“Oh what the hell!” Both Bens yelled while looking up at the sky. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What happened?” She asked, curious. The last few hours had left her bored out of her mind, and she got the impression her copy felt the same. She hadn’t bothered to pack anything to keep herself entertained for the trial because why would she? Downtime was the last thing she had expected. She would practice her magic if she could, but she didn’t want to put any more stress on her staff than she had to since she was down to one. She didn’t know what might be ahead, but she didn’t want to be without a weapon. That meant that as the hours passed while the Bens practiced connecting, all she did was lay down and admire the scenery. At least until whatever just pulled them from their training.

“I got a new title.” They said in unison, wearing an annoyed expression on their faces.

“What’s so bad about that?” Her copy asked, and she had to agree with the sentiment. Getting titles while doing a trial wasn’t uncommon, it was well known that the gods watched mortals as they struggled through them and if enough of them spoke about a participant they would inevitably get one. Not to mention that like any other part of a person's status, it was designed to help them grow. A title's effects were more vague than a skill’s or job’s, but they could help raise the levels of skills and attributes related to it, as well as provide access to uncommon or rare jobs that one may not normally get.

She herself had gotten a title at her birth. As the first child of a great spirit in the world, she got the ever so uninspired one of ‘Spirit Child’. Presumably, the gods had taken an interest as she was the first of her kind from a race nobody thought could actually breed with regular mortals, and even if it felt more like a descriptor than anything she was grateful for it and hoped to see what benefits it would provide one day as she grew her magical abilities. The idea that Ben wouldn’t be happy to get something like that was surprising, at least until she found out what it was.

“The Forgotten One,” They said, and Thera immediately understood why he was unhappy with it. He’d told her how he ended up alone in the world, no nation having taken him in, nobody even making an offer. How he’d been forgotten by the world he was brought here to help save. They couldn’t know the context in which it was used, but that didn’t change that it must have brought up some negative memories in a time when they needed to be at their best.

“Ben…” She and her duplicate both started before trailing off, each of them for the first time that day hoping the other would have something to say, but neither could think of anything. Even if the title gave some benefits, that didn’t guarantee it would be something the recipient would want to be known by.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just being grumpy. Mind if I get one of you to give me a hand with my practice?”

The Bens seemed to be trying to take their minds off it and with how bored they were they both jumped at the chance, just as something different to do other than sit around, and since they were both so eager it was decided they both would, one following the other.

When Thera went first and she was connected to them she immediately noticed something different.

“Did your hidden mind level increase?” She asked. When he first got it, it had felt like his mind had become more closed off to her when he used it, but now it was like she couldn’t feel his mind at all.

“No, we were just seeing if our minds would be separated from each other if we tried to block you out or if we could be more selective, which looks like it works. To have the ability stack with itself is quite the bonus discovery though. I wonder how many levels in the skill I’ll need for you to not hear anything normally?”

“Well I’m personally not a fan. I’d rather hear what’s going on in your head as well if you’re going to peer into mine.”

They thought for a moment. “Honestly that's not a bad idea. How does our mind seem to you when we’re like this?”

Suddenly she got the full brute of his mind, and it was nothing like it normally was. If regularly it was like two people talking through a window, with his mind linked to his duplicate it felt more like she was being stared down on from above, being examined. She could still see them too, but the change in perspective was unsettling in ways she found difficult to describe and pulled away from their hands.

“Everything okay?” They asked in concern, having felt her discomfort, and she tried to ignore how much she wanted to know which one was actually her Ben after dealing with the alienness of their combined mind.

“I’m fine, your mind just felt too different from usual. Honestly not a fan.”

“Ah sorry, we’ll keep hidden mind up for the other Thera if you don’t want to keep going.”

“Yeah, I think that was enough for the day.” Even though she’d been eager for a change that had been a little too much, so instead she watched from the side as they tested more things on her copy.

The other seemed to be having an easier go of it, the Bens presumably keeping their minds hidden away, and a thought drifted into her mind she’d tried to avoid confronting.

What if she’s the real one?

If Ben said they all believed they were real then she believed him, but that just left her more worried. If the copies at least knew they were fakes then she could be confident in her own existence, but as it was she had no way to be sure. Not to mention if she was fake then what would happen to her after they completed the trial? Would she cease to exist? Disappearing as if she’d never been there to begin with? Really what other option was there? She never paid too much attention when someone completed it or quit early, but she was sure she would have heard of challengers suddenly having a new twin.

On the other hand, maybe nobody had decided to work with their duplicate like this before. Maybe enough people went right to violence or successfully figured out their teammate but that didn’t matter. Once again she found herself wishing Ben would explain how to figure out who the real one was. If he really had a way like he said then it could ease her mind considerably. Or make things significantly worse.

She sighed and let herself fall back into the grass and dirt. What would she do with that information if she got it? Or her counterpart for that matter? If one of them was a copy of the other then one might react very badly if the reveal didn’t make the other party just vanish into thin air, probably why he wasn’t just telling them, either option would interfere with his training.

As her thoughts wandered, her copy eventually pulled away from the other two.

“Finally done?” She asked them. “Can we start moving on?”

“We only finished everything we could think to practice with another person, there’s still more we want to do amongst ourselves.”

“Okay, but what are we supposed to do?” Her duplicate asked, sounding exhausted from whatever she had been put through by them. “It’s been hours already.”

“We’ll be good to move on in the morning. In the meantime why don’t you guys see what you can do with your magic?”

“And risk destroying our staves?”

“You can use a bit of magic without them, why not see what you can do together?”

The two Theras looked at one another. It was an interesting idea at least. She knew other mages would work together to achieve things that one alone wouldn’t be able to, the option had just never been available to her. The combination of intense power and lack of control made it impractical to train with someone else in that way, so she never had. The only issue would be working with her.

“Well, it would pass the time.” Her duplicate said hesitantly. “Would you… want to try?”

Up to this point they hadn’t really spoken to one another, it was more them talking to the Bens at the same time, but if her copy was going to open up a dialog then she would at least give it a go. If she was still feeling the effects of the last part of the trial she didn’t think she would be able to react so calmly to the situation, but thankfully the anger seemed to be gone.

“Alright let’s give it a go.”