[START OF BOOK 5] Chapter 493: Identity

Once again, they found themselves at a strange place. At first, they thought this was another alien world – perhaps one of their clones had claimed a new body.

They soon realized that this couldn’t be the case. After all, they didn’t remember the journey to this planet, nor the process of stitching their host’s soul. Besides, the scenery was all wrong. It was way too fantastical to be anything but a figment of their imagination. And… too familiar to be anything but a dream forged out of their memories.

In front of them, a vast plain stretched as far as the eye could see, covered in snow. Howling winds sang like before, though the Symphony wasn’t nearly as loud as it had been during the fight. Turning around, they saw something that didn’t fit here at all – a dense, sunlit forest, the canopies of its aged pines swaying rhythmically under a much softer breeze, whistling sounds emanating from their hollow cones.

To their right, a large building stood under a red sky. It was downright colossal – some kind of stadium. They’d only seen it once in their lives – at least from the outside, though they’d spent a whole lot more time living inside it. They wished to examine it from up close, and this strange world obliged.

Suddenly, they found themselves standing in the centre of an arena, blood-soaked sand crunching beneath their feet, with the occasional shard of bone sticking out and failing to stab into their calloused soles. The acrid stench of iron filled their nostrils, stinging the back of their throat.

A crimson star shone dimly overhead – painting a stark contrast against the dark sky above the snowy plain or the bright sunlight spilling through the branches of the forest they’d just left behind.

Rows upon rows of stands rose around the arena, though they failed to spot another soul. Even so, they could almost hear the crowd’s cheering, jeering and booing, the buzzing cacophony of their treacherous people having long been seared into their memory.

Walking across the sand, they recalled many of the vicious opponents they’d faced in this gods-forsaken place. Six-pawed monstrosities, packs of smaller beasts and… even fellow gladiators, left with no choice but to fight each other to the death to please their cruel captors.

Feeling done with this hellish pit for good, they walked toward one of the imposing gates, wishing to pay their old cell a brief visit. Their time there had been no less unpleasant, but they had spent the vast majority of their life sitting on the cold, damp floor, playing their handcrafted kik’lit…

Their bottom-right palm barely pressed against the metallic door, causing their surroundings to shift again. At least, the strange dream was kind enough to provide them with shortcuts whenever they wanted to move, sparing them from having to walk.

Finding themselves back in their cell as requested, they brushed their fingers along the bars. They distinctly remembered that the material had felt a little smoother when they first got shoved into their lifelong prison, though it had gradually grown quite rough after accumulating rust for decades.

Walking to the back of the cell, they stepped into the murky puddle, not particularly bothered by the filthy water splashing beneath their feet. Reaching into the darkness, they picked up a half-rotten chunk of raw meat from their most recent kill – or rather, a creature they’d killed a long time ago – pecking a chunk off for nostalgia’s sake.

Their time in the coliseum was arguably among their least favourite memories. Even so, they were glad that they’d finally recalled it all. No matter how bad it had been, this was a part of who they were. Not to mention, it served as a grim reminder of the ghastly fate that would continue to be inflicted upon their people, until they managed to free their conquered world from its oppressors.

For a moment, they considered returning to the other places. The dark side of Huehue… the Whistling Woods… the Fungal Spire… the Grisly Bog… the Thirsty Valley… the Vault of Magic… Felmara… Melodia… Gallimus… Thess’kala… Remior’s ocean…

But there was no point. There was nothing else that they needed to recall. If anything, they remembered way too much now. It was quite bizarre, actually, how well they could picture even the most minute details of their past – even things normally too small and unimportant for a regular person to retain.

Even weirder was how they could remember multiple different “pasts”, all of them converging into a single “present”. They could still tell with ease which of their memories had come from Micky the crow, Micky the gladiator, or Percival Avalon – though the distinction felt almost meaningless right now.

None of it was more or less important than the rest.

Remior was their home, but so was Huehue. Their wings and talons were as familiar as their four hands, their mouth and nose, or their Sovereign’s Eye. Elaine and Baldy were their family, but so were their parents and sister.

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As a matter of fact, they’d recalled a few details that might lead to their missing father. While their mother and sister had been murdered before their very eyes – thus leaving no room for hope – the man’s fate had still been unknown, at least according to the previous memories they’d recovered.

Thankfully, they now knew that they had tried to inquire about that person several times during their long stay in the coliseum. They’d begged the wardens to ask around, feeding them the occasional morsel of information as a reward for their victories – another reason to keep living their hopeless life.

Unfortunately, what they’d been able to gather was rather limited.

Whether their captors had been too lazy to look into the matter properly, or simply happy to watch them squirm, they’d likely never know. Either way, the only thing they’d learned was that the man had indeed been captured alive and taken to a different coliseum.

This wasn’t much to go on – for all they knew, their father could have died a thousand times over after fighting for his life every single day, for the past however-many decades. Even if he was alive, they’d never deluded themselves into thinking that they would see each other again.

Then, Mixcoatl had killed them, and the rest was history.

‘Well, at least there’s a chance now,’ they thought, before shaking their head.

First, they needed to make sense of their current situation.

Figuring out what had happened wasn’t very difficult. Obviously, their souls had fused while fighting Deimos. Their – the crow’s – soul had flown back to their – Percy’s – body upon their death, bringing about this unusual state. It wasn’t ideal, since this was the very thing they’d tried so hard to prevent from the moment they began equipping the familiar with a clone. Ȓ𝙖ΝÓΒЕⱾ

Then again, it wasn’t necessarily a bad outcome. It had given them the strength to take that bastard down, and it had even helped them recall the rest of their missing memories.

It didn’t even feel that bad. In fact, they felt better than ever before, their minds seemingly working in perfect sync to peer through a layer of fog that they’d never even noticed was there. What they were currently experiencing most certainly wasn’t the result of an advancement, though in many ways, it felt better than one!

They were sure that their current condition came with several more advantages and disadvantages that they would slowly discover over the coming days, but that was an issue for later.

‘Let’s start by waking up from this dream…’

In theory, they still had two bodies to return to. They clearly remembered the crow’s still figure splitting off from their Cloak at the end of the battle. Whether they could access either or even both of the bodies at once remained to be seen.

All of that was under the assumption that they were still alive, of course. They hadn’t forgotten about the army of wasps carrying them away, the feeling of the encroaching bugs still giving them goosebumps. However, they didn’t think that the creatures had hurt them. For one, dead people shouldn’t be having dreams.

‘We’ll try to occupy the human body first,’ they decided.

It was the one most likely to be functional, since it was their bloodline that had made everything possible in the first place. On top of that, it was also the body they had defaulted to after killing Deimos, as well as the most convenient to keep if they were forced to choose.

Wishing themselves out seemed to do the trick. It took a while, but the world around them shook, the cell crumbling to dust before the rest of the coliseum followed. A mountain of debris landed on their head, though it didn’t crush them. It merely trapped them in a dark ocean of sand, unable to breathe or even twitch a muscle. Thankfully, the suffocating feeling only lasted a moment or two. Then, they found themselves resting on solid ground again.

This time, they were almost certain it was actual ground too – they were back in the real world.

Lifting their head, they examined their new surroundings. They were inside a vast cavern, its surfaces covered with colourful minerals, the air thick with glowing motes. Clearly, they were back inside the hive, far deeper than any of their wasp clones had ventured before. Probably near the Starry Queen’s chamber too, judging from the size of everything.

Besides them, there was only a single other object in the room. No. Not an object. A body! It was still alive, its chest heaving up and down as soft breaths escaped its lips, though the creature was clearly asleep.

It sported a humanoid shape, though it was far larger than it had any right to be – it was downright colossal! In fact, the sleeping giant appeared to be as tall as a Blue beast, despite the fact that it couldn’t be anything but a sapient!

Finding the discrepancy difficult to accept, they scanned their slumbering roommate closely, gasping upon recognizing his features. Their features! This was actually their own body – Percy’s!

Only now did they realize that they’d actually woken up in the crow’s body by accident. It wasn’t their human body that had grown larger – it was just the bird that had shrunk after the fight, for some reason. And it had been a while since the last time they’d seen a regular human from such a vantage point.

‘Not a great sign,’ they thought, clicking their beak in irritation over their failure.

It should still be possible to access the other body though. They just had to perform a few more tests.

Regardless, the space they were in clearly wasn’t as massive as they’d initially thought, though it was still wide enough for an actual Blue beast to crawl through with ease. A Violet might fit too, though they’d never actually seen one.

Scanning the cavern, they failed to spot any trace of the giant wasps. Perhaps they were giving the creatures too much credit, but it almost felt as if they’d intentionally left them here alone to rest peacefully, until they were ready to reach out.

They still had no idea what the magical insects wanted from them, though the Starry Queen had clearly shown great interest in them during their previous escape from the hive. Thankfully, she appeared more courteous towards them than expected. Arguably more than they deserved too, considering how many of her offspring they’d slain over the years…

In any case, they could deal with the bugs later. Right now, they had to figure out how to control their bodies properly, and to go over the most recent changes in their Status.

Also, they had to stop referring to themselves as “they”.

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