Chapter 390

  Individual Gears All Turning for One Greater Future

  (Trober)

  Livin’ the dream. That is what Trober would have told anyone who asked him about his last few weeks. Flying upward in one of the coolest gadget infested ships that looks by all accounts that it shouldn’t fly, but somehow does. All while traveling with a pair of sexy twins.

  Truth be told, at first Trober did have some of those thoughts, ones where he thought the attraction might be mutual. For what other reason could there be to pick up a random male hitchhiker stranded on top of Yggdraspirit, who was basically waiting to slowly die after his own expedition ended terribly.

  Still, despite everything, Trober had faith. Faith in what exactly he did not know. Maybe it was the fact that dying out there all alone would be meaningless. That if he gave up early, people would come by see his remains and likely never even stop to talk to him.

  It wasn’t until the twins came that he even had hope of being found. The only problem was the ship they were in, an alien vessel that still seems way too mystical to be true was going too quickly. By the time Trober even got to his feet, it was clear that his chance to grab the ship’s attention was gone.

  Then they came, flying aliens that were so captivating that Trober could barely breathe. Honestly, the rest of what happened since then has all been a blur of speed and force.

  A few days ago, the ship went past the last truly climbable limbs of Yggdraspirit. From now on, if he was let out, at best he could expect to try to grab onto a branch and hope it didn’t shatter under his weight as he scampered down.

  For a moment, Trober almost thought he was gathered as a ritual sacrifice.

  Well, it made sense at the time. For at that time, he was not allowed out of the ship, and the two twins who had taken him in were always quiet. Even though it was clear that they could speak, they just chose not to speak to him.

  They even had a weird way of seemingly knowing what the other was thinking. An act that seemed cute at first, until he realized that they were likely talking about him.

  Still, he did his best to help out and try to keep the ship clean. Even though the two would just look at him, wait for him to wear himself out, then snap their fingers and the ship would be cleaned with a form of magic that Trober could only imagine.

  It wasn’t until the end of the first day, when he asked about water that the two looked first confused, and then seemed to realize something. That’s when the explorer, the twin who went out and physically rescued Trober from the branch raised one finger, before going to her room. A room that she had never gone into before but suddenly needed to go to now. Then there was a surge of magical energy and poof she came out, in a completely different set of clothing, with her hair done slightly different. It wasn’t until Trober watched the new savior move around that he realized the issue. This new girl wasn’t the same explorer.

  For a moment, Trober thought that he was just going crazy. They both communicated with him in animated ways, and one time he swore he heard the explorer say Terya, or Terra, but that was just a fever dream. In the end, it was discarded as a form of decompression from severe stress. It wasn’t until later when he thought about it some more that he realized the truth. He wasn’t crazy, they were.

  He watched and finally concluded that it was the explorer who was crazy, locked away in a ship with a mute twin, making them all feel lonely so she acted out, and developed a second personality to help her feel some form of comfort.

  Trober watched as this new personality made their way through the ship, opened an empty cabinet. The cabinet was empty as he in his infinite curiosity, had gone around and searched that exact cabinet, only to find it completely empty not two hours before. But now, this new personality comes through goes to that same cabinet and pulls out a perfectly smooth metal pitcher. The same type he would use for holding ice water, back before his most recent journey.

  “Surprise,” the girl seemed to say, holding up the pitcher and pointing out the fact that not only had this metal pitcher randomly shown up out of nowhere. But now that same pitcher had glowing runes on it, runes that if you pushed just a bit of mana into it, it would produce water. Then after showing the pitcher and having it produce a cup full of water, she stopped and handed the pitcher over to Trober. As if Trober had somehow become one of the lucky people capable of wielding magic.

  Still, it was super awkward, being surrounded by the pilot, and this random personality of the explorer, that he had to give it a try. Then to his surprise, for the first time in his life, he felt mana flow through him. Not a lot, but it was clearly noticeable.

  Seeing his ability to activate the pitcher, the twins began clapping excitedly. For a moment Trober felt that this was the level of excitement they might have, when they trained a pet animal to defecate outside the house.

  They all praised Trober for a moment, then the new personality of the explorer hugged Trober, before flying off to her room. Where after a second, she changed clothing and mannerisms and returned back to the normal explorer that Trober had become fond of.

  It wasn’t until two days later, when she came, that Trober finally felt like he wasn’t going mad.

  “Hmm,” the girl exclaimed, even her tones of confusion seemed to be musical. Then again, almost anything would be musical after two days of silence and the gentle rumbling of a magical engine tearing through the sky. But compared to hearing this beautiful bookish girl, the kind of girl that screamed sexy librarian with a varied night life hummed quizzically before him, Trober was enchanted. Then when she began to speak, he was doubly so. “Oh, you must be Trober, the others have told me so much about you.”

  At that comment, Trober just blinked, then finally he asked the one question that had been burning in his mind.

  “Wait, just how did you get here?”

  There was a pause, before the girl giggled softly, then turning to Trober’s saviors, she rebuked in one of the sweetest voices possible. “You two need to be nicer to Trober here. I mean look at him, he is clearly nearing his wits end from this.”

  With that, the two beings that could cause monstrous dragons to sleep, or cower in fear by releasing focused blasts of their energy suddenly appeared cowed.

  “We’re sorry,” they both spoke in an eerie unison that only twins could seem to pull off.

  “Now, none of that either. This is your guest, and you know what that means,” Penelope chided.

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  “Someone to go exploring with?” The exploring savior asked.

  “No.”

  “Someone to help fly the ship, while I rock away casually in a hammock,” the captain replied. With this, the pretty girl who seemed completely out of place just looked lost for a second, before ultimately shaking her head again.

  “No, also can’t you just float naturally, why the hammock?”

  “Because, I like to have a net on hand that I can use to capture enemies with,” the Captain explained. As this went on, a burning question formed in Trober’s mind and he had to ask.

  “Wait, you all could talk all along?”

  There was a pause, before Penelope just turned to the two pixies who suddenly looked cowed under her intimidating stare.

  “See, this is how you lose trust in people,” Penelope commented. “Jokes are one thing, but they can go too far.”

  “We’re sorry,” the two twins again echoed in unison. With that done, the bookish librarian turned her gaze back onto Trober.

  “All right, since I know these two have been less than forthcoming, I will try to do these introductions quickly and effectively as possible. These two are a set of eight total Simulacrum, that are derivatives of one master summoner named Doctor Cassiopeia Spiritlight. She is a formidable magician capable of doing anything she puts her mind to.” As she spoke, Trober could all but hear the unmistakable sound of awe and respect radiating off of the woman who was clearly extremely powerful in her own right. But before, Trober could get too lost in his own thoughts, the woman continued.

  “The reason why these girls can speak now is that they have enacted a merit called Censorship, that lets them do whatever they want for three minutes. Feel special that they wish to spend these three minutes talking to you.”

  “No, we only want to talk to you,” the two reply back in unison, the same way children would when correcting a parent who was obviously wrong. At their comment, the librarian just rolled her eyes.

  “I am Penelope Tailor, a student under Dr. Spiritlight, and I will make it a habit of checking in on these two from to time. It is with that, that I hope we can be friends.” The girl, this Penelope, replied while holding out a hand and smiling a little awkwardly. Seeing her, Trober paused, and then realized this person was not used to meeting new people, but was seeming to do so anyways. Watching her, Trober couldn’t help but appreciate the effort at the very least. That is why he raised up his hand and answered truthfully.

  “Trober the Clover,” Trober said while gently covering the beautiful ladies hand with his own, making sure to provide just enough pressure to let her know he was there, and to avoid giving the dead fish handshake that he absolutely hated.

  “The clover?” The explorer asked.

  “Yes, on account of my being so lucky and all.” Trober replied.

  “Lucky? You were stranded in space and nearly left for dead,” The explorer replied impassionedly.

  “Right, but you found him at the last second Pirate, meaning he is lucky,” Penelope replied, all but proving Trober’s point for him. Then hearing her nickname for the scamp, Trober had to cut in.

  “Wait, that is no way to talk to a lady,” Trober cut in indignantly for the explorer’s behalf. At his comment, all three faces turned to face Trober and look at him like he was crazy.

  “What? I was defending you?” Penelope asked.

  “By calling her a Pirate,” Trober replied, a tone of indignance on his tongue as he spoke out on the one twin, well one of the octuplet’s behalf. Hearing his comment the others paused and then rolled their eyes.

  “You know this was likely why she gave us such bad names to begin with, to cause this type of confusion,” the Captain spoke.

  Penelope looked lost for half a second, before nodding and adding, “sadly, you are right Ship.”

  “Ship? You’re not the captain?” Trober asked.

  Then like that, all three just put on the same sad face and shook their heads in unison.

  “All right, I don’t have much time left, but let me try to explain this as quickly as possible—”

  And like that, Trober’s official adoption into the secret lives of Simulacrums truly began. He also had the chance to see the Simulacrums switch positions as needed. That’s how he came to find that the one called Rune-Ulacrum was the one who made his never ending water pitcher. Espy-Ulacrum was the one who provided information on how his expedition was sabotaged to start. Heal-Ulacrum gave him regular checkups and healing treatments.

  During this time, he learned from each of them. Even when they didn’t use their mouths to speak, they offered guidance constantly to help teach him things that he had once thought impossible for an old man like him to learn.

  Within a week, he had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Penelope three more times. The first time, she dropped off a futuristic space suit for warmth, and safety.

  On the third time, she witnessed something odd, the Simulacrums teaching him how to Meditate and cast minor spells. Whenever they needed to talk, the did so, in quick three minute bursts that were probably the most fun part of his day. He could almost tell the exact moment they would be able to talk. There would be a calm cold focus that would come over the two as they both seemed to stand perfectly still, like mounted cobras waiting to strike. Then finally the moment would come, and they would be set free to act, talk, and react as they all saw fit. That's when true chaos happened. Ship-Ulacrum and Pirate-Ulacrum, extremely terrible and unfortunate names for two amazing girls, would swap out with their octuplet counterparts whenever and wherever needed, allowing Trober to meet each and every one of the Octuplets in short order.

  By the end of the first month, he was cultivating and circulating Qi. By the start of the sixth week, he had managed to formulate a core, shortly afterwards he was able to go out and help on resource gathering missions. That was the ultimate moment of the trip, being allowed to go out, float freely in space, and feel like he was actually exploring the heavens at heights and temperatures that should have been impossible to withstand, but were somehow easily manageable thanks to the suits provided by Penelope, and the assistance he gained by strengthening his body with Qi and the basic survival spells he had been taught to cast.

  For the first time in as far back as Trober could recall, it felt like he was alive. He was finally alive and he owed it all to the odd Simulacrums of some mysterious Doctor. A Doctor that he felt oddly familiar with. Someone that he already considered to be a daughter, figure, one he would protect at all costs. The same way he would for Penelope or any of the sparkling Simulacrums he had managed to meet and befriend.

  Proving that sometimes getting lost is the best thing that can ever happen to you.

  ***

  (Zero)

  Some might say that Dr. Spiritlight was mean to Zero, that she didn’t care about him at all. Yet, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The truth is that Dr. Spiritlight truly loved Zero, she just knew that she was reckless, dangerous, and above all prone to bouts of forgetfulness, all three factors are terrible for needing to be in charge of someone’s life. Also, being the extremely free spirit that she is, she hated the idea of someone being forced to stay with her due to an unseen bond.

  While Dr. Spiritlight herself wanted to roam around and explore, she realized that such a life was terrible for someone who did not have the same drive and ambition. Even the pacing could be awkward, and Zero realized this, which was why he never tried to show his discomfort with her frenetic pace and distance traveled. Honestly, Zero was much more comfortable being just a stoic observer to the Doctor’s exploits, and hearing about her accomplishments passively.

  Worse, she could feel that want, that need to settle down and grow roots constantly sprouting within Zero. That was why she would abandon him to his stationary Simulacrums. Simulacrums who could and would settle down and stay at places until certain objectives were met.

  Even after Heal-Ulacrum had read every book from the Mage’s Guild she was still content to just sit back and practice healing people who came in with rarer and harder to cure afflictions. She also liked the challenge of filling is as Head healer and Guild Leader for the reason, posing as two different characters, often at the same time. While that was fun to be part of, the first few days, even this became tedious over time. Which was when he would invariably link back up with the Doctor, only to once again find himself woefully unable to keep up or assist in any meaningful way.

  In the end, he found that the way he was the most benefit and able to keep up, was during his time as a temporary tattoo, one where he could sleep for her and amplify her powers slightly while he slept for the two of them. Once again proving that he was unable to truly keep up with her and her relentless energy. Even then, he knew she was just coming up with ways to placate him and his want to be near her. For all she really needed to do was cycle her Qi a few times, or cast a few spells, likely both, and she would be in even greater shape than if he slept for her.

  It wasn’t until their time on the moon that he almost saw her break. During that time, he was her only solace and their bond grew to the strongest it had ever been. Even then, he could tell that she felt nervous about him, that her main reason for wanting to return was because she was afraid that one of her biggest fears would happen. That he would die, and it would all be caused by him following her. Deep down he knew part of why she stayed and suffered for so long was due to him, due to his inability to keep up. Yet she stayed, suffered, and finally got strong enough so that they both could escape together. That thought is the one that eventually broke him.

  Zero still stayed with the Doctor, especially once he got back. But it was his fear that he was a burden to her that eventually caused him to seek solace in the arms of another. That’s when he was asked to fulfill the role of a lifetime. A role that met every one of his personal desires and more.

  That role, working with Dragon-Ulacrum to hatch a clutch of eggs. Even now he feels guilty. Guilty for finding a place he truly calls home, and for finding someone he loves more than the Doctor. Even though Dragon-Ulacrum is but a facet of the Doctor’s true personality, it is the facet that he secretly yearned for all along. A facet that he now works with freely. A facet that enjoys working with him, just as much as he enjoys working with her.

  They are doing amazing work. Work that matters to him. He is helping to bring back to life living breathing dragons, from discarded dragon ghost eggs. And he is doing it all with the person he loves most and has always loved.

  There is just one problem with this perfect future. One day he knows that this dream scenario will end. These dragons will hatch and grow and give birth to a new flight of dragons. Once that is over, he will be forced to make the toughest decision of his life, to go back to the Doctor who is so afraid of hurting him that she is willing to clip her own wings to stay ground with him. Or to stick with Dragon-Ulacrum and fly with the person who truly gets him and doesn’t have to slow down to accommodate for his slower speeds.

  Zero already knows the answer, and deep down he knows that the Doctor and Dragon-Ulacrum both know the correct answer to make as well. It will just be hard on him, as it will mean forever reforging their bond and possibly breaking free entirely only to be bound to someone he knows to be his true soulmate. Fortunately, that day is not today, and he still has time. Time to grow, love, and find not just himself, but who he truly wants to be.