Will didn't know how long he stayed unconscious. Not like it was possible to tell from his surroundings, anyway.

The foggy forest that he had remembered seemed as though it had been drenched in complete darkness; that is, if you ignored the trees. And all the plants, for that matter. They all glowed in dim, pulsating light. Small flecks of light drifted in the air. Once they touched the ground, they promptly blossomed into small, white flowers.

Will didn't know how to describe this place. Over here, it felt like nighttime forever - or perhaps it didn't even have a nighttime. Time seemed so frozen, despite the slight swaying of the grass in the soft breeze. It made Will feel as though a single movement from him would be defying the physics of this world, then causing it to shatter into a million pieces. (Perhaps that would be great, but it also had a great chance of Will not making it out alive.)

Nevertheless, he couldn't stay there forever. Some exploring was due. He leaned forward in his tub, towards the trees.

When he realized his tub was gone.

And his tail.

Gone were the gleaming, golden scales, replaced with human legs. He yelped in alarm (and a whole lot of confusion), flinching backwards. He touched his ears. Quite predictably, his ears that used to spread out like fans flat against the sides of his head were replaced by human ears.

"Up already?"

Will jumped. This place sure had a lot of surprises in store for him.

Turning around, he found himself sitting at the edge of the very pond that had drawn him into the Mist. And in the pond was a small boy, resting his arms on the side of the pond. He had disheveled hair that reminded Will of Nico's, just that it was shorter and completely white. Then Will saw the boy's lower half of pearly white scales plating a long tail.

"You're a leukai siren," Will said, though it was more of a question than an answer. Much more, actually. Weren't they...extinct or something?

"Was," the boy corrected. Then as though reading his mind, he said, "Well, technically, I'm from the past. Just an illusion. Leukai don't exist anymore, of course."

The boy flapped his tail playfully, probably contemplating Will's existence. "What's your name?"

"Will Solace. Yours?"

"That's a secret," he winked, holding a finger to his lips. "I'll tell you if you can complete the little task at hand, though."

"Whoa, wait. Slow down," Will said immediately. (If he was going to die, he should at least know how he went down, right?) "First things first. Am I human now?"

The boy peered at Will curiously, like he was a particularly large-sized ant. "Hmm. I don't supposed you know what the Stygian Iron sword can do, then?"

Will shifted uncomfortably. "Uh...it kills people...?"

The boy giggled. "That's true, I guess. The sword can turn any creature into the species of the wielder with its touch, or a non-fatal wound like a scratch. Well, unless the creature is the species of the wielder, in which the creature turns human. Which is your case!" he finished cheerfully.

"Nico isn't a siren," Will pointed out.

"Maybe he isn't the true wielder of the sword, then."

Will narrowed his eyes. "Wait, you know Nico? Your hair kinda looks like him. Are you his...brother or something? Wait. He only has a sister."

The leukai siren chuckled. "Oh, I know him, alright. I know him pretty well, if I may say so myself. But it's no fun if I tell you why. You'll just have to find out!"

Will growled. This little shit.

The boy pouted at Will's expression. "Well, if I were you, I'd be more thankful. Most people don't even know how to use the sword properly. Remember how I said it only works with a non-fatal wound? Some people think that they have to give up their souls for it. Well, they end up giving their souls for it, because that's too much magic for their puny soul to take. Then they disintegrate into dust. Show some gratitude, yeesh!"

"Thanks for not killing me. I deserve to die for breathing."

The boy snorted. "Whatever. If you want to get out of here, you need to solve the task. And like it or not, you're going to need my help."

"Fantastic," Will muttered. "I love tasks."

The boy ignored him. "See that flower over there?" he said, gesturing to a particularly big white tulip. "Look closer."

Feeling stupid, Will peered at the plant. A face stared back.

"Aaagh!" Will screamed (while mentally noting down: "Pleasant surprise number 3").

When he looked back again, he noticed that the face looked like a reflection in a mirror rather than a real face. Not that he was complaining, of course.

He also noticed that the face seemed to be staring right through him, as though it was just looking for something. Then it disappeared through the left side of the flower, and reappeared in the neighboring flower. Then he realized that these faces were all around the place, living in everything that he could see. It was almost as though the reflections had a world of their own, wrapped inside the world he was in.

"These are the reflections of many different people who have existed, or are to exist, in the world at some point of time. Some of them look like what they were in the past, like me. Some of them look almost like what they are now. The rest look like what they will grow up to be," the boy explained.

It really wasn't helping Will wrap his mind around this concept.

"But there's something special about these reflections," the boy continued. "Over here, one's reflection usually wouldn't be a reflection of oneself. In your reflection, you'll see someone very important or very close to you; quite possibly both. In other words, any of these reflections could be yours."

Will stoned there for nearly 5 minutes, processing the information. At last, he said, "So my task is to find my reflection?"

"Bullseye."

The boy seemed to have the ability to fashion a pond of water that followed him wherever he wanted to go. Will made a mental note to ask Leo to invent something like that later.

Throughout Will's entire journey, the boy stayed by his side. Not saying that Will didn't appreciate his company, though. The dark forest was quite daunting to explore by himself. Sometimes, Will even found the boy a little endearing; but that didn't help the fact that he was mostly an annoying, unhelpful kid. When Will wasn't looking, it was almost as though he wasn't there. He said he was there to help? Will second-guessed that statement too many times to count.

...well, if you discount the time where he was still getting used to his legs and nearly tripped into the boy's pond, where the boy had hastily stuck the sword in the ground for him to lean on. But that was probably because the boy didn't want Will's stupidity to contaminate his waters.

Just to kill time, Will asked him questions along the way.

Will: "What's your name?"

Boy: "I already said, I'm not telling you."

Will: "What do you mean by my reflection usually shouldn't be one of myself? You mean it can be a reflection of myself?"

Boy: "Well, yeah. Special cases like Narcissus, where the person that meant the most to him was himself. But you know how that story ended."

Will: "No, I don't. How did it end?"

Boy: "You're an idiot."

Will: "Gee, thanks. You're an asshole."

Boy: "You're welcome. And aww, your insults flatter me!"

[pause]

Will: "What's your name?"

Boy: "Nice try."

Will: "What's Blackbeard's real name?"

Boy: "Edward Teach."

Will: "How many people are there aboard the Argo II?"

Boy: "10, including you and Festus."

Will: "What's the meaning of life?"

Boy: "Not for you to ask me pointless questions."

Will: "Who wrote my notebook?"

Boy: "Me."

Will stopped abruptly, sputtering. "Wait, what?"

The boy raised his eyebrows at him. "You have really bad hearing for a siren. I wrote your notebook - well, it's mine, actually."

"Who are you, really?"

"William Shakespeare."

"Wait...that's your name?"

The boy stared at him for 5 seconds full. Will had thought he'd almost gotten it, then the boy burst out laughing.

Will also decided he would never understand why he was so funny.