“...Terra, I would like to know more about myself. So what is a spirit? Is it the same as a soul?” I ask her, praying she does not find it suspicious that I do not know.

“Hmmm.” Her lips purse. “An unexpected question, but... I guess it makes sense that you’d like to know, being ‘spirit-like’ and all.” Terra ponders for a moment, setting her lap-top to the side. She looks at me with a smirk and exhales a puff of hot air into the cold night air. “This is going to seem rather childish, but it was one of the ways it was explained to me when I was young.”

Reaching into her bag, she pulls out something wrinkled and glistening. I move just a bit closer. The polished material reflects the glow of my violet eyes, revealing my hazy face.

“This is called aluminium or, more precisely, aluminum foil. A lot of everyday things are made of this nowadays,” she says, stretching the aluminum apart.

The aluminum makes a horribly unpleasant sound when she does this. Unwrapping the contents, she raises a mystical and enchanting item while proclaiming, “This is called a sandwich, and before you ask, no, it’s not made of sand.”

Seeing the delectable thing brought forth, the cattail that is presently wrapped around my torso wiggles. Before she can see it, I raise my hand up and press it against the cattail.

Raising her head, she gazes at me with a raised eyebrow, looking me up and down. "Is something wrong, Constance?"

“Nay. Everything is fine… May I have this thing known as a sandwich?” I ask greedily.

She holds the sandwich toward me, “You want this? Can you actually eat it?... Now that I think about it, the person who broke into the restaurant did eat all the food.”

‘Restraint, Constance. Do not embarrass thyself or cause suspicion. I am spirit-like and am likely thought to be incapable of eating. Besides, food is certainly my weakness; I cannot let her know my weakness.’

“I was merely asking in jest.” I wave my hand. “I am not actually interested.”

“Must be some weird 16th-century humor,” she murmurs to herself. “Anyway, I kind of need it for my example, so are you ready?”

I nod.

She wiggles her posterior, positioning herself to face me. Her dress gets a bit tangled, so she places the sandwich in front of me, lifts herself with one hand, and yanks the dress straight. Lowering herself, she sighs and points at the sandwich. “Okay, take everything I’m about to say with a grain of salt as this is basically the explanation that would be given to a seven-year-old. This sandwich consists of three parts, the bread, the fillings, and for the sake of our example, the aluminum foil.”

“...It looks utterly delightful, but I do not understand where this may be going.”

“I’m getting there.” Waving her hand, she continues, “Like this sandwich, you can break a person into three parts, the body, the consciousness, and the soul. The first being the bread or the body is basic. It doesn’t do anything special. You can have a huge advantage if your bread is better than other bread, but in the end, it is still just bread. Therefore, a creature that is just bread doesn’t do much more than eat, sleep, grow, and reproduce—creatures of pure instincts essentially.”

Once more, I nod. ‘I like bread, but it seems true enough. Except the eat, sleep, grow, and reproduce part.’

Seeing me nod, she points at aluminum foil. “This is the aluminum foil or the soul. The foil performs its role well enough. It protects the bread and fillings from the outside world’s influence while the bread provides something for the foil to wrap around, preventing it from just blowing around haphazardly. So with the protection of the foil, you can have a more fragile, complex, and long-lasting sandwich.” She glances at me with a smirk and a shrug of her shoulders. “The soul is also the least known among the three, with the consciousness being a close second.”

‘Well, it is also the thing I understand least, so I suppose that is fine.’

She removes the bread exposing the fillings. “Speaking of which this brings us to the fillings; this is the consciousness. The consciousness is the most diverse part of a person. You can have different fillings, quality, and other such things. It basically holds the personality, individual memories, and things like that.”

Glancing up, she ensures I am following. “I suppose I am understanding,” I respond.

“Good.” She tips the bread onto aluminum, spilling the fillings. “Now, it is believed that any creature that is just bread are creatures of pure instinct. Bread and aluminum would make a being that can be classified as sentient. Then when you add the fillings, that creature would now have the potential to become sapient.”

Holding up her finger, she points at the stained insides of the bread. “Yet, unlike the sandwich, once they’re together, taking them apart is no longer so simple. If you removed, say, the foil and the fillings from a living person, you’d create something like a ghoul. Remove just the foil, and you’d be left with something like a lich who would be steadily eroded away without the foil’s protections. A spirit is this one...”

She removes the foil and bread. “A spirit is when all that’s left of a person is their consciousness. They should have separated from the other two and moved on to the afterlife, but they refused and stayed for whatever reason. Without the protection of the soul and body, however, spirits generally are worn away rather quickly. Which is why I was surprised you still have your wits. Every combination has the potential to give something different, and many times even the same combination can give you something different.”

“So… they are all separate things that work together somehow?”

“Yes, they are. They come together to make something more than themselves—a single being. They do this because they all have a similar aim despite how impossible and simple it may seem.” She moves between the items. “The soul seeks eternity. The consciousness seeks existence. The body seeks exemption. Basically, they all wish to endure forever, and together, their odds of achieving it are greater.” Her brows furrow and she sighs, adding, “At least that’s what I was told; I don’t actually know where my father learned that or if he was just saying whatever popped into his head.”

‘If that’s true, it seems like my old body really lost out on that partnership… But is that why Earl called the tower my body? He also called the shell my soul and the flame my conscious… So I am just a soul and spirit then. Fillings and this noisy aluminum foil stuff.’

I stare at the ruined sandwich. ’This is all becoming too philosophical or perhaps too literal; I cannot tell. Let’s change the conversation to something more important to my immediate situation.’

“Well, we could talk all day on the subject, but that is basically the itsy bitsy spider version of the three parts of sapient beings,” she says, clapping her hands together.

‘The what version?’

She does not seem to notice my confusion as she wraps the disassembled sandwich into foil with a sigh. “That was so nostalgic,” she says with a sullen look.

I, too, am sullen at the sight of the delicious sandwich being put away.

Terra grabs her lap-top.

Seeing this, I remember I had something I wished to ask. “I have another question.” She looks at me as I point at the lap-top. “What is it made of?”

“Now, you’re interested in knowing what it is made of, huh?” Her eyes and nose crinkle as she laughs with her hand over her mouth. I tilt my head as she says, “Already tired of learning about yourself. Rather learn about my laptop than spirits and souls? It is mostly made of plastic, or at least the case is.”

“Oh! Playstuck, of course, of course… what is a playstuck?”

“It’s pronounced plas·tic. It’s made from something like petroleum, which is something that comes from the ground. The process of how petroleum came to be is very complicated, but just know that plastic is a prevalent material nowadays, and as you said, you’ll see it pretty much everywhere. This material, along with a few others, has had enormous changes upon the world.”

“Changed the world? Interesting…” I point toward one of the containers. “The black thing full of rubbish, what’s it made of?”

She stares at the bin and then says, “If you mean the trash bag, that’s plastic too.”

“So a rubbish bag then.” Noticing a clear container floating in the lake, I point at it. “What about that?”

She squints her big green eyes, causing me to remember it’s much darker here for her than it is for me. “Oh, now I see what you were pointing at. That’s a water bottle, well, trash now, but it’s also made of plastic.”

I look into Terra’s eyes dubiously. “Art thee certain? None of these things seem very similar. Is this a prank at my expense?”

“No, I’m not. It wouldn’t be a very good prank, to be honest.” Terra reaches into her bag. I move closer to see if I can perhaps sneak the sandwich within. She stops, looking me up and down once again. "Is something the matter, Constance? Your haze seems... depressed."

“My haze seems... depressed?”

“It was more swirly before, but right now, it’s not really moving around at all. Like earlier, when I asked if you wanted to be friends, it was almost like a storm. Now it’s kind of still, so I assumed that meant you were sad or something.”

‘Is she saying my haze seems to be reacting to my emotions?... Lies! But if it is true, I need to keep an even more restrained state of mind.’ The aluminum foil crinkles as she stuffs it deeper into her bag. ‘I despise that noise, and so much for the delicious sandwich.’

She pulls her hand out, glances at me, and furrows her brow. “Now, your haze has almost stopped moving altogether.”

‘Who am I trying to fool. Unless she is lying, I shall never be able to hide my feelings.’

Terra seemingly suppresses her suspicions and smiles. “Let’s get back on topic. Do you have any idea what you want these signs to say?”

Nodding, I hold up my hands, showing how big I wish it to be. “Aye, I have put some thought into it and think it should say something like, ‘Only death and the jaws of a horrifying beast awaits those who approach these accursed waters.’ Preferably with a skull and crossbones. I believe this would be a sufficient warning.”

“Uh, well, I don’t know about the skull and crossbones, but how about we go with something more akin to, ‘Warning: Toxic spill. Avoid all contact with The Lake’s water until further notice’. Oh, and toxic refers to something poisonous.”

‘I suppose I can compromise on the skull and crossbones, but…’

“Will that be sufficient? Reasonably, we should at least mention the formidable beasts?” I ask.

“There aren’t any normal dangerous beasts that could survive in such a cold lake. If it was summer, I could maybe say it’s alligators, but no one would believe it right now, so the toxic spill is the most believable thing. ”

Hearing her mention a creature I have never heard of before, my curiosity is again piqued. “Are alligators bloodthirsty beasts? What do they look like?”

“I don’t know about bloodthirsty, but… here.” Terra raps the lap-top and faces it toward me.

The blinding light clears, exposing a small and humble lizard with rows of sharp teeth. “Is it fine to keep a lizard in that box? It looks scary for a lizard, but it’s not very big. I do not think that would deter anyone from going near The Lake.”

“Constance, this is just a phot— a painting or picture of real life, so it’s not their actual size.”

“I do not understand. Is this box just a frame then?”

Terra taps something, and the alligator changes to a different alligator, “It’s not a frame, but that’s not the worst way to think of it. It might be more accurate to say it’s like a library full of pictures, books, and letters.”

I move to the back of the box to see if something is being put into it. ‘Like a noble’s library? Is it magic? Nay, she already stated it was not... As curious as this makes me, I should not waste anymore of her time.’

Shrugging my shoulders, I nod. “I suppose I understand.”

‘It’s better just to allow Terra to do whatever it is she is trying to do, for now. Mayhaps, I may ask her for some of these books in the future.’

However, to my surprise, Terra takes the initiative to explain some things to me, despite not understanding much.

“So, this is the internet.” She looks between me and the lap-top several times. “You aren’t permitted to ever use the internet without me around. This is called the desktop, and on the desktop are all the applications that do various things...”

As Terra attempts to explain these ‘application’ things to me, I read through their names, ‘Poki-Poki Book Club, Nuclear Residue: Newer Vegas, CyberRuffin 2777, Dino-Tower,... Wait, Tower!’

“Terra, halt.” She looks at me with a raised eyebrow as I point excitedly. “What is that one? Could I be made privy to it?”

Terra stares at me, a bit of a bewildered smile upon her face as she points at the Dino-Tower. “That one? That one is a tower defense game. Are you interested in that one?”

“Tower defense! Aye, prithee, teach me!”

“Okay, but first I want to show you something. Ah, but don’t let me forget to give you the thing that’ll help you with your Mana Leakage. After all, we wouldn’t want others to track you down because of it,” her eyes shiver, and her face twitches when she says those words.

‘That was odd.’

Her hands tap against the lap-top as she turns the black rectangle toward me, revealing hands in different positions. “I don’t know when or if you’ll ever be able to use Telepathy yourself, so you should learn some sign language...” She clears her throat and rubs the back of her neck. “And let's talk about some of your pronouns while we’re at it.”

‘...?’