Side Chapter 1: Somewhere In The Outer Borders of the Scale Allegiance

Is there no end?

No end to the risk, no end to the tree of possibilities, no end to the chances of danger, and no end to the decisions I have to make.

Did Lucid have these processes running through his head all the time, too? Do all humans have all these things to consider and decide within the span of a moment?

I never thought I would be put into a position where the final decision is truly and utterly mine. I quite enjoyed the life inside a host. My favorite thing to do was augment the host’s abilities to make informed decisions and usually the host, through their personality or circumstances, helped narrow what to focus on too few things.

Go north? Go South? Take the small clearing or go around to stay unexposed? Step here or extend my leg a little further?

An infinite range of choices and I’m trying to answer each with the best answer.

This is where intuition or experience humans build becomes so precious. The subconscious filtering of what their minds have trained themselves to feel is relevant and what is ignored.

How can humans ever feel comfortable doing something so reckless?

How can their minds not try and search through the myriad of branches?

As I wondered a voice broke my train of thoughts.

“Eurval can I eat this?”

“Hmm, eat what?”

“Ah, too late I ate it.”

I looked over to the small child as he chewed on something unknown. The moment our eyes locked and I grabbed him by the cheeks to stop any further chewing.

“Spit that out right now.”

“Bwh-at it twaste swoo gwood” He said as I didn’t use much force to really stop him.

“Spit it out, you don’t know what it is! It could be poisonous!”

“Cwould bwee. Bwut I smwlled it and it smwelled okay.”

Gone. Alra finished swallowing.

“Alra why? We have so much food in the storage ring.”

He only gave me a sweet smile and shrugged continuing on our way. No ill effects seemed to have shown.

Is that the disposition of living creatures?

Fearlessness? Being unaverse to risk?

The train of thoughts came once more.

Maybe I should adopt such traits now that I have gained full agency. But I am neither living nor an undead. I have no pulse, a robotic skeletal body made of tungsten, and a replica of the soul Lucid had. The catalyst to cause this all being half an ethershard. While often used interchangeably, the soul can be defined as just the container of a being’s will.

Even I wonder what I have become.

What have I become?

I asked myself once more.

My mind entered into a circle of thoughts. Like the episodes Lucid had. I couldn’t read them, but I could sense the torrent of emotions that plagued him every so often.

Maybe I should have asked what they were about. There were no restrictions stopping me from doing so, yet I never did press the issue further. Was I afraid of not having a suitable answer for something so crucial to him or was I scared of being outright denied access to something so important to him?

All I knew was it was related to people from a place called “Earth.”

However, like Lucid I will press forward to the best of my ability. With a smile even.

Or a what Alra calls a lip twitch.

Hmm, maybe I shall elevate priority on putting on learning to use facial expressions.

“Eurval are you okay? You slowed down again.”

“I’m fine, but I’ve had a change of thought. Let's not take the clearing. Something tells me we should follow it’s outer rim instead.”

Alra gave me a nod in understanding. At least for things like this he listens.

With the change of direction he hopped to the right.

He had taken after Lucid with his pale white skin, but the hair, however, was dark with highlights of light amber. Probably, related to his other form.

He had taken the body and I the head. Whatever had transpired did cause changes. Enough that neither looked like Lucid. Related, would be a more appropriate term.

I wonder if Alra, too, wonders what he has become.

More than just a run of the mill race of hyridean is my assumption.

My thoughts continued to trail on as I wondered if Lucid still remembered the passwords to his adventurer account and the private key to his scale wallet. I knew them, of course, but there is always the second authentication factor being the account owner’s own soul — which neither Alra nor I could produce.

He should remember them, he isn’t particularly dim. For the most part.

Lucid’s intelligence matches up to his peers at Laurent, but for his own personal development, I made sure not to mention it — Especially when paired with his massive lack of common knowledge.

He lays on the cusp of arrogance when he believes he knows best. As his MAGI I had assessed and tasked myself to change that. I did see some success, but I feel all that may have gone to waste with the slaying of the keeper.

I hope he doesn’t spearhead into something stupid, blinded by the overestimation of his capabilities.