CHAPTER 37

Three Weeks Later

I know you might be confused. I was too, at first at least. I mean, waking up and having someone watching you is a really frightening thing to learn. I didn't know at first, to be fair. It was more of a...feeling. Like that feeling you get when you wake up and you believe that at least a dozen of escaped fugitives are raiding your home. That absolutely nothing is sacred.

That's what I felt like, and I tried my hardest to ignore it, to believe that nothing else could be wrong. I mean, I was living on an entirely different planet after all. Forgive me my panic.

I first came to terms with your existence the day that I woke up in the bunker—after Cross had destroyed Pandera. A lot of things were going on at once and in my silence, in my mind's eye I came to the one thing that seemed like a solid foothold for me to grasp onto. There's someone else here with me. I don't believe I know you. If I did back when I was on Earth; if I maybe had a chance encounter with you at the fair—or if you were a classmate of mine I never really spoke to—then I apologize for not getting to know you. Although, maybe it was better off in those days.

Let me explain. I'm sure you've been following thus far, and have some questions. I'm going to take some time right here before I wake up fully to put your mind at ease. Your ease is one of the most important things about all of this, because I need your trust—without that we all lose.

So, for the past three weeks I've been going over everything with Gavin, talking about everything related to Alex, Noah, Jesse, all of it. I'm feeling a little bit better. I mean, I still feel a little guilty, but Gavin said that was normal. He told me to channel those kinds of feelings into doing her right—finding a way to stop Cross.

He also let me in on a secret concerning Cross. So, you remember that whole portion back in Cross's cavern, right? Like, once he sacrificed Piscar and the cavern's walls begin to glow with all of those runes? Turns out that's a really bad thing. It has something to do with seeking out each of the twelve original heroes. And as far as we both know, Pamen and Piscar are both kaput. Now, when I finish my training here I'm going to be returning back to Sayar—back to the point where we were taken out of time. Gavin's going to be unable to help us from that point onward—he needs the time to recover from keeping this dimension open for so long.

As far as I know, you're going to be accompanying me along. And now is the point I address your question, "Why did you switch from the second person perspective to the first?" Well, that is because I have finally—fully, accepted that you are here with me, and all of these yous and yours aren't fully correct anymore. So, I'm making things easier for you. I did mention earlier that I needed your full trust in me, and I did mean that.

It seems that you're not with me in the way I imagined. When Gavin explained the concept to me I was originally imagining another person's soul being mixed in somewhere in my body—like there was a two-for-one price at a flea market.

No.

This situation is a bit more complicated, I'm afraid. You're the one who literally decides if my story continues. By continuing on yourself, by trusting in my ability to be able to make things right and to make up for my mistakes, by turning that page, you give me the strength to continue on.

I know I have no right to ask you for anything—you've seen what I've done and who I was. I don't deserve any of it—any of this second chance business, but the way things turned out—I'm here. And if there is a way I can make things better, I want to try. So I ask only the one time. If you are here with me for the long haul, turn the page and continue my story, because it's time to wake up.

Time to wake up.

Time to-