October 10, 493 U.C.
I half walked and half stumbled into Daniele’s house. The realization pounded through me. The clues were always there: my enigmatic mother, the family hating me, the lab, my appearance, everything.
“Casey?” Ela probed, fluttering in front of me. “Are you okay?”
“Not really,” I muttered and fell onto Daniele’s couch. I’m a clone. Oh, God. They made me just to get magic. Pulling myself into a little ball, I lay there sobbing.
None of it improved my dismal mental state. As I ran out of tears, I just lay there. Then a fairy landed on my head.
“Casey. I love you,” Ela said.
That pulled me from my mess of emotions. “Why are you standing on my face?”
“Cause I can!” Ela giggled and patted me.
“Urgh. Off!” I barked and sat up.
Ela summoned documents on my computer. “I have the contract!”
I looked at the documents and didn’t feel like reading them at all. “Ela, what do these say?”
“Here’s a simple one.” Ela waved. A new file popped up.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
Ela landed on my leg. “I have a little computer of my own.”
“Wait. What? Were you tracking me the whole time?”
“No. You have that security thing.” Ela shrugged. “I don’t really get computers very well.”
I looked at the text. It didn’t even have a place for me to sign. It just said they wouldn’t hurt me. Eluna had signed it. “What?” I asked.
“Please just trust them, Casey. For now, you should talk to one of the doctors. Daniele’s calling her dad. He’ll be here soon.” Ela landed next to me.
I looked at her. “I figured it out,” I said with a grimace. “That secret. I don’t have parents, do I? I don’t have anyone.”
“You have me,” Ela said, patting my leg. “And Daniele. And Ryan. And Spen’ze. And all your friends.”
I stared at the floor. Why would they want to be friends with a clone?
“Casey, I’m not going anywhere, and you are a person just like everyone else,” Ela said, smiling up at me.
I forced myself to smile back. “Are you old enough to get a place to stay?” I asked, pulling my legs up against my chest.
Ela laughed. “There are plenty of places to stay.”
I turned as the door opened. Doctor Drake was standing there. He strode inside with another man right behind him.
“Hello, Casey,” Larry said as he shut the door. “This is a colleague of mine. He’s here to help get things cleared up.”
“I’ll talk to him!” Ela volunteered, zipping across the room.
“Erm. Cleared up?” I asked.
“Casey, legally, it’s a little bit of a mess. He’ll help with that.” Larry walked over and took a seat next to me. “What happened with Mike?”
Just thinking about it made my stomach churn. “I didn’t mean to,” I stammered. “He just - just —“ Then I broke down sobbing again.
Daniele walked back into the room and gestured. The man walked over to her, and they started whispering. I buried my head in my arms.
A moment later, Ela flew over and landed on my arm. She sat on it and began patting me while I cried out the rest of my emotions.
When I finally looked up, the three were still there. Daniele had joined me on the couch. The two were sitting in two chairs.
“I explained,” Daniele said. “He tried to shoot you?”
I nodded.
“And you teleported him?”
I nodded.
“He was hit by a bullet. Do you know how?” Daniele asked.
Hit. Wait. Did he live? “Is he alive?” I asked.
The grimace on the man’s face told me everything. I’d killed him. Even if he had cloned me, I hadn’t meant to do that. I buried my head in my arms again. “It was an accident.”
The man spoke again. “We believe you, Casey. And I hate to ask this, but I’d like to get a confirmation for guardian command. Can you remove the necklace?“
Panic flashed through me. I considered my best teleportation target.
“Casey, calm down,” Ela said softly, patting me some more.
“Did Daniele report me to them too?” I asked, turning to her.
Daniele blushed. “Erm - I - uh - I didn’t have a choice, Casey,” she whispered. “I saw what was happening.”
I groaned and buried my head again.
“We’ve been watching,” the man admitted. “We were able to trace a large portion of that group. You do realize that they caused this invasion, right?”
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That question did not improve my mood. I’d helped them do it, even if it was indirectly. I nodded without looking up.
“We don’t blame you,” the man said gently as he walked over. The room went quiet.
Ela sat there patting me, and time stretched for an eternity. Finally, I looked up.
He looked at me with dazzling green eyes; eyes that were too bright. They were practically glowing. The subtle touch of magic rolled across me.
Realization hit me like a hammer. “Who are you?” I asked.
The man smiled and gestured to a necklace. “Together, then?”
Reluctantly, I reached up and removed the necklace, shifting back to my original appearance. He did the same, shifting to some fae man with golden eyes and white hair. The first thing I noticed was the height. He was taller than Larry. While far more lithe, it was intimidating. “Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Jolzki.” He smiled at me. “It’s nice to finally see the real Platinum.”
I swallowed. Please don’t let him kill me. I looked away and saw Daniele sitting next to me.
Daniele just sat there with a smile on her face. That made me scowl at her.
I turned back as Larry walked over and handed me a tea. Sipping it, I looked back up at Jolzki. “Why did you come here?” I asked.
“To see you. Ela said that you realized.”
I nodded. Daniele jumped up, and he took her place.
“We didn’t realize they’d do that. I am sorry, Casey. We failed you.” He smiled at me.
That caused a whole slew of other revelations. How did we get the awakening potions and recipes? How had they not tracked me sooner? How did this happen at all?
I turned to him. “You let us do this. Why?”
Jolzki shook his head. “Humans don’t live long enough. With a little boost through the genome, they still don’t live as long, but it gets closer.”
“And me?” I asked.
“We let them acquire what they needed and foolishly believed they’d use it for minor boosts, but they clearly took a different path.”
“How long?” I demanded.
Jolzki sighed. “Is this really important, Casey?”
I nodded at him.
“Very well. That was over twenty years ago. They clearly were not satisfied.”
And they cloned me. I set the tea aside, pulled my legs up close, and buried my head. The silence grew rapidly. “Thanks,” I murmured. I’d figure something out. Maybe Daniele would let me stay for a while.
Jolzki reached over and patted me on the shoulder. “I can’t imagine what you are thinking. But you are safe, Casey. There are some others who’d like to meet you.”
“Eluna?” I whispered, knowing the answer. Of course, she’d want to meet her clone.
“She’s one of them, yes. And no, she doesn’t want to hurt you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. What was I supposed to tell her? Sorry for being your weird look-a-like. It sounded like a nightmare. I didn’t have good options for anything. So, I sat there.
“Casey?” Larry asked. “I know it has been a long day. If you’d like, we can discuss things in the office.”
I shook my head, not wanting to remember the events at all. Suppressing my past seemed like the best option to me.
“Casey?” Ela asked, patting me.
“Ela?” I asked, looking at her.
“Can they just see you? Eluna wants to meet her sister. And maybe I could tell them what I know about the people and places? You could give permission.”
“You can tell them that.” I let out a breath and peeked up. To my surprise, a giddy Daniele bounced on her heels and gave me puppy eyes. “Daniele can meet them. I’m just here.” I buried my head in my legs again.
Larry walked over and opened the door. I didn’t look up. Daniele gasped. She was probably excited to meet a legend.
“Casey?” a woman asked. No, not a woman. I recognized that voice.
I peeked my head up. Liani was standing in front of me with a look of concern. My eyes started to water, and I looked back down.
“It’s good to meet you,” Liani said, reaching down and patting me on the head.
“Nice to meet you,” I mumbled back. It went quiet again. I heard whispering but didn’t catch it.
“Casey,” Daniele called out. “I want you to meet two friends of mine.”
“Liani and Eluna. I know.” I didn’t look up.
“They are happy to meet you,” Jolzki said. “I thought you’d want to meet your sister and mother.”
“Don’t have any,” I replied. “I’m a clone.”
“You share your sister’s DNA. That means you are like twins,” Liani countered, walking over to me. “Please, look at us. We are excited to meet you. And your father wants to see you smile.”
“He’s dead.”
“Your real father,” Liani replied.
It went quiet again. Ela wormed her way into my fortress of solitude and started making faces at me.
“Stop that,” I said, wanting this horrible day to be over.
“Nope. You need to know and meet them,” Ela said, jumping up and down on my leg.
Growing frustrated, I was forced from my fortress. I reached down to grab the little terror. She grinned and fluttered away, landing on Eluna’s shoulder.
The two fae women were standing there, smiling. I pulled up my knees and found myself in a hug instead.
“Nope. I’m not waiting anymore,” Liani said, pulling me closer.
“You can’t use speed. That’s cheating.” I wriggled and broke free. Then I looked up and saw her eyes watering.
“Please, Casey? I didn’t know I had another daughter. And it has been torture not just burning this entire place to the ground to get you.” Liani held out her arms.
I didn’t fight it. I stepped forward and got engulfed by the three of them. It was strange. Sure, in theory, they were my blood relations, but I knew nothing about them. The seconds dragged on, and the hug started to feel nice. My anxiety dropped and was replaced by pure exhaustion.
“I know this is probably hard to process,” Liani said. “But we would like to get to know you.”
Desperate for some rest, I cheated. “I have a book,” I replied and broke free.
Pulling out my journal, I handed it to them, collapsed on the couch, and let the exhaustion take me away.
Current Level 12 Current XP 16.08% Current Max Mana 19010.13 Regen per minute 26.40 Reputation 30100
Tier Skill Cost Tier 11 User Time Dilation (Haste)
- User experiences 256 seconds for 1 earth second.
- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 7 Pocket Dimension
- 128 cubic meters of pocket space.
- Rapid stash and rapid draw.
- You may tether objects to your pocket space.
- Your pocket space cleans, preserves, and organizes items inside based on your will. 32 mana Tier 7 Time Stop
- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.
- You may control the flow of time in the demiplane.
- You may summon in willing living creatures.
- This automatically triggers if you take significant damage.
- Recast to gain vision. 200 mana to cast.
Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 7 Teleport.
- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.
- You may cast this on a willing or unwilling creature if they are within fifty meters.
- You may teleport inside an object, causing the matter to push outward.
200 mana for the caster.
400 mana for a willing creature.
1000 mana for an unwilling creature with no resistance.
- Short range casts cost less mana.
Tier 3 Attire Swap
- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.
- Attire cleaned on swap.
- Attire repaired on swap. 20 mana. Tier 3 Enhanced Body
- Caster’s body is enhanced by a factor of eight. 2 mana per caster second. Tier 2 Enchanting.
- Enchantments last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Potions.
- Potions last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast Tier 2 Free casting
- Cast any spell you can replicate.
- Slotted Spell. Use half the normal cost of the spell to store a single spell for future use. Cast the spell for the remaining cost. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana.