Glenn leaned on the guardrail, his hair drifting in the wind. He looked at Satidipug, sighing as the ruined town disappeared in the distance. Tuleam and Lucian had managed to repair the flying boat somewhat. The group was on their... tumbling way back to King's rise, exhausted and disgusted from this adventure.

  The overall outcome wasn't entirely bad, as almost everyone was going home with new powers or higher ranks, be it Sahro who suddenly caught up with Glenn thanks to his Saint-like Primal, dark elf bullshit power, or Milena's robotic arms. Liara and Lina also leveled up, a significant achievement, though their promotions resulted from life-threatening situations.

  'Hell, even Nelg got stronger,' thought Glenn. 'And he still has yet to return to my soul.'

  'Hah! I suspect betrayal on the horizon!' Diamanes spat. Glenn looked at his left hand dubiously and shook his head slowly. If Nelg was remotely similar to him, betrayal was simply impossible. A warm hand touched his shoulder, pressing it softly. Glenn glanced back at his mother and smiled weakly.

  Emily Miller leaned on the guardrail beside her son, looking at the twin moons shining their pale hues. The clouds had cleared out, letting them see the countless stars peppering the sky.

  "Two moons..." Glenn spoke softly. "That's the one thing that made me realize I wasn't on Earth anymore, back when I first woke up in this world."

  Emily smiled gently. "I got used to it. That and the Moon Rifts." She sneered. "Imagine treating your patient when the idiot suddenly turns into some many-legged fish."

  Glenn shook his head dejectedly. "I can understand you all too well."

  She laughed and extended her hand out, a green hue covering it. "I got all these powers, too. Healing magic."

  "Something else would have shocked me," said Glenn. He looked at his own hands for a moment, his eyes stopping on the purple skin. Diamanes remained entirely silent, leaving some well-deserved moment of privacy for the two.

  "Mom, I think we need to take a deeper look into this." Glenn pressed his hands together, swallowing with difficulty. "I... We buried... I mean—"

  "I certainly died," nodded Emily, unfazed. "The process was peculiar, though. When... You know, it happened, I felt my life draining away and..." She hesitated, pressing her hand against her chest. Glenn couldn't help but remember. This was where the stab wound that killed his mother was situated. She shook her head and cleared her throat. "...And suddenly I was somewhere else. The wound had disappeared, as did the knife and the one holding it. I had a broken rope around my neck and strange clothes I didn't recognize. And I'm not even talking about that miserable house."

  Glenn paused. "You woke up in a house? Was there anyone with you, or...?"

  Emily clicked her tongue. "No. But weirdly enough, people knew me."

  "They knew you?" Glenn clenched the guardrail, his mind struggling to find an explanation.

  "Yeah!" Emily nodded. "Because they heard a loud sound, probably the rope snapping and my body falling, the neighbors came to check on me." She wrenched her fingers with a difficult expression. "I was... not in my best condition, as you might have guessed, but they didn't even question me. I almost laughed when they said they could understand what I was going through."

  "The meaning only became clear to me when they told me their son had also been drafted. The neighbor's wife even mentioned the disappearance of my daughter. It was all so confusing, but..." She rubbed her forehead the same way Glenn often did.

  "Mom," said Glenn with a dry voice. "I woke up on Retni's Plains. You know, the battlefield for the war between Eari and Satidipug?"

  Emily nodded, the colors draining out of her face. "Wait, don't tell me..."

  Glenn nodded. "I opened my eyes to a spear in my chest and a ghoul checking out what my guts tasted like during the night of the Blood Moon."

  "Oh, my God..." Her eyes widened as she hid her shocked expression behind her hands. "A- and you're fine?"

  Glenn looked down at himself and shrugged. "As fine as I could be, I suppose." He crossed his arms with a serious expression. "But this isn't important. What is, is that we've learned that our bodies were there before we arrived in this world. They had a story, a life, something was going on. The Miller family exists in Limbo as it did on Earth, only... those on Earth came to take the place of the Limbo ones."

  Emily frowned. "What about your sister? She didn't tell me too much, but—"

  "She landed in a desert, so it's safe to say she died of thirst and malnutrition. You died from hanging yourself, while I died on the battlefield." Glenn closed his eyes, working his brains the best he could. He felt like he could get closer to an explanation as to why exactly he was in this world, why was his whole family there, why were they inhabiting recently dead corpses, and how the hell could another Miller family exist.

  Onnea never mentioned anything about multiverse bullshit like this. And she mentioned something going wrong through the transfer back then, was it connected to this whole phenomenon?

  "Glenn, you need to know." Emily drew a scant breath, steeling herself. "The neighbors didn't call me Emily Miller."

  Glenn raised an eyebrow. "Ah, did you have another name, then?"

  She gulped. "Emily Westow."

  '...What?' Glenn froze. His heart missed a beat as he felt his knees wobble beneath him. He grabbed the guardrail like his life depended on it, a feeling of nausea rapidly rising. He turned to the starry sky and forced himself to breathe in and out.

  Glenn eventually shook the feeling off and concentrated. "So you were still Emily. Did you ask them about our names?"

  Emily stammered and clenched the ledge, exhaling tensely. "Y- Yeah. They knew about you, but not Lina's name. Apparently, she disappeared a couple of years before I woke up. As for... him, all they said was that he was no man for leaving us like this."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Alright." Glenn felt his resolve grow stronger. The wooden ledge under his hands cracked from how tight he was clenching. "If he also came into this world, I'll take care of him. You don't have to worry about it."

  His mother grabbed his arm worriedly. "N- no, it's not your role. I learned a bit of defensive magic, I- I'll do it."

  Glenn wordlessly aimed at the sky. A small pearl of pure fire appeared at the tip of his finger before flying off into the night. A second later, a Sun chased away the darkness with blinding light, fading away a moment later. Emily chuckled nervously, taking a step away from her son.

  "I'll take care of it," repeated Glenn. His eyes were stuck on the twin moons in the sky.

  ***

  The rest of the journey went on without any interference. Harriet, the King's Blade, was spending most, if not every second of his time, standing next to Lucian like a guard dog. Tuleam had locked himself in his cabin and left it only to eat and insult the others, swearing about never going on another adventure with them.

  Milena had figured out how to retract her robotic arms, but they still popped out by themselves whenever someone got too close to her. Liara was still unconscious, but she was getting better, thanks to Emily helping with detoxifying her. Milena mentioned that a proper priest of Onnea could rid her definitely of the poison, but she'll have to endure until then.

  Nelg had been spending all his time watching over her like a worried puppy. Glenn felt weird seeing his doppelganger taking care of his friend, but he thought nothing of it.

  'If I understood correctly, they went through hell together. They must have forged some bonds at the very least.'

  Diamanes clicked his tongue. 'The only thing I keep from that is that he doesn't look like he wants you to use him as a weapon anymore. He's useless! A betrayer!'

  Glenn glanced at his left hand coldly. The entity had repeated that same speech for the past weeks like a broken record. 'Pot calls the kettle black. And he didn't take over my body, did he?'

  Diamanes stuttered as Glenn sighed. 'I'm pretty sure he simply realized he could have a life outside of me, as weird as it sounds. It would be a shame if I couldn't fight with my indestructible weapon anymore, but it's not like I'd be defenseless either. I'm practically one, if not the strongest Archmagi in existence.'

  'Talk about an ego.'

  'You're one to talk.'

  The reassuring, familiar view of King's Rise eventually came into sight. 'I feel like every time I go out of there, I'm more and more happy to return. King's Rise is really becoming my home, huh?' Glenn glanced back at Lina and his mother. Lina was excitedly explaining everything she could while Emily simply stared with wide eyes at the ridiculously massive city. Satidipug looked like a dwarf's toe in comparison.

  A dozen figures shot up from the Frozen Gate, flying up to the boat. Glenn squinted, recognizing Munirp's emblem embroidered on their uniforms, the setting sun. Lucian flew up to them and they talked for a moment. The Prince returned to the boat while the soldiers posted themselves around it in formation.

  "What's up with that?" Glenn asked as Lucian approached him.

  Lucian glanced at them and shrugged. "My father got the report about what happened and feels incredibly guilty, so he feels like adding six Archmagi to the convoy is the right thing to do. Don't question it, he's just like this."

  "I wasn't going to question it," said Glenn with a chuckle. "He's the King, after all. Who am I to do that?"

  "The Prince's friend," replied Lucian casually. Glenn looked at him silently for a moment before letting out a short laugh.

  The totally-not-over-the-top escort brought them directly to the Bourgeoisie, bypassing the magical restrictions about flight above the walls and in the city.

  'I mean, it's basically Lucian's city, it would be weirder if he didn't have privileges,' commented Diamanes.

  The flying boat almost toppled over when it lowered itself to the garden on 33rd Longhorn St., Silverhomes. Pebble happily jumped out of the boat, rushing past the wide-eyed Liam and Janica and into the manor. Lucian shook Glenn's hand with a heavy sigh.

  "I'll meet up with you guys later. I'm sure my father wants to hear more from me about this story."

  Glenn scoffed and bumped his fist on his chest. "Whether the King likes it or not, you're part of the team now. Oh, and tell him that he better give us some reward for all this mess we bled for."

  The corners of Lucian's lips curled upward wickedly. "Oh, don't worry about this. I have an excellent idea of what he could give you and everyone else for their efforts. See you around, Glenn."

  The boat rose into the air once again, flying away toward King's Rise's inner parts. Glenn watched the boat depart until Lina tugged lightly on his sleeve, pointing at their mother's. Emily's jaw was hanging slack as she stared at the luxurious manor.

  "T- This is your home?" She stammered in disbelief.

  Glenn shook his head and grabbed her shoulders softly. "Nope. It's our home. Lina will give you a tour, I still have one last thing to take care of."

  Emily opened her mouth to protest but stopped when she saw Liara floating in the air, still unconscious. She sort of understood what, or rather who Nelg was, but she still appeared a little flustered over him.

  "Do what you have to do." She smiled. "I'll be waiting."

  Glenn nodded sternly and joined up with Nelg.

  "Let's get to it. We wasted too much time already," said Nelg with a dry tone.

  "Sure. There's a church of Onnea two streets away. We'll be there in no time." Glenn patted his double in the back and moved Liara mentally, letting her float beside him.

  'Oh, I feel it coming. That weird, tense, and dreaded discussion that I've been expecting for these past few weeks! The betrayal! The—'

  Glenn mentally cut through Diamanes' bullshit, muting him. "Am I wrong to believe you want to tell me something?" He asked.

  Nelg scratched the back of his head, his teeth clenched. "I... No, you're not. From the moment you lost consciousness to now, I've remained in this form. Human."

  He looked at his hands with a conflicted expression. "You know, at first, I'm pretty certain my thought process was the same as yours. The same objectives, the same desires, the same... mind."

  "But that changed. When I was captured and put into that void... Back with the guy holding Diamanes' third piece. That's the first time I was truly cut off from you. The first time I thought for myself."

  Glenn listened silently, slowly walking beside his twin.

  "When you created me, I was Glenn. There was no question about that. I was you. I was." Nelg sighed heavily. "Now... I feel like I simply don't have my place in your mind. It's not... normal. I'm not like Diamanes who can freely fit himself in someone else's head. If before I felt just like another voice in Glenn's story, now... Now I feel like I became a character in my own story. If you see what I mean?"

  Glenn stopped and looked at Nelg. "Somewhat. I don't share the same circumstances as you, after all. You might have been me, but I was never you. I've never been a soul-devouring weapon." He scoffed with his hands on his waist. "You were already unique the moment you were born, Nelg. I could have called you Glenn 2, Junior, or something the like, right? But I didn't. You might share my appearance and some of my thoughts, a by-product of my soul. But you're not me. As much as I'm not you."

  Nelg looked at the ground almost guiltily, the words stuck in his throat.

  But Glenn wasn't done yet. "What I mean by that is that you've always been free to do whatever you want. You might have been created to be my weapon, but I'm pretty certain you gaining complete sentience wasn't included in the process. And I'm no slaver."

  Glenn resumed his walk, bringing Liara with him. He continued to talk without looking at Nelg. "If you want to leave us, I'll understand it. You probably want to adventure and discover the world and other people. Find your own dreams. And that's fine. You're free."

  Nelg clenched his hands tightly before exhaling heavily. "Right. Thanks. I needed to hear that." He jogged up to Glenn and next to Liara.

  Glenn glanced at him. "So what are you going to do now?"

  Nelg looked up at the sky. It was a cloudy day. Maybe it would rain.

  "I'll stay now. Learn all I can. You—" He shook his head, correcting himself. "No, we still have so much to do. Vampires to exterminate, a religion to destroy, Gods to interrogate, and all this and that."

  He stared into Glenn's eyes with steel-like resolve. "Once it's done, I'll leave."

  Glenn slapped him in the back with a scoff. "Well, steel yourself up because we ain't half-done yet."