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"Our... exploration?" said Hector.

"Indeed. It has been some time since I have been able to visit a new space. This is quite refreshing. And perhaps a bit unsettling."

Hmm. "It's been some time, huh? But Rasalased. Time is not time, right?"

"Aha. Indeed, that is so. Especially in this place. The flow is entirely distorted, varying wildly depending on where we go. That is assuredly the major peril to unwitting souls that venture here. One wrong step, as Young Abbas put it."

Hector might've blinked if he could feel his face. "Ohhh... I think I understand. You're saying that if we pass through the wrong area, our perception of time will become totally skewed? Meaning we could... lose, like, entire years outside while in here it'd only feel like seconds?"

"An extreme example. But not outside the realm of possibility. And also not the worst that could happen, either."

"Wait, really?"

"Of course. Because time is not time, that is a solvable problem. Perception, you see, is the thin rope on which the false idea of time dangles. When that rope becomes tangled, one of two things may occur. You may fall into an endless myopia of existential self-destruction. Which is indeed terrible. Or, you may learn to overcome the falsehood--to see through the great ruse that is time--and remake yourself anew, free of its linear vice grip."

"Uh..."

"Compared to that, having this hungry furnace of creation tear your soul apart like a starving Storm Bear would be much worse. Shredded hellishly into countless pieces of struggling cognitive misery. Do you not agree?"

"That... does sound pretty bad..."

"Yes." A beat passed. "But I am sure you will be fine, Young Hector."

"Ah, yeah, thanks..." At times, Rasalased had a really horrifying way with words, Hector was realizing.