"No. You think I was born yesterday? I know about doing stupid things. I’ve been there,” the Once-ler retorted. He gritted his teeth as Soma squeezed his arm painfully; it only served to confirm his belief that she had wanted to go back and attack Lingormr again.

From down the hall came a roar, followed by a scream. The sudden noise was startling, but the Once-ler kept moving forward, spurred on by Lingormr’s snide commentary. “In a few minutes? We’ll trade places with you now if that’s the case,” he snapped back. Earlier in the night the sound would have given him pause, but having dealt with illusion after illusion, he wasn’t inclined to believe this was any different.

Everything with this man was an illusion, except for when he was actively attacking. He glared at the Lingormr next to him. “You know, this illusion stuff is getting really old!” The Once-ler was getting sick of it.

Spotting the flicker on the wall proved to be the last straw. “Oh, come on! Really?! Fine! If that’s how it’s going to be…” The Once-ler edged closer to the wall to guarantee his contact with it. He could feel his way along the wall. Throwing one last pointed look at Lingormr, the Once-ler turned to face forward and squeezed his eyes shut.