Zeff and Axiolis merely waited for the man to complete his thought. If they had accidentally intruded upon his space--whatever it was--then Zeff didn’t feel like the guy had an obligation to tell them anything.
“...It’s a workspace,” said the Artisan. His bushy black eyebrows settled flatly over his gaze, creating an expression that seemed somewhat stern but not necessarily upset or angry. The man’s modest stature made it so he had to look up at Zeff, but the bulk on his frame and the confidence in his tone suggested that he felt in no way beneath the person he was looking at.
‘Interesting,’ said Axiolis. ‘Is this a physical space? As in, are we truly here? Or are our minds merely being projected here while our bodies remain in the real world?’
“It’s physical,” said Daro. “Partially, anyway. In order to conduct certain tests, I needed it to retain at least some of the same physical properties as reality.”
Perhaps this was going to end up a pointless question, but Zeff couldn’t help asking it. “How were you able to create this place?”
The Artisan regarded him for a long moment, weighing him with his eyes. “It’s complicated.”
“I don’t doubt it,” said Zeff, looking around again. “I’m simply... flabbergasted, I suppose. I thought this was some sort of natural phantom realm. A mere shadow of reality, perhaps, but still natural nonetheless. To think it is actually a man-made construct... I...”
“Hmph. Impressed, are you?”
“You could say that.”
“You are a materializer, yes?”
Zeff cocked an eyebrow. “That’s right.”
Daro took another moment to eye them both as he rubbed his chin. “And you really have no idea how you ended up here?”
‘We were thinking maybe it was some natural phenomenon that we got caught up in, but we can’t recall experiencing anything that strange recently.’
“Or that someone kidnapped us,” added Zeff. “But if you’re the founder of this realm and didn’t even know we were here, then I suppose it wasn’t that, either.”
Daro’s chin-rubbing seemed to increase in intensity, and his eyes narrowed. Like Zeff, he also decided to look around. “No. That second guess might’ve been correct, though it obviously wasn’t my doing. I’ve no reason to meddle with you or your affairs.”
“If not you, then who?” said Zeff.
“That is indeed the question. And I fear I know the answer. But I must be sure.”
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