Tirinius brought out another Invictus from the attic to try an experiment. He wanted to see if he could make the original “whole” by sewing it back together, but it didn’t seem to work. Tirinius sewed the piece on, but nothing happened. He took it off and sewed it back on several times, and still the result was the same.

He had long given up on trying to put the pieces back together again and was instead playing rock-paper-scissors with an Invictus dressed like a magician while Ronnie glued the piece of cloth onto the blanket, but still, nothing happened.

“Can you help please,” Ronnie pleaded.

“I’m helping by keeping him busy” Tirinius replied.

He and Magician Invictus yelled out “rock-paper-scissors-shoot!” and Magician Invictus won for the 15th time in a row, because Tirinius let him win every time.

“You’re their master. Can’t you get them to just…combine,” Ronnie asked.

“No one controls them! And what makes you think glueing all the pieces together will work? I’ve tried so many times.”

“At least we tried. What now,” Ronnie asked.

“We need to find a way to rescue Levi without using that stupid watch,” Tirinius said. “I know that my Levi had a mirror that could take you to different versions of reality. Does your Levi have one?”

“I can check.”

Ronnie called Ace on his cell phone, and he didn’t pick up. He sighed, put his phone down and admitted defeat.

“We can-“

Ronnie’s phone rang and an unknown number was calling him back. Apprehensively he answered the call and waited for the person on the other side to say something. It was an awkward thirty seconds waiting for the caller to say something while Tirinius continued playing rock paper scissors with Magician Invictus.

“Didn’t I tell you to stop calling,” Levi said.

“Who is this! I need to talk to Ace,” Ronnie pleaded. “Things are getting weird.”

“I’m the guy with all the ‘blood money’,” Levi said snarkily.

“I never thought I’d be happy to hear your voice. Oh god, you need to help me. Where is the magic mirror,” Ronnie asked.

“WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT,” Levi shouted.

“The other Ace. There is another Ace. Right here. Right now. I’m not lying.”

There was a loud sigh and some weird shuffling on the other line.

“I don’t think you are. There’s a guy in Atlaan that looks like him too. At first I thought he was some kind of con-artisit shape-shifter.”

“That’s what I was thinking!”

“But now there’s a second copy. I’m starting to fear that maybe Acheus is a clone.”

Ronnie looked at Tirinius in the kitchen fearfully, hoping that he didn’t hear what Levi said over the phone.

“You mean that he has uh…copies,” Ronnie corrected him.

“Nope. That he’s a clone. Might not even be the original.”

“Please don’t say that word.”

“It’s not a slur, relax,” Levi grumbled. “And it’s not a bad thing if he’s the copy…just gotta make sure the government doesn’t know so they don’t kill him and we’re all good. So, you’re not telling anyone, right?”

“Ace is not a…copy… Just let us use the magic mirror,” Ronnie said.

“It’s broken. Even if it wasn’t, I’m not giving it to you anyway.”

Ronnie closed his eyes and again tried to hold back more tears of frustration while Levi bullied him over the phone.

“What do you need the mirror for, tinman,” Levi jeered. “It won’t make you any less ugly.”

“Fuck you.”

“That’s a very original comeback.”

“The next time I see you I’m going to fight you.”

“Famous last words.”

Levi hung up and Ronnie promised himself the next time he saw Levi, he would punch him in the face.

“I take it the phone call didn’t go well,” Tirinius said.

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“I hope your Levi is nicer than the one here.”

“He’d love to meet you. He took your death the hardest.”

“Well now I can’t meet him, there’s too much pressure.”

Tirinius and Magician Invictus did another round of rock-paper-scissors, and this one was the last because Tirinius won. For whatever reason Magician Invictus kept choosing paper every time.

“I win,” Tirinius shouted. “No more!”

Magician Invictus huffed and then he froze in place. His ridiculously large white wizard hat with yellow stars started to blink slowly like the lights from a car door.

“Friends are coming,” he said excitedly.

“You invited someone over,” Tirinius asked Ronnie.

“No.”

A knock came from the front door and Ronnie was terribly afraid to answer it. Tirinius wasn’t sure if he could answer the door because it technically was and wasn’t his house, so he waited for Ronnie to do or say something. The knocking at the front door became louder and more intense and Ronnie was afraid that it was Ken, here to eat the both of them.

“Open up the door,” a woman’s voice called out. “Open it or else!”

“Or else what,” Tirinius shouted back.

“Or else I’ll uh…uh…”

Tirinius rolled his eyes and decided to see who was bothering them. He looked through the peephole and saw another problem.

“There’s another me standing outside,” he told Ronnie.

“Of course there is,” Ronnie said.

Tirinius opened the front door and Liane walked into Ace’s home as if she wasn’t trying to burn it down a few days ago. Ronnie tensed up at the sight of her. She didn’t care much for the sight of him and made a face at him. That evening she was wearing a cheetah print two-piece bikini and was sucking on a lime-flavored lollipop. Chad followed behind her, and feebly waved hello while she opened all the cupboards and started looking for the watch.

“Can I help you,” Tirinius asked tersely.

“Yeah. Where’s the watch,” Liane said.

“Oh, I know,” Magician Invictus shouted. “It’s-“

“Shut up,” Ronnie and Tirinius screamed.

“Hey, leave the little guy alone. He’s only trying to help,” Liane said.

“Why would we ever give it to you? It’s dangerous,” Ronnie said. “You’re dangerous.”

” What if we traded you something for it? What do you want,” Chad said. “You want my sandals?”

“What! No,” Ronnie shouted.

Tirinius held his hand up to interrupt them.

“Wait,” Tirinius stopped him. “What kind of sandals?”

“NO,” Ronnie exclaimed.

“If they’re a magic object like the watch I’d be open for a trade,” Tirinius said.

“Oh! These are Mordans! Even better,” Chad replied. “Collector’s edition!”

Liane shook her head no, and flicked Chad in the arm.

“Ow!”

“You dumbass, no one wants to trade your shit, for that,” she whined.

“Wait. You guys got a magic mirror,” Tirinius asked.

“No…I broke it,” Chad grumbled.

“Yeah, and thanks to him, I have to be used like a taxi instead of before when we used the mirror to go anywhere,” Liane complained.

Tirinius saw an avenue to rescue his friends through Liane but didn’t want to give them the watch. He came up with a clever lie.

“We don’t have it here. But we know where it is! You can move to different realities, right? Well, we lost it in a different world…and if you take us there, we can give it to you!”

Chad didn’t think twice about the arrangement, but Liane could smell a bad deal from a mile away.

“How can you prove the watch is there before I take you there? How can I know you’re not gonna screw us over,” she asked.

“We can give you uh…collateral,” Tirinius promised. “Your choice.”

Liane leered at Ronnie, and he knew inside his bones that he was in danger.

“That one. He’s coming with us,” Liane said while pointing at Ronnie.

“Me? No. You don’t want me. I’m useless,” Ronnie said.

“Oh baby, don’t worry, I’ll make good use of you.”

She walked over to him, and she smiled. Her smile seemed normal at first, but then her mouth slowly widened, larger, and larger, her teeth razor sharp. Her face started to change, less human, more animal, because she was thinking about how delicious Ronnie’s blood would taste.

She gently placed her hand on cheek, and he flinched. Liane’s hand slowly went to the back of his head, and she started running his fingers through his thick black hair.

“I can’t wait until you betray us, and I get to eat you. You smell wonderful”.

She grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head back forcing him to look into her eyes. Her gaze never left his while she spoke.

“You won’t mind if he comes on an errand with us first, right,” Liane asked Tirinius. “Since he’s collateral and all.”

Liane expected Tirinius to back down, but he didn’t.

“Sure yeah, where are you taking him,” he asked.

“The beach. We got all dressed up and everything,” Chad said with glee.

“Go get dressed. But don’t take too long. We ain’t got all day,” Liane said.

She jerked Ronnie’s head back one more and he grunted in pain. She giggled, like a child, and then finally let him go since she was already bored of bullying him.

Ronnie gave a nervous smile and left the kitchen, went up the stairs, and walked down the right side of the hall into Ace’s room for a baseball bat to bash her face in with.

He was being bullied by astrals who were used to using violence as their main form of communication and was now ready to speak the same language as them.

When he opened the door to Ace’s room, Tirinius was there, already trying to convince him that it was not only a good idea for him to be held hostage, but that it was a great idea.

“If you go with them and come back quick we won’t have to use the watch,” Tirinius said. “It’s a great idea.”

Ronnie looked under the bed and found Ace’s red-white-and-blue baseball bat, old and covered with scratches.

“You know what’s a great idea? Me sticking this baseball bat up your butt if you think I’m going with her,” Ronnie said. “Then after, I can stick this bat up her butt.”

Ronnie held the baseball bat awkwardly, like a sword, and Tirinius tried to talk him down as if he was holding a loaded gun. Ronnie got closer and closer to Tirinius, ready to fight, but Tirinius relaxed once he remembered that Ronnie couldn’t win a fight against him, a soldier.

“Please. I need it,” Tirinius begged. “I’ll do anything. What would you do if you knew you could bring back everyone you loved? That you could have a second chance? Please.”

Ronnie quickly went through the stages of grief and accepted that he would probably do the same if he had another chance. He wanted to change many things about his life, even though he was still young, because he felt he wasted too much time on unimportant things.

He was honest with himself and compromised with Tirinius.

“You’re right. I would take any chance to do everything the right way. I’ll go, but you have to come with me,” Ronnie said.

“Of course! What else do you want in return?”

“Not…much. Truth is, even though the last few days have sucked, its been really interesting,” Ronnie admitted. “I was just curious and now I know so many things. I don’t think I can go back to life before this.”

Tirinius laughed at Ronnie’s excitement over the past few days, because it wasn’t anything special to him.

“This is stuff I do all the time,” Tirinius explained. “Fighting monsters and exploring the seventh realm is what I do.”

“Does it ever get old,” Ronnie asked.

“No. Every time I see something new, or make a new discovery, it’s like learning how to ride a bike all over again. I just sometimes wish I could do those things with people that aren’t there anymore.”

The glint in his eyes and the excitement of just thinking about his adventures made Ronnie jealous. He wanted more. He wasn’t sure what more was, but he knew it wasn’t in his hometown.

That evening, Ronnie and Tirinius packed two backpacks with plenty of snacks and brought their friendly magic knight as well. Liane had the same look of excitement as Tirinius when she made a portal for them to travel to another world. And when Ronnie walked into the open door of possibilities he did not look back.