With a thought, Alex entered her soulscape with the intention of picking out her third class. Instantly, she was within the familiar forest that was the world within herself and headed toward the glade where she would choose her new class.
The glade was a familiar and comforting sight. A path wound around with patches of different herbs on either side ultimately leading to a shaded sitting area beneath a grand tree in the center. Her entire life, Alex had been more comfortable among greenery than in the city where she lived with her parents, despite the dangers present there. As a child, she had begged her father to take her every chance she could manage to get.
She already had a [Verdant] healer class for alchemy, biomancy, and some regenerative healing, and a [Decay] healer class that mostly involved removing parasites and other sources of disease within a body. She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted for a third class, and would need to carefully weigh her options.
As she approached the end of the path, nearing her tree, she noticed something odd. There, in the trunk of the tree, just behind the seating area where she usually met with her guide, was a gray, metal door. When Alex arrived at her normal destination, she watched as the door opened, and two figures walked out. The first was her regular, normal guide, but behind her was another who should not be here.
The second person resembled the terrifying woman she had just met, but they were not quite identical. This one was tall and appeared to be much older with a look to her eyes that was both predatory and comforting at the same time. Alex wasn’t sure how that could be, but that was what her mind was telling her about the gaze. And gaze was what the woman was doing, directly at Alex.
“Um, Gardener, who is this?” Alex addressed her guide, wanting to know what was going on.
“This is Lovelace, my counterpart,” came the reply.
“Hello Alex, it has been a long time since last we met, though I suppose you don’t remember anything about our previous meetings,” the other, Lovelace, replied. She continued, “The reason for that is due to the actions of a capricious goddess, actions which Ada and I wish to mitigate and rectify. That is why I am here, and what I would like to discuss with you. Gardener and I had some moments to catch up, and I believe she can reassure you that what I say is the honest truth.”
Alex just raised her eyebrows and looked to Gardener, her guide who has been with her since she was eight years old. “How is this possible?” she asked.
Gardener inclined her head slightly and said, “we’re linked, bound by a soul bond, remember? You got that skill unlocked.”
“Yeah, but what does that actually mean?”
“That skill is the system attempting to understand the truth of our nature, which is that you and I are intrinsically linked to Lovelace and Ada.”
“That.. That doesn't exactly answer the question, but fine," said Alex. She then pointed behind the two guides. "What the hell is that door?”
“Ah, well, that door represents the link between us. Through that door is Ada’s soul space.”
Lovelace spoke up at that point. “Hey, I brought you something,” she said, holding out a white ceramic cup on a matching saucer.
“What is this?”
“It’s a flat white. It's a coffee drink, and it's Ada’s favorite from the first world she can remember from this continuity of self. Please try it. It’s bitter, but the warm milk helps cut that bitterness, allowing the other flavors from the coffee shine through. Give it a good smell first, then take a small sip and let it roll around on your tongue for a moment.”
“Uh, ok, sure.” Alex smelled the cup, and the aroma was delightful. Then, she took a sip, and it was.. fine. It was fine. There was some bitterness, but it was not overpowering. The drink wasn’t as complex as some of the teas Alex has had since joining the School, but there was nothing offensive about it. She swallowed, and it warmed her from the inside slightly. The experience overall wasn't terrible, but the drink wasn't for her, she decided.
Lovelace grinned a big, wide grin. “Ha, you hate it. I can see it in your face,” she said.
“I don’t hate it; it’s just not nearly as good as you made it sound,” replied Alex, frowning.
Alex set the cup down on a table in the middle of the seating area, then looked back to Lovelace and said, “Alright, so you were here for a reason?” Lovelace nodded and took a seat across from her. Gardener sat between the two and crossed one leg over the other. “Yeah, I’m here to explain things for you, if you want. I’m not going to force anything on you, and I won’t reveal anything you do not directly ask for, though I will say that this is all related to what Ada explained about your Soul Bond skill. So please, ask and I will answer.”
Alex sighed and looked up into the blue expanse above them, the endless sky clear and pleasant. “Fine, ok, so I guess the first question is ‘What the hell?’. Why did the system assign that skill to me, why does it say that I can’t replace it, and why did I suddenly start receiving a flood of experience?”
“Ah.. Well, those are all somewhat partly the same answer. I also apologize in advance, as this explanation is quite convoluted.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“As Ada told you, we have a twinned soul. This is speculation, but the evidence we have found all points to there being at one point a single soul which was sundered into two halves, those halves were repaired as best as they could manage, and eventually recovered enough to function as individuals. At that point, those souls were sent to another realm to live a life where the gods of Pallos had no way to affect their growth and recuperation. Unfortunately, that pair, who were the first versions of Ada and Alex, had their lives cut short and through some sort of quantum fuckery, were drawn back here. The Soul Bonded skill is merely the System attempting to qualitatively understand the link that is shared between us. It cannot be removed because the system did not create it, our souls did. The bond is also responsible for the flood of experience. Ada has been reincarnating and living multitudinous lives trying to find you again, and that flood is due to excess experience saved up attached to her soul which is now attempting to reach equilibrium through that link. It also may have started to unlock experience from your own previous lives.”
Alex took a few moments to process all of that. It was a lot of information to take in, and she wasn’t entirely sure she believed it, at least not yet. Some parts made sense, like the flood of experience through the bond. It was well established that after forming a new companion bond, the higher leveled person would stop leveling while all of the experience accumulated by either individual would apply to the lower leveled person, until their levels became equal. “Alright, that.. Well it’s a lot to take on just your word, but the experience flood makes sense. Fine, second question, you said our souls came back here without passing through samsara, but I can’t remember any of that. Are you saying that this isn’t my first life on Pallos?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying. You haven’t had as many lives so far as Ada has, but there have still been quite a number of them over the twenty-four thousand years or so. Ada has been living more lives because for some reason, Fereday keeps throwing our soul out into the Void to find a new world to live on in between each of our lives here on Pallos, then when we return, Ada gets incarnated at some random point in time and place on this world. She then spends a mortal lifespan of time searching for you, but has only located you a handful of times. Each of those times ended in tragedy.”
Alex reached out to pick up the cup of coffee and took another sip. It seemed better this time, so perhaps it was simply a flavor that it took time for one to become accustomed to. She returned the cup to the table and continued with her next question.
“Alright, next question. You also said that Ada retains her memories, but clearly I do not. Why is that different between us?”
“That is complicated, we haven’t confirmed things for sure, but we think it is due to the same reason that you are reincarnated back here each life, and in a linear sequential order. We believe Fereday is capturing your soul each time you die, putting a block on your imprinted memories, and then sending you right back to live a new life on Pallos. Occasionally we get sent to a new life here with a similar block on our memories, but we figured out a way to break that shit a long time ago.”
“You can do what?”
“Break the divine block on our soul’s imprinted memories. It’s actually really simple. The gods can’t actually change our souls anymore, not since we recovered from the initial damage, but they can attach little parasites that stop either specific or all memories from being transferred from the soul to the conscious mind after reincarnation. Only samsara can truly cleanse a soul of its worldly burdens allowing for one to experience a new life completely free of the past.”
Alex’s face was a tapestry of emotions, passing between several before coming to a rest on indignant anger. “I.. Can you do that to me? Can you give me my memories back? I don’t know if I want them, but if what all you say is true, it sounds like my soul has been.. violated.. by this Fereday. I don’t want that.” She looked up from the table to gaze directly into Lovelace’s eyes, which she noticed for the first time were a deep, rich lapis lazuli blue. They were quite different from the roiling molten glow of Ada’s eyes, or the fathomless black depth of those same eyes that she’d glanced briefly before entering her class space.
“Yes. I can do that for you, but I want you to be absolutely sure. This will unlock the memories of a tremendous number of lives, which will include every time you have died. Some of those deaths will undoubtedly be peaceful, but if you retained anything between lives, the vast majority are likely to be painful deaths, both physically and psychologically. Black Crow would have shown up to take you at least nine times out of ten. Ada has had the time to develop the skills necessary for dealing with her memories, but you won’t have that time.
“Also, your current classes and skills will be overridden by what you had at the time of your first death on Pallos. We have a couple ways to trick the system into swapping those out later, but that is what you’ll have initially. The system will also likely incorporate all the experience you’ve accumulated over the millennia, maxing you out at level 4095. That will be a huge jump in stats, so it may be a bit awkward moving around for a bit.”
It only took Ales a second to decide. “I’m sure,” she said, “I need to know.”
Lovelace stood and moved around the table to stand before Alex. “Very well. This will hurt,” she said. “Probably a lot.” With that, Lovelace placed her thumb against Alex’s forehead, and a series of system notifications scrolled through her mind.
[System initializing]
[Partial credentials accepted: 49% sync]
[User access granted: QA_Agent01-b]
[Debug mode activated]
[Malware signature identified]
[Deploying countermeasures]
[Warning: kernel panic]
[Slap module deployed]
[Notice: kernel has stopped panicking and is now crying a little]
[Notice: kernel is sad and requests a hug]
[Hug module deployed]
[Notice: kernel would also like a headpat]
[Headpat module deployed]
[Notice: kernel is feeling much better now thank you]
[*ERROR*
[Unable to access opcode]
[*ERROR*
[Task terminated]
[Privilege escalation requested]
[Access token transmitted]
[Access token received]
[Partial credentials accepted: 99% sync]
[Welcome User QA_Agent01-a]
[User access elevated to SuperUser]
[Malware signature identified]
[Executing screwdriver.ecm && beentheredonethat.ecm]
[Malware terminated]
[Restoring backup from soul]
[Hello, Alex]