Chapter 41
“The words change depending on the reader” I echo.
“They do,” my alter ego confirms.
“But then I don’t understand…why are you drinking the potion to understand who you are? What you read in the book might be deceiving,” I argue.
“I am not the only one who will drink the potion. I want my whole crew to do the same,” she tells me.
“Your whole crew?” I ask in confusion.
“The crew I will lead in the expedition to find the door,” my alter ego replies.
“Don’t be so cryptic, Iris,” I frown.
“Don’t be so un-intuitive, Iris,” she retorts.
“You can view all the readers as lenses looking at the same object from different angles, each distorting it in some way. If you know in which ways each lens distorts your image, and which side of the image it captures, you might be able to build a somewhat objective and complete representation of the image,” she tells me.
I start to fathom her plan, and I nod.
“I see, you want to capture the real meaning of the book through the million different interpretations of your readers. In practice though-” I start, but before I can complete my sentence she lifts the ampoule to her lips.
“Get ready, Iris,” she warns me, a split second before the liquid pours down her throat.
As she intakes the potion, I feel it seep through me, expanding slowly within my veins.
“Wait,” I shriek, panicking, but I can no longer stop my alter ego.
The potion sends waves of heat through me. I feel my body swell to a humongous size, while my head stays small. My body tilts, slowly, as if gravity had no effect on it and I find myself floating along the ceiling in a horizontal position.
I am weightless, and the space seems oddly similar and yet not fully recognizable.
Then I stiffen, and it seems like I can no longer move myself without shattering the whole space with my huge, dense, heavy self.
I drop to the floor, dragged by my own weight.
For a short moment following the fall I seem to be back to my regular size.
“Iris,” I hear.
For reasons I cannot ascertain I start laughing.
“Iris,” I hear again, my name resounding in anguished notes.
I cannot see who is speaking to me, and I cannot see the place. The outside world has blacked out, and I am dizzy.
And yet a second later my mind clears.
I am walking alone, but I don’t feel lonely.
The space outside me is dark, but I feel like I know where to step.
I am in a forest, I sense the leaves brush against me, and the branches rip my clothing and graze my face.
None of this matters though.
The road is rough, but I know that at its end I will find what I am looking for.
And soon enough, a faint glow starts pulsing before me.