Otherworlde PSI 102: Reflection

Amelia was just as fascinated by the limits and consequences of psionics, as set out in her PSI 102 class, as she was by the actual powers that the study of psionics could grant. The various animi and their strengths and weaknesses were easy enough to understand, in her opinion, but what surprised her was the degradation of the body and mind that could occur with repeated use of psionics. Perhaps it would affect her differently, given the fact that she was an artificial construct, but it would affect her nevertheless. The assignment meant to teach her how to meditate was probably one of the most important things she would ever do at Otherworlde Academy, if she decided to pursue Psionics, and she knew it. So, naturally, Amelia decided to seek out another student who could potentially help her with the assignment. She had heard that Kuzma, in particular, was already a rather experienced student with innate psychic abilities, so when she sighted the Empath near the psionics classrooms, she walked right up to him and attempted to strike up a conversation. "Greetings!" she exclaimed cheerfully, though her actual facial expression was as impassive as ever. "My name is Amelia. You are in my Consequences and Limitations of Psionics class. I would like to study meditation alongside you. Is this acceptable?"

Kuzma had been going over his notes briefly before he noticed someone walking his way. By the time Amelia had started talking, the journal was put back in his trench coat in a single motion. "And mine is Kuzma, hello there." The Empath had previously been planning on practicing meditation himself, and he figured that an extra person would be no different. "As for studying meditation, I would be willing. I even have some notes from my own experience that I could share if you want. You caught me at the right moment too, I was just about to leave." He did not need to read into the situation too far to see that Amelia had at least a basic knowledge of who he was, and he saw no reason not to withold his help in this area to this individual.

Amelia was quite happy to have found someone who was seemingly so useful right away. Not only was Kuzma a good choice for a study partner based on what she already knew about him, but he had notes already prepared, too? Amelia chuckled to herself, proud of herself for having selected someone who could presumably assist her, though her laughter did sound a bit strange due to her somewhat mechanical-sounding voice. "Excellent," Amelia responded. "I propose that we review your notes together, find an empty classroom or other suitably quiet location, and practice proper meditation techniques until we are confident that we can effectively stave off mental damage at our level of psionic ability." She paused, looking directly at Kuzma. She would have smiled if she could. "Additionally, shall we compare our notes, in order to ensure that there are no significant gaps in our knowledge on this subject?"

Kuzma nodded as he took out the journal he had previously used for notes so he would have it ready. In order to avoid forgetting anything, he scribbled some notes on the last few pages of the journal to transfer later. "That is a sound plan, lessening the mental damage is on the list of things that I would want to do. As for the notes, knowing where we differ in knowledge would be a good place to start. Who knows, maybe you wrote down something I missed." He focused mainly on lessening the effects of his Empathic abilities when it came to meditation, so a fresh perspective might help shed new light. "There should be a quiet enough room around here somewhere, though it is not like going elsewhere would too difficult." The Empath began scanning the hall, attempting to see if any doors were open.

While Amelia did have written notes, and they were written quite neatly, they were mostly just sentence fragments meant to remind Amelia of the things she had learned, instead of direct copies of what her professor or textbooks had said. She had a very good memory, so she saw no need to write everything down perfectly. Nevertheless, she handed her own notes to Kuzma. "I am aware that this material alone will be of little assistance to you," she stated, "so I will supply the rest verbally." She paused for a moment before explaining what she had learned. "There are two primary types of meditation: concentration meditation and mindfulness meditation. Concentration meditation empties the mind of unnecessary mental clutter by focusing on one specific object, sound, word or mantra. Mindfulness meditation involves the observation of wandering thoughts that surface in the mind. In both of these forms of meditation, breathing naturally is important, assuming one is capable of breathing at all." Amelia brought her face closer to Kuzma's, primarily to illustrate that no, she did not breathe.

"There are several different postures that can easily be used for meditation," Amelia continued. "For example, the meditation posture of the Buddha Vairochana involves keeping one's back straight but not tense, one's shoulders at a level position, one's eyes cast down and neither fully open nor fully closed, and the right hand placed in the left hand, with palms up, positioned at the lower abdomen. The tongue touches against the back of the upper teeth, as well, which will be important for you, because you have both teeth and a tongue. I have confirmed this by watching you speak." Amelia nodded, pleased with what she had explained so far. "Meditation helps to preserve the state of the brain as it ages, from both a physical and metaphysical perspective. It can also reduce anxiety and excesses of emotion, as well as improve concentration. This is the reason for its importance in psionic magic."

While he was carefully observing the notes and taking in the information that Amelia was saying, Kuzma was taking notes, since he could check them against his own more in depth at a later date. Unfortunately, most of his notes on meditation involved methods that would be more effective for him. However, he did have several good ideas. "I agree with what you said about meditation, but I go about getting rid of excess emotions slightly differently. Just like you don't breath, I can let my emotions flow out of me." The Empath knew it was a bad analogy, but he was going to go with it. It was not like he could rewind time and redo what he just said. To emphasize his point, he undid the mental walls around his emotions, his vision filled with a yellow color, the color of more positive emotions. He had no idea if others could feel the emotions that come off of him, since he had never asked, but it did not matter either way.

"I usually find it helpful to focus on the reason for meditation, and possibly even understand what I can on the topic." Kuzma had since frozen Amelia's notes to free up both of his hands and had become much more focused due to not having anything blocking his mind.

Amelia thought she understood Kuzma's analogy -- as far as she could tell, he was illustrating how their meditation techniques would inevitably be a bit different because of their innate qualities. Kuzma could cause his emotions to 'flow out of him', as he said, which could certainly help him with his meditation, and Amelia did not breathe, which could potentially help her to focus more, as it was just one less potential distraction. Amelia certainly was experiencing positive emotions, though that could have very well been because she was proud of her academic talents and ability to find useful people, and not necessarily because of Kuzma's empathic powers. But you never knew.

"To focus on the reason for meditation?" Amelia asked. "So, what you are saying is that you engage in a form of concentration meditation, in which your point of focus is related to the reason why you meditate. That reason, presumably, is to minimize the physical and mental deterioration associated with psionic magic." That sounded quite useful to Amelia, at least as a way to become motivated enough to meditate in the first place. She considered the possibility of focusing on an abstract concept like that instead of a specific word, phrase or object, and decided that she might want to try both and see which one would be more useful for her. "Are my conclusions correct?" Amelia finally asked after a pause.

"That is mostly correct, to clarify a bit more, I find that focusing on the different parts of the subject, in this case, psionic magic helps. It calms me down to understand how something works and usually helps me use it in the future to better use something." Kuzma explained, thinking back to all of his understanding he had for his Empathic abilities due to careful examination of emotions and research. "What seems to be important is that meditation helps the individual to either calm or focus their mind, so it varies from person to person. The type of magic used could even changes the type of meditation required, with magic that involves controlling someone else's state of mind involve more of a mindfulness approach to be able to identify where you end and the other person begins, or began. No idea if this is needed with mind control since I have only had experience with my own abilities."

"So, your point of focus for psionic magic is related to your understanding of the components and processes of the type of psionic magic in question?" Amelia asked. That actually sounded like it may be useful for her, as well. Amelia was generally both a very practical and very academic individual, though, on the other hand, as thoughts about the processes and components of things were usually what went through her head anyway, it might have been more useful for mindfulness meditation instead of concentration-based meditation. It did make sense to her that meditation procedures would differ between different people, and maybe also differ based on the types of psionic magic that one used. Amelia initially was only going to take mental notes on Kuzma's additional suggestions about meditation, but she remembered what Cressida had told her, so many times, before Amelia had enrolled at the academy. Hold on to your memories. They're what make you who you are. So even if other people want to forget, you've got to make sure you don't. "Can I have my notes back now?" Amelia asked. "I need to record the information that you have provided."

"Oh, sure. Almost forgot about them." Kuzma said while unfreezing Amelia's notes, ensuring to catch it in a way that did not damage the pages. After handing them back, "But that is correct, and I at least know that it works with other types of magic. Do you have anything else you want to ask, or do you want to move to a quiet classroom to begin practicing meditation?" While he had not checked his pockets, he was sure if he looked he would be able to find a piece of paper stating the location of an empty room, since that was just how that went. Sure, it was circular, with something happening leading him to take the steps to make sure it occurs, but it could always be more convoluted. At least time travel would come in handy in this instance.

Amelia gladly accepted her notes back. If she could have smiled, she would have. She was about to tell Kuzma that yes, she was ready to go look for a quiet and empty classroom in which they could practice meditation, but she noticed something about the way Kuzma had moved her notes. Initially, since he was a student of the Psionics department, Amelia had just thought that Kuzma had held her notes in place with telekinesis. But that didn't actually seem to be the case. He had just caught the notes and given them back to her when he made them move again, not sent them directly to her. And when he had made them stop moving... everything stopped moving. There was no rustling of papers, no minor movement caused by the air or anything. They just... stopped. "Kuzma?" Amelia asked carefully. "Did you... freeze my notes in time?"

The Empath took some time to process the statement, mostly since it caught him off guard. He was not one to hide the fact that he could manipulate time, what with how much he teleported around and had simply frozen the notes out of habit and convenience. "Yes, I did, much more useful than other methods I have. Normally I would just set things down, but I prefer not to damage your notes after you gave them to me." Kuzma decided to provide some comfort where he could since unknown things could be confusing. "Why do you ask? It's not like I hide my time manipulation." Which was true. He teleported around to travel, reversed books to return them to their positions, and occasionally had multiple versions of himself walking around in the open so he saw no reason for the caution in Amelia's voice.

Amelia had heard several times about a student who could manipulate time and apparently did so frequently, but she hadn't known it was Kuzma. She made a mental note to ask Cressida more often about the other students -- after all, while Cressida had a tendency to look up people in the academy's records all the time, Amelia did not do so often. "I was actually unaware of the type of powers you possess," Amelia stated simply. "I merely chose you as my partner for this assignment because I had heard that you are a particularly experienced student. I am impressed. While I was previously aware of the existence of a student with these abilities, I did not know which student that was, due to my relative lack of interaction with other students and my inexperience at this academy." And... inexperience at life in general, which, since she had spent her entire brief existence at Otherworlde Academy, was really about the same thing. "I am glad to see that you are that student." Amelia could already imagine the applications for time magic. She decided that Kuzma could make a powerful ally indeed, if they could continue to get along. "Shall we find an acceptable classroom for meditation now?" she asked.

"Oh, make sense, I would do the same thing," Kuzma stated. The best source of information usually came from experience, after all, something that he had. He at least liked that Amelia had information on other students, which was not difficult to get if one knew where to look. While the Empath felt like he would have figured out who had such abilities as he did, not everyone was as thorough as him. Even his notes had limits though since it was easy enough to cover any blind spots was as easy as scrying on a person making an overabundance of notes unnecessary. "But anyways meditation sounds like a good idea. I did not leave anything information as to where to go for myself so we should have no trouble finding a room. Probably could even go up a floor for a better chance of finding an empty room if we're careful."

So Kuzma's time manipulation was rather common knowledge, was it? Amelia could see that she wasn't quite as adept at using the academy's resources -- or, at least, the ones that weren't directly tied to classes and academics -- as she previously thought. It was an issue that she would have to fix later, she decided. Perhaps she needed to focus more on what happened around the campus with the other students, and not just exclusively on things related to her studies. She had a small amount of information on some of the other students, but clearly it wasn't enough. There was still so much that she had to learn...

"Yes, it is probable that there will be fewer students on the upper floors," Amelia stated after a few moments of contemplation. "I suspect this is because students do not want to ascend too many flights of stairs, as it may make their legs sore!" Her exclamation was accompanied by a metallic sort of laughter. "That was intended to be a humorous statement," the artificial witch stated cheerfully. "Are you amused?"

The Empath was amused, though not in the way that Amelia was probably looking for. He was beginning to get an idea of how her mind worked and could probably get away with messing with her, though there was no reason to do that the moment. However, after several seconds the joke clicked in his mind, and a smile spread across his face. "Oh, that's clever." Wordplay had always been interesting, seeing as he grew up being taught to double-talk. "The unsettling feeling makes sense since there are so many stairs. Though in all seriousness, there is one room that would cause you to...reflect on some things about yourself."

Amelia, not being particularly skilled at reading people, or really any kind of social interaction, had no idea what was going through Kuzma's mind at the moment, and simply waited for him to finish talking. A room that caused one to reflect on one's self? Amelia imagined it as a room that was itself imbued with some form of psionic magic, perhaps showing each person who entered some kind of images related to their personality or their memories. Or perhaps it was simply a room with some sort of inherent mind-calming essence to better facilitate mindfulness meditation. But Kuzma hadn't really specified what the room actually was or what it did, and Amelia decided to inquire further. "Please explain," the artificial witch finally responded. "What are the properties of the room you have suggested?"

Kuzma took a moment to think about the best way to explain this particular room, seeing as he mainly had his own experiences to go on. There was no way of knowing what type of being Amelia would create and what effect it would have on her if she were to enter the Alternate Room, but he knew that there was also no reason not to divulge this information. After all, his reflection turned out to be relatively useful. "Well, the best way to describe it is that it makes another version of you when you enter through some sort of magic. Not entirely sure how it determines the personality of the being created, the best I have figured is that it uses a version of the person walking in that had different things happen to them that shaped them. Probably not all it does, but I know mine was a major pain for some time." the Empath explained, leaving out anything nonessential, "To be frank, I think that room is just another method this place has with messing with us."

When Kuzma explained further, Amelia recognized the description he provided as that of the Alternate Room. Although Amelia had never been in there herself, she had heard plenty of things about it from Cressida. Most of them were bad things, primarily due to the fact that Cressida's own reflection was a horrible, evil person who thought she would be best off if everyone were terrified of her, but Amelia had always been curious despite her creator's warnings. She was somewhat wary of going to a place like that, especially with no idea of what kind of person her own reflection would be. Kuzma's suggestion that a person's reflection was a version of you shaped by different events made sense, but Cressida had posited an alternate explanation -- that one's reflection consisted of everything you hated about yourself, or everything you wish you were not. Nevertheless, Amelia was quite willing to enter the Alternate Room if it would make her stronger and help her get better grades. She was loyal to her creator and typically listened to her, but she was loyal to herself first and foremost. Even so, she decided to inquire further. "Explain why you believe that this room, which you also believe to have been created to provoke negative reactions in individuals --" at least, that was what Amelia assumed he meant by 'messing with us' -- "would be the most beneficial location in which we can practice meditation," Amelia requested. It was phrased more as a command, but she tried to use as polite a tone as she could.

The Empath wondered for a moment before understanding the confusion. As for the tone of voice, he ignored since he saw no reason to not clear up the misunderstanding. Sure, if he really wanted to he could try and convince Amelia that the Alternate Room was not that bad, but right now he already agreed to help. "Oh, that was meant as a play on words. I mean, my reflection definitely helped me work through some things due to sharing my memories, but seeing as I do not know what your reflection would be like I would at least warn you to be ready for whatever you find." Kuzma replied, "Oh, and always make sure to know where the exit is. If your reflection leaves while you are in there you are trapped, although it always was mostly empty so in that case, it would not be that terrible to meditate in."

Amelia nodded in understanding -- or at least greater understanding than what she had before, and contemplated what her own reflection might be like. If Kuzma was right, and one's reflection was a version of them shaped by different experiences, Amelia doubted there would be much difference between herself and her reflection at all. After all, it wasn't as though Amelia even had that many experiences yet. Unless it would be a version of her raised by someone other than Cressida? But if Cressida's hypothesis that your reflection was everything you wish you were not was correct, what would Amelia's reflection be like then? There wasn't much that Amelia disliked about herself, apart from the fact that she had to wear a wig because Cressida had not considered it important to give her any kind of hair. But there were certainly things that Amelia tried to hide, both from Cressida and from other people...

She was curious now. "Thank you for your warning and advice," she finally replied. "I will go with you to this room and attempt to meditate there. If it is difficult for us to do so in that room, or our reflections behave in a malevolent manner towards us, we will leave and find a different room in which to meditate. Is this an acceptable arrangement to you?"

"That sounds good," Kuzma replied, glad that he was going there to meditate since that had a higher chance of him not being disturbed, "My reflection will probably be passive towards us, so we will be fine on that front. Come on, I'll lead the way."

As he walked, the Empath realized that this was most likely why he had no notes from the future since it was simple enough to get to the room. Even if he had foreknowledge of the event, he enjoyed experiencing things as they happened, something that the manipulation of time diminishes. While he did have to have his guard up more than normal since he was about to possibly meet his reflection, enough was happening for it to be worth it. If Amelia ends up regretting going to the room, then that is on her, though he would make sure that at least she is not trapped since at least he knew that his reflection would return.

Upon reaching the door, Kuzma pointed to the symbol above it. "Alright, we are here. That symbol means that this door will take us to the Alternate Room," Opening the door and walking in, the Empath turned around, now in a plain looking room, "See, nothing to be afraid of."

Amelia recognized the room as the Alternate Room thanks to the descriptions that Cressida had provided for her in the past. She was glad that Kuzma's reflection would not pose a threat to them, at least. She was actually quite interested to potentially meet him, if it came to that. It would help her understand what factors differentiated a reflection's personality from that of their counterpart. She followed Kuzma into the small, plain room, observing every inch of it as carefully as she could to see if there was any sort of trick or illusion present -- not some sort of spell from Kuzma, who had been quite helpful so far and whom she saw no reason not to trust about this, but something related to the Alternate Room itself. After all, Cressida had warned her that the Alternate Room was dangerous, and in the short span of time that Amelia had actually existed, Cressida had not steered her wrong. Was Cressida's concern about the Alternate Room just because of her own reflection, or was there something else equally as bad there, if not worse?

"How frequently do you visit this location?" Amelia asked in the midst of her observations. If she understood correctly, this room would soon either transform into the realm where the reflections resided, or act as a portal to it. Amelia wasn't quite certain which one it was.

"Oh, every now and again. Not recently though, just haven't seen a reason to." Kuzma said as the surroundings changed into that of a forest. Recently he had been busy with working out his more advanced magic which left him in a state of exhaustion more often than not and the Empath did not want to mess with his reflection in such state. Ouros probably had been just as busy and had not grown bored of the little that the Alternate Room offered. Just to be safe, Kuzma was on high alert, prepared to stop anything tossed in their general direction despite how unlikely that was due to all of the unknown factors present.

"We should be safe for some time, my reflection is not going to show himself."

Amelia watched as the Alternate Room gave way to the Alternate Realm and the forest almost seemed to just appear around the two students. She did not know it, but back when her creator had first entered the Alternate Realm, it had been in the form of a forest as well, even going so far as to mimic a specific real forest. Amelia saw no sign of anyone else around -- not Kuzma's reflection, not Cressida's, and not even her own. If what she knew about the Alternate Realm already was correct, there was now a mirrored Amelia walking around somewhere. Regardless, since no one appeared to be in the area besides Amelia and Kuzma themselves, Amelia decided that this might actually be a good place to meditate after all. "You have selected an acceptable location for meditation," she finally stated. "You have my gratitude. I propose that we attempt mindfulness meditation first, followed by concentration meditation. Please provide your opinion of this arrangement."

Kuzma quickly observed the area to make sure that there would not be anyone to disturb them before giving a satisfied hum. This should work, and nobody outside of the other residents of the Alternate Room would bother them. A slight breeze brushed through his hair for a moment almost like it was seconding the thought. The Empath never really understood how most things worked in the Alternate Room, nor did he really want to.

"Yes, that arrangement will work quite well. Less risk of anyone interfering here." Kuzma said as he found a place to prepare for meditation.

Amelia followed Kuzma to the place he selected for meditation and carefully sat down. "Shall we begin?" she asked, glad that no one else seemed to be around who could possibly interfere with their meditation exercises. She could probably meet her own reflection later on. For now, assignments were the most important thing, and she did not know whether her reflection would be kind or malicious anyway.

Then again, Amelia had her suspicions, and if they were correct, then her reflection was really not someone that most people would want to meet anyway...

Before Kuzma could reply to Amelia's question about starting the exercise, Amelia held up her hand. "Wait," she said. "We must use a small amount of psionic power beforehand in order to complete the assignment properly. I have learned basic telekinesis in the Beginner Telekinesis course. I will pick up a small stick with telekinesis, and then begin meditation. What will you do?"

Unfortunately for Kuzma, he was not in the Beginner Telekinesis course at the moment, so he would have to settle for the next best thing, using his ability to put emotions into an object. He figured that it would still fall into the category of psionic abilities, and if that does technically he had always used such abilities.

"Well, since I can't make things levitate yet, I guess I will simply put some of my emotions into this rock. Since my ability is considered psionic in nature it should suffice." Kuzma stated, picking up a rock and putting a small amount of emotions into it before tossing it aside to prevent the emotions from returning before necessary. Thankfully he used a small enough amount so that he was not exhausted, but he knew that forcing his emotions onto objects affected him differently than the other uses of his ability. "I believe I am ready now."

Amelia was not going to ask how a rock could store emotions. After all, she had met Petrina not long before attempting this assignment, and Petrina was basically a rock with emotions anyway. It was becoming quite easy for Amelia to use her own psionic magic now, even if it was just limited to moving small objects around with telekinesis. Amelia focused on a knobbly stick on the ground with a few leaves still attached to it, blocking out everything else that she considered irrelevant, reaching out with her mind to move it. The stick rose into the air, spun around a bit like an exceptionally awkward pinwheel, and was then flung away from Amelia, where it landed near the emotion-imbued rock that Kuzma had thrown away.

"I, too, am prepared now," Amelia stated, sitting down and taking on the Vairochana meditation position as best she could, making a few allowances for the fact that she was not actually structured quite like a human. She did not wait for Kuzma, though she did assume that he would be joining her in the mindfulness meditation. It was surprisingly easy for Amelia to be both aware of her surroundings and able to observe her thoughts and ideas as they passed, almost like watching fish swim through a clear river while also watching the river itself. She was aware of the forest, of the ground, of the many ideas that passed, organized as always, through her mind... it really did have a calming effect.

Getting into a position that would be beneficial for meditation, the Empath took in his surroundings and only gave a passing thought to his emotions as they settled down. Doing so allowed him to not completely cut himself off from his surroundings while still calming himself and settling his emotions. However, it was difficult to not fully focus on a single thing since he was not used to giving everything equal attention. Eventually, he did get the hang of it and felt his emotions settle, feeling the calming effect that was intended along with a slightly wider range that he felt emotions at since he could vaguely feel Amelia's emotions despite being far enough away for him to not take in any of them. He could also feel the rock that he had previously discarded with the foreign emotions slowly leaking out since he did not bother with putting a barrier around them.

"Are you ready to move on to the next type of meditation?" Kuzma asked after an hour had elapsed, which he felt like was enough for the moment.

Amelia finally looked over at Kuzma and stopped meditating, though she did not get up. In fact, except for the turning of her head, nothing about her pose had changed at all. She nodded in agreement with Kuzma, then turned her head once more in order to exert just a little bit more psionic power. She raised the same stick that she had moved around before, wiggled it around in the air a bit, and promptly dropped it the ground again. She had considered dropping it on Kuzma's head, but she wasn't one for practical jokes, even though her previous attempt at humor had failed.

As Amelia returned to meditating, she focused on a single image this time, no longer simply observing thoughts as her mind wandered. All of her focus had to be poured into this one image. It was a tree, an ancient, gnarled old oak tree that she had seen before near the Beast Studies building. She wasn't sure if it had always been there or if Professor Cressida had accelerated its growth, but she remembered it. It was simple and unchanging enough for her to maintain focus on it, but complex enough that she could study and observe that image. Amelia was a very focused individual. It seemed that, so far, while mindfulness meditation was easier, concentration meditation would be more effective for the way that Amelia used her psionics.

Once he received confirmation from Amelia, the Empath picked up a stick from the ground and filled it with a small amount of emotions just as he had with the rock. After a moment of thought, Kuzma wrapped the emotion tight with a barrier before setting the stick in front of him where he could still feel it and, more importantly, focus on it. Closing his eyes again, he locked on to the stick, picturing it in his head along with the emotions that he put into it and focusing on it with all of his focus.

With the added emotions, it allowed Kuzma to give the stick an added layer that he could focus on and aid with the meditation. Thankfully he made the barrier strong enough for the emotions to stay put and once he realized that he proceeded to closely examine the stick and the emotions contained within as one might observe a lit candle. While he was not paying attention to his own emotions, he assumed that it was working and had to trust that it was, since he imagined that it would be even harder to tell once he started using psionic abilities.

"Well, that went well." Kuzma stated after some time had elapsed while pocketing the stick he had focused on.

"I agree," Amelia finally stated, standing up again, extending her arms past their usual length to help her get up off the ground. "I believe that this is sufficient for our assignment." The Alternate Realm was still in the form of a forest, and did not appear to have changed. Amelia still knew where the exit was. She could still see it, even, next to a beech tree marked with the same carved pentagram symbol that marked the entrance to the Alternate Room through which Amelia and Kuzma had come. No one had entered or left through it. Amelia had not seen her reflection at all, though she had to be somewhere.

Amelia motioned for Kuzma to follow her out of the Alternate Realm and back to the Otherworlde campus. This had been a far more beneficial and far less frightening or dangerous trip than Amelia had thought it would be. She had entered, meditated and left, without encountering anyone else at all besides the student who had come with her to do his assignment too. Perhaps she would even come back at some point. Perhaps Cressida's warnings were not quite as serious as Amelia had thought they were.

But now, somewhere in the Alternate Realm, mAmelia existed...