Harlan woke up on his floor with Charlotte looking down on him.

“Harlan, hey, are you alright?”

“Give me a minute, let me think.”

“Dawn, what happened?”

“I’m not sure. We were with Xol and Marigold, right?”

“How long have I been here?”

“We’ve been working on my magic for almost an hour. I’m really glad that you are willing to go longer in our work together, but if something is wrong you don’t need to push yourself. I know that you...”

“I chose to teach you today because if there was anyone who could understand if I needed to stop, it would be you.”

“Should I go?”

“I’m not sure, I’m going to call-”

Marigold appeared in the room suddenly.

“Marigold, I was just going to-”

She didn’t respond, she just used a variety of spells to look at him, mind, body, and soul.

“What are you?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Harlan, is that…”

“Charlotte, nice to meet you, Harlan mentioned you before. If you are going to faint, go sit on the couch. And don’t mention that I was here.”

Charlotte didn’t say a word, but she was giddy to just be in the same room as her.

“What is the last thing you remember?”

“I was… that wasteland. Xol used a void gate, but I refused to go in.”

Marigold was confused, from everything she saw, this was Harlan, not a Harlan, it was THE Harlan.

Dawn was there and didn’t remember anything odd, but their memories were wrong, his body was wrong, because it was the one made from Stone Drake parts, but he used that material to only make one body, not two.

TIme seemingly stopped as The Darkness stood there in the room.

“My my my, what has that witch done? Is this why she placed Paradox inside of him? If she truly wishes for him to stand beside her, why not have one able to stand on both sides?

What was it that you said? When someone does something like he has, they either fall into it and turn to a monster, or they spend their life trying to do enough good to offset their sin.”

“So you claim to have no part in this? I looked at him, there was no paradox.”

“And that is the paradox, is it not?”

“Shit.”

The Darkness let out a lady-like giggle.

“How very very amusing. We were rid of that magic, but by its very nature it came back.”

“Shit.”

“I expect more stimulating conversation from someone as old as you.”

“I hope that the one that stayed is the one trying to make up for it.”

“I am excited to see where this goes.”

“Harlan is not a fucking toy for you.”

“Ah, there is the fiery young woman I remember. But worry not, the boy is still under my protection and care. I will do what I can to ensure he does what is right by him and his.”

“I’m glad I refused to be your champion.”

The Darkness’s eyes drooped.

“This isn’t fun anymore.”

Time returned to its normal speed.

“Charlotte, please leave while I speak with Harlan.”

“Of course. Lady Marigold.”

She didn’t bother correcting her, it wasn’t important right now.

Once she was gone Marigold moved him to the couch.

“What do you remember about the wasteland?”

“It was…”

Harlan gripped his head as memories that weren’t from him invaded his mind.

Marigold just patted his back trying to soothe him.

After almost an hour he was covered in a cold sweat, but he was fully conscious.

“That was my fault? I… all of those people.”

“I’m not entirely sure. You aren’t, or maybe you are, Harlan. Perhaps you split off from him, or perhaps you were pulled from a different world.”

“So there is a world without me… maybe that is for the best.”

She wrapped her arms around him, bringing his head onto her shoulder.

“Do you know what I told the other Harlan?”

“I am the other. I’m not supposed to be here.”

“By the very nature of that magic, you were always supposed to be here, but nobody could’ve known it before this happened. I told him that people do one of two things after something like that. They either go all in, they think themselves unforgivable, so they become a monster. Or they spend the rest of their lives trying to do enough good to offset their mistake.”

“Is that why you are here?”

“I’ve been trying to make up for my mistakes and failures for over 1500 years. I’ve tried to avoid violence as a result of what I’ve done, but honestly, I don’t think that path can work for you.”

“Why not?”

“I had nobody, my only family wanted nothing to do with me, humans were… There were few people among them that I cared for. Yggdra was my oldest friend, and when he died, I left. When we last spoke about you being a ruler, I said I’d rather keep our good mood from the conversation before, so I didn’t go further.

You can’t leave because you have too many people you care about, and without violence, or the threat of it, they can never live in any form of peace. Yggdra would despise what his country, our country, has become. I gave up and left and everything that happened to you that made you do what you did is my fault.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Why do you blame yourself for what happened?”

“If I hadn’t… oh… I understand.”

“My leaving led to corruption not being rooted out. That count would’ve never dared do what he did and then get away with it had I not failed my friend twice. Do you blame me?”

“It’s not the same. My actions were the direct cause. You’ve got six centuries of time between now and then that you did nothing.”

“Yes, I did nothing, not making a choice, not taking action, is an action. Remember, for the rest of your immortal life what you did, never ever forget it, take responsibility for it.”

Harlan took a deep breath.

“You’re right. I’ve got to do what I should’ve done from the start. Thank you.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Harlan hugged her with his full strength, she replied with most of her strength.

There was a comfort in that lack of words, to tell the other that they are not weak.

For the Harlan outside, he was preparing for retaliation, for the Harlan inside, the same could be said.

He had put out a statement, saying that his god told him to look into the cause of the destruction of Haldren, and in one month he would have answers.

Because of the nature of the attack, the sudden destruction of an entire city, the king made an open invite for Harlan's reveal of what happened to be held in the gala hall of the castle.

He had been invited by the king to prepare his speech beforehand; some pieces of the story might’ve been too much of an issue to let be public.

“Boy-”

“Call me by my name.”

“HA. Fine, Harlan. What happened?”

“I did it.”

The smile instantly vanished from the king’s face.

“Safira, double check every security measure in here. Harlan, not a word until then.”

After 15 minutes, she was done.

Harlan first said what really happened, then he said what he planned to tell everyone else.

Then, he said what he could do to hopefully make some right out of this.

The day had arrived, Though the only guest of Harlan’s who was there was Adina, by his own request.

She had been less than happy to hear that her Harlan was out doing who knows what, but at the same time, Marigold made a good argument that this was still Harlan, so she let it go. Or rather, she didn’t take it out on this Harlan.

Hundreds of nobles including the dozen dukes of the central territories had arrived. The loss of an entire city and turning dozens of miles of land into a disaster zone was no small matter.

Harlan arrived, two bodies of Harlan, so far as anyone knew, this was all of him.

He cleared his throat before speaking, his voice magically enhanced to reach every corner of the room.

“I am certain you are all wondering who or what was behind the attack. And I do know what has happened, but I will not say how, only why and who. I did it.”

People’s murmurs turned to roars demanding his head, but Yggdra, sitting in his chair, raised his hand to lower their voices.

“Already he has admitted his crimes, so he shall be beheaded.”

The two Harlans kneeled down and the executioner cut both of their heads off with single strikes.

Many looked to Adina, but she did not react.

The executioner then removed his mask, showing him to be a third Harlan.

“As I’ve both carried out and served my sentence, I suppose this means I am pardoned.”

More yells demanding another head to roll, and the king once more raised his hand.

More than that, he stood from his chair, looking healthier than he had in years. Harlan had convinced him to consider flesh shaping, and even if he found himself unable to stop the Fae magic that would take his life, at least he could live his last year free from his bed.

”Sir Harlan Fomoria shall not escape his sentencing. But who among you here has the power to be sure he is dead? Simply put, Harlan is unaging, he has unknown magics, and we have no way to remove him other than finding him every time he comes back and killing that body, but he can also change his face and body shape. We have little idea of how hard he is to kill and he has shown time and time again a disturbing resourcefulness. His sentence shall be servitude to this kingdom, so long as it exists, or 100 years, whichever shall come first. Harlan, you may continue.”

“You can’t get rid of me, and I’m not interested in killing all of you and setting myself up as an immortal king. I am stuck in this country by circumstances outside of my control, so we can play nice, or we can not play nice, and neither of us wants to see that happen. So long as me and mine are not attacked, I see no reason to attack anyone else. And to attack me would be to attack the nation, because eventually the only thing to do would be to send an army to clash with my own army, and then we would all be weakened against possible advances from confederate states or from Reino. Kalak for instance has a severe issue with us and they have a growing community of revolutionaries on account of Dearil being there.

Well, he was there.”

Guards brought out a man in a wheelchair.

Harlan removed the gag.

“We had a deal.”

“And it was predicated on the safety of the count’s wife and child. I saw what was happening, anyone could tell that something was wrong, your men fucked up by using what I gave them like toddlers. So far as I am concerned, it would’ve been better for you to retreat and we try again. Instead a city is dead, and that is on both of our shoulders.”

“A city is dead, and good riddance to them.”

Harlan gagged him again.

“Any questions?”

Harbinger raised his hand.

“How did you find him, and from the sounds of it, you worked with him?”

“In order. I did work for my god, and for my prize, I asked for his location as I intended to kill him for the wolf that attacked me years ago. It was intended to kill my sister or my new born niece and nephew, so I could not let that stand. But yes, I did work with him. I wanted the revolutionaries to take credit for killing Haldren.

I could not stand the idea that a man like that would be allowed to kill a dear friend of mine and live.

So, I did what I needed to do.”

“And that justified what you did?”

“Yggdra the First would despise what people have turned this place into. In his age, this would’ve never been anything I would feel the need to do, because the moment it was found out that Haldren ordered the assassination, he would be on trial and the death penalty would at least be an option.”

“And what would you know of the first king?”

“I’ve spoken with Marigold, we are good friends.”

Xol and Marigold had been watching the entire time, invisible to everyone and unheard by them.

“So, what exactly did you say to him?”

“I told him about how Yggdra was a good man and he would’ve never let things get this far. I told him that what happened was my fault because I didn’t stay in the kingdom and help root out corruption. And I told him to take responsibility for what he did.”

“You could’ve been a little more specific.”

“I thought he was going to go out and do good things, continue to do good things. Not reveal that it was his fault and declare a cold war against the nation's nobility.”

“How sure are we that we got the good Harlan? Or that they both didn’t just decide to go off the rails?”

“Right now, I don’t know. What has the other one been doing.”

“Trials, fair trials. He took over a sizable slave market town and has been fighting off the people who intended to take it back.”

“I got stuck with the bad one, didn’t I?”

“Don’t jump the gun. He hasn’t left any survivors in the last two attacks because he needs materials to build an invading army. He melted a Cast alive just to see how that worked, and he vivisected another to see if their organs really do work like they do in organic life. This one, this Harlan can be tempered into someone better, the other one? I’m pretty certain that his mind cannot be changed. Good or bad.”

“What happened?”

“I put him in the Castian Empire. I was hoping that the sudden shock of seeing how they treat slaves would make him understand that violence isn’t really good or bad, it depends on how you use it.”

“Really? You didn’t think that putting him there would result in him instantly deciding to go with genocide?”

“Maybe we both could’ve handled our Harlan better.”

“Want to swap?”

“No, I’ve actually got a good feeling about the outside Harlan. On his first day he spared over a thousand men after he tore 600 limb from limb and he has prevented retaliatory attacks by the slaves against the citizens who he has judged worth sparing. I’ve not had to step in once. Really my only concern is that the first people he saved are Dague and his advisor is one.”

She curled her lip in disgust.

“Really? One of them?”

“Do you have some history with them from before we met?”

“No race is inherently evil, but those people seem to have some inborn desire to screw people over even at their own expense.”

“Ah, the scorpion and the frog.”

“I don’t want Harlan to drown alongside them.”

“I’ve not seen them do anything against him so far, well, past realizing that letting people leave is actually letting them leave, not a way to say kill them out of people's sight.”

“We will see.”

“What is the story here?”

“I’ll tell you when we get home.”

Harlan had answered various questions, then a big one came, a dangerous question.

“You’ve made a lot of threats, even against your king, you’ve betrayed this country, why shouldn’t we just take our chances at killing you?”

“You, who are you?”

The man stood tall.

“Baron Yetel.”

Harlan connected with a body at the academy library and looked up the man.

“Frontier, second generation, your father killed a pack of Yeti and saved a count for his title. Give me just a moment. Your daughter is outside, she has three guards, to her left are red flowers, she is wearing a yellow dress and playing with a doll that has a matching dress. Your wife is in your bedroom, there is another man. Another moment please.”

The man had a panicked look in his eyes and began to sweat.

“Ah, well, at least there is nothing happening between her and the other man in your bedroom. It seems she is looking for something she lost.”

“What?”

“I have gate, therefore any body I control has gate. It doesn’t take long to look up a name in a book, and then that name is attached to an area, birds overhead can tell me where to find a large house, and then a body of mine can use invisibility and mental senses to track targets. Tell me, do you think that your defenses could stop me? What about an army of flesh golems that appear suddenly around your home, like what is happening right now.”

The man hurriedly called his head of security to check on their daughter and go to a safe room.

He confirmed that there were hundreds of flesh golems, just like the ones Harlan showed off at his archmage ceremony waiting at the treeline.

“Why do you think that I decided to wait a month before telling everyone what happened? I was building an army. And if need be, I will use it. Play nice, nobody gets hurt.”

Everyone could hear over the amulet as the head of security was disemboweled, every gurgle and squelch enhanced by Harlan using sound magic on the amulet from a distance.

Then the man returned, his body having been mended by the golems after they force fed him tonics.

“Don’t play nice, and there is no telling what might happen. I’ve only been merciful right now because you are being used as an example. Now sit down, and shut the fuck up.”

Xol and Marigold were both worried.

“So, this one…”

“I’ll keep a close eye on mine, you… you see if you can fix this one.”