Chapter 257.

PART 1.

Hatori looked at the crowd present in Avinash's office. The crowd looked back at him. "I think I'll come back later, " he said to them before turning around and preparing to leave.

"Stop." Said Avinash. "I have some questions for you."

"Can't this wait?" Hatori asked in annoyance, turning around to face the king once again.

"No," said Avinash. "Some person who looked like you have caused some problems."

"What kind of problems?" Asked Hatori.

"He appeared at a high-end restaurant. After ordering and consuming a large amount of food, he did not pay up. The staff demanded the payment. Refusing to pay, he beat them and caused property damage. The restaurant is the same one where I took you along while representatives from the other side came here." Avinash added the last part to remind Hatori. The guy is out of the loop for a long time now.

"You know that I don't go to such places." Said Hatori. "When did that happen?"

"About one and a half hours ago." Said the clerk. When Hatori's attention is turned on him, he starts to tremble. How can the king talk to this monster so casually? 'Perhaps because he is one himself.' He concluded in his head. Though he did not voice his thoughts, the other clerks present in the office agreed with him.

It is one thing to complain to the king about him. It is an entirely different matter to face Hatori directly.

"I just got out of that artificial world I am experimenting with. I went to the Academy and dropped Ahim there. Then I took a ship and came here. I have the tickets still with me." Said Hatori, bringing out the tickets he had purchased.

"Give those to him." Said Avinash, referring to the clerk who brought the complaint about Hatori.

"Sure." The clerk kept his composure while Hatori gave him the tickets.

"Why didn't you fly?" Asked Raven. "Surely you could make such distance easily."

"It would take longer," replied Hatori. "It is not easy to fly at high speeds without tearing my body apart. Also, it is very cold in the sky. I have ways to handle this problem, but it is not something I want to experience if I can help it."

While Raven and Hatori talk, gradually involving Suresh in the conversation as well, Avinash dismisses the clerks. The problem is out of their hands now. He needs some peace of mind to think about this problem. These clerks hanging around looking at him anxiously is not going to give him the peace he seeks to solve this problem.

He ordered that the restaurant owner be paid immediately for whatever damages he had suffered. He also ordered Minister Josh to report to him immediately, along with James and Shin. The clerks leave to carry out these orders.

They all waited until Josh, Shin, and James arrived. Luckily, they were not far so they arrived quickly. Upon their arrival, Avinash explained what was going on.

"Now, you need to tell me for legal reasons: did you do any of this? Or do you have any alibis?" Asked Avinash once he was done explaining.

"Well, I just heard about this." Shrugged James. "When you called me, I left the house and came here."

"I didn't do it." Explained Josh. "I had to conclude the meeting with the other side quickly and then I came here after your order."

"I think in Shin's case we can safely say that he doesn't need to explain himself." Pointed out Hatori. "After all, he was seen on the stage with his duplicate."

"Right. You have the closest encounter with your doppelganger. Mind telling me what happened?" Asked Avinash.

"I can't tell you much. The guy looked like me. His magic also felt like me, yet it was also somewhat different. I ended his musical spell and tried to capture him, but due to the stampede he got away in the chaos." Explained Shin.

"Do you know how strong this person was?" Asked Hatori.

"Not that strong." Said Shin.

"How can you say this so confidently?" Asked Suresh.

"Because even if a mage suppresses their magic, there is a certain depth to their magic which cannot be hidden. Hatori feels the same way to me. This duplicate of mine did not have any such depth." Explained Shin.

"He is right." Confirmed Hatori. "I have sensed this kind of depth from Porus and Zeko in the past."

Given Hatori is the best sensor in the castle, none of them doubt his word. "Well, at least we can say confidently that we don't have some strong nutcase running around. Even if it is just one duplicate."

"Don't rule out the possibility of someone slandering our names by using our faces." Reminded Raven.

"That too." Avinash agreed. "We need to find a way to identify these people. I can't let them run around and impersonate officials of my government."

While others are busy discussing the idea of finding these people responsible for impersonating them, Hatori feels a tingle. He is familiar with this sensation. He felt the same way when he encountered that sorcerer ten years ago before he had to leave for that mission to fix the time.

He turns around, and blasts a curtain, making it flutter in the disturbed air. "Hatori, what the hell?" Asked Avinash, displeased with this action of his archmage.

But then he hears a chuckle. He knows this voice. He hoped that he wouldn't have to meet her again for the rest of his lifetime. "Not again." He put his head on his hands, unable to deal with these issues which kept popping up before he could even fix them.

A woman walks out of that wall as if she was not attacked a few moments ago. She looked around and chuckled at Hatori's disgruntled expression. "I was trying to hide myself this time. It took you a while, but you found me. Good job, boy. It appears your previous instances of sensing me was not a fluke."

"Why are you here?" Asked Avinash, straightening himself and looking down upon the sorcerer. He knows that her appearance means trouble, so he is playing the role of the king to its fullest. Ideally, he would like to be sitting on his throne, but for the time being he has to work with what he has.

"The problems you have heard about are not mere impersonations. These aren't people out to damage your reputation either. This is an unconventional problem, the likes of which you have never faced before." Explained Samay, not intimidated by the glairs of Hatori and Avinash. Her confidence is not misplaced. She is a sorcerer. She could kill them all if she wishes to and they won't be able to do anything about it.

"Explain." Asked Avinash.

"These are actual people. Not doppelgangers. They are different versions of yourselves. They are just as real as you are." She explained, not bothering to get into the theory of reality being an illusion or not, how much it is true or false, and whether it has any impact on their lives or not. Those discussions are not for the current occasion.

"This can't be!" Exclaimed Suresh, unable to hold his tongue.

"Whether you believe or not is not my concern. This is a real threat hanging over you. For the time being, these alternate versions of yourselves are quite weak. But soon someone might come, someone stronger. Someone who might decide to challenge for the throne, for example." Said Samay.

There was a silence in the room. "Why is this happening?" Asked Avinash.

"Because the reality is melding." Said Samay. "You see, the universe has multiple realities. These are possibilities. Essentially these are versions of one event. These possibilities create more possibilities. Some of them exist for a long time, others get destroyed quite quickly."

"Shouldn't we notice something when that happens?" Asked Josh.

"Why would you? You have no memories of that happening. You seamlessly exist with the consequences of your decisions. That is true for every lifeform in the universe unless you reach a certain level, and unlock certain secrets." Answered Samay.

"Anyway, this time, the possibilities are melding. They are running to each other. This is why you see multiple versions of the same people in one reality." Explained Samay.

"It is just like a corrupted drive." Sighed Hatori. "The data of the files and folders runs into each other until it ends up an incomprehensible mess."

This kind of statement would have confused everyone twenty years ago. But now they are familiar with the computers enough that they have some understanding of what Hatori is saying.

"Is this happening on this planet alone?" Asked Avinash.

"No. This is happening everywhere in the universe." Said Samay.

"Are we responsible for this somehow?" Asked Raven. "Like that ritual last time?"

"No. You have nothing to do with this." As soon as Samay said this, the entire castle was shaken by the fury of Avinash.

"I fail to see what we can do here. It is not like we have any knowledge or understanding of the concepts you have just thrown at us. Why don't you go to those advanced races? Maybe they can do something." Avinash said with a sneer on his face.

"We need to prepare for an engagement." Said Suresh.

"He's right. It won't surprise me if we are blamed for this too." Raven agreed with Suresh. "We need to prepare a defense strategy."

"Come now, wipe that sneer off of your face. This kind of tantrum is unbecoming of a king." Said Samay. "And the reason why I have come here is because I think we can do something about it. We won't even need to involve those other races as you have said. Besides, you will reach a new understanding of how things work. It will help you a lot in your future."

"You go do that," Said Hatori, getting up from his chair. "I must leave. Good luck fixing reality."

Hatori knows that if he stays here any longer, he will be roped into this madness. He wants no part of it. Let them figure out how to fix the damn problem on their own. There might be sorcerers who can do that together. Why do they need mere mortals like them anyway?

As far as he is concerned, let them try. Meanwhile, he will enjoy the remaining time with his family. If the universe survives, then great. If it doesn't? Then so be it. But he refuses to get involved in this any further. Despite feeling the glares of everyone on his back, Hatori reached the door of the office. He was just about to open it but he failed to do so. When he touched the door, he was launched backward and slammed back-first on the floor. Samay appears where he is standing, her back to the door of the office.

"The hell are you doing?" Asked Hatori, standing to his full height and glaring down at the small woman.

"Do you think you can get away so easily? You must come with me. You are involved in this, whether you like it or not." Said Samay, with none of the playfulness present in her body or tone.

"It is none of my concern." Hatori shot back. "Let someone else figure it out. Why do you need us anyway? Aren't you a sorcerer? Why can't you figure the solution out for yourselves? Now, step aside."

"I can't believe it!" Said the sorcerer, unable to contain her fury. She cannot believe this man is another version of that person. How did he turn out like this? He had a fire ten years ago. Surely that one jaunt through time did not change him that much?

"I can't believe it." She repeated again, this time with a sigh of disappointment. The magical pressure is gone from the room. "I did not expect those words from you of all people."

"You talk as if you know me." Replied Hatori. "You know nothing. I've been living on the edge since I was seven. I am tired of it. Tired of all the fighting and constantly looking behind my back. Tired of cleaning up the mess of other people. Now, let me leave already! Let the universe be destroyed. I'll just enjoy my time with my children until it lasts. Then it will be over. Good riddance, I say."

Samay doesn't get where this stubbornness is coming from. But now she has an idea of sorts after listening to those words. Not a complete one, but something is better than nothing. She is dealing with mortals. They cannot understand the scale of time like she can. To her, the lifespan of Hatori and everyone in this room is not even a blink of an eye. Their struggles, their triumphs, their failures, they don't matter.

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But she was also a mortal once. Unlike those sorcerers who forgot what it was like to live as a mortal, Samay never did. Not completely at least. What Hatori is feeling is the burden of time. It happens to everyone. Whether you call it a midlife crisis or something else, it happens to everyone at different stages of their lives. Whether it is a teenager who reached adulthood, or the adult reaching their fifties. They always feel the pressure of time.

'I must rekindle his fire.' Thinks Samay. 'But how?'

She rewinds the time to observe Hatori's life to see what she could use. His life plays out in front of her eyes like a movie. 'Impressive. He was not kidding that he has been fighting for a long time.' She thinks to herself. All of this is happening at a speed so fast that anyone else's brain would be melting because they are unable to process this information so quickly. It also happened without anyone in the room realizing what was going on. If they were sorcerers like her, maybe then they could do something about it. But since they are not, they cannot figure out what she is doing.

After making her observation, she has the perfect answer to Hatori. "Zeko will be disappointed." She said to him. "I don't think he raised a coward who runs from his problems."

Hatori's magic rises to attack Samay, who is still standing before the door smiling like a lunatic. It was difficult to breathe in the room because of Hatori's magical pressure. His friends were certain that he would attack Samay, and then the sorcerer would obliterate him. They are hoping that his pragmatism will win over his fury.

Much to Samay's surprise, Hatori got himself under control, and the magical pressure disappeared from the room. Hatori starts to walk to the door, while everyone is fixed to their spot unable to look away. Hatori plans to just reach the door over her head. Once it is open, he will leave. There is nothing she can do about it once he is out. It is not like she will pursue him across the world, right?

But before he could reach the door, Samay launched him back with a spell, and once again Hatori was slammed to the floor back-first. This time, the sorcerer did not stop. She kept attacking him, while Hatori defended himself from this onslaught of spells on the ground.

Hatori did not stay on defense for too long. He managed to turn one of the spells of Samay, causing it to go in reverse. She stopped this spell with one finger. Several spells of Hatori follow, where much to everyone's surprise, Samay was the one who took damage. An enchanted blade running on the soul frequency sliced her across her cheek. She had to move her head at the right time to avoid taking this blade right on her face. The fire burned a little of her dress. It failed to cling to her clothes due to the sorcerer taking some defensive measures. She failed to see the hunk of rock coming at her head before it hit her hard, slamming her on the door. Hatori was hoping that this would forcefully break the door, but that did not happen.

Samay gets up, shaking her head. "Well done. You've damaged me." She wiped the blood from her face. "Why don't you listen to me now? You should come with me and understand your role."

"No. Shut up!" Replied Hatori. He retaliates once again.

This time, the exchange of spells went to the illusions. Hatori is dealing with those, while Samay strengthens the field in the room. She will need it to be strong to handle what she is about to do. Hatori breaks the illusions. He uses lightning as a distraction. Taking advantage of the crackle and thunder, he sets up a field of runes to restrain a chaotic soul. Hatori is hoping that this will work. Given the amount of damage he did to her with the soul frequency, He has some solid idea of how this will go.

But his field of runes is disrupted before it can be completed. The magic goes crazy. Samay starts to use it as a magical arm-wrestling contest with Hatori. They both try to twist this ambient magic for their purposes. Hatori wills some chains into reality and these chains try to bind Samay. But before they get close, these chains are broken apart.

Several snakes appear near Hatori due to the will of Samay. They are able to restrain Hatori. After that, they started to deliver shocks to him. He screamed and was launched back after these snakes exploded.

While Hatori is regaining his breath, Avinash gets up to interfere in the fight. Josh, James, Raven, and Shin also follow, but Samay sends them back to their chairs with one motion of her hand. They are forcefully put back into their seats and are unable to get up again.

"Be quiet. Just watch the show." She said to them with a smirk on her face, with no sign of the injury she suffered.

Hatori gets up, winded from the shock. The ambient magic has dissipated now. "The hell? Since when did the snakes start to behave like that?" Hatori tried to hide the jitter in his body. He failed. That dose of lightning was quite strong. It passed through his natural resistance and protections like it was nothing.

"Why, it's a secret. A magical secret." Replied Samay. "Do you give up now?"

"Never!" Replied Hatori. A flash of lightning results in a crackle of thunder above his head while fire swirls around his feet.

Samay is smiling in triumph now. That reply was full of fire, not the depression of the mage in front of her. 'I must end it quickly now.' She thought to herself, looking at the runes visible on Hatori's body working to repair the damage he has taken.

A bombardment of lightning did nothing to Samay. "Did you think you can fight with a sorcerer? True, I let you have those hits out of pity. But it ends now." Though she said this as a taunt, it is also true that Hatori was able to do more damage than most mortals. He is perfect for this task.

"I don't give pity to anyone," Hatori said in answer. The swirling fire and crackling lightning turned into two eagles, while their audience gasped in shock.

"He is handling both!" Said Shin in shock.

"He is not having any trouble either." Said Raven. "Look at the movements of those conjurations. They are perfectly controlled."

The elemental conjurations fly to attack their target. Samay makes a show of shielding herself and acting as if it is bothering her. "Just kidding." She said a few moments later.

The conjurations lose their shape, and Hatori's control is taken from him. The lightning and fire he created turned against him, and he suffered shocks and burns at the same time. The end of this fight comes when a spell hammers Hatori's head. He is knocked out after taking that spell. Hatori was unable to dodge or block due to the ongoing assault of fire and lightning on his body.

The sorcerer appears before the knocked-out Hatori's body. She picked up the large man as if he weighed nothing. After waving at everyone, she disappears into a portal.

After she is gone, they can move again. The field of protection ends in the room. "Go check for the damages." Ordered Avinash. The five mages present within the room quickly leave to follow his orders.

"Nothing is damaged. Everything is okay, aside from that curtain." Explained Raven a few moments later.

Avinash is glad that the sorcerer made sure that his castle did not end up a smoking crater. But he is also furious that she kidnapped his archmage right in front of his eyes. But She is a sorcerer. He cannot fight against her, not when there is a crisis going on.

"Here's what we will do. We will coordinate a hunt for these duplicates. Raven and Josh must assist me in this hunt. Suresh will keep an eye on other activities. We will remain in this castle to make sure we don't get accused of things that we have not done. Any questions?" Asked Avinash.

"None for now." Said Raven.

"Good. Shin, James, you can leave. don't leave the castle though." Avinash said to them. Once they leave, he starts to plot with Raven, Josh, and Suresh to see how exactly they can coordinate this hunt, and who will be perfect for the roster of fighters. Because he is certain: there will be fights.

PART 2.

He appeared from the void in this place. "What a tranquil area." He said after looking at the lush forests and gently flowing streams. "It is enough to make me give up everything and settle down in peace."

He couldn't contain his laughter. Settling down peacefully is the last thing on his mind. "How can I do that? There is a magma of anger within my heart suppressed for millions of years." He spoke. Some might consider that he is talking to these trees. Others might think that he is speaking to himself.

But in reality, he is talking to the guards he can sense who all start to converge on his location as soon as he appears there.

"Leave." Said a monk, walking out of the forest. "This place is not for mortals."

"Mortals?" Said the man, throwing his head back and laughing as if he had heard a good joke. "Do you not know why you were put here?"

"We are put here to keep guard over the jewel." Said another monk. "The gods thought in their wisdom that it needed protection. But we have not seen any problem in a million years."

"How sad. Looks like my memory is lost." Said the man sadly. "Would you like a lesson to remember me?" He asked like a teacher offering some remedial lessons.

"Begone!" Ordered the leader of the monks, unwilling to tolerate this disrespect.

"But I haven't talked to anyone in such a long time. Won't you console me? Isn't what the monks supposed to do?" He asked, not intimidated by the monks in the slightest.

"Fine. We will console your soul once you are dead." The group prepares to attack him.

Their spells converge on his location. He did not move or make any motion to defend himself. Once the explosions stop, the forest stands peaceful once again. Thinking that they had killed this intruder, the monks started to turn around and leave for their temple.

But then they started to hear the sound of humming. The trees mutated and started to belch fire. The entire forest caught the fire. The monks try to fight these twisted monsters, but they are consumed. While the screams of pain, rage, and helplessness echo in the chaos, the man continues to hum to his heart's content.

Once every guard is killed, he throws his hand down. The entire forest turns into ashes. The ash that crunched under his footsteps is the only sign of a forest present in this area. Soon this ash will also disappear in the breeze.

"Ah, I haven't sung like that in a long time. Good times. Of course," he said to himself, entering the destroyed temple. "I did not suffer a sneezing fit is also something worth remembering."

He arrived in the room where his prize was located. There is an indication of once great protection being present in this room, but he destroyed those during that battle. The monks got lazy and forgot about him. "Too bad. I was looking forward to a challenge."

In the middle of this room rests a giant jewel. It is not made of any material known to humankind. Its size is enough to make anyone salivate. "Once I'm done killing those termites, I will crash a diamond of this size on a planet. Let's see whether an economy survives after that or not."

Chuckling at his future plans, he touched this jewel to store it in his artificial dimension to store it and take ownership of it like he used to have once upon a time.

But his mere touch shattered it into hundreds of pieces. An alarm sounded which only he could hear. "Is that so?" He said to the empty air. "Very well. I look forward to playing this game. Your entire hive is not going to survive. Just a friendly warning. Hahahahahahaha!"