CHAPTER 210

His consciousness shifted violently out of his body, and he was now looking at a tiny star in an empty universe. From inside, he could hear Titania crying out in pleasure, his own voice singing in harmony with hers. The hand remained on his shoulder and he expanded, and the swirling star of sexual energy shrank in size. The world brightened, and an azure sky formed overhead and his bare feet were on cool grass. He stood now in a majestic garden, and the star had become a gazing globe that shed light comparable to the sun up above. Feeling disoriented, he held up his hands to see that his fingers were now slender and delicate.

"Seriously? This is how I finally get your attention?" His voice was no longer his, but a woman's.

The entity in his body laughed. When it spoke, it was with the same feminine voice, but he sensed the tremendous amount of power behind it.

"I come to you as an act of preservation. In a moment, the beings inside will become a singularity," she told him. "The human soul may be capable of experiencing the shores of eternity, but the human mind will break and shatter on its rocks."

"Eternity? It's just a dream, it would have ended eventually." He felt a buzzing in the back of his mind that only intensified when he looked at the globe, so he took a step away from it.

"I assure you, the ramifications of your actions are nothing more than an accident. Even Titania could not foresee this, for you are something new, a being that has never before existed."

No longer in control of his arms, he pointed at the viewing globe, and it clouded over, sealing away what was occurring inside. The buzzing in his head disappeared. "The faerie queen does not have a soul in the sense you understand. When she is in your head, it may as well be her true form. In a moment, your magic will initiate the swap, and her innate nature will reject it. Her essence is indivisible, and what will occur is a single moment stretched into eternity."

"Wait, so my soul is still in there?" he asked.

"It is. But your mind is out here with me." The voice sounded pleased with herself. "Do not worry, Caretaker, your soul is perfectly safe."

"You're the house, aren't you?" He remembered the time he had tried to channel it directly and flushed with embarrassment. "I've been trying to figure out how to talk to you for so long."

"Indeed. And I have watched your efforts with great interest." They were strolling through the garden now, leaving the viewing globe behind. "As my Caretaker, I do have a vested interest in your success, after all."

"Then why make it so hard to speak to you?" he asked. "You only seem to show up sporadically, which is a bit frustrating."

"I'm here now. What would you ask of me?" she replied.

"Um..." He had so many questions but didn't know where to begin. From experience, he knew that he wasn't likely to be here long. "I guess, how am I doing?"

"Your soul is currently making love to a deity and experiencing an eternal state of bliss. I would say you are doing just fine." They were now walking through a palatial corridor. Large marble pillars were attached to a building that looked suspiciously like the Parthenon. Shimmering pools dotted the architecture.

"Okay, well then how about you? What do you want?"

"I want you to win the game, silly." The house giggled, then sat down on the edge of one of the pools. Mike tried to force her to lean over the water so he could see her reflection, but the body no longer obeyed him.

"Why, though? What happens when I win?"

"I can't tell you," she said, much to his chagrin. "You should know that by now."

"Okay, well what do you get? Why would you want me to win, other than some sense of team pride?"

He didn't receive an answer, but the house looked away from the pond and then across the palace grounds. The world they were in was silent, and he was struck with a profound sense of loneliness.

"There were others, like you, right?" It was something the shadow had mentioned to him, something about how others used to be here. "Do you miss them?"

"They used to call it the Great Game," she said after several moments of silence. "As the years passed, it became more like a war than a game. If I were able, I would blame such a thing on the avarice of man, but even this outcome was by design. The Architect foresaw every possibility, and even now, there are some outcomes that are too terrible to mention. You ask why I would see you win, so I offer this; I believe that you wouldn't be the worst person to take the prize."

Mike laughed, the sound breaking the silence. "So it's not that I'm the best candidate, I'm just not the worst. It's not really a huge vote of confidence, but I guess I'll take it. Is it because I haven't really been trying to figure it out? I assume you heard my conversation with the queen where I admitted I'm not super motivated to solve the puzzle."

The house laughed in return, then sighed. "Maybe things would have been different if the magic wasn't so weak. While I slumbered, my magic waned, and I was all but gone when you inherited me. It is why I have not been more amicable to your attempts at communication."

"And you will be now? If I try to talk to you, will you answer?"

She waved her hand and summoned a large game board. It was the interior and exterior of his home, and pieces were scattered around it. He recognized most of them, but some were still blurry and tucked away in the rooms of the house. When he tried to focus on them, they disappeared, as if tucked away. As he scanned the board, he noticed other boards had been set up off to the side. These also contained blurry pieces, and the one closest to him looked like a cabin in the middle of the woods.

"You have so many pieces already," she told him, then picked one up off of the cabin. It blurred before his vision, and he was unable to make out any detail. "And with so little effort. Astonishing."