Without giving Randidly much of a time to cope with the obvious relish in Ileot’s voice, Ileot lightly pounded his chest with a fist and gave Randidly a look that was heavy with fake pity. “If I’m being honest… I wish it would not have come to this point. The situation is more complicated than you can imagine… the magnitude of the forces at play here… ah well, I suppose it is the duty of the elders to deal with these things...”

Shaking his head, Ileot took several steps forward to the edge of a ridge. “In fact, my duplications are normally self-sustaining. There is a… core of Aether that I create that guides the duplicated individual and helps me keeps tabs on their actions. In fact… it was the destruction of the core that brought my attention to the status of this experiment and forced me to come directly. I honestly prefer not to be directly involved. Me interacting with the subject... often hurts more than it helps.”

“Core…?” Randidly scratched his chin.

Ileot nodded. “Usually it manifests as an individual around the subject. Someone innocuous. From my investigation, one of Vualla’s subordinates was the core I created. I suspect, since you accompanied them in their trip into the base of Nether Gatekeeper, that you witnessed one of Vualla’s subordinates display a strength that was… incongruous with his standing. That individual was the core.”

Randidly blinked in surprise. Although he had been very busy struggling to stay alive while surrounded by dense Nether at the time, he did recall how one of Vualla’s subordinates had surged with strength enough that he had been able to turn aside the attacks of the Nether Gatekeeper a few times and buy Randidly and Vualla a few precious seconds to flee from there. In addition, that was also the very same subordinate that was constantly badgering Vualla about her choices.

...a real chip off the old block, Randidly reflected sourly as understanding dawned in his gaze toward Ileot. That’s why the subordinate had such strong feelings about Vualla’s actions because he was trying to guide her along the same tracks she went down in her past life. And it was also why Ileot had to show up as Cail afterward, to try and rectify the mistake…

...but yea, I bet directly interacting with the people you’ve duplicated hasn’t helped you much in the past...

Ileot unleashed an exaggerated sigh as he kicked a small pebble off the side of the ridge and watched it tumble down into the deep fissures in the orange ground. “The core acted as a… vessel if you will. One that… ah… protected Vualla from too much of her Aether being lost from friction with the current Aether of this time. Without it, she will soon begin hemorrhaging Aether. It drastically increases the cost of maintaining her in a substantial form. Once the remaining bits of the vessel fall away… my Aether will need to be constantly spent to heal the damage from the friction.”

A frosted gauntlet began to squeeze Randidly’s heart. The sensation of cold tightness was suffocating. He pressed his eyes together. This was exactly what he had been worried to hear.

Not that Vualla would need Aether, because Randidly obviously could provide that. No, what scared Randidly most of all about what Ileot said was that there would be… friction with the current Aether. That it wasn’t something Randidly knew how to address. It wasn’t just a matter of fueling Vualla herself, but of fueling a construction of Aether that could act as her protection against the modern world.

Because if the modern world’s Aether was dangerous to her, it was possible that Randidly’s Aether would be just as dangerous. Establishing an Aether connection hastily might accelerate the process to a dangerous degree.

It might all be a lie, some part of Randidly whispered. But even though that part of Randidly pointed it out, it didn’t want to be the one to suggest testing the theory. Not when Vualla’s life was at stake.

“-of course, she is a creation of mine. All of my work is of an extremely high quality. There likely are several months before signs of strain will show.” When Ileot’s words registered, Randidly opened his eyes and gaped at Ileot. The hairless man favored him with a grin. “I don’t wish to think I’m trying to strong-arm you; there is time for some thought into the issue. Perhaps during that time we can meet as… friends, and discuss less serious matters. Like your childhood, for instance. Just some topics that aren’t so emotionally charged.”

Randidly licked his lips. Then he purposefully ignored the final part of Ileot’s question, both because it was ridiculous and because the casual way that Ileot asked it made the Grim Chimera mentally bare its teeth. “So there is… time. Before something bad would happen to Vualla.”

“Yes of course.” Ileot turned away from the ridge and leaned forward toward Randidly. “And just so we are clear… I will say it directly; I still have a significant portion of the Aether given to me by Lord Miln available. After all, I planned on sustaining this duplication for quite some time once it bloomed to its potential with energy manipulation. It would have been quite a convenient means to turn Aether into a more valuable form… but now I am hesitant to invest more Aether into this project. It remains unclear if it will be successful.”

It didn’t escape Randidly’s notice that Vualla had suddenly become an it.

Heedless of the growing storm in Randidly’s thoughts, Ileot continued to speak. “Therefore, in return for me ignoring my better judgment and providing more Aether to this project so that Vualla can survive for her ‘natural’ lifespan, you will aid me in the ritual that will allow me to duplicate you in the future. Are we clear?”

Just as Randidly opened his mouth to speak, Ileot raised up a hand. “Ah… I realize that may sound confusing. I don’t need any sort of answer right away. In fact, please don’t. We are friends, are we not? We will have many interactions in the future, hahaha.

“Besides…” Ileot’s eyes began to glow and he jerked his thumb toward the looming presence of the Great Rift hanging above the both of them. “There’s still the problem of the war. Heh, with this many enemies swarming down toward us… perhaps you, too, will grow to regret that this duplication of Vualla doesn’t possess any of the original’s hatred. This is the only sort of place where a woman like her can shine, after all.”

****

Gasping, Vualla jerked upward and wildly kicked out with her leg. Her entire body was clammy and twitching. That she swore furiously as her bare foot smashed into one of her gauntlets that she had left lazily strewn next to her bed area. As her twitches and spasms slowly died down, Vualla cradled her foot.

Then there was just the silence of the dark tent around her and the feeling of the cooling sweat on her brow and down her back. Her thumping heart sluggishly drifted back down toward a normal number of beats per minute.

Even as the memory of the vast darkness that had attempted time and time again to drown her receded like a chilling tide, Vualla couldn’t escape the sense of helplessness that had been the most agonizing part of the dream. It lingered on the back of her tongue like a bitter and pungent green tea.

Vualla closed her eyes. Trying to sleep was a bad idea…

But even if the host of boogeymen that resulted from Vualla learning the truth about her existence were waiting in the darkness beneath her eyelids, Vualla had no choice but to reluctantly go to meet them. It was only while asleep that Vualla noticed any improvement to the wound on her Fate, as small as that improvement usually was. Perhaps just hair’s width of crystal would grow per six hours of sleep, but the changes reassured her that she could improve.

She could change. Her actions had meaning. The things that she had done-

Vualla reached up and tugged in exasperation at her hair as she collapsed back onto her sleeping pallet. Then she rolled back and forth, allowing her blanket to tangle up her limbs in an ungainly clump. Gah… I can’t believe you said something as melodramatic as ‘I’m not real, am I?’... and then you let him kiss you…!

Ceasing her rolling, Vualla looked up toward the roof of the tent. We are both such idiots…

But much of her scolding toward herself had no teeth to it and there was no avoiding the wide smile that stretched across her face while she was thinking about it. Even now, her lips and chest felt warm with the lingering proximity of Randidly Ghosthound. And by what it meant that he had stood in front of her with his emerald eyes and didn’t look away or hesitate.

You’re real, Vualla.

Slowly, however, that grin faded away. Vualla could only twist her mouth as she stood and slowly began to strap her armor onto her body. And even as she pulled leather and cotton over her limbs, she couldn’t suppress a shiver that lingered from the visions she had seen. Although the dreams had been chaotic since her Fate was wounded, this one…

“Fuck me,” Vualla muttered as she pinched some of the flesh of her midriff in the brass clasp of her belt. Grimacing, she sucked in her stomach and pulled her pants up a bit higher. Then she rolled her shoulders and went over to the low table by the entrance to the tent and took a long sip of water. And even though Vualla was very pointedly was not thinking about the… problems of her current existence, her gaze caught on the glove Randidly had given her.

The Fate from her past existence. The Fate that proved that she was duplicated. And no matter how she looked at it, she could find no difference from her own. Despite the fact that it was an inert glove where hers was a matrix of image and power, there was an impossible to counterfeit sense of familiarity that Vualla felt form it. This item was hers.

Mine… but also not mine. Vualla thought determinedly as she looked at the Fate. For my Fate is beginning to heal. I will recover from this, and grow even stronger.

Sighing, Vualla finished getting dressed and prepared to leave. But as she hesitated at the door to her tent, she finally grabbed the past version of her Fate and placed it into her pocket. It seemed foolish to simply leave it laying out where anyone could grab it. Especially because normal missions had been suspended while the Aether forces had to deal with the looming threat of the Nether King’s army.

In fact, Vualla was free for several more hours. But after that suffocating, freezing darkness of her dream… Vualla shivered and headed for the familiar supply track. She considered visiting Randidly, but they had parted only a scant few hours ago. Rushing to a man’s side after every bad dream was something that the childhood Vualla had swore to herself she would never do. Although they had become… more than simply comrades, that didn’t mean they weren’t adults who could control the wild rush of joy in the pit of there stomach that surged upward whenever she thought about the warmth of Randidly’s smile-

Coughing lightly, Vualla began to march forward, walking in the midst of the supply train that was trooping slowly past. But then she saw a familiar figure with navy blue hair and stopped dead. Both the warmth of her connection to Randidly and the chill of the dream were both wiped away by an impossible silhouette. “Is that… Hey! Elliot!”

The navy-haired man, who was lifting a box, turned around. And then he beamed at her. “Ohoho! Little sister, how the hell did you sneak out to the front lines. Mom is going to finally kill herself when she finds out, you know.”