Wraithwood Botanist

It was an awkward ride to my little village. My parents kept demanding answers after seeing nothing but ashes and a bag of cores after the incident, but Aiden and the legacies wouldn't say a word. Not because they couldn't. The soul pact we made didn't keep them from speaking amongst themselves—only to others. Yet no one wished to talk about it—

—except Tyler, who was far more frustrated than the rest.

"Mira… are you really gonna pretend like that didn't happen?" he demanded, riding beside Felio and me. "I'm not going to stop asking you until you explain it!"

"Illusions," I said.

"Bullshit. That wasn't just illusions."

"You're right—it wasn't. Kline can multiply himself. That's not an illusion. I'm also not an illusion. I just move faster than your mind can process, so you didn't see me running around."

Tyler took a deep breath through his nose. "That's not what I'm talking about."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Then what are you talking about?" I asked.

"Those clones!" he said. "Don't you dare say those were illusions. I saw them killing people."

"No, you saw them killing other illusions," I said. "Watch." I jumped off Sina, knelt, pressed my fingers into the earth, and released a massive scan of mana.

"You see this?" I asked.

I examined the twilight passage we were in. It had medium-spaced trees and large patches of sprawling purple-flowered ground cover that wasn't actually poisonous. Otherwise, it was a classic patch of forest with ferns and rocks and a rotting log partially eaten by insects.

"Is there anything strange about this forest to you?" I asked.

Dad and Tyler exchanged glances. "No."

"Well it's not real." I picked up a stick and duplicated it with magic and threw the real one to Tyler so he could feel it. Then, I clenched my fist, and it passed straight through the illusion stick to prove it wasn't real. I finished my demonstration by throwing it into that purple flower ground cover, and all the plants reacted, shaking and waving from the force of the impact.

"What the hell?" Tyler cried.

"Illusions copy all the information of their targets. The objects' sizes, weights, densities—all the way to their chemical breakdowns. It also captures the atmosphere, gravity… the whole nine. It then creates a carbon clone of the target. From a light perspective, it's real, so it interacts with the sun just like any other object. And once you clone the whole world, the object becomes real to the other illusions. And what you're looking at here is nothing more than an illusion."

I snapped my fingers, and all the plants in our small area disappeared, leaving a white void underneath.

"I clone the world, then turn the original invisible," I said. I snapped my fingers, and the world returned. "Now, when I create illusions, they interact with the world as if it were real."

I created a few Mira clones and had one pick a flower, a second step over ground cover, and a third sit beside a tree. The plants bent and crushed and snapped, and rocks flew around.

"Wait…" Tyler's eyes widened. "So those people…."

"I cloned them."

I snapped and created a mercenary clone and had one of my clones hit it in the face. It yelled and crashed into the ground cover as Tyler's eyes trembled.

"As for my clones…" I said. "I clone a bit of my mind into them. So they're autonomous. That's why it doesn't matter if I have fifty or a thousand of these clones. They're moving on their own, and the world's moving with them. My brain's not doing anything… well, kinda."

"Is this over?" one of my clones asked.

"Probably not," I said. "But high five for showing off."

I high-fived my clone, and my Dad laughed.

"This isn't funny!" Tyler yelled.

I glared at him. "What's not funny? Tyler—what more do you want from me?"

"The truth!" he yelled. "'Cause nothing you're saying makes sense. If you're just copying things, how the hell'd you get your dead corpses to kill people? There's a huge difference between throwing a stick and… whatever the hell you did back there."

I grimaced when I saw Dad staring at me with concerned eyes. I couldn't see Mom, thank God. Felio didn't see either, and I was glad for that. Hell, I was regretting showing Tyler 'cause the simple fact was, my illusion was designed to inflict maximum trauma on its victims, and I just casually let him see that shit.

"You're right," I said quietly. "You can't copy something that's unnatural. And that's how Brexton knew I had a teacher. 'Cause there's an immeasurable gap between scanning something and creating independent illusions. The only way I could do that is if I scanned another person's illusions. A master's illusions."

"But what about The Guide?" Aiden asked. "Couldn't it teach you?"

"The Guide can't use mana," I said. "So there's nothing to scan."

Tyler chuckled and then shook his head and chuckled some more.

"What now?" I asked dryly.

"I-It's just…" He flashed this bitter smile. "It's just so stupid… I spent a solid year with the best teacher in the domain, hoping to catch up with you… even a little. And I convinced myself, I actually convinced myself… that you had this crazy weapon, and that was it. You know? That weapon killed that giant. But then I show up, and this happens. It's like a bad joke."

I looked between Tyler and Dad and Felio and the guards and back. "That's what you're worried about?"

He looked up and shrugged.

I scoffed, and my body trembled, and I repeated. "That's what you're worried about? I just killed eighty people, and you're acting like this is a competition?"

Tyler froze when he heard the passion in my voice.

"It's not," I said. "I did what I had to do to protect myself and my loved ones—but I didn't want to do it. I didn't think it was cool or a great opportunity to show off. I simply did what needed to be done—just like all the other times I've needed to kill things over the last year. And it's for that reason I can just brush it off like it's nothing. But you're different, Tyler. 'Cause unlike me, you actually asked for this life. So every action you make, every life you take, every fucked up thing you do is on your head. And if you keep up this immature bullshit, you're gonna look in the mirror one of these days and think, What the fuck happened to me? And you won't want to admit that all the killing and harm you did was all to be famous like your sister."

Tyler tried to rebut my statement, but I threw up my fingers, counting as I barreled on.

"And for what?" I asked. "Did you really think you could catch up? I have an alchemy god who helps me make the best elixirs with the best ingredients. I exclusively eat soul meat, and I'm drowning in high-level requests. There's no way that you or anyone else out there can keep up. Life's not fair—get over it."

I jumped on Sina again, made sure Felio was ready, and then rushed ahead. My parents tried to keep up, but Aiden said the lurvines would find me. I was grateful—because I didn't want to speak to a goddamn person. I got that my brother was young and wanted to prove himself and that people with famous siblings tend to get crushed by societal expectations and whatnot, but this wasn't the time or place for this. Not at all.

I expected the monster treatment from my parents during the next break, but my mom wrapped her hands around me and said, "Oh, honey…" as if I hadn't said anything.

And then I smiled and shed a couple of genuine streaking tears and thanked her.

Dad sat beside me a while later when I was cooking. Instead of trying to cheer me up with something that validated my insecurities, like, "I'll love you no matter what," he just said, "Thank you."

I turned to him. "For what?"

"For what?" He laughed at my absurd question. "For protecting us, but also… talking to Tyler. He needed that."

I turned to him intently, listening intently.

Dad took a deep breath. "He's been so dead set on catching up with you for the last year that it's starting to cause problems. He put a kid in the hospital a few months ago."

I whipped my head to him. "What?"

Dad pointed at my steak, which needed to be flipped, and I turned it. Then he said:

"I'm not going to say that he did the wrong thing. These kids are fuckin' terrible. I've never been so pro-spanking in my life."

I smiled.

"But it's starting to… change him," Dad said. "And that's not… necessarily a bad thing. This world's different… kids grow up. But we haven't seen him smile in… God. Six months? Longer? It feels like years."

I smiled wryly. "Not sure today helped with that."

"No… don't suppose it did. But…" He paused and searched for words. "We've been dreading the day that he actually… you know… kills someone. 'Cause this world… It's not like the military. You're not just trained to kill people and then be put into positions where you have to. I mean, people just kill each other. It's mostly illegal, 'specially around the peacefuls. But for other pathers? It's like… semi-legal, I guess? Point is, it's personal—not professional. And I think that this experience'll… make sure he keeps with the military, you know? Instead of… putting more kids in the hospital."

I swallowed, nodded, and kept silent, plating a partially burnt, curled, and extra-dry steak and handing it to him.

"God…" he said. "It's in moments like this, I question whether I taught you anything."

My lips puckered into a smile, and I laughed. Then he laughed, and I laughed more, and when we paused, I said: "You got the next one. Give that one to Aiden."

He cocked his head. "Why Aiden?"

"'Cause he's pouting again," I said. "He deserves punishment."

Dad paused, looked at this ultra-expensive, high-class superhuman meat, and said, "This is punishment?" Then he erupted with more laughter, and I giggled.

"What are you too gabbing about?" my mom asked, smiling from the contagiousness.

"Nothing…" I laughed, "Hand this to Aiden, would ya? It's his punishment."

Aiden perked up like a grazing gazelle hearing lions, and when he stood and prepared for this punishment, my dad handed him a steak.

"What'd you do to it?" Aiden asked. "There's no poison in it. Did you spit on it?"

He lifted it, and we laughed even harder.

"Is it 'cause it's burnt?" he asked. "'Cause I feel that punishment's adequate, but I'm still expecting worse."

"Shut up," I said sharply, picking up a rock and throwing it at him playfully. He dodged surprisingly well, but the steak went flying. He rushed forward with a lot more dexterity than I expected, but Kline shot out of nowhere, snapping up the steak in his jaws.

"You little shit!" Aiden cried.

Now, Mom, Tyler, Felio, and the Hellara were laughing. Even Molo had a strange smile as Kline pranced around, not even chewing the steak, just flaunting it, taunting Aiden with it.

"Guess he thinks you deserve to starve a round," I said, giggling harder.

"The hell I do!" Aiden cried. "I call upon the court for a proper trial!"

I liked clowning Aiden more and more, and I was relieved that he had recovered from his funk. I was glad we were all feeling much better.

Twenty minutes later, we were on the road again, flying through the forest far faster this time as everyone got to riding the lurvine. And by nightfall, we had already reached the halfway point and stopped in a moonlit meadow.

I felt better after our moment, but after Felio and I stopped chatting and we rode in silence for a few hours, I started to feel a bit guilty about Tyler. I knew that I did the right thing, but how I went about it was wrong—or at least not ideal.

Tyler was trying his best to get stronger — just like I was — but there was no way he could get stronger. It must've been frustrating to stand around as mercenaries rolled up, threatening his loved ones. I would've hated that. So I thought through things, and that night, after handing out bowls of stew to family and friends and guards who insisted they couldn't accept it, I sat beside Tyler.

"I'm guessing Dad told you?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"So you're here to lecture me again?"

"Nope."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I'm inviting you to live here."

He turned to me. "What?"

"For a year," I said. "Next year. See… my guide just told me I should probably chill on the whole killing stuff. He says that the me from yesteryear would've hated the current me, and I should dial it back."

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Yeah, seriously." I paused. "It's not a luxury to think that way. When push comes to shove, you gotta be able to protect yourself. But at some point, I'll be strong enough that killing won't be necessary. It'll be like grown men fighting children."

He smiled wryly. "Must be nice."

"I just invited you to stay here, you goon!" I grabbed his skull and ruffled his hair as he cried, "Hey!" and clawed me off. I stood, not really in the mood to coddle my brother, and said:

"I think it'll do you some good. Find some inner zen and all that. Plus, I'll give you some of those advantages I was telling you about. I'll crank you with so many elixirs and tempers you'll be damn near indestructible on the outside."

He eyed me with hungry eyes.

"If you want power—I'll give you power," I said. Then my eyes narrowed on him. "But I won't help a bully. A narcissist. Or a murderer."

He froze and folded his arms over his knees while avoiding eye contact. He nodded.

"Good," I said. "Oh, and I'll ask Dad—but you're gonna have to convince Mom. So get your begging face on."

"Wait!" Tyler cried. "What? I'm a legal adult now!"

I turned to him. "I know. But I'm not fucking up my relationship with our parents over this."

I walked away.

Tyler did his best. Mom said no, Dad said yes, Tyler bitched to me—classic situation. We all went to sleep grumpy. It didn't matter. His coming ultimately came down to how smoothly things went with Felio and how well Tyler did. So, at the end of the day, his vacation here would depend upon himself—and if he couldn't come, he was the only person to blame.

But I hoped he did well next year so I could fix him up and make him strong.

Not because I wanted him to stay with me.

But because he was my family.

Inconvenient and annoying as it was—that's what family does.

We arrived at my little village at nightfall the next day, and by that point, I was exhausted and sick of hearing Tyler bickering with Mom. I thought my whole damn vacation would be like that. But once my parents gasped and ahhed about the colossal Redwood-sized trees, I was reminded how absurd my little village was. It was like a five-star ski lodge and resort in the middle of the deadliest forest this side of the multiverse.

I still couldn't wait to see my parents' reactions when they saw this new home.