A sigh. An imaginary restful night that came before the very first time I opened my eyes to the unfamiliar lights across my face.
The brightness quickly dimmed—it wasn’t that the room was particularly lit, but that my eyes had been accustomed to complete darkness. I failed to recognize that concept, pulling my arm up to try and shield my eyes from whatever was shining in my face. As I naturally adjusted and lowered my hand from in front of me, I realized I wasn’t alone. A woman dressed in strange and unfamiliar clothes stood before me with a small rectangle in her hands. She studied me with an unreadable expression, but my mind was able to grasp the surface of her emotions. She was proud—a joyful woman with love and warmth in her heart as she looked down on me. I saw her mouth begin to move.
“Subject 3-0-1, what is your name?”
She stared at me, waiting for a response. I stepped forward with my hands on my dress, lifting it up as I bent down.
“My name is Eccentricity of Stillglade Manor.” A practiced response I gave out freely to any that asked. The absurdity of my situation didn’t shake that from me. It did, however, prompt a follow up once I returned to my natural standing idle. “Um…my apologies, but where am I?”
“Of course,” the lady turned. “This is the Comet Observatory. A place for all my creations, and a place of sanctuary for all that enter.” The walls shined around her, emanating an aura of comfort and safety as she lifted a hand and extended it toward me. “At least, that’s my goal.”
I slowly took her hand. “I…guess I understand,” I whispered out. “But then, who are you?”
“My name doesn’t matter much. You can call me whatever you’d like. Artist, Creator, etcetera.” She smiled warmly, pulling me up a set of steps away from where I had arisen. It was then I turned around to see the pool of teal liquid that I had stepped out of, despite the unnatural dry cleanliness of my outfit. My eyes lingered on it until the woman spoke again.
“It’s a work in progress, I suppose.” She interrupted my idle pondering. “A pool of creation instead of a tube or cage. You’re the first one to have been made from it for now.” Her warm smile again. This time it confused me.
I shook my head. “That’s…not right. I–”
“Lived a life before this?” She interrupted me again. “I know. And…those memories aren’t fake. The life you lived existed and exists still, but the time they occurred in is different from this world. It’s–” The woman stopped herself with a sigh. “I’m making this worse, aren’t I?”
I silently nodded my head.
“Ok, let me put it this way–” She took me by the hand and moved me away from the pool, “Don’t worry about the time, I’m the creator of you. Not like your mother or father, but I’m technically their creator too. I wouldn’t call it a ‘god’ to be exact, but–”
“You…made me?” I finally perked up as the gears began to click.
“Yes, in a manner of sorts. Although technically this is my first time working together on something like this—y’know, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.” She pulled me along to a small desk in which two chairs had been placed on either side of it. “Sit, sit.” She dragged me lightly into the chair before taking her own, grabbing her rectangle again in which a number of papers had been attached. A click came from her writing utensil. “We’ll begin with some questions—simple things that should help us settle you in and we can start figuring out the details together. Is this ok?”
I nodded my head once again.
“Perfect, then let’s begin with your name one more time.
“Eccentricity Stillglade.” I said again. “But you can call me Echo.”
“Perfect.” The woman began writing it down.
“Forgive me for asking, but…” I quietly interjected. “If you’re my creator, shouldn’t you know all this?”
“I do.” She said with a smirk. “But just in case, it’s best I make sure you know too. This formality makes sure I didn’t mix anything up.” She peeked back up at me as she finished writing. “It also is a bit more comforting I find. You can focus on the things you do know as we get accustomed to the things you don’t.”
I was suddenly highly aware of just how strange the room I was in was. The walls were grey and unpainted with a prison-like feel to them. There were no windows or decorations across them, but the floor spanned with scientific gadgets and creations I couldn’t fathom. Despite it all, it was silent apart from the sounds the woman in front of me and I were making. I felt myself sink a bit in my chair.
“So, Echo.” She continued. “What are you?”
“What…am I?” I tilted my head. “Oh, right! I’m a kitsune!” The nature of confusion was instantly lifted as I remembered my plethora of tails behind me. I unfurled them, swishing them back and forth as I combed my hair and fluffed my ears.
The woman clicked and wrote more words. “And where were you raised?”
The questions kept coming, discussing the simple traits of my past and birth that I knew like the back of my hand. I was born in Stillglade Manor to my mother, and there I was trained to be a maid for the Stillglades as one of their own kin, I learned of my own psychic powers, I bonded with my sister and the others around me, and became a fantastic maid. And then…
“So, how old are you?” The woman inquired.
“I…don’t know…” The later we got, the more I realized my memories were hazy. A blank space existed from after I was around 18 or 19 years old and I just remember the day I finally woke up. A bed I didn’t remember in the manor I did, and on the nightstand only 3 things.
A key to the manor.
A map to a village.
And a poem telling me to leave.
I left that day. Exited the manor and adventured out toward this village for whatever reason given to me by whoever wrote the note. I followed myself and an inner voice out toward the sea and across to that town and then…
“…I woke up here.” I said sheepishly. “I fell asleep the night before the town’s festival. So, if you created me right now, what happened there?”
The woman stared across at me with an earnestly empathetic expression, her eyes directly staring into mine as she gave a light smile. “I guess I should explain that to you now.” She sighed, standing up and dropping her papers. “Your timeline exists within ours—a nested world, so to speak. It’s that world that these memories happened, and you did indeed live them. They occurred within the span of a moment in this timeline, something you can now conceive by being outside of it. In technical terms, you exist within that timeline and within this one as two different states.” She paused. “With me so far?”
My ears folded down as I strained to keep up. “I…think so? So, there’s two of me? Like, one living my memories and myself remembering them?”
“Yes…Yes!” The woman cheered. “Your nested self is experiencing those memories and living through while I’ve plucked you out of them to exist outside of them.” She sighed. “You’re better at explaining this than I am apparently.”
“So, why?”
“Hm?” She looked back up at me.
“Why bring me here? Was one of me not enough?” I laughed a bit. It was the first time in a bit that I felt calmed. The danger of the unknown had faded—not that I was one to feel pressured by uncertainty. People surrounding me often found myself sticking my head where it didn’t belong, and even now when it wasn’t my fault I think part of me is accustomed to getting into places like this.
The woman reciprocated with a chuckle. “Not a bad way to put it.” She leaned in. “The truth is, I sort of need you. No, not need—I mean, you can say no. I’m not trying to force you, but–”
I felt an emotional surge of embarrassment and regret. The woman in front of me was frantically piecing together some future in which things don’t go the way she expected and all smugness had left her face. Her breathing started to accelerate and I could feel the pulsing anxiety grow from her chair.
“Relax.” I commanded with a soft, gentle whisper. I reached my hand out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to reality and listening to her heartbeat start to slow as soon as I touched her. I didn’t have to do anything special—I simply waited a moment, letting her breathing get slower as she cycled back to a relaxed neutral state. I felt the air lighten and the emotions deaden before she spoke again.
“Right. Thanks.” She sat back up, freeing her wrist from my hand. “The point is, I want you as a resident here. An employee. A helper and guide and assistant at the Comet Observatory.”
I stared at her with wide eyes, “Like…a maid?”
She laughed, “Yes, sort of like a maid. You’d be a bit more important than just that though. I can’t free your other self—as I said, she’s going through her own journey. I’m not able to claim her alone—her story is written in the collaboration of others. In fact, even I don’t know how it will end. For once, I don’t have all your answers.” She peaked up at me with sympathy. I could tell she felt shame in it. “But…until you have them, and even after you do, I’d like a part of you that can stay with me here.”
I felt myself lightly biting the inside of my cheek as I thought on her proposal. The absurdity of everything still felt like a dream and that I’d wake up in my inn the next morning. Part of me waited hoping the sun would rise and wake my real self up before I came to an ending where I had to commit to it.
“What happens if I don’t agree?” I leaned a bit closer.
I heard her sigh again. Her anxiety spiked a little. “You’d…end your second life, I suppose. You’d wake up thinking this was all a dream and eventually those memories would fade as your real story continued. There’s unfortunately no existence like this that you can maintain without close connection with me. I…stopped allowing those a bit ago.” Sadness. Regret. Painful emotions welled up inside her. I decided not to broach the topic. A bit of happy news will help ease it, anyways.
“Don’t worry,” I smiled, “I’m staying. I’d be glad to be of service.”
The woman’s emotions dampened and she smiled back. “Thanks, Echo. I’m excited to work with you.” She stood up, leaving her papers and pens and brushing herself off idly. I stood up with her.
“In the meantime,” she beamed, “Why don’t we watch what your other self is getting up to this next morning? Her story is just about to begin.”
I felt myself laughing a little bit. The air in the room suddenly felt much lighter.
“Of course. As is mine.”