Make… a copy of my memories? “I… I can do that?”
“You would have to enslave the memory-thief to find out,” Erzili said, “But yes. It should be within their power.”
A third option. So… so I don’t have to fight the Night Emperors? I don’t have to face off against god-slaying beings?
The weight of the world that had been on my shoulders dropped. Fell, silently. I’d never been so relieved before. Never remembered being so absolutely relieved to hear anything, in my entire life.
Would it… would it work?
There was no reason for me not to try it. No reason for me not to take that option, than choose to begin a crusade against enemies so far beyond me. Erzili, as she was, was already far more powerful than I, far more dangerous than I, and yet, according to her, she was nothing in comparison to a Night Emperor. If a being who’d scattered numerous parts of itself across the world in an attempt to survive was terrified at the mention of the name of a Night Emperor… what were my odds of success? Of victory?
As much as I would have loved to be an unknown hero of humanity, I wasn’t foolish. Not fearing death did not mean lacking value for my life. I wanted to live and not waste this second chance at life, rather than spend it in pursuit of an impossible mission thrust upon me.
“I’ll meet this memory-thief,” I said at last.
Erzili clapped in cheer. “Excellent. We could always use more members, those willing to join our cause. The more people you recruit, the stronger we all become, and the further you progress to becoming the King of Nightmares.”
Meeting Erzili was either an unbelievable stroke of luck or a godsend. Never would I have believed, that there was a nightmare with plans to make a society of monsters. To attempt to coexist, rather than destroy. To be knowledgeable enough to provide helpful solutions to my problems. A part of me, felt genuinely guilty now, that all I’d offered to Erzili in exchange was the destruction of all of her troops.
“I’ll bring back your darlings for you,” I said, finally. “But I need something, that if someone were to present to you, would make you believe them – ally with them.”
She rose a questioning eyebrow. “Erzili… does not follow.”
As much as I was grateful to Erzili, I wasn’t willing to tell her about my [Duality]. I would never tell anyone about my [Duality]. Once people knew I could escape death by jumping timelines, they would be more cautious about planning my downfall. It wasn’t that I believed Erzili would plot something against me – but I couldn’t discount the possibility. Even Jesus was betrayed.
“A failsafe you have to send yourself a message if someone wiped your memories. Or if a version of yourself from the future came to the present, and you needed to make them prove they were you, you’d ask them a question only you would know the answer to, or a secret that no one else but you could know.”
Her eyes slowly, widened. “Your Epithet Skill…”
“It allows me to turn back the hands of time,” I said. “But only for a limited time.”
“That’s how you were so prepared against my darlings? Erzili believed only the Amendments or a Floater Relic could do that.”
Amendments? Floater Relic? Some objects can rewind time? Alamir just keeps on giving…
“Do you have something, that I can show to your… past self?”
Erzili hummed for several brief seconds. “Erzili might have just the thing –”
Her right hand turned into a sharpened blade, and she sliced down, severed her left ring finger. There was no blood, and the digit grew back into place. “This,” she handed me the finger. “Take this. If you go back in time – having a piece of Erzili will be enough to ensure Erzili joins you once more.”
The left ring finger was light in my hands. It seemed, more than anything, to be suspicious if I were to present this to Erzili in another timeline. However, Erzili already admitted to scattering thousands of herself across the world, so I suppose she gave parts of herself to allies for safe-keeping.
“I’ll be going now,”
Erzili curtsied. “Of course, Master.”
“Janus,” I said. “Just Janus.”
A smile appeared on her face. “As you wish, Lord Janus.”
She’s enjoying this. With a sigh and a shake of my head, I rose my hand, and ended the timeline.
/∞/
[You are now in the True Path]
The grass of the Hlahan Forest lay beneath me, my Enchanted Hybrid Door stood within the forest, and my army of golems was gone. As it was, with splitting reality in two, there was often a sense of surrealism that came from having memories of events that happened, but… didn’t.
Yet, there was proof that it did happen. My hand opened, and there it was, Erzili’s finger, still in place within my palm, still proving that I could transfer objects across timelines, that the actions I did take in that timeline had happened.
Did I make the right choice?
Erzili openly admitted to lying, cheating, and doing whatever it took to survive. For all I knew, everything she said might have been false. It could all have been a ploy to deceive me. A clever, ingenious ploy to tug at my heartstrings.
I was inclined to believe otherwise. The odd attire she wore, the room and the manner of speech all contributed to her story of wanting to coexist with humans. There were hundreds of books in that room, which meant Erzili was a voracious reader. There was a full-sized map of the world in that
