Rocket and Sa’Loane found their way back to the room they were renting. It was awfully small and well, very kitschy, and upon entering Rocket tripped and fell over the bag she left on the floor but she was still excited over the room. It only had a bunk bed, one(1) long window, a counter beneath said window and another door that led to the bathroom. When the two(2) asked for the room they had received a list of available rooms all of which came with their own slogans, this ones was:

Made with humans, for humans.

Which Rocket read aloud and was quickly assured by the (very attractive naga) receptionist that the room wasn’t made out of humans in any way.

Sa’Loane sat down on the floor next to Rocket, “hey there’s a bag there.”

“Thanks,” Rocket murmured, rolling over to her side and fixing her gaze on the window. Outside stars blazed in the distance, simple with lively death. It was odd to think that this ship was traveling just under the speed of light, something humans had never thought would be possible. Of course, by now they could go at the speed of light but as the technology was still being tested only those specially trained to handle it could venture that far. Rocket supposed she could go through that training as well, but it would take years of her not moving, not adventuring, time she wasn’t ready to sacrifice.

“Will you teach me about Limbo now?” Rocket asked, pushing down the expansive feeling of the universe that started to overcome her.

“Are you ready to know?” Sa’Loanes halo flickered, “you’ll lose the time humans value so much.”

“What does that mean?”

“I have heard that some humans do not have a concept between life and death, so for me to bring that to you is-”

“Not that part,” Rocket interrupted, “What do you mean I’ll lose time?”

“You will be living in a small part of my memory, and however long it takes for you to get through that, is the amount of time this version of you will lose” Sa’Loane explained, opening her palms to reveal a flat blue two(2) dimensional triangle in each hand.

“So am I going to disappear from this part of existence?”

“It’s more likely that you’ll fall asleep,” Sa’Loane handed both triangles to Rocket; one of which disappeared the moment Rocket touched it, while the other remained the same. Despite how sleek the little triangle looked, the surface of it crumbled away like sand.

“The one that vanished is to keep you in this reality,” Sa’Loane continued, “the other is to guide you through my memories.”

“What happens if I go through the wrong one?”

“Don’t.”

“What happens if I do?” Rocket insisted.

“I would rather you didn’t, there are certain things I don’t want anyone to see, and even if you do the talisman I gave you will…” Sa’Loane chuckled, “Rocket you back to the correct path.”

Rocket smiled, “good to know.”

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Close your eyes, take a deep breath, hold.”

The moment Rocket did so all ambient noise ceased, a cold feeling passed over her, and the only sound that met her ears was a loud echoing snap of the fingers.

The moment that the echo faded Rocket felt another chill pass over her and the sound of a sea in the distance. Rocket opened her eyes and found herself greeted by a white tundra. Light came from everywhere, and as such there was no need for a sun above head, but Rocket still looked for it hoping to find some semblance of where she was. The only thing she could see was what she assumed to be the sky and what seemed to be the snow beneath her feet. Kneeling down to touch it she found that yes, in fact it was snow but it felt more gritty than she was used to. Wiping off the snow onto her pants Rocket stood back up and began to tread through the landscape. No matter how long she walked the scenery didn’t change, everything was so long, so vast, that Rocket began to feel that she was the only one here. It had been a long while since she had felt this kind of...expansion. The same kind of feeling Rocket got when she would dive into the clear lake back home and make her way through the tunnels beneath the water. As the thought crossed her mind the triangle in her hand began to glow, casting a soft blue light just below her. Just as she failed to notice the talesman’s light Rocket was unable to see the hole in the ground that was invisible to the naked eye and as such she stepped straight into it and fell, letting go of the talesman in shock.

Once again there was nothing below her and nothing above her as she fell, fell, fell, at some point she managed to flip over during her fall, bordly staring up at where she assumed to be the entrance, arms crossed as she watched the little triangle turn and twist above her head. Rocket sighed, every now and then she could swear that she saw something when the triangle passed in front of her eyes, but maybe not though. Maybe she was just hoping she had. Still though, because of this suspicion she watched it, and finally she caught glimpse of the entrance of the hole she had fallen into. It too was shaped like a triangle---like most things Sa’Loane created. Rocket supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised by this, but before she could think about it too much Rocket crashed into the ground, the wind knocked out of her and the slapping against her forehead. It slid off of her and into the snow beside her.

Slow.

It was as if her lungs couldn’t be bothered to continue to do the one thing they should. The world was so much more out of focus that for a moment Rocket considered caving and finally getting glasses. Despite how frustrated this made her she took it slow---had to in this situation.

“Well, well,” came a haunting voice just beside her. For a moment there was nothing there when she turned her head to look, but slowly, slowly, a figure began to ripple into existence. As it formed she realized it was an Acynobis, and the way the smoke curled made it seem that the Acynobis’ fur curled. They had a stubby tail, droopy ears, and they lacked a halo and eyes.

“Didn’t expect you so soon,” the Acynobis continued, ever patiently clasping all four(4) hands behind them.

“Neither did I,” said a familiar voice and like sand in an hourglass Sa’Loane appeared, and though this was a memory of herself she looked much much different. She had no halo either which on its own didn’t surprise Rocket as much as she thought it would; there was a large cut over both of her left eyes (both were closed now) that extended down to her chest. The eyes that were open glowed turquoise, and where she looked the glow shifted just a bit. Her ears had slight tears and what seemed to be a few gilded earrings. Sa’Loane crossed her arms and the bangles on her wrists glinted and even the scarf around her head seemed to made of some sort of gold.

“Hradan,” Sa’Loane began, “I do not believe I should be here.”

“No one ever does,” Hradan replied their voice sending chills down Rockets spine. Rocket stood, her back twinging just enough to make her stumble a little; quietly she approached the two(2) Acynobis’ as they began their conversation.

“No I think someone is tampering with me.” Sa’Loane admitted.

“In what way?” Hradan replied slowly, placing each of their four(4) hands behind their back.

Sa’Loane hesitated mulling over her words very carefully, she started a few times only to stop just a word in. She fussed with her hands, and slipped her bracelet on and off.

“It feels like someone is trying to interrupt my second stage,” as always Sa’Loanes voice was calm as ever but the atmosphere grew tense.

“I see. Tell me, how is it in Limbo?” Hradan replied with a slight growl.

“It’s...it looks like home but flat, and there’s no one here.”

Hradan nodded, their form flickering just a bit. Rocket looked very carefully at Sa’Loane, just the same as when she appeared her form looked to be made out of sand; and when Rocket got even closer she could see that the flow of black sand had not stopped, but instead continued to change her form ever so slightly.

“I’ve only heard of one other case that someone’s Limbo would be changed,” Hradan began; they unsheathed a single claw, and tore out of section of the sky. Unlike Sa’Loanes triangle this was a simple diagonal slice that seemed to drip and shape a crude rectangle. Hradan reached into it, pulling out a single book.

Rocket moved from Sa’Loanes side to get a better view of the book. With all her might Rocket stretched to be able to see, surprised at just how large Hradan was, at least twice---perhaps three(3) times the size of Sa’Loane (who was already a little larger than the size of a human). When Rocket finally managed to get tall enough to see the cover she couldn’t even read it, finding that it was written in the same strange language Sa’Loanes first letter to her had been, the only difference between the two(2) texts was that the one on the book didn’t change. Rocket frowned and sat back on her heels just as Hradan continued

“ Right, here it is. It says that----”

It was as if this world had glitched, Sa’Loane disappeared, the terrain turned a sharp orange color, but the only that remained the same was Hradan, who looked looked directly down at Rocket. She recoiled, her eyes and skin beginning to burn at Hradans presence.

“Oh geeze.” Rocket muttered, shielding her eyes with her hands.

“What are you doing?” Hradan demanded, following Rockets retreat.

“Are you talking to me?” Rocket asked, quickening her pace backward.

“Of course I am, what else would I be talking to?” They growled as they got closer

closer

closer.

“I don’t understand-”

“What are you doing here?”

Even though the heat that Hradan gave off was so intense and even though her hands began to blister Rocket began to shake uncontrollably. The edge of the talesman dug into the side of her nose but there wasn’t room to care about that.

“I’m supposed to be looking at Sa’Loanes memory.”

“What?” They yelled, their voice booming so loud that the sky seemed to take that as a cue to begin a downpour.

“Sa’Loane doesn’t exist!”

Rocket gasped, coughed, the same feeling from hitting the ground earlier returned to her twice as bad. She moved so that she was on her hands and knees, her head facing the floor with the feeling that she might now throw up. Unfortunately she was still shaking, so much so that Rocket could hardly hold herself up; even if she could the simple action made her hands sting even more than they already did. Sa’Loane watched from where she sat, having not moved a hair since Rocket had left.

“I know I said to hold your breath but I figured you would forget and breathe at some point.” Sa’Loane mumbled.

Rocket shook her head, unsure of how to reply to….Sa’Loane?

“Any longer and I would have had to pull you out of there ah---what happened in there by the way?” Sa’Loane asked, tilting her head slightly.

“I met Hradan,” Rocket said, stealing a glance at her before shrinking away from her burning figure.

“Of course, they were there after all.”

“No I met them,” Rocket stressed the word ‘met’ as she stood, her legs still shaking but they at the very least held her up.

“I-yes? I’m not sure I get what you mean.”

“I spoke with them directly, without your memory playing. They asked what I was doing there, they said you don’t exist.” Rocket said. A this Sa’Loane drew her ears back, her eyes widened and her tail gave one defiant thrash.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions about that but this one,” she paused...and then, “did you tell them where we are?”

“No.”

Sa’Loane sighed, her ears relaxing a little. “Okay, okay. So, those who enter Limbo aren’t supposed to just disappear, they typically enter the next stage or they’re granted a pardon because there is something important that’s been left undone. It’s rare that someone is pardoned but not unheard of. Anyway, like Life, Limbo is a time that one stays in for an extended time, and when they’re ready to move on-or pardoned they are escorted by someone, but they never just jump to another stage-or in my case disappear.”

“I don’t really understand but go on.”

“I can explain better later, but what you saw was my very brief encounter with Limbo before I was pulled out. When someone is pulled out like that they are believed to have vanished entirely, in other words their essence no longer exists.” Sa’Loane said bitterly, and though these were her own words it was if another being spoke them.

“So you’re extra dead?” Rocket asked, taking a step towards the tiny refrigerator in the corner of the room.

“I am...detached from my previous self.”

Rocket opened the fridge, finding several bottles of water, she picked one up and began to drink only to find out it was salt water. Rocket frowned and closed the bottle back up, and hoped with all her might that another bottle with a different label would be fresh water. It was. She sighed, not quite understanding what Sa’Loane meant but accepting it nonetheless; she wanted to ask more questions but with each one Rocket could see the uncertainty in Sa’Loane build.

“Here,” Rocket held out the bottle of salt water to her, Sa’Loane took it, looking grateful. Out of the corner of her eye Rocket watched Sa’Loane press down on the bottle---Rocket reminded her that it was a twist.

“I may be paranoid but when you see Hradan again tell me as soon as you are safe to do so.” Sa’Loane said quietly between heavy glugs of water.

Rocket gave her a thumbs up, beginning to chug her own water as she turned away from her and walked into the bathroom.