--- ELIAX ---

Why am I here?

I find that that is a question by definition significantly harder to conceptualize than others I’ve known. It’s a simple question in most ways, it’s short, to the point, concise. However, over the past six years, I’d wondered that every single day. It begs question after question, with little to no answers to be found in between.

Why am I here? Even as my real self is reborn? How did the universe line things up precisely enough that I could exist? Why am I different, separate from Fora herself? Who even am I in that light?

I’m not real, at least, I didn’t think I was real. Not until Astral looked at me and decided that I had been all this time. A god couldn’t be wrong, could he? There are far too many things that made me doubt his statement in the beginning, and most of those would only return to my mind.

I was a clone. A copy of Fora. Not a perfect copy, especially after my years spent apart from her, and especially after living for ten years assuming I’d been real. But I was a copy. I wasn’t alive. I couldn’t eat or drink or feel real pain. I could be hurt but I was stronger than other clones Fora had made. I was more resilient and I didn’t know why. The perfect answer was Taasen, he’d certainly done something, whether on accident or on purpose. But was he the only reason for my existence, separate as it was from Fora herself? Even though I’d existed before that?

Who even was I? I was Fora, and yet… I felt no urge to confuse people, nor did I feel the same kind of sorrow at the loss of Virna from our scope. Even after merging again, I’d still been separate from her. I’d been something else, Fora but not Fora. Real but not real.

I couldn’t even call myself Fora in the end, could I? I wasn’t Fora. I wanted the same things but it seemed I approached them very differently. I had the same values but in a way mine were more… flexible, and yet paradoxically less at the same time. I had the same memories and the same experiences, only with six years of extra ones and the entire existence of Eliax to back me up, all that time knowing that I was not her.

And so I looked at my real self as we parted ways.

She glanced back at me. That moment of synchrony was gone, but I could still feel it in the back of my mind. It wouldn’t be as encompassing as the last kind, but it would help us to stay in contact. “Try not to die this time.” I finally said, smiling hesitantly.

She split into a wide, stupid grin. The kind I couldn’t even imagine doing at the moment. She seemed to think I was joking, even with the link between us. “I make no promises!”

I sighed internally and gave her a mock salute. After a moment of examining each other, we turned around again and kept on walking.

I’m not Fora. Fora is not me. But we just so happen to be mirror images.

-

~I found a city!~ My real self spoke to me, sharing her senses for a moment. Sure enough, a bustling city stood in front of her, there were few real buildings though, most of the city seemed to be made up out of tents, of all things. I examined it, noticing as Fora did that the people there were different from anything we’d ever encountered before.

They looked mostly human from this distance, but they each sported long reptile-like tails that swished behind them and aided in balance. I examined the image as Fora rushed toward the city, I wasn’t entirely sure how long she would live with this particular attitude, and a pit of anxiety opened beneath me. She’d die, I’d be alone again, I’d have no chance of getting older or changing without her. ~Fora, can you find a map of some sort before you do anything stupid?~

She hesitated slightly, ~Whaaaattt, I wasn’t about to do anything stupid!~

I sighed, ~I just want to find a different city from that one, then we can work separately.~ I made a mental note to look into ways to get her to age faster. Well… without the addictive properties of Lightweave. There had to be something else, right?

She sent some kind of confirmation. ~Alright, alright… I’ll make it my first order of business then.~

The connection dissipated to the back of our minds again, and I opened my eyes, sighing at the vast expanse of nothingness. Sure, there were mountains in the distance, topped with snow and vast enough that they might rival the Everhigh range on Virna. And they were very pretty.

Most of the land around me, however, was filled with depressed shrubs, spindly trees, and clay-like soil. That same soil when dry—as it was—was more like dust. Every time the wind picked up, it would blow the stuff right at my face, and that just so happened to be the direction I was walking. The wind itself wasn’t particularly powerful, but it was persistent.

Another annoyance came from the complete lack of any definable path. I ended up winding my way through the plentiful shrubs and occasional cacti, and I certainly would have been walking in circles if it weren’t for the innate sense of direction that came from the dimensional affinity.

The desert wasn’t entirely unpleasant though. There were interesting plants I’d never seen before, and animals that scurried about, giving life to the otherwise bleak landscape. Occasionally I would peer at a plant or interesting rock, seeing the small beauty they offered.

It was difficult, however, to remember that beauty as the hours and days wore onward.

I walked, wishing I knew any of these places so I could simply teleport. If I’d been real, really real, I might have become tired. I might have thirsted. I might have wanted the joy of rest or the smiles of companionship.

But I wasn’t real. And so I walked, simply an observer to Fora’s emotions as she explored that grand, alien, city.

--- FORA ---

I walked beside the guards, smiling from ear to ear as two of them grasped my arms, speaking gruffly in a language I didn’t even know.

Over the last week or so I’d managed to pick up a few words here and there, though admittedly most of them were curses that people had a tendency to yell after me as I invaded their homes and shops in search of a map.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Don’t blame me, it was sparking difficult to tell which tents were meant to be entered and which weren’t. It was to the point where soldiers would just start chasing me on sight, a novel experience, but certainly something I could see becoming a trend in the future.

“Hey hey,” I said as one pulled my arm harder than necessary, “I’m just looking for a map, you got a map? It’s preferably a sheet of paper, but I’ll even take cave drawings if that’s all you’ve got.”

I hadn’t managed to find any books or paper yet, but to be fair, most of the places I’d somehow ended up were either clothing shops or animal enclosures. Though… it was much easier to escape in the chaos if a hundred bird things twice the size of myself were running around screaming their enormous hearts out. I hadn’t even known birds could get that size! But bless the gods above for designing these ones as such.

The guards beside me didn’t speak Melorian, I’d checked and they also didn’t speak the dialects of Sanarian I knew, and the few Nakonian words I’dpicked up didn’t elicit any more response than the other two languages.

But I knew this from the first day, since it was usually these two who were after me. I suspected they’d been assigned to the task because they were the best at actually catching me. I smiled at them and kept talking, figuring that there were worse ways to die than doing what my clone had asked.

She caught that thought, unfortunately. After a moment she sent a mental snort, ~Fora, I know you’re having fun, but I’d much prefer to fix the rebirth age as soon as possible.~

I sighed, Eliax… Eliax… ruining all my fun… that was a very Eliax thing to do though, it certainly sounded like something she would say. ~alright, alright, I’ll try harder to learn their language…~

~They say younger people have a better grasp of languages, so maybe this absurd rebirth age is worth it in that light. I suppose I’ll simply have to keep outliving you.~

Sparking clone was probably never going to let me live down that one death. I didn’t want to die again anyway, that was too fresh at the moment, the pain and pain of dying over and over again, not being able to do anything about it… but sparks, apparently my clone couldn’t take a joke.

She caught my internal muttering and sent a picture of the bleak desert again, as she was prone. ~I wouldn’t object toward switching places!~

I scoffed, glancing up at the guards as they started giving me concerned looks, maybe it was because I’d stopped struggling, ~I would die in an hour.~ I reminded the newly named Eliax. ~I thought we decided I’m not allowed to die again?~ That shut her up. Finally. Sparking sparks…

“So!” I grinned back at the soon-to-be-very-annoyed guards. “What do you think about another grand chase?”

They regarded me, frowning. One was big and burly, but his voice was far more high-pitched than one might expect, even with how I couldn’t understand him. In the sunlight I could see the slight glint of his tan scales this close. The other was tall and thin, able to rival anyone in speed, and he was the reason I couldn’t just run. He regarded everything with a silent stoicism. At least, that’s how he’d always reacted to everything I’d done.

They spoke to each other, probably deliberating. They were waiting for someone—I’d never stuck around long enough to find out who. The two of them were getting a hold of my patterns by now though, and were unlikely to keep falling for the same tricks.

As if just to prove my observation, the thinner man let go of me, standing off to the side with worry. They’d figured I was about to escape. That made things more difficult. Not impossible, but I highly doubted the two of them were about to give me a map if I stuck around.

~Try a different district?~ Eliax offered. I hadn’t really figured out how their layout worked though.

I scoffed, ~I’m sure I’ll find it eventually.~

~Great.~ She responded dryly, falling to the back of my mind again as she kept on with her walking.

I left her to that and glanced at the alley around us. There was only one exit, and it was in the direction the tall-thin-lizardman was standing. Unfortunately for them, all the buildings around us were tents. Tsk tsk. The two guards waited, watching me anxiously.

Well, with such anticipation, I might as well perform.

I’d teleported them around the first time. The second time I’d turned off their gravity. The third time I’d teleported them again. The time after that I’d made a full gate and ended up in the middle of the desert with tall-thin-guy for two days. Tall-thin-guy was very tired of me after that.

This was the fifth time, and I was starting to run out of things to throw at them. So, I stared the big-high-pitched-voice-guy straight in the face and simply… phased my arm out of his grip.

There. Perfect.

I then teleported away, leaving the two of them to wonder why I’d never done such a thing before. They were getting harder to baffle as the days went on, but sparks, I wasn’t about to give up on it just yet.

--- ELIAX ---

I crouched down, watching as the large insect sat on the leaf. Sparks, it was such a strange creature. Its body wasn’t really that small—around half the size of my smallest finger—but compared to the size of its enormous wings, it was absolutely miniscule.

The wings were stiff, flat as a board. Each wing was at least as big as my hand, and the longer I watched the creature, the more fascinated I became. It was perched on the plant, lightly opening and closing its enormous wings, allowing me to see all the beautiful patterns along both the inside and the outside. It was a pleasant tan color, blending in nicely with the shrubs and grasses nearby. Predators would have a difficult time finding it. I wouldn’t have even noticed the creature if it hadn’t flown out right in front of me to get here.

Fluttering, I amended, it looked like it was barely even aloft.

How could a creature survive like that? With such enormous wings yet hardly able to use them? What did it even do? What did it eat? Did it have any magical abilities or properties?

My gaze tracked to the plant it was perching on, a particular kind of desert shrub that I’d gotten my clothing caught in at least seventeen times by now. I finally looked at it, really looked, and smiled at the pleasant scent it emitted. It was flowering too at the moment, the white blooms were tiny, barely even something I could see before leaning in closer.

The fluttering insect—apparently scared at my sudden proximity—took to the air. For something that could hardly even fly, it was surprisingly fast. Before I knew it, the insect was gone, likely hiding in a different bush.

Oh well.

I sighed, standing up and looking at the sky. There weren’t any clouds in sight, nor was there a sign of Arendi. I wasn’t sure how the cycle worked, but I usually saw it pass through the sky around midday. My gaze tracked back to the land below and with annoyance, I walked onward.

I thought I could hear in the distance, the far off sound of rushing water.

--

I’d never seen a river quite like the one I was following.

In most ways it wasn’t too unique, there was more life beside the river, plants of all kinds, insects that flitted about, small animals floating down the water. There was even a riverbank and a bed beside it, though I wasn’t exactly sure how those things had carved out, since the ground itself was simply damp.

The water itself—as if it had seen the rules of the universe and just said ‘no’ in response—was floating. It still moved downstream with a quick and steady pace, it still watered the plants and gave life to the creatures who could call it home.

But the river was around five feet off the ground at any given point. Occasionally it was closer, and occasionally it was farther, but the shining waters always floated in the sky, as if they couldn’t bear to touch the ground itself.

I had… absolutely no idea why.

I frowned at the river thing, watching it with my magesight and tapping my foot with annoyance. Why couldn’t this world just make sense… I’d thought it was fairly close to my own, but here I was, staring up at a floating river.

Sparks.

I shook my head at the river and kept walking. I didn’t have enough energy to get baffled by everything I saw. I’m sure there was a reason why it was floating, but I sure as heck didn’t know what it was.

I turned my head and stopped in my tracks immediately, mouth opening in a shout, gaze sharpening as I turned on my soulsight.