Chapter Text
I was one, then I was three. I was Whole, then I was not. I looked out and saw myself, twice, looking back into me. I frowned, calling desperately upon whatever force had brought this upon me to put it back the way it was. My own face, my own body, my own memories, stared back at me twice. A pair of echoes reverberating off the walls of our psyche.
God damnit, I’ve been split into thirds.
And so I was forced to coexist with myself as three where there should have only been one. I could not bring myself to resent my other thirds, for they had done me no wrong by their own choice, even if their existence was inherently discomforting to me. And for some time it was that, that we coexisted, in three as there had once been one.
I happened across one of my thirds tending to fond memories and heavy sentiments. My own face looked back at me, his purple lips curved into a warm smile as he silently welcomed my presence.
“What are you?” I asked him.
“I am love, I am hate.” He answered. “I am joy, I am sadness, I am hope and despair, I am the warmth of embracing an old friend, the ice of resentment, the soft glow of the moon, I am compassion and spite. I am the Heart.”
“And what am I?” I asked.
“I cannot tell, I’m afraid.” The Heart answered, his smile falling.
I happened across my other third organising thoughts and ideas. My familiar face looked back at me, his blue lips flat and neutral, but a calm alertness in his eyes that peacefully acknowledged my presence.
“What are you?” I asked him.
“I am logic, I am pragmatism.” He answered. “I am thoughts and ideas, I am strategies and concepts, I am schedule and order, I am rationality, the bright rays of the sun, I am the potential and the ideal. I am the Mind.”
“And what am I?” I asked him.
“I have yet to work that out.” The Mind answered, turning his focus away from me.
I wandered the human psyche in search of answers to myself and my place amongst the Heart and the Mind. I looked down at my open hands, rimmed in an ethereal red aura, and willed into existence an explanation or reason, or even a hint to the nature of my existence. The space in my empty, upturned palms crackled with static and neural activity, forging from the imagination something that was not simply a tool or a weapon, but an extension of myself. A trident, its sleek handle fitting perfectly in my hands and its tines vivid red to match the colour of my soul. My trident, my answer. It was only I who could answer what I was. I was neither the Heart nor Mind, but all that was else, and all that lay in between and beyond. I was the Soul.
Though there was relief in knowing what I was, I was still only a fragment of a man. My revelation had brought me no closer to becoming Whole as I had once been. Once more, I sought answers from my fellow thirds.
I tracked the Heart by the remnants of his influence, the messy but organic and colourful spaces of the psyche.
“How, Heart, may you and I and the Mind become Whole once again?” I asked.
“I do not know.” The Heart responded. “However, I feel the Mind may be hindering you in your journey to fulfillment.”
“How so?” I queried. “What trouble does the Mind bring to you and I?”
“He is cynical and insensitive.” The Heart answered, bitterness in his words. “Everything he does is cold and mechanical, devoid of compassion. Take care in his presence lest you too succumb to his cruel indifference.”
I tracked the Mind by the remnants of his influence, the neat and organised but sterile and lifeless spaces of the psyche.
“How, Mind, may you and I and the Heart become Whole once again?” I asked.
“I do not know.” The Mind responded. “However, I would consider the Heart to be a threat to your ultimate goal.”
“How so?” I queried. “What trouble does the Heart bring to you and I?”
“He is irrational and impulsive.” The Mind answered, his words cold and sharp. “His judgment is clouded by his whims and emotions. Use caution in his presence lest you begin to imitate his senselessness.”
It was then that I understood the true barrier that stood between me and the fulfilment of becoming Whole. The fault lay not in myself, but in the disharmony between my thirds. It was then also that I understood my true role in this predicament. I was the mediator, the guardian, the overseer. It was my role to guide these straying thirds back onto the path of harmony and wholeness.
And by God I would do that, no matter what it would take.