Lilly glanced down at her body with a small, but dawning realisation.
She certainly 'appeared' older, but she didn't 'feel' older. She was essentially what she imagined being older might be like, and it was quite obvious that this was a knowledge she was lacking- despite her previous life. Not that she knew what an older female would be like anyway. There was no weight on her chest for one. That was probably the most obvious clue that things were not as they seemed. All she had was a visual idea of what breasts might be like. her four breasts didn't actually feel of anything. Or was that normal? She had to ask her friend. "Jenny? Do you feel older?"
Jenny glanced down at herself. Somehow she had an instinct of what being older could be like, but she had to admit... this didn't feel like it. "No... jus' sort of... imagining?"
Lilly nodded, relaxing just a little. They had not actually changed into older bodies, but had simply taken on the appearance of the characters in this part of the story. Perhaps the story book said they were older, and so that is what they became... but because a reader needs personal experience of what it was like to actually be older, they themselves could not become older- just an imagined persona as if they were attached to the character in the story.
This actually disheartened Lilly a little, as it solidified the thought that... she might have to grow up again for real instead of using magic as a short cut. Though it might mean forgetting what it was like to be Lilly too, if she did just ended up back as her old self. She didn't really want to forget these experiences, of her friends and this life. If faced with the choice... she... she didn't know what to do.
Jenny's mind was racing on how to beat this monster. She was still a magic girl... and she could still access the four points of a door. Surly that would mean that she could make a portal, and get them back out of the book and into the library again? But they had to find Artemis first.
The two girls sped through the forest. Of course, every story had to involve a forest, and it probably had a wolf in it. Lilly in particular feared wolves, thinking of Julian... since she imagined a wolf to be like him, what if they encountered-
Jenny read her expression. "Lilly you gotta stop thinkin' bad things," Said the magic girl.
"H-huh? But-"
"This monster is usin' our imagination against us. If you imagine bad things, it will make our job harder. You were brave in the library, an' you're a brave girl really. I believe 'n you. Please you gotta start believin' in yourself now."
Lilly bit her lip, her large incisors brushing her chin. She felt a bit embarrassed and nodded. She had been brave... facing a ghost, going into the air duct... and facing up to what she was now.
They quickly crossed a river. Lilly had to hold up her princess dress up as she tip toed across the water. She touched the water out of curiosity... and again, it didn't feel wet. She suspected that in the book they were in, the water was never described as wet... just as water visually. It was a little amazing how so much could be lost in the detail. No book can adequately describe every aspect of a world, so they were in what was essentially a half world that barely worked, without the context of what is and was... light and gravity was taken for granted. They could only see what was in the story. A single path, a single way to do things...
The monster must be really as confused as they were.
"Hey you two," said a voice in the bushes.
Jenny and artemis stopped. "Artemis? Is that you?" asked the magic girl quickly.
"Yeah..." The voice was very quiet.
"Where are you? We can't see you." the two girls glanced around.
"Don't laugh." Artemis said quickly.
"We won't laugh. Come out please?" Lilly said insisting. She really wanted to get out of this story book as soon as she could.
A small rabbit hoped out of the bushes, with the moon symbol on it's head.
Lilly and Jenny's jaw dropped.
The squirrel girl gave just the start of a little laugh. "Oh- ha ha ha- oh no- you- you're so-"
"-cute," finished Jenny.
Artemis huffed. "Oh yeah? Well you're a princess, princess." Said the moon-rabbit sticking her tongue out.
Jenny had to accept things were getting very surreal now and rubbed her snow white hair. She hoped it wouldn't get worse. Being inside a children's book was getting well... just weird. "Okay well I'm glad we found you- oh- er- I guess the books we selected must have all got mixed up or something. "It's like we're wearin' the characters as costumes. Really good costumes."
Artemis nodded. "Yeah- but can we change the book now? my fur is itchy- an' this tail is very annoyin'." Just as she imagined having fur would be. She wasn't that far off the mark either.
"Well you only got a small one," said Lilly rolling her eyes glancing back at her two large ones. At least maybe Artemis had some idea what it was like now. Sort of. It was hard to tell just how much of it was real, and how much was how they imagined it to be.
Artemis just gave a little laugh. It was a lot of complaining over nothing. It was more just to cover the sheer absurdity of the situation. What kind of a monster was it that created it's own world in such a way and changed them like this?
Jenny had a think about it. "Actually- I think I might be able to make a portal- though if we end up in another book, we might just become other characters." That was a worrying prospect for them.
Lilly thought about it. "No- we have to fight the monster, not play its game. This place- all these places, it has to be here." They certainly were not going to follow the path to grandma's house, or wherever it was these characters would end up. They had to break the cycle and not reach the end of the story.
"So how do we get its attention?" Jenny wondered glancing around. "If this world is the monster... how do we fight it?"
That was a good question... the only thing before them was the path. A path that they absolutely had to avoid, even if the story was urging them down it. They could all feel that pressing need, to follow the story to its conclusion.
"We stray from the path," said Artemis. She pointed out to the forest. "We jus' keep goin' in a straight line as far as we can.
The three girls attempted to do exactly that. The forest started out light, then got thick... until it was a literal wall of trees. Still they slipped through, until...
The three girls gasped. They- they just ended up back on the path again.
"What now?" Asked Artemis. This was... not good. Was this world running as a constant loop then?
"We need a compass." thought Jenny.
"I- I might have one," Said Lilly a little worried to reveal this. It wasn't as if she understood where her blue stick pointed. But she knew it pointed to something in the real world... and when she held it loosely in her hand, she could feel it align to a direction still. "Follow me. This way."
Using the strange blue stick, they seemed to zig-zag across the forest. It was a little disconcerting as she felt the stick change direction now and then... seeming to pull them one way, then change to another quickly. Yet Lilly knew they were going away from the path, and would certainly not return to it this time.
The two girls behind also watched, not... entirely sure quite how Lilly was doing this. What was this stick? Where did it come from? And still the question... perfect symmetry... Artemis had only a brief conversation with her Mother, but she got the impression it had to do with a gift. There was no doubt in her mind now that a god or goddess favoured the squirrel-girl in some way, or certainly taking an interest at least. For some reason she felt a shiver of worry.
Finally they ended up in... a dark void, as they stood on the green grass touching the darkness. The other side of the story, without the ending. What could almost be described as the edge of imagination. Lily's stick was pointing somewhere across that dark void. She held it back onto the ground, leaning onto it.
An echoed hollow voice started to emanate around them. It was as if the void was talking to them.
Disorder. Why don't they follow the words? This world is perfectly ordered. You are not ordered. You are not of my world. You are not of me? The voice expressed a sad loss, as if it felt invaded.
"You're in a story book!" Shouted Jenny at the dark void. "Come out- we can take you back home. This place isn't real."
Not Real? All is real. All experience is real. This place is a world. Everything has a purpose. Everything has a reason for existence. It is shelter from the world beyond- a world where the insignificant can be significant and the significant inconsequential. This one doesn't wish to return to the chaos. It likes a world where everything makes sense.
Jenny... for some reason started to feel a little sorry for this monster. There was no way to know quite where it came from. Was it the enemy? Whatever it was, it must have been so frightened by where it ended up that it retreated into the books, and found a world here where nothing can go wrong...
"You can't stay in a story where nothing happens!" shouted Artemis. For some reason, that really made her angry. It was like this thing was afraid of living! (if it was alive to begin with)
Jenny sighed. This creature seemed happy to stay in stagnation. How can she convince it to return to a world, where anything can happen? Yet she knew she had to... if it stayed in the story books, it might 'infect' other books in the library, and suck inside more readers. No, this creature could not stay in a story book.... she had to convince it to leave.
