"You're certain about this?" Boris watched as the light blue cloud dispersed and scattered with the wind. "I suppose it is too late to change your mind but still... he's going to know what you did."

Xiara gave a simple nod as she watched the cloud vanish alongside Boris. "It'll be fine, he doesn't have emotions remember?"

"Why did you do it?" Boris asked, "And why this one?"

"What was always his underlying complaint about his life?" Xiara responded with a question of her own.

"That he's cursed to remember everything." Boris replied without hesitation, "So that's why?"

Xiara smirked as the last of the cloud vanished entirely, "I prevented him from abandoning his memories before, and he was indifferent about it."

"He maintains balance of everything, so he has to keep himself balanced first." Boris replied.

"Looks like this puzzle was solved," Boris stated as Xopil's body started disintegrating and turned into an off-white cloud. "Xopil figured it out a thousand years early huh?"

"That incarnation was something special." Xiara's eyes sparkled. "So, just maybe."

Boris nodded in understanding. "Now he just has to recover."

"Boris, Xiara." the cloud spoke to them as it stretched itself.

"Good morning, Xopil." Xiara replied while running her hand between the cloud layers.

The cloud visibly shivered. "You have a tender touch as always Xiara."

"As do you," Xiara replied as the cloud wrapped itself around her.

"Do you want to explain why I have no memory of this latest puzzle? Of this last incarnation...?" Xopil sounded a little annoyed.

"It wasn't exactly a pure memory, you had intervened and altered him." Xiara explained, "So I scattered him to the winds."

"I see." Xopil calmed down instantly, "So you think this one is worthy of the task?"

"I do." Xiara replied confidently.

"And if you're wrong?" Xopil asked with a slight threat in his tone.

"Any punishment you desire, I'll accept." Xiara replied.

"Really now, that much faith in him? Very well. Let's see if he lives up to your expectations." Xopil sounded slightly pleased.

You really are the embodiment of balance aren't you, Boris thought to himself.

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Xopil, Boris and Xiara returned to their domain. Xopil was actively keeping tabs on everything going on in the constantly expanding parallel timelines. What the hell happened? I've never had so much to do before.

Xiara watched the cloud's color shifting constantly. I'm sure he's complaining, but it's not like he can't keep up... pretty sure he's not even running anywhere near his limit either.

Meanwhile, pieces of little light blue clouds were breaking apart into smaller and smaller pieces as they scattered through the world, eventually breaking out of the confines of the atmosphere and scattering through the far reaches of space.

"Are you sure about this one? He's scattered all over the universe now." Xopil chided as he kept tabs on the little cloud.

"So you look busy, but you are still capable of watching him are you?" Xiara smirked, "Yes, I have faith in this one. He solved a problem in days that you thought would take him a thousand years, and without your full ability."

The cloud fell silent at that. "He just got lucky."

"Maybe. Are you jealous?" Xiara teased.

"Jealous? Hah, perhaps. Still, it's going to take nothing short of a miracle at this point for him to pull together."

Xiara looked over the monitors with specs of the little blue cloud. Her face paled when she realized the distance the pieces had managed to get from each other, and that distance was still increasing.

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Light as a feather. My body has no definite shape. Spread thin, but still all connected together. The more I stretch, the stronger the euphoria. Thinking is getting harder though.

What am I? For that matter I think I used to be somebody... can't remember so well any more. My senses... wait, what are senses?

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

...I may have a problem.

The tiny pieces of the cloud that were closest together slowly shimmered as they bounced between various colors. A conscious effort.

"Rest well Xopil," a pleasant voice rang clear in his mind.

Xopil... was that my name? Who's voice was that? I want to hear that voice again. How long has it been since I last heard that voice?

The cloud shimmered quicker as some of the pieces drew closer together.

"Rest well Xopil," rang clearly again. Then a bit later "pull yourself together."

Pull myself together... pull myself together... pull myself together... Xopil repeated this phrase over and over causing the shimmer in the clouds to grow brighter.

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Yes, that's the way Xopil... keep it up! Xiara silently encouraged him as she watched him on the monitors.

"It's truly amazing the extent he's spread himself in these ten years." Boris commented, "You think he'll get back together in the next ten?"

"Not likely, but it is promising isn't it?" Xiara replied.

"He'd still be getting further apart if you hadn't intervened." Boris nudged her.

"You noticed?" Xiara said sheepishly.

"So did Xopil." Boris warned. "Normally I suspect he would want this outcome but... you have a wager don't you? I wonder how he'll react since you've cheated."

Xiara was wrapped in a spacial bubble and she vanished instantly... "Well, that answers that." Boris said with a shrug.

Several days later, she returned to her station watching over the monitors looking a bit tired. On her way to her seat, she looked at Boris, and through a yawn she said, "Worth it."

"Only you would get a punishment you enjoy," Boris said flatly.

"Who said I enjoyed it?" Xiara cocked her eyebrow at him, "He didn't let me sleep for four days."

"How did he keep you awake?" Boris asked slightly amused.

"He poked my foot with a stick every time my eyes closed." Xiara scoffed, "Now he expects me to work today without falling asleep."

"Truly ruthless," Boris chuckled, "I still say you got off easy."

"He made me make a new wager." Xiara added. "If I lose, the punishment is double, but the conditions..."

"What?" Boris asked.

"He has one year to get himself together or I lose. And I can't interfere...obviously."

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Xopil fought against the euphoria of having his body particles stretched apart and little by little he managed to shrink the distance.

Thinking is getting easier... but these memories... Are they all mine? Some seem as ancient as the cosmos itself... what if I... yes, that feels much better. Thinking is less strenuous too.

All over the monitors, little blue clouds turned grey and vanished from existence as Xopil cut his connection to them. Xiara watched in amazement as 80% of the little blue clouds turned gray and disappeared the next moment.

"That..." Xiara gasped.

"Hopefully there's enough of himself left." Boris said as gently as he could.

"What's going on with those?" Xiara asked, pointing at half of the remaining little blue clouds that were flickering between light and dark blue.

"Those are likely memories he can't decide if they are his or not. It would be best if he purged them though." Boris stated, "But, he probably won't."

"Why do you say that?" Xiara asked.

"The memories are likely of you," Boris remarked, "And for that matter, he found a mix of fresh memories with you along with much older memories. That has likely thrown him into a state of confusion given all that he just rejected."

Xiara offered a silent prayer.

"That's not good...now he's questioning his own memories." Boris said as previously light blue clouds began blinking between light and dark blue.

All at once, the blinking clouds turned grey and vanished.

"Holy hell...is there anything left?" Boris blinked, "I hadn't expected him to purge everything just like that."

Xiara looked at the monitors in disbelief.  "Is he trying to wipe himself clean?"

"There's twenty-five of the clouds left..." Boris scoured the monitors for more.  "It looks like he's getting ready to purge more..."

"What's his goal?" Xiara asked.

"That's simple." Xopil intoned with a chuckle.  "He's rejecting me completely.  Can't say I blame him either.  But...well, look."

"Only one remains?!" Xiara exclaimed.

"His core..." Boris stated.

"Are you still confident in him?  I am."  Xopil asked Xiara this last question then they all watched in silence as it began blinking between light and dark blue.

"He's going to have to accept this aspect of himself, he was part of me once after all." Xopil stated as he watched.

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Once Xopil had pulled his light blue cloud body close enough together, he was assaulted by millions of memories. Far too many of the memories held no emotion.  These he severed without question.  Then a woman appeared, sometimes as a cloud other times as a human.  He felt some emotion from some of these memories, but the vast majority of the memories still felt empty. He skipped over these to handle later.

He felt it easier to concentrate as he cut more and more of these 'false memories' as he dubbed them from himself.  It still wasn't a full comfort, but it was progress.  Something still felt wrong.  He sifted through the remaining memories, all of which held the woman.  These are a distraction... there's still this nagging feeling I can't shake.  He cut the connections to these memories without a second thought.

Now then, let's have a look through what remains.  Xopil dove into the only memories that remained, his personal experiences.  Even still, there's that unsettling feeling like something isn't right.  Xopil severed the memories, leaving himself as an empty shell.

All that's left is... Xopil looked into the last remaining bit of cloud.  His core being.  At last.. the source of that unsettling feeling.  But, isn't that me?  But that isn't me... There's something foreign to me here, but it's also... familiar?  Xopil's consciousness dove deep into his core.

Xopil meticulously and painstakingly examined every bit of his core.  Ah yes..  I see now.  There's part of another being in here, seems that I was created for a purpose.  Well, no longer.  As of now, I live for myself.

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What they saw on the monitor next shocked all of them.  The light blue cloud emitted a dark blue smoke which evaporated into nothing.

"He... separated me out of his core?" Xopil looked on in admiration as he felt his connection with the light blue cloud vanish, "You're right Xiara, this one does show some amazing potential.  I'm looking forward to it."

"He's not done yet though," Boris stated.

"What remains is trivial compared to what he just accomplished," Xopil laughed, "After all, I thought it was impossible."