Olz Hap, Yutten Turse, and Salome Einstein in the style of Félicien Rops, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.

  Chapter 12: The flower called nowhere

  Special Circumstances headquarters, Mikla metropolitan area, Confluence dimension

  Year 42 of the Confluence Republic (local time)

  They tried to trace the interference in the Erd simulation – being careful so that whoever is communicating doesn’t realize they are being observed – but there was no trace of anything. Not a shred of evidence, in fact, that any magic had been employed at all.

  The failure was not for want of trying. They threw everything they had at it, looped it for a thousand iterations. There was nothing. No traces of magic anywhere in Erd.

  In the meantime, the Erd author had a burst of productivity, writing three more chapters and another interlude. The SC board continually assessed the situation.

  Salome Einstein: What are your thoughts, girls?

  Yutten Turse: Progressing as expected, I suppose. Would love to know who is conversing in those interludes. Do you think Soth is involved?

  Olz Hap: Could be. Or maybe the two others. And someone else. Could it be Raistlin and Ykka?

  Salome Einstein: If it’s not them, I suppose it has to be aliens or demons. Unless we want to consider the possibility that someone in the Confluence might be involved.

  Olz Hap: Ha! Maybe there is a second SC group, even more secretive than ours. Or a conspiracy.

  Yutten Turse: So far, the second party in this conversation seems not to know why they are being addressed. If they keep talking, we will understand more.

  Salome Einstein: The only thing that seems to be getting us anywhere is the info we get from the Erd author. Is it worrisome that we are effectively reduced to waiting for more of his writing so we can respond to it?

  Olz Hap: Everything about this situation is worrying. And we have just seen the beginning of it.

  Yutten Turse: Soon we’ll be reading about ourselves. That’s obvious, right? We’re supposedly the best-protected institution in the whole Confluence, and I’m pretty sure that someone is watching us right now.

  Salome Einstein: I suppose we just have to hope that whoever is behind this is benign. If this is an attack, we seem to be outgunned.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Olz Hap: Yes. Anyway, should we assume that the parties communicating in the interludes are also reading the Erd author? If so, they will understand we are onto them.

  Salome Einstein: But then they will stop talking. And there’s a long way to go if we’re moving through the whole alphabet.

  Yutten Turse: Um, so you’re saying that since this is in the book and there’s apparently a kind of countdown, we should assume it will continue? And if its continuance depends on the involved parties being unaware of the fact that we are reading their communications, that means they are probably unaware?

  Salome Einstein: Something like that. Although I suppose it could be that one of the parties knows we are observing them but keep communicating as if unaware in order to manipulate us.

  Olz Hap: Maybe we just avoid making too many assumptions. My head is hurting.

  Yutten Turse: That’s a lie. We would feel it if you had a headache. Seriously, though, another person who may be reading – I mean, is obviously reading – this book is the author himself. What does he think about us out here in the Confluence?

  Olz Hap: Maybe he just thinks we’re figments of his imagination?

  Yutten Turse: But, I mean, if we assume this conversation will be included in the book, we’re talking about him, right? He knows about us, and he knows he’s just a magic-deprived sim person in a world the Confluence has created. Seems like a mouthful.

  Salome Einstein: Maybe it’s as weird for him as it is for us. Or maybe he just thinks he’s fucking around with some strange ideas for a book that’s coming to him. I bet he doesn’t have any idea where those ideas come from. Or perhaps he thinks he’s really clever, breaking the fourth wall in a unique way or something like that.

  Olz Hap: From our perspective, he is just a sim person in a make-believe world we have created – or are in the process of creating, actually. From his perspective, we are just fictional characters in a weird story he is in the process of creating. A story he probably believes is just emerging from his mind, but which we see as being influenced by someone in our dimension.

  Yutten Turse: We’re inventing each other. Now I have a headache.

  Salome Einstein: Is this a good time to declare that I’m going to retire to, you know, raise chickens and grow blackcurrants? I think my quota for weirdness has filled up, and this story is just starting.

  Olz Hap: I want to live in a havenhouse, just watch old movies and have someone take care of my every need.

  Yutten Turse: Ha! I think I know what needs you’re talking about.

  Olz Hap: Now who is the person with a dirty imagination?

  Salome Einstein: Before we all run off to a simpler and much pleasanter life, is there anything we can do at this point in time? Or do we just wait for another chapter?

  Olz Hap: We seem to be stuck for now, but there is one thing that might inform us.

  Yutten Turse: Uh-oh, here we go.

  Salome Einstein: It’s orgy time? Are you sure the guys in the harem are up for another round so soon?

  Olz Hap: Very funny. But an orgy of sorts, yes. I was thinking of an invocation of the Veil.

  Yutten Turse: I thought we agreed that things are already weird enough?

  Olz Hap: Sure. But when the going gets weird, the weird turns pro. Unless you have other ideas, it’s this or we wait for something from the Erd author.

  Salome Einstein: Why not.

  Yutten Turse: Fuck me, I wanted another round through the harem.

  Olz Hap: Shut up.

  ---

  There is a room with colorful crystals on the walls, then everything evaporates and there is only empty space with a backdrop of stars. Inside a doll there is another, then yet another; it continues until the process of unveiling reveals the first doll once more. Sinister energies pour in through invisible openings, but there is someone watching. Life is struggling to be born. A clown is hiding where none see yet is easily revealed; behind the clown there are other clowns. Heroes come together as a team; they are not who you would expect yet exactly who you would expect. Someone takes a very long time to do the simplest things. Where does the darkness go when a source of light is introduced? Let’s you and him fight while I eat this cookie. A many-headed monstress stands guard over a crossroads; heroes attack tyrants with flowers and poems. In the end, a beginning.

  Olz Hap, Yutten Turse, and Salome Einstein Invoking the Veil in the style of Mikhail Vrubel, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.