Ileot Swacc’s game is duplicating entire worlds.

Slowly, that statement from the darkness-Vualla had percolated through Vualla’s drifting consciousness. It was a strange sort of relaxation to slowly unpack that statement as she had been lulled by the rhythmic motions of her own body fighting the Nether Gatekeepers. Ileot Swacc… duplicates worlds…? Then is this world-

Amusement flowed out of the darkness as it pulled her limbs this way and that way. Are you asking if this world is a duplication, a dream? No, that line of thought means you both over and underestimate what Ileot can accomplish. He cannot create true worlds. After all, he is just one man, our brother… but you should not underestimate what one individual can accomplish. Because his ability makes very real people that have inhabited his projections.

So all this that has happened… meeting Randidly, having the Nether King invade... Vualla had released a sigh she hadn’t known she was holding. A sense of relief washed over her. If all this had ended up being just a dream… Her understanding of her current situation was tenuous enough as it was.

All real.

Despite the fact that the darkness-Vualla had been spending a portion of her attention speaking, it didn’t seem to affect her ability to fight against the Nether Gatekeepers at all. If anything, the darkness was improving with every single movement, constantly refining her ability to utilize Vualla’s body to its fullest potential. Always one step sharper with her movements, always one iota more powerful with her punches. The explosiveness and violence of her attacks was always improving. The progress was so staggering that Vualla couldn’t help but split her focus between the explanation that the darkness was giving and the deft way it manipulated Vualla’s body’s power.

As the surrounding Nether Gatekeepers began to warily regard Vualla, the darkness had spoken again. Heh, I hope your young boy will not follow the Path of your brother… But Ileot’s ability seizes onto the origin of some individual’s karma and uses that to create a projection of the world, as it was for them at the moment of karma he selects. He splits a thread of karma in two. Because the source for the whole ability is that thread of karma, the process of creating a single duplication… inevitably creates more.

Calling the karma he uses a thread is a misnomer, but there simply isn’t a better word. Because it is truly more of a net than a simple thread. The karma of one being is tightly tied into another endlessly; they could not exist separately. Even if his original intent was only to create a separate life for himself, I think it is safe to say that Ileot cannot avoid the extras he creates.

As he has grown more adept at his ability, he has improved immensely in how wide of a world he can use as a playground to influence the split karma and change the fate of the duplication from what it originally was. He has no small amount of influence in the projections he creates. By adding elements to these projection world, he can create duplications that are more powerful, or weaker, or loyal to him. He has been using that ability desperately for his entire existence in order to survive.

Her physical body’s dominance over the surrounding Nether Gatekeepers had grown almost casual at this point. When she moved, the Nether Gatekeepers could only hastily stumble backward. Her superiority only improved when one of the Nether Gatekeeper that was fighting her had been pulled over to help assist against the monstrous Lady Iellaya, leaving shadow-Vualla plenty of time and space to refine her strange new image.

It added a strangely surreal feeling to the experience of disembodiment Vualla was going through. First, the strange assertions of the darkness manipulating her body. Second, the leisurely combat with Nether Gatekeepers, a foe that Vualla had struggled so long against.

Yet Vualla hadn’t minded; it had given her a great opportunity to slowly grow familiar enough with the image the darkness utilized so she could attempt to use it herself later.

Desperately? Vualla asked. Why desperately? Honestly, that ability seems extremely powerful.

It truly is. One of the most powerful abilities in the Nexus… but it was only activated under dire circumstances and exercised recklessly on the first occasion. Which has left him struggling to pay the price of his first use to this day. Suddenly, the darkness had seemed extremely tired. Its tight hold over Vualla’s body had relaxed. Vualla noticed, but didn’t attempt to try and seize control back. After all, it was clear she would be able to obtain more information as from this version of herself if she played meek. Better to take things slow and only move when it was necessary.

Humming, the darkness continued to speak to her. Duplicating karma… it is something that should not be done casually, especially when the original karma thread is present in the world. Because karma… is sensitive. Two of the same strands of karma existing means that they will inevitably interact. They cannot be kept apart; they will eventually be one, as they were in the beginning before Ileot’s ability split them. That is karma.

...if I’m being honest, I don’t quite understand karma. Vualla had responded carefully.

The darkness locking her heart and controlling her body had pulsed with amusement. Few do. Least of all Ileot, or else he would not have such difficulty escaping his own karma. Or rather… he would not have allowed his karma to become so knotted in the first place. Karma is the set of intangible things that people would look at when something tragic happens in your life to determine blame. Those things will enable them to say, ‘it is deserved’ or ‘it is undeserved’ when referring to your tragedy. Karma is the cycle of sowing and reaping at their proper times. It is what is present when people make sense of patterns and symbols. It can be considered most broadly to be a universal set of principles, inelegantly perceived by humans.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

It is the most powerful force in the universe. Yet the paradox is that you could very easily live your entire life without ever even guessing at its existence. It is a thing that is invisible if you do not look for it. And sometimes it is invisible even if you seek it your entire existence.

Such might be your karma.

Vualla had thought at that moment, slightly sourly, that the darkness hadn’t provided a very helpful answer to what karma actually was. But she could sense the general shape from the circular explanation that the darkness provided. Karma was a set of universal rules for how things can and would be connected.

A broad answer, but one would have to do for now. So Vualla had shifted her focus back onto the problem at hand. Then… what is the karma of Ileot that you were talking about? The karma he is trying to escape.

A good question. A tragic karma. The darkness had casually used one of Vualla’s fists to crack open the carapace of a Nether Gatekeeper in front of her. For after Eliot duplicated his life and created Ileot, the two connected karmas that had taken different Paths touched and resonated. And then in the seconds after their connection had been established, the injury that had driven him to such lengths that he had discovered his power finally won; Eliot died on that battlefield. In fact, it was right here in this place, during an attack by a Nether King, several thousand years ago.

For a portion of the newly connected karma to die… suddenly, that destiny of death became almost inescapable for Ileot. It is why he has brought us all back here, to forcefully overcome his own destiny with all the original players present.

While Vualla mulled that over, the darkness continued to speak. Yet in his millennia of skulking around and avoiding facing his karma, Ileot certainly has become quite the plotter. He seems to have hoped to gather several chess pieces at once to fight against his destiny.

For example, your boy Randidly was another possible future resource, his unique physique giving Ileot some inspiration on how to escape his Fate. Meanwhile, he was also utilizing the duplicated version of us for energy… well, it might have just been an added benefit. A well-manipulated advantage based on the necessary evil of recreating a portion of the battlefield where he died. So that he can finally escape his own death permanently.

Both of them had fallen into thoughtful silence after that. Vualla partially because she had been increasingly focused on familiarizing herself with the image the darkness used to imbue her own body with power, the darkness because it had its own thoughts. But also Vualla was still having some difficulty understanding the situation around Ileot. Meanwhile, the rather relaxing honing of the image continued as the darkness had landed blow after blow on the increasingly miserable Nether Gatekeepers.

Until, to Vualla’s surprise, the darkness broke the silence.

...I have missed this. The easy pleasure of possessing a body. It is… enjoyable.

Feeling rather foolish, Vualla had responded, Are you… dead? A vestige of your soul left in the System? Or even… karma…?

The darkness had laughed. Ha! No, I’m very much alive. Although barely anyone would know it anymore. My experiments with the imitation Nether Cores… well, it certainly advanced the study of power utilization by generations. But it had a great cost. The energies didn’t mix well inside of me. Bit by bit, my senses were numbed and muffled by the imitation Nether. My ability to move fell away. Yet… I had already given so much up for power and knowledge, it seemed like a small thing to give up my body. Eventually… I was nothing more than a statue, inside and out. I can still remember that feeling. That deep weight of pointlessness that smothered me.

My existence was only meaningful because I had power and could continue to learn. But as I cashed in even my ability to learn for power… eventually, all that was left was the emptiness. So I sought oblivion in myself while alive, letting everything about me slowly atrophy and vanish…

Vualla’s hand had snaked outward, seizing a Nether Gatekeeper by the neck. With a brutally sharp twist, she cracked the neck and then tossed the lulling body into the path of another Nether Gatekeeper. Then she stepped forward and began to brutalize a third Nether Gatekeeper that got isolated while the others struggled.

...I honestly cannot even remember why I was so depressed. It was like… well. You are no doubt uninterested in my own struggles. And in fact, Eliot’s certainty that I had died is the only reason that he was willing to duplicate his family once more. As he found with himself, duplicating karma while another thread of it is still active in the world can have… complex side effects. Suddenly there are too many factors present in one individual…

In fact, I would likely still be sleeping in that empty oblivion if our connection didn’t allow some portion of your life and emotions to flow into me, slowly waking me up… slowly reminding myself that life isn’t pointless. It was… welcome.

While Vualla appreciated learning more, she was slowly becoming frustrated with the spoon-feeding arrangement when the answers that the darkness provided created even more questions in her mind than they answered. But Vualla did her best to control her rising temper when she had spoken again. But… what I don’t understand is why you are here trying to stop him. He’s our brother, right?

For the first time in a while, the darkness’ grip on Vualla heart tightened. Even in the middle of the fight, the darkness twisted Vualla’s head to look upward to the swirling and strange darkness that slowly wafted up out of corpses and became a part of the grand array. ...such is our karma.

Then the darkness had gone silent. Vualla had attempted to ask additional questions, but the darkness largely ignored her. So Vualla had simply focused on watching how the darkness used her body and slowly began to appreciate the principles of energy conservation contained within its movements. She did her best to ignore the ominous words the darkness had said before it had gone silent.

So she had watched as her body had vanquished the foes in front of Commander Terith’s camp and the battle had focused on Lady Iellaya.

Vualla had also been forced to endure as the shadow used her mouth to speak to Randidly and request that he make her new gauntlets that were heavier than the masterwork pieces that her father had gifter to Vualla for her fifteenth birthday. And of course, Randidly had looked at her with his serious emerald eyes and nodded. Of course, he could do that. Because he was Randidly Ghosthound.

There had been a moment, when Randidly had kissed her lightly on the lips and the darkness was shocked by the intimacy of that touch, that Vualla had pressed forward and ripped her body back from this strange, other-self. She had tried to warn Randidly that the other Vualla was controlling her body, but very swiftly the darkness had recovered from its shock and knocked Vualla’s consciousness back again.

After Randidly had left, the darkness raised Vualla’s fingers and pressed them against her lips. “That… that might have been my first kiss. Took me a bit by surprise.”

Then Vualla had felt her own mouth twist into a crooked grin. “Don’t be a sore loser. Let me have my fun for a while longer.”