It's Mini Arc 1 because the overall focus is still in the area around Antium and there are plans for 4 arcs around it. The second part is going to be a lot less fighting and basically set up for what happens in parts 3 and 4 where everything goes crazy and out of control.

------------------------------------------------

Garnet laid in bed thinking about what she was going to do next. After all, she was going to leave Antium soon and she would have to rely on Duke Wellington to help her.

"How's your new life?" said a voice. It sounded much like her own, yet she was not speaking.

"Who's there?" asked Garnet. She looked around and there was no one there.

"It's me, Garnet," said the voice.

Garnet turned around, but no one was there. She quickly got up and looked into the mirror, but she only saw herself. "How is this possible? But I'm Garnet."

"You took my place," said the voice.

"I'm sorry," said Garnet. "I didn't mean for it to happen."

"It turns out that I didn't die during the Hero Summoning," said the feminine voice. "I was weakened, so your mind took over my body."

"Are you in my head?" asked Garnet.

"Yes," said the voice. "I understand you mean well, and you are not even here by choice. You took on my name, you tried to take on my personality, and you even made choices that you thought I would make to try to make it seem like the name Garnet was not just something you took for yourself. But I'm afraid that by doing this, the old you will no longer exist soon."

"What do you mean no longer exist?" asked Garnet.

"Can you remember anything from your childhood in your old life?" asked the voice.

Garnet thought about it, but she could not remember her old home. "A little," said Garnet. "She remembered some of the things she used to do before arriving in this world, but I cannot remember my friends or family. What I remember is mostly studying in school and training to use different weapons. I cannot remember the face of my family."

"That's because my mind is slowly taking over, which is why you are getting these headaches and losing your memories," said the voice. "That is why you must hurry."

"But I'm not even sure what I should be doing," said Garnet. "I'm supposed to save this world, but I've barely been able to build my strength and the condition of the city hasn't improved much."

"That's because you're a soldier, you're someone passive who is meant to take orders," said the voice. "You just accepted everything that was told to you without even questioning it."

"How did you know that?" asked Garnet.

"That's because like how you saw my memories, I saw yours," said the voice. "I saw the world you came from and what you left behind. As smart as you were, you accomplished almost nothing because you only have the spirit of a hero, and not the rest of it. The moment you arrived here, you just obeyed Zedd without a second thought."

"What do you mean by the rest of it?" asked Garnet. "What more is there than the spirit of a hero?"

"Courage, selflessness, humility, patience, compassion, honesty, wisdom, focus, virtuosity, and most importantly, an unshakable will," said the voice. "While you have some of these, you are missing others."

"That's because I'm not sure about what I am doing," said Garnet. "I'm not even sure about whether what I am doing is the right thing or not."

"I can tell you that no one is ever sure, we can always look back and think about it then, but that's only in hindsight," said the voice. "But while you have some of the traits of a hero, you are only a hero in name only, named by Zedd."

Garnet's confidence was wavering. She had doubted herself before, but now, someone was pointing it out to her. "What should I do then?"

"No matter who you are, you cannot remain in the dark forever," said the voice. "You spend so much time in hiding, trying to hide who you really are. You need to become a public figure, even if you are someone who is rejected by society."

Garnet looked at the tattoo on the back of her hand. The mark of her status as a slave, someone who was bought and sold. As a Dark Mage, she would also be someone who was feared, which is why Zedd told her to keep her ability to summon Skeletal Dogs secret. The Bicorn's ability that she received would also be similar. All of these things were considered to be part of the Dark Arts, something shunned and frowned upon by their society. But none of this topped what had bothered Garnet from the very first day. "Do you want your life back?" asked Garnet.

"Of course I do," said the voice.

"Can you promise me something?" asked Garnet.

"What are you planning to do?" asked the voice.

"I'm going to give you, the real Garnet, your body back," said Garnet. "If I am the dominant personality right now, it simply means that I have to release control of it."

"But what will happen to you?" asked the voice.

"I don't know," said Garnet. "But hopefully, we just switch places."

"No," said the voice. "I refuse."

"Then just find a way to reverse this," said Garnet. "If there is a spell to summon the spirit of a hero into a body, it should not disappear without reason. And if there's a spell to summon a spirit, there has to be a way to extract it."

"Why are you so willing to give up everything you have?" asked the voice.

"Because I feel as if I am the one who took your life," said Garnet. "When I look at myself, I see the face of the person that I killed and I feel like I need to live out the life you wanted."

"But that doesn't mean you can give up on your goals," said the voice. "After all, it is the magic that makes you want to fulfill my desires. With the magic in this world, anything is possible."

"Have you asked Zedd?" asked the voice.

"No," said Garnet.

"Why not?" asked the voice. "If anyone has the answers, it is him. Besides you feel that he is hiding something too can't you?"

New Quest: Truth

Talk to Zedd about Hero Summonings

Reward: None

"Because I'm afraid," said Garnet. "I'm afraid that there's no way home. I'm afraid that becoming a hero in this world means there's no going back. I'm afraid that my body is dead since my spirit is now here."

"Is the truth more important?" asked the voice.

Garnet took a moment to think about it. "I want to know," said Garnet. She got up and walked into the other room.

Zedd was there flipping through some books. "Zedd, I have a question," said Garnet.

"What is it?" asked Zedd.

"What is the Hero Summoning?" Garnet asked.

Zedd put down his book and looked at Garnet. "Why do you ask?" he said.

"I want to know what happened to me," said Garnet. "If I am here, what happened to the me in that world."

Zedd put his head down. It was clearly something he did not want to say, much like when he talked about the things he did in order to make the ritual a success. "I was hoping you would never ask this and just accept it," said Zedd.

"Then what happened to me, I want to know," said Garnet.

"The old you is dead," Zedd explained.

"What?!?" shouted Garnet. "How is that possible?!?"

"The Hero Summoning ritual is one that extracts a spirit from another world and places it in a vessel in a body from this world," Zedd explained. "When that spirit is extracted from the body, the body dies."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" asked Garnet.

"Because I know how you would react to it," said Zedd. "It was difficult enough to tell you that I killed numerous people to bring you to this world, but it's even harder for me to tell you that you not only did you already die, but you will die again as well."

"What do you mean by again?" asked Garnet. "I'm going to die again?" Garnet realized Zedd, the only person she trusted was lying to her as well. Everyone was using her to some degree. Some she had knowledge of, but others were being manipulative.

"At some point, the original personality will emerge because the host will recover their mental streangth and return to take over the body," said Zedd. "And with it, they will absorb all your memories and your personality will be completely overtaken by theirs, they will inherit the power of the hero and the Hero System."

"That was the moment when the old Garnet would take over," said Garnet. But there was someone who could help her. It was already happening to her. The old Garnet's voice had already appeared inside her head. It would slowly take over and become the dominant one in the future. "Why did you not tell me this?" asked Garnet.

"Because I was afraid you would abandon us if you learned the truth," said Zedd. "I had hoped you would fight for us until the real Garnet returned."

"You're wrong," said Garnet. "Now that I know, I will abandon you, but I will not abandon Antium. I will continue to do what is necessary to save this city."

Quest Update: Truth

Find Duke Charles Wellington's magician that can cast memory magic

Reward: N/A

Garnet turned towards the door. "Where are you going?" asked Zedd.

"To find the only person I can still somewhat trust," said Garnet. "He may want to use me, but at least he's honest about it unlike you." With those words, Garnet ran outside into the darkness.

Quest Failed: Learn Instance Dungeon Creation from Zedd

Garnet had failed a quest for the first time as well. It was something she wanted, but now there was something more important, her survival. "All you need to do is preserve your memories. Then, I will find a way to make a new body for you here."

"Is that even possible?" asked Garnet.

"I don't see why not," said the voice. "It's much like building a golem, just a little more complicated."

A golem, an artificial life form that was given life. If it was possible for Garnet to animate the dead, it might just be possible to create and animate something like a human body.

"And Duke Wellington is the only one that can help me," said Garnet.

"The Hero System is much more powerful than you think," said the voice. "It responds to your needs and desires. As long as there's a will to do something, it will find a way."

"I see," said Garnet. She simply wanted to become stronger, which could be interpreted in many different ways. The quests that were generated for her were to save Antium and to give her experience. When she wanted new skills, the system provided a way for her to do so as well. "You are much smarter than me," said Garnet.

"We both share the same mind," said the voice. "The main difference is how we use what we know."

As Garnet left, the voice in her head began to speak again. "Are you sure you want to rush this, you still have time," said the voice. "It won't happen immediately."

"I want as much of myself to still exist," said Garnet. "I've changed since I've come here and I've already adopted most of your personality, but the earlier this is done, the more of 'me' that will exist later on."

"I understand," said the voice. "It's scary to lose yourself."

Garnet headed towards the castle with the Duke's card in hand. She flashed it in front of the guard and they let her in. She made her way to the room that Duke Wellington usually stayed in. Leeroy was guarding the door. "I need to see him," said Garnet holding the card.

"Why?" asked Leeroy.

"It's an emergency," said Garnet. "I need to see the Duke."

Leeroy looked at her. Something was clearly different about her. "I'll go get him, he's in a meeting. Just wait here," said Leeroy. He opened the door to the Duke's room. "Go inside and wait."

Garnet sat down in the Duke's room. It was quite large and fully furnished as well. She had not gotten the chance to see it before, but the Duke's life was a very luxurious one despite his appearance. "What's wrong?!?" shouted a voice that was panting heavily.

It was Duke Wellington. He had come running as soon as he heard. "I need your help," said Garnet. "And you are the only one who can."

"What happened?" asked Duke Wellington.

"Something is happening to my memories," said Garnet. "Something is eating away at them and I need your memory mage to isolate some of my memories for me as soon as possible."

"What memories are you losing?" asked Duke Wellington.

"Memories of another world and another life," said Garnet.

"But how is that possible?" asked Duke Wellington. "The only way that you would have memories of another world or another life is if you were reincarnated or if you were a hero."

"Guess who's the hero," said Garnet. "Zedd was the one who summoned me to this world."

"That would explain why Zedd was so attached to you and why he wanted me to meet with you," said Duke Wellington. "But where's my Garnet?" asked Duke Wellington. His face had changed. There was a hint of anger in it.

"In here," said Garnet as she pointed to her head. "Right now she is eating away at me and while I do have her memories, I will eventually disappear and she will be the only person left if I cannot stop it."

"What do you plan to do?" asked Duke Wellington.

"I want you to find someone who can lock away my memories and return control to Garnet," said Garnet.

"But there can only be one memory lock in a person," said Duke Wellington. "That means the other one has to be undone first."

"That's fine," said Garnet. "After all, the other one will be the one coming with you to your manor and I think she will be thrilled to remember you."

Duke Wellington was thinking. He was trying to figure this out before he made a decision. "Please," said Garnet.

Duke Wellington had seen that look before. It was the same face when Garnet asked him to remove the memories of Ruby and him from her life before. She was truly desperate and wanted what she thought was the best for all of them. "Alright, we leave immediately," said Duke Wellington. "Leeroy! Get my carriage ready we leave with haste for Freud's immediately!"

"Yes sir!" shouted Leeroy outside. Garnet could hear the sound of heavy footsteps.

"Everything will be okay," said Duke Wellington as he held Garnet in his arms. He was trying to comfort Garnet. "While we wait, can you tell me about the other world?"

Garnet told Duke Wellington everything about the other world. The fact that she used to be a man and a soldier who studied to be in the military, though not a successful one, but everything changed when she arrived in this world. From the first day, the Garnet personality buried itself within and she adopted most of the Garnet personality, intending to fulfill what the old Garnet wanted, but she discovered from Zedd that memories of the old life is what would eventually be absorbed into the host as the vessel of the hero recovered. The current Garnet would disappear. The only chance she had was to isolate those memories.

"So that's why you don't trust Zedd," said Duke Wellington.

"There's no way for me to tell what else he is hiding," said Garnet. "I've never felt that he was lying to me, but he withheld a lot of important information until I asked about it."

"Why is it that you act nearly exactly like the Garnet that I knew?" asked Duke Wellington.

"Because I have all of her memories, meaning that I am exactly like her, but with a little more thanks to my memories and experiences from another world," Garnet explained.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"So what powers did you get?" Duke Wellington asked.

"Magic," said Garnet. "Light!" Garnet created a tiny bolt of lightning in her hand. "This is one of many."

"You're a hero with magic," said Duke Wellington. The Duke had remembered that Garnet had never learned magic. She was definitely someone who was charming and persuasive, but it was not magic. "Is that why you made those demands when you agreed to see Ruby?"

"Yes," said Garnet. "Because I knew that I would have to save others. I knew I could also keep my promise to you because Zedd taught me a way to travel around quickly, though he kind of did it for himself as well."

"Why didn't you ask Zedd for help?" asked Duke Wellington.

"Because I cannot trust him," said Garnet. "I don't know how long he has been trying to manipulate me, you're the only person I can trust right now."

"I understand," said Duke Wellington.

"We're ready!" shouted Leeroy. "Just follow me."

"Let's go then," said Duke Wellington.

The three headed towards the North Gate. It was still dark outside. The sun had only set a while ago. At the North Gate, there was a red carriage with the Duke's crest on it. "Get in," said Leeroy. The two entered. There was someone else driving while Leeroy and the some other guards bearing Duke Wellington's crest followed with horses. "Go go go!" shouted Leeroy.

The carriage immediately took off. Garnet could feel every bump along the road. "Sorry about that," said Duke Wellington. "This is what happens when we have to go with immediate speed."

"It's okay," said Garnet. "Thank you for believing in me and helping me. Once you seal off my memories, she will take over, though I don't think she will be much different from me."

"Why's that?" asked Duke Wellington. Even though this Garnet was similar, there was something very small that was off. There was a little something missing from this one.

"All of our memories and experiences are shared," said Garnet. "What I feel, she does too. If there are differences, it will most likely be very small as our personalities and memories are shared."

"Then I'm glad," said Duke Wellington.

"Why?" asked Garnet.

"Because it means that you are the same as my Garnet," said Duke Wellington. "You were a little different from the Garnet I knew because the memories of me were locked away, but at the same time, there was something very familiar about you as well."

"Why did you believe me so easily?" asked Garnet.

"I saw in your eyes when you asked me to take Ruby away," said Duke Wellington. "You may not know it, but when you are desperate and you truly want something, your eyes show it immediately. It's why I agreed to do some of the horrible things I did to you, and now I feel like I might be doing it again."

"But by doing this, you give me a small chance to live," said Garnet.

As the carriage sped through the night, Garnet had thought about what she wanted to do. She had hoped to use the ride to see what the Duke's lands was like, but in the dark, it was not possible. Outside, it was pitch black with the exception of the torch carried by the driver and some of the guards. But, Garnet was glad that there were no bandits that were trying to attack their carriage.

The carriage did not stop for anything. Garnet watched as the Duke slept, but she could not. The fact that her mind was slowly eating away at her kept her awake. Even though it was not an immediate process, what scared her was the fact that the process was accelerating. In the afternoons, she had headaches, each one was a reminder that something was eating away at her.

"Eat this," said Duke Wellington as he took out a few pieces of bread.

"Where did you get this from?" asked Garnet as she looked around.

The Duke showed Garnet a few hidden compartments. They were stored with water and a few days worth of food. "I am always prepared," he said.

The carriage did not stop until the next evening. "We're here," said Leeroy as the carriage slowed down.

When the carriage came to a stop, they arrived at a small cave on the side of the road. "Where are we?" asked Garnet.

"This is the laboratory of the Great Wizard Freud," answered Duke Wellington. "She is one of the rare wizards that can manipulate memories."

As they approached the cave, there were a set of doors. KNOCK KNOCK. Duke Wellington knocked on the doors and said, "It is Duke Wellington with a special request."

The doors opened. A young woman who appeared to be in her late twenties with brown hair and brown eyes answered the door. She appeared rather normal. "Come in," she said.

Garnet and Duke Wellington were the only ones who entered. Everyone else stayed outside. Garnet saw the laboratory. It was filled with numerous books and magic circles drawn on the floor. It was much messier than Zedd's Workshop. The cave itself stretched several meters underground, creating something like an underground mansion.

"What is that that you need?" asked Freud.

Name: Samantha Freud

Level: 51

Class: Telekinetic Mage

Sub-class: Memory Mage

Stats: ???

"I need you to undo the old seal in her memories and create a new one around one of her personalities," said Duke Wellington.

"That's impossible, each person only has one personality composed of different smaller parts," said Freud.

"What if I told you that there is a summoned spirit inside of me?" said Garnet. "The two are slowly merging, but still separate."

"I can see first and then try, but it takes an immense amount of power to create that seal. I'm not sure if it will even work," said Freud

"Borrow mines if you must," said Garnet. "I have a lot of mana that you can use."

"Mine too," said Duke Wellington.

"Doesn't work that way," said Freud. "Unless you can enter her mind, your mana is useless."

Duke Wellington could not, so he could only sit back and watch.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Freud. "Once I make this seal, there's no way to tell if I or anyone can break something so powerful."

"Yes," said Garnet.

"Then here we go," said Freud. She wrapped her fingers around Garnet's head and touched her forehead against Garnet's. It was a Mind Read.

Freud had entered Garnet's head. In there, she saw two groups of disconnected memories and two Garnets. Some older memories were greyed out, meaning that they had faded. Recent ones were bright and full of color. Some memories were slowly starting to connect with another. "I see," said Freud. "So that's how there's two of you. It's almost like schizophrenia."

"This one," said Garnet as she pointed to herself.

Freud looked and saw that there was something wrong with how she saw herself. The shadow casted by her figure looked nothing like her physical appearance. It was distorted and was not stable at all. The figure of the shadow was slightly bigger and the long hair did not cast any shadows at all the shadow twisted and turned in all directions. It was as if it was another person that was being forced into the shape of Garnet.

"Now you're sure right?" said Freud. "There's no way I know of to undo this."

"Yes," said Garnet.

"Then here we go," said Freud. "Dispell!" Garnet watched as the old dark red seal among a small group of memories were broken. It was the seal around Garnet's memories of Duke Wellington. It combined with the existing memories. Her headaches began to start.

"Great Seal!" A red seal began to appear around Garnet as the memories gathered around her. Another sphere formed around them and a large red crest began to form. "I don't have the power," said Freud. Garnet grabbed her arm and supplied Freud with mana. The crest stuck to the sphere and distanced itself from the other Garnet's memories. CRACK. It was breaking. It was not holding up. BOOM. The seal around the memories broke. It had failed.

The remaining memory bubbles began to merge. The takeover process of the original Garnet was speeding up. What was left of the Riley personality was quickly flooding into Garnet's. What used to be Riley was beginning to be a part of Garnet.

"It failed," said Riley. She looked at herself. She was fading too. The attempt to seal her own memories had worsened her condition. She saw that in the process, her remaining memories were merging with the original Garnet's.

"I know," said the voice.

Freud was sweating and breathing heavily. It had took an incredible amount of power. THUMP. She fell and collapsed onto the floor.

Garnet immediately grabbed a book and started writing. "What are you doing?" asked Duke Wellington.

"I won't make it," said Garnet. "Tell the other me to send these to my world if she can. If not, that's fine."

"What's going to happen to you?" asked Duke Wellington.

"I don't know," said Garnet. A window appeared just as she lost control.

New Quest: Vessel

Create a new body for Riley and learn spirit transmutation so that you can transfer his spirit into the new body

Reward: Ressurection Spell

THUMP. She fell onto the floor. "Hey are you okay?!?" shouted Duke Wellington.

Garnet now had control of her body again. "So that's how I bring Riley and the new me back," she thought. It was not memory magic that she needed. It was something called spirit transmutation. Riley was dead, but the spell was a Ressurection Spell, one that brought the dead back to life.

But there was something that bothered Garnet. She had lived out all of the experiences even though she was not in control. It felt strange now that she was finally in control again for the first time in months. Now, Riley was going to have to be the one to sit in Garnet's head. The thought that someone would willingly do it made her shiver. After all, there's nothing scarier than being able to see everything, but not be able to do anything about it.

UGH. Garnet has having severe headaches as the memories of both personalities were fusing. She saw all the remaining memories of Riley as they flashed through her head. They mixed with her own experiences.All of Riley's knowledge of military theory mixed with everything Garnet remembered from her days working as a prostitute. However, the only thing about Riley's personal life was memories of a library and the time he spent in it. There was the image of a house, but no people. It was strange. The only problem was, there was almost nothing of Riley's personality at all. It was just memories of things that Riley had seen and studied. There was no emotion or context for them. Even though Riley's memories were present, the person that was Riley or took up the personality of Garnet did not seem to be in the memories that flooded into her head. "Did it work then?" thought Garnet.

Garnet searched through the memories of the other world. One where buildings reached the sky and science had allowed machines to be created. Even if Riley's personality was gone, some of his memories were still there inside of her. It was evidence that some of Riley was still there. Based on what Garnet saw inside her own mind though, Riley was somewhere in there still, she just had to find a way to enter her own mind and pull it out.

Garnet opened her eyes. The Duke was looking straight into hers. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Long time no see," said Garnet as she got up off the floor. "I don't think it has been that long since you've been on top of me."

"Is it really you?" asked Duke Wellington.

"Yes," said Garnet. "I remember everything," she said as she hugged him.

"Tell me something that only you would know," said Duke Wellington.

"That's hard considering we shared memories," said Garnet. "But I could always copy how you scream in bed."

"No that's okay," said Duke Wellington.

"Really?" said Garnet. "You wanted proof, but there's only so much that the other me did not know. I was the one who named Ruby and did not give you a say in it."

"That's good enough for me," said Duke Wellington. Memories of Ruby were all sealed, so since Garnet could remember something about Ruby, he accepted it.

Garnet felt another surge of headaches. It was more of Riley's memories.

"What happened to the other you?" asked Duke Wellington.

"She's in here," said Garnet pointing into her head. "There's memories, but no personality. However, she seemed to have left a way to bring her back, but I don't have the magic for it yet."

Garnet scrambled around grabbing the pages that she had just written down. "What are those?" asked Duke Wellington.

"It's what the other me did with her last moments," said Garnet. She looked at them. It read "To Mom and Dad" at the top. "No I shouldn't," thought Garnet. She stored the papers inside her Inventory. "If I find a way to send it to the other world, I'll do it."

Freud picked herself up. "Incredible," she said. "Two separate personalities inhabiting the same body, it's the first time I've seen anything like it." She picked up an empty book and started writing into it.

"So what do you plan to do now?" asked Duke Wellington.

"I'm going to continue what the other me was doing," said Garnet. "I want to meet our daughter again."

"Are you sure you don't want to go back to Antium?" asked Duke Wellington.

"I don't have family there," said Garnet. "I can't trust Zedd. There's nothing I can really do unless I can somehow get the nobles on my side, so I'm sure I'd rather stay with you."

"I'm glad," said Duke Wellington. "For a moment I thought that you were going to be a completely different person and I would have to explain everything all over again."

"We shared memories and experiences remember?" said Garnet. "The other me's decisions are just as valid as my own though I intend to be more straightforward with mine."

"What do you mean by straightforward?" asked Duke Wellington. "I don't want you to start any wars."

"It means if I find something I don't like in your land, I'm going to beat you senseless," said Garnet.

"My territory is doing fine," said Duke Wellington. "That's why I'm still a Duke."

"You think you're doing fine?" asked Garnet. "I grew up on a farm, I know what they're like and I saw the farms where Riley was from. We are nothing compared to them unless you somehow vastly improved your land and built a tractor in the last ten years."

"What's a tractor?" asked Duke Wellington.

"Exactly!," said Garnet. "Before the next invasion, I will modernize your farms and industrialize your economy!"

"Modernize and industrialize?" said Duke Wellington. He had no idea what these words meant. No one did other than Garnet. After all, they were terms that did not exist until technology had advanced beyond a certain point.

New Quest: Secure Charles Wellington's Power

Ensure that Duke Charles Wellington holds an overwhelming advantage over the other Dukes in the struggle for the position of King

Reward: Title

Spoiler :

-No changes to stats-