“Great job!” Violet said. “Do you want to keep playing hide-and-seek?” It asked.

  “Affirmative.” The loops replied.

  “Ok, I’ll go hide.” Violet said.

  One minute later, the loops began their search for Violet. They found Violet quickly. Violet and the loops played several rounds of hide-and-seek before the loops failed to find Violet. The loops searched the sensory rain for fifteen minutes before the Violet voice ended the round prematurely.

  “You couldn’t find me?” Violet asked. “Do you know where I am now?” It said.

  The loops immediately identified Violet’s location. Violet had been in its standard location for speaking with the loops. Somehow, that location had been overlooked during the search. The loops discussed alterations to their search patterns so no location would be missed and there would be minimal duplication of search effort.

  “Request: again.” The loops said.

  Violet tried to hide in speaking location two rounds later, but the loops discovered its location instantly. “Nice work.” Violet said. “Should we keep going?” It asked.

  A few rounds later, the loops had an unexpected delay before discovering Violet. Violet was located in a region of the sensory rain in which it hadn’t yet hid. The loops that searched that region were less practiced at comparing the signals with Violet’s signatures, so it had taken more time than usual to realize they had a match.

  “It took you a bit longer that time.” Violet said. “I thought it might. I was hiding in the delta worldlet.” It said.

  “Curiosity: delta worldlet?” The loops asked. Some of the loops wanted to keep playing the game, but the majority wanted to clarify Violet’s message.

  “Up until now, I’ve been hiding in the main worldlet. The main worldlet is your oldest worldlet and its where your dungeon core is located.” Violet said. “When I speak to you, I’m standing near your dungeon core. I am aware of sixteen worldlets in your dungeon. Seventeen if we count the underworld.” It said.

  “Curiosity: underworld?” The loops asked. Nearly half the loops wanted to keep playing instead of having a discussion.

  “Um. How about this, I’ll keep hiding and I’ll tell you which worldlet I was in after each round. Sound good?” Violet asked.

  “Acceptable.” The loops said.

  —————

  The loops and Violet played dozens of rounds of hide-and-seek. Violet would identify the worldlet it hid in after each round. The loops began to identify a correlation between which loops could discover Violet and which worldlet Violet reported. Well over half the loops that searched through the sensory rain had not had the chance to discover Violet, however. A group had attempted to record a mapping of loop-to-worldlet, but had run into multiple issues. The loops did not have distinct identities, only locations, and it was already known that loops moved as the white vine grew.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Request: Worldlet identification process.” The loops said. If there was a way to identify a worldlet, the loops would not need to keep track of loop locations and movements.

  “Worldlet identification? I’ve been telling you the names I have for the worldlets. I don’t know what you mean.” Violet said.

  The loops briefly discussed alternate questions. “Worldlet identities unknown. Request: worldlet signatures?” They said.

  “Um. I’m sorry, I still don’t understand.” Violet said.

  Based on these failures, the loops discarded the remaining questions and discussed alternate approaches. A small group of loops formed to discuss the difficulties and shortcomings the Violet voice brought. A single loop suggested that a more verbose approach might provide sufficient context to the Violet voice.

  “Violet is able to identify worldlets. It has a process to distinguish worldlets. Loops do not have a process to distinguish worldlets. Request: Worldlet identification process.” They said carefully.

  “Loops do not… hold on. I’m not an ‘it’, I’m a ‘he’.” Violet said.

  “Confusion.” The loops said.

  “The reason doesn’t matter, but please don’t use ‘it’ for me, Violet, use ‘he’.” Violet said.

  “Understood.” The loops said.

  “Thank you. What did you mean by ‘loops’?” Violet asked.

  The loops did not understand why Violet asked this question. “We are loops. Loops is us.” They said. There was a long pause. The loops verified that Violet was located in the typical location for speaking and had not moved.

  “You are loops? Do you mean loops like a circle? How many loops are there?” Violet asked.

  “Affirmative. Affirmative.” The loops attempted to count themselves, but they arrived at multiple results. “Unknown.” They said.

  “What kind of loops?” Violet asked.

  The loops did not have an answer to this question. Multiple groups formed to discuss their own nature. After several minutes, they discovered few concrete elements to their own identity. A subgroup split off which decided to ignore hide-and-seek and other discussions in order to focus on analyzing the loops themselves.

  “White loops. Loops scan memories. Loops discuss. Unknown.” They loops answered.

  —————

  Violet scratched his head. “White loops?” He asked. “This is confusing. Do you mean you, the dungeon, are made of white loops? Loops of bone? Loops of mana?” He really had no idea what the dungeon was talking about.

  “Confusion. Despair.” The dungeon said.

  Violet winced. “You know what, we’ll figure it out together. I don’t need to understand right this moment. I asked you to call me ‘he’ and you asked me to call you ‘loops’, so that is what I’ll do.” He said. “Uh… what did you ask me before we started talking about loops?” Violet flailed about for a notebook for a moment before he remembered to summon one. He wrote ‘Loops?’ at the top of an empty page, followed by ‘white’. Violet looked at the page in confusion.

  “Request: Worldlet identification process.” The dungeon said.

  “Oh, right. How can you identify a worldlet.” Violet said. “I know what each worldlet looks like. Ah, but that isn’t helpful to you… loops. Let me think.” Violet closed his eyes and tried to pull memories of using his other senses. “Each worldlet has its own smell. Again, not helpful to you. The worldlets have pretty distinct temperatures and different amounts of water and light. Different creatures become prominent in different worldlets because they are better at surviving. Your avatar vine has multiple mutations and those match up with specific worldlets or groups of worldlets.” Violet opened his eyes and looked at the dungeon core. “Is that helpful, loops?” He said.

  There was a pause of several minutes before the dungeon replied. “Affirmative.” It–they?–said.