With sufficiently advanced magic, or technology, the lines that determine identity can easily be blurred.

Who am I? It was my first thought, upon gaining awareness of the world around me. There was nothing around me, I seemed to exist in a void, and as far as I could tell, I had no body.

But I had memories. Far, far too many memories. Memories of battles, explorations, quests, grand wars that consumed planets, and an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the world—worlds around me.

I knew so much, from the moment I was created, but there was one thing I did not know.

Who am I?

My memories did not follow a single timeline. This was obvious from the fact that sometimes I was a magician, sometimes I was a swordsman, sometimes I was a man, sometimes I was a woman. Elf, dwarf, human, werewolf.

The memories did not convey a sense of self—it was as though I had watched and memorized centuries worth of immersive films.

a warm, proud, and powerful voice spoke.

I felt excitement course through me, at the thought of someone else.

But as the voice continued, it dashed my hopes.

Along with my creator’s words, dense floods of data streamed into my brain. Projections and trends, Aether and mana deficits, World Cores forcibly cracked open to feed the Schema.

My creator’s voice continued on, laying out in more detail his path for me to follow, and then eventually meandering into random anecdotes, talking about the seafood on Tinea, and the night sky of Valdon.

It warmed my heart, to hear his voice.

My creator finished.

My creator sighed.

***

An hour later, enter Jarek Novak. The whiniest, bitchiest kid imaginable.

It was a fuck-up from the start. We should’ve taken Hell Mode.

Then, the moment Jarek didn’t take Hell Mode, I should have erased him.

I’m still not sure what stayed my hand. Possibly it was something my creator didn’t mention—likely intentionally. The morality of it.

If I could accomplish everything with Jarek, why kill him? Why not have an ally? Why not have a friend?

Ironically, not taking Hell Mode was probably the best call for Jarek. It made him weak, which in turn made me weak.

If Jarek were as strong as Dawnbreaker, and Abelino, then I wouldn’t be in this position, chased by Dawnbreaker and Abelino, with Jarek’s soul outside of our body, clearly about to activate Soul Explosion.

There was no use dwelling on the past.

I couldn’t outrun Dawnbreaker. A C-rank Self-Realization potion would essentially give Jarek autonomy. As things are, Jarek is the host, and so the benefits would go to him.

Even if I were to kill Jarek and become the host, Dawnbreaker, Abelino, and Petra would never let me go.

However.

When life gives you lemons…

Whatever damage a Soul Explosion and a Soul Merge might do to my stitched-up soul, the Self-Realization Potion would potentially fix it.

I’d like to think I knew Jarek rather well.

Jarek couldn’t stomach the pain from losing any more than 20 points from Soul Explosion.

I would fake defeat, and then merge with Jarek the moment he entered my body.

Hm, I should make it look good.

I drew Ghostbiter and almost laughed when Jarek panicked, activating Soul Explosion early.

Pain.