Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Springfield, Illinois - 6:13 PM
The Angelic version of myself continued to clutch his head. His hair flared in what could have been anger or anguish, and his halo was dim. He refused to look up at me, and I suspected that he couldn’t.
Despite this, I didn’t dare put the Orb of Amarii down. Right now, it was the only thing that guaranteed my protection from the Prime Doppelganger.
“Hey, buddy,” I said, trying not to sound condescending as I walked around the scene I had laid out before us to stand next to the Doppelganger. “You doing okay?”
Sitting down on the floor next to my copy, I watched him. His eyes were shut tight and he was groaning with every panting breath. Whatever process he was undergoing to gain my memories wasn’t doing him any favors.
“The last time I had done this was in my 45th run,” I said, keeping a close eye on the Doppelganger. “Before that was the 37th, 36th, and 24th. There were a few times where I fled and never came back, but those are the times I won here. Never seen this happen, though.”
<<<>>>
[[Patron Message]]
You’ve probably doubled your lifespan at this point. I can’t imagine what the Doppelganger is going through is pleasant. It certainly doesn’t look like it is, at the very least.
There’s a lot of things I leave out when using a Memory Orb. It’s a necessity, really. Even when it’s your own memories, getting entire timelines shoved into your mind is a lot to take in. He’s getting everything and it doesn’t even belong to him.
If he’s not responsive, then how are you going to beat him? The plan won’t work, right? And what happens if you run out of time on the Orb of Amarii?
<<<>>>
“You’ve got a lot of questions,” I said cheekily, but I nodded at her logic. “I suppose the plan’s either going to work or it isn’t. There’s time, so we might as well wait. As for the orb, I can keep this thing going all night.”
<<<>>>
[[Patron Message]]
Maybe a less morbid scene, though?
Don’t get me wrong, I understand why you’d use this one. Mercury is a good kid. It’s just unpleasant.
<<<>>>
“That’s kind of the point, but you’re right,” I replied. “I’ll change it for you, just be ready for me to change it back at a moment’s notice.”
There was no response, so I figured she’d agree with that. I let my thoughts flow into the orb and the scene changed. The stormy beach was replaced with another that had clear skies and gently lapping waves. The Doppelganger and I appeared on either side of the memory of me lying on a dock, staring up at the stars.
“I didn’t get a lot of chances to be still and enjoy myself,” I said wistfully. “This is from my vacation last run, from a beach in Anguilla. I had just finished fishing up a meal for myself after taking out a flock of murderous pelicans. The kind that would swoop down and eat someone my size whole. It was peaceful after they were gone.”
Breathing out, I took a glance at the Doppelganger. Despite being at least some percentage fire, sweat was beading from his forehead. His eyes were open now, though they were wild and unfocused as they stared at the dock underneath us.
I snapped my fingers a few times to get his attention. “Once again, you good, buddy?”
“N-no,” he said through gritted teeth.
“No, I don’t imagine you would be,” I returned.
“No, I…” The Doppelganger winced and his wings moved so that he cocooned himself in them. “600 years of… history just… shoved into my head.”
“Ah, I guess that’s how old I am. Roughly, at least,” I said unhelpfully. Rolling the Orb of Amarii between my fingers, I returned the memory to the one of Mercury’s death. Then, I nodded at it. “Do you remember this?”
The Doppelganger’s head jerked towards me. “Of course I remember this,” he snapped. “I remember… everything that’s ever happened to us thanks to those stupid tattoos of ours.”
“Yeah, they make things hard to forget, huh?” I asked sympathetically. “So here’s the thing, this is kind of weird, right? I was expecting you to—”
“I know what you were expecting me to do,” he interrupted sourly. The Doppelganger’s wings started to move, no longer being held quite so close to his body. “That was my plan before all of this hit me like a…”
He trailed off as he looked at the scene, his eyes tearing up. I arched an eyebrow at the unexpected water works, shifting my focus from the Doppelganger to the memory of Mercury.
“Change the scene,” he quietly demanded.
“Why?” I asked, letting it linger.
“I don’t need to see this.”
“It’s my plan.”
“I know it’s your plan, but that doesn’t matter anymore.”
I shook my head. “What are you going on about? You know I’m not going to listen to you, right? You’re going to try and kill me once this is all over.”
The Doppelganger tore his orange eyes away from Mercury to glance at me before turning to the sky. “Esaraphelscion, Angel of the End, what am I?”
“Okay, addressing my girlfriend’s going a bit too far, don’t you think?” I asked, crossing my arms. He didn’t respond, simply watching the sky.
<<<>>>
[[Patron Message]]
I can’t answer that question.
<<<>>>
I paused, pondering her words. “What do you mean you can’t answer his question?”
<<<>>>
[[Patron Message]]
You know my rules, Anthony.
I think something unexpected has happened. Whether it’s good or bad still remains to be seen.
<<<>>>
Snapping away the message, I sat down next to the Doppelganger. Mentally commanding the Orb of Amarii, I changed the scene. Mercury Moonslayer’s death disappeared, replaced by something much more soothing.
The Seven-Ten Bowling Alley appeared around us. Boss Steener and I were playing a friendly game as the rest of the Filbins partied and destroyed the venue. This was one of the timelines where I had sat down and actually got to know the monsters instead of just using them as fodder. This bowling team wasn’t half bad so long as no one disturbed them, which was more than I could say for others of their kind.
“What’s going on?” I asked, watching the memory.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
It took my Doppelganger some time to find the words, but the sound of pins falling seemed to sooth him. I understood; that was why I brought him here. Watching his aura, I saw him begin to calm down. It was still incredibly turbulent, however.
“I think you turned me into one of those abominations Glaraphel mentioned,” he admitted, eyes glued to the screen that kept score.
“So you’re a Prime Doppelganger and, now, also an Angel?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I guess.”
“Well, your guess is all we have, man. Sara says she can’t talk about you, which means you’re at least Half-Angel like me. If you don’t know your own mechanics, then I don’t know where to take this conversation.”
The Doppelganger shot me a look before shaking his head. That turned out to be a bad choice, apparently, because his hand came to rest on his temple. “I’m still reeling from all these memories,” he said angrily. “Do you know how jarring it is to have centuries of this and that shoved into your head at once? No, because you did it the long way.”
I nodded. “Aaron did say I needed therapy after all I’ve seen.”
“Understatement of the year,” he scoffed.
“You’re handling them pretty well for someone who suddenly needs mental help,” I noted.
He glared at me. “I’m supposed to be able to handle memories,” he unhappily retorted. “Twenty years, forty. Hell, even if someone a hundred years old comes into my domain, I can handle them. You? You’re just an asshole shoving six hundred years of life into someplace it doesn’t belong.”
“Hey! As true as it might be, that’s completely uncalled for,” I protested.
“Yeah, whatever,” he scoffed, looking back towards the screen. Then, he pointed towards his head. “Alright, here’s a little lesson in Prime Doppelgangery.”
“Okay, sure.”
“You already know that I’m the best version of you that I can be, right?”
“I mean, if you really want to toot your own horn, sure.”
“Best believe I do,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Well, normally, I’m half Doppelganger, half human or whatever. I literally change species within the system.”
My eyes widened slightly. “You can talk about the system?” I asked, surprised. “I kind of figured that was world boss territory, or some of the stranger monsters. Well, I guess you are pretty strange.”
The Doppelganger rolled his eyes again, though the act of doing so made him wince. “I got the same meta skill as you, dumbass. I can see more than you can.”
“Alright, sure,” I snorted. “Then what can I do to upgrade it?”
“Just send messages to your girl,” he said, gesturing towards the sky. “You can do that thanks to the other Golden Dream passive. You gotta type it out and shit, but you’ll get one where the system will just convert your thoughts without having to type. It’s not the most useful thing, but it’s the easiest way to get a new ability.”
“You’re swearing a lot for someone who’s supposed to be me,” I noted as I looked for the menu that would allow me to send Sara messages.
Once I activated it, the system laid out a holographic keyboard in front of me. My fingers flew as I sent short, flirty messages to my girlfriend. The ability to send what basically amounted to free emails had been one of the perks of the Under Her Watchful Eyes passive, but I hadn’t used it. Talking out loud had gotten the point across faster than typing it out.
He gestured to his head. “I’m not going to apologize for being irate since you’re the one who came here to fucking kill me and gave me this massive migraine. I think that’s fair.”
I thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, that’s fair. Sorry it didn’t give you my pain tolerance.”
“Eh, I’m not surviving much longer, anyway.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I asked as I continued to message her.
“Because now that I know who you are, I can’t kill you, can I?” he responded. I gave him a confused look, and he shook his head before pointing at his halo with a wing. “I know who you are and what you’re doing. Killing you would be an inherently evil act.”
“And you’re part Angel now,” I said as the epiphany struck me. “Glaraphel had orders to kill Nephilims, but you know what I’m trying to accomplish and how likely I am to succeed, so killing me is against your nature.”
The Doppelganger threw his arms and wings upwards. He winced and fell backwards, placing his hand on his head. “Now he gets it! Come in here with your stupid plan trying to get me to off myself, and it didn’t even matter. We were going to be stuck in this stalemate of me being too powerful to kill and you being the population’s best chance at survival regardless of your plans.”
Instead of answering right away, I continued typing at the holographic keyboard. Sara hadn’t responded to any of them yet, but she was probably just waiting for me to be done. I sent message after message, and after doing my best to fill her inbox with what was essentially spam mail, I received an update.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
You have sent 50 messages. The skill [Entwined With The System] is evolving.
[[Skill]]
Entwined With The System
Your connection with the system is so hardwired into your very being that you can even make it work in situations where you no longer have access. You have become a part of the system, just as the system is a part of you. You gain the following benefits.
Instant Inventory: You can now place unattended and unclaimed items into your inventory without physically opening it first with a mental command. You may retrieve items the same way.
Thought To Text: Whenever you have the option to use the system’s keyboard, you can use thought to write your message instead.
Further benefits may become unlocked depending on player activity.
<<<>>>
“Oh, okay, so I can use this when I’m sending messages to the guild and stuff, too,” I said before greedily looking back at my Doppelganger. “You have anything else for me?”
“No,” he replied with a scowl.
“Really?” I prodded. “Because it seems to me like you’ve got some good insight that I could really use. And since we’re in a stalemate anyway…”
He shook his head. “No, because I can’t,” the Doppelganger grumbled. “If I give you any more hints, the system is going to forcibly delete me.”
I frowned. “What? That’s stupid! Why?”
“Probably for the same reason it ejected that Treasure Hunter you grilled about the system and where it came from,” he answered with a shrug. Then, he scowled. “Oh, please, that’s a memory of his and I’m just speculating. Don’t be so dramatic.”
“The system?” I asked.
The Doppelganger rolled his eyes yet again. “Yeah, it’s a bit of a backseat conversationalist.”
“Given how much information Sara wants to give me and can’t, I can believe it,” I sighed. Returning my attention to the memory, I changed it back to that perfect night sky. “So where do we go from here?”
That caused him to scowl. “Well, we can do it in one of two ways depending on how spiteful I’m feeling.”
“Not at all?”
He gave me a deadpan look. “You came here to kill me.”
“In my defense, I expected you to try and kill me back,” I returned.
“And I’d like to, honestly,” he said. “If I give you another hint about the system skill, I’ll disappear and you’ll get nothing. No quest complete screen, no points, no loot, nothing.”
“That’s the spiteful option. Also, a bit of a dick move,” I remarked.
The Doppelganger nodded. “The other way is that I kill myself so that you can get what you want.”
“Need, really,” I corrected. “I need what you have to offer, just in case.”
“So many ways to cheat death and you think you need another one,” he said with a scowl.
“You can never be too careful. You’re basically me, so you should know that.”
“Making it really hard to choose the suicide route right now.”
I gave him a soft smile. “Yeah, that’s my bad. Sorry about that.”
He stared at me for a few moments, and I stared back. “You really think you can do it? Save the world?”
“That’s a tough question,” I laughed, running my hands through my hair. “But, yeah. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have made it this far. I would have quit ages ago, to be honest.”
“Okay, because you were doing it out of spite first,” he told me. “That’s not exactly a winning start.”
“Man, I know,” I sassed, glancing towards the sky. “Sara and I were completely different people all those years ago. Obviously, we got over that antagonistic part of our relationship. We’re both in a better place.”
“Obviously.” The Doppelganger looked away from me to gaze at the stars. I gave him some time to decide. He already knew everything I did, and probably already determined what I would say.
He was more decisive than I expected.
Four drills were Constructed around his heart, two in the front and two in the back.
“Don’t you forget me, Anthony Franklin,” he ordered.
“I won’t,” I told him honestly. “Thank you.”
The Doppelganger looked disgusted as he shook his head. “Don’t thank me for the end of my life. You made me like this.”
Each of the drills began spinning and pierced through his armor. The amount of mental concentration he had to have as he tore himself apart was intense, and he very quickly began to heal again. I didn’t look away.
“Heavenly Hero,” he grunted as the drills continued spinning.
“Sorry,” I said.
The next five seconds seemed to go on forever, but I kept watching. It was the least I could do. There was no room for his version of My Golden Bowling Ball to appear and block a fatal blow, and the very instant that the timer was up he disappeared. The memory shattered, returning me to the real world where I still faced the Prime Doppelganger’s mirror.
On the sofa behind me was a naked body identical to my own, complete with Ouroboros tattoos. I reached out to clothe it in some of my less magical gear. While I did, I pulled up its description. I did it just in time to see the other text box pop up with it.
<<<>>>
[[Item]]
Anthony Franklin’s Spare Body
This body is time-locked no matter where it is. If the player who this body is modeled after dies, they may instead choose for their soul to inhabit this one. This only works if it is not inside of an inventory at the time of death. The new form has the same stats as the player does at the time of creation, but any gear the original wore or had in their inventory will need to be retrieved.
[[Quest Successful!]]
The Prime Doppelganger has been slain, but I don’t know who did it.
It has been a long time since a Glitch has achieved such heights. Even longer still that the system hasn’t been able to calculate a reward instantly.
Perhaps it’s time to join a conversation that I didn’t think would involve me. This should be… interesting.
Reward: will be handed out after calculations are complete.
[[Patron Quest Complete!]]
That wasn’t nearly as bad as you thought it was going to be, was it?
I’d love to congratulate you more, but you should get out of here. Don’t wait for the train, just get out of Springfield and the administrator’s influence.
Trust me. I can’t tell you more than that. Run.
Reward: 12,500 points.
<<<>>>
I arched an eyebrow at the lack of a victory screen and the quest complete from the administrator. It wasn’t often that I’d see the system need time to calculate something, and “defeating” a copy of me at my best falling under that category didn’t surprise me. But, as confused as I might have been, I didn’t miss Sara’s warning. Touching my literal body double, I pulled it into my inventory and started leaving the house.
It was time to return to Sol Ligatus.