Past, Present and Future.

So reality is a psychological construct. I see it, but do I believe it? Existence around me crumbled as sure as the life I remember from before this whole scenario began. It’s not what I thought it to be – this I know. And now...now I find myself on this plane, a desolate landscape before me, light enveloping me.

I don’t seem to get anywhere no matter how far I walk, but these thoughts I take with me lead me along a path I feel is right. I believe my actions are just because there are three figures in the distance, three that weren’t there before. We seem to be approaching each other, but the closer we get, the harder it is to see. Undeterred, I press on, but they disappear as I get them in focus. They look like...

“You’ve been down this path before,” one asks. “Remember the dark, empty field of your awakening?”

The other two follow in an unbroken meter.

“Is this familiar? Does it remind you of now?”

“Can you recall similar events you have yet to experience?”

These cryptic conversations are nothing new to me. I resigned what logic I tried to apply to this place at a point from long ago. However, this perplexes me. There’s something oddly familiar about this.

“Probably because you know us,” the middle figure explained. “You see us as you.”

They were right. I’ve never seen myself as another person, so I couldn’t place them at first. But they were me, in three manifestations of all things. It was as if I was suddenly peering into a mirror that showed me all angles, all sides. Yet these were three completely separate doppelgangers, three versions of myself.

“You see us as we are. You see us as you. We are the Cha’Doe, echoes of your temporal being.”

Echoes. I guess it made sense – they were my past, present and future selves. It made as much sense as any of the other recent anomalies I could think of, so I was more open to accept it than I thought was possible.

“The odd characters? The supernatural elements of your former fantasies?” the past me offered.

I thought for a moment. “Yes.”

“The enlightening encounters with Baracera, your shining path and ultimate destiny?”

“My What?”

“This,” the middle one spoke. “The here and now. Is it making sense here? Now?”

I paused to consider that, yes, it did make sense. It was happening, and I could see them and me and everything felt real. As far as I was concerned, this was real.

“Good. Now you’re ready to hear us. No, we cannot offer a solution to your confusion or turmoil, only hopes that you will understand and will be able to find your own method for overcoming these metaphysical foibles. We, as the Cha’Doe, are only a means to an end. You’ll still have to find your way to that end with further exploration of your own means.”

My future self took me aside. “You will. You’ll understand.”

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