From freezing wind to the shroud of night, Hailey had climbed through it all. Nearly at the peak of a massive snow-capped mountain that towered above everything else, she could see the end in sight.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Mk3 said, jogging in place a few meters ahead of Hailey.

“You…just…don’t want to make this easy for me…do you?” Hailey said through gasping breaths.

“If we aren’t hard on ourself, we won’t get a thing done,” Mk3 responded.

Hailey silently agreed with her counterpart. She’d tried her damnedest to get to the top as quickly as she could. She was satisfied she had, though, as she felt like she’d made good time.

Light appeared on the horizon, signaling the beginning of a new day in the mountainous realm. Seeing that, Hailey pushed herself to take one last sprint to the top. She trudged through the snow, shaking as she forced her body forward.

She ended up falling face-first on the peak, unable to continue.

“Finally. It took you long enough.”

Hailey raised her hand, pointing a finger up in a particularly crude gesture.

“Hm.”

Hailey felt her strength paranormally return, so she stood up from the snow, wiping the flakes off her face. “Great. Can I go now, or are you gonna tell me that we’re climbing to the moon next?”

“Nope, you’re free to go.”

Hailey stretched, enjoying her regained vigor. “So, why were you so pissy to deal with? What’s the lesson in all of this grass?”

“Did you not like it?”

“No, of course not. I don’t like when someone forces me to run at a breakneck pace up a mountain for half a day straight, especially when there’s no reason for it.”

“Well, there’s the lesson.”

“That I should like doing that?”

“No, I’m you. My personality comes from you.”

“So you’re saying…I’m the one that forces myself to do that,” Hailey said glumly.

“I am.”

Hailey stood on a cliff, looking at the landscape below. The scenery was stunning, maybe even worth the trip: mountains curving off on the horizon, trees at the base, and ponds and craters strewn about the land. The sort of view people…well, the sort of view that people climbed mountains to see. Hailey was relatively impartial towards it, but it at least justified the time she’d spent climbing.

“I…already know that, though. I know I’m hard on myself,” Hailey said.

Mk3 frowned. “Then if you know that, why are you ashamed of it?”

“Ashamed, huh?” she said with a sigh. “What, do you mean I’m hard on myself for being hard on myself?”

Her quadruple nodded. “It’s just an endless cycle, Hailey. Tell me, why couldn’t you leave your room the last two months?”

“B-because I…” She averted her eyes. “I couldn’t bear to keep going on like nothing happened. I stayed in my bed, just…hating myself for not being able to do anything.”

“Then what? Was that all that kept you down?”

Hailey continued to look down in shame. “And at some point, I just couldn’t bear to let other people see me. I’d ignored all of them so long, I’d run from my problems for so long that I didn’t want to see them judge me for it.”

“They weren’t the ones judging you, Hailey.” Mk3 rebutted. “You were.”

“I know that already…”

“Then why can’t you meet my eyes?”

Hailey slowly raised her eyes to meet Mk3’s.

“Listen. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re hard on yourself, but that’s natural.” She placed a hand on Hailey’s shoulder. “You can’t stay ashamed of who you are. Just because some part of you made mistakes doesn’t mean it’s bad.” They motioned to the scenery. “It’s fine if you get angry at your own mistakes, but you have to use that rage as energy to right them, not feel wrong for being yourself.”

Hailey stared up at an approaching cloud with a far-off expression, her tone mellow. “It’s like how I was angry at you. I kept going because I wanted to prove myself, or, I guess, to prove you wrong.” She looked back at her double. “I never really thought that deeply about it.” She smiled mischievously. “I guess wanting to punch someone is a pretty good motivation for me.”

Her clone chuckled. “You’ve grown a lot, already. The you I was molded from wouldn’t have been able to see that much.”

Hailey scoffed with a smirk. “Flattery won’t get you anywhere with me, you know that?”

“Oh, I know it well.”

Hailey stood in front of the approaching cloud, ready to be sent to her next trial.

Her counterpart moved to stand next to her, facing her end contently. Her slate would soon be cleared and sent to reincarnate. Mk3 wasn’t sure why Alchemia had chosen to keep living, but that was the clone’s choice. Unlike her, Mk3 could face the end with satisfaction.

“Goodbye.”

The storm of white covered the mountain, and the realm collapsed.

The next day, Taila sat in her robes, her legs draped lazily over the kitchen table. “So, you’re telling me that Hailey was cursed by Kait, and now she’s been whisked into The Consciousness for a journey of self-actualization?” she asked.

Taylor nodded, a spatula in his hand as he stood before the kitchen stove.

“Well, I warned her…”

“You knew this would happen?” Taylor asked skeptically before flipping an egg.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Well, no. I just predicted she’d be bedridden in the next few days.” Taila sipped from a cup of coffee Taylor had made for her. “You should know by now that fortune reading isn’t a fine art.”

“If you say so.”

Taila set her feet back down. “So, Tay number two, why’d you call me up? So I could see Hailey’s cute sleepy face?”

Taylor sighed. “Well, I was just wondering if you could test for my affinity.”

Taila smiled and leaned forward with interest. “Ohh, what made you interested in fortune reading?”

“I…I just feel pretty useless, that’s all.”

“Why do you feel like that? I’d say you’re a beacon of perseverance.”

“Beacon of perseverance,” Taylor scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a leader with perseverance who inspires other people.”

Taylor placed the egg on a plate and handed it to Taila, who began scarfing it down. “I won’t turn down your glowing praise, but that doesn’t mean I’m not useless in this situation.” He gritted his teeth. “Just standing here while Hailey does…whatever she does in there.”

She wagged a finger. “Tut-tut-tut, Taylor. I see you’re missing the real piece of the puzzle.”

“What puzz–”

“You need to accept that you can’t fix everything.”

“Hm.”

“You might not have the tools to help directly, but there are things to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“I said you’re a leader type. You can tell people what to do when things get tight. You organize your thoughts, you make sure everyone is happy. I can’t say for sure that’s who you are, but I see a lot of it in you.”

“And what makes you qualified to say all of this anyway?” Taylor asked skeptically. “I’m a fortune reader, so I tend to group people into personalities for the sake of my job. Some things need me to do that, like chemistry tests. Anyhow, focus on what you’re good at. That’s my advice.”

The two were quiet while Taylor processed the information.

“Oh, right! You wanted me to test for your affinity.”

“Yeah.”

“No problem. That’ll be ten dollars, please.” Taila held out her hand.

“Really?”

Taila waved off his serious expression. “Taytay, that was a joke! Don’t take me so seriously!”

“Oh. So…what do we need to do? Do we need something from your shop?”

Taila stood up from her seat. “No, of course not. Just stand right next to me.”

Taylor followed her instructions and stood in front of her.

“Now, on the count of three. One…”

“Err, wait, what do I do?”

“Two…”

“Uh, okay, I guess I’m–”

“Three!” Taila bonked her head into Taylor’s, making both of them stumble around like fools, crying, “Ow-ow-ow!”

Taylor held his forehead with his right arm. “Ah…I guess that was how you do it.”

Taila had already recovered. “Just another day in my career: Headbutting clients to see if they’ve got magic in ’em.”

Taylor shook his head, “Mom didn’t lie when she said you head-ass your life, then.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Cause ‘head’ and ‘butt’ and ‘head’ and ‘ass’ instead of ‘half-ass’”

“Err…hm. Quite the scathing comment, but not surprising coming from sis.” The two sat back into their chairs, with Taila sipping her coffee before continuing their conversation. “So…I take it you didn’t get any prophetic visions of the future when I headbutted you?”

“No,” Taylor said, too dazed to say anything more.

“Well, there’s the answer to your question.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“So disappointing that I don’t get an apprentice myself. You had a decent, I’d say a one in ten chance to have an affinity. It’d be fun to make your mom jealous, too.”

“Is that really the odds?”

“Maybe a one in twenty. Depends on the studies you read on heritage magic.”

“I take it that means hundreds of people bashed their heads against fortune tellers to see if they had an affinity to get that data?”

“Inhumane, I know.”

Kait shoveled snow, preparing the mansion’s garden for its regular maintenance. It was fairly grueling work, but it had to be done. She was used to working around gardens, or rather, farms, shoveling dirt and snow, caring for plants, and mulching the dirt. It was all her thing.

Kait let her shovel fall, then sighed tiredly. She sat on the snow-covered bench and stared into the light sky. Things really had changed so much, but she was still alive, doing things her way. That should have been enough to keep going, to press forth with new ideas and new dreams. If it wasn’t…

She thought for a moment, formulating a spell to make the job easier. She figured the typical cleaning spell would work, so she picked up her shovel and began waving it around, creating wind, before enchanting the shovel with a spell. From there, it did the work for her, flying and shoveling all the snow away as she’d intended.

Of course, Kait didn’t slack off on the job. She took a screwdriver, mistaking it for some kind of ice pick, and began breaking the ice covering the koi pond.

It was the type of work she liked, the type that she could invest herself in: doing satisfying manual labor as she avoided the stresses of life for just a little bit of time.

Although, eventually, she had to return to them.

Kait popped into existence, shook off her dizziness, and took note of her surroundings, not that there was much to see anyway.

She was in a white void devoid of anything but its other two inhabitants and a chess board. Hailey was playing chess against an even smaller girl with a white coat. Despite her height, the girl’s form seemed to be in her twenties. Judging by Hailey’s irritated expression, she wasn’t winning. The other girl curiously observed Hailey, disinterested in Kait’s arrival.

Hailey greeted Kait with a tired groan. “Hello, Kait.”

“What’s going on?” Kait asked, sitting down between the two players.

“I’m getting dominated by this spirit, and it’s beginning to piss me off.”

Kait reached for her broom, meeting the spirit’s eyes.

The spirit spoke in a monotone voice. “Don’t be so alarmed. I’m with Kaetha.” Hailey made a move after much consideration, only for her opponent to instantly take an action that put her in a worse position without looking at the board.

Kait seemed calmed by the reassurance, but she was still curious. “What’s your domain?”

“I herald over logomancy.”

“Never heard of it.”

“I know.”

Hailey made another move, but as soon as she took her hand off her piece, the spirit put her into a checkmate. She yelled in outrage, “Oh, come on! There’s no way I can beat the spirit representing logic itself!”

“I’ll also accept a draw.” The spirit deftly moved the pieces across the board, resetting it in a matter of seconds. “White or black.”

“White,” she said tiredly.

“Then begin.”

Kait figured by Hailey’s resolve to win that victory was the key to progressing, but…it’d probably take a while. She laid back. Let the waiting game begin.