Next page will go up at noon PST

Bit more time. Have a nice night/day. Take care of yourselves. OR ELSE, DAMN YOU.

Page 3330

It had been but a glimpse, but now, with the added context of Rasalased being interested in this place, perhaps that was enough to interpret more.

Hmm. There were a few emotions and sensations associated with the glimpse. Longing. Satisfaction. Hunger. Pride. But most of all, thirst.

And there was an image, too.

A vast, golden landscape--not only sand but great pillars, too.

Pillars of quartz, unless he was mistaken.

Quite similar to the great pillar that the Pit had only just showed him.

Ooh. Morgunov had to admit: that was a little worrisome. That vision had most certainly been a warning, and here he now was, seeing it again, only this time without the accompanying sense of urgency.

“Yes,” Morgunov finally answered. “I have heard the name. What is your interest in it?” He had a fairly good guess, of course, but there was no point in jumping to conclusions when he could simply ask.

“I seek the arasaba,” said the Dry God.

Morgunov blinked. “Oh! Your mythical lion beasts! You actually believe in them? Your descendants certainly didn’t seem to, last I asked.”

“It is not a question of belief. In the realms beyond, all can be made or unmade. The impossible made possible. But you must already know this, surely.”

“Eheh. I know of the claim, yes. ‘fraid I’m a bit of a skeptic on that front, though. Only the Void could possess the kind of infinite power you’re describing. And the other realms are not of the Void.”

“Some are,” said Rasalased. “Those in which souls reside must belong to the Infinite Current, which in your interpretation would be an aspect of the Void, no?”

Now there was a term he hadn’t heard in a while.

“The Infinite Current...” Morgunov stroked his thin beard as he thought it over.

The Void, supposedly, had many aspects to it. More than were even knowable, perhaps. More than were worth keeping track of, certainly. Such was to be expected when trying to conceptualize the infinite infinities of nonexistence.

But two of the more popular aspects were Chaos and the Infinite Current.

Chaos was supposed to be the nexus point of all creative thought, perhaps even of all creation itself. A theoretical domain of mayhem, madness, genius, and every conceivable idea.

It was also Morgunov’s personal favorite aspect, as it so happened.

The Infinite Current, however, was something a bit different. The Great River of Souls, was another name for it.

Page 3329

“But you have visited other realms, at least through mental projection,” said Rasalased.

“Yep,” said Morgunov. “Perhaps it was even similar to what the two of you are doing right now. Where are your corporeal forms currently, hmm? Do you even have those, anymore? Or have you supposedly ‘ascended beyond the need for them,’ as some of the old stories claim?”

“Indeed, we left them behind long ago,” said the sister.

“Hmmmmmmm,” mused Morgunov. “I wonder about that. Certainly, it would be quite the convenient thing to make others believe, wouldn’t it? This idea that you are now totally intangible beings, no longer vulnerable in physical ways. That way, you don’t have to worry about some maniac getting it into his head that he might be able to hunt down your little, fleshy bodies and capture them. Or kill them. Or otherwise use them against you, eh?”

“Believe what you will. It matters not.”

“Eheheh. So aloof!”

“Tell me,” interjected Rasalased. “During your travels among other realms, did you ever hear of a place called Saharazeem?”

The Great Desert?

Interesting. Morgunov had to think back. It was true that he’d seen quite a lot of the realms beyond this one, particularly during that one time at Bellvine. But even now, a lot of the things he’d witnessed there were still jumbled or foggy, hardly better than nonsense.

He’d spent considerable time in the immediately following years trying to parse through all of that information, but he’d only had a modest degree of success with the effort. Largely, it had come down to simply journaling everything that he could remember and then trying to interpret patterns from the mess. Ideas, emotions, visions, sensations, names, and places.

It had seemed an endless ocean, at the time. The great and vast Void.

One of the most enjoyable experiences of his life, truth be told. But so confusing in retrospect, too. And above all, he despised being confused.

Mysteries were one thing. Discovering secrets, uncovering truth--those were wonderful. But merely being mixed up and dumbfounded? No. Absolutely not.

The name, at least, was familiar to him. He just needed to recall if it was from that time or if he’d simply read it somewhere.

Bool’s assistance was appreciated here. Ehehe. The reaper hadn’t felt this useful in eons. It reminded Morgunov of more innocent times, when he’d relied on the reaper for almost everything.

Ah, there it was.

Yes.

Saharazeem. It was from Bellvine.