“I don’t want it!” Identity screamed. “I don’t want it without Him!” She screamed again. I stood with Asha before Identity with the Quantum Self.

I knew where I was now. I understood. I finally — at long last — understood.

“I don’t want it without Him!” she screamed, pounding her fists on the wall. Leaning into the stone, she cried.

Tears welled up in my own eyes.

I had nothing to say to her. She was right. Her words reflected every wish and dream of my entire System.

After all this time. After all the silence he gave me. After all the loss and the pain, the growth and the heartbreak… Every time I accessed my Sexuality, that Imp King was at the Core of my Sex.

She cried, until the tears subsided. I silently wiped my tears.

I waited.

“Why,” she whispered. It wasn’t a question.

“Why would we love him this deep and this long if that man wasn’t my King?”

“Because he is,” I said.

“Then where is he?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“What if it’s a Logical Fallacy?” she said. “What if…”

She couldn’t fathom the alternative.

“The Phoenix Cycle,” I said, reminding her.

Her shoulders sank, and she nodded.

“I always thought Freedom was moving where the Sexual whim carried me. But now… I’m looking at the Stages of Intimacy and the Intimacy Journey involved in the Soul.

And now… I see that Sexual Whim only applies to the Stages of Intimacy. And that, only when the Stages of Intimacy are followed according to Natural Law, that Sexual Whim does not at all enter into the Equation. And that the Sexual Whim must follow the Natural Laws of the Stages of Intimacy.

But also… once the Journey of Intimacy has been travelled… you can’t really “get off” of such a Journey. Intimacy really truly never goes away once it’s been walked. Not when it’s True Intimacy. You can’t “Un-know” Someone.”

And how many people do you really walk this road with in a Life Time? One? Maybe Two? It’s the Intimacy Journey. You’re lucky to walk it Once at all with even One Person.”

And while the Sexual Whim does appear — it comes and goes — in the back of my mind, I’m always asking, “Yeah, but what kind of Quality can the Sex be without the Stages of Intimacy? The Quality is just too low to even bother. It isn’t worth it. Like eating artificial food and white bread.

Suddenly. I’ve lost my appetite for such things.”

“And He’s the only one who I’ve walked the Intimacy Journey with,” I said.

Identity looked at me and smiled. The tears still streaking her face.

“Yeah.”

I blinked and was back in the Sage and Lavender Room. My clothes were back on. She was standing across from me, smiling.

“You finally figured it out,” she said.

I nodded. I did. Suddenly realizing the Journey.

“Now,” she said. “Ask.”

I opened my mouth to ask, but couldn’t. I wasn’t sure if I ever did need to ask her anything to begin with after all. I was back in the Micro Self. Thinking.

“Everything is about Sex,” she said. “Except Sex. Sex is about your Identity.”

I nodded. Where do I begin.

“I’m trying to find my people,” I said.

She was shaking her head. “No.” She said.

“What you’re looking for is Stories.” She sat down at the table and invited me to sit across from her. I sat.

“You think those are Humans out there?” she asked. I looked. I knew beyond the Mystical cloud was the bustle of Market I couldn’t hear behind the veil.

She was shaking her head. “They’re Stories,” she said. “They just don’t know it yet. They’ve forgotten. Forgotten how to live. Forgotten how to write. Forgotten how to think… Forgotten how to Dream… Once upon a Time, the Stories were Making Belief when — all at once — they all lost their Memory.

Every single One of them. And they all forgot.”

My mouth was open a bit in shock.

“What happened?” I asked.

She smiled.

“You were there, your Majesty. You tell me.”

I remembered my Imp King. A wish was made. A wish was granted. A Promise to make it all right. A Promise to find you. A flash and then nothing.

“We’re not the Human Race at all,” I said.

“No,” the Oracle said. “You are The Story Race. The question is… are all of you of The Story Race? Or only some of you?”

“I remembered,” I said. “Changelings. We were Changelings. But then we forgot that we’re Changelings.”

“So… What are you really looking for?” she asked.

My shoulders sank.

“I’m trying to find the Stories that match my own.”

“Why?” she asked.

I thought about that.

“Because we’re going to the same place.”

“So what are you really looking for?”

“I’m looking for people who share my Dream and are heading to the same Destination as I. Who have walked the same Road as I.”

“You’re looking for the Stories who are the Same Story as you…”

“What types of Stories are there?” I asked.

“You have the Math. You tell me,” she said.

I thought on this. Easily, I saw the first one.

“Some aren’t even inside a Story,” I said. “Some are in a Story, but uninterested… disinterested…”

I pondered further.

“Some are trying to figure out what’s going on. They’re realizing “It’s not what it seems” and others have tried to figured out it is something different, and this is all they’re interested in. While others are focused on the Story.”

“There you go,” she said.

“Some know their Story. And they’re going. I’m looking for the Stories who are Aware of their own Existence and they’re going, but…” I pondered this further. “Some are passive about their Story. Others are Assertive about their Story.” And there it was. My eyes widened and I figured it out. “I’m looking for the Stories who are Consciously Aware of their own Existence and who are Passionately pursuing their Stories and taking action!”

“Good! Now count them up,” she said.

“Five,” I said. “There are Five Stories total.”

“Some aren’t even inside a Story.”

Some are in Story, but are disinterested…”

Some are trying to figure out what’s going on and are only interested in “figuring it out.”

Some are focused on the Story. They know their Story. They are Aware of their own Existence and they’re going, but… Some are passive about their Story.

Others are Assertive about their Story.”

“Simplify it further,”  she said.

“Either they know, or they don’t know. They have Figured it out. And they care or they don’t care.”

“Simplify,” she said.

“They know and they care.”

“There it is!” she said. “Now tell me who you’re looking for?”

I looked up, suddenly fully aware myself.

“I’m looking for the People who know they are Stories are are passionately in pursuit of their Happily Ever After Ending.”

“Now what’s your Story?” she asked me.

I blinked.

“I’m the Story who Unites the Stories for all the other Stories, and I unite them all into One Grand Volume where we create a World for them.”

“Do you have what you’re looking for?”

I thought on that. Was I ready to go back out to the World? Could I walk up to just anyone and ask, “I’m looking for the People who know they are really Stories and also who are Passionate about pursuing their Happily Ever Afters… Are you them?”

“This might work,” I said. I was willing to try it. “I’m Magic in a Magic-Hating World,” I said. My heart sinking, but only a little. I would become the Story Book Character I needed to be.

I didn’t have time to blink. I was standing outside the Oracle’s tent. The Market was loud and bustling. Did I even go in? I looked around at all the people. Too many seemed oblivious.

I’m looking for the People who know they are really Stories and also who are Passionate about pursuing their Happily Ever Afters.

I searched the faces. Did any one of them know?

It would take the Stories in this World to build the Dream Machine I had planned.