Natalie

I couldn't explain how I got the message. Nothing in here made any sense, and nothing had to play by any rules. It's not like I got a message in a bottle, or an email, the message came like an apparition, molding the world around me until I couldn't help but accept it. I'd heard fragments, saw glimpses of Kyra as she was trapped. The world wouldn't let me miss the fact that Kyra was trapped with a man named Tyler, held hostage by Dan, and they were desperate for help.

I was here with a man who loved me, living the perfect life I'd always dreamed of, and I've never felt more alone in my entire life. I'd caught glimpses of the things Dan could do, the way he wielded the dreams powers like he was a god himself.

I spent more than a week mulling over the situation, trying to figure out how I could possibly stand up to him. Every scenario ended the exact same way, myself locked in that same cell, right beside Tyler and Kyra.

I was afraid to talk to Jay about the situation. As real as he was- and he was real. He ran the exact same brain waves I do, he was still made by the simulation, and the more I stared at him, the more I feared what Dan could do. What if he could look into Jay's thoughts? What if he could perfectly recall every conversation I had? Someone as paranoid as him was sure to run surveillance, any one of his dozens of lines of consciousness was sure to investigate the other

real

people in here.

He would have the same control over Jay that I do. That's a thought that terrified me.

I loved Jay. I still do, with all my heart, but while I was in here, I was trapped just like Kyra and Tyler, and I couldn't trust him.

The only people I could trust were the

real

people. That didn't leave me with much. Brynlee was doing her best to block out existence, working through drugs and sex to stop herself from having a single thought before they turned to existential dread and panic. Juliet was a hermit, completely isolated from the rest of us, and Kyra wouldn't be any help from the other side of Dan's prison.

I sat in my kitchen, opposite my husband, the love of my life, and had the hardest conversation I've ever had. "I don't have a choice," I said.

I knew I could make him forget. I knew I could make him move on, not care about the fact I exist in the first place, but I

wanted

to feel this. I

needed

the raw emotions, the things that made this perfect illusion feel so real.

"But I can't stay here any longer," I said. I kept my eyes locked on his, "I have to leave. Or try to at least. Real people are getting hurt."

He took my hand, and met my eyes with sadness.

"And I can't ask you to help," I gasped. The thought hurt worse than any goodbye. It was one thing to leave him, another to stare at the man I love and tell him outright I couldn't trust him. It's not his fault he was born the way he was, inorganic.

I felt like I was throwing rocks at a puppy to make him go away. He didn't deserve the hate, the vitriol. He didn't deserve to be abandoned by the woman he loved.

"I love you," I said crying, "I won't ever stop loving you. But Kyra needs me, and I don't have a choice."

Leaving my house was the hardest thing I've ever done. I wanted to turn around, sprint back inside, throw my arms around him and shower him with love and kisses. I wanted to cuddle up next to him and watch our favorite movies, indulge in each other's warmth.

Brynlee,

I forced myself to think. She was my best bet. At the very least, she wanted out, and if I could sober her up and peel her away from her sexual deviancy, she'd be willing to help.

I found her getting gangbanged. I didn't know what drugs she was on, but her eyes wouldn't focus, and she could barely recognize I was there. I peeled her back and tried to make her see sense.

She was so far gone, she couldn't tell her fantasies from reality. She thought I was just another one of her sex toys, a bimbo to help her forget her dread. She tried to kiss me, she cupped her hands around my pubis-

God,

I sniffled. I tried to fight the thought, Brynlee or not, that might be the last time anyone ever touched my vagina.

I couldn't let doubt creep in, not with stakes this high.

I did everything I could to sober her up. I magicked a fresh set of clothes on her, and built a room for her to recover. I watched and waited, every tick of the clock agonizingly slow.

It took until the next morning for her to be awake enough to realize who I was, and she wasn't in the process of shutting off her brain.

Her eyes were red and her hair was sticky with sweat and cum, bedraggled and knotted. She stared at me, her mouth hanging open, as she tried to make sense of the situation.

"Tyler, the man who's trapped," I explained, "He's real, and he was supposed to get us out. If we can beat Dan-"

She finished for me, "We get to wake up."

"But if we lose," I stressed, "Then we're prisoners too. Just like Kyra and Tyler, and we'd be hopeless. It might be millenia before we get out."

Brynlee took a long drink of coffee, still trying to stop the headache, "Do you think Juliet will help?"

I shook my head, "Can't hurt to ask."

She scoffed, "She could tell Dan, fight on his side."

"She's a good person," I said. I had to believe that, "If she knew Kyra was trapped, it doesn't matter how happy she is in here, she'll help."

It took us another day to find Juliet, and fortunately, Juliet is a good person. We explained everything we knew, how Dan seized control, and how he'd locked up any chance of escape. We told her how Dan split his mind into a thousand pieces, how he'd built up a fortress to protect his immortality.

"But they're humans," Juliet said, agreeing, "Real humans."

"And they need out help," I said.

Juliet didn't hesitate.

The three of us were ready to take down Dan, but not a single one of us had any idea what we were about to walk into.

We met a few miles from Dan's prison, and he wasn't hiding his tyranny anymore. There were dozens of him, lined up all around the prison walls, walking the parapets like guards. He was armed with guns that didn't shoot bullets. They were sadistic devices of his own design, ones that would inflict the max amount of pain the simulation would allow if it hit you. He'd designed a torture gun, a clear deterrent to keep us far away.

"How did he-" Juliet muttered. Her eyes were scanning all of him, the countless replicas that defended his prison, "How did he split his soul like that?"

The stakes were too high, and we couldn't afford to hesitate.

"No one knows," I said, "He thinks he's a god, but now you guys know what we're up against. He's not gonna let us in easy."

"We could build an army," Brynlee tried, but I shot her down. It was the same thing as bringing Jay. If we could control someone, so could Dan.

I looked between them, absolutely certain, "It has to be us."

"So there's two things," Juliet reasoned, "We need to make sure Dan's out of our way, and we need to figure out how to break the prison."

I nodded in agreement.

"But once we're past those walls, we have no idea what's waiting for us," Juliet said, "We can't plan at all."

Brynlee and I shared a glance, but didn't have anything to add. It was the truth. No matter what, we were walking in blind.

"So we just need to wing it," Brynlee sighed.

"Use our imagination."

"I might," Juliet started, "I might have something. At the very least, I'll keep him distracted."

Juliet didn't need to explain herself. She was already growing taller, her body expanding hundreds of feet into the air.

"He'll notice me," she said. She tried to whisper, but her voice boomed and rolled across the dream, "Be ready."

Juliet started to sprint. She was a giantess, as tall as any skyscraper I'd ever seen. She pumped her arms and gained speed, as she spiraled towards Dan's compound.

An alarm started blaring. More versions of Dan started replicating, separating from himself like amoebas. They drew their weapons and took sight on the easiest target they'd ever get.

"Now!" I screamed.

It didn't matter how many versions of Dan there were; each and every one of them was focused on Juliet. She lurched forward and swung her arm in a swooping arc, digging through the concrete and sending the guards flying. She roared in pain, but there was too much of her, with too much momentum to slow down. She crashed forward, kicking through the concrete like a nuclear bomb.

I could hear Brynlee coughing through the thick clouds of dust, both our eyes watering. "Which ones the real him?"

A guard heard. He turned and held me in his sights, but I was ready for him. I imagined a javelin, launching through the air and impaling him in the shoulder. He flew from where he stood and toppled over the balcony, spinning as he fell.

"I don't know!" I screamed.

Brynlee was pulling weapons as fast as she could imagine them. A laser pistol that burned holes clear through the guards and dusted the concrete, a bomb that created a vortex of hellish wind that sucked whatever it touched into an icy void.

Juliet had caught her balance. She took a few stumbling steps back from the prison, still grunting in agony, but she was charging again, her monstrous form throwing an impossible force against the building.

More and more versions of Dan started spilling over the balcony. He was replicating himself as fast as he could, splitting his consciousness dangerously thin.

"This only ends one way!" they screamed. Hundreds of his voice worked in unison, expertly coordinated. Brynlee lunged behind me, stopping a knife that nearly found the small of my back. I turned quick, forcing a concussive blast that took a few dozen guards off their feet.

"IF YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE, THEN I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICE!"

Juliet reached forward. She toppled a half dozen versions of him and wrapped her fist around the last. She held him and hurled him as hard as she could, flinging him across the skyline.

"YOU'RE JUST GONNA BE ANOTHER PRISONER!" Dan screamed.

I grabbed a version of him by the arms and sprinted forward. Shots ricocheted off my human shield before I threw him into another.

"We already are!" Brynlee screamed. She landed beside me, a pair of bodies crumpled at each shoulder.

The only answer he gave was a laugh, a deep roaring laugh that seemed to encompass our entire reality. "Don't you get it? I am the machine! I'm building the prison faster than you could ever destroy it, I'm fracturing my mind faster than you could ever hope to kill me."

He wasn't wrong. The prison was already reforming. The dust and blood settled, and the concrete walls were back, completely untouched.

Juliet threw another demolishing punch, as Brynlee limped beside me, keeled over and out of breath. "What do we do? We can't even get in?"

All the versions of Dan were starting to reform around us. They snapped into place like ghostly apparitions, the joints moving on their own, the necks rolling and clicking into position. He looked demonic.

Even Juliet was starting to slow down. Her form was so massive, she already looked like she was moving in slow motion, but now she was drenched in sweat and coated with rubble. She'd been shot so many times her face was frozen in agony. Every movement hurt and ached.

"Face us!" I tried, a foolish attempt.

Dan didn't give any response other than doubling down his efforts. Fireballs started raining down from the sky, singing my clothing and turning my skin bright red.

I'd never wanted Jay by my side more in my entire life. The three of us were surrounded, hopelessly outnumbered. Even if each version of Dan was a fraction of his brain power, they all had the same powers.

"We can't," Brynlee whimpered, "We can't beat him."

I tried to let myself get more creative. I imagined a burst of raw energy, emanating in every direction. I saw a thousand pinpoints of white hot lasers pierce through every version of Dan. I imagined him burning down to the ashes.

"He's still just one man!" I screamed, "Use your imagination!"

The smugness seemed to fall off Dan's face. He hadn't expected that much raw energy, but I knew I wouldn't be able to catch him off guard twice in a row.

I needed my friends for that.

"Ice cream!" Brynlee screamed, "That melts right?"

She threw her hands forward, all her energy in a single blast. The ice cream sprouted from the side of the prison and roared across the concrete, turning it like a fire through dry leaves.

Juliet threw her hands high into the air. Swirls of water, an entire sea rose behind her, and danced, playfully awaiting her command.

Her hands shot forward and a tidal wave spaced into the side of the building, rushing through the concrete and ice cream.

"Mines!" I screamed. I tried to remember what they looked like from a history class forever ago, and dotted them across Juliet's rogue wave. Explosions rocked the air, taking hundreds of chunks of concrete.

The Dan-guards were sprinting, trying to restore the building as fast as they could. Only a few turned towards us, but we were having too much fun brain storming to let them do any real damage. I imagined tentacles sprouting from the swirling sea, grabbing them and wrenching them under the surface. I wrapped kite strings around their middle and watched as they swirled, higher and higher, disappearing into the sky.

Juliet kicked her way through the rubble. Every twist of her ankle caused a new tsunami and scattered dozens of guards.

Brynlee shot a wall of laser beams, straight out of a video game.

I put all my force into fire and fury, intense winds that wrapped anything that moved in a fiery vortex.

Then we heard the banging.

Then the shouts.

We pushed further, each of us straining to imbue as much power as possible in every blast.

"We got past the guards!" the voice yelled. The pounding rang again, knocking against a great bronze door, "Get us out of here!"

Dan kept reforming. He clawed his way through the water, and fire and dust, rising from the ashes like a phoenix. He was trying to beat us to the door.

I started sprinting. Brynlee was only a single beat behind, and Juliet turned, throwing as much suppressive fire as possible.

The walls between us and the door started to reform, but I blasted them aside. Brynlee held her hand out and carved through the last of the guards.

"Kyra!" I yelled. I reached the door and matched their pounding, banging from the other side.

I tried the handle, then tried to melt my way through the door.

A version of Dan limped to his feet behind me, coughing. I turned and threw pure energy at him, catching him in the middle. He fell and coughed, but when he looked back up, he wore a bloody grin.

"You think I didn't know you'd find out?" he laughed, coughing blood, "You think I didn't know I was outnumbered? I imagined something that couldn't be beaten with raw power, a door that only opened if I wanted it."

He laughed, as blood ran down his chin, "It was a good try though, Nathan."

I couldn't stop my arm. I flung all my power towards him, still coated in sweat, and watched as he fell to ash, completely eviscerated.

Brynlee was already back towards the door, "Kyra!"

She pounded and tried everything I'd already done.

Meanwhile, Kyra was piecing everything together. "That... that wasn't him was it?" she asked.

I could barely hear her muffled voice through the door.

"That was just a program- the same any one of us could make."

She gave Tyler a quick nod and glanced towards the door. "I've seen his face a thousand times, every fucking day since I've been in here," she said, "And he's underestimated me for the last time."

Kyra hadn't ever been able to replicate Benji's form. To her, it'd been years since she'd seen the love of her life, but Dan made the mistake of showing off his smug smile very minute of every day.

A version of Dan spilled through the door, Kyra and Tyler in his wake.

"NOOOOOO!" Dan roared.

The remains of the prison erupted, like an earthquake and a thousand explosions went off all at once.

A demonic form rose, a million different Dan's fading into a massive being, towering over us.

I caught Kyra, wheezing and breathless. She fell into my arms, and tried to keep herself from crying.

"We don't have time!" Brynlee screamed.

Tornadoes were forming all around us. Massive nets were shooting down from the sky. Dan was trying as hard as he could to capture us.

We dove, barely avoided getting smashed, and landed haphazardly. Juliet was sprinting towards the fiery demon, with thousands of ghostly souls swirling around his form, Dan's mind completely shattered.

"It's me he wants!" Tyler screamed, "I'm the only one that can get us out!"

A boulder spiraled from the sky, falling so fast, the air around it turned red, burning through the sky like an asteroid.

"I need to get to the center of the simulation," he yelled, "I'm the key!"

I looked towards the sky, frantically trying to dodge anything else Dan threw our way. Juliet was trading blows with the man, punching clear through his ghostly form, spewing flames around her knuckles.

I made my voice amplified, and made sure she heard, "Keep him busy!"

Brynlee was already imagining an armored truck. I threw Tyler forward, protecting him like he was the president, and we started swerving through the wreckage.

We rocked and swirled, hitting every bump and jostling threw the air.

Juliet was fighting valiantly, but she was just one person, and Dan was already beginning to separate around us. Trucks started forming from the earth, matching our speed and closing us in.

I threw my hands forward, and willed the earth into the air. We drove across the sky, following a track I laid down as fast as we could move.

"Which way?" I screamed.

Something slammed into the back of our truck, shooting us forward. We rocked and pressed against our seat belts, for a moment driving on our front wheels only. The glass shattered, and an explosion found out back tire.

Tyler's eyes were wide with panic as he tried to take everything in. "How should I know?" he screamed, "Use your imagination!"

I let the ramp back towards the earth, as we fishtailed through smoke and wreckage. Brynlee's brow was coated in sweat as she tried to focus through the smoke and ash.

Dan was behind us, thundering after us, one arm pulling in front of the other. Juliet was chasing, but there was only so much she could do to slow him down.

Imagination,

I thought,

just use your imagination.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture a beacon, a glowing white obelisk that led us towards the direct center-

"THERE!" Tyler screamed.

Brynlee wrenched the wheel, and bobbled us off a road. We drove through half formed ideas none of us had ever bothered to clean up. We passed through farms, the backgrounds from our fantasies, or cities we'd never gotten around to finishing.

We smashed through the wreckage, and Dan brought the flames. A firestorm was tearing after us and he kept clawing, closer and closer.

Brynlee's knuckles were pure white as she gripped the steering wheel. Her foot was flush with the floor, and I kept trying to imagine the truck going just a little bit faster.

The world outside was a blur, whizzing past at impossible speeds. The explosions were constant and deafening, swirling into a single buzz that never went away.

All the while, the obelisk kept getting closer.

Tyler braced against the head rest, his eyes wide.

Brynlee swerved to dodge a fireball.

Dan clawed after us, tearing his way through dirt and rubble.

Juliet threw a sword, tearing threw Dan's demon.

The obelisk kept getting closer.

We were under a shimmering tower, almost imperceptible. It wasn't meant to be noticed by anyone other than a worker. It bent through the light, and perfectly blended with the sky.