Marvin’s world was momentarily overtaken by the sheer whiteness, before the world faded in once more.

He was standing in the train once more, the same place he met Marly and had the previous vision.

It was mostly empty once more, with only two seats being filled this time. One was on his right, at the back of the compartment, drenched in shadows so heavy that he could barely make out the human-like shape of the being sitting there. T

The whole area stood out, its darkness a heavy contrast to the bright sunlight that filled the rest of the space.

Sitting closer and on the left row was himself, dressed in a white shirt and pants, with seemingly no scars and hair tied up in a bun. He was smirking infuriatingly at Marvin, clapping slowly.

“Quite an unorthodox way to do it, but you have managed to complete Albedo.” he said, looking back at that shadowy figure before getting up, actually standing a bit taller than Marvin himself.

So that wasn’t real then? Just when he thought he had made some progress, finally gotten back in touch with Marly-it had all been for naught? He looked that bastard in the eye, his expression having changed from light amusement to seemingly genuine bafflement.

“What’s wrong Marvin Perlie?” he asked with confusion in his voice. “As you have no doubt witnessed, you now have the ability to cast simple spells without the need for their circles. You still will need them for multilayered spells, but still…this is a cause for celebration, isn’t it?”

Marvin clenched his hands, using up all of his willpower to not punch him in the face. He would point out the irony of hating himself so much-except he actually didn’t. This-This being was something else entirely, and Marvin had no idea just what that something was.

“What was the point of that vision?” he asked his doppelganger, keeping as much aggression from his voice as he could.

“Vision?” he questioned, before his whole face lit up, and he suddenly shifted his form, almost instantly morphing into Marly’s splitting image from a few minutes prior.

Marvin gasped. “What did you-”

“You really are a fun one, aren’t you?” she chuckled, before putting her hands on her hips and looking at him teasingly. “And quite more bold than I expected.”

“Answer. My. Question.” said Marvin through gritted teeth, half-tempted to just scream his head off at this mystery thing.

“It was real. The International Defence Association’s finest sorcerers are training her to handle the burden of her shoulders.” she began explaining, before pausing for a few moments to check the shadowy figure in the back.

“We all have our own demons. Overcoming them, being at peace with yourself, that’s what allows you to evolve as a sorcerer and as a person. Eventually managing to grow out of this darkness. Even if that is difficult for most.” she said, looking Marvin in the eye.

“What do you mean?”

“Magic is like a collection of bugs and glitches for real life. They allow you to bend the rules of reality. Like that centaur explained to you months ago: errors in a computer code that you can use to your advantage.

“But as you get further and further down that path, the more addicted to the power you become and the more dangerous the magic becomes. And then you start using it to cheat even more. To reach the wonders of the cosmos quicker, to cheat death, or become gods in human flesh, to wipe out entire species! Look at Kara Snow for instance-”

“Don’t you dare mention her name.” growled Marvin, getting in her personal space.

“She had a taste of power. And I looked her in the eye after that. I showed her the horrors of creation and its wonders as well. She was well intentioned, driven but misguided for a long period of time. You see-”

“Shut up!” said Marvin, nearly losing his cool. “Kara believed in the wonders of magic and the world, she-”

“She warned you repeatedly that you shouldn’t aim to be just like her. Because she made terrible mistakes in her past. You see Marvin, to create an organism such as Marly Mallory, you would need tens of sorcerers, each more talented than the last.”

Marvin’s eyes widened. No, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. Out of all the people, Kara couldn’t have been helping James Mallory, not if she knew what he was planning.

But-But she had to know, right? If she helped with Marly’s birth, or creation, or whatever it was called, then she had to have known what he was planning, the broad strokes of it at least.

“Why?” was the only word he could muster.

Not that he would get any answers of course. Kara wasn’t there to tell him. But did it even matter? She had clearly realised her mistake as far as Marvin was concerned. She had gone against the commander, taught Marvin more than she ever realised and helped him realise the truth of life.

“You know what actually?” he told the Marly impersonator before letting out a long sigh. “Kara was a good person. Without her, or anyone else that’s currently in my life, I wouldn’t be here. If it’s her that brought Marly, and by extension every one of my friends in my life, then that’s just another thing to thank her for.”

To his surprise, the being in front of him actually laughed.

“You have accepted yourself as you are and laid that bare for your friends. If you succeed a new beginning awaits, one that will find you a more complete individual. One that will be able to grow and evolve in ways that you couldn’t before.”

Those words were strangely gratifying to Marvin. The fight ahead was not an easy one, he understood that, but he couldn’t give up. That was the point where he would normally make a declaration to himself, but not this time.

This time, he would just go in there and win. There was no other alternative. James Mallory’s plans could not be allowed to succeed.

But there was still one question he had for this being.

“What are you?” he asked intently.

“An interpretation-your interpretation.” she said, giggling. “Of something far beyond human comprehension. A part of a larger whole.”

“What larger whole?”

And then she spread her arms wide, and the train itself shifted to images from across the Earth and its environments and civilisations to completely unknown and almost alien places, with Marly’s form being replaced with other humans, animals, werebeasts and creatures unfathomable to Mavin’s mind.

It all lasted for far shorter than it felt however, before they returned to the train and Marly’s form was looking back at him. The world started to fade into whiteness once more, consuming Marvin’s senses while ‘Marly’ giggled uncontrollably, before producing a glass of what he assumed to be wine.

“Goodbye Marvin!” she said excitedly as she raised her glass. “And here’s to our next meeting being as good as this one!”