The antelope woman’s name was Seffu. Marke had seen her name on her name tag, but no one had used his name since he arrived here and it just seemed awkward to use names with strangers who you only interacted with for a few minutes. Marke introduced himself, which seemed to be the way people gave permission to use their name. He nearly gave her his real name, but a reminder from Kente stopped him.


    Seffu led Marke to a concession stand that carried items that had previously been too high a level for Marke. She ordered something and asked for “a table”. Marke ordered a sandwich and a water, then followed Seffu around the back of the stand. She opened a hatch and slid down a ladder into an underground area. Marke dropped down and looked around to see a series of restaurant booths, lit by dim light bulbs.


    “Wow.” Marke said. He was feeling overwhelmed by yet another revelation of a new ‘something’ in this realm. They sat together at a booth and Marke took his time savoring his slightly stale sandwich and plastic-flavored water. When he finished, he let out a big sigh of satisfaction. Seffu laughed.


    “I think I reacted the same way when I got something other than blood soda for the first time.” She said. “Now, teach me about meditation.”


    Marke nodded. “Ok. Do you know anything about meditation?” The antelope woman shook her head, so Marke started at the beginning. “Meditation is a mechanism to achieve a certain kind of mental state. People often think meditation is about emptying your mind of all thoughts, but I think its more correct to say you focus on ‘no thoughts’. It is possible to meditate on ‘something’, in fact I think the buffalo person took my advice to meditate on the nature of their soul.” Marke stopped. He was rambling. He was certain he should be able to think more clearly than this and organize his thoughts.


    Marke looked up at a freshly skeptical Seffu. “Hold on, I will demonstrate then explain what I did. Watch my name tag.” Marke closed his eyes and evened his breathing. Instead of moving directly to the shadow sea, he gradually let his thoughts clear up. He pulled one thought about the nature of his soul to the front of his mind and made it the focus of his meditation. He felt the thought swell to fill his mind. He opened his eyes to see the shadow sea. Kente was there, waiting for him.


    “Hey stranger.” Kente said.


    Marke grinned. He reached down and pulled his name tag off his chest. He pulled it open just to check his status.


    <code>NAME: Priority Three Priority Four


    LEVEL: 5


    EXPERIENCE: 1/500


    TICKETS: 250


    DEATHS: 0


    HP: 14


    MP: 14


    STR: 14


    DEX: 14


    INT: 14


    CHR: 14</code>The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Marke placed the name tag back on his chest, gave Kente a cheeky salute, and left the shadow sea. He opened his eyes back in the booth with Seffu. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at his name tag. Marke glanced down just to check it was still there and normal. “Oops!” Marke said. His name tag was the wrong size again. He closed his eyes to get back to the shadow sea. He resurfaced in the booth after fixing the size of the name tag. “Sorry about that.” Marke said.


    “Explain. Explain!” Seffu asked desperately.


    Marke described the normal process of meditation, then how he pulled the thought about the nature of his soul to the front and let it fill his mind. Seffu gave it a try while Marke watched. Nothing happened. Marke tried playing the role of the “calming voice” that told her to “Acknowledge the thoughts and let them go”. Nothing happened again.


    Seffu opened her eyes and glared at Marke. “This isn’t working.” She said.


    Tell her to focus on the feeling she feels when someone checks her level. The name tag is weakly connected to the soul and I think the feeling occurs at the connection point. Kente piped up in Marke’s mind.


    Marke licked his lips nervously and tried one more time. “The name tag is only weakly connected to your soul.” He said. “You feel a tickle when someone checks your level, right? That feeling probably marks the connection point between the tag and the soul. Maybe if you meditate on that feeling, it can lead you to your soul.” Marke really hopped this worked. He didn’t want to give Seffu’s tickets back or fight his way out of the underground restaurant.


    Seffu slowly closed her eyes and tried again. Marke considered making a break for it while she wasn’t looking. After a minute, Seffu spoke. “Scan my name tag.” She said.


    “Uh.” Marke said. “We just had a conversation about that-” He said.


    “Do it.” Seffu commanded without opening her eyes.


    Marke shrugged and focused on Seffu’s name tag. The text shifted to read “Level 7”. Marke stopped focusing on her name tag and the text reverted to “Seffu”.


    “Again.” Seffu commanded. Marke scanned her name tag again. Seffu told him to scan her name tag fifteen more times. Marke was getting pretty sick of it and very bored when Seffu gasped. Her name tag disappeared.


    “You did it!” Marke said.


    Seffu opened her eyes and looked at her chest. “I did it? I didn’t see anything. How do I get it back?” She asked.


    Marke shrugged. “Do it in reverse, I guess.”


    Seffu glared again. “I suppose it’s just that simple, is it?” She said.


    “It is for me.” Marke said.


    It took Seffu three more times of Marke scanning her name tag before she got her name tag back. “I still didn’t see anything.” Seffu said. “How do I see the ‘stats’?”


    Marke shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe you need to build up a mental area where you can visualize the connection and the name tag. I got mine in a weird way, so I can’t tell you how to do that.” Marke smiled. “But hey, you already got your name tag to disappear and reappear, that’s great!” He said. Seffu didn’t look completely convinced, but she nodded her head in agreement.