Chapter 29: Chapter 27: Higher Being

Carmen opened her eyes to find herself in a different place than she had been when she fell asleep. She was sitting in a plush armchair in a rather inviting living room…or, at least, that’s what it looked like. The edges were fuzzy and the details of the pictures indistinct.

Not that she was really paying much attention to that; more concerning was the gaping hole where one of the walls should have been, a pitch-black void covering the space beyond. As she stared, tendrils of nothing speared out from within towards her, only to be blocked by some sort of unseen force.

“Don’t worry about that too much.” Kali said, causing Carmen to force her attention away from the wall and in on the woman who was suddenly sitting on a chair across from her. “It’s a sort of…representation of the separation I have you and Lilith under. We’re inside your…well, mind, for lack of a better word, so things are a little…abstract.”

“I…see.” Carmen said slowly. “How are Lilith and Mama?”

“Holding up well.” Kali replied. “The new system appears to be completely stable, so we’re moving on with the next phase of the plan. It’s going to entail some…changes for the two of you, and I want to get your opinion on the matter while Lilith’s under.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got Lilith under, but want my opinion? I assume she already gave you her answer, right?”

Kali hesitated. “Well, yes, but…you know how she is. She’d say yes to just about anything, so I wanted to pass it off to the part of her that’s more…assertive.”

Carmen shook her head. “No. She’s in charge, what she says goes. In the end, this is her life, and I’m just…an extra.”

Kali gave Carmen an odd look, then sighed. “You’re not even going to hear me out?”

“I trust you.” Carmen replied. And she did; she had no reason to, but something within herself insisted that Kali was someone she could trust unconditionally. That bugged her, in a way, but she also couldn’t bring herself to shake the notion. It didn’t…feel like her emotions were being influenced by magic, it felt more, well, like it was intrinsic to her very being.

“I…thanks.” Kali said. “I won’t let you down, I promise. Um…I do need your input on another matter, though. I was…well, I was thinking of giving Lilith another Parallel, and as you know, both of you have to sign off on it for that to work.”

Carmen leaned forward. “I’m listening.”

Kali smiled weakly. “Well, it’s like this…”

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Lilith awoke to a couple of windows in front of her face. The first was incredibly large, bigger than most she had seen before, while the other was small, practically nonexistent compared to the first. So, she took a moment to read that one to get it out of the way before she tackled the big one.     

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