“Mom’s never brought home anyone, I think she wanted us to meet him. Mffphfff” I took another sip, “but isn’t that the worst? It just isn't right. I’ve been living in that house with Mom for my entire life, I can’t imagine someone just showing up and destroying the peace I had with Mom. I hate it, I hate it so much, I don’t want things to change, I don’t want to go back to a place I can’t call home anymore. I’m scared Iris, scared shitless, and there’s nothing I can do. I never felt so powerless, my entire world can change in a single moment and there’s nothing I can do about it. I just want to read, read back into my fantasies again, I don’t want to wake up from my fantasies”

“It sounds like he’s a pretty terrible person that your mother choose, and you feel quite powerless in this entire situation”

“He’s not as terrible as I described him.”I coquettishly confessed, “I know I portrayed him like a villain, but that’s just how it feels! It feels like he’s taking my Mom away, even if his character is somewhat decent.”

Iris tapped her lips with her index finger. She had nail polish which were painted with a red rose hue. “Wanna escape?” Iris smiled a mischievous smile. A smile for those up to no good. For those who dared to break the rules. For those who dared to try.

“Aren’t I running away right now?”

“You ran away from your house all alone?” her eyebrows lifted in shock

I haven’t told anyone about Eos. I mean I can't imagine trying to convince someone that someone exists within your soul that used to be a ruler. Even if he used a bit of my power to appear more corporeal, in other people’s eyes he was still invisible. He only appeared in my own eyes, that’s something I learnt. To be more precise, Eos was equivalent to a very powerful ghost at the moment. The reason for this is because he doesn’t have a body, and no body means you can’t interact with the world.

The coat that Eos placed around me was just a spell he constructed from my type null energy to hide our presence. If I had to put it into 21st century references then Eos was the code while I was the screen and conduit. I gave him enough power to process the code, and show the code to the world but that process is oftentimes invisible to the naked eye. Spatial magic is something I can’t even imagine processing, but Eos can.

I looked away coyly trying to come up with an excuse, “I’m not technically alone” Quick! I told myself. I gotta remember what Eos told me about lying. Uhh, uhhh, he told me to tell the truth! Damn it Eos! Teach me the dark arts once in a while, it has to be when he was teaching me about politics. Alright let’s review the content.

Step 1: Know what you want

Step 2: Identify your leve-

Wait-wait this is for negotiations, well this is technically a negotiation. I want her to help me and listen to me. I should change the topic! “But I’m safe,” I quickly added. “There's really no need to worry about me”

Iris let her eyebrows droop again. “So is he scum or not?” Iris asked me again in a cold tone. It felt like a judge was about to pass their verdict.

I waved my hands in front of me, “I took a glimpse of him from upstairs. He's a merchant that comes by every now and then. He’s not that bad, he isn’t total scum”

“You really made him sound like absolute utter garbage scum” Iris retorted with a cold sly tongue. It felt like a sudden switch was turned on. “Since you seem so powerless do you want to escape into a fantasy?”

“Ughh, kinda, but not really at the same time. I feel like it’s a temporary band-aid for a long-term solution”

Iris had a sly smile on her face. It resembled a fox coming up with a scheme to steal chicken from the farmer’s ranch. “I never said you have to escape alone”

“With you?” I answered puzzled

“No silly, I have a job, with your Mom” Iris’ smile grew until I could see the white of her teeth. Her purple eyes transformed into little mischievous slits. It was a kind of playful smile and cunning smile.

My mouth gaped wide open. My eyes bulged out. How come I never thought about that! “It sounds like you’re suggesting for me to kidnap my Mom”

She stirred her hot chocolate with a little stick. “Your words not mine” she continued with a coquettish grin. “But if we were to hypothetically kidnap your Mom to get her away from the big bad villain we’re going to need a plan.”

“Well, go on” I insisted.

“First we’ll need to lure her outside of the house, away from the villain” Iris took a marshmallow out of the little bag and placed it on the table. She leaned in, and then took two more marshmallows out. “Then we need to sneakily knock her unconscious and tie her up in a bag”

Iris took the first marshmallow. “This represents a kind of plant called, ‘Anorethia’ or also known as the Sleeper’s Lock. and this..” Iris took the other marshmallow, “Represents a bat.” then she threw the marshmallow to the one that represents my Mom. “We knock her out! Then we bring her and throw her and you through a portal!”

“Portal?” I raised my eyebrow.

“I thought you would’ve asked me more about Anorethia, yeah portals” Iris informed me while sipping her coffee like we were discussing the weather. “You go in them and then you come out in another place.” Iris had this confused look on her face. Her slim left eyebrow raised a bit higher than her right “For all the books you read I thought you would’ve already known about the existence of portals”

“No, no” I crossed my hands and shook my head, “I’ve definitely read about them. This was the first time I heard that they were real.”

“Of course they’re real.” Iris pointed to the sky, “Where did you think all those goods were sent? The moon?”

My mouth was agape. My entire face was stunned and shocked in awe. “They weren't sending things to the moon??”

“Of course not. There’s not enough economical efficiency to suffice for that many ships to go out of orbit. There are some pretty cool rocks on the moon, but it’s nothing compared to the economic gain from selling common goods for high prices.”

“But why the moon? Why not do it here, on Escala?” Escala was the name of our planet, or it was a planet I assume.

Iris had a concerned look on her face and began to talk in a slow tone, “So that they don’t send armies right at our front door?” as if it were common sense.

“But why would they send armies?”

“To invade us and take our resources duh.” she sipped on her hot chocolate like we’re talking about the weather, “The distance between the moon and Escala is a pretty good buffer to stop any enemy invasion. At least it’s a working system that seems to keep this planet afloat for the last millennium”

“Then how do they manage the rapid shifts in demand and supply with such a large buffer time like the moon?”

Iris lifted her eyes in a kind of puzzled look. “There are cities that trade with 3 month gaps in between them. If you have the technological capabilities and constant trades that can cover the travel costs then you can build a strong trade network”

“But those countries go to war all the time, even if there is a 3 month gap between travel. What’s stopping the other dimensions from going to war with us?”

“Space. It’s a brutal frontier to advance on. I’m sure several army generals would rather march through the freezing cold as long as they don’t march through Space. It’s practically walking through a poisonous swamp where if any of your equipment fails you die.”

“But there should be species which found a way to exist in space. Then it should be quite easy to march through right?”

“Nope.” Iris smirked, “As long as God Avelynn is here then nothing is coming through the atmosphere” Iris pointed to an androgyenous figure on the wall.

“Is Avelynn a guy or a girl?” I asked out of curiosity

Iris chuckled, “Neither silly girl. Avelynn isandrogyenous, but I’ve heard from rumors that she currently shows up in a female form.”

“Does she have a male form?”

“According to the history books, he was known to strike fear into the hearts of every living creature.” Iris finished her glass of hot chocolate, “Now she’s known as the savior to all, graceful, kind and protective.”

“I don’t want to commit heresy but isn’t that hypocritical?”

“Not at all” Iris leaned over and grabbed the marshmallow bag, “From what I’ve seen she simply wishes to protect this world, and fights all who dares try to oppose her rule or incites chaos jeopardizing our peace.”

“But…” I wandered off into thought,

Iri smiled at me and then whispered, “Azalea. I heard once of a story, there was a philosopher that tried to understand why Aveynn works the way she does. He walked on the beach wondering about the nature of God and saw a kid digging a whole and filling it with water. He went over and asked the boy what he was doing, and the boy replied. I’m trying to fit the ocean into this little hole. The philosopher laughed and laughed, and then realized he too was trying to do the same”

“Is it impossible to understand God?”

Iris shrugged, “I like to imagine that we’re blind men trying to understand the enormity of a mountain by touching it. We can gain a glimpse of it, but not the entire picture. You’re quite fond of this philosophical stuff aren’t you?”

I smiled proud, “I like to talk to myself (Eos) about this kind of stuff. It helps pass time”

Iris was finishing the bag of marshmallows by picking up the empty bag and letting the crumbs fall onto her tongue “So are we going to kidnap your Mom?”

“No, no, I just know who I need to throw into the portal now” I responded with a conniving smile

Iris smiled, “Glad to know I can help you. I hope you have fun!”

“Oh, I will” I smirked back

“Oh yes.” Iris also continued, “Do you want to borrow any books today?”

I thought for a bit, “Do you have any books on poisonous plants or portals?

“I can get you the poisonous plants stuff but books about portals are more confidential”

“Like I can’t get them?”

“Most of the public stuff you’ve already read, but you seem more interested in the intricacies of the portals. Although I’m not sure why, those books, those are confidential.”

I pouted and stared at her. Cmon!! Succumb to my cuteness!!! Grrr. Her face didn’t have a change in expression. This was a complete failure! “Is there anything I can do to get that information?”

Iris looked up for a second and then smiled. There it was again, that scheming smile, I knew it the moment I saw it. She gave a mischievous smile, and then her lips parted, “Come meet me after my shift ends.”

“When is that?’ I asked.

“In around 3 hours” she responded. Of course, the brilliant me already converted to Earth time.

“Where do we meet?” I asked her again.

“This room should do, you remember how to get here right?”

“I think so, can you remind me of the room name again?”

“Room F-15. I’ll get you the books on Poisonous plants now, would you want an emphasis on non-lethal or lethal plants?”

“Non-lethal; please, maybe something that has to do with paralysis”

“Sure thing Aza, I”ll be right back”

Iris eventually came back with 2 books in her hand. One of them was about poisonous breeds of plants which induced paralysis through touch. The other one was a biology book about the anatomy of plans.

“Thank you Iris.”

“No worries. Come to me if you need to find any book” Iris responded and then left to go back to her main table.

The main table was the first thing you saw when you entered the library. This library was more akin to a maze than anything else: A maze with shelves of books for walls instead of concrete. I used to get lost in this heap of books, losing myself in these pages and the library. Eos had to find me many times when we used to come here! It was a fun process, but I realized that if you asked the librarian you could find almost any book.

Iris seemed to have this magical power to go into the horde of books and come out with a book or two with just the right title you need. It felt a lot like I was using Google again, to ask her stuff and she would always come up with the perfect recommendations. I still miss Google, although I can ask Eos all the questions I wanted to, I couldn’t ask him about the population size of New Mexico, the current status of banks, or the political tensions between US and China.

At most the news I got about the world beyond this city and my house was linked only by the church. I found that we lived in a pretty remote part of Escala, or Escala is just that huge. It was easy to look at the ships flying into space, they resembled the night stars, but I could never see the cities that they came from, but let’s not rest on melancholic shit for too long. I still have to figure out how to poison my potentially new step-father. That thought, (bleghhhh- I mentally vomited), scares me.

I went to the second floor, waiting for Eos to come to tell him about my new discovery, and to wait for 3 more hours before I could meet with Iris.