Diven’s eyes snapped open when he felt a presence loom over him. In the dim light of the cavern, he could only make out the shape of someone standing in front of him.
Gripped by panic, he jumped to his feet, ready to fight. Rubbing his eyes, he noticed it was Bird. His tense posture eased slightly.
“Facets of the Self,” Bird said.
“What?” Diven asked, his thoughts still sluggish from his abrupt waking.
Bird cocked her head to the side as if she didn’t understand.
“Did you forget our arrangement?” She asked.
“No.” Diven hurriedly answered. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you correctly.”
“Facets of the Self. You will select this facet.” Bird repeated.
Relief washed over Diven when he heard the guardian’s order. It wasn’t Facet of the Rot Mage. There was still hope. Facet of the Explorer would have been more useful, but it was fine.
“Understood.” He spoke up, acknowledging the order.
He closed his eyes, turning his attention toward his inner garden and focusing his intent on selecting Facets of the Self.
The atmosphere grew still. The wind died down. There wasn’t a single ripple in the sea of grass that made up the majority of his inner world.
It was silent.
Then, there was a crack. To be exact, it was the sound of wood cracking.
Diven turned his attention to the tree that was the centerpiece of his world. Along the dark streak infecting the tree, its bark parted, then the wood itself. Along the entire height of the tree, it was splitting in two.
At the center, connected to both halves by pulsating black tendrils, stood the Rot Heart. It looked exactly like a human heart, painted in sickly shades of green, yellow, black, and white.
It was the last thing Diven saw before losing consciousness.
His consciousness returned along with a mind-numbing headache. His muscles ached, and his vision spun.
He realized he was lying in the same spot where he had collapsed. He tried standing up, but his body wasn’t responding.
Or rather, it wasn’t responding the way he expected. Instead of pushing himself up, his arms slapped uselessly against the ground. His fingers curled, unclenched, then moved without his input.
(What is happening?)
A voice in his head, almost like a thought.
[What??]
Again, but somewhat different.
(Who are you? Why are you talking in my head?)
[You’re the one talking in my head. Who are you?]
(Why are you doing this? Leave!)
[I’m not doing anything! I’m not going to fall for your tricks. Once I can move, I will find you!]
His limbs jerked in the direction he wasn’t asking them to go. His body wasn’t listening to him. To be exact, it was listening to his inputs but it was twitching uncontrollably.
“That’s quite an interesting skill you got there. I wonder what it does.” Bird chimed in.
She was still there — how long had he been unconscious?
“Are you dsjdownfe?” Diven tried talking but his tongue ran away from him and his sentence ended in gibberish.
“Oh? It seems you haven’t figured it out yet.”
“Affsa.” He tried to ask for clarification, but once again, he couldn’t control his movements.
“Follow the river to find the exit.” Bird said, disappearing from the cave.
[I got it.]
(You again?)
The voices were back.
[Check our new skill.]
(Our new skill?)
Skill Acquired: Sundered Mind - Basic - Lv1
(That’s…)
[We are both Diven.]
(How? It wasn’t supposed to go this way.)
[I don’t know. But judging by the way the skill manifested — splitting the tree in two and connecting to the Rot Heart, I would say that our dear bloodline has something to do with it.]
(So our mind is split in two? This doesn’t seem to be how Cassandra was describing it. She said her multiple minds didn’t affect her coordination.)
[Obviously, that’s not the same skill. We can’t even move a finger without conflicting with each other.]
It was bad. Very bad. As things stood, Diven was effectively paralyzed until his two minds could find a way to work together. For now, they were trying to move independently. But they both had complete control of the body.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
This resulted in flailing arms and unsteady legs. They still hadn't managed to stand up.
(This isn’t working.)
[I can see that.]
Both fell into silence, each contemplating their situation.
[Maybe one of us takes a step back and the other can control the body on its own.]
(It might work, but who will it be?)
[I will take control.]
(But…)
[Come on. I’m literally you. Trust me.]
(Fine.)
With both of his minds coming to an agreement, Diven was finally able to stand up. The controlling mind moved each limb, testing if they were working properly.
[Seems fine. I’m not noticing any blockage.]
(I don’t know, it’s very uncomfortable on my end.)
[How so?]
(I have to make a conscious effort not to move. Switch with me, you will understand.)
The two minds switched places with the previously passive mind taking control of the body while the other stepped back. The transition wasn’t smooth. Diven was standing, none of the two could let it go, fearing they would fall to the floor.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to give up control to the other. Rather, it was fighting against an unconscious command they gave to the body.
[Don’t move, we’ll fall.]
(Stop interfering!)
[I can’t help it!]
Whilst standing, one didn’t actively think about keeping balance. It happened naturally, much like breathing and other practiced behaviors.
Breathing…
(Erm… Don’t think about breathing.)
Diven fell to the floor, his throat gasping for air. Both minds tried to breathe simultaneously but slightly off cadence.
[Stop! Stop!]
(I’m trying!)
But it wasn’t so simple. For one mind to recover control of their lungs, the other needed to completely detach itself from the breathing process. Stopping breathing wasn’t enough, when he did, it interfered with the other that was trying to breathe.
They were trying to do two opposite things simultaneously.
Still, some air trickled in, preventing them from fainting.
Slowly, they got better at it. They both took turns at being the one in control.
Skill leveled up: Sundered Mind Lv1 -> Lv2
(Already?)
[Makes sense, we were fighting for our lives there.]
(Right. So… What happened?)
[Well, I don’t think I know more than you do about our predicament.]
(Just so we’re on the same page, we are both Diven, and this new skill split our mind in two.)
[And now we can’t control our body properly. Although the skill level seems to help with that.]
(Yes. So what do we do?)
[I don’t know.]
Silence settled once again. Both minds were communicating inside Diven’s head, they could hear everything the other was thinking. For there to be silence meant neither was thinking at all. They were paralyzed by the sheer absurdity of the situation.
[First, how about we name ourselves? When we are acting through our body, we can keep being Diven, but when we talk to each other it would be easier if we both had our own names.]
(I agree. How about this: you’ll be Div and I’ll be En?)
[Deal.]
Div and En realized they still had a lot in common. However, they weren’t perfect copies of each other. It became more and more apparent as they struggled to agree on their next move.
[We need to train as much as we can before moving!]
(But Bird told us where the exit was. We can train once we leave the rift.)
[Who knows how many dangers there will be on the way there? Besides, it’s not like the Wildlands are safe either.]
(If she told us to go, it should be fine.)
[The guardians are not trustworthy. Cassandra didn’t trust them.]
(Maybe she should have trusted them, considering what happened to her.)
[I can’t believe you’re saying that! For all we know, the guardians could have been the ones behind her death.]
(We don’t know that! It's more likely she met a monster she couldn’t deal with.)
[Sure. Fine. Alright. But En, we can’t even stand up at the moment, much less walk around or fight any danger the rift might throw at us.]
(Indeed, that’s an issue. But I’d like to be in Kheiron as soon as possible.)
[What?]
(Well, yes? Kheiron. That’s where we’re going right?)
[Why would we go there? Why now?]
(That’s where home is.)
[We are exiled, En.]
(I know. Div. I know. But I’m sure we can solve that issue when we get there.)
Div put aside the idea to talk sense into En. His other half was delusional about Kheiron. But if he could get him to agree to delay their trip toward the exit until they were ready, it would be enough for now.
En wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t understand Div’s reticence about returning home. That said, he knew Div was right about training. As much as he wanted out quickly, the rift was still dangerous. They needed to return close to their peak efficiency.
It would be disastrous if they tripped over each other while fighting a beast.
(We should have asked Bird for advice.)
[As if we could pay the price she would have asked from us…]
The new duo struggled to settle into a routine. Although they were the same person, it became clear they each embodied different aspects of the original personality. Combined with the existential dread of their birth, they weren’t doing well at all.
If they were now Diven, what had happened to the original?
Was he dead? Had he been split in two?
Were Div and En lesser versions of Diven?
Neither of them liked to think so. But it was hard to believe they were both as important and complete as the original had been. Yet, they had his memories, his skills, his body, and they didn’t feel any less smart or capable than he had been.
Skills granted by a facet couldn’t be detrimental. It just wasn’t possible.
Regardless, it wasn’t like they could go back. The skill was there now, and they had to live with it. Live with each other. Furthermore, even if they could go back, would they?
Removing the skill would mean they would merge back together. They would stop existing as individuals. Just like the original Diven did.
[This is why I’m telling you the guardians can’t have good intentions. Bird wouldn’t have told us to take Facets of the Self otherwise.]
(Maybe she didn’t know. Maybe Sundered Mind is a great skill. There has to be a good reason behind her choice.)
[Yeah, she’s playing with us. She was curious about the weird facet and wanted to see what it did.]
(No need to be so suspicious, Div.)
Their training was slow. Slower than they’d like. After dealing with the breathing issue, they both had a good idea of how they could work together. One mind had to control the body while the other needed to completely detach from controlling it.
It was easier said than done. Even if they mostly managed it when it came to their air supply, it turned out there were countless small actions the mind performed unconsciously to keep a body working.
Detaching completely was difficult. They both had reflexes trained for Diven’s entire life that wouldn’t go away just because they wanted them to.
In truth, they didn’t want their reflexes to disappear. They needed to control their body. They just wanted to turn them off while the other was in control.
It might have been easier if they could close their eyes while in the passenger seat. But since they shared eyes, it wasn’t possible. They saw what the other saw, and of course, the one in control needed their eyes opened.
It was going to take a long time.