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Zenith

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The trip back to Lemm is even more quiet and boring than the trip out to the colony site. Our hosts, the scavengers, are somewhat pissed. Nearly none of the materials left in the corpse of a village could be saved. The entire trip was a bust for them.

With that mood hanging over the caravan we make the trip back in a few days. This time we aren’t held up at the gate either, it just swings open for our arachnid. We ride the wagon part of the way through the city before jumping off and heading for the castle. For the second time in so many weeks Mire and I approach the gaudy stone building. Eaik and Immb aren’t here, but the guards let us through immediately. Things are going much smoother this time… odd.

Eventually we reach the throne room, giant scale in tow. The king is already seated in the high up seat, looking down at us.

“So, ‘umans, have you come back to admit your crimes?” The man’s fat jiggles as he gesticulates with his short arms.

“No, your Highness, we have brought the proof you asked for.” I kick the scale with my stronger self, sending the hexagon spinning across the room. Eventually it slows and falls on its back, exposing the crudely carved skull to the room.

“What is this, ‘umans?” His dark eyes flicker between the two of me.

“It is the scale of the one responsible for what happened to your colony. We spoke to the beast, and it said to stay away from it. It wants no intruders into its lands.” My male self manages to get out the long string of words while still sounding confident. I’m getting better.

Black beads of fury rest in the king's eye sockets. He starts to bellow. “Some monster?! You say a monster told me what to do? How dare it!” Without another word the royal newt disappears in a shimmer of magic.

Mire glances at me and I just shrug. The King is probably going to do something stupid, but not our problem really. I walk out of the suddenly empty throne room, wondering where all the guards went. As we pass out of the gates two familiar shapes run up to us.

“Immb, Eaik, what's going on?” My voice comes out of both bodies. Oops. The two muuts are too tired to notice my slip-up.

“The king is sending us to fight a monster, the one that destroyed the colony.” Immb says between gasps.

My hearts freeze. I don’t care what happens to the stupid king, but these two… I’m fond of them, I don’t want their children clogging an orphanage somewhere.

“You two, don’t go. I don’t know how you’d get out of it, but we just came back from there. The monster is on par with an adult dragon, maybe even more powerful.” My voice tries to be gentle, but the fear creeps in.

The duo start to lose the color in their faces. “You mean, ‘e wants us to fight a dragon?” Eaik’s voice cracks. I nod solemnly.

Immb looks towards Eaik. “What do we do, lilypad?” The two look each other in the eyes, communicating with just looks. Eventually the two of them come up with something.

Eaik looks up at me. “I ‘ate to do it, but we’ll take the kids and run back to my parents. They live two swamps over, so we should be able to get there safely.” She sighs. “We can’t stay ‘ere, in case that creature takes revenge on the town after the king attacks it.” I nod at her wisdom.

Immb speaks up. “I suggest you three leave as well, things will get messy ‘ere very soon.”

A thought jumps into my mind. “Dammit, how are we going to get home? No way they'll let carriages or wagons out now.” I glance over to Mire.

The shade rubs his hairless chin. “Well, I could shadowwalk with you, and since you count as one person it should work. The restriction says one person, not one body.” His voice doesn’t sound sure, and I rather not mess with magical technicalities, but we have no other choice.

We say goodbye to the two parents, who quickly run off towards home. Mire sinks into my shadows, which then envelop my two bodies, pulling me downward. After a few seconds I feel a gentle pressure from every direction. Oh, and a total lack of any visual stimuli.

“Lord and Lady, shades don’t need to eat, and this may take over a day, will you be okay without stopping?” Mire’s voice echoes in my minds, coming from nowhere in particular. After a minute of thinking about it I nod. I should live, I can make water with my magic so we can just go straight home. Soon a slight sensation of movement washes over me, and we’re off.

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Spending twelve hours inside nothingness with only a not very talkative shadow person for company quickly gets boring. Inevitably my thoughts drift towards the strange dream that delayed my journey, and the redhead living within it. Again I feel a slight tugging on my hearts, like I’m missing… something. It’s a very disconcerting sensation.

I try to sleep, but only manage to do it for a few hours at the most. Eventually I have to cave and attempt hydromancy inside of my own shadow. Thankfully it works, so we don’t have to stop to get me a drink. The shadow express reminds me a bit of those subways I used in the dreamworld. I wonder if all of that is based on reality, or if I made it all up. I guess I won’t really ever know.

“Lord and Lady, we’re approaching Wornsbirth. A little under ten minutes.” My heart leaps at Mire’s words. Almost home, almost done with this stupid trip. My siblings most likely stirred up shit while we were gone. I’m excited to see Father and them again.

“Where do you want to be dropped off?” Mire’s voice is softer than normal. I think he’s glad to be home too.

“The dining hall, I’m starving twice over.” I reply instantly.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Soon the sensation of movement slows down gradually, until I feel the shadows lifting me upright. Light barrages my eyes after a full day of darkness, and I take a moment to adjust to the bright gemlight before trying to open them again.

When I can finally open my eyes, I’m in the dining room. I’m facing out from the table, at the entrance to the room. Standing in the open doorways is a woman with red hair. And pale skin. And…

“Amy?” Both of me squeak at once. Amy looks between the two of me, very confused.

“Adam?”

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Something is wrong. Something is very… broken. I feel tearing, and the sounds of ripping cloth. Everything is freezing and hot at the same time. The colors and shapes around me don’t make sense. They’re all too bright, all too wrong. Everything is wrong. I’m wrong.

Something wraps around me, crackling and snapping. I smell smoke and ozone. Something is wet on my knees. So many sensations. Too much. I just want it to stop. No more. Please just stop.

Something warm and soft touches my head, one of my heads. I can’t tell which. Does it matter? Does anything matter?

Adam.

That name did this. That word caused everything to be ruined. It all ripped apart after that girl said that name. It’s not me. I’m not that! Something crackles more, louder and louder. Cold air rushes around my head. I don’t need this, none of this is important. Is it?

The warm feeling gets stronger, the pressure from it tighter. What is that? It’s nice. I should see what is doing that. My eyes don’t want to listen, but I don’t care. They’re mine, they’ll do it. Light fills my eyes again, letting me see what’s touching me.

I look down. At some point I fell to my knees, with both bodies. Wrapped around my male self is Amy. She’s giving me a tight hug. Why? My magic crackles around me. Random types snapping at each other as they circle me. Every so often a random ribbon of power lashes out at Amy, burning or freezing or doing something to her. But she’s still holding me. Why?

Reality snaps back into place for me. I rapidly withdraw my magic, wrestling it back under my control. I push Amy back, to check her over. Her hair is missing a few patches where it was burned or dissolved off. There’s a gash in her back, along with a frostburn. She needs medical attention, because of me. Somehow though, the tears in her eyes are what cause me the most guilt.

“Is it really you Ad-” She starts to ask.

“No!” Both of me scream. “Don’t! That’s… don’t!” I lose control of my bodies, both of them mimicking the same actions like when I first woke up here. “My name is Zenith!”

Her eyes swim with pain and confusion. “But you look just like him.” I shake my heads violently.

“I… I don’t know if I was him, but… I’m not now. I’m Zenith now. I’m not that scrawny thing from the dream.” My words come out of both mouths ragged and… frightened. Something about being that person terrifies me.

Amy’s eyes look me over. “Do you… remember me?” She looks afraid of the answer.

I nod. “I had a dream. A very vivid dream, not long ago. I was somewhere called Earth. You helped me get to high school, using a subway. You figured out that I wasn’t the person you knew, and tried to help me home. You also… were going to come with me.” I ramble. My words just slip out, no matter if I want them to or not. Tears run down my face.

“So you remember me, but not growing up together?” Amy asks, the pain clear in her voice.

I nod.

“And you had a dream where we had a little adventure.”

I nod again.

Amy goes silent for a few moments. “Do… do you remember the… experiments?” Her voice is very quiet now.

I almost ask what she means, but then an image of a metal ceiling. The sensation of being ripped apart. The horrible nightmares from months ago return to me.

I nod rapidly.

She lets out a sigh. “Then it is you. I’m glad you lived. I thought I was the only one to survive.” She hugs me tight again. I feel her tears leak through my shirt onto my shoulder. My emotions are everywhere, I can’t help it. I hug her back. I bring my other self over to get a hug from the other side too.

Amy screams in surprise, whipping around to my female self. “What’re you doing?” Her voice is furious, her glare extreme. I feel myself crying again.

“I-it’s m-mee…” I cry out twice. Her eyes flit between my two halves.

“Wait, wait, both of you? You’re both Ad— Zenith?” She sounds shocked. I just nod, my eyes still leaking tears.

“Wow… You do both look like… well, you.” She looks over my bodies appraisingly, before a watery smirk appears on her face. “Lucky you, get to be hot two ways, huh?”

I feel my faces blush furiously. “What?” I choke. She starts cackling, her snot running on her face.

“Yeah, it’s definitely you.” She smiles at me warmly. “Memories or not. We can just make new ones.” She gives my feminine half a hug. I start crying again. “Are you always this much of a crybaby?” She asks with a laugh.

The half she’s hugging continues to sob into her shoulder while the other half tries to defend myself. “No! It's because you said that… name. My mind, like, shattered.” My voice cracks a bit. “Wait! You’re hurt!”

I stop hugging her, wiping the tears off both my faces, and grab her with my stronger body. She makes a loud squeal when I scoop her into a princess carry.

Now she gets to blush.

“W-wow Zenith. Are you really this strong?” Her eyes are kinda glazed over. I laugh.

“No, only this body is.” I say with my self that’s carrying her. She glances back at my other half that’s following her.

“How do you do different things at once? That seems insane.” Her voice is filled in amazement. My chest swells with pride.

“Well, I couldn’t consistently for like two months after waking up. Eventually I figured it out.” I shrug nonchalantly. Truthfully, it took a month of extreme training and patience to get it working, and then another month of practice, but I’ll refrain from mentioning that.

I unlock the door we want to enter with a lockpick spell. The large wooden door swings open, revealing a large sleeping dragon on the other side.

“Tara! I need your help.” The dragon jumps from my voice, whipping her head towards me to snarl. After a moment of that she settles down.

She shifts back into her little girl form. “What did you do, Zenith? Overwork again?” She asks.

I shake my head and point at Amy.

“Ah, how’d she get hurt?”

I place Amy on the bed while answering. “She tried to comfort me while I was having a meltdown. In my male body.”

Tara shoots me a look before turning to Amy. “That explains why she has an entire medical wing’s worth of injuries.” She starts up her healing magic. “This is the quietest the redhead has ever been around me.”

Amy’s face goes red.

“I… I was distracted.” She somehow gets even redder, her face matching her blazing hair. She shoots a glance at both my bodies.

Tara whips me with a vine that shoots from under her dress. “Out! I need to focus and I can’t while you two are giving each other weird looks.”

I blush before quickly ducking out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind me.

I run to my room and quickly lock the door, before falling to the ground, my emotions overwhelming me again.