I tried to speak, but for a moment the words didn't come out, and I froze.
"What do you mean by *we'll die together*?"
Terence looked at me with a thoughtful expression, as if he were choosing the right words. Then he sighed and turned toward the white sphere in front of us.
"As with everything else, I'm not completely sure," he said. "But after a year spent in here, I've had a lot of time to reflect and I've developed some theories. One seems closest to the truth."
He pointed at the sphere.
"At first, I thought this was simply your soul, your essence… or whatever name you want to give it."
I stepped closer and observed the luminous surface more carefully. It was perfectly smooth and pulsed slowly, emitting a soft white light.
"But after looking at it closely," Terence continued, "I noticed something strange."
He turned to face me.
"And I came to the conclusion that this sphere is not just your soul."
I furrowed my brow.
"What do you mean? Then what is it?"
Terence smiled faintly.
"It's your soul… and mine as well."
For a moment, I didn't understand what he meant.
"What do you mean *yours as well*?"
He pointed at the sphere with a finger.
"Look more closely."
I moved even closer. At first, I didn't see anything unusual. Then, slowly, I noticed a very thin line running across the surface—not an actual crack, but a mark as if two halves were slowly merging.
"When I opened my eyes for the first time in this space," Terence explained, "that line was much more evident. It was as if the sphere were made of two separate halves."
My heart began to beat faster.
"And now?"
"Now, as you can see, that dividing line has almost completely disappeared."
A shiver ran down my spine.
"You're saying that…"
Terence nodded.
"If my theory is correct and those really are our souls… then it seems they are merging."
There was a heavy silence between us.
"And when the fusion is complete," he continued with surprising calm, "the existences known as Kian and Terence will probably cease to exist separately. That's the conclusion I've reached."
"We'll disappear…?" I asked, my heart racing.
"Not completely," Terence replied, pointing at the sphere. "Think of the fusion as a new organism: the forms of Kian and Terence will cease to exist independently, but the traits of both will continue to be present in the new entity."
I remained confused.
"What traits?"
"Our experiences, personality traits, even our emotions. It's as if we're learning from each other, only at a deeper level. The new consciousness will be something unique: different from us, but composed of both."
He reached out toward the sphere.
"When all this is finished, we will be reborn. Not as Kian, not as Terence, but as something that is both at the same time. It's like a process of… metamorphosis."
I stayed silent. My mind struggled to grasp the idea: a new life that was neither mine nor Terence's, but both together. It seemed like a concept too complex to comprehend.
"So… we won't completely die?" I asked uncertainly.
Terence smiled faintly.
"No, I think the term 'death' isn't accurate. A more correct way to refer to what is happening to us is… a kind of rebirth."
I felt strangely relieved. Even though the concept was hard to grasp, the term "rebirth" seemed far less unsettling than "death."
"Aren't you afraid… of disappearing?" I asked.
For a moment, his smile faded slightly.
"Well… I've already died once."
He said it with a calmness that left me astonished.
"And then," he continued, looking around the void, "after a whole year in this place… anything would be better. You, inside that base, were at your limit, but I was also close to my breaking point. If you hadn't arrived in time, you probably would have found a Terence much crazier and far less pleasant than me."
Then he added thoughtfully:
"Besides, it's only one of my theories. We don't know exactly what will happen."
He started counting on his fingers.
"Maybe one of us will absorb the other."
He raised one finger.
"Maybe we'll both disappear and a new consciousness will emerge with no memory of our previous lives."
Second finger.
"Maybe both our existences will continue and we'll split the body."
Third finger.
"Maybe we'll become beautiful gods with a toga and a comfortable armchair on a Greek mountain, surrounded by maidens."
Fourth finger.
"Or… something much simpler… we'll explode and have no existential problems about who I am, what I am, why I exist. Honestly, that's my favorite theory."
Fifth finger.
Then he lowered his hand.
"In any case… there's not much we can do."
His words made me clench my fists.
"Then let's stop it."
Terence raised an eyebrow.
"Stop it?"
"Yes. If our souls are merging, I think we can prevent it. They're ours, so we should be able to do something."
He stayed silent for a moment, then shook his head slowly.
"I've already tried, but I'm afraid it's too late."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"The process started a long time ago, long before you arrived here… maybe even before I regained consciousness."
"How do you know?"
Terence smiled faintly.
"Didn't you notice anything strange? From my point of view, the signals were pretty obvious."
"Like what?"
With an amused expression, Terence blinked.
"For example… do you know what *science* is and do you know a *gorilla*?"
I was confused.
"And?"
"Kian… I've been observing you for a year and I've never heard anyone talk about science, and where would you have seen a gorilla if you've never left your village? I'm not even sure they exist in your world."
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
"And there's one more thing…" he continued, hesitating. "…don't take this as an insult."
"What?"
"Well… you're too smart for a ten-year-old. I mean, does it seem normal to learn to read and write on your own using a half-destroyed book? All in just a few weeks?"
His words left me momentarily confused. It was a compliment… so why did I feel insulted??
"In my opinion," Terence continued, ignoring my inner turmoil, "all of this is a consequence of the process that is merging our souls. Our existences are slowly blending."
I remained silent. The words, thoughts, the things I knew… everything was changing inside me.
And strangely, I didn't feel repulsion.
With everything that had happened in the real world, it didn't seem so bad. Maybe I was just naive or didn't understand the full scope of what was happening.
"Then it's fine."
Terence sighed, then paused and looked at me, astonished.
"You just said it's fine?"
I nodded.
"Yes. It's strange, it should be scary, but you're right: we're not dying, we're being reborn. I've seen what death is… the old man… he won't return, but we are just… changing."
Terence stared at me and then smiled.
"Exactly! I don't know how much I've changed since I arrived here, nor what we will become. But I feel that, in some way, we will continue to exist, just in a different form. And if in the end we explode… so be it."
He was still speaking when the sphere trembled.
The thin cracks on its surface began slowly closing. The line that separated the two halves became smaller and smaller.
"Well…" said Terence.
"The timing is perfect."
The light of the sphere suddenly intensified, then became blinding.
"Kian… it was nice talking to you and…"
he murmured, his voice growing distant.
"…I think this is goodbye."
The last thing I saw was the sphere completely smooth.
Perfect.
Then a white light engulfed everything.