"Yes, I will help you today. This requires more aura than usual anyways. So let me warn you, this will not feel the same way as last time. However, I think you will find this experience to be quite familiar." A surge of energy flooded my head and my vision faded away into the gazing black void. Before I knew it, I was in a landscape I have seen before. A black starry sky and a flat reflective floor. 

"Welcome to my domain of Reflection. But I suppose this hasn't been the first time you've visited," he said. 

I looked all around me, this was the landscape I saw whenever I get to see Ethos visually. So is this landscape a manifestation of my mind or is it something that Ethos himself controls? "You're right, this landscape is one of my domains. In here, I get to do whatever I want," he said as a round table manifested in front of him complete with a tea set and two chairs. He took a seat on the table and sipped some tea, "would you care to join me for some tea?" He offered. 

"No thanks," I declined. "So what is this place exactly? Do I have to enter my Virtual State to come here?"

"This is one of the domains that I own inside your mind. You can only come here with my express permission," he informed. "This is my special place to do some contemplation." I walked around the room aimlessly as Ethos scanned me with his narrowed pupils. 

"Look down at the floor. You will see the way you imagined yourself," he noted. 

I look down at the floor, my body was one of an eight-year-old. More specifically, I was in my former mausidan body. "You are beginning to understand, I hope," he said. "That's right, despite adapting to your new body. Your virtual form is still represented by your mausidan form. Simply speaking, your soul and your body are at a disconnect, leading to your terrible coordination."

"What should I do? How can I change my virtual form to suit my current body?" I asked. Ethos placed his hand on his chin. It must've been a difficult question as he continued pondering for what seemed like a few minutes. Suddenly, a book manifested on his right palm. He began reading the contents of the book and then closed it and made it dissipate into the void. 

"Have you heard of the story 'Alice in Wonderland?'" he asked.

"Huh?" I looked at him quizzically.

"Nevermind, you're not from Terra. What a shame, it's a wonderful place deserving of being called 'the World of Stories,'" Ethos said patronizingly. 

"What are you getting at?" I said impatiently.

"Alice in Wonderland is a story about a girl who entered a rabbit hole out of curiosity. By doing so, she immersed herself in a world full of talking creatures and fantastical conflicts. However, it is not until she disillusioned herself that she realized that this was all a dream," Ethos summarized. I just stood there puzzled. What was the point of telling me such a random tale?   

Ethos chuckled. "You're dense as rocks. Use your imagination," he said provokingly. "Don't you think that story has some similarities to your particular circumstances?" I grew steadily more impatient and agitated as he continued to tease me without giving me the solution I needed.

"Get to the damn point!" I yelled.

"You kids have short attention spans, just entertain me for a while longer," Ethos replied. "Hear me out, what do you think brought Alice to figure out that it was all a dream?"

I frowned but decided to play along with him anyway. "A world with talking animals and stupid shenanigans would be too ridiculous to be real. It's obvious that it had to be a dream," I answered.

"You lack imagination," he stated. "Wouldn't you also say a planet-ending catastrophe and a being living inside your head would also be too ridiculous to be real?" 

I stayed silent. He already knew that I took the bait as he continued. "The answer is death. Specifically, it is the fear of death that brought her to wake up." 

This quack has lost his mind. He's speaking stupid philosophical gibberish. Did he forget that I'm mentally ten years old? I don't care about all this Waka-Waka bullshit. Regardless, I bit. "So, I am in a dream and I need to wake up?"

"No, it is the opposite," Ethos replied. "This is reality, yet your soul still thinks it's in a dream." He motioned towards me and placed a finger at my chest. "It refuses to accept anything other than yourself as a Mausida as reality."

"How did this happen?" I asked.

"The fear of death is a catalyst and its effects vary from person to person. For an unimaginative person like you, I'd assume your soul basically deluded itself into thinking that it's a dream. It has to in order to comprehend all the enigmatic events that happened to you over the past two years."

"How would you know that it's my fear of death that caused this?" 

"Think about it, Even if Alice knew on the back of her mind that this whole world was all a dream. Would she have any reason to want to go back to her mundane, boring life?" 

"Yes, because it's her reality," I quickly retorted.

"You really don't get along with this story." Ethos said with a disapproving look. "Shame, I had a lot of escapist fiction books I wanted to recommend."

"Just get to the point, all I have to do is convince my soul that this is reality right?"

"Actually, no. Your soul is ridiculously stubborn. It didn't even change its stance over the past two years. You think a bit of contrived persuasion will be any better?" He questioned. "It would be better to take advantage of the fact that your soul believes that it is a dream."

"Huh, what do you mean?" I asked. 

"If you can bring your mind to acknowledge this whole reality as a lucid dream. You can be able to change the shape of your soul's body. Your soul thinks it's just a dream, after all. You can adjust your soul body to become one of a two years old kid. Once you do so, your soul and body will finally manage to sync up. If you can manage that, your unimaginative soul will finally understand the greatness of escapism."

"Alright, just tell me what I need to do," I said refusing to hear any more of his ramblings.

"Just do what I told you to do in order to enter your Virtual State." Ethos instructed. "Though if you had an imagination like Alice, maybe can access the Virtual State without any Aur-"

"Shut up, I'm trying to focus," I said to prevent him from rambling further. I positioned myself properly and closed my eyes. I began to envision myself in the form of a 2-year-old mausidan boy. My torso and limbs began to shrink in size until the proportions were appropriate for a 2-year-old body. 

"I'm impressed, you figured it out on the first try," Ethos praised. "Although if you had more control over your imagination, you could have done it without assuming the proper position. You should start practicing. You wanted to learn King Edward's ability of Overwriting, correct? If so, you have a long way to go. You wouldn't know this, but that muppet indulged himself in many fantasies. So he was quite a fast learner."

I listened to his advice silently as I got myself used to my shrunken body. I'd imagine I'd feel tiny, but I didn't think I would feel this tiny. Ethos may get on my nerves more than I'd like to admit, but it's reassuring to have a wise, seemingly near-omniscient deity in my head to give me guidance. 

"Thank you," I said shocking myself due to how naturally cutesy and high-pitched my voice has become. 

"Haha, it seems that your voice has also been affected by your transformation," he noted. Now you don't need to be an insecure worrywart anymore. Once you can walk, talk to your parents as much as you want!" With my dilemma seemingly resolved. I was dragged out of his domain and back into my reality.

"Ouya?" My mom said as I slowly opened up my eyes. "Are you tired? Would you like to take a nap?"

After I sobered myself from my latest out-of-body experience. I pried myself away from my mom's arms and down onto the living room floor. This was the moment of truth. I brought myself to a kneeling position. Afterwards, I forced my left foot to brace all my body weight as I lifted my torso up and brought my right foot behind my hips to maintain my balance. Once I got myself to stand, I corrected my posture and began my trek ahead. 

One Step

My mom looked at me expectantly with wide eyes.

Two Steps

My battle against gravity also attracted the attention of my brother. Although he may have been looking for an excuse to remove himself from his homework. 

Three Steps

After my first couple of steps. I began to think "This is easy!" and "I can do more!". With my tiny legs, I dashed towards my mom and hugged her leg. 

"Michael! Michael!" My mother yelled excitedly. "Ouya can walk!"

"What?" My dad exclaimed as he bolted out of the washroom to see me. Eww, he probably forgot to wash his hands. 

Seeing my mom and dad's jubilant faces. My emotions got the best of me. Tears of joy welled up in my eyes after remembering all my faceplants and the trials and tribulations I had faced over the past two years in order to get to this point. I mustered all of my strength to form these words of appreciation.

"Mommy, Daddy, Thank you!"