It began with a friend request. Edwardston Resident, deep in the mind abyss, heard the familiar double bell ring. It was a wake up call. He accepted the friendship, and he was back… in VWX Town, emerging from the 97/97/97 7th spire he had disappeared into the day before. But since time didn’t exist in that space — space either, for that matter — well, there wasn’t any *matter* there either. Back to the point: the bell rings woke him up. He had a tangible connection to His Second Lyfe again. And through this reciprocated wake up call, he realized he had another friend: Baker Bloch. For the request did not come from BB, but through it, in checking his friends list, Edwardston realized that his virtual brother was already on it (1st of 2 now), an original or ur friend, as it were. A brother and a friend and more.
And Baker Bloch had decided on something when Edwardston Resident returned to VWX Town. He would be there *in person*. For real this time, and not just a ghost of a former log-in.
Edwardston first visits the main chamber of the Castle of the 7th Spire, encircled by the remaining 6 (and less important) namesake turrets. He chats with a forgotten prioner, saying, “I know how you feel now,” to this object. What happened to him at the 97/97/97 point? It’s similar to asking what happened in Room 237 in The Shining film. It’s like explaining a hypercube to a cat. It might go well, but it will probably just drive the cat to his dinner bowl for needed, replenishing energy. It’s like explaining a gorilla to a chimpanzee.
Baker Bloch has prepared. A *second* Second Life viewer opens, and he looks across a garden space toward the white mist he knows is Edwardston Resident. Baker is disappointed. He never actually *saw* Edwardston in person, even though he managed to finangle a couple of minutes out of this system straining dual perspective. Edwardston always remained a white smoke ghost, as witnessed in this photo.
From *Edwardson’s* perspective, he pretty well saw Baker Bloch as he did the night before: a gray figure except for the bright red armbands. And Edwardston himself looked all wonky — completely wonky. He had bleached blonde hair now instead of the former carrot red, and his outfit was basically black instead of the warm tans and browns of before. He tried to speak but couldn’t think of anything to chat about. It knew it was *super important* that Baker Bloch showed up with him at this time. Baker Bloch, he realized, was making a supreme effort to be here. He was welcoming him back to the land of the virtual living. He was welcoming him to the Other Side of town, the as yet unexplored east side. And telling him: “This is now yours as well. As much yours as mine. Feel free to go anywhere you like. There is no harm to be found here. Explore; enjoy!” Yet he implied all these things silently, with his mere inserted presence at this point in space-time-matter.
Edwardston watched as Baker made some awkward attempts at locomotion, falling unconscious at one point because of the exertion, apparently.
Then he faced the other way, made a weak pointing gesture toward the heart of the village’s east side, and was gone — winked out just like the previous night’s much shorter visit. And I must emphasize that this time, Baker Bloch was *actually here* with him and not a ghost, as before.
Edwardston’s true colors returned just as Baker Bloch disappeared. Edwardston understood that for them to be together like that took a lot of energy, so much so that their actual forms were altered. He did not know that, all through the visit, Baker Bloch never saw Edwardston Resident except as mist. It was obviously not a meeting that could last long.
On his own again, a rejuvenated Edwardston walks happily down the yellow bricked entrance road and into the meat of Rubi’s VWX Town.
He would observe strange things that might have seemed threatening under different, less asssured circumstances.
He sits between contrasting images of a mortal enemy, but can only grin.
It is here, on the top floor of the recently enlarged Confluence Place, that he observed where the end would come.
Sunklands 
