(Story begins here.)
I sat down on the bar stool that Uncle San pointed out to me from behind the counter. Shumei was still standing in the corner, looking at me, though it was more of curiousity than anything else. It was clear that she was just going to observe and not take part in the conversation.
``Okay. But, ah, why are you suddenly speaking in perfect English when you were sounding like a deranged old man earlier?''
``I was?'' Uncle San said, looking a little confused. ``Nah, it must be in your head. Anyway I promised to explain what just happened.''
``Yes...'' I replied, waiting.
``Let's start from the beginning, shall we? We all live in the Material plane, and that's where we are right not, right this instance. Everything you see and do here exist as a part of the Material plane. It's boring, nothing weird happens, basically your regular life.''
I nodded my head. There was nothing new that he had just said.
``But there is another `plane of existence' out there. Coincidentally, that `plane of existence' is in lock-step with our Material plane, which means that things move at roughly the same rate as things that move here. We call this other `plane of existence' the Spectral plane. That's what the great pacifist Axolotl told us.''
`` `The great pacifist Axolotl'? Who's he? Also, if the planes are in lock-step, why is it dangerous to be in the Spectral plane and not in the Material plane. More importantly, why is it that for that moment I ended up in the Spectral plane?''
``I'm getting there,'' Uncle San said, his voice sounding a little tired. ``Be patient, will you?
``Axolotl is one of the beings that exists on the Spectral plane. Though much fewer in number than us, the beings in the Spectral plane possess strange powers that we do not seem to understand how they work. There has been stories that they can create and manipulate types of matter at will, but the way they do it is apparently incomprehensible given our current understanding of Physics. Axolotl is, as I have said, the great pacifist. Unlike the other beings that he described, he was less aggressive, and have the general philosophy of avoiding applying violence as much as possible.''
``And that's why the Spectral plane is dangerous and I cannot be in there?''
``Yes, in some sense,'' Uncle San replied. ``Meeting up with a Spectral being other than Axolotl would have been a terrible problem, because it is likely to attack with impunity, though technically you're never actually completely in the Spectral plane...''
``What do you mean? Didn't you say that I was in the Spectral plane just now before you pulled me back or whatever you called that thing you did?''
``No. I said that you were `sort of' in the Spectral plane. You are one of the people whose Eyes have finally opened. Unlike most cases, people whose Eyes are opened are only really partially in the Spectral plane, or more specifically, only their eyes are actually physically in the Spectral plane. The rest of their body is still more or less in the Material plane, though the percentage of body being in the Material plane varies from person to person.''
``That is freaky. So I'm just a pair of eyeballs floating about in a different `plane of existence'?'' I asked, incredulous.
``Effectively, yes.'' Uncle San sighed. ``This is where things get a little complicated. You will need to learn the conditions in which you will have a tendency to slip in the Spectral plane and learn how to control them so that you don't accidentally do that when you are not intending to do. This will require some getting used to but it is of the most important basic skills that you need to have.''
``Wait, why would I ever want to go back to the Spectral plane if it is as scary as you make it out to be? I have no wish to go back there, not especially if I'm going to meet up with scary things that want to kill me, and am just a pair of floating eye balls.''
``Because there will come a point in time that your ability to use your Eyes will be important for the very survival of our Material plane. Not just your ability, but others who have their Eyes opened as well.''
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