17 Reality 101

Even though I had somehow convinced myself that the voices coming from below weren't real, picking a path was still not an easy job. On one side, there were people crying in pain, asking for help; but on the other side, the same people were probably enjoying a nice free weekend happily together.

And that little boy who was talking to Mr. Idris, seeking for his 'father'? Well... I would say that it was just coincidence that I was looking down from the tunnel when I heard Mr. Idris' words. I couldn't possibly be anyone's father, I knew that much.

It was a distracting thought, so I got myself thinking about picking a path again.

Since I wouldn't want to see those familiar faces suffering, I was tempted to go down the path on the right; the one without pain and cries. But just when I was about to do that, I stopped.

"This is a test, isn't it?" I said myself. "I can't just pick according to my likings, can I?"

It was stressing indeed. I was indecisive once again, so I stood at the intersection for a little longer.

"They would probably want me to go down the hard way and try to help those in need... wouldn't they?" I said. Yeah... That would be what the test would be about. That was probably what I wasn't 'ready for'.

As much as I wanted to try the path on the left now, I was scared of seeing whatever was down there. People's painful cries were still echoing in my mind, sending shivers down my spine. Perhaps I really wasn't ready to take on something like that.

And I still had yet another concern: Despite what I thought all this time, what if... What if one of these paths would lead me to something real? What if those people were actually down there, and in that case, what would I do once I landed among them?

While I was lost in a dilemma, the tunnel intersection began getting darker. The yellow light was slowly fading into darkness as the magical light/dust particles were losing their brightness. The moment I noticed this, I looked back to where I had came from.

Behind me, there was only more darkness. I could no longer see that portion of the tunnel. It was so perfectly black that I wasn't even sure if there was still something behind me, or it was an endless void waiting to suck me in.

My thoughts didn't lie to me. Soon enough, I found myself sucked into the darkness. I could no longer see anything around me. The tunnel wasn't there. The intersection was gone, and so were my choices...

"What do you fear the most, youngling?" A deep voice asked from every direction at once.

"I- You- Me?" I was confused.

"Is it okay to leave your fate in the hands of butterflies?"

"Butterflies?" I was, needless to say, even more confused.

"The universe will not chose for you, as you are it."

"I am... what!?"

"You don't know you."

"Wh- Huh?" I could no longer form any intelligable sentence, as I couldn't make sense of what I was hearing.

The magic dust started glowing again, but this time, it had a dark purple tint instead of the usual gold-yellow. I was standing in the exact same spot I were a few moments ago; the difference was that the paths leading down on my right and left were closed.

I turned around to look behind me. I would definitely want to go back now... I had to admit I was indeed not ready for whatever this is. However, the moment I turned around, I saw something horrifying.

A huge bat-like creature was flying in the tunnel, blocking my way back. Not only it was huge, but it was looking like a pretty dangerous animal as well - nothing like I had seen before.

"Oh no." These words dropped out of my mouth by themselves. There was no way I was getting close to that, let alone get PAST that being.

I turned around again, to have a look at the paths on my right and left. Heavy rocks had blocked the enterances already.

I heard a ear-ripping screeching behind me. That monstrous 'bat' was coming closer. As it was approaching, I could see more and more unpleasant details on it's body; it's sharp teeth, red eyes and ugly gray-brown skin... It was nightmare material.

To be honest, I had not seen the animal do anything harmful yet, but it was a natural survival instinct that told me to stay away from that monster. Any sane person would do that.

My heart was beating fast.

"They didn't tell me that such things were living in mountain caves!" I said. "Come on, please open the passages, I made my choice! I need to get out of here!"

I started trying to push the rocks away to open a path down; which was a futile attempt.

The creature was approaching. I had started contemplating alternate ways of escaping from that monstrous 'bat' - but came up with no ideas at all.

"T-t-they wouldn't send me down here by myself, knowing that there were dangerous creatures here, right?" I said. In order to calm myself down a little, I was trying to believe in what I said.

As soon as I said that, a few things changed. The 'bat' started transforming into something smaller, and less threatening. It's terrifying screeches turned into a much softer groaning.

"See, it is nothing!" I said to myself, still a bit anxiously.

The bat got even smaller and just disappeared. The purple tint of the magic dust turned back into the usual, brighter gold-yellow color.

"Reality is your perception of the universe." the deep voice that spoke to me before echoed from every direction for another time. "Your senses create the world you live in. Knowing this will already give you the power most people can not even dream of."

I paused and took my time thinking of what was trying to be told to me.

"So..." I responded. "The bat actually wasn't there?"

"It was there for the time you believed in it." the voice answered.

"This doesn't make sense." I said. "I can't create or destroy non-existant bats... out of nothing. It doesn't obey the laws of the universe, the conservation of energy and entropy-"

"As long as you know it, of course you can't." the voice answered.

"What does that mean?" I asked. Heavy rocks slid away, and the two paths on my right and left opened.

"Impressive enough, you passed your first lesson; so you shall continue ahead to learn more." the voice said. "You said you made your choice, let's see where it will take you."