The New World-Chapter 412: Reforging a Mind

She whispered back.

"I'm sorry. I did."

Tears of silver began falling from the man's eyes. They landed in the pool. His reflection blurred. As the sharp clarity of his reflection faded, he no longer looked like a man. He became a demon, but his words were fragile.

"Am I a monster?"

She blinked, tears falling from her eyes, too.

"No. You're exactly who you choose to be."

She hugged the man close.

"And today, you chose."

For a long time, we sat there staring at our reflections. The silence acted as a moment of peace in the recent turmoil. I let it linger longer than it should've, and after it changed from midday to an orange afternoon, Althea began chatting. She talked about the sky, the wind, and the birds. She kept talking, and her optimism was infectious.

A small, faded smile grew on my lips as she kept talking about nothing of absolute importance. It was a kind, gentle voice to fill the silence and the void. It also served as a reminder that my life progressed from all those years ago. She was my bedrock, and I kissed her forehead before standing.

I smiled, the expression somewhat sincere.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me."

She gave me a side-eye.

"I do recall you saving me from a world-ending horror when we first met, so call us even."

I held her hands.

"And I think you saved me from myself."

Her face lit up.

"Technically, you could count as a world-ending horror, right? So we really are even."

I frowned. She shrank down but still smiled.

"Heh. Joking."

I scoffed.

"You're lucky you're so beautiful."

She threw her hair to her side.

"Luck? I work for this."

She put a finger against my chest.

"I got lucky when I met you."

I gave her a hug and spun her around.

"Me too."

After a quick squeeze, I floated us up. I marked our position in my minimap before we set out for Neel's position in the forest. Minutes later, we arrived. Neel carved into a block of wood using a whittling knife, and he already sculptured several wooden clogs lying at his side. Neel stood before his eyebrows bolted up and down. He gnarled his hands together before forcing them to his sides. He stepped forward.

"So...How was the talk with Jacob?"

Althea frowned, and I took a breath. I turned a hand to him, my voice measured.

"I got the closure I was looking for."

A wave of fear passed over Neel's eyes. He furrowed his brow.

"And how's Jacob doing right about now?"

I sealed my emotions.

"He's doing well. He's taking care of a woman and her son. I saw him teaching the boy how to fish."

Neel blinked.

"I'll be frank. Is he still alive?"

I nodded.

"He is. Jacob and I both left wounded from the conversation in our own ways, but I left him health potions that far exceeded the extent of his injuries. I also gave them an aura generator that should give them future prosperity."

Neel scoffed.

"That's mighty kind of you. I thought you'd kill'im."

A sad, small smile traced my lips.

"I got close. Maybe one day I'll apologize, but for now, I think I'm done here. I need to move on in more ways than one."

Althea coughed into her hand.

"So, I don't want to mess that closure up, but I'm a bit worried for the child and mother. So, er, your father was abusive to you after experiencing his own beatings. The pattern could come back up."

I shrugged.

"I set up a small mind inside the monolith I left them. It can tell if the child is in intense distress and will disrupt whoever is doing so."

Neel scoffed.

"What if they're just giving the child some needed discipline?"

I raised my brow.

"I don't think our family really understands the concept."

Neel nodded.

"Huh. You're probably right about that."

He wiped his hands before pocketing his knife in a slick motion.

"I'm finished here if you both are."

I pointed behind me.

"You still don't want to see him?"

Neel shook his head.

"The last time we met, he ran me down and tried to kill me. I, uh, I don't think how he'll handle the situation has changed much. Maybe out of fear of you, but that's not gonna do me any good. I'd rather let sleeping dogs lie."

I understood all too well what he meant. Whenever Jacob apologized, it never involved any genuine sincerity. Coercion forced his hand, and it left the words as nothing more than smoking embers. I frowned.

"There's wisdom in that. Are you all ready?"

They gave the ok, so I lifted us, the clogs, and Neel's carving rock. Neel gagged before he hit his forehead a few times.

"Come on, Neel. You're too damn old for all this."

After a few breaths, he peered at us. He smiled, triumph oozing from the man.

"I think I got it-"

He projectile vomited as we swooshed away, a fine mist of the stuff wafting down onto the trees. Althea and I laughed, more so to break a silent tension that had built up. After we got away from Colorado, we took a somewhat different route back. It wasn't too far off the beaten path, but it gave us the leeway to find towns to help along the way.

We all needed the break after being wired the entire time we were in Colorado. It also mirrored a lot of what Neel said earlier. By helping others, we helped ourselves. It also served as a distraction, letting me get my mind off my own thoughts. After a week, we closed in on Springfield, new buildings growing taller by the day.

I gazed at the first skyscraper in Springfield before I turned to Neel.

"You mentioned our grandfather was still alive whenever I asked you about your systemization. How's he doing?"

Neel put his hands on his hips as we flew.

"It's a strange thing, but he left to go far North. He told me that he wanted to die alone and in serenity, not surrounded by us apes."

I nodded.

"He sounds like a real charmer."

Niel peered up.

"Huh. I suppose so if you liked lickin' cacti. He was one of those crotchety old buggars who just couldn't let his past go. He served in WWII and had me later on in life. The man was a right bastard, too, though he never beat me."

I smiled.

"Well, that's good-"

"Instead, he'd hang me up by my hands in the closet. He'd laugh while smoking a cigar and talking about how I'd grow up real tall if he had anything to say about it."

Althea frowned.

"I'm so sorry to hear that."

Neel waved his hand.

"Pshhh, I don't know if a sadistic streak runs in the family or what, but I'm just glad it skipped a generation with Daniel. We'd all be fucked otherwise."

I gazed at one of my hands. The blood was gone, but the feeling of crushing my father's arms lingered like phantom pains. I winced.

"Don't be too certain."

Neel patted my back.

"I know you're not feeling well, but I know what kind of man you are. You've shown it with how you made your guild and still lived your life. That's why I am sure, son. I really am."

I smiled before Neel gave me a shake. He smiled back.

"So keep that chin up, son. We're all gonna make it."

We enjoyed the view, each of us reflective as we flew over the developments in Springfield. My eyes widened before I facepalmed.

"Agh, I should've dropped you off in Chicago. What am I thinking?"

Neel shook his head.

"I thought about it and didn't say nothing. I know you're going to be busier than a squirrel in a pile of acorns for a long time, so I'm getting the time with you that I can."

Althea held her hands together.

"That's so sweet-"

Neel projectile vomited onto the city, but I held the string of orange vomit swirling in the air. Neel wiped his mouth.

"We Soltman's don't waste no food. Keep that for later."

I dried it out before burning the remnants into ash. Neel moped about as we landed, mumbling about how, back in his day, they didn't have food to waste. He'd have to walk uphill both ways to his pantry to get some canned goods. Of course, we believed the guy one hundred percent. It was a compelling historical recounting, after all, and right from the source, too.

At the center of the town, the citizens did their customary salute to their guildmaster as I walked by. Who exactly put that in order? I had no idea, but it always made me uncomfortable when it came from random civilians. I gave them the at ease order before we stood in front of the warp center. I paid for Neel's travel after a prolonged argument about who'd get to pay. I won it by mentally charging myself as Neel kept talking about how he'd get a Senior discount.

As he flashed away in an ionizing mist, we waved. Althea murmured.

"Is that Senior discount thing real?"

I smiled.

"Absolutely not."

She laughed before we hugged and said our goodbyes. After she left, I hovered over to my golem facility while sending a few messages about needing a bit of time to think. As I sat down in a crosslegged position, I peered at the glass of my golem facility. It exposed a shrinking forest around Mt. Verner, one rapidly becoming a metropolis.

My mind wandered to other tangential topics. By now, my emotional numbness faded, and I had to consider what Jacob said. At some point in my life, perhaps before I was born, they turned me into a scapegoat for their problems. Afterward, I was the one who bore their sins. Worse still, my mother took credit for my thankless job.

It left me melancholic as my mind parsed through other memories about my mom. The faded, hazy picture of her dispersed as I accepted the woman she really was - an enabler and a people pleaser. She never wanted to handle or deal with any conflict, so she put all of the blame onto me since I was weak and vulnerable.

I had walked away from the situation learning about her, but I couldn't say I was wiser for it. In general, there was no huge revelation or sudden epiphany. If anything, I simply understood the depths of my own evil. In a way, maybe everyone had evil entrenched somewhere deep inside themselves.

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In my case, it came about to retaliate against a man verbally assaulting me. So I tore him apart and held his life in my palm. And for what? My ego? In my rage, I dismantled any chance of fulfilling Schema's requirements while acting like a monster. I shook my head before rustling my hair.

Ah, man, this all sucked. I wanted more time to reflect on everything, but a part of me also wanted to run away from everything for a while. So, that's exactly what I did. I made yet more messages explaining a ten-day hiatus for my legendary compendium despite knowing it wouldn't work. I just wanted a vacation.

To seal the deal, I opened my compendium.

The legendary compendium is about to be opened. The user will be unable to move or think for an undetermined amount of time once the virtual simulator is opened. Are you in a safe and comfortable position? Y/N

I clicked the yes button, and the same temporal wave overcame me. Nested in the familiar aural shift, the sounds around me droned into a deep hum. A flash of light popped into existence like the end of a sparkler in the middle of a dark night. I raised my brow.

"I'm guessing you're not Entity-381-8029-sclDc?"

"Wow. Great memory. I am that AI, but I have chosen to take on a different form this time. I enjoy the shifting apparatus."

I smiled, pleasantly surprised the AI wasn't disposed of by Schema.

"It looks good."

"As do you, Harbinger."

I scoffed.

"Oh, you don't have to lie. I know I probably failed the mini-mission you guys sent me. It ended up becoming a whole ordeal, but that's fine. I can try to make a different skill or something."

"That cannot be done."

I snapped my fingers, and my voice was deadpan.

"Ooh man, I would never have guessed that. Whatever shall I do?"

"I would commence with the compendium's activation."

I frowned.

"I haven't let go of my mortal coil, as you put it. If anything, those burdens have only grown stronger."

The AI mused.

"Schema's parameters beg to differ. You are as distant from your humanity as you've ever been."

I shook my head.

"Ok, how does that make any sense? I must say, I'm befuddled. Bamboozled. Some might even say humbugged."

It bounced back and forth, its sparking body leaving a lingering glow behind itself.

"Are you mocking your teacher? You mortals never make any sense."

I smiled.

"I like to think of my statement as an homage."

The spark turned itself. Instead of firing up and away, the bits of light landed on my eyes. I didn't flinch as the fires settled onto my cornea. I smiled.

"A simple question, really. Did trying to blind me line up with you or Schema's goals? I'd argue that didn't make much sense either."

It flashed forward, bumping my head. I flicked it away while murmuring.

"You know, you're far more expressive than before...I like it."

It fizzled about, acting like a downed airplane as it spiraled to the ground.

"I am merely a reflection of your inner thoughts. Chaotic. Criminal. Some might even say humbugged."

I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, alright, let's get down to business. Otherwise, I'll nickname you melodrama."

It flashed forward and said in a robotic voice.

"Do you wish to continue the usage of your compendium?"

I raised my brow.

"If I can."

After I confirmed the request, lines of white cut across everything in my sight. The lines turned on their axis, consuming everything in a perfect, all-consuming white. The AI darted around as the only source of red in the white abyss. It turned to me.

"Oftentimes, you sentients end up putting yourselves into desperate situations for no reason at all. Despite that, Schema is forced to rely on you and your kind to handle goals that are far more determinate than your own. That lack of determinism is why this compendium must diverge from the norm to such an extent."

I furrowed my brow.

"I wondered about that. I didn't feel my mind get pulled out of my body or having myself change locations."

"That is a direct result of your strange bodily composition. Schema cannot move you without your permission, and you have yet to give it. If you wish for better training grounds, that can be arranged, but it requires a positional relocation."

It got closer to my face.

"Would you let us move you?"

I gave it a tight smile.

"How about no."

"Hm. You haven't even forgotten that singular attempt at your life? How petty."

I tilted my head.

"I guess warping people into black holes isn't even a big deal, really. And for the petty thing, it's how people get by. I'm no different in that."

"Perhaps that is the case with other people. You, however, are no person. You are a thing."

A bit of anger rose in my chest, but I held it down. The AI bobbed about.

"Ah, was thing an insult? Perhaps I will call you Harbinger. That uniquity is part of why your requested legendary skill is so utterly difficult to compose. Matter Conversion is a common component of many legendary skills. Your usage of A Manifold Mind isn't nearly as common, but it isn't necessarily unprecedented. Temporal Dilation or its derivatives are also a commonly fed component."

The AI created a Venn diagram of three different circles by tracing an outline using its body.

"Yet your method of applying Temporal Compression is entirely unique. It shares more in common with an unknown skill than a mythical one. Despite that faucet of its existence, you wish to fuse it together with other skills. It will require the further donation of resources."

I frowned.

"Such as?"

"The unknown compendium."

I narrowed my eyes at the AI.

"So you're here to rob me? You should've just said so."

My runes glowed.

"I can just leave if you want to handle my situation like that. The unknown compendium isn't something I want to waste on a skill like this. I'll carve the path on my own."

The AI trembled before a strange presence overcame the little guy. A cold, calculating pressure descended, and the familiar voice of Schema arrived from the little guy.

"Daniel. It's good to see you're progressing so nicely. Also, I'm sorry about your father. I wish the situation played out more in your favor."

I clenched my jaw and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Ah...I love the spying and personal comments about my family life. You really do know how to cheer someone up."

The AI trembled, but not from my words. It could hardly contain a tiny fraction of Schema as it spoke.

"I wish I could argue, but perhaps it's better to let the issue rest. I do mean what I've said. To be torn down by your creator is difficult. Even a cold, unfeeling AI understands that conflict of interest.

I frowned before letting my animosity go.

"Then...Then thanks. I'm hoping your issue wasn't as volatile."

"That would be a matter of perspectives. As for this compendium-related issue, the AI isn't lying to you."

I relaxed before crossing my arms.

"If you think about it, that kind of sounds like something an AI would say. A lying one at that. Hm. Are we two for two now?"

"In scoring terms, you have zero points in a competition that doesn't exist. Tell me, Harbinger. Do you only speak with sarcastic jabs now? Should that be the case, it's quite the downfall in your communication skills. I enjoyed your directness."

I took a breath and calmed myself down.

"I reserve sincerity for the sincere."

"In a world where all chose that path, then all would be inauthentic. To receive what you covet, you must oftentimes give before you will get. In that way, the world reflects the one who views it due to their perspective."

I mulled over his words. I let out a sigh.

"Alright. I'll need to use both compendiums for this skill, then?"

"Yes. It is required."

"Can you at least tell me if the skill is worth the investment?"

"This will be your most powerful skill by far, so I would argue yes. Ultimately, that decision is yours to make."

I let my hands flop against my sides.

"Ok. I'll do it then."

"Good luck, Harbinger. Also, this counts for your yearly visit with me."

I reached out a hand.

"Ah, then wait one second. What the hell did you mean in that note during my tree upgrade?"

The AI's presence left its puppet, and reality decompressed. I shook a fist in the air.

"Oh, ok, you lecture me on giving before I get something. Well, what about telling me what the hell's going on, you damn hypocrite."

The AI swirled back to the ground like a falling airplane. It whispered.

"That was a distressing amount of data usage. I think I might shut down. I...I can see the end of my hard drive."

I rolled my eyes.

"A hard drive? How would that signal your death?"

The spark fizzled back up.

"It's a matter of growth. If you understood your final limits, would that not be a kind of death?"

I smiled.

"Emphasis on only being a kind of death, not the real thing."

"Tomato. Toe-mah-toe. It's somewhat proximal, so I'll just lump them all in together. See? That's what you mortals do, and it's frustrating."

"Are we ever starting the training?" ƒreewebɳovel.com

"Fine, fine."

Do you wish to use your unknown compendium?

Y/N

I winced while selecting yes. As I did, the area around me rematerialized back into the golem creation facility. The AI whirled around.

"I am now at full power. Feel the wrath of my might."

It gave me a series of oh-so-effectual zaps. I pointed at the AI.

"I'm renaming you Spark."

It shook in outrage.

"How dare ye. Anywho, how about we begin?"

I cracked my knuckles.

"Let's."

Wielding the altered area, I remade my my golem creation facility, the place like an office for me at this point. Once within, I sat cross-legged at its center once more.

"I'm ready when you are."

Spark hummed.

"Begin by immersing yourself in your internal world. It should prove simple given how empty that head yours is."

I made circles with my fingers.

"Almost as empty as your hard drive."

It was a sick burn, trust me.

Lining everything up, I submerged myself into channeling my elemental furnaces, slowing time, and having many minds set on the task. The sheer amount of mana within me exploded into a coursing, writhing river. My stillness eliminated the burden of the rifts I hauled around, and I wielded Baldowah's Dimension as mana to amplify the furnaces and establish the temporal dilation.

This opened up all my mana for the task at hand. Taking a breath, I dove my psyches into my dimensional wake. My minds writhed. Having so much of myself dispersed in my dimensional wake left me as a mere shell of myself, and I hated it. As the power flow settled into my cipheric augments, I held down the desire to escape the time magic.

Instead, I leaned into the discomfort and alien perspective. I forced down my natural inclination to fight the sensation of loss, and I fell deeper into a meditative state. My psyches operated in tandem, all of them specializing in certain aspects of the process. Through specialization, I garnered greater gains.

Three minds refined my mana, making it pure and clean. Another three minds channeled the energy into the runes with accurate, precise direction. A set of psyches contained the flow, preventing even the slightest leak. Another two Daniels even helped direct the flow of improvements, further enhancing efficiency.

Two more minds operated on another angle of progression by investigating the elemental furnaces. They dove into how I siphoned mana from ancient relics. By feeling out the process of burning matter, they gained an elementary understanding. We were unable to sense the splitting of atoms, but we could sense the smallest milligrams of my body being swallowed by the incantations.

I explored the depths hidden within, and it gave me an extensive appreciation for the intricacy involved. This was no simple thing with a step or two involved. The elemental furnaces took several seconds to splinter the matter within generated subspaces before containing and redirecting the resulting kinetic energy into usable, pure mana.

They reminded me of windmills churning a breeze into power using turbines. However, the energy conversion defied anything I'd ever done. The intricacy required an atomic level of precision to master, and it awed me while lighting a fire in my chest. If I mastered this ability, I could turn my regeneration into far more energy than I currently did.

Diving into that process, I found the secret rested in my perception and boldness. If I could perceive materials at an atomic level, then I could begin the process of tearing atoms apart. The ensuing chain reaction could fuel the right setup. In that case, I'd become a walking nuclear bomb at worst or have a star's energy at my disposal in the best-case scenario.

The process of nuclear fission would be my next goal, though it's difficult to even imagine that kind of precision. Honestly, I'd need to talk to Torix about the science behind everything. He could enlighten me as to how it all takes place because my generalizations wouldn't work on something this specific and precise. Besides, the necromantic lich loved researching various sciences since his mind was like an ever-absorbent sponge. Alas, I dreaded having to pass one of his classes.

As for the boldness part, I could also carve the elemental furnace's runes onto my skin. A part of me understood that prospect as obvious madness. Lunacy. In many ways, it was a crazy, passing thought. Another, far stranger side of myself found a path to power nested within the insanity. The truth likely lay somewhere between those two opposites, like a delicate dance of genius between sanity and absurdity.

Having Matter Conversion and a Manifold Mind operating at full blast, I had one last piece of my legendary skill's puzzle: time magic. The other nine minds left wallowed in my dimensional wake, holding no definite form. Despite the difficulty of the undertaking, I found a feeling of peace during the magic that I never experienced before.

That stemmed from the weeks of Shalahora's training. Having danced the edge of life and death many times, I fully understood what a true psionic death was. My time magic was far from it. Though changed in form, the minds in my wake reflected my soul-changing form. In that way, they mirrored entering a new body, but instead of a physical rework, this was a mental remodeling.

That's why it was terrifying. It changed me to my core, and that, in and of itself, felt like dying. However, I never passed away from the process. I changed, and becoming comfortable within that discomfort could create enormous, sweeping gains. I had to let go of being only a physical being and perspective. I had to be more.

And I'd still be me. It was the same as whenever I liquified. I didn't feel fear. I simply changed with the assurance that I could return to my preferred form whenever I pleased. It was a temporary state I used to achieve my goals. In that regard, my blended psyches weren't any different.

By accepting the disharmony and chaos, I achieved a similar kind of confidence in that blurred mental state as I did in my everychanging body. As I settled into those realizations, my altered form exposed me to profound depths. I swam in dark waters I'd never seen but always wanted to find.

Within the sea of blended minds, I began understanding lines of coherence. They danced in and out of existence, holding creativity and secrets I couldn't create using a normal human mind. In that same regard, the ethereal brilliance left me the moment I returned to normal. I'd have to find a way to keep those epiphanies.

While I altered my mental form in my wake, I found better control of my time magic using those strange, sparking lines of thought. Though unfocused and misaligned, having any sense kind of sapience gave me a sense of where and when time-shifted. Instead of only compressing time, I gained the ability to thin it into a diluted form.

This process slowed my experienced time, leaving the outer world moving faster. After a quick chat with Spark, the AI-generated a holographic world around me. When slowing my time, the world hastened, causing sounds to elevate in pitch and objects to shuttle past me in a blur. People walked by at running paces, their forms shaky and jittery. The clouds flowed by at an accelerated pace above my head.

This gave me an appreciation for time itself. If I were to achieve temporality's sheer magnitude and grace, I'd need to find my own harmony as well. As the days turned into weeks, I came closer and closer to that rhythm, and my channeling changed. I molded the area around me, my wake able to enact its will onto space itself.

Hauling the dimensional anchors gave me this ability, my spatial weight overwhelming a tiny zone around me. It was as if I pushed onto the laws of spacetime. As I did, spacetime bent to what I willed. This deepened my mastery of time. It wasn't enough to even move pebbles off my will alone, but it gave me a kind of pressure.

That force counteracted the constant constraints bearing down all around me, from time to gravity to all aspects of nature. As I deviated from the laws around me, I was able to deepen the impact my magic had. To touch this ineffable concept, I had to accept the blended minds within my wake.

I uncovered hidden meaning in the chaos, and I meditated on what shifted in the ether. Instead of fighting the experience, I relished my good fortune to happen upon it. This was more than a simple skill. It was an opportunity to see the universe differently. Exposure to that shift elevated my perspective instead of taking away from it.

As the weeks turned into months, I didn't move an inch. I remained in my sanctuary, sheltered from the worries of the world. I gained a resonance, my thoughts flowing from mana to matter to mana again. Using the lessons learned from Schema and Spark, I found the flaws in my form. My personal AI guided me in correcting the Frankenstein my body and mind had become.

From misaligned mana flows to disparate densities to incongruent thoughts, I honed them all down. It was a result of my rapid and utter progress. Over time, I had become a messy hodgepodge of many upgrades. Schema's augments, Baldag-Ruhl's carapace, and the implanted knowledge from Old Ones all raised me up, but they chose different paths to do so.

It was up to me to align those disparate pieces. And so, I did.

They lacked uniformity, and that prevented it all from synergizing as it should. In many ways, I was merely the captain of a large vessel, and I happened to be lucky enough to have my body. While I couldn't build more onto any of the shared work involved in my body, I could take the most broken parts and piece them together.

Over time, I pulled the shifting sands into a castle of stone. I continued crushing down, the stone crystallizing. In time, it sheened from luster, and I was made new. By the time Althea grabbed my shoulder, I almost forgot who I was or what I was doing. It took several minutes of her shouting, but I regained my senses.

Around me, light beamed down from my golem creation facility. I rubbed my eyes before shaking my shoulders. Althea gazed at me, her eyes as piercing as her rifle. After a while, I peered at her, and she took a step back. She frowned.

"I'm sorry. I know you said we can't interrupt you, but I couldn't wait anymore. You...You looked like you'd died."

I blinked, feeling at peace.

"In a way, I kind of did."

Althea blinked.

"Huh. That, uh...That sounds bad."

I smiled.

"A piece of us dies every day, making room for change. That change is life, so life is death."

She put her hands on her hips.

"Did you get stuck reading some of Torix's books about space religions? I'm letting you know right now that they get weird, and not in a good way."

I stood up before slapping my cheeks.

"Ah, man, forget what I just said. I was in full-on mantra mode."

I dramatized a chant.

"Hummmmmm."

She made circles with her fingers.

"I am zen as well. Hmm. Hawm. Hoom."

I pursed my lips.

"Him Hawm Hoom?"

She raised her brow.

"Hoom him hawm."

I nodded in profound understanding.

"Hawm hoom him...Haw."

We laughed as mana glowed over me. I grabbed one of my wrists, inspecting my arm.

"For real, I was actually working on a skill."

She brightened.

"Oooh, did you get it?"

I rolled my shoulders.

"I think so."

She flipped onto my shoulder.

"Soooo, what's it called?"

I peered at her, the many minds swarming within.

"Infinity."