Enza sat on a log, racking her mind for scraps of helpful information.
Something she had forgotten suddenly popped into her head.
"Oh yeah… when I tried to return to the cabin, my entire body went numb, and my vision went white. Then you showed up."
Sariel raised his eyebrows. "That sure sounds like a clue. I saw you touch the door and freak out… Honestly, I thought you pulled a muscle or hit a pressure point. Could there be some symbol of fear in that cabin that is vehemently rejecting your presence?"
Enza frowned and crunched a leaf under her foot. "A symbol of fear? My first memory of this dream world was on the bed in that cabin. It was my spawn point. Why would it reject me now? What's changed?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say it's a warning from your subconscious that Athalia's getting close to the core of the nightmare. Better figure out which fear the confessional is targeting as fast as you can."
Enza paced back and forth. "Hmm… even if I can't go inside the cabin, I remember its contents. The chair, the fireplace, the bed, and the ice chest. I opened the chest once, but there was nothing inside other than ice. What's the point of it, anyway? We have an ice chest back in Alavieska, but it's for storing a certain Instrument. What would need cooling in ice out in this wilderness?"
Sariel shrugged. "Your mind created all this. You tell me."
"Hey, don't act like you aren't a part of my mind too…
"Hold on…"
Enza's eyes were transfixed on the cabin's ceiling. It was slanted on both sides to prevent buildup of rainwater and snow.
"The ceiling is flat on the inside."
Sariel's eyes glinted in understanding. "So you're saying there might be an attic?"
Enza frowned. "Yeah, but knowing that doesn't help if I can't open the front door… It's the only entrance…"
Sariel smiled. "It's the only entrance for you. I'm sure there's a gap in these boards I can fit through. I can't fly, so if there really is a hidden trapdoor above, I won't be able to reach it. But I can at least confirm whether it's there."
He waddled to the side of the cabin and quickly found a duckling-sized gap between the logs. He squirmed back outside a minute later.
"It's there, right above the fireplace. The edges are hard to make out with all the dust on the ceiling, but there's definitely a trapdoor."
Enza scooped up Sariel with her hand and started picking splinters from his fur. "Now, how am I supposed to get in?"
The tiny bird gazed up at her. "What if you don't have to?"
Enza chewed her lower lip. "Only giant red arrows could make it more obvious that the cabin is an important clue… how could I not make use of it?"
"What if you used the cabin as a clue without entering it?"
"Do you mean examining every detail of the walls and roof?"
Sariel laughed. "No, silly. I mean to zoom out mentally; think of it metaphorically. That cabin was created by your mind. Why is that?"
"Well, it was created for me to live in."
"Indeed. But why a log cabin, and why in a forest?"
Enza stared into the forest as she pondered the question. The dense greenery almost felt like a shield around the lake.
Her eyes fell on a leaf. On it was a tiny grasshopper surrounded by dewdrops. She looked a few inches over and noticed an inchworm beginning its quest up a flower's stem.
There was life everywhere she looked. The closer she observed, the more she'd find. There was no end to this dance of nature.
"A forest is a place you go to escape it all. All things and all people."
Sariel nodded slowly. "Other than flora and fauna, you're alone here. But that's fine, isn't it?"
Enza grinned. "I'm the furthest thing from alone here. I'm surrounded by a world in motion. I only have the privilege of observing it, not of requesting it to talk. Of course, you and Athalia the bluebird are exceptions…"
"And why is it fine?"
Enza furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean, 'Why?' I just explained it…"
"Remember that you aren't your complete self."
Enza's eyes lit up. "I see… I have to consider how I'd react to this world if I were my full self…"
"More specifically, ask yourself this. If you had all your normal fears, what about this would scare you?"
A lightning bolt ran through Enza's mind. She raised her arms—nearly dropping Sariel in the process—and shouted, "Eureka!"
"Hey, be careful with me… but what did you figure out?"
The excitement of the realization was slowly fading from Enza's face, replaced by a slight melancholy.
"Isolation."
Sariel cocked his head. "Isolation?"
"Right now, just having all this natural life around feels like enough. I could live like this forever. But the real me… the completed version of me possesses a fear that would make it impossible to be happy here. It's the fear of being isolated from other people. For the real me, just observing life isn't enough. I need to be understood. I need other people to talk to. Even having you here is really just talking to another side of me."
As soon as she explained the fear out loud, something changed in the air. It felt like a hot and cold wind blew across the lake simultaneously. The flowers slowly began to elongate into abstract strokes of color…
Oh god, it's dissolving… I really got it right… I'm going into the nightmare…
"Quickly!" Sariel exclaimed. "You should be able to open the door now. Go to the attic!"
Enza sprinted to the cabin door and twisted the knob. It opened—and without numbing her entire body this time.
She walked to the fireplace and gazed at the ceiling. The lines between the wooden planks were twisting and warping as the world turned abstract, but sure enough, there was a faint outline of a trapdoor with a small handle. Enza had memories of sitting in that armchair by the fireplace, but she was always too focused on a book to spend much time looking above her.
She tripped over a book as she attempted to position herself directly under the trapdoor. Out of curiosity, she picked it up and flipped through it. A battered hardcover. All the pages were blank…
My memory of the words must be too faint now.
Without wasting any more time, she jumped and pulled down the attic's entrance. A foldable staircase hit the ground with a clack. She saw a dim light above. She scrambled up the ladder. As she took in the attic, her eyes were attacked by a mayhem of color…
Enza had guessed the chamber would be rectangular from the shape of the roof, but it was perfectly circular on the inside.
A single lantern was placed in the center, illuminating floor-to-ceiling shelves all around. They were packed to the brim with balls of yarn. Each ball had a different finger-knitted pattern extending from it. The ends of the patterns were all tied to the base of the lantern.
Enza suddenly felt like she was falling through the floor.
Oh god, here it comes…
The last clear sight she had before clipping through the borders of reality was the attic's ceiling. Words had been painted in blue.
"Do not let Athalia reach the fourth stratum."
***
Athalia was staring at the last thing she expected to see.
It was the fountain of Väinä. She had just awoken on her feet, right in front of it.
The lush forest she had just come from was still fresh in her mind. Why… Why am I in Alavieska? What about Enza's nightmare?
She immediately felt something was off. Her stomach dropped as she looked around.
There was no Alavieska. The plateau where the city was supposed to be lacked any signs of civilization other than the fountain.
But Athalia realized that wasn't quite right as she gazed upon the plateau's edge. A single building was remaining of the Alavieska she knew. A tiny little box of a house.
"Sariel?!"
She hadn't realized her thought had come out as a shout until she heard the echo bouncing off the rock ceiling high above. She glanced up and found herself even more startled—not by what she saw, but by what she didn't see.
The hourglass wasn't there…
"W-what is this?"
She forced herself to be calm as she remembered this must be Enza's nightmare. This isn't the real Alavieska… If I were really teleported back, the city would be here… It's some twisted version of it in her mind. Why is there only Sariel's house and the fountain? And why isn't the hourglass in the sky?
She walked along the city's edge towards Sariel's house. As she did, she looked into the canyon between the city and the tram station to see what else Enza's mind had changed about Alavieska. It was as barren and rocky as ever. It was like a giant's fist had dug into the plateau. She could clearly see the hangar with the tram station across the canyon, where the plateau rose up again. The hangar was at equal elevation to the city, giving the Explorers all sorts of ideas about how the canyon could have formed.
Even though she couldn't quite see it, Athalia could feel the presence of the chasm beyond the hangar, right where the horizon line dropped off.
Before she knew it, she had reached Sariel's house. It looked the same as ever—drab bricks with an unceremonious door. She reached for the knob…
She was suddenly frightened by a thud from inside the house. She instinctively tried to reach into her pockets for a weapon, but they were empty.
Sariel? Or… Enza? Who's in there?
Athalia heard more loud thuds followed by a muffled scream.
That door is concrete. Along with brick walls, almost no noise should be able to get through. That scream… it must have been one of incredible pain to reach my ears…
Unless the version of him in Enza's mind is different, Sariel can't scream. He can't even talk anymore. He couldn't be banging on the wall either. That means it's Enza in there.
"I'm here to help you," Athalia shouted. "It's me, Athalia. I'm here to assure you of your fear."
The moment Athalia's words left her mouth, the noise from inside stopped. She waited tensely for the door to fly open with an attack, but nothing happened.
She calmed herself and turned the knob. The door swung open…
The room itself was the same as Athalia remembered it being in the real world. Nothing in it but a white bed. However, the occupant…
Enza was hunched over in a corner wearing white robes, hugging herself and shaking. Her eyes were like a wild animal's.
Athalia extended her hand. "Hey, are you oka—
A blur of teeth and motion flew toward her throat. At the same time, a hand grabbed her collar and pulled her backwards. She was thrown out the entrance, tumbling onto the barren plateau. She heard the door slam shut a split second later.
"You idiot! What were you thinking?"
Athalia found herself staring up at Enza standing over her, hands on her hips. She was wearing tattered clothing, but her cheeks and black hair had a healthy glow.
"A-are you… the Enza without fear?"
"So you were informed. That leaves me with much less explaining to do. But it also makes what you did just now even more idiotic! You knew that side of me was packed to the brim with negative emotions, and you still opened the door?"
"I assumed you had already reunited with that other self and all that was left was for me to perform the Assurance. How could I have expected to be able to get around faster than you in your own mindscape? Slowpoke…"
Enza had an urge to say, "I had to use the first method. You didn't even have to look for clues. That bluebird helped you tear through the dream after you did some easy heal job, or whatever," but remembered she had received plenty of help from the duckling. She changed her tone. "We just have to be careful. Grateful, too—I warped here just in time. If you had somehow managed to perform the Assurance on that incomplete me, it would have permanently messed up my personality. If you were attacked and 'killed' just now, it might have been a strong enough force to wake you up… and I would've stayed asleep."
Both Explorers shivered at the thought. In the confessional booth at the top of the second stratum, it's imperative that both the Assurer and the Fearful awaken from their sleep at the same time. It's a sign of a successful Assurance. If the Assurer wakes up first, the spike instantly drops all the way—no chance of escaping it. If the Fearful wakes up first, they'll be insane forever.
Athalia met Enza's eyes. "So, how exactly do you plan on getting that wild animal under control enough to complete the personality unification?"
Enza's shoulders dropped.
"A… p-plan?"