Chương 229: Act 3, Chapter 78: Mason is here

Day in the story: 29th January (Thursday), after midnight Alex Weatherlight"I ain't dead," the man who was the vessel of two souls replied. I didn't budge. I just looked at him, letting my eyes and everything I didn't say out loud do the talking. It was often the right response to inspire someone's willingness to share more than what was their initial intention.

"Okay, I died, but that doesn't mean that I'm gone, you know?"

"If what you said is true, then both you and Jason are gone, and instead a new person is alive."

"But—""I meant it in a metaphorical and metaphysical sense. If you two are one in consciousness and soul, then neither of the ones that came before still exists in this world or the other one, for that matter." I interrupted him, pushing myself off the wall I'd been leaning against and two steps closer.

"Never mind. Should I assume that you're also someone different, despite talking the same way you usually do?"

"I am still my old, good self. Probably even better than I ever was—both in skill and in inclination of character, and that last part is truly unfortunate. We are actually quite the opposites, you and I."

"We are?" Mason asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Indeed. While your souls merged to inhabit one body, my soul is stretched across multiple physical entities, one of which is me—Alex Weatherlight, at your service. And don't take that literally. It's just a figure of speech. I'd strongly prefer if we didn't cross paths in the foreseeable future, as we've already established that our goals are mutually exclusive." I extended my hand, and the sword flew into it, guided by instinct through the power of animation.

The moment its cold steel touched my skin, the Authority I had given it to act independently flowed back into me.

"What does stretched across multiple bodies even mean?"

"I feel like I explained it to so many people, so many times now, that I should put a Wikipedia page for myself or record it and replay every time someone asks." I took a deep breath, when I found no empathy for the suffering people's inability to grasp the concept of existence within his gaze.

"It means that despite having one soul and consciousness, each of the bodies have their own branch in the main stem."

"That doesn't explain much."

"It's like playing chess against yourself. You make a move, switch seats, and try to outthink the version of you from a moment ago. You're the same person in both cases, but the position you take forces you to see different angles and approaches you wouldn't notice otherwise. It's the same for me. Different bodies, each bringing a different facet of me to the forefront, expressing as distinct personalities and all still within the scope of Alexa."

"Seems a lot wilder than joining of souls. If I understand it correctly."

"You'd have to be me to grasp it fully, I guess."

"Thank you for sharing though. It's not an approach that you expressed in the past."

"It's indeed a new approach I am trying out. I will see whether it sticks."

"Are you going to put me back on Earth?"

"That depends entirely on whether you intend to be a hindrance to my plans going forward."

"I am, if I get to my brother first. I don't want you to kill him before I have my chance to talk to him."

"And if I do kill him? Would you seek revenge?" I drove the sword into the ground and leaned on it with one hand. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, I wouldn't. I understand your point of view, Alexa. I don't support it, but it seems reasonable, you know?"

"That's both unlike Malik and Jason as I know them. The first would try his best to be the hero and the savior, no matter what. He'd try to talk me out of it, then when that would fail, he'd rush in to beat me to it in action or die trying," I let the last words and the pause that followed hang in the air slightly.

"And Jason would have me lashed with words, because killing is reserved for God and elements and other divine interventions and laws, and is prohibited to be delivered by the hand of men on their own volition." I raised the blade against the man in front of me.

"So although my belief in the truth behind your words is still pretty strong, given what you've shown and told me, your promise of no aggression here made me question it."

"You think I am lying?" he asked with a laugh.

"I love you, Alexa, which ain't an easy thing to say when I look at a man that you are. We both did, and I still do. I will not seek revenge, but I am goin' to do everythin' in my power to meet with Robbie first."

"Fine. What is the deal with your Domain?" I changed the subject.

"Why is it so different from what it used to be? Why are your powers differently expressed?"

"My Domain reflects me as the sole mage in it. With original Malik gone, my will, my experiences, and my character shape how it looks."

"I understand that," I answered, sending the sword away and lowering my hand.

"It is not an explanation for your abilities. Are you implying that Malik did not know how to use them fully? Or that you managed to push it further and got a new soul mark already? That can't be possible, as you echoed someone else back in Paris already."

"No, you are right. Whatever happened to original Jason when he was undergoing the change made by the Shattered stuck with him. It changed his body and soul a bit. I believe it is why my body is a reflection of my inner self now, but it does not allow me to consciously change my appearance."

"You have the eye of the Shattered too," I replied, focusing on his green eye. There was that breach along the iris and the pupil, on the surface, that all of those broken eyes had. And a slowly seeping shadowlight, so bright and translucent it was almost invisible. But it was unmistakably the same eye. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"The what?"

"The people that wanted to change you have special eyes that allow them to see through illusions and look into the past stored within reflections. Your green eye is like that. None of the things you said have anything to do with the powers you have over echoes." He nodded, as if remembering. I was pretty sure I'd told him about those eyes already.

"The subject of my Domain changed when our souls merged. It ain't the Domain of Echoes no more—it's the Domain of Returns now, man. So the soul mark for projection changed too to reflect that—yeah, that pun is on purpose—and now I can use echoes of other folks, not just mine. But when I power up the afterimages of my own moves, the ones from other people come out weaker than how they was originally done."

"I see." There was so much to the magic that I didn't understand yet. Lebens told me that there were no schools that teach it, and it might be true in America, but Elle's team proved that they do teach some things in Europe. I wondered if the lack of similar courses in the US was a power move meant to keep mages in check.

"That's interesting and warrants more research into the Change itself, since your shadow, Jason, was changed, and yet since it did not reclaim you, you still could have joined into the Domain."

"Reclaim?"

"It's apparently the Ideworld's version of creating a Domain. Shadows whose change is so profound it forces them into the Earth to join with the human part. It somehow solidifies it, whatever that means. I know one just like that, and I tell you, he looks very unhuman."

"So you are saying I am like that?"

"No, of course not, since you were not claimed, but there is still some form of rejoining with the soul of your shadow, whether you are a Reclaimer or a mage that joins or creates a Domain, as we are affected by what happened to those shadows in certain ways."

"Yeah, that be true, man. Can't you really give my bro a chance?" He spread his arms in a gesture of full openness.

"And there it is, the talk me out of it attempt. Listen, Mason… I am giving him a chance. If you get to him first, you will have your talk. That's a big enough chance in my book. Bigger than the man deserves, anyway. And if you somehow convince him to come and beg for my forgiveness, I might consider it—but honestly, I probably won't. So better tell him to go to Mexico or somewhere else and stay out of my sight, so you can visit each other in peace."

"You try too hard to sound badass, Alexa—""No, it comes easy to me," I replied, and he laughed at me. I felt good about this banter, despite the distrust I still felt toward him and his goals.

"Maybe." He raised his brows.

"Like I said, I understand and accept, but I find it strange that you are so rigid in how you view him. Did you not join forces with a killer that almost killed you when you were still human? The Japanese guy that made Peter's suit?"

"I did. I needed his help, and he proved to be a better human than I am. Are you suggesting Robbie is the same and deserves the same? You would be mistaken. They are very different people, and I fought both of them. Shiroi is driven by a sense of honor and duty. Your brother wants power and recognition as the very best, and I don't care what his reasons for that are—he paves the way for them with corpses. I will put his at the very end of it."

He gave some thought to that, holding his chin between his thumb and a finger.

"Aren't you the same?" It was Jason's mannerism speaking through him now.

"Everything you told me, and all that I peeped, they all do show that you is the same, Alexa… Alex." And Malik's now.

"You'd pave your own road with corpses too. You are planning to do the same with him. You steal whatever you want to steal, and for what reasons? You think you are better in any way than Robbie is?"

"I do," I replied, focusing my gaze on him.

"I do not indulge in the violence I use. My morals might be alien from yours, but I do have them. I steal as a means to challenge myself, or from people or places that would not miss what they lost or do not deserve to have it, but for that, the game has to be challenging."

"And you are the one to decide it, right?"

"I see what you mean, but stealing is only part of it and ultimately is not as drastic as taking a life, wouldn't you say?"

"I would."

"Yes, and I do not enjoy killing. I do it when it's necessary—when my life or the lives of the people dear to me are in danger, or when the target is but a manifestation of a thought. I do not go out of my way to kill someone just because I want to or can't control myself enough to stop."

"But you are doing it with Robbie. You planned his death and you go along with this plan. It's a cold calculation. This is murder, Alexa. It's not a crime of passion, not killing for survival. It's plain old homicide."

"Yes, it is."

"So I ask you, what makes you a better person than Robbie in this regard? Maybe his reasons are the same as yours."

"No, they aren't. The killing I plan to do will result in a world that is safer, and that is a good enough reason for me to go along with it. I am not the same as the Rhythm, neither is Shiroi, or you for that matter. You think I'd kidnap your grandmother to lure you out? That I'd use my friends as a meat shield against a mage, knowing they'd be put in harm's way? That I'd lash out at you, Peter, Sophie, or anyone else who is dear to me in anger, because you oppose me?"

"You threatened me with your sword!"" The only things that solve problems are violence, or the credible threat of violence. That's what Penrose would say often to me when I was young. Of course, it was an exaggeration, as sometimes a kind word works just as well, but in the context of unknown powers standing off against one another, it's the only thing that holds true, Mason. Learn it and keep it in your heart, the sooner the better. I threatened you because you were—and to a degree still are—an unknown.

You are a credible threat of violence against me, my friends, and my plans, so I responded in kind. Did I go out of my way to act on it yet?"

"No, you did not," he answered through clenched teeth.

"Yes, because for as long as the threat is enough, I prefer to keep it that way. With Robbie, it is past that point. He is dangerous to me and everything I hold dear, and I do not base it on assumptions. That's what I am trying to say here—I don't have to. I saw him cave your face into your broken skull.

And trust me, I understand that it might have been done in anger, and however unimaginable it is to me to be so angry at the person I love as to do that to them, I can still understand emotions driving a person to that. I find it excusable… somehow. It is not that, however, that makes me sure that he is irredeemable."

"What is it then?" he asked, with pleading eyes. It was still difficult for me to bring up that memory.

"After he did that, and when the realization of what he had done hit him, his instinct was not to feel sorry for you, to embrace you and apologize—no. He thought only of himself, and he left you on the cold street and ran away."

"He might have been scared."

"Scared about retribution, Malik." I shook my head.

"Mason. He ultimately cares only about himself, and you might see me this way too. And I do care about myself more than I probably should, but it's not the only thing in the world that I hold dear. I want to see it, know its truths, and challenge myself in doing so. That is my goal, and I do think it's a noble one, so yes—I do think I am better than him. I know for a fucking fact that I am, especially now that I know his skills a bit better."

"What do you mean?" he asked, and there was some fear in his eyes. He might not have been ready to hear that, but people are hardly ever ready for the truth when it comes to them.

"When you broke his back on that very same street, your reaction was to stop yourself from further attacks and reach out to him. He ran away from you when he broke your skull—""You said that already," he interrupted.

"I did, but I did not stress that enough, Malik. His power healed him when you broke his back, made him as good as new, and you know well enough that the music he manifests can work on everyone and anyone around him—he could have healed you then and there just as well."

"—but he ran away," he said, his eyes welling up.

"He did." I stepped closer and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You understand now why I can't just let it go?"

"I do," he sobbed.

"But I need some time alone." I sent him back to his apartment and returned to the Domain.