Under the deepest depth of the night, one sits under the only light among the darkness. Alone in the midst, a smile carved on his face, his red eyes glowed with the light. He has his legs crossed with his hand on his face. In front of him was him, but not a mirror, but Rollan, the child he was tied with. Rollan appeared to inherit his father's silvery hair and his mother's pale blue eyes. But his appearance seemed to be Erik. Is it because they both inhabit the same body? Rollan wondered, engraving his confusion to his face.

"Dear me, we have met, finally. My empty-boring life, will you fill it up? Hehehe, nice to meet you, Rollan," he said, giggling. "Now, he can see them... right? My clothes. It will be a wasteful act if I present myself naked. He better be. He could see me, so he better see my clothes!" He thought as he was sweating coldly just thinking about it.

"M-me? Mo-monster! Wha-what do you want?!" His confusion soon turned into fear after witnessing his eyes filled with blood stares as if he were seeing himself in a pool of blood in those eyes.

"Fear not, dear me. I'm not a monster from some tale you were told about, but I am your alter ego." Keeping the same expression. He thought to himself, "Well, red eyes and silvery white hair are one of the characteristics of a vampire that was once feared in ancient times, according to the mother."

"In other words, I am your other self, you are me, and I am you but yet different. Confusing, right? It doesn't matter. There is a more important matter we should discuss. It is about you." He was pointing at Rollan, creating another spotlight on where Rollan was standing.

"Me?" A single word was packed with questions behind it.

"Yes, you, but before that, may this other you know what dream you wish to achieve?" It was an unexpected question. It was not what Rollan had in mind.

"I want to explore the world. After my mother told me a story about their adventure, it was full of dangers, and yet I want to go and see for myself what adventure was awaiting for me to experience." He was excited when he talked about the outside, but soon became blue and continued, "But when I said that they both were against it, they kept convincing me how cruel and terrifying the outside is, so what I want was to get stronger so they don't get worried and one day they would let me."

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"That's good. You have quite a danger in your dream. You still have a long way to reach this big dream of yours. But don't worry, my support is on your side, but it is up to you to decide and make this dream of yours come true. Remember, I can only teach you through word since I have no physical body." Despite living with no physical contact, he learned after observing and paying much attention to every move the father performed during his training. But still clueless on how it feels to one's live body to use those skills with incredible strength and flexibility. "Well, your his son. You might inherit his talent." He thought.

"Tha-thank you! But why do you bother to help me?" Why did he bother helping him? What is his ulterior motive? Does it have a price to pay? Did he do something to deserve this? Not even his father was willing to teach him his way of swordsmanship, but a person he just met a second ago. Nevertheless, it's too good to be true. Maybe it is just a dream?

"I don't need a reason to help you. After all, I'm just your alternate self. Your joy is my joy, and your life is also my life," he replied. His tone just now was deceiving, combined with the red gaze in a place surrounded by darkness.

"Alternate? Please don't call yourself like that! It felt like you were just a substitute and nothing more..." He said it with sad eyes. Erik was caught off guard there. He was not expecting to hear it; rather, those words shouldn't exist or be rare to hear in reality. He was speechless for a second.

"Don't be saddened, other me. It's true, I am just your alternate, and I don't hate-!" Erik replied. He really means it; he does not hate it, and he knows himself he was not, and it's just a made-up story he made to control Rollan. He also got lucky that his and Rollan's wants were aligned. He too wants to discover the outside, and he might discover that things that are impossible are possible.

"Rollan!" He yelled, interrupting Erik. "Please call me Rollan! And I will do the same. Tell me your name," he continued.

"My name and existence don't matter, and no one could even see me other than you. I am just your alternate self!" Erik doesn't know what to say, and even if he did, he would still be known as Rollan even if he possessed Rollan once more, so his name was not important. But if he was too stubborn, Erik would just give him a random name to satisfy his curiosity.

"You are you and I am me. It does not matter if you are my alternate. You have your own thinking, and I have my own too. I can see you, I can talk to you, and it goes the same for you. I am Rollan, and that represents myself, so who are you?" Rollan asks once more. Erik was completely speechless. When did he learn this? He thought to himself.

"Erik, that is my name. You better not forget this after being too stubborn, or else I will leave and be completely silent." He replied, and words got through to him.

"Yes!" Rollan's blue eyes were sparkling with joy.

"You learn a lot from your mother, but from your father's swordsmanship, you didn't learn a single thing after watching it many times? Hahaha," Rollan learned quite a lot of lessons from his mother's lessons and stories.

"That's... I really can't! Father, move like a worm with no bones!"

"Pfft, Rude, calling your father a worm, you really did look down on him, huh?"

"Noo! I didn't mean that way! I was complimenting my father!"

"When did "worm" become a compliment?"

"Ugh, shut up! Brother Erik! You're tricking me!"

"Hmm? Brother?"

"Yeah, you're a family now. Family helps each other, right?"

"Yeah..." Hearing "family" lit something up from inside. He felt sad, but at the same time, he felt joy in those words, hearing himself become part of a family. He wondered why...