In the beginning, there was only darkness. The infinite potential of existence. Then there was the first heartbeat, which filled the imagined universe within my mind with light.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was lying in the middle of a room. The walls were sterile, cold and black, made of dark amber. The floor tiles were translucent, and a silver liquid, I presumed it to be Mercury, flowing underneath which radiated a white, cold and faint light, although that was not enough to distinguish how high the ceiling was.

Each wall had an opening, which led to a corridor, and those corridors led to rooms identical to the one I was in. A seemingly infinite maze, in all directions.

Even when confused and disoriented, my first instinct was to do a reality check, to find out whether or not this was a lucid dream.

The first test I had already done, just questioning the dream can often make it collapse and reveal its presence. Nothing happened.

For the next one, I put my right hand in front of my face and counted my fingers, I had five, as normal. Then I moved them as if I was playing the piano, carefully counting them in case the number changed or to see if the fingers would pass through each other. They did not.

The third test was simpler, I held my nose and tried to breathe through it. I didn't breathe in air, so my fingers were solid.

The last test was more fun. I closed my eyes again, imagined myself levitating, I did not stop feeling contact with the ground.

It seemed after all that this was not a dream, and therefore I was in real danger.

I got up and looked around me, trying to capture with my senses any clue or indication as to what was happening. In this place there was no smell or sound, and my only indication of the passage of time was the flow of luminescent Mercury under the crystalline tiles below me.

It was then, that I heard something in the distance.

Immediately the adrenaline took over my body, urging me to flee or fight, but from who? Or against what?

I didn't have time to curse my luck.

I heard another heartbeat. Someone was next to me, unconscious on the floor. it was Taylor. He was sprawled across the floor, out cold.

I knelt in front of him, trying to wake him up as quickly and as quietly as possible.

"Taylor... Taylor," I called out as I tried to pick him up. "It is urgent. Awake."

"Di Strag... mh... Lume... Did I fall asleep in class?" He said, eyes still half shut and gradually flickering open.

"I wish that was the case... Come on, get up."

Taylor yelled with surprise when he saw where we were, startling me, and making me ever conscious of the noise that was approaching us.

"W-Where are we?"

"Do not scream!" I hissed in the lowest tone I could. "We need to move, I’ll explain to you in the way"

"What's going on, Lume!?" He yelled again, "At least tell me where we are, please."

I pushed him against one of the black amber walls. Covering his mouth firmly with my hands, motioning him to be silent.

"Shhhhhh! Here it comes."

Squirming and crawling, a grotesque, shapeless mass shuffled down the hall to our right.

The amorphous darkness had no defined features, but it was translucent, within it was a small universe brimming with stars and nebulae.

I felt Taylor's scream against my hand, so I pressed it even harder, almost choking him. I stared indignantly at him, mentally urging him to be quiet,

Multiple faceless heads emerged from the creature. But they seemingly sensed nothing, and dissolved into the shapeless mass from which they emerged. Then its multiple appendages continued to drag it down the hall.

After a few minutes, when the disgusting sound of dragging stopped, I released him.

Taylor fell to the ground, coughing.

"Sorry... It was necessary," I said as I helped him get up.

"If you’re really sorry, start talking!" He said, his voice cracking slightly as he wheezed.

"Alright... But you'll have to keep up with me."

I looked at each corridor and listened carefully, scrutinising. I was afraid that the creature would return or that there would be another one nearby.

When I was sure it was safe for the time being, I took his hand and guided him through the hallways. I knew where to go.

This was a mental maze, and as was the way of the mind. Everything has a meaning here, especially the flow of Mercury under our feet. In alchemy, it represents the consciousness and the soul. Where was this river of thoughts going? Like all rivers, to the open sea

And the waters of that sea represented the set of all the ideas in the world; mixing in an infinite whirlpool, taking us deeper into this world so it was best to go against the current.

"We're in another world..." I said quietly.

“That was obvious!" Taylor replied, trying to contain his anguish. "It's not like I'm going to find an eldritch horror in a zoo!"

I took a deep breath, trying to appear calm and unconcerned for our safety.

"This place is called Entelequia," I commented, as if I were explaining a math problem. "It is the realm of ideas and thoughts that are generated in the material world."

"Wait. Like astral projection? Are we in the astral plane?!"

"Something similar, but not quite." We are here in our real bodies, not just our conscience. The simplest way to imagine it is as if Entelequia were a hotel; people's minds are the rooms; the corridors of the hotel are the connections between the minds of the whole world, but both the rooms and the corridor are part of the hotel. In short, this place is where everything you imagine, dream or believe to perceive happens.

"OK... I'll assume we're in an RPG dungeon to make it easy to understand... and what was that creature?"

"Like any hotel, Entelequia has a place, like a basement, dark and unkempt, where the garbage of the guests accumulates. If the garbage is not removed, rodents and pests appear. But in this case, the garbage is negative thoughts and ideas, and instead of attracting pests the garbage comes to life. As a Tulpa."

I paused. To our left, several corridors away, one of those creatures was crawling and wriggling, luckily, walking away from us.

"That thing you saw is a bad example of what a Tulpa is. Creatures made of thoughts that have taken a solid form and have some semblance of free will..."

We continued moving forward, I decided not to say anything more, hoping that my words would be assimilated by Taylor.

"But why is this happening? To us, now…?" he asked after several minutes of silence.

I stopped and released his hand. I felt gross. I didn't deserve to touch him.

"It 's my fault" I said crestfallen, not facing him. "This is happening because I am an irresponsible magician."

Taylor didn't reply.I imagined him behind me incredulous and with a thousand questions.

But instead, I felt the warmth of his body on my back and his soft hands encircling my chest.

His hug felt good.

"You don't need to give me more details. There's a point where logic doesn't help and... I trust you to get us out of here. Whatever is going on.”

"Taylor…" I muttered, not knowing how to respond.

His words eased the weight on my soul a bit, but that feeling was short-lived. His blind trust only reminded me that I didn't deserve him or anyone else, for being a scoundrel who tried to take advantage of his love.

Only thing I was sure of was that when we got out of here, I had to confront Taylor and clarify how I felt about him.

Suddenly, with a different aura, Taylor stepped ahead of me. There was a resolution I had never seen before in his eyes.

Despite his concern, he managed to smile and said;

“Let's go. I will show you that I am not a burden when problems arise.”

I smiled back, just out of courtesy. and let him go ahead.

But as soon as Taylor started walking, he stopped in thought.

"If you know how to do magic... Don't you have a spell that will get us out of here or show us the way out?"

"I don't do magic anymore. And even if I tried, I don't have that kind of power” I replied, but hesitated, not sure if I was telling the truth.

"And what exactly are we looking for?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure, but I think we must follow the rules of this world." I pointed to the transparent tiles. "The Mercury under our feet represents ideas, thoughts and consciousness, if we follow this path it will lead us to go deeper into this world. If we go against the current we should approach the material world."

Taylor looked at me closely, judging me.

"Lume... I know when you're not sure about something."

“Well… Also going against the current may mean that we are penetrating into the collective subconscious and facing Tulpas made of fear and trauma. In any case, our worst option is to stay still.” I laughed, nervously.

Taylor nodded and continued on.