Hmm," I sounded as I stroked my chin. "It makes it feel a little less predetermined… Yeah."

"Karmic interactions are within the same category, but of a higher order."

"Are they a higher order than the Imaginal Will?"

Narlivs shook her head. "I cannot say because I cannot yet fathom the heights that the Imaginal Will reach. There may be a natural hierarchy within their ranks for all we know… I can say that what oversaw the karmic interactions of the physical realm was something we knew was far beyond our comprehension."

"Did it survive the apocalypse? Whatever oversaw karma?"

"I am not certain. That would be a question best reserved for our superior."

"Always fun speaking with you, Narlivs," I said as I heaved a heavy breath.

I put my hand on the shadowy door. Narlivs put her hand on mine soon after.

"Fainn, I do want to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"It is a warning, as you will likely have the lifespan a god would. You will eventually run into something that has ties to your life on Earth. The longer one lives, the more certain that truth becomes… I wish for you to be prepared for that… History--history has a habit of recycling elements."

"I… see… I'll keep an eye out."

"For Svilran too," Narlivs said. "We have matters we must resolve as well. Svilran would appreciate the support when the time comes."

"Understood."

Narlivs smiled. "I appreciate your taking the time to hear my thoughts."

"No worries… The Neo-Demon stuff really rattled you, huh?"

"Karmic interactions are always slow relative to us… They are slow, but they never miss... The speed with which we came across this situation, however... The gears of Destiny may already be turning. If this is a karmic interaction unfolding and not a cosmic accident, then one thing is true. This interaction will have a long tail."

"Scary. I'll keep that in mind." With that, I opened the door. "No need to flounder around out here for any longer."

We entered the shadowy Inverse Infirmary and made our way over to the room corresponding to Kanae's.

"Fainn, look…"

"Yup, I'm seeing it."

The dreamer's fog, that floating ephemeral mass, was right there in the corner of the room. Already I could see the dream-like scene hidden within its mists. As we approached, though, I noticed something flicker.

"Narlivs, I thought you said there were no Parasites in here."

"That is not a Parasite."

It flickered again–we could barely see the shape. She was right–-it didn't look like one of those gross parasites.

"Is it part of the dream?" Narlivs asked.

"No…"

I saw the form flicker again. It had a gold-ish outline to it, and it certainly seemed humanoid. Above else was another detail.

"It's outside of the dreamer's fog."

We came closer, mere feet away from the fog, and watched the outline flickering in and out of existence. I was sure now–it was hugging the fog.

"I'm not sure how to interpret this, Fainn…"

"I don't either…" I waited for the outline to flicker into existence again–it really seemed like a light bulb that was dying with the way it went on and off. I noticed where its arm was, and when it lit up again, I placed my hand on it.

Suddenly, a bright flash erupted, blinding both of us and making us yelp.

"Ouch… Note to self–my eyes can still burn within the Inverse."

"Mine too…" Narlivs said, rubbing her own.

I blinked many times until I could finally see again and looked at the dreamer's fog.

"Huh…"

It was just the fog. The flickering figure had disappeared.

"Narlivs, I'm going to declare that was a strange occurrence and one we should keep an eye out for."

"Yes… I will try to see if I can discern anything else, though I wonder if it has to do with the anomaly the <Infirmary> detected."

"I'm wondering that too… It was kind of spooky. Like a ghost… Would ghosts travel the Inverse?"

Narlivs bobbed her head and twisted her lips. "It's a little of a complicated answer. On Earth, ghosts and other beings like them–devas, angels, demons, hidden folk, and so on–could travel through the Earthly equivalent of the Imaginal Realm's underside. Here, however--where 'ghosts and so on' might very well be an Imaginal of some Imaginal world--the rules shift."

"Hold on, hold on, hold on. I accept that ghosts and everything else, like elves, are really real, but ghosts were real enough that they were active on Earth?"

Narlivs cocked her head. "Yes?"

"But the ghosts on Earth were not Imaginals?"

"Remember, Fainn, the Earthsphere, and the Imaginal Realm were parallel Realms with their own unique rules and purposes. Anything that was of the Earthsphere was Earthbound and was of a fundamentally different order than their Imaginal counterpart. What's important to note is that Earth itself had many layers to it–the aforementioned underside-equivalent being one of the said layers."

Something that Narlivs said caught my attention.

"Huh… Right. Earth ended up serving as a cosmic prison, right? For the things of our Realm? That was its purpose?"

"One of a few, yes."

"So what's the purpose of the Imaginal Realm?"

Narlivs put on her smile again.

"You said these Realms have unique purposes."

She closed her eyes. "The Imaginal Realm has a purpose, but I do not know it. I hope to one day decipher it along with you, Fainn."

"Interesting… I hadn't really thought about the Imaginal Realm as something that serves a purpose. I was just thinking of it as a universe that had to be saved from a problem we made worse…"

"It's good that you're thinking about it, Fainn."

"Yeah…" I shook my head and focused on the fog in front of me. "So many things… Though I appreciate how much more direct you are about this stuff than Svilran."

She giggled and crouched next to me. "Well, I can see things more clearly than Svilran. I know with 100% certainty what we should be careful around and what we can dispense with."

"Oh, but there's something you have to be careful about?"

"Everyone has their secrets, Fainn… Though," she rested her head on my shoulder, "I could be convinced to share them with you."

"Heh, I'll hold back for now. If they're like the stuff you just told me, I'd rather wait until my mind can better comprehend things from a deific perspective… If it was important, you would tell me, right?"

"At the very least, I would urge you to confront Svilran about the matter."

"Noted."

We both watched the dreamer's fog, noting the scenes within as they appeared.

"Looks like this dream is happening from her perspective… Kind of weird that Elma dreams from a third-person perspective."

"Not really. It only indicates that she may have been overwhelmed by her body's appearance and maybe hadn't fully accepted it as 'herself.'"

"Oh… That's a little sad."

"I feel that this scene we're seeing is sadder."

Within the fog was a desolate landscape of rusty colors and steam vents. Vegetation? This place had never heard of it. What's more, from the way that the point of view shook, it seemed like Kanae was practically dragging herself across this landscape.

"It looks lonely," I said.

"My heart breaks for her," Narlivs followed.

Kanae suddenly turned around, and into view came a little cloaked Imaginal.

"That must be the child," Narlivs said, her voice sweet.

Dream-Kanae suddenly lowered herself and lunged for the kid, hugging them. Just like that, the quality of the image seemed to change. It felt so much warmer.

"She cares for the child," Narlivs noted.

I watched on, silent, as Kanae pulled away from the child. It was enough that we could see the kid's lips moving.

"Hey, it's saying something to her," I said, wishing I could hear.

"If you use your power…"

"I don't think I'll catch this message in time, and I'm afraid that I'll trigger a nightmare like I did with Elma…"

Unfortunately for us, the dream ended at that moment, and the fog dissipated.

"She woke up, Fainn."

"I wonder if she remembers the dream…"

We both walked out of the Infirmary, hand in hand. We looked over to one of the Parasites in the distance.

"Okay. I'll beat up these parasites and stop them from siphoning our aether. In the meantime, I'll go visit Kanae topside."

"Very well. Like always, I will be at your side."

"Appreciated, Narlivs."