The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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After some consideration Arnold pulled out a book entitled "Dexter".

"What tales do dead men tell, I wonder?" he mused to himself.

"What makes you so sure the book is even here at all?" he read. "Or that it exists in the first place."

"Ah, it's ghostwritten, I see."

"Very funny. Consider this. We Gentlemen are not limited to three dimensions. How, then, could anything be hidden from us, yet accessible to the contestants?"

"A very good question."

"There is literally nowhere on the physical plane that we cannot look. The Director can create strong enough barriers to keep us out, but they would be highly noticeable."

Arnold suddenly smirked. "But there are other planes we cannot access."

"True. There are two known planes that were beyond my own reach when I was alive. The spirit plane, and the realm between dimensions. We know the Director has access to the latter that we ourselves do not."

"But gaining that access is largely a matter of knowledge, not ability."

"And this library is filled with knowledge, if one can sort through the lies concealing it - which we, or at least you, are clearly capable of. If the book were hidden between dimensions, then for our purposes, it might as well be hidden here."

"Which suggests the spirit plane is the key."

"It seems plausible. The spirit plane is barely understood - of all the beings involved with this contest, only the demon seemed to possess any understanding of it. In all the worlds, far less is written of the spirit world than of the space between dimensions."

"And if the Director knows anything special, he wouldn't write it down."

"Precisely. Of course, he could also hide it on some plane that absolutely nobody else even suspects to exist, but there's not a lot we could do in that case, is there?"

"No. Let's discount that possibility for the moment and focus on the spirit plane."

"Yes. If the real book is on the spirit plane, then any physical book would be a decoy - or, perhaps, it has been separated from its spiritual counterpart and rendered meaningless. In either case, it will be of little use."

"So we need someone - or something - capable of exploring the spirit plane."

"And any object or being produced by a book would be suspect in that regard. Any information it gave you would likely be illusory."

"But, there is another way to gain access. One which, I believe, has worked before."

"Eximo. Yes, if you reproduce the healing crystal with the aid of a book... its healing effect would drive the spirits out of Eximo and onto the true spirit plane. It might yet discover the Director's book that way."

"Thanks. You've been a big help."

"Me? You've been having a conversation with yourself this whole time. You're just altering what's in here to help you sort through your thoughts."

"And it's been a big help." He deleted his 'notes' and put the biographies back. It would be safe enough to let Aeon see them now.