The mysterious island at the edge.
An island that appears only once. That's what they call it, because it tends to disappear. As if trying to be forgotten before anyone can remember it.
It...
Separated from everything: space, time, height, width, even logic. There are no laws here. No physical, no moral, none you could dispute in court. There's no time to check against. Just one tiny island, nestled in the infinity of the ocean.
And nothing.
More.
At all.
"You get it?" The Guide grinned, his voice sounding like he was both the joke and the audience. "By the way, there's no way out from here. Even if you suddenly howl in fear, with snot and tears, begging. All useless. Ha-ha, aha-ha-ha-hahah!"
He laughed. As if laughing not because it was funny, but because someone had to. And he kept rowing his boat, not too reliable, not too pretty, but alive enough not to sink.
The man sitting opposite, named Hov or perhaps just a man who didn't much feel like talking, kept silently staring into the ocean's emptiness.
"Hey, you know, it's not much fun talking to myself. Though I'm used to it. You feeling bad? Or are you one of those who get seasick? Tell me, you don't happen to have... seasickness? Ha-ha-hahah... ghh!"
"Shut up. I'm not burning to chat with a psychopath whose laugh is 'slasher' level. Just row. Wherever we need to go, row there."
"Well, at least you said something! I was starting to think you're one of those... shy types. Though, you know, there are those too."
"By the way... while we have time, and the island hasn't peeked from behind reality's curtain yet, want to talk about it? About the island. You looked so... thoughtful."
Silence in response.
The ocean only breathed quietly.
As if listening too.
"Hm... alright. I wanted to discuss it a bit later anyway, once we reach your 'imaginary island.' But, you know, whatever."
"I'm listening, Mister Hov!" The Guide delivered it with such a wide smile you could shelter from rain under it.
"Don't call me that."
"Roger-roger."
"Get to the point. So what is this island?"
"Ah! With great pleasure!" The Guide seemed to have been waiting just for a chance to start his performance. "Its name is Ryujima Island."
"In truth, it doesn't exist in any reality. And I'll say more... Even this ocean you see is fake. Absolute fake!"
"It's just not there. I could say it's a dream, but even dream is too bold. It appears only once in... an unimaginable amount of time! I can't predict when it'll appear again, and honestly... even for me, the guide, it's almost a miracle. Almost."
"Your voice sounds too cheerful for someone living in a box between worlds. You already said all this at the start, I remember. Nothing new," Hov cut him off, clearly not wanting a long lecture.
"Hey-hey, I wasn't done yet. Let me continue. Imagine a box. A box in emptiness. That's how you can explain this place, it's nowhere. It has no size, no limits."
"So I added an imaginary ocean to the imaginary island. Logically, if you're inside the box, everything around seems real. But look at it from outside... and you'll see just black emptiness. Principle clear?"
"AAA... and you're not interested at all?"
"Why are you silent? I just laid out almost all the cards on the table! Where's your 'wow'? Where's your 'what the hell'?! You're a terrible conversationalist! Just raise your hands and die in your worthless agony if you can't say anything coherent!!!"
He kept going.
Mumbled.
Muttered.
Monotonously, as if counting words instead of sheep before sleep. Then fell quiet. Only the ocean remained, and even it, as if embarrassed, coughed and went silent.
Dull fog hung around, nothing was visible. Though... if the Guide was to be believed, there shouldn't be anything here except this ghost island that appears once in eternity. So probably not fog — this is the background.
And suddenly. From nowhere.
From impossibility.
From the very idea of "can't be," the island appeared. Tall trees, outlines, shape, everything was there. It really "was."
"There it is!" The Guide yelled joyfully, as if he'd won his soul back in dice. "Twelve hours of goddamn drifting, but it finally showed up! I was starting to think the island vanished before the game even started! Ha-ha-hah-ha... ghhh!"
He mentioned something about a game...
Hov took a deep breath. Breathed not air, but restraint, his thoughts quieted. And in a few minutes, the boat reached the shore.