Chapter 3: Retrospect

Hekapoo watched as Glossaryk prepared himself to teach her the ancient and powerful art of memory transversal. With his eyes closed he hummed a mantra that he quietly spoke aloud to himself. Not knowing what to expect inside she walked over to her destroyed bench trying to find her whetstone. With her powers not working she needed to have some way to defend herself. Knowing the strange and unexplainable antics of Glossaryk, there was no telling what she would find on the other side of her mind. Her thoughts running wild, the one thing she really didn't want to see above all else was Marco dead. That thought alone made this entire experience so far, dreadful.

Trying to compose whatever spirit she had left, she sharpened her scissors to the sharpest point she could get before returning to Glossary's floating form. Finding a moment to herself she was able to look at the situation for what it was. While strange and mysterious he could be, her would be, father, was there for her when she needed him the most. While he claimed that she summoned him she felt it was more he knew she needed to not be alone in a time like this. Something in that sort of thinking caused her to smile at him. While she was far from being ok, she really did appreciate that he came all this way to make sure she was ok.

"OK, looks like we are ready" he said opening his eyes and turning to her

"So what do we do now?" she said eyebrow raised

"Now, it's time for you to learn this dangerous but helpful power, but I must warn you, many have attempted to master this power but few have stopped themselves from being trapped in their own minds."

"What do you mean"

"The mind is a wonderful and scary place, it can bring you the greatest joy and the most horrible sorrow. While in the recess of your own mind you may find great happiness, the likes of which you would never want to leave from. Or you may find a great darkness that will torment you from finding the exit from your psyche."

"So I can be trapped in my own mind is what you're saying, I get it but why would I" she questioned folding her arms

"Tell me Hekapoo, if you find Marco alive and well in your own memories, would you want to even return to this world. After the sorrow you've already endured would it not make sense to stay in a place of comfort" he said while pointing at her heart.

"He means more to you than you will ever realize and by teaching you this power I may be in turn dooming you to an eternity in your own mental bliss."

"I'd like to believe I would come back here but is there some way to make sure that doesn't happen" she mentioned giving him a look of worry

Glossaryck simply floated for a moment while looking her directly in the eyes. It was almost as if he was puzzled himself. For someone to have all the answers he famously had none before a moment of truth.

Drifting toward her he extended his arm while getting closer to her chest. Poking her where her heart was and giving her a smile was all he had to say. She didn't want to say it out loud but before she even asked she kinda already knew what the answer was.

Taking deep breaths she closed her eyes to focus before giving Glossaryck a determined look.

"Ok, I'm ready to learn" she said with confidence in her voice

"Excellent, now all you have to do is close your eyes and think about the memory you're trying to picture while extending both your arms out"

Doing what she was told, Hekapoo closed her eyes and pictured the shirtless man she remembered earlier. Extending her arms out she focused on the thoughts of the mysterious man.

"Good, now all you have to do now is squat" he said imitating her

Slowly going down she kept her mind focused until she suddenly felt a light breeze on her face. Trying to focus and keep her eyes closed she tried to ignore it. Again the breeze danced on her face with a stronger force.

'I don't know why he's choosing now to annoy me' she thought to herself while trying to concentrate. But again she felt another breeze dance along the bridge of her nose. Finally fed up with his games she opened her eyes to scream at him.

"WILL YOU CUT IT O…."

To her surprise, before her was a massive beach along the coastlines of the west end of her world. The light emanating from the two moons danced along the coastal waters as she could barely make out where the end of the beach was in either direction. She watched as small hermit crabs moved about the exposed beach head trying to find a safe place to hide from the next incoming wave. To the north end of the beach she could make out a dim light coming from what looked like a small makeshift hut. Nearby the hut was a large structure that seemed to be made from rock from what she could tell.

While gathering the thoughts of her clones for years she had never experienced anything like this before. Everything was so real and she could feel sensations that shouldn't have been possible. No wonder Glossaryck said this magic was ancient and dangerous, anyone could spend an eternity here.

Looking around for a bit it finally dawned on her that she didn't even see him there.

"Glossaryck, are you here" she said quietly to not bring attention to herself. She carefully stepped as quietly as she could on the sand while trying to keep a low profile.

'What am I supposed to do now, I completely forgot to ask Glossaryck what my objective even was in here' she thought to herself as she headed in the direction of the hut she saw.

Despite the distressing months she was having she noticed the kind of life one of her clones was living. Everything was so serene and peaceful, she never knew anything like this even existed in her world. Working all the time and moving from dimension to dimension didn't give her much time to really explore her own world. It was so beautiful and there was no telling how long this was all here before she found it. So many things in life had passed her by for millenia all because she was scared to think of anything outside of her purpose. Years upon years of time wasted and for what.

Stopping to give thought to her life she turned to the waves crashing upon the beach and enjoyed the view. It had become apparent to her that she was in a memory and yet she still didn't make time to enjoy anything while time itself didn't exist in this realm.

She took a deep breath allowing the light breeze to carry the guilt and sorrow away. Disappointed in herself for not seeing the truth long ago. She had lived such a boring and controlled life that it took a human of all things to show her how dull everything really was. When Marco entered her life everything just suddenly became more interesting. She had a reason to travel to distance remote places she would have never had an interest in. She had to come up with fun ways to keep herself hidden so he couldn't find her. There were small moments like this that added icing to the cake of discovery that was her world. The thrill of the day he finally caught up to her was something she looked forward to every time so much so she created an environment where she could do it hundreds of times. All because she was unaware and he was too stupid to realize they were drawn together.

Hekapoo took a hold of some sand from the beach and felt the warmth of the Sun beaming down on it all day. She closed her eyes and imagined it was Marco's hand giving her the warmth she was feeling.

"Where are you, you dummy I miss you…." she said sadly under her breath

Looking out to the waves she noticed the horizon as the silhouette of an island slowed started to take shape with her eyes adjusting to the darkness.

"I don't want to imagine a world without you either…" she said pouring the sand from her hand back on the beach.

After what felt like a few hours she got up and carefully walked to the hut. Peering inside she saw one of her clones sleeping on a cot she made on the sandy floor. Next to the hut she seemed to have made a forge with stone and other metals she could find around the immediate area. Looking around it was abundantly obvious that Marco not being around made her work a lot less precise and amateur like. Around the forge were multiple broken scissors made of very poor quality. With her powers no longer working she had to resort to the old fashion way of metalsmithing. While the design was flawless as usual the actual construction of the blade and handle was extremely brittle and defective.

"I see him being gone has affected you too" she stated looking down at her sleeping clone. The years hadn't been good to her either as her clothes were torn and the bags under her eyes seemed to suggest she wasn't really sleeping by choice but passed out due to exhaustion.

Walking out of the hut she noticed in the corner of her eye a tall man facing the waves. Startling her, she defensively took out her scissors ready to fight the mysterious man. Completely unfazed the man continued to watch the waves.

"Ummm...hello?" she said watching the man carefully

The mysterious man continued to not respond to her as he breathed heavily.

"I really don't want to do this anymore" he finally said in deep voice

Turning slightly toward the hut, she could see his full face and body. The man was covered from head to toe with very large muscles as his hair swayed with the wind. His black leather jacket just barely covered his form as he looked pensive at the hut not noticing her at all.

Dropping her scissors on the sandy beach she couldn't stop herself from breaking down into a blubbering mess of tears. It had been years since she last saw him and now he was a full adult man.

"MARCO, you idiot where were you!" she screamed running toward him

Beside herself with happiness and sudden relief she attempted to embrace him but was met with thin air as she ran right through him. Double taking as she looked back to him completely unmoved by her show of affection. She noticed he began to head for the hut where her sleeping clone resided.

"Huh…?" she said in a mix of hysteria and confusion

Falling to the ground she watched helplessly as she saw the man she cared for completely ignore her presence. It was almost like she wasn't…

"The mind is a wonderful and scary place, it can bring you the greatest joy and the most horrible sorrow." she suddenly heard as she turned to see Glossaryck next to her.

Feeling her great pain he put his hand on her shoulder as she caved into the sorrow that was engulfing her. Letting out a great scream as she hysterically cried on the beach.