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Sam had a vague understanding of the term dimension crosser simply because it was an easy-to-understand phrase. He could travel through different dimensions via the specks; thus, he was a dimension crosser. However, he didn’t understand why the Mother was so interested in him because of that. “Why are dimension crossers rare?”
“Imagine a flying frog that can also dive to the very depths of the ocean,” Raindu said and spread its front paws outwards above its head. “Imagine it can travel through outer space as well. Wouldn’t you think that’s an interesting frog? How often do you think you’d see a frog like that? Even if you saw a million frogs, you might not even find one that can fly.”
Sam furrowed his brow. “So, most people can’t traverse dimensions?”
“Most people can’t stay sane after living for as many lifetimes as you have,” the Mother said and floated in the air in front of Sam’s face, ignoring Vercedei’s ugly aura. “Someone has to have a clear sense of self and firm values to become a dimension crosser.”
“Because…?” Sam asked, dragging out the word. “What if I didn’t have a clear sense of self, and what if my values weren’t firm? What would’ve happened to me if I attempted to travel through one of these dimensional specks?”
“Some truly horrible and dreadful things,” the Mother said, “but must we really discuss things that haven’t happened? There’s a chance of getting tapeworm larvae in your brain when you eat meat, but by taking the necessary precautions, you’ve minimized that chance and continue to eat meat anyway. The dangers aren’t something you mention to someone trying meat for the first time.”
“And making sure I could stay sane through trillions of lifetimes was the necessary precaution you took to ensure I could cross dimensions?” Sam asked.
“Exactly.”
“And what were the precautions you took when you let me experience those myriad lives?”
The Mother shrugged, two of its tentacles rising in the air and twisting to expose their undersides towards the ceiling. “You were an enemy at the time,” she said. “If you became deranged, it wouldn’t have been my problem. It’s not like you put armor on your opponents before stabbing them, so why would you expect the same courtesy from me when you tried to destroy my belongings?”
“I suppose that’s a fair point,” Sam said. To the Mother, Sam was a pest, and when she tried to get rid of him, she found out he could dance in the way she wanted to, so she turned him from a pest into a pet. At least, that’s how Sam understood the situation, and he didn’t feel like he was wrong. “Now that you’ve confirmed I’m a dimension crosser, you’re going to treat me nicer, right?”
The Mother floated back onto Sam’s shoulder. “Have I been mean to you?” she asked. “I’ve been nothing but polite and kind. The only attack I’ve struck you with was more of a test, and I’ve even unlocked your final chakra.”
“Final?” Sam asked. Despite all the lives he had lived, none of the individuals had a clear understanding of innerworkings of the human body and the number of chakras there truly were. Some people theorized there were an infinite number of chakras, but the Mother’s words had put those claims to rest.
“Yes,” the Mother said. “All your chakras have been unlocked, allowing you to become a dimension crosser. You’ve freed yourself from the limits of time and space, and now, you’re almost a higher-dimensional being yourself. There’s just one more step that needs to be taken.”
Sam detected movement within his All-Seeing Gaze, and he focused on the dimensional specks to figure out the shortest way to reach the location he had identified. He floated towards the speck and concentrated, his sense of self being replaced by the colorful swirls. He tried to organize the swirls into patterns, but he couldn’t make any sense of them. If they did represent objects or the appearance of the other dimensions, Sam didn’t think he had the sensory organs to make sense of them. Perhaps the final step the Mother had mentioned earlier was key to understanding the colors. “What’s this final step?” Sam asked when he left the dimension he had entered, finding himself at the location he aimed for. With a thought, he telekinetically grasped a Venusian hiding within the gold beneath his feet. He pulled it out of the ground and removed its tapeworm while looking at the blue-ringed octopus on his shoulder.
“You have to give up your mortal coil,” the Mother said.
“I have to die?” Sam asked.
“Not quite,” the Mother said. “A caterpillar doesn’t die when it metamorphosizes into a butterfly despite its mortal coil melting into a slurry and reforming.”
“So, I have to melt down into a slurry?” Sam asked. “Then, I’ll reform into something else?”
“An evaporating slurry,” the Mother said. “There’ll be no butterfly once you’re done with the process. You’ll be left as an unconscious essence which may activate in the future to become a higher-dimensional being.”
Dissolve himself for the chance to become a higher-dimensional being, for some reason, that didn’t sound like a very good deal to Sam. Perhaps it was because he had learned to become comfortable with his capabilities and limitations whilst living his lives as other people. Did he really have to take the chance to become a higher-dimensional being when all he could ever want could already be his?
“That’s because you haven’t experienced life as a higher-dimensional being yet,” the Mother said. “You’ve experienced everything you could, so why don’t you try something new? Even if you fail to become a higher-dimensional being, it won’t be a loss since you’ve already accomplished everything you could ever want.”
Sam ruminated on the Mother’s words as he stepped through some more dimensional specks to catch the remaining Venusians. The Mother was right. He had lived trillions of lifetimes and had done everything there was to do—as a three-dimensional lifeform. If he continued living as Sam, what would he do? He’d simply be waiting to die—that’s what he had done in a few of his lifetimes. “How would I take this step?” Sam asked after several cycles of dimension crossing.
“It’s risky,” Vercedei said. “Extremely risky. It’s even more difficult to become a higher-dimensional being through this method than it is to unlock all your chakras. You’re special, but you’re not that special.”
“That’s right,” Big Fish said, its voice echoing inside Sam’s head rather than coming from his surroundings as one would expect since he was inside of the whale’s mouth. “The Mother is trying to trick you into killing yourself.”
“After helping me so much?” Sam asked.
“The cat might toy with the mouse, but it kills it in the end,” Big Fish said. “She’s playing with you. She’s playing with us, thinking she has the absolute advantage. Once you’re dead, what do you think will happen to us? We’ll lose our beacon on Oterra, and the Mother will get rid of us in a snap.”
Was he being tricked? Sam couldn’t be sure. The Mother’s technique was designed to fill the void in one’s soul by allowing one to accomplish everything they had ever wanted and more. It let them experience the things they wished, and made them more accepting of death than one should be. Then, with some gentle persuasion, the Mother convinces her opponents to kill themselves. It wasn’t violent or unpleasant way of killing someone, but the result was the same like the difference between a bear tearing apart a live salmon and a snake swallowing a mouse whole.
“I wouldn’t use such a complicated method to kill you,” the Mother said.
“Don’t believe her,” Vercedei said. “She has to use those kinds of methods because we can protect you from all the other ways she can kill people.”
Sam shook his head. Should he believe the snake with the moniker of deceiver, or should he believe the blue-ringed octopus who was his enemy not too long ago? Honestly, they both were unreliable, and as usual, the only person Sam could trust was himself. As such, Sam chose to ignore the Mother’s words for now. He had business with Nwaps to finish first, and after that, he could decide on whether or not he wanted to dissolve himself for the chance to become a higher-dimensional being.
It didn’t take long for Sam to clean up the remaining Venusians infected by Nwaps, not with his newfound abilities of what was basically teleportation. The more he used it, the better he got at identifying the correct speck that’d take him to where he wanted to go. Nwaps tried to communicate with Sam during the whole process, but Sam ignored the tapeworm, tuning out its words completely. When he was done, Sam bade farewell to the Venusians, who were understandably terrified after having their bodies taken over, and left the whale’s mouth.
“You said you could help me deal with Nwaps in the subconscious expanse,” Sam said, making a statement towards the Mother. He stared at the blue-ringed octopus, waiting for its response.
“I did say that,” the Mother said. “It’s time for you to examine the dimensional lines, as you call them, more thoroughly. They hold the key to dealing with beings in different dimensions.”
“Alright,” Sam said when he realized the Mother wasn’t going to tell him more. “I’ll try it out.” He flew up onto Manga’s back and lay down on the wooly pig before closing his eyes and entering the subconscious expanse. He had been there not too long ago, but it looked much different than it had before. Dimensional lines and specks dotted Sam’s view, but they were much more scattered about compared to the ones he had seen in Oterra and within the whale’s mouth. Sam flew towards one of the dimensional lines and examined it with his All-Seeing Gaze, but it didn’t seem very different compared to the ones in Oterra. The lines seemed to be blurred with their bodies composed of unrecognizable symbols, each one unique like a snowflake.
Sam reached forward and touched the line, but his hand passed straight through, the line intersecting his palm. A burning sensation assaulted his hand, and he flinched while pulling his hand away. He frowned before extending his pinky finger, placing the tip within the line. Although pain was the body’s way of telling someone they were doing something they shouldn’t, did his body really know what was happening when he touched dimensional lines? The tip of Sam’s pinky burned as if he had dunked it into a bucket of ice, and soon, the digit turned numb.
Voices entered Sam’s mind, those belonging to his familiars, and he withdrew his pinky. The voices disappeared. Sam raised an eyebrow. This wasn’t what he had been expecting, but if the dimensional lines could somehow form a bridge between Oterra and the subconscious expanse, then he could call his familiars to help him fight against Nwaps. Since they were higher-dimensional beings, they’d fare better against the tapeworm’s extradimensional shenanigans. Sam stuck his pinky into the dimensional line once more, and his head was filled with voices again.
“Sam, don’t drop the connection this time,” Vercedei said. “We almost got lost.”
“You almost got lost,” Raindu said. “It’s your fault for being so impatient. Are you ready, Sam?”
“Ready for what?” Sam asked in his mind. He could sense his thoughts traveling through his pinky into the dimensional line. With his All-Seeing Gaze, he tracked it as far as he could but was soon blocked by a swirl of foreign colors.
“Ready to keep the passage open for us to come through,” Raindu said.
“I suppose?” Sam said, his statement more of a question. A twin-headed snake appeared on his hand and immediately slithered up his arm. Sam kept his arm still to allow the other familiars to get through, but he stopped the snake from going any further than his shoulder with his telekinesis, much to the snake’s annoyance. The black ferret came out next, walking all over the immobilized snake before takings a stand on Sam’s shoulder. Raindu stuck out its tongue at the twin-headed snake from its vantage point before curling up and getting comfortable.
The blue-ringed octopus appeared next, followed by Joe the sloth. Manga had to wait a very long time to access the dimensional bridge thanks to the sloth’s stunning alacrity; in fact, it took so long Sam’s arm got tired, and he removed his hand from the dimensional line before the wooly pig and the rest of his familiars could get through. “Is this why dimension crossers are useful to you?” Sam asked, his question directed at all his familiars. “I can bring you to wherever I am?”
“That’s right,” the Mother said and pointed at the twin-headed snake, “at least, for them. They can use you to travel from plane to plane; although it may seem close to you because you can enter and exit the subconscious expanse at will, Oterra and here”—the octopus gestured broadly around herself—“are a great distance apart for beings like myself.” The octopus thumped its forehead with its tentacle as if she were a person thumping her chest. “However, unlike your familiars, I don’t want your assistance; I want to help you grow into a higher-dimensional being.”
“So she says,” Vercedei said as it drew a line with its tail across its two-necks in one swift motion. “You’ve lived a very long time. You know there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. She’s helping you for nothing?” The twin-headed snake’s blue head snorted. “Be so for real.”
“Maybe she wants his help after he becomes a higher-dimensional being,” Raindu said. “Allies are nice.”
“She said she didn’t want his assistance,” Vercedei said. “Unless she lied.”
“How about it’s because I want to do nice things because it’s good to do them?” the Mother asked. “If I see someone struggling, I help them.”
“I don’t know,” Vercedei said, its voice dripping with doubt, “Nwaps seems to be struggling right now, and you’re going to help Sam finish him off. That doesn’t seem very nice to me.”
“As far as I’m concerned, parasites are lower down in my list of priorities,” the Mother said. “If they’re causing someone trouble, I’m helping the parasite’s victim, and it’ll count as a nice thing in my book. Those who take things from others instead of working for their own, I detest that kind of behavior.”
“You hear that, Raindu?” Vercedei asked. “The Mother hates what you do, and no matter how much you try to paint her as a nice person who’s not actively trying to murder our host, she’ll still see you as a pest.”
“Some pests are given exceptions because they’re cuter than others,” Raindu said. “Not that you would know anything about that.”
The twin-headed snake’s tail rose up and vibrated, creating a sound akin to hundreds of men screaming in agony, wailing as they clutched their heads with their fingers digging into the flesh on their face. A tiny telekinetic fist struck the twin-headed snake’s blue head, halting the grotesque sound. Vercedei glared at Sam. “I wasn’t the one who rattled,” the twin-headed snake’s blue head said. “You hit the wrong person.”
“I trust you’ll get back at Werchbite for me then,” Sam said, “for them making me hit you. If you can’t, blame it on your own weakness.”
“This is bullying,” Vercedei said and turned to look at the Mother. “Don’t you think someone as cruel as Sam would end up being a terrible person like us if he successfully turned into a higher-dimensional being? You’d be bringing a blight into existence.”
“One being’s calamity, another’s great fortune,” the Mother said. “I treasure Sam deeply. His potential is tremendous, and I won’t allow it to be snuffed by the lot of you smothering him.”
“She’s saying he’s not ripe enough,” Joe said, but the sloth’s words were drowned out by the Raindu, Vercedei, and the Mother’s bickering. The sloth fell silent, and it’s mood was about to drop, but a scratch behind its ears lifted its spirits.
“Nwaps is here,” Sam said, interrupting his familiars. “Get ready.”
“So, you brought back up,” Nwaps’ voice said, echoing from all throughout the subconscious expanse. “While you were gone, I’ve been busy.”
Sam expanded his All-Seeing Gaze and frowned. The subconscious expanse didn’t just encompass humans and Venusians. All kinds of entity existed within, and Nwaps could clone itself through someone’s dreams. While Sam was ridding the Venusians of Nwaps, the tapeworm was busy infecting the reptilians and mantids. “Do you have a solution?” Sam asked the Mother, turning his head to look at the blue-ringed octopus floating in the air beside his head.
“Watch,” the mother said. The surroundings warped, and everything was submerged. If Sam still needed to breath, he would’ve inhaled a lung full of water and possibly have drowned. However, since his heart and lungs had been replaced by one of Werchbite’s crystalline creations, Sam could appreciate the sight of the subconscious expanse turning into an ocean of crystal-clear water. Sam glanced at his familiars. Despite the water encompassing them, they were doing fine, clearly not worried about drowning nor getting their fur wet. The blue-ringed octopus swam in front of Sam’s face and asked, “How did I do?”
Sam spread out his All-Seeing Gaze and saw Nwaps’ hosts drowning in every direction. The water seemed to be alive, and it wriggled into their bodies to flush the golden tapeworms out of their systems. Was this what the Mother meant when she could wipe the board clean? If the whole surface of Oterra suddenly turned into the seabed of a massive, planet-encompassing ocean, how many creatures could survive? Not many.